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nutty1005 · 5 years ago

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Xiao Zhan: Learning to Live with Different Opinions

Original Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kFwWw70e6UvJ75egnRe7BA This article is published by Blogger World 博客天下 Weixin. This is also part of the article published in Blogger World 《博客天下》2020 8th Issue.

Giving others the space and freedom to voice different opinions is also a form of respect. Accepting criticisms during growth, displaying kindness in adversity.

Eye of the Storm

Acting is a profession, once you become famous, you will be labelled as “a celebrity” and you become a public figure, but in essence, you are still an average person. Just like everyone else during the pandemic period, they still need to stay quarantined at home and consider their daily meals.

“Celebrity” Xiao Zhan, who has a huge fan following, was also at home catching up on the movies on his to-watch list, watching dramas, reading, practicing his culinary skills – his work was no longer as tightly scheduled as before. This was supposed to be a rare relaxation period, but because of the sudden internet controversy, he found himself landed in the midst of public outcry, and this shattered his initial peace.

At first, he was quite confused, although he understood that any public figure would come with some sense of controversy, but when some of the controversy affected his friends and family, he felt that these were unfair to them. This point was something he could not quite understand.

After the passage of time, he slowly calmed down, and he attempted to learn to live with these different opinions. He feels that giving others the space and freedom to voice different opinions is also a form of respect, and he will accept criticisms during growth, and display kindness in adversity.

After a problem appears, the best method is to resolve the problem, and not to create another problem. This problem will obviously inspire fans (of any idol) to reflect on their actions, and consider how to reasonably handle themselves as a fan. At the same time, artists will also consider how to handle their relationships with their fans, and their teams will need to be more precise in their work. Whereas to the general public, when viewing the whole incident rationally, this can be also considered to be a part of creating a healthy internet environment.

Chance

When some people consider Xiao Zhan as one of the core members of the controversial “traffic” celebrities (TN: Traffic is a term that is used in China to describe idols with a lot of fan following), and lambast him for it, it is necessary to view his journey rationally – understand his chance entry into the entertainment business, and his unique qualities that set him apart from the rest.

Born in 1991, Xiao Zhan is almost 30, but he actually had not been famous for more than a year. Before this, like many other youngsters, he went through high school, university and work life, and never thought that he would become an artist. His university was Chongqing Technology and Business University; he majored in graphic design; while schooling he had received titles such was “Advanced Literary Individual” and “Excellent Team Member”, and also participated in the charity poster design competition organized by his university, winning awards “First Standard Award” and “Most Popular Award”; he even started his own studio with his friends. As such, it can be said that he went through a complete university education, and hence he has a certain amount of knowledge literacy.

After graduating in 2014, he worked for almost a year in a design firm. In June of the second year, because he loved singing, he joined a variety show “X-Fire”《燃烧吧少年》, in hopes of being seen by more people. This was not an easy part of his life – he had to learn dancing with zero foundation, stretching, memorizing movements, with great difficulty. Finally, he debuted as a member of the X-NINE X玖少年团 boyband.

That year, he was 25, and this fulfilled the lyrics of a song by Stefanie Sun – “The 25 year old me, there are differences now.” Then, he thought 25 years old was far away, but in the end it was really different.

However, at that point in time, China talent search variety shows did not have the popularity it would have later on, hence he was not popular upon debut – there was a period of dormancy. In the years following that, he switched paths to become an actor, and participated in web dramas, television dramas, as well as a minor role in the movie “Monster Hunt” 《捉妖记》, totaling a number of 7 to 8 shows. Because he did not come from an acting background, he felt inferior to his partners, who graduated from acting schools, during the shoots. During this period of time, he also doubted his decisions, and wondered if he had a future.

Later on, in the interview with Ren Min Wang 人民网 “Friendly Chat” 《友聊》 he said, “If initially I knew that I would later on go through so much things, I might retreat.” This is actually very similar with the encounters of many other actors, from low to high, from silent to outstanding, experience, works and reputation all have to go through an accumulation process.

At that time, he already had fans, although not too many. In his Weibo, he once had a post that was meant to communicate with his fans, named “Secret Garden”, to tell one another stories, encourage and comfort one another – it was a type of positive interaction.

Fame

The true fame came on the June of 2019. The web drama “The Untamed”, where he starred as the leading actor, aired. This drama came with a fan following from the novel it was based on, and with exquisite production quality, good acting portrayal and performance, this drama became the hottest drama of that year. It scored 7.7 in Douban (TN: Somewhat like China IMDB), which was considered above average in China, and it is worthy as a piece of “work” – although Xiao Zhan said in this interview, “Currently, I don’t think I have any piece of noteworthy work, hence I cherish every opportunity to participate in creative work.”

From this, he obtained a huge reputation, his fan size grew multi-fold, and this objectively created more difficulties for his team working behind him. From a commoner to an artist, and then to a celebrity, based on Xiao Zhan’s behavior, he is careful and cautious. When interviewed by China Youth Papers 《中国青年报》, he said “When I encounter difficulties, I will not give up easily, I will think of ways to resolve it”; “Respect everyone around me, I have to uphold the heart to honor and respect everyone around me.” When interviewed by Guang Ming Times《光明日报》, he hoped “the works that he participated in could transmit some positive values.”

At the end of last year, in CCTV Movie Channel, he also reviewed his legendary experience of 2019, “There are no adjectives to describe my 2019, hence I will say thank you, thank you to all the experiences, to all that I have.” He never talks about what role he is most satisfied with, but only that he could do better, “maybe it could be the next one”. At the same time, he expressed that he will put the focus of his career in 2020 on acting, “to an actor, works are my foundation.” This clearly shows that he is clear about his own acting career.

But evidently, the start of this year was not smooth sailing for him. This internet controversy, as a related party, he received numerous criticisms, whether with good or bad intentions, and how he viewed this whole incident, what psychological process he went through, how a public figure should bear the social responsibility, and what his next steps are…

For this, the aim of this Blogger World interview with Xiao Zhan is to “understand the problem, obtain a common understanding”.

Understood Some Things

(TN: R = Reporter, XZ = Xiao Zhan)

R: Earlier when the pandemic was at its peak, what were you busy with?

XZ: Quarantine, just like everyone else during the pandemic period. I remember it was during Chinese New Year period, following the news, seeing the medical personnel fighting at the forefront. It was especially touching when you see that they were relentlessly fighting even though they were facing a lack of medical supplies. At that time, I spoke with my staff, thought about wanting to do something, and do what I can. After the discussion to decide what to donate, we started contacting the relevant suitable organizations, communicate on what was needed, etc.

Besides this, I also received invitations to record ID videos to cheer on Wuhan and songs to beat back the pandemic. Because the songs required more professional equipment, hence I remember around the end of January, we went to the recording studio. At that time, the pandemic was at its critical period, to ensure safety, there were very limited staff on site, everyone were wearing masks, everything was strictly disinfected, every staff had to perform multiple roles, but we finished the recording with high efficiency. To me, this was a very special experience. Other then that, I was quarantined at home.

R: When you were at home, how was your daily life? How did you spend the time?

XZ: Actually just like everyone else, watch the news, watch dramas, watch movies, read books and rest. It is also quite inconvenient to order takeouts during quarantine period, hence I also trained my culinary skills. Just right at the time there were charity events to aid the farmers, hence I bought some fruits and farm products.

R: Were you concerned with the daily changes of the pandemic, what did you feel and think about?

XZ: Of course I did, I was following up on the pandemic news everyday, there were many moments that touched me. Previously there was this piece of news, a pair of husband and wife, there were both medical staff at the forefront, recognized each other despite wearing isolation robes and hugged together, that scene of reunion touched me very much. But at the same time, I saw that there were a lot more people who needed assistance, and I also felt personally that what one person can do is very limited, and I did too little.

R: When the internet controversy happened, what were you doing, what was your initial reaction, and what happened after?

XZ: I was quarantined at home at that time, when I first saw it I was extremely surprised, why there were suddenly so much topics, felt a bit confused, and understood it later like everyone else. Actually with regards to controversy, as a public figure, I was willing to bear these controversy, but some of them affected my friends and family, I felt that these were unfair to them. I could not quite understand (why they did this). And that point in time was the most critical period of the pandemic, I did not want my issues to take away too much attention, and bother everyone, hence I did not make much responses. Later on, my friends also gave me advice, and this period gave me more time to ponder over it, I also went out to do voice overs, in preparation for my future jobs, slowly I understood some things, so after a while, I started to slowly calm down.

R: You once said that in order to survive in society, one needs to learn to be complex, do you realize the complexity even more so now? Where there any changes to your life views?

XZ: There is definitely complexity, I do not think this is anything bad. Facing complex situations, we do not have the ability to force any changes, but I feel, as long as we maintain the most initial kindness and purity, work hard to do the best for the things we have decided. I have always upheld these principles, and these are also what I want to do.

R: Do you feel misunderstood? How do you adjust yourself?

XZ: It is still the same phrase from the previous interview, “When serious – work, when confused – read, when alone – think, when upset – sleep.” Actually I think this phrase can be used to aptly describe my condition for the past few months.

R: After a period of time, how do you feel about the controversy now?

XZ: We need to learn to live with different opinions, and also respect everyone’s rights to voice theirs. But this world is like this, there is a balance of energy, there are those who love you, who like you, at the the same time there will be people who hates you, who dislikes you. Giving others the space and freedom to voice different opinions is also a form of respect. Accepting criticisms during growth, displaying kindness in adversity.

No one likes you for no reason

R: We will talk about your experiences as an artist, when did you realize that you are famous? How did you feel?

XZ: Last summer, after seeing that there were more people who supported and liked me, very thankful and grateful. My father told me since young “no one likes you for no reason”, hence I hope I can live up to everyone’s like.

R: When you first entered the entertainment business, what goal did you hope to attain?

XZ: Actually my thoughts were very simple then, that is work hard to do the best in the competition, and hope to receive more recognition.

R: In being an artist, what did you feel is the most toilsome?

XZ: Every profession has its own toils, I treat my work very seriously, hardship is actually something you cannot avoid. If I really have to say something as toilsome, then it will be how I face the complex environment.

R: Many felt that you became famous overnight, but actually you already participated in several different dramas, how was your condition like then? What desires did you have for the future?

XZ: Actually there were not much difference, previously I just hoped that I always have jobs, have the opportunity to contact better roles, now is just work seriously, act properly, live everyday to the fullest. Continue on the path of an actor.

R: How did you learn performance? Where there any experience that was especially memorable?

XZ: At the start, I had no concept with regards to performance, later on I also took performance classes, with directions from performance teachers. The experience that was especially memorable was during the shooting of “The Wolf”, there was a crying scene on the highlands, a night scene, and it needed to rain, but that time, no matter what I did, I could not cry.

R: What do you think the relationship of front stage and back stage is?

XZ: I feel that front stage and back stage is not a type of relationship, but is the same job. Without the serious work and support of the backstage, the front stage will not be able to become better.

R: The character Wei Wuxian gave you a lot of glory as well as some controversy, how did you view the role?

XZ: I treat every role I have acted in seriously and with deep respect, because their story are all alternate lives that I would never experience. And portraying these characters, I really hoped that we can achieve success mutually, and win the recognition and love from the audience. I am lucky and thankful to have participated in a part of Wei Wuxian’s life, and this role also became an important part of my acting career. Also I am very grateful to the hard work from all the staff as part of this creative work, and gifted this character vitality. All these creative artists gave me the chance, and allowed me as an actor, using my own thoughts and performances, to bring forth the character Wei Wuxian, even more vividly in front of the general audiences.

R: With regards to “work”, how do you define it?

XZ: I feel that a piece of work is not just the result of a person’s hard work, behind it are also everyone’s sacrifices and creation. Currently, I don’t think I have any piece of noteworthy work, hence I cherish every opportunity to participate in creative work, and also treat every job seriously, in the future I will do my best in singing and acting.

R: The journey of fame, how did you establish your confidence, from inexperience to mature?

XZ: It is definitely a slow process. Actually it is just like that lyric in my new song “All traces passed by turned into light spots.” That is when you encounter difficulties, from it you learn and grow, the accumulation of every step, you are always on the path of growing.

R: In facing the exhaustion from work, the disturbances from the outside world, do you feel that fame is a double edged sword? How do you hope to be viewed by the outside world?

XZ: I feel that anything has its pros and cons, I have already learnt to handle it with common sense, I hope that I am still the same initial me, to be able to maintain humility and politeness.

R: Are you afraid of the uncertainty of life? Do you have insecurities?

XZ: Of course I am. Life is made up of a lot of uncertainties, many times I would also feel insecure, but isn’t the unknown life’s greatest challenge? The feeling of “singing as you walk” is great.

Be yourself, actions speak louder than words

R: You once said in an interview that you do not want to be a perfect person, can you explain what you meant?

XZ: I feel that no one can be perfect, neither can I.

R: Actor, artist and traffic celebrity, what do you think the difference are in these terms?

XZ: Actor is my career, artist and traffic celebrity, to me, are just a label, that is on every public figure. I will do the best for my job, in the future I will be even more serious in my singing, acting, and continue to bear whatever social responsibility I should bear.

R: You once said that communication is very important, now that you are too famous, will this bring about difficulties in communication?

XZ: The changes in my identity definitely brought along some inconveniences, but to my friends, my family and me, the communication has always remained the same. In facing those who like me and support me, I feel that I am communicating with them via my works, hence I will humbly accept all good intent criticisms and corrections on my profession.

R: You did not change your Weibo account after your debut, and also said that that you are very real, and you want to show everyone the real you. To the public who do not understand you, what do you have to say?

XZ: I always said, I am not a perfect person, but that does not prevent me from working hard towards becoming a better person. I am a more direct person, I also wanted to present the real me to everyone, hence I never considered changing my Weibo account, those were all my experiences and memories, the testament to my growth. I will not use youth or commoner as an excuse.

I started using Weibo when I was 19 or 20 years old, when I was still young and a commoner, and I said some very inappropriate words or opinions that are unacceptable now, and it probably did cause trouble or hurt to others. Hence I also wanted to say, after reflecting, to those who were hurt by these opinions, I express my most sincere apologies. If I could use my current experience and sensibleness back then, I would definitely respect everyone’s effort in their work, and will not comment rashly.

R: Your Weibo used to be very lively, full of witty words, you also liked to snatch the top comment on your own posts, and interacted with your fans, but later on, these posts were generally non existent, almost as if your image became flat, how do you feel?

XZ: Just representing myself only, I feel that the image on social media cannot encompass an entire person, that is only an outlet. I am always willing to communicate with everyone, but I am also afraid to bother others, if the effect of bother becomes greater than sharing, that would be something that I very much would not want to see.

#xiao zhan #sean xiao #xiaozhan #肖战

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hookedontaronfics · 5 years ago

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Honky Dancer series - Chapter 1

NEW SERIES ALERT

Chapter title: Auditions Rating: M Pairing: Taron x OC Warnings: None at this time A/N: I was inspired to write a series based on the perspective of a Rocketman dancer. I hope you enjoy following a London-based dancer from her first audition run-in with Taron to maybe so much more - but don’t forget a healthy dose of drama along the way! More mature themes will develop, so be warned! Enjoy! x

“And first position … second … third … and fourth … now fifth. Good, and again.” I swept my arms gracefully through the positions my muscles knew by memory and my mind knew by heart. I’d learned the basic positions when I was no older than the girls I now taught, in their adorable pink tutus and bright shiny faces. “Keep going, that’s right,” I encouraged, walking between the barres and making adjustments while the 5-year-olds moved through each ballet position to the music I had queued.

I kept a watchful eye on these aspiring young dancers, hoping to instill in them the love of dance I had grown up with my entire life. Even when I offered corrections, I tried to do so in an encouraging manner. I’d had my share of critical teachers and even a few who thought I wouldn’t get that far. But I’d never let it bring me down and only used the negativity to push harder for what I wanted. Until, that is, a nearly career-ending injury four years ago that had kept me off the stage and behind studio doors instead. I’d made the transition to teaching on the advice of a dance counselor, and I knew I would never look back.

I ended class with some easy stretching and accepted the cute hugs and calls of “Thank you, Miss Juliette!” as my class filed out to their waiting mothers [and two fathers, bless their hearts.] Once the last girl had left I quickly packed my bag as Madison pushed her way in through the door.

“Oh my god, are you excited?” she asked me as I traded out my slippers for sneaks and pulled on a pair of comfy sweatpants and a hoodie over my leotard.

“I’m so nervous I could puke, but I won’t get an opportunity like this again. And I feel like I’m finally ready,” I grinned, making sure I had everything I needed in my bag for the audition I was already running late for. “Thank you for subbing my next class, I appreciate it, Mads,” I grinned, giving her a hug.

“It’s no sweat, now go!” she laughed, fairly pushing me out the door. “And break a leg!” she giggled as I groaned inwardly.

I rushed out of the dance school and hurried along Balderton Street to Oxford, heading toward the Bond Street tube station and taking the train across town to the Paramount studios on Chiswick. I snacked on a protein bar to keep my energy up while we rumbled over the tracks, doing a few stretches to keep my muscles loose as I wouldn’t have much time to warm up again when I got there. If anyone was staring at me, I ignored it, but I’m sure the tube riders had seen far worse than a few grand plies.

Once I arrived at the studio I hurried through the check-in process as quickly as possible. I was issued my number and told which group and studio to join before I rushed off to the bathroom to change. I’d chosen a sparkly magenta pink leotard I’d used for a performance piece years ago for this audition - I was trying out for the dance ensemble cast for Rocketman, the Elton John biopic, so even if it was a bit over-the-top I felt it was appropriate.

I pulled on tights and a black ruffled short skirt over that and strapped on my character shoes. I let my strawberry blonde hair down out of its tightly woven bun and dashed on a bit of thick eyeliner before affixing my number with safety pins. I put on bright pink lipstick and grinned at myself in the mirror. I certainly looked the part, I thought, stashing everything else in my bag and going to find my group.

I dropped my dance bag against the wall with everyone else’s stuff and found an open spot on the floor, sitting in a deep split and doing a few stretches while everyone else either chatted excitedly or went through their own personal warmups. The buzz in the room instantly cut out as a trim stately man strode in; I instantly recognized him as the choreographer we’d be working with. Waves of excitement and nerves washed through me in equal measure as we all stood and lined up without being instructed to. Several other people came in and took seats along the wall; I presumed they were likely producers and crew of some variety.

I tried to secure myself a spot in the middle front; even if I wasn’t feeling the most confident, I could certainly fake my way into it. This was my first professional audition since I’d made company - and later principal - for London Ballet Company. All of my dance dreams had shattered after the injury that meant I couldn’t do pointe work any more, but I’d thrown myself into classes in other styles as a sort of rehab process and in an effort to diversify my skill set, and found I loved jazz and Broadway the most.

So here I was, giving my all through the brief warmup, across-the-floor exercises, and combinations, hoping to catch the choreographers’ eye. I knew I was one dancer in a field of hundreds, some coming from other countries just for this chance. But I also knew how badly I wanted a spot in the ensemble, to be a part of such a spectacle.

My favorite combination involved a bit of a complicated leap into a fan kick; I could see other dancers struggling to get elevated but I felt so completely in my own element, soaring across the floor and losing myself to the music, which unfortunately wasn’t actually from Elton’s catalogue. We were split into smaller groups to perform the series of steps for the choreographer; at the end of it, I added my own little flourish, dropping into a very Fosse-style pose with curved shoulders and tilted hips. The choreographer brushed past me as he circled our group, muttering “very good” so only I could hear. I couldn’t help but smile, but kept my eyes low.

We were given a twenty-minute break after everyone had a chance to perform, and the choreographers from each room of dancers would be making first cuts before we would all be shuffled together and given a full routine to learn and perform on an actual stage. I dearly hoped I’d be making it through the cut, but sometimes not getting a part had nothing to do with how good a dancer you were. Directors sometimes wanted a specific “look,” and I had no idea if this would hold true for Rocketman or not.

The hallways were far too noisy for me so I stepped nimbly over dancers sprawled on the floor as I traveled away from the studio rooms, trying to find somewhere quiet to listen to my music and try to find a bit of peace. I filled my water bottle at a drinking fountain before turning a corner and leaving all the other dancers behind. I probably should have just plopped myself here, but curiosity got the better of me, so I followed down this hallway too, my character shoe footsteps echoing in the quiet even as I tried to walk softly. I plugged my headphones in and was just about to hit play on my Spotify playlist when I heard a couple of voices coming from a cracked doorway. The room had a bank of sweeping windows and I couldn’t help peering in; some day I would learn to tame my incessant curiosity, but today was not that day.

Three men stood inside, involved in what looked like a serious discussion. I couldn’t really make out much of what they were saying, their voices just low murmurs, but I thought I might have recognized one of them. Just then they all turned to head toward the door, and I ducked away from the window, hoping I hadn’t been seen. As I slowly tried to sneak away, the door swung open rather suddenly and flew straight into me, sending me sprawling onto my hands and knees, my phone skidding across the floor.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” the handsome young man I recognized said, instantly offering his hand to help me up and looking embarrassed. I took it, noticing how soft his skin was but how strong he felt as he helped bring me back to my feet.

“It’s alright,” I said with a laugh, brushing off my knees and hands and retrieving my phone from the floor. “Nothing hurt but my pride,” I said as he looked me up and down, taking in my obvious dance garb.

“Here for the auditions, then?” he smiled warmly at me, as the other two men carried on their conversation.

“Um, yes, though I’m hoping I’ve danced with more grace than I just displayed,” I grinned good-naturedly. “Though I should get back to that now.”

“Well I wish you best of luck, Number Two-Nine-Four,” he read off my assigned number with a smirk.

“It’s Juliette,” I supplied with a laugh.

“Juliette then, you may call me Taron,” he replied, smiling so widely his dimples showed through.

“Holy shit, you’re Elton!” I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands and making the other two men halt their conversation mid-sentence as they gawked at me.

“That’s up for debate but yes, I’ll be attempting to play him,” Taron grinned at my shock. I knew now how I’d recognized him, from the Kingsman films. But standing here in front of him was an entirely different thing. He was totally unassuming, just dressed in jeans, a black sweatshirt and a ball cap with “twenty-two” scrawled across it.

“I’m sure you’ll be wonderful at it,” I laughed lightly, trying to not feel shy in front of him, but for his part he did everything to try and make me feel at ease.

“I suppose if I was shit Elton wouldn’t have chosen me,” Taron just chuckled.

“No, I don’t think so. Well, it’s very nice to bump into you but I really must get back,” I said softly.

“Wouldn’t want you to be late, love,” he said with a wink. “We’re heading to the stage now,” he added, making my insides feel rather funny all of a sudden. “Maybe I’ll see you there.”

“Maybe,” I agreed a bit faintly, hurrying back down the hall the way I’d come, my heart pounding and unaware that Taron’s gaze lingered on my willowy frame. The hallways were already deserted and I worried I was late, but I slipped back into the studio room just in time, as we were all called to line up again.

The choreographer was holding a notepad and after thanking everyone for coming out and giving our hardest work, told us only five numbers from our room were advancing to the stage routine. I closed my eyes at that; five out of a room of 35. There’s no way I’m getting through this cut, I thought. I was confident in my abilities but there was so much talent it was practically dripping from the walls.

“If your number is called, please come join me up here,” our choreographer said, and rattled off the first number, 162. A spry male dancer who had all the marks of “ballet” written in his physique left our ranks and joined the choreographer at the front, fairly beaming to be one of the chosen. Next up was 052, a fiery redhead with a pretty face; 291 [so close], a black muscular male with a sweet expression; and 112, a tow-headed boy who looked barely out of secondary school.

I closed my eyes and held my breath as the last number was read, even if I had no chance. “294!” the choreographer called, and no one moved a muscle. Someone next to me tapped me on the shoulder, my eyes still screwed shut tightly.

“Hey, I think that’s you!” a girl whispered as the choreographer called my number again.

“Oh,” I laughed in disbelief, walking to the front in stunned silence as the choreographer clapped for us and everyone else joined in. After more thanking of all the auditioners, the people who hadn’t made it were dismissed, and after much chatter and shuffling of bags, it was just us five left. We’d all been told on the audition notice to bring black pants and a white button-down shirt we could dance in and tap shoes, though the particular style they had left up to us, and we were now instructed to change into those clothes and join all the other dancers in another studio room in ten minutes. I decided to leave my leotard on under my shirt, only doing up three buttons so it could still flash through. I switched my character shoes out for actual taps and then dashed off a squealing text to Madison that I had made it through the first round of cuts.

<Oh my god, that’s so exciting! So what happens next?> she texted back immediately.

<But you’ve been taking hours and hours of classes! I’m sure you’ll do great> she sent back with about ten winky-face emojis. I had to laugh at that.

<Gotta go, I’ll let you know if I make it through to solos.> I stashed my phone in my bag again and made it to the large studio room in time, lost in a sea of other black-and-white clad dancers, all of us trying to individualize in some way, with bright lipsticks or colored socks or patterned scarves tied round our heads. We were all handed cheaply made top hats and shown where to stand. The dancers from each room seemed to band together, so I was in line with the other four from my room, trying to give them encouraging smiles.

“We’ve got this,” I said under my breath to the tow-headed boy next to me, who looked incredibly nervous though he was probably one of the best talents in the room, even so young. He nodded at me and smiled kindly in appreciation, so I gave him a goofy thumbs up before the choreographers addressed our room.

There were about 60 of us, and I strained to hear what was being said over the coughs and rustles as dancers adjusted their clothes. Still, I got the gist of it and then we were hard at work, learning pieces of the routine, repeating each small snippet over and over and then quickly breezing through the next. It felt like a blur, but I did what I knew to do best in these situations; I linked each piece of choreo to an image in my brain to keep the sequence in order, building on it as we moved through the 2 minutes of routine the way a child might play a game of memory.

We were all sweaty and out of breath when our thirty minutes were up, and soon we were herded to the stage to perform the piece all on our own, as the choreographers and producers and maybe even the director for all I knew sat in the audience. Oh, and Taron, I reminded myself, trying not to let that make me suddenly nervous. The last thing I needed to do was forget the choreography. We stood on the stage under lights, staring out into the darkened auditorium. If I squinted hard enough I could make out the shapes of people in the seats but had no idea who they were. I wondered if Taron was out there looking for me, and the thought of it made me smile.

The strains of music began and soon we were lost in the whirlwind of the dance, performing the piece like we’d been rehearsing for months. It was nice to feel like I could rely on the dancers around me as much as they could rely on me. Sure, we were all competing against each other for those coveted spots, but we were also performers at heart. And so, for those two minutes, we leaped and we spun and we tapped and we shone.

When the music was over we all stood around on the stage together, whispering and waiting as the shadows in the audience deliberated our fates. I didn’t think I had missed a step, and I looked forward to giving my solo, a piece I had worked hard on and that had made Mads cry when I performed it for her. Still, twenty people wouldn’t be making it through this round and that made me even more anxious than I already was.

After about ten minutes someone called for order, and we quieted down immediately. Numbers were called quickly, dancers cheered or groaned, and I was thankfully called up somewhere in the middle of the pack this time. My relief was probably evident. We were given about twenty minutes to prepare whatever we needed to; I chose that time to eat another protein bar and chill out to some music. I had a simple costume for this piece, wanting my dancing to be center stage. I kept the black pants but exchanged the leotard and shirt for a black dance bra and black vest. I slicked back my hair into a sleek ponytail and pulled a hat low over my eyes. I wiped off the pink lipstick and left my lips neutral, but painted my eyelids black. It was a dramatic effect and exactly what I was going for.

We had to pick numbers and of course I chose the last slot, so I had a lot of time to wait around. We all were told we could sit in the auditorium seats if we wished to watch each other at this point, and I sat with my new-found “friends” from my original group, all of who had made it through the tap round. There was Pietre, the soft-spoken young boy; Dennis, the athletic black dancer; Leah the precocious redhead; and Markus, the handsome ex-principal. Markus was quite funny, and I enjoyed sitting next to him as we watched other dancers perform.

Slowly, our ranks got smaller and smaller as each dancer went onstage to perform and was subsequently dismissed. We wouldn’t be told if we had gotten the job until the next day, so this was our last real shot to make an impression. I wished Pietre, Dennis, Leah and Markus all good luck, and their solos were all amazing. It was going to be a tall order for the choreographers to make their decisions, whittling us down to just 30 core dancers.

And then it was my turn. There was no one else left to watch except the people judging me. But as I made my way up the stage stairs, I noticed someone standing in the wings, and realized it was Taron, waving at me and giving me a thumbs up. Had he really stuck around this long to watch me? I was a little dumbstruck at that and ended up stumbling over my own name when I was asked to introduce myself, even though they had my audition sheet in front of them. Get a grip, I chastised myself, stealing another glance at the wings. Despite the low light I could see Taron’s eyes glittering at me and I could feel his eyes following me as I took my place on the stage. I took a few slow breaths to still my mind, needing to go to that place where I was beyond my thoughts, where it was nothing but light and color and music.

I’d chosen Annie Lennox’s “Cold,” a song that was dreamy and ethereal and yet somehow heavy. Lines like “Dying is easy/It's living that scares me to death” and “But the more I want you the less I get/Ain't that just the way things are” hit me in the chest and had stayed with me ever since I heard the song, but when “Catch me and let me dive under/For I want to swim in the pools of your eyes” the image of Taron flashed through my mind, and the words gained a new meaning as I couldn’t let go of the way he looked at me.

When the song ended and I had struck my final pose, the auditorium was dead silent; I could have heard a pin drop aside from my own heart beating. I stood back up and took a small bow, turning to leave because I didn’t think anyone was going to say anything before suddenly someone in the auditorium was clapping, the sound hollow in that giant space. I glanced over at the wing, but Taron wasn’t standing there anymore and for some reason that made me feel empty.

“Thank you for your time, that was lovely. We’ll phone you tomorrow,” one of the faceless shapes from the auditorium told me. I gave them my most winning smile and then was dismissed. I was sweaty, sore and exhausted by the time I gathered my bag up, changing once again into sweats and ready to just head home and tuck into a bowl of homemade Thai peanut chicken curry. I’d done my best and the rest was up to someone else. I had my hand on the exit door when someone called my name. I turned to see Taron jogging toward me, a bit out of breath.

“You were brilliant. They all said it in there, you should have heard them after you left,” he grinned. “You left us all absolutely speechless.”

“I, uhm, thank you,” I replied awkwardly, trying to wrap my mind around what he was telling me.

“You’re absolutely a shoe-in, no question, but you didn’t hear it from me,” he said, winking at me for the second time that day. I let out a nervous laugh at that. “I look forward to working with you, Juliette,” he added, and I couldn’t help my legs feeling a little weak at the way he said my name. I was glad I was still holding onto the door handle to steady myself. On second thought, this might be a major problem, I thought, but he was an actor and I was just a dancer and I didn’t think we’d be spending that much time on set together. Besides that, Taron was on a whole other level from me, so I figured he was only being kind.

“Me too,” I finally managed to reply. He bid me have a good night and then disappeared off down the hall, to do what I didn’t know but he seemed intensely focused on every aspect of this project. He had certainly left an impression on me though, and I could feel my cheeks were flushed.

I finally made my way to the tube station, taking it across the city to my flat and letting myself in gratefully, instantly greeted by my fluffy 2-year-old golden retriever Troy. “Hey boy, mommy’s home,” I grinned, ruffling his fur happily. Madison had stopped in earlier to check on him and let him out, and I was forever grateful to her. Mads had been my biggest cheerleader and supporter since I started working at DanceWorks, and I had never met a sweeter, kinder soul.

<Finally home. We’ll know results tomorrow. Everything seemed to go really well for me> I texted her as I tossed my sweaty dance clothes in the wash.

<Think you’ve got the job?> she asked back.

<Not sure, these things are never certain even if you feel good about it but I did my best and something tells me I impressed the choreographers> I wrote back. Or rather someone, I thought, a small smile drawing across my face.

I set about making dinner, feeling half-starved now, and did my best to relax in front of the television, catching up with my favorite shows. I took Troy on a quick walk around the neighborhood in the late evening before finally taking a long soak in the freestanding bathing tub I’d invested good money in. There was nothing better after a long day of dance then letting my muscles unwind with lavender Epsom salts.

Tired and fully worn out, I stretched out in my bed, ready to catch some shut-eye but of course every time I closed my eyes I could see Taron’s handsome face floating in the dark. I wasn’t about to delude myself into thinking I had half a chance with Taron. From all accounts he was just an absolutely caring and sympathetic man and his co-workers always spoke so highly of working with him. But I could definitely say there was now more than one reason why I wanted the chance to dance on Rocketman.

Keep reading: Chapter 2 HERE

#taron imagine #taron egerton #taron x reader #rocketman fanfic #taron egerton fanfiction

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starwarsforcestuff · 5 years ago

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10 for the star wars asks!!!

Thanks for the question! Question 10 is, “do you think the Jedi were right or wrong?”

Simply put, I do think they were right. Do I think they were perfect? No. Am I in the minority of people who believe this? I feel like it. I did a quick google search of that question to see what kind of responses are already out there in the world and the majority of results were overwhelmingly not in favor of the Jedi, even going as far as calling them the Saga’s true villains. Another reason I googled the question was that this is an extremely vague question, in what aspect are we talking about right and wrong. I will still try to break it down as specifically as possible. Go ahead and respond with more specific questions if you so choose!

Reason 1

One reason I wholly believe the Jedi are right and good is a quote from Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray.

“It matters which side we choose. Even if there will never be more light than darkness. Even if there can be no more joy in the galaxy than there is pain. For every action we undertake, for every word we speak, for every life we touch—it matters. I don’t turn toward the light because it means someday I’ll ‘win’ some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the light.”- Qui-Gon Jinn

The Force will always create events that balance each other out and if we all remember that iconic Freddie Prinze Jr rant he backs that up. If anyone hasn’t seen that rant here is Star Wars Theory’s reaction to it. You don’t have to watch his commentary I just couldn’t find an undoctored version and Star Wars Theory bleeps out the many many F-bombs Prinze drops.

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“Luke’s skill doesn’t dictate whether he wins or loses. The Emperor doesn’t dictate whether he wins or loses. The Force dictates who wins or loses based on balance...[On the seduction of Anakin Skywalker] If the Emperor was the smartest dude in the universe and knows that the Force dictates this if he kills who he sees as a rival, Anakin, then he knows the Force is just going to f****** correct that. Because The Emperor knows this. These are George Lucas’ words, not mine...So the Emperor knows that. Instead of killing Anakin, what does he do? he seduces Anakin. To double the strength of the Dark Side. So what does the force do? It balances us. How? It gives us twins. Luke and Leia. Two and f****** two. Balance.”

While it was lengthy, somewhat redundant, and had multiple f-bombs, Prinze Jr arguments make a clear point. If the force will always course-correct itself it begs the question of why even choose? If every good action will always be met with an action of mal intention why does it matter? This is the very question Qui-Gon answers in that quote. What is the answer? Because even if doing good gets you nowhere you are still doing good. Good is good. Turn to the light because it is the light. I like to believe every Jedi had this mentality but considering Qui-Gon was speaking to another Jedi I can’t say that every Jedi believed this. Regardless, we do know that with this statement and Freddie Prinze Jr’s comments that the Jedi are supposed to be proponents of the light side. That is reason number 1, and probably the biggest reason I support the Jedi.

Reason two

Moral absolutism. There is the Light side and the Dark side. That is it. There is no in-between, a Jedi is either good or bad in which case they become a Sith. In Prinze Jr’s interview, he states, “There’s no such thing as a gray Jedi...There’s no gray! That’s pretend fan-fiction s***, which is cool but don’t try to canonize it because it doesn’t work and I’m never gonna buy it.” There are those, like Qui-Gon, who may interpret the code more loosely, but he is still a Jedi, not a “grey Jedi.”

In contrast to the Jedi though, in an interview with Alexander Freed, author of Alphabet Squadron, Battlefront: Twilight Company, and Rogue One, states that while you do have people like the Jedi and The Emperor, there are plenty of people in the Star Wars universe that lead mundane lives not really fighting one way or the other.

“It is a setting that has an absolute good and absolute evil...Yeah there is no moral ambiguity to Palpatine. Palpatine is a creature of pure darkness.”

In this interview, he mentions that the characters of Alphabet Squadron need to decide where their moral compass lies when they do live somewhere in the middle. It almost seems contradictory though because I would argue that if you are basing this argument on the metaphor of a compass, everyone who fights for the light would be good and everyone who fights for the dark side is bad, there would be no in-between like a spectrum where you would have “grey” areas. That also tarnishes the reputation of defectors like Yrica Quell, Finn, Archex (From Phasma and Black Spire), Iden Versio, Del Meeko, Jannah and the rest of company 77 who defected from the First Order or The Empire in Quell’s case. Using the spectrum argument, the fact that they even belonged to the dark side would tarnish them, give them “negative points” and never fully allow them to be absolutely good. They will always be held back by their past.

Here is the full Star Wars Show and interview.

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The interview starts at 3:05 and ends at 6:32.

This is how we know The Empire was bad, The Imperials and the Sith are bad, The First Order was bad. They use the dark side and do unspeakable acts of horror even after the death of The Emperor with things like Operation Cinder. This is also how we know the Jedi are good and right. The Jedi fight against the dark side, they stand for truth and justice and peace. They may work outside the law, but I don’t see people having a problem with that when it comes to Batman or Superman or Captain America. The question though becomes do the means justify the end? I can’t answer that question because I think it should be situationally based i.e the destruction of the Death Star. The destruction killed thousands and thousands of people, but it could kill hundreds of millions more if not stopped. We know there was no other way, therefore I would argue that the means justified the end.

Reason 3

At the end of the day, Star Wars is a children’s story. It is a children’s story based on Greek Mythology and archetypes. In those stories, it is clear who is good and right and who is bad and wrong. We are the ones who have contorted this basic story to the point where we have questions like this. Am I mad that we have? Not in the slightest! discussing and analyzing works are really fun to do, but it is my belief that we as a fanbase have taken it too far that we ask questions like are the Jedi right or wrong, was the Empire actually good, are the rebels justified or were they just terrorists?

Not to deflect or belittle or suppress this question, but we know the Jedi are right because George Lucas says so. While I know a big criticism about my overall argument is “you can’t say the Jedi are right because they fight for the light and the Sith and the dark side are wrong,” all I have to ask is, if you have to justify genocide to prove your point (Order 66 and Operation Cinder) why in the world should I believe otherwise.

I am VERY open to FRIENDLY discussions about this. I even encourage more specific questions about the Jedi for better more in-depth answers if anyone is interested. Also, sorry I kind of rant in the middle about characters in general.

@fandom4fandom thank you very much for your ask! I hope you have a great day! May the Force Be With You!

Sidebar: I just finished Alphabet Squadron and I enjoyed it. I love reading about things that happen between the fall of The Empire and the rise of The New Republic and this gave me that. Battlefront II was really cool for me because that was my introduction to Operation Cinder and you had to play through it and Alphabet Squadron is a direct continuation of the wreckage and result of Operation Cinder.

#star wars #skywalker saga #jedi #lucasfilm #send me asks #ask me something #ask me literally anything #ask me

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mockingowlproductions · 6 years ago

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Modern Day Album Burning: A Christian’s Response to Return to Order

Before meeting my husband, I had never heard of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Since we’ve gotten married, we’ve read some of the books and watched several films based on Pratchett and Gaiman’s work. We’re also huge fans of Doctor Who.

When Good Omens was officially announced by Amazon – not Netflix, sorry Return to Order – we were excited beyond belief. One of the most comical stories by the duo, starring two brilliant actors, there was nothing to do but wait in tingling anticipation for May 31.

We had every good intention of watching a single episode per day. Twelve hours after we remembered what day it was however, we had finished the series.

The mini-series lived up to its promise. David Tennant: Brilliant. Michael Sheen: Fantastic. Supporting cast: Splendid.

We watched the show with utter delight. We discussed theology and doctrine about the End Times for hours after each installment of the six-part series. We felt the depth of the questions surrounding afterlife, death, Tribulation, Armageddon, and more.

We laughed our tushies off at the many dazzling, ridiculous lines throughout the whole thing. And we were delighted to finally know of a good use for the Queen song, “I’m in Love with My Car.” Hats off to you, Mr. Gaiman.

Today, when I got home from a walk, my husband mentioned the news piece that an uber religious group was protesting and demanding that Netflix remove Good Omens from viewing.

“Uh, it’s on Amazon.”

“Yes.”

Needless to say, I laughed heartily and looked up the protest to see what the heck was going on with these people.

I quickly discovered a short article on the protest, which linked to the religious group’s page. On the page, I read their demands, which started off with stating that “Due to an oversight…” they had gotten the streaming service wrong.

If that wasn’t enough to stop their argument, they had more to offer.

“This series presents devils and Satanists as normal and even good…”

Is it bad that a piece of art presents Christians and non-Christians as humans with needs, fears, and hopes? Is it so strange to imply that people who don’t follow Jesus could be among the masses? Or even working for evil?

When we forget that those with different beliefs and convictions are just as human as we are, we run the risk of committing one of the greatest sins of all: not loving and respecting our neighbors as we are commanded to love and respect ourselves.

It’s possible that the people in this religious group have watched Good Omens but it feels as though they either didn’t see anything beyond a trailer or that they went into the film series with presuppositions that this show would be evil and ungodly.

The fact that they publicly demonstrated against Netflix for producing this series says a lot about their approach. A knee-jerk reaction for publicity is what this feels like, rather than an actual truth-seeking mission and call to be like Jesus.

As Christians – that is people who follow Jesus Christ of Nazareth – we are called to live a life that demonstrates mercy, grace, and love. Not judgment as though we are God. In fact, the book of Matthew in the Bible specifically talks about getting rid of the giant plank in your own eye before going after the speck of dust in your neighbor’s. Of course, this is about one Christian to another, not a Christian judging a non-Christian for acting like “the world.”

We cannot expect non-Christians to adhere to Christian standards. And truthfully, people who are outside of the Church are often the most insightful into the behavior of the Church. They happen to be our target audience. And if we’re not meeting the needs of those who need Jesus, then why does the Church as an institution exist?

What is the point of protesting? What is the point of petitions? What is the point of all this advocating if the end result isn’t practical service driven by the love and compassion of Jesus, demonstrated with humility?

One of the key things that Return to Order appears to miss is that Good Omens is intended as a satire and comedy. The writers have not demonstrated a background of Biblical theology and have not claimed that this is a theological look at the End Times. Instead, this is a work of fiction. A satirical work of fiction.

One of the main points Return to Order seems to have issues with is how both heaven and hell are portrayed as being led by groups that want to have war for the sake of war: “…an arbitrary struggle devoid of meaning and truth.” Which reflects the mindset of a number of Christian groups who seem to have forgotten about mercy. Good Omens’ point is that there are Christian and non-Christian groups arbitrarily fighting for the sake of fighting.

Fear mongering, a staple of the conservative church that I grew up in, is still alive and well. Petitions like this continue feeding a long line of B.S. to marginalized people who are sheltered and kept from religious and political freedom through sermons preached by folks with an agenda. These folks often tell abused women that they’re at fault for the abuse and insist children should be taught that they don’t deserve love.

This culture of argument and divisiveness completely ignores the fact that “True love drives out all fear.”

How is biased, angry rhetoric godly? How can fire and brimstone sermons that condemn the already forgiven be a righteous demonstration of love?

The perpetuation of endless conflict for the sake of pride and ‘being right’ isn’t what I consider Christianity at all. A work of fiction is a work of fiction. A good story is a good story. A demon hell-bent on stopping Satan while driving a car aflame blaring Queen on the radio is a damn good production.

This Christian’s interpretation of Good Omens is that it’s a great work of fiction worth enjoying as such. It’s not a theology textbook, and it doesn’t claim to examine orthodox Christianity. It’s a satire that pokes fun at the end result of well-intentioned religious extremists.

The best way for us to put away the sword of the “Culture war” is to watch, read, listen, and interact with pop-culture that isn’t just made by Christians for Christians. And when we engage with non-Christian materials, it’s imperative to employ critical thinking skills to recognize the middle ground where we can connect with people in conversation – which involves both listening and speaking.

Because, let’s be honest. When have you ever heard that an angry protest or knee-jerk petition was the reason a non-Christian found peace, love, and acceptance in Jesus Christ?

What does an angry mob with pitchforks and torches have to do with the love of God?

When Armageddon does happen, whether there’s Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, or Post-Trib celebration at who’s right, I want to look Jesus in the eyes and hear Him say, “You loved the people I love. Well done, good and faithful servant.” I don’t want to have Him shake his head at me for judging people for using satire and humor to express themselves and their struggle with reconciling the mission of Jesus with the life “Christians” today.

-- -- --

Thank you, Neil Gaiman and the late and great Terry Pratchett for calling out the fallacies and foibles – and truth be told the hysterical nature that the Church is so often guilty of. Return to Order might not care much for you, Mr. Gaiman, but there’s always a place on our pew for you, anytime you want.

#GoodOmens #returntoorder #terry pratchett #neil gaiman #Christianity #culture war #Christian apologetics #love drives out fear #good books #good film #good television

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praphit · 6 years ago

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Velvet Buzzsaw: You need a plan like my man Patrick Swayze.

I saw the trailer for "Velvet Buzzsaw" a couple of weeks ago. It caught my eye (as I'm sure it did yours) due to its title.

When I think velvet, I think sexy. The dude who walks into the party with the velvet jacket on, is getting ALL of the ladies that night.

Trust me, couples at the party get into arguments over it -

Ex.

Insecure man says - "I saw you looking at the man in the velvet jacket - don't deny it! You're going to leave me for him aren't you?! I don't blame you... cuz that jacket took him to a ho nova level. I'm just saying, that I can wear velvet too."

Woman with insecure man replies - "No, you can't."

Insecure man fights it, but deep down he knows that she's right.

So, that goes down.

Now, everybody knows that red velvet is the most sexy.

Red velvet ropes - I think we all rub our hands down them with a big smile... oh God yes:)

Red Velvet Cupcakes... Here's the deal - I don't think kids should be eating them. Just MY opinion! I won't judge you shameful parents out there if YOU allow your kids to eat them, but I simply believe it's wrong. Too sexy!

So, to put these words together "Velvet Buzzsaw"... no bueno. It would be like putting the words "Ice Cream Needle" together.

Would you like a tasty ice cream needle today? NO! But that wording, combined with a premise of haunted, killer artwork was the intrigue of the trailer.

Plus, it has a great cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal and his creepy, bulging eyes. The movie "Nightcrawler" ruined him for me. Every time I see him, I see this -

I know it was just a character, but I actually believe that JG is like this... he leaves the set at the end of the day, and lurks around staring at people. I have a fear that one day, I'll go out at night, get in my car, the headlights turn on, and BOOM he'll be there... looking into the depths of me.

Other cast members - Toni Collette, Rene Russo, John Malkovich.

And even that "Stranger Things" girl.

No, not Bobby Brown (she's busy working on Godzilla).

Natalia Dyer -

Natalia talks to Millie Bobby Brown all the time, saying "Bitch, you ain't the only one who gets roles in movies. I got skills too! Why you out here stealing all the shine? I'm ascending! And If you get in my way, Imma cut you!"

Y'all didn't know it got that real on the set of "Stranger Things" did you?

When does season 3 of "Stranger Things" come out? They're all getting old. If they don't hurry up, season 3 will roll around and they'll all be in their mid to late 20's.

Anyway, I was excited about this flick. But, then, after all of that promo, the movie disappeared. I looked for it under "popular movies" and "recently added", but nothing. I searched for it - typed V - E... nothing... L T...they made me type out the whole word before it popped up. Dammit, Netflix, you know what I want! Give it to me!

Netflix hiding this movie is not a good sign, but I'm an objective man. Here we go:

This movie is centered around art, artists, and the art industry. The first thing that I learned right off the bat is that money sucks all of the fun out of everything. Or perhaps I should say the PURSUIT of money does... You want something, but you can't afford it, so you have to work harder and longer, and then by the time you have the cash, you want something else even more expensive. It causes jealousy. It robs one of joy and peace. Greed is some ol' bull shit! BUT, such is life.

Art was fun when we were kids, right? Finger painting, face painting, playing with clay, coloring books... what happened?! - the need to make money with it happened, and that's what is displayed here in this movie. This movie is about how greed and pursuing the glory of the art biz feeds on you.

We've got diff artists on diff levels:

The new hotness of the art world (everyone wants a piece)

The people who aren't the hotness

The critics / media / fans The leeches of the hotness (Cuz everything revolves around being hot)

The executives who run the machine that sucks all the joy out of what you do.

And the veteran - played by John Malkovich, whom I must say didn't need to be in this movie. His character added nothing to the plot at all.

But, I found the types in this world fascinating. If you think on it enough, you can def relate to these types (though some may be parodies). There are plenty moments of horror in this film (as seen in the trailer). Most of the elements of horror portrayed are really good, though some are silly. Not only well done, but well produced.

However, there's a reason why Netflix hid this movie from us. It's like looking at a piece of art, and learning the message behind it, only to find that the message is more interesting than the artwork. This movie itself is... kind of a mess. Like I said, good premise/food for thought, good acting, but errthang else - the writing, chemistry between actors, direction, storyline wrap-ups... ALL BAD.

Back to the horror - pretty much there's some dead artist's spirit that's killing off people through his art due to his blood being used in his projects.

Sounds cool, but he mainly and simply wants his art destroyed, so people don't die. Soooooo, you're KILLING people as a solution? Plus, why not use his ghostly energy to get others to destroy the art rather than destroy the people? Then, he starts trying to attack people through ALL art (including art that he didn't have any part in). What??!

We've all seen the movie "Ghost", so I know (cuz these movies are based off facts) that there were other non-violent options for this dead artist. In "Ghost" Patrick Swayze had a plan -

- to let Demi Moore know that he was around, let her know that she was in danger, and to try to have sex with her one more time through the body of Whoopi Goldberg. The dead guy in "Velvet Buzzsaw" had no tact!

Anyway, I give this flick a grade D

Pretentious art people may love it, but for the rest... I'd say just read this. The next time you want to get your "Flix and Chill" on, and your love muffin suggests this movie, tell him/her "Hold up, let's read through Praphit's rambling review instead, and then get into our sweet lovin." Save about 2hrs of your life, and make me a part of your foreplay instead:)

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megatentious · 6 years ago

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Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne is still incredible

I just finished a replay of Shin Megami Tensei 3 for the first time in a decade, so I felt compelled to write a big long unstructured essay about it where I’m going to sound like an overwrought crazy person. That’s okay though. There’s just something about this game that really speaks to those of us who find our way in. When you sound like a hyperbolic cultist writing soaring prose to try to meet the game at its level, it’s not a unique reaction. We’ve all been spellbound in the same way, the game is designed to do it. How is it designed to do this? Basically, in every conceivable way! The music and sound composition, the moment-to-moment battling, the environmental art and location choices, the progression systems for both the protagonist and demon fusions, the scope and method of storytelling, the density and depth of the mythological references, everything fits together like a symphony to inspire these feelings. Tension, immersion (lol), and utter absorption. Nocturne is a clinic in how to structure every aspect of your game around a unified vision (finding the strength to survive in a cruel and barren land) without hugely compromising ambition. That this level of design can be sustained over the course of 50 hours for the average playthrough and 70 for those of us determined to reach the lowest depths of the game’s enormous optional (!) Amala dungeon is insanely remarkable. Some of the more adolescent fans of the Shin Megami Tensei series and the broader Megaten franchise lionize this one in particular as being the most “dark” but that’s a kind of stupid and narrow way of looking at it. If you’re a cool person you don’t love Nocturne because it’s “dark” you love it because the game makes you feel like you’re hallucinating. SMT3 is unconcerned with providing detailed exposition and light-hearted character moments, but it’s a game that is overrun with “story” at every turn. And not just in the environmental, piece-it-together Souls series storytelling sense people love to talk about, there are actually a bunch more NPCs around straight up delivering dialogue for you than you’d think! Pair that up with the demon chatting, the compendium entries, the audiovisual cues and the gorgeously directed cutscenes, and the common complaint that SMT3 has no story just seems like nonsense to me. The game isn’t necessarily just dour or unambiguously somber either. Megami Tensei’s roots are in the pulpy trash of 80s light novels, and you see this in some of the humorous demon-focused crassness, the bits of comedic negotiation dialogue, and the seeming mish-mash of myth as aesthetic influences. But the funny paradox of SMT3 is that it’s a game built on a punk-rock foundation of rebelling against what’s proper and mainstream (see any interview with the creators) that is also simultaneously downright austere by today’s standards. Grand and lonely and visionary in tone, careful, measured and meticulous in its design, without an ounce of bloat, nothing wasted or incoherent, it’s just so impressive on every level (I promise I’ll get more specific with my gushing soon). There’s an attitude among some Megaten fans that Nocturne is the one that doesn’t fit in the series, that it’s too different from previous Shin Megami Tensei games, but I don’t think that’s right. To me there’s a very clear throughline, it’s just Nocturne’s antecedents aren’t necessarily found in its immediate numbered predecessor. When it comes to the main and numbered games in this series, you can very easily see the path from Megami Tensei 2 -> Shin Megami Tensei 2 -> Shin Megami Tensei 4, all of which begin years after the apocalypse has occurred and concern themselves with how society persists and political factions collide decades and even centuries into the aftermath. They are the three most readily described as “cyberpunk”, they’re chattier, they’re a bit more clichéd in their own ways (amnesiac gladiator and military academy recruit openings for SMT2 and SMT4 respectively), they let you use guns and their general sensibilities are similar.

SMT3’s lineage is, I feel, more directly traced from two other games. SMT1 and (hear me out!) Revelations: Persona. I think it’s easy to link these three games together for several reasons. In all three you begin in relative peace in a current day city, in all three the inciting incident is an occultist ritual, and interestingly in all three the hospital is your first dungeon, deliberately chosen for its uncanny familiarity to create an immediate sense of unease (and also the pretty obvious birth/death location symbolism). These are games centered around the immediacy of disaster and apocalypse, and take modern day locations that are meant to be familiar and subvert them to make them unnerving. Atmosphere is a word I see frequently used to praise all three games (yes there are at least 1 dozens of us, [dozens!] who like Persona 1) and the dream-like, surreal atmosphere in these three games can be strikingly similar.

So yeah, good lord, Nocturne’s atmosphere. This game is simply filled with astonishing imagery at every point. The art directors managed to make each scene feel somehow weighty and mesmerizing, with aesthetic choices made throughout that are just so thoughtful and cultured. Angels and demons look terrifying and awesome, in that they inspire terror and awe. Gods and goddesses appear benevolent, their facial expressions neutral and lacking in human emotion. Jack Frost remains the best mascot in videogames. There’s well-researched details in the animations and all aspects of appearance (see here for a bit on Baphomet’s posing). The vocal and sonic choices are perfect, like that unsettling blaring soundblast when the statue of Gozu-Tennoh speaks, as if a great and mighty terror is deigning to communicate across worlds.

There are posts that dissect the spiral imagery of the vortex world that repeats over the course of the game. There are entire sites devoted to breaking down the wide range of inspirations for the game's transcendental demon design. Random tumblr people compare the cutscene direction to Ingmar Bergman films, and it’s interesting to see how the cutscenes are frequently in first person or otherwise hide the protagonist, which not only hearkens back to series roots (while saving budget $$$) but also conveys solitude and makes the scenes with multiple demons and figures appear that much more spectacular. On any given day you’ll find a tweet or two or three of people overwhelmed by the game’s aesthetic choices, its virtuoso game over sequence, or title sequence, or pretty much any sequence. It’s the purest expression of a world class artist’s singular vision and is the reason why all of us sound so annoying whining for Kazuma Kaneko to return from his flower field exile.

There’s also a very ingenious way SMT3 supports its themes and that is through the combat. Nocturne is a game about stealing turns. It’s the fundamental principle of the battling, it’s why everyone tells you to keep the skill Fog Breath, and it’s a carryover from the simpler system in SMT1 where the method of stealing turns was using charm bullets or casting Zio to paralyze the enemy before they even have a chance to act. The battle system has a famous Engrish name called “Press Turn,” which is distinct and not to be confused with the One More system from newer Persona games or the alignment based combat bonuses of Strange Journey.

In SMT3, any given press turn encounter depends upon the party composition choices you’ve made, not only the resistances and repels/drains you enter with (two very different things in terms of battle consequences!) but also the moment to moment decision-making of turn management, weighing how to strategically pass to maximize damage output over the course of the fight. Every battle is an opportunity to demonstrate your efficiency and mastery of the systems, and the goal of each encounter is to use foresight and preparation to demolish your foes before they have the chance to even act. Steal turns and survive in a barren land of death upon death, this is the elegance of Press Turn. You’ll hear endless discussion around this game’s difficulty, and encounters generally have teeth to them yeah, but there is a very principled fairness to the battling where combat swings do not occur as dramatically as they do in say, SMT4. SMT3 is balanced perfectly by virtue of its lack of save anywhere option, providing you with tension at all times but also most importantly the tools to mitigate disaster over the long term, which is a deeply deeply rewarding way to survive.

Press Turn’s UI really adds to this rewarding feeling. How terrifying is it when a boss casts Beast or Dragon Eye, and suddenly a string of new turn icons appear? How satisfying is it to see a row of flashing turns, knowing that you’ve fully exploited your enemy? The enemy composition really accentuates this as well, with encounters often designed to avoid easy spam of single elements or physical skills to mindlessly coast to victory. SMT3 doesn’t want you taking any shortcuts, if you want to take advantage of a given demon or magatama’s skillset, you need to pair your choices to mitigate the corresponding weakness, or the enemy’s AI will press their advantage in the exact way you would. It’s a really satisfying symmetry.

There are also other paths to battle that are just as viable. Exploiting weaknesses with a multipurpose magic build is another way to steal turns. Building battlers around skills that maximize critical hits is another way. And if you are terrified of the infamous one-shot deaths that people like to say are the franchise trademark? Equip null-death magatama in between level ups. Raise your luck. Resolve battles before enemies even have the chance to use the spell against you. Raise your speed so enemies don’t get the chance to go first. Get endure as soon as possible. The tools for success are all right there for you! Nocturne tasks you with growing strong enough in this world to ascend to creation, and it provides you with multiple paths to reach this goal.

So, about these multiple paths, let me talk to you a bit about SMT3’s famously unique alignment system. Other games are lauded for their ultimately fairly stupid morality systems but Nocturne breezily operates on a completely different level. Instead of RESCUE and HARVEST in dumb giant gothic font or literally color-coded paragon and renegade meters, in SMT3 you align yourself naturally through story progression with factions concerned with stillness, power, solitude, freedom, or rebellion. Instead of the grand binary moral choice being telegraphed through hideous-looking “Little Sisters” (god I hated that stupid name haha) there’s a rough analogue in the actually sympathetic but far more complex unsettling-looking Manikins, whose character motif is described by the creators as representing those who lose themselves to the strength of numbers. There’s unfortunately a tiny amount of material in the game to support extremely tedious “canon” discussion, but the game actually works best and most purely as an abstract, impressionistic vision of grand universal themes. Playing through any one of SMT3’s six endings makes the universe feel vast and overwhelming, and asks you to contend with a broader suite of philosophies than ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and that’s ultimately what I think the developers were most interested in going for.

Something about the prose in Nocturne is also special in a way that is extremely difficult to accurately describe. Like everything else in this game it feels elegant and detached, gods and goddesses are appropriately otherworldly without sounding like haughty stereotypes, lower demons are funny and crass in a way that’s not so on-the-nose. Again it’s very difficult to pinpoint but something has been lost in the writing of the newer games, even a bit as small as how angels and demons in the game actually never name anything directly as God, but instead refer obliquely to a Lord, an Absolute, or a Great Will, Nocturne just gets all the little details right.

As I run out of steam from this braindump, I notice there’s still an essay’s worth of observations in so many other topics that deserve to be discussed. The Tokyo-focused but somehow universal theming of the game’s alignment principles and locale visuals. The insanely expansive but unfortunately compressed soundtrack (see over three hours of unreleased material alone here), where dungeon music regularly evolves to indicate progression, and battle and boss music quantity is generously varied both between and within song. The extremely rewarding fusion system can be plumbed to frankly insane depths, with a demon bestiary that is reasonable to 100%, and the lack of “use it or lose it” demon quality that hits other SMT series games contributing to a better feeling of progression and customization opportunities. The demon negotiation, which rewards your knowledge of mythological connections among pantheons with unique one-time only dialogue. The dungeons, the DUNGEONS. With the exception of an early set of sewers, an apparent shitty dungeon theme RPG tradition, each of these are little masterpieces of aesthetics and design, with their own thoughtfully introduced and iterated gimmick, planned wonderfully for both third and first person, often wrapping in and around themselves in spirals in that very Shin Megami Tensei-specific way.

Even if you think a game like Nocturne seems too dense or impenetrable or boring or random-encounter filled or whatever, it’s worth giving it a real shot for yourself to see if it manages to grab you. We’re no longer in those days in the late 2000s where the game cost exorbitant amounts of money to get, a digital version can be found on PS3 for $10 (with only rare emulation issues in certain dungeon sections), and the disc itself was reprinted and can be found brand new on Amazon if you have a PS2 or want to emulate on PCSX2, where the game looks even more breathtaking. Either way, find a way to treat yourself to an RPG where it is actually appropriate to throw around the term masterpiece. I didn’t really write any of this text no one’s going to read to make a persuasive case to anyone, but sometimes games will inspire you and it feels good to ramble about them. Games like this one are nearly impossible to make nowadays, and SMT3 is something worth cherishing.

#smt3 #nocturne #smt nocturne #unparalleled #why doesn't that last gif work here oh well

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garden-of-succulents · 7 years ago

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Ask I got: So with your post on your writing and Kent its like yeah I usually love a lot of your stuff but whenever Ngozi's line about "Kent getting all he wanted and not getting to grow and Jack getting all he feared and growing" I'm just kind of shocked you agree with that cause I mean you know Kent didn't want Jack to OD and I bet losing Jack in anyway was one of Kent's biggest fears.

plus like here the idea of growth ends up being tied to being out or closeted. Jack's maturity and self acceptance ends up being reflected through how open he is, the high point of his arc and growth as a player ended with him coming out to the world. Which unfortunately bounces back and frames Kent as immature and ties that immaturity to being closeted. [SOME BITS TRIMMED FOR LENGTH] And then make him an antagonist and frame all of his interactions with Jack/Bitty and all of his victories as negative just kind of burn my tongue

even more so when fans intentionally or not run with all that framing and end up connecting all of Kent's issues with his choice to be closeted for his career condemn his choice and point to it as evidence of immaturity or lack of self love or warped priorities, when that choice isn't just the norm but literally the only one any NHL player has ever made at this point and a choice millions of us make each and every day for our own safety, success, and happiness.

My reply: People criticizing the link between immaturity and closetedness are really on point, I think. When I was supporting N's comments about "Kent got everything he wanted, and didn't grow, while Jack got what he didn't want, and grew", I didn't know the full content of 3.26, especially the fact that Jack was going to come out on television and that Kent's teammates were going to be pretty LGBT-hostile.

I mean, I do think that Kent is immature, especially in the sense that his social and emotional development is stunted, and that his immaturity is the result of his decision to go into the NHL and be a professional player from age 18, while Jack's relative maturity is the result of his time in rehab and at Samwell. However, I don't think Kent is uniquely immature in the NHL, and his immaturity isn't linked to him being queer—I think, rather, that immaturity is a result of the incredibly toxic masculinity an NHL career demands, and the effects of that toxic masculinity. Jack's unique because his talent, family history, and financial privilege have given him the advantage of being able to fight that toxic masculinity in the way few professional hockey players have been able to.

So, I'm from Alberta. Small town with a hockey rink and not much else. Major oil-producing sector. Grew up around hockey players. I did part of my practicum as a mental health therapist at a university counselling centre in Vancouver where they had a really strong athletics program, and I had hockey players on my caseload. And the hardest thing for me to communicate to people from elsewhere about hockey culture is how relentlessly, insistently hypermasculine it is. Everything you've heard about a "man box", everything from The Mask You Live In or Men's Work or I Don't Want to Talk About It. That's what gets pushed by coaches, by commentators, by everybody—toxic masculinity is how you play. Dominate, suppress your emotions, overcome pain, win at all costs.

I am honestly saying that the entire feeder system for men's professional hockey is fucked up on a very fundamental level. From elementary school-aged kids getting up at 4am for practice and doing hockey every day and having no social lives outside of hockey, to teenagers leaving home before they're developmentally ready to be away from their families, having substance abuse issues at a grossly disprortionate rate to their peers, shortchanging their educations, and earning very little money. The system produces top players by getting them to focus on hockey at the expense of everything else, which includes their social and emotional development.

I'm talking about basic shit like "realizing when you are feeling an emotion and being able to identify what emotion it is". The inability to do this is called alexithymia, and it often comes from growing up in an invalidating environment where your emotions are never recognized, acknowledged, or accommodated. I'm talking about stuff like "not being able to tell someone about your basic wants and needs"—something that is really hard when the least expression of emotion is seen as "weak" or "gay".

So when I say that Kent "hasn't grown" or is "immature", I mean that things went so bad at the Epikegster because these are skills he hasn't developed. When he spits out, "I miss you," it comes out like it's the absolute limit of what he's capable of saying. His entire sales pitch to Jack has been in terms of money, power, and dominance—You'll be on a great team; you'll earn lots of money; you'll be better than before. It's not until he's at the end of his rope that he admits to wanting Jack back because he misses him. And therefore he doesn't see why he's failing at persuasion; he doesn't realize that Jack has an emotional attachment to the Samwell players, that his priorities for joining a team aren't just about prestige and money.

Because here's the thing about toxic masculinity: there are the things Kent really feels and wants, and the things he is allowed to admit he feels and wants according to toxic masculinity.

Acceptable masculine interests according to toxic masculinity:

Money

Power

Violence

Dominance

Competition

Prestige

Sex

Unacceptable masculine interests according to this system:

Emotional intimacy

Intellectual curiosity

Artistic expression

Play

Authenticity

Personal fulfillment

Safety

According to the system, Kent was only allowed to want to be rich, famous, and successful. Those were the only things he could admit to without being lambasted in international press outlets, because hockey media is sooooo fucked up.

Jack's OD emotionally devastated Kent Parson—and he would have been pilloried for letting it show. In that moment, he wasn't expected to feel anything except humble, grateful, and happy. So that's how he acted. Being closeted is such a secondary concern here.

So in some ways "immature" is the wrong word because Kent is an incredibly mature public figure, polished and good at keeping his mouth shut; he's mastered the art of being what he's expected to be, at being what will let him succeed at his chosen profession. It's kind of like how PTSD is a disease, a dysfunctional set of behaviours, in a peaceful, prosperous society, but it's what keeps you alive in a warzone. It's why I don't counsel hockey bros as a chosen profession: I don't respect their athletic and professional achievements enough to work with them every day. I don't think it's worth winning a trophy if you were never home and ruined your marriage and failed to look after your children, and I'm not good at honouring a belief system that says it is worth it.

But I would define "maturity" as the ability to understand your own needs and fulfill them; to live your own reality and express it in a way that satisfies you.

The ways Jack "grew" were when he admitted that something was wrong and accepted convalescence and treatment instead of skating through the pain. When he got to know himself as an intellectual and artistic person as well as an athletic one. When he made space in his life for empathy and play. Because when you see NHL players being criticized on a personal level, what's it for? For having "big personalities", for being "unprofessional" and "unserious", for being "girly". For celebrating too much, dancing too freely, being political, intellectual, for questioning power hierarchies, and for putting their personal welfare ahead of their teams' success.

(Hockey players' compliance to power hierarchies is valued above all things, but that's a different rant)

Jack's moment of maturity wasn't kissing Bitty on the Stanley Cup ice; it was a year earlier, in his own room, when he understood how he felt and acted on it, and communicated it to Bitty, thereby achieving an emotional intimacy that was more important to him than hockey. In that same room, Kent struggled so badly to understand what he wanted and why, and to express it to somebody else, that he backfired in his intended aim, injured his friendship with Jack more deeply than ever, and hurt the person he wanted to express love for.

So the dichotomy of closeted/out is super new in the comic, and super new to analyses of Kent. A lot of what we've been talking about, and the theories we've evolved, have really not been based on 3.26.

And yes, like you, I'm really leery of letting that be a consistent part of the analysis. We don't know why Kent isn't out yet (my personal theory is that it was strategic) and I'm way more willing to say he's immature because of the way that interaction with Jack went to shit, than to say he's immature because he's doing the smart thing and surviving in a homophobic-as-fuck industry.

And, as always, a lot of my fic about Kent is about him developing those things his industry wants to punish him for having--why I write about him escaping to music festivals with queer pagan poets, respecting and supporting female athletes, caring for helpless animals, developing strong aesthetic tastes and artistic hobbies, finding spirituality, fighting back against his hierarchies, admitting his problems, or quitting to raise a baby. Because I want him to develop too. But I think the draft sent him to the desert in more ways than one, and it’s a struggle for him to thrive.

#stuff i wrote #kent parson #omgcp #coming out discourse

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creideamhgradochas · 6 years ago

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Thanks to the lovely @wakandasoldier for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely T, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

I've loved writing since I was old enough to string sentences together and have it make sense, but the fanfiction part for me didn't start until I was maybe 9 or 10. It's been a long time since then and I only wrote for my personal enjoyment, but I didn't start posting anything on Tumblr until I just did it one day after years of keeping my hobby locked away--on this same blog, believe it or not, and I haven't gone back since.

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

As a Reader-Insert writer, the answer might seem obvious but I've always loved conjuring my own characters and bringing them to life in the wake of a new world and I have worked on a few of my own original stories but recently I've been attached to a certain one, so I love a good OC as much as Reader-Insert.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

I love a nice mix of romance and adventure. A story with an intense plot that keeps a reader on their toes as well as having characters fall in love along the way? Sign me up, man.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

The fic I wrote that I am not fond of is also one that became very popular. I honestly think it was poorly written on my part and I would not mind if it disappeared. It's my one-shot called A Hairy Situation.

5) When is your preferred time to write?

I have a hard time focusing at any time of day, but once night rolls around I find it a lot more peaceful and easier to write.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

I take inspiration from where I can get it. Sometimes a song will inspire me for a character, maybe a book I've read, and sometimes other writers!

7) What’s your favorite scene that you’ve written?

I was torn for this one because I love the scene in Before The King where Reader and Steve bust into the deli owner's house and have to squeeze into a tiny bathroom to reach the fire escape, but Steve finds the gun Reader has and wants to give her sh*t for it but can't since Bucky needs backup so he's just like: "We'll talk about this later." And the other scene is in Waters of Chaos in the dreamscape with Reader and Erik where she wants to know who and what he is because he mentions he's immortal and then Erik summons a sandstorm to be extra and reveals he's Horus in all his glory, and the mental image of that man wrapped in gold is truly something. So, it's a tie between Steve having to shut down his dad-mode and Erik being an Egyptian God.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

I haven't received criticisms for my works, but I have gone through and realized there was a few typos or a missing word from a sentence. I'm always open to criticism and feedback, though.

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

I really favor Bucky and Steve since they were the characters I initially latched on to and also grew with as a writer. The more I got a feel for the characters themselves and developed my skill, the more I came to love them. Although, T'Challa is always an honor to write for.

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

I think my least favorite character is Vision--writing-wise-- since I find it impossible to figure out his character and personality, but I don't mind writing any other character.

11) How do you come up with the titles for your stories?

Okay, so titles have always just been easy for me and sometimes I've thought of a title and formed the whole story around it.

12) What do you think is the best idea you’ve had for a story so far?

I love the medieval/fantasy genre and story idea for When Winter Came, but also I've been waiting to do an Egyptian Gods AU for the longest time and finally I had the chance to write it, i.e. Waters of Chaos.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Yes, I have plenty of things I've abandoned that I just lost inspiration for. There was one series I had that I stopped writing because the person who requested it was going around to other authors and demanding the same plot and that it be a multi-part fic, so I immediately stopped writing for the series because it not only irritated me, but seemed to be bound to cause problems.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I wrote a one-shot as a birthday present for a friend of mine that I can't remember the title of, but it was short and sweet with Bucky showing up injured on Reader's doorstep and she patches him up in her bathroom so I would like to continue it one day.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

I actually don't! At least.. I think I don't, but nothing comes to mind so I'm satisfied with the endings I've dished out.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

I could go on and on about some of the wonderful writers who've become good friends of mine on this website, but I have made a few posts recommending quite a few of the writers in the Marvel community that I admire. I greatly admire a few authors as well and I recently read the entire Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas, so she's become a favorite and then there's been a few others that I can't remember the names of.

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

I take the time some days to read through what I've posted and it kind of amazes me how far I've come since I first started posting, but I can't help but cringe at it a bit.

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

It's impossible for me to write without music and the way it drowns out all other noise around me helps me focus more than silence does. I'm more used to tuning out music, so I not only can get inspiration with songs but write at the same time.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

I haven't cried while writing anything, but I feel that is partly because I already know where I am taking the fic and it kind of ruins it for myself.

20) Which part of your fics have been the hardest to write?

I have a really hard time writing characters crying and struggling with loss because you have to understand a character enough to know the ways they deal with showing raw emotion and how they cope in mourning. I've always had a difficult time showing that.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

In all honesty, if I would outline my stories I probably would have an easier time keeping up with everything and being able to see my fics through all the way, but I write as it comes to me so a girl can dream!

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?

If I were to look back and be able to tell myself one thing, it would be that I should be confident in whatever I write because that sh*t is hard to do and whether it's a one-shot or a series I should never lose faith in doing something I love.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I feel like When Winter Came is a bit of an underdog compared to Before The King, but there isn't as many parts to the Medieval AU so I think I can understand the difference.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

In all honesty, I am pretty happy with the fics that got popular. My writing has gotten decent attention so I'm not complaining.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Technically, yes? All the characters are the Marvel characters and they look like the actors who play them.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

I am eternally grateful for any compliment I receive! I love every comment I get on a story and can't chose a favorite.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I've also been lucky to have not received any harsh criticisms on my work, but I have gotten input from other writers on certain works before I post them.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

I have always been the type to keep fic ideas pretty private until I'm almost finished, but with my series I have always been open about them.

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

No, not very many people do know that I write fanfiction. I believe the only person is my best friend and she's always been supportive about it.

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written?

I have always appreciated writing Sam Wilson as a "minor" character in Before The King. He comes naturally in the story and I'm pretty confident in my characterization of him.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

I think it's just my level of focus and how much of the story I have in my head. If I can have 80% of the plot points figured out, then I can get it done. It also depends on how excited I am to bring the story to life, as well.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

My favorite trope is a tie between a nice enemies to lovers fic or a slow-burn fic. Nothing is better than two characters pining after each other for long period of time and dragging the readers through an intriguing story that has two characters admitting they love each other at a perilous time.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

I honestly have no idea what I first read as a fanfic, but I did go through a One Direction phase so I was reading a lot of fanfiction during that time. After that I really got sucked into Marvel and I haven't gone back since.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

I write more angst than anything else, so the answer is a bit obvious. The reason of choosing it is because smut is always a selective reading choice and a lot of people appreciate fluff, but I feel as though angst is what engages a reader entirely into the story and brings them completely into a character's shoes. As a reader myself, at times, I am more immersed when the story is mostly angst and find myself feeling more emotion than I do to other genres of fanfiction.

#milestone celebration #ask the author #wakandasoldier

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jvzooproductsclub · 6 years ago

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CRUSHING IT online – Advertisers paying HUGE for Youtubers!

Overview:

Product Creator Walt Bayliss Product Name Vidfuse Front-End Price $47.00 Niche Video Marketing Bonuses YES! Listed Below! Refund 30 Days Money Back Guarantee Recommendation Yes, 100%. Launch Date 2018 – July – 12th @ 10:00 AM EST Official Website Checkout "Vidfuse" Official Site

Click Here @ 10:00 AM EST on 2018-July-12th To Get An Early Bird Discount On "Vidfuse" Along With My Exclusive Bonus!

Youtubers making millions. Literally, everyone from craft bloggers, slime makers, fishermen and cooking shows are absolutely crushing it online. If you’ve got the content , You’ve got the advertisers attention. Now – YOU can set this up for yourself and tap into the biggest flow of advertising cashflow that’s occurred in the last 5 years. The new App launching, called VIDFUSE is designed for you to achieve exactly that. Let’s check out my Vidfuse Review below for more details!

VIDFUSE REVIEW – WHAT IS IT?

Vidfuse is built for the person who wants to have a youtube following and wants to get into video quickly and easily. In short, it’s a video editing app that is built for your mobile device. While video editing tools aren’t new, Vidfuse brings together an incredible Web and Mobile experience allowing a video creator to shoot video on mobile, edit and publish right from the spot. No Desktop software required.

What you’re able to do with this particular platform is shoot a video on any mobile device, any number of different takes… stitch them together, add an intro, add an outro, cut out the bit, do your lower thirds as an overlay and push done. Then instantly publish to WordPress, Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin,… all of the sites that are out there. And YouTube, of course, Vimeo,… publish that finished product video with one click.

In detail, This is a real vlogging app for real people. Now you can Transform the videos in your phone into engagement with your fans with full in-phone editing that lets you to craft powerful vlog content in minutes. Publish your vlogs across a wide net of social accounts and blogs to build your following and drive organic traffic back to your main sites and offers. With no need for advertising, no need for expensive camera equipment, and no need for complicated editing software, VidFuse is the ultimate hand-held content machine.

Vidfuse Rating - 9.4/10

Quality - 9.5/10

Features - 9.5/10

Support - 9.5/10

Easy to use - 9.5/10

Bonus - 9.0/10

Summary

This rating only shows our ideas about this product, we strongly recommend you firstly see the demo/preview to get the whole picture. Remember, You're also be backed by 30 Day Money Back Guarantee No Question Asked! You've got nothing to lose. TRY IT TODAY! What's your thought? Please let us know!

CREATOR OF VIDFUSE

Walter Bayliss, also known as Walt Bayliss, and his partner Matt Ford is the creator of Vidfuse. Walt has run an online career for many years. That amount of time has given him a solid foundation of knowledge and technical skills in making digital products. He is also the one who has made the product named Hydravid, DataJeo, Discover,… that have attracted huge attentions from the wide audience. Now, let’s look at the next part of this Vidfuse Review and find out its features.

FEATURES OF VIDFUSE

Here are the details of what you will get inside this app:

VidFuse Editor

Think “Camtasia” or “Screenflow” style videos made in your phone with seamless drag and drop editing capabilities at your fingertips. Exporting 10 different videos to a laptop, and then messing about with a full-blown editing program just to create a personal vlog, isn’t just a waste of time, it’s like using a sledgehammer to break an egg. This is without a doubt the fastest, easiest way to take video that’s already on your phone and create something truly spectacular for your fans.

VidFuse Publisher

To witness the true power of VidFuse as automatically syndicates your video to the world’s biggest platforms. That means organic traffic flowing back to you from the farthest reaches of the internet 24/7. More fans to share your content. More referral traffic to your main offers. More shares. More subscribers. More tribe members. Everywhere, all of the time.

VidFuse publisher combines editing excellence with publishing power to syndicate your vlogs to the biggest social platforms in one simple step.

VidFuse Sound Effects & Music

VidFuse Music and soundtrack layer allows you to add amazing music tracks or voice overs to all of your content. Turn snapshots into videos and layover the soundtrack and BOOM. Keep people hypnotised with tracks that cover the entire length of your video. Give yourself an epic intro worthy of a WWE wrestler. Close your vlog with a sense of urgency and inspire action in your viewers… with VidFuse you are the Maestro.

VidFuse Library

VidFuse Cloud based library means your clips, best effects, lower third overlays and animated intro reels or subscribe inserts are only ever a click away. Produce laughs. Surprise and wake up a viewer that’s not fully engaged. Demonstrate key points. Add some colour.

VidFuse Library is always only a click away, giving you peace of mind that any video treat you choose to serve up will be eagerly devoured.

VidFuse Text Overlay

Just like a pro-editor you can overlay text to pass on critical information, create clear calls to action, and make sure your fans can still get your message with the volume turned down! With text overlays, your fans can be watching when they should be working, when they’re on the toilet, on the train home without disturbing Doris and her book, true fans can even be soaking up your marketing message while their significant other is fast asleep. The more ways people will hear, see, and read you message, the more people will join your tribe, and the more people in your tribe, the faster your business will grow.

VidFuse Cloud

No need to limit yourself to your phone. If you’ve got video on your hard drive, or you prefer the space and organization you get working on your laptop, then log into our fully featured cloud editor.

VidFuse Cloud is a great way to enhance your workflow, and take care of vlogs that might need more processing power and heavy lifting.

But that’s not all

When you grab it today, you will also get the access to VidFuse Masters Sessions where you’ll discover how vlogging newbies really become multi-millionaires. In this complete vlogging masterclass you’ll learn how to create a successful vlogging empire directly from some of the world’s most successful vloggers.

You’ll hear how regular people went from wet behind the ears vlogging nobodies… to REAL-LIFE vlogging superstars who pull in millions of subscribers, millions of views PER video, and millions of dollars in a single year, all by doing what they love.

The Vidfuse Superstars Of Youtube Series is easily valued at $497 and gives you all the tools, tips, and strategies you’ll need to take your everyday life, all its faults, all its dull moments, all its passions and surprises, and transform it into a vlogging business you can be proud of…

Just one of these interviews could unlock the doors to a million-dollar business, but VidFuse users who buy today get all of our interviews and all future interviews, valued at $497, for free as part of this special launch deal.

WHY YOU NEED VIDFUSE?

VidFuse isn’t just a matter of creating the video and syndicating it. It’s a matter of feeling good, proud, and confident about the video you publish. Of knowing that when you press publish your response is going to be overwhelmingly positive. Of being able to quickly, and easily suck up adoring fans from all 4 corners of the internet.

Could you start off with just your phone, and a YouTube account? Sure, you could. Buy why start at level 1 when a few tweaks in-phone you can start you off at level 10… ready to inspire the kind of following that brings big brands with big check-books knocking on your door in search of an influencer.

If you want to surpass the kinds of stories Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have changed the world of marketing with you won’t get a better opportunity than right now with VidFuse.

Shoot, EDIT and share. Build hordes of loyal followers and let the advertising dollars flow straight to YOU. You even get the SECRETS of the best youtubers in the world as part of this launch special offer. Interviews with genuine youtube Millionaires sharing HOW they got started, TIPS for building your channel and insider knowledge that’s worth THOUSANDS. It’s part of Vidfuse.

In Addition, You Will Be Getting Tons of The Vendor’s Greatest Bonuses For Your Last Action:

Bonus No: 1

Modern Video Marketing

With this video course...

You are going to understand the old elements that sill remain alive in video marketing.

You will learn to identify the new and old factors that make up modern video marketing.

You will understand the concept of return on effort.

You can begin to understand the KLT (know-like-trust) buying process.

You are going to learn exactly how to create a human connection with your prospects.

And much more!

Bonus No: 2

Modern Video Marketing Video Upgrade

Topics covered:

Effective Video Marketing In A Nutshell

Video Marketing: The Modern and Effective Way

Let Your Competitors Do Your Video Marketing Homework For You

Modern Video Marketing Essentials

Figuring Out The Different Types Of Video Marketing

Article-to-Video Marketing: Is It Right For You?

Video Scribe and Other Whiteboard Video Creation Tools: The Inside Scoop

Slideshow Creation Tools: Are They Right For You?

Personality-Focused Videos

Marketing Videos on Social Media

Bonus No: 3

Site Speed Secrets

Site Speed Secrets is a step-by-step blueprint about how to speed up your website and increase conversions.

Here's what you'll discover in this course:

How website speed optimization works and how you can use it to leverage your online success.

The one secret no one tells you about web caching and how it can change your site for the better.

The easiest ways to get Google to like your site and reward you with higher rankings on its search results pages.

Why it’s important to host your site with a reputable web host.

The 4 different caching plugins you can use to turbocharge your WordPress site.

How content delivery networks work and why your website needs to be on one.

The many different techniques for image optimization and why it’s important you reduce your image file sizes.

The different file types you can compress and optimize to help speed up your website.

What .htaccess is and how you can use it to improve your web pages’ load time.

And so much more!

Bonus No: 4

Site Speed Secrets Video Upgrade

Discover how you can finally speed up your website and increase your conversion rates. All the information you need is here, and nothing has been left out in this course!

You’ll learn so much just by going through this course. Here are some of the most powerful benefits you’ll gain:

Learn to build faster websites from now on.

Not all web hosts are created equal – make sure you sign up for a fast web host that will help you reach your business goals.

Know how to use and analyze the results of the best website speed testing tools out there.

Never underestimate the power of caching ever again – it will help your site load much faster than ever before.

Become a .htaccess expert and learn how to speed up your site with just a few extra lines added to this powerful file.

Be an expert at reducing and optimizing file sizes before uploading anything to your website.

Use the top WordPress plugins which will help supercharge your slow site and turn it into a speedy machine.

Topics covered:

3 Major Reasons Yours Site Is Slow and How You Can Fix It

3 Methods To Improve Your Websites User Experience

4 Benefits Of Using Accelerated Mobile Pages AMP For Your Website

4 Free Tools You Can Use To Speed Up Your Website

5 Benefits Of Having A Fast Website

6 Secrets To Speed Up Your WordPress Website

How Optimizing Your Images Can Help With Your Site

How To Choose The Rights Web Hosting Company

Why You Should Care About How Fast Your Website Load

WordPress vs Static HTML Websites Which Is Faster

Bonus No: 5

SuperCharged Productivity

Supercharged productivity is a guide that contains the world's best productivity hacks by the world's leading productivity experts.

Inside this guide, you'll discover mind-blowing productivity hacks you can use this instance to exponentially improve your productivity and crush all those stubborn projects that you've laid off for so long.

You'll discover incredible insight and profound knowledge that will enable you to operate with incredible energy beyond the average capability of a human being.

You will learn:

A list of powerful zero cost tools to practically increase your productivity by 20% in a snap of a finger!

Uncover the myth behind productivity and time management

Learn the difference between effectiveness and efficiency, critical for getting more things done in less time

The 1 thing that high performers focus on that enables them to accomplish critical task one after the other without suffering from burnout

An overall gameplan to achieve maximum productivity and overtake everyone else on your road to success

How to determine and eliminate unnecessary time -wasting activities so you'll regain full control over your time and maximize the results you want to achieve

The ULTIMATE secrets to supercharged productivity

Understand what is energy and how you can direct your energy in the right way so you'll achieve incredible productivity

The two most important powerful productivity hacks (Only one in a million people in this country knows this hacks)

Several things you need to ditch immediately to be happy and become hyper-productive towards finishing your grand projects or goals.

Tap into your body's hidden energy reserve and gain the extra stamina to perform at peak level for a longer period of time.

Dive into the mindset of top productivity experts and learn how to 'tune' your mind to constantly hack yourself to be more productive

And many more!

Bonus No: 6

Supercharged Productivity Video Upgrade

Supercharged productivity is a video course that contains the world's best productivity hacks by the world's leading productivity experts.

It's an video upgrade of Supercharged Productivity ebook.

Topics covered:

The Myth Of Time Management

Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

Results - Fast Lane to Success

Your Gameplan to Success

The Secrets to Supercharged Productivity

Why Energy Is Everything

Supercharged Productivity Hacks

How To Be A One Man Army

Follow One's Cause Until Successful

So What's Next

Bonus No: 7

Survey Funnel

With this 9-part video course discover how to generate micro-targeted leads that are ready to buy your products & services, starting today!

These methods are based on a working system. There's no theory here!

Imagine if you could get micro-targeted leads ready to buy from you!

Topics covered:

Introduction and Getting Started

Why Surveys Are So Powerful

Your End Goal

Your Product & Service

The Buyer That Fits

The Typical Day

The Survey Form

The Mindmap

Implementation to Segmentation

Bonus No: 8

The Growth Mindset

The Growth Mindset is the mindset of world’s top achievers and successful people for achieving massive success.

You will learn the EXACT practices of world’s top achievers do to achieve greatness in their life. Change your mindset now to achieve great success and get ready to be mind-blown by your own transformation!

You will learn:

Proven Strategies Practiced By The World’s Top Achievers To Develop A Growth Mindset.

How To Reverse From Being Trapped In A Limiting Mindset (Get Out Of This Situation Asap Because This Will Slows You Down Or Worse... Prevents You From Attaining Success!)

7 Ways The Growth Mindset People Are Superior In Many Things.

The Most Effective Way To Change Your Behaviour And Anything In Life (Not The Easiest Way, But A 100% Sure Fire Way To Get Better At Anything In Life!)

10 Crucial Things You Will Learn From Failing… (Failing Is Not Bad After All).

Warning! 3 Types Of Mindset You Must Avoid At All Cost!

One Particular Trait That Enables Growth Mindset People To Improve Any Skills They Want (And How You Can Do The Same!).

Is Scarcity Even Real? Find Out The Shocking Truth About Scarcity In Chapter 1.

How Do People With Growth Mindset Think? Here’s How… (Chapter 3)

Performance Vs. Improvement. Which One Matters?

And much, much more!

Bonus No: 9

The Growth Mindset Video Upgrade

With this video course you will:

Be Positive, Creative, High-Energy, & Motivated

Deal With Failures, Setbacks And Challenges Differently From 90% Of The Population (No Stress Involved!)

Be At Your Very Best Self.

Have The Ability To Master Any Skills Or Areas Of Your Life

Become The Top Performer In Your Personal And Professional Life

Accomplish So Much More Than You Ever Thought Possible

Experience Exponential Growth In Your Character Values.

Have A More Fulfilling Life Knowing That You Are Progressing Every Day To Be Better.

Start Seeing Positive Results And Notice Incredible Changes When You Apply What You’re About To Learn In Growth Mindset As Fast As 30 Days.

Most Important, You Will Shortcut Your Way To Success!

Topics covered:

What is Mindset?

Why is Mindset Important?

Fixed vs Growth Mindset.

The Dangers of a Fixed Mindset.

The Power of a Growth Mindset.

Is it Possible to Change Your Mindset?

Strategies to Develop a Growth Mindset

Dealing with Setbacks

Bonus No: 10

Wholeness

Lifestyle provides input to the human body. If there are any problems with these inputs, you are sure to feel the consequences. We do not completely realize how important lifestyle choices are.

It’s about time for you to enjoy all-natural holistic wellness!

With this step by step guide...

You are going to understand the importance of Lifestyle.

You will learn to identify lifestyle inputs

You will understand the spiritual component of wellness.

You can begin to understand the body-and-mind connection.

You are going to learn exactly how to live a more empowered life.

You will learn about:

Rediscovering the Importance of Lifestyle

Lifestyle is Always a Choice

The 5 Key Benefits of a Holistic Focus on Wellness: The Power of Wholeness

Overcoming 5 Common Myths that Lead to Disease and Dysfunction

Begin with Your Most Powerful Bio-Organic Complex: Your Mind

Understand the importance of relational wellness

Explore physical wellness

Traditional wellness is not up to the job

Preventative Medical Wholeness

Claiming Environmental Wholeness

Bonus No: 11

Wholeness Video Upgrade

With this 10-part video course...

You are going to understand the importance of Lifestyle.

You will learn to identify lifestyle inputs

You will understand the spiritual component of wellness.

You can begin to understand the body-and-mind connection.

You are going to learn exactly how to live a more empowered life.

Topics covered:

Rediscovering the Importance of Lifestyle

Lifestyle is Always a Choice

The 5 Key Benefits of a Holistic Focus on Wellness: The Power of Wholeness

Overcoming 5 Common Myths that Lead to Disease and Dysfunction

Begin with Your Most Powerful Bio-Organic Complex: Your Mind

Understand the importance of relational wellness

Explore physical wellness

Traditional wellness is not up to the job

Preventative Medical Wholeness

Claiming Environmental Wholeness

Bonus No: 12

Affiliate Marketing Kit

AFFILIATE MARKETING PROFIT KIT solves the following common yet fatal problems hounding both newbie and veteran affiliate marketers.

You will learn:

How to pick a niche that is most likely to earn you money

How to pick a conversion platform that will produce the most money with the least effort

How to create content your niche audience will actually want to read and share

How to select affiliate offers the smart and efficient way

How to build an affiliate marketing business that will stand the test of time and fickle consumer trends

The AFFILIATE MARKETING PROFIT KIT delivers:

Plain ENGLISH instructions: you don’t have to have to be an affiliate marketing veteran to understand and carry out its powerful and effective instructions

Actionable information: you get any THEORY with this PROFIT KIT. Instead, you get solid practical step by step instructions you can carry out RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

Scalable information: you don’t get a ONE TRICK PONY instruction set that works NOW but will be USELESS TOMORROW. The AFFILIATE MARKETING PROFIT KIT worked in the past, is working now, and will CONTINUE TO WORK long into the future!

Powerful traffic generation strategies: most other ‘online income’ blueprints or affiliate marketing ‘guides’ completely leave out the most important part of affiliate marketing success:

TRAFFIC. You will get powerful information you can use to both GENERATE FREE TRAFFIC and handle PAID TRAFFIC the right way!

And much more!

Bonus No: 13

Affiliate Marketing Profit Kit Video Upgrade

Discover How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing - Even If You Are a Complete Beginner!

With this video tutorials you can learn to get out of the gate well-positioned to succeed in the often DOG-EAT-DOG hypercompetitive world of affiliate marketing! You don’t have to settle for the crumbs LEFT OVER by the big players of your niche.

Topics covered:

4 Ways you are killing your passive income empire dreams

The money is in the list but not in the way you think

7 secrets of affiliate success most marketers will not tell you

7 Reasons why you should focus on niche selection

6 Ways your niche may be holding your affiliate income

5 Ways to find the best converting content

How to turbocharge your affiliate income in one step

What is the single most important factor to affiliate success

6 Ways to prevent your affiliate business from crashing and burning

The 5 Hallmarks of solid social media content

Bonus No: 14

Music Loops Pack 1

This music loops package contains 25 royalty-free music loops. You can use it in yours or your clients projects!

Bonus No: 15

Music Loops Pack 2

This music loops package contains 25 royalty-free music loops. You can use it in yours or your clients projects!

Bonus No: 16

Music Loops Pack 1

This music loops package contains 25 royalty-free music loops. You can use it in yours or your clients projects!

Bonus No: 17

Modern Affiliate Marketing

The key to affiliate marketing success is to focus on what works. The mechanics of affiliate marketing have not changed. What has changed, however, are the strategies that enable you to become a successful affiliate marketer.

With this step by step guide...

You are going to understand the importance of modern affiliate marketing strategies.

You will learn to identify niches based on ROI and other crucial factors.

You will understand modern conversion systems.

You can begin to understand different monetization methods.

You are going to learn exactly how to put a heavy focus on the commercial value of your niche.

Topics covered:

Picking Your Niches Based on ROI and Other Crucial Factors

Picking the Right Affiliate Program to Maximize Conversions

How to Create Niche-Focused Conversion Systems

Traffic Generation Strategies

Traffic Optimization Strategies

The Key to Affiliate Marketing Success in 2018 and Beyond

Bonus No: 18

Modern Affiliate Marketing Video Upgrade

Picking the Right Affiliate Program to Promote all Boils Down to ROI.

Make no mistake, if you want to succeed with your affiliate marketing business, you have to focus on ROI. If you have a fuzzy idea of what return on investment means, you're playing the game wrong.

With this video course you will learn the secrets of modern affiliate marketing!

Topics covered:

Picking Your Niches Based on ROI and Other Crucial Factors

Picking The Right Affiliate Program to Maximize Conversions

How To Create Niche-Focused Convertion Systems

Traffic Generation Strategies: Category 1 - Direct Traffic To Your Link

Traffic Generation Strategies: Category 2 - SEO (backlinks)

Traffic Generation Strategies: Category 3 - Social Media

Traffic Generation Strategies: Category 4 - Forums

Traffic Generation Strategies: Category 5 - Question and Answer Platforms

Traffic Generation Strategies: Category 6 - Third-party blog traffic

Traffic Optimization Strategies

Bonus No: 19

Video Playbook

Video is the fastest growing type of media online. Even companies that were founded on other types of broadcasting—such as Twitter and Instagram have begun to embrace video in order to improve visitor engagement and better connect with their target audience.

However, incorporating video content on your blog or website hasn’t always been an easy task.

For many, uploading videos to their own hosting account is time-consuming and expensive, and while embedding videos from third-party services simplifies things, you’ll often end up losing a lot of control over how the videos are displayed.

In this guide, you’re going to learn some of the best ways to use video on your websites profitably, and just how easy it is to get around some of the biggest issues you might face when using it.

Topics covered:

Why Use Video?

How to Make Money with Videos

Creating Your Own Videos

Video Storage Services

Using Other People’s Videos To Maximize Exposure

MonkeyPlayr

Powerful Video Ideas

Bonus No: 20

HIIT 2 FIT Video Upgrade

HIIT is also known as High Intensity Interval Training. It means exercising at an intense pace for a short period… and scientists have found that this workout method is MILES better than a moderate pace workout.

Studies show that the intensity of exercise is one of the greatest factor in rapid fat loss.

HIIT is:

Fun

Efficient

Minimalistic

Location-independent

A brain booster

A muscle-builder

Customizable

With this video course you will:

Save precious time by working out the most efficient way possible for fat loss and building muscle at the same time. That means more time for you to spend with family and friends,

Look good without giving up your soul. You don’t have to give up sports night or your favorite six-packs of beer to have an aesthetic physique.

Enjoyable exercises that will get you excited for your next workout

Bonus No: 21

Ecom Mastery

With the advent of systems like Shopify and WooCommerce that make it easier than ever to set up an online store without vast programming knowledge or deep pockets, and the prevalence of drop shipping companies that have affordable prices, e-commerce is booming like never before.

E-commerce is one of the only systems you can use to make money online that is truly long-lasting and sustainable, and, in a profitable niche, can keep making you money for many years to come.

With this report you will learn basics about how to start your own online store.

Topics covered:

Choosing a Profitable Niche

Finding Your Passion

Going Deep

Sourcing Products

Marketing Your Store

Bonus No: 22

Niche Market Discovery

If you don’t know the process for discovering hot niche markets, then you will continue to work hard and never achieve the success you are looking for.

If you want to find the right niche market, that is proven to be profitable, you have to learn the process for niche market discovery.

Here is a comprehensive guide that will provide you with the process successful niche business owners follow to find the hot niche markets that will make them money.

You will learn why finding your niche is so important.

You will learn what you need to do to choose the right niche to make the most money.

You will learn how to locate your ideal customer.

You will learn how to build relationships within your chosen niche.

You will learn how to analyze your competition.

And much, much more...

Finding the hottest niche markets that are profitable can be done with time, a bit of hard work, and some diligent research.

Here are just some of the many benefits you’ll gain when you decide to follow the process of niche market discovery.

Learn how to start your business with affiliate marketing.

Learn how to get started with your niche research.

Learn the secret to finding hot keywords that have high profit potential.

Learn how to research and survey your target market.

Learn how to create your ideal customer profile.

Learn how to research and evaluate your competition.

Bonus No: 23

Surfire WP Boost

With this 9-part step by step video course you will discover how to speed up your WordPress sites so that your visitors can get a better user experience which will give you higher search engine rankings.

You will learn methods that have been working for decades.

Topics covered:

Advantages of Fast Site Speed

Reasons Why Your Site Is Slow

Too Much in Your Site

Is Your Web Hosting Slowing You Down?

Image Optimization

Parasite Protection

WordPress Caching

Content Delivery Networks

Bonus No: 24

Online Business Systematization

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a business owner is to create a company that is wholly dependent on your daily involvement for its success. There are several problems with this approach.

The first is redundancy. You are effectively paying your employees to carry out tasks that you will eventually complete.

The second, poor time management. You are spending your time on tasks as they arise, leaving you little room to work on the essential business tasks for growing your business. The solution lies in the effective systemization of your business.

Learn how systemizing and automating your online business can finally free up your time so you can focus your energy on growing your business!

Online Business Systemization is a is a step-by-step blueprint for how to systemize and automate your online business so you can free up your time and watch your business continue to run smoothly, even when you’re not in the office.

Here's what you'll discover in this course:

You will learn about the many benefits you can gain by systemizing your online business.

You will learn what it takes to start systemizing your business.

You will discover a whole host of tools that you can use for systemizing your online business.

You will learn how to create Standard Operating Procedures, so you can finally document your business systems.

You will learn how to outsource tasks like a pro.

You will learn how to systemize your business using simple automation tools.

You’ll learn how to scale your business to the next level.

Bonus No: 25

Online Business Systematization Video Upgrade

The good news is, you can start to systemize your online business today and immediately start to experience its powerful benefits.

Systemizing your online business will take some effort up front, but once your policies and procedures are fully documented you’ll be able to begin to focus your time and energy on tasks that will allow you to scale and grow your business.

Here are just some of the many benefits you’ll gain by building a fully systemized business.

You’ll reduce costs

Increase efficiencies

Improve employee performance

Improve business communications

Have the time to scale and grow your business

Be able to measure your progress

Meet all your deadlines

Free up more time

Be able to finally take time off

Discover the best tools to use to systemize your business

Discover the best software programs and apps to automate your business

And much more

Bonus No: 26

Shopify Blueprint

Revolution of business evolves from physical shop to internet.

Perks of online shopping are: Deliver to your door step, cheaper than market price, shop anytime, anywhere 24/7, more variety.

Selling on internet cuts down 50% of the operation expenses such as office lot rental and utilities bills. Therefore, seller is able to offer a price lower than the market range for products. Getting a same product for lower price is what most of the people are seeking for and this is why people are addicted to online shopping.

The revolution has elevated online business to a wider and higher level.

Besides, having an online business ensures that you’re able to work from home, budget friendly, save operation cost (such as inventory, office, utilities bills etc), flexible working hours, most importantly, you will be able to generate more cash flow rather than having a fixed, conventional full time job.

Shopify Blueprint is a series of training course teaching you how to build your e-commerce empire with Shopify and generate up to 6 figures or more every month!

You will learn:

Shopify At A Glance

Getting Started With Shopify

Shopify Dashboard

How To Set Up Your Shopify E-Store

How To Identify Hot Selling Products

How To Create Buy Button / Shopping Cart

Launching Your E-Store

Other Money Making Ideas

How To Migrate Your Shop From Bigcommerce To Shopify

Bonus No: 27

Shopify Traffic

Simple and Easy Methods to Attract Your Prospects Effectively Without Spending Top Dollars for Advertisement!

How Would You Like to Draw Massive Traffic to Visit Your E-Store Every Day and Increase Conversion for 400%.

Shopify Traffic is a series of training course where it will teach you how to generate traffic to your Shopify e-store with effective methods and platform with my personal experience and culmination of my researches together with years of studies.

Bonus No: 28

Build Your Audience

The single most important asset that any business has when it comes to promoting itself online and making profit is its audience.

If a business doesn't have an audience, then that means no one will know about it when that company releases an amazing product.

It also means no one to read your posts and no one to click on your ads.

In other words, without an audience, your business exists in some kind of purgatory where it's pretty much waiting to die.

Here's what you'll discover in this guide:

What makes certain brands so successful when it comes to building massive audiences

How to create your own audience, starting from the beginning

How to inspire trust and authority and why this is crucial

How to create a brand that people can believe in

How to gain more exposure to widen your audience

How to target your audience and engage with the right customers

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queen-of-the-nerdlords · 7 years ago

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Movies To Watch if You Ever Want To Cry

Wolf Children Ame and Yuki - Have you ever wanted to see what it’s like to be a single mother due to tragic circumstances, raise two lovely and cute children from infancy and then watch them grow up and move on from you? This is your movie.

The Prince of Egypt - Even though this movie does have a lot of strong religious themes, it isn’t too pushy on them and conveys them in a way that most fantasy and fiction movies do. Watch as you grow to love the characters, even the deeply flawed ones, and then watch them break apart or go through hardships.

Ed Edd N’ Eddy’s Big Picture Show - Even though it will be more heartfelt to long-term fans, if you know the simple premise and dynamics of the original show, this is a good one to watch. A lot of it is filled with comedy but there are many parts within it that invoke not only sadness but relief and contentment, especially the big reveal at the end.

Jersey Girl - Watch as a man falls in love with a wonderful woman and then watch as that woman dies in childbirth, the man loses his job, and that same man try to raise a wonderful daughter on his own while trying to let go of the past and move on to a brighter future.

Futurama: Bender’s Big Score - This movie is mostly a wonderful comedy with swiftly timed jokes and a stable plot that is not only enjoyable for newcomers but for long time fans of the show. There are many twists and scenes that will definitely make you cry as well as laugh.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - Hoo boy, well, I was able to understand this movie before I read the comics or even watched the first movie, so if you have critical thinking skills the plot should be easy to understand. This movie pulls a lot of punches with its characters, and makes you feel and sympathize for them even between the gory and brutal action scenes. The relationships feel real and you can get a sense of joy when they succeed and sorrow when they fail.

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari - Based off of the Japanese myth of Kaguya, this movie takes you into what feels like a fantastical world based off of fantasies. The emotional turmoil of the heroine, Kaguya, will have you crying at the very least near the end.

Meet the Robinsons - Have you ever wanted a family that loves you, or even a family at all? Have you ever felt so worthless that you tried to do anything to have people want you? Do you feel as if you do nothing but fail? If so, you’re going to definitely cry about and relate to the protagonist and even the antagonists in this movie. Though over all, it is good at taking those things you’re sad about and cheering you up.

Rogue One - What are you doing? Go see this movie if you haven’t already.

The Last Unicorn - Ah yes, there’s nothing like a star-crossed romance and the process of learning that the world is bittersweet and cruel to get those tears a-flowin. The animation in this movie is beautiful despite the time it came out, and the soundtrack is unforgettable and entirely fitting to the film.

Up (2012) - You know why this is on here.

Train to Busan - This film is about a busy capitalist father and his daughter, a group of baseball teens, and an expecting wife and husband facing the beginning of an outbreak of zombies while on a train in Korea. This movie will play your heartstrings like the Devil plays a goddamn violin, it is a must see.

Romeo + Juliet - An exciting and colorful rendition of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”. The relationship between the Capulets and the Montagues was made a lot clearer to follow and the relationship between Romeo and Juliet felt much more real and passionate despite the short amount of time. You could sense the chemistry and the ill-timed infatuation of the two, and even get attached to their characters. A good adaptation for the modern age.

Inside Out - While the film does have its flaws, the experiences of the protagonist and the topics brought up within the movie are very touching and relatable for almost anyone. The movie itself is a fun entertaining one, and there are a few scenes that’ll definitely start up the waterworks.

Princess Mononoke - In this film, there really isn’t a clear-cut “good” or “bad” side. Both sides do bad and destructive things. Both sides are necessary and are needed in their own ways. And with the two protagonists, that distinction is made very clear. Beautiful heartwrenching music, stunning visuals, and characters so well-written they feel real, this movie is a must see for everyone.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Yeah a lot of fans hate this movie but let’s be honest, no matter your thoughts on the series, Thorin’s descent into madness and then his death is utterly heartbreaking to watch, and made even sadder by the friendship (or potential romance depending on how you view it) between him and Bilbo.

When Marnie Was There - Ignore the lesbian undertones, you will be disappointed in where they lead, but other than that this is a beautiful movie and one I highly recommend seeing.

Mad Max: Fury Road - This movie is jam-packed with fast-paced action and loud fiery excitement but also lots of dramatic and heart-wrenching moments. You will end up caring about the characters and their world so their fates are made even more tragic in the end.

The Land Before Time - A baby Apatosaurus loses his mother and his home and goes through the 5 stages of grief.

Shaun of the Dead - A very funny take on the zombie apocolypse with a heart-wrenching scene near the end and a slightly uplifting ending. A must see for all fans of comedy and zombies.

Kung-Fu Panda 2 - Mostly filled with comedy and fuzzy and cute protagonists, this movie delves deep into themes like death, abandonment, inner peace, dictatorship, descending madness and genocide. A must see.

Heart and Soul - Four people with busy lives die in a bus accident just as a baby boy is born in a car that was nearby the scene. Those four people haunt the baby and become his guardian angels until he can grow up and finish their unfinished business. Very touching and highly emotional, this movie is a strong recommend.

Charlotte’s Web (1973) - I think you know why this is here.

Whale Rider - A young Māori girl wants to become chief of her tribe and tries to make her stubborn and closed-minded grandfather proud of her. While it has a happy ending, there are a lot of sad scenes in this movie.

Marley & Me - The dog dies. You get to practically raise that dog from when he was a puppy up until he gets old and passes away. That’s enough to make most people cry.

Spirited Away - A young girl’s family ends up in debt with the spirit world and so she is kidnapped and forced to work in a bath house for an unspecified period of time. The longer she stays, the more she forgets about her old life. A must see for anyone ever.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Sounds shallow but was surprisingly deep and sincere on a lot of hard topics. Very strong in its female solidarity and very relateable and touching to many people.

Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch - Surprisingly, this one is more emotional than the first. Stitch is revealed to have a genetic problem with his body that causes him to “glitch” and ruin things. If this glitch is not fixed, he will no longer function and he will die.

All Quiet on the Western Front - I was never a fan of black and white movies, even less black and white war movies, but this was quite the surprise. Based off the book, the movie centers around a young man named Paul who enlists in the German army to fight in the war against France. Though it is dated, and some parts I did not agree with, you can still relate to things about most of the characters and feel bad for all of them for the things they have to witness and go through. No one is safe in this movie.

Holes - This movie is sad mainly because of Kate Barlow and Sam. It is the best book-to-movie adaptation I think humans will ever get.

Paranorman - It’s made by Laika what are you doing go see it!!

Kubo and the Two Strings - This one is sadder and also still made by Laika, go hecken see it!!!

The Rise of the Guardians - Abandonment and Isolation Issues the Movie.

The Game Plan - Dwayne Johnson plays an egotistical football star who finds out that he has a daughter who is now in his custody.

Monster Squad - A bunch of cool classic horror movie monsters come out to play in this feature-length film but also Frankenstein gets the friend(s) he deserves.

All Dogs Go To Heaven - A gambling stray dog manipulates a sweet young orphan into making him money to pay off a debt.

The 10th Kingdom - A young woman gets put into a fantasy world with her father by a prince who’s been turned into a dog by a witch who conspires to take the throne. She and her father try to find a portal home as the witch herself tries multiple times to kill them. There’s a lot of drama, cool fairytale references, and lots of smart writing and plot that A must see for most!!

#movies #movie #movie recs #recs #recommendations #plexysgarbage

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creative-type · 7 years ago

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Queen Otohime: The Nuanced Idealist

Every story has a message. Good stories usually have a central theme that lies at the core of the narrative with any number of secondary themes to support it. Even if a creator claims that there is no specific idea that they’re trying to communicate (the “it’s just entertainment” defense) they are still sending a message to their audience, and the lack of point becomes the point..

As the entertainment industry grows to unprecedented heights, so does their influence on their audience. There are a couple of different theories on the exact relationship between media and culture, but it is plainly evident that there’s an endless cycle of culture influencing media which in turn influences culture.

Which is why I want to talk about One Piece’s Queen Otohime

Before I get started, I want to make it clear that I don’t think Oda is obligated to write his story in any particular way for the sake of his audience. He has the freedom to put whatever he wants in his manga, whether I or anyone else agree with him or not. It’s the reader’s responsibility (or perhaps their parents, in the case of younger children) to discern for themselves what media they consume.

I do, however, think that a writer has a responsibility to be aware of what ideas they’re presenting. Oda’s audience happens to be huger than most, and to paraphrase Dumbledore that means his influence is greater than, say, a random upstart on tumblr.

*Cough*

For most, the Fishman Island arc is an inauspicious beginning to the second half of the series and a major let-down after the peak that was the Marineford War. I think that Oda would have had a difficult time satisfying fans no matter what, if only because Fishman Island had been such a long time coming. But while the meat of the arc falls flat, the backstory is excellent.

Now I write this as a white American, so keep in mind stones and glass houses, but Japan has a problem with xenophobia and racism. Oda has also tends to write his female characters - especially if they’re royalty - in a way that can be seen as problematic. Shirahoshi from this same arc irritated the crap out of me, and she shares a lot of traits with her mother.

So what’s the difference?

A Multiplicity of Ideologies

Considering the subject matter and Oda’s past history with female characters, it would it have been really easy to screw up the backstory for Fishman Island. I commend Oda for presenting the issues of slavery and racism in the first place. It’s not something he had to do, and I’m sure he wrote the Fishman Island arc fully aware of what he was getting himself into.

What I think helps us buy what Oda’s trying to sell is that Otohime’s view isn’t the only ideology presented. Her greatest foil Fisher Tiger has similar goals, but approaches the problem in an opposite manner. Jimbe ends up representing the middle ground, and says he doesn’t know which one of them was right

We’re also given a whole spectrum of characters that fall between these two opposites. There’s Aladdin, a former slave and soldier who never showed any hatred towards humans. There’s Arlong - who starts off rebuking Jimbe for his brutality and ends up enslaving entire islands in the East Blue - and Macro, who seems to turn over a new leaf before returning to the slave trade in the present day.

On Otohime’s side of things, her own husband doesn’t agree with what she preaches, but lets her continue as she wants because he loves her

And that’s not even looking at the human characters. I think the only viewpoint we don’t get within the flashback is one of a “good” Celestial Dragon, and Oda covers that during the Dressrosa arc. To this day Koala is the only flashback character I wish was the protagonist in her own manga. (If you didn’t feel something here, you’re either lying or have no soul)

It also helps that Oda does his research and is well-informed on the issues at hand. While it’s not been confirmed (to my knowledge, anyway) I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Oda based Otohime and Fisher in part on Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X.

On the other hand Oda does have just about every “good” character say that Otohime is right, so it’s obvious that he’s presenting one ideology as superior to another. I remember reading some criticism when these chapters first came out saying Oda was getting too preachy, and there is some merit to that. I think as an reader outside of the intended demographic it’s important to remember that One Piece is written for young boys whose worldviews are still being shaped and whose critical thinking skills aren’t completely developed. Some anvils do need to be dropped.

At the same time, by including the story of Fisher Tiger Oda is showing that these other ideas exist, which is more than can be said about a lot of media written for this age group. Otohime’s way of doing things has its flaws, namely that it’s gonna take a loooong time to work while there are untold number of fishmen (and humans) suffering under the unjust rule of the Celestial Dragons.

Which brings me to point number two

Suffering and Selfishness

In some ways Otohime is a parody of the all-loving hero archetype. In her introductory scene she slaps a thief into repentance (breaking her hand doing so) and is commended by her subjects for her compassion. Her unique brand of Observation Haki gives her super human (merman?) empathy that she uses to better understand and serve her people. Everyone except the villains agree that she was the ideal mother, wife, and queen.

And boy oh boy does she suffer for it.

The timeline for the Fishman Island flashback is confusing, but it does cover at least four years in which Otohime starts her petition, sees little success, and then actually goes backwards as the people withdraw their names before finally getting the support that she needs to make her motion to attend the Reverie.

The implication is that she was working on her goals long before the flashback begins, but we’ll just look at what we’re explicitly told. In the grand scheme of things, four years isn’t that long of a time, but the daily grind clearly has an effect on Otohime’s emotional well-being.

Queen Otohime, presented thus far as a paragon of motherhood and virtue, gets so drunk that she calls out her entire nation over speakerphone. What resilience and polite discourse can’t do, she achieves through inebriation XD

It’s here we see Otohime’s true character. Yes, teaching the children, organizing sea rescues, preaching peace with humanity are all things Otohime believes in and wants to see happen. She wouldn’t have continued so long with so little support otherwise. But really, when you get down to it, her reasoning is just a little bit selfish

Otohime’s drunken rant is was solidifies her as a character instead of a caricature. She’s a mother who wants her children to have a better future than what she’s experienced, but she wants to do it the right way, the hard way, because she wants her kid’s future to be a peaceful one. Otohime is always looking forward, which brings me to my last, but perhaps most important, point

Nuance

One of the things I found most annoying about Dressrosa was King Riku - and by extension Rebecca’s - pacifism. I don’t have a problem with pacifism in and of itself, but when a murderous sociopath comes a knockin’ on your doorstep then you might need to rethink your priorities. It was the same difficulty I had with Shirahoshi not telling anyone who really murdered her mother. There is literally no justification for her to stay silent in that instance, I don’t care what anyone says. Oda chose Ideology over common sense.

That’s the problem when writing idealists. No one ideology is going to have an answer for every situation, and it gives rise to situations like Shirahoshi and Rebecca.

There are people who will never get over their irrational hatred.This is true to both the world of One Piece and Real Life. What Otohime wants for the future can’t exist in the same space as hatred. They are mutually exclusive.

Nor can she sidestep the fact that the hurt and the pain her people have suffered. The injustice is real, and Otohime knows it. Heck, because of her Haki she probably knows it better than the people themselves because what they feel, she feels, and she has taken all of their burdens upon herself.

Chapter 625 gave me chills when I read it for the first time. Volume 63, which contains the vast majority of the Fishman Island flashback, is the only volume of One Piece that I own a physical copy of largely because of this moment.

The title of the chapter 625 is “Uninherited Will”. Passing on one’s will is one of the major themes of the series. It’s no accident that chapter 145, best known for Hiliruk’s speech, is literally called “Inherited Will”. Characters don’t die in One Piece unless they’ve achieved their dreams or passed them onto someone else, so for there to be something that needs to be uninherited - or to put it another way, abandoned and left behind - is a pretty big deal.

Otohime isn’t saying that the former slave’s pain is to be forgotten or left unpunished. She’s not even asking them to forgive the Celestial Dragons for what they’ve done. What she asks is for is the chance for their children - who know nothing of humans whatsoever - the opportunity to grow up and form their own opinions free of the hateful bias of their parents. What Otohime is looking for is a chance to end the cycle of revenge that will only lead to more death and misery and pain, and start over again. What happens after that...well, that’s up to the next generation.

Note that despite saving his life, Saint Mysogard’s views don’t change, nor does Otohime expect them to. Also note that Hody, despite never suffering at the hands of humans and hearing Otohime’s words, still grows up to be one of the most racist (specist?) characters in the series. She dies before seeing her dreams come to fruition, and ten years later Fishman Island is on the brink of a hostile takeover by fishman supremacists.

She did, however, pass on what was most important to those who matter most. What Otohime couldn’t do, Fukaboshi, Manboshi, Ryuboshi, and Shirahoshi will. And I think if she were real, Otohime would have been happy with that.

(I promise I’m not crying. I’ve just got dust in my eyes)

#One Piece #Eiichiro Oda #Fishman Island #Otohime #Queen Otohime #Writing #Manga #analysis #creative-type analyzes

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themeatlife · 5 years ago

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - A Review

AND Reranking the Star Wars Movies

The Finale (Maybe)

2019 saw the end of several major pop culture series: The Avengers, Game of Thrones, and the Skywalker Saga of Star Wars (or at least it was proclaimed, we shall see a decade from now if it is resurrected). Having a major finale was en vogue.

So here is the spoiler-free review. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was enjoyable. It was imperfect, with a handful of glaring flaws, but nothing that would prevent die-hards or casual fans from enjoying the experience. You get the scale of things and at moments visually it is almost overwhelming. The action set pieces are fantastic. All-in-all, worth seeing in theaters.

Now for the spoiler-rific review below the line. If you haven’t seen it and don’t want to be spoiled (why are you reading this) then scroll until “The Star Wars Countdown” headline is at the very top of you window/phone screen.

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I’m probably going to skip a few things but this is the main storyline.

Palpatine has never really left. He’s been in the background in the Unknown Regions raising the Final Order, a super-ginormous fleet to rule over the galaxy once and for all.

We catch up with our new trilogy trio of Rey, Finn, and Poe and what is left of the Resistance, led by General Leia. Leia has also taken the lead in mentoring Rey in the ways of the Force. News of Palpatine gets to them and the trio find themselves planet hopping on a quest first to find a dagger which is the key to finding Palpatine and then a programmer to get C3PO to translate script on said dagger. Along the way they are being hunted by the First Order and Kylo Ren. This sequence is very Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but better executed.

Once the dagger is decoded, it leads them to the remains of the second Death Star where they must retreive a device with the coordinates to where Palpatine is. There is first a showdown between Rey and Sith Rey a la Luke in the forest in Degoba. Then is the showdown between Rey and Kylo where Rey ends up stabbing Kylo with his own lightsaber (Kylo was distracted by a dying Leia, Force-calling out to her son with her last breathe) and then Force-healing him and leaving him on the planet using his Tie Fighter with the device. Kylo then sees a vision of his father Han Solo telling him Kylo Ren is dead and his son Ben lives. Ben then leaves to chase after Rey to attempt to help confront Palpatine.

So Rey arrives on Exegol where Palpatine and the Final Order are gathered and preparing to deploy, leaving a signal for her Resistance friends and Ben to find. While Rey confronts Palpatine, the short handed Resistance tries to take down a communication tower in an effort to prevent the fleet from deploying. Epic battle ensues. Lando Calrissian comes with reinforcements for the Resistance while Rey almost gives in to Palpatine in an effort to save her friends. Ben comes in and they both fight Palpatine. Ben goes down and Rey uses the lightsabers she and Ben were using (coincidentally Luke and Leia’s lightsabers) against Palpatine’s Force Lightning, eventually killing him and herself in the process. Ben revives Rey and then kisses her (WHAT?!?) and then dies. The Resistance takes down the Final Order. The Resistance returns to their base, the new trio hug it out. Then the film ends with Rey returning to Tatooine where the saga began, burying Luke and Leia’s lightsabers and with their Force ghosts looking on takes on the Skywalker last name.

So my issues...

So, Palpatine is back? Last we saw his body fell down a shaft in the short-lived rebuild Death Star, thrown over by Vader in an effort to save Luke. I’m not sure how that even works that he’s back. I know they touch on it in the movie but seemed like we were done with the Emperor three (or is it six?) movies ago. But as a villain, Palpatine is effective.

The quest for the dagger and map device thing was a bit much. That actually could have been a movie itself. Like could have essentially replaced The Last Jedi with that quest. As much as I liked the The Last Jedi, I think a lot of the internet fanatics didn’t. And that hurt the Star Wars powers that be. And much of The Rise of Skywalker felt like it was actually attempting to write a lot of The Last Jedi out of the Star Wars timeline.

And yeah the Ben-Rey kiss was sudden. They seemed to have a very non-romantic connection so that was kind of out of place. Maybe it was more a goodbye kiss from Ben than anything, but it felt out of place.

And then the new trilogy as a whole. Although there was a new trio of main characters, the storyline was really dependent on the trio from the original trilogy. If the Force Awakens was the Han Solo movie and the Last Jedi was the Luke Skywalker movie, the Rise of Skywalker would have been the Leia Organa movie. And in many ways it was, but then it wasn’t. There is only so much you can do with extra footage. Rest In Peace Carrie Fisher, this movie needed more of you in it.

But with all that, it was still an enjoyable experience. It was imperfect, but that’s okay. No Star Wars movie is perfect (except for Empire). If you want comparison, better than Game of Thrones, no where near as satisfying as Avengers: Endgame.

The Star Wars Countdown

I ranked these almost two years ago. It didn’t change that much but I did switch a few and added the newer ones after I rewatched all the movies in the lead up to the Rise of Skywalker release. I FINALLY got my wife to watch them all with me. Disney+ and Netflix came in handy. So here are the updated Star Wars standings. I’ll do my college football wrap up later this week.

11 – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Surprise surprise, I know. But yes, Episode I is by far the weakest and most disposable of the series (as evidenced by the omission of it in the Machete Order). Most of the major plot points are brought up again in Episode II, so not really that important to watch. And the action in it, while okay for the most part, do not make up for the most annoying and boring parts of the film – Jar Jar Binks, child Anakin Skywalker, and the Pod Race. If you must watch it, the main scene you need to watch is the battle on Naboo where Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn and the Ewan McGregor version of Obi-Wan Kenobi take on double-lightsaber wielding Darth Maul played by martial artist Ray Park.

10 – Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

While Attack of the Clones is a step up from Episode I, this episode is plagued by two things: awkward pacing and the unnatural evolution of the love story of Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker. The way the movie was paced it felt like it was going by too slowly at times. Obi-Wan’s story arc kept me interested as he investigates bounty hunter Jango Fett and discovers the clone army. But man, that Padme-Anakin story is rough. Anakin comes off with a stalker-like creep factor obsession for Padme, and somehow Padme is infatuated with that? Yeah I’m not convinced, that dynamic always felt super awkward and forced. Not that Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen couldn’t have chemistry. It’s just that in this movie, they didn’t…at least not convincingly. Cool stuff on the back end of this movie is the battle on Geonosis featuring a gladiator-style survival scene for Obi-Wan, Padme, and Anakin as well as the Jedi coming to their rescue. Samuel L. Jackson’s Mace Windu and Frank Oz’s Yoda show off some lightsaber skills as well.

9 - Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

This ended up being not as bad as critics made it out to be. It was fun and action heavy. I slightly different take on the Han Solo character by Alden Ehrenreich. It was fresh and it was Han as a young man less jaded than his original trilogy self. It was cool to see Woody Harrelson (Beckett), Thandie Newton (Val), Emilia Clarke (Qi’ra), and Donald Glover (young Lando Calrissian) in the Star Wars universe. There were a few things wonky with the movie though. I don’t know if I liked the live story between Solo and Qi’ra. The whole Lando and a droid thing was weird. And resurrecting previously deceased Sith Darth Mal felt a little empty (I know he’s appeared in other Star Wars projects but the cliffhanger at the end of this was Darth Mal’s first film appearance since Phantom Menace).

8 – Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Out of the prequel trilogy, I like this one the best. And while it was a longer movie (2 hours 20 minutes), it didn’t feel weighed down by some of the pacing issues of Clones. The ever-present forced romance between Padme and Anakin is still there though, and it becomes the primary reason Anakin turns to the Dark Side. While the premise seems feasible, the unnatural feel of the relationship hinders this reasoning. Over the course of the prequel series, they did a good job of planting seeds to make it seem like the Jedi are plotting to take over the Republic. So as a secondary reason for Anakin turning to the Dark Side, this reasoning works. Some people had a problem with the whole calling kids “younglings” but I didn’t really see that as a problem. The Old Republic could have talked like that, so it wasn’t an issue for me. So minus the whole Padme-Anakin thing and an unintended hilarious “NOOOOOOOOO” moment when Anakin turns into Darth Vader, it was a solid movie. It was sad to see several points where Anakin could have turned back but didn’t.

7 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Before going into this film, I have to say that doing away with having the episode number in the title was a welcomed change away from the George Lucas era awkward titling. When I first saw this movie, I was awestruck. Filled with nostalgia. Almost like seeing a Star Wars movie as a kid again. But the second time around seeing it, I quickly realized that even though there were new characters that this was more or less a very borrowed plotline. It was basically the original Star Wars, only updated. Rey (Daisy Ridley) was like Luke (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford, of course) like a less-Force oriented Obi-Wan. The First Order is basically the Empire resurrected, the Resistance is the Rebel Alliance. Starkiller Base is the Death Star. And Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) killing Han like Vader defeating Obi-Wan. But I was still thoroughly entertained, and the intro of Rey, Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), and BB-8 was a welcomed addition to the Star Wars universe and The Force Awakens put down a solid foundation for the franchise to build upon for its new trilogy.

6 - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

See above for the review. I will say for all it’s problems it was enjoyable for the most part and entertaining as hell.

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5 – Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

While The Force Awakens feels borrowed, The Last Jedi felt more like its own things. Some critical of The Last Jedi felt it similar to The Empire Strikes Back. While it did have some similarities, I think the major differences (particularly the Force Chat and dynamic between Kylo Ren and Rey, and some of the backstory behind Luke and Kylo Ren’s relationship) make it so much of its own story. It is the peak as far as quality of the newest trilogy. One of the coolest scenes in the entire Star Wars franchise was Kylo and Rey taking on Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and his Praetorian Guard. And while clearly the main focus of the film is the Kylo-Rey-Luke dynamic, the side plot of Finn and Rose (Star Wars newcomer Kelly Marie Tran) to Canto Bight in search of a hacker to disable a tracking device while Leia (RIP Carrie Fisher) and Poe try to lead the Resistance away in escape of the First Order were welcome storylines. Don’t listen to the haters online, this one is the best of the new trilogy.

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4 – Star Wars (1977)

Wow, trailers back then are nothing like they are now. Yes, I refrained from calling this film “A New Hope,” simply because that was not the original name of the movie. I respect this movie. It’s the origin story of Luke Skywalker. It featured ruthless villain Darth Vader (before we knew he was Luke and Leia’s father), a love interest (Leia before we and Luke find out they are brother-sister), and the cool rebel too cool to be in the rebellion (at first) in Han Solo. But as most movies of the time, the special effects feel dated (much more so in this film than the other two in the trilogy). And while it is the origin story, it was merely the tip of the iceberg. A strong foundation to build the rest of the franchise, but not the most compelling plotlines of the series (that is to come later).

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3 – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

I had this film actually up at 2 when I ranked this a year and a half ago. It isn’t an essential movie to the overall Skywalker storyline of the main Star Wars installments. But you get the sense of urgency and the sacrifice it took to steal the Death Star plans. Rogue One is one part chase movie, another part heist movie. Two types of movies I always enjoy. The characters fill out in a short period of time and feel so rich. It is the only Star Wars movie where all the main protagonist characters you are focused on the entire movie dies, making it not feel like a Star Wars film. But the death scene with Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe and Jiang Wen’s Baze Malbus as well as Felicity Jones’s Jyn Erso and Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor are equally heartbreaking and powerful. The feels! While the film doesn’t add to the overlying plot of the entire series, it does add a bit of understanding of just how big the stakes were in getting those Death Star plans and how invested the Rebellion was outside of the core characters of the series in trying to topple the Empire. And then, well, Darth Vader totally owning the Rebels while trying to board Leia’s ship is badass and leads right into the original Star Wars. Loved this movie.

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2 – Return of the Jedi (1983)

A great conclusion to the original trilogy. We see the movie open with Jedi Luke displaying his control of the Force as the team rescues Han from Jabba the Hut. The Rebellion wants to strike one last blow to the Empire by taking out the rebuilt Death Star. The fight culminates on the forest moon of Endor. Luke reveals to Leia what she probably felt but didn’t recognize, that they are brother and sister. One of the strongest scenes was that final confrontation between Luke and Vader that ends with Vader saving Luke’s life from electrocution from the Emperor. Some people had a problem with the cute, fluffy Ewoks but I was okay with it. This is the movie where the extras added by George Lucas in the 1998 theatrical rerelease (and updated again in 2004) hurt the movie experience though. The extended musical scene at Jabba’s place was unneeded. We don’t need extra celebration scenes on other planets when its mission accomplished. And we didn’t need Hayden Christensen’s ghost in place of original Anakin actor Sebastian Shaw standing there with ghost Yoda and old ghost Obi-Wan Alec Guinness. But other than that, this was my second favorite Star Wars movie growing up.

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1 – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Out of all the series, this is the masterpiece. If you ever want to make a successful sequel that continues the original story and add to the overall depth of a film series, here was the blueprint. From the opening battle on Hoth, to the core team getting split up, to Luke’s journey finding Yoda and training, to Han and Leia being chased down by the Empire, all the way to the climax of the film on Cloud City, we find our heroes being tested and pushed as well as finding themselves. The Han-Leia love story holds up and feels realistic. Luke’s internal struggle to train and fight off the darkness in him while confronting his fear of Vader feels realistic as well. And of course, the mic drop of all mic drops in sci-fi and maybe movie history – “I am your father.” I was eight or nine years old when I remember first watching and actually understanding some of what was going on. I remember yelling “WHAT?!?” as I watched. The most iconic moment of the series. It made this more than just a space opera. More than just a sequel to a sci-fi hit. Those words made Star Wars into an expandable series that they have since built upon twenty-fold. It turned Star Wars from a battle of good vs evil into an internal family struggle – the Skywalker family saga that impacted not just that family, but the entire galaxy. Luke’s fear was no longer about confronting some ominous unknown bad guy. It was Luke confronting his father, one he never knew. And the 1980 special effects hold up pretty well in this one.

The Force will be with you. Always.

#starwars the rise of skywalker #starwars

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