#web development 2018

[meriablog]

web development,html tutorial,how to make a website,how to get a website,how to build a website,make website,how to,website,web developer,how learn,how to learn,web,development,developer,beginners,for beginners,web development for beginners,2018,web development 2018,web design,website design,website development,full course,course,tutorial

[thathilomgirl]

Just some interesting notes from an interview between Nozomu Mochizuki and the publisher TO Books regarding Tearmoon's writing

[crowswarm]

🕷

[old-powwow-days]

The first major solo museum presentation of fourth-generation Navajo weaver Melissa Cody (b. 1983, No Water Mesa, Arizona) spans the last decade of her practice, showcasing over 30 weavings and a major new work produced for the exhibition. Using long-established weaving techniques and incorporating new digital technologies, Cody assembles and reimagines popular patterns into sophisticated geometric overlays, incorporating atypical dyes and fibers. Her tapestries carry forward the methods of Navajo Germantown weaving, which developed out of the wool and blankets that were made in Germantown, Pennsylvania and supplied by the US government to the Navajo people during the forced expulsion from their territories in the mid-1800s. During this period, the rationed blankets were taken apart and the yarn was used to make new textiles, a practice of reclamation which became the source of the movement. While acknowledging this history and working on a traditional Navajo loom, Cody’s masterful works exercise experimental palettes and patterns that animate through reinvention, reframing traditions as cycles of evolution. Melissa Cody is a Navajo/Diné textile artist and enrolled member of the Navajo/Diné nation. Cody grew up on a Navajo Reservation in Leupp, Arizona and received a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts and Museum Studies from Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe. Her work has been featured in The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (2022); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (2021); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2019–2020); Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff (2019); SITE Santa Fe (2018–19); Ingham Chapman Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (2018); Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock (2018); and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe (2017–18). Cody’s works are in the collections of the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; and The Autry National Center, Los Angeles. In 2020, she earned the Brandford/Elliott Award for Excellence in Fiber Art.

Melissa Cody: Webbed Skies currently on exhibition at MoMA PS1 through September 9nth, 2024

IDs Under the cut

Top to Bottom, Left to Right: White Out. 2012. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 17 × 24″ (43.2 × 61 cm)

Deep Brain Stimulation. 2011. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 40 x 30 3/4 in. (101.6 x 78.1 cm)

World Traveler. 2014. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 90 x 48 7/8 in. (228.6 x 124.1 cm)

Into the Depths, She Rappels. 2023. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 87 x 51 9/16 in. (221 x 131 cm)

Lightning Storm. 2012. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 14 × 20″ (35.6 × 50.8 cm)

Pocketful of Rainbows. 2019. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 19 x 10 3/4 in. (48.3 x 27.3 cm)

Path of the Snake. 2013. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 36 × 24″ (91.4 × 61 cm)

[dalishious]

A BioWare Guide on How to Murder a Fanbase

I have been a Dragon Age super-fan for almost fourteen years, now. I have played every game, with every DLC. I have read every novel, lore book, and every comic — yes, even the terrible ones that are better off forgotten. I have seen the anime film, the animated series, and the web mini-series. I have enjoyed all of these pieces of the franchise over and over, more times than I can count. So, make no mistake: the negativity you’re about to hear comes from a place of love for this fantasy world, developed by many creative people over the years. I would love nothing more than to see the resurrection of passion in the Dragon Age fandom again. But the unfortunate truth is, that resurrection is only needed because BioWare took the fandom out back and shot it in the first place.

In December 2018, three years after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser epilogue DLC, BioWare first announced the then-untitled next Dragon Age game with a teaser trailer. At this point, most fans were anticipating this would mean within the next couple years, we would see the game. This assumption was based on the fact that Dragon Age: Inquisition was first announced in 2012, and released in 2014, with an extra year of development added last minute.

There have been dribbles of extra content since then, adding to the franchise. This was enough to keep some fans still breathing and interested. 2020’s Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights was a lovely anthology. 2020’s Dragon Age: Blue Wraith and 2021’s Dark Fortress were wonderful comics tying up the story started in Knight Errant. And 2022’s Dragon Age: Absolution was a well-animated series with an interesting cast of characters and story. But all these still left the fandom with a major question: What was going on with the next game? It was untypical of BioWare to be so secretive, in comparison to how they handled sharing information of the past games in the franchise. The only form of updates fans still have to go on is mostly just concept art and short stories, hinting that something must be in production. But why was the wait so long?

In 2015, the first version of the next Dragon Age began with a clear vision, clear scope of practice, and a reportedly happy developer team. Most gloriously in my book, there was no multi-player… but this did not align with the Electronic Arts typical money-mad schemes. EA’s push for “games as a service” meant they wanted to monetize all their games as much as possible, and therefore, they wanted them to be a live service — as Anthem demonstrated, that meant sacrificing things that are staples of good RPGs, like narrative and character choice. So in 2017, version one of the next Dragon Age was scrapped and replaced. This new version would have, in total or to at least some degree, an online portion of play.

There is one part of Schreier’s article, “The Past and Present of Dragon Age 4,” that really sticks out to me, regarding this:

“One person close to the game told me this week that Morrison’s critical path, or main story, would be designed for single-player and that goal of the multiplayer elements would be to keep people engaged so that they would actually stick with post-launch content.”

The idea of splitting up components of a game into single-player and multi-player is a terrible idea, because it means that there would be a large bulk of content only accessible through online gaming; something many fans, like myself, are repulsed by. Even if I did enjoy it, I spent most of my life growing up with either no internet or shoddy internet incapable of playing online games. I know many rural people who are still in that position, losing more and more of their favourite gaming pastimes because they are locked out of the ability to play them. It is a disservice to hide content behind a wall like this, especially in a world that is so lore-heavy like Dragon Age. The news of multi-player in Dragon Age understandably upset many, and this is when I first noticed a large drop off in excitement over the next game.

However, in 2021, the failure of Anthem (multi-player) and success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (single-player) led the executives at EA to bend to the wishes of BioWare leadership and allow them to go back to the drawing board yet again on the next Dragon Age. This meant removing all multi-player content!

While I am very happy that there will reportedly be no multi-player in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, I can’t help but feel bitter and a little disgusted over the ridiculous development time spent on something no one but EA wanted in the first place. If it weren’t for this foolishness, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf would be in our hands right now. Instead, it’s been in development hell for nearly nine years and counting. Nine years is a long time to expect fans to carry a torch for you through radio silence, but it’s no wonder BioWare has shared barely anything about the next game; it’s been in flux for so long, they likely haven’t had anything concrete to show.

BioWare hurt its reputation even more when the news broke that the studio very suddenly laid off 50 people who were working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. This is pretty damning on its own, but BioWare took it a step further. Former developer Jon Renish shared a statement revealing that the studio was only willing to offer laid-off employees two weeks of severance per year of service, and denied health benefits. The denial of health benefits in particular is a pretty wild move for a studio with a reputation for “stress casualties”. The latest news on this is that BioWare has still so far refused to negotiate better severance packages, leading to a lawsuit. The lawsuit originally had 15 former employees, but this dropped due to the fear of not being able to afford to pay their bills. So now, while EA sits on $400 million net income, the laid-off employees are struggling to buy holiday presents for their children. These horrid business practices are not to be ignored when accounting for a lack of faith in a studio. What kind of monsters reward workers who make your games special with vaguely reasoned lay-offs?

The latest news on the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf front from BioWare came early this month, December 2023, with a trailer… announcing a trailer that will come next summer… that will announce the release of the game. Supposedly. Maybe. We’ll see. But by this time, BioWare is something of a laughing stock of their own fandom. Reactions to the video released with a pretty map graphic and a few rendered locations were, from what I personally observed, mostly sardonic in nature. People have commented on the vapourware nature of the game, and like all vapourware, that leads to disintegrating trust.

Despite all this, people like Mary Kirby, (one of the veteran Dragon Age writers who was a victim of the layoffs,) said, “it’s bittersweet that Dreadwolf is my last DA game, but I still hope you all love it as much as I do,” encouraging fans to still support the game when it eventually is released. But after every misstep BioWare has taken, that’s a tough sell now. Fans are finicky, RPG fans more so than others, one could argue. We have our favourites, and many of us stick to those favourites for life over our appreciation for the artistry — but that relationship between studio and fan should go both ways. EA and BioWare has betrayed that relationship, and it will take a hell of a lot to build it back up again, now.

[This piece is also available on Medium!]

[henrykathman]

The Miraculous Horror of Stop Motion

From the same artform that brought you Coraline and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, comes three stories that evoke the existential fear of art.

Original Music by Molly Noise

Bibliography below

Atrocity Guide. “The Animators Who’ve Spent 40 Years on a Single Film.” YouTube, 9 Oct. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=73hip3pz0Xs&pp=ygUMdGhlIG92ZXJjb2F0. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Brubaker, Charles. “The Japanese Studios of Rankin/Bass.” Cartoon Research, Jerry Beck, 14 Apr. 2014, cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-japanese-studios-of-rankinbass/.

Bute, Paris. “Introduction to “a Rankin/Bass Retrospective from a New Perspective.”” Citizen Jane, Stephens College, 19 Nov. 2021, www.citizenjane.org/home/cwwicd2ucb2fvs64kgfaocfykjhaum. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Crome, Althea. “Coraline.” Althea Crome | Micro Knitter, 2012, www.altheacrome.com/coraline. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Harold Halibut. Directed by Onat Hekimoğlu, Slow Bros., 16 Apr. 2024.

Hekimoglu, Onat, and Gabriel Schmitz. “Unite Berlin 2018 - Harold Halibut and Making a Stop Motion Game.” Unity, YouTube, 6 Aug. 2018, youtu.be/9usssSQc0wQ. Accessed 6 May 2023.

Jon "Sikamikanico" Clarke. “The Making of Harold Halibut.” XboxEra, YouTube, 21 Mar. 2024, youtu.be/WMyxM9t3o7A. Accessed 19 June 2024.

LAIKA Studios. “Sweater and Gloves: Knitting Coraline by Hand.” YouTube, 11 July 2017, youtu.be/zUvkfcGR-7U. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Mad God Productions. “Phil Tippett’s “Mad God.”” Kickstarter, 17 May 2012, www.kickstarter.com/projects/madgod/phil-tippetts-mad-god/posts.

Olson, Mathew. “Report: Michel Ancel Accused of Abusive, Disruptive Practices on beyond Good & Evil 2.” VG247, 25 Sept. 2020, www.vg247.com/report-michel-ancel-accused-of-abusive-disruptive-practices-on-beyond-good-evil-2. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Ono, Kosei. “Tadahito Mochinaga: The Japanese Animator Who Lived in Two Worlds.” Animation World Network, AWN, Inc, 1 Dec. 1999, www.awn.com/animationworld/tadahito-mochinaga-japanese-animator-who-lived-two-worlds.

Orland, Kyle. “Claptrap Voice Actor Accuses Gearbox CEO of Assault, Underpayment.” Ars Technica, 7 May 2019, arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/claptrap-voice-actor-accuses-gearbox-ceo-of-assault-underpayment/. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Pilling, Jayne. A Reader In Animation Studies. Indiana University Press, 1998. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/book/40033.

Prehistoric Beast. Directed by Phil Tippett, Tippett Studios, 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlaXIRTjNfo

Randles, Jonathan. “VFX Studio with Star Wars, Jurassic Park Credits Goes Bankrupt.” Bloomberg Law, 1 May 2024, news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/vfx-studio-with-star-wars-jurassic-park-credits-goes-bankrupt. Accessed 19 June 2024.

Shanley, Patrick. “Gearbox Software CEO Accused of Contempt in Latest Filing.” The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Aug. 2019, www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/gearbox-software-ceo-accused-contempt-latest-filing-1235064/. Accessed 19 June 2024.

The Making of “Jurassic Park.” Directed by John Schultz, Amblin Entertainment, 1995. https://youtu.be/8r01mk6F_Pk

The Making of Mad God. Directed by Maya Tippett, Shudder, 2021. https://youtu.be/sfUOHh0xmwc

The Tale of the Fox. Directed by Irene Starewicz and Ladislas Starevich, UFA GmbH, 10 Apr. 1941. https://youtu.be/Us_Pn6Q1dBQ

Wikipedia contributors. "List of films with longest production time." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 12 Jun. 2024. Web. 19 Jun. 2024.

Wikipedia contributors. "List of media notable for being in development hell." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 Jun. 2024. Web. 19 Jun. 2024.

Wikipedia contributors. "List of Rankin/Bass Productions films." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Jun. 2024. Web. 19 Jun. 2024.

Wikipedia contributors. "Tadahito Mochinaga." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 Nov. 2023. Web. 19 Jun. 2024.

Wilson, Josh. “Phil Tippett: 24 Frames per Second < the Fabulist Words & Art.” The Fabulist Words & Art, 5 Nov. 2021, fabulistmagazine.com/24-frames-per-second-the-phil-tippett-interview/.

Worse than the Demon. Directed by Maya Tippett, Shudder, 2013. https://youtu.be/ghKqvDNRe4c

[kika-ila]

Hi there! Around 2018, I came across yours and Lisosa's artwork and instantly fell in love with it! You inspired me to develop and work on my own style. But for a while I lost interest because of work and college-related issues. I wanted to check in with you guys today and learned that you two have been going through some difficult times. I wanted to let you know that you two are a great inspiration to me and that I, along with many others, will always be here to support and enjoy any art you create. Thank you so much for everything you do and I hope everything turns out well for you guys!

It has been some time since this message, but thank you so much! I made Lisosa read this too, I show her everytime when I get a message asking about her, because she is still so scared about online experiences she doesn't want open a web page alone.

Almost every couple of days we have a panic attac like this:

Actually she does draw, she still draw wonderful things (mostly our D&D characters right now because we play with our best friends and this make us both feel better), then I say "You should let people see this, it's so cute!", she says "nooooooo it's not that good I'm not that good tell everyone I'm dead" and then we're both sad.

One day things will be better, I'm sure... life is made of up and downs and we live in an extremely problematic time for everyone.

Anyway, I know it's not much, but I have some very old picture of Paldeas's starters to share:

[aa-rvf]

VIDEO GAME: MARVEL'S SPIDER MAN

Quicoy, Aaron Arvie F. BSIT - 1A

OVERVIEW

Ref: TheRadBrad - Marvel's Spider-Man Start Menu (PS5,PC)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered is a remastered version from one of the best PS4 exclusive superhero games that was released back on 2018. The remastered version developed by Insomniac Games in collaboration with Marvel, and optimized for PC by Nixxes Software, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered on PC introduces an experienced Peter Parker who’s fighting big crime and iconic villains in Marvel’s New York. At the same time, he’s struggling to balance his chaotic personal life and career while the fate of Marvel’s New York rests upon his shoulders.

Ref: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817070/Marvels_SpiderMan_Remastered/

PROTAGONIST

The game follows Peter parker A.K.A Spider-Man who has been the friendly neighborhood superhero for eight years. He is now an experienced superhero balancing his personal life and duties as Spider-Man. The plot of the game revolves around Peter Parker's battles with various villains, such as Kingpin, Mister Negative, Shocker and many more. The game narrative is emotionally charged, focusing on Peter's relationships, and his struggles with his responsibilities, and the constant burden of being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Web-Swinging Through the Skies of New York City

Ref: TheRadBrad - Marvel's Spider-Man Start Menu (PS5,PC)

One of the best features of the game is the web-swinging mechanics. Insomniac Games nailed the feeling of soaring through New York city as Spider-Man. With each we swing, you can feel the speed, momentum, freedom, and strength of Spider-Man has. Whether you're on a mission or simply roaming the open world of Manhattan, web-swinging will always be one of the things to enjoy.

The game also adds parkour and wall-crawling mechanics that feel seamless, making navigation more dynamic. And when you get tired of swinging? There’s always the option to use fast travel, which even includes fun cutscenes of Spider-Man taking the subway.

Spider-Man Suits!

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZMH90R2OMk

One of the most best aspects of the game is the wide variety of Spider-Man suits you can unlock. Each suit has it's own power and abilities and it looks cool. Whether you’re wearing the Sam Raimi Spider-Man suit from the classic movie Spider-Man from 2002, the classic Spider-Man suit, or the slick Spider Armor, there’s always a suit that feels right for the moment. Plus, the suit mods and skill trees let you customize Spider-Man’s abilities to match your playstyle.

[blueberry-lemon]

An introductory guide to getting into Sonic the Hedgehog...

…if you're a grown-ass adult who is busy and doesn't want to play a bunch of video games but thinks the characters look sorta cool.

If you've ever been curious about Sonic as a series but haven't known where to start, I have some recommendations! I think Sonic is a cool and still somewhat unique thing because it takes cartoony characters (like a Mickey Mouse or Felix the Cat) and lets them jump around in cool action sequences through the lens of a shonen anime. It's colorful and usually pretty light-hearted, and I think the character designs are pretty iconic.

There's two handy places you can start without prior context, to see if it's something you'd be into...

Getting Started: If You Wanna Read Something

The IDW Sonic Comics

There were years of different Sonic comics back in the '90s and early 2000's, but the franchise got a complete reboot and fresh start with IDW Publishing in 2018. If you're looking for the most straight-forward way to get into this world of characters, I think this is a great start. You don't need any prior knowledge whatsoever to crack open issue 1 and get started. All you need to know is "Sonic and his friends protect the world by fighting against an evil scientist named Dr. Eggman, who they just recently defeated after he briefly took over the world."

I love these comics and I feel that the writers and artists who work on it have a really good sense for this series. Reading issues 1 through 12 will get you the first major story arc. If you like it so far, I highly suggest reading up through issue 32, when another major story arc concludes. After that, the world's your oyster! Unlike the tangled web of Marvel or DC comics, IDW Sonic has a very simple and linear reading order. You pretty much just read the issues in order, and occasionally there are spinoff stories that are optional to read.

Getting Started: If You Wanna Watch Something

Sonic Mania Adventures

Maybe comics aren't your thing and you want something even quicker. These are a series of animated shorts that are lovely. Conveniently, they've been compiled together by Sega into one little video right here.

It's a great intro to some of the main characters, and combines cartoon slapstick with some amazing action sequences.

There's also a nice little epilogue short.

Sonic CD's intro cutscene

If I had to pick a single 1-and-a-half minute clip to embody what I like about this series, it would be this very simple intro movie that plays before Sonic CD. Check it out!

Sonic Origins/Sonic Origins Plus Cutscenes

In 2022, Sega released a compilation of the classic Genesis games on modern consoles. In it, they added a few animated cutscenes. You can watch those cutscenes, plus the Sonic CD intro and the Sonic Mania Adventures episodes, all compiled into one handy Youtube video.

Taking The Next Step: If You Wanna Read Something

The Archie Sonic Comics

You might have heard that Sonic had a comic series published by Archie Comics from 1992 to 2016. This was a vast, overarching series that wrote an original story by weaving together ideas from the different Sonic cartoons and games. It went through several different writers, many different artists, and obviously spanned over multiple eras of pop culture.

It's pretty cool! The fact that it was so long-running, and the fact that Sega wasn't very strict with what the writers could do, led to a lot of buckwild lore, new characters, and plot developments. That said, it's also pretty bizarre, complicated, corny, and cringey at times. There is a stretch in the middle that is pretty infamous among fans.

You have a few options for jumping in.

Option A: You can start at the very beginning and read all of it. If you do this, it is going to be like a One Piece / Homestuck / etc. kind of undertaking, and you're going to be pushing through the good and the bad of huge genre and tone shifts. That's your call!

Option B: You can brush up on the main characters on a wiki and then start at Issue 160, when Ian Flynn (who now does a lot of work on IDW Sonic) became the lead writer. More specifically, you can jump in at the start of a new story arc by starting at Issue 175.

Option C: You can start at Issue 252, when there is a universe-altering event that essentially retcons all of the characters and plot threads from the previous writers and starts completely fresh. Easier to keep track of and you won't have to worry about all the previous plot and lore.

If you want something you can read in a single sitting, you should instead read Sonic: Mega Drive, a short-lived miniseries published by Archie that follows "Classic Sonic" characters (aka, the same vibe and art style of Sonic Origins, Sonic Mania Adventures, etc.) It's really great!

Taking The Next Step: If You Wanna Watch Something

Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA) aka "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" (1996)

This is, essentially, a 1-hour Sonic anime movie. You can watch it in Japanese or in English. I adore it. It makes up its own lore and continuity so you don't need to know anything before going in, besides generally knowing a one-sentence synopsis of who Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Robotnik are. It's action-packed, well-animated, and has great music. Enjoy! Sonic X If you're enjoying what you've seen so far, and you want something much, much longer...there's an official 78-episode anime adaptation of Sonic called Sonic X. It's an original story that loosely pulls together some ideas from a few of the games. It's mostly intended for a younger audience, but I hear if you watch it in the original uncut Japanese, it feels a little less "for kids."

Other Ways To Get Into Sonic

There's some great video essays on Youtube about the series!

Professional animator Dan Floyd did an in-depth video looking at the highs and lows of Sonic character animation in the games starting from Sonic 1 up through Sonic Forces.

Super Bunnyhop plays through the first level of a bunch of Sonic games to compare how the mechanics, physics, and level design feel throughout the games' history.

Liam Triforce has a great deep dive on the franchise's music.

You can play The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, a murder-mystery-party themed visual novel put out by Sega. It's nice and short, so you can finish it in an afternoon.

If you haven't seen them already, you can check out the live-action/animated hybrid films Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 featuring Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey, they're pretty good. That Sonic Prime cartoon that's currently on Netflix is pretty good too.

This may sound strange, but honestly you might enjoy poring over the sprite sheets from the old games. In particular, I really like the sprite animations from the GBA games, like Sonic Advance and Sonic Battle.

Sega is pretty lax about allowing noncommercial fan games, so there's at least a hundred different Sonic fan games out there by hobbyist developers. Check out the Sonic Amateur Games Expo and the Sonic Fan Games HQ.

You can watch LPs or cutscene compilations of the games on Youtube! If you watch Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes, you'll get a crash course on most of the characters.

And finally, of course...you can play the games if you want to! There's a number of them that are available on Steam, Switch, Xbox, and Playstation if you don't have access to older consoles.

There's a lot of different angles to come at Sonic as a franchise, and lots of different entry points. Have fun!

[britcision]

I’m pretty sure the people bitching about not giving money to tumblr are the same ones who complain when AO3 or wikipedia ask for donations, so I’m just gonna clarify something

Running a website is not free

Even if they made no changes and did only maintenance, they still need to pay for server costs, expert programmers for when something goes wrong, storage (although frankly storage is cheap as chips these days which is nice)

They need to keep up with the capabilities of new tech like improvements to web browsers, never mind their own apps keeping pace with old and new tech developments

Backwards compatibility (being able to run the updated app on old tech) is a massive problem for apps on a regular basis, because there are people out here using an iPod and refusing to update software

There’s a reason every few years apps like Animal Crossing will issue an update that breaks backwards compatibility and you can only play if your phone is running more recent software

This shit costs money even before you look into the costs of human moderation, which I’m not exactly convinced is a big part of their current budget but fucking should be if we want an actual fix for their issues with unscreened ads and reporting bigots

Ignoring that it’s apparently illegal for companies not to actively chase profits, running Tumblr is expensive

And advertisers know we fucking hate them here

They’re still running ads, which we know because they’re all over the damn place, but half the ads are for Tumblr and its store

Other ad companies know we are not a good market, so they’re not willing to put the money in

Tumblr runs at a $30 million deficit, every year, because hosting a site is expensive

They are trying to take money making ideas from other social medias because they’re not a charity; they need to make enough money to keep the site going

If you want tumblr to keep existing, never mind fixing its many issues that require human people to be paid to do jobs like moderation, they will need money

Crabs cost $3

One crab day a year can fix the deficit and hammer home for Tumblr that:

A) we do want to be here and want the site to keep going

And B) they do not need to do the normal social media money making strategies we all hate

They need a way to make money if you want the hellsite to exist, because we live in a capitalist hellscape and cannot all be AO3

If they think they can make enough to keep running without pulling all the tricks we hate, they have no reason to pull said tricks

But they need money

And a way to make money

And if we can show them we can do that, there is a significantly higher chance they will listen to us, the user base they need money from, than if we don’t

Tumblr isn’t perfect, or anywhere close. They need someone to actually screen the paid ads they put through, they need to take the transphobia, antisemitism, and bigotry seriously

These Are Jobs That Will Cost Money

People Need To Be Fucking Paid For Their Work

Tumblr Is Not Run By Volunteers For Free And Nor Should It Be

Paying People Is Good Actually

So if you wanna get all high and mighty over $3/year, by all means, go spend that hard earned cash elsewhere

Good luck finding a perfect and morally pure business to give it to though

Being a whiny negative asshole isn’t more appealing just because you’ve put yourself on a moral soapbox, it just means the asshole is a little higher up

For all the whining about “all the new updates are terrible this site is unusable”…. It’s one fuck of a lot more usable than it was in 2017, 2018, 2020

And yeah, it’s going back down and most of the newer ones have been fucking annoying and I would also like them to stop

But it got up somehow and that means it could do that again

Hope is more fun than edgy nihilism

August 1st is a good and exciting day to summon a crab army

[mas--away]

Masterlist of Fundraisers from the Palestinians who reached out to me this week (october 10-18)

Verified or Verified by Association:

Hiyam Shehab and Muhammed Shehab  (@hyamshehab96) are wife and husband and they have 2 sons named Zain and Yahya who are in need of evacuation (https://gofund.me/3e0c4580) (vetted by @/90-ghost)

Ahmad Jehad (@ahmad-syam6) is 28 years old, has a wife and a young daughter. He and his family are now displaced and living in a tent in Deir Al-Bahal (https://gofund.me/028d6998) (#84 on @/gazavetters vetted list)

Ghazi Al Amoudi (@ghazialamoudi) is 25 years old and from a family of 7. He is an instructional designer. He and his family are now displaced and living in a tent in Deir Al-Balah.  (https://gofund.me/8a2c70d7) (#89 on @/gazavetters vetted list)

Salem (@salem-baker) is 26 years old has a wife named Hadeel and 2 children named Laila and Bakr they live in northern part of Gaza (https://gofund.me/1a1829cd) (vetted by @/90-ghost)

Mohammed Ayyad (@mohammedayyads-blog) has wife and kids. Him and his family which consisting of 15 people are currently living in a tent in Rafah (https://gofund.me/91f6b11b) (vetted by @/bilal-salah0 here)

Nisreen (@nisreensuhail) is a mother of 3 who unfortunatly lost her husband. Her brother suffers from bipolar disorder and due to lack of treatment is in a critical condition (https://gofund.me/917ecb89) (#75 on @/gazavetters vetted list)

Ahmed Basil ( @anas--ahmed ) is a recent highschool graduate and his brother (Ahmad 14) both of them want to continue their education in Egypt (https://gofund.me/9c46877a)(vetted by @/90-ghost)

Shahad (@shah599) suffered from massacre and harsh enviorment yet never lost their hope in becoming a doctor help them complete their education (https://gofund.me/6653e930)(vetted by @/90-ghost)

Jana (@janaabunaje) who is 11 years old. Due to occupation demolishing their house their father suffer from a severe injury which led to dispute between their mother and father help them travel to treat their fathers injury and live in a stable family (https://gofund.me/3b401079) (#132 on @/gazavetters vetted list)

Ayman Basil (@aymanbasil2) who reached out to me for his brother Osama Basil who is a web developed from Gaza who lost his job due to war. Even though Osama's livelihood was destroyed he is trying to rebuild his and his family's life back up (https://gofund.me/100da7db) (#146 on @/gazavetters vetted list)

Ahmed Sobeh ( @ahmedsobeh2009 ) whos autism has worsened drastically under the constant bombing and destruction. Now, he suffers from painful fungal infections on his scalp due to contaminated water and poor hygiene, and he’s slowly losing his hearing and sight. (https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=EJ892Z3JYTPYS) (vetted by association as you can see here)

Noura Ayman ( @nourasissue-4 ) Noura and her husband Ibrahim worked in a hospital and were studying for a Master’s degree together. They have a baby daughter named Hanan. Her father-in-law has kidney cancer and requires treatment. She is trying to evacuate herself, her husband, theri baby, her parents-in-law, her father and her brothers (Samed (15) and Doaa (18)) out of Gaza. (https://gofund.me/dd15ac0f) (vetted and promoted by @/gaza-evacuation-funds!)

Eman (@emanalmadhoun7) wo is a 20 year old and mother of 2 (Waleed and Layan) displaced several times and in need of evacuation (https://gofund.me/ef9fc38b) (vetted by association you can see here)

Not yet Verified:

Rimas (@remasmarouf) is a 14 year old girl who suffers from cancer has older siblings and she is in need of treatment (https://gofund.me/253a1ac2)

Mohammed (@helpmohammed2024) 's father passed away in 2018 and now he is taking care of his mother and younger brothers and they are in need of a tent (https://gofund.me/db1b926b)

Jehad Aldahdooh (@jehad-aldahdooh) has a family of 8 was subjected to bombing and lost some people then they displaced to Rafah, and they do not have any sources of income (https://gofund.me/a0ce5ab8)

Fatima(@fatmakuhail22) a 22-year-old mother of two beautiful children, Masoud (4) and Masa (1). My husband Tariq, 33, lost their home and was displaced nearly five times (https://gofund.me/5301c8d7)

@shahdgazas-blog is mother of a family consisting of 8 people. Who has a little girl who is 14 years old, her name is Farah. She suffers from kidney failure and autism. (https://gofund.me/e5c8cd3a)

How are gfm campaigns vetted?   Look at here, here, here and here.

See post here for other verified ways to send aid to Gaza.

Don't forget your Daily Clicks on Arab.org, it's free!!! and Every click made is registered in their system and generates donation from sponsors/advertisers.

[ineffable-opinions]

BL doujin & Men Who Make Some of Them

If BL is stories of androphilic men by androphilic women, then what’s the opposite of that? It would probably be stories of androphilic women by androphilic men.

The latter is what Minamoto Kazuki mainly dabbles in.

Apart from straight & BL manga, he also authored Shoujo Manga Artist Minamoto-San Comes Out. Yeah, that’s the title. It is autobiographical if that wasn’t obvious. Arguably, his most famous manga, at least in BL fandom, is Wall Circle's Doujin Artist Nekoyashiki-Kun's Desire for Recognition Grows which got live-action adaptation: KabeKoji in 2022.

Androphilic male characters who create straight content is not rare in BL. In 2023, from what I can recall, we got two such characters: Sung Woo Jae from Individual Circumstances (2023) and Yoh from Taikan Yoho (2023). Jinta from Cherry Magic (2023) also writes (presumably straight) romance. Even before that, we got an entire BL live-action franchise (starting with The Novelist (2018)).

Doujin production and consumption

Doujinshi (doujin for short) is self-published works. It includes both derivative works (fan works) as well as original works. It is estimated that nearly half of the doujin produced and circulated are BL. These are traditionally sold at conventions like Comiket. These days doujin are sold online, for example through dedicated websites like DL site.

Doujinshi culture and Comiket especially has been instrumental in the development of BL as a genre. Unfortunately, unlike other BL pioneers such as Mari Mori (her 1961 novel A Lovers' Forest is considered the first BL) and the Year 24 Group, Meikyu doujin circle (Yoshihiro Yonezawa in particular) seldom find mention in history of BL.

BL doujin grew side by side with commercially published works. The original use of the portmanteau yaoi (no peak, no fall, no meaning) was an indication of plot what plot nature of those doujins that subverted the East Asian narrative structure to focuse exclusively on erotic relations. Doujin BL varied widely in themes and approaches, even more than commercial BL as doujin are not created to appeal to the masses, instead cater to super-specific fandoms. Also, it is easier to debut into doujin arena than to commercial BL. However, since these are literally ‘thin books’ in most cases, there is associated limitation. There is cost of printing to be taken into account as well.

As more explicit doujin (yaoi) and less explicit BL (shonen ai, etc.) coevolved in a porous environment, BL transformed into a successful genre in itself with numerous dedicated magazines and multimedia adaptations. Moreover, doujin was good ground for experimentation and yields in that arena made its way into mainstream BL and enriched it.

Commercial BL welcomed many doujinshika into its fold. e.g. Ayano Yamane (author of the Finder series) is associated with a bunch of doujin circles at different points in time: GUN MANIA, Shouhoku Taiiku Yougushitsu and Ouka Seisaku.

BL mangaka continued producing both doujin and commercial BL. e.g. Kizu Natsuki (author of Given) is a prolific doujinshika under the name Gusari in Sashikizu circle.

BL mangaka produced doujin of their own work. e.g. Ichikawa Kei (author of Blue Sky Complex) published erotic extras as doujin.

These days, there is pixiv among others and long serialization possibilities. Authors are less constrained by space – unlike physical publication, web publication is not constrained by real estate (number of pages, chapters, etc.). Thanks to the internet, the distance between doujin and commercial BL have shortened. 

A lot of gei comi (bara) is also self-published.

Doujin BL culture exists everywhere BL is famous with wide variation.

Doujin played an important role in emergence and growth of Korean BL. e.g. Totally Captivated by Yoo Ha Jin had doujin extras.

Chinese doujin culture is slightly different from that in other countries. Note-worthy is the self-publication of danmei (Chinese BL) novels. Three most recent cases against danmei authors [and their accomplices including those who helped the authors print, bind, package and sell those copies] were for self-publication.  

天一(Tian Yi) for her student X teacher SM erotica 攻占 (Seize Control)  - charged for self-publication and violation of law prohibiting publication of obscenity [explicit SM involving a 17-year-old student and his teacher in the novel]

深海先生 (Mr. Deep Sea) for her historical romance 锁帝翎 (aka 笼中帝 ; The Caged Emperor)  - charged for self-publication.

There is a third. But the details are not available in the public domain.

It used to be a common practice for authors to self-publish uncensored versions of their web-published works, sometimes with explicit extras. These were intended for fans who wanted to collect these copies and to express their appreciation to the authors. Both self-publishing and “obscene content” are illegal in China.

Doujin, BL and their creators

Kabe Koji is the journey of a doujinshika, Mamoru Nekoyashiki, who yearns to be recognized as such and also as a beloved. While in high school, he fell in love with his childhood friend Kazama Issei whom he is sure doesn’t like him like that, thanks to rampant compulsory heterosexuality. Being gay was something he felt he had to keep under wraps not only because of fear of rejection but also because of heterosexism. Talented in drawing, he visits Comic King, a popular otaku convention where he discovers a different world – where male androphilia is celebrated in art.

This inspires him to cultivate his talent in drawing and to pursue a career in manga. Since the art he was most drawn in by was ero-manga with macho uke with bitch characteristics, that’s the style he pursues.

When we meet him, this is the subgenre that we see him focusing on. His influences are pretty obvious.

Moreover, the main character (hence the target of affection in his work) looks a bit like his crush. Issei notices this and tries to draw himself like that (with disproportionately thin neck) in little notes and letters to his Mamocchi.

[I honestly think Nakao Masaki was bit of a miscast for this role appearance-wise because in the manga Issei is more on the gacchiri (muscular) side of ikemen. Whoever thought Torii-san’s uke from Fudanshi Bartender no Tashinami (2022) would be right fit for Issei’s character. The actor clearly didn’t disappoint in any other aspect. This is like the case with casting decision in One Room Angel (2023) wherein a manga character with gachimuchi aesthetics was changed into a lean ikemen. An opportunity for a different body-type was wasted. No complains against those actors since they aren’t the ones responsible for casting.] This is an erroneous assessment. Thank you @tompetertrash for correcting me.

Nekoyashiki, while pursuing training and education in manga making, has already established himself as a fairly successful doujinshika known as Honeniku-sensei of Muscle Department Store. He belongs to the Wall Circle.

"Kabe circle" (wall circle) — a slang term for doujin groups or "circles" that are popular enough for their booths to be placed beside the wall of the convention, for ease of line management. (Source: ANN)

He is friends with Yamada, a fujoshi who is his support in creating, defending and selling doujin.

Such friendships are not too rare. For example, friendship between Yoh and Manju in Taikan Yoho (2023). And the IRL friendship between female danmei author Lan Lin and male manhuajia Liang Azha.

Yun SuAn's friend Choi is a BL manhwaga in My Damn Business (2024).

Nekoyashiki meets two other characters at Comic King: Framboise and Takkun.

Framboise is the president of a doujin circle called Bearded Beauties. He is very popular. He is not only among the wall circles each time we see him, but also is showered with gifts by his fans. He acknowledges that he has been doujinshika for years. His art resembles him – body-type, facial hair, moe. He keeps inviting Nekoyashiki warmly to a gathering of muscle BL artists despite getting turned down. His interactions with Nekoyashiki are precious.

Takkun is Nekoyashiki’s fan. He is inspired by Nekoyashiki and worked hard to establish himself as a wall circle doujinshika.

His rise from a consumer to producer of doujin and finally a wall circle doujinshika mirror's Nekoyashiki’s journey. Moreover, his rise is contrasted with Nekoyashiki’s fall.

Also, one of two characters on his doujin cover looks a lot like him.

Unlike Framboise and Takkun who draw what they like, Nekoyashiki draws to be recognized.

Nekoyashiki draws a second season to his previous work Please Suck on my Enormous, Manly Tits. Despite Yamada’s best hopes, it is not popular at all and loses Nekoyashiki his position as a wall circle doujinshika. He bids goodbye to Suck My Manly Tits series and to ero-manga sub-genre in general.

In a desperate attempt to climb back into popularity, he tries classic BL pairing. We get to see him reading commercial BL as a part of his research. This is an obvious mistake. Yamada wants to intervene but hesitates and ultimately gives up.

When his next doujin, My Perfect Boss Became My Perfect Spouse, also flops, he loses his resolve to be a mangaka.

Yamada asks Nekoyashiki to be more honest and expressive in his creation.

In the end, Nekoyashiki creates a doujin inspired by his own relationship and aspirations – a work that, Framboise and Yamada notices, is to Nekoyashiki’s satisfaction.   

It is common for at least some characters by male BL and gei comi mangakas (who have revealed themselves) to look at least a little bit like themselves. To see examples, check out the beginning of Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It where representative art and artists are placed side by side. Some even acknowledge this. e.g. Chinese BL manhuajia Liang Azha once commented on how his shou (uke) tend to look like him as he is today and his gong (seme) resemble his looks from his college days. Moreover, art tend to inspire clothing, haircuts, and other features which in turn inspire art. The influence Tom of Finland had on androphilic men of his days and they on him is discussed in his 2017 biopic. Similarly, mangakas are influenced by their senpais in the field and sometimes it is noticeable in their art too. e.g. Gengoroh Tagame’s historical works looks quite a bit like those of Go Mishima.

Other BL doujinshika in Live-action BL

Yoh from Taikan Yoho (2023) creates his first BL doujin, inspired by his ikemen boyfriend and their relationship, in collaboration with his mangaka friend Manju after his career as commercial mangaka of straight ero-manga takes a nose-dive.

BL Metamorphosis (2022) depicted the process of BL doujin creation in detail as the main character, Sayama Urara, embarks on that journey. Her friends offer her support, especially Ichinoi Yuki who funds the printing and binding. Sayama Urara doesn’t debut as doujinshika as she doesn’t set up her booth at the convention. However, one of the copies lands in the hand of one of her favorite authors Komeda Yu whose commercial BL work Kimi no Koto dake Miteitai was what brought Sayama Urara and Ichinoi Yuki together.

Komeda Yu on the other hand is a doujinshika turned commercial BL mangaka. She visits the convention in hopes of overcoming writer’s block and to rediscover her passion for drawing. She is motivated by the doujin that Sayama Urara created and emerges out of slump to continue with her series. 

Fudanshi Bartender no Tashinami (2022) revolves around Soichiro Hibiki, a fudanshi bartender moonlighting as a BL doujinshika, who draws inspiration from his customers and fellow bar staff to fuel his passion.

Minamoto Kazuki

While narrative drives home the point that the various pieces of art we see are works of respective doujinshika characters through haircuts and body types, the fact remains that most of those are actual doujin by Minamoto Kazuki aka MELU. He belongs to the circle: GOOD BYE LIFE.

In case anyone want to read them, here are the links:

Kumabayashi at Work Has Not Underwear Line

One Million Miles: The Complete Collection

Competition Swimming Brief in Suit Man

A Midsummer Night's Beach Story: SM Assault Works 2

Suck My Manly Tits manga: 俺の雄っぱいがでっかくなっちまうくらいちゅーちゅー吸ってくれ

俺の雄っぱいがでっかくなっちまうくらいちゅーちゅー吸ってくれ2

"Suck My Manly Tits" doujin is in its 3rd season: 俺の雄っぱいがでっかくなっちまうくらいちゅーちゅー吸ってくれ3

Autobiographical pieces that didn't figure prominently:

30年以上マンガをほとんど読んだことなかった彼氏がBL沼にハマった話 (A story about how my boyfriend, who has barely read manga for over 30 years, got addicted to BL swamp.)

J庭でちいさな夢を叶えたゲイカップルの話 : Story of a gay mangaka and his boyfriend who participated in J.GARDEN, and their little dream that came true.

The cover of this doujin got live-action adaptation in one scene that one would miss if not looking closely:

Other interesting works by Minamoto Kazuki

Autobiographical: Shōjo Mangaka no Minamoto-san ga Kaminguauto Shimasu.

2. Those with English translation:

The Midnight Association for The Broken Hearted

The salaryman who has a fetish for suit gets horny.

The Gay Who Turned Kaiju

3. Essay-manga about doujin-making

夜寝てる間にBL原稿のお手伝いをしてくれる妖精さんがいた話

BL同人原稿(アナログ18禁!!)を東京から大阪の印刷所まで届けてくれた彼氏の話

4. About Kabe Koji (2022) live-action:

自分が原作の実写ドラマの大ファンになってしまったので原作者自らヲタ活をしています。

自分が原作の実写BLドラマをリアタイしたくて大阪へ行ってきました。

___

This is dedicated to @bengiyo and @liyazaki for gifs featuring Framboise. Thank you very much. While I was trying my hand at a review for One Room Angel (2023) and wanted to express my disappointment at the lean ikemen casting for Kouki’s role, I got an opportunity to use those gifs. I really wish someone would create some gifs for SHIMBASHI TUGBOAT content too.

(Especially this scene.)

For someone who is as much a fan of “tribes” as BenZi, I would not mind playing the 9Monster live-action BL bingo version.

[probably-mae]

Hi, its 2am and i spent the last 2hrs writing this out of pure boredroom

Sources : wikipédia, french and english version+fandom and another website i forgot for infos abt touhou

Who is Toby fox?

Hi and wellcome to m'y rant about the creator of 2 of m'y hyperfixations, Toby fox this zbsolute legend

Toby fox is a game developer and a music composer for his own games but also for other "small projects" like fucking pokemon.

Background

He originally studied enviromental sciences while working on music for the web-comic homestuck in 2009 and touhou fan music on Tumblr (he has his own touhou oc btw the name's Apple Girlington) (when i said he was a legend i wasnt joking, this guy has been in fandom culture he knows what were made of hes one of us) from what i've read he also made an album on mpreg called 'the baby is you'. His first game, or well first full fledged project in dev that we know of is a rom hack for Earthbound on the occasion of halloween 2008 .

Undertale

Ofcourse when i say Toby fox and you reconise that name the first thing that comes to mind us probably Undertale or Deltarune his biggest projects and most well know ones and also the reason im writing this at midnigth on a sunday (sue me, i cant sleep) anyways, if you infact didnt reconise the name or simply do not know WTF im talking about well let me give you a quick run down : Undertale is a game about a child falling into the underground, the place where monsters were banished many years ago and now has to find a way to escape it alive. Undertale's first kickstarter started in 2013 and the final game was published in 2015. It got really popular real fast gaining a lot of attention and praise for its originality in gameplay and amazing music making Toby a name for himself in the world of indie gaming.

Deltarune

So, deltarune, Deltarune is toby's secound game and is still going on rigth now and by that i mean that the game is stuctured with chapters, as im writing theres only 2 out of the 7 planed chapters out and 3+4 are getting released soon (June 5). This game was actually inspired by a dream Today had in 2011 he actually begane working on it after that while also beginning to work on Undertale, from what i understood Undertale was sort of a test to know if he could bring his idea to life, taking ideas from deltarune into Undertale, Resulting in the two games to have some of the main cast beeing the same while different due to a different setting and story, they are describe as beeing alternate universes of eachothers (does thqt make the other aus canon in a way?) anyways, on the contrary of Undertale who had a funding deltarune was put out there with for only warning a twitter post from Toby a few days before its release in 2018. A small rundown : Kris, a human teenager who lives in a monster village goes to class with his adoptive mom, she waves you goodbye and you enter class, the teacher runs out of chalk and asks you and Susie, the local bully, to get more from the suply closer, there you and Susie fall into what seems to be another dimention called a dark world and you have to get out of here alive. The game was released for free on most Platforms for the 2 first chapter (starting from 3+4 they'll have a price but you just gotta pay like 25 once to get all future chapters too when they release).

Nintendo

So, remember when i talked about pokemon ? Yeah well from what i gatered after his games got released on the switch, the guy got some connexions in nintendo and got to meet smash's creator, they played against eachother and ended up having a similar level, im not sure if its due to this but gamefreak did Ask him to make a remix of megalovania (one of undertale's most know songs) and the permission to implant sans as one of the mii's costumes in Smash Bros after. Later on he got to make a music for the batlle tower in 'sword' n' 'shield' and compose for 'Little town hero' all beeing gamefreak games and in 2022 he anouced working on pultiple song for 'scarlet' n' 'violet'. He also worked on various other project such as voice acting in 'we baby bear' or as a composer in multiple songs over the years. Bro even remixed ed sheran's song for pokemon wich i find hilarious.

This guy's work facinates me and i will forever be happy while enjoying it. Yippers

Some infos may be incorect, if you spot any, tell me! I'll correct it

Goodnigth Tumblr !

[foundtherightwords]

As the Sun Will Rise - Chapter 2

Pairing: Grunauer (Overlord) x OFC, Beauty & the Beast retelling

Summary: After losing most of his unit in a disastrous D-Day mission, Derwin Grunauer returns to his hometown near Miami, body riddled with scars and heart heavy with guilt, only to find his neighbors shunning him due to his German name. He retreats into his family mansion and remains there, unwilling to rejoin the living, until the day Alba Reyes turns up at his door with a basket full of warm bread. As the daughter of a Cuban immigrant, Alba knows something of being an outsider, and when she offers to work for Derwin as his housekeeper, it is not only to pay off her father's debt to the Grunauers, but also because she feels some connection to the reclusive young man. When that connection develops into something more, they must overcome both the town's prejudice and their own doubts to find happiness.

Chapter warnings: none

Chapter word count: 4.5k

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

"You went inside?" Beatriz asked as she flipped the sign in the bakery window from OPEN to CLOSED, before continuing sweeping the floor. In the back, Papi and Frank were setting out the dough for the next morning's loaves to rise. Alba surveyed the glass cases, making a mental note of what sold well and what didn't, and put the leftovers aside to be sold at cut rate the next day. Beatriz had been bursting with questions about the Grunauer place, but Alba had had no time to answer them—it was the lunch rush by the time she got back; she hadn't wanted to talk in front of Papi, and the afternoon had been quite busy as well. It was only now, at closing time, that she finally told Beatriz of what—and who—she'd found at the mansion deep in the swamp.

"Of course I went inside," she said. "I couldn't just leave the bread there!"

"Papi and Frank do."

"They have no respect for their own products."

"What's it like?" Beatriz said, eagerly. "Is it scary? Did you see any snakes or gators?"

"No, there's no snakes or gators. Just a big, friendly dog, and lots of empty rooms and a big staircase. I didn't see the second floor though." Alba couldn't find the words to describe to Beatriz how she'd really felt, walking down the corridor of the Grunauer place. The rooms she'd seen were filled with furniture, but they all had an air of disuse and neglect like the outside of the house. It had made her feel incredibly sad. The house was not a queen, as she'd first thought upon seeing it. It was a woman past her prime, alone and forgotten.

When she came into the kitchen, she'd felt even sadder. The stove looked like it never got lit, the pantry was empty, and so was the fridge—it contained only a pot of mustard and, inexplicably, a book.

She wondered how young Mr. Grunauer had managed to feed himself, and whether the bread and pastries they sent were his only sustenance.

"And what about Gruesome Grunauer?" continued Beatriz. "Is he really disfigured as people say?"

"Don't call him that. No, he's not. He does have a scar on his face, but it's not that bad." The moment they came face-to-face, all she could see were those bewilderingly familiar eyes. She had barely paid attention to the scar stretching across his left cheek like a spider web, and if she had, it was only to notice how it contrasted sadly with his boyish face, giving him a tragic look, like a cursed prince in a fairy tale. He had a scraggly beard too, though it was a pitiful attempt to cover up the scar or simply due to the neglect to shave, she didn't know. For some reason, the memory made her feel a little shy, so she didn't mention it to Beatriz.

Later that night, after Beatriz had gone to bed in their tiny bedroom in their tiny apartment above the bakery, Alba found her father sitting in his tattered armchair in the front space that doubled as the living room and dining room, smoking his pipe. She knew sometimes he would remain there all night, never making it to bed, just puffing on his pipe in silence and watching the smoke curl around the photos of her mother and Raf. Then, as the clock chimed four, he would get up with a little groan and go downstairs to start the ovens.

Seeing her linger at the door, he looked up. "Why aren't you in bed?" he asked.

Alba sat down on the armrest. "Papi, how much do we owe the Grunauers?" she asked.

Her father stopped puffing on the pipe. "You don't have to worry about that."

"Yes, I do. I'm twenty-four years old, Papi. I'm not a child anymore."

"I'm taking care of it."

Alba wrapped her arms around him, and put her head on his shoulder, as she'd often done when she was a little girl. "I want to help," she said. "How am I supposed to take over the bakery if you won't let me help?"

Papi sighed. "All right, we owe three thousand, if you must know. I borrowed seven thousand from Dr. Grunauer. Five years to pay it off, no interest. He was very kind for that. It was to buy the land, build the bakery, stock it. When the shop fell through, I only got four thousand back for everything." He ran a hand through his sparse, graying hair. "I was a fool. I should've held on to that land. If I sold it now to one of those returning GIs, we could've easily paid it off. But after Rafael—and your mother—I wasn't thinking straight."

"I know, Papi, I know." Alba pressed her lips to his temple, trying to kiss away the memory of that terrible time. They hadn't even been able to celebrate the end of the war. That had been the cruelest thing. When the whole world had been rejoicing, all they could think about was that the war had taken not only Raf but Ana as well. She'd collapsed upon seeing the two officers in their front room and never regained consciousness after that. She'd died just a week before VE-Day.

Three thousand dollars. The bakery earned about that much in a year, which meant they would have to forgo all expenses and not have any salary for a year, if they were to pay off the debt. Alba didn't mind—she'd never taken any pay for working at the bakery anyway—but it wouldn't be fair to Frank and Beatriz.

"We need a concrete plan to pay it off, Papi," she said. "The bakery can't turn a profit until we do, and we can't keep plying Mr. Grunauer with bread and pastries twice a week and hope the debt will magically go away. How many loaves of bread, how many boxes of pastries and croquettes is it going to take?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"I've been to their house today. It's a big place, and Mr. Grunauer's there all alone. He needs someone to take care of it, a housekeeper." The idea had formed in her mind while she stood looking around that forlorn, empty kitchen, where the only thing that qualified as foodstuff was a bag of dog biscuits. "I think I can—"

Papi sat up straight and took the pipe out of his mouth. "No daughter of mine is going to be a servant," he said sternly.

"I won't be a servant," said Alba. "I'm going to be a housekeeper. It's no different than working in a hotel. He can pay me, or I can just work off the debt."

"But what about the bakery?" Papi asked, as she knew he would. She had an answer ready.

"Frank and Beatriz can do without me," she said. "Really, Papi, Beatriz is much better at it than you give her credit for. The customers are always happier and buy more when she's at the till."

Papi still looked skeptical, but Alba knew she was starting to win him over. "May I have your permission to at least talk to Mr. Grunauer about it?" she asked.

"What if the boy refuses?"

"Then we'll think of something else," she said stoutly.

Papi tapped the pipe into the ashtray, looking thoughtful. Finally, he nodded. "Yes, I suppose you can talk to Dr. Grunauer's son about it. The worst he can do is to turn us down."

Alba jumped up. "Thank you, Papi!"

"But I hate for you to bear this burden alone, daughter."

"It's not a burden, Papi," she said and gave him another kiss on the temple. "This is our bakery. I'm only doing my bit."

"Yes. Now get to bed, we have an early start tomorrow," he said, as if they didn't have an early start every single day, and patted her cheek affectionately.

***

The next morning, Alba got ready before Grant Gastin had a chance to show up. She packed some more pasteles, filled with guava and coconut, two loaves of fresh bread, some sliced ham and cheese, and a jar of pickles. Remembering the empty fridge with its lonely pot of mustard, she went back to the fridge and cut a big pat of butter as well. She was wrapping it in a square of wax paper when Frank came up to her.

"Mr. Reyes asked me to drive you over to the Grunauer place," he said. Despite having known them for seven years and repeated requests from Papi to call him by his first name, Frank still couldn't manage it. They treated him as family though. He'd started working at the bakery at fifteen, trained by Ana herself. He'd enlisted at the same time as Rafael, and they had prayed for his safe return as fervently as they'd prayed for Raf. At least with Frank, their prayer had been heard. After the war, he'd come back to the bakery, for which they were grateful. Being half-Seminole, Frank didn't exactly benefit from the GI Bill.

"Thank you, Frank, but I can manage," Alba said. "Why don't you help Beatriz at the front?"

A flush crept over Frank's open, honest face. Alba knew he'd been carrying a torch for her sister for years now, though Beatriz had never given him much thought. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Oh, yes. Go on, spend some time with her, or she'll waste it all on the likes of Grant Gastin." She gave him a friendly shove and went around the back for her bike.

The day was warm, and despite the coolness of the swamp, Alba was drenched in sweat and her hair was frizzing like crazy by the time she arrived at the Grunauer place. She knocked on the front door. When there was no answer as usual, she tried the handle. It was locked.

Her heart sank. Could it be that young Mr. Grunauer was annoyed by her last visit and wanted to prevent another? Surely, she hadn't been that pushy, had she? Or—her stomach dropped with a horrible possibility—could something have happened to him? She banged on the door again.  

"Mr. Grunauer? Hello? It's Alba, from the bakery. I brought you some things—hello?"

A dark shape reared up behind the glass, making her jump back in shock. Then she saw that it was the dog, his mouth wide open, tongue lolling in a cheerful smile. "Hola," Alba said, waving at him. "Can you get your master for me? Or can you open the door?"

The dog disappeared from the front door. Pressing her nose against the glass pane, Alba saw that he was pacing into the depths of the house and kept looking back, as if beckoning for her to follow. She picked up the basket and went around the back of the house. The porch here was covered with mosquito netting, forming a sunroom that looked out on an overgrown garden and the dark swamp beyond. A fan hung from the ceiling, its blade rotating lazily in the warm air.

The dog came out from inside the house. He stood on his hind legs and pushed at the latch of the door, lifting it. Alba laughed, delighted at his maneuver. The moment the door was open, the dog bounced through and started licking her hand, his tail rotating in greeting.

"What a clever sausage you are," she said, rubbing his ears while lingering at the door. Wouldn't Mr. Grunauer see this as trespassing?

Seeing her hesitate, the dog tugged at her wrist and pulled her deeper into the house. She hurried after him, barely having time to drop her basket in the kitchen. The dog led her down the corridor, into a library or study of sorts. It was gloomy and cluttered as the rest of the house, but this clutter was the result of living, rather than neglect—books were piled on tables and on the floor alongside dirty dishes, clothes were strewn haphazardly on the backs and arms of chairs, blankets and pillows heaped on the couch. It appeared Mr. Grunauer had been camping in this room and abandoned the rest of the house.

As Alba stepped further into the room, her eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness and landed on a figure lying prone on the rug by the window.

"¡Dios mío!" She rushed over to turn him on his back. "Mr. Grunauer! Are you all right?"

To her surprise, he wriggled out of her grasp and propped himself up on his elbow. "I am, as soon as you stop manhandling me!" he said, blinking up at her with what she was coming to recognize as his default expression—a scowl. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

Alba became acutely aware of her sweaty face and disheveled hair. Self-consciously, she yanked her headscarf off and wiped it across her forehead.

"Your dog let me in," she said.

"My dog?" he repeated, incredulous. He glared at the dog, who was looking quite pleased with himself. "Some guard dog you are," he muttered. The dog, either used to his master's dark moods or simply not noticing it, wagged his tail happily and began nosing about the dirty dishes on the floor, searching for crumbs. There was not much there, save for a few remnants of days-old crackers, eggshells, and orange peels. Not an actual meal, just an assortment of food.

"Please don't yell at him," she said, fighting the urge to clean up those plates. "It's my fault, really. I asked him to get the door for me."

Grunauer shook his head, looking amused. "Yell at Otto? I spoke too loudly to him once and he sulked for two days. I don't think you have to worry about me yelling at him, Miss—"

"Reyes. Alba Reyes."

"Ah, yes. From the bakery." So he did remember. He got to his feet, with some difficulty, and vaguely tried to tidy up some papers but quickly put them down again. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually, it's more about what I can do for you, Mr. Grunauer." Alba launched into her prepared speech. "Perhaps you already knew, my father owes your father quite a bit of money. Three thousand dollars, to be exact. He's supposed to pay it off by the end of next year." Grunauer's slight frown suggested that this was news to him, and Alba wondered if she'd made a blunder in mentioning the debt. But he would learn of it sooner or later, and she didn't want to deceive him. "Now, we can't pay it all at once, but perhaps we can work out some sort of payment plan..."

He nodded slowly, still looking a bit confused. Alba plunged on. "This is a big place. You need help. I can come here and work for you as a housekeeper, and, in exchange, you can deduct the payment from my salary."

Understanding dawned on his face, quickly followed by something else—embarrassment? Discomfort? Anger? Perhaps he thought they were trying to scam him.

"You will decide my salary, of course," she said quickly. "Perhaps I can try, for a week or so, and you can figure out how much to pay me? We can have a lawyer draw up a promissory note, everything will be perfectly aboveboard—"

"Miss Reyes," he interrupted. "I don't need help."

She deflated. But a Reyes never gave up that easily, so she put on a display that combined her most competent face with an approximation of Beatriz's charm. "Sure you do," she said, trying to smile. "I can cook, clean, do the shopping for you, take care of Otto..." At the sound of his name, the dog looked up and gave his tail a wag.

Grunauer shook his head, cutting her off. "I can't pay you."

"You don't have to pay me, that's the point," Alba said patiently. "Let's say we agree that my work is worth thirty dollars a week"—big hotels in Miami Beach were paying housekeepers forty and fifty dollars a week, so she figured thirty would be a reasonable start—"so every week, you'll deduct thirty dollars from our debt." At that rate, it would take two years for her to pay off three thousand dollars, but the bakery and its earnings would be safe. And it would make her feel like she was doing something, which Alba vastly preferred to just sitting and waiting for the debt collector to show up.

When Grunauer made no reply, she tried another tactic. "This is a fine house, Mr. Grunauer. Don't you want it cleaned and put to order, so you can use all the rooms instead of holing up in here?"

"I'm perfectly fine as I am, thank you very much," he said stiffly.

Alba let out an exasperated sigh. "Mr. Grunauer, no offense, but I've met you twice, and both times I found you on the floor."

It was the wrong thing to say. Grunauer's face twisted, the gouges of the scar deepening on his cheek. "I'm not a cripple!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant—" began Alba, but it was too late. He grabbed her arm, not hard, but not gently either, and hauled her out of the room.

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Reyes, but I cannot afford a housekeeper at the moment," he said.

"But—Mr. Grunauer—" Alba started to protest, without knowing what she was going to say.

Something on her face must have made him take pity on her, for he added, in a softer voice, "As for your debt, I'll see if we can come up with a reasonable payment plan. I'll let you know." He all but shoved her into the corridor and shut the door in her face.

Alba spluttered in frustration. She had no choice but to leave. Coming back through the kitchen, she saw her basket still on the table and heaved a long sigh. Well, she might as well unpack the food. If she left it there, who knew what Grunauer would do? Eat it straight out of the basket, she supposed.

She put the perishables into the fridge. The book was still there, a book of poetry by someone named e.e. cummings—Alba briefly wondered what Mr. Cummings had against capitalization— but the guava pastries were gone. And then, as her eyes landed on the pot of mustard, an idea occurred to her. If she couldn't convince him with words, perhaps there was another way...

She took a loaf of bread out of the box, sliced it, slathered both halves with butter and mustard, and layered it with the ham, cheese, and pickles. There was no sandwich press, but she found a frying pan and a heavy cast-iron pot that would do the trick. The stove looked so rusty that she was afraid it wouldn't turn on at all, but turn on it did, and soon the enticing smells of melted butter and cheese were filling the kitchen. She cut the warm sandwich in half, put it on a plate, and marched down the corridor again.

"What are you still doing here?!" Grunauer snarled as he wrenched open the door in response to her knock. "Leave, or I'll have you arrested for—" He stopped short at the sight of the plate in her hand.

"Tell me, Mr. Grunauer, would you rather be eating something like this or subsist on crackers and day-old coffee? Because this is what you'd get with me, and more. Think about it. You know where to find me. Good day." She shoved the plate into his hand, turned on her heel, and left.

***

Long after Miss Reyes's dark curls had disappeared down the corridor, bobbing indignantly with each of her steps, Derwin still stood where he was, with the plate of sandwich in his hand. He wasn't quite sure what had just transpired. And then, because the smell was so tempting, and because Otto was eyeing the plate rather impatiently, Derwin ate the sandwich. It was very good. She'd toasted it on both sides, turning the bread crisp and melting the cheese. It reminded him of the grilled cheese sandwiches his father used to make when Derwin was little, only better. Poor old Dad. After Mom passed away, Dad had tried his best, but he could never quite manage the stove, and when Derwin was home from boarding school, they'd survived mostly on sandwiches and canned stuff. Grilled cheese and tomato soup was one of Dad's better attempts at cooking.

Once the plate was polished off—Otto got the last bite, of course—Derwin went to the bureau where his father's papers were kept and started digging through the drawers. Soon he found a promissory note for seven thousand dollars, made to a Mr. Mauricio Reyes, on March 1943, with a maturity date of five years and no interest. A very generous loan. But then again, his father had always been generous to a fault. Another note attached to this document stated that a payment of four thousand dollars had been made in November 1945. His father had passed away a month after that, while Derwin himself was still in Bay Pines.

Three thousand dollars. Enough for him to start over somewhere else, away from this place. He could go back to school, finish that degree he'd put on hold when he enlisted, get a job. Actually rejoin the living.

But deep down inside, Derwin knew there was nowhere for him to go. There was no place where he could stop seeing the screaming faces of his fellow soldiers whenever he closed his eyes, stop feeling the heat of that exploding C-47, stop smelling the stench of burning fuel and gunpowder and blood in that French village just off the coast of Normandy. During the day, he could forget those memories by losing himself in books, but at night, they always came back in full force. There was no place where he could escape them. No place where he could escape himself.

At least here, nobody would bother him. Nobody, except for a bewildering, maddening young woman.

So if he insisted on staying here, would it be so bad to have someone come here and take care of the house for him? He had to admit, he'd let things go. His leg didn't allow him to move around much, and after a while, he no longer cared. He'd been going upstairs only to sleep, and after his latest fall the day before, he'd set up camp in the study and decided it was good enough. But now, stung by Miss Reyes's words, Derwin looked around the room and noticed, for the first time, the clutter and squalor of the place. How did he let it come to this? He was sure he could see a cockroach shuffling amongst the plates on the floor.

But the idea of another person in the house, in his space, gave him pause. His parents had been a retiring sort, and when he was a boy, it had been just the three of them. He'd missed that precious solitude when his mother died and his father sent him to boarding school. In the army, and later, in the hospitals, there had always been other people around. He'd only gotten his solitary life back since he came home; he wasn't sure if he was ready to share that with anyone, no matter how good her sandwich was... or how pretty her eyes were.

Perhaps he could deal with the mess himself. He bent down awkwardly on one knee, picked up a few plates, and stacked them together. Then, balancing the stack in one hand and holding his cane in the other, he hobbled into the kitchen.

He almost made it. At the kitchen door, he picked up his cane to push the door open, and the plates slid out of his hand and fell to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. Furious, he threw his cane away. It clattered over the shards of broken china. He flung himself down next to it and put his head against the wall in despair. He couldn't even manage to clean up a few plates. Pathetic. Useless.

Otto came over and plopped down by his side. Derwin thought he could see some sympathy in the dog's eyes. "I guess I shouldn't have been so rude to Miss Reyes, right?" he said to the dog.

Otto answered with a soft woof, telling Derwin all he needed to know.

With a sigh, Derwin dragged himself up and went into the kitchen for a broom and dustpan. Miss Reyes had cleaned up—the stove had been scrubbed, and the pot and pan she used to toast the sandwich were drying on the rack. When he opened the fridge, however, he found e.e. cummings' Collected Poems still where he'd left it. Somehow, the sight of that book in the fridge solidified Derwin's decision. Miss Reyes would not upset his life. She would straighten things up wherever necessary and leave the rest untouched, and that was exactly what he needed.

But nobody turned up the next day or the day after that. Derwin thought about calling the bakery, and then he realized he didn't know their phone number. He could call the property manager and find out, but that was one phone call too many for him to handle.

It wasn't until Sunday that Derwin heard a knock on the front door.

"I'm coming!" he called out, limping to the door as fast as his leg and his cane allowed. "Wait!"

He pulled the door open. A young man, perhaps a couple of years younger than Derwin himself, with the deep-set eyes and straight black hair of a Seminole, was dropping a basket of bread onto the swing on the front porch.

"Who are you?" Derwin asked. "Where's Miss Reyes?"

"I'm Frank Howard," said the young man, looking startled. Clearly he hadn't expected anyone to answer the door. "I work at the bakery. Miss Reyes—Alba—asked me to bring you these. They're at church today."

"Oh." Derwin felt a strange sense of disappointment. Next to him, Otto looked crestfallen as well. "In that case, could you please let her know that I accept her offer, and that she can start on Monday?"

Frank looked confused but promised to deliver the message.

As he watched the bakery's truck rumble down the drive, Derwin let out a sigh. He'd been hoping to tell Miss Reyes herself. It was absurd, of course. It made no difference, giving the message to Frank. But that slight disappointment told Derwin that he'd made the right decision in accepting Miss Reyes's proposal. He'd never looked forward to anything as he did to seeing her again. Perhaps he could let her into his life after all.

Chapter 3

Taglist: @kitkat80 (as always, if you want to be tagged, just let me know!)

[hsslilly-blog]

This is a masterlist of Claire-related posts/edits/art. This follows a somewhat chronological order of events, with the first link being the earliest point on her timeline (so far). Only plot/character development posts. I’ve organised it in three different parts: pre-Hollywood U, throughout the game's timeframe, and post-Hollywood U. My timeline for Hollywood U has her freshman year in September, 2012, and her graduation in May, 2016. Most of it is canon compliant but I change things I dislike to fit my interpretation of events. This list will be constantly updated/modified.

General

• Claire Swanson OC tag • Claire Swanson inspo side blog • Claire’s introduction post (03/10/24) • Claire’s ref sheet (04/25/24) • Swanson/Stewart family tree • Claire’s playlist • Claire's Letterboxd list (09/19/24) • Claire’s filmography (03/25/25) • Claire lore dump (10/18/24) • Claire design notes (11/18/24) • Claire Swanson Week (02/08/25 - 02/14/25)

Web Weaves

• Death and Eros (Is it not confusing?) • Dream Girl Evil • But my Father; my beloved and most wretched Father? • Cemetery Sweetheart

Pre-Hollywood U (feb/1990 — sep/2012)

• Claire's First Holy Communion (1997) • Newspaper clipping of Claire’s first big role (apr/2002) • Claire and tennis (2005) • Claire and her father in Lucerne (2006) • Claire and Werner Swanson (2007) • Claire and Sebastian's photobooth photograph (feb/2008) • Claire's early modelling career + The Swansons (2008) • Claire’s Myspace profile page (sep/2009) • UC Berkeley's Insect Expo: Claire's butterfly showcase (2010) • I'm only here for your entertainment (2010)

Hollywood U (sep/2012 — may/2016)

• Welcome to Hollywood (U) (2012) • Hollywood U outfits, part 1 (nd) • Hollywood U outfits, part 2 (nd) • Claire as Frankie for Chateau Marmont (2013) • Claire’s driver’s license (ago/2014) • "Clash at Sunset" credit cards (jan/2015) • Claire for Vogue: "What's In My Bag?" (july/2015)

Post-Hollywood U (may/2016 — present)

• "Ticket to Ride" film poster (july/2016) • Claire for Vogue: "Ticket to Ride" (aug/2016) • "Out of Time" Letterboxd page (2017) • Claire at the 70th Cannes Film Festival (may/2017) • Claire for Vogue, marie claire, NYLON and Vanity Fair (2017) • Claire for wonderland.: "Your Toxic Valentine" (2018) • Claire’s Films Credit Cards (2017-2019) • Claire’s Wikipedia Article (2019) • "Wild Flowers" film poster (2019) • Claire Swanson Dress Up Game (2019) • Claire at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival (may/2019) • Claire’s Award List (up to 2020)

[dropoutsurf]

費用対効果が見合うのであれば、「信頼性の高いWebサイトを丸ごと買収」が、今の唯一のおいしい手法かな。

「SEOが理不尽なクソゲーになった」時代の生き方とは？ 衝撃の移籍を発表した辻さんと渡辺さんが語った | インタビュー | Web担当者Forum

――では、今はどのような「おいしい手法」があるのでしょうか？

辻： なくなりましたね。

渡辺： 費用対効果が見合うのであれば、「信頼性の高いWebサイトを丸ごと買収」が、今の唯一のおいしい手法かな。

辻： 確かにそれぐらいしかないですね。もう一つ、「ユーザー行動スパム」と呼ばれる手法がありました。クラウドソーシングを中心に、人にお金を払って特定の閲覧行動をしてもらうスパムで、2018年頃からすごく流行った。これがまだ少し生き延びている感がありますが、それも効かなくなってきています。

Googleの誕生以来、常になにかの効率的な「おいしい手法」がありましたが、初めてそれがなくなったタイミングだと思います。SEOの抜け道がどんどん塞がれて、いよいよ大きな抜け道が何もなくなってしまった状況なので、「ユーザーにとって価値のあるWebサイトを手間ひまかけて作りましょう」という結論にしたいところですが、それはSEOのプロが言うことではありません。

「質の高いコンテンツを作れば、時間はかかるが検索結果順位が上がる傾向にある」というのは確かです。ただ、それはコンテンツ制作分野の人がやる仕事で、SEOのプロである私の仕事ではない。コンテンツに関しては100点満点のWebサイトが複数あるという前提で、テクニカルな設定を工夫することで一歩抜きん出る。それがSEOの仕事です。

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youter

「SEOの抜け道がどんどん塞がれて、いよいよ大きな抜け道が何もなくなってしまった状況」

Googleがんばれ！あと一息だ！

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生成AIが「SEO対策への対策」になった

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Googleは使わない、SEO対策しているから  GENKING

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・Google 検索セントラル | Google の公式 SEO 関連情報ポータル  |  Google for Developers

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テクニカルSEO，正しいSEO，パンダアップデート，ペンギンアップデート，イタチごっこ， webサイト売買，ラッコM&A，