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flowerandthesongstress · 2 years ago

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The February-2023 writing update and some very important info.

It’s been a year since I stopped sharing my writing to ao3/publicly. I took inventory again. During this time I have 1) overall written ~580k words (go me) 2) at the tail end of it managed to publicly share 7k of them, all g-rated, all allegorizing the same stuff (not immigration, for once 😳). Go me? No, not really. The credit for convincing me goes to someone else. I'm still locked in a battle with myself regarding my reservations about sharing anything else online again; it's starting to feel like I just don't possess the emotional capacity to overcome these reservations in full. Maybe because they're justified.

The rest is the same. Yes, you can request private access to my main stuff, the methods for contacting me are in the pinned post, blah-blaaah, you probably already know the drill, sup bruh how's it going.

But, as this one question and this one issue have been popping up again and again over the last few months, I’ll just say it here for convenience.

First off, the answer to that question: yes, it’s free, of course it’s free! I would never monetize/publish my writing. 🤦🏻

Second. The issue. If you already have access or aren’t interested, please disregard, carry on, and have a good day and a salad.

Here goes.

Louder for those in the back: writing, however hard the process, is its own reward; sharing isn't. You've done enough damage already. Please don't make sharing into a punishment.

If you’re about to contact me and ask me to share with you directly, I would implore you to first go/return to that very same pinned post, click the link behind the ‘why?’ of me no longer sharing online, and read what’s there. And then I would like you to take a few moments to ask yourself if you’re doing something described in that post — or doing something generally inconsiderate.

If you, for instance, having never reached out to me before in any capacity — even the One-button Pressing and ‘thank you, reading this brought me comfort’ capacity — are about to ask me to send you the link to uuuuh, something that took me over two years to create. So that you could binge hundreds of thousands of words and, still just as silent, yeet off..? Or if you’re about to ask for this link while informing me how excited you are for ‘more hot threesomes’ and how much you love my ‘porn’ (...I just 🤦🏻‍♀️ oh god why, WHY).

Please, I beg of you, at least try to get self-aware for a second. If you personify one of the reasons why I stopped sharing publicly, yet now you want me to share with you directly, please ponder: whatever for would I be doing that? More disillusionment? Higher therapy bills? What comfort, support, communal bonding, friendship, education, enlightenment — and dopamine — does this miserable sod stand to gain from sharing her writing with you, o Silent Lurker/Mindless Consumer of ‘Content’/Person with a Raging Fetish/Person Who Thinks That Allegory Is A Reptile From Florida?

Hmm? What’s that? You’d be bestowing upon me the miracle and gift of you gracing my unworthy scribbles with your priceless attention?

Heard this one before, more than once. More than a dozen times. Actually, I lost count by now. That misguided, social-media-induced, performative-everything-induced, clout-or-die, late-stage-capitalist, voyeuristic notion that a thing has no ‘value’ until it’s getting seen and that one should feel grateful for being clicked on. Or that writers like me aren’t humans, but just these free vending machines that exist solely to supply you with ‘content’, and shouldn't beep out of line.

I'm sorry, but I actually like my writing and have a lot of respect for myself, my time, and my effort.

I am not a machine churning out product for you and your insatiable consumption needs, untreated childhood traumas, and specific fetishes; I'm a living being.

A living being who is writing exceedingly personal things and looking for meaningful interactions and connection. Looking to trust.

Otherwise, there is no point for me to share my writing with anyone but friends and loved ones. For the same reason why Abed never returned ‘Time Bandits’ to Blockbuster.

And Clicking things isn’t engagement; botting programs click things. Haters and plagiarizers click things.

If I was fine with the status quo, I would have continued sharing everything to ao3, without any dubious acrobatics.

Plus, I’ve got some safe validation at home.

So I can do without this ‘miracle’ (that's actually just your entitlement and ignorance speaking) and I'm sure you can get your ‘content’ elsewhere, and I'm sure someone else would be happy with being silently-stalked and/or treated like a business. Personally? Pass.

I do not want you as a reader. Please do not delude yourself by thinking that your capitalist paws and brainrot are of any emotional value to me; on the contrary, it would be a blessing to not have you as a reader. Escaping the attention of you and your brethren is like dodging a bullet.

...

All of the buffoonery and yapping aside, it hurts to see this shit again and again and again. To be honest, I no longer even bother replying to some of those messages. Sometimes I just block, run for hugs, then do my best to move on, not cry, and not feel heartbroken. The astonishing levels of entitlement, the utter lack of self-awareness — it's painful to witness. The fact that people like this are almost always from the USA, white, and in their early twenties, is also very telling. And horrifying.

…No? Not you? All good? Expressed your support/appreciation before? Are self-aware, mindful, emotionally mature, and considerate? Perhaps you even like to correct other people’s grammar? Do understand that I am not in any fandoms and am not interested in ‘blorbos’ and ‘headcanons’? Actually mean it when you say you like my writing? Did not fail to notice which one is tagged as [if you only read one work by me]? Would not be opposed to chatting sometime? Want some pomegranate molasses on your salad? Agree that Roland Barthes should be resurrected for a minute just so I could slap him with a catfish? That’s awesome, then please feel free to message me and poke me for the link(s), it’s some really good shit.

Update, done.

#génération désenchantée #my writing updates

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pantaro · 2 years ago

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OCtober Roundup! October 1-5.

I didn’t realize until too late these things usually have a prompt list, so I’m just winging it. With one condition: None of these characters can be ones I’ve shown off publicly (unless they have a new form or redesign), and most of these characters I’ve never drawn before. Without further ado...

OCtober 1: Like, OMG, The Valley Girl Speedrunner, Phoebe Wiriya

Her design is a bit basic, but I was getting the dust off. She’s a good friend of Marguerite’s, and is her go-to when it comes to the more traditionally girly stuff like makeup. She’s a passionate speedrunner of a couple in-universe video games, even in the Top 100 for one of the more popular games she runs. She’s a total valley girl, but has a habit of mixing in speedrunner jargon with her Cali-girl slang. She will break into a harmonica solo if she thinks everyone around her is bored. She would be a potential fifth member of the friend group, but she dislikes Cyrus because of her own unrequited crush on Amanda. She just thinks Amanda is the coolest, and she knows she should be the bigger person and let this slide, but she’s still got more growing to do. Physically, emotionally, and hairstyle-ly.

The descriptions of the rest in the dooblydoo.

OCtober 2: The Star-And-Heart-Spangled #Influencer, Starla Cora Zondervan

An NPC in the game whose main purpose is to tutorialize the ability to mark items as faves, for easy access later. Her design is influenced by like/favourite buttons of social media, so in other words, mostly hearts and stars, but she also has a thumbs up on her shirt. I didn’t put in TikTok’s bookmark though, but she’ll be reading a book with a bookmark in it in the game. Her hoodie is inspired by the mythical RosaJon hoodie, but with the star replaced by a heart.

OCtober 3: Toxicity Personified, Quince Pommer

Marguerite’s ex-boyfriend. He’s a colossal jerk. Take every toxic gamer/tech bro habit imaginable. That’s him. He bulk-buys using bots, and scalps his spoils with inflated prices. He mines crypto and is really bad at it. He believes every bit of bad gossip he’s told, but mocks others for being gullible. He’s so utterly hated, that even the game itself refuses to show his face, and that’s why he’s turned away like that. He’s not worthy of me drawing his face. His vaping device and Billy Mitchell-inspired national flag tie, yes, but not his face.

OCtober 4: Marguerite’s Pet Beardie, Lemmy

He’s a good boy.

OCtober 5: Robyn’s First Employee, Viv Ulstrom

I based her entirely around the concept of ultraviolet light, and to a lesser extent, the colour violet. She’s aloof and distant, like she isn’t there, like how ultraviolet light is invisible. Those traits are seen as cool, so her aesthetic is a pop-punk cool girl, and violet is a cool colour. And cool girls wear sunglasses, which protect against ultraviolet light. She’s an ice person, so cool as in temperature, but her skin is darker than the ice people I’ve come up with so far, because ultraviolet light is what makes tanning possible. Her build is tall, buff, fat and buxom, or in other words, all around big, in reference to the bigness of humanity’s main source of ultraviolet light, the sun. She’s bi, because bi visibility jokes. And her hair is wavy, because of wavelengths. I should’ve made it short because ultraviolet light has a short wavelength, but I didn’t want to.

#thisbemyartyo #my art #OC-tober

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grimesapologist · 4 years ago

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also thinking abt the move from viewing the Internet as immune to time (eg the critical focus on the implications of online archiving for production and dissemination of culture, cyberspace as an eternal flow of information free from the ravages of time) towards the Internet as a present that has given up on counting its influences, become privy to so much history that it has opted to abandon it altogether, the free-floating Flow-State attention economy of newness that is always the present, the past is wiped away by a flick of the thumb into oblivion.

think how impossible it is to use a tagging system (tags =/= hashtags) on any major social media site, how purposely difficult it is to view your likes on Instagram (likes are no longer an archiving tool but a serotonin production machine, [think of how the recently added 'save post' button is positioned wrt all the other primary post interactions], archiving is an intentionally marginalised use-case, tags increase momentary exposure, they don't serve to categorise content in these frameworks but to 1. aid the social media algorithm in 'proper' dissemination of content produced allegedly by and for humans and 2. to refine said algorithm's profile on the user themselves (following a tag on instagram is amputated from any current, any hope at microcultural formation is dashed by the atomised nature of its user experience design. ) The amputation effect of AI curation is by design, in a way that's plainly visible, the 'algorithm' functions basically as myth at this point, it is personified on an everyday basis, hiding the designer behind images of chrome, AI arriving from the future. the end of history hypothesis finds its subject in contemporary app design, the ever-sought state of Flow is an amputated immanence, the technoshamanic trance for a design philosophy that reviles any engagement with the present (being the ever-ephemeral convergence of the dust of the past with the tachyons of futurity) to produce a hyper-Present, stripped of continuity in every direction, destituted of both influence and impact, primed for optimal reintegration into the plane of irrelevance that lies in the negative of every scroll. the impulse behind being-current is an attempt to escape time via the z-axis, driven by primordial fear of facing the same fate as the discarded, used up image. The flow state is a cynical appropriation of the ritual trance, pseudo liberation from the timestream that masquerades as zen, being really anxious dissociation, constant flight from the ever-present threat of becoming-passé

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kpop-zone · 5 years ago

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Who knew? | Sana

Warnings: none

Genre: fluff

Wordcount: 892

Request: How about a Sana x female reader scenario: they’ve been dating for a while and Sana decides that she doesn‘t want to hide their relationship anymore fully aware of the backlash she will receive for it... but like no one is surprised by her coming out and everyone is supportive. Basically Sana coming out and no one is surprised lol.

You had been trying to calm Sana for a while now, but she just didn’t stop panicking. After having talked about it, both of you had decided to make your relationship public step by step. First, Sana would come out to her members and tell them that the two of you were dating. Then, she would come out to JYP. After letting his shock die down, she would confess your relationship and in the final step, you could finally tell everybody.

Today was the day, Sana decided to follow through with step one. Although you had planned it for weeks, your girlfriend was still totally losing it right now.

“What if they hate me now? What if they think it’s weird?”

She was asking one question after the other, walking nervously up and down the sidewalk in front of Twice’s dorm. You didn’t really know why she was stressing so much. You were actually pretty sure that Twice already new about Sana’s sexuality. It wasn’t like she was ever coy about it.

“Jagi, it’s going to be fine. I don’t think it will be that much of a surprise...”

You said carefully, not wanting to tell her straight to the face that you thought she was basically a personified rainbow.

“What do you mean? They will be totally blindsided. How should they know?”

She asked and you had to suppress a laugh, seeing how oblivious your girlfriend actually was. But it made you love her even more. She was simply too cute for her own good.

“Let’s just get it over with. I promise, you’ll feel better afterwards.”

You said encouragingly, taking her hand and pulling her towards the dorm. When you entered the apartment, the others were already gathered in the living room. Sana had warned them before that she had to make an announcement. They greeted you friendly, already used to you being a frequent visitor in the dorm.

“Ok guys, I have to tell you something:”

Sana started once she was standing in front of them, trying to calm herself with deep breaths. She took one last glance at you whether you were sure about this and you nodded to encourage her.

“Y/N and I are dating.”

Sana blurted out, actually closing her eyes, too afraid to see the reaction of the others. But there was no reaction at all, making her peek through one eye.

“Oh is that it already?”

Jeongyeon asked curiously looking at you and you nodded, having to suppress a laugh. They were all looking at each, not knowing what to do. Of course, they already knew. But they also didn’t want to ruin Sana’s perfect coming-out plan. So Jihyo gestured to them to act surprised, ending in a row of totally exaggerated Oooohs and Aaaahs.

“Wait, you guys already knew?”

Sana asked dumbfounded, knowing her friends well enough to know when they were lying.

“Sana, you are literally the gayest person alive. Of course, we knew.”

Chaeyoung answered honestly, earning herself a light jab from Jihyo.

“What? I thought they would announce that they got drunkenly married or something... I’m really disappointed.”

Chaeyoung continued with a pout and the others nodded in agreement. Your girlfriend was standing speechless in the middle of the room and you decided to go and cheer her up.

“They already knew, Y/N...”

She said in disbelief and you stroked her arm soothingly.

“I told you there was nothing to stress about.”

You said smiling.

“What about JYP? Does he know?”

She asked the others, who all nodded in unison.

“I actually talked with him about it. He was asking when you would finally come out and I told him that you still needed some time.”

Dahyun explained and Sana tumbled back to sit down.

“All this time everyone knew, and I was stressing about it?”

She said more to herself than to anybody else.

“Hey, consider it positive. You will receive a lot less backlash than you thought.”

You said, kissing your girlfriend on top of her head.

And your words were soon proven to be right. With a lot less fear, Sana talked to JYP and just like a proud father, he congratulated her. Because Twice’s dating ban was over, he also saw no reason for the both of you not to go public and so in the time frame of one week, Sana wrote a fan letter together with you and her managers, confessing her feelings for you to the fans.

“Are you ready?”

You asked your girlfriend, sitting together on the couch with her phone in your hands. You had made a photo of the letter, now ready to upload it to all social media channels. Sana nodded,

“Yes, I’m ready to finally show the world, who’s the most important person in my life.”

She gave you one of her sweet smiles and you leaned down to press your lips on hers, lingering there for a moment, because you couldn’t believe how happy you had gotten. When you pulled back, you pressed the button to post the letter.

Sana was anxiously staring on the phone screen, waiting for the first comments.

“Omg, Sana finally came out.”

“Our gay queen!!”

The first comments popped up and Sana’s eyes widened.

“Wait, even they knew!?!”

You laughed loudly at her reaction, pulling her in for another kiss.

“Oh Sana. You’re really too cute for your own good.”

#twice scenario #twice #sana scenario #sana #girl group scenario #girl group #jihyo #chaeyoung #jeongyeon

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Candy Gets a Brand Extension When Robyn Blair Davidson, 34, was envisioning an aesthetic for her New York City apartment two years ago, her eyes wandered over to a bowl of candy on her table. “I realized then and there that I should be filling my walls with pieces that make me as happy as the bowls filled with candy do,” said Ms. Davidson, an artist. Today, Ms. Davidson’s home contains a custom-made desk with yellow, blue and pink candy dots; her walls are covered with candy-themed art; she has a massive tub of Dubble Bubble; and her display shelves contain rare vintage candy in its original packaging. She has incorporated her candy obsession into her art and also sells candy dishes, puzzles, phone cases and a series of prints featuring candy that say: “Warning Sugar High.” “At the end of the day, a sugar high lasts a moment while my artwork lasts a lifetime,” Ms. Davidson said. Slowly but surely, candy — prize of children, scourge of dentists, and already being marked down from Valentine’s and up for Easter — has been getting a brand extension. The candy retailer It’s Sugar, which was founded in 2004 and now has more than 100 locations in the United States, opened a store in mid-December at Oakbrook Center in Illinois, stuffed with Swedish Fish-shaped stuffed animals, Reese’s socks, Oreo backpacks and Sour Patch Kids candles. “Our core Gen Z consumers have really evolved from loyal shoppers to true fanatics,” said Danielle Freid, the brand manager of Sour Patch Kids. “The fandom is real: They’re dyeing their hair and painting their nails inspired by the South Patch Kids candy colors.” The merchandise is just one more way for these fans to engage with their favorite candy brand, Ms. Freid said. M&M’s World and Hershey’s have long personified their brands, with animated M&Ms and the giant squishy Kisses Chocolate Plush Toy. But the sweetness has also reached the upper ranks of luxury. Prada has cloned the scent of caramel (with a hint of musk and iris) in its Candy Eau de Parfum; Jimmy Choo created an $895 “Candy Embellished Crossbody” bag with crystals that resemble candy dots; and Irene Neuwirth’s One of a Kind Faceted Beaded Candy Necklace, made out of 18K yellow gold, is priced at $16,520 “For many people, there is an intangible magic and social currency associated with these products that rests on nostalgic experiences,” said Christopher Gindlesperger, the senior vice president of public affairs for the National Confectioners Association in Washington. “Chocolate and candy companies have built on this by meeting consumers of all ages where they want to be met: with merchandise that captures the fun and unique nature of the brands being sold in all types of retail outlets.” At the Sour Patch Kids store — the first of its kind — which opened this summer on lower Broadway, merchandise sales make up roughly 40 percent of total sales, Ms. Freid said. The most popular items are a themed pillow, plush “Stuffed Kids” that can fit inside the pillow and a Kids Funko Pop. At Dylan’s Candy Bar, which has about a dozen locations worldwide after 20 years in business, the lifestyle merchandise makes up about 9 percent of the inventory, the company said. It has worked on products with Williams Sonoma, Maclaren Baby and Hanky Panky, the underwear brand. “When we were designing the stores, we knew we wanted it to feel like you’re stepping inside a world of candy, so having those different departments of accessories, PJ’s, pillows and more within the store created another fun element to shopping,” said Dylan Lauren, the founder and C.E.O. Shoppers at Dylan’s most frequently reach for the Donut and Candy Button pillows, the Sprinkles Notebook and the Candy Spill Robe, Ms. Lauren said. Lu Ann Williams, the global insights director at Innova Market Insights, which analyzes data in the food and beverage industry, believes candy merchandise is succeeding suddenly in part because of how it pops on social media. Consider the influencer Jojo Siwa, who debuted her new Los Angeles-suburb bedroom on TikTok in February, showing off a sprinkles-decorated vanity and desk, scented candy-shaped pillows, a candy dispenser headboard and more than 4,000 pounds of candy. Nostalgia is also a factor, Ms. Williams said. Perhaps being told to effectively “stay in our room” for quarantine makes Americans feel like children? If so, It’s Sugar was prescient, beginning to create exclusive merchandise with the candy brands in early 2020. Justin Clinger, the director of design and licensing for the company, said inedibles now make up about 20 percent of the stores’ total inventory and sales are up significantly. It’s customers like the aptly named Candy Marlo who are driving these sales. Ms. Marlo, who is in her 40s, already owns three candy-shaped pillows, and her entire wardrobe is construed from candy-inspired apparel. All of her jewelry looks like candy. Ms. Marlo used to work as a corporate trainer and instructional designer, but taffy’s pull proved too strong to resist. She started a candy vlog, Ms. Candy Media, and began creating her own candy fashion in 2014 with bonbon headpieces and candy couture outfits. In 2020, Ms. Marlo began selling sprinkles-coated headbands and crowns. “Everyone loves candy, but not everyone can or wants to eat it,” Ms. Marlo said. “But everyone can consume the product by consuming the merchandise.” Source link Orbem News #Brand #Candy #Extension

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back-and-totheleft · 4 years ago

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A brilliant work about white nationalism and the cult of personality

This past week saw the release of Chasing the Light, the epic memoir of legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone. A word like "controversial" doesn’t even begin to describe the work of Stone, whose films have delved deep into hot button political issues and sparked intense debate for decades. Some have decried Stone as a radical conspiracy theorist who indulges in his own historical fantasies, while others consider him to be a noble patriot who ranks among the great American filmmakers of all time.

Stone had his own take on the Kennedy assassination in JFK. He skewered corporate greed with Wall Street and demystified the Vietnam War with Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. He explored violence in the media with Natural Born Killers. He’s made films centered on the lives of Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Edward Snowden, Alexander the Great and Jim Morrison.

Stone’s films that play with real people and events often draw the most attention, but he’s also shown an ability to create work that is ahead of its time. No film personifies this more than Talk Radio, Stone’s 1988 chamber piece that explores the complex relationship between an abrasive radio personality and his audience. In 2020, this story about participation in media, toxic masculinity, performative impertinence, mental health stigma and local news coverage is more prevalent than ever.

It’s no secret that ratings for talk and news radio programs are down across the state, with some experts suggesting that listeners are looking for escapism from news updates and political divisiveness. Talk Radio exemplifies those anxieties by showing how absorbing it is for a host to keep his listeners engaged by any means necessary.

Eric Bogosian stars as Barry Champlain, a Jewish radio host based out of Dallas who berates his callers each night with tirades of hatred and sarcasm. Champlain’s callers look to him for reliable nastiness, and throughout the course of his shows, the lines between performance and sincerity become blurred. It’s unclear if Barry talks the way he does because he needs a reaction, or if the everyday grind of listening to these callers has taken a real toll on him.

“I'm a hypocrite,” he admits at one point. “I ask for sincerity, and I lie. I denounce the system as I embrace it. I want money and power and prestige. I want ratings and success, and I don't give a damn about you, or the world. That's the truth. For that I could say I'm sorry, but I won't.”

What makes Talk Radio so significant for its time is how it deals with the cult of personality that often dominates media viewership. Champlain’s callers aren’t calling because they’re interested in his viewpoints or even his outlandish statements. They’re addicted to him. One caller calls to tell Champlain about her obsession with his show, but when pressed for details, she can’t name anything other than how she “loves everything about (him).”

Although the story is loosely based on the life of the Denver radio host Alan Berg, its relevance about the prevalence of white nationalism feels pertinent to the current moment.

Stone explores how dominating this on-air persona can be. Champlain receives a barrage of vitriolic calls every night from listeners who despise him and often sling anti-Semitic insults his way. Champlain takes each call in stride, aiming to never show a sign of vulnerability, as that would contrast with the person he is presenting himself as.

Any moment of sincerity feels like a loss from Champlain. When he shows genuine concern for a caller who claims to be nearing an overdose, Champlain quickly learns he’s been duped by a particularly vile prankster. The radio host becomes angry, not just because he’s been deceived, but because the concern he showed is at odds with the uncaring facade he has constructed for himself.

A common talking point in today’s political discourse links the rise of radicalization as a result of extremist movements that are passed along through social media channels, often preying upon easily impressionable listeners. Champlain begins to recognize this process for himself throughout the course of Talk Radio, in which he realizes that many of his viewers view his program unironically and treat his most absurd hyperboles as a form of gospel.

Champlain’s boss Dan (played by a young Alec Baldwin) tells him that it’s only a job, but throughout the course of the film the audience learns how all-consuming the work has become. A desperate Champlain calls his ex-wife Ellen (Ellen Greene) at one point asking for help with his depression, but when she calls him on air, he treats her with the same resentment that he does any other caller. Champlain’s staff are horrified at the fact that he would use his prior relationship as material for his show, but for Champlain, they have become the same thing.

The notion of Jewish anxiety looms over the film; Champlain is a Jewish man with leftist views, and he’s often at odds with his conservative viewers. Even if he’s able to lampoon his abusers with a clever one-liner, Stone notes the real danger that Champlain is in, particularly as one caller makes a bomb threat while espousing hate speech. Even if Champlain isn’t afraid to put himself out there, it’s clear that he’s facing an uphill battle every day.

Although the story is loosely based on the life of the Denver radio host Alan Berg, its relevance about the prevalence of white nationalism feels pertinent today. Champlain’s anxieties stem from the fact that his tormentors confront him on open airwaves, thus giving a voice to others who are inspired by hate speech. In a time when platforms like Twitter and Facebook are slow to ban calls to violence, Champlain’s experience feels less like an anomaly and more like a precedent.

Despite the attention he receives, Champlain is very much alone, and Stone’s notion that those with the most recognition are often the most isolated was a novel theme in the pre-internet era. Conversations about the impact of social media on mental health often note how online interactions can lead to a false sense of well-being, and Talk Radio explores the very idea of using superficial relationships as a coping method.

If many of Stone’s films feel like a rallying cry or a call to action, Talk Radio is among his more nuanced and meditative works. The film certainly has pity for Champlain, but it doesn’t condone his actions. If anything, Talk Radio aims to explore how hostile media environments create people like Champlain, and how people are seduced into granting him any power.

A cautionary tale and a useful tool in exploring the ways in which strangers interact, Talk Radio is a forgotten classic that sheds some insight into what discourse has become. As Stone’s entire filmography is reconsidered as his memoir is celebrated, Talk Radio deserves to be appreciated for the brilliant work that it is.

Talk Radio made its streaming debut on Peacock. It can be viewed for free there.

-Liam Gaughan, “Oliver Stone Has a New Film, but Let's Look Back at the Ever-Relevant Talk Radio,” Dallas Observer, Aug 2 2020 [x]

#oliver stone #talk radio #dallas observer #judaism

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page28types · 5 years ago

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akira / eden . a warning sign (it came back to haunt me) —

The city of angels was a cesspool of brand-funded tourist traps — and that was on a good day. Gimmicky events were as abundant as they were predictable, their outcomes rarely deviating from the scope of disappointing. Coupled with Eden’s lack of interest in being social amongst a pack of dislikable Hollywood raised ( read: silver spoon fed ) strangers, venturing out into the busy scene of ulterior motives remained scarcely compelling. What it only served to remind her about was how much she missed the unapologetic grittiness of New York, comparatively. The only impulse that managed to eclipse Eden’s extremely particular standards regarding the company she kept was her aversion to being alone for too long. Just thinking about the potential opportunities and connections that would be missed by staying home provided the featherlight impact needed to tip the precarious scale of her mercurial desire. As such, not even Eden’s razor sharp acumen could prevent her from willingly making the choice to participate in yet another excruciating round of she-likes-me, she-likes-me-not: dating game edition. Call it irony or desperation — one attribute Eden possessed with certainty was an insatiable boredom. It was sensation always stirring within, gnawing at the edges of her awareness like a just out of reach itch. Over the course of a week’s worth of graveyard shifts at Sherry’s, its potency only intensified; for better or for worse moulding the weekend into a battleground of sloppy and hungrily attained entertainment. Much to Eden’s dismay, prospective options to stake a claim over had recently been lacking. Such a simple problem ought to have had a simple solution, even if casting a fruitful lure involved faking it for a few hours.

The most popular gay night club tended to draw in the same local crowd, night after night. Unsurprisingly, on any given evening out Eden could recognise one too many women by name ( whether that be to strictly avoid or to keep highly charged communicative eye contact with until one caved ). However, during the daytime the same establishment impressively flaunted a nearly unrecognisable atmosphere — devoid of thick crowds, bass heavy music, dimly lit corners, and general sensory overload. Instead, basking in the pleasant glow of midday sunshine, quaint circular cast iron tables could be found neatly arranged around the patio, those not covered by the shade of the main building boasting a colourful palette of umbrellas. Menus adorned each place setting, the share plates selection of a humble size in comparison to the multiple pages of specialty drinks available. Naturally, no table was big enough to host more than two figures. A deliberate ploy, Eden noticed upon entry. How else could the organizers of today’s brunch expect to host a successful fuck-marry-kill event?

Or, notwithstanding Eden’s disdainfully bestowed nickname upon this whole speed dating monstrosity — Sunday’s Sizzling Suitors Speed Seeing, to be precise. As if alliteration suddenly warranted a higher success rate in finding a pairing in those who participated. From the title alone, Eden knew she was well out of her depth in truly belonging there. But the alternative method to tracking down a temporary new fling meant consulting the rotation of apps on her phone — a multitude of dead-end matches which ultimately ended up too shy or preoccupied to make any substantial progress. If only to avoid projecting late night tipsy nudes of herself across the social media in the hopes of landing a non-creepy catch before the images could be traced and ruin her respectful reputation amongst peers, Eden signed up for the activity with lukewarm expectations.

Eden put on her best attentive façade, acting as though each new contender that cropped up before her was equally deserving of undivided attention: asking all the right questions, throwing all the right compliments, offering in return only the most attractive details of herself. The usual. It was hardly helpful that the procession of faces she was exposed to within the first few minutes were essentially the LA aesthetic personified — same nails, blowouts, tans, eyelash extensions; carbon copies of each other, differentiated only by their respective avenues of shallow entrepreneurship. Influencer, media developer, youtuber, kickstarter campaigner, vegan cafe owner. Thankfully, such flavourless personality details ultimately didn’t really matter. Only the amount of women who pocketed Eden’s number did. It was a charming well-rehearsed gesture that worked every damn time, like clockwork. As soon as that systematic announcement rung through the air ( “10 seconds left, ladies!” ), Eden would bite her lip in coyly feigned thought, give the girl ahead of her a flirtatious once over and then swipe a paper napkin off the table to pen her digits down below some generic line: ‘Let’s see where this goes’, ‘The garden of Eden isn’t the only thing that’ll go down in history...’, ‘We could have fun ;)’, ‘Text me X’. Knowing her luck with the fairer sex, despite the refreshing volume Eden now found her horizon pleasantly clouded with, most would either be questionably worth the wait slow burns or a quick hookup after which they would then barely toe the line of friends. Waiting until the chair opposite was finally vacated for the commencement of the next round, Eden sighed to herself as she retrieved her phone from her back pocket to check the time. Thirty minutes down, fifteen to go. Would it be worth it? Debating the pros and cons of making a break for it under the cover of a bathroom break, hazel eyes blankly scanning over Instagram’s feed as her thumb habitually swiped through recent postings, Eden’s ears perked up at the sound a nearby voice. Identifying it as familiar shouldn’t have been a signifiant surprise; she was bound to cross paths with someone she knew so long as she ran in the same limited circle that was being a lesbian in LA. Such a plain fact didn’t account for the immediate involuntary knot that tangled thickly at pit of her stomach, not to mention the tingly shiver sent down her spine. Eden’s brow furrowed, in her peripheral vision barely noticing the next woman taking a seat across from her. Instead, she tilted her head ever so slightly towards the speaking figure that had just sat down at the adjacent table. Not intending to be obvious, she pulled her sunglasses up from the top button of her blouse, slipping the shades over her eyes before she dared glance sidelong to the woman on the fringes of her personal space. Every inexplicable reaction wreaking havoc on her insides suddenly added up. Oh, fuck. Eden would know that face, that voice — her memorised everything anywhere. Akira Kyle.

@spacelionwrites

#c: eden.#( akira. )#1. A WARNING SIGN (IT CAME BACK TO HAUNT ME)

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horofosho · 5 years ago

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"Transistor" and the Voice of Music

Red wakes up on a stormy night, clutching at her furs and trying to control the panic that washes over her face. A tinny voice from around the corner calls out to her, hoping that she is there and that he didn't lose her. A computer chip-like sword protrudes out of the chest of a lifeless corpse, pulsing with light each time the male voice speaks. Red doesn't say a word. She cannot say a word.

Transistor by Supergiant Games is an award-winning sci-fi RPG that followed the massive success of Bastion with soundtracks by Darren Korb. In Transistor, we follow the story of Red, a voiceless character that we learn early in the game is a famous singer of some kind. Apart from her name and her appearance, we the player know little about our protagonist, yet we cannot view her like an empty shell. Of the many mysteries this game offers, the two we are immediately presented with as the game begins are

Who is "Red"?

What did she do?

Therein lies the problem of suture. Instead of a blank canvas, we are given prowess over a woman whose story is yet to be told, so instead of feeling like we are the main character of this cyberpunk fantasy, one may feel as if they are simply along for the ride. Despite at first seeming like there is no possible way to fully connect with this character, I believe that Transistor's soundtrack is the key to creating this sort of suture between us (the players) and Red in a unique way that seems to transcend the reality effect.

In examining the initial idea of suture between the player and Red, it may be apt to qualify me before further analysis. I am a cis-gendered, white male in my 20's who has dark brown hair. Physically, I am the exact opposite of this lavish performer, petite frame, bright red hair. Upon meeting the protagonist and interacting with the story for the first time, there is nothing that immediately strikes me as relatable or characteristic of myself to feel attached. Beyond physicality, however, is the prompt distinction that our character is/was a musician, a singer to be more precise. Speaking personally, I too am a musician who enjoys singing, so this tiny detail automatically breathes a new life into this character.

To the rest of the world who are not musicians, female, or red-headed, Red's character design provides nothing to suture other than the obvious ability to control a character within an environment. It's fantastic that we have a female protagonist, but in essence, this alienates a large portion of the game's player base. The game from this point forward has to make conscious decisions that make the character feel personal, and mechanically the game does a great job at this. Ability customization and the social media terminals dotted about the levels allow the player to determine a fighting-style for Red and make it feel like something unique to the player's intent.

However, do we call this suture with Red? Or are we changing elements of the game to interact with the environment? I tend to err on the latter and argue that character customization does not let us learn about the character, merely lets us force our narrative onto the protagonist. In fact, this may detract from the experience of an extremely narrative game lest you select traits that match how the character should truly act. However, in an environment where learning about the main character is just as important as beating the game, there is no way to establish character while choosing abilities and upgrading perks.

Therefore, Darren Korb and Supergiant Games have opted to use an outside force, a layer on top of the dystopian society they have invented: music. I believe that the driving force in characterization and suture in Transistor is the music, and without it, the player would finish the game feeling as if they had learned nothing about the protagonist they control.

The first instance of concrete suture pertaining to Red as a character is in the montage that follows her stepping up to the microphone in the Goldbank Auditorium. We watch a flashback in which we get our first taste at the events leading up to the beginning of the game, but more importantly, we hear a female singer sing the first vocal-featured song on the soundtrack. In this Fort/Da-esque scenario, we the players are now gifted the sound of Red's voice, and as a result, immediately establish the kind of person Red might be.

We All Become

"We All Become" is a very fast-paced techno/pop/rock song that seems to give the impression of rebelliousness and strength to our character. This beautiful alto voice leads us through lines like

Stabbing pain for the feeling

Now your wound's never healing

'Til you're numb, oh, it's begun

Before we all become one

Without these things, the voice, lyrics, or melody, the player misses out on such a vast amount of story and characterization that begins to shape Red and her trauma. If instead we had heard a purely instrumental track, the captured feeling would be totally lost, and Red would remain a stoic placeholder for an interactive shell.

Paper Boats

Paper Boats is, in my opinion, the reality effect in practice and the track that firmly sutures the player to Red. A seemingly extraneous feature, Supergiant decided that, if the character presses the left bumper on their controller, Red will begin to hum along with the music that is being played.

This, of course, is a fun feature that lets you interact as a player with the soundtrack and, to the beginning player, does not have any mechanical impact on the game itself. However, what I think is the most interesting part of this mechanic is that you can press this button and begin to hum a tune that has no backing track. This simple act explains more about the character than the initial montage, in my opinion. We learn that Red always has a song in her head and that she doesn't need accompaniment to express how she feels. Not only that, but despite having lost her voice, she can fully express herself musically with full emotion and musicality that reminds the player that she hasn't lost what makes her who she is, Red just simply adapts to her current situation.

I believe that although she doesn't actually sing any lyrics, her musical expression brings us the player from the imaginary to the symbolic, using music in place of language to help solidify this character and her intentions to the audience. This empty character, prone to endless customization and a simple personality, all of a sudden becomes "Red" upon pressing a button and listening to her hum. Was this necessary? No. Is it an important development tool? Absolutely.

Being voiceless, I argue, does not mean that a character is necessarily immediately relatable and or capable of player-character suture. Furthermore, the idea that a character is an empty shell that can be filled does not lend itself to being able to empathize with or be personified. I think in games like Transistor in which we the players need to learn about Red as a character shrouded by mystique, the element of voice enraptures the player and creates a spark that will lead to a bond. The difference then lies in the music and soundtrack. Do Transistor and Darren Korb give us a fully fleshed-out character through the score?

No, but that's okay.

The idea of music interaction was never meant to give us a character whose motives are set in stone, clearly defined, or unchangeable. Instead, Darren Korb gives us just enough information to supplement Red as a character so that we may project our own feelings of rebelliousness and redemption upon this character, that we fill this character with passion that would be released unto the world to avenge.

Hence my reasoning of the name Transistor.

#gaming #pc games #game #video games #transistor #music #video game music #rpg #cyberpunx #cyberpunk #pop #pop star #opera #transistor supergiant #red supergiant #supergiant games #supergiant #we all become

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tales-from-exo-planet · 6 years ago

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ALMATY | PATHCODES VOL. II

ACT I. “crew love”

Length - 4,473

Mood - nostalgic, coolin’

Pairing - Jongdae x Reader

“Say what you mean You ain't gotta play games with me So automatic, you know so automatic Say what you mean You ain't gotta fake sh*t with me So automatic, no so automatic”

“Automatic” by The Bonfyre

__________________

“Are you flying into Arizona still or-”

You knew that _______ (Arizona OG Reader) had discussed plans with MQ just this morning and asked that he confirmed then with Chanyeol as soon as possible.

Why she decided not to mention plans to Chanyeol herself you weren’t sure since you all met in the lobby of Minseok’s resort following your day of rest before traveling back to your respective home offices.

Maybe she had only deferred to MQ since the two of you planned to leave earlier that morning but decided to sleep in and catch a later flight.

But regardless of the reason, you watched Chanyeol, the mysterious man who had a knack for reappearing.

He was just as long limbed, bowed, and agilely muscular as he had been when you met him in passing years ago at Feinbäckerei.

Like many at your university, you’d heard from classmates about a local student run bakery whose menu changed based on the seasons.

The student body was abuzz with the news each week and you were curious as to why no one shared the same story even twice a month.

Figuring that this was a place you had to experience once, you took the metro following one of your evening seminars following behind a twittering trail of animated classmates as they hurried through the front door just as the “library” packed up and the settings shifted, with the aid of a the same students who had been quietly studying, as if an unnatural retrograding force of Mother Nature personified had altered the balance of the seasons.

You managed to order a plate of buchtel and watched the magic of the evening unfold.

How could students have organized something so seamless?

What kind of mastermind put this event together?

After finishing your plate you ordered a glass of ice wine and milled about the oak tables of students gathered together whispering together throughout numbers before exploding in whooping cheers and thunderous applause amid clinking of proper wine glasses and forks tapping on porcelain dessert plates.

You recognized the way students organized themselves in packs separated by universities and regions, realizing that this had become a focal hangout regardless of university affiliation.

You remembered the last set of the evening, a gangly rouge cheeked towering boy with a mop of messy curls stepped forward to the mic, the shoulders of his hoodie slipping off of his bare shoulders as he spoke, “mic check, check, ch-ch-ch-check.”

His associates, gangly but squat where he was tall, manned their keyboards, drums, electric bass guitars and synths nodding once in approval.

You raised your eyes at their aloof stares into the crowd, and stopped mid circulation of the place to hold up the wall near the glass case where more precious buchtel could be seen amongst the assortment of desserts.

The tower turned to his left picking up his guitar, and picked up his electric guitar, fitting the strap over and down across his shoulders until he was comfortable.

You looked around at the crowd seeing that they reflected the unbothered gaze of the mute band, continuing to chatter amongst themselves quietly as if there was no one there.

The tower slightly cocked his head again to his left and the drummer kicked into gear at a zinging speed, the tower and the bass guitarist following suit their fingers sliding from the top of their instruments’ necks to its core.

You jolted at the screams of appreciation that erupted from the crowd as if they had been waiting to be electrified, and suddenly the entirety of the place was on its feet chasing the tempo of the riotous troupe.

“Different advertisements worked for different crowds we were trying to bring in. For the musicians it was the flyers, the general crowd were told by word of mouth and social media. We have patrons just casually walking by and entering too,” someone was saying in an excited voice somewhere far from the howling and stomping happening in front of you.

You turned into the hall behind you, placing your glass pitifully empty of ice wine on the counter of the glass dessert case to your right as you made your way towards the animated voices.

“Do we have all of the data we need on each of those outlets?”

“How was I supposed to keep data if you changed one of the methods at the last minute and are just now telling me about it?” A voice angrily retorted. “I’m not a mind reader.”

“It’s nothing to be so personally afflicted by,” mediated a calmer voice but you heard a grunt nonetheless from the angry voice who had just sounded.

You neared the open door of the kitchen, knocking as you came into the light of the room.

They turned towards you from where they stood at the silver cooking table, their laptops and notebooks neatly placed in front as placemats for the eight of them seated there.

“Excuse me, are you lost?” The angry voice asked of you once again, his eyebrow raised in particular annoyance at your sudden appearance.

“Hi, I’m ______,” you smiled genially, unabashed at the way they stared at you.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help wandering around the place. I was curious about who put this event together. I’ve been hearing about this place all week and I’m amazed at what’s going on here especially since I don’t recognize any of you from my university,” you looked around at them all as they were seated there watching you.

“And…? Why are you back here? What do you want? We’re busy,” the angry voice had some very angry eyes too.

“Currently I’m studying international law and this venture interests me from a sociological perspective. I understand we are from opposing schools and obviously are individually engaged in unique studies but if there is a place for someone with my background, I want to be part of it,” you answered simply, looking directly at the source of the angry voice paired with an equally irate gaze.

A brighter voice answered you after a moment of stunned silence.

He walked forward from the head of the table, extending a hand to you. He had rolled back the sleeves of his pressed white button down, his tie painted with smiley faces sporting sardonic grins, pulled aside of its alignment.

“I am Minseok. I am happy to meet you _______ and appreciate your admiration of our little school project. I am curious about how your background as you say can be of use,” he was so handsome with his glittering toothy smile and his downturned ice blue eyes.

Holding your hand in his, he turned and acknowledged each member of the table.

“That’s _______ (Arizona OG Reader), also from a neighboring university, and these two associates of mine are also from my program, _______ (Berlin Reader) and-” in your mind you couldn’t stop yourself from saying “Angry Eyes” in place of his name when Minseok mentioned it. It just fit.

_______ (Berlin Reader) and _______ (Arizona OG Reader) both nodded to you, their smiles gracious as they moved their laptops and notebooks aside and made space for you between them on the opposite of Angry Eyes at the head of the table.

As you took your seat, and pulled out your notebook from your seminar, the girl named _______ (Berlin Reader) leaned into you whispering, “welcome.”

———

You looked at Minseok now where he stood beside your tight band, and gauged the degrees of separation that had built between you all as you stood in the present. So very far from that kitchen round table and that initial kind whisper of welcome.

Minseok stood amongst you as he had stood leader then and looked at each of you in familiar affection before settling his unyielding gaze on _______ (Lyon Reader) feeling a chilled current whip through the swirling air as you watched him wait for her to acknowledge him.

What does he want…?

After bidding sweet _______ (Lyon Reader) goodbye, you turned in arm with _______ (Arizona OG Reader) to go, pausing mid motion at that warbling baritone calling out to your friend. She turned over her shoulder, holding tightly to you.

“I am going to spend a weekend with ______, and then I’ll head back. MQ said he’ll meet you there before he goes out of town,” Fiammetta revealed, her tone bored as she informed Chanyeol. His honey brown eyes widened in surprise as he listened to her.

“Oh...I’ll see you then. Safe travels ladies,” he stepped back carefully from you both as if he heard the intention behind her rebuff, “not now please.”

You watched Chanyeol go, following behind Baekhyun who waited for him within the airport sliding doors.

You took another glance back at _______ (Lyon Reader) who watched him there, a sudden socially pleasant smile gracing her mouth that had been set in uncertainty just a moment before.

Love is powerful in its ability to disarm.

Love can redirect as well as it can guide.

And the tremors of doubt in love can sever and destroy even the most faithful to its source.

As she turned to Minseok who began to speak to her in ebullient soft tones, you pulled tighter to _______ (Arizona OG Reader), bringing her away.

She stiffened at your sudden movement but went with you when she turned and looked at the expression of mischievousness on your face.

“What’s all that about with Chanyeol? Why didn’t you tell him where you were going? What has he done to annoy you this time?” You asked, watching as her own eyes widened at your brash questions.

You almost laughed aloud at her expression. Surely she knew better than to expect you to not ask outright.

“Why do I have to tell him where I’m going? I’ve never had to tell him before. It’s just...kind of annoying to be so close in contact all the time now-”

“Kid brother annoying or annoying that you like it?” You asked, watching her turn it over in her mind.

“Can’t they do anything without us babysitting? Though I’m not sure he’s a kid brother anyway…” she tsked laughing with you as you suddenly laughed at her.

“Oh hush,” she blushed pulling away from you but you held on to her as you went your way into the airport.

————

“I always come here for provisions if I’m staying in for the weekend,” you said to _______ (Arizona OG Reader) as you passed through the market, looking over the fresh produce within the stalls.

“The fruit looks like it’s bulging. Goodness it looks so delicious. It can’t be winter time, can it?” She asked, eyeing the crates of fresh plump blackberries:

You placed your selections of assorted fruits, and fresh fish, in your carts and hurried along to the cashier.

“And you’re only a block or two from this? Goodness I love Almaty,” _______ (Arizona OG Reader) said, falling in step beside you after wrapping her hair and shoulders to step out into the light mist.

“Mhm. Just about a block or two,” you said, adjusting your bag and purse as you waited for her.

You walked together as leisurely as you could in the light mist passing by the open shops along the way, graciously moving to the side as chittering elderly couples and chattering young parents and their children passed alongside you both heading to the market you had just left.

“Hey honey, we’re home!” You called as you entered with _______ (Arizona OG Reader) on your heels heading straight for the kitchen to wash your wares.

“I got the rest of the assembly love if you want to get comfortable,” you said to her after she helped you wash the last of the fruits.

“It’s so heavenly here _____. You could never get me out of here,” _______ (Arizona OG Reader) said as she walked down the earthen stairs into the den just beyond your kitchen island where you assembled your buffet for the afternoon.

You joined her on your suede couch proudly parading the tray of provisions in front of you both but dissolved into laughter the moment you saw the look on _______’s (Arizona OG Reader) face once she saw your chess board.

“It’s time for a rematch,” she declared, eyebrows raised in challenge as you poured a glass of chapoutier belleruche for you both before taking a seat and rolling up your own sleeves.

“Best of three?” You agreed as you munched on a fleshy grape.

“Mhm! But what should we- yes! Have you heard their latest EP?” She exclaimed as you turned in the middle of her sentence to wheel your vinyl cart from its nested place beside the record player until it was beside you where you sat on the couch opposite _______ (Arizona OG Reader) who reclined on your loveseat.

She popped up at the sight of the embossed vinyl cover you offered her, reaching over the tempered glass coffee table where your acrylic chess set had been placed.

You turned the record over in your hands to the A side and positioned the needle, the neo soul tune rippling throughout your heated den.

She took a sip of the chapoutier belleruche as she reclined on your love seat, a hedonistic smile curling at her lips as she cradled the vinyl.

“Those were the days,” she murmured sipping leisurely from her glass before you poured both her and yourself another glass.

“We were a wild bunch for awhile...we had such dreams then,” you reminisced along with her, wrapping yourself around one of the pillows there your mother had stitched from your father’s work shirts.

“How is it being here now though? I know it was hard for you then and I’m sorry I couldn’t come-” you shook your head at the apology away that she offered again. When you first reconnected she had said something similar but shorter as you had to shift focus quickly into the multitude of tasks _______ (Berlin Reader) and Minseok had demanded. But finally here together she meant to discuss it further but didn’t mind not talking about it now. You were at peace after all.

“No one knew how long we had. I’m glad I came back for him and got to see him. I’m sorry that we all lost touch over the years and just went our separate ways but that’s how it goes. I mean I didn’t get to be there for you when-” and like you she shook her head, her sensual smile borne of the homey atmosphere of warmth, alcohol, soul, and chess splitting to reveal a slight regretful frown at the mention of that broken engagement she never wanted to discuss at length, an intimacy you and so few were allowed.

“It’s like we just faded back into our own lives and all the promises we made just…” you made a flimsy gesture with your hand as the next song succeeded the first.

She sighed heavily, tipping her head back as she took another sip.

“I feel like I’ve just been going and going for years. Just moving and working and it’s been fun. For the most part,” she whispered, as she eyed the bottle that was half as full as it had been when you both sat down.

She looked to you and you nodded, and so she reached forward, tipping her glass slightly to gather more of the wine before pouring you some as well.

“But this, this business venture. This is incredible, _______ . It’s like the whole world is our playground,” she sighed again as she reclined, finally making her move along the board.

You eyed your options across the board, answering in kind, “it’s sinful how invincible it felt reuniting with you all over the past year. This board covers so many fields, so many outlets for creativity. There is so much potential here...it’s too good to be true.”

She waited until you moved and then leaned forward, swaying slightly as she made her approach.

“It is too good to be true. The Pathcodes are a fairytale. It’s the global empire companies dream of becoming,” She inhaled the last dregs of her glass and you followed her lead, hearing yourself beginning to hum along in time with the keyboard as you reclined again.

“From an orphan to a billionaire leading our merry empire, Minseok has had the Cinderella tale to beat all tales,” You mused, turning on your side with your father’s pillow clutched to your chest to watch her next move as she leaned forward, considering.

You picked up a couple grapes while you waited.

“Do you think it’ll last though? I mean...yea it’s been a great year but this is a different group of people than we started with then,” she stated simply, nodding to you when she’d considered all of her options and made her advance.

You thought back to the group you knew, the eclectic multidisciplinary gathering of students within the greater Berlin area, and reflected on who had now arrived in the present.

“Why do you mean do I think it will last? Minseok is just as ruthless as he was then. He almost got himself and the rest of us arrested for carrying on with his social experiment even after the semester was over because we were not legally operating in that abandoned building,” You chuckled at the memory but _______ (Arizona OG Reader) tilted her chin to the side as she eyed you.

Get real.

“Do you think the board is really going to last? The event was spectacular yes. Our gains have been phenomenal. Public interest and approval is solid. Our community partnerships are growing. But will we all last? It’s a lot of work and the wear and tear is starting to show...you heard what I heard…” she inclined her head towards you in a knowing way.

“Well, I mean we talked about that while we were there. I...I don’t know. I couldn't have imagined this empire coming from what we started back then. We were not there in our minds. We would have kept the little library going and actually legally set everything up as it should have been, but that was peanuts compared to what we are doing now. And it could never have been possible without the team that we have now. I honestly feel like that goes without saying,” you added finally eyeing your moment of opportunity.

You dived forward moving the acrylic piece just so, winning a begrudging groan from _______ (Arizona OG Reader).

“But do you think everyone will stick around? I don’t know everyone as well as I know some-”

“Chanyeol for instance,” you quipped and she rolled her eyes at you.

“Stop,” she tried not to laugh, but you could see the room turning in her eyes. She was happily buzzed, and peachy though clearly still in control of her expressions.

You reached for the bottle to pour again.

“I just mentioned a name,” you shrugged innocently and she snorted at your attempts to feign indifference.

“It’s the way you said it. It’s so ridiculous. It just happened once,” she sighed, gathering her hair from her neck as she gathered it into a bun atop her head. As soon as she removed her hands, her hair tumbled from the top of her head allowing her a brief moment of cool respite from where the barrel curls were sticking to her neck.

She popped some cool grapes in her mouth.

“I don’t know if the entire board will last but it happens you know? We all have lives, don’t we? I say we just allow it to be fun for as long as we can and then-”

“Minseok is serious about world domination though. Can’t you tell? We talked about him being an orphan and his trust he’d been left as a child after he completed boarding school in Berlin but he’s earned beyond what was left to him. I don’t see someone that hungry ever stopping no matter what’s going on around him. And I’m not sure everyone has decided on this being their life’s work the way that he has. We have a varied group of people giving their time to this. People have children now, some are married, some are still dating...I just...can we depend on this board to keep going? Is this a real thing?” She popped a couple more grapes in her mouth, munching thoughtfully as she thought of a winning counter to your move.

She sighed as she gracefully moved from the loveseat to sit upon the furred floor rug beneath the glass coffee table.

You thought about the people you had met, considering what they revealed about themselves and the truths they didn’t realize that they displayed.

Commitment to a dream even if it didn’t belong to you was not something you were new to. For you, your word was your bond, it was your life’s blood. You were dependable, and consistent. The same young woman who stepped into the kitchen of that abandoned building transformed into an after hours library cafe was the same woman now who navigated the global system of rules and regulations that kept the livelihoods of your board’s reputation clean.

“I think we’ll have to consider it with _______ (Berlin Reader). I know that this would be something important to her to discuss as well,” you said watching _______ (Arizona OG Reader) as an idea dawned on her mid thought.

Your phone suddenly chimes on your island counter.

“Oh boo! I don’t want to work,” you muttered into your pillow, turning away into the couch at the familiar tune.

“If they call again, I’ll answer for you and tell them just that,” she said rising from her perch to walk to your kitchen island where she grabbed your phone.

You waited for her to set it down on the coffee table in front of you before picking it up to look at the missed call.

“Oh it’s Jong-dae,” you announced, sitting up as she sat down again upon the furred floor rug.

Quickly you dialed him back, placing the phone to your ear as you gazed at the board.

“Hello ____,” you heard him smile after the first ring and you found yourself smiling as well hearing a cheeky laugh from _______ (Arizona OG Reader).

“Hey, so you’re settled back in then? How was the dinner?” You asked, tossing the other pillow beside you at _______’s (Arizona OG Reader) head when she wasn’t looking.

“Ah it went well. Thank you so much for recommending that venue for the listening party. It was perfect,” it sounded like he had company. You heard a faucet softly going and a slight whisper followed by glasses clinking in the background.

“Ah I’m so happy to hear that. That’s wonderful. But was it a bad time to call you back? It sounds like you’re busy?” You inquired but you heard him cover the phone for a moment as he spoke to his company. It sounded like he said he would be right back.

“Oh no, it’s fine. It’s just…” you heard slippered feet quickly padding away from the sound of the faucet, and a door snap open and closed.

“So how are things going there eh? Isn’t this date number…three?” You asked, chuckling as Jong-dae chuckled too at your mention of his company. From the volume of his laugh, you knew you were right.

“Yes she came to the listening party also just this afternoon. I decided to invite her over for dinner and to try that recipe you recommended too,” he lowered his voice considerably though he was far from his company you imagined.

“Oh? Well I hope you brought the right spice you know? Since you’re trying that recipe out anyway. She must be something special if you’re pulling out that recipe,” you teased and he laughed good naturedly at your prodding.

_______ (Arizona OG Reader) watched you as you listened to Jongdae tell you again about the diplomat’s daughter whom he was courting after a chance meeting at your embassy office a couple months prior.

You had fallen in a comfortable friendship with him since stepping into your advisory role, and found Jong-dae a handsome breath of fresh air that you were delighted to work with.

He was a peculiar albeit alluring combination of artist and intellectual being that he was both socially conscious and a rock and roll soloist.

In him you’d made a fast friend that you trusted almost immediately. There was something so pleasant about being in his presence, and listening to him speak that found you on the phone or within each other’s presence for hours at a time allowing the day to just slip from you.

But even he was someone, _______ (Berlin Reader) had warned you, that needed to be guided away from his natural tendencies for the protection of this joint venture you and _______ (Arizona OG Reader) had just been privately discussing.

It felt ridiculous as _______ (Arizona OG Reader) would put it to play the “older sister” role but somehow for Jong-dae you truly didn’t mind and felt that he was truly thankful to you, playing up his “younger brother” role.

“Ah, _____ noona, I learned it well since you showed it to me no? Don’t you believe I can pull it off?” He whined, slipping back into his familiar mother tongue whose nuances you could easily follow.

You rolled your eyes, waving _______ (Arizona OG Reader) on as she waited for you to make your move.

“But last time you cooked for me, you used too much spice and you weren’t trying to impress anyone then. I’m just reminding you. It’s not all about the hip work to catch a lady you know,” you heard _______ (Arizona OG Reader) spluttering wine into her glass as Jong-dae broke into a coughing fit.

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that and just go now,” he choked into the phone and you laughed as you said goodbye throwing in a “be responsible!” to him before he hung up, beaming as you placed the phone down.

“Why do you tease people so much ______? Goodness,” _______ (Arizona OG Reader) coughed again, patting her chest dry with her napkin where the wine had spilled onto her chest.

“Come on! I have older brothers. It’s just what we do. It’s how I grew up. I feel like it’s an experience to be shared. And look you’re still here,” you said, taking another sip from your glass.

I hope we’ll all still be here you thought suddenly contemplative as your phone chimed again.

#exo fanfic #jongdae fanfic #chen fanfic #pathcode au #human realm #universe gamma

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itswomanswork · 6 years ago

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5 Hacks for Creating Smarter and More Profitable Digital Content

Content marketing is approaching an inflection point – this inflection point will determine the role of content marketing in the modern marketing technology stack.

It seems that, everywhere you go, content marketing and native advertising have become the hot-button topic du jour, as it becomes increasingly apparent how these strategies have the potential to drive performance while delivering valuable and targeted content to customers at the right time.

But despite the potential of content marketing and the number of resources dedicated to the creation of content, we are in the middle of a content marketing crisis. In a recent survey of more than 250 marketers for Fortune 500 brands, my company found only 30 percent of marketers report more than half of their content is actually engaged with.

In an industry where it is estimated that $145 billion is spent on content each year, that means that marketers are wasting at least $75 billion every year by creating content that is never consumed, never viewed, and drifts onto the back shelf of the infinite internet library. The net result is wasted resources, loss of website traffic, conversions, and revenue.

Problem presented. So the question is how do marketers rev up their content marketing strategies to create “Smart Content”, useful, discoverable content that delivers real ROI? I promise you that cranking out more content won’t be the solution.

Smart content requires targeted, optimized and integrated approaches that can be adaptive to changes in the marketplace or industry. Such smart content turns content creation from an act of informed guessing to precision driven performance. Marketers need to turn to best practices for creating smart content that fuels modern marketing and satisfies the needs of consumers in the post-mobile world. Without it, marketers will fall behind their competition, lose connectivity with their customers, and ultimately fail. Here are my five recommendations for getting smarter with your content.

1. Understand your audience and target intent

Many marketers understand the capabilities of social media and ad buys to target narrow slivers of the population, but neglect to apply these sentiments to content development and optimization.

We assume our general sense of who we’d like to get our message out to – “potential clients”, for example – will be a sufficient guidepost to produce high-performing content that is easily found by consumers. Easy, right?

Wrong.

The first step to creating the right type of content that is both discovered by and engaged with is identifying the needs of your target audience and the moments when they are looking to address those needs. Why do they care about or need this content?

Consider developing personas that identify aspects of who your audience is, what type of content they want and how they want to consume it – otherwise known as customer intent.

For example, if you manage the digital presence of a home improvement store that identifies women are a core target audience with potential for growth, consider tracking what type of content this audience searches for – perhaps “DIY kitchen remodels” is a common search term. Develop smart content that meets that naturally arising need for that information.

These personas, which are essentially personified marketing segmentation tools, help you better understand the priorities and behaviors of your “average” consumer. Meaningfully understanding consumers can set you up for success as you craft content to guide them along the buyer’s journey. In fact, these personas are essential for effective digital content, as they enable marketers to micro-target content towards the right consumers.

2. Start smart by pairing SEO with content at the beginning

Whether you’re starting up a new content marketing operation or trying to build on top of what you have, one of the most important things you can do is to prioritize search engine optimization (SEO) from the very start.

In the aforementioned survey my company took of 250 marketers, the majority agreed SEO and content are becoming more integrated or converging into one function.

Recognizing the powerful relationship between SEO and organic content early on, in fact, can set your content up for success as it makes everything you write that much more visible to search engines – who will reward you for adhering to SEO best practices. You can learn more with this free-to-download checklist here.

Whether you’re writing the content yourself, or somebody else is doing it, make sure all pertinent stakeholders know what these best practices are so that you’ll get the most out of your content every time. To do this you must ensure that your SEO and content teams are aligned to keep ahead of key trends and build frameworks that impact overall digital marketing success.

For example, that means properly deploying H1 tags, and H2 tags, building your link architecture with some semblance of order and properly categorizing content (like blog posts) every time it’s posted.

Thinking about this at the beginning of the process – and pairing SEO with content from its inception – will save you time and maximize the value of your effort.

3. Reach consumers along key moments that matter

Just like digital search disrupted how we access information in general, the mass-proliferation of mobile devices equipped with high-speed internet has upped the ante. How? By bringing our ability to quickly access information with us everywhere we go, basically all the time.

If that sounds hyperbolic, consider that the majority of searches are now taking place on mobile devices. Then, think back to those personas mentioned at the beginning of this article. If you really consider what the average consumer is doing every day, chances are there is a mobile device in his or her hand at multiple points throughout the 15 or so hours the average person spends awake.

People look at content on their mobile devices and make decisions. If you want to be a factor in that decision making, it’s important that you are developing mobile-friendly experiences.

Rather than wrestling with your content to re-adapt it for mobile devices, just think mobile-first. From the very start, plan to build experiences that load quickly, are visually appealing on smaller devices, and seek to inform, enrich or convert with just a few swipes or scrolls.

4. Always account for change and be optimizing

While we’re on the subject of mobile, it’s important to take an important lesson from how those portable devices completely changed the game for marketers in the space of just a few years.

The lesson? Change is one of life’s key constants – and this is especially true for those of us in digital marketing.

Whether it’s algorithmic change – take, for example, Google’s marking of sites without HTTPS as nonsecure, and rewarding sites with HTTPS higher positions on the SERP. Or shifts in technology, it’s up to marketers to stay on top of these changes to account for both customer behavior and changes in the tech landscape.

Today, it is secure, mobile-optimized content that is the breadwinner for marketers. Tomorrow (almost literally), as artificially intelligent digital assistants and voice-command technology become more relevant, content optimized for A.I. and voice search will be number one. The day after that, there will likely be another technology and set of consumer behaviors to account for. We as marketers must be agile enough to pivot and perform when that time comes.

5. Take advantage of emerging technology shifts to maintain your edge

Everywhere you turn, there are conversations about artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Rather than dismissing this conversation as the latest buzz, marketers should keep their fingers on the pulse on the role that artificial intelligence can (and is already starting to) play in modern marketing technology.

As marketing has grown more data-centric and performance-driven, and as data touch points have exploded in population, there is more information out in the digital sphere than is sustainable for any person to process and respond to effectively. Artificial intelligence in martech is, fortunately, emerging to bridge that gap by quickly parsing data, offering insights about consumer behaviors, automatically updating content to adhere to the latest in SEO best practices, and more.

If marketers are feeling the pressure to perform as their budgets increase and the c-suite looks to them for measurable results, then they would be wise to invest some of those budgets into marketing technology that helps them focus on building maximum ROI from the gate. Artificial intelligence may be the help you need by touching on each of the five “must-dos” for marketing success defined here.

Guest author: As the SVP of Marketing for BrightEdge, Kevin leads the company’s go-to-market strategy and a growing marketing team responsible for building the BrightEdge brand, driving demand, and expanding customer relationships. Prior to BrightEdge he was the Chief Marketing Officer of Act-On software. Kevin was also VP, Product & Market Solutions at ExactTarget & Salesforce.com, where his team fueled the company’s growth through a successful IPO in 2012 and acquisition by Salesforce two years later for $2.7 billion. Kevin has a BA from Michigan State University.

The post 5 Hacks for Creating Smarter and More Profitable Digital Content appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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gospelmusic · 4 years ago

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DOWNLOAD MP3 + LYRICS:- Japhy Davis - Boma

Japhy Davis makes it through with this afrocentric praise jamz titled Boma. The song which is laced with lots of Afro vibes, is one of the latest by the gospel singer.

The Rhythm & Blues Personified Gospel sensation, JAPHY DAVIS has released the audio to his new single, "BOMA". A song of Praise and Thanksgiving to God almighty. Speaking about the song, he shares,

"This is praise from the depths of my heart for God's faithfulness and for the many blessings He has showered on us. He's the only true God who reigns over us all. He's worthy of our generous praise and Thanksgiving"

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Wanna know more about Japhy Davis?

Okay, read about Japhy below:

It all began in Otukpo, Benue State Nigeria in the 90's where Japheth Ikpemie Ogboanoh David, well known as Japhy Davis started singing & playing instruments at the age of seven. He's the Second of Five kids Born to David and Jane Ogboanoh. He has been involved in Gospel music from the children's choir, to FCS choir in secondary school, and several choirs across the Country. Japhy as fondly Called by His Siblings, is an eclectic, enigmatic, multi talented and highly anointed minister/singer/songwriter/producer in all rights. Evident in his Unmistakable, soul touching and Life changing R&B disposition. In 2009 He was one of the 7 finalists on BET's Sunday Best international in Lagos Nigeria, He has so far shared same Stage with well known acts such as Cobhams Asuquo, Lionel Peterson, Solomon Lange, Panam Percy Paul, P'square, Praiz, 2 Face Idibia, Nikki Laoye, Freke Umoh, Chris Morgan, Dunsin Oyekan, Prospa Ochimana, Mid Night Crew, Samsong and Jay R to name a Few. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); He's the convener Of "THE REHEARSAL LIVE" A worship concert which holds Once a year. With a couple of singles rocking the airwaves already, From his debut Release "THE REHEARSAL" A true soldier and exponent of the Grace of God. Currently serving as Head of Music/Music Director, GRACEVILLE CHRISTIAN CENTER Abuja under Pastor TUNDE AYENI,

Connect with JAPHY DAVIS on Social Media

FACEBOOK:- @JAPHYDAVIS

INSTAGRAM:- @JAPHYDAVIS

TWITTER :- @SUPERJAPHY

DOWNLOAD MP3

LYRICS: Japhy Davis - Boma

na na na

Japhy Davis... oh oh oh

When I remember what the Lord has done

I will sing oh and shout ...eh

When I remember what the Lord has done

I will sing oh and shout ... eh eh

Your mercies are new every morning

Your favor for me ever flowing

Its raining down on me

Its raining down on me now

The blessings are new every morning

Your Favor for me ever flowing

Its raining down on me

Oh oh oh oh oh oh...

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise oh

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise

I will give you my best praise because you are na

Worthy of my praise oh

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

When I remember where you brought me from

I will sing oh and shout yeah

When I remember how you changed my song

I will sing oh and shout eh eh eh

Your mercies are new every morning

Your favor for me ever flowing

Its raining down on me

Its raining down on me now

The blessings are new every morning

Your Favor for me ever flowing

Its raining down on me

Oh oh oh oh oh oh...

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise oh

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise oh

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

INTERLUDE...

Its always been you

Its raining down on me...

Hey... oh u...

Ooooooo... hey!

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise oh

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my praise oh

I will give you my best praise because you are

Worthy of my

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

Boma...(My Praise) 3×

Simo preye...(I give to You)

Writer: Japhy Davis

D'arts Music Kitchen (DMK)

Please help spread the gospel. Share our posts on social media using the share buttons. He who wins a soul is wise. God bless you abundantly! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Follow us on social media: Facebook: @hottestnaijadotcom Twitter: @wherehot Instagram: @hottest9jablog (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Click here to take a look at our posts on gospel music download

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You may also like our gospel worship songs page which contains, the best, coolest and hottest Nigerian Gospel Songs, and Foreign Gospel Songs. Whatsoever is the mood, we've got you covered. Do you feel like dancing, rejoicing, shouting, screaming, or you're filled with jubilation because of the Mighty things the Lord has done? Then look no further, cos our gospel praise songs page, containing the hottest Nigerian and foreign praise songs collection, was prepared specifically for you. Peradventure you need the lyrics of the songs you are downloading now, just downloaded, or have downloaded before, our lyrics page is the best place to look. What more could be more helpful and entertaining than seeing the lyrics of your most favourite song before you, as the music unfolds unto the climax. Hey we've been there before, and still encounter it from time to time when the vocals get lost in the cloud of heavy orchestration.

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Are You a Classical Music lover, our classical music page, contains the best of classical songs, composed and written by composers like G. F Handel, Bach, Joseph Haydn, etc. As you listen to your best gospel song, you may also want to get some more insight and knowledge about the word of God, from eBooks written by God's servants, or you may want to learn something new or build yourself up in some way. Then our eBook Page is the right place to look. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); You may be in need of entertainment, and probably want to watch a video too. We understand that as well. You can get entertaining video downloads from our video downloads page.

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scrambledgegs · 5 years ago

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Dead Kids

Filipino indie film, Dead Kids is more than your stereotypical coming-of-aged type of movie. The film centralizes around a group of middle to upper class, private high school students who conspire together and hatch an amateur plan to kidnap the resident school bully. By kidnapping him and holding him for ransom for Php 30 Million, they will be able to kill two birds with one stone – get even and teach their tormentor a lasting lesson, and secondly, get their hands on a hefty sum of money for personal reasons.

In this respect, only one of the kidnappers seemed to have “the most valid reason” because unlike the other students in the private school, he is the only scholar and in “real” need of money to pay for college and other basic necessities. In fact, he resorts to various “rackets” just to keep financially afloat. He is constantly marginalized and unaccepted by his peers at school. This aspect of the movie also highlights social divides that plagues the Philippines as well, and is exacerbated by growing issues of entitlement among the wealthy and privileged.

As the movie unfolds, as expected, the group collectively bungle the kidnapping operations; they destroy families, dreams and lives. The movie is both comedic and tragic – which is why it really resonated with me. It is very real.

What struck me the most was the formulation and execution of the whole plan – the scenes and dialogue hit close to home. I recalled my younger school-kid self, as well as my peers back in the day. We conversed very similarly, in a mix of Tagalog and English and used slang words. We also had the same, typical encompassing adolescent problems, the usual things like – school, grades, barkada, relationships, peer pressure, gimikan and yes, vices.

The dark and stark difference however is that these kids are beyond your average group; they are quite scary. They are made of different stuff – they are very much alive, but at a young age, already seem dead inside, devoid of morals and values. To even think about kidnapping a classmate is one thing, but to actually have the resolve to execute the plan is really frightening. At one point, you will feel sorry for the kidnapped bully, despite what he has done to them individually in the past scenes. Adults are also hardly present in the movie. It is as though these kids live in a warped world with no authority and supervision. Mind you, this movie is based on actual events that transpired in 2018 among university students in Manila. The movie will really make you think about then and now, and the factors which are pushing our youth over the edge.

The Age of the Internet of things: Anxiety, Depression, Violence and Envy

Dead Kids touched on many prevailing themes faced by our generation today – specifically by Millennials and now the Generation Z (Gen Z). Over and over again in the movie, social media was shown to play a disastrous effect on the psyche of these kids, mirroring what is happening in real life today. At a click of a button and swipe of fingertips, everyone knows what everyone else is doing because of social media, and that makes people compare themselves to others. This continuous, 24/7 exposure breeds anxiety, depression and envy – especially for young people who are unable to compartmentalize or differentiate social media lives from reality. Affected young people feel like they are just not good enough, as compared with for example: a classmate who has topped the class with the highest grades, or their athletic friend who has won a championship title, or another colleague who possesses the latest designer clothes, or an affluent friend who recently took a trip to Europe over summer vacation. They want to achieve or get their hands on the same things as quickly as they could, so that they too can post and boast about it online. Social media encourages instant gratification, and many of our young people forget the value of hard work and replace it with what they will call “passion” – in the form of unsteady and capricious whims. As a business professor of mine said, this generation is concerned “with reaching only the summit, but forget about the climb.” This could not be any truer.

Cyber-Bullying and Disconnection

Let us also not forget the issue of cyber-bullying. As shown in Dead Kids, one of the kidnappers recalls how the resident bully is able to bully him in all mediums – physically in school, as well as online, in front of everyone, and get away with it. Those on the posting-end, who receive numerous likes, views and comments, feel as though their online taunts are encouraged and justified, and those as the object of cyber-bullying, feel as though they deserve this treatment. What makes it even worse is that nobody is really held accountable. You can easily see how this can make one spiral downwards in self-loathing and anger. It does not come as a surprise that the recent literature today speaks of significantly increasing rates of depression, aggression, anxiety – and even suicide among the youth. Another matter hand-in-hand with this are issues on personal connections, or the lack thereof. Why does it seem that young people today feel like they have no safe space or outlet to talk about what they are really going through? We have heard this before: that the more we are connected through the cyber world and technology, the more we have become disconnected in our actual and personal relationships.

Narcissism and Materialism

There was also a memorable scene in Dead Kids during the drop-off of the ransom money at the agreed location. (The location happens to be real-life bar called 2020, in Pasong Tamo where I have been to a couple of time before, and coincidentally today is 02.20.2020). The ransom money is put together by the victim’s father, an alleged drug lord, and he places the money in a designer bag. The moment the bag is plopped in the center of the dance floor, amidst the blazing trap music and flashing neon lights, many girls race for it, not knowing its contents. The scene was done really well, and you just think to yourself, “Wow, have we really become this materialistic and shallow, that we would physically fight over a designer bag?” In turn, the raucous compromises the whole operation, and one of the girls is held at gunpoint.

The Death of a Nation

I would go so far to say that I believe there is a breakdown of values in the Philippines and in the world today. We can blame social media, but ultimately, we also have to look inwards at ourselves. Sometimes, we too propagate social injustices with our simple, unconscious actions.

Our leaders as well have a responsibility. Unfortunately, the highest leader of the land, our incumbent President has not personified anything substantial to be emulated, but we are either gripped with fear, indifference or blind loyalty and let things be. Regarding his character alone, on TV for instance, our children watch our President curse and drop profanity in every statement likes there’s no tomorrow. They will grow up thinking that this is totally okay and cool, and then we wonder why we have dead kids. It is because we are becoming a Dead nation.

Moreover, he has made rape jokes, sexist and sordid comments against women, demeaning statements against Pope Francis and the Church, but his supporters continue to make unfounded excuses for this behavior. Our journalists and media as well are being silenced with real threats – to livelihood and life. Those who attempt to speak out are punished without due process and are ridiculed in a dehumanizing manner – Senator Leila de Lima being the biggest example of this. Most importantly, he continues to justify his drug war and extra judicial killings through conjured up data and convoluted truths. Have we lost our sights on human rights, life and God? These scenarios seem all too familiar.

Parallelisms to Martial Law of the Marcos Regime

We can draw many softer parallelisms of what is happening today to the atrocities of Martial Law under the 20-year Marcos dictatorship. Filipinos are truly quick to forget or love to choose to be ignorant. What I find truly unacceptable, that in this age where information is abundant and easily accessible, turns out many Filipinos, not just among the younger Millennials and Gen Z groups, but actually older people too, have a skewed version of Martial Law. They think it was a Golden Era of discipline and crime-free streets, not knowing about the countless and undocumented people who were imprisoned, murdered and tortured. To say the least, some do not even know Martial Law once existed in the Philippines. This ignorance and lack of information is not limited to just the uneducated, but persists even among private school educated Filipinos. Apparently, this part of Philippine history – Ninoy Aquino, Martial Law and the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution is not really taught or emphasized in our education system. It is truly a tragedy because we Filipinos were the victors of this miraculous, peaceful revolt which ultimately toppled Marcos, and yet we have not been able write history as it should be.

President Duterte was elected because he sold the idea that the Philippines can only be great again with an “iron-fisted” leader, the same dream that Marcos peddled to the Philippines. Today with President Duterte at the helm, the myth of the iron-fisted leader is again debunked, and now is an unfolding tragedy.

The Importance of Real, Personal Relationships

The movie’s title, I’d like to believe, is a comment on the actual reality of extra judicial killings happening in the Philippines today, but the movie also tells us that being a Dead Kid means more than the literal sense. Perhaps we’ve all felt like a dead kid at some point in life. I personally know what it felt like to be one; I can say that I have felt it twice in my youth. I had lost my way, my purpose and felt dead inside. But what helped me conquer my demons? It was my support system composed of my family and various groups of friends. During my most vulnerable and weak moments, they had been there all along and instilled the strength I needed to bounce back. Very importantly as well, they were real friends who had the courage to intervene and tell me to my face when I was becoming the worst version of myself. You need these types of people – or you will really go through life thinking, either that you are completely alone or completely invincible.

Many years later, now that I have a daughter, I know that I cannot shield her completely from the problems of the world, but I hope I can truly imbibe one of the most important qualities – and that is resilience. I know that like me, she will fail at things. She will get hurt. She will be rejected, at times, for no good reason. However, I want her to be tough, to be brave and rise to the occasion when needed. Giving up is not the answer. She must also remember to always be kind, fair and have integrity despite how unbelievable people can be. We are all dealt with a different deck of cards in life, but to be able to achieve that winning hand lies in you.

Generation Alpha

Analysts have dubbed the Generation Alpha (Gen Alpha) as the generation that will succeed the Gen Zs. They are those born in 2010 up until the year 2025, supposedly the “children of the Millennials,” our children. I think about this movie Dead Kids, and then I think to myself that I do not want my daughter and our generation’s children to grow up with fractured values and distorted principles. Don’t you want to handover to your children, a world that you can be proud of?

I am no expert, and I am no Mother Teresa, but I do know that as early as their formative years, we must be conscious and deliberate about the things we say and do – because they will mimic what they see. We must teach them what is morally wrong, even if it is deemed okay by society. The family unit is the very first thing that a child knows – so us as parents, or as older people wizened by life experiences, truly have that responsibility to set a good example. Education is also key for political consciousness and value formation.

Like I said earlier, when I was going through tough times in my youth, what made all the difference were my family and friends. I was lucky enough to have grown up with the right group of friends – those that had a positive influence throughout my entire life. It was never about material things, but rather what was intangible and essential.

We have to be very present and visible in our children’s lives – but to also give them sufficient space to grow and make mistakes. Of course, it is easier said than done – but the growing demographic of dead kids, both literally and figuratively, is today’s reality. I do not want to wake up one day and find that we have turned our children into Dead Kids.

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years ago

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02/07/2020 DAB Transcript

Exodus 26:1-27:21, Matthew 25:1-30, Psalms 31:1-8, Proverbs 8:1-11

Today is the 7th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is great to be here with you as we take the next step in our journey. And we…we’ve wound our way to the end of another week friends. They just keep moving by day by day step-by-step. So, during this week we arrived at the mountain of God in the Sinai Peninsula and the children of Israel, over a million people are surrounding this mountain and Moses is on the top of the mountain receiving instructions from God and He is, God, is orchestrating the construction of what will be known as the tabernacle. What God is revealing here is that it is His intention to dwell among His people. So, He's giving instructions for what that should look like. We’re reading from the Voice this week. Today Exodus chapters 26 and 27.

Commentary:

Alright. Let's talk about Proverbs today. The voice of wisdom, which is a feminine voice in the Scriptures clearly outlined. In this translation she's called Lady wisdom. She's speaking today and when she speaks, honestly, we should listen. So, let’s just look at this eighth chapter of Proverbs. Lady wisdom is calling and she says, “listen”, right? So, we should. “Don't to hear the voice of understanding crying out. She's taken her stand at the highest place in the city at the crossroads where everyone can see her.” There and at the gates at the entrance to the city right in front of the city doors she cries out.” So, what we’re being told here is that she is not hidden. Wisdom is not hidden. It's right in front of everyone. It's at every crossroads and it is. We come to junctures in our lives every single day, crossroads, big and small, and wisdom is there at those crossroads. The question becomes whether or not we slow down enough to listen or whether we just zoom by making whatever turn we’re gonna make, but we’re clearly being told that wisdom is available. And then she goes on. “oh people, I am calling to you. I have a message for all humanity. You, gullible people, acquire insight. You, naïve ones.” And she's not…she's not being…she's not shaming us. She's calling out to naïve and gullible people who are confused about the way to go. I can raise my hand. I know lots of things but I'm naïve in lots of areas and I’d like to think I'm not gullible, but everybody can be tricked. But wisdom, she’s saying, “yeah, but I could help you with that if you would listen to me.” In fact, she goes on to say, “what I'm about to say to you will set things right.” And then she begins to pour out herself for us to see wisdom. She says, “I despise evil.” So, in other words, wisdom despises evil. If we’re participating in any sort of evil, then we are not walking with wisdom, we are participating in foolishness. She says, “evil will not pass through her lips.” So, wisdom does not speak evil. Speaking evil is foolishness. She says, “everything I say promotes justice.” Okay, wisdom promotes justice in every way. So then, participating in injustice is participating in foolishness that leads to destruction. And she says, “not one word is crooked, and nothing is distorted. Wisdom is not conniving, is not manipulative, is not deceptive, and is not this honest, right? If your words are crooked and distorted, then they are not straight and true. And wisdom says that she will only speak the truth. She's not nuancing things to be manipulative, to get something, or to hide something. Wisdom doesn't do that. Doing that is foolishness. She says, “each and every word is straight talk to perceptive people, upright and honest to knowledge seekers.” Okay. So, the perceptive upright honest knowledge seekers understand clearly what wisdom says. So, we’re invited to consider whether we are slowing down enough to be perceptive people, whether we are walking an upright and honest life, whether we do seek wisdom's knowledge or whether we keep getting trapped in our own folly. She says to accept her correction and of value and treasure it as our most prized possession. The correction of wisdom is the most valuable treasure we can possess for navigating life. She says that we should treasure authentic knowledge. In other words, the truth more than pure gold. She tells us that nothing that we can acquire, nothing that we can acquire will be more valuable than she is to our lives. And we could look at this and go, “well…yeah…but I'm just…I'm trying to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, like God is more valuable to me than wisdom. But we’re gonna find in the book of Proverbs from the lips of wisdom herself is that she was with God in the beginning and witnessed His creation. He used her to create the world. In other words, through wisdom God created the world and the wisdom of God permeates the world and everything that He has created. It's at every juncture. It's available at every crossroads of our lives, the question is whether or not we listen. I want her. I know that sounds odd. I want a relationship with wisdom because the Bible is telling me that is more valuable than any other thing I can acquire, and I've lived long enough to know that that is true. In fact, for me I think wisdom is the only thing, the only companion in life that…that will make things make sense. And it might sound like I'm like personifying a concept like the collection of all the knowledge that we could attain and personifying that as female but I'm not the one doing it. It's…this is how the Bible reads. So, she is here, she is available, she is at every crossroads, she's screaming from every height, she is not unavailable or hidden. And if we acquire her, if we acquire wisdom then we can acquire anything. And we know that, you know, we haven’t got to the story of King Solomon yet, but it's a famous story that he’s the wise man, he’s the wisest one because he asked for wisdom from God instead of anything else that he could've asked for. He was the king after all, he could've asked for anything. But God told him, “since you asked for wisdom, I will give you wisdom and everything else you could've asked for.” So, my friends, we may want to pay attention to this. This may change the rest of our year. Maybe that job promotion is less important than acquiring wisdom this year. Maybe all of the experiences that you're trying to arrange to have inside of this year are way a less important than acquiring wisdom. She's telling us that nothing we desire could compare to her. So, let's do this. And this isn't something that’s just going to happen to us. Wisdom doesn't operate that way. But if we start practicing, we’ll get good. And all we have to do is slow down in those curves, right? Crossroads are…are upon us every day. We have to make choices continually and those choices write the story of our day. What if we slowed down enough just to consider wisdom? Is this the right choice right now? Is this true? Am I saying crooked and distorted words to hide or to manipulate? Is this thing that I am deciding just and true? These are the questions wisdom asks. And when we find ourselves out of alignment with wisdom then she tells us to accept her correction as being more valuable than our most prized possession. In other words, if we'll listen to her, she is rescuing us from a bad road. I want this. I want this in my life more than ever, don't you? I mean, let's become wise together as we move through the Scriptures this year. Let’s actually for once believe that wisdom is to be desired more than gold, more than gems, more than anything we could want and see what happens to our lives in the process by the end of the year because we don't have to overcomplicate this. We just have to slow down and make the next right choice and keep doing that.

Prayer:

Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit into this. We desire a relationship with wisdom, and she is calling from everywhere. So, it's not like we can't find her. Holy Spirit lead us on the path of wisdom today. Help us to slow down and listen for her. And we acknowledge we’re not going to hear with our physical ears. We’re going to come to a crossroads where we need to make a choice and we’re either going to just make it and keep going or we’re gonna slow down and listen for what is wise. Help us to make the next right choice again and again and again and again, over and over and over until it is absolutely our lifestyle, until we wouldn't ever make a choice without considering wisdom. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Victoria Soldier I was just calling to pray for Lawn from Massachusetts. He has an urgent one on his wife who wants to divorce him and also wants to end her life. Lord I want You…all the saints to pray with me as we pray for Lawn. Gracious Father You are a God who can do anything, You are on mind regulator, You are a healer, You are a deliverer Lord, You are a God that can do anything but fail. You are a miracle working God. We ask You right now to touch Lawns wife and to touch his marriage. Lord You work that miracle in his wife’s life tonight. Oh Lord let her find life in You, let her find a reason to live like never before and bring that marriage together. Lord You work a miracle Lord. Oh Lord You work a miracle not only in this marriage but in the other marriages. And I ask You to touch Michael who was praying for his mom who has cancer Lord. I pray for the cancer patients right now also. Lord I ask that You have Your miracle Lord in the name of Jesus. You have Your way. You touch that life today. Those babies need their mother and she will need them. Lord we ask that You have Your way in the name of Jesus. Just the hem of Your garment, just the speaking of Your word, this is the kind of God we serve, an amazing Almighty God. We ask You to have Your way. You touch someone who’s going through depression, the one who said he needed a touch from God. Lord You Have Your Way, Lord in the name of Jesus. You work that miracle for this DABber tonight, this one in their heart they’re thinking of giving up, this one in their heart they’re just depressed, this one that their heart that is worried, the one who called about worrying. Lord, You let her know that You are with her and that You never leave her nor forsake her. Oh Lord You have Your way in the name of Jesus that You’re a God…

Hello DAB family I’m so thankful to be a part of you all this is my first year. Please pray for me. I am newly widowed a year and half and I am trying to figure out what my next steps are. Also pray for my son. He is very backslidden and has been very hurt in the church. He’s very angry at God and for his girlfriend for who’s salvation is on my little grandbaby that they have together. Please pray for them this week. They are under some major oppression and major warfare. Please pray for my daughter who has special needs. She’s 27 years old she does not live with me. She’s seeking a new host home. She’s gotten out of a terrible situation and we are seeking God to find her new placement. Please pray that God’s hand will be upon us and it will be the right place for her, a caring place for her and a safe place for her. Thank you so much and I pray for you all in Jesus’ name.

Hi DAB family this is joyful noise from Southern California except I’m calling right now currently from out of country. I’m lining in a foreign country and it’s just such a blessing to be able to take this family with me and be able to join you all around the Global Campfire as Brian says every single day. I truly miss every single one of you. And the Scripture readings and Brian’s awesome recap at the end. I would miss it so much if I wasn’t able to take with me. So, thank you so much Brian. I wanted to share with you all, I was listening to I think it was today which is the 29th, a lady called and saying that she had just listened to the 21st which is Joseph’s…Brian’s sort of interpretation of, you know, why Joseph was going through what he was going through and she shared that her father, Ivor, needed prayer. He’s in his late 80s. And certainly, I’m going to pray for your father and please pray for mine. I’m in the same situation where, you know, there’s family trauma and there’s…there’s back story and there’s things that just sort of blew up. One of the reasons I left the country, just to re-center myself is to get away from a situation that’s not my fault, I didn’t cause it, I didn’t creat it but I’m having to clean it up and it’s devastating and it goes back to all the family stuff that I grew up with. And, you know, the enemy was coming to me in the middle of the night saying, “remember you when you were little and you cried because you didn’t think your family loved you? Well, guess what? You were right.” It’s all coming back. It’s siblings, it’s parents, it’s all of it. And I’m in the crosshairs and I don’t know why. I never know why. I never know why. But God does and He’s going to do something with this. So, remember take heart, God is trustworthy with all of this and with the Holy Spirit wells up inside of us as Brian said in the prayer, Holy Spirit well up inside of me, give me the wisdom that I need to navigate this difficult time and help me to know. Remember that God blessed Joseph in slavery, in prison, and in the place of honor…

Hello hello DABber family happy 2020. This is Fee from Mississippi I’m calling with a praise report. My vision continues to improve, and I am so happy. I am so happy. I am overjoyed that the things that the doctor said that were impossible, God is showing them that all things are possible for those who believe in Him and have faith. And it’s just like the reading that Brian did on January 22nd when Jesus walked on water and Peter wanted to do…Peter did it to, but then when he started to doubt he started to sink and Jesus asked, “why did you doubt?” You guys, no matter how hard it gets and how…how hard the stones are the Satan is throwing at us, we cannot…we cannot doubt. We pray harder and we continue to believe because God’s knows what we want before we even ask. And you know what? In the end it will all pay…it will all pay off. I am so thankful. Thank you, guys so much for all your prayers, thank you Brian and Jill, thank you DABber family. I love you guys. Again, this is Fee from Mississippi.

Hey everybody this is Pelham from Arab, Pelham calling just to touch base. It’s been a little while. I wanted to let everybody know everything’s going well. We’ve made it eight months into this program. Wow! Gone by pretty fast actually. Since then the Lord has blessed me with restoring my life, he’s restored so many things to me. He’s given me a job, he’s gotten me promoted, he’s gotten me promoted again, gotten me promoted again. And I just got a give Him all the credit because I’m just a doofis that doesn’t really, I don’t really know what I’m doing. I just go from one thing to the next. I do the best I can, and I always could do better. I just wanted to call and thank everybody for all their prayers and let you guys know that even if you feel like the Lord might not be using you at the moment, He is. He’s always doing something in your life. And the times when it feels like He’s not there and that He’s not doing anything are the time you’re going to look back on and see His hand. He likes to hide. He’s all about hiding Himself and then He’ll blow your mind by revealing Himself to you. I want to let the people that sent me the books know that there’s a crew of us guys that are going through…we just made it into Exodus with you all. I got a couple of days to catch up but I’m with y’all DAB. I’m with you but guess what? No Internet access, basically. I’ve got work and a computer but can’t listen to the…to the wonderful voice of Brian, which I miss so much but it’s just…it’s going to make it where I get out I can really…I can really cherish it more than I did before. Please write me - 332 Lookout Dr. Arab Alabama 35016. This is Pelham saying, thumbs up.

Hello, my DAB family this is Sharon and Southern California. This has been a very tough call for me to make. I…I’ve been afraid to call because I left several messages and I haven’t heard them being played so I didn’t know if you guys were listening maybe on a different podcast. But the reason why I’m calling today is because I need prayer. I am still estranged from my eldest daughter. It’s been over a year now and my husband and I just bought a house and next week we’re moving and I’m afraid. Oh…I’m afraid that she won’t know where I am, and I can’t…I…it’s hard…it’s very difficult for me to…to…the realization is very hard. I…she knows where I work, and my cell phone number has not changed but the last known place where she knows that I’m living I’m about to leave and it hurts. It hurts so bad. And I’m…I’m afraid that she won’t…we won’t see each other again. Oh my God. I just want prayer for my strength and for reconciliation with my daughter. I love her so much and I…this is so hard for me. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Isaac from Regina Saskatchewan Canada and I just figured you know what, it’s time that I say this. The other day I was listening to Brian and he was talking about forgiveness and it got me thinking, you know what, I’ve called in a few times, I’ve…I’ve had strong anxiety, like really strong to the point where doctors don’t even know what to do anymore, psychiatrists, all of them. And, so, I’ve had it for a long time, and it’s affected my work and everything I’ve done. I…I can’t…I couldn’t even work because of it. Right now, I’m slowly working on counseling and just building up everything and getting back to a normal routine. So, what I wanted to say is that the night I heard Brian talking about forgiveness a couple nights ago it got me thinking that my anxiety, the root cause of my anxiety is my on forgiveness of others and my anger towards them for the past traumas of my life because I was bullied throughout school. And I decided to forgive them. I forgive them. And, you know, as I said it to God, I forgive them Lord, please forgive me for not…for not forgiving. And, you know what? The anxiety is gone, it’s gone so far and I’m glad, but I don’t want to come back. So, if you would please be praying for me that I’d stay strong and I stay firm in the word and that, yeah, that I just continue living my life. I’d like to be able to work. I’d like to be able to have a job and just have fun and enjoy my job but not constantly worry about, “oh am I gonna have to quit or get fired because of my anxiety.” So, yeah, that’s it. So, I hope you’re having a great week or have a great weekend. Talk to you soon. Bye.

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