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shinygoku · 3 years ago

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Henry’s Forest - Huge Fudge

Or, “This episode is bad and it should feel bad!”

Season 3 in general is contentious to me. I can very much enjoy the music and visuals, and some of the episodes are pretty strong. However, a lot of the episodes are also very weak, partly cause they’re adapted from Magazine Stories (which can have cute ideas, but are very much written Simplistically, for Babbies) and partly cause they can show a flippant disregard for the realism that the RWS and first two seasons thrive on. There’s also an issue with characterizations, as attempts to develop sometimes misfire horribly and yet, plant the seeds of Flanderization that later hangs heavy over the cast.

Henry’s Forest is pretty much the ultimate example of the dark side of s3.

And yet, to others, it’s the Crown Jewel?! How come??

Well, I think it’s because it gives Henry what would become his Fanon Trait. His “Thing” that became a given, a foregone conclusion about him when looking at his character.... even though there’s not even a scrap of basis in the Books.

Henry is, apparently, a nature loving tree hugger, all because of this episode. And while I don’t hate the idea itself, I hate that it came from such a shoddy, overhyped, underbaked episode.

The Writing.... is so bad. The way you’d hear fans talk about it, it’s a nuanced dive into Henry’s psyche and appreciation of nature. It’s really not.

The syrupy narration tells us that Henry feels Very Happy there, that it’s Peaceful nature makes him calm..... but outside the short scene aesthetic hotspots showcase at the beginning, it’s not shown. It would have shown much better contrast if he was in a mood prior, and then his spirits lifted once in said Forest, but he’s grinning like an idiot for the whole section.

They also neglect to mention anything about the infamous Rule 55. I’m gonna hafta be a Purist here, and say that was a catastrophic blunder. And it’s a bit baffling, cause it would have taken one line, a few mere moments to say something like “Henry’s driver called ahead to get clearance and they settled on a siding.”, which may not be 100% Correct Procedure, but gives much more lip service to the understandable rule in place.

And, of course, the mere fact that the trees are positively looming over the line, huge and mighty, where their roots could reach under the rails and rip them up! If the section of the line being overgrown was commented on, as like, a neglected section that only got opened for use for plot reasons, it’d be better, but instead it’s treated as a normal section of the railway. Y’all seen the recent real life news stories where neglected parts of the lineside growth causes horrible crashes that tear the modern train up like tin foil??

Now, the episode kind of portrays the trees as indeed being a bit problematic, cause a strong enough storm rips half the trees up.... except the episode doesn’t comment on those trees now being a much bigger issue, all over the line as they were, it’s more “Henry Sad :C” and “Toby Sad to see Henry Sad :C”

And yeah, we’re given the odd plot shift to now focus on Toby instead, who has no real relationship with Henry, as he’s excited to help with the planting of new saplings (NO, YOU FOOLS! NOT THERE!!). And then Angelis has to recite the most retch inducing, nauseatingly sugary “Now everything is good again because the trees are growing and animals and children are playing and laughing and birds and shit” hrrRRRGGGGHHH

I do, however, come not just to critique the molasses out of this episode, but to offer notes for improvement.

This could have been a good episode if they’d actually done the revolutionary concept of focusing on a character and exploring them through the forest as a framing device. By which I mean, Henry and just what it is about the Forest that brings him serenity.

Like, the most I can extract from the episode as it’s given, is that he was there when the trees were (stupidly) planted in the first place, and that it’s a peaceful location. Urgh... so, like...

I agree with all of Awdry’s complaints bar one, and that’s [obviously, if ya’ve read my work? maybe? lol] that he doesn’t like the idea of the Locomotives themselves enjoying the scenery. Sorry, Guv, but that’s just a bit daft! You give ‘em such rich personalities but you wanna stop before they enjoy things? I can’t go for that, man! Again, I’m with you on your other objections, but it seems very natural indeed to me that they’d react to the locations’ aesthetics.

So! What does that mean for giving Henry some much-needed Character Points [as his main Arc prior had been the Illness thing, which isn’t a personality trait in of itself and has also been fixed forever] ? Well, I see three viable alternative routes, where there’s even some overlap! These are:

Henry enjoys the peace and the quiet all the more than other Engines due to his past difficulties and the sometimes hostile working environment, combined with the strong, wacky personalities of his Engine Coworkers. Trees don’t fuss, or boast, or ask annoying questions. Trees have sounds of their own, but quiet, subdued, distinctly different. Speaking of which...

He finds the trees bemusing and is drawn to them as a result. Trees ain’t much like a locomotive; they’re vertical instead of horizontal, and grow from something utterly tiny over many years, instead of being drawn on blueprints and made (ideally) the final size right out the gate! Trees are solid wood, and Engines are semi hollow metal, fed by fire and water. The contrast fascinates Henry, so he likes to just sit with them...

In contrast to but not mutually exclusive with the previous point, he instead sees the things in common! Huge, mighty things, coloured green, capable of such power but confined to where their roots or their rails lay... and odd kinship, but a valid one.

Yeah, they coulda touched on any of that and suddenly the many Fanon-isms about Henry retroactively make sense! But it seems what everyone’s done instead is to project similar ideas and then convince themselves that it came from the episode, giving it far too much credit in the process.

This pathetic missing of such a good chance, plus the awful “moral” of the episode (look, I’m a big Tree Enjoyer irl, but you can’t use a Trees Good lesson where they’re actively dangerous and out of place!) make me really mad. On the upshot, The Trouble With Trees in s5 exists, which does address the danger aspect and even has Henry himself tell James that there’s some forestry management happening. But alas, Forest has still got all too good a reputation, hence my long and rambly attempt to deflate it a little here.

Thanks if ya read all that! My next TTTE post may be less salty, hahah ^^;

#This is TTTE #TTTE Henry #s3 is Overrated and this is the most Overrated of it all

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starbuckie · 4 years ago

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MAL CAN WE GET SIRIUS PLEASE LIKE A SIRIUS DURING HALLOWEEN? ONE OF THE SCENES I JUST THOUGHT OF WAS ACCIDENTALLY MATCHING COSTUMES AND THEN THEY JUST CONTINUE TO ACCIDENTALLY MATCH THIS AOULD BE ADKRABLE I THINK OMG

so i tried to make this house-neutral but THIS IDEA I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO READ THIS ANGE AGJDKAHDJGHJKS OKAY HERE IT IS HOPE YOU ENJOY<3

“Black, don’t think for a second that I planned this.” Y/N stood with a bottle of firewhiskey in the Gryffindor common room, princess dress hanging loosely off of her shoulders after the few hours of partying they had done this Halloween.

Sirius readjusted the crown on his head and took a swig from his firewhiskey bottle, Y/N using all of her willpower to not look at his exposed neck as his head tilted back. His princely costume was played lowkey their final year, just a crown with a nice dress shirt and clacks, but with his confident attitude that resembled a royal’s, it was impossible to not know what he was for Halloween. “Again, Y/N? Really, we’ve been playing this game of match up, dress up, whatever you want to call it for three years now, it seems highly unlikely that it’s just a coincidence again.”

“Sirius, you bring up this argument of yours again and again every year, and every time I say the same thing; it is just a coincidence. It’s not like I try to match with you, I actually despise it.” No, you really don’t, a voice whispered in her head, you bloody love it, you little minx.

“Trust me, love, I know.” The grey-eyed boy let out a heavy chuckle that sounded more like a sigh as he averted his eyes to the ground. What was he thinking? “I’ll always remember when you kneed me in the ballsack back in fifth year.”

Fifth Year

Y/N glared across the hall at the group of troublemaking boys in her year laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing. Lily stood to her right doing the exact same, with Marlene and Dorcas admiring them from her left.

“They’re brilliant, Lily, why can’t you just admit that?” Marlene whined. “Y/N, you understand, right?”

Sure, the little group of Marauders, as they liked to call themselves, were clever. It was no secret that they thrived academically and were astoundingly smart with their high marks and amazing discoveries. However, it was also not a secret that they were a bunch of bloody gits, using that charm and wit of theirs to craft pranks that more often than not had her on the receiving end. Lily agreed with Y/N, of course she did, though it was becoming increasingly obvious that the redhead fancied a certain James Potter. Dorcas and Marlene still marveled at the boys, absolutely wooed by their “talent” and “amazing pranks”.

“They’re brilliant in some aspects, Dorcas,” Y/N watched as Peter Pettigrew tripped over his feet and into James Potter, knocking them both over. “It doesn’t change the fact that they’re a ton of lazy sods.” The redhead next to her nodded, still watching Potter, as Y/N tugged on her arm. “Now come on, Lily, I don’t want him to see me, let’s get a cuppa at the Great Hall.”

A devilish smirk appeared on her face, eyes glinting as they gazed towards one of the taller boys. “You mean you don’t want Sirius to see that you two are wearing matching costumes?” Y/N shot her a glare but Lily simply laughed at her friend’s peeved expression. “Don’t be such a ninny.”

“Piss off, Evans.” She growled at her friend. It wasn’t intended that she was matching with the raven-haired boy but Halloween was a fun time to dress up, and the only thing she could find were a pair of plastic fangs to make a vampire costume. It just so happened that Sirius Black thought of the exact same thing, which made her blood boil. Both of them wore blood red capes and black attire under, fake fangs in their mouths, and worst of all, they looked like a couple. Her and stupid, bloody attractive, smart, charming, Sirius Black. Even his lopsided smirk had imprinted its image in her brain and she hated how he infiltrated her thoughts.

Lily finally relented, letting Y/N steer her and their friends towards breakfast right when a hand caught her wrist and spun her into a pair of arms. Grey eyes peered into her own and her heart nearly beat out of her damn chest at the upwards tilt of his lips. “Hey, L/N, that outfit looks pretty familiar.”

Snapping out of her trance, she pushed herself off of Sirius and stomped back to her friends before he stopped her again, by her cape this time. “C’mon, sweetheart, we look good together. We’re bound to happen at some point, L/N, so why don’t we save all the hassle and get together now? I think the matching costumes are a pretty telltale sign, and I know a little space behind the castle where we can get to know each other a little better. What do you say?”

With a little smirk on her lips, Y/N stepped closer to him, hands coming to run down his chest as he gripped her hips with wide eyes. She almost laughed at his surprised expression, rosy lips opened in shock rather than his usual smirk. “I think that,” he leaned forward at her every word so that her chest pressed against his, “I’ll just,” his mouth was millimeters away from hers, hot breath mingling together in the most delicious way, “kick you in the groin, you horny tosser.”

True to her word, she swiftly kneed him in the balls, making a near-dramatic exit with her head held high and cape swishing by her ankles. Sirius keeled over in pain with a pained groan, all the students in the corridor laughing at the normally suave boy who got absolutely schooled.

A wheeze and cough was heard behind him, James and Peter nearly losing breath at how hard they were laughing. “You had that coming, Pads, you played that so dirty and I can’t even-” James lost himself in another bout of laughter as his glasses slipped off his nose.

Remus, who wasn’t laughing as hard for the sake of his friend’s dignity, placed and arm out for Sirius to balance on as he stood up. “Prongs is right, Pads, you came off as a manky prat.”

He longingly look at Y/N’s retreating form, face red from the humiliation of being rejected by the girl he was kind of completely head over heels for. Of course he went after the one girl he couldn’t have.

“Oh, come off it, Moony.”

“Okay, Black, you can’t even deny that you didn’t deserve that. First of all, it was absolutely disgusting, asking to shag right in the morning and in a hallway of all places.” The princess took another sip of her firewhiskey, wincing at the burn of it down her throat. “Second of all, it’s rude and extremely horrible to lead a girl on like that, I mean I’ve liked you since third year and I know that if you pulled that fifth-year shit again on me this year, I’d probably hurt you worse.” Noticing Sirius’ nearly blank stare on her, her neck suddenly felt hot. “What is it? Do I have something on my face, or-”

“You like me?” His hands were stilled, eyes searching hers for a lie. Shit, shit, shit, shit! The one certainty of Sirius never finding out about her feelings was that Y/N would get to keep this bond with him, year after year, ensuring that even if they weren’t together, she’d still have some sort of relationship to him. But now he knew, and there wasn’t anything she could do but play it off as a lie.

“No, no, my tongue just gets much looser when I’ve had some alcohol, and what I meant to say was that I’ve liked being your friend since third year, not that I’ve, you know, had a crush on you since third year. Because that’d make no sense, right? I mean I really don’t like you, in fact I absolutely...”

“Hate me?” Sirius’ firm hands wrapped around her waist, a cute but cocky smirk on his face. “Oh, I’m sure you do, love.”

And when their lips connected, Y/N didn’t object.

#sirius black is really just a beautiful man #sirius orion black #marauders fanfiction #marauders fic #young marauders #sirius black x reader #sirius x reader #sirius black #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #malia’s spooky celebration

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phgq · 4 years ago

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Galvez on NAP Phase 3: No more trade-offs in Covid-19 response

#PHnews: Galvez on NAP Phase 3: No more trade-offs in Covid-19 response

BAGUIO CITY – Government planners gathered here over the weekend to craft the third phase of the government’s national declared policy against Covid-19, which aims to sustain and build on the gains the country has achieved in its fight against the virus. National Task Force against Covid-19 (NTF Covid-19) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. led representatives of line agencies in identifying the challenges they encountered in the implementation of the first two phases of the National Action Plan (NAP) against Covid-19 and formulating recommendations to address them. “In NAP Phase 3, we have to ensure the public’s health while reviving our nation’s economy. There will be no more trade-offs,” said Galvez, referring to some compromises the government had to make in the early stages of the NAP’s implementation. NAP: An evolving document “The pandemic is not linear -- it’s dynamic. The NAP is not a static document. It is a plan that must continue to evolve and be refined based on current realities on the ground,” he pointed out. “We need to continue to recalibrate our efforts according to the needs of local government units, the private sector, and the general public. So, we have to find ways to be creative so that our policies are not stringent,” Galvez added. During the NAP Phase 1’s implementation from March to June 2020, the government carried out strict community quarantine measures, which focused on the prevention and containment of the virus while mitigating its effects on the nation’s economy. The nationwide lockdown enabled the government to strengthen the country’s healthcare system by scaling up the testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and treatment capacity of local government units throughout the country. NAP Phase 2, on the other hand, remains anchored on the government prevent-detect-isolate-treat-reintegrate (PDITR) strategy and aims to create a balance between protecting the health of the people, while reviving the nation’s economy. Galvez said the NAP Phase 3, which seeks to continue implementing the policies issued under the earlier two phases of the plan, will start from the last quarter of 2020 and will carry over until the first quarter of 2021. Major blow to economy According to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the prolonged community quarantine has dealt a severe blow to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the economy in general. NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon reported that for every week that the community quarantine was imposed in the National Capital Region (NCR), around 0.10 to 0.28 percentage points were being shaved off the nation’s potential annual GDP growth of 6.5 percent. Currently, 54.9 percent of the country is under modified general community quarantine (MECQ), 44.9 percent under general community quarantine (GCQ), and 0.2 percent under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). The stringent measures under ECQ during the first half of the year further led to the GDP’s contraction. While the gradual reopening of the economy has enabled business establishments to resume operations, Edillon said more can be done. “From a consistently strong economic growth, GDP contracted by negative 9 percent in the first semester of 2020 due to the stringent quarantine measures. As quarantine restrictions were eased, the economic activities had improved gradually but more can be done,” she said. This is where Recharge PH comes in. The task group that was created specifically to formulate action plans and facilitate the restarting of social and economic activities, while engaging all sectors of society in curbing the spread of the disease. There are three sub-task groups under the Recharge PH: (1) Sub-Task Group Recovery which will engage business and workforce in the fight against Covid-19; (2) Sub-Task Group on Social Recovery which will focus on the improvement of the Filipinos’ capability to thrive under the new normal; and (3) Sub-Task Group Governance that will ensure a people-centered, clean, technology-abled, and responsive governance in addressing the pandemic. Meanwhile, NTF on Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon emphasized the need for the country to adapt to new technologies, specifically in the area of testing, as these will enable the government to further boost its Covid-19 response. “Ang kailangan natin talaga bilisan ay yung pag-adopt ng new technologies in testing katulad ng antigen testing, saliva testing, and breath testing. Kapag walang RT-PCR, gamitin natin ang antigen (What we really need is to accelerate the way we adapt to new technologies in testing such as antigen testing, saliva testing, and breath testing. If there is no RT-PCR, we must use antigen), Dizon said. Re-echoing NEDA Secretary General Karl Chua’s observation, Dizon said the country has the capability to respond and manage the epidemic, saying “In terms of the number of deaths on Covid-19, the response has been effective.” The deputy chief implementer, however, said there is still a need to ramp up the nation’s Covid-19 prevention and mitigation measures as the government continues to open the economy. "Kung di natin bubuksan ang ekonomiya, di tayo magnu-new normal, ‘yung mga naka blue na ‘yan na namamatay sa ibang bagay, mas lalo pang tataas (If we don’t open the economy, we will not have a new normal. Those indicated in blue who are dying of other [non-Covid] reasons will continue to rise),” Dizon said. “Mahaba pa ‘yung laban pero kayang-kaya po natin. ‘Yun lang medyo mag wrap up tayo at bilis-bilsan lang po natin ng konti (We still have a long way to go but we can handle this one. We just need to wrap [our planning] and speed up [the plan’s implementation],” he said. Improve critical care for Covid and non-Covid cases Based on the Department of Health data as of September 30, the country has recorded 311,694 Covid-19 cases, 17 percent or 52,702 of which are active cases. The DOH, however, noted that the utilization rate of hospital beds allocated for non-Covid 19 cases is relatively higher than those infected with the virus. In the National Capital Region (NCR), for instance, the utilization rate of hospital beds for Covid-19 cases was placed at 52 percent, while the utilization rate for non-Covid cases was pegged at 56 percent. Galvez urged members of the NTF to focus on increasing the bed capacity of health care facilities for Covid-19 and non-Covid 19 cases while pushing for the universalization of the country’s healthcare system. “We need to use this pandemic to accelerate the universalization of our healthcare system. The ICUs remain the same because the non-Covid cases are always there,” he said.

Galvez also reiterated his reminder that home quarantine must be avoided at all costs, as this practice has become one of the major reasons for the spike in Covid-19 local transmissions nationwide. “No home quarantine should be the rule rather than the exemption. There shall be very strict conditions that must be complied for home quarantine to be allowed,” he said. Through the government’s Oplan Kalinga, the government has been able to facilitate the transfer of thousands of Covid-19 patients from their homes to temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMPs) throughout the country. Through the TTMPs, patients receive the appropriate medical attention they need, while having a safe and secure place where they can recover. Department of Public Works and Highways Visna Manion said the agency has so far completed 289 quarantine facilities and offsite dormitories with a total bed capacity of 9,080. Manio said the DPWH targets to build 689 facilities with a total bed capacity of 24,179 in the coming months. Moving forward Meanwhile, National Incident Command-National Task Force Against Covid-19 Undersecretary Isidro Purisima said the NAP Phase 3 should be designed in such a way that it should be directly felt by ordinary people.

“The question we need to address is ‘yong impact ng ating NAP to the ordinary people. It should be people-centered, nationally-supported, and locally-led,” Purisima said.

“The mission of NAP Phase 3 is to sustain our gains from the previous NAP implementation, and focus our intervention both on the economic recovery and public health safety,” he added.

In closing, Galvez reminded the workshop participants to always keep in mind the main objectives of NAP Phase 3. “For the third phase of the plan, we must continue to sustain the gains we have achieved in the previous phases. To do this, however, we must be able to identify gaps in the NAP’s implementation and find ways to address them,” he said. “We cannot be complacent at this crucial time. Although there are very good signs that we are flattening the curve as what the up OCTA research center has reported last month, we cannot afford to let our guard down,” he added. (PR)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Galvez on NAP Phase 3: No more trade-offs in Covid-19 response." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117437 (accessed October 04, 2020 at 02:58AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Galvez on NAP Phase 3: No more trade-offs in Covid-19 response." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117437 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

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violetemerald · 8 years ago

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Bay Kennish headcanons

Ah Switched at Birth series finale tonight? Who, like me, is (totally not) ready??

Ok, so… as I kinda explained here: http://luvtheheaven.tumblr.com/post/159312248682/so-the-tumblr-mobile-app-is-really-frustrating-me

I’m a flailing idiot when it comes to answering asks publicly on tumblr’s mobile app, I suppose. Kept accidentally doing it privately. Ok so @zserb is awesome and sent me back my private answer so I could post it here.

zserb asked: Hi? I’ve seen your tags on that “ABCD kinds of headcanon” meme, and I’m really curious whether you have anything about Bay Kennish. (Actually, I’m really interested in what you think about Bay Kennish regardless of said meme too.) Thank you if you answer and have a nice day!

I, luvtheheaven, answered:

In response to:

http://luvtheheaven.tumblr.com/post/159203462757/jerseydevious-ricobrzenskas-hypocean

Yay thank you for picking Bay from Switched at Birth. She’s honestly one of my favorite characters of all time, especially if restricting that to female, adolescent aged characters. I have so many thoughts about her but I don’t usually explicitly think of specific or detailed headcanons for her. I feel like Switched at Birth barely has a fandom, more just has some fans lol, and that’s part of that, perhaps. The only time I wrote fanfiction about Bay I wrote her as ace, in fact basically the exact same kind of asexual I am… but I really do NOT headcanon her as asexual at all. I think it’s possible she’s bisexual, but I really just think of her as straight. As an example.

So onto the actual questions…

Headcanon A: what I think realistically

Ah this is a hard one to know what direction to go in… I think Bay would have gotten a lot more tattoos by now (I’m talking during the currently airing season, which I know has only 1 more ep and then the entire series is over), but maybe for now they’re all under places where her clothing hides because she’s not brave enough to stand up to her parents about her new love of tattoos?

What else is realistic… and headcanon ish… hmm… I think she might have more desire than Daphne to keep in touch with her biological (via Angelo) half sister who was adopted. I think she really FEELS family connections in general and one day soon she will meet more of Angelo’s family.

I think she could realistically be happily childfree for her own life despite all the complicated parental stuff she’s been through and thought about, especially after seeing how hard parenting can be for Toby. I like headcanoning characters as childfree despite really wanting adoptive parenthood myself.

I bet Bay took a little more time than Daphne to start considering the other a sister.

Headcanon B: what I think is fucking hilarious

Hilarious headcanons for Bay… surprisingly hard for me. Maybe… that she has a tumblr she uses to post ink jobs she's proud of, or even that she used to self promote things like her street art but pretending she wasn’t self promoting, anonymously being all “oh wow isn’t this cool?” Or more generally I think she’d thrive online and spend more time online than most of her family on any side, Kennish or Vasquez or whatever… idk.

Headcanon C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

That she did inherit a high chance of getting an anuerisym from Angelo? That she never really fully forgave Regina for not speaking up about the switch earlier and sometimes the resentment sneaks up on her? That deep down, the biggest reason she worked so hard and so quickly to become as fluent in ASL as she could was not directly to help her communicate with Emmett or Daphne. It was because she felt guilty, she knew she should’ve gotten that illness when she was 3 and she should’ve lost her own hearing. She should’ve needed to learn it for her own sake anyway.

I don’t know these are just some ideas really. Nothing is actually a headcanon per se.

Headcanon D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway It doesn’t work with recent canon but while I could see Bay forgiving her brother, I don’t see her forgiving Lily or Melody for “following the law” and making her life a Title whatever number Rape Investigation on that campus. Especially not Bay Kennish, vandalism is a hobby, I’ll just falsely claim I committed a felony… I don’t see her really understanding that level of following the law when it hurt her so much. I think she felt betrayed and she would’ve continued to for much more than one episode. I think she’d possibly be triggered by these people even, at least for a while, and if Toby continued to date Lily right after that she might not even forgive Toby. Idk. Maybe that’s too harsh but Bay… needs to blame people, and feels things strongly, idk.

I think Bay would excel at college if she’d decided to go, not just art schools like she applied to but a general university or liberal arts college, probably major in linguistics like I did actually, look at her Miss Fluent in ASL, English, and Chinese now… I mean idk if she was fluent in Chinese (Mandarin?) but whatever skills she has is really impressive and more than I can do lol… I think she could make money being an ASL interpreter and then focus on art projects that were more her passion than tattoos? Idk it’s just an idea for what could work for her.

Headcanons wise in terms of wouldn’t work in Canon, one last one is… I think Daphne should’ve been way prettier than Bay. Obviously everyone on this show is gorgeous and boys chase after both Daphne and Bay. But… Regina and Angelo should’ve been relatively average looking people. The Kennish story is that he was an athlete and she was a pro cheerleader so I imagine they’d be prettier people genetically and stuff than average. I feel like this would lead to Bay not just having darker hair but also just be less amazingly gorgeous than Vanessa is. In an alternate universe, Bay and Regina would not be played by model level actresses, is all lol, and I think it could be interesting, if they struggled somehow more on that level? Beyond race of course. I don’t know… I probably should just be sleeping…. lol. Not sure if this headcanon makes any sense.

Probably could write up more but this was plenty already…. lol… I hope you enjoy my thoughts!!

#i wish i was posting this from my computer and not mobile for prettier formatting #sorry #switched at birth #bay kennish #switched at birth meta

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eurekian-awesomer · 8 years ago

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Embracing the digital age: A study on how news organizations deal with the internet

Digital media has indeed affected the print media in terms of circulation (1), distribution of news (2), and its mere existence in today’s age (3). How then do the news publications deal with both opportunities and challenges in the digital age?

With the rise of smartphones and of the internet, information becomes more diverse and accessible. It’s no secret that this information is heavily obtained through the internet. This makes journalism different today. The purpose of journalism is to provide information to the people to “make them (to) play their role in the society” (1). For the purpose of this report, we would tackle two news organizations - the Daily Tribune and GMA News Online - and their strategies to combat the challenges and to make use of the opportunities brought by digital age.

The approaches, for example, on writing articles is different from one another. From the length of the article to the language used, the approach of both organizations differs. However, if there’s a similarity that they both thrive on, it is the existing in the same industry and the audience that they intend to inform.

Mr. Lozada, the deputy editor of The Daily Tribune, on what is the internet for them: “[The] Internet is a complementary to the publication.”

Keep reading to know more about the report.

“WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR” OF THE DIGITAL SPACE?

You may be familiar with the notion that print is dead. And though many claim that print is indeed dead, newspapers are still everywhere – in convenient stores, restaurants, and even along the streets. The Daily Tribune, despite its economical struggle, still continues to print and distribute traditional newspapers with the belief that there are people, particularly those in the urban areas, who do not have access to technology and the internet.

The Daily Tribune’s official newspaper logo and tagline.

The Daily Tribune is a newspaper often accused as an opposition paper - a paper identified as actively opposing every administration. However, this accusation is brought about by publishing blunt, tough, critical and factual stories, situating themselves under the newspaper’s motto - ‘without fear or favor’. Mr. Tuvera, one of the Tribune’s reporters, said that this is what sets them apart: “We never write things that are incensing or glorifying the government.” The interpretation, however, is up to the readers. In their 17 years of existence, how do they deal with the negative impact of digital media in terms of revenue and profit (1)?

To embrace or not

The largest expense of the publication is its actual printing. They too have not yet fully embraced the digital media since they believe that the internet is not yet as stable as the traditional media. By fully embraced means that they have not yet invested much compared to printing. Four reasons arose as to why they have not yet totally depended on to digital space for their publication:

The more details, the better. Yet in the digital space, less is more. The editor-in-chief of Quartz, a business news website, said that their readers do not like 500-800 word articles (5), which is difficult to achieve for a news publication that intends to show how accurate a news story is according to one of the reporters in Tribune. Murcia shared that they do not rely heavily on the internet to disseminate news. “Digital reporting” as he called it, offers fewer details to its readers; thus, there is no depth in these stories. Accuracy and truthfulness of a news may also be affected. The traditional, however, offers more details which the readers appreciate, he added. The readers are assured of the quality of work (3).

Murcia indicated that they do not have enough funds for their digital publication; however, they have been lenient in going with the flow in the digital age. For them, advertisements - the heart of the news publication - is much more difficult online. And besides, they are a “newspaper” publication for a reason which leads us to the second point.

Contrary to the common belief, the internet access in the Philippines is not yet as widespread compared to the other countries. This is the fact that this publication adheres to disseminate news in print.

“Newspapers are different from social media sites,” Lozada said. His colleague, Murcia, envisions their publication as a newspaper organization that would still print and utilize the traditional media. “Alternative lang ‘yung digital printing,” Alvin denoted. He added that social media sites and digital space is the place where people go and dwell, and these people are the millennials. The millennials are not only the people of this country, “Marami pa kaming 60s [at] 70s [ang nagbabasa ng dyaryo]”.

The digital world has greatly affected the traditional media (1, 2, 6), but many still believe that digital would and could not kill traditional media. One of these believers, Barry Eisler (7), insisted that “Publishing isn’t dying; it is evolving.” Even the news publications must adapt to this evolution according to Murcia. Merging, he shared, is the key.

THE SHIFT TO DIGITAL

Mr. Joyas on media as a never ending evolution: “Media is a changing environment.”

They opt to go to online news websites and even their social media for information. Unlike newspapers and free television (TV), online news websites are on the job 24/7. GMA News keeps up with the need to do real-time journalism with other platforms it is existing with. As what Mr. Joyas, Assistant Social Media Manager of GMA News, said, “Media is a changing environment”.

It is normal for media companies to embrace the shift in media and adjust to the ongoing trends. These days, people heavily rely on mobile phones and the internet to get their daily dose of news (1). Ms. Athena Imperial, GMA News Correspondent and Anchor, explains that mobile phones are not even considered a luxury anymore. It has become a necessity.

Even social media accounts are not just for personal purposes but also for the source of current information in the society. As a media company, it is important to keep an open mind to the shifts in media and the tactics for survival in the industry.

GMA NEWS: SERBISYONG TOTOO EVEN ONLINE

In January of 2007, GMA News Online was introduced to the public. The website, which was a result of GMA news branching out to the online world, became one of the internet platforms for people to see, watch and read the news. As the world, slowly embraces the shift in the world of media, it is no secret that the pressure to deliver factual and reliable news is more evident now more than ever. Just like newspapers that the people see everywhere, online news publications can also be seen everywhere in the internet space.

In a world where competition is highly seen, the survival of such platforms gets tougher (8), and GMA News is not an exception. “YouScoop on the other hand focuses on citizen journalism reports and user-generated content. It accepts, verifies, posts, and airs content from ordinary citizens (online),” said Ms. Audrey Domasian, YouScoop Producer for GMA News.

Coexistence, not competition

As technology continues to evolve, they too must get along. With people flocking to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, the organization had to make their presence known in these online platforms. Mr. Joyas denotes that it is difficult to compete with such big sites. Thus, instead of competing, it is important to learn how to co-exist with social media sites.

Ms. Domasian explained that at times, social media plays a larger role than traditional news. She said, “For example, traditional media may not be present in Dinagat Islands to monitor news there, but thanks to social media and digital media, we are able to see how a mysterious object appeared on its shores (and verified that it was a decomposing whale carcass).

This led to a story on air and online, featuring photos and videos sent by YouScoopers through YouScoop. Another way we have taken advantage of the digital world is that we post video clips online, like video clips of newscasts that have aired, so people who may want to re-watch our shows can do so. We also post full episodes of documentaries, such as I-Witness, and special features from our GMA News and Public Affairs shows.”

An interesting statement that Ms. Imperial said is how her Facebook page is a mixture of news and her daily personal activities. And this is where the secret to thriving in social media lies - in the building of a connection and a relationship with your audience. She says that it’s not so much of the organization dictating people to read their content, rather it’s in their strategy of keeping the reader's’ attention that they would ultimately read their content without hesitation because they have given their trust to the news organization and its people.

Keeping this in mind, Ms. Imperial does just that. She incorporates her personal daily activities like the usual route she uses when going to GMA or photos of the GMA crew behind the scene. Brilliant, we say. It’s a strategy that has worked in the past and is still working today.

With the goal of delivering news to anyone anywhere in any given time, the organization tries all possibilities to tap their audiences and build their market through utilizing what social media sites offer. In addition to, Ms. Imperial explains that there are some news personalities who runs a blog where they feature the stories they cover. Although these stories are injected with their opinion, Ms. Imperial says, “It’s another way of letting people know kung ano na bang nangyayari sa lipunan natin”.

Measuring the digital success

Ms. Imperial on how numbers do not measure success: “Hindi ibig sabihin na mas maraming nag-like sa balitang ito, mas importante ‘yon.”

GMA News Online, just like most online news publishers, is still on its early days with still a lot of room for change. Though online news websites have pleased their particular audience (1), most news websites are still testing out the waters of the platform of the internet. These news websites continue to cope up with the demand of audiences of the digital media. Moreover, Mr. Joyas shared that success in the digital space can be measured by the number of followers, and heavily on engagement.

However, Ms. Imperial believes in the opposite. For her, it’s not so much of the number of followers and likes, but by the number of viewers their news garner. She says that everyone has their own opinion and so we cannot measure success in the digital space by a simple thumbs up. Ms. Imperial says, “Hindi ibig sabihin na mas maraming nag like sa balitang ito, mas importante ‘yon”.

Ms. Domasian adds, “We measure success by our ability to deliver the news. If we are able to deliver relevant and timely news to our audience online and on air, this is success for us. If we’re able to inform the public of breaking news through their Facebook or Twitter feed, this is success”

Challenges on the web

Even if measures of success may differ, challenges in digital publishing still arise. The following are the challenges of GMA News Online:

In order to cope up with the demand for real-time news, online news sites have limited time to make and release news articles, making them more prone to mistakes.

Another issue is retaining the audience’s concentration by catching their attention in order for them to stick with the company. In order to solve such issues, studying the audiences and knowing what they like is highly important in order for the company to think of ways to capture the attention of the readers.

Lastly, there is also the issue of ‘trolls’ on comment sections of the site. “Of course, maraming trolls,” Ms. Imperial is quick to respond when asked about the challenges in the digital media.

In an article published by Inquirer.net last August 28, 2016, Trolls/Professional Trolls are identified as salaried employees who go online to pick a fight for different reasons, but mostly political reasons (9). “Troll” has become a common word ever since last year’s presidential campaign and elections, with people labeling each other “dilawan”, “dutertard” to name a few.

With the anonymity to label strangers on the Internet comes a hefty price. Last October 2016, Rappler published a 3-part expose on internet trolls which discusses the manufactured reality brought by fake people on social media (10, 11, 12). The 3-part special discussed how the internet has become a place for propaganda set by both government and anti-government organizations. Moreover, weaponizing the internet has been affecting our democracy without us knowing.

However, GMA News Online makes sure that the guidelines for the people working for the company are loud and clear in terms of acting towards those people. “Most of the time –snob mo na lang sila. Talagang hindi mo sila papansinin kasi hindi rin naman matatapos and you can’t convince them kasi ‘yon na ‘yung pinaniniwalaan nila,” Ms. Imperial says.

On the other hand, Ms. Domasian said, “I think the challenge we are facing is how to make sure we deliver the right news to our audience. Another challenge is how we can reach more people given that digital media is very competitive. We resolve these issues by making sure that we are timely in our posts so that everyone can see our posts immediately. We also try to avoid errors, keep our captions short and relatable, and make sure that our audience understands the news items we are posting”

Mr. Joyas on the rapidly changing environment of media: “The media will adapt to the changing environment.”

What the future is like for GMA News Online

With the continuous change in the nature of media, the future seems to be a bright spot for any platform. As Mr. Joyas believes, he sees a future of data-driven digital media while continuously adapting to the changes. Moreover, he sees people embracing digital media more in the future because he believes that for one news organization to thrive in today’s era, it must have a digital presence to not crack only the older generations, but the younger generations as well.

On the other hand, Ms. Imperial believes for digital media to thrive, there should be visuals like photos and videos for every news article so readers can vividly picture the scene on their mind. She adds that journalists can incorporate a “creative side” for feature stories to avoid creating content heavy on statistics which people tend to avoid.

The main goal is to get the audience’s attention and maintain that attention until the end.

Moreover, Ms. Domasian believes that GMA has a long way to go. She says, “There’s so much more to be explored. There’s 360 photos and videos, immersive graphics, parallax scrolling, virtual reality to name a few. There are many ways to present a story with the help of digital media, but at the end of the day it boils down to content and I know GMA News is capable of producing good, accurate, and verified content”.

DIGITAL AGE: A MISHAP OR A HOPE FOR NEWS ORGANIZATIONS

As said before, media is a rapidly changing industry and thus, adjustments are inevitable. Survival and success are both hard to sustain with each organization. As most of us highlight the said competition between the media organizations (traditional and digital), we tend to forget that it is also possible for them to co-exist with one another. Most of us see the digital media industry as a mishap of different companies that will eventually lead to a fall of one company to another. The changes, if media companies learn to adapt and adjust, can actually give hope to the betterment of news organizations.

Although there seems to be a fall on the traditional publishing, it is important to realize that these newspapers paved the way for the start of journalism, that we now also see with digital news organizations. This, if accepted and integrated properly by the newspaper organizations, can help them crack the digital code to success in today’s era. At the same time, if traditional media paved the way for the practice of journalism that we have, digital media can also serve as the reason for traditional media to upgrade and exist in the digital era (2), while still embracing the remains of the practices of the traditional newspapers.

Acceptance of change does not entail the foregoing of what was, but instead an openness to what is and what will be.

References:

Ressa, Maria. "How Facebook Algorithms Impact Democracy." Rappler. Rappler, 09 Oct. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017

Cherian, Jacob. “Emergence of Digital Publishing - A Great Challenge to The Print Publication.” Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 23, 2015, pp. 576 - 586.

Flavián, Carlos, and Raquel Gurrea. "Digital Versus Traditional Newspapers." International Journal Of Market Research 51.5 (2009): 635-657. Business Source Complete. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.

"The resurgence of traditional publishing in a digital world." Ribbonfish. Ribbonfish, 04 Apr. 2016. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Edmonds, Rick. "Newspaper Declines Accelerate, Latest Pew Research Finds, Other Sectors Healthier." Poynter. Poynter, 15 June 2016. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.

Jackson, Jasper. "Is This Article Too Long or Too Short? Why Newspapers Are Writing the Wrong Articles for the Web." TheMediaBriefing. The Media Briefing, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Wolff, Michael (2016). Traditional media goes to digital rescue. USA Today, 2016.

Eisler, Barry. "The digital truths traditional publishers don't want to hear." Books blog. Guardian News and Media, 29 Apr. 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Manyika, Michael Chui and James. "Competition at the digital edge: 'Hyperscale' businesses." McKinsey & Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Caruncho, Eric. "Confessions of a Troll." Inquirer.net. Inquirer, 28 Aug. 2016. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Hofileña, Chay. "Fake Accounts, Manufactured Reality on Social Media." Rappler. Rappler, 15 Oct. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

Resa, Maria. "Propaganda War: Weaponizing the Internet." Rappler. Rappler, 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

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fern-c-blog1 · 8 years ago

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Embracing the digital age: A study on how news organizations deal with the internet

Focusing on two different news organizations, their respective approach to the industry of media varies. The Daily Tribune, a traditional newspaper organization, is not entirely felt in the digital media. On the other hand, GMA News Online was built on the model of digital media branching out of the traditional perspective. The approaches, for example, on writing articles is different from one another. From the length of the article to the language used, the approach of both organizations differs. However, if there’s a similarity that they both thrive on, it is the existing in the same industry and the audience that they intend to inform.

Mr. Lozada, the deputy editor of The Daily Tribune, on what is the internet for them: “[The] Internet is a complementary to the publication.”

Keep reading to know more about the report.

“WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR” OF THE DIGITAL SPACE?

The Daily Tribune’s official newspaper logo and tagline.

To embrace or not

2016 has seen the worst decline for newspapers, “the worst since 2008-2009 recession”, according to the report of the 13th annual Pew Research of the State of the News Media Report (4). On the other hand, according to Mr. Lozada, the deputy editor of The Daily Tribune, he does not see print dying anytime soon. The largest expense of the publication is its actual printing. They too have not yet fully embraced the digital media since they believe that the internet is not yet as stable as the traditional media. By fully embraced means that they have not yet invested much compared to printing. Four reasons arose as to why they have not yet totally depended on to digital space for their publication:

Mr. Joyas on media as a never ending evolution: “Media is a changing environment.”

THE SHIFT TO DIGITAL

In a research conducted by Cherian, most people get updated with the news and current affairs of the world through television, then the internet, and ranking third would be the newspaper (1). “Youngsters” also are not anymore interested in reading news from newspapers (1). They opt to go to online news websites and even their social media for information. Unlike newspapers and free television (TV), online news websites are on the job 24/7. GMA News keeps up with the need to do real-time journalism with other platforms it is existing with. As what Mr. Joyas, Assistant Social Media Manager of GMA News, said, “Media is a changing environment”.

GMA NEWS: SERBISYONG TOTOO EVEN ONLINE

Coexistence, not competition

Ms. Imperial on how numbers do not measure success: “Hindi ibig sabihin na mas maraming nag-like sa balitang ito, mas importante ‘yon.”

Measuring the digital success

Challenges on the web

Even if measures of success may differ, challenges in digital publishing still arise. The following are the challenges of GMA News Online.