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thatbanjobusiness · 4 years ago

Audio

ARTIST SHOWCASE #1: LESTER FLATT & EARL SCRUGGS AND THE FOGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS

I’d love to showcase bands on this blog. Past bands, present bands, famous bands, obscure bands. I figure one logical place to start is to show you my favorite band, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys.

This is one of the most important bands in the history of bluegrass. They were key pioneers in turning their unique stylistic musical abilities into a recognizable genre. Several members used to be members of what’s widely considered the first-ever bluegrass band (Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, the 1946-1948 lineup), and they left and created their own band. Flatt & Scruggs stayed together 21 years, from 1948 to 1969. This band became so well-known their popularity at times eclipsed Monroe’s himself. Flatt & Scruggs crossed into mainstream popular culture multiple times, such as playing the theme song to the Beverly Hillbillies or having their track Foggy Mountain Breakdown be featured in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde.

Lester Flatt was a guitarist and lead vocalist whose singing style was smoother and more crooning than some other musicians in the pioneering years of bluegrass. His smooth rhythm guitar technique included the G run, a quick lick at the end of phrases that became a staple sound of bluegrass. He composed many pieces that are well-known repertoire today. Earl Scruggs was the banjo picker whose revolutionary style became the basis of bluegrass banjo and transformed how banjo was perceived and performed (from a strummed comedy instrument to a serious, technically-picked solo instrument). I’ve heard it said he’s the most imitated musician on his respective instrument in music history, and most banjo players call him the best banjo picker who ever lived.

In a different companion post dedicated to history (to be posted later), I can provide more description of the band, its members, and key events. Here, I want to introduce people to what the band sounded like.

I created a sample sound file where you can listen to snippets of their music over the years chronologically. It was a struggle to select songs. In the end, I focused most on representing the band’s sound changes over the years, but also tried to balance that with variety and a bias toward favorites. All these are songs I enjoy according to the period of time they were released. A number of their most famous songs will not be in here, and some songs they aren’t as well-known for will be included. Maybe this turned into more of a historic documentation than a pure recommendation of beloved tracks. I hope it’s fun to get a small sampling of what the band is like.

Below, I’ll name the tracks you hear. I’ll put the studio recording date in parentheses. I will give quick fun facts about the songs, explain what musical features I listen for, and use these samples to provide a brief explanation of the band’s history. Feel free to read as much or as little as you like.

0:00-0:22 God Loves His Children (1948). The very beginning of the band’s recording history! This song was recorded at their first studio session and was one side of their first record released. Three out of these five members of the Foggy Mountain Boys left Bill Monroe’s band at the same time. Although the earliest period of their music had notable musical features in common with Bill Monroe’s, they also sought to distance themselves from Monroe. One major departure came here: Earl Scruggs became famous for his banjo performing with Monroe, but here he’s playing lead guitar. Throughout the rest of the band’s history, Earl would play primarily banjo, but still often enough switch to finger-style guitar.

0:23-0:41 My Cabin in Caroline (1948). I included two of the earliest FMB recordings to establish how they grew and changed. The band’s style here has not solidified. In almost every subsequent recording, F&S pointedly avoided musical clutter by having one featured musician playing the accompaniment or solo at a time; everyone else played rhythmic backup. However, you’ll notice in this song, they’re playing on top of each other, more like you’d find in an old-time style band. Also to note: this is a composition copyrighted by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Many of their songs would be written by band members in this early period.

The vintage years of F&S have what I consider some of their freshest, most original, and creative records. You can hear this creativity in songs like Down the Road. I also love I'll Never Shed Another Tear. In this period, the fiddle and banjo are heavily present, and while they didn’t spotlight the mandolin as frequently (because ex-employer Bill Monroe played the mandolin), the mandolin is more prominent in their early years than it would be later.

0:42-0:53 Foggy Mountain Breakdown (12/11/1949). This is one of the band’s most famous songs! Foggy Mountain Breakdown demonstrates how Earl Scruggs’s rock solid technical finger work was leaps and bounds ahead of other contemporary banjo pickers. The song was always liked, but it gained a resurgence when it became part of the soundtrack of the 1967 Bonnie & Clyde film. F&S won their only Grammy for this song in 1969, ironically days after Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs broke up their partnership. You could write books about this song (and someone has).

0:54-1:20 Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms (10/20/1950). This is another of my favorites. I find the musicianship incredible and energy infectious. It was recorded during the Hurricane Sessions, so-called because the band was recording in Tampa as a hurricane was rapidly approaching! F&S were seeking to fulfill final obligations to their old recording company Mercury Records before switching to Columbia Records, which means they recorded tons of songs in a single day. The Hurricane Sessions are considered some of their best works. This is perhaps one of the most well-known songs from these sessions. Another classic track I’d encourage you to check out is Old Salty Dog Blues.

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1:21-1:54 Flint Hill Special (11/9/1952). As a banjo picker, I have to pick out a cool banjo thing. On October 24, 1951, the band released an instrumental named Earl’s Breakdown that debuted a new banjo technique in which Earl Scruggs twisted his tuning pegs as part of the melody line. Later, Earl drilled holes into his banjo head and created a device that allowed him to do these string detunings more accurately. Flint Hill Special contains one great example of him showing off this detuning technique. You can see it in the video above. First time I saw these videos I was like, screaming.

I’d encourage you to listen to their instrumentals from around this time: Earl’s Breakdown, Flint Hill Special, Shuckin’ the Corn, Foggy Mountain Special, etc. I love these songs. Check out how every instrument has individualized, expressive, and technically skilled ways of handling the melody during their breaks. And reminder: bluegrass breaks can get heavy in improv.

1:55-2:22 Some Old Day (9/2/1955). Mentally, I categorize F&S into three broad “periods.” The end of 1955 / start of 1956 is where I consider their second period to begin. By this point in time, the band had crafted and refined their image. They have a notable, established, polished, singular country band sound but veer slightly more mainstream in sound than some other bluegrass bands did. Their music still has drive but you can hear the band members settling comfortably with one another. From the mid-1950s onward, the band had a stable lineup with relatively little turnover. When you think of the band members of F&S, you’d likely name these guys.

In 1955, F&S controversially introduced a new instrument to their ensemble no other bluegrass band had used: the dobro. Notice how that dobro starts Some Old Day. I’m also showcasing this song to mention vocals. One of the most recognizable sounds of the FMB is Lester Flatt singing lead while their mandolinist Curly Seckler sings tenor. Curly’s high voice is unique and somehow simultaneously soft and sharply puncturing.

Some Old Day is part of one of their best albums, Foggy Mountain Jamboree. If you don’t have time to check out Flatt & Scruggs any other way, listen to this one album. It’s a great representation of the band and the track list is incredible.

2:23-2:37 Foggy Mountain Rock (4/5/1959). I wanted to demonstrate some stylistic variety and the dobro through another instrumental. Here’s an example of some interesting contemporary sounds. During this time period, many country music acts were struggling with competition from rock-and-roll; F&S was the exception and maintained strong concert turnout.

2:38-2:46 Foggy Mountain Top (2/10/1961). I picked this song because it’s one of my favorites; also, it was the song that inspired the band’s name. Foggy Mountain Top was a song first recorded by pioneering hillbilly band the Carter Family. Foggy Mountain Top was recorded by F&S as part of a themed album showcasing Carter Family songs. This album would be the last album that F&S didn’t receive criticism for from the staunch bluegrass purist group.

In this recording of Foggy Mountain Top, you’ll notice an instrument you usually don’t hear in the band: the autoharp. That’s the prominent strummed sound. One member of the Carter Family, Maybelle, is playing it. The recording also highlights a common feature F&S employed during this time period: whereas in their vintage years they switched things up and did lots of duos and trios, around the early 60s they featured lots of four or even five part harmony. I think there’s a wonderful screeching sound to their heavy harmonies. Curly Seckler is singing tenor and that’s part of the screech. But whereas Seckler is puncturing, Jake Tullock is piercingly ABOVE Curly in the high baritone part (that is, he’s singing the baritone part up an octave from what a baritone would sing).

2:47-3:02 My Saro Jane (11/24/1963). I am including this SOLELY because this is a favorite. It’s another example of how they employ harmony. As can be expected in bluegrass, in this band, every member sang. However, by this point in time, they had released Curly Seckler; to many F&S fans, the lack of his voice and mandolin chop are deafening.

Really, I should be featuring one of the songs they did for the Beverly Hillbillies in 1962, which rocketed their fame up enormously across the country and world. They did the Beverly Hillbillies theme song and a novelty song named Pearl, Pearl, Pearl for one of the episodes Earl and Lester guest-acted in (yes, they’re in the show almost every season!). I like their released single of Pearl, Pearl, Pearl... it’s got a good melody and Earl sings his only solo in his entire career with this band.

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3:03-3:33 Rock, Salt & Nails (12/16/1964). We’ve entered what I consider the “third period” of F&S. The Folk Revival in the United States meant the younger generation got interested in folk music and consequently checked out bluegrass. F&S strategically marketed themselves to this new audience, and so their sound and repertoire began to change. Their songs were largely taken from “classier” songwriters (Lester didn’t have much time to write anymore) and they started doing covers of everyone down to Bob Dylan and the Monkees. You’ll notice their sound is mellower, mirroring mid-1960s folk and folk-rock artists. The banjo and fiddle were less “cool” and ergo could be downplayed in their recordings; the dobro would more often take the forefront, and they employed harmonica. Starting in the 1960s, they also experimented with drums (usually snares) in the studio, much to the disapproval of bluegrass purists.

3:34-3:52 Nashville Blues (9/3/1965). Earl Scruggs’s latest banjo instrumental composition was a stark contrast from something like Foggy Mountain Breakdown. It’s one of the few pieces in F&S’s third period I love. I’m putting this here to show that, even while many fans believe F&S were deteriorating by the mid-1960s, they still produced some cool stuff.

3:53-4:11 Mama, You Been on My Mind (5/16/1966). This is a great example of later period F&S material doing exactly what bluegrass purists didn’t want: a cover of Bob Dylan containing drums, harmonica, backup guitars, and more. In earlier times, only the band members were in the studio; now their recordings were filled out by extra studio musicians, trying to get a “modern” sound. Why were they doing something purists hated? Because it sold records, because they had been struggling with sales plateauing and thought this strategy could get them out of a hump, because Earl Scruggs wanted to experiment, and because in the last two years the band stayed together they got a different producer who encouraged this. To note: the sound on their records was not representative their concerts, which was truer to their bluegrass sound and included lots of earlier years material.

4:12-4:32 Girl From the North Country (8/22/1969). Some people say the final albums of F&S are hard to get through. I both understand the sentiment and understand the merit behind musical ideas I hear (if not always applaud the execution). For musical ideas to listen for: check out the unique instrumentation. They included studio musicians playing many instruments including the twelve-string guitar (which Charlie Daniels and one of Earl’s sons, Randy, are credited playing). The accompaniment style is astoundingly different from the start of the band twenty-odd years ago. I consider this one of the better songs that was in this album. Is it something I listen to a lot? No. But I can stand to listen to it.

Girl From the North Country, another Bob Dylan cover, demonstrates material Lester Flatt hated and let show in his voice. It was over musical taste differences that Flatt and Scruggs ended their partnership (along with a dozen other smaller factors). This is from their final album, which was recorded half a year after they had officially split; Columbia Records awkwardly asked them to return to the studio to fulfill a contract. To some people, it was surprising Earl and Lester recorded in the studio together... they were currently in the middle of suing each other. Not the best end to a band, I know.

Since I can’t leave my post on a dour “they broke up and sued each other” note, I’ll say: Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs both pursued music separately in 1969. Earl created a band whose core members were his sons. It was called the Earl Scruggs Revue and they delved into an early, experimental form of what you could call country rock (they refused to label themselves). Lester Flatt returned to traditional bluegrass music; every member of the Foggy Mountain Boys minus Earl joined Lester’s new band, named the Nashville Grass. Both bands did fine and received their respective fans.

Shortly before Lester Flatt died, one of the Nashville Grass band members (Marty Stuart!) cold-called Earl Scruggs and asked him to talk to Lester one more time in the hospital. He did. It was a visit that deeply touched Lester. In a weak, barely-understandable voice quiet as a whisper, Lester asked Earl if they could do reunion concerts and record an album (“Flatt & Scruggs: Together Again”). Even though Earl knew Lester was likely on his death bed and this wouldn’t happen, he said the likes of, “Yes, but focus on getting better first.” The reunion concerts never happened, but in the years and decades following Lester’s passing, Earl spoke fondly of his former partner, saying things like, “He was a brother to me.”

#.......maybe talking about Lester's death was more dour than the 'they sued each other' part #whoops XD okay but come on at least that's sentimental and shows positive mutual love #thatbanjobusiness #that banjo business #music #Artist Showcase #blabbing Haddock #Haddock Deep Dives #Music Dudes #Flatt & Scruggs #General Banjo Business #audio #audio compilations #hggg my boys #current vibe

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whatamessz · 7 years ago

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Fic “A Song about Breakfast”

I asked for prompts and @dreaming-powder was as lovely to send me one <3 So here are Murdoc and 2D creating music, a mysterious commercial occupying the only TV on Plastic Beach, discussions about jellyfishes and a relatively smooth sea.

Cleaned up and edited version on AO3.

A Song about Breakfast

It’s around six A.M. and 2D sits in front of the huge TV in the living room.The same ancient looking and awfully frantic commercial flares over the flat screen for approximately the thirtieth time since he had opted on residing here this morning. It doesn’t matter. Zapping is pointless. There was only this specific ad on every channel every morning around this time over and over and over.

His brain is pretty much offline anyway and he has stopped questioning occurrences like this a long time ago. He just knows the thing with the endless commercial loop because watching it had happened to become one of his sleeplessness routines here on Plastic Beach and he doubted that Murdoc would care to fix the issue if he would ever tell him.

Sometimes 2D manages to nod off with the telly running, sometimes he just reaches some kind of meditative state which he always considers as the only fitting kind of meditation on a pink island entirely made out of trash.

He snaps out of whatever condition he had reached today when the commercial clock rings again and he is remembered that it’s still an advertisement for an instant breakfast.

His stomach gives a painful growl at that and he realizes just then that he’s hungry. 2D drags himself up and in the kitchen when the obnoxiously cheerful bespectacled TV man asks the off voice if it’s kidding when it promises a full breakfast in only three microwave minutes.

The decision on what to eat quickly becomes overwhelming when he opens the fridge, so he just tiredly reaches for the milk. He looks for the Cheerios and reinserts himself back on his old spot with a full bowl of cereals. Eventually it strikes the magic hour in which the usual program flickers back on and 2D just watches Cartoon Network while he tries very hard not think of long past Sunday mornings with little Noodle.

*** *** ***

It’s noon and he still hasn’t slept, that’s why he sits in the studio now, entirely unprompted, and toys with ideas his sleep deprived brain produces seemingly out of nowhere. The studio is also one of the few places with internet access on this island (though Murdoc had ensured child safety locks in every browser and all of 2D’s or the bands accounts on platforms he’s still allowed to use are thoroughly disabled or have new passwords, however that was possible).

Today’s morning obviously had left its impression. He couldn’t kill the pesky earworm of the jingle from the commercial and thanks to Murdoc’s precautions and the unstable internet connection, it takes him much longer than he would like to admit to sift through a string of 80’s TV spots on YouTube until he finally finds it. He cuts out an audio sample.

By this time, his head is a hellhole of commercial voices, intrusive melodies and his own unconnected thoughts racing.

He starts to work a song around it as a coping mechanism.

Next act. Murdoc himself emerges in the studio’s door. He looks awful.

Like he didn’t sleep in days, too, and that was probably the case, but when he takes in the image of 2D sitting barefoot and straddle-legged on the thick carpet, hunched over his synthesizer, MacBook and notepad scattered around in an apparent working mood, an uncanny huge grin slides across his face, exposing his shark like rotten teeth.

So far, 2D is unenthusiastic about this encounter. He keeps on tinkering with beats from the drum machine and the commercial sample.

“I’m honestly delighted to see you are willing to work even without my gentle requests from time to time,” Murdoc greets him and puts an unnerving emphasis on the word ‘delighted’. 2D only pulls a sardonic expression in answer. He also hasn’t decided yet if he finds Murdoc’s sensible lighter moods more bearable then the… other ones. They’re probably drug-induced anyway.

Not that he was one to talk, he mentally scolds himself. Well, at least he wasn’t like Murdoc, yet. That was his only solace.

2D decides he is too tired and too busy to pick a fight today. Murdoc obviously decides to challenge this resolution and snickers.

“Not quite the Chatty Cathy today hu, sunshine? Well, my night was great, GREAT I tell ya. Threw a party with Cyborg and the pirates. When I’m thinking about it this would be a great name for a band. No wait, scratch that, we already have a great name. And a great band. The GREATEST, if I may say so hun hun hun.” He stops to catch his breath. “Anyway, what are you working on? Doesn’t sound like one of the songs I gave you.”

2D has stopped listening at the very first sentence and scribbles something on his notepad. “’M sorry, what?”

Murdoc sighs, impatient. “The sooong. What are you doing right now? I’m curious.”

“It’s… a new thing. A song… about breakfast,” 2D hears himself saying despite of himself. The truth is, that he wasn’t entirely sure what this was supposed to become.

“About what,” Murdoc snaps incredulous.

“About breakfast,” 2D answers promptly and, to his own surprise, advances a defensive bottom lip. “It’s a song… like a commercial. Catchy, fast living, colorful, you know? Seemingly disposable and about something short lived. Just trying to sell… sss-something for breakfast. Something you can just swallow down when you’re in a hurry.”

Ok, his thoughts are really just running loose right now. He hopes he can remember that later because in this moment the stuff he just bullshat at the same time made miraculous and perfect sense in his poor, tortured head.

Murdoc’s interest suddenly seems piqued. He snatches the notepad from 2D’s thigh and skims over the lines and sentences that may or may not constitute a first attempt on lyrics, nodding appreciatively while he reads. 2D looks up, his face scrunched up insecurely.

Murdoc strides around him, still staring at the notepad and clearly thinking. “Hmmm you know what, this could really work as a concept,” he mutters and lowers himself to the floor with a groan, back to back with 2D.

2D stiffs up at that and considers leaning away.

“Any ideas on how to call it already?” The question hits him offhand and he blinks, unsure.

“Uhn… Little…Pink…stink…fish?” he comes up with, very response delayed.

Suddenly, Murdoc just cracks up and laughs harshly and genuinely until he chokes on his own spit and the laughter turns into a coughing fit.

2D can feel the vibration of it rocking his own body. As if it was contagious, 2D can’t help the smile that spreads over his face then, partly over his own stupid answer, partly because he hears and feels Murdoc laughing and he hadn’t had that in a very long time.

“You know, I also had a new idea for a song last night,” Murdoc pipes up excited when his coughing finally has subsided. “Just wait!”

With that, he takes the pencil lying next to 2D and scribbles something on the notepad. Curious, 2D leans to the side to try and spy what the bassist was doing, but just in that moment Murdoc so much as thrusts the pad back into his face, brandishing it so close in front of his nose that at first, he can’t make out anything. 2D cautiously takes the pad and stares at it, baffled.

“Murdoc, that’s just a shitty sketch of one of these sodding jellyfishes,” 2D states irritated. Murdoc had drawn the silly grinning thing just over his “lyrics”.

“RIGHT??? These are just bloody everywhere!”

“But... that’s not a song,” 2D answers again, but he sounds interested now. He thinks his overtired brain is just about to produce another idea.

“But we need a song about them on the album! They embody the experience of this place!!!” Murdoc sounds frantic now and 2D can feel him gesturing wildly.

“They even look more like candy wrappers than real animals,” he agrees and nods along, even if the likeliness of Murdoc’s drawing with the actual strange animals he remembers seeing sometimes in front of his underwater prison or in the Stylo (submarine mode) is only minimal.

“They are a plague, I swear! There was a bunch – “, Murdoc interrupts himself. “A gang? A posse? A pack? – nah whatever! There were a whole lot of them almost clogging the seawater suction pipes for the cooling system of the engine room last week! Had to get on my good ol’ wetsuit and get rid of ‘em myself…”, he mumbles and 2D giggles at the image. He himself hadn’t noticed any of that last week.

“I… can show you what I thought so far for the music,” he offers.

“Yeah yeah, go on”, Murdoc encourages him and snivels, so 2D shows him the gruesome commercial sample and that he intends on putting it at the beginning of the song.

“Disturbing. I like it,” Murdoc states with a palpable shiver down his spine.

“Did you know this commercial is the only thing that runs on every channel for at least an hour every morning around six,” 2D suddenly admits and Murdoc half turns around.

“No… what in the seven hells? Why?”

“I thought you might know.” He shrugs and goes on with his demonstration.

Murdoc taps his foot to the beat of the drum machine and chimes in with comments here and there on what he might like or would change. He only stands up one time to pick up his bass, strumming along some very simple base lines in time with the drums and piano snippets the singer had patched together so far. Somewhere along, 2D had reached his dead point where he no longer felt drop dead tired and Murdoc had seemed to come down from whatever height he was in when he first entered. Surprisingly, the companionable workflow lasts.

That really was a rarity, since many other songs before had been a true fight.

At some point, he can feel Murdoc’s little finger creep over to rest on his own. 2D, who was lazily pushing some keys on his synth with one hand, bites his lip. He takes a deep breath.

“Muds?”

“Yeah?”

“We are having a good time right now for once, right,” he starts flat out. Murdoc pauses.

“I… think so.”

“Then don’t ruin it,” 2D says coolly and can feel how Murdoc’s retreats his hand instantly.

“2D I-“

“We can maybe work the jellyfish in you know,” he cuts Murdoc off and tries changing the subject.

“The jellyfish could be the theme together with the breakfast. The jellyfish could be the brand. Don’t you wish to stab those stupid smiles sometimes”, he goes on, even when animal cruelty really is the last thing he would like to promote and the jellyfishes for sure weren’t the ones that did anything to him. Sometimes he’s just so angry.

Murdoc huffs and chuckles lowly. “Actually…. That’s crazy but brilliant. I’m a genius for coming up with these things.”

2D sighs in dramatized exasperation. “Yes, Murdoc, you really are.”

#gorillaz #2doc #niccalpot #studoc #plastic beach #2doc only implied #fan fiction #gorillaz fan fiction #my fic

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michaelandy101-blog · 4 years ago

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Featured Snippets Drop to Historic Lows

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/featured-snippets-drop-to-historic-lows/

Featured Snippets Drop to Historic Lows

On February 19, MozCast measured a dramatic drop (40% day-over-day) in SERPs with Featured Snippets, with no fast indicators of restoration. This is a two-week view (February 10-23):

This is a 60-day view, highlighting this historic low-point in our 10Ok-keyword knowledge set:

I might take the graph again additional, however let’s reduce to the chase — that is the bottom prevalence fee of Featured Snippets in our knowledge set since we began gathering dependable knowledge in the summertime of 2015.

Are we shedding our minds?

After the yr we have all had, it is all the time good to test our sanity. On this case, other data sets confirmed a drop on the identical date, however the severity of the drop various dramatically. So, I checked our STAT knowledge throughout desktop queries (en-US solely) — over two million every day SERPs — and noticed the next:

STAT recorded an 11% day-over-day drop. Curiously, there’s been a 16% complete drop since February 10, if we embody a second, smaller drop on February 13. Whereas MozCast is desktop-only, STAT has entry to cellular knowledge. This is the desktop/cellular comparability:

Whereas cellular SERPs in STAT confirmed increased general prevalence, the sample was very related, with a 9% day-over-day-drop on February 19 and a complete drop of about 12% since February 10. Word that, whereas there’s appreciable overlap, the desktop and cellular knowledge units could comprise completely different search phrases. Whereas the desktop knowledge set is at present about 2.2M every day SERPs, cellular is nearer to 1.7M.

Word that the MozCast 10Ok key phrases are skewed (intentionally) towards shorter, extra aggressive phrases, whereas STAT consists of many extra “long-tail” phrases. This explains the general increased prevalence in STAT, as longer phrases have a tendency to incorporate questions and different natural-language queries which can be extra prone to drive Featured Snippets.

Why the large distinction?

What’s driving the 40% drop in MozCast and, presumably, extra aggressive phrases? First issues first: we have hand-verified a variety of these losses, and there’s no proof of measurement error. One useful side of the 10Ok MozCast key phrases is that they are evenly divided throughout 20 historic Google Adverts classes. Whereas some modifications affect business classes equally, the Featured Snippet loss confirmed a dramatic vary of affect:

Aggressive healthcare phrases misplaced greater than two-thirds of their Featured Snippets. It seems that many of those phrases had different distinguished options, comparable to Medical Data Panels. Listed below are some high-volume phrases that misplaced Featured Snippets within the Well being class:

diabetes

lupus

autism

fibromyalgia

zits

Whereas Finance had a a lot decrease preliminary prevalence of Featured Snippets, Finance SERPs additionally noticed large losses on February 19. Some high-volume examples embody:

pension

danger administration

mutual funds

roth ira

funding

Just like the Well being class, these phrases have a Data Panel within the right-hand column on desktop, with some fundamental data (primarily from Wikipedia/Wikidata). Once more, these are aggressive “head” phrases, the place Google was displaying a number of SERP options previous to February 19.

Each Well being and Finance search phrases align carefully with so-called YMYL (Your Cash or Your Life) content material areas, which, in Google’s personal phrases “… could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.” These are areas the place Google is clearly involved in regards to the high quality of the solutions they supply.

What about passage indexing?

May this be tied to the “passage indexing” replace that rolled out round February 10? Whereas there’s loads we nonetheless do not know in regards to the affect of that replace, and whereas that replace impacted rankings and really possible impacted natural snippets of all kinds, there is not any purpose to consider that replace would affect whether or not or not a Featured Snippet is displayed for any given question. Whereas the timelines overlap barely, these occasions are almost definitely separate.

Is the snippet sky falling?

Whereas the 40% drop in Featured Snippets in MozCast seems to be actual, the affect was totally on shorter, extra aggressive phrases and particular business classes. For these in YMYL classes, it definitely is sensible to judge the affect in your rankings and search site visitors.

Usually talking, it is a widespread sample with SERP options — Google ramps them up over time, then reaches a threshold the place high quality begins to endure, after which lowers the amount. As Google turns into extra assured within the high quality of their Featured Snippet algorithms, they might flip that quantity again up. I definitely do not anticipate Featured Snippets to vanish any time quickly, and so they’re nonetheless very prevalent in longer, natural-language queries.

Think about, too, that a few of these Featured Snippets could have been redundant. Previous to February 19, somebody trying to find “mutual fund” might need seen this Featured Snippet:

Google is assuming a “What is/are …?” query right here, however “mutual fund” is a extremely ambiguous search that might have a number of intents. On the similar time, Google was already exhibiting a Data Graph entity within the right-hand column (on desktop), presumably from trusted sources:

Why show each, particularly if Google has issues about high quality in a class the place they’re very delicate to high quality points? On the similar time, whereas it might sting a bit to lose these Featured Snippets, think about whether or not they have been actually delivering. Whereas this time period could also be nice for self-importance, how usually are individuals on the very starting of a search journey — who could not even know what a mutual fund is — going to transform right into a buyer? In lots of circumstances, they might be leaping straight to the Data Panel and never even taking the Featured Snippet under consideration.

For Moz Professional clients, keep in mind that you may simply monitor Featured Snippets from the “SERP Features” web page (beneath “Rankings” within the left-hand nav) and filter for key phrases with Featured Snippets. You may get a report one thing like this — search for the scissors icon to see the place Featured Snippets are showing and whether or not you (blue) or a competitor (crimson) are capturing them:

Regardless of the affect, one factor stays true — Google giveth and Google taketh away. In contrast to shedding a rating or shedding a Featured Snippet to a competitor, there’s little or no you are able to do to reverse this type of sweeping change. For websites in heavily-impacted verticals, we will solely monitor the scenario and attempt to assess our new actuality.

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easythetape · 5 years ago

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Journal Update #5 FEB - ICE TEA and the Sampling Dilemma

One of the main ethical issues I am facing with my project is the extensive use of samples. Sampling has always and will always be a part of my musical process I am a Hip-Hop head and I just love the art. This post will explain my stance on the ethics and the issue, how I intend to combat it and in cases not combat it and ignore the rules. The history of Hip-Hop is rich with examples of high profile sampling lawsuits and sampling troll companies that have negatively effected and sometimes ruined artist's careers, definitely stopping them from gaining any royalties on their releases. As a disciple of Madlib, crowned Complex’s producer of the year 2019 (Skelton & Simpson, 2020), and J Dilla, who both heavily utilised samples in their productions and are integral to their styles it will be hard for me to stay away from this element of my own productions. Madlib has, “after decades of perfecting his sample-based production techniques, worked with everyone from MF Doom to De La Soul to Mos Def to Kanye West.” (Skelton & Simpson, 2020).

Sometimes sampling is viewed as ethically and morally wrong or immoral. On the other hand sampling can be viewed as the highest form of artistic ‘flattery’ and a strong case can be made that supports the fact that sampling in one form or another has existed for centuries. For example, a Diabelli composition named Waltz in C Major was essentially remixed by Beethoven in Diabelli variations, a collected piano works released in 1824 (Read, 2017). Thats a long time ago. Today many of the opinions about copyright law are largely shaped and driven by copyright holders who commonly believe that the purpose of copyright is to protect their works from infringement. But as it’s clearly expressed in the United States Code, that’s not the central purpose of copyright. The a purpose of copyright is “to promote the progress of Science and useful Arts.” The United States Copyright Office even doubles down on this declaration in its own description of the function of the copyright office: “the purpose of the copyright system has always been to promote creativity in society…” Any serious conversation about the role of copyright, creativity, and the arts must begin with this key fact: Copyright was created to promote creativity (Said, 2016).

Mark Ronson argues in his TEDTalk How Sampling Transformed Music, it is not about “hijacking nostalgia wholesale”, but about creating new tapestries of sound. Ronson eloquently explains, “We take the things we love and we build on them. And when we really add something significant and original and we merge our musical journey with this, then we have a chance to be a part of the evolution of that music that we love.” Rather than looking at sampling as a form of disrespect, it is often the case that artists that sample have the utmost reverence for the people who created the music that came before as you’re not going to sample music from a song you hate. Instead it is likely that they heard something in the music which inspired them, and so “they instantly wanted to inject themselves into the narrative of that music.” (Khoo, 2019).

I have to be realistic and understand that at this point in time I am an unknown artist with a small audience, and no commercial backing. I am not looking to release The Tape with any label and therefore I do not expect to make any money off this release. The fact that sample clearance is monetarily prohibitive, and I don’t have the budget, (which I’m mainly reserving for the release itself and marketing) prohibits me from paying for samples. Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy is quoted saying “Jay-Z and Kanye can afford to pay the sample rates, but not the kids starting out in their own little home studio in their house,” Shocklee says. “And that, to me, is what’s holding back creativity,” (Richards, 2012).

Seeing as Hip-Hop and Trap are largely reliant on samples I am not going to creatively limit myself, with this project because I want it to be my best work, and as a hero of mine Stan Lee says you “do your best work when your doing what you want to do and your doing it the way you think it should be done.” (UCLA Extension, 2018). I am well aware of the legal implications of doing this and not limiting myself to royalty-free and un-copyrighted material or material in the public domain. Although I will make use of as much un-copyrighted material as I will write some of the tracks on ‘The Tape’ completely from scratch, I won't be able to do myself justice if I don’t allow myself free-reign to sample anything that works within the concept of the beat-tape. For example, Led Zeppelins breaks, which have already been heavily recycled in Hip-Hop, are not out of copyright but would be subject to the idea of De-Minimis. Many cartoons, tv shows, and films I wish to sample from will also not be out of copyright because I grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s.

(IF) any track does blow up I will sort it out with PRS and the publishing companies after the fact. There are a few things I can do to minimise the risk of any lawsuit, however, I will sample from family archives, cassette tapes, films, my own vinyl collection and attempt to, following in the footsteps of DJ Shadow, take obscure snippets and manipulate them or transform them in a way which makes them my own. On DJ Shadow’s debut album Endtroducing he sampled more obscure records, making it a sort of rule to avoid popular material; he said: "I've always pushed myself to use obscure things, and if I use something obvious, it's usually only to break my own rules.” (Keyboard, 1997). Also sampling from other Hip-Hop artists usually means you are okay and they won’t sue, so there will be a few samples (mainly vocals) from other Hip-Hop songs in The Tape.

ICE TEA

A beat that I started working on this week is called ICE TEA which is based on a sample from an acapella by Jamaican artists Home T, Cutty Ranks and Cocoa Tea. The rest of the instrumentation is mine but there are other sampled vocal shots from other Reggae tunes in the beat. There are going to be multiple samples taken from some of my favourite Reggae artists throughout ‘The Tape’. This is one example that links to my love of Jamaican music. When I was a teenager I was heavily into Reggae and Bob Marley and became a Mod. For a long period of my youth I identified as a mod/casual it wasn't a particularly popular sub-culture it just fitted with my musical tastes at the time. I love Soul and classic Reggae and Dub, and used to go to Channel One nights at a local venue in Tooting. My mate ‘Skinhead Dean’ is a DJ and runs Good Intentions sound system, he introduced me to loads of great Reggae and Ska and I used to go to their Up their Junction night. Brighton and Carnaby Street were favourites and where I got the gear, I used to have a parka, tonic suits and all swag (I still have my tonic suit).

References:

Skelton, E., & Simpson, P. (2020). A Conversation With Madlib, the Best Hip-Hop Producer of 2019. Retrieved 2020, from Complex website: https://www.complex.com/music/madlib-interview-best-hip-hop-producer-2019

Read, C. (2017). A History of Sampling w/ Chris Read (WhoSampled) at Point Blank London [YouTube Video]. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGobMX9I48

Said, A. (2016). Hip Hop & Copyright Part 2: You Can Be Sued for Samples on Free Mixtapes. Retrieved 2020, from HipHopDX website: https://hiphopdx.com/editorials/id.3197/title.hip-hop-copyright-part-2-you-can-be-sued-for-samples-on-free-mixtapes

Khoo, Y. (2019). Sampling: Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? Retrieved 2020, from PHASER website: https://phasermagazine.com/main/2019/11/29/sampling-is-imitation-really-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery

Richards, C. (2012). The court case that changed hip-hop — from Public Enemy to Kanye — forever. The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-court-case-that-changed-hip-hop--from-public-enemy-to-kanye--forever/2012/07/06/gJQAVWr0RW_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6cdf1ff6573c

UCLA Extension. (2018). Stan Lee Keynote at the 2017 Graduation Ceremony [YouTube Video]. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMo9Guj5gCc

Keyboard. (1997). WebCite Query Result. Keyboard. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.webcitation.org/6FGMHPpaB?url=http://www.solesides.com/winblad/shadowkeyboard1097.html

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kristinsimmons · 6 years ago

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What’s on USMLE Step 1?

By BRYAN CARMODY

Recently, I was on The Accad and Koka Report to share my opinions on USMLE Step 1 scoring policy. (If you’re interested, you can listen to the episode on the show website or iTunes.)

Most of the topics we discussed were ones I’ve already dissected on this site. But there was an interesting moment in the show, right around the 37:30 mark, that raises an important point that is worthy of further analysis.

ANISH: There’s also the fact that nobody is twisting the arms of program directors to use [USMLE Step 1] scores, correct? Even in an era when you had clinical grades reported, there’s still seems to be value that PDs attach to these scores. . . There’s no regulatory agency that’s forcing PDs to do that. So if PDs want to use, you know, a number on a test to determine who should best make up their class, why are you against that?

BRYAN: I’m not necessarily against that if you make that as a reasoned decision. I would challenge a few things about it, though. I guess the first question is, what do you think is on USMLE Step 1 that is meaningful?

ANISH: Well – um – yeah…

BRYAN: What do you think is on that test that makes it a meaningful metric?

ANISH: I – I don’t- I don’t think that – I don’t know that memorizing… I don’t even remember what was on the USMLE. Was the Krebs Cycle on the USMLE Step 1?

I highlight this snippet not to pick on Anish – who was a gracious host, and despite our back-and-forth on Twitter, we actually agreed much more than we disagreed. And as a practicing clinician who is 15 years removed from the exam, I’m not surprised in the least that he doesn’t recall exactly what was on the test.

I highlight this exchange because it illuminates one of the central truths in the #USMLEPassFail debate, and that is this:

Physicians who took Step 1 more than 5 years ago honestly don’t have a clue about what is tested on the exam.

That’s not because the content has changed. It’s because the memories of minutiae fade over time, leaving behind the false memory of a test that was more useful than it really was.

I’m speaking from experience here.

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER STEP 1 APOLOGIST

Believe it or not, I was once a USMLE apologist. If you’d asked me my opinion of Step 1 a few years ago, I would have said “Yeah, it’s not the best, but it’s the best we’ve got…” and parroted back many of the same arguments for a scored test that are still bandied about today.

My opinion started to change a few years ago when I started teaching some courses for our first- and second-year medical students. I wanted to be sure that the concepts and terminology I used were consistent with what they needed to know for the USMLE, so I reviewed a whole bunch of Step 1 questions using the NBME’s Computerized Assessment System (CAS).

As I answered question after question, three broad categories of questions emerged.

CORE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS: Many questions I knew cold. These questions tested key aspects of physiology, pharmacology, or pathology that I use frequently to take care of patients.

A LITTLE OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Another group of questions were more challenging. They asked about basic science concepts with only peripheral relevance to the practice of nephrology. Some of these I got right; some I got wrong. Most stirred up a dormant memory of facts that I might have known during my own Step 1 studying.

BASIC SCIENCE TRIVIA: A final group of questions were completely foreign. Not only did I not know them, but I had no memory of there ever being a time in my life when I would have known them. For these, it was hard to even conceive of how such information could be clinically useful.

I’d like to share examples of these questions to you. However, to gain access to CAS, I signed a blood oath confidentiality agreement with the NBME that I would not disclose the questions within, and I am going to honor that.

However… the USMLE does provide some real USMLE Step 1 sample questions to the general public. I reviewed just the first block (questions 1-40) and highlighted some of the best below.

SAMPLE QUESTION 1

You might think that the makers of a mandatory medical licensing examination would be interested in determining whether doctors-to-be knew how to keep this poor guy from dying in the first place. Nah. For Step 1, let’s just figure out who knows how this cell got here.

(The correct answer, in case you were wondering, is B.)

SAMPLE QUESTION 2

What I love about this question is the way it lures you in with a totally-believable clinical vignette. Is it a question about burn care? Infection prevention? Indications for debridement? Nope. Hope you memorized your cytokines! If not, the correct answer is E.

SAMPLE QUESTION 3

Whoa. Not to be outdone by Sample Question 2, this question makes multiple head-fakes toward clinically relevant medical decision-making that might benefit a human being… before ending with cellular signaling pathways.

Look, I actually evaluate children suspected to have diabetes insipidus. Never once has it occurred to me to look up this factoid (much less carry it around in my head). But in case your diagnostic algorithm differs from my own, the correct answer is A.

SAMPLE QUESTION 4

Are you sensing a theme here?

As usual, the question stem starts off strong with a vignette on a clinically-relevant entity (RSV bronchiolitis), before diverting into Virology Jeopardy. Is it really the case that all doctors must know, as a condition of licensure, that RSV has a linear, negative-sense RNA genome?

Sigh.

I hopefully guessed answer choice E, thinking that perhaps the USMLE was trying to test a clinically-useful point which I had been heretofore unaware. They weren’t. The correct answer is D.

SAMPLE QUESTION 5

I have to at least applaud this question for its lack of pretense. No clinical foreplay at all. It gets straight into the basic science.

And in case it’s been a while since you walked into clinic and did a Southern blot on the digestion products of your patient’s cerebellum and pancreas, the correct answer is C.

HOW’D YOU DO?

Anybody go 5 for 5?

Let me save you a little time on your angry e-mails and address some of the inevitable objections to this little exercise.

YOU CHERRY-PICKED THOSE QUESTIONS.

Yes, I did. But bear in mind, these cherries were plucked from a 40 question block – so these 5 represent 12.5% of the total. (Plus, these are the exemplary questions that the NBME has chosen to release on the sample test. The questions I reviewed on CAS verged even farther into the realm of the obscure.)

And bear in mind, as Step 1 scores climb higher and higher, the questions that are used to discriminate between candidates at the upper end become more and more obscure. Knowing the answers to these kinds of questions may be the difference between a student being able to pursue a career in, say, orthopedic surgery – or not.

So students will study more and more to memorize facts that are less and less useful. And as this process repeats iteratively over residency application cycles, things will get worse and worse – until we demand that something be done about it.

THOSE AREN’T BAD QUESTIONS. I GOT THEM ALL RIGHT.

Cool. Actually, I got two of them right. But that doesn’t keep me from appreciating that the concepts being tested are almost certainly unnecessary for the safe and effective practice of medicine.

THIS MATERIAL ISN’T IRRELEVANT! WHY, JUST YESTERDAY I PRESCRIBED A VEGF INHIBITOR TO A PATIENT IN MY CLINIC.

So why not test the indications for using VEGF inhibitors, or their side effects? Just because the answer to some of these questions relates to something that’s useful doesn’t mean that they’re good questions.

THOSE QUESTIONS AREN’T IRRELEVANT FOR ALL PHYSICIANS. WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO PURSUE CAREERS IN RESEARCH? SOUTHERN BLOTTING IS QUITE USEFUL!

Let me be clear – none of what I am pointing out here is intended to denigrate basic science or basic scientists. For those of you who work in research, hats off to you. Honestly. But I would put it to you that even those who have made it their life’s mission to understand the Janus kinase weren’t inspired to do so through their Step 1 preparation.

Here’s the thing: the USMLE Step 1 is a licensing examination. Medical licensure exists to protect the public.

And it’s very for me difficult to conceive of a situation in which a patient could be harmed by a physician’s inability to answer any of those questions above. (It’s even more difficult to try to imagine a case in which a patient would benefit by receiving care from a clinician armed with these nuggets of trivia.)

WE DON’T USE STEP 1 SCORES BECAUSE OF THE KNOWLEDGE IT TESTS. WE USE SCORES BECAUSE IT SHOWS US WHAT CANDIDATES HAVE THE BEST WORK ETHIC, TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS, DETERMINATION, GRIT, ETC.

Then could we not measure those things while engaging students in an endeavor that actually leads to them being a better physician? If it’s really true that the content is irrelevant, why not just ask students to memorize digits of pi?

THE BOTTOM LINE

The “save the scored USMLE” coalition is a varied one.

There are students who perceive that they benefit from a scored test, or who would rather compete with their Step 1 score than by some other metric. There are graduates who worked their butts off to get a high score and have benefitted from it – and they view an attack on Step 1 scores as an attack on their own intelligence or work ethic. There are (cough cough) certain organizations who have a vested financial interest in maintaining a scored test. And there are well-meaning faculty and program directors who aren’t sold on Step 1, but buy into the NBME’s messaging about how anything that could possibly replace Step 1 will be worse.

Some of those objections I get; some, not so much.

If you support maintaining scored test, all I ask is this: know what you’re fighting for. Don’t rely on your own remote experience with Step 1 inform your knowledge about what’s being measured by the Step 1 score.

Dr. Carmody is a pediatric nephrologist and medical educator at Eastern Virginia Medical School. This post originally appeared on The Sheriff of Sodium here.

What’s on USMLE Step 1? published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

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lauramalchowblog · 6 years ago

Text

What’s on USMLE Step 1?

By BRYAN CARMODY

Recently, I was on The Accad and Koka Report to share my opinions on USMLE Step 1 scoring policy. (If you’re interested, you can listen to the episode on the show website or iTunes.)

ANISH: Well – um – yeah…

BRYAN: What do you think is on that test that makes it a meaningful metric?

ANISH: I – I don’t- I don’t think that – I don’t know that memorizing… I don’t even remember what was on the USMLE. Was the Krebs Cycle on the USMLE Step 1?

I highlight this exchange because it illuminates one of the central truths in the #USMLEPassFail debate, and that is this:

Physicians who took Step 1 more than 5 years ago honestly don’t have a clue about what is tested on the exam.

That’s not because the content has changed. It’s because the memories of minutiae fade over time, leaving behind the false memory of a test that was more useful than it really was.

I’m speaking from experience here.

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER STEP 1 APOLOGIST

As I answered question after question, three broad categories of questions emerged.

CORE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS: Many questions I knew cold. These questions tested key aspects of physiology, pharmacology, or pathology that I use frequently to take care of patients.

However… the USMLE does provide some real USMLE Step 1 sample questions to the general public. I reviewed just the first block (questions 1-40) and highlighted some of the best below.

SAMPLE QUESTION 1

(The correct answer, in case you were wondering, is B.)

SAMPLE QUESTION 2

SAMPLE QUESTION 3

SAMPLE QUESTION 4

Are you sensing a theme here?

Sigh.

I hopefully guessed answer choice E, thinking that perhaps the USMLE was trying to test a clinically-useful point which I had been heretofore unaware. They weren’t. The correct answer is D.

SAMPLE QUESTION 5

I have to at least applaud this question for its lack of pretense. No clinical foreplay at all. It gets straight into the basic science.

And in case it’s been a while since you walked into clinic and did a Southern blot on the digestion products of your patient’s cerebellum and pancreas, the correct answer is C.

HOW’D YOU DO?

Anybody go 5 for 5?

Let me save you a little time on your angry e-mails and address some of the inevitable objections to this little exercise.

YOU CHERRY-PICKED THOSE QUESTIONS.

THOSE AREN’T BAD QUESTIONS. I GOT THEM ALL RIGHT.

Cool. Actually, I got two of them right. But that doesn’t keep me from appreciating that the concepts being tested are almost certainly unnecessary for the safe and effective practice of medicine.

THIS MATERIAL ISN’T IRRELEVANT! WHY, JUST YESTERDAY I PRESCRIBED A VEGF INHIBITOR TO A PATIENT IN MY CLINIC.

THOSE QUESTIONS AREN’T IRRELEVANT FOR ALL PHYSICIANS. WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO PURSUE CAREERS IN RESEARCH? SOUTHERN BLOTTING IS QUITE USEFUL!

Here’s the thing: the USMLE Step 1 is a licensing examination. Medical licensure exists to protect the public.

WE DON’T USE STEP 1 SCORES BECAUSE OF THE KNOWLEDGE IT TESTS. WE USE SCORES BECAUSE IT SHOWS US WHAT CANDIDATES HAVE THE BEST WORK ETHIC, TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS, DETERMINATION, GRIT, ETC.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The “save the scored USMLE” coalition is a varied one.

Some of those objections I get; some, not so much.

Dr. Carmody is a pediatric nephrologist and medical educator at Eastern Virginia Medical School. This post originally appeared on The Sheriff of Sodium here.

What’s on USMLE Step 1? published first on https://venabeahan.tumblr.com

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thefreshfinds · 6 years ago

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P.Dot: The Separation

By: Natalee Gilbert

Once the "uhn" escapes from his lips, P.Dot goes off with rhymes and reason.

As he caters to the highest form of himself, P.Dot keeps in mind that spreading the word is imperative. And so, P.Dot ventures into his gangsta appeal for those who didn't get the message. By popular demand, he supplies the hip-hop scene with what it needs. Through means of realness, P.Dot claps back at clout chasers and weeds out the fakes (while sprinkling some of that greenery in a wrap of course). Likewise, he opens up to soundscapes about the hard-knock life. And although his days might be numbered, P.Dot still makes them count. Overrall, P.Dot uses an impressive way of thinking in witty punchlines, grit and worldy advice. Thus, creating that "shock-and-awe" effect throughout the listen. Although some try throwing shade, the MC doesn't let it interfere with his light. As mentioned in part 101 of his weekly segment, #BARSFROMTHECAR, P.Dot remains solid and never folds because it’s easy to bend. “Class is in session, you ain't dealing with a substitute." P.Dot adds.

P.Dot's latest album, THE SEPARATION stresses others to find the silver lining in every scenario. At times reflective, each track serves as an outlet. Essentially, the album's theme revolves around betrayal, lost even love. But in turn, THE SEPARATION encourages others to work on theirselves rather than dwell on another’s actions. Thanks to the album's dark, eerie soundscape P.Dot is able to strike fear into his enemies. Likewise, P.Dot also uses clever ties when facing a partly sampled beat. For instance, "50/50" uses a snippet of Drake's production in "Free Smoke." Taking it further, P.Dot says in this phrase "I got pistols for n*ggas that want smoke about it." as a play on "Free Smoke's" underlying message. On the whole, THE SEPARATION comes loaded with assertive 808's, rhymes and features who keep the same energy. P.Dot adds "Words were always powerful to me. I learned how and why they affected me. Then, learned how to evoke the same feelings I got from other people's words into mine."

Starting off, "50/50" helps all listeners get the gist of THE SEPARATION. With a pistol for "n*ggas that want smoke about it," P.Dot comes gully through the speaker about those who clout chase. Besides this, "50/50" adds a flair to Drake's song "Free Smoke." by speeding up the tempo with slits of heavy base. Regardless he's good. All he's focused on the green and staying clear of phonies.

With urgency, “LAWD HAVE MERCY” tells the human race to be more attentive. Turning back the hands of time, P.Dot addresses through cut-throat rhymes police brutality and racism. In “LAWD HAVE MERCY's" backdrop, wails induce the pain felt by our people. Together with drums and an elevating harmony, listeners are struck with fear. Little do they know, African Americans deal with this on a daily basis. Aside from this, P.Dot pays homage to those who’ve died because of their skin color. He also shows off Black excellence with a subtle flex. And even pokes at the brain of others. Ultimately, “LAWD HAVE MERCY” says in mid-phrase that “we may fall down but we still get up.” Just like the emcee's previous work, “LAWD HAVE MERCY” sanctifies the wicked and nonbelievers. Through a fighter’s spirit, P.Dot projects his voice from start to end. By the horns “LAWD HAVE MERCY” grabs discrimination and stomps on top with anger.

Coupled with a repetive chant and revved-up base, "THE SEPARATION" proves that P.Dot is only made for greatness. Embodying an unstoppable work grind in this one line "I don't get tired, really feel like I'm Kevin Gate-ing." he takes the bad with the good. After all, pressure makes diamonds and P.Dot claims whats rightfully his: Notoriety.

From the get-go, P.Dot is hesitant to trust. In one line, he even says "Let me battle my own demons, like you're battling yours." But "GLORY" comes with no means to offend. Instead, it sheds light on why P.Dot moves the way he does. Off the rip, P.Dot expected for close ones and business partners to keep it real. Unfortunately though, they tried biting off the hand that fed them. So P.Dot kept himself guarded all the while staying money-oriented. To attest this is one of many clever punchlines that are used mid-song. Here, he says "You been looking real fake, I spot a real snake/I'm getting green in this field with a real rake/A couple n-ggas got bread. I want a real plate/ So why beef & kill the cow to get a real steak?/I be "walking on water", they throwing pennies in it/I work too m'f hard to be penny pitching."

“BABY BABY BABY” steps in the name of love like its predecessor. As this particular song draws inspiration from Alicia Key’s song “You Don’t Know My Name,” it manages to find a unique rhythm. Specifically, the roles switch as P.Dot admires a woman whose “a sure thing." In response to Alicia’s presumptions about her crush knowing who she is, P.Dot plays a bit with her melodic refrain “baby, baby, baby.” With Key's message in mind, P.Dot thinks of his own lover. In retrospect, she’s been holding it down. And so, he insists that he’s not a boo or man. Because of all they’ve dealt with she's not only a lover but a friend. Besides this, a love-struck P.Dot boasts with glee about her many attributes. To him, everything about her is just so perfect. One line that deserves recognition in “BABY BABY BABY” goes like this: "Couple n*ggas takin' shots, but nothing Curry bout them." The song alone proves that loyalty lies with P.Dot indefinitely.

Drawing influence from his segment, #BARSFROMTHECAR — P.Dot adds more hard bars onto it in “SURVIVAL feat. Allezy.” Beat wise, this track uses an eerie piano progression and sneaker-knocking base. Lyrically however, P.Dot uses notable punchlines like "remain solid, never fold cause it’s easy to bend." To prove that “class is in session” and that others “ain't dealing with a substitute." Closing it out, Alleazy expresses himself through undeniably solid rhymes. In a word this song speaks on seeing the light in the darkest of times.

“WRONG SON (featuring. Pressure, KYY and Quis Chandla)” consist of some heavy hitters from New Jersey. Anonymously naming itself as a gangster anthem, the trio bring out the gully through intellectually crafted rhymes and hard cadences. Beat wise, “WRONG SON” uses a heavy base, some sirens, bells and a faint echo in its backdrop. To summarize, this track address the haters and fakes all while daring them to stop being social media thugs. Notable lines like “No burial for corpses/scheduled to burn./And on his tombstone, here lies another rapper whos a waste of sperm.” from Chandla go to prove that they have no time for B.S. On the whole, “WRONG SON” spooks those who doubt their excellence. No cap, they say “If I can shine alone, I can grind alone.”

With deep confliction and a heavy heart, “PERKS DNT NUMB” indicates that P.Dot will achieve his dreams with or without a team. Although actions speak louder than words, P.DOT wishes both would correlate. Preferably, he’d love others to keep it a 100. But for now, he’ll weed out all snakes from the Garden State. Likewise, P.Dot makes a point about the music industry and social media frenzied generation. For self recognition, both rappers play the numbers game and mock fake sincerity. Lines like "....but led in the metal for n*ggas tryna erase me," take a jab at the retort, “I'm rubber, you're glue; whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” Overall, the song insinuates that P.Dot is good regardless. To take it home, “PERKS DNT DIE” adds a faint trumpet progression, hi-hats and snares in it’s soundscape.

Sometimes, people just don't know what they have until it's gone. Funnily enough, "TRIFFLIN (PURPLE HEART)" lives by that phrase. On opposing sides, the blame goes to a woman who just couldn't stick around for the long haul. Although he's angry, a logical P.Dot takes it to the booth. Thus, manifesting bars that come with the wrath. Referencing to the title, P.Dot says '(PURPLE HEART)' is an indication of a real one’s survival. Sonically, a dark piano progression foreshadows the pain he’s feeling. Likewise, the base comes with a mental socker-punch and takes P.Dot's not-so playful demeanor home.

In “CONCRETE ROSE ” P.Dot keeps a fighting spirit. Even though, he’s focused on the present — P.Dot can’t help but wonder if he’ll leave a legacy before the casket drops. Additionally, P.Dot opens up about his fear of dying young. Often, he references to his brother’s death but it’s only to show appreciation and face the man in the mirror staring back. With no return, P.Dot is “on a marathon until his time is done.” As mentioned in the song, he’ll run until his feet hurt and knee burst. On God, P.Dot prays to be felt before it’s time to go. Truly, he lives and dies by music. Sonically, the beat leans more towards somber instrumentations. As a whole “Concrete Rose” abides by the common phrase, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Juxtaposed with an up-beat soundscape and remorseful lyrics, “EYE DON’T featuring D.Eeastwood and Fat Trap” speaks on the one that got away. Although he loved his woman immensely, P.Dot admits to not appreciating her enough. Revealing the story behind P.Dot and his loves split, “EYE DON’T” says, "I got a heart with brick walls & a seal around it/Gave you the finger when you tried to put a ring around it."

Second to last, “PROGRESSION feat. Chevy and Dibasi” starts off with a trumpet, hi-hats, a lo-fi synth, and dark piano riff. Besides providing a backdrop of earworthy auto-tune, P.Dot lets the listener hear his inner thoughts. Even though some people can be wishy-washy, P.Dot doesn’t let it phase him. Instead he beats the odds, by counting his blessings. Honestly he’s more focused on his progress than another’s occurrence. Like P.Dot, Dibasi and Chevy go in with nothing but real bars. Ultimately, they come with the same energy as the MC: inspired.

Last but not least, P.Dot finds himself on the ladder to success and he just can’t afford to miss a step. So, without breaking a leg, he treads precautiously with solid rhymes and reason in “MAKE A DOLLA.” Production wise, hi-hats bang in. Then, a dark piano riff arises to strike fear into his enemies. Still, "MAKE A DOLLA's” biggest distinguisher are the futuristic synths which go to prove that the days ahead consist of good fortune. To say the least, P.Dot refuses to be anything but fake. Out of his bag, he collects the coin and gets to work!

If you haven't already, stream THE SEPARATION now. It is available on Apple Music and Spotify.

LINKS:

1. Instagram - @pdotmmr

2. THE SEPARATION -

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seriouslyhooked · 8 years ago

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Just a Taste (A CS AU) Part 8/10

AU where Emma and Killian are contestants on the Great American Baking Show and all twelve contestants hail from Storybrooke Maine. In this AU Emma is a book editor by day, while Killian is an architect who just moved to town a few months prior. Expect baked goods, flirtatious interactions, a little drama and a whole lot of fluff with a guaranteed HEA for Captain Swan. Rated M.

Part One Here, Part Two Here, Part Three Here, Part Four Here, Part Five Here, Part Six Here, Part Seven Here

A/N: Week eight brings the remaining players in this story to another Americanized week. I have deemed this the breakfast challenge, mostly because I wanted to return to baked goods I know how to make myself. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of bad puns and cuteness to go around, and enough fluff and smut to get us through another week. Thanks for reading, and I hope you guys enjoy!

If anyone had tried to tell Emma that in just a few weeks time she’d be used to cameras tracking her every move in the kitchen while she baked, she’d have called them crazy. Baking for the longest time had been personal for Emma, and a means for her to melt away from a present moment and into whatever she wanted to think of or dream of instead. To do that, to reach that same state of zen while on display for cameras and an eventual at home audience, should never have been possible, but here she was. Finally, content that everything in her life was going well, Emma lost herself in the process of making her favorite muffin recipe.

As she beat together the eggs and sugar, folded in the flour, and created her first baked good of the weekend, Emma thought about the week that had passed. In six days she had managed to move nearly everything she planned on taking from her house to Killian’s. Things were moving quickly, but the blending of their two lives was going about as seamlessly as a good bake. Everything was clicking into place, save for one element. Killian and Emma had discussed it, and for now at least, it made sense to keep Emma’s home unlisted. At least until all the buzz around the show wound down, they’d keep this new part of their lives quiet. The only people who needed to know about this next step were their close friends.

“Focus in on Tiana’s methods, if you would. She’s bringing together her batter in a different style than the others. Make sure the light is with you. Aye, like that.”

Emma could hear Liam’s quiet demands of his crew and for the first week in her Great American Baking Show memory, it didn’t put her on edge. The change in Killian’s brother had been profound, and whether it was thanks to his renewed relationship with Killian, or the harsh censure of a certain assistant, Emma didn’t know. All she could say was that the man beneath the bluster and ambition was one she’d appreciated getting to know better. With Killian’s trust restored in him, Liam had been introduced to their home a few nights back for dinner, and Emma managed to get more than a few stories out of Liam about him and Killian and their rambunctious youth.

Unfortunately for Liam, the forgiveness and acceptance he’d largely found with Emma and Killian did not spread to all of the bridges he’d started to burn when fueled by network wants and ratings. Tink, though cordial and attentive to her professional responsibilities, was still throwing herself into activities that didn’t require interaction with Liam whenever possible. Not that Emma could blame her really, hell she didn’t even know the whole story of what their history was, and Liam had been extremely guarded over it when she’d asked. It was just hard to watch a person she’d grown to care for, a woman who had been strong enough to risk her standing at her job for what was right, suffer this sort of discomfort.

“I think I have an idea about how we can fix that,” Belle said to Emma discretely as she stood beside her friend and gestured over to Tink. Emma placed her own muffins in the oven to bake, and by the time she’d closed the door, Mary Margaret had joined their impromptu meeting.

“How?”

“Well how do we fix all matters of the heart?” Emma and Mary Margaret smiled before responding together.

“Wine.”

“Right, so tonight, we’ll invite her out with us to girls night. No taking no for an answer, and with the trusty assistance of a much needed drink on her part, we’ll figure it all out.” Emma sized up her friend Belle, who more and more had been demonstrating that she was incredibly intelligent when it came to people. Emma had always known she was book smart, but this was a newfound skill.

“I think you’ve just really taken to match making,” Mary Margaret said, taking the words right out of Emma’s mouth. Belle shrugged.

“What can I say? I need an outlet for all of those romance novels I read, and a man would get in the way of that.”

Emma laughed but a thought came to mind. Belle would actually make a really great author. Emma had seen some of her writing samples, and knew her friend was not lying about her wealth of romance literary insight. Emma made a mental note to bring that possibility up to her friend at a later point, maybe even tonight after they’d finished getting the truth from Tink.

“We should give it a code name so if we bring it up the rest of today, no one knows what we’re talking about.” Mary Margaret’s excitement at the prospect of covert operations was laughable, but perhaps effective.

“Operation One More Couple?” Belle joked. Emma shook her head.

“Too obvious. It needs some level of hiding what we’re doing.” Emma looked at big red count down clock and an idea came to her. “Operation Time’s Up?”

“Sounds kind of ominous. How about Operation Right Time?” All three of them agreed to that idea only for Ruby to make her way over, camera crew in tow and a hand on her hip.

“Girls, I love you, really I do, but I can’t save you if you have a bad bake today because you’re too busy planning world domination.” Belle’s dramatic response of a hand thrown over her face to cover her eyes and a groan had Emma muffling a laugh.

“Ruby, now you’ve gone and ruined it! Thanks for nothing!”

As Belle and Mary Margaret made their way back to their stations, Ruby sidled up to Emma and hit her hip against hers.

“We were actually planning girls night tonight,” Emma filled in. “Now that I think about it, that seemed like an incredibly overconfident thing to do.”

Ruby laughed at that and then walked through with Emma every step in her process. Today’s bakes, all of the contestants had been told, would be getting more in depth profiles. Thanks to the fact that there were less bakers, and that there was a new direction for the show, the hosts, either together or separately, wouldn’t just be providing comedic relief, but gathering more information about the process.

“So, if people wanted to make this recipe, or one like it at home, what would you advise?” Emma loved this question, and was thrilled that finally she was getting her chance to approach this competition like the people in the original franchise. Thank goodness she’d lasted this long in the competition to get her shot.

“The thing about muffins is that their kind of like cake, only if the cake you were making had a tendency towards denseness. The best muffins I’ve ever had and ever made have toed that line between being just a bit too heavy, and still having a sort of lightness. The key to getting that is to chill your batter for a little while before baking.” Ruby smiled.

“So that’s why you put yours in a bit later than everyone else.”

Emma nodded, checking on her bake and deciding it was time to take them out. The happy little sigh that Ruby let out when she smelled the Twist on Traditional Blueberry muffins sealed for Emma that at least her taste would be right, no matter how the bake turned out. The addition of cream cheese Emma knew added a richness and an almost silky composition to the muffins, and also added a bit more savory of a smell into the sweetness of the berries.

“Well that and I just like playing with fire. The closer I get to the zero on that count down clock, the higher the adrenaline rush,” Emma joked. Ruby laughed heartily, but Emma’s acknowledgement of the time reminded everyone that there was more to be done.

When the bell did chime, signaling that all bakes needed to be presented, Emma was happy with her display, and luckily for her, so were the judges. She received almost perfect feedback (well as close as one could get to perfect with Mr. Gold as a judge) and was excited, until the judges moved on to Belle’s and announced that her muffins were dry. When Mr. Gold decided to use Emma’s standard against Belle, it undercut any good feelings Emma previously had. She didn’t ever want to be used to shame someone like that.

“Alright that’s enough.” The comment from Liam as Gold was about to continue his breakdown of every single flaw Belle’s bake had, silenced the room. No one moved for a moment, breaths caught, the air filled with tension. Mr. Gold was shocked for a moment but soon prickled at the command.

“I’m being paid to critique the food, and I’m damn well going to do it,” The man sneered and Liam crossed his arms over his chest, hitting home the size difference between the two men.

“At this rate you’re intending to go on for another ten minutes, and with a forty-five minute show, I can guarantee it’ll all be cut. I got your snippet, and so enough is enough.” Mr. Gold stepped forward, his snarl becoming more apparent on his face.

“You realize that I could leave right now, and then where would you be?” Liam smiled, but it was almost more a bearing of teeth. It reminded Emma of wild animals that seemed to grin at an opponent just before attack.

“In a fantastic position to sue, and likely doing better with young female viewers. There’s just something about you they seem to find so off putting.” Damn, when Liam went in, he did not pull the punches.

“Liam,” Tink’s voice cut through the moment, soft but stern. Maybe their producer was willing to go toe to toe with one of their main judges, but that didn’t mean it was a great idea. Liam looked at her, and Emma saw in his eyes a want to understand her, but he caved instead to her wish, even though he’d found no answers.

“We’ve got what we need from this bake. On to the next one.” As the crew set up the required next elements, Killian approached Emma, standing close enough to whisper.

“Well that was certainly something,” He acknowledged. Emma nodded, feeling herself calm from Killian’s presence alone. Emma let the kind, almost melodic lilt of his accent wash over her as she moved the slightest bit closer to him.

“Who knew your brother was a crusader for justice all this time?” Killian smiled, shooting his brother across the tent a thoughtful look.

“I did. But bloody hell, when he commits, he doesn’t half ass it. Making an enemy of a judge like that for a woman he barely knows…”

“It was honorable. And whether or not he meant for it to do so, it seemed to thaw some of the ice away.” Emma gestured to Tink who was ignoring her own clipboard to look at Liam. Emma felt Killian’s hand on the small of her back, the warmth was powerful even though it was a simple touch.

“I think it’s very likely my brother’s affections for the lady rival mine for you,” Killian mused and Emma looked at him surprised.

“Really? You think he loves her then?”

“Aye, love. Now, do I think anyone capable of love as strong as I have for you? Certainly not. The world would be a far less productive place.” Emma laughed at that.

“So you’re some sort of hero for managing to carry on a relatively normal life despite your overwhelming love for me?” Emma teased and Killian’s other hand came to rest on her hip, moving her to face him, no thought of their surroundings at all.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far, Emma. Life with you is far from normal after all. It’s spectacular.”

Emma smiled, and rose to kiss him lightly, not allowing anymore than that to pass between them. She didn’t care if the action made it’s way to TV, for she knew no one would use their quiet confessions against them, Liam had made sure to promise that. It was faith in that promise that let her freely say what she needed to say.

“I love you Killian Jones,” He smiled, the look in his eyes so filled with love it turned those clear blue eyes a little hazy.

“And I love you, Emma. More than I can ever say.”

“Alright love birds. You may have some sort of truce with production, but if you’re going to stand here making heart eyes at each other all afternoon, I won’t promise any such protections from me.” Ruby’s words were light hearted, though neither Emma nor Killian sought to test the validity of the statement. They broke apart, returning to their stations and faced their technical challenge.

“Bakers, this week’s technical challenge is a dalliance with delicate details. A courtship with complex creation, a stroll with-,” Ruby groaned mid statement from Graham.

“Oh my God, come on guys, seriously?! This much alliteration? You’re just messing with me at this point, right?”

Graham grinned at her, reminding everyone in the room (and eventually America) why he was considered such a heartthrob. Seriously, it took a lot of looks, charm, and kindness to spend a season searching for love on national TV only to say none of the women were right for him, and still be beloved by so many. The fangirls were going to eat this up.

“Actually, that was all me. Just wanted to see how quickly I could drive you crazy.” Ruby’s face flashed with a bit of surprise before she composed herself and gave him a smile of her own that made her look like the cat who caught the canary.

“In your dreams, pretty boy.” Emma watched as Graham’s own cockiness diluted a bit, he’d fallen right into one of Ruby’s oldest, and most consistent traps. Now the man hardly knew if she was flirting, or waging war. It was hilarious to watch and would play so well on TV this week. “Now, leaving Graham’s love of letters behind, this week brings us a standard from one our judge’s kitchens. Chocolate Curse Croissants from Miss Regina Mills.”

Belle raised her hand with a question, surprising Ruby.

“Yes Belle?”

“What about it is a curse?” Ruby looked to Regina, who stood with the others and the judge gave a smile.

“You can’t have just one, and they wreak havoc on your figure.” The whole tent laughed at the claim before the bakers set to work on the pastry before them.

Emma knew that croissants were incredibly easy to mess up, so she kept focused, drowning out the sound around her by lightly humming to some music in her head. Unsurprisingly, the music turned to love songs, and when she realized the transition, it had her looking over to Killian who was already staring at her. When she caught him, she watched the most adorable little flush cross his cheeks, a hint of embarrassment at having been caught. It made him all the more endearing and she wanted to just forget about the bake and go home for the day, even if that wasn’t an option.

“I’m really glad it all worked out, Emma.” Emma turned to find Tink standing beside her, a genuine smile on the petite woman’s face. “With you and Killian and Liam I mean. I’m happy that you guys don’t have to hide anymore.”

“Me too. You know, that’s in many ways thanks to you.” Tink adjusted her glasses and shook her head.

“I didn’t –,” Tink tried to deny her involvement, but Emma wouldn’t let her.

“Oh yeah you did, Tink. But we can pretend you didn’t if it makes you uncomfortable.” Tink gave another smile, clearly relieved not to talk about herself within the confines of the tent. “I was going to ask you after filming, but I was wondering if you wanted to come to girls night with Mary Margaret, Belle, Ruby, and me.”

“That sounds really nice actually,” the smaller woman said and Emma was surprised but delighted that Tink had accepted so easily, though they couldn’t do much more than share a time and place since it was soon Emma’s turn once more to explain her strategy for chocolate croissants.

The afternoon passed in a relatively pleasing way. There were no more outbursts or moments of tension. Emma even came in first in the technical round. The only real bummer for the day was that Belle had once again suffered from a lack luster bake. Her friend wasn’t upset by it though. If anything, she shared the same relief that David had the week before.

All through the girl’s night that came hours later, Belle spoke of her desire to have her weekends back once more, a want they were all familiar with. When Mary Margaret asked what she would do with those weekends, they all discovered that Belle was actually already working on a novel as Emma had hoped she would. Whenever it was ready, Emma knew it would be fantastic, and Belle had told them all they could have dibs on reading it first. Through the evening, they toasted to their new friendship with Tink, and the new chances in Belle’s life, but though Emma had a wonderful time, part of her couldn’t wait to get home so she could see Killian once more.

…………………

“You didn’t have to come pick me up,” Emma said as she and Killian walked into the house together hand in hand. Closing the front door behind him, Killian smiled at her, clearly amused by the slight bit of tipsiness she’d acquired from wine night.

“I wanted to. Making sure you’re safe is a top priority, love.”

Emma smiled, moving her hands to his chest ready to strip him of his jacket. She’d been thinking nearly all day about what she’d like to do to her hot, adoring boyfriend when they were finally alone again, and all that time had given her some creative possibilities to explore. While Killian allowed the jacket removal, he stopped her hands when she went for his shirt, causing Emma to pout a bit.

“Trust me love, we’ll get to that part later, but when we do, I want you sober and able to feel everything I give you.”

The shiver that coursed through her at the promise and the raw sex appeal in his voice was powerful. Emma doubted she could be more in tuned with her feelings but she also didn’t hate the idea of waiting if it meant the satisfaction would be that much richer later.

“Alright then, what’s the plan?” She asked and Killian pulled her into the kitchen. There before her was a spread of… wait, was that breakfast food?

“Killian, what is all this?” Emma asked as he stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her front, and pulling her close before filling her in.

“All day long under that blasted tent, I thought of how badly I want normal weekend breakfasts with you. We won’t have that chance for a few weeks yet, I’m afraid, seeing as you’re so exceptionally talented, so I’m making amends. Enough breakfast to keep us sated for a while at least.”

Emma felt tears sting at her eyes. This was such an incredibly thoughtful gesture, a real over the top breakfast made for her by the man she loved who loved her in return. Emma couldn’t comprehend it, but she knew it was one of the most beautiful gifts she had ever been given. He brought her to the table, opting to have her sit perched on his lap over giving her own chair. It was such a domestic display, and made Emma feel like she was living one of those romantic stories Belle was such a fan of, only this was so much better than any words on a page ever could be. As they chose from the spread before them composed of Emma’s favorite breakfast foods (fruits, pancakes, waffles, omelets and a dozen donuts from Granny’s), Killian asked about her night out with her friends, and Emma was eager to tell him everything, especially when it came to Tink.

“She and Liam kissed a few months before Liam got the offer to head this show up. Tink’s been in love with him for a while now, and one thing led to another…”

“But they just left it at that? I find it hard to believe my brother, who is obviously just as taken with her, was content with that.”

Emma noticed the way Killian’s hand stayed firmly above her hip, as if keeping her in place, unconsciously worried that he might lose his chance at love as his brother had. His thumb moved back and forth though, finding a patch of bare skin just under her shirt. It wasn’t helping to stop the craving she had for him, so she had to distract herself, continuing to talk about what she’d learned while she ate the food he’d worked so hard on.

“She got scared. She doesn’t see that he wants more than a fling,” Emma confirmed and Killian scoffed at that.

“Love will blind you, I guess.” Emma nodded knowing he was right.

“You’re brother apparently has a bit of a reputation, and to protect herself she told him it was a mistake. Saying those words has become a huge regret for her, and to live with it she’s dug herself into a state of denial that gives past me a run for my money.”

Killian pressed a kiss to Emma’s temple at the mention of her past, prompting Emma to close her eyes and take a deep breath. He was so sweet with her and yet also so commanding. They fit together so perfectly, and it went unspoken but not unfelt that the only reason she’d been able to get over her past hang ups was because she’d had a man like Killian to put her trust in.

“And now? What state does current Emma live in?”

Emma turned to face him, losing herself in how intensely he watched her. He was searching for confirmation, trying to convince himself that she was just as head over heels as he was. Lucky for both of them she was.

“She lives with her incredibly sweet and problematically sexy boyfriend, eating breakfast at midnight and marveling at how much she loves him and her life.” Emma ran her hand across his chest again, tracing at the v of his t-shirt. “She’s also sober, and really wants said sexy boyfriend to take her to bed.”

“As you wish.”

With all the flourish and coordination she’d come to expect from Killian, they left the remaining spread behind them, finding themselves right where Emma wanted to be most in no time. There was nothing slow or tantalizing about this, any thoughts of a languid seduction were over now. All day and all night they’d been skirting around what they both wanted most, physical affirmation that they belonged together. No one could argue with the chemistry zinging between them, and as more and more of their clothes were stripped away, Killian and Emma sought to touch, to kiss, to feel as much of the other as they could. Despite their proximity to a huge, lush bed, Killian pressed Emma against the wall, when they had nothing left between them.

“Do you know what it’s like to watch you all day long, Emma, knowing that you’re mine and not being able to take you how I want, to please you how I want?”

She moaned as one of his hands trailed its way down to her sex, forcing her legs wider before he honed in on her clit. He peppered kisses on her neck, sucking and biting in between words, and all Emma could do was claw at him for closeness, silently begging him for more.

“Yes!” She practically yelled the word a whole octave higher than her normal voice, feeling the pressure of one and then another finger as it pumped inside her, rhythmically working as his thumb left delicious swirls just how she liked.

“I’m not sure you do, love. I’m not sure you war with yourself constantly as I do. I see you mixing together ingredients, the light catching your hair, that little smile you get when lost in your world reaching into those beautiful eyes, and I think of all the nights I come home to see you doing that here and how you so willingly share that happiness with me. Under that tent, you’re untouchable, but Gods what I’d give to touch you, to take you.” Leave it to Killian to mix sweetness with a burning inferno of desire.

“So take me now,” Emma pleaded and Killian growled at her pulse point before coming back to look her in the eyes.

“Soon, love. First I want to watch you fall apart… twice.”

Emma was more than happy to oblige him, embracing the sensation of being on fire with lust as her orgasm built and then snapped inside her. She expected him to continue his ministrations on the wall, but Killian had different ideas, bringing her to the bed to bring her to even more pleasure with his mouth. Emma could hardly breathe, she was so wound up from every thing he did, trailing from her lips down to her breasts and finally down until he reached her core. It was easy for Killian to make good on his word with the skills he had, but as soon as he did, Emma changed the dynamic between them. He’d given her what she’d needed all day, now it was his turn.

“You have it all wrong you know,” Emma said as she moved above him on the bed, straddling his legs, taking his waiting length in hand and pumping slowly. “I think about this just as much as you do. That smile on my face, the light in my eyes, the happy aura you see, is because of you. I would never have been able to have that, that safety in a room full of people, without you.”

Killian’s eyes had grown dark, lust taking over nearly completely, and Emma took advantage of that, releasing him with her hand and lining her own aching entrance up with him before setting a demanding pace designed to have him feeling every bit of explosive pleasure as she had. They went on like that, mindless on the quest for pleasure, until eventually he spoke again.

“You have all of me, Emma. You’re everything.”

Everything about Killian was a turn on, but those words, that promise, it was the last thing Emma needed to spiral into bliss once more, this time pulling him with her. In the aftermath, the world was quiet, peaceful, and nothing filled the space between but their ragged breathing as they came back down to earth.

Lying beside him, knowing that in the morning she’d wake up to this same glorious feeling in his embrace and would come home to this again tomorrow and every day thereafter made Emma smile. Killian didn’t miss it, his thumb coming up to trace the upward tilt of her lips. Without another word, they continued to lie together, both soaking up the feeling of each other’s presence, until sleep finally came. The last thought to cross Emma’s mind was that they were another day closer to forever, and that undeniable fact made for wonderful dreams and the restful kind of sleep that only Killian could ever seem to give her.

………………

“Okay, look guys, I know you want us to do a song and dance for our ode to breakfast week, but there’s a baseline of respect I have for myself which simply will not allow it. Please, just have mercy and throw me some terrible puns.”

Emma had to hand it to Ruby, her friend was a terrific actress, and after all of this, if she wanted, Emma was sure she could get another job in television based on her dramatic flare. It was this silly sort of theater that allowed all of the contestants to keep their cool in the weekend’s final challenge.

In typical Baking Show style, the challenge for the final day was tricky, even if the contestants had all week to work on it. Today, they were expected to create a perfect dozen of New York-style bagels. The flavors could be whatever they wanted, but the key would be uniformity and perfecting the process.

Emma had done her homework. In order to be ‘truly New York’ and not like the bagels they had locally in Maine, the bagels would be boiled and she would use malt sugar and syrup to create the proper sort of encasing. Both Emma and Killian had tried multiple times to make heads or tails of the process this week, and they’d both gotten it right all of one time. She had to hope that today would be a mark in the win category instead of another loss.

For her book-themed creation, Emma opted to step away from the classics, and instead move to a book she’d read recently. Her Brie Before Bleu Cheese bagels brought together two types of creamy, melted goodness, traditional brie, and a mild variation on bleu called cambozola. It was a riskier bake, but Emma had supplemented the cheeses with some lighter herbs and she knew that if she got them right, they would be a hit.

“I can’t tell if my tears are from how good those smell, or how emotional that book was,” Ruby said as Emma pulled her bagels out. Emma was flattered by the compliment, but very aware that Tiana’s sweet chocolate chip nutella bagels would really give her a run for her money this week.

Emma wasn’t threatened of the competition, actually she enjoyed the fact that there was a consistent opponent who performed just as well as Emma did. David was right; realistically it would come down to her and the other young woman in the finals. While Tiana didn’t interact with the other contestants very much, having her own friends in town who hadn’t been interested in joining the competition, Emma knew her to be polite and a good sport. Tiana simply had great aspirations, ones that winning this show would help her finally reach. Emma didn’t fault her for working so hard to achieve her dreams, and she actually appreciated that she was never unkind in her attempts to win like many people might have been. Tiana had a lot of class, and Emma was certain, whatever the outcome in a few weeks time, Tiana would get everything that she wanted someday.

“Maybe it’s relief that you didn’t have to put on your tap shoes and sing us the lyrics to a song about muffins.”

“Fair point. Very fair point.”

Ruby continued to ask Emma about her bagels, the conversation flowing naturally as Emma set up her display with just the right cream cheese and the design she wanted. Of course she had extras cut up in small bites for Ruby and Graham and the crew. The cameramen got a pretty great shot of a failed attempt at subtlety from Graham which Emma knew would likely make the cut for this week as well, and in those happy moments, she’d forgotten any fear she had about presenting to the judges. That lack of worry only helped her in the end, seeing her through to reach her desired tier of star baker. Unlike last week though, Emma was required to do an exit interview, this week with Liam while Tink handled Belle’s final goodbye after being cut.

“So, another week, another star baker title. Does it feel good to hold the record for most best bakes in a season?” Emma smiled.

“Yes and no. I am honored that the judges have liked my work enough to award me the week’s win so many times, but also, there’s no previous seasons to compare to. Maybe in a couple years, when you guys have a few seasons under your belt, it will be more impressive to have this many wins.”

Liam cordially went through the rest of his questions, barely fishing for anything past her feelings on the bakes. It was Emma in fact who brought Killian into the conversation.

“Do you have any words of wisdom for our audience at home who love to bake as well?”

“Yes. Find a partner, whether it’s a friend, a family member, a significant other or whoever, who isn’t afraid to be honest about what they think. There’s no way I would be doing this well or feeling this confident if I didn’t have pure honesty from Killian when I make him try everything first.”

Liam’s eyes lit up at the claim, happy on two counts, for he could see Emma and Killian were happy, but he now also had something to make the network ease off his change in direction for the show. That happiness was undercut though by the sound of Tink’s laughter on the other side of the tent. No doubt Belle had made a funny comment about her departure, but Liam’s gaze left Emma’s and turned into a longing look in the other woman’s direction. While Liam looked away, Emma motioned for the cameraman to avert the lens and shut off her microphone.

“She needs to know you’re serious,” Emma whispered and Liam looked back at Emma confused but sincere.

“I am serious. I had it out with the executives, I’ve changed the direction of the narrative, I –,”

“No, she needs to know you’re serious about her.” Liam looked a bit embarrassed at that, glancing at the other PA behind the camera, a guy named Gus, who typically wasn’t very outspoken.

“Well she’s not wrong, man,” Gus noted and Liam ran a hand through his hair at Gus’ comment, not unlike Killian when he was flustered. Then he finally turned back to Emma seeking advice.

“How do I do that?”

“Show her. Girls love a grand gesture… just don’t do it anywhere near this tent.”

Gus laughed at that, and Liam managed to crack a smile, excusing himself and leaving Emma with her interview clearly over. She hoped that Liam would be brave enough to find a way to talk to Tink, but in the end it was up to them. For now, Emma was more than content to return to Killian who was ready with a teasing greeting and a kiss on the cheek.

“Saw my brother moving like a bat out of hell from your interview. Would have liked to hear what you said to cause that reaction.” Emma smiled, walking with Killian hand in hand away from the tent and back into the real world.

“I told him to take a page form your book and go for it.” Killian lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles gently.

“I hope that he will, love, and if he’s half as happy as I am, he’ll be glad for it.”

They both will be, Emma thought to herself, hoping she was right.

Post-Note: Another week, another chapter for me to fill with dream baked goods, bad jokes, and cute CS moments. I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter, I can’t believe there are only a few more updates left, but I’ll be sure to make them count. As always thanks so much for reading, and I hope you are all having a lovely week!

#captain swan #captain swan au #captain swan fic #cs ff #cs fic #cs au #cs mc #emma swan #killian jones #the whole storybrooke gang #great storybrooke baking show #ouat au #just a taste fic #just a taste au #just a taste 8 #seriouslyhooked repost

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ronijashworth · 8 years ago

Text

First Click Free is Dead, but is its Replacement Really any Better for Publishers?

The publishing industry has been claiming victory recently in a long-running disagreement with Google over how subscription content (i.e. content that sits behind a paywall or registration wall) should appear in their search results:

Google CEO appeases publishers with subscriptions [Bloomberg]

Google to ditch controversial 'first click free' policy [The Guardian]

There’s a lot of confusion around the new policy which Google has announced, and a lack of clarity in how the media, publishers, and Google itself is reporting and discussing the topic.

Google’s own announcement is typically obtuse in its framing (“Enabling more high-quality content for users”) but has plenty enough information for those of us who spend much of our professional lives interpreting the search engines’ moves to figure out what’s going on.

The short version is that what’s being reported as “ending” the first click free policy is really about extending it. There are some parts of the extension that publishers have asked for, but the key concession Google is demanding - that publishers label the paywalled content in a machine-readable way - will lead to further weakening of the publishers’ positions.

To run full the full analysis, I’m going to start with some background - but if you know all about the history, go ahead and jump ahead to my new analysis and conclusions.

The background - what was First Click Free (FCF)

In the early days of Google, they indexed only content that was publicly-available on the open web to all users and crawlers. They did this by visiting all pages on the web with their own crawler - named Googlebot. At various points, they encountered behaviour that they came to label cloaking: when websites showed different content to Googlebot than to everyone else. This was typically done to gain a ranking advantage - for example to stuff a load of text onto a page containing words and phrases that didn’t appear in the article users were shown with the objective of appearing in searches for those words and phrases.

Google disliked this practice both because it messed up their index, and - the official line - because it resulted in a poor user experience if someone clicked on one of these articles and then discovered content that was not relevant to their search. As a result, they declared cloaking to be against their guidelines.

In parallel, publishers were working to figure out their business models on the web - and while many went down the route of supporting their editorial business with advertising, many wished to charge a subscription fee and allow only paying customers to access their content.

The conundrum this presented was in acquisition of those customers - how would people find the paywalled content? If Googlebot was blocked at the paywall (like all other logged-out users) - which was the only legitimate publisher behaviour that wasn’t cloaking - then none of those pages would rank for anything significant, as Googlebot would find no real content on the page.

Google’s solution was a program they called First Click Free (FCF) which they rolled out first to news search and then to web search in 2008. This policy allowed publishers to cloak legitimately - to show Googlebot the full content of pages that would be behind the paywall for regular users by identifying the Google crawler and specifically treating it differently. It allowed this behaviour on the condition that the publishers allow any user who clicked on a Google search result to access the specific article they had clicked through to read whether they had a subscription or not. After this “first click” which had to be free, the publisher was welcome to enforce the paywall if the user chose to continue to request subsequent pages on the site.

Problems with First Click Free and the backlash

The biggest problem with FCF was that it created obvious holes in publishers’ paywalls and led to the open secret that you could access any article you wanted on many major newspaper sites simply by googling the headline and clicking through. While complying with Google’s rules, there was little the publishers could do about this (they were allowed to implement a cap - but required to allow at least 3 articles per day which is beyond the average consumption of most paywalled sites by most users - and effectively constituted no cap).

Many publishers began to tighten their paywalls or registration walls - often showing interstitials, adverts, or enforcing a monthly quota of “first click” articles a given user was allowed - technically leaving them cloaking in breach of Google’s guidelines, and frequently providing a poor user experience.

Publishers also began to resent more generally that Google was effectively determining their business models. While I have always been concerned about exactly what will continue to pay for journalism, I always had little sympathy for the argument that Google was forcing publishers to do anything. Google was offering a way of cloaking legitimately if publishers were prepared to enable FCF. Publishers were always welcome to reject that offer, not enable FCF, and also keep Googlebot out of their paywalled content (this was the route that The Times took).

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal pulled out of FCF, and reportedly saw a drop in traffic, but an increase in subscriptions.

The new deal is really an expansion of FCF

The coverage has been almost-exclusively describing what’s happening as Google ending the FCF program whereas it really sounds more like an expansion. Whereas before Google offered only one legitimate way of compensating for what would otherwise be cloaking, they are now offering two options:

Metering - which includes the option previously called FCF - requires publishers to offer Google’s users some number of free clicks per month at their own discretion - but now also allowing publishers to limit how many times a single user gets free content after clicking through from Google

Lead-in - which shows users some section or snippet of the full article before requiring registration or payment (this is how thetimes.co.uk implements its paywall at the moment - so under the new rules they would now legitimately be able to allow Googlebot access to the full normally-paywalled content subject to my important notes below)

Google is imposing a critical new condition

However, both of these options come with a new limitation: in order to take part in the expanded scheme they now call Flexible Sampling, publishers must mark up content that will be hidden from non-subscribers using machine-readable structured markup called JSON-LD. Structured markup is a machine-readable way of providing more information and context about the content on a page - and in this case it enables Google to know exactly which bits of content Googlebot is getting to see only because it’s Googlebot (and the publisher is engaging in Flexible Sampling) and what will actually be visible to users when they click through.

And here’s the rub.

This new requirement is listed clearly in Google’s announcement but is getting little attention in the mainstream coverage - probably because it’s both a bit technical, and because it probably isn’t obvious what difference it makes to publishers beyond a bit of development work(*).

To me, though, this requirement screams that Google wants to do the same things they’ve done with other forms of structured markup - namely:

Present them differently in the search results

Aggregate and filter them

(*) Incidentally, the technical requirement that the JSON-LD markup declare the CSS selector for the paywalled content is one that we at Distilled predict is going to present maintenance nightmares for many publishers - it essentially means that any time a publisher makes a visual change to the user interface on any of their article pages, they’re going to need to check that they haven’t broken their compliance with the new Flexible Sampling program. These are often considerations of different teams, and it is very likely that many publishers will accidentally break this regularly in ways that are not obvious to them or their users. It remains to be seen how Google will treat such violations.

1. I’m convinced Google will label paywalls in the search results

My thinking here is that:

Hard paywalls are already labelled in Google News

Many other forms of structured markup are used to change the display in the search results (probably the most obvious to most users is the ratings stars that appear on many product searches - which come from structured markup on the retailers’ sites)

Especially in the case of a hard paywall with only a snippet accessible to most users, it’s a pretty terrible user experience to land on a snippet of content and a signup box (much like you see here if you’re not a subscriber to The Times) in response to most simple searches. Occasionally a user might be interested in taking out a new subscription - but rarely to read the single article they’re searching for right now

Point 3 is the most critical (1 & 2 simply show that Google can do this). Given how many sites on the web have a paywall, and how even the most engaged user will have a subscription to a handful at most, Google knows that unlabelled hard paywalls (even with snippets) are a terrible user experience the majority of the time.

I fully expect therefore to see results that look something like this:

This will:

Allow them to offer a scheme (“flexible sampling”) that is consistent with what publishers have been demanding

Let publishers claim a “win” against big, bad Google

Enable the cloaking that lets Googlebot through even hard paywalls (all but the most stringent paywalls have at least a small snippet for non-logged-in users to entice subscriptions)

Avoid having to remove major media sites from the search results or demote them to lower rankings

And yet, by labelling them clearly, get to the point that pretty much only users who already have a subscription to a specific site ever click on the paywalled results (the number of subscriptions you already have is small enough that you are always going to remember whether you have access to any specific site or not)

My prediction is that the end result of this looks more like what happened when the WSJ pulled out of FCF - reportedly good for the WSJ, but likely very bad for less-differentiated publishers - which is something they could already do. In other words, publishers have gained very little in this deal, while Google is getting them to expend a load of energy and development resource carefully marking up all their paywalled content for Google to flag it clearly in the search results. (Note: Google VP for News, Richard Gingras, has already been hinting at some of the ways this could happen in the Google News onebox).

2. What does aggregation look like?

Once Google can identify paywall content at scale across the web (see the structured markup information above) they open up a number of interesting options:

Filtering subscription content out of a specific search and seeing only freely-available content

Filtering to see only subscription content - perhaps from user-selected publications (subscriptions you own)

Possible end-game: connecting programmatically to subscription APIs in order to show you free content and content you have already got a subscription for, automatically

Offering a bundle (Chris Dixon on why bundles make economic sense for both buyers and sellers). What if you could pay some amount that was more than a single subscription, but less than two, that got you access to 5 or 6 major media sites. It’s very likely that everyone (except publishers outside the bundle!) would be better off. Very few players have the power to make such a bundle happen. It’s possible that Google is one of those players.

Under scenario #3, Google would know who had access to the bundle and could change the display in the search results to emphasise the “high quality, paid” content that a particular searcher had access to - in addition to the free content and other subscription sites outside the bundle. Are we going to see a Spotify for Publishers? We should all pay close attention to the “subscription support” tools that Google announced alongside the changes to FCF. Although these are starting with easy payment mechanisms, the paths to aggregation are clear.

Sidenote:

Ben Thompson has been writing a lot recently about aggregators (that link is outside his paywall - a subscription I wholeheartedly recommend - I look forward to seeing his approach to the new flexible sampling options on his own site, as well as his opinions). Google is the prototypical super aggregator - making huge amounts of money by aggregating others’ work with effectively zero transaction costs on both the acquisition of their raw materials and their self-service sale of advertising. Are they about to aggregate paid subscription content as well?

Summary

Publishers are calling this a win. My view is that the new Google scheme offers:

Something that looks very like what was in place before (“metering"”)

Something that looks very like what pulling out of FCF looked like (“lead-in”)

And demands in return a huge amount of structured data which will cement Google’s position, allow them to maintain an excellent user experience without sending more traffic to publishers, and start them down a path to even more aggregation.

If paywalls are to be labelled in the search results, publishers will definitely see a drop in traffic compared to what they received under FCF. The long-term possibility of a “Spotify for Publishers” bundle will likely be little solace in the interim.

Are you a publisher?

If you’re wondering what you have to do as a result of these changes, or what you should do as the landscape shifts, don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will be happy to discuss your specific situation.

from Digital Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/first-click-free-dead-is-replacement-better/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#digital marketing

0 notes

davidrsmithlove · 8 years ago

Text

First Click Free is Dead, but is its Replacement Really any Better for Publishers?

Google CEO appeases publishers with subscriptions [Bloomberg]

Google to ditch controversial 'first click free' policy [The Guardian]

There’s a lot of confusion around the new policy which Google has announced, and a lack of clarity in how the media, publishers, and Google itself is reporting and discussing the topic.

To run full the full analysis, I’m going to start with some background - but if you know all about the history, go ahead and jump ahead to my new analysis and conclusions.

The background - what was First Click Free (FCF)

Problems with First Click Free and the backlash

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal pulled out of FCF, and reportedly saw a drop in traffic, but an increase in subscriptions.

The new deal is really an expansion of FCF

Google is imposing a critical new condition

And here’s the rub.

To me, though, this requirement screams that Google wants to do the same things they’ve done with other forms of structured markup - namely:

Present them differently in the search results

Aggregate and filter them

1. I’m convinced Google will label paywalls in the search results

My thinking here is that:

Hard paywalls are already labelled in Google News

I fully expect therefore to see results that look something like this:

This will:

Allow them to offer a scheme (“flexible sampling”) that is consistent with what publishers have been demanding

Let publishers claim a “win” against big, bad Google

Enable the cloaking that lets Googlebot through even hard paywalls (all but the most stringent paywalls have at least a small snippet for non-logged-in users to entice subscriptions)

Avoid having to remove major media sites from the search results or demote them to lower rankings

2. What does aggregation look like?

Once Google can identify paywall content at scale across the web (see the structured markup information above) they open up a number of interesting options:

Filtering subscription content out of a specific search and seeing only freely-available content

Filtering to see only subscription content - perhaps from user-selected publications (subscriptions you own)

Possible end-game: connecting programmatically to subscription APIs in order to show you free content and content you have already got a subscription for, automatically

Sidenote:

Summary

Publishers are calling this a win. My view is that the new Google scheme offers:

Something that looks very like what was in place before (“metering"”)

Something that looks very like what pulling out of FCF looked like (“lead-in”)

Are you a publisher?

0 notes

anthonykrierion · 8 years ago

Text

First Click Free is Dead, but is its Replacement Really any Better for Publishers?

Google CEO appeases publishers with subscriptions [Bloomberg]

Google to ditch controversial 'first click free' policy [The Guardian]

There’s a lot of confusion around the new policy which Google has announced, and a lack of clarity in how the media, publishers, and Google itself is reporting and discussing the topic.

To run full the full analysis, I’m going to start with some background - but if you know all about the history, go ahead and jump ahead to my new analysis and conclusions.

The background - what was First Click Free (FCF)

Problems with First Click Free and the backlash

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal pulled out of FCF, and reportedly saw a drop in traffic, but an increase in subscriptions.

The new deal is really an expansion of FCF

Google is imposing a critical new condition

And here’s the rub.

To me, though, this requirement screams that Google wants to do the same things they’ve done with other forms of structured markup - namely:

Present them differently in the search results

Aggregate and filter them

1. I’m convinced Google will label paywalls in the search results

My thinking here is that:

Hard paywalls are already labelled in Google News

I fully expect therefore to see results that look something like this:

This will:

Allow them to offer a scheme (“flexible sampling”) that is consistent with what publishers have been demanding

Let publishers claim a “win” against big, bad Google

Enable the cloaking that lets Googlebot through even hard paywalls (all but the most stringent paywalls have at least a small snippet for non-logged-in users to entice subscriptions)

Avoid having to remove major media sites from the search results or demote them to lower rankings

2. What does aggregation look like?

Once Google can identify paywall content at scale across the web (see the structured markup information above) they open up a number of interesting options:

Filtering subscription content out of a specific search and seeing only freely-available content

Filtering to see only subscription content - perhaps from user-selected publications (subscriptions you own)

Possible end-game: connecting programmatically to subscription APIs in order to show you free content and content you have already got a subscription for, automatically

Sidenote:

Summary

Publishers are calling this a win. My view is that the new Google scheme offers:

Something that looks very like what was in place before (“metering"”)

Something that looks very like what pulling out of FCF looked like (“lead-in”)

Are you a publisher?

First Click Free is Dead, but is its Replacement Really any Better for Publishers? was originally posted by Video And Blog Marketing

#Video And Blog Marketing

0 notes

hypertagmaster · 8 years ago

Text

8 Calls to Action that Initiate New Relationships with Customers and Collaborators

I know. I know. I know.

“Viral” is an actual term people use to describe wildly popular content that has spread across a variety of distribution channels, landing in our Twitter feeds, Apple News updates, text messages, and emails from Uncle Sue.

But I still don’t like the word.

When “going viral” is a goal for a piece of content, it puts me a little on edge.

Viral content may feed your ego, but it doesn’t necessarily feed your business.

Business success without “going viral”

I understand it’s frustrating if no one knows about your products or services. That’s why you want a lot of people to see your work.

But sustainable success stems from your dedication to produce one great line at a time and consistently publish your content. One article/podcast episode/video is not going to change everything.

Plus:

Many smart content moves have nothing to do with a piece of content “going viral” and don’t depend on a massive amount of views.

So, stop putting pressure on yourself. “Viral” doesn’t need to be your goal.

Let’s talk about what you can do right now to initiate new relationships with the customers and collaborators who will help build your business.

1. Ask for comments and suggestions

I always talk about crafting a thoughtful presentation, but individual pieces of content are not definitive articles on a topic — nor should they be.

While you want to thoroughly express your message, an exhaustive guide that tries to tackle the subject from every angle is tedious to read. It’s also futile — there’s always going to be some other point of view you didn’t consider.

Instead, publish your useful material and invite your audience to contribute their thoughts.

For example, my article last week about proofreading pointers didn’t explain every possible proofreading technique. I provided the top three tips I frequently use, and then readers added the methods that work for them in the comments.

The content opened up a discussion that encouraged people to participate. Readers, viewers, and listeners who become personally invested in your content are the ones who stick around and want to hear more from you over time.

2. Spark new social media conversations

When you optimize your content for social media sites, you don’t just increase your chances of getting clicks to your website from your existing followers.

Interesting conversations about your content on social media will attract people who have never come across your work before.

This is good, old-fashioned word of mouth that happens organically after you’ve done something remarkable.

And rather than just blatantly promoting a piece of content, see how you can initiate meaningful interactions that draw people back to your website to find out more.

For example, an intriguing photo on Instagram could spark comments, shares, and likes, as well as prompt viewers to read the blog post or listen to the podcast episode that gives the photo context.

3. Pull in audiences from different platforms

I regularly drool over the short and entertaining food-preparation videos on the AnarchistKitchen YouTube channel.

But do you know what the videos don’t provide?

The recipes for the mouth-watering food.

To get the recipes, you have to go to their blog. The videos capture the attention of people who may have not otherwise known about their website (like me).

Next week, Jerod is going to talk more about ways to distribute your best ideas on different platforms.

4. Offer a shareable summary

No one wants to be that person who bores all their friends with their latest obsession — whether it’s a blog, book, or beverage.

But the desire to share something new that you love is understandable.

So, how do we convert our friends in a non-pushy way?

It’s a lot easier if you have a sample of a blog, book, or beverage recipe that others can browse on their own terms rather than hearing all the benefits from you.

Content marketers can create mini packages for their audience members to share with their friends.

For example, you could offer a beautiful PDF as a free download that summarizes who your site is for and how you help them, with some snippets of particularly useful advice. You’d then encourage your visitors to share the PDF rather than just share your website link.

It’s a more direct way to show what you’re all about, rather than hope a first-time visitor immediately clicks on the most engaging parts of your website.

5. Take the first step

Let’s say you meet someone in person, talk about a potential business collaboration, and exchange contact information.

What if you took the first step needed to make that collaboration happen before you contact them?

You could write the guest blog post for their site that you mentioned, outline a podcast interview, or draft the budget for the video series you discussed.

The work that you perform upfront could be the push the project needs to get off the ground faster, so consider initiating it rather than merely sending a follow-up email with pleasantries or questions.

6. Build your email list when you host live events

Live events don’t have to be elaborate, expensive productions.

I’m talking about having a booth at a local fair, giving a seminar at a bookstore, or teaching a workshop at a community center.

Or maybe live events, such as yoga classes, are your business.

People who have terrific experiences will want to know how to keep in contact with you so they don’t miss anything else you offer.

Encourage your guests, visitors, or students to sign up for your email list.

I’m very (very, very) picky about where I share my email address. The only time I have signed up to be on an email list in recent history was after I had such a great time at an event that I wanted to keep in touch with the organizer.

7. Describe your products or services

If you’re not sure when to mention your business in a piece of content, ask yourself:

Would someone who benefits from this free content get even more help with one of my products or services?

Then you can find ways to show how your paid solution would be a good fit for your reader.

For example, a locksmith might write an article about what to do if your key breaks off in your lock.

The content could outline steps to fix the problem, but many people who find it are going to need immediate help. The company should include a call to action so local searchers know how to get in contact with a locksmith who can help them.

You won’t necessarily mention your products or services in every piece of content you create, but you also can’t assume your audience knows you offer something they need. Potential customers need to be absolutely clear how they can move forward with what you have to offer.

8. Provide a special recipe

Content that makes an impact on someone’s life is the type that gets shared.

As Sonia has said:

“Make your advertising too valuable to throw away.”

Use tutorial content to educate your prospects about specific ways to use your product. They’ll be empowered to apply what they learn to get the results they desire.

I was recently reminded of this technique when I bought a package of rosemary that said “Try the recipe inside!”

If I make the rosemary roasted potatoes from the package and share the food with dinner guests, they could potentially ask for the recipe and buy that brand of rosemary as well.

What do you think about viral content?

Let us know how you form individual connections with potential customers or collaborators.

Is “going viral” a major goal (or secret wish) every time you publish content?

The post 8 Calls to Action that Initiate New Relationships with Customers and Collaborators appeared first on Copyblogger.

via marketing http://ift.tt/2oyxXvx

#IFTTT #marketing

0 notes

marie85marketing · 8 years ago

Text

8 Calls to Action that Initiate New Relationships with Customers and Collaborators

I know. I know. I know.

But I still don’t like the word.

When “going viral” is a goal for a piece of content, it puts me a little on edge.

Viral content may feed your ego, but it doesn’t necessarily feed your business.

Business success without “going viral”

I understand it’s frustrating if no one knows about your products or services. That’s why you want a lot of people to see your work.

But sustainable success stems from your dedication to produce one great line at a time and consistently publish your content. One article/podcast episode/video is not going to change everything.

Plus:

Many smart content moves have nothing to do with a piece of content “going viral” and don’t depend on a massive amount of views.

So, stop putting pressure on yourself. “Viral” doesn’t need to be your goal.

Let’s talk about what you can do right now to initiate new relationships with the customers and collaborators who will help build your business.

1. Ask for comments and suggestions

I always talk about crafting a thoughtful presentation, but individual pieces of content are not definitive articles on a topic — nor should they be.

Instead, publish your useful material and invite your audience to contribute their thoughts.

2. Spark new social media conversations

When you optimize your content for social media sites, you don’t just increase your chances of getting clicks to your website from your existing followers.

Interesting conversations about your content on social media will attract people who have never come across your work before.

This is good, old-fashioned word of mouth that happens organically after you’ve done something remarkable.

And rather than just blatantly promoting a piece of content, see how you can initiate meaningful interactions that draw people back to your website to find out more.

For example, an intriguing photo on Instagram could spark comments, shares, and likes, as well as prompt viewers to read the blog post or listen to the podcast episode that gives the photo context.

3. Pull in audiences from different platforms

I regularly drool over the short and entertaining food-preparation videos on the AnarchistKitchen YouTube channel.

But do you know what the videos don’t provide?

The recipes for the mouth-watering food.

To get the recipes, you have to go to their blog. The videos capture the attention of people who may have not otherwise known about their website (like me).

Next week, Jerod is going to talk more about ways to distribute your best ideas on different platforms.

4. Offer a shareable summary

No one wants to be that person who bores all their friends with their latest obsession — whether it’s a blog, book, or beverage.

But the desire to share something new that you love is understandable.

So, how do we convert our friends in a non-pushy way?

It’s a lot easier if you have a sample of a blog, book, or beverage recipe that others can browse on their own terms rather than hearing all the benefits from you.

Content marketers can create mini packages for their audience members to share with their friends.

It’s a more direct way to show what you’re all about, rather than hope a first-time visitor immediately clicks on the most engaging parts of your website.

5. Take the first step

Let’s say you meet someone in person, talk about a potential business collaboration, and exchange contact information.

What if you took the first step needed to make that collaboration happen before you contact them?

You could write the guest blog post for their site that you mentioned, outline a podcast interview, or draft the budget for the video series you discussed.

6. Build your email list when you host live events

Live events don’t have to be elaborate, expensive productions.

I’m talking about having a booth at a local fair, giving a seminar at a bookstore, or teaching a workshop at a community center.

Or maybe live events, such as yoga classes, are your business.

People who have terrific experiences will want to know how to keep in contact with you so they don’t miss anything else you offer.

Encourage your guests, visitors, or students to sign up for your email list.

7. Describe your products or services

If you’re not sure when to mention your business in a piece of content, ask yourself:

Would someone who benefits from this free content get even more help with one of my products or services?

Then you can find ways to show how your paid solution would be a good fit for your reader.

For example, a locksmith might write an article about what to do if your key breaks off in your lock.

8. Provide a special recipe

Content that makes an impact on someone’s life is the type that gets shared.

As Sonia has said:

“Make your advertising too valuable to throw away.”

Use tutorial content to educate your prospects about specific ways to use your product. They’ll be empowered to apply what they learn to get the results they desire.

I was recently reminded of this technique when I bought a package of rosemary that said “Try the recipe inside!”

If I make the rosemary roasted potatoes from the package and share the food with dinner guests, they could potentially ask for the recipe and buy that brand of rosemary as well.

What do you think about viral content?

Let us know how you form individual connections with potential customers or collaborators.

Is “going viral” a major goal (or secret wish) every time you publish content?

The post 8 Calls to Action that Initiate New Relationships with Customers and Collaborators appeared first on Copyblogger.

0 notes

kristinsimmons · 6 years ago

Text

What’s on USMLE Step 1?

By BRYAN CARMODY

Recently, I was on The Accad and Koka Report to share my opinions on USMLE Step 1 scoring policy. (If you’re interested, you can listen to the episode on the show website or iTunes.)

ANISH: Well – um – yeah…

BRYAN: What do you think is on that test that makes it a meaningful metric?

ANISH: I – I don’t- I don’t think that – I don’t know that memorizing… I don’t even remember what was on the USMLE. Was the Krebs Cycle on the USMLE Step 1?

I highlight this exchange because it illuminates one of the central truths in the #USMLEPassFail debate, and that is this:

Physicians who took Step 1 more than 5 years ago honestly don’t have a clue about what is tested on the exam.

That’s not because the content has changed. It’s because the memories of minutiae fade over time, leaving behind the false memory of a test that was more useful than it really was.

I’m speaking from experience here.

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER STEP 1 APOLOGIST

As I answered question after question, three broad categories of questions emerged.

CORE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS: Many questions I knew cold. These questions tested key aspects of physiology, pharmacology, or pathology that I use frequently to take care of patients.

However… the USMLE does provide some real USMLE Step 1 sample questions to the general public. I reviewed just the first block (questions 1-40) and highlighted some of the best below.

SAMPLE QUESTION 1

(The correct answer, in case you were wondering, is B.)

SAMPLE QUESTION 2

SAMPLE QUESTION 3

SAMPLE QUESTION 4

Are you sensing a theme here?

Sigh.

I hopefully guessed answer choice E, thinking that perhaps the USMLE was trying to test a clinically-useful point which I had been heretofore unaware. They weren’t. The correct answer is D.

SAMPLE QUESTION 5

I have to at least applaud this question for its lack of pretense. No clinical foreplay at all. It gets straight into the basic science.

And in case it’s been a while since you walked into clinic and did a Southern blot on the digestion products of your patient’s cerebellum and pancreas, the correct answer is C.

HOW’D YOU DO?

Anybody go 5 for 5?

Let me save you a little time on your angry e-mails and address some of the inevitable objections to this little exercise.

YOU CHERRY-PICKED THOSE QUESTIONS.

THOSE AREN’T BAD QUESTIONS. I GOT THEM ALL RIGHT.

Cool. Actually, I got two of them right. But that doesn’t keep me from appreciating that the concepts being tested are almost certainly unnecessary for the safe and effective practice of medicine.

THIS MATERIAL ISN’T IRRELEVANT! WHY, JUST YESTERDAY I PRESCRIBED A VEGF INHIBITOR TO A PATIENT IN MY CLINIC.

THOSE QUESTIONS AREN’T IRRELEVANT FOR ALL PHYSICIANS. WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO PURSUE CAREERS IN RESEARCH? SOUTHERN BLOTTING IS QUITE USEFUL!

Here’s the thing: the USMLE Step 1 is a licensing examination. Medical licensure exists to protect the public.

WE DON’T USE STEP 1 SCORES BECAUSE OF THE KNOWLEDGE IT TESTS. WE USE SCORES BECAUSE IT SHOWS US WHAT CANDIDATES HAVE THE BEST WORK ETHIC, TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS, DETERMINATION, GRIT, ETC.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The “save the scored USMLE” coalition is a varied one.

Some of those objections I get; some, not so much.

Dr. Carmody is a pediatric nephrologist and medical educator at Eastern Virginia Medical School. This post originally appeared on The Sheriff of Sodium here.

What’s on USMLE Step 1? published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

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seoprovider2110 · 8 years ago

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8 Calls to Action that Initiate New Relationships with Customers and Collaborators

I know. I know. I know.

But I still don’t like the word.

When “going viral” is a goal for a piece of content, it puts me a little on edge.

Viral content may feed your ego, but it doesn’t necessarily feed your business.

Business success without “going viral”

I understand it’s frustrating if no one knows about your products or services. That’s why you want a lot of people to see your work.

But sustainable success stems from your dedication to produce one great line at a time and consistently publish your content. One article/podcast episode/video is not going to change everything.

Plus:

Many smart content moves have nothing to do with a piece of content “going viral” and don’t depend on a massive amount of views.

So, stop putting pressure on yourself. “Viral” doesn’t need to be your goal.

Let’s talk about what you can do right now to initiate new relationships with the customers and collaborators who will help build your business.

1. Ask for comments and suggestions

I always talk about crafting a thoughtful presentation, but individual pieces of content are not definitive articles on a topic — nor should they be.

Instead, publish your useful material and invite your audience to contribute their thoughts.

2. Spark new social media conversations

When you optimize your content for social media sites, you don’t just increase your chances of getting clicks to your website from your existing followers.

Interesting conversations about your content on social media will attract people who have never come across your work before.

This is good, old-fashioned word of mouth that happens organically after you’ve done something remarkable.

And rather than just blatantly promoting a piece of content, see how you can initiate meaningful interactions that draw people back to your website to find out more.

For example, an intriguing photo on Instagram could spark comments, shares, and likes, as well as prompt viewers to read the blog post or listen to the podcast episode that gives the photo context.

3. Pull in audiences from different platforms

I regularly drool over the short and entertaining food-preparation videos on the AnarchistKitchen YouTube channel.

But do you know what the videos don’t provide?

The recipes for the mouth-watering food.

To get the recipes, you have to go to their blog. The videos capture the attention of people who may have not otherwise known about their website (like me).

Next week, Jerod is going to talk more about ways to distribute your best ideas on different platforms.

4. Offer a shareable summary

No one wants to be that person who bores all their friends with their latest obsession — whether it’s a blog, book, or beverage.

But the desire to share something new that you love is understandable.

So, how do we convert our friends in a non-pushy way?

It’s a lot easier if you have a sample of a blog, book, or beverage recipe that others can browse on their own terms rather than hearing all the benefits from you.

Content marketers can create mini packages for their audience members to share with their friends.

It’s a more direct way to show what you’re all about, rather than hope a first-time visitor immediately clicks on the most engaging parts of your website.

5. Take the first step

Let’s say you meet someone in person, talk about a potential business collaboration, and exchange contact information.

What if you took the first step needed to make that collaboration happen before you contact them?

You could write the guest blog post for their site that you mentioned, outline a podcast interview, or draft the budget for the video series you discussed.

6. Build your email list when you host live events

Live events don’t have to be elaborate, expensive productions.

I’m talking about having a booth at a local fair, giving a seminar at a bookstore, or teaching a workshop at a community center.

Or maybe live events, such as yoga classes, are your business.

People who have terrific experiences will want to know how to keep in contact with you so they don’t miss anything else you offer.

Encourage your guests, visitors, or students to sign up for your email list.

7. Describe your products or services

If you’re not sure when to mention your business in a piece of content, ask yourself:

Would someone who benefits from this free content get even more help with one of my products or services?

Then you can find ways to show how your paid solution would be a good fit for your reader.

For example, a locksmith might write an article about what to do if your key breaks off in your lock.

8. Provide a special recipe

Content that makes an impact on someone’s life is the type that gets shared.

As Sonia has said:

“Make your advertising too valuable to throw away.”

Use tutorial content to educate your prospects about specific ways to use your product. They’ll be empowered to apply what they learn to get the results they desire.

I was recently reminded of this technique when I bought a package of rosemary that said “Try the recipe inside!”

If I make the rosemary roasted potatoes from the package and share the food with dinner guests, they could potentially ask for the recipe and buy that brand of rosemary as well.

What do you think about viral content?

Let us know how you form individual connections with potential customers or collaborators.

Is “going viral” a major goal (or secret wish) every time you publish content?

The post 8 Calls to Action that Initiate New Relationships with Customers and Collaborators appeared first on Copyblogger.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nE4yAE

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