#accounting software for franchises

[technology-ahead]

The Ultimate Guide to Interact Software's Integrated Back Office Accounting Suite for Multi-Unit Franchise Operations

In the fast-paced world of multi-unit franchise operations, the key to success lies in streamlined and efficient management. Enter Interact Software's cutting-edge Integrated Back Office Accounting Suite, a game-changer designed to revolutionize the way franchises manage their financial operations.

Understanding the Need for Integrated Solutions

Multi-unit franchises face unique challenges in managing multiple locations, each with its own set of financial transactions, payroll, inventory, and reporting requirements. Traditional accounting methods often struggle to keep up with the complexities, leading to inefficiencies, errors, and unnecessary time consumption.

Interact Software steps in as the ultimate solution, offering a comprehensive suite that integrates diverse accounting functions into a single, cohesive platform. This centralized system harmonizes financial data from various franchise units, providing real-time insights and fostering operational excellence.

Key Features and Benefits

Centralized Data Management: Interact Software consolidates financial data from multiple units into a unified dashboard, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing errors.

Customizable Reporting: Franchises can generate tailored reports, allowing for a detailed analysis of financial performance across different locations. This enables informed decision-making and strategic planning.

Automated Processes: The suite automates repetitive tasks such as payroll processing, invoicing, and inventory management, freeing up valuable time for franchise managers to focus on growth and customer service.

Scalability: As franchises expand, the software seamlessly scales to accommodate additional units, ensuring consistent and efficient operations across the board.

Security and Compliance: Interact Software prioritizes data security and compliance with industry standards, safeguarding sensitive financial information from potential threats.

Optimizing Multi-Unit Operations

With Interact Software's suite, multi-unit franchise operations experience a paradigm shift in their accounting and financial management. The integration of various modules streamlines day-to-day operations, leading to enhanced productivity and profitability.

Moreover, the intuitive interface and user-friendly design empower franchisees and managers to navigate the system effortlessly, minimizing the learning curve and maximizing utilization.

For more information or assistance, feel free to contact us at 800-547-6429 or email support@intersoftsystems.com.

Visit for more information - https://www.intersoftsystems.com/interac-for-franchises.html

accounting software for franchises

[ayeforscotland]

Good morning Aye, or afternoon maybe?

Could you explain what the Post Office scandal is about?

Howdy! Sure thing. The Post Office scandal is probably one of the biggest contemporary miscarriages of justice in the UK. To the point where calling it a 'scandal' actually minimises how terrible it is.

To be absolutely clear, the pressure and stress the victims of the 'scandal' had to deal with is linked with 4 suicides. An innocent young mum was jailed while she was pregnant with her second child. Countless others sent to prison or left financially ruined. Marriages and families were destroyed.

To start with, what is a Post Office? Some people might be under the impression that Post Offices in the UK are ran by the Royal Mail. They are not.

The Post Office is a retail company. Most Post Offices are run by franchise owners (In the same way, people can run a franchise of McDonalds). These people are referred to as 'Sub-postmasters'. The scandal saw over 700 sub-postmasters convicted of a number of financial misconduct crimes - straight up theft, fraud, providing false accounts.

The cause of all of this was a SOFTWARE ERROR.

The Post Office's Horizon system was had a fault which reported false shortfalls of money. The Post Office claimed the system was robust, and they went after these people.

The reason why people are talking about it more now is that ITV released a dramatisation of it at the start of the year. Hopefully it leads to convictions being overturned.

[smellyidiot]

Doom rant

Isabelle x doom guy is NOT canon. If you ship them fanonically, that's proshipping. you ship a little girl and an adult man. its getting annoying for some of you non-doom fans to try and lecture me on what's "real".

First of all, Nintendo does not own the doom franchise. And second of all, Isabelle is three years old in human years. She's not going to drink jack Daniels she's literally a puppy, she's going to drink apple juice and cry when she gets a knee scrape. They're in two different universes and the picture of their marriage was uploaded to twitter by Bethesda, not the official doom account. Although Bethesda owns the rights, IT software still owns the game. The one where they hold hands is not official and is photoshopped. The official doom account on twitter tweeted things about it as a joke because new horizons and doom released on the same date making them friends. In fact, in smash bros doom guy is a costume for the mii gunner, he is not an actual playable character. If john Romero was still working on doom, i doubt he'd be okay with them getting "married". John Carmack himself said they're just friends. Not to mention that Isabelle is an anthropomorphic dog?? He wouldn't have cute tea parties with her and would probably try to kill her at first because she talks and she stands on two legs. If you've played the game then you know that animals can become corrupted and remnant souls. Also, despite his helmet being able to detect hell energy, we've already seen that some demons don't have any in them. He'd likely think she's either 1. a hallucination (doom 64, his hallucinations never went away) or 2. she's a zombified human in a football mascot costume. There is nothing in his universe that looks like her at all, and the whole point of his character is to be untrusting of literally everything. I mean for crying out loud he shut himself away from humanity for a time being when everything was temporarily over. If he ever dated anyone again, it would be a human. Also who's to say she wont just die? She doesn't have any special abilities, she's a dog with no weapons against demons. She wouldn't even be able to find him at first she'd be wandering around. And again, there are demons that look human enough but are truly vile. He wouldn't trust her for a long time. Besides, how would she even make a portal to his world if the only existing portal around is one to hell? He'd question if she's from hell herself.

He's a grown man who's been alive for eons without dating anyone. He can live a life alone and he literally chooses to be loyal to his wife and son, he doesn't need a plus one. He's always been loyal both to daisy and his wife. If he hasn't given up on daisy what makes you think he'd give up on his wife and kid? He even cut himself out of the picture he keeps on his desk in the newer game because he blames himself for their death. Its implied he was killing a demon boss for killing daisy while his wife and child were burning to death in a village during the first invasion. The khan maykr has unused lines where he mentions doom guys wife and child and doom guy picks up the picture, there was also supposed to be cut scenes about them but things were time sensitive. The picture being under his table is because he cant bare to look at them, not because he moved on. Its meant to be an easter egg and tear jerker, you're not supposed to look too hard into it.

(in the original 1993 version John Romero wanted to make a story but John carmack was rushing it because he wanted people to look at the game and be surprised by the coding and graphics. John carmack was the brains and john romero wanted story but the story was dropped.) It wasn't until doom eternal that Bethesda gave him a proper storyline while John Romero retired from working on the franchise. He then handed it over to john Carmack who decided with Microsoft that he would have a wife and son named Chloe and hunter. Daisy daisy still exists, it's just that your dead bunny isn't exactly a proper reason to go to hell and back (quite literally). Not to mention John Romero okayed this choice as well in an interview but i forget which one. In short you don't need to worry about the game being "different" or think that it ruins the game somehow. The whole "he's a virgin!!" thing was retconned 10 years ago bud. Consider how the bit might be fake because its only source is a potentially made up screenshot whose true source was never tracked down. I also wouldn't be surprised in John Romero added him having a wife and kid And to all the "maybe he's just john wick" commenters have you considered that the dog was a gift to john wick by his wife? Because there isn't a real reason to get that enraged over an animal unless its of course that. The plot has plot holes but i head canon that the bunny was his sons bunny and losing daisy was like losing apart of his son. I feel like wife and kid or not, daisy or not, he'd still fight because who wouldn't? Humans are dying, what else can you do?

The former humans pretend to be your own soldiers, why would he trust her?

[bassicallymaestra]

✨Art Tag Game✨

Thanks so much for the tag @myokk and @sonny201818!!

I had a lot of fun with this and y'all had me going through my ancient deviantart account and sketchbooks 😂 unfortunately I nuked my old middle/high school digital art, but I know there is a poorly printed paper copy of some old oekakis floating around somewhere.

Starting with my redraw of my Fallout New Vegas OC, Panica 2010 and 2020

I've divided my art journey in four sections: high school, college, teaching, and post-grad school

💥High School (2004-2008)💥

I really wanted to do more digital art, but we had a very old computer and dial up internet, so I relied on oekaki boards for digital and would doodle traditionally when I didn't have access. I was very into making comics at this age and wanted to pursue animation. Then the stock market crashed as I was graduating and was spooked at freelancing (ironic that now I'm pretty much a freelance professor/musician). I was very into Megas XLR at the time and spat out so much fan art, I got attention from one of the co-creators and crew! I made life long friends with them and I'm sure it's been interesting for them to see me grow up 😂

🔥 College (2009-2013)🔥

Finally got my own laptop with my own software! I would say this time was one of my peak drawing periods, I would often get frustrated in the practice room and go back to my dorm room and doodle to cool off. I got REALLY into the Fallout franchise, especially Fallout New Vegas (tbh still my favorite game of all time) and was really into the fandom. I also got suckered into Homestuck as well

🩸Teaching (2014-2021)🩸

This was a very sporadic art time for me. I had a high drawing output at the beginning when teaching for a couple of years, and then I pretty much stopped making art for a couple of years. Did a lot of experimenting with traditional media and then the pandemic happened and I suddenly had a lot of free time again, so I started drawing more.

🌟Post-Grad School (2024)🌟

Took a hiatus while in grad school to focus on my studies, but then my significant other gifted me Hogwarts Legacy for Christmas and got suckered into the fandom HARD. I literally had abandoned this tumblr and brought it back just so I could hogwartspost. I also had to include the AWFUL first drawing I made after years of no art 😂 I set the art bar low for my comeback

Thanks for joining me on my art journey! I'm so excited to see what the future holds in store!

I tag @itsame-domi, @a-florable, @4ever2000lover, @siboom777, and anyone else who wants to join in!!

[fairmerthefarmer]

Hello?

So I noticed a huge influx of followers, I kind of thought they were all bots, but after seeing some other posts from some of the blogs these accounts were following (thanks @bob-artist ) I think some of you may just be super new accounts and tumblr recommended me? (I’m very confused rn, my posts have found some people who like the things but they haven’t gotten THAT many reblogs or notes, this is a fairly new account itself)

ANYWAY if you are a real person welcome I guess, if you’re a bot I’ve been taking measures to do my best to protect my art from ai learning software and that’s gonna keep happening. If it turns out everyone’s a bot I’m gonna feel a little silly but I’ll survive.

——————————————————————————-

So now I’m making an introduction post.

I’m Fairmer (The name is both because it’s my name in my stardew save with my sister but also cause I grew up with my dad being a farmer) I’m staying anonymous-ish for now, that may change. But being perceived on social media is scary so we are starting here.

I’m a graphic designer and illustrator living in Manitoba, who burnt out insanely upon graduation and stopped doing illustration outside of my job. I’m new to actually posting on tumblr, or honestly anywhere. Sometime I may link my portfolio here, but right now it’s under construction/being updated.

I’m also queer/bi, and have unexplained chronic pain that’s most likely from endometriosis but I keep most of my complaining about pain on my other blog.

I post mostly fanart so if you like:

- Nancy drew, PC games or otherwise. These in particular have motivated me to get back into actually drawing again.

- other games like Stardew Valley, Spiritfarer, Hollow knight, Hades, etc. (cozy games or otherwise) (also I was a teenage exocolonist except that’s gonna take me like a few business months if I decide to do art for it)

- Narnia, Lord of the rings, fantasy in general (Dnd?)

- Smosh, (current) dropout tv, starkid, tin can bros, shipwrecked, BDG,

- shows like ATLA, Ducktales 2017, ROTTMNT, The Owl house, Tangled the series, Hilda, Over the garden wall, etc.

- HTTYD franchise including riders/defenders of berk and RTTE, mostly rtte.

- like anything else, idk Barbie probably, maybe good omens or dr who? oh also I’m a theatre kid, big fan of hadestown and legally blonde.

You’ll most likely find me posting something at some point involving any of the above. I may post some originals too, but I’m not putting too much pressure on myself here.

Anyway, this is a pretty new account so I don’t have much stuff yet, but If you like my stuff you’re welcome to stay, apologies to any not-bots that attempted to follow me.

I may get into being open for commissions in the future, but for now it is what it is.

Also free Palestine

[talenlee]

Flygon Isn't Gunna Happen, People

When I talk about big game media franchises I’m often left with the thought that they are less an experience like a TV series, where you start out at the start and then you get to the end and eventually everyone either quits or resolves, but instead that they are like maps, where the past is a place you can just walk to. The oldest versions and oldest ways of playing games like Dungeons & Dragons still exist, and you can just go and find those communities who are not only still playing that game but playing the old game in ways that have continued to change and spiral off in their own directions over the fifty years of their life. This is too, too true of Pokemon, a game that has an active player community who focus their efforts on competitive head-to-head play of the very first generation of the game, down to the point where their metagame is upended upon the discovery of bugs or glitches the emulation software hadn’t quite properly implemented.

Navigating this map, though, especially when you stop treating the pure play forms of the game as the only ways to experience it, there are trends and mysteries that have endured and form their own cultural space. Game Freak are a positively inscrutable mistrix especially from the Anglosphere and people will invoke them like they’re talking about some sort of extrabiblical deity figure who can be appeased and whose intentions and demands can be defined through some kind of mystical analysis of stat changes. Amongst those myths there is the strange story of Flygon, the Pokemon that has never been much but has always felt like it should be.

If you’re not familiar with it, Flygon is a Dragon/Ground Pokemon with the ability levitate. This means that Flygon is immune to Electric Attacks and Ground Attacks and also resists Fire, Poison and Rock, things that a new player might assume are good to use to attack it, and its weaknesses are limited to Dragon (not that common) Fairy (all too common these days) and Ice (always common because it’s one of the best attacking types in the game).

In the context of Pokemon, a ‘good’ stat spread is hard to describe simply, so some benchmarks are that Mewtwo, a very, very strong Pokemon and in contention for one of the best Pokemon of all time, has a stat total of 680, which is the number used for very, very important and powerful Pokemon, Mew, a mythical Pokemon has a stat total of 600, which is shared by all the mythicals, and starter Pokemon (that all evolve into something pretty strong) are 530. Other hallmarks that I find useful are that Gengar has a base stat total of 500, and Toxapex (a Pokemon that held a stall-prone metagame in its tentacly grip) has 495. These are the numbers attached to a lot of Pokemon that are ‘good.’ Pikachu, which isn’t fully evolved has 320, which is very low and part of why people generally think Pikachu sucks.

Because it sucks.

Flygon’s stats are 520, and almost all of them are 80, with two 100s. Speed and Attack are its exceptions, meaning it’s biased towards attacking, and quickly, but it could hypothetically do other stuff.

Flygon also looks extremely cool. This is not normally important in a conversation around competitive Pokemon, but it’s important here because we’re not just talking about what Flygon did in competitive Pokemon (the answer is almost nothing). We’re talking about Flygon as a Pokemon that people could get into, like to be fans of.

What of that competitive history?

Well, I went searching and I found two times a Flygon showed up to a VGC tournament that got saved in the Limitless Database, which is to say, one person brought their Flygon to two different tournaments and their best placement was 21st. It’s hard to talk about the competitive history of Flygon because by all honest accounts it doesn’t have one. It does have something of a presence in Smogon, the place which tries to adjust power level in environments through entirely exclusionary choices, ie, bannings, but it’s also worth noting that one of the things that makes it ‘good’ in the spaces it’s been good is ‘we have also banned a bunch of other stuff meaning Flygon is almost the only good Dragon type left.’

I have nothing else to say about Smogon’s opinion of Flygon because I have a note from Smogon’s mother that it’s very special and I shouldn’t be mean to it.

Flygon isn’t ‘bad’ per se, but it is an all-rounder in a game that rewards specialisation, and it is a creature weak to Fairy released before the Fairy Type redefined the world and threw a lot of Dragons into the toilet. But even when it was new and in its element, the novelty of what it offered was clearly not enough to bring it up to speed in the competitive environments… since there were no competitive environments supported by Nintendo when it was new. VGC, the official tournament format, wasn’t being supported by Nintendo until 2009, and that’s where one of Flygon’s greatest problems started.

One of the most important parts of this story about Flygon though, isn’t that ‘Flygon Is Bad Because’ of something it lacks. It’s that Garchomp exists.

Garchomp is a black hole of a card. It too is a Ground/Dragon Pokemon, but it’s also got 80 more stats than Flygon and they’re arranged more carefully – instead of even 80s and a pair of 100s, Garchomp is a tiny bit faster than Flygon and hits a lot harder. Garchomp isn’t immune to spikes or lightning but also it’s so fast and hits so hard who cares. Garchomp distorted the game around it and that meant that people were packing team structures to try and take out Garchomp as aggressively as possible. And know what that means?

It means that Flygon got hit with Garchomp Shrapnel. If you can take out a Garchomp efficiently, you can absolutely take out a Flygon more efficiently — it’s the same basic structure but weaker, slower, and less threatening when you leave it on the field.

Okay, so Flygon was doomed in competitive environments. So what.

There was a moment of bright light when we saw the Mega Evolutions made available in Pokemon X and Y. In this, Pokemon would get a cool new temporary, powerful form, and this was distributed to Pokemon at semi-random; popular Pokemon got a mega (or two if you’re Mewtwo or Charizard) sure, but some oddballs and weaker types with a cool idea got one (hi there Mawile).

And Flygon almost got one.

It almost got one, and then Ken Sugimori, the designer, got artists’ block and they just scrapped the idea.

But don’t worry, then there was another game with more Megas.

And it didn’t get it.

But then the next game introduced Z-moves, where Pokemon got sometimes unique and iconic super-powerful use-once-only moves.

And Flygon didn’t get one.

Then the next game introduced Gigantamax, where sometimes Pokemon could get a uniquely powerful shapeshift form that made ’em real real big and let them sometimes deploy special powers?

Yeah Flygon didn’t get one.

Fear not, though, then we got Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, where you uh, couldn’t get it. It became available through trade and DLC, but Flygon is well and truly a Pokemon of the Past, its Glory Day behind it. It doesn’t matter of course; Flygon is a cool monster and it’s fun to like it, there’s nothing wrong with that. But it is weird the way that Flygon has had so many opportunities to be improved or even just made meaningfully different to its later little brother of Garchomp and we’re just never going to see it.

By the way, Garchomp got a mega evolution. Don’t worry, nobody used it because it wasn’t necessary because Garchomp was good enough without it.

Also, and this is very important: The thing that crystallised this article and made me think about it enough to make it happen here, in this month, is my friend Corey mentioning it on Tumblr. This isn’t quite at the level of ‘a fourteen minute video that’s just mad at a tweet,’ but just so you know, credit where it’s due.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[bks-blogs]

#101DalmatianStreet #Save101DalmatianStreet #Disney #DisneyPlus #101Dalmatians #Commissions

My dedicated pups! Let me introduce to you a newly revamped commission price sheet. This time, I'm opening up new options for commissioners, with the added addition to comic pages, and of course 101 Dalmatian Street OC Reference Sheets!🎨🖌️✏️

As a growing artist, animator and supporter of 101 Dalmatian Street, I'm working to build on my finances to purchase new video editing, animation and art softwares for my 101DS fan-projects and of course my savings for future priorities.💰💵

There are MANY new options to choose from in this new price sheet, so if you're interested for:

- Art Pic

- Profile Pic

- 101DS OC Ref Sheet

- Comic Page

How you want your art piece to look depends on the price.

DM me on Twitter/Bluesky/Discord right away and I'll gladly take any kind of artwork!😁

Slots: 0 of 10

Status: OPEN!!

PLEASE NOTE:

- I do mainly 101 Dalmatian Street artwork, but I can gladly do non-101DS artwork commissions for other IPs and franchises!

- I can accept up to only three 101DS OC ref sheets at a time, to avoid pressure and time consumption.

- Please do NOT ask me for any last-minute changes and suggestions to the art style for the commission while its in finishing stages. By the time the art piece would be finished, it would already be too late to go back and change the entire art style, not to mention that it's highly time consuming, so PLEASE for the love of dog, don't ask. The only changes I can do is slight re-adjustments, repositioning, and color changes if asked, but nothing related to art style.

- There are strict limits to what fetishes I'll allow for commissions. The only fetishes I can accept are macro and light weight gain. I will NOT accept any artwork that contains hard fetishes like vore, feet, diapers, bodily fluids, sex, etc... Anything that can make users uncomfortable.

(The type of vore I can limit myself to is cartoony and accidental. No digestion, no soft or fatal vore, and no intentional vore.)

- NO NSFW content!

- NO sibling shippings please.

- I don't have any other bank accounts other than Paypal and BoA, so if you don't have a paypal or a bank account that supports Paypal, talk to me through the DM's and we'll try to work something out for a solution.

Other than that, my ears are open for any creative ideas!

- I don't have any other bank accounts other than Paypal and BoA, so if you don't have a paypal or a bank account that supports Paypal, talk to me through the DM's and we'll try to work something out for a solution.

[laurarolla]

So I finished the main campaign of Lies of P, right around the time the DLC was announced for release this summer. So, after Elden Ring and it's DLC last year, I'm doing another year of a Soulsbourne style game and it's new DLC in the same year. Kind of an odd coincidence, but unlikely to happen again unless it happens with a future Soulsbourne game. My love of these games is very heavily influenced by them usually being from a company I've loved for decades. Lies of P got my attention with it's style and fascinating choice of inspiration, allowing it to stand as a great game in the Soulsbourne style for new players and From Software fans alike.

As much as it might surprise people, the idea of making a darker story with Pinocchio as the core influence isn't even remotely new. Pinocchio and Frankenstein share many ideas in regards to stories of "artificial" life, and themes of what make human beings so... well, human are at the core of many stories in the same vein. I, Robot, Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy, Android Kikaider, A. I. Artificial Intelligence, Robocop, Blade Runner... just so much of cyberpunk, actually. It's a simple enough job to list stories that delve into these questions and have similar themes, so in a lot of cases, the quality of a story is not what is told, but how it is told.

One of the biggest divergent elements of Lies of P compared to many of From Software's outings is that Lies of P wants you to know exactly what happens from beginning to end. The story is told to you, not left for you to find by digging through objects and lore. Many of the games wilder elements are entirely intended to exist with a suspension of disbelief. How puppets work is pretty straightforward, but the respawn mechanic being explained as literal time manipulation is a bold choice and I love it. Heck, using Ergo, the essence of the human soul, to rewind time and communicate telepathically almost qualifies as a reference to Newtypes in Gundam, particularly Gundam Narrative (a personal favorite of mine in the franchise). It doesn't have to make sense so much as the emotion of why it happens makes sense. To borrow a sentiment from Gundam Narrative, what matters here is the "meaning behind the miracle." The story of Lies of P makes me excited not only for the DLC, but for the future plans of Round8 and their next game using elements of The Wizard of Oz to tell a similar story.

Story alone does not usually make a great video game, and Lies of P thankfully has solid gameplay to go with that story. The game feels somewhat closer to either Sekiro or Jedi Fallen Order in terms of combat than any of the usual Souls games, but it has a level of flexability in terms of weapons and equipment that far outclasses either of those games. Guarding and deflecting are the primary tactic, but aside from a handful of massive roadblocks, most of the games bosses are not excessively difficult. Many provide the option to summon an ally, and not only are the summoning materials plentiful and eventually purchasable, but the Wishstones you eventually unlock give you options to augment your Specter for each fight. The Specter can even trivialize some fights, especially early on, but by the late game they are potential an invaluable tool for overcoming difficult bosses. The game even allows you to change your mind about which ending you get if you can't handle the fight with the Nameless Puppet at the end of the game. That guy took me an hour and a half alone, as you can see by checking the final video of the playlist.

Taking into account different stat builds, legion arms, weapon assembly, the P-Organ skill tree, and reusable elemental buffs and such, there are plenty of tools to help even far less experienced players eventually reach the end of the game. I'd still say that Elden Ring or the Cal Kestis Star Wars games are better starter games for this style of play (Elden Ring is massive and has lots of co-op players out there to help, and the Star Wars games have selectable difficulty), Lies of P is a nice step upward in difficulty without being too overwhelming. The main points I'm getting to are that I enjoyed the game, I recommend it, and I'm looking forward to more from this studio in the future. You know, as long as video games don't collapse under the weight of capitalism like they seem to be.

[glassmarcus]

The Scadu of Power Creep

I've anguished at the size of Elden Ring in the past, so it's nice that the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is in its own little corner that's still extremely large. It's not gargantuan enough to run into a lot of the same issues I had with the base game though. It doesn’t run out of unique content and the path forward is very legible. I'd say this DLC honestly has ideal world design for a souls game. The main path is clear and easy to focus on, but the side content is something you need to really earn. Half of the content in this DLC is side content, and unlike the side stuff in the base game, it's just as good as the required stuff.

Remember Ash Lake in Dark Souls? That hidden area that was hidden behind another hidden area? The one that didn’t really need to be in the game at all? Well, Shadow of the Erdtree has like 5 Ash Lakes and I love it. I love high quality content not just being optional, but something you have to investigate to access. It's fucking insane from a production stand point, but does so much for the magic the world building. This might be the best map From Software has made. It's interconnected in such a way that gives Dark Souls a run for its money, and even having a map doesn't make drawing the mental map in your brain obsolete due to how 3D dimensional everything is.

I'd love the next souls game to be of this size and using the same philosophy as this DLC. The only thing I’d add is a few disconnected areas. Shadow of the Erdtree is great, but it's also not accessible til the end of the base game. I want to see how a game like this lands without having to account for 80 hours of gameplay before starting it. Shadow of the Erdtree has its own level scaling system that powers up your stats through collectibles. This is great for encouraging exploration, as most crafting materials you find at this point in the game are useless. It was a great band aid solution, but I hope they don't have to resort to it again as it does limit the ways you can progress by restricting these materials to certain areas.

The world design is probably the most impressed I was with this DLC, but it doesn't end there. The story is surprisingly easy to follow. Characters are not being cryptic at all here. They are straight forward in letting you know what the deal is. I'm too anxious about the size of these games to stop and appreciate the plot, so this is a welcome approach. The weapons they add to the game are also incredible and made me change up my play style quite a bit. I forever need Martial Arts and Light Great Swords in these games. It’s gonna be hard to go back after playing with them.

There is one thing I’d call a disappointment and that’s the boss design. My complaints aren’t even relevant for most of them. A lot of the DLC bosses are a step up from the base game and are how I'd prefer the boss design to go down in the future. But there were about 4 or so that were kinda ass. Mostly the final boss and the first boss that actually gate keeps you. I just hate how they attack forever. It's not fun for me to play a boss fight where you don't get any openings and trading hits isn't worth it. I basically always had to use summons because I have a job and want to play more than 5 games this year. I've gone through this before in my previous Elden Ring review and it still applies, but this campaign proves that it doesn't have to be this way. 3 of my favorite bosses in the franchise are in this DLC because they don't constantly attack. They find a way to raise the stakes without giving every boss legendary actions.

I think likening the combat to Dungeons and Dragons mechanics is an apt comparison. Not a lot of people know this, but Dark Souls 1 is secretly turn based. Enemies and bosses attack and then take a moment to catch their breath and then you attack and you catch your breath. It sounds boring when you put it that way. But because you always have a turn, you can always do something on that turn. In Elden Ring it's never really your turn when you are fighting these overtuned bosses. And when it is, it's not your turn for long. Thus you have less options to counter attack with because not every attack in this game is quick. This is why I need summons to take aggro off, so I can experiment with other options that aren't a jumping R2 as a counter attack and then dodging 12 times. The average Dark Souls fight I prefer over Elden Ring because there are infinite ways to beat a boss that are valid and effective. And honestly I think Dark Souls 3 is the perfect balance between twitch reflexes and decision making that makes these boss fights great.

I remember spending 3 hours fighting Sister Frieda in the Dark Souls 3 DLC and feeling elated upon victory. It's still one of my favorite boss fights. Because while it's a gauntlet, there's a sober way to deal with everything the boss throws at you and you had time to form a strategy. I understood the boss and that's why I won. I don't think I understood a lot Elden Ring bosses. Not just because I don't have a moment to catch my breath, but also because I can't comprehend what they are doing. This is why I had little fun with the Final Boss. Yea he's hard and aggressive, but also his attacks were literally blinding. I beat him. I liked formulating a strategy to negate the more ridiculous aspects of the fight. But it felt like I didn't completely understand phase 2. So I felt nothing. I spent 3 hours on the fight, just to feel nothing. And if I spent 7 hours doing it without a busted weapon, I might have felt great, but I don’t think it would be worth the payout. This DLC really just hammered how much I like Lies of P fights and how well tuned they are difficulty wise.

I think we have reached Kaizo territory. Bosses are so roided up that instead of feeling triumph I feel like I survived some sick prank. And if people want that, that's fine. Play a mod. This isn't me being snarky. I think the power creep of bosses and trying to make each one harder has gotten out of hand and needs to be dialed back. But for the freaks who still want that, I really think official mod support needs to be in the next souls game so they can be satisfied. Because I don't want the franchise to out grow anyone, not just me. But...I also want the games to be fun to finish, so this seems to be the happy medium. Because Fromsoft won't be able to cater to the freaks for much longer.

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #5

[originally posted march 30th 2024]

it's been a minute since i've done one of these, for a whole host of reasons. the biggest one is that i just haven't been watching very much youtube lately, on account of spending my time making youtube instead. in February i released a scripted essay about the German time travel murder mystery show DARK, while in March i posted an unscripted conversation piece about all the movies i own but haven't watched. i've got a lot more planned for this year, but we're here to talk about other people's essays, not mine. so let's do that!

"Yellow Paint" by Caleb Gamman.

i've talked about Caleb Gamman on this blog before, and no doubt i will continue to do so. he's a fantastic and criminally underrated essayist whose materialist approach to media analysis is a model for the kind of thing anyone making video essays ought to aspire to. nominally about the discourse over yellow paint signposting interactible objects in modern AAA video games, this essay is a disgusted and exhausted act of passive aggression (which turns into regular aggression by the end) against the ways social media and corporate greed have engendered an atmosphere of deliberate ignorance and illiteracy towards games, traditional media, news, politics, everything. it's an entertaining and vindicating watch, full of great points argued with genuine conviction.

"PS1 STORIES - 3D SHOOTING MAKER" by Blue Bidya Game.

this one i found through a friend posting about it. we're looking at a review of a very specific PS1 "RPG Maker" spinoff dedicated to 3D rail shooters a la Star Fox --which is an instant sell for me, a long-suffering Star Fox enjoyer. but it's just as much an in-depth history of the Maker franchise as a whole, which is a lot deeper and more interesting than i ever could've imagined. a lot of research went into this, a task i can only imagine was made incredibly difficult by the language barrier. it's a great little video that packs a lot of charm into its 31 minute runtime, but what i find even more remarkable is Blue Bidya Game's mission statement: "I do sentimental videos on every game in the PS1 library alphanumerically and region-free until I die. Let's get weird and look through low graphical detail windows together. What do you think is out there? What could be just past those blocky hills?" at time of writing, there are 36 videos on Blue Bidya Game's channel, the vast majority of which are below 2000 views. if the quality of this single essay is even remotely indicative of the rest of his catalogue, then this might qualify as one of the most exciting & slept-on works of historical games journalism out there. if you were a fan of Tim Rogers' "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" series, i think you may have found your new favorite youtube channel. you're welcome

"VR's Greatest Hope, We Thought - Half Life: Alyx Four Years Later" by Brother Burn.

there was a time when i believed wholeheartedly that VR was my beat. i futzed around with the Oculus DK2 at the University of Oklahoma tech lab in, what, 2014? and had my mind blown by the experience of riding a virtual roller coaster. in 2016 my roommate and i went halfsies on an HTC Vive, which arrived on our doorstep the very day that Donald Trump won the presidential election. more on-the-nose symbolism you couldn't possibly ask for-- that is, assuming VR software development & investment kept up its then-rapid pace long enough to support total quadrennial escapism, which it absolutely did not. don't get me wrong, i found a number of titles to love; i made a video about perennial VR classic Beat Saber in 2018, but was plenty charmed by the likes of Arizona Sunshine, The Gallery, Vanishing Realms, Zombie Training Simulator, and especially the fast-paced climbing game To The Top, whose only weakness for me was the limited number of tracks in its (admittedly good) OST with no ability to easily import your own tracks instead. yet for as much as i liked these games, vanishingly little about them was so far beyond what was offered by the tech demos present in Valve's VR pack-in The Lab that you couldn't get an approximately similar experience by just playing that instead. alas, the horizon of possibility for VR games hit something of a ceiling once all the most obvious ludic experiences had been more or less perfected.

anyway, this video by Brother Burn is at least in part about that. i never played Half Life: Alyx, but it certainly seemed positioned to be "VR's Greatest Hope" at the time and so i was naturally drawn in by this essay's title. what it confirmed for me is that i'm glad Alyx exists, but don't feel an especial need to play it. he talks at length about the stealth level "Jeff", which sounds cool as hell and is something i could never under any circumstances subject myself to. i cannot handle horror in VR. there's a section of Arizona Sunshine set in an abandoned mine that i had to psych myself up to finish for three weeks. so it's good, in that respect, to get a breezey overview of Alyx from someone who isn't a Half Life superfan (like me), who gets motion sick in VR easily (also like me), and who clearly came up during a very specific era of youtube (ditto). Brother Burn's style is a time-capsule from 2017 in all the best ways. post-Game Grumps, pre-Breadtube, high effort editing with a lightly self-aggrandizing sense of humor, lives maybe two or three doors down from Errant Signal; i dunno what to say except i find his work charming. that he has less than 2000 subscribers at time of writing is as unfortunate as it is unsurprising.

"remember fingerboards?" by Jeffiot.

this may quietly turn out to be one of my favorite video essays of the year. a history of skateboarding with a history of finger-skateboarding along with a personal history of both into a genuine loveletter to what is objectively a very silly activity? oh yes, thank you very much, i'll take two. the section where he first tries fingerboarding is so surprising and charming, and everything that follows is like… i dunno, freeing? there's something about this video that feels like a substantially relieved exhale, as it's the first really niche thing Jeffiot's done since the astronomical success of his Skull Trumpet essay. the scariest part of being Suddenly Popular after such a long time being totally invisible is the looming specter of What Next. the temptation must've been there to just keep on doing videos investigating the origins of Weird Internet Ephemera forever, since that clearly resonated with a lot of people. instead, here he is doing something totally unrelated, in a realm that none of his new subscribers are likely to be interested in --a supposition at least momentarily supported by the fact that this video only has 14,000 views after a single day (compared to the 100k+ views his last few hit). that number will surely go up, but for the moment i think it's illustrative of the fact that every channel's subscriber count actually contains at least two, probably more, discrete pools of audience. 155,000 subscribers is impressive and substantial, but how many of those people are there for Jeffiot, and how many are there for More Skull Trumpet? all things being equal (which they very much are not), i see that 14k viewership number as a soft indication of Jeffiot's dependable long-term viewers, the people who'll follow him down whatever blind alley he wanders through.

i plugged Jeffiot in the previous roundup, with a lot of time spent analyzing the phenomenon of running a small channel that suddenly gets huge because of a single viral hit. when i wrote that post in january of this year, he'd just exceeded 50,000 subscribers after having only 5,000 a few weeks prior. now, two months later, he's got over 155,000 subscribers. this makes Jeffiot's channel a really useful case study in how one translates good luck into good fortune. the most notable development in my opinion is that quite a lot of Jeffiot's back catalogue has seen an immense increase in viewership as well, something that simply does not happen unless there's a palpable and immediate and consistent qualitative energy shared between the old stuff and The Thing That Went Viral. when i say that the job of a video essayist toiling in sub-5k-views obscurity is to lay the groundwork for getting lucky, this is exactly what i mean. Jeffiot's stuff is high-effort, surprising, and thoroughly entertaining across the board, unique in subject matter yet somehow broadly approachable (that he's clearly very influenced by the work of Tim Rogers over at Action Button is, i'm sure, just a coincidence). i really hope that Jeffiot doesn't take the relatively low viewership of this fingerboard essay as a Failure and vow to stay away from such seemingly off-brand subject matter in the future. it's not a failure (i mean, god, i'd kill for a video of mine to even break 5k in a single day at this point), but rather an indication of confidence and direction. the best artists and creators will walk their path whether you follow them or not. there's no being true to what compels you which also permits universal success, and any attempt to the contrary is a great way to strangle your soul to death. the successes float you on from the sinkers. views and subscribers don't have a linear relationship with monetary success on youtube (unless you rely exclusively on ad revenue, at which point you're already fucked and should probably check a calendar to see if it's still 2015), yet it's so easy to get spooked by them because youtube wants us to be obsessed with analytics. somehow, i think Jeffiot's smart enough to avoid such pitfalls.

"The Mass Extinction Debates: A Science Communication Odyssey" by Oliver Lugg.

this one was suggested to me through my askbox. what strikes me most about this video is how it spends 45 minutes building up the context leading up to the debates about what actually caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, so that you understand what they really represented beyond a simple who's right/who's wrong. i had no idea this was such a recent thing-- 1996, man. that's so in my lifetime. i've always thought the asteroid theory was just uncontroversially true, it never occurred to me that there would have been a combative dogma against it in the scientific community. this is just a good, fun, enjoyable and educational video essay.

"Everyone But Me Is Wrong About The Cornetto Trilogy" by Innuendo Studios.

this is an essay refuting the semi-popular assertion that the Cornetto Trilogy (Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End) are about stunted manchildren being forced by circumstance to finally grow up. instead, Ian Danskin argues, these films are about stunted manchildren who refuse to change until circumstances beyond their control forceably change the entire rest of the world in a way that allows them to never have to grow up. this is one of those essays that's clearly been on the backburner for a long time, delivered with a real sense of frustration and desire to correct the record on something that seems, to Danskin, transparently obvious.

i liked this essay a lot because (to get a bit inside baseball) i'm dedicated to finally producing my extremely-long-in-the-works essay titled Everyone Is Wrong About LOST, about how everyone is wrong about the tv show LOST, by the end of this year. a big question for me in writing that essay has been what tone to strike, how much indignance i should show, where the line between funny and annoying lies. this essay did a lot to clarify that question for me, which is only that much more edifying because Ian Danskin has been at this since 2014. his original essay, This Is Phil Fish, was a big inspiration for me when i first started thinking i might want to try my hand at this gig, and his work ever since has remained some of the most consistently good and clear argumentative writing on the platform. any time he posts a new essay is a moment of quiet celebration for me, especially on the rare occasion he does traditional media analysis like this instead of the equally excellent but generally dry rhetorical analysis he's been doing with the Alt-Right Playbook for the last 6 years. it feels somehow poetic to once again have the path forward in my work clarified by a creator who inspired me an entire gender ago, like somehow despite all that's changed i'm still being true to my WAIT HOLD ON WHAT

well i guess i'd better hurry up and make this fucking LOST video, huh?

<- ROUNDUP #4 | ROUNDUP #6 ->

[technology-ahead]

Unlocking Efficiency and Profitability with the INTERAC Suite: Your Comprehensive Accounting and Management Solution

In today's fast-paced business landscape, the need for efficient and streamlined financial and management tools has never been greater. As businesses seek ways to boost productivity and profitability, the INTERAC Suite emerges as a powerful solution. Offering a tightly integrated, flexible, and user-friendly suite of accounting and management applications, the INTERAC Suite is designed to empower your team and drive your business towards unprecedented success.

The Power of Integration

The INTERAC Suite is more than just a collection of standalone tools; it's a seamlessly integrated ecosystem of applications that work together to optimize your business operations. This integration means that your financial data, employee management, inventory control, and more are all interconnected, providing a holistic view of your business's performance. No more juggling multiple software solutions or wrestling with incompatible data sets - the INTERAC Suite simplifies and streamlines your processes.

Productivity Redefined

One of the primary goals of the INTERAC Suite is to enhance productivity. By automating repetitive tasks and providing real-time insights, the suite frees your team from time-consuming administrative work, enabling them to focus on more strategic and value-added activities. Here are some ways in which it revolutionizes productivity:

1. Centralized Financial Management

The INTERAC Suite allows you to consolidate financial data from all areas of your business. Whether you run a single location or manage a multi-unit franchise operation, you can easily access and analyze your financial information from a single, user-friendly dashboard. This level of visibility equips you with the information you need to make informed decisions promptly.

2. Real-Time Reporting

Gone are the days of waiting for month-end financial reports. With real-time reporting at your fingertips, you can keep a constant pulse on your business. Monitor sales, expenses, and other key performance indicators as they happen, allowing for immediate course corrections when necessary.

3. Inventory and Cost Control

Effective inventory management is critical for profitability. The INTERAC Suite helps you optimize your stock levels, minimize waste, and reduce costs. Say goodbye to overstocked or understocked shelves, and welcome a more efficient supply chain.

4. Payroll and Employee Management

Managing your workforce is simplified with the suite's employee management tools. Handle payroll processing, track attendance, and ensure compliance with labor laws, all in one platform.

5. Vendor and Supplier Integration

Streamline your interactions with vendors and suppliers, from purchase orders to invoicing. The suite's integration with external partners ensures that your procurement processes run smoothly, saving you time and money.

A Path to Profitability

Ultimately, the INTERAC Suite is about one thing: making your business more profitable. By improving efficiency, optimizing operations, and empowering your team, it provides a clear path to increased profitability. Here's how:

1. Cost Savings

Through better inventory management, cost control, and streamlined operations, the INTERAC Suite helps your business reduce unnecessary expenses, directly impacting your bottom line.

2. Informed Decision-Making

With real-time insights into your business's performance, you can make data-driven decisions that drive growth. No more relying on guesswork or outdated reports.

3. Scalability

As your business grows, the INTERAC Suite can grow with you. It's a scalable solution that adapts to your needs, whether you're adding new locations or expanding your product line.

4. Franchisee Support

For multi-unit franchise operations, the suite provides essential support to franchisees. It equips them with the financial tools and insights they need to succeed, strengthening the franchise network and promoting overall profitability.

For more information or assistance, feel free to contact us at 800-547-6429 or email support@intersoftsystems.com.

Visit for more information - https://www.intersoftsystems.com/interac-for-franchises.html

accounting software for franchises

[theinnovatorsinsights]

With Innrly | Streamline Your Hospitality Operations

Manage all your hotels from anywhere | Transformation without transition

Managing a hotel or a multi-brand portfolio can be overwhelming, especially when juggling multiple systems, reports, and data sources. INNRLY, a cutting-edge hotel management software, revolutionizes the way hospitality businesses operate by delivering intelligent insights and simplifying workflows—all without the need for system changes or upgrades. Designed for seamless integration and powerful automation, INNRLY empowers hotel owners and managers to make data-driven decisions and enhance operational efficiency.

Revolutionizing Hotel Management

In the fast-paced world of hospitality, efficiency is the cornerstone of success. INNRLY’s cloud-based platform offers a brand-neutral, user-friendly interface that consolidates critical business data across all your properties. Whether you manage a single boutique hotel or a portfolio of properties spanning different regions, INNRLY provides an all-in-one solution for optimizing performance and boosting productivity.

One Dashboard for All Your Properties:

Say goodbye to fragmented data and manual processes. INNRLY enables you to monitor your entire portfolio from a single dashboard, providing instant access to key metrics like revenue, occupancy, labor costs, and guest satisfaction. With this unified view, hotel managers can make informed decisions in real time.

Customizable and Scalable Solutions:

No two hospitality businesses are alike, and INNRLY understands that. Its customizable features adapt to your unique needs, whether you're running a small chain or managing an extensive enterprise. INNRLY grows with your business, ensuring that your operations remain efficient and effective.

Seamless Integration for Effortless Operations:

One of INNRLY’s standout features is its ability to integrate seamlessly with your existing systems. Whether it's your property management system (PMS), accounting software, payroll/labor management tools, or even guest feedback platforms, INNRLY pulls data together effortlessly, eliminating the need for system overhauls.

Automated Night Audits:

Tired of labor-intensive night audits? INNRLY’s Night Audit+ automates this crucial process, providing detailed reports that are automatically synced with your accounting software. It identifies issues such as declined credit cards or high balances, ensuring no problem goes unnoticed.

A/R and A/P Optimization:

Streamline your accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P) processes to improve cash flow and avoid costly mistakes. INNRLY’s automation reduces manual entry, speeding up credit cycles and ensuring accurate payments.

Labor and Cost Management:

With INNRLY, you can pinpoint inefficiencies, monitor labor hours, and reduce costs. Detailed insights into overtime risks, housekeeping minutes per room (MPR), and other labor metrics help you manage staff productivity effectively.

Empowering Data-Driven Decisions:

INNRLY simplifies decision-making by surfacing actionable insights through its robust reporting and analytics tools.

Comprehensive Reporting:

Access reports on your schedule, from detailed night audit summaries to trial balances and franchise billing reconciliations. Consolidated data across multiple properties allows for easy performance comparisons and trend analysis.

Benchmarking for Success:

Compare your properties' performance against industry standards or other hotels in your portfolio. Metrics such as ADR (Average Daily Rate), RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room), and occupancy rates are presented in an easy-to-understand format, empowering you to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Guest Satisfaction Insights:

INNRLY compiles guest feedback and satisfaction scores, enabling you to take prompt action to enhance the guest experience. Happy guests lead to better reviews and increased bookings, driving long-term success.

Key Benefits of INNRLY

Single Login, Full Control: Manage all properties with one login, saving time and reducing complexity.

Error-Free Automation: Eliminate manual data entry, reducing errors and increasing productivity.

Cost Savings: Pinpoint problem areas to reduce labor costs and optimize spending.

Enhanced Accountability: Hold each property accountable for issues flagged by INNRLY’s tools, supported by an optional Cash Flow Protection Team at the enterprise level.

Data Security: Protect your credentials and data while maintaining your existing systems.

Transforming Hospitality Without Transition

INNRLY’s philosophy is simple: transformation without transition. You don’t need to replace or upgrade your existing systems to benefit from INNRLY. The software integrates effortlessly into your current setup, allowing you to focus on what matters most—delivering exceptional guest experiences and achieving your business goals.

Who Can Benefit from INNRLY?

Hotel Owners:

For owners managing multiple properties, INNRLY offers a centralized platform to monitor performance, identify inefficiencies, and maximize profitability.

General Managers:

Simplify day-to-day operations with automated processes and real-time insights, freeing up time to focus on strategic initiatives.

Accounting Teams:

INNRLY ensures accurate financial reporting by syncing data across systems, reducing errors, and streamlining reconciliation processes.

Multi-Brand Portfolios:

For operators managing properties across different brands, INNRLY’s brand-neutral platform consolidates data, making it easy to compare and optimize performance.

Contact INNRLY Today

Ready to revolutionize your hotel management? Join the growing number of hospitality businesses transforming their operations with INNRLY.

Website: www.innrly.com

Email: contact@innrly.com

Phone: 833-311-0777

[princess-of-the-corner]

One thing to note about RWBY is that it REALLY "grew the beard" over the course of its runtime.

Volumes 1-3 were animated in Poser (software that wasn't intended for use in animation), with rougher backgrounds and more simplistic writing related to complex themes. They were also only ever intended to be an extended prologue to the ACTUAL show, with the Big Twist of the Volume 3 finale being that the climax was actually just the inciting incident to the show's ACTUAL conflict.

Starting from Volume 4, the crew switched to Maya (software that's intended for use in animation), got better at writing more complex topics (the White Fang is treated more sympathetically than in the "Beacon Arc"), and Jaune was actually an interesting character for the entirety of the "Anima Arc" that lasted from Volumes 4-6.

Volume 7 is probably the best season of the show (I don't have a Crunchyroll account and so I haven't had the chance to watch Volume 9 in its entirety yet, even if I know what happens there). It deconstructs the whole "America Saves the World" trope with Atlas, and has some pretty good political satire that wound up being eerily prophetic. Also, Robyn Hill is one of the best characters the show has ever introduced.

Volume 8 contains both the best and worst moments of the series. V8C1-V8C11 features some of the best storytelling and most tense action from the franchise ever, but V8C12 has the overall message of "Okay but, the people who dehumanized Penny over her mechanical body KINDA had a point, let's fix what isn't broken!", V8C13 is a pretty descent villain episode, and V8C14 is by far the most offensive piece of media I've ever been subjected to. But still, up until those last three episodes, it was basically flawless.

I've heard Volume 9 is pretty good, but I'm side-eying everything involving Jaune because I honestly DESPISE the direction they took his arc in. But if we ignore EVERYTHING related to Jaune's role in the Volume, I like basically everything I've heard about it.

RWBY: After the Fall is a very good spin-off novel focused on popular side characters Team CFVY and shows what they've been up to since the Fall of Beacon in Volume 3. it also has a really interesting gimmick, as every other chapter is a flashback to something that happened in Team CFVY's past, further fleshing out their minor roles in the show.

RWBY: Before the Dawn is actual garbage. Sun's character arc (wherein his hypocrisy from the show is actually acknowledged and challenged) and Coco's and Velvet's shiptease are probably the only redeeming qualities. Taking this book into account actually makes Ironwood's reluctance to call Vacuo for help look REASONABLE. 2/10.

RWBY: Roman Holiday is a prequel novel focused on Roman and Neo, but Neo is the true protagonist here. The first few chapters leading up to their first meeting alternate between their perspectives, with the book being largely Neo focused after they finally meet.

RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant is an anthology of in-universe fairy tales. You can read it at any point in the series, but the further into the series you are when you read it, the more hints to RWBY's overarching plot you'll notice. While all of the Fairy Tales are works of fiction, some of them are dramatizations of actual events in the shadow war that RWBY's plot revolves around.

RWBY x JL: Super Heroes and Huntsmen is a 2-part film series wherein Team RWBY teams up with the Justice League. Part 1 features the Justice League visiting Remnant (kinda) during the events of Volume 7, and Part 2 features Team RWBY visiting DC Earth after the events of Volume 9.

There's also some ambiguously canonical comics published by DC, as well as 2 explicitly non-canon RWBY/DC crossover comic series. One features alternate versions of the Justice League cast who were born on Remnant, another features Remnant and DC Earth fusing due to Salem tricking Lex Luthor into helping her by playing off of his hatred of Superman. Neither of these crossovers are in continuity with the crossover movies.

Fascinating actually

[firelord-frowny]

sooo i got hired again?

i mentioned like way back in fucking OCTOBER that i'd been hired to teach private violin lessons at a lil music school franchise. signed the paperwork and everything. attended an orientation meeting with other new hires. set up my account with their scheduling/payroll software. sent a headshot and a bio for use on the website. all that was left for me to do was wait for them to sign students up and add them to my schedule.

i have been given 0 students and earned 0 dollars since then. for a while, i had been religiously checking my email so i wouldn't miss any emails notifying me about new students. but i don't even bother anymore. as far as i know, i'm still technically an ~employee~ and i still receive the mass emails reminding all faculty to send in their invoices 🙃 which i find laughably insulting to me.

anyway, i finally started applying for other shit and just got hired with another business, also teaching private violin. they even had me come in and do a ~trial lesson~ where i basically give the manager a violin lesson as if he was a brand new beginner.

y'all.

i have taught with like 5 or 6 different organizations over the years, and until now, ZERO of them ever did shit all to make sure i or any other teachers actually knew how to teach or play the instrument at all. this is the ONLY TIME i was ever asked to demonstrate my abilities, and it gave me sooooooooooo much confidence in the possibility that maybe this business is gonna be different from the other one's i've worked for, and maybe they'll actually value my expertise, and give me the freedom to do what i know how to do in the best way that i know how to do it, and they'll trust my judgment, and most of all, that they'll GIVE ME STUDENTS AND FUCKING PAY ME TO TEACH THEM OH MY GODDDDDDD WHY GO THROUGH A WHOLE FUCKING INTERVIEWING AND ONBOARDING PROCESS JUST TO FUCKING IGNORE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FOR THE REST OF ETERNITYYYYYYY I AM SO UPSET!!!!

but not as upset anymore lmfao since now i hopefully have a job that's actually gonna, ya know, pay me for doing tasks.

and??????? the wage is hella fucking decent. $40/hr. If I was managing my own studio and doing all my own marketing and bookkeeping and scheduling and all that, the minimum i charge is $50. so $40 is a very very decent deal for a scenario where all i have to do is teach, and not worry about any of the businessy stuff.

but i do intend to eventually prove that i'm worth eeeven more than that. 😊 cop myself a lil raise in the future.

[chrisutah]

Chris Utah on Making Franchise Ownership Work for You

Owning a franchise sounds exciting—and for good reason. You get the independence of running your own business, but with the support, systems, and brand recognition of an established company. But let’s be honest: with hundreds of options out there, how do you know which one’s right for you?

That’s where Chris Utah comes in.

With more than two decades of business experience—including building a software company, leading high-performing sales teams, and working with private equity—Chris has been on both sides of the table. Today, he uses that experience to help people explore franchise ownership as a smart, strategic way to take control of their financial future.

But Chris isn’t just offering a list of franchises. He’s offering real guidance, real conversations, and support that goes beyond the usual sales pitch.

It Starts With You—Not the Franchise

When people first come to Chris for help, they’re often unsure where to begin. “The first thing I do,” Chris Utah says, “is slow everything down and focus on who you are and what kind of life you want to build.”

Are you looking to leave your corporate job? Want a side business while keeping your 9-to-5? Hoping to build a family-run operation? These are the kinds of questions Chris asks—not just about money, but about freedom, lifestyle, and personal goals.

Franchise ownership is a big decision, and Chris believes it should align with your values—not just your bank account. That’s why he listens carefully, without pressure or sales tactics, to understand what truly motivates each person he works with.

Finding the Right Fit

Chris knows that the franchise world can feel like a maze. There are fast food chains, fitness studios, cleaning services, tech businesses—you name it. But he also knows that not every opportunity fits every investor.

His approach is personalized. Once he understands your background and vision, he introduces you to franchises that match—not overwhelm—you. Whether you’re looking for a hands-on operation or something more passive, Chris helps filter the noise and present options that make sense.

And the best part? His services are completely free. He’s paid by the franchise companies, so his clients don’t pay a dime for his expertise.

More Than a Matchmaker—A True Partner

Chris Utah doesn’t disappear after you’ve picked a franchise. He’s by your side throughout the process, helping you understand the fine print, prepare for discovery days, and connect with current franchise owners. His goal is to make sure you’re educated, confident, and fully supported from start to finish.

“Buying a franchise shouldn’t feel like a gamble,” Chris says. “It should feel like a well-informed move toward something better.”

That philosophy is what drives him—and it’s why his clients trust him not only with their investments, but with their dreams.

Helping You Build a Business That Works for Your Life

At the end of the day, franchise ownership isn’t just about building wealth. It’s about building freedom, purpose, and a business that fits into the life you want to lead. Chris Utah has helped countless individuals take that step—and he’s ready to help you too.

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What Is Point of Sale (POS) Software? A Complete Guide for Modern Businesses

In today’s fast-moving retail and service environments, businesses need more than just a cash register—they need a powerful system that can handle transactions, manage inventory, and provide real-time insights. That’s where Point of Sale (POS) software comes in.

Whether you're running a coffee shop, a clothing boutique, or a multi-location franchise, POS software helps streamline daily operations, improve customer experience, and boost profitability.

What Is POS Software?

Point of Sale software is a digital system used to complete sales transactions. It’s the technology behind the scenes at checkout—connecting inventory, payment processing, sales tracking, and customer data into a single platform.

Modern POS systems can be cloud-based or locally installed, and are used in both brick-and-mortar and mobile environments.

Key Features of POS Software

Here are some essential functions of a robust POS system:

💳 Sales Processing

Accept multiple forms of payment (credit/debit cards, digital wallets, cash, gift cards)

Quick barcode scanning or manual item entry

Tax calculation and tipping features

Split payments and refunds

📦 Inventory Management

Track stock levels in real time

Set low-stock alerts and automatic reorder points

Sync inventory across multiple locations or online stores

🧾 Reporting & Analytics

Sales summaries by day, employee, or product

Profit margin and cost tracking

Forecasting and trend analysis

👥 Customer Management

Collect customer data at checkout

Manage loyalty programs and discounts

View purchase history for personalized service

🧑‍💼 Employee Management

Track staff hours and sales performance

Set user permissions by role

Manage shifts and clock-ins/clock-outs

Types of Businesses That Use POS Software

POS software is used across many industries, including:

Retail stores (fashion, electronics, convenience stores)

Restaurants and cafés (with table management and tipping features)

Salons and spas (appointments, retail products, and services)

Mobile vendors (like food trucks or market stalls)

E-commerce businesses (with integrated online/offline inventory)

Cloud-Based vs. On-Premise POS Systems

Cloud-Based POS: Accessible from any device with internet, ideal for remote monitoring, updates automatically. (e.g., Square, Shopify POS)

On-Premise POS: Installed locally on your hardware, offering more control but requiring manual updates and maintenance. (e.g., older legacy systems)

Benefits of POS Software

✅ Faster transactions and shorter lines

✅ Improved inventory accuracy

✅ Detailed reporting for smarter business decisions

✅ Better customer service and engagement

✅ Streamlined employee and shift management

Choosing the Right POS Software

When selecting a POS system, consider:

Your business type and size

Budget and ongoing subscription fees

Hardware compatibility (e.g., tablets, printers, cash drawers)

Integration with accounting, CRM, or eCommerce platforms

Ease of use and quality of customer support

Final Thoughts

Whether you're a startup or an established brand, investing in the right POS software can dramatically improve your business operations. By combining speed, accuracy, and insights into one system, you’ll save time, reduce errors, and provide a seamless customer experience—both in-store and online.