#and that the narrative continues to have a low buy-in for its coherency

[vermillioncrown]

@punderfulfandoms (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) this is what i strive for, getting deep reading of my fanfic lmao, thank u and bless

these are all very good points!

i have not been forthcoming with everyone's age (except you now have a reference point with korvin and dick, re: ch3). jason's closer to korvin in age than he is to dick, but that's still a bit of range to play with (the math has been left as an exercise for the enterprising reader lol)

whfagt and my recent teaser snippet has little hints of the jason & korvin dynamic. i personally think it's wack wild and hilarious but who knows how it'll be received

=

bc you're signing up for my academic rants (in the tags, but they can happen anywhere if relevant)...

another gripe i have w common cliches is the stem/math vs english major false dichotomy

yes, that's pretty true at the lower levels of those fields. but at the higher level, it's all critical thinking. the tools may be different, the common language and operations might be different, and the context too.

my advisor jokes (w a whole rice bag of truth rather than just a grain) that a phd in anything is still a philosophy major flavored with whatever we're obsessed with. PhD -> doctor of philosophy, yeah? logic, rhetoric, argumentation, ontology--these are concepts that can be applied to any field. in fact, that's the point of phd dissertations in stem, esp in such an applied field like aerospace engineering. we are to take a concrete problem, abstract and formulate a fundamental subproblem from the application, and demonstrate rigor in handling the subproblem such that a generality can be formed and contribute to a larger understanding of the field.

is that not the same with literature analysis? i just deal with shitty greek letters most of the time rather than prose, is all.

@rozaceous and i would be that english vs math major thing, yet we have the exact same brainrot and nitpicks, house on fire status of getting along.

(it's because she's also a philo minor, technically could have been a philo double major)

[theatticoneighth]

Watching The Queen’s Gambit; on the Remarkable Unexceptionality of Beth Harmon

‘With some people, chess is a pastime. With others, it is a compulsion, even an addiction. And every now and then, a person comes along for whom it is a birthright. Now and then, a small boy appears and dazzles us with his precocity, at what may be the world’s most difficult game. But what if that boy were a girl? A young, unsmiling girl, with brown eyes, red hair, and a dark blue dress? Into the male-dominated world of the nation’s top chess tournaments, strolls a teenage girl with bright, intense eyes, from Fairfield High School in Lexington, Kentucky. She is quiet, well-mannered, and out for blood.’

The preceding epigraph opens a fictional profile of Beth Harmon featured in the third episode of The Queen’s Gambit (2020), and is written and published after the protagonist — a teenage, rookie chess player, no less — beats a series of ranked pros to win her first of many tournaments. In the same deft manner as it depicts the character’s ascent to her global chess stardom, the piece also sets up the series’s narrative: this is evidence of a great talent, it tells us, a grandmaster in the making. As with most other stories about prodigies, this new entry into a timeworn genre is framed unexceptionally by its subject’s exceptionality.

Yet as far as tales regaled about young chess wunderkinds go, Beth Harmon’s stands out in more ways than one. That she is a girl in a male-dominated world has clearly not gone unremarked by both her diegetic and nondiegetic audiences. That her life has thus far — and despite her circumstances — been relatively uneventful, however, is what makes this show so remarkable. After all, much of our culture has undeniably primed us to expect the consequential from those whom we raise upon the pedestal of genius. As Harmon’s interviewer suggests in her conversation with Harmon for the latter’s profile, “Creativity and psychosis often go hand in hand. Or, for that matter, genius and madness.” So quickly do we attribute extraordinary accomplishments to similarly irregular origins that we presume an inexplicability of our geniuses: their idiosyncrasies are warranted, their bad behaviours are excused, and deep into their biographies we dig to excavate the enigmatic anomalies behind their gifts. Through our myths of exceptionality, we make the slightest aberrations into metonyms for brilliance.

Nonetheless, for all her sullenness, non-conformity, and her plethora of addictions, Beth Harmon seems an uncommonly normal girl. No doubt this may be a contentious view, as evinced perhaps by the chorus of viewers and reviewers alike who have already begun to brand the character a Mary Sue. Writing on the series for the LA Review of Books, for instance, Aaron Bady construes The Queen’s Gambit as “the tragedy of Bobby Fischer [made] into a feminist fantasy, a superhero story.” In the same vein, Jane Hu also laments in her astute critique of the Cold War-era drama its flagrant and saccharine wish-fulfillment tendencies. “The show gets to have it both ways,” she observes, “a beautiful heroine who leans into the edge of near self-destruction, but never entirely, because of all the male friends she makes along the way.” Sexual difference is here reconstituted as the unbridgeable chasm that divides the US from the Soviet Union, whereas the mutual friendliness shared between Harmon and her male chess opponents becomes a utopic revision of history. Should one follow Hu’s evaluation of the series as a period drama, then the retroactive ascription of a recognisably socialist collaborative ethos to Harmon and her compatriots is a contrived one indeed. 

Accordingly, both Hu and Bady conclude that the series grants us depthless emotional satisfaction at the costly expense of realism: its all-too-easy resolutions swiftly sidestep any nascent hint of overwhelming tension; its resulting calm betrays our desire for reprieve. Underlying these arguments is the fundamental assumption that the unembellished truth should also be an inconvenient one, but why must we always demand difficulty from those we deem noteworthy? Summing up the show’s conspicuous penchant for conflict-avoidance, Bady writes that: 

over and over again, the show strongly suggests — through a variety of genre and narrative cues — that something bad is about to happen. And then … it just doesn’t. An orphan is sent to a gothic orphanage and the staff … are benign. She meets a creepy, taciturn old man in the basement … and he teaches her chess and loans her money. She is adopted by a dysfunctional family and the mother … takes care of her. She goes to a chess tournament and midway through a crucial game she gets her first period and … another girl helps her, who she rebuffs, and she is fine anyway. She wins games, defeating older male players, and … they respect and welcome her, selflessly helping her. The foster father comes back and …she has the money to buy him off. She gets entangled in cold war politics and … decides not to be.

In short, everything that could go wrong … simply does not go wrong.

Time and again predicaments arise in Harmon’s narrative, but at each point, she is helped fortuitously by the people around her. In turn, the character is allowed to move through the series with the restrained unflappability of a sleepwalker, as if unaffected by the drama of her life.  Of course, this is not to say that she fails to encounter any obstacle on her way to celebrity and success — for neither her childhood trauma nor her substance-laden adolescence are exactly rosy portraits of idyll — but only that such challenges seem so easily ironed out by that they hardly register as true adversity. In other words, the show takes us repeatedly to the brink of what could become a life-altering crisis but refuses to indulge our taste for the spectacle that follows. Skipping over the Aristotelian climax, it shields us from the height of suspense, and without much struggle or effort on the viewers’ part, hands us our payoff. Consequently lacking the epochal weight of plot, little feels deserved in Harmon’s story.

In his study of eschatological fictions, The Sense of an Ending, Frank Kermode would associate such a predilection for catastrophes with our abiding fear of disorder. Seeing as time, as he argues, is “purely successive [and] disorganised,” we can only reach to the fictive concords of plot to make sense of our experiences. Endings in particular serve as the teleological objective towards which humanity projects our existence, so we hold paradigms of apocalypse closely to ourselves to restore significance to our lives. It probably comes as no surprise then that in a year of chaos and relentless disaster — not to mention the present era of extreme precariousness, doomscrolling, and the 24/7 news cycle, all of which have irrevocably attuned us to the dreadful expectation of “the worst thing to come” — we find ourselves eyeing Harmon’s good fortune with such scepticism. Surely, we imagine, something has to have happened to the character for her in order to justify her immense consequence. But just as children are adopted each day into loving families and chess tournaments play out regularly without much strife, so too can Harmon maintain low-grade dysfunctional relationships with her typically flawed family and friends. 

In any case, although “it seems to be a condition attaching to the exercise of thinking about the future that one should assume one's own time to stand in extraordinary relation to it,” not all orphans have to face Dickensian fates and not all geniuses have to be so tortured (Kermode). The fact remains that the vagaries of our existence are beyond perfect reason, and any attempt at thinking otherwise, while vital, may be naive. Contrary to most critics’ contentions, it is hence not The Queen’s Gambit’s subversions of form but its continued reach towards the same that holds up for viewers such a comforting promise of coherence. The show comes closest to disappointing us as a result when it eschews melodrama for the straightforward. Surprised by the ease and randomness of Harmon’s life, it is not difficult for one to wonder, four or five episodes into the show, what it is all for; one could even begin to empathise with Hu’s description of the series as mere “fodder for beauty.” 

Watching over the series now with Bady’s recap of it in mind, however, I am reminded oddly not of the prestige and historical dramas to which the series is frequently compared, but the low-stakes, slice-of-life cartoons that had peppered my childhood. Defined by the prosaicness of its settings, the genre punctuates the life’s mundanity with brief moments of marvel to accentuate the curious in the ordinary. In these shows, kindergarteners fix the troubles of adults with their hilarious playground antics, while time-traveling robot cats and toddler scientists alike are confronted with the woes of chores. Likewise, we find in The Queen’s Gambit a comparable glimpse of the quotidian framed by its protagonist’s quirks. Certainly, little about the Netflix series’ visual and narrative features would identify it as a slice-of-life serial, but there remains some merit, I believe, in watching it as such. For, if there is anything to be gained from plots wherein nothing is introduced that cannot be resolved in an episode or ten, it is not just what Bady calls the “drowsy comfort” of satisfaction — of knowing that things will be alright, or at the very least, that they will not be terrible. Rather, it is the sense that we are not yet so estranged from ourselves, and that both life and familiarity persists even in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Perhaps some might find such a tendency towards the normal questionable, yet when all the world is on fire and everyone clambers for acclaim, it is ultimately the ongoingness of everyday life for which one yearns. As Harmon’s childhood friend, Jolene, tells her when she is once again about to fall off the wagon, “You’ve been the best at what you do for so long, you don’t even know what it’s like for the rest of us.” For so long, and especially over the past year, we have catastrophized the myriad crises in which we’re living that we often overlook the minor details and habits that nonetheless sustain us. To inhabit the congruence of both the remarkable and its opposite in the singular figure of Beth Harmon is therefore to be reminded of the possibility of being outstanding without being exceptional — that is, to not make an exception of oneself despite one’s situation — and to let oneself be drawn back, however placid or insignificant it may be, into the unassuming hum of dailiness. It is in this way of living that one lives on, minute by minute, day by day, against the looming fear and anxiety that seek to suspend our plodding regular existence. It is also in this way that I will soon be turning the page on the last few months in anticipation of what is to come. 

Born and raised in the perpetually summery tropics — that is, Singapore — Rachel Tay wishes she could say her life was just like a still from Call Me By Your Name: tanned boys, peaches, and all. Unfortunately, the only resemblance that her life bears to the film comes in the form of books, albeit ones read in the comfort of air-conditioned cafés, and not the pool, for the heat is sweltering and the humidity unbearable. A fervent turtleneck-wearer and an unrepentant hot coffee-addict, she is thus the ideal self-parodying Literature student, and the complete anti-thesis to tropical life.

[nixonsmoviereviews]

"Tomie: Replay"- Certainly an improvement over the original with a few interesting moments and some solid direction. A mediocre film... but a fun one.

Ah, "Tomie." The original film, based on a popular ongoing manga, is a strange little side-note in the world of horror. A cult- film that fascinatingly attained something of a strong following, and lead to a slew of sequels over the past decade-and-a-half. I personally could never wrap my head around the apparent appeal of the original movie. It was a weird, contrived and often incompetent effort even for its bizarre content and presumably low-budget. Filled with nonsensical plot-points that I'd imagine only would make sense to hardcore fans of the source material, weird twists and turns you couldn't always follow and some generally lousy plotting. ...not to mention a few amusing "hiccups" in the production due to what I imagine were issues with the budget and time. That being said, I do view this first sequel as a certain and definite improvement. With a more focused script and a more confident sense of visual direction, I think "Tomie: Replay" is actually a decent- enough bit of fun... filled with just enough trippy visuals, cheesy scares and memorable moments to keep you watching, even if you occasionally roll your eyes are some of the sillier moments. It's a mediocre film. But a fun and oddly engaging one. Yumi (Sayaka Yamaguchi) is searching for her father- the director of a hospital who mysteriously vanished after a shocking surgery where what appeared to be a woman's severed head was removed from the abdomen of a young girl. However, as her investigation into her father's vanishing continues, soon it becomes apparent that something is very wrong at the hospital... and it may have something to do with a mythical and monstrous entity known as "Tomie" (Mai Hōshō)- a demonic force who is able to regenerate bodily damage and drive men to insanity with their lust for her. The biggest benefits to this production that give it an edge are the focused and concise script by Satoru Tamaki and some genuinely strong visual direction courtesy Tomijiro Mitsuishi. Tamaki quickly establishes a good sense of mood, location and dynamic in his writing, and you very easily understand what's happening, no matter how crazy the proceedings may get. While it does often fall back on horror clichés and it does run off the rails here and there, at very least there's a coherent central narrative and focus, which I felt the first film lacked at times. Though I'd be lying if I didn't have some issues with a few key sequences. (I have never really been able to buy how quickly Tomie drives men mad, for instance. It's always a bit too abrupt in the films I've seen, though admittedly I have not seen all of the films.) Tomijiro Mitsuishi helms the film, and I actually really enjoyed his work here. He's got a very keen of composition and movement, and many of his shots slither along like dreadful serpents, building tension before the strike. I was particularly taken with how he portrays the hospital, and how foreboding and alienating he is able to make such a common building in the film. It's a true shame that this seems to be his only credited directorial effort, at least from what I can tell. He's got a talented eye, fondly reminding me of early Carpenter or Craven, and I'd like to see him do some more work. The performances are also quite strong, the cinematography is leaps and bounds beyond the original, and general production is very solid. That being said, I do have some big issues with the film, mainly in that it never quite is able to build a satisfying sense of terror or drama and because at times it does feel like it's holding back or even just unsure of what to do with some of the ideas that are raised. I don't want to spoil anything, but the film promises some interesting ideas in it's later half, but it never quite gets built upon in a satisfactory manner. Combined with a general lack of fear (the film seems more content with being "weird" than "scary"), and I do have to dock some major points. Still, I can't help but really appreciate this film as a huge improvement over the original. It may not quite be a "good" film, but it's solid and enjoyable. I give it a slightly-above average 5 out of 10. It's a good time and you could do far worse. Just don't go in with high expectations.

[opedguy]

EU and U.S. Sanction Russia over Navalny

LOS ANGELES (OnlineCoumnist.com), March 3, 2021.--Driving Russian relations to Cold War lows, the European and Union and United States issued new sanctions over 44-year-old Alexi Navalny’s poisoning and eventual arrest, prosecution and sentencing to two-years-eight-months in a penal colony 62 miles east of Moscow.  President Joe Biden, 78, showed that he’s not the leader of the “Free World” joining the madness at the Brussels-based European Union slapping the Russian Federation with new sanctions.  Why anyone in the EU or U.S. cares about Navalny is anyone’s guess.  Navalny’s no angel, revoking his “prisoner of conscience” status Feb. 24 by Amnesy International for past racist comments about Chechens. Yet Navalny has become a poster-boy against 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation, not the EU or U.S. cup-of-tea when it comes to democracy.  Well, Navalny is no pro-Democracy advocate.       

      Whatever happened with Navalny’s Aug. 24 Novichok poisoning in Tomsk, Siberia, it’s an internal Russian matter, not one the EU and U.S. should risk sending Western nations into a new Cold War.  When Navalny returned, for some unknown reason, to Russia Jan. 17, he was promptly arrested for violating his probation.  Western government should not question Russia’s criminal justice system, anymore than Russia should question Brussels and Washington.  Yet after accusing the Russian Federation of meddling in U.S. and EU elections or politics for years, the EU and U.S. sees fit to meddle in Russian affairs.  EU and U.S. officials found out the hard way March 1, 2014 when Putin invaded and annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.  EU and U.S. officials claim they stand with Ukraine but when Putin marched in the Russian army the transatlantic partnership did nothing.    

         Only five weeks on the job, Biden can’t stop playing politics, insisting he’d do things differently than 74-year-old former President Donald Trump.  Democrats and the press falsely accused Trump for four years of colluding with the Kremlin, both to win the 2016 presidential election and in other unknown matters.  Former Obama administration officials conspired with the Department of Justice, CIA, FBI, National Security Agency [NSA], investigating and wiretapping Trump during his four years in office, eventually finding out there was no Russian collusion.  But even after 77-year-old Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation cleared Trump of wrongdoing March 23, 2019, Democrats and the U.S. press continued the fake Russian collusion narrative.  Biden showed he’s willing to compromise U.S. national security to prove he’s a tough, anti-Kremlin Cold War warrior.      

       Sanctioning Kremlin officials when it comes to foreign bank accounts could not be more phony, since none of them have foreign bank accounts. “These people don’t make foreign trips anyway and they don’t have the right to open accounts in foreign banks or have any other foreign assets,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.  So, with all the fake EU and U.S. toughness, what have they accomplished?  Putin now says he’ll find a way to return the favor to U.S. and EU officials.   Peskov reminded the EU and U.S. that any sanctions “represents meddling in Russia’s internal affairs,” and are “absolutely unacceptable, inflicting significant damage to the already poor ties,” raising disturbing questions of why the EU and U.S. actions.  When it comes to the EU, it’s more mysterious, since the EU buys 40% of its natural gas and 30% of its petroleum from the Russian Federation.   

          Why Navalny has become the latest totem of a fledgling democracy movement in Russia is anyone’s guess.  When Amnesty International revoked Navalny“prisoner of conscience” status, what more does the U.S. and EU needs to know.  He’s no pro-democracy activist, just a garden variety Trotskyite revolutionary looking to topple Putin’s 20-year reign of power.  EU officials know that there’s zero stomach in Brussels for any military confrontation with Russia, so why the antagonism?  Navalny is tucked away for the next several years in a Russian prison, if he ever gets out.  Showing that Brussels and Washington both share equally bad judgment when it comes to Russia, someone on both sides of the Atlantic needs to get a grip.  Navalny offers the EU and U.S. nothing in the way of regional or world security, only creating more problems for the transatlantic partnership.     

        Any EU or U.S. activist that advocated the overthrow of Brussels or Washington would be dealt with harshly.  Democrats and the U.S. press wanted Trump prosecuted for “incitement of insurrection,” accusing Trump of sedition in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.  If that’s how the U.S. government dealt with a former president, what’s the logic criticizing Putin for dealing with Navalny?  Navalny has created a shadow rebellion against the Kremlin, periodically waging violent street demonstrations.  Where’s the hypocrisy with the EU and U.S. putting Navalny on a pedestal when he advocates the overthrow of the Russian government?  “The principle of reciprocity in relations between states can’t be abandoned,” Peskov said, warning Brussels and Washington that the Kremlin would respond to the latest provocation.  There’s no logic or coherency to sanctioning Russia over Navalny.

  About the Author 

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.  Reply  Reply All  Forward

[shanedakotamuir]

Vox Sentences: Impeachment TV

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Impeachment inquiry holds its first public hearing; rising water in Venice turns deadly.

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

The first public hearing

Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent testified in the first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry before Congress Wednesday. [Washington Post / John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez and Colby Itkowitz]

Kent and Taylor testified about Trump’s attempts to force Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in exchange for military aid and a possible White House visit. [Politico / Nahal Toosi, Caitlin Oprysko, and Quint Forgey]

The biggest news in Taylor’s testimony: He overheard Trump asking Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about progress on “the investigations” a day after Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president. [AP News / Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick]

One reason the hearings were effective was a change in their format: Each party got 45 minutes to ask questions, allowing them more time to ask follow-ups and build a coherent narrative. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) denounced the hearings as a “low-rent Ukrainian sequel” to the Mueller investigation. [CNN / Chris Cillizza]

Here’s one third-grader’s quest to understand the impeachment hearings. [New York Times]

If you need a refresher on how we got here, here’s the ultimate guide to the impeachment saga. [Vox / Andrew Prokop and Matt Yglesias]

Floods turn deadly in Venice

One man is confirmed dead as a result of Venice’s biggest floods in the last 50 years. [CNN / Julia Hollingsworth]

Venice’s mayor declared a state of emergency after the water level reached about six feet and two inches. [New York Times / Elisabetta Povoledo]

Over 85 percent of the city is submerged in water and floods only two inches short of the highest recorded floods, in 1966. [NPR / Bill Chappell]

”Now the government must listen,” tweeted Mayor Luigi Brugnaro. “These are the effects of climate change. ... The costs will be high.” [BBC]

The combination of high winds and a full moon tide are partly to blame for the record water levels, with another round of high tides expected Thursday. [Vice News / Alex Lubben]

Miscellaneous

Continued protests in Iraq are met with crackdowns that are beginning to succeed in creating a powerful atmosphere of fear. [Independent / Louisa Loveluck]

Google is looking to launch a banking project called Cache that allows users to open checking accounts by next year. [Wall Street Journal / Peter Rudegeair and Liz Hoffman]

Disney’s streaming services launched despite technical issues, problems they are promising to fix. [TechCrunch / Sarah Perez]

Do pimple patches actually work? We buy them like they do. [Vox / Cheryl Wischhover]

The Washington Post’s James Hohmann and Mariana Alfaro analyze Trump’s treatment of Turkey, looking back to his self-admitted “little conflict of interest.” [Washington Post / James Hohmann and Mariana Alfaro]

Verbatim

“For me, it was just so sad that a foreign embassy in the United States had bullied an American mosque. ... The NBA gives me a big platform, and so that’s why I’m trying to be a voice for all those innocent people who don’t have one.” [Boston Celtics center of Turkish origin Enes Kanter on how his vocal criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan impacted his attempt to host a free basketball camp]

Listen to this: Bill and Kent’s congressional adventure

The first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry was held today. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains the significance of the testimonies given by acting Ambassador William Taylor and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. [Spotify]

Read more

AOC and Ilhan Omar call for Stephen Miller’s resignation over his promotion of white supremacist articles

Greta Thunberg is sailing to the next big international climate conference in Spain

How The Report condenses the post-9/11 CIA torture report into a devastating paranoid thriller

Trump is reportedly planning to promote Ken Cuccinelli to a top position at DHS

High School Musical — and its ongoing cultural legacy — explained

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2OnkLoL

[timalexanderdollery]

Vox Sentences: Impeachment TV

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Impeachment inquiry holds its first public hearing; rising water in Venice turns deadly.

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

The first public hearing

Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent testified in the first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry before Congress Wednesday. [Washington Post / John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez and Colby Itkowitz]

Kent and Taylor testified about Trump’s attempts to force Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in exchange for military aid and a possible White House visit. [Politico / Nahal Toosi, Caitlin Oprysko, and Quint Forgey]

The biggest news in Taylor’s testimony: He overheard Trump asking Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about progress on “the investigations” a day after Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president. [AP News / Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick]

One reason the hearings were effective was a change in their format: Each party got 45 minutes to ask questions, allowing them more time to ask follow-ups and build a coherent narrative. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) denounced the hearings as a “low-rent Ukrainian sequel” to the Mueller investigation. [CNN / Chris Cillizza]

Here’s one third-grader’s quest to understand the impeachment hearings. [New York Times]

If you need a refresher on how we got here, here’s the ultimate guide to the impeachment saga. [Vox / Andrew Prokop and Matt Yglesias]

Floods turn deadly in Venice

One man is confirmed dead as a result of Venice’s biggest floods in the last 50 years. [CNN / Julia Hollingsworth]

Venice’s mayor declared a state of emergency after the water level reached about six feet and two inches. [New York Times / Elisabetta Povoledo]

Over 85 percent of the city is submerged in water and floods only two inches short of the highest recorded floods, in 1966. [NPR / Bill Chappell]

”Now the government must listen,” tweeted Mayor Luigi Brugnaro. “These are the effects of climate change. ... The costs will be high.” [BBC]

The combination of high winds and a full moon tide are partly to blame for the record water levels, with another round of high tides expected Thursday. [Vice News / Alex Lubben]

Miscellaneous

Continued protests in Iraq are met with crackdowns that are beginning to succeed in creating a powerful atmosphere of fear. [Independent / Louisa Loveluck]

Google is looking to launch a banking project called Cache that allows users to open checking accounts by next year. [Wall Street Journal / Peter Rudegeair and Liz Hoffman]

Disney’s streaming services launched despite technical issues, problems they are promising to fix. [TechCrunch / Sarah Perez]

Do pimple patches actually work? We buy them like they do. [Vox / Cheryl Wischhover]

The Washington Post’s James Hohmann and Mariana Alfaro analyze Trump’s treatment of Turkey, looking back to his self-admitted “little conflict of interest.” [Washington Post / James Hohmann and Mariana Alfaro]

Verbatim

“For me, it was just so sad that a foreign embassy in the United States had bullied an American mosque. ... The NBA gives me a big platform, and so that’s why I’m trying to be a voice for all those innocent people who don’t have one.” [Boston Celtics center of Turkish origin Enes Kanter on how his vocal criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan impacted his attempt to host a free basketball camp]

Listen to this: Bill and Kent’s congressional adventure

The first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry was held today. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains the significance of the testimonies given by acting Ambassador William Taylor and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. [Spotify]

Read more

AOC and Ilhan Omar call for Stephen Miller’s resignation over his promotion of white supremacist articles

Greta Thunberg is sailing to the next big international climate conference in Spain

How The Report condenses the post-9/11 CIA torture report into a devastating paranoid thriller

Trump is reportedly planning to promote Ken Cuccinelli to a top position at DHS

High School Musical — and its ongoing cultural legacy — explained

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2OnkLoL

[screemagazine]

The Saddest Joy

On the release of Viktor’s Joy “I used to be clean”, a few words about the album, and a few more words with guitarist and songwriter Kaarel Malken… Having been tipped off by a musician friend from Herefordshire, I went to see Viktor’s Joy play in a pop up bar in some nondescript corner of Berlin when I was there last year.  The walls were scoured and mottled with patches of paint over bare plaster, the lighting dim.  Viktor’s Joy are led by Kaarel Malken (guitar, vocals).  He played fingerpicked guitar with a gentle but technical drummer (Jim Good) on a stripped down kit.  As we waited for them to come on music from Leonard Cohen’s first album set up the ambience, an obvious precedent.  I think it is probably lazy journalism to write soundbites like “Viktor’s Joy are Estonia’s answer to Leonard Cohen”, but the restraint of the music and depth of the lyrics encourage such behaviour.  Another comparison is Elliott Smith, particularly evident on the poetic and wearily lilting Parade Song #2, which even the title appears to be a conscious nod to the dear, departed American singer, sounding reminiscent of something off Either/or. The gig was beautiful, and swept us away.  At the end of the gig I spoke to Kaarel about his music, and he was kind enough to give me a pre-release of the album in a handmade cover for review in SCree.  I looked forward to playing it at home, and have played it sporadically since.  The album is out now, and I recommend you hear it, particularly if you are keen on melancholy folky singer songwriter stuff as I am.  Some music you hear seems to pose with miserable depth as a kind of sad expression forced to convince of profundity.  This music speaks of genuine experience, and seems to talk of growing up in Estonia and life experiences that transcend the specifics of their birth.  All the Promises Ever Made talk of the perils of addiction and how easily we fall into smoking, drinking, drugging.  There is a nostalgia to it as well as regret.  The refrain “never again” speaks of our brief determination to avoid destructive behaviour that is so easily forgotten.  The music sits in a rolling groove that has something of the Velvet Underground in the swooping electric guitar part.  There is variety on this record as well as coherence, in the instrumentation as in the arrangements.  The following track The Taste I remember, She Became a Ghost, is woven through with fast picking and tells a story effectively and evocatively.  It is haunting, ethereal and worn with a weary strength.  The guitar playing is almost Spanish classical style, particularly in the interludes.  He makes use of repetition to effectively show the tide of passing time.   Even more Spanish is the virtuosic opening lick to Lake Ontario, which is a short flourish before the cyclical picking comes in.  Again, there is an anecdotal narrative to it which is poetic and evocative.  Characters are introduced alongside the places they live.  Glacial vocals echo between verses.  The production is reverb-heavy and deep.  It sounds like it was recorded in an empty building.  The closing track Sisters ends on a slightly different note.  There is a warmth in the recording that offsets the wistfulness.  Like the bittersweet end to an eventful journey.  

A few questions: When did you first pick up the guitar? Growing up in a small town, surrounded by nothing but Soviet block houses, derelict playgrounds and seemingly endless  fields of peat, there were really not that many options. Either you take to kicking around a ball  or you take to kicking around other kids, most seemed to prefer the latter. Luckily my sisters, being ten years older than me,  saw the last of MTV and VH1 . By the time I got there the funeral procession was over  and the burial was about to end - the music industry, wearing shorts, was filming the open grave for a new reality TV show. I was the social experiment, the kid brother, the one who had to wear  "Guns n’ Roses" T-shirts and grow his hair long - during a time of shaved heads and garbage disco music. In the late nineties my father got offered a job, in Moscow, as a warehouse keeper. A few times a year he’d  return with a trunk full of  shovels, power drills, hammers, saws  and other tools he had managed to steal from the warehouse. Everything  spray painted red to fool the Russian customs into believing they were used. There had been a snowstorm the night before my dad arrived. An endless carpet of pure white. I was leaning over the sill, looking out from the kitchen window. My eyes were watery from the cold, but my excitement got the best of me. He parked his Lada and from the backseat he would lift out a large cardboard box, with the words “Dolby Surround” printed on its side. Little did I know that the content of that very box would affect my day to day existence to an almost unhealthy degree. During the following  years our collection of pirated cassette tapes and compact discs grew with  albums from Nirvana, Offspring, Dire Straits, Korn, Kino etc. Anything the shopkeeper in Moscow could copy on a CD-R and send to my sisters. Perhaps it was the sub-woofer that ignited my obsession to become a drummer, perhaps not, but by the time I turned ten I had begun taking lessons in the  local music school. My teacher was a middle aged marching band percussionist with a serious boozing problem. The four years under his tyranny taught me more about the side effects of binge drinking rather than drums. “For Christ sake boy, you keep missing the  f*ing beat train!” : something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I called it quits after failing to perform  to a handful of  Sunday afternoon pensioners, my mother and my teacher,  in the city hall. Years  later, on my way to university, I walked past a plate glass window of a small music shop. The sign said : “20% off all instruments!!!” in big bright letters. With the little  I had saved,  working night shifts as a receptionist in a hotel,  and with the help of my parents, I scraped together enough to buy a blue XS plywood guitar. I composed my first song three days later. A two chord, short lived disaster. Last time I saw the guitar, hung by its neck, behind a plate glass window of a pawn shop - once more, discounted. What have you been doing up until now? Do you have any other interests beyond music? I’ve worked as a dishwasher, pastry chef, phone agent, engineer, as an extra in low budget German TV-movies. In other words, you name it - I’ve done it. Right now I’m sitting in a cafeteria a few blocks down the street from my house. I’ve been coming here for years to read and write. The bohemian life…. you know.  These days the place is full of prams and crying toddlers. One of them is drooling on my pants sleeve, as we speak. I find this drone of life calming. How did you find recording the album? Although the process started off in a proper studio, under the  guidance of a fantastic sound engineer, Martin Fiedler, I decided to continue by myself in the comfort of my bedroom - for the larger part. I suppose I felt intimidated by the expensive Neumann’s and the professional approach, deeming myself unworthy. In the long run, the positives outweighed the negatives and I learned how to use the equipment I had bought or borrowed from my friends ( mainly from my good buddy and band member Jim Good), during the years I’ve lived in Berlin. I guess the hardest part was recording the drums.  I used an old Russian Oktava that Jim brought back from Estonia a few summers ago - the only one that seemed to yield results. Jim is a subtle player , not a 4/4 rock drummer, and getting the sound I was looking for wasn’t as easy as I expected. It all worked out thanks to Jim’s infinite patience. Along the way Michael Brinkworth came to my aid with his beautiful 70’s Fender (I’m sorry if it wasn’t a Fender, Michael) and his ideas. Always a few hours late and out of breath - always passionate. He’s the most prolific  songwriter I  know and his input was more than welcomed. Some of my guitar tracks and vocal takes were done in a rehearsal room that used to belong to  Nina Hagen (something the locals seemed to take a lot of pride in). A damp basement full of old carpets and stale air. I spent a few weeks locked behind that massive metal door singing the same lines, over and over again. It was the following Autumn when I met Mauno Meesit from Grainy Records.  He was in the midst of recording his own album and was in need of a classical guitar. Our  mutual friend, who knew I had one,  got him to come to one of my shows. We barely spoke after the gig but in a couple of days I received an E-mail and from there on we got to speaking. Turned out he liked the show and was enthusiastic about the album I had been recording.  Soon enough he proposed me to join his label and I accepted without hesitation. I saw how serious he was about his own music and my mind was made up even before he asked. I’m not the easiest person to work with but Mauno’s, Buddha like, calmness bridged our way. The result is on my table, boxes full of it. Who could have imagined… What was the inspiration for the songs? I consider “I used to be clean”  a concept album. A retroperspective glimpse into my  childhood and how it was to grow up in the East during a time of despair and poverty as well as unity and love. I’m sure these themes will carry on into the future of my lyrics. Inspiration is an entity. Some sort of an astral being that enters and exits one’s body whenever and wherever. During these times I’m nothing but a medium in a state of unconscious effortlessness. Many of my songs are not born out of inspiration. These are the ones I’m never fully satisfied with, the conscious ones, the ones I labor over. The beauty of these songs lies in their ability to grow and change as I do. I’m learning how to work without inspiration yet remain open to it - it’s not that easy. How do you go about writing? My day kick-starts in the afternoon after a few cups of coffee. I try to write something in my diary every day. Sometimes it’s a poem or a short story, but mostly it amounts to nothing more but  everyday uneventfulness. It takes me weeks, months,  at times even years, to finish a song. Lately I feel as If I’m in  dire need of a break. Someplace quiet, outside this metropolitan cesspool. Someplace small where people go to sleep when the sun sets. Someplace where people talk about ordinary things, sit by a card table, eat canned sausages and drink clear spirits. Any place  considered “culturally inactive” according to metropolitan standards. Where can we hear it? www.bandcamp.com/viktorsjoy  or www.grainyrecords.com Where can we hear you play? The album release show, in Berlin,  will take place in Neue Nachbarn on the 5th of April. https://www.facebook.com/events/1879058472306213/1879252808953446/?notif_t=like&notif_id=1490094469947888 What are your plans for the future? Organize a couple of shows in Estonia and focus on writing and recording new tracks.

[gravityzine]

The Saddest Joy

On the release of Viktor’s Joy “I used to be clean”, a few words about the album, and a few more words with song writer Kaarel Malken...

Having been tipped off by a musician friend from Herefordshire, I went to see Viktor's Joy play in a pop up bar in some nondescript corner of Berlin when I was there last year.  The walls were scoured and mottled with patches of paint over bare plaster, the lighting dim.  Viktor's Joy are led by Kaarel Malken (guitar, vocals).  He played fingerpicked guitar with a gentle but technical drummer (Jim Good) on a stripped down kit.  As we waited for them to come on music from Leonard Cohen's first album set up the ambience, an obvious precedent.  I think it is probably lazy journalism to write soundbites like “Viktor's Joy are Estonia's answer to Leonard Cohen”, but the restraint of the music and depth of the lyrics encourage such behaviour.  Another comparison is Elliott Smith, particularly evident on the poetic and wearily lilting Parade Song #2, which even the title appears to be a conscious nod to the dear, departed American singer, sounding reminiscent of something off Either/or. The gig was beautiful, and swept us away.  At the end of the gig I spoke to Kaarel about his music, and he was kind enough to give me a pre-release of the album in a handmade cover for review in SCree.  I looked forward to playing it at home, and have played it sporadically since.  The album is out now, and I recommend you hear it, particularly if you are keen on melancholy folky singer songwriter stuff as I am.  Some music you hear seems to pose with miserable depth as a kind of sad expression forced to convince of profundity.  This music speaks of genuine experience, and seems to talk of growing up in Estonia and life experiences that transcend the specifics of their birth.  All the Promises Ever Made talk of the perils of addiction and how easily we fall into smoking, drinking, drugging.  There is a nostalgia to it as well as regret.  The refrain “never again” speaks of our brief determination to avoid destructive behaviour that is so easily forgotten.  The music sits in a rolling groove that has something of the Velvet Underground in the swooping electric guitar part.  There is variety on this record as well as coherence, in the instrumentation as in the arrangements.  The following track The Taste I remember, She Became a Ghost, is woven through with fast picking and tells a story effectively and evocatively.  It is haunting, ethereal and worn with a weary strength.  The guitar playing is almost Spanish classical style, particularly in the interludes.  He makes use of repetition to effectively show the tide of passing time.   Even more Spanish is the virtuosic opening lick to Lake Ontario, which is a short flourish before the cyclical picking comes in.  Again, there is an anecdotal narrative to it which is poetic and evocative.  Characters are introduced alongside the places they live.  Glacial vocals echo between verses.  The production is reverb-heavy and deep.  It sounds like it was recorded in an empty building.  The closing track Sisters ends on a slightly different note.  There is a warmth in the recording that offsets the wistfulness.  Like the bittersweet end to an eventful journey.  

A few questions:

When did you first pick up the guitar?

Growing up in a small town, surrounded by nothing but Soviet block houses, derelict playgrounds and a seemingly endless  fields of peat, there were really not that many options. Either you take to kicking around a ball  or you take to kicking around other kids, most seemed to prefer the latter. Luckily my sisters, being ten years older than me,  saw the last of MTV and VH1 . By the time I got there the funeral procession was over  and the burial was about to end - the music industry, wearing shorts, was filming the open grave for a new reality TV show. I was the social experiment, the kid brother, the one who had to wear  "Guns n' Roses" T-shirts and grow his hair long - during a time of shaved heads and garbage disco music. In the late nineties my father got offered a job, in Moscow, as a warehouse keeper. A few times a year he'd  return with a trunk full of  shovels, power drills, hammers, saws  and other tools he had managed to steal from the warehouse. Everything  spray painted red to fool the Russian customs into believing they were used. There had been a snowstorm the night before my dad arrived. An endless carpet of pure white. I was leaning over the sill, looking out from the kitchen window. My eyes were watery from the cold, but my excitement got the best of me. He parked his Lada and from the backseat he would lift out a large cardboard box, with the words "Dolby Surround" printed on its side. Little did I know that the content of that very box would affect my day to day existence to an almost unhealthy degree. During the following  years our collection of pirated cassette tapes and compact discs grew with  albums from Nirvana, Offspring, Dire Straits, Korn, Kino etc. Anything the shopkeeper in Moscow could copy on a CD-R and send to my sisters. Perhaps it was the sub-woofer that ignited my obsession to become a drummer, perhaps not, but by the time I turned ten I had begun taking lessons in the  local music school. My teacher was a middle aged marching band percussionist with a serious boozing problem. The four years under his tyranny taught me more about the side effects of binge drinking rather than drums. "For Christ sake boy, you keep missing the  f*ing beat train!" : something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I called it quits after failing to perform  to a handful of  Sunday afternoon pensioners, my mother and my teacher,  in the city hall. Years  later, on my way to university, I walked past a plate glass window of a small music shop. The sign said : "20% off all instruments!!!" in big bright letters. With the little  I had saved,  working night shifts as a receptionist in a hotel,  and with the help of my parents, I scraped together enough to buy a blue XS plywood guitar. I composed my first song three days later. A two chord, short lived disaster. Last time I saw the guitar, hung by its neck, behind a plate glass window of a pawn shop - once more, discounted.

What have you been doing up until now? Do you have any other interests beyond music?

I've worked as a dishwasher, pastry chef, phone agent, engineer, as an extra in low budget German TV-movies. In other words, you name it - I've done it. Right now I'm sitting in a cafeteria a few blocks down the street from my house. I've been coming here for years to read and write. The bohemian life.... you know.  These days the place is full of prams and crying toddlers. One of them is drooling on my pants sleeve, as we speak. I find this drone of life calming.

How did you find recording the album?

Although the process started off in a proper studio, under the  guidance of a fantastic sound engineer, Martin Fiedler, I decided to continue by myself in the comfort of my bedroom - for the larger part. I suppose I felt intimidated by the expensive Neumann's and the professional approach, deeming myself unworthy. In the long run, the positives outweighed the negatives and I learned how to use the equipment I had bought or borrowed from my friends ( mainly from my good buddy and band member Jim Good), during the years I've lived in Berlin. I guess the hardest part was recording the drums.  I used an old Russian Oktava that Jim brought back from Estonia a few summers ago - the only one that seemed to yield results. Jim is a subtle player , not a 4/4 rock drummer, and getting the sound I was looking for wasn't as easy as I expected. It all worked out thanks to Jim's infinite patience. Along the way Michael Brinkworth came to my aid with his beautiful 70's Fender (I'm sorry if it wasn't a Fender, Michael) and his ideas. Always a few hours late and out of breath - always passionate. He's the most prolific  songwriter I  know and his input was more than welcomed. Some of my guitar tracks and vocal takes were done in a rehearsal room that used to belong to  Nina Hagen (something the locals seemed to take a lot of pride in). A damp basement full of old carpets and stale air. I spent a few weeks locked behind that massive metal door singing the same lines, over and over again. It was the following Autumn when I met Mauno Meesit from Grainy Records.  He was in the midst of recording his own album and was in need of a classical guitar. Our  mutual friend, who knew I had one,  got him to come to one of my shows. We barely spoke after the gig but in a couple of days I received an E-mail and from there on we got to speaking. Turned out he liked the show and was enthusiastic about the album I had been recording.  Soon enough he proposed me to join his label and I accepted without hesitation. I saw how serious he was about his own music and my mind was made up even before he asked. I'm not the easiest person to work with but Mauno's, Buddha like, calmness bridged our way. The result is on my table, boxes full of it. Who could have imagined...

What was the inspiration for the songs? I consider "I used to be clean"  a concept album. A retroperspective glimpse into my  childhood and how it was to grow up in the East during a time of despair and poverty as well as unity and love. I'm sure these themes will carry on into the future of my lyrics. Inspiration is an entity. Some sort of an astral being that enters and exits one's body whenever and wherever. During these times I'm nothing but a medium in a state of unconscious effortlessness. Many of my songs are not born out of inspiration. These are the ones I'm never fully satisfied with, the conscious ones, the ones I labor over. The beauty of these songs lies in their ability to grow and change as I do. I'm learning how to work without inspiration yet remain open to it - it's not that easy.

How do you go about writing?

My day kick-starts in the afternoon after a few cups of coffee. I try to write something in my diary every day. Sometimes it's a poem or a short story, but mostly it surmounts to nothing more but  everyday uneventfulness. It takes me weeks, months,  at times even years, to finish a song.

Lately I feel as If I'm in  dire need of a break. Someplace quiet, outside this metropolitan cesspool. Someplace small where people go to sleep when the sun sets. Someplace where people talk about ordinary things, sit by a card table, eat canned sausages and drink clear spirits. Any place  considered "culturally inactive" according to metropolitan standards.

Where can we hear it? www.bandcamp.com/viktorsjoy  or www.grainyrecords.com

Where can we hear you play?

The album release show, in Berlin,  will take place in Neue Nachbarn on the 5th of April. https://www.facebook.com/events/1879058472306213/1879252808953446/?notif_t=like&notif_id=1490094469947888

What are your plans for the future?

Organize a couple of shows in Estonia and focus on writing and recording new tracks.

[samuelpboswell]

Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics

“Step up on the railing. Hold on, hold on. Keep your eyes closed.” Jack is holding Rose around her waist, cautiously lifting her up to the Titanic’s bow. “Do you trust me?” He was a stranger up until days earlier, but still, her response is almost instantaneous. “I trust you.” Moments later, Rose opens her eyes and she’s flying, arms outstretched as the mighty liner propels her forward. She and Jack hold hands; they kiss. Celine Dion’s music wafts in the background. Teenage boys in the theater start gagging, while romantic types swoon. There’s a good chance you lived through this very experience. James Cameron’s 1997 cinematic landmark Titanic was an unprecedented hit, holding the title as highest-grossing film of all time for 14 years. The scene described above is perhaps its most famous — the linchpin in a love story sparked by deep, genuine trust that materialized almost out nowhere. When I say, “Everyone and their mom saw this movie,” I mean it a bit too literally because I actually saw it with my mom, as a 12-year-old, and it was… awkward. With that embarrassing story out of the way (I swear there’s a reason I mentioned it, and we’ll get back to it later), let’s move on to one you might actually care about: The state of trust in marketing. Strap on your lifejacket and prepare for a journey through these choppy waters...

By the Numbers: The State of Trust in Marketing

At the outset of 2016, trust toward all four institutions measured by Edelman Trust Barometer reached their highest levels since the Great Recession, with businesses seeing the largest spike.

(Source)

Things looked good. Confidence was high. We were all cruising merrily along. Then, we hit the iceberg that was 2016. You might remember that year not-so-fondly, for any number of reasons. The following year, Edelman declared that “trust is in crisis around the world,” citing an unprecedented drop across all four institutions. The 2018 research revealed “a world of seemingly stagnant distrust,” with no rebound to be seen. Things weren’t merely stagnating everywhere, though... In 2018, only 48% of people in the United States said they trust businesses, down from 58% in 2017. (Edelman)

(Source)

This was a point where people were frantically piling into lifeboats. I think I just saw Billy Zane kick a little kid off one. What a jerk. Anyway, this is a problem. [Side note: If you’re noticing a lot of Edelman citations thus far, it’s because their Trust Barometer is such a valuable resource for the topic, and offers a consistent baseline to show the progression of trust. But there are plenty of other sources to come.] 63% of people agree with this statement: “A good reputation may get me to try a product—but unless I come to trust the company behind the product I will soon stop buying it, regardless of its reputation.” (Edelman) Oh, and: 68% of adults in the U.S. say that trust in a brand has "a great deal" or "a lot" of influence on their decision when making a big purchase. (SurveyMonkey) I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between “a great deal” and “a lot,” but alas... We've reached an era where people at large are digitally adept and savvy. They know they have a world of options at their literal fingertips, and can thusly hold brands to the highest of standards. Trust strikes a deep emotional chord. “The digital era has fundamentally shifted assumptions for how individuals will do business and engage with companies," Kevin Cochrane, Chief Marketing Officer at SAP, wrote at Harvard Business Review last year. "Once trust has been lost, it’s nearly impossible for brands to rebuild sustainable, honest relationships with their customers." In other words: once the ship has sunk, it ain't coming back up. [bctt tweet="Once #trust has been lost, it’s nearly impossible for brands to rebuild sustainable, honest relationships with their customers. - @kevinc2003 #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Some of the damage has already been done. A few months ago, Accenture released its Bottom Line on Trust report, which uses an "Accenture Strategy Competitive Agility Index” to “quantify the impact of trust on a company’s bottom line." Scoring more than 7,000 companies, this system found that... 54% have experienced a material drop in trust at some point during the past two and a half years, "conservatively" losing out on $104 billion in revenue. (Bottom Line on Trust) "In today’s world, it is no longer a question of if a company will experience a trust incident, but when," the report asserted. This is getting grim, I know. But we're not underwater yet. There is time yet to turn this troubling tide, and as the primary conduits between customers and brands, marketers can and must be at the forefront. Marketing executives at B2B and B2C service firms rank “trusting relationships” ahead of “low price” and “superior innovation” among their customers' priorities. (The CMO Survey)

(Source)

As we build relationships, we build trust. Edelman's 2018 report found that company content is twice as trusted after a customer-brand relationship has been formed. Marketing has a lot of functions (even a great deal of functions?) but this one will be most vital in the months ahead. All of our efforts are doomed without this crucial piece of the puzzle. So, how do we stay on course and prevent relationships from sinking? Well... 65% of business buyers say they’re likely to switch brands if vendors don’t make an effort to personalize communications to their company. 52% of consumers say the same. (State of the Connected Customer) This seems to be the the sweet spot. Personalization is the surest way to build a rapport in the digital space. When we fail to connect, it sets off immediate alarms. Personalization comes in many forms. It can be as sophisticated as using adaptive AI, or as simple as narrowing the scope and voice of your content to resonate with very specific audiences. Whatever the approach, customers clearly want it. And the potential revenue benefits are undeniable. [bctt tweet="#Personalization is the surest way to build a rapport in the digital space. When we fail to connect, it sets off immediate alarms. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Personalization can deliver 5-8 times the ROI on marketing spend, and can lift sales by 10% or more. (McKinsey & Company) Now that sounds like smooth sailing. Research makes clear that marketers are wise to chart a course for more personalized waters. Granted, that’ll mean different things to different organizations and strategies, but it simply must be a central focus if we are to stay afloat. Personalized marketing is the byproduct of turning customer data into useful insights. It’s the industry’s prime directive as we speak. I’m excited to see what we can accomplish on this front in 2019 and beyond. I will leave you with one final word (statistic) of caution, however. 79% of consumers will leave a brand if their personal data is used without their knowledge. (SAP Hybris Consumer Insights Report) Let’s steer clear of that. Transparency is now more essential than ever in marketing. Using data is not wrong — in fact, it’s requisite for personalization — but the last thing you want to come off as is sneaky or underhanded about it (just ask Facebook). Something as simple as a friendly, casual pop-up message on your website informing visitors that you use cookies (and why) can go a long way. By following the principles of responsible personalization, we as marketers can right the ship and play our part in building sturdy relationships that ensure customers...

via GIPHY

Moral of the Story: Steer Toward Trustful Shores

A bit of good news: in the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer results, released a couple of weeks ago, trust toward business increased in 21 of 26 markets, including the U.S. where 54% of respondents voiced confidence — one of the biggest jumps. Now, we need to stay that course. At a high level, personalization should be the true-north on every marketer's strategic compass. But on a day-to-day tactical basis, I believe there are three focal areas for continually building trust. As it happens, I've attempted to incorporate each into this blog post you're reading. Storytelling. My goal here was to take a set of statistics and craft them into a coherent narrative. For added effect, I juxtaposed it against another extremely recognizable story. Your mileage may vary on the wisdom and effectiveness of this particular approach. Authenticity. For better or worse, this is who I am. I’m the kind of guy who intertwines 20-year-old movies with blog posts about marketing. (More seriously, I have a genuine passion for the subject of trust in marketing, which is why I write about it so frequently here.) Transparency. Even — no, especially — when it’s information you’re not entirely jazzed to be sharing. I didn’t love telling you all about sitting uncomfortably next to my mom during the infamous “Draw me like one of your French girls” scene at age 12, but I did so with the hopes it’d signal an openness and candor in the writing to come. Recently I highlighted a company called Lemonade that runs a “Transparency Chronicles” series, in which they speak very frankly about their experiences as a growing business — including their failures and shortcomings. Customers are tired of hearing how great and perfect brands are. They want realness. Content marketing strategies founded on personalization, with storytelling, authenticity, and transparency as cornerstones, will be primed to stand the test of time in an age of digital disorientation. Maybe, one day, we can finally restore the fundamental trust that’s been shattered ever since some genius marketing mind came up with the “Unsinkable Ship” slogan. Did you like this post? Want to read more from me on trust and transparency in marketing? Check out these past articles:

Two Key Marketing Opportunities Amid Stories of Fake Traffic and Fraudulent Metrics

In a World of Diminishing Trust, Data-Driven Marketers Can Turn the Tide

Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling

How Brands Can Avoid the Dreaded Fauxthenticity Pitfall

The post Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/02/trust-marketing-statistics/

[befoundonlinemarketing]

Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics

“Step up on the railing. Hold on, hold on. Keep your eyes closed.” Jack is holding Rose around her waist, cautiously lifting her up to the Titanic’s bow. “Do you trust me?” He was a stranger up until days earlier, but still, her response is almost instantaneous. “I trust you.” Moments later, Rose opens her eyes and she’s flying, arms outstretched as the mighty liner propels her forward. She and Jack hold hands; they kiss. Celine Dion’s music wafts in the background. Teenage boys in the theater start gagging, while romantic types swoon. There’s a good chance you lived through this very experience. James Cameron’s 1997 cinematic landmark Titanic was an unprecedented hit, holding the title as highest-grossing film of all time for 14 years. The scene described above is perhaps its most famous — the linchpin in a love story sparked by deep, genuine trust that materialized almost out nowhere. When I say, “Everyone and their mom saw this movie,” I mean it a bit too literally because I actually saw it with my mom, as a 12-year-old, and it was… awkward. With that embarrassing story out of the way (I swear there’s a reason I mentioned it, and we’ll get back to it later), let’s move on to one you might actually care about: The state of trust in marketing. Strap on your lifejacket and prepare for a journey through these choppy waters...

By the Numbers: The State of Trust in Marketing

At the outset of 2016, trust toward all four institutions measured by Edelman Trust Barometer reached their highest levels since the Great Recession, with businesses seeing the largest spike.

(Source)

Things looked good. Confidence was high. We were all cruising merrily along. Then, we hit the iceberg that was 2016. You might remember that year not-so-fondly, for any number of reasons. The following year, Edelman declared that “trust is in crisis around the world,” citing an unprecedented drop across all four institutions. The 2018 research revealed “a world of seemingly stagnant distrust,” with no rebound to be seen. Things weren’t merely stagnating everywhere, though... In 2018, only 48% of people in the United States said they trust businesses, down from 58% in 2017. (Edelman)

(Source)

This was a point where people were frantically piling into lifeboats. I think I just saw Billy Zane kick a little kid off one. What a jerk. Anyway, this is a problem. [Side note: If you’re noticing a lot of Edelman citations thus far, it’s because their Trust Barometer is such a valuable resource for the topic, and offers a consistent baseline to show the progression of trust. But there are plenty of other sources to come.] 63% of people agree with this statement: “A good reputation may get me to try a product—but unless I come to trust the company behind the product I will soon stop buying it, regardless of its reputation.” (Edelman) Oh, and: 68% of adults in the U.S. say that trust in a brand has "a great deal" or "a lot" of influence on their decision when making a big purchase. (SurveyMonkey) I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between “a great deal” and “a lot,” but alas... We've reached an era where people at large are digitally adept and savvy. They know they have a world of options at their literal fingertips, and can thusly hold brands to the highest of standards. Trust strikes a deep emotional chord. “The digital era has fundamentally shifted assumptions for how individuals will do business and engage with companies," Kevin Cochrane, Chief Marketing Officer at SAP, wrote at Harvard Business Review last year. "Once trust has been lost, it’s nearly impossible for brands to rebuild sustainable, honest relationships with their customers." In other words: once the ship has sunk, it ain't coming back up. [bctt tweet="Once #trust has been lost, it’s nearly impossible for brands to rebuild sustainable, honest relationships with their customers. - @kevinc2003 #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Some of the damage has already been done. A few months ago, Accenture released its Bottom Line on Trust report, which uses an "Accenture Strategy Competitive Agility Index” to “quantify the impact of trust on a company’s bottom line." Scoring more than 7,000 companies, this system found that... 54% have experienced a material drop in trust at some point during the past two and a half years, "conservatively" losing out on $104 billion in revenue. (Bottom Line on Trust) "In today’s world, it is no longer a question of if a company will experience a trust incident, but when," the report asserted. This is getting grim, I know. But we're not underwater yet. There is time yet to turn this troubling tide, and as the primary conduits between customers and brands, marketers can and must be at the forefront. Marketing executives at B2B and B2C service firms rank “trusting relationships” ahead of “low price” and “superior innovation” among their customers' priorities. (The CMO Survey)

(Source)

As we build relationships, we build trust. Edelman's 2018 report found that company content is twice as trusted after a customer-brand relationship has been formed. Marketing has a lot of functions (even a great deal of functions?) but this one will be most vital in the months ahead. All of our efforts are doomed without this crucial piece of the puzzle. So, how do we stay on course and prevent relationships from sinking? Well... 65% of business buyers say they’re likely to switch brands if vendors don’t make an effort to personalize communications to their company. 52% of consumers say the same. (State of the Connected Customer) This seems to be the the sweet spot. Personalization is the surest way to build a rapport in the digital space. When we fail to connect, it sets off immediate alarms. Personalization comes in many forms. It can be as sophisticated as using adaptive AI, or as simple as narrowing the scope and voice of your content to resonate with very specific audiences. Whatever the approach, customers clearly want it. And the potential revenue benefits are undeniable. [bctt tweet="#Personalization is the surest way to build a rapport in the digital space. When we fail to connect, it sets off immediate alarms. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Personalization can deliver 5-8 times the ROI on marketing spend, and can lift sales by 10% or more. (McKinsey & Company) Now that sounds like smooth sailing. Research makes clear that marketers are wise to chart a course for more personalized waters. Granted, that’ll mean different things to different organizations and strategies, but it simply must be a central focus if we are to stay afloat. Personalized marketing is the byproduct of turning customer data into useful insights. It’s the industry’s prime directive as we speak. I’m excited to see what we can accomplish on this front in 2019 and beyond. I will leave you with one final word (statistic) of caution, however. 79% of consumers will leave a brand if their personal data is used without their knowledge. (SAP Hybris Consumer Insights Report) Let’s steer clear of that. Transparency is now more essential than ever in marketing. Using data is not wrong — in fact, it’s requisite for personalization — but the last thing you want to come off as is sneaky or underhanded about it (just ask Facebook). Something as simple as a friendly, casual pop-up message on your website informing visitors that you use cookies (and why) can go a long way. By following the principles of responsible personalization, we as marketers can right the ship and play our part in building sturdy relationships that ensure customers...

via GIPHY

Moral of the Story: Steer Toward Trustful Shores

A bit of good news: in the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer results, released a couple of weeks ago, trust toward business increased in 21 of 26 markets, including the U.S. where 54% of respondents voiced confidence — one of the biggest jumps. Now, we need to stay that course. At a high level, personalization should be the true-north on every marketer's strategic compass. But on a day-to-day tactical basis, I believe there are three focal areas for continually building trust. As it happens, I've attempted to incorporate each into this blog post you're reading. Storytelling. My goal here was to take a set of statistics and craft them into a coherent narrative. For added effect, I juxtaposed it against another extremely recognizable story. Your mileage may vary on the wisdom and effectiveness of this particular approach. Authenticity. For better or worse, this is who I am. I’m the kind of guy who intertwines 20-year-old movies with blog posts about marketing. (More seriously, I have a genuine passion for the subject of trust in marketing, which is why I write about it so frequently here.) Transparency. Even — no, especially — when it’s information you’re not entirely jazzed to be sharing. I didn’t love telling you all about sitting uncomfortably next to my mom during the infamous “Draw me like one of your French girls” scene at age 12, but I did so with the hopes it’d signal an openness and candor in the writing to come. Recently I highlighted a company called Lemonade that runs a “Transparency Chronicles” series, in which they speak very frankly about their experiences as a growing business — including their failures and shortcomings. Customers are tired of hearing how great and perfect brands are. They want realness. Content marketing strategies founded on personalization, with storytelling, authenticity, and transparency as cornerstones, will be primed to stand the test of time in an age of digital disorientation. Maybe, one day, we can finally restore the fundamental trust that’s been shattered ever since some genius marketing mind came up with the “Unsinkable Ship” slogan. Did you like this post? Want to read more from me on trust and transparency in marketing? Check out these past articles:

Two Key Marketing Opportunities Amid Stories of Fake Traffic and Fraudulent Metrics

In a World of Diminishing Trust, Data-Driven Marketers Can Turn the Tide

Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling

How Brands Can Avoid the Dreaded Fauxthenticity Pitfall

The post Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics posted first on http://www.toprankblog.com/

[christopheruearle]

Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics

“Step up on the railing. Hold on, hold on. Keep your eyes closed.” Jack is holding Rose around her waist, cautiously lifting her up to the Titanic’s bow. “Do you trust me?” He was a stranger up until days earlier, but still, her response is almost instantaneous. “I trust you.” Moments later, Rose opens her eyes and she’s flying, arms outstretched as the mighty liner propels her forward. She and Jack hold hands; they kiss. Celine Dion’s music wafts in the background. Teenage boys in the theater start gagging, while romantic types swoon. There’s a good chance you lived through this very experience. James Cameron’s 1997 cinematic landmark Titanic was an unprecedented hit, holding the title as highest-grossing film of all time for 14 years. The scene described above is perhaps its most famous — the linchpin in a love story sparked by deep, genuine trust that materialized almost out nowhere. When I say, “Everyone and their mom saw this movie,” I mean it a bit too literally because I actually saw it with my mom, as a 12-year-old, and it was… awkward. With that embarrassing story out of the way (I swear there’s a reason I mentioned it, and we’ll get back to it later), let’s move on to one you might actually care about: The state of trust in marketing. Strap on your lifejacket and prepare for a journey through these choppy waters...

By the Numbers: The State of Trust in Marketing

At the outset of 2016, trust toward all four institutions measured by Edelman Trust Barometer reached their highest levels since the Great Recession, with businesses seeing the largest spike.

(Source)

Things looked good. Confidence was high. We were all cruising merrily along. Then, we hit the iceberg that was 2016. You might remember that year not-so-fondly, for any number of reasons. The following year, Edelman declared that “trust is in crisis around the world,” citing an unprecedented drop across all four institutions. The 2018 research revealed “a world of seemingly stagnant distrust,” with no rebound to be seen. Things weren’t merely stagnating everywhere, though... In 2018, only 48% of people in the United States said they trust businesses, down from 58% in 2017. (Edelman)

(Source)

This was a point where people were frantically piling into lifeboats. I think I just saw Billy Zane kick a little kid off one. What a jerk. Anyway, this is a problem. [Side note: If you’re noticing a lot of Edelman citations thus far, it’s because their Trust Barometer is such a valuable resource for the topic, and offers a consistent baseline to show the progression of trust. But there are plenty of other sources to come.] 63% of people agree with this statement: “A good reputation may get me to try a product—but unless I come to trust the company behind the product I will soon stop buying it, regardless of its reputation.” (Edelman) Oh, and: 68% of adults in the U.S. say that trust in a brand has "a great deal" or "a lot" of influence on their decision when making a big purchase. (SurveyMonkey) I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between “a great deal” and “a lot,” but alas... We've reached an era where people at large are digitally adept and savvy. They know they have a world of options at their literal fingertips, and can thusly hold brands to the highest of standards. Trust strikes a deep emotional chord. “The digital era has fundamentally shifted assumptions for how individuals will do business and engage with companies," Kevin Cochrane, Chief Marketing Officer at SAP, wrote at Harvard Business Review last year. "Once trust has been lost, it’s nearly impossible for brands to rebuild sustainable, honest relationships with their customers." In other words: once the ship has sunk, it ain't coming back up. [bctt tweet="Once #trust has been lost, it’s nearly impossible for brands to rebuild sustainable, honest relationships with their customers. - @kevinc2003 #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Some of the damage has already been done. A few months ago, Accenture released its Bottom Line on Trust report, which uses an "Accenture Strategy Competitive Agility Index” to “quantify the impact of trust on a company’s bottom line." Scoring more than 7,000 companies, this system found that... 54% have experienced a material drop in trust at some point during the past two and a half years, "conservatively" losing out on $104 billion in revenue. (Bottom Line on Trust) "In today’s world, it is no longer a question of if a company will experience a trust incident, but when," the report asserted. This is getting grim, I know. But we're not underwater yet. There is time yet to turn this troubling tide, and as the primary conduits between customers and brands, marketers can and must be at the forefront. Marketing executives at B2B and B2C service firms rank “trusting relationships” ahead of “low price” and “superior innovation” among their customers' priorities. (The CMO Survey)

(Source)

As we build relationships, we build trust. Edelman's 2018 report found that company content is twice as trusted after a customer-brand relationship has been formed. Marketing has a lot of functions (even a great deal of functions?) but this one will be most vital in the months ahead. All of our efforts are doomed without this crucial piece of the puzzle. So, how do we stay on course and prevent relationships from sinking? Well... 65% of business buyers say they’re likely to switch brands if vendors don’t make an effort to personalize communications to their company. 52% of consumers say the same. (State of the Connected Customer) This seems to be the the sweet spot. Personalization is the surest way to build a rapport in the digital space. When we fail to connect, it sets off immediate alarms. Personalization comes in many forms. It can be as sophisticated as using adaptive AI, or as simple as narrowing the scope and voice of your content to resonate with very specific audiences. Whatever the approach, customers clearly want it. And the potential revenue benefits are undeniable. [bctt tweet="#Personalization is the surest way to build a rapport in the digital space. When we fail to connect, it sets off immediate alarms. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Personalization can deliver 5-8 times the ROI on marketing spend, and can lift sales by 10% or more. (McKinsey & Company) Now that sounds like smooth sailing. Research makes clear that marketers are wise to chart a course for more personalized waters. Granted, that’ll mean different things to different organizations and strategies, but it simply must be a central focus if we are to stay afloat. Personalized marketing is the byproduct of turning customer data into useful insights. It’s the industry’s prime directive as we speak. I’m excited to see what we can accomplish on this front in 2019 and beyond. I will leave you with one final word (statistic) of caution, however. 79% of consumers will leave a brand if their personal data is used without their knowledge. (SAP Hybris Consumer Insights Report) Let’s steer clear of that. Transparency is now more essential than ever in marketing. Using data is not wrong — in fact, it’s requisite for personalization — but the last thing you want to come off as is sneaky or underhanded about it (just ask Facebook). Something as simple as a friendly, casual pop-up message on your website informing visitors that you use cookies (and why) can go a long way. By following the principles of responsible personalization, we as marketers can right the ship and play our part in building sturdy relationships that ensure customers...

via GIPHY

Moral of the Story: Steer Toward Trustful Shores

A bit of good news: in the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer results, released a couple of weeks ago, trust toward business increased in 21 of 26 markets, including the U.S. where 54% of respondents voiced confidence — one of the biggest jumps. Now, we need to stay that course. At a high level, personalization should be the true-north on every marketer's strategic compass. But on a day-to-day tactical basis, I believe there are three focal areas for continually building trust. As it happens, I've attempted to incorporate each into this blog post you're reading. Storytelling. My goal here was to take a set of statistics and craft them into a coherent narrative. For added effect, I juxtaposed it against another extremely recognizable story. Your mileage may vary on the wisdom and effectiveness of this particular approach. Authenticity. For better or worse, this is who I am. I’m the kind of guy who intertwines 20-year-old movies with blog posts about marketing. (More seriously, I have a genuine passion for the subject of trust in marketing, which is why I write about it so frequently here.) Transparency. Even — no, especially — when it’s information you’re not entirely jazzed to be sharing. I didn’t love telling you all about sitting uncomfortably next to my mom during the infamous “Draw me like one of your French girls” scene at age 12, but I did so with the hopes it’d signal an openness and candor in the writing to come. Recently I highlighted a company called Lemonade that runs a “Transparency Chronicles” series, in which they speak very frankly about their experiences as a growing business — including their failures and shortcomings. Customers are tired of hearing how great and perfect brands are. They want realness. Content marketing strategies founded on personalization, with storytelling, authenticity, and transparency as cornerstones, will be primed to stand the test of time in an age of digital disorientation. Maybe, one day, we can finally restore the fundamental trust that’s been shattered ever since some genius marketing mind came up with the “Unsinkable Ship” slogan. Did you like this post? Want to read more from me on trust and transparency in marketing? Check out these past articles:

Two Key Marketing Opportunities Amid Stories of Fake Traffic and Fraudulent Metrics

In a World of Diminishing Trust, Data-Driven Marketers Can Turn the Tide

Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling

How Brands Can Avoid the Dreaded Fauxthenticity Pitfall

The post Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.