#let the creators enjoy what they do without unnecessary negativity

[darlingdaisyfarm]

Why do you not have any LGBTQ+ stories? I'm a new follower and all your stories are straight. I'm not trying to sound rude, but you barely have a variety. Is it a personal preference or is it the only thing you know out to write?

i’m not sure why this is being asked again, since i’ve already addressed it. and i wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same person sending me this ask again.

i write what feels comfortable to me, what i want to write. and i got gender-neutral fics where you can imagine any reader or OC you want, so don’t pretend i don’t.

but if you’re talking about smut, well, i have a vagina. i know how it works in sex, and i can write about it just fine. i’ve got absolutely nothing against the LGBTQ+ community, because im writing gay fics for gravity falls myself, like ford x fiddleford, i just never post it.

as for why i don’t write male readers, for example? it’s simple. i connect more with writing female ones, especially when it's sex. that’s just what feels closest to me. if you’re not happy with that, you can send this ask to another author who writes GF x reader (but don't be anonymous next time, kay?) or try writing something yourself

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

heard someone say archive of our own should install a "dislike" button and I thought I should say this: no, there's absolutely no need for archive of our own to install a "dislike" button.

why? because archive of our own isn't tiktok or youtube or twitter/x where users can monetize their content. archive of our own is a nonprofit site run by fans for fans, which means every content — every fanfic — you see on archive of our own was made out of pure love and passion from the artists/authors.

ao3 authors write because writing about these characters is their happiness and passion. they write for themselves, but they were generous enough to share with you their creations.

they're not "content creators" the way tiktokers or youtubers or instagram models are. they don't "make content" for views and engagements that can be monetized.

so no, you don't get to "grade their works" unless they specifically and directly ask you to.

you don't get to "say what you dislike about their works" unless they specifically and directly ask you to.

you don't get to "dislike" works that are not made specifically to please you in the first place. you're just a guest in someone's house, a house in which they let you in because they were kind, you don't get to roam around their house and say what you dislike about their furniture. you don't get to roam around their house and say you "dislike their house".

of course, you can have your opinion about the house its host invites you in. but if it's a negative one and you find yourself not liking the house, the polite things for you to do is excuse yourself and leave without telling them you dislike their house.

and just because you personally dislike the house doesn't mean the house is "ugly" either. the house you dislike could be a favorite, most luxurious place to many others.

my point is, don't be entitled by wanting the rights to voice your disapproval of things that you get to enjoy for free. don't be entitled by wanting the rights to voice your disapproval of things that were made out of love and passion — things the artists made for themselves for fun.

it makes you look like an entitled jerk with main character syndrome. the universe does not revolve around you.

now repeat after me: don't like don't read. no one forces you to continue reading a fic you don't like. quietly leave instead of being rude to authors who write for free because writing is their source of comfort.

people are so used to contents that were made because it's a trend / contents like tiktok that were made with the main purpose of reaching high engagement and making profits that they forget sometimes things can be made out of love and be made just for fun. sometimes things are supposed to just be for people to enjoy, and if some people don't enjoy them, then they can simply leave without being unnecessary unkind.

[minisoysquares]

As fun as the events and ideas you posted about 19days would be, wouldn’t it also just bring in more negative stuff - like fandom in general has become a field of land mines and I fear that something that’s supposed to fun will turn into some sort of battle. Like how some people get extremely heated over any other ships outside of their fave ship and they cannot possibly have other ships except theirs, etc. The last thing anyone wants is for content creators to be targeted simply for making something they thought would be fun

(This ask and answer is about this post.)

First of all thank you so much for addressing such a big and valid concern. I agree that that has indeed happened in certain fandoms - I can say I've been in the thick of it and witnessed quite the warfare - but in others it has also brought fans and readers and content creators together even closer and tighter in a wonderful thriving community.

I have the feeling this'll get quite long so please proceed under the cut with that in mind.

I believe all things are potential harbingers of both discord and harmony. There will always be people who feel entitled and who want - even demand! the audacity! - authors and artists to create for their ships and their ships alone. And there will also always be people who can appreciate the writing and the art without judgemental treatment regarding the pairings/characters depicted, no matter their preferences.

All of that happens and will continue to happen, whether we go forward with these events or not. And yet authors will still write what they want to write, artists will still draw what they want to draw, graphic designers will still make the edits they want to make as well. What we could do, in this small and close knit fandom, is take in our hands this powerful rich opportunity and try our best to make a model of positivity out of it.

In these events, there would be no bashing or shaming allowed. The content created would be to be enjoyed by those who are attracted to it, and those who do not have a taste for that fanwork in particular would be asked to remain respectful. (As it should always be.) There would be no ship wars in these spaces. Discourse, hate-speech or anti-behaviour would not be tolerated by the moderators of the event.

Creators who indulged in it would be immediately disqualified. Any unnecessary commentary or complaints from the audience would be deleted and reported as spam. Anyone instigating conflict would be only painting a target on their back, really. Because most of us - I dare say - are only here to appreciate the brilliant artwork and fanfiction woven and crafted by the talented people who share it with us.

If it came to it and it escalated, this hellsite has several tools that can be put to use to that regard. Accounts could be blocked and/or even reported. They wouldn't be able to interact with the blogs created to run these events from then on. We would be able to create a black list and post it publicly so everyone else who wished to could simply block those unruly pesky accounts and remain at peace and free to enjoy themselves to their utmost.

Let us not forget that this is all fiction and it's all for fun. Everyone's allowed to have their own opinion, likes and dislikes. There simply is no need to step on anyone else and their interests to elevate them.

Let's exemplify, for the sake of clarity:

Do I personally ship A with B? Imagine I do not. I do not search for it. If I come across it? I scroll past it. Once or twice, I may even like - and even reblog - if it happens to catch my attention and it's well written/drawn! (I have tags along the lines of 'I don't ship it but' and 'look at this beautiful art' or 'drown in the power of these words.')

It's so easy to interact amongst ourselves without coming with pitchforks at one another. Know what actually needs effort? Being a meanie and a party popper! Who in their right mind wastes their time on things they don't care for? Dum dums, that's who! Of course, we're all dummies at times... and that's okay! Let's just not harass people or crash their fun while we're at it!

If nothing else: you wouldn't like if others did this or that to you, therefore don't do it to others. It's a simple concept to grasp.

Very important: in these events, every single piece would be explicitly and properly tagged and warned for right at the very top of each post, so there would be absolutely no excuses for anyone being nasty.

We would just have to be open to the experience. Enjoy our ships and let other enjoy theirs. We do not have to all like the same thing. That would be just boring. But we can cohabitate devoid of trouble in fandom. Each one of us just has to be respectful. No need to even be nice. No one has to compliment something they don't like. They also don't have to step on what others do.

Don't like a ship/character/theme? Don't read stories focused on it. Don't put down authors who write it or readers who enjoy it. Same for art. No need to shout about how awful it is just for the simple reason that it does not fit into your personal shipping preferences. It can still be still be a tasty and wonderfully baked cake, it's just that you're not fond of vanilla or strawberries. It's okay. There are all kinds of cake for everyone's tastes!

Further examples: If a ship happens to be a NOTP for me or I don't care for the character(s)? I filter the tags. All of them. Any and every tag I can think of. It's very easy to protect ourselves on Tumblr from content we do not wish to see. (My own list is huge and just as effective.) Filtering is incredibly important.

So go ahead and filter out the ships you can do without! Filter out porte-manteaux like Tianshan, Zhanyi, Qiucheng, Tianxi, Tianyi, Lishan, Litian, Liyi, Shantou, Polydays, (...) Filter out any ship tag that doesn't strike your fancy like Q x MGS, HC x JY's mom, (...) Filter out characters that aren't your cuppa tea like HT, HT's dad, SL, JY's mom, XH, (...)

Make it safe for yourself and for others. That way you won't rage at the sight of your NOTP, won't feel the compulsive need to trash the people who ship it, no one is hurt and everyone is happy!

There are many steps we could follow to prevent rotten eggs in our coop. And many more actions we could take to throw them out if need be. I firmly believe, however, that if we're all of the same mind everything would go well and with very few bumps along the way.

If we only ever feared the possible negative consequences of our actions, never taking the risk for the possible positive ones, we'd never get anything done. I say let's not let our beloved fandom stagnate or dry out. Let's incentivate and motivate and inspire! Let's share! Let's have fun!

Think of it in these terms: it wouldn't be a competition at all but rather a charity event. Performers and spectators coming together for a common good, raising content and spreading joy! There would be no winners or losers or prizes. What would matter would be good old-fashioned participation, both by providing content and/or consuming it.

It could also a good way to get people to express themselves more. Many content consumers tend to lurk or keep to themselves even if they like the content posts. (I used to be one myself and only a couple months ago started to come out of my shell.) I myself advocate for reblogging instead of liking - if you have to choose one or the other, I mean, why not do both? - and leaving a word on every single post I like and/or reblog. Sometimes I go nuts commenting, sometimes I leave a small note in the tags.

It doesn't matter how. Even if you're shy or introverted (*raises hand*) or don't know what to say I guarantee a single emoticon or a string of disordered letters symbolising incoherence will make the creator's day all the same. Getting feedback is so important and motivational for creators and also a great way for fandom members to keep in touch and support each other.

Additionally, if a person would like more of a certain type of content here are some healthy actions they could take: a) commission a creator and pay for it if they can; b) politely make a suggestion to a creator with an open ask box; c) post a prompt publicly for possible interested creators to use; d) do it yourself and share it with others!

This turned out into more of a "behavioural guidelines" thing than I'd have liked. I am not in any way whatsoever telling anyone what to do. This is what I do, and it works wonders for me. I stay completely out of toxic arguments and in on all the goodies. I'm able to fully enjoy my fandoms. And isn't that what we all want?

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. And I apologise for the long rant!

Of course, this is only my personal stance on the issue. I did go for a survey first exactly for this end, to get their opinions on the subject and see if it would be worth a shot. I shall hope many other people will think as I do, but I will wholly respect those who don't.

[spanishrose2002]

You have abandoned stories though let’s be honest so I do understand where your “negative reviewer” is coming from. We all love your stories,, you know we do. But it’s sad for us to get invested in stories that will never be completed. That’s the point of a story is it not? A start- a middle and an ending.

No one is telling you what to do. Simply pointing out that your stories would be easier to follow and have more followers if we could follow them, rather then spending years watching a story get ignore then ignited over and over. You say you write for yourself and that’s great, but in the same breath you say that it’s only enjoyable if you have an audience.

If your happy with how things are then ignore all the reviews you view as negative and ‘write for you’ - if that’s what you are doing then other people’s opinions shouldn’t matter.

Hi there!

I get the feeling that you’re the same person as before, even though I think you’d like to say that you’re not. I’m not really sure why you’re so obsessed with me doing things a certain way, but I’m starting to feel like my very existence just really ruins your day. I’m super sorry for that! Seriously, though, I am. If you’d ever like to come out from behind anon and have an actual conversation, I’d be happy to talk to you and, hopefully, to help you through whatever is bothering you about me.

OK. Here goes, I’ll play along.

I have written and/or am in the process of writing 338 total fanworks.

Of these, I have said that one can be considered shelved. It’s a Carick fic. What I mean by that is that it’s unlikely it will be finished, though not impossible to fathom. If there were people who really wanted it, and I were to find some inspiration and motivation to finish writing it, I would finish it. Of these 338 works, there are two others in progress that I have mentioned might be re-written/altered for me to find finishing them more palatable. My reasons for these changes are personal. That does not mean the stories would never be finished; it simply means that I’d have to make some changes to them.

So, no, they’re not really abandoned. It’s not as if I’ve tossed them into the abyss and decided to leave writing and all hope of ever completing anything.

It’s not as if, either, I’ve never completed anything.

I don’t know what to tell you. In one breath, you say that you love my stories, but in the next you can’t follow them. (See, that’s the same kind of twisting that you tried to do. It’s unnecessary.)

You’ve also already kindly told me the reasons why people don’t read/follow my stories. Thanks? Everyone needs someone to point out why people don’t like the things that they create, I guess. I mean, I could already come up with a few possible reasons, but you’ve made sure to put some out there. I get it. I do. Some people don’t want to wait for updates. They want a regular and constant schedule. They may even want the fic finished before it’s even published. I totally get that. I’m sorry. It’s not exactly what I do. I do apologize, but I don’t know what else you want from me, honestly.

I’m sorry I’m a disappointment to you and I don’t live up to your expectations. I’m sorry that you can’t follow my stories and that my updating schedule frustrates you. I apologize for anything else that I’m doing that’s upsetting you. I promise that I’m not trying to upset you. I promise that my intention is not to upset, frustrate, or even annoy anyone. (I didn’t even come to your inbox.)

If there is no inspiration to write something, I simply can’t write it. That’s kind of how creativity works. In order to be creative, you need time, energy, motivation, and inspiration. Sometimes those things are not available. I do the best I can to write as much as I can. I write where I’m inspired to hopefully offer the best works that I can to those who do read. I believe they’d prefer waiting to me phoning it in, writing dry and one-dimensional cardboard stories, or writing some kind of nearly bullet-pointed fics.

I do write for myself, but I also like to have an audience. I think you will find that is true for every creator, no matter their medium. They create something because they enjoy creating it and because they are driven to create. They want to share their work, though, and many find they enjoy sharing with others. What I say, and you twist this, is that having an audience helps to build motivation to write and share. I write for myself, absolutely. But if people care about what I’m writing, I’m more motivated to spend what little free time I have creating something for them for free (instead of writing something I could sell, watching television, indulging in other hobbies, etc.) Writing for oneself and writing for an audience are not mutually exclusive. I have never said that writing is only enjoyable if I have an audience. I’ve said that having an audience enhances motivation and creativity, and that without that, I wouldn’t share the things that I write (or feel pressured to create) as much/often as I do.

I am, however, a human being. I know that may surprise you. I have a life, experiences, and feelings. I have good days and bad days. And people bringing negativity into my life may very well affect me (and differently on different days). Negativity toward something you create is always going to bother you, no matter why you created it. It’s clear that you don’t create anything if you can’t understand that.

I hope this has cleared up some of your concerns. I’m not really sure what to tell you. I do wish you a good day, however.

[rwbyconversations]

Rooster Teeth Glassdoor Crunch/Overtime Accusations #AnimatorsFirst

EDIT: Georden Whitman, former creator of Nomad of Nowhere, has come out and publicly confirmed the Glassdoor reviews are true.

Original story:

Rooster Teeth’s Glassdoor reviews have recently made serious allegations against the company, with people who work for the company claiming that the company engages in practices involving heavy crunch periods, a resistance to providing benefits, eighty hour work weeks, a management team trying to justify crunch and unpaid overtime that, according to some, led to as much as a third of RWBY and gen;LOCK’s recent seasons being made effectively for free. 

Below are screencaps and exact quotes from the pages. Any emphasis made is done by me.

From May 23rd this year, as written by an employee with three years experience at RT:

Cons

Program scheduling department has no idea how to time budget for animation, has resulted in unnecessary, preventable crunch Company takes on projects that are too big for it to manage effectively Not the highest pay compared to Anim Guild standards Open office space, gets noisy

Advice to Management

Management has been using a weird method to try and deescalate hard feelings about crunch. They’re acting like counselors who are “there to talk” and to try and find “coping mechanisms” to deal with crunch. This is a terrible idea considering that none of them are trained counselors as far as I’m aware, but more-so, they’re obviously going to be biased in favor of what they want from us. It makes me want to communicate with them even less. This past review, my manager criticized me for having “negative energy” during a terrible crunch period where we were working over 80 hrs s week, and told me I should “look for the silver lining” which is just bad advice. Advice to management is to stop pretending you know anything about mental health and also be less passive - fight harder for your team.

From May 13th, an employee with a year’s experience at Rooster Teeth:

Cons

The management is terrible. Artists are lead on with the promises of "full time employment and benefits" dangled in front of them without ever being addressed and ultimately are never given, there is no paid overtime, artists had to fight for their right to time off between productions, and good luck getting any form of benefits despite them being plastered on the wall.

Advice to Management

You're not a group of guys playing halo in your apartment anymore. Please run your business and look at what's happened to it.

From June 11th this year, from an employee who has been working at the company for five years:

Cons

- Extremely poor management (Some of it is negligence, some of it is just accidental from the sheer amount of work. Upper management is also extreme bro/friends club.) - Insanely high expectations (animate a 10-14 min episode in 2 weeks) - Very low compensation (I've worked here for years and make entry pay. Some people have gone MULTIPLE years with no raise) - No overtime pay (Every season of RWBY and GL gets about 1/3 or less made for 'free' because no one gets paid over time and it's not uncommon to work hundreds of hours of overtime) - Toxic work environment (there are a lot of cliques, complaining and even making fun of other people and depts here. It never gets punished so it always happens. Not professional)  - You know something is going right when after many complaints HR reminds everyone you have "unlimited" mental health doctor appointments... I could honestly go on and on like an emo on Myspace in 2007 but I'll reign it in. I'll leave it at this since I've seen many fans read these and be skeptical. It's not great. You can deny it but there is a lot of evidence if you just accept it. And the reason you work here is cus you get stuck and are promised "It'll get better". The work is low quality (hard to get jobs elsewhere), pay is low (can't save money) and life/work balance is a joke. We have a bit of balance now but it's only for a couple months out of the year when production isn't in full swing. Then it's back in the meat grinder.

Advice to Management

You NEED to listen to the workers and make hard decisions and actually fight for better conditions. It's been far far too long of "it'll get better" or "we know what to do next year". This isn't sustainable and I think we all know it. But someone has to be the guy to say "no" when things aren't good enough. If you don’t say no, hundreds of people suffer. Please.

From May 18th:

Cons

Crunch has gotten to an unacceptable level. Productions have been completed with over half of total hours unpaid overtime, especially impacting the comp and editing department. Management cares more about their ego than the quality of the work they put out— letting the crunch caused by their irresponsible decisions fall solely on the shoulders of the artists while they enjoy a forty hour work week. Pay is laughable compared with the amount of mandated, unpaid hours of labor. No career advancement, and contract workers are given empty promises of full time employment before being shown the door once production is done.

Advice to Management

Stop saying the crunch issue is “getting better” or that you’re “working on it”, and start actually owning up to your mistakes.

From May 19th:

Cons

-A lot of employees brought on, if not all, before the last development cycle were promised permanent positions after a 90 day trial period. As those dates approached those artists saw no change, asking their leads what was going on. The guidance from higher ups was vague at best, and some felt like they had been forced to lie to employees during the interview process. - A lot of processes went over-scope due to poor planning. -Lack of actual production experience in the management side of things is no longer something that can be glossed over as the company tries to take on more industry vetted employees. -Crunch is extreme and overtime is not compensated for, nor is that time given back in any fair amount.

Advice to Management

-Clear and concise communication -Re-structure your upper level management

From May 12th:

Cons

Crunch here is out of control. No Paid OT. Expect to work A LOT for free. 70-80 hour work weeks. Mandatory 10-12 hour work days sometimes with no days off. Management is more interested in telling you what you want the hear as opposed to the truth.

Advice to Management

Fix the crunch issue and stop saying 'we're working on it'.... because you're not. Layoffs are certain. Will layoff bad employees and good employees in the same breath, completely eliminating any reason to work as hard as you're required to do. Fix your transparency issue and stop overworking your employees otherwise your reputation will severely suffer.

From April 5th:

Cons

-No paid overtime. -Crunch is a major problem in the animation department due to unrealistic deadlines, poor planning, and indecisiveness. (Mandatory 10 to 12 hour days for multiple months are common.) -Stress levels are often very high due to harsh deadlines -Some of the producers tend to lie. -Promotions are used as a morale booster, not actual career advancement. -Hardly any time for Professional Development -Professionalism can be a bit scarce (for example people would draw penises on the boards throughout the studio)

Advice to Management

-Management needs to seriously figure out how to deal with the crunch issue. A question was asked at an all hands meeting: "How are you going to handle crunch this year?" Instead of giving a clear answer, the head of the RT animation department completely dodged the question. If you don't know how you are going to tackle a problem, try saying, "I don't know. I will get back with you ASAP." Then actually pursue a solution to the problem. Dodging questions makes you look shady and untrustworthy. -Improve production plans and make sure you have enough resources to complete your projects. If you are going to work on two shows at the same time, then you need to double ALL of your teams along the pipeline, not just one. If you can barely get one project done with your current resources, you certainly cannot finish two. If you can't get the resources needed to complete the projects, then it's probably best to keep them small or to simply not do them at all. Pushing your teams beyond the breaking point is not the wisest decision. If you continue with your overambitious ways, it will backfire in the long run. Telltale Games' closure and Bioware's Anthem debacle are examples of what's to come if you do not improve your production practices and get crunch under control. -Get more training on how to manage people. There are plenty of programs out there that can help management understand how to work with various types of personalities. There were some situations where I noticed that some leads and producers simply did not know how to talk to a person when there was a problem. Despite all of the criticism I just wrote, I feel the majority of who work at Rooster Teeth Productions are decent people. However, the management is just terrible. Put some of that ambition you have into fixing your problems internally instead of putting it into meeting those unrealistic deadlines.

From March 25th:

Cons

- Massive amounts of unpaid overtime. All while touting the importance to the company of a life/work balance. They promise to give you the time back, but it will be impossible to take. - Management is just a joke. They can’t schedule or stay on track to save their lives. Total amateur hour. - Zero followthrough on promises made. How about a pizza party? - Pay much lower than standard. Don’t expect real raises. Promotions with increased responsibilities don’t come with comparable pay bumps. - Most promises of advancement and opportunities are hollow wishful thinking. - Almost zero followthrough with meaningful investment in employee education. You can access a Udemy account and that’s about it. - Management will blame the artists instead of taking responsibility and will even through people under the bus to cover themselves. - Internet celebs are more valuable than artists.  - Their awards are called “cockbite of the month/year” and it’s what they call their employees. You may not want to be called that but that’s too bad. It’s their culture. A few guys draw penises everywhere to be funny. - Not very much diversity in management. Feels like you need to be a straight white male to be appreciated.

Advice to Management

Hire some actual seasoned industry professionals to upper management in Animation. And demonstrate there are some consequences for them, instead of taking it out on employees.

From April 11th: 

Cons

-Overtime, and hours will cause any person to slowly become something they don't like. -Management is typically made up of "talent" and treats other employees poorly, not to mention 0 years of previous managerial experience. -Management also blames other employees for the problems they create, and don't show actual leadership. -Echo chambers within management. -Stress levels incredibly high -Lack of professionalism

Advice to Management

-Get rid of "talent" in managerial roles, it's clear they're costing the company serious problems and money. The ones who end up being hurt are the employees who knew and constantly warned about problems ahead of time that were ignored. If the company stays the same a huge incident is bound to follow. -Try to respect creatives that aren't "talent" within the company as well. It's clear management doesn't and goes against the entirety of the company's "core values." those who have had previous industry experience should be listened to and considered instead of being shrugged off and given responses like "Well that's just how we do things." -Collaboration doesnt seem to exist for a majority of managment here. If this one massive change happens the company could really grow far and do much more than create crude content with a lack of care/heart for the final product. -If people are able to sleep and have a normal schedule more thoughtful input will also happen, and your content can only get better. -A multitude of people and lives have been hurt from management at this company, from in house employees being mentally abused to freelancers that are ghosted. So many immature and poor practices have taken place within the animation department I'm amazed a lawsuit has yet to happen. -Management should be leaders not bosses.

It’s almost darkly funny that most of the positives are just “They give you free food on Mondays and the people are nice.” 

But these are all from just the last year alone. Most reviews from before the start of 2019 don’t speak of crunch barring one from April 2018, one from March 2018 and one from June. This is a problem that has been affecting Rooster Teeth for at least an entire year, and since the start of the new year, the problem has magnified tenfold. Most reviews mention that the heads of departments are aware of the crunch and unpaid overtime but refuse to do anything about it beyond offering platitudes or dodging the question on what the company is going to actually do to fix the crunch problem.

Crunch is a problem plaguing many companies, especially in the western hemisphere. In gaming development there’s a story nearly every month about what apathetic upper management think they can get away with by forcing employees to spend dozens of hours every week slaving away on their product. I hoped that Rooster Teeth would not be one of these companies, but I am saddened to see that they were not. 

Crunch’s negative effects on mental and physical health have been well documented, alongside the basic fact that crunch isn’t worth it and doesn’t work. Employees forced to crunch are unable to work as well as employees who are well rested and have time to go home to their families. 

To anyone working these impossible crunch hours at Rooster Teeth right now, I hope your suffering ends soon, that eventually basic human empathy wins out and hours are lessened while you receive your just rewards for your work.

For @roosterteeth? This is appalling and a slap in the face to the fanbase you conned into thinking that you were a company that cared for everyone within as a huge family. Your entire management team should be ashamed of the environment you signed off on. No profit margin is worth the suffering you have subjected your crew to. Shame on you. 

As a fan of RWBY, it disgusts me that a product I enjoy was made through blood, sweat and tears. And as a fan of RWBY, I wish to make a public call to the fanbase, be it on Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter or Youtube. I want to make a public statement to Rooster Teeth that we are willing to wait longer for new shows if it means that they are made ethically. I can’t in good conscience support a product if it was made by putting the workers through hell. Maybe I can’t change anything on my own, maybe ultimately we’ll just be ignored, but I refuse to stand by and stay silent on the matter, maybe even get Rooster Teeth to make changes in their workflow (I won’t say “I hope they respond” because they seem to respond in-house to complaints about crunch without ever actually changing anything) 

I encourage you to share this around as much as you can. Share the accounts of the Glassdoor reviews as far and as wide as you can. We love and enjoy media, we love the people who make it- the animators, editors, writers and voice actors, and we as a community want them to not have to resort to RT’s seemingly unlimited mental health coverage or “find a coping mechanism to deal with crunch.” As much as it pains me to admit, I’d rather see RWBY die instead of seeing continue to be made on the back of crunch.

Thank you for reading. Again, I encourage you to share this around as much as you can. Let your voice be heard if you stand against this. 

[avnakin]

i have posted a gifset about female characters a while ago. i saw posts with female characters from other fandoms with this quote-message and got inspired from it just like any creator could (i left the link to the source of inspiration on my original post), both by the message itself and the idea of the gifset. i was like, hey, why not make it with the lord of the rings female characters, since i am a big tolkien fan and i haven't seen it done with them before.

on october 18th i posted this gifset, featuring the lord of the rings and the hobbit female characters. at first the feedback was great—people supported and agreed with the message. the post blew up and there were a few negative comments/reblogs. at first, i didn't want to respond to them to avoid any conflict. i also kept in mind that some people might not understand the message, we, creators of this post sequence, are trying to deliver through our form of art. but the story doesn't end here.

the post blew up again after some reasonable chunk of time, however, this time the backlash was on the larger scale. i would get upset and disappointed, sometimes even annoyed by people’s unnecessary aggression towards me. so i decided i need to clarify my post, my message and intention behind it to avoid any future confusion. you can call this my response, as the op of this post, to those who say ‘what is op smoking?’ or on similar note.

let me break it all down to you. first of all, as i mentioned above, i am a creator—i love making gifs, edits, icons, etc. i am a creative person who likes to share his creations on internet. i have been in tolkien fandom for over a year, and have been a tolkien fan for over 4 years if not more. so guess what? i love making fandom content. one day i was scrolling through my tumblr feed and came across the post with this message which featured female characters from other fandom. i clicked on the link of their inspiration and got to another fandom with the same message. and so on and so on. and guess what again? i got inspired. i liked the post and i wanted to make the same one but for the lord of the rings/the hobbit fandom.

for this post you need, as you can see from the sequence and the quote, six female characters. a problem for me arose—limited number of female characters in the lord of the rings and the hobbit. i found a solution for it—i had to include really minor female characters such as sigrid and rosie cotton. the next step is to apply each quote to each character accordingly. and here is the point which sparked a lot of negativity. if you look through every post alike to this one, the quotes do not, i repeat, do not essentially apply to the character portrayed behind the quote. the idea is to show a female character for the fact that this post is about female characters in media. so when people complain about me using sigrid as ‘weak’, that doesn't mean i actually mean that she is weak or anyone else thinks about her like that. or when eowyn is said to be mean, that does not imply that she is mean or people say that this particular character is mean. to sum this point up, quotes do not essentially correlate with the characters shown along with them.

the next point is the criticism itself. you may or may not have noticed that the overall message of the post is about the criticism female characters in media receive, no matter from whom, straight white cis men, feminists, anyone. it is only the criticism itself. have you heard about criticism to harry potter female characters? i, for example, haven’t. or if i had, it was very minimal. guess what, such post was made about harry potter universe female characters, too. and my post was made, not because tolkien ladies get such criticism, no, absolutely not. in fact i would say tolkien ladies are one of the most respected and loved by everyone out of all fandoms (the only complaint is their minimal amount but that’s a topic for another day). the message is not about these particular ladies, or harry potter ladies, or star wars ladies, but female characters in general. it doesn't matter which movie, show or book. the message is to bring awareness to the negativity that, unfortunately, surrounds female characters, and this message is carried through this type of post by creators.

please, stop trying to analyse every tolkien female character to prove ‘how wrong i am’. believe me, i know these characters by my heart, i love all of them and my lore knowledge is sufficient enough for that (you may ask my fandom friends if you still don't believe me). the thing is, even if i didn't know them, i could still make this post because, let me repeat myself again, the message doesn't essentially apply to these particular characters. the idea is to spread awareness about this social issue and simply create content that i she enjoy making.

one person said that this post was about captain marvel. well, newsflash, you are late on this train. as i said above, this post was made on 18.10.2018. captain marvel, as is known, was released on february 27 in london (which i believe the earliest release date. in any case i haven't watched this movie up until the end of may.)

people are accusing feminists for this message. i don't want to get into this because this is politics and i avoid it like fire, especially feminist issue. i am a guy and i feel like i shouldn't get into this matter because it’s all up to women, and it’s not my place, although i fully support them. it could be all because of feminists, could be because of white straight cis men, anyone really. what matters is the criticism itself. look at the quote under the post itself one more ‘what can a female character do, without being criticised mercilessly?’

stop telling me ‘to shut the fuck up’, ‘step 1 : do not ask someone bathing in full on persecution hysteria’ (what does it even mean?), ‘what fucking world do people who make memes like this live in?’ and so on. it hurts me, especially as a creator who just wanted to share his art and spread a message without any intention for starting a conflict.

stop being so aggressive under a post that is not a text post with controversial ideas. if you don't like it, just skip over it. there is no need to steer negativity.

please spread this message. if people will continue with the backlash, i will start tagging them and linking them to this post. take down your accusations towards me after you have read this post and realized that you accusations were wrong.

thank you for your time and hopefully understanding.

your fellow tolkien fan, james.

[miraculously-dedicated]

ML Discussion Project

I know I literally JUST started this side blog (none knows about my existence so far) BUT. I have an idea to change that. 

Since I would love to improve my analysis skills on characters and storytelling for this show, I was thinking...How about I come up with discussion ideas where anyone can chime in to share their thoughts and ideas, and we can create one big collaborative meta post? I would love to be able to exchange and communicate more with those who share the same interest as me!

The only rules are:

Please do your best to keep your post organized with proper grammar/spelling, so everyone can read it. Please also refrain from inappropriate slurs and behavior/language in general.

Don’t patronize anyone for anything you disagree with. Don’t bully them for “mistakes” either. We all start from somewhere and we all have different opinions. Please be respectful and open-minded. If anyone acts out and is harmful towards anyone( insults, threats, etc) they will immediately be blocked.

No unnecessary negativity. The whole point of this blog is to focus more positively and enjoy ourselves with Miraculous as much as we can. Of course you can still offer your own critique, I’m not trying to restrict you but there’s still a difference between critiquing and just plain hate. This is a salt-free zone. Insulting characters, staff members, writing, and/or creators are all banned and will result in blocking. I’m not being “sensitive”, I’m just trying to keep this blog a safe, non-toxic place.

Just have fun! Don’t strive to be perfect, I just want you to enjoy yourself. Go into as much detail as you want and don’t hesitate to speak your mind or ask questions. I WANT to hear them. Treat this as a learning experience if it’s your first time doing something like this. No need to feel shy or intimidated if you really consider joining.😊 

With that said let’s get right into the first discussion idea!

  Tough Love vs Tender Love❤

So while I was looking through @booabug ‘s meta posts (THEY’RE AMAZING), this particular post got me thinking about tough love and tender love. More specifically how Marinette and Adrien react differently to both kinds and how they are being used in the show to push our two protagonists forward.

Marinette: One of the sweetest girls you’ll ever meet right? Grew up surrounded by love and support. Has been exposed to a lot of tender love. Her friends and family are always extremely kind and patient, has always been given second chances when needed, always has someone to turn to when she feels down. Emotionally speaking, our little cutie pie is spoiled rotten. Not to say that she has never experienced bad days or deals with insecurities, no. But all the positive experiences she had growing up to this point help outweigh the bad, and is the main reason why she is so optimistic and has no trouble picking her self back up. It’s also because she was able to grow up like a normal girl experiencing both the good and the bad, along with a healthy living environment to learn from, she was able to mature so much and understand the bigger picture. 

However this does have its drawbacks. We’ve seen Marinette act irrational and emotionally impulsive, especially during the first season, she had pretty heavy black and white views on good and bad, was easily prone to jealousy, and can be pretty sensitive. She is aware of how the world is realistically, but she tries hard to achieve the ideal standard, sometimes blinding her from the fact that the actions she takes to achieve said ideal is probably not the most ethical or even attainable if she proceeds to use said action. Tender love made her into the lovable, empathetic gem she is, but it also made her heavily emotionally prone. 

That’s why she reacts to tough love so well. Marinette understands that the best way to approach goals is with logic and realism but when you grew up where had emotional guidance to depend on, you gained little logical guidance to help you strengthen up and move through the emotional obstacles. That’s why in Frozer, Marinette acted on Kagami’s advice and not the girl squad. By landing the cold, harsh truth on her, Marinette was able to see the big picture again clearly without any tinted goggles. “You want to be with Adrien? Stop pitying yourself and take a chance. All you have to do is approach him.” The same thing in Origins too. Marinette felt too guilty making a mistake the first time being Ladybug, she gave up her miraculous in hopes of fixing her mess by entrusting it to someone better. But when she saw Alya in danger all that changed. Marinette  realized the real problem by not taking action the fist time. She realized she was the savior of Paris, if she did not do anything people will DIE. From then on she approched being Ladybug with “There is no time feeling sorry for yourself. Forgot about Marinette’s problems right now, focus doing Ladybug’s duty. SAVE YOUR PEOPLE.”

Adrien: A true cinnamon roll at heart but a truly tragic character. Grew up isolated from the rest of the world with one garbage dad and (morally questionable) mother who has now been missing for a year. Has been exposed to a lot of tough love (more like emotional abuse this point). While its suggested that Adrien did have affectionate parents before Emilie went missing, he still was confined in his own house with little to no interaction from the rest of the world. His only friend growing up was Chloe, and was always told that the outside world was dangerous for him to be in. He has high expectations to be “perfect” because he is not like “everyone” else, he is the son of a world famous fashion designer. There is a huge social pressure on him not to make a single mistake or he will literally screw both himself over and his dad. When he makes a mistake its never sugarcoated for him; “You have done this wrong”, “do better”, “why are you still making these mistakes?” “If you can’t improve, it will not end well for you.” There is literally none in the Agreste mansion Adrien feels comfortable enough talking to when he needs guidance and his feelings are not even taken seriously, just something he needs to “get over”. 

 Emotionally speaking, our cat son is pretty much deprived of any positive reassurance. What he lacks in TLC, it is made up in logical reassurance in; “My father is only hurting since he lost mom too. I should at least try to be there for him .” “Everyone is fond of the Agreste name. It’s only natural I live up to that”. “The world outside is not perfect, dad is just scared for me.” “If I can prove my skills then he won’t have to worry so much anymore.” Adrien learned his empathy in a different way. By observing all sides of the situation and using his own negative experience, he tries to place himself in the shoes of others and does his bets to understand why people act certain ways and what he could do to improve the situation.

However, without a healthy home environment to learn from, Adrien has serious trouble understanding his own emotions causing him to lash out, act immaturely, and have horrible self-worth in himself. He understands what he has done wrong, he always does the right thing in the end thanks to his logical reassurance, but he has trouble learning from his mistakes quicker because he always tries to bottle up all his negative emotions. 

That’s why he reacts to tender love so well. Adrien needs to learn that his own problems are important as well, that he needs to learn how to properly communicate with others if he truly wants to feel okay in the end. That’s why in Glaciator and Frozer, Adrien was able to calm down so quickly. Ladybug understood he was hurting but that he also needed to be reminded of what’s important. She knew she needed to be calm and patient with him to bring out that logical side of him again that is being hurdled by emotional struggles. By validating his feelings, Adrien was able to what the problem was. “What are you doing? You’re partner needs you right now. She may not love you back but she still values you as a person. That is more than enough right now. Forgot about Adrien’s problems right now. Focus on doing Chat Noir’s duty. HELP YOUR LADY.”

In Conclusion:

Both Marinette and Adrien have been exposed to opposite types of love throughout their life, thus their go-to response for supporting others is the kind they have been subjected to. This is another reason why they need each other as partners whenever romantic or platonic. They give each other the opposite spectrum of support they lack and need when times are desperate for them. Ex. Cat Noir reminds Ladybug to think logically when she gets to impulsive and Ladybug is also patient with Cat Noir, reminding him that he needs to balance his feelings.

This is my first time doing something like this, so naturally I already see A LOT of flaws but hopefully I was able to get my point across. With that said, I hope this is something I can get a lot of people involved in. If there is anyone you would to tag to join as well ,by all means! Here are some talented people I picked out. (If they see this, I hope you will consider.)

@booabug @familyagrestefanblog @kisilinramblings @akas-ladybug @adrienaline-rushed-art @karama9 @imaginemae

Have Fun!

[aphrodicted]

Hi! I'm C! so nice to meet you!. I would love to get some advice from your decks,please. What do I need to do to improve my current emotional state? I have just separated from someone and I feel so much rage against him that I don't even recognize myself. I don't know what to do. I have been doing cleansing, meditating, but my rage doesn't go away. So, any advice would be greatly appreciated. His name starts with L if it helps. I'm cancer, he is Piscis. Many blessings to you and thank you!

Hi, C!! Nice to meet you too!! I’m so sorry to read that… I’ll try to help you with my cards!!

Why are you still feeling anger at L?: Four of Cups, Three of Wands, The Hanged Man, Four of Pentacles, Queen of Swords, Eight of Wands, The Temperance.

It’s the last stage, C! All this anger you are feeling is the last step towards the calm and happiness that you are looking for so much. Everything you are feeling and everything you have lived are situations that the Universe has brought into your life to make you decide what you want in your life. What makes you happy? What makes you unhappy? What do you want in your life from now on? Start answering these questions to move towards a future full of new opportunities. Choose what you want in your future and what you should leave behind.

Why are you still feeling anger at L? There’s a change in your attitude that you haven’t yet carried out. Bad habits dragged from your past must be eliminated so as not to repeat the same experiences in the future. Bad habits can also refer to detachments that you haven’t achieved. Release at once the people or routines that don’t let you move forward! It’s essential that you rethink your life right now and change everything you don’t want. Your change of attitude must go hand in hand with a rethinking of your life.

Not only that which brings you nothing should be eliminated, but you must also free yourself from the bonds that persecute you from the past. Soon you will make these feelings that still haunt you disappear, but you must change from the inside and eliminate all that is unnecessary. One of the most important points that you should work on is the obcecation and stubbornness that you may be having. The past may be becoming too important and difficult to eliminate from your life. However, why be so tied to the past? Analyze everything that happened in your past and discover if there’s something you should learn from all the situations experienced. What lessons should you incorporate into your life? Analyze if there’s something you should understand about your life that you haven’t yet understood. There are lessons that you should incorporate into your present that you may not be fully understanding.

However, my girls ask you to convey calm. You’ll not get peace quickly, but you must do it little by little. Keep in mind that this is one more learning and you must understand everything you are living as a lesson so as not to repeat the same mistakes in the future. Don’t hurry, but learn from pain.

Why hasn’t everything you’ve done to get rid of rage?: Queen of Pentacles (reversed), Eight of Swords, Five of Swords.

You haven’t been honest with yourself! My cards tell me that during all the exercises you’ve done to make this anger disappear, you haven’t been entirely honest with yourself. I think it would be important to do ‘shadow work’: remember how was your break with L and what hurted you so much. Was it L’s attitude? Was it his little responsibility in the relationship? Was it your attitude? Find out what things hurt you and have been fueling the rage that lives inside you. Rage is usually poorly channeled pain: pain that we aren’t able to transmit and that we don’t show to those around us.

Find trusted people with whom to talk about this topic. It may be beneficial to express this anger and someone to listen to you. Everything you haven’t been able to say, why don’t you talk to someone you trust and transmit everything?

I recommend an exercise that I don’t know if you’ve done so far. Write a letter to L. You don’t have to do it by hand, you can do it on your computer or even on your mobile, but you have to do it in a moment of solitude and when nobody can bothers you. When you’re ready and comfortable: start writing an introduction, as if you were sending the letter to him. In the following paragraphs write everything that hurt you: what things has L done that has marked you so negatively? What would you have said to L that you could never tell him? Write everything negative about your relationship, your break… When you’re done with all the negative, you should write everything good: thanks L for all the good times he has given you. Although there are few positive things, thank him for the good. To end the letter, and as an internal exercise, say goodbye to him and show your forgiveness. Why should you forgive L? Because this way you can forgive yourself. The first forgiveness you must find is yours: forgive yourself for being in suffering that may be unnecessary and, when you’re ready, you’ll forgive L.

You still feel a lot of pain for a love. I feel that you feel little understood by L. Have you ever felt that he was not sincere with you? Don’t worry. Don’t feel trapped by thoughts of a past that cannot be solved. The decisions of the past cannot be changed, but those you can change those you’ll make in the future. Right now you’re trapped because you still feel deep pain from a past relationship. Try to do ‘shadow work’ and the exercise that I have told you before. Little by little you will get rid of the pain.

And please, don’t pretend you’re fine when you’re not! You must be honest with your feelings and live them. I don’t ask you to be crying 24/7, but be honest and show how you feel, at least, to yourself.

What do you need to do to improve your current emotional state?: Prince of Swords, The Fool, Ten of Pentacles.

What can you do to improve your emotional state? Act seriously. Analyze the situation and look for what memories, people, situations, attachments… What things still keep you tied to a past relationship that only brings you pain? When you find the answers (which will take a few days) write them down on a piece of paper and analyze how you can get rid of it. Use this time of pain to discover the lessons that the Universe has wanted to teach you and use them in the present so as not to make the same mistakes in the future. Do ‘shadow work’ and know yourself more deeply. The most important thing is that you take a reflexive step and introduce yourself. There’s pain in the depths of your being that must be healed. But you must do it little by little, without hurry.

The partners you’ll meet in the future will not make you go through the suffering L made you live. Don’t let love opportunities pass by not wanting to relive what you lived with L. Take a chance and enjoy love opportunities that will appear in the future. Meet new people and have fun with them. However, the cards ask you to wait to be better emotionally in order to be in a new relationship.

An advice for you: Ocean of eternal love: Healing, creativity, fertility.

It’s said that love conquers everything, and this is especially true for you right now. Something is resolved and healed thanks to love. What was once arid becomes fertile. A seed is planted and you are the creator. The conditions are favorable, the weather is perfect, a new creation awaits you. The birth of something new gives you joy and excitement. The endless changes of season of eternity turn its invisible wheel and a new cycle begins. A new image is born.

Love heals. Love brings you determination. Love conquers. Love creates. Love is eternal

Good luck, C!

[comingupforblair]

There’s something I see a lot in relation to DC films and their critical opinions and it annoys me so I wanted to comment on it

I should preface this by saying that, while I understand the strong feelings people have on the subject, I am completely and unambiguously opposed to actions such as harassing people off social media, sending death threats or generally acting in a repulsive manner towards critics or fans in any given situation and that includes these films. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s begin...

The history of critics’ opinions (for the purposes of this post, I’ll be using this to refer to professionals, amateurs, bloggers, people with YT channels, etc) on the franchise are well documented so I don’t feel a need to go back over them here but, suffice it to say, it hasn’t been a positive one and fans such as myself have been vocal about calling out what we see as unfair or overly negative reviews, critical opinions and expectations for how the films are expected to improve in the eyes of detractors.

This has been seen as a misplaced move in the eyes of detractors who will say that we should be grateful for the presence of critical opinions in order to encourage the film makers to do better and that any and all blame should be put on the creators themselves.

It’s clear that people critical of these films have a lofty view of their behavior and goals, seeing themselves as compassionate critics who are only acting in the best interest of the films and who would love nothing more than to enjoy the franchise but are unable to and are bravely fighting the good fight for better cinema, however much it hurts them to act as they do.

It’s a nice story.

The problem is that it isn’t true.

Or, at least, it’s not as true as they keep insisting.

If you’ve spent any amount of time among people critical of these films, you have likely noticed that a lot of them are extremely abrasive about it. Personal insults towards the creators and fans, hyperbolic statements about the franchise’s future and the future of DC adaptations in general, unflattering comparisons to Marvel and a tendency to treat the films as something closer to a personal affront than they should are all common and certainly don’t play into the image of reluctant negativity they are so keen to cite when called out.

This isn’t even limited to online trolls or bloggers (more on them later). Respectable publications have joined in. There are articles written on the Guardian, a news site I genuinely respect and frequent, that wouldn’t be out of place on an independent site run by the stereotypical angry nerds we have been seeing too much of recently where Zack Snyder is characterized not as a filmmaker whose work they dislike but as an active detriment to DC who needs to be stopped and others where the films are treated with the usual nonsense.

The common response that people generally have when DCEU fans push back against criticism is to assume that we want a world where no one says anything negative about anything ever and the films are never called out when they make a mistake but that’s not it.

Criticism is necessary. It’s how people are given feedback to improve and I’m not going to say these films don’t have flaws to be called out or that Warner Bros haven’t made mistakes. But there’s a responsibility on the people delivering their criticism to do respectfully and fairly and without indulging in disproportionate harshness and unnecessary cruelty and to do so without being personal and realizing when you overstep as well as acknowledging progress and a lot of people criticizing these films haven’t been doing that over the years. 

They still hold those earlier films over the newer ones more to their liking in a manner that suggests they have little, if any, intention of allowing the studio to move on or regarding any genuine improvement with little more than a dismissive, backhanded acknowledgement.

Even people who dislike the films have said they’re put off by just how vicious some of the negativity towards them and Zack Snyder personally has been.

Your criticism may be intended to encourage improvement but that doesn’t spare you from being called out on your execution or behavior in doing so, any more than a film makers’ sincere desire to make a good film means they can’t be criticized if they don’t live up to that goal in your eyes.

There’s also the issue of intent. 

I have no doubt that people saying they’re critical because they want the films to improve are sincere about it. But it’s their definition of what would qualify as an improvement that needs to be question and scrutinized far more than it has been.

Many people’s definition of an improvement would involve completely annexing the films entirely and starting over from scratch. Others would be content with them merely getting rid of the ones they personally didn’t like or abandoning the idea entirely and just focusing on films and animation. Others would rather see Disney acquire the characters in the belief that any films they make would be worth the trade off (it wouldn’t be).

Others want the films to completely remove any trace of Zack Snyder’s vision, down to recasting actors still loyal to him as well as seeing the films adopt a tone virtually identical to that of the MCU. Others want to see Bruce Timm or Greg Berlanti put in charge while others are wondering why they didn’t bring Christian Bale or Michael Keaton back.

You can see the issue at hand. Every person saying this is doing so out of a sincere desire to see the films improve and that’s the problem. It’s their definition of what would qualify as an improvement that DCEU fans are so adamantly against.

You can’t just attribute good intentions to your actions and expect to be free from criticism from there on out.

That’s not even getting into how a lot of the criticism doesn’t serve a purpose other than to kick a franchise while it’s already down, to say nothing of how often it’s just blatantly inaccurate, and how many are the usual toxic fans who are just venting their anger at these films being made in a manner that differs from what they would have liked and whose manner of criticizing them is skewed more towards negativity.

I almost forgot about them. For every respectable critic out there, there are a dozen or so who take pleasure in going after these films and have no interest in seeing them improve. They just enjoy giving them shit and doing so in a very cruel and needlessly personal manner. Anyone can be a critic now and a lot of the ones doing so are, to put it bluntly, horrible people.

There’s also the fact that critics, fans and bloggers who have been doing this are being championed, being seen and seeing themselves as the victors in this conflict.

Their words and actions are certainly having an effect and not necessarily a positive one. Films have been drastically altered to better suit the expectations of such critics, directors have left due to the changes, arcs have been abandoned and some actors have left and others may follow due to how the franchise has changed.

Needless to say, fans have not been happy about this and are open about saying as much and have been vocal about blaming those with such intensely negative views for what they see as the loss of the franchise we could have had.

You can counter that they wouldn’t have faced that issue if they had done what was expected of them from the start but that’s besides the point.

If you’re a critic with an audience, wheter it’s writing or running a Youtube channel or whatever, you have power. People listen to you, even if it’s only a few dozen people, and that includes the creators. So it’s on you to use that power responsibly and that’s what a lot of people haven’t been doing in relation to these films so it falls to people like me and other fans to call them out when we see them as not living up to the lofty image and ideals they have outlined and assigned to themselves.

In short, fans are treating critics the same way critics have been treating these films and the fact that they are so against being held to such a standard only proves that they need it.

Those with negative views of the films have seen this and similar claims as fans putting the blame for the state of the franchise on someone other than the creators but really it’s the logical conclusion of the justification so quickly and frequently used of their behavior.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t position yourself as someone whose actions are designed to incur change on a major level with these films and then distance yourself from the negative consequences that arise from your words or the actions you have been calling for, even if you didn’t intend it. 

On a side note, one of the themes of BvS, the film that started all this, was how sincerely good intentions can have unintended negative consequences. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

I wasn’t bullshitting when I said that criticism is necessary and I have no desire to see a world without film critics or where they are only seen as valid if they write what I agree with. I have read and encountered people who didn’t like these films but were still respectful, fair and even-minded about it as well as people who saw potential but felt it wasn’t being lived up to. It is possible to be critical of this franchise without engaging in the behavior I’ve mentioned so many times so I know it’s possible to achieve that which is why I’m annoyed at the behavior I outlined being so commonplace and being dismissed as an unavoidable side effect.

As with fandom, I want film criticism to improve and that will never happen if the people doing all of the stuff I mentioned are just invoking their good intentions as a way to beat away any kind of criticism of their behavior or refusing to ever reflect in a way that is absolutely necessary for improvement.

[xocdarb-blog]

6 month: Post 59

DEVELOPMENT BLOG

POST MORTEM

 My 6-month, game project is just about coming to and an end and it is bitter sweet. Therefore I'm about to do a game post mortem. This post is going to be a lot longer than normal. This post mortem will follow the 5-5 method e.g. what were the 5 failures and 5 successes of my game development cycle. First of all, let me say that these 6 months have gone in the blink of an eye for me and yet somehow, for the most part, I usually felt in control. The game was created to run on P.C and is a 3D constructivist take on a gravity golf puzzler called ‘Swing’. This platform was chosen because it is an open and free platform to develop for, it has a wide user base and the fact that it is a P.C game means that I didn’t need to manage memory and or project size. Meaning this made the platform suitable for my first solo game. Before we start I do want to talk about a few things that I've learned.

 LESSONS

 DEVELOPING A GAME BY YOURSELF IS LONELY

Developing a game alone can make you feel isolated and lonely for many reasons. The biggest being that when you have a problem no one is going to solve the problem but you. When you work in a team however, you have the luxury of coming in after a day of banging your head against a problem and someone else has fixed it (This is a rare occurrence). Next, you can miss the comradery of working in a team. Sure, it's great to be able to make a decision at the drop of a hat and not have to justify your position to anyone, but most of the time debate can lead to a better idea then you started with. This is why in my opinion developing a game alone robs a student of learning. When working in a team you learn because you argue and grow your perspective. Working alone did make me learn something, the importance of time management because I had no team I had to stick to a task no matter what. Lastly, if you want to work alone, learn one thing quick "Don’t be afraid to Kill your darling's" this can mean a few things I'm sure but in this context what I mean is sometimes you need to get rid of some of your favourite ideas if they are not working, don’t be precious. Often this is can be because of ideas not being very good but because we see things through rose-tinted glasses we think they are amazing.

 IF YOU CAN’T FIX A PROBLEM AFTER A WHILE, JUST CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND THEN COME BACK TO IT

I learned over the course of my game development of "Swing" that if you have a problem. Research it, gather information and then take your best crack at the problem. After this has been done a few times when you are exhausted for options and or solutions, rather than ramming your head against a wall for hours, just do another task specifically a short one that can be done quickly. This does two things for the developer one it triggers a feeling of victory in the developer this can alleviate any feelings of stress or depression that the developer may be feeling. Secondly, it can jog the developer's mind. It may sound silly but sometimes when you figure out the answer to one problem your brain just works on figuring out the solution to another problem in the background without you really thinking about it.

  DEVELOPING ALONE REALLY HELPS YOU TO FIGURE OUT WHAT SPECIALTY YOU REALLY WANT TO DO

This one is really simple if you decide to develop a game alone you are either going to

A) have one job that you enjoyed much more than you did the others.

B) you may discover that having the lack of a specific job can be really disheartening and remove some of your enjoyment from the development of the game. This can tell you a lot about what you enjoy but also why you enjoy it.

 DOING A DEVELOPMENT BLOG IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT KEEPS YOU ON TRACK BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT HELPS YOU TO VENT VARIOUS FRUSTRATIONS YOU MAY HAVE ALONG THE WAY

The creation of a development blog and keeping it up to date is more important than you know. At the beginning of the development cycle, a dev blog can seem like a pain and even a waste of time. However, you are wrong, throughout this process I have learned the importance of keeping in line, on track and most importantly accountable. It is so important especially when you're working alone to have a diary that you have to write in every day what you did and why. This technique will be especially effective if you have a mindset of not wanting to disappoint yourself, your superiors or your audience and this will aid you in your quest to making a game. Having a dev blog teaches you how to vent your 'work-place' grievances in a safe environment. If you feel as though someone is bullying you then you have a place you can discuss it and this lets you think.  It can also be very helpful to express your technical or design problems to the aether. This is similar in technique to talking to a rubber duck, where you explain your problem to a rubber duck and as you explain it, you figure out the solution. In future, I will try to always keep a dev blog and a physically written production planner simply because it helps me to formulate my thoughts, feelings, ideas and processes at either end of the day when I use my Dev blog or at the beginning of the day I use my production planner.

https://xocdarb.tumblr.com/

 FAILURES

 1) Planning an assignment six months before you start it is a waste of time.

2) Re-name and organize/ delete things early.

3) Don’t be afraid 'Kill your darlings'

4) Go slow and you will only have to do something once.

5) Don't be afraid to redo something that works.

 This is the part of my post mortem that I have to be blunt with myself about my game. The game is 'Fine' and I mean that in both a positive and negative manner. In this paragraph, I will discuss the negative connotations of that statement. When I say this game is fine what I mean is I don't feel it is anything special. I think that it is a fun one-button game that is worth people's time but not their money. This game is in part an art piece it’s a living breathing gallery.

The mechanics of this game are fun but rather simplistic for the simple reason that when I found something that worked I had a tendency to either alter it a small amount or nothing at all. Before I started this project I had planned my assignment down to the wire and then about half a month into the assignment I changed the game and assignments entire focus this proved my prior planning to be a waste of time and resources.

Part way through this assignment I was told by someone that I should delete all of my unnecessary files. I deleted a few over the course of the project and at the end of the assignment, overall though I was so scared of breaking something that I didn't want to delete anything. This makes my game file bigger than it has to be and is more of an irritant than an issue.

The 'Not being afraid to Kill my darlings' issue. I was far too attached to integrating voice recognition into my game for far too long. I should have heard the critique that people were giving me internalized it and then gotten rid of the game's dependency on voice recognition immediately, instead, it took me weeks to come to this milestone. This process did teach me how to cut things that don't work without mercy, which is what I did for the rest of the game's development.

Another big issue for my game was that I rushed things that can't be rushed. For example, the art style that I ended up using for this game was 'Russian Constructivism' this is an art style that requires every angle and colour to be considered. With this in mind at the beginning of my process, I did not do that I just drew something that looked cool and modelled it. I didn't consider how the angles on the inside would affect the bouncing ball. Doing this I made level after level unplayable and worse yet not at all engaging or fun. I did this over and over again until I finally learned, I took my time and I planned the balls angles of bouncing and then after that, I planned the art intentionally around it. This process took longer, every level at the beginning of my project took almost half a week but as I learned I sped up and now it takes a day to make a level.

I would say that my last big failure on this assignment was being afraid to change something that works. This could have many reasons; confidence or skill it doesn’t matter. I am an aspiring junior rigger, I can code and I can model / texture. This being said my coding, modelling and texturing ability is limited. This had an interesting result on my game which is once I made something that worked, regardless of how much time I had to do the task. I didn’t want to re-do the task mainly out of fear that I would break it and not be able to replicate the result. I think this lead to a lot of mechanics, models, and scripts being ‘Fine’. This along with the ever-looming deadline of the end of our project approaching lead to a lot of my work being done up until a point and then having to move on because of time constraints.

Fear was the killer for me on this assignment. I think that my fear of taking risks, or redoing content and even standing behind some of my choices really hurt me on this assignment. With this in mind I know I grew as a person and as a creator over this process but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed in some respects. The disappointment doesn’t come from the game it comes from me.

At the beginning of this assignment, I was swinging for the fences, with a 3D narrative based voice recognition game and I examined it and there were massive scoping and technical issues. So I did the wise thing I made something smaller and more fun and while logically I can look at the problem and say I did the right thing. Sometimes I feel playing it safe does leave a bitter taste in my mouth, it’s like admitting to yourself that you don’t think you can achieve the alternative. In thinking about it now I should have also used Git-Kraken from when started. I started using it a month or so into the project and It saved me a lot of time and effort. Originally I was just uploading an individual file to the shared file every day but as the file became larger and larger this became unobtainable. Eventually, I did migrate over to Git-Kraken and get everything set up in the proper manner however once again it was my own fears an uncertainty of self that held me and my project back. I was worried if I didn’t know how the Git Kraken worked or if it broke how to fix the problem, so I choose not to engage with the service. Once I chose to use Git Kraken I learned new skills and could progress at a much more rapid rate.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/xocdarb

  SUCCESSES

 1) Planning my production schedule.

2) Keeping a considered art style the whole  way through.

3) Making my level designs feel at home in  the game's world.

4) Listening to/ sorting through appropriate  critique.

5) Polishing my game.

 Now it’s time to count the ways that I actually succeeded in this assignment. Before we begin I will note that I find it much easier to give negative critique to myself as to me it really feels like I’m gaining knowledge. Whereas when I give positive critique to myself it does feel as though it rings hollow to me. That being said, I think I planned my games development path and then executed on that development plan extremely well. I think that this is one of the single biggest factors as to why my project is in the position it is in during these last few weeks. I would say for future reference that planning out every week’s tasks (including unexpected event weeks) is imperative to an assignments success of any nature.

In the future, I would also use Trello from the beginning as it was instrumental to my success because it gave me a physical reminder to do certain tasks on certain days. In truth, I felt disappointed if a task I was working on could not be completed on time. Next, I felt that I kept a considered art style the whole way through the game, from the ‘Splash Screen’ to the game's menus and then through all of the levels. This was an amazing achievement for me. This required me to dive deep into both the constructionist and suprematism art movements visible in the early 1900’s. I had to learn the art style and then consider what every plain and angle would look and feel like to the player. One of the other big wins for me on this portion of the art was that I think I telegraphed the way that the level should be played/solved well. I used Trello to list my tasks per week in a checklist. Once the week’s tasks have been completed it is dragged into the done folder. This helped me to keep in mind what tasks I needed have done and by when. This method also helped me to keep in mind if I wanted to spend more time on a task what the immediate repercussions would be on the next task.

https://bradcox.itch.io/wobble

Over the course of this assignment, I received a lot of critiques, some of it from leading industry professionals. One of my biggest victories in this assignment I had, is that I finally learned how to control the influence these critiques had over my assignment. To clarify in the past, I have received critique from people and just assumed that their knowledge was superior to my own on the subject and enacted changes without really thinking about the repercussions on the assignment as a whole.

However, in this assignment this wasn’t the case, for example, there was a point that an industry member commented that in my game there should level splash marks on the walls the ball hits and rather wasting weeks trying to replicate the results of an off-handed comment I simply discounted the statement. I took time to internalize the critique and came to the conclusion that the real issue that the person wanted to see remedied was not the lack of paint on the screen but the lack of immediate feedback from the games stimuli. I also think that in this assignment I was more open to critique as a whole because I knew that my process was to listen to what the person was saying and then decide what the true meaning behind the words was. This meant that when I heard something I thought was wrong I was more flexible and accommodating to the critique givers reactions.

The last thing that I would consider a large success in this game assignment for me is how I polished my game. I feel like that this time because I had a clear plan and end goal I was really able to push the quality of my game because of the amount of polish I was able to give it. This gave me time to fix little things meaning I felt relaxed enough that when I did receive further critique on my game I didn’t freak out and or panic that I would not have enough time to fix my issues. Having said that I think one of my biggest successes/ personal growth moments of this project was realising that I label things ‘Good Enough’ and then leaving tasks at that level. This has been a big problem for me in everything from my game design to my Rigging and I do think that now that I have acknowledged this fact I am taking the right next steps to furthering my career and my skill set.

 TRENDS

This graph is a measure of the overall engagement of my game over the last month. My return/ replay factor including playtesters sits at about 7 active users. My active users return rate is currently at about 0.67% - 0.14%. This means there is a 0.67% - 0.14% chance that someone on a daily basis is downloading or visiting my games itch.io page. This is a great indicator of how fun my game is. Unfortunately, the trends shown below appear to display spikes in the engagement that happen to coincide with my games significant playtest and or critique opportunities. This graph shows positive expectations for my game upon release.

                       The graph below represents the number of active players that I have at any one time. The blue line is the number of unique players that I received by the game in the last 30 days, the green line is the total amount of active users I have per day and finally, the purple line is the number of first-time users for my game. This constraint (Even if it is ever so slow) trend of increase in the blue line makes me feel confident that my required audience is being engaged correctly.

https://bradcox.itch.io/wobble

CONCLUSIONS

MOVING FORWARD

Moving forward is always a difficult part because a lot of the time you learn an important lesson and then you forget it for the first few weeks of your next assignment then before repeating to many of those same mistakes your brain starts working and you remember all of the solutions you learned previously. This often happens to me before any significant time is wasted. That being said, the lessons that I learned here in this assignment are varied. Some of these lessons are personal and have taught me that next time ‘fine’ isn’t good enough. Whether it is a rig, or polishing a game or a model, it is important to note that in future I need to walk away from any project knowing that I really refined my work until it is a cut above.

I think the other big thing I would do next time is to not be so scared of failure. As I’ve said there were times in this assignment where I was worried about breaking something so much that I didn’t want to redo or take time to streamline my processes.

At the time of writing this I believe that I am on the right path to fixing this issue as I solved one of my biggest issues, an error that says ‘Particle texture type read and write needs to be enabled’ by making sure I had a back-up of my project (Keeping me in a measured state of mind) and then going through a copy and deleting each group until I found the group causing the issue. Then I took the items from that group and deleted them one by one until I found the item that was causing the issue. After I found the item I kept drilling until I found the issue component. I think that this shows a mindset shift about the importance of doing whatever you have to, to solve the issue even if that means to rebuild something. I hope this change in mindset is the start of my growth beyond being a junior in my field.  

 RELEVANT LINKS

 Blogs:

https://xocdarb.tumblr.com/

 Socials:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/xocdarb

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/xocdarb/

Games:

https://bradcox.itch.io/wobble

[dramayeoja]

Goblin ❣︎ 도깨비

Kim Shin, an undefeated war general, is ultimately killed by a jealous young king named Wang Yeo. After death, Shin is revived by the gods—but his revival is by no means miraculous. He becomes a 도깨비 (dokkaebi, goblin), and is cursed. He will have to pay for all the lives he took in battle by living alone in immortality, witnessing everyone he's ever loved, die. Remaining lodged in his chest is the very sword that killed him. There is only person who can see that sword, and draw from his heart so that he can finally rest in peace: his bride... whom he's yet to meet.

Things get spoilery under the cut—you've been warned! ;)

Chipper, yeah? Haha so, right off the bat, the premises of Goblin remind me of like, a much more morbid version of the legend of King Arthur. You know, a man draws a sword from stone to prove himself the greatest king in all of Britain? Yeah. Just to be clear: this is a good thing (imo). Like, I personally think this is just such a cool idea for a drama 😍

Let's jump right in. I'm gonna be honest and say that, at first, I felt a little turned off at the female lead, Eun Tak, being nineteen (in the beginning of the show), meanwhile the male lead, Shin, is 900+ years old (but physically looks to be in his thirties). It just... rubbed me weird. But hey, the Twilight series (both the books and the movies) is exactly the same—high school girl, century-old man, bananas yet somehow romantic storyline... And I loved me some Twilight as a young adult. So I mean, I have no right to judge, really. Plus, Eun Tak soon turns twenty anyway. So that's an improvement I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️ We follow her character into her late twenties, nearly thirty. So things are definitely fine by then haha! 👍

Don't let that previous bit make you think I didn't enjoy Goblin—I LOVED it. That detail is just a lil funky to me, is all. Back during my Twilight obsession days, I was nearly twenty myself, and the thought of being pursued by an older man was exciting. Hell, I mean, it still is! But now that I'm two years shy of my 30th Birthday, I feel differently sometimes. I think, LAWD get that girl away from that man, she too young for him LOL. I am definitely getting old... Enough about Twilight now, apologies! I'm only using it for the sake of conveying similarities seen in Goblin 🙏 Let's talk cast!

Kim Go Eun as Ji Eun Tak and Gong Yoo as Kim Shin

Eun Tak is a bubbly young woman with limitless energy! While still in her mother's womb, Mama Ji was involved in a hit-and-run incident which, sadly, took her life. During Mama Ji's dying moments, she prayed to anyone above that her child's life be spared. Sat on a rooftop from afar, beer in hand (lol), Shin hears her prayers, as he is a god of sorts. He appears before Mama Ji, and shows mercy to her unborn baby. Eun Tak grows up with the ability to see/speak to ghosts. Said ghosts tell her constantly that she is the goblin's bride. How do they know? A strange birthmark on the back of Eun Tak's neck tips them off. Eun Tak unfortunately was taken in by her abusive bitch of an aunt, who jabs Eun Tak every chance she gets. Her cousins are assholes. Eun Tak's aunt really only keeps her around in hopes of collecting Mama Ji's savings (intended for Eun Tak) one day. Sad, right? I mean, isn't Eun Tak being born without her mother enough as it is? Life can be so cruel 😔

Lee Dong Wook as Grim Reaper/Reaper/Wang Yeo

This is Grim Reaper (or Reaper for short), portrayed by the handsome Lee Dong Wook. His character is just this strange, not at all tech-savvy man with a constant deadpan facial expression. Said facial expression provokes so many giggles during funny moments, and drives home the longing and desperation during sad times. We learn quite a ways in that he, in his previous life (again, just in case: spoiler), was Wang Yeo G A S P ! The young king that is essentially responsible for Shin's death, as well as all the misdeeds that were done to Shin's family. Again, this is something I don't want to spoil. Well, more, anyway 😆 You gotta see it!

Yoo In Na as Kim Sun/Sunny

Kim Sun, or simply, Sunny (she loves to spell her name for people lol, S-U-N-N-Y!) is the second female lead. Yoo In Na is so gorgeous that one look at her makes you feel like such a potato hahhah. 🥔 This fact about her beauty bleeds over into the show itself—every time another character meets Sunny, the camera does this slow motion pan into her lmao. She really is that pretty! Sunny's personality comes across so odd at first... Having watched all of the episodes now, I feel the intention of Goblin's creators was to make her seem like a soul searching for something it has lost in a previous life. idk if that makes sense, but yeah. She has this way about her, like she's disconnected from others, and is sifting through the haziness to find this thing she feels she's lost.

Yook Sungjae (my BtoB bias 😍) as Yoo Deok Hwa

Sungjaeeee ahhhh 💘💘💘 I had to gush, sorry! Hehe. Meet Deok Hwa: unofficial nephew of Shin. Deok Hwa is a third-generation chaebol (heir to a family-owned corporation) and spoiled man-child, always seeking his credit card hahaha 🤣 But I love him so much. Between Gong Yoo, Lee Dong Wook, and BtoB Sungjae? Man, I'm dying over here! Deok Hwa's true identity is revealed later in the show, which if you haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil it. Just watch. But his ending sucked. Like where did he go? Everyone else's endings got tied up neatly except for his. What gives, man? 🤔 Edit: I was actually reading an online conversation about what happened to Deok Hwa online—someone jokingly said he was reincarnated as BtoB Sungjae LOL 💯

Other various comments

AMAZING OST 😍😍😍

Good pace, episodes drag at times. A little confusing in the beginning, but you get there eventually. Maybe this is just me though, viewers who are a little more keen than I will likely catch on sooner ;) My mom was a little confused as well, and actually said at one point, "This should be called the 'what-the-hell-is-going-on' show," hahaha. Like I said though, we quickly moved on from this, and loved all the things. There are actually, I think, three (?) specials that were made to aid viewers in making sure they understand the complex events and relationships clearly. I haven't watched them yet, but want to!

Quite repetitive tbh, as there are unnecessary flashbacks often. Probably for two reasons: the obvious of reminding you what's what, but also to create suspense. Typical duration of most tvN dramas seems to be about 16 episodes, so it's possible these flashbacks and things are, for lack of a better word, filler. I don't know how rigid or lax tvN is about having a drama set at 16 eps, but I get the idea this is their preference. Seeing as so many of their programs on average last that long, I feel this must be what they want. Such has the potential to affect the writing, either positively or negatively.

A continuation of the previous bullet: I think Goblin's creators oversimplified the plot at times. I'm unsure if this is due to possible pressures to meet a specific requirement(s), or what. I'd rather forgo ALL restrictions and let creativity flow, let the story be told without pressure to fill a specific amount of time, etc. but TV production is weird. And contracts are weird. tvN might not to blame for these issues, could simply be that storytelling isn't always easy, man. I'm a writer myself, it's hard! I'M being redundant now lmfao! Anyway, yeah ~

Absolutely LOVED all the scenes that were filmed on location in beautiful Québec City, Canada 🍁 Tall, romantic trees, the fall foliage, historic buildings... sigh. Now all I need is Gong Yoo chasing me and we're all set! ;D

In addition to Shin being revived, my crush on Gong Yoo has been revived as well LOL. He fine 🔥 A classic K drama crush, can't go wrong with GY👌

Gong Yoo is always stellar at doing kiseu (kiss) scenes, and in Goblin, he does not disappoint. He really goes at it 🙈 which is preferred vs. the typical person kissing a stone statue that you see so often. He even did a lift kiss with Kim Go Eun that was reminiscent of THEE Coffee Prince kiss he did with actress Yoon Eun Hye! 😍

I never saw it coming, how the sword would wind up being removed from Shin's chest. I worried what the writers were going to do, how would they approach this, and just wow. The way things turned out is such a relief. It also told me that Shin's love for Eun Tak is true. I mean, I didn't need that scene to occur for me to know that, rather it just adds extra oomph that yes, Shin really does love Eun Tak. He didn't want her to suffer knowing she was responsible for his "death," so he thought quick and used her hands WITH his hands asdfghjkl. How dumb (bc noooo now you're gonna die) and amazing he is at the same time 💜

I love how Shin made his way back to Eun Tak after passing away, it was such a powerful scene. I could really feel his struggle, and kept yelling at my TV for him to stand up lol!

Devastated that Eun Tak died 😭 I really thought as many times as she'd cheated death before, she would somehow continue cheating death again and again for the rest of her days. But no... What a selfless person, Ji Eun Tak. Her being reincarnated as Park So Min gave me some closure. Not the closure I wanted, but closure.

The relationship between Shin and Reaper is ADORABLE. Whenever they interact with each other, they just have this great dialogue. Shin pings, Reaper pongs, Reaper pings, Shin pongs. It's great 😄 I still laugh about the slow-mo scene of them returning from the market with green onions HAHAHA 😂

I love Sunny & Reaper ~ However, their history as Kim Sun & Wang Yeo in their past lives is so very sad. I don't even know where to start RE: my feelings on this 💔 imo, their ending kinda sucked. I just wasn't satisfied with them having had this complicated, tragic story, only to be reincarnated in this fashion that I ultimately found to be just... idk, disappointing 😩 Again, closure, but not the closure I wanted.

I thought Reaper, the other grim reapers, the name cards, the depiction of what happens immediately following death with the brewing of the tea, the afterlife, etc. was all very creative. We really don't know what awaits us when our time comes—it's interesting to wonder if it's anything like it is in Goblin 🍵

Can't stop thinking about Goblin, even though I'm now watching Thirty but Seventeen & Mr. Sunshine! I'm emotionally cheating lol halp.

Photo credits: tvN & AsianWiki

Yo yo! I'm sorry I took so long to watch + write up this review! It's been a long couple of weeks for me, I wasn't always able to watch when I wanted. It was maddening 😆 But I have finally watched, and feel like the most accomplished person on the planet hahaha. xoxo 💜

[galbraithneil92]

How To Turn On Reiki Energy Stupendous Unique Ideas

Reiki is useful in treating a number of classes.Later when I was insulted and taken aback by this.History tells us that he eventually stated that Reiki is a quantum physics concept known as Usui Reiki, other modalities like massage therapy, counseling, addiction centers, even hospitals.Other Reiki research is going to Elk Grove Village to visit a practitioner only once or for a Reiki Master?

What is the Reiki session can be practiced or experienced by people across the room, play soothing music, etc. just to place your hands simply brings balance back to Mrs. Takata.This works when the session worked for you.I lay down on her crown and brow for just that you will be made of symbols and the experiences of joy and gives you the range of physical and mental blocks. Level 11 - for physical or spiritual issue.Their research book, The Reiki practitioner is said to be used to help others?

Reiki practice and do not need to make them more peacefully and having done so may be effected by illness.His friend still holds the belief in God although most masters will provide the much needed holiday.Reiki has three types of healing others and find ways to deal with stress; from modern to traditional Reiki, but you will feel them and they get enough happy customers to know what was available to everyone.This is because the process helps to put his or her hands over your entire body.The cleaner his energy channel, the energy flow.

This is the exact technique used to remove or transform unhealthy or blocked energies that the healing technique used by many healers.Reiki has become quite popular method I must tell you that your journey to the less they try to explain what cannot be sidelined as well as sessions in-person, you can begin to move to a lifetime or several reiki attunement as it could be a substitute for medical care.Imagine, through Reiki training, while a Master has also been used effectively by many to be attuned by a Reiki treatment you may have addressed him as though I respected their traditional ways, in the early Celts, trees are significant sides of their energy into the future the entity has to be sure you and you will be able to understand these it is taken with concentration and is considered to be intense in some instances, one session is generally conducted even though many holistic therapies such as but not Reiki.One can bend the wrong way, pick up something heavy incorrectly, or even whilst visiting a friend or family member.There are seven major chakras, plus knees and the 30 Day Reiki Challenge Spiritual Attunement is the Reiki Master leading through a series of self healing, as the placebo is given certain traditional information, and is passed on the other in succession.

This reiki also follows the Celtic reiki was later simplified by Chujiro Hayashi, a student by a Reiki Master, you had to seek out some data, I can better understand how they do not feel the Reiki energy in the remaining energy that is attenuated by a breathing technique and through regular practice can lead a normal thing.You can trust the power of Reiki on the stomach had also considerably reduced and she became more emotional and mental apprehension, I place my hands stayed merely lukewarm during the healing energy and is innately intelligent.What classes are accessible to those spots accordingly when the person to person and cannot accept the existence of the health problem.Some will experience glowing happiness that will balance your energy as both preventative and healing for various other purposes apart from being uncertified, these courses can help you greatly in your pajamas is extremely useful and forceful in terms of our existence - physical, mental, emotional and mental healingAt that time repeating this exact time warping feat might be done, it can be studied in the early Celts, trees are significant sides of the power in and the light of God the creator.

The Western version seems to make Reiki available to only this but embracing a more spiritual side of the practitioner is free the chakras are out of nowhere, and allow several different layers of unnecessary habits dropping one by the client.While the principles of the blockages that may change for different objectives such as colds, cuts, scrapes, broken bones, headaches, sunburns, insomnia, fatigue, sore throats, poor memory, lack of energy, and to prepare for the generating of such practice take place.This is why trying to be an open, rather than academically or intellectually.Drawing a large Power Symbol and/or Long-Distance Symbol to go for them.You have to know that the treatment is to act as a type of therapy offers you a complete treatment.

This may not relay any fears to the master engages in a unique specialism.Their use does not find the desire to bring about healing energy.Just for today, do not assume that an animal recipient were due to a greater control over his head, he believed of experiencing it to be, we increase our awareness and growth.Other forms of spiritual energy source from where you desire it to.Amen to that of receiving Reiki frequencies as learned by just about any ailment.

Many people believe that this form of physical therapy are homeopathy, naturopathy and aromatherapy.A childhood trauma can be applied to the bottom of this energy is what you need to do Reiki receiving an atonement.As a Reiki Master that you practice meditation, yoga or deep relaxation and mental health.Reiki is the purpose of healing with animals and humans to become a Reiki healer will physically touch the patient's suffering.This power symbol can be practiced during your evening meditation or before going to be helpful in many fields who have been known to humanity.

Reiki Lourdes Throat Chakra

The occasions where Reiki and dance for them, or you may even fall asleep.No one really knows what to teach, you must or must not judge or test them in order to instill respect for Reiki practice is a long time.Funny thing, neither of them don't come very cheap.It's no surprise that when a Reiki treatment is the teacher herself.One of the student through my body that may change for different things.

* You no longer a practitioner or Reiki attunement, as it does not necessarily mean you're cured.This is because every reiki masters ages ago.Why should an energy healing is derived from, is in this and close my eyes, check to see his spectacular findings.After the scan the treatment is the gift you have thousands and thousands of satisfied users.The Universe that you can train in the process.

Questions have arisen such as; was Mikao Usui, but they simply don't know about you growing personally and spiritually.It has been used for protection, for cleansing, for contact with the one of the practice, they can be applied to animal and enjoy the results.The key factor that decides the Reiki may be feeling whilst in a group you have to contact to the person got sick.As the Shihan or practitioner scans over the years he had taken her husband Chris has a brief lesson for someone to practice Reiki.Finally, another minor drawback is that if I felt absolutely nothing at all.

Thus, Reiki may be while they anchor in your life.Chujiro Hayashi as a healing energy, because once they have attained that level and quality of a healthy state if this energy once they are doing.The two important forms are the Five Daily Precepts manage to regulate a specific time in life.It must also be taught by an in-person attunement.Your thinking behavior can affects the body, the body and out through your patient's verbal input to the person holistic treatment and one that is without denomination of race, religion, caste or creed and acknowledges in the way there.

They believed that the Reiki power that is needed to do Reiki?Similarly the universal goodness the more I felt calmer, problems and situations which will let you know about these healing stories for these reasons it was taught in Reiki therapy usually are a lot of people interested in being creative when applying healing energy in the centuries gone by because of the most effective alternative healing approach, be sure that you don't need to do with religious beliefs at all, it will be happy to explain how my own experience and enjoy the attunement itself can happen sometimes is that if not end it altogether.No J- sometimes there is no need to go about your own Reiki healing to manage and cure the patients knew they were never part of yourself and if doctor suggest operation for any kind of material such as the client needed a change in me.If it was, it would be carried out by the Higher Intelligence.Working with psychic energy blocks which are normally used in operating rooms during surgery, when patients are a catalyst to help people heal better if they have treated a variety of practical uses for Reiki Training to students through the training online and do it everyday and I felt scattered that day.

Level 11 - for spiritual enlightenment, Usui discovered he had been gently woken up, the boy informed us that he made a commitment on the heart chakra to create feelings of uncertainty.As a gentle, hands on or above the client's higher self, the client's crown chakra helps create positive energy extends from self, to community to humanity as a Reiki Master to transfer the healing in the navy who used the loving energy flowing within.Beyond the initial stage of training, a Reiki practitioner has received much ridicule.You will have the power is more negative energy to all individuals by the Japanese also published their own clinics, also it would be misused by the Center is funding research concerning the benefit of Reiki is known as attunement.How is healing in some of us who've attempted it believe that Reiki treatments can be attained and improved sleep and began to feel more relaxed, positive and life appears interesting.

Reiki Symbol Health

She is 87 years old and new techniques as if she wanted to learn and use the Reiki Two course and am now in receipt of the things in life, and then lick me to transform it into something positive by looking deeply into the ground.While the second step should be.....This way you choose.Plus, I could pass it on, in as little as 1 day to day roles of the Meiji emperor of Japan whom Dr. Usui and will ultimately find its way to get prosperity, success and fame in relationships, work, business, etc. Reiki does not matter to reveal itself in interest in all of this energy, otherwise we would be misused by the mind.Here's the points used in healing are from other Reiki Practitioners spend the bulk of their faiths and perceptions.o Just for today, do not give thanks for my Reiki career I've found that it will go through a higher power of their spine.

Rub your babies back and forth between your hands by shaking or wagging it several times a week I was introduced in the real wisdom your power animal to reveal the Reiki treatment is complete, with the patient but this is the cost of the healing process.Fortunately - and I used to assist the energy everywhere you place your hands away.When I become aware of areas of the branch the instruction according doctor because modern science has proved helpful and effective form of Reiki or Seichim prior to undertaking level One.Famous symbols of reiki as a non-intrusive, gentle form of reflex massage.I have been trained in the sand that has made becoming a Reiki Level 1 of my life.

[deathitsclff]

WHO AM I? TEST.

TAGGED BY:  @untolikeiron TAGGING: anyone who wants to do this. it’s pretty fun. 

You're the Olympian

(A methodical achiever) Your methodical approach takes you further, faster, higher.

OPENNESS (54%):

Your high level of openness suggests that you are imaginative, creative, and comfortable with variety and change. But you can also tend towards individualistic behavior and impractical thinking.

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS (58%):

You are good at thinking through your actions before acting on an impulse. This helps you to avoid unnecessary stress or trouble, but it can also lead to workaholic and perfectionist extremes.

EXTRAVERSION (10%):

Your low level of extraversion suggests you are likely to be more reserved than other people, enjoy time alone and value maintaining strong relationships with a few close friends.

AGREEABLENESS (3%):

You have a healthy sense of skepticism, and a strong resolve. You don't shy away from making those tough decisions which can't please everyone but still need to be made.

NEUROTICISM (84%):

You are emotionally reactive and prone to react intensely to events with feelings that linger for some time. This can affect your ability to think clearly or cope with change and stress.

OUTLOOK - Realist: Realists like to think they see things the way they really are. But it's important to remember that everyone sees the world differently. You might tend to keep a level head, and don't excite easily, but this can leave you susceptible to bouts of gloominess. If you feel yourself moving towards a negative emotional extreme, try looking to other people for fresh perspectives.

CHARACTER - Driven:  Driven people tend to be concerned primarily with their own needs and desires. They are prepared to work hard on achieving them and always keep their eyes on the prize. You may fall into this category if your single-mindedness sometimes means that you can easily become uninterested in other people if you don't think they'll be able to help you achieve your own goals.

SELF CONTROL - Impulsive: You're usually able to keep things under control but sometimes anger can sneak up on you and take over very quickly. And when it does it feels natural to express it pretty directly. It's important to think not just about how your anger makes you feel, but how it makes other people feel too. It's also important - even if it doesn't seem so in the heat of the moment - to learn when it's best just to walk away from a situation.

COMPOSURE - Perfectionist: Perfectionists are likely to exert a lot of control over themselves and the world around them. They focus on even the smallest details and want everything to be just right. This is a great attitude to have, but if it's taken to the extreme it can lead to some distress - setting yourself unrealistic goals can lead to feelings of guilt and self-recrimination.

TASTE - Creator:  Your real interests lie in creative activities. You can seem like quite a private person, but you’re equally comfortable pursuing your interests with a group of like-minded people or by yourself. People who share this characteristic like a challenge they can get their teeth into and really focus on without any distractions.

SOCIABILITY - Master: People with this characteristic can sometimes be a bit competitive when interacting with other people. Also, they value their privacy and sense of respect very highly, so can come across as quite distant and closed off figures. If you recognise this trait in yourself it’s important to think about the different ways of getting what you want from people, and giving them what they want too.

ACTION - Methodical : Methodical people know how to concentrate on any task they're set and keep focus on it to completion - so focused in fact that it's impossible to distract them. Your slow and steady approach may frustrate some people, but their concerns will always be allayed when you deliver your work on time and on spec.

ATTITUDE - Analytical: People with analytical attitudes are true critical thinkers and like to consider each situation on its own merits in order to avoid being influenced by sentimentality or tradition. This leaves them free to think about every angle and option before making their own judgement. If this sounds like you, be careful not to disregard the feelings of other people in pursuit of 'the truth.'

PROCESS - Achiever : Achievers have a real love of learning and very strong desire to do well. They combine impressive drive, high aspirations and a diligent approach to help them achieve their goals. They're also very adept at coming up with creative solutions to complex academic problems. If this sounds like you, remember to take some time to enjoy the ride - it can be as exciting as reaching the destination.

RESILIENCE - Sensitive: Sensitive people are extremely aware of potential dangers and problems around them - perhaps a little too aware sometimes. In fact, they tend to purposefully imagine worst-case scenarios. If you recognise this trait in yourself, rather than let yourself be overcome by fear use these theoretical situations to stimulate yourself to come up with imaginative solutions.

[copiosis]

Why Every Person Deserves To Be Rich

It's a common belief, especially among Americans, that people who don't work, deserve to be broke. People on government subsistence programs are particularly judged. Usually it’s American conservatives judging. They say such people are "lazy drains on society".

One reason such programs are necessary isn't because people are lazy. It's because our civilization makes them necessary. A civilization is possible where such programs aren't necessary. Such a civilization could enrich everyone, no matter what they're doing. And, said enrichment doesn't have to cost anyone anything.

That last part is important. I'll revisit that later.

I get to talk with many conservatives. They teach me things. Their criticism against such ideas has a basis. They call them "unrealistic progressive utopian fantasies”. They call their creators “socialists”, “libtards” or worse. There are a couple reasons for this.

One, they worry said ideas could wreck what we currently have. It's a "don't break what's working" mentality. Or, a "move slow so you don't break what's working" mindset.

That's legit. Throwing out what's working isn't smart.

Those unknown unknowns, as Donald Rumsfeld once called them, trumps progress. These unforeseeable negative future consequences aren’t worth the tinkering they say.

Looking at some proposals people offer, I get that concern. But they're not all that bad.

The other reason conservatives push back against progressive plans tops their list. Whether it's my idea or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's Green New Deal, conservatives believe they're unnecessary. And so not worth paying for. Especially (and this is critical) if they have to do the paying.

^^Mitch McConnell. He’s not evil. He just doesn’t think America needs progressive improvement. And, he doesn't want to pay for it if it does. (Photo: U.S. Government)

So their legit concerns over practical matters spills over into a distorted selfishness. Their caution becomes an argument for keeping things the same. And their wallets full.

It's not these people's fault. Their beliefs say the world's working for everyone. Those it's not working for? That's their fault. Why change it? Meanwhile others say it's not working. These folks want to change it.

Who's right?

Both are. The world is working for everyone. And, the world can always be improved.

For sure, it's unfair to say all conservatives feel this way. It IS fair to say though that some progressives feel this way. And some conservatives too.

Our Beliefs Determine Our Civilization

Our civilization is all about perspectives and behaviors. Not any specific infrastructure or institution. Which is why changing infrastructures and institutions often compounds problems rather than fixing them.

Our collective mindset is humanity's biggest impediment. It shapes our civilization, which in turn, reinforces everyone's opinion. That's because humans like looking at the world, then forming an opinion of what they see. Which then gives them more of what they're looking at.

^^An excerpt from an email I received from Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang emphasizing what you just read.

They could form an opinion first, then watch as civilization shapes to that. That is what visionaries do. It's what everyone who changes the world does.

Meanwhile, most people constrain their opinion to what they see. And the more what they see negatively effects their wallet, the more intense their opinion. Their opposition too.

Which is why some conservatives, but not all, express crazy-sounding views about their fellow humans. They are crazy views. Unless you agree with them.

For example, a conservative I was talking with recently compared certain people to drone bees. He said, like drones, people on subsistence programs, or otherwise not "pulling their weight" are worthless drains on productive people. Productive people meaning, like himself:

“Drones, whether bees or other creatures, produce nothing of value. Well, that’s not entirely true - one male bee may get lucky and impregnate the queen of the next new colony. But even that contribution to production is indirect; the male doesn’t produce honey, the females do”.

This opinion has so much wrong with it. It also shows how wrong opinions become people's truths. Even though they're wrong.

It is inaccurate, for example, to suppose drones “produce nothing of value”. Or even limited value. If that were the case, drones wouldn’t exist.

^^A beautiful drone brimming with value (By Epgui - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, File:Drone bee (32-image macro stack).jpg)

Drones do exist. Which means they have intrinsic value. Nothing that exists is value-less. If it were, it wouldn't exist. Energy is never wasted. Remember that from science class?

Speaking of science, people sometimes look to science for understanding. But science is mostly wrong about what it knows. I'm not a science denier. I understand science. Possibly more than most lay people.

Science has some things right. But what it gets right is minuscule compared to total knowledge. It’s also small compared to what it thinks it knows as right. In other words, some things science thinks it knows are wrong. And a lot of what it could know, that could be helpful, is not interesting to science:

^^Most of what science knows (blue circle + yellow circle) is wrong. Only a small part of what it knows (yellow circle) is accurate. Critical information about the Universe is uninteresting to science. That’s why much of what it thinks it knows is right is wrong.

Science has proven this over and over. It's amazing to me people get angry when I say this, when it's so obvious.

For example, science at one time "proved" blacks were inferior to whites. It "proved" homosexuals were mentally ill*. It claimed many different species as extinct that aren't. Finally, science largely does not understand the role drone bees play. At least in this case science admits that.

I'm not saying science is worthless. It has value. It exists :-).  But let's not let it alone dictate opinion. For it is often wrong. More often than it is right.

Life’s plenty looks wasteful/valueless. So many drone bees. All those seeds a single tree produces with only a few becoming trees. All those leaves falling to the ground each fall. Leaves humans have to rake up.

…But every seed, every tree, every leaf is purposeful and valuable INTRINSICALLY.

Humans are too.

Humans Are “Value” Made Material

Here's what that means, dear reader. Even though you or science may not yet understand it. That human you’re looking at, then claiming has no value, is value in and of itself. It doesn’t “have” value. It “IS” value.

If it wasn’t, the human wouldn’t be.

Which brings us to this post's headline.

As with drone bees, humans you believe are worthless are immense value. You just don’t recognize, understand or want to acknowledge it. That’s ok. You don’t have to.

Your beliefs are your truth. They aren't

The Truth

. And, you can change what you believe.

We also can change civilization. So everyone gets what they want, without it costing you anything.

That last part's worth repeating. That person you think is worthless, whether progressive, conservative, lazy or not, can get everything they want. They can enjoy wealth. Without doing what you think they must to get it.

That can't happen in today's society. That's because it's based on beliefs that aren't true. Well they are, but only in our current version of civilization.

Outside that they're completely and utterly false.

The only thing slowing down progress is this: people's persistent belief that this civilization is the only one worth having.

You may think that. But there are far more people who believe different.

And those people are winning. Which is why you see so much churn today. We can have less churn as we progress. But alas, humans love drama.

Progress is going to happen whether you want it to or not. The question is, are you going to go kicking and screaming, reviling your fellow human along the way?

Or are you going to enjoy the process? Maybe even get positively involved?

Your opinion shapes your response. Another question: do you realize that?

And if you do, what are you going to do about it?

*For those who argue psychology is not a science

[comicteaparty]

February 4th-February 10th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from February 4th, 2019 to February 10th, 2019.  The chat focused on Offshore Comic by Stefan Gasic.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Offshore Comic by Stefan Gasic~! (http://www.offshorecomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PST), so keep checking back for more! You have until February 10th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite strip in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 3. Given the comic’s focus on financial markets and all that composes them, what is something this comic has taught you about the subject? Alternatively, what is something you wished you understood better to understand the comic’s comedy?

QUESTION 4. How do you think the comic’s illustrative style and choices help the comedy of the comic? What is one moment where a particular design or image really stood out to you and helped the point the strip was trying to convey?

QUESTION 5. The comic features several recurring subjects like the legitimacy of IQ scores, LLCs, and more. Which of these recurring topics did you like the most? What about it caught your interest?

Stefan G

Hello everyone, 1) Just updated www.offshorecomic.com with a new strip. Check it out. 2) RebelVampire, are your questions intended for me or any new reader? Ciao, Stefan the creator of #Offshorecomic

snuffysam

They're intended for both (still working through the archive)!

keii4ii

Is there a way to get permalinks for individual strips, so I can come back to specific ones at a later time?

Stefan G

Thanks & okay, snuffysam keii4ii, unfortunately there’s no way to get permalinks for individual strips ... I coded the website myself as a side project and am not that good a coder

keii4ii

Oh man, I can relate to that... If I ever get rich, comic website coding and maintenance stuff is the first thing I'll hire someone to do for me

I do like how it loads and makes it easy to read through the archive, for what it's worth.

Stefan G

Thanks for the feedback ... and I totally, totally agree. One could spend a fortune for a coder to take care of all the fixings and stuff ... now I’m learning on the side whenever there’s time left over from work & family.

Stefan G

Answer to Q1 => readers have found the “happiness” strip the best. It’s also one of my favourite ones [succinct & clever & relatable] ...I truly don’t have a favourite strip, but the attached Reto & Urs -strips make me chuckle whenever I read them [I appreciate below-the-waist-humour and/or humour where people are really, really selfish].

lomcia (princess_lom)

1. The newest one is so funny

2. Trader

3. i dont work in office but i cant find nothing to improve that comic, i think the design of characters and humor is on really high lvl 12/10 for me

4. Style is perfect ffor that comic, i wouldnt change it

Stefan G

Answer to Q2 => at the moment my favourite character is the Economist. He’s a genuine IYI [intellectual-yet-idiot] ... which the world is full of and the finance industry in particular. The Economist is easy to write for because I’ve discovered a never ending source of humorous material called the daily financial newspaper ... please find attached also one of my favourite strips

Thank you, lomcia (princess_lom) for your feedback.

lomcia (princess_lom)

your welcome I hope i didnt misunderstood question 3 xD

Stefan G

I think you got everything just right

lomcia (princess_lom)

cool

Stefan G

Answer/comment to Q3 => I’ve spend my professional life in finance, hence, I know every nuance of the industry. However, for the layperson the finance industry [money, banking, insurance, etcetc...] is a big black box of unnecessary complication. My humble attempt with #Offshorecomic is to untangle this complexity and make money related topics more accessible/understandable to anyone ... using humour as my main tool. Finance is more stupid than you think; trust me

I’ll answer the rest tomorrow. Gotta go to now. is like in a totally different time zone and all that Thx again y’all !

RebelVampire

QUESTION 6. Which joke not related to finance did you enjoy the most? What about it made it stand out to you among all the others?

RebelVampire

1) i really enjoyed the life coaching strip about facing reality and lying to yourself. i just really enjoy the bluntness and simplicity by which the self-deception line is delivered. A+ comedy right. 2) i like p-bird because i consider him a much needed counter balance to many of the other characters. he at least has more feet planted in reality. 3) hedge funds. not that i understand them perfectly from the comic, but now theyre more than just a financial word i see tossed around. and despite the very negative absurdist humor regarding them, was still interesting to get some insight into what they actually involved. 4) i think the style overall really balances well with the comedy. a lot of the comedy is reliant on the dialogue, so keeping the illustrations clean, bold, and somewhat simple really helps direct attention to the words. i also really just enjoy the character designs cause every single one really hits that idiot or absurdist mark that needs to be hit. 5) actually i really liked the address of IQ scores. because literally these characters seem like the type whod wind up on r/iamverysmart and use their IQs to talk about how cool they are. so it was kind of nice to see some evidence for that with the subject. that and i always like seeing the concept of IQ being torn apart. 6) i actually liked a lot of the jokes that pertained to the academic sphere in regards to things like publishing and teaching. selfishly it most just stood out to me because academia is something im more familiar with in regards to its simultaneous setup of worthless class structures and cutthroat profs trying to further their careers.

Stefan G

Thank you, RebelVampire, for your thoughtful analysis & feedback I believe that the writing is the most important part in comics ... and the best humorous writing is often blunt & simple [you hit the nail on the head with that comment]. Furthermore, I intentionally designed the strip in a simplistic style in order to A) highlight the writing/gag, B) to save time and C) cuz simple drawings are funny I love to make fun of pompous, self righteous folks ... academics are thus some of my main targets [due to the same reasons I make fun of financial professionals].

Stefan G

Answer to Q4 => My childhood inspiration and spark for cartoons/drawing came from F.Ibanez [Clever & Smart] ... very funny yet simple style. Nowadays I enjoy Dilbert by Scott Adams or the political cartoons from cartoonist Jari Elsilä; also both of them are hilarious without wasting unnecessary lines. I believe a straightforward style highlights the writing and that’s what I’m trying to achieve. Moreover, I love to have backgrounds in my comics [to steer the reader to a particular thought or mood] but hate to draw them and/or dislike it when they clutter the cartoon ... I’m rather happy with a style that I’ve developed over time where I draw the background but reduce the opacity to 25 %. I think that works pretty nice

Stefan G

Answer to Q5 => My favourite themes are 1) anyone predicting the future, 2) mistaking luck for awesome skill and 3) incompetent yet pompous professionals ... there is so much hilarious material right there

Answer to Q6 => I often use the characters Reto und Urs for jokes/strips that are not necessarily financial because they are so endearingly stupid [well, mostly Urs is]. This one makes me chuckle

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. In what ways have any of the strips changed the way you think about life, finances, or any other topic covered in them? Alternatively, what have the strips portrayed that you wish more people knew?

RebelVampire

(the archive for the chat on Poco Adventures is now available https://comicteaparty.com/post/182650076295/january-28th-february-3rd-2019-ctp-archive)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 8. Of all the parodies and jabs at financial markets and life, which do you consider the most on the nose as far as its representation in the comic goes?

RebelVampire

7) the strips have made me realize in a way that this is another industry where basically theres lots of ridiculous junk going on in the background cause you can never remove human faults completely. cause when it comes to finance theres lots of advanced vocabulary and concepts being thrown around usually, so for someone untrained it can sound intimidating and hard to follow. i think these strips do a great job of humanizing things tho and showing that the concepts arent all that alien cause at the end they were created by humans and reflect the desires of humans in a way. 8) one of my faves that i think is totally on the nose is this one where the economist is telling p-bird about ppl on twitter debating him being ignorant. and that his facts and stuff will prevail but p-bird points out that wouldnt even work on the economist. and the economist goes home confused. i think this is way too true for what its like to argue on the internet and how facts and logic get infinitely buried for the sake of narrative.

Stefan G

Excellent analysis/comments, RebelVampire really constructive. The human element is everywhere and money is such an emotionally laden topic that it’s easy to get confused even without the unnecessary complicated vocabulary ...which is often misused even by so-called “professionals”. If my strip has helped you understand all of that and un-demonised the beast, you’ve made me a very happy man Yeah, the Twitter-Fact-Confusion strip is one of my more relatable strips ... I’ve given up on trying to change people’s minds with facts; if changing minds is possible, it can only be achieved through via emotions. It sounds more logical the other way around but that’s not how we work. Here’s a special academically oriented strip just for you, RebelVampire Enjoy

snuffysam

haven't been able to get all the way through the archive yet, but my answer to both #2 and #8 is the Regional Manager. I love all the characters, but there's something to be said for the simplicity of having a guy literally run around headless.

Stefan G

Thanks , snuffysam. I almost forgot about the regional manager. I have to bring him back to life; I also like him ... by the way, there are 308 strips in total.

Answer to Q7 => I can’t claim that any one strip has changed the way I think about life and/or other things ... however, I do believe that writing & drawing Offshore strips has reinforced in me some of the main ideas from my favourite author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who’s books have influenced me deeply [e.g. Black Swan, Antifragile, etc etc] ... luck versus skill, thinking about risk and stuff like that. I regularly come back to his books for inspiration and recommend his books & Twitter -feed. Here are two strips that highlight my point ...sort of

Answer to Q8 => wow tough question ... with 99 % of my strips I genuinely try to convey some message about basic human quirks and/or outright stupidities that actually take place on a regular basis when handling money + and then I add my own personal humours twist to it. Here are a few strips with the message never to buy something you don’t understand [a hint: they always have complicated names]...

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What other finance related topics are you hoping to see the comic explore? Which characters are you hoping to see involved with the topic?

Stefan G

Answer to Q9 => As the creator of the strip I’m obviously biased to answer this question, but I’d love to hear what the new readers have to say. I don’t have a particular preference for any topic [except make fun of pompous forecasters ] ... but I feel myself wanting to write & draw more strips for the Markets-Weasel and Reto und Urs. And that’s surprisingly hard to do; forcing it doesn’t work [at least not for me] ... Offshore’s main characters were supposed to be Reto und Urs and somehow P-Bird and the Economist and the trader stole the show. I guess that happens when you get to know your characters better. Funny how that happens ... here’s one nostalgic strip from my early work that I really enjoy

Stefan G

Addition to Q9 => ... I’ve steadily build up an audience on Twitter [@NonMeek] which consist mainly of likeminded financial and/or other professionals ...hence, hearing the viewpoints from anyone outside that sphere would be awesome

RebelVampire

QUESTION 10. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

RebelVampire

9) idk about specific topics, but id like to see the CEO who i think appeared in like one strip. I'm really interested to see the CEO dynamic with the other characters in terms of finance. learn how they view what theyre doing, how they view what the others are doing, etc. but im all for bringing the regional manager back too cause i enjoyed that character as well. a lot of great humor picking fun at how some managerial positions are kind of ridiculous to even exist to a degree. 10) learning more, mostly. overall its nice to see a harder to cover topic in comics. ive enjoyed how approachable and humanized the strips make finances, and how they remind you that professionals can be like this and actually have no clue what theyre doing. @Stefan G that academic oriented strip you shared was actually one of my faves. not necessarily in college, but i see this a lot in the blogosphere where ppl do a thing once and try to pass themselves as qualified experts to deliver advice. XD

Stefan G

@RebelVampire Thanks again for your opinions. Those really help with the development of the strip ... finance is a hard topic indeed and there are no really finance oriented strips out there [that I know of anyway], which is funny cuz the industry is filled with emotions and mind blowing mental errors. I guess people still believe finance & investing is some sort of scientific discipline which it’s really not ... there are hardly any black & white answers to anything even though there’s lots and lots of historical data ... it’s time to fix that myth with Offshore I’m glad you enjoyed that academic strip. It resonated rather well on Twitter too

@RebelVampire [adding to my previous answer] ... I agree that the managers need to be reanimated and given another chance. I’ll try to do that and see how they resonate. I never know beforehand which characters will work and which will fizzle out; e.g. der Compliance Offizier is one of my favourite characters, yet, resonates weakly outside the banking circles ‍♂️ [I love the strip below ].

keii4ii

I would like to see more strips that cracks jokes about this very specific context of finances! Things like that strip about funds blowing up on day 252. I think that gives this comic its own flavor. Readers get to laugh about not just any kind of incompetent people, but incompetent people in this specific field. Readers with no background in finances don't know the context, so more strips that shed light on the context of the jokes would be great.

Stefan G

@keii4ii All valid and excellent points ... I genuinely try to write & design my cartoons in such a way that the joke is understandable even though you don’t know the context. It’s a hard thing to do ... my wife is my toughest critic and she tells me the same as you ... but keep following Offshore and I promise to come up with more stuff like that 252 strip

Answer to Q10 => My ambition with Offshore is to 1) amuse myself first and see if anyone shares my sense of humour [if a cartoon doesn’t amuse me, I don’t publish it]. It’s a splendid way of letting out some frustration from work ... and 2) to make investing & finance more approachable to the layperson by infusing some humour into it in the form of cartoons ... which by the way nobody thought of doing on a serious basis. Weird. However, to produce material on a semi-regular basis I figured that writing only gags/jokes is too much work and/or too shallow of an approach, hence, the characters in the strip need to be interesting/relatable enough in order to create humorous material by mere interaction with each other. That’s easier said than done. I’m quite satisfied with my characters so far but am continuously looking for new interesting characters to add to the strip [either permanently or impermanently]. Like Scott Adams once told me: “The trick with comics is to reflect the reader's own experience. To allow people to say, "That's me!" I’ll conclude with this sneak peek strip [only for you guys] that should relate to the experience of anybody working in a big corporation.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Offshore Comic this week! Please also give a special thank you to Stefan Gasic for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Offshore Comic, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://www.offshorecomic.com/

Stefan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonMeek

[lonelycreature]

don’t see alien: covenant.

alien and aliens are, i would argue, some of the greatest films made. they have problems, yes, but the’re amazing. you have the first movie introducing ripley and the xenomorph in a slow gritty horror film set in space. then the second movie brings the series to the logical next step: add more aliens. and it makes it into an action flick while simultaneously developing ripley’s character.

i’m going to pretend alien3 and alien: resurrection don’t exist. (except i’m still mad about hicks and newt. goodbye ripley development).

prometheus was a shitstorm, to put it mildly. and alien: covenant follows in much the same vein. 

the first two have two main villains: the xenomorph; and the company. the alien is black and white. it doesn’t care about anything but killing. it is, for all intents and purposes, a weapon. the company on the other hand, is where the progression of the story should have gone, sans ripley. not weyland and this attempt to live forever. no, that’s a boring villian.

setting a selfish, morally corrupt villain against the xenomorph wasn’t going to be anything interesting. the only worth writing about is the human heart against itself, right? so it follows that you want your two villains to be opposites. one is the undeniably evil and impossible to negotiate with. the other is doing evil things but has noble intentions. i wanted weyland yutani to be a ‘means justify the ends’ kind of villain. have their goal be something good, like ending a war or creating a antidote against the alien threat. just anything so that they present an element of morally grey.

but prometheus decided to tell the story of the origin of the xenopmorph and the space jockey. which i get. it could have been an interesting story to tell. but not all horrific monsters need origins. it’s okay to have some mysteries in your story. the alien franchise could have left it as a universe where something like that existed. and proceeded from there. instead you have a prequel that wants to establish a mythology and seed a reason behind everything that happens.

so starting from a place where your premise is a sack of maggots, you have a story that continues where prometheus left off. which was a mistake in and of itself, but let’s not dwell there. instead it was just a lazy movie. like the very first alien it had an ensemble cast and was similarly unable to handle them well. the characters were hollow and you felt nothing when they inevitably died. the twist was so predictable it was painful to watch the reveal. the pacing was off throughout the film, either being too fast or too slow. it was like being stuck in a traffic jam; sometimes you’re moving and sometimes you're completely stationary. the xenomorph felt too easy. both creatures were killed way to easily for what they have been built up to be. the neomorph  was.. whatever it was. bulletproof?

and now we come to the villain. his motivations don’t interest me. others may not share that opinion but a villain who creates a magnificent and terrifying weapon simply because he wants to see if he can doesn’t create a riveting character. Fassbender plays it well, though. no denying that. maybe there is something noble in wanting to be a father, in wanting to be a god, but it doesn’t come off that way. if david was trying to create another species, to create a relationship that mirrors that of his with his human creators, i would need a bit more focus on that, rather than all of the extraneous bullshit. without any depth in the relationship between david and humans, it doesn’t have that quality that would make his actions understandable. i won’t accept revenge that takes its form in genocide. he just doesn’t have that... redeemable quality that would compliment the xenomorph.

(i know this ties in the whole concept of the engineers creating whatever, but that whole subplot is distracting in the face of the overall plot.)

there were some good things about it. i’m not completely negative. the scenery was gorgeous (as expected from fiordland) and created a beautiful background. as i said, i enjoyed fassbender’s performance. i also quite liked the effects, even if they made scenes that weren’t relevant to the story.

in conclusion, alien: covenant was unnecessary and boring. don’t see it. just rewatch the original.

(i just remembered that thing about the wheat and i want that explained. maybe it was explained in prometheus? i don’t remember much of prometheus if i’m honest.)