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hazbin-but-good · 6 months

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another hazbin hotel rewrite/redesign?

yup! and i'm so serious about it that i made a whole blog for it. i'm a white queer ex-cath tran doing this as an art and writing exercise, so feedback from other creatives + jewish and/or racialized folks is especially welcome.

i'm putting this post and only this post in the main tags for visibility. also, not gonna link my main, but i do make my own original stuff, and i encourage fans and haters alike to do the same.

anyway, here's a mostly good-faith 1.7k-word essay on the original. i think it's pretty funny and brings up some less talked-about points. correct me on the facts, disagree with my opinions, and ask clarifying questions, but don't come at me with any piss-poor reading comprehension.

the hellaverse is garbage, and here's why

cw: strong language, stronger opinions, intersectional feminist critical discourse analysis

1. vivienne medrano, the person

medrano was born as a well-off white-passing latina (salvadoran-american) in bougieass frederick, maryland. while attending new york's top art school, she got popular on deviantart-tumblr-twitter by being a prolific multifandom fujoshi furry who's more into ornamental character design than storytelling. upon graduation, she leveraged her fanbase and industry connections to make the hazbin and helluva boss pilots, get helluva made for youtube, and get hazbin made for amazon prime.

like every woman online, she gets harassed for no good reason, and as a certified autist, i will defend her right to be dumb, weird, annoying, and bad with words. however, there are legit reasons to criticize her:

racism, misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, some antisemitism, past transphobia, past ableism

shitty boss, bad friend

cowardly, vindictive, manipulative, thoughtless behavior

skeevy friends

sucks at taking criticism

in short, i think she desperately needs a PR person and someone to clean up her digital footprint.

2. medrano's art

incurious

inauthentic

noncommittal

creatively stagnant

overindulgent, and the indulgence isn't even fun

shallow and childish framed as complex and mature

bland and boring framed as shocking and subversive

to be clear, i'm at peace with the existence of suckass art like this; i just think the money, attention, and praise it gets are unearned and should go to more interesting works, of which there are infinite.

medrano's had the time, money, and social cache to grow as an artist, learn from the best, and take creative risks, but she hasn't. if she truly has nothing more to offer, she should let her collaborators take the wheel, but she doesn't do that either. instead, she keeps getting more and more resources to make the same baby bullshit, and that pisses me off. she could be the nicest person ever, and this fundamental arrogance would still make her art blow.

stop with the pointless guilt: liking medrano's work does not make you stupid or evil. however, if you stay in the kiddie pool of culture, if you refuse to engage with a diversity of art, if the hellaverse is your point of reference for anything media-related, you can't expect to have your opinions on art, media, or culture taken seriously. you have not earned a seat at the table. you gotta hit the books first.

i cannot emphasize enough how much incredible stuff is out there if you're willing to look further than what social media and streaming services put right in front of you. if you come away from this blog having learned about just one new artist or piece of art, i'll be a happy camper.

3. the hellaverse

a. empty and confused

hazbin and helluva's content and marketing has no clear target audience. the subjects are inappropiate for teens, but the execution is too childish for adults, and lemme tell you what i don't mean by that, first.

not inherently inappropriate for teens:

sex and sexuality

violence, including when it intersects with the above

politics and religion

not inherently childish:

animation (any style)

comedy

episodic writing and/or loose continuity

young characters

fun, happiness, optimism, the power of friendship, cuteness, tenderness, sincerity, etc.

what i mean is that these shows are literally about adult characters who fuck, smoke, drink, do drugs, go clubbing, work full-time, manage their own finances, and deal with stuff like bureaucracy, sexual violence, domestic abuse, marriage, divorce, late adoption, and family estrangement.

however, none of these "adult" things are given enough specificity to create drama or comedy. it's all too stock, vague, flat, weirdly sanitized, and thus utterly banal—pure aesthetics on top of bad saturday morning cartoons. it's exactly what i'd expect from a sheltered disney kid who needs to log off and get into their local gay scene ASAP so their only contact with things like poverty, policing, addiction, and sex work stops being facile movies and TV.

if the shows were aware of this and played with it, that could be amazing, but they're not. they give you the mickey mouse version of the world with a straight face and then play looney tunes sound effects to try to make you laugh and sad_violin.mp3 to try to make you cry. now that's funny.

b. old and tired

let's make like americans and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. even within the confines of the USA, home of the hays code, the red scare, and reaganite propaganda, this neopuritan fascist state ruled by 1000 megachurches in a trenchcoat, the indie/underground animation scene has been doing crazier shit for decades. anti-war films in the 60's, bakshi movies in the 70's, the simpsons shorts and r-rated movies in the 80's, adult swim and MTV in the 90's, flash/newgrounds/youtube in the 00's, streaming in the 2010's—so what are we doing in the 2020's with this wet white rice drowned in expired ketchup? i feel crazy making this point because it's obvious if you've watched these things, but if you haven't, you're gonna be like "well, there's gotta be something new here". no! there isn't! in the words of jimmy "the scot" jordan, nothing, nothing, NOTHING!

c. ideological purgatory

actually, there is one thing in these shows i've never seen before: the presbysterianism. shout out some interesting or at least intentional presbysterian art in the comments, because the way these ideas are presented here is not compelling. it just makes the rainbow neoliberalism even more confusing and contradictory.

i guess the big presbysterian things are protestanism, calvinism, and, uh, big church government? presbysterians, get your shit together. get your brand down. catholics have BDSM and vampires, evangelicals have TV and corporatism; what do you have? celtic crosses? no wonder medrano has such uninspired ideas on divinity.

d. queer deficiency

when i look at a piece of art, i ask myself: "what does this give me that i can't get from the hunchback of notre dame (1996)?" if the answer is as limp as "uhh, gay people, i guess", i can probably look for my gay shit elsewhere and rewatch the hunchback of notre dame (1996) in the meantime.

but let's say that you have no standards. you've been waiting for ages for a show about gays by the gays for the gays, and by god you're gonna get it. this is it! here we go! time for some

generic twink obliteration

male sexuality as aggression and dominance displays

WLW (sex and chemistry not included)

a couple straight femdoms

and the stalest sex jokes known to man

...yeah, it's not very queer. and by "queer", i mean "questioning or subverting gender norms (including sexual roles) within a given cultural context regardless of creator identity and intent". i'm not a queer studies scholar so LMK if there's a more specific term for this, but whatever you call it, it's not in the hellaverse much.

there's not even any transness, literal or metaphorical, just ancient drag jokes. i guess the writers thought we would've been too controversial. so much for an indie animation studio that prides itself in the diversity of its staff both above and below the line, bakshi-style. i wonder how medrano, a bisexual woman, would've felt if told that a lesbian main couple in hazbin would be "too controversial".

4. spindlehorse and the vivziepop brand

spindlehorse toons underpays its overworked staff and keeps outsourcing more and more labor to even more overworked freelancers overseas to cut costs. a rainbow sweatshop is still a sweatshop, and just because these practices may be "industry standard" doesn't make them any more ethical.

the studio has also been repeatedly accused by current and former employees and contractors of creating a hostile and abusive workplace. AFAIK, it still has no dedicated HR person, and victims are too afraid of retaliation like blacklisting and online harassment to speak out.

this is exactly the stuff that unions exist to prevent. as i'm writing this, the IATSE (the parent union of TAG, which is the parent union of all US animation unions) is negotiating with entertainment industry executives for better working conditions, and if the execs fuck around like last year, it's strike time again. so watch this space, voice your support, and don't cross any picket lines.

i hope spindlehorse unionizes, but until then and for these reasons, i don't think you should give money to the company.

first of all, all content on amazon-owned platforms is ok to pirate, and all youtube ads are ok to block. everyone involved in making the episodes has (or should have) been paid upfront, so you're not taking the bread out of anyone's mouth.

next, let's look at the succulent offerings of the official vivziepop merch shop:

$10 pins and keychains

$15 sticker packs

$20 mugs and acrylic cutouts

$25 shirts

$30 metal cards (not even tarot)

$40 lounge pants

$50 mini backpacks

random $80 skateboard deck

forgive my latin americanness, but this is all stuff you can get made by a local metalsmith, print/sublimation shop, or just crafty people in your life. it's cheaper, customizable, and better for the environment to skip all the shipping and packaging. also, not painting your own skateboard is poser shit.

the hazbin website also has $15 pins, one $20 keychain, and $6 trading card packs. people are weird about trading cards, so if for some reason you wanna gamble for a mass-produced bit of cardboard, plastic, and tinfoil, at least bulk-order for all the vivziepoppers in your area so it's less of a huge waste. better yet, trace the designs and make infinite bootlegs.

at the end of the day, buying merch is not activism. your bulk order of trading cards will not save any wage slaves from getting evicted from their overpriced studio apartments. however, the shop links you to all the credited artists/designers, and more of your bucks will actually reach them if you buy their designs directly, then turn them into body pillows or life-sized bronze statues or whatever the fuck.

go through the credits of any episode of helluva or hazbin, and you'll find even more creatives you might wanna support. get jinkx monsoon's albums on CD. subscribe to actually good artist, animator, and composer gooseworx. lots of voice actors now have patreon, cameo, or self-hosted pages where you can write better lines for their characters and have them read it. these things may not look as shiny as Official Merch™, but we all need less plastic shit and more culture anyway.

#spindlehorse #vivziepop #hellaverse #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #spindlehorse critical #vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #helluva boss critical #hazbin hotel rewrite #hazbin hotel redesign #helluva boss redesign #communism #degrowth

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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months

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The super-rich got that way through monopolies

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.

Just in time for Davos, here's 'Taken, not earned: How monopolists drive the world’s power and wealth divide," a report from a coalition of international tax justice and anti-corporate activist groups:

https://www.balancedeconomy.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Davos-Taken-not-Earned-full-Report-2024-FINAL.pdf

The rise of monopolies over the past 40 years came about as the result of specific, deliberate policy choices. As the report documents, the wealthiest people in America funneled a fortune into neutering antitrust enforcement, through the "consumer welfare" doctrine.

This is an economic theory that equates monopolies with efficiency: "If everyone is buying the same things from the same store, that tells you the store is doing something right, not something criminal." 40 years ago, and ever since, the wealthy have funded think-tanks, university programs and even "continuing education" programs for federal judges to push this line:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

They didn't do this for ideological reasons – they were chasing material goals. Monopolies produce vast profits, and those profits produce vast wealth. The rise and rise of the super rich cannot be decoupled from the rise and rise of monopolies.

If you're new to this, you might think that "monopoly" only refers to a sector in which there is only one seller. But that's not what economists mean when they talk about monopolies and monopolization: for them, a monopoly is a company with power. Economists who talk about monopolies mean companies that "can act independently without needing to consider the responses of competitors, customers, workers, or even governments."

One way to measure that power is through markups ("the difference between the selling price of goods or services and their cost"). Very large companies in concentrated industries have very high markups, and they're getting higher. From 2017-22, the 20 largest companies in the world had average markups of 50%. The 100 largest companies average 43%. The smallest half of companies get average markups of 25%.

Those markups rose steeply during the covid lockdowns – and so did the wealth of the billionaires who own them. Tech billionaires – Bezos, Brin and Page, Gates and Ballmer – all made their fortunes from monopolies. Warren Buffet is a proud monopolist who says "the single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power… if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by 10 percent, then you’ve got a terrible business."

We are living in the age of the monopoly. In the 1930s, the top 0.1% of US companies accounted for less than half of America's GDP. Today, it's 90%. And it's accelerating, with global mergers climbing from 2,676 in 1985 to 62,000 in 2021.

Monopoly's cheerleaders claim that these numbers vindicate them. Monopolies are so efficient that everyone wants to create them. Those efficiencies can be seen in the markups monopolies can charge, and the profits they can make. If a monopoly has a 50% markup, that's just the "efficiency of scale."

But what is the actual shape of this "efficiency?" How is it manifest? The report's authors answer this with one word: power.

Monopolists have the power "to extract wealth from, to restrict the freedoms of, and to manipulate or steer the vastly larger numbers of losers." They establish themselves as gatekeepers and create chokepoints that they can use to raise prices paid by their customers and lower the payout to their suppliers:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

These chokepoints let monopolies usurp "one of the ultimate prerogatives of state power: taxation." Amazon sellers pay a 51% tax to sell on the platform. App Store suppliers pay a 30% tax on every dollar they make with their apps. That translates into higher costs. Consider a good that costs $10 to make: the bottom 50% of companies (by size) would charge $12.50 for that product on average. The largest companies would charge $15. Thus monopolies don't just make their owners richer – they make everyone else poorer, too.

This power to set prices is behind the greedflation (or, more politely, "seller's inflation"). The CEOs of the largest companies in the world keep getting on investor calls and bragging about this:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/11/price-over-volume/#pepsi-pricing-power

The food system is incredibly monopolistic. The Cargill family own the largest commodity trader in the world, which is how they built up a family fortune worth $43b. Cargill is one of the "ABCD" companies ("Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus") that control the world's food supply, and they tripled their profits during the lockdown.

Monopolies gouge everyone – even governments. Pfizer charged the NHS £18-22/shot for vaccines that cost £5/shot to make. They took the British government for £2bn – that's enough to pay last year's pay hike for NHS nurses, six times over,

But monopolies also abuse their suppliers, especially their employees. All over the world, competition authorities are uncovering "wage fixing" and "no poaching" agreements among large firms, who collude to put a cap on what workers in their sector can earn. Unions report workers having their pay determined by algorithms. Bosses lock employees in with noncompetes and huge repayment bills for "training":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

Monopolies corrupt our governments. Companies with huge markups can spend some of that money on lobbying. The 20 largest companies in the world spend more than €155m/year lobbying in the US and alone, not counting the money they spend on industry associations and other cutouts that lobby on their behalf. Big Tech leads the pack on lobbying, accounting for 82% of EU lobbying spending and 58% of US lobbying.

One key monopoly lobbying priority is blocking climate action, from Apple lobbying against right-to-repair, which creates vast mountains of e-waste, to energy monopolist lobbying against renewables. And energy companies are getting more monopolistic, with Exxonmobil spending $65b to buy Pioneer and Chevron spending $60b to buy Hess. Many of the world's richest people are fossil fuel monopolists, like Charles and Julia Koch, the 18th and 19th richest people on the Forbes list. They spend fortunes on climate denial.

When people talk about the climate impact of billionaires, they tend to focus on the carbon footprints of their mansions and private jets, but the true environmental cost of the ultra rich comes from the anti-renewables, pro-emissions lobbying they buy with their monopoly winnings.

The good news is that the tide is turning on monopolies. A coalition of "businesses, workers, farmers, consumers and other civil society groups" have created a "remarkably successful anti-monopoly movement." The past three years saw more regulatory action on corporate mergers, price-gouging, predatory pricing, labor abuses and other evils of monopoly than we got in the past 40 years.

The business press – cheerleaders for monopoly – keep running editorials claiming that enforcers like Lina Khan are getting nothing done. Sure, WSJ, Khan's getting nothing done – that's why you ran 80 editorial about her:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/14/making-good-trouble/#the-peoples-champion

(Khan's winning like crazy. Just last month she killed four megamergers:)

https://www.thesling.org/the-ftc-just-blocked-four-mergers-in-a-month-heres-how-its-latest-win-fits-into-the-broader-campaign-to-revive-antitrust/

The EU and UK are taking actions that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Canada is finally set to get a real competition law, with the Trudeau government promising to add an "abuse of dominance" rule to Canada's antitrust system.

Even more exciting are the moves in the global south. In South Africa, "competition law contains some of the most progressive ideas of all":

It actively seeks to create greater economic participation, particularly for ‘historically disadvantaged persons’ as part of its public interest considerations in merger decisions.

Balzac wrote, "Behind every great fortune there is a crime." Chances are, the rapsheet includes an antitrust violation. Getting rid of monopolies won't get rid of all the billionaires, but it'll certainly get rid of a hell of a lot of them.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/17/monopolies-produce-billionaires/#inequality-corruption-climate-poverty-sweatshops

#billionaires #wef #climate #monopoly #world economic forum #competition #antitrust #consumer welfare #inequality #corruption #davos #guillotine watch

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xjulixred45x · 3 months

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Theseus(+ Asterius obvi) with Son! Reader

It is no mystery that I am a geek, that I am a Greek mythology nerd, and that precisely led me to fall HARD for Hades, and I take advantage of every aspect of the myths for my writing.

how, for example, that in the myths, Theseus had a son with an Amazon (which could be Hippolita or Antiope depending on the version), who died, and his son, Hippolytus, became one of the hero's tragedies.

Basically he was a believer of Artemis who took a vow of chastity, his stepmother fell in love with him, he rejected her, she defamed him and killed herself, Theseus found out and despised his son, even when he had an accident in his cart ( which in most versions HE CAUSED by asking Poseidon to punish his son), but when the truth is revealed Theseus goes directly to his son in his last moments to apologize (and not leave him alone in his last moments).

Although his son forgave him in the myth, I like to think that, in perspective and using the logic that they are in the Hades universe, his son did not really think he would see his father again, so although in the moment he FORGIVE HIM definitely left things tense, since Hippolytus/reader ended up in Elysium because of his devotion to Artemis (in some versions he even becomes her sidekick).

and I like to think that while Theseus IS insufferable and pompous, he definitely has a soft spot for his son, seeing him as proud to have a close relationship with the gods and wanting to dedicate his life to them. probably also when they were alive encouraged several of Hipolito/reader's more violent hobbies, even if it was a little worrying at times😅

and now that he is back in the prime of his youth in Elysium and his son is with him, let's say that Theseus "discreetly" wants to compensate for his faults in life (especially the end of his son's life), it will be a bit of a head. tough but he's not stupid to realize that he screwed up big time with his son.

They probably do bonding by sparring and sparring with each other, they fight while talking and catching up on each other's lives (or, well, "life") and when Asterius joins, he also quickly blends in as a mediator between the two if they argue (especially about a certain _incident_)

Although Theseus is proud of his son and loves him, he never shuts up. Asterius on the other hand lets the boy talk and talk and generally gives more room for his opinion, he is someone Hippolytus/reader can go to to make sure those secrets don't get out between the two of them.

Asterius would refer to Hippolytus/reader as "little one" or "little prince", CHANGE MY MIND.

IMAGINE IF HIPPOLYTUS/READER WAS A KIND OF THIRD CHAMPION OF THE ELYSIUM! Theseus would be so PROUD of his son, crying and all "they grow up so fast."

Asterius would be a little more serious, but it would probably be because he himself is holding back the urge to cry while congratulating Hippolytus/reader on his first victory in Elysium and earning his champion title.

Theseus and Asterius would take the issue of Hippolytus/reader's chastity VERY SERIOUSLY not only out of respect for Artemis, but because 1- he already had a terrible experience with women and 2- it is something very important FOR HIM, so good luck trying to approach him or, gods forbid, flirt.

although I think that if Hippolytus/reader were interested in any relationship, it would probably be one similar to that of Asterius and Theseus themselves, a "brotherly" (homoerotic) bond, someone he could consider a rival, an enemy who became into a friend, an ally, a brother, something for him.

and that's why I like the idea of pairing him with Zagreus.

1- a love interest who is not a Tsundere (Hippolytus/reader is more virgin than Olive oil, so he is quite shy).

2- it would be an interesting dynamic (How Zagreus is going to fight with this boy, son of the man he hates the most, only to realize that they have a lot in common, earning each other's respect and even their help)

and 3- THESEUS AND ASTERIUS'S REACTIONS WOULD BE HILARIOUS

Theseus would be SO CONVINCED that this DAEMON manipulated his chaste son so that he would go easy on him and lose his title. HOW DARE HE THINK HE COULD EVEN BREATHE THE SAME AIR AS HIS SON?! MUCH LESS COURT HIM!? OVER HIS DOUBLE DEAD BODY!

The only way for Theseus to understand WHY Hippolytus/reader likes Zagreus of all beings, is to use him and Asterius as an example. There he understands it, but he doesn't accept it.

Asterius, on the other hand, is much more chill about it and even approves of it, although he will definitely give Zagreus the shovel talk and assure him that if he does anything to the little prince, there will be no place in Elysium that is safe for him.

Like, Zagreus would be upset to have to go through Theseus to talk to his boyfriend, but he definitely takes advantage of the situation to make jokes about how Theseus is now his "father-in-law", making the Athenian king even more angry.

(Zagreus would definitely make the "your son calls me daddy too" joke.)

At the same time, Zag would be surprised at how good a father Theseus is when he is dead (and what he was like when he was alive, excluding the accident of course). Likewise, he would be happy to see that although Theseus is an idiot, he is not such a bad guy.

Zagreus definitely helps a little with the Hipolito/reader relationship when tensions are high, going into therapist mode again. and thanks to this I can see Theseus and Hippolytus/reader in the prologue making a good process towards healing.

I don't think there's any WAY IN HELL that Theseus will accept Zagreus as his son's mate, but with Asterius and Hippolytus/reader present, at least he's more...domesticated.

Hippolytus/reader: father! TELL HIM

Theseus: UHG, FINE....HELLspawn--ZAGREUS...WOULD YOU WANT TO STAY TO CELEBRATE THE VICTORY OF HIPPOLYTUS/READER?

Asterius: Do you want to stay forever?

Overall, it's a dysfunctional family, I'm not going to lie, but a happy one.

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

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aroaceleovaldez · 5 months

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do you have anymore rogue demigod headcanons? recently i've been thinking of my own rogue demigod ocs and trying to come up with ideas for them

BOY DO I

Okay i have a lot of very niche thoughts about how rogue demigods work and the sort of loose culture they have as a collective group. I'll go over the main thoughts I have and throw some bonus loose rogue concepts at the bottom of the post just for fun if anyone wants oc ideas. Below a cut cause i've thought about this a lot so there's. a lot:

Most rogues take the "names have power" thing a lot more seriously than campers do, since they don't have the protection of the camps to help them. As a result, many rogues go by "rogue names" or pseudonyms. Some chose their names on the spot, others slowly gained a name over time or were nicknamed by other rogues. Some may choose to not go by a rogue name, but many at least have one even if they don't always use it. Some rogue name hcs I have for specific canon characters include: "Hound" or "Hound of Hades" for Nico (cause hellhounds, also rogues making jokes about him being "the camps'/Olympians' dog"), "Rue" for Chris (named himself after Clarisse cause he missed her, though he's too bashful about it to admit it), Luke's was "Titan," and Hylla's being "Twice-Kill" is just canon. It's also fun to play around with how common some rogue names might be ("Wolf" and other animal names are definitely popular), how silly some might be (Just the first thing that popped into their head, their old street/town name, a famous actor or character, a youtuber's name/handle, cryptids, etc etc. "Ender" is also definitely popular. yknow. from Minecraft), and what stereotypes might be associated with rogue names/common rogue names. You can get real funky with it really easily. I'm personally a big fan of there being a rogue joke about people with animal-themed rogue names, just because of how common they probably are. It's probably rare that somebody earns an animal-themed rogue name from the collective community rather than just picking it themself. Also easy jokes about rogues sliding by with youtuber names or similar just cause most rogues can't access the internet, so they don't get the reference.

Almost all rogues knew about other mythologies/pantheons way before the camps did. It's a very open-secret type of thing. It's pretty impossible for them to not run into demigods from other pantheons living like they do. They just generally don't tell camper demigods about it, partially because it's sort of an unspoken rogue agreement to keep it secret from them for general demigod safety and also because most rogues don't like campers, so it's kind of a joke to keep them in the dark. Titan Army demigods were very well aware of both camps in particular.

The Amazons, Hunters, Circe's Sorceresses, and other rogue groups are also fully aware of this but don't ever mention it, even if they're camp-affiliated. The sorceresses just generally didn't run into campers enough for it to be relevant (and the campers they did run into probably never went back). For Amazons they're probably just too focused in profits to bother stirring up trouble by telling the camps about it. The Hunters probably don't mention it for the safety of the camps.

Camp Jupiter is very anti-rogue and hostile towards rogues in general. It's very rare that rogues are able to join the legion, and anyone who leaves to become a rogue is formally exiled and can't ever return. Most people who join the legion have to either be sponsored by a retired legionnaire family living outside of camp or just wholly directed to camp by a god (or representative of a god - see: Nico for Hazel). Rogues particularly hate CJ because of that. CHB on the other hand is perfectly willing to take in former rogues and there are plenty of ex-rogues in CHB who are fully aware of other pantheons. They just. Don't feel like ever mentioning it. Rogues are generally a bit kinder towards CHB because of their more open friendliness towards rogues, and will help direct new demigods towards CHB fairly often. They're still not fans of it most of the time, but they understand rogue life isn't for everyone and that it's safer, at least.

A lot of rogues take mercenary work, or other hired jobs. Technically this one is just kind of canon. See: Lots of TOA rogues, even some rogues from PJO and HoO are implied to have been hired by the Titan Army or Giant Army (or Octavian). This line of work is seen as totally legitimate to rogues, though there's a lot of different opinions within rogue circles about how it should be gone about. The most common opinion is that it's taboo to take or hire hits on those who run safehouses. Rogue safehouses are usually considered off-limits for any kind of targeting, and trying to target them is sure to ruin your reputation. Stealing or inter-rogue violence is generally considered on the table though. It's largely a lawless space. If you're particularly cruel or try to throw your weight around a lot though, you're sure to be ostracized by other rogues. Because of this, groups like the Titan Army who vocally advertised a lot of trying to make life better for rogues were popular, but other groups like the Giant Army or Tri are significantly less popular because they're seen as just power-grabs trying to hire extra muscle because they can't handle their petty squabbles on their own. Most rogues who joined the Giant Army or Tri were either indebted to them somehow or really desperate and willing to take more dubious jobs.

Norse rogues are actually significantly more common than Greek or Roman rogues, as they don't have any options for a camp to train at instead of living as a rogue, and get hunted down by monsters once they become old enough often regardless of specific parentage. Norse rogues are often more willing to take more dangerous work, as they hope it will either attract the attention of their godly parents to help them or if they build up reputation and die valiantly it will be enough to get them into Valhalla.

Safehouses are rare, but not unheard of. They're mostly just rare because their success rates vary wildly, and many try to build one but fail. The successful ones are often widely known in rogue circles, and there are some that are trade/gathering hubs to find work or restock supplies (and catch up on news). Most are considered peaceful zones, though there are some where combat is allowed, or may even have spectator sports like gladiator battles or etc where rogues can try to build up their reputations and notoriety.

Not every demigod benefited from Percy's deal that the Olympians had to claim all their kids - for some, they could have otherwise slid under the radar, but being claimed caught the attention of monsters and forced them on the run. Some got claimed in the middle of doing something in their mundane lives (with the gods doing some mass-claimings after the war) and had to run away on the spot, and resent Percy/CHB/The Olympians for it.

Free to use rogue demigod concepts:

Amazons and Hunters count as rogues! Anything with them is always fun. Ex-Circe sorceresses are also very fun.

Titan Army, Giant Army, and Tri rogues are also always very fun to play with.

Rogue satyrs, fauns, and nymphs! Or monsters/part-monsters, even!

Cursed rogues! Maybe they're part-monster, and/or the curse is part of them being banished/exiled somehow.

Rogues who run safehouses, or rogues who don't run safehouses but live there. What's their community like? How does it function? What are the rules there, and what's life like there? What's their role?

Think of a rogue name and then make a character themed around that. It's VERY fun I highly recommend it, especially if the names are leaning silly. Rogues stealing youtuber names, or their favorite anime characters, or some other pop-culture reference and hoping nobody notices. Rogue named Vriska or Sans or something. Rogues named after Pokemon. Get funky with it.

Rogues who work with monsters, or have alliances with them! How did their alliance come to be? Is it reliable? Why do they work together - what do either of them get out of it? etc etc.

Mercenary rogues, or other rogues who do hired work. Who are their clients, and what does their work entail? How does that impact their reputations?

Rogues who were revived with the Doors of Death. what were their lives like before they died? How did they die? How did they come back? Were they ever part of the Giant Army? What's their second life like?

Multiple generation rogues! Second-gen or third-gen rogues who were born into rogue life outside the camps but have always known about demigod communities.

Demigod who got claimed unexpectedly from the post-Titan War mass-claiming stuff and was forced on the run.

Norse rogues! Rogues from different pantheons! Or even rogue magicians! How do their lives differ from Greek/Roman demigods? What do they get up to?

#pjo #riordanverse #headcanon #headcanons #rogue demigods #Anonymous #ask #I LOVE ROGUE OCS!!!!! also love to see other people making them!#theyre so fun and versatile love those funky guys

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buindia · 1 year

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#amazon pay refer and earn #Amazon Pay

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suzukiblu · 5 months

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I would also love Amazon Kon? Reading back is Kon fully out to Clark? Like does Clark refer to Kon as a she in his head and has to be very careful calling Kon a he outside his head?

He doesn’t have a family. Not really. He’s tried to figure out how to . . . how to earn one, a few times, but it was never really . . .

He’s never managed it. That’s all.

So getting familial soulmates, and having them be . . . this . . .

#ladykarmastrikeblog #wip: amazon kon #oh Kon is not even slightly out to anyone #at all #Kon is not even really out to KON

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dcdreamblog · 16 days

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As someone with WW2 expertise, maybe you can clear something up for me. What was the deal with Baroness Paula von Gunther? I've read differing accounts of her activities during the war and her relationship with Wonder Woman. Can you help me out?

I can give it my best shot! However this comes with a couple of disclaimers. 1. As far as my records indicate because of circumstances at the end of the story, Baroness Von Gunther is probably still ALIVE. Not that I think she has an interest in speaking for posterity just know that should she ever have the inclination her own word could contradict everything I am about to say 2. Certain folks on Tumblr are not gonna like this story because the lesson to take from it is that ANYONE can change and should be given the opportunity which is a philosophical stance the Amazons and Wonder Woman specifically STILL come under fire for. Records on Von Gunther's very early life are scarce but it can be inferred that she was born near the end of WWI in modern day Austria to a family of minor nobility. Noble enough to be stripped of their titles after the collapse of Austria-Hungary but not sitting on enough land to bounce back. She was married young to a slightly higher minor noble named Gottfried Von Gunther. Given later circumstances we can assume their marriage was not exactly a whirlwind romance but it DID create one of the monster important parts of Baroness Von Gunther's life: Her daughter Gerta

(Personal Photo of Paula and Gerta circa 1937~. One thing of note is that this was torn from a larger photograph, which presumably included Gottfried somewhere which speaks to Paula's relationship with the man) It was in 1938, during the Nazi annexation of Austria that the Von Gunther family was target by the Nazi Gestapo. Seeking the family's remaining wealth Gottfried was killed in Nazi captivity and Gerta was taken hostage. Paula connections in the fashion and beauty industries built during her time as a bachelorette in the early 30s were leveraged to allow her position as a spy and saboteur. It was in this position and under the codename "Uberfraulien" (That is under the original meaning of "codename" in that it was used to refer to her in coded Nazi messages, not an intentional moniker) that Baroness Von Gunther would cross paths with Wonder Woman, the newly arrived Hippolyta of Themyscira

(File Photo from Von Gunther's OSS records circa 1942.) In her espionage career Baroness Von Gunther unlocked a previously unknown skill in all things scientific and was the creator of many disquieting devices. Robots, mind control, etc. She was captured, imprisoned and even sentenced to death multiple times but with Gerta's safety back home dependent upon her activity she always escaped. It wasn't until war's end when she formulated a plan to invade Paradise Island itself that she was captured for good. And that Hippolyta in her Wonder Woman guise was able to reunite her with Gerta, rescued from Nazi captivity in occupied Vienna. It was after this rescue and behind closed doors she was made an offer that would be controversial today and was considered treasonous at the time. Serve out her "sentence" on Paradise Island with interest in reform rather than being handed over to the US for execution as an enemy agent. America ERUPTED at the news. Hippolyta was branded a security risk, stripped of most of her earned credentials. Only the All Star Squadron and the Justice Society refused any orders to purge her membership outright by simply not responding to them at all. And that's where the story has stood for the last...79 years and counting? Paula and Gerta Von Gunther were taken in as adopted Amazons and have been there ever since, far from the public eye. The only modern information we have on them is when some fucking asshole college leftist shouted an accusation at Diana after she intervened during unrest at Harvard University. The transcript of said response is better than I could write so this is from the lips of the Amazon herself Student (after being asked to disperse as the protest on campus was creating a risk of violence): "We don't take orders from people who shelter Nazis!" Diana (Pausing and turning to face the student directly): "One of the things of Man's World I might truly never understand is your insistence on punishment. Paula Von Gunther is a sister of mine. She has harmed no one in lifetimes, every moment since spent in contemplation and the care of others. If six decades of reform is not enough to sate your lust for retribution than the crime lies with you, not her."

#dc #dcu #dc comics #dc universe #superhero #comics #wonder woman #diana prince #diana of themyscira #queen hippolyta #hippolyta #paula von gunther #uberfrauline #tw unreality #unreality #ask blog #ask game #asks open #send asks

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dailycass-cain · 16 days

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I am absolutely gonna double dip here with Cass in Absolute Power. Besides, that it took a secondary story to buy this Batman series again.

Was it worth the price?

So the secondary story "continues" the thread Absolute Power #2 was supposed to carry on. Namely, the Birds going after Green Arrow.

Which honestly, is an interesting thing as Cass/Ollie haven't fully interacted since um… 2009.

Instead, Batman #152 BoP story by series writer Kelly Thompson doesn't go this route. The intent feels more a piece showcasing the members. To get readers into the team, Cass, and Dinah.

Since next month and November.

That, and it explains the BoP being on Themyscira answering one given the events of the series' first arc (Birds of Prey #1-6 aka Megadeath go check it out!) the Birds rescued Sin on Themyscirca but ticked off all the Amazons as a result.

Thinking about it more, Dinah hasn't had this chance to process Green Arrow betraying the heroes and the emotional baggage of said BoP arc. So in that respect, the story is earned here, instead of feeling cheated that you have to read ANOTHER issue (Green Arrow #16).

Besides that, it does set up the BoP next arc pretty well (#14 next month) by doing this to make up for the actions of "Megadeath" arc by rescuing captured Amazons.

Not to mention explain the BoP (Cass, Zealot, Sin, and Barda) being in Absolute Power #3) while Dinah isn't. Again, off panel making up for the actions prior by defending the island.

The story here is pretty good character-wise. This story is all about Dinah and whatever will go on in Green Arrow #16 and showcases Dinah and the continued Sin/Megaera symbiotic relationship.

For Cass, there isn't much, but what we do have is her helping Zealot regain her steps given she lost her powers in Absolute Power #1 (even though she was the first to damage modified Amazo in #2 before it pulled a Metal Cooler healing sequence).

But hey it's Cass fighting, and man oh man the art by Mattia De Iulis is just-- STUNNING. We've all seen the Barda floating around and yeah that alone is worth the hype.

The details in the background, the fluidity of them sparring. Brief but oh SOOO good! 🤩🤩🤩

I just wonder why Cass put on mask and cape at the end portion though. Was this a Shōnen-type thing where she wanted to spar with Zealot with ALL her gear?

We'll go with that answer.

The sparring match is just a way to nicely showcase well how GOOD Cass is at fighting and even depowered Zealot is still deadly as heck.

I kind of wonder if we'll get more of this growing admiration in BoP or Batgirl? I guess we'll see.🤔

The other bit, (although minor) is when Dinah announces to the team she's going to find Ollie alone. Honestly, I get it.

Cass/Ollie aren't um.. bestest friends since 2009 is the last they met CANONICALLY and sending Cass to find Ollie might not be a smart move.

Though interestingly, Cass other than Sin refers to Dinah by her first name (unlike Barda/Zealot who go with her codename).

It is interesting to see this layer of Dinah/Cass back into DC again.

So yeah this little secondary story was a nice "appetizer" to get those who aren't reading Birds of Prey (or the upcoming Batgirl series) on board.

Not only that but it gives Dinah some much-needed characterization during this event with ALL that's gone on.

That said, I was kind of disappointed with Absolute Power #3 (at least in Barda's characterization of the issue). We just had an issue with her in BoP where she was possessed by evil.

Instead of Nightwing stopping her, I think this would've been a REAL good moment of Cass's only dialogue in the entire event stopping Barda, telling her to "trust Nightwing's judgment." THEN showcase Dick confronting Cyborg Jon.

Where we get the twofoldness of it lining up with what happened in BoP, Barda trusting Cass again, and everything lines up.

I just didn't like this moment in the issue (other than Waller's crazy OOC).

It just screams again why Batgirls #7-8 sucked bad, and again here Dick mogs the spotlight unnecessarily when it could've been more badass for him just waiting for Cyborg Jon to call him out instead of stopping Barda.

I know its me being nit picky, but hey if Cass is given one moment in the series. THAT SHOULD'VE been it. We get Cass with a gun that she never even uses in the attack. 😭

Still, we got more Dan Mora-drawn Cass. So it is a win no matter what. And man Mora carried the later sections. Just his art is SOOOO good.

So yeah Absolute Power #3 disappointed me a little, but the back section did make up for it. I do find it refreshing that next month this event just ends. For a "mega event," Absolute Power doesn't feel like wearing out its welcome like prior DC events to me.

It does make me want to go into that Super Son one-shot that's coming out next to see Jon recovering and hopefully find out what happened to Dreamer and well Green Arrow #16 for whatever Ollie be scheming.

If anything, we've got one issue left of this series and SO many plot threads. Like what's gonna happen to Failsafe (other than hopefully, the machine goes boom boom), the multiverse threat, and Waller's ultimate scheme?

Dangnabbit the series got me hooked. 😭 At the very least the event is WORKING.

#cassandra cain #dc comics #my thoughts

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windvexer · 1 year

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here is how authors on amazon make "negative royalties" when you return books, in case you were wondering how that can happen

All money in USD.

If an ebook sells for $5.00, the author usually gets 70%.

When you buy the ebook, the author should earn $3.50, right?

Wrong!

Amazon has something called a delivery fee. Basically, this is the cost of using their servers to deliver a digital file. The bigger the filesize, the more expensive the delivery fee.

Amazon charges the author $0.15 per megabyte of filesize.

(For reference, my 300 page all-text manuscript has a delivery fee of $0.07)

Now here's the thing: the customer doesn't pay the delivery fee - the author does.

If you buy a $5 book, Amazon takes 30% and then I pay Amazon the cost to deliver my book to you. So instead of getting $3.50, I actually make $3.43.

If you return the book, Amazon says, "of course, customer! You can have the 30% Amazon took from you, and the 70% the author took from you," and debits my account $3.50.

This leaves me with a royalty balance of -$0.07.

Seven cents isn't a heaping pile of cash, but, you know, it's still my money.

"Blah blah Amazon should also refund the author the delivery fee" yeah but they won't, and that isn't the point,

the point is that if you thought the only damage you were doing by buying, reading, and returning ebooks was emotional stress to a struggling author, you were mistaken!

You are also charging that author for the privilege of having their work stolen.

(By the way, this is specifically about the shitty trend of treating Kindle like a library because "amazon refunds the authors," I'm not talking about people who have legitimate complaints with the product they bought)

#I don't get my hopes up any more when I make sales #sad but true #now kindle page reads #i get my hopes up very high for those!

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alwaysxyou · 1 year

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Writer’s Strike 2023

Seen a lot of people with questions but haven’t seen a easily understandable post so:

What is the strike?

The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) is the union of writers throughout the entertainment industry. This covers TV, film, talk shows and more. They are striking after they tried to negotiate their working terms with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), and could not come to an agreement by the deadline. The AMPTP includes the major television and film studios - Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Universal, Fox, Sony, Amazon, Apple and more.

The strike began on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

What is WGA asking for in negotiations?

The WGA went into negotiations with a reasonable proposal, largely asking for a deal that took into account the shift from basic cable (for ex: the shows that run on your TV if you have a cable package) to streaming. When cable TV was booming (pre-streaming), writers earned residuals off the episodes airing. Even as projects shifted to be available on streaming, they were still airing on cable TV and writers earned residuals.

The shift of the past couple of years has seen a boom of projects solely for streaming. With no contract terms of what happens in that case, writers profits have dropped considerably, making their wages below a living wage. Many writers are referring as it’s turned into a “gig economy” rather than writing as a job. They compare it to Uber where studios want to pay them for the script, but not for anything that comes after, even though the industry is entire dependent on their craft. Studios are no longer valuing the art of the writing and only concerned with the profits.

They are also asking for negotiations regarding AI regulation and improved working conditions.

Why did they not come to an agreement?

Despite the WGA offering many amended proposals, the AMPTP refused to budge on the main points. There was slight concessions for lesser points, but the main issues at hand they did not budge on. There is a set deadline to reach terms by and since they did not reach it by the deadline, they are striking.

How does the strike affect writers?

The strike means no WGA members can work in a writing capacity until a new agreement is reached and the strike ends. This is why you will see productions coming to a halt, as the writers have stopped writing.

You might see films continue production (filming). It’s more common for films to have their scripts finalized ahead of production beginning. Since they do not need an active writer at that point, they can continue. Some shows that are scripted in a way that they’re all turned in ahead of time are similarly able to continue. Shows that have writers on set, or where they are writing throughout the season, are halting production. More will have to stop the longer the strike lasts.

Writers are paid based on work. When they don’t work, they don’t get paid. They are willingly choosing to strike and fight for this, because it’s that bad. It’s also important to keep in mind the industry is still recovering for writers since COVID, when all productions shut down and many of them were just now being able to find work again.

What would the monetary affect on the studios be if they agreed to WGA’s terms?

It’s estimated that in many cases the increase WGA is asking for would be less than 2% of the total profits of the project.

How long will it go on for/how does it end?

The WGA is willing to strike as long as it takes. The AMPTP has the ball in their court. The WGA is ready to get back to negotiations when they are.

2007/2008 was the last Writers Strike. It lasted 100 days.

How did they decide to strike?

All WGA members get to vote on whether or not they strike if negotiations are not reached. 98% voted in favor of authorizing a strike. After not reaching negotiations, the WGA board unanimously voted to strike.

How do non-industry people avoid crossing the picket line?

At the time of writing (May 4, 2023) the WGA has not asked for any regular, non-industry viewers to boycott any projects or studios. You can keep streaming and consuming as you wish.

The WGA will post widely if that changes and you should withhold from streaming certain things. These things are changing very rapidly.

How can we support the strike?

If you are based in LA or NYC, or anywhere there are physical protests happening, you can join them. You do not have to be a WGA member to help picket. As always with a group you are not a part of, be respectful and follow the instructions of the leaders on the ground.

Follow the WGA for updates and help spread the word about the strike and encourage others to support the strike.

It’s much more nuanced and would take ages to explain every tiny detail. But it boils down to: writers are the backbone of the entertainment industry and the entire industry relies on their work. Please support them in asking for fair and equal compensation and rights.

More resources:

WGA West Website

WGA East Website

WGA Strike Website

#I tried to make this as base level as possible #it’s very very complicated but #hopefully this helps #WGA strike #my post

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cindylouwho-2 · 6 months

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RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, March 2024

Welcome to my roundup of SEO and marketing news and useful resources for ecommerce businesses, March edition. There is a lot going on with Google, and some really strong marketing pieces this time around, so let's get right to it.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google launched both a core algorithm update and spam updates on March 5, with the spam update ending on the 20th. Core updates now include the Helpful Content algorithm. In early observations, Etsy and Reddit both picked up visibility in the UK.

The Helpful Content algorithm updates late last year destroyed a lot of sites’ Google traffic. Avoid the things they had in common. You can read the full study here.

Ecommerce sites were some of the biggest losers in Google visibility in 2023, with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Target and Best Buy in the top 10 of sites whose Google appearances slipped.

New to Google SEO? They’ve revamped their SEO starter guide for people like you. And if you are more advanced and want to learn how to optimize your website product pages, this is a good overview.

This lengthy article on backlinks for ecommerce websites covers pretty much all the angles, including the really difficult ones.

Reminder that if you want to rank on Google for a search term, you need to look at what is already ranking, and make decisions based on that content. [video and transcript] This works for most search engines, not just Google.

Yes, Google crawls “high quality” content more often. I used to refer to this as Google thinking the page is “interesting”, so I guess I will need to change my wording...

While Google sends the most traffic to websites, people spend a lot more of their online time elsewhere. Market where people are, not just where your stats say they came from.

Sadly, Google has stopped providing caches of website pages in its search results. While you can still see the caches of some pages by using the Google search Cache:[page link] as in cache:https://cindylouwho-2.tumblr.com that will eventually stop working as well. Bing still provides caches, but unfortunately both it and the Wayback Machine do not crawl often enough to give really recent results most of the time.

Missed Google news in February? Here’s your update. And just in case you are really behind, here is January.

Not Google

Unsure if your website has enough good backlinks? Bing Webmaster Tools will now tell you if you don’t.

Yandex - the top search engine in Russia - was sold by its Dutch ownership group to a consortium in Russia.

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

A US study of social media use found that the most popular site was YouTube, with 83% of adults using it. Two-thirds of American adults use Facebook, while TikTok is up to ⅓ of the US population.

Because they do change periodically, here are the latest image and video sizes recommended for the top social media platforms. [infographic]

Bluesky is now open to everyone - it was previously invite-only.

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta has introduced several changes to its Ad options, applying to Facebook and Instagram.

Meta had a great 4th quarter in 2023, with revenue, users, and earnings per share up. “Fast-growing upstarts Temu and Shein, which originated in China, have been pouring money into ads on Facebook and Instagram. Li said on Thursday that revenue from China-based advertisers accounted for 10% of sales for the year and 5 percentage points of growth.”

Instagram

An updated post on Instagram's algorithm and how it works.

Instagram is still beta testing longer Reels for some users.

If your account is a brand account, you can now run ads on Instagram with coupon codes right in them. (Some Facebook users can already do this.)

Among other recent changes on LinkedIn, the algorithm is now looking to boost important content longer than just the first day or two after publication.

Pinterest has its own stats package, called Pinterest Analytics, but only for “Business” accounts. They show how many people clicked on the outgoing links, how many people saw your pin on their screen, and much more. Here’s everything you need to know.

Reddit successfully launched on the stock market this past week, but questions remain about how this will change the site.

Google is paying Reddit to scrape its content through the API instead of from the web.

Snapchat

Snap was a little later than most tech companies doing layoffs recently, waiting until February 5 to let 10% off staff go.

Threads

Threads is so new that the algorithm is bound to change a lot in the next year, but for right now, here is how it works.

TikTok

There is an overwhelming amount of info out there on the US attempt to either ban TikTok or force its sale, and much of it is incomplete, so I will let you Google to your heart’s content if you want to learn more. If you are relying on TikTok to drive sales, this would be a good time to make sure you diversify your promotional strategy.

You can now track trending terms on TikTok through the Creator Search Insights section. “Creator Search Insights will highlight frequently searched topics, which creators can organize by category (for example, tourism, sports, science) or tailor to their content type with the “For You” option. Additionally, creators can filter for “content gap” topics, which are highly searched but have relatively few videos on TikTok covering them.“

TikTok may be testing a photo app, which would obviously compete with Instagram.

Twitter

What? Twitter may have lied about its Super Bowl ad performance? I’m so not shocked.

Tumblr

Tumblr will be selling data access to AI companies.

YouTube

This is a pretty decent article on YouTube SEO.

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies)

Small and micro-businesses need an email list. An email list is:

portable (unlike most social media followers or marketplace buyers)

is available to almost everyone, as we all need at least one email address if we are online

less susceptible to the whims of algorithms (unlike SEO, marketplaces, social etc.)

I keep seeing people argue that no one opens emails, but the chart in the article above is proof that is still wrong. (My blog email list averages close to a 70% open rate, depending on the topic and the time I send it. My jewellery email list - which I hardly ever send to - still has an over 30% open rate. My click rates are well above the industry averages, usually 30 to 40% of all recipients for the blog list. These are much better numbers than social, and astronomically better than my clickthrough rate on Google and other search engines.)

Gmail and Yahoo both changed how they handle bulk emails such as newsletters in February. Here’s what you need to know on the basics, including authenticating yourself so your email gets through.

Find out how to get people to read all the way to the end of your content.

Get ready for April marketing with 5 topical ideas. National Handmade Day is April 6.

We should all think twice before deciding to use AI to create content. “Circa 2024, generative AI does not produce new ideas or even develop its own conclusions. Rather, it regurgitates information that it has indexed.” Not convinced? Here’s another article. “AI-generated content represents the literal “average of everything online.”

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES)

Google Ads can now be tracked in Google Analytics 4.

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising were up in the 4th quarter of 2023.

STATS, DATA, TRACKING

Google Analytics 4 tracks organic traffic differently than the previous version. Here’s how to figure it out.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

I’ve probably posted this specific article before, but it is worth another read: how to communicate with customers. For example, “Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you’re on their side. If a customer is formal, for example, hold back on the LOLs. If they’re more casual, relax your tone.”

According to a US study, Generation Z is skewing the traditional marketing funnel. “Per Archrival’s data, 77 per cent of Gen Zs and 79 per cent of millennials in the US are actively seeking style inspiration at least monthly, with almost half of those looking for style inspiration on social media. When asked where they learn about new brands, products and experiences, video reigns supreme: YouTube is the most popular platform with Gen Zs, followed by TikTok, then Instagram.”

Trend alert: bag charms are back.

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Almost all of these 12 video tools are free, and some can be used on your phone.

MISCELLANEOUS

This is an older piece, but it checks out: IKEA Hacks for Craft Show Displays. A few of these could be done with non-IKEA items.

Want to stay up-to-date on a nearly daily basis? Follow me on Bluesky or on LinkedIn, or become a member of my Patreon.

#ecommerce #seo #social media #search engine optimization #microbusiness #content marketing #cindylouwho2

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sicherosaga · 1 year

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Any tokusatsu that kinda transcends the genre? Like the tokusatsu equivalent of Akira or Evangelion - something true to form but "elevated" or distinctive enough that it can still be appreciated by outsiders? I want to dive in but I also want to convince a friend to watch some with me. A starter tokusatsu that is unmistakeably good

hello! first of all thanks for the ask and secondly i dont think i quite have the expertise on the subject i would like to yet, so dont take me as an authority. also! i really think most tokusatsu will be enjoyable to the average person as long as they understand what theyre getting into and theyre willing to engage with the given series and be receptive. anyways.

godzilla 1954: this one doesnt exactly transcend tokusatsu since it basically created the genre but its earned its reputation. dark, harrowing, emotional, and tragic, it also still has some of the best looking visuals of any kaiju media to date. I think its probably the single best godzilla movie

godzilla vs hedorah: this one has it all: with psychedelic musical numbers, animated interstitial scenes, and a stark environmental message, godzilla vs hedorah is a memorable standout from the showa era. it also has an uncanny bleakness and desolation you wouldnt expect from an era of godzilla known for being more kid friendly

basically any episode of the original ultraman or ultraseven directed by akio jissoji: jissoji had a very distinctive, almost avant-garde directorial style in the early ultra series and his are some of the most memorable. also i wouldnt call it transcendental but return of ultraman has some excellent episodes as well

heisei gamera trilogy, particularly 2 and 3: the heisei gamera trilogy is one of my favorites of the genre, the second one has incredible effects and the trilogy as s whole isnt afraid to do weird sicko shit that godzilla is afraid of. also frequent hideaki anno collaborator shinji higuchi directed the special effects

kamen rider kuuga: kuuga was the first of the heisei era kamen rider tv shows and as of right now my favorite. it gives a lot of the different usual aspects of kamen rider a sort of weight that you dont usually get from the series and it has an excellent ending. its also like. 1/3 police procedural 1/3 medical drama and 1/3 kamen rider show. it rocks. however you may want to do some research on how you watch it since the official shout factory subtitles on tubi and shout.tv make make some changes to the show

shin godzilla, shin ultraman, and shin kamen rider: its funny that you mention evangelion since anno and higuchi are actually enormous tokusatsu fans evangelion is chock full of references to ultraman specifically. i really think the shin series is and excellent introduction to their respective series. ultraman and kamen rider in particular embrace the conventions and themes of the original shows in a way that demonstrates a deep understanding of the source material on the parts of anno and higuchi. shin godzilla has already been talked about to deat, shin ultraman is like a perfect ultraman movie, and while its not without its faults shin kamen rider made me cry 👍. you may want to watch a few episodes of their respective series before you watch the movies bc they really do replicate the vibes perfectly

also of note but not exactly the most elevated , kamen rider agito, w, ooo, amazons, zo, j, and black are all good shows ive seen. i like them. zo and j in particular are worth checking out because theyre very short movies. also ultraman blazar is very good and its on youtube with official subtitles AND a dub. and while i havent gotten around to watching it yet, ive heard very good things about keita amemiyas graou series

youtube

no matter what you decide to watch or how much you enjoy it, its crucial to remember that scenes like this are why tokusatsu is good

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