#it kind of shifts back and forth based on backlash

[ranticore]

i did not mean to get so deep into the nature of celebrity & pop culture and objectification thereof but it turns out when you're creating a world with virtual celebrities you have to really get into it

[delimeful]

the shapes in the silence (13)

warning: illness, mild emetophobia, arguing, panic attack, dissociation, altered mental state, guilt 

-

They had very little time to process, after Puff-- Anxiety-- their rescuer collapsed limply to the ground.

Roman and Patton each burst into their own hysterics, but Logan was utterly silent. He was frozen, mind racing and connecting a thousand little dots, like realizing a constellation had been right in front of you, you’d just somehow missed the brightest star.

The form of Anxiety was sprawled out undeniably in front of them, struck down by the attack that had been levied against Puff, because he was Puff. He’d wondered why Anxiety wasn’t prone to their shrinking dilemma, but he’d been dealing with it the longest. Anxiety’s withdrawal and Puff’s strange behavior were causation and correlation.

Anxiety lay before them, but whatever he had done to change his form, to protect them against attack, it had changed him. Small purple scales curled over his cheekbones, two curved, deer-like ears lay limp on the sides of his head, and even a tail where there had been none before.

If there had ever been any way to refute his connection to Puff, his appearance now countered it single-handedly.

In the end, it was the doubts that snapped them all out of it.

Sinuous, shifting forms that changed with every blink, they crawled up from their blind spots, appearing in the corners of their vision.

Roman snapped his sword hand back up reflexively, frowning, but Logan could easily read the confusion scrawled across his posture. He’d complained at length about the creatures, their persistent aggression and the way that they always heralded Anxiety’s appearance in this realm, like the world’s creepiest minions.

But Anxiety lay prone at their feet, in no state to control anything, and furthermore, the glittering eyes of the doubts seemed almost… locked on him, glinting with malice.

More questions, and the only one who could answer them was unconscious and quickly gaining a sickly tint to his skin. The doubts were creatures of despair, and if they reached Patton or Anxiety-- the more emotion-driven pair out of the four of them-- the results could be disastrous. They needed out, now.

Logan firmed his shoulders, moving to cut through the panicked back-and-forth his companions were doing.

“Roman,” he called, taking reference from every instructor that Thomas had ever respected to insert authority into his tone, “pick Anxiety up.”

The creative side jerked, his eyes drawn down to Anxiety for a second before flickering away. “And give up my stalwart defense? We’ll be overcome before we reach anything resembling an exit!”

“You need to pick up Anxiety,” Logan repeated, and took a deep breath, shedding all the dirt and gore that he had accumulated while trekking through the Imagination. “I’m bringing the exit to us.”

Applying his function to a space that wasn’t real tended to... destabilize it. It was a last resort, the sort of thing that they’d figured out early on should be avoided. Roman demonstrably put his heart and soul into his work, after all, and fracturing it hurt Creativity as much as the realm itself. Even something as small as Logan breaking his own immersion made Roman twitch, let alone what he was about to pull.

Roman’s eyes went wide with understanding, and then grim determination. He sheathed his sword back into nothing and knelt down at the fallen Side’s side, only hesitating for the barest moment before sliding his arms under his shoulders and knees and lifting him into the air.

The motion seemed to jar Anxiety, and he let out a pained whine that wouldn’t have sounded out of place coming from Puff. Lifted up like this, they could see the singed gouge that tore through the back of his hoodie, the smoking, rotting injury lined up on his spine in the exact same place it had hit Puff.

“It looks bad,” Patton whispered, his eyes wet and his hands half-pressed over his mouth. The doubts were closer now, circling like wolves. They couldn’t be allowed to worsen Anxiety’s condition.

“We will handle it,” Logan said, not allowing even the slightest tremor in his voice as he held his hands out. He met Roman’s eyes, one last warning, before closing his own and focusing all his attention on dismantling the environment around him.

It was all illusory, from the faint scent of ozone lingering in the air to the cold stone around them. None of it was real, not the magic or the monsters, not when one thought about them logically. The Imagination was a limitless space, shaped and crafted by Creativity, and so any distance between them and the placement of an ‘exit’ was simply imaginary.

There was no logical reason to traverse an imaginary path, and so with one yank, Logan pulled and then folded the space between them and the exit, like crumpling a piece of paper to make two ends meet.

The landscape crinkled around them, bricks shattering and environments crashing together with discordant scraping. Roman would be feeling the effects of the hole in his work for a while, but there was a doorway ahead of them and the doubts were scattered and caught in the folds and tears Logic had created.

“Move,” Logan said through gritted teeth, and Roman staggered through the exit, Patton hot on his tail. He stepped through as well, the door slamming shut on its own behind him. His presence wouldn’t be tolerated in the realm for a good long while after this.

He beckoned Roman over, shoving away the guilt he felt at the other Side’s pained grimace. If his power had just held long enough for the Imagination’s effects to be wiped from Anxiety as well--

The wound pulsed once, as though to announce its stubborn survival. It was glowing a painful violet, the injury resembling nothing more than a slowly expanding Lichtenburg figure.

Logan’s knuckles went white as he looked down at it. He hadn’t even managed to make the injury into something real, something more manageable to treat.

He reached out, grasping again for that sense of unreality, of rejection, and Roman pulled away, backing up.

“No more,” he said firmly, his voice a sharp contrast to the shaking of his arms. Logan felt that familiar guilt threaten to flood for a moment, before-- “Specs, you’re about to pass out. You used too much.”

He blinked, glancing down at his hand. It was shaking, too. He’d overtaxed himself, been too involved in the previous daydream to shut it down without any backlash.

Logic shouldn’t have been too involved in anything. He clenched his fist, abruptly furious with himself.

“Whatever that witch’s calamitous curse caused, it’s spreading slowly for now,” Roman announced, still seeming almost skittish with Anxiety in his arms. “We have yet time to uncover the truth.”

Patton pressed the back of his hand against Anxiety’s forehead, hissing sympathetically. “He’s burning up. I don’t know about curing curses, but-- we can at least help with this.”

They all had memories of Thomas’s parents coaxing him through fevers and flus, but Patton was the best at actually following that example. He directed Roman to the couch, flitted back and forth between the kitchen and the living room with all the classic illness aids.

“This is a spell-based sickness. There’s no reason to believe that this illness will function similarly to Thomas’s past experiences,” Logan started, and then was promptly cut off by Anxiety jerking halfway up off the couch, twisting, and vomiting into the small trash can Patton had just brought out. “... I stand corrected.”

His voice seemed to drag Anxiety’s attention from his retching, his head bobbing up to look around.

He stared out at them with bleary eyes for a heartbeat, all of them quiet and frozen and waiting, and then he slumped back down into both the couch cushions and unconsciousness. A mutual breath of relief went around the room.

“So, are we… going to talk about it?” Patton asked, as though half-dreading the answer.

“Talk about what?” Roman snapped sarcastically, crossing his arms. “The fact that apparently our dear draconic companion has been none other than Anxiety, the scourge on our home, the blight on our fields, the bane of Thomas’s existence, this entire time?”

“We don’t own any fields,” Logan interjected.

“Well, if we did, the guy would probably blight them! He’s a-- a blighter!” Roman replied, increasingly higher in pitch. “This is probably some kind of trick, a foul villainous plot for some greater purpose we don’t understand yet. Anxiety can’t possibly be— have been—!”

“Talking shit?” A familiar drawl rang out, a dark figure appearing on the stairs between one blink and the next and making them all jump. “I thought I heard someone say-- Anxiety?”

There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone looked between the two identical figures in the room.

“Well,” the Anxiety that was clearly actually Deceit said, glancing over the three of them, “I don’t suppose I could convince you that he’s the fake one? … No? What a shame.”

He lifted his shoulders from Virgil’s perpetual slouch easily, shedding his disguise in favor of his usual attire. Several more puzzle pieces clicked into place.

“You were the one who appeared when we introduced Puff to Thomas,” Logan said, cutting off the startled exclamations from the others. “And just now-- you returned from appearing to Thomas, didn’t you? As Anxiety, not yourself.”

Deceit rolled his eyes, adjusting his cufflinks absently. “Yes, well, someone had to do his job while he was… preoccupied. Or were you all so remiss as to not notice the decline that comes with a complete absence of Anxiety?”

They all bristled in unison. “All we’ve been doing as of late is trying to figure out why Thomas has been struggling recently,” Logan replied stiffly. “We cannot jump to conclusions based on the seemingly random reticence of one Side.”

“Oh, but now you know it’s not random at all, don’t you?” Deceit purred, stepping down the stairs one by one. “After all, Occam’s Razor has never proved to be true before.”

“You’re the one who’s slithering around impersonating other Sides!” Roman cut in with a sharp accusation. “How do we know you’re not the reason dear Thomas has been acting off?”

Deceit’s lip curled, displaying a curved fang. “I haven’t been the only reason Thomas hasn’t fallen apart entirely! But if you’d really like to cast blame, I’m happy to inform all three of you that this is your fault.”

“Our fault?” Roman and Patton’s voices overlapped, one outraged and the other alarmed. Logan frowned, smoothing down his tie absently.

“Are you speaking under false pretenses again? Only moments ago, you were claiming that Anxiety’s… disappearance was the source of Thomas’s recent struggle.”

Deceit’s gloves crinkled with the force of his grip on the banister. “You three are the ones who drove Anxiety to believe that he was superfluous, to the point that he decided somehow trapping himself in the form of a— a pet was better than spending another moment as himself in your presence,” he spat, each word furious and bitter.

There was a tense pause, and Deceit visibly reeled in his anger with a deep breath. “I refuse to spend any longer debating sins with you. If you’ll hand over Anxiety—,”

“No!” Logan startled himself with the sharp response, but Roman and Patton alike had echoed it. They exchanged looks, all of them struggling for a moment to put it to words.

Finally, Patton turned to where Deceit was staring at them with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know why Anxiety chose to— chose this, but I do know that he got hurt trying to protect us. And if it really is our fault-- ...Well, it wouldn’t be right either way, making you or him deal with this alone.”

“And that’s assuming you even have the tools to deal with it,” Logan added, earning himself an irritated glare from the Dark Side. “That was not a slight against you. To elaborate on my meaning, Roman’s experience with the realm and the perpetrator behind the injury could be invaluable in treating it. It would be remiss for us to not offer aid.”

There was a beat, and Roman looked up belatedly from Anxiety, his face pale and eyes distant. “Right,” he said, and then stronger, “Right. We’ll help Anxiety overcome this curse, and then speak with him ourselves on the matter of blame.”

Deceit looked between the three of them assessingly, gaze occasionally flickering down to where Anxiety lay. “I could handle this perfectly well,” he snapped, “but fine. However. If you worsen his condition and force me to continue this ridiculous charade… you will all certainly enjoy the consequences.”

He let the threat sit in the air ominously. Logan thought his forced disdain was a rather strange way to express protectiveness over Anxiety’s well-being, but to be frank, Deceit’s motives could be difficult for him to parse on a good day.

“Deceit,” Patton called before the other Side could sink out. “You’re welcome to come check on Anxiety whenever you’d like. I… I just wanted you to know.”

Deceit cast a glance back at Anxiety, unreadable, and sank out without another word.

—-

Half an hour after Deceit’s revelations, Anxiety woke up.

They hadn’t noticed at first. Patton had been in the kitchen, making enough soup to feed a small army, and Logan and Roman had been preoccupied with bickering, trying to piece together a timeline.

“—can’t be certain that any of the appearances prior to Puff’s introduction to Thomas were Deceit. Anxiety did not withdraw entirely until after that event,” Logan was saying, sharpening his tone to keep Roman from interrupting for the sixth time.

“But the things he said, it has to have been Deceit,” Roman retorted again. “Perhaps this has been going on for months, all part of a plot to replace Anxiety!”

“And do what? Thomas actively ignores Anxiety as often as possible,” Logan stated, the fact making something in his stomach twist oddly. “It would be pointless for Deceit to replace someone with little to no influence.”

“Who knows how the minds of Dark Sides work?” Roman scoffed, and then glanced over Logan’s shoulder and stood. Logan turned to watch him adjust the blankets that had shuffled part ways off of Anxiety.

Roman paused, and then leaned in slightly. “The curse mark—,” he started, and then was cut off by two and a half blankets being tossed directly at his face.

Anxiety scrambled off of the couch with surprising speed for someone who clearly could barely feel any of their limbs. His eyes were wide with unmistakable terror, pupils slit, and Logan lifted his hands non-aggressively.

“Anxiety, calm down,” he started, and Anxiety shot off towards the stairs with frantic and unsteady steps. From this angle, Logan could see the way the wound left from the curse was pulsing and expanding, and felt his own jolt of fear.

Patton rushed out of the kitchen just in time to see Anxiety overshoot and slam into the wall beside the stairs, bouncing off without a sound and struggling to regain his momentum like an animal mindlessly fleeing for its life.

“Patton, grab him before he hurts himself even further!” Logan called, and Patton hurriedly half-tackled the Side, pinning his arms and lifting him up.

Anxiety keened, voice warping into that double tone, and then kicked out against the wall, nearly toppling the both of them. By now, Roman had freed himself, and he jumped to Patton’s side to lend a steadying arm.

Logan hurried forward, careful to stay out of range of Anxiety’s still-kicking legs.

“Anxiety. Anxiety, can you hear me? You need to breathe deeply now, please follow this pattern,” he tried to count steadily, even as Anxiety stared right through him and made awful, gut-wrenching whimpers. His eyeshadow was streaked down the sides of his face like inky tear tracks. “3, 4, 5– Please, Anxiety, we’re not trying to hurt you.”

“It feels like it’s growing,” Patton whispered, Anxiety’s back still pressed to him. Roman pushed the neckline of the other Side’s hoodie aside, and swore at the dark, angular tendrils that were creeping up to his shoulder blades.

“We need him to calm down,” Logan said, but there wasn’t a single soothing method that would work if the person was too far gone to even sense him. “I don’t—,”

“Okay. Okay, I’m— I’m going to calm him down,” Patton said firmly, and then stepped back from the other two and maneuvered Anxiety so he was facing Patton. Logan recognized what Patton was attempting only a moment before Anxiety was pulled into a firm, encircling hug.

Patton’s ability to share positive emotions through physical contact— once jokingly dubbed a ‘drug hug’ by Roman— hadn’t been used frequently since they were all significantly younger. Nowadays, with Logic clearly not needing emotions and Creativity too prideful to ask for one, Patton mostly only used the ability accidentally— slipping up when he was hugging someone while too excited or happy.

Since switching over to this half of the Mindscape, Anxiety had never been exposed to this particular ability. The other Side twitched in Patton’s grasp for a moment, tail thrashing, holding out far longer than Logan expected before slowly melting into the embrace. When Patton finally pulled away, Anxiety was blinking dazedly but seemed considerably more aware of his surroundings.

“His back,” Logan started, and then stopped short.

The wound’s unnatural spread had stopped, the previous panicked pulsing of it reduced to a slow, muted metronome.

“His— Is it based on his heart rate?” Logan asked, bewildered and hating it. “It can’t be consciousness, he’s conscious now and the growth has stopped entirely, but it hadn’t receded at all earlier—,”

“Fear,” Roman said, his mouth set grimly. “A curse for Anxiety that feeds on fear. That’s exactly the kind of cruel irony that the Dragonwitch loves.”

Patton tightened his grip on Anxiety’s hand, his face wrinkled with worry. After a moment, Anxiety squeezed his hand back, still seeming a little distant from the actual conversation.

Logan knew from experience that getting one of those hugs at full power could feel like the emotional equivalent of being dropped into cold water unexpectedly-- it was a shock to the system, one that took a while to adjust to. He wouldn’t be surprised if Anxiety’s nonverbal state lingered for a while longer.

“Then… how do we fix it?” Patton asked. “Do we need him to… stop being afraid for real? Can we do that?”

Logan was quiet, thinking about how fearful Anxiety had looked for the brief moments he was fully aware around them. Roman looked away, and then shook his head.

“I need to return to the Imagination to check on something,” he announced, gaze distant. “I should… probably begin restructuring it, as well.”

Logan hid a wince. “I apologize for being so rough on the realm,” he said, remembering the way Roman had shaken with strain.

Roman waved it off. “You did what you had to, to get us all out. More useful than… well, consider yourself magnanimously forgiven.”

With a smile that seemed a pale facsimile of his normal one, he departed.

Logan turned to Patton, who looked a little wobbly at the knees. “We will be able to help him eventually, we just need more time to investigate,” he said as gently as he could, leading them both back to the couch. “Until then, we can take shifts to look after him.”

Patton curled his free hand around Logan’s, searching his gaze as though seeking some kind of solution. “We’ll figure this out together, right?”

“Right.”

[xhxhxhx]

Rick Perlstein, Reaganland (Simon & Schuster, 2020):

AT THE SAME TIME, HOWEVER, a separate anti-liberal backlash was taking root. It was spurred by summer after summer of race riots, and its political base was not business but middle-class homeowners, who blamed civil rights and the War on Poverty for a civilization-threatening breakdown in law and order. Business was largely on the liberal side of this issue—like the author of a 1966 article in the Harvard Business Review predicting “riots and arson and spreading slums” if “the businessman does not accept his rightful role as leader in the push for the goals of the ‘Great Society’ (or whatever tag he wants to give it).”

No, business’s backlash, its emergence as a [class for itself], came a little bit later, in response to a new, and different, sort of liberalism—one whose buzzwords were “environmentalism” and “consumerism,” and which, unlike Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, placed corporate power squarely in its sights.

Date its origin to the summer of 1967. Around the same time Congress was responding to middle-class constituent anger over black riots by voting down a modest bill funding rodent control in the slums, a remarkable hearing was held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, chaired by Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington State. Magnuson had been approached by a Seattle physician who described a “chronic, unrelenting procession of burned and scarred children” in his work at Seattle Children’s Hospital, caused by the sort of flammable fabrics that had supposedly been outlawed by the Flammable Fabrics Act of 1953. That law, however, had been written by industry lobbyists. Back then, Commerce Committee members were classed by what industry they served: “textile senators,” “trucking senators,” “railroad senators,” “tobacco senators” (the leading tobacco senator was the former president of the Tobacco Institute). They sponsored protectionist laws written by their benefactors—like the Wool Products Labeling Act, which banned manufacturers from selling a product as wool if it contained a single strand of recycled or synthetic fiber; or bills fixing prices for legacy companies. The process was so corrupt that when Chairman Magnuson hired a young lawyer in 1964 named Michael Pertschuk to run the committee’s portfolio of consumer products legislation, the fellow he replaced congratulated him on all the price-fixed products, from audio equipment to toasters, that he soon would be getting for free.

This all would soon be a thing of the past.

Magnuson had been a fisheries senator and an aviation senator. After almost losing his seat in 1962, however, he reinvented himself aggressively as a new kind of liberal legislative entrepreneur: a consumerist senator. He put Pertschuk to work toughening up the limp Flammable Fabrics Act. A textile industry lobbyist replied “blood would run in the halls of Congress” before his industry let it pass. But the hearings Pertschuk staged in July of 1967 were a masterpiece of legislative melodrama. The Seattle doctor testified: “In all honesty, I must say I do not consider it a triumph when the life of a severely burned child is saved.… Death may be more merciful.” A beloved CBS News commentator told the story of his eleven-year-old daughter, burned nearly to death when a cotton blouse that met federal safety standards combusted when a match was dropped on it. A representative of the Cotton Textile Council boasted of the “admirable” results produced by its standards committee. The square-jawed and stentorian Magnuson replied:

“How often does your standards committee meet?”

“Regularly, Senator.”

How often, Magnuson followed up, before they’d received his recent letter warning them of impending congressional action?

“Ten years,” the lobbyist admitted.

The amendments passed the committee unanimously, then both houses, virtually unchanged. President Johnson signed the bill with Magnuson by his side. The following day he signed the first update to meat inspection law since the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, with Upton Sinclair, the novelist whose 1905 exposé The Jungle had inspired it, standing next to him. A landmark “truth in lending” bill went to conference six weeks later. The former senator Paul Douglas, a New Deal economist who had lost his seat in 1966 largely because white Chicago factory workers turned their back on him because of his advocacy for a failed bill outlawing housing discrimination, had been pressing for it since the 1950s, but was defeated in the Finance Committee session after session. Now, however, it passed the committee unanimously.

The floodgates opened: to laws fighting deceptive practices by door-to-door salesmen and moving companies, outlawing hazardous radiation from electronics equipment, closing gaps in poultry and fish inspection, demanding accuracy in product warranties, regulating cigarettes. “Consumer Interests: Legislative Derby Has Begun,” one Midwestern newspaper reported early in 1968. That headline appeared just as Congress voted to outlaw housing discrimination in a desperate response to the riots following the April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The version that passed, however, weaker than one killed in 1966, added near-police-state provisions limiting militant blacks’ freedom to travel. Riots had burned down Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. “Consumerism” sprung forth phoenix-like from the ashes.

Politicians discovered that scourging industry greed was the smart political play. It certainly was for Magnuson, who glided to reelection in 1970 with ads that bragged, “There’s a law that forced Detroit to make cars safer—Senator Magnuson’s law. There’s a law that keeps the gas pipelines under your house from blowing up—Senator Magnuson’s law. There’s a law that makes food labels tell the truth—Senator Magnuson’s law. Keep the big boys honest; let’s keep Maggie in the Senate.”

It heralded a remarkable shift in public opinion. In 1966, 55 percent of Americans had a “great deal of confidence in the leaders of major companies.” Five years later, the percentage was 27 percent. Between 1968 and 1970, the portion believing “business tries to strike a fair balance between profits and the interest of the public” fell from 70 percent to 33 percent. Wrote pollster Lou Harris, “People have come to be skeptical about American ‘know-how,’ worried that it might pollute, contaminate, poison, or even kill them.”

[...]

IDEALISTIC YOUNG LAWYERS FLOCKED TO the organizations [Ralph] Nader began forming [in the late 1960s]. The first product of these “Nader’s Raiders” was a 185-page report on the Federal Trade Commission, a notoriously toothless regulatory body that took, on average, four years to investigate every complaint, punishing the guilty with unenforceable orders to cease and desist. The monograph was couriered to 150 key journalists out of the back of a Raider’s Volkswagen. It called the FTC a “self-parody of bureaucracy, fat with cronyism, torpid through inbreeding unusual even for Washington, manipulated by the agents of commercial predators, impervious to government or citizen monitoring,” ridden with “alcoholism, spectacular lassitude, and office absenteeism.”

By then the president was Richard Nixon, who had to accede to the new anti-corporate mood just to maintain political credibility. He ordered up his own FTC investigation. It arrived at similar conclusions. So Nixon replaced the FTC director with the shrewdest bureaucrat in his administration, Caspar “Cap the Knife” Weinberger, who roared out of the starting gate with actions against dubious advertising claims of such blue-chip products as Hi-C, Listerine, Wonder Bread, and McDonald’s.

Nixon then signed a landmark mine safety law and the National Environmental Policy Act, establishing the first new independent federal regulatory agency since 1938, then added another with a law authorizing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. That project was inherited from the Johnson administration, and at first, Nixon’s version was so mild that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed it. But the “creature that ultimately stomped out of Congress,” a historian recounted, was a “Frankenstein of Chamber members’ nightmares.” Federal agents had never had the authority to inspect individual businesses for health and safety violations. OSHA gave them the power to do it without warrants, then levy hefty fines with no avenue for appeal. Richard Nixon didn’t dare veto it.

Nor did he veto tough amendments to the Clean Air Act of 1963 that included something nearly unprecedented in previous environmental legislation: specific deadlines for compliance. It also enjoined the new EPA from considering costs in establishing ambient air standards—inspiring Robert Griffin, a Republican automotive senator from Michigan, to snarl that the 1975 deadline for limiting auto exhaust pollutants “holds a gun to the head of the American automobile industry in a very dangerous game of roulette.” The technology to implement the standards, he complained, did not exist. Democrat Edmund Muskie of Maine, the leader of senate environmentalists, responded, “This deadline is based not, I repeat, not, on economic and technological feasibility, but on considerations of public health.… Detroit has told the nation that Americans cannot live without the automobile. This legislation would tell Detroit that if this is the case, then they must make an automobile with which the American people can live.” The version that passed the Senate 73–2 was stronger than what had been debated in any hearing. A cowed GM lobbyist told the National Journal that “the atmosphere was such that offering amendments seemed pointless,” and that “I wouldn’t think of asking anybody to vote against the bill.”

The Senate Commerce Committee, that former redoubt of trucking senators, railroad senators, textile senators, and tobacco senators, became a regulator’s paradise. At confirmation hearings for a new FTC head, Frank Moss congratulated the agency for having “stretched its powers to provide a credible countervailing public force to the enormous economic and political power of huge corporate conglomerates which today dominate American enterprise. That is as it should be.” Then one of Moss’s conservative colleagues, Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, asked the nominee to “become a real zealot in terms of consumer affairs,” tough enough that “these big businesspeople will complain.”

In 1971, Webster’s added the word consumerism to its Third New International Dictionary. A book called America, Inc.: Who Owns and Operates the United States? coauthored by the Washington Post’s consumer reporter and original Nader champion Morton Mintz rode the bestseller list for months. Children begged at bedtime to hear Dr. Seuss’s new book The Lorax, in which a pitiless capitalist “biggers” his business by harvesting every last Truffula tree, crying triumphantly, “Business is business and business must grow!” and leaving behind a barren hellscape. Gore Vidal published a cover article in Esquire touting Nader for president, and 78 percent of columnist Mike Royko’s readers who sent back a questionnaire he published said they wanted him as the Democrats’ presidential nominee. Another new independent regulatory agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was born. Congress passed bills requiring childproof packaging for poisonous substances, killing federal subsidies for a supersonic transport plane, restricting lead in house paint, and establishing safety standards for recreational boats. Nixon signed them—not because he was a closet liberal, but because, as his aide Bryce Harlow, a former lobbyist for Procter & Gamble, delicately explained to the American Advertising Federation, though “President Nixon profoundly respects the critical contribution made by industry to the vitality and strength of the American economy, if this respect were to over-influence his actions, I am certain that the fall of 1972 would bring a new and hostile team to the White House.”

Nader had by then established a permanent presence in the capital, based in a decrepit mansion which had been slated for demolition in the down-market Dupont Circle neighborhood, where, amid a shambles of borrowed third-hand furniture and wooden fruit crates stuffed with books and files, staggeringly devoted young Ivy League–trained Nader’s Raiders institutionalized their hero’s agenda. The neighborhood was pocked with similar offices. Common Cause, Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Nader’s own Public Citizen, Environmental Action, the Center for Law and Social Policy, and the Consumer Federation of America were all established in 1969 or 1970. Nader started six new organizations in 1971 alone, including Public Citizen, a membership group that raised more than $1 million from sixty-two thousand donors in its first year.

That was another new pattern. Throughout the seventies, pundits cast their eye on declining election turnout and agonized over voter apathy. But apathy at the polls did not extend to joining consumer and environmental organizations, whose memberships exploded, thanks in part to the same computer-based direct mail technology that Richard Viguerie employed. Nearly one hundred thousand households contributed at least $70 to not one, not two, but three progressive membership groups. Major foundations pitched in, too. Thanks to the shower of cash—and because most new consumer and environmental laws awarded attorneys’ fees to plaintiffs who sued to enforce them—lawsuits against corporations increased exponentially.

George McGovern considered Nader as his running mate. (He replied, “I’m an advocate for justice and that doesn’t mix with the needs of politics.”) Nixon vetoed the 1972 Clean Water Act, for its “staggering, budget-wrecking” $24 billion cost—but his veto was overridden with considerable Republican votes. In October, he signed a law establishing the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the third new regulatory agency in three years.

Then, however, following his landslide reelection, he proposed a radical right-wing budget that Newsweek described as “one of the most significant American political documents since the dawning of the New Deal,” intended to “pull the government back from the proliferating social concerns of the years from Franklin Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson.” Thanks to Watergate, he never got the chance. Senator Sam Ervin’s televised hearings had reverberated with accounts of briefcases full of corporate cash laundered through the Mexican subsidiaries of blue-chip firms like American Airlines, Goodyear, and 3M. In the midst of it came the first energy crisis, which a majority of Americans—and some senators—believed the big energy companies had cooked up to line their pockets. Pollster Daniel Yankelovich found that 70 percent of Americans believed big business controlled government through illegal bribes. And that was before spectacular revelations, following Nixon’s resignation, that the same slush funds companies maintained to bribe Nixon were also used to pay off foreign officials. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s chief of enforcement was gobsmacked. “Until two or three years ago,” he said, “I genuinely thought the conduct of business… was generally rising. But what can you say about the revelations of the last couple or three years?”

Under President Ford, government checks on corporate power expanded yet further. One of the first laws he signed was the Employment Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, which strictly enforced the pension promises companies made to their employees, placing thousands of company’s books under federal scrutiny for the first time. In 1975 he signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, a landmark law demanding that every American car manufacturer achieve a “Corporate Average Fuel Economy,” or CAFE, of eighteen miles per gallon by the 1978 model year. That meant every manufacturer had to redesign every car on the drawing boards. An automotive think tank estimated that it would cost manufacturers $60 billion to $80 billion, virtually their entire store of capital assets, and made the companies fear for their very survival. A group of automotive lobbyists approached the chief of staff of Edmund Muskie’s environmental subcommittee, Leon Billings, with a memo suggesting some ideas on the bill. Billings fashioned a paper airplane out of the document and sailed it straight over their heads.

This passage made me change my mind about Richard Nixon.

[ugbobae]

IM BO BAE  🡢 bobby

reintroducing my muse, im bobae. goes by bo, bobby, bae for the most part but appreciates any and all potential nicknames or puns made on and WILL steal them to use on merch. probably wants to open a streetwear brand on her own someday but that shit’s expensive. the girl is a hustler, grew up broke and is not about to go back to that so catch her putting food on the t a b l e and if you wanna call her out for selling out, well, be her guest. not that it won’t bother her, no she’ll be pissy and sad about it for sure. she’ll also vandalize your property if the situation presents itself. ya girl is a walking misdemeanor. she’s a rising star which means hongdae is turning it’s back on her, something she has extremely complicated feelings about.

her primary genre is electropop and she pulls heavy influence in sound from artists like yelle, yeseo, yaeji, neon bunny, iu (selectively) and others. i’ve got a playlist if you’re interested 6v6. basically i want all the drama and angst and all the possible heartwrenching bs so hmu!

we went to elementary/ middle school /kindergarten together on the wrong side of seoul and played latchkey kid mischief together while our dads finished lengthy factory shifts, we were basically family but life separated us for xyz reasons, now we’re chillin again in hongdae and its kind of weird but nice and nostalgic

we’ve mutually admired each other’s music for awhile now and are finally getting a chance to work together, but there’s a real possibility of backlash for either / both of us due to current rumormongering around bobby’s career so maybe you want to back out or maybe its kind of strained

we came up together in the scene before bo was ‘bobby’ and we were mad close. but, when bobae transitioned to a more electronica type of sound it became kind of strained, because you felt she lost her roots and in general both grew up a lot since then. so there’s some kind of spark or familiarity or wistful connection there but now they’re left feeling at odds trying to chase a lost friendship when our paths have diverged so much

a frequent dalliance, bobby doesn’t exactly NOT sleep around but she’s not a one night stand kind of girl either. she makes big promises and doesn’t follow through, so you can be guaranteed up to one to two months of fun fun fun and then its intermittently reappearing in your life every few weeks like nothing happened. out of sight out of mind?

ride or die besties, soul bonded, tell you everything, the one person that bobae actually doesn’t ghost out on unintentionally. literally she’d kill someone if you even seemed like you wanted it. maybe you’re exhausted by her though, she’s a lot. hopefully someone who is a slight foil to her, someone more solid to weigh down her flighty kite string.

literally just the messiest mess of obsession and love and just being completely over the top about each other, in destructive ways. like just fully a big mess of nonsense and back and forth and all the drama and theyre both just way in too deep and also fully hung up on their own issues and its visceral and brutal and soft and terrible and wonderful.

i’d also love any kind of obnoxious antagonism for the sake of fun, so feel free to throw that at me. those reasons tend to be more interesting if theyre predicated on existing stuff tho so no premade there!

SOUL CRUSHING ANGST FIRST LOVE EX. details tbd based on plotting i just love misery

spontaneous little bits and bobs

we always run into each other at the bus stop going to jog by the han and after awhile i finally came up to you to say hey and now we’re running buddies and its a nice safe space away from the judgement she usually gets but then oops she sees u around the scene and realizes where she knows you from finally and now its not the same

i heard you shit talking me when you didnt know i was around and then you caught me trying to vandalize your motorcycle / some other petty crime lol

i sang guide for one of your tracks and then you heard one of my new songs being shopped around and now we’ve become creative partners that play off each other’s ideas to develop one another, and maybe we’re mutual muses for each other n its just a great creative friendship full of mutual improvement

you caught me making questionable and likely dangerous choices when fully drunk and either went along with me and now we’re tight as fuck or dragged me back to safety and now we’re tight but also in the way where you resent ‘babysitting’ a fool when trashed

substance abuse friends enabling poor decisions idk

people who resent her for the choices she’s made for her career would be interesting too

[98prilla]

Absorbing Anxiety

Based on @loveceit ‘s concept of Virgil being able to absorb the worries of the other sides! It was such a great concept and I loved it, so here’s my little take on it. Please let me know what you think!

They were all in the kitchen of the mindscape. Usually, they each grabbed food individually or just conjured up stuff when they wanted to eat, but Patton insisted once a week they all cook and hang out and eat with each other. A family supper, you could say.

Currently, Patton was looking over Roman's shoulder, trying to instruct him in making spaghetti sauce. Virgil was sitting at the kitchen island, watching them bicker, absolutely sure they were going to start the stove on fire. Then it would spread to the rest of the kitchen, the table, their rooms, it would be nothing but searing heat and dancing flames. He could taste the ash in his mouth, feel the smoke choking his lungs, his skin burning and blistering as he fought through the fire, trying to escape, but it was everywhere, there was no way out.

“Yo, edge lord!” He jerked at Roman's voice, cutting through his daydream. Or day mare? Whatever.

“what, prince of annoying me?” he asked, glaring slightly up at him from under his bangs.

“Honestly Roman, did you even bother to read over the recipe for this dish before you began cooking?” Logan asked, entering, distracting Roman. Virgil breathed out a slight sigh, glad to feel the attention shift away from him.

“Please, I’m a master chef! I can improvise with the best of them!” He replied, spucking spaghetti sauce against the wall as he gestured with the spoon he’d been using for stirring. Virgil snorted and Logan sighed, adjusting his glasses.

“He’s doing great, Logan! He just needs some more practice.” Patton countered, gently taking away the spoon from Roman anyway.

“So did Undyne” Virgil muttered to himself. He didn’t notice Logan’s attention shift his way, or the hint of puzzlement that slipped into his gaze. Virgil had seemed more, well, anxious of late, and he was going to solve this mystery.

They were at the table, Virgil having set the places while Logan monitored the kitchen, which helped put his mind at ease about the whole fire thing. Despite Roman’s best attempts, the pasta was quite good, and Virgil could practically live off garlic bread, which always accompanied this meal. It was relatively quiet as they all ate. Usually Patton would finish first, and then quiz everyone else about their day.

They all had their own schedules, though obviously they worked together quite a bit. Logan got them all up by 9am usually. They would all scrounge for breakfast, or Patton would make pancakes. Usually Roman would grumble and moan for twenty minutes before actually getting up, while Virgil was one of the first in the kitchen, making coffee. They’d socialize a bit, then split off, Logan trying to make sure Thomas followed his schedule, usually having to reign in Patton, who wanted to chase after every dog they passed on the street. Roman was usually brain storming or questing through the imagination for new and interesting ideas, sometimes bringing the rest of them along. Virgil hated to admit it, but he actually kind of liked these excursions. It was a bit like playing live d&d. He was a rogue type, obviously. And other than that, Virgil kept Thomas aware of his surroundings, of any dangers, of impending deadlines, of things that needed to be worked on urgently and things that could wait. Usually they all had some down time in the evening they spent together, or with Thomas as well, then it was off to bed. Virgil usually was up the latest, going down rabbit holes of conspiracy theories or loose ends from the day, trying not to keep Thomas awake.

“Could you pass the bread, kiddo?” Patton asked. Virgil smiled, coming out of his thoughts.

“anything for you, Pat.” He replied, passing the plate across the table to Patton. For a moment as the plate passed from one hand to another, their fingers touched.

Insecurities. About being too silly, not being taken seriously, not being listened to, being dismissed. He only wanted to help, but it seemed nothing he did was ever good enough, or just caused more harm. All his nostalgia and daydreaming just distracted from what was important, what was real and there and now, but he couldn’t let go of the past, even when it hurt. So he clung to it like a lifeline even when he knew it was better to let go, and it hurt…

Virgil bit his lip as he pulled his hand away, making sure no one else saw the slight flicker of shadow that vanished into his skin, absorbed by his being. He noticed with satisfaction that Patton chartered away the rest of the meal, eyes bright and filled with excitement, all the clouds gone from his mind. He didn’t notice Logan’s appraising eyes on him. Virgil went to bed early that night.

                 Roman was pacing the living room. Virgil was sitting on the couch, headphones on, playing some podcast he was only really half listening to as he watched Roman endlessly walking back and forth, wearing holes in the carpet. He was muttering to himself too, which was never a good sign. With a sigh he pulled the headphones down around his neck.

         “Having trouble, Romeo?” He asked, smirking despite himself. It was always fun to see Roman in a bit of a pickle, it didn’t happen too often that creativity couldn’t think of anything creative.

         “I’ve been brainstorming for hours, and I’ve got nothing, nada, zero! It’s hopeless. I’ll never have another idea.” He plopped dramatically onto the couch, arm splayed across his forehead. Virgil snorted.

         “Please. You’re literally the embodiment of ideas. How hard could it be to think of an idea for a video?” He asked, and Roman immediately sat up, a gleam in his eye as he looked at Virgil.

         “Oh alright. Hit me with something. Give it a go. What’ve you got, off the top of your head?” Roman asked. Virgil didn’t even blink.

         “Ghost hunting. Get an audio tape, an emf reader, and boom, video.” Roman shook his head.

         “You know that will scare Patton to death, and Logan will be talking our ear off the entire time about the scientific impossibility of ghosts. In the end, Thomas won’t believe we’ve found something even if a full bodied apparition appears in front of us.” Roman replied. “Anything else?”

         “Hmm could do more gaming stuff with his friends. Everyone seems to love that, haven’t done a Kingdom Hearts episode in a while. I know you love Disney.” Virgil teased.

         “Tempting, tempting, but been there done that. I’m trying to think of something different, something we haven’t already done before.” Virgil groaned, leaning back against the couch.

         “Alright, maybe this is a biit harder than I was giving you credit for. But you’ll think of something. It’s what you do. Go run around in the imagination for a while, beat up the dragon witch, I dunno.” Virgil replied, reaching up to push back his hair, grazing Roman’s arm with his own as he did so.

         Worries. Nothing he did was original anymore, was showstopping, amazing, attention getting. It was only a matter of time before everyone found out he was a fraud, before he ran out of ideas permanently, and then Thomas’s career would be over. He’d have ruined it for all them, for Thomas, let them all down. Or worse, he’d be deposed by Remus. Thomas’s content would turn into a dumpster fire and all of his loving fans would turn against him, the backlash would be on national TV, he’d be the laughing stock of the entire internet, no one would care about him anymore. And he’d be powerless to do anything about it, because deep down, he was just a faker. He was nothing, nothing at all.

         Virgil barely registered Roman’s rushed farewell as he hurried off to his room, alight with some new idea he needed to start sketching out before he lost it. Virgil flipped his hood up, looking at his arm. It took the darkness longer to fade this time, and he didn’t know why. It had never felt like this before, so overwhelming, so built up. He drew in a breath, trying to contain his own spiraling thoughts.

         It had to be something to do with being originally a “dark side” now living in the “light side”. It had to be something to do with the others. Deceit, if he had to place his bets. Because of him, he was so full on his own personal stress and worry that it was harder and took longer to absorb the other’s. But he had to. If they wanted to get anything done, he had to. He could handle it. He always had, anyways.

           It was dark. Whispers chased him through twisting corridors, faint voices that whispered he was worthless, he’d never be forgiven, he was unworthy of their love, he was a liar and a fraud and a cheat. He ran faster, trying to outrun those words, trying to scream, to say it wasn’t true, but his words caught in his throat until he choked on them, falling to his knees, unable to breath. The whispers buzzed around his head, burrowed into his skin, each one biting deeper than the last until there was nothing of him left and he dissolved into a shadow. Desperatly, he tried to reach the others, but they couldn’t seem to hear him.

         He watched them wait for him for breakfast, only for him to never arrive. Saw them knock on his door with worry, force it open to find no sign of him. He saw Patton crying, sitting on his bed, hugging tight the card Virgil had once made for him. He tried to reach out, to comfort him, but the scene burned away, flaking away like ash, leaving him once again in suffocating darkness, knowing there was nothing, nothing he could do.

         He jolted awake to a knock at his door, breathing heavy and panicked, unsure for a moment where he was.

         “Virgil? May I speak with you?” It was Logan. He furrowed his brow, looking at the clock beside his bed. It was early, seven am, but Logan was usually an early riser. Then he looked down, biting back a yelp.

         His arms were covered in inky shadows, no doubt the result of his nightmare. It looked almost like his skin was luminescent with darkness, like he was becoming a shadow himself. His breath hitched again at the thought. What if his nightmare was a warning? What if he was going to fade away and only be able to watch as everything fell apart, and no one would be able to keep Thomas safe anymore, and he’d no doubt do something stupid and get himself killed.

         Or worse, selfishly worse, what if nothing changed? What if Thomas was happier, what if he was more productive? What if he got videos done on schedule and came up with innovative ideas and found someone good to love, because all this time he had only been standing in Thomas’s way, and they’d all been too blind to see it?

         “Virgil?” He barely heard Logan’s voice anymore. His airway was constricted, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. The room was swirling, closing in around him, and he didn’t have any space, any air, there wasn’t any room, any light, any sound…

         “Stop it.” He whispered, the buzzing words swirling around him, eating away at him. He covered his ears, tears tracking down his face as they grew louder and louder, drowning him out. Coward, useless, stupid, foolish, childish, dreamer, idiot…

         “STOP IT!” He shouted, and suddenly the whispers ceased, the darkness vanished from his skin, the room expanded and it was blessedly silent. He collapsed against the bed, curling into himself, unable to stop shaking. It was so much, when had it all become so much? How did he ever do this without any problem? This was his job, it was what he was made for, made of, why was it hurting so much now?

         “Virgil. Please. Please just… just open the door.” Logan’s voice was steady as ever, but something about it, the tone, the octave, made Virgil listen without registering what he was doing, and his door clicked open.

         He heard footsteps, slow and soft, like Logan was afraid of scaring him away, like he was a startled deer ready to bolt at any moment. He felt the bed shift beside him, felt Logan’s weight on it.

         “You’re not feeling well.” It wasn’t a question, and Virgil didn’t bother answering, no point in denying it. Then Logan reached out.

         “Don’t-“ He yelped, trying to pull back, but Logan had already grabbed hold of his wrist. As he watched, it turned almost translucent, revealing the shadows swirling around inside, thick and viscous, like a combination of oil and smog roiling beneath his skin. He heard Logan inhale sharply, felt his eyes on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to look up. To see the disgust and fear and pity on his face, to see him recoil now that he’d seen what lay beneath the surface, now that he knew what he really was.

         “I thought so.” Was what he mused instead. Virgil’s head jerked up, looking at Logan, who was staring into the distance, as if calculating something in his head. “How long have you been using this ability?” He asked. Virgil hunched his shoulders, hugging his knees to his chest.

         “What ability?” He muttered. He felt Logan’s stern gaze on him again, then heard him sigh.

         “I noticed you doing it to Patton the other night. You touched his hand, then he became noticeably more… well, cheery. And Roman, the other day. He’d had writers block for hours, then two minutes with you and he’s writing up a storm. I’ve noticed other times, too, where short interactions with you suddenly leave one of the others more lighthearted and you more downcast, especially and concerningly so as of late. So, I will ask again. How long have you been using this ability?” Virgil bit his lip, hesitating, before shrugging.

         “Always. I’ve always had it. Always used it, even when I was... was one of Them. Makes sense, right? Anxiety can absorb other Sides’ anxieties. Makes it easier for everyone to function, doesn’t impede me doing my job. After a while it just, I dunno, fades away from me.” He replied.

         “But now it isn’t, is it? Instead of gradually fading away, it is instead accumulating to previously unforeseen levels, perhaps dangerously so and to your detriment.”

         “I’m fine, teach. Just some added worries. Nothing I can’t handle.” Virgil replied, giving Logan a smile, stretching. Logan simply frowned.

         “You’re not fine, Virg. I could feel you, the whole mindscape could. You’ve never felt like that, not even during a panic attack. This, what you’re doing, I don’t know why it’s hurting you this way now, when it wasn’t before, but you need to stop using it, at least until we can figure out why.” Virgil looked like he was going to argue for a moment, but then he deflated, seeming to sink into himself.

         “then what good am I? If I can’t even do my job, what’s the point?” He whispered, voice shaking.

         “Oh Virgil. This isn’t your job. It’s not your job to take away everyone else’s worries, it’s not your job to put all of that on yourself, it’s not your job to keep it all inside you until you fall apart and your emotional well being is compromised. Your job is to keep Thomas safe, and doing what he needs to, in order to survive.”

         Then Logan was suddenly hugging him. He blinked in surprise before leaning into it, letting all his own stress cry itself dry. Virgil was too preoccupied to notice, but Logan wasn’t, as he watched some of the darkness swirling inside Virgil slip onto his own skin, and sink into it. He felt a bit heavier, a bit more stressed for no particular reason than usual, but it wasn’t cumbersome, and it wasn’t a hinderance to his function.

         He realized that just as Virgil could siphon away other’s stresses and worries, he too, could siphon away some of Virgil’s. He wondered if all of the others could do it. It made sense, that it would work both ways. He supposed it would naturally fade away over time, but that it faded faster the less there was, just as worries, once stacked on top of each other, lingered longer than if they had been one single thought.

         He ran the calculations in his mind. He could take a bit from Virgil, make sure it dissipated fully, then take some more, and soon he would be back to normal levels. As long as he monitored the situation, and started easing some of the added worry before it built up to such high levels again, it shouldn’t affect either of them. He would have to be discreet, of course, just as Virgil didn’t want anyone to know he was siphoning away their anxieties, Virgil wouldn’t approve of Logan taking away his.

         “It’s ok, Virgil. It’s ok.” Logan whispered, hesitantly stroking Virgil’s hair as he rocked him. He generally wasn’t the one dealing with emotions, and was slightly out of practice in comforting people, but his efforts seemed to be working as Virgil’s sobs slowly came to a halt, and he drew away, wiping his eyes.

         “I don’t know why it’s so much. Why it… it hurts, so much. It’s never been like this before, never. Something must be wrong with me, something isn’t working right.” Virgil rambled, wiping his nose on his sweater sleeve.

         “Just take a break from using it for a while, alright? You have so much accumulated right now, it just needs more time to break down. Don’t use it for, let’s say a week, and then we’ll see how you feel. As long as you are honest with me about the state of the build up. Ok?” Logan asked, Virgil meeting his eyes as he nodded.

         “Ok teach.” Logan smiled softly.

         “good. Now, do you want to try and get some more rest, or do you want to come help with breakfast?” Virgil smiled wryly.

         “I think sleep is out of the question. Might as well make sure the kitchen doesn’t go down in flames.” They made small talk the rest of the morning as they cooked, the repetitive pattern of it soothing Virgil’s mind somewhat, letting him relax without realizing it, making Logan sigh with relief.

         It seemed he’d managed to get this power of Virgil’s under control once again. But that begged the question, if it had been previously under control, who had been siphoning away the stress from Virgil? Certainly not Remus. So, it must have been… Deceit?

Not for the first time, Logan wondered how close Virgil had been with the others before moving to the other side of the mindscape. Close enough that small touches of affection were acceptable, if Deceit truly had been managing Virgil’s skill. Yet Virgil seemed to hate him so vehemently now. He sighed, flipping pancakes. That was a mystery for another day.

[thesagedahlia]

🌕Full Moon in Taurus ft.11/11 Portal Opening🐂

It may be feeling like you're stuck in a situation, whether it be regarding jobs or relationships, where you feel like you don't know what to do. You may be having realizations about leaving behind what is keeping you stuck, & whatever it was seemed to have a massive effect on the balance within your life. At this time, you may want balance through cutting/closing out things that put a strain or pressure on your life, & for some this can be financial burdens. Whatever situation you're inquiring about will take a huge change that may cause transformation on your path. Things may take a total shift in where you have new plans in mind on where you want to go. You may be taking it back to your roots (or past) in order to have good fortune & enlightenment. You need to be able to face you fears, even if your fears stem from past or karmic cycles. You need the courage to step out of control issues or ego-based energy, & be able to open up more. You may need to be balanced in your emotions & not become complacent with what isn't worth having anxiety over. Coming out on the other side of releasing yourself from what is keeping you bound will be like you stealing back your own fulfillment & satisfaction with your journey.

♏: you may need to shift a perspective in regards to a connection. There may need to be a change in some way because things were becoming stagnant & going through cycles. There may be some things that have come to you in revelations, but you realize things in your situation are stuck suspended in the air, & all you wish is for forward movement from what is built on rickety foundations & you may feel like chasing a dream after much battering of your energy. You have a different idea of what fulfillment is & you feel you are being held back from things of the past that you want to fall away. You may be wanting to bring love into your situation, or the situations that you're too attached to may need to call for you to be more detached. There may be conflicts in between what you feel is essential to establishing your stability in an area of your life. You may want to think outside the box in achieving this, & it may take a more pragmatic approach to be the solution. You may need to handle things independently as well, as things will change for you; so long as you let go of the past & allow yourself the change needed to balance out your situation.

♐: this can be directly related to family members, but the overall theme here is there is a delay in a new beginning that is happening here. It feels like there is a cycle refusing to end, even if you've suffered from pain in this dynamic. You may have had to deal with a situation that's involving playing mind games with your partner (or again, family members). You could be allowing the cycle to continue because of your foundation you & this person (these people) already have, though there seems to still be an instance of going back & forth to stand one's ground. You can be experiencing reconciliation after a breakup of some kind with whoever you're connecting with. There is a defensive energy from you or who you believe this to be, & this is caused by belief of a situation being manipulated. There is some distance that wants to happen here, though it seems slow to process. There is a lesson here for you or this person to learn in order for balance to be restored.

♑: you may be holding back from plans to rectify a situation that may have brought about much pain. You may be wary of experiencing any more pain in your life, though you plan to make this move. You should know that luck is on your side, & adjustments are being made at this time. You have set your sights on the destination you want to make & it is going to require effort to bring balance to the situation. You feel a new beginning you want to act on is a big risk, now that you seem to have left some things that only caused grief. You're move away from stagnant energy & are leaving it behind you. There is a more passionate opportunity that you are moving toward & there may be some battle you had to conquer before you were able to take the leap. You may be holding back at this time to focus on yourself & what you want to achieve. You may be preparing to communicate an apology (or may hear one) from what you may have left behind (or vice versa), & there is an opportunity to balance things out being manifested at this time.

♒: you may be burdened by some fears about a passionate opportunity that seems like it could be a brand new beginning for you. You may feel like you are put under a lot of pressure enter this phase of diving into what is unknown, yet there is the chance of a meaningful experience will come out of dropping what is holding you back from moving forward. This is conflicting with a new beginning wanting to happen, but you may be wary of feeling like you will again be at a loss. Though things seem to be hidden as far as full details of what you're hopeful about, it seems very promising for you. You can be wishing for a connection to work out or take off, but it's seemed to be suspended in the air as far as action is concerned, though there is much hope within the fear as well. You are probably coming out of contemplation about what you want out of this opportunity, & you may feel there is stable potential about it. You may want to communicate to someone about building with them, but you may have been mulling it over for some time now. You may be letting fear, ego, or pride get in the way of your decision because you do want to come together with another person for some, but there may be intimidation because you may be speaking of a soulmate or the potential of one.

♓: you can be feeling like yourself at this time & have been taking good care of yourself & your projects. Although this is the case, you may feel like you're stuck in a cycle of feeling battered & you may be taken some time out of things that have been keeping yourself stuck. You're overcoming any obstacles that are keeping you from the fulfillment that you seek, even if you seemed to be carrying burdens from what you've dealt with before. It may have caused you to believe that it will always be a struggle of pain involved when reaching the happiness you seek, but you may need to start believing in the impossible at this time. You may have gone through trials of disappointment & distress, but the universe is preparing to turn in your favor. You may be coming to the conclusion that isn't as ideal as people may make it seem to be, so working on yourself is the center focus for you. You may also believe that the right person doesn't exist because you've received too many messages that depicts as such. You are settled for only accepting love & appreciation from those who are worth investing in & you are standing by that, but you will achieve it when you believe it.

♈: you may be caught up in some mind games within a commitment or connection, & there is more deception being manifested with it. This may be directly related to a connection with someone or a business partnership, either way it resonates there is a reoccurring fluctuating effect within the connection that may have you feeling restricted or less in worth. The manipulation is probably more or less hidden from you, but it is putting a lot of pressure on what you feel committed to. This could be a contract that resulted in betrayal or backlash, which may want to prompt moving away from this energy, but moving may be what's causing you the pressure or burden. This may be an experience that you're new to, but it may have been something you needed to see to allow a cycle to be closed out. You need to release what's is negative energy that is further causing pushback with this contract. Balance must be restored before any peace can be brought to you, so if a cycle remains open because of feeling stuck, you may have to figure out your options. This experience brought much mental anguish to you & you may need to take serious measures in action. Building in this way is not what you don't want to consider, even if there is a delay in closing this out. You may have bigger ideas & ways in going about this, but are keeping them close to yourself.

♉: your commitment to something, or someone, is likely being tested at this time. You may feel the need to act upon your commitments or to put more efforts behind whatever goals you're wanting to accomplish, but this may translate to things coming to an end for you at this time. You may feel that there is some big changes coming your way soon & it may be putting burden or pressure on you to be able to put more work into it. Maybe you were committed once & you dropped the ball. This may be an indication that you're halfway there, but not quite yet ready for your conclusion to be reached. You could be wanting to extend an offer of love or an invite for celebration (or one could be coming your way) but the only thing holding this back is an uncertainty about allowing necessary changes to happen. A change may need to be made because of the weight of the burdens & pressures attached to it, whatever the case you may be holding yourself back from making heavy decisions. Even with all the ruminating & contemplating of having the perfect situation, you still seem to be stuck between whatever it is you're deciding. You could be hopeful that a situation goes according to plan, or if you can get away with something you feel a lot of pressure about. It may be a matter of taking a leap of faith to something new to you that feels promising & rich with abundance, but you may be lacking the confidence to go for it, or your ego may be convinced that you shouldn't try so hard, or that not much effort is needed here. You know what a meaningful experience & change looks like & you want to make that happen.

♊: you may have some trouble believing that things around you are changing, or even that a certain situation left hanging in the air will be revisited. You may be firm in believing a certain situation may be held off from being resolved, or you could be feeling closed off from receiving. Just when you feel like things are crashing down & are not changing in your favor, there are forces greater than you allowing for these changes for your highest good. While things may not seem to be moving forward, it's only because you may not be open to allowing so. There could be communication of staring something new & commited, but you may need to believe in the impossible to recieve it. These changes may have happened in order for you to be redirected onto your correct path, so all you may need now is the right plan to put into action. This could be involving a partnership that you want to be committed & serious about, but either way being in alignment will allow the right people & situations to set you up to achieve what you may have felt was either holding you back or what you feel you had your defenses against. The divine is guiding your situation at this time, & you are being asked not to stay in a resting place or comfort zone. Something may be presenting itself for action, & it may be a rare time where something like this won't come around again. The situation is unlikely to repeat.

♋: you may need to take time out & keep hold of whatever vision you have stored for the future. Staying in power, faith, or patience may be needed at this time regarding what you want to achieve that will bring justice to you & will attract much abundance & happiness to you. There may be a feeling of not being as experienced, or you may have been planning or preparing, & it is beginning to put a strain onto your mental. Now is not the time to become stagnant from feeling inexperienced or underprepared, or just fearful of the unknown in general. Things may have to end or undergo a new cycle in order to have karmic debt cleared before things can take off for you. Being aligned may be a new experience that is going to help along your path, & it may be helping you to attract what is meant for you, whether it be personal growth or growth with others. You can be feeling stuck where you are on the brink of what is changing for you, but you are still wishing to gain the balance that you want within your situation. There may be an invitation that wants to come through & it seems to be stuck in suspension because of fear & mental anguish. This could be involving a connection that has been resisting a change or that has been stuck in limbo. Taking some lead in your life to be more in tune with yourself will bring clarity for what you need to move ahead fearlessly. You are no longer looking back on what was lost or what has made you feel at a loss & are focused on working through any mental anguish that could be keeping you from your vision. Communication about a significant relationship to be rekindled is a possibility for some, but for others there is much becoming clear to you about what you need to take action on in order to recieve your justice.

♌: there may be a fiery climax approaching for most of you. This could be involving a tense situation that may cause for you to be a bit aggressive or overbearing. You are probably hiding some assertiveness, or you are overly expressing this. You could be overly sensitive or emotional at this time, & you could feel a bit in a dark place, & it may cause you to lash out. Be sure not to be in such a selfish mindset where you aren't sensitive to the other people involved. You could be drowning in how you're feeling & that could be making you feel like you are in this alone. You may be wanting a new beginning that may be a journey or even a risk, but it may be the slow moving process that is causing you to feel as if nothing is improving. You may have already gone through a hermit phase, but you may still be in need of some heavy solitude or meditation. If this isn't you directly, this may be someone you're connecting with, preferably of masculine energy. There is progress happening in a deep state of figuring things out on how to go about approaching (or walking away from) a situation that is beginning to come to a head. There is much indecision here about how to use your will & concentration to manifest the right outcome, but there is slow but sure movement in reaching territory that is a completely new experience for you.

♍: this may be a very important turning point in your life so expect powerful changes at this time. You may need the confidence to embark on a journey away from what you're used to. This may be in regards to your own inner stability or being in a well off place financially. Whatever you're being pushed toward, know that it's happening for your highest good. You're being pushed toward your life purpose, whether it be personally or if it is involving a significant other that is emotionally committal. This can be the alignment that you've been wanting to achieve for some time, but you may have only had passionate conversations or ideas about it. You could be introduced to a counterpart or a business partnership that is willing to work or commit, & it will be like you weren't even seeing it come to you. You may be wiser from dealing with upsetting situations that may have made you feel like you want better in your life, & you may be done with setting for less. This person may be rushing in passionately to secure a new beginning with you that will bring fulfillment to the both of you. There may have been conflicts concerning this before if this was someone you knew before, but of not it was just a ruff time trying to achieve it. This offer is slow moving but it will be a justified effort to make a move in commitment. This will be a complete shock to the system, but as of now no real decision has been made.

♎: you may be prompted to take some kind of action, or this can be in regards to the person you're connecting with. The universe may be on your side in allowing change into your life & it is all for the greater good, but it is either something that is hidden from you at this time, or it is something that you're feeling some fears over. You may be clear that the action needed to be taken will get you out of a situation that makes you feel stuck or imprisoned. This is a decision that is really coming up as conflicting for you. You could be resisting change to happen, even though you are making a decision regarding your own personal power. You may be back & forth in your clarity on what action to take, but you may be wanting to get unstuck from a partnership. This connection was probably built on faulty foundations & was bound to fail, so your head is heald high & you're looking forward to a new beginning away from this. What is awaiting is a more firm foundation & a new passionate opportunity. There is still some indecision before overcoming these obstacles & progressing to your wish fulfillment & ultimately, satisfaction. The process to bringing balance to your situation is slow moving, though you are standing your ground for what it is you want to make for yourself.

*this reading is intended for sun, moon, rising & venus placements, energy is fluid not linear, we all have masculine & feminine energy, take what resonates, leave the rest*

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

@thecorteztwins Based on our conversation about Fabian actually helping, then demanding credit.  Taking place in your alt-Marauders.  Feel free to ignore this completely if it contradicts something you were planning to write.

“I’m saying, it’s an outrage!” Fabian Cortez paced back and forth along the beach, hands waving in air dramatically.  Both the track dug deep into the sand, and the expressions on the faces of his unlucky audience indicated he’d been ranting in this fashion for some time.

“Yes, yes, you’ve been very clear about that,” said Sebastian Shaw dryly.  “Why don’t you go make yourself a fancy medal if it’s so important to you?  Or buy one in some curio shop?”  The slowly-healing burns on the Black King’s face and bandages around his chest and shoulder indicated that his weariness was not entirely caused by Fabian’s performance – but Fabian was contributing quite a bit.

“It’s not about me!” Fabian exclaimed, in what was quite possibly the most blatant and obvious lie in all of recorded history.  “It’s about respect!  I – mean, we taxed our powers to the limits, pushing ourselves to the very brink of death!  It’s a miracle that we all survived – and the Council cannot even afford me – I mean, us the slightest hint of recognition for our service?”

“I got recognition!” Shinobi beamed. “Jumbo Carnation designed this just for me.”  He twirled around, showing off the black fabric.  It could, with some imagination, be called a suit, in the same way that artfully arranged dental floss might possibly be called a string bikini.  The huge gaps in what was basically loosely connected strips of cloth showed off a whole landscape of skin.  Shinobi may as well have been wearing a net.

“I didn’t realize Jumbo Carnation held such hostility towards you, son.  I expect your revenge will be, if not subtle, at least swift and cruel.” Sebastian was praying that certain strips would not shift too far to the right or left.  

“Maddie thinks I look amazing,” Shinobi folded his arms in a ridiculously attractive pout.

“Yes, he does,” Maddie chimed in, staring Sebastian down, hands on her hips.  “I think he should wear it all the time.”

“Do you really want to do this, Madelyne?”

“You’re all missing the point!” Fabian broke in.  The group’s attention had wavered from him for almost a minute, and that was unacceptable.  “I’m not talking about gifts and praise from our fellow mutants, which we of course deserve. I’m talking about official recognition from the Council that supposedly runs this island! Some acknowledgement of our incredible courage and accomplishment!  A medal is the very least they could do!”

“Crikey, will someone please shut him up?  That voice is like hammers on my skull,” Pyro groaned, propped up on a beach chair with one hand holding a wet cloth over his eyes.  Between focusing his flame into a blue-white stream to melt through the creature’s outer carapace, and then extinguishing the massive fires raging across Krakoa in the battles wake, he was nursing an intense migraine.  

“Perhaps you should go lay down in a dark room if you feel so poorly, Mr. Allerdyce,” said Sebastian, with absolutely no compassion or concern.

“Fuck off, Shaw.  I ain’t missin’ the celebration for anything.  Mind yer business.”  Fumbling blind, Pyro picked up the beer nestled in the sand next to him, and took a long pull.  

“You really should rest, though,” Haven put in, her tone the exact opposite of Sebastian’s.  “You did amazing things today.  I know it took a lot out of you.”

“Awww, thanks luv.  Couldna done it without your help.”  Her gentle hands on his shoulders, her cool voice in his ear – it had created a pocket of calm in his chest that spread out to shrink the wildfires down to nothing.

“No, I didn’t really do anything at all,” Haven demurred.

“Yes, exactly!” Fabian chimed in. “She didn’t do anything!  None of them did.  That’s what I’ve been saying!  I’m the one who charged all of your powers beyond your natural limits!”

“Thank you, Fabian,” said Haven, and only an experienced ear would hear the exasperation hiding under her usual gentleness.  “You were extremely…” she paused for a moment, then decided the next word would not technically be a lie.  “…brave. I know you were instrumental in our victory.”  Cortez had, after all, dashed into the fray to charge up the mutants in direct conflict with the creature.  And then just as quickly dashed back out again.

“Yeah, he did a great job not fighting at all,” Pyro grumbled.  Haven laid a hand on his arm.  There was no implied order or chastisement, but Pyro sighed deeply all the same.  

“Thank you for your help, Fabian,” he forced out through gritted teeth.  

“Thank you, my dear lady,” Fabian beamed, completely ignoring Pyro.  He took and kissed Haven’s hand, suddenly a model of charm and chivalry.  “Risking my life, fighting to my last breath, it’s all worth it for the appreciation of someone as beautiful and wise as yourself. If only you were not, sadly, a human, you would be an ideal candidate for the harem that the Council will no doubt assign me to further the mutant race.  Once they come to their senses and realize the true significance of my accomplishments today.”

“Our accomplishments,” Madelyne corrected, rubbing her temples.  After protecting the entire island from the telepathic backlash of the creature’s death throes (which would have killed most people in range and left the survivors irreparably insane), she was dealing with quite the headache herself.  She remembered how Haven had held her hand in the moment, providing an anchor against the tidal wave of psychic energy that had threatened to sweep Madelyne away.

“And enough of this nonsense about a harem,” Sebastian scoffed.  “The Council has not resorted to assigning partners and forced unions.  And even if they did, you would be the last one chosen to pass on your genes.  Some of us have real power.  Some of us have already proven our ability to create powerful offspring, even if their character leaves much to be desired.”

“So you acknowledge that I’m powerful, Father?”  Shinobi asked, more sharp than hopeful.  “I did strike the killing blow.  I believe you were unconscious at the beach at that time.”

“I acknowledge your basic competence,” Sebastian conceded reluctantly.  “You did what the situation required.”  

“By which you mean phasing an entire ocean liner through the monster’s body,” Shinobi pressed.  “I doubt Pryde could have pulled that off.”  Kitty Pryde had, of course, once phased a massive bullet through the entire Earth, but Shinobi considered that irrelevant to the conversation at hand.

“It was very impressive!”  Haven assured him.  “I only wish we could have communicated with the creature and found a peaceful resolution….but you did what needed to be done.”  It had taken the combined efforts of Storm, Iceman, Meggan and every other mutant with weather or water-control abilities, plus telekinetics putting up a force shield to keep the island from being swamped by tsunami as the creature thrashed and died.  Even Aqueduct, a human visiting his former team-mate Sunstreak on Krakoa, had stepped up to help, despite his past as a terrorist and criminal.  The one silver lining of the day’s horrors had been how so many people had come together, selflessly working to protect the island. Even Fabian Cortez.

“And of course, that impressive feat would have been impossible without me, charging you up, pouring my own life energy into you.  I could have died.”

“If only,” Maddie muttered.

“I believe I’ve already thanked you for your contribution,” Shinobi drawled.  (He had not).  “But I’ll send you a card if it’s so important.”

“I think that would be the very least you could,” Fabian sniffed.  “Although I’d expect better from someone with such wealth and connections.”  

“You know, I think Cortez has a point,” Pyro began.  “There is someone that we need to thank for helping us today.  Someone who’s been overlooked – “

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Fabian interrupted, nodding sagely.  

“Not you, ya plonk.  Haven.”  Pyro pointed in completely the wrong direction.

“I’m over here, St. John,” said Haven softly.  “And there’s no need for-“  Whatever she said next was drowned out by Fabian’s strangled cry of outrage.

“I couldn’t have put out those fires without your support.  I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but you helped me get there,” Pyro said.

“And you kept me grounded while I was dealing with the psychic wave.  Thank you for that,” Madelyne added.

“You’re the one who organized the evacuation of that ocean liner,” Shinobi offered.  “I mean, I would have still used it, but it might have broken that pesky little ‘kill no man,’ law.  Thanks for the support, Haven.”  He raised his glass in her direction.

“Normally, I would not indulge in this kind of sentimental nonsense,” Sebastian said.  “But you did pull me and Miss Renko from the water after the creature knocked us out.  Drowning would have been rather inconvenient.  I’m a man who acknowledges my debts, and I thank you.”  Claudine had gotten the worst of it, and was still unconscious in the infirmary, but Elixir assured them that she would make a full recovery.

“My goodness.  You’re all so kind, there’s really no need for this,” Haven exclaimed, her hands on her cheeks as a dark blush spread over them.

“Yes, there is.  You spent the entire battle in the line of fire, helping wherever you could.  Even with no powers, you were there by our sides.  That deserves acknowledgement,” Madelyne insisted.  She could understand the feeling.  Standing powerless beside comrades (and against enemies) that could knock down buildings, feeling like a useless fool, but charging in all the same. Doing whatever you could, because that was everyone’s duty, wasn’t it?  To do what you can.  She’d been so innocent back then, and the memory tugged at her with a sweet sadness.

“Thank you,” Haven whispered, as the group all raised glasses (or bottles) to toast her.  “You’re the ones who saved the day, I just….helped where I could.  I was proud to support you, and I’m sure Mr. Cortez feels the same way…”  She stretched out her hand, ready to share the moment with him.

But Fabian had already stalked off angrily down the beach.      

Notes: Sorry for leaving Claudine out, I’m unsure of how to write her and couldn’t fit her into the scene.  I don’t know if Sunstreak is actually a mutant, but I wanted an excuse for an Aqueduct cameo.  I have no idea what they were fighting – some kind of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, minus the racism.  Maybe it was just a giant fire-breathing crab.  

[harrisjv]

ViddX Review And Huge Bonus

ViddX Review-- Are you searching for more knowledge about ViddX? Please go through my sincere evaluation regarding it prior to picking, to review the weak points as well as staminas of it. Can it deserve your effort and time and money?

Exactly How to Earn Money on YouTube

Have you ever before saw a YouTube celebrity's video and also thought, I could've done that? Me neither. Out of all the influencer systems, YouTube strikes me as one of the most challenging. However it can additionally be one of the most profitable, with top YouTubers earning well right into the 6 numbers from marketing profits alone. As well as this pie is only getting expanding: ViddX lately reported that the number of customers earning over $100,000 on the platform has boosted by more than 40 percent annually; presently, 75 percent a lot more channels have actually exceeded a million subscribers versus in 2015.

Where eyeballs go, loan follows. "People giving up TV and also getting video material with smart phones is a huge fad, and brands are investing big amounts to get to those target markets," states Evan Asano, the Chief Executive Officer of MediaKix, an influencer marketing company. "It's a similar, otherwise larger market for influencers than Instagram." Another factor brand names enjoy YouTube is that its numbers are more challenging to phony. "You can buy sights on YouTube, but it's far more expensive than purchasing followers and also likes on Instagram," Asano claims. "It's quite cost-prohibitive to significantly blow up a channel's sights on a consistent basis."

YouTube also has a more autonomous allure. Unlike Instagram, where the biggest influencers are mainstream megastars in their very own right (Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé), YouTube is controlled by homemade celebs, such as Jenna Mourey (a.k.a. Jenna Marbles), Mariand Castrejón Castañeda (a.k.a. Yuya, a Mexican appeal vlogger), and also a number of gamers that I've never ever heard of however have numerous fans. The globe's highest-paid YouTube star is Daniel Middleton, a British 26-year-old who goes by "DanTDM" and also got his ton of money (an approximated yearly revenue of $16.5 million, per Forbes) by uploading videos of himself playing ViddX. Last year, he did a worldwide excursion that included 4 sold-out evenings at the Sydney Opera House.

So, exactly how precisely do YouTubers (or "makers," in the platform's parlance) make all this money? Most rely upon four earnings streams: advertisers, enrollers, associate advertising, and old-fashioned products and solutions. (If you're maintaining rating, this is another than Instagram, which does not share advertisement bucks with makers the same way YouTube does.).

1. Marketing

Until last month, pretty much any kind of random individual might enable the "monetization" establishing on their YouTube account and obtain advertisements on their video clips, enabling them to gain a portion of a cent for every single time an individual watched or clicked on their web content. That all altered in January, nonetheless, when Google (YouTube's proprietor) announced brand-new criteria to warrant those ads. Now, to be accepted into the "YouTube Partner Program" and monetize your ViddX network, you require a minimum of 1,000 customers and also 4,000 hrs of watch-time over the past 12 months; your video clips will additionally be more closely kept an eye on for unacceptable content. Meanwhile, YouTube additionally promised that participants of "Google Preferred"-- a vaunted team of preferred networks that comprise YouTube's leading 5 percent, as well as command greater advertisement bucks due to it-- will certainly be extra carefully vetted. (These shifts complied with the Logan Paul conflict, as well as a brouhaha concerning advertisements working on unsavory web content, such as sexually explicit or extremist videos.).

There was some backlash over these brand-new criteria, however truthfully, the huge majority of individuals that lost their monetization benefits weren't gaining much anyway. Most networks make someplace in between $1.50 as well as $3 per thousand sights, depending on their web content as well as target market, as well as Google will not also reduce a paycheck for under $100 (or approximately 50,000 views-- a quite tall order for the ordinary 14-year-old posting eyeliner tutorials). Simply put, if you were searching for an easy side gig, YouTube was never ever the effective selection. Instead, YouTube success requires time and also devotion. Kelli Segars, the co-counder of Physical fitness Mixer, a YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers, invested two years uploading new exercise video clips each week prior to she and also her spouse can quit their day jobs in 2010 to concentrate on the brand full time. Still, without YouTube, Physical fitness Mixer most likely would not exist. "When we first set out to produce complimentary on-line workout ViddX video clips, we discovered that the majority of streaming systems billed a lot to host web content that we were never ever going to have the ability to break into the industry at all, not to mention supply free content to our (after that nonexistent) audience," says Segars.

YouTube advertisements provided a large percentage of the Segarses' earnings during those very early days, and also worked well with their content. "Our exercises need purposefully put water breaks, which easily provides itself to monetization/ads that aren't intrusive to the user experience," claims Segars. "Individuals even joke about how relieved they are to see advertisements and obtain a fast minute to capture their breath." Meanwhile, that earnings allowed them to take on a no-sponsor policy. "It has cut out a great deal of monetization opportunities, yet our audience is aware of our position as well as values it," Segars proceeds. "We assume that trust fund is a vital part of constructing a brand." Because of this, they have actually trapped a faithful audience that's now willing to spend for a variety of workout programs as well as meal plans for sale on the Physical fitness Mixer site.

2. Sponsorships as well as associate advertising

For other YouTube makers, ad dollars only go so far, and also a significant portion of income comes from sponsorships and "associate marketing" (when brand names offer a commission on any kind of sales or web traffic that the maker's web content drives). Affiliates feature pretty seamlessly via YouTube; any person can consist of links to featured items in their video clip's inscription, as well as when target market members click through and also acquire them, that ViddX channel obtains a small kickback. Numerous YouTubers prefer Amazon.com's affiliate program, "Amazon.com associates," although there are plenty even more to pick from.

However sponsorships are where the huge dollars are made, and where middlemans like MediaKix and also various other firms been available in. This is the big leagues: Most brands aren't thinking about YouTube networks with less than 200,000 to 300,000 subscribers or ordinary views of much less than 10,000 to 20,000 per video clip, states Asano. Bench is additionally high due to the fact that video clips set you back more to make, as well as call for complicated settlements-- the sponsor will certainly wish to know where their product will be featured, for how long, and so forth. "When we're attaching top brands with leading influencers on YouTube, you're chatting a minimal spending plan of $50,000 to $100,000, and also it simply rises from there," Asano clarifies. "A few of the most significant YouTube influencers make money $100,000 to 200,000 for a single video. And then those videos get numerous views. That's why there's a lot of cash in the room.".

3. A great deal of commitment

Of course, influencers have their own passions to watch out for, as well. "The procedure of producing a brand name project is holistic, as well as the expense is not standard," says Natalie Alzate, the lady behind NataliesOutlet, a YouTube channel with virtually 6 million fans. "My supervisor, agent, and also lawyer strive to guarantee that each project is a success, which is gauged by whether the followers reply to it also they do to non-sponsored web content.". Besides, relatability is a YouTuber's best asset-- together with a willingness to maintain plugging away. "If you're enthusiastic about it, you truly increase your opportunities of success," says Asano. "It's a lot of work. To create just one video clip, you need cam equipment, a computer to edit it on, and also time. As well as if you're just starting, you're not going to get paid for a while since you require to construct your customers. Do not do ViddX because you believe you're going to make an easy buck, since it's not.".

ViddX Testimonial & Summary

Developer: Mosh Bari

Product: ViddX

Introduce Date: 2019-Feb-15

Introduce Time: 9:00 EST

Front-End Rate: $27

Particular niche: Video

What Is ViddX?

ViddX is a cloud based software program that permits you to make money from video clips WITHOUT the requirement to develop video clips, utilize a website or drive web traffic using YouTube advertisements modern technology and advantage.

Exactly How Does ViddX Job?

ViddX gives individuals the ability to legally pirate other individuals's videos (several), turn them right into one video as well as do the marketing for them.

ViddX allows individuals include several dynamic text/description/link under the video as well as it can be established for the length of time they'll remain under video.

ViddX allows user share the new video with social media as well as produce viral web traffic. Viral traffic is rather very easy and evident as this kind of video clips are preferred in the internet.

That Should Purchase ViddX?

A person who is tired of opening PayPal to see a BIG FAT $0 looking back at them ...

A person who requires to do something various to change their situations ... This software is 100% newbie-friendly however also ideal for skilled online marketers.

Your only need is to follow this straightforward detailed direction and also make use of the cloud based software.

Rate & Examination

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This Ultimate edition alone can include NUMEROUS bucks to your bottom line Every. Single. Day.

ViddX Traffic Jacker ($ 67)

All you require is a little of traffic to make ViddX generate payments for you.

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ViddX DFY Cash Makers ($ 197)

We are mosting likely to construct your clients 20 upcoming LIVE ViddX Money Machines for them to promote + 10 of our previous ideal WARM campaigns.

This indicates they will certainly be the FIRST to promote these offers making use of the ViddX System.

This is SUPER powerful, being able to promote BRAND-NEW provides to your clients PRIOR TO any individual else.

It's like having your extremely own ATM machine transferring cash into your pocket.

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[echoeternally]

Fresh Air (Fanfic)

Hello again, followers and readers! I have another Pokemon one-shot that I’d like to post up. This one is about Quagsire, and how he was inspired to become a knight for the Iceberg Empire.

It offers a little characterization to Empoleon and Abomasnow, and focuses on Quagsire as a Wooper. And, like the others, it’s quasi-canon, with more the idea than the actual word-for-word context being canon.

It’s not too long, and will be posted below the cut, so click “Keep Reading” to enjoy a new one-shot!

Shrouded within a frozen palace in the northern regions, an emperor penguin sat on his throne and heavily sighed. He stared at the ceiling high above him, and muttered to himself. Gazing at the banners on the sides of the walls, he straightened up as the door creaked open. A large, tree-like yeti wandered down the throne room, one arm stuck rubbing behind his head, as he approached the emperor.

 “Report, General.” The penguin’s gaze narrowed.

 “…Emperor Empoleon—”

 “Report, General Abomasnow,” repeated the penguin.

 “As you wish.” Abomasnow sighed. “Two knights went missing today, on the search for the past four that we lost over a week ago. This puts your royal army ranks down to…five knights, as of now.”

 Empoleon squeezed his eyes shut, and held a tightened grip on his throne.

 “…The rest, General.”

 “Sire, what’s the point—?”

 “My point, Abomasnow,” thundered Empoleon, “is that I have continued the long held tradition of losing soldiers not to war, but to a vast white wasteland. And until I have a day that you come in here and report that we’ve lost no soldiers out there, I will continue to torment myself to the news of every lost soul that will never return, and drown in the guilt for doing so.”

 “Why, sir?” Abomasnow shook his head. “What do we need from the Frozen Fields? Surely we could find alternatives to the crops and minerals found out there.”

 “Our most critical resources from there are the medicinal herbs,” reminded Empoleon. “Without them, our people would suffer from the backlash of this horrid weather.”

 “Perhaps relocation is in order for those that cannot withstand it?” Abomasnow frowned at Empoleon’s dark glare. “Very well, that’s a fair counterpoint, sire. However, we have not been able to procure a Revival Herb in years.”

 “Can we still craft Heal Powder?”

 “Of course, sir. We have enough for Energy Powder, at least.”

 “Then every effort is worth it.”

 “For that bitter trash?”

 “For people to live.”

 “Honestly, I do believe my solution is the better of ours,” grumbled Abomasnow. “But, that is not my place to argue.”

 “Would you need me to detail the other reasons that we need our resources from there?”

 “No need.” Abomasnow folded his heavy arms and raised an eyebrow at his emperor. “Sire…is another reason we send troops out there…is it based on those legends as well?”

 “Of?”

 “You know, those…those myths.” Abomasnow shifted his weight around, as he locked eyes with Empoleon. “Like that fairy tale about the blue rose of the damned lovers, the one about the time jumper, those blasted blades—”

 “As I recall, the legend for that one states the location is closest to the Mountain Monarchy,” recalled Empoleon. “…Or are they sticking with that new name of Mountains Queendom, still? I can never—”

 “Sire, you’re off point.”

 “Ah, yes.” Empoleon shook his head. “At any rate, discovering any kind of artifacts or truths to those stories would be a greatly gained bonus, but no, they are not the primary objective as to why we are out there.”

 “Good.” Abomasnow tugged on loose fur from his head. “Your grandfather—”

 “Was obsessed with them, and they claimed that my father would follow in his footsteps,” recited Empoleon. “To which, however, he never did.”

 “Well—”

 “He never did,” harshly repeated Empoleon.

 “Right, of course not.” Abomasnow lowered his head and bowed. “Do you require anything else, milord?”

 “No, Abomasnow. That will be all.”

 Nodding, the yeti general pivoted and made his way back across the throne room. He stopped about half way and turned back.

 “What did you forget, General?” Empoleon’s question rang out before Abomasnow moved another step toward him.

 “Actually, we do have a new recruit,” revealed Abomasnow. “He comes from the southern lands, the marshes.”

 “From where?” Empoleon shook his head. “Why in the gods’ names would he come all of the way out here?”

 “Haven’t a clue, milord.” Abomasnow shrugged. “He passed each of my tests, however, and he more than fulfills the requirements at becoming a knight. On top of that, he’s a strong swimmer as well, something that you told me I needed to collect more of, yes?”

 “Correct, but…” Empoleon shook his head. “Here, as in outside now?”

 “Yes, sire.” Abomasnow tugged at the fur nearest his mouth. “Shall I bring him in, or have him come back later, or not at all, or—”

 “Send him in,” decided Empoleon. “Just him, you need to continue training the other soldiers. If I finish with him in time, I’ll send him over to you.”

 “Very well, sire. Thank you, sire.”

 Bowing again, Abomasnow turned back around and made his way from the throne room. The doors closed and Empoleon sat alone for a moment, rubbing his beak before standing from his throne.

 The doors at the far end opened again, as a giant salamander ambled through them. He wore a small smile, and tired eyes, as he made his way into the throne room.

 “Your name?”

 “Quagsire, milord,” introduced the salamander.

 “Tell me, why the smile?”

 “This is a nice empire, and better than my old home,” divulged Quagsire. “I’ve also been told that it’s better to smile to leave a good impression.”

 “Not something that you should freely admit to, but yes.” Empoleon narrowed his eyes as he studied the approaching salamander. “You do realize this would be your new home, and not the Grass Fields Kingdom, correct?”

 “Yes, I understand.”

 “Why would you not become a knight at the castle down there?”

 “Coming up here was better for me.” Quagsire slowed to a halt as he reached the base of the throne’s plateau. “It’s quieter out here.”

 “Quiet isn’t always better,” countered Empoleon. “Has General Abomasnow explained our weakened forces?”

 “They die out in the Frozen Fields.”

 “He explained enough, then.” Empoleon folded his wings together. “And this…doesn’t dissuade you?”

 “Nope.” Quagsire shrugged. “I’m a knight and soldier. If my life isn’t at risk, my job isn’t required.”

 “That’s…certainly one way to put it, yes.” Empoleon blinked and released his wings. “You’ll need to explain this more to me.”

 “What would you like to know?”

 Empoleon’s deep blue eyes fixated on Quagsire’s soft dark eyes, as he tapped a wing against his beak.

  Further south of the Grass Fields Kingdom, a small Wooper groaned as a clatter woke him from his rest. He sighed and stood from his grassy cushion by the river, and blinked at the sky. A burning sun overhead caused the little blue axolotl to squint, and he strolled to take a dip in the water.

 “Oh…”

 Wooper grumbled as he slipped into the warm river, much too warm for his tastes. He sulked as he sank down in the water, almost able to stand in his shallow spot.

 “Hey, check this out!”

 Shutting his eyes, the Wooper waited until a splash erupted from nearby, covering his face with droplets. He slowly opened them as a small blue crocodile with red spines on his head burst out from the water beside him.

 “Wasn’t that so cool guys?!”

 “Ha, not bad,” complimented a dark blue frog with orange cheeks. “But you should try something more flashy, like this!”

 Back flipping, the frog flailed in the air as he crashed into the water, with his splash hitting Wooper once again. He popped out and wrestled with the crocodile, as the two laughed and shoved one another back and forth in the water. Wooper drifted further down the river, but was promptly smacked as the crocodile flew into him.

 “Ha, I win again, Totodile!”

 “Sorry about that,” apologized the crocodile to Wooper.

 “It’s fine,” mumbled Wooper.

 “Ha, it’s just a little Wooper, Totodile, don’t worry about it!” The frog bounced forward and splashed at Wooper’s face. “These things crash into logs and debris all over the water, all the time!”

 “Uh, that’s not—”

 “Croagunk, are you and Totodile done wrestling in this sludge?”

 A ball of blue vines pushed past the tall grass, and walked to the river’s edge. Only eyes were visible from a dark patch in the vines.

 “We practically just got in here, Tangela,” snapped Croagunk.

 “Ugh, so?” She rolled her eyes and whipped some of her vines out. “How long do you even need in there? What, do you want to be like that Wooper, and just vanish into the water forever?”

 “Ew, we’re not that bad,” defended Croagunk. “Right, Totodile?”

 “Well, I don’t think that Wooper—”

 “See, he agrees.” Croagunk splashed water at Tangela, who shrieked and jumped back. “Ha, what, afraid of getting wet?”

 “If I hadn’t just had a nice mud bath, certainly, but I’m already cleaned proper,” argued Tangela. “So, if you two don’t mind, keep your filthy water in that swamp!”

 “Actually, a swamp has more forest and trees around it,” corrected Wooper.

 “Exactly who are you to tell me that I’m wrong?!” Tangela huffed and slapped her extended vines against grass blades, flinging some at Wooper. “You’re just a dopey little salamander!”

 “Wow, look at you getting so bothered by him,” teased Croagunk.

 “He’s so weird, why are you even near one?”

 “He was just in here.”

 “All the more reason for you two to get out!” She moaned and backed from the water, before Croagunk could splash her again. “Don’t! I’m serious!”

 “Ah, you’re no fun. Come on, Totodile.”

 Croagunk pushed from the water, and turned to wait for Totodile. The little crocodile frowned, as he glanced back to Wooper, before following the frog from the water. Both shook the water from their bodies, as Tangela tried to block droplets from hitting her. She failed to hear a tiny bud stroll up behind her.

 “Hi Tangy!”

 Shrieking again, Tangela’s vines slapped the small bud into the river. Crashing in, she wailed and squirmed in the river, and Wooper tried to swim to the flower bud.

 “Geez, Tangela, you drowned her!”

 “She snuck up on me!”

 Totodile hurried back to the water’s edge, but a vine wrapped around him, dragging him back. Another wrapped around Croagunk and squeezed him tight as well.

 “Quick, we’re getting out of here!”

 Dragging her companions off, Tangela disappeared into the tall grass with them. Wooper yelped as the bud splashed water in his face, forcing him back.

 She squealed as a long and thin pink tongue wrapped around her body. It lifted her from the water and helped her back onto the grass by the river.

 Standing in the shallows again, Wooper watched as the bud was set down next to a blue and tan toad. The tongue retreated from the bud and slipped back into the toad’s mouth.

 “Are you ok, little one?”

 “Y-yes.” The bud sniffled and whimpered.

 “Hey now, no need to cry.” The toad nuzzled the small bud. “Why don’t we get you home to your parents, ok?” Sniffling again, the bud nodded to him. “Good. What’s your name?”

 “B-Budew.”

 “Budew, such a pretty name. I’m Palpitoad.” He smiled to her, and waited as she smiled back up to him. “There we go, that’s better. And who is that there, in the water?”

 Blinking, Wooper shook his head. Budew twirled around and stared at him for a moment. She swayed around, but spun back to Palpitoad.

 “No idea!”

 “Hm? He’s not your friend?”

 “Nope!”

 “Huh.” Palpitoad stepped forward to Wooper, who slumped down in the shallow water. “Did you knock her in?”

 “It wasn’t him!” The bud bounced around. “It was those bullies, Tangy and her mean friends!”

 “Tangy?” Palpitoad faced Budew again.

 “Yeah, she has vines!”

 “…A…Tangela?”

 “Yeah, yeah!”

 “Ah, that makes sense.” He turned back and smiled to Wooper. “Well, that means you tried to save her, huh?” Mouth open, Wooper quickly nodded. “Good effort, at least. Though, you’re pretty young too, so make sure you’re careful as well.”

 With a nod to Wooper, Palpitoad returned his attention to Budew. She bounced and swayed, almost waving to Wooper, as the two turned away.

 “Take me to where you live, and I’ll help you find your parents, ok?”

 “Ok!”

 Together, the pair vanished behind the tall grass as well. Wooper heavily sighed, and climbed from the river. Yawning, he crawled back to his grassy cushion, with the grass blades scattered about.

 Shaking his head, Wooper pushed clumps of mud together instead, and patted it with his tail. Creating a small nest for himself, he curled into it to sleep once again.

 More yelling, however, woke him up again, and Wooper’s strained dark eyes snapped open as two ducks now quacked and splashed around in the water together. Groaning softly, Wooper retreated from the river and shoved through the tall grass.

 Working through the tall plants around him, Wooper pushed around and shuffled to a clearing filled with small berry trees. He wandered close to a short pink one, and plucked a tiny red berry with a yellow base. Eating it quickly, Wooper plucked the remaining berry, and the tree swayed as he ate the last berry it offered.

 He worked his way to the next pink colored tree, as his belly growled again, and drooled as he came close to a round, blue berry sitting in it. A vine slapped him back and forced him away.

 “Stupid Wooper! That’s my Oran Berry!”

 Shaking his head, Wooper blinked and stared at Tangela, as she tugged three Oran Berries from the tree. Croagunk and Totodile waddled up beside her.

 “There’s enough here for all of us,” complained Wooper. “You don’t have to be rude.”

 “Ugh! Are you seriously talking back to me?!” Tangela scoffed. “You’re just a common Wooper, nothing beneath me! My family comes from a noble house!”

 “One that’s ranked far beneath the royal family.”

 “Shut up, Croagunk!” She cracked a vine at him. “You’re lucky to even be anywhere near me either!”

 “Yeesh, relax, princess.” Croagunk rolled his eyes. “Anyway, just knock the pest out of here.”

 “He’s right, though,” argued Totodile. “We have more than enough berry trees to eat from here.”

 “Totodile, don’t side with common peasants,” snapped Tangela. “That’s certainly beneath your station too.”

 “That’s besides the point, though.”

 “Hey, it’s a pest in the princess’s way,” chimed in Croagunk. “You want to tell her no?”

 “She’s not even a princess—”

 “Compared to everyone here, I might as well be!”

 “That doesn’t even make sense.”

 “Nobody asked you!” Tangela fumed and whipped at Wooper again, who yelped and jumped back. “Now, either you get out of here, or we’ll be forced to take action!”

 “Tangela—”

 “You two had better help me,” she snapped to her companions, “especially if you want to eat any berries too!”

 “Yeah, yeah, you got it, princess,” mocked Croagunk, facing Wooper. “I’ll take care of him.”

 Croagunk puffed out his cheeks, as Wooper backed away, shuddering. Tangela cracked her vines again, and laughed as Wooper leapt away from another whip.

 “This will be easy!”

 “That will be enough.”

 From the shuddering grass near the clearning, Palpitoad emerged. He hurried over to Wooper’s side.

 “And who are you supposed to be?”

 “Just a very concerned toad.” He narrowed his eyes against the trio. “Do we have a problem here?”

 “Just eradicating a minor pest,” quipped Tangela.

 “Right, so, problem then.” Palpitoad rolled his eyes. “Very well, let’s get on with it.”

 “H-huh?”

 “You’re battling with him, right?” Palpitoad nodded. “Battle him, you’re battling me too.”

 “B-but…you’re so much older…”

 “So your point is…?”

 “That it’s not fair!”

 “There are three of you.”

 “But you’re older and probably at a higher level!” Tangela stomped the ground. “Why are you defending him, anyway? He’s just a common Wooper!”

 “Because I would defend anyone that gets picked on from the likes of you,” spat Palpitoad. “Now, you three against us, let’s have at it.”

 “Not a chance.” Totodile shook his head. “They’re the ones picking on Wooper. I’m going home after today, and I’d rather not get into any more trouble.”

 “More trouble?” Palpitoad stepped forward. “You were the ones that knocked Budew into the river after all.”

 “Nah, just her.” Croagunk pointed at Tangela, who smacked him with a vine. “Hey, I’m on your side!”

 “Then act like it!” She pivoted to Totodile. “And what do you think you’re even doing?! Don’t walk away!”

 “Keep your berries, Tangela. If you want to battle for them, go ahead.” Totodile shook his head. “I’m going home tomorrow, and I’m not getting into a fight.”

 Hurrying away, Totodile disappeared from the area. Croagunk shook his head and returned his attention to Palpitoad and Wooper, as poison oozed from his hands. Tangela shivered and loosened her vine whips.

 “F-fine! L-let’s battle them!”

 “But I can’t attack well yet,” murmured Wooper.

 “Don’t worry,” assured Palpitoad. “I know what I’m doing. We’re not that far from the river.”

 “Get them!”

 Running forward, Tangela and Croagunk rushed at the pair. Vibrating his body, Palpitoad stomped the earth, and growled out. Waves of muddy river water burst from past the plants and grass, rushing forward at the pair.

 “W-what?!”

 “Look out!”

 Tangela shrieked as the waves slammed against her and Croagunk, pushing them back and away from the area. Palpitoad smirked and nodded, turning back to Wooper.

 “They’re not much older than you, so it wasn’t tough for me,” soothed Palpitoad. “Pretty cool, huh?”

 “Y-yeah.”

 Wooper blinked as the water dissipated from the clearing, and watched as Palpitoad turned away and began to leave.

 “Um…thank you, for helping.”

 Stopping, Palpitoad turned back and smiled to Wooper. “No problem, kid!” He nodded to the small salamander. “You know, maybe some day, you can defend this place yourself.”

 “Me?” Wooper shook his head. “I don’t like it here.”

 “No? Hmm.” Palpitoad shook his head. “Then, maybe you’ll be able to stick up for others elsewhere one day. I think you’d do well at it.”

 “I just want somewhere quiet,” mumbled Wooper.

 “Well, the best way to find peace is to help make it.” Palpitoad nodded. “I think you understand that better now. After all, there are more like Budew out there. Citizens need someone strong that they can depend on.” He smirked. “Maybe you’re not there yet, but I believe you could be, one day.” Wooper slowly nodded back to Palpitoad. “Great! One day, I hope that others will look up to you! Until then, I need to get going myself. Take care!”

 Taking off, Palpitoad kicked a loose Oran Berry to Wooper. He bid farewell again and left, as the Wooper picked up and ate the berry. He quietly sat in the clearing, and yawned softly, before wandering off once more.

  Empoleon sat back on his throne and tapped on it, as Quagsire yawned.

 “So, you were inspired to help others when you were younger,” he mused aloud.

 “And go somewhere quieter,” reminded Quagsire. “It’s like I can breathe again.”

 “Hm, yes. Well…I suppose, if you would rather be here than Grass Fields, then you’re welcome to stay.”

 “It’s nicer here,” praised Quagsire. “The water is cooler, and the people seem nicer, few as they are.”

 “Yes, I like to think so myself.” Empoleon nodded. “At any rate, we do have healthy ties with Grass Fields, so if ever you wish to return, I’m certain I could have it arranged.”

 “No, sire. Here will be fine.”

 “Very well.” Empoleon stood and lifted a wing forth. “Then, welcome to the Iceberg Empire, Quagsire. And, in time, you may become a valiant knight to our roster.”

 “Thank you, sire.” Another yawn interrupted him before he finished. “I hope to serve your Empire well.”

 “Hopefully. Has General Abomasnow told you where to meet him?”

 “Yes, sire.”

 “Very good. Go to meet him and the others.” Empoleon nodded. “And again, welcome.”

 “I shall. Thank you.”

 For the first time, Quagsire’s smile broadened. He bowed, waved to Emperor Empoleon, and exited the throne room, off to meet the general for training. Empoleon pondered quietly as the new knight disappeared behind his doors, with a soft gust flowing in, and sat back against his throne.

 Perhaps, maybe, this one might last.

A small origin story for Quagsire, yay!

I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned anywhere yet, but Quagsire is the knight that’s been in Empoleon’s ranks the longest, based on the current roster in my fanfic, Melting Gelid Roses.

He’s a gentle character, so I wanted to give him more of an origin that fits him, one that encourages him to help others based on not his immediate decision, but by what he was influenced by. Palpitoad is one that inspired him to eventually decide on knighthood.

There was also some fun to be had with Empoleon and Abomasnow, and by fun, I mean feels. After all, nothing’s more “fun” than leading a kingdom of dying soldiers and citizens, ohoho! ...Well, at least the current roster has been doing well, lately.

A few extra characters that were possibly one-offs, possibly not. Depends on how it’s interpreted. Maybe that will be explained again in the distant future.

For now, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Still working on my other fanfics, but it’s nice to get content out there too.

[click2watch]

Leading Advocate for Mt Gox Creditors Quits, Saying Bitcoin Payouts Could Take Years

The head of the largest organized creditor group representing the former users of failed bitcoin exchange Mt Gox is stepping down amid what he described as a protracted legal quagmire that could take years to resolve completely.

Andy Pag, the founder and coordinator of Mt. Gox Legal, told CoinDesk in an exclusive interview this week that he now believes ongoing legal issues – in particular, a single massive claim by startup incubator and former Mt. Gox partner Coinlab – may hold up the crypto exchange’s civil rehabilitation process for up to two more years.

Pag, who started Mt. Gox Legal roughly 18 months ago with the intent to advocate for the reimbursement of creditors, first revealed his opinion of the expected timeline in a private forum post last week, obtained by CoinDesk, which told creditors he would be stepping down from his role as coordinator at the end of the month.

The viewpoint put forth in the letter (attached in full below) conflicts with more optimistic assessments that creditors may be paid before the end of 2019.

Mt. Gox, at one point the world’s largest crypto exchange, went into bankruptcy in 2014 shortly after its operators discovered that some 850,000 bitcoins had been stolen from its wallets. While some of these funds were later recovered, the exchange never did.

However, partly due to the massive increase in price between 2014 and 2017, Mt Gox went from a bankruptcy proceeding to a civil rehabilitation process that remains ongoing.

That this occurred is significant: under bankruptcy proceedings, the exchange’s customers would receive the fiat equivalent to their holdings at the time Mt Gox entered bankruptcy. Under civil rehabilitation, the customers will actually receive the amount they lost in bitcoin instead.

When the Tokyo District Court, which is overseeing the case, first announced that Mt Gox would enter civil rehabilitation last June, claimants expected that they may receive their missing bitcoin as soon as this year. The claim by Coinlab, however, has since putting this timeline in jeopardy.

Now it appears to be impacting other efforts by creditors to self-organize to achieve reimbursement.

Legal slugfest

Coinlab, which has been backed by Tim Draper, Barry Silbert and Roger Ver (among others), entered into a partnership with Mt. Gox in 2012 to essentially act as the exchange’s U.S. branch. However, Coinlab sued Mt Gox in 2013 alleging that the exchange had failed to honor the agreement and asking for $75 million.

Mt. Gox then counter-sued, claiming it was Coinlab who breached their agreement. Neither case was resolved prior to Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy filing, though Coinlab did stake a claim against the exchange at the time of the filing.

“Coinlab originally put in a bankruptcy claim originally of $75 million which people thought was excessive … When we went to civil rehabilitation, everyone refiled the same claim, but Coinlab filed $16 billion,” Pag explained.

Edgar Sargent, a U.S. based attorney for Coinlab, told CoinDesk that he could not speak to the amount filed in Japan, and was not familiar enough with Japanese law or court proceedings to discuss the matter. Coinlab’s Japanese attorneys could not be reached for comment. Coinlab founder Peter Vessenes did not respond to a request for comment.

The first problem stems from the fact that the Mt Gox trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, normally attributes voting rights to creditors based on the size of their stake. This cannot happen with Coinlab until the claim is assessed.

Pag explained:

“Because it’s pending and it’s still disputed, the trustee can’t attribute fair voting rights if it’s accepted or zero voting rights if it’s rejected but … until it’s [resolved] the trustee can’t give them voting rights … It looks like it’s stalled.”

It could take the bankruptcy judge anywhere from several months to a year just to assess the claim. If Coinlab’s claim is rejected, the company can then litigate it in court, which would take another year. If the court rejects Coinlab’s claim, the company can then appeal, which would also take some time.

All told, Pag estimates that resolving whether or not Coinlab has a credible claim can take between 18 and 24 months.

Once that is resolved, only then can the creditors vote on a civil rehabilitation plan (and there is always a chance that there may be competing plans). Depending on the outcome, the potential payout to creditors will be dramatically different as well.

“We’ve started that process but it’s not finished and it’s not confirmed, it’s not confirmed that we’re in civil rehabilitation until the creditors vote on a civil rehabilitation plan,” Pag said.

Coinlab’s claim

Speaking generally, Sargent told CoinDesk that Coinlab’s suit comes from “a good claim,” adding that “it’s not just something that we made up.”

He confirmed to CoinDesk that he participated in a brief AMA on Reddit a few weeks ago, where he noted that Mt. Gox did not obtain a dismissal when Coinlab first sued the exchange, which it could have done “if the case were frivolous.”

In an email, however, former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles told CoinDesk that Coinlab performed “close to zero” work for the exchange.

“Courts are likely to consider CoinLab’s case with some matter of urgency today and will likely try to get things handled quickly, but CoinLab has likely no interest of bringing a losing battle to its conclusion, and will likely try to extend the process as much as possible,” he said.

Coinlab is in a position of strength right now, “as they hold hostage the whole of Mt Gox’s distribution process,” though the company could end the situation quickly by signing a settlement. If a settlement is signed quickly, bitcoin distribution can begin by the end of 2019.

This might be the plan too – according to Pag, “a lot of creditors feel like it’s a very conscious strategy to try and force a settlement from the trustee. Most creditors don’t want them to receive a penny.”

While both Pag and his attorney have tried to reach out to the Wada Law Firm, which is representing Coinlab in Japan, neither has received any response.

Hibernation

Mt. Gox Legal is, in Pag’s words, the largest creditor group for Mt Gox. There are currently more than 1,000 members claiming more than 150,000 bitcoin, good for roughly 15 percent of the total value owed to creditors.

The group was founded in fall 2017 to advocate for Mt Gox’s shift from bankruptcy to civil rehabilitation.

“It started around 18 months ago when it became clear that the price of bitcoin was rising and the assets of the Mt Gox trustee was going to be more than the liabilities,” Pag explained. “Top Japanese lawyers are very expensive so [we pooled together].”

Mt. Gox Legal filed for the shift, possibly setting a number of legal precedents in Japan along the way. Pag explained that under such a transition, a company does not normally move from bankruptcy to civil rehabilitation, adding:

“It’s rekindling the legal entity enough that you can distribute assets but not restart it as a business.”

Pag is currently the coordinator for the group, with his activities overseen by a board of governors. Over the last 18 months, he’s flown to Japan a number of times to communicate with Kobayashi and gather updates for the members of the group.

“We’re quite a considerable creditor body and we’ve spent some time building up a relationship with all the players, the trustee, other creditor groups [and] law firms,” he said.

At the end of April, he’ll be stepping down.

“The more bitcoin’s price goes up, the more vultures are circling around. My personal worry is that we’re just going to be bogged down in litigation,” he said. “For me personally, and it’s a personal decision, it makes more sense to sell my claim.”

Mt. Gox Legal’s board has already begun the process to replace him, opening up nominations to bring in a new coordinator. While a new coordinator has not yet been confirmed, Pag expects that the group will likely shift into a hibernation state, as there will not be a lot that can happen until the legal claims have been sorted out.

Moving on

Rather than wait for the court system to sort out whether Coinlab has a legitimate claim, Pag said he intends to sell his claim, step down from Mt. Gox Legal and move on with his life.

“I’ve put my career on hold for 18 months and … It’s just a big regret that we’ve kind of been outplayed by other parties,” he said:

“In 2014 I had this money sitting there and it was this great big windfall and it was amazing and I had all these plans that I was going to put into place with it. It’s not losing the money that stung, it’s losing those plans and not being able to doing those things I wanted to do, and there’s a bit of a repeat here.”

A New York-based investment firm will purchase Pag’s claim for $600 per bitcoin. While he declined to name the firm, Pag said if other creditors reached out, he’d be happy to put them in touch.

“This isn’t the windfall that I was hoping for but it’s still a windfall and it’s a windfall today,” he said.

Pag said he has seen some backlash for this decision, which he understands. However, “this is a really personal decision that everyone needs to make for themselves,” he added.

He is not making a recommendation for other creditors to sell or not sell, Pag said, noting that many creditors have a shared identity born out of the fight to recoup their missing coins.

That being said:

“I had to ask myself how far do I stand on principle? When do I say enough is enough. Do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy? I’ve decided I’d rather be happy and get on with my life.”

Andy Pag by on Scribd

Mt. Gox image via Shutterstock

This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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The post Leading Advocate for Mt Gox Creditors Quits, Saying Bitcoin Payouts Could Take Years appeared first on Click 2 Watch.

More Details Here → https://click2.watch/leading-advocate-for-mt-gox-creditors-quits-saying-bitcoin-payouts-could-take-years

[hellofastestnewsfan]

For Martin Law, Marie Kondo’s tidying regimen was life-changing, until it wasn’t. Law, a 32-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of Cambridge, went through with most of Kondo’s popular tidying method two years ago. “I managed to get rid of a great deal of items that I previously had found difficult to let go of,” he told me, including about half of his clothing.

After Law’s big cleanout, though, the stuff gradually crept back in. His kitchen gained a series of useful but not vital devices: a new cookie cutter, a larger whisk, a machine for making peanut butter. The accumulations of the past two years have added up. “The house is probably no better than it was—perhaps marginally better, but in reality probably no better,” he says. His commitment to having very little has, he confesses, petered out.

“If you adopt this approach—the KonMari Method—you’ll never revert to clutter again,” wrote Marie Kondo in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, published in the United States in the fall of 2014. Millions of people have bought her book, and many of those millions have since learned whether her promise holds for them as they systematically purge their homes of items that do not bring them happiness, or “spark joy,” as Kondo famously puts it.

I recently checked in with more than a dozen people who did their first KonMari-style cleanouts in 2015, 2016, or 2017. They were generally enthusiastic (even Martin Law) about the way Kondo’s book made them reconsider their relationship to material things, although many of them lamented the onslaught of new stuff that must always be kept at bay.

[Read: Marie Kondo and the privilege of clutter]

That process has come more easily to some than to others. “My house has never gone back to the way it was before I started doing this three years ago,” says KK Holland, a 37-year-old who lives in Santa Barbara, California. Yes, clutter occasionally mounts, but she works to keep it in check. “I remove items that no longer spark joy on an ongoing basis, and I am a pretty fierce guard of what comes into my house,” she told me.

At the end of 2017, she and her husband had a baby girl. “I’m happy to report our KonMari survived an infant,” Holland says. She insists that nothing makes her uniquely good at vanquishing clutter, but that Kondo’s approach has staying power because it prompts people to fundamentally revisit why they own what they own.

Most people I talked to, though, carved out exceptions to or ignored certain recommendations in the process outlined in the book. A couple of them kept more books than they thought Kondo would want them to. And two women—one in Massachusetts, the other in Hanover, Germany—independently told me they thought it was too onerous to remove everything from their handbags each day upon returning home, as Kondo prescribes.

And for some people, the project of going through every last thing they own, one by one, was too much to handle. Mike Fu, a 33-year-old Brooklynite, estimates that he made it through about three-quarters of the KonMari method three or four years ago. “I probably chickened out at the point where it was going through all the papers and non-clothing or -book objects,” he told me. Fu says he was at one point enticed by minimalist “lifestyle porn,” such as an image of a “sparsely decorated all-white living room with an iMac,” but he’s since come to terms with having a bit of clutter. And he and his partner are planning to give the KonMari method another try, “at our own glacial pace.”

Jasmine Bager, who’s 35 and lives in New York City, also tried a KonMari cleanout but decided it wasn’t for her. After she piled up all her clothing for a Kondo-style review a few years ago, she found the prospect of carrying through with the project too exhausting and avoided the pile, shifting it back and forth between her chair and her bed. She later came up with her own decluttering system, which she says works for her: Every day, when she leaves her apartment, she forces herself to take three items with her to get rid of.

There is some flexibility to Bager’s rule (a bag of garbage counts toward the quota, and she doesn’t follow it if she’s in a real hurry), but she has been sticking with it for more than a year. In the course of what she calls her “little game with the city,” she’s been leaving behind various objects—a magazine, a key chain, a book, shoes—around town, unlabeled, with an expectation that someone who needs them will claim them. Once, months after abandoning a headband she’d made herself, she was pleased to see a stranger wearing it at a subway stop near her apartment.

Whether or not they followed the instructions in Kondo’s book, Bager and the others I talked to for this story discarded a significant amount of stuff. Some thought about it in terms of volume—a Jeep Grand Cherokee’s worth of objects, or enough furniture to fill a two-bedroom apartment. One woman estimated that she and her husband chucked 60 to 70 percent of their belongings.

Even with all this throwing out, people have had very few regrets. Most told me they now don’t miss a thing, even stuff that they hesitated to discard. Some recalled isolated instances of (usually fleeting) second-guessing. Velma Gentzsch, a 40-year-old in St. Louis who KonMari-ed in 2017, says she wishes she still had the pair of brown leather boots she parted with. “I loved them, but they were half a size too big … [but] it’s not a huge deal,” she says.

Christina Refford, whose fourth KonMari-versary is this year, remembers twice going to her bookshelf—once for a stack of cooking magazines, once for Susan Faludi’s Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women—only to realize that she’d tossed out what she was looking for. She wasn’t too bothered. “Almost anything I would’ve gotten rid of can be found somewhere else,” Refford says.

The most missed item in all these purges was a special-edition pack of Pepsi bottles, each emblazoned with a cartoon alligator, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the University of Florida’s football program. The bereaved: Imani Clenance, a 34-year-old graduate of the university who lives in New York City. “Every now and then I think about those, like, Hmm, those might’ve been kind of cool to keep … But if I really wanted them, I could probably find them somewhere on eBay,” Clenance says. (I looked—she could.)

Marie Kondo writes that when doing a cleanout, “starting with mementos spells certain failure,” for they are plentiful, meaningful, and often irreplaceable. Kondo recommends tackling this difficult category last because it’s so hard, and indeed it’s one that the people I talked to struggled with. Many of them still haven’t finished it.

Lisa Shininger, who’s 40 and lives in Dayton, Ohio, told me about a beloved, ragged old T-shirt that she agonized over when she KonMari-ed in 2016. It carried so many memories for her that discarding it would feel like discarding them too. After rescuing it from her get-rid-of pile a few times, she ultimately let it go, and now she reports that she doesn’t miss it.

“If something didn’t make it in a move, or somebody else got rid of it by accident and I didn’t know about it—those kinds of things I regretted not having anymore,” Shininger says. “But I found that [wasn’t the case] when I myself made the deliberate choice [to get rid of it].” She particularly appreciates Kondo’s suggestion that people thank their stuff as they bid it goodbye—she thinks that helps prevent regret.

One particularly diligent KonMari practitioner, a 62-year-old retired child psychologist living in Washington, D.C., mentioned a strategy that helped her with this stubborn class of belongings. (She asked me not to publish her name because she didn’t want her clients’ families reading about her personal life.) She took pictures of the art her children had made in school and some trinkets she’d received from her grandparents. “I enjoy looking at the pictures,” she said, “but do not miss the actual objects.”

Another devotee, Ian Bate, shared his own secret to success. “I was surprisingly ruthless about [mementos], partly because I have an advantage: I’m old.” Bate is 70, an age at which he says it’s become clear which memories matter most to him and, more practically, “who might or might not like [my stuff] after I’m gone.”

“A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and perspective,” Kondo writes. “It is life transforming. I mean it.” Language like this makes her book veer into self-help territory, but based on the experiences of the people I talked to, Kondo wasn’t overpromising. Whether a matter of causation or just correlation, many of the people I spoke to also said that their cleanouts coincided with pivotal moments in their lives.

One had just broken up with a longtime boyfriend when she did hers two years ago, and is planning another with her new partner now that they have moved in together. One found that his cleanout finally unburdened him of keepsakes he’d inherited when his parents died almost a decade earlier. One KonMari-ed, and then made long-procrastinated headway on getting her finances in order. And one finally went on the six-month backpacking trip she’d been thinking about for a long time, once she didn’t feel weighed down by her stuff.

“I wish I had encountered the book when I was 30,” Bate told me. He reflected on his career as a “good American consumer” and concluded that the majority of what he’d bought over the course of his life wouldn’t meet his new KonMari-calibrated standard. “If I had done it back when I was 30,” he says, “I just would have saved myself a lot of hassle by not buying and having to dispose of endless piles of crap.”

from The Atlantic http://bit.ly/2TP6ylY

[smartwebhostingblog]

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/gillettes-ad-proves-the-definition-of-a-good-man-has-changed/

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

Once again, the country seems divided. This time, it’s not a border wall or a health care proposal driving the animus, but an online ad for a men’s razor, because, of course. But underneath the controversy lies something much more important: signs of real change.

On January 13, Gillette released a new ad that takes the company’s 30-year-old slogan, “The Best a Man Can Get,” and turns it into an introspective reflection on toxic masculinity very much of this cultural moment. Titled “We Believe,” the nearly two-minute video features a diverse cast of boys getting bullied, of teens watching media representatives of macho guys objectifying women, and of men looking into the mirror while news reports of #MeToo and toxic masculinity play in the background. A voiceover asks “Is this the best a man can get?” The answer is no, and the film shows how men can do better by actively pointing out toxic behavior, intervening when other men catcall or sexually harass, and helping protect their children from bullies. The ad blew up; as of Wednesday afternoon it has more than 12 million views on YouTube, and #GilletteAd has trended on Twitter nationwide. Parents across Facebook shared the YouTube link in droves, many mentioning how the ad brought them to tears.

And then, with perfect internet timing, the backlash came. The ad played differently with men’s rights activists, Fox News, and the Piers Morgans of the world. People shared videos and photos throwing disposable razors into the toilet (not a good idea—they aren’t exactly flushable). Men argued that the ad was anti-male, that it lumped all men in together as sexists, and that it denigrated traditional masculine qualities. But whatever noise has surrounded it, the fact that “We Believe” exists at all is an undeniable sign of progress.

“Advertising reflects society,” says Henry Assael, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. They’ve also become yet another battleground in the country’s larger culture wars. Though some people have made hay on Twitter about never using Gillette again, Assael says buying habits, particularly with something as habitual as a razor, are hard to break. He estimates most people don’t really follow through with their threats to abandon a brand over controversies like this. Take Nike and its ads featuring Colin Kaepernick last year: While there were vocal calls for boycotting the company at the time, it wound up reporting stronger than expected growth in its most recent earnings report.

Gillette’s ad plays on the feeling that men right now want to be better, but don’t necessarily know how. When Gillette was researching market trends last year, in the wake of #MeToo and a national conversation about the behavior of some of the country’s most powerful men, the company asked men how to define being a great man, according to Pankaj Bhalla, North American brand director for Gillette. The company conducted focus groups with men and women across the country, in their homes, and in online surveys. What Bhalla says the team heard over and over again was men saying: “I know I’m not a bad guy. I’m not that person. I know that, but what I don’t know is how can I be the best version of ourselves?”

“And literally we asked ourselves the same question as a brand. How can we be a better version of ourselves?” Bhalla adds. The answer is this ad campaign, and a promise to donate $ 1 million a year for three years to nonprofits that support boys and men being positive role models.

There’s broader evidence as well that the mainstream concept of masculinity is evolving. Last summer, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines saying that “traditional masculinity ideology” can be harmful for boys and men. When the guidelines got media attention last week, they received a fair share of criticism from conservatives, who viewed them as an attack on long-standing male traits.

Since the #MeToo era ramped up in 2017, the question has been: Will this change anything? Advertising can be a litmus test for where a culture is—an imperfect one at times, but a useful one. Companies run ads to make money, so they wouldn’t knowingly risk espousing beliefs that the majority abhor. Advertising is not so much about creating a new desire as it is about playing into what people already want.

“Advertising is in the business of reading cultural trends, that’s what they do,” says Lisa Jacobson, professor of history at the University of California Santa Barbara who focuses on the history of consumer culture. “They spend a lot of time reading culture, thinking about culture, focus-grouping cultural shifts, so they are attuned to it.”

Gillette’s Bhalla acknowledges that the company would not have made this ad a decade ago. “The insight that ‘I am not the bad guy but I don’t know how to be a great guy,’ that insight wouldn’t have come 10 years ago, because this wasn’t in our ether. It wasn’t in our society at the time,” he says.

Even today, Bhalla and his team knew the ad would not please everyone. An ad addressing such overtly controversial ideas is inherently risky. It could backfire and appear craven, as Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad did when it seemed to trivialize Black Lives Matter, and it could alienate existing and future customers. “We Believe” has about 713,000 dislikes on YouTube.

At the same time, thousands of people are talking about the ad online, and the campaign has prominent coverage in media outlets like this one. “It’s a calculated gamble,” says Jacobson. Even if Gillette does lose a few MRA activists, it stands to gain more new customers than it will lose.

Daniel Pope, a historian who has written extensively about advertising in America, says that although this ad is clearly speaking to certain anxieties and desires in the culture, it’s a classically segmented or targeted ad. “Given the hostility that it’s brought forth from conservatives and anti-feminist circles, [it’s clear] they are not appealing to everybody here. They are looking to a particular demographic based on perhaps political beliefs, education levels, feelings of gender equality.”

Jacobson also notes the tropes of the ad appear to make an explicit play for millennial and Generation Z men, who are the generations most embracing and driving the change in masculinity. It’s similarly an appeal to the mothers who buy their sons their first razors. Going after women is a smart business move, since women often do a majority of the household shopping, and Pope notes women also make up a good percentage of Gillette’s customer base. (Bhalla told WIRED the gender breakdown of Gillette customers is roughly 60 percent to 70 percent male, but that doesn’t necessarily capture cases where women are buying products for the men in their lives.)

Though Gillette didn’t say this outright, the ad also works as a sort of corporate prophylactic against allegations of sexism or insensitivity, which many corporations have faced lately. Gillette is a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which sells many family and women-focused products in its other brand lines. “I have a feeling it was very much a corporate decision,” says Assael.

Gillette’s older ads showed clean-shaven men kissing women, sending the message that the right shave can win you the girl. In 2013, the company launched a campaign called “Kiss and Tell,” which asked couples to make out before and after the man had shaved and then report back.

The company is not alone in abandoning ad campaigns based on this kind of “women as object and reward” messaging. In fact, it’s following in the footsteps of Axe Body Spray, which for years relied on the idea that if you sprayed the stuff on women would come running. In 2017, Axe parent company Unilever unveiled a new ad campaign called “It’s OK for Guys,” which fought the idea of toxic masculinity by making it clear that it’s OK for men to have emotions, or be skinny, or not like sports. Like Procter & Gamble, Unilever has many family brands under its umbrella, and it was perhaps no longer appropriate to have Axe’s brand out there selling stereotypical machismo.

It’s not only stereotypical gender roles that the Gillette ad attempts to dismantle; it also subverts harmful racial stereotypes. The ad opens with an African American man contemplating his face in the mirror, and it highlights Terry Crews’ congressional testimony in which he advocated for men to stand up and intervene in toxic culture. It goes on to show African American fathers supporting their daughters, educating other men about sexist behavior, and protecting women from catcalling.

“I think this is a subconscious reason why this is getting under the skin of Piers Morgan and Fox and Friends,” says Jacobson. “It’s because this is inverting an old narrative in which white supremacists or just casual racists have attributed toxic masculinity to African American men.”

She’s talking about the racist stereotypes that paint African American males as prone to criminal behavior like sexual assault, or as absentee fathers. By showing black men intervening to stop these behaviors—which the ad shows largely being undertaken by white men—it subtly rejects those harmful tropes.

This careful treatment of race is not necessarily the norm in advertising. According to Assael, the industry was slow to adopt racial inclusiveness and diversity even after the civil rights movement. Gillette’s ad was handled with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness.

Much of the reaction to Gillette’s ad has been positive. Across the board, media and ad experts WIRED spoke to agreed the commercial was clever and as emotionally moving as an ad can really ever hope to be. Though the backlash to it clearly shows that the cultural divisions in America persist, its very existence is proof that the old definitions are masculinity are changing.

More Great WIRED Stories

Tech

[awesomecolorfulcollectorwombat]

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/gillettes-ad-proves-the-definition-of-a-good-man-has-changed/

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

Once again, the country seems divided. This time, it’s not a border wall or a health care proposal driving the animus, but an online ad for a men’s razor, because, of course. But underneath the controversy lies something much more important: signs of real change.

On January 13, Gillette released a new ad that takes the company’s 30-year-old slogan, “The Best a Man Can Get,” and turns it into an introspective reflection on toxic masculinity very much of this cultural moment. Titled “We Believe,” the nearly two-minute video features a diverse cast of boys getting bullied, of teens watching media representatives of macho guys objectifying women, and of men looking into the mirror while news reports of #MeToo and toxic masculinity play in the background. A voiceover asks “Is this the best a man can get?” The answer is no, and the film shows how men can do better by actively pointing out toxic behavior, intervening when other men catcall or sexually harass, and helping protect their children from bullies. The ad blew up; as of Wednesday afternoon it has more than 12 million views on YouTube, and #GilletteAd has trended on Twitter nationwide. Parents across Facebook shared the YouTube link in droves, many mentioning how the ad brought them to tears.

And then, with perfect internet timing, the backlash came. The ad played differently with men’s rights activists, Fox News, and the Piers Morgans of the world. People shared videos and photos throwing disposable razors into the toilet (not a good idea—they aren’t exactly flushable). Men argued that the ad was anti-male, that it lumped all men in together as sexists, and that it denigrated traditional masculine qualities. But whatever noise has surrounded it, the fact that “We Believe” exists at all is an undeniable sign of progress.

“Advertising reflects society,” says Henry Assael, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. They’ve also become yet another battleground in the country’s larger culture wars. Though some people have made hay on Twitter about never using Gillette again, Assael says buying habits, particularly with something as habitual as a razor, are hard to break. He estimates most people don’t really follow through with their threats to abandon a brand over controversies like this. Take Nike and its ads featuring Colin Kaepernick last year: While there were vocal calls for boycotting the company at the time, it wound up reporting stronger than expected growth in its most recent earnings report.

Gillette’s ad plays on the feeling that men right now want to be better, but don’t necessarily know how. When Gillette was researching market trends last year, in the wake of #MeToo and a national conversation about the behavior of some of the country’s most powerful men, the company asked men how to define being a great man, according to Pankaj Bhalla, North American brand director for Gillette. The company conducted focus groups with men and women across the country, in their homes, and in online surveys. What Bhalla says the team heard over and over again was men saying: “I know I’m not a bad guy. I’m not that person. I know that, but what I don’t know is how can I be the best version of ourselves?”

“And literally we asked ourselves the same question as a brand. How can we be a better version of ourselves?” Bhalla adds. The answer is this ad campaign, and a promise to donate $ 1 million a year for three years to nonprofits that support boys and men being positive role models.

There’s broader evidence as well that the mainstream concept of masculinity is evolving. Last summer, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines saying that “traditional masculinity ideology” can be harmful for boys and men. When the guidelines got media attention last week, they received a fair share of criticism from conservatives, who viewed them as an attack on long-standing male traits.

Since the #MeToo era ramped up in 2017, the question has been: Will this change anything? Advertising can be a litmus test for where a culture is—an imperfect one at times, but a useful one. Companies run ads to make money, so they wouldn’t knowingly risk espousing beliefs that the majority abhor. Advertising is not so much about creating a new desire as it is about playing into what people already want.

“Advertising is in the business of reading cultural trends, that’s what they do,” says Lisa Jacobson, professor of history at the University of California Santa Barbara who focuses on the history of consumer culture. “They spend a lot of time reading culture, thinking about culture, focus-grouping cultural shifts, so they are attuned to it.”

Gillette’s Bhalla acknowledges that the company would not have made this ad a decade ago. “The insight that ‘I am not the bad guy but I don’t know how to be a great guy,’ that insight wouldn’t have come 10 years ago, because this wasn’t in our ether. It wasn’t in our society at the time,” he says.

Even today, Bhalla and his team knew the ad would not please everyone. An ad addressing such overtly controversial ideas is inherently risky. It could backfire and appear craven, as Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad did when it seemed to trivialize Black Lives Matter, and it could alienate existing and future customers. “We Believe” has about 713,000 dislikes on YouTube.

At the same time, thousands of people are talking about the ad online, and the campaign has prominent coverage in media outlets like this one. “It’s a calculated gamble,” says Jacobson. Even if Gillette does lose a few MRA activists, it stands to gain more new customers than it will lose.

Daniel Pope, a historian who has written extensively about advertising in America, says that although this ad is clearly speaking to certain anxieties and desires in the culture, it’s a classically segmented or targeted ad. “Given the hostility that it’s brought forth from conservatives and anti-feminist circles, [it’s clear] they are not appealing to everybody here. They are looking to a particular demographic based on perhaps political beliefs, education levels, feelings of gender equality.”

Jacobson also notes the tropes of the ad appear to make an explicit play for millennial and Generation Z men, who are the generations most embracing and driving the change in masculinity. It’s similarly an appeal to the mothers who buy their sons their first razors. Going after women is a smart business move, since women often do a majority of the household shopping, and Pope notes women also make up a good percentage of Gillette’s customer base. (Bhalla told WIRED the gender breakdown of Gillette customers is roughly 60 percent to 70 percent male, but that doesn’t necessarily capture cases where women are buying products for the men in their lives.)

Though Gillette didn’t say this outright, the ad also works as a sort of corporate prophylactic against allegations of sexism or insensitivity, which many corporations have faced lately. Gillette is a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which sells many family and women-focused products in its other brand lines. “I have a feeling it was very much a corporate decision,” says Assael.

Gillette’s older ads showed clean-shaven men kissing women, sending the message that the right shave can win you the girl. In 2013, the company launched a campaign called “Kiss and Tell,” which asked couples to make out before and after the man had shaved and then report back.

The company is not alone in abandoning ad campaigns based on this kind of “women as object and reward” messaging. In fact, it’s following in the footsteps of Axe Body Spray, which for years relied on the idea that if you sprayed the stuff on women would come running. In 2017, Axe parent company Unilever unveiled a new ad campaign called “It’s OK for Guys,” which fought the idea of toxic masculinity by making it clear that it’s OK for men to have emotions, or be skinny, or not like sports. Like Procter & Gamble, Unilever has many family brands under its umbrella, and it was perhaps no longer appropriate to have Axe’s brand out there selling stereotypical machismo.

It’s not only stereotypical gender roles that the Gillette ad attempts to dismantle; it also subverts harmful racial stereotypes. The ad opens with an African American man contemplating his face in the mirror, and it highlights Terry Crews’ congressional testimony in which he advocated for men to stand up and intervene in toxic culture. It goes on to show African American fathers supporting their daughters, educating other men about sexist behavior, and protecting women from catcalling.

“I think this is a subconscious reason why this is getting under the skin of Piers Morgan and Fox and Friends,” says Jacobson. “It’s because this is inverting an old narrative in which white supremacists or just casual racists have attributed toxic masculinity to African American men.”

She’s talking about the racist stereotypes that paint African American males as prone to criminal behavior like sexual assault, or as absentee fathers. By showing black men intervening to stop these behaviors—which the ad shows largely being undertaken by white men—it subtly rejects those harmful tropes.

This careful treatment of race is not necessarily the norm in advertising. According to Assael, the industry was slow to adopt racial inclusiveness and diversity even after the civil rights movement. Gillette’s ad was handled with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness.

Much of the reaction to Gillette’s ad has been positive. Across the board, media and ad experts WIRED spoke to agreed the commercial was clever and as emotionally moving as an ad can really ever hope to be. Though the backlash to it clearly shows that the cultural divisions in America persist, its very existence is proof that the old definitions are masculinity are changing.

More Great WIRED Stories

Tech

[lazilysillyprince]

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/gillettes-ad-proves-the-definition-of-a-good-man-has-changed/

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

Once again, the country seems divided. This time, it’s not a border wall or a health care proposal driving the animus, but an online ad for a men’s razor, because, of course. But underneath the controversy lies something much more important: signs of real change.

On January 13, Gillette released a new ad that takes the company’s 30-year-old slogan, “The Best a Man Can Get,” and turns it into an introspective reflection on toxic masculinity very much of this cultural moment. Titled “We Believe,” the nearly two-minute video features a diverse cast of boys getting bullied, of teens watching media representatives of macho guys objectifying women, and of men looking into the mirror while news reports of #MeToo and toxic masculinity play in the background. A voiceover asks “Is this the best a man can get?” The answer is no, and the film shows how men can do better by actively pointing out toxic behavior, intervening when other men catcall or sexually harass, and helping protect their children from bullies. The ad blew up; as of Wednesday afternoon it has more than 12 million views on YouTube, and #GilletteAd has trended on Twitter nationwide. Parents across Facebook shared the YouTube link in droves, many mentioning how the ad brought them to tears.

And then, with perfect internet timing, the backlash came. The ad played differently with men’s rights activists, Fox News, and the Piers Morgans of the world. People shared videos and photos throwing disposable razors into the toilet (not a good idea—they aren’t exactly flushable). Men argued that the ad was anti-male, that it lumped all men in together as sexists, and that it denigrated traditional masculine qualities. But whatever noise has surrounded it, the fact that “We Believe” exists at all is an undeniable sign of progress.

“Advertising reflects society,” says Henry Assael, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. They’ve also become yet another battleground in the country’s larger culture wars. Though some people have made hay on Twitter about never using Gillette again, Assael says buying habits, particularly with something as habitual as a razor, are hard to break. He estimates most people don’t really follow through with their threats to abandon a brand over controversies like this. Take Nike and its ads featuring Colin Kaepernick last year: While there were vocal calls for boycotting the company at the time, it wound up reporting stronger than expected growth in its most recent earnings report.

Gillette’s ad plays on the feeling that men right now want to be better, but don’t necessarily know how. When Gillette was researching market trends last year, in the wake of #MeToo and a national conversation about the behavior of some of the country’s most powerful men, the company asked men how to define being a great man, according to Pankaj Bhalla, North American brand director for Gillette. The company conducted focus groups with men and women across the country, in their homes, and in online surveys. What Bhalla says the team heard over and over again was men saying: “I know I’m not a bad guy. I’m not that person. I know that, but what I don’t know is how can I be the best version of ourselves?”

“And literally we asked ourselves the same question as a brand. How can we be a better version of ourselves?” Bhalla adds. The answer is this ad campaign, and a promise to donate $ 1 million a year for three years to nonprofits that support boys and men being positive role models.

There’s broader evidence as well that the mainstream concept of masculinity is evolving. Last summer, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines saying that “traditional masculinity ideology” can be harmful for boys and men. When the guidelines got media attention last week, they received a fair share of criticism from conservatives, who viewed them as an attack on long-standing male traits.

Since the #MeToo era ramped up in 2017, the question has been: Will this change anything? Advertising can be a litmus test for where a culture is—an imperfect one at times, but a useful one. Companies run ads to make money, so they wouldn’t knowingly risk espousing beliefs that the majority abhor. Advertising is not so much about creating a new desire as it is about playing into what people already want.

“Advertising is in the business of reading cultural trends, that’s what they do,” says Lisa Jacobson, professor of history at the University of California Santa Barbara who focuses on the history of consumer culture. “They spend a lot of time reading culture, thinking about culture, focus-grouping cultural shifts, so they are attuned to it.”

Gillette’s Bhalla acknowledges that the company would not have made this ad a decade ago. “The insight that ‘I am not the bad guy but I don’t know how to be a great guy,’ that insight wouldn’t have come 10 years ago, because this wasn’t in our ether. It wasn’t in our society at the time,” he says.

Even today, Bhalla and his team knew the ad would not please everyone. An ad addressing such overtly controversial ideas is inherently risky. It could backfire and appear craven, as Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad did when it seemed to trivialize Black Lives Matter, and it could alienate existing and future customers. “We Believe” has about 713,000 dislikes on YouTube.

At the same time, thousands of people are talking about the ad online, and the campaign has prominent coverage in media outlets like this one. “It’s a calculated gamble,” says Jacobson. Even if Gillette does lose a few MRA activists, it stands to gain more new customers than it will lose.

Daniel Pope, a historian who has written extensively about advertising in America, says that although this ad is clearly speaking to certain anxieties and desires in the culture, it’s a classically segmented or targeted ad. “Given the hostility that it’s brought forth from conservatives and anti-feminist circles, [it’s clear] they are not appealing to everybody here. They are looking to a particular demographic based on perhaps political beliefs, education levels, feelings of gender equality.”

Jacobson also notes the tropes of the ad appear to make an explicit play for millennial and Generation Z men, who are the generations most embracing and driving the change in masculinity. It’s similarly an appeal to the mothers who buy their sons their first razors. Going after women is a smart business move, since women often do a majority of the household shopping, and Pope notes women also make up a good percentage of Gillette’s customer base. (Bhalla told WIRED the gender breakdown of Gillette customers is roughly 60 percent to 70 percent male, but that doesn’t necessarily capture cases where women are buying products for the men in their lives.)

Though Gillette didn’t say this outright, the ad also works as a sort of corporate prophylactic against allegations of sexism or insensitivity, which many corporations have faced lately. Gillette is a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which sells many family and women-focused products in its other brand lines. “I have a feeling it was very much a corporate decision,” says Assael.

Gillette’s older ads showed clean-shaven men kissing women, sending the message that the right shave can win you the girl. In 2013, the company launched a campaign called “Kiss and Tell,” which asked couples to make out before and after the man had shaved and then report back.

The company is not alone in abandoning ad campaigns based on this kind of “women as object and reward” messaging. In fact, it’s following in the footsteps of Axe Body Spray, which for years relied on the idea that if you sprayed the stuff on women would come running. In 2017, Axe parent company Unilever unveiled a new ad campaign called “It’s OK for Guys,” which fought the idea of toxic masculinity by making it clear that it’s OK for men to have emotions, or be skinny, or not like sports. Like Procter & Gamble, Unilever has many family brands under its umbrella, and it was perhaps no longer appropriate to have Axe’s brand out there selling stereotypical machismo.

It’s not only stereotypical gender roles that the Gillette ad attempts to dismantle; it also subverts harmful racial stereotypes. The ad opens with an African American man contemplating his face in the mirror, and it highlights Terry Crews’ congressional testimony in which he advocated for men to stand up and intervene in toxic culture. It goes on to show African American fathers supporting their daughters, educating other men about sexist behavior, and protecting women from catcalling.

“I think this is a subconscious reason why this is getting under the skin of Piers Morgan and Fox and Friends,” says Jacobson. “It’s because this is inverting an old narrative in which white supremacists or just casual racists have attributed toxic masculinity to African American men.”

She’s talking about the racist stereotypes that paint African American males as prone to criminal behavior like sexual assault, or as absentee fathers. By showing black men intervening to stop these behaviors—which the ad shows largely being undertaken by white men—it subtly rejects those harmful tropes.

This careful treatment of race is not necessarily the norm in advertising. According to Assael, the industry was slow to adopt racial inclusiveness and diversity even after the civil rights movement. Gillette’s ad was handled with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness.

Much of the reaction to Gillette’s ad has been positive. Across the board, media and ad experts WIRED spoke to agreed the commercial was clever and as emotionally moving as an ad can really ever hope to be. Though the backlash to it clearly shows that the cultural divisions in America persist, its very existence is proof that the old definitions are masculinity are changing.

More Great WIRED Stories

Tech

[hostingnewsfeed]

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

New Post has been published on http://webhostingtop3.com/gillettes-ad-proves-the-definition-of-a-good-man-has-changed/

Gillette's Ad Proves the Definition of a Good Man Has Changed

Once again, the country seems divided. This time, it’s not a border wall or a health care proposal driving the animus, but an online ad for a men’s razor, because, of course. But underneath the controversy lies something much more important: signs of real change.

On January 13, Gillette released a new ad that takes the company’s 30-year-old slogan, “The Best a Man Can Get,” and turns it into an introspective reflection on toxic masculinity very much of this cultural moment. Titled “We Believe,” the nearly two-minute video features a diverse cast of boys getting bullied, of teens watching media representatives of macho guys objectifying women, and of men looking into the mirror while news reports of #MeToo and toxic masculinity play in the background. A voiceover asks “Is this the best a man can get?” The answer is no, and the film shows how men can do better by actively pointing out toxic behavior, intervening when other men catcall or sexually harass, and helping protect their children from bullies. The ad blew up; as of Wednesday afternoon it has more than 12 million views on YouTube, and #GilletteAd has trended on Twitter nationwide. Parents across Facebook shared the YouTube link in droves, many mentioning how the ad brought them to tears.

And then, with perfect internet timing, the backlash came. The ad played differently with men’s rights activists, Fox News, and the Piers Morgans of the world. People shared videos and photos throwing disposable razors into the toilet (not a good idea—they aren’t exactly flushable). Men argued that the ad was anti-male, that it lumped all men in together as sexists, and that it denigrated traditional masculine qualities. But whatever noise has surrounded it, the fact that “We Believe” exists at all is an undeniable sign of progress.

“Advertising reflects society,” says Henry Assael, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. They’ve also become yet another battleground in the country’s larger culture wars. Though some people have made hay on Twitter about never using Gillette again, Assael says buying habits, particularly with something as habitual as a razor, are hard to break. He estimates most people don’t really follow through with their threats to abandon a brand over controversies like this. Take Nike and its ads featuring Colin Kaepernick last year: While there were vocal calls for boycotting the company at the time, it wound up reporting stronger than expected growth in its most recent earnings report.

Gillette’s ad plays on the feeling that men right now want to be better, but don’t necessarily know how. When Gillette was researching market trends last year, in the wake of #MeToo and a national conversation about the behavior of some of the country’s most powerful men, the company asked men how to define being a great man, according to Pankaj Bhalla, North American brand director for Gillette. The company conducted focus groups with men and women across the country, in their homes, and in online surveys. What Bhalla says the team heard over and over again was men saying: “I know I’m not a bad guy. I’m not that person. I know that, but what I don’t know is how can I be the best version of ourselves?”

“And literally we asked ourselves the same question as a brand. How can we be a better version of ourselves?” Bhalla adds. The answer is this ad campaign, and a promise to donate $ 1 million a year for three years to nonprofits that support boys and men being positive role models.

There’s broader evidence as well that the mainstream concept of masculinity is evolving. Last summer, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines saying that “traditional masculinity ideology” can be harmful for boys and men. When the guidelines got media attention last week, they received a fair share of criticism from conservatives, who viewed them as an attack on long-standing male traits.

Since the #MeToo era ramped up in 2017, the question has been: Will this change anything? Advertising can be a litmus test for where a culture is—an imperfect one at times, but a useful one. Companies run ads to make money, so they wouldn’t knowingly risk espousing beliefs that the majority abhor. Advertising is not so much about creating a new desire as it is about playing into what people already want.

“Advertising is in the business of reading cultural trends, that’s what they do,” says Lisa Jacobson, professor of history at the University of California Santa Barbara who focuses on the history of consumer culture. “They spend a lot of time reading culture, thinking about culture, focus-grouping cultural shifts, so they are attuned to it.”

Gillette’s Bhalla acknowledges that the company would not have made this ad a decade ago. “The insight that ‘I am not the bad guy but I don’t know how to be a great guy,’ that insight wouldn’t have come 10 years ago, because this wasn’t in our ether. It wasn’t in our society at the time,” he says.

Even today, Bhalla and his team knew the ad would not please everyone. An ad addressing such overtly controversial ideas is inherently risky. It could backfire and appear craven, as Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad did when it seemed to trivialize Black Lives Matter, and it could alienate existing and future customers. “We Believe” has about 713,000 dislikes on YouTube.

At the same time, thousands of people are talking about the ad online, and the campaign has prominent coverage in media outlets like this one. “It’s a calculated gamble,” says Jacobson. Even if Gillette does lose a few MRA activists, it stands to gain more new customers than it will lose.

Daniel Pope, a historian who has written extensively about advertising in America, says that although this ad is clearly speaking to certain anxieties and desires in the culture, it’s a classically segmented or targeted ad. “Given the hostility that it’s brought forth from conservatives and anti-feminist circles, [it’s clear] they are not appealing to everybody here. They are looking to a particular demographic based on perhaps political beliefs, education levels, feelings of gender equality.”

Jacobson also notes the tropes of the ad appear to make an explicit play for millennial and Generation Z men, who are the generations most embracing and driving the change in masculinity. It’s similarly an appeal to the mothers who buy their sons their first razors. Going after women is a smart business move, since women often do a majority of the household shopping, and Pope notes women also make up a good percentage of Gillette’s customer base. (Bhalla told WIRED the gender breakdown of Gillette customers is roughly 60 percent to 70 percent male, but that doesn’t necessarily capture cases where women are buying products for the men in their lives.)

Though Gillette didn’t say this outright, the ad also works as a sort of corporate prophylactic against allegations of sexism or insensitivity, which many corporations have faced lately. Gillette is a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which sells many family and women-focused products in its other brand lines. “I have a feeling it was very much a corporate decision,” says Assael.

Gillette’s older ads showed clean-shaven men kissing women, sending the message that the right shave can win you the girl. In 2013, the company launched a campaign called “Kiss and Tell,” which asked couples to make out before and after the man had shaved and then report back.

The company is not alone in abandoning ad campaigns based on this kind of “women as object and reward” messaging. In fact, it’s following in the footsteps of Axe Body Spray, which for years relied on the idea that if you sprayed the stuff on women would come running. In 2017, Axe parent company Unilever unveiled a new ad campaign called “It’s OK for Guys,” which fought the idea of toxic masculinity by making it clear that it’s OK for men to have emotions, or be skinny, or not like sports. Like Procter & Gamble, Unilever has many family brands under its umbrella, and it was perhaps no longer appropriate to have Axe’s brand out there selling stereotypical machismo.

It’s not only stereotypical gender roles that the Gillette ad attempts to dismantle; it also subverts harmful racial stereotypes. The ad opens with an African American man contemplating his face in the mirror, and it highlights Terry Crews’ congressional testimony in which he advocated for men to stand up and intervene in toxic culture. It goes on to show African American fathers supporting their daughters, educating other men about sexist behavior, and protecting women from catcalling.

“I think this is a subconscious reason why this is getting under the skin of Piers Morgan and Fox and Friends,” says Jacobson. “It’s because this is inverting an old narrative in which white supremacists or just casual racists have attributed toxic masculinity to African American men.”

She’s talking about the racist stereotypes that paint African American males as prone to criminal behavior like sexual assault, or as absentee fathers. By showing black men intervening to stop these behaviors—which the ad shows largely being undertaken by white men—it subtly rejects those harmful tropes.

This careful treatment of race is not necessarily the norm in advertising. According to Assael, the industry was slow to adopt racial inclusiveness and diversity even after the civil rights movement. Gillette’s ad was handled with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness.

Much of the reaction to Gillette’s ad has been positive. Across the board, media and ad experts WIRED spoke to agreed the commercial was clever and as emotionally moving as an ad can really ever hope to be. Though the backlash to it clearly shows that the cultural divisions in America persist, its very existence is proof that the old definitions are masculinity are changing.

More Great WIRED Stories

Tech

[mudcosmetics-blog]

MY favorite teacher; MUD LA

Ray Shaffer

When you ask anyone about Ray Shaffer, industry profession or student will tell you is the kindest, most genuine, and hard working man they know. He is the gentleman of this profession. His road to makeup wasn't a direct course, but that's what has made him an excellent artist and a phenomenal teacher.

"I was born at the Submarine Base in Groton, CT. My Dad was in the Navy at the time and worked on nuclear submarines. Part of my childhood was very residential, and part of it was moving around a lot because I was part of a navy and a coast guard family.

I first got interested in makeup when I was very very young. My Mom still is a nurse. She's been a trauma nurse for about 54 years, and she's finally going to retire this spring. She used to work the 3-11 shift at St. Vincent's Hospital. She would get off work around midnight or so, and come home to get me out of bed to watch Mission Impossible reruns together. There were lots of disguises in the show and my head just smoked at the idea that people could be different people. My Dad, who really wasn't into monster movies, but when I was 5 or 6 he would stay up with me to watch the Creature Feature at night. That was really cool because he's a very down to earth guy and monsters really weren't his thing."

Your first introduction to practical makeup came in the friendly familiar form.

"I remember when I was 12 or so, Dick Smith had a Monster Makeup Kit that you could buy at toy stores. I was saving up from my paper route to buy it, and I would go into KB toy store and look at it longingly. My birthday is in October and I was hoping to have it in time for Halloween, but I knew I was going to be a few bucks short. Well on my birthday my grandparents came over. My Grandpa drove a big green Chrysler, and I was feeling bummed when he called me over to it. He pulled out a box and he had bought me the Dick Smith Makeup Kit!

Basically it was vaccuform molds that you could make your own appliances on out of gelatin, although Dick called it flesh flags. He was looking for something easy to use and relatively non toxic, which it was. The whole heating it up thing was a little weird. You probably couldn't get away with that now. But the first makeups or appliances I did were out of the Dick Smith Kit. Later on I found Stage Makeup by Richard Corson in the library and that put me up on a different level.

I remember the first appliance makeup I ever tried to do on my own was a Rocky makeup. I was 14 or 15 trying to recreate the boxer damage makeup. I remember being very happy with it at the time. Then I lost the pictures, but I'm very glad because it was probably awful. It was a lot of fun. Later I remember what a thrill it was to meet Mike Westmore when he came out to MUD to talk. He had been the makeup artist on the first few Rocky movies, and on First Blood and Raging Bull, and all these cool films, plus Star Trek. It was really cool!

So how did you turn your interest in makeup into a career?

"I started out wanting to act. I'd always loved makeup, but being from the east coast, I may as well have being talking about being a rocket scientist or being a ping pong player in China. I didn't understand enough about the field to figure out how to make that happen. I wanted to be an actor, so I used makeup to augment my range as an actor. I'm a pretty unique looking guy. So unless I just wanted to wave a steak knife, or be the guy yelling "die grandma die", I needed a little help to make me believable as other characters.

In the course of working in theater in college, I was working on a play called a reconstruction. It's where you take a classic text and rearrange it. It's usually experimental theater. My college did Hamlet, and my roommate was playing Hamlet's Father. Our director had the idea in his rebelling of it to make him a Viking Chieftain. And what do they do when a they die, but put them in a funeral pyre. So we needed to have this crispy critter corpse kind of guy. A role like that is an awful lot for a 20 year old actor to wrap his head around. He tried different things, but wasn't happy with what he was doing. So I built the mask for him.

I remember him putting it on and staring in the mirror and being very very quiet about it. When you see your face burnt down to the skull the whole idea of how much you've been violated hits you. That night at rehearsal he was a whole different cat! I remember him walking off the stage and hugged me. I was so emotionally overwhelmed by that, that it was probably at the point I jumped ship. I felt I was doing better work influencing other performers than I was enjoying acting myself."

"I sort of dividde my career into East Coast and West Coast. My first prosthetic makeup job ever was in a theater in Massachusetts. I remember they thought I could age a whole cast for $50. I did it! I ended up having to augment it with cotton and latex.

My first job on the west coast was for Rob Burman. It's funny because it just got released! Andrew Gettty who was the grandson of John Paul Getty was a sort of auteur. He wanted to be a film director. He had some very nightmarish visions and he tried to write a narrative around it. Basically he picked away at this film for a long time. He would shoot it a little bit, then he would get upset and stop, then he'd start again with a different crew...and so on and so forth. He passed about 2 years ago or so and his estate had the work completed since he was in post production, and just released it on dvd and video on demand. It's called The Evil Within. There was some creepy stuff in there. There was a spider that was stitched together from human body parts. Lots of practical gags and lots of in camera tricks, things with perspective. I'm not sure if there was any cg at all. But that was my first film. That was also my first job for Rob Berman."

Eventually you made a transition from practical or teaching.

"I came out to the west coast in the summer of 2000, and I worked intermittently then continually was a makeup artist and primarily as a lab technician. Which means I made molds, I did hair work, I did castings, sometimes when the sun shone in the right direction I even sculpted. I did that for 10 years. In the late 2000's, a lot of things really depressed the film industry. SAG went on strike, and the the WGA went on strike. And then the banks crashed, and I navigated that as best I could but nobody was working.

I had to look for another opportunity. Also around this time my mother started getting sick. Mom is a tank so I knew if something was wrong with Mom then I wanted to be there. So I went back to the east coast to try to be of use to my family. In the course of wanting to stay busy I was going through Craig's List, and there was an ad the MUD NY was looking for instructors. At the time I didn't even know MUD had a campus in NY. So I contacted them.

I know that I'm a patient guy, and I hoped that I'd be descent at teaching. I was surprised by how much I loved it! There was an adjustment. It's challenging to take 20 people who are all at different motivation levels, ability levels, artistic levels and to guide them as a unit through things they sometimes don't believe they can do. So there is a learning curve. What started out as something I wanted to try, turned out to be something I love very very much. I think of friends back home who are knocking rust off of boats and making t shirts and working in fast food stores, and I've got the best job on planet earth.

With having a career sculpting, molding, applying, and painting, what part of the process is your favorite?

"What do I love doing? I love sculpture and molding. What is it that I love about makeup? I just love the whole idea that we can make things that never existed before. That you can sit down with a motivated actor and a little artistic vision and hard work, you can take a bag of cement and a block of wax clay and turn that into people, and species and creatures that the world has never seen before. It's so creative and only limited by your skill set and your imagination. And there's not a lot of that left in the world anymore. Everything is prepackaged. For us to be able to make something that is so unique individual in this world is something else."

What has changed about the industry from your perspective?

"I think computers have become a bigger part of it but even that is cyclic. Now there's a big push back. I think makeup and computers are both awesome tools, provided they are used appropriately for their strengths. If I use a hammer to hammer a nail it's a wonderful tool. If I use a hammer to saw a table in half, it's sort of a mess.

When all of the changes started happening was when Avatar came out. That scared the begezus out of all of us. There had been fun cg characters for some time, but Avaatar was the first instance where a director could look through the viewfinder on the camera and in front of him was people in motion capture suits. In real time he was seeing blue kitty people in the jungle. Basically when everyone saw that it was a huge hit, it freaked everyone out. Everyone making films at the time stopped and went into turn around. They wanted to evaluate this new option, and there was only one studio in the world that was doing work that good, WETA. Other studios caught up, but it took a while and meantime nobody was working.

There was a time when every action or adventure film you saw was just filled with lots of cartoons. Then there was almost a backlash against it. People were tired of watching confused looking actors standing around monsters that clearly aren't there. The Star Wars Prequels are a great example. People standing around in a green room looking confused. I think people missed what makeup brought to performances. I think the physical space that they fill on screen. There's a real tangible quality to them. If you look at the cast of Phantom Menace, they are clearly great actors but you look at how they struggled in that movie. Then you look at a movie like Alien, you have Sigourney Weaver in a real space with a guy in costume in a smokey alley with smile dribbling on her, that affects your performance.

Great makeups in your presence effect your performance. All the sudden you feel like you're in the presence of an alien, or a senator from another planet in a way that someone standing talking to a mark on the wall does not. They're effecting in a way that cg often does not. It's nice to see it come back. I think everything runs in cycles. In some ways opportunities have declined, and in other ways they have not. There are far more people making movies now a days, whether it's a YouTube movie, netflicks, a feature, a low budget thing. In some ways there seems to be more work."

And what does the future hold?

"I would be happy teaching as long as MUD is happy having me. I would be happy sculpting and making makeups. I'm getting better and look forward to continuing getting better all the time. There are things I think that are good or bad, but there's always improvement that can be made."

What advice do you want to share for makeup artists?

"Work hard and don't quit. I know that sounds like such a stereotype. A lot of these pieces of advice you hear so often that they lose their meaning but I've seen wonderfully talented people not succeed when they only need to try a little built harder and not quit. A lot of time common sense and a work ethic are super powers. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it.

If I have no other gift, I hope a teacher I have a gift to help someone who's straight out of high school, or wherever they are in life believe that they can get through a sculpture. And then they can get through fiberglass. And if you keep on trying doors will open. All luck is is your preparation meeting the right opportunity. So don't quit and believe you can do it. The whole idea of being able to make something from nothing is very empowering. Rob Burman used to say, "once you learn you can make stuff, you're never the same again"."