#i need to develop a better workflow man

[kekiiro]

[ what did you do? ]

[sirfrogsworth]

This man just loves shooting movies on "hard mode."

The 15 perf, 70mm film he uses is pretty special. In very limited circumstances, it can have the same detail as an 80 megapixel medium format camera. Roughly 12K if you average out the sharpness of the lens (the center is sharper).

It's gotta be the lowest speed film and on a tripod and *nothing* can be moving and there has to be plenty of light and the lens needs to be sharp enough to resolve that much detail and the air cannot be too moist or dusty... but yeah, sure... theoretically you can get a tiny circle in the center of the frame to be 18K. With the entire frame averaging out to be 12K.

And as you watch that 12K image on a 100 foot IMAX screen you can say to yourself, "Cillian Murphy should really try a pore cleanser."

But Nolan *rarely* uses it under those ideal conditions. So he is mostly preserving the resolution of the grain structure.

I know people go to movies to admire the high-resolution film grain structure. Right? Any grain nerds reading this?

So why is he doing this?

There is the "film look" that is a bit of a cheat code to reduce the need for extensive color grading. People just like the look of film. It has a nostalgic aesthetic that gives us comfort. All of the films of my childhood were on film. All of my childhood photos were on film.

But you can get film without film.

They have developed workflows that emulate film to a near-imperceptible level. There are filmvestigators who think they can always tell. But if it is close enough that only a few specially trained people can see the difference, it is imperceptible.

You can also hack digital to be film. Dune 2 took the digital footage and exposed it onto film and then scanned it back to digital.

Looked great.

Looked like film.

So he doesn't need to do this to get the film look.

WHY? What else could compel him to go through this considerable bother to capture his movie?

I could make an argument for gradients.

Any large format is going to capture very nice gradations. Gradations are probably the most underrated aspect of image quality. People get obsessed with Ks and megapixels, but 1080p is enough detail for most people.

Whereas having one color smoothly transition into another color is a very subtle thing that gives our brain an aesthetic buzz. It's that thing that makes people go, "Oh wow, you must have a really nice camera." It's that subconscious element in photos that helps differentiate snapshot from art.

This iPhone photo is great.

It is amazing this can be captured by a phone.

But a large format image just hits different.

And you can't always put your finger on why.

I mean, the why is because a professional photographer took the photo. (Unless that is one of those dentists with a Hasselblad.)

But if you account for the skill of the photographer, what else makes the photo special?

I think it is the gradients. The megapixels are nice. The color science is nice. But the way those tones just seamlessly shift into each other makes my brain tingle.

But the Arri 65 digital cinema camera is also large format. It has nicer lenses that weren't designed before the 90s. It doesn't cost thousands of dollars just to develop a few minutes of footage. It has more dynamic range. It can do the buttery smooth gradients. It weighs an entire 2-year-old child less than IMAX cameras.

And you don't need 4 dudes to deliver the movie to the projectionist.

And unless Christopher had them develop a silent IMAX camera, I guess all of the dialogue is going to be recorded in post.

I mean, IMAX claims they made them "30% quieter."

Which is a bit like when I inquired about an $8,000 treatment and explained that I had 0 money and the doctor offered me a 30% coupon.

So whyyyyyy?

It's heavy. It's loud. It doesn't offer better image quality.

I think it is just because film is cool and he doesn't want it to die.

I wish he would stop saying unscientific things about the magical 15/70mm film and just say "Because it is fucking cool."

I'm sold. That works for me.

By using the most extreme film camera, he brings attention to the use of film. He inspires people to learn about it and maybe even use it in their personal photography. (Film photography is very popular right now.) And he makes other big Hollywood directors think they can manage the pain in the ass of film as well.

I'm glad Nolan is this stubborn and willing to take on the challenges of using the heaviest and loudest cameras in existence.

The large format quality is good enough that it will be preserved well. We won't have a Star Wars crisis where people are trying to stitch together degraded 40 year old film to make sure Han shot first.

An 18K scan of IMAX will stand the test of time.

That doesn't mean IMAX is 18K or any other K.

The Ks don't matter! Stop talking about 18K! All you reddit r/IMAX nerds need to calm down about the Ks.

Talk about them sweet, sweet gradients.

Film is a variable resolution medium. If it is dark and you are using a Russian lens from the 50s, you might be getting 3K IMAX. You could have one scene from two angles be completely different resolutions. It's fine. No one is complaining that a movie isn't Kenough.

The only thing "scanned in 18K" means is that all of the detail will be well preserved, including that sexy grain structure.

Nice.

[mrghostrat]

i wanted to say thank you for normalizing (for me) tracing refs and models for things, i'm from the deviantart era of "using references is cheating" which set me back YEARS lmao so to see you unabashedly using references so directly makes me feel so much better for when i do! i need to better realize that you still have to be a good artist to make a traced photo look good, and there's SO much you add to a drawing that isn't from the reference, so it's not like i'm lying or secretly a bad artist just cuz i use the csp 1.0 models for poses sometimes....... so thanks for sharing your process!!

of course!!! and 100% agree! that's what i have to remind myself whenever the imposter syndrome sets in: there's so much you gotta add to a thing beyond the traced pose, and the reason i can do it how i do is because i'm at a very comfortable stage of my artistic development. but man i've gotten so much better at freehanding so many poses and limbs and fabric details since i started tracing more frequently, it really does help your muscle memory and help build the skill!!

and. it's just, fun. when you want to turn your brain off, like that richard ii sketch i posted. sometimes i wanna draw just for the fun of it, for the tactile experience of putting down lines and making pretty shapes appear. tracing is a godsend for that. just be transparent about your process ✨

i have all kinds of opinions abt when and where tracing is helpful as u develop as an artist, but at the end of the day everyone's art journey is their own, and they should be allowed to use whatever tools are available to them. remember that artists and animators have been tracing as part of their professional workflow since the photograph has been invented.

[winxwiki]

Iginio Straffi Interview “With my fairies I challenge Disney” by Silvia Brena, translated from Io Donna (10/09/2005)

originally transcribed by Iku, translated by me

Straffi talks about inspirations, his wife, Rainbow's workflow in 2005, their lack of unions and more!

If Winx doesn't ring a bell, it's because you don't have any female daughters. And if you don't know Iginio Straffi from Macerata, don't miss the seven reasons (and the moral) for the success of this 40-year-old creative. Who by staying in the province and marrying a cosmopolitan manager has gone global. “Mr. Rainbow, how does it feel to be one of Disney's most hated people?” Mr. Rainbow, born Iginio Straffi, age 40, from Macerata, does not answer. “You don't feel anything at all?” “I would rather people didn't think badly.” “Tell the truth.” "All right, I feel a certain pride in having annoyed a titan. It's inspiring."

[...]

Sivia Brena: So, Mr. Straffi, who inspired you? Iginio Straffi: “Chatwin, Simenon, Sergio Leone, Ingmar Bergman, movies like Blade Runner. Do I go on?" No, stop. And let's start again. In search of the real reasons and rules behind a phenomenon. [Reason No. 1-the metabolism of speed.] IS: “The first person to diagnose it was my pediatrician. He told my mother, 'Ma'am, your son is healthy, but he has a problem: he goes at 1,000 rpm and never relaxes.'"

SB: Number of emails received per day? IS: “Approximately 200, all ‘processed.’ I attack in the morning with Japan and stop at night with the US. In between, every day is Germany, Singapore and China." SB: Yes, but many are answering e-mails all day long and have not become cartoon kings.... IS: “You want a reason? then I'll give you three. 1) We control the intellectual property of our products: that is, we own our ideas. 2) In order to defend our product, that is, our ideas, we turned them into licensing, this has granted us the rights to all our assets. 3) People working with us come from all over the world. Yes, we have been fast." [Moral: Don't drop your ideas left and right. Protect them, they are better than privacy."]

[Reason #2 - Joanne. That is, what does a tenacious woman do next to a tenacious man]. SB: Yeah, what does she do with him? IS: “She gets married. We did it at the beginning of June. She is my right hand, my support, even moral support. She was the one who opened the markets of Asia for us, who bet with me on the development of licensing."

SB: Nice statement. IS: “It is the truth. My greatest joy is in the evening, at home, summarizing the day together." SB: But aren't you a bit symbiotic? IS: “On the contrary. It's cathartic to be able to be angry or happy as a couple over a success." SB: Never a disagreement, a difference of views? After all, you dragged a cosmopolitan manager from Singapore, who studied marketing at the prestigious Madison college in Wisconsin, deep into the Italic province. IS: “Diversity of views yes, of course. She has an Eastern approach. And American. For her, hierarchy is sacred. For me it is not. She thinks a well-liked leader is not doing his job well. I love consensus."

SB: When don't you see each other? IS: “We write to each other. Emails have been to us what letters used to be. They have kept the relationship alive." [Moral: Find yourself a partner in crime and hard worker. It also helps to save a paycheck."] [Reason #3 - Trust. and shame.] SB: Who believed in you? IS: “The president of Rainbow, Don Lamberto Pigini, an over-80-year-old priest who had a printing business. With him we laid the first brick." SB: Then? IS: “Joanne.” SB: As expected. IS: “And then I work in an atmosphere of trust, it's beneficial. And do you know why? Because I'm not equipped to disappoint. Those who work for me know that." SB: Explain yourself further. Does it have to do with the shame one feels in the face of failure? IS: “It has to do with my mother, who used to repeat to me, ‘Don't shame me, don't make me look bad.’” [Moral: Re-evaluate moms; they're still needed.] [Reason #4 - The team.] SB: How much work is done in your company? IS: “A lot, but hopefully with pleasure.” SB: Is there a union? IS: “No.” SB: No because you don't need it or no because you don't want it? IS: “With us, the key word is passion. No one here is a cog. We are an 'ad personam' company." SB: Boom. IS: “That's how it is. Because everyone sees that their ideas can live. And you work together. Each series, which is developed in six to seven months, has a team of ten designers dedicated to it." SB: Do you yell with your guys? Any mistreating? IS: “I confront. I tend to explain. And I can change my mind after a chat with a collaborator." SB: Do you explain your decisions? IS: “Always. Reason for disagreements with Joanne. She argues that a decision of mine should not be confronted with the opinions of collaborators. But by character I need consensus." [Moral: Aim for the creative philosophy of consensus, helps.] [Reason #5 - Don't give up.] IS: “We went through very hard times. The beginnings, the clash with Disney who accused us of copying their Witch. But then we won, partly because we started thinking about Winx in 2000, with Rai. Witch, the comic book, came out in May 2001." SB: Did you ever feel like quitting? IS: “I didn't mostly because of the guys who work with me.” [Moral: Don't work for yourself alone; be responsible.] [Reason #6 - The creative process.] SB: How does a good idea come about? IS: “I'll tell you how Winx was born. I first got the idea from watching the Japanese Sailor Moon, the story of five little fairies..." SB: You copied! IS: “I was inspired. The creative process comes to life by processing the already seen." SB: I mean, nobody invents anything. IS: “The basic elements of narratives are always the same, the skill is in remixing them. Look at the Japanese: they did Pokémon, then Digimon, then Dragonball." (TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Iginio probably refers to the italian airing of each show, NOT the japanese airing. We all know Dragon Ball came first, but it aired in 1999-2001 in Italy and then reran every year) SB: A master, a mentor of yours? IS: “Rodolfo Torti and Sergio Bonelli, two greats in the world of comics.” SB: Specifically, what do you do: do you sit down with a pencil in your mouth? IS: “The gestation is very long. It can last even years. I only write when inspiration comes to me." [Moral: Don't get anxious]. [Reason #7 - The Roots.] SB: Let's talk about Loreto. Strange location for a company with a global reach. IS: “We were born here.” SB: Yes, but people migrate. IS: “There's no reason for that. We live better here. We go to the beach on our lunch break. And in the middle of the green you work better." SB: Yes, but you are out of any trade route. IS: “We have e-mails, cell phones, faxes. From a business point of view, yes maybe Milan would be better. But we make it from here as well."

SB: How? IS: “We take young designers from schools like Urbino and train them internally. We hire people from all over the world, there are many foreigners, especially in marketing. They love living and working in the Marche region." SB: But do you feel like a provincial? IS: “Yes, I think so.” SB: Define provincial. IS: “When I can, I like to go to my parents for lunch on Sundays. It's a ritual, it makes me feel good." [Moral: Don't look for Zen and the art of better living in distant philosophies, go back to your own home].

[felixtam]

Audiovision Blog Post week 11

1. Research (technical, academic, creative practice)

I have mainly been focussing on developing my technical abilities when it comes to adding effects and modulating certain sound effects to achieve a desired feeling. More specifically, I wanted to work on enhancing the transitional sections as I felt that they did not flow well within the scenes and maybe don't match the genre too well.

While I am pretty well versed in Ableton and its implications, this video tutorial by youtuber 'Syntho' provided a great insight on how to use some of the stock ableton devices and effects for transitional purposes.

Although this video is related more to the music production side rather than sound design, the implications work with both. Some of the techniques I plan on integrating is the use of pitch transposition. As my main character is a sick old man, I plan on using this transposition to warp the sounds around him as he begins his coughing fit sections. This reflects what is commonly used in sections of media where a character may have gotten drugged or is falling ill.

I will pair this with the addition of white noise and the low pass filtering of any dominant low frequencies that my conflict with the pitched down sections.

All together these effects in conjunction create a quite authentic feeling that works effectively in conveying how the character may be feeling.

During the flashback sequences I have also implemented a subtle vintage grain as a motif to the audience that this is in the past, which is supported by the visual colour scheme and elements. I have also re recorded some of the vocal work that I did to try and sound younger.

This involves less violent coughing, clearer breathing and at a more steady pace. This contrasts the heavy restrained breathing and coarse coughing in the present sequences.

This article by 'Boom box post' goes over certain tips from industry professionals around workflow and making your work stand out from others. Some of the take aways surround the exploration of sound design by taking influences from unorthodox and unrelated sources. While using unconventional audio can be risky as it may not convey to the viewer what visual elements are presented, It can also be an effective way for your sounds to be memorable.

Another key tip is to surround yourself with fellow creatives and chain your ideas as two minds are always better than one. This may be pretty obvious but in the past couple days I have shown some of my friends my animation and have received some very insightful feedback and ideas that could be implemented which wouldn't have crossed my mind if it were not for them.

2. Reflection

In class we covered some of the intricacies of the sound design industry, and more specifically the reality of it. I found this class highly informative as it brought light to certain areas that haven't crossed my mind around work and life beyond university.

Mark broke down the intricacies of finding work and his story on how he became a freelance creator through his experiences and internship. The biggest takeaway I got from the lecture was to take any work as a learning and growing experience. By taking on challenges that you may find daunting, this can resultantly lead to personal growth around technical skills, efficiency and overall work ethic. This allows you to become more adaptable to hard situations in the future and broaden your skillset for your portfolio.

However, contrary to this was to trust your gut based on work opportunities. If you feel that you and your partner are not connecting well and aren't understanding/ able to explain their wants and needs, this ultimately leads to a negative experience. Mark covered times where this has led to hours of work translated into nothing, spending time to create something that a client is unhappy.

Instead, learn to accept work that you think will benefit you and relates to possible shared interests or skills that you can offer. This will ultimately improve your work in regards to efficiency and interest in the work. This will also provide a great opportunity to create work that you would be proud to have within your portfolio as it better reflects the kind of work you would like to receive in the future.

3. Progress

This week I mainly focussed on refining and improving some of the minor sound effects that were brought up to me by piers and my partners. These things would be as small as a faint child's voice in another room, or a more period accurate television sound playing in the other room. Overall I am pretty happy with how everything is working out in relation to the score and the overall feel of the environment.

I feel that the environment feels quite authentic, however certain aspects are still missing which can break immersion with the viewer.

Some of the changes I made were:

Creating a more authentic footstep noise for the old woman as at the moment the sound does not reflect her actions and the material of the flooring too well. In order to do so I recorded myself walking around on a hard floor wearing slides and then reduced the reverb and background noise through eq to get that authentic small room sandal sound.

Implementing an inaudible mumbling during the ending scene when they are arguing. This mainly works to increase the noise and chaos within the scene that builds up to the climax. I have filtered and saturated the audio through automation making it increasingly distorted and louder right before everything begins to crumble.

I have also layered more sounds into the crashing of boxes and the items smashing around the room as I felt that they were a bit flat and made it seem that they were just empty boxes before. I recorded most of these sounds myself by using one of those ikea storage containers and filling it with random things, then recording shaking and shuffling with that.

I worked a lot on the overall mix and balance as I naturally just accidentally made it quite quiet during the start and throughout the video it continued to get louder and louder. By adding the 'Span' (spectrum analyser) plugin onto the master chain this allowed me to identify the peaks of the mix throughout the entire animation and isolate the sounds that were causing this disruption.

I also used a reference animation of a similar style as a reference track to get a good idea for the base level I want the video to be at.

Overall I am quite happy with how it is so far, however am still waiting on the actual final final version of the animation in which I was told that there will still be a few changes with the timing and small details.

Bibliography:

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

What would we start off with this morning? The weather? Our power grid in the Charlottesville area? How about some links to articles I’ve collected through the week? Yes, let’s do that.

Ollie Williams • cabinradio.ca

A mercy flight taking Yellowknife hospital patients to safety was cancelled on Thursday, leaving nurses unsure how they’ll safely leave in the face of an oncoming wildfire.

Poor Canada. It’s been on fire for so, so, long. The human toll is so immense. 😔

Good thing Climate Change isn’t real. 🤬

Evan Selleck • AppleInsider

Apple TV+ has revealed the first details of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” a forthcoming 10-part series starring Kurt Russell, and coming as part of Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse.

I’m down for this series! I love me some Kurt Russell! 🦖

David Ljunggren • Reuters

OTTAWA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Canadian government on Friday demanded that Meta (META.O) lift a “reckless” ban on domestic news from its platforms to allow people to share information about wildfires in the west of the country.

I’m not a fan of Facebook but I do understand why Facebook chose to disallow links to news in Canada. It was a business decision for them based on new Canadian law.

Hopefully they’ll turn linking back on so folks can communicate about these devastating fires. ❤️

Grace Ebert • thisiscolossal.com

Artist Duke Riley is attuned to this history and its modern-day implications. He gathers laundry detergent jugs, flip-flops, and bottles that once held household products once they wash up near beaches and carves incisive allegories and ornamentation into their surfaces. Painted in a warm, grainy beige, the scavenged waste mimics the whale bones traditional to scrimshaw while the artist’s signature wit emerges through the contemporary narratives of oil barons or marine creatures carrying human trash.

It’s amazing what this man can do with trash.

The Globe and Mail

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada has been considering a “game plan” for how it would respond if the United States takes a far-right, authoritarian shift after next year’s presidential elections.

This is really sad when your neighbor and ally feel the need to prepare for the possibility the United States of America could become and totalitarian nation.

All I keep thinking of is Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale.

Who knows, if the US goes full authoritarian/totalitarian Canada may become a refuge for Americans, just like it is in The Handmaid’s Tale.

Kevin Chisholm • Flutter Engineering Blog

Welcome back to our quarterly Flutter stable release, this time for Flutter 3.13! In just the three months since our last release, we have had 724 pull requests merged and 55 community members authoring their first commit to Flutter!

I’ve tossed around the idea of rewriting RxCalc in Flutter so I keep an eye on it. I find it interesting and I feel like it’s a better choice than React Native, but that’s just a feeling because I haven’t written code in either.

One thing I definitely dislike about it, they paint the UI themselves. They’re not using native controls. I understand the choice, but I don’t like it. I don’t think that would keep me from using it for an app like RxCalc since its UI is extremely simple and I’d most likely use its C++ Pharmacokinetics library.

Nick Gernert • WordPress VIP

Vox Media wanted its creative and development teams to focus on experiences instead of platforms, continuing to create industry-leading content for their audiences.

Big moves like this are always very interesting to me. Vox must need the best writing tools the industry can offer to put together stories and I wonder how they’re going to feel about the writing tools in WordPress. I’m personally not a fan of Gutenberg and wonder if writers will work in that editor or use something else for the writing part and someone else does the post? I’d love to know their workflow.

A little inside baseball. I handle putting together posts for the WillowTree Engineering Blog but the authors use Google Docs to write them.

Debopriyaa Dutta • /Film

In her Telegraph interview, Chalotra explained that she was not too well-versed with the source material (at least to the point that her co-star Henry Cavill was, who’s an ardent fan of the franchise) and the stress of showing up to such a big-budget production was stress-inducing for her. Chaltora talked about how she believed she “didn’t think [she] was going to get through the first day of filming

I love The Witcher and Chaltora’s Yennefer is one of the reasons why. Henry Cavill’s Geralt is also fantastic but the ongoing tension between the two adds another great element to the show.

Ash Furrow

I’m narrowing in on a few possibilities, and one of them will soon become my destination. This space is uncomfortable and I feel an urge to escape it. An urge to collapse the wave function of possible career moves into a definite next job. Any job. After a disquieting summer, I feel myself grasping for certainty.

I’ve watched on Mastodon as amazing developer after developer lose their jobs or are having a very difficult time finding one.

This scare me to death. I’m aging, tired, and my brain definitely doesn’t work as well as it once did — it’s not as fast as before. Sure, I can do the work, but could I get past an interview? That’s the biggest fear.

Starbucks Stories & News

He shares the story of Starbucks® Pumpkin Spice Latte – which has become the company’s most popular seasonal beverage of all time – was created 11 years ago.

This is an article I stumbled on from 2014. I thought I’d share it since Starbucks is about to unleash Pumpkin Spick Latte season on us. It’s not a goto drink for me but I’ve had a few. My wife and daughters love them. Heck, they love all things pumpkin spice. Me? I’m just into good pumpkin pie. 🥧

Grace Kay • Business Insider

During an earnings call on Tuesday, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that by the end of its five-year contract with the Teamsters union, the average full-time UPS driver would make about $170,000 in annual pay and benefits, such as healthcare and pension benefits.

This article is about how tech workers don’t like the thought of UPS drivers making more than them. I say more power to ‘em!

I’ve often thought it would be amazing to work in a coffee shop. Of course I’d never expect to make that kind of money but I have a feeling I’d enjoy the change. At least for a little while. 😃

Scarheel • Atlas Obscura

From 1810 to 1823, Jean Lafitte and his brother Pierre were among the most notorious and successful privateers in the Americas. Like many great pirates, Jean Lafitte’s exact origins are shrouded in mystery, but he is believed to be born either in France or one of its Caribbean colony Saint-Domingue (now called Haiti) and he had a spectacular reputation for drinking, womanizing, and debauchery.

Who doesn’t like a little pirate lore? I know in real life these folks were scoundrels but we’ve romanticized them and there’s something about that skull and cross bones I like.

[xiv-wolfram]

I'm new to tumblr and looking to start my own visual stories. I stumbled upon yours through the suggestions and I am INVESTED. Raubae is a beautiful man and Wolfram and he are a beautiful couple!

Can you give a noob visual storyteller pointers on how to get started with their own comics?

OMG THANK YOU!!! 😭 I'm totally normal about them. I also want to apologize for Tumblr being a bit of a mess in terms of following the comics. Highly recommend the Carrd for chronological links.

As for comics - I'm far from an expert but I do see myself getting better with each one I make so hopefully some of this will help. 🤞

Read a bunch of different types of graphic novels. Pick the ones you like the most and pay attention to how they do things. I personally like lots of dialogue and character development, dramatic lighting, and focusing on facial expressions. Others focus on the action or scenery. Some a mix of both (which I'm working towards). Just find inspiration in what you love and let it help you find your style. 😁 Looking into how comics are made and what the different speech bubbles mean/text decoration/etc was helpful.

Use Clip Studio Paint or a program like it. Basically you want something that will let you cut out comic frames and add dialogue boxes easily. It really streamlines the workflow.

Write out "scripts" before GPosing. I know some folks who can freestyle but for me scripts with minor stage direction and dialogue have helped a lot. I have a different numbered line for each GPose I need to take too.

Everyone does plot/characterization differently. IDK if you were curious about that but I personally focus my plot around 3 main storylines - WolfBahn relationship arc, Wolfram's voidsent problem/past trauma, and MSQ. These plotlines overlap A LOT and come to a head in Endwalker. A lot of folks focus on their OC (I of course do.) but its also nice to develop the NPCs in some way. Most of Raubahn's development comes from MSQ which makes that easy but I do take time to touch on some of the things MSQ doesn't cover heavily like his recovery after being rescued from Halatali or the toll fighting to liberate Ala Mhigo takes on him. So I guess I just think - stories are more engaging if you flesh out the NPCs a bit. That may be personal preference though...

Really know your characters. I've found answering WoLQoTDs helps a ton. Along those lines - a timeline of their major events. Mine includes Eorzean events like The Autumn War and Garlean invasion of Ala Mhigo so I can fit my character's story in with the greater world. Before starting the comics I had a summary of his story on his Carrd (it's down now though). I also made a family tree. Replaying cutscenes helps get me in the zone to write too. Knowing them really well makes the writing flow pretty effortlessly.

Spend the time to edit each screenshot. I didn't do enough of this starting out and regret it. Even just upping the sharpness makes a big difference. Highly reccomend hitting it with the dodge/burn if you have time. The images will be smaller than most gposes so zooming in or cropping closer can help show the fine details (another place CSP shines).

Make dialogue box text large enough so that the majority of users on mobile won't need to zoom in. What I've been doing is 50 in CSP.

This one I don't do - but I should. Have someone with good grammar who also actually enjoys your story go over your comic before you post it. Ideally over the script as well. They'll point out grammatical mistakes but also since they're fans they may have some cool character insights you hadn't thought of!

Don't be discouraged if you get less "likes" than you do for GPoses. I usually get way less. On the flip side I get more actual interaction with the comics. Nice convos. It's how I've met some of my best buddies! So it's a good trade-off IMO. Most important of all - it's FUN to tell stories!

I hope this was helpful. Feel free to DM if you have more specific questions/want to have a convo too. I'm always excited to see more GPose comics! :D

[askagamedev]

Lightning Mailbag: Love Letters

I’ve got a bunch of questions with short answers once again.

I could be wrong but I think your main criticism of NFTs is that a lot of the functionality has been implemented before and as such NFTs aren't anything new and come with more problems. However as time goes on won't the price of incorporating blockchain tech into your game become cheaper as new middleware is built? Might it not become an attractive alternative to building your own trading solution, especially for smaller studios? Are some legal obstacles avoided with NFTs?

It still isn't worth the tradeoff of not being able to issue refunds or reverse fraudulent transactions. Players hate getting scammed and will feel really bad if we can’t make things better for them. They will go play a different game that treats them better.

Question that might be too hard to answer. Are CSGO skins & TF2 hats/weapons be considered as NFT?

This actually isn't hard to answer. They aren't backed by any blockchain, so they cannot be NFTs.

In recent years there has been nearly no games released without a delay. Companies act as if the date given doesn't matter, as if it would be natural to delay them. And the dates given are so early that even us can tell how the project is obviously going to be delayed. Even though the producers know the game will get delayed as well as us, they still choose to give early release dates. Nowadays releasing a game 6 months after the initial date became a sector standart. Why is this a thing.

We're two years into a global pandemic that's forced all game developers to immediately transition to working from home. We’ve had to reinvent the wheel so that we can work on it remotely at scale. Most games take at least 2-3 years to develop. Throwing a massive logistical challenge in the middle of development and forcing workers to adopt a new workflow causes a lot of lost productivity. That's why there are so many game delays.

Dev...WHAT or WHO is a Forza? :l

Forza is an Italian word that means "strength" or "force" - the phrase "forza della natura" means "force of nature". It's just a semi-descriptive word that's been adopted as the title of a AAA racing game franchise published by Microsoft, likely because it sounds cool.

What are the reasons why attempts at boycotting games generally don't work?

Not enough players do it to make a noticeable difference.

You talked a lot about certification requirements, and how something as simple as “the game crashes if you stare at this highway for several hours” can deny certification. However, do you know why some games that infamously crashed often, had extremely poor frame rates, or were otherwise extremely glitchy in ways that consistently impacted gameplay. such as last gen port of Cyberpunk 2077 or No Man’s Sky at launch, get certified?

Certification requirements aren’t set in stone. As time passes and tech improves, cert requirements will also change. Platform will also occasionally give certain titles a pass or loosen requirements because they want the game on their platform. This is especially true early on in a new console’s life cycle because they need more games to attract more early adopters.

Can studios offer remasters and remake ideas to publishers who own the rights?

Yup!

Mario Kart fans are saying that the new DLC is a graphical downgrade. Can DLC cause some downgrades to graphics?

There’s the technology to display the assets and then there’s the assets themselves. If the technology is messed up, everything looks bad overall (e.g. the Switch Ocarina of Time port). If the assets themselves are messed up, only some of the game looks bad - the specific areas with the ugly assets. 

is it frowned upon to use maps or visuals from the asset store?

It depends on the level of fidelity your community expects. I would say that it’s generally fine for most small dev efforts.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

The FANTa Project is being rebooted. [What is the FANTa project?]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[arijensineink]

What It Means To Win NaNoWriMo + Writing Burnout - Desk Check #2 (221204)

The good news: I won NaNoWriMo at 50.5k words!

The not as good news: I’ve got a mild case of writing burnout.

Pushing myself through November was well worth it. I worked on several different projects, enjoyed writing sprints, and accomplished my primary goal: completing 10 blog post drafts for the inaugural series of Fighting For Writing!

The Importance of Resting Your Writing Muscle After NaNoWriMo

The concept of Ikigai has been on my mind recently. I’ve known mine was writing for some time, but never had the confidence to act on it until now.

Ikigai is a Japanese word and concept that to follow your life’s greatest passion.

As I’ve spent more and more time with my Ikigai, I’ve come to learn a lot about me and my writing practice. One thing I’d never considered is that you can still get burnt out doing what you love.

So now that NaNoWriMo is complete, I’m taking a few days to fill the well.

How I’m Fighting For Writing This Week

I’m honestly, truly, really excited for this first blog series.

I wrote these articles with beginner to intermediate level writers in mind. Writers who have established their love for writing, but are struggling to develop a life-integrated writing practice.

I see a lot of complaints on Tumblr, Medium, and the bloggosphere about writing tips fatigue. Writers are completely sick of arbitrary writing advice. We are looking for real ideas they can use as springboards to develop their practice.

While writing this series, I kept this at the front of my mind.

Here’s a sampling of what I’m so looking forward to covering in these posts:

Developing a writing practice vs hobby

How to ditch “inspiration” and create a muse formula

How to write consistently, rather than every day

Ideas on dealing with family who refuse to support your writing

Stranger Tales

Not much progress on my fiction this week, but plenty of brainstorming and musing. To remedy my burnout, I plan to write a few casual blog posts, work on my collaboration project, and hopefully play with some flash fiction.

Soon I need to get refocused on my main WIP, The Wolfena. That will be easier once I’ve got the FFW series edited and ready to post.

I Write Hard So My Cat Can Have A Better Life

Despite the burnout, I still want to write. Ideas are flowing and I’m trying not to give in to that fear that there will never be enough time to write everything I want to write. I just need to take it easy for a couple of days.

The idea of syncing my workflow with the moon’s phases recently came back into my life. There is much we can gain from flowing with our own rhythms, and nature’s.

Slow living has recently made me question the value of speed.

Is faster always better?

Is winning always necessary?

NaNoWriMo had me reframe my view of winning many years ago. I didn’t win NaNoWriMo because I wrote 50k. I won because I wrote at all, made new friends, and accomplished a major goal.

You can accomplish so much when you start defining yourself and following your Ikigai.

Choices of the Week

Food + Drinks

Walnuts + dried cranberries, Rooibos tea, boba.

Songs + Performances

“Wild Flower” by RM

“Illusion” + “Utopia” by Ateez

“HALA HALA” performance by Ateez

“10,000 Hours” acapella by Jungkook

Reading

Mostly slice of life, food for thought, and blogging Medium articles this week. My TBR is piling up!

Muses

The season changing from fall to winter

San from Ateez (this man’s facial structure is of the gods)

Wood-stove fires + old world living

•°. *࿐

To read this story on my blog, click here.

If you’re not signed up for Common Ink, here’s the linky-link.

Thanks for joining me in this desk check. Comments, claps, and follows are deeply appreciated. Happy writing!

Borahae, much love, be well!

-Ari

[tundrainafrica]

Title: Lovebug (6/10)

Summary:  

“It might be a bug.”

“A bug?”

“Sometimes the developers of this application make mistakes. This is our first time meeting I’m sure so…Isn’t it a bit weird that we just met for the first time and it rings like this? And for two strangers to coincidentally ring each other’s alarms?“

Levi is the developer of the Love Alarm App and Hange is married to Zeke.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5

Notes: Feedback is very much appreciated :D

“As an employee you’re entitled to sick leaves.”

Entitled. It didn’t necessarily mean he needed it. Levi allowed himself a sequence of motions, some reassurance that his body was still functioning as expected

He raised his shoulders up then rolled it back, stretching his neck, bending it to one side then the other. It did wonders to help send a rush of energy through his still exhausted body. It  served as a reminder, he was strong, he was functional. “I don’t need a day off. I’m fine, ” Levi said. 

Erwin raised one eyebrow, giving him a once over. If he had narrowed his eyes anymore or wrinkled his nose, Levi could have given in. Other parts of his body were still reeling from the ordeal from the beach and he was sure he could fall asleep if someone just laid him out on a sofa.

Erwin though was a man of the office, a staunch professional. When it came to work and productivity, he leaned on the side of ‘being productive.’ He took Levi’s word for it.  “If you are feeling anything, just anything out of the ordinary, take the day off. Feel free to just leave me a note, and I can have Petra or Eld handle the rest of the testing.” 

The word ‘testing’ didn’t do much to convince Levi to rest though and maybe Erwin knew that. Levi slammed the door behind him hard enough to have him preparing for a lecture from Erwin about door slamming manners.

He waited in front of the door, gripping the doorknob from behind him for a good few more seconds. 

“We could start working next week?” Hange appeared right next to him. More specifically, she had accompanied him to Erwin’s office that morning, settling for just loitering outside the door, providing a perfectly valid reason for the internal question ‘ did she hear his conversation with Erwin?’

“It’s a Tuesday and it’s not a holiday,” Levi answered matter-of-factly. 

“Well, don’t companies have sick leaves?” 

“They do.” 

“And you were in the hospital just yesterday.” 

“I was in the hospital under observation,” Levi clarified. 

“After almost drowning,” Hange added.

“Just because the doctor prescribes a few more days of bed rest, doesn’t make it an almighty rule.” It was evidence that maybe a day off or two would have definitely made the difference. That slightly caustic exchange had Levi’s head spinning. He found himself having to squint just to even feign eye contact. “Besides, why are you here anyway?” 

“To work on the love alarm. Don’t you think it’s better if we work closely with each other?” 

“Not this early into the whole process. We could have talked through email.” Levi attempted to walk ahead. His office wasn’t too far from Erwin’s  a good few flights of stairs below. With his head slightly spinning and his legs feeling like jelly, Levi went for the elevators.

It was as if Hange was on a mission to flaunt her ability to speed up her pace. She walked next to him then a few feet ahead, turning back at him. And she had been that way since that morning. 

Levi gave in. “Okay, so what parts of the planning process merit a meeting today?” 

“Well, I’m worried for one.” 

“There are many meetings that could have been an email and I think you lecturing me about not taking a sick leave is one of them.” 

“Yeah, and there’s more...” Hange trailed off, giving him a good look from head to toe. Levi liked to believe she just couldn’t find the right answer to whatever implicit question he introduced at that moment. “I’m sorry about yesterday, and the day before.” 

“That could have been an email.” 

“I know Zeke gave you shit about being carried by me and having to be saved by me...” 

Levi stifled a cringe. A bridal carry to be specific. “That could have also been an email.” 

Hange huffed. “Fine. I get if you want to be so pissy about this but let me be selfish. I didn’t join Zeke on his business trip and it’s because I felt guilty. About you almost drowning, about you being forced to play golf and almost losing all your money over a few games. It was shitty okay. And for my own peace of mind, please let me join you at work, and maybe just help you make some progress with the alarm, even just a bit?” 

There was nothing much else his muddled brain could come up with in that moment of silence. “Okay,” Levi said, with a tone that could have easily been seen through. It was in fact, not okay. 

“Why? Is there anything else you’re busy with?” 

Levi sighed. “Making sure that damn love alarm gets tested for the next release.”

***

Anticipation had the tendency of piling stress much higher than the stress was actually worth. For many people, they only realize how much of a simple task something can be when they’re actually doing it. 

When work would pile up, stress would pile up. When Levi’s brain was working at half capacity, while trying to balance responsibilities and a guilty Hange in tow, he was barely thinking about work yet still attempting to the best of his meagre abilities.  

When the work was finally in front of him, the workflow tracker out, the whole ordeal of anticipating a workload had turned out to be anticlimactic. Maybe he had just gotten used to days leading up to releases being particularly stressful. After all, it usually involved early morning sanity checks, junk food and a stressed out team. 

Usually. They had some good releases and the one that day seemed like a good release. Of course it would be a less stressful release. It was under testing for months and it had been pushed back a week already. The QA work was almost over. To be just a little more certain, Levi filtered his workflow tracker to staged tickets and to tickets tagged ‘ready for release.’ 

“So, how does this pre-release testing work?” Hange asked, leaning forward. She had taken the liberty to pull one of the chairs to the corner towards and sat beside him. 

“I’m working,” Levi said coldly.

“Oh, but you said you needed to test the love alarm.” 

“Yes, the team is testing it. I’m making sure everything gets tested.” 

“So how do you make sure everything gets tested?” 

“Well… There’s this tracker here, I assign tickets for testing and when people say it’s tested they click QA passed and I see it here. Then if anything urgent needs testing or anything doesn’t seem to work, I help out and try to fix it,” Levi said, he opened his drawer dropping one of his test devices on the table. 

“So you could have gotten a day off,” Hange asked, seemingly knowingly. 

Levi glanced at the dashboard to seeall tickets were tagged as ‘Ready to Release.’  the others having been done a week back. He was too lazy to check the event history and there was no need to. The necessary work had been finished. 

Maybe he could have taken the day off. He wasn’t admitting that though. “So tell me, what are your plans? We’re getting the money soon according to Erwin but you’re the mastermind behind this.” Levi swiveled his chair behind him, grabbed his whiteboard eraser and cleaned out some of the useless notes from the next release. 

Half way through cleaning it up though, he stopped. There might be something you’ll need there. He cursed himself for even erasing some of it to the point of incomprehensible. 

“You wanna just use the workflow tracker? Like the one on your computer?” Hange suggested. 

“No, this is fine…” Levi racked his brain for those numbers and he settled for just writing the notes just much smaller below the release notes to the side with the larger font. 

It looked messy. It looked ugly. And his dominant meticulous side would not stand for it. In one swift motion borne out of frustration, Levi swiped his white board eraser over the whiteboard five times, more than enough to wipe it clean. 

“Was there anything important there?” Hange asked.

“Just a cleaner version of what we have in the tracker,” Levi said with a slight huff. He would rather Hange wasn’t reminded of whatever could have been there.

“Well, you wanna brainstorm on the whiteboard?” 

“It’s blank now.” Levi gestured for Hange to go ahead. 

“There’s actually not much to brainstorm on my end,” Hange said. Still, she walked a little nearer, grabbing the marker from Levi. She drew a heart. “You used biological markers to determine love right? That’s how you made the application. If you could assume love based on biological markers… maybe you can break it down and do it similarly for feelings right? I work with psychotherapy and I thought your application might have the potential to be tweaked in the context of assessing emotion Just to give therapists an idea of how their patients feel….” Hange trailed off. She drew a small diagram under the heart, a sad face, a happy face then a blank face. “I mean we have the technology for it already right? Most phones now are capable of more complex biometrics, that’s what the love alarm is taking advantage of.” 

Levi hummed. The diagram made it look just a little too easy. “And how do you think we can break down the application?” He knew the answer. Testing Hange though had been a tempting option.

Hange looked back at him, a confident grin on her face.“Yeah, you have the data already? And you created models or algorithms. Maybe you can extract part of those data sets and we can cut it down… to ‘happy,’ to ‘sad’ etcetera. And you can use what you have to make other types of alarms, like a happy alarm, a sad alarm. Right?

“We have the technology and the hardware to pull that off I guess. It’ll just be a matter of making a model, logging data, and coding. Doable with the right resources.” 

“But it should be easier since you already have some of the work done with the love alarm.” 

“But it won’t be as accurate at first. It took us five years to get the love alarm to this level of accuracy. I can’t even guarantee it’s completely accurate,” Levi said. 

“What about it takes time?” 

“We use an AI algorithm.”

“Artificial Intelligence,” Hange said. 

Levi nodded. “It’s a machine learning model. We give the model data as an input and data as an output and the more data you put into it, the more experience the machine has and the better the machine gets at figuring out what the correct answer is . We give it the biological data, the input and we give it the output, the anonymous test results and some formulas, and overtime, the machine starts to figure out for itself what love is.” 

“So you can’t actually break down the application to do it for you?” 

“We can but it will be a pain. Might as well just create a new model.” 

“Will it take as long as the love alarm?

Levi shook his head. “We have the necessary APIs, the hardware. We can buy more server space but we will have to create a new model.” 

Hange raised one eyebrow. “Okay, that’s a good start.” 

“I’ll just have to make a plan, see how much more resources we need and send them off to Erwin.” Levi opened an a blank document and pushed Hange’s seat closer to his. . 

“Wait, I’m curious though…” Hange started. She tapped one finger on her chin. “How does data processing work?”

***

Levi never considered the server room to be anything interesting. It was after all just a conglomeration of headless computers, wires and lights. 

A very important conglomeration. After all, a fire or a faulty pipe would be enough to destroy millions of dollars worth of data. 

He only allowed her one peek, just opening the door wide enough for one eye to see through for just a few seconds long enough for Hange to let out a hushed breath. “Our company handles a lot of applications and some of the servers supporting these applications are housed here,” he explained. 

“And the data?” 

“They’re housed here. Sometimes we use cloud servers too. Sometimes caching servers and everything is processed here then sent to the application." Levi kept his words simple. 

"Billions of points worth of data…" Hange's voice deadened to a whisper.

"It takes time for the data to come, the machines to learn. We started off with manual loading the data, then testing. It took a lot of work to get this much data, enough for the application to work as expected."

"And you continue to get the data I'm guessing."

Levi shrugged. "During quality testing, during actual app usage. As long as someone is using the application and complying to their biometrics being gathered by the application, we get data. That's how all applications work."

Hange hummed. Her mouth curled up into a smile. "So let's say… when I turn on the application, you can collect my data right?"

"The servers are always on, they're always collecting data. It needs the data after all to ring the alarm right?"

"Then how do we check the data?" Hange asked. 

Levi leaned on the door, shutting it with a click. "When we need it, I'll extract your data on my end, then maybe I'll extract mine. To be honest, I don't think they'd give many answers though."

"Serotonin, Oxytocin, Dopamine, Body heat. There's a lot to see from those numbers.” Hange pointed a thumb to her chest. “This is my specialty.” 

"Then I guess we're going to have to make sense of it together."

Hange nodded. "So what are we waiting for? Let’s work on it over lunch.."

"Don't get too hasty. We're gonna have to make a research plan."

***

Hange already had a research plan on hand and she had been working on it for a while. A twenty page document with just a section filled with bullet points and comments. 

There were points Levi had to fill out himself. Still, it wasn't too much work. "You came prepared," he said. 

"What can I say, it's my pet project," Hange scrolled down towards the end of the word document.

"Zeke seemed excited about it, I thought it would have been his at first."

"If this works out, his hospitals will be the first ones in the country or even the world with this type of technology. If it's sure money, it'll be easy to convince him. Besides, I have my ways." Hange gave Levi a sly smile, soon concealed by the cup between her lips. 

She was in a better mood. They were out for lunch in a more seemingly relaxed position and Levi saw opportunity. 

It's better now than never. "How does he feel… about the developer of the application spending a little too much time with you?"

"It's part of the research process and I need to talk to a developer, not an investor.  Besides, he has other investments," Hange said nonchalantly, too nonchalantly that it was almost unsettling.

"With what happened at the beach." Just the quick recall was enough to send blood rushing to his face. He wondered if outwardly he did look a little red. He bit his lip and looked away. From his peripherals, he could see Hange though was just a little too focused on his laptop screen. 

Hange could have spit out her tea. "Are you still thinking about the bridal carry? I didn’t think it was too big of a deal. I could have sworn you were unconscious." 

At first, Levi could have sworn he was unconscious too. Zeke had mentioned it just a little too many times though that Levi was starting to generate his own phantom memories of the incident. 

"Sorry about the CPR though. I probably bruised a few ribs.”

He remembered the CPR just a little too quickly. Or maybe it had been the bruises reminding him. Levi ran his hands over his chest, feeling a slight twinge of pain in response. "Hey, you did it to save my life."

Hange shook her head. "Or maybe I was panicking. It didn’t look like you were breathing but everything was moving too fast and---” She was digressing. 

“What does Zeke think about it?” Levi pressed. 

“Why do you care so much about what Zeke thinks about it?” Hange asked. She had raised her tone, maybe only slightly. It was firm, almost abrasive that Levi regretted it. 

“Zeke is an investor, one of the richest men in the world. I’m spending too much time with his partner. Then back in the beach---”

“Zeke is always busy and honestly, I’m grateful for any other relationships I can make outside this,” Hange argued. “You know, life, building relationships, these things don’t end after marriage. Sure, Zeke and I committed to a relationship but I think I should still be able to find joy in connecting with other people. Marriage isn’t supposed to tie anyone down, stop them from experiencing life. People in relationships are supposed to grow freely together.” 

Maybe Levi had been thinking too hard about it. Or maybe Hange was just a little too laid back. “What do you think about the love alarm ringing?” 

“It happens. Besides, I’m not too worried. Love is a choice,” Hange said. “Commitment is a choice. I think I remember sending you a book about that.”

“So you don’t believe in our product,” Levi challenged. 

“I never said that.” Hange started to stir at her cup, just a little faster. “You can choose to love someone, to commit to them, to be patient with them and to ride out every single problem with them but there is the feeling aspect right? That’s what the love alarm measures, or that’s what I’m suspecting.” 

Levi nodded. 

“So the fact that it rings with strangers or just randomly, shows that it measures attraction right?” 

“Hormones, movements, pace…” Levi listed them out as just another appendix in their dialogue. 

“I wanna understand… where do feelings fit in all this.” Hange put her hands up in defense.. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Zeke, I married him. He’s a good man. And I wanna make whatever it is between us work for a good long time but as someone who works with human psychology, emotions, as someone who’s seen relationships succeed, relationships fail and some that are just so-so. I wanna know, how much of it is emotions, how much of it is volitional commitment. And this type of research, with the love alarm… I think it can teach us things. Emotions are fleeting but there are emotions that stay for a long time and maybe they make being loving and being patient easier---” She slammed her hands back on the table. “Am I making sense here?” 

Levi only realized then he had been biting his straw and had barely gotten anything out. “I’m trying to understand and I think I’m kinda succeeding? GIve me a few more seconds.” He looked away, silently grateful for the good view of the shopping streets from the second floor of the cafe. The cafe was a good balance of loud and soft, filled with whispers and conversations yet still calming and relaxing if he focused on that part in particular. 

“Have you really, never been in a relationship?” Hange asked, seconds or even minutes later. 

“No.” 

“And you told me, you’ve never made the alarm ring for anyone.” 

“In my five years of testing, no,” Levi said. 

“What made it ring with me?” Hange asked. “ Have you ever theorized that?” 

“It could be a bu---” 

��Let’s assume the application is working properly.” Hange pressed. “Do you feel anything different? When you’re with me?” 

Maybe he did. Levi was tempted to look back the moment Hange had ended that question with her tone of voice higher than a second ago. Her eyebrows furrowed, her gaze fixed on his. Levi had to admit, he didn’t want to look away again. 

So he looked away. “I should be asking you that question. Your alarm rang too. Do you feel anything with me that you don’t feel with him?” 

***

They carried the conversation elsewhere, somewhere where the walls didn’t echo, somewhere where there wasn’t anyone within a good ten meters away. Somewhere they could have sworn nobody would be listening. 

It was a silent agreement, consisting of nodding and pulling of hands and it ended with them in the park, a little past noon on a Tuesday. 

“Do you feel any different when you’re with me?” The question was exchanged once again, in a park bench towards the center, after seconds of checking surroundings. It came in variations of it, in stutters, between clearing throats. 

When it came to recovering eloquence, Hange won without a fight. “If I tell you, will you promise to at least try to tell me?”

“Try.” Levi was economical with his words. He made certain though to consolidate all the discomforts of such a pressing topic to that one word. 

Hange took a deep breath. “It’s funny because we just met right? But sometimes, I randomly think of you. When I come home to find the cleaner cleaning out the room, I think ‘Levi would probably like a clean room.’ When I was drinking coffee this morning, I thought of how you didn’t get your tea time and today, I was excited to see you. But I’m excited to see Zeke too… So maybe I’m just lonely because he left so suddenly for a business trip. Were you excited to see me?” 

“Not this morning,” Levi said. That had been easy enough to let slip out. It wasn’t a lie after all. 

“Oh. Then maybe my theory is wrong.” Hange said it  too quickly, her voice much softer. 

That had Levi feeling a tad guilty, at the same time more motivated to find some way to cheer her up. “But I was excited to go to the country club with you and when I saw you with Zeke by the pool, I felt weird.” 

“Weird?” 

“I kept looking, but I wanted to look away…” 

Then there was silence. He was watching Hange and she wasn’t opening her mouth to speak. In the silence, he found reason for a segue. It could have been too sudden or it could have been a natural progression. Levi was easily imagining the scene by the pool as he stared at the empty streets, he thought it natural, and at least appropriate. “You and Zeke really get along huh?”

“Now yes.” 

One syllable, one slip of the tongue had Levi alert.“Now?” 

Hange shook her head. “Now. As in, we get along but at first, we didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “ Zeke and I have known each other since college and he confessed to me in our senior year before graduation. We dated for a few years after that.”

“You chose to date him, even when you didn’t like him.” 

“Sure he doesn’t give the best first impression, he’s a little extra, if you know what I mean, his head gets a little too big sometimes. My parents and friends said it would be a good idea to just try it out. He was the heir to one of the biggest companies in the country and he isn’t a bad person per se so I opted to try it out and over time, I got to know him, we got closer and he proposed to me a few years ago, I said yes… and here I am, married.”

“Married.” Levi looked pointedly at her. Hange had leaned back and hung her head back, staring at the sky above.  She had said that last part with a little too much breath, and too little voice. 

Hange gave him a wry smile. “Well, I honestly thought it was too early to settle down. I would have wanted to finish my PhD first, maybe travel a little more, meet more people before we get married but we’ve been dating for years, Zeke was insistent and....It seemed like a good choice. What was there to lose? He’s a good man. We were familiar with each other and besides, just because we’re married, doesn’t mean life stops right?” 

“You tell me. I’ve never been married. Some people are asking me when I plan on settling down.” 

“I guess we’re on two ends of the spectrum. You might end up marrying late. I married too early.”

“Do you think this has anything to do with why the love alarm didn’t ring?” 

Hange shrugged. “Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. The thing is, I don’t want love to be a feeling because just bending over backward to however I’m feeling means that I’m not really free right? I want love to be a choice. I chose to marry Zeke, I chose to commit to him and regardless of what a computer says about love, I wanna be able to decide for myself how I feel, who I love and how I love.” 

***

A few clacks of the keyboard. The click of the mouse. Then the computer whirred to life again, a few swishes among them. 

“So, all I have to do is type out a query here on the server management studio and I’ll be able to extract whatever data we need,” Levi said. “So what email do you use for your love alarm?” 

“Wings of freedom…” Hange didn’t finish. Instead she slipped her phone next to Levi, the screen open to the settings page.  

wingsoffreedom95@jmail.com

Levi stifled a smile. “Don’t you have a more professional sounding email?” 

“I like using pseudo emails for making accounts for weird things.” 

“Nice to know our product counts as a weird account to you,” Levi said.  

“Well, I was testing the product out before I even pitched it to Zeke. I wouldn’t want anyone to have gotten information on me.” 

“Then I guess, that was a good choice.” Levi slammed the enter button and the screen froze for a second before the export box appeared. 

“Yeah, I’d expect a company like yours will collect data.” 

“I’m sure we have a tiny box saying ‘you comply to having your data gathered when you use the product.’”

“You did,” Hange admitted. 

“Then you can’t complain about me having access to the location, the hormone levels, the heart rate and all other pertinent information of wingsoffreedom95@jmail.com.” 

“What email do you use?” 

“I extracted that too,” Levi said. He opened his own application and slipped his phone to Hange. 

“So you are using a pseudonym too.” 

“Of course. I test the product. I need multiple emails,” Levi said. 

“Sure, humanitysstronges1225@jmail.com. You really had to go for something tacky like that?” 

“Well, no one got the username yet,” Levi said. He was quick to digress. “I extracted our biodata from the day we met and when we tested the application. It’s gonna be exported as a data file and just open it using excel or something and do what you need to do.”

“You’re a gem, Levi,” Hange said.  

“Just don’t touch anything else. I’m gonna take a break first,” Levi leaned further back on his chair, grateful for Erwin’s suggestion that he got a reclining chair then. “Maybe I should have gotten a day off. Eld told me, support is quiet today and the release has been ready for a while. Nothing much else to do.” He went for his ebook reader next to his desk and held it above him. 

It flashed open to the latest page. 

The room was silent save for the clack of the keyboard and the whirring of the monitor. It was an odd position to be in but Levi found it was much easier to focus on words when all he had behind the reader was the white ceiling. If he tried a little harder, he could also pretend the clacking of the keyboard wasn’t at all, Hange. 

He was tired. He was exhausted and the ordeal from a few days ago still bubbled at the back of his mouth. Surprisingly, the words had shifted so easily into sceneries, emotions, investment and Levi was thinking too hard about one Mr. Collins and his engagement to the protagonist. 

“Levi!” 

Levi was pulled out of that very comfortable stupor by one rash voice and as he looked up to see Hange smiling, he realized, maybe it had been his own emotional investment at that damn book that got him a little cranky at the wake up call. “What? How long was I reading?” 

“Fifteen minutes at least,” Hange said. “I found something interesting with the data. Did you know, that when the love alarm rang, our hormones were low, our body heat was low, our heart rate wasn’t high. Would you know why it still rang?” 

“I told you, after a certain point we don’t know. It becomes an algorithm. The computer figures it out for itself.” 

“But we’re going to need that data when working with other emotions right?” Hange pressed. “I’m gonna take note of this.” 

“Do you think the love alarm still works as expected?” 

“It could. You told me yourself, billions worth of data points. How could they be wrong right? But this is nice to know, you know. Just looking at the data here, is somehow reassuring.” 

“Reassuring how?” 

Hange shrugged. “Well I’ll do a little of my own testing and will contact you when I come up with anything.” She looked at the clock on her phone. “Then we could schedule a visit to one of Zeke’s hospitals and have a talk with the staff, maybe they could give some feedback on the working plan.” 

“You’re gonna leave?” Levi sat up, putting his ebook reader down on the desk next to him. Hange had started to rifle through her bag and that got him alert.

“Why? You want me to stay a little longer?” 

“I never said that.” 

“You said you were busy with work this morning and now you want me to stay?” Hange challenged. 

“Well it turned out there isn’t much work to do anyway. We get the changes live by the end of this week and we work towards the next release.” Now that Levi did think about it, the job was pretty repetitive and Hange’s pet project had somehow added color to the whole experience. “But you can leave if you want to,” Levi added a second later. Just in case, she did get some sort of hint that he wanted her to stay.

That last sentence did the exact opposite. Exactly how? Levi didn’t have much time to ponder it. By the time, he had even attempted to read through the protagonist’s response to her suitor, Hange had already pulled her chair right next to his, close enough for him to be feeling slightly warmer. Then, warm enough for him to pull away. “What the hell?” 

“I was just wondering what you were reading.” 

“You could have asked. Were you looking?” 

“No.I wasn’t raised to look over people’s shoulders when they read.” Hange said matter-of-factly. “Actually, I was about to ask what you were reading when you pulled away so fast.” 

Levi sighed. “It’s one of the books you sent over in that drive folder.” 

“Ooh, which one? Scott Peck?” 

“I read though that already until I realized the author cheated on his wife.” 

“That doesn’t make his words any more invalid. Love is a choice,” she sang. The amount of times he had heard that since he even read the book maybe even the most melodious tone grating. “So what book is it?”

“The novel, Pride and Prejudice.” 

“Oooh, which part are you in?” 

Maybe Levi had let his guard down just a little. He probably tilted his reader a little bit towards her. Those minute details might have been enough though to have Hange pulling closer towards him, looking over at whatever he had been reading. 

“I’m a slow reader,” Levi explained. 

“Well, it’s a classic. Hange said. This time she was looking at him again. “I swear, I think it shaped my own idea of love. think there’s a lot to learn about love and marriage the way that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy fall in love---” 

“Wait. Stop.” Emotional investment in the book had Levi vulnerable. He only realized it then when he felt his mouth twitch, his eyebrows raise just a little higher. He found himself dropping the reader on the desk in front of him again, a retaliation at that ringing in his ears and the uncomfortable drop of his stomach. Spoilers were surprisingly painful things. “Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth… They end up together?” He managed to let out. 

Hange nodded hesitantly. “Yes, it’s in the title. Mr. Darcy is pride and Elizabeth is prejudice.” 

“You’re talking about the asshole Darcy right? Ten thousand pounds a year asshole Darcy?” 

***

To hell if Hange looked just a little uncomfortable. Maybe more than a little. “I swear I thought everyone knew. Pride and Prejudice is a classic and it’s so talked about that---” 

“I thought she was gonna end up with Mr. Wickham,” Levi admitted. It was difficult to wipe that grimace off his face, to the point that he had worn it almost as a medal while escorting Hange down to the lobby.   

“Hey, I’m sorry…” Hange said. Her attempt to make amends though was grating. 

Levi sighed. “It’s fine. This is a sign anyway, I need to do something more productive with my last few hours of work. I have a few more hours in the office, I’ll probably check on the team first. Is someone picking you up?” 

“I messaged already,” Hange said glumly. “You know, I thought we could hang out a bit first.” 

“Just focus first on getting an appointment with the hospital. To be honest, I really think I do have some work to check on.” 

“Hey, I’ll make up to spoiling you okay?” Hange said. She had tried to curl her lips up to a smile, to widen the grin on her face. It had come out as something wry. 

He found some solace at least in realizing he wasn’t the only one a little too bothered by those spoilers. He could have sworn it had never affected him that way before. But it’s just spoilers. He reminded himself. “I’ll get over it. Just focus on your work.” Still, it was difficult to enunciate words, it was difficult to even look at her. “Who’s picking you up?” 

“Probably a chauffeur,” Hange said. She opened her phone again. The white glare of the screen reflected on Hange’s eyes and Levi was seeing stars in them again. Stars that somehow breathed life into her dead half smile of a while ago. “I can go from here.”

“Wait what?” 

“Zeke’s picking me up at the gate. He said he wanted to try one of the restaurants at the nearby shopping street,” Hange explained.

Levi’s mind was an aggregate of unintelligible emotions. Do you want me to escort you out? Of course you don’t, I practically kicked you out. When there were things he couldn’t understand, maybe the right thing to do was be professional about it. “I’ll wait for your reply on the hospital visit. I’ll do what I can with the working plan and hopefully we could come up with something by Friday.” 

“That would be cool. I’ll make sure to message you.” Hange wasn’t looking at him anymore and Levi had been perceptive enough to notice that her voice slowed just a little, the volume much softer than a second ago. Her mind was elsewhere. 

Then suddenly, she was talking again, her voice a stark contrast from a second ago. “Zeke! I’m so glad to hear from you. Levi and I were just working on the application just now… And we have some great ideas…” 

He never heard what Hange said after that. If he closed his eyes, and focused just a bit, maybe he could have but the ache in his chest was overpowering and he found it most convenient to blame the spoilers at first. 

Hange walking away. Hange mentioning Zeke. Those were moments of clarity. 

Darcy had reminded him a little too much of Zeke. Elizabeth, a little too much of Hange. When he walked back up to the room, back scrolled back to the scene at the ball, the scene with Mr. Wickham, he let out a laugh. 

Fiction was supposed to be comforting and somehow with his own emotional investment in the story, he had hoped for an ending where money didn’t win. And he was scrambling for it long after Hange turned the corner way past the entrance. 

Back in the office, alone with the reader on hand, he thought about it a little more. 

I swear, I think it shaped my own idea of love. think there’s a lot to learn about love and marriage…

“A lot to learn huh?” Love and marriage which ended with a rich abrasive asshole? 

There was definitely a lot to learn. Marriage could be for money. Love could be learned. 

To commit, to love was a choice. 

And Levi didn't need to read the whole book to be reminded of what he had already figured out. 

Levi checked the table of contents, then the tracker at the bottom, he was barely thirty percent into the book, a very long book. Or maybe he was just a slow reader

After a few more minutes of staring, he managed to stumble upon the stone cold conclusion that it was a waste of time. 

He quickly deleted the book, muttering to himself for a second longer that it was a good decision. Then he walked to his team's office, laptop tightly on hand. When he was looking left and right, when he was looking through his workflow tracker again on his phone, he found an out. 

After all, he shouldn't have the time to ponder Hange's own ideas of love when he had an application to maintain and investors to please. 

***

Levi ended up leaving work earlier than expected. It was a total lie to think there was any work needed to be done. Exhaustion clambered up quickly, a special kind of exhaustion at slogging through a day of work less than forty eight hours after being discharged from the hospital. An exhaustion that came with having spent a good hour lying to himself and to his subordinates that they had anything else to do before the release. 

"Any support queries?" Levi asked. It felt more like a formality. 

His subordinates had already started to pack their bags for the day. 

"Nothing too urgent," Petra answered. “Nothing that can be finished in ten minutes either..” 

“Leave it for tomorrow,” Levi said. As much as possible, he preferred to be the only one having to do over time. 

“Sir, do you have any idea when we would start working on that new request by Mr. Jaeger?”

Levi’s answer was calm and straightforward. “We’re currently working on a plan, me and Hange and as soon as we get it approved, we can have a meeting about it.” And exhaustion made acceptance all the more natural. “You’ve all been working hard the past weeks leading up to the release. Stay low or take leaves if you need to, I’ll handle making sure everything goes live on time.” 

Greetings were exchanged after that. Thank yous, sighs of relief and Levi wondered how hard the past few weeks have been, only for the release to have been delayed over Zeke’s request. Somehow, Levi felt some responsibility and guilt over such a ‘bug.’ Whether it was actually a bug or it was his own shortcomings as a human which caused the test to end that way,  whatever musins he had about them, did nothing to placate the guilt as he watched their relieved faces, their much calmer faces.

The next day he woke up to emails, requests for leaves that week which he immediately approved. One week of calm, one week long enough to have it go live that weekend. Then Monday would be the post release sanity check. 

He’d use the week to plan, to coordinate a little more with Hange. He opened his phone to see her number just on top, just like it had usually been recently. He had decided not to open her message until he got to the office. 

Business is business. He thought to himself. The banner had given hints to the message but there weren't many hints to the context of a date time. 

5/15 3:23AM. Check my body heat, serotonin levels, dopamine levels….

Less than a minute later, Levi was on the phone rattling numbers. 

“So they’re high,” Hange said. “High numbers are a sign of love.” 

Levi could have sworn he had heard the smile in her voice. “Why? Did something happen last night?”  

“Zeke and I had a late night. It was the most fun we had in a while.” 

Before Levi even noticed it himself, his mind was racing, asking questions. If Zeke had the love alarm on, would it have rang? And soon, it was clamoring for answers he knew he could never give.

Zeke’s own love alarm wouldn’t be on and even if it wasn’t on, it didn’t send data the same way Hange’s did. All he could do then was settle for speculation. “Maybe there is a bug then Hange. Or maybe there’s something wrong with the data. We’ll turn on your love alarm again when we visit, let’s try it again.” 

The call ended amiably and Levi was a little more sluggish soon after. He lay his phone back on his desk and turned on the love alarm. 

As expected, no hearts appeared. One hand on the keyboard next to him, he typed out a query and pulled his own data. His own hormone levels were much lower than 3am Hange’s. He opened the data Hange had analyzed just yesterday. The hormone levels were still low. 

He clicked on the settings on his application, back at the dashboard then pressed the home button and sighed. “Some developer I am, can’t even figure out how my app works anymore.”

Then he thought something he hadn’t thought in a while. Maybe going for something as complex as love from the start wasn’t such a good idea. 

[surfintoyoga]

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Reputable in Immunology Out-break:

That isn't any doubt there are lots of hackers available trying to detect zeroday vulnerabilities, S O web applications could be at an increased risk despite each of the company's initiatives to stay protected.In 2014 two serious vulnerabilities had been discovered that exploited known flaws in the encryption protocol SSL. These exploits were Heartbleed and POODLE.

An honest & well understand web application security scanner for automatic scanning let us launch a scan over seconds and notify us regarding threats to ensure an organization can behave accordingly.

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[roguesandsaviors]

The Past Always Comes Back to Haunt

Fandom: Solace, The Red Road

Characters: Joe Merriweather, Andrea “Andy” Dawkins (OFC), Phillip Kopus

Summary: Andy loves her job at the FBI. She is good at what she does. She keeps the lid shut on the past as much as she can. Even if one Phillip Kopus haunts her dreams. It seems that it isn’t only her dreams that he is going to haunt.

Rating: SFW

Warnings: Cursing, violence, character death

Word count: 3,469

Bingo squares filled: Cop, Unrequited Love, Angst

Author’s Note: The first of many items that will be submitted to the Jason Momoa and Jeffrey Dean Morgan Summer Bingo Challenge. This crosses off several squares for me and was the first idea that came to mind when I began brainstorming. It’s full of angst as a fair warning. The flow was a little choppy but I actually like the way this one came out. At the end of the fic, there is also a little aesthetic/moodboard thing I made. @robinreadsallthefanfiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked down at my hands. It didn’t register in my mind that the blood that covered them was my own. There was pain but numbness was overwhelming the pain. It was spreading further and further throughout my torso. They said that was common but I never thought that I would be put in that sort of situation. I could vaguely hear what was going on around me but it was muffled at best. There were more gunshots happening around me, though it was dying down. The world slipped a bit as my feet couldn’t stay under me anymore.

“Shit.” Strong hands pulled me back. “Come on Andy. you gotta stay with me. Do you hear me?” Joe’s face came into view. It was just as bad as I thought it was from the horrified look on his face. I did my best to focus on it even if it confirmed to me that I was dying. I wanted to be able to respond to the man but it was incredibly difficult. My body was fading from my control and I was fully aware of what was happening.

“Sorry.” I managed to get out. A pained cry left me as he pressed down on my wound. I could hear him apologizing and reminding me that it was necessary. He was going to try to stop the bleeding but it likely wasn't going to do anything. The medics wouldn’t get here soon enough. He refused to accept it even though I already had. This was it for me.

“No. No you don’t get to go like this. I need you around Andy. Sweetheart…” The word was odd coming from his mouth and broke through the muffled noises. He hadn’t said that to me before. “I’m not ready to let you go.” It was the last thing I heard.

**********************

Staring at the building, I was nervous. This was a huge change for me. Out of the mountains and into the city, out of the mess with family and friends into a government agency. These were massive changes, turning my life onto it’s head. I had wished my mom and dad goodbye of course, when I had left for the academy and let a few of my coworkers know. They had to know since I would be leaving. But I hadn’t told anyone else. I had just upped and left without a word to anyone else. It had been easier that way. No one would try to stop me, talk me out of the decision, guilt me out of it because they felt betrayed. It had been a hard thing to do. Especially leaving Phillip behind. Phillip, my best friend since elementary school. We had done practically everything together. We had been attached at the hip, even when his father had come into the picture. He had more or less lived at my house for close to two years when we were in middle school. 

Up until high school. That was when things began to change. I developed what I had hoped was a passing crush initially. He was my best friend. That was typical right? Most girls who had close guy friends ended up developing crushes. They went away though. He never looked at me lie that though. Never once. His eyes had been solely focused on one or two girls. Then came the mess of what he had become involved with. Things began to really change then. I never said a word but I didn’t agree with what he was doing, the mess that his father had involved him in. Even so, I kept my mouth shut and only voiced my concerns for his safety. 

We steadily grew apart despite my best efforts. I didn’t want to be involved in what he was involved with, which just made it harder to spend time with him. Not only that, but he was high more times than he wasn’t. Those were the times that it wasn’t enjoyable to be around him. It didn’t seem to bother him that I was pulling away though. Not as much as it did me. He occasionally made an effort but they become few and far between. He never let me date though. I tried once or twice just to see if I could get over the crush that I was stuck with. It never worked out. Phillip chased away the two boys that I had tried to see. 

After high school, it all spiralled out of control. He went  off while I stuck around. I couldn’t keep him out of trouble and our friendship didn’t seem to mean all that much to him anymore. That never dulled the feelings I had for him unfortunately. While he was doing his thing, I ended up with a job at the police station. It started off as secretary work before they put me through the academy for a year. I had wanted to make a difference, help instead of harm my community, help others that couldn’t help themselves. What I didn’t expect was the job to be a perfect stepping stone to get into the Bureau academy.

Phillip had just returned from Florida and his stint in prison. From my understanding, it had been a mess, related to things that I hadn’t thought that he was involved with. Nothing could be done about that from my end though. It wasn’t my business and despite the flame that I held for him, it was no longer my problem. I did my best to avoid running into him. It would have been awkward and uncomfortable. If he knew what was I going to do, he wouldn’t be happy. That disappointment and hurt would have bothered me, a fact that was ridiculous in and of itself. 

I had gotten through the academy with relative ease. My mind had been set and I had implemented a hard workout regime prior to my acceptance. My coworkers were more than happy to help out, keeping me on track. They were just as excited as I was to see me go.   

Now I was standing here, in front of the building in New York, trying to work up the courage that I needed to head in and meet my new partner. Supposedly he was a veteran, someone who had accolades for the various successes he had already accomplished on the job. That was a comforting thought as much as it made me nervous. 

“Building’s not going to move anywhere.” I, embarrassingly enough, flinched agt the sound of the voice that came from behind me. I turned around and of course it had to be my partner, Joe Merriweather. He was tall and lean, with a salt and pepper beard that suited the angles of his face. The suit hung off his frame a bit but it just accented how lean he was. I gave him a sheepish smile.

“No, I would hope that it wouldn’t.” I held out my hand. “Andrea Dawkins, Andy. You must be my partner.” He shook my hand, an amused smile on his face. He clearly knew who I was. There probably weren’t too many people that stood in front of the building and gawked. 

“Heard I was getting a rookie today. Nice to meet you Andy. Joe Merriweather.” I nodded. “ No need to be nervous. Com on, I’ll show you around.” He led me inside, not mentioning the embarrassing situation. 

I had been worried that I had made such a fool of myself that first day with Joe. Apparently, he hadn’t held it against me. He gave me plenty of opportunities to prove myself in the field and in the office. He was always encouraging without coddling me too much. He was a firm guiding hand that knew when to push and when to step in. He allowed me to work through things on my own where it was allowed and guided me through the others that needed a much more timely response. It was a workflow that had me less nervous and feeling like I was constantly improving. There was a routine there that was easy to fall into. It also created a comrodderie in between Joe and I. Sure partners got close and got together outside of work. That wasn’t unusual. We spent more time together than they did with their families. 

We did a little more together though. Joe was divorced with a kid that his ex had custody. From what I learned, they were on good terms, it just hadn’t worked out between them with his job. I didn’t have anyone in the city that I was close with and I didn’t particularly like to head home to visit my partners. Couple those two things and we ended up spending a decent amount of time together. We got along well and our friendship outside of work didn’t affect work.

Trips to the diner, movie nights, car rides upstate, we kind of did it all. It wasn’t just a fill in the time sort of deal. We had genuine fun. Some of our coworkers joke that we were a couple. I had never gotten that vibe from Joe. he had never said anything or had given any indication that he saw me as anything other than a friend. I wasn’t looking for a relationship either. I wasn’t over Phillip, even if we had never been together and I knew we wouldn’t be. It was that first love sort of deal, tough to let go of those feelings that had been around for so damn long.

Joe never asked why I didn’t go home often or about my love life. We had peppered each other with personal questions once we were comfortable with one another of course. We were partners, we had to know one another. Partners worked better that way. I didn’t want to keep secrets and I had no qualms in explaining Phillip but Joe seemed to sense that it wasn’t a subject that I was all that eager to talk about. He never pushed and never tried to delve deeper into the history there. I was thankful for that. It could have made things awkward. 

We were sharing some pizza, waiting on an observation of two idiots who were a part of an illegal arms trading ring. There was likely some drug stuff going on as well but we didn’t have the exact details. All in all, it was something that we both felt confident about handling. Low level thugs that could and likely would lead to bigger fish was the hope. Every investigation started somewhere. It was always the hope that the small things lead to bigger busts. The top guys could and wouldn’t be caught without guys like the ones we were watching going down first. 

I took a bite of my pizza and almost choked on it when I saw Phillip walk out of the building. God damn it.  Unconsciously, I slid lower into my seat. That was the last thing that I needed. He didn’t need to be recognizing me and blowing our cover. Not that he knew what I was doing for a living these days. I hoped. 

Joe immediately knew something was wrong. I could feel his eyes on me, studying carefully. 

“Which one is it?” There was no room for nonsense in his voice. He wanted answers and he wanted them right now. I swallowed hard and was silent for just a moment longer. 

“Red hanley. It’s Phillip Kopus.” The words felt acidic on my tongue. I hated having to admit it, having to expose Joe to that. It was actually worse than the idea of having to arrest Phillip. Which by itself wasn’t present. But I didn’t want Joe disappointed in me. My stomach churned and I set down the piece of pizza I was working on. I didn’t want to be any part of this but it wasn’t like anything could be done about that feeling. We were here. He was seen. It was our job to arrest those individuals. My hands were tied. 

“That’s Phillip?” Joe sounded a little surprised. I couldn't bring myself to look in his direction. I was too afraid to see the disappointment that I knew would be on his face. I closed my eyes and nodded.

“Yeah. That’s Phillip.” I had never wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole more than I did in that moment. Hell, even Phillip ditching me to go with another girl to a school event wasn’t as bad as this. It was just beyond embarrassing. I had wanted so desperately to keep those two parts of my life apart. Especially since those two parts would clash horrifically. There wasn’t a need for them to ever end up meeting. Sure I hadn’t been involved with anything that he was. I had a clean record. That didn’t mean that people didn’t associated me with Phillip back at home. 

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise though that they did end up meeting up. I knew that Phillip didn’t exactly do things that were legal. He had a laundry list of charges already. I tried to keep tabs every so often even if we had no interactions. It was a peace of mind thing for me. My parents occasionally gave updates too. Judging how Joe reacted, he hadn’t done much digging. I didn’t know whether to be thankful or nervous about that fact. It could really end up going either way. 

I thought that Phillip was done with his father. Apparently, I was wrong. This was not going to be enjoyable in the least. Maybe, if he saw me, it would lessen the chances of shit going wrong. I would have to try and keep things as calm as possible. Something that wasn’t often the case when it came to busts like these. None of these guys liked to go down without a fight. I could have gotten sick at just the thought.

“You know…” I didn’t even want to hear what Joe was going to say and cut him right off. 

“It doesn’t change anything. We have a job to do. These guys have to be stopped.” I kept my voice firm as I spoke. I didn’t think that I would really be able to do it but I had no choice. I didn’t want him thinking that I was absolutely incapable either. A weak spot for the man wouldn’t look good.

“Right.” He didn’t sound convinced. That was the first time that I had ever heard him sound like that when it came to me. It made me more nervous but also more determined. No matter what my feelings were, no matter what I thought of Phillip, and no matter how much I wanted to protect him, I had a job to do. That overrode everything. This had to come first. It was one of the few times in my life that it was the case. I  wasn’t going to lose my job over this. He wasn’t worth it. I repeated that mantra in my head  a few times. Nor was it worth losing Joe. 

We had back up called. We had seen three guys but it was unclear if there were any more. They were still a few minutes out when Joe made the call that we were heading in before they arrived. It didn’t feel right. Maybe that was just because I knew Phillip was in there. I pushed away the concern and the heavy feeling. Joe was sure about it so I had to be too. He moved the car down the street a little bit and we quickly geared up. Our vests went on and guns were loaded. We checked each other before he gave me a nod. There was no point in delaying it anymore. Our back up was probably another ten minutes out. I wished they were closer as we made our way to the door.

I squared up and refocused myself. It was important that I wasn’t distracted. Our lives were on the line. It wasn’t only Phillip in there. There were other guys that would gladly see us dead. One wrong move and one of us could end up shot. That wasn’t anything that I wanted to see. Joe made sure I was set before he opened the door. 

It was quiet as we walked in. Two corners checked and there was no one around. My nerves were running high as we moved through the hallway. Shoulder to shoulder and side by side, we cleared room after room. It was a slow but steady pace. Missing anyone could cause a bullet to end up in our backs. We had to be thorough. We knew we were looking for at least three guys but at this point were expecting there to be a couple more. It kept us cautious. Still no one. It was almost like they had left. They couldn’t have though. We would have seen it. Their cars had been parked in our line of view from where we sat watching the building. They all had to be on the large production floor. Which would be a bitch for us. Bad guys, open space, potentially little cover. It all added up to a disadvantage for us. If it turned into a firefight, the odds weren’t in our favor. 

“You ready?” Joe had his hand on the door. It wasn’t like there was another choice. I let out a slow breath, keeping my gun elevated and steady. I nodded. 

“Let’s go.” He pulled open the door and we instantly moved forward. We caught two guys off guard. Neither of them were Phillip. That meant that he was around and could be watching us. It was a dangerous situation. 

“On the ground!” Of course they didn’t respond and jumped for their weapons. Joe fired off two rounds and I quickly followed suit. They both went down. The others would be warned by our shots, knowing about our presence. The element of surprise was out the window. We quickly found ourselves cover for safety. 

“Good?”

“Good.” Our back up was now less than five minutes away. We might be able to wait it out. That was the hope at least. Joe peeked around the corner of our cover.

“Backup should be here soon. Just gotta hold them off. Stay behind cover and make sure we don’t get flanked.” It was a basic plan but likely one that would keep us alive. I nodded and let out another slow breath. This was where the training kicked in. The rest of the world was shut out and focus was on following through on all shots while maintaining cover. 

“Easy enough.” I peeked around my own corner. Nothing. That meant that we had a couple more moments before things got iffy. It sounded like a couple of men were rushing towards us though. It was tough to tell from just the echoes of feet against the ground but there might be more men than we could really hold off on our own until our backup arrived. Another peek around the corner told me that at least three guys were coming around to my side. Great. That was fantastic.

“Got three over here.”

“Two on my side.” There were only supposed to be two or three guys here. This had turned into seven. Five total were currently against us. With backup still a few minutes out, we had to figure out the best way to survive this.

Shots began to fire. Bullets whizzed over our heads. A couple of them landed on the metal that we were using as cover, thudding loudly. I paused for a minute, trying to time my movements. When it sounded like I had a break in the fire, I leaned out of my cover and shot off a few rounds of my own. I didn’t hear any screams or shouts as I tucked back in. The likelihood of me hitting anything was slim then. I cursed under my breath softly. Joe seemed to have some amount of luck. I reloaded and shifted in my feet just a bit. 

Again, the motion had to be time. THis time the result was one of the guys going down. Joe had taken his two down.

The backup arrived. They were coming in from the other side of the building, behind the criminals. I could hear the door bust in and took that moment to stand up. I checked around the corner of our cover. The move was a mistake.

The pain radiated out from my abdomen. My gun dropped and my hands moved to my stomach. I could see Phillip’s shocked face and the gun dropping from his hands. 

[bludragongal]

Hey I'm in the beginning stages of a graphical nice and just wanted to ask: Should I draw the whole thing as a greyscale piece, or all lineart, or should I complete each page and I go on? Basically, should I do the entire thing at "low quality" before I start finishing individual pages, or should I do each page one by one? ^^" sorry for the confusion ask

OKAY DUDE I GOT AN ANSWER FOR YOU THAT’S BOTH GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS: There ain’t no right answer to this question!!!!

Everyone’s process is very different because people are very different, and they’ve developed and finessed their process based on their experiences and what they found has worked well for them. 

By which I mean, I can’t give you something that reads like “Aha! Well, here is a 10 step list of how I do things that works,” because what I do might not work as well for you. BUT! I can try to give you some things to be thinking about, that should hopefully help your confidence as you move forward, and I can tell you about what I do so you can have some ideas you can try out and potentially use as your starting process. 

WHAT WORKS FOR ME: I do pages in batches - meaning, I will focus on 2-3 pages at once, spending 1-2 days sketching out all of them, then 1 day inking all of them. (I’m very fortunate to work with a Flatter & Colorist, who I pass the pages off to after that point.)

This works well for me because I work full time, and it is easy to fit into my schedule. I spend some nights during the work week busting out a rough sketch when I get home, I print all the pages I’ve managed to do during the week on Friday, and then spending a relaxing Saturday brainlessly inking them.

When I first started, I would only focus on one page at a time, which was far more time consuming, but it allows you to focus on fine tuning and perfecting your process and the technical aspects to your work that will eventually become second nature to you, which is the higher priority at this stage in your comic’s life cycle. 

So right now, since you’re just starting out, I would recommend focusing on one page at a time until you feel comfortable with your workflow and process. 

That being said, there is no accounting for how your brain will work, and what you will find creatively stimulating. There might be a day where you feel like working ahead to that ONE page you really want to draw, and you end up with 5 sketched/rough pages that all need to be inked, or, when you are working in batches, but all you want to do is spend time making this ONE page look REALLY awesome, and that’s all you get done. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FINE, AND A TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE WORKFLOW. Keeping your brain engaged and creatively fulfilled is the ultimate goal here, and it doesn’t really matter how that manifests. If you ever deviate from your established routine, you shouldn’t punish yourself for it - that’s just the way things turned out that day.

At the very least, you should set a clear goal for what you want to get done, with plenty of room and ambiguity to meet that goal, to account for this shifting mindset.

For example: “I want to make one page every week,” or “I want to make 2 pages this month,” or “I will sketch and ink one page over the week, and have it ready to flat over the weekend.” This will give structure to your mind but room to accomplish it in the way that feels best for you, and keeps you mentally happy and creatively fulfilled.

DO NOT be angry with yourself if you set a goal that you eventually realize you cannot meet. The goal of “I will finish 2 pages every week!!” might not be feasible for you right now. BUT, in attempting to meet this or a similar goal, be attentive to what you DO get done, and HOW you got it done, so that you can become familiar with your limitations and also what your brain needs to focus and what makes you productive. As you learn more about yourself, your work flow will become more and more efficient and you will work faster and more consistently. 

As you learn, you should MOVE YOUR GOALPOSTS:-Your original goal may have been “I will finish a page every week!” but as each week goes by, you realize you can only get to to inks before your deadline passes you. Your new goal should be: “I will get one page inked every week!”-As you work towards this NEW goal, you will both be encouraged by your success, and also learn how to realistically balance your life with this project you have started. -Goals can also be something like “I want to get fast enough that I can ink 3 pages in 1 day if I decide to!” THESE goals are great, because they are short term, specific, and your mindset is already in the area of “I am going to figure this out” rather than “I need to do this or I’ve failed.” These goals might also turn out to be unattainable, but again, all you need to do is adjust your goalpost. 

ULTIMATELY, THE KEY IS TO TREAT FAILURE AS A THING YOU LEARN FROM, NOT AS SOME SORT OF EVIDENCE TO YOUR INADEQUACY. You know, all those sayings about how failure isn’t falling off the horse, it’s choosing not to get up, or a man isn’t truly defeated until he gives up, that kind of thing. Sometimes you realize that you were never meant to ride a horse, you do better on a bicycle. That’s not failure either, it’s just learning. 

All of it is just about learning! This is a long distance sport, and it’s going to teach you so much about yourself. You’re going to eventually know yourself so well that it will make you an unstoppable monster. But right now you’re just starting, which means you know very little, which is not a bad thing. If anything, it’s exciting! There are so many decisions you still get to make, all these choices you get to explore and have fun with. Eventually you’ll reach a point where YOU’LL be the one with the answers for someone who is at a loss themselves.

Good luck, and most importantly, HAVE FUN.

[pannimanagementteam]

Epicor Vs Sage X3

Sage ERP X3 is an on-premise ERP solution that leverages a versatile and open structure and might assist 10 to thousands of concurrent customers within an organization sage x3 software. The platform is appropriate with each Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases. However, Sage does not provide a internet hosting platform for Sage ERP X3 at this time.

Today’s chemical producers are beneath strain to take care of competitiveness while complying with an growing array of challenges, including government rules, global competition, and pricing. The System is straightforward to use sage x3 introduction, very customizable and covers nearly all of the processes. Most notably was allowing for automatic allocations of product that is being reduce. I would advocate that companies ensure to incorporate it in their RFP course of.

Optimized warehouse administration reduces capital invested in inventory and improves fill rates. I like that X3 works rather well for firms which might be made up of many different corporations. X3 has the ability to handle a quantity of separate companies that every considered one of may be further separated into stock and financial websites that may all share prospects, suppliers, G/L accounts, and so on., providing easy consolidation. There are no differences between the ERP/production and the accounting balances like generally occurs with add on accounting software. Industry-specific and preconfigured to handle the complexities of your market requirements, all whereas meeting one of the best commonplace practices of your corporation. Offers you simple to configurable options to go nicely with your particular processes, supplying you with more control over your IT strategies and infrastructure growth.

The ERP-software is for established companies who need larger flexibility, insight, and efficiency. Regulate your complete company with simpler, quicker, and more versatile provide chain, manufacturing, and monetary management. Controlling manufacturing processes market effectively and rapidly by controlling manufacturing processes utilizing a single solution. You’ll be in a position to meet demands while making certain optimized efficiency via monitoring in real-time. Velocity to keep sage x3 functionality tempo with market calls for - Sage X3 supplies a better, faster method to manage all your critical enterprise functions–automating workflow and enabling you to improve productivity in methods solely best-in-class solutions can. The powerful course of automation and administration capabilities of Sage X3 adapt to your wants, creating a pure circulate of labor each within the organization and with companions.

Actual information is built-in routinely through administration of invoices receivable and definitive invoices. Accounting procedures involving averaging of expenses in relation to service provision periods are additionally obtainable. Sage X3 contains industry-specific functionality corresponding to pricing, promotion, and contract administration. A strong solution for superior sage x3 solutions order achievement and inventory allocation, it goes one step additional to finish transport and routing solutions. Sage X3 manages and tracks financial processes, together with quotes to money, collections and closes while providing visibility, transparency and accountability through proactive management of threat parameters and compliance necessities.

Sage X3 is a contemporary ERP solution that is quick, simple to use and accessible on any gadget. That makes it excellent in your folks on the operations flooring in addition to these making gross sales visits or service calls. Monitoring expiration dates, sustaining compliance, and minimizing manufacturing waste are essential for producers of perishable items. Optimize your small business operations and handle development with the Sage X3 ERP system. Sage X3 ERP system helps with course of and discrete manufacturing planning, scheduling, and manufacturing management. Sage X3 tames the complexity of doing business-streamlining collaboration throughout all business operations and enabling workers to rapidly tackle any challenge that may arise.

Unlike the compliance heavy Epicor 10, Sage ERP X3 has been integrated with a formidable BI tool inside their monetary management suite. BI instruments are especially useful for inventory management, capacity configurations, and demand planning. In a unstable, globalized market where ecommerce supports individualized orders a robust sage x3 erp software BI software is a crucial useful resource. Fully integrated with the Sales, CRM, Purchasing, Inventory and Accounting elements, Sage X3 ERP presents a alternative of manufacturing administration strategies — by job, order, or stock.

In addition to managing and placing orders, many enterprise discover their processes run smoothest with a streamlined human interplay to facilitate the method. This can apply for all orders or orders within a certain sage x3 features segment of business. In both case, Clarity Connect is prepared to pull in the Sage X3 sales order documents and assist streamline the quoting workflow.

Sage ERP X3 is an integrated management system constructed with the functionality to assist your business improve efficiency and reduce prices. With comprehensive features, customizable tools, and an intuitive interface, Sage ERP X3 can reply the wants of your midsized company, serving to you to fulfill business challenges and enhance your bottom line. Unexpectedly low inventories mean speeding orders to get accomplished, so improved planning reduces production costs. Reporting and enterprise intelligence instruments, similar to inventory ERP software assist manage and optimize cash flow.

A major discrepancy amongst traders of software is the thought all cell solutions provide the identical level of functionality and system entry for remote customers. This is just sage x3 erp solutions not true and we proved this principle before in a earlier article. Because Epicor 10 helps an finish to finish compliance initiative it also leads its class in cloud security.

[zeyadhamza-blog]

Slipping Inside the Eye of My Mind

Throughout my school years, I relished the challenge of filling a blank page. There was no assignment, whether it be a Geometry problem set, a Geography reading, or a Geology experiment, that inspired me quite like a creative writing prompt in my English classes. It’s an even grander experience if I’m working against the clock in a packed exam hall. Nothing excited me more than finding ways to create an enchanting narrative, to articulate a cogent argument, or to analyze an old poem, all the while racing against the clock in an exam hall. I’d take the first ten minutes or so envisioning my essay, with my mind very much in a scattered state as I quickly consider all the different paths I can take. Eventually, I work out a process of elimination, and I get to work with just enough time to allow for a quick perusal before I hand the paper in.

But Something’s Wrong

However, I believe the years of writing such essays set against a time limit led to the formation of an unexpected developmental obstacle: the need to continuously edit throughout my creative process. While this may seem like a minute hurdle, upon considering how I’ve approached tasks in recent years, it has seriously affected both my thinking and my workflow, and not necessarily for the better. I believe I have seriously sharpened my abilities for convergent thinking and have in return set myself up in situations that either allow for it to truly take centre stage or diminish its significance totally and force me to function purely in an instinctive manner, with complete disregard for the strengths that I have.

Thinking

While I feel quite confident with how quickly I can appreciate new ideas with an open mind, I often find myself immediately looking for points to critique it. While this cynicism surely has its uses, it functions as a heckler of my creativity’s stand-up comic. It’s rare for a thought to enter my mind and remain there for it to be mulled over with complete consideration before I attack it with relentless analytical power, somewhat resembling a scattershot approach. This sort of extensive cogitation is not limited to “serious” issues (I often agonize over what I should have for breakfast, which I then typically eschew because there isn’t any time left). While my time spent in philosophy courses has helped to a degree in increasing the time taken for such thoughts to remain considered, I recognize that this is a blind spot of mine.

Workflow

I believe the following comic strip very much summarizes how I force myself out of this extended state of aggressive meditation (retrieved from here):

This effect of time pressure brings me back to the scenario I described in the opening paragraph, in which I can allow my mind to function as both a songwriter and a producer, continuously composing and arranging, writing and editing, because that’s what the task at hand needs. However, I am left exhausted, and I yearn for an alternative. I am always reacting, in a state of action without intention (Kuang, 2015).

What I Expect from Design Thinking

After watching Anne Manning’s video on divergent and convergent thinking, I recognize that I’ve spent much of my time honing my convergent thinking. As such, my creativity is often constrained and kept in a restrictive state if I’m doing something not typically associated with a creative endeavour, e.g. a group project assignment (Manning, 2016). I also throw away that skillset when I put myself under induced time pressure…

So, I’m expecting to learn more than the buzzwords associated with the development of this field, and I anticipate opportunities to help develop my divergent thinking in order to reach out to an expansive mental state when needed (Manning, 2016). Furthermore, I’m prepared to take the risks needed to experiment in this new way of thinking, and I’m very excited to participate in the classes’ activities. Finally, I look forward to finding ways to see design thinking in realms outside of typical business issues, and to consider it in more public policy decisions, like the work of Rosenbaum in favelas (Kuang, 2015).

[ekcs]

Bad briefs – don’t lose production time due to them

A wise man, Abraham Lincoln, once declared “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.” The hours vary, but whether it is eight or six hours, the meaning is the same. One should spend more time in preparation. Embarking on a production project without a detailed creative brief will likely end in disaster. Investing time into a creative brief is time well spent.

The 2019 In-House Creative Management Report from InSource and inMotionNow, showed 58% of clients believed they provided clear and complete creative briefs. But, only 27% of agencies concur with their clients. This misalignment occurring at the start of projects creates confusion that could easily be avoided.

Creativity is subjective and so are creative briefs Creativity has never been so important. And with different agencies and production partners producing volumes of marketing assets, better direction is required for perfect execution. There is a strong connection between a well-written brief and the quality of work that is delivered in response to it. To the end user, great briefs are a source of inspiration and motivation.

A good creative brief should be a guide for the outsourced team to let them know the project objectives. This will allow the team to better manage what everyone is working on and determine whether other external factors are aligned with client expectations.

Brief encounter Creatives, be it artworkers, writers, video editors or web developers, frequently have to jump between multiple projects and clients. Giving them context for the work they’re about to do – even if it feels obvious and unnecessary – goes a long way towards helping your external partner embark on the task quickly.

Don’t skimp on those briefs! When it comes to writing that brief, put the time in. The most common reason for a project failing in the business of production is the lack of a clear creative brief. The process of developing, discussing and agreeing a clear brief with your colleagues and your agency will focus your thinking on what it is you are expecting from your marketing activity and what you expect your agency to come back with.

The problem doubles up when it comes to outsourcing, as language barriers, brand quirks and cultural differences can lead to communication and understanding issues. Language and cultural differences can be obstacles in outsourcing projects. A common goal calls for a common language and terminology when working with a geographically-distributed team. A set of comprehensible terms should be part of a creative brief. This clarifies any ambiguity and enhances better understanding between both the in-house agency and the external partner.

Wear someone else’s shoes Is the person, or team, you are outsourcing the project equipped with all the correct and up to date brand guidelines, asset copy, data, and so on? This will change depending on the type of campaign you are planning but ensure that attached alongside the brief are all the required materials and assets if this hasn’t already been done. By doing this, time will be saved by avoiding the back and forth emails chasing up. A shared workflow system can work well. Every stakeholder should be on the same page to reach the desired result.

Defining creativity is another important factor that affects the overall creative production process. Your brief should clearly highlight your creative expectations. When it comes to brand guidelines, what creative discretion, if any, is allowed?

Keep it concise At the end of the day, the creative brief should be available to the team at any time and place and should serve as the foundation of the project. An effective creative brief doesn’t need to be any longer than two pages. As long as you have presented the main essential points, your key objectives, your brief will be effective. Moreover, your peers are likely to appreciate not being presented with information overload.

Invest time in quality briefs There are a few characteristics that are consistently found in well written creative briefs, and these will help you get your project started without a hitch!

Clarity – A project without clarity is bound to breakdown at some point in the process. When collaborating with others, it is important to ensure everyone is on the same page and working together to achieve a common goal. Communicative – Communication is vital in outsourcing, and the creative brief needs to clearly communicate information needed to produce the work. If the brief does not successfully communicate its message, then chances are the client is not going to receive what they wanted. Context – Creative briefs should also address key considerations including the product or brand asset, the market, media and of course the customer

In conclusion A clear and concise creative brief can be fundamental to the success of a campaign. Without these, your agency can experience a lack of insight into the message being portrayed, the audience being spoken to, or the things that have or haven’t delivered in the past. A poor brief can waste time and money, and when working in an in-house agency or publishing house, this is something you need to avoid wherever possible.

Finally, strong creative briefs also foster better relationships among team members which will enable collaboration to prosper. So, spend time sharpening your creative brief, it will save both time and money in the long run.