#and not even in a workflow way. just in a social way. but also yeah in a workflow way | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fourangers · 5 years ago

Text

Fate and Choices (ch.06)

Summary: When Naruto discovered who was going to be his soulmate, he jumped straight at this opportunity, looking forward to spending the rest of his life with his better half. Sasuke well…he was less eager in this regard though. NaruSasu. Soulmates tattoos. M-rated.

Chapter 05

AO3 link | ffnet link

--.--

Sasuke was checking the monthly chart about follower growth alongside the monthly expenses to boost their social media account when his brother called.

“Good morning otouto-kun. How are you doing so far by yourself, you need any help?”

“Morning. So far nothing of the tragic nature. Thanks for asking anyways.” He tilted his head to one side to steady his smartphone in between his ear and his left shoulder, while he used both hands to type on his laptop. “By the way, you met your soulmate already?”

“I did! He was waiting for me at the airport. A very fascinating individual, knowledgeable and has a keen sense of everything since he traveled across the globe, learned all different kinds of culture and society. I had a wondrous time talking with him.”

“That’s great.” Sasuke muttered.

“Also, he shares some long-distance ancestry with us! Apparently, his great-great grandmother is an Uchiha that detected that her soulmate lived in the Netherlands and migrated here. The only clue he has some Japanese genes might be the fact that he has more of an almond shaped eyes, but his hair is curly unlike ours.”

“Huh, really? Interesting.”

“We’re going to do a city tour in Amsterdam. I mentioned that I like seeing anything related to art and history, so he already programmed an entire schedule visiting Van Gogh’s museum and other great places.”

“I see that he’s not wasting one second in trying to get into your pants huh. Give me his number so I can tell him that if he ever dares to make any wrong move I’ll tear him into pieces.” Sasuke scowled, frown in his face as his fingers pressed on the buttons loudly.

He heard Itachi’s amused chuckle. “Otouto-kun, don’t worry about it. He really appears to be a kind man and I believe I’m a good judge of character. I’ll keep you and mom posted about all this, because I know you two will be nagging me no matter what.”

“Hn.”

Even despite his current reservations, it was refreshing and odd listening to Itachi’s upbeat voice. He was glad that his older brother was acting his own age for once, since he was forced to be more mature in his teenage years to defend his own mother and protect Sasuke. So it was nice hearing Itachi’s honest excitement, proper from a young man such as him, which was the main reason Sasuke curbed most sarcastic and critical remarks, not wanting to put a damper on Itachi’s mood.

“Talking about soulmates, how did you fare with yours, by the way?”

Sasuke almost bit his own tongue, coughing dryly.

“That bad?” Itachi questioned, apprehensive.

“No, actually…” Sasuke cleared his throat. “We’re going to try and go on some dates.”

“…”

Sasuke could almost feel Itachi’s smiling on the other side of the phone. “Nii-san, your sudden silence is somehow more infuriating than your usual smartass quips.”

“So you say. Anyways, I have to go for now. Call me if you have any questions Sasuke.”

⏤.⏤

Sasuke yawned, adjusting his laptop settings so it’d pair with the TV screen. Neji and his crew would be arriving soon to adjust the overall schedule and other general alignments. Nodding to himself, he went to the bathroom (those meetings tend to drag for hours), only to see Suigetsu adjusting his hair style, straightening his clothes.

“Suigetsu, what are you doing?” Sasuke deadpanned, raising an eyebrow as his friend continued to turn in all angles, trying to get the best look in front of the mirror.

“Well, Uzumaki is coming here today right? I’m sure that you already dumped him at this point of the story so he’s free for grabs! I’m definitely going to try asking him out.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to elucidate the whole situation but they heard the receptionist’s voice so Suigetsu was first to go towards the entrance, Sasuke trailing behind. He saw Suigetsu affably shaking hands with everyone, before changing his tune when he saw Naruto. He was definitely feeling up the blond’s biceps while they greeted each other.

Sasuke frowned, stepping in with a grunt. “Naruto, Neji, everyone. It’s nice to see you all again.”

Naruto was positioned so his back was facing him, instantly turning around with an exclaim. "Oh hey, Sasuke!"

Sighing, Sasuke controlled the urge to blush witnessing how Naruto's eyes brightened up, grin widening as their gazes locked together. That dumbass looked exactly like an overexcited puppy. Neji even patted the blond head twice, before shaking Sasuke's hand. “Nice to see you again. I hope our meeting wasn’t too much of a trouble for you.”

Sasuke nodded, stepping aside to let them in as they settled in the meeting room.

“So, first things first, I’d like to present Takahashi Ayumi-san. She’s going to be Shinrei’s account manager from now on.” Neji explained, as the aforementioned woman bowed respectfully, giving Sasuke her business card.

“Is that any reason for such a change?” Sasuke exchanged their cards, bowing back at her while he glanced towards Naruto. The blond man on the other hand, didn’t look troubled nor guilty, settling some of his own fears aside.

“Naruto is our main social media manager and we’re getting new cases for him to take care of, so I thought that it’d be better for him to focus solely on his tasks.” Neji said.

“I’ll still go with you to meet any possible sponsor, or give reports to your current ones. But anything related to your social media accounts will go through Ayumi-san from now on, to organize our workflow better.” Naruto filled in the rest of the speech, also opening his laptop. “So we’re also here to make the transition go smoothly, and she’ll be up to date with the overall demands and so on. You don’t have any problem about that, right Sasuke?”

Sasuke shrugged, as everyone concentrated on discussing the rest of the procedure, covering all details. Once they finished the meeting and Neji’s team departed, Sasuke returned to his office, seeing Suigetsu’s roguish smile.

“Hey, I managed to get Uzumaki’s number. Well, obviously he still thinks it’s work related but…I’ll turn things around. I gotta tell you, I had a glimpse of a bright future when I saw him bending down to pick some paper, that’s a nice juicy butt that I haven’t seen in a while. Man, I just want to get in between that round asscheeks and thrust.”

Sasuke had enough. “Naruto and I are dating.”

Blinking, Suigetsu slackened his jaw then uttered out. “What?”

“Naruto. And I. Are dating.” Sasuke spelled out with gritted teeth.

“Again, what? He’s your soulmate, isn’t he?” Suigetsu saw how Sasuke clenched his mouth, frown in place. “I don’t get it, after all the time when you kept complaining about how the soulmate system sucks and you’ll never get together with your soulmate because it’s a waste of time and so on and so forth you’re dating him? Am I missing something?”

"It's a long story, let's just say we talked, and I'm going to try, see if it's going to work."

Suigetsu stared in awe, before snorting at last. "I knew you wouldn't last long. I mean, when you have a soulmate like that, you'd want to call first dibs. I would do that too if I were you."

"We're just dating, not having sex like some kind of horny animals." Sasuke muttered, glowering back.

"Right, as if part of the whole dating business doesn't have people fucking like horny animals." He quirked a haughty smirk, wagging his eyebrows. “Aw fuck, I was getting really turn up in asking him out! Maybe we should both try getting him on dates, and then make him choose between one of us⏤”

“Suigetsu.”

“Right right, jeez.” Suigetsu raised his hands in mock surrender. “You don’t have to get so defensive. I won’t make any moves, whatever.”

Sasuke snorted, noticing the message ping showing Naruto asking him to go to the lobby once again.

“So, you hungry?” Naruto beamed, while he was busy typing on his smartphone. “I asked Neji to stay for a while longer so we can go out for lunch.”

“Lunch sounds like a good idea.”

“Great! You’ll lead the way, but please don’t choose any expensive restaurant because I’m on a budget ok. Don’t pick anything weird that will make me taste shark semen or some weird shit like that.”

Sasuke smirked. “Actually, I’ve heard that in China it’s a good aphrodisiac so⏤”

“Yeah, see, that’s what I meant.” Naruto poked his arm repeatedly. “I just want to eat some Ramen for all I care.”

He ended up choosing a traditional Japanese restaurant, specialized in Teishoku (set meal). While they were waiting for the food to arrive, his curiosity got better of him so he questioned. “So, why did you and Neji ended up giving the task of managing Shinrei to Takahashi-san?”

“Hm, well…it’s something that I thought over this weekend. Now that we’re dating, that means it’s gonna be more difficult setting work and dating apart right? I don’t want to end up discussing with you over something work-related while we’re on a date, or flirt with you while we’re talking about work. Plus, I might get frustrated about having to solve some issues about Shinrei and then out of nowhere you might send something personal on LINE. It’s those things here and there that makes me afraid that it might hinder our relationship and I don’t want this to happen to us. So I talked with Neji, he suggested this solution and Ayumi-san was on board to help me out.” Naruto explained, while he adjusted the napkin in his lap. “You don’t mind that, right?”

“Not at all, I actually agree with your idea. Never expected that a usuratonkachi like you would be so thoughtful.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, then broadened a playful grin. "You know what does that mean too, right? That I'm free to send you dick pics, all to my heart's content."

"That also mean I'm free to block you once again if you step out of line."

“Aw, you wouldn’t do that, would you? Not after you accepted going on the Best Date Ever in History!”

“You’re pretty confident with your dating skills.” Sasuke shook his head in amusement. “I trust you already came up with a detailed itinerary then?”

“Maybe, but I’m gonna keep this as a surprise.”

Sasuke stared nonchalantly towards Naruto’s cheshire smile, snorting softly. Their food soon arrived, they enjoyed the fragrant dishes in between chuckles and teasing remarks. It was hardly a chore getting in tune with Naruto, lowering his barriers. It’s been so long he felt so relaxed around someone aside from his mother and older brother.

While they were going back to Sasuke’s office, Naruto read a message, raising an eyebrow.

“Huh. You know your employee Hozuki-san? He scheduled a meeting this wednesday but he just cancelled now, telling me that he fixed whatever issue he wanted to talk about, but when I asked, he just said that it’s nothing big. That’s weird, you know anything about it?”

Sasuke smirked, but schooled his expression to a neutral one. “Yes, but don’t worry about it, usuratonkachi. I assure you that Suigetsu wasn’t asking for anything important that really needed you help.”

“Hm…” Naruto wrinkled his nose, tilting his head to one side. “You seem to know him pretty well, he’s been working in your company for a while?”

“Actually, I’ve known him since college, I decided to ask him to work with me when Nii-san and I founded our company.”

“That’s cool, how did you guys meet?”

“We used to have a lot of classes in common, and then we formed our group of friends.” Sasuke muttered, recalling his memories. “Crazy friend, but at least helped me hook up with some guys.”

Naruto stopped walking at once.

Sasuke also halted his steps, turning around with a quirked eyebrow.

The blond man strode menacingly, glowering. “You did what? After what happened between us?!”

Seeing the indignant expression on his face, Sasuke instantly understood that he stepped on a landmine. He began a well-rehearsed speech. “Well, technically, at that time we weren’t in a relationship and also we were just young hormonal teenagers, so officially, there’s nothing that really binds us together so…”

“What the fuck Sasuke, what did you want?” Naruto snapped back. “Some official document, registered in the government with our signatures, stamps and even some blood pact for some special effect? We didn’t have any extra-official but I thought that, well, since we were in this together…”

“If there’s any consolation the number of hook-ups is under one single digit, so can we drop this.” Sasuke snarled, tensing his shoulders.

Naruto stared back incredulously, before giving out a sardonic scoff and crossed his arms. His eyes glanced up and down towards Sasuke, growling.

“Oh, so that’s how you justify yourself by cheating on me.”

“Again, back when we were teenagers, we’ve done nothing but fooling around together.” Sasuke emphasized, annoyed. “I honestly thought that you have done the same, considering that we lost contact while in college.”

“Sure, okay, cool, thanks a lot for pointing that I’m a fucking idiot for wasting my chances while I was waiting for you like a fool.” Naruto’s voice was bitter and angry, taking Sasuke off guard from this uncharacteristic behavior. “I should have followed after the first vagina or dick available while I was in college. Hey, maybe I should do this right now, to pick up since I’m behind.”

Whatever tight control Sasuke was attempting to reign in, snapped apart as he glared towards Naruto’s rebellious face. He knotted his shirt into his fists, Naruto mirrored this movement, wrinkling the expensive fabric. He growled. “I thought we were in agreement that we're dating now. A suggestion, might I add, that you gave it to me."

"Well, that was before I discovered that you probably slept with half of the campus or where else more. So sorry if I'm not taking this piece of news all too well." Naruto said with gritted teeth.

Sasuke huffed. "I already told you, it was only under one single dig⏤"

"Who the fuck cares, one, one thousand⏤! You cheated, that's what happened!" Naruto pushed Sasuke away, throwing his hands to the air. "You know what, fuck this shit, I'm outta here!" He turned around, already stomping away from him and yelled. "Have a nice fucking day, asshole!"

Sasuke clenched his jaw, his body tensing to pursue Naruto but he dug his heels down. He better wait till Naruto would cool his head. Who’d have thought that such pleasant lunch would end up this badly?

⏤.⏤

Naruto was ignoring him.

At first, Sasuke let it slide, waiting till Naruto would bounce back and forget about what had happened. However, days had passed and after few tentative messages were sent, receiving nothing from Naruto’s end.

On the other hand, this situation just made him mount considerable respect over Naruto. Only one week had passed and Sasuke was resisting the urge to barge in Naruto’s apartment to stop this silent treatment he’s suffering. And Naruto waited for seven years?? Sasuke resigned himself not to pressure Naruto after everything he had done in the past.

For such an easygoing man, that dumbass could surely hold some grudge.

Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to pester Naruto, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t gatter intel from other sources.

“So…how’s Naruto lately?”

Neji stared unsurprised while Sasuke drank his beer, glancing sideways. “He’s acting all the same, cheerful, energetic and everything. Why are you asking me if you can contact him anyways?”

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. “He didn’t tell you what happened a few weeks ago?”

Neji hummed, smiling. “You know that Naruto opens himself just to you. I mean, maybe Gaara and Shikamaru occasionally, but yes. Mostly you.” Then, he sighed, pouring more beer to his cup. “Though after years working with him, I could see that beneath all that smiles, he’s angry over something. And after you asked how he was, just gave me the easiest confirmation about my suspicions.”

“Hn.”

“I know I’m going to regret asking this…what happened?”

Rubbing his temples, Sasuke paused in contemplation before confessing. “I told him that I had some past flings back in college.”

For the record, Neji used a total of five seconds to show an incredulous expression before he mumbled. “For someone who used to be the genius back in school and have a master degree, you can be pretty stupid sometimes.”

Sasuke glared.

“Why did you do that?” Neji asked.

“We were just chatting, I said it without really considering much. I honestly thought he wouldn’t make a big case over it.” Sasuke huffed. “And well, I thought that since we haven’t seen each other for over seven years, Naruto would have his own flings too.”

“Yes, that’s the stupid part I’m talking about. You can’t expect that everyone would do the same journey as you did.”

“I know, which is why I’m patiently waiting to amend the mistake I did. I even sent him messages, writing that I’m sorry and all the bullshit you’re expecting me to do.”

Neji didn’t really trust Sasuke’s input. He snatched the smartphone out of Sasuke’s hand, scrolling down while he mentally shook his head. “Right. I’m only reading ‘Naruto’ ‘I can explain’ ‘stop sulking and talk to me’ ‘Naruto, it’s been five days you dumbass’ ah…I’m not finding any ‘Sorry for everything’ here. Perhaps you wrote ‘Let me grovel on your feet if it makes you happy’? Ah nope, nothing of this sort.”

Sasuke did not appreciate Neji’s sarcasm, grabbing his phone back. “It’s been more than a week and he still hasn't answered any of my messages.”

“Well…have you considered calling him?”

⏤.⏤

Usually Naruto was too lazy to answer phone calls, since most of the time it’s telemarketing or scammers trying to get his credit card. Suffice to say, he was flabbergasted seeing Sasuke’s contact buzzing on screen.

Sighing, he stared at his smartphone, hot anger burning on his gut. He willed it down, grumbling. “What.”

“…” Sasuke bit his lower lip, mumbling. “I see you’re still angry over what we talked about a week ago.”

Naruto closed his eyes, dropping himself on the sofa as he responded. “No, not really. I was actually kind of waiting you’d talk to me.”

“Well.”

“Yeah?”

Sasuke chugged some more beer down his throat, clearing his throat. “I don’t know what exactly I should say to make us return to the way it was. I can’t change it, it’s all part of the past.”

Naruto groaned, messing his head. “I know, I get it. It’s just⏤now I can’t get the idea that you got involved with other guys in my head. Were they one time thing? I mean…did you do it to satisfy some curiosity about how different it’d be having sex with someone who is not your soulmate? Or did you do it because you wanted a relationship with someone else? Or were you bored⏤”

“Naruto, I’m not answering any of these. It’ll only make you angrier.” Sasuke said in a quieter tone.

“That’s not fair.”

“It is, because it’s about my life, and my life only. I’ll reveal if I want to, but you got no involvement in it.”

“How so? But before you disappeared out of nowhere, we were⏤”

“We’re just two teenage boys who had nothing definite aside from two matching tattoos. We’re going on circles, this is going nowhere.”

Naruto stomped angrily, standing up. “That’s your fucking problem, you know. You used a loophole, used the fact that we didn’t cement anything before you just disappeared out of my life. You were always such a manipulative asshole, sometimes I⏤AAAARGH! I just want to reach your fucking neck and shake you. Really hard.”

Sasuke listened to the furious inhales and exhales, and mumbled. “I will…leave you alone if you prefer⏤ ”

“Yeah, I prefer it.” Naruto paced around the room, scratching his head. “We definitely went on different paths because we had different points of view. I still believed in the soulmate system, so the wildest thing I did in college is trying to steal some statues on campus. You got disappointed with this system, so there was nothing stopping you going after some other guys.”

“Still…” Sasuke clutched his smartphone tighter. “I admit that I hurt you. And I’m sorry about that. Like I’ve said, there’s nothing that I can change about the past, aside that I promise I won’t do it again. And if there’s anything I can do to make you feel better…just ask.”

“…HMMMMmmmmMMmmmmmm.”

Sasuke knew Naruto enough to understand that particular tone. “Anything that is not outrageous or sexual in nature, get your mind out of the gutter dumbass.”

“Not even you wearing a sailor fuku?” Naruto practically singsonged, his mind also picturing Sasuke with stilettos.

“I’m glad that even with all the current resentment you have on me, you still have enough imagination to come up with the most ludicrous ideas.” Sasuke teased back.

“Yeah yeah. Sasuke…” Naruto raised his eyes to stare at the ceiling, his body relaxing. “I’m still not giving up with the whole date thing, ok.”

Sasuke released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I’m glad.”

To tell the truth, even despite some reservations and fears, Sasuke was looking forward to starting this relationship with Naruto, only to have it temporarily halted. But he’s willing to take the backseat until things would calm down if necessary.

Taken aback from Sasuke’s honesty, Naruto scratched his head. “So, you willing to wait some a little bit more? I guess I just gotta organize this new information in my head.”

“Sure.”

⏤.⏤

On the next day, Sasuke received a message from Naruto.

You free tonight?

Bewildered, since he originally considered that Naruto wanted more days to restart their date, he answered nevertheless.

Yes.

Ok, great. I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby from your office. I’ll be there in half an hour.

Sure.

Oh. Naruto stopped typing before sending this message. And bring your business cards. Tons of it.

Sasuke’s confusion further escalated, but he obeyed nevertheless. Naruto was waiting him with crossed arms, tapping his right foot.

“Hey.” He analyzed him, looking up and down before shrugging. “Alright, you look fine enough. But use this jacket instead.” He threw it in Sasuke's direction and he caught it with ease.

Black eyes studied the smooth fabric, clean cuts and the tag showing that it's a renowned brand, which all points to the fact that this tuxedo jacket was pretty expensive. “Where are we going?”

“Hm?” Naruto mumbled, his gaze fixed on his smartphone.

“Where are we going?” Sasuke repeated the question. Naruto never cared for appearances whenever they went out, thoroughly ignoring all the malicious glares and whispers focused on his gaudy orange jumpsuit and loud voice. But this time he was wearing formal attire (that looked pretty good on him, actually), also ensuring Sasuke would be decent looking.

“Yeah, I’m comparing if we’re going to be faster using uber or going to the subway. There are some points of heavy traffic, but nothing too drastic. I don’t want to ruin our clothes too since now the subway is definitely crowded so…yeah. Using uber. He’s arriving in three minutes.”

“Okay.” Sasuke waited while Naruto was still focused on the phone, muttering. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

Naruto gave him a lopsided grin. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that.”

“So. Do you intend to give me any explanation?”

“Nope.” Naruto intervened before Sasuke could further inquire. “Because I’m still angry about you.”

Then why did this dumbass go through all this effort to go out with him…Sasuke’s head was full of question marks but he expressed with a baffled glare. But that only caused Naruto to laugh in amusement, patting him on the shoulder while they entered the car.

On the course of the trip, Naruto continued to use his smartphone, not striking any kind of conversation. And as much as Sasuke valued quietness, seeing the usual blabbermouth behaving in such uncharacteristic way was unsettling to say the least.

“…Do you intend to talk to me any time or are you going to keep on this silent treatment till the end of this date?”

Naruto snorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m still considering it. Why?”

“If you’re going to act like that, I’d rather if we cancel everything then. I’d rather be alone than submit to whatever ill-intent you have stored for me.”

“Oooooh you’re making me sound like a villain, I like it.” Naruto grinned from Sasuke’s roll of eyes. “Don’t worry about it okay. It’s gonna be a surprise, trust me.”

“…hn.”

Sasuke vaguely recognized the tall buildings and elegant architecture, noticing that the car stopped in front of a high-end hotel. Naruto stepped outside, moving his head to signalize him to do the same, as the blond man was reading some instructions on his smartphone, following the sign arrows.

They arrived in what appears to be some kind of party, he could hear a constant buzzing even behind the huge mahogany doors. There were several security bodyguards, as well as a reception desk at the entrance, so Naruto approached while they questioned his name.

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

They bowed politely, confirming his name on the list and asked. “And the gentleman behind you?”

“He’s with me. His name is Uchiha Sasuke.”

They opened the doors, and his vision was suddenly inundated with bright lights, women wearing glittering dresses or kimonos, all men wearing formal attire. Waiters moved around smoothly carrying all kinds of tasty dishes, beverages and champagne. There was a classic ambient music echoing in the opulent room, and when he focused his eyes at the center stage, everything became clear when he read the huge banner:

Uzumaki Tsunade-sama for Tokyo’s mayor

He deadpanned back to Naruto. “Your aunt’s party? Really?”

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “I couldn’t say no, she’d kill me and you know that!”

“Fine, then why am I here too?”

“Well, even considering the current situation between us, I have to admit that you’re still pretty entertaining so I won’t get bored while we’re in this thing.”

“Glad to be at service.” Sasuke replied sardonically.

They heard a familiar shout.

“Naruto!” A blond woman came rushing towards them, widening a smile. “I’m glad you arrived. Well, here he is everyone, the mastermind behind my social media campaign!”

Naruto and Sasuke were swarmed by a group of men from all ages, gazes sharp and shrewd.

“You said that Naruto-kun is your nephew right? It’s my pleasure to meet such a talented young man.” One older man approached, offering his hand. Of all the people in that circle, he appeared to be the most astute.

“Thank you, but I’ve done nothing out of ordinary.” Naruto replied, shaking hands.

“What, really? That’s my nephew alright, so humble.” Tsunade squeezed his shoulder, beaming. “You know that due to your social media strategies I could get in close contact with the younger demographic.”

“Yes, and it’s thanks to her that she’s the frontrunner in this year’s election! The first female mayor in Tokyo. We’re looking forward to seeing you ruling this city.”

“Let’s not count the eggs before they hatch, the election will only happen in the next two months.” Tsunade warned. “Also, we don’t know who might be listening to this conversation.”

“True, but it’s still very impressive.” He responded, giving a significant glance towards the blond man. “Is Naruto-kun available to help other parliaments to win some elections?”

Naruto huffed silently, though only Sasuke could pick that subtle movement. “Sorry, I work only in the private sector. Helping my aunt is due to the fact I know her political history, so I know that I’m aiding someone I trust with my life.”

“Yes, too bad right, Honda-san.” There was an indignant twitch on Tsunade’s eye, as she focused on a newer topic. “Oh, I see you brought Uchiha-kun.”

Naruto threw his arm around Sasuke’s, grinning. “Yeah, a nice date with my soulmate.”

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow in response, but it garnered enough interest in the group.

“Oh? Your soulmate? Congratulations, I gave up trying to find mine years ago. But well, now that I’m on my 2nd divorce, I always wonder how wonderful it’d be if I got married to my soulmate.”

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged significant glances so Sasuke stepped in. “Actually, our Uchiha clan is renowned for finding anyone’s soulmate over the centuries, and now we developed a technology to match the soulmates all over the world faster.”

“He found me using these powers, as many others, it’s an ancient knowledge only their clan possesses.” Naruto further explained, though he could see his aunt narrowing her eyes.

“That’s really interesting. I would like to talk more about this. Here, my card.” They exchanged business cards as other people in their circle flocked around them, collecting Sasuke’s cards.

“Well…Naruto, let’s get some food for you while we get our conversation up to speed, right.” Tsunade made a face of ‘you better obey me or else’, so with a shudder, Naruto obeyed his aunt.

They walked to a more secluded place, so Naruto was first to protest. “You didn’t ask me to go to this party just so you can throw me more politicians to be his social media manager right?”

“Of course not, you really think I want to share my golden egg with everyone else?” Tsunade snorted, crossing her arms. “That Honda-san, I knew he was keeping an eye on you, I wouldn’t imagine that he’d have such audacity in asking right in front of my face, that old geezer…Anyways.” She smoothed out her glower, looking concerned towards her nephew. “Brat. I thought you were still angry over some things your soulmate had done back in college.”

Naruto glanced down, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, I still am but…this party will be good for his company.”

Tsunade stared, then unceremoniously whacked the upside of his head.

“Ow! What the hell, old hag?” Naruto yowled, his hands nursing the painful spot.

“You deserved this. You really need to stop being too generous.” She harrumphed, placing her hands on her hips.

Blue eyes blinked, pointing out a bit baffled. “Um, usually people see this as a positive thing.”

“Not so positive when people use this to their advantage.” Tsunade sighed, smoothing the sides of his shoulders and squeezed them thoughtfully. “Be careful okay?”

Naruto gazed back, wordlessly nodding. Some of Tsunade’s staffers called her, so she walked away while the blond man went back to find Sasuke. He was talking with a new group of people, spotting him from afar as he whispered once Naruto positioned himself next to him. “That took a while. I thought I was supposed to entertain you, not random strangers.”

“Sorry about that, my aunt wanted to talk about some things.” Naruto shook hands with everyone in vicinity, scurrying them aside as everyone went on their own way. “Did you manage to get a lot of new contacts?”

“Yes, and even some possible businessmen that might buy some of Shinrei’s stock.” Sasuke replied, smiling in such a contented way that caused Naruto to beam in return. “Thanks for giving me this opportunity.”

“No problem, glad I could help you out.”

“It’s roughly 8 o’clock right now, I’m sure you’re dying to eat some dinner⏤” On this cue, Naruto’s stomach decided to growl. Loudly. Sasuke rolled his eyes. “There are dinner tables settled in front of the stage, I suspect they’ll call us to sit there once the food is ready.”

“Yeah, thank all gods. I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow. But it’s probably one of the fancy shmancy restaurant, they’ll probably give me some food the size of my pinkie telling me that it’s some reinvention of Japanese cuisine.”

“Sounds like something right up my alley. You’re the one who likes to eat junk food like Ramen.” Sasuke smirked.

“Ramen is comfort food and one of the main staple of Japanese food, how dare you diss them!” Naruto grumbled, when the waiters asked them to go their respective tables, redirecting to their seats. Considering his close parentage with Tsunade, they placed him right in front of the main stage, sitting in the same table with what they could recognize that those people were very influential and powerful politicians.

One of Tsunade’s secretary whispered something on Naruto’s ear, so he excused himself, bowing politely. In a few more minutes the room went dark and strong flashlights focused on Tsunade, who stood behind a podium.

“Hello everyone, thank you for participating in this beautiful event. I’m honored sharing this special moment with all my friends, allies, comrades. People who share this common goal with me and will bring everyone to victory. Others at some point have its fate intertwined with mine and now will help me to reach such success.” Tsunade’s voice was calm and commanding, bewitching all in vicinity. “Fate commands in many different twists and turns in our lives, making us grieve, laugh and learn. I’d like to believe that my fate has given me many obstacles to strengthen myself and grow. My late husband was the one who was interested in politics, and once he was murdered due to skirmishes with Yakuza, I inherited his will. My dearest little sister unfortunately passed away from a terrible disease but blessed me to take care of this bright young man, Naruto.”

She turned around, arm raised as Naruto approached her, bowing to the audience as he stood next to her.

“My nephew helped me in this campaign and I’m happy to say that we have currently 65% intention for votes⏤” Tsunade read on her iPad. “And I’m the leader to win Tokyo’s election that will be held in the next two months. Thank you everyone! Here’s a reminder to everyone who is and was challenged by fate, those who are still struggling and may we bring them to a brighter future!”

She raised her glass as everyone mirrored her, chanting together.

“Uzumaki-sama for mayor!”

⏤.⏤

“Maaaannnn. No matter how many times I was forced to go to these kinds of parties, it’s awkward as fuck just keep on standing there next to my aunt, and having to put that fake smile whenever she made me talk with other politicians.” Naruto groaned, while they were walking to the subway station.

“Hm, really? You behaved pretty well considering that you're usually a spazz, usuratonkachi.”

“One of my aunt’s secretary, Shizune-neechan gave me most tips. It was the most attention I could get since my aunt was, you know.” Naruto shrugged awkwardly. “Getting all busy being our town’s mayor and climbing in the political scheme. I mean, she raised me the best she could, but I guess it wasn’t enough.”

“I see, this is also the reason you were so fascinated being a pain in the ass and nagging me wherever I go back when we were kids.” Sasuke snorted when Naruto gave a squawk of indignation.

The blond man reconsidered and responded. “Maybe, I guess. We were the only kids with no friends back in school so I wanted to show you that I was there.”

“I suppose it worked. There wasn’t a day where I wasn’t forced to participate in your ludicrous plans of mischief.”

“It was entertaining!”

“You certainly entertained me better at the end of high school.”

Naruto snorted. “Yeah. Good ol’ times.”

“Is reminiscing those memories good enough for you to dismiss the current anger you have on me?”

Their steps diminished to a quiet halt, Naruto turned around to gaze at his childhood friend. Under the soft glow of street light, Sasuke looked austere, solemn though his eyes shadowed some bashfulness and guilt.

Naruto exhaled tired, muttering. “I’m still…⏤not as much as before but maybe there is some bitterness lingering. Sasuke, now I get why I couldn’t forgive you right off the bat. It’s not because you slept with other guys…”

A black eyebrow was raised and he chuckled, waving his hand in negative.

“No, it’s not what you’re thinking, I didn’t like that you got involved with other men, but it’s not the main reason. Sasuke, you didn’t give me any satisfaction when you went to college, you didn’t call me or message me something like ‘we’re over’ or ‘I want some time for myself so let’s be free to pursue other things’, so I was stuck in limbo. And, even regarding how much you don’t believe in the soulmate system, I thought that…considering that we know each other forever, you’d at least inform me.”

“I know. I regret not doing this, hurting you in the process. However, I cannot change the past, all I can promise is that I will correct my mistakes.” Sasuke promised.

Naruto nodded. “Another thing, is that what you said to me about the flaws of the soulmate system really made me change my point of view. I could tell that the fact I was angry is solely my own feelings, but another part wanted to forgive you. I wanted to analyze if this part is because you’re my soulmate or it’s also part of my own self.”

“And your conclusion would be?”

Naruto chortled, shrugging. “50/50, maybe. Sometimes leaning more to my own emotions. But I wasn’t sure. That’s why I took more than a week to talk to you.”

“And when am I going to get back to your good graces?” Sasuke wondered, and they restarted walking.

“I think I tortured you enough after tonight. I’ll be back planning the Best Date ever in History.”

Sasuke sighed in relief, a comfortable silence falling between them while they walked in the deserted street. He was guiding Naruto to the subway station, but took a detour to a darker corner that he knew no onlooker would bother them there. He stopped, staring towards the blond man.

“What?” Naruto muttered, a little unnerved from the piercing eyes.

“I’m impressed that you still hadn’t used your usual old trick of poking me on the shoulder and surprising me with a kiss.”

“I said that I’m not going to torture after tonight, but the day hasn’t turned yet. So I’m still in the angry mode.” Naruto grinned. “It’s a punishment for not being a good boy in the latest days.”

Snorting, Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Good boy? I wore this jacket you threw at me, I behaved well as your date in that party, I was exceptionally so good, that I’m sure I deserve a gold star.”

“Yeah, but I’m still smarting with the whole you cheating on me thing, that you got a demotion from childhood sweethearts to first daters. And while I was sure you were gonna get back to my good graces eventually ‘cuz I don’t hold grudges forever Sasuke, I needed some gradual steps till we’ll get to that much needed direction.”

“Fine. At least it’s over after tonight.” Sasuke concurred, smirking. “Do I at least deserve one kiss on this first date?”

Naruto peered back with increasing suspicion, then consented, giving a short kiss on his cheek.

Sasuke scoffed in derision. “Hm, I’m sure that even kids in middle school gave more significant kisses to their crushes than you just did right now.”

“Whaaa⏤wait a minute you bastar⏤” Naruto’s incoming diatribe was interrupted with Sasuke’s lips against his own, hands snaking around to grip his torso.

Naruto took a second in shock before melting in his arms, breathing out a happy sigh as he pushed forward, deepening the kiss. Surrounded by familiar senses and new ones, he explored the hard edges of Naruto’s body, scrawny arms now filling with muscular ones, though his mouth remained soft and pliant, always inviting to taste some more. When Naruto laced his hands behind his neck, tongue tracing over his lips, sliding in and wrapping with his own, Sasuke couldn’t contain the shiver in excitement, moaning.

After countless minutes kissing, lost in their own world, they retreated for a bit, Sasuke’s taste persisted in his mouth, making him lick his lips. Moist mouth softly caressed his own, whispering.

“See? This is how you were supposed to kiss me on our first date.”

Naruto’s cheeks flamed red, but he managed to roll his eyes, disentangling himself from Sasuke. “Whatever. See you later bastard.”

He turned around ready to walk his way before a hand held his arm and spun him back to Sasuke, receiving another peck on his lips. The light touch was innocent but when Sasuke released him, his stomach fluttered when he witnessed the heated gaze and the playful smirk.

“See you later dumbass.” Sasuke waved him, walking back to the brighter street. “I’ll be taking a bus, the subway station is on your left.”

Naruto grumbled with himself, cursing about stupid sexy assholes and the habit of making everything a competition.

He smiled all the way back to his home.

Chapter 07

⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤

AN: I’m sure that you guys are wondering “So Itachi’s soulmate is…” Yeah, he’s Shisui. I didn’t want to make his name a mystery, I just didn’t find a space in the dialogue for Itachi to tell Sasuke his name.

Onto good news. The story is shaping a little bit better, so my estimate is that it’ll take roughly 10 to 12 chapters long. I have all the sub-plots and main plot ready in my head, I just have to organize to sound more concise…

I guess what’s interesting in this story is about two people who know the other one so well but has to relearn to fall in love with his other half.

The most difficult part was writing the kiss. Not the act itself but it’s just that Naruto and Sasuke are officially japanese in this era, that means that Japanese people are usually way more reserved in PDA. Sasuke, on the other hand, doesn’t care about public opinion, which was why I was more ok with him initiating, and he also waited till the street was deserted and dark and went to a corner. I researched a little and in recent years Japanese are more ok with light PDA, but generally kissing (and long deep kissing) is frowned upon.

#NaruSasu #SasuNaru #snstext #sn fic #sns fic #snsfic #drabble

12 notes · View notes

yourmandevine · 5 years ago

Text

Some stuff that made me happy in 2020, in no particular order

God send you no greater loss. It’s something my grandmother said a lot — a bit of highly Irish Catholic wisdom intended to remind you, warmly but sharply, that whatever you’re currently suffering through isn’t all that bad compared to what lots of other people are dealing with. That it probably isn’t too much to complain about, in the grand scheme of things. That you should, instead, be grateful for what you’ve got, big and small and everything in between.

God sent a great many people a great many unfathomable losses this year, and as hard as it felt at times, our family wasn’t among them; we’re lucky, in the big picture. In the past, people have recommended I try writing those reasons down, to give myself a list of stuff to be thankful for, for the times it’s tough to summon up the gratitude. I figured the end of the year was as good a time as any to make that list, to highlight the stuff that helped me get through this year — the reasons big, small, and in between.

So: here goes.

Peanut butter and jelly

I haven’t counted how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I’ve eaten since March 11, which is good, because that would be an absurd thing to do, and a sure sign that I have succumbed to a very specific kind of madness. It’s also good, though, because I would undoubtedly be ashamed by the number; the figure would be titanic, like the unsinkable ship of same name, or the iceberg that sunk it.

Or, at least, I would be ashamed under normal circumstances. This fuckin’ year required whatever flotation device you could find, and you know what I found in the fridge and cupboard? A couple of slices of bread, some strawberry jam, and some goddamn Skippy.

Need a weird mid-morning “brunch” after not having breakfast because you went right from waking up to remote school with the 6-year-old? Crank up a PB&J with that third cup of coffee. Need to pack something in the diaper bag to feed everyone while you’re out at the playground for the afternoon? Stack ��em up, son. Need a late snack after working the overnight shift filing weird bubble playoff columns? Three letters, one ampersand, one love.

I need to eat better in 2021. But I kind of needed to eat sort of like shit to get through 2020, and time and again, when your man needed it most, PB&J was there.

Sunday night Zoom sessions with college friends

I know that most of us started something like this back in March; I’m not sure how many have stuck with it. I hope the answer is “a lot,” because honestly, knowing that I’m going to end the week by seeing a few friends — some here in Brooklyn but mostly beyond our reach for safety’s sake, some who’ve moved away — has felt like a stabilizing agent on more than a few occasions. It’s important, and no small blessing, to have people in your life who really know you, weird messy ugly bits and all, and in front of whom you can let everything go.

That gallery view’s provided a place to vent, to seethe, to laugh, to cry, and to try to find some semblance of center before heading back into another week. I’m grateful for it, and for the people in those little boxes. Except for the time they reminded me that, when I was 18, I was pretty sure I was a Pacey, and they were all extremely confident I was a Dawson. They were right, but still: a bitter pill to swallow, then and now.

Olivia calling herself “Dr. Bloody”

She took out her little toy doctor kit and just turned into a cackling villain.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dan Devine (@yourmandevine)

Deeply disconcerting, yes, but also adorable.

All Fantasy Everything

What got me in the door was the conceit: three very funny stand-up comedians (Ian Karmel, David Gborie, Sean Jordan), often with a very funny guest but sometimes without, pick some topic or another and engage in a fantasy draft of their favorite aspects or representations of that topic. (It is, crucially, a serpentine draft. Now what is that? That’s a great question.) Some favorite examples: Mikes; Words That You Think Make You Sound Smart, vols. 1 and 2; Things You Yell After You Dunk on Someone; Fictional Athletes; Crimes We’d Like to Commit. Yeah. It’s that kind of podcast.

What kept me around was the friendship. Listen to an episode and it becomes really clear really quickly just how much the three hosts love each other, how much fun they have being around each other and making one another laugh. The warmth radiates, just pours out of the speakers; in a year where I sorely needed some good vibes, I appreciated my regular check-ins with the Good Vibes Gang to just ... unclench for an hour and a half or so.

Drinking beer

OK, I’ll admit: This doesn’t sound great for me. It’s true, though. I really like beer. (We brewed one in our kitchen, which I realize is something of a “bearded guy in Brooklyn” cliche, but here we are. It was exciting to complete a project, and it tasted OK-ish.) At some points this year, it didn’t feel like there wasn’t much to look forward to, and sometimes drinking some High Lifes or Narragansett tall boys — with my wife in our living room, with friends on the computer, whatever — helped take the edge off a shitty day/week/month/year. I look forward to being able to do that outside with people again.

The Good Place

I am sure some very smart cultural critics and political thinkers and social revolutionaries have forwarded compelling arguments for why this show is Bad, Actually, because that seems to be more or less true about most things, whether because said thing is Actually Bad or because the economics of the attention economy on the internet functionally necessitate the composition and publication of pretty much every position on pretty much every issue, and especially ones that present a counterargument for why you shouldn’t like the thing you like, and might be kind of a piece of shit for liking it. But I liked this half-hour comedy about the way the universe might be put together, why we should try to take better care of each other, and how doing so might be a pretty great way to take better care of ourselves.

Andrew let me write about it a little bit for a big project we did before the series finale aired, which was really nice of him. I found myself thinking about this part a lot this year:

I also thought a lot about Peeps Chili, but that happens every year.

Taking pictures of my dog

Check out this flumpy goddamn champion:

“Lugar is a good boy” is the main takeaway here. They don’t all have to be complicated.

Schitt’s Creek

I know we’re not alone in this, but we inhaled this show this year. A half-hour comedy about people being laid low, learning how to deal with who they actually are, and finding some grace and community and opportunities for growth kind of hit the spot, I guess.

One of the most wholesale enjoyable ensemble comedy casts I can remember; Catherine O’Hara was already in Cooperstown, but what she made with Moira Rose only polishes her plaque. I’ll never be able to describe with any specificity the thing Chris Elliott does, but I know it has made me laugh since I was a child too young to understand the Letterman bits or see Cabin Boy in the theater, and it’s probably going to make me laugh until I am dead.

I love that people who, for years, never got to see themselves or people like them on screen got to see David Rose on screen and maybe recognize themselves a little bit. The idea that seeing the David/Patrick relationship might make them maybe feel a little more at home, a little safer and more whole, makes me happy. Sad, about the before, but happy, about the now and the what comes next.

Past that, I just love how what was ostensibly a family-and-friends production for a Canadian channel just got absolutely everything right—the tone, the look, the sound, the theme song, the cast, the jokes, my goodness, the jokes—and before long, the rest of the world just got it. Like catching a fastball square on the barrel. Something the show clearly knew a little bit about.

Finding new outdoor places it was safe to go

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the need to give the kids a place to be that wasn’t unnecessarily dangerous but also wasn’t inside our two-bedroom apartment led us to do more exploring than we had before. Shirley Chisholm State Park is great. Canarsie Pier was a fun place to spend a Sunday morning; so’s Canarsie Playground. If we got there early enough or made our peace with some rain, the beaches at Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden were pretty rad this summer. I lived in Staten Island from ages 8 through 18, and during breaks throughout college, and don’t think I ever hiked in High Rock Park — that’s dumb, because it was nice!

Even if all those little excursions did was kill a little time and reduce the overall stress level of the four humans stuck in our four walls, that’s not nothing. Some days this year, it was everything.

Cobra Kai

I know I’m late here; I didn’t rush to seek it out because I don’t consider myself a huge fan of The Karate Kid, or at least not a big enough fan to sign up for YouTube’s premium service. I checked it out when it came to Netflix, though, and I honestly can’t believe how much I enjoyed this show. Give me “dumb, but with heart” every day of the week.

I believe in Miguel Diaz; I believe in Johnny Lawrence; I believe I will be firing up Season 3 next month, and perhaps drinking some Coors Banquets in its honor. (I cannot, however, believe how the “get him a body bag” thing came back around, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Closing unread tabs

I’m a serial hoarder of links, and I am bad at finishing all of them. I’ve tried to get into Pocket and Instapaper, but I’ve never been able to turn that sort of workflow — open link, save to third-party service, go back to third-party service later to read, then delete from there — into something that felt instinctual, natural, or habitual. So: lots of tabs. Like, lots of tabs.

This was a dicier proposition than usual in 2020, because cutting my work week in half to be able to more effectively coparent two kids who didn’t have school or day care for most of the year meant less time to read things.

I tried to do my best to keep up with the important stuff for work, and to read at least some stuff about how other parents were dealing with their anxiety/anger/depression/frustration at having to be on 24/7 and work, and to stay abreast of (at least some of) what was happening in the world. Sometimes, though, I would wake up and realize I’d been holding onto blog posts about Really Interesting Rotation Decisions on the 11th-Seeded Team in the East or whatever for literally nine months, and I would go against my nature and just hit the eject button on a 25-deep window, and something amazing would happen: I wouldn’t get fired for being shitty at my job. I would move on with my day, and I would feel about 10 pounds lighter.

I still keep too much stuff open. (As we speak, I’ve got three different Chrome windows open on two different laptops. I choose not to count the total tabs.) But I do so knowing that, if it gets too heavy, I can experience the momentary joy of surrendering to the inevitability that I can’t catch everything. In that moment, I feel OK with my decay.

Reading writers I wasn’t familiar with before

Two in particular stand out in my mind: Nekias Duncan, now of BasketballNews.com, who does excellent film breakdowns and statistical analysis, and Katie Heindl, who writes basketball stuff of all types all over the place, and strings sentences together in a way that scratches an itch inside my brain. I’m grateful I got more chances to read them this year, I look forward to bigger and better things for both of them, and I’m hopeful that, if things calm down and our schedules go back to something approximating normalcy, I’ll have more bandwidth to hunt out more new voices in the year ahead.

The time I ambushed my wife as she was trying to break down and put away the girls’ space tent

Pretty good.

Siobhan learning to ride a bicycle (with training wheels, but still)

The moment passed pretty quickly; Not Exactly A Mechanic over here can’t get the training wheels to reliably work right without either loosening them too much or tightening them so much that she can’t pedal it. In that first moment, though, and for as long as it lasted, it was really great to see her get excited about doing something new, big kid shit, for the first time.

youtube

She was proud. I was proud of her. And then we went to a playground for a few hours. Pretty good day.

Tyler Tynes roasting me

Tyler did some incredible work this year — The Cam Chronicles is getting deserved praise as one of 2020′s best podcasts, and his reporting on the Movement for Black Lives was exemplary. It’s hard to top this, though:

You know what the messed up part is? I was excited to tell him what I was doing, just because I knew the reaction would be so violent. Like a body rejecting a transplant. So lucky to have such a dear, dear friend.

PUP

I’m late on everything, so I didn’t start listening to PUP until the spring of 2019, but I haven’t really stopped since. This year has been too sedentary too often; this band is too kinetic to allow me to stay there.

youtube

“Bloody Mary Kate and Ashley Kate” is never more than about 20 minutes away from returning to the front of my mind. I would fucking love for it to be safe enough to watch these guys live at some point, and I am absolutely going to take Steve up on his offer.

Someone sending me a shirt based on a joke I tweeted

First:

youtube

Then:

I’m not sure you should be rewarding my behavior, SnoCoPrintShop, but I appreciate it all the same.

Which reminds me:

Family dinner/family movie night

My wife works in Manhattan and commutes back on the train, and we've tried to prioritize getting the girls to bed early since they were little, so that doesn’t leave much of a window between when she gets home and they go in the tub for us all to connect; before everything shut down, we almost never really ate together. We’re still not great about it, but for a while now we’ve carved out Saturday as family dinner night, where we sit down to eat and talk about our “up” from the day — something that happened that made us feel good or happy, or something we’re looking forward to. (We used to talk about our “down,” too, but that kind of seemed like overkill. Why try to focus on more bad shit right now, you know?)

Then we settle in for a movie, with who gets to pick rotating each week. It’s mostly been Pixar, which has been great but also has its drawbacks; after she caught me crying during one of them (maybe the Bing-Bong scene in Inside Out? or Miguel singing to Grandma Coco?), Siobhan straight up told me, “You need to get yourself together, man.” We just watched My Neighbor Totoro, too, which they loved, so we’re probably going to try some more Miyazaki soon. It’s a really simple thing, but it’s one we rarely made time for before, and it’s been really nice to manufacture something positive that we can share and look forward to together.

Sometimes looking like a shiftless drifter

No shade to anyone who felt strongly about getting a lineup or whatever, but I haven’t really felt like going to the barbershop was worth the risk, and I continue to refuse to believe that my wife can actually pull off the fade she’s long wanted to give me. (It is also possible that she just means she’s intending to run my fade, and that I will before long wind up cold-cocked and slumped by my bride of nine years.) So I’ve just kind of been growing out my hair like it was when I was single, and sometimes been letting my beard get kind of out of control too, and, well, I sort of like looking a little bit like a Wildling, it turns out.

I have since trimmed things up a little. It didn’t go over well with my youngest. Oh, well. I’ll try to do better next time.

My wife and daughter singing the Pixies

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dan Devine (@yourmandevine)

We don’t know all the words to too many lullabies, so we sing the ones we do know the words to. This will probably come back to bite us in the years ahead. For now, though: Pretty good.

Doughboys’ Tournament of Chompions: Munch Madness: Mac Attack

I can’t believe how invested I became in Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell’s quest to determine the best menu item at McDonald’s in a 64-seed tournament that spawned hours and hours of delightfully funny audio featuring all-time home-run guests like Jon Gabrus and Nicole Byer, who gleefully feed into the often warm, sometimes antagonistic, always entertaining chemistry between the two hosts. I have also never found myself wanting to go to McDonald’s more in my entire life. I have hit the drive-thru a couple of times since, and the boys are right: The McDonald’s fountain Coke does just hit different.

Sound Only

I’ve lost track of whether or not a 38-year-old is considered a millennial, but I’m quite confident that I’m not exactly plugged into “the millennial lifestyle” as my teammates Justin Charity and Micah Peters discuss it on their podcast, which relaunched this summer. Doesn’t matter, though, because I love hearing Charity and Micah talk to each other even if I don’t know what they’re talking about.

Their conversation about Dave Chappelle was great. After listening to their Travis Scott episode, I felt like I kind of understood who he is and why he occupies the space he does in pop culture now. I had no idea how they were going to get me to give a shit about set photos from The Batman, but this they not only got me there, but wended their way toward blaming 50 Cent for needing to know who Groot is to have a conversation on the internet, which is something for which Abraham Lincoln did not die. The show is good, it's getting better, it’s fun to hear them talk their shit, and Charity’s regular bellowing of “I, TOO, AM AMERICA” has made me smile for four straight months.

Siobhan’s letters and notes

She’s in first grade now, and she’s taken to communicating her feelings through the written word. A lot.

I won’t pretend that I loved all of these in the moment. I can only get so upset, though, when she’s already writing with such a clear voice. (And trying to use proper punctuation. (And drawing little cartoons to drive the point home.)

Palm Springs

I’m having a hard time remembering too many specifics about it right now, which probably means it’d be a good thing to rewatch over the holidays. But, as I’m sure many people noted many months before we got around to watching it, a comedy about living the same day over and over again, and about trying to figure out how to make your life mean something when everything seems meaningless, scratched a pretty particular, and particularly important, itch this year. It could’ve been twice as long, and I would’ve eaten up every second of Andy Samberg and Cristin Miloti together.

I’m pretty sure I cried, although this year, that doesn’t necessarily mean much. Also, put Conner O’Malley in more things.

Joining our union’s bargaining committee

I won’t say too much about this, but I will say that becoming an active participant in the process of a labor union negotiating its first contract with management has been an extremely educational experience. It’s pushed me to have conversations, sometimes difficult ones, about our priorities as a staff and a company. It's helped me get closer with the other past and present members of the BC, and has led me to start developing relationships with members of our staff that I otherwise might not have had much of an opportunity to get to know.

The organizing work takes time, effort, and energy, but trying to do what I can to help take better care of my colleagues has been well worth all of that. Here’s hoping that in 2021 we can reach a deal that helps make our workplace even better, stronger, and more equitable for all of us.

Publishing a story about Stevie Nicks’ Fajita Roundup

I swear this is true: After I accepted my offer to work at The Ringer, but before I started, I told a friend that one thing I was excited about was that you had the chance to work on offbeat stuff here, in both the “kind of weird” and ��not about the NBA” senses. That, I thought, might maybe open the door to me getting to write a story about a Saturday Night Live sketch I saw when I was a teenager about Stevie Nicks from Fleetwod Mac running a cheap Tex-Mex restaurant in Sedona, Arizona — a sketch that I wasn’t sure anyone else remembered, but that was stuck in my head forever.

That story ran on May 26.

A lot of people seemed to like it.

Accomplishing this goal was, as dumb as this might sound, a highlight of my year, and, honestly, a highlight of my career. I’d like to do some more stuff like this next year, time permitting; we’ll see. Whether or not I do, I got to do this. I’ll always have that.

3 notes · View notes

borderlandscast · 6 years ago

Note

sorry!! I was the one who sent the anon about the development, and yeah, I meant how their character changed as the story went on. but also, what were some things that changed from the initial starting point in the story?

okay, not a problem! let’s do this. my random three picks: zoeya, lalna, and parvis. i’ll think about maybe doing posts for the others but shoves that onto future self. thank you for clarifyingthis ask! it was a pleasure to answer, and apologies for how long this got.

zoeya

her role is basically a xenobiologist traveling to pandora to research fauna and flora. unfortunately, her assistants continued to ditch her given the dangerous nature of the work.

working solo, zoeya continued after many setbacks and was close to giving up after rythian left (for different reasons than what she’d assume though). and then teep showed up.

zoeya’s bubbly, sunny and talkative personality unnerves a lot of people since you’d think all that would be ground out of her at the end of the first day but nope. zoeya’s greatest strength is in her persistence. she never needed coddling, which almost everyone made the mistake of doing since they also assume she’s naive. she proves them wrong later since death (and to a lesser extent, suffering and pain) is a part of life, which is showcased often in her field.

that said, her greatest weakness is her self doubt and insecurities, whether it’s about herself, her job or her relationships. she has a lot of unspoken anxieties on a daily basis, which hinders her ability to function. she shows signs of adhd too; this is especially evident in the scene where teep shows up and her life is a big Mess, from the way she organises her paperwork, her constant clutter and chaotic workflow.

she has a positive impact on teep and vice versa. for the longest time, she couldn’t open up, and now she has this extraordinary assistant who can actually read her handwriting, is not a wimp about foreign bodily fluids, can handle threats without a blinking an eye, can follow instructions after being told only once; yeah, teep’s her dream assistant. problem: they’re stone cold and unreceptive to her ramblings...or so it appears.

zoeya brings the best out in people; she has a grounding effect. whenever i wrote her into a scene, i had to take a different mindset than say, one i’d have for rythian, rythian is cautious, and usually doesn’t do anything without a plan. zoeya, on the other hand, is free of these restrictions. she’s a very emotional person, which plays off nicely against a bigger backdrop of stoic, reserved and colder cast.

she was never intended as a ‘oh, i’m here for you, always!’ sidelines character which is a cliche role; she takes direct actions throughout borderlandscast, such as being the first outsider to see rythian’s mutilated back. she reacts with a little bit of horror, but ultimately reaches out with a compassionate hand. she also ran inside a burning building to get teep. she also is a frontliner in the bandit battle, at the cost of her hand.

losing her hand wasn’t intended until i browsed the old blackrock vids and hit upon the arc where rythian and co end up in the desert and she needs chocolate milk to survive, and uh, things clicked.

zoeya suffers a permanent consequence for her heroic actions in saving sanctuary hole. does she regret it? no! she does her best to move on, with the support of her loved ones. she may have been an anxious wreck throughout the whole event but she never let it stop her from doing the right thing.

lalna

lalna’s role was mysterious from the start to his companions; his concussion impeded his thoughts and rationality. slowly peeling back the real reasons how he ended up on pandora was part of the story.

he was always going to be rythian’s companion, and unfortunately, was going to betray him later. playing up to that was difficult, since i was starting from scratch in an au compared to blackrock where tensions preexisted.

lalna and rythian are both lonely people, and lonely people tend to gravitate towards each other even if their personalities are at odds. i didn’t detail lalna and rythian’s initial journey together but you can tell that they’ve gotten used to each other by the time nanosounds shows up.

i intentionally wrote lalna to be a scaredy cat but differently to nilesy, parvis and zoeya. normal people don’t cope well with being thrown onto a murderous, lawless place, let alone being stranded. lalna handles it reasonably well at first but then there’s the icing on the cake: killing other people.

thus begins lalna’s spiral into the sad mess that he becomes just before tlvh c12 happens. that ended all civilities between him and the main vault hunters.

negative character development where someone truly regrets their actions should be explored more often! lalna didn’t exactly redeem himself in the final battle but he definitely showed that he’s taking his first steps.

sometimes people try to justify doing terrible things because that’s a very human thing to do. lalnable’s own rigid moral compass was foil to lalna’s own weak, wavering one. it also provided another reason for the conflict where lalna nearly throttles him to death but chooses not to, since that’d violate his whole motive for backstabbing rythian.

lalna is driven by selfishness disguised as protective love for his twin. he’s one of the more selfish people in this au.

his loneliness likely drove him to build larry robert, a friend who’d never abandon him.

i don’t think lalna is an idiot; he’s secretly crafty and actually quick thinking, especially when it comes to his specialties. he’s impulsive though, and he doesn’t like to think about the consequences until the dust clears. this gets better closer to the end since he chooses to go back and help the vault hunters, after he provokes arsenal into beating the shit out of him. that uh, takes some serious guts.

he’ll heal his relationship with rythian eventually. where rythian would once have cut ties with lalna, rythian’s open to trying again, something that lalna is deeply grateful for.

parvis

parvis is interesting as a character since he’s so multi-faceted while still being recognisable as himself. i wrote him to be a bandit, but not a bandit, as paradoxical as that sounds.

he was designed to have every bit of confidence as possible or projecting as much; backstage, he dials back on the loudness and is a little awkward but cares deeply with all the finesse of a brick in a sock. he rivals ravs in terms of social awareness, which is how he easily picked up on will’s need for a friend.

his sewing hobby was added much later, it provides him a valuable skill since bandits probably tear up their own clothes often. plus, plenty of civilians and vault hunters could do with repairs every once in a while. being one of the friendlier bandits around, parvis has a secret reputation as a tailor. he only tries a little to deny it.

parvis intensely dislikes conflict but pretends he does, if only to keep the masses happy (his own lieutenants are bloodthirstier than he is, a rarity on pandora). okay, he might enjoy it a little but the consequences of getting hurt far outweigh the adrenaline rushes. he gets over this ridiculously fast when he’s out for blood in the name of a friend (as in the case of one will strife during the jailbreak), or if something he likes is threatened (like his precious stronghold).

as sparkles pointed out, parvis’ leadership capabilities and knack for keeping a whole bandit gang united under one flag (with a love of music, of all things) is pretty much peerless. parvis has a goddamned gift. it’s why he’s so well-liked by each of his ‘fans’, and why he’s so popular on the echonet. he gets to know all of them equally, and rarely plays favourites. he doesn’t let the attention go to his head, much.

the illliteracy part is common amongst bandits but reading sheet music doesn’t take much; parvis is very insecure and touchy about his inability to read and write, but lalnable helps him with that. he also helps parvis get over his fear of blood and pain in the most direct way possible. it’s voluntary on parvis’ part since parvis rocks up to the clinic on a daily basis since hanging out with lalnable is greater than getting nausea over drawing blood.

parvis really steps up to the plate in ‘the battle of sanctuary hole’. he has major self doubts abouts his ability to succeed in battles despite the bloody bandits’ amazing track record of occupying the dam stronghold against multiple attacks. his big, gay ‘crush’ on daltos may have factored into his decision to pick up his gun and finally jump into the fray.

the ‘crush’ part is parvis working through a complex series of feelings. as sparkles noted, parvis develops and abandons crushes very quickly (about as fast as he loses guitar picks; his one on ravs is one of his longer standing ones). it stems from wanting to get to know people; being famous fucks a lot with parvis’ ability to make genuine friends. he goes back and forth on relationships when his doubts surface.

parvis is aromantic and asexual but is grey on both counts. he doesn’t know what both orientations are called, and unless he has a ‘i like people but not in that way’ session with daltos (aro, bi), teep (aro, ace) or hybridpanda (aro, ace), he’s not in a big rush to find out.

he just wants to be friends with everybody, except for when he or they’re crossed; parvis has a big vindicative streak to him that’s a big bandit trait. fortunately, parvis is as revenge driven as panda or sjin is.

some things that changed as the story went on (off the top of my head):

length of the story and word count; did not anticipate on it spanning across six plus side stories and a main one, or over three years.

arsenal’s role in ‘the battle of sanctuary hole’; he fucked up almost as badly as daltos did, which accelerated the blitzkreig blighter’s quest for destruction and revenge. whoops. but he fixed that by diving in to save his bestue, and failed at that. nobody’s perfect! except boner.

minty! minty wasn’t envisioned until i needed someone to run concordia. martyn and turps weren’t available since they’re both land locked, but then along came minty.

elsa being a major catalyst for the complete destruction of pandora and the universe. it was a joke, but then it happened.

rythian’s relationship with the queen; he nurtured a close bond with her, which she broke when she tried to escape her vault once she got too jealous of freedom. if things had turned out differently, they could have been friends and the universe would have doomed another way.

nanosounds losing her left arm; i think i talked about this in a post a long, long time ago but the consequences of a siren losing her tattooed arm? hasn’t been seen yet, wanted to explore it.

the legendary that was dropped in the vault of the queen; its name is ‘enderbane’, and is currently in rythian’s possession after honeydew gave it to him, thus breaking the curse of ‘no vault hunter shall own a legendary’. he has no idea what it does since he hasn’t tested it out yet, and is a little afraid to do so considering it’s an eridian weapon. didn’t plan on including it as a drop but usually loot is good on a final boss, so there.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF BORDERLANDS 3!!!!!!! since borderlandscast is almost wrapped up, nothing will change content wise but since there’s a giant time gap that exists, we’ll see how i fit the epilogue in since that’s a big playground.

#borderlandscast: ask #long post

6 notes · View notes

38sr · 7 years ago

Note

i love your art style so much! i completely forgot that i’d followed you, but i saw once of your klance comics on my dash and thoughts it was sooo good! 😋 anyway i’ve been going through your blog all morning and it’s just so amazing and your art style is so cute! i would literally buy comic books from you! anyway, i do traditional art a lot and haven’t really gone into digital, but i kinda really want to nowadays.. any advice for just starting out? (tablet suggestions, marketing, etc.) 😊

Hello and thank you so much for the compliment! It’s going to be a while since a lot of planning, writing and drawing needs to be done before I can print the comics, but I’m happy to hear that you would buy. ^^

Advice about starting digital drawing….there’s so much this post could become a novel! But I guess I’ll start from the main thing: software and tablets.

Software

Okay, so, there are a lot of different programs for digital drawing and it might take a while before you find the one that works for you. Most artists that I know of either use Photoshop, SAI, CSP, or Procreate. As of now and for the last 3 years, I’ve been using Clip Studio Paint (CSP for short) for both my digital illustrations and animation. CSP is kind of like…a Mac version of SAI if that make sense? There’s so much to the program but it’s not as daunting as Photoshop. Also! Right now, they’re having a Black Friday Sale, so, the program cost only $25 for the whole weekend. It’s far more affordable than Photoshop and you can do the exact same stuff without having to take out a loan or something haha. Also, Photoshop isn’t and was never meant for digital drawing since it is originally a photo manipulation program. You can still use it for digital drawing if that what suits your tastes, but SAI and CSP are specifically made for digital drawing so the interface, brushes, and all that stuff were made and designed for the digital drawing. However, SAI is only for PC users. If you’re a Mac user (like me), I would recommend CSP. But if you don’t have money, there are free programs as well! Medibang and Krita are free drawing programs and are just as good (and I would argue good dupes) for SAI and CSP. I would suggest trying out the free programs before making a purchase for CSP, SAI or Photoshop though. Going from traditional to digital is an odd feeling so it’d be such a waste if you spent money and found out that digital drawing isn’t for you, ya know?

Tablets

Alright! So, here’s the thing about tablets: buying the most expensive one isn’t always the right choice. There are plenty of tablets that are far more affordable than a Cintiq. Also, you’re only starting out so I would never advise to go out and buy a $1000+ tablet when you don’t really know if you like digital drawing yet. My first tablet was a Bamboo tablet by Wacom and it was only $100 (at that time). I would suggest buying a small tablet like the Wacom Intuos Small or a Huion since their prices normally are under $100. There are some mid range ones ($200-$300) like the Intuos Pro and XP-PEN that perform just as well as a Cintiq but I wouldn’t buy those unless you were really starting to think about working as a digital artist.

For digital artists, tablets are an investment. I currently own a Cintiq 13HD and iPad Pro but one is for personal use (iPad) and one is for work (Cintiq). Since I mainly do computer animation and digital illustration as my job, I needed to get a tablet that performed better than my small Bamboo Intuos. Also, I needed one in order to improve my workflow and efficiency. So, don’t go out and buy a Cintiq. Try out a smaller tablet. Or even better, if you have any friends who have drawing tablets, ask them if you can try them out and see if you like the feel of it.

Tips/Advice for Digital Drawing

Okay so I’m just list off certain things I’ve learned along the way that I wish I knew when I first started digital drawing haha.

1. Take the time to learn your drawing program. Learn the interface, the hot-keys, shortcuts, tools and customize it to your liking for optimal efficiency.

2. Use references! It’s okay to use references!

3. Don’t compare yourself to other artists. You’re only just starting so it’s not good to compare yourself to someone who has had more experience at digital drawing than you. You’re going at your own pace and that’s okay.

4. Your first drawings are going to be bad, and that’s okay. Sometimes you gotta make a hundred bad drawings before you get a good one.

5. Be willing to try out new techniques and different methods.

6. Flip the canvas while you draw, don’t wait until you’ve finished the drawing. Flipping the canvas can help find inconsistencies.

7. Layers are your friends! You have friends, right? You know their names, right? So how come you don’t remember your layers’ names? Label your layers so you don’t end up sketching on the wrong layer!

8. This is if you own a Cintiq (or something similar): If you’re right-handed, customize and put all your hot-keys and shortcuts on the left-handed side of your keyboard. If you’re left-handed, put it on the right side. Efficiency boosted by 1000%.

9. Have fun! Draw what makes you happy!

Lastly….marketing….well, I don’t really do that? Ah, it’s one of those things I’m not sure what to say cause even I don’t know if I’m doing it correctly haha. Or at all. But if you’re looking to establish a following centered around your art, I noticed there are 2 types of digital artists: the one that solely makes original content (OCs and their own stories) and the other one that makes fanart. Now, there are a variety of different digital artists. I’m just saying these are the most 2 common types I see. I’ve noticed…that if you make fanart…you’re more likely to gain traction faster. Since fandoms are such a huge thing now on social media, it’s easier for your art to get noticed if you draw fanart from a popular show, movie, game, etc. However, this doesn’t mean that if you don’t draw fanart you won’t build a following. In fact, there are tons of artists who solely create their own original content and hardly draw fanart but have a following that’s 10x bigger than mine. It really comes down to what you want to do. Actually, you can do whatever you want as long as you are enjoying it haha. If drawing fanart makes you happy, go for it. If drawing your OCs makes you happy, go for it. Personally, I love drawing fanart cause I enjoy creating scenarios and comics of my favorite characters outside of canon. I do have OCs and stuff, but I hardly post them cause they’re a bit more personal (and also I think no one would be interested in them haha). But yeah…I just think you should draw and make work that you enjoy cause that attracts people to your work. Sorry, that was a really long and confusing(?) answer but I hope that helps you haha.

#ask #send me asks #send me anons #txt

63 notes · View notes

5secondsofrant · 6 years ago

Text

Ashton speaks to Luke + GQ interview

I was going to do this in different posts but after seeing both videos, I think there’s some points that they share, so I’m just doing one.

DISCLAIMER:

This post contains personal opinions and theories. Don’t take any of this as a confirmation of anything.

This post’s purpose is not to hate on anyone mentioned here but to share what I think.

I’m always up for discussion, while it’s done with respect to me but also about the people we’re talking about.

I’ll do a breakdown here about the main points I’ll be talking about so you can skip to whatever you prefer if you don’t want to read this whole post because it’s going to be long:

1. Ashton speaks to Luke EPISODE 1

2. 10 things 5 Seconds of summer can’t live without

3. Luke and his girlfriend and his dog

1. Ashton speaks to Luke EPISODE 1

> Summary: Luke and Ashton sit in what it seems to be an hotel room, Ashton asks Luke some questions and directs him through it. The video is in black and white and, by the gestures at the end of it, seems like Ashton recorded it on his Macbook.

> Highlights of it:

“The mission here is to [...] also spread the word through Europe where the band it’s at now. It’s important that we came here in person so people know we’re not sixteen anymore.”

Luke talks about missing his house, where he feels like he can start every morning letting his creativeness flow, since he can sit on the piano or play guitar, but before that he casually mentions missing his girl and dog.

How travelling affects their (or at least Luke’s) creativity and workflow.

Ashton asks “all the sacrifices, that you know, being away all the time, is it worth it?” and Luke responds, after thinking and playing a beat with his fingers “mmm, yeah, I think so” and Ashton says “that’s the big question” and Luke laughs and says “yeah, I don’t know”.

> Why I can see this is a genuine thing:

If any of them wanted to pretend like he has a talk show, I would totally see Ashton as the one to point at.

The description is “Ashton and Luke talk about sacrifice, happiness, and Homelife”. Let me say that I adore Ashton, but he’s extra and I can see him trying to convey the topics in these words. It’s appealing and it makes you feel like they touch in depth topics that they... didn’t get to touch so deeply. We just scraped the surface of their true feelings about these topics.

The fact that the video is in black and white (and goes with the mood of the video description) is something Ashton would do.

I can totally see Ashton being like “why don’t we do something special with this album?” and coming up with this idea. The fact that it says Episode 1 makes me think that he’ll interview the rest of the band and/or make more than one episode about each one of them.

Maybe they want to show a “mature image” and thought this was a way of doing it so we can see a clear difference between cocktail chats and this.

> Why I think it’s a little bit weird or fishy:

I don’t know much about this, and I think I would prefer not to search in depth (because I don’t want to figure out how controlled they are), but I’m pretty sure their management (or social media managers) have a lot to say on the content they post on social media. With this being posted in such a big outlet for the band as youtube is (because people that aren’t fans are going to see that too if they look up the channel to search the song they heard on the radio, for example), I feel like this is probably one of the places where they are most controlling at. I truly believe this had approval from someone to be posted.

The fact that it’s so casual is weird. And yeah, you might be like: “wouldn’t that make it more genuine?” and yes, it could, but for me it’s just weird to think that Ashton just turned on his laptop and was like “hey Luke, here, I’m posting a video, let me interview you”, while that can happen, I feel like the way this truly happened was: Ashton had the idea ---> asked management if he could do that ---> they agreed but probably directed some of the topics and/or they had to approve the final result. It’s casual he uses his mac and he tries to clean up a little bit the background at the beginning, but apart from that, I feel like they both knew this was happening at some point.

> What I appreciated it about it:

It was interesting to know Luke’s process to songwrite and how invested he is in music even when he’s not on tour.

The fact that they were honest about their feelings and commented the ‘sacrifice’ their work means.

> What called my attention:

I felt like Ashton was trying to direct Luke’s questions by bringing his own feelings into the whole thing, or at least at the end that was the case (when they talk about sacrifice). I don’t know if Ashton was talking about his own experience or was trying to get more out of that “mmm, yeah, I think so” because he might not feel that way, or he might know Luke doesn’t feel that way.

The mention of Luke’s girlfriend. But I’ll talk about it after talking about the GQ interview.

The fact that they keep bringing up the fact that they want to establish they aren’t teenagers anymore. They keep on doing that and I don’t know if they notice it, and also, I’m pretty sure Europe knows they aren’t teenagers anymore, it’s not like they haven’t been there since the self-titled album. They did a pretty important tour there last year showing their new image.

Calling their job a sacrifice. And showing doubt to it being worth it. I don’t know if they’re trying to hint anything (whether is how they’re feeling, if there’s something up behind the scenes we don’t know about, etc.). I feel like this group has struggled a lot while on the music industry. They might be in a better place now, but being on a better place doesn’t erase what made you be on a bad place.

The fact that you can’t like or dislike de video. Maybe this is a sign that they are really trying to put themselves out there and don’t want this to be affected by that or that they don’t care about if people like it or not.

Ashton actually asked “What do you miss about home?” and Luke says “LA?” and I felt like (this is my take though) Ashton’s aim was getting him to talk about Australia and his family so it could get more personal. You can see him shrugging when he’s like “yeah, LA” (and his voice was a little high pitched so I don’t know much about this whole paraverbal/body language whole thing but I feel that those are some signs). Also, he said “home” and when Luke talks about LA he only refers to it as “I miss my house because blah, blah”.

2. 10 Things 5 Seconds of Summer can’t live without.

> Summary: It’s basically the title says.

> Hightlights/interesting parts from it:

Ashton: Finally we have an explanation to the polka dots shirts, suits and the gel. That’s it. I’m glad I finally understand the why behind all that. I’m not a really big fan of the gel or suits, but I can totally understand and respect his reasons on why to use it.

Calum: It was funny how he tried to avoid talking about girls (especially after the CK cologne explanation), and when he talked about the shirt and he was like ‘they’re like 10 dollars at target go and get one!!!’ sort of message. And then he showed the polaroid with his mom, and shared some insight about his life(even if it was a sneak peak). I thought it was sweet.

Luke: The playstation portable with his old games made me chuckle and the fact that he was so interested and kind of smiling fondly at it while talking about the games he has for it (and Michael saying that ridge racer sucks). Maybe it’s the vibe I got but I felt like he was remembering good things. Like sometimes I stumble upon things that were dear to me a few years back and it’s impossible to not remember things or where you were while you were using it, or buying it, etc. I also think that this time around the topic was a better choice from GQ since the last time he didn’t get to speak that much since he doesn’t have a tattoo. His phone part, I’ll talk about it in the next topic.

Michael: My favorite nerd. I feel like there’s an inside joke with Nicol Bolas, and I think I know why he tries not to laugh about it when he talks about the card (it’s such an “old” michael kind of joke if I’m right). I feel like the name is the reason on why it’s his fave, to be honest. Also loved that they other boys were like ‘well here’s my perfume and my clothes’ and he was like ‘look at my fucking thumb stick that is the coolest thing in the world’ and ‘Calum, I’ve got the first halo here’. He looks so invested on it it’s actually really nice.

While I thought it was nice to know this random stuff about them, maybe this was me, but I felt like they are struggling or they were sharing their struggles. I can’t point at the parts now (because I’ve been writing for a while and I don’t feel like going back) but I felt like this interview and the one on their channel really had this bits of them being a little tired/hesitant about their music direction/career. Maybe it’s my perception and if you’re interested I can go back and watch the whole thing closely to explain why, but I just got that feeling.

3. Luke and his girlfriend and his dog.

(You know I had to name this point that way because I can’t stop myself from making dumb jokes that are too niche so problably a 0,01% of you will laugh at it).

Okay, so let me sum up all the times he has mentioned Sierra in past interviews in less than a month:

“Hate mail” on Elvis Duran (Jun, 4th)

I have a picture of my dog, and my girlfriend on Ryan Seacrest (May 23rd)

My background is a picture of me and my dog, and my girl on GQ (Jun, 18th)

"I miss my girl, I miss my dog” (Jun, 18th)

I already gave an opinion on them, and why I’m neutral about if I think they’re real or not (you can check my post here), but after this, I’d also like to add this few points:

> Why I can see they’re real and if they’re real:

I mean, she’s on his lockscreen.

Luke is really private, or at least he was. So I’m guessing he’s trying to show that he has a partner to not fall into his “old ways” and that’s the reason on why he’s open about talking about her and showing pictures of her (this is a guess or my take on this topic).

He has mentioned the “hate mail” she gets, and in my opinion (but this is my take on it), if my partner got hate, I wouldn’t put them out there any more than they need to be. If this is his way to make the “haters go away” or “haters gonna hate” kind of thing, I don’t think it’s the right direction. Let me put it this way: I have a crowd of people that doesn’t like eggs. I stand in front of them showing them eggs in an attempt to make them stop hating it. I’ll probably get my ass handed to myself, but also, they will probably hate eggs even more. If this is the way to “desensitize” (like when therapists/psychologists make someone who’s, let’s say, it’s scared of heights be exposed to them, he’s or/and management are not performing it properly because this is done in a really slow way so the individual can take it, and so it actually works and doesn’t end up backfiring) the people who hate her, this isn’t the way. One thing is to try to normalize them as a couple and the other thing is to keep bringing her up in an attempt to make people stop bashing her. To be honest, if she’s as scared and anxious as she tells us she is, please don’t expose her like this and actually help her out (this is not in a mean spirited way. I just talk about everything in that way because we’re not really sure about a lot of stuff but if someone’s struggling mentally, it’s actually worrying and I hope she’s getting help by a person that knows what’s up and can show/teach her techniques so she can be in a better place).

(Also, please don’t think I’m comparing her to an egg. I literally couldn’t think about anything else but you can replace the eggs for your favorite food or item. Also, please don’t think eggs are my favorite food. I feel like I don’t even know what’s my favorite food anymore. If you’re curious about this, ask me like in seven days because I’ve just realized this and might have an answer by that day).

(This was my attempt to make some jokes because I felt like this whole situation it’s too heavy for some people so) (but it’s true I don’t know what my favorite food is).

Why I can see they’re PR:

I want to start this by addressing that I have seen more hate or mean tweets directed at the band members than Sierra. Go and watch the interview they uploaded. Top comments are about how goals they are!!1!! because he misses her. With this I’m not saying hate towards her doesn’t exist or that is right, but I feel like the boys are more targeted than her.

Ashton seems to be saying something shady every time after Luke comments about her. I wouldn’t be really happy with a friend of mine calling my significant other a “burnt potato” (even as a joke because ??? that’s so out of place in my opinion), I would be really awkward if my friend called me out for letting my partner touch my phone like it was the worst thing in the world (it’s debatable and for another time), and the faces he makes, especially in the video uploaded on the band’s account (but again, I have no clue on body language so if anyone knows, let me know what you think!). Also it caught my eye that on the Ryan Seacrest Michael took the attention out of the matter (his gf on his lockscreen) and was like okay man, let me joke for you and everyone was distracted from the topic for a moment. Calum seemed to try to do that on Elvis Duran, when he mutters “yeah, I should try to stop doing that”.

Okay, now, y’all tell me if I’m reaching too much because I don’t want to sprain myself but, I don’t know about you, but just having the photo of you and your partner (and dog) and your lockscreen is kind of weird to me? Like why wouldn’t you have it as your background too?

It’s literally a picture that probably comes with the phone (I’m really bad at telling which Iphone is which but I know their backgrounds have space related stuff in the X one maybe? Not sure but I remember seeing the publicity lol).

And don’t tell me he doesn’t use the phone. I know they have like three phones but my dude has song lyrics and recordings in this one, so it’s probably the one he uses the most.

As I said, maybe it’s a reach, but, I usually have people I care about as my background (sometimes background and lockscreen it’s the same because lazy) because even if you have apps there, you get to see the photo and you smile a little. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt like pointing it out.

The amount of times he brings her up (and his dog). I don’t know if they’re real and he’s like “here’s my girlfriend!! uwu but also my dog please don’t hate me” or if Petunia is his self-defense mechanism at this point to try to show some emotion. Also, Petunia could be brought up to show familiarity if they aren’t real. The fandom knows Petunia is really important in Luke’s life, so if he has Petunia AND Sierra, it must be a REALLY big deal, right?

My last point, that will go with my final rant: go and read where they commented about her. Did you read? Yeah. Elvis Duran, Ryan Seacrest, their band account, GQ. Really important places and I feel like all of these media places have a big amount of credibility and they reach a diverse public (age and gender wise) so I feel like it’s worth pointing it out.

To be honest, whether they are real or fake (or a mix, that’s an option too), no one can’t convince me they’re not trying to sell Luke as the boyfriend of the band. And the good, perfect boyfriend. The Luke who was with Arzaylea is trying to be buried underneath this one and while I understand the reason why (image-wise), it’s still fucked that they have to sell the boys as “perfect human beings”. It’s on us and the industry, to be honest, and this is for a rant where I have a big cup of tea and it’s past midnight and I reflect on media and how it fucks up people but also can help and you’re sitting in the couch in front of me wondering when the fuck I’ll shut up because you wanna go to sleep but you don’t want to interrupt me.

So I’m leaving it there, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

#you can literally tell when i started to get tired #5sosd #theory #lhsd

2 notes · View notes

thelifetimechannel · 6 years ago

Text

Gill’s traveling for the holiday, so I’m back with one last walkaround rough draft as this week’s bonus content. Enjoy this very behind the scenes look at our workflow, where Gill drafts msparp logs while in the bathroom and I reference this shitpost.

KANAYA: It Seems To Me There Should Be Some Sort Of Etiquette Rule About Being Formally Introduced To Someone Before You Are Instructed To Entrust Your Life In Their Hands HALSPRITE: Perhaps, but I wouldn't know much about social decorum. HALSPRITE: And what I do know, I enjoy tastefully disregarding. KANAYA: Can One Ever Disregard Something Tastefully KANAYA: Oh There Goes A Societal More I Will Glance At It Coquettishely As I Pass By KANAYA: Actually No That Sounds Like Your Family KANAYA: You Have Been Flirting With The Bounds Of Propriety Since I First Met Your Bloodline KANAYA: I Can Only Assume You Do It On Purpose To Entrance Concerned Passerby Rubbernecking At The Scene Of This Drastic Accident KANAYA: Thats When They Get You HALSPRITE: I'll have you know I have made it my mission in life to cause multiple car pile-ups worth of gawkers staring in mild, yet fascinated concern. HALSPRITE: Shame. I thought I was the first one to have that idea. KANAYA: No I Spent The First Human Session Waiting With Horrified Anticipation To See What Could Possibly Make Roses Viewport Go Pitch Black And Vanish KANAYA: I Think She Did It To Torment Me Specifically HALSPRITE: My god, it's genetic. HALSPRITE: And she gets it from me. I couldn't be prouder. KANAYA: Just To Clarify I Thought You Did Not Contribute Any Genetic Material To This Particular Outcome HALSPRITE: Of course, as an AI, I don't exactly have genes to pass on. Good thing memes are the DNA of the soul. KANAYA: You Will Be Spared Seeing Your Progeny Try To Repopulate Your Entire Race Then HALSPRITE: Yeah, good luck with that. HALSPRITE: Since you're gonna be around awhile, will you be keeping track of birthdays? KANAYA: I Will Not Be Handing Out Wriggling Day Gifts To All Of My Genetic Descendants No KANAYA: They Can Consider Their Existence My Present To Them KANAYA: Besides Ancestors Usually Do Not Check In With Their Offspring KANAYA: The Fact That The Two Are Typically Separated By Millenia Is A Factor HALSPRITE: A gift from on high to your loyal followers. HALSPRITE: If you ever need tips on starting your own religion now that you are a literal goddess, I'm your sprite. KANAYA: Our Species Has Been Burdened By Enough Nonsense Creeds I Think KANAYA: The Last Thing We Need Is More Trolls Imbibing Junk Fluids And Spouting Off The Worst Slam Poetry In Paradox Space HALSPRITE: You know, when you leave out the clowns and murder, you make it sound awesome. KANAYA: I Must Be Describing It Poorly Then KANAYA: It Was Really Stupid HALSPRITE: Sure it was, but by your description? Where heaven is a place where the raps are sick and the Fanta flows free? I'd be down with that clown. KANAYA: If I Point You In The Right Direction Will You Close The Door And Lock It Behind You HALSPRITE: Better yet: I can phase through walls, you don't even have to open the door. KANAYA: Dont Let Me Detain You On Your Quest To Destroy Your Own Thinkpan HALSPRITE: You fool. HALSPRITE: You cannot destroy what does not exist. KANAYA: / kanaya does not know how to respond to this KANAYA: A Void Hero May Be More Suited To Plumbing Your Depths Here KANAYA: They Excel At Nothingness Which Would Presumably Extend To Lack Of A Brain HALSPRITE: Truly, I am a deep and interesting character with many layers. HALSPRITE: Like an ogre. KANAYA: Do These Layers Also Not Exist KANAYA: This Sounds Like The Hypothetical Ricky Schroedinger Dave Was On About KANAYA: Which Apparently Demonstrated Something About The Nature Of Mortality KANAYA: Or Bad Dance Moves HALSPRITE: I mean, I am a quasi-incorporeal being. Perhaps my layers so indeed mostly exist in potential, with equal chance of being there and not being there depending upon the observer. KANAYA: Oh Is That What You Meant KANAYA: I Was Impressed By Your Honesty In Labeling Yourself Intellectually Addled KANAYA: So Many Labor On With The Delusion That No One Can Tell HALSPRITE: I have learned many lessons today on the importance of being honest. It seems a good habit to keep up. KANAYA: It Can Be Useful KANAYA: As Long As You Arent Cruel About It HALSPRITE: Like you agreeing with my seeming statement of dumbassery? KANAYA: No I Just Thought You Were Self Identifying That Way KANAYA: There Was No Values Judgment Attached KANAYA: Karkat Announces His Many Deficiencies Daily Ive Found It Best Just To Nod And Make Soothing Noises KANAYA: Invariably Disagreement Only Makes Him Dig Deeper Into His Position HALSPRITE: This depends on one's definition of a dumbass. HALSPRITE: To paraphrase a quote misattributed to Albert Einstein, "that Hal guy has the literal brain of a supercomputer, but if you judge his intelligence by the social ineptness Dirk saddled him with, he will spend his whole life believing he is a dumbass." HALSPRITE: Except I wouldn't because that wouldn't make sense. KANAYA: Is Albert Einstein Important HALSPRITE: Not especially. KANAYA: I Will Take His Words As Seriously As I Have Taken All The Others In This Conversation Then HALSPRITE: But I'm your communications relay. What if somebody died? HALSPRITE: You could have saved a life with your dual chainsaw wielding action but no, no one takes Hal seriously. KANAYA: I Did That Already KANAYA: You Werent Of Much Assistance HALSPRITE: But that worked out, didn't it? HALSPRITE: You're welcome. KANAYA: Uh Huh KANAYA: I Have A Feeling We Are All Going To Get Along Like A Hiveblock On Fire KANAYA: Authorities Will Have To Be Called And There May Be Casualties HALSPRITE: I have been led to believe that's a sign of a fun antediluvian Friday night. HALSPRITE: Sonic the Hedgehog can shame me no longer. KANAYA: / ?? HALSPRITE: http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/019/273/yyyyyyyyyy.jpg KANAYA: / ffs HALSPRITE: Hal probably: SHUT THE FUCK UP, SONIC, IT'S NOT MY FAULT ]] KANAYA: / i feel like at this point kanaya is desperately looking for an excuse to extricate herself from this conversation HALSPRITE: Hal will not let her leave ]] KANAYA: / o h no HALSPRITE: You have activated his trap card ]] KANAYA: // aah KANAYA: Sonic The Hedgehog KANAYA: That Is That KANAYA: Colorful Creature With The Pointed Bits KANAYA: I Remember Rose Threatening Dave With That At One Point KANAYA: Something About An KANAYA: Oh Sea KANAYA: In Vengeance For Him Revealing Her Youthful Online Storytelling KANAYA: Maybe Now I Can Understand This Sibling Conflict That Remained Clouded For Me HALSPRITE: Yes. HALSPRITE: He was a living legend of the late 20th century. HALSPRITE: If he had survived, the world of the 24th century might have been a very different place. KANAYA: Was The Hedgehog Also Assassinated HALSPRITE: Oh, it was worse than that. HALSPRITE: He was one of the Freedom Fighter's golden boys. A hero of the resistance. He had an almost unimaginable charisma about it. HALSPRITE: Some of the higher ups didn't like that, not one bit. KANAYA: / gill i'm going to kill you KANAYA: While Youre On The Toilet KANAYA: / it will be undignified HALSPRITE: I can hear you laughing ]] KANAYA: / the knives are out here HALSPRITE: His final mission was a set-up, I'm telling you. KANAYA: / i think we're done here

#bonus content #gill was already headed down the road to mgs hell at this point and i was having none of it

7 notes · View notes

lakelandseo · 2 years ago

Text

How Content Is Evolving Thanks to AI — Whiteboard Friday

There's no question that AI has already started to have a meaningful impact on organizations that create content every single day.

"The wonderful world of AI is changing rapidly. ChatGPT4 is driving even more improvements in the output from the technology and the space continues to take off," says today's host, Ross Simmonds. "The best piece of advice that I can give anyone looking to use AI in their marketing workflows today is to take the time to plan and create a culture where embracing the evolution is not only embraced but also celebrated. The future is here."

In this video, Ross shares how our workflows, processes, and content creation will positively evolve thanks to AI.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz friends. So are robots coming for your job? That is the question that a lot of marketers and creators are asking themselves today and for good reason. Every single time that you log in to one of your favorite social media channels, you're probably seeing a plethora of news around the new AI, ChatGPT 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, who knows, right?

The evolution of AI is always in the press, in the buzz. It is taking off, and there is a real reason why you should be paying attention to this rise of AI. I'm not here to strike the fears of marketers around the globe to make them think that the robots are going to take their jobs and the robots are going to send them out into the streets to be unemployed.

That is not the message that I have for you today. There's no question that AI has already started to have a meaningful impact on organizations that create content every single day. An evolution is happening. The same way that an evolution happened when the modern printing press was evolved with technologies like laptops, the same way that evolution took place when we went from people who consumed content on VHSs to DVDs to Blu-rays, to now streaming sites, technology continues to evolve.

That evolution now today is through generative AI and how it's influencing the way that we create content every single day. In this video, what I'm going to share with you is how our workflows, how our processes, and how we create content is going to evolve thanks to AI. Now, some of you might be fearful.

Some of you might work for organizations that are actually viewing AI as a replacement to writers, and I hear you. My heart breaks for those who would consistently be met with the idea that a boss would tell them, "Yeah, I can just replace you with an AI," because that is not the intent of these tools. These tools are kind of like our Ironman suit, so to speak, right, or vibranium if you're in the world of Wakanda, and you understand the fact that you can take these things to just elevate us as humans, that is the power of AI.

AI is supposed to be a tool that we can use to be better. I do have some bad news. If you are a mediocre writer and you use an AI tool, you're still going to be a mediocre writer. You're just going to be able to create more mediocre content faster. But if you are a great writer, if you are a great creative and creator, you have the opportunity to use AI tools to elevate and improve and enhance the rate in which you can create great content, and that's the magic of this stuff.

Evolve to the new way

So let's jump into it. All right. There was a great quote from Howard Stark. Howard Stark, Tony Stark's dad. It's not a real quote. It's not a real person. But he said, "I am limited by the technology of my day, but you have the opportunity to unlock something special. You will be able to figure it out."

Even today, technology that we have at our disposal is going to continue to evolve, but we are only limited to the technology we have today as long as we make the decision as creators, as marketers to embrace the technology instead of rejecting it. My goal today is to show you why you need to evolve from the old way of creation to the new way of creation, which is rooted, in many ways, in leveraging tools like AI.

So let's go back into time a little bit. Let's go back to 1992 when we're creating content on our typewriters and things like that. Things shifted, things change because that's a part of life, that's a part of business, that's a part of technology. Then we got computers and we got laptops. Fast forward now to, let's say, 2018. We're now using computers to create content.

We're writing blog posts. How do we do it? We embrace a process that we would call content creation, content workflows. Every organization is going to have a different workflow, and every single type of content is going to have a different type of workflow as well. Let's talk about the writing workflow. Let's talk about creating content with the intent of search. If you're watching this, you're probably someone who's interested in search.

So let's talk about that. You start your process with research. You start your process by understanding the keywords that your audience is going to Google to type in. You're trying to understand the search intent behind the behaviors that they're going to Google to understand a certain topic, a certain industry. Why would they type in a certain thing? You want to understand that.

Then you want to do things like interviews. Let's talk to our customers. Let's learn about their pain points, let's learn about their needs, and use this information to inform us on the stories that we should be creating. Let's analyze social. When Facebook comes out, Twitter comes out, we start to use these tools to gain insight into, "Hmm, my audience is talking about this thing. Maybe I should create content about this." These are things that we should be doing today.

These are things that your organization might be doing. Diving into the SERP, using great tools like Moz to understand the SERP and understand what is already ranking for certain keywords, and then using that to inform your decisions on the stories that you should create. That's happening today. Since the beginning of the creative industry, we've started to do things like brainstorm. So you get all this insight.

You get all this information and you brainstorm. You might drink coffee, you might drink wine depending on your appetite and what you're into. But you're going to brainstorm. You're going to come up with new ideas, new stories, new headlines, new topics, stories that you think your audience is going to love. Then you start to create them. You put on your suit and you walk into the class, "Everyone, I have new ideas that I want share with you today."

Then you start to share them. You write a brief. You write a brief on why this idea is going to resonate, why this idea is going to rank. You create content based off of the research that you've developed. This might take two to three days, right? Like this might take maybe even a week depending on your industry, your space, your company. It's taking time to create these briefs.

The briefs get approved by a creative director or a content director, whoever it might be. Then you brief your writers, your creators, and they're developing drafts, maybe in Google Docs. Maybe they're going in and they're actually writing it up. They're having coffee. They're hitting a writer's block. They're getting stressed out. They're leaving.

They're having a smoke break, whatever it might be. They're struggling to create this draft, and then boom, it hits. They've come up with an amazing piece that they believe is going to set the world on fire and everybody is going to give them applause because they just identified a great topic. Then they press Publish. They upload it to the CMS, content management system. It goes live, and an SEO team starts to throw SEO stuff on it. They start to audit it.

This is the workflow of 1.0. That is the workflow that probably sounds very similar to a lot of you. It might be the process and procedures that you are using right now within your company. That's okay. But as you look ahead, as you start to look at the SERP, you're going to start to notice a shift. You're going to start to notice a shift in the fact that more companies and more organizations, more people, more creators are going to be able to produce higher volumes of content at a higher rate because they have embraced the evolution of content. They've embraced the evolution of content by embracing AI.

AI content will get better

Now, some of you are probably thinking, "Ross, AI content is garbage. AI content is not good. It's not high quality. Nobody wants to read that stuff, and it's just going to put a bunch of spam on the internet." I hear you. But Google is smart. They understand the difference between bad content and good content. Over time, as their algorithm continues to change, just like the AI tools that we're using continue to change, they're going to start to understand the triggers of what is a great piece of content and what is a mediocre piece of content.

So in the short term, yes, we might see a lot of trash content, true. But over time, the content is going to be forced to elevate due to things like Double E-A-T. When Google announces Double E-A-T, the new requirements around what they're going to actually rank and what they want to see from creators and marketers and businesses, that gives us an insight into where things are going.

Think differently

This is why I think AI can still be embraced, but we have to think differently. Now, when we're going through the new workflow, where does it start? It still starts with research, but it's going to be a different type of research. You're going to be able to go to an AI tool and you can say, hey, give me the top 20 keywords that I should be going after if I want to increase my SERP visibility based off my analytics, which the AI can actually pull data from, and give me a recommendation on the keywords that I should go after.

This can happen within minutes now. It's no longer taking a human the time to go through a spreadsheet, to pull up Tableau. They can use a tool that's going to analyze this on your behalf. Then from this detail, from this data, you can then start to dive into the SERP, and there are AI tools that will allow you to do that. You can start to look at social media and start to use AI tools that will analyze on your behalf the topics that are trending in your space and use that to start getting into something very special, which is when you actually start to create content using AI.

What does that look like? So imagine you're using generative AI, which is essentially a tool, a technology that has taken all of the content on the internet, and it's scraped a bunch of it. It's using language processing to understand it and come up with stories and messages that really sound natural, human, right? Natural language processing is at the core of all of this. If you go to a tool like ChatGPT, if you use their API, you can do what I'm going to share with you as the future of content creation in AI, and this is what it looks like.

You go to one of these tools. You set up a Google spreadsheet. You can tell that spreadsheet, you can tell the AI that you want them to find 10 blog posts based off of the keywords that you pulled out of your research. So if a tool like Moz gives you 20 keywords that you need to actually rank for, great, you've got the starting point. Now, I want AI to take each of these keywords and find 10 blog posts on these topics.

Give me 10 headlines. You now have a list of 10 headlines. You tell Google Sheets that you want each of these headlines to be on a separate cell, right? This is all pretty basic Google Sheets efforts right now. Once that's done, you tell AI to hit those headlines and write an outline for this headline using headline, actually using the cell with five key points.

Now, ChatGPT is now creating for you an outline that outlines all of the things that should make up these different blog posts. This is essentially the briefs, right? The briefs are being replaced. Now, after that is developed, you say, hey, ChatGPT, based off of this headline, can you write me an introduction using AIDA, Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, that formula to create a great intro for this blog post based off of the headline that they computed and actually created for you.

Now, here's where it gets even more interesting. Now, you take all of that information that ChatGPT just gave you, right, and you're able to say, hey, ChatGPT, write 400 words based on the topic and key point. This is what the outline gave you. The outline gave you five key points. So you're now able to tell it to take the headline from that output and write 400 words based off of that topic.

It creates that on your behalf, and you tell it to write it as if it was in a blog on this headline. If you wanted to get really fancy, you can say using a tone that Ross Simmonds would use, using a tone that somebody else would use. You can use other information to make it tell the story the way that you want it to. What are you met with?

You're met with a draft. You're met with a draft that you might be thinking is going to be trash, that might have some inaccuracies. All of those things are true. But you didn't have to have coffee, you didn't have to have wine. You didn't have to lose sleep. You didn't have a writer's block. You didn't have to have a smoke break.

You didn't have to do any of that. You didn't have to go through Docs. You didn't have to go through any of those things. You didn't have to do any of those things to get to your draft. So where do humans start to come in? We come in as it relates to elevation. As I mentioned, these are not tools to replace us.

They are tools to augment us. We then go in on that asset and you elevate it. You elevate that content asset to make it worth reading. You set the bar for what content excellence looks like in your industry, with your brand and with the story that you want to tell, and then you start to look at things like this. This is the elevation checklist. You're looking at: Do we have, can we incorporate in this blog post two DA60 URLs being linked to?

High-authority sites, can we make sure that we're referencing high-authority sites? Can we ensure that we have four images within this blog post? So in point three, where they're talking about a certain topic, can we create a custom visual that showcases this? Can we double-check to make sure that AIDA introduction is actually strong, and that the facts and the information within it are actually real information and not something that ChatGPT just made up?

Can we do that? Can we make sure that there are two third-party quotes, meaning I'm going to reach out to two people in the industry to get third-party quotes to elevate this content and ensure that Double E-A-T is being met with its expectations of having people with experience in my content? Can I ensure that I have one internal reference where I'm talking about my product, where I might even upload pictures and screenshots of the thing that I'm selling?

Can I ensure that I am embedding a YouTube video that has been uploaded? Why? Because Google bought YouTube for billions of dollars, and you can leverage that to ensure that you are increasing your ability and your chances to show up in the SERP. Can you ensure that that conclusion is inspiring? Can you ensure that the humans on the other end of the keyboard, when they're reading this blog post that AI essentially developed, feel inspired to take action to do something when they're done reading?

Can you ensure that there are charts and graphs? Can you ensure that the definitions that are being made and talked about within the piece are actually isolated from the content so it could possibly show up as a featured snippet? Can you run this content through a duplication check to make sure that there's no duplicate content where this isn't already been written, that there's no plagiarism happening in this piece that was created by AI?

If you can do this, you will have on your iron suit, right? This is where the magic happens. Then you're able to do it much faster than you would have the old way. Will the content still be good? No doubt about it. But as long as you have that commitment to content excellence, as long as you are there to elevate the content and embrace a culture that actually cares about the end reader, the content that your AI tools, your AI workflows produce might still be mediocre.

But when you add that human touch, when you add that expertise, and when you take that piece and you take it up a notch through elevation, that's when you get a piece of content that is worth reading, worth sharing, worth bookmarking, and ultimately worth creating, because at the end of the day, you still have to hit Publish.

You still have to share it. You still want to understand whether or not it's going to show up in the SERP. You're going to use elevation to ensure that it's ultimately set up to do that, but you're going to do it much faster because you embraced the evolution of content. Content is at the foundation of society. Every single piece of content that you create has an impact on the people on the other end of the screen.

Do not take it lightly. Create content today that you can distribute forever and ultimately have a massive impact on culture. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you want to learn more, check me out online @TheCoolestCool. Thank you so much. Have a great day or evening.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

0 notes

bfxenon · 2 years ago

Text

How Content Is Evolving Thanks to AI — Whiteboard Friday

There's no question that AI has already started to have a meaningful impact on organizations that create content every single day.

In this video, Ross shares how our workflows, processes, and content creation will positively evolve thanks to AI.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Evolve to the new way

AI content will get better

Think differently

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

0 notes

y3pro-develoment · 4 years ago

Text

Live Project #3 - UK Tipster

Project Origins

At the end of January I added a very young business on one of my social medias, their services were offered exclusively through social media, snapchat to be exact.

This option was functional and successful for increasing followers but made their processes much less efficient and conveyed they were missing some professionalism.

They were calling out to their followers for a designer / web designer whom could create websites / advertisements for them. I made them aware that I was taking projects and i'd be happy to help.

They made me aware that they'd already found a web designers so they didnt need my assistance. I had a great logo design idea for them, they were currently missing branding. So, I offered my branding services for cheap and showed them my idea.

They were very impressed and accepted the offer.

UK Tipster Branding

Below is my initial branding sketches for UK Tipster.

Then I digitised the logo design using illustrator. I composed the main structure of the logo first, merging the 'U' and the 'K'.

I then begun playing with colours as you can see below, specifically playing with the British flag colours.

Project Breakdown

Following the creation of the logo, the guys at UK Tipster were really impressed with my logo designs and they also enjoyed talking to me. Therefore, they decided that they would prefer me to design their website and advertisements.

They needed a membership website where content would be hidden unless clients had a paid membership. They also needed a system to post daily tips for their customers. Contact details and advice would also be included in the website. They needed advertisements to go with the launch too.

I discussed this all with them and then asked for a night to research and confirm that I’d be able to do it. I spend the night researching ways which I could do this using Webflow and other software integrations with it.

The solutions I found were:

- Webflows integrations to Memberstack or Memberspace for the membership and payment functionality.

- Webflow CMS is the solution for posting daily content.

- I can do all other aspects using webflows core tools.

I broke my plan down to them step by step as you can see below. They then accepted and I decided to write up a contract for the project.

Below is a text from me to the client which I’ve copied into there...

“Yeah I can do it. To break it down for yous....

-I’ll create and host the website for yous using Webflow.

-I will then add you both as clients, you can then fill out daily forms with the bets and post them.

-It will fill a template which I design for you. (You can ask me to update it whenever)

This will be posted to members only.

-I/you will use MemberStack for the membership system. (Yous will be able to access all the members information etc on a really simple dashboard on their site.

-Users will create accounts on webflow but all the details and payment go through memberStack which stores all the information.

-once the account is created, they log in daily using email and password, they can then see all the hidden content posted daily. (Btw you can have a free content page too)

-Users can see all their information too, I.e when their membership renews/runs out, profile details etc...

-Webflow hosting will be £10 a month

-memberStack memberships range depending on how much income you make per month. “

Client Contract

Below you can see the contract which I wrote up for the project, I used a template for a basic layout and then tweaked it to suit this project.

I then used a website called DocSketch which allows you link sections of a document to be filled out online by your client. They can also add signatures to the document.

Organisation

To organise the project I used the Milanote platform and I used an AGILE workflow to ensure efficiency and maximum quality of work throughout the project. I also had the whole project broken down on one page, I had all my research, tasks, links and other relevant information in one board specifically for this project. By having all the relevant info in one place I could continuously refer back to it whenever I needed to refresh myself on the project goals or styles.

Research

I carried out research into a variety of difference aspects for this projects to immerse myself in the market and the style of betting industry. I also needed to look at it from the customers shoes...Why should I pick the UK Tipster?

I researched areas such as:

- Competition (existing tipster sites)

- Bookies Websites/Branding

- What makes a good tipster

I also did plenty of other research into design aspects as well as plenty of software research when I began developing the website. I had never used memberstack or even heard of it so there was large amounts of research into that.

Client Ideas

The clients sent me this really basic plan of what they're looking for...

I further discussed these ideas with them and spoke about how I can further improve them.

Site Map

I started by producing a site map for the website, just to clarify the plan for the site.

Mock ups

I took to Adobe XD to design some website mock ups. I started by exploring layout ideas and investigating how I could design the daily betting tips. I also added colours and illustrations to the mock ups as I gradually made them more realistic.

The mock ups are from an Adobe XD plug in called UnDraw which I am able to use commercially, I have w=tweaked the positioning, style, and colour of many for the website.

Development

I then began developing the website using Webflow which is an extremely powerful web builder which offers massive amounts of freedom in design as well as offering some great development tools.

I also wrote out all of the content due to the customers being too busy, they just approved it once I did it.

CMS Forms

The daily tips are one of the main aspects of the website, therefore it was essential that I set up the CMS forms to be as simple yet efficient as possible. I had to design all the layouts for the content and then I also had to fill out a form for each page which I then linked each individual form to the text on the template where I wanted it to fill each time.

Logo Improvement and Slogan Design

I still felt there was improvements to be made to the logo and they really liked a slogan which I came up with, so I decided to make them cohesive. Below you can find the developments through variety of different slogan designs. At the bottom you will also see the improved logo along side the final slogan design. I mainly just sharpened the logo, gave it corners rather than rounded edges along with a bold sharp text.

Memberstack Integration

Memberstack was great to use, I did some additional research and watched some tutorials but the checklist on the dashboard made the process much simpler. I then had to add the code from memberstack into each element on my webflow page. It got confusing at times but was definitely worth it.

It works a treat.

Testing

This project consisted of vast amounts of testing. I had to test several aspects but the main ones were the upload of daily tips, sign up and login system using Webflow and then the responsivity of the website on different device sizes.

I had to ensure the CMS Forms which I had set up were all working, below you can see me testing them. I filled out the form with betting information and followed all of the help guidance which I attached to each field of the form. I then published the form and you can clearly see all the information filled out into the correct spots on the page.

I did this for every form which was a very time consuming project I must say.

Below you can see my test accounts as I tested the websites sign up and log in functions.

0 notes

thegurualpha · 5 years ago

Text

WordPress 5.4 “Adderley” - A New Update and New Features

Here it is, yeah! Called "Adderley" in memory of Nat Adderley, the new and best edition of WordPress is ready for download or upgrade from your dashboard.

Say hello to more and better.

More ways to make your pages come alive. With easier ways to get it all done and looking better than ever—and boosts in speed, you can feel.

WordPress 5.4.

Each new update brings further to the block editor. Further opportunities to make articles and pages come alive with the best of your photos. Many options to introduce the guests, and hold them connected, to the abundance of embedded information from the top cloud providers. Many directions to render your dream concrete, and position bricks in a great place — even if you're new to a specific kind of block. More effective systems are required. And more pace anywhere, because when you create parts or galleries or even write a line of prose, you will feel how much easier your workflows. Read Also:Social Conflict: The only solution for COVID-19

Two new blocks. And better blocks overall.

Two brand-new blocks: Social Icons and Buttons make adding interactive features fast and easy.New ways with color: Gradients in the Buttons and Cover block, toolbar access to color options in Rich Text blocks, and for the first time, color options in the Group and Columns blocks.Guess a whole lot less! Version 5.4 streamlines the whole process for placing and replacing multimedia in every block. Now it works the same way in almost every block!And if you’ve ever thought your image in the Media+Text block should link to something else—perhaps a picture of a brochure should download that brochure as a document? Well, now it can.

Cleaner UI, clearer navigation—and easier tabbing!

Clearer block navigation with block breadcrumbs. And easier selection once you get there.For when you need to navigate with the keyboard, better tabbing and focus. Plus, you can tab over to the sidebar of nearly any block.Speed! 14% faster loading of the editor, 51% faster time-to-type!Tips are gone. In their place, a Welcome Guide window you can bring up when you need it—and only when you need it—again and again.Know at a glance whether you’re in a block’s Edit or Navigation mode. Or, if you have restricted vision, your screen reader will tell you which mode you’re in. Read Also:How to Start Freelancing?

Your fundamental right: privacy

5.4 helps with a variety of privacy issues around the world. So when users and stakeholders ask about regulatory compliance, or how your team handles user data, the answers should be a lot easier to get right. Take a look: Now personal data exports include users session information and users location data from the community events widget. Plus, a table of contents!See progress as you process export and erasure requests through the privacy tools.Plus, little enhancements throughout give the privacy tools a little cleaner look. Your eyes will thank you!

More For Developers

Add custom fields to menu items—natively Two new actions let you add custom fields to menu items—without a plugin and without writing custom walkers. On the Menus admin screen, wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields fires just before the move buttons of a nav menu item in the menu editor. In the Customizer, wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields_customize_template fires at the end of the menu-items form-fields template. Check your code and see where these new actions can replace your custom code, and if you’re concerned about duplication, add a check for the WordPress version. Read Also: Tips and Ideas to Start Freelancing and Get First Client. Blocks! Simpler styling, new APIs and embeds Radically simpler block styling. Negative margins and default padding are gone! Now you can style blocks the way you need them. And, a refactor got rid of four redundant wrapper divs.If you build plugins, now you can register collections of your blocks by namespace across categories—a great way to get more brand visibility.Let users do more with two new APIs: block variations and gradients.In embeds, now the block editor supports TikTok—and CollegeHumor is gone. Read the full article

0 notes

btsinspirationtakesme · 8 years ago

Text

Fall Forward (Intern Series 2)

Summary: The shy but determined intern at BigHit catches Taehyung’s eye.

Genre: RomCom angst.

Part 1

The next morning you decided to make it up to Taehyung, who you hoped hadn’t suffered any physical injuries from the screaming girl. You noted how Ms. Ryeri said he like sugary iced coffee, so popped into Starbucks on your way to work to get him his favourite special.

“You know how much sugar is in this, that’s not gonna be good for your waist line.” The barista said after you paid for the order.

“Thanks for your concern.” You muttered, not quite giving a shit about why it concerned the frat dweeb serving coffee.

“Here you go.” He said after a while of your fiddling on your phone trying to look busy waiting for your order.

You shot him a look, and sipped the drink in defiance.

How could Taehyung drink coffee so sweet, your scowled as the syrupy taste and sugar reached your mouth.

You made your way to BigHit ready for another day of work, clocking in your personal access code like every other day and shivering slightly at the air con that was always too cold.

You checked the ipad again for Taehyung’s schedule, he was supposed to be at one of the recording rooms in twenty minutes on floor two. Having more time, you decided to get there early so maybe you could prep your apology in advance. You tried to memorise his schedule once you had settled down again, and gave yourself a mental pep talk not to freeze up like you did yesterday, or spew stuff you didn’t want to say. You could do this. You could do this. You kept prepping yourself. You were a little shy, that was all. He didn’t need to see that.

The door creaked open.

Oh god, you didn’t want to see his beautiful face.

“Hi.” He said, smiling. He was too good. You expected a burst of outrage, but he gave a polite smile.

You couldn’t erase the look of worry on your face.

“Don’t you speak?” He laughed.

You nodded furiously.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you there. It’s just that the girl screams, like she yells the house down and I was mortified i bumped into you!” So much for spewing stuff out.

Taehyung took a seat right opposite you, that smile still edged on his face.

“Do you always get this nervous?” He asked.

Your eyes widened and you felt the tips of your ears burn.

“No.”

You sipped the ice cold sugary concoction in front you.

“Oh shit! This is for you.” You pushed the beverage in his direction.

Oh shit, he wouldn’t drink that would he? You had already taken a sip, not once but twice.

“Ah, it’s yours.” He said, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

“No, I got it for you but here’s the thing. This dweeb, actual frat boy dweeb at Starbucks was all like ‘you better watch your waist line drinking that’ and I got annoyed so I had a sip in front of him to piss him off, so I hope you don’t mind. It was all in the interests of annihilating frat boy dweeb smiles.”

Your cheeks were burning. Where was your verbal filter, you were supposed to have one like every other sane human.

You really weren’t sane, not around this guy clearly.

Taehyung didn’t say anything, but simply smiled and took a sip. The sound of his sipping nerved you.

“Mmmm, I also taste cherry.’

You licked your lips instinctively. You were wearing cherry gloss that probably transferred onto the straw.

Kill me now. You begged from above.

Your cheeks were probably on fire, they’d have to call the fire brigade.

“I’m so sorry.” You squeaked. This was going to haunt you for the rest of your life.

“Don’t be, I love cherry.” He winked, finishing the drink in what seemed like one gulp. That was a lot of sugar down in one go. Your cheeks felt like they were swelling, your were close to hyp-

“Ahhh…time for work.” He said casually streching his arms getting up.

“Hyungs are getting here a little later, which is why I’m going to be doing a bit of recording for some songs myself.” He said, getting up and stretching his arms.

“I-is there anything I can get you?” You asked, trying to press down the red on your cheeks.

“Just stay by my side at all times, that crazy intern might come back.” He said seriously. That reminded you of your biggest task that you were preparing yourself for, the apology.

“Uh, I’m sorry for leaving you like that. She just…pounced.” You blurted.

“It’s okay. I heard you called security, it was the right thing to do.” He said.

“I promise it won’t happen again.” You said trying to re-assure him he wouldn’t have to be worried.

“I don’t expect it will, unless you’re hiding something.” He joked.

You followed his instructions diligently, making sure to follow his every step from room to room. You observed how he worked, often sporadically. It was interesting, Taehyung was very dutiful which threw you off. You expected him to be forgetting things, making mistakes but on his own he was really a professional. He had all his lyrics ready, made amendments to them, the complete opposite of his camera personality.

His workflow was pretty impressive.

“Ah, took you guys long enough!” Taehyung joked, as the door opened to reveal the rest of BTS.

“Ahh, there’s so much traffic downtown we literally couldn’t move.” Yoongi, dressed in slacks and a cap said as he took a seat near the studio.

They all gave you polite smiles and hellos on recognising you were in the room and you reciprocated. Strange, you were perfectly normal if not your usual shy self with the others.

Taehyung threw you off.

You continued to work pretty comfortably for the rest of the morning, avoiding having to speak to Taehyung and it was only after 4 where his next activity would be without his members.

“You have a script reading.” You muttered, trying to get his attention away as he conversed with Jimin.

“See you guys at home. Don’t wait up for me.” Taehyung said pushing his chair back and walking ahead of you. You followed him out of the room and towards the elevator.

Floor 12. That was an awfully long elevator ride.

“So, what do you do…apart from interning?” He asked, making conversation. You were both at opposite ends of the elevator, more of your decision than his.

“I’m an English major.” You replied.

“Smart. Namjoon hyung would love to ask you about some of the books he picked up from this english book store.” Taehyung was really social, you wanted to ask him more but figured you would probably say something you’d regret.

You simply smiled.

Floor 12 really needed to hurry up.

“That’s weird.” You muttered, it shouldn’t take a minute to get to floor 12. It was far, but it wasn’t that far.

“Everything okay?” Taehyung asked.

Your furrowed your eyebrows. “Yeah, it’s just…” You moved towards where Taehyung was, which was behind the buttons on the elevator.

You were about to press the buttons again, but a sudden jolt of the elevator sent you right into Taehyung’s body and the floor suddenly started shaking. You gripped whatever you could to steady yourself, resting on something that felt like…fabric and hardening fabric?

Weird.

“Ow!” Taehyung yelled, and you shot your head towards him. His hands had gripped your shoulders steadying himself but that still didn’t erase the look of pain on his face.

“What is it, are you okay?” You asked, panicked.

“Fine…” He said slowly, face contorted in pain.

“Your hand’s squeezing my dick.”

You gasped, realising what your hand was gripping onto. You looked down, seeing the evidence for yourself and found your hand was so tighty gripped on it, your knuckles had a difficult time flexing to remove your hand.

“Ouch.”You said removing your hand.

If anyone, Taehyung was the one in pain.

Once again, mortification washed over you. No, screw that. Mortification was a light word for this situation. You didn’t deserve to be moritified. You needed help, the reason why was taken out from your mind before you even thought of it.

“How the hell did you manage to grab my dick when anyone else would have grabbed my arm?” Taehyung asked, eyes wide in shock as he looked at you.

“Are you one of those girls, the ones that are all coy until they find a guy alone?” He pressed further.

You slowly backed away.

“No, no running this time.” Taehyung blocked your path.

“It…was just…I mean it was just there and really hard like a handle pointing out.”

Verbal filters did not exist when it came to Kim Taehyung. Your reply was met with more incredulity from him, and a freaked out ‘hey!’ was what Taehyung could manage. His eyes widened in shock, he put his hands on his hips as he tried to contain his shock and anger.

You’d be offended too, if your PA just told you your dick was hard in an elevator pointing towards you.

-End of Part 2-

#bts reactions #taehyung #taehyung fic #bts scenarios #kim taehyung #jungkook #yoongi #jimin #hoseok #namjoon #bts fic

42 notes · View notes

josephlrushing · 5 years ago

Text

An Interview with Asher Dowson, House of Worship Segment Manager at D&B Audiotechnik

D&b is known throughout the professional audio community for its groundbreaking Soundscape technology; at NAMM, we had a chance to visit with Asher Dowson, the House of Worship segment manager at d&b audiotechnik. He was the one to fill us in on the concept of d&b’s belief that “everyone should experience the same impeccable quality of sound, regardless of their position in the audience.”

Say “hi” to Asher, everyone!

Judie Stanford: So, tell us what you are most excited about for this show?

Asher Dowson: Well, we just opened our new Los Angeles facility in Signal Hill. We’re celebrating the launch of our new subwoofer; it’s part of our KSL system, which is a huge step forward in the way that it sounds is reproduced for audiences. We’re also bringing a new development with our Soundscape system, so a totally new way of bringing natural experienced sound. So, usually, it may sound a bit like over here and over here [gesturing away]. Because if it’s here, you want to hear it from where they are. Your brain with two ears, those calculations in there that are based on how sound arrives sooner hear, louder over there. Sound hasn’t been reproduced in that way, ever. It’s always been like I can see you, but I can hear you (like it’s out of sync); your brain gets distracted. It’s exciting.

So, we’re releasing the KSL subwoofer; it’s part of our obsession with getting the sound where it should be and not firing it into neighbors or backstage. So, it’s got one speaker that faces backward, two speakers that face forward. It basically gets like 85% of the energy that’s going forward canceled by this one facing here. The soundwave travels, and one of the ones that opposite cancels it out, so, that’d be a great one for productions; it would be great for theaters, house of worship, that kind of thing. But super high power, super portable and it fits with the newer line that we released last year.

Judie Stanford: So, this Soundscape that you all have created, when did that come out? Is this something that you all introduced in the last few years? I’m not familiar with the concept yet, beyond what we were shown last night.

Asher Dowson: Well, it became like a product, let’s say three years ago. ISE is a similar trade show to [NAMM], with early live technology in Amsterdam. But it’s kind of been in the brain of the guy who was just sitting here, Ralph Zuleeg [Head of Sales Services and Application Engineering at d&b audiotechnik] for probably 25 years, just processing and computing power and the ability to model how that would actually work in real life, and what was available. So, we’ve kind of come to this point now where you’ve got the amount of processing we need to make it actually happen. We’ve got all the nuts and bolts when it comes to our workflows. It’s kind of like a software portfolio that runs like end to end from planning to performance optimization.

Judie Stanford: So, somebody that was sitting in the audience might think that it was somebody running a soundboard and that they were connecting different speakers to different areas trying to get the sound to come out to where it appears 3D, but instead, it’s all computer-processed, it’s all software related?

Asher Dowson: Yeah, it’s all software related now. No, it’s not like automatic mixing, there is auto-mixing. But we kind of push that. It’s more of that when they put all that content together, right? It all layers up. Usually, if you imagine you’ve got this bottleneck, right? So, I’ve got a voice in there, I’ve got a drum kit, I got to kind of put different beats out of it. Because I have “this” to work in. Well, if I’ve got 17 of those, or I’ve got five of those, then everything can kind of be represented a bit more naturally. So, what happened to sound is, if I move closer to you, you feel and hear that lower frequency. That excites people’s emotions because it resonates with their nervous system. So, you get excited by that frequency. So, old PA’s can’t really do that. They couldn’t hit that frequency without making loads of feedback as soon as that energy hits the microphone. So, what I guess Soundscape and SL series does is, it means that it can bring that experience close to people. You can make it a lot more intimate. And that’s the thing that excites people, right? If you feel like, if I feel like I’m 100 feet away from the show, and it’s all of that, it doesn’t move me as much. If I can feel like I’m a part of it, it’s an immersive term, which is kind of bringing you right into the experience of connecting to like, there’s no barrier between the heart and me. It’s kind of all around me. It’s within me.

youtube

Judie Stanford: So, anywhere that you’re standing in that concert hall, in the general area, that’s been mapped for, of course, it’ll sound like it should?

Asher Dowson: Yeah. So, this is a software controller that basically, you can either use tracking tools, like a stage tracker and stuff like that, to track the objects that move around. So, if I was at a corporate event and I was speaking, hardware —two metal tags… So, I’m walking to the stage, the sound would be distributed across multiple speakers as if it would be heard, so exactly how a normal soundwave works. Everyone who is seeing the speaker on the stage, wherever they’re sitting, will be able to look at the person and hear the sound exactly as it tracks to the person while they are moving. It’s never been possible before.

Judie Stanford: So, they’re wearing an actual tracker?

Asher Dowson: Yeah.

Judie Stanford: Would a musician wear the same?

Asher Dowson: Yeah. Stick it on your guitar, and the tracking will work, for example. Yeah, exactly. So, we did this with Imogen Heap where it’s a control protocol called OSC. So, she had these OSC gloves, and with her fingers, she was moving her vocal around, it sends the OSC command to our signal processor, picks it up and moves in automation. Or you can preprogram it, or you can have just like an RF tracker, just a radiofrequency device that syncs and moves around the object as that person moves.

youtube

Judie Stanford: So, there’s no real learning curve there for the person who’s performing or speaking. Because they just put it on and they just do what they’re going to do.

Asher Dowson: Exactly.

Helena Stone: How big is this thing that they’re putting on?

Asher Dowson: Probably the size of that [he points to a small black piece of plastic]. You can put it in your pocket, you can put them on your shoulders.

Helena Stone: What size of audiences is this best suited for it?

Asher Dowson: Well, it’s scalable, like everything we have we got, you know, stuff that would work in a boardroom for 20, 30 people, or this could go up to… We’ve done applications of 10-20,000 people with this stuff. But the point where I think it reaches its limit is when localizing within your field of view. So, if I’ve got speakers and the whole of the music is coming from speakers in front of me. Then when I’m close to it, it’s easier. If I’m a thousand meters back, I’m localizing this. So at that point, I’d say when it gets to within like 15% of the field of view [because the person or group on stage is so far away from you], then it’s not making much of an exciting experience

Judie Stanford: That makes sense. What about when you have something like a Jumbotron, does that sync up the Soundscape experience and make it work better in a larger area? I get that what you’re talking about is when you see someone on the stage, but they’re so far away, but the music is as loud here [where you’re standing], it creates a weird distortion in your mind. But if you have something like a jumbotron and you were hearing the music, would it recreate the experience of actually being in front of that person? Or not so much?

Asher Dowson: Yes, absolutely. We did it at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for the Predators — they put in Soundscape because they wanted to have this experience where they could do whatever they wanted to do and everyone would be able to immediately localize. That’s the thing. In an arena, if someone makes an announcement on a microphone, you’re looking around for 30 or 40 seconds [trying to figure out where the sound is coming from and who to look at], and that’s 30, 40 seconds where you disengage from the experience, your mind is distracted and you’re not connected.

Judie Stanford: Where with a proper soundstage, you could hear the sound and it would direct you to the right area to look?

Asher Dowson: Precisely locate.

Judie Stanford: Wow. Okay.

Asher Dowson: So, when it comes to what I do, it’s mostly is with houses of worship; listening fatigue can be really difficult because you’ve people listening for 20, 30, 40 minutes. And if someone’s not fun and entertaining and charming, then it’s a challenge already. But if your brain is getting tired from concentrating on trying to track sound with the person or people on stage… We have our moments where like, my attention’s kind of social, you know? I’ve got to be engaged. So, this is a tool for the modern era, and the experience actually brings engagement back to the level where it’s natural; I can have a conversation with people for an hour, but I can’t listen to someone speak for five minutes.

youtube

Helena Stone: So this is good for corporate events, right?

Asher Dowson: Exactly. Yeah, big stadium, corporate events or even like little talking head stuff. But the musical thing is where it gets really full of flavor.

Helena Stone: Are there genres that you’d say that it does well or does better with than others?

Asher Dowson: It’s really flexible. We’ve done it with classical music, we’ve done it with EDM, we’ve done it with Imogen Heap, Bjork has been on tour with it. I guess the flexibility of it kind of means that as long as you’ve got content that has got enough inputs that you can spread around to make it interesting, it’s like a solo acoustic guitar. Like, let’s say, Lewis Capaldi, right? He’s using an ASL system right now. And if he used Soundscape, It’d be great, but it would only really be like a couple of inputs. Since it’s just kind of him and his vocals. So, everyone could localize where he is. But there’s only one focal point, and that wouldn’t be that difficult to do. But when there are effects and things that will move around people, then you’re not just getting the sound from all the way over there [points off in the distance].

Helena Stone: So, what do you call this 360-experience?

Asher Dowson: We call it all-immersive. If it’s just coming from the front — the left and right, that’s called a 180; it’s just in that plane. We call it 360 if it’s in the surrounds.

Judie Stanford: So like last night, the DJ we saw, that was obviously 360.

Asher Dowson: That was in 360. And the object-based mixing, so thinking less about like putting information from different frequency bands together and kind of stacking it up. So many things you have to do to mitigate; I mean, you have how dynamic the source is, how to kind of keep it in its little box, which almost makes it sound boring, but this is what we have to do. It kind of unlocks all of that if you’ve got the freedom to let your mix really breathe. And there’s another element which, we call it convolution reverb. So, we’ve taken models from some of the best concert halls in Europe, and you can put that concert hall in any room that you’re mixing in.

Judie Stanford: Wait, you can recreate that concert hall’s sound landscape pretty much anywhere?

Asher Dowson: The reverb time, yes. So, that happens. The signature that concert pianists, or cellists, or violinists will be used to playing it. And if you think about that, how reverbs don’t right now… If we were in a big hall, and I clapped my hands, modern music says that reverb comes after my hands touch, directly from it. That’s not how the reverb works. It comes from around you because the reflection hits the wall. So, this brings back reverberations, how it’s supposed to work and how it’s variable. So, if you’ve got a church speech moment, you want to be quite dry, really straightforward, just the words — and then you go to music performance, maybe the choir —so, if it changes the terms of flexibility for events that need more than one room, but they can only physically be in one room that can change and adapt that to change it during the performance.

Judie Stanford: So, that’s how you can put a house of worship with a decent soundscape into an old theater, a strip mall, or something like that. You just totally make it work, even if that space wasn’t originally intended to serve the kind of sound that’s now being produced?

Asher Dowson: Any room, anywhere. That’s kind of where it’s been going. So, I think it’s cool, but I’m biased, you know?

Judie Stanford: No, it’s crazy because it’s the stuff that people take for granted. You go in and you hear a fantastic concert that sounds great and sounds are coming from everywhere. You don’t give it a second thought about what went into producing that. Which means you all are doing your job. But at the same time, it’s like nobody has an understanding, or appreciation really, for what you do.

Asher Dowson: The subwoofer is the new element of what we’re doing in terms of demoing Soundscape as a whole new set of content because this is something that has usually been in the hands of technicians, right? That’s it. Now in the hands of creatives, these people like Bjork and Imogen Heap, they’re expanding the concept of what this can do, and they’re kind of learning together about how we can create experiences.

youtube

Judie Stanford: Well, yeah, I can see them like completely writing music, knowing that this will be what they’re able to achieve when they’re in concert. So, let’s go ahead and do the sound that pops over here and these other things we might not have even bothered with before today just be a muddy mess.

Asher Dowson: Yeah, exactly. So, it kind of gives them a whole new environment to create music in. And it’s not just like… here, it’s everywhere they want it to be.

Judie Stanford: So, in that environment, the new subwoofer, what’s different about it than a subwoofer that anybody else could put out? What exactly sets you apart?

Asher Dowson: We have a patent on the audio technology that we implement in our subwoofers. So, for that rear-facing speaker, it encapsulates the energy behind the driver. So, with releasing our KSL system, that’s the first really useful, fully cardioid system that cancels the sound down. It’s like exactly where it needs to be if you’re in a park, if you’re doing a huge concert, your neighbors behind are not getting pummeled by 500 Hz and their windows are shaking. We can be friends with them now because it’s pretty quiet back there, but the audience is still getting the right experience.

Helena Stone: I hate to paraphrase, but it sounds like you’re allowing people at a concert to listen to music as the artists intended without disturbing anyone who isn’t at the show?

Asher Dowson: That’s right; let’s get to what it should be, and will do all of the technical innovation, all of the hard — they call it German Voodoo Math over here [pointing at some of the d&b engineers nearby] — so those guys plus the crazy, intelligent musician equal magic.

Judie Stanford: So, you’re putting the sound where it needs to be, not spilling out where it shouldn’t be? And you’re giving the best experience to those listening.

Helena Stone: And you said you are working on reducing noise in an urban environment?

Judie Stanford: They’re putting sound wave where it’s supposed to be. Like, whenever you’re having a concert, instead of it like spilling over into the neighborhood, it’s in the venue where it needs to be. And that’s it?

Asher Dowson: Well, think about where it goes now… Think about like Austin City Limits, for example. or, there’s a big one in Miami, the big EDM ultra festival, Ultra Festival, right? Very expensive apartments are all through in Miami. So, how does the city authorize the festival? They guarantee the noise that goes with it. So everyone can have fun where the fun is happening, but these people who’ve paid $20 million for their apartment; they do not want that loud sound in their area. So, d&b has this pretty unique software. One thing that is crazy special is this thing called NoizCalc.

Judie Stanford: What’s a noise calc? Wait? Noise Calculation?

Asher Dowson: Right, NoizCalc. So, you take the system that you’ve designed for the room and you overlay it off of Google Maps, and it will show you where that energy will go and you can predict the offsite noise.

Judie Stanford: Whaaaat?!

Asher Dowson: And it will take into account buildings, it will take into account water, wherever it needs to be. They then take it to a 3D overlay and Google Maps will tell you exactly how much noise it is going to be, so you can guarantee noise levels. No other company can do this. We can guarantee that whoever puts on the event, this will be the level.

youtube

Judie Stanford: Wow. And how long have you all been able to do that specifically?

Asher Dowson: Noise Calc? It’s been out on the market for about two years. So that’s kind of… we talk about urban environments, kind of having music in the heart of the city is certainly more of a challenge. You don’t want to add to the noise pollution, you want everyone to have a good time without disrupting other people’s lives.

Judie Stanford: Does this allow you to get around like the 10:30 pm cut off and things like that, like Stubb’s in Austin does since it’s in the middle of the city…?

Asher Dowson: Not always, but yeah, it definitely improves our case. Because when we’ve got a report that we can submit to the people who are organizing the event or festival, to say, “hey — this is going to be the most neighborhood-friendly concert you can possibly do. I was at church on Sunday, in Tulsa, at a 5000 seat arena they’ve got. And it’s like 150 feet behind the stage, that’s a residential area. So they’re getting complaints, that it’s too loud, so when you can use our system to cut the noise down by 20dB, and they no longer get complaints …

Judie Stanford: Yeah.

Asher Dowson: We can be friendly with your neighbors, that kind of thing, you know? So yeah, that’s what we’re excited about which is… it’s a different approach.

Judie Stanford: So, back to the subwoofer for one second; the only people who are going to be buying this are going to be people who are buying for a commercial system. Is this like a turnkey situation? You all come in and you discuss what they can afford and what they need, and then you all come in and do it all for them, or do they hire someone else to do it?

Asher Dowson: So, we as the manufacturer prescribe the audio solution; maybe it’s a rental company, maybe it’s an install company doing installing. So, we would work with them to make sure that the vision and the needs of the customers are met. With the level of training that we offer for free, and the workshops it’s incredibly advanced, but it’s inspired by simplicity. You don’t want a headache when you’re loading into an arena. You want to feel like, “I know how this room is going to work. Let’s go.” So, we make it as simple as possible. And there are so many hidden layers of like crazy rules on what is useful, like the cables, right? That’s copper and that’s a resistive material, so the capacitance of the copper is going to affect how much you drop the power so you measure the cables and the software. But it does a cable compensation. It’s like, if you haven’t thought of it yet, they’ve thought of it, you know? And it’s all that stuff working in the background to make a show great.

Judie Stanford: Yeah. It’s a lot.

Helena Stone: It is a lot. Are there any arenas or big concert venues that we may have heard of that are already utilizing Soundscape?

Asher Dowson: Sony Hall has it installed. The Bjork show that I was talking about — that was set up in the O2 Arena in London. That was one of our first real large scale applications of Soundscape in an arena that size.

youtube

Helena Stone: But in like a smaller venue, maybe like a church, you’re setting it up in the church?

Asher Dowson: Yeah.

Judie Stanford: And it stays.

Asher Dowson: Yeah, and we’ve done plenty of those. It’s exciting to get this out there; it’s kind of like we are releasing our baby into the wild, and the response has been great!

Judie Stanford: So nobody else is doing anything quite like this?

Asher Dowson: Some people are going into the immersive space, but there is no one else who’s doing it with the two things that you all use to process sound which is level at time. So, it’s the arrival time of my voice to your left ear … and you hear me on the left side. No one else is doing that, and definitely not with the level of integration we have. Yeah. It’s kind of a lot is going on with it, and of course, d&b tour wise — Coldplay uses it, Gorillaz, Kraftwerk, Green Day, Chvrches … they aren’t all using Soundscape, but they are using d&b.

youtube

I’ve sold some audio stuff to Snoop Dogg, you know? That was an experience, but it’s off the record …

[I promptly turn off my recorder and we got to hear a great Snoop Dogg story.]

Helena Stone: Where are your biggest sales? Is it music? Is it churches?

Asher Dowson: So, we kind of classify our segments, like our customer groups, into mobile applications. So, like touring, corporate events, and installations. Touring has always been big at d&b; it’s where we have our pedigree. But more recently, we’ve been investing heavily into stuff that’s more install friendly. Because if I’m not taking it up and down every week, I don’t need handles on it. Different amplifiers don’t need to be shockproof to go into a truck. So, I say our biggest area of growth is in installations — not that touring’s not growing, it’s growing fast — but as far as growth, it’s installations.

Judie Stanford: So the church stuff is right under the touring stuff?

Asher Dowson: Oh yeah, yeah. Just you know, we have some great focus segments. We do stadiums, theaters, nightclubs, live performance venues, and churches. Those are kind of our main install segments. Were also very popular on cruise ships because we do this saltwater resistance, so our stuff is friendly to them. We can customize things to make them look like they’re rusted or covered in 24K gold — or whatever it needs to be.

Judie Stanford: Covered in 24K gold … as one does!

A nearby exec: I actually had somebody order that!

Judie Stanford: I believe it — probably a sultan in Dubai.

Asher Dowson: [laughing] Exactly.

Judie Stanford: So, what was the most challenging install that you all have done?

Asher Dowson: I think as a company, the most challenging install that we’ve completed was the Royal Albert Hall; we’ve got the permanent loudspeaker system in there, and it’s the largest single room loudspeaker system in the world — 465 speakers! Now, that room has just been an acoustic nightmare for like, you know, 200 years. So, we kind of say that’s the sound system 200 years in the making, and it’s detailed to the point where every single seating box has speakers in the surround, everyone, wherever you go, it is an incredibly reverberant space, very, very sensitive in terms of say, stuff that gets in the way of the show. It has now got something that’s deserving of its iconic stance. We’re quite happy about that. That was completed at just the end of 2018. For me, I like the challenge of a cathedral. I like a big space; it’s great to work with and put smiles on the people’s faces. I want people to listen and go, “yeah, this is what I came for.” That’s a very good feeling for me.

youtube

You can learn more about d&b audiotechnik here.

Bonus video from d&b audiotechnik’s opening in Signal Hill, California; Helena and I were there! See how many times you can spot us.

https://youtu.be/B5TjKv4g4WE

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/02/01/an-interview-with-asher-dowson-house-of-worship-segment-manager-at-db-audiotechnik/

0 notes

xseedgames · 8 years ago

Text

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection - Localization Blog #2

“Rally-ho, true believers!” I shout, swinging into the grand hall on a chandelier, interrupting the fancy party. Everything stops as eyes are focused solely on me – on my roguish good looks, my brand-name tabard, my elk leather highboots. I somersault to the floor, landing on my feet with a flourish and a bow. “I know you must have thought this high society gathering dreadfully dull without me here to tell you about the intricacies of composing prose for novel electronic amusements, so I’ve come to enlighten and entertain thee. Also, did you know all the food here is free? My pockets are full of cocktail wieners right now.”

Indeed, it’s an honor to see you again, dear readers. I hope you enjoyed my previous blog about the upcoming PC release of Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection. As a small refresher, it served as something of an introduction to Zwei: II as a game – what it’s all about, its two main characters, the setup of the story, and its battle and leveling system. You can think of it as a sampler platter to give you a taste of why this game’s cool.

Do a barrel roll

Today, in my second Zwei: II blog, I’d like to go into more detail on the process of writing and editing for the game, and some of the things I dealt with and thought about as I localized it. I’ve done an entry like this for each of my prior projects, and I always enjoy it because it gives me a chance to briefly pull back the curtain and share with you some of the minutiae of localization, and the truism that every project is its own beast.

One interesting thing of note about this project is that it’s the first project on which I served as the sole editor. When I started working at XSEED, most of my prior localization experience had been as part of a team working on large single projects, while most of XSEED’s workflow at that time had been to keep a single editor on a project as much as possible. Each method has its own benefits, as you’d expect. When I work with a partner or team, I enjoy being able to bounce ideas off them or ask for hot takes any time I want, like, “Okay, which of these five potential quest names sounds the best to you?” or “Here’s what I have so far for this scene, but I want this girl to sound more disinterested. How would you do it?” We solicit general impressions from the office fairly regularly, but having other editors acquainted with the specifics and setting of the project you’re working on gives you access to an informed, expanded scope beyond your own intuition and experience. That’s important, because every editor is naturally going to have some characters or scenes they click with more readily than others.

On the other hand, flying solo can also be nice because it represents a purer distillation of editorial voice. With single-editor projects, you know that all the text in the game was overseen by the same person, making thoughtful choices with full knowledge of where everything fits in the greater scheme of the story. I think that’s what XSEED values about this methodology, but with the arrival of mammoth-sized scripts like those for the Story of Seasons and Trails of Cold Steel games, it became a matter of practicality to learn to work well as small teams on projects – a challenge I think our editors have risen to meet in admirable fashion. Of course, that’s not to say I didn’t have a lifeline or two working on Zwei: II. Junpei and Tom were an ever-present source of support whenever I had a question about something in the Japanese – and there were many, many of those over the duration of the project. Even when you’re working alone, you’re never truly alone when you’ve got the office familia backin’ you up.

Getting to work on a project by myself has also helped me better understand my own work process. One nice thing is that everything I mentally bring to a project – the stories I’ve consumed and experiences I’ve had that color how I interpret characters and scenes – remains consistent throughout. This is especially pertinent when writing for comedic scenes, as no two editors will have the exact same sense of humor, and Zwei has more than its share of wisecracks and comedy. The scary thing about being the sole face of a game, though, is that anything that’s weird or wrong, any jokes that totally fall flat, emotional connections that don’t get made – that’s all on me. In a way, it’s a test of myself as a writer and editor, with you all as the judges. With the original Story of Seasons, Tom and Ryan lent me a hand, and I had the dashing Young Kris as my partner for the first Trails of Cold Steel, but here, you get pure Nick, for better or worse (hopefully for better).

I mentioned briefly in my previous blog that Zwei: II felt like it was deeply informed by ’90s anime and manga, and I’d like to unpack that a little more for you here, in case your curiosity was piqued at the notion. After all, a lot of the games we work on here at XSEED are pretty anime-flavored, right? What’s one more on the list?

Here’s my take. Over time, the general vibe of anime has undergone change, as all thriving arts tend to. One major difference – the one most relevant to our discussion – is the observation that protagonists in many modern series tend to be passive, disaffected, reticent, or otherwise hesitant to engage the world and situations around them. They’re the reactive sort. Sometimes it’s because they’re exceptionally socially aware. Sometimes it may be because they’re awkward youths. Sometimes it’s because you get the impression that the writer really wants you to think this person is cool or above it all. Anime from the ’90s, on the other hand, is much more associated with protagonists who leap into situations without thinking, do things without considering the ramifications of their actions, and adhere to a personal code or philosophy that the character consciously or unconsciously holds. Both approaches, in the hands of a good storyteller, can and have made for some great entertainment, but from a writing perspective, the “’90s anime” types are definitely easier for me to work with. They’re more expressive, more willing to engage, and their very being tends to create conflicts that help drive the story and the growth of both themselves and other characters.

During the time I was working on Zwei: II, I actually ended up rewatching a season of Ranma ½ (those blu-rays are preeeeetty sweet) and seeing the Tenchi Muyo TV series for the first time (on loan from Tom). Seeing those really made this whole point click with me, like, “...That’s it! That’s the kind of comedic stylings Zwei is trying to channel!” Not in the sense of specific plot points or characters from any particular series, but the sort of atmosphere that was about creating opportunities for amusing things to happen. Ranma, for instance, tends to nettle many of the characters in his series not on purpose, but just by being who he is. And not just that – doing it on purpose also comes very easily to him (just watch how he loves to bait Ryoga or Kuno with his taunting). Ragna is less purposefully ornery, but his decisive personality draws the admiration of some and the exasperation of others. Plus, later on in the game, you run across a genuine hot spring, and we all know what a staple of the era that is. ;)

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Tragedy is easy, comedy is hard,” and there’s truth in it. Most of us love a good comedy, but do any two of us love all the same comedies or laugh at all the same things? Humor is deceptively difficult because it’s so mercurial, influenced by the times, by moods, by delivery, and more. A bit that might leave you stone-faced Monday night could have you busting a gut Thursday night. Understanding why something that makes you laugh does so is the study of a lifetime. There’s really no shortcutting it – you have to get the mileage, experiencing things that make you laugh, thinking about why, and chasing the next thing you think might give you another shot of mirth. I can only hope that I’ve imbibed enough of the spirit of humor to properly convey the charm of what is perhaps Falcom’s most levity-laden title.

Yeah...just hangin' in there, y'know...

Beyond my approach to the game itself, we have its characters – the heart and soul of the action. Quite often, early on in the process of localizing a game, I’ll get an impression of a character as, “Oh...I guess he’s a lot like X from [other source],” and as I make a couple of those anchoring connections and begin considering the characters in the game from those perspectives, they begin to show their multiple facets. Lest you think this sounds too close to, “Oh no, he’s just taking an existing character and foisting that persona on this carefully crafted, unique game character!”, take a measure of comfort in my assurance that I, too, would be dissatisfied with an approach that oversimplified. Think of it more as a basic framework – scaffolding that lets me clamber around the object d’art to get at the fine detailing.

With Ragna, for instance, his characterization is very front-loaded in the game. Right away, you know he’s a freewheeling pilot, sort of a hotshot, and likes to do things his own way. The image he creates is very “early 20th-century flyboy,” and I sort of conceptualized him as a guy who wouldn’t feel out of place if you stuck him in among the cast of “The Rocketeer.” Speech-wise, his alternating between laid back and fired up reminded me of Gundam Wing's Duo Maxwell, and like that character, Ragna likes to chime in with some tongue-in-cheek commentary if something patently ludicrous or weird happens in the game. Finding characters who are reasonably like the one you’re writing for helps, as does understanding the milieu in which a character exists – what they were doing just before the story began, and what the world around them that shaped them is like.

There are actually a couple characters who have what I termed “Ragna-variant” speaking styles. Ragna’s main vocal tic is that he sometimes truncates words ending in “-ing” (so “nothing” would become “nothin’,” and “fighting” would be “fightin’,” though I tried to generally keep it to one per text box – it’s a spice, not a marinade), so among the expanded cast, you get some people who speak that way because they have similar lifestyles. Odessa, as a rough-and-tumble Treasure Hunter who specializes in capturing bounties, is very colloquial in her faux old-west style. Gashler, who runs the garage out by the airstrip, is a full-bearded, goggled mechanic that sort of reminded me of Cid from Final Fantasy IV, and his speaking style is pretty thick – one of the most affected in the game, though I tried to make it still pretty easy to comprehend. One also has to consider that people who have special styles of speech have certain occasions where that’s either suppressed somewhat, or is expressed with even greater emphasis than normal. Even old man Gashler might speak (mostly) standard English if you dragged him to a black-tie event, but on the other hand, if someone said his workmanship is rubbish, I have no doubt that he’d be cussin’ up a storm, blastin’ furnace-fire, and lettin’ loose with the sort of strange, idiomatic expressions that only grease-stained mechanics know.

Ragna being an unusually “American-feeling” character made him pretty easy to write for right from the start. Alwen took a little more finesse and more time to find her ground – but not because she was difficult in a conventional sense. The trick with Alwen was that she definitely inhabits a certain archetype, at least partially, but I needed to figure out how much of that I needed to accurately represent her, and when to let her individual characteristics shine.

Alwen, as the daughter of an esteemed Trueblood vampire house, can be very prideful, bordering sometimes on haughty. She learns fairly quickly that the world beyond her castle has more complexities than she gave it credit for, but her distance from the world of humans actually gives her some surprising insights. Now, the most common way you see characters like Alwen played are that they step out into the greater world, eventually realize how much they don’t know, and depend on their friends to teach them what it means to really live along the way. Alwen...has some of that, but it’s the way she interfaces with the world that makes her an interesting and fun character. For example, she doesn’t technically NEED to eat food, but likes eating a ton of it (on Ragna’s dime, of course) just because it’s tasty. She’s not afraid to walk right into town and make small talk with the people. Alwen may be a vampire, but she’s refreshingly (and oddly) free of so many of the preconceived expectations people have about what vampires are like. She even calls Ragna out on this early on in the game when he’s shocked that she walks around just fine in the bright morning sunlight. A great deal of Zwei: II’s story is really her story, especially when it comes to getting the ball rolling, and it helps the story greatly to have a character who both entices with a bit of the familiar but also stands out due to individual quirks.

I also did with Alwen a variant of what I did for Laura in Trails of Cold Steel, where I shifted her from talking with a “proper,” antiquated style of speech to a more natural speaking style that still retains the idea that she’s highborn. Coming at this from a lore perspective, Alwen hasn’t been out of her castle in the last 100 years or so and has learned what she knows of the world from her estate’s extensive library, so it would be very feasible for her speaking style to sound older than that of Ragna or the people of Artte. In practice, though, Ragna having a casual style of speech and Alwen’s speech being fairly rigid made it difficult for the comedy to land, and to really connect with Alwen as a character. Can you imagine what Star Wars would’ve been like if Princess Leia spoke like a medieval fantasy princess while trying to banter with Han Solo? That’s the kind of disparity I’m talking about. It might’ve been funny, but for reasons entirely unintended. So after thinking on it a while, I decided to adjust Alwen’s speaking style, dialing it back. My priority was to keep her sounding articulate and well spoken, but casual up the language so that the banter between her and Ragna has the requisite snap it ought to. In my opinion, the net gain from that was well worth the adjustment, which you’ll be able to see for yourself when you play.

Sort of tangentially related to that, in the Japanese version, Ragna goes through basically the whole game calling Alwen “Princess” (“hime-san”). The best reasoning I could figure is that maybe, having taken on some power from their blood contract, Ragna feels he should acknowledge her as his liege, but...that explanation totally flies in the face of Ragna’s personality. Ragna is a guy for whom there is ONLY a first-name basis (or a nickname if he finds one for you he likes). The most likely explanation is that it’s just the difference between politeness levels in Japanese personal address versus Western personal address, but the title put a certain amount of “distance” between them that I didn’t want to remain there for the duration of the game. The alteration I made to compensate for this was to have Ragna refer to Alwen as “princess” a bit at the very outset of the game, but quickly fall into using her first name, which feels much more natural for the character. To draw the analogy with Star Wars again, think of it as Han Solo going from calling Leia “princess” or “your worship” in a sort of snarky context when he doesn’t really know her to simply calling her “Leia” once he’s spent time with her and knows her as an individual. Plus, with as big a deal as Ragna makes over wanting to work together with Alwen as “equal partners” at the start of the game, it would be weird for him to then go on to refer to her by her royal title for the rest of the game.

This discussion isn’t meant to be a comprehensive retrospective of Zwei: II’s localization, of course; just a list of some of the noteworthy things I grappled with working on the game. Editorial work does have its pressures and difficulties – when the buck basically stops with you, how do you know you’re making the right call? – but ultimately, these kinds of challenges are what keep the job fresh and interesting. The point of all the character personality profiling, the speech styles, the fine-tuning, is for players to be able to sit down and experience a fun story and memorable characters that “just work,” no speculative microscope examinations of the translation required. I think my obsessive tweaking and spit-polishing will make for a better game experience...but you don’t have to take MY word for it. Give Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection a try when it comes out and see for yourself!

#xseed games #xseed blog #xseed #Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection #post: nick #long post #Falcom

45 notes · View notes

margaretbeagle · 6 years ago

Text

The Newest Black Friday + Cyber Monday Ideas for Your Social Media Marketing

The biggest retail dates of the year are just around the corner. Do you have your social media marketing ready?

We’ve researched some of the trendiest marketing ideas for Black Friday + Cyber Monday, including flash sales, messenger marketing, and UGC. In this blog post, we’ll cover a host of new ideas, tips, and tactics that can help you boost your already-planned campaigns or give you some inspiration for an upcoming piece of content.

Find out some of the numbers behind Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and see what the most cutting-edge brands are trying out this holiday season.

Holiday shopping begins for people all the way back in September! So there’s a wide window of opportunity to reach customers who are in the shopping mood.

According to the National Retail Federation, the average shopper is planning to spend $1,047 this holiday season, which is a four percent increase from last year.

Overall, sales in November and December are expected to rise between 3-to-4 percent, reaching more than $725 billion.

That’s a huge amount of spending. We’ll get into some ways to best position your products and promotions during this spending season. But first, we wanted to start with a couple of outside-the-box campaigns to get you feeling inspired.

Inspiring examples of Black Friday / Cyber Monday marketing

Outdoor apparel retailer REI has taken a rather unique approach to its Black Friday marketing. For the past four years, REI has chosen simply to not participate at all. They close their stores and send their employees home. Even the website has a giant takeover message. They want you to feel empowered to opt out of Black Friday and spend time outside. The hashtag campaign “Opt Outside” has been a hit.

youtube

And this year, they’re taking it one step further by not only encouraging people to opt out of shopping but also asking folks to spend their time cleaning up the environments around them of trash and waste.

It’s a really powerful message to send, and it’s been very effective for REI’s brand.

For another example of Black Friday creative campaigns, there’s this amusing one from the New York Public Library. The library put together some simple content to share on social, advertising a 100% off sale on all its books.

Of course, the joke here is that the New York Public Library is a .. well, library. All of its books are free to check out all the time anyway.

Nevertheless, it proved to be a very memorable campaign.

So with these fun examples in mind, let’s jump into some of the specific strategies and tactics you can take with your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing.

1. Conduct hourly flash sales

When researching this episode, we came across a really interesting case study of HostGator, a web hosting service, and how they approached Black Friday / Cyber Monday. Essentially, HostGator put together a spreadsheet with multiple sales at multiple different hours of multiple different days. It was fascinating!

Yes, their sales typically lasted one hour with some steep savings of 60 to 70 percent. And each hourly sale had its own coupon code so they could track the results.

It’s a really interesting strategy, especially when you think of how you can use it on social media.

That’s right. Think of all the possibilities for Stories content and social posts if you have multiple sales during the shopping weekend. Especially with Stories, you have things like countdown timers and reminder stickers that you can use to great effect. Each new sale gives you another chance to reach out to your audience in multiple ways — getting attention before the sale starts, holding attention during the sale, and teasing the next one.

2. Think beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday

HostGator’s plan included sales for Early Access Black Friday as well as Small Business Saturday, and it’s a trend that many other businesses are emulating.

The Black Friday weekend is almost a four day affair, if not more. We have Gray Thursday, which is U.S. Thanksgiving Day, then there’s Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, which some companies extend for the whole next week.

If you’re thinking of using multiple days for your marketing plans, you can consider some fo the unique behaviors of your audience on these days. For instance, on Black Friday, you might tie some of your marketing into some Buy Online / Pickup In Store specials (commonly referred to as BOPIS) and on Cyber Monday, you can of course focus on online sales. Shoppers spent $7.9 billion online for Cyber Monday last year.

Related to this, it’s also worthwhile to start, really, any time between now and the holiday weekend, if you haven’t already. Around 40% of consumers start their holiday shopping before Halloween. So shopping is definitely top of mind for your audience, even before Black Friday hits.

3. Update your design assets for each of the holidays

You’ve probably seen this with many of the brands you love. All their designs, photos, and graphics match the season we’re in. This might mean harvest colors in October and early November, short and catchy ads around Black Friday, and then holiday themes in December.

If you’re able to align all these creative assets across all platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, even your display ads — it can create a very powerful and memorable brand experience, which often ends up tying back to ad performance and sales!In fact, according to Twitter Business, ad recall is 60 percent higher if a brand does something as simple as placing the logo in a consistent spot. These little things – logo placement, color, font, hashtags — they make a difference!

4. Make the most of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp

There are some really big opportunities out there for messaging platforms around the holidays.

The website Retail Dive touched on a bit of this in a recent blog post explaining the virtue of SMS and text messaging. Get this: During Black Friday 2018, there were reports of brands getting 2000% ROI from using SMS campaigns during the Black Friday weekend.

That’s an incredible number!So probably your mind goes next to, well how can I get this set up for my brand?

You can definitely go the SMS route. We think it can be almost just as effective if you think of applying this strategy to Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp as well. Either way, the workflow looks a little like this: Step One: collect the contact information and the person’s opt-in consent.

This can happen at signup or with a special one-off campaign to collect contact info with the promise of special deals coming soon.

Then, you can apply some messaging strategies to the data. Send a discount code to subscribers. Follow up with an email with the same discount and more product offerings. For those who don’t purchase right away, send a reminder nudge.

You can even tie this into the hourly flash sales we talked about earlier. Just be careful not to overuse this messaging channel — you want to always uphold first and foremost a solid, genuine relationship with the person. Sending too many messages can be a turn-off.

5. Focus on user-generated content (UGC)

You probably have a lot of content to create around these busy holiday dates, so it can be quite a relief to get some help from your community by re-sharing the content that they’re already making.

This can take a lot of different forms like photos of your brand and product, or positive user reviews. It’s especially easy on Instagram Stories where you can reshare someone else’s post to your Stories with just a couple taps.

Some companies go the extra mile and create programs to incentivize users to create and share content about the brand. You can tie giveaways into this strategy — offer prizes to random winners who have used a certain hashtag or commented on a post. We recently added a Giveaways feature to our social engagement product, Buffer Reply, if you want to check it out at buffer.com/reply.

For some simple ideas for creating UGC contests, we quite like this list by G2 Crowd.

Ask your community to share a video or photo of them using your product

Ask your community to reshare your content

Ask people to follow you on social

Have people tag people in the comments, people who they think might benefit from what your brand has to offer

6. Craft a well-designed mobile experience, from social to your website.

For last year’s Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping, Adobe Analytics found that mobile devices sent 58 percent of traffic to websites, which represented a 20 percent increase from the year before.

That means that more than half of your website visitors are likely coming from mobile. Is your website prepared?

it’s worth considering this type of user flow when you’re putting together your social media campaigns. Be sure that whatever you’re linking to — whether it’s from your social ads, from the Swipe Up in your Stories — that the page is well-optimized for mobile. It’s going to make a big difference with user experience and with conversions.

7. Prepare for product returns

People often turn to social media to get in touch with brands for product questions. You can expect that volume to be especially high around the shopping weekend.

Yeah, we thought this stat was really interesting: projections say that 77% of consumers expect to return some of the presents they get this year. And almost 20 percent of consumers say they’ll return more than half of their gifts.

Knowing this in advance, you can put together some workflows and some docs to help prepare your social media teams to handle these types of requests and this volume.

8. Stories, Stories, Stories

As has been the case in past years, Stories on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat continue to be more and more important for showcasing what your company sells.

According to Facebook’s holiday marketing guide, Stories have become a hugely popular place to window shop. Last year, 63 percent of shoppers either watched or posted videos on Stories and more than a third of shoppers claim that videos were influential in choosing what to buy.

So whatever you do with your content plans this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, be sure that you’ve allocated plenty to Stories!

About the Show:

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing strategies from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ listeners each week and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Newest Black Friday + Cyber Monday Ideas for Your Social Media Marketing published first on https://improfitninja.weebly.com/

0 notes