#what if someone DIDNT get better. but full disclosure i could NOT finish this book i really felt i had to stop for my own safety .

[sixohsixoheightfourtwo]

re: what fandom 'a little life' came from, my immediate knee-jerk thought was "backstreet boys." i have absolutely no basis for this other than Terminally Online Brain Worms esp bc..........there are 5 of those boyband fellas and as far as i remember only 4 main characters in that book lmfao. what can i say. the boyband angle feel right

yeah i'll incorporate that into my belief system

[docmurph12]

Ok. So two parter on CATS coming up. POSSIBLY a three parter depending on how long it takes to get through background. Here we go......

So my first request review comes from my good friend. I'm not sure how this is going to go, because I'm going whole hog on this one, again in the interest of pure objectivity.

My understanding of CATS is this. It was a Broadway musical based very loosely on T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats". My friends in and fans of the theater community have told me there isnt really an intended overriding plot. The Wikipedia page I found begs to differ, but they insisted it really is just a collection of vignettes, told through the perspective of a cat. Simple enough? I believe so. Now, I also understand this stage musical to have been adapted a number of times, largely for Broadway and for specific actors and actresses, with the noted exception of the film CATS (2019). Yes that one. Yes I intend to watch it. On purpose. But wait there is more. The 2019 film was trashed nearly universally but everyone before they finished the trailer and after the film was released and viewed. Most people said the performances were fine but visually it was recieved as, to put it simply, fucking wierd. I saw one review that said it was released unfinished, with a CD character model floating into the middle of a scene out of context and with no animation, a mess with texture rendering (apparently Ian McKellan has a scene where his fur just doesn't show. Like the texture is flat. Like it looks like it was published on a floppy disk alongside the original Doom). Not to mention the myriad questions that seem to come up in conversation about the character design choices as a whole. Jesus, how bad is this thing??

My resources tell me a BUNCH of super important contextual things about this one, most important of them being that this is SUPER META Broadway at it's best. Like this is the most Broadway that has ever Broadway'ed. This could be a good thing (one of my favorite musical pieces is fucking everything from Les Miserables), or it could be a bad thing (anyone that knows me knows that with notable exceptions I am NOT a big fan of musicals AT ALL, which is strange for me given my proclivity for weirdness, good storytelling, and music). This is going to be fun for everyone I think so strap in folks. This is going to be a wierd ride through furry land with a guy that wants nothing to do with it, lol. (SCORE, looking like 2 parts)

First I'll be looking at CATS (2019), because I am a glutton for punishment, and my wife says that the best way to get through this is to chew through the shit sandwich first, and then to get through the good stuff, so the good stuff is what sticks. I'm not sure I am going to enjoy either part, but I am open to it so here we go. I'll try to keep my writing as live as possible, per usual.

RIGHT AWAY, as I'm completing the Amazon rental purchase, this cast is fucking loaded. Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson. Judi Dench, Jason Derulo (wait, he acts too? Maybe his part is the worst part in this, I hate his music worse than I dislike Taylor Swift), Idris Elba, Ian McKellan, Rebel Wilson, and more. And that doesnt even include any love for people I am not familiar with that might carry some star power over from Broadway. So this thing is loaded for bear with acting heavies. That said, I really don't understand the comic appeal of Rebel Wilson. I don't think she is funny. You already lost me with Taylor Swift and Jason Derulo. All that said, this cast roster looks expensive.

Ok I am a minute and 47 seconds in and my first thought already is what the hell am I listening to? If this was originally put together in the 80s, and its either loved (ironically I guess?)or reviled, why would you stick with the same musical choices as instrumentation is concerned? I'm guessing I am going to have more on this later.

So completely inconsequential to the actual review the word jellicle as it relates to cats is totally ruined thanks to my learning of a word not in may people's vocabularies. Farticles. Thanks to my cousins for that one.

Alright, so full disclosure. I am not a fan of Rebel Wilson. I enjoy aspects of characters she plays, and she can be funny at times, but when your whole act revolves around one aspect of you (in her case it is that she is a large woman. Seriously its like every joke in all 3 Pitch Perfect movies) it says a lot about your ability to tell a story or joke. That said, it is so nice to not hear Rebel Wilson tell fat jokes. She is genuinely talented. It's hard to watch her in this cat suit (? Cat body? Cat war crime? More later), but it's interesting to see someone explore another side of their craft.

The sound design is...off. I'm not sure how else to describe it. You can LOUDLY hear body parts hitting set pieces. Footfalls, people jumping and grabbing on things. Like seriously you can hear it over the music. It sounds like someone got lazy in the mixing room, or they were trying to make it feel more like a stage production. News Flash. It doesn't make it feel like a stage production. It makes it feel like nobody in the production staff cared as much as the actors. I am beginning to suspect that ALL the money on this movie was spent on casting. And concept art.

I am genuinely confused by the choice to have only a couple cats wear clothes, and when they remove them, their fur looks exactly like the clothes they removed. I'm finding myself looking at things they did that wasted money. Money that could have been spent anywhere else to improve this thing.

All things considered, I could watch Idris Elba play the title character in Jaws, and enjoy it.

I'm pretty impressed by the entire cast's commitment to everything they picked up from their movement coaching. It is obvious that they were trying to incorporate a lot of typical feline movement and habitual aspects, even going so far as utilizing ballet movements for some of the dancing (probably because it is more "feline", to use the word again.) Nobody has really slipped yet. It's pretty impressive.

I think the thing that has me most surprised throughout is that this thing has the ability to elevate some (Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, Francesca Hayward, Jennifer Hudson, the VFX artists) and drag others through the dirt, (Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, the VFX artist team), most times in the same scene. It's crazy how on one hand someone truly can astound you with their performance, blow you away with a wonderful rendition of a song some people know well, and on the other hand you see wonderful, well established actors really putting their asses into a performance that has no way of doing them service because there isn't anything there. For comparison, look at Ben Kingsley in Ghandi, or Lucky Number Slevin, versus his performance in Bloodrayne. It's really hard to watch these respected thespians work their asses off for something that won't ultimately pay off for them because it doesn't have the capability to.

Ok so halfway verdict here:

This was a fucking mess. Now I didnt see the original theatrical release, so I have no idea how truly barrel bottom things got here. I CAN say, that I can see the bones of what this is supposed to be buried in the mess of cat shit (see what I did there????).

The concept of the costuming is essentially what I imagine it is for the stage show, but seeing it in it's execution is.....disturbing. The movement coaching was pretty solid and worked well with the dance choreography, but in combination with the actual character design there is an implied sexuality in the feline-ness that makes you uncomfortable, but not in the thought provoking way, just in the "forced to look at naked people covered in cat fur for an hour and a half" kind of way. Like I was even kind of into Idris Elba's performance of Macavity, until he took off the hat and trench coat and now I'm just watching a naked Idris, but with cat ears and a tail. To be honest seeing this throughout the film really took you out of the immersive aspects of it. Not to mention that while lighting was ok, the actual character models pasted on the motion capture actors moved strangely, sometimes the faces were disjointed with the heads, sometimes textures looked unfinished (not as bad as I thought it would be but I know people that could do better than that on their computers at home.) Just a jarring experience visually overall.

The score was ugly and dated too. Or maybe not the score, so much as the instrumentation. Sound design was atrocious throughout, it seemed like the intent was to make it feel more like a stage production, but if that's the case, why go the route they did in terms of set design and all that? Being able to hear hollow flooring under heavy footfall, or people loudly slamming hands into bars they need to grab to catch themselves, or the piss poor choice in instrumentation, the whole thing feels like B roll for the DVD extras. You know what actually did great in updating the music for a more immersive experience? Aladdin. Check my first review out for more on that one.

So halfway verdict? I say a rough D. I dont see myself going back for this one, but I'm not unable to see the appeal. I just am sort of anticipating the 1998 Broadway production (part 2 of this review) so I can see what this is really SUPPOSED to be. Watch for part 2, coming later!

[topicprinter]

Amazon FBA courses have been all the rage lately, with lofty promises of a lucrative digital nomad lifestyle. There are hundreds of courses to choose from, but 3 stick out from the crowd. It might be due to their high price tag, or maybe its the individuals behind the course. Either way, you cant scroll through any Amazon forums with seeing these courses being discussed. So I went ahead and took all 3 of them. I didn't really intend on dong a review, I just got them so I could learn. I started my journey 2 months ago and today my first product arrived, with 2 more on the way :D Here is my in-depth video review:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD58vSR2Pv4 I will also post the script for the review here in case you prefer not to watch the video at work, or you dont want to use data :) Please keep in mid that the punctuation might be weird because I write my scripts how I talk as opposed to proper English lol. I have fully completed all 3 of these courses. Now full disclosure, I did not pay for amazing selling machine, I had a friend lend me all the videos and files for it. It is however asm 7, so its the newest version. I would also like to add that before taking these courses I knew NOTHING about amazon FBA. Nick just told me how much he was making, so I jumped right into tanner course. So I have have the complete beginner's perspective on this. lets get to it. FIRST UP, Amazon Seller mastery.Price: $498 USDTotal Watch Time: 2 hours 11 minutes= $3.80 per minute So tanners course is the cheapest of the 3, but it is also the shortest. He’s had many successful students come through, including youtuber james bowen. However this course really just skims the surface. There are a total of 5 modules, but I felt like they were all bare bones. Especially as someone who knew nothing about amazon FBA, I finished the course with a bunch of questions. For example, module 2, titled “suppliers and shipping” only contains 2 videos, totaling just 14minutes. To be fair, after finishing that module I felt like I knew all there was to know on suppliers and shipping and I thought “seems easy enough”, it wasnt until I actually tried contacting suppliers that I realized I was still in the dark for some aspects. Overall, tanner does a good job at teaching the material. Its very obvious that he knows what hes talking about and he instructs pretty clearly. That being said, you can tell the production and time spent editing was cut short. He doest cut out beginings or ending of the videos, and some mistakes that could be edited out are just kept in. It feels like he was just winging it for the most part and didnt have too much of the structure pre-planned. Theres even a part where he’s talking about shipping terms, and he straight up says “you can just google what they mean”. Now yes, thats fine and its common sense if you’re making any regular youtube video, but it wouldn’t be that hard for him to google it first and then provide a PDF for student resources. And finally, this might not bother you guys, but for me me it was a little annoying.. None of the videos in the course were captured in full screen. His window was always minimized, so you could see his desktop background. Again not a huge deal, but for a $500 course it just didnt float my boat. So lets get on to Kevin Davids Amazon ninja materclass. Price: $1,250 USDTotal Watch Time: 9h 50min= $2.12 / Minute So Kevin’s course is much pricier than tanners, but as you can see its still a better value per minute of actual content. He also gives you the option to buy each module separately. Now I do like the idea behind separating the modules, but it causes a little bit of overlap for someone that has the full course. What I mean by that is, in some modules, he’ll re-explain some things that he already covered in a previous module. Im sure hes doing it to cover the bases just incase someone bought the module separately, but when you’re watching them consecutively, it just leaves parts to skip. Kevin also has a little underwhelming video production for a 1200 dollar course, some videos his cam is way too big and actually blocks important information. In this clip hes talking about the display ad on the right side, but you cant even see it because its under his webcam. However other than that the visuals arent bad at all. The biggest issue I had with this course was that it wasn't totally sequential or chronological. Yes the modules are in order from product research to facebook marketing, but the content in the modules were all over the place. They werent following (for lack of a better word).. A storyline. Thats actually one thing I liked about tanners course. He starts with the lockpick set and carries on the process for that product in a good step by step order. That being said, Kevin does do long videos to end every module that kind of put the pieces together, but overall its like has all these superb bircks of information on a topic, and then it just all goes into one bucket as opposed to laying them out piece by piece. Now lets get on to what I love about kevins course. First off, and probably the most important. Its loaded to the brim with super insightful information. He goes a lot into the actual mindest or thought process behind what he does and why. And what I like even more is that he doesnt just say “you should do this or do that because im the master”. His vibe is more open ended, like “this is what I suggest you do based on all my experience, but dont blindly take my word for it” which I appreciate. The course is also very practical and inspiring, he doesnt have any fluff, and he’s a great communicator”. On his site he says its the only course you’ll ever need, and I cant say hes wrong. He goes way beyond Amazon in the later modules. Covering in depth facebook ads, instagram, getting onto blogs, and even virtual assistants. With the Ninja Masterclass I’d say the pros heavily outweigh the cons, and its the only course I really refer back to when I run into problems with my new FBA business. But before I crown the champ, I have to talk about the biggest course of them all. Amazing Selling Machine! Price: $3,500Total Watch Time: 36h 53m= $1.58 / minute Now of course I left the big fish for last. Amazing selling machine is longest running and most expensive one of the 3 of courses, and probably of all fba courses in the world. Along with the video lessons, ASM has huge events every year with tickets ranging from $400 to $750. But lets talk about the videos. With nearly 37 hours of screen time, it is definitely a lot to take in. I believe the actual course makes you watch it throughout 8 weeks, but since I just had all the video files already, I decided to binge it. Now I did not watch all the coaching calls, but I finished all the other modules. And I do have to say, compared to the other two, these videos are very dry. They provide lots of info, but they do so with text. I’d say 50-60% of the videos are taken up by this blue screen with white text. As opposed to just showing the practical stuff, they have a lot of fluff. They spend a few minutes before every video explaining everything thats going to happen instead of just diving straight into it. Now you might be thinking “well that makes it great for notes”, but they already provide all these bullet points in the form of PDFs. And thats honestly what bugged me most. Every single video had a pdf to accompany it, which is great, but the guys in the video were just reading off of it. Its almost like they wrote an awesome amazon FBA book, and they’re just reading it to us, instead of a cut to the chase kind of course. Here you can see the PDF, and beside it the video. Its line by line. Now that may be appealing to some people, but for me it was just filler. With tanner and kevin, it felt like you were learning from a friend or mentor, With mike and Rich, its more of a classroom vibe, less passion more rules. And that another thing, their rules or guidelines are very firm. Unlike kevins who i said leaves it at “this is what I suggest, based on experience”. ASM is very much “this is what you need to do to be successful. Use the ASM criteria”. With all that said, there’s still brilliant content inside. The most surprising to me was their product research, being new to FBA, I really thought that jungle scout was the only way to do solid product research. However in ASM they use DS quickview, and a method that heavily relies on a products BSR. While it seems like a little more work than using jungle scout and 999 track, I thinks good to see another perspective on product research, and its something I will add in the future just to be extra sure on my products. They are also the best when talking about having a sequential or chronological order. Its VERY beginner friendly with everything laid out nice and neat. I would even say that you could jump into the ASM course without ever using a computer before, thats how comprehensive they get with their explanations. However the one thing that separates ASM from all the rest in my opinion his how they give you actionable steps at the end of every video. Just like homework. The intention is so that you actually follow along with them as they go to ensure you get results. Of course this can be hard if you dont actually find a product after the product research module. But like I said it was designed to be dripped throughout 8 weeks, not 8 days. So what would I suggest? Well I can starting as a beginner, I feel like I definitely got my degree in FBA after all these courses. They all have a different and unique spin to them, and all of them offer their own little gold nuggets that the other doesn't. However this is just like goldilocks, One of them is too little, one of them is too much, and the other is just right. So, with all things considered, I would have to give the crown to Kevin Davids Ninja MasterClass. Its not the cheapest per minute, but its the most practical, It doesn't have the most content, but it cuts the fluff, and id say he gives the greatest perspective on incorporating amazon into your everyday lifestyle. He talks about how gets great product ideas outside of amazon by just being more observant or talking to people. And its that outside the box thinking that I think sets a good seller apart from a great one. His course actually dives deeper into the facebook and marketing side than ASM does, he could have almost sold that as a separate course. He also has the best tricks in terms of keywords and ranking. As for me, I started watching these courses last month, and today I have 3 products on the way. I can't confirm yet if the products are any good, but one of them gets in tomorrow, so we shall find out soon and update you guys once sales start coming in.