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sciencespies · 3 years

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This week's deadly heatwave shows we need a new way to talk about climate change

https://sciencespies.com/environment/this-weeks-deadly-heatwave-shows-we-need-a-new-way-to-talk-about-climate-change/

This week's deadly heatwave shows we need a new way to talk about climate change

New normal. Record-breaking. Unprecedented.

In recent days, as Western Canada and the United States have been broiling under a climate-fueled heat crisis, all sorts of superlatives have been used to describe never-before-seen temperatures: the British Columbia community of Lytton hit a mind-boggling 49.5 C on June 29, breaking all-time temperature records three days in a row.

People are understandably shocked and scared by those numbers. But should this have come as a surprise? No.

Scientists have been warning about the link between longer, more intense heat events and climate change for over 40 years. The language of “normals” and “new records” is rapidly becoming meaningless.

But the notion that humanity should have known, or should have done something about the crisis earlier — that we should be ashamed for our lack of inaction — is unhelpful for dealing with the climate crisis.

Talking climate

So, what’s a better, more helpful approach to communicating climate change?

The first thing to do is to spend more time talking about climate change. There is far too little discussion around this issue in the public sphere. Global heating is the biggest emergency the planet has ever faced, but one would not know it reading or listening to the news.

Last year, stories about climate change represented just 0.4 per cent of all major US broadcast news coverage. In 2019, it was 0.7 per cent. Even in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave stretching from California to Yukon, references to climate change are few and far between.

Information deficit model

Ironically, one of the biggest blind spots has to do with how information about this issue is shared with the public.

The conventional approach relies upon what’s known as the “information deficit model.” The deficit model builds on the assumption that people will take action on climate change if they have more information about it.

This information-based approach has shaped all sorts of communication, from public safety ads on drinking and driving to news reporting about climate and other important issues.

Unfortunately, the relationship between how much people know and how they act is not always linear. Feeding more facts to someone who is highly politically motivated to dismiss climate change will not convince them to pay more attention to the problem.

Climate change is a tricky story to wrap one’s head around. It can feel too big, too scary and too difficult for any one person to fix. Information, while important, is not always enough.

For there to be engagement with this subject and, by extension, political action, the climate crisis must feel personal, relatable, understandable and, most importantly, solvable.

Above: Estimated per cent of adults who think the Earth is getting warmer. The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication bears no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations of the data presented here.

Charts and graphs — even polar bears — rarely achieve that goal. Eighty-three per cent of Canadians agree that the Earth is getting warmer. But just 47 per cent think climate change will harm them personally.

To have people connect on climate, we need to have more conversations about how people are working to solve it and how those solutions are improving their quality of life where they live. These conversations foist an otherwise abstract, intangible and scary subject into the realm of the everyday — and make it feel solvable.

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Solutions matter

Environmental communicators have long pointed to an excessive use of fear messaging around climate change as one of the main problems with engaging the public on this subject.

The challenge is to pair fear messaging with information about efficacy, namely what people can actually do to mitigate the fear. The combination of fear and efficacy leads to what is known as “danger control,” actions to mitigate the danger, as opposed to “fear control,” actions to shut down the fear.

In the case of COVID-19, the sense of efficacy was clear: hand washing, social distancing, masking. With climate change, efficacy information is far less obvious, and more difficult to act upon.

It’s often argued that the large emitters, notably fossil fuel producers, are the ones that harbor the most blame, and are responsible for cleaning up the mess. The Guardian points out that 100 companies are responsible for 71 per cent of emissions.

Yes, it’s clear the world needs to stop burning fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal. But to get there, individuals can also set examples of what pro-environmental behavior looks like.

It can be as simple as posting photos to social media from community cleanup drives, nature walks or posts about any kind of pro-environmental behavior, such as taking transit. This form of communication — as opposed to images that promote a high-carbon lifestyle — normalizes the urgency, importance and possibility of protecting the Earth.

Some of the most effective communicators are TV news meteorologists, who often have loyal followers. More of them are discussing ways the climate crisis is being addressed where people live.

Seeing is believing

Most communication around risk, builds on the standard of moral injunctions — that one should or must act to do something, or else. For example, a park sign might tell visitors not to feed the ducks because human food is bad for them. And yet, visitors keep feeding the ducks.

Instead, communicators should rely on “descriptive social norms,” descriptions of behavior that others, like them, are already doing and benefiting them.

In the United Kingdom, a 2015 campaign urged people to “Take your litter home, other people do.” It was more likely to reduce illegal littering than signs that said “Please keep your park clean by not littering.”

Solutions, notably in the form of stories about people and communities taking action to solve the climate crisis, are among the most effective ways of communicating the emergency.

The National Observer‘s “First Nations Forward” series is a great example of this type of reporting. Story after story details how First Nations communities in British Columbia are leading the way in the transition to a renewable-energy future.

Mainstream news media outlets, like the one I work for, Global News, are also spending more time on climate and rethinking how they cover it. One recent national story reported on the massive energy transition already under way in Alberta.

Such stories about change that is working send a message that action to mitigate the climate crisis by ordinary people is doable, normal, empowering and desirable. They energize and mobilize members of the public ready to take action, by providing visual examples of who is leading the way.

They also move the conversation beyond the conventional emphasis on skeptics and deniers, and normalize pro-environmental values and behaviors for the growing number of people who are already alarmed or concerned about the climate emergency.

Far from driving the fear narrative, stories of climate solutions unlock people’s sense of efficacy and agency in the face of impending danger. In other words, they engage the public on climate change by doing what all good communication does: meeting people where they are at, through a mobilizing story.

This is storytelling 101: engaging audiences, not turning them away, as most climate reports do.

Kamyar Razavi, PhD candidate in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Environment

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mr-entj · 5 years

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Career 102: Getting a job you have no experience in

Combined with the following asks:

Hey Mr ENTJ. Do you have advice on how to move from academia into industry for someone who has only research experience? Only a CV and not a resume? Thank you!

How do you spin skills from one industry to be applicable to another? I'm a theater and English major (yes, I know) and it's been difficult finding work lately, because I am stuck living in a state where there are little jobs for that. I've worked on films, weddings, as a curator guide at a museum, and have my AA. I've had good interview after good interview, and have been outright told at three different places that I was a perfect fit. And then they went with someone else. Any advice?

Hi Mr. ENTJ I love your blog, is a great source of information for me so thanks for that! I have a question if you don’t mind. What kind of advice would you give to a graduate student who has not worked on their field during college and now is looking for a job? I’m a Business major but I’m currently working as a language teacher at a private institute (it started as a part-time job) My salary’s really good, however I’d like to start working in business but I have no experience on that :( thnks!

Hi there! I've read some of your advice to other askers and find what you say very perceptive and realistic. I'd like to ask your opinion. I have Bachelors and Masters degrees in the life sciences. I worked in academia for 2 years but my field lacked funding so I left. I have no commercial experience.I have problems getting a job because of this and most companies' resistance to hiring nonpractical grads. I want to go into consulting which is more flexible with degrees. What would you advise?

Hi mr entj! This may be a bit of a stupid question but what should I do if I can't find the job in a field(actually sub-field of a field) that I'm aiming for? I'm looking to be a concept artist but I can't seem to find any such jobs that don't require atleast a year of experience and since I'm a fresher I don't have that. In my country, there is also not a tradition of getting small student jobs so I don't have that experience either. Help me with some tips please.

Related answers:

Resume and Cover Letter Guide

Job Hunting 101

Top 3 job hunting mistakes college students make

Tips on transitioning from school to the workplace

Job interview tips

To break into a field that you have no experience in, translate the experiences in your current career into the “language” of your target career. The ultimate goal is this: make it as easy as possible for the hiring manager (and recruiter) to understand your background. People are lazy, they aren’t going to waste their time performing mental gymnastics to figure out how your obscure experience applies to their available job-- if they can’t figure it out-- your resume goes into the rejection pile. Make it easy for them.

To do that, see below.

Step 1: Collect multiple job descriptions of similar roles

The goal is to source as many overlapping skills as possible for the same role so that you can update your resume to reflect them. To illustrate this, let’s say you’re currently a school teacher but your goal is to become a Communications Manager for a tech company. What kind of skills are tech companies looking for in Communications Managers? A simple search on LinkedIn for “communications manager” yields 42,000 results:

You don’t need to read all 42,000 job descriptions, but pick 4-5 that interest you from top companies (i.e. Lyft, Twitter, Facebook, Google) of similar nature. Top companies are leaders of the pack; their job descriptions are reliably the ones that other lower tier companies will copy.

Step 2: Identify key themes

All job descriptions that aren’t scams will have sections called “roles/responsibilities” and “minimum qualifications” with detailed bullet points describing what they’re looking for in the ideal candidate. As an example, I’ll use the Lyft “Internal Communications Manager” job description above and a “Communications Manager” job from Twitter to identify the key themes.

Lyft - Internal Communications Manager

Responsibilities

Work closely with and influence key company leadership to develop and disseminate their important messages to team members, including aligning the team on our strategy, goals, and priorities (Key theme: Communication)

Own strategy and results for keeping all relevant team members informed on important org news and updates in a timely and engaging manner. (Key theme: Stakeholder management)

Provide strategic, direct hands-on support to key senior leaders (Key theme: Project management)

Proactively identify new opportunities and develop new programs to continually up level our internal communications program (Key theme: Analysis)

Successfully collaborate with cross-functional partners to execute on a comprehensive plan for seamless communications. (Key theme: Collaboration)

Maintain the Lyft voice across all communications, written and verbal, and across company leadership (Key theme: Branding)

Keep Lyft fun! (Key theme: Culture fit)

Twitter - Communications Manager

Roles And Responsibilities

Coordinate with various Twitter teams on product launches, announcements, issues and other news (Key theme: Project management)

Craft communications materials with a high degree of consistency, conviction, and strong tone of voice (e.g. messaging docs, communications plans, blog posts, statements, Tweets) (Key theme: Communication)

Drive proactive, creative storytelling around our products and the people who build them across a range of media, both traditional and non-traditional (press, podcasts, speaking engagements, video, etc.) (Key theme: Communication)

Help the team establish and maintain relationships with reporters nationally and globally. (Key theme: Stakeholder management)

Manage a high-volume of incoming queries from media covering product matters, and be able to consult and drive towards decision-making on press response during high-pressure scenarios (Key theme: Project management)

Serve as a company spokesperson in the U.S. and in other markets. (Key theme: Branding)

Draft, manage through reviews, and upload blog posts and Tweets for announcements and updates (Key theme: Communication)

Track press coverage for key announcements; identify and correct inaccuracies in stories (Key theme: Analysis)

Support team to drive proactive stories in global, local and industry-focused publications (Key theme: Project management)

You’ll notice that the same key themes will emerge for similar roles. Extract these key themes and copy and paste them into your resume. Move to step 3.

Step 3: Translate your experience and achievements to map to these key themes

From the Lyft and Twitter Communications Manager job descriptions above, we have the following 7 key themes:

Communication: Writing, editing, speaking, etc.

Stakeholder management: How to be organized and manage large groups of people of different levels and backgrounds

Project management: How to be organized and adaptable to support senior leaders with whatever they need done

Analysis: How to be a critical thinker who can spot better ways to do things (AKA performance/process improvement)

Collaboration: How to achieve success with people from different backgrounds

Branding: How to write in the company’s voice or a voice not your own

Culture fit: You need to jive with the company’s organizational culture

As a school teacher, you may not have the exact experience required but you’ve definitely done work that maps to these key themes. Use the verbiage from the job descriptions to write new bullet points for your resume:

(Key theme: Communication): Crafted and distributed weekly internal communications to 500+ students on academic updates, key event announcements, and other news in collaboration with administrative staff

(Key theme: Communication): Managed a high volume of inquiries from parents and administrative staff on the academic performance of 30+ students, provided updates and resolved concerns resulting in strong performance ratings

(Key themes: Stakeholder management + project management): Collaborated closely with senior leadership and a team of parents, educators, and volunteers to fund, launch, and manage the school’s $400,000 music program resulting in new extracurricular opportunities for 40+ students

(Key theme: Analysis): Led strategic initiative to improve academic curriculum and identified new teaching methodologies for 20 ESL (English Second Language) students resulting in an 15% increase in annual graduation rates

It won’t be a perfect fit, you will still get a lot of rejections, but your profile and background are much easier to understand to someone hiring for a communication manager role than it was before. Use your new resume as a script for the job interview to explain your experience as it relates to the role they’re hiring for.

Key Takeaways

Brand yourself for the role you want, not the role you have. Your resume and LinkedIn should contain a description of the role you’re aiming for and what skills/experience you bring to the table. If you’re currently a school teacher who wants to become a Communications Manager, then brand yourself as a “Communications leader with expertise in education, project management, and collaboration with people of various backgrounds.” This also makes it easier for recruiters to find you online because if they’re hiring for a Communications Manager, they will not be searching for a school teacher, they’ll be searching for key words related to that specific role.

Apply everywhere. You’re going to get rejected, a lot, it’s part of the process and you’re an underdog so don’t take it personally. Job hunting is a numbers game, always cast a wide net.

Progress is better than perfection. If your goal is to become a Communications Manager for the United States White House but you’re currently a school teacher, then the odds are you won’t immediately get hired by the White House. The goal here is to first break into the industry and work your way up. Accept the role that you want in a company that may not be your first choice because progress is better than perfection. Once you accumulate achievements in this role, other more reputable companies will be willing to take a chance on you.

Networking is everything. This is why human connections are the most powerful-- resumes can score interviews, but relationships build careers because hiring is about trust. If people don’t know you and your experience doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence or trust, they won’t extend an offer and commit to a legally binding employment agreement. To build that trust, use university career offices, professional networking events, internet job sites, forums, and other venues to engage and meet people. Socialization leads to trust which leads to opportunities.

#college #university #graduation #job hunting #job #work #resume #career #careers #changing jobs #academia #changing careers #faq

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seaweed8rain · 4 years

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Which One of These Three Time-Traveling Films is the Best?

Written by Rayhan Abrar Rizkan

Writing this comparing and contrast piece has been a challenge for me, the biggest challenge is to pick what topics do I really want to discuss. The runner ups are : Star Wars, the Ocean’s franchise, and even down to which is the best girl in Chainsaw Man. Other references aside, this one is my pick, due to my fascination towards Time-Traveling films. For this piece, I narrowed down the nominations into these three : TENET, Avengers: Endgame, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

I picked TENET because of my personal bias. I picked Avengers: Endgame because you all have probably seen it. And I picked the second Terminator movie because it is one of the most quintessential, monumental, and an absolute classic to set the pop culture we know today. I could have picked Back to the Future, but I can’t, or won’t, pick one. Let us begin with the first point of comparison : The Story.

The most important thing to a film is the script, the writing that you sell to the studio or anyone you want to work with. It goes without saying, it has to be good. A Movie has to tell a story, to follow a character, and/or to set a specific goal in mind. It is the easiest and the first thing people say when they are describing a movie, for example, “It’s the one where they have to carry a ring to the volcano.”, “There’s wizards, magic, and they have to defeat a snub-nosed villain.”, “So there’s this guy, and he got bit by a radioactive spider....”. Case in point, you can probably guess those movies just by the plot or the premise, that is set by the script, that is how powerful a story could be if written properly.

TENET has a simple story. Calling it complicated is an understatement, but if you finally opened your third eye somehow while watching this movie, it is simple. TENET is a lot of movies stacked into one, it is a spy movie, a heist movie, a sci-fi, and action. TENET follows the Protagonist (That is how you know this movie is beyond awesome, they do not even bother naming the lead) to find pieces of an advanced weapon algorithm with secret battles coming from the past and the future to stop World War III from the hand of the main villain, Sator. See my point here? It is simple..... but I did leave out the whole time-bending plot to see it all in one straight line. . But when you see all things unveil, especially during the second watch seeing that it is how Nolan makes his movies, you can truly appreciate TENET for what it is, cinema.

Avengers: Endgame, you already know the story. After their massive defeat in Infinity War, the original members with the help of few others tries to undo what Thanos did and return those who are lost. This movie is plain and vanilla yet the perfect closing for this symphony of Marvel’s ensemble cast in comic book movies, you do not have to follow all 21 MCU movies to watch the adventures that they went through to understand the main story, but they will reward you if you do, as there are tons of fan service and easter eggs to get excited for.

For Terminator 2, maybe I should explain on why I chose this instead of the original, and it ties in to the story. In the first Terminator movie, Skynet, to put it simply is a future-evil-internet-robot-brain programmed to eradicate humanity and enslave those who survived in the purge. Skynet sent a robot assassin with the face of Arnold Schwarzenegger to kill Sarah Connor from giving birth to John Connor, the future leader of the resistance that will defeat Skynet. So the John Connor in the future sent Kyle Reese, one of the member of the resistance to protect his mother Sarah from the Terminator Model 101. Kyle eventually stopped the Terminator and somehow fathered John Connor in the process. To recap the first movie, John sent his own father to protect his mom from the past. Now, the second movie is where they did a twist. Instead of just having another advanced Terminator to the past sent by another version of Skynet, the resistance also sent another reprogrammed Terminator to protect the target that is (kid) John Connor. If this is done now, the twist is completely overdone and seen as nothing but a gimmick. But for a movie in the 90’s? this is revolutionary. Its like having Jason Krueger as your ally in the sequel, but replace that with an Arnold Schwarzenegger looking killer robot despite the lack of his trademark of making unintelligible noises. Because of the same face, the Terminator has to convince Sarah that he is not the Terminator she once knew in the first movie, but a reprogrammed one set to protect them, this interaction of not trusting one another and always be on guard sets up the movie very well. The flick is a staple of action movie back in the day, having two indestructible killing machines squaring up against one another, how can anyone top that at that era?

Now that we are all caught up with the story, it is time to discuss the soul of these movies have in common, the Time-traveling aspect, the main plot device, the cause or the breaker of movie retcons. In this short list, Terminator has to be the simplest in terms of the mechanics of the time-travel story. The time machine is one time use only, as it can only be used in the future where such things exist. So once you go back in time, the only way to go back to the future is to wait, just like everyone else. And what you did in the past will instantly affect the future accordingly. The time machine in Terminator movies has to be the one with the weirdest mechanic, where you can only send things with living tissues and no other, now that the fact is laid out on you then yes, everyone who went back in time has to be naked. So they have to find new clothing when they arrived. At least that is their explanation on why the Terminator has to be wrapped up in synthetic human skin, not to show off Arnold’s five hours a day of intensive muscle toning in six months with the help of a big pile chicken breast and a year supply of protein shake, not at all.

Avengers: Endgame has the most flexible machine out of all, where you can set the time and place of where you want to be, as long as you have enough supply of Pym particles to go subatomic and travel a safe passage through the fabric of time. But with multiple journeys with different groups you will run a risk of creating an alternate timeline, but they simply nullify such possibility with having Hulk said that they will go back in time after the final battle is done, and return the things they took in the past back to its place and time so nothing will inherently change. The time traveling part of the movie is the charm of Endgame, where we get to re-visit the characters, places, and events we have seen in the previous films in a different perspective that is canon to the universe.

Now, this is where it all gets tricky to explain, because the time-traveling of TENET is not the same as any other movies I have seen. Calling it a time-traveling is not even entirely accurate, but the mechanic of how it works calls for more of a “Time-inversion”. The time machine in this film is very rustic, where you go into this big turning door that leads to the other side of the room, but once you are “inverted”, you move forward in time, but the world around you goes backwards. You cannot choose which time you want to go to, if you want to go back in time for 10 minutes, you have to wait it out while being inverted for 10 minutes, that is why the palindrome suits with the whole movie. This makes amazing visuals when combined with action sequences, imagine reverse car chases, bullets were caught to the gun instead of being shot out of, punches were pulled instead of thrown. In other words, if you see a sequence of two people with one of them inverted, they can both win or lose at the end depending on which point-of-view you choose.

The time inversion in TENET is not only treated as a plot device, but also the philosophy that is abided by the movie, as there is only one timeline that exist in the movie. This is made clear in the story that no matter what you do, you cannot change the outcome of the future, as the present is set with the human’s free will, and even though they are randomly generated, it happened anyway. “What’s happened, happened” said Neil, one of the main characters in the movie explaining how time inversion works to the Protagonist. It is not a battle to change the outcome, but to gain a perspective for what’s to come. Whatever happens, happened and will happen all at the same time. With the limited mechanic of time-inversion that TENET has (or had, or will have, this is confusing even to me now), it is amazing what it can achieve in terms of storytelling, how the story we see in front of us is one enormous temporal pincer collision of the past, future, and present in one sitting (or collide, collided, will collide, I do not know what is happening). From my standpoint, clearly I prefer TENET above all else, but do let me know what’s your pick out of these three! Better yet, what is your favourite time-traveling film?

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andreaieo932 · 4 years

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7 Things You Should Not Do With Digital Marketing Company

The Ultimate Guide To 10 Tips For Improving Your Small Business Marketing Through ...

Top local marketing services

Use A/B screening to determine the effectiveness of your e-mail projects, and also think about segmenting the checklist to far better target your markets' interests. 62. Perfect your e-mail trademark. 63. Include audio, video clip, and social sharing performance to your e-mails. Individuals love free stuff and price cuts. Just make certain you comply with the legislations concerning free gifts and also contests.

Beginning a competition. 65. Create a promo code. 66. Develop a "constant customer" incentives program. 67. Start a client recognition or a brand ambassador program. 68. Produce a customer of the month program. 69. Hand out a free example. 70. Begin an associate program - Marketing Solutions 2021. Most advertising is about producing recognition of your company.

Emphasis on building a connection, not making a sale. 71. Send a client satisfaction study. 72. Ask for referrals. 73. Make a recommendation. 74. Aid advertise or volunteer your time for a fundraiser. 75. Sponsor a regional sporting activities group. 76. Cross-promote your products and solutions with other local organizations.

Sign up with a professional company. 78. Strategy your next holiday promo. 79. Plan vacation gifts for your best clients. 80. Send birthday cards to your customers. 81. Approach a coworker about a joint endeavor. 82. Contribute branded rewards for regional charity events. 83. End up being a coach. Web content is king. Giving valuable or enjoyable web content can draw in individuals to your service, where you can after that attract them to purchase.

7 Essential Marketing Tips For Small Businesses - Business 2 ... - The Facts

84. Strategy a free teleconference or webinar. 85. Tape a podcast. 86. Write a press release. 87. Repurpose your content to share in other locations. As an example, take YouTube material and splice for Instagram TELEVISION or Facebook. Or make use of the audio from the video on a podcast. 88. Reword your sales copy with a storytelling spin.

Self-publish a book. Advertising could be a permanent job. A lot of successful companies can not do every little thing themselves, so if there are elements of your advertising and marketing that you don't like or you aren't good at, take into consideration getting help. 90. Hire a advertising and marketing specialist. 91. Employ a public relations specialist. 92. Work with a professional copywriter.

Work with a online search engine advertising and marketing firm. 94. Work with an intern or online assistant to assist with daily advertising jobs. 95. If you get on a limited budget, usage marketing devices to automate some jobs such as social media sites. A great deal of advertising is about making your business stand out from the group.

96. Obtain a branded tattoo. 97. Develop a company mascot to help promote your brand name. 98. Take a controversial position on a warm market subject. 99. Spend for top quality wearable things. 100. Obtain a full-body well-known paint task done on your business car. 101. Enroll in online business training to spruce up, broaden and make improvements all of your valuable skills.

Some Of 7 Digital Marketing Tips For Small Businesses In 2020 - The ...

Whether you're in the procedure of introducing a brand-new company or already have one, having a strong online existence for your brand is very important. In fact, 97% of people learn more about neighborhood organizations online greater than anywhere else. Little business proprietors searching for a way to track ROI and also brand name understanding require electronic advertising and marketing.

For regional services, it's equally as essential to have essential and updated information conveniently offered for potential clients. If you're a little organization proprietor with little experience in on the internet advertising, this might all sound like a foreign language to you. Have no concern-- we'll experience what all these words mean, and why you need to appreciate them! In this post, we'll help you construct as well as optimize your marketing method making use of inbound marketing, establishing you approximately draw in brand-new clients and also eventually expand your company.

With a local business, obtaining the word out can be testing due to much less presence and lack of resources (like budget or time). However, there are essential approaches that can help you scale your little company's marketing initiatives. Whether you're dealing with spending plan, the time restraints brought on by having a smaller group, and even absence of instructions, a marketing plan that's suitable for your service can provide advice as you scale.

Bigger firms might be able to appeal to a vast market, however they say, "the treasures are in the specific niches" for a reason. A specific niche is where you'll have the most leverage as a local business. And also to develop a niche and also attract purchasers within the particular niche, you need to comprehend their pains, issues, activating occasions, and priorities.

Unknown Facts About How To Use Social Media For Small Business: 11 Simple Tips

the best marketers

Begin by thinking of your existing consumers and who you would certainly such as to deal with. Then, produce a buyer persona to begin the process of entering the head of your excellent client. If there's no distinction between you and your competition, there's no reason a buyer would be obliged to collaborate with you - Top Digital Marketing Agencies.

What do you do much better than anybody in the industry? Sharing this makes an engaging argument. Digital Marketing Experts. If you're checking out the world of advertising, you may have seen that there are a gazillion instructions you can go in. It's appealing to do it all at the same time and also craft a challenging equipment in hopes that you covered all your bases, and it's simple to take on as well much.

Where is the greatest unseen area in your advertising and marketing that's restricting your growth? Establish an efficiency objective around that essential area and focus your sources on the activities and also techniques that will certainly achieve that a person efficiency goal (Digital Marketing Pros). You can expand your initiatives or pivot to various other initiatives when you have actually made a lot more progress towards that particular goal.

As you scale, it's important to see ROI sooner. This will certainly offer you the momentum as well as money flow to put towards larger projects, lasting plays, as well as extra sustainable development models. Techniques that take time to build (such as Search Engine Optimization) are bad suitable for your primary efforts due to the fact that you won't see a return Digital Marketing Experts quickly sufficient for your taste.

#Online Marketing

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totallyjewishtravel · 4 years

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5 MYTHS ABOUT PASSOVER

Passover program is a derivative program of the usual Friday night gathering of the Jews around the world to a Passover seder where the story retelling takes place of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt took in the Torah, along with this a lot of wine is also consumed and big meal which has similar symbolizing food items. This is hands down considered as that Jewish holiday where more than 70 percent of Jews takes place in this religiously significant event and later be the part of a seder each year. Given the popularity of the Passover and how beloved it is (it may last up to eight days in the Diaspora), there will be no surprise when we tell you that there are various doubts, myths, and misunderstandings surrounding its history and the practice which is followed. Let’s talk about the most popular 5 myths about Passover:

NARRATION OF THE HISTORICAL STORY BY THE SEDER REGARDING THE ISRAELITES GOING FROM EGYPT

Looking at the various religious perspectives from the sides of Jewish as well as Christian you can get to know that the story of Exodus is a faithful narration of historical fact. To understand that, consider that Jewish literalists, Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman from Ohr Somayach Orthodox outreach networks stand true with his belief regarding the story of Sinai revelation. Although the entire religion tends to be predicated towards this mass-revelation and no convincing could ever be made for the whole nation in accepting the religion based on such dubious experience that never faced by anyone else before. But when the exodus is looked at from the reference of the history, it becomes a hotly debated topic amongst most of the scholars since there is no such evidence present there to back this fact and despite the best efforts of Archaeologists and Egyptologists it was never found where a direct connection could be made from the Israelites enslavement or departure of any large group of people.

JEWISH TRADITION IS THE ONLY WAY OF SEDER

All thanks to the Torah that we were introduced to the clear out leaven for the week of Passover program and consume unleavened bread, slaughter the paschal lamb and take it with matzah and bitter herbs and to further make our children aware of this story. Apart from this, few more elements in today’s date of Seder are evident in the Mishnah and the Talmud, and the introduction to the holiday meal is usually spotted around as a process which Jewish and natural. When we get in touch with scholars, they’ll let us know that there is an argument regarding the Seder being based on the Greco-Roman model of the symposium along with many other things which will be familiar sounding to anyone who has been an active member of the Passover celebration where it was seen that a banquet is framed with an individual appetizer, eating position was reclined, consuming a predetermined amount of wine cups, singing the songs of praises and had easy access to the questions.

JESUS HAD THEIR LAST SUPPER IN THE FORM OF PASSOVER SEDER

It is a story known that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke assert that the last supper was there on the first night of Passover. Similarly, most of the Christians are attracted to this traditional keen observance; few of the churches still hold the Christian seders for putting in the attempt to carry out their religious practice of Jesus.

However, this will be an unlike fact that Jesus participated in a Seder. The temple which has raised after the first one in Jerusalem had the involvement of eating the paschal sacrifice which would be a slaughtered lamb. However, the same temple was destroyed several decades after Jesus’ death.

THE SEDERS AND THE FOUR QUESTIONS ASKING

Most of the Jews got to learn the four questions when they were still the kids so that it could be learned by heart with a familiar tune. The questions which generally rises once the storytelling started of the Exodus are whether they are often considered the heart of the service. But on giving a closer look at the Haggadah, there is only one main question: “why is this night different from all other nights?”

PASSOVER PROGRAM IS RESTRICTED TO FEW AVOIDING LIST OF FOODS BY JEWS

It is well known that the Jewish Law doesn’t allow the consumption of chametz at Passover such as food made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt which has already fermented or risen. This is one of the mainstays in Passover 101 articles. What is usually leftovers is the extent of everyday items of chametz and is not restricted to the bread, pasta, cookies, cakes, and beer. Few more additions in it will be soy sauce along with the wheat or vinegar-based on the wheat or the processed foods having a huge range of additives.

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olderthannetfic · 5 years

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Vidding absolutely counts as a fandom, and Escapade is key to the history of vidding.

Notice how the terminology shifts over the course of Escapade: The first year, it’s ‘songtapes’ being shown, then ‘songvid’ or ‘song video’ predominates for much of the 90s, and then we move on to ‘vidding’ and ‘vids’.

The vidshow moves from being more of a curated presentation of old favorites to having a lot of premieres. It goes from just one night to two, then back to one. Vidshow panels where you just watch vids for a whole panel slot come and go. In 1998, vid review starts up: This is a Sunday morning panel for in-depth critique of the vids shown the previous night and is a famously contentious part of the con. And then there was this:

2002, Friday, 6pm - VividCon Discussion (Come discuss the proposed VividCon, tentative time/location, August/Chicago.)

Yep. Escapade was where Vividcon was born!

By 2008, people were talking about how vidding had moved on from Escapade. In 2011 a vidshow retrospective was added to try to counter the lack of vidding-centric programming. There was a big resurgence for a few years, including such hard-hitting topics as:

2016 - Vidding Aesthetics (”Why is there so much show audio in this vid?", "Why didn't that cut hit on the beat?", "What do you mean 'Cheesy?' She's Celine Dion!" and other immortal questions of vidding aesthetics. If you've ever watched a vid, we want your opinions.)

Why yes, it was my panel. Why do you ask?

There were rounds of warnings wank, caused by Oz vids and by that time Absolute Destiny sent a vid of a violent coming of age film.

Check out this 1994 panel description from Fanlore:

"[The technology in fandom panel] included several things that people can now do in-home that they couldn't do five years ago: cutting and splicing songs on Macintosh computers (to remove inappropriate choruses, verses, or the word "girl"); the soon-to-be-easier ability to select different people from different clips and combine them onto a new background (also for songtapes); printing vhs video frames directly to computer screens, printers and/or color copiers (for fun); and zines and/or libraries on disk. Most of the new technology possibilities were followed by comments that the actual work we can do is illegal [...]. Which comments were followed by the statements that seventeen years ago, writing and publishing a slash fanzine was illegal.... [...] a few people [...], talked to me at different times throughout the con about getting accounts or modems [...]”

This is interesting not just technologically but aesthetically. Is the word ‘girl’ bad in a slashvid? Different communities have disagreed.

Conversations about digital vidding and digital vs. VCR really heated up around 2001, much later than you might expect if you’re coming out of an AMV background. While most of Youtube vids on Sony Vegas--a Windows-only program--at Escapade, Mac has been the norm.

The topics that have remained big are vidding aesthetics, including things like how to make an effective pimp vid, discussions of hosting options and where the community is hanging out now, and how-tos for people who want to get into vidding.

(And before anyone asks, the answer is that you should download DaVinci Resolve because it’s free and cross-platform. And you should encode with h.264 because it’s widely compatible.)

The 2020 vidding panels are:

Vidding 101: The Vid Bunny Farm So you’ve had an idea, and it’s gnawing on your leg? Or maybe you have too many vid ideas and can’t choose? Or you want to make a vid but don’t know where to even start? Aspiring fan vidders, unsure-vidders-to-be, and experienced vidders welcome alike to share vid bunnies, brainstorm together, and talk about the processes of conceptualizing a vid.

Vidding Genres Then & Now We’ve come a long way from “living room vids” vs ‚”con vids‚” or have we? Let’s talk about evolving fanvid genres, from ship vids to AU vids to multivids, from character vids to fake trailers, from genre-bending vids to long form vids to cosplay music videos, and more. Let’s talk about all the genres of fan videos floating around YouTube, Billibilli, AO3 and beyond, and also consider if the old school genre terms still apply.

Escapade has had many, many vidding panels. So many that even I feel the need for a readmore. I’ve pulled out the meta ones and left off some single-fandom vidshows and whatnot. Sorry for the wonky formatting, but Tumblr, in its infinite wisdom, seems to have removed the horizontal rule feature.

1991 - "Classic" songtapes were shown at 9:00 on Friday.

1994 - Song Video Roundtable (Bring works in progress or finished works you're having difficulty with for a quick jump-start. Open to anyone who enjoys videos as well as the people who make them.)

1994 - Songvid Editing (Authors get edited and usually have to do at least one rewrite of a story. Artists have erasers. What stops songvid makers from doing drafts and re-edits of their work? Let's talk about editing style (what cuts to use for best emphasis) and technique (how to physically do the inserts.)) [Notice how much of an issue editing is. These are VCR vids, edited in order, so insert edits are a gigantic pain.]

1995 - Techno Vids—Media Cannibals, (What's available with the new computer hardware and software? Can have Bodie & Doyle screwing on screen if we apply the right touches. Should we? How and when?) [Yes. Sweatily. Always.]

1995 - Video Workshop (video makers & watchers discuss the art.)

1996 - Music Video Critique and Workshop (Roundtable critique of videos, how to tell/recognize story, POV, rhythm. Also, tricks of the trade.)

1997 - Music Choice for Song Vidding (Finding the right song for the fandom is almost as great a challenge as finding the right clips for the song. Discussing what to look for in music choice.)

1997 - Songvid Critique (An exploration of different elements of media vids, with an emphasis on aesthetics. We'll look at segments of different songs to see how the images were used in conjunction with the varied rhythms of the music, and to enhance the mood.)

1998 - Media Cannibals Self-Indulgence Hour (Stunned to look back on vidding effort, MC plans to show -- and talk about -- some of their best and worst vids, pointing out some happy accidents and some annoying f*ckups. This is a great panel for people who want to learn about vid-making, the work that goes into them, and what to look for when watching them.)

1998 - Con Vids vs Living Room Vids (What are the elements that make a music vid accessible to a large crown, or more appropriate to an intimate setting?)

1998 - Music Video Show Review (Selected vids from Saturday's show will be replayed and discussed for their aesthetic, technical and musical choices. Open to all, for feedback and fun.) [Perhaps the start of the Sunday vidshow critique, which was also such a feature of Vividcon?]

1999 - Songvid Aesthetics (An exploration of theme, color, mood, and rhythm. Choosing clips to relate to the music and convey your message to the viewer.)

1999 - Sunday Morning Vid Review (Selected vids from Saturday's show will be replayed and discussed for the aesthetic, technical and musical choices. Open to all, for feedback and fun.)

2000 - Vidding Basics (Or "you want to learn how to make a music vid, huh?"—Carol and Stacy will take a group of novice vidders from the basics of what you need on your VCR, to all your hardware set ups, thru the selection of music, to actually doing some hands-on putting a dip (or two) into a music vid. So if you're interested in music videos and you want to try your hand at making one... you know what panel you need to go to.)

2000 - Songvid Appreciation 101 (Remember Art Appreciation? "Why is this painting good?" Well, we're doing the same for vids, using examples from the ESCAPADE Video Show. Let's take advantage of the fact that we've all just seen these vids, and use them to illustrate how to do cool things in a vid. We'll look at clever POV changes, appropriate choice of music to theme, skillful uses of musical changes within a vid, storytelling techniques, changes of mood, cutting on the beat vs. cutting on the lyric line, the different approaches to serious and humorous vids, or single fandom vs. multiple fandom vids, and more.)

2001 - Vidding Workshop (2 hours) (This workshop will cover: a comparison between digital and analog vidding; a how-to for analog vidding; a how-to for digital vidding; and a discussion of the artistic side of vidding, including song and clip choices, and techniques to avoid.)

2001 - Impact of Computer Tools on Vidding (Vidding used to be push-and-pause between 2 vers, and a LOT of patience. Now with I-movie and Final Cut and Macintosh G4's, the technological leap is here and it isn't going anywhere. Are vids better for the technology available to them?)

2001 - Songvid Appreciation (2 hours) (Comments and feedback on vids you saw last night, Escapade style.)

2002 - Art Manipulation Using Photoshop (A how-to overview, with demonstrations in Photoshop, and more detailed techniques for creating photo manipulations, web graphics, and zine graphics. Depending on interest, creation of vid titles and overlay vid graphics may be included.)

2002 - Digital Vidding (An overview of the digital vidding process, including some advice on the hardware and software you need to get started. Learn the basics of editing with Premiere and similar programs, and get an overview of some of the fun options you have when using a computer to vid.)

2002 - Vidding Workshop: Art After Craft (What is the Art of Vidding?)

2002 - Vid Revision (The art and craft of revising vids—how you get from a song in your heart and a bunch of clips on your hard drive to the final product. We'll show multiple versions of a few vids, critique them, and talk about what improves a vid. No technical knowledge needed; come whether you make vids or just like watching them.)

2002 - Vids: Pro vs Fan Editing (A long time fan vidder and a professional editor discuss techniques.)

2002 - Sunday Morning Vid Review

2002 - VividCon Discussion (Come discuss the proposed VividCon, tentative time/location, August/Chicago.) [VVC started 6 months later, in August 2002, and ran until 2018]

2003 - How to Vid on the Computer (A brief intra vidding on computers. It will touch on hardware requirements, software options, and basic concepts of non-linear editing and what makes for a good vid, and, time and tech permitting, it may also include a demonstration of some of the editing basics. There will be handouts.)

2003 - Vid Show Review (A discussion (and literal re-viewing in some cases) of some of the vids from the Saturday night show.)

2003 - Also Premiering Vid Show (The "Also Premiering..." vid show is for vids premiered in the last year that aren't going to be shown in the Friday or Saturday shows. This will be an informal setting and we'll go by participant preference — if folks want to see a vid a second time, or want some time to chat about it, or if a vidder wants some feedback on it, we can decide to do that on-the-fly. If you'd like to show any vids in this show, just bring them to the show itself. There are no hard-and-fast limits on number of vids; we'll just go with what shows up and take turns until we run out of time. Afterwards, consider going out to lunch with other participants to talk about the vids!)

2004 - I want to vid! (But I don't know how) (Introduction to vidding hardware, software and maybe some concepts if we have the time.)

2004 - Made On a Mac: The MacFen Symposium (So you're a slasher and a Mac user. Come and share your tips and tricks for HTML coding, photo editing, website management and vidding on a Mac, Share the programs that have and haven't worked for you and hear some helpful tips from the front lines.)

2004 - Vidding: Creating Mood (Why do rapid cuts of short clips create tension? What does a wipe *feel* iike? A vidder's toolbox Includes more and more options, but how do we know what emotional effect each technical effect will produce? Leave the music at the door; this one's about the visuals.)

2004 - Editing Techniques and Vidding (How can you edit together clips from widely different episodes and movies into a seamless whole? A familiarity with concepts in filmmaking can help you achieve the results you're aiming for. A look at some of the common rules of continuity editing and how they relate to vids.)

2004 - The changing face of vids (How has increasingly cheap technology, wider highspeed access and the new flood of vidders changed vidding? What should we rejoice about and what should we worry about? How do we help make it a winning situation for all?)

2004 - Vid Review (A retrospective on the Saturday night show.)

2005 - Vidding: Let the Lyrics Help You (How to look at lyrics to add depth and structure to your vid. or why top 40 songs usually make you do all the work.)

2005 - Vid Review (A Sunday morning tradition at Escapade, and a chance to discuss those great vids.) [See how it’s a “tradition” by this time.]

2006 - The Changing Vid Audience (The move to digital vidding, the availability of vid source and software, and the expectation of online distribution have all radically affected audience desires and expectations. What do audiences want from vids now? Vidders, share your historical perspectives. Vid fans, this is your chance to tell vidders what you want.)

2006 - Defining the Character Study Vid (We love character study vids, so how do you go about making a good one? What's the difference between a vid about a character, a vid about a universe, and a vid about seeing the universe through the eyes of a character?)

2006 - Marketing Your Vid (How can you stand out among the swelling ranks of vidders? What's the best way to present yourself, and to draw attention to your work? We'll focus on knowing your audience, timing your release, pimp communities, etc.)

2006 - Vid Review (Like Ebert and Roper, but much better looking.)

2007 - Ulead Media Studio Pro 8 and Why It's Better Than the Rest (A compare and contrast of the semi-professional video editing software programs with a strong emphasis on Ulead Media Studio Pro 8. If you are new to vidding, or interested in upgrading your video editing software, this panel should help you make an informed choice.)

2007 - Mac Workshop (The ins and outs of vidding on a Mac.)

2007 - Vid Show Review (Take apart what worked and what was missing from selected vids in the Saturday show. Audience participation at its finest.)

2008 - Ulead Video Editing Introduction (Intro to Ulead Video Studio/Media Studio Pro for those who are interested in vidding but don't have a clue as to where to start. or wouldn't mind a refresher course.)

2008 - Vid Review (Last night was for watching, today is for analyzing. What worked, what didn't, and why?)

2009 - Fannish Aesthetics: Extrapolation v. Subversion (How do we as writers (and especially as vidders) interact with the source material? Is that relationship evolving? What can we say about where we've been and where we're headed?)

2009 - Vid Review (Last night was for watching, today is for analyzing. What worked, what didn't, and why?)

2010 - 2010: A Vidding Odyssey (Current trends in vidding, including what's changed and what's remaind the same when it comes to slash, vidding in particular. We will show some examples of "classic" slash as well as some of the newer develpoments in constructed reality.)

2010 - Vid Review

2011 - Escapade Songvid Retrospective (A trip back to the days of yesteryear, when vids were made on VCRs and Escapade was the place for vids and vid programming. Compiled by Kandy Fong, this show will survey vids from a variety of vidders and shows, covering Escapade 1992-2001 in a fun, informal environment.)

2011 - Decoding Vid Meaning (How do you read a vid? Clip choice, lyrics, structure, symbols or the tone of the music— vids offer plenty of clues, and we decipher them as we see fit. Come watch a vid (or two!) and discuss how we get meaning from what we see and hear to develop a deeper understand of what's going on in the vid. Multiple viewings are required!)

2011 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2011 - The Vidding Explosion (1985-1990) (Who taught whom. The growth of storytelling, technique, and sophistication. Includes vid show and presentation.)

2012 - Vidwatching 101 (Vids have their own language and their own framework for discussion. It can be tough to translate vids into words, but if we have the same language, vid discussion can be wonderfully rewarding for both vidder and viewer. This panel is a primer to get us all on the same page.)

2012 - The State of Vidding Fandom (Ten years of VividCon and roughly the same years vids have been distributed online, let's talk about the state of vidding and the community of vidders. Is there one? Where is it? How do vidders fit in with fandom at large? What are the different options for watching/releasing vids, and how do they stack up for vidders and viewers? If you love vids, join us—whether you vid or not.)

2012 - Festivids Review (Festivids is a fannish vid exchange inspired by the Yuletide fic exchange. This will be a vid review-style panel where we show clips from some of this year's highlight vids and talk about the challenge.)

2012 - MVD Vid Retrospective Show (Sometimes the oldies really are the goodies. Mary Van Duesen has made songvids since the 1980s, working in a range of fandoms. She has also remastered many old vids, and they look better now than they ever did. Come see some old favorites, or find some new ones.)

2012 - Vid Show Review

2012 - Nearly New Vids (So many wonderful vids were submitted for the Escapade show that we couldn’t fit them all in the early show. Here’s your chance to see the rest in the daylight hours (replay of the late-show vids).

2013 - Mac Vidders Roundtable (What’s the best way to vid on a Mac? Our vidding options have changed a lot in the last few years, and it’s been a while since we had a roundtable to discuss and compare our tips, tricks, and processes. This panel is for all of the above.)

2013 - The Art of the Pimp Vid (What makes a pimp vid so addictive one hit will get you hooked? Let’s talk vids for people outside of your fandom. Plot arc vids, character vids, pairing vids: How do you grab a new audience hard and never let them go? Hey there, little fangirl, the first taste is free!)

2013 - The Bestivids of Festivids (This year’s Festivids featured everything from incest testtube babies to care bear Avengers to a surprisingly large amount of kickass femslash. Let’s watch and discuss some favorites from Festivids 2012.)

2013 - So You Want To Be A Vidder (Nobody vidding your OTP anymore? Sad that vidders haven’t discovered your new favorite show? Why not vid it yourself? Come learn the very basics, from choosing programs in your price range to dos and don’ts if you’re planning to submit to cons.)

2013 - How Do Vids Work? (Let's talk about the techniques (not just the feelings!) that make a slash vid work. What makes for a vid that we watch over and over and that sticks with us long- term? We'll talk about these things with reference to a couple of specific vids, see what strategies, commonalities, and differences we can identify, and then open up discussion to additional favorites from the audience.)

2013 - Vidding Aesthetics (Vidders and vid watchers: let’s talk vidding aesthetics. How have styles changed over time? What makes a good vid and what’s just a matter of personal taste? What do you want to BURN WITH FIRE? Let’s get this cage match... err... discussion going.)

2013 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite vids (or not) vids from the show.)

2014 - Vidding 101 (Never edited before? Haven't made a vid since the VCR went the way of the dodo? Come learn how to turn those vidbunnies into reality!)

2014 - Vids for the Viewer (We often discuss writing from the perspective of a reader, but vidding from the perspective of vid-watchers not so much. Let's talk about how to read a vid, different vidding aesthetics and how accessible or popular they are with viewers vs. vidders, and impostor syndrome in vid review.)

2014 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2015 - Best of Festivids. From the slashy to the merely sublime, what tickled our fancy in this year’s Festivids?

2015 - The Perfect Slash Vid. What makes the perfect slash vid? Is it the song choice? The point of view? The abs? (Okay, you got me: it’s the abs.)

2015 - So You Wanna Be A Vidder. Bring your laptop or at least a pen and paper and find out how to get started in vidding.

2015 - Vid Review: Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.

2016 - The State of *Vidding Fandom. Sunday, Noon, San Diego 2. What's going on in vidding fandom today? Where are people hosting and posting? What's next?

2016 - Vid Review. Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.

2017 - Vidding 101 - Have you dreamed of making a vid but just aren’t sure where to start? We’ll go step by step, talk finding your source(s), choosing music, finding your way with non overwhelming tech-tools, brainstorming ideas, finding collaborators, and learning by doing. Already a vidder? Come and help new vidders find their way, find new collaborators, and make new ideas happen.

2017 - Let’s Collab! New Forms of Collective Fan Creativity , Newport Changing technologies mean that we collaborate with each other in ever-evolving ways when we create fic and vids. What are the possibilities for collaborating beyond geographic boundaries with digital technologies? How are you collaborating with fellow writers and vidders these days? Are you interested in finding new collaborators and new ways to connect? And are these new forms of collaboration creating new forms of creative fan work?

2017 - Vid Review, Marina del Rey On Saturday night, we watched the vid show. On Sunday morning, we talk about it. Join Rache to discuss the good, the better, and the great of the show, including techniques and all of the reasons Charlotte doesn’t vid anymore and never will again.

2018 - Noon (Vids from the Vault, Part One Kandy Fong Newport A curated retrospective of vids from early Escapades.

2018 - Fanvid Feels (What vids do you return to again and again because they just make you *feel* things, thrill you, or fill you with joy, or even sadness? Maybe a vid introduced you to a pairing, or a fandom, or perhaps you love it even though you’re not really that into the source? Let’s look at some of our/your favorite vids and think about what makes them tick. Come with vids you want to talk about in mind, or just come to watch and talk about vids that make us feel stuff.)

2018 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2019 - 3-Minute Pimp Vid (Forget telling: Show us your canon with a vid or clip! (3-5 minutes each.))

2019 - Lend Me Your Ears: Vids and Music (Have you ever discovered a song or musician because of a fanvid? Do you have thoughts on what music works and doesn't with fan vids? Let's talk about all the ways in which different types of music can work in vids, and look at some vids that work with music in awesome or surprising ways. Plus maybe there will be a little singing along...)

2019 - AO3 But For Fanart and Fanvids (AO3 has been great for fic, we need safe harbors for art and vids too. Let's talk about it!)

2019 - Pitch a Vid Bunny, Find a Vid Beta (Have an idea for a fanvid you'd love to see happen? Come with concept, song, source ideas, characters--share your bunnies, find some cheerleaders, brainstorm together. For newbie & experienced vidders alike, all welcome!)

2019 - Vid Review (Rehash the Saturday night vid show with a room full of fans.)

#escapade 2020 #escapade con #fandom history #vidding #vividcon

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vinylfromthevault · 5 years

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Taj Mahal “The Natch’l Blues” 1968. Today, May 17th, is Taj Mahal’s birthday (b. Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, 1942). I met Taj Mahal once, back in June 1976; I was just shy of my 5th birthday but it was a truly memorable experience. My parents are of the Vietnam War-era generation - my dad went into the Army reserves and was not deployed but some of their friends did see active combat while others left for Canada. One of their friends lived in Canada for several years (I don’t know how many but by the late 70′s he was back in the States, living not far from Three Mile Island when the nuclear meltdown happened in ‘79) and we traveled fairly frequently to Toronto to visit. In 1976 we all went to the Mariposa Folk Festival, an annual music fest that took place at a variety of locations in and around Toronto over the years (it’s still going on, this year in Orilla, Canada). In ‘76 it was held on the Toronto Islands and access to the Fest was by ferry (no automobiles except for some service vehicles are permitted on the islands). Though 1976 was the dawning of the punk and disco era, grassroots, blues and folk music associated with 60′s hippie culture was still pretty strong and fests like Mariposa flourished; here’s a group shot of my parents and their friends outside of the Toronto apartment where they lived the weekend of the festival (I’m the little girl in the pink dress).

Check out this homespun pamphlet chock full of events from that summer: headline performers of course but also music workshops, “song swaps,” kids’ events, arts and crafts, indigenous peoples presentations, comedy, storytelling, and on and on. I remember a lot of sitting around on blankets, picnics and music. Here’s a few photos of me, the crowds and a music stage.

Me eating raisins: You Can’t Push Me Down (you probably could, I was really little)

Me napping

My mom looking at the program, me napping (again).

My parents’ friends from Toronto.

Picnicking (my Dad has the white t-shirt on)

This photo is labeled “Harmony 101″ - I’m not sure if that is the name of the group or if it’s some kind of Master Class.

Anyway, Taj Mahal performed that weekend, as a solo act but also as part of some of the interactive music forums that were sprinkled throughout the Mariposa programming. Here is the one photo I could find in our collection - he clearly was super-popular (people are standing up!) so it was hard for my parents to get a good photo shot.

The curfew for Mariposa on the Islands was 8:30 pm and the venue needed to be cleared out by then. Everyone would troop to the ferries, crowd on and go back to the mainland - the Toronto city center isn’t far from the Islands. The last evening - Sunday June 26th - Taj Mahal performed on a couple of stages, including as part of the last performance of the event: Making Music Together along with several other artists including Ken Bloom, Penny Lang, John Arpin, Bill Usher and Gilles Losier. I’m pretty sure at some point during the concert it started to rain. Hard. Torrential downpour. I don’t know where they came from but someone had massive clear tarps for people to hold over their heads, under which about 10-12 people could walk. I found myself walking under a tarp (not holding it of course, I was like two feet tall!) next to Taj Mahal through puddles and mud. We boarded the ferry and I remember standing next to him, dripping wet, during the ride back to the mainland. I have no idea what we talked about but I do know that he was genial - laughing and looking down at tiny me.

I’ve only seen Taj Mahal perform one other time, in either ‘91 or ‘92. During college I occasionally volunteered at the Barrymore Theater in Madison, WI so I could see free concerts (some friend hooked me up with that sweet deal). I think at that show my job was to check people’s wristbands or hand stamps for re-entry at the door, causing me to miss a large portion of his performance but I did get to see a few songs, standing by the door at the back of the venue.

The Natch’l Blues was Taj Mahal’s second album. It’s really good, classic Delta-style American blues but brought into modernity (in this case, 1960′s modernity) with electric guitar. It’s the sound that bands like The Rolling Stones and other rock groups in the late 60′s were keen to emulate and capitalize on. Some tracks to check out: “Corinna,” “Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue,” “Done Changed My Way of Living” and “The Cuckoo.”

#taj mahal #blues #the natch'l blues #mariposa folk festival #vinyl #folk blues

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davewakeman · 5 years

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StubHub, platforms, and the challenge of far too many empty seats...

I was thinking about open ticket markets and a relatively closed market like we have in the United States over the last few days and the ongoing sales process that involves eBay looking to sell StubHub.

In general, I am a proponent of having more means of open distribution like you see in Europe where companies receive allocations of tickets and are incentivized to market and sell tickets to ensure that they continue to be able to receive tickets.

As I’ve been reading articles about the decline in attendance at college football games, baseball games, and pretty much everywhere. I’ve drawn a few conclusions and that’s one that I think is pretty familiar to folks around the world: the biggest challenge facing the business of tickets and experiences is one of marketing.

By this I mean that in far too many places we just aren’t doing a very good job of bringing the basics of modern marketing or the best practices of marketing and sales 101 to the way that tickets and experiences are sold.

Which gets me back to the overwhelming utilization of platforms to sell tickets in the States.

Far too often, we are finding that our content producers are wed pretty tightly to one platform on the primary side, maybe one on the secondary side, and they can find themselves stuck in a position where there is little control to their strategies and their marketing and selling.

In looking through this idea, I’ve come back to three insights that I think are the most important to keep in mind. (And, are likely relevant to anyone selling tickets or experiences to anything.)

When you are so platform-dependent, you see the following things pop up over and over:

You may gain data, but you have no relationship with the consumer.

You often end up as a commodity and not differentiated in your positioning.

You end up at the mercy of your platform partners’ marketing and sales efforts.

Let me explain these a little more completely.

You get data, but you don’t have a relationship:

For some reason, it feels like everyone is chasing data constantly now and that data is always held up as the saving grace of every new initiative.

Recently, we’ve seen the bidding for StubHub allegedly include people like Vivid Seats and Fanatics. With Fanatics coming in late in the process under what has been described as a potential play for StubHub’s data.

Obviously, knowing more about your customers is better than knowing less, but there are limits to what data can and can’t do for you.

In the way that many organizations are using their data and partnering with platforms to gain more data, they seem to be making the assumption that all data is good data.

When all data isn’t good data.

All data is just a lot of data.

Relevant and contextual data is the really important stuff.

In the process of chasing data at all costs, many organizations have lost the art of building relationships.

What is missed in this lack of relationship-building is the reality that the most important data could be gleaned more efficiently if organizations, teams, and venues did a better job of relationship building and managing the relationship from cradle-to-grave of their fans, supporters, and guests.

Just the other day, I got an email about a playoff ticket pre-sale from an MLB baseball team that I don’t remember having received an email from in several years.

Maybe they have my information from years back, maybe they are utilizing partner data that shows I went to about 3-4 baseball games this year, or maybe they are spraying and praying. The point is that I looked at an email from the team after not receiving an email for years as a little sketchy and a little desperate.

I think about it in the same way that no one pays full price at J.Crew any longer. They discounted and acted desperately so much that it never seems like I should pay full price.

Compare that someone like Apple that never really discounts. When I need a new phone, I buy it. Laptop, same.

Two things set Apple apart from J.Crew or many organizations:

They own me as a customer. I’m brand loyal and don’t shop around for my Apple products.

They market to me consistently not just when they are in a snit because their iPhone sales are down.

In today’s world, the tools to achieve a greater degree of knowledge about your customer exists everywhere. For sports or other experience organizations, you can easily do any of the following that would go a good way towards developing a better relationship with your audience. This list isn’t anywhere near complete, but here are several ideas that you can use to gain relevant and contextual information that you can use constantly:

Create a membership program like teams like Tottenham Hotspur or Man City do that offers value, connection to a global fanbase, and gives you the chance to engage with your fans year-round.

Develop a frequent guest program that could look something like Starbucks’ rewards program or Peet’s or any number of frequent guest programs. The technology to drive these is pretty simple and you turbocharge it by adding in the membership program data too.

Have a content calendar that uses assets that you own like your website, your email list, and your building to drive engagement, data collection, and other information to you and not through partners.

I could go on, but the key is that you must return your focus to owning the relationship with your customers and the tools that can deliver on this promise readily available.

You often become a commodity and that’s a problem:

I have a number of friends and colleagues that take the point of view that a ticket is a commodity and I’ve often pushed back on that.

But, lately, I’ve come around to the idea because if you are neglecting to sell an event as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which every live event or experience is, you are a commodity because you’ve done absolutely nothing to differentiate yourself from every other event or experience going on in your market or in other markets where the events are being broadcast.

This is only emphasized further by the nature of how the platforms market and sell your tickets and experiences.

Do a Google search for any event you might be thinking about, I’ll wait.

I did Madonna in Brooklyn tomorrow night (September 19th, 2019) because I went to her “Confessions of a Dancefloor” tour at MSG and despite being hotter than hell, it was awesome!

The point is that I know from reading the WSJ article about the tour launch yesterday that there are VIP options available. I know the venue is intimate. I know several things.

But when I visit the sales page, primary tickets are mixed in with secondary tickets. VIP tickets aren’t well marked. There isn’t a lot there to build anticipation of the event that is likely really cool because it is seeing Madonna in a venue of the size that you would never have seen her since she was just starting out.

I point out this because this happens across the board for events.

Your event is presented as a standard Thursday night in NYC, not the once-in-a-lifetime event that this most definitely is.

At what cost are you allowing your events and games to become commodities with your pricing flying up or down built on uncontrollable or difficult to control buzzwords like “buzzy”, “hot”, or “huge”.

The thing about this is that these once-in-a-lifetime events are too precious and valuable to allow to become commodities, especially with “The Experience Economy” being a bigger part of people’s attention and their recreational spend.

The answer, again, to controlling the narrative around your events and not allowing them to fall into commodities is:

Marketing better and consistently.

Storytelling.

Creating more and more value that is unique for your buyers and potential buyers.

In the end, you become a pawn at the mercy of your partners and platforms to market and sell you effectively:

This is the worst thing in the world to happen to a lot of companies.

I was listening to Scott Galloway talks about how dangerous Amazon is for retailers, not the stores, but the people selling products because on a whim they can change the way your product is presented, if is presented, or the terms of your relationship and you have no power.

That comment was the one that got me started down this rabbit hole of platforms.

I did a really well-received webinar for the NATB a few years back where I talked about if you rely on platforms like StubHub, Vivid Seats, or Ticketmaster to sell your tickets, you aren’t anything but a commodity.

I went on to highlight that you have to have something of unique value that you can use to differentiate yourself and make your tickets more valuable to the platforms you are partnering with.

This is a lesson that everyone can and should learn because it plays itself out daily.

I’ve been working with a few events around the country and I’ve needed to partner with the secondary market to ensure that tickets are available in places that people are likely to search for them.

I’ve learned 2 important lessons, at least:

Your primary partner contract can make or break you.

You don’t want to be at the mercy of having to figure out how to effectively use the primary and secondary market once you’ve gone on-sale because you are at their mercy once you’ve made a deal with your platforms.

This is important to keep in mind because it is all about strategy. Which I’ll remind you comes down to 3 points:

Your value

Your customer

How you are reaching them

Back to the platforms, you might be listed on a platform, but if they aren’t allocating spend to promote your event when you need to be promoted, you are at the whims of them and you have to figure how to scramble and fill in the void in your marketing and sales efforts that you were hoping to have alleviated by your platform partners.

And, if the same lack of urgency befalls you on the primary side…well, good luck!

You’ve now fallen into the commodity trap.

All 3 of these points really come down to marketing, strategy, and focus. Things we all talk about with great frequency, but often don’t execute on with enough consistency.

Which brings me back to StubHub and the sale of the top platform on the secondary market. eBay is going to make a lot of money off their initial investment, I’m sure of this. But the company that buys StubHub under the hope of utilizing their data more effectively to open up another market or revenue stream likely needs to be reminded of my warning about Big Data versus contextual data.

Why?

Because we’ve seen this story before and it typically ends poorly for the business making this play.

What say you? Let me know in the comments!

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StubHub, platforms, and the challenge of far too many empty seats… was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

#amazon #entertainment #marketing #NATB #platforms #sales #Scott Galloway #sports #storytelling #stubhub #tickets

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philcon-programming · 6 years

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Philcon 2018 Gaming Suite Programming

Gaming - Suite 923

In addition to open gaming, tournaments and demos in the Promenade area just outside of the Dealer's Room, you can enjoy relaxing and gaming with others in the Philcon Gaming Suite, 923. Assorted board and card game banks are available. Play our games or bring your own favorites and find someone to play along. Hang out, have a snack, play and chat with other gamers. Learn a game, teach a game, share a game. We also have a new space for panels and gaming in The Gallery this year. See your program guide for more information.

General Schedule for 2018:

Friday, 6 pm to 2 am - Open Gaming Saturday, 11 am to 3 pm - Panels, Workshops and Open All Ages Gaming Saturday, 3 pm to 2 am - Open Gaming Sunday, 9 am to 3 pm - Open Gaming * Things are in full swing in planning for Philcon. Here are some of the fun games and events. We are always open to new ideas and your input and involvement is appreciated!

Gaming Suite Meet and Greet Get together with fellow gamers and fans to kick off the weekend. Friday 9 p.m.

Scheduled Games: One Night Ultimate Werewolf+ No moderator, no elimination, ten-minute games. One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a fast game for 3-10 players in which everyone gets a role: One of the dastardly Werewolves, the tricky Troublemaker, the helpful Seer, or one of a dozen different characters, each with a special ability. In the course of a single morning, your village will decide who is a werewolf...because all it takes is killing one werewolf to win! Because One Night Ultimate Werewolf is so fast, fun, and engaging, you'll want to play it again and again, and no two games are ever the same. GM: Tal Alailima Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m.

Cards Against Humanity [18+] Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people. Each round, one player asks a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card. GM: Ginny Swann Friday and Saturday at 11 p.m.

* SCHEDULED RPGs: (Sign up in the Gaming Suite)

D&D 5th edition RPG The Dragon Turtle Back Zoo (3357)It's the first day of your unpaid internship at the Dragon Turtle Back Zoo, where the curious from every nation come to see the most exotic and dangerous monsters in the world. You hope to parlay this valuable learning experience into a long and distinguished career in cryptozoology (or least some college credit), but first you have to survive your new boss. Adventure for 1st level D&D 5E characters, pre-generated character sheets will be provided.Number of players: 5 (pre-generated characters) DM Aaron Feldman Gaming Suite, Friday 8 p.m.

Golden Templars RPG This is an epic story. You are members of the Golden Templars, a sect within the Knight Templars who receive communion from the Holy Grail which grants them abilities beyond normal men and women. You are tasked with keeping the peace in Jerusalem and protecting the pilgrims who visit it. The feel of the campaign is mainly comic book with some secret history. Check out the Obsidian Portal:

https://golden-templars.obsidianportal.com/

for more information. Number of players: 6 (pre-generated characters) GM John Swann Gaming Suite, Saturday 8 p.m.

Pathfinder RPG Introductory Session for Pathfinder 1st Edition Learn how to play the exciting Pathfinder 1st edition RPG. Chris Bell, Pathfinder Venture Agent, will run a scenario suited for beginning Pathfinder players. Pre-generated characters will be provided. This introduction to Pathfinder Society organized play will include Pathfinder Society scenario credit for participation. All experience levels welcome, including those new to the Pathfinder Society as well as PFS veterans! Maps, minis, and dice will be provided. Number of players: 2-7 (pre-generated characters)

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/rpg GM Chris Bell The Gallery (first floor), Saturday 8 p.m.

X-Wing Minis GM John Skylar The Gallery (first floor), Saturday 8 P.M.

Post-Apocalyptic Blues: Escapee Blues RPG Fifty years after World War III, pockets of civilization try to flourish in the ruins of the old world. You lived a quiet life in a small farming settlement...until slavers raided your community and took you captive. Separated from your friends and family, you found yourself on a slave transport going to a place called Hopewell in Louisiana. And were it not for the...thing...that attached the transport, you would still be destined for slavery. But now, you and your fellow escapees must transverse the Louisiana swamps and marshes to find civilization, while avoiding the remaining slavers that want to recapture you and that...thing...that is still out there. How long can you last with on just your wits and the limited supplies you can scavenge? Players will be given pre-generated character sheets and will take on the role of an escapee from a slave transport. Uses variant d20 Modern/OGL rules. Players should bring their own dice.Number of players: Up to 8 (pre-generated characters) GM Julie Ann Dawson Gaming Suite, Sunday 11a.m. - 3 p.m. *

PANELS / WORKSHOPS / PLAY AND LEARN SESSIONS:

Video Games and Disability From ADHD and autism to wheelchairs and walkers, video games across platforms offer a unique way to connect people who otherwise would not have an avenue or outlet to reach out to people. How else does the world of digital storytelling open avenues for disabled content creators and consumers?

Workshop: All-Ages Game Design A hands-on, family-friendly workshop. Learn how to put together a game of your own design with your family or friends! A group of people putting together a (simple) game in an hour or two.

Saturday All Ages Gaming Time (2 Hour - PLAY SESSION) The Gaming Suite is always open to all ages. We do like to offer a time when parents might like to bring the kids in for game time. Are there games you love to play with your kids? Table top gaming is a family experience. Raising a young geek means sharing with them, but as most parents know, finding games that are fun to play together can be challenging. When looking for a family-friendly game, try shorter games that don’t require too much reading, and games that reinforce math and spacial skills. There are also games that can be played by all ages with some modifications to the rules. Games will be available for you to try out with your family: Blokus, Get Bit!, Tsuro, Quick Cups, Roll for it, Panda Head, Face Chase, Flipping Flags, Set Junior, Apples to Apples, Spot it. Want to try an RPG with you kids? We have one called "No Thank You, Evil". Have one you don't see here? Bring it to share.

Tabletop DMing 101 Are you an experienced D&D Player but want to run a campaign for the first time? Not sure where to start in running a Tabletop RPG? Join us for the tips and tricks to help you get started.

SF and Video Games How has Science Fiction been altered and explored in the realm of player-interactive content? What impact did Metroid have on fandom and SF storytelling? What about Mass Effect?

#Philcon #Philcon 2018 #Philcon 2018 Gaming #Philcon Programming 2018

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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10 Best Movies of 2021 (So Far)

https://ift.tt/3iTu7sI

Can you ever really go home? Millions of cinephiles are likely asking themselves this as summer 2021 winds down with doubt again lingering over their favorite movie houses. For a time, theaters were once again open for big business in the U.S. and UK, and remain so in at least one of those venues. But box office reports paint an ambiguous future, and many casual moviegoers clearly remain reluctant about returning to the cinema.

Nonetheless, it’s still good to be back in those old familiar places, as well as to have an ever expanding list of options to discover on streaming. Compared to last year, 2021 feels like a sunny balm, particularly now that the heaviest hitters and biggest surprises of July and the dog days of summer have landed.

It’s why we typically save our “mid-year” ranking for that deep breath between the end of summer escapism and the awards season push that begins in September. There have been some real treats on the 2021 calendar, so whether you’ve seen the entire list below or are looking for something you missed, sit back and enjoy a collection of the best movies of 2021. So far.

10. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo wrote and star in this bizarre, brightly colored, and utterly joyful comedy that defies expectations throughout. The two are middle-aged best friends who take their very first vacation to Florida together to visit the idyllic Vista del Mar.

But it’s not all cocktails and banana boats. Behind the scenes, super villain Sharon Fisherman (also played by Wiig) has an evil plan for the resort. With shades of the best of Austin Powers (though far more sincere) Barb and Star is a good natured friendship comedy through a surrealist lens, which could scratch an itch for anyone missing a bit of beach time this year.

9. Psycho Goreman

Unexpected gem of the year surely goes to this utterly bonkers grue-filled cosmic horror B-movie which is also really funny and kind of sweet at the same time. It follows annoying little shit Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) who bullies her brother Luke (Owen Myre) mercilessly. After defeating him in a game of “crazy ball,” Luke’s punishment is to dig his own grave (!) but instead the pair discover an artifact which turns out to be the key to controlling a universal evil imprisoned on earth for trying to destroy the galaxy.

So of course Mimi names him Psycho Goreman and forces him to hang out with her family and friends despite his insistence that he will bathe in their blood the moment he is freed. From Steven Kostanski, the director of 2016’s The Void, Psycho Goreman is a spot-on blend of brutal slaying and hardcore gore, a cosmic plotline involving an alien council and a wholesome family comedy. An unexpected delight.

8. Cruella

Emma Stone is a punk rock designer in the mold of Vivienne Westwood in this vibrant London-set comedy, which is on paper a prequel to 101 Dalmatians. But in reality, take it as a standalone and you’ll have way more fun.

Up and coming fashionista Estella manages to impress one of the leading designers The Baroness (Emma Thompson) and secures a coveted job at her world famous fashion house. But when Estella discovers a dark secret relating to her own past, she takes on the outrageous alter-ego Cruella to destroy The Baroness by out-fashioning her at every opportunity.

Packed with banging tunes and great dresses, Cruella is a high energy spectacle but it’s the sparring of the two Emmas that brings the real electricity. Forget any future she might have as a puppy killer, in her own film, Cruella is a legend.

7. In the Heights

The sunniest film to hit theaters this season, Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights was as sugary sweet as the frozen Piragua Lin-Manuel Miranda hocks around this movie’s block. Based on the Hamilton composer’s earlier Tony winning musical, the picture was the rare thing: a Broadway adaptation that actually soars as high as its stage production and (rarer still) the first Hollywood blockbuster with an all-Latinx cast.

Movies

How Cruella Got That Crazy Expensive Soundtrack

By Don Kaye

Movies

In the Heights: You Need to Stay for Post-Credits Scene

By David Crow

The film came under fair criticism on social media for not being as inclusive as it could be, but that shouldn’t be the last word on such a big-hearted achievement. From the buoyant performances which have already opened doors for Anthony Ramos and Leslie Grace’s immense charisma, to the Latin, salsa, and hip-hop infused melodies which celebrate a culture long left out of the Hollywood image of American life, In the Heights is a jubilant celebration. There really hasn’t been a giddier time at the multiplex this year. Plus, those “96,000” and “Carnaval del Barrio” sequences really are fire.

6. Zola

Based on a “true” story which was told via a series of tweets posted back in 2015 (and the subsequent Rolling Stone article that brought the tale to prominence), Zola is a stranger-than-fiction saga seen through the lens of social media. An ultra contemporary, experimental, low budget comedy-thriller with a backdrop of abuse and sex trafficking, the film is as willfully uncomfortable to watch as it is massively entertaining.

From the jump, Zola (Taylour Paige) is a Detroit waitress and part time exotic dancer who meets a customer named Stefani (Riley Keough) and agrees to take a trip with her to Florida to hit up strip clubs where Stefani promises they’ll make a lot of money. With them are Stefani’s feckless boyfriend (Succession’s Nicholas Braun) and her obviously dodgy roommate. Sometimes told through spoken tweets with switches in perspective, this marks director Janicza Bravo as a compelling new voice, and her cast of leads as nothing short of captivating.

How much of what you’re watching actually happened? Well, that’s the elusive quality of social media…

5. Judas and the Black Messiah

Fred Hampton was murdered with the consent and planning of law enforcement at both federal and local jurisdiction levels. That Judas and the Black Messiah made this common knowledge would be reason enough for consideration. Yet that director Shaka King tells Hampton’s story so thrillingly here elevates his film into one of the most compelling crime dramas in years—only with the FBI’s illegal COINTELPRO program being the primary criminal element.

Told from the perspective of the man who spied on the Black Panthers and eventually facilitated the raid that took Hampton’s life, Judas radiates a despairing quality which somehow can still feel electrifying whenever Daniel Kaluuya’s powerhouse performance takes center stage. Which is pretty much any time the Black Panther chairman takes the microphone. Kaluuya deserved his Oscar, but LaKeith Stanfield’s paranoid turn as Bill O’Neal, the poor bastard coerced into being a snitch while still a kid, is what gets under your skin and walks beside you after the credits roll.

4. Pig

Are there really folks out there who wandered into a screening of Pig and assumed they’d get the Nicolas Cage knockoff of John Wick? I like to think so, just as I love to imagine what they said to each other afterward. To be sure, Michael Sarnoski’s Pig sounds on paper like something in that ballpark: Cage plays a hermit living in self-exile from his past life when ruffians steal his beloved… truffle pig. In response, he comes down from the mountain, ready to reengage with the old ways.

Movies

Judas and the Black Messiah Remembers Fred Hampton Was a Man of His Words

By Tony Sokol

Movies

The Suicide Squad Character Guide, Easter Eggs, and DCEU References

By Mike Cecchini

Yet when you realize those old ways involve being the greatest chef in his state—and reengagement means partaking in a fight club that’s far more pitiful than it sounds and simply cooking gourmet meals—the more apparent it is that this is a sophisticated, nuanced allegory about grief and self-identity. Anchored by Cage’s best performance in a long, long time, Pig is a gentle and revelatory experience that slowly unpacks its brilliance piece by piece, vignette by vignette. For those coming in wanting fast food, this probably will be a disappointment. For all others, it’s a resplendent five course meal.

3. The Suicide Squad

For once the marketing wasn’t kidding. Writer-director James Gunn does have a horribly beautiful mind, and we at last get to see it fully unleashed on a superhero property. Yes, the filmmaker made many cry over a CGI tree and talking raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, but perhaps not since Logan has a storyteller seen such free rein over valuable studio IP. Gunn didn’t waste it.

The Suicide Squad plays very much like the men and women on a mission ‘60s capers its director grew up on, but that structure is channelled here through a filthy and deranged sensibility. How else can you describe a picture that makes you want to cuddle a land shark who just swallowed a bystander whole? The Suicide Squad does that and more while providing a showcase for sure things like Margot Robbie’s irresistible Harley Quinn, as well as the dregs and rejects of DC Comics who ultimately steal the movie: David Dastmalchian’s Polka-Dot Man and Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2, namely. Box office be damned, this is one of the best superhero films ever made and will be a classic in the years to come.

2. The Green Knight

When you hear the name “King Arthur,” certain elements spring to mind. It’s one of those classic properties which have been adapted, exploited, and parodied with killer rabbits ad nauseam. Even so, it’s safe to say you’ve never seen the lore become as foreboding and startling as this. Reimagined through the gaze of writer-director David Lowery, the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at last takes on a trippy and witchy connotation. An interpretation that pulls as much from medieval paganism as it does obsessions with chivalry and Christian virtue, The Green Knight successfully reinvents its Arthurian quest into a journey toward certain doom.

Movies

The Green Knight: Why David Lowery and Dev Patel Reimagined Arthurian Legend

By David Crow

Movies

The Green Knight Ending Explained

By David Crow

As the central figure on that mission, Dev Patel reveals superstar charisma and the ability to completely command the screen. His version of Gawain, the wayward nephew of King Arthur (Sean Harris), is vain, cowardly, selfish, and somehow wholly sympathetic as he searches for Ralph Ineson’s Green Knight: a godlike creature who has promised to behead Gawain when they meet again. Through it all, Lowery and company craft a sumptuous world that in every shot looks like the most transportive Dungeons and Dragons cover you’ve ever seen. The atmosphere is oppressively brooding, and it will not appeal to everyone. Yet like the very best films released by indie distributor A24, there is a touch of mad genius at work here that demands to be seen and then seen again.

1. Inside

As arguably the best piece of art to come out of 2020’s torments, Bo Burnham’s Inside was not marketed or even conceived of as a film. Nevertheless, it slowly transformed into one throughout its months-long production process, which forewent mere sketch humor to reveal an undeniably cinematic, experimental, and ultimately bleak heart. In other words, it’s a perfect distillation of how all mediums are blurring into that loathsome word: content.

Through heavily edited, conceived, and revised set-pieces, the film’s director, star, writer, and composer lays his insecurities and vanities bare. Filmed inside Burnham’s home studio space, Inside is the result of the young filmmaker behind Eighth Grade becoming acutely aware he’s regressed to his early resources as a teenage YouTube star: a camera, a music keyboard, some synth programs, and hours of idle boredom.

Within those numbing hours, Burnham built something both reflective and suspicious about technology, the internet culture which gave him his career, and even his own self-image. With a catchy songbook of synthesized bangers, many of which echo ’80s pop ballads, Burnham crystallizes better than any typical three-act film the anxieties and delirium of a year spent mostly at home. He also provides a scathing critique of how our concepts of communication and identity have been co-opted and undermined by tech companies whose products incite division for profit—all while still releasing his film on the biggest streaming platform in the world. It’s a challenging, self-loathing, and haunted piece of work that will invariably become a time capsule for its moment in history.

Runner ups that almost made the cut: Annette, Black Widow, Coda, Mr. Soul, No Sudden Move, Raya and the Last Dragon, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, The Sparks Brothers, Val.

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