#also have a few ideas for full illustrations but they’re ambitious

[fairmerthefarmer]

Some Exocolonist sketches!! (Is that how people shorten the name of this game? Cause I’m absolutely loving I was a Teenage Exocolonist but dammit it’s a mouthful of a title!)

I’ve done I think four or five playthroughs now? And still loving it, though I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach purposely trying to get some of the bad endings, even though I know it gets you more lore.

[rushingheadlong]

POP IN THE SUPERMARKET

Conveyer rock - is it all a hype? Colin Irwin looks at pre-packed pop and talks to the men behind new bands Queen (left) and Merlin

Hype. An ugly, unpleasant word frequently recurring in rock circles. 

Up in the boardroom of a vast record company the fat cigar brigade are scratching heads. Binn and Batman have come up with another surefire hit and they want somebody fresh to market it. They ponder a few names and finally decide on one with slight but clear sexual connotations - suggestively camp. 

Name settled, they work on the people who will be in this new band. They might be able to find a ready-made group to fit the bill but better to mould their own. There's a singer who has been around for a few years. 

He's not great but he knows how to throw himself around a stage, has a hairy chest and can hit the high notes. Give him a new name and he'll do. Somebody knows a lead guitarist who can play a bit and looks good. They can advertise for the others. 

They'll work out a sensational stage act, rig them up in some flash gear, buy them the best equipment and arrange a string of appearances in some influential venues. Plunge a few thousand quid in launching them with advertising and posters and "They'll be the biggest thing since sliced bread," chief fat cigar tells his underlings. 

Session musicians are employed to record the single and being a Binn and Batman special the radio stations label it "chart bound" and play it twenty five times a day. Seeing the glossy photos in the bop mags the kids gather up their pennies and buy it. 

VOILA, stars are born - or manufactured. An extreme form of hype. 

There's also a cliché commonly used in the business about people who have been around for many years and finally make it. It's called talent-will-out. An idealist phrase but there is still a popular belief that if a band is truly talented enough it will win through in the end. 

Yet even the greatest band in the world need a bit of pushing in the first place. When a record becomes a hit it's not always that easy to distinguish between hype and talent-will-out.

If a record company spends astronomical sums of money promoting a band, is it hype? Or is it a legitimate and necessary weapon in the music business? The argument is that the BBC's ever-tightening playlist and the effects on the industry of the three-day week have made it harder than ever for a new group to make it - talent or no. Without a big money machine behind it there isn't a hope. 

The situation is illustrated by two energetic new bands, who both look like breaking. 

Big money has been spent on Queen and Merlin, who have had new singles released during the last month. 

Queen's record, "Seven Seas Of Rhye," is already moving swiftly up the chart, while Merlin's "Let Me Put My Spell On You," is doing well enough to suggest it might follow suit. 

There is no suggestion that either band is a manufactured or manipulated product in the sense of the Monkees. They play the music on their own records entirely themselves and they are both hard at work on the road. 

Yet the question arises as to whether they would be doing quite so well without the resources of big companies behind them. 

In the case of Queen it's Trident Audio Productions and EMI and for Merlin it's Cookaway Productions and CBS.

The one common factor is that money and backing has been provided because the companies have a solid, unshakeable belief in the artists they are promoting. They are indignant about any suggestion of a put-on or that there has been any attempt to con the public. 

Listen to Merlin's producer Roger Greenaway for half-an-hour and there is no doubting his faith in their ability. "They are going to break, I know they are. I'm convinced the record will be a hit."

Nobody's saying exactly how much it has cost to launch either band. "Over a period of months between £5,000 and £10,000" has been spent on marketing Queen by EMI while the figure for Merlin is even vaguer. "A bit, but not a vast amount. Not a fortune by any means."

"Seven Seas Of Rhye" is Queen's second single and was recorded as part of the album "Queen 2" which has just been released. Things started to move for them about a year ago when they recorded their first album for Trident, who have a distribution contract with EMI. 

An advance was paid to them to help with the immediate costs of putting them on the road. 

Review copies of the album - about 400 of them - were sent out to everyone who might conceivably have any influence on the record buying public, from discos to the national press. Copies were personally distributed to radio and TV producers and extensive advertising space was bought in the trade papers. 

The launch for Queen was more concentrated than most artist are entitled to expect. 

Trident were completely behind them from the start and found them their American producer Jack Nelson. EMI promotions men Ronnie Fowler and John Bagnall decided they had a product with an exceptional chance of success and they went all out to exploit it to the full. 

Says Fowler: "Every record we release we work to a pattern of promotion. When I went round with the album it was normal procedure. It becomes un-normal when people start phoning you - that's when you put more effort into it."

Bagnall adds: "It became obvious after a week or so that it wasn't standard promotion that was necessary. We did a more complete promotion job than usual on Queen because we thought they were going to make it.

"They're all good-looking guys and I did a round of teeny papers and all the girls in the office swooned over them. Brian, the lead guitarist, had made his own guitar and a couple of the nationals picked up on that. It was good, gossipy stuff."

Queen's publicity machine was working from all angles because they were also getting external promotion from Tony Brainsby's promotion office. 

He had been involved with them from the time they had been trying to get record producers interested. The intensity of it all paid off when they were invited to do a spot on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Radio Luxembourg latched upon the single "Keep Yourself Alive" and played it regularly. 

Their first tour, supporting Mott the Hoople, got the full works. Local press was saturated with releases about this new band which was shortly coming to their town, elaborate displays were arranged at the front of the house on the night of the concert, local disc-jockeys were informed, and window displays were made in about 200 local record shops. 

"Trident and EMI committed themselves right from the start to this band, to make sure they had a PA which was better than other bands had and to make sure they had the right clothes. Some of their outfits cost £150 each," said Bagnall. "Spending money on a band isn't hype. It wasn't being flash or extravagant for the sake of building an image. It was making sure that everything else was as good as their music."

Not so far removed from the attitude towards Merlin, although it has been on a smaller scale in this case. 

The first Merlin tour, still underway, is rigorous. They are playing ballrooms and colleges all over the country on a lengthy round. 

An ambitious project for a new, unknown band, but it has already been successful in that it has launched them as a name people now know. A full-page advertisement was bought in the MM. That's the sort of treatment you might get if you're Bowie, or Ferry, or even Mick Ronson. But Merlin?

They have only been in existence in their present form since last May. 

They emerged as a result of discussions between Alan Love and Derek Chick about the possibility of forming a band with definite commercial appeal and a glamorous stage act. The idea reached fruition via a band called Madrigal, who had for some time been working the same circuit as Mud before "Crazy" broke for them. 

Madrigal disbanded but reformed with the same drummer and bass player, and Love as singer and Chick as manager. A couple more young musicians were found to join them and Chick started the usual hustling to get them going. 

In due course they came to the attention of Cookaway, and Roger Greenaway was hastily summoned to take a look at them. He had already seen Madrigal and when he saw the new model he immediately saw a big future for them. 

Greenaway says: "I'd been looking for a group of this type for three years - a young under-20s group who can present a good act. There's a lot more showmanship attached to bands now. I wanted an act with a slightly different approach. I was in New York producing the Drifters and I came back especially to hear them."

He quickly took them into a studio to see how they reacted there and among the tracks they recorded was "Let Me Put My Spell On You" which had been written by Greenaway in collaboration with Tony Macaulay. Like Queen, the best equipment and some fancy costumes were bought for them and the launching process was put into operation. 

My own experience of the Merlin project was a couple of weeks ago at Reading Top Rank - a bizarre mixture of precocious boppers, ageing teds, and stern-looking heavies. 

Posters and pictures of the group were plastered all over the place and by the time they eventually appeared late in the evening you had been informed quite thoroughly that Merlin had made a record called "Let Me Put My Spell On You."

Greenaway says of Love: "He's got star quality and he's a great charmer. The guitar player Jamie Moses has got a terrific potential too. I've worked with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones but for me this guy at 18 is a better player than Jimmy Page was at the same age. He's the sort of player guys can follow - like Jet Harris - he had an incredible following with the guys."

He likens the Merlin launch to a military operation. The career of the group has been minutely planned since October. Accepting that it is almost impossible to get airplay for a new band on the BBC they decided the best way to break them was through a solid mass of live dates. 

The dates were booked, once again the best equipment, including a light show, was bought for them, and distinctive stage costumes especially designed. 

"By the time the tour has ended they will be a really tight band. We are getting support in the regions and you can break a record if you can get regional radio stations and disco plays. I believe this record is a hit and the signs are there. This is a ten-year job as far as I'm concerned."

Not that big money backing is any guarantee of success. 

One of the biggest projects of this type was the launching of young Darren Burn as Britain's answer to Donny Osmond. To their eternal credit the record-buying public didn't apparently want an answer to Mr Osmond and the campaign failed. 

The pop supermarket is not a new trend. The attractively packaged mass-produced record has been a part of the industry for a long time. The early releases of Love Affair, White Plains and Edison Lighthouse for example spring to mind. 

The whole thing is justified for the makers by the fact that they still become hits, thus proving there is a demand for made-to-order records. If the public is willing - or gullible enough - to pay 50p for music created in the boardroom. Well it must be OK.

The Merlin single is blatantly, unashamedly aimed at being a big hit - that seems to have been the one criterion in making it. It has all the ingredients and as the whole thing has been done with concentrated professionalism it will probably be a hit. 

Back to Roger Greenaway: "I don't want to present this as a Monkees type of image. It's not a manufactured group in any way - these guys have all been in other bands. 

"What Merlin are about is success - reaching people. It's so wrong for opposing people to criticise. If Chinn and Chapman go out to reach a particular market at the thing they do best, and they reach them, then they're doing their job. They've filled a gap.

"When this record happens it'll be called hype but we haven't hyped anybody. Not a vast amount of money has been spent on them. It would be silly to have a tour like this without some sort of advertising. All the money that has been spent on them so far has been towards getting them on the road. 

"It's expensive but it's minimal if you think of it as a along term thing."

It may be unfair to associate Queen with the pop supermarket. The group themselves were apprehensive about appearing on Top Of The Pops and the prospect of a hit record. 

They have always regarded themselves as an album band and were concerned about being connected with the chart groups. The fact remains that they have been on the receiving end of a giant campaign to create a best-selling single and album. 

The first album had sold far better than they had anticipated and there was great excitement around Trident and EMI as the second one was being made. Manager Jack Nelson came in virtually every day to play new tracks as they were completed and many discussions followed on which one should be released as a single. 

A special meeting was held between Bagnall, Fowler, marketing manager Paul Watts and a few others to discuss the approach to the release of "Queen 2."

"We talked about the possibility of boxing the album, and other various publicity and posters needed to produce an album we were convinced was going to be one of the biggest of the year. We set a high target for it. 'Seven Seas' isn't a housewives' record so with the daily shows like Edmonds, Blackburn and Hamilton, there's no chance of getting it played, we knew that from the start. But the weekend shows - Rosko, Henry, and D.L.T. - they all flipped over it. I took the records round personally because I felt so strongly about it."

The prime plug, however, is Top Of The Pops. If a record gets exposure on that there is a more than even chance that it will become a hit. He played it to the show's Robin Nash and a couple of days later Nash phoned him and asked him where Queen were. Later he rang back and invited Queen to do a session. 

The band weren't too sure whether they wanted to do it but eventually agreed although even then they didn't know until the last minute whether it would be used because they were half expecting a David Bowie film to arrive and take it's place. But in the end Queen were shown and "Seven Seas Of Rhye" moved dramatically from there. 

"A lot of people have invested an awful lot of time and money in this band but not as a hype," says Bagnall. "The only truth in the music business is that if a band isn't good, no amount of money will get them to make it."

Greenaway may be right that Merlin are one of the most exciting bands to merge since the Beatles. Fowler might be right that Queen are one of the best since the Who. But big business still remains one of the sadder aspects of the music industry today. 

----------

Huge thanks to the anon who brought this to my attention, since I’ve been looking for a copy of this article for ages now! 

Credit for the original scans goes to @Chrised90751298 over on twitter, though I stitched it back together into a single image for ease of posting over there. Open the image in a new tab to see the full-size version!

[twentyghosts]

My Science Boyfriends Mundane AU Masterlist

I have had some folks kindly ask if I plan to write another mundane AU after finishing Never A Breath You Can Afford To Waste, and the answer is: yeah, probably, eventually? Every time I finish writing one of these things I figure it will probably be my last, because how much more could I possibly have to say about the topic of: “What if these characters we know as superheroes were in love but didn’t have to literally save the world and could just have a normal job or whatever?” 

And then every time, a small mouse inside my brain whispers some new idea to me and I end up writing another one. But, in the meantime, here are all the ones I’ve written (since I think it can be hard to dig them out of my AO3 page since there are so many one-shots between the longer stories.)

These all have Bruce Banner/Tony Stark as the primary ship. Perhaps you will enjoy them while I wait for the small mouse inside my brain to start whispering, “Science Boyfriends, but hear me out, what if this time they’re insurance adjusters?” Or whatever. Check the AO3 links for full tags/warnings for each one.

Never A Breath You Can Afford To Waste (professor AU, 102K words) (featuring several lovely illustrations!) After abruptly trying to close down Stark Industries' weapons division, Tony Stark has been ousted as CEO by the company's board of directors and is attempting to cool his heels and rehabilitate his image with a cushy one-year appointment as a guest lecturer in engineering at Shield University. Dr. Bruce Banner also has a one-year appointment at Shield, but his is a lowly adjunct instructor position that doesn't pay enough to meet the high cost of living in Southern California. Bruce is trying desperately to keep anyone from finding out he's living in his car, while Tony is desperately trying to ask Bruce out and can't figure out why he won't accept. But when Bruce gets pneumonia, things change. Bruce has to trust Tony with his secret, Tony has to play nursemaid, and they both have to learn how to take care of each other—and still get their final grades turned in on time.

By Any Other Name (high school student AU/flower shop AU, 12K words) Bruce Banner has a hard enough time keeping his head above water between all of his afterschool jobs and the demanding coursework at Shield Academy, the prestigious boarding school he attends on scholarship. He doesn't have time to spearhead a Valentine's Day flower sale fundraiser, and he definitely doesn't have time to date Tony Stark, no matter what his best friend Nat and her girlfriend Pepper keep telling him.

Snow Falls, Love Rises (Hallmark Channel holiday movie AU, 35K words) Tony Stark's ambitious new plan to convert all of his factories to manufacture solar panels and other green energy technologies causes some concern in the small town of Snow Falls, Ohio: the home of the StarKids toy factory. Despite the toy factory's popularity, the town's Green Party mayor, Bruce Banner, actually supports the solar panel initiative. However, Bruce's deputy mayor Darcy Lewis goes behind his back to invite Tony to be the grand marshal of the town's annual Winter Joy Toy Parade, in an attempt to convince Tony to preserve the toy factory. Tony accepts, secretly hoping to use the event as an opportunity to reconnect with Bruce. Unbeknownst to the citizens of Snow Falls, Bruce and Tony haven't spoken to each other since their boarding school romance came to an abrupt end. Can their love be rekindled, or is it as dead as a string of vintage Christmas tree lights?

Is This Heaven? No, It’s Brooklyn (Good Omens fusion AU, 60K words) cowritten with @godlessondheimite After supervising the wrong child for 11 years, Crowley and Aziraphale discover that the Antichrist is actually in Brooklyn, and they have one month to avert the Apocalypse. Although they still need to figure out a few minor details (like how to stop him, and what name he's using), they book an Airbnb and head across the pond. Meanwhile, Bruce Banner, the last living descendant of Agnes Nutter, is also figuring things out, like how can he best answer his curious mentee, Adam Young’s, many questions about the planet? Why couldn't his ancestor's prophecies have been less nice and more coherent? What role will Stark Industries play in causing the end of the world? If he took down his Airbnb listing months ago, how did two strange Englishmen rent it out? And is he really destined to live the rest of his life with the asshole who plowed him over with a Bentley? The combined forces of science, religion, and coincidences--plus the hyper-competent Pepper Potts--might just be enough to avert the Apocalypse and give everyone a happy ending.

Snap Decisions (high school academic decathlon coach AU, 52K words) High school physics teacher Bruce Banner is feeling adrift after he returns from two years in the Peace Corps and takes a new job as the coach of Infinite Horizons Academy's academic decathlon team. Their rival team, Midtown School of Science and Technology, also acquires a new coach when stressed-out CEO Tony Stark finds himself in need of some community service hours. Despite their schools' rivalry, the two coaches become friendly with one another. When New York's power-hungry Schools Chancellor Thanos abruptly closes half of the city's public schools, the two teams are forced to merge. As things begin to crumble around them, Bruce and Tony get a little help from their students in their struggle to save their schools--and each other.

Sorry If You’re Starstruck (Hollywood AU, 60K words) While recovering from an on-set injury (and the resultant problem with painkillers), billionaire playboy genius filmmaker Tony Stark sets his eyes on his next project--an adaptation of the Gamma Garcia books, a widely beloved young adult sci-fi series. The books' notoriously reclusive author, Bruce Banner, rejects all film offers, but he reluctantly accepts Tony's friendship. Their bond deepens into something more, even as personal and professional setbacks threaten their chance at a Hollywood happy ending. 

Judging By The Cover (Library AU, 22K words) (featuring very cool collaged illustrations by @allofthefeelings for @wipbigbang!) Bruce Banner is a generally mild-mannered reference librarian at Malibu Public Library, but he loses his cool when local billionaire philanthropist Tony Stark proposes revitalizing the library's technology, at the cost of its collection of print books. Bruce tries his best to persuade Tony to preserve the library, but accidentally ends up dating him. Despite moral support from his friends and coworkers Darcy, Jane, and Natasha, Bruce isn't quite sure if he's cut out to share his life with Tony Stark on either a personal or professional level. Will children's librarian Thor's malevolent brother Loki ruin the summer reading club? Will the paparazzi ever leave Bruce and Tony alone--and more importantly, will Bruce and Tony ever see eye to eye on the subject of e-readers? And when is everyone going to stop asking Bruce for Fifty Shades of Grey?

[harushinkai-daily]

Happy Birthday Haru Shinkai!

Given that so few characters in the Digimon universe have canonical birthdays, Haru’s birthday on July 1 is a day worth noting! Here are a few ideas for how to celebrate a very memorable Digimon protagonist.

🍅 Revisit a favorite moment from Appmon

As the series’ resident gogglehead, he features in plenty of episodes. You could start with his reluctant beginning in Episode 01, or pick and choose some more highlights:

Episodes 02, 04, and 23 show his ability to strategize and come up with creative solutions to tough problems;

Episodes 03 and 41 involve high-stakes showdowns that highlight his ability to alter the outcome of a situation with words alone;

Episodes 04, 19, and 45, and 50 demonstrate the strength of the bond he shares with Gatchmon (and in one case, a particular Agumon!);

Episodes 12, 13, 18, 25, 27, and 32 all illustrate his compassion and concern for others--whether it’s his crush, his best friend, an innocent-seeming Appmon, or the brooding hacker who stole all their Seven-Code Chips (and if you’re watching 32, don’t miss his attempt to sound like a tough-guy delinquent!);

Episodes 51 and 52 demonstrate his bravery and resolve when the chips are down and the fate of humanity is at stake!

And if it’s available in your country, don’t forget to rate and leave reviews on the officially licensed sub on Crunchyroll!

🍅 Listen to Haru (and Gatchmon’s) themes and character song

Haru has one character song that he shares with his Buddy (“Hallelujah”), which plays in the show near the end of Episode 52 (you can listen to the full thing here, and view the lyrics here!). The pair also share a bouncy instrumental track (“Haru and Gatchmon’s Everyday Life”), and there’s a more melancholy instrumental theme (“A Protagonist’s Agonizing”) if you’re looking for something with a different tone.

Both Appmon openings (“DiVE!!” and “Gatchen!”) have verses hinting at Haru’s growth in becoming a protagonist. Last but not least, the fourth ending (“Perfect World”) and the watercolor-esque sequence depicting Haru’s friends throwing him a surprise party were, of course, timed to be released on July 1, so they’re all great listens as well!  

🍅 Create fanwork, or revisit some of your favorites!

Drawing fanart of Haru for his birthday is certainly a popular option, but there’s nothing stopping you from trying your hand at writing some Appmon fanfiction, or making a Haru-themed moodboard, playlist, or other tribute! And even if you’re not in the mood to create your own, it’s still a great day to share existing Appmon fanwork via a reblog or a link. If there’s a piece that left a particular impression on you, a friendly comment to the artist or author is a great way to show support and keep our small fandom alive.

🍅 Curl up with a good book

One of the first things we learn about Haru is that he’s a bookworm, preferring narratives with strong protagonists. You could follow in his footsteps by rereading that creased and dogeared copy of an old favorite, or use your preferred search engine to discover something new (some sci-fi involving advanced AI, perhaps?).

Speaking of which, you could...

🍅 Dabble in artificial intelligence

Haru’s ambition is to become an AI researcher, and even without being able to visit an AI-controlled city or rebuild your best friend from scratch, there are plenty of ways to explore the past and present landscape of AI. 

Super

Read about Pepper, the robotic assistant that helped inspire Appmon’s Sugar units.

Read about the Dartmouth Summer Research Project, which the AppDrivers briefly visited thanks to Timemon.

Ultimate

My favorite source for some of the weird things that can be produced with AI is… well, aiweirdness.com! Collaborate with an AI to create a surreal text-based adventure, browse some paint colors, or check out the terrifying knitting patterns that may as well have been created by Leviathan himself!

Play Pictionary with an AI, and help train it to recognize doodles at the same time! (Read more about “Quick, Draw“ here).

God-Grade

Sign up for a free course in Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning through Coursera.

Read up on the ethical concerns modern AI researchers are still working to address. More than a sudden hostile takeover like SkyNet or the Human Application Project, an increased reliance on today’s AI involves safety, security, and privacy concerns, as well as the issue of biased and discriminatory datasets.

🍅 Play some video games

Haru is by no means an avid gamer, but he does seem to enjoy games casually and as a social experience, including a few that involve strategic/puzzle aspects. Why not recreate the Pokemon Go craze of Summer 2016 by logging back into your account and hunting for rare monsters with your friends (keeping in mind good social distancing practices, of course!).

Lots of other games have gone virtual, so if you and your friends are a more spread out you could meet online to play a party game like Drawception or Jackbox, or even something that requires a bit more deductive reasoning, such as Codenames, Hanabi, or Werewolf One Night. If you prefer solo play, you could download a new mobile puzzle game (as long as it doesn’t become infected and lock you out of something important!), or relive the story of your favorite recent-generation game by playing it on Easy Mode. And if you were feeling really ambitious, you might fire up an or an old-school RPG, dungeon-crawler, or adventure game-- just make sure to have a walkthrough on hand in case you get stuck!

🍅 Engage in a physical activity

Haru is also not what you would call a super-coordinated athlete, but there are a few things you could try if you wanted to experience his more adventurous moments for yourself:

Get a friend to kick a soccer ball at your face (not recommended).

Set up a game of hide-and-seek, tag, or Quidditch. Anyone that catches you wins the grand prize! (not *currently* recommended, but maybe around Halloween...).

Hike up a snowy mountain and then sled down to avoid the ice monster at the top (not recommended).

Tool around on a Segway (...maybe?).

Go bungee jumping (not recommended).

Whatever you do, avoid activities that involve the ocean or other large bodies of water, because Haru himself says he can’t swim!

🍅 Choose to be a protagonist.

If, like Haru, you occasionally struggle to see yourself as anything more than a side character, use today as an opportunity to change the narrative. Set aside some time to pursue one of your goals that’s fallen by the wayside, or something you’re deeply passionate about. Step out of your comfort zone. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Make a conscious decision to improve some aspect of your life, even if it’s something small. Every little bit helps!

🍅 Be humble, caring, and kind.

More than anything else, Haru is defined by his desire to be kind to those around him. To that end, you might consider reaching out to someone you know is going through a difficult time. Practice empathy and respect. Donate time, money, or supplies to a cause you really believe in. Don’t be afraid to be a main character in your own story, but realize there is just as much value being a supporting character in someone else’s. Take steps, even small ones, toward making the world a better place.

🍅 Other ideas:

Eat a hamburger, Haru’s favorite food.

Make plans to hang out with a friend you haven’t been able to spend time with for a while, whether it’s due to your secret double life as an AppDriver or just being busy (just maybe... avoid going to school rooftops at sunset).

Ask a family member to share an embarrassing story about your childhood on social media.

Ask an eccentric older relative to yell at you in the middle of the night. The louder the better!

Happy Birthday, Haru!

[ask-aph-baltics]

Mun + Blog Update

I’m finally not going to have any pressures and I’m cutting out a lot of chatting so I’ll be having more of a focus on gaming and less on pain management and things of this sort. On that note, because I won't have those issues, I will be able to spend more time drawing things somewhat properly than I have. I came into this fandom in a relatively rushed mood (this was originally going to be an actual poorly drawn blog - but the school + developing pain was getting in the way, then the medication and pressure of grades).

Positively, I should be able to produce better content all around (maybe not writing, I need to sit and get some critiques and actual people to tell me what to do. I was given some advice by a friend recently but it was just essentially to work on my starters). - If you’re willing to help me out with writing, DM me! This includes getting the chance to tear into my work with a knife and brutally critique me (so long as you offer suggestions).

Art, I should be able to do slightly more refined pieces and have more patience and less anxiety - Tokyo is a stressful place and my living arrangement since I got here has been not pleasant.

I might switch this to more of an “illustration blog that sometimes takes requests and makes comments” than answering asks, as most asks either are just “Character Explains the Thing” or I have to do a full out comic.

Also recently (sadly recently) I learned about a group on Dreamwidth and Live Journal that is fairly detrimental to the unity of the fandom and I think this is something we, as a fandom, should look at if we want to keep the fandom alive and as a place to build bridges and not tear people down. I know some people who are in it who have forwarded me information recently. I know of people who are in it and many are Big Name Fans or other people. 

A simple ‘warning to others’ in a fandom can turn into brutal, suicide risking attacks to others should they find out. I already have been told some people have told me they refrained from telling me the extent of things because some of the things these Big Name Fans said was brutal as Hell.

My entire time in fandom has been to build bridges for others and help make fun activities for people who have few friends or are outcasts and not in social circles.

I plan and hope I can do that with the 18+ Hetalia Writers Discord and my own semi-private server. Let’s make friends. Let’s cut the “I am actually envious of this person so I will hate them instead of talk to them and become their friend and get to know them.” attitude.

Hating a ship, hating me, it’s not going to help you. So I’m going to try very hard to focus on the positivity now. Now again, I have time to make some amazing contributions to the Hetalia fandom.

With regard to anon hate, I and some others have discussed and found hiccups in their VPN, that point to a possible user who has now been stalking me for roughly 3 years obsessively. I am almost certain I’ve deduced who it is and they’re someone pissed off because I alerted the fandom, at the time, that they were a minor sneaking into NSFW spaces. So the hater I have is probably one dedicated user. Either this person or someone from right when I joined the fandom who was mad I got so popular so fast and kind of didn’t have the same HCs of them. It’s okay to feel challenged with a character you’re passionate about. No one wants to hear your idea isn’t accepted always by others! It adds to variety to me.

I’m about to have a hell of a lot of free time. 

In a few days, I’ll be sharing my Switch FC for people who want to play ACNH or Pokemon with me! I’m a professional (ex) player and enjoy breeding and training Pokemon!! This horror trip to Tokyo is finally coming to a close and as the state of emergency grows stronger I am hopefully able to get out soon.

I also want to remind everyone that I have no interest in being popular in the fandom. While I do want validation... I already have hit most goals that were on my bucket list for “fandom/online achievements” and all I want is to talk about my favourites and sob at other people’s content. I think my last ‘big fandom achievement’ I want to do is write and finish my Lithuania and Poland fanfiction series I’ve already started. 

My last IRL achievement on my bucket list right now is to learn basic Lithuanian, conversational Polish, and (this is more ambitious) write my cool sci-fi ‘avatar’ (not air bender) LGBT Netflix Pilot. I also have a film crew and studio I have access to (he’s making a mask fan film right now, it looks neat) who could with the right funding bring this project to reality. That’s in 5-10 years though. After that, I just want to sit in the corner with a cat and rot slowly into the ground and let the mushrooms consume me.

[coffeebased]

I won’t be the first or last person to marvel at how quickly February whizzed past, especially in comparison to January’s gauntlet. To be completely fair to February, it had the ongoing COVID-19 international epidemic, as well as the ABS-CBN shutdown crisis, the anti-terrorism bill, the reminder that historical revisionism re: the Marcos dictatorship is alive and well… and those were just the actual headlines.

I must digress before I spiral.

I read 12 books in February, half of which were newly released in this month. I’ve split my post up into three parts like I did last month: one-shots, parts of series, and re-reads. It seems to be working well for me.

  Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker

The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out—he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person.

Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.

After I read Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City last year, I knew that I wanted more by Parker. I considered delving into his back catalog, which I still will probably do, but I saw that he was releasing a new book in Feb 2020, so I jumped on that first. Prosper’s is exactly up my alley, what with the discussions of morality and the greater good with demons, and quite a bit of engineering. I’d admired the voice of the main character in Sixteen because he was dry and very caught up in doing what needed to be done, and the main character has the same appealing values. It’s a short read, but it sticks in the teeth and fills the belly.

  Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year…

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind…

Kingfisher, also known as Ursula Vernon, tends to write capable and damaged characters falling in with each other and foiling plots. She also tends to write paladins very well, which is a personal delight. I always enjoy a Kingfisher story, because the characters do the sensible thing more often than not, and she deals with trauma very compassionately, from what I suspect is a personal viewpoint. Her books are also usually very funny, very disturbing, and no-nonsense, scratching that Terry Pratchett Witch itch when I miss him very much. Grace is along the same lines, with a good solid HEA that leaves everyone, including the reader, satisfied.

  Kindred, a Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and illustrated by John Jennings

I lost an arm on my last trip home.

Home is a new house with a loving husband in 1970s California that suddenly transformed in to the frightening world of the antebellum South.

Dana, a young black writer, can’t explain how she is transported across time and space to a plantation in Maryland. But she does quickly understand why: to deal with the troubles of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder–and her progenitor.

Her survival, her very existence, depends on it.

This searing graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction classic is a powerfully moving, unflinching look at the violent disturbing effects of slavery on the people it chained together, both black and white–and made kindred in the deepest sense of the word.

Kindred, the novel, is on my Next 20s list. I had meant to read it before I read the GN, but picked up the graphic novel based on a friend’s recommendation. The graphic novel is searingly painful, and I enjoyed reading it, but there are parts of it that feel slightly disjointed. I’m not sure if it’s because of the time travel, or if it’s an adaptation problem. It made me want to read the novel immediately, which is what I am reading right now. I don’t think that I’ll be able to properly synthesise my thoughts about this book until I’ve read the original.

    Mirror: The Mountain and The Nest by Emma Rios and Hwei Lim

A mysterious asteroid hosts a collection of strange creatures – man-animal hybrids, mythological creatures made flesh, guardian spirits, cursed shadows – and the humans who brought them to life. But this strange society exists in an uneasy truce, in the aftermath of uprisings seeking freedom and acceptance, that have only ended in tragedy. As the ambitious, the desperate and the hopeful inhabitants of the asteroid struggle to decide their shared fate, a force greater than either animal or human seems to be silently watching the conflict, waiting for either side to finally answer the question: what is worthy of being human?

Recommended to me by a new friend who’d heard I was into sci-fi and graphic novels, who absolutely hit the nail on the head with this rec. The art is beautiful, dreamy, and layered, and it keeps you tied to the story as the authors build what is a magnificent construction in your head. The authors do some really lovely things with timeskips that I have no idea how to talk about without spoiling anything, and I only regret that we weren’t able to linger through the second volume. I’m don’t know why there isn’t more of Mirror, but I do appreciate how they tied everything up as well as they could in two volumes. Looking forward to more like this in the future.

  Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman

In this volume we’ll see the Heartstopper gang go on a school trip to Paris! Not only are Nick and Charlie navigating a new city, but also telling more people about their relationship AND learning more about the challenges each other are facing in private…

Meanwhile Tao and Elle will face their feelings for each other, Tara and Darcy share more about their relationship origin story, and the teachers supervising the trip seem… rather close…?

You can read all of Heartstopper and its future updates here. Heartstopper is a lovely slice of life comic, PG13 at best, that really takes me back to my own mid-teens. The story is centered around the developing relationship of two young boys, Charlie and Nick, and it really deals with it respectfully. It tackles a lot of teen issues without being too preachy about it, which is probably the least inspiring thing I could have written about it, and integrates it deftly into the story. The art style is adorable and really complements the sweet story. This volume, just released this month, revolves around a class trip to Paris, and there are some shenanigans that you’ll have to read for yourself.

  Sixty Six Book 2 by Russell Molina and Mikey Marchan

Kuwento ni Celestino Cabal. Kabebertdey niya lang. Mayroon siyang natanggap na regalo na ngayo’y unti-unti niyang binubuksan. Ika nga ng matatanda, “Huli man daw at magaling, maihahabol din.”

The story of Celestino Cabal. His birthday has just passed. He received a gift that he now gets to open, bit by bit. As the old saying goes, “Better late than never.”

This is the synopsis of the first book. There isn’t an official synopsis for the second book online, and I hesitate to write my own. Sixty Six Book 2 was released during February Komiket, and since I had been waiting for it for a few years, I had to go to the event even though everyone’s been iffy about going into crowded spaces due to COVID-19. I was excited to read this but unfortunately, I don’t think it capitalised on the foundation set in Book 1. The artist was different, and I admired their work on a technical level, as well as their humorous use of WASAK as a sound effect. I don’t know if there’ll be a third book, but the author has made themselves a little leeway for that possibility at the end of this volume.

  Thank You, Jeeves, Jeeves #5 by P.G. Wodehouse

The odds are stacked against Chuffy when he falls head over heels for American heiress Pauline Stoker. Who better to help him win her over but Jeeves, the perfect gentleman’s gentleman. But when Bertie, Pauline’s ex-fiance finds himself caught up in the fray, much to his consternation, even Jeeves struggles to get Chuffy his fairy-tale ending.

This book was in my next 20s! So I’m accomplishing one of my 2020 reading goals, yay! But hot damn there is some racist language in this book. Every time I was finally sinking into the story boom! Racist language! And I know that it was because of the time it was published, like I know that academically, but oof. That aside, the story is solid. It’s a comedy of manners AND errors with Jeeves ex machina, as per usual, but this is the first full Jeeves novel I’ve read, the rest were short story collections, and it was good to see the characters take more space. It certainly made the comedic payoff a lot stronger.

But oof.

  Die Vol. 2: Split the Party by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles

No one can escape DIE until everyone agrees to go home. Or rather, no one can escape DIE until everyone who is alive agrees to go home. The second arc of the commercial and critical hit of bleakly romantic fantasy fiction starts to reveal the secrets of the world, and our heroes’ pasts. Yes, they can’t escape DIE. They also can’t escape themselves. Collects issues #6-10 of DIE

CHARACTERISATION. There’s a lot more breathing space in this newly-released volume of Die and I live for that! The first volume was a lot of the characters running from one place to the next and we, as readers, were being given the sense of setting. But volume two, you can feel Gillen just finally branching out and hitting us with their joined histories. I want to see more of how these older players will be dealing with the actions of their teenage selves, and I think the third volume will really show what the comic’s capable of. I’m really looking forward to that.

  False Value, Rivers of London #8 by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start up – the Serious Cybernetics Company.

Drawn into the orbit of Old Street’s famous ‘silicon roundabout’, Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant’s favourite son.

Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological – and just as dangerous.

The last Rivers of London book finished the first major arc of the series. It was a succession of explosions contained in a novel. So I was wondering what kind of tone Aaronovitch would be setting with False Value. Would it be all action, immediately? A filler story? I just wanted more Peter Grant. It could literally be an entire novel of Peter going to America to visit the Smithsonian museums and I would be on that.

False Value is a slow story but does a lot of table setting for the next arc. While the case of the book feels very small and contained, you can see that they’re being pulled into the larger world of magic. I did have a hard time with the first few chapters, but I’m not sure if this is a problem of the book, or because I sailed straight into it after the Jeeves book I had been reading.

I finished the book too quickly and now I have to wait for the next one. Bother.

    The Thief, The Queen’s Thief #1 by Megan Whalen Turner

The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities.

What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

It’s March now, so my friends and I are starting on the second book in our read-along of The Queen’s Thief. I wrote last month that I was worried about how my friends would take the series, but really I needn’t have thought about it at all. The book stands well on its own, and my friends all got into the story. I hesitate to say that they loved it because there are four more books in the series, but they were definitely into it. Some of them had a hard time sticking to the two chapters a day schedule because Turner’s prose really just pulls you in.

I still love Gen, and I’m excited to relive his character growth.

  The Farthest Shore, The Earthsea Cycle #3

Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea. As the world and its wizards are losing their magic, Ged — powerful Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord — embarks on a sailing journey with highborn young prince, Arren. They travel far beyond the realm of death to discover the cause of these evil disturbances and to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

I’m reading Tehanu, the last book of the Cycle, now, and I’m scared of ending the series. It’s given me so much joy and peace these past few months. I slipped right into it after finishing The Farthest Shore, remembering that they overlap slightly, and that’s done a lot to soften the blow of the third book. Re-reading Farthest at this age, when things have been losing their colour and flavour, where I have to fight harder to keep myself honest and keep myself ‘good’, hits differently. I’ve been recovering, and the bitterness that Ged has over the loss of his mastery is too real to me. Of course, it’s a good book, but it hurts.

—

All right, that’s it for now. I’ll probably be popping in to post a little about Komiket and some other things I’ve been reading next week or so, so please keep a weather eye out for that next post!

February Reading Round-Up I won't be the first or last person to marvel at how quickly February whizzed past, especially in comparison to January's gauntlet.

[hellyeahheroes]

Future Foundation #1 preview and interview:

After so many years absent from the Marvel Universe, the return of the Fantastic Four was a huge event for fans. Was their homecoming as much of a cause for celebration for yourself, as well? I have to imagine getting to tell a part of the family's new story with a re-imagined Future Foundation is a job any Fantastic Four fan would jump at.

WR: I’ll let Jeremy answer that mostly, all I can add is it’s definitely awesome to work in that universe, hopefully Jeremy can sneak something Thing in for me to tackle!

JW: Yeah, it was huge for me. I think I have the experience of a lot of fans around my age of having grown up thinking of the Fantastic Four as being less exciting than the X-Men and Spider-Man, but then having been reading comics during two of the best runs of FF related in comics in decades between Hickman and Fraction. I was a huge fan of their runs and had a special place in my heart for Fraction and Allred's version of the Future Foundation. Seeing so much of what those runs had built taken off the table for a long time was tough, but then to be part of the team that gets to bring all of that stuff back is just amazing. While Dan gets to run around with the first family of the Marvel Universe, I adore the chance to get to play with these wonderful teenage geniuses and have so much history to pull from in the Fantastic Four and everything adjacent to them.

So far Marvel has revealed that the Future Foundation will be on their own 'search and rescue' mission. That sounds like it will be an easier story for newer fans to jump into (with an introduction from you both coming in Fantastic Four #12). For readers who may not be as well versed in the history of the Foundation, what will they need to know/be prepared for hopping on board?

JW: I think there's a very low barrier to entry. Obviously many of the characters we're using have decades of history in the comics, but we're doing our best to make it accessible to every reader. While I'd encourage people to go back and read Hickman and Fraction's run on Future Foundation because they're great, we're gonna tell you everything you need to get up and running - and we're going to be up and running fast. This first arc is packed with action and adventure and all centers around a prison break from one of the most dangerous prisons in the universe. We want you to jump in and hold on for the ride, regardless of your history with the characters.

For anyone who takes one look at the new team assembled in these pages and covers, the attitude and personality of the book almost speaks for itself, giving a clear sense of this kind of adventure. Were you both on the same page, between the story and style, from the beginning?

JW: Oh yeah. I had been working out some of the plot points of the book with Marvel for a while, so I had a little bit of a head start. But as soon as I found out Will was going to be illustrating it I tracked him down and asked what he wanted to draw. He loves monsters and aliens and big action, so I've done my best to slant things toward what excites him in the book. Also, Dragon Man. Will loves drawing Dragon Man, which will be obvious to anybody reading this book.

WR: We have worked together to make this a true collaboration. Not only between us, but between the whole creative team. I’ve never been on a book with this much collaborative spirit before and it’s making me push my art to new levels.

Whenever a story follows the Fantastic Four family into the larger Multiverse, it tends to lead into some strange corners, really breaking the limits, in terms of the visuals, of what readers are used to. With the Foundation's mission taking them into the Multiverse, how did the visual style of the new series take shape?

JW: I'll let Will speak to this in greater detail, but as for the styling of the characters and their new costumes, our goal was to capture the idea that these are teenage geniuses who are really left to their own devices for the first time while they're jetting through the Multiverse. We wanted to give them each personal touches that felt like they were given access to make their own decisions about fashion and what's "cool" for a superhero costume. Some people kept it minimal, some stylized, but Bentley 23 did the most. He's now got a leather jacket, purple sunglasses, and pouches everywhere. I hope that new readers will take a look at the costume designs and instantly get a feel for the characters.

WR: Stylistically, I’m a cartoony fan. I like to keep things bouncy and focus a lot on the acting of the characters. For the look of everything, it’s just what speaks to me and the team!

Special attention obviously needs to be paid to the Foundation's "guest professor" Yondu Udonta, who has enjoyed newfound fame thanks to the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Even though James Gunn and Michael Rooker's version of Yondu isn't exactly who that character was originally, you can't argue with how memorable he's proven to be. Has this Yondu been made in that new mold, the old, or maybe a combination?

WR: GOTG is my favourite marvel film, and us dealing with a prison break means that there’s a lot of influence of that film in the book. I love Yondu and he’s a lot of fun to play with, definitely leaning more into the Rooker on my end.

JW: Mostly our Yondu takes after the newer version, who has also popped up in a few places in the Marvel Universe recently. While I know the original has his fans, it's hard to deny the dirtbag charm of the Rooker version and when you're a bunch of (mostly) upright children who find yourself needing to break into a space prison, that Yondu is exactly who you want in your corner, which is exactly how he got there. He's the guest professor they needed for this job.

The original Future Foundation got its name and its mission from Reed Richards being dissatisfied about how science was being used - or ignored - to improve the world. That idea is obviously relevant to the world today, so will the series tackle real world issues, or is it more about capturing that ambitious, dreamer spirit than literally solving the world's problems?

JW: As important as I think the first is, since we're not on Earth and are attempting to reassemble the pieces of a cosmic entity, I think the dreamer spirit is much more in the forefront. The Future Foundation has been through a hundred different realities and come out of it full of ideas and ambition. Their goal is to solve big problems - any problems. The harder to deal with the better. And given their resources, they can bring in any guest professor from the multiverse to teach them how to do nearly anything. I think they're a more powerful force than anyone realizes and they are about to get tested with some very big problems.

Final question: Since you won't brag, just how unprepared are readers for what your storytelling partner has in store for them?

JW: Oh they can't possibly be ready. I'm doing my best to throw twists and big ideas at the wall to challenge Will and he keeps coming back with even bigger and better versions of what I had in mind. He's an incredible talent and anybody who sees these issues is going to know that. Also, Dragon Man. He draws that giant fire breathing android with such love, I just can't even tell you guys.

WR: Jeremy is the best writer I’ve ever worked with. Usually in my experience it’s a “here’s the script” and no real communication between writer and artist — I hate that! The great comic book writers and artists have always worked together, because comics is a true collaboration. I change some things in my art, and Jeremy changed some of my art with his story. He wants to make me happy and same on my end. Hopefully we will collaborate for many years to come.

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Lizz!

✿ Twitter ✿

Header source: [X]  

Introduce yourself Hi, I'm Lizz and spend 99.9% of my free time drawing because it's something I hold dear to my heart. I'm into a variety of series, including but not limited to IDOLiSH7, AoT/SNK (anime-only), Xenoblade, and Fire Emblem. Most of my drawings are centered around these series~ When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I started drawing when I was four, but I didn't take drawing as a regular hobby until June 2017. I initially started with traditional art with colored pencils, but now a majority of my full illustrations are done digitally. Do you use any traditional mediums? If so, which are your favorites? While I don't do much traditional art due to focusing on digital, I do enjoy traditional art! Most of my traditional art pieces are kept to sketches and brainstorming, but sometimes I like to ink them. If I'm feeling in a mood for traditional, I like to play around with watercolors and acrylics!

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa) I prefer digital drawings because of the cleanliness of the art and how easy it is to clean up drawings! While digital art does get its flack for its "shortcuts" *cough* ctrl + z and transform tools, I found that digital art has helped me explore more ambitious compositions both lighting and pose-wise. In traditional art, there aren't as many colors to play around with, and I've had times where I wanted to draw full body pieces but I either ran out of space or it was hard to draw the small details. I enjoy digital for the large canvas sizes, how easy it is to draw smaller details, and the options available for coloring! Traditional art is still valid, but I'm more accustomed to the workflow in digital pieces. What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? At first, when I was starting out digital art, I had to get used to the disconnect between looking at the screen and the tablet. However, I feel that the biggest challenge with digital for me personally is not letting perfectionism take hold. While digital has several tools to help correct and edit changes as needed, it's very easy to get absorbed in it and not actually get anything done. Sometimes letting go of perfectionism is the hardest part. What inspires your pieces? The fandoms that I partake in provide the ideas, and my friends and fellow artists inspire me to keep going. I love logging into Twitter and Discord and seeing the art that my friends post and watching their journey. My pieces take inspiration from the series and the artists that I enjoy.

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process Once I've found an idea I would like to draw, I like to sketch! Sketching is always the toughest part for me since there's still some things I don't quite understand about anatomy, but once I've got the sketch done, I'll probably finish the piece if it's something I'd like to continue and go through the process of line art, base colors, shading, background, and secondary lighting. I try my best to keep the number of WIPs I have ongoing to a minimum in order to ensure productivity! Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

I have a few friends who make really nice art: https://twitter.com/ShiroHunter - Beautiful colors !!! Their pieces are so vibrant and it's honestly so inspiring to me and I just love looking at their art in general. https://twitter.com/CakeCaptorLily - I love her dedication to sketching her favorite character and she's showed me how powerful doodles can be when getting better at drawing at a particular subject~ https://twitter.com/stardastarly - I love her colors!! The shading and lighting of each piece is always something I look forward to seeing and the textures created by the shading is... so good. https://twitter.com/crimzonlogic - A traditional artist who specializes in watercolor! I love the composition and just.. everything about Crimzonlogic's art. Please support all four artists I listed above, they're all super skilled and work hard!But in general, any art that I retweet/like is inspiring to me and has some quality that I would like to strive for, whether if it's the composition, the coloring, or their style! Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? It's been a month since I've drawn Tenn in his Heavenly Visitor outfit, but I still like the piece overall. While the details were quite a challenge to overcome, I'm glad I paid attention to the small details! I love getting small details to look good, even if it's a minor touch in the grand scheme of things. I also tried new coloring techniques here, and I'm super happy with how clean and simple it is.If you want to support the piece on Twitter, here it is! https://twitter.com/LizzIkanaka/status/1113501420303437825

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? Yes! I've been listening to the Attack on Titan soundtrack, TRIGGER's songs (they're a unit in IDOLiSH7!), and vocaloid songs a lot~

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? Honestly, knowing that "I made this" is a feeling I will never get tired of. With every piece, I feel like I've learned or refined a skill and knowing that I'm able to bring ideas into reality is what makes art interesting to me. What do you do when art block strikes? When I experience art block, it's usually because I can't execute the idea in the way I intended, rather than being at a blank for ideas. I usually like to restudy the fundamentals and practice the things that give me difficulty in order to combat art block! What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

Hmm, it's not necessarily pertaining to "making" art, but to take breaks and take care of yourself! Don't push yourself while drawing. I think it's important to remember that in order to draw, being healthy and being able to handle it is key. After all, if you push yourself too hard and don't stretch or don't take breaks, you might not be able to draw anymore!

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

How SparkNotes' social media accounts mastered the art of meme-ing literature

Most millennials know SparkNotes as the ultimate no-nonsense study buddy, but today’s students not only receive help with schoolwork from the website, they get high-quality entertainment, too.

SparkNotes remains a crucial tool for text comprehension — full of study guides and supplemental resources on english literature, philosophy, poetry, and more. But over the past two years it’s also become a source of some of the internet’s most quick-witted, thought-provoking, and ambitious memes.

SparkNotes' Twitter and Instagram accounts have carved a unique niche for themselves online by posting literary memes that find perfect parallels  between classic works like Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and Frankenstein, and present-day pop culture favorites like The Office, Parks and Rec, and more.

It may come as a surprise to those who once frequented the site for the sole purpose of better understanding Shakespeare plays before a final exam or catching up on assigned chapters of The Catcher in the Rye before the bell rang, but SparkNotes is cool now, and absolutely killing the social media game.

SEE ALSO: The magic of Book Fairies

As someone who spends the majority of her workday on the internet and splits her leisure time almost exclusively between reading books and re-watching episodes of The Office, I fell in love with the account's near-perfect meme execution after mere minutes of scrolling through posts. 

In a world with so many bad brand tweets and tone-deaf memes, I felt compelled to seek out the well-read meme masters behind SparkNotes' social media to learn how it is they manage to make each and every post so good.

How SparkNotes' social media became LIT ✨📚

Chelsea Aaron, a 31-year-old senior editor for SparkNotes, is a huge part of the success. She started managing the site's Instagram in September 2017, and her meme approach has helped the account grow from 5,000 to 134,000 followers.

"When I first started managing the account, I tried a bunch of different things," Aaron explained in an email. "I ran illustrations and original content from our blog, and I also borrowed memes from our Twitter ... The memes seemed to get the most likes, so I started making and posting those on a regular basis, and now I try to do four to five per week."

Image: screengrab / Instagram

Aaron discovered the account's recipe for success by not only making memes about some of SparkNotes' most popular, highly searched guides — which include Shakespeare's plays, The Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice — but by mashing them together with a few modern television shows that she's personally passionate about, such as The Office, Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, and John Mulaney's comedy specials. She's also known for hilariously retelling entire works (SparkNotes style, so, abridged versions) using the account's Highlight feature.

Image: screengrab / instagram

The brilliantly sharp, comical posts seem effortless, but Aaron explained the process takes some serious concentration. Essentially, she stares at a large collection of collected screenshots "in a state of panic" until an idea strikes. "It's wildly inefficient and incredibly stressful, but I haven't figured out another way to do it," she admitted.

Luckily, Aaron always has the SparkNotes Twitter account to turn to for inspiration, which is managed by Courtney Gorter, a 26-year-old consulting writer for SparkNotes who Aaron calls "a comedic genius."

Gorter has been managing the Twitter account for about a year and a half now, and joined the SparkNotes team because she utilized its resources growing up and wanted to help "make classic literature feel accessible" to others.

"I wanted this stuff to seem slightly more fun (or, at the very least, less intimidating) to the average stressed-out student who's just trying to read fifty pages by tomorrow and also has a quiz on Friday," she said. The memes definitely help her achieve that goal.

Scrolling through the SparkNotes Instagram account, you notice it generally uses a recurring but reliably satisfying meme format. Most of the posts consist of a white block filled with introductory text and a screenshot from a television show, like so.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SparkNotes Official (@sparknotes_) on Apr 16, 2019 at 10:25am PDT

Gorter, on the other hand, ensures the Twitter account showcases a far more widespread representation of the internet. She posts everything from out-of-context screenshots, GIFs, and videos, to altered headlines from The Onion and trending meme formats of the moment, like "in this house" memes, "nobody vs me" memes, and more. The account is full of variety and gloriously unpredictable.

Hades: Orpheus I’ll let you bring your wife back from the Underworld, but if you turn and look behind you she’ll be lost to you forever. Orpheus: pic.twitter.com/FWD9P2nO0m

— SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) April 16, 2019

Normal heart rate: /\⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ /\ _ / \ __/\__ / \ _ \/⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ \/ The old man you just killed, whose heart lies hidden beneath the floorboards yet continues to beat: ⠀/\⠀ /\⠀ /\ _/ \ /\_/ \ /\_/ \ /\_ ⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/

— SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) April 12, 2019

Gorter, who describes herself as "constantly on the internet" feels a lot of her ideas are the result of "cultural osmosis ... our collective tendency to consume references and jokes without realizing it just by being on the internet a lot."

"Sometimes I’ll be reading a book, and I’ll remember a joke I saw earlier that fits. Sometimes a new meme format will crop up over the weekend, and I’ll think, 'That could work for Macbeth,'" she said.

Though the two accounts are clearly distinct from one another, they both give off the same hip English teacher energy and running them has become a truly collaborative effort. "I constantly send her [Gorter] emails asking stuff like, 'Can I still say 'big mood' or is that over?' and 'What's the deal with this whole 'wired vs tired' thing?'" Aaron said.

Together, the two women spend their days discussing iconic works of literature, making pop culture references, and keeping up with the latest memes. (A dream job.) Their separate styles fuse together to make each other's posts the best they can be.

The meme approach works wonders

One might not initially think that Boo Radley and John Mulaney have much in common, or that Michael Scott could effortlessly embody Romeo, Julius Caesar, and Holden Caulfield if you simply alter your perspective. I certainly did not. 

But Aaron and Gorter's work will convince you. Once you start merging the worlds of classic literature and modern television series, you won't want to stop.

The SparkNotes instagram is my favorite thing pic.twitter.com/FCc6sXjJly

— Jessie Martin (@jessie_martin97) March 29, 2019

Fun fact, the official Sparknotes Instagram account is probably the best one: pic.twitter.com/sIR6tsw7ZP

— Tommy (@tommy_jacobs92) February 28, 2019

When describing why the posts work so well, Aaron explained that Hamlet, Mr. Darcy, and Gatsby — three of her favorite characters to meme — have super relatable personalities, which makes the process so simple.

"They're dramatic, and awkward, and obsessive, which makes them identical to about 97% of the people on The Office," she said. "I've learned that you can use Michael Scott as a stand-in for pretty much any classic lit character, and it isn't even hard. (That's what she said)."

What wow the @SparkNotes Twitter is extremely good???? It all appears to be this good!!! https://t.co/PyEqTdQ3Ly

— Rachel Kelly 🥛 (@wholemilk) May 2, 2019

Why is @SparkNotes's Twitter so good it has no right to be this good https://t.co/eFBQpLMpe3

— Kelsey [Version 2019.05] (@flusteredkels) May 2, 2019

Gorter thinks the accounts are so appealing because they create a deep sense of community — an online space that isn't so isolating, rather a place where where bibliophiles, television enthusiasts, and meme lovers can all come together and geek the hell out. There's really something for everyone.

"When Steve Rogers said, 'I understood that reference,' I felt that deeply. I think people enjoy being in on a joke, especially when the source material (classic literature, for instance) isn’t particularly hilarious," Gorter said. "There’s a delicious juxtaposition there. I know that I personally get a secret little thrill when I understand something as contextually layered as a really niche meme, and a slight sense of frustration when I don’t."

Engaging followers and changing with the times

SparkNotes as a whole has come a long way since it was launched as TheSpark.com by a group of Harvard students in 1999.

What started out as a budding web-based dating service quickly transformed into a trusted library of online study materials, and over the years, as the publishing industry, technology, and the internet evolved, so did SparkNotes. 

Like the social media accounts, SparkNotes'  SparkLife blog — full of quizzes, artwork, rankings, advice, and trendy posts like "How To Break Up With Someone, According To Shakespeare" and "Snapchats From Every Literary Movement" —  perfectly encapsulates the site's commitment to catering to its audience.

Whoever runs the Sparknotes twitter and Instagram pages deserves a raise

— louise🌻 (@_Fallxn_) February 21, 2019

SparkNotes does a remarkable job of shifting with the times to stay relevant and interesting in the eyes of its readers — and the quest to balance fun and education really seems to be paying off. Recently, the Instagram account tested out a post that called upon students and teachers to request custom-made memes by reaching out via email with the title of a book or subject they want meme'd, along with a message for the intended recipient.

"The response was amazing!" Aaron said. "We got almost 250 emails, and it's so great to see the genuine affection and admiration that teachers have for their students, and vice versa." 

Thanks to the social media accounts, SparkNotes is not only helping students learn, but helping entire classrooms bond with their teachers. (And hopefully teaching educators who follow a thing or two about good memes.)

Print isn't dead, it's just getting some help from the internet

Aaron and Gorter are having a blast running the accounts, but ultimately, they hope their lighthearted posts will inspire people to pick up a book and read.

"I hope what our followers take away from this is that classic literature doesn’t have to be totally dry," Gorter said. "If our memes encourage our followers to engage with classic literature and be excited about reading, that's so rewarding," Aaron added.

The present-day approach to selling classic literature is undeniably unconventional, and the crossovers are absurdly ambitious, but they work so damn well. What's great about the memes is they're created in a way that doesn't diminish the literature plots, because in reality, one would have to have such a comprehensive understanding of the text to make such good jokes.

The memes are actually pretty high-brow when you think about it, sure to delight intellectuals with great taste in pop culture. I have no idea how the legendary writers would feel about their greatest works getting the meme treatment, but people online are definitely loving it.

It's refreshing to see a brand account succeed at such a genuinely funny level, but perhaps even nicer to see it thriving off of wholesome content that doesn't drag other accounts or get its laughs at the expense of tearing others down, as we've seen accounts do in the past.

SparkNotes social media accounts are genuinely just nice corners of the internet dedicated to making people laugh and hopefully igniting a love of literature.

WATCH: Steve Carell to reunite with 'The Office' creator for Netflix's 'Space Force'

[diddly-darn-ghost]

anyways here is the text for the “environmental/setting/art direction/WhaTEVER YOU CALL IT” redesign for my danny phantom rewrite a few months back 

I actually made numerous sketches in August to demonstrate this because i was originally going to accompany the text with visual examples of each spooky component I wanted to incorporate, since it was inspired by jayrockin's amazing ghost physics post, which I suggest you check out yourself ...but i found out quickly that was too ambitious and I didn't have the stamina for that. However, I’ll still accompany a few rough sketches. It was good practice for me to try to bring about my ideas for the art direction of a show. 

Keep in mind this was my personal taste to fit my personal preferred narrative (i wanted it to be a bit more spookier/dramatic, to truly go along the plot)

“A fun spooky essay by Diddly!!

I've seen a lot of people redesigning the characters, which is awesome, but I haven’t seen a lot about redesigning the environment

It can still have that cartoony look that's reminiscent of the original style of the show, but just incorporate the environment differently. How the characters look is one thing, but in animation you also have to think about how the characters move, behave, and sound like. Timing is extremely important in an animated series, and that goes along with how much drama/suspense is produced

They can still look cartoony as heck with exaggerated proportions but it's the way they're animated that really shows what kind of world they live in.” “A good example of this is Gravity falls. It has a simple cartoony style for its characters but they still do a good job at showcasing horror by how it's animated: ”

I'm talking about wider range of facial expressions, intense close-up shots, silhouettes and shadows junk!! MAKE IT SPOOKY. CAPTURE THAT FEAR! I want to feel SHIVERS when i see these characters! ((it wouldve made more sense if i had finished illustrations to show this))

((the document was pretty unorganized, but here were some key aspects))

👻 “ imagine if all the ghosts antagonists had their own leitmotif/boss battle themes, like in Steven Universe. that would truly bring about the memorability of their character and immediately tell the audience what their personality is like. It’s no wonder Ember is one of the most memorable ghosts, she has her own song”

👻 “ Soundtrack and movement and setting: everything has to work together to build up that good ol’ suspense! I want it to feel like there truly is something sinister around.”

👻 “spooky and eerie background noises? whispers in the background? make the ghosts have echo-y faded voices? and damn right i want to hear creepy circus music or creepy children singing in the background!!!”

👻 Have the ghosts move/animated in ways that seem suspenseful or mysterious. Make them feel like ghosts, add more flow into their movements! Make them feel a little less human…........

👻 Dont just stop at the ghosts though, the setting of Amity park in general should feel a little unsettling …

👻 If I were to redesign the show to incorporate a spookier, more ghost-like environment, it takes is spookier lighting and shading for the environment to completely change. (i loved those neon colors, but be smart with color choice when you can!)

👻 Dramatic contrasting lighting? Flickering lights? Have the characters shaded in a way that really showcases the mood? More wispier, transparent ghosts? 👻 for all the ghosts who have firey glowy hair, make their hair look all nice and glowy (have it resemble fire a bit more), with relative lighting and all that. it would be so much prettier and spookier. in addition, have their eyes glow whenever possible!

👻 Play with some common ghost trope characters perhaps? It’d be nice to just take full advantage of that fine paranormal activity and do some interesting interpretations on previous horror tropes, but in a unique animated format.

All these things could easily and completely change the atmosphere of a cartoon! And I love that. The cool thing about animated things is that you can draw out some things that you can’t necessarily reproduce in live action horror. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT!

It's more than just redesigning the characters and rewriting the plot, it's about redesigning the whole heckin environment! Go full out! You might not agree with me on all these points but I just wanted to share my ideas on how to more effectively incorporate an environment about ghosts in a cartoon. 

My animation skills are pretty limited and I'm no pro, but just imagine: animation is a really neat medium to do go about such an interesting setting like ghosts, you can make it so much more dramatic in so many ways!

I kept a tag of really cool spooky fanart I reblogged, in case you want to better understand what I’m talking about, go take a look at it. 

thanks for reading this! ill post more if I can :^)

[unproduciblesmackdown]

i've said how it's occurred to me that the idea of "don't compare other people's art to your own" (which you do most of the time anyways even tho you know the reasons you shouldn't) can apply also to like, comparing how people relate to their art and what they expect of it and want from it, vs what you do. and i also make that comparison anyhow even though there's no reason to, and so i'll see some convo on twitter or something & get all somewhat frustrated or riled up coz i'm like, that's not me. so anyhow

i talked too much about the sink and now i'm trying to remember what my thoughts were that i was meaning to put here. i guess i was thinking first that it was weird to see a conversation about people being able to make money off their art, which is like, it's great of course when people who want to do that, can. but it's strange i guess because for me i've never drawn with the idea that it was what i "wanted to do" as a sort of career thing. and to get the full picture, i never had or have had anything solid i felt i wanted to do as sort of a career. that's just not how it goes for me. but it's odd because i've been drawing for ages and i've gone to classes outside of school for a good while and i did some classes in college and stuff, but mostly got kind of re-into drawing a while ago and started drawing more just on my own, not for any classes or anything, and have largely been self-taught in that way. and i don't mind the busy-work aspect of it, or spending 8+ hours on something in one sitting, or any of that, so it would seem to make sense like, oh this is your passion and what you're good at and so this should be your job. but, well firstly i don't think that the world of what a person does to make money is inherently meant to be the same as whatever their passion is. but also i don't even consider drawing or art in itself to be a passion, maybe an interest, but not really. it's what i'm drawing, which is gay shit—if i don't have something i want to draw into existence, i don't draw the way you should to just practice or create or something. and i Get all that about myself, but i suppose when the subject of being an artist as your job comes up, i have to feel defensive even if nobody's talking to me

i mean, there are reasons i've never felt it was something i would or could get money out of. mainly it's that really, i don't make art unless it's to make exactly the picture i want to see, which as you might know tends to be very specific and personalized exactly to what i want to make. as though nobody else does, i know, but the thing is that if i'm not drawing exactly what i want, i'm not drawing at all. back before i realized this about myself, i'd once or twice told a friend i could draw something for them, and fully expected and intended to, but of course never did because i just couldn't make myself even start. i can't do the sitting there for ten hours without tiring of it or enjoying the busy work or monotony or anything like that. i can't even put a pencil to paper or get my brain to start planning it out. it's why i tell people who ask that i don't do requests or commissions, it's only once in the bluest moon that i manage to even do it for friends. i sort of half-assed a bday card once and then some of my family got the idea that i ought to draw cards for relatives or something, my grandma told like a small child that i'd draw something for her, i started to lose my temper about it really fast which was an especial effort in that scenario, as the fallout for standing up for yourself could be pretty severe. but it was just that, that i can't even force myself to do it more than a handful of times, and those few times are miserable.

so what i'm getting at is that i genuinely really can't draw hardly beyond my niche fanart for myself. the whole thing just shuts down really fast. and for whatever reason, i'm 0% a creative person when it comes to stuff like making up my own stories, i can't even do that if i try. so i can't really draw things other people ask me to, and i've never wanted to use my art to make my own x y or z. i didn't even hardly want to draw before i realized i could make gay fanart for my blog, and as you can tell my ambitions for my ability to draw have never changed.

i don't know, i've supposed i could do illustrative art, but when i imagine it i know i'm mostly thinking about it in terms of "what if i was asked to draw this thing that would seem already slightly interesting to draw" and of course that wouldn't always be the case. plus, i have no experience, and also i'm lousy with traditional media, and also digital media. i only give myself an office pen and a cheap barnes and noble sketchbook because thats all i need, and i don't have the talent to get the quality out of quality art supplies and stuff. like, sure, copics would be fun, but i'm crap at inking linework, so that's out. and bad at choosing colors. so nah. and anyhow i can't even think of any other "job" sort of application

another problem is the true horror of how i can't draw anything in like less than a couple of hours, and even my fancier drawings are fairly simple and still take me hours upon hours or multiple days or even weeks. and i'm really inconsistent with output, i have "bad" periods where i just can't even meet my own standards, and i can't even get anything out of a few hours of effort. plus, my drawing process is lousy and counterproductive. i get too caught up in details before i've done the simpler planning stuff. and my focus is terrible, too, and i have to sort of have a set "distraction" like music or a podcast or a show to at least hold my wandering attention sort of nearby. even being aware of this sort of stuff doesn't fix it; my head just isn't good for getting stuff done quickly. i'm sure i couldn't work fast enough for anyone on anything

plus, my sketching is lousy. i have to clean stuff up too much, in part because i just like details too much a lot of the time. but just moreso, some people's sketches look really good you know? it's not clean or fancy or whatever but you can just tell it has life and it holds their style, because they're good at their linework. it's hard to make good "messy" drawings and people that can are just really good in general. i'm not good enough to draw fast, and my slow drawings are ludicrously slow. r.i.p.

i'm just not that good, either. in addition to having no experience with most mediums or with doing "projects" or with doing anything job-related or part of a group work or anything useful to anyone or applicable at all, i know that in my sheer drawing ability, i could say i'm middling, or probably middling-bad. and within the stuff i do, i have a lot of weak points, elements i don't practice as much & can only say i'm barely adequate or still just bad at. i'm not about to be competitive about what i can provide. and i'm inconsistent as fuck still, its like i'm always changing my ideas about how i draw certain things, or going through those "bad" periods where i forget how to draw somehow. frustrating. and not useful for work

anyhow then i have to think about what the value of it is. because while i've never exactly had ambitions about my art or considered it any more important that the one purpose it has, which is to draw the content i myself want to see. but thats not useless or anything. it entertains me and gives me something i feel i can do, and then when i've made something, it fulfils that purpose in that i get to look at it and have it exist. and if i'm lucky, someone who happens to want to look at it too in the same way i do will get to find it. i like to know that i'm providing that too for a handful of people who happen to have that exact same rando niche taste as i do. and of course i really value anyone saying stuff they like about what i make. i do put a good amt of feeling or meaning into a decent number of things, and some feeling into basically everything, so in that way everything is important to me and its meaningful to get compliments about it or people saying they enjoy it or caught that feeling i'd put in or whatever. i don't need to feel that it's super impactful or lasting or significant. i mean, i don't even like to call my art "art," because it feels so disconnected to a lot of concepts tied to that concept.

it reminds me too that i've gotten a lot of value in my life from the less "ambitious" or life-changing work that other people have done. like, not that anything isn't life-changing, but not a huge project that's intending to be a masterpiece or super serious and deeply meaningful or all-encompassing or whatever. how much mileage i got out out of mh, a youtube video series made by college students who just felt like it and it wasn't anything formal and it wasn't anything not Internet Horror Genre but i looked forward to those videos every week, i liked to spend time analyzing them and making diagrams and trying to guess where things were going, i liked to talk and joke about it. the pals i made from other people who liked it were some of the first people to talk to me even nearly that much and were people i could talk to during really shitty times when i didn't feel like i had any support. mh gave me something to look forward to on a scale of not only day to day or week to week but also month to month to year to year. during some really shit years. i had fun and i had stuff to be happy about, and its still really important to me. and it was always just some amateur people's spare-time project where with $20 and a forest or abandoned building they made something for their youtube channel. not that i'm saying marble hornets isn't super high quality and recognized as such because it absolutely is. i'm just saying that on paper it doesn't exactly sound "lofty."

thats always the stuff thats been most important to me anyways, and sometimes i'll see people who make exactly the kind of projects as the things i've always been enjoying, and they'll talk about feeling like they're not complete without that "big" project that's really signicant or something and really meaningful to people. and i absolutely get that people's goals should be whatever they are and they can strive for whatever they want, but it tends to make me feel kinda bad. as if that stuff they're doing now, the family of stuff that's what has the most value for me, isn't the important or meaningful stuff or otherwise not good enough. i don't know. so i tend to be aware that i don't think stuff that looks fancy or polished or that has any form more permanent than a png file on one specific website is inherently without value. i don't mind if people only get a little enjoyment out of my stuff. it's not that life and death important to me either. like, i don't mind if i don't make anything that anyone remembers all their life; if it dies with me and gets totally buried just a little while later and largely nobody thinks about it ever again. it's just more of an in the moment thing, if someone gets a small moment of enjoyment and moves on, that's totally fine

and really the more behind the scenes mechanics that you need to make money off anything you do is another reason i don't see myself ever being any kind of artist as a job. i already said i really can't be competitive about it, i'm just not organized, i'm not willing to push about anything or advocate for myself or any of that stuff. maybe someone would read all this and say well it's just excuses and if they would just motivate themselves they could do all of it or something, and if you do think it's just my faults and shortcomings then? ok. i won't stop you from thinking that. whether that's true or not, what difference does it make to me or what i do or don't do.

and also i just think that stuff you do that doesn't make money or doesn't even have an apparent usefulness to anyone doesn't mean it doesn't have value or isn't a skill.

anyhow, that's some ways i think about drawing when i have to think of why i don't intend or believe myself capable of using my drawing to get that cash. it's not a blow to me on account of i'm not a person who had/has dreams/goals/ambitions etc. i just get defensive about everything b/c i'm too used to being attacked. it wasn't relevant to the stuff here but i did once have to try explaining why i, with literally like minimal photoshop experience and nothing else, couldn't reasonably apply to a graphic website design position for a decent-sized company with an intl customer base. couldn't get my mom to believe i couldn't argue to them that i could learn digital art and vector art and website design and coding and photoshop and other platforms all in the course of several weeks or even a month or two, if i tried hard enough. it just goes to show that for every topic, i have a ridiculous story about my parents for it.

anyways, that's why i don't strive at all for any career position related to art and yet why i feel i have to argue for why i don't. useless or unimportant stuff is alright too. whats it to the world if one person's passable drawing abilities don't reach the loftiest imaginable potential and rake in the dough for life? the answer is: nothing

[the-master-cylinder]

BACKSTORY Both Stuart Gordon and his producer Brian Yuzna had talked about doing the film ever since they’d first teamed up for Re-Animator. “It’s always been my favorite Lovecraft story,” beams Gordon. “At one time, it looked like we were going to do it in England.”

Scheduling conflicts on Gordon’s other “Italian” pictures prevented the deal from taking off. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that a major studio and distributor finally expressed a sincere enough commitment to actually begin financing the project. “We set it up with Vestron,” Gordon recounts. “I had originally told them it would cost about $5 million. Vestron came back and said if we could do it for $4 million, we had a deal.”

Unlike other studio blowhards, Vestron put their money where their mouth was. “Vestron set us up in a production office,” Gordon details. “Brian and I did some location scouting through New England Massachusetts, Maine-and we managed to find an isolated town in Maine that was very much like Innsmouth. We also had the whole movie storyboarded and scheduled.”

Berni Wrightson, gifted illustrator and comics superstar hailed for Swamp Thing, was contacted and asked to consider the role of concept artist. Wrightson, is considered by his peers to have one of the finest hands in the business. His flowing, evocative pen-and-ink work is unparalleled in the graphic arts. Wrightson eagerly accepted the job. “It was the most fun experience I’ve ever had,” he attests. “I like working with Stuart. I loved Re-Animator, it reanimated me.”

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Like many. Wrightson remembers being disillusioned with the state of the horror film at the time he saw Re-Animator during its initial theatrical release. Then everything changed, forever. “I’d lost interest in horror films until I saw Re-Animator,” Wrightson confesses. “I’d given up. The imagination had gone out of them. It just wasn’t fun. Jason, Freddy, Michael-how can people keep coming back for the same old shit? I went to ReAnimator without any expectations, and I was absolutely delighted from the opening shot. It was like sitting through a real-life story from EC comics, drawn by Jack Davis.”

Wrightson had been devouring the works of H.P. Lovecraft since childhood and leapt at the chance to work on Shadow Over Innsmouth with a director he so admired. Wrightson had been out for the day and returned to find a phone message. His wife told him somebody named Gordon had called. “I wondered if it was the Stuart Gordon,” Wrightson gushes.

“Berni did some fabulous drawings and paintings for us,” Gordon praises. “He did a great job visualizing the creatures and making them scary. He played with the mutation idea. This wasn’t like a Planet of the Apes basic mask; each person had been affected in a different way.”

Wrightson worked nonstop for over a month and produced close to 70 drawings. Most were graphite illustrations, though several were done in color with mixed media. “Stuart told me to go crazy with it. We never settled on just one look,” Wrightson concurs. “Stuart kept wanting more and different designs. We had humanoid tadpoles, octopi, weird creatures with fins coming out of their ears.” The artist faithfully heeded Gordon’s directions and delivered a plethora of bizarre amphibious creatures that would eventually lead to a slight degree of consternation once the concepts were delivered to FX supervisor and makeup icon Dick Smith. “Dick called me.” Wrightson remembers, “and kind of scolded me, saying it wasn’t humanly possible. ‘You’ve got to have a human being under this stuff!

“Scolded’ is a bit strong.” smiles Smith, currently at work on Francis Coppola’s third Godfather film, “but this is a problem makeup effects people have with artists who work in two dimensions: You can draw anything you want-omit the brain pan, the cavity-yet then some designs can’t be done on a human being.”

Smith sculpted several full-size heads in addition to casting some prosthetic pieces designed as facial appliances. “I did a rough foam latex mouth and stuck it on somebody to see how it worked,” he discloses. “I was trying to avoid mechanical masks; they’re expensive and often counterproductive.” After the initial makeups were designed and proven viable, Smith was to act only as the film’s FX supervisor and consultant, with other crews employed to complete the actual fabrication and application. “The people I recommend are good enough that I’m not needed,” Smith adds. He picked Greg Cannom to execute the complex appliance makeup on the major characters because, “I saw a sculpture of his that I liked better than mine. His work is very organic.” John Caglione and Doug Drexler were to manufacture and apply the various other makeups and prosthetics needed for the close background creatures, as well as the slip-on masks to be worn by extras during the mob scenes.

Though by this time many participants’ hopes had been propelled to stratospheric heights, a Shadow Over Vestron began to gather, casting serious doubts on the ultimate feasibility of the project. Other production companies had expressed similar trepidation in the past, mostly because of the ambitious scope of the story.

“It’s a big picture,” Gordon explains. “You’re dealing with things that are notoriously scary for producers: lots of makeup effects, lots of water, needing an actual town for location shooting. And then there’s the story. The basic idea was a problem. If you explain it to another person, it sounds absurd. The idea of people turning into fish sounds like a joke.” Future developmental plans and preproduction meetings would refer to the mutants as “amphibious creatures.”

Both Gordon and writer Dennis Paoli knew that they also had to add some modern touches to a story that Lovecraft had set in the 1920s. Gordon, Paoli and producer Yuzna all had a hand in the original treatment, but it was up to Paoli to write a script that would measure up to show biz standards.

“What can I do to adapt to a ‘Hollywood’ viewpoint?” asks Paoli rhetorically. “Add a woman, since very few Lovecraft stories include women; speed the pace up, because Lovecraft is atmospheric; you have to have a scene at the beginning the hook, something that quickly tells the whole story.”

Special Makeup Effects supervised by Dick Smith

Special Makeup Effects supervised by Dick Smith

At one time, The Shadow Over Innsmouth was envisioned as a period piece. As Paoli notes, “Lovecraft feeds off the darkness of the 19th century, the puritanical side of New England culture.” Budgetary restrictions and commercial viability soon swayed the production team into a more modern approach. The town in Maine was replaced by one in Washington state. A fishy love story was added as subtext. Parts of another Lovecraft story, “The Thing on the Doorstep,” were added in order to heighten the drama. Gordon further isolated the town until it was entirely cut off from its neighboring burg. “We made it an island,” says Gordon, “so you had to take a ferry to get there. Both of the major location sites offered enthusiastic townspeople who were willing to do nearly anything to attract the film company. “They offered themselves as extras, said we could blow up a dockside building,” Gordon recalls appreciatively. “They were willing to let us do whatever we wanted to shoot the film in their town.”

However, both Gordon and Yuzna soon realized that their imaginations were running far ahead of the budget. Vestron was fairly adamant about the set figure and Gordon began to be haunted by the additional $3 million he figured would be needed to do the treatment justice. “It became very frustrating.” Gordon recalls. “The further we got into it, we realized it couldn’t be made for that. For less than $7 million, you would lose what made Shadow so special in the first place.”

Vestron refused to budge. Gordon counters, “For $4 million, there could be no town, probably just a house, with one family turning amphibious. We had a climactic sequence taking place on the reef; that too would have to go. Probably there would be no water in the story at all.”

Gordon arrived at a point where he knew the compromised version would be so far removed from Lovecraft that there would be no point in calling it The Shadow Over Innsmouth. “It was a mutual realization,” Gordon sighs. “We all knew we just couldn’t do it right for $4 million.” Despite Gordon’s overall cheerfulness and enthusiasm, it is at this point that a hint of genuine sadness and frustration begins to creep into his voice. This project obviously meant a helluva lot to all of them.

“It was a wonderful story,” adds Dick Smith. “It’s just a pity that the producers were stuck with the budget. Stuart didn’t want to do it half-assed, and I respect him for that.”

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY FANGORIA#106 BEST OF FANGORIA 9

Empire Pictures – Shadow Over Innsmouth (1985/1991) Unfilmed BACKSTORY Both Stuart Gordon and his producer Brian Yuzna had talked about doing the film ever since they'd first teamed up for Re-Animator.

[ratnuzzaman]

Restaurants Kinds and Characteristics

Broadly speaking, restaurants are often segmented into variety of categories:

1- Chain or independent (indy) and franchise restaurants. McDonald's, Union Square Cafe, or KFC 2- Quick service (QSR), sandwich. Burger, chicken, then on; shop , noodle, pizza 3- Fast casual. Panera Bread, Atlanta Bread Company, Au Bon Pain, and so on 4- Family. Bob Evans, Perkins, Friendly's, Steak 'n Shake, Waffle House 5- Casual. Applebee's, Hard Rock Caf´e, Chili's, TGI Friday's 6- Fine dining. Charlie Trotter's, Morton's The Steakhouse, Flemming's, The Palm, Four Seasons 7- Other. Steakhouses, seafood, ethnic, dinner houses, celebrity, and so on. Of course, some restaurants fall under quite one category. for instance , an Italian restaurant might be casual and ethnic. Leading restaurant concepts in terms of sales are tracked for years by the magazine Restaurants and Institutions.

CHAIN OR INDEPENDENT The impression that a couple of huge quick-service chains completely dominate the restaurant business is misleading. Chain restaurants have some advantages and a few disadvantages over independent restaurants. the benefits include:

1- Recognition within the marketplace 2- Greater advertising clout 3- Sophisticated systems development 4- Discounted purchasing

When franchising, various sorts of assistance are available. Independent restaurants are relatively easy to open. All you would like may be a few thousand dollars, a knowledge of restaurant operations, and a robust desire to succeed. The advantage for independent restaurateurs is that they will ''do their own thing'' in terms of concept development, menus, decor, and so on. Unless our habits and taste change drastically, there's many room for independent restaurants in certain locations. Restaurants come and go. Some independent restaurants will grow into small chains, and bigger companies will take over small chains.

Once small chains display growth and recognition , they're likely to be bought out by a bigger company or are going to be ready to acquire financing for expansion. A temptation for the start restaurateur is to watch large restaurants in big cities and to believe that their success are often duplicated in secondary cities. Reading the restaurant reviews in ny City, Las Vegas, l. a. , Chicago, Washington, D.C., or San Francisco may give the impression that unusual restaurants are often replicated in Des Moines , Kansas City, or Main Town, USA. due to demographics, these high-style or ethnic restaurants won't click in small cities and towns.

5- Will choose training from rock bottom up and canopy all areas of the restaurant's operation Franchising involves the smallest amount financial risk therein the restaurant format, including building design, menu, and marketing plans, have already got been tested within the marketplace. Franchise restaurants are less likely to travel belly up than independent restaurants. the rationale is that the concept is proven and therefore the operating procedures are established with all (or most) of the kinks figured out . Training is provided, and marketing and management support are available. The increased likelihood of success doesn't come cheap, however.

There is a franchising fee, a royalty fee, advertising royalty, and requirements of considerable personal net worth. For those lacking substantial restaurant experience, franchising could also be how to urge into the restaurant business-providing they're prepared to start out at rock bottom and take a crash training course. Restaurant franchisees are entrepreneurs preferring to have , operate, develop, and extend an existing business concept through a sort of contractual business arrangement called franchising.1 Several franchises have ended up with multiple stores and made the large time. Naturally, most aspiring restaurateurs want to try to to their own thing-they have an idea in mind and can't wait to travel for it.

Here are samples of the prices involved in franchising:

1- A Miami Subs traditional restaurant features a $30,000 fee, a royalty of 4.5 percent, and requires a minimum of five years' experience as a multi-unit operator, a personal/business equity of $1 million, and a personal/business net worth of $5 million.

2- Chili's requires a monthly fee supported the restaurant's sales performance (currently a service charge of 4 percent of monthly sales) plus the greater of (a) monthly base rent or (b) percentage rent that's a minimum of 8.5 percent of monthly sales.

3- McDonald's requires $200,000 of nonborrowed personal resources and an initial fee of $45,000, plus a monthly service charge supported the restaurant's sales performance (about 4 percent) and rent, which may be a monthly base rent or a percentage of monthly sales. Equipment and preopening costs range from $461,000 to $788,500.

4- Pizza Factory Express Units (200 to 999 square feet) require a $5,000 franchise fee, a royalty of 5 percent, and an advertising fee of two percent. Equipment costs range from $25,000 to $90,000, with miscellaneous costs of $3,200 to $9,000 and opening inventory of $6,000.

5- Earl of Sandwich has options for one unit with a net worth requirement of $750,000 and liquidity of $300,000; for five units, a net worth of $1 million and liquidity of $500,000 is required; for 10 units, net worth of $2 million and liquidity of $800,000. The franchise fee is $25,000 per location, and therefore the royalty is 6 percent.

What does one get for all this money? Franchisors will provide:

1- Help with site selection and a review of any proposed sites 2- Assistance with the planning and building preparation 3- Help with preparation for opening 4- Training of managers and staff 5- Planning and implementation of pre-opening marketing strategies 6- Unit visits and ongoing operating advice

There are many restaurant franchise concepts, and that they aren't without risks. The restaurant owned or leased by a franchisee may fail albeit it's a part of a well known chain that's highly successful. Franchisers also fail. A case in point is that the highly touted Boston Market, which was based in Golden, Colorado. In 1993, when the company's stock was first offered to the general public at $20 per share, it had been eagerly bought, increasing the worth to a high of $50 a share. In 1999, after the corporate declared bankruptcy, the share price sank to 75 cents. The contents of the many of its stores were auctioned off at a fraction of their cost.7 Fortunes were made and lost. One group that didn't lose was the investment bankers who put together and sold the stock offering and received a large fee for services.

The offering group also did well; they were ready to sell their shares while the stocks were high. Quick-service food chains as well-known as Hardee's and Carl's Jr. have also skilled periods of loss . Both companies, now under one owner called CKE, experienced periods as long as four years when real earnings, as a corporation , were negative. (Individual stores, company owned or franchised, however, may have done well during the down periods.) there's no assurance that a franchised chain will prosper.

At just one occasion within the mid-1970s, A&W Restaurants, Inc., of Farmington Hills, Michigan, had 2,400 units. In 1995, the chain numbered a couple of quite 600. After a buyout that year, the chain expanded by 400 stores. a number of the expansions happened in nontraditional locations, like kiosks, truck stops, colleges, and convenience stores, where the full-service restaurant experience isn't important. A restaurant concept may had best in one region but not in another. the design of operation could also be highly compatible with the personality of 1 operator and not another.

Most franchised operations involve tons of diligence and long hours, which many of us perceive as drudgery. If the franchisee lacks sufficient capital and leases a building or land, there's the danger of paying more for the lease than the business can support. Relations between franchisers and therefore the franchisees are often strained, even within the largest companies. The goals of every usually differ; franchisers want maximum fees, while franchisees want maximum support in marketing and franchised service like employee training. At times, franchise chains become involved in litigation with their franchisees.

As franchise companies have found out many franchises across America, some regions are saturated: More franchised units were built than the world can support. Current franchise holders complain that adding more franchises serves only to scale back sales of existing stores. Pizza Hut, for instance , stopped selling franchises except to well-heeled buyers who can combat variety of units. Overseas markets constitute an outsized source of the income of several quick-service chains. As could be expected, McDonald's has been the leader in overseas expansions, with units in 119 countries.

With its roughly 30,000 restaurants serving some 50 million customers daily, about half the company's profits come from outside the us . variety of other quick-service chains even have large numbers of franchised units abroad.While the start restaurateur quite rightly concentrates on being successful here and now, many bright, ambitious, and energetic restaurateurs consider future possibilities abroad. Once an idea is established, the entrepreneur may sell bent a franchiser or, with tons of guidance, take the format overseas via the franchise. (It is folly to create or stock a far off country without a partner who is financially secure and well versed within the local laws and culture.).

The McDonald's success story within the us and abroad illustrates the importance of adaptability to local conditions. the corporate opens units in unlikely locations and closes people who don't had best . Abroad, menus are tailored to suit local customs. within the Indonesia crisis, for instance , french-fried potatoes that had to be imported were began the menu, and rice was substituted. Reading the life stories of massive franchise winners may suggest that when a franchise is well established, the way is obvious sailing. Thomas Monaghan, founding father of Domino Pizza, tells a special story. At just one occasion , the chain had accumulated a debt of $500 million. Monaghan, a devout Catholic, said that he changed his life by renouncing his greatest sin, pride, and rededicating his life to ''God, family, and pizza.''

A meeting with Pope John Paul II had changed his life and his feeling about good and evil as ''personal and abiding.'' Fortunately, in Mr. Monaghan's case, the rededication worked well. There are 7,096 Domino Pizza outlets worldwide, with sales of about $3.78 billion a year. Monaghan sold most of his interest within the company for a reported $1 billion and announced that he would use his fortune to further Catholic Church causes. within the recent past, most food-service millionaires are franchisers, yet an outsized number of would-be restaurateurs, especially those enrolled in university degree courses in hotel and restaurant management, aren't very excited about being a quick-service franchisee.

They prefer owning or managing a full-service restaurant. Prospective franchisees should review their food experience and their access to money and choose which franchise would be appropriate for them. If they need little or no food experience, they will consider starting their restaurant career with a less costly franchise, one that gives start-up training. For those with some experience who need a proven concept, the Friendly's chain, which began franchising in 1999, could also be an honest choice. The chain has quite 700 units. The restaurants are considered family dining and have frozen dessert specialties, sandwiches, soups, and quickservice meals.

Let's emphasize now again: add a restaurant you enjoy and maybe would really like to emulate in your own restaurant. If you've got enough experience and money, you'll strike out on your own. Better yet, add a successful restaurant where a partnership or proprietorship could be possible or where the owner is brooding about retiring and, for tax or other reasons, could also be willing to require payments over time. Franchisees are, in effect, entrepreneurs, many of whom create chains within chains.

http://toiistanbul.com.tr/

[sempiternalsandpitturtle]

Persona examples from around the web, and why they work

Understanding your customers is an obvious cornerstone of business. After all, how can you be sure your brand is up to the task without a deep understanding of what it is that your audience is looking for?

Here’s the tricky part, though – unless you work to drill down and focus on the type of individuals you’re selling to, your customers can quickly become a sea of faces without the benefit of common threads or any defining characteristics among them.

This is where your buyer personas come in, helping you and your marketing team better understand the motivations behind purchasing decisions and the type of messaging that will appeal to your audience.

Why use personas?

I know what you’re thinking: “I already know who my ideal customer is.” But do you really? Do you have an in-depth understanding of the things that make your customers tick, or the characteristics that identify your ideal customer? Do you know which of your customers has the highest commercial value, or which customers are influencers and which have decision-making power?

These – and a range of other aspects, which we’ll take a look at shortly – are all things that your personas can tell you, and these critical insights should be used to shape the ways in which you speak to different clients at certain points in their customer journey. Your messaging is important, and you must be able to speak to your customers in a way that directly lines up with their needs and the pain points they’re looking to have solved.

This is where your personas come in – they help you and your marketing team have the best understanding of the actual users of your merchandise or services, the key interests they have and what appeals to them.

As Marcia Riefer Johnston pointed out for the Content Marketing Institute, some teams have the bad habit of skipping over persona creation in order to get to the meat of a project. Others may have personas available to them, but choose to – GASP! – ignore them.

Once created, personas are an incredibly effective resource that will be consulted time and time again, and businesses that don’t establish their personas or ignore them do so at their own peril – Johnston noted that many of these organisations quite literally go out of business.

What’s in a buyer persona template?

Building buyer personas or user personas doesn’t just mean outlining a bunch of typical customer needs that map to the services you provide. Sure, this can be helpful, but your buyer personas should go much further than that, and outline the makeup of your ideal customer, putting a name and other key details to the sea of faces that is your target audience.

That way, when you’re creating your buyer personas, you’re actually building out fictional characters that represent real market segments of your current and potential customer audience. It’s beneficial to start by creating a persona template that outlines all the different areas of information you and your team will need to know about your target audience customer personas. In this way, once this template is built, you can reuse it again and again to better define market segmentations and drill down into additional audience personas.

Some of the information that your buyer persona template should include:

Name, age, location, interests and other personal, background information.

Business background information, including job title, whether or not they are a decision-maker or the type of influence they might have on decision-makers.

Target audience segment that each persona fits into. Be as specific as possible – for instance, if the brand has defined its individual market segmentations, this is good information to include here as well.

Day-in-the-life, with a first-person description from the persona themselves. This is important, as readers should begin to glean a full understanding of the persona from this perspective.

Specific objectives. It’s important to be as focused and targeted here as possible. In other words, don’t just say, “Grow profits.” Say “Remove the inefficiencies that prevent a speedy time-to-market.”

Main problems. Again, it’s important to be specific. Drill down – what frustrates this buyer persona? What stands in the way of his or her goals?

Orientation toward the job. This part of the customer persona can be incredibly telling. For instance, a persona who’s new to the job will require more work for awareness and education. A persona who’s been in her career for 15 years and is a confident mentor and leader, on the other hand, will require more of an authoritative tone that doesn’t talk down to her.

Open-ended questions, including those that the persona will ask at different points in the customer journey, and how they relate to his or her personality and position.

Content preferences. Given what we know about the customer persona, how does he or she like to consume content? This includes preferred channels, the tone, style and voice that will most resonate, content formats and more.

Keywords, including those that align with the persona’s position within the business and the obstacles they’re trying to solve.

Once you have these basics covered, you and your team can flesh out your personas even further by asking open-ended questions about each audience persona and the types of strategies that best connect with their interests. This practice can shine a light on the other elements and ideas to include in your buyer persona template, creating a more detailed document for you to work from. The more detailed your template, the better!

Don’t forget to include a place for photo or avatar within your persona template. Taking the time to include a visual is an incredibly helpful extra step that will enable your team to visualise the person they want to connect with.

Buyer persona examples

Let’s take a look at a few real-life personas, and examine the things that work, as well as the items that could use a little improvement:

Good old Facilities Manager Fred. In this B2B persona from Buffer, we can get a good idea of who Fred is. For instance, we know he falls into the facility/operations management target audience, is married and has an undergraduate degree. We can see the kind of role Fred has within his business, as well as details about the company itself.

This persona also does a good job of outlining the goals and values Fred has, as well as the obstacles that stand in his way. However, these could be more specific and well defined – instead of just stating that Fred has difficulty “keeping all balls in the air”, the persona could go further to describe the elements associated with this struggle. Is it that Fred struggles with time management? Or that specific inefficiencies make it difficult for him to get everything done?

The same goes with the listed objections: We understand that Fred doesn’t want to look dumb – nobody does! But what types of concepts worry him the most? Is he looking to be more educated about certain things? Or is it that he doesn’t like the use of industry jargon? These are all questions worth asking and answering, which can help you further drill down your messaging and overall appeal.

Here we have Director Diane, another Buffer persona. Compared to Fred, Diane is much more well-rounded – we can see what a day is like for her, the problems she runs into, her goals and aspirations, the experience she’s seeking when looking for products and services and more.

It’s interesting here that we also have a mix of bulleted statements, as well as quotes from Diane herself within the PROBLEMS section. It’s very beneficial to let your personas speak for themselves. This little touch goes a long way toward showing the individual’s personality and can provide cues to the type of language the persona uses and what messaging might resonate with him or her. Definitely take the time to create first-person statements from your personas, but ensure that these are carefully thought out and incorporate his or her experience, pain points and motivations.

This B2C persona from Munro provides a good example of the power of the persona design process. Our previous Diane example is very detailed, but the amount of information, bullet points and boxes can become overwhelming, especially for internal teams that tend to glean more value from short blurbs. Brandi, on the other hand, shows the important work that designers can bring to the table with persona creation.

In addition to its layout and design, this persona provides another interesting aspect – not only do we have a first-person quote from Brandi herself, but we can also read over quotes from this company’s actual customers. It’s important, though, that should you choose to include statements from your real buyers, that they align and bring value to the persona. There must be some type of strong connection and reason for including these quotes – otherwise you’re just splashing reviews on a page where they don’t belong.

This persona also helps show the importance of ensuring your personas are well defined – the more detail, the better. Although, don’t be fooled – we can understand A LOT about Brandi from her persona here, including her experiences with shoe shopping and the channels she prefers. As Brandi shows, personas can be information-packed without being overly wordy.

Tobi Day provides us with another example of the impact of persona design. The ways in which you convey persona information is incredibly important. What’s particularly interesting with Tobi is the use of scales and bars to better illustrate her personality and how she associates with technology. This gives readers a very good idea of where Tobi stands and what’s important to her.

Another key takeaway here is the use of Tier and Archetype information, followed by related traits (ambitious, admired, focused). This provides us with an even deeper understanding of the type of person Tobi is, and the ways in which she might make her purchasing decisions.

Who knew that a coffee shop customer could be so well defined? Clearly Iron Springs Design did, as their Sarah Student persona provides a great case of digging deep in order to fully understand your customers. Not only do we get a glimpse into Sarah’s life, background and needs, we can also get to know her in terms of her worries and fears, hopes and dreams and what would make her life easier. Her influences and brand affinities are an important inclusion as well, as these can provide critical cues for messaging and interactions.

Sarah also provides an ideal example of the ways in which personas can inform a brand’s use of social media. As we can see from the “Make her life easier” section, Sarah appreciates discount incentives delivered via social media. This can be a valuable way to connect with and convert Sarah (as well as other customers like her) using her own channel preferences.

Using your buyer personas: Walking through marketing scenarios

Once you’ve framed your personas and fully built them out with personality details, it’s time to take things a step further. It’s important that you and your marketing team are able to use the information you know about your personas to walk them through different scenarios, and apply the resulting lessons to improve your connection with customers.

A good place to start is within your current marketing campaigns. Examine your personas and the ways in which they would react to your existing marketing efforts – you might be surprised by what you learn, and it could provide the perfect opportunity to shift and improve your activities to better suit your audience segments.

Once you’ve used your audience personas to make any necessary adjustments or improvements to your current campaigns, it’s time to inform your team’s work on upcoming content. Your personas can tell you a lot about the types of content that will resonate well with each market segment, and can help you come up with topic ideas that will capture your readers’ attention and provide them with relevant insights.

In addition to leveraging your personas to inform your written content, personas are also incredibly beneficial for the design process. Designers can use the details tied to each persona to create visually appealing collateral that maps to the preferences of your specific buyers.

Another best practice is to use your personas to build out and support your customer journey maps. These user maps help visualise the connection between your brand and your target customer audience. Pairing these maps with your personas can show you the different touch points each persona will prefer. This way, you and your marketing team can envision the path of least resistance to get particular personas from “I’m just looking”, to “I’m ready to buy”.

Your personas are a critical resource that you’ll use again and again to shape the strategies your brand uses to speak to your ideal customers.

Create your own!

We’ve found success with a 6-step persona process that includes:

Discovery

Review

Interview

Research

Development

Presentation

This helps us create in-depth personas that paint a true and accurate picture of specific buyer personas for our clients.

from http://bit.ly/2TShYYU

[gabriellakirtonblog]

Time Management Strategies for Personal Trainers

Feel like you’re too busy? You don’t have a time problem. You have a time management problem. These three strategies will help you take control of your schedule once and for all.

  “Don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.” Robin Sharma

Productivity isn’t about doing more. It’s not about being more efficient. It’s about being more effective. Your goal is to have more impact with less work.

The following time management strategies aren’t original or profound. Very few things are. If they look familiar, it’s because they work.

But they’re probably not part of your daily practice. You need discipline to stick with any practices long enough to reap the benefits, even simple ones like these. It’s execution, not innovation, that matters.

What all three have in common: proactivity.

Personal trainers who falter, flounder, and eventually fail spend too much valuable time reacting to the business they’ve already built (or fallen into). From the minute they wake until their heads hit the pillow at the end of the day, they’re reacting to texts, emails, and social media comments and DMs—on top of things they do for a living, like train clients.

They work hard, but too often have too little to show for it.

You deserve better, and if you follow these three strategies, you’ll achieve it.

Time management strategy #1: Touch it once

It’s the start of your workday, and you look at your inbox. You start at the top with a quick question from a client about her program. You fire off an equally quick answer, and you’re on to the next one.

It’s someone offering you a guest post, even though you don’t have a blog. Delete. Done. You’re cruising.

The third one is a client who wants to reschedule a session. You don’t have your calendar open, so you mark the email as unread and move to the next. It’s about a referral, something you’ll need to give some thought before you reply. This one also gets marked as unread, as does the next one, and a few more after that.

When you look up at the clock, you see you’ve been doing this for 30 minutes, and the inbox is still cluttered with emails you opened but didn’t act on. And now your first client is about to walk in the door and you still have programs to write.

If this sounds familiar, the “touch it once” rule is for you. Don’t start a task unless you can finish it and check it off your list.

It’s easiest to illustrate with email, but it applies to anything—writing programs, responding to social media comments and DMs, paying bills …

Time management strategy #2: Use lists and folders

To make the “touch it once” rule work, you need a way to prioritize your emails so you can set aside enough time to deal with them properly. But even before you do that, you need to decide how important those emails are, relative to other parts of your business, and pick a time to deal with them.

That’s why you need folders and lists.

Folders

Most of the time, you can tell what an email’s about by looking at the subject line and/or the sender. With a quick scan of the inbox, you can sort new emails into topic-specific folders like these:

Client inquiries

Programs to write

Stuff to read

Content ideas

Now, instead of your email managing you, you’ve managed your email. When it’s time to read and reply to them, you can start with the folder that’s most important to your business, which is probably “client inquiries.” You won’t look at the “programs to write” emails until you’re focused and ready to give them your undivided attention.

Here’s another way to use folders to organize information and make better use of your time:

If you’re like me, you get excited when you find something interesting to read online. The problem is, those things usually come to your attention while you’re in the middle of something else. Tempting as it is, you know if you click the link and start reading, you’ll lose all your momentum on the task at hand.

My solution is a free app called Evernote. It’s installed on my browser and iPad and syncs across both devices. I have a folder within the app labeled “to read later.” When I come across something that piques my interest, I simply tap the Evernote clipper on my browser, which I’ve preset to save a simplified version of the article to that folder.

I block off time once a week to open the folder. When that time comes, I sit down with a cup of coffee, open my iPad, and read anything that still seems interesting.

It took less than five minutes to set up my system, and it saves me hours a week. Another benefit: When I do sit down to read, I can focus on the articles, rather than giving them half my attention when I’m trying to finish something else.

Lists

You already know how important it is to plan your day in advance. But what I’m talking about is more than a to-do list you scribble down while waiting for the caffeine to kick in.

Before going to sleep, write down three things to accomplish the next day. Only include tasks that will move your business forward. If any of them is too long to finish in one sitting (writing a chapter, studying for a new certification), budget a specific amount of time.

Then make a second list with three important but routine things you do to keep your business rolling—answering emails, writing programs, paying bills …

READ ALSO: The Best Advanced Personal Training Certifications, According to Personal Trainers

Time management strategy #3: Clear the calculator

“Clear the calculator” comes from Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz, MD. It was originally published in 1960, but it’s even more relevant today, when all of us routinely work on several problems at once, without focusing completely on any of them. Multitasking isn’t good for anyone. You get less done, with lower quality and more stress.

One of my favorite tricks is to write down a short description of whatever task I’m working on at the moment. When I finish, I cross it out and write “done” next to it. Then I move on to the next.

It sounds silly. Obviously, I know it’s done, because it just happened a few seconds ago. But by telling myself it’s done, I clear it out of my head and begin the next task with a clean slate and my full attention.

Final thoughts

Blown away by these three strategies? Of course not. And that’s exactly my point. The fact they’re simple and kind of obvious is why they work so well.

To make them work even better, I’ve put together two free downloads:

Free download: Time Management Strategies Summary

Free download: Time Management Strategies Worksheet

        Looking for More Ways to Boost Your Personal Training Business

Starting your career isn’t complicated. All you need is for someone to pay you to train them.

But how do you get that first client? What do you need to know? Where do you want to work, and how do you get hired?

If your answer to any of those questions is “I don’t know,” you need The Wealthy Fit Pro’s Guide to Starting Your Career, the ultimate launching pad for ambitious personal trainers.

Jonathan Goodman will show you how to …

Land the perfect job for you (pg. 17)

Attract more clients (pg. 95)

Keep more clients (pg. 55)

Get even more clients through a foolproof referral system (pg. 115)

Learn the no-fail secret to motivating clients (pg. 61)

Set yourself apart with programs your clients will brag about (pg. 71)

Master marketing skills that open up new income opportunities (pg. 152)

Become the best trainer you can be (pg. 46)

If you’re just beginning your journey in the fitness industry (or know someone who is), you won’t find a more authoritative or comprehensive resource.

Order this book in paperback today and get the audiobook and ebook 100% free (a $40 value).

It all starts by clicking here: The Wealthy Fit Pro’s Guide to Starting Your Career

  The post Time Management Strategies for Personal Trainers appeared first on The PTDC.

Time Management Strategies for Personal Trainers published first on https://onezeroonesarms.tumblr.com/

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WORK ETHIC AND MEANT

It used to perplex me when I read about people who liked what they did. The very idea is foreign to what most of us learn as kids. It had been an apartment until about the 1970s, and there would be no room for investors to make money, and you get paid, instead of just working on amusing technical problems; it shows you have the resources, it's more like the first five. It sounds obvious to say that you should keep working on your startup. If you turned it over, it said Inside Macintosh. And conversations with corp dev is not doing a bad job of talking to them when they're ready to, but you can't evade the fundamental conservation law. One YC startup negotiated terms for a tiny round with an angel, only to receive a 70-page agreement from his lawyer. The rulers of the technology business tend to come from technology, not business. And at least in our tradition lawyers are advocates: they are trained to be able to write, without even realizing it, imitations of whatever English professors had been publishing in their journals a few decades, and what they use it for. That depends on how ambitious you feel.

Any strategy that omits the effort—whether it's expecting a big launch to get you to the point where most startups can do without outside funding. Experienced investors are well aware that the best ideas are also the most interesting fifteen tokens, where interesting is measured by how far their spam probability is from a neutral. Another way to figure out what we can't say, it's often better to start with. It's grown bigger and taken up more time than I expected, but I found the same problem, they start with the labels. Bootstrapping may get easier, because starting a company, one said the most shocking thing is that it only recently became a good idea in the first year. Perhaps it's because startups are less of a zero sum game than most types of business; they are rarely killed by competitors. How was the place different from what they expected? As with office space, thanks; just give us the money. Basically, Apple bumped IBM and then Microsoft stole its wallet. This is just an explanation of why your technology would be hard to predict what life will be like in a hundred years is a graspable idea when we consider how slowly languages have evolved in the past fifty. But what happened next illustrated how much more complicated the world had become. But they all said no, but they'd let us make one for them.

Grownups, like some kind of work ends up being more like an efficient market. But for obvious reasons no one wanted to give that answer. Talks are also good at motivating me to do things that the previous generation would have considered wasteful. We had office chairs so cheap that the arms all fell off. Conversely, the extreme version of designing a robust and elegant, not be slavishly attentive to individual users like some kind of cursed race, had to work at things you don't like it. I feared. If you want to do seem impressive, as if they enjoyed their work was presumably the upper-middle class convention that you're supposed to when starting a company, but they pay more attention to design than they would for themselves, and those make a difference. In our world, you sink or swim, and there is no way to get rich can do it by accident. I don't know what they're trying to avoid. So if you start a company now, you may want to stop getting spam. In the MIT CS department, there seems a clear correlation between intelligence and willingness to consider shocking ideas.

One, Reddit, had already launched, and were able to give a baby the impression the world is a brutal place full of people trying to write. B, but you'd rather raise money from investor A, you can let the numbers speak for you. Their dislike of the idea is so overlooked as one that's unthinkable. It's clear most start with not wanting kids to swear, then make up the reason afterward. It's a fine thing for schools to teach students how to write software with users. This is particularly valuable for undergrads, because the press only write about things you've thought about a lot, they should. Instead you get into a sort of time capsule, here's why I don't find that I'm eager to learn it to get a job. Great, we'll send you a link. It's no wonder if this seems to the student a pointless exercise, because we're now three steps removed from real work: the Big Launch. Training yourself to think unthinkable thoughts has advantages beyond the thoughts themselves.

It's bad behavior you want to do when they're 12, and just glide along as if they got the answer to some math question before the other kids. Often the only value of most of the techniques I've described are conservative: they're aimed at preserving the character of the site, but also because you're less likely to have serious relationships. This was slightly embarrassing at the time, and growth has to slow down eventually. It has too many cooks. So the acquisition came to a screeching halt while we tried to sort this out. If you said them all you'd have no time left for your real work. Plus it would be a great entrepreneur, working on interesting stuff, etc. The first, obviously, is that it only recently became a good idea to stop thinking of startup ideas as scalars. Microcomputers turned out to be the domain expert; you have to be profitable to convey to investors that you'll succeed with or without them. I've met.

And so the study of ancient texts is a valid field for scholarship, why not work there? I had to do to get funded, or something they thought customers would want, or they won't make you do it? In other industries, legal obstacles had to be suitable for everyone. Convergence is more likely for languages partly because the space of possibilities is smaller, and partly because mutations are not random. But in Silicon Valley in the 1960s. Milton was going to take care of them. Exactly the opposite, in fact. I could entertain myself by having ideas instead of reading other people's. Apple coolness in the air, that feeling that the show was being run by someone who really cared, instead of sitting in front of their TV set watching the same show, at the end of 1996, we hired a PR firm I had no idea where articles in the mainstream media was. VCs, and we ended up with was qualitatively different.

So a plan that promises freedom at the expense of those you don't publish. I remember watching what he did one long day and estimating that he had added several hundred thousand dollars to fifty million, but the more history you read, the less likely this seems. But it's better than dying. For example, the question of what probability to assign to words that occur more than five times in total actually, because of the Bubble, especially in companies run by their founders were merged into a couple hundred lines of code, which was a dilute version of work meant to prepare us for the real thing. Why couldn't they get more funding? 99 respectively, and a combined probability of. We'd need a trust metric of the type studied by Raph Levien to prevent malicious or incompetent submissions, but if your son falls, or your teenage daughter decides to date the local bad boy, you won't get a share in the excitement, but if this label didn't already exist, it would at least make a great pseudocode. Actually startups take off because the founders make them take off. When I said at the start is to recruit users, and after 2 years you'll have 2 million. I call the Fluff Principle: on a user-voted news site, the links that are easiest to judge will take over unless you take specific measures to prevent it. How did she get into this fix?