#when i was at b&n w/ my friend we looked at the classics section and a guy came up to us and talked about books and classics for 20 minutes

[killjoy-prince]

Bought more manga (and two novels) the other day

[edward-trumpet-blog]

Rick Braun:Life in the Fast Lane

BY TOM ERDMANN

Trumpeter, producer, composer, and arranger Rick Braun is an excellent example of a musician who has quietly worked hard for many years and suddenly is recognized as an “overnight success.” His album with saxophonist Boney James, Shake It Up, was number one on the Billboard magazine Contemporary Jazz Album chart for 11 weeks and has moved around in the top five positions for over a year. The first single from that album, Grazin’ In The Grass, hit number one and stayed there for nine weeks, crossed over to the R&B charts, and was named Best Song of the Year at the 2001 Oasis Smooth Jazz Awards. Braun’s awards also include the 2001 Oasis Smooth Jazz Award of or Best Brass Player and Best Collaboration with Boney James.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on July 6, 1955, Braun took up the trumpet in third grade, studied with Philadelphia Orchestra trumpeter Seymour Rosenfeld, graduated from Dieruff High School in Allentown, and enrolled  at  he Eastman School of Music. While at     Eastman, he was a founding member of the fusion group called Auracle.      Their distinctive style was quickly imitated by a number of jazz groups and their recordings became  mainstays on jazz radiostations through out the northeast. Braun’s first song to hit the Billboard Top 20 was Here With Me, written for the rock band REO Speedwagon. As a trumpet sideman, Braun has worked and toured with an incredible list of musicians including Tina Turner , Rod Stewart, Glenn Frey, Natalie Cole, Rickie Lee Jones, and War.

Braun released his first solo album in 1992. It was, however, his time with Sade on her Love Deluxe tour that helped him focus on a unique style. Braun’s second recording, Night Walk, has been likened to “listening to Sade instrumentally.” Braun’s big break came on the heel s of his third recording, Beat Street, which spent 13 weeks as the number one contemporary jazz album in Billboard magazine, breaking a record previously held by K enny G . Beat S treet was eventually named the Smooth Jazz Record of the Year. It also won the G avin Artist of the Year and Album of the Year awards in 1996. Braun’s next release, Body and Soul, earned him another Gavin Artist of the Year  award. His latest release, Kisses in the Rain, has also hit number one on the Billboard chart.                                    

Braun has never been busier or happier than he is right now. Offered more playing and producing opportunities than he can possibly accept, he is also in demand as  a jazz musician performing in clubs throughout the Los Angeles area. Braun is truly enjoying his time in the fast lane and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.                                                          

TE: Why did you choose to play the trumpet?          

RB: One of my older brothers played the trumpet and because of that there was a trumpet in a closet at home when I was eight years old. As a kid I was into everything, including the closet. I found the trumpet, put the mouthpiece in, and found that I could get a sound out of it. I think everybody who has ever played the trumpet knows that some people can get a sound out of the instrument, and some people can’t. It’ s not an instrument like the guitar where you just put your hand over the strings and a sound comes out. My first choice had  been drums, but I grew up in a small  row    home in Allentown and I’m one of six kids, so as you can imagine, I was gently steered away from the drums. What my parents didn’t know was that the trumpet was the next most annoying instrument for a beginner to play. I didn’t give up much in the way of offense (laughing); I was still able to annoy my siblings!                  

TE: Did you come from a musical family?              

RB: My mother, who is 84 now, is still very musical and has a good ear. She’s a self taught banjo player.

She played a four-string banjo, the really old kind, and learned piano by herself. On her side of the family my grandfather was a country fiddle player, my grandmother played the piano, and one of my uncles played the cornet. All of the musical talent was on my mother’s side. When my dad tried to sing to us kids at night we would pretend we were asleep so we wouldn’t have to listen to him. The only song he knew was the Notre Dame Fight Song, and he didn’t even like Notre Dame!

TE: I have read that you studied with Seymour Rosenfeld. I had the pleasure of interviewing him and was impressed by what a nice man he is.

RB: You know, he really is.        

TE: When did you study with him and how was he able to help you?      

RB: I started studying with him my junior or senior year in high school, during the early 1970s. We got into some of the mor e advanced trumpet studies, like thematerial from the Saint-Jacome Trumpet Method and other materials of that nature. He was also the first teacher to introduce me to orchestral excerpts. He wanted me to audition for the Curtis Institute and was really preparing me for that, but I didn’t get in. That year they took only one trumpeter from about 100 who auditioned. As it was I ended up at Eastman, where I really wanted to study jazz.          

TE: Were there any other early teachers who inspired you?        

RB: My first trumpet teacher, Richard Hinkoe, was great. He is still active as a director of one of the Allentown concert bands. My brother told Hinkoe about me and he agreed to teach me. Hinkoe brought me along especially in music theory. His high school theory courses covered collegiate-level material. When I arrived at Eastman I was put in with the advanced placement theory students and didn’t learn anything  new . Hinkoe’s theory course          included solfege, sight-singing, counterpoint, four -part harmonic writing, the rules   of contrary motion and correct resolution, dominants, altered sixth-chords, and more! He was an amazing teacher!

TE: Allen Vizzutti has told me what an incredible experience Eastman was for him. What was Eastman like for you?    

RB: Allen and I  played together i n some of the bands at Eastman. He can play anything! I was at a concert where he played one of the Verne Reynolds etudes as a solo. He is just an amazing player. Eastman, on the other hand, was very tense. It was a nerve-wracking experience.

There was one student who developed a nervous habit of pulling out his own hair. I remember during winter midterms one year someone starting lighting couches on fire. That was one side of it. On the other side, it was an outstanding educational experience that was just not for the faint-hearted. It was a highly competitive atmosphere. I had a friend who would get up at 5 a.m. and practice out on the lawn to try to get an edge on everybody else. In many ways Eastman was a humbling experience for me.  While in high school, I thought I was the hottest thing around, so I needed to be humbled! The major thing Eastman gave me was exposure to music I’d never heard before, like the music of Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard. I really started to listen to their playing. I worked to understand the way they played blues changes and how their styles were put together. The education I received at Eastman was exceptional.

TE: Did you graduate?

RB: No I didn’t. I finished my junior year and later took some extra classes at UCLA, but some of the guys in Auracle (Steve Raybine, percussion; Ron Wagner, drums; Bill Staebell, bass; John Serry Jr., piano) were one year older than me, had graduated, and were itching to do something. We planned our next step and realized California was the place we ought to be, so we headed west. Steve Kujala (Auracle’s woodwind player) and I left Eastman one year early, much to the chagrin of our families. It all worked out in the end.

 TE: What happened once you arrived in California?

 RB: We landed in a band house in the San Fernando Valley. Steve Kujala, Bill Staebell, Ron Wagner, and I all lived together. John Serry and Steve Raybine lived in another house. We struggled, made two records, and played the Montreux Jazz Festival, which w as a big deal. It was fun, we were all good friends, and got a little taste of what it was like to be recording artists at a very early age. Then the whole situation blew up. Our label, Chrysalis, broke up the band after our first recording by signing John Serry to a solo deal. He made a couple of records that didn’t sell well while the rest of us went ahead and made our second record. None of us was really up to the task of filling Serry’s shoes at that point, and it did not go well. It’s the classic story of a record label taking one guy out of a band and destroying the chemistry.              

TE: After the band broke up and you found yourself living in California, what happened?

RB: That was probably the darkest time  of career. I was not yet established as a trumpet player.

I had some early experiences at session work, but for whatever reason, at that early age, I wasn't able to break into the TV, movie, or commercial scene. I ended up doing odd jobs outside of the music business in order to make enough money to live. I remember being so broke that I wrote a bad check in order to buy food, but ended up taking the food back because I just could not go through with it. I would look at the phone wondering if it was off the hook because nobody was calling. Then, slowly, things picked up. I started to get some gigs playing with Latin bands in East Los Angeles and that developed into steady work. Then I got into playing with rhythm and blues bands and out of that work started touring with War. I also played a lot of bars and weddings, whatever I could find, and joined Jack Mack and the Heart Attacks. They were an R&B band that was very popular on the west coast. As a result of being in that horn section I began working with Glenn Frye and some other well-connected musicians including the guys in Tower of Power. I actually played in their horn section on a Tom Petty record (I played piccolo trumpet on that recording). At some point during that time I hooked up with some of the ended up receiving a call to join that band. I had been struggling, and all of a sudden I’m touring the country with Rod Stew art in a private plane, staying at Four Seasons hotels, and making more money than I ever had in my life. It was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that I was better off financially than I had ever been; the curse was that I started to get into drugs and began to drink a lot. On the road there are plenty of ways to get into trouble as far as substance abuse is concerned. The good new s is that I bottomed out and sobered up, and that became a major turning point in my life.  

TE: Wasn’t it a kick to play for so many people nigh after night?                                            

RB: It was amazing. I think the most people I ever played for was during a show   I did with War in Chicago when the first African-American mayor of that city was elected. The city held a huge concert in Lincoln Park with  several hundred thousand people. People were as far back as you could see. The columns of speakers went on forever. I’ve been fortunate; I’ve played for quite a few people in my life.                              

TE: How did your association with REO Speedwagon come about?                                            

RB: When I wasn’t on the road with Rod, I come back to L.A. and look for gigs. As part of the Jack   Mack horn section I played on a n album with REO Speedwagon. The lead      singer and writer of REO, Kevin Cronin, and I became friends. Kevin and I had been playing clubs together in a band we had put together with some of the REO Speedwagon guys and some other people. We were both going through hard   times over women so I wrote a song about my experience. I had  composed it like          the  Beatles song Yesterday, just a series of verses. Kevin heard it and liked it, and was able to come up with a chorus that really fit the tune. He played it for the guys in the band and they loved it. REO Speedwagon recorded it and it went into the top 20.                                              

TE: Can you tell me how your first solo record came about?

 RB:I happened to be in Canada on the road with Rod Stewart and through Steve Kujala I had been introduced to Frank Davies, who is a publisher in Toronto, Canada. I met with Frank one afternoon and played him some of my songs. I invited him to come to the show that night, and it turned out he had worked for Rod way back on his first single. It’s a small world! When Frank heard my instrumental material he said he thought he  could get me a deal. He took it from Toronto to Burbank, just 30 miles from where I was living, and got me an independent deal with Mesa/Bluemoon. On Intimate Secrets, my first record,        I included a song called Theme from t he Midnight Caller. That song got some significant airplay. My next compact disc was Night walk, followed by Beat Street. During this time I went back on the road with Rod. We         were in Europe when my manager called and said that, in America, Beat Street was getting a lot of attention and doing so well that I was going to have to make    a decision. I was either going to have to continue to be a highly-paid sideman or give my notice and take the solo gigs that didn’t pay a lot of money but would help me build a career as a leader. I took all of two seconds to think that over. I gave Rod my notice and jumped on a plane back to the States. I was willing to take the risk.

TE: That had to be an exciting time.                                          

RB: It was really exciting. When I first came out with Intimate Secrets, the promotion guy at Mesa/Bluemoon was trying to get some airplay for the recording. He told me that many stations would not play it because it featured a trumpet lead. At that time the only horn players getting airtime were saxophone players. I finally broke through when Beat Street was released and won Artist and CD of the Year Awards at   the Gavin Convention (Gavin covers the American radio industry, collecting and compiling the playlists of more than 1, 300 radio stations). Beat Street broke Kenny G’s record for most consecutive weeks as the number one contemporary jazz record and helped set me up as a solo artist.                                                    

TE: You have stated that work you did with Sade was important to your musical development. Can you elaborate?                                                          

RB: The Sade tour was important because she helped me establish a style. Sade's whole show is about sensuality. I've never been a b listening  lead trumpet player, and that tour gave me direction and helped me solidify the idea that I don't have to be an Arturo Sandoval type of player in order to get my message across. Sade is a minimalist on stage. From that, I realized that what I have to offer as a musician is valid, and as long as I believe in it and I'm committed          to it, I can create a musical fingerprint.                              

TE: (Jazz saxophonist) Joe Lovano once told me that the great ar tists have a sound  that is recognizable in the first three notes. I remember he and I were laughing about the truth to tha t statement and he said,“Three notes, boom, John Coltrane; three notes, boom, Eric Dolphy.”

RB: That is it exactly. Look at Miles.                        

TE: I read a critic who said that you are the man who reintroduced the trumpet to the contemporary jazz scene. For the longest time, the only music that was getting played by horn players was by saxophonists. How does it feel to have had that kind of an effect on the music scene?

RB: It feels good that I've got a house I can pay for by doing the thing I love to do. That is the ultimate gift—doing what I want to do for a living. I am amazingly fortunate. I think part of the reason I've been so blessed has to do with timing. When I came out with Beat Street, there was a need for another voice. At that time there were only saxophonists like Grover (Washington Jr.), David Sanborn, and Kirk Whalum; George Benson on guitar; and David Benoit and Joe Sample on keyboards. After Chuck Mangione stopped getting airplay, the only other candidate was Herb Alpert, and he had stopped making records with any degree of frequency. There was a window of opportunity and I was fortunate to be in a position to make records. Another thing that happened with Beat Street is that people started coming up to me and saying, "Man, I knew that hip-hop beat was going to catch on." Interestingly enough, the production on that album was minimal at a time w hen bands like The Rippingtons and SpyroGyra were doing complicated material. Beat Street by comparison is really very sparse.      

TE: I have to admit I hate the term “smooth jazz,” but there are a number of traditional jazz musicians who have been putting out albums under that title; saxophonist Kenny Garrett and keyboardist Rachel Z come to mind. It  seems that many jazz artists are going in this direction. I have found that with the best players there is no snobbery in music anymore.

RB: Well, I wish that were true for everyone. We cannot get a decent hearing from any of the reviewers in Los Angeles. The L.A. Times has the door totally shut. The reviewers won't even stay for the shows. I had a conversation with one of them who just started slamming the music. I was convinced he hadn't even listened to my record, which turned out to be true. I told him that maybe he should listen to it before being critical. He did go home and listen to my compact disc, and called me back to say that he enjoyed it.

 TE: I've let a number of my collegiate jazz students borrow some of your recordings. The other day one of them came by and mentioned how he was surprised and delighted that you find ways to go past stereotypical smooth jazz, both harmonically and melodically.

 RB: Last week I played a straight-ahead gig with Gerald Albright on saxophone, Harvey Mason on drums, Dave Garfield on keyboards, and Kenny Wild on bass. We played at the Baked Potato, which is just a little club here in California. We didn't tell anyone we were going to do it, but as often happens, word spread. For me, it is just so much fun to play straight-ahead. And when I practice, I   practice that way. I practice scales, flexibility, etc. For me, the way I'm going to improve as a player is by learning how to play changes better. No matter what you have laid out as a solo, you still have to navigate the changes. It probably sounds          simplistic to even mention it in that way, but that's the way it is. It's a lifelong challenge!

TE: Many musicians say it’s the struggle that seems to keep them going. They’re always looking for the next mountain to scale, pardon the pun, or the next musical peak to climb.                              

RB: Yes, exactly. Along with that thought, I          always found myself thinking that the moment I ’m really pleased with something I ’ve played, I immediately find something else I didn’t like. It’s really about taking a Zen approach to the music. For me, when I practice, it’s about refining the craft, improving my technique, and increasing the number of too ls available to me. I’m always working to increase the number of scales, patterns, and other musical materials which I have available. When I perform I want to approach the music with the Zen concept of not thinking ahead or behind, just being in the moment. That’s when I think I’m doing my best work.                      

TE: Do you still find the time to practice?                          

RB: Yes, I really do. I don’t practice as much as I would like to. When I ’m producing, I need to spend  a great deal of time with the artist. When working with other artists, there are a number of other things that go into the pr oduction, and those things take        away from the time I want to spend practicing. When I’m traveling, I’ll have to spend the whole day on the road, and when I finally arrive in the hotel it’ll be time to sleep. I’ll have to go into a big show without practicing the previous day.

TE: Are there things you like to practice on a daily basis?

RB: What I’ll try to do now is find patterns of five or six notes that I really like and then explore them, fully develop them, interpolate them, and run them in all        key areas. I’m trying to build my musical vocabulary. I also like to play the piano. Having an instrument that allows me to  think of harmonies in a non-horizontal way helps to visualize what’s going on underneath the melody. Another thing, and I’m not ashamed to say this, is that part of my practice is done to the Jamey Aebersold recordings. For the most part, when the music is recorded with a live band, as opposed to when it sounds like it was sequenced, it is absolutely great.          I have a studio here at home, and I’ll transfer a track like Joy Spring onto my hard disk, set up  a microphone, and lay down several tracks. Then I’ll go back and listen critically. I try to under  stand where my problems are and then work to improve my weaknesses.

TE: What advice do you have for young musicians?            

RB: Here’s what I did that was a mistake. When I was at Eastman, I used to go to the practice rooms in the basement where everybody would walk by and hear you. I’m a natural ham. I always wanted to sound good and to impress people, so I would play the first couple of bars of Brandenburg No. 2. I couldn’t get through the whole thing to save my life, but I had the first entrance nailed! I think kids need to know that you have to practice what sounds bad. Play the material that sounds the worst, and practice it the most. Of course you want to play stuff you can play well, and I do too, but instead of always playing in F minor, play in B minor or F-sharp minor. Instead of playing a blues scale, work on the Lydian chromatic concept and Mixolydian scales. One of the things I did when I was learning the trumpet was to take the Clarke Technical Studies and incorporate them into as many different scale forms as possible. Early jazz education is usually restricted to major, minor, and diminished. Rarely do you learn about altered or Dorian scales until you get to a more advanced level. By adapting the Clarke studies i n a variety of ways, you create a big toolbox. If major and minor are the only scales that are second nature, you will be limited. It would be like fixing a car with only a wrench and a screwdriver. You’ll soon find that you need more tools!

 Equipment

 Mr. Braun plays a Getzen trumpet and flugelhorn from the custom series. His trumpet has a cryogenically treated bell. His mouthpieces are from his own signature series by Marcinciewicz Music Products.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

hmm here’s me talking about su sort of lmao like i said i’m not here to be particularly scentamentle?? just say funney stories....and some opinions.....it’s really been a hot minute and i haven’t been making Long text posts about things so i can throw one out there even if it’s got no thesis statement

also like i said i just so happened to like, actually watch the first ep on actual tv when it actually premiered....all i super remember knowing about it beforehand was like “oh rebecca sugar getting her own series right on” and i was gonna check it out on that alone and then also i remember before it debuted there was an article about it in the wapo in the sort of “local”-ish section b/c it was like. hey this is based in uh yknow the dmv....delmarva area.....this whole Region.....and i (from nova and in nova at that time, and flipping thru the print wapo every day) was like haha. neat. also god damn it was 2013, hell of a year. i can tell you little about it b/c it was so crappy i just like did not bother much with things like “distinct memories” lmfao. great to have like, a weekly thing towards the end of that hot mess (november??? or smthing??) back when....god........it aired weekly.........anyways yeah i was pleasantly surprised from the start i don’t Get when people are like “can’t watch this in order :/ the first few eps don’t sell it well” like okay speak for yourself god dman....more on that later i’m sure lmfao. hot takes

my brother started watching it too just cuz he’s game for shit that way and i was keeping up with it. like i remember i thought cheeseburger backpack was extra fun and i think i showed him a rerun and i remember he thought it was funny lol the Raft Gag......and when i was watching tiger millionaire i kept For Real Laughing and he came over like what is going on.....and i think he was signed on from there........again pretty fun for it to be this weekly thing. also maybe i’m not here to be Sentamental but i was also like “oh no that Spoke to my feelings unexpected :(” during tiger millionaire when amethyst was all “you can’t let anyone make you feel like garbage” and “i only feel how i wanna feel” like guess who was in the early stages of “my self esteem is so crappy it’s starting to circle around into [trying to increase self esteem]”.........like i said hell of a time. though then that’d be 2014 by then i think?? still a hell of a time

started to get “i think i will draw the same character one million times” about it at some point in 2014 too lmfao......every instance of [me drawing the same shit one million times], which is the only way i ever draw anything, then like, benefits whatever i draw later cuz like. sure get some practice out of it. and even though like, it wasn’t quite as huge an Internet Thing as it was gonna get once i started to draw shit, it was already like, classic-me Kinda Niche to be like “hey gang who is going ham about the bored dumbass teens”....not so niche that there weren’t other people going “yeah i am” at any given time tho. and then we put our hands in the middle and go Yeah!! and jump up hsm style. it was also a great time for something Fun and (easier than marble hornets lol) to draw b/c. it simply was a good time for it.....struggling to draw shit back then even more than is like, usual. oh and also i forget but i had sort of Withdrawn from the mh fanbase b/c it got this whole influx of randos after fjsfdking the Video Game we all know the one and i was like. i am gonna.....sidle over here. nobody Likes to be in a fandom actually lmfao. and i mean even while su was getting to be A Whole Thing i was like. bro i am over here in the Donuts section and it is a little quieter and i use the tag sometimes but i’m all set, thanks. still the least Niche niche i’ve been in probably lmfao....see: the fact that probably still way most of my followers are here from su times even tho idk who’s even active still

also had a high time making some great Long Text Posts. i kind of always fail 2 grasp that even as much as my drawings that stuff leads to me actually getting to interact with people, b/c like, those text posts have me actually saying Words in them, which helps lmfao..........i think it’s like, these posts are probably Not That Fun for most people, but then for the people who Are like “oh sweet this is something that i actually want,” that’s obviously a helpful way to find a kindred spirit lmao.....like hey cool you already know i can’t shut up and am opinionated and obviously a lil much? fantastic let’s do this. plus idk it’s fun to Not Shut Up Actually. like, not the biggest deal. ppl can just Scroll Past. or not

speaking of “getting practice Not Shutting Up and Drawing Shit”.......hilarious when in late 2018 i find myself like. oh so you’re telling me this excellent character who is a self-sabotaging struggling-to-know-how-to-cope-with-shit-and-connect-with-others insecure af Teen is not appreciated / ignored / deemed Awful (and then ignored) by the majority of the fanbase?????? hahaha you don’t say....but No Problem. let me just talk about how this person has Complexity actually and is a lot more sympathetic than not and i hate all of you omg like do we have to do all of this ourselves lmfao........guess so, Fine

what am i talking about funny stories who is this funny to lmfao. okay no but okayyy what an experience when the island adventure preview came out and for like the next 4 days i did not experience depression lmao........i Jumped on the opportunity b/c it was like, early fall i wanna say??? i think sept?? 2014 and i was kinda mulling over going to gmx (which was this convention the Marble Hornets gang kept getting invited to & i’d been 2 twice b4 but missed the previous yr coz it was 2013 and i was way not thriving) and yeah jumped on the “depression / (as much) anxiety who???” superpower to Ask if it was cool if i went to a friend’s wedding in georgia for a weekend. there was no friend’s wedding in georgia. and then i went to gmx AND. ironically (not really im sure. idk what irony means and idc) gmx weekend ended up being the same weekend island adventure actually aired and when i left that morning (gmx being in nashville) my lil bro (getting up for school) was like GO GO and i actually made it in time to catch it in the hotel room but. they didn’t have the channel despite it being listed on the channel guide. i about flipped lmfao but i did see it later that weekend and flipped again. gmx was an a-okay time as well lmao that was the last time i made it

they may have never sold a licensed Lars S1 Green/Purple Snake Tee but look when i have this green racerback with a neat snake print & this necklace of purple quartz crystals and also when i was at gmx i bought this necklace with one (non purple, non actual crystals but plastic shaped like it / glossed) pendant In The Spirit Of It All and it gets compliments. anyways the point is. indirectly representing

speaking of crystals = lars i’d just like to reiterate that i’m always right. like sure i was like “look i don’t know how lars could have Crystal Magic in him but something is up with the fact he’s = pink magic flowers with crystals inside them Means Something.” i think it’s reasonable to Not have predicted he dies and gets revived w/ crystal magic that’s in him now. but that’s still a Win for realizing somethings up....tfw as early as like s2 times i’d be like “well the donuts gotta get involved in the center of adventure at Some point and also i Know it is important that steven is just lars’s rly annoying little brother and y/n do you think lars would die to protect him i think he would...” like. i didn’t wanna be That right :/

tfw me and my brother were watching rose’s scabbard while my mom was napping it out in the armchair and like silently Sharing A Look at the whole “she was beautiful” thing like. lol harold

i still don’t know how much of a Thing(tm) magfest is but as far as i can figure it it’s No Comic Con (like, thank god :| ) but still kind of a thing. anyways i learned of it cuz i saw there was gonna be a couple su panel thingies & i looked it up & we were less than an hour away and so it was like midnight but i ask my brother like hey wanna swing by this thing on this one friday. and he was like Sure. so i made it happen and he was 17 so we had to drag our dad to the bank to Notarize a form that he was allowed to be there accompanied by me. it was a big place and it also took us a while to find Registration or whatever and when we tried getting sandwiches later it cost like $7 each go figure. anyways but we were just there for the one Event & there was a room like filled with arcade games and a bunch of other consoles (also Retro though. like old computers n stuff) and they had Galaga, thank fucking god. we 2 playered that shit and wandered around and also 2 playered a game called toobin, which was funny. real gamers know. 

when we were in the (pretty long) Line to get into the Panel, i actually like. spotted a then-mutual who i (was pretty sure i) recognized from her occasional selfie lol and who i guess had travelled all the way from the west coast for the weekend. when we were actually Seated she happened to be a couple rows back and both of us on the end of the aisle and i asked my brother if he could read her nametag (to verify lol) and i bopped over to have the cringe and fail exchange of “hey do you have a Tumblr” and then i was like “haha i’m milo i’m ummmwine” and she got up to hug me and then i had to scamper back to my seat cuz shit was starting lol

like my life was not changed by this event but we had fun and. the Hilarious story is that it was also partially a Q&A and i had a Q and my brother encouraged me by again whispering “go go” as soon as the first syllable was spoken implying Line up For Questions.....i was in like, the last idk, haaalf dozen or so ppl who made it to the mic? and look i knew i was gonna be asking a niche question that like 3 other people of the hundreds in the room would care about but So What. deal with it gang, let’s have some Variety. but i was still nervous. and when i’m nervous, i a) Have A Script and b) get even chattier. and right after the person Right In Front Of Me got their answer, i guess it was noticed that it was getting down to the wire so they were like “haha okay lightning round :)” and i was like NO.......GOD..........lmfao like too late im sorry i Can’t make it lightning round. i was muy anxious.....just that, again, hundreds of people there, i have the floor, nobody’s gonna Like my quastion......and they didn’t know the answer (which i figured was v possible lol) so i was like oh no sklfjd hope this entire room doesn’t hate me. i mean of course i didn’t care if they did too much but, Nerves....also im valid, but were the like half dozen people who asked prior to me about shit that would CLEARLY be too spoilery to answer valid????? no lmfao. cmon. that’s what’s Really cringe

well here we ffw a bit b/c Mid To Late 2015 is certainly a time for me and it doesn’t really make for an interesting story so just to tldr it lmao like, got some beautiful moral support from someone as i was makin a Lifestyle Change lol and continued to get beautiful moral support from that same person and i continue to benefit from it....You know who you are!!!! tyvvm....and it occurred to me that the reason i am where i physically am is via someone i met thru su-posting.......which is true of the You Know who you are person too, which is why i brought it up lmao

uhh god not as many Stories after that lol.....def got to engage in “i’m ___ i’m gonna [draw the same character i always draw] so i won’t be so ___” during interesting times lol. love that for me

tbh the uh. Wanted arc was truly one of the best Serial Arcs, just dramatic & solid af and also it’s lars time and for a second i go “god well at least maybe now ppl will acknowledge lars is a gr8 character” and then a second later i go “Oh No they’ll only say he’s a good character *Now*” and that’s exactly what happened lmfao but well we still got as much lars fanart as we ever got outside that couple weeks aftermath... l o l . . . i had to wait One Zillion Years for my little brother to catch up to this b/c. he was watching via hulu i think where like, a full season would come out a good while after the finale. seriously i think it took him almost 2 years. im like dammit lmfao this is What Matters dfslk....fond memories when hulu was free / no login req’d / shit would be available like the day after airing

uhhhHHH crazy how this show muscled through the weird scheduling change where it was like “no weekly eps Only Erratic Hiatuses”......ppl were so foolishly Into the first “5 eps in a row” release and i was like “no i don’t like this” and then a year later i was like “you see. You See.” rip

i think we can even ffw to sutm at that point lol....im like im in this for lars okay lmfao kinda Shrugggg @ things by this point lol like finale shminale. where’s he at. and i really wasn’t paying a world of attention to like, prior-to-release lore n announcements so i was just plunged into this chaos of like sorry???? excuse me?? of all the people in the world sarah stiles?????? lfsdj like noooo don’t show me these tweets lmfao......truly it’s fine i’m being Hilarious but it’s also very real that like, when i see things like “showtime(tm)” or “SHO” or “billions content” i’m just doused with Dread b/c i hate this series lmao i swear to christ. but it’s really Fine lmfao like. i was kinda “eh :/” to “yea this is alright” about the rest of it but spinel was The Highlight lmfao and having $50 to go ham on her animation was great but really the voice acting Made It.....like the entire takeaways was uh the other friends sequence and fuckin uhh this part. fuck it up ms. stiles........hit it out of the park..........cain was the first funny bitch and spinel was the second. that thought just came to me and i will not elaborate. call that a revelation. oh and also it was a relief cuz i was like “i s2g if this Antagonist is like, aquamarine-style annoying af....i will die” but No. spinel is annoying af in another way which is her rights and i don’t want to die about it lmfao. she’s good.......i don’t even resent the “how come whenever some rando shows up ready to literally kill everyone for no good reason, all of you are ready to be like ‘wow an icon’ and we can’t have 10% of that energy for the teen who’s kinda bitchy b/c he’s annoyed by life and crap???” thing b/c i mean, she had her whole Arc all at once and also is good enough for it i think. the nadir was when the one rando shows up for like One episode like “i Don’t want to kill everyone :3 syke >:)” and for some reason people were like “omg iconic. call them on their ‘don’t kill everyone’ bullshit” like lol i hate you guys

well i like lars’s [last outfit we see him in] and i feel like it only backs up the bi agenda. another epic gamer moment had been when it became a Popular Hc that lars is trans b/c he is lmao. and everyone was all “why is everyone sayign this why would you want him to be trans he sucks” like get good grandma!!!!!!!! it’s too late. well that’s the end of my post. me in 2014 being like “wow way to have something to keep up with b/c now i have to outlive it to get all the dnads content i guess” and here i am. but it’s almost April 2020 so. haha 

hmm what’s a less ominous ending. oh shit another thing that was funny is i was like So about these Skull Plugs featured in this semi-official drawing of lars once and then horror club came out (fun b/c i like horror) and had the skull plugs for Real & they were glow in the dark. that was a big day for me even seeing the promos lmfao. except then i guess it was foreshadowing, so again i end this with Death. don’t we all

wait no lsfdjs What tf was matthew moy talking about “i like your hair.” dude dropping an i-guess cut line on us lmfao. alright alright im done

[relevy]

A-Z Book Recommendations.

What a great idea from my friend at @macrolit :) Had to give it a go. I’ve omitted “A’s” and “The’s” from most of the titles for sake of flow.

A - American Gods by Neil Gaiman - A wandering modern “fantasy” that felt keenly poignant to me having grown up in the midwest. You’ll need patience for this one but this book is truly about the journey not the destination.

B - Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer - I’ll be honest, I never finished this series. It got a little overblown but the characters are so genuine that I held out a lot longer than I would expect of myself. This first book though is the definition of a classic middle reader. Lot of Adventure and a lovable, fierce, albeit flawed, female protagonist. 

C - Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - I used to read this book every summer. It’s a rough read with some explicit violence (sexual and otherwise) but an important one I think. I recommend reading the “British” publishing which has 21 chapters (the publishers took out the last one for American audiences, because apparently we don’t like character redemption and growth *eyeroll*). The real genius of this book is the vernacular Burgess created from scratch that is truly like reading another language at first. 

D - Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab - Not to be cliche but I find that a lot of the titles Booklr obsesses over in the YA genre to be par-baked at best. Not the case with this series! Well developed characters that exist beyond their actions and exhibit real emotional complexity without relying on tropes and a plot that kept me turning and turning pages!

E - East by Edith Pattou - This is a remnant from my scholastic book fair days. It’s a frightfully easy read, however, her love for the folktale on which it is based (East of the Sun and West of the Moon) shines through. Each chapter is told by a distinct alternating voice and though the plot leaps about a bit you do not lose any sense of forward motion. 

F - Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge - At this point you’ve probably realized I love middle-reader books. There is also a pattern of relatable well written female protagonists in all of them. Not to be outdone the lead of this book is a stubborn young girl named Mosca and her equally prickly goose, who live in a fantasy setting based loosely on 18th century Britain. I won’t give anything else away except to say READ THIS BOOK!

G - Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson- I don’t exclusively read fantasy children’s books and here’s the proof. All of Larsson’s books are difficult to get into. Which can be put down to the fact that the first half of his reads are laying the complex groundwork for the gripping, fast paced, second half that will leave you gasping for air. 

H - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - If you go into The Hobbit expecting the verbose grandeur of LoTR you’re going to be sorely disappointed. This book was aimed much more at a younger audience and is far more light-hearted and comical than its more mature follow-ups. Nevertheless it still has the grand beauty of Tolkien’s imagination and I quite like the whimsy of his narrative style in this prequel. 

I - It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini - This book helped me understand aspects of my own struggle with depression and anxiety. It is heartfelt, raw, but most importantly not without hope. Vizzini committed suicide a few years ago, which leaves a bit of a cloud over the book but it is an important read for both those who struggle and those who care about them.

J - Jerusalem by Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi - But Rachel this is a cookbook! Yes! Yes it is! But it’s also so much more than that. The entire thing is a love letter from the two authors who grew up, respectively, in the Jewish and Arabian communities of this complex city. Beyond the delicious recipes there is mouth-watering photography more akin to photojournalism than a traditional cookbook. Each section and almost each recipe is accompanied by an explanation of the historical and political machinations, tragedies, and cultures that led to its creation.

K - King Lear by William Shakespeare - Far and away one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I dream of someday playing a gender-bent Lear. I find that this play in particular asks a lot of tough questions of its characters and they answer in frighteningly frustrating ways. “Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.” 

L - Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt - This book is a cult classic. Originally published in Dutch in 1962 it has since been translated into twelve languages! This is a classic hero’s journey written in a loving, nurturing hand. 

M - Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff - Maresi is a relatively new book that has flown totally under the YA Booklr radar. It has a vivid comparison to The Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursula K Leguin but is not a reproduction. The plot centers around an island of “sisters” in an intensely patriarchal world. The second book was just released so I suggest jumping on this bandwagon soon!

N - (The) Naming by Allison Croggon - I’m in the middle of rereading The Books of Pellinor series and I vividly remember now why they were the favorites of my High School years. Crogon writes in a simple elegance that must have been lovingly honed by years of reading Leguin and Tolkien. Another complex female protagonist in this one but written in 3rd person Omniscient (not fixed) narrative which is hard to find these days.

O - Once and Future King by T.H. White - I am an Arthur scholar and I will admit this is not my favorite Arthurian book (That’s Sword at Sunset by Rosmary Sutcliff). However, it is a necessary read for anyone who has interest in how modern fantasy came about in the US and the American obsession with King Arthur.

P - The Plucker by Brom - This is more of a graphic novel than a book. If you are a fan of Guillermo del Toro YOU WILL LOVE THIS. Imagine Toy Story except as a horror movie instead of playful animation. Brom is an exquisite illustrator and it’s worth it for the art alone. 

Q - I have literally nothing for this one! Ah!

R - Runaways by Brian K Vaughan - This is a graphic novel series about a group of teenagers who mistakenly find out their parents are part of a super-villain society. Being a Marvel comic there are cameos by familiar goodies and badies and the series itself takes many surprising twists. Characters of color and female characters are prominent! 

S - Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - Imagine if Dragons could take human form but were required by law to wear a bell to mark their otherness. Rather than set in a typical medieval setting, Seraphina takes place in a pseudo “classical” Europe setting with heavy emphasis on music. The characters and plot in this are flawless and I found it a refreshing, fun read.  

T - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - This is one of the few books I was required to read in High School that I actually enjoyed. There’s a lot to be said for this timeless classic but the fact that it still remains relevant is really all that needs to be.

U - Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly - Albeit I read this book back when pirates were much more a pop culture phenomenon than they are now. However, if you like history, and pirates this is a great read for notable and notorious seafarers. 

V - V for Vendetta by Alan Moore - a graphic novel but truly a novel in its own right. I honestly prefer Watchmen but I feel Alan Moore is at his most Alan Moore-y in this one. No contest better than the movie.

W - Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Leguin - The mythic style of these books can turn some modern readers off. Keeping with that there’s not as much character “development” as modern readers are used to. However, that being said these are some of the most compelling characters and books you will ever meet.

X - I came up dry on this one as well :(

Y - Y the Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan (Again!) - Imagine if all the men on earth died instantaneously except one slacker and his capuchin monkey. This graphic novel series could have gone way off the rails (as far as imagining what an all female dystopia would look like) yet Vaughan writes his female characters with a surprising nuance and depth. 

Z - Zel by Donna Jo Napoli - I read this in elementary school and WHOOO BOY I don’t know who approved that one for children’s shelves but it is definitely a mature retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale. Distinctive voices and no making it less gruesome than the original here. 

[t--o--f--u-blog]

☼☼☼☼☼ also think tank a white lecturer using the n-word when quoting literature in a lecture? I think she used it once outside of quotation as well certainly not meant in a disrespectful way, just seems unnecessary

☐☐☐☐☐ better have a justification at least but if you just use it out of the blue it always seems like some attempt at provocation 'i can say this because my interests are purely academic'

☼☼☼☼☼ mmmmm we're reading uncle tom's cabin, so it's hard to avoid

☐☐☐☐☐ should only be quoted verbatim if absolutely necessary, if there's no alternative I think

☼☼☼☼☼ yeah seems like she could have avoided it pretty easily

☐☐☐☐☐ if she's making no acknowledgement of the word's relationship to her privilege, that's rly not good

☼☼☼☼☼ yeah she's older so there might just be an outdated perspective there 'I'm just quoting the text, it was anti-slavery so I'm fine' sort of mentality maybe?

☐☐☐☐☐ still she would know about the contemporary attitude to the word and she should at least mention that! ugh like it doesn't sound malicious or super super racist, but eh

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah I feel iffffy about it

☐☐☐☐☐ should mention it!

☼☼☼☼☼ Trying to work out if I should send email and if so how to word it

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ be interesting to actually properly discuss it

☐☐☐☐☐ yep

☍☍☍☍☍ heck I’d be interested to know more of a history of the word basically teach properly why its offensive

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah, I might bring it up in the tutorial different teacher, but maybe good discussion

☐☐☐☐☐ mm that seems appropriate i'd love to hear how that goes

☍☍☍☍☍ uhhh there was someone who used it at Bar Oussou  the host reallllly should’ve said something and I normally would but just too tired for confrontation

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah ☐☐☐☐☐ was telling me Sounded very cringe

☐☐☐☐☐ v unfortunate most disappointed in yhe host tbh

☐☐☐☐☐ he maybe had a old-worldy attitude to it and didn't mind or was too cowardly lol which do u think?

☍☍☍☍☍ I think he thought it was in the context of the poem she didn’t use it to degrade someone directly, but the word itself is degrading

☐☐☐☐☐ ugh but the poem is in the context of fuckin oussou yep ppl need to have a think before using words

☍☍☍☍☍ I just think its great to have a stage to do emotional work, but it can cross a line into normalising shitty white behaviour

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ I went to a coloured school so I can’t b racist wah wah wah

☐☐☐☐☐ and you have to consider your audience if your rant is dehumanising or brushes aside/causes suffering u gotta reconsider felt pretty ashamed on behalf of bartender/various black audience members not saying that dumb white shit would be acceptable with a different audience, but her obliviousness was kinda astounding

☼☼☼☼☼ wow yeah cringefest

☍☍☍☍☍ lol spoken word scene as a whole can b so lame haha rings true to why I/we left

☐☐☐☐☐ mm so macho! that's what I liked about talkbox some sensitivity there, gentleness

☍☍☍☍☍ still, I just wish people read more lok *lol

☐☐☐☐☐ yep I wish I read more

☍☍☍☍☍ like the stylistic range is generally pretty lame

☐☐☐☐☐ I guess that's why anyone reads mmm

☍☍☍☍☍ I wish I read more too

☐☐☐☐☐ hahahaha

☼☼☼☼☼ :')

☍☍☍☍☍ don’t mean to shit on everyon, I just think the scene as a whole and the conception of poetry is lacklustre - it doesn’t seem like the time for poetry, sometimes

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ ppl too distracted by netflix uwu sounds like phones but too much

☐☐☐☐☐ doesn't seem like the time for art, sometimes! hahhh

☍☍☍☍☍ its definitely a time for music

☼☼☼☼☼ I think there's a place for poetry It's just raps and memes

☍☍☍☍☍ yeh but I play dat long game there might not b a place now but I’mma fkn make one whether you like it or not lol

☼☼☼☼☼ Oh yeah fair go 4 it

☐☐☐☐☐ loll

☍☍☍☍☍ I just mean that I think 'poetry' has evolved into other forms, and now the traditional form is struggling to find a place I mean does anyone pay attention to Victorian satirical cartoons? I don’t I think it’s also tho that the low brow is more apparent in the moment, the high brow more apparent from a distance the shit sinks, basically

☼☼☼☼☼ elaborate?

☍☍☍☍☍ time brings forward higher brow material while a lot of lower brow stuff falls back or like there’s an art for getting through your days, and there’s an art for elaborate long form spiritual liberation

☼☼☼☼☼ so u don't mind about a lack of audience now if your work has staying power?

☍☍☍☍☍ different works have different digestion time and yes that is what I’m saying

☼☼☼☼☼ hmmmmmmm

☍☍☍☍☍ hmmmmmmmm?

☐☐☐☐☐ personally I don't know whether I'm prioritising the reception of my work or its value to me right now i feel poetry/art in general are useful tools for thinking about the world useful philosophical tools i guess and idk whether i'm learning for the sake of my own knowledge/making 'better' art or learning so what I put out into the world is better received I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive but yeah - feeling fairly indifferent to the idea of creating work that will persist right now part of me feels more comfortable with being lost forever lol or at least that I should become comfortable with that, bc that is what will happen inevitably

☍☍☍☍☍ I just think in this atmosphere of complete denial of the arts as an important component of society, as well as the stigmatisation of ritual and other mystical practices that used to house what we now might describe as an artist, its important that we follow our intuition rather than give in to a system that routinely prevents us having access to basic resources like I want to be there for whoever is there when this period comes to end and those peoples are looking for anything to rudder them, whether or not I’m alive

☐☐☐☐☐ you want to add to the cultural record?

☍☍☍☍☍ I want provide a map for future generations is how I would put it

☐☐☐☐☐ mm how do you feel one can ensure the persistence of their own work? or are you just hoping it'll be around for others I suppose whether or not anything lasts is out of ur control past a certain point

☍☍☍☍☍ for one I make an effort to give away a lot of work

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ I also store it all and make sure that that stockpile is kept w care but I also think there’s something to be said that I try and operate within many pre-existing canons I also it’s important to use the more meme-y, short stay work to bring attention to the slower works yeah, re: canons, like tanka and before that wakka as poetic forms stem back as far as a thousand years - perhaps more by putting myself in conversation with the ancients... idk it feels a bit like entering a cultural refrigerator haha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ sometimes I find it better to see my individual works as modules that make up a whole more prescient than its parts (Morton lolz) soo... maybe my work won’t carry the same weight until I finish, so to speak who knowsss but this how I think about it lol

☐☐☐☐☐ best to try and contribute something I spose rather than do nothing w ur resources

☍☍☍☍☍ I’m weird with this shit u don’t have to be

☐☐☐☐☐ mm it seems fairly simple to me and not that weird

☍☍☍☍☍ not everyone should spend their life tending their gravestone it’s a job for a particular type of person, and I am it

☐☐☐☐☐ but in a sense everyone does anyway everyone does things with the future in mind or without it in mind I suppose

☐☐☐☐☐ and i guess that influences what you leave when you die eheh, whether you do it consciously or unconsciously

☍☍☍☍☍ I just am particularly stubborn that I have something to offer - I think its partially a result of being denied that a lot in school, I found other ways to have social bonds that were more... non linear bonds with past peoples, and inadvertently bonds with future people

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ I find it frustrating that its seen as arrogant to suggest your work should be read after you die - if anything its remarkably humble as I'm acknowledging that I will never properly see the fruits of my labour it's a ridiculously isolating position to find oneself in, where your best friends - books, music, content - have no form of human intimacy with you and completely defy all survivalistic, lizard-brain humanity plus you're just on a total different dimension from most people you meet

☐☐☐☐☐ mm you're in a very specific position here

☍☍☍☍☍ lol goodluck catching up ☼☼☼☼☼

☼☼☼☼☼ unrelated btw

(☼☼☼☼☼ posts a meme in chat)

☍☍☍☍☍ see y'all @ da rally (in reference to the meme)

☐☐☐☐☐ where and when is this? oh oops thought you meant a real one

☼☼☼☼☼ hahaha

☍☍☍☍☍ xD

☼☼☼☼☼ structurally is the meme ok ? took the photo the other day, and just added the text.

☍☍☍☍☍ yes are u going to weigh in on the conversation tho lol

☼☼☼☼☼ nah not really

☍☍☍☍☍ meme fine

☼☼☼☼☼ I have so little to add

☍☍☍☍☍ well hm why make memes? why not write novel? do memes have staying power?

☐☐☐☐☐ it's a question of what timescale is important to you at any given time maybe

☍��☍☍☍ oh absolutely - not trying to infer a hierarchy here, I just think there are different approaches for different problems

☐☐☐☐☐ sometimes I'll say something to someone so they'll remember it for tomorrow, sometimes I'll say something to someone and hope they'll remember forever lol mm I don't think I care about staying power that much

☐☐☐☐☐ memes have such a short lifetime, they're like cultural mayflies haha

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah defs

☍☍☍☍☍ why tho lol

☼☼☼☼☼ Because the art itself can date while still inspiring change

☍☍☍☍☍ yeah so using it pragmatically like a single use tissue

☼☼☼☼☼ If you create something short lived, it (with the help of other artists producing similar work) is able to push art and society in a specific direction The butterfly effect I guess

☍☍☍☍☍ it's true that you have more effect in the current conversation

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ but that conversation draws intensively on a language formed by the ancients so the two are dependent on each other, a back and forth

☐☐☐☐☐ and that's dependent on their work's longevity?

☍☍☍☍☍ not following ur question

☐☐☐☐☐ not following your point haha hmm

☼☼☼☼☼ so you're suggesting a works longevity is crucial in that it helps reinforce and update the ancient language in which short term work of the future will be influenced by?

☐☐☐☐☐ mm also - what if of all the work you make, it's only a meme that survives the passage of time?

☍☍☍☍☍ basically... like you're just reiterating points that have been made more in depth in 'higher' brow culture - that's definitely how I feel when writing raps

☐☐☐☐☐ like Roman graffiti surviving on the walls or whatever

☍☍☍☍☍ did you a hear copy of the I Ching, the Chinese numerology classic more than a thousand years old, was found in the 70s and had a heap more sections and a different order? effectively completely changing the understanding of the I Ching gotta get those nice lead storage chambers ayyyyy ahahaha it was found buried in a coffin, obvs haha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ a lot of Chinese philosophers only exist in so much as someone else described them

☼☼☼☼☼ But what does that changing of contexts of that piece actually mean for us? Is updated Ching from the coffin helping us in any way?

☍☍☍☍☍ I think for me finding the I Ching and looking over it is like a person in a thousand years finding a functional iPhone it gives great insight into human impulses regardless of time and offers a way of writing the past a new, which in turn presents a new future (thinking of the cowboy article you sent me) reconceptualizing the past IS the future look at 'Make America Great Again' or calls to restore the caliphate both are founded on histories that have more to do with our current state than the actual happenings of the past

☼☼☼☼☼ I do see where you're coming from I like the idea that it's important to preserve our work for understand the past better And I hope that someone in the future will have a clearer understanding of our time through your well preserved works But what fucking future is it

☍☍☍☍☍ haha but like looking back we see people been asking that for a veeery long time I get it seems on a new scale but we're on a new scale too

☼☼☼☼☼ It does seem that yes Also if we do survive and keep on teching on

☍☍☍☍☍ I'm for an integration of the human/natural binary where we properly acknowledge our mutual codependency, the earth and humanity that is

☼☼☼☼☼ Are we even going to be translatable? Is the functioning iPhone found by the future person going to even be able to be translated? Or will it be meaningless because everyone is already part of the grid

☍☍☍☍☍ where artificially effecting the climate for the benefit of 'nature' isn't seen as strange but completely akin to Aboriginal burn back practices

☐☐☐☐☐ i guess it's productive to hope that it will be translatable

☍☍☍☍☍ we've always interfered in the running of nature

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ ehhh idk we translated fucking hieroglyphics

☼☼☼☼☼ Or future tech can look into the past and someone is watching our lives as we type this now, constantly being understood through our context in a way we can't comprehend through our recording processes shrugs

☍☍☍☍☍ I mean yeah, imagine if the internet was even vaguely archived

☼☼☼☼☼ You probably have a better understanding of how the future will pan out than I do tho

☍☍☍☍☍ even if 0.1 % was kept, it would be a massive resource

☼☼☼☼☼ No sass intended there, I'm sincere

☍☍☍☍☍ lol idk I just try to see a bigger picture and it keeps me calm remember me old saying? we survived the plague and nukes lol

☼☼☼☼☼ I just don't see the issue with creating short term work, especially if it is preserved

☍☍☍☍☍ oh neither do I

☼☼☼☼☼ Like a meme may have more impact than a novel rn

☐☐☐☐☐ well it could be argued that we're yet to survive nukes but I see your point impact on various timescales

☼☼☼☼☼ I've heard the plague make be thinking of making a comeback too haha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ oh duh peasantry is fully hip rn

☐☐☐☐☐ but like

☍☍☍☍☍ bring back the boils, they look great with my Balenciaga sneakers

☐☐☐☐☐ lol bubonic chic

☼☼☼☼☼ Pretty close to heroin chic tbh haha

☍☍☍☍☍ not jking that was tb

☐☐☐☐☐ but like, I don't find a huge amount of solace in the fact that we survived the plague

☍☍☍☍☍ "The Victorians romanticized the disease and the effects it caused in the gradual build to death. For decades, many beauty standards emulated or highlighted these effects. And as scientists gained greater understanding of the disease and how it was spread, the disease continued to keep its hold on fashion. and the severity of the corsets was known to harm the lungs in such a way that would increase the likelihood of transmission LOOOL

☐☐☐☐☐ mm Balenciaga look out idk it's a question of what capacity we survive in

☼☼☼☼☼ lollllll

☐☐☐☐☐ quite depressing to think about

☍☍☍☍☍ eating disorders have a pretense

☐☐☐☐☐ what if ecocide leaves a few insular eco fascist regimes who gradually diminish over centuries always engaged in pointless wars of attrition with one another lol

☍☍☍☍☍ I mean you could probably say the same thing of colonial regimes now

☐☐☐☐☐ just because we can survive, doesn't mean my outlook should b at all rosy :((

☍☍☍☍☍ point is its a big ol' world that has plenty of room for pain AND love any future pain you think is imminent probably already is happening, and nonetheless breakfast tasted good this morning

☼☼☼☼☼ 'The hipster middle class would dress with raggedy beards and large jackets and refuse to use deodorant, perhaps to reflect the look of people suffering from homelessness at the time. It is suspected that this made them less likely to be hired, and therefore more likely to become homeless themselves.'  ☍☍☍☍☍ ahahaha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm that's true hahhh

☼☼☼☼☼ Planning on making this into a full essay. Might not be popular now, but I think it has staying power? Soz for shitposting haha

☍☍☍☍☍ I was talking with ☲☲☲☲☲ a while back, and something struck me - she said, "I never thought this age would have its own fleet of particular medical conditions." (or something like that lol, translated via my nerd brain)

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah that didn't quite sound like her But that sentiment is great

☍☍☍☍☍ 'fleet'

☼☼☼☼☼ In that ofc there is, but also wow yeah ofc!

☐☐☐☐☐ mmm hahh these conversations should be recorded so we can all think about em without scrolling up endlessly

☼☼☼☼☼ I do like the idea of people reading these works in the future tho

☐☐☐☐☐ and also so that they can be preserved for 10,000+ years of course

☼☼☼☼☼ In the same way we read the letters sent between dead artists now

☐☐☐☐☐ mm very true

☍☍☍☍☍ mmm

☐☐☐☐☐ messenger is not a particularly stable storage medium and also is more vulnerable to third party scrutiny although the fact we're reading artists letters now means that medium is also pretty fucking vulnerable to scrutiny lol

☍☍☍☍☍ I fucking found the word! (sorry was searching for it so hard) Neurasthenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurasthenia

☼☼☼☼☼ Americanitis lol

☍☍☍☍☍ uhh the page doesn't rly talk about this, but its like a condition of over-working effectively, and people would try and get prescribed the pills to treat it as a way of signalling they were a dedicated worker its total hokey

☐☐☐☐☐ wow yeah you mentioned this a while back

☼☼☼☼☼ oh I've heard a similar thing in Japan were workers will pretend to fall asleep at their desks to show how hard they're working No idea the trust behind it tho

☍☍☍☍☍ to this day, "In Japan, shinkei-suijaku is treated with Morita therapy involving mandatory rest and isolation, followed by progressively more difficult work, and a resumption of a previous social role. The diagnosis is sometimes used as a disguise for serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and mood disorders." a dignified mental illness uwu none of that lower class shit I'm a classy fuck with money, I don't get the same mental conditions as the poor lolol reminds me of now: I don't have shitty parents, I just have adhd (not to deligitimise all uses of adhd, just over diagnosed)

☼☼☼☼☼ mmmmm i feel u yes this has been a wild ride

☍☍☍☍☍ yes I’m leaving to get late lunch uwu have a good day in this cosmic spider web lololol

☼☼☼☼☼ :')

☍☍☍☍☍ Like the burning of this charcoal fire, our years too will soon expire Kobayashi Issa listening to Krista Tippet talk with Maria Popova, this particular phrase resonated with our conversation: we live in a world where disruption over-fetishised; we need cultural stewardship to help along new waves of disruption

☼☼☼☼☼ How would u define cultural stewardship in a practical sense?

☍☍☍☍☍ caring for the legacy of those past as a means of refreshing their insight for a new age a very straightforward example would b the importance of new translations, in this regard - as our understanding and depth of connection to Japanese society has deepened, so too have our translations dusting off the books so to speak in some sense I see that in our music too or reappropriating to a new context

☼☼☼☼☼ Well remasters are a time terry literal example Fuck

☍☍☍☍☍ time terry

☼☼☼☼☼ Pretty* not time terry lol

☼☼☼☼☼ lime berry yeah exactly

☼☼☼☼☼ Slime Jerry

☍☍☍☍☍ I mean rereleasing is an obvs example mhm but more abstract examples are how I’ve exported into both your brains Bridle/Steyerl/Haraway via conversation and art lolol I’m helping it move from one place to another same w Zappa lol

☐☐☐☐☐ also - looking after artist friends being generous I feel these are acts of pre-emptive cultural stewardship

☍☍☍☍☍ haha yeah definitely different time scales it could function on

☐☐☐☐☐ looking after and maintain communities

☍☍☍☍☍ hosting open mics lol helping teach ppl poetry lollll

☐☐☐☐☐ not allowing hate speech to creep into open mics lol

☼☼☼☼☼ Truuuuu Or anywhere for that matter

☐☐☐☐☐ not becoming so dusty that you actually have a detrimental impact on cultural progression

☍☍☍☍☍ I think religions only exist in so far as they have active practitioners

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☼☼☼☼☼ Tru

☍☍☍☍☍ I think my sense is, in religion, this same argument plays out with orthodoxy versus mysticism Maintenance of buildings is in there too for religion People being assigned paid positions as the keepers and givers of religious knowledge oh yeah thinking a lot here of Shanzai, ☐☐☐☐☐, and the idea of an object as a lived practice

☐☐☐☐☐ when home I'm gonna do my best to archive this conversation mmm

☍☍☍☍☍ you’re going to steward our conversation bout stewardship ...

☐☐☐☐☐ this is all going in

☍☍☍☍☍ ...the tv where I am says “The comedian getting behind ‘Know Thy Nuts’” and there are big walnuts on the screen

☐☐☐☐☐ ???????

☍☍☍☍☍ “I didn’t realise chemotherapy would be such great comedic material!”

☐☐☐☐☐ ¿¿¿¿¿¿

☼☼☼☼☼ Huhhhh

☍☍☍☍☍ lol highly recommend https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/on-being-with-krista-tippett/id150892556?mt=2&i=1000429408054https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/on-being-with-krista-tippett/id150892556?mt=2&i=1000429408054

[astrofireworks]

i raise u librarian!eunwoo 

so our resident nerd works in a library 

he’s the front librarian so he’s mostly in charge of administration and stuff at the front desk

meaning he has to deal with library patrons sometimes 

and that he also has to deal with his team 

i mean his team isn’t that bad, they’re mostly hella responsible 

namjoon works in the classics department and other than the fact that he sometimes knocks over stacks of books he’s a great right hand man

wonwoo works with the ya books and he’s a wonder at organising and snarking at namjoon

joshua works in the foreign language and he’s pretty quiet but so is eunwoo so they get along pretty well 

the children’s department, however, is a different story 

remember how his team is ~mostly~ responsible 

cue the children librarian 

hello kim myungjun

the noisiest bean eunwoo has ever met 

the worst thing is that myungjun’s intern eQUALLY NOISY AND IT DRIVES EUNWOO INSANE 

and by driving eunwoo insane he means that naturally all three of them best friends and eunwoo is in despair because he only wanted peace and quiet in his life but the universe decided to throw him mj and sanha and their sunshine smiles and their strange ways of worming themselves into everyone’s hearts and now he has to live with eternal screeching 

reference librarian leo constantly wants to murder them because they make sO MUCH NOISE but mj and sanha lock themselves in the children’s department and refuse to let anyone taller than sanha in because “if ur too tall u might scare the children!!!!” because they’re Actual Children, eunwoo swears 

he doesn’t fail to noticethe only person taller than sanha in this damn library is leo

when eunwoo whines about the feud going on namjoon just pats him on the shoulder and lopes off to join the self-help literature department librarian jin 

@ namjoon “thanks a lot hyung”

and so this is how eunwoo spends his days, juggling front desk duties and running interference between reference and children’s and shushing noisy library patrons

it’s a pretty normal job with a great team and at least it’s never boring

thanks a lot mj

like that time mj had to choose a book to read to the kids at Reading Time but couldn’t choose between two favourites and nearly broke down in tears 

but wonwoo just smacked him upside the head and handed him a third book 

crisis averted phew

until of course one day 

a short blonde man runs into the library and nearly doubles over panting and wheezing 

cue an alarmed eunwoo 

but it turns out there’s nothing wrONG he just needs like books like STAT 

eunwoo can do that 

and as jinjin rattles off a couple book names eunwoo searches them up and pages for mj 

why a grown-ass man is searching for so many children’s books with sUCH URGENCY eunwoo will probably never find out

but out comes mj and in they go to the children’s section 

and normally eunwoo turns back to his administrative duties 

but there’s still a shadow beside his administration desk 

that isn’t in a jinjin shape 

eunwoo looks up and blinks

and blinks again because sorry what is this man doing here

he’s dressed in all black and in a leather jacket and has the fiercest, grumpiest look on his face 

and is also holding a whole stack of children’s books

eunwoo blinks again 

what the hell is up with grown-ass men trying to find children’s books are they alright

this one is significantly less out of breath than the first man though so eunwoo just shrugs

i mean, he’s pretty cute

he accepts the books and library ID from the grumpy man and begins slowly checking them out, scanning each bar code and meticulously stamping the due date on the card at the back of the book

as he’s printing the receipt he peers at the man’s ID

‘moon bin’ it reads 

“so,,,, moon bin,,,,,” eunwoo starts carefully, 

“a big fan of children’s literature?”

and bin is startled and flushes red because??? there’s a reason why?????? he didn’t open his mouth???????? in the first place???????

and that reason is a dare by a lil shit currently sniggering outside the library 

jokes on you rocky because reason number 2 why bin doesn’t want to open his mouth is because he’s met literally The Most Beautiful man he has ever seen in his entire life 

it’s not as if he’s never been in the library before because like he hAs 

he lied he’s never been in this library before

just that he’s never seen this librarian before

in the softest blue sweater bin has ever seen with small sweater paws

and with the most adorable pair of thin metal-frame round glasses 

with the sweetest eye smile and the sweetest voice

bin thinks he might throw up

this man is beautiful and he’s staring too much 

“,,,,moon bin?”

“aH YES IT ME YES THAT’S ME YES” 

obvs he’s forgotten the question so eunwoo has to repeat it and bin is to embarrassed to reply right away

so he just stammers out a “yEah,,, my uh,,, friend,,,,,,,, yes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, children’s literature yes”

and so eunwoo just shrugs because

the grumpy man is suddenly no longer like a grumpy cat when he’s embarrassed and?? his voice is kinda cute actually if eunwoo does say so himself

forget that he didn’t actually answer eunwoo’s question 

eunwoo doesn’t actually want to give this cute grumpy man back his books because it means he has to leave

but alas that blonde man is back with the noisy nuisance aka eunwoo’s best friend 

and sunshine boy mj is hitting it off with the blonde man and they’re whispering excitedly while giraffe sanha trails behind them like a lost puppy

eunwoo makes a mental note to remind mj sanha’s not his personal puppy and is in the library interning to acTUALLY LEARN SOMETHING 

and so he has to reluctantly hand bin’s books over 

as he scans jinjin’s books he overhears whispers between jinjin and mj 

mj: “ah so this is a dare? to see how many books you can borrow that start with your name??”

jinjin: “nah it just has to contain a word from my name?? and like we gotta see who has more books so i’m kinda lucky i got three words to work with, 박, 진 AND 우” 

eunwoo peers at the books in his stack

he’s right lmao all of jinjin’s books have all the words 박, 진 or 우

wait 

he peers at the check out history on his computer 

bin’s books all had 빈 or 문

oh

oH

mj: “well,, i hope u win, jinjin”

cue mj’s most blinding sunshine smile 

rip jinjin eunwoo’s so sorry he has to experience that smile 

mj only pulls it out when he’s trying to impress someone but it’s probably just blinding him

and jinjin looks appropriately dazed rip

he mutters a thank u and red-faced, takes the books from eunwoo and makes a bee-line for the door

and nearly crashes into the glass door because 1) he’s a klutz 2) i highly doubt he could see straight after that cute ass smile

and mj just sighs because “wow eunwoo wasn’t he adorable did you see his dimples i swear that was the cutest gu-”

“hyung lmao he lost”

“whAT”

“yeah his friend got like 2 more books”

“WHAT”

“yeah moon bin got like 10″

“W H A T”

helpful sanha: “we cleared the place of all the books with 박, 진 and 우 though”

“shit hyung please tell me you didn’t tear apart the children’s department”

“.,.,.,.,.”

“sanha,,,,,, please tell m-”

sanha: “i gotTA GO SUDDENLY”

“kim mYUNGJ U N CLEAN UP THE DEPARTMENT OR I SWEAR TO GOD”

rip mj 

he’s so lucky eunwoo loves him

namjoon just sniggers at him from the philosophy books because he’s a lil shit like that

eunwoo drops his head in his hands in despair

at least he got to meet a cute guy today though 

and so life goes on 

until the next day when a smol smol boy wearing a soft plaid shirt walks through the door 

eunwoo flashes a smile 

and then his eyes zero in on the books the boy is carrying

like half their children literature titles his library carries are in his arms

eunwoo narrows his eyes 

so this is the guy that made the dare 

rocky places his books on the counter and looks up at the librarian

woah

bin wasn’t lying when he came out of the library flushed red and stammering about an angel 

yeah this librarian is honestly one of the most handsome men he has ever met wow 

but said librarian is also giving him a death glare oops 

rip rocky

how can a greek statue look so menacing rocky isn’t quite sure 

he hurriedly produces a piece of paper from his pocket 

“ah,,,, so u met jinjin hyung and bin hyung,,,,”

eunwoo shifts the books from the counter to beside his computer

and doesn’t say a word 

“ahhh,,,,,, bin hyung also asked me to hand you this”

actually bin didn’t but rocky figures he doesn’t want to get on the librarian’s bad side i mean we all know what happens when u get on the bad side of an angel 

u die 

rocky doesn’t want to die so young

he scribbles down bin’s number on the piece of paper and hands it to a confused eunwoo before dashing out of the library

eunwoo slides his glasses further up his nose and peers at it

around the stack of books behind him namjoon and wonwoo also peer excitedly 

and eunwoo does that cute mouth-stretchy thing

you know the one i’m talking about the happy yawn laughing thing 

because he’s!! so!!!! excited!!!!!!!!!

a cute guy gave him his number!!!! 

i mean by proxy but still

outside rocky is endlessly relieved bc it looks like he can live another day 

until he remembers he gotta explain to bin why a random number will be texting him 

oops 

but when he tells bin this at dinner bin doesn’t react

which is kind of alarming

all bin does is freeze up and stop chewing and fall out of his chair 

which i guess is kind of alarming 

cue incomprehensible wailing through a mouthful of food

which i guess is more alarming 

rocky never expected that high a note come out of his hyung’s mouth especially not with that amount of food stuffed in his cheeks 

he lowkey wants to poke it to see how much is in there but jinjin gets there first

“bin ur mouth might explode”

“mouths don’t explode that easily” (through that mouthful of rice)

but then he starts wailing again because soft sweater paws round glasses eye smile angel has his number and might text him any time and his brain cANNOT HANDLE THAT

but by the time jinjin and him get bin off the floor and back onto his chair bin’s phone pings

because mj and sanha have gotten hold of the piece of paper rocky left eunwoo and have spent half the day endlessly into crafting The Perfect Message 

they even got jin and namjoon to vet it for them that’s how serious they are about setting eunwoo up 

and just to shut the terror twins up eunwoo agrees to send it because hell he doesn’t know if bin might reply anyway and asdjfhlkj he still lowkey can’t believe bin gave him his number

although he’s right in not believing it anyway bc it was rocky who did it but 

he sends it

cue more incomprehensible wailing from bin and him falling off his chair again with a mouth full of rice 

because when rocky picks up bin’s phone and reads the text all it says is 

“coffee tomorrow at 4? - librarian, cha eunwoo”

okay rocky admits he squealed a bit too

it’s okay rocky so did i

death by binu isn’t that bad a way to go i gUESS

[unifiedsocialblog]

20+ Creative Social Media Contest Ideas and Examples

A little inspiration goes a long way when it comes to brainstorming social media contest ideas.

To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve rounded up more than 20 ideas across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat—and even TikTok.

And to make things easier, we’ve sorted them by objective, from increasing engagement to generating leads.

If you’re looking for platform-specific guides, don’t fret. Check out our Facebook and Instagram contest ideas for suggestions and guidelines.(PS: before launching your social media contest be sure to make sure it doesn’t violate the platforms’ T&Cs or R&Rs.)

Now that the fine print is out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

7 Social media contest ideas to increase engagement

Turn up the likes, comments, and shares with these social media contest ideas.

1. Like and/or comment to win

The classic “like and/or comment to win” is a tried and true way to increase engagement. It can be held on just about any social platform, from LinkedIn to Instagram.

Simply create a post with an explanatory caption, include an entry deadline and simple guidelines, and voila! You can also share the post in Facebook or Instagram Stories to better spread the word.

In this example from Hallmark UK and Ireland’s Instagram account, the entry rules and deadline are clearly stated, and an on-brand image of the prize ties it all together. Hashtags like #giveaway, #freebie, #liketoenter, and #commentoenter help to amplify the contest’s reach, too.

View this post on Instagram

????W I N???? We have a Tuesday treat for you! You could win this beautiful bundle of Birthday cards???? Simply like and comment on this post for a chance to win???? The winner will be announced tomorrow, good luck???? . . . . . . #giveaway #tuesdaytreats #freebie #competition #happytuesday #tuesdaythoughts #cardbundle #liketoenter #commenttoenter #followtoenter #birthday #birthdaycards #birthdaycard #happybirthday #gift #hallmark #hallmarkuk

A post shared by Hallmark UK & Ireland (@hallmarkukandireland) on May 21, 2019 at 11:26am PDT

2. Share or RT to enter

Like and/or comment to win contests prompt engagements with your base, but by pairing the contest with a share or RT requirement, you can reach more people. If you ask followers to share to Facebook or Instagram Stories, keep in mind that you’ll only be able to confirm those shares within 24 hours.

To promote the launch of its new direct flight from Tampa to Frankfurt, German airline Lufthansa ran a two-week #Hausguest social media campaign. To enter for a chance to win houseguest essentials, all participants had to do was retweet.

3. Tag a friend

Bring ideas 1 and 2 together with a “tag a friend” entry requirement, since a tag is technically a comment and a share wrapped into one. Ideally, this approach will benefit from the ripple effect: A friend tags a friend tags a friend kind of thing.

This example from Montreal-based shoe brand asks participants to tag three friends, increasing the odds of additional tags.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEWAY ???? ????????

A post shared by L'intervalle (@lintervalle) on Apr 5, 2019 at 12:14pm PDT

Brands with big budgets may also wish to incentivize tags with double prizes. For instance, a restaurant could ask followers to tag the person they’d like to share a meal with. Another way to encourage tags is to let them count as multiple entries.

View this post on Instagram

*CLOSED*☆????????????????????????????????☆ We're teaming up with @mininatorilla to give two lucky winners a chance to win☀️summer kick-off essentials☀️Enter for a chance to win one $50 Whole Foods Market gift card plus a variety pack of three Mi Nina Tortilla chips sure to make the [unofficial] first weekend of the summer a fiesta to remember???????? To enter: 1. Like this photo 2. Follow @chicadegallo + @mininatortilla 3. Tag a friend in the comments 4. Tag more friends for more chances to win [one tag per comment] . . . This giveaway ends Monday 5/27/19 at 11:59PM EST. Winners will be selected at random and notified via Instagram message shortly after. Open to contiguous U.S. residents only. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Instagram or Whole Foods Market.

A post shared by Chica de Gallo® (@chicadegallo) on May 23, 2019 at 11:25am PDT

4. Photo caption contest

A “caption this” prompt is a fun way to encourage followers to comment on your photo and engage with your brand.

Shopkins toy brand uses this type of contest to showcase its products. You don’t need a big prize budget to run a successful social media contest, either. Simply featuring the winner in Instagram Stories was enough to prompt 45 comments in this contest, three times more than its previous post.

View this post on Instagram

Caption this, SPK fans! (Psst, best caption will be featured on on our IG Story.) Comment your captions down below! Winner announced on 22nd March on IG Story. T&Cs: https://bit.ly/2HEwCwI #CaptionThisContest #SPK11 #ShopkinsFamily #TheDiPastas #Shopkins #MiniPacks #SPKFans #ToyCollector #Collectibles #Toys

A post shared by Shopkins (@shopkins_world) on Mar 20, 2019 at 8:09am PDT

5. Create a best comment competition

Giving followers a prompt can inspire more comments. Ask them to tell you why they—or a person they nominate—deserve to win. Or ask them to come up with a name for a new product.

For a chance to win a print of this Saskia Skoric painting, participants were asked to come up with a name for it.

View this post on Instagram

!!!????????COMPETITION ????????!!! **WIN**WIN**WIN** an A3 PRINT of THIS PAINTING!!!!!! All you have to do is FOLLOW me ????????@saskiaskoricfineart ???????? and ????????LIKE ????????the post.. THEN .. in the comments, give me a NAME for THIS PAINTING as it is yet UNNAMED. The name that myself and my family think works best for the painting will be the WINNER!!!!! It’s THAT simple!!!! I shall announce the winner on 23rd February. ????~GOOD LUCK~???? . . . #texturedpainting #oilpainting #fingerpainting #saskiaskoric #saskiaskoricfineart #competition #biggiveaway #win #beawinner #followtowin #commenttowin #newcompetition #competitiontime #artcompetition #artcompetitions

A post shared by Saskia Skoric Fine Art (@saskiaskoricfineart) on Feb 9, 2019 at 1:27am PST

6. Create a play-to-win game

Over the course of one week, Chipotle kept its Instagrammers on their toes with a series of successive games intended to get people excited about the addition of queso to the menu.

On the first day, fans were asked to comment with the letters “Q-U-E-S-O” on a post in uninterrupted succession. That led to 22,000 comments and a year of free queso for the winner.

On day four, Chipotle launched a “spot the differences” game using Instagram Galleries, a game that 450 people played.

By the end of the week more than 50,000 people had participated, making The Queso Cup Chipotle’s highest engagement Instagram campaign of all time.

7. Vote to win

People love to have their say. Create a contest where a vote counts as an entry. Ask users to vote in the comment section of a post, or create an Instagram Stories poll. This is also a quick and easy way to collect feedback from your audience on something important to your business.

View this post on Instagram

⁣⁣ GIVEAWAY!⁣⁣ ⁣ Ink lovers! We need you! Help us pick our next #thINKthursday ink review from these four inks and you could WIN a sample set of all four! ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ To enter, just…⁣⁣⁣ 1. Like this photo/post.⁣⁣⁣ 2. Post your ink choice (A,B,C,D or E) in the comments.⁣⁣⁣ 3. Be sure you're following @andersonpens⁣⁣⁣ Voting begins: Now⁣⁣⁣ Voting ends: Tuesday at 5 pm CST. ⁣⁣⁣ A random winner will be selected from qualified participants and will be contacted on Wednesday. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ This giveaway is in no way sponsored by, administered by or associated with Instagram, Inc. By entering, you confirm that you are at least 13 years of age, that you release Instagram of any responsibility, and that you agree to Instagram's terms of use.⁣⁣⁣ As with all good giveaways, this one is open to anyone and everyone, worldwide – but you need to be at least 13 years old and have an Instagram account.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ #fpn #fpgeeks #fountainpenday #penaddict #fountainpenink #inkreview #inkophile #andersonpens #handwriting #votethINK #giveaway #vote #votetowin #inksamples #thINKthursday⁣⁣⁣ #apgiveaway #andersonpensgiveaway #ink #inks #inked

A post shared by Anderson Pens (@andersonpens) on May 6, 2019 at 8:49am PDT

Ginsoy’s new menu’s bound to leave you drooling for a WIN! Which one did you like best? Red Roast Chicken or Shanghai Beef?#Ginsoy #ExtremeChinese #votetowin

Posted by Ginsoy – Extreme Chinese on Tuesday, February 21, 2017

This type of contest can also be paired with a submission-based campaign. For instance, if you’re running a caption or photo contest, the winner can be chosen by vote.

6 social media contest ideas to increase followers

Grow your follower count with these tried and tested social media contest ideas.

1. Follow to win

The most straightforward way to broaden your audience is to require a follow for contest entry.

This contest structure is usually combined with a “like” request, too, as in this example from Riedel UK.

View this post on Instagram

Follow @RiedelUK and like this post for the chance to win a set of 6 Riedel Fatto A Mano Cabernet/Merlot glasses worth £425! Comp ends at 2pm on 22.02.19 ❤️???????????????????? #RIEDEL #myRiedel #competition #liketowin #followtowin #tagtowin #cabernet #merlot #wine #glass #fattoamano

A post shared by Riedel UK � (@riedeluk) on Feb 20, 2019 at 3:15am PST

Brookes Blooms ran a similar contest. But, instead of using a date as an entry deadline, they set a goal of 100 followers before drawing a winner.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEAWAY TIME! Not long to go now until the winner is drawn to win a Keyring & Candle of your choice! Open Australia wide! Simply follow this account and like the corresponding post on my Instagram page! (Post pictured in second photo). Winner drawn once @brookes.blooms reaches 100 followers ???? #smallbusiness #smallbusinessmelbourne #win #free #botanicalart #floralart #candle #soycandles #soycandle #likeforlikes #followtowin #likeforlikes #followforfollowback #asinglej #promiseimlovable

A post shared by Art & Gardening By Brooke (@brookes.blooms) on May 24, 2019 at 3:41am PDT

2. Follow and share to enter

There’s little point in asking your followers to follow you. The best “follow to win” contests are supported by an amplification strategy.

Ask people to follow and share your post. Or ask them to tag someone in the comments so you can reach and hopefully entice non-followers to come aboard.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEAWAY TIME ???? We are giving away one of our lunch boxes to one lucky winner! Winner will be announced on Sunday the 2nd of June! TO ENTER: •You must be following @luxury.eco •Like and share this photo •Tag as many friends as possible for multiple entries Good luck!

A post shared by LuxuryEco (@luxury.eco) on May 26, 2019 at 5:53pm PDT

3. Follow to win + influencer

Another great way to reach new potential followers is to partner with an influencer. These contests can require entrants to follow both accounts for a mutual gain, or just your company’s account.

Keep in mind that the terms you agree upon may influence the partnership cost.

Lufthansa teamed up with influencer Marissa Cox @ruerodier to reach her audience of 123K followers. Based on the post’s comments, the airline scored somewhere near 650 followers out of the promotion.

View this post on Instagram

Congratulations @lilitoohappy – you’ve won!! Please DM me your address details etc…. NOW CLOSED: COMPETITION/CONCOURS: I don’t know about you, but I have serious wanderlust at the moment, so I’ve teamed up with @lufthansa to offer one of you x2 return flights within Europe (Lufthansa destinations) To enter: – Follow @ruerodier & @lufthansa and like this post – Comment and tag your partner or friend you would like to travel with. (You must be +18 to enter & I will announce the winner on Wednesday.) Good luck/ Bonne chance! #unknownplaces #lufthansa [AD]

A post shared by Marissa Cox (@ruerodier) on Apr 14, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

4. Weekly or monthly draws

It’s easy for followers to unfollow. But accounts that run monthly contests or draw winners weekly have a better chance of earning loyalty and maintaining follower counts.

A few years back, Expedia noticed that #tbt was the fourth most popular hashtag on Instagram. Every Thursday over a 10 week period, people who shared a vacation throwback with the #ThrowMeBack tag were entered for a chance to be “thrown back” on that holiday.

Expedia featured content on its account and published winners once a week, a strategy that encouraged people to follow to see if they’d won.

In less than 10 weeks, the company nearly doubled its following on Instagram.

Our winners in action! Post your #TBT w/ #ThrowMeBack @Expedia & you could get thrown back! http://t.co/K6k9QXBDhdhttps://t.co/uJBWLbZ5ti

— Expedia (@Expedia) July 24, 2014

5. Follower milestone campaign

Brands that are on the brink of passing a follower milestone like earning that capital K or M beside a number can use the occasion to build momentum.

There are a few ways to approach one of these campaigns. The New England Patriots asked people to RT or share the hashtag #1MillionPatriots for the chance to see their name on a custom digital jersey. Unfortunately, they used a bot to select winners and things didn’t quite go as planned.

We're saying thanks to @patriots' 1million followers w/ custom digital Pats jerseys – RT for yours! #1MillionPatriots pic.twitter.com/u2SfidCb9e

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 13, 2014

As NBC’s Dateline approached the million “like” mark on Facebook, it launched a “One in a Million” campaign. To enter, participants had to explain why they deserved to win a special New York experience.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

Get the template now!

Two weeks ago, we brought Kim Trimble & Denise Hunnings, two of Dateline's biggest fans and the winners of our 'One in a Million' contest, behind the scenes of Dateline NBC for two days.It was awesome.

Posted by Dateline NBC on Monday, July 21, 2014

Others, like the craft queen herself, offer to award the two-millionth follower with a price.

If you are my 2 millionth follower – I will give you an amazing Singer sewing machine! Spread the word and RT

— Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) February 2, 2010

6. Stage an exciting unveil

Brands can ask people to follow them, or they can give people a reason to follow them. Use a contest as an initial hook, and secure followers by creating an incentive to tune in for the results.

Foot Locker nabbed a Shorty Award for its #HorseWithHarden contest on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. For one week, fans were asked to shoot a video of their most creative basketball shots and share them with the hashtag.

Now here’s the sinker: NBA star James Harden would be recreating the best submissions on Foot Locker’s feeds in a faceoff against the Internet.

Unsurprisingly, Foot Locker’s YouTube subscriber rate skyrocketed by 300 percent.

In a battle of two heavyweights, only one could claim victory. @JHarden13 vs. The Internet. WATCH! #HorseWithHardenhttps://t.co/1AFCGFQjp9

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 3, 2014

Want to do something like this on a lower budget? Plan to announce the winner in a separate post.

If you put the onus on participants to claim their prize, rather than contact the winner directly, they’ll be more likely to follow for the results.

3 social media contest ideas to collect leads

Learn more about your audiences with these lead generating social media contest ideas.

1. Enter to win sweepstakes

Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best one. The old-fashioned enter-to-win sweepstakes formula still works like a charm, especially with tools like Facebook’s Instant Forms feature.

To collect email addresses for future retargeting campaigns, Asian restaurant chain P.F. Chang created a sweepstakes on Facebook and Instagram that asked people to share their email address to enter.

Backed by paid reach, the month-long contest received nearly half-a-million entries.

Automaker Opel used Instagram Stories and it’s direct-link capability to secure 1,887 contest registrations.

2. Chat to win

A chatbot can offer a more tailored experience than generic form registration.

KIA Motors Europe developed a Facebook Messenger chatbot that could ask people questions and help them enter to win a special experience. Promoted with click-to-Messenger ads, the chatbot was able to deliver 3,000 registrations.

3. Plan a social scavenger hunt

Leaving easter eggs or clues across your social media channels allows you to provide multiple call-to-actions to fill out a form.

Take medical web and mobile-learning platform Osmosis for example. Its #OsmosisQuest challenge asks followers to find answers to its contest across its social media accounts in exchange for a free month trial of Osmosis Prime.

To complete the submission, participants are also asked to share basic information, like what school they attend and what degree they’re pursuing.

View this post on Instagram

Announcing #OsmosisQuest! Running March 25–29, this interactive adventure will take you on a scavenger hunt through all the different features of the Osmosis platform. . Every entrant gets one free month of Osmosis Prime for completing the Osmosis Quest, as well as a shot at winning SIX MONTHS! . Visit the link in our bio to read the full contest rules and begin your journey. ????️???? . #osmosis #giveaway #learnmedicine #FOAMEd

A post shared by Osmosis (@osmosismed) on Mar 25, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

6 social media contest ideas to generate buzz

Promote a new product, takeover a social conversation, or just increase awareness and consideration.

1. Put out a call for submissions

A call for user-generated content is a surefire way to generate buzz. Especially if the call is specific, easy-to-follow, and realistic for enough followers to complete.

Before launching a new chicken burger last September, Burger King UK knew it would have to address its “checkered chicken past.” So the company asked people to share photos of themselves taking a bite out of an imaginary burger using the #BK20KBITE for a chance to be paid £20,000 to taste-test the real thing.

Other companies have encouraged people to submit photos with real products, which in turn can help to boost sales, too.

Taking a different approach, Adobe challenged its community of creators to explore the full range of Photoshop’s possibilities. After realizing many of its users were Dungeons and Dragons fans, the company put out a call for the community to create the new D&D monster.

In the end more than 2,000 creatures were shared, showing everyone what Photoshop and the Adobe community were capable of creating.

This Halloween, create a Dungeons & Dragons monster for a chance to win $5,000 & have your work immortalized as a D&D miniature. #SummonTheTerror of Undermountain at https://t.co/uflRuuYh03.

No Purchase Necessary. Ends 11/16/18. Age of Majority. Rules at https://t.co/uflRuuYh03 pic.twitter.com/Ngm2q8huFP

— Adobe Photoshop (@Photoshop) October 30, 2018

2. Create a hashtag challenge

Hashtag challenges have been around for a longtime, starting with Cinemagram and Vine, and now TikTok. Thanks to their popularity, it’s easy for companies to join in with branded hashtags that prompt users to engage and become brand ambassadors.

Guess was the first to challenge TikTok users with its #InMyDenim campaign that asked participants to create videos depicting their denim transformations. The hashtag has raked in 37.9 million views.

Wondering what TikTok is and if you should care about it? Learn more.

3. Take over an event

This is not the same as an influencer “takeover”. Frank’s RedHot scored a touchdown on Twitter this year with a #FranksSweepstakes that asked fans to help bring its “Put That S#!t on Everything!” catchphrase to life.

During the game, fans were asked to put the chili pepper emoji on every ad they saw. In other words, when a car commercial comes on, you’d tweet the pepper plus the auto emoji. Franks RedHot made use of an event that wasn’t officially “theirs”, but at which they knew lots of customers would be in attendance.

It's time! Tweet ????️ + the emoji for the category of the ad you're watching + #FranksSweepstakes, and you just might win. Not all ads quality.  Full rules and prizes here: https://t.co/8NLgQkg2bp pic.twitter.com/u6i8E6EYY6

— Frank's RedHot (@FranksRedHot) February 3, 2019

4. Use a branded filter/lens to win

Why not ask fans to create a Snap or Story with a branded filter for a chance to win a prize? Many companies, including Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, and HBO’s Game of Thrones have created branded filters to promote a new product or simply increase awareness.

You donut want to miss our #NationalDonutDay lens on Snapchat today 6/2! ????: dunkindonuts pic.twitter.com/wEEJjRJ4xJ

— Dunkin' (@dunkindonuts) June 2, 2017

5. Play to win a Snapchat game

We’ve all been caught in a Snappable snafu, whether you’ve been walked in on trying to catch imaginary Twizzlers in your mouth, or fulfilling some other odd objective.

With a built-in games setup, brands can use Snapchat to create video-gamified contests.

GrubHub created a Snapchat game called “Food’s Here” game that offered players $10 off their first order for winning, and $15 off if they downloaded the food delivery app.

6. Create a Pinterest Board to Win

Asking followers to create a Pinterest board can be a great way to encourage engagement with your products.

For instance, Pinners could be asked to use a travel company’s Pins to create a board depicting their dream vacation. Or home interiors companies could ask Pinners to use their products to create a board for their ideal living room.

Save time and run your next social media contest with Hootsuite. Promote it across all the major networks, engage your followers, and manage user-generated content in one place. Try it free today.

Get Started

    The post 20+ Creative Social Media Contest Ideas and Examples appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

20+ Creative Social Media Contest Ideas and Examples published first on https://getfblike.tumblr.com/

[comicsbeat]

Yet more amazing comics debuting at tomorrow’ Comic Arts Brooklyn show!

Roopert August Lipp Revival House 56 pages, 8.5″ X 11″ 2 color offset
$10

The long-awaited debut by comics virtuoso, August Lipp. Perhaps you’ve been fortunate to see glimpses of his work in esteemed anthologies such as Smoke Signals, for example. Now, one can evince the full dexterity of his talent with the exuberant saga, Roopert. Roopert is excited to return to school after a summer of splendid adventures! His best chums will all be there: Clyve the shy badger, Benji the other, slightly shorter bear, Hannah the ballsy fox, Timothy the average frog, Clarissa the dentally-advantaged crocodile and many more. Hey, this school is a real ZOO! What kind of antics will they get up to when the bell rings and Miss Julienne the human’s 6th grade class begins? Irreverence and beastly nature are masked by overzealous displays of etiquette as the child animals struggle for agency in the face of less-than-responsible authority figures. Follow along as this comic meanders through Roopert’s first action-packed day of middle school! Adult supervision recommended. published by Revival House Press!

Hot Dog Beach #4 by Lale Westvind

High octane slapstick adventure starring Mop and Fuzz, two ding dongs trying to make a buck on a strange gig that never ends.

“BIG BONERZ: A Street Dawgz Comic Collection” by Lizz Lunney

This experimental comic tells the story of a group of canines that tackle depression, drug addiction and anger problems whilst roaming the streets and protecting their cardboard box home from outsiders. Lunney explores themes of fame/celebrity, mental health problems, class struggle, addiction and more through a pack of homeless street dogs. Lots of jokes! Lots of bones! Published by Birdcage Bottom Books 5.25″ x 7.5″, 44 pages. $7
Two-color risograph cover with b+w interior

The Loud Atlas

By Peter + Maria Hoey

Our new accordion fold book takes a surreal and funny look at the noisy world imagined by the Italian Futurists. Using the style of Marinetti and the rhyming pattern of Dr. Seuss. 8 panels and 45” inches long. Screen printed in 2 colors and hand bound on black book board in an edition of 50.

  DOMINO BOOKS

At CAB, we are proud to debut our ninth publication, BOOK OF DAZE by E.A. Bethea. Swing by table M3 to check it out—we will also have dozens and dozens of rare zines and art books available, many of them making their debut at the show.

  If you can’t make it to CAB, BOOK OF DAZE is available for pre-order now through our online shop.

  Book of Daze by E.A. Bethea. $6, 40 pages. Color cover, black and white interior, printed on newsprint.

“I first discovered Bethea’s stuff almost twenty years ago, she is one of the people whose work made me finally commit to comics as my medium of choice. With her barbed, nervous line and blunt writing style, she’s like a Duchampian voice calling for comics revolt. Her comics call out to us that no matter how damaged or how much of an outsider someone is, comics is our birthright.” -Josh Bayer, author of Theth

Book of Daze by E.A. Bethea is the kind of book DOMINO exists to publish. I first found Bethea’s work lying around an apartment I was visiting. I picked it up and from that moment on, have never forgotten it. As I began to read her dense pages, I was overwhelmed by the straightforward emotional statements and startlingly precise mind behind the sequences. In one moment, Bethea’s comics would acknowledge pain and disappointment, then turn to explain it away or justify things, only to finally confront the problem from a new angle. On the next page, simple pleasures became the focus, romantic notions embraced. Later on in the book cynical approaches to anything and everything were duly considered. All of this managed to congeal as Bethea kept another strong cloud hanging over it all: a refusal to shy away from an unashamed embrace of the full panorama of life. 

Bethea, a simple interpretation might offer, chronicles the web of living in the world with a heart and a mind sometimes at odds and sometimes simpatico. But Bethea gives us something more complex: at times, the work feels dead-pan as it shifts from exhilaration to resignation without a change in visual presentation, but it’s here where we have a guide to the heart of Bethea’s project. The often uniform nature of the pages and the highly non-uniform nature of what is contained within become a catalog of days or weeks or years. One page offers a subdued period in life, while the next (seemingly) similar page offers a day full of regret. Bethea talks about her work relating to cinema, specifically calling attention to what happens between one of her panels and the next. The shifts in emotion and carefully chosen images alongside highly precise language feel like walking into a film where the entire crew–from director to actor to gaffer—united in one mind to make something highly exquisite.

The Unquotable Trump by R. SIkoryak (Drawn and Quarterly)

R. Sikoryak frames Trump and his declarations as the words and actions of the most notable villains and antagonists in comic book history.

The House of Dickinson by R. Sikoryak (self published)

This mini combines the poetry of Emily Dickinson with the atmosphere of 1950’s horror comics.

Futile Comics #6 Mike Centeno

A 16 page look at a day in the life of a woman who deals with subway abuse, retail hijinx, and gym bros until she reaches the breaking point and has no energy left to keep all the black goop of rage inside of her.

Precious Little Lives By Joe Garber

This new American classic follows the melodramatic tragedies of a Tap n’ Scat Jazzist just trying to make her way in the world with a head full of dreams and a pocket full of toxic-male assholes.

Generous Consolation Conor Stechschulte In consolation for not having the third volume of Generous Bosom ready in time for CAB, this zine offers a preview of selected images from that book. Available on its own or for free with a preorder of GB3.

TRUMPTRUMP Volume 1: nomination to inauguration

by Warren Craghead III

Every day, Warren Craghead draws and shares grotesque portraits of Donald Trump and his minions. TRUMPTRUMP Volume 1 collects the first six months of these daily drawings with context and commentary, from when Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president on July 21, 2016 until his inauguration on January 20, 2017. — Retrofit Comics

Bestiary by Alden Viguilla

A collection of mythical beasts risographed in blue and gold.

  Final form #1 By Craig Bowers

A fantasy about two friends trying to make quick cash so they can go travel the world and two frogs slacking on the job.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Caitlin Keegan

The 12 days of Christmas, illustrated. A holiday zine that you can color (or not.) 

Twin Peaks poster

Caitlin Keegan

12×18″ poster featuring sketchbook drawings of characters from season 3.

 Bronze Enamel Sun Pin

Caitlin Keegan

Bronze + enamel pin with reversible sun face (1.125″)

I’ll also have copies of The Illuminated Tarot, which came out in April.

So What? Press Tales of the Night Watchman LLC

www.sowhatpress.com

  Tales of the Night Watchman is the story of Nora, a blogger stuck working a dead end job in coffee, and her roommate, Charlie, who happens to be possessed (in the nicest way possible) by a spectral detective called The Night Watchman. Baristas by day, heroes by night, Nora and Charlie answer the call to fight the city’s never-ending flux of supernatural activity.

#gallery-0-6 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-6 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-6 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-6 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Issue synopsis:

The Gowanus Golem is back! In this follow up to one of the series’ most popular tales, Brooklyn’s most toxic monster is after a couple thugs who are responsible for the death of a young boy. There’s only one problem: To stop him, The Night Watchman must protect one of the killers. Oh, and did we mention it’s also a Christmas special? Written by Dave Kelly Artwork by Brett Hobson Colors by Clare DeZutti Cover by Tim Hamilton

Over Time, Every Section Was Allowed To Grow Accordingly Aaron Cockle, New York Is For Sale, Table J2

It’s part 1 of a 2-part Franz Kafka fan comic, 32 pages

Annie Mok Loves Videogames by Annie Mok

A collection of comics, essays, and an interview, all about an abiding love and critique of games such as The Legend of Zelda, Shenmue, Sonic, and others. Annie Mok freelances for Rookie Mag, The Comics Journal, The Establishment, and others, and now makes games such as The Haunted Nintendo.

Keep Going Greg Kletsel

32 page Risograph zine inspired by the phrase “keep going”.

  Animation: Dansemorphia (on custom silicone USB’s !) Zine: Frame Drain –

Roya Haroun

blurb- Danse! Morph! Ya!

Parasite Wanderer By Connor McCann

A girl wakes up with a parasite attached to her face and the two embark on a bombastic and poetic 16 page adventure.

People of Oakland Asuka Ohsawa

When I moved from Brooklyn to Oakland in 2014, in an attempt to get to know my new environment, I got into the habit of staring at people who caught my attention, memorizing their facial features, and drawing them at home. The book is a collection of some of those sketches.

Somewhere, Sometime Asuka Ohsawa

After my dad passed away in 2016, I traveled to my childhood home in Japan often and dug through his material possessions. This experience triggered an avalanche of childhood memories that I hadn’t thought of for so many years. I decided to piece together bits and pieces of these memories in this book.

Slasher #5 by Charles Forsman

It’s all been leading to this. The final issue of Charles Forsman’s exploration into violence and sexuality. After the events of issue four, Christine lets herself indulge for the last time. From the creator of the E4/Netflix series The End of the F***ing World.

Live at the Grelman: #4 Amy Magick By Vinnie Neuberg, AT Pratt, and Derek Timm-Brock

Live at the Grelman is a collaborative storytelling stand-up comedy comic strip. All strips are written and drawn in the order that they appear and nothing is preplanned. This issue features guest strips by Drew Miller, Disa Wallander, Lane Graff, Max Huffman, Kelsey Wroten, Haejin Park, Mikey Karpiel, and Michael Furler. 40pp

Touch By Vinnie Neuberg

A new mini-comic about an online date gone awry in a Virtual Reality world. Each comic comes with a foldout poster. 24pp



False Advertising By Dylan Balliett

False Advertising is a collection of recent illustrations, comic strips, and single panel gag comics by Dylan Balliett.

The Fishes’ Ball By Priscilla Boatwright

A locket. A fisherman. A steed. The Fishes’ Ball is a short tale about a man who descends to the bottom of a lake in search of his beloved.

CAB 2017 Debuts Part Two: More exciting comics to fill your brains and shelves Yet more amazing comics debuting at tomorrow' Comic Arts Brooklyn show! Roopert August Lipp Revival House…

[abitoflit]

A-Z List of Books to Avoid

Listed below are a collection of my least favorite novels meant to be a humorous collection of books to stay away from. Enjoy!

A- All Over Creation. In addition to a host of bland characters, this novel introduced problem after problem, conflict after conflict, only to have them all solved and wrapped up with a neat little bow at the end. It was as though someone waved a magic wand and whisked everyone's troubles away, making it rather unrealistic.

B- Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. More paranormal romance, more vegetarian vampires, more stupidity... no thanks.

C- Chosen by P.C. and Kristin Cast. To be honest, I didn't mind the beginning of the series; but, then it began to repeat itself and become a clusterfuck of tangled lovers with stupid personalities and traits. Honestly, if I hear Stevie Rae described as the country bumpkin with the "Oakie-Twang" one more time I may be forced to bite someone.

D- Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. I want to start this review off by saying that I am a cat person and one day, if I get lonely enough, I may wind up being the crazy cat lady of my block. But, I really don't know how I got through this book. It was all about a cat and the pictures were cute but it was so dry and boring I wanted to die. And in a way, I felt as though I was reacting to the book as would a cat. The pictures made me want to pay attention to it, because who doesn't love pictures? And then the words made me feel as though I'd had enough, at which point I'd put the book down and walk away.

E- Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. Yes, these books are so bad they warrant being on my list three times. (You will notice them again under the letter T). Like seriously woman, I question what goes on in your head.

F- Fifty Shades of Grey (and subsequent nonsense). These novels are simply trash; I don't know what else to say. The prose is weak, the subject is weird and the relationship between the two main characters is disturbing.

G- Go Ask Alice, written anonymously. This book is just plain depressing for starters. As far as its prose is concerned, it's not the strongest either. I know it's supposed to be the diary of a teenager and what not, but I felt as though it left a lot to be desired.

H- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I discussed this novel with a friend of mine a few months ago. We were both pretty confused by it. We're certain that one of the characters died and then came back to life. We're certain he's secretly a zombie or something, but this novel isn't a zombie novel. (Did they even have zombies back when it was written)? I don't know, but either way, we were both just as confused as you are.

I- The Iliad by Homer. I'm not a big fan of books, which are set up in the "traditional epic fashion," so that certainly didn't help this number. I also really didn't like the storyline--it's all about getting home; but, going all over the damn place before getting there. I mean really, doesn't anyone have a map? The chapters involving Penelope were also rather slow and predictable, which was no fun. Also, how dumb are these suitors? Can't they tell that she's taking her work apart? I mean really.

J- Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. I vaguely remember reading this book in elementary school and wondering what the point was. I felt like nothing happened and didn't like the prose.

K- Instead of stating a title, can I just comment on how many books have a title that begins with "kiss" and how ridiculous it is? Because it's fucking ridiculous and confusing.

L- Lord of the Flies by William Golding. NOT MY PIGGY YOU BITCH!

M- Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I know it's supposed to be a classic and everything, but I really didn't feel as though I needed to read a treatise on whaling smattered with some of Captain Ahab's crazy.

N- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. I read this book in elementary school and remember disliking it. Part of that dislike stemmed from the depressing subject matter and the rest from the fact that there seemed to be a certain disconnect between the author and the subject matter being discussed in the novel.

O-  Othello by William Shakespeare. A few words: dost I care?

P- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Three words: dry as fuck.

Q- Questioning; always questioning why these books were ever written.

R- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I read this book in high school as part of a fairy tale literature class and could not have been more appalled. This novel is based loosely upon the "Bluebeard" tales, which describes a man who marries several different women only to kill them. Disney certainly didn't prepare me for this!

S- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I have a secret! This book sucks. It's just a repetitive bunch of crap about the "law of attraction," filled with pointless stories and wannabe science. I would definitely give this one a miss.

T- Twilight (and series) by Stephanie Meyer. Two things. First, the relationship between Edward and Bella is unhealthy and setting a bad example for young readers. First, Bella's dependence on Edward and need for his presence is frightening. It makes it seem as though women need men in order to function and quite frankly, they don't. Second, and this is not something I usually have much of an issue with, the age difference is staggering. It's like my great great grandfather, (if he were still living), trying to date my best friend. What the heck? And just for the record, I firmly believe vampires are supposed to burst into flame and turn to a big pile of smelly ashes in the sunlight, none of this sparkling shit! Finally, vegetarians? VEGETARIANS? You suck animal blood people, you're not vegetarians thank you very much.

U- The Ugly Duckling. So, the duck didn't notice it had an extra baby? As in, it forgot how many eggs it laid and that duck babies don't look like swan babies? Doesn't it live with other birds around the pond or is everyone relegated to their own section of the land too?

V- Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Haven't we had enough of bloodsucking assholes already?

W- Why? Oh why did I ever bother sitting through the vast majority of these?

X- marks the spot? I can't say that I can think of anything for this letter.

Y- Yes Please by Amy Poehler. I was really excited to read this novel and then completely disappointed by it. I always found Poehler funny, especially when she teamed up with Tina Fey; but, this memoir was simply a dry collection of memories, recounted like a laundry list. Her tone also betrays a hint of arrogance, which I found rather unappealing. Overall, not my cup of tea. 

Z- zzzzzzzz. Wha-What? These books put me to sleep. *wipes drool from the side of my lip and waves hand* you saw nothing and these are definitely not the books you're looking for!

[ichiban-no-jammu]

RULES: Repost and answer the questions, then tag at least 3 of your followers :)

I was tagged by: @the-damnedest-creature​​ !! thank you!! //;;w;//

I’m not gonna tag that many peeps because I’m not solely a J-rock blog and not many people that follow me are solely J-rock blogs either I think hehe but um mebbe @romanesque-moon​​ and @severemagazinementality​​ idk ignore this if you don’t want to do it of course but we’re mutuals so yeh !! ;u; go for it if you feel like it, sorry for taggin out of the blue ///v// I have hardly any J-rock fan followers to be honest I think /;;   ;))/

anywaaaaaays ヽ・ω・*/ﾉ

1. When and how did you get into j-rock?

jokesss it was animu as usual ahahahaa I was already listening to J-pop at the time like Arashi and Yuki Kajiura I also liked Perfume by that point too, around.. 2012..? somewhere around there ;w; I was 13 years old.

I actually can't remember who my first J-rock band I ever heard was ;;u ; I listened to a lot of anime intros and found a couple of artists from there....   the first J-rock song I ever heard was probably SID's Monochrome no Kissu huhuhu but I didn't actually listen to SID after that.....  ting is is that I was painfully weeby at the time, the typically cringey child that would more listen to ... random american pop songs that I found on amvs, and all the classics like cascada's everytime we touch and the 'numa numa song' ,,...... //////v/// and I listened to a LOT of Vocaloid, all of it, I was obcessed, it’s literally all I would listen to for a year or so ﾉω`*)ﾉ  I also found a finnish rock band called Indica through an amv and even bought one of their albums ;u; my music taste was a crazy mix of stuff I'd just found on Youtube really... I loved The Midnight Beast (reppin from uk) and I still do, Lemon Demon too.... and I downloaded official soundtracks from anime like Pandora Hearts and D.Gray Man and listened to those as well. I was also a big fan of Yugioh the abridged series and would listen to yugioh song parodies LittleKuriboh made ;; u ;

Only a small part of my music library was J-rock and J-pop at the time... but I think the first band that caught my attention was Buck-Tick, after I watched the anime xxxHolic somewhere in 2012. Then after watching Shiki a little later I recognised the same voice and looked kuchizuke up and was jammin, and for some reason I watched an interview with Aachan before getting distracted by that one video that everyone has seen of T.M singing dress with him, and listening to ABS instead because I knew them from the theme song to D.Gray man ///u// it was only until summer 2013 until I really found out who Buck-Tick actually was, I listened to as many singles as I could find and I fell in love with them in less than 24 hours hehe ´｡• ᵕ •｡` I actually didn't like rock music at all before then, b-t were the group that introduced me to being a rock music fan even though I still didn't like heavier sounds, like Gazette that my friend was into. Sometime later that year I listened to L'arc en Ciel for the first time too, I think I read about them in a magazine or something.. I can't remember //w// ((I bought the 'stay away' single at may mcm in 2014, my first J-rock cd :3c)) I still listened to a lot of J-pop during 2013 and Arashi had begun to dominate my life, so I didn't really get properly into J-rock and visual kei until early 2014 when I started listening to ancafe, because I'd heard of them from cosplayers on deviantart who had them in their ID section under music interests, and then subsequently finding out they were touring in europe :3c I was more partial to oshare and lighter pop-punk things around that time.. early days was LM.C and Alice Nine and Royz after that....

Kind of a long and patchy story (wow it’s really long why did I write so much I’m so sorry it’s so boring) but there isn't necessarily an exact moment I started listening to J-rock... only in the last year or so have I let Vkei fully consume my life so... back then it was only a side interest for me among all the other things ˊ꒳ˋ  from 2014 onwards I just found more and more bands as well as listening to a lot of johnny's and J-pop stuffs... >w> and the rest is historyyyy

2. List your current most favorite band(s).

bakuchikuuuuu forever and ever every moment of my waking life alwaysss till I dieeee //w/// and Dog in the PWO >:3 two very contrasting groups to say the leest but I have a wide breadth of faves hehe ;;w; I fell in love with Doggu super quickly and have been following them ever since, I've known them for a year now and they are 100% in my top 5 favourite bands ever ;u ; dems are my two main faves as it is right now but there are too many others to list that I have a lot of feelings for /;;w;//

Currently I also like listening to Hakujitsu no Yume... Pentagon are my children.... Piglow in Gloomy are really amazing also ;w;;

3. How many j-rock concerts have you been to? (If you haven’t been to any, which band would you like to see the most in the future?)

not many becos I am a baby and I have never travelled out of my home country to raibus ;;v; my first ever was Ancafe in 2014, when I was a weeby mess, and most recently Versailles in January 2017 :3c inbetween I’ve seen VAMPS (and alexandros) at a shared live @ ‘Japan Night’ which was a lil concert organised by HyperJapan, a convention here in uk ..can I count bands that I’ve seen at Hyper too..? ;;w; I’ll just count Vaniru because they were aight while Yuto and Leoniel lasted as a couple heheh >w>> and I also went to SuG’s raibu in 2015~

so that makes 6 i guess.. I am a bebe ;;

//come on Merry where u at with this europe tour??//

there are so so so many bands I wanna see live, and I would go to a couple more lives in London here and there but I always get attached to groups that are very Japan-based and that are very unlikely to make any overseas appearances ;v; and I don’t wanna spend a lot of monies on bands that I don’t know as well that occasionally visit //3///

4. Which j-rock band do you think is the most underrated?

Daizystripper o´ω｀o   They used to be a more popular with western peeps but I think a lot of people stopped listening to them a while ago an might not even realise that they're still active and tings ;; v; their debut with Victor might make it a little difficult for international fans though eheh but I wish they still had the support they seemed to have~ so many good jams ;  u ;

And everyone from Planet Child Music records needs more recognition and to be invited to more events ///u//

5. Which j-rock band do you think is the most overrated?

If I had to I'd say Vamps hhhhuu I thought that they were v good up until recently ;;w; I dunno I feel like the couple of newer songs have lost their power and originality... and no matter what I'll always think L'arc are infinitely better but some people think not //vv/// Vamps are always over here and in other countries too, whereas L'arc I feel are neglected a lot with world tours and overseas promotion and stuff when they deserve more love than vamps ;3; I mean.. 25 years going strong //u/ why dis Hyde come back to uk without vamps this time hhhh

6. Who is your ultimate bias in j-rock? Optionally: Post your most favorite picture(s) of them.

ahhhhh .. Aachan got me from the start ;; ﾉﾉ*ФωФ ;;ﾉﾉ ﾉﾉ                            

7. What is your most treasured j-rock related memory?

Um.. not that much has happened to me personally that I can really mention hehe >w>

Hizaki calling me cute at Hyper's meet & greet last year was probably the best thing that's acc happened to me ;;;;w;;;;;; It was the end of the day and I looked like a wreck, Hizaki saw me as I came up for cheki and said 'kawaii~' ////w// best memory heckk I mean Hizaki---- being called cute by Hizaki ;;;;;u; why dis I do not deserve (and obvs taking cheki with him was part of that good memory too >w>)

An Cafe was my first live, and I'll always remember that my one of my favourite singles is 'My heart leaps for 'C'' and when they played it after the encore I went insane hehe ;;; u ; that was a treasured moment for me because it was kind of surreal like 'oh wow a band that I love is playing one of my favourite songs is this real??' and ... since I was an hyperactive 15 year-old that moment just made me really excited ;v; I was singing along (horribly) to every lyric and bouncing up and down like crazy and I would not let that feeling go for a while //w/ ah to be young again ~~

But SuG is probably the best raibu memory ever ever. they played a very very small venue in London and it was literally the most intimate thing imaginable, you could touch everyone and Takecchi almost hit his head a few times on the lights above him ;;u; and even though I was in like, three rows of people away from the front, Chiyu's hand grazed mine for a second and that was the most special moment ;;w; Shinpei leaned into the audience for a group hug and Yuji and Chiyu were high-fiving and ruffling people's hair ///;w;/ it was such a long farewell with everyone touching hands and patting heads and it felt so nice and close, I thought we were really lucky to get such an intimate show ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄  

8. How do you support and enjoy j-rock the most? Buying CDs? Going to lives? Just full on going to Japan for it?

I buy Cd's if I can for bando that I really love and want to support, and at lives I buy at least one peice of merch every time too :3c and I'm trying to get into a habit of buying Cure if bands I like are featured >u> I accidentally end up following e v e r y o n e on twitter and just scroll thru liking posts if that counts as 'support' ? :'3

9. How does your family feel about this hobby of yours?  

My parents don't really mind, I end up showing my mama photos and videos and she understands my hype at everyone I think hehe, and I play cd's often so my parents hear J-rock a lot but don't complain~ we all have our own music collections now it’s so cute 〃▽〃 I talk about J-rock a lot like, I just ramble on mostly to myself because I have no-one else to talk to in the house so ;;u; my parents don't really listen that closely but ye, they don't mind and they're glad I'm into something different I guess :'3c

10.What is the craziest j-rock fandom story that you have?

idk what j-rock 'fandom' story means exactly,,, like, you heard the story from the fandom or the story is about the actual fandom itself..? ;;w; well actually I guess this is both haha this is the only story that I have worth telling and I only heard it a couple weeks ago but ;//u.//

A friend of a friend has connections with Mejibray’s MiA, and he messages her and lots of other peeps I’d imagine as MiA prob does~ and on one occasion MiA was sent a cute little (I say little but) Intimate Image that the 1 and only Yohio took of his peen and decided to share it around so other people could enjoy it obvs >>>ww.>> and he sent it to said friend, nice one >;3ccc thank u for showing me too I feel very privileged, too many bants I was dying ahh ..//www//// why dis MiA why dis......... poor Yohio ;; v; u don’t need to send dick pics to impress your senpai, kids ;;  /////; poor little child ;u;;

---yyyyeee I’m so boring das literally all I have apart from the most mediocre things like being jealous of people that get to go to meet&greets and have fun encounters and peeps that actually manage to catch picks at lives etc //u..../// 

Thank you for reading ♡