#no they don't give full time by merit in my company

[genderfluidgothwitch]

For those who are unsure of whether or not they really have the "sensitivity to cold" symptom of fibromyalgia, because you think that it's just you not being able to handle colder temperatures like other people, that's one way of putting it. The other way is, when it's winter and the temperatures start dropping, do you feel your pain more intensely? Do you feel like you have more problems with your joints? Is your partner always commenting how cold your fingers and toes are, but it somehow gets more frequent in winter? Those are other ways to consider being sensitive to the cold.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Hey Reid!

I'd like to ask for some academic advice:

The extended abstract of my first paper ever just got accepted to a not unnotable conference (speaking people in my field know it by name) and with it come the reviews/ guidelines to be included for the full paper version of it which are... mixed.

On one hand I'm elated beyond to have a my paper accepted by a reputable conference a semester into my master's degree, on the other some of the reviews feel really mean?

Do you have any tips on dealing with imposter syndrome in the face of negative reviews? I feel like I've been unmasked as a fraud

Ahhh, good ol' Reviewer #2 and their crippling effect on one's self-esteem. Right now it seems like the criticism is steep, which is difficult because this is a piece you are proud of, and (of you're like me) your self-esteem is tied to academic performance. Based on your undergraduate experience, you may not have received criticism like this before (I know I didn't).

All of that is valid, but might I suggest looking at the situation a little bit differently?

You have, by all accounts, written a piece very early in your career that was deemed to have intellectual merit by a significant scholarly body! That's huge! It means that somebody read the piece and thought that your argument was good and would make a significant contribution to the existing body of literature! You have already won by making it past the first (and hardest) part of the selection process.

In fact, someone thought your piece was good enough that a couple of other people (qualified professionals) should read it to give some feedback. That's pretty cool, right? I certainly think so.

I'm sure you're well aware of the values of peer reviews and the revision process, so I won't expound on that. Perhaps some of the reviewers were not as tactful as they could be, but that doesn't change the fact that you did good work.

Here is my humble prescription for the revision process: take a day to celebrate the achievement of having your paper accepted! Do a little something to make yourself happy and enjoy the moment, whatever that may be. This is for you. You are going to Be Happy™ about this. Do not think about Reviewer #2. Then take a day preparing to go back into the comments. Get yourself in the right mindset, but don't force yourself to engage. Dive back in on day 3 (or whenever you're ready, deadlines permitting) with the confidence that you have a good idea, and you are going to respond to any criticism with productive intention.

-Reid

P.S. Dr. Dad, an academic with 25+ years in his field and a CV that is over 50 pages long, celebrates every time he gets a revise and resubmit. The single hardest thing to do is not to get desk rejected. Nobody gets through the process with no revisions, and often the comments are quite harsh. You're in good company.

[last-domain]

I finished Jeff Vandermeer's Ambergris in the last few days. They were good, Shriek: An Afterword might be my favourite, but it's hard to compare it to City of Saints and Madmen. Mostly because CoSaM is more of an anthology, with some truly exception pieces and some made made weaker by proximity to them.

(I will add a cut here. I have written more than I expected, with more information than you might want before reading. Proceed with caution.)

Frankly, while I still loved Finch, I found its ending weak. Perhaps I will come around in later re-readings, but I can't help but feel it lacked the necessary full catharsis for the tension built up before it. Additionally, while necessary due to its premise and format, its prose and handling of the core concepts of the series felt clumsier.

It gave too much, too freely, and the presentation of this was more plain. It reduced the dread and tension to the familiar (but not mundane) and explicable (as much as is possible for such topics).

Regretably continuing to heap up negativity: There were three primary threads that failed for me. Threads that perhaps would remedy the above if they had reached me.

The thread of the protagonist's father,

The protagonist's previous identity, and

The (only sometimes) subtle villain. (Spoilers abound!)

1.

I did not connect to the emotions tied to the father past a point. I felt it held a personal significance for Vandermeer, but I do not share his history and could not find it sufficiently affecting. Not for a lack of sympathy, but empathy – it felt too close to something powerful for Vandermeer alone. (I will point out some parallels in my personal experience that could theoretically, in the most calculating and impersonal way possible, lend me the experiences needed to translate the themes; if only to better demonstrate how they failed, or how I failed them.

(My father is dying from stage four blood cancer. He has been made a pariah. He has betrayed, and been betrayed. There is love, tinted with confusion, for I can not, and may never, truly know him. I don't understand who he is or why he did what he did. He is a known quantity only in hindsight, a stranger in the present. We share a deep connection through our names, in our sympathy for each other, in the frank and bleak acceptance of the hand we have been dealt. That we are weak, limited and short-sighted men doing what we can in a vicious world.)

There is a connection, but I do not feel enough of it, and I suspect it is crucial to this story. The great reveal is buried amidst more of the same: relentless exposition and an ever-urgent escalation. It lacks the necessary 'pull back' that gives impact to such a moment -- The opportunity to take to the stage alone and reach past words.

2.

The same can be said for the protagonist's past life and identity. It lacks room to breathe, boxed in claustrophobic company with players and events too large to permit its scale.

Too much is divulged too regularly for the tightening of emotional chords, and thus resonance. We know more than is needed each time the topic becomes relevant, until what could have been crescendo arrives flat.

Just a known and expected fact among many.

Once he was James, now he is John. Once he was a bastard, now he is a different bastard. The difference between a womaniser who loves whiskey and cigars and a cynical unwilling detective who loves whiskey and cigars is not enough to merit the weight implied when this information is presented.

We know, unfortunately.

3.

Finally (and this is far more than I anticipated to write on just this one novel) is the villain.

They feel like someone has stitched them into the story after enthusiastic and misguided recommendations from the publisher (I cannot say editor, because the glamorous Ann Vandermeer is Jeff's wife and editor, and has never disappointed.).

Like using a ball of twine and a knitting needle to sew back together a rich but torn silk tapestry. It is functional in the literal sense, necessary in the mechanical, but still confusing and upsetting to see.

Risking outright spoiling everything: I felt a rush of baffled familiarity towards the end of the book.

Suddenly, I was reading the most inventive and creatively liberal written adaptation of a video game ever envisioned.

Specifically: Half-Life 2.

Now, while Shriek: An Afterword and Finch were both published after the games release, City of Saints and Madmen preceeded Half-Life 2 by over three years, if you wholly discount the time spent writing the books. More still, the whole series is too significant and developed to be informed and transformed that quickly. These are the sort of stories that take a half-decade or more to plan and build up.

I admit, I haven't read or listened to Vandermeer talk about his work, much. Just the excerpts at the ends of his novels and a few short posts, about his disappointment in Alex Garland's adaptation of Annihilation and re-wilding lawns. So perhaps he has spoken on this. I am afraid to learn if he has.

To explain more; it is not just in specifics of content that I drew connections, but in tone. Towards the end, it truly does begin to feel like the plot of a game. It becomes too abrupt, too direct and too normalised as the verisimilitude of the world shifts from horror and a languorous living city resplendent in cruelty, beauty and pleasure -- to a shallow pool of one-note characters, alien invasions and resistance to an all too comprehensible (if mindlessly evil) occupying force.

The villain itself is, well... absurdly tied in? As if they are sewn across the book to rejoin wandering scenes; to shuffle and shuttle the actors to their places in the next scene (once, very literally), and then, with a metaphorical but embarrassingly exaggerated wink to the audience, reminds us the story takes place in a world of mysteries before (again, literally!) vanishing. To which our man clumsily muses to himself (and thus us) "It sure is a scary and mysterious world we live in. Welp. Not my problem anymore."

Okay... so. This came out far more passionate a diatribe than I expected. I had wanted to quickly note the negatives before moving on to the positives, as to not leave anyone reading on a sour note. I love these books. Have loved City of Saints of Madmen for years, and I don't truly regret reading the sequels.

There is a genre in fiction that I would describe as 'The City'. I am tempted to attach 'monster', '(anti-)hero', 'protagonist', 'beast', 'ancient' or 'eternal'. But we all know these tales; in Gaiman's Neverwhere, Dishonored's Dunwall, Miéville's New Crobuzon, Bioshock's Rapture, Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork, Disco Elysium's Revachol, David Edison's City Unspoken, Jon Ware's Eskew, and any number of the countless fictional depictions of London, Hong Kong, Cold-War Berlin, Los Angeles and, of course, New York.

This "genre" is a favourite of mine. Most strongly felt when the unity and vision for their subject (of affection) is unified in vision, deeply defined, longingly familar, tantalisingly strange and unique in a ubiquity of perspective between its physical architecture and the absurd views of its inhabitants.

These are places where you can refer to both the (un)mapped streets and their citizenry as "The City" interchangeably without negating the autonomy and presence of either.

Places that cannot be described as "Like x city, but with y concept" without utter disservice.

Places that are alive and changing and wanting and hostile and loving.

Places that are cruel and ugly and comforting and utterly remarkable.

Ambergris is one such place, a paragon of its kind. It is so much more. Its paths are winding and beautiful and deeply unsettling. It is wrong in all the right ways. It is a cathedral built in the mind, a channel of lasting silences and roaring senses flowing through them. It is a place no one has ever been, that lives now inside me.

It really is something.

"If you don't feel a certain sadness toward the past, then you probably don't understand it."

[wookofwallst]

(Article) Starfield Steam reviews are sliding fast.

Well, it's been a month now since Starfield has released, and players have really let loose on the internet about how they feel. Good and bad reviews have popped up on Steam, Metacritic, and the Xbox store.

My main focus here is going to be on Steam for a few reasons . It's easier to sort by play time and alot easier to find other reviews rather than just "Xbox Exclusive Bad".

Underlying numbers kind of shows the 75%. Alot of people want to talk about review bombing but what about review lifting? Review inflation? Whatever you want to call it, the first day of reviews should probably be disqualified based merit. If you don't like that idea, then you're telling me more than 20 thousand people played the game enough to give a thoughtful review? I doubt it.

The reviews that I put in here will be from people who have put in over 100 hours. For a game this size and with how much there is to do I think that would be best.

After a pretty lengthy review and 170 hours played, one user said:

"I regret taking the time to bond with my companions, talking with every NPC, flying & running around scanning the planets, and lockpicking every door or chest I encountered. Overall, I regret completing the main story. I can't believe I'm saying this, but IGN was right about the 7/10."

It's hard to disagree with what he said. There was alot of hype in NG+, even the CEO of Xbox said "The game doesn't start until you beat the game" and what happens after? You get a new ship that can fast travel anywhere in the galaxy and all of the loot, weapons, and everything you had is all gone. The ship cannot be expanded upon, and you're given a new space suit.

149 hours played and multiple paragraphs. Another user said:

"The writing in this game is AWFUL. Image if you will, you are a new corpo grunt, your first day as an intern and boom you find out the CEO is selling company secrets. So you confront them, kill them and everyone loves you for it from this one piece of 'evidence' and gives you a promotion. This is Starfield in a nut shell."

"I have 1000+ hour in Fallout 4 for example. I will never hit that in Starfield. It's just not that interesting.

No vehicles

No atmospheric flight

No groundbreaking features

No taming

ZERO Aliens..."

It's hard for me to disagree with anything this reviewer said. I can even expand upon it. 90% of the "aliens" in this are gigantic insects with no intelligence at all. I understand that space might not have a lot of aliens in our neck of the woods, but this is a video game. Put some aliens in it! Outposts are stupid, copy pasted time wasters.

Final one 114 hours played. This is the full review:

I was expecting a game i could play for 100s or thousands of hours but after just 100 hours i can say i have beat the entire game and done everything. It is bland and nothing like the interesting games we were previously given... Biggest disappointment of 2023 worst rpg i have ever played... all bland procedural content that is the same on every planet. Their is no interesting characters or unique items to chase after. It is literally 6 quest lines and a main quest line that take a 100 hours to complete then their is nothing but small meaning less quest that are all similar with the same places and dialogue in different planets.

Bland, meaningless content that's procedurally generated. And that's the common theme. It's Kwibblekop AI bad, dull, and void of any emotion.

So yeah, looking at actual negative reviews of the game with valid criticism is reinforcing the score I gave it. 6.5.

Did you like Starfield? Do you think reviews that are posted should have a time limit? Do you believe in review inflation? Anything new you're playing? Let me know! Thanks for reading!

You can catch me live on Twitch every weekday from 8pm-12am. Link is below!

[gradsireninc]

How To Get A Job Without Experience (With 6 Career Options)

Are you wondering if you can get a job without any technical or professional experience?

Getting a job without any prior work experience can seem daunting. But it's not impossible! You can convince employers to take a chance on you with the right strategy and perseverance. This article will take you to some effective ways to land a job without experience. You'll get to know six career opportunities that don't require any experience or minimal expertise.

Let's dive in.

Effective Ways To Land A Job Without Experience

Here are some effective ways to help you make a strong case to potential employers and open doors to intriguing prospects. You can utilize these ways whether you're a recent graduate, switching to a different sector, or simply trying to start over.

Leverage Your Education

Highlight your academic credentials, especially if you have a degree that relates to the field or role you're pursuing. Coursework, projects, internships, leadership activities, and any honors or awards show your capabilities.

For example, if you majored in marketing, emphasize any analysis or campaigns you did for class. Or, if you're applying for a software engineering role, describe coding projects and hackathons you participated in.

Be prepared to talk intelligently about what you studied and how it prepares you for the job's responsibilities.

Showcase Transferable Skills

The fact that you don't have direct experience in a particular job doesn't mean you don't have relevant skills. The key is identifying abilities from other areas of life that translate.

For instance, if you're trying to get a retail job, customer service skills from past restaurant work are highly applicable. For an office manager role, administrative skills from coordinating student group events would be valuable. Make a master list of all your strongest soft and hard skills. Then, customize it for each job by picking 3-5 that fit the role.

Highlight Volunteer Experience

Any volunteer work can help fill in experience gaps on your resume. Nonprofit, community, religious, or other voluntary activities demonstrate responsibility, teamwork, dedication and other qualities employers seek.

Just be sure to frame your accomplishments from a professional standpoint. For example, "raised over $5,000 in donations" is better than "participated in a charity fundraiser".

Complete Internships

Internships are like work experience training wheels. They give you professional skills and knowledge and let you start building a network.

There are abundant internship opportunities, paid and unpaid, that don't strictly require you to already have experience. Look for openings at small or mid-sized companies that may be more flexible.

Successful interns are often converted to full-time hires post-graduation. Even if that doesn't happen, it's still incredible resume fodder.

Showcase Related Side Hustles

Freelancing, consulting, business ventures, etc., demonstrate you have initiative, can generate income, and pick up new skills quickly. Even informal side work like tutoring, web design, or selling crafts has merit.

For example, if you're seeking a full-time marketing position, tout the social media management or influencer marketing services you offer. Anything where you actively had to market yourself and acquire clients is impressive.

Just make sure you can back up any claimed skills if probed in interviews.

Ace the Interview

At the interview stage, how you present yourself matters more than a thin resume. Confidence, professionalism, problem-solving skills, bona fide interest in the company and quick learning ability can all override experience gaps.

Come equipped with thoughtful questions, ideas and visions for how you'd tackle the role. When asked about experience gaps, pivot to your assets.

For instance, "While I don't yet have full-time social media management experience, I learned XYZ skills managing the Instagram account for my college basketball team, which helped increase engagement by 30%."

Sell how you can provide unique value. With preparation and passion, you can make employers believe in your potential.

The key is convincing hiring managers you have the right foundation and can excel on the job. With resilience and utilizing these tactics, you can transition successfully into a new career without directly relevant experience.

Just highlight your transferable abilities, be willing to start at entry level and work hard to prove yourself. The rest will fall into place.

6 Career Opportunities Options You Can Pursue Without Having Any Prior Experience

Entry-Level Customer Service Representative: Customer service roles like call center reps or customer support specialists rarely require previous experience. You'll learn on the job how to interact with customers, troubleshoot issues, and provide excellent service.

Administrative Assistant: Many administrative or secretarial positions are open to those just starting. Your duties may include answering phones, scheduling, filing, data entry and supporting office operations.

Sales Associate/Retail Worker: Retail companies are often willing to hire people without experience for roles like cashier, sales floor associate, stocker, etc. These jobs provide lots of customer interaction.

Teacher's Aide/Assistant: Schools, daycares, and learning centers need paraprofessionals to support teachers in the classroom. No prior experience is necessary beyond a high school diploma.

Delivery Driver: Pizza chains, UPS, Instacart and other delivery companies need drivers to transport packages, food orders or other items. A clean driving record is generally the only major requirement.

Entry-Level Hospitality & Tourism: Hotels, restaurants, parks, and other hospitality providers have many basic operational jobs like a housekeeper, dishwashers, ride attendants, tour guides, etc. These allow you to start in the industry.

The key is being willing to apply for junior roles, learn on the go, provide great customer service, and work your way up the ladder. You can build a career even without direct experience with motivation and persistence. You can also ask for assistance from platforms like GradSiren that offer you entry level jobs. They allow you to find fresher jobs as per your interests and skills.

Conclusion

It is possible to find employment without experience. Put a focus on your education, practical experience, volunteering, internships, and relevant side businesses. Gain confidence and problem-solving skills during interviews.

Take a look at entry-level jobs in administration, retail, education, delivery, or hospitality. You can begin your job adventure and rise through the ranks if you are determined and open to learning. Remember that everyone starts off somewhere, and your potential can emerge with persistence.

[riotatthemovies]

Vampire Journals 2002

So about a week or so ago maybe more I watched the entire series of the Subspecies movies and then was reminded by our good friend Robert Hoffman that vampire journals is semi officially referred to as a spin-off mainly because it's directed by the same person for the same company in a similar location. So I dedicate this piece of pain to Robert Hoffman. I don't know if I missed anything in the film as it did tend to flake around with these much more prettier and softer vampires than Radu from the Subspecies films, so if they mentioned Radu at all I did not catch that. This is almost in a way full moon pictures version of Twilight with a soft vampire that wants to protect a girl from the rougher vampires who again are comparison to Radu or more just the horny pervy vampires with money. So for a lot of people today younger fans of vampires this film is probably fairly relatable. The people are very pretty the location is very nice I feel like it's possibly lit better than most of the sub species films was done after the third one so Ted Nicolau was able to learn a few new tricks but as sensual as this film is I will again emphasize on the word flaky. It's not without its merit though the characters all had some form of originality and interested me enough that I was hoping maybe I get to learn a little more about them but it does seem to just end on a sour note. It was probably set up to become its own series of films but never did. It's funny the romantic side of it isn't even what ruins it in fact it gives it more story but in general it is the softer safer some Subspecies. I decided to watch the version with William Shatner hosting the film thought that might ease my pain but good old bill has some seriously bad groaner puns that even Elvira would be embarrassed of them. Shatner is partnered with an alien bartender that doesn't speak in his wraparound spots. I just remembered there was a tv series called Vampire Diaries that was legit a teens vampire soap opera. There's no connection right..please tell me I don't have to watch that. Anyways I digress, that animatronic alien is so well done it's quite a bit better than any of the effects in the actual film. I'm sure the aliens head is from another character from a different Full Moon movie but I can't remember it if anyone does know please let me know. Maybe it is from the movie oblivion I remember liking that film and there's a few aliens in that movie however I'm far too tired as this pain-a-thon of Doom has had its toll on me I haven't eaten enough and I had to go back and forth to work and fit these in it was a bizarre challenging but entertaining day sure many of us watch bad movies all the time sometimes all day long thanks to you guys every time I do these we push the limit so it is different games played with my brain so thank you for that. Up next is the last film of the night the surprise film stay tuned.

[gradsiren]

How To Get A Job Without Experience (With 6 Career Options)

Are you wondering if you can get a job without any technical or professional experience?

Getting a job without any prior work experience can seem daunting. But it's not impossible! You can convince employers to take a chance on you with the right strategy and perseverance. This article will take you to some effective ways to land a job without experience. You'll get to know six career opportunities that don't require any experience or minimal expertise.

Let's dive in.

Effective Ways To Land A Job Without Experience

Here are some effective ways to help you make a strong case to potential employers and open doors to intriguing prospects. You can utilize these ways whether you're a recent graduate, switching to a different sector, or simply trying to start over.

Leverage Your Education

Highlight your academic credentials, especially if you have a degree that relates to the field or role you're pursuing. Coursework, projects, internships, leadership activities, and any honors or awards show your capabilities.

For example, if you majored in marketing, emphasize any analysis or campaigns you did for class. Or, if you're applying for a software engineering role, describe coding projects and hackathons you participated in.

Be prepared to talk intelligently about what you studied and how it prepares you for the job's responsibilities.

Showcase Transferable Skills

The fact that you don't have direct experience in a particular job doesn't mean you don't have relevant skills. The key is identifying abilities from other areas of life that translate.

For instance, if you're trying to get a retail job, customer service skills from past restaurant work are highly applicable. For an office manager role, administrative skills from coordinating student group events would be valuable.

Make a master list of all your strongest soft and hard skills. Then, customize it for each job by picking 3-5 that fit the role.

Highlight Volunteer Experience

Any volunteer work can help fill in experience gaps on your resume. Nonprofit, community, religious, or other voluntary activities demonstrate responsibility, teamwork, dedication and other qualities employers seek.

Just be sure to frame your accomplishments from a professional standpoint. For example, "raised over $5,000 in donations" is better than "participated in a charity fundraiser".

Complete Internships

Internships are like work experience training wheels. They give you professional skills and knowledge and let you start building a network.

There are abundant internship opportunities, paid and unpaid, that don't strictly require you to already have experience. Look for openings at small or mid-sized companies that may be more flexible.

Successful interns are often converted to full-time hires post-graduation. Even if that doesn't happen, it's still incredible resume fodder.

Showcase Related Side Hustles

Freelancing, consulting, business ventures, etc., demonstrate you have initiative, can generate income, and pick up new skills quickly. Even informal side work like tutoring, web design, or selling crafts has merit.

For example, if you're seeking a full-time marketing position, tout the social media management or influencer marketing services you offer. Anything where you actively had to market yourself and acquire clients is impressive.

Just make sure you can back up any claimed skills if probed in interviews.

Ace the Interview

At the interview stage, how you present yourself matters more than a thin resume. Confidence, professionalism, problem-solving skills, bona fide interest in the company and quick learning ability can all override experience gaps.

Come equipped with thoughtful questions, ideas and visions for how you'd tackle the role. When asked about experience gaps, pivot to your assets.

For instance, "While I don't yet have full-time social media management experience, I learned XYZ skills managing the Instagram account for my college basketball team, which helped increase engagement by 30%."

Sell how you can provide unique value. With preparation and passion, you can make employers believe in your potential.

The key is convincing hiring managers you have the right foundation and can excel on the job. With resilience and utilizing these tactics, you can transition successfully into a new career without directly relevant experience.

Just highlight your transferable abilities, be willing to start at entry level and work hard to prove yourself. The rest will fall into place.

6 Career Opportunities Options You Can Pursue Without Having Any Prior Experience

Entry-Level Customer Service Representative: Customer service roles like call center reps or customer support specialists rarely require previous experience. You'll learn on the job how to interact with customers, troubleshoot issues, and provide excellent service.

Administrative Assistant: Many administrative or secretarial positions are open to those just starting. Your duties may include answering phones, scheduling, filing, data entry and supporting office operations.

Sales Associate/Retail Worker: Retail companies are often willing to hire people without experience for roles like cashier, sales floor associate, stocker, etc. These jobs provide lots of customer interaction.

Teacher's Aide/Assistant: Schools, daycares, and learning centers need paraprofessionals to support teachers in the classroom. No prior experience is necessary beyond a high school diploma.

Delivery Driver: Pizza chains, UPS, Instacart and other delivery companies need drivers to transport packages, food orders or other items. A clean driving record is generally the only major requirement.

Entry-Level Hospitality & Tourism: Hotels, restaurants, parks, and other hospitality providers have many basic operational jobs like a housekeeper, dishwashers, ride attendants, tour guides, etc. These allow you to start in the industry.

The key is being willing to apply for junior roles, learn on the go, provide great customer service, and work your way up the ladder. You can build a career even without direct experience with motivation and persistence. You can also ask for assistance from platforms like GradSiren that offer you entry level jobs. They allow you to find fresher jobs as per your interests and skills.

Conclusion

It is possible to find employment without experience. Put a focus on your education, practical experience, volunteering, internships, and relevant side businesses. Gain confidence and problem-solving skills during interviews.

Take a look at entry-level jobs in administration, retail, education, delivery, or hospitality. You can begin your job adventure and rise through the ranks if you are determined and open to learning. Remember that everyone starts off somewhere, and your potential can emerge with persistence.

[terribletoonietuesday]

Vampire Journals 2002

So about a week or so ago maybe more I watched the entire series of the Subspecies movies and then was reminded by our good friend Robert Hoffman that vampire journals is semi officially referred to as a spin-off mainly because it's directed by the same person for the same company in a similar location. So I dedicate this piece of pain to Robert Hoffman. I don't know if I missed anything in the film as it did tend to flake around with these much more prettier and softer vampires than Radu from the subspecies films, so if they mentioned Radu at all I did not catch that. This is almost in a way full moon pictures version of Twilight with a soft vampire that wants to protect a girl from the rougher vampires who again are comparison to Radu or more just the horny pervy vampires with money. So for a lot of people today younger fans of vampires this film is probably fairly relatable. The people are very pretty the location is very nice I feel like it's possibly lit better than most of the sub species films was done after the third one so Ted Nicolau was able to learn a few new tricks but as sensual as this film is I will again emphasize on the word flaky. It's not without its merit though the characters all had some form of originality and interested me enough that I was hoping maybe I get to learn a little more about them but it does seem to just end on a sour note. It was probably set up to become its own series of films but never did. It's funny the romantic side of it isn't even what ruins it in fact it gives it more story but in general it is the softer safer some Subspecies. I decided to watch the version with William Shatner hosting the film thought that might ease my pain but good old bill has some seriously bad groaner puns that even Elvira would be embarrassed of them. Shatner is partnered with an alien bartender that doesn't speak in his wraparound spots. I just remembered there was a tv series called Vampire Diaries that was legit a teens vampire soap opera. There's no connection right..please tell me I don't have to watch that. Anyways I digress, that animatronic alien is so well done it's quite a bit better than any of the effects in the actual film. I'm sure the aliens head is from another character from a different Full Moon movie but I can't remember it if anyone does know please let me know. Maybe it is from the movie oblivion I remember liking that film and there's a few aliens in that movie however I'm far too tired as this pain-a-thon of Doom has had its toll on me I haven't eaten enough and I had to go back and forth to work and fit these in it was a bizarre challenging but entertaining day sure many of us watch bad movies all the time sometimes all day long thanks to you guys every time I do these we push the limit so it is different games played with my brain so thank you for that. Up next is the last film of the night the surprise film stay tuned.

[lunarsilkscreen]

My Rank

My position at work was probably like many other people know. For a while, the group I worked for was short staffed. Back to Back deployments did not help. (especially one coworker who was tasked to both even though he had just had a kid. They picked him for the second BECAUSE he was on the first.)

I was in a precarious situation. There were missing ranks not filled at my section. Because of this, My file was full of "paperwork" the kind they give every newbie to ensure you know how the system works (and that you stay on task). But I had gone through two promotions (both of which my leadership just forgot about and was surprised when I showed up with my new rank. Not like shit posting surprised. Like legitimately thought I was out of uniform for it. I nearly got paperwork for that too.)

My paperwork file was filled with things that should have been cleared out before my first promotion. (nobody explained that part because short staffed) So I learned when I was confronted for my shitty behavior (two ranks ago) and only one person explained that I was done dirty because It should've been cleared.

The position above mine was unfilled for 6 months too a year. The section didn't really have a manager. Shift leads for days. But no section manager. Until a master Sergeant was demoted to fill the slot.

Now, I DON'T KNOW ALL THE DETAILS. But I think he had the same dirty deal I had. Since there were unfilled positions and nobody was clear on what pieces where missing.

I was effectively doing half a section lead job (the other half I just didn't know, or was already overtasked with shift leads stuff.) Until the demotion. And Well. Let's just say the new section lead was salty and burned out like everybody was.

Basically, everybody was getting paperwork, but nothing was getting fixed because there wasn't anybody to train the people on what was missing.

I should probably note that the company (squadron) I was in was in fact TWO COMBINED companies, and we didn't have enough manpower for one company, BEFORE the deployments.

Everybody was mad at everybody else for understandable reasons, but leadership was more focused on punishment and reward than ensuring proper training and cohesion.

No offense intended to former coworkers who I know probably have my name on a list for their own reasons. By the time I left, the two squadrons were nearly back to full operational parameters. But the experience wasn't there anymore.

My paper trail was bigger. I had just as many demerits as merits. But, I'll say this: my merits always outweighed my demerits. And some of the demerits were *forced* paperwork. As in: a boss's boss gave my boss no choice but to write them.

Micromanaging doesn't correct bad management and instructions training. I'm not trying to call people out, I know that their position probably wasn't much better.

I did the best with what I was given, and I left after making the best of what I could. Trying to train the people under me to not let certain things stay in bad repair.

I'm not perfect ok? But I wasn't ever malicious.

The mistakes I made, the reasons I gave, were honest. If I fucked up, I owned it, not once making an excuse. Not ever making an excuse.

Maybe I should have. Maybe I should've given up earlier.

My squadron. Which was two squadrons, but staffed for half of one. Did things nobody else could do. I did, they did, we did. And all we ever got was punished for doing the impossible.

And because of that, there was barely any camaraderie. By the end of it, we may have respected each other. But we didn't like each other. And there was good reason for it.

And I won't deny that, some people hated me more than others. And they had their reasons. I won't ever say my former squadron was transphobic.

Nobody was given the proper recognition they deserved. And then we all were thrown under the bus for things outside our control.

And management. This time I'm pointing at the officers.

They knew better. Because after we went through hell, they tried fixing that shit immediately.

[patsallthedogs]

Who the hell are you, Allyson?

Good question, inner-monologue!

Needless to say so much of my life has changed these past 1-2 years, I'm truly a lost soul.

Let me put proverbial pen to paper and let's figure it out.

I'm a person who enjoys a really clicky, flashy keyboard to write out the inner musings of my ever-fluid mind. Know that with every letter input, my soul is fed tiny breadcrumbs of pure joy.

I'm somewhat aged...ish. If I were a crème Brule I would still be in the liquid stage of my gelatinating. I turned 29 a bit over a month ago. But I don't feel 29... I can appreciate that age doesn't necessarily have an assigned feeling, but in my younger years I thought I would have more answers than I currently do. Alas, liquid stage brule. Still hoping to rise.

Ollie has been my pal for nearly 8 years. Circumstances have seen me move, a lot, in the past few years and we've gotten each other through those anxiety-ridden sea-changes. By the way, he's my dog. I know everyone says that, and then they blast their socials with photo after photo of selfies whereby the dog is often struggling to get away from their owner to avoid another 'candid' affection-session. But Ol, he's got my back and our cuddles don't need photographic evidence.

Roughly two-ish years ago, I found yoga. My google search led me to this gorgeous little studio in Blacktown and the practice stole my heart. I try to do it often. Life happens sometimes. But for a gal with next to no coordination, it gives me balance and helps me unwind.

I have a big beautiful bookcase that my late grandfather built me. It's full of books that I've read, and a lot more than I really want to read but never make the time to. When I was younger I found concentrating easy. Now, struggling on the precipice of the 'I do not want to plug-in and text and take pictures of f*cking everything, but I'm turning into a hermit' lifestyle, I find it difficult to sit down for a solid chunk of time and zone out. It's a work in progress though.

I change my hair colour a lot. It's a seesaw between browny/ashy/blondie and like bright red. Can confirm, my original shade is some hue of brown.

Friends is my hands-down, all-time, favourite show. I have seen every season at least 10-15 times. There's 10 seasons. Roughly 20-25 episodes per season at a whopping 24 minutes per episode. I still lose my mind laughing and I have undoubtedly incorporated that sense of humour into my personality. Mini-wave in celebration of me. A woo-hoo!

Need a decision made? Look further. Yep, you read that right. Libras of the world, speak now. I recently read an astrological post about the different sign types and I'll give it some merit. In a nutshell, we overthink a lot, we love hard, and we are constantly seeking resolution and peace. Much like Tinkerbell, if we are not in good company our light will go out.

This year, I am making an active effort to slow down. Mentally, emotionally, physically. My mind is mosh-pit of stampeding animals all trying to cram into an airplane toilet cubicle. Have you ever heard the irony that the fiercest marine animal in the ocean, the shark, must keep swimming or they will die? My brain runs on a similar anomaly. Even when I sleep, I'm thinking.

Like most people, I want to be fundamentally happy. It's my dream. It's the backbone of 99.99998% of decisions I make. About two years ago, I made the decision that my happiness is king. That gumption gave me the bravery to walk away from a miserable relationship, in a miserable, predictable life that was millimetres away from attempting a Dementor's kiss on me. Scary stuff.

Lorelai Gilmore sums it up best when she energetically squeals "COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE!" at the drab barista.

I forget to cut the tags off my clothing. My tee-shirts are often times transparent on the days I decide to wear a really eccentric bra and I swear, I always TRY to be on time. Truthfully though, on a good day 20 minutes late is 5 early for me.

When did iPhones become so losable? I'm sort of sorry, but I'm sort of not - I just don't care enough about taking pictures or the Gram to have it glued to my palm.

In amidst all my recent existentialism, I have accepted that the universe is going to do what it's got planned, and as shitty as that is sometimes you have to ride the wave. Good things are always coming.

[richiebigjoe]

DEPED Philippines! VP Sara Duterte. 😊

It's coffee time. ☕🇵🇭😊⌚

What is your reason for establishing a school?

Is it to make profit or to help society?

If it is for profit then you are establishing it for the wrong reasons.

If it is to help society then you will make profit.

Teachers are a very important part of helping to build a well educated and strong society.

Teachers reward is NOT in heaven, it is here on earth.

1. Reduce their paperwork, it's too much and it drains them. Technology is there, use it. Simplify things. Invest in technology and encourage teachers and students to use it. It makes learning easier and enjoyable especially for the generation of students we have now who are already tech savvy. Many schools had the wrong attitude towards technology until the Covid-19 pandemic forced it on them. Why wait until it's late?

2. When you employ teachers, make their welfare a big priority. ( HMO from day one, insurance, a GOOD salary, Yearly team-building activities before classes resume, NO TEAM-BUILDING NO CLASSES)

3. Never give teachers the impression that the students are untouchable and bigger than your teachers. It kills morale, they will never say it to your face but they will whisper and gossip it in their faculty rooms. You don't want that I believe. Stop creating atmosphere where teachers are afraid of the students. Learning will never be achieved. True you are trying to protect your tuition fees but discipline is important too.

4. Make sure to do all in your power legally to convince teachers to stay in your school more than 5 years. Students learn better when the teacher is someone they have seen around for some years. Trust is important in learning. Teachers are like wine, the more years they have in the business the better for your students and school.

5. Be clear from day one about the benefits your teachers will get and don't change the goal post in the middle of the game.

6. 13th month pay MUST NOT be taxed. And MUST be given to teachers in full, no penny deducted. Many good teachers have resigned because of this. They feel cheated when you don't pay it in full.

7. Be open to good suggestions and observations, don't be rigid and stubborn. It's the students who suffer not you.

8. Promote teachers on merit not politics. Promote from within the organization, the teacher already understands the company culture. Review the textbooks and curriculum and make necessary changes.

9. Show concern when your teachers have personal issues, remember they face your students daily. Be proactive and show care and communicate.

10. Encourage your teachers to share their ideas openly in meetings and be open minded. The more ideas you have the better for your decision making. Carry your teachers along in decision making process.

My 2 cents. Cheers! 😊

[chouhatsumimi]

Hi! I am trying to become a japanese to English (& vice versa) translator. I can't find any sources to check the English to Japanese translation. It is difficult to get which grammar must be used since I am not a japanese native and don't know any natives to ask either. I have studied till N2 level but have no experience and must start freelancing to get experience so I need to figure out how to translate on my own. I can only use free translation software but I am not sure about it's reliability. I have seen questionable translations when it's for Japanese to English. Do think you can give any suggestions or anything that might be helpful?

Hi! I did put in a little time searching for the kind of tools you might have had in mind.

It seems that there are many that function in the exact same way but have different interfaces. Here are two of them. Many others can be found by searching "日本語文章校正ツール" or similar keywords. https://dw230.jp/kousei/

https://so-zou.jp/web-app/text/proofreading/

While they can point out some things to look out for, from the testing I did with them, they overlooked some pretty obvious errors, while also catching some things that I couldn't figure out why it thought it was wrong/sounded bad, or how to fix it.

There was one more I found that I didn't try, because it involves downloading software. This page explains the software, and another page on the site offers the download. The webpage is sponsored by a university, so I think it's safe to assume its trustworthy, but it might be a hassle and I can't say for sure if it works.

https://www.pawel.jp/outline_of_tools/tomarigi/

--------------------

That said, it's most common for translators to work from one language INTO their native language. While interpreters often have to go both directions (J <--> E), translators typically work either (J -> E) [English native speakers] OR (E -> J) [Japanese native speakers]. If you grew up bilingual, maybe you can translate both ways. But if English is your native language and you learned Japanese as a second language (which is true of my situation), it's pretty much not going to be worth bothering to do E->J translation, unless there are extenuating circumstances. The reasons for this are 1) You can't be sure that the translation you produce reads smoothly or is error-free 2) While you might think, but yes, if I do a really thorough check and compare it against native Japanese examples, I can be pretty darn sure it's perfect, the amount of time it takes you to do that is not going to be cost-effective. Like anything else, people purchasing translation as a service usually want the end result to be done well, in a timely manner, and as cheaply as possible, so it doesn't make sense to hire you for E -> J when they could hire a native Japanese speaking translator, or send their work to an agency to find that translator for them.

If you ARE translating into Japanese and are not a native speaker of Japanese, it is a good idea to have a fellow translator who has the opposite native language you do (in this case Japanese & English), and ask them to check it over for you (which, considering that's part of their job, you'd probably pay a small fee for). They could do the same to have you proofread their translations into English. Some translators consult friends/spouses, etc., but I think this can get old for them sometimes, so it's advisable not to rely on them for your job. You mentioned not having any native speakers to ask right now, but this is still an idea you can file away for in the future when you meet more people and get to know other translators.

In short, if you're aiming to become a translator working with Japanese but are not a native Japanese speaker, don't worry about translating into Japanese. Just focus on translating from Japanese into your native language.

--------------------

Translation software: let me make a distinction here between "machine translation" and "CAT [computer aided translation] tools".

Machine translation is Google Translate, DeepL, anything like that. There are times when they work well, but particularly with a language like Japanese that likes to imply a lot of information instead of stating it directly (such as who is doing the action described in the sentence), they're pretty much always going to miss something. In any situation that someone is looking to pay a translator to do work, it's because they already know machine translation won't cut it. One thing that's becoming more common is MTPE (machine translation post editing), where a translator "fixes" what's wrong with a machine translation (or more often than not, just re-translates it from scratch because what the machine came up with is mostly useless).

CAT tools, on the other hand, are widely used by translators. Paid CAT tools such as Trados, MemoQ, Memsource, etc. can be very expensive, and are often provided by a translation agency to their translators. (Also, most of them require a PC operating system.) There's more I could say, but since I haven't been in any situations that require them, I don't have any personal experience. I do have experience using OmegaT (free, works on Mac) and Felix (free, I use it on Windows). They both take a little tinkering to figure out how to use effectively, but basically what they do is, once you've translated a segment of text, they store the original segment and the translated segment, and for each new segment you go to translate, the CAT tool compares it to segments that you've previously translated to see if you can re-use any of what you came up with before. They can also have a built-in dictionary function, but that's basically just having your typical web-based dictionary but more automatically and in a more convenient location.

--------------------

For going into freelancing, I have a few recommendations.

Apart from CAT tools, some resources that I refer to frequently are http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?9T (basically looks up all the words in a sentence at once), http://thejadednetwork.com/sfx/ (if you're doing anything with sound effects, like manga), https://tsukubawebcorpus.jp//search/ (this is a corpus, I have another post on how to use it -here-, it's probably going to be your best bet when it comes to checking grammar), https://books.google.com/ngrams (for when it comes to figuring out what turns of phrase are commonly used in English), and https://yomikatawa.com/ (for figuring out the readings of names in Japanese, though there are other sites that work similarly).

When it comes to practicing, contests are a good place to start. The two I know of now are run by JAT in October (https://jat.org/events/contests) and JLPP deadline of 7/31 (and they're long, so it's probably too late for this year unless you're free between now and then: https://www.jlpp.go.jp/en/competition6/competition6en.html ) You can also practicing doing translations for fun. Any kind of media you enjoy (manga, video games, variety shows, newspaper articles) is a good target for doing a practice translation. Just be wary that it's not a good idea to post your translation in a public location on the internet, because it could be infringing copyright/licensing agreements, etc. Finally, there are websites like Gengo, Conyac, Fiverr and others where you can do gig translation work. They can be useful for practice, but also have the pitfall of paying, like, 5% of the rate you should be getting. This is an ongoing debate because on one hand, you can get practice while still getting a little money for it, but on the other hand, if customers can get people to do that work for 5% of a livable wage, that makes it harder for aspiring and working translators to find enough work that pays well enough to support themselves doing only translation for a living. Entertainment (primarily manga) scanlation groups also a significant enough force to merit a mention here- many aspiring entertainment translators find themselves a part of such a group. Practice is practice and developing your skills is important, but they also have many many of the same problems associated with them as I mentioned above, namely infringing on copyright and contributing to the inability of anyone to turn entertainment translation into a livable full-time job.

Another recommendation I have is to join some J/E translation-focused groups. This page lists a number of them: https://shinpaideshou.com/translation/ I can personally vouch for JAT as I am a member and I got my current job by being part of their directory. They run an online training program (eJuku) once a year around April, and applications only stay open for a few days, so if you're interested make sure you keep your eye out. Another one not listed on that page is https://swet.jp/ which is not entirely about translation, but it is heavily related and they host some good events. Twitter is also a very good place to be if you're getting into J/E translation. I prefer to keep my tumblr and twitter separate but if you DM me, I can give you my handle so you can see who I follow and who among that seems worth following to you.

--------------------

In closing, I see you say "I have studied till N2 level but have no experience and must start freelancing to get experience so I need to figure out how to translate on my own." I'd say, give yourself some time. Even at N1 there's still going to be a lot you don't understand (or at least there was for me, that's why I started this langblr). I'm sure there are differences in our situations, but it was about five years ago for me that I started diving into translation- I think I was between N2 and N1 then. I've done a lot of translating and gotten a lot of experience since then, but I also have and am experiencing a lot of burnout. (In fact, I'm procrastinating right now by answering this....) Many translators have a job and translate on the side, and it's also common to gain experience with a company or agency before diving into supporting yourself on freelance work. I'd encourage you to take a breath, get experience when and where you can, and remember that if you keep at it long enough, you're sure to get there- just don't wear yourself out or worry to death in the meantime!

OH and definitely keep track of what projects you do, how long they are, and how long it takes you to do them! Knowing your speed is important when it comes to setting your working rates. I am always doubting these, and they differ from person to person, but my current estimates are that I can do 600 moji (Japanese characters) per hour, ~10 min. of audio per hour, and I try to aim for $45~$60 per hour. Generally the lowest acceptable standard rates are $0.05-$0.06 per moji and ~$5 per page of manga. You'll definitely get requests lower than that, so remember your sanity and don't be afraid to say no, there are plenty of opportunities out there!

[cocochannel00]

The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the  kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

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THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

[kingofthewilderwest]

I think Dean should write the collective HTTYD fandom a fandom-centric apology for THW's cinematic apostasy. I don't see why moviemakers can't start doing something like that.

I know sometimes we vent because we need to vent. And I imagine you might have seen my own vent/constructively critical posts for parts of the HTTYD franchise I don’t care for. But with all kindness, if you’re speaking seriously here, please rethink what you said.

There’s times for moviemakers to make apologies and there’s times to let things be. I appreciate apologies for situations like major representational blunders, oversights regarding real-world issues of cultures and minority groups, instances in which you fucked up the actors and crew behind the scenes, etc. At that point in time, your film has created a lasting negative effect on the public’s perception of people groups, and you’ve legitimately hurt people by perpetuating negative stereotypes, inaccurate ideas, poor work conditions, etc. Your movie has social consequences.

But if it’s a matter some fans didn’t find the story “quality”, didn’t care for several narrative directions, thought they botched a few plot points.... we can all move on. Don’t harass the creators over this, just move your life onward. Your artistic tastes didn’t match the creators? That happens. Everywhere. It’s life. It’s how the creation process happens. What are we going to do, demand apologies from every creator who makes a box office bomb? No. Goodness gracious, please no.

Even when creators wrote their heartfelt best, not every story will be a resounding critical artistic success that resonates with every audience member, and we as audiences are not entitled to that anyway. This is not how art works. Some things will just, fact of life, turn out better than others. I’m an artist. Sometimes my drawings look good, sometimes they don’t, whatever. We make our work, we share it, we progress to our next project. 

Frankly movies are more interesting in how they’re a broad range of “good” to “bad”, and how different viewers subjectively rate that “goodness” and “badness.” Sometimes I might even prefer to watch “junk” movies with their thirty plot holes and corny dialogue because I feel like chilling on the couch and not thinking and enjoying the comfort this level of quality brings. It still has enjoyment value, the creators have a right to make it, and no apologies are like...... needed if someone else doesn’t like the corn.

Does a fanfiction author need to apologize if 80% of their readers don’t like it, but 20% made it their favorite story? No. The fanfiction author wrote their art, potentially for themselves, and it still has merit in the community. The 80% of people for whom the story isn’t written can find something else to enjoy.

Cult classics come out of films where most people didn’t like it, but a small group did. Cult classic culture is awesome. We’re so blessed to have movies like these.

And like. For the record. THW certainly isn’t my favorite part of the HTTYD franchise, but it’s got a 7.5 IMBd rating, a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an 86% audience score, and a 71 Metacritic Metascore with a favorable 8.0 user score. There’s 369 positive user scores on the site, 56 mixed, and only 13 negative. I get you’re frustrated and venting—that’s valid—but if we’re talking at any level objectively, there is no “Dean DeBlois fucked over the entire fandom.” There isn’t. There’s tons of positive reception. There’s just as much constructively critical reception from peeps who find and enjoy the good, too. This movie’s the trilogy’s weakest installment, yes, but even then, it’s sure better than half the 3D animated movies in contemporary theatre. And it sure as Helheim got a favorable response from the majority of people who saw it. I know we get in our bubbles in tumblr (which’s frankly half the fun! ^^), and I see a lot of THW criticism still, but we are not the full picture of fan reception.

We can constructively criticize it, talk about where it might have failed thematic elements in the rest of the franchise, and our feedback in reviews and social media is voice enough. In a world where social media shortens the distance between audiences and creators, we’re already living in a world where they’re impacted and listening too much to us... with baaaaad repercussions. Frankly it’d do the world good to reestablish more distance and boundaries between artist and consumer.

From everything I’ve heard, Norm of the North is a travesty with no soul. The Hidden World is a let-down for people who expected insubordinately good quality, but still got a decent movie. This isn’t a Fallout 76 fiasco where the company repeatedly delivered objectively subpar products that required multiple major technological fixes, refunds, product remakes, or other forms of apology. We need no apology from Dean DeBlois. We should not want an apology from Dean DeBlois. We are in need of maturation and are unable to handle a basic fact of how popular art gets made and received if we try to demand one. And Dean DeBlois has no reason to give one.

Moviemakers are not servants to the emotions of a minority of people who just didn’t like how a story turned out. Even if that story made plothole or thematic or characterization errors.

Take care and have a good one, friend.

[vajranam]

Elimination OF Desires

Milarepa

Elimination of Desires

“One day while Jetson was staying in Medicine Valley of Chu Bar teaching Dharma to several disciples, the Yogi Orton Gendun approached him and asked, "Precious lama, in the teachings of several geshes you are renowned as a buddha. They say you've totally eliminated desire. Is this true?"

Jetsun replied, "So they say. But there are many ways of eliminating desires. None of them are certain to yield buddhahood. You can understand the meaning of the term 'buddha' by listening to this old man's song."

I bow to the feet of great Marpa,

Lotsawa who spoke two tongues,

Who with vision of the three times

Realized the reality of the many as one.

Specifically, one who's cleansed

and totally removed

The mass of negative preconceptions

and imprints

And the obscurations of affiiction and action

Produced by the power of ignorance;

Who's cleared the dark deluded aberration Obscuring knowledge of the objective world And obtained strengths,

confidences, and unique properties

Through gnostic realization of the natural state To such a one who's developed

All the qualities of total omniscience

The term "buddha" is applied.

Such a perfect buddha

Is perfectly free from all desires.

To say that even bugs in trees

And infants lacking clear conception

Are buddhas is the talk of fools.

Though lacking sophisticated concepts

Like possessions and friends,

They're still tormented by reactions

To heat and cold, hunger and thirst.

These root associations gradually develop

Into full-blown concepts of desire.

Outsiders, sages, and the heterodox

Have numerous attainments

Like soaring flight through the sky, Unobstructed clairvoyant knowledge,

Various magical transformations,

And freedom from cravings

for the objects of desire.

But they'll revolve in samsara again and again Through the fault of incorrect refuge-source And lack of the vision

Of analytic wisdom and skill in methods.

Likewise, with Buddhist meditators

Though they've traveled the four absorptions And four formless media

To samsara's peak where desire is gone-

If they're not imbued with wisdom and method, They'll revolve in samsara as before.

Therefore, buddhahood will never be won

By merely stopping desires without integration Of method and wisdom through skill in method. So how is it done?

Study the paths of the three personality types, The six transcendences of giving and so on, The four social means and four infinitudes,

The three vehicles and three bases of practice, And the integration of compassion

and voidness.

Then strive to compile a great store of merit

By transcendence of giving,

morality, and patience.

Build up the store of gnosis

By practicing the transcendences of absorption and wisdom. Vigor assists both

By intensifying mental effort.

Though everything is actually void,

Insistence on mere nominal "voidness"

Without actual voidness realization

Leads to denial of action and result,

The great cause of hell and loss of freedom. Therefore, of good and bad actions and results Avoid the sinful in the slightest degree,

And cultivate virtue to its greatest extent.

Strive also to cultivate inseparable union

Of both wisdom and absorption,

For by absorption the mind is stabilized,

And by wisdom strayings are detected.

Likewise, with voidness and compassion, Cultivate the integration

of wisdom and method,

For by that sublime method

of great compassion

The welfare of beings in samsara is achieved, And by wisdom's view of voidness Dharma-body for one's own sake is realized From planted seed of supplication

Imbued with the sublime method

of compassion

The resultant twofold form-body arises.

And by form-body's inconceivable emanations

The hopes, wants, and needs of beings

Are fulfilled in ways

concordant with their welfare,

Like a gem that grants all wishes,

Or a wish-granting tree,

or a divine tree of worship.

And omniscience also,

free from preconception,

Fulfills the hopes of all trainees

As inconceivable, streaming rays of sun Dissolve the fog of all the world.

The stages of such cultivation

Overflowing the mind of Marpa,

That king of all translators,

Are the range of Mila's realization.

I've explained to you, son Ortiin,

This beggar-yogi's understanding

Bear it in heart, 0 nobly born.

Till the natural state's been confronted

Through union of Dharma

and your essential mind,

Don't disregard cause and effect.

Till you're free from fears of birth and death

By realizing appearances lack true reality,

Don't make empty, senseless talk.

Till you've attained skill

In all sutras, tantras, and sastras,

Don't teach Dharma pointlessly.

Till body, speech, and mind

toward others' welfare are directed

By slashing entanglement

with your own desires,

Don't behave with pretension and deceit.

Till you've slashed entanglement

with your own desires

And can sacrifice life to benefit others,

Don't say, "I'm a bodhisattva."

Till engaged in others' welfare

with four social means

Through inception of four infinitudes in mind, Don't say, "I work for others' welfare."

Till your heart is one with your lama

And you pray to him four sessions each day, Don't say, "I have admiration and respect."

Till beings and world shine as divine,

without attachment,

And illusory-body's purified into clear light, Don't say, "I'm a practitioner

of the mantra vehicle."

Till dakinis gather at your feast

And holy offerings change to nectar

Don't say, "I perform religious feasts."·

Till mastery of white element,

currents, and channels,

And the element can be emitted or held,

Don't perform karmamudra.

Till the force of clear awareness

rises In brilliant, thought-free quiescence,

Don't say, "I meditate the absorptions."

Till essential reality is borne on brow

Through examination

by analytic, gnostic wisdom,

Don't say, "Realization has dawned."

Do you understand my meaning, yogi?

Moved by strong faith, the yogi sang:

Eh ma! Great yogi-repa! Eh ma!

Protector of the three realms' beings! Eh ma! Buddha with human form! I bow to your feet, great Jetsiin father.

Clouds of love and compassion

Gather in the infinite sky of your mind,

And with the resonant thunder of your speech A rain of explicit Dharma falls.

You planted the seed of profound precepts

In the hard, untilled soil of my mind,

Irrigated with dear revelations,

Warded off the ruinous hail

of mistaken thought,

And cultivated with timely,

compassionate skill in method.

Though omniscient fruit hasn't ripened yet

By fault of my own inferior nature,

No one surpasses you in method.

From now till enlightenment's attained

May I accompany you, lord of yogis, Inseparable always like body and shadow.

In your company

may I realize the essence of natural state,

and win enlightenment unexcelled

May I then work for others' welfare

And thereby liberate all beings.”

~ Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet's Beloved Saint, Milarepa Translated by Lama Kunga Rinpoche & Brian Cutillo

"Jetsun Milarepa, Tibet's renowned and beloved saint, is known for his penetrating insights, wry sense of humor, and ability to render any lesson into spontaneous song. His songs and poems exhibit the bold, inspirational leader as he guided followers along the Buddhist path.

More than any other collection of his stories and songs, Drinking the Mountain Stream reveals Milarepa's humor and wisdom. Faithfully translated by Lama Kunga Rinpoche and Brian Cutillo, this rare collection - never before available in any Western language - cuts across the centuries to bring Milarepa's most inspiring verses, in all their potency, to today's reader."

[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

2 questions (or so😬); 1) do you have headcanons of how will Jon and Danys love or romance story develop(if there is one)? Slow, over time? Or on the first sight, head over heels? One-sided, and later two-sider? Will both of them don't know(R+L=J) ? Or only Jon? How do you picture the angst between them? 2)when did Ben joined the NW and why? It's not like the NW went from a place or glory to a shit hole in a span of 15 years?! Like it's never mentioned what Ben did during the rebellion? Thx you

Wow! Thank you for all the asks! Sorry it took me so long to get to your beautiful questions. Oh you know I've got some Jon x Dany headcanons! *rubs hands together*

I believe it will be a slow burn that will resemble season seven in many ways (there's a reason season seven, for all its flaws, was still very highly rated as opposed to season eight - because while things like dialogue or timing suffered, the plot still felt like it was going in the right direction).

My prediction about Jon has always been that he'll be the *one* man who isn't impressed with Dany's beauty. Oh, he'll notice it all right, but he won't mention it or use it as a means to gain her favor with compliments. He's going to treat her as an equal right off the bat, and not as an object or a prize that he can win or woo. This is going to perplex Daenerys and probably intrigue her. They'll earn each other's respect based on merit, and I definitely predict some sort of innate bond between them because they're basically fated to meet.

Now, there's some speculation that because Jon died and is (most likely) coming back to life, we may never get another POV from him again. If that is the case (knock on wood) it will definitely appear very one-sided. I also have a headcanon that Jon absolutely resembles his true father in all but coloring, and that he's a total knockout - and we won't find that out until Daenerys sees him and we finally hear a proper description of his looks. (I also have a headcanon that Jon has his father's eyes - that everyone assumes they're grey but actually they're a dark indigo...) And in my dreams, Barristan Selmy is standing beside Daenerys on Dragonstone when Jon marches in and Ser Barristan sees something in Jon that strikes him as familiar... I would love it if, upon seeing Jon, it suddenly clicks for Barriston.

Angst between them, hmm. (f)Aegon is a bit of a curveball here. Either he's going to carry out his plan to try and wed his aunt and it could cause angst and make Jon realize he feels something more for Dany, or this will happen long before Jon is around - possibly as a ploy. Part of me suspects that if he took Tyrion's advice to heart about having a stronger claim than Dany, he might try to get rid of her or destroy her reputation somehow when she arrives to Westeros - and Jon might go to her once she's totally compromised and offer an alliance then.

I am more of a mystery theorist rather than someone who feels comfortable guessing at battle plans or strategies, I admit...

I do think that Jon's parentage will come out by some means or another, and that Daenerys will find out. I don't see this being a point of contention between them whatsoever, nor will the incest be a problem for Jon. In fact, I kind of see the pair of them teaming up to slay the mummer's dragon together. While the show really went hard with Targaryens being mad and evil, that is hardly the case for ASOIAF. This negative image of Targaryens comes mostly from, you betcha, the Lannisters (and Robert Baratheon). It was more or less a propaganda campaign that succeeded not only across Westeros, but apparently across the reader base who cannot read between the lines.

If it's true that Coldhands is not Benjen, then it could be Benjen or Howland who spill the beans, or perhaps confirm Ser Barristan's suspicion? (Assuming he doesn't die - but I really feel in my heart that he won't). I think Jon will have an identity crisis - not so much about being a Targaryen (I think he'll be proud of that honestly) but about not being Ned Stark's son as he was led to believe. I'd love for him, and the readers, to finally learn that his true father was a great man.

Now, speaking of Benjen... I believe he had a very heavy hand in what happened between Lyanna and Rhaegar. I believe he helped equip Lyanna with the mismatched armor needed for the tourney - and that he helped them, in some way, correspond in order to plan their elopement/abscondence.

During the rebellion, Benjen was the Stark in Winterfell - which I can only imagine how that empty castle haunted him during that period. Following news of his sister's death, I'd be willing to bet Benjen was utterly overcome with guilt. And for as close as Ned and Lyanna were, I believe Benjen was even closer to her. His joining the Night's Watch reads almost like a self-inflicted punishment/imprisonment, or... maybe... it wasn't that at all. His decision to join the ranks of a military order full of Targaryen supporters beyond the reach of Robert Baratheon might be a strategic one.

Benjen isn't stupid. He has to know who Jon is, right? I suspect he was even in on the prophecy that Rhaegar was into about TPTWP. So, Ned is keeping Jon safe, but Benjen might just be securing his future (or was, until his disappearance threw the plan into jeopardy).

Now... I have another little theory everyone is going to hate. But bear with me.

The Mormonts. They're a relatively small house sworn to Stark, in the middle of fucking nowhere. And by that I mean they're on small Bear Island surrounded by water - it's real out of the way from just about any and everything. They are described as poor.

So, how the hell does this small, obscure house manage to be one of the few with a Valyrian sword? Was it really written that way just so that Jon could inherit it? That seems a bit too convenient for GRRM's standards, doesn't it?

Presumably, sometime before Robert's Rebellion (though no one knows for sure), Jeor Mormont joined the Night's Watch and quickly moved through the ranks, securing Lord Commander status. Benjen Stark becomes First Ranger. Two of the most powerful positions. And Bear Island went to Jeor's son, Jorah Mormont, along with Longclaw.

What happens with Jorah, exactly? He's caught selling poachers to slavers. Poachers. On Bear Island...?

For this disgrace, Jorah Mormont fled to the Free Cities. In the books, it says during this time Jorah fights the Braavosi, but in the show, he admits to having been part of the Golden Company (this might be important considering GRRM was pretty involved in season one and writing it).

I know the story goes that the sword has been with the family for five-hundred years. But a theme in these books is that history doesn't quite add up, and I can't help but notice that while the Starks' sword Ice dates back four-hundred years, around the time of the Doom of Valyria/when the Targaryens landed in Westeros, the Mormont sword allegedly goes back a hundred years further? Curious.

The original pommel, according to Jeor, was worn and indistinguishable - which seems strange for a Valyrian steel sword. Either way, this is a hint that pommels can be swapped out.

Much like Jon, Longclaw might also have a secret Targaryen identity: Blackfyre.

I'd love to see Jon and Dany square off against (f)Aegon - Dany with her dragons and Jon wielding Blackfyre. It's absurd headcanon for me that Jon obtaining and wielding this sword will inspire the Golden Company in some way and get them to change allegiance. How? I think we're missing plenty of details but if anyone knows the fate of Blackfyre better than we do, it's the Golden Company, and if Jorah did work for them or fight against them, then his presence alongside Jon/Dany might prove the swords are one and the same.

How perfect would it be for Jon to wield the very same sword as his idol, the Young Dragon? *dreamy sigh*

Anyway. If you're following me this far, it's also curious that Jorah goes on to find and protect Daenerys, eh? Meanwhile, when Jon expresses interest in joining the Night's Watch, Benjen says this:

"Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up."

"I don't care about that!" Jon said hotly.

"You might, if you knew what it meant," Benjen said. "If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son."

It's just all very curious to me. And maybe we'll never get answers where Benjen is concerned, just like we'll never know exactly what Rhaegar's plan was, either. But imagining these grand schemes going on in the background make the story so much more interesting to me because I'm a dreamer, what can I say?

Thanks for the asks, they were a great way to get my mind off of paranoia for a while lol ♥