#and he wanted to know how to approach it if/when the topic becomes relevant

[designernishiki]

follow-up to my last post: I like the detail that kiryu gets ayaka’s email and they keep in touch, partly because I like to imagine that he has so many fucking questions for her about queer shit. both because he’s figuring himself out orientation-wise and also just cause he’s a 40ish year old man who takes care of gen z kids who isn’t super in touch with all this stuff but he really wants to know so he can be more educated and a better supporter and all that

[windvexer]

i haven't done much spirit work besides leaving offerings and asking for help. so i was wondering what can i do to get from here to the point where i can see and commune with spirit the way more accomplish witches talk about?

thanks in advance should you answer this.

Hi!

This is a big answer, because it mostly depends on where you're going.

Psychism isn't the same thing as spirit work. I've written on both topics (these links are to my masterposts) and I think there might be some stuff there that can help you regarding communication.

But the downfall of all of these online guides (mine, or anyone's) is that most of them are about how to develop a specific skill and I'm not too familiar with any on the topic of how to find and develop your natural strengths.

Oh, and also the important cousin to all these topics, a lot of witches exaggerate, change, or misleadingly talk about exactly how they "see and commune" with the spirit world. (Or, as @friend-crow would likely point out... some people really do just get on the internet and lie.)

If the point of your post is that you received spiritual input that helped you correctly manifest a spell, you might say "my fairy husband told me to use thyme, and it worked!", which conveys the point.

However, this can conceal the reality of what really occurred, which could be something more like, "over the past few days I kept feeling like he wanted offerings of French food, and then I kept hearing commercials and songs about time, and then I got a strong urge to listen to Simon and Garfunkel, and then I realized he meant thyme the herb, and when I cast the spell it felt really good and manifestation was strong, and I attribute these choices and successes to my fairy husband."

So I think it's wise to pick apart some of the assertions from "more accomplished witches," especially when they are talking about what was communicated and not how it was accomplished; and especially putting an asterisk next to any experiences which are likely being shared because they are exceptional and exciting.

But even if communication is very clear and strong, there is often a price to be paid (either up front or on credit), like:

You spend more than an hour a day practicing (I mean... a lot of practice; often being immersed in the spirit world)

You have been cursed with Second Sight and can't shut the spirits out

You regularly perform powerful rituals of communication

You've built your life to welcome and house the spirits long-term, and over the years have developed very strong abilities of communication

You have become bound to spirits or gods in some form or another, making you an Oracle, and all the consequences that come with that

Beyond becoming bound to/initiated under spirits for whom you operate as an oracle, also building relationships with gods of communication and witchcraft, or especially any entities that let you See and Hear Things.

You've developed, built, and practiced with tools and rituals that facilitate clear communication

There are a lot of paths you can take, is my point, and you're probably best off exploring any of them you feel most comfortable with. Oathing up isn't for everyone, for example. I vouch for an eclectic approach. Give lots of different things a try, and lamps will light themselves along the path of experience until the fog slowly fades from the map.

If you'd like a list of specifics, here you go. Don't say I didn't warn you. (The warning is, if you See and Hear Things, you are also Seeing and Hearing Things. You know?)

Work with Lunar powers, perhaps including relevant Moon deities, who are associated with divination, clear-sight, and spirits.

Hekate, I bet, probably works well to unlocking the roads to spirit work. I don't know her myself but it seems like a vibe.

Enchant a holey stone to assist you with spirit communication.

Perform regular rituals, perhaps on the full moon or cross-quarter days, to open channels of communication and strengthen your abilities.

Blend and enchant incenses and oils to facilitate spirit communication; use as needed.

Fuck around with doors and keys.

But before all of this, definitely get a guardian spirit of some sort, or at the very least like a guy who you can trust.

[sulkylaw]

Random but I think Zoro would never bicker with Sanji if he had not seen him as a rival. Rival, not in a negative sense but rather positive, like they be challenging each other to become stronger and better versions of themselves.

If Zoro found Sanji as nuisance, he wouldn't spare him a glance. Like he won't seem to be spending energy on "unimportant" things or people.

I wrote this thing, where Sanji after WCI contemplates about his role, his strenght, his purpose and he's unusually quiet and dozing off that everyone noticed even Zoro. Sanji knows he's out of it, but he noticed Zoro not talking to him or not bickering with him as intense as before.

By occassion, Zoro was eating his dish prepared by Sanji, while Sanji was doing the dishes. The unspoken words that hung in the air between them, bothered Sanji least to say. He felt the weight of the unspoken words urging him to say something. He asked Zoro why hasn't he said anything since Sanji came back.

Zoro would look at him, raise his eyebrow and ask whether his opinion on the topic was relevant to Sanji and if he was sure he'd want to hear it. Sanji says that it's not relevant but that it just got him curious why he hasn't said anything.

Then Zoro would finally unleash the beast, saying what Sanji has done is dumb, so dumb. He went to WCI to die for sure, and Sanji himself knew he probably won't come back. Zoro tells him he needs to stop playing martyr cause it's lame.

Then Sanji bring the moment from Thriller Bark, saying Zoro was dumb too, but was dumb founded when Zoro said what he did on Thriller Bark was no where simillar with what Sanji wanted to do there and on WCI. Tells him Sanji only looks a meaningful way to die, he doesn't think about how many burdens will he bring upon crew, especially Luffy.

Sanji says smth in a lines of that they can replace him, they can always find a new cook or crew mate. To Sanji's stubborness Zoro stops responding, he's pissed so he keeps quiet for a bit before saying that Sanji's self pity is more pathethic than anything else they faced, and if he thinks he ain't good enough then he perhaps is not.

He leaves Sanji alone, slams the door and lets him process the meaning of the words Zoro said. After that Zoro would stop bickering totally with Sanji, would only speak to him when spoken to and Sanji would be bothered so he'd approach Zoro again, woth a hope of some new found enlightment from the swordsman.

[thelunarfairy]

Hello, I hope you are doing well. Can you give an analysis on Aoi and Akane's relationship? I mean their relationship is really toxic and there is nothing healthy about it. I also think Akane (the boy) has some sort of obsessive love disorder. Can you share your thoughts about them?

So, we come to the moment where we will talk about these two.

I once saw a very pertinent analysis based on a small discussion about Akane's behavior. The theme was "Akane wasn't suffocating Aoi"

I found myself laughing, but not from joy or happiness, but from noticing that it was necessary for someone to have to explain that Akane wasn't choking Aoi. If you're curious, this is the scene:

Can you tell that from the moment someone has to explain that Akane wasn't trying to suffocate Aoi, there's something wrong?

Violence rooted in a relationship, oh, is never a good sign. I often say that of all the characters, Akane is one of the ones that scares me the most.

Obsession, possessiveness, aggressiveness, anger, impatience are not words that look good together in a sentence, nor in anyone's chest.

Could we use them to describe Akane? I've always found Aidairo's ability to turn problematic interactions into comical ones impressive. Sure, a boy with a baseball bat who humiliates himself to a girl while attacking guys who are interested in her is really "funny."

~contains sarcasm~

It was there from the beginning.

So you ask me, could we then say that Akane is just an aggressive guy?

Ah sigh the narrative lines don't work linearly, they intertwine. Akane constantly molds himself from the beginning, and as he becomes a relevant character, his development begins to blossom.

Akane was similar to Nene. Both placing Aoi on a pedestal, trying to love Aoi's most superficial side, to the point that she herself begins to suffocate in her own persona.

Aoi reveals to us in the future that she is not perfect, that she makes mistakes and can be mean when necessary, she confesses. And Akane, who had doubts, still waited for her to truly confess what her own nature was.

Nene didn't accept that Aoi threw her into limbo because she wanted to, she just decided to believe that everything was the influence of number six. Nene never delves too deeply into Aoi's problems, or even Hanako's, but that's not the topic we're going to get into now.

Akane is finally able to see clearly how Aoi feels, and he discovers that she likes him. From that moment on, his behavior changes. How long has it been since you saw Akane humiliating himself again for Aoi?

His behavior has changed, you can compare

He changed after the events on the far shore, after almost losing her, after learning more about her. He noticed that Aoi didn't allow her eyes to shine when he was so superficial with her like the others.

He noticed that she appreciates his love but he was taking the wrong approach, he became equal to others. Then his behavior changes.

This change caught my attention. A simple conversation was enough for him to notice what was wrong, not just about himself, but how he could love someone he didn't know so well, even though he thought he did.

Aoi tends to blush when she's with him at specific moments, and these are usually the simplest and most casual moments, like touching hands, for example.

How can she be nervous while he touches her, holding the hem of her dress with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Akane doesn't act so aggressively towards Teru when he finds out that he "likes" Aoi, of course he has a reaction, but it doesn't compare to the reactions he had with the other guys.

So that's why we can't label him, we can't give Akane a title when he's still developing, but there's the toxic relationship.

The relationship of few words and many superficial and obsessive actions. Aoi could refuse Akane as many times as she wanted, but Akane couldn't be interested in anyone, Aoi would collapse.

Akane doesn't accept that Aoi has anyone, he can accept that she doesn't stay with him, but not that she finds someone else.

There is no desire for happiness here. What there is is selfish love. "I love her very much, but she can't be with anyone but me."

"I like him, but we're just friends. Still, he can't fall in love with any other girl"

Genuine Love is the one that hurts. The one you love and want the other person to be happy, even if you're not by their side. Genuine love is freedom.

There is no freedom between them.

One is stuck with the other. One hides the truth from the other. One molds itself to please the other.

Aoi is the perfect and defenseless girl, Akane is the silly boy who declares himself all the time to the girl he likes.

But the truth, Aoi is the lonely girl, who is afraid to show the truth for fear that people will hate her, she just wants to be treated like other people. Akane is an intelligent boy who got involved with supernaturals and doesn't know how to deal with the love he feels for her.

"I love this part of you, I hate this part of you"

Whoever loves, loves the whole and learns to deal with the other's defects. Whoever loves allows the other to be who they really are.

And in the case of Aoi and Akane, they have now learned about each other's flaws, and are trying to allow themselves to truly love.

A toxic relationship between two people who still don't know how to love.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Subversion of expectations in Set Me Free Pt. 2

What makes it all worth it in closely following an artist's career trajectory is having the opportunity to look at their work from various angles. In turn, that opens the possibility to make comparisons, to be able to spot the various inspirations, to see how it's positioned in the appropriate contexts. It's not an easy job, but the result is that by taking into consideration all these elements, it's possible to eventually know what type of interpretation is more suited, without making major leaps for the sake of it or turn the work into an ahistorical event.

I've been thinking all day how I should write about Jimin's pre-release track. I kept postponing it, going back to watching the music video and keeping my involvement in debates to a minimal. In actuality, and for the sake of honesty, after a few hours I was in the avoiding stage. I had thoughts here and there, but nothing that I was able to put together in a coherent way. I wrote and deleted paragraphs several times. The reason was because in the last few months I've become more interested in his projects, wanting to witness the direction he is taking which in turn affected the way I approach each topic regarding Jimin's work.

I'm saying all this because I want to point out the element of subjectivity. Which is ever present. There's no such thing as complete objectivity. It may manifest as neutral or heavily analytical statements, but underneath all that there's the obvious element of our own taste and bias. I think we can't have an honest conversation as long as we don't acknowledge that. Being biased in this context makes us protective of the artist we like, of perhaps thinking but not being ready to admit that we hold them as the highest standard in order for them to become the main point of comparison when we look at other artists. As much as I see this as an expected result of our subjectivity, I strongly believe that stating and being honest about this can make our interpretation and opinions to come from a more genuine place. Otherwise we hide behind our own notions of taste and knowledge which can lead to useless comparisons and connections between artists when that's not the case or more likely, judging a specific work in relation to some standards that have no place in the current conversation.

This is something that I have to remind myself all the time because I can be guilty of, but it's also a type of discussion that I see happening a lot in online spaces (predominantly twitter) which eventually doesn't bring anything of real value to the table.

In this context, I think it's impossible not to look at Set Me Free Pt. 2 (SMFP2 in the following mentions) as a sort of turning point. Not only the song, but the entire album. But for now, I will refer to this track because it's relevant in its connections to other major points in Jimin's career. SMFP2 closes a chapter while also setting the stage for what will come next. Not only that, it shows a versatility that sometimes it's a more relevant point in the context of releasing a first solo album, an EP in this case. The song and its visual representation can be understood in the context of what came before, specifically Lie, but also Jimin's artistic trajectory in the the last decade as a group member, his personal journey and his status and presence in the public life as an artist.

What I appreciate about Jimin's work is that it shows his ability and predisposition to storytelling. Of taking parts of his individual path and turning them into motifs, easily recognizable for the listener who has the availability to try to understand. I want to mention first Lie and Filter because both songs are representative for specific stages in Jimin's life as an artist. Lie was a cry for help and salvation, of not being able to get out of a web of lies that can swallow one whole. By the time Filter came, it showed a maturity and self awareness that came from knowing how he is perceived, of playing the part, but always on his terms. With SMFP2, Jimin doesn't need an outside force to come for help because he is finally able to do that on his own. And that only comes after years of struggle.

As much as the song is liberating, the aggressive element takes center stage. This is the song of an angry man that had enough and he can finally say and do what needs to be done. And he has only himself which makes it all the more scary because it shows his inner power and ability to endure, but also to fight back. It's a stage in which he shows that he's invincible, with lyrics such as ''I won't hide anymore, even if it hurts/I won't stop even if they mock me''. In terms of structure, the song is a conversation between Jimin who acknowledges that he reached a new stage in which he is free because he did it himself and another inner voice, the one that has to remind everyone that he is untouchable now and no meek person. Musically, this is achieved and punctuated by focusing on the hardware version – the rap part and the software element expressed through Jimin's usual vocal signature.

Instead of turning this into a step by step analytical interpretation of the lyrics and imagery, I want to discuss some elements of it through the frame of expectations and the subsequent subversion of them.

If SMFP2 being a hip-hop song might be considered a choice that apparently doesn't fully characterize Jimin or it comes as a surprise based on the teasers alone, I think it manages to show how he can adapt and make use of different genres, including those that we might not immediately associate with him. The reason why this song works is due to the heavy contrast punctuated by the insertion of a heavily artificial element. While from a matter of personal taste, the sound itself here can be quite difficult to digest, the choice makes sense because it creates a distinct voice that helps in distinguishing the two parts of Jimin that are sending different signals and which represent two sides of the story he's telling. The autotune on the rap parts makes his voice almost unrecognizable, but that also means we're seeing a clear case of subversion. That voice sounds foreign and not something we might even associate with him, but we have to keep in mind that it's the aggressive voice. The one who is sincere and clearly states he basically has no fucks left to give.

The music video was also surprising because it presented a type of choreography that is yet again different from what we would expect. And this element is crucial because of what we know of Jimin's background and his status as a dancer. A common observation/criticism is that he didn't dance as much as it would have been possible and that's a thought that also crossed my mind initially. But then I kept thinking about it and I realized that this might be a case of wanting a specific type of dancing from him and instead, receiving something else. Perhaps it should have had strictly moves for every single beat, a more complex choreography for Jimin and not what looks as him taking control over only specific parts, instead of just making some movements that look a bit uncoordinated in order to fill in the space created by the dancers. But on taking a closer look, it becomes obvious how every movement and gesture is purposeful. I see Jimin here as the one who orchestrates and leads the entire choreography, including controlling those around him. It might look like they hold control over him, as in the case of pointing their fingers, or acting almost possessed trying to take him down, but they move based on how Jimin controls the space. I think it makes a show of power, even in the moments in which on the surface it might look like the opposite is happening.

The (melo)dramatic tone of the song and especially that of the music video is achieved through the use of only a handful of elements. In this case it's interesting to note that it happens in the vein of less is more when usually the opposite is the norm. Using only one space, quite minimalist in terms of chromatic elements and lighting and camera techniques, the focus is on the choreography. It's the principal element which can only come from someone who has an established image and known for his dancing abilities. There is no need for props or other artifice in order to elevate or complement the production. The message needs to be straightforward and adding other elements would take away the attention from what is relevant. For a song that makes use of an imposing choir, brass instruments and drums, that is more than enough to convey the epic element of the story.

Ultimately SMFP2 is yet another example of how Jimin always subverts the expectations, of how there is this entire world and parts of himself that we wouldn't even think about. Yes he will rap, but he will do it in way that is unexpected. Of course he will dance, but the choreography will not be entirely like the type we are used from him. And he will have a poem of Rainer Maria Rilke tattooed on his torso which only indicates that we barely know anything about him. Of what is the spectrum of his inspiration, of what are some of his creative influences separate from what we would already expect. There's always the element of surprise and if there's one thing that I know I can expect from Jimin, is him doing more and different than what I could possibly think of.

This might be a song in his first solo album, but Jimin is starting on this path after 10 years of work. It means there's an entire baggage of experience, but also that we're seeing a new direction. Which can prove to be successful entirely, or perhaps only a first step for someone who will have plenty of time in establishing a public identity as a solo artist. I think his future looks bright, regardless if this song is exactly what we would have wished for or not.

*This post is merely an attempt at some sort of generalized view of the song and the music video. I will mostly likely talk more about specific elements in the following days if the occasion arises, probably by having conversations through asks. 

[marcusrobertobaq]

Gavin Reed doesn't need a sad backstory to justify why he hate androids.

Dude was born in the 00s, his adult phase started exactly when androids started becoming a thing and it makes things difficult economically. This is the reason he and a bunch of other generic people hate androids.

He doesn't need a redemption arc about it, ain't nothing relevant for him. What would u redeem him from? Becoming a better person and less ruthless and selfish with people around him? Or is it android related? If it's the last then I got bad news: he ain't Hank and he doesn't care about android sentience, he wants 'em gone or licking his shoes.

And making him fall in love with a Connor just makes explicit how people doesn't understand his character and don't know what else to do while keeping it dbh.

What would be a Gavin Reed Redemption? Well, I'll give u a tip: he's a cop, and i quite infamous one. And seriously, we don't need androids to approach this topic. Ain't y'all the same ones that like ignoring the obvious android racial allegories? Then let's make it not about androids cuz the android topic got everything to push dude to the opposite side and he'll think it's right in his head, not regret feelings - ain't y'all the ones saying he got a point from start?

Why apply "androids to teach humans about humanity" bullshit when it has the opposite effect on him in the game until the end? This is such a Cage move. Not joking, this guy would laugh at u while setting androids on fire just for fun.

[gingersnapwolves]

Okay y’all it’s been six months since I last posted so you know what that means! Time to rant about my family! Specifically this post has to do with my brother’s dog. Feel free not to read but I genuinely need advice on this topic since I’m basically at a loss. tl;dr how do I visit my parents without getting eaten by my brother’s dog???

Backstory: My brother and SIL have a dog named Rex (3M). They got him from a rescue at some point during the early days of the pandemic (but not for pandemic reasons, their elderly dog had passed away about a year previous and they had been talking about getting a new one for a while). He’s a mutt, probably some boxer, probably some Rhodesian Ridgeback, who knows what else. Relevant to the story: My parents (in their 70s) live with my brother and his family about 45 minutes away from my wife and I.

Last year, my dad began to complain to me about Rex, saying he barked constantly (I could usually hear him during our phone conversations) and he could be aggressive and badly behaved on walks and he was worried about it. I said Rex was probably bored and needed more activity and that they should call a trainer to help out (my brother and SIL have more than enough money for a good trainer). My dad said that they actually did have a trainer at one point but neither my brother nor SIL reinforced the training afterwards so the dog basically ignored them. My brother apparently approaches dog training the same way he approached parenting, which is to say he ignores the bad behavior until it annoys him and then he yells a lot.

When we were there at Thanksgiving, the dog was super disruptive. He barked all the time, especially if he saw a “stranger” (there were a lot of family members there he didn’t meet often) somewhere in the house. 

Bonus backstory: I actually used to be afraid of big dogs. I had a bad experience with a German Shepherd when I was 7-8 years old. When I met my wife and found out she loved big dogs, we had to work on that for quite a while before I could be okay with big dogs. I was cool with our first dog and I adored our second, and I love our third and current dog. But I still am not one hundred percent comfortable around large dogs that I don’t know, especially if they are loud or if they jump on me.

So shortly after the holidays, we went down to visit. At one point, my wife got up to use the bathroom. When she came out, Rex charged at her, barking and growling. Now, my wife is good with dogs. See above, loves big dogs, has trained all three of ours. She de-escalated with him like a pro. We talked with my dad about it and he said Rex is getting more and more territorial in the house and doesn’t like strangers. The kids (11F and 13M) have friends who don’t want to come over anymore because of the dog. At Thanksgiving, my cousins (7F and 10F) were afraid of the dog. 

My wife talked with my brother while we were there and said, plainly, that she thought Rex was becoming dangerous. He was showing a lot of aggression and they needed to get a trainer for him and really stick with it. My brother didn’t quite brush her off but basically just said “Okay, I’ll look into it”.

Half an hour later, I needed to use the bathroom. When I came out, Rex charged at me, barking, snarling. I completely froze up and just screamed for my wife to help me. My SIL is calling “Rex, come here, stop that,” et c, which Rex is completely ignoring. My wife gets between me and the dog until my SIL gets off her ass and comes to get him. I went into a room with a door, shut it, and refused to come out. It was a nice room, lol. My niece and my parents joined me and my wife there and they spent some nice time chatting, or so I would assume that’s what they did, since I spent most of that time in post-panic-attack haze.

My dad told me later that brother and SIL both think I completely overreacted and it was just “some barking” and I basically need to get a grip. My wife says that is completely bullshit and she knows a dangerous dog when she sees one. She was especially pissed because for the next few days I kept flinching away from our dog when she barked (which she doesn’t do often, but she will alert when strangers come near the house, which happens more frequently than you would think since we live at a dead-end and people use our driveway to turn around a lot).

So we agreed that we just won’t go there again unless Rex is in daycare or my parents have said he has improved. That was six months ago, we are now trying to plan Father’s Day activities, and Rex … has not improved. In fact, he was just kicked out of doggy daycare for being “difficult to handle” and “not listening to commands”. My brother and SIL’s reaction to this was to say that the place “obviously doesn’t know how to handle dogs”.

I just legitimately don’t know what to do at this point. I could pretty happily never see my brother and SIL again at this point, they’ve pissed me off so much, but my parents are there and so are my niece and nephew. Planning to see my parents anywhere but my brother’s house is very difficult. My dad doesn’t drive at all anymore and my mom only feels safe driving in good weather when it’s that far. We’ve had to cancel due to bad weather for our last two visits where they were supposed to come up to our place. My parents aren’t getting any younger and although I’ve had my issues with them at times, they’re my parents and I love them. As for my niece and nephew, I pretty much only see them when I go down to my brother’s; my brother and SIL have only come up here once for our housewarming and that’s it.

I originally suggested we ask them to keep Rex downstairs in their basement (finished and enormous) while we were there. My dad said he was ‘hesitant to ask them to do that’ since they don’t think Rex is a problem. And at this point, I don’t trust them not to brush me off and ‘forget’ and let him out, or do it because he’s barking so much (they did put him in a bedroom once while people were there and he barked the whole time). They aren’t taking the problem seriously, and their reaction to Rex getting thrown out of daycare proves to me that they don’t even want to acknowledge there is a problem. I’m pretty convinced that Rex could tear my hand off and they’d blame me for provoking him.

So … rant over. Thoughts, ideas?

[williamaltman]

My full IWTV thoughts/feelings/"review" (Part 1).

Ok for a while now I have been wanting to do like a big post talking about all of my main thoughts about the show. I think I went into the show in kind of an odd position because, I'm a book reader, but not a longtime one. I literally just got into them right before the show started airing. I started watching when it started airing and I had finished IWTV and TVL, but then I stopped and decided to at least finish TQOTD before I continued the show.

So, I'm gonna start with all the things I like and then what I didn't.

First of all: The way they just said fuck subtext or lowkey representation and made this fully romantic and horny. One of my issues with the books is that, at least in IWTV (but in a lesser extent the others too?), they keep things in this realm of plausibe deniability where even though things are obviously gay they still don't make it fully explicit. I get that it was 1976, but that doesn't fully change how I feel reading it, you know.

Besides the material itself, from what I understood AR loved to give some vague answers and "let things speak for itself", along with an idea in both books and her comments that vampires don't "need to worry" so to speak with sexual orientations, that in a way it doesn't really count, which is wack imo (though she did also full-on say that Lestat is bisexual which I appreciate).

But I think what bothered me the most in IWTV, wasn't even the subtext itself, but the way that Louis essentially didn't express any love for Lestat. The story is written like he just hates him from the beginning save for the first moments where he saw him to when he was turned. They are obviously coded as a couple down to HAVING A CHILD TOGETHER, but Louis' narration just never acts "accordingly" and gives it this weird no homo vibe. His love for Armand is a bit more clear which is better, but also not totally? Especially cause when they're saying stuff like "I/you want him to be my/your companion" it usually has the context of him as a replacement for Claudia.

Anyway this isn't a book review, so what I mean is basically that it was just VERY satisfying to see Loustat being clearly in love, especially from Louis' part. I love to see that sort of initial attraction especially when it comes from someone who doesn't want to be feeling that and all the angst that comes with it. Also, THEY FUCK. I kinda appreciate the concept of vampires not having regular sex in the books, but I'd still rather have them fuck. As a treat.

The fact that they also explicitly established Louis as gay instead of staying ambigous about his sexuality was also incredible. I do like works where that just isn't brought up and it just works naturally like if they were straight, but it's not my favorite approach. I like when they actually deal with it.

And on the topic of Louis' changes: Anything from slave-owner in a plantation is a glow-up. Making him also a black man is like, downright reparations. If you're upset about that you're dumb and possibly racist sorry. I understand that Louis' "race-swap" is different from most other characters since him being white actually is relevant, but it's relevant in a bad way. The upgrade definetely needed to happen to tell the story in current times.

And since we're talking about these types of changes, Claudia. I have A LOT of issues with how Claudia's story was handled, but Claudia herself, as in Bailey and her acting? Great. She's just amazing. The change in her age makes for a different story, but one that still works. And Bailey is just so charismatic and fierce. To see her slowly change from the cute daddy lou girl (which as I said, was way more fun and charismatic than book Claudia) to whom she has become in the latter episodes? Incredible. She truly embodies being the baddest bitch in the house, she INVENTED girlbossing.

And kinda going from this, the acting. The acting of all three is great. They have great chemistry, both Sam and Jacob and the two of them with Bailey. Even appearance wise, Claudia still looks like a living doll, and Jacob is still a soft pretty boy in a way that fits my own standards for a babygirl-coded character. Sam Reid might actually be too hot to be Lestat, tbh. I joke but wow, I'm actually attracted to him now. Armand's was like particularly genius cause even though he's not a auburn-haired white teenager he still looks just like Armand when it comes to his actual features?!

Also, the vibe, the atmosphere. It actually took me a while to get into it. I had whiplash from reading the book and seeing the movie where it was like 1 or 2 centuries behind the show, but once I got into it I loved it. I don't know how to explain this better but I just like how everything looks and "feels". The set and costume designers ate. The cinematography is great too and gives it the final touch.

[inherhouseshewaitsdreaming]

A Dream of 2023: Escaping the Goal Doom Spiral

Its that time of year again and goals are the topic of the hour. What will 2023 bring and what do I want to do in 2023? This year I find myself sitting in a really positive place. The latter part of 2022 was very successful in terms of the things I wanted to achieve. Now I need to carry that on.

But goal setting, as useful as it is, is also a trap. Although I feel successful, if I looked at my goals, I might see things differently. My successes weren’t things I set as goals. In fact, I spent a lot of time actively avoiding some of my goals, and doing something else entirely. So how do I set goals that reflect this reality?

The goal Doom spiral

Failed goals pile up and the weight of them ultimately breaks me. I end up in a negative spiral of failure. I set a goal to do a thing, and now I’m behind and catching up seems overwhelming. Or its not possible, because I said I’d do this every day and I’ve already failed. The goal then becomes such a negative thing that I actively avoid it, thus getting further behind, thus making the negativity worse. This is the Goal Doom Spiral.

People have lots of possible answers to this. Reward yourself for goals achieved. Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). Create a plan for implementation. Make sure your goals are the most important things for you to complete. What they all come down to is this: do the thing. Do it better. Stick with it. Be better. And that is where the Doom Spiral strikes again. Other people can clearly do this, so why can’t I?

The reality is that failure against goals set at the beginning of the year, or even the quarter, is almost inevitable because life doesn’t follow a neatly drawn up plan. The advice reduces the risk, but doesn’t eliminate it. I don’t think there is a way to completely eliminate the risk of ‘failure’. But I do think framing how you approach your ‘goals’ can help.

Bartle’s Person types

And so we wander over to another interest of mine - computer games. And, specifically, Bartle’s player types. Richard Bartle, one of the first people to write about gaming culture, identified four types of players what most people fall into when playing online games. He aimed this initially at people playing MUDs, or Multi-User Dungeons (a sort of text only MMORPG), but they definitely work in modern MMOs and more widely.

The Achiever, sometimes called the Completionist, likes to check things off of lists. They collect points, they collect gear, they collect pets and mounts. They look for tangible, recordable successes.

The Explorer likes to look around, find new things, immerse themselves in the minutiae. And they want to do it at their own pace. They are here for the journey.

The Socializer is really in it for the connections. They want to meet others with similar interests and explore those interests together. They want to make the friendships that last beyond the moment. They want to help others.

The Killer wants to be the very best, like no one ever was. They have big dreams and the sacrifice is worth it to attain them. And they want to do it better than someone else - competition is important to them.

Now, instead of gaming, think about those descriptions in terms of people who like to plan. You know who writes all those books that tell you the 10 ways you can revolutionize your life and achieve all your goals? The Killers. And they work. For Killers. They can work somewhat for Achievers. They only work for the Socializer if they are part of the social framework (getting others to hold you accountable, for example). They are antithetical to the Explorer.

Adapting goal setting to your person type

I know from experience I’m an Achiever-Explorer in games. I think that is also true of my creative practices too. I love the idea of goals. They are tangible things I can tick off. On the other hand, I tend to get distracted by a particular interest. When that happens I end up in the Doom Spiral. I want to do one thing. My lists say I should do another thing. I don’t do either of the things. Instead of berating me for that, my goal setting needs to account for that.

The approach I am trying this year is also drawn from games - its an Achievement list. If you’ve never played a game that has them, an Achievement list is a built in to-do list that is part of the game. Complete all the quests. Explore all the zones. Collect X pets. Reach Y level in something. They act as structure for the Achiever. However, most games have so many of them you’ll never complete them all. And so Achievers pick which ones they want to progress.

As an Explorer, I use Achievement lists as a sort of map. There is something there for me to explore, because there are Achievements relating to it. They give me a clue and then I wander off down the path they have set me on to see what I can find. I can indulge those tangents that little me to little side quests and fun activities.

On a final note, I find that adding rewards to gaming achievements does little for me and the same is true of real life goals. It adds pressure without adding motivation. I just don’t work that way for some reason.

My Achievement list, then, should be a list of possibilities. A list I can refer to and succeed against, but not complete. A map to the things I want to explore. Something I add to as the need arises, rather than at defined times.

Achievement Based Goal Setting

I’ve taken over the My 100 list pages in a Hobonichi planner for this and divided it into 10 categories. I’m setting achievements in each category. For me, those categories are:

Writing

Art

Reading

Journaling

Wellness

Home

Garden

This website

Gaming

Other

Each category can have up to 10 goals. Right now I probably have about 60. I can add more things as the year goes on. Here are some specific things I did with these:

I thought about the outcomes of the goals I was setting. I want to get better at writing. I could do that by writing every day. Or I could do that by writing the same amount, but in focused bursts. The latter may be more effective, because I can do it when I am in the mind-set to learn, rather than when I have to do it to tick a box.

I made some easier than others. Some easy wins means the list is not overwhelming and I can get that ‘tick off’ feeling.

I used numbers rather than time frames. Instead of doing a painting once a month, I am going to do 12 paintings. Then, if I get into a painting kick, I can lean into that. If its something you want to do daily, do it 365 times. For example, I’m doing that with doodles, which is a skill I want to develop. But instead of doing them every day, I do them in little clusters when I have the time and inclination. The ‘time-based’ part of SMART should only be applied if it doesn’t make sense without it. I can only win NaNoWriMo in November, but my doodles do not care when I do them.

You don’t get extra credit for making goals hard. I tried to make them suit the things I want to achieve without making them punishing. No guilt trackers here. I’m going to post 30 times on this blog. Not weekly, not even 52 times. 30 times.

I listed things I wanted to participate in. I want to win NaNoWriMo again. I want to participate in Mermay and Drawtober in some way.

I didn’t add things I actually didn’t want to do because I thought I should. Motivation is important. Happiness is important. I’m trying to find ways to reach the outcomes I want without making myself miserable in the process.

I’m using them to build habits. There is a really good video on this from Heart Breathings Watch this before you set goals for 2023. She talks about realistic goal setting, setting goals for the reality of your life, and setting goals that help you develop the habits to get to where you want to go. Those habits don’t magically appear - they are something you need to create.

I’m going to celebrate them. And I don’t mean with rewards, though I may use them as an excuse to get something nice for myself. I did that with NaNoWriMo this year. I will probably share them via social media (some of them, at least). I will write about them. Highlight them in bright colours. Enjoy the success.

I accept that I won’t do all of them. Interests will change. Life will change. Some I will abandon. Some I will roll over to next year. These are Achievements, not Goals. You collect them over time. Some take longer than others. If I have done 200/365 writing sprints, that’s still 200 writing sprints! Ticking the number up is valuable in and of itself. The reason there are 100 slots isn’t to get 100 things done. Its to get enough variety that I will hopefully get 50 things done.

I hope others find this helpful. I’m not sure achievement based goals will work for a lot of people - I’m not even sure they will work for me, but its what I’m going to try for 2023. I do, however, suspect that a lot of people have experienced the Doom Spiral. And if you just do the same thing again, you’ll end up in the same place. So think outside the box. Try something new. See if you can find a path forward through the trees.

[asherlockstudy]

Re the anon ask about RandL's queerbaiting (and forgive me if you've posted about this before - I'm new here!). Do you think it's obnoxious/unreasonable for R&L to differentiate between shippers who ship for fun, treating it all like fantasy, and shippers who truly believe that the guys have been in a secret relationship for years and say so? And is it outside the realm of possibility that they might come to tolerate and even enjoy the one and dislike the other?

Also, is it queerbaiting if they've explicitly stated they aren't gay for each other? I mean, technically yes, but I suppose I'm used to the kind of queerbaiting where the creators keep it ambiguous, purposefully leading people on with false hope that the ship might become a reality. That's not to say that I can't see why their have-our-cake-and-eat-it-too approach when it comes to appeasing shippers isn't sometimes troubling. I guess I just don't find it as sinister(?) as I've found it in other instances.

Re Stevie: Two possible scenarios occur to me - 1. She knows they're gay/bi/whatever and is protective of their right to keep that to themselves or 2. She knows they're straight and is protective of their right to assert that without being called liars. If she's of the mind that it truly is nobody else's business, I can see why she'd use the tension/speculation for content - both for the views and to feel like they're taking control of the narrative. Maybe she'd even use it as a pushback for what she sees as a invasion of boundaries on the part of some fans. I agree that this wouldn't be particularly kind, but I could see someone getting into that headspace even as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Again, forgive me if I'm missing something key here or if this is a topic you've already covered exhaustively in the past.

Hello!

RE: the differentiation between shippers, I answered a relevant ask just a few days ago where I explain my opinion in detail. Here's the link. Overall I agree they differentiate between different types of shippers but I try to go a bit deeper than the superficial distinction "fanon" shippers VS "canon" shippers, so to speak.

RE: the queerbaiting. Truth be told, I was wondering about that the other day. Rhett and Link have openly stated they are not into each other and that they will never kiss, so if someone legitimately expects a confirmation (by real people with families!) or a kiss in front of the cameras, they are kidding themselves. I think the root of people's hesitance to write off Rhink just entirely is that there is a progress in what R&L indulge to do that creates false promises. For example, they have done fanfiction reading three times and each time was massively different from the previous one. First time, it was some teen stuff and they were uncomfortable. Second time it was explicit and they were hilariously embarrassed (like visibly flushing to the point of seeing redness and sweat on them lol). The third time it was explicit and they ENACTED it with a certain casualness. So, you see, if they can't stick to a consistent behaviour, this makes it harder for fans to be consistent in regulating their expectations. Still, I am unsure about the term. What it essentially is is a "we are clear about us but we give you a bit of what you want and we call you idiots for wanting this at your face". So, I don't know if it's queerbaiting per se, but it is certainly mocking their fanbase and quite a bit problematic.

RE: Stevie. Heck I don't know. Your theory makes sense but even if she's trying to be protective (for whichever of the two reasons you said), she does not do a good job at it. How protective was she when she asked Link "whether he just said Rhett made him horny" (he didn't) which made both Link and Rhett uncomfortable? How protective was she when as a host in LTAT she showed to Rhett's dad some hilarious, embarrassing and even Rhinky moments and then aired a video of Rhett's dad judging him and saying stuff like "we gave money to make him an engineer and look what he chose to do with his life" and then Rhett was on the verge of crying? And there are many more things that I can't list now from the top of my head but I am not sure Stevie is what they needed. She helped them become a big and relevant business to be sure, but creatively and even psychologically? I am not sure she's been effective support. She comes off so inconsiderate to me.

Since you mentioned it, I will soon start closing off this discussion from my blog. I am getting a lot of replies and asks but the truth is I expected my op to go totally unnoticed! I genuinely enjoyed the conversation that developed because of it (and your ask, let me be clear), I just think I am reaching a close of what new I can personally contribute to this particular topic.

Of course, you are always welcome to my inbox to discuss anything RandL and Rhink <3

[hetal124-blog]

Content Marketers! Gear up with these 7 Resolutions in 2024

As we bid farewell to 2023, you know how it goes — everyone’s busy jotting down their resolutions for the next year. Whether it’s promising to adopt a healthier lifestyle, hitting the gym more often or challenging yourself to read a book every single day, the resolution fever is in full swing! And you’ll probably set a few goals and make resolutions on the professional front.  

As a marketer, your professional goals would most likely centre on increasing brand recognition, gaining more clients and of course, generating the highest possible number of conversions. With a new year comes new consumer trends, which means that the art of captivating consumers with great content is also evolving. And to stay relevant (and employed) in 2024, you’ll have to make a few new resolutions. 

Start with these 7 Content Marketing Resolutions

One thing that marketers have been stressing is how important content is. So if at all, your content marketing strategies have been lacklustre recently, you’ll need to buckle up for the coming year. It is all about forgetting old habits and learning new ones. 

Replace “mobile-friendly” with “mobile-first” 

Let’s first back it up with some stats. As per Statscounter’s report, the majority of internet traffic i.e. 58% comes from mobile devices. We need to shift our focus more on Mobile-first web design. This approach enables web designers to start product design by prioritising mobile devices.

People don’t wait until they go home, open their laptops or turn on their computer to check a particular website, they do it on their cellphones. For businesses to connect with customers quickly, having such a design is really important. Mobile-first websites offer handy features like click-to-call and location services.

Although desktops give a larger screen with extras like Adobe Flash and pop-up screens, having a mobile-first website helps because imagine you’re trying to get some information for a lead and the website does not function well on cell phones. Hence marketers need to keep this in priority because once you’ve made your website mobile-compatible, it is automatically compatible with your desktop. 

Don’t follow Trends Blindly 

It is always the FOMO that makes us do things others are already doing, whether or not it is necessary, adding value or relevance to our lives. Time to stop that. 

As social media continues to take the lead and trends become viral, marketers and companies are frequently tempted to jump on the trend in an attempt to gain greater exposure. This is called moment marketing, where you create relevant and interesting content by following the trends of current events or hot topics. The problem, though, is that following trends mindlessly without considering how they align with your business can be a dangerous strategy

Furthermore, blindly following trends could convey the idea that a company is out of touch with current events or trends. Trends change quickly, so what’s popular now could not be tomorrow. Hence, continuously chasing after trends can portray your company as a follower rather than a leader in the industry.

If you want your brand or company to stand out from the crowd, start focusing on creating content that highlights your unique capabilities. 

Don’t make AI your Primary Writer

AI has been a great help and has definitely made the task easy for us writers. But what happens when we start using AI as a writer? Although AI provides almost accurate and correct information (at times), but it lacks two major writing components — empathy and human touch. It has a monotonous writing style which reads very robotic. Do you think you can hook your readers with that? No!

Instead, use AI to work smart rather than work hard. While AI does and excels in excels at handling monotonous jobs and providing data-driven insights, we humans can add our deep understanding, emotional intelligence and creativity to the table. Include AI as a helpful tool while incorporating authenticity and creativity into their work to connect with their target audience and make it a collaborative effort. 

Focus on your Marketing Funnel 

Being there for your clients at each step of your decision-making process is important. When we are creating content for our clients or consumers, we need to keep the funnel in mind. Their buying behaviours, preferences, wants and needs. Creating content keeping the marketing funnel in mind will help us create content that fits into this funnel easily, rather than just creating content without a sense of direction. 

When we create tailored content for our clients and customers, we are directly communicating with them at every stage of the funnel. They are more likely to remain interested and involved as a result. Focusing more on the marketing funnel will assist content marketers in fine-tuning their strategies, captivating the audience and ultimately producing superior outcomes. 

Shift focus on Long-Form Content 

To start with, these are content or articles that extend 1200 words. Opting for long-form content can greatly increase the credibility and authority of your brand. It feels like you are showcasing your knowledge when you research deeply into a subject and provide your audience with in-depth analysis and thoughts. This establishes your brand as the authority in your field, builds trust and leaves a lasting impression of being a thought-provoking figure that everyone admires. 

Here’s another good reason for focusing more on long-form content—it boosts your search engine rankings and also brings in more organic traffic. As per research, long-form contents generate 70% more traffic. Not only that, it reduces the bounce rate and since you’re providing deeper information, people do spend time and stay on your website a little longer. This can therefore improve users’ overall experience on your website and increase the likelihood that they will take the intended action leading to a successful conversion. 

We at Spacebar, do believe and invest most of our time in writing long-form content for our clients and consumers. You can have a look at it yourself!

Create Meaningful Content 

Imagine you, a content marketer for business, marketing and public sales B2B, curate information about how it’s high time to change your routine, get into fitness and start taking care of yourself. That is exactly what happens when you create content just for the sake of it, just to be consistent. There has to be a match between what you do and what you talk about, if not always but most of the time. 

People connect with meaningful content because it speaks to their wants, worries or goals and draws readers in, fosters trust and creates a relationship that lasts. The quality of the content has a greater influence than its quantity. Not only that, meaningful content helps your marketing activities succeed overall by fostering brand loyalty and encouraging engagement. In an information-rich environment, producing content that genuinely matters will make your business stand out and improve the lives of your target audience and will also promote brand loyalty.

Focus more on Personal Branding 

Content marketing allows you to connect with your target audience on a personal level. Whenever we think about brands like Apple or Tesla, we can already picture the person and their motive behind the brands. That’s what strong personal branding does.  

Having a strong personal brand has many benefits. First and foremost, it goes beyond regular marketing by adding a human touch to the brand which helps it build authenticity and trust. Developing a  strong, distinctive personal brand also allows marketers to stand out from other competitors since they focus more on sharing stories and experiences that could resonate with the target audience. 

When you build a strong personal brand, you are more likely to build lasting connections because people tend to connect more with those who come across as genuine and approachable and also establish a competitive edge in a saturated market. 

As we approach 2024, marketers need to accept that the digital world is always changing, and creating content marketing strategies where you can adapt to changes and keep up with new developments becomes very important. Using strong CTAs to increase engagement to accomplish corporate goals, reusing content to expand the audience and provide them with more information on similar topics and improving readability becomes important. For optimal performance using methods like A/B testing and enhancing personal branding also becomes the cornerstone of a successful content marketing strategy.

Let’s approach 2024 with confidence, inventiveness and marketing success while we accomplish these objectives using our content marketing resolutions. Cheers to another year of expansion, fresh concepts and amazing marketing successes!

[tyktrade1]

Important Tips To Find The Right Trading Courses Online

Everyone wants to become a successful trader, but it’s not easy. You need to educate yourself about the market and all of its nuances before you can even begin trading. Luckily, there are many courses available that can help you get started, from those offered by accredited universities to those presented by websites with trading courses online experts.

What is the course about?

The first thing you should do is to check what the course is about. If it’s not covering the topics that you want to learn about, then it’s not worth your time or money. The course also needs to be relevant and applicable for your trading style and strategy because if it isn’t then all your effort will go down the drain as soon as you start using them on real-time markets.

The second thing I would recommend checking out before enrolling in any online trading courses is its price tag! You don’t want some expensive course which offers very little value but charges an arm and leg for itself! So make sure that whatever course(s) you choose falls within your budget range so that there won’t be any financial constraints hampering your learning process later down the line

Is the course instructor well qualified?

The first thing you want to do when looking for a trading course online is to find out what kind of experience the instructor has. You can do this by looking at their background and their trading track record and also by checking out their education, training and personality.

The best way to start off your search is by asking yourself these questions:

How does this person communicate with others? Is he or she easy going or uptight? Are they friendly and approachable, or aloof? Do they respond quickly when contacted via email or phone calls?

What type of content are they teaching on their website/social media pages (e-books/videos)? Are there many spelling errors in these materials which could indicate poor quality workmanship behind them; or do they appear well researched and thought through with detailed explanations given throughout each chapter so that readers can easily follow along without getting lost in jargon words used within each paragraph.

Does the course cover all the trading topics?

If you’re looking for a course that covers all the topics you need to learn, then this is the most important question. If it doesn’t, then it’s not going to be useful.

It’s important that your trading course covers all the topics you want to learn about and doesn’t skip over any of them.

If possible, choose a course that covers all of these different areas: • Introduction To Trading (the basics) • Technical Analysis (how markets move)

What are the qualifications of other students in the class?

If you’re going to be spending your money on a trading course, it’s important that the students in the class have been successful in the market. You don’t want to waste time and money learning from someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. It’s also beneficial if some of these students have been trading for a long time so that you can learn from their experience as well.

How are students’ results mentioned?

If you’re looking for a course that will help you learn how to trade, it’s important to pay attention to what other students have said about the program. The best way to do this is by reading through reviews and comments sections on sites like Course Report or Trustpilot.

You should be able to find out how many students were able to get results from taking the course in these places as well as what kind of results they achieved (like making money).

If there are no reviews available and only positive comments left by people who aren’t verified customers, then this could be a red flag that something isn’t right about those particular courses or teachers/instructors within them.

The best resources for trading courses online will help you build a profitable financial future.

Trading is not an easy task, but with the right knowledge and skills, you can become successful in this field.

Conclusion

With all the information available online, it can be difficult to find the right trading course for you. We hope that these tips will help you find the best resources for trading courses online and build a profitable financial future.

[lakelandseo]

Study: Which Link Metric Correlates Closest to Organic Visibility?

Throughout my career, most of my teams’ digital PR strategies for clients have consisted of closing link gaps, creating new ones, and earning as many high-tier links as possible. The goal was always the same: get our clients' websites to the top of the search engine result pages (SERPs) and outranking their competitors.

To that end, we’ve earned press coverage for clients on every top-tier publisher you can think of, including "dream publishers'' like CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Business Insider. We’ve even had dozens of campaigns go viral, earning thousands of links and hundreds of thousands of social shares, all resulting from sending a single outreach email to a journalist.

"What's wrong with that?" you might be asking. "It sounds like a successful strategy."

While "going viral" might not carry the same weight it once did, I'll be the first to admit it – there is hardly a more exciting feeling when working in digital PR. And we all know that link volume combined with high authority links will help you rise in the ranks of the SERPs. So, actually, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that strategy.

But when all you care about is lots of links and going viral, sometimes you miss the mark on something that matters just as much, if not more: relevance.

Since 2019, Google has acknowledged that it uses Natural Language Understanding (NLU) when assessing the relevancy and intent of users' search queries. So why is no one measuring relevance when it comes to link profiles?

The team at Journey Further sought to do just that — and in our latest study, we demonstrate why link relevance is more important than ever, and how a relevance-led approach can outperform larger and more authoritative websites time and time again.

What does it mean to be relevant in digital PR?

Like most things that catch fire in our industry, "relevance" has become a bit of a buzzword in digital PR. But what does it mean, really?

When you think about relevance, it's simple. Ask yourself:

Does this campaign relate to the client's product or service?

Does it have target keywords in it?

Does it talk about the main topics we want to target?

Does it answer the search intent?

Does it make sense for the client to be considered an authority and/or a trusted source on this topic?

If you answered no to most of these, you might want to go back to the drawing board.

For some clients, it can be difficult to come up with an idea that's both relevant and newsworthy. The most relevant idea in the world will not earn links if it's boring, and that's the challenge we all face every day when creating digital PR campaigns for our clients.

Though it's difficult, it's in your clients' best interest for you to think outside the box in ideation and come up with both relevant and link-worthy digital PR ideas — you'll understand why after seeing the data from our latest study.

How do you measure content relevance?

Beyond manually determining relevance with those questions above, what if there was a data-driven way?

Steve Walker, the technology director at Journey Further, found this kind of analysis to be resource-intensive and prone to error. Humans aren't as good at these tasks as machines are, so he created Salient, a free-to-use tool that measures the relevance of your content.

Steve thought, "If Google uses machine learning to measure the relevance of content, why aren't we?"

Using this proprietary technology powered by Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technology is how we can measure the relevance of content, analyzing an entire website's link profile rather than individual articles. Incorporating the IBM Watson Machine Learning API allows us to extract sentiment, recurring keywords and entities, and a relevancy and frequency score for each topic.

Off the back of this insight, we can understand what gaps exist in the relevancy of the link profile. This information then guides our PR and content strategies to drive organic visibility.

Study: Which link metric correlates closest to organic visibility?

So, how important is relevance compared with much-heralded metrics like Domain Authority (DA) and link volume?

In a data-driven attempt to learn which metric is statistically the best driver of organic visibility, our team at Journey Further analyzed the organic rankings of 6,000 commercially valuable keywords, calculating share of voice for a range of competing websites. From there, we measured the correlation of these scores against three link metrics:

Number of unique linking domains

Domain Authority

Topical link profile relevance

In this study, we focused on the home retail sector, with the following focus areas:

Across all 15 sectors, topical link relevance was the only metric that had a positive correlation to organic visibility

The findings of our study show that topical link relevance has the strongest correlation in 10 out of 15 sectors.

Domain Authority had a stronger correlation in five sectors: outdoor/patio, office furniture, bedding, desks, and pillows.

Unique linking domains never had the strongest correlation to organic visibility and, in fact, showed a negative correlation in 6 out of 15 sectors.

However, across all 15 sectors, topical link relevance was the only metric that positively correlated to organic visibility every time.

That's the TL;DR of it, but read on for a deeper look at some individual topic areas and how we came to these figures. View the full study here.

Definitions and Limitations

To better understand the data, let's detail some definitions first:

Correlation coefficient: A linear measure of the correlation between two variables. A value of 0 indicates no association between the two variables. A value greater than 0 indicates a positive association, and a value less than 0 indicates a negative association.

Organic share of voice (SOV): Organic SOV is a metric that represents how much organic traffic a site receives vs. the other sites in that sector for a set of high-traffic keywords. It considers keyword volumes, click-through rates, ranking position, and SERP features. The final SOV is expressed as a percentage of that keyword set's total available search volume. So if your SOV is 25%, you're winning 25% of the clicks for that set.

Topical link relevance: A score that shows the relevance of a keyword or topic to the entire document text or range of pages analyzed - in this case, the text on each page that links back to the sites we analyzed. The higher the number, the more relevant a topic. A score of 0 means that the topic was not relevant at all.

Unique linking domains: The total number of unique domains that link back to each site.

Domain Authority (DA): A ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website will rank on SERPs. A DA score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to greater visibility.

Limitations

This study relies on correlation and thus has limitations. Please note that correlation ≠ causation, and because Google historically does not comment on studies, or reveal precisely how the ranking algorithm works, we’ll likely never find causation. However, based on patents mentioning the use of topical relevance in combination with the findings of the correlation studies, we can be confident in the validity of the data.

Relevance vs. Link Volume

As an example, let's look at the bathroom sector. When looking at hundreds of keywords related to bathrooms like bathroom mirrors and bathroom ideas, we found that this sector has over 1.8 million searches per month, with leading home brands competing for share of voice.

After analyzing the backlink profile and relevance score, we then calculate a correlation with that brand's share of voice to determine if there is any connection between this metric and organic visibility.

Anything below zero has a negative correlation, so there is no connection.

Anything over zero has a positive correlation.

The higher the correlation, the stronger the relationship between the metrics and organic visibility.

With a correlation coefficient of .74, it's clear that the metric that is most closely related to organic visibility for the bathroom sector is topical link relevance.

Unique linking domains, in this case, has a negative correlation. For example, IKEA has a backlink profile of more than 406K ULDs, but doesn’t have the biggest market share, which shows that there is no correlation to the link volume and market share.

Relevance vs. Domain Authority

When looking at hundreds of keywords related to dressers, we found that this sector has over 1.6 million searches per month.

Again, we did the same thing here and compared each brand's backlink profile and relevance score to that brand's share of voice.

With a correlation coefficient of .61, we see that topical link relevance is the metric most closely related to organic visibility for the dressers sector.

However, this example demonstrates that all three metrics (relevance, Domain Authority, and link volume) are critical to organic visibility. All three have a very high correlation, which suggests that not only are these metrics correlated, but perhaps they are integral for boosting organic visibility in this sector.

View the full study here. (And feel free to reach out to me directly if you want us to run a free relevance report for you).

In SEO, it's not enough to be popular, you also need to be relevant

Historically, the SEO industry has relied on metrics like Domain Authority and link volume. These two metrics are important, but only provide a portion of the puzzle. Alone, they don't answer Google's primary question: which website is the most relevant for a query?

We've all seen campaigns out in the wild that make us scratch our heads, thinking, "what does this topic have to do with that client?" Think: why is a CBD company pushing out a study on anything but CBD? Why is a company that sells bathroom fixtures creating content about dogs?

When you fail to see the connection between the story and the client, you know they're only thinking of one thing: links.

But, as my colleague Beth Nunnington likes to say, "in SEO, it's not enough to be popular, you also need to be relevant."

Don’t forget, most clients don't want links for links' sake. They want what links bring: increased traffic, better rankings for priority keywords, increased revenue, brand awareness, etc.

And links will only serve those goals when they're relevant.

Don't get me wrong – I still LOVE a CNN placement (and so do clients), but now, I'd also like it to be relevant.

[bfxenon]

Study: Which Link Metric Correlates Closest to Organic Visibility?

Throughout my career, most of my teams’ digital PR strategies for clients have consisted of closing link gaps, creating new ones, and earning as many high-tier links as possible. The goal was always the same: get our clients' websites to the top of the search engine result pages (SERPs) and outranking their competitors.

To that end, we’ve earned press coverage for clients on every top-tier publisher you can think of, including "dream publishers'' like CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Business Insider. We’ve even had dozens of campaigns go viral, earning thousands of links and hundreds of thousands of social shares, all resulting from sending a single outreach email to a journalist.

"What's wrong with that?" you might be asking. "It sounds like a successful strategy."

While "going viral" might not carry the same weight it once did, I'll be the first to admit it – there is hardly a more exciting feeling when working in digital PR. And we all know that link volume combined with high authority links will help you rise in the ranks of the SERPs. So, actually, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that strategy.

But when all you care about is lots of links and going viral, sometimes you miss the mark on something that matters just as much, if not more: relevance.

Since 2019, Google has acknowledged that it uses Natural Language Understanding (NLU) when assessing the relevancy and intent of users' search queries. So why is no one measuring relevance when it comes to link profiles?

The team at Journey Further sought to do just that — and in our latest study, we demonstrate why link relevance is more important than ever, and how a relevance-led approach can outperform larger and more authoritative websites time and time again.

What does it mean to be relevant in digital PR?

Like most things that catch fire in our industry, "relevance" has become a bit of a buzzword in digital PR. But what does it mean, really?

When you think about relevance, it's simple. Ask yourself:

Does this campaign relate to the client's product or service?

Does it have target keywords in it?

Does it talk about the main topics we want to target?

Does it answer the search intent?

Does it make sense for the client to be considered an authority and/or a trusted source on this topic?

If you answered no to most of these, you might want to go back to the drawing board.

For some clients, it can be difficult to come up with an idea that's both relevant and newsworthy. The most relevant idea in the world will not earn links if it's boring, and that's the challenge we all face every day when creating digital PR campaigns for our clients.

Though it's difficult, it's in your clients' best interest for you to think outside the box in ideation and come up with both relevant and link-worthy digital PR ideas — you'll understand why after seeing the data from our latest study.

How do you measure content relevance?

Beyond manually determining relevance with those questions above, what if there was a data-driven way?

Steve Walker, the technology director at Journey Further, found this kind of analysis to be resource-intensive and prone to error. Humans aren't as good at these tasks as machines are, so he created Salient, a free-to-use tool that measures the relevance of your content.

Steve thought, "If Google uses machine learning to measure the relevance of content, why aren't we?"

Using this proprietary technology powered by Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technology is how we can measure the relevance of content, analyzing an entire website's link profile rather than individual articles. Incorporating the IBM Watson Machine Learning API allows us to extract sentiment, recurring keywords and entities, and a relevancy and frequency score for each topic.

Off the back of this insight, we can understand what gaps exist in the relevancy of the link profile. This information then guides our PR and content strategies to drive organic visibility.

Study: Which link metric correlates closest to organic visibility?

So, how important is relevance compared with much-heralded metrics like Domain Authority (DA) and link volume?

In a data-driven attempt to learn which metric is statistically the best driver of organic visibility, our team at Journey Further analyzed the organic rankings of 6,000 commercially valuable keywords, calculating share of voice for a range of competing websites. From there, we measured the correlation of these scores against three link metrics:

Number of unique linking domains

Domain Authority

Topical link profile relevance

In this study, we focused on the home retail sector, with the following focus areas:

Across all 15 sectors, topical link relevance was the only metric that had a positive correlation to organic visibility

The findings of our study show that topical link relevance has the strongest correlation in 10 out of 15 sectors.

Domain Authority had a stronger correlation in five sectors: outdoor/patio, office furniture, bedding, desks, and pillows.

Unique linking domains never had the strongest correlation to organic visibility and, in fact, showed a negative correlation in 6 out of 15 sectors.

However, across all 15 sectors, topical link relevance was the only metric that positively correlated to organic visibility every time.

That's the TL;DR of it, but read on for a deeper look at some individual topic areas and how we came to these figures. View the full study here.

Definitions and Limitations

To better understand the data, let's detail some definitions first:

Correlation coefficient: A linear measure of the correlation between two variables. A value of 0 indicates no association between the two variables. A value greater than 0 indicates a positive association, and a value less than 0 indicates a negative association.

Organic share of voice (SOV): Organic SOV is a metric that represents how much organic traffic a site receives vs. the other sites in that sector for a set of high-traffic keywords. It considers keyword volumes, click-through rates, ranking position, and SERP features. The final SOV is expressed as a percentage of that keyword set's total available search volume. So if your SOV is 25%, you're winning 25% of the clicks for that set.

Topical link relevance: A score that shows the relevance of a keyword or topic to the entire document text or range of pages analyzed - in this case, the text on each page that links back to the sites we analyzed. The higher the number, the more relevant a topic. A score of 0 means that the topic was not relevant at all.

Unique linking domains: The total number of unique domains that link back to each site.

Domain Authority (DA): A ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website will rank on SERPs. A DA score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to greater visibility.

Limitations

This study relies on correlation and thus has limitations. Please note that correlation ≠ causation, and because Google historically does not comment on studies, or reveal precisely how the ranking algorithm works, we’ll likely never find causation. However, based on patents mentioning the use of topical relevance in combination with the findings of the correlation studies, we can be confident in the validity of the data.

Relevance vs. Link Volume

As an example, let's look at the bathroom sector. When looking at hundreds of keywords related to bathrooms like bathroom mirrors and bathroom ideas, we found that this sector has over 1.8 million searches per month, with leading home brands competing for share of voice.

After analyzing the backlink profile and relevance score, we then calculate a correlation with that brand's share of voice to determine if there is any connection between this metric and organic visibility.

Anything below zero has a negative correlation, so there is no connection.

Anything over zero has a positive correlation.

The higher the correlation, the stronger the relationship between the metrics and organic visibility.

With a correlation coefficient of .74, it's clear that the metric that is most closely related to organic visibility for the bathroom sector is topical link relevance.

Unique linking domains, in this case, has a negative correlation. For example, IKEA has a backlink profile of more than 406K ULDs, but doesn’t have the biggest market share, which shows that there is no correlation to the link volume and market share.

Relevance vs. Domain Authority

When looking at hundreds of keywords related to dressers, we found that this sector has over 1.6 million searches per month.

Again, we did the same thing here and compared each brand's backlink profile and relevance score to that brand's share of voice.

With a correlation coefficient of .61, we see that topical link relevance is the metric most closely related to organic visibility for the dressers sector.

However, this example demonstrates that all three metrics (relevance, Domain Authority, and link volume) are critical to organic visibility. All three have a very high correlation, which suggests that not only are these metrics correlated, but perhaps they are integral for boosting organic visibility in this sector.

View the full study here. (And feel free to reach out to me directly if you want us to run a free relevance report for you).

In SEO, it's not enough to be popular, you also need to be relevant

Historically, the SEO industry has relied on metrics like Domain Authority and link volume. These two metrics are important, but only provide a portion of the puzzle. Alone, they don't answer Google's primary question: which website is the most relevant for a query?

We've all seen campaigns out in the wild that make us scratch our heads, thinking, "what does this topic have to do with that client?" Think: why is a CBD company pushing out a study on anything but CBD? Why is a company that sells bathroom fixtures creating content about dogs?

When you fail to see the connection between the story and the client, you know they're only thinking of one thing: links.

But, as my colleague Beth Nunnington likes to say, "in SEO, it's not enough to be popular, you also need to be relevant."

Don’t forget, most clients don't want links for links' sake. They want what links bring: increased traffic, better rankings for priority keywords, increased revenue, brand awareness, etc.

And links will only serve those goals when they're relevant.

Don't get me wrong – I still LOVE a CNN placement (and so do clients), but now, I'd also like it to be relevant.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello I love your work and I wanted to ask if you have any theories regarding book 7 in twisted wonderland how do you think malleus would overblot??

Aaah thank you 🥺

Since episode 6 was nothing like any of us expected it would be (like, the story took a super wild turn), I don’t think any theories or anything super specific that I say will actually come true 💦 but here are my general predictions:

Yuu and co. go to Diasomnia seeking out information about Mickey or a way for Yuu to go home (or maybe Crowley points them there because he’s too lazy to research himself; something like, “Oh, Diasomnia has many knowledgeable and talented magicians, it’s possible someone there can assist you.”) It’s also possible that Yuu sees Silver around campus and approaches him out of curiosity since Mickey described seeing someone like him in his “dream world” (like Prince Phillip approached Aurora).

Sebek is all up in arms about Yuu and Malleus being friends (this is basically a given). 

More lore on the human-fae war dropped (from Lilia?); this will probably be extremely relevant and play into the themes already hinted at in episode 6 (the importance of bonds, the brevity of human life, etc.).

Going off the last point, Sebek’s racism against humans is addressed and Silver’s origins/lineage are questioned or at least brought to light.

More on Malleus’s actual duties as prince of the Briar Valley; maybe they’re becoming more demanding or more restrictive as he draws close to his 4th year and graduation, and he’s trying to enjoy what little freedom he has left?

Lilia is caught in the midst of all the emotional turmoil and trying to support everyone the best he can. I feel that he will be the “glue” that keeps Diasomnia together for as long as it does (assuming episode 7 will be longer than episode 6), as well as the connection to involve Ignihyde (as he and Idia are unknowingly online gaming buddies with each other).

Speaking of Ignihyde, I don’t know how exactly Idia and Ortho will help us (since I don’t know the direction episode 7 will take yet), but I think they can at least pass on valuable knowledge to Malleus regarding life, death, and learning to cope and to move on with it.

DIASOMNIA SQUAD UNIQUE MAGIC REVEALS 🥺

That big Magift/Spelldrive tournament mentioned in episode 2 becomes relevant again. Maybe Malleus OBs during or close to it, thus exposing NRC’s Overblot problem to the rest of the world (and to RSA in particular), which will then lead into a “season 2″ of the main story.

Malleus OBs not because of anything closely tied to Yuu in particular, but because of a general existential crisis over his long life. Since episode 7 is the culmination of the main story, I can see characters from previous chapters returning and having the chance to interact with Malleus in small ways, and these just feed into his loneliness because he realizes he will eventually outlive everyone and no longer be able to experience something as simple as saying hello to Riddle or even bickering with Leona. He will constantly have to start over and over, maybe even seeing descendants of the people he once knew moving on with their lives (ie like Idia’s grandma giving her position to Idia’s dad, and soon Idia) while he’s just... there, relatively unchanging.

There are 2 things I think will either happen in episode 7 or in a theoretical episode 8: an Ace developing his UM arc and Grim OBing (due to a combination of eating OB rocks and/or Yuu leaving for their home world). The reason why I think these could be pushed off to episode 8 is because episode 7 already sounds like it’s going to be dealing with a lot of characters and heavy topics, and I don’t know if TWST can pull it off well considering the polarity between chapter 5 and 6 with character balance.

ADDENDUM: I’d also like more Crowley involvement in the story, since a lot of us are speculating about his motives. We don’t know what he was up to for most of episode 6 when he was supposedly meeting with Idia’s parents, sooo elaboration on that part would be great! 🙏

[mmmmalo]

For anyone still under the impression that June Egbert is just a product of the Toblerone wishes with no particular relevance to Homestuck proper, here's an argument to the contrary: that June (or whatever you like to call her) was already here, woven into John's relationship with the idea of Dad.

Act 1 has a certain preoccupation with the ideal forms of things, John having multiple instances of saying X isn't a REAL X unless it has this or that characteristic. "A fire BELONGS in a fireplace, categorically." One of those outbursts touches upon masculinity, with John saying a gentleman without a monocle is a piss-poor excuse for such. Along such a paradigm, you might gather that something like John saying the beaglepuss sucks as a disguise or trying (and failing) to integrate Dad's pipe into the façade communicates that John is kind of grasping at this ideal of masculinity exemplified by Dad and getting frustrated that he can't seem to measure up to it (or that masculinity feels "fake" on him).

This sort of dynamic is more blatant with Dave, who talks openly about how he isn't a "hero", not really, measuring himself against the impossible standards set by his Bro. But as much was already implicit in Act 1.

Later it gets established that John has some kind of fear of heights: the first ogres appear after John experiences vertigo from almost falling off the stairs, and again after getting launched by the pogo hammer. (Just as Karkat suspected he was given a planet covered in his own blood as a form of harassment, Sburb placed John's house on that needle plateau because of this fear of heights; the game generally manifests adversaries in response to fear). The phobia becomes relevant to Dad stuff after the ogre fight is over, when John is hesitating to jump down into Dad's room: it isn't just that John's nervous about entering the room for the first time, the descent itself makes John anxious. Furthermore, this juxtaposition serves to establish that the fear of heights and anxieties around Dad are related somehow, if not outright synonymous. The two are associated again at the beginning of Act 5 Act 2, when dream!John tries to jump over a canyon to reach Dad, but awakens mid-leap. The formal reason John awakens is Vriska of course, but if we ignore her we're left with John approaching Dad and immediately experiencing vertigo. (The name "June" comes from Vriska contacting John shortly after this dream, incidentally)

This comes up again when John finds Dad's wallet and gets overwhelmed by the prospect of Manhood and the responsibilities it entails -- next thing you know John is flying around in Dad's car, having fun... and after the scene is interrupted by Seek the Highblood, we return to find John crashing the car (another fall from the sky!) and talking with Vriska about dread surrounding societal expectations, and the possibility of rejecting them to pursue something different for yourself. John came into the scene worried (if quietly) about the expectations surrounding manhood, so the Vriska conversation serves to makes those kind of concerns more vivid.

The car crash is itself kind of a metaphor for that conversation's trajectory... in Act 6 we see something analogous play out among the Dersites who have gotten into dapper-wear: one Dersite sits on a hat, panics about ruining it, and then begins to wonder if perhaps a crumpled hat could have a value of its own, aesthetically. (Dirk expresses this sort of counter-assessment more bombastically: "...the next best thing. By which you mean, the vastly superior thing.") Dad Crocker swoops in to condemn the crumpled hat, but the Dersite's tentative revaluation of an apparent failure mode is something the scene shares with Vriska, who initially regards her ambivalence towards murder as a symptom of personal failure, unbefitting her caste. John enters that conversation with a crumpled car, and from context we can guess John's revaluation concerns "failing" to be a man in the way Dad is, and how maybe that doesn't need to be considered a failure.

As laid out so far, I guess none of this quite necessitates trans-Egbert, since people can come at "anxiety and reservations at the prospect of embodying masculine ideals" from a number of angles... but there are other considerations which make me think wrestling with self-deprecating thoughts like "I'm a failed man" are maybe comorbid with a budding sense of being a girl, in Egbert's case.

Foremost, I think it helps to recognize that Dad's car can function as a symbol of John's body. To sketch a case for that:

1a. Death often means transformation: the trolls die in questcocoons to reach the godtiers, suggesting that death stands between the caterpillar and the butterfly, their too solid flesh dissolved into a goo.

1b. A command in Act 1 implores John to "retrieve arms from MAGIC CHEST". John complies twofold: we see some fake arms retrieved from the toy chest, held up by John's real arms which have been "retrieved" from John's ostensibly armless torso.

2. This dual usage of chest is deployed in part 3 of Openbound, in service of building a dysphoria metaphor (among other things). The segment reintroduces us to Fiduspawn, a game in which one creature hatches from another, a host creature, killing the host in the process (fans of the Alien films may recognize this as derivative of the "chestburster", fans of Homestuck may recognize this as analogous to godtiering). Damara (who Rufioh refers to as "doll") becomes the host plush, who is accused of locking away Rufioh's "happy thought" (Tinkerbull) in her "chest". Rufioh's beef with Damara serves to illustrate an adversarial relationship with one's own body, the ways in which the body itself seems to function as a barrier to some happiness. The carnal imprisonment of euphoria (the "happy thought") represents dysphoria. The conversation between Kanaya and Porrim which follows has analogous content and offers a potential resolution to such a conflict, with Kanaya coming to distinguish her body from the reproductive duties assigned to her body by her caste's place in society, and knowing that she is not "bound" to the Matriorb by any will but her own...

3. But the paradigm of Fiduspawn reminds us that the act of actually ripping the happy thought out of your chest has suicidal overtones, when taken literally. And Aradiabot notwithstanding, the inner ghosts the kids give up are often green: Dirkbot tears out his uranium heart and explodes, Rose peels pink bricks off the green core of an island and wonders aloud if her existence is a mistake, and (returning to our main topic!) John tries to retrieve the green package from Dad's car. The retrieval of the box comes to represents the birth of the self from its shell, the now broken body, a gesture which overlaps with the pursuit of death.

So we can infer that Dad is akin to Damara here, having locked the desired object (the box, the "happy thought") within a container that we can identify with John's own body. Thus Vriska's talk of perhaps rejecting her assigned role in society proceeds naturally from the wreckage of Dad's car: insofar as the car functions as an emblem of the masculine expectations imposed upon John, the car's wreckage suggests the possibility of liberation from those expectations, liberation from your own body. John is "sick to death of cake" -- cake is a Life symbol imposed by Dad, in visceral excess, accumulating as every birthday marches John towards Manhood. The possibility of living as a girl does not seem to have occurred to John yet, life and masculinity seem inextricable and absolute. The first time John sees Dad's car totaled (after Rose drops it), the symbol of self-as-corpse is surrounded by yellow bands of caution tape. The Authority Regulator who placed the tape will later declare himself to be THE LAW, and we should take his word for it: the scene's function is to declare that the crumpled car, the "dead" and therefore feminized body, is forbidden to John. No surprise then that as John marches to her death, in defiance of the Law's prohibition, she-whose-name-does-not-yet-suit-her is met with impressions of several maps that actually align with their territories: troll movies whose titles are their contents in full, a rocket encoded by the sound PCHOOOOO. John wants that for herself, I think. And as @lscholar once pointed out, it’s worth noting that John's pursuit of this unity (this pursuit of "death") is interrupted by Dave, who in saving John's life repeatedly emphasizes their status as "bros" -- masculinity being, again, inextricable from life within John’s symbol system.

...and that's the short of it. A more detailed account might get into the association of Vriska and other blue girls with the feminized corpse, or read into Equius self-consciously roleplaying as a cat girl between John’s joyride and crash, or perhaps try to apply this car-body framework to the appearances of Dad's car in the Epilogues. And I haven’t even touched upon clowns...but I'll call it here for now.