#technically the videos they first individually appeared in counts as baby videos. think about it.

[itslilacokay]

im back from an extremely short drawing break

heres the hollowheads (but they were just created)

[hasegawasosise]

In Numbers We Trust

Summary:

Prompt master: @outoftheframework

I like the concept of each of the kids having a number or having a thing where they count off. Not in a demeaning or dehumanizing way at all, just more so to use in dangerous situations. For example, a bomb goes off on patrol, and to quickly see if everyone is okay, the kids (including Steph and Babs) automatically start counting one at a time. Bruce can breathe again once the count reaches eight. This tradition begins to carry over to civilian life when the kids yell numbers across a crowded gala after the power goes out.

Beta Agenthandler

Bruce never planned on starting a family. He made a vow to live for justice. He would be the force Gotham needed. He would be the forever bachelor. Justice was his Lady Love.

But 90% of life’s plan was just that—a plan. Bruce would never have guessed he'd end up taking in a boy who called himself Dick Grayson. Technically his ward, but Bruce suffered a mid-life crisis every day from thereon, wondering whether it was the right choice for him to adopt a kid—or why anyone sane would let Bruce Wayne adopt any kid in the first place. It was a testament to Dick’s own awesomeness that he grew up to be a mostly functional adult—Bruce definitely wasn’t.

After Dick, he recruited an amazing girl named Barbara Gordon as another sidekick. She was not officially his adopted daughter, but by day two of working together Bruce registered her in his little hind brain as “my kid.”

Then another. Jason Todd not only stole the Batmobile’s tires but also Batman’s heart. The little boy taught Bruce more about street-smarts and how to be a better person right until his death. His realized depth of parental love made him wonder why he ever adopted anyone in the first place—and ended up losing them that way.

After what he thought was the last, another one came into his life without invitation. Timothy Drake was a genius detective. Out of his first four—yes, Bruce could still count—Tim was the most similar to Bruce. They had the same kind of upbringing amidst the Gotham Elite, they were both highly focused and detail oriented individuals. Tim was even smarter than Bruce, and he was the sole reason Bruce could continue functioning after Jason’s death. Tim was also the only one to believe he was still alive and brought Bruce back from when he was lost in time.

After Time was Stephanie Brown. A cheerful ray of sunshine that had her own worries, but could function the best out of all his children. She had the kind of light sarcastic humor to brighten up Bruce’s darker days. He gained a third daughter, Cassandra Cain, the most accomplished amongst his children in terms of stealth and combat, also his one darling princess.

Then Bruce was introduced to his—one and only—blood son, a little baby assassin who had the unfortunate tendency to stab first ask later. By this time, Bruce had a better handle on raising children highly susceptible to raising hell and violence (read: still an incompetent parent, but he knew how to tune out their nagging) and had no choice but to assign Dick  with Damian’s education on humanities and socialization.

He also had Helena, Terry, Matt, Duke, and Harper.

Bruce lost count.

It was the ultimate testament to Bruce’s parenting skill. He sometimes couldn’t remember how many kids he had. He could lose them in a Walmart and forget he was missing one. But thankfully, he had a secret weapon.

Since Jason, he assigned them all numbers. Dick was one, Barbara was two, Jason three, Timothy four, Stephanie five, Cass six,  Damian seven—although he always said he was the first—Duke was eight, Harper nine, Terry ten, Matt eleven, and little Helena was twelve.

Imagine that. Bruce had twelve kids. What was his vow again? Lady Love Justice? Don’t know her.

It became sort of a tradition. When the kids entered the Wayne manor, each of them wrote their number on the info board down in the changing room. They were also listed on a desktop note of the BatComputer. It became a ritual in which the last child would add their newest sibling into the list, so they knew who the next number was supposed to be, and that next child would be who they were responsible for. Well, except Dick who accepted all of them as his baby chicks. The number also became a little part of their identity—each of them would put their numbers on everything they owned from their doors to their batarangs to the containers in the fridge.

Bruce, most importantly, used the numbering system to check in on them. It started when Penguin detonated a bank and his robins were scattered fighting all the hundred thugs Penguin hired to keep Batman busy. The blast stopped the fight and Bruce’s heart dropped when he realized his coms were damaged and he immediately couldn’t keep sight of them. He immediately tried to think what he could do, and when he did,  he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“KID COUNT!”

“One!” Nightwing shouted from the top of the next building. Apparently he flew off the bank’s  roof when he realised it was going to burst.

Oracle was two but he knew she was safe in the clock tower.

“Three,” Red Hood drawled. Bruce wondered why he joined in, but was thankful nonetheless.

“Four,” Red Robin shouted from the opposite direction, because he was the sensible one who directed the civilians and police to safety.

“Five!” Spoiler laughed and flew to his side. “That was a doozy!”

“Six,” Black Bat said as she appeared beside Spoiler where they shared a hi-five.

“Seven,” Robin pulled out his swords from a thug’s leg. “Father, I need to clean my sword immediately.”

“No stabbing, please.” “Too late.” Bruce groaned.

“...Eight?” Signal. He was still new to the numbering system.

Batman let go a deep relieved sigh.

The police and civilians who were fortunate to witness the scene, collectively said ‘Oh’. It became a trending twitter before Tim deleted the topic as much as he could.

********

The counting continued though. Citizens who have lots of children (such as parents, teachers, sometimes even the Police teams), realised it was a quick method to ensure update of their progeny/students/teams condition. So they  The counting became sort of a Gotham Trend and eventually enlisted into Gotham’s Emergency SOP. Imagine that, having too many kids to count gave birth to a crucial disaster first-aid first responder procedure.

In all actually, maybe that was one of the top major contributions Batman has given to his city.

********

The kids themselves slowly embraced the importance and fun of the numbers. It created a sort of camaraderie-- even when the numbers didn’t correlate with their height. It used to be a nice isoquant curve when they stood side by side. But after Jason’s growth spurt and Tim naught growth spurt, Steph finding high heels and Cass love for Anti-flood Boots, the nice isoquant curve just became a jagged line not unlike a heartbeat rate.  

That aside, the numbering also slowly bled into their civilian lives:

1.

All of them counted before they entered the GothMart -- Alfred was there too, and suddenly Bruce became number 0. He was there to help Alfred because herding the kids was a massive job.

Dick was back for the weekend to spend time with his “babies” and refused to stay at home, because he wanted to sneak in his grocery list (gummy bears and cereals) into Bruce’s list so he could bring it back to Bludhaven and not spend a dime on it.  

Jason was there because Alfred asked him for help--he was the only one out of the brood with cooking talent and generally all responsible in the kitchen, i.e. Alfred could trust Jason to use his kitchen without blowing it up (shoutout to Tim and Duke who blew the kitchen for the fifth time this year).

Barbara stayed at home, watching over their base, but she was ready with her surveillance just in case they lost one of the broods.

Tim was half dragged, because he had spent the last 30 hours awake doing Bruce-knew-what, and only agreed to be dragged with the promise of sweet, abominable GothMart coffee with pink glitter (a cheap imitation of Starbucks, really) because Tim was fabulous especially after thirty hours of no sleep. And the surprisingly awesome coffee was a dollar--what kind of frugal millionaire didn’t appreciate a dollar of drinkable coffee?

Steph was the one who dragged Tim, with the help of Cass who just returned from Hong Kong for the weekend. Steph wanted to buy some new bras for Cass, something cool and sexy she could enjoy immensely. Bruce was not privy in this knowledge.

Damian was there to ensure his embarrassment of siblings didn’t kill themselves or humiliate the family. Wayne was his legacy afterall, and all of them reflected on his legacy, whether he liked it or not. Duke, the only one whom he could tolerate outside Cassandra (Grayson was mother) just poked his cheek and grinned. Duke might be tolerable, but it didn’t mean Damian didn’t want to stab him sometimes (Drake, on the other hand, looked like a nice pincushion to stab his sword into).

They counted 0 to 8 before they entered, orchestrated by Alfred.  

When they were ready for the checkout, 4, 5, and 6 were missing. Bruce finally found them at the children section, where Tim was busy defending his virginity from a Superboy Plushie, while Steph convulsed with laughter on the floor and Cass video-ed the entire thing.

Bruce refused to buy the cereals (Dick) / sexy lingerie (nope, nope, nope) / kitchen knife collection in black (Damian, as they didn’t need another stabby collection). But Bruce ended up buying the superboy plushie because it had been tainted (the store manager glared at him the whole check out time). At least Tim looked ashamed enough when he was handed the superboy plushie.

2.

The gala was in full swing, full of important people and not-so important moochies. Bruce was entertaining a group of usual donors (important and fun people!) while he saw Tim seriously discussing the stock exchange trends with several old, serious men. Dick was charming the usual group of ladies and young men, while Cass seemed to be hiding behind the potted plan.

Then, just like usual in Gotham, the lights went off. The room suddenly became dark and people started to scream.

“KID COUNT!” Bruce shouted. “Zero,” he added because of habit.

“One!” “Three!” “Four!” “Five and Six!” “Seven.” “Eight” “Nine.”

Wait, did he bring Harper with him? Harper was allergic to this kind of gala--and that was why he never fully adopted her into his Wayne name.

Oh well. The more number he got, the better.

Justice Lady love who?

[fizzingwizard]

Episode 6 was AWESOME. Finally it really and truly felt like Digimon Adventure!!

This episode plus the last one makes me eat my words of despair over the blandness of episode 4. I’m counting that one as just a miss. I’m hoping that it doesn’t bode for the tone they’ll take with all Sora episodes though. Sora’s easy to overlook because she’s already kind, brave, and responsible - the main things the other kids need to work on. Still she never bored me in old Adventure. I only ever wanted more of her and that was my hope for 2020 Sora. Her intro episode wasn’t a great start, but guess what, she got to be pretty darn cool in this episode, and overall the tone of this ep was such an improvement on ep 4 that I’m back to thinking we will absolutely get a modern, cool girl Sora who rocks her spotlight episodes in the future. Pray with me friends.

By the way we finally got some decent animation in this episode. So I took gratuitous Taichi pics and I’ll post a couple to start us off bahahaha

Okay, so this was the much-awaited MIMI episode. Heck yeah. It’s called “The Targeted Kingdom.” Who is the queen of the kingdom, I’ll give you three guesses, eh what’s that Mimi? like WOW you got it on the first try!

More below!!

^ So I’m not quite sure what’s going on here. I think Sora is standing on Taichi’s back and Piyomon is helping lift her (them?) up into the trees so Sora can look around? They are trying to find the way to the ocean. This seems like the most awkward way possible to go about it but you do you kiddo...

See, Adventure Taichi would be making jokes while this is happening. 2020 Taichi is thinking about The Big Picture, at least as much of it as he knows of. He’s turning into such a pensive type. Yamato’s gonna have to work hard to keep his lead brooder status.

Also I was thinking... there’s a few times in this ep, and more in others, where I feel like the animators don’t show us enough... Idk what to call it, movement? The fall out of actions? Like why don’t we see them climb into the tree? Why are we zoomed into so close when they fall out? Later during the big fight scene, there’s stuff going on that could definitely be shown in a clearer, and also cooler to watch, way. My theory of course is it’s all budget issues but what a bummer.

The kids’ first intro to the bottomless pit that is a Digimon’s stomach. They have no food (seriously? in that pack of emergency supplies Sora brought by pure happenstance there is NO food??) so they go... steal some. But they don’t know they’re stealing.

Not that SHE cares.

Mimi: Bahaha... you’ve fallen into my trap! *cutest maniacal laugh ever*

^The trap

There is another trap that comes later in the ep and I’ll just say here. It’s some Jessie & James level shit. Way to go Meems!

ugh soooo cuuuute I want twenty

Introducing... Queen Mimi! Yes, Queen. They’ve upgraded her!

Honestly, I love how she’s introduced as royalty, but she’s dressed as a cowgirl. No one would ever ask Mimi to pick just one theme. Like her kimchi fried rice with whipped cream and strawberries, Mimi is not afraid to mix genres!

Like I said, the animation in this ep is a cut above what’s it been recently, which is a relief. And everyone’s appearance is so much like Adventure that I wonder why they changed anything xD But I’m just so grateful everyone kept their unique eyes. It was the one thing I missed in the animation of Tri, even though I wouldn’t have wanted high school kids to have baby eyes. But the eyes really highlighted each character’s individuality. Glad that’s still a thing even if not every animator pays attention to it.

Taichi & Sora: Were those your fruit trees? Uhh sorry? My Digimon was close to death and we were starving...

Mimi: You will starve again unless you learn the meaning of the law!

that’s a little les mis interlude for ya youre welcome

So Mimi arrived in the digital world, separated from the others, and immediately became Queen of the Tanemon. I SENSE A TREND.

Mimi doesn’t come across as ditzy and selfish as she did in early Adventure. I am not sure if that side of her’s been erased in favor of simply making her reluctant to fight because she’s soft-hearted, or if we’ll see her self-centeredness appear later on. I hope so. Right now the 2020 story is very focused on the plot and not on the children’s growth, which is a huge departure from Adventure, but I don’t think it will remain that way. I hope not at least. But I do think it’s possible that they’ll rewrite Mimi to be a bit less self-centered and/or airheady, and I’m not exactly against that. After all, post-Adventure Mimi showed her cool side more when she was willful or opinionated, and I’m on board with more of that in the 2020 show too. A better balance would definitely be a good thing in Mimi’s case.

She kind of made me think of Sailor Moon in this episode, lol

GASP! We are all Chosen Children! Mimi immediately says NOOO WAY i’m queen of the Tanemon!! But not because the Tanemon are catering to her every whim (they’re not, as far as I can tell! Though they did make her a throne!). Because she honestly feels a responsibility to look after them. Again, pretty different from old Adventure.

Pocket Koushirou returns and Taichi tries to absorb him into his brain!!

Taichi: *grunting* HNNNNGGGG!! Give me me your curiosity!!!

Koushirou: Are you Vademon!?!?!

Koushirou shows video footage from the human world that shows the effect the power outage is having. Though it’s not a complete blackout yet, some places like hospitals have already lost power and are in trouble. 

Mimi sees her grandfather, the president of Tachikawa Industries, on the TV helping people in trouble. VERY DIFFERENT. VERY COOL. I approve

Koushirou also points out that there is INDEED a time lapse between the human and digital worlds. I’m not exactly sure how different the time lapse is from old Adventure. At first, I thought it was much smaller, but thinking about it... given how slow the video from the human world was moving, it might be sizable. But I don’t think it’s as big as old Adventure. At any rate, Taichi and Sora figure out this means Mimi was on her own with Palmon and the Tanemon village for longer than they realized.

Also makes me wonder just how much time Yamato’s spent in the digital world...

Mimi feels torn between wanting to help her grandfather and needed to protect the Tanemon village! Naturally Taichi suggests they work together!

And a Tanemon rudely kicks him in the face!! Just kidding. But it was too cute not to cap

Mimi brings the waterworks like three or four times this episode.

Mimi: Alright! You work for me now!

Taichi: ...??? Okay I guess????

Yes, Princess or Queen, Mimi is still Mimi <3

So they join up and uhh... get ready for war I guess??

I MEAN HOW CUTE IS THAT

So this is the second Team Rocket trap, a giant hole in the ground. How did they dig it? How did the build that raft two eps ago?? Inquiring minds want to know

Greymon is surprisingly limber for a chubby dinosaur.

Taichi does what he does best in battle scenes: stand in immediate danger and look up a dinosaur’s bum.

OGREMON MAKES HIS BIG APPEARANCE IN A MIMI EP. I totally called it last week. Okay, technically he already appeared in episode 5... but we barely saw him okay! He uses Soundbirdmon (who may indeed not be sentient?) to mind-control other Digimon to find and apparently kill?? the children. Ogremon honestly sounds kind of mind-controlled himself but not sure. If he is, it’s a different kind of control. He may just talk like that because he’s an ogre and not very articulate...

I guess I capped this because CUTE CUTE CUTE

So speaking of rushing into immediate danger... Not only is Sora right in the middle of the right, she’s HANGING OFF BIRDRAMON’S LEG. This show is SO not promoting child safety hahahhahaha

Cute Taichi. Cuter still - Taichi and Sora tag teaming it. PLEEEEEASE give me more of this!! I want nothing more than for Sora to join Taichi and Yamato as a heavy-hitter. I always headcanoned her that way growing up. Let Sora kick ass 2020!!

^Palmon’s method of rescuing Mimi... effective, yet questionable

Capped because Cute.

Sora and Birdramon take down the blue bird digimon (sorry... forgot its name... will likely forget the name of every other Digimon not from old Adventure as well. i am a senior citizen). Taichi cheers for them and says “You nabbed the best bit from me!” SO CUTE. Come on, they are the best team!!

Meanwhile, Palmon: *screams bloody murder*

Mimi: Palmon! Noooo!

Episode 6: Palmon friggin DIES

I mean she is like glitching in and out. So it totally FIGURES it would be a Mimi ep that tells us “yeah kids we’re not Pokemon!” I mean. Keep watching...

Mimi recalls being all alone in a strange world when she meets Palmon. Btw they totally revamped the Pyokomon Village for this Tanemon village, I dig.

EVOLUUUUUTION!!

Boxing!!! Cactus!!! Eat this Precure!!!!

While Togemon takes out Drimogemon, Greymon rushes in to protect the kids from Ogremon...

... AND FREAKING SAWS HIS HORN OFF.

Like I said. THIS AIN’T POKEMON, KIDS.

Isn’t this actually darker than old Adventure? I mean I guess at least no one dies (I think? uhh...) and I suppose that’s less dark... but sawing off body parts... Idk man... I’m down with it, I just don’t know that it’s any nicer than old Adventure... hahahaha

POW! Err, Drimogemon’s drill ain’t looking too good either...

More waterworks as Mimi tells Palmon she loves her, and Palmon says it right back. Foreshadowing for Mimi/Koushirou tiffs in the future!? It was lit last ep that Koushirou tried to say he loves his partner and choked on it. Something tells me these two are gonna butt heads again ;)

Ugggggghhhh so cute I can’t staaaaaaand ittttt

Mimi decides to go with Taichi and Sora and leave the Tanemon village, Idk, I guess they’ll be safe now???  at least they won’t be targeted for having a human child among them.

Also I like her leaf bag. The Tanemon totally made it for her.

We end with Ogremon gripping his broken horn and fricking sobbing. This... does not bode well.

I want to hug him

so cast your votes, who gets the first hurt/comfort scene with Ogremon? Will it be gentle chastisement from Mimi while she patches him up with stuff from Sora’s pack? Or will it be Jou and the toilet paper you know he brought even if it makes no sense?!? hahahaha

I give this ep a 7/10 WELL DONE. That’s what a Digimon episode should be. Very close to VERY VERY GOOD.

I missed the trailer for next week so have more gratuitous Taichis instead.

[luxmagnafest]

INTERVIEW: "Reflectif" Artists Reflect on Black Representation from their Upbringing

In one week, Lux Magna will have the pleasure of opening a month long art exhibit at Casa del Popolo, curated by local visual artists Kai Samuels and Joyce Joseph (a.k.a. JUICE); Reflectif is an exposition of art spanning various mediums, by 6 young Black artists coming from across the country.

Team member Mags (who is also a visual artist) spoke with Nafleri, Tyrin Kelly, Joseph Moore, Hasina Kamanzi (OTT), BlazenBlack (OTT) and Simone Heath (TO), about their respective experiences growing up with (or without) Black folk represented in the media and art that they consumed.

When was the first time you remember seeing Black folk represented in media or the arts?

Hasina: The first time I remember seeing Black people highlighted in media was when I went back to Burundi for the first time in 2014. I saw an oil painting exposition that was illustrating what life was like in Burundi pre-colonisation. I didn't realize at the time how influential it would be for me so, unfortunately, I can't recall what was the name of the artist or the name of the exposition.

Nafleri: Having grown up in Haiti, I was surrounded by Black people, so Carnival season was Black people and their joy put on a show. I knew whiteness existed but it was in light-skin Black [people] or missionaries; I wasn't fully aware how much opportunities catered to it. BUT, after arriving in Canada and being taught to be Black, around my second year, I remember TVA played films every Saturday, and during the week they would play the trailer for said movies; I remember once they played Fat Albert and all through out the week I was hype ‘cause it was movies with characters I felt I could relate to. I ended up being disappointed but, I still remember that child's hype. But in Haiti, I remember music, cinema, literature, paintings, sculptures, I wasn’t fully aware of it but I was lucky enough to experience Blackness in art.

Joseph: The first time that I remember seeing Black people represented within the media was The Proud Family. The show had a significant impact on my childhood, as it allowed for me to see various Black characters in a normalized and lighthearted setting on a regular basis.

BlazenBlack: Had to be the detective [Bulletproof] in the cartoon COPS, followed by X-Men’s Storm.

Simone: The earliest Black character I could remember is Susie Carmichael from Rugrats. Pinpointing a first time is hard to say for sure. I grew up in the late 90’s-early 2000’s with a lot of Black shows, a few having more Black-centric protagonists. I can remember watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters and The Cosby Show with my family.

Tyrin: I’m not sure… growing up I became really obsessed with the early jazz scene in America. It was drummers like Philly Joe Jones and Art Blakey that really inspired me to learn an instrument. K-OS is one of the first modern Black musicians that showed me you can make hip-hop and be a rock-star. I fell in love with Atlantis Hymns for Disco and really idolized that whole “B-Boy who makes indie music” persona. In terms of visual art I wasn’t really aware of Black artists that stuck to my memory until high school art class I think. I was really invested in the poetry scene in Ottawa during that time and Saul Williams is another Black artist that really influenced me.

2. Who was your favorite fictional Black character growing up?

Nafleri: Can I answer Jesus? (laughs) I remember reading (I know nada of Christian theology) that Jesus never wrote anything, his partners did, so in the writing of others, I'd see the fiction of Jesus, not that it's a bad thing, fictional characters can be inspirational but… uncles, aunties and ‘em might roast for that one. (laughs). Jokes aside though, growing up I remember Bouki and Malice, which were folk stories of Haiti and in the literary work of Odette Roy Fombrun. I was able to see Black characters that weren't asked to be super, they existed in the complexities of their life. Looking back, I'm grateful to have experienced that.

BlazenBlack: My favorite fictional Black character must have been Piccolo [DragonBall Z] if he counts. If not, War Machine [Iron Man franchise].

Hasina: Growing up, my favorite Black fictional character was Pamela (from the Tea Sisters book series) [Thea Stilton series in North America]. Technically, she's a mouse but she was also very anthropomorphic & born in Tanzania (like me!) so baby Hasina read her as Black.

Joseph: This is a hard question to answer as I can think of many favourites, but if I had to choose, it would be between Alyx Vance from the Half Life video game series or Michonne from The Walking Dead.

Tyrin: My favourite fictional Black character growing up was Radio Raheem from Do The Right Thing. Also Q from Juice. Foxy Brown was also so badass. Those three will forever be cool.

Simone: Probably Raven Baxter from That’s So Raven for a bit. I liked a lot of the outfits she would wear. She was multi-talented and funny.

3. What is your opinion on the current state of Black representation in Canadian media?

BlazenBlack: I don’t watch much Canadian TV, so I can’t speak on shows or movies, but in terms of animations, I can’t even name one off the top of my head. I'm hoping to change that.

Joseph: While I admit that I haven't been consuming as much Canadian media as I would like to as of late, I have found it harder to name many prominent or relatable Black characters within Canadian media off of the top of my head as opposed to American characters. While I appreciate Canada's willingness to represent many different cultures and viewpoints, it would be interesting to see something centered around the regular lives of Black people living in Canada on a larger platform.

Simone: Black representation in Canadian media could be a lot better. It feels as though it isn’t really there or pushed into the background as apart of Canadian diversity. Most of the Black media I consume is from the States. I don’t watch a lot of Canadian television, but from what I’ve seen I don’t recall any Black protagonists, usually side characters with little to no background. I feel like Black Canadian artists/athletes aren’t recognized until they have made something of themselves outside of the country. I’m grateful for people that reach out and organize events like this to have ourselves shown. I also have a lot to learn myself when it comes to being more active in these conversations and connecting with other Black Canadians.

Nafleri: I feel like I can't speak of Canadian media, though this stretch ocean to ocean I've only visited— I can't even say Toronto— Niagara Falls… once on a family trip. Quebec media however, having consumed a lot, hoping to fit in, I know for a fact, there is a big lack of representation. Though I stopped consuming QC media, late high school, my best friend studying in a theater institutions is closer to Quebec's media and we often discuss the lack of representation in his future field of work.

Tyrin: Um, I’m not sure it’s so black and white… if you’re looking at “credible” sources of media, yeah definitely a little convoluted. But in terms of independent media— media environments run by artists  for artists— then I think it’s thriving and it’s all so cool! Like, looking at people I follow on social media or friends and peers that are making cool shit the list is giant. Definitely media representation is positive and important to an extent, and I think in  Canadian media the effort is made, but that’s not what matters. What matters is honesty and published honesty is recognized in every format. I mean, shouts out to: Tau Lewis, Marvin Luvualu António, Moneyphone, Schwey, Elle Barbara, Tati au Miel, Neo Edo, Cole Craib, James Goddard, and all other Black artists who are doing their thing.

Hasina: There is a lot of work to be done but I'm hopeful because I see a lot of creatives doing great things both in Ottawa/Gatineau (where I live) and in Montreal.

Closing thoughts from co-curator JUICE

It's really cool how living Black is very different to other people. I always had this ideology that, because I was navigating spaces where there were a few Black children (or I was the only Black child) while growing up, meeting Black folks outside my environment meant that I could relate to them, just because they were Black. I wouldn't realize that our experiences could be different. Seeing how representation is so different but so important to each individual life, reminds me that, what ever they're doing creatively, you can do too, and you're not alone on the journey.

The first time I remember seeing Black folks was when my mother gave me a Spice Girl doll. Mel B (Melanie Brown) was the first Black doll I ever had and she had an Afro. She was the one doll I spent so much time on; I loved her so much. When I found out she was an actual person, I was shocked, and was interested in what she does, but I didn't have access to seeing what she did creatively (except on those celebrity TV talk shows when my mother would take me out to hair salons) . Later on growing up, I was into 1990's-2000's TV shows. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, My Wife and Kids, and Sister, Sister to name a few. Cartoons and anime were some other things I would watch when I would spend time with my siblings. Codename: Kids Next Door, Teen Titans and Bleach were a few of the earliest shows I would see Black characters. I would be extremely happy whenever they appeared on my screen. This only lasted during the years I moved and lived in Philadelphia. I moved back to Canada in 2008 and my spaces drastically changed. TV wasn't really the same after that.

The shows that depicted the Black characters I loved and enjoyed, weren't available in the country. Sometimes if they were, they would be 3-4 episodes behind from the American releases. At this point, I relied on the internet, or my brother’s video collections to air the shows I missed so much. Black representation was never really viewed as much as I was exposed to in the States. It became non-existent to me. The only time I would see a Black person in media or TV, is when a creative artist becomes popular, and outlets find out they're from Montreal. It was difficult to find representation growing up in this city, I always felt like we were side characters in our own adventures. People don't realize it but it does have an affect on people. It's nice to know that organizations are creating platforms for BIPOC representation, because we exist and we are not alone.

➡ RSVP ⬅

[shrimpkardashian]

I am going to post this text which I used to make this 90-minute podcast where I ranked all of David Lynch's films. It’s close to 5,000 words long. Since I took the time to write all this out, I wanted to post it, edited for the page. Enjoy:

David Lynch has created ten feature films in forty years, specifically between 1977 and 2017. I am going to rank all ten films right now.

I’ve broken down the Lynch filmography into four tiers.

Tier #4 consists of two films that, while they’re not necessarily horrible, I’d be OK with never re-watching again.

Tier #3 is Dune, just… Dune… (crickets)

Tier #2 also consists of two movies, two features that are close to being really great, but are ultimately flawed for very different reasons.

And then there’s the Final Tier, Tear #1, ALL-TIME CLASSICS, of which, by my count, there are five. Not bad, considering that equals, oh I don't know... half of his filmography.

You might be wondering what constitutes an ALL-TIME CLASSIC... great question. In my book, it’s a movie that scores a 9.500 or higher on my highly scientific to-the-thousandths scale movie review scoring system. All ten of these feature films have been scored between 5.999 and 9.819. Using the thousandths scale allows for accessible gaps as I slowly fill in the list as I continue to compile my personal ranking of the greatest films ever made (and also... the not so great). I urge you to go to my website www.movies.myameri.ca to see the list of over 200 films that I've reviewed and ranked thus far.

Now, let’s get to the list...

#10

Perhaps, The Elephant Man––David Lynch’s second film, from 1980––doesn’t work for me because you can feel, in a sense, that he’s selling his soul. Sure, it's "good" and was recognized as such in all the ways and by all the metrics that the most mainstream critical pipelines assess and award art that is "good."

It's what I couldn't put my finger on at the time I recorded my initial review, and the truly repulsive thing about it: It's bad in the way these  "good" films often are. It feels older than it is: a 1980 film about the 1920s that feels like it was made in the late 50s. It’s stylistic feel is both confusing and confused. The brief intrusions of Lynchian originality are present and welcome, but they’re all too quickly dispersed by stale set pieces, and performances that are either overwrought or stiffly boring. Only Freddie Jones, in the devious role of the elephant man’s original "handler," strikes a cord.

The look and feel of John Hurt’s titular character is effective, because it is grotesque. It is in no way fantastical, even if we’re looking at the height of movie magic, because this person existed. And through this realism, a sickening is induced. With every one of Hurt’s nasally slurps––while that’s surely the point, and it wholly succeeds on that level––the film becomes less re-watchable, a major tenant of my grading scale. Wherein Eraserhead’s baby is pure fantasy––a goofy, disgusting, horrifying little buddy that the viewer wants to spend time with––the Elephant Man is an abomination. Our horror with him, at him, over him, is both the movie proving its thesis, and shutting itself down.

David Lynch is on record as having been pleased with the film, but what amount of that pleasure has been framed by four decades of opportunity in large part because of its success, isn’t clear.

The Elephant Man was nominated for eight Academy Awards. No other David Lynch feature was nominated for more than one. It is his worst film by a wide margin.

#9

It would be easy to dismiss 1999’s The Straight Story as a joke disguised. Here was David Lynch making a relatively, well, "straight" movie about a man named Alvin Straight and it was titled The Straight Story. It was released by Disney. When I rewatched this recently I imagined what the movie might have been like if it had the same plot but, you know, felt Lynchian. What it would be like if the entire film had the tone of my favorite scene, the "I LOVE DEER" scene... but, alas, it isn't that.

The film is just a feel-good story. Sometimes, when you peel back the layers, there's just more goodness hiding underneath, and nothing more. And maybe there's a kind of horror in that as well.

#8

Dune stands alone.

Released in 1984, it's the only film among the ten wherein Lynch didn't have complete final cut. It's, by any classic metric, a bad film. At the end of the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, which details one of the first attempts at bringing the best selling science fiction book of all-time to the big screen, Alejandro Jodorowsky describes going to see Lynch's version and being filled with a perverse glee that the movie was a failure, that it sucked. And it is definitely a failure.

The film is a god-awful mess. Do not under any circumstances attempt to watch the 3-hour "extended cut" version. Lynch had nothing to do with this and it does not re-insert anything by way of noteworthy lost footage. It merely accentuates the worst elements of the original theatrical cut. The biggest crime by far being... the dreaded voice-over, which plagues both versions.

In 2011, a YouTuber posted a 9-minute super-cut compiling all of these whispered voice-overs, which––if you aren't familiar––are meant to give more clarity to the story by presenting the audience an inside look at "the thoughts" in various characters' heads. But these "thoughts" do exactly the opposite: bogging down the story and actually making it harder to follow (in my opinion).

But even with all of its many, many flaws, the film is not without its charm. The look of it is extremely interesting, if not inconsistent. Some imagery looks dated, while other effects seem ahead of their time. The soundtrack, an amalgamation of Toto's overblown rock aesthetics and a nuanced main theme co-written by Brian Eno, is kind of awesome

But really Dune is just a huge mess of ideas. For example, in one scene the actor Freddie Jones is given a cat with a rat taped to its side, hooked to a contraption, and is told to "milk the cat" if he wants to stay alive. His character is never seen or mentioned again. These are the ideas of Frank Herbert told through the lens of David Lynch and filtered by producers who were so damn concerned whether or not the plot would make sense that they butchered the whole damn thing. What's left are pieces, intriguing pieces strewn about the 2-plus hours.

It would be easy to submit this film as the last place entry, #10 out of 10. But I just can't do that. I would re-watch this under the right circumstances. The strange convergence of wild visuals, bad editing and too-fast, too-big, too-soon nature of the production, puts this in a special category among the Lynch filmography. It almost hits "so bad it's good" notes, in a way. When Denis Villeneuve unleashes his high stakes, huge expectations version of Dune in 2020, David Lynch's third film will likely become nothing more than a footnote.... a grain of sand among the great DUNES of film history, one might say. (Sorry.)

#7

Inland Empire is, technically speaking, the final film of David Lynch's career. Released almost thirteen years ago in 2006, it's certainly the most confounding. Three hours of lo-fi footage, welded together by a director whose contempt for the industry he was a part of had reached a boiling point. And that boiling point is INLAND EMPIRE.

For years, I attempted to watch this film in stops and starts. That, for quite a long time, I never got past the relatively straight, narrative-driven first hour is probably telling. Outside of a classic Grace Zabriskie appearance as Laura Dern's crazy Polish neighbor, not much really happens.

But it isn't so much that nothing is happening that's the issue. It's that nothing interesting is happening. An actress gets a role. Her co-star is a womanizer. Her husband might be jealous. There's some mystery concerning the development of the project. They have an affair. After a burst of imagery at the start, this all unfolds in a fairly normal fashion. The most noteworthy thing about it is how it looks. Lynch used a digital camera to film some ideas with Laura Dern one day and then decided to make a feature film out of it. He's stated that he had to keep using the same camera out of necessity. That he had to make it look this way, is a very Lynchian answer to the question "Why does INLAND EMPIRE look like garbage?" Because it does truly look like trash. You can get better video fidelity from any cheap Android phone nowadays. It has not aged well.

Some might point to this and say that's exactly why it's genius, why it's underrated... but I ain't buying that line of thinking, either. It's a misstep, in my opinion. The film is a bloated experimentation of a script written on the fly. It has only one true saving grace... Laura Dern.

Even if they hadn't reunited for the successful collaboration that was Twin Peaks: The Return, I think I'd be OK with this being the pair's final work together. The film only works because of Dern. The entire thing is a testament to her ability and it transcends the hardware that was used to capture it. When I finally got around to completing this watch, I was struck by how weird it got. Which is saying something about a David Lynch film! Without Dern this might play like someone's forgotten student project of the mid 2000s. With her, it's a strange bookend to an amazing career.

One that I have no other choice but to start, and stop, and start again. Someday.

#6

Wild at Heart was produced at the height of David Lynch's success in 1990. Riding the high of Blue Velvet, arguably his most beloved work in a critical sense, even to this day, and filmed just as the world was experiencing TV’s Twin Peaks. Lynch's fifth movie arrived just as the concept of "Lynchian" was soaking into the cultural landscape. It's a brash, outrageous film that feels like the work of an individual who could no wrong. This cockiness both makes it fun, and provides its flaws.

While there seems to be "a point," however cloudy and/or veiled and/or vague, behind most things in every David Lynch film, Wild at Heart seemingly indulges in bombast for the sake of bombast. It's no surprise this Louis CK's favorite film and the film that nearly gave Roger Ebert a heart attack. (See this video)

I'd like to split the difference between those two sentiments, if I may. I don't agree that Lynch is always trying to "get off the hook" as Roger Ebert put it. But that may be the case with Wild at Heart. That it is the only Lynch film to take the top prize at Cannes, perhaps speaks more to the idea of Lynch and his influence in the culture at the time, then it does to the film itself. CK was right to read this film as a comedy, it's the only way it works. And Ebert was wrong to crucify it for being such. But It stands outside the top tier of Lynch's career for a different reason. With cockiness comes laziness. Lynch notoriously had his hands full during the development of this project, as he abandoned the TV world of Twin Peaks to make it. Wild at Heart feels half-baked as a result.

Sure, it has its moments. Willem DaFoe gets to hang his hat on the mantle of notable, completely over-the-top supporting characters in the Dennis Hopper / Frank Booth tradition. And Nicolas Cage and Diane Ladd are every bit as crazed in their performances as well. And yet, therein lies another problem: the movie has only one speed, out of control. The Sailor-Lula love story is meant to provide the downbeat, something earnest in a sea of chaos. But it falls short. You can't stop to smell the roses if the car never stops.

#5

That half of David Lynch's filmography constitute all time classics is no minor accomplishment. I imagine there are only a handful of directors with a better batting average. And so, the order of these next five films is fairly insignificant. Certainly there are biases at play which have placed them into the positions you find them here. For example, I certainly haven't watched Eraserhead enough and I've probably seen Mulholland Drive too many times by comparison. It's also about timing. Maybe This Moment™ in My Life™ is more fitting for Lost Highway then it is Blue Velvet, for myriad reasons, and so on and so on.

The thing to know is this... These five projects have all stood the test of time, and any one of them is deserved of the top spot. Now, back to the countdown...

Eraserhead was exactly like I thought it would be.

I neglected to watch this film for a very long time. I kept telling myself "Now is the right time to watch Eraserhead, Jeff." What I didn't realize until I finally watched it is that the answer to that question is both never and always.

Eraserhead is a feat of nature. A film that took years to complete feels and flows like it was molded together over a single month. It almost feels silly to expound on the film at this point. It's been dissected to death. Even critics who fail to understand it can appreciate it on the most basic of levels. This. Is. Art. PERIOD. There's no denying that.

Wherein the surrealists who decided to make films couldn't get past the concept of the singular idea, confining their work to shorts OR a series of loosely connected "living paintings," Lynch was able to extrapolate the aesthetic to feature length and also tell a story.

It's soundscape alone is a work of art, and perhaps the most important facet of the film from a historic point of view. This world sounds exactly as it looks: manufactured, fractured, jarring and glum. What brief respite the Lady in the Radiator provides with her haunting, off-kilter serenade is all we get by way of counterpoint to the unnerving soundtrack of Lynch's debut feature. It took Lynch, working in tandem with master sound engineer Alan Splet, nearly a year to complete. From the 1991 book, Midnight Movies:

"The soundtrack is densely layered, including as many as fifteen different sounds played simultaneously using multiple reels. Sounds were created in a variety of ways—for a scene in which a bed slowly dissolves into a pool of liquid, Lynch and Splet inserted a microphone inside a plastic bottle, floated it in a bathtub, and recorded the sound of air blown through the bottle. After being recorded, sounds were further augmented by alterations to their pitch, reverb and frequency."

Lynch's first film is also his shortest, just shy of ninety minutes, and it's hard to find any flaws. Is the detour with the severed head at the pencil factory meaningless? How about the next-door neighbor character... unnecessary? Inside the Top 5, I won't be nitpicking just to do so. In the Top 5, everything is fine.

#4

While I don't necessarily think Blue Velvet is the best film of David Lynch's career, it's hard to argue that it isn't the most important. It is the world from which all subsequent Lynch things are built. Following the creative and commercial disaster of Dune, Lynch's fourth feature is a dark psychological horror that both expands upon and completely blows apart the aesthetic of Film Noir. And there really isn't a single David Lynch film project after Blue Velvet which doesn't also explore this form to a degree.

The movie marks the debut of a pair who would turn out to be lifelong collaborators in the David Lynch cinematic universe: Laura Dern, acting here in one of her first "adult" roles at age 19, and the composer Angelo Badalamenti. Badalamenti would go onto write the scores for every subsequent entry in the filmography except Inland Empire, and his main theme to Blue Velvet remains one of the most memorable.

Blue Velvet is also notable as being a vehicle for Dennis Hopper's re-entry into mainstream cinema. Relaunching his career, Hopper's portrayal of the deranged Frank Booth remains as skin crawling as ever.

I think the fact that I have watched Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive more than any other of Lynch's films had a lot to do with where I've placed them on this list (that they aren’t higher). But I swear I'm not being contrarian for contrarian's sake. As I said a minute ago, all five of these films are worthy. When it comes to the movies of David Lynch, well, I guess you could say, "....HE PUT HIS DISEASE IN ME." (Sorry.)

#3

The strange origin story of Mulholland Drive somehow eluded me for years. I only found out that this movie, Lynch's ninth, released one month after 9/11, was literally developed and shot with the intention to be a TV pilot for ABC. I found this out from the book, Room to Dream, by the way. The half autobiography/half biography of Lynch's life, which came out last year that I highly recommend. Only when it was clear that it wouldn't work for television did Lynch decide to re-cut and film additional footage to release as a feature. Though this was common knowledge, I managed to watch this many times over the years with no idea. When I rewatched it again recently with this information, I couldn't help but try to pick out what was filmed when in the timeline, and if I could see any inconsistencies... a true hellish way to watch a picture. I don't recommend it. But I digress..

From Blue Velvet on, each one of David Lynch's films (outside of The Straight Story) has had a longer running time. At close to 2½ hours, 2001's Mulholland Drive was his longest to date by a decent margin. It’s something of a misnomer that Lynch's films meander, as people mistake deliberateness for slowness or frivolity. Mulholland is filled with detours, inhabiting the film like micro movies in their own right. This also continues the loose Los Angeles trilogy (after Lost Highway and concluding with Inland Empire), which, at their heart, are films about coming to grips with who you really are. This might be the most direct lampooning of the film industry itself, but all three deal with being someone who you're really not.

Lynch has repeatedly stated his admiration for the 1950 film noir classic Sunset Blvd., another film about the film industry. In some respects, the naïveté of Naomi Watts' Betty is the counterpoint to Norma Desmond. In Mulholland Drive, her character says, "I'd rather be known as a great actress than a movie star. But, you know, sometimes people end up being both." Whereas, Norma Desmond portrayed by Gloria Swanson, has already reckoned with the true fate: "No one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star."

The arc of the characters—plural—Betty and Diane, and the power of Naomi Watts' performance as them both, is behind the wheel on Mulholland Drive. I found it odd that she took second billing in the opening credit crawl to co-star Justin Theroux. Was this because she was unknown to the masses at the time, or perhaps another piece of the puzzle to this movie's greater themes?

Mulholland Drive touches all the bases. At times bleak and bizarre. Sometimes bright and hopeful. In many ways, it's modeled after the next film on our countdown, as it can almost be read as two separate entities: converging, crossing and meeting together again? Well...

#2

No film surprised me more during my recent rewatch binge then 1997’s Lost Highway. David Lynch’s seventh film might be his most divisive, in so much as it failed to ignite the critical response that really any of his other films did upon their release.

While it’s industrial rock heavy soundtrack perhaps dates the film to its actual era of production more than any other Lynch picture, it also works as an anchor. Outside of Inland Empire, this is easily his most abstract and seemingly rambling work. It is grounded through style and feel. And it might just be his best singular statement.

Bull Pullman is a revelation as the jazz saxophonist Fred Madison. His chaotic emoting on the stage through his blaring instrument is but another counterpoint, this time to his subdued, confused off-stage demeanor. Who knew the goofy President from Independence Day could pull this off?

My critique of Patricia Arquette in many of her other roles is that she comes across as lifeless. Well, with her performance here as a dead-on-the-inside beauty, that mode has never played better. She's tremendous, acting the conduit in this strange play, this circuitous journey that is often described as a theatrical möbius strip, where our leading man has quite literally been replaced. 

And that brings up another interesting point: There doesn't seem to be a traditional main character in this film. Arquette in her dual role as Renee and Alice is functionally it, but she gives way to Pullman and Balthazar Getty's Pullman––a car mechanic named Pete––for long stretches, and its Lynch's most diplomatic film in terms of dolling out the heavy lifting in this regard.

And last but not least we have to talk about... Robert Blake.

In a sea of outstanding, intensely weird and occasionally unforgettable supporting characters throughout the Lynch filmography, Blake’s Mystery Man might just take the cake. That Robert Blake, more than likely an actual sociopath, instructed Lynch on his character’s look––which, let me remind you was such: Blake decided to cut his hair cut extremely short, parted in the middle, white Kabuki make-up on his face, and an all black outfit––might be the best example of the auteur trusting his instincts, and having it pay off completely. Only on screen for a handful of scenes, Blake, who would be arrested and acquitted for the murder of his wife just a couple years later, delivers a truly unsettling performance. In his final film role ever, he encompasses true evil more than Twin Peaks’ BOB or Frank Booth in Blue Velvet. The Mystery Man is the lurking, vile corruption of what’s good that Lynch has always been looking for.

But Lost Highway is not a “what’s beneath the surface” film like Blue Velvet or Twin Peaks or even Mulholland Drive are. The “point” of Lost Highway might just be that evil exists in plain view... and there’s nothing we can do about it. Gary Busey sometimes has to watch his only child disappear in a lightning bolt of spoiled meat and that’s that. When they reappear, broken and struggling, and falling down the same path until it happens again, well... that’s just life.

One of my favorite parts of the entire movie is a scene early on when a detective asks Fred Madison if he owns a videocamera. His wife, Renee Madison, portrayed by Patricia Arquette, responds, "no, Fred hates them." Fred responds, "I like to remember things my own way." The detective asks, "what do you mean by that?" Bill Pullman, as Fred Madison, replies, "how I remember them. Not exactly the way that they happened."

#1

(DISCLAIMER: I’m sorry if you think it’s cheating that I am including the expanded Twin Peaks Universe as one single entry on this list. I’m sorry if you think the only thing that should count is Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me because that is the only Twin Peaks thing that is actually a “feature film.” But also: SORRY NOT SORRY.

This is my list and I’m putting Twin Peaks at #1, specifically: all of Season 1 of the original TV show, plus the beginning of Season 2 (until the episode where we find out who killed Laura Palmer) and the Season 2 finale. Then of course Fire Walk with Me, and the 18 hour MOVIE that is Twin Peaks: The Return, or Twin Peaks Season 3, if you will (I prefer the former as it gives the masterpiece the gravitas it deserves).

If you put a gun to my head and I ABSOLUTELY had to only include Fire Walk with Me, I would probably drop it to #4 or #5 and slide everything else on the list up a spot.  End of DISCLAIMER.)

I was given the Twin Peaks Gold Box as a Christmas gift in 2007. The 10-DVD set had just come out and this was still an era when people treasured physical things like that. It was really important and meaningful to me, and I still own it despite no longer having a DVD player. Watching it for the first time was a treasure and a fond memory. The feeling I got when I heard that Badalamenti theme music start the show and everything in between...

...yes, even James in Season 2. I loved it all: the good, the bad and the ugly, the whole kitten caboodle. The original TV series is, obviously, far from flawless. Lynch stepped away for long stretches before going fully AWOL after it was revealed that Laura Palmer's father, portrayed by the great Ray Wise, is in fact her killer. After that, the show took a turn (to put it lightly).

But Lynch never gave up on the world. He returned to helm the stunning Season 2/de facto series finale. So much of the mythology that Fire Walk with Me and certainly The Return is built upon is ignited in that finale, fittingly titled "Beyond Life and Death." But really, the original series is most notable for merely existing at all. A precursor to the "golden age of television" that was right around the corner, there still hasn't been a network series remotely this daring. There's often much made, too much if you ask me, about the "cult of David Lynch." Critics of this “cult” say its followers are blind: The man can do no wrong. It's weird for weirdness' sake. And so on, they drone.  Now, I'm a fairly big David Lynch fan (no duh). But I've always tried to remain grounded in regards to this. He's not perfect. But he has made near-perfect art. And I'm a fan of ART first. A practicer of admiration? Maybe some distant second, third, fourth or beyond. I see his infiltration of the masses with Twin Peaks as one of his finest achievements in the arts. How many powerful people had to be convinced that the mainstream was ready for something like this. It's baffling. That, of course, they weren't ready is kind of besides the point. Someone has to poke the bear.

If Lynch had closed the books on Twin Peaks with Fire Walk with Me, his sixth film released in 1992, that would have been fine. It's a polarizing feature and was a fairly significant box office bomb, even for Lynch. Fire Walk with Me nonetheless retains an otherworldliness among the filmography. Given the subject matter––you know, just your average super-violent father-daughter incest rape thing––it's hard to argue this isn't his darkest tale by a wide degree. It's perhaps not ripe for repeated viewings. In fact, I did not rewatch it for this review, the only film of the ten. Why? Well, I had given it a replay back in 2017, just before the debut of Showtime's Twin Peaks: The Return. And, to be honest, I just wasn't ready to return to this madness quite so soon.

Only David Lynch could mold one of the loftier aspects/thematic devices/main characters (?) of the long-awaited follow-up to perhaps his most beloved work on one of the most random, seemingly meaningless, toss-away lines spoken in a bad Cajun accent in a cameo role by David Bowie. "We're not going to talk about Judy at all..." Until, that is, the time is right... Say... 25 years later?

I just recently began to rewatch The Return and I'd like to say thank you for this, David Lynch. This needs to be put into the discussion with his greatest work, if it's not already there. I can recall after various episodes of its original run (May to September 2017), feeling a sense of awe and wonderment and confusion and joy. I say to anyone that's curious that this is an 18-hour movie. David Lynch made an 18-hour movie when it wasn't certain if he'd make any more movies again.

It would be dumb, if not downright foolish, to try and hash out the plot-lines or gush over Kyle MacLachlan's performance in not two, but three distinct roles. Here, the duality of man has fractured yet again in these modern times. And when I got to that final two-hour finale, I found myself on a family vacation. So I carved out a block of time to watch it at the house we were renting on my laptop, alone, in the dark, as the rest of my family enjoyed a sunny day at the beach. I filed Kyle and Laura Dern's Diane into one more sketchy motel and then onto El Paso, Texas, of course, just as everyone had guessed, and then back to Twin Peaks, Washington, where the series ends on a question... Special Agent Dale Cooper turns to Laura Palmer outside her childhood home and asks, "what year is this?" She screams into the abyss and the lights in the home spark off and the screen explodes into darkness. For a series that was, ultimately, about the passing of time as much as it was about the origins of evil in the universe or anything else, it was a fitting end.

[theycallmeshaggyrogers]

Essay Two: The Pokemon League Champion Archetype

March 25, 2018

This post will contain MAJOR spoilers for all mainstream Pokemon games. There, I'm guiltless. You'll thank me later.

I can't stress the importance of the previous disclaimer. Since the inception of the Pokemon franchise, the league champion effectively acts as the game's final boss. By design, a final boss should be something we are emotionally invested in, whether it pertains to a crucial plot point in a game or is a character we are able to feel strongly towards. I think I speak for the majority of gamers, casual or not, when I say that the plot of a video game matters to the overall experience we will have playing said game to begin with. If a game's story is good, or at the very least memorable, we are more inclined to remember it better and more fondly than say, a game whose story is bland or otherwise poorly-written. There are exceptions of course. In my opinion, the three games that make up Fire Emblem: Fates have particularly awful storylines. At best, they are bland and rely on the standard narrative trappings which Fire Emblem games are known for. At worst, they are so narratively broken that their exceptional terribleness is remarkably memorable. That said, FE Fates' “Conquest” route is salvaged only by challenging level design and game mechanics. The degree of polarization regarding Conquest's quality between the quality of its story and gameplay is remarkable to say the least, but it is simply from said polarization that the game is memorable to me personally.

Pokemon, however, is much, much different than Fire Emblem, which prior to 2013 was just a niche series for introverted elitist weeaboos like myself, and the popularity of both franchises in the two decades both have been around very much determines the memorability of an individual title. Perhaps I speak from bias when I say that every mainstream Pokemon game is equally memorable to me, given my twelve or so years as a fan of the franchise. I even started with one of the blander installments, Pokemon LeafGreen, a remake of the original Pokemon Green from 1996. That said, Pokemon is very much a formulaic series. Very little changes from iteration to iteration, from its story to its battling system. As the fandom likes to poke fun at time and again, you often play as a prepubescent Asian child who starts off in a small boonie town that happens to be within proximity of the laboratory of some biologist whose last name is in reference to some kind of a kind of plant. Said plant-named biologist offers you a Pokemon to start your adventure in exchange for collecting more of them to fill up a digital encyclopedia as you travel throughout the game's map (a task you will likely never complete). Oftentimes you have a rival who is also a prepubescent Asian child and also on the same journey to keep you in check as you build your party. You are both likely challenging gym leaders in hopes of one day reaching the penultimate title of champion. There's also at least one organization of bad guys wearing impractical uniforms whom you and your rival have to curb-stomp whenever they pop up in the story, but you've likely trashed them and emasculated their leader by the time you get to the champion themselves. I'd say every game has exceptions to these tropes, but the fact that I am able to give a succinct idea of how these games function narratively should probably queue you into the fact that Pokemon is a franchise rarely allows itself to change. And sure, helpful mechanics have been added over time to service the metagame, such as abilities, natures, IVs and breeding, but once these mechanics are in place, they are there for the long haul. Perhaps that is why I keep coming back. The games never feel incredibly alien even if I don't play one for more than a year.

I don't think the same could be said for these games' plots however. Every game leads up to battling an incredibly strong trainer, usually referred to with the prefix of “Champion”, and the reveal of the champion is meant to be a shock to the player. In almost every game, the champion is a recurring supporting character who at times helps the player on their journey to varying degrees of frequency. Oddly enough, the acting champion never tell the player about their high status in the Pokemon League, and this never has never been explained or justified within the canon. I completely understand this merit from a mechanical standpoint though. In the case of Pokemon, you don't know who the champion is because the game itself is encouraging you to build a well-rounded team to take them on, diverse in species, movesets, type and function. It is worth noting that while some champions specialize in a certain type of Pokemon, the majority of them tend to diversify their team for the very reason I stated.

This deliberate withholding of information also works from a storytelling standpoint too. Like any good JRPG, fighting the final boss of the game needs to feel earned to be memorable. These fights tend to be long, difficult and exhausting, but to ultimately prevail over them is deeply satisfying. In the case of Square Enix's Chrono Trigger, arguably one of the greatest JRPGs in the history of the genre, the final boss has three stages, incorporating movesets from all previous bosses while also possessing its own attacks that the player has to figure out as they continue to fight it. Final Fantasy 6, while less impressive in both aspects than Chrono Trigger, also has a multi-stage final boss fight, whose epicness is amplified with choirs and vaguely Christian imagery, as the boss himself is effectively the reigning god of a now-ruined world, one whom you would not initially expect to be the final boss until the original candidate has been eliminated. The fight is also very much a grudge match, as the final boss, Kefka, is a power-drunk psychopath. To date, Pokemon has only used the grudge match-type final boss fight twice, one of whom is not even the final boss, but a fake-out miniboss of sorts.

The exception to this unspoken rule of not disclosing the champion's identity is Alder, the Pokemon League Champion of Pokemon Black and White's Unova Region (which incidentally, is the first game where you are in fact no longer a prepubescent Asian child, but rather a teenager of indeterminate race because we're in New York City now, baby). In fact, he is introduced as the champion the moment you meet him! Going into Pokemon White in 2011, I knew that Alder was going to be the game's champion because I had listened to a rip of his battle theme posted on YouTube, but I did not expect him to be revealed outright as the champion. I only learned later as I progressed that Alder was not the true final boss of the main game, but instead your mysterious, slightly autistic wunderkind rival, N. By the time you defeat the four obligatory minibosses, dubbed the Elite Four, you find that N has already defeated Alder, and as the proclaimed chosen one by the dragon thingy on the opposite game's box art, he challenges you to a penultimate battle on the top floor of his massive Long Island castle as proof that he is the true king of Unova or something.

And then!

And then!!!

After you catch the guy from the boxart and defeat N, Ghetsis, the leader of the evil team (who is incidentally N's Machiavellian paternal guardian) throws a shitfit and battles you, revealing him to be the game's real final boss. When you defeat him, you reconcile with N, who sees the errors of his ways and leaves Unova on the guy from the other game's box art, then the credits roll to awesome fanfare. (Sidenote: I seriously consider Black and White's credits theme to be one of the best songs in the series). But there, you have finally completed the game, which was in my opinion had Pokemon's most ambitious and best plots to date. Alder can still be battled as champion, sure, but at this point he technically counts as a postgame boss, similar to Red at the end of Pokemon Gold, Silver, Crystal, and its remakes, or Steven in Pokemon Emerald.

I think Generation V was when the writers over at Game Freak realized that the series was getting predictable. Not counting the Gold and Silver remakes, the plot of Generation IV's Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum versions very much adhered to the same story beats as its predecessor, Generation III. Similar to Gen III, in Gen IV, the big ol' dragon from the boxart makes an appearance because they are summoned by the evil team's leader, seeking their powers for himself. After you beat said leader and catch the boxart-Pokemon for yourself, you are allowed to finish up your adventure, collect whatever gym badge(s) you still need to get, then you head on over to the league to fight the Elite Four and then the champion, who has shown up to help you in small ways throughout your journey. This had also been done to a lesser degree in Generation II, as assisting Lance in uncovering Team Rocket's hideout in Mahogany Town and later liberating the Goldenrod Radio Tower is what ultimately prevents you from reaching the eighth and final gym badge required to challenge the Indigo League. Generation V decided to do away with this formula entirely by making N the rival, evil team leader and de-facto champion, only to throw a curveball by making Ghetsis the real threat, when he had been established this whole time as someone who had long since released his own Pokemon as per the moral duty of Team Plasma's Seven Sages. Black and White's plot makes me happy for all sorts of reasons, but departing from Pokemon's traditional roots of setting up final boss fights made the battles between N and Ghetsis more memorable overall, but I'll get to that later.

From what I've observed, the champion archetype in your mainstream Pokemon story goes as follows: the player encounters the champion early in the game, usually after winning their first gym badge. When encountered, they express their interests a bit, then give you an item with a varying degree of usefulness from game to game. Their appearance throughout the story usually triggers other scripted events required to progress the game along and give you access to the next city or objective you must travel to. Regardless, the story reveals very little about their background, exchanging personal history for a brief explanation of their ideals or motivations. They are often absent from your adventure, but pop in at times to give advice or another item. They will be present for, or at the very least involved in the final confrontation with the evil team as a supporting character while the player confronts the boss. They thank you afterwards and do no appear again until the end of the game. As it stands, this formula applies to four champions, but components of it are subverted in the more recent games (discounting remakes of course).

I want to argue that this champion-reveal archetype started with Generation II rather than Generation I. In Gen I, the champion was your smug, cocky rival who was always three steps ahead of you despite starting at the same time that you did. He belittles you on your whole adventure, even after you beat his over-leveled team. During your run-ins with Team Rocket, he is not involved in those confrontations save for one time, where he battles you in an enclosed area in the Silph Co. building before your second battle with Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni. It is also worth noting that there is no eleventh hour crisis in Red and Blue; that trope doesn't start becoming a thing until Ruby and Sapphire. If anything, the champion archetype of later generations isn't applicable to Gen I because Red and Blue have very different story goals. While it is very much an adventure RPG with the set goals of filling the Pokedex for Professor Oak and becoming the strongest trainer, the core of the narrative is the dynamic you share with your rival. His reveal as the champion works because it has already been established that he progressed through the league challenge faster than you did, not to mention his ceaselessly deprecating attitude towards the player character makes dethroning him all the more satisfying a conclusion to the story.

I personally think Gen II did the champion reveal the best. Lance was established as a strong trainer who asks for your assistance in investigating a strange radio signal, which in turn reveals that the culprits are in fact Team Rocket from the previous games. After you help Lance out, he more or less just disappears without any hint of returning until you challenge him. If you played Generation I or its remake, you would know that Lance was a member of the Elite Four, so assuming that he is still part of the league is warranted. It is only by the time you defeat Karen, who has taken Lance's place as the fourth member from the previous game, that the notion that he may be the champion is not far-fetched.

Gen III's Steven Stone shows up a few times to progress the plot in some arbitrary way or another, is around to express concern when the Hoenn Region starts flooding or drying up (depending on which version you're playing) and he is established as a very strong trainer, but his lack of any spoken association to the league makes his reveal a little less powerful in contrast to Lance. Part of me thinks Wally could have worked as a champion just as well, if not better than Steven did. Here you have this timid, waifish kid who you meet early in the game and encounter about as infrequently as with Steven. He may not deliver on a memorable battle in the two instances he challenges you, but his presence as a champion would have been a nice surprise considering his outward frailty, not to mention given the face that the Hoenn Elite Four's typing is strikingly similar to that of the original Elite Four from Gen I, the rival posing as the champion would have been a nice little thematic reference to the original games, even if it would probably make the reveal more predictable. Regardless, I appreciated Steven as a champion in Ruby and Sapphire than Wallace in Emerald, a character who, while breaking parts of the formula, we do not meet until the evil team-induced crisis is in full swing. The most we know about him is that he was once the gym leader of Sootopolis City, but stepped down and was replaced by some cheesy artsy French fop with a Spanish name. He really only makes a lasting impression in the remakes.

Gen IV's Cynthia meets the archetype beat by beat, and even more so in Platinum when she joins you on your search through the Distortion World to find and confront Team Galactic's Cyrus. Barring Alder, the first champion to subvert the archetype established by Gen II, Cynthia is probably the most plot-active champion to act within it, with the exception of Steven in Gen III's remakes, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. She also delivers one of the most challenging champion battles in the series, as her team will likely be 10-20 levels higher than that of your entire party unless you decide to train your Pokemon and challenge the league later. She also makes use of some of the most powerful and rare Pokemon in the series, namely Garchomp, Spiritomb and Milotic. From what I can tell, Cynthia is also extremely popular as far as champions go within the fandom, having appeared in every main series game since as an optional postgame encounter. I want to attribute this popularity to both her design and the intense difficulty of your battle with her.

Alder, as already discussed, broke the slowly encroaching archetype set for champions, but is explicitly the champion in name only because it is crucial to the plot for him to possess that role. By the time you battle him, the main story is over and you are likely well into the postgame at this point. I don't consider Alder to be a champion-proper because to be a champion in a strictly gameplay-based sense would imply that his battle isn't optional, which it very much is. The Gen V games in general give you a remarkable amount of stuff to do once the main story has concluded, all of it completely optional. The battles against both Alder and Cynthia in Black and White, along with their sequels, are completely optional too. Hell, I'm pretty sure on a playthrough of Black in 2015, I never bothered to challenge the postgame league. What Alder primarily serves within the games he appears in is that of a role model. He's this lighthearted, virtuous old dude who loves his Pokemon and is not opposed to challenging the worldviews of others, as he does with your milquetoast smart-guy rival Cheren, in order to help them grow as people. He is not nearly as threatening as Cynthia, but he is far and away the most multifaceted champion to date.

However, for the sake of argument, let's say Ghetsis counts as Black and White's champion, even if he is not one in name like Alder. While he fits the archetype well, he is also a subversion of it. You first encounter him delivering a speech in Accumula Town, encouraging the locals to question the morality of owning Pokemon. His speech is offset with a foreboding piano piece, indicating that he will inevitably be a threat to the player in the future. Much of his role on your adventure throughout Unova is to discourage and intimidate the player, but not by way of battling. Anyone who has played the previous generations prior to Black and White will likely assume that Ghetsis will be revealed as the boss of Team Plasma, and while he is the mastermind using N as a puppet leader, the game does not present it this way until you reach N's castle and learn about his upbringing as Ghetsis' groomed successor. Ghetsis' unique design sets him apart from the Seven Sages and establishes him as their leader, but then that would only imply that he would be a higher-ranked admin of Team Plasma, not the leader itself.

Because Gen III and Gen IV had very similar story beats, I honestly thought Ghetsis' arc was going to play out as Cyrus' had in Gen IV. I assumed that you would have to raid the hideout of Team Plasma and face Ghetsis down and fighting/catching boxart-guy afterwards, and only then would you be allowed to complete the gym challenge and subsequently face the league. This was of course flipped on its head when N reveals to the player three gym badges in that he is the king of Team Plasma, and Ghetsis serves under him, not the other way around. This makes Ghetsis' reveal as the final boss shocking, but not too much so that it feels forced. We know that Ghetsis is threatening, emotionally manipulative and of higher standing within Team Plasma's administration than the Seven Sages based on his actions and character design, so the possibility of facing him after facing N becomes a realistic expectation. To be blunt, Ghetsis doesn't fuck around. His team very much feels like a properly-balanced champion team, with Hydreigon acting as his team's resident pseudo-legendary, and his theme music is composed of foreboding drums and choir vocals. He feels more like a champion than Alder does. Ultimately, I would say Black and White has two champions: a story champion and a  gameplay champion. Alder fits the former while Ghetsis fits the latter, and while I love this dynamic for its creativity in a very formulaic series, I wish we had more of it. None of the Pokemon games since  Black and White had this degree of ambition in integrating and subverting the series' narrative and game-play trappings by way of a fake-out final boss, even its direct sequels, who perhaps played it a little too safe.

In Black and White's sequels, Black 2 and White 2, Alder's role as a mentor becomes literal, as he helps the player character get better accustomed to the game when they reach Floccessy Town (which incidentally is supposed to be based off Newark and I think that's hilarious). Instead of acting as the Unova League Champion, Alder is revealed to have stepped down from the league and has been replaced by the former Opelucid City gym leader Iris instead. Now, Iris adheres much more to the champion archetype than Alder does, but that really isn't saying much. In B2W2, she appears in Castelia City at the same time and for the same story function as she did in the previous games: you have to help her track down Team Plasma. That's it. You could argue that she meets the archetype better if you take her role within the predecessor game into account, since in Black and White, Iris is present during the eleventh-hour time of crisis, along with the gym leaders from all of Unova's cities (barring one) rallied up by your other, comparatively less annoying rival Bianca. If you are playing Pokemon White, you will have to face Iris in order to win the final gym badge, which makes her somewhat more relevant as a character, though only in White alone, as you fight her mentor Drayden in Black instead. In spite of this, I wouldn't say that Iris is a very memorable character within both stories she is in, and the time between these encounters are massive. By the time you meet Iris again in Opelucid City in White, it is to challenge her, whereas in Black she acts as a move tutor without any relevance to the plot. In B2W2, she will appear in Opelucid City to wish you luck with your battle with the city's current gym leader, but you won't see her afterwards until her big reveal as the new champion of Unova. While her theme music is catchy, I wouldn't really say the battle itself is incredibly memorable. To this day, I can't recall her team save for her Druddigon without having to look it up on Bulbapedia. It is worth noting that B2W2 have incredibly large postgames that near-eclipse the amount of content provided from the main story, which itself was less ambitious than Black and White and took a more Diamond and Pearl approach regarding to pacing the story with gym challenges, so Iris' memorability can easily be overlooked in a game with so much content.

Now if any champion meets the archetype the least, it is Generation VI's Diantha, and when I say “least”, I don't mean the least faithful to the archetype, because as previously explained, that title goes to Alder. Rather, Diantha's lack of screentime within the main story leads to a weak champion reveal by the end, even more so than Iris or Wallace. In Pokemon X and Y, your two encounters with her prior to the Pokemon League are incidental, as you run into her first at a cafe in the not so subtle stand-in city for Paris, and then at a monorail stop in where I can only assume is Normandy. She doesn't give you any important item or clears any obstacles for the player to advance the plot. Rather, she talks about herself a bit and expresses a desire to battle the player in the future. I probably wouldn't have remembered her leading up to taking on the league were it not for her character design, which fans have likened to that of Audrey Hepburn, and I can kind of see it? It's a fitting comparison given that Diantha is supposed to be a well-respected actress, but that aspect of her character alone is problematic from a storytelling standpoint should you choose to turn off your brain; if Diantha is this insanely famous actress, why wouldn't she immediately be identified as the Kalos League Champion as well by NPCs whenever she's out in the public? Last I checked, Parisian cafes and monorail stations aren't necessarily private venues, and it's not like Diantha is attending these places incognito. One line that particularly annoys me in her first encounter is, “I'm a Trainer myself, in my off time. I look forward to us battling someday!” To me, this line feels like a deliberate misdirect on the part of the writer, because what kind of league champion would brush their battling career aside as a hobby despite being the named strongest trainer in the entire region? There's just something incredibly dishonest about what is ostensibly supposed to be a throwaway line. It implies that we are not meant to assume that Diantha is an exceptional trainer of note, and are meant to see her primarily as an actress instead. This makes her reveal as champion ultimately fall flat, and you as a Pokemon fan could probably assume from thematic shorthand that she was going to be the champion simply because she had nothing better to do in the story.

Diantha's lack of presence in the narrative is what ultimately sells her short. Unlike previous champions, she does not appear during the obligatory time of crisis, though I wouldn't call this subversive, nor is she present during your recurring run-ins with Team Flare (aka the French fashion mafia). To be honest, I think some extra screentime in the vein of Cynthia would make her reveal less forced, or at the very least some hints on the part of random NPCs hinting of her battling prowess. This isn't to say I don't like Diantha as a character, or even X and Y's story for that matter. I actually quite like it. I just wish I saw Diantha more frequently. She is implied to be acquainted with Lysandre, who is revealed to be the boss of the French fashion mafia. Why couldn't that be explored? Hell, I even would have taken a part in the game where you wind up on a film set and you see Diantha performing! Pokemon X and Y took a much stronger influence from the part of the world it is based on than Black and White did, so it's kind of a shame that an aspect of French culture as a famous as their cinema was more or less pushed to the wayside.

At the time of this writing, I had recently finished my playthrough of Pokemon Sun. I accidentally spoiled myself to the champion reveal via YouTube, discovering that your final obstacle before becoming the first ever champion of the Alola Region was Professor Kukui. Compared to Diantha, my battle with Kukui was incredibly memorable, because I lost twice against him before finally emerging victorious. Of course, recency bias is very much a thing and my feelings regarding the quality of the battle are subject to change, but I think it's telling that a lot of thought went into how difficult this final challenge was supposed to be. I have issues with Pokemon Sun and Moon's balancing system, namely the fact that most trainers don't have more than one Pokemon until you're halfway through the game. I understand that the contrary would make the Exp. Share as insanely broken as it was in Gen VI, but in hindsight it appears to have been a necessary evil. By the time I challenged Kukui, both of our teams were almost perfectly balanced, making the battle less about sweeping the opponent's Pokemon as quickly as possible with the right type matchups and more about the strategy it takes to get there.

I would also be remiss not to mention the uniqueness of Kukui's champion reveal, because he is not the champion at all! Technically, you, the player, have become the first champion by being the first to beat the Elite Four, a feat achieved only by your rival in Red and Blue. This final battle you have with Kukui is a formality, as it is explained in the story that he has spearheaded the efforts to establish a Pokemon League in Alola, integrated in with the traditional Island Challenge. Kukui makes it very clear that he studies Pokemon moves, making battling an integral part of his research. It makes him a little one-note at times, but I don't think Pokemon has had as active of a champion character within the main story since Cynthia, and I mean champion in the sense that Ghetsis could be considered one. That said, I don't think anyone would have a problem if SuMo went the route of Black and White and making Lusamine in her drugged up possession form the final boss. My biggest issue when battling Kukui is that I didn't really feel strongly about the character himself.

Obviously I'm speaking from bias, but I think the past twelve years of playing Pokemon have conditioned me to champion trainers who, if they weren't depicted as calm and collected, were at the very least formidable and intimidating. Kukui is probably one of the most high-energy characters in the entire game! Previous champions all had an air of mystery behind them, whereas you practically spend 1/3 of SuMo's 3-hour tutorial being guided by Kukui. You pick up his mannerisms, you find out what he's all about, you find out he's married to a physicist, etc... Even if the game threw a curveball and actually made you the champion before anyone else could make a claim, Kukui's reveal as the final boss feels... underwhelming. This guy has been holding your hand and supporting you practically through your entire journey, and while Alder had a similar role in B2W2, it was not nearly as pronounced by comparison.

That spark of intensity you feel battling a champion like Steven and Cynthia just isn't there. What do you have to prove about yourself as a trainer if there is no champion to challenge at the end of the long road? This is honestly a shame because I was actually hoping around the time of Gen V that we would get a game where the story throws a curveball you become the first champion, albeit with the caveat that you have to compete with someone for the penultimate title. I still think this is possible, but from what Kukui has shown us, it needs to executed differently. I have not picked up Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon yet so I don't know whether or not Game Freak decided to switch up Kukui with someone else (though I'm gonna assume now that it's either Hau or Gladion), but I would honestly welcome a change, not to mention better battle music.

This current generation of Pokemon signals a shift in the way these games will likely be made for the years to come, both in terms of gameplay and narrative. I wasn't a huge fan of the Island Challenge in hindsight, but it was a fresh take from the past 20 years of  gym battles. While the story of B2W2 may come close at times, I don't think we've had two successive generations that followed similar story beats like Gens III and IV did. That said, I very much adhere to the notion that Pokemon needs to continue making memorable final battles for the player. Each story in a mainstream Pokemon game has remained memorable to some degree, but I strongly believe that the games which hold up better are the ones who execute their champion reveals the best, even if it means adhering to a pre-established archetype. Archetypes aren't a form of bad writing, but their overuse turns them into cliches.

[podcastcoach]

Podcast Icing To Bring Your Audience Back

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Social Media Marketing World Reflections

Looking back on social media marketing world, I wanted to share my thoughts as this was the first time I was there and there are some things we can learn from this mammoth event.

The first impression was WOA. I walked in and got my badge and as they started to hand me a swag bag (you know the thing you throw on your bed, leaf through once and then ditch) and they asked what gift I would like. One was a cool cable organizer, and the other was a battery backup pack to charge my phone or tablet. This wasn't a cheap bottom of the food chain device. For me, this was awesome as I was going to buy one at Best Buy before leaving and ran out of time. To me, this shows they know their audience. Either gift was valuable.

Becuase Of My Podcast

Becuase of my podcast, I know Paul Colligan, and Paul Colligan knows JJ Virgin who is now coming on my weight loss show (and I got to sample some cool stuff)

SPONSOR: Podcast Movement

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– Join over 2,000 podcasters from around the world in Philadelphia this July 23 through 26 for three days of workshops, panels, parties and more

– The conference offers over 100 sessions on topics ranging from the technical aspects of setting up your equipment and the audio production to marketing and monetizing your current or future show.

– The expo hall features over 60 podcast service and equipment providers, so whether you're in the market for a microphone, or trying to figure out where to host your podcast, anyone who matters will be on site to help you out

It's July 23 – 26th in Philadelphia PA.

Use the code SOP when you sign up at www.podcastmovement.com and get $50 off any level of registration

Look at All The Icing

At first glance, one might say that the major draw of SMMW is icing. For example, the opening night you have a networking event on an aircraft carrier. This is not something I had ever done. It made the event unique. Now, you might say, but in the end, you still have a bunch of people talking, drinking, and networking.  I see that point of view, but every corner had a sense of adventure. I toured the top of the ship with Ray Ortega and Lou Mongello. If this had been in a restaurant back room, I was still hanging out with Ray and Lou. If I was doing this at another conference, it would be an event. I great event, but throw in that we are talking to a veteran about planes and now this is not only an event - it's an experience. It is a stronger memory than hanging out in the hotel bar.

The second networking event was at a club that had a live band playing Karaoke. It was very loud, but I was walking in with somewhat of a "What am I walking into? experience." I was with Ray so we ventured further into the club and found ourselves on what looked like an outdoor patio except we were inside. This again brought on kind of a "What is this place?" feeling. We then walked through a hallway of white Chrismas lights into a room with booths lit up with neon green. We picked up some awesome cake in a cup and enjoyed our sugar rush. We walked over to one station where they were making some sort of dessert that was part ice cream cone meets cinnamon roll, meets strawberries and chocolate, meets, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING. You could even walk into the giant vault. Did we need an exotic building? No, but did it add to the experience? Sure, as now Ray and I felt like we were in a live dungeons and dragons game waiting to see what the next room would bring.

Their networking room was categorized by subject. There were three tables for podcasters, more tables for YouTubers, etc. It made it very easy to meet your tribe, and then introduce yourself to a new one. The one that was really above an beyond, I was in the speaker's room (a lovely quiet place to go with refreshments and snacks). When the crew I was sitting with mentioned walking over to the place where you could pick up your lunch, a staff member took our order and brought it over to us. This wasn't necessary, but as this was day two anyone had put a few miles in their shoes and this was a super nice touch.

Don't Write Off Icing - It's Important.

According to Betty Crocker's Website, 2 tablespoons of chocolate icing is 130 calories and 95 grams ug sugar. According to the Fat Secret website, a cupcake without icing has 105 calories. With this in mind, 55% of the calories come from the icing, but I'm pretty sure the part of the cupcake that gets people drolling is 100% the icing. This got me thinking about the phrase, "Icing on the cake" and I did some googling as to items that draw people's attention. Here is what I found.

Physical need. When we’re hungry and we see food, we pay attention. We wake up in the night when we need to go to the bathroom.

Self-made choice. We decided to buy a new BMW 325 and suddenly see them everywhere. This effect is also called priming.

Your name. We notice the name dearest to us.

Emotion. If something evokes an emotion in us, they have our attention. Ask anyone about the show this is us.

Contrast. We pay more attention to things that are in contrast to other things.

Novelty. The brain pays more attention to things in the environment that are new to a person’s experience. (see)

Another website stated:

3) You can't understand it: Do you remember the last time you were searching for some information online? Do you remember when you stopped? Most probably you stopped when you got your answers. The things that we don't understand quickly grab our attention and force us to think about them even more.

4) Because you want to run away: Sometimes things catch our attention because we want to run away from the current moment. Nostalgia is a great example where something pleasant that happened from the past quickly grabs our attention and forces us to indulge in thoughts about the beautiful past

5) Because it's cute: You might wonder what does cuteness have to do with attention-grabbing but in fact, studies have shown that we are wired to get distracted by cute little things. Whether it's a small cat or a beautiful baby the algorithm in our brains gets us hooked quickly when we encounter cuteness (See also 7 psychological reasons cats are so popular on the internet)

A Cupcake Without Icing is a Muffin

Although cupcakes and muffins are strikingly similar in appearance, the taste and texture of the two are quite different. Cupcakes are a small, individual cake. They are lighter, cake-like and sweeter. Muffins are defined as a quick bread, usually denser. Another difference between cupcakes and muffins is that cupcakes are almost always topped with frosting and muffins are not.

What Kind of Icing Can Podcasters Provide to Their Show?

Keep them Informed

One of the things at SMMW is I never wondered what was going on. They had an app for your phone and an army of volunteers. I knew when buses were leaving and coming back. I knew where to go, etc. I listen toa lott of podcasts and many of them are like a bus. My friend Erik K Johnson from podcast talent coach says it's like getting on a bus with no name on the front. You have no idea where it's going (so you probably wouldn't get on), and if it took off with you on it you might be a little nervous. At SMMW I felt taken care of. When Emily Prokop of the Story Behind to a Hiatus to have a baby, it was well planned out, and here audience was aware of what was happening. She has some shows in the can to carry us over, and we knew there would be a small break.

Get Your Audience Involved

I know you are probably saying, "I would love to get my audience involved but I haven't got a single bit of feedback." End your show with a question, and ask them to respond. MAKE SURE you have an EASY way to leave feedback. Did you know that in some apps if you put your voicemail number (say from www.podcastvoicemail.com ) your audience can often click it and it will dial your number? If you do get feedback, RESPOND. If possible play it on the show. For the person that hear's their name on a show, it is a mountain of icing. I was listening to Podcast Junkies with Harry Durran and they ended up saying my name three times before the show was over. Did you notice I counted? Do you know why? Icing. Did you notice what else happened? I just mentioned his show.

How is the Subscription Experience?

Contrary to popular belief, rating and reviews are great social proof, but don't do much for really building your show or boosting you up the rankings of Apple. The muffin, in this case, is "Find me in Apple Podcasts." The icing is having an EASY TO FIND subscribe page with step by step instructions on how to subscribe or do it live on Facebook and embed the video. Guide your audience by the hand.

Give Them What They Need

My gift from SMMW was something I needed. It was so cool, and it made a great first impression. How did this happen? This was their sixth year doing this conference. I have a few conversations with Michael Stelzner and he's no dummy. He doesn't rest on his reputation and tries to make each year better than the last. Keep in mind this means when you first start your podcast it may not be hitting a home run, but work with your audience and you can create a podcast they start telling their friends about.

Do What Other People Don't

Jordan Harbinger has a popular show. His interviews are great. Jordon does something that most people don't. Some call it, "the work." For example, if Jordan is interviewing an author, he may put the episode out of few weeks so he can read the author's book. What does this do? First, it is going to be OBVIOUS to the author that Jordan read the book. This will make Jordan stand out in a sea of podcasts hosts who want to do as little as possible in hopes that said author will share their show on twitter. This also leads to better questions and a better interview. Now put yourself in the author's shoes. Which podcast do you want to promote to your audience the one where the host read the book, or the other guy? Who has a better chance of building a relationship with that author? When the author has a new book out in a few years, which podcast is he going to want to appear on. Why? Icing.

Go One More Level Deeper

I sat in Jason Van Orden's session on how to grow your email list. Jason used a word that really hit home for me. The word resonates. You want your content to resonate with your audience. How do I know his talk resonated with me? Well, I'm telling you aren't I? Exactly. He said when it comes to your content you need to know the following

Why does it matter to you

Why does it matter to your audience?

Why does it matter to the world?

When you know WHY it matters to your audience it shows you really know your audience.

Mentioned In Episode 609

Alive Inside Documentary Official Website

Jason Van Orden

Jordan Harbinger

Emily Prokop

Podcast Talent Coach

The Feed Libsyn Podcast

Podfecta Nashville Conference

Craft Content Nashville

Paul Colligan - the Podcast Report

Gary Leland

Check out this episode!

[kareemjanzen24-blog]

Might Need Some Speed Try A Car Racing Game

Top Free Car Games

Games undoubtedly are a great source of refreshment. And Spiderman video games are good video games to get refreshment. Young people are looking forward to games to begin with but swiftly lose interest. When you know it, they are begging you for yet another online game. Young children can become aware about trend and items of clothing in addition to body pieces, colors as well as learn about the surrounding planet while playing this zero cost dress up games. And most of these are available without cost. Online flash games will be the answer for every generation. Online flash games with regard to talented children are a smart way to master through play. It might look like they're just spending more hours enjoying video gaming, but the ones within this list are designed like that. It really is an unfortunate truth that on the net gaming requires tolerating the remarkable volume with bad manners, vulgarity, weak sportsmanship, along with simply old awful manners. Several online game areas tend to be a little more mature than others, although anyone can generally count on this specific type of misbehavior throughout simply regarding each and every multiplayer video game you appear across. I recognize that people are usually basically private on the internet, and some people could get quite sentimentally involved within the particular competition, although that is definitely simply no cause to be able to chuck away any semblance of respect or decency. I've set with each other a couple of pointers on good on-line video gaming etiquette, however I believe the actual worst type of offenders aren't most likely to receive notice. Play Sensible Disloyal and applying exploits is actually a great admission which you are unable to succeed without having them. Additionally, you'll find succeeding a considerable fight considerably more worthwhile. In the event that winning is definitely crucial to you, maintain just practising and also understand from what successful participants are usually undertaking. Must the actual opposition confirm to become far too much for you, finding a diverse online game can be a greater answer than cheating. Always be A Good Sport Laughing at conquered competitors, bragging with regards to your success, overdoing it along with taunts in addition to emotes, almost all help to make you look childish. The actual fact is, actually kids should understand far better. A good proper emote used during the right point in time is often a stunning factor, yet whenever it accompanies just about every encounter inside the game, it becomes into that much far more mindless spam, which brings us all to our next guideline. Do not Spam You really never have to smash the particular chat system by using WTS mail messages in order to promote a great merchandise, or do you have to use every channel within the actual online game any time there can be a channel focused to business. If folks are not interested, echoing a message within conversation each and every 3 seconds just isn't likely that will switch that. Hang on a minute or 2, and also perhaps you'll start to get through into a brand new target market. Give up All of us the actual Caps Lock come on men and women, this can be a no-brainer that has been close to since the start of the Net - don't employ almost all capital letters inside chat. It can be the wording equivalent with yelling at anyone, along with no person would like to get yelled at. You Were a Noob Too No person may select up a brand new game and instantly get familiar themselves along with most of its technicalities as well as particulars. Right now there are generally heaps of acronyms and slang special to each and every video game, and it is really absurd to be expecting people to recognise these kinds of elements with no somewhat assistance from some other people. Somebody once stated to you exactly what had been occurring, currently you may accomplish the exact same, instead than basically showing these individuals they really are "noobs" plus departing it at that. A Little Teamwork, Please Whenever you might be part of the group, try to cooperate with your current teammates a little. Rambo-style gameplay hardly ever pays off within a team-oriented video game, therefore you should not assume your current teammates to get right behind you when you go kamakazi directly into a gauntlet of opponents. Likewise keep in thought process that essentially winning the actual match is definitely far more necessary compared to being at the top of the scoreboard. You should not Be a Quitter It can be amazing just how often individuals may detach not having a word when there're losing, as well as drop out as soon as their own group come across a problem. In case you do not feel you could succeed, surrender. Whenever your current instance run is just not proceeding effectively, attempt to work it out politely as well as give a good number of pleasant advice. At situations while your own team seriously isn't up for the task, explain the problem to other people without insulting all of them. You under no circumstances recognize what exactly type of answers people may come up with right up until you provide all of them a chance. Not really Every person Who Is victorious Is a Cheater Simply just for the reason that a different participant eliminates you a several times really does not indicate that there're cheating. As very good as you may perhaps think you are at any video game, right now there usually are very likely a good deal of people that will be just as excellent or much better than you are. If you are as hot as almost all that, then begin trying to play professionally in LAN competitions exactly where there is no manner to gain a advantage. If you are just about certain that another person is cheating, report these individuals to an admin and also allow them take a look at instead than throwing about accusations you won't be able to back up. Camping out Is usually a Lame Approach Although many game titles promote it, camping spawn details and corpses is usually commonly a dull strategy. In several scenarios it's only possible due to the fact of problematic game design and style, although it's still a poor approach that people with any self-respect do not resort to. Overlook Insults Whenever someone insults you, your greatest alternative is to disregard them. In the event the insults go on, many chat and voice models include 'ignore' functions to guarantee that further communications coming from these folks are generally obstructed. Returning the insults generally just escalates the exchange into a little something you will regret later on. Enjoy the Video game Video games usually are meant to be enjoyable, and if you cannot chuckle it off when issues go drastically wrong, or forgive a team associate for screwing up, and then maybe it's occasion for a break. Many of us have enough anxiety in our lifestyles, we really don't genuinely care to add a lot of video gaming tension to that. Once you start taking it too seriously, it defeats the reason for playing a video game in the first place.

Top Free Car Games

Racing car games, harvest love these? The speed, the cars, the sights and sounds of racing! The web has brought in a new wave of games an individual can abide by visiting an arcade website on the web. Everyone from little kids to old timers take pleasure in the fun of speeding. There's not much of a learning curve either, as may very in order to get moving on an online racing sports. But it is certainly not simple to perfect it the art of online racing. Get books on tape/CD that you discover interesting: I've recently found the genius that is books on CD as well MP3's. It has to regarded as book obtain interesting enough to focus in on, aren't getting a book about Algebra or the theories of Macro Financial burdens. It needs to thought of as a book will certainly hold your attention for your entire bike. Painting and drawing are children's preferences. This can be an amorous activity you r and your children. So get the paint and brushes ready (and the cleaning materials as well) and have fun with your kids! So should be done to get perfect game among all the 3d car games available in the broad? There are 3 commonly overlooked things that you have to take into consideration when choosing what involving game perform. Before you worry about video game itself, however, you'll really should try to check out a few preliminary requirements. One of the most important things is to verify that your device can play in the game. If you are on a customary Windows PC, you are in good great. This is the most popular platform and most online games will support it. However, many browser based car or bike games are cross-platform compatible, so 100 % possible play on the Mac, PC, smartphone or tablet. Most online games today use Flash, Java or HTML5 for a constant experience on multiple appliances. Let's put our pedal to the metal with driving gaming applications! They form somewhat of a catchall category because they pretty much don't are owned by the various other specific testing groups. They could include games with obstacle courses a person have to survive as long as you'll. They could incorporate games an individual do stunts or ought to figure out how to produce it through physics driven puzzles. They might also include more destructive ones are actually based on topics such as demolition derby. Parking games are also lumped into this category because possess such an easy premise! Going on a car trip with young children doesn't have to be along the technique to disaster. You may create your own theme based on where you want. Often, the giggling and laughter which comes from babies can resulted in trip substantially enjoyable for that adults also. Enjoy yourself. and relax.

Top Free Car Games

Games undoubtedly are a great source of refreshment. And Spiderman video games are good video games to get refreshment. Young people are looking forward to games to begin with but swiftly lose interest. When you know it, they are begging you for yet another online game. Young children can become aware about trend and items of clothing in addition to body pieces, colors as well as learn about the surrounding planet while playing this zero cost dress up games. And most of these are available without cost. Online flash games will be the answer for every generation. Online flash games with regard to talented children are a smart way to master through play. It might look like they're just spending more hours enjoying video gaming, but the ones within this list are designed like that. It really is an unfortunate truth that on the net gaming requires tolerating the remarkable volume with bad manners, vulgarity, weak sportsmanship, along with simply old awful manners. Several online game areas tend to be a little more mature than others, although anyone can generally count on this specific type of misbehavior throughout simply regarding each and every multiplayer video game you appear across. I recognize that people are usually basically private on the internet, and some people could get quite sentimentally involved within the particular competition, although that is definitely simply no cause to be able to chuck away any semblance of respect or decency. I've set with each other a couple of pointers on good on-line video gaming etiquette, however I believe the actual worst type of offenders aren't most likely to receive notice. Play Sensible Disloyal and applying exploits is actually a great admission which you are unable to succeed without having them. Additionally, you'll find succeeding a considerable fight considerably more worthwhile. In the event that winning is definitely crucial to you, maintain just practising and also understand from what successful participants are usually undertaking. Must the actual opposition confirm to become far too much for you, finding a diverse online game can be a greater answer than cheating. Always be A Good Sport Laughing at conquered competitors, bragging with regards to your success, overdoing it along with taunts in addition to emotes, almost all help to make you look childish. The actual fact is, actually kids should understand far better. A good proper emote used during the right point in time is often a stunning factor, yet whenever it accompanies just about every encounter inside the game, it becomes into that much far more mindless spam, which brings us all to our next guideline. Do not Spam You really never have to smash the particular chat system by using WTS mail messages in order to promote a great merchandise, or do you have to use every channel within the actual online game any time there can be a channel focused to business. If folks are not interested, echoing a message within conversation each and every 3 seconds just isn't likely that will switch that. Hang on a minute or 2, and also perhaps you'll start to get through into a brand new target market. Give up All of us the actual Caps Lock come on men and women, this can be a no-brainer that has been close to since the start of the Net - don't employ almost all capital letters inside chat. It can be the wording equivalent with yelling at anyone, along with no person would like to get yelled at. You Were a Noob Too No person may select up a brand new game and instantly get familiar themselves along with most of its technicalities as well as particulars. Right now there are generally heaps of acronyms and slang special to each and every video game, and it is really absurd to be expecting people to recognise these kinds of elements with no somewhat assistance from some other people. Somebody once stated to you exactly what had been occurring, currently you may accomplish the exact same, instead than basically showing these individuals they really are "noobs" plus departing it at that. A Little Teamwork, Please Whenever you might be part of the group, try to cooperate with your current teammates a little. Rambo-style gameplay hardly ever pays off within a team-oriented video game, therefore you should not assume your current teammates to get right behind you when you go kamakazi directly into a gauntlet of opponents. Likewise keep in thought process that essentially winning the actual match is definitely far more necessary compared to being at the top of the scoreboard. You should not Be a Quitter It can be amazing just how often individuals may detach not having a word when there're losing, as well as drop out as soon as their own group come across a problem. In case you do not feel you could succeed, surrender. Whenever your current instance run is just not proceeding effectively, attempt to work it out politely as well as give a good number of pleasant advice. At situations while your own team seriously isn't up for the task, explain the problem to other people without insulting all of them. You under no circumstances recognize what exactly type of answers people may come up with right up until you provide all of them a chance. Not really Every person Who Is victorious Is a Cheater Simply just for the reason that a different participant eliminates you a several times really does not indicate that there're cheating. As very good as you may perhaps think you are at any video game, right now there usually are very likely a good deal of people that will be just as excellent or much better than you are. If you are as hot as almost all that, then begin trying to play professionally in LAN competitions exactly where there is no manner to gain a advantage. If you are just about certain that another person is cheating, report these individuals to an admin and also allow them take a look at instead than throwing about accusations you won't be able to back up. Camping out Is usually a Lame Approach Although many game titles promote it, camping spawn details and corpses is usually commonly a dull strategy. In several scenarios it's only possible due to the fact of problematic game design and style, although it's still a poor approach that people with any self-respect do not resort to. Overlook Insults Whenever someone insults you, your greatest alternative is to disregard them. In the event the insults go on, many chat and voice models include 'ignore' functions to guarantee that further communications coming from these folks are generally obstructed. Returning the insults generally just escalates the exchange into a little something you will regret later on. Enjoy the Video game Video games usually are meant to be enjoyable, and if you cannot chuckle it off when issues go drastically wrong, or forgive a team associate for screwing up, and then maybe it's occasion for a break. Many of us have enough anxiety in our lifestyles, we really don't genuinely care to add a lot of video gaming tension to that. Once you start taking it too seriously, it defeats the reason for playing a video game in the first place.

Top Free Car Games