#@ sm marketing department let me in i have ideas

[jentlemahae]

the golden hour tiktok challenge should have been about ppl showing how they cook eggs

[that-left-turn]

Shipping is fun and it gets the fandom involved but when the fandom tries to force others to think their way or fights with the studios or the actors that’s the real cringefest. Us carylers need to stop creating friction and enemies by being negative with others who don’t agree with what we see. Or use slightly racist rhetoric which I take offense too as my adopted son and daughter are Vietnamese. No one thought my wife and I were a romantic fit but we were until we weren’t so no one had to see it or agree but us. that’s what my last anon ask was about. we make ourselves look stupid when we pick apart stuff like the big 3 thing. That’s meaningless bs that makes us look bitter and crazy and like canon is all that matter when we all know we may not ever get canon anyway. I’m an old x files shipper who knows how ridiculously fun but bad this can get especially if we let the bitter people who fight about everything that doesn’t match their vision for our ship make everyone hate us We can’t have nice things if we make everyone hate us including the actors and studios

I'm not the best person to speak on fandom politics because I don't really participate. (I post fic very occasionally and I have this blog.) It feels like a waste of time I don’t have—I’d rather be writing said fic than argue with strangers about something as subjective as what TV characters to like. I have posted about racism before and my short-version take on bigotry is: it's not okay, regardless of who happens to share their casual -isms with the crowd.

I have a huge issue with the recent interviews Norman did in Japan. It's problematic to say that, because “we” (what ‘we’ is that, Norman?) wanted to write a ‘real’ French show, the WOC showrunner got fired in favor of a white American man. I’m confused: what uniquely qualifies Zabel over Kang? 👀

In one of the after-episode snippets, Clémence said the show has “all the French cliches.” (I wish I could post a link, but I don't have time to search. If someone knows where to find it online, please let me know?) S1 has all the American jingoistic tropes and the French characters act culturally American. With streaming services offering a variety of European TV shows, anyone can do a comparison to see if DD feels more French/European (like Norman claims) or like prettied-up American network TV.

I'm aware of the “big 3” debacle and disliked the incendiary nature of Valhalla’s post. I also disliked that some fans went out of their way to replace Michonne because of course there can only be one girl who's important 🙄 There appears to be a lot of internalized misogyny in the fandom. Both women are vital to the franchise, and Gabriel's character development was amazing and brilliantly acted too, so why doesn't he make the big three? Rankings are useless because they're arbitrary and encourage division between fans. A fractured audience is not a good thing.

Studios don't hate anyone. It’s a business and the programming execs spend zero seconds pondering what fans say. That's a different department, but I’m not sure AMC employs qualified marketing strategists. The official SM accounts look like they’re run by interns with “on the job” training. Part of the (legacy) issue is that under a previous showrunner for the flagship show, this dog-eats-dog behavior was encouraged simply because it mirrored the bleak setting of TWD. It's not an ethical approach, nor is it a good ROI to scare away the people who’d pay for merchandise and provide good word-of-mouth for the show(s).

The DD EPs want to make a show they think looks cool/epic—it's all about the visual esthetic and some of them are so burnt out they don't even care about the plot at all. A fanfic author writes to please themselves, but a screenwriter has to please their audience. The viewership are paying customers, so they have the right to an opinion on what they're willing to buy. I'm deeply uncomfortable with the idea that women should be quiet and behave like good little girls, so the men in charge might reward us with “nice things.” I’ve seen that show before and there’s no treat awaiting the docile at the end.

Based on the latest slew of interviews, the buzzword du jour seems to have moved on from ‘cool’ and ‘epic’ (probably because they gained ridicule instead of traction) to ‘romantic.’ It's a hard sales pitch to the very audience Norman normally complains about. The ‘crazy and bitter’ women of the fandom are the proverbial hand that feeds him and he needs their approval, not the other way around.

I'm aware, though, that some fandom behavior has spiraled into a never-ending ship war. That's the environment AMC/TWDU has created by not encouraging an atmosphere where they lift up all their characters and by not writing female friendships into the show. Everyone's worst side is on display and nobody “wins.”

[jae-bummer]

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Request: If there's still space, can I request #1 with jongdae please? Thanks!!

Prompt:

1)  ”Here’s a concept…me and you…married.”

Pairing: EXO’s Jongdae x Reader

Genre: Fluff       

.

Looking to your reflection in the mirror, you let out a quiet groan. The dancing, holiday cats on your sweater were some of the most awful things you had ever seen (and that was ignoring the fact that they also lit up if you flipped a covert switch hidden within the knit.) You turned to the side, furrowing your brows as you further examined your outfit.

Whoever came up with the idea of Ugly Holiday Sweater parties should be sat in a pile of ants on a hot summer day with honey dripping from their earlobes.

But that was just your personal opinion.

“Ugh, how can someone who styles celebrities professionally...show up in an outfit like this?” you clucked, spinning one last time.

SM entertainment was known publicly for their Halloween party, but what few knew was that they also hosted a party in December every year as well. Disregarding holiday preferences, most all employees attended if for nothing more than free food. You had been dragged along every year since you had landed the position as a stylist, and didn’t intend on missing it now. Not even when they changed the theme to an “ugly sweater” party.

“Are you ready?” your friend and fellow stylist asked as she waltzed into the room. Your eyes grew in size as you took her in, her tight sweater leaving little to the imagination.

“You are aware that this is an UGLY sweater event, right?” you croaked, looking down to the sack-like jumper you were wearing.

“Ugly,” she clucked. “Does not mean ill-fitting.”

Rolling your eyes, you grabbed your bag before you had the chance to talk yourself out of going. “Yes, I’m ready.”

“Where’s the antler headband I bought you?” she hummed, her hands on her hips. Her heels didn’t budge as she began to survey your apartment. “They complete the look.”

“Isn’t the sweater enough?” you sighed, already exhausted.

“Fine, grumpy,” she said, sticking her tongue out at you. “Try to save the fun for the rest of us.”

.

You moodily gnawed on your candy cane as you surveyed the party bustling around you. Food was being served, drinks were being poured, but you still felt pouty,

“Isn’t this fun?” your coworker gasped, scraping the icing from her holiday cookie.

“I can hardly contain my excitement,” you grumbled. You would rather blend in with the wallpaper than stand out with your brightly flashing cat sweater.

“Did you see Baekhyun over there? Oh, and Key? They’re looking so scrumptious,” she hummed, nearly vibrating with excitement. “Good tidings aren’t the only things I would be giving them-”

“Aye!” you gasped, your eyes wide. “Calm down. You see idols every day!”

“I style for NCT Dream,” she muttered, crossing her arms. “I can’t fantasize about babies.”

“As you shouldn’t!” you said sternly, shaking your head. “You’re impossible.”

“Impossibly attracted to these whole ass men wandering around,” she growled, narrowing her eyes at a guy you recognized to be in Marketing. “Who is that?”

“He’s in a different department,” you murmured, sending a silent wish of luck his way. For as much as you enjoyed being around your friend, she was a bit...difficult sometimes.

“Interesting,” she said, lifting her brows. “I may have to introduce myself.”

“Don’t make me stand awkwardly alone!” you gasped, already dreading the idea of having to make small talk.

“Live a little,” she grinned, looking down to her cookie before taking a bite. “Make friends.”

“With who?” you groaned.

“Why not an idol?” she asked, tilting her head. “What about Chen?”

“Chen?” you asked, lifting your brows. The name sounded familiar, but you couldn’t entirely place it.

“Yeah, the guy who’s been hogging the karaoke mic. He also happens to have on the same horrifying sweater as you,” she sighed, more interested in her cookie than she was in the conversation at this point.

“You said it was cute!” you gasped.

“It is,” she chuckled. “In a grandma-type way.” 

“Why him?” you sighed.

“Because he’s hot,” she said thoughtfully. “And he’s a celebrity. And the matching sweaters are a good talking point.”

“Since when did you become such a social butterfly?” you murmured.

“Doesn’t take a butterfly to know how to interact with people,” she grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring him over your way. Maybe he can introduce me to-”

You missed the name of whatever miscellaneous celebrity she mentioned because she was already shuffling out of sight.

Grimacing you took a few steps to follow her, but stopped yourself. Sure, you knew you should probably be networking and talking with your coworkers, but you weren’t exactly the most confident.

Working with the dreamies had preconditioned you to deal with idols who were more like little brothers. You never worried about how you looked in front of them, or how silly you sounded. They always laughed at your jokes and treated you kindly. The older groups were what intimidated you. The men closer to your age, who were in general the more adultier-adults at the label, scared you to no end.

Of course you knew they were probably just as kind as their younger label mates, but you never allowed yourself to figure that out. You were happy being unseen.

Obscurity was where you had decided you belonged. Things were calmer that way.

Safer.

Stirred from your thoughts, you looked up just in time to see a new face in your field of vision.

“Well, call me Rudolph because i have been sleigh-ed,” he grinned. “I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Chen.”

“I’m Y/N,” you nodded with a polite bow. “Nice sweater.”

Chen looked down with a wide grin and shimmied his torso a bit. Your friend wasn’t incorrect. It was exactly the same one that you were wearing.

“I didn’t think anyone else would possibly pick this one out,” he laughed. “You must have wonderful taste.”

You lifted your brows and attempted to stifle your laugh. “Is that it?”

“Duh,” he grinned, careful to make sure you were smiling as well. “When people were asking me about coming here with my partner earlier, I was totally confused...but now I get it! We are wearing couples items after all...

...So, you may or may not have noticed that I was doing a bit of karaoke earlier before your friend insisted I come over. Won’t you sing a duet with me? Pretty please?”

“That’s a nice offer,” you sighed, glancing to your feet. “But there’s a reason why I’m a stylist.”

“Is it because you’re so pretty?” he gasped, his eyes wide with innocence.

You felt the heat of embarrassment begin to creep up your neck. He...thought...YOU...were pretty?

“Because i can’t sing,” you corrected, refusing to look up at him.

“Everyone can sing,” he hummed. You didn’t have to make eye contact to know he was still watching you. “It’s just an opinion if people like it or not.”

You shook your head quickly before allowing yourself to lock eyes with him and let out a nervous chuckle.

“Come on, wouldn’t it be cute if two people, wearing matching sweaters, sang a song together?” He begged, reaching forward and grabbing your hand.

Your face was an unmanageable amount of hot as you willed yourself not to look at the place where your skin was now touching his. He apparently had no issue with being forward.

“What about a dance?” he coaxed. “We can rock around the Christmas tree all night long if you’d like.”

“Dance,” you choked out, more of an acknowledgement of the word. How were you going to keep up with an idol’s dancing skills?

Lucky for you, Chen’s skill seemed to nearly evaporate. If it wasn’t part of a choreographed production, he wasn’t going to be the most talented dancer you had ever seen.

“What are you doing?” you said quietly, trying to hide your amusement. After he had taken your stupid utterance of “dance” as an agreement to actually follow him onto the floor, he proceeded to break into his “best” moves.

Which were thoroughly entertaining, but not for the reason you would have guessed.

“I’m free-styling.”

“You look like your pelvis is caught up in a spasm,” you laughed, shaking your head. Glancing over your shoulder, you saw his fellow idols beginning to laugh at his antics as well.

He really was sweet, but the attention was beginning to make you sweat.

“You say tomato, i say tomahto,” he grinned, eyes closed as he was lost in the beat.

Looking from one side of the crowd to the other, you took a deep breath. Catching eye contact with several people you would prefer to be invisible around, you found yourself beginning to step to the side. “I’m going to get some punch.”

“I’ll come with you,” Chen perked up, opening his eyes.

“That’s really not necessary,” you croaked, keeping your face to the ground.

“I’m thirsty too!” he gasped, instantly taking your hand. Chen smiled brightly at you before offering an obnoxious wink. “We’re pretty similar, don’t you think? I mean...we showed up in couples outfits without even having met before! I don’t want to sound too crazy here, but how about this concept...me and you...married. It’s obvious that we were meant to be.” 

You attempted to keep from choking on your saliva. The two of you couldn’t be more different.

“No offense, I’m sure you’re incredibly sweet, but if i take off this matching sweater, will you leave me alone?” you whispered.

“Probably not,” he grinned. 

“Well...at least your honest.”

“Honesty is the best policy...and honestly, i would love it if you’d agree to a date with me,” he nodded, not even skipping a beat as the two of you arrived at the snack table. “I’d love to get to know you more.”

You blinked in surprise. “Backtracking after you already suggested we get married?”

“I mean, we could work backwards if you wanted,” he smirked. “Marriage, then dating, and then...well, what would come after that?”

You still had to wrap your brain around it. You had quickly established that Chen was very similar to a puppy. Not long after meeting you, he had decided he had liked you.

He had chosen you, in essence, and you wouldn’t be getting rid of him easily.

“So?” he prodded. “Don’t leave me waiting in suspense!”

“Uh, sure,” you managed with a wince. You didn’t want to sound unenthusiastic, but the night has changed rapidly. Especially since Chen had introduced himself.

“if you wake up in a box tomorrow,” he cooed. “Just know it’s because I’ve asked Santa for you this year.”

“That is actually horrifying and mildly adorable at the same time,” you laughed, shaking your head. You had nearly forgotten that he had been holding your hand all of this time.

“Sounds like me!”

“Comforting. Something to look forward to i guess,” you shook your head and attempted not to giggle. For as silly as he was, he really was starting to  grow on you.

Glancing up from your interlocked fingers, your breath caught in your throat as you noticed the holiday lights reflected in Chen’s dark eyes. He really was quite  handsome.

He watched you closely, silent for the first time since you had met him.

“What?” you croaked

“Nothing,” he smirked, continuing to stare at you without shame.

“Then what are you looking at?” you whispered, furrowing your brows.

“An angel, i think,” he hummed, his smile growing wider. “You just aren’t on top of a tree.”

You felt your heart flutter and heat begin to climb up your neck again.

Maybe being different from Chen wasn’t a bad thing.

[glassrain83]

Dear Yuletide Writer

I am GlassRain on AO3, and thank you for writing for my tiny fandom(s)!

I love all these characters and any fic about them will make me happy. If you already have an idea feel free to run with it. If you want extra prompts or ideas, that’s what this is for.

Yes please: gay stuff, outer space, magic. Non-con, dub-con, and mind control. Relationships where there’s a power imbalance but they also truly love each other and do the work to make it good. Relationships with size differences (not as in short human/tall human, as in human/building-sized dragon). Identity porn/any kind of reveal where the audience knows something and gets to enjoy watching the characters figure it out.

No thanks: Gore/body horror/graphic depictions of violence, embarrassment, extreme underage (teen characters having sex is fine), bodily fluids (except the usual ones for sex scenes), non-canon character death, mundane AUs.

Fandoms:

Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette

Characters: Felix, Mildmay

The Doctrine of Labyrinths is a series of fantasy novels by Sarah Monette. It is set in the secondary world of Meduse and tells the story of the adventures of the wizard Felix Harrowgate and his half-brother, former assassin Mildmay the Fox.

Lush fantasy melodrama full of codependence and great hurt/comfort. I have gotten Felix/Mildmay fic before and will keep prompting more of it until the end of time (or until a TV adaptation turns this into a megafandom, whichever comes first). Gen about them is also welcome.

Prompts:

Sci-fi/cyberpunk AU. Make the hocuses into hackers, the magical curses into corrupted cybernetics, the petty thieves into data pirates. Could be the alternate version of a canon event, or a whole new SF-themed plot twist.

Missing scene from Felix and Mildmay’s journey across the continent in book 1, something where Felix has a bad turn and Mildmay successfully calms him down. Just lean all the way into the h/c in their weird-but-deep sibling bond.

Guilty frantic brothercest. (During a time in canon when they’re both mentally capable of consenting.) Especially if it’s already an ongoing situation when the story starts, so it’s not a story about how they fell into it but about how they can’t seem to get out.

If you are up for writing crossovers: it’s a crime that there are no Labyrinth crossovers yet. How would Felix and Mildmay face off against the Goblin King?

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells

Characters: Murderbot

Science fiction series about an artificial construct designed as a Security Unit, which manages to override its governor module, thus enabling it to develop independence, which it primarily uses to watch media. As it spends more time with some caring humans, it starts developing human feelings, which it finds inconvenient.

Ongoing sci-fi adventure in an interstellar corporate dystopia. Grumpy sarcastic Murderbot (it picked the name itself) just wants to be left alone to watch TV, but is smart and competent and keeps deciding it likes humans who need inconvenient rescues. No romance for Murderbot please, but go as hard as you want on the intense friendships it doesn’t want to admit it has.

Prompts:

Murderbot finds itself in charge of an impromptu So You Just Achieved Self-Determination, Now What? support group. Possible members: SecUnit Three, the unnamed ComfortUnit, original characters who hacked themselves independently and figured they were the only ones until they saw it on the news...

ART figures out that Murderbot enjoys very specific kinds of touch (low-key, platonic, comfort-seeking, non-threatening), and starts gleefully engineering situations where it can get some.

Murderbot’s love of Sanctuary Moon becomes public knowledge. Let’s see the reactions from SM fan forums, or in-universe cons, or the media company and its marketing department.

Leif & Thorn (Webcomic)

Characters: Any

Leif is a gardener in thrall to a mysterious debt, serving his native Sønheim at a foreign embassy. Thorn is a Knight of Ceannis who got severely burned while dragonslaying, and was rewarded with a cushy job guarding the embassy gates. Thorn doesn’t speak Leif’s language too well at first — but as they get to know each other, he finds a lot of reasons to learn.

Ongoing fantasy dramedy, with a cross-cultural romance and a great ensemble cast. (Read it here.) Leif/Thorn is canon. I’d love fic about them, and/or any romance (canon or not) that doesn’t break them up, and/or gen about anyone else.

Prompts:

Canon divergence AU where Thorn joined the Secret Order of Monster Hunters instead of the knights...and meets Leif while in the middle of a vampire-assassinating mission.

Holiday fic where Leif and Thorn share their traditions with each other. Warmth and fluffiness a plus.

Violet’s participation in fandom on the magic-crystal-internet. And maybe off of it, if a convention comes to town. What is magical-crystal-Yuletide like? Which series have split fandoms over badly-translated Ceannic-language dubs? Who else in the cast loves Violet’s fic without realizing she’s the one behind the pseudonym?

Tender, loving, slow-and-thorough Thorn/Kale. With Leif’s encouragement...or participation...or, depending on how you want to play it, direction.

Jeeves & Wooster

Characters: Jeeves, Wooster

Bertram Wooster, a well-intentioned, wealthy layabout, has a habit of getting himself into trouble and it’s up to his brilliant valet, Jeeves, to get him out.  

Completed TV adaptation of the books by P.G. Wodehouse, starring Hugh Laurie as Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves. Funny, charming, impressively complicated for how low-stakes the outcomes are. Gen or Jeeves/Wooster romance (with or without any of these prompts) all welcome.

Prompts:

Magical AU where they’re supernatural creatures – fae, elves, angels, demons, nature spirits, things in that category – and still manage to have the same dynamic, over much more ethereal problems.

Role-swap where Jeeves is a smart-but-disaffected member of the idle rich, and Bertie is a fanciful valet. Problems are solved by a mix of Bertie’s own talents and his ability to inspire Jeeves' brilliance.

Bertie discovers the fandom for his published writing (and probably needs Jeeves’ advice on how to keep professional boundaries). This can be a modern AU if you want to get the internet into it.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Sound amusement ay your anon who seems to have confused corporate SM speak for upper class communiques. Mr Styles recent public dispatches are pure marketing department creations. And not especially ingenious ones either as they read “composed by committee” to me and bear the imprint of tampering by multi levels of Sony hierarchy. I do find the lack of even simulated authenticity interesting given the care taken elsewhere with his image. Is the lack of coherent deliberate? A sign of disdain?

Anon 2:  Harry's whole career has been so scheduled unlike Zayn who just drops songs out of nowhere, sings random covers and does unexpected collabs, I can't imagine him being open to collabs in other situations but maybe to stay in the minds of public he will release a collab or two. Maybe he will do more radio shows or maybe he will start a baking show. I don't think Jeff will let him sit this break in schedule out. Relevance is very important for him. Or maybe just simple pap pics or a gf

**********

I’m posting these together, because they’re examples of the sort of anons I find most tedious. All certainty and judgement and no curiosity.  

There are questions that might be interesting thinking about in each. The first anon made me wonder about what people do get out of Harry’s social media useage - because I think there are signs that they get something.  The response to Harry’s new year tweets in paritcular - suggest that people can get a lot of meaning out of something that’s quite stripped back.  The second anon could lead to some discussion about collabs, although there’s less potential there.  There’s not a lot of evidence that colllaborations are what Harry wats to do artistically - and it’s hard to see what they would add to his celebrity strategy. So there’s not a lot ot say.

But rather than showing any interest in what they’re asking about, both these anons just go straight to judgement.  And not only that, but judgement within a very narrow idea about how the industry works that I don’t agree with.  (I think there’s probably a lot of disdain for fans at all levels of the music industry, but the idea that Harry’s tweeting style would uniquely show that makes no sense to me. And why is there a refusal to see Harry as having agency in his career and instead constructing him as a small child with Jeff as a parent?).

These anons are so much work, because to get to something that I might have anything to say about, I have to go through these layers of judgement and assumption that I don’t agree with.  I think I’ll probably try and delete more.  But I’m also just going to ask for people to send this sort of anon to someone else.  

When it comes to their careers, I’m only really interested in questions of what they’re doing and why they might be doing it and what affect it might have.  And the last one is only interesting if the first two have been well established and the underlying assumption isn’t things the person writing doesn’t like is wrong.   

[sapphicambitions]

So I emailed the SYFY Feedback account. This is what I said. I’ll let y’all know if they respond.

To Whom it May Concern,

I'm writing concerning the Magicians finale which aired last night, April 17th. While the finale may have been beautifully acted and filmed, there are many real concerns that the fans have that were brought on by this episode. Many of us fear that these concerns are going to be overlooked or written off by the network, furthering the betrayal. I'm not sure who reads these feedback emails, but if it is at all possible to get it passed along to the right people, it would make a huge difference. 

The death of Quentin Coldwater was unnecessary and cruel. This is a character that has clinical depression and has been hospitalized multiple times for suicide attempts. One of Quentin's major character arcs is that he is in a better place now than he was before he discovered magic, and that he had to do that for himself. For fans facing their own mental illness and struggles, he was a beacon of light and a chance to see themselves on screen. Quentin was not special. His discipline was minor mendings. He was not a high king in his blood, he was barely the hero of the story. But he was the hero of his own story. And for fans, this was important. That even though they might not be "special" they could still live to fight another day. That they could find the courage to keep fighting. So many fans identified with Quentin. He was their reminder that if he could keep fighting and living, so could they. This is extremely important to people who are suicidal. It is not something to take lightly, as literal lives are at stake.

There is a problem in the action adventure / science fiction genre with using the heroic self sacrifice as an excuse for suicidal tendencies. It is a harmful trope, but when you place that trope on a character who is clinically depressed and suicidal, it is devastating. And Quentin Coldwater's suicide has devastated the fandom. If you were to go onto tumblr.com and go through the Magicians tags, you would see that the episode was incredibly triggering for the fans with mental illnesses. Because our hero who kept living to fight another day killed himself. The episode poorly addressed this when Quentin and Penny 40 were discussing this in the Underworld, and there was no specific conclusion. Suicide is never heroic in any context. Portraying suicide as heroic is dangerous.

Further, there was no reason for Quentin to die. In an interview with Sera Gamble, she discusses the choice in a way that is grotesque. She calls it an artistic choice and a "full complete circle of Quentin's storyline." Do you have any idea how harmful that is for suicidal viewers? To tell them that the only end of their story has to be their death? To tell them that their efforts of saving themselves are pointless? Quentin's death was tragedy for the sake of being tragic and shock value. This is damaging to fans who saw Quentin as a way to keep fighting. 

Additionally, the idea that Quentin's death was heroic or okay because all of his friends were able to love him and be okay, so that Quentin could find peace in death? That is the most catastrophic idea to come from this finale. John McNamara said in the same interview that he didn't want to write pro-suicide television but that is EXACTLY what they did. If they cannot understand why telling suicidal people that they will be able to find peace in death is dangerous and damaging, I can't begin to tell them how to care about people. Quentin's death was cruel and thoughtless. There's more that Sera and John say in the article but honestly I cannot stomach any more of it. Here's a link to the article I've mentioned:https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/the-magicians-finale-death.html The death of Quentin is not just important because of Quentin's mental illness, but because of Quentin's queerness. It cannot be denied anymore that Quentin Coldwater is queer. Following 3x05 and 4x05 especially, but from the word of the actor himself. Jason Ralph stated at comic con this past year that Quentin's queerness is the only thing he's not anxious about, and spent the entire con calling Q & Eliot soulmates and lifetime loves. The marketing department for the Magicians has released fan videos and egged on the queer viewers, encouraging them to watch for the representation. Quentin's entire motivation this entire season has been to get back to Eliot. And then in the last three episodes this build up was completely discarded.

Quentin and Alice get back together after both of them moving on with their own story lines and the fans agree that it doesn't make sense. The reunion of Qualice feels like it was essentially set up so that the writers had an excuse to not acknowledge Queliot in the finale. Because they didn't. Quentin has spent the entire season trying to save Eliot and then we don't get to see him reunite with Eliot. Even if one were to ignore anything Queliot, they have been best friends for the last four seasons and narratively it doesn't make sense. The fans feel as though it was a purely homophobic move and are hurt. The build up and then casting aside of a queer narrative is hurtful to queer audiences.

Queer audiences get such little scraps from shows as it is that the Magicians was a breath of fresh air and the chance to see our stories played out on screen. The chance for them to receive an equal narrative weight and taken seriously. Because the show, in the end, didn't follow through with Queliot, the queer fans feel baited. Queer baiting is a gross tactic to gain viewers and many queer fans are devastated for their trust to be betrayed in such a way. And this was a betrayal to queer audiences. Make no mistake, many queer fans will not be returning to see the show's fifth season.

Frankly, the Magicians has never had great queer representation. Eliot Waugh is really the only confirmed queer character and his storyline falls right into the unhappy gay man trope. In the first season, he has to kill off his fake boyfriend. In the second season, he's married off to a woman and essentially forbidden from sleeping with men. In the third season, we have A Life in the Day, which is then not acknowledged again for an entire season. Every other "queer rep" is literally a joke or not followed through. The amount of homophobia that runs through the show is a disappointment to fans who have identified with the queer characters. Sera Gamble and the other Magicians writers have made it perfectly clear how they feel about queer people and their storylines. This has been noted by the fans.

Further, the confirmation of Quentin's queerness and then his execution falls right into the Bury Your Gays trope. It falls right into the Hays Code and the idea that in order for queer people to exist on screen, there has to be negative consequences for being gay. Is this the kind of network SYFY wants to run? One that refuses to allow members of the LGBTQ community to be happy or to simply exist? Because by backing the choices the Magicians have made concerning their queer characters, that is what they have done. A large portion of the fantasy audience is queer people and yet we are continuously excluded from narrative, or included only to be killed off. 

This is also dangerous for viewers. According to the Trevor Project (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/preventing-suicide/facts-about-suicide/#sm.0001fud2yh6a9ctju2r22bg7t0dyo) queer youth are five times as likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth. It is practically an epidemic in the community, the taking of their lives because they aren't given space to exist in the world. And yet the Magicians just allowed their queer main character to kill himself. This has devastated the viewers who identified with Quentin for his mental illnesses but also his queerness. 

Sea Gamble and her team of writers can say that "not even the white man is safe" and claim that Quentin's death is "ground breaking" but this is not the case when the character is suicidal and queer. A mentally ill queer person killing themself isn't ground breaking, it's a devastating reality that too many face and capitalizing on that trauma for the sake of shock value is disgusting and frankly, unforgivable. No matter what the writer's intentions might have been are irrelevant, this is the message they have sent out to their audiences. 

The fans have real concerns about this and if their concerns are going to be acknowledged at all. There's a fear that we will be written off as complaining about shipping or not getting our way, when in reality it runs so much deeper. The Magicians writers broke the trust and spirits of their audiences, and the betrayal will effect ratings and viewer numbers. Is the network going to acknowledge these concerns and the damage done to their audiences? This is a much bigger deal than just some upset fans. This was a catastrophic blow and a slap to the face to an already marginalized audience.

Please understand that even though there is anger in my tone and in my heart, this is also coming from a place of love. The Magicians has deeply affected my life and changed me as a person, which is why this betrayal hurts so deeply. Many other fans feel the same way, and many of us are not returning to the fifth season. I cannot speak for the entire fan base, but some recognition and acknowledgement or damage control (and even an apology) would make the world of a difference for an entire fandom that was just stabbed in the back and shaken to their core. Ignoring this problem will only cause a drop in ratings and numbers and be a blow to the network itself.

Thank you for taking the time to read these concerns. 

[sycriptouk]

I'm from El Salvador...UPDATE 3 (REUPLOAD)

I screw it up with some links, I sincerely apologize for that.

Hi, I've been posting this updates in the bitcoin subreddit since sept 7th. Some people ask me to post here too, so read and ask me any doubt you have!

It’s been a while so I’ll give you an update on how things are going.

There haven’t been anti-btc protest since sept 7th. Sept 15th was Independence Day so there were many reasons to the protest. There have been many protests (not btc) but that’s common in my country, its weird not having a protest between weeks LoL.

Do people hate btc?

Not at all, some are afraid since they don’t understand, but the main concern is the law. Due to a large history of government corruption, people don’t trust government, there’s always a catch in this type of laws. I repeat, this has nothing to do with btc at all but how government handle things.

Chivo App (official wallet)

Chivo app is now available to most devices and it works fine most of the time although there are moments when either it’s on maintenance mode or simply die. There are some cases where chivo app stop working the moment you want to pay…some “karens” have made a fuss at supermarkets or fast-food restaurants, LoL.

Lightning network works fine.

Layer 1 transactions still shows problems. (my $2 are still on the way since sept 8)

Minor issues when sending money from chivo app to bank account.

People are still selling the $30 btc bonus for $25 USD cash. (They even use facebook marketplace for promotion LoL. Here's a pic altough in spanish)

Problems with registration

I’ll explain this giving some context, the main identification we Salvadoran have is called DUI which stands for “Documento Único de Identidad” (Unique identity document). This ID shows your photo, name, date and place of birth, if your single or married, parents name, your address and a 9-digit number. This number is unique to every person however it’s not something you maintain in secret. You usually use your DUI to when making a contract or any other legal procedure…or simply use it to prove your not underage when buying alcohol, LoL.

By itself, the DUI number it’s useless, legal documents will also require you to personally sign aside other stuff. You can use your DUI number in raffles, polls and other stuff like that. People can’t robe or scam you just because you give them your DUI number, so nobody actually cares about keeping the number in secret.

Now that I explained that, here’s the issue. To register in chivo app and get your $30 bonus, first you type your phone number, DUI number, take a photo of your DUI and a photo of yourself, and type a security code (your standard KYC). People found out that, to complete the registration process you only need a phone number and DUI number, there is actually no verification of your ID and face photo, just taking a random photo will let you complete the registration.

Some people take advantage of this and start craving for DUI numbers, there many data bases that have hundreds and thousands of DUI numbers, you can usually buy these things for marketing purposes (SMS - emails campaigns, segmentation, etc.). You can also buy a phone number for $1.

You probably can get the idea of what the problem is…now that chivo app is available to most devices, people start discovering that their DUI number has already been registered, so they can’t use the app and even less get the $30 bonus.

There haven’t been any official communication from government about this problem however the director of police department said in an interview that people who are doing these things will get arrested, investigations have started. Here's an article, altough in spanish, might have to use google translator.

Remittances

There are three main ways to send money from overseas to my country.

Buy USD with a credit/debit card in chivo website and send directly to a relative’s chivo app.This has 0 fees although some banks may charge you like US Bank and Bank of America. Wells Fargo and Chase have 0 fees.

If for legal reasons you don’t have a bank account, you can get paid in btc and send it

or continue using businesses like Western-Union.

Btc mining

The power of volcanoes! ...(sigh)

I’ll be honest and tell you all that this is marketing…at least for today, 2021.

In my country we need to buy (import) electricity from other countries to meet the demand. So don’t expect a big mining farm from the get go, maybe in 10 years there will be a really big mining farm sustained with clean energy.

Also, we are taking away this clean energy to direct it exclusively to btc. Good for btc, bad for my country. Anyways, thanks to this there might be mayor investments in geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy needs to be developed through time; it’s not just finding a vein of water.

Here is a presentation with some data…although it’s a decade old, it might give you some insights about geothermal development…it’s in English btw.

There’s also the math of the cost of btc mining and the actual gains but since I don´t have any information I´ll skip that for now.

People’s behavior

As I’ve said multiple times, nothing has really changed, we just have a new payment method.

People are starting to know how btc works, the bearish and bullish market, etc. On a daily basis there’s no difference between USD and btc, people are showing interest in crypto as an investment method and not a currency…most businesses like restaurants and supermarkets accept btc as payment, there are others who only accept USD, either because they’re against it or don’t give a shi… there are others who doesn’t accept btc because people don’t show interest in paying with btc.

There was also a big promotion in the price of gas, minus $0.20 for a gallon. However, I don’t see a big fuss about this…which is weird… the promotion will end around October 14th so I’ll wait for any data that might come out.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any data about chivo aside the presidents’ tweets, which I personally don’t trust as a source. There are some polls out there of how many people uses btc as payment but I still think it’s to early to get that type of info, consumer behavior wont change in a short period of time.

-----

Truth to be told, foreigners might feel more the hype than Salvadorans LoL.

As always I’ll try to answer your questions and explain things as long as I can.

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EDIT: here are my other post if you want to take a look.

I'm from El Salvador, ask me if you want to know what is happening here!

I'm from El Salvador...UPDATE

I’m from El Salvador… UPDATE 2

submitted by /u/Tux_fan [link] [comments] from Cryptocurrency News & Discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/q49aw9/im_from_el_salvadorupdate_3_reupload/ via IFTTT

[jessica-goldenstars-blog]

[ENGTRANS][Analysis] ‘My two cents on Jessica’s exit from SNSD’

Original Author: 墨武 (Zhihu)

Eng-Trans: RI + Hannah97, Yee and CAI

Source: https://www.zhihu.com/question/25626185/answer/179775847

Please take out with full credits.

‘My two cents on Jessica’s exit from SNSD’

I came to know SNSD in 03/2016 and started being interested in K-Pop. I didn’t know much in the beginning, so I gathered more information as time passed. I’m a law student in university, so I suppose my logic and common sense can be considered acceptable. I compiled my information over a period of time. Why am I bringing this up? Because too many fans are very biased when it comes to this incident. Judging from the replies I got, it seems not many can reply without prejudice. Of course, this is completely normal, you’re too emotionally-invested in a person, and the situation became so complicated. Towards someone whom you’ve loved for so many years, how can you stop loving them just like that? You won’t trust other people’s words that easily too. Many fans can’t achieve it, the ability to be impartial, and to look at this as an onlooker.

I ask that you put away your prejudice for once, and face the truth.

-Revised on June 14-

This is not a zero-sum game; I posted this analysis with no ill intent, but to encourage healthy debate, and also to share my opinions with everyone. Perhaps I was too long-winded; many people didn’t have the patience to finish reading. Some got defensive and began interrogating me in the replies. This kind of people who reply without even finishing the article are unreasonable, let’s not even start on if you respect me; it seems you lack respect even for yourself.  You spent so much time leaving a reply that has been repeated excessively (like a broken record) by others. All you did was parrot other people, you do not have a mind of your own, and such debates are meaningless.

Two points to take note:

1) Not everyone who speaks up for Jessica is her fan, I was assumed as Jessica’s fan for the past few days, but in actual fact I am just a casual fan of SNSD. I’m not young anymore, and started getting into K-Pop late, by the time I know about them, SNSD was already incomplete. I wrote this article because my principle in life makes me want to get to the bottom of everything, and with my cautious observations, I finally posted this.

Since this article is strictly an analysis on motive and reason, I have left out the professional terminology. If you are only convinced by professional terminology, then I am sorry to disappoint. My analysis is just words from an ordinary person.

In my eyes, they (idols) are just like us, just that they are slightly older and survive in a more vicious environment, so they are ordinary people who are (supposedly) more mature. It’s not like they are politicians or moguls of some sort.

2) Not everyone who speaks up for Jessica assumes she is as innocent as a lamb. Some people who didn’t even bother to read the article started barking in the comments “Only Jessica is an innocent lamb, only Jessica can do no wrong, you think the whole world wants to harm her?”. Regardless of whose side you are on, my approach is that nobody is completely innocent. People who take sides are fans. To prevent people from ignoring my analysis, which defeats the purpose of this article, and also people who tries to steer everyone in the wrong direction, okay, I hereby provide a glossary, just scroll to whatever you want to read.

1- Was she forced out or did she leave on her own accord?

2- Why was she forced out? Political reasons vs. She deserved it vs. Member conflict vs. Agency’s motive?

3- 930 Protagonist and antagonist role in this incident, what triggered 930?

4- 930 Onlookers, analysis of Chinese SONES, and common misconceptions.

Lastly, happy 10th anniversary to SNSD, and happy 10th anniversary to Jessica Jung.

Note: I saw a comment saying they are OT8, and will always support all 8, then went on to say SNSD should disband since their future has already been hindered due to this incident, and they feel discouraged. Here is a verse for you (from The Quatrain of Seven Steps):

People burn the beanstalk to boil beans,

The beans in the pot cry out.

We are born of the same root,

Why should we hound each other to death with such impatience?

1- Was she forced out? Vs. She left on her own accord?

Firstly let’s compare the official statements from both sides; any declaratives and statements not from the persons directly concerned cannot be assumed as legitimate material. Timeline of the published official statements as below:

Sep 30, 2014 at 5:00AM, Jessica made her stance on her WEIBO.

Sep 30, 2014 at 1:00PM, SM’s PR department released their official statement.

Oct 01, 2014 at 10:00AM, Jessica released her official statement.

In both Jessica and SM’s official statements, even though they focus on different points, both includes a fact that  coincides across both statements and cannot be ignored, as Jessica stated “without a proper reason, I received a one-sided notification to leave SNSD”, SM’s official statement stated “the agency had no choice but to pull up SNSD’s activities as 8 members earlier than planned”.

Everyone should have heard of ‘Rashomon’ (Rashomon 羅生門 is a 1950 Japanese film that is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.), the same incident, with different people of different standpoints have contradictory ways of saying things, but things like fundamental truths can neither be changed nor erased. We received the message loud and clear on September 30, the agency did serve a notice to Jessica informing her that SNSD will move forward as an 8-member group, this is a fact.

So why is it that the fans in Korea curse with hatred at the mention of Jessica, instead of blaming the agency for breaking the group apart? Why did they not continue to support Jessica in her entertainment career?

That is because someone misled all of us by shifting the blame and the source of the problem for this incident onto the members and Jessica. SM’s official statement stated “this coming Spring, she notified us she will halt her team promotions”. Shortly after, ‘Korea’s #1 Paparazzi’ Dispatch released the infamous ‘insider Q&A’, 2 persons (allegedly close to Jessica) who were unwilling to disclose their identities, were interviewed. They revealed that Jessica is no longer part of the group because she said she intended to leave the group on 2 occasions with plans to get married. Those who are familiar with K-entertainment all know that K-fans detest dating scandals the most, there are many cases where they stopped being a fan and backstabbed the idol in return. Hence, the image of a selfish person who only cares about developing her own career and intends to get married to her boyfriend was formed in Korean citizens’ minds. The extent of the damage caused by this ‘created image’ is severe, 3 years later and Koreans are still leaving comments citing this ‘selfish person who only cares about her own career and intends to get married to her boyfriend’ as an excuse. Did everyone realize something? That’s right, it’s been 3 years, and they still come up with the exact same arguments, because the accusations failed to come true, so the rumors are stuck at where it started. But why do we have people taking 2 different sides, 1 group sees eye to eye with the Koreans, and the other group thinks that she was indeed a victim who got forced out. I’m not sure if the comments represent the majority, but my friends have the same conclusion as me, that Jessica was indeed forced out.

Here are a few reasons, firstly why are there different opinions in 2 countries? Because we (China) don’t have SM, we don’t have the Big-3 agencies that dominate and monopolize the market, we don’t have controversies formed by a powerful agency that refuses to let you off easy even if you dissolved your contract amicably. As I mentioned earlier, if someone like Dispatch, a top paparazzi with high publicity, reports negatively on an idol , will you believe them? Honestly, fans excluded, onlookers will likely go along with what Dispatch reports, this is also why many fans keep clarifying matters in the comment section of such reports. Fans persevered and continued clarifying even if it’s counterproductive, because by doing so, there is still a 1% chance that people may be enlightened and have a clearer grasp of the situation. If you stay silent, you have a 0% chance of turning things around. Which means, it may just be true for those who say “you think a local like me wouldn’t know our country’s celebrities better than you, a foreigner?”, you are right, you really don’t. The Korean society is weird, they condemn a person without even giving them a chance to speak up for themselves, and fans have no platform to explain matters. They only have one-sided information released by a big agency to the media, and with such ways of handling matters, it’s hard for me to not think you are the villain here. This leads to a repeated rumor being taken as truth, and this is dreadful.

Moreover, having the intent to kill but not actually fulfilling the act does not make you guilty legally, but in the vicious entertainment industry, even having such intent equates to the death penalty. So there must be a purpose behind this intent right? Before we discuss about the purpose, I discovered another interesting point, SM stated “This spring, Jessica said she would stop group activities”. Spring could be either March, April, or May. In Dispatch’s famous ‘insider Q&A’, they mentioned that Jessica said she wanted to leave the group twice, once in January, and a 2nd time in July. Here comes my question, so which month was it exactly? Was it Spring, or was it Summer? Or SM’s idea of Spring stretches from January to July? No? So who was lying? Was it SM’s official statement, or was it the ‘insiders’ invited by Dispatch who were lying?

We should all agree on one fact, either a person actually thinking of doing something or a person actually acting out on their thoughts, are driven by a purpose and motivation. Let’s assume that since Jessica had intended to quit the group, or even mentioned about wanting to quit the group, means she must have the desire to do so. How did this desire come about in the first place? Such desires usually entail benefits to oneself, and I believe nobody would desire something that causes harm to themselves. Then was there a dire need for Jessica to quit the group that year? What caused her to have a desire to quit the group that year? I personally think she had even more reason to want to stay in the group that year.

I hereby provide 4 pieces of evidence, the first 2 will focus on Jessica’s personal reasons, the other 2 will focus on external factors. Firstly, Jessica belonged to the bottom half of the group in terms of personal schedules she had since the second half of 2011, even the leader of TaeTiSeo mentioned during their subunit interview that Jessica had  only been “practically living in the photoshoot studio”. You can find the comparison chart for personal schedules of all 9 members in freesouls bar. In comparison, the amount of personal schedules Jessica had in 2014 was more than her past 2 years’ combined. Not forgetting to mention the Jungsis subunit that SM had wanted to promote but was shelved, such important projects couldn’t have been put together within a week or two. So what reason does Jessica have to take such a huge risk now, to discard all the benefits that she was about to reap, to the extent of quitting the group no matter what? Some people say she doesn’t care, she just felt like quitting and so what, she is such a person who doesn’t care about anything. But the audio from their dance practice was leaked proving that they did record a song together, preparation for a season 2 of Jessica & Krystal’s reality show was also reported in the news. Will a person who simply don’t care be so enthusiastic in a project? Will you put in so much effort to practice again and again, only to give up on the actual day of the exam? I am sure you will not be happy at the thought of it, after all everyone loves to measure success based on results.

Secondly, in terms of career development, Jessica launched her brand in August after a series of preparation, she also mentioned in her official statement that she had informed the members beforehand, including all her future plans. Hello people, launching a brand is not a piece of cake, she must have prepared for a long time and her company only just started, and this is just an ‘insurance’ for her idol career. When you are part of a top girl group like SNSD where you can reap the fruits of your labor, she chose fashion as her future ‘insurance’, something she is familiar with and good at. Honestly, this ‘insurance’ is still at its early stages, so was there a need to sever all ties with such a strong backing when nothing has taken shape yet? Realistically speaking, even the most powerful backing does not belong to you in the end. In the real world, you can work with others but never ever rely on them completely. She is not an underaged teen who thinks the world is filled with only good people, she has lived for 25 years and survived in the entertainment industry for 14 years (2014), will she be such an idiot to sever all ties with a powerful backing and have nothing to fall back on, just to go start on a new venture?

Thirdly, in terms of SNSD’s career development, 2014 marks SNSD’s 7th year in the industry and they can be considered an unbeatable girl group, even though I think they are already on their decline, everything that goes up must come down. Anyway their decline is not that obvious and it doesn’t matter even if they are on their way down, since they have found success thanks to the contribution of all 9 members, what they need to do now is to take their share of the pie and have their taste of success. A group that has seen success internationally and reached their peak can only do so much now. Many people say SNSD still has potential but I beg to differ, because you have already reached your peak and so the public no longer anticipates what other surprises you can bring. Their only concern is that this group is at its peak. This is a dead end for many superstars, how much popularity is enough? Where is the peak? When the public no longer look forward to what you can achieve, when they are no longer curious about what you can bring to the table, the so-called popularity will start to wane, and what you are left with is only the nation’s approval. Perhaps you will say that I am contradicting myself but think carefully, are the younger generation and the previous generation supporting the same idols? The people that the previous generation supports has attained the nation’s approval, and the younger generation go for popularity, what matters is “volume”. SNSD’s potential has been gradually declining since 2014, but this works in the members’ favor instead, this means the members can begin distinguishing themselves from the group since the group has already reached its peak. They can have their own identity and not just be SNSD’s so and so. This is what I meant by tasting their share of the pie. It is obvious that SNSD is already going down that route, and we hardly see group performances by SNSD anymore, partly due to commercial and personal reasons. Since they have endured the early days where their articles were filled with malicious comments, where their every move was being monitored and scrutinized, does it sound logical to you for someone to leave the group when it’s time to enjoy the benefits and honor that the ‘brand name (SNSD)’ gives? Put yourself in this situation, you suffered 6 years of cursings, and people finally start to compliment you, then out of a sudden you tell everyone that it’s better if they continue to curse you, you can take it. This is impossible. (What in the world???)

Fourthly, Jessica’s agency SM, SM’s background and history, an agency that blocks even artistes who dissolved their contract amicably. Why is SM so harsh towards their previous artistes? Of course it’s just so they can demonstrate their power. ‘In this entertainment industry, I am God, you want to leave me? Don’t even think about it.’ You must be joking if you think Jessica didn’t anticipate SM’s tyrannical ways. She was a trainee for 7 years and had been in SNSD for 7 years, she clearly knows what happened to members who left H.O.T, Shinhwa, DBSK, and Super Junior. Even a person in any normal situation knows what risk assessment is, and when the risk is obviously greater than the benefit for whatever you want to do, any sane person would either give up the idea, or wait it out. Why is it that most Koreans renew their contract with SM? You have already been warned, ‘if we are not going to be in the same boat, then you can prepare to sink.’ Even if you are not contented, but as long as you still want to survive, you have no choice but to continue with this agency. What can you do? Of course you have to learn to forgive them. Because if you refuse to, they will not let you off. You can’t say that their staff and their management are heartless, you can only blame the agency for being ruthless. In this economically-driven world, to maintain their dominance, they will only continue to be so oppressive. You should have expected this when you chose them in the first place.

With such a powerful backing (or threat), and with her future shining so brightly, the argument of her ‘wanting to leave the group’ is no longer valid. Nobody would want to leave without tasting a bite of the pie they (spent so many years to) bake. Jessica, a member who contributed to SNSD’s success obviously wants to enjoy her share of the pie.

Therefore, saying she left the group on her own accord is completely ridiculous. Of course, such excuses started from the Koreans who were brainwashed by the media. Actually most of the SONES in China agreed that she was indeed forced out. Like they always say “I really don’t understand Golden Stars, your idol was fired and you still have the cheek to keep bringing it up”. It’s true that being forced out is somewhat like getting fired, but they are of different nature. I can’t help but feel bitter whenever people say that, because they are implying that SNSD are just colleagues rather than friends. This is as far as their group spirit goes, and will be evident in their future comebacks.

2- Why was she forced out? Political reasons vs. She deserved it vs. Member conflict vs. Agency’s motive?

Even when everyone agrees that she was forced out, why do people keep bringing this subject up? What I have listed are the more plausible reasons, I chose not to list some of the more ridiculous arguments that are obviously from brainless antis. I advise everyone to just have a good laugh and let it go when you come across those people with such great imagination.

Firstly, some people said that ‘930’ was a deflection for political scandals. I will like to call someone out.

“Politics!”

“What?!”

“There’s a (scape)goat for you, please acknowledge it.”

“Go to hell, I don’t want it.”

Politics: “I don’t want to be the scapegoat, thanks.”

Korea is undoubtedly small, let alone South Korea, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for politics and entertainment to cross paths, but not everything from drunk-driving to drug-abuse to small issues like leaving a group or dating scandals are always used to cover political scandals. Think about it, if you are a Korean, would you care more about the news of an idol (who holds a lowly status in Korean society), or a political scandal? We are talking about a country who has the guts to impeach their president and put her on trial. Everytime I see a fan say “‘Pinocchio’ was used to cover a political scandal”, “You are siding with the wrong party”, I just want to laugh. You think you are the only one who watched ‘Pinocchio’, you think you are the only one who watches the news, you think you are the only one who knows whose side they are on? Even the 5 leading organizations will not dare to take sides easily, let alone entertainment agencies. Whose side did Samsung take? I realized something when I read the ‘Twenty-Four Histories’. The typical scenario of an aristocratic family was that the elder brother would be the proposition, and the younger brother would be the opposition, they would always be at loggerheads. Why did that happen though? That is to prevent a genocide. (Author quoted a scenario of Zhuge Liang from ‘The Three Kingdoms’, research if you want to know more) Using the same logic, a company in our economically-driven society is only interested in a mutually-beneficial business relationship to ensure the company does not collapse.

Can’t you see, the South Korean president has gone through multiple setbacks, but yet the 5 leading organizations are still standing strong?

No doubt the Big-3 entertainment agencies are tools, but if we are talking about taking sides politically, then I’m sorry to tell you they are not that influential. So for those who said the series of incidents that happened to SM in 2014 were actually collateral damage to cover up political scandals, then perhaps you are overthinking this.

Why were there multiple dating scandals from SNSD that were reported that year? First and foremost, they are indeed no longer young and innocent girls, so it’s not surprising that they are in relationships too. On the other hand, media and entertainment agencies  have always had a love-hate relationship, whoever has the most lucrative offer wins. Since they are no longer the young and innocent girls like before, it’s only natural that SM loosens their leash and gives them a little more leeway. Anyway they are already the nation’s girl group, and scandals like these are not going to jeopardize their position. So they no longer see the need to bribe the media in order to stop them from publishing such photos. This is a moneymaking agency who is very realistic and calculative, so they find no need to make such ‘investments’(bribery) anymore.

Since the ‘political reason’ excuse is busted, does that mean Jessica paved the way to her own downfall, and that she deserved it? There is one reason that was stated in SM’s official statement that makes me not know whether to laugh or cry, and it is no wonder Jessica found it unreasonable as well. “No-show for events”, I have seen the information compiled by fans with regards to Jessica’s attendance for all group events, and from the start of 2014 to the month of September; this may sound embarrassing; but their accusation is completely unfounded. Perhaps SM realized they messed up too. We are talking about public events here, and everyone can see for themselves. You can’t make it go away simply by saying it doesn’t exist. Afterall, fans are not blind. So SM came up with a befuddling reason in an attempt to confuse people. “Personal schedules clashed with group activities”, this leaves an extensive room for debate because it includes practices, and how can fans possibly verify their attendance for practices (behind closed doors)? It’s not like you can follow them around as if you are their assistant or manager. Who knows they might even practice after meeting up for a meal together, so by missing the dinner gathering, they can say you were absent for practice too. Such befuddling reasons misled people into thinking Jessica deserved whatever happened to her because she was asking for it. Blindly assuming she ignored group activities and only cared about her own business, that she is so selfish, and it’s a good thing she left. Even if she did not leave the group voluntarily, thank God the agency forced her out, she deserved to be kicked out. Okay, let’s take a moment and use our brains now, what was the message that SM’s official statement was trying to convey?

“Yes, I intended to inform everyone that SNSD will proceed with their activities as 8 from now on, but I didn’t expect her to speak up first, so you can’t blame me, blame it on her for thinking about leaving in Spring, I advised her against it but realized it was futile, so I kicked her out, yes it was a decision by both the members and myself, so don’t blame this on me alone.”

SM’s official statement was actually saying; members of boy groups can go on a hiatus for 2 years (due to the need to serve in the army) and not get forced out, and members of girl groups can skip group activities due to their participation in musicals, tv-dramas, or because of health reasons, and a plethora of other excuses; their attendance is dependent on their personal schedules that could last a day or two or could even be as long as 3 to 4 months, it is alright to skip activities because I will just overlook it. BUT dear Jessica, within the span of 1 month from the day you launched your personal business, you have missed practices, take note it’s just practices since we didn’t witness Jessica missing any public events, but my apologies, please withdraw from the group, you are no longer a member.

You said Jessica was going to leave in Spring, what was your motive for advising her against it then? To make sure SNSD stays complete, am I right? But within the brief span of 1 month, you changed the course of direction for the person whom you painstakingly tried to retain, and discarded the whole idea of a complete group, oh, with such a huge loophole, tell me, are you even serious?

(It will be perfect if they were to release such an official statement 1 year later (after putting her on hiatus), because Jessica would have played straight into their hands and missed many activities, and then it would seem more rightful for them to withdraw her from the group, citing ‘no-show for multiple activities’ as a reason. There could be another frightening possibility, and that is the official statement was meant to be released in 2015 but Jessica spoke up first unfortunately, which explains the part where they said Jessica was going to leave after 1 more album in the ‘Dispatch Q&A’. Because that will make perfect sense since <Catch Me If You Can> was released in the later part of 2014 and that will seemingly be Jessica’s final single with the group as planned. SM certainly put a lot of thought into it. It seems like they failed to edit the ‘Dispatch 18 Q&A’ though, no wonder it didn’t make any sense when I came across the part where they said she will leave after releasing 1 last album with the group.)

The above bracketed paragraph is solely based on the author’s own logic and conclusion, it is up to you to believe it or not. It’s a pity we failed to notice SM’s schemes.

SM’s official statement was actually very short, because the ‘Dispatch Q&A’ had spoken everything on their behalf. What they wanted to portray was that they had tried everything they could but failed to salvage the situation, and they wanted people to believe that “Jessica’s withdrawal had absolutely nothing to do with them.”

This is a very common PR tactic; all we wanted was an explanation, but they had to drag you into the gutter, honestly, did you think all of us are as gullible as a 3 year old kid, I explicitly asked you about the weather today but you tell me the weather forecast indicates that the weather is beautiful in Spring so the weather is not bad today? Where is the correlation?

So what was SM’s role in this ‘930’ incident? In my opinion, they were the mastermind. But I feel that they are the executors and not the initiators. Firstly, all members renewed their contracts in August 2014, even though they are one of the biggest entertainment agencies, SNSD is still their top girl group and it consists of 9 women who have clawed their way to the top for the past 10’ish years. What if they decide to up and leave together if their demands are not met? It is during this time that Jessica wrote up a new contract with SM. It is impossible that SM wouldn’t evaluate her brand first. So what should they base their evaluation on? Obviously it will be evaluated based on the brand’s future value and revenue. Jessica had indeed paid the necessary fees to SM and in other words, they reached a mutual agreement. This also meant that SM expected to reap profits from Jessica’s brand. The bigger her brand gets, the better for SM, and they can reap profits without having to move a finger. This is an additional source of revenue for them, and if all things go well, they can even invest in her brand and become a shareholder at a low-entry price. Who wouldn’t want that? It would be such a waste not to. Businessmen are opportunistic and will never let such an opportunity slip away, it’s in their nature. So for those who said SM got frightened after learning how Jessica intended to scale her business, you probably thought SM is the fruit stall near your house that got their guts eaten alive. There was a legal agreement, do you take SM’s lawyers for fools who didn’t analyze the potential profit before letting SM sign the contract? Seems like you are undermining SM’s capabilities. Jessica’s ‘Blanc & Eclare’ shades also appeared in a movie produced by SM, which further proves that they did enter an agreement.

During that time, the person who held the authority to make decisions caused the ‘930 incident’ to happen, to a certain extent. The person in power at that time was Kim Young Min who was appointed the president a long time ago, but the soul of SM has always been Lee Soo Man who is also the biggest shareholder. But the docile president was finally given the chance to make a decision on his own in 2014. Lee Soo Man’s wife was critically ill then, and due to the inevitable internal power struggle, he was left with no choice but to loosen his tight reign over Kim Young Min temporarily. Kim Young Min would obviously do whatever he deemed fit against better judgement. Their artistes has no affection towards Kim Young Min, unlike for Lee Soo Man whom they address as their ‘seonsaengnim’ (teacher) because they were brought into the industry by him. If Lee Soo Man had been the one in power instead of Kim Young Min when conflicts occurred among members, he might have held the respect and ability to appease their anxiety, so that they would have waited patiently instead of making rash decisions. He would have taken a better approach and advise Jessica more appropriately when she asked for the go-ahead for her business, giving possibility to a positive outcome with regards to the earlier negotiations that have reached stalemate. Most importantly, Lee Soo Man would have had a better grasp of Jessica’s temperament and know that she is different from his other money-making machines who are obedient and whom he has wrapped around his finger. He would have known that Jessica is no pushover and cannot be easily influenced and accused for breach of contract, instead of simply devising a ‘perfect’ set-up (first citing health reasons; then absence from group activities; then dating scandal; end up leaving the group) thinking Jessica will comply obediently and they can get away with it.

Everyone should be familiar with this set-up. Yes, Sulli went through it. I am not going to judge Sulli but I just think such a set-up works indeed. At least in our hearts, f(x) should be a group of 4, the perfect 4. If Jessica hadn’t spoken up first, will the outcome be different with a similar set-up? SNSD would be a group of 8, it would make sense and everything would seem fine. Of course Jessica will still be the scapegoat, and SM will continue to profit. This outcome is absolutely perfect.

The upper management’s role here is to watch them attack each other, then turn the tide in their favor. This will be the best of both worlds for them. SM always has a fall back plan. In their official statement and subsequent arrangements, their intention was to make Jessica stay so they can share the profits equally. Honestly, SM would have been the biggest winner if Jessica had stayed in the company (after being forced out). They would have rights to Jessica’s personal fashion brand, and they could have benefitted from all the publicity from the ‘930’ saga. SNSD would return in a new form as 8 and bring a breath of fresh air to the public eye. Jessica would continue raking in revenue and they can get free publicity by mentioning Jessica - a former SNSD member, every now and then, with no consequence. Even though they are doing it now, it’s still rather inconvenient. For example, a MV conveniently leaked by an anonymous fan (e.g. Catch Me If You Can). They would have violated Jessica’s rights if they had spread that MV via their official platform instead, and Jessica would have to be compensated.

But Jessica was adamant about leaving and SM lost the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds. Nonetheless, Jessica was made the scapegoat successfully and she didn’t sue SM for breach of contract, so the company still won. The reason why SM was so confident was because Krystal is still under SM, and it was impossible to go hostile with SM as long as she still wanted to pursue an entertainment career, and also unless she couldn’t care less about Krystal’s future anymore. Some people said that Jessica was able to dissolve her contract with SM amicably because SM didn’t want her anymore. You must be horribly mistaken because SM still cared enough to assign a team of staff to Jessica even for her personal schedules, right until her contract was dissolved. So rather than saying SM didn’t want Jessica anymore, the more logical explanation would be that the contract was dissolved because a mutual consensus was reached after much deliberation that by doing so was the most mutually-beneficial approach. SM agreed to dissolve her contract because they were the ones who breached the contract this time. The reason why SM persecuted the people who left their company was because this group of people did violate their contract. Whereas for Jessica’s case, SM was in the wrong and since they did not have the upperhand, they were wise to not pursue this issue because the possibility of them winning this lawsuit is slim. And Jessica chose to end the contract amicably because she didn’t want to remain in such a company and also because Krystal is still under them. I am not mentioning Krystal on purpose but because it shouldn’t come as a surprise for real sisters to spare a thought for each other. If Jessica’s departure from the group didn’t affect Krystal at all, she would have appeared in SMTown’s ending stages. 3 years later today, after multiple SMTown concerts, Krystal still has not appear a single time. You can consider it a coincidence if it’s once or twice, but not if it’s everytime. It’s simply because she can’t bring herself to.

Finally, let’s talk about whether conflicts occurred among the members. As the saying goes “to stay together through thick and thin”, this is easier said than done, and hard times will always reveal true friends. It’s true they have gone through hard times together before, but it’s a different situation altogether now that they have reached their peak.

Imagine this scenario: 9 girls who reached their peak through mutual support; everyone starts to plan for their own future, and upon discussion some say they will work even harder to become the number 1 K-Pop idol; then Jessica tells the members about her grand plan, “I want to start a company, and I’m going to overtake you guys by working twice as hard”. This is definitely shocking news for the rest, “Eh, but you didn’t have any ambitions before? Why are you so motivated and driven all of a sudden?”

“Yes I’ve changed, you guys have a problem with it? I’m going to start working much harder. I’ve spent year after year without jobs allocated to me, this cannot go on anymore, can’t I start living my life without regrets from now on?”

“NO. Absolutely NOT.” I’m not sure if you have experienced it before but it happened to me. I’m generally an easy-going person and it’s not because I don’t care, but it’s simply because I don’t want others to feel threatened by thinking I’m trying to snatch anything away from them. Call me stubborn but I want to be appreciated by my superiors based on my own merits. Jessica was in SNSD for 7 years, it’s hard to believe she has no ambition at all. She trained for 7 long years, and she wouldn’t have been able to persevere if she hadn’t dreamed of success. Would she have been able to persevere if she didn’t have the passion for singing? But when she didn’t make the cut and was not selected to be part of SNSD’s subunit in 2012, her position as 2nd lead vocalist was clearly threatened. TTS comes to mind whenever people mention SNSD’s vocal line, but where was Jessica? There was no Jessica. If I put myself in her shoes, knowing that I obviously love singing, knowing that I obviously should have gotten it, and knowing that I obviously should have been acknowledged, but I was forgotten instead. You can only imagine how dejected she would have been. I can completely understand her reason for wanting to work something out for herself, but that doesn’t mean everyone else would understand or even see eye-to-eye with her.

Take me for example. I was lazy during my high school days, but suddenly realize I couldn’t go on like this during my 3rd year, so I started working very hard. But my best friend turned against me and her reason was, “why did you become so serious suddenly? I feel uncomfortable being around you, being your friend makes me feel so stressed out now.”

I was disgusted. You were always working hard whereas all I did was laze around previously, and now that I’ve started working hard, you suddenly think I got too serious? You already feel threatened even before I started working hard?

I experienced this first hand so I can understand the situation perfectly, and especially after I read Jessica’s official statement. I’m not trying to point fingers, but we tend to evaluate our friends. We are used to having friends being worse off or equal, but never better than us. Especially if said friend used to be a lazy person who suddenly decided to work hard. The anxiety and fear caused by this sudden revelation is enough to send you into a state of panic.  

That is exactly what Jessica did, she sent her 8 members into a state of panic, and they could have kept their annoyance to themselves, but someone decided to aggravate the issue. Once it was brought up and pondered over, the situation turned for the worse. They convinced themselves that her decision would affect the group instead of it being about their own fear of knowing she was going to have a brighter future than them. It’s easy to come up with a bunch of bollocks as excuses since you can’t speak about your toxic thoughts. Like my friend who said “You’ve changed, you didn’t used to care about your future”. Of course I needed to change, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have a future. Are you telling me this was what my friend wanted me to be? A useless bum?

Jessica must have been so traumatized when the members made her choose between SNSD and her business. “We reached a mutual understanding after discussing about it, you guys even congratulated me, so why is it that you guys are forcing me to choose now?” Jessica has her ‘character flaws’ and it shown at this time, she is too iron-willed, stubborn, and it feels almost impossible to get her to back down. The more you threaten and force her to yield, the tougher she becomes. Her inability to come to terms with their sudden change of mind and the members’ unwillingness to compromise led to this fight. SM chose to watch silently and not act as a mediator in this fight since they will anger the other party if they were to pick sides, so they let them work it out among themselves.

It’s such a shame that something like this happened to SNSD when it’s time to enjoy their success. The members probably held numerous meetings among their respective cliques. The more they thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed to them. The more publicity her brand got, the more absurd it felt. The more they understood the scale of her ambition, the more panicky they got. This kind of panic wasn’t jealousy, it was simply because they couldn’t get used to this supposedly ‘new and improved’ Jessica, and also partly stemmed from their own selfishness. “I can stay beside you forever, but, you cannot ever surpass me, especially not materialistically.” When the members demanded Jessica to stop all her plans, Jessica said she already invested heavily and there was no way she could drop everything just like that. Everything came to a standstill. On one hand, the members felt like Jessica has changed, “you didn’t use to be like this, you were never this driven and ambitious”, while on the other hand, Jessica felt threatened, “We have been together for 10 years, shouldn’t you guys support me unconditionally?”

So did they try to work it out? They did. Jessica continued posting material related to the members in September, but the members began to take an even tougher stance. I believe the situation wouldn’t have reached such a terrible state if someone didn’t aggravate the situation. Lee Soo Man would have attempted to appease everyone and not let any malicious person cloud the members’ judgement. The reason why any malicious person would succeed in driving a wedge between them was because the 9 of them were no longer like before, they have their own cliques now, their own circle of friends, and have their own career paths to take. There is no way to know who the malicious people who instigated them were, but they definitely existed. The success of Jessica’s brand may not have a significant impact on the members, but if Jessica succeeded in both entertainment and fashion industries, it might have a strong effect on the people behind the team. This fight looks like a 1 vs 8 from the outside, but in actual fact, it’s a conflict of personal interests that involved many others. It’s a shame they didn’t manage to keep their promise of being together forever. After considering the future revenue and benefits of 1 vs 8 without Lee Soo Man helming SM’s management team, and taking Sulli’s incident as a guide, it was easy to use a similar setup for Jessica’s dismissal. So they acceded to the 8 members’ demands, and then informed Jessica she was excluded from all future SNSD activities. They were going to use health as a reason for Jessica’s absence, and let her slowly fade away.

All 3 (Jessica, members, SM) parties were at fault.

Jessica was overconfident thinking the members would never go to the extent of kicking her out, so she used the delay-tactic and hoped the conflict would work itself out with time. She also over-estimated Kim Young Min’s trustworthiness by thinking she could disregard the members’ opposition by gaining Kim Young Min’s word of approval. As we all know, Jessica got played. If she hadn’t gotten his word of approval, she might have taken the members’ state of anxiety into consideration and not daringly leave the country to attend to personal matters. But Kim Young Min was definite and gave her his word, then he turned his back on her the moment she left the country. He broke down her defences and caught her off guard. Jessica’s overconfidence caused her to overlook the immediate danger and she was caught in an awkward predicament, like a drowned mouse.

As for the members, they cracked under pressure and gave in to their anxiety by blowing things out of proportion, thinking their conflict with Jessica was beyond repair. It escalated from simply not being used to seeing your friend become so driven suddenly, to the road of no return, because there wasn’t a mediator to alleviate the situation, and they were played by the people who used their emotions against them by clouding their judgement. I think there were neutral members who kept their opinions to themselves, and by keeping quiet they were inadvertently agreeing to whatever decision was being made. I think the neutral members were YoonA, Seohyun, Hyoyeon, and Sunny. YoonA is known for her high EQ, she is not the sort to take an active role especially in situations like such whereby she would likely offend either party. During a rehearsal around the time this fight was going on, she didn’t dare to interact with Jessica openly but they still made eye contact. In a Hong Kong interview around mid-September, she blatantly said she wasn’t the one who started or instigated this matter. As for Seohyun, she had always been cordial with Jessica, being the youngest in the group, her words didn’t weigh as much. When Jessica attended the <I Love that Crazy Little Thing> presscon, a reporter asked if she knew Seohyun was in Beijing too, and she answered “Yes”. This was a huge contrast to when she was asked if she knew Yuri was in Hong Kong, where Jessica replied “Oh she is? I didn’t know”. When asked if they were going to meet up, she replied “I don’t think so”. Her attitude was very different. Another possibility could be that her anger has slowly dissipated with time. Perhaps Jessica simply doesn’t care as much anymore, so her approach to such questions have changed too. As for Sunny, she remained passive since there wasn’t a need for her to instigate anything, because she had nothing to gain from this fight due to her special status. Nothing can change the fact that she is Lee Soo Man’s niece, and her attitude after 930 says it all. She seemed like she got sick of this supposed sisterly bond. Lastly Hyoyeon, being one of the less popular members aside, most importantly, her life motto is “it’s okay, everything’s going to be fine”. She tends to make peace with whatever situation. Jessica once said Hyoyeon gave similar advice to her before. There are similarities between these 4 members, they are neutral by nature and are not good at expressing themselves. Perhaps they have minimal conflict of interests with Jessica, or perhaps their family backgrounds are not too far off from Jessica, or perhaps their talent and field of interests are different from Jessica, so they don’t clash.

But it’s such a shame because everyone has grown up, so their way of thinking and doing things won’t be what you always see in fairytales, where they will thrive and survive against all odds. They can only obey the majority, obey the most outspoken people. Because of the fear of being singled out saying they are antisocial by not following the masses, and also the fear for their future, most importantly the fear that they will not get to enjoy their share of the pie, their share of the success that was made possible by the contribution of all 9 members.

On the morning of 930, Jessica completely gave up hope and did not follow through with SM’s plan (to say her absence was due to health reasons) when the members made such a grave and heartless decision. Let’s imagine, if any of the members had cried and threw a fit, 930 may not have gone down the way it did. Well I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and think that they didn’t waste 14 years of their lives for nothing.

Reality is cruel, even though most fans understand, they don’t want to accept reality. But we have to admit that idols hide all their problems behind their smiles, and behind their smiles is a world of pain that even they themselves don’t want to confront. It is best to not let such darkness and negativity swallow you up, because once you let it get to your heart, you will definitely crumble.

As for SM, their mistake was taking Jessica for a fool thinking they could pull the same trick twice without her figuring out how it’s done. You used the same tactic on Choi Sulli, and then you go tell Jessica, “Hey, Jessica babe, we intend to use the same tactic on you, so please don’t show up for the fanmeet today okay? Don’t show up for future SNSD activities too because you are no longer a part of the group, but please keep it a secret and don’t tell anyone, let’s take it one step at a time.” Can you guess Jessica’s reaction and next course of action? As the saying goes, even an angry bunny bites back, moreover Jessica is a cat. \(-_- )/

With Jessica’s character, she was definitely not going to be a sitting duck just waiting to get slaughtered, and this was also the reason why she was not made the leader. Her life motto is “follow my heart”. A popular artiste once said that no agency was willing to sign him and their reason was that they needed their artistes to be obedient so they could exercise control over them easily, and they should be someone who can’t survive in the industry upon leaving the agency. But he is a highly intelligent man of many talents who can survive on his own even if he leaves the entertainment industry. Jessica will never fall for SM’s tricks like Sulli did because she doesn’t do things against her own will and conscience. Perhaps Kim Young Min didn’t have a good grasp of every artiste’s personalities and thought he could use the same trick on Jessica. So the situation turned into a farce. Drama ensued and Jessica revealed the truth so everyone can have a clear view of what really went down.

3- Backstabbed her former members? Backstabbed by agency and former members?

I think Jessica got backstabbed, so she retaliated and gave them a taste of their own medicine. Let’s be logical, what would you do if you got backstabbed? Smile and let it pass? This is what a monk would do, not how commoners like us would react. The reason why I said Jessica got backstabbed: firstly Jessica posted on weibo at 5am when it wasn’t too long after she got informed of her dismissal. She was absolutely infuriated at this time, perhaps she witnessed the members carrying on with their preparation for the Shenzhen fanmeet as if nothing happened after notifying her of her dismissal. Or perhaps she didn’t even get to see the members after receiving a message for her dismissal, and all the members were not contactable. No matter what happened, it definitely had significant impact on a person who thought there was still room for negotiations. Moreover the people who informed you (be it in person or by written notice) had been your friends for more than a decade. Both scenarios are unthinkable and unbearable but unfortunately, either of this scenario must have happened. I have this conclusion because in both of SM’s and Jessica’s official statements, "company and members" were mentioned. If the rumors are real, it could be less hurtful if Jessica was notified face-to-face, rather than simply receiving a written notice to leave the group, and then go on to find out that all members were uncontactable. Jessica deserved to be treated with at least minimum respect, and granting her a face-to-face settlement is the proper way.

Regardless of what went down, the person who received such news would feel absolutely helpless and angry, and it is no surprise that it led to Jessica’s post on Weibo. Perhaps you think you can handle such news without getting into a frenzy, then good for you, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. What about Jessica? She was once asked about Sooyoung and YoonA’s relationships and she said, “if the members were not informed beforehand and only got to know when the news break out, then that’s rude.” This was exactly what happened to her, and the sheer anger she felt was a tell-tale sign of who the real backstabbers were. Long-time Sones will tell you Jessica is cold and not to be trifled with, something they derived from media reports and the image that SM tailormade for her. I feel that she doesn’t have an overly vibrant personality and is also not easily fooled. She doesn’t accept being shortchanged. How can we be all smiles after being backstabbed repeatedly unless you are Mother Mary? Some would say she did that because she anticipated SM’s actions and wanted to gain the upperhand. Guys, this is not the way to do it. It doesn’t always mean you have the upperhand just because you did something first.

The《Old Book of Tang》has two examples on “take the initiative is to gain the upper hand”, but two different results, positive case - Tang Long coup and negative case - Li Chongjun rebellion case, in the concept of time they are both the first, why they had different fates? Because Li Chongjun at most was a person with a temporary meaning of indignation, and ignored the definition of the first start is " to surprise the enemy". However, Li Longji's “take the initiative is to gain the upper hand” was way better because his "sudden attack when enemy aren’t prepared" such steady ruthless behavior style.

So let’s take a look, did Jessica’s behavior really was “strikes first and gains the advantage”? In fact, from this point in time, you can see, Jessica has no wisdom as Li Longji when she was in the middle of such situation, my analogy may make people feel funny, how is an idol comparable to an emperor of Tang dynasty? Of course not. Return to the matter, what I mean is that 25-year-old Jessica Jung failed with her “strike first”, and it even created dangers for her future situation.

Jessica’s statement was posted at 5:00 AM, but SM released the official statement until 1:00 PM, I would like to ask, is it really “strike first and get advantages” that you gave your opponent such a long time difference? Do you all think that after informing Jessica to leave the group in the early morning, SM’s PR all went back to sleep? Obviously no. Not to mention at 5:00 AM the rest of the members must have got up and got ready to go to Shenzhen in the morning for the fan meeting. We can also see what SM was doing for up to seven hours from the trend of news later. Yes, they began their fancy performance of manipulating the media and news, if you are interested, you can search up, they really calculated every step well.

Since SM informed that Jessica to leave the group, SM must have prepared to solve the aftermath. SM is the No.1 of Korea showbiz and deals with this kind of things for many times, its PR is the strongest and fastest among the three big entertainment companies, you have to admit that inside of SM there’s a complete PR crisis management mechanism model, and this is why the artists who are blocked by SM will never enjoy the status that other artists have. Isn’t there JYJ Law? Yes, but do you see it works? No. We can understand these common senses, as a member of SNSD, a senior artist under SM, wouldn’t Jessica understand all these? She does, it’s just she has to release her emotions.

It is a normal thing, but Jessica react without any time difference, it gives SM a chance to twist the truth and catch breath which gets her into a bad fix, we’re all familiar with the story of “three men talking makes a tiger” (repeated rumor becomes a fact), when most of the media of the country talk about something in a certain way, as someone who does not know the facts, will you believe the media or a litigant who was smeared? To a great extent, the media is the eyes and ears of civilians, people will trust everything the media report, I have watched a Korean movie “Defender”, the lawyer in it was actually defending for the children who got framed, but the media twisted the facts and call the lawyer a bad guy who is bribed, from this, we can see that media can really so someone wrong or even put them to death.

That is why I say that Jessica is actually not the people who catch all the ball before the bound because she posted this statement under her impulsive anger, she did not think too much nor did she prepared anything to protect herself, and that gives the opponent a perfect chance to flip the card.

If I was Jessica, and I really wanted to ruin SNSD like some people said, I would announce publicly that it was the company and members forced me out and wanted me to take the blame when everything is ready, on the evening of the SNSD fan meeting, when the members who attend the fan meeting followed the script and say that I cannot make it to the fan meeting because of sickness. What do you think? I would call that perfect.

Come, everybody, let’s take a minute and think, is the situation that I suggested “pre-emptive”, or post the news at 5 AM and give the company and PR plenty of time to get ready “pre-emptive”?

“Isn’t mentioning members means that members knew about it and even pushed it behind?” Many people who saw Jessica’s Weibo posts thought like that. Of course what we think is not important, what matters is what Korean people think and how they choose. Alright, even people believe this statement and know it is not Jessica’s fault, so what? Because it is impossible for them to condemn their bias, it is also impossible to condemn a party of eight because of a party of one, and it is impossible to allow SNSD - the name card of Korea - get dirt on it, so, sorry we have to blame you. So we see a very funny thing that under the news about Jessica, in the Korean comment section, as long as there’s a news about Jessica, they always leave negative comments and hates, but the only exception is when she releases her album, people comment with good word to affirm her singing skill, is it her singing skill that good, good enough to overcome all those hates before? All the people who always comment her with bad word suddenly stopped on the day? I don’t think so.

Compared with the announcement came later from SM, the content of Jessica’s Weibo posts are really simple and clear, it’s just like, “I can’t meet you at 10:00 PM tomorrow because my friends don’t allow me, I can’t go now”, such a casual and normal message, I feel so funny when I see those “betray” arguments.

“In the end, it is just whose fan you are, you stand by whom, isn’t it?” Yes, I agree with that, but it’s obvious there’s right and wrong between standpoints, and I feel right to stand on the standpoint of Jessica to make sense of this issue. We may as well imagine it, if Jessica only mentioned the company and did not mention members, will her ending change? No, SM had already prepared many public notices for her, say that she is just selfish and wanted to leave, sooner or later, fans of SNSD will believe this allegation and turn to condemning Jessica. But if Jessica didn’t mention members, will rest of the members and fans end differently? Yes, because like that, the reputations of other eight members would not suffer a bit, and their fans can continue to follow their bias without any guilt, meanwhile, criticize Jessica who got kicked out from time to time.

Can people be so selfish to such great degree? Just for your self-interests, you can step on other people’s genuineness and yell at other people said that he or she is setting you up?

Apparently in today’s society, speaking the truths is betrayal, and telling lies and empty words is honesty.

4- Prepared to leave the group? Whom to blame for losing group spirit? (SNSD fans)

Before I get to the main point, I still want to emphasize, the truth is the more you debate about it, truer you will find it is, put it anywhere works the same. Started with this post, fans from every side started to put on a show, both sides hold strongly to their arguments, looking back, the truth is actually crystal clear. 

Here I want to introduce the background of both sides, first, Jessica’s side, obviously her bias fans. And another side, are they really group fans, I don’t really think so, at least official SNSD fansites didn’t state they are OT8, and I believe, those who separate Jessica and SNSD from the beginning are definitely not group fans, I asked those who were group fans back then, they struggled inside for a long time, didn’t know whether to believe Jessica’s post or not, but they never publicly showed which side they chose. But at that time, bias fans with their hearts belong to someone have already started to choose side, what did Jessica’s leaving exposed, it exposed the inside structure of SNSD’s Chinese group fans has already turned from mostly group fans to mostly bias fans, I see that some people who become SNSD’s fans later or just became a group fan a while ago complain that Jessica made SNSD’s fans lost their group spirit, I want to say that you misunderstood, SNSD’s group fans were already losing to the bias fans of the three popular aces (Tae, Yoon, Sic), the only difference is to see it falling apart on the surface or storming under the waves.

So, at the beginning both arguing sides’ backgrounds, put it plainly, is just three popular aces’ bias fans divided into two sides and fight, only this time one side picked up “group fan” such noble weapon. Group fans’ noses got pulled by others, this is why someone became nobody’s fan, because group fans have no enough strengths to fight three aces’ bias fans, the purpose of one side is to explain the issue of Jessica leaving the group, another side wanted to shame about Jessica’s leaving, group fans were forced to choose a side, some people chose SNSD for a more certain future, some people chose Jessica for their reconciled minds. Some people didn’t choose because SNSD died after 930, eight people are still SNSD is just nonsense, what you like is it just the brand of SNSD, SM’s strategy? Let them say whatever they want to say, let them manipulate whichever way they want to manipulate? So after that, OT7, OT6? Till there’s no one left? Looking at those people who chose the side right after and desperate Jessica out of the group but also claim themselves as group fans, I feel chilly at my back, since when the meaning of group fans became following the brand and the name? What is more disappointing, that those people became OT8, and for proving their choice are correct, they started to seek for excuses.

First, “unexpectedly, got informed suddenly” this point got griped by every bias fans group led by SNSD’s two big aces bias fans and zoomed in, they found that before and after the middle of September, some words said by some of the leaders of Jessica’s fans, they think that Jessica leaving the group is well-known among people, but herself didn’t know about it, it is such a show. About this, I want to use a metaphor don’t know if it is appropriate. I remember in 《西窗法雨》(a Chinese book about law) there is a famous case in England, 19th century, the “crew murder” case, it’s about a ship crossing ocean and the ship got into shipwreck, there were only four people left, a kid drank sea water and was about to die, and there’s no more food left on the ship, so the captain had an idea, egged other people to kill the kid and save himself. This case is a very famous case in Case Law, I alter it a little bit, for example, there are three people on the ship, the ship is leaking and they have to through one people out, at that time, the other two have already decided to through A away, but the A who got chosen to be through away do not comply, he grabbed onto the ship, he is negotiating with the people on the ship, maybe there’s some other way to solve the problem instead of having to through him into the ocean. This is a survival instinct, everyone is like this, someone asks how can he be so stupid, that’s because you are not on the ship, you don’t know for A now, leaving the ship means death.

People around who cares about the ship are watching, too, they got to know about the situation a little earlier than those who were watching from the shore far away and waiting for the ship to return, but due to their love for the ship and their respect to A, they didn’t send out the information that they know about beforehand, they just turn around to those people on the shore who cares and complain, “maybe this time when they come back there will be no more A”, because they knew that A may not pass this difficulty, but meanwhile, people all have some hope, A had hope, he thought that people on the ship may consider his suggestion, they will take him back home together, people who care about A, thought that A has the ability to make things turn around. All of sudden, someone on the ship found a tool and threw A into the ocean, what a clean cut. This is way beyond the expectation of A and people around who cares.

May I ask, for A, is it the suddenness and panic that he felt at that moment he got through away conflicts with the idea that he knew he may get through away? This moment that A got through away caused people around who knew about the situation anger and indignation, is it conflicts with the action of telling people on the shore “don’t wait, A may not make it” when they saw A struggling?  

So, got informed all of a sudden conflicts with there were disagreements among members and leaving the group was about to happen? No. Is it the anger and shocking they have when actually see a confirmed statement of having to leave the group conflicts with that some head of fans knew some inside news in the middle of the month and complain about it on Weibo? No.

So, where did the argument of premeditation come from? Form the mouths of OT8 who purposely making a clearly “got forced out of the group” issue into “leaving the group on her free will”, why do they do that, because they couldn't face the fact that “my idol was involved in this act of forcing someone to leave”, what’s funny is that a lot of smaller/younger fans got pulled away, followed such idea and believed in it, yelling about that Jessica wanted to leave, making me a new fan feel embarrassing. An argument can be so easily laid bare, surprisingly got make into the truth for so long. This really fulfills those OT8’s purpose of saying such thing.

Second, I remember that I have read some Jessica’s Weibo posts about parting the group, at first on Weibo there weren't so many complaints about “8 others”, and then I verified about it, this argument was brought up on that afternoon, why needed verify, because when I came into the fandom this actually became a main point of such debate, what can I say, this just makes me laughing me tears out. At first, when I encounter such argument I even thought about it carefully, this can only blame the word “others” which wouldn’t be controversial in any other language besides Mandarin. This is not that I am boasting Mandarin and despising English, this complaint about “others” really need to blame that Mandarin is so broad and profound, one speaking tone has one explanation, whatever you want to think, whatever you want to say, you can always find a version. In addition, Jessica also posted Korean version, this time about how to translate group members nobody seemed to care. OT8 tirelessly bring up “8 others”, make me feel confused. The word “others” upsets who? Does it really have so many deep meanings that they need to bring that up every time talking about parting the group? It is necessary to make up explanations and twist her words just to make it fit into the meanings you wanted it to mean when she didn’t even know about the Mandarin translation of that word?

But soon after, when I see more and more such arguments, I realized even though such argument seems very unreasonable but how smart it is, this is just an ulterior motive, how many others doesn’t matter, what matters is that Jessica mentioned members in her statement, why keep following a group if it is not what you sign up for any more? It is that Jessica mentioned members in her statement made OT8 angry, no other reasons just because she broke the “my idol is innocent” image in their minds, because it would make their idols get involved. The best solution is to draw in those group fans who were swinging, create a “Jessica is the villain” image, don’t allow you to rethink why Jessica would mention members, what was the background story, just a simple word “others”, drawing those swinging group fans whose bias was not Jessica, and also got Jessica fans attention, it was a righteous and clear statement, after that they keep grabbing onto that word and make up explanations.

Seriously, fandom wars are most splendid when comes to crisis PR.

Today, I return this strange argument about “others” back to OT8, also advise Jessica’s fans no need to explain so many grammars or translations, this is just a tool they use for brainwashing, how possibly they don’t know about those. Also, among all those whitewash reasons, only this one works the best, because it will not be refuted as time passes, it is just a word, no need for proof, all they need to use is their hypocritical whiny to blame her.

Third, why Jessica posted on Weibo, my idea since I got into the fandom has not changed till now, although there was some intention to come develop in China, but that intention didn’t develop just then, but in 2013, this intention was developed not only because Jessica herself wanted to come to China, but the whole SM had a strategic incline to China after 2013, our country’s market is huge and strong, and K-POP market was not saturated, it was in its heyday, it was a wonderful choice for SNSD which needed to develop a new market, so we could see that after 2013, SNSD had more and more activities leaning towards China, also in 2014 tested the water on TV shows and national tour, so someone needs to open up the popularity for SNSD as pioneer, SM needed Jessica’s intention to be the pioneer, so there could be a signal that she’s developing in China. Why choose Jessica, is to balance the 3 top aces, especially Jessica and Taeyeon, they have similar positions, both are main vocals, but there are only so many resources, if you got it, I won’t have it, if I got it, you won’t get any, competing for so many years, put Jessica to China in an appropriate way, is a strategy to ease the conflicts a little bit. SM did some good calculations, it is the same reason later putting Yoona to replace Jessica’s position on opening up Chinese market, it’s always choosing paths for SNSD’s future consumption, if it wasn’t for the Korea’s ban, with Yoona’s fluent Chinese, leading SNSD to gaining more fans in China is no problem. Meanwhile, to keep aces conflicts from happening, Taeyeon have never entered the Chinese market.

Also, she did not have any other social media back then, it is unrealistic to make a new account just for posting this thing, getting verified would take a while, she would not have the mood to set up a new account, and the first post is, "excuse me everyone, I am no longer a part of the group", no one would do that, unless their brains not working, serious face.

On top of that, why not posted within Korea, I am wondering about this, too, within Korea itself, why don’t they design their own social media app? You just making celebrities have no choice when they want to announce something, got no sense of privacy that it is exclusive to my country, everyone uses INS, once it’s posted the whole world know about it, so not low-key. All right enough sidetrack, you guys all know that Korea doesn’t have its own social media, then someone says, isn’t there some official website comment section? Oh so you got kicked of SNSD, and then you went to SNSD official website and leave a comment saying that I got kicked out, how awkward and embarrassing is that. Jessica was angry, but not ruthless. Or tell the media, let them publish news overnight, but is media any good? Your statement is just about that I got forced out, but media which always likes to add oil onto fires, their news may be like “Shocking! Jessica got pushed out of the group by members, members shouting ‘if you’re going then I’m not going’!”

Last but not least, also the most understandable reason, why posting on Weibo, because she needs to inform Chinese fans, originally she was going to Shenzhen fan meeting that day, but she could not go now, who else should she tell besides Chinese fans? Tell Japanese fans? Sorry I couldn’t come to the Shenzhen fan meeting tomorrow. Japanese fans would be like: where is Shenzhen? Of course you tell the fans in that country what is going on about me within that country, such simple reason, still got many criticisms, I even feel sorry for her.

5- Fans turn into haters VS. Tool career?

A few days ago, Korea had a vote about fans turn into haters on DC, I saw that Jessica gloriously got listed again, the reason is still the one I talked about in the beginning - marriage blalalala, selfishly leaving the group blalalala, really, if this is not called love, what else is? In fact, if a fan being fan for a long enough time, he or she will become the head of fans, get to know a lot of things that people would not know, but also have to keep a lot of secrets that people do not know about, because to some extent, your relationship with this idol is difficult to unbound, your love towards them may not be as strong as before, the reason why you stick to it is because you can make profits out of each other. According to group fans and individual strong-biased fans, before the whole thing of parting the group, all the fansites higher-level managements received some signals. What does it mean by received signals? I found the answer later in a Korean Sone’s statement. Received signals means that after the Dispatch’s eighteen questions once was released, they immediately published a "why we do not support Jessica" statement, yes, immediately, the speed of writing is so fast that makes me feel that they didn’t even struggle inside, makes people really sad, when fans in China or other countries are still swinging between OT9 or OT8, Korean Sones have already given out a statement, told Jessica, they no longer choose to support her, I don’t want to post all those logic errors of that statement out here to have you joke about them, I just recommend everyone do not take it serious about the group spirit and statement of Korean people, in their eyes, what idol really is, do not matter, they can support them today and against them tomorrow, It seems very easy for them to issue a “stop supporting” statement, because the status of Korea idols is just too low, and they are not actually loving the idol, is that brand, is the kind of marketing only.

When Jessica Jung leaves you can do that, you can do it again when Jessica Zhang leaves, all that you will ever publish is only "Why don't we support xxx".

Forget about justice, what we want is to a definite career of following idols, just the brand a company created, as for who is a member in there, how she’s vividly alive, it doesn’t matter.  

This is K-POP, the individual appears insignificant under the flow, they are just tools, they are just some dispensable parts which made up the whole valuable industry.

6- When is the end of “you” and SNSD? Is the argument of exploiting childish or not?

Before the talking about the argument of exploiting, I want to talk about some facts that I got “brainwashed” heavily after I got into SNSD, and later I find out those sayings are not true.

1. Jessica invested 40 million dollars into her company, but there is no official statement proving that.

2. Jessica was back to Korea in the early morning, it was in the early morning, but it was the early morning of 29th, not the 30th as SONEs said.

3. Yoona and Taeyeon scapegoat for “Lan Kwai Fong”, in Korea there was no any public comments on that, the news of Yoona and Taeyeon came from Hong Kong Apple Daily, there was one version stated Jessica went to Lan Kwai Fong, but the most news was pointing at Yoona and Taeyeon. The “scapegoat” argument was just nonsense. Because that back-view never matched a front face, you can not say that the main character was Tyler Kwon and now he is close to Jessica, and you just inferring it was Jessica, such way of interpretation is, emm, unintelligible. Or here’s another example, one day the police came and arrested you, the reason is that your friend killed someone, the murder crime that your friend did three years ago just got solved, now you and your friend are so close, then you guys must be complicity and did that together. If such interpretation got put onto your head, do you think is reasonable?

So in the whole K-POP fandom, come to convincing, I was convinced most by SONEs, like for me I didn’t know, a lot of things got carried away by their comments, if I didn’t have a brain which likes to think, maybe my standpoint could have got lead astray.

And in SNSD, there are three people that I admire the most, one is Yoona Im, very high EQ, if she did something, she would tell everyone in the world obscurely that she did it, if she tried, she would tell you she tried without revealing she’s showing off. Also, she never be the one in the whirlpool center, no matter who fell down, she is always still and steady, in SNSD, she actually never wanted to be the thorn in everyone’s eyes, always trying to desalinate that she is in the ACE position, as you all know from interviews, Yoona has always emphasized the saying that “popularity is like seasons.” So many people say that her EQ is high, she is an idol who packaged herself very exquisitely, if you want to follow someone without getting any negative energy, personality setting never falls, always positive and upwards, this person is definitely the best choice, she will never show you the negative side, because she never reveals her true self.

Another one is Jessica Jung, what characteristic that people most afraid of a person, it’s tenacity, is resurrection after death. Maybe someone would say what’s the big deal of it, here here here, the keyboard is yours, you type. Not everyone would be able to face the same “out of group” thing and then come back up again, somebody may go down the wrong pathway. You may not want to admit, but it is true, that she is too notionate, making her road very rough and meandering, she lives very real, she exposes her real “follow my heart” to the public, some people can accept it, some people gnash their teeth in hatred, in the end, it’s just because she can live according to her heart, but most of us, can’t. If you want to follow someone who can help you cultivate yourself and become godly, toughen your personality, and polish your nature, this one would be a good choice. After all, so many blame since debut, but Jessica’s attitude is: no explanation. Never explain, got wronged and got blamed, but she never uses explanation to solve problems. Living in such attitude for long, no wonder becoming godly.

Here I want to say something, actually I do not so agree with Jessica’s way, but seems like she doesn’t have other option. Korean media making her their stunt, after she knew about it, she didn’t say like “hey, my agent company, let’s do a classification or something”, but like “you guys like change my words, right? OK, I will never accept your interviews.” During the first album, because she let Korean medias interviewed her, Jessica suffered on the first day of coming back, later during the second album, she chooses to not taking any Korean media’s interview, no explanation+no intercommunication, even though she’s living by following her heart, but it is a heartbreaking response.

The third one is Taeyeon Kim, this one no doubt should get praise, from background perspective, her family situation is relatively bad among SNSD or most trainees, it’s not like if your family owns a glasses store then you are rich or in middle class, if your civil teacher sees it he or she will criticize you. We (Chinese people) yet care about social status and family class, not to mention Korea is a Capitalism country with our ancient Confucianism influences, over there the class differences are absolutely obvious. But she could use such natural family advantage to make her stand on a winning ground. Some people say she is sensitive, that’s true if it was you, can you not be sensitive? You are not the most good-looking one, not the richest one, there’s plenty of people in the company with excellent singing skill, if one thing that makes you stand out, it is the pureness and obedience, follow company’s decision unconditionally, as I just talked about, SM likes some “nobody” who would listen, she totally qualify for that, no wonder she gets to promote a lot. Also, compared to Yoona Im, Taeyeon Kim would rather show her vulnerability, you would think she’s real, she needs your attention and love, such realness makes her go further. If you want to follow someone who inspires you, who has big dreams, recommend you follow Taeyeon Kim, absolutely an encouragement machine.

OK, now let’s talk about the argument of exploiting, actually “exploit” is pretty much fans’ wishful thinking, whether is the fans of SNSD right now or Jessica’s fans, are using this argument tirelessly, but in fact, technically no one is being exploited. If there is someone (something) is being exploited, is the big pie.

No matter it’s nine or one people, they all have the right and they are enjoying the big pie. Subjectively or objectively, the big pie is the subject of exploit.

Why there’s “former SNSD” title before Jessica’s name from time to time, why in the interview she always got asked how it is after leaving SNSD? Because the band of SNSD is so grand, the brand that those nine people built is so controversial, it’s so necessary for gossips, you think Jessica would really want to hear about these questions? I don’t think so, but you think the media would really never mention it? That’s definitely impossible because it is a stunt that could be dug out from Jessica, it is the point of entertaining of an entertainment industry star, don’t mention this, do you want to ask Jessica what did you eat today? Even if they ask that, will the volume of sales and attention be greater than mentioning the stunts or gossips that people interested in? No.

Same reason, why every time the 8 people SNSD has something happen, Jessica would be mention, accompany them without physically being there? Because in everybody’s heard, they still did not forget that this group is nine people. Everyone is treating this issue with a mindset like “it’s OK, we can still dig out something from it.” So CMIYC nine people MV got leaked out before SNSD’s comeback, Sooyoung Choi used lyrics from “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” to answer the question about Jessica apart the group in the interview of SNSD 10th anniversary, if no surprise, before the 10th anniversary there will be a series of practice room video being released, all from unofficial channels, but the officials are behind it. As I said, “exploit” is naive children’s idea, their interests are related is the reason why they can not leave the other side alone.

Do you guys remember what it was like during Jessica first solo come back, this side Jessica just announced that she will be coming back in the middle of May, the next day SM daddy is telling everyone, “hey guys, Tiffany is coming back on May 11th. Surprise or not? Unexpected or not?” Well done my SM daddy, you can bump someone so confidently and give others an illusion like they are the host instead of the guest, if I was Jessica’s company, I would be so offended that I will be vomiting blood for three gallons, obviously it was us announced first, now you making us so passive. But SM daddy didn’t just stop there, they saw your teaser, and hired the same American backup dancers as you, backup dancers is just doing business, no big deal, but have you consider Tiffany’s feeling? Win or lose, what’s the point? That’s two old friends who fought together for 10 years, pulling them out and making them opponents, is it really delightful?

No, but the company is just company, they don’t care about your personal feeling. So we saw that before and after the time of Jessica releasing her album, the dance instructor of SNSD posted such words on her social media, “I am drunk so I don’t know what I am talking about, in my heart, you nine girls have the same importance to me, make my heart hurt.” Oh, so this is a side proof that SM hires those dancers on purpose.

So that’s why when Jessica releasing her winter album, only announced it one week before it came out (I probably remember it correctly), and her MV and everything (He probably mean the teasers) kept confidential until three days before the comeback, just because she didn’t want to bump into Seohyun, this behavior really slapped some people’s faces, those who said that she is definitely going to bump Seohyun, if like the first album, build the publicity first to get people excited and then come back, then maybe Seohyun’s album would be released before or after her comeback time, according to SM daddy’s habit, should be before her, this way creates an illusion that I released it first, you followed me, you are taking advantage of me, but this time Jessica made a sudden come back, very little pre-publicity, SM couldn’t finish producing Seohyun’s album within one week, so there was no second bumping, some people got slapped on the face, and then said that it is intentional, she is just afraid to bump into Seohyun, err, so for people who hate you, no matter what you do, you don’t even have a way to make them not hate you.

Some people ask, Jessica, when will be the end of you and SNSD?

Probably when SNSD has no one left, or Jessica leave the industry.

Or as long as Jessica is active, and SNSD is still there, the entanglement will never end, and keep going on and on.

7- My feelings

I just want to tell those restless people: she is no longer a member of SNSD, the fame and profit of SNSD belong to the eight people, but she is the one who was forced out, and the one who bears the pain, please stop accusing someone who literately burst into tears when reading “she’s crying every day” in her sister’s letter that she wanted to leave the group, if someone’s crying just because of one sentence, this can only prove that the scar is way too deep.

I really understand this feeling that you will cry when people mention something touched your heart, I am from a divorced family and always behave strong, everyone thought that I am mature, that’s true too, I have worked really hard to go to college with my efforts, however, whenever someone mentions my parents’ divorce I will cry out loud, just that word “divorce”. Later, I found out a truth:

Everyone has their own scar, people don’t touch, doesn’t mean that it is no longer exist.

I believe that there is some true affection when members of SNSD cried, their relationships last for 14 years at the most, the shortest would be 9 years too, no matter what they would be touched by the scene. But please think about Jessica who has no chance to catharsis the same feeling, since they are on different paths now, if you can’t forget about her, then please don’t act like you care about her but at the same time discrediting her in order to proof that 8 girls are innocent, don’t even say it out loud like you are right, “even though I know that she did nothing wrong, but I would rather follow someone who pretends that everything is peaceful and fine than to forgive someone who exposes her true self.” Such moral is horrible and difficult to understand.

In the end, I want to use the words from Krystal’s letter as my conclusion:

“When I see my sister crying so hard in pain every day,

I wanted to cry, too, I felt so, so sad and heartbreaking.

My sister is such a vulnerable person, will people ever know?”

END.

[hmollik]

A Beginners Guide To Binance Exchange 2019

Binance Exchange 2019 Introduction

Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading for more than 100 different types of cryptocurrencies.

Since early 2018, Binance is considered as one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world in terms of the trading volume.

Binance no longer just a single exchange platform, it has released a lot of updates madee some announcements and has some new offerings in the past year. So here are some of them.

Binance Exchange 2019 Platform

First off for those of you who are in the US it’s been recently announced that Binance has updated their terms of use and stated that Binance is unable to provide services to any US person.

Effective September 12th on 2019, users are not in accordance with Binance’s terms of use.

They will continue to have access to their wallets and funds but no longer able to trade or deposit on Binance.com.

However, Binance Exchange 2019 has also announced that it is formally expanding to the US by a dedicated platform which will be Binance.us.

For those of you either in the UK or Europe, it’s worth mentioning that there’s a new version of Binance which is Binance Jersey or Binance.je. This is where you can buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with GBP or euros.

They also do have Binance Uganda available as well. What I’ll do is I’ll put in a summary below for guidance.

Working in partnership with spinouts is launching a dollar back to the stable coin. The upcoming stable coin which is dubbed as Binance USD will be pegged one to one with the US dollar.

They have also received the blessing from the New York Department of Financial Services.

When it’s launched, verified PAC source customers will be able to purchase B USD tokens directly through the company’s wallet using either U.S. dollars or PACs, which is their own stable coin.

Binance users will also be able to trade USD for bitcoin, Binance Quinn or exile him.

Binance Exchange 2019 App

There is now a Binance mobile app so it allows you to trade anywhere from the palm of your hand and it is available to download from the App Store and from Google Play.

But let’s take a look around Binance.com. So obviously you have the exchange but you also have some other different offerings that are available here now.

So one of those things is you have the academy. So the Academy is a great way for educating yourself on all things crypto and you can see here they have some playlists, some quizzes and other information that you can learn from them. They also have their own wallet.

No, I personally haven’t used this and I don’t have experience with it. Just make sure that whenever you’re going for a new wallet then do your due diligence with those.

Binance Exchange Trading Volume

Now just heading back to Binance.com. They also have this section here called lending. In late August and 2019, Binance launched its own lending platform on a subscription-based service, which was available kind of on a first come first serve basis.

It sold out really quickly, is a value-added service to Binance users who hold idle digital assets.

What it does it allows for Binance Exchange 2019 users to grow their funds by earning interest income for lending out their holdings over a specific period of time.

They split this across different types of phases. So phase one of the lending launches included a 14-day fixed term for BNB U.S. dollar terror and Syria.

And the second released early September included 14 and 28 fixed day terms and added the likes of Cardona and bitcoin to the list.

So, what we could do is just take a look at the markets. And you can see there are different types of markets and crypto pairs that you can trade with.

So, you have the nice of your bitcoin market and you can see all the different pairings that you have available here and there’s a whole host of those.

You don’t have alts market now. These were previously known as a Syrian market. They’ve now been renamed to alts markets so that all the different types of auctions that you can trade with.

You then have your US dollar markets and you have BNB markets. That BNB Binance has its own coin. So when you purchase your crypto using there BNB coin you get money off the fees you pay for the Binance trading it used to be around 50 percent but it is now about 25 percent.

So by using their coin, you can save yourself on some of those trading fees. You can also convert any small fraction of US cryptocurrency that is leftover from a trade which is also known as dust into their Binance coin.

These smaller amounts can be found on your balances so if you go to a wallet, then you go to balance, and then you have the option to convert to a Binance coin.

It states here that you can convert balances with a valuation below zero point 0 0 1 bitcoin to Binance coin.

Binance Exchange 2019 Explained

However, I’ve actually done a full tutorial around how you actually do this. So what I’ll do is I’ll put that in the top right-hand corner now. So now let’s actually go into the Binance exchange 2019 itself.

So for those of you who don’t already have an account you can simply click onto the register button.

However, I do have a log in so I’m going to simply click on to log in here. And if you are logging in for the very first time, you will be asked to enable two-factor authentication and you can do that using either Google authentication or SMS authentication.

The reason why you need to do that is the exchanges are far more likely to get hacked because they have a lot of assets held on them.

So what you want to do is just give yourself that extra level of security. Now, this is just a test count for me today. So all I do is simply go to skip for now.

Then one of the first things you’re going to want to do is actually deposit funds into Binance. So we do that is if you go to the wallet and then go to deposit and what it’ll do is it has this section here. This is a coin and it has bitcoin.

If you click onto the dropdown, you’ll see there are lots of different coins that you can actually deposit into Binance. Now, fortunately, you can actually deposit fiat currency into here but there are a whole host of different types of cryptos that you can.

Is going to keep on bitcoin for the moment. So if you have bitcoin in the likes of a blockchain wallet or an exodus wallet, you’ll then have this address that you can obviously copy or you can show a QR code.

So, what you need to do is send your funds to this bitcoin address. Now one thing to be aware of is that you must ensure that you are only sending bitcoin to this deposit address as sending coins or tokens of bitcoin to this address, may result in the loss of funds.

So, just ensure you are sending the right cryptocurrency to the correct address. And then once your funds are in there then appear within your balance.

Now, if I just scroll up and if I go to exchange under the exchange you have two different types of exchanges, so that you have the advanced and you have basic. Advance allows you to do things like the chart.

But we’re just gonna be focusing on basic today. So if you’re new to cryptocurrencies and you’re a beginner or you’re new to exchanges you might find this whole scheme very daunting.

There’s a lot of different numbers and charts here. So what I’ll do is just take you through the screen.

So, first of all on the top left-hand corner here, we have the type of market that we’re actually looking at the information for.

So, everything that is on this page relates to repel and bitcoin if you want to change that. And if you’re interested in certain different types of market. So I’m just gonna type in XLM here and if I press onto the button it would then change all the corresponding information.

So what it provides me with here is the lost price? It gives me an idea of how that’s changed within a 24 hour period.

It gives me my 24 hours high, 24 hours low and, the volume. Now if this is a pairing that I like to use regularly I can also mark that as one of my favorites so that I don’t have to scroll through every single time.

And then in this red hand section here, is all the sell orders. So it gives me an idea of the price the amount that’s actually being sold and the total in Bitcoin.

And the bottom here is all your buy orders. So, again it gives you exactly the same information on this screen. We then have our chart. So what we have here is we have something called our candles.

So on here, it gives you an idea of some of the buys and some of the highs and some of the lows over a one hour period in terms of trading.

You can also change that to different times so whether that be one day, one week or one month. Then we’ll take a look at the trade history.

So, this is all of the trade history going on in the market at the moment. It gives us our sell orders than any of our buy orders there in green. If you click on to yours, so if you have already traded it will show you all your personal trade history in this section.

Then just taking a look at the exchange itself.

Different types of orders in Binance Exchange 2019

Now, there are different types of orders that you can place within Binance. So they are limit market and a stop-limit orders.

No one to take you through the market, first of all, that’s one of the easiest ones to understand. Just clicking on market there. So what it has here is it says Buy XLM.

So you have bought here on the left-hand side and you have your sell on the right-hand side here. So a market order will basically automatically fill.

So, it will happen absolutely instantly. And what it will do is all you’re doing is you’re buying at the current market price.

So, all you simply need to do is enter the amount that you’d like to purchase or alternatively you can either say you want to have 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, or 100 percent of your bitcoin balance.

Then all you simply need to do is click on to Buy XLM and or buy the type of cryptocurrency that you’re interested in and then that order will automatically fill, and exactly the same rules apply in terms of when you have some XLM that you want to sell.

So you type in the amount of XLM that you’d like to sell or you say 25 percent, 50 percent etc. and then you press on to sell XLM.

This is really good for when you are in a hurry and you want to purchase it immediately. However, this may not necessarily be at the best price.

So what going to do is take you through the limit. What limit does is allows you to define the price you really want a buyer or seller?

So, you have the price in bitcoin here. So what you can do is you can actually edit this, so you may want to say I don’t want to buy this at the market price.

I want to buy that slightly below you then state the amount that you would like to purchase. And it would give you your total amount here in bitcoin.

Now, exactly the same rules apply in terms of selling. So you can sell at a higher price than what the current market is dictating and you can obviously put in the amount that you then want to sell, it’ll give you your total in bitcoin and you can click on to sell.

Now, this may take a little bit of time for the market to reach the price that you’re actually defining here. Now one of the other great things is the fact that you can actually cancel these orders.

So, when you have something like a limit order that doesn’t complete immediately if you find that the market isn’t quite reaching that amount either it’s gone way too high or way too low.

What you can do is you can simply cancel all your orders and then you can resubmit an order. You don’t have something called a stop-limit order.

So stop-limit order is an order to buy or sell a coin. Once the price reaches a specified price. So in here, you can state you want to stop at a certain amount of bitcoin, the amount that you would like to buy your XLM at the total amount you’d actually like to purchase and it would give you your total.

And it’ll do exactly the same in terms of selling as well. Again this won’t obviously be an instant order so you can cancel these at any time.

Now once you’ve purchased your cryptocurrency what you want to do is you want to withdraw that from the exchange.

As I said earlier, they are far more likely to get hacked. The best security practices do stay you should withdraw your funds into your chosen wallet.

So, what I want to do is take you through how you can withdraw your funds?. So if we go to the wallet and then go to withdraw.

Now in relation to withdrawing, there are some fees associated with this as you would do with a lot of different types of exchanges. So what I do is I just take you through that now.

So here you can see any associated withdrawal fee to the different types of coins that are available. There are also minimum withdrawals as well so you can withdraw you know very small amounts.

There are minimums in here as well. But as you can see, there are fees associated with almost all of the different types of currencies in here.

Just take us back to our withdrawal. So in here, first of all, you want to state the coin that you’re withdrawing from Binance. So, that can be your ethereum or it could be your bitcoin.

I’m going to use bitcoin in this example again. So in here what I would now need to do is enter the recipient’s bitcoin address. So you could be withdrawing this from the likes of a software wallet like blockchain or something like more safe like a hardware wallet like the likes of your Ledger S. or Trezor.

So what you’d need to do is put in your recipient bitcoin address. So, you simply paste that into this section here.

You would then put it in the amount that you want to actually withdraw from here or you can click on to the available balance here to withdraw everything from the exchange, you would then click on to submit.

Now one other thing to mention is if you are withdrawing another different type of old coin just be aware and just ensure that the wallet is actually receiving those funds, does support that type of cryptocurrency.

Once you are ready it will tell you where your transaction fee will be. It will cost you the total amount that you will receive and then you can simply click on to submit.

So, that was a run-through of the Binance exchange 2019 as well as some updates and new offerings that they have available. I hope this will be helpful.

To know more visit : https://binancewiki.io/binance-exchange-2019/

[amaliaonly]

Introspeksi One: Iman 2015

1. MCMS

So the first Introspeksi (jeng jeng jengggg). How did Introspeksi all started? Let’s start with MCMS. So every University have its own student clubs and activities. MCMS is one of the student clubs in SIM that is catered to the Malay Muslim student body/community in SIM. Back then (2014) MCMS niche or the so called popular events was either FBC, Islamic Gift Economy (IGE), Cultural Day or Dikir Performance. We didn’t have any theatre production for one of its events since MCMS was formed. So one of my seniors who was in the 8th Executive Committee, Brother Yoda (not his real name) has proposed to the school and initiated the idea for MCMS to have its own theatre production under it. Looking at other Malay Cultural groups from other universities (NUS, NTU/NIE, SMU) they have their very own theatre production. Our strongest cultural activity back then was Dikir Barat where we performed every time the school has Open House or when we have outside events that we participated or other events that needs a Dikir performance. Through Dikir we found that there is a pool of our MCMS members that is interested in Cultural events.

 2. Why Introspeksi came about?

Thus after much proposals/discussions/suggestions/voting’s and workings among the 8th Executive Exco and members of MCMS during that term we thought that maybe having a theatre production can be used as one of its medium events that can use to attract more members to join our club. So firstly Introspeksi was formed/raised or brought up because there was an interest back then from a Dikir Performance to have another niche Cultural Event.  Also another reason why Introspeksi was formed was because we used to have a Dikir Instructor Mr X (not his real name and nope this is not Abang Mok either). So Mr X is (to me) a theatre activist/arts educator who has made works in the Malay media/arts industry. He has made involvement in the Malay theatre scene. He and Brother Yoda thus has discussions about having another event under Cultural programmes besides Dikir and he is willing to contribute in helping build its foundation. I am not really sure what other real discussions/issues among the both of them but the thought and idea of Introspeksi and how Introspeksi should be came from both their ideas. Thus due to the discussion both of them have Introspeksi was formed. I may missed out some other reasons or some things on how Introspeksi was brought up but these two reasons are the reasons that I know off. If you want to find out more DM me to find out who Mr X and Brother Yoda is so you can contact them and ask them more information about it.

3. The foundation and works leading to the building of Introspeksi. (Feb-May)

Having a theatre production with most of the students having no prior experience or knowledge to organise was one of the things that we all were but most of us are a risk taker in which the term we always use back then was “Go je”. So Brother Yoda along with his partner built their committee. The sub-committee was made up of Ex-excos from the 8th Executive Committee, other senior members from other subcomms events, our Dikir Barat members, friends of Brother Yoda and also new faces that joined MCMS. (Okay sorry side track abit) Okay so each event is usually under the term of an Exco Group. So the first Introspeksi was an event under the 9th Executive Committee in which I was part of the excos as Honorary Secretary (just to be clear even if it’s under the 9th, the idea of Intro was formed since the 8th term. It’s just that it was only able to be executed under the 9th term). So every Exco term during our first meeting we have this thing call Calendar of Events where we plot events that we plan to organise throughout our Exco term and who should oversee those events. So Introspeksi was plotted in September and overseeing that event was the Cultural Department and my VP Cultural back then who was the APD of Intro. So yes guys, we have a VP and an Exco herself that leads Intro and I am not sure why now NO EXCO can lead Intro in the future or even be part of it. Eh wait.. Chey kidding actually I know why let me elaborate if I have the chance later on. But heyy even my APD during Ziarah was exco lehh. Ok sorry let’s move on.

So Brother Yoda and our VP Cultural back then thus set out to officially kick-start Introspeksi in February 2015. Okay so one of the things we planned out and should start doing having no experience is to go out and learn from others, take part and also attend and watch a lot of plays. I was so excited that MCMS will have its own theatre production and I was all out in helping the two of them. So the first thing I remember that came knocking on my door was an audition from NUS Pentas. Somebody from NUS texted me to join NUS’s production and I was super excited and kanchiong of course. So I am not sure why but I remembered texting Brother Yoda asking permission if I can join Pentas while doing Intro at the same time. Then he replied me this one message that I will always remember. It goes something like “Rumah sendiri boleh sapu kenapa kena sapu rumah orang lain? Sapu rumah sendiri dulu kasi bersih” something like that. He told me to be patient first as there are plans for us Intro team to join a bigger production.

Ok wait..this is it GENTARASA 2015, a national production. Okay so I think why our team was involved in Gentarasa was because Mr X was one of the directors taking over Gentarasa that year so thus while some of the Intro comm joined the Gentarasa Committee as SMs, sponsorships and marketing, I took part as Cast. Thus we were part of the Gentarasa 2015 team from Feb till May. Long story short while doing Gentarasa I remember we have to do fundraising selling flowers and me juggling exco, exams on top of having back to back rehearsal during that May period was really kerja gila. And also because of Gentarasa that is where I met and reconnected back with ABANG MOK (woohooo!) So AbangMok was part of Gentarasa 2015 as Cast also. I didn’t know he was part of cast as he came pretty late I think in late April. So we were preparing for a press release for Berita (the 8pm news at Suria) at Goodman Arts Centre. I was backstage (mind you we have to dance in front of a lot of important people and I was also dancer guys) feeling nervous and want to cry cos it was close during exam period and I was super stress out. Then I saw a familiar face. This tall man came in the back stage sitting and boy I came up running to him and I say ABANG MOK!! Then I hug him and we catch up a bit and I was surprise to hear that he will be acting also then I told him that I want to cry and I was super stress then he hug me and boosted my confidence. Hais Abangmok ;’) This is fate guys I tell you cos the next few years is history ;’) Abang Mok has been my Instructor since MI days and to see him again after years and then do great things after Gentarasa really is fate that it’s meant to be.

4. Introspeksi 2015: IMAN (after May)

So after Gentarasa was over we held our first audition during puasa period in June. I auditioned along with 5 others. Then came Aishah baby along with 2 more guys. Thus in total including myself we had 8 cast members for the 1st Introspeksi. 1 guy from cast had to drop out of cast due to commitment (I was super sad lah. Nasrul if you’re reading this I hope you’re doing good Brother. It’s been a long time.) For Introspeksi we had Mr X and Mr Y, the best duo partners that came in as both our Directors and Scriptwriters. A lot of challenges came while doing Intro. The same script problem every year, low commitment, MIAs, lack of funding and sponsorships. I wasn’t sure of how the play will turn out because firstly we know there is our usual devise play that we will performed then suddenly we will have a group of dancers that will come on board that will perform with us as well. This is where in the dance group there was Nana, Dinie, Tutik and not forgetting Amalina! While doing Iman, we had Pesta Raya and also FBC to do. Was yup crazy busy. So while my time in Iman I observed how my seniors did their work. I thought to myself if this event have a good turnout and the outcome is good it needs to be continued to next year and Introspeksi shouldn’t be let off as a one-time thing. Thus that spark my interest during my rehearsals days in Iman to continue Introspeksi and being the PD next year. I didn’t really share this with people and all I did was just to continue observing the works, how things are being done and just help Iman in every way possible.

For Iman, I had a great time with my casts and most of my scenes was with Brother Qayyum, a very talented person indeed (go check out his works guys at Qayyumrocks, amayyzingg). I was his Boss in the play and he was the Main cast. There was a scene where both of us was supposed to shake hands hahaha and then he told me nicely with respect can I not hold your hands (this I respect you Brother). So apart from being his Boss I had another role that I had to play which is colleague to Aishahbaby. So in order for people to not be confuse with the roles I played, the other role I had to be an Indonesian and speak in Bahasa Indo.

One of the challenges I know we faced for Iman is that we wanted to postpone and pushed it back because there was some problems with the higher ups and there were talks about bringing AbangMok in. We have never had any combine trainings also and did our first combine rehearsals the week before bump in ;’). Thus you can see that Nana, Dinie and Amalina and I we have never talked or acknowledge each other during Iman. Tutik and I have cos we have known each other since FBC Camp. That was how segregated we all are and awkward to each other even till show day but look at us now hehe.

Some of my memorable memories from Iman besides Gentarasa was during Raya meeting that’s where we all see people coming together and of course bump in. Okaylah to be honest there was not much because of a series of things that had happened but let it be I and those involved and Him who shall know what had happened in Iman let it stay in Iman. Oh and Nizam was part of Crew too! Iman was the only Intro that had a full guys team as Crew and really like Abang2 (berg berg and tall and big haha) and I remember one of them smoke (okaylah I think this was ecigg) at the back stage and I was like ok Bro you do you! For food sponsorship during Bump in with got Kawkaw Burger yawww!! Sedap gilzzz.

All in all there were both good and bad moments during Iman. While I enjoyed my time in Iman with my cast mates, with some of the subcomss and of course my fellowship of the 9th there were some things that I disagree with the workings of Iman. There were A LOT of restrictions by some groups and ya lah some things I disagree that I just have to bury it deep down cos I was still learning back then. Oh do you know I was being kicked out of the PAT during bump in hahaha ;’) Okaylah I was just being told off to get out of the PAT by the higher ups (my fault my fault you correct I wrong chey. Okay I know I’m sometimes a nuisance too heh). Introspeksi Iman would not have happened without Brother Yoda and his team. They are the ones who make Introspeksi possible and making it happen with A LOT of uncertainties and risk to overcome. I hope Brother Yoda and the VP Cultural back then is doing great now. I will never forget the work and dedication you guys have put in to Intro 1.

Thus that was how Introspeksi 1 was formed.

Stay tuned to what happens next after Introspeksi 1……………….(jeng jeng jeng)

Dream, Believe and Make it Happen People!

Fitri Amalia.

[glassrain83]

Dear Yuletide Writer 2021

I am GlassRain on AO3, and thank you for writing for my tiny fandom(s)!

I love all these characters and any fic about them will make me happy. If you already have an idea feel free to run with it. If you want extra prompts or ideas, that’s what this is for.

Yes please: gay stuff, outer space, magic. Non-con, dub-con, and mind control. Relationships where there’s a power imbalance but they also truly love each other and do the work to make it good. Relationships with size differences (not as in short human/tall human, as in human/building-sized dragon). Identity porn/any kind of reveal where the audience knows something and gets to enjoy watching the characters figure it out.

No thanks: Gore/body horror/graphic depictions of violence, embarrassment, extreme underage (teen characters having sex is fine), bodily fluids (except the usual ones for sex scenes), non-canon character death, mundane AUs.

Fandoms:

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells

Characters: Murderbot

Science fiction series about an artificial construct designed as a Security Unit, which manages to override its governor module, thus enabling it to develop independence, which it primarily uses to watch media. As it spends more time with some caring humans, it starts developing human feelings, which it finds inconvenient.

Ongoing sci-fi adventure in an interstellar corporate dystopia. Grumpy sarcastic Murderbot (it picked the name itself) just wants to be left alone to watch TV, but is smart and competent and keeps deciding it likes humans who need inconvenient rescues. 

No romance for Murderbot please, but go as hard as you want on "intense friendships it doesn’t want to admit it has.” Other ships on the side are fine, canon or non-canon.

Prompts:

Murderbot finds itself in charge of an impromptu So You Just Achieved Self-Determination, Now What? support group. Possible members: SecUnit Three, the unnamed ComfortUnit, original characters who hacked themselves independently and figured they were the only ones until they saw it on the news…

ART figures out that Murderbot enjoys very specific kinds of touch (low-key, platonic, comfort-seeking, non-threatening), and starts gleefully engineering situations where it can get some.

The Terrifying Rogue SecUnit’s love of Sanctuary Moon becomes public knowledge. Let’s see the reactions from SM fan forums, in-universe cons, the production company and its marketing department.

Leif & Thorn (Webcomic)

Characters: Leif, Thorn

Leif is a gardener in thrall to a mysterious debt, serving his native Sønheim at a foreign embassy. Thorn is a Knight of Ceannis who got severely burned while dragonslaying, and was rewarded with a cushy job guarding the embassy gates. Thorn doesn’t speak Leif’s language too well at first — but as they get to know each other, he finds a lot of reasons to learn.

Ongoing fantasy dramedy, with a cross-cultural romance and a great ensemble cast. (Read it here.) Leif/Thorn is canon, over a slow-burn arc that took about 5 years real-world time. They still have ongoing struggles around Leif’s control microchip, and Thorn’s effort to handle the unwanted power it gives him. Leif/Thorn/Kale is not canon yet, but the OT3 shipteasing is strong, so maybe in 5 more years?

The prompts are Leif/Thorn-centric but I will take fic about other characters too. Other ships on the side are fine, canon or non-canon, as long as you don’t break up the main couple.

Prompts:

Canon-divergence AU where Thorn joined the Secret Order of Monster Hunters, successfully assassinated the vampires in that one early storyline, and decided to rescue/steal Leif as a bonus. What? He was in the area anyway, he might as well.

Leif/Thorn where Leif still has the microchip, but Kale has his powers and facilitates a psychic link between them, so Thorn can’t possibly miss if he tries something Leif doesn’t like. Can be established Leif/Thorn/Kale or “whoops this turned into our first threesome.”

Holiday fic where Leif and Thorn share their traditions with each other. Warmth and fluffiness a plus.

Crossover prompt: the Leif & Thorn universe has a Fantasy Eurovision Song Contest..what does Fire Saga’s act look like in a world with widespread/commonplace magic?

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Characters: Sigrit

Follows the personally close Icelandic singers Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdóttir as they are given the chance to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest.  Ferrell, who co-wrote the script, wisely realises that this institution is beyond parody and is simply content to pay homage.

Bizarre, charming, joyful, magical (sometimes literally) tribute to Eurovision. Lars has the lifelong ambition to represent Iceland at the contest. Sigrit has the actual talent. A dozen real-world Eurovision winners have cameos. The elves in the hills have their backs.

Shipping-wise, basically I want Sigrit to be happy. For Sigrit/Lars, lean into the parts of his character that enable him to be a good boyfriend. For Sigrit/not-Lars, either give them a non-traumatic breakup, or make an AU where they were just friends the whole time.

Prompts:

The elves are back! This time, they need Sigrit’s and/or Lars’s help! You can pull the worldbuilding from real Icelandic folklore or make it up from scratch, I will be happy either way.

Instead of a song contest, the characters are thrown into a fighting-for-your-life contest. Hunger Games, Squid Game, Battle Royale etc. Our heroes survive through some combination of Sigrit’s determination and magical allies, Alexander and Mita’s loyalty and emotional support, and Lars’s power to cause unprecedented technical difficulties.

Alexander gives Lars an unexpected bi awakening. Sigrit gives Alexander an unexpected bi awakening from the other direction. What to do. What. To. Do.

Alternately, more fun scenes from Alexander and Sigrit’s growing Wholesome and Mutually Supportive Friendship. Including past the point where he trusts her enough not to hide his sexuality from her. 

Crossover prompt: the Leif & Thorn universe has a Fantasy Eurovision Song Contest..what does Fire Saga’s act look like in a world with widespread/commonplace magic?

[toldyoushecan]

TRAVEL DIARY | BAGUIO 219

We are down to the last 2 months of 2019 and I am so glad I was able to squeeze in a little trip up North with the B! We are excited to finally escape our daily work routine. It was a great time to visit my brother Choi too, who is currently studying in Baguio.

I booked our hotel via ZENROOMS. (which is now my favorite hotel app! I love how they offer clean, comfortable yet very affordable rooms!) We chose Casa Bel Baguio that only cost us 1810.00php for 2 nights. (I used a 20% promo code too!) You can’t expect much from it as it is very basic though I was surprised that ours included a balcony and a decent parking space. This is probably one of the reasons why we didn’t opt for the prettier options on AirBnB. Madaming mas maganda but it’s either mahirap puntahan or there are no guaranteed parking space. Casa Bel located along Marcos Highway which is 15-20 minutes away from the city proper.

We didn’t visit the other common tourist spots because we’ve been here a few times already. We only went to Camp John Hay just for some photo ops. They do offer a lot of cool adventures but were too lazy (or scared lol) to try any. You can check the list here: https://campjohnhay.com/explore.html

Inside Camp John Hay is a garden called Bell House. We paid an entrance fee of 48php/head.

WHERE TO EAT IN BAGUIO:

ARCA’S YARD

Location: Tiptop, Ambuclao Road, Baguio City

We had our first breakfast in Baguio at this very dreamy cafe called Arca’s Yard. It is located approx. 15-20 minutes from the city proper. It is an old 3-story house converted into a very cozy and homey restaurant. We sat on a table beside a white wooden window where I enjoyed sipping my hot chocolate drink while I appreciate the beautiful view of tall Pine trees swaying outside.

WE ORDERED THE FOLLOWING:

LONGGANISA - (165)

HUNGARIAN SAUSAGE WITH BACON AND GG - (210)

CACAO HOT CHOCOLATE - (75) ugh! this one set the bar up high. I love how authentic it tastes.. it’s perfect for the cold breeze outside.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM - I forgot to take note of the price. The B ordered this one and he really liked it. He said the smooth texture of the soup is very creamy and tasty. It’s like the ingredients melt and dance in his mouth which he really liked.

HODORI KOREAN AND JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Location: Mabini Street | Session Road

I craved for Samgyupsal on our first night in Baguio. This one is located near Session Road so we gave it a try.

390PHP/per person for unlimited meat and serving dishes

You’ll get 4 types of meat: Samgyupsal (Pork Belly) Woosamgyup (Beef Belly) Pork Bulgogi and Beef Bulgogi

They also offer additional serving dishes: (which are also part of the unlimited)

- Shrimp Tempura (which to my surprise doesn’t really taste like one. PLEASE SKIP THIS)

- Fried Chicken

- Seasoned Chicken

- Kimbab

- California Maki _(This together with the Japchae were okay)

- Japchae

*Note that they do offer Korean ice cream but it is no longer part of the unlimited :)

GLENN’S 50′S DINER

Location: 92 Upper General Luna Road**, Corner Brent Road

I honestly have high expectations with this diner as a lot of bloggers have been raving about this. (There is another branch which is only called “50′s Diner” located inside Porta Vaga mall) The B and I arrived there just in time for lunch so we had to wait for about 10 minutes before we got our table. I was expecting it to look close like the Filling Station in Makati but the retro vibes was not really there. Maybe because it was too small and the place was packed with customers when we went there.

WE ORDERED THE FOLLOWING:

GRILLED PORK BELLY - 135PHP (Soft and tender meat. It was good!)

BLT - 1150PHP (The bun was really big! I enjoyed my burger though nothing was really special about it)

CREAM OF MUSHROOM - 60 (This one doesn’t taste home-made. I feel like they used those easy-cook sachets to make this)

STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE - 70 (I am a sucker for Strawberry milkshakes and this one was what I really loved. The combination of milk and strawberry was perfectly blended. It was not too sweet and I find it very affordable for the big glass.

BAGUIO CRAFT BREWERY

Location: Marcos Highway

This is another must-try place in Baguio as it gives a whole new social drinking experience. Too bad we went there during a black out in the area so we were only able to check out the roof top without experiencing the view of the city lights below the building. It was a great experience as it was my first time to try craft beer. How it works is you have to go to the cashier where all the craft beers are located. You may ask for free taste until you find what beer really suits your liking.

We ordered the following:

Lagud - Strawberry Fruit Beer - (180PHP) I played safe and ordered this one. hehe This was actually my brother’s first choice. It was good. It tastes like wine to me!

Kraken - mixed with coffee - (190PHP)

English Man in New York - mixed with caramel - (190PHP)

SIZZLING PLATE

Location: 116 Session Road

The B has been eyeing this the moment we passed Session Road. We could see a lot of people dining in so we finally gave it a try on our 2nd night in Baguio. We were surprised that this restaurant is the same one we see inside SM’s food court. However they do offer bigger serving that still didn’t hurt our pockets.

WE ORDERED THE FOLLOWING:

GRILLED PORKCHOP 

T-BONE STEAK - 240PHP

SALISBURY STEAK - 161PHP

CREAM OF MUSHROOM 

ILI LIKHA ARTISTS VILLAGE

Location: Assumption Rd

You should definitely consider going to this place when you go to Baguio. It’s not your typical food hub as the entire place was built with big trunk of trees. All the pieces made to assemble the food hub are recycled which is really evident if you would walk around the place.While appreciating the crazy aesthetics of the entire place, you could fill in your stomachs from the different food stalls inside. You can order from any of the stalls and they would bring you your food wherever you want to be seated.

We ordered the following: (We ordered these from 3 different merchants but I wasn’t able to take note of each names)

BALBACUA - 75 (I’ve been curious about this too as I’ve read this dish in a lot of other blog post. They said it taste like “pares” which I don’t really eat but I gave it a try anyway... locals, please don’t get mad at me but I feel like matabang siya. :(

RICE - 35 (I ordered one rice because the dish doesn’t include it yet)

BULLET PROOF COFFEE - 110 (Coffee is always a good idea anyway. I loved this!)

PINIKPIKAN - 110 (Here’s another dish we got curious with. It turned out it taste exactly like Tinola hehe masarap!)

ALIGUE RICE WITH BAGNET + 1 STEAMED RICE - 170 (I enjoyed the Aligue rice as it was very tasty and flavorful pero naumay kami with the rich taste so mixed it with steamed rice hehe)

SAGADA COFFEE with 1 free refill - 50

This is a little bridge going to the other side of the food hub. 

you can dine wherever you want!

This one is pretty awesome! They have a small theater designed with wood and trunks. I believe this is where they would invite people and play indie films.

OTHER INFO I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE :)

- Total gas was 2000.00 for an AT Sedan Hyundai Accent (departed from Tandang Sora, Quezon City. 3 days stay. Including city driving)

- Total toll gate was around 1300.00

- Total budget for pasalubong was 600-1200.00 (Dun kayo sa Public Market nila bumili kasi mas mura yung mga pasalubong dun. Mas makakatawad din. Sample pricing: 120php for the big Choco Flakes, 80php for 1 pack of cheese bars, 100php for 7 Fuji Apples, 80php for the Lengua)

- If it’s your first time going to the night market. Only bring a small bag or purse. Expect na sobrang daming tao talaga. They open at 9PM :)

- Looking for the best cake? YOU MUST TRY VIZCO’S STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE! Located along session road :)

**

I enjoyed writing this travel post! I hope to write another one anytime soon.

**

Thank you for visiting my blog! :)

Let’s stay connected!

Facebook: facebook.com/toldyoushecan

Instagram: instagram.com/toldyoushecan

Youtube: youtube.com/toldyoushecan

For business purposes please email me at dhindeleon@gmail.com

Love,

Claudine

[ncmagroup]

By Erika Desmond

  Smart salespeople have known this for a while now: Email prospecting is one of the most effective ways to get in front of your potential customers.

If you’d like to join them, we’re going to make it easy for you.

While we don’t write sales email templates we’ve put together a collection of 100+ sales email templates and examples that you can use to close more deals. These templates aren’t ‘ready to go’, rather they are here for inspiration. Your biggest success will come when you study these examples, make them relevant to your business and turn them into your own.

Your Cold Emailing Rules

Make it about them, not about you

Keep it short, ideally 4 sentences max (make its interest and mobile-friendly)

Use language that’s conversational

The smaller the ask the easier to answer

Follow up, and follow up your follow-ups

Make use of the outbound email automation tools available to optimize your process

BUT beware of the pitfalls of Email Tracking (open rates are almost vanity metric, what you really care about is engagement)

The more personalized, the better (e.g. their name, company, industry, competitors, unique situation, reference a real case, the language they use offer a specific solution)

You ready? Let’s do this.

Note: If you send out documents (presentations, proposals) as part of your sales process, join thousands of salespeople who send and track documents with Attach.

Copy-paste your favorite email templates into Cirrus Insight or any marketing/sales email platform. You can also create your own templates and use Salesforce templates from Cirrus Insight.

Cold Email Templates

{Company Name} + {Your Company}

Hi {name},

My name is {name} with {Your Company}.

We help {specific company type} with {one liner}.

I wanted to learn how you handle {thing your company handles} at {Company Name} and show you what we’re working on.

Are you available for a brief call at {time options}?

  {Company Name} + Smart Host

Hi Mike,

My name is Nick and I’m a co-founder at Smart Host. We help property managers optimize their pricing on marketplaces like HomeAway, VRBO, and Flipkey.

I wanted to learn how you currently handle price optimization and show you what we’re working on.

Are you available for a quick call tomorrow afternoon?

How to Export [company] Prospects from professional social networks and into your CRM

{name},

I’d like to discuss your lead gen efforts.

We’re helping other [industry] companies collect their prospects straight from professional social networks and import them directly into their CRM (adding phone numbers and email addresses).

Quick question: can you put me in touch with whoever is responsible for new prospecting and revenue­ generating tools at {company}?

Hi {name},

{myName} from {myCompany} here.

Companies make more sales with consistent marketing. {myCompany} can put proven sales tools into the hands of everyone who sells your product.

If that sound useful, I can explain how it works.

(source)

Hi {name},

I’m trying to figure out who is in charge of [leading general statement] there at {company}.

Would you mind pointing me towards the right person please, and the best way I might get in touch with them?

Hello {name},

What would it mean to your top-line revenue if you saw a 70% increase in contact rates, 50% improvement in closes and a 40% increase in quota-hitting sales reps?

Let’s find a few minutes to talk about how InsideSales.com is providing these results to our clients.

I’m available tomorrow {insert 2 times you’re available}. Can we sync up?

Hi {name},

I hope this note finds you well.

I’ve been working for a company called {my company} that specializes in X, Y, and Z. In thinking about your role at {company}, I thought there might be a good fit for your group.

Our {product name} has garnered a lot of attention in the marketplace and I think it’s something that your organization might see immediate value in.

Can you help me get in contact with the right decision-maker?

Looking for best [insert job area where you’d like to start] contact

{name},

I am doing some research on your company to determine if there is (or is not) a need for [insert your strongest pain point].

Could you please help me by pointing me to the best person there for a brief discussion?

Where shall I start?

{name},

I’m hoping you can help me, who handles the [insert pain point here] decisions at {company} and how might I get in touch with them?

[theircompanyname] and [yourcompanyname]

{name},

I’m sorry to trouble you. Can you tell me who makes the [insert pain point here] decisions at your company and how I might get in touch with them?

(source)

Appropriate person

{name}

We have a service that will help you [insert quick one-liner about the value your service delivers].

Would you guide me to the person responsible for [insert the relevant department or task your service empowers — “marketing, sales, pipeline building”] and let me know how I might get in touch with them?

{name},

We have a service that will help you [insert quick one-liner about the value your service delivers] and have helped similar businesses achieve XYZ results.

What’s the best day/time this week or next for a quick 15-minute conversation?

Looking for an Accountant

I was wondering if you were looking for more business customers?

I know the majority of small businesses are always looking for a great accountant and I’d be able to generate leads for you if this is something you’re interested in.

Are there any types of businesses in particular that make good clients for you?

Name

P.S. If you aren’t the right person to contact about this, please let me know

(source)

10 x {company} [result] in ten minutes?

Hello {name},

I have an idea that I can explain in 10 minutes that can get {company} it’s next [100 best clients].

I recently used this idea to help our client {competitor} almost triple their monthly run rate.

{name}, Let’s schedule a 10-minute call so I can explain. When works best for you?

(source)

Hi {name},

This is {salesrep} with RJMetrics. I just took a quick look at your site and noticed that {company} looks similar to many of the SaaS clients that we help every day.

I’m sure you’re already thinking about engagement metrics and ROI by acquisition source, but I’d love to get a sense for how you’re uncovering that data and share some insights we’ve learned along the way towards understanding the story behind your business.

If I’ve got the right person, can we connect in the next few days? If not, who would you recommend I speak with?

Appropriate Person?

Hi {name},

This is SDR with RJMetrics. Wanted to introduce myself, as {company}’s sales development platform looks similar to many of the businesses we work with every day.

While I’ve got your attention, we’d love if you guys gave RJMetrics a spin. Our clients are using us to do things like optimizing customer acquisition spend, understand drivers of CLV, and standardize reporting of KPIs across internal teams and investors.

I’m assuming you’re the best person for this – If not, who would you recommend I speak with?

Bookkeeping sucks, let us handle it.

{name},

Bookkeeping sucks, and you have a business to run. You created CompanyName out of a passion to do something great, unique, and game-changing. Not to spend your limitless talents and limited time on day-to-day bookkeeping tasks. AcuityComplete’s bookkeeping professionals want you to focus your time and efforts on growing CompanyName into an empire; not worrying about whether your books are reconciled correctly.

If your core business competency isn’t bookkeeping, let’s talk. I’d love to find out more about CompanyName and how we can help eliminate this headache for you.

Do you have any current issues that we can help answer?

Appropriate person

Hi {name},

I am writing in hopes of finding the appropriate person who handles multicultural media. I also wrote to Person x, Person Y and Person Z in that pursuit. If it makes sense to talk, let me know how your calendar looks?

VoodooVox helps increase the revenues of Fortune 500 companies by marketing to Hispanics. Each month we reach 25 million Spanish speakers with an audio message they must hear. We insert 30-second audio and SMS advertisements into phone calls made on calling cards. The benefit to users is they make their call free. The benefit for our clients is they can increase store revenue by providing text message coupons. Typical redemption is 3%. You can measure results online and with store sales. Advertisements can target specific ethnic groups and geographies. Some clients include Burger King, P&G and Chili’s.

If you are the appropriate person to speak with, what does your calendar look like? If not, who do you recommend I talk to?

(source)

Appropriate person

Hi {name},

I am writing in hopes of finding the appropriate person who handles online advertising? I also wrote to Quinn XXXX, Kristy XXXX and Rob XXXX in that pursuit. If it makes sense to talk, let me know how your calendar looks?

AroundYou helps increase the revenues and exposure of local companies by marketing directly to targeted and local traffic. Each month we reach over 240,000 Australians thru our site by profiling events, activities and things to do. We profile companies thru our featured listings, iPhone App and targeted Google advertising. The benefit to users is that they can search for their area free. The benefit for our clients is they can increase revenue and exposure by utilizing the featured listings and targeted traffic. You can measure results and statistics online. Your listing will target specific suburbs and postcodes. Some clients include The Herald Sun, Leader Community Newspapers, The State Theatre and The Art Gallery of NSW.

If you are the appropriate person to speak with, what does your calendar look like? If not, who do you recommend I talk to?

(source)

I am doing some research on ________ to determine if there is a need for KISSmetrics’ person-based web analytics platform. Could you please help by pointing me to the appropriate person there that may have an interest in a brief discussion?

For context – Here is a short infographic introducing you to KISSmetrics.

{infographic}

In advance, thank you for your help.

Who wants a Customer Success 1-on-1?

I’ll be honest, this is not “another sales pitch” from Sales Instead, I’d like to send you a 2-minute demo video of Gainsight’s Customer Success Management solution: http://vimeo.com/63709432

We are VC backed ($9M Series A) by Battery Ventures and our key customers include Marketo, DocuSign, Xactly, Jive, Informatica, YouSendIt, etc. One of our core value props is “Success for All” and we would like to offer everyone a 1-on-1 with our Customer Success experts to simply discuss best practices (reducing churn, structuring your customer-focused team, increasing up-sells, etc).

Who is the best person to speak with about Customer Success? Let us know if there’s someone else who heads up those efforts.

Hi Eric,

I understand you are the CEO at Single Grain, and given that our customers who used to use similar technology, a chat may be beneficial.

In short, we’ve created the sales automation salespeople have been craving by shoring up the shortcomings, filling in the blindspots, and reliving the frustrations of current solutions. The difference is obvious – see for yourself.

Are you available for a brief chat this week or Monday/Tuesday of next week?

Thanks

P.S. Feel free to compare us with others [link to comparison page]. We want you to 🙂

(source)

  Researched Outreach Email Templates

Looks like we have plenty of things in common…

Hey {name}, Here are some commonalities between Yesware and TOPO:

Twilio is a customer (and also an integration partner now powering our click-to-call feature)

We are a Salesforce.com ISV partner, and it looks like Salesforce.com is a client of yours

Our Director of Sales, Mike Maylon is on the speaker’s list at the Saleshacker conference. He also used to work at Netsuite, another client of yours

Most importantly, we’re focused on driving results. Customers like Twitter, Acquia, and The Financial Times have seen a 25% growth in new business using our product. Customers choose our sales technology to accelerate their sales efforts.

Let’s explore how we can work together to help your customers share the same experience our customers have had since using Yesware. I can also share with you some more customer success stories and why our market-leading product is chosen by high growth sales teams.

When is the best time for you to connect? I would be more than happy to facilitate an introduction to Mike if that’s preferred by you.

Cheers, {name}

P.s.: it looks like your session title is TBD. If there is any data/information I can help provide you to strengthen your presentation, please let me know.

(source)

Introduction: {Your first name} <> {Prospect’s first name}

Hi {Prospect’s first name},

I recently came across {blog post title} that you/your company wrote/shared/posted on {social media platform}. {Topic of blog post} seems like an interest that we share. In fact, {one sentence comment on/reaction to blog post}.

I work for {your company} and we {your company’s value proposition}. {Referral} recommended I reach out to you with ideas on how to solve [problem your product addresses]. I’d love to get some time on your calendar to discuss these ideas and {topic of blog post}. Are you available for a 10/30/60 minute call on {date}?

I look forward to talking soon.

(source)

Question about the upcoming product launch

{name},

I read in the WSJ yesterday that you’re expecting to receive FDA approval for a new ulcerative colitis drug in the next few months. When that finally does happen, you’re going to want to get it into the market quickly. We recently helped another pharma company slash their packaging delivery time from 18 days down to just four days.

You can read how we did it at http://www.packco.com/casestudy.

Would you be interested in a quick conversation next Tuesday? Let me know a time that might work for you.

(source)

A few other experiments you can run to grow your email list

Hey {name},

Been a huge fan of your site since it first went up. Noticed you’ve been running several experiments to grow your email lists.

Here are a few lesser-used strategies that drives explosive growth:

– Members-only bonus area: You offer a lot of juicy bonuses to entice new signups. There doesn’t seem to be a way for existing members to also receive them right now. Think creating a members-only bonus area where existing subscribers can go to download your latest goodies would go long ways to build their long-term loyalty. – Behavior settings on your optin box: Noticed your optin-box still pops up for people who already subscribed. You can use a much longer-lasting cookie to stop it from annoying your existing subscribers.

I’ve been coding for the last several years with a focus on building viral growth engines. I recently coded all the backend for RoyalSee’s pre-launch campaign: [link]. They got 10K signups in 2 weeks.

Happy to lend a hand with future projects – let me know what you think.

(source)

New partnership?

{name},

You did an excellent job speaking at the recent 21st Century B2B Culture event – you have a great understanding of social business. Do you see social business working being effective in B2C?

I had a few ideas on how it could work in B2C that are related to your recent book (which I read). I help B2C SMBs use the internet to bring their business to the national market.

What’s the easiest way to get 10 minutes on your calendar Thursday to share how our market expertise can be mutually beneficial?

(source)

Hi {name}, I noticed you guys don’t have a commenting widget on your site. It’s actually something my company Wigeto provides emagazines for free to boost engagement. When you have a few minutes, I’d love to talk to you or the appropriate person about taking care of that.

(source)

I noticed on your website that XYZ is a customer. Congrats on getting traction with such an established brand, which is undeniably no small feat for an early-stage startup.I know from speaking with other founders that many, if not all, find it challenging to developing a repeatable selling process in a way that feels natural, comfortable and authentic without sounding “salesy”. The impact – inaction. Lack of a predictable pipeline and sales. In the past year, we’ve worked with companies like ABC and def to help them close more deals in less time without selling their soul and was thinking we might be able to help XYZ in this area as well.

I’m not sure if this is a fit for you folks, but if you’d like to learn more would you be open to carving out some time to explore?

Alternate ending: If you’d like I can send you a 2-minute demo so you can evaluate.

(source)

{name}, is your marketing automation tool working for you?

Hi {name}, I understand you may currently be using Pardot as a marketing tool, and I was wondering if you’re experiencing any difficulty with it. Pardot users often find that they need a more scalable solution as their business grows, and as a result, we’ve seen many customers switch to Marketo in recent months. These customers see immediate increases of 30-100% in productivity and a dramatic increase in leads – purely because they get much more capability in an easier-to-use package.

Why are Pardot users switching? Marketo removes the limitations that held them back – some of the major benefits that these customers have experienced with Marketo include: A much more productive, intuitive, and flexible interface for creating marketing campaigns (ranked #1 for user experience by independent analysts) Ability to quickly report on pipeline, revenue, and ROI by marketing campaign or channel Flexible lead scoring – which includes scoring models by product line or division, and automatic score reductions when your leads are inactive Drastically improved ability to leverage lead intelligence solutions inside your CRM For a limited time, we are also offering special pricing packages to make switching incredibly easy and attractive.

Please reply to this email or click here if you’d like to set up a time to talk about whether Marketo makes sense for your business. Or, learn more here.

Question about company plan to expand

{name},

I just read your interview in Mark-It News where you mentioned your company’s plans to expand your franchise operations by 35%.In the past year, we’ve worked with three other franchisors to drive significant traffic to their newly opened locations. On a comparative basis, same-store sales in the three months were up between 17 – 23% over previous launches.

Would you be interested in learning how we did this? I’m available next Thursday, May 6th. Give me time, and I’ll give you the details.

(source)

  Referral Outreach Email Templates

Terry Fisher says you’re interested in better lead gen strategies

{name},

Terry Fisher told me today that you two were talking about how tough it is these days to get new leads in the door. It’s a big issue that all consulting companies face right now.

After looking at your website and registering for your white paper, I have some thoughts regarding where you may be losing people in the process. And, I’ve got some ideas you can implement fairly easily that should have a positive impact on lead conversion rates.

Let’s schedule 30 minutes to talk some more about this.

(source)

  LinkedIn Outreach InMail Templates

(when connecting)

I would love to connect with you at some point and learn more about Converto.

Would be great to have a conversation around the websites we crawl that are adding and dropping your competitors like Adometry.

Best, Jason

Hi Ravi,

The article you shared on LinkedIn yesterday addresses a challenge that I’ve heard two sales directions mention this week. Your unique perspective would be beneficial for them to hear.

We help sales execs improve their reps success with a similar approach. Do you have 5 mins to speak on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon this week?

(source)

Intro?

Hi {name},

I was looking to get introduced to Johnny Dealmaker from Project X and saw you were connected to him. Not sure how well you’re connected to him, but if the relationship is strong, I’d really appreciate an intro to chat about ways to work with my Project Y.

Please let me know if you feel comfortable doing this and I’ll forward over a proper request for an introduction that you can forward to him.

(source)

Intro?

Hey {name},

Was hoping that you might be able to introduce me to Johnny Dealmaker at Project X?

I wanted to connect with him because our email list targets a similar demographic with limited overlap. Seeing as our products are non-competitive, I wanted to touch base to see if he was up for brainstorming ways to leverage our existing user bases to grow both of our lists.

We did this with Company R in the past, and both parties received a 15% lift in new subscribers.

Any help is much appreciated.

(source)

  Follow Up Email Templates

First Follow Up

Re: [same subject]

{name}, is the below of any interest to you?

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I didn’t hear back from you last week when I was looking for the appropriate person managing your [statement]. That’s not a problem.

If it makes sense to talk, let me know how your calendar looks. If not, who is the appropriate person?

5 Ideas for Starbucks using Twilio

Hi {name}, After sending my last email, I got really excited and wanted to share some ideas I had on how Starbucks could leverage Twilio:

Mobile app distribution – reduce friction by allowing your website visitors to download your mobile app by texting the download link to their phone. Our technology intelligently detects whether a phone is on iOS or Android OS and sends them to the right app store.

Picture message a coupon to your customers on their birthday. Why tell them how good a frap will be when you can show them the gooey ribbons of caramel?

New VIP service: text your order into your local Starbucks. Get your favorite thirst quencher sooner.

Picture message Starbucks coupons w/QR codes to your friends on special occasions.

Leverage geo-location services to MMS special deals to customers when they are in close vicinity to a Starbucks.

The possibilities are really endless.

I’d love to chat with you further about how other companies are using us, as well as chat more about how we can help foster Starbucks’ future innovative ventures.

What’s the best way for me to get 15 minutes on your calendar?

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I just wanted to circle back on my email below re getting you a comments widget for your site. Are you free for a quick call on Monday or Tuesday? Across similar size partners, we’re seeing an average increase of 1 minute on-site with the addition of our widget.

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Hey {name}, how is it going? Can we schedule a time to talk this week?

(source)

Follow up to a first conversation

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I really enjoyed our phone conversation [or meeting] earlier today and especially liked learning about your unique role at {company}. I understand the challenges you are facing with [challenges discussed] and the impact they are having on [insert personal impact].

As promised, I have attached [or linked to] the resources and materials that can help you better understand how we can help you solve [insert compelling reason to buy].

Please let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, I look forward to talking with you again on [date and time].

(source)

{MyCompany} Call Summary

Great speaking with you today, {name}! I’m glad we agree on {MyCompany} would be a great fit for your team. Here are the top value adds we went over: {Special}

{Special}

Resources for Review: X Y Z

Action Items: {Special}P.S. {Special} — use this opportunity to link to case studies or third-party content your prospect may enjoy

(source)

Second Follow Up

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

Have you come across the “Information Security Community?”Check the group out: [link to Linkedin Group]

From our last discussion, this group looks to be filled with your target prospects that could ensure you reach your Q4 sales target. Some of the challenges expressed in the group are problems your team helps solve.

What’s the best way to get on your calendar for 15 tomorrow? I’ll show you the playbook on how to drive revenue from this group.

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I have tried to get in touch with you to see if there is a mutual fit between our companies expertise and your goals around [statement].

If you are not interested or there is another person you would like me to follow up with, please let me know.

Would it make sense to invest 5-10 minutes to determine if there is a mutual fit between your [statement] and our expertise?

If not, who do you recommend I talk to?

[competitor X and Y]

Hi {name},

Just wanted to send you an example of how we’re working with [competitor X and Y] to deliver this solution. Check it out here [link to example].

So far the feedback has been extremely positive. Would love to get you guys up and running too when you have a few minutes.

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Drop me a note if you caught the email below {name}; I know you’re a busy man!

I’d love to talk a little bit more about {mycompany}, yourself, and any ways in which we can be collaborating. A phone call / Skype would be a pleasure.

Hope you had an excellent weekend,

Re: [same subject]

Hey {name}, we got some new press coverage [link]. I’d love to pick up on our conversation. When’s a good time to chat?

(source)

Next step?

{name}, I’m writing to follow up. I’m not sure what our next step is. Let me know what makes sense as a next step if any?

Thanks for your input.

(source)

Third Follow Up

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I first want to apologize that we haven’t been able to connect recently. I feel like somewhere along the way I must have made it difficult to communicate or dropped the ball because for a while there it seemed like you guys were really excited about our offering. Apologies if this was the case.

I just want to open back the communication lines and let you know that I know you have a lot on your plate and if this is something that is no longer a priority, that’s totally cool – in fact as a startup, I completely understand! If nothing else, I’d enjoy the opportunity to hear what’s new on your end and maybe even get some feedback on how we can improve our offering.

Let me know if you have a few minutes next week to hop on a call.

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Drop me a note if you caught this {name}. Would love to chat some more about your sales / provide any assistance I can there. Discussing your plans for [your area of expertise] (even if it’s just advice I can pass on!) would be great too.

Hope you’re having an excellent start to the week.

Re: [same subject]

Hey {name}, can we hop on a quick call Wednesday 4pm or Thursday 11am?

Cheers, Name

PS: thought you might find this article interesting [link]

(source)

Re: [same subject]

{name},

When we spoke, I thought that I understood _______, but you haven’t responded. Did I misunderstand or has something changed?

After a Voicemail

Sorry I missed you

Hi {name},

Sorry I missed you on the phone today. I was calling because [explain your purpose].

My voicemail said I will try you again on [date and time] and you can always reach me before at [phone number].

(source)

Just Tried Your Line

{name},

I just tried giving you a call and left a voicemail. [call to action].Please give me a call back at {XXX-XXX-XXXX}, or send me a note if you get the chance.

Thank you!

(source)

  Break Up

Re: {same subject}

Hey {name},

Haven’t heard back from you. Thank you for the opportunity. Can I put it on hold for now?

(source)

Thanks from {company}

{name} – I wanted to reach out to you one more time regarding _______. If I don’t hear back from you, I’ll assume that the timing isn’t right and I won’t contact you again.

If I can be of assistance, you can always contact me at the number below.

(source)

Permission to close your file?

{name},

We are in the process of closing files for the month. Typically when I haven’t heard back from someone it means they’re either really busy or aren’t interested. If you aren’t interested, do I have your permission to close your file? If you’re still interested, what do you recommend as a next step?

Thanks for your help.

(source)

Thanks from [company]

Hi {name},

I know we haven’t been able to connect, which usually means one of two things: Either the timing may not be right or you no longer have a need.

In either case, I want to respect your time so I’m going to go ahead and close your file.

Otherwise, if you would still like to talk, please call me to discuss next steps.

Thanks again.

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I’ve reached out a few times regarding your sales prospecting strategies there at {company}. My guess is that we’re out of touch for one of three reasons: – You don’t see a fit – You have another solution to create predictable outbound prospecting numbers – You are secretly a superhero and have been too busy fighting crime to reply

If any of these are correct then they may be the exact reason why we should talk now…

(source)

Are you ok?

{name},

I reached out previously regarding {what you do} and haven’t heard back from you yet. This tells me a few things: • You’re being chased by a T-rex and haven’t had time to respond. • You’re interested but haven’t had time to respond. • You aren’t interested. Whichever one it is, please let us know as we’re getting worried!

(source)

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I’ve tried to reach you a few times to go over suggestion on improving ___, but haven’t heard back which tells me one of three things: 1)  You’re all set with ____ and I should stop bothering you. 2)  You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to meet yet. 3)  You’ve fallen and can’t get up and in that case let me know and I’ll call someone to help you…Please let me know which one as I’m starting to worry!

(source)

Should I stay or should I go?

Hi {name},

I know you’re busy. Just give me a 1, 2, or 3 —

1. We’ll pass on partnering with EVENT NAME this year, thanks for the offer!

2. We’re interested in the event, but it’s not a good time, reach back out to me in 1 month.

3. I’m interested — let’s talk!

Thanks!

(source)

  Trial

SalesLoft Walkthrough

Hey {name},

Hope you are well. SalesGuy here, with SalesLoft (sales intelligence tool you are testing).

Would you like to connect for me to show you the ins and outs of our software? We would love for you to start Lofting at expert level in no time! How about sometime later this week?

Cheers!

Let’s get you lofting, Ryan

Hi Ryan,

Akoma with SalesLoft; I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to reach out and see if a prospecting tool such as SalesLoft might be on your radar? I’d love to learn a little bit more about your lead generation at Attach.

I’d be happy to take you through a high-level overview of our solution and show you some effective ways to find accurate and relevant leads, quickly add them to a list, discover emails and phone numbers, and push that data to your CRM.

Do you have some time on Friday or Monday? If so, propose a few times (timezone included).

SalesLoft + Attach = A Perfect Match

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for taking an interest in SalesLoft. I am excited to learn more about your lead generation/prospecting strategies at Attach. Happy to answer any questions that you might have about SalesLoft and show you a few best practices. Can we put something on the calendar for Friday or Monday?

Any thoughts?

Hi Ryan,

I wanted to reach out one last time and see if Attach has thought any more about implementing SalesLoft?

I would be happy to chat and answer any questions, do you have some time on Friday or Monday.

Let’s Talk KISSmetrics!

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for setting up your KISSmetrics account! Are you available for a quick chat to discuss KISSmetrics best practices to make sure you are getting the most out of your trial period?

Please let me know when you are next available and we can schedule a call.

  Startup

John – my name is Tyler and I’m the CEO of Clever. My company has developed new technology that reduces the time spent doing SIS integrations by 80%.

I figured this might be of interest to you given the new middle school reading software Scholastic just released.

I’d love to get your feedback even if you’re not in the market for this right now. Do you have 20 minutes this week? It looks like I’m open Tuesday at 1 or 2pm ET if either may work.

Tyler

(source)

Looking for advice

Hi NAME,

I’m a first-time entrepreneur and I just started to build my product. I’m looking for experts in this space and several of my friends pointed me in your direction. So I was hoping you could give me your feedback before I spent too much time building something that nobody wants 🙂

Here’s my idea: I have a crawler that crawls millions of websites daily and can see who started a free trial with Mixpanel almost instantly. Do you think information like that would be valuable for somebody like KISSmetrics or I’m just wasting my time here?

Thanks in advance!

(source)

  Other

Viewing content alert (e.g. opened an Attach link)

Re: [same subject]

Hey {name},

Last time we chatted, you requested that I get in touch in November. I may be a month early, but I figured it’d be worth checking-in.

Have you given any additional thought to the proposal? I’d be happy to do a quick review of it on the phone and answer any pending questions.

When’s a good time to talk?

(source)

Responding to a request to match competitors pricing

Subject: Re: demo follow up

No worries… the short answer is no, we aren’t able to compete on price against FooCorp.

The FooCorps’s of the world have spent a couple decades now in the race to the bottom and it shows. I have no doubt you can get their product (or a whole raft of others) for a few bucks cheaper than us.

Our product, Acme, is different. We’re designed to help improve your company’s performance in the critical area of XYZ. The ROI for doing that is enormous.

Now, not every organization sees the value in investing in XYZ. I get that. But if yours does, Acme is one of the most leveraged investments you can make.

Assume HelloSign does 5-6 transactions in the [XYZ field], that’s going to run 300-600k per year (so figure this is a $1-2MM investment over 3 years). The value of each transaction will be maybe 2-5x that if they’re done well, whereas a bad one we know can actually destroy value.

On the cost side, great transactions churn over at less than half the rate of low performing ones – which means if you do a better job at XYZ, you’ll save 10’s of thousands in new transaction costs as they stay longer. And on and on…

So ultimately if you think Acme will help you do this better – even just a little bit – the whole thing is peanuts. The cost difference between our product and the others, even less.

Look, FooCorp’s customers are switching to Acme in droves because we’re investing heavily in great customer service and innovation. Those things cost money but, as we see above, they drive tons of value so the market is happy to pay.

We’d love to have HelloSign on board as a customer and I’d be happy to have another chat with you or them if you think it would be useful. Let me know!

(source)

  Sequence

First Email

How to import targeted professional social network leads straight into your {company} CRM

{name},

I’d like to discuss your lead gen efforts. We’re helping other {industry} companies collect their prospects straight from professional social networks and import them directly into their CRM (adding phone numbers and email addresses).

Quick question: can you put me in touch with whoever is responsible for new prospecting and revenue-generating tools at {company}?

(source)

Second Email

Re: [same subject]

{name},

Predictable Revenue author, Aaron Ross recently wrote this article: How Email Marketing Company WhatCounts Added an Extra 26% To Their New Sales Growth Rate In One Year (+ Their Favorite Sales App: SalesLoft).

I’d love to help you uncover whether you could do the same. How about a short call so I can understand your revenue objectives at {company} for {enter timeframe}?

(source)

Third Email

Re: [same subject]

{name},

I have tried to reach out a few times over the past week to go over your lead generation / prospecting strategies at {company}. I have not heard back from you and this tells me a few things:

1) You are all set with your current prospecting/lead gen strategies at{company}, and if that is the case please let me know so I will stop bothering you.

2) You are interested but have not had the time to respond.

3) You are being chased by a hippo and need me to call for help.

Please let me know which one it is as I am beginning to worry…

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.

(source)

First Email

Hi Drew,

My name is Jerry and I am the founder at Shipping Company. We work with organizations like Sears and Target to hold FedEx and UPS accountable. We track all your shipments, identify those which have been delivered late, and file claims on your behalf. You only pay when packaging tracking is credited to your account.

What would be the best way to get 15 minutes on your calendar to explore if this would be valuable to Company?

Cheers, Jerry

(source)

Second Email

Re: [first subject]

Hi Drew,

I’m sorry to trouble you again. At my company, Shipping Company, we give you real-time visibility of all shipments, identify those which have been delivered late, and obtain package tracking on your behalf.

You pay for performances so if we don’t save you money we don’t get paid. Who would be the person to speak to about this at Company?

Thanks, Jerry

(source)

Third Email

Re: [same subject]

Hi Drew,

Wanted to make sure you got my earlier message. I’d like to learn about the pains of package tracking at Company. If you are the appropriate person to speak with, what does your calendar look like earlier next week? If not, who do you recommend I walk to?

– Jerry

(source)

First Email:

Appropriate person

Hi {name},

I’m trying to figure out who is in charge of [leading general statement] there at {company}.

Would you mind pointing me towards the right person please, and the best way I might get in touch with them?

Thank you,

Looking for best [insert job area where you’d like to start] contact

{name},

I am doing some research on your company to determine if there is (or is not) a need for [insert your strongest pain point].

Could you please help me by pointing me to the best person there for a brief discussion?

(source)

Second Email:

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I didn’t hear back from you last week when I was looking for the appropriate person managing your [statement]. That’s not a problem. If it makes sense to talk, let me know how your calendar looks. If not, who is the appropriate person?

(source)

Third Email:

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I have tried to get in touch with you to see if there is a mutual fit between our companies expertise and your goals around [statement].

If you are not interested or there is another person you would like me to follow up with, please let me know.

Would it make sense to invest 5-10 minutes to determine if there is a mutual fit between your [statement] and our expertise? If not, who do you recommend I talk to?

(source)

Fourth Email:

Re: [same subject]

Hi {name},

I’ve reached out a few times regarding your sales prospecting strategies there at {company}. My guess is that we’re out of touch for one of three reasons:

– You don’t see a fit

– You have another solution to create predictable outbound prospecting numbers

– You are secretly a superhero and have been too busy fighting crime to reply

If any of these are correct then they may be the exact reason why we should talk now…

(source)

First Email

Revenue Growth

Hi {name},

My name is {salesrepresentative} and I’m with {sendercompany}, a [what you do].

We’ve worked with venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 companies like [companies you’ve worked with].

We take a different approach to grow companies and aren’t like [other companies in a competitive niche].

We move quickly and if we don’t think we can kick butt for you, we’ll be upfront about it.

Are you free for a chat this week or next about marketing? If so, please pick a time slot here: [link to book a meeting using scheduleonce.com]

(source)

Second Email

Growth initiatives

{name},

I wanted to see if you had 5-10 minutes to connect re [what you do]. We’ve been able to generate solid revenue for our clients and both are still fairly untapped.

Can you point me to the person that handles this?

(source)

Third Email

(name}

Hi {name},

We recently helped a startup [insert result] by [what you do]. Can you point me to the person that handles [what you do] to discuss further?

(source)

Fourth Email

Scaling customer acquisition

{name},

One of our clients was able to [improve metric by number] at half of their target cost per acquisition number. Is this something that might interest you right now? If so, can you point me in the direction of the person that handles this?

(source)

Fifth Email

Are you ok?

{name},

I reached out previously regarding WHAT YOU DO and haven’t heard back from you yet.

This tells me a few things:

• You’re being chased by a T-rex and haven’t had time to respond.

• You’re interested but haven’t had time to respond.

• You aren’t interested.

Whichever one it is, please let us know as we’re getting worried!

(source)

    Inbound

Hi {name},

I noticed that you recently visited our {Page or Blog Post}. I wanted to quickly check-in and make sure that you were able to find the resource you were looking for? I also thought you might find these additional resources helpful:

– {link to helpful resource}

– {link to helpful resource}

I actually also took a minute to look at your company, and I thought you might be interested in how your current performance compares to the industry benchmarks that we regularly see. Would you like to talk tomorrow at {insert 2 times you’re available}?

YES! Millennials can sell.

Hi {name}, Thank you for signing up to test drive Kapost. I recently read your blog post “Can Millennials Sell?”

As a millennial myself, this specific line really resonated with me, “Juxtapose this against your average Gen X salesperson who still speaks lovingly of the Blackberry’s tactile keyboard, who maintains maybe just 1-2 social properties, and who prefers the face-to-face meeting to the digital one.” My dad is a successful salesman who is still using a Blackberry and scheduling in-person meetings, ha!

My role here at Kapost is to see if I can answer any questions for you about Kapost, or clarify anything about our platform after taking a Test Drive.

Please let me know if I can provide you with any additional resources.

(source)

{name of downloaded ebook}

Hey {name}

What’s going on? I saw that you downloaded our {ebook /whitepaper/guide} — I hope that you enjoyed it or soon will.

If I can be of any help at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Take care {myname} {mytitle} @ {mycompany}

PS: just connected on Linkedin

  Subject Lines

Ben, loved your tweet yesterday (source)

Ben, love what you guys are doing at Datanyze (source)

Appropriate Person?

Right Direction?

Quick Question? (source)

[Mutual connection] recommended I get in touch. (source)

Ideas for [thing that’s important to them]. (source)

Question about [recent trigger event]. (source)

Question about [a goal they have]. (source)

Thoughts about [title of their blog post]. (source)

Have you considered [thought / recommendation]? (not your service!) (source)

(Name), quick question for you. (source)

[Referrer] said you might be able to answer this question.

    Opening Lines

I noticed you … (source)

[Mutual connection] mentioned … (source)

I Saw that we both … (source)

I loved your post on … (source)

Congratulations on … (source)

    Go to our website:   www.ncmalliance.com

101 Sales Email Templates You Can Use to Close More Deals By Erika Desmond Smart salespeople have known this for a while now: Email prospecting is one of the most effective ways to get in front of your potential customers.

[sycriptouk]

I'm from El Salvador...UPDATE 3

Hi, I've been posting this updates in the bitcoin subreddit since sept 7th. Some people ask me to post here too, so read and ask me any doubt you have!

It’s been a while so I’ll give you an update on how things are going.

There haven’t been anti-btc protest since sept 7th. Sept 15th was Independence Day so there were many reasons to the protest. There have been many protests (not btc) but that’s common in my country, its weird not having a protest between weeks LoL.

Do people hate btc?

Not at all, some are afraid since they don’t understand, but the main concern is the law. Due to a large history of government corruption, people don’t trust government, there’s always a catch in this type of laws. I repeat, this has nothing to do with btc at all but how government handle things.

Chivo App (official wallet)

Chivo app is now available to most devices and it works fine most of the time although there are moments when either it’s on maintenance mode or simply die. There are some cases where chivo app stop working the moment you want to pay…some “karens” have made a fuss at supermarkets or fast-food restaurants, LoL.

Lightning network works fine.

Layer 1 transactions still shows problems. (my $2 are still on the way since sept 8)

Minor issues when sending money from chivo app to bank account.

People are still selling the $30 btc bonus for $25 USD cash. (They even use facebook marketplace for promotion LoL. Here's a pic altough in spanish)

Problems with registration

I’ll explain this giving some context, the main identification we Salvadoran have is called DUI which stands for “Documento Único de Identidad” (Unique identity document). This ID shows your photo, name, date and place of birth, if your single or married, parents name, your address and a 9-digit number. This number is unique to every person however it’s not something you maintain in secret. You usually use your DUI to when making a contract or any other legal procedure…or simply use it to prove your not underage when buying alcohol, LoL.

By itself, the DUI number it’s useless, legal documents will also require you to personally sign aside other stuff. You can use your DUI number in raffles, polls and other stuff like that. People can’t robe or scam you just because you give them your DUI number, so nobody actually cares about keeping the number in secret.

Now that I explained that, here’s the issue. To register in chivo app and get your $30 bonus, first you type your phone number, DUI number, take a photo of your DUI and a photo of yourself, and type a security code (your standard KYC). People found out that, to complete the registration process you only need a phone number and DUI number, there is actually no verification of your ID and face photo, just taking a random photo will let you complete the registration.

Some people take advantage of this and start craving for DUI numbers, there many data bases that have hundreds and thousands of DUI numbers, you can usually buy these things for marketing purposes (SMS - emails campaigns, segmentation, etc.). You can also buy a phone number for $1.

You probably can get the idea of what the problem is…now that chivo app is available to most devices, people start discovering that their DUI number has already been registered, so they can’t use the app and even less get the $30 bonus.

There haven’t been any official communication from government about this problem however the director of police department said in an interview that people who are doing these things will get arrested, investigations have started. Here's an article, altough in spanish, might have to use google translator.

Remittances

There are three main ways to send money from overseas to my country.

Buy USD with a credit/debit card in chivo website and send directly to a relative’s chivo app.This has 0 fees although some banks may charge you like US Bank and Bank of America. Wells Fargo and Chase have 0 fees.

If for legal reasons you don’t have a bank account, you can get paid in btc and send it

or continue using businesses like Western-Union.

Btc mining

The power of volcanoes! ...(sigh)

I’ll be honest and tell you all that this is marketing…at least for today, 2021.

In my country we need to buy (import) electricity from other countries to meet the demand. So don’t expect a big mining farm from the get go, maybe in 10 years there will be a really big mining farm sustained with clean energy.

Also, we are taking away this clean energy to direct it exclusively to btc. Good for btc, bad for my country. Anyways, thanks to this there might be mayor investments in geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy needs to be developed through time; it’s not just finding a vein of water.

Here is a presentation with some data…although it’s a decade old, it might give you some insights about geothermal development…it’s in English btw.

There’s also the math of the cost of btc mining and the actual gains but since I don´t have any information I´ll skip that for now.

People’s behavior

As I’ve said multiple times, nothing has really changed, we just have a new payment method.

People are starting to know how btc works, the bearish and bullish market, etc. On a daily basis there’s no difference between USD and btc, people are showing interest in crypto as an investment method and not a currency…most businesses like restaurants and supermarkets accept btc as payment, there are others who only accept USD, either because they’re against it or don’t give a shi… there are others who doesn’t accept btc because people don’t show interest in paying with btc.

There was also a big promotion in the price of gas, minus $0.20 for a gallon. However, I don’t see a big fuss about this…which is weird… the promotion will end around October 14th so I’ll wait for any data that might come out.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any data about chivo aside the presidents’ tweets, which I personally don’t trust as a source. There are some polls out there of how many people uses btc as payment but I still think it’s to early to get that type of info, consumer behavior wont change in a short period of time.

-----

Truth to be told, foreigners might feel more the hype than Salvadorans LoL.

As always I’ll try to answer your questions and explain things as long as I can.

submitted by /u/Tux_fan [link] [comments] from Cryptocurrency News & Discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/q478e5/im_from_el_salvadorupdate_3/ via IFTTT

[belleetlabeast]

Dangerous Woman- Part 4

A/N: This is my favorite part! When I was first thinking about this moment, I needed to have a female character that could kick ass. I’ve had this idea ever since I watched Civil War for the first time so I’m very excited to share it with you now!! It’s long because I’m a wordy bitch. You are all amazing! Thank you so much for all this love!

Warnings: LONG/Arguing/Swearing

Summary: You’ve caught the eye of Tony Stark to become the head lawyer for the Avengers. You never expected your life to change but fate has a funny way of turning everything upside down.   Bucky x Reader

Part 3

Your eyes went wide as you finally connected the dots. The piece that you were missing! You squealed as you ran towards the wall where a large map of the world hung. You had colorful tacks and pictures connected by yarn that covered this large map.

“Everything okay, Y/N?” Bucky asked sheepishly at your door frame. At first, you didn’t hear him and continued your frantic search for the correct tack until he called out for you again. “Y/N?” 

“Everything is perfect!” You squealed again and rushed over to him, tackling him with an unexpected hug. Before he could respond and wrap his arms around you, you were already gone, bouncing into Steve’s office.  

“Bring him in!: You called out to Steve and then rushed back to your office. You ran right past Bucky and started gathering your paper notes.

“What?” Steve now joined Bucky in your doorway.

“Ross! Bring him in.” Steve would have questioned but he could see the determination in your eyes. They could tell you were obviously excited about something and had complete faith in you. Why wouldn’t they? You had already fought for them even before they were paying you.

The next time you met, all Avengers were called to sit in on the meeting you had called with Ross. His impatience would be his downfall. He was too eager and met with you the same day but you were prepared. His furrow brows and firm jaw were every indication that he was not a happy man but he couldn’t intimidate you. He also seem to have brought your father, thinking he could possibly throw you off your game. He was desperate.

“What are we doing here again Tony? Are you all prepared to finally sign these damn Accords?” He gruffed out in pent up anger.

“Hmph, quite the contrary” You interjected before anyone else could speak. “Hello, Ms. L/N, over here.” You waved your fingers. “I represent the overall Avengers and each individual member. You don’t speak to my clients. You speak to me.” Everyone in the room physically backed their heads at how forward you were but the gloves were off.

“And what do YOU have to say, Ms. L/N?” Ross leaned back in his chair and looked towards your father with disgust.

“Well, I would like you to repeat that whole fiasco the last time you were in this room. Please,” you jester towards the screen. “Play it all again.” Steve looked at you apprehensively, as he placed his hand on his face, replicating the same stance he did last time.

“Okay,” Unaware of your taunting, Ross stood up as the screen illuminated. “A group of US-based enhanced individuals with no regard for the destruction they cause!” He put emphasis on ‘no’ but you continued to lean back, unphased. All eyes were on you as you continued to listen. “New York.” Footage of the Hulk’s destruction of New York played on the screen but your eyes illuminated. “Washington, DC.” You eyes continued to shine. Steve was starting to think you were insane but he didn’t know that Ross was walking right into your trap. “Sokovia. Lagos. And now Bucharest and Berlin” Destruction continued to rack the screen in front of you. You could hear the whines and sighs from the Avengers around you. You were putting them through pain again but it was all for the best. You would show them that momentarily. Ross slowly sat back down, now allowing you your time.

“In the courtroom, we call this a cross-examination but last time you never allowed for the Avengers to question you. It was what you wanted or you would force them to, what, retire?” You chuckled. “This time they have someone to fight for them.” You straighten your blazer and clicked your heels away as your stood at the front of the table. “Steve, I believe there is a piece of paper in front of you. Would you be so kind as to read it for me? It’s for organizational purposes.” You tried to smile at Ross but it became more of a smirk. “I would start taking notes.” You motioned to Ross’s secretary in the corner. “Steve.”

“New York.” He called out clearly.

“The site on Earth where the Avengers withheld alien destruction from happening on our planet. The US-government’s option? Send a nuke to level the most populous city in America.” You looked towards Steve again.

“Washington, DC.”

“The fall of secret US-government organization SHIELD to HYDRA after being infiltrated for almost 70 years.” Ross started to speak but you silenced him. “I sat through your entire theatrical production. YOU can sit through mine.” You slammed the table for good measure then motioned again to Steve.

“Sokovia.”

“The Avengers took their entire mission removing every person they could off that flying rock before GLOBAL annihilation. If I remember correctly, the entire event wasn’t on the US-government’s radar until it was almost over.”

“Lagos.”

“Captain Rogers’ team prevented a biological weapon from getting into the hands of people like Brock Rumlow, whom the US government is still trying to figure out who his buyer was? If Wanda Maximoff would have allowed that bomb to blow, it would have killed her, Captain Rogers, and almost the entire block INCLUDING the group of Wakandans in the building. Ms. Maximoff saved the lives of her, her teammates, and that entire market! Yet we blame her for the death of a few because YOU believe there was a better option.”

“Bucharest.”

“And Berlin! You,” you pointed at Ross as your were now yelling, “and your thugs, decided to run in head first after a World War II HERO” You pointed to Bucky but speaking of him only fired you up more. “Shoot first and ask questions later? You were going to kill him because Helmut Zemo put on a wig and a mask?! THEN you allowed him into a secured US-government facility that caused the destruction and death of over a hundred people! Did you ever stop to think about your actions? That you were being dragged right into Zemo’s plan? But no, let’s arrest half the Avengers and then allow Zemo access to FIVE HYDRA trained super soldiers! Even AFTER Tony tried to tell you what was right. Your pride, Secretary Ross, has been your downfall, then and now.”

“And then what would you expect us to have done, Ms. L/N?!” Ross had had enough as he slammed his hands on the table and stood up. You matched him and looked him right in his eyes.  

“‘The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt.’ That’s what you said, correct? Then you at least owe them a seat at the table! They deserve to be apart of the rules you so desperately want to bestow upon them!”

“And if I don’t?”

“Oh no, please. They’ll retire. But in the meantime, I’ll send over all the Avengers open ended cases to you and the Secretary of Defense. Good luck. If you need me, I’ll be in my office.” You turned back to your chair at the table, allowing your heels to echo in the now silent room.

“You’re making a mistake. What are you trying to prove? Are you trying to kill people?” Ross was slowly regaining his cool but his face was still a slight shade of pink.

“No, Secretary Ross,” you hissed back. “I’m trying to protect the Avengers from getting emotionally railroaded by you again.” You smirked, knowing exactly what you were about to unearth. “Do you remember Charles Spencer?” Ross looked at you in confusion then terror. “You hired a woman from your office to show a picture of her fake son and make up this elaborate story so that YOU and the US-government could have control over the Avengers. Your play for power is over. All communication to the Avengers will go through me and my office, do you understand me?” All the Avengers gasped at your statement. All your work and investigation paid off as you finally released your best weapon again Ross, the fact that Charles Spencer was a fraud.

“Do you realize how many people in DC are going to hate you now? How much the world is going to hate you for taking away the Avengers?” Ross’ last attempt at emotional damage was weak.

“Have you ever heard of the Bridge of Spies, sir? James B. Donovan represented Rudolf Abel in court? A KGB spy? The public wasn’t too happy with him. Lawyers have been upsetting the public for years. I’m not too worried about your empty threats, Secretary!” You hissed his normally renowned title. “This meeting is adjourned.” You called then turned on your heels and clicked away to your office. Your heart was racing. You had finally done it and exposed Ross for what he was, a fraud. You dropped your notes on your desk and started to shake your hands, getting rid of all your pent up energy. Your hands were shaking, you hate Ross that much, but it felt better that now the rest of the team knew.

“Y/N?” Steve called out. You looked up and saw the entire team crammed in your doorway. “Do we really have to retire?” They all looked at you anxiously. You laughed but their faces didn’t change.

“Of course not! They have no power over this team. I just needed to scare Ross and my father with something. The Defense Department doesn’t want to deal with this shit so it now gives my father a vote against Ross.” They all let out a sigh and then scattered. All except Bucky.

“Thank you, Y/N.” His voice was thick and throaty, which made you concerned.

“Bucky?” You slowly approached, not sure what was happening. He wasn’t looking at you when you finally made it to his side but you made him, tilting his face to see you. “Bucky, what’s wrong?”

“You said hero. . .” He trailed off but his eyes were locked on yours. “I’m no hero.”

“Yes you are.” You cupped his face and tried to give him a small smile. “You’re a hero in my eyes and deserve to be on this team.” You inhaled sharply, eyelids fluttering and patted him on his cheek before letting your hand drop. You were getting too close. “And if you ever need someone to remind you. I’ll be here.” You turned to walk towards your desk but Bucky grabbed your hand to stop you.

“Your hands are shaking.” He held your hand, much smaller than his, eyeing it as it still shook.

“Adrenaline and I just hate Ross.” You chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Here,” he started to lead you out of your office. “Let’s try something.” He laced his fingers through yours, palms touching, through the hallways and down the elevator until you were on the training room level. This was obviously not a room you were too familiar with but it looked simple enough. Of course, the other Avengers noticed Bucky and you in tow as he led you to the punching bags. “Here.” He stopped, motioning towards the handing bag with a very wrinkled and faded picture of Ross taped on. “Steve uses it when he gets upset.” Bucky revealed.

“Oh yeah, this bad boy gets hammered.” Sam chuckled as he walked up.

“Do it, Y/N! I bet you’ll be great at it.” Natasha smiled darkly as she crossed her arms over her chest. You laughed then muttered ‘what the hell’ as you took off your heels and blazer.

“Don’t forget gloves sweetheart!” Sam winked at you, holding two worn red gloves. They were huge on you but when you found out they were Bucky’s it made sense. Bucky held out the bag for you, smiling as he watched you. You wound up then thrusted forward until your fist hit the bag. It stopped with a thud and the bag barely moved. You could see Bucky chuckling along with the others.

“Listen! You hired me to fight verbally, not physically.” You teased but you were still smiling.

“Keep going, beat the shit out that bag, girl!” Natasha cheered you on.

“Yeah, like you did Ross today.” Sam urged. You smirked and nodded then pounded the bag. You started using both hands. You were so worked up that it took Steve to yell at you before he got your attention.

“Oh! Yes?” You straightened up, looking at though you were caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

“Enjoying yourself?” He smirked. You smiled and nodded. “Well good. I was just talking with Tony and we wanted to treat you to dinner tonight. Do you mind staying?” You were about to say no when Tony interrupted.

“Don’t worry about Amelia. I took the liberty of calling your mother and inviting our little angel over as well.” Smiles started to spread with word of Amelia coming that you soon join.

“Fine.”

Part 5

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-Love, Kate xoxo

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Verb conjugation with essayer in French

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Ils essaient d’arriver a l’heure. (They attempt to reach when they’re due.)

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