#both the perspective of your own tastes and from the perspective of its target audience. theres layers to it. like an onion

[knife-em0ji]

When The Moon Hatched is an insane book. It is a fae romantasy but this author went whole hog into building a world that works completely unlike our own, and I can tell she is determined to make it consistent and make sense within her own internal set of rules. I really respect her for trying to do something new, even if the prose is the brightest shade of eggplant I've come across in a while. It's not Good -- the weakness of the prose, especially when she tries a "High Fantasy" tone, holy shit, and the stodgy romantasy beats [even with the twist you can see from a mile away] make this a squarely mediocre read -- but she was definitely ambitious and trying something that puts her work apart from the gazillion other fae romances (there's like, no humans at all in this book, which I respect a lot). She definitely has a Vision, and there's nothing I love more than works produced by self made arteurs with only middling technical skill that are obviously passion projects. Yeah, the story itself is mid and the characters pretty stock when you get down to it, but the world is genuinely interesting and probably the least derivative I've read in any contemporary romantasy. You can tell that she probably read things like Discworld and was like, "I want to do this too! I want to create my own unique planet and then set a sexy faerie romance on it and it'll be my magnum opus."

And you know what??? Good for her. I love that. Friggin large popcorn dammit because reading this feels exactly like watching one of those one-off mid-budget fantasy/sci fi movies from the mid 00s - mid 10s that are firmly mediocre, but still live in your psyche forever. This is truly the Mortal Engines or Chronicles of Riddick -- or, actually JUPITER ASCENDING!!!! -- of the faerie romance genre. I'm only about halfway through, but I'm pretty sure at the rate this is going my opinion isnt going to change much.

Also. People complain that there's tons of made up jargon and they need to consistently refer to the glossary, which I personally don't see because to me it's really quite easy to infer what things mean based on context clues ??????? Like the book never goes out of its way to overly explain what anything is since the POV character has lived in this world for her entire life, so it's all just normal to her, and I very much respect that choice not to exposit more than absolutely necessary. Like idk those 70s pulp sci fi books must have really done a number on my pattern recognition and contextual reading skills, because I'm not having any difficulty at all following and inferring the meanings of the jargon. Like. I really need some of these people who complain about fantasy slang and jargon to try picking up A Clockwork Orange one day. That book is nigh impenetrable with made up slang LOL.

[novlr]

I’m going to be honest to the point of embarrassment: I’ve always wanted to write books for children in the style of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House Books. How do you write in a way that will connect with younger readers?

First of all, there is nothing to be embarrassed about! Middle-grade fiction holds a special place in many readers’ hearts. They’re the books we read when we first really find our joy of reading. When we discover our tastes, and become passionate about the stories we consume.

While typically aimed at children, usually aged 8-12, middle-grade fiction speaks to a wide audience because it captures the magic, challenges, and wonder of our transformative pre-teen years. They explore themes like friendship, family dynamics, self-discovery, and growing independence, while keeping content age-appropriate, but those themes of self-discover are evergreen.

Unlike young adult fiction, middle-grade books generally avoid romantic subplots, graphic violence, and complex adult themes. They’re fast-paced books with a writing style is clear and engaging, making them accessible for younger readers while maintaining depth and narrative sophistication.

But writing effectively for this age group requires understanding their unique perspective and needs, combined with an effort not to talk down to your readers. There’s a reason why so many middle-grade books are popular with both children and adult-readers alike (one of my favourite book series of all time, for instance, is the Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud, which falls firmly in the middle-grade camp).

Know your audience

Middle-grade readers are in a fascinating developmental stage. They’re old enough to tackle complex ideas but still firmly rooted in childhood. They’re beginning to question the world around them while developing stronger friendships and peer relationships than they may have had earlier in their education.

At this age, children start to form their own identities and can follow longer storylines. They will have started with chapter books a few years earlier, but by age 8-12 they’re often ready to tackle much more involved plots and stories. Many readers of middle-grade fiction, whether they’re younger or older than its target audience, appreciate the beautiful balance between reality and fantasy that makes middle-grade fiction so compelling.

What characterises middle-grade fiction?

Length and structure

Middle-grade novels typically range from 20,000 to 60,000 words, though some genres might stretch slightly longer, especially the longer an established series plays out. The plot structure should be clear and well-defined, with story arcs that young readers can follow without getting lost. Chapters should remain manageable, usually around 2,000-2,500 words, and your opening needs to grab attention quickly. Young readers won’t wait long to be hooked.

Character and point of view

For all middle-grade fiction, your protagonist should typically be around the age of your target audience. Usually, protagonists are a little older than your target readers, which puts them around10-13 years old, but if there’s a broader cast of characters, then their age range will often include some younger, and some older.

The reason that middle-grade fiction has slightly older characters is that it allows your target readers to look up to the character while still relating to their experiences. But no matter the age of the characters, their voices must authentically reflect age-appropriate thoughts and feelings. Young readers are particularly adept at spotting artificial or condescending prose, which is why it can be a tricky age group to write for.

Content and themes

Middle-grade fiction excels when it focuses on the things that matter most to pre-teens, like friendship, family, school, and self-discovery. While you certainly can address serious issues, it’s still important to maintain age-appropriate content and always include elements of humour and hope. Even in darker stories, readers this age need to see light at the end of the tunnel. Avoid explicit violence, romance beyond first crushes, or overly mature themes.

Writing tips for middle-grade fiction

Language and dialogue

The key to writing for middle-grade readers lies in finding the sweet spot between accessibility and sophistication. Your language should be clear and interesting without talking down to your audience. Contemporary speech patterns help dialogue feel authentic, but be careful with it, as overuse of slang can quickly date your work. Think of your narrative voice as an older friend rather than a teacher or parent.

World-building

Whether your story takes place in a small-town middle school or on a distant planet, your setting needs to feel real to your readers. When creating fantastic elements, ground them in relatable emotions and experiences. Middle-grade readers can handle complex worlds, but they need clear rules to follow and connections to their own experiences to help them navigate new territories.

Plot development

Give your story forward-momentum with regular action or revelations. While internal character growth is important, middle-grade readers generally engage more with external conflicts. Focus on one main plot with perhaps one significant subplot. Any more than that can become confusing. End your chapters with eye-catching hooks that make it impossible not to turn the page.

Common pitfalls to avoid

One of the biggest mistakes in middle-grade writing is misjudging the audience’s maturity level, i.e. writing too young and simple or including themes more appropriate for young adult readers. Avoid lengthy adult perspectives or wisdom, too much description, or unnecessary philosophical meandering. Your story should stay focused and engaging, with complexity coming from character relationships and situations rather than convoluted plots.

The trad publishing journey

The path to traditionally publishing middle-grade fiction takes patience and persistence. The most important part is thoroughly researching literary agents who represent middle-grade fiction and studying their submission guidelines carefully. For younger readers especially, lots of writers look up agents based on genre, rather than age group, or don’t look at the age range that an agent represents expecting that a children’s literary agent will cover all age groups. This will only result in your manuscript being discarded. So if you want to trad publish, I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to vet your literary agents and make sure they’re the right fit for your manuscript.

When querying, your query letter should capture both the heart of your story and its appropriateness for the age group. As always, comp titles (comparative titles) are a must. Agents need to know you’re familiar with other books in both your age range and genre, with a working knowledge of current publishing trends.

Writing middle-grade fiction is uniquely rewarding. It gives you the chance to influence young readers at a pivotal time in their development. The books children read at this age can help them navigate their expanding world and imagine new possibilities. The best middle-grade fiction doesn’t just entertain. It helps young readers understand themselves and their place in the world. Write with honesty, humour, and heart, and you’ll be well on your way to writing great middle grade fiction.

[silviakundera]

I found your blog while watching for love's sake splendid drama and nice commentary from you I saw you watch chinese shows and I have a question am I dumb or because why are they so frustrating I don't know if it's because I'm used to japanese ones where there isn't much romance and this is how romance is written these days or is this a cultural thing because why every one of these I watch has such weird romantic relationships where this dude is breaking his back for her from day 1 and this dudette is out here acting like he's number 5 on her priority list?

yaassss Love for Love's Sake representation. I will never rest from reccing that drama 👏👏 you clearly are NOT dumb & have great taste 😘

for cdramas, my beloved, in my experience of watching in recent years is that there is such a wide breadth of genres & tones. There is just SO MUCH. Definitely chinese entertainment has its own tropes and way of portraying romance. And you either like or you don't. But there are many different flavors. If you feel like you were seeing the same dynamic repeatedly, it may have been bad luck.

If you prefer minimal romance, there are definitely options for that in cdramas! There are mystery/investigation dramas and wuxia martial arts dramas with little to no romance. Because of censorship the gay romances naturally are circumspect and light on the romance (see: The Untamed, Couple of Mirrors, Word of Honor, Spirealm, Guardian). Since you like Love for Love's Sake, I'd rec The Spirealm on Viki - also queer love story about a guy who enters a video game and the people he meets there become real to him; though warning it IS censored and that means the ending is more ambiguous. I can't promise you'll like it. (Semantic Error and Eighth Sense are my other 2 fav korean gay romances btw. )

There are also cdramas that do include romance but in terms of screen time the romance is like 30% of scenes and the plot & character arcs are 70% of scenes. Like in Blossoms in Adversity that I'm watching now, yeah there is most definitely romance but the FL/ML romance scenes compromise like 25% of the overall screen time. It's about way more than who she might marry.

But also in terms of cultural differences? hmm idk because I'm not chinese. I really should NOT speak like I understand their PoV. From an outsider's perspective, I have felt like there are many cdramas with overtly feminist themes - commentary about restrictions on women, the challenges of navigating through a society that can be unfair and entrenched with misogyny. (I joke and yet not that chinese entertainment seems to have 3 propaganda drums that it beats: nationalism/unification, anti-war, and feminism.) It's certainly a fact that many cdramas feature female characters that fall in love but they maintain other priorites & don't let themselves be subsumed in devotion to a man. They have romance & find love but "keep their eye on the prize."

My best guess (??) about this is that it's a rebellion against old cultural mores about women's role being subserviant to father then husband, when during imperial times a woman was expected to prioritze her husband and his family above her own wants, health, and happiness. (It was immoral to be jealous or not follow direction from the man.) Modern chinese screenwriters, both men and women, appear to be writing for an audience that will respect & support the idea of a woman who has her own agenda and maintains focus on her goals despite her love for the ML. Perhaps because this is viewed as moving away from "old thinking". idk.

I presume the target audience in china for romance dramas simply doesn't worry so much that the ML is getting loved enough & aren't as sensitive to thinking he might be at a disadvantage... They're aware society is already set up to his advatange & for much of history he would have all the power in the relationship. (He might bend now and be giving it his all, but the audience knows he can tap into more power & control at will. if she gives up control & her goals, it will be harder for her to recover & reclaim status/money/power compared to him. There are dramas I've seen that pretty much explicitly state that FL wants to earn her own status and money that is hers, thru her own efforts, not lent by him - not prestige or wealth that comes through him and thus could be taken away).

Personally I don't view this as unromantic, just the practical realities of existing in a patriarchal society. (cdramas can hit different imo because they can be blunt about how people operate based on self-interest & pettiness, the realities of classism, the ugliness of rumors, how judgmental people can be about appearances, how you can't always get justice when wronged. Reminds me of the Discworld books that were very frank about how the common people commonly are. It's not saying: this is how people should be; it's saying: this is how things are, the bitterness of life, but you can still find sweetness & meaning within it)

There's another aspect: some cdramas have male protagonists (e.g. Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Blood of Youth, League of Nobleman, Eternal Brotherhood) and some have female protagonists. If you're watching a female protagonist, as the protagonist her priorities & goals are the story driver. So her love interest will take a back seat to that even though it's a romance. He's a support role - his job in the story is to break his back for the protagonist. (A Journey to Love is an example where ML and FL share the protagonist role & you can see that in how things play out, how they each have separate priorities that don't get dropped for love.)

At the end of the day, there are plenty of cdrama romances where I ship it hard and feel a mutual love & devotion between the couple. My fav flavor is where both FL and ML have their own strengths and can be counted on to support each other. I'm not keeping score on who owes who, and neither are they.

But it's all not gonna to be to everyone's taste and that's fine. :) When it comes to international tv, if we enjoy content from other countries then it's our good luck. But if we don't...well, it wasn't made for us. That's ok.

[redphienix]

Honestly, Palworld looks like a mid-to-bad crafting survival game with a passable creature capture idea slapped on top.

It has like. Negative appeal to me, but I'm not the target audience in like 14 different ways.

But.

I hope it updates well and improves and goes from (from fan's perspectives) "Good" to "Great" because of three reasons.

1: I like when games good.

2: I like when genre mashes succeed in melding the two and allowing both to thrive, it's neat to me. Palworld ain't the first to do it or anything, we literally have pokemon minecraft mods, but it is "Recognized" right now and I think that'd be nice.

3: Literally ANYTHING that lights a fire under mega-billion-dollar Pokemon's ass is good in my book.

Not even from a "disappointed pokemon fan" POV, just as a pokemon fan in any respect, I want Pokemon to go "OH YEAH, Well then FUCK YOU, We'll invest in the games for once instead of skirting by on the recognition of our IP and our next games will be FUCKING GREAT!!!"

Because even if I don't really care enough to play whatever those games are, I want Pokemon to be at its best too, so like, that'd be cool :)

But yeah Palworld looks shit to my tastes, but not shit in general. I see some people violently swinging back at it on principle and like, yeah sure you can do that. Also see people yelling that it's a cheap ripoff and like, yep. But it's not nearly as lazy as you'd expect such a thing to be. Looks pretty genuine in more ways than I'd have expected so IDK, I mean they even went with being a different genre and the like- this ain't a phone app pretending to be a popular IP, it's kinda its own thing in 'some' ways.

Now it is VEHEMENTLY lacking in originality, that I will gladly join in laughing about because like holy shit lol

But it appears to be trying to be worth a damn despite that so like, eh, that's fine. Like the difference to me between some "copy" like this and then sony's "Foamstars" is that Foamstars is ripping off a highly original and creative IP in a desperate attempt to rake in Splatoon's money, and Splatoon is still a new and thriving IP that has thoroughly earned that slice of the pie. Foam is trying to basically 1 to 1 recreate splatoon but funnel the money their way, that's lame.

Pokemon stopped trying to earn its fill years ago, it needs reminded of where it's at in my opinion. Be shameless and outperform in your own way I say- looks like Pal is trying lmao

Ain't for me. I hope it succeeds and does well by its fans both for its own sake and because I think big pika money bags having to compete for once in their (modern) life would be nice lol

Perhaps I'd be more critical if I sat down and played it or something, but like, nah. I don't need to. I don't want to. My opinion doesn't need to be nuanced on a random silly video game lol

[epacer]

Classmates

Gregory Lloyd Johnson, Class of 1975

From Crawford High, to global broadcast entrepreneur....... who knew?

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregory Johnson.

Greg J is a well-known media marketing executive, event producer, radio broadcaster and global thinker. After serving in the United States Marine Corps as a weapons systems technician aboard the F-4 fighter aircraft, Greg’s professional broadcast career began to definitively form at national urban radio syndicator Bailey Broadcasting Services, headed by urban radio legend Lee Bailey. As Director of Sales and Marketing, he was the catalyst for the development of successful radio promotions and sales strategy for a line up of nationally syndicated programming including the highly acclaimed RadioScope. At 102.3 KJLH, a heritage radio station broadcasting in Los Angeles and owned by music icon Stevie Wonder, Greg served as the Marketing Director for over 20 years, creating, producing and executing a lineup of promotional strategies, campaigns and events. He built and produced a number of well-established music festivals which attracted tens of thousands of attendees in the Los Angeles community. (Of note, 4th of July Fireworks Extravaganza, Knotts Berry Farm Gospel Showcase, Taste of Soul, multiple music festivals commemorating the MLK holiday.

After leaving KJLH, (He)I connected with his partner who (he)I have(has) known for many years from her work as a business leader/influencer in the gospel music industry. Rhonda Love is a writer, filmmaker, marketer, and former Executive Assistant & Scheduler to the Mayor of Long Beach, Dr. Robert Garcia. We began to operate at DreamKreator Studio – our digital media space in the East Village Arts District of Long Beach, CA. Greg’s global reach is predicated on his mantra to build bridges of music arts and culture between Africa and America. To that end, he promotes travel and tourism to Africa, coordinating travel groups to the continent. He is the host and producer of AfroPop Radio, a podcast featuring contemporary African music; he imports his own line of coffee from Cameroon(Kalimba Song Coffee Company) and is a sought after speaker on subjects of African cultural exchange. Greg’s commitment to his community is underscored through his service on the Board of Directors for the West Angeles Community Development Corporation where he serves as Recording Secretary and the Arts Council for Long Beach where he serves as Treasurer. Further Greg has been named among the 100 most influential African Americans in LA four consecutive times.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Well, we are, at the foundation, a marketing and media communications company. Being new and independent comes with its own set of challenges. We have to constantly be about the work of letting people know who we are and what we do. We also have to lean into the adaptational use of digital devices by our core audience – meaning folk have to learn how to use the available technology and how to consume our content. Our core audience is the mature adult and the digital transformation moves quick and fast for them. Believe it or not, those are the easy challenges. COVID-19 has changed the entire paradigm of how we consume media so in a way that has been great for us in terms of listener/viewers discovering our content and then discovering how to use it in their daily lives. Safe at Home forces them to use the available technology and learn how to use it. So then we have to be mindful of what value do we bring to the masses? On the other hand, we are still slaves to the parameters that advertisers need in order to place buys with us. Again, we are independent so our corporate name isn’t as well known when contrast against says an IHeart or Radio One… Nonetheless, we relish in our independence and our ability to pivot and adapt to the new media landscape.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?

The Hannibal Media Group strives to be a leader in digital media communications and Lifestyle Marketing. As such, we develop, create and promote a variety of digital media properties which are broadcast across tablets, mobile, streaming and podcast platforms, mobile apps and desktop computers. Our core programming target is the individual who enjoys the urban cultural lifestyle from a decidedly global perspective. We operate out of DreamKreator Studio, a small digital media production facility that I operate with my Partner Rhonda Love. It is from our small space in the East Village Arts District of Long Beach that we conceive, create and execute our brand of media. We are known for our well-documented expertise with music, arts, and events management. This experience provides a powerful backdrop to provide brand marketing solutions by integrating intimately into the lifestyle of the target consumer. While we are very community-minded, we are very intentional about our global outreach, we are dedicated to build a transatlantic bridge of music, arts and culture with the African Continent and the west through online broadcasts, feature films and documentaries, events A legacy of broadcast programming, marketing, advertising sales and promotions along with major events management anchors our reliability and experience.

Our track record illustrates exceptional discernment for new music trends and arts productions. We are most proud of our ability to produce major community festivals as evidenced with the City of Inglewood’s KingFest- an essential part of the City’s Martin Luther King Jr Festivities. This year, COVID-19 canceled our ability to gather together at parades and festivals so we linked with the City of Long Beach and a prominent business development organization known as Leadership Long Beach and created a virtual experience for the community. We had live music performances by Kenny Lattimore, Sy Smith, The Reel Band and Brownsuede. It was viewed by thousands and is still getting raves from across the world even though the 2021 holiday is over. We went on to produce virtual events for the Long Beach Branch NAACP and the Arts Council for Long Beach.

Our innovative brands include: Beach City Radio(www.beachcityradio.com) – our 24 hours online radio station. Beach City Radio is a global platform for the expression of soul, urban pop culture, culturally relevant news and conversation, and community inspiration through the art of music. Beach City Radio reflects the lifestyle of the adult global urban listener 25-49. The station broadcasts both music and talk. BEACH CITY RADIO broadcasts on the worldwide web 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Our music format offers a diverse and relaxing soulful mix of adult contemporary music, classic hiphop, soulful house, soulful jazz and inspirational gospel. Additionally, the station actively seeks to present new and soulful music from the international diaspora. The core Beach City Radio listener is a mature, sophisticated, socially conscious individual. A progressive thought-leader who is self-determining, discerning, well-informed with a global consciousness.

Kalimba Song Coffee Company (www.kalimbasongcoffeecompany.com) – We import our own line of premium Cameroon Boyo coffee direct from farmers in the mountains of Cameroon West Africa. We are linked with a collaborative of 600 small farmers who pick the cherries, mill them and we facilitate the import to the US where they are roasted and sold direct to consumer.

AfroPop Radio (www.theafropopradio.com) – AfroPop Radio is a weekly exhibition of contemporary African Music. We have designed our playlists from charts on the African Continent, conversations with African Radio Personalities, African artists, tastemakers, influencers, record executives, television personalities and various industry pundits. We seek to build a bridge of music, arts and culture between Africa and the US. The podcast has grown exponentially as we explore the deep diaspora that is contemporary African Music. NOt only are we heard wherever you get your podcasts, we have been picked up in Washington DC on 96.3 DC Radio HD4 and dcradio.gov…

Coffee Conversations with Greg J (www.facebook.com/coffeeconversationswithgregj) – This is our twice-weekly, livestreamed mid morning talk show wherein we feature casual yet compelling conversations with influencers from around the globe tackling a variety of subjects. Past guests have included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Trombonist Jeff Bradshaw, Broadcasters from all over the African Continent, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ambassador Arikana Chihomboro-Quao, Former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks, Dr. Anthony Samad, and many more…

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?

Certainly, radio has changed right before our very eyes. Pre-COVID, it was already evolving to digital platforms and expressions. I was already cognizant of these changes and started the business with this at the center of my consciousness. But now, in quarantine, the broadcast paradigm shift has accelerated. Thus we are having to pivot, adapt and overcome the circumstances around us. Events, as an example, are not going to happen anytime soon as we know them. So we pivot into the digital space, creating unique experiences for consumers. I also see more culturally relevant podcasts being made available to the masses. Our podcast, AfroPop Radio has grown exponentially as people discover it because of the increased popularity of contemporary African Music. I see the ability for filmmakers to gain more distribution of their work through digital platforms. The day of waiting on the big studio to do whatever it is hey do are over.. The digital paradigm has created new opportunities for creatives. *Reposted article from VoyageLA, April 12, 2021. **Contact information can be found at the following link: http://voyagela.com/interview/community-highlights-meet-gregory-johnson-hannibal-media-group-dreamkreator-studio/?fbclid=IwAR05Cm-Kvs8IKhgWE8ign_83Gpx_TaqXUgq-vwMskeePoCl0s6gKVGaFbTI

[argentdandelion]

I Don't Need You to Love Me: A Steven Universe Review

Note: the following review makes umbrella statements about target demographics. Readers should remember that a show can have aimed demographics and significant periphery demographics.

When Steven Universe (pre-movie) ended, I found myself disappointed. That was it? I thought. This was supposed to be ‘the good part’ I had been waiting to see. How could this happen? I felt more than just disappointment. At the end, watching this show had felt like a waste, and it seemed the show that ended wasn’t the same show I had chosen to watch back in Season 1. It was no longer the show of a boy creatively defeating a giant centipede monster, or the body horror, of turning into multiple cats, or of seeing one’s future selves dissolve into sand after a mystical artifact breaks, but a show where people cry and sing and resolve problems nonviolently.

But, looking back...it never wanted to be a show I would love.

Kids’ programming networks appeal to different audiences by shows’ tones and themes. For example, Disney Channel is aimed more at girls, Disney XD is aimed more at boys. While Cartoon Network historically aimed at children in general, by the time of Steven Universe’s first episode, its primary audience was boys. Indeed, shows like Tower Prep, Young Justice, and Green Lantern: The Animated Series had been canceled before because they appealed too much to girls for the executive’s liking, regardless of their overall popularity.

Early on the run of Steven Universe, Cartoon Network tried to appeal to young boys through lighthearted (even goofy) action-adventure shows or outright comedy shows. And the advertisements for Steven Universe fit: it emphasized the crystal gems’ status as the super-cool, strong protectors of humanity, and the oddity of its wacky half-human member, Steven. It emphasized goofiness and absurdity, like Steven’s own pants walking around. It was certainly more like contemporary Adventure Time than the more tough and “serious” Young Justice or Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

Steven Universe played well to network executives’ intended demographic (more or less) for the first two seasons. It had plenty of action, adventure, and violence, and (though not strictly a “young boys demographic thing”) consistent smatterings of “lore” across episodes. However, it also flipped the typical, male-dominant boys’ show composition through three-fourths of its main characters being female. Furthermore, its one boy was a “tomgirl”: a sensitive, compassionate boy prone to crying, who wore pink and had healing/defensive powers, rather than offensive ones.

Apparently, Steven Universe was designed to appeal to both girls and boys. According to an article on LA Weekly, Rebbeca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe, said: “I want to make a universal show and that, by default, makes it a more quote-unquote boys' show because those are the more universal shows,[...]the boys' show side is the side where I think the gap could be bridged.”

As Steven Universe became super-popular, though, it had more room to “stray” from its action-adventure-boys’-cartoon bounds. Though it was clearly never aimed exclusively at young boys, as time went on trends collided in such a way it would appeal even more to audiences outside young boys.

Given the show’s approach to conflict resolution, its songs, its abundant character interaction (and style—see all the crying), “straying” was likely what it intended to do all along.

Firstly, the goofiness of Season 1 subsided, or, at least, advertisements stopped emphasizing that. The types and frequencies of plots in Season 1 and Season 2, whether a monster-of-the-week episode with “Townie” (human residents of Beach City) and “Gem” subplots or a “track and catch Peridot/deal with the Cluster” plot, helped provide dependable action sequences, or even violence. Later episodes’ kinds and proportions of the plots made it focus more on townies, even for whole episodes. It got more episodes which had little if anything supernatural happening, and became more character-focused or relationship-focused than plot or action-focused (though it still had those).

In short, it got more mundane, or more like a slice-of-life/slice-of-life-comedy show. Interestingly, the factors which made it less of an action-adventure cartoon coincided with fans’ decisions on which episodes are “filler”: almost all the “townie” episodes are deemed “filler”. Even early in Season 1, there were mundane moments; half an episode could be pretty mundane. There was an emphasis on characters’ relationships with others, and complex emotions, and soft moments. While not an outright pacifist from the start (see: electrocuting Centipeetle in episode 1) he was always a compassionate peacemaker. And, even early on, there was crying and singing (see: “Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart”, second episode of season 1). Steven’s perspective is well-summarized with his claim “Giant robots shouldn’t fight” (Season 2, episode 23) which is hilariously ironic, given that’s the point of giant robot shows.

Later on, the ratio of mundane-to-magical moments got skewed towards the mundane, to the point whole episodes could be mundane. (e.g., Drop Beat Dad of Season 3, with no “Gem stuff” at all, without significant Gem involvement) Instead of character dynamics being a sub-plot or sub-theme of most episodes, it’s now a primary theme of many episodes. It’s hard to imagine almost an entire episode (episode 23 of a two-parter, Season 5) about Ruby and Sapphire getting married, with a long song about it, airing in Seasons 1-2.

Though I am female, I prefer plot-focused, violent, action-adventure cartoons—“boys’ cartoons”, generally. I thus ended up disappointed at Steven Universe’s different approach and likely shift in intended audience. Episode upon episode left me hoping for better ones next time.To be fair, this wasn’t entirely the fault of tonal or audience shifts, but also pacing issues (relative to my tastes, anyway) and all the hype of “Steven Bombs” (Steven Universe episode premieres, five nights in a row), broken up by long hiatuses.

Not everything will be to my taste, and variety is important in kids’ shows. The show’s approach to conflict resolution is both original and valuable in real life: after all, not everything can be solved by violence, dominance and punishment.

In the end of the series (before its epilogue miniseries), Steven sang:

I don't need you to respect me, I respect me I don't need you to love me, I love me

And I can say....as disappointed as I was, this show doesn’t need me to love it.

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

Yo I'm sorry but I read your answer to that one ask about nsfw stuff in one day/19 days. And for the most part I agree, exept for one thing. Please, for the love of god, don't say this is a comic "for" women. Yes it's bl BUT Old Xian is not a god damn fujoshi. He is male and uses he/him pronouns. This is not a story focused to please female viewers. This is a story about boys in love by a man not some god damn fetish for women. Just because it has a "manga style" doesn't mean it's a "Yaoi" :')

Good afternoon, dear anon-san!

And thank you for your comment regarding my earlier answer about 19 Days being NSFW. I’m glad to hear you felt like you could agree with most of it even though there was something that rubbed you the wrong way. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me or coming forward if they take issue with whatever I have said. But I would be lying if I said answering your comment doesn’t make me nervous. BL and fujoshis are quite controversial topics that I’m sure will divide people reading this or following me. But I don’t think I would be doing anyone a favor if I wasn’t honest even if what I have to say is controversial. I would like to think I have always tried to be open to all kinds of opinions and perspectives even if they differ from mine, and I hope people will extend me the courtesy. 

“Yes it’s bl BUT Old Xian is not a god damn fujoshi. He is male and uses he/him pronouns.”

I don’t think I said OldXian was a fujoshi, but I can see how that might have been implied by me saying 19 Days is a work of BL. As a genre, BL is typically targeted at a female audience by female authors. However, that is just how it usually goes. BL has plenty of male fans, too, and they’re called fudanshi. I’m not saying OX is a fudanshi but rather that all kinds of people can be fans of BL. It’s not tied to one’s gender.

Also, while males writing BL certainly isn’t typical, it’s not unheard of, either. Sadly, the author’s gender is somehow considered relevant even these days which has resulted in many male BL authors using female aliases (and vice versa when it comes to females writing genres that are typically written by male authors). But there are some BL authors who are openly males, too. For example, D. Jun – the author of Guang Xiang and Here U Are – is apparently a male.

“This is not a story focused to please female viewers. This is a story about boys in love by a man not some god damn fetish for women. Just because it has a “manga style” doesn’t mean it’s a ‘Yaoi’”

No, having “manga style” doesn’t make 19 Days a yaoi. The fact that one of its major themes is gay love makes it a BL, though. Especially in the context of it being an Asian publication. Are there other kinds of relationships and themes included, too? Yes, most definitely! And they’re all intriguing and essential to the story. The comic is also about friendship, families, and coming of age, to name a few. But it can’t be denied a pretty significant part of it revolves around homoerotic love, and that kind of theme is mainly consumed by a prominently female audience. They are also more often than not heavily targeted at female readers and to appeal to their tastes.

Case in point, the good-looking male protagonists with lean muscles and the author not exactly shying away from drawing them at least half-naked. You could also say He Tian’s character is the kind that typically appeals to females – a dark bad boy with a hot bod and vulnerable, tragic past. And what do you know, he’s at least the second fan favorite - if not the most liked, even. Are we really going to pretend these aspects aren’t attracting and appealing to female readers? Am I really the only one seeing readers drool and squeal whenever OX publishes chapters featuring shirtless HT, moments of tender gay affection, or illustrations of suggestive poses (homoerotic or otherwise)? Is OX doing it intentionally to appeal to female readers? No one but OX can answer to that, but does it really matter? I don’t think it changes the end result; it attracts largely females and I’m sure many of them are avid consumers of BL, too.

I don’t think this has escaped OX, either. A couple of times by now, the comic has made references to BL genre, girls being fans of cute guys together and how that kind of material attracts the female attention (ch. 151, 295, and 296):

(Sorry for the cencor, but Tumblr wouldn’t let me post this otherwise...)

Those moments can basically be taken both as OX making light of the genre and the comic being self-aware. 19 Days makes funny metafictional references while also utilizing the BL conventions itself. It’s also a clever way if the author wants to take a stand on how their work is different from its predecessors in the same genre. Because I think 19 Days is quite one of a kind compared to other BL publications. And it has sparked conversations regarding the BL conventions, for example, ukes vs. semes. It can do all that and still be a BL as such that it appeals to females or fans of the genre in general.

Now, does any of that mean 19 Days can’t appeal to other kinds of fans, too? Of course, not! In fact, you yourself dear anon-san, are an excellent example of that. I think 19 Days is one of the few Asian BL comics that has attracted countless of Western fans, too, who are perhaps not that familiar with Asian BL. It should also be noted that m/m ships are hugely popular in the Western fandoms, too. They are just more tied to the original works and not really separated to become a genre of its own as has happened with BL in Asia, especially in Japan. As it happens, the stats of the Top 100 Ships on AO3 in 2019 were just published the other day, and whopping 69 of them are slash aka m/m. Do you think that is completely unrelated to the fact that fanfiction is mostly written and read by females? I’m not saying it’s the only reason because it’s more complicated than that, but it certainly indicates Western female audiences are also big fans of homoerotic content. And they, too, are often accused of “making everything gay”.

I also don’t have a problem admitting this: If 19 Days didn’t have homoerotic themes whatsoever and the boys were having crushes on females, I doubt I would have been interested in the comic. The other themes I mentioned above are interesting to me, but on their own and paired up with m/f endgame relationships they wouldn’t be enough for me. I don’t read 19 Days just for the gay content, but it is a significant reason why I originally checked it out and why I keep loving it. Personally, I don’t think being attracted to the gay aspect and loving the story and characters, too, has to be an either-or kind of deal. You can very well do both. Does saying this somehow make me less of a fan of 19 Days? I’m sure it does in some people’s eyes but frankly, I don’t need other’s approval to love and be interested in something.

So far, I have pretty much disagreed with everything you said, but allow me to offer you an olive branch, dear anon-san. I get why my BL-related notions may have upset you. I get where you are coming from with saying 19 Days isn’t a “fetish for women”. You don’t want something you love to be associated with something you clearly despise. Yaoi and fujoshis have a bad rep, and I’m not trying to pretend like it’s completely underserved. I read a lot of BL but don’t really agree with the hardcore fujoshi mentality or identify with them as a group. I also think BL works have many tropes and conventions that do not represent realistic gay relationships and are highly problematic. However, BL is a fictional genre with its own history, development, conventions, and target audience. And as an avid BL reader, I think just because something appeals to me in a fictional setting it doesn’t mean I’m advocating the same things in real life.

To be honest, talking about this kind of makes my stomach twist with dread and nerves because I realize many people might get upset over this. And putting yourself in this kind of position on Tumblr especially can be a bit risky. So, let me say it once again: People are welcome to disagree with me or think I’m as wrong as humanly possible. And I would most probably understand where they are coming from. However, I would also like to remind anyone feeling angry with me that this is just me coming from a different point of view. Just like you are, dear anon-san. As far as I’m concerned, you are free to enjoy 19 Days from your own perspective and me from mine without it having to mean we’re somehow robbing each other of something.

[recentanimenews]

Random Reads 2/18/21

Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck Are You in the House Alone? came out in 1976 and though I totally could’ve read it when I was a teen—and thus still a member of its target audience—I never did.

Gail Osburne is a sixteen-year-old high school junior and native New Yorker who’s not at home in the quaint Connecticut village her family relocated to several years back. I knew that the plot involved Gail receiving menacing anonymous notes and phone calls, and I was expecting these events to get started quickly and the suspense to remain high throughout. But that doesn’t happen.

Instead, the story is told retroactively, so we know Gail survives. Also, obvious culprit is obvious. (I hope the reveal wasn’t intended to be a surprise, but perhaps readers were less savvy about such things in 1976.) Initially, much more of the focus is on Gail’s relationships with her parents, boyfriend, and best friend, and in particular how the latter two are in the slow process of dissolution. Eventually she receives some threatening notes and creepy phone calls, gets scared, is let down by people in positions of authority, and comes face-to-face with said obvious culprit. That happens halfway through this slim novel. The rest of the book is about Gail’s recovery from her ordeal.

I thought Are You in the House Alone? was going to be fun, suspenseful fluff, but it turned out to be fairly serious and occasionally (intentionally) infuriating. I really appreciated how Peck was able to weave in a couple of threads that seemed very random at first and make them integral to the denouement, too. Ultimately, I didn’t love the book, but I kind of… respect it, if that makes sense. It didn’t go the cheap route.

The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez Mack Megaton is a hulking robot who was created to destroy. He developed self-determination, however, and went against his programming. Now, he’s a probationary citizen of Empire City, where mutagens and pollution have created a very diverse population. While some “biologicals” are still “norms,” others have been physically transformed (like rat-like Detective Alfredo Sanchez) and others have been changed in not-so-visible ways (like Mack’s friend, Jung, a talking gorilla with refined literary taste). Mack works as a cab driver and is trying to keep a low profile, but when his neighbors are abducted, he can’t help but try to rescue them. This gets him into all sorts of trouble, of course.

Despite its name, The Automatic Detective isn’t really much of a mystery. I suppose it’s more… sci-fi noir. Mack meets various thugs, beats some of them up, gets beat up himself, etc. Slowly, he makes progress on uncovering a huge conspiracy. At times, I felt like Martinez was a little too enamored of the gimmick he created, and places in the middle dragged a bit as a result, but the ending is pretty satisfying and overall the book was enjoyable enough, even though it’s quite far from the sort of thing I usually read.

As a final note: I really liked that Martinez limited himself when it came time to invent universe-specific profanity. Instead of the text being liberally sprinkled with words like “frell” or “frak,” the phrase “Oh, flurb” appears but once (during a moment where the meaning is 100% apparent) and made me laugh out loud.

I don’t know if I’m necessarily eager to read more by Martinez, but I’m glad I read this one.

The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse When I read My Man Jeeves back in 2010, I was somewhat disappointed because so much of it was repetitive. While there are some common elements that recur within the eleven stories that comprise The Inimitable Jeeves, it is still so very much superior that I’d now say… forget about that first book. Start here. Go back and read My Man Jeeves for completist purposes, if that’s your inclination, but start here for the best introduction to these characters and Wodehouse’s uniquely charming and amusing writing.

First published in 1923, The Inimitable Jeeves contains a linked set of stories that typically involve affable Bertie Wooster being imposed upon by either his eternally lovesick friend Bingo Little (who is “always waylaying one and decanting his anguished soul”) or his mischief-making younger cousins, Claude and Eustace. One plot thread involves convincing Bingo’s uncle (who provides him with an allowance) to agree to Bingo marrying a waitress. Jeeves comes up with the idea to ply the uncle with romance novels featuring class differences to soften his heart, and it ends up that Bertie is compelled to go visit the old fellow and claim to be the author. In addition to containing the most elegant description of sweat I’ve ever seen—“The good old persp was bedewing my forehead by this time in a pretty lavish manner.”—this situation is referenced a few times in subsequent stories until Bingo succeeds in getting married to a different waitress who really is the author of those romance novels.

So, even though you’ve got episodic happenings, it’s rather a satisfactory conclusion. Bertie is endearing, Jeeves is competent, the writing is excellent, and it made me laugh. (I especially liked when a character was described as resembling “a sheep with a secret sorrow.”) I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on the series after the first book; now I feel as though I finally see what the fuss is all about. I’d also like to give credit to the fabulous narration by Jonathan Cecil. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate, but I hear echoes of Fry and Laurie in his performance, and I heartily approve. I will certainly seek out more unabridged versions read by him.

The Murders of Richard III by Elizabeth Peters This is the second in the Jacqueline Kirby series of mysteries. I haven’t read the first, and wouldn’t normally begin with the second, but the book promised an English country mansion plus “fanatic devotees of King Richard III” so my usual routine flew right out the window.

Even before university lecturer Thomas Carter likened himself unto Watson, I’d noticed the similarities between how this tale is told and the Sherlock Holmes stories. We are never permitted inside Jacqueline’s head. Instead, we see her how Thomas, hopeful of one day securing her romantic affections, views her. It’s fairly interesting, actually, because Thomas’ opinion of her fluctuates, sometimes peevishly. “You drive me crazy with your arrogance and your sarcasm and your know-it-all airs,” he says at one point. And though he soon after claims “I’m no male chauvinist; I don’t mind you showing off,” the fact is that earlier he was grumbling inwardly about her feigning “girlish ignorance” to reel in mansplainers and then walloping the “unwitting victim” with a cartload of knowledge. It’s true that Jacqueline isn’t especially likeable sometimes, but for remorselessly trouncing the sexist louts she encounters throughout the book, I must commend her!

The mystery itself is somewhat bland, unfortunately. The leader of a Ricardian society has received a letter purportedly written by Elizabeth of York, which would exonerate Richard of the deaths of her brothers, the “princes in the tower.” He calls a meeting of the society, with each attendee costumed as one of the historical personages involved, and summons the press, planning to unveil his find with much fanfare. But someone begins playing practical jokes on the Ricardians reminiscent of the fates of the people they are pretending to be. The book isn’t a long one, and soon the pranks start coming right on the heels of one another. Because of the swift pace—and some shallow characterization—the solution is rather anti-climactic.

Still, while I’m not sure I’ll seek out any more Jacqueline Kirby mysteries, this was overall a decent read.

A Perfect Match by Jill McGown The series of books featuring Detective Inspector Lloyd (whose first name is a secret for now) and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill begins with a short yet enjoyable mystery in which a wealthy young widow is found dead in a small English town on property she’d just inherited from her recently deceased husband. Unlike some mysteries of which I am fond, there’s no preamble where readers get to know the victim or the circumstances of their life. Instead, immediately there’s a policeman discovering the body and then Lloyd turns up to question the victim’s next of kin. This same lack of character development hampers the romantic tension between Lloyd and Hill, leaving me with no idea what motivated Hill to finally decide to act on her feelings for him, betraying her marriage vows in the process.

The mystery itself is interesting enough, however, involving long-married Helen and Donald Mitchell who have ties to both the victim, Julia—her late husband was Donald’s older brother and Helen thinks they were having an affair—and chief suspect, Chris, originally a friend of Donald’s who has fallen in love with Helen. I can’t claim to have mustered anything more than a mild curiosity as to what the outcome would be, but neither did I guess the specifics, so that was good. I liked the interrogation scenes, too.

McGown’s writing had some fun moments. I loved the super-evocative imagery of Lloyd telling Hill that her new perm makes her look like Kevin Keegan. I also really appreciated a recurring bit where each chapter ends with the point of view of wildlife. When Chris is eventually brought in by the police, his arrest is depicted from a bird’s perspective, for example. There are also ducks, a moth, a fly, a cat… I don’t know if this device recurs in later books in the series, but I look forward to finding out.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight This is the second mystery/thriller I’ve read in which a single mom who is a lawyer with a cold and unfeeling mother of her own attempts to work out the mystery of what happened to a family member (the other being Girl in the Dark by Marion Pauw). Is that some kind of trend these days?

Kate Baron has a demanding job at a swanky firm, but she’s trying her best to be a good mom to her fifteen-year-old bookworm daughter, Amelia. She’s shocked to get a call from Grace Hall, the prestigious private school Amelia attends, saying that her daughter has been accused of cheating, and by the time she makes her way to the school, Amelia has evidently jumped to her death from the school roof. The police are only too happy to classify her death as a suicide, but when Kate gets a text that says “Amelia didn’t jump,” she starts trying to put together the pieces of what happened.

Reconstructing Amelia has quite a few problems. Despite her better judgment (and a promise to her best friend), Amelia joins a clique of bitchy girls at school who end up publicly humiliating her and trying to get her expelled when she falls in love with someone deemed off-limits. It’s hard to muster sympathy for what she ends up going through when one remembers the cruel prank she was willing to pull on someone else as part of the initiation process (largely kept off-camera to keep us from disliking her too much, I guess). We’re repeatedly told about the great relationship Amelia and her mom share, but never shown it. The subplot about Amelia’s dad is the literary equivalent of wilted lettuce. And the fact that the new detective who gets assigned to the case allows Kate to question suspects is absolutely ludicrous.

And yet, I couldn’t hate the book, largely because of Amelia’s friend, Sylvia. For much of the book she comes across as shallow and self-absorbed, but when Amelia really needs her, she’s there. She gives Amelia this tour of “great moments at Grace Hall” to cheer up her impressive pal, right before breaking down about her own legitimate pain. I never would’ve thought at the outset that I would have such immense sympathy for Sylvia, but I do. I find myself hoping that she’ll be okay.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane It sure is nice going into a book unspoiled, particularly one as twisty as Shutter Island. I was quite happy with the book as it began, with U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule taking the ferry to Shutter Island to track down a patient missing from Ashcliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. It’s late summer 1954, and these guys are manly but accessible, and surprisingly funny. Consider this relatiely early exchange that cracked me up:

Pretentious Doctor: *makes remarks on the lives of violence the marshals must lead* Chuck: Wasn’t raised to run, Doc. Pretentious Doctor: Ah, yes. Raised. And who did raise you? Teddy: Bears.

For a while, all seems straightforward. Then Teddy confides to Chuck that he’s actually come there looking for a patient named Andrew Laediss, who was responsible for setting the fire that killed Teddy’s wife two years before. Gradually, one starts to doubt everything (and there was a point where all of the uncertainty got to be a little much for me) but the ultimate conclusion is a very satisfactory one.

Why Did You Lie? by Yrsa Sigurdardottir Set in Iceland, Why Did You Lie? starts out with three different storylines taking place a few days apart. The first involves a photographer on a helicopter journey to take pictures of a lighthouse on a rock in the middle of the ocean, the second is about a policewoman whose journalist husband has recently attempted suicide, and the third is about a family who returns from a house swap with an American couple to find some of their stuff missing and weird footage on the security camera. Of course, as the book progresses, these storylines converge, and it’s pretty neat when the police activity the helicopter flew over in chapter one turns out to be almost the culmination of the policewoman’s plot thread.

For some reason, I can’t help wondering how Ruth Rendell might’ve written this book. I think Rendell would’ve done a lot more with characterization, for one thing. There’s certainly some here, especially for the anxious husband who struggles to make his wife admit something really has gone wrong with their houseguests, but the primary concern seems to be getting on with the suspenseful action. Quickly, each plot features some kind of creepy lurker and then ominous notes (variations on the “why did you lie?” theme) figure in to all three, as well. Nina, the policewoman, digs around and talks to people and works out that everything connects to a supposed suicide from thirty years ago.

The result is certainly an entertaining book, but not one I could really love. One major issue I had is being able to predict something very significant. The number of characters who could’ve been angry enough about the 30-year-old lies in question to terrorize people in the present is very small. And once the existence of a certain person is oh-so-casually mentioned two-thirds through the book, I thought, “Oh, well, it’s them, then.” And then a little later, I figured out which of the characters it must be and I was right. This made for an anticlimactic ending that was clearly meant to be a shocking one. Also, I would’ve liked to have cared more that one character ends the novel poised to move on with life but, in reality, still in jeopardy.

I still would read more by this author, though.

By: Michelle Smith

[fyeahbatcat]

Just finished Batman: Hush the animated movie. What are your thoughts on it?

Alright, everyone. Here we go:

Batman: Hush Movie Full review

To begin, as I’ve stated here previously, Batman: Hush is a very important story to me. It was the first Batman comic that I ever read many years ago. In the sixteen years since its original publication it has undergone at least nine different editions and is still one of the most recommended and critically praised Batman stories of the modern era. It was the starting point for many people in the Batman fandom, and I still believe that it is the most pinnacle story regarding Batman and Catwoman’s relationship. The fact that it’s still so influential, nearly twenty years later, in indicative of its importance and merit.

When DC Comics announced last summer that they were officially making Hush into an animated movie I was happy, but I cannot say that I was excited. This was due to unrelated factors that were happening simultaneous to its announcement that obliterated my faith in DC Comics as a whole. You can imagine my dismay when I learned that instead of creating a direct adaptation, in the same vein as Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Year One, they would be changing the story to fit in with their current New 52 inspired animated universe.

As anyone whose been following me for a while may have observed; I’m highly critical. I can usually find the good and bad in something and when I’m giving my take on things from my perspective it’s pretty fair and balanced. I was fully aware that the Hush movie made changes to the story and knew going in that I would have to temper my expectations, but I still gave it a chance.

Many will say that the film should be viewed on its own merit, and I generally tend to agree. If not held up to the book the movie is watchable and very easy to enjoy. But it’s an adaptation. An adaptation of one of the best and most popular Batman stories of all time. An ambitious and operatic year long event from Jeph Loeb, and one that I personally hold in the highest regards. Completely divorcing the movie from its source material is unfeasible.

With that said; as I review this movie I will be critiquing as loosely inspiredimagination of the Batman: Hush comic, and only making comparisons to demonstrate potential compromises of the story or the characters.

***Obvious spoilers ahead***

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

After many years of begging, pleading, rumors, and teasing the Batman: Hush animated film was finally released during SDCC weekend. The basic plot remained intact: a mysterious new villain named Hush targets Batman’s crime fighting career as well as his personal life, which is further complicated by his burgeoning romance with Catwoman. While making concessions that range from minor to pivotal the movie manages to be different while maintaining a degree of familiarity. All the most iconic scenes are there in one aspect or another, with only one notable exception; the Jason Todd graveyard scene.

There’s not much to say about the general plot. It for the most part, stays true to the essence of the story, while being different in execution. Most changes were traversable, while others were pointless and baffling. The first questionable change occurs early in the movie, when Catwoman delivers the stolen money to Poison Ivy; Ivy kisses Catwoman, which she does not reciprocate. In the original script for the book, I believe, that Ivy did kiss Catwoman, but Jeph Loeb was told by editorial to remove it, because it was “too much.”

It was clear in the comic book that Ivy was using her powers to mind-control Catwoman. In that context kissing her would have made more sense. In the movie the extent of her influence over Catwoman is unclear. It appears that she is blackmailing Catwoman. Catwoman’s coldness and irritation afterwards implies that she has maintained some degree of self-awareness. Her use of coercion rather than force renders the kiss pointless, and its intention to merely be salacious.

Other needless changes involve swapping out characters. Bane, for some reason, has taken the place of Killer Croc. Damian Wayne has taken the place of Tim Drake, and Amanda Waller makes a token appearance, but both proceed to only have one scene.

As Rick Austin from FortressofSolitude put it:

Some changes to the original story are surface-level questionable, making you wonder why they changed them at all – like substituting Killer Croc for Bane, for instance. Presumably it was done for recognition and name value, and barely has any relevance to the story. Huntress is replaced by Batgirl, probably for the similar reasons, but that’s more important and naturally means Oracle’s role in the story is gone. Slowly but surely, the small tweaks begin to have a big knock-on effect. Important lines of dialogue have been jettisoned, some elements have been removed and some characters replace others just to make this fit with other recent DC animated films.

The movie takes a more action/adventure route rather than a character driven mystery, chugging along at breakneck pace making several plot concessions along the way. What it does manage to improve from the book, as far as a Batman and Catwoman shipper can see, is it beefs up Batman and Catwoman’s ill-fated romance, by way of a montage depicting adorable, if at times out-of-character, domesticity that even involves matching his and hers robes. Its inclusion was more fan-servicey than plot driven, but the ship isn’t doing well right now so I’m not about to complain about that.

What I will complain about isn’t what was added to the romance, but what was excluded from it. The film cuts out all the most important scenes that demonstrate why the dynamics of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship works for them. Yes, we get the rooftop kiss that has graced a thousand screensavers and Batman ultimately making the decision to reveal his identity to Catwoman, but everything in service of Catwoman’s perspective are removed entirely.

The scene from the book when Catwoman admonishes Batman for saving her instead of going after the Joker after she is shot at the opera, is changed to Catwoman merely telling Batman to go after Harley Quinn.

If you ever choose to rescue…me again over catching the bad guy…I swear I’ll scratch your eyes out. I’m not some kid you took in and trained.

This scene is important because this is where Catwoman affirms how she sees herself in this relationship: she is Batman’s equal and she expects– demands– that he treat her as such. These changes seem benign at first, until it becomes clear later why they were made. More on that in a bit.

The original script for Hush also included a tasteful post-coital scene that was ultimately cut by editorial. The scene makes its way back into the movie in lieu of some of the more emotionally intimate moments, like Selina dialoguing with Alfred in the bat-cave. The dialogue also fails to compensate for this. Batman and Catwoman’s pillow talk topic include how Batman used to think Catwoman was a kleptomaniac.

“You were beautiful, intelligent, and brilliant,” he tells her. “I assumed if you were stealing it was because you couldn’t control it.” I see this come up in fandom every now and again, and Catwoman cannot be a kleptomaniac because kleptomania is an impulse control disorder. Catwoman steals for profit and executes elaborate premeditated heists. I can see why other people would make that mistake, but the world’s greatest detective should have more cognizance.

Most of the changes to film are surface-level and trivial, but where the movie majorly fails is when they attempt to fix things that weren’t broken to begin with.

The most major change doesn’t occur until the final act of the movie when it is revealed that Hush is actually the Riddler. At first, I thought this was a misdirect, but no. The Riddler is really Hush and Tommy Elliot was just a plot device, and he is really dead. Like in the book, Riddler gained knowledge of Batman’s identity while in the Lazarus Pit, and decides to take revenge by going after Bruce Wayne’s friends and loved ones.

This change is nonsensical and renders Tommy Elliot’s role in the movie essential meaningless. He is a mere plot device, a shamefully underdeveloped plot device, intended to provide Batman with angst. Villains targeting Batman’s loved ones is all too familiar occurrence, but audiences barely get to know Tommy long enough understand the depths of Batman’s grief and mourning.

As I’m sure all of you are aware at this point that in the book it is revealed that Hush is Tommy Elliot. Substituting Tommy for Riddler diminishes the impact of the reveal and Hush’s motivations. Tommy, Bruce’s close childhood friend, has a personal vendetta against Bruce. He uses his friendship, familiarity, and access to Bruce Wayne to attack him both personally and as Batman. It also complicates Batman’s relationship with Hush as a villain. The Riddler being Hush is just a theatrical Gotham villain pretending to be a different theatrical Gotham villain for no reason whatsoever.  

Towards the end of the movie Riddler kidnaps Catwoman and tries to kill her in an elaborate trap. Since Bruce was damseled early in the movie, I didn’t so much mind that they did the same to Catwoman. I like that Batman and Catwoman can depend on each other, and it demonstrates a degree of equality in their relationship. However, while Batman was only incidentally damseled for maybe 60 seconds, Catwoman was subtly threatened with rape for intervening on his behalf and later got the full-on woman-tied-to-railroad-tracks-treatment. Predictably Batman shows up and saves the day.

THE UGLY

Batman: Hush made several missteps that I was willing to overlook, and almost got through its entire 82-minute run time before doing the only thing that I considered truly egregious.

After the ensuing fight the building begins to collapse and Catwoman leaves Riddler to die, after Batman attempts to save him. Batman argues that they could’ve saved Riddler instead of letting him die. Catwoman becomes angry. “You’re crazy! You’re absolutely insane,” she exclaims melodramatically. Batman and Catwoman decide that their moral differences are too stark and break up, but leave the door open for the future.

This is where the movie took an unexpected turn for the worse. This is where the reason why so many changes to Catwoman’s character becomes clear.

Batman goes out as the voice of morality and looks like the hero, and Catwoman is completely thrown under the bus to make it happen.

Early in the movie during the famous battle of Metropolis when Superman is under the influence of Poison Ivy, Catwoman throws Lois Lane off a building to snap him out of the spell. Later when Superman is out of earshot Batman tells Catwoman that throwing Lois off the building was not part of the plan and that he did not approve of her methods. In the book it was Batman’s idea to throw Lois from the building. This moment frequently makes appearances on Worst-Things-Batman-Has-Ever-Done lists on comic sites.

During the opera scene Catwoman attempting to stop Batman from killing the Joker in a fit of rage was also cut. Here it was Batman who was acting morally questionable, and Catwoman was the reasonable and morally righteous one, so to speak.

These, along with Catwoman allowing Riddler to die, are intended to make Catwoman seem like she has a cursory attitude towards killing, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. All of this inevitably shifts all the blame for the relationship not working out on Catwoman. Catwoman’s flaws are irreconcilable while Batman is the blameless voice of reason. This is abominable at best, and sexist at worst.  

The book ends similarly and yet profoundly different. Upon the announcement of the film some people were hoping for the ending to be changed to something presumably happier for Bruce and Selina. In the book Batman and Catwoman break up, but under much different circumstances.

I personally feel that the ending to the original was appropriate for the story. Batman sabotages their relationship pushes Catwoman away because he realized was not ready for the vulnerability required in that type of relationship, It ends  on a bittersweet note. Batman and Catwoman can have a relationship “someday.” All they need is a little more time, and it’s Batman who need to be a little bit different.

Even as things end Loeb simply and perfectly sums up why Batman and Catwoman work:

We are who we are. That’s why this works.

The film makes fundamental differences, that can only be remedied by Catwoman changing herself, are the root of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship dysfunction.

The changes to Catwoman’s character occur only to justify the ending. The filmmakers went to great lengths to villainize Catwoman to make it seem like it was all her personal shortcomings that ended things instead of Batman’s to make him seem more heroic. It relegates Batman and Catwoman’s relationship  to a tool to demonstrate Batman’s inflexible moral code.

To add insult to injury, as Batman and Catwoman’s relationship comes to an end, Selina tells Bruce bitterly that she changed herself to be with him and was willing to continue changing. This robs Selina the agency of having reformed on her own, in a film that has already diminished much of her voice and independence.

It’s almost laughable that Selina once told Huntress that reforming was worthwhile, “as long as you’re doing it for yourself, and not for what someone else thinks of you,” in the same book the movie was based on.

Some dude (and it’s a dude; I checked) read the book, saw this panel, then decided to have her say literally the opposite. I wish I was making this up.

On its own the Batman: Hush movie is watchable. The casual viewer and batcat shippers alike can easily find something to enjoy. But watchable is a low bar to pass when based on one of the most popular Batman stories of our era. What should have been an exceptionally easy recipe for success did not exceed the bare minimum. It’s drab, bland, and dark animation style does not hold up to Jim Lee’s iconic penciling or Scott Williams’ colorful fills. The changes to the story are generally acceptable, until the final act of the movie when things go off the rails.

Ultimately the movie exceptionally fails at capturing the dynamics of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship, trading in much of the depth and intimacy for shower sex and pet names. On its own Batman: Hush stands as a mindlessly entertaining adaptation, loosely inspired by a Batman story of mystery and intrigue. Held up to the source material, it’s a pale and grotesque imitation.  

[keeplovingher]

How to Sell Luxury Products to Millennials

Luxury retailers need a less traditional approach if they want the ‘me generation’ to buy their products. Here are some tips for reaching this coveted cohort of consumers.

Jan 22, 2020 9:15 AM   By Leah Meirovich

RAPAPORT... Millennial consumers are independent, vocal, tech-savvy and used to getting what they want. They have disposable income and aren’t afraid to spend it on things they believe add value to their lives, no matter the price tag. But successfully enticing this market into your store is not as easy as it was with their moms and dads, and retaining them can be even more difficult. That’s why it’s essential to understand what makes them tick, and how to capture their loyalty.

Create a good user experience

“Millennial shoppers want an experience” is a common talking point in retail. But what does that mean? What constitutes an experience, and what type of experience is this generation looking for? Most importantly, how much will it cost you to make it happen?

“Experience has become synonymous with millennial consumers, and in jewelry and luxury goods, opportunities abound to deliver a memorable moment,” says Kathryn Bishop, research and insights director of the Women’s Jewellery Network (WJN). “But here’s the thing — experience doesn’t have to be costly or ostentatious. It can be as simple as offering shoppers a glass of champagne and taking time to listen and learn about their lifestyles, preferences and personalities before pushing product their way.”

Karen Barry, a senior consultant with retail sales trainer The Friedman Group, agrees that millennials aren’t necessarily seeking a flashy experience, but something that gives them a link to the product they are considering for purchase.

“Millennials…are more enticed by an item’s personal meaning or story,” she emphasizes. “Tell them about the mining process, or how your buyer selects specific items, or anything that connects the piece to people or otherwise brings it to life.”

Even creating experiences that require you to splurge a little can more than reward your efforts by forging bonds with new customers.

“Have an event where you invite your best millennial clients to come into your shop, bring friends and create a wish list,” says Kathleen Cutler, a sales expert for high-end jewelers. “Ask for the name of the person who would purchase off the wish list, and you can reach out to them with the suggestions.”

Cater to the individual

Unlike bargain goods, luxury items appeal to millennials because they are often one-of-a-kind products, and this generation considers itself highly individual. Millennials don’t want to wear “someone else’s engagement ring,” as bespoke jeweler Taylor & Hart declares in one of its ad campaigns.

“Millennials don’t want to look like everyone else,” states Bishop, stressing that retailers need to keep this attitude in mind when choosing their stock and marketing their products.

Barry concurs: “Individuality matters to millennials. When selecting products for your merchandise mix, include elements of current trends while still ensuring each piece is unique.”

Cutler suggests offering customizable products, such as high-end nameplates that spell out the name of a significant other or a memorable date. But beyond that, she advises, “know your designers and their why, which is always best told through strategic storytelling. The millennial customer wants to feel connected to the brands they are buying, and will be extremely loyal when the brand vision resonates with them.”

Diversify your marketing efforts

While consumers come from a broad demographic, that variety doesn’t always make its way into companies’ advertising campaigns. Millennials are more inclusive and expect the world to be more inclusive of them, notes Barry.

Be aware of the diversity of images you share in ads and social media — and on your sales floor,” she urges. “Representation matters, and millennials want to see a wide variety of ethnicities, gender and sexual identities, ages, abilities and disabilities, cultural and family backgrounds, and even fashion styling. Your imagery should match your clientele, and your reach should be as broad as possible.”

Expanding your focus group is essential, adds Bishop, as therein lies the potential to drive tomorrow’s jewelry spending. “Consider the fact that your future target audience for diamond jewelry will expand beyond heterosexual couples, men seeking the perfect engagement ring, or the burgeoning number of self-purchasing women,” she says. “[Millennials] have the potential to spend not only on commitment and wedding rings, but on new occasions and relationships that jewelers might previously have never considered marketing for, like coming-out parties and Friendsmas.”

Cultivate open communication

The millennial consumer seeks community and a sense of belonging, and wants to connect with others more than ever, says Benjamin Smithee, CEO of retail consultancy The Smithee Group. Fostering an environment that lets these consumers receive and share information about your brand is imperative.

“Brands are a micro-community, [and] they must have a strategy for not only growing the community, but nurturing it,” he stresses. “That is more than an email newsletter and Instagram account. How are you creating opportunities for your fans to connect? How are you empowering your rockstar advocates to tell your story to others? And how are you listening to your community for feedback on how to evolve and grow over time?”

There are many ways to reach your consumers, says Barry, from phone calls to texts and social media. This generation has ever-increasing options of what to buy and where to buy it, so keeping in touch is more important than ever.

“Use social media as an engagement strategy, not simply to post photos of product and announce sales,” she says. “Respond to as many comments as possible, update regularly, and engage in storytelling. They are bombarded with ads on their social media feed. Stay top-of-mind by having memorable, engaging, purposeful posts with a true human connection.”

Make your engagement personal

Don’t just blast your customers with your business, make it theirs, too. Millennials want to engage and be part of your brand. They see it as more of a lifestyle than a business, and they want to feel like they matter.

“Send a message to important customers following a sale,” suggests Cutler. “Ask them for photos of your jewelry being worn, so you can feature them in both your social media and your email newsletter. This will continue to create loyalty and visibility for your brand while creating an affinity for your customer and their friends.”

Making your marketing personal automatically makes your customers part of your brand, Barry affirms. She believes the more you include customers in your business, the more faithful they’ll be when it comes time to make another purchase or suggest a jeweler to a friend. “[Post] stories and photos of couples who have purchased from you, employees sharing their favorite pieces with personal stories, [customers’] engagement photos with your rings, custom items shown with the story of the design process,” she recommends. “All of those make your store a part of people’s lives, not just a place to buy jewelry.”

Accept them on equal footing

Millennials are one of the most educated generations and have a penchant for researching and planning most major purchases. While a jeweler’s job is to be an expert and to impart knowledge, doing so in a controlling fashion can alienate customers.

“While it’s important to present yourself as an expert, be cautious not to talk down to a millennial,” warns Barry. “They are confident and prefer to be involved and treated as equals. Share your knowledge, but also take time to ask for their opinions and input.”

Retailers should be casual and friendly, ask great questions, and be prepared with an answer when asked, agrees Cutler. “They’ve most likely done their research online, so they arrive armed with tons of information. This may tempt you to take back authority and position yourself as the more knowledgeable expert, but don’t fall into this trap. You run the risk of the millennial interpreting your knowledge as condescending.”

Go old-school – with a twist

Merging a traditional sales approach with a new attitude is a great way to hook millennial consumers, says Bishop, who is also deputy foresight editor at trend consultancy The Future Laboratory. She suggests hosting focus groups to better understand what motivates these buyers, from the types of occasions they see as important, to what visual and design cues stimulate them.

One classic tactic that’s come back into style is keeping notes to make sure your clients don’t forget an occasion, says Cutler. “Start collecting names and dates [of partners and friends] and reach out to customers six weeks ahead of these important dates.”

That said, retailers need to understand that with millennials, not every experience or conversation needs to lead to a sale — for now. Instead, stores should work on building bonds and creating a feel-good environment centered around their brands.

“The problem millennials have with most experiences is that right at the end of a potentially amazing experience is a forced sales attempt that sours the taste,” explains Smithee. “Brands shouldn’t worry about immediate return on investment. Instead, they should focus on creating the most value for the customer. That’s what will inspire them to return.”

The shopper’s perspective

Teaming up

Collaborations are among the key trends of today’s luxury market, according to an April 2019 study by Boston Consulting Group and Altagamma. Some 60% of millennials have purchased “special edition” products that were partnerships between different brands and artists, the survey found.

Count the goods

The average luxury consumer in the millennial and Generation Z age bracket (16 to 34) owns nine luxury fashion items from the accessories, apparel and footwear categories, according to a report by NPD Group and Stylitics.

The genuine article

Unlike previous generations, most millennials don’t buy luxury because of its exclusivity. In fact, only 6% of millennials and Gen Z-ers surveyed by luxury fashion site Highsnobiety purchased high-end goods out of a desire to express wealth, and 85% believed in the brand’s ideals and authenticity. In addition, only about half of respondents thought the luxury item they’d bought was of better quality than affordable alternatives.

Repeat performance

When it comes to purchasing high-end products regularly, millennials take the top spot, with 25- to 34-year-olds comprising 34% of repeat luxury sales, according to a survey by Global Web Index. Men in particular tend to be repeat buyers, making up 67% of shoppers in that category.

For what it’s worth

Approximately 50% of millennial consumers consider the long-term resale value of a luxury item when purchasing it, reported Boston Consulting Group and Altagamma.

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate- Review

Can’t afford to make a trip to Batuu this year or in the near future? Disney and Lucasfilm are here to fix that for you with their young adventure romance adult novel, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova.

(Review Contains Minor Spoilers)

Izael Garcia, or Izzy, and Julen Rakab, or Jules, were inseparable as children. The two spent their days climbing the massive spires of Batuu and avoiding the attention of their parents or predators. However, a sudden change in Izzy’s life saw here carried far away by her smuggler parents. Years later, herself a member of the galactic criminal community, Izzy finds herself returning to the planet of her youth on a mysterious mission and reconnecting with a long lost friend.

The decision to make Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge not just a theme park but a depiction of a specific place and time in the history of the saga was an inspired one. Like the best of Star Wars, Batuu as a planet feels lived in and brimming with history, personality, and conflict. Also, in typical Star Wars fashion, there are numerous ways to experience Batuu through well realized media synergy. Batuu breathes and expands across novels, comics, and dynamic attractions. I happen to be one of the many Star Wars fans that likely won’t be stepping into the world of Galaxy’s Edge for quite some time so getting to taste, smell, and see Batuu through story is a strong enough alternative.

This proves to be some of A Crash of Fate’s strengths but also the source of some of its greatest struggles. Zoraida Córdova’s prose sings at describing the diverse and colorful world of Batuu. Izzy and Jules each bring their own views and understandings of the various locations and denizens of Black Spire Outpost and its surroundings and both succeed in bringing this world to life in unique ways to their character. Córdova nails these sensory details and helps to find the small personal quirks to Batuu that make it feel real.

There is, however, a cynical artificiality to it all. A Crash of Fate stumbles its way through various attractions and locales for the Disney Park and it’s hard not to feel the corporate machine spinning away behind the narrative. This isn’t to say that we couldn’t have had a rollicking, encompassing adventure through the streets of the Outpost, but the episodic nature of Córdova’s narrative can’t help but feel like it often pauses to showcase a different shop, ride, or restaurant.

There are also aspects of Batuu that feel limited in their application. While the decision to keep the conflict of the Resistance and First Order as a backdrop and not a focus of the novel is a strong one, A Crash of Fate could have benefited from a longer cast shadow for the war. It is unclear what exactly the First Order’s role is on Batuu. Stormtroopers appear from time to time and boss around the ensemble, but the extent of their authority or their effect on the citizens of Black Spire Outpost is too nebulous to nail down. A miniature fascist rally among disaffected Batuu citizens is haunting and prevalent, but proves to be little more than set dressing.

A Crash of Fate splits its perspective in a dual point of view through Iggy and Jules. As a story of childhood reunion turned into whirlwind love affair, this approach proves affective. Jules and Izzy’s different upbringings and state in life allows for some amusing moments of misunderstanding and irony and Córdova seems to be having the most fun in allowing these two young people the moment to stumble through their awkward and accidental courtship. In a relatable turn, Córdova centers A Crash of Fate around a classic “returning to your roots” story of two friends from childhood rediscovering one another and the world around them with older and more experienced eyes. It’s a smart and sympathetic theme especially for the novel’s target audience.

The difficulty comes in that only half of A Crash of Fate’s central duo seems to be carrying the story. Following her departure from Batuu, Izzy spent years on the fringes of the galaxy learning to prioritize survival and opportunity. A Crash of Fate opens with the end of her previous romantic relationship and the loss of her former crew which leaves Izzy with a jaded and reactionary worldview. The pain of this inciting treachery carries Izzy through A Crash of Fate and quickly becomes the impetus for much of the novel’s conflict. Seeing how Izzy’s more “grown up” worldview interacts with Black Spire Outpost is the most dramatically rich material as it both puts up walls but also opens doors she may have not realized had been unlocked to her.

By contrast, Jules’s uncomplicated, “aw shucks” demeanor fails to intrigue. While Izzy was off scraping by to live, Jules was forming friendships and connections on Batuu with the hopes of eventually flying away himself. While his familiarity with Black Spire and less jaded worldview offer a smart foil for Izzy in her journey, Jules fails to feel like a driving force in the narrative. His story is carried along by Izzy and her vague mission, but it’s never directly complicated by his own wants or actions. It places A Crash of Fate in a tough spot. While the dual perspectives is one of the best aspects of Córdova’s prose, Jules’s relative flatness as a character perhaps advocates that he would have been best experienced solely through Izzy’s eyes.

This is not to say that romance between Izzy and Jules lacks spark or affection. There is a certain sweet satisfaction in seeing these two separated souls find one another once again and while their coupling is clearly inevitable, it doesn’t stop the fun of the journey itself. This is good as the larger conflict doesn’t rear its head until well into the novel’s third act when Izzy’s past truly comes back to muck things up.

As a whole, A Crash of Fate proves passingly entertaining, but disappointingly shallow at the same time. Córdova offers a strong sense of place and crafts a fun young romance particularly from the point of view from its flawed heroine, but this trip to Galaxy’s Edge is a forgettable one. Whether it was a larger corporate mandate preventing the novel from exploring some of the planets nooks and crannies while demanding focus on certain locales or a bland male protagonist, A Crash of Fate feels held down by forces outside its control and sputters to right itself.

Score: C

[threewaysdivided]

Quality Should Not Be Binary

In my wanders through life in general - and the internet in particular - I’ve noticed a strange mindset regarding the quality of media and the people who produce it.  It’s this weird idea that something is either 100% perfect, flawless and ‘how dare you claim to be a real fan while suggesting there’s anything wrong’, or that it’s completely awful, valueless and ‘you’re a terrible person for enjoying that or thinking it has anything to offer’ - sometimes flipping from one to the other as soon as a ‘flaw’ is revealed, or a ‘bad’ work does something suitably impressive.

This mindset has never really made sense to me.  Maybe I’m a just habitual over-thinker who spends unhealthy amounts of time analysing things, but I can’t see how this sort of absolutist approach would do anything other than shut down discourse, limit the value to be had from a piece and maybe make people angry.

So in honour of that please enjoy some indulgently long navel-gazing about critical analysis and media quality.

Disclaimer: This post is going to summarise my personal philosophy. Everyone approaches life - and especially art - in their own way and far be it for me to say you’re wrong if you prefer a different approach.  You do you.

Blindness Hurts Both Ways

To an extent I get the simple yes/no mindset.  Analysis takes time and it would be exhausting to give an extensive, nuanced breakdown on your view at the start of every discussion.  Plus the whole ‘dissecting the frog’ thing can definitely apply to enjoyment of media.

However, taking it to the point where you’re denying the positive side of things you dislike or refusing to acknowledge faults in works/people you enjoy has the potential to swing around and bite you in the butt.

Why deny yourself a useful experience? I think there’s an important distinction to make between being good and being useful. Subjective, technical or, ethical ‘badness’ is not the same as having no value. Similarly, being touching, entertaining or otherwise enjoyable doesn’t preclude something from having genuine problems.

Personally, I can find it difficult to work out exactly what’s going right in a generally positive piece.  After all, ‘good’ doesn’t hinge on a single point - it’s usually the product of a lot of things working well together, and it can be hard to figure out cause and effect in a system like that. It’s much easier to look at a failed attempt and identify the specific elements that caused problems, where it had the potential to recover, and places where it might be succeeding in spite of those issues. Similarly, some works can be very strong except when it comes to ‘that one thing’, which in itself is a useful reference.  Negative examples can be just as beneficial as positive ones, and turning a blind eye to a piece’s weaker aspects just denies you that tool.

On the other hand, sometimes a piece and/or creator can be ethically awful while being technically strong or succeeding at its intended purpose. In this case, while they’re not positive it can certainly be valuable to analyse the techniques they use, and even apply those tools when selecting and creating things for yourself.

It’s important to remember that acknowledging where something is strong isn’t the same as endorsing or supporting it, and that there’s a huge difference between pointing out a genuine weakness or failing and maliciously hating on a work or creator.

Why give something that much power? Starting with the gentler side, I think it’s important to remember that a work being ‘good’ on the whole shouldn’t be an excuse to gloss over possibly troubling elements or to give creators a free pass on their actions.  Sure, even the best-intentioned artists make bad PR and creative decisions sometimes but it’s also valid to acknowledge and call out possible misbehaviour when it crops up, rather than blindly playing defence until it reaches critical mass and undermines the good of their work (or worse, actually hurts someone).

There can also be a danger to simply writing off and ignoring ‘bad works’, especially if you dislike them based on ethical grounds.  If something ‘bad’ is becoming popular it’s usually a sign that it’s getting at least one thing right - whether that be plugging into an oft-ignored hot-button issue, or simple shock-value and shameless marketing.  Attributing the success of such pieces to blind luck and ignoring any potential merits that got them there opens up the potential for other, similarly objectionable works to replicate that outcome.

Not to mention the issues that can come from letting these things spread unchecked.  Think about how many crackpot theories and extreme notions have managed to gained traction, in part due to a lack of resistance from more moderate or neutral parties who at the time dismissed them as ‘too stupid’ or ‘too crazy to be real’.  Unpleasant as it may be, I think there’s some value in dipping into the discourse around generally negative media.  If nothing else, shining a spotlight on the misinformation or insidious subtext that a work might be propagating can help genuine supporters notice, sidestep or otherwise avoid the potential harms even as they keep enjoying it.

Why lock yourself into a stance like that? Maybe it’s just my desire to keep options open, but it seems like avoiding absolutist stances gives you a lot more room to move.  Publicly championing or decrying a work and flatly rejecting any counterpoints runs the risk of trapping yourself in a corner that might be hard to escape from if your stance happens to change later.  If nothing else, a bit of flexibility can help you back down without too much egg on your face, not to mention shrinking the target area for fans or dissenters who you might have clashed with in the past.

A little give and take can also help build stronger cases when you do want to speak out.  Sometimes it’s better to just acknowledge the counterpoints you agree with and move on to the meat of the debate rather than wasting time tearing down their good points for the sake of ‘winning’.  The ability to concede an argument is a powerful tool - you’d be surprised how agreeable people become when they feel like they’re being listened to.  

Finally, from an enjoyment perspective, is it really worth avoiding or boycotting what could otherwise be a fun or thought-provoking experience just because you don’t 100% agree with it or have criticised it in the past? Sure, there are absolutely times when a boycott is justified but why deny yourself a good time just because it involves an element that’s been arbitrarily labelled ruinous.  ‘With Caveats’ is a perfectly acceptable way to approach things.

Existence vs Presentation of Concepts

A rarer argument that occasionally pops up is the idea that certain works are inherently ‘inappropriate’, ‘distasteful’, or should otherwise be avoided purely based on their subject matter.  Usually this revolves around the presence of a so-called ‘controversial’ topic; things like war, abuse or abusive relationships, sexual content, bigotry and minorities (LBGT+ relationships being a big one right now).

Personally I think this is a reductive and pretty silly way to choose your content.  No topic should be off-limits for any kind of media. (With the possible exception of holding off until the target audience has enough life experience and critical thinking skills to handle it.  There is some value in TV rating systems.)  Yes, some concepts will be uncomfortable to confront, but they are part of life and trying to keep them out of mainstream art simply stifles the valuable real-world discussions and conversations they might spark.

What we should be looking for is how a work handles the concepts it chooses to use.  There’s a world of difference between presenting or commenting on a controversial topic as part of a work, and misrepresenting or tacitly condoning inappropriate behaviour through sloppy (or worse, intentional) presentation choices.  The accuracy of research and portrayals, use of sensitivity and tact, consideration for the audience and overall tone with which a topic is framed are much more worthy of consideration than simply being offended that the idea exists in media at all.

‘Bad’ Art, ‘Good’ People and Vice Versa

I think it’s important to remember that our content creators are, well, people.  They’re going to have their own weird taste preferences, personal biases and odd worldviews that will sometimes show through in their output. They’re also going make mistakes - after all, to err is human.  Unfortunately, in the creative pool you can also find some genuine bigots, egotists, agenda-pushers, abusers and exploitative profiteers who don’t care about the damage their work might be doing.

It can be discomfiting to notice potentially negative subtext in the work or actions of a creator you like, and upsetting to realise that a work you love is the product of a person who you can’t in good conscience support.  Which of course leads to the discussion of art, artists, whether they can be separated and what to do when things go wrong.

Obviously I’m going to be talking primarily about the ethical/moral side of things, as I think most of us are willing to forgive the occasional technical flub, production nightmare or drop in outward quality from creators we otherwise enjoy.

It can also be a touchy subject so I’d like to reiterate that this is just an explanation of my personal philosophy.  My approach isn’t the only way and I won’t say you’re wrong for taking a different stance or choosing to stay out of it entirely.  

‘Bad’ art from an apparently ‘Good’ person In general, when it comes to apparent bad behaviour or negative subtext from otherwise decent creators, I favour the application of Hanlon’s Razor.

Hanlon’s Razor Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence - at least not the first time.

Art is a subjective medium, with multiple readings and interpretations being possible from the same piece.  It’s definitely possible for an author to lack the  awareness or experience needed to notice when unintended implications or alternate readings have crept into their work.  Sensitive topics are tricky to handle at the best of times and seemingly harmless edits or innocuous creative choices can stack into subtly nastier tonal shifts. Similarly, being a good creator doesn’t automatically make them good at PR or talking to fans - it’s easy to get put on the spot or to not realise the connotations of their phrasing and how it may have come across.   Of course this still means someone messed up, and it’s totally reasonable to call them out for ineptness, but I’d take an unfortunate accident over malicious intent any day.

Then there are times when the negative subtext is a lot less unintentional.  In that case I think it’s important to make the distinction between creator sentiment and the sentiment of the work, character or their production team (if collaborating) before making a judgement on them as an individual.  For example, the presence of casual bigotry might be justified in historical piece that’s attempting to accurately portray the culture of the time, and a creator/actor might write/portray a protagonist with biases and proclivities that they personally disagree with for the sake of a more compelling story.  The presence of a worldview within a work doesn’t automatically translate to the opinion of it’s creator.

Similarly, when considering a problematic production or team it’s worth acknowledging which positions hold creative power, if every member is complicit and why a dissenting individual might stay silent; whether out of contractual obligation, a desire not to throw colleagues under the bus or just because they don’t have the financial security to risk rocking the boat or walking away from the role.   It’s important to figure out who the buck stops with before we start pointing fingers.

Overall, I don’t think there’s much value in passing judgement on an artist for the troublesome content in a single work.  You’ll get more mileage and a fairer assessment from looking holistically across their collection and personal/private channels for telling patterns of subtexts and behaviours.  For the most part I prefer to offer the benefit of the doubt until there’s enough supporting evidence or they do something to definitively out themselves.  Speculation fuelled witch-hunts are no fun for anybody.

‘Good’ art from ‘Bad’ people Exactly what defines a ‘bad’ creator will vary (there’s a reason I’ve been putting the terms in inverted commas).  Whether it’s a disagreement with a key opinion/ creative philosophy/ method, that they’ve done something actually heinous/ illegal, or anywhere in between, enjoying a work while being in conflict with the creator can be a difficult situation to reconcile.  Personally I think there's power to the Death of the Author argument in these cases:

Death of the Author An author's intentions and biographical facts (political views, religion, race etc.) should hold no special weight in determining an interpretation of their writing.

If you’ve found value or enjoyment in a work then you’re well within your rights to enjoy the work on those grounds, even if the message you’ve personally taken from it runs counter to the original author’s opinions or intentions.  

It’s also important to remember that a creator’s personal and/or moral failings don’t retroactively invalidate their skill and achievements in their field.   It’s possible for a person to continue offering valuable insights, observations and lessons on their chosen speciality in spite of their other behaviour or stances.  Their work can have value in isolation, although it may be worth taking the information with a grain of salt when it comes to possible biases.

This becomes a little harder when the disagreeable sentiments bleed directly into their creations but, again, there’s no reason why you can’t decide that the strengths of a work are worth looking at even if they take some squinting past uncomfortable elements to appreciate.

The question should never be ‘can I still enjoy the art?’ because that answer is always yes - if you liked it before learning about the artist then you’re allowed to keep doing so afterwards.  The new context may add caveats to the discussion but it doesn’t demerit the existing positive aspects.

However, Death of the Author runs into problems when the creator is still alive.  If the artist is out of the picture then you can engage freely without any financial support or publicity going back to them.  When they’re still around the question becomes ‘do I still feel comfortable supporting them?’ This is particularly relevant when it comes to online creators, as just interacting with their content can generate passive ad revenue, increase view counts and contribute to algorithm boosts.

I honestly don’t think there’s any one answer to this particular question.  It all comes down to a personal case-by-case judgement; weighing the severity of the conflict against how much you value their work and, in the case of creative teams, whether you think their colleagues are worth supporting despite them.  Even if you decide to pull back there are soft options before going for a full boycott; using ad-block to limit passive financial contributions, buying physical media second-hand or lending/borrowing hard copies to avoid generating any new purchases.

There are creators that I disagree with politically but continue to enjoy because their stance isn’t especially harmful or is relatively minor compared to the value of their work.  There are creators who I no longer want to support but whose pieces I like enough that I don’t regret having purchased from them in the past.  On the other hand, there’s a creative team whose content I adore in isolation but who I’ve had to drop entirely after their leader was outed as an emotionally manipulative office bully.  Where someone else would draw that line comes down to their own personal standards, and it wouldn’t surprise me if another person took a completely different approach.

Don’t be a Jerk

I feel like this should go without saying.  Rational discussion is great.  Being able to have a critical discourse - even one that’s focused on the more negative sides of a work - is wonderful.  Opinions are fun.

However, the thing with opinions is that a lot of them differ.  We aren’t always going to sync up and there are times when you shouldn’t, and won’t be able to, force someone to agree.  In that case, please don’t attack them over it.  You don’t have to like or respect their views but some basic civility would be appreciated.  You’re trying to have a conversation, not win a catfight.  Condescension, derision, high-horsing, ad hominem and otherwise getting personal doesn’t tend to win many friends or endear them to your perspective.   And to the rare few who go so far as to threaten or harass fans, creators and their families; that’s an awful, completely unnecessary, out of line thing to do. (Seriously, never do this, it won’t help and just makes you look crazy.  Also, it can be considered criminal behaviour.)

It’s also important to know when to let things go.  You’re not always going to be able to turn the tide and constantly chasing the argument, stirring the pot and fighting waves of push-back eventually reaches a point of diminishing returns.  No matter how important the issue is there’ll be times when you’re just screaming into the void.  The best you can do is make your peace, say your piece and take your leave.  After all it’s not the school playground.  And unlike the playground, we’re not obliged to stick around.

Value Judgements: It’s Good to Examine Your Tastes

At the end of the day I think you get more mileage from reaching an opinion based on a value judgement of a work’s positive and negative sides than you do from just bandwagoning into blind adoration or hate.  ‘Perfect’ and ‘Unsanctionable’ aren’t binary boxes - they’re points on a scale, and figuring out where you stand on a piece can be a useful mental exercise.  Even if your opinion ends up matching the general consensus, at least you know how you got there and can defend yourself if challenged.  

If nothing else this kind of thing can help you figure out what elements you like, dislike and prioritise in media, and where your personal boundaries lie in regard to different issues.

Still, even after all this there are plenty more factors that determine whether or not you’ll enjoy something.  I’ve dropped way more pieces for not being to my subjective liking than I have due to technical or ethical flaws.  Your tastes are your own, and if needed you can stop the conversation at ‘it’s just not my thing’.

In the end there’s no ‘correct’ way to be a fan of something.  We’re all just here to have fun.  So try not to be an ass when you run across someone who does things differently.

[wandaterrell]

GDPR Compliance for Direct Mail

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Everything You Need to Know About Direct Mail and GDPR

There used to be a time when marketers, salespeople, and businesses, in general, could send out direct mails to pretty much everyone they wished to. But that time is long gone since the introduction of GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation was adopted in April 2016. Anyone or any organization dabbling with customer data is familiar with GDPR compliance because a whopping €20 million penalty just seemed way too big to be simply ignored.

It is no wonder every business, including large enterprises and SMEs alike, has ensured that they are all GDPR compliant ever since its introduction in 2016. Although the GDPR is a data protection law that is primarily aimed at digital marketing efforts, it applies just as well to the direct mail efforts of a business. This is because most if not all direct mail services are web-to-print ones, and naturally, the customer data is processed and stored online.

The sheer amount of customer data and its sensitive nature makes it necessary for it to be secured and safely keep it away from getting misused by businesses or marketers. GDPR stops companies, businesses, or marketers from using their data for marketing purposes unless the target audience has a legitimate interest in the same. In essence, GDPR protects the public’s personal information and stops it from being used for something that they do not wish to be used.

Although GDPR may seem like a loss for businesses and marketers around the world and particularly for those who focus their marketing efforts towards their target audience in the EU or European Union, this article takes you through the finer details of GDPR. We explain what GDPR is and exactly what it means for businesses to be GDPR compliant. We further discuss the significance of GDPR in regulated fields such as healthcare and finance.

What is GDPR Compliance?

GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation is a law enacted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union that regulates the use of personal data of EU and EEA citizens for marketing purposes. Although the said regulation was adopted as early as April of 2016, it didn’t come into force until May of 2018. The GDPR aims at giving EU and EEA citizens better control over their personal data and who can access it.

Furthermore, GDPR is a law that finally unifies the data privacy legislation inside the European Union. It is also worth noting that before the enactment of GDPR, the data privacy legislation differed within the EU’s member countries. GDPR is applicable to any entity that is in possession of the personal data of EU and EEX citizens. Another important thing to know about the GDPR, especially if you have a significant amount of personal data of EU and EEA citizens, is that the law is applicable regardless of the sender’s location. This means even if you or your business is based outside of the EU, the GDPR is applicable to you, and so is the hefty fine that comes with it.

Terms Related to GDPR Compliance

If you look up GDPR, you will notice that certain terms often repeat themselves in GDPR related blogs and articles. It is important that you familiarize yourself with some of these terms closely associated with GDPR so you can get a better understanding of GDPR and how it works.

Personal Information (Data)

Personal information or data refers to any information related to any identifiable person. This includes everything from a person’s name to their postal address.

Processing

Processing in GDPR refers to any operation that a person, entity, or organization performs with the personal data of EU or EEA citizens.

Data Controller

In GDPR, a data controller is a person, entity, organization, or public authority that decides how to process personal data and for what purpose it is to be processed.

Data Processor

Similar to the data controller in GDPR, a data processor in GDPR is a person, entity, organization, or public authority that processes personal data.

Data Protection Officer

The DPO or Data Protection Officer may be an individual or an entity who is responsible for ensuring the GDPR compliance is followed.

Making Your Marketing Efforts GDPR Compliant

We all know that modern-day marketing is closely tied to or even based on personal information. Businesses or companies across the world use personal data for various marketing purposes. Personal data is the key to effectively addressing the target audience, personalizing the content to fit their taste, and for better-promoting offers based on the target’s unique needs and requirements. Even after the introduction of GDPR, these key aspects of marketing remain unchanged. It does not change the fact that personalization and targeting remain at the heart of an effective marketing strategy.

But, that doesn’t mean GDPR did not bring significant changes to the marketing sphere. GDPR brought in a much more advanced level of transparency and significantly enhanced the customers’ power over how his/her personal data is used. How? The GDPR brought in explicit user content into marketing, and furthermore, the relevance of marketing campaigns to the customers is also necessary to meet regulatory compliance. Therefore, it is essential that you make sure you have the user’s consent as well as the relevant marketing material that the user is genuinely interested in to be GDPR compliant.

Below we discuss the plan you need to follow if you are still unfamiliar with GDPR compliance or if you just started working on a brand new marketing campaign.

Determine Whose Data You Are Processing

The most basic thing you need to do to ensure GDPR compliance is to determine to whom the data you are processing belongs. The aim is to figure out whether the personal data you are processing is that of an EU or EEA citizen. This applies to companies that operate outside the EU but handles data of or relating to EU citizens. If such data does exist, then their processing should be regulated with GDPR.

Clearly Define Your Privacy Policy

GDPR is all about being transparent with your consumers, and the best way to ensure it is by clearly defining your privacy policy to your customers or target audience. When defining your privacy policy, enunciate the data processing criteria and introduce a clear consent mechanism if you don’t already have one.

Review All Third-Parties

The next thing to do is to review all third-party software with whom you are sharing your customer data. So if your mail campaigns are carried out through a third-party, fully automated system, then it would be best if you ensure that they are GDPR compliant too. Ensure that such third parties do actually need to use the information and ensure its proper handling as well.

Educate Yourself And Your Staff

Make sure that you educate yourself and your staff about the main GDPR provisions. For example, everyone who handles sensitive personal data of your customers should be aware that the national supervisory authorities must be reported about any data breach within 72 hours. You should educate them on the consequences of failing to comply with GDPR guidelines, so your employees know the consequences of their actions.

GDPR and Postal Mail

The best thing about direct mails from a GDPR perspective is that, unlike digital marketing emails, direct mails don’t necessarily require explicit permission to send. However, it is still advised that you focus your attention on GDPR postal mailing lists. Direct mail effectively gives you more freedom to reach out to the target audience, and this enhanced marketing freedom can be pivotal in terms of lead generation.

That being said, it does not mean that the GDPR does not impact direct mail marketing at all. Legitimate interest is the one GDPR term that you must always keep in mind if you are thinking about running a direct mail campaign targeted at EU citizens. Legitimate interest for direct mail campaigns simply means that the printed mail you send to the customers must be relevant to them.

In other words, the recipient, upon receiving your direct mail, should be expecting the same or at the very least not be surprised to receive it. So, how do you make sure that the postal marketing GDPR you are implementing comply with all the necessary provisions related to legitimate interest? We discuss that below so you can get a comprehensible idea of how to make your direct mail GDPR compliant.

Elaborate The Benefits

Ensure that you list out the benefits of mailing to the end recipients on your GDPR postal mailing lists. This can include the benefits received by both the recipient and even your own business to some extent.

Analyze Response

Analyzing the response to your postal marketing GDPR is quintessential in understanding whether or not your direct mail is of legitimate interest to the recipient. If there is no response from the recipient even after more than one direct mail reaching them, then it is safe to assume that the recipient does not find your product or service worthwhile or simply not interested in it at the moment.

Provide an Opt-Out Mechanism

For your GDPR mailing lists to be truly GDPR compliant, you need to introduce an easy and convenient opt-out mechanism. By providing an opt-out mechanism, you are effectively making sure that the recipient, should he/she find your direct mail a nuisance in any manner, can opt-out from receiving it any further. Furthermore, you must also ensure that those who do opt-out are effectively excluded from future campaigns.

Analyze Customer Reaction

Keep in mind that the legitimate interest of the customers is the key to an effective GDPR compliant direct mail campaign. The best way to identify these interests is to analyze the customer reaction to each previous marketing campaign. Analyzing the previous campaign will help you understand the customer’s legitimate interest and help you pitch the right ideas that have the maximum conversion potential.

Use Automated Direct-Mails

Using advanced automated direct mail solutions such as PostGrid can help you streamline your direct-mail campaign. Furthermore, reliable service providers, like PostGrid, partner with GDPR compliant printers and come with advanced address verification capabilities. This means not only can you be sure that your marketing efforts are GDPR compliant but also ensure the deliverability of your direct mails.

Laws Concerning Direct Mail Marketing & Regulated Fields

Although direct mail marketing enjoys marketing freedom that is often out of reach for digital marketing methods, including email marketing, certain laws restrict its freedom. Regulated fields such as healthcare and finance are two of the most strictly regulated fields when it comes to direct mail marketing. As you may have already guessed, the reason for this strict regulation is simply to avoid any form of data breaches and data disclosure as the data is extremely sensitive.

Everything with general direct mail marketing is pretty straightforward and relatively easy. However, it is still crucial that you familiarize yourself with the major laws pertaining to direct mail marketing. Below we’ve listed some of these major laws that you should probably take a look at to ensure that your direct mail campaigns are well accounted for.

HIPAA Act or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

DMPEA or Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act

Laws pertaining to Theft or Receipt of Stolen Mail

GDPR for Direct Mail Marketing Benefits

Albeit GDPR may look like it may have taken away many advantages from the marketers, by the end of the day, it actually helped solve many troubles faced by the marketers. GDPR is particularly beneficial for direct mail or postal marketing.

Direct mail marketing greatly benefited from GDPR simply because of the fact that it does not require consent from the recipients. This means that you can use direct mails to reach your target audience who prefer not to receive digital marketing materials such as newsletters in their email inbox. However, as mentioned above, there is still a catch, and your content needs to be of legitimate interest to the recipient.

Regardless of the legitimate interest part, you are still presented with an opportunity to access an additional touchpoint that can be effectively used for gaining more conversions. Additionally, GDPR facilitates advanced targeting of your direct mail marketing campaigns. This is good for your business because such advanced targeting often leads to a better conversion rate because it is already a given that the recipient is genuinely interested in what you are selling.

Furthermore, advanced targeting also leads to an increase in mail quality as well as security. And now that you have narrowed in on the target audience, it also allows you to save money by significantly reducing your printing and mailing expenses. The direct mail campaign can be optimized even further to run at its optimal condition by using advanced direct mail tools such as PostGrid. Advanced tools like PostGrid fully automate the direct mail process and ensure maximum deliverability through advanced address verification of addresses from the EU.

Conclusion

GDPR compliance is extremely important for companies, businesses, and marketers with a significant audience in the EU. Although GDPR primarily affects digital marketing efforts, it plays a significant role in direct mail marketing as well. With a hefty fine looming over the head for GDPR violations, marketers and entities that deal with customers’ personal data can not afford to ignore GDPR compliance. Although GDPR disrupted the marketing efforts of marketers in many ways, direct mail marketing, on the contrary, has benefited from it.

The major reason why direct mail enjoys benefits from GDPR is that it does not require consent from the recipients. Additionally, GDPR requires direct mail to be of legitimate interest to the recipients, which actually favors direct mail campaigns. It allows for more targeted efforts that garner better results for the campaign. You can further use advanced direct mail tools like PostGrid to automate and optimize the entire process and encourage more efficient conversions.

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The post GDPR Compliance for Direct Mail appeared first on PostGrid.

Via https://www.postgrid.com/gdpr-compliance-for-direct-mail/

source https://postgridplatform.weebly.com/blog/gdpr-compliance-for-direct-mail source https://irenejvines.blogspot.com/2021/06/gdpr-compliance-for-direct-mail.html

[juddashley]

The Worst Kind of Tandem: The Greedy Rich and the Desperate Poor.

by juddashley

In another gut-wrenching reality of power dynamics in the Philippines, the action thriller film “On the Job” is truly a masterpiece of cinematic realism. Set in Metro Manila, the film follows the story of two jailbirds: Tatang (Joel Torre), a veteran hitman, and Daniel (Gerald Anderson), an arrogant mentee of the former. The tandem comes after being hired by corrupt politicians in need of killing their enemies—an appallingly vile activity happening inside the prison cells of the city. The film, which is based on a true story, depicts this unexposed reality in the country in the most honest way possible. No sugarcoating, just facts. Director Erik Matti’s stylistic choice from the camera treatments up to the editing helps in further justifying the believability of the actors and the story itself—a crucial factor for a realist film.

Upon dissecting every scene of the film, Matti seemingly chooses shots indicative of its characters’ situation rather than just being a frame of reference. This can be seen in all of Madam Thelma’s (Vivian Velez) scenes. Most of her parts, if not all, are taken in close-up or extreme close-up shots, restricting the viewers from fully seeing her identity. We only get to see a glimpse of her—of her eyeglasses, of her smoking—but never as a whole. These shots build the mysteriousness that comes with her role in the story: The Middleman. And in her character, anonymity is everything. This explains the choice of the shot in her scenes as it makes the character seems hidden, as to which her role requires. Another example of this is the scene where Tatang calls her daughter Tina (Empress Schuck) inside of his prison cell. The scene is taken in a wide shot, allowing the viewers to see not just the character but the environment he lives in. It also establishes his relationship with his surroundings. The shot depicts the prison mates sleeping on the rugged floor whilst Tatang comfortably sits on his bed having his illegal call. This suggests how the character is somewhat above in comparison to others—a perk that comes from his job.

A variety of angles is used all throughout the film, further heightening the experience. Though there are particularly two scenes that stand out because of their exemplary use of angle. Firstly, when one of the targets, Pol (Lito Pimentel), is explaining how the contract killing works to his police friend Joaquin Acosta (Joey Marquez), the scene goes back and forth between them and the two hitmen. The first part shows Tatang and Daniel walking on a bridge, leaving the jail. This scene is shot at a low angle. The second part shows the two walking again on a bridge, but now entering Pol’s place. This scene, however, is shot at a high angle. The contrast between these two angles is reflective of the characters’ situation. The former part indicates Tatang and Daniel instituting their superiority, hence the low angle; the latter, on the other hand, indicates Pol’s vulnerability and endangerment, hence the high angle. Remember that all of these are happening whilst Pol’s narration is in the background. A thrilling experience, indeed. Secondly, when Joaquin finally gets a hold of Tatang but remains adamant about his involvement in killings. The police then point his gun at Tatang’s head, hinting at the hitman at what could happen. The use of eye level angle in showcasing this scene is immaculate as it perfectly portrays the raw emotion of the character—of his personal dilemma, allowing the viewers to connect and sympathize. It also intensifies the tension surrounding the scene, making it even more riveting.

One of the most intriguing elements used in the film is the lighting which, again, seems to be deliberately done in connection with the characters’ situation. The film introduces Daniel as this cocky jailbird who enjoys being in the spotlight. However, when he asks Tatang for his mentorship on how to properly handle their job, the first advice he gets is to keep a low profile—something that the conceited protégé struggles in doing so. At the beginning of the film, we get to see Daniel in a clear picture with the use of high key lighting. But the scene where the camera follows the jail guard counting the number of prisoners, the camera stops as Daniel sits and approaches Tatang, now with low key lighting. This illuminates the surroundings and puts Daniel in dimmer lighting—out of the spotlight—signaling his start of keeping a low profile. Another good use of lighting is evident in the scene where Tatang gets scolded by Madam Thelma for failing to kill their target. He then waits for Daniel in an alley whilst smoking in distress. The scene uses silhouette lighting, disallowing the viewers to see the character but his shadow and the smoke. This further dramatizes the visual storytelling. It also shows the director’s intention of hiding the characters after the mishap.

The color grading of the film heavily relies more on the softer color palette. The use of a blue-green undertone presents desaturation that matches well with the depressing premise of the film. This straightforwardly helps the viewers feel the emotion and grasp the feelings of struggle and conflict that the material conveys. This color scheme is evident in the majority of the film. Though, a hint of red color surprisingly appears in the most devastating scene. When Tatang finally gets his parole, Daniel congratulates him and starts a heart-to-heart talk. In this scene, the usual blue-green undertone is used but now mixed with a subtle yellow color—indicative of the sunlight that comes from the window. This minimal touch of yellow signifies hope, a sneak peek of a bright future that lies ahead for Tatang. However, as the scene progresses, that subtle yellow color diverts into a more solid red color, covering half of the Tatang’s face. The color red exudes the strongest emotion amongst all colors according to the psychology of color. It is commonly associated with danger, aggression, and even violence. The sudden appearance of this color makes sense after seeing how the scene ends: Tatang mercilessly stabs Daniel to death. The color, aside from being a symbol of the violence that is yet to come, amplifies the gravity of the scene. It makes the betrayal even more traumatic and shattering for the viewers.

The film gives the audience a complete viewing experience, all thanks to its excellent use of sound. It helps in building the realisticity of the scenes, providing life to the characters and the material. The use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds contributes to the in-depths of the scenarios, checking out every action thriller film’s must-dos. A perfect example of this is the opening scene of the film wherein Tatang and Daniel roam around the city of Manila, mixing in with the crowd and the chaos brought by the festival. And of course, the tandem is not there for a celebration but for a killing. The film’s sound department is smart for utilizing the sound of the drums alongside the environmental noises to build the scene’s suspense. It is noticeable how the sound’s volume correlates with the hitmen’s actions—the closer they get to their victim, the higher the volume goes. The scene ends in a perfect bang, replacing the drumbeat to gunshots resulting in a complete mayhem of the city. One exemplary use of sound can also be found in the ending scene. For context, the film introduces Tatang as this merciless hitman yet a loving father whose sole motive is to provide for his family’s needs. This humanizes the character and makes the viewers capable of seeing him as somehow a good person.  Fast forward to his parole, Tatang may have tasted his much-awaited freedom but the conscience of killing Daniel and his wife’s infidelity put a heavy weight on him. This pushes him into doing something unimaginable—killing his own wife. The scene happens on a rainy day which makes the sound of the pouring rain even more depressing. But what is more spine-chilling is when the film’s OST “Maskara” by Juan de la Cruz band plays whilst Tatang is walking in the rain after murdering his wife. The lyrics of the song say, “Hubarin mo ang iyong maskara, ang iyong tunay na katauhan ay nakatago lamang sa’yong likuran ... (trans: Remove your mask, your true identity is just hidden behind your back). The metaphorical line suggests the character’s personal and moral dilemma—of who he truly is and what he stands for. This questions the character’s real intention and reduces his figure of being a good father—that maybe after all it is just a façade, a mask.

The film overwhelmingly consists of contrasting themes—from the rich and the poor, good vs evil to life and death. These recurring themes are evident all throughout, should you dissect the material thoroughly. However, this can only be achieved by ensuring the cohesiveness of all the elements used, the mise-en-scene—and the film succeeds in doing so. One notable example of this is when Daniel wanders around the jail. The character is placed at the middle of the frame, facing the camera, taken in medium shot with eye level angle, allowing the viewers to see not just the character’s actions but the setting as well. The camera follows Daniel as he roams around the vicinity, showcasing the meticulous work of the production designers. The set design perfectly depicts what a prison looks like in real life, not romanticizing the place. In this continuous shot, it gives the audience a full perspective of the environment and the people that the characters live with. The whole scene also establishes Daniel’s superiority in the place. The contrasting theme shows at the end of the scene when a much bigger jailbird confronts the character’s special treatment. This confrontation shackles Daniel’s position, accepting his inferiority. A similar execution can be seen in one of the killing scenes of the hitmen. The camera follows both Tatang and Daniel wandering around a pig slaughterhouse. The placement and composition of the characters around the frame enable the viewers to see the nature of the setting and their actions. The set design, once again, never fails in accurately portraying the place. Shot continuously, the scenarios from killing the target to leaving the crime scene are executed seamlessly. Moreover, a contrasting theme appears. After Tatang and Daniel killed a woman in a slaughterhouse which signifies death, they enter a room of people celebrating a christening—an epitome of life.

Here comes the most crucial part of it all, the editing. The film profoundly uses a variety of editing techniques in effectively portraying the story. It is observable that fast cutting has become some sort of a default approach for the editor, which is a great choice as it implies the chaos most of the scenes required. Though the random zoom in for some scenes may not be the best option to go with as it feels forced and unnecessary instead of helping build a dramatic effect. Nonetheless, the transition and sequencing of the story are constructed cohesively, ensuring its fluidity. This drives the storytelling in a smooth direction, leading the viewers to fully understand the film. The use of plot devices is also evident in the material which helps the story go forward and adds up spice to it. The most notable one is the False Ending. It has been explained multiple times in the film how the bosses of Tatang and Daniel like to cut loose ends by killing them. This fact automatically makes the viewer assume that Tatang is most likely to end up getting murdered as his parole is near approaching, thus his retirement. Moreover, the existence of his young protégé justifies this assumption even more. This is where the plot device comes in when the audience has already formulated an ending for the story, only to be met with a completely different ending—Tatang killing Daniel and continuing his job as a hitman. This elevates the story in a more interesting and thrilling way by injecting unpredictable reveals.

The ensemble of this film is a dream team a production house could ask for. With the high-caliber cast, it is no doubt that the characters are successfully brought to life and effectively portrayed. The characterization is on point. The role given to each actor seemingly fits them well, making it as if they are not acting at all. Joel Torre is a natural actor. He embodies the different personas of his character—from being a hitman, a loving father to being a mentor—in distinctive approaches. Proving his flexibility as an actor. On the other hand, Gerald Anderson’s choice of mannerisms and speech pattern contributes to rendering his character’s trait. He perfectly presents the naivety and arrogance of the character through his gestures and delivery of lines. The acting choices of every actor in displaying their characters’ motives and intentions are necessary and well thought out. No actor lacks in any department and gives justice to the material.

In conclusion, “On the Job” is more than just your regular action thriller film, it is a cinematic experience. A perfectly-crafted masterpiece that continues to pull you in. It is immersive. It is thought-provoking. It is reality. It unapologetically unravels a devastating truth about the Philippines and its political system. An exposé to those greedy rich politicians who continue to exploit the desperation of the poor.

[supershanzykhan]

Event organizers checklist - this creates a successful opportunity

Little Christmas, customer service, birthdays, farewells or any private or corporate event: enough to organize. With these easy rules of the rule of thumb, arranging an event turns from a bun to a fun adventure!

1. Plan, plan, plan

Well-designed is half-done - even for events. Especially at business events, it is important to define for whom the event will be organized and what the event is intended to achieve. In private events, it is worth starting the arrangements by thinking about the scale at which you want to celebrate.

Consider the big guidelines for the event:

·         Why is the event organized and what does it want to achieve?

·         Who is the event for?

·         What size will the event be?

·         When will the event take place?

·         What kind of theme or atmosphere do you want to create for the event?

2. Assemble the auxiliaries

Don't strain and do everything alone! By assembling an organizing gang to help you, you can divide the contract into parts, and the yarns stay better in the hands of the team. It is good to have your own author for at least these tasks:

·         Status: calls for tenders, status reviews, practical agreement on arrangements

·         Serving: Catering selection, menu planning, competition, beverage procurement, dishes

·         Invitations: invitation list planning, making and sending invitations, guest list maintenance

·         Program Master: program planning, event scheduling

·         Reception Committee: guest guidance in, welcome words

·         You can also find help from, for example,  who is looking for a suitable space for your event, which helps you manage event invitations and registrations.

3. Find the perfect event space

The choice of space is one of the most important factors in terms of both the functionality and the atmosphere of the event. The choice of event space is especially influenced by the desired location, the number of people for the event and the budget. The choice of space also sets the mood for the event: casual or formal, bohemian or urban?

Tips for choosing a mode:

·         Think about the most important specs first: location, number of people, space style and budget

·         Also think about what you need from the farm: is there a need for a kitchen, sauna, yard, sound system or meeting technology?

·         Map the selection with several requests for quotations. From Venuu.fi, you send a request for quotation to several farms at once, and finding a vacant dream space becomes easier.

4. Get the food served

It is good to have a filling for the stomach and a moisturizer for the throat at every event. At small parties, you can do the meals yourself, or ask the people to bring a common snack and drink. For larger events, it is best to turn to Catering, as the catering service handles delicious meals, often from transport to dishes and cleaning, efficiently, without extra effort.

Please note these when serving:

·         Book catering:  you can easily compare and compete catering services for your event.

·         Remember drinks: There are party drinks for many departures, but ordering alcohol is on the agenda for many events.

·         Non-alcoholic beverages: Not everyone tastes alcohol, which is why you should invest in non-alcoholic beverages. Delicious mock tails and punches are in the darkest of the clouds and are tasted by every guest.

5. Schedule tasks

Many arrangements need to be handled in the right order and at the right time. Enable your calendar and to-do list, set reminders, and note things you care about:

Task scheduling helps:

·         Doodle : Agree on common schedules with the group. Share the link with the guest group, everyone is allowed to choose from the suggested times the ones that suit them best.

·         Phone memo: Throw here miscellaneous ideas, remarks, and half-accident. found interesting links and things you want to remember later

·         To-do lists on paper or electronically: Download the app, make a list in Excel or on graph paper. Scratching the work done only rewards it!

6. Design a program

Keep the target audience and goal of the event in mind when planning the program! Sometimes it’s worth putting your own preferences aside and thinking about what participants in that event get excited about and like.

When choosing a program, consider:

·         Whether you want an event activity , a speaker or even a band

·         Make sure you have space and equipment for the program: a stage and electricity for the band, a separate corner for the photo booth, etc.

·         Be open-minded: old traditions are nice, but by trying new ones, events will stay in your mind for a long time to come.

Event planning as teamwork

The Finnish summer event season is on hand again and a huge number of events are being held to the delight of holidaymakers and active visitors.

Workers made up of professionals and enthusiasts have thrown jobs in a sweat hat already during the winter frosts to enable organizers to provide a successful event experience. The audience only sees a surface scratch on the work done when they arrive at the scene and of course the work continues even after the audience leaves. Event planning is a crucial part of carrying out a successful event project. Here are some perspectives on event planning with Opens.

Opens user numbers have grown nicely and a wide variety of events are planned using Opens. The needs of users vary and the starting points are different. Likewise, event production teams are made up of different people, so it’s good to think about using Opens on an event- and user-specific basis. In event projects, planning is often done by different people depending on the project, so the situation is normal in the implementation of event productions. Here are some tips and perspectives for you to consider in your event at the planning stage:

Opens design software is well suited for different phases of an event project. At the very beginning of the event, it can be used to model implementation options. For example, an area plan is easy to sketch on a scale, even for different venues, before the final site selection. You can get all the necessary information directly from the venues that have Open Venue at their disposal. Or, alternatively, with the Open Event software, you can create the venue and its information as your own venue. At this stage of planning, it is good to pay attention to the amount of work, structures, capacity, logistics and safety required for the event.

 Once you have defined the project according to, for example, time, place, type of event and target group, you can start creating a more detailed production plan. For the first steps, I would recommend building a spatial plan, budget, and schedules. These provide frames for more detailed design e.g. technology, personnel and safety.

At this point, it’s also a good idea to consider which Opens features will be enabled and what will be left out. It is often clear to include everything in the beginning and leave out what is not needed. As event planning progresses, you can edit the content of the event settings later as needed. The information is documented as it accumulates and is available for planning new events.

Who makes the plan?

In the early stages of event planning, it’s also good to think about your own team and your own skills. It’s important to think about how you work with each member of your team. The basic idea of ​​Opens is to gather relevant event information in one place and there are several ways to produce the information.

By doing     it yourself, you design and     produce content for the system yourself. If you want, you can request     comments from others by giving the users you want viewing rights.

By working together, you     design and produce content for     the system together with another person. For example, you can even     visit a possible solution with a sound technician while sitting at a table     or online if you have given him or her rights to the event.

Ready material to add     another person will draw up the     plan independently, sending you the information you add to the system.

Delegate design     you give another person the     right to design independently and delegate design to him. Be sure to     ask him or her to update the progress of the job so that you can see     directly from the control panel the percentage at which the job is     going. You should also monitor what design material has been     accumulated and guide the designer if necessary.

Exercising     viewing rights in some cases,     it also makes sense to give only viewing rights to an event plan. For     example, if you have a client to whom you report on the progress of the     work then you can give him viewing rights to the plan so that he can     follow the progress of the plan in real time.

Utilization of old event data

You can speed up planning by copying ready-made parts of your already completed event into a new event and using them as a basis for planning. Without Opens, many organizers seem to spend quite a bit of time searching for and interpreting old event materials.

Venue information

Venue information refers to a floor plan, electrical outlets, water points and other site-related information. If the venue has created an event for you on Open Venue, all of this information is immediately ready for the event and you can directly start making an event plan. If you have Open Event software, you can request the venue to integrate with their Open Venue software and get the information for yourself from there, or you can create the venue yourself. This custom venue you create is available for all your events and you don't have to redo the information.

Remember that the more carefully an event is planned, the better the conditions are for a successful and safe event. And the information is in the possession of the event organizer in the database, so that, for example, in person exchanges, the information does not disappear with the person. Even if you yourself suddenly have to be left out of the event, another can patch up your work when the information is stored in a standardized structure in the database.

Sun for everyone and a happy summer of events!

Courtesy:Event Planner & Organizer in Lahore

[mountainise]

What is Digital Marketing?

Discovering digital marketing!

The rise of digital is growing every day. No area is spared. Digital marketing is finding its place and in beautiful ways. The field of marketing is not on the sidelines.  

The current decade has seen the field of marketing evolve like never before. In a century, such evolution had not yet taken place. It is due to digital technology, which provides this field with revolutionary techniques. 

Being accompanied by a digital marketing agency is also commonplace today. Let's find out more about this discipline in the many possibilities it offers to all.

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What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is the set of techniques and processes to promote a company's activities produced through the various existing digital media. 

It is a discipline primarily based on the strong potential that the internet offers to make oneself known. It brings together other significant subjects that make it possible to unearth leads and win as many customers as possible.

Web sites

One of the essential digital marketing techniques is undoubtedly the creation of a showcase site, a blog, or a commercial site, depending on the type of activity that the company carries out. 

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Owning a showcase site or at the limit, a blog makes it possible to publicize all the actions of a company, the services it offers, and many other details such as the address, the notoriety through the products and services already provided, etc. 

It allows the company to open up to the world. A merchant site is adequate when you want to sell online, which is entirely developed with the explosion of online payment methods.

Social networks

To reach an ever-larger audience, digital marketing will almost require a company to be somewhat present on social networks. You have to make yourself known on the internet. 

Most, if not nearly all, internet users are currently on social media, depending on their preferences. 

So if a company wants to have a chance to make itself known and make qualified leads, it must be present on social networks.

SEO and SMO referencing

You should know that there are many companies present on the internet through their showcase sites, blogs, and merchant sites. It is, therefore, imperative to stand out to poach clients. From this perspective, search engines are essential. 

A company that wants to make itself known to as many Internet users as possible must be present in the first pages of results when an Internet user searches for the products and services it provides. 

It is SEO. There are adequate techniques and tools to achieve this. 

The goal is to boost the visibility of a website on the internet as much as possible. It will also be necessary to increase the company's presence on social networks from the same perspective. We speak in this case of referencing SMO.

Inbound marketing

Specific to owners of e-commerce sites, inbound marketing is a set of processes aimed at unblocking customers and retaining them. 

Step by step, it will be necessary to transform Internet users into qualified leads, that is to say, people interested in the products and services offered, then into customers, to retain them and reuse them as promotional channels. The essential steps in an inbound marketing strategy are:

SEO and SEM referencing;

Web conversion which transforms simple visitors into qualified leads;

Marketing automation, which transforms qualified leads into customers;

Customer loyalty by transforming them into ambassadors of the products and services provided to them.

At the heart of this strategy is Social Selling, this parallel procedure on social networks that allows you to make customers and interact with them in a relatively active and interactive way.

Mobile marketing

What differentiates digital marketing from web marketing is undoubtedly the type of digital media that can be used in both. 

If web marketing stops at the traditional form of the internet, digital marketing goes further. 

The latter uses the possibility offered by mobile digital media. Mobile marketing, therefore, consists of using mobile devices, mainly smartphones, but also tablets and smartwatches as communication and promotion channels.

Mobile applications, location, mobile advertising, push notifications, and many other elements are used there.

Emailing and Big data campaign

One of the most powerful digital marketing tools is certainly emailing. Carrying out emailing campaigns, that is, sending personalized mass emails to well-chosen targets, is a vital task. 

This action makes it possible to increase the number of prospects and acquire a relatively large database of potential customers. It is a reasonably easy task to manage, and the benefits are enormous. 

It helps, among other things, to retain existing customers, and is decisive in a marketing automation action, i.e., pushing the prospect to make a purchase. All this is done thanks to web analysis, particularly on the behavior of your visitors on the web. Collecting all the data relating to their tastes and habits is big data.

Conclusion

Digital marketing is a platform for the future. In addition to all the strategies that we discussed in this article, you can monitor the outcomes of your digital marketing activities with unprecedented precision, which means that it's easy to see which tactics generate successful results and which one needs to do more work.

Our fervent faith is that we can support others effectively. That's why we want to keep our lines of contact open. 

We'd love to hear from you, whether it's a comment, a suggestion, or a request for information. Feel free to get in touch with us. No commitments, no responsibilities.

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