#which makes them a constant work in progress. that is published.

[cigaretteparfum]

i love ms marr's writing in the original WL series (and the two first irial/niall/leslie short stories) but taking a quick glance at the newer books, and seeing people's reviews, i kinda do wonder if the decline in quality is, in part, due to going indie.

[skyflyinginaction]

Clamp Art Style Analysis: Series styles: Kobato

While I was writing this there was a reason I couldn’t elaborate on Kobato it was because I lacked context. I missed a lot of things on Kobato due to the lack of context. Clamp art is extensive so I predicted I may not be able to cover it in one post. This post is written based on an interview I read so I am going to explain the art in Kobato to the best of my abilities.

Kobato ran in two magazines, monthly Sunday GX magazine and new type, Sunday Gx was the first magazine from Kadokawa that published Kobato and the Newtype was the second. Both magazines had male readers whereas Newtype had a male readership and Sunday Gx was a senine magazine. In Sunday Gx, there were lots of works with many screen tones and gradients all of them had ink but had a clean print without screen tones and gradient on them had a lot of ink but had clean print without the screen tone becoming blurred clamp couldn’t cramp to 20 panels in one page for Sunday Gx. While Clamp was drawing Kobato in Newtype there were a lot of problems, clamp found drawing Kobato in Newtype tough because of the tight deadlines which caused them to end up falling behind schedule to finish it. Though Netype had a large format Clamp, it couldn't cram 10 or 20 clamps and could only draw 14 pages which didn’t allow for story progression. Clamp even said they didn’t want to read a cramped shoujo manga. 

Kobato was created while Clamp was working on Tsubasa during the time, Clamp knew Tsubasa would have a darker storyline as it progressed so Clamp wanted to depict a brighter story Clamp wanted to create a story with a cute girl as the main character and decided that the story Kobato was intended for a happy ending. 

When it came to creating the character Kobato, the editor from Sunday Gx magazine said wanted a character to become a muse of the magazine. in creating a divine character clamp had no clear image of what a goddess is since the idea of a goddess can change over time so it is hard for them to picture it. However, clamp misinterpreted the desire when in fact the editor didn’t ask Clamp to create the goddess of the magazine but to make a character that readers can fall in love with something that both girls and boys would enjoy.

Kobato may have come off as regular shojo manga but the manga seemed to be created with a much older audience in mind judged by how it ran in a senine magazine it had some properties as shojo manga sprinkled in. Kobato has a bit of realism in it and references the supernatural but there is nothing too serious going on. It was drawn to be aimed for a relaxed feel so there were no constant dramatic events and intense pursuits. Despite how real the manga can be the tone of the manga is very relaxed that was what Clamp is creating it for. 

When it came to describing the contents of the series they discussed it with their editor like with the lines of argument 

drew sketches made various changes and corrections clamp had the story ready in two to three minutes but the character designs took 20 minutes. when it came to creating character designs in Kobato, Kobato took the longest

deciding what type of hairstyle for Kobato is difficult it had a hard time they didn’t know whether to make it long or short when it came to kobato’s hairstyle clamp did not know whether to make it long or short it wasn’t a minor manner since Kobato is supposed to be the main image of the magazine. 

They wanted to draw girls with long hair as a reaction to Sakura from Tsubasa who has short hair, but long hair gave Clamp less room for variations of style but was difficult to ink all the time in manga, and in truth, Clamp can invent unreal hairstyles that would cost less to draw her hair. Clamp strived to create a hairstyle that could be reproduced in reality but clamp disliked the fact the set of the hairstyle looked unnatural. so for the hairstyle, they created a fusion of short and long hair.  

When it comes to drawing and making stories Clamp pays good attention to the details of the story they are creating clamp needs background information of the story they are working on this is seen in the way the the characters in Clamp wore different clothes each time they appeared. In Tsubasa, the main characters wear different outfits because they are traveling across different worlds so the clothes are created to reflect that. That's more groundbreaking in a sense since people change their clothes every day it feels like you're watching real people for this aspect.

For Kobato her clothing is fundamental to her concept. Kobato clothes change all the time. This aspect goes over people's heads since the characters in Clamp in different clothes are nothing new that may be something we don’t notice at first due to Clamp always their character changing their clothes. However one may ask how someone who is carrying minimal stuff carries all those clothes. This aspect causes readers to question how she got all those outfits despite the fact that she barely carries anything with her. her changing her clothes each time makes readers wonder where she is carrying her outfits despite not carrying anything due to her lifestyle

It was revealed that Kobato’s clothes changing is a result of a mysterious ability that references that Kobato is not an ordinary human, and having to reveal that ability may spoil her true identity. the reason why Clamp drew Kobato's clothes change every day is that Kobato wearing the same outfit would be a spoiler to her true identity since people don’t wear the same clothes every day and having Kobato wear the same outfit would be much of spoiler clamp keeps Kobato's true identity ambiguous Kobatos a character whose never changes but wears a different outfit

Clamp had fun designing cute hats for Kobato. Clamp struggled with whether or not Kobato leaves the hat on or takes it off when she went to sleep but ultimately decided to leave it on asleep

Clamp wanted to create a new type of heroine that they hadn’t invented until now, someone suggested that Kobato is derived from Anne of Green Gables though Kobato was not much of a reference to it was more like Mary Poppins. 

Kobato's character design is based on Mary Poppins. Both are mysterious entities, wear hats, and carry a bag and umbrella. Kobato wearing many different outfits reference to Mary Poppins’ never-ending bag the umbrella is a clever nod to Mary Poppins which is seen in the colored illustrations

that appeared in Clamp in Wonderland

and mentioned briefly in the main story Kobato is an easy call back to Mary Poppins in both character and design and her role in helping people in the stories. Kobato's design referenced Mary Poppins and Clamp had wanted some elements of Comet, a manga character from the 1960s, but Clamp gave up since it didn’t fit the profile of a clumsy character they were looking for. 

For Ioryogi’s design: His design came from a doodle Nekoi did that was seen on the official clamp website, Nekoi first drew him in clamp no Kiseki about a blue stuffed dog Ohkawa liked the idea it became the partner for Kobato they decided to use Ioryogi’s design in the manga because they needed a partner for the protagonist someone that Kobato could talk to. While they were designing Ioryogi's true form, they settled to make Ioriyogi more beast-like this is from Ohkawa who thought that beast-like characters that get into conflicts with heaven as punishment were turned into stuffed animals this is made to explain why he is stuck in a stuffed animal form that his stuffed animal form can be from how he was beast-like in his form Designing his true form took some time Ioriyogi has a wolf-like appearance. Nekoi and Mokona settled on creating animalistic elements in the designs for the rest of the characters in Kobato to draw the others the true forms as more beastlike 

Next up is Fujimoto, Fujimoto is named after Kiyokazu Fujimoto the chief of the project department of Pyrotechnist, the company that works as a clamp managing agent. This isn’t the first time that Clamp took the name of someone they know and used it to name their character in their works; they did that before as seen within the character seichiro aoki of x taken from their editor. They take the names of people that they know and use the names on their characters to put a bit of themselves in the works. Fujimoto's distinctive features in his design are his glasses and long ponytail. However, Fujimoto's ponytail is cut off at the end when he's a lawyer, a reference to a sense of having aged over the years and gives the sense that he changed to maintain the same hairstyle while also showing change made the tail longer in his lawyer outfit.

Although Clamp loved drawing glasses, they found glasses in terms of drawing in manga hard. The lens is difficult to handle when drawing because it affects the expressions in the eyes of the characters Sayaka was drawn with glasses because Clamp wanted a female character with glasses.

Nekoi created the character designs from Wish; it was Nekoi who originally designed the characters for Wish and had a hand in designing and creating Suisho’s clothes Suishou’s clothes look similar to what the angels in Wish wore.

Mokona created the world for Kobato. Mokona found it challenging to create a new world in Kobato and decide how to design it. 

Kobato Reference to other works that crossed over like Wish but are more casual compared to Tsubasa and Holics tightly connected works

As I pointed out before in Kobato’s character design section, drawing long hair is challenging due to the amount of lines to ink, Clamp wanted to create characters with long hair only to change midway when they realized the difficulty. clamp found drawing long hair to be challenging due to inking it and the number of lines that go with long hair

Clamp aimed to create an atmosphere that was close to shoujo manga. Kobato uses thin lines in the manga similar to the lines of card captor Sakura and less ink which gave it a similar shojo manga appearance. 

Clamp tried to not make the panels too dark and didn’t have many characters with dark hair having many characters with dark hair darkened the visuals. They were careful about it. This Clamp uses less toning in the pages which has a lighter feel similar to how Clamp aimed for something bright and light and the paneling flows well is to make it as relaxed so they make it bright and light

The colors that are used for the illustrations had a soft watercolor touch they didn’t paint too heavily with Kobato illustrations so they did it by not layering too much paint and the brush strokes could remain visible which causes it to go beyond the edges.

So this is my post on Kobato art style analysis. This is something I missed and tried to explain but I could botch explain the artstyle in this post but I’m glad I expanded on Kobato's section.

[roobylavender]

im not sure your take on this but god now that age charts are being brought up it really fucking weirds me out the ages bruce pursues a relationship with talia and selina, its not necessarily the age gap but more so the maturity level. if it were later on in the girls life yet you keep the same age gap i’d be more okay with it but…idk the fact that selina is NINETEEN like to a 26 yr old would that not just be a. teenager to them ?? shes so young. same with talia

i mean to be fair to selina i think people get her timeline mixed up often esp because the long halloween is more prominent on batman reading lists than is her early post-crisis reading. the late 80s were used to revitalize selina with a new origin before she was inevitably thrust back into the present-day canon of tim's tenure. so there's a whole decade or so of her life after she first donned the costume that we were hardly privy to (with the exception of a few stories), but that was implied by writers to have been fairly isolated in the sense that selina's interactions with bruce were neither constant nor often. she led her own life and lived in her own corner of the world and survived, etc., and maybe a handful of times did their paths cross on the bigger heists albeit ultimately without much consequence (e.g., mindy newell's little bird story in the 80th anniversary spectacular). once 90s dc canon generally started to take on a more universal, event-focused quality writers integrated selina into the main batman storylines and began developing the romance between them consistently while they were both well into adulthood

what the long halloween did in comparison is make a mess of all of that progression because it not only rewrote selina's late 80s origin but also depicted her in reference to the more powerful character she'd become by the time it was published in the late 90s. so loeb's selina is less a 19/20 year old prostitute with a whole worldview to develop and more a seasoned socialite with a concrete goal and specific skillset honed presumably over the years. they're two entirely distinct characters and the 00s canon that followed increasingly took more from loeb than it did newell to the point that i think most new batman readers believe the long halloween is the definitive origin story even though it is very much not and only became heralded as such due to its overwhelming popularity. ultimately, on one hand you have the early post-crisis canon which set bruce and selina apart for a large part of their masked life and only began to concretely develop anything between them maybe ten or more years after the fact. on the other hand you have the long halloween canon which set them up as something akin to equals from the get-go and erased the existence of the original power imbalance entirely. and then you also have brubaker who tried to meld the two somewhat but like i said earlier ultimately pandered more to loeb's characterization even though he made his foundation out of newell's narrative skeleton. all of this to say: i don't think there are necessarily huge issues in their relationship as pertains to age if you distinguish the various timelines. but there certainly are issues as pertains to social class

talia in comparison is obv a lot trickier. i always go back and forth on whether i want to designate her as 26 or 22 upon debut. obv 26 would be the (somewhat) nicer option and there's plenty of evidence as to denny's research work being poor when it comes to the al ghuls. he may very well have believed that medical school is an institution you attend after undergraduate school in egypt the way we do here in the states. but the truth of the matter is that a lot of countries don't operate the way we do and actually allow you to attend a specialized / graduate school straight out of high school. such is the case for a career in medicine in egypt. and then on top of it all.. i honestly do think there is racist exoticization at play with the creation of talia's character. the older white savior paired with the considerably younger exotic heroine is a tried and tested trope across decades! one of talia's hallmarks upon debut was her universal sex appeal to the point that it's all people talked about in the comment columns at the time. and of course there was a very sexualized aspect to her relationship with bruce in general as depicted by neal adams. so it's hard not to come away with that reading of her character and even harder not to try to reconcile it with her very unforgiving treatment thereafter

which is why i'm as much upset by the age gap as i am honestly interest-piqued by it. bc it sucks on its face for sure. but with the right amount of care it is a really powerful lens through which to analyze talia as a character over time. her initial powerlessness to the two men in her life, her increasing emotional and physical isolation, her susceptibility to abuse, her constant experience with abandonment, etc. like would someone so young not become bitter over time at having to be left alone to fend for herself so often while the men simply get to go on? whatever the tragedy of their relationship bruce always gets to go back to a home. he always gets to go back to alfred or dick or jason or whoever else. but who does talia have? in a world where every interaction between bruce and her father emotionally bludgeons the latter to the point of delirious possessiveness, where does she go? who does she turn to? she has absolutely no one. and she has to be the one who finally makes the decision to break off on her own bc she's so tired of never feeling like she has any power. the fact that she goes through all that she does in pre-00s canon before she even turns 30 is so insane! and if any writer had bothered to dwell on that fact then we might have seen her receive far more empathetic storytelling than she actually does. i very much think a huge reason as to why her character assassination was so easy for writers to indulge in is bc they never recognized how much she was a victim

[art-of-manliness]

Craft vs. Content: Resisting Mediocrity in a Dual-Existence Age

The writer Kyle Chayka recently had a piece in The Guardian called “The Tyranny of the Algorithm: Why Every Coffee Shop Looks the Same.” The article is, as the title suggests, about the way online algorithms have homogenized culture.  One part of the piece that particularly stood out is an exchange Chayka had with Trevor Walsh, who does marketing for a chain of coffee shops: ‘There’s this constant urgency to be producing content. We are constantly feeling like we have to be in people’s phones, be in people’s desktops,’ Walsh said. They had to fill the algorithmic feed. Simply existing as a coffee shop isn’t enough; the business has to cultivate a parallel existence on the internet, which is a separate skill set entirely. ‘It almost feels like, you must have a social media acumen, you must be savvy in this area that is adjacent to your business, but not directly embedded in your business, in order to be successful and visible,’ Walsh continued. Entrepreneurs and creatives of all types find themselves in a peculiar dilemma in the modern age.  Authors, for example, lament the fact that publishers will often only offer book deals to writers who already have established “platforms” (read: followers on FB, IG, Twitter, TikTok, etc.). But to grow their platforms, writers have to constantly be creating content for social media . . . making it difficult to find the time to work on their book. Some already-popular authors try to circumvent this catch-22 by hiring a social media manager, or a whole team of them. But that still requires these writers to spend less time and energy being creative and more time and energy being supervisors. And new and would-be authors can’t justify hiring a hype girl to promote their persona online.  Businesses and creators have, of course, always had to pay some attention to pleasing the public and advertising their wares. But there have been times when artists only had to please the whims of a single patron, and the marketing aspect of a modern creator’s job is, for several reasons, qualitatively different now and has arguably never consumed so much of their bandwidth.  The modern writer, artist, or entrepreneur is not only tasked with promoting the final product of their efforts, but sharing inside looks of their art in progress, and even offering tips on how the average viewer at home can improve their own craft.  A chef in 1985 might promote his restaurant by creating a direct mail advertisement — a one-and-done decision. Today, his marketing goes on daily, as he continuously shares videos, pictures, and ideas with the public. Making these posts to social media not only serves as an interruption to his work, but, because of the neurochemical spell inevitably cast by social posting, his focus will be further fragmented as he regularly checks back to see how his posts performed. Modern marketing becomes a feedback loop of concentration-dividing, deep-work-disrupting, creativity-killing distraction.  Our hypothetical chef not only has to promote his food, but has to promote himself, as a personality. While the personalities of artists, authors, and entrepreneurs have always been something in which the public has taken an interest, formerly, it was just a hinted-at backdrop, and the painting, book, or invention largely spoke for itself. Now, creators must share not only their creations, but snapshots of their private lives as well. This selects for, and limits, who will find success in the modern landscape. There is only one set of people who are willing to do the thing, and to talk publicly about doing the thing. As the overlap area on the Venn diagram of these factors is likely much bigger for extroverts than introverts, it’s the former who are much more likely to come to the public’s attention.  The catch-22 facing modern creators — the feeling that you can’t make it unless you promote your work online, but you can’t do good work if your bandwidth is always being siphoned off by the act of promotion — has serious implications for both individual… http://dlvr.it/T1tJ2P

[whitehotharlots]

Sophie Lewis is a revolting dunce

It’s 2023, and in spite of a near-constant barrage of catastrophizing about the supposedly imminent reemergence of fascism, the American left cannot stop themselves from providing ammunition to the right. To put it more bluntly, they somehow cannot grasp that conservatives would be less likely to believe paranoid conspiracies about liberals wanting to take their kids away if liberals would be less open in saying that they do, indeed, want to take people’s kids away.

What’s this? Has Ol’ Man Harlots finally lost his marbles and succumbed to the evils of right wing disinformation? I’m afraid not. My conclusions have been drawn by Just Listening to left itself without receiving the slightest input from conservatives--in this case, an execrable piece by Sophie Lewis recently published by Tank Magazine. This essay is so extreme in its conclusions, so dishonest in its argumentation, that I challenge even the most ardent of lefties to read it all the way through and not see how it makes Ron Desantis-style conspiratorialism appear downright plausible. 

I hesitate to paraphrase Lewis’ piece--doing so without the liberal use of direct citations could easily come across as me making stuff or otherwise reading it dishonestly. I strongly encourage you read through it yourself (here’s the link once again), but I will still include somewhat lengthy passages so as to confirm that this is an actual essay by a living, lauded writer, and not something I hallucinated after drinking a whole bottle of Benadryl. 

Before we get to the essay’s primary assertions, it’s worth recapitulating Lewis’ foundational beliefs (in doing so, we’ll also get a sense of her profound dishonesty--although fully capturing as much would require a nearly book-length work. Angela Nagle has a digestible and effective piece here, and I have touched on in briefly about a year ago). 

Lewis is one of the loudest and most repulsive advocates of the “Family Abolition” movement, which has earned her a manuscript published by Verso, bylines at Lit Hub and The London Review of Books, and a fawning personal profile at Vice. Family abolition is an ostensibly left-wing project that is pretty well defined by its name: its advocates believe that family structures (particularly heterosexual, two-parent families, but others are still problematic) are the driving force behind nearly all of the world’s problems, and that social progress cannot be achieved until we replace natal homes with weird poly communes. 

Here’s Lewis in her new piece:

We are seeking (in the immediate term) to make the private nuclear house- hold visible as an institution of the market and of the state: a structure held together by violence and coercion, both internal and external. As such, perhaps our most pressing challenge is linking ours and other present-day abolition- isms. In conjunction with police-, border- and prison-abolitionist movements, for example, a movement to deprivatise care must prioritise the undermining of the racist “family policing” system, colonial child-removal apparatuses, and the kinship violence of immigration officers. In conjunction with youth-led climate-justice campaigns trying to halt the desecration of humanity’s collective planetary household, those who aspire to the deprivatisation of care must articulate the centrality of youth liberation (child suffrage, gender autonomy, all-ages universal basic income, for example) to the future care-centric society that is now widely linked, in the popular imagination, to a “green transition”. Private households are both labour-intensive and ecocidal, after all. They are incubators of sexual and patriarchal violence. It is time to denaturalise them.

Families are unnatural, evil incubators of inequality and inequity, and also they cause direct harm to vulnerable folx. Why? Because it is the family--and only the family--that prevents kids from being “queer:”

Of course, the fact that child sexual abuse still now occurs overwhelmingly within cisheteropatriarchal family structures does not result in similar scrutiny on the family- form. In fact, the traditional practice of grooming kids into cisgenderism and heterosexuality is quasi-universally supported and encouraged: this is what is referred to as a decent upbringing, a.k.a. the invisible transmission of the “right” kinds of re/productive desire, which many of us seem to sense is coming unstuck. 

It’s easy to find yourself so overwhelmed by Lewis’ schizophrenic prose style that you gloss over the profound number of falsehoods in her claims. Let’s start just with that last passage, which can most charitably be understood as a midwit recapitulation of first wave feminism. Lewis is technically correct in that most domestic abuse occurs in “cisheteropatriarchal” (AKA “normal”) families, but this is for very much the same reason that most violent crime is intra-racial and most car accidents occur within a few miles of the driver’s home: the more commonplace an event, the more frequently it occurs. On the whole, there are (probably) fewer abuse incidents in multi-parent trans polycule households than there are in regular households--but that’s just because there are far, far more regular households. The fact says nothing about the relative frequency of abuse, nor does it come close to establishing that there’s something inherent about not being a gross freak that makes domestic violence more likely.

Because, oh no, I got some bad news for you: Lesbian and trans couples have significantly higher rates of intimate partner violence than regular hetero couples. And the numbers are much, much worse for children. Kids who live in foster care or with adoptive parents are TWENTY EIGHT TIMES more likely to suffer physical or sexual abuse than kids who live with their natal parents. Not 28 percent more likely. 28 times. 2,800% percent. This figure is so staggering that its absence from Lewis’ analysis should be understood much more as an outright lie than as a careless omission.

So, okay, Lewis’ political project is to make it so way more kids get raped and abused. Cool. That fact alone--which, again, she never comes close to acknowledging, let alone addressing--should be enough to invalidate her work to anyone who hasn’t been completely poisoned by indentitarianism. But, ohh, ohhh we’ve only barely breached the weirdness. 

Contrary to the dominant narrative among Trans Rights Advocates, Lewis argues that social contagion does exist and that it can influence a person’s gender identity and sexual orientation--only it just goes one way. Straight, non-trans people are obviously molded by repressive social structures. The pronoun folx, meanwhile, exist gloriously unaffected by the malignant influence of anything other than their internal gender identity, which is basically a soul and exists independent of everything else.

I hate to repeat myself, but this claim is so bizarre and self-contradictory it really must be stressed: Lewis believes that what most people consider the default status in regards to gender--the belief that you weren’t born in the wrong body and therefore do not require medicalization--is the result of a social construction. Literally, she says it’s due to “grooming.” While making this claim, she also states that believing oneself to require medicalization to achieve equanimity between your body and your inherent gender identity is the actual default that would exist if there were no social pressures imploring children to believe otherwise. 

In other words, children are indeed groomed, only the groomers are inherently evil “cissexual” people, and their grooming ways are perpetuated by oppressive social structures (”In fact, the traditional practice of grooming kids into cisgenderism and heterosexuality is quasi-universally supported and encouraged”). This, Lewis contends, is why some people don’t react kindly when she and her rainbow pals in the publishing industry tell strangers they want to take their kids away: those strangers are themselves evil (cis, hetereo, and sometimes.... sometimes even white!), which means they are fragile and stupid and their response is a fascist reaction to social progress:

 In light of this, today’s trans “groomer” panic begins to look like a reaction to, and appropriation of, #MeToo. Notice that within the framework of the 21st century’s save-our-children-ists, the existence of self-declaring trans children is a sign of sexual violation in and of itself: an outside corruption of cis girlhood, or a “forced feminisation” of boys, if you will.

These reactions--the very definition of fascism--are themselves only possible because of the evil existence of families:

If the patriarchal institutions of mum and dad – which manufactured us all! – are to survive, then private parents must retain control of the prerogative to inseminate the minds of kids with things like pronouns, proper nouns and other sexual spells. And none of us knows what deprivatising father-care or mothering-labour feels or looks like. Family abolition, as such, is hard (perhaps impossible, for now) to desire fully. But an inconvenient obstacle to the revanchist re-entrenchment of cissexualist right-reproduction exists, in the form of parents who affirm, support and care for transgender flourishing in kids. Regardless of the stubborn reality of trans parents, the task of anti-trans educators and propagandists is framed in terms of “parental rights”: how can politicians, along with suitably cissexist moms and dads, defend families, while also breaking them, in the quest to Make Kids Cis Again?

Now, you might assume that most people are heterosexual for the same reason that almost every other dimorphic animal species is predominately heterosexual: an innate drive to procreate, something that requires a male and female. You may likewise assume that the majority of people aren’t trans because transness by definition requires medicalization, the mechanisms of which were not available until quite recently, and that in the past the vast majority of butch girls and faggy boys would have simply been regarded as gender non-conforming (and then either ostracized or tolerated or praised, or some combination thereof, according to the particular contexts of the time and place in which they lived). Well, guess what buddy, that’s exactly what Hitler also thought. It turns out these default states are actually a social construct--the only social construct that effects gender and sexuality--and that the only reason nearly everyone doesn’t have a septum piercing and mastectomy scars is because their horrible families forced them to not be their natural, immutable, Edenic selves (the identity markers and beliefs of whom just so happen to line up perfectly with the aesthetic preferences of Lewis and her cohort).

Once again, if you think I am misreading Lewis’ work or otherwise being unduly dismissive, I implore you to read it for yourself. If you approach it with an honest and open mind, rather than a predisposition to believe and support anything you imagine upsetting conservatives, you will find I have described her general worldview accurately, and without undue prejudice. 

And now we have an obvious question: to what end is this social project aimed, other than a desire for more kids to get raped and beaten and to send most normal people running away from the left as if we were a superfund site? Here’s where Lewis turns the Schizo Scale up to 11. The result is simply that children will be “liberated” once they are freed from the presence of their parents and granted full legal agency from birth (the age of consent isn’t mentioned specifically, but, uhh... I think you can infer what she wants out of this):

Unfortunately, it is only on the fringes of the left today that one hears any mention at all of child sovereignty, juvenile body-autonomy, or youth liberation – let alone calls to imagine abolishing the family for, and with, kids. In my experience, it has usually been in the skilful domains of anti-authoritarian or anti-state communist mutual-aid networks, social centres and grief circles, that problems of “adultism” and “adult supremacy” are taken seriously, rather than mocked (the same, by the way, goes for disability-liberation concerns). It is among anarchists that I have generally encountered conversations about trusting kids; believing kids about who they are; listening to them; supporting their self-organisation; and yes, learning both with and from them, practising, for instance, the arts of coexisting with others and their wants.

The segregation of the generations is both epistemic and material, as “kids’ libbers” in the late 1960s and early 1970s used to emphasise. Still today, children are not only the most disenfranchised, but also the poorest people in our societies. Their segregation, and also the omni-pervasive theory of education our institutions apply, whereby knowledge flows unidirectionally, downward, from “us” to “them”, stems from an “unspoken truth” that Lane-McKinley identifies: “while many children fear adults, many adults also fear children.” To conquer this fear, it may be necessary for leftists in the 21st century to first give up apologising for the production (and self-fashioning) of non-innocent young people, and practice vindicating it. Only then are we likely to move beyond the “defence” of trans childhoods, towards their celebration. In the final lines of her 2018 study Histories of the Transgender Child, scholar Jules Gill-Peterson writes: “If we adults really desire to learn to care for the many transgender children in our midst, we need to learn what it means to wish that there be trans children.” Let us, as a matter of urgency, set to training ourselves and each other in this wish.

As is typical of identitarian writing of all stripes, Lewis is pretty vague as the material specifics of her grand ideal. Same as conservatives, these people understand power purely in terms of the presence or absence of certain people in certain spaces: social justice, or Democracy, or Freedom, or whatever the goal may be--these are achieved by making sure the good people simply exist among one another, free from the contaminating presence of bad people. The material realities faced by those who enter into these vastly reimagined societies are of no concern, nor is there any reason to wonder about the beliefs and actions of the citizens of these utopias. If everyone is Pronoun Person, and kids are trained to be pronoun people from birth (only they’re totally not trained because only cishetero people are capable of that), victory shall simply manifest itself; equity shall have been achieved. 

In her older works, Lewis did make some reference to the creation of anarcho-syndicalist-style “autonomous zones,” a concept adapted from the work of theorist Hakim Bay. You might have thought that the “CHAZ” that was built up in Seattle during the protests of 2020 was a spontaneous creation, but such efforts were actually fairly thoroughly theorized. And, well, if you were paying any attention to CHAZ as it unfolded, you’d understand why Lewis no longer leans on this concept: what was proposed a zone of “radical safety” and immediate equity quickly devolved into a sea of filth and unhinged violence, with CHAZ “security” managing to murder at least 2 black children in a span of a few weeks (and shoot at least one more). That, I’m afraid, is Lewis’ ideal world--even if she’s too much of a coward to articulate it, there’s no other way forward within her narrow, birdbrained worldview. And, even more sadly, that is what a lot of very stupid publishers are trying to establish as the brand of the post-Bernie left. 

Maybe I’m being too harsh? Lefties love few things more than apologia for their dumbest ideas, and I’m sure we will encounter some version of “a true CHAZ has never been attempted.” Fine. But please ask yourself: what do you honestly believe will be result of handing everyone’s bodily autonomy and the very agency of children over to the people who presently dominate the left? What will happen when the people who already revel in ruining the lives of strangers over minor semantic indelicacies are given control of state violence, in the absence of an actual state? Will empowerment suddenly make these people less paranoid, more forgiving, less convinced that everyone who disagrees with them is a fascist who wants to kill them and therefore should be met with violent resistance? What gives you faith in these people to believe they are anything but who they have repeatedly, doggedly demonstrated themselves to be? 

[spectre-ship]

Thing that drives me completely insane in the news, on social media, and generally in the way people discuss age groups, is how unquestioningly we accept the idea of "generations" as sequential statistical cohorts with distinct cultures and mindsets.

The idea of understanding generations as things that are Named and which follow each other in sequential blocs entered popular culture as what Wikipedia terms "Strauss-Howe Generational Theory", which was cooked up in the 1990s by the aforementioned William Strauss and Neil Howe, for a series of pop-science books. Their books had the, bluntly, extremely shoddy hypothesis that you can trace generations' mindsets in the United States as a repeating four-part hundred-year cycle back to the early modern period, with each generation forming a mindset due to growing up in the conditions created by the previous one.

The premise barely even resembles coherent historical or sociological scholarship, and could at most be generously described as "vibes-based". It's U.S.-centric as all hell; following it out would suggest that the history of Anglo-American generational mindsets is the singular axis on which the world turns, and they themselves essentially argued that the Great Depression and World War II were a "Crisis" produced by American cultural cycles. There is a built-in hole by the authors' own admission in 1844-1860, where they couldn't quite explain how the goddamn antebellum period, i.e. one of the singularly most-studied periods in American history, slots into their narrative. It's broad enough to make Victorian political theorists who saw history as the story of technological and moral progress look nuanced and discerning by comparison.

The real reason for their hypothesis was to pitch the idea that millennials* would grow up to be conservatives and to affirm turn-of-the-millennium conservative fears, claiming that there would be a world-historical crisis on the scale of World War II around 30 years after they published their books, which the emboldened conservative youth would then heroically overcome.† To give you an idea of how cartoonishly obviously these guys were working backwards from the thesis "things are looking up for social conservatism", this is an excerpt from a review of their book Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, from NEA Today in 2000:

Millennials are returning to conservative family values, emphasizing cooperation rather than creativity, and showing a new respect for rules. [...] And today's young people have stricter attitudes about sex than their elders, with virginity being a cool new trend.

In other words, it is at this point objectively bullshit.

All this nonsense might sound wildly disconnected from how the terms are used today but Strauss and Howe have been insanely successful at shaping how people think of generations more broadly--the commentariat is to this day obsessed with talking about "This Hot New Gen Z Trend" and "What Millennials Are Doing Differently Than Their Parents" I think this broader reshaping of how generations are understood is also related to why people argue about these things online so much, why there's constant discourse on what generation things are "nostalgia" of, and people cooking up weird subterms like "elder millennial" and "zillennial". Fundamentally, putting aside the concept's methodological and ideological original sins, breaking people up into these artificial 20 year chunks and erecting walls between them is a really poor way to understand the fluid way age and culture interact. Which is, incidentally, one of the many reasons why practically nobody in the academic historical or sociological communities considers it an accurate or useful way of understanding history or culture.

*addendum: you know how the start and end years of "generations" are frequently wildly unclear, say, how depending on who you ask gen z starts anywhere from 1995 to 2005? according to strauss and howe the last millennials were the people who graduated high school in 2000 lmao

†addendum 2: i have seen some places, including the incredibly credulous Wikipedia page, characterize the COVID pandemic or the russia-ukraine war as the predicted "crisis" formative to gen z, which is both obviously stupid and also pretty on track for the theory that posits a central historical cause of World War II to be World War I's psychological effects on the children of the Americans who served in it

[drdemonprince]

Are you open to your words being used in the public sphere (aka a website), with full credit given? I want to ask further permission as a cis-het white therapist who is dedicated to the constant work-in-progress of decolonizing both a mind and a practice.

You'll need to give me a lot more specific detail about which words, how many of them, in what context, etc for me to be able to answer. Citing my work is always fine, relatively short quotes with attribution are always fine, full reproductions of a work are not, and if you quote too long of a passage of the book verbatim, I won't care, but my publisher will, and they might sue you. So make sure to inform yourself of what the rules are regarding that. I think even I as the author am only allowed to reproduce up to like a few thousand words of my books. If it's a complicated or unique case email me -- I will say yes to anything that I legally can.

[7searchad]

Increase Your AduIt Site And App Advertisement

Adult websites can be both delightful and difficult to monetize. We are here to help you avoid the latter! The Best Ad Networks have served as a deterrent for people visiting pornographic websites in the past, but they have also complicated the process of monetizing adult websites. Let's work through a step-by-step guide to resolving this issue:

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2. Work with these networks to establish a clear and effective monetization strategy for your adult website.

3. Implement this strategy and monitor its effectiveness over time.

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There are a few well-known organisations that play a vital role in the world of the best ad networks to monetize adult ad sites. Let's take a look at some of them now.

The most frequently seen advertising on this platform are for other adult websites, such as dating or cam sites, or for adult merchandise. This is because this platform is used by affiliates to promote their adult dating services.

How do businesses manage to increase their organic traffic while still making a profit?Adult Ads Network provides the answer. In this article, we will discuss the top adult ad networks that help businesses achieve this goal.

You may be wondering how some businesses are able to increase their organic traffic while still making a large profit. Adult ad networks are the answer. In this article, we will discuss the top adult ad networks that help businesses achieve this goal.

7Search PPC

For adult websites, 7Search PPC is a distinct category with a well-known nickname that is progressively coming to be linked to adult websites. Here's a brief explanation of how and why this is.

In just a few short evenings, 7Search PPC has become well-known for its extremely effective strategies that our Best Adult Advertisement uses for its Publishers and Advertisers. The ability to enjoy themselves greatly is another benefit. So there you have it - if you're looking for an adult website that is trustworthy and fun, 7Search PPC is the perfect choice!

We asked our staff members to give their opinion on which ad network is best for monetizing adult websites, and quick online polling showed us that [insert name] is the top pick.

ExoClick

ExoClick was started by Benjamin Fonzé, who is the current CEO, and COO. Together, they manage and maintain the company. 

ExoClick provides users with extensive data sets, over 20 distinguishable ad formats for targeting purposes, as well as behavioural retargeting. In addition, there are research tools included to help increase ROI. The data is updated every minute, and consumers are given 24/7 customer care. The ExoClick API is a tool that allows programmers to create original software that integrates with this platform seamlessly.

As a publisher, you have access to a wide range of tools to help you succeed. These include quick payouts, SaaS technology, a responsive player, an adblocker, and a rewarding referral programme. With these tools at your disposal, you can maximise your earnings and reach your full potential as a publisher.

AdXXX

AdXXX is a great platform for making money as it has over 10 years of experience in the internet advertising industry. It is responsible for various successful CPA projects. AdXXX Network is one of the pioneers of native advertising in the sexual sector.

AdXXX has remained a reliable system since its creation, with a development and operating capability that has stayed constant throughout the years. Many webmasters who have been in the game for a while already know of the advantages that come with employing AdXXX.

AdXXX advertisers have seen a huge benefit from using real time bidding systems, native ad purchasing platforms, and precise traffic targeting. Thanks to the AdXXX team's extensive worldwide coverage, rapid integration, and weekly awards, the publishers have seen a significant increase in their CPM by five. AdXXX is constantly innovating to bring their advertisers the best possible results.

Adsterra

Adsterra is the best adult ad network on the market, providing over 25 billion geo-targeted ad impressions each month. Adsterra's intelligent advertising platform is designed to match service and product providers with their target market, raising brand awareness, improving ROI, and boosting ad revenue.

Different models, such as CPM, CPA, CPC, CPL, CPO, and CPI (PPI), exist to gauge the effectiveness of advertising. Intelligent targeting is possible for all devices, browsers, operating systems, keywords, and mobile carriers.

Popunder re-targeting is a great way to get the best outcomes with its self-serving platform. High CPM rates, risk-free advertisements, legal ad formats, and prompt payouts are all advantages that publishers can take advantage of.

PlugRush

Looking for a trustworthy yet uncomplicated answer to your digital marketing demands? PlugRush has got you covered. Producing tangible results, it blends a range of advertising strategies in a safe, transparent, and flexible way. You can purchase, sell, or trade traffic with PlugRush based on your preferences.

Broad targeting and automatic optimization across numerous websites can help advertisers bring in high-quality traffic. Once S2S conversion monitoring is configured, you should continuously monitor conversion rates and ROI using a postback URL. This will help you make sure that your campaigns are effective and that you are getting a good return on your investment.

Retargeting is a great way to boost your ROI, control your expenses, and run a secure campaign. By using retargeting, you can ensure that your ads are shown to people who have already shown an interest in your product or service. This means that you're more likely to get clicks and conversions, and you can also save money by not wasting impressions on people who are not interested.

As a publisher, you can increase your revenue by taking advantage of profitable promotions. They constantly collaborate with partners to provide you with a fill rate of 100%.

PopCash

PopCash is a company that is quickly becoming known for its exceptional and distinctive service to publishers and marketers. The bidding process is expedited in PopCash due to the fact that a variety of factors affect how much traffic you receive, including traffic quality, end-user location, and advertising demand. PopCash offers comprehensive coverage, the finest outcomes, and expert assistance.

PopCash is an industry-leading provider of digital advertising services, with 850 million monthly views, 4500 active campaigns, and 50k active publishers. We offer eight widely utilised payment methods for transactions, making us one of the most convenient and trusted options in the market.

The user-friendly interface and all features are performance-focused to ensure that both advertisers and publishers get the intended results.

Earning money as a publisher has never been easier - or quicker! Advertisers have access to hourly data, a robust API, and their own ad server. And with a $5 minimum payment, publishers can begin to generate income in less than 12 months.

Are Adult Ad Networks a Source of Income?

It's no secret that the adult entertainment industry is a huge money-maker. In fact, it's a $100 billion industry that is always growing and expanding. So if you're thinking about getting into the adult entertainment business, now is the time!

The adult sector of the internet is one of the most lucrative, with 30-40% of all online traffic going to adult websites. If you're looking for a high-income potential job, working in the adult sector is a great option.

Adult services is a broad term used to describe any service, advertisement, product, or item that is intended for a sexual or adult audience. This industry is highly profitable and always expanding, making it a great opportunity for entrepreneurs.

The adult market is competitive, as everyone is aware. Your website or blog's indexing by search engines could seem challenging. However, there are certain things you can do to improve your chances. Make sure you are using the right keyword density, and including relevant keywords and phrases in your titles and tags. In addition, try to get high-quality backlinks from other websites. These things will help improve your website's ranking in search engines.

When it comes to online sales, choosing the top Adult Site Advertisement Network will make a significant difference. Using a lower-quality ad network can result in lost customers and sales, so it's important to choose wisely. With the right adult ad network, you'll be able to reach more potential customers and make more sales.

Choosing the right adult ad network is essential if you want to boost your online sales. With the right network, you'll be able to reach a wider audience and get more people interested in what you're selling. With more traffic comes more sales, so make sure you choose a reputable and popular network if you want to see success.

Conclusion:

To improve the return on investment for your website in 2022, use these adult ad networks. 7Search PPC is a great ad mediation service that can help you get better results. You can connect to all of the Adult Ads Network described above and use each one's unique capabilities to your advantage.

With these networks at your disposal, you should be able to monetize your marketing efforts and see a real return on your investment. So get started today and see what you can achieve!

[cielsosinfel]

reading log

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon: I got half-way through this before I had to put it down. It starts off very strong- young girl escapes a Black supremacist religious cult compound where she was married to the leader at 13, has twins in the woods, has to navigate survival when the cult is after her, she has cult trauma, and on the other side is an anti-Black society. But when her kids are grown up enough to start talking (at... three years old... full complex sentences, which probably gets explained later on) the pacing gets... so frustrating. And I don’t always agree that “show, don’t tell” is a hard rule a writer has to follow for their book to be good. But this book is ALL TELLING. It does that thing, where instead of showing you character-building and relationship-building scenes, it just gives a sentence or two saying “yeah this happened” AFTER introducing a scene where that information/development is relevant. Once the babies are grown up enough to hold full conversations, there are these constant asides explaining their personalities, but it has no relevance to what they’re saying/how they’re behaving in that scene? And things they did while growing up, and how they interact with each other and their mom, that we never actually see. Just a sentence or two saying “this happens/happened.” This is like most of the book by the point I dropped it, it felt like.

There’s also just a lot that stretched my suspension of disbelief to breaking point (the MC abandoning her literal infant children in the woods, where she has been trying to keep them safe from a would-be murderer hunting them down for weeks and months, so she can go fuck a stranger, and it’s never like... discussed that her babies are just out there for hours alone...)

I might try it again later and push through... I really liked the author’s first novel An Unkindness of Ghosts, and short stories published online... But this just be a case of one single book by a good author not working for me lol.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

THIS ONE I WAS OBSESSED WITH And i prattled on and on about it on Twitter and Discord... I might just collect things I’ve already said there lol

This is a Sci-fi cave horror story, where our MC is Gyre, a woman desperate to make enough money to get off her backwater mining-dominated planet and find her mother, who vanished without a trace years ago. To get that money she lies her way into a highly lucrative caving expedition, claiming to have much more experience with professional dives than she does (that is, 0.) This is extremely heavy with atmospheric and psychological horror in the best way. Also it’s canon gay in the most fucked up way and I’m obsessed. The further into the cave Gyre, and the reader gets, the deeper both get into the fucked-up web of manipulation and deceit being spun by Gyre’s employer, Em, a  woman who she only knows as a cold, distant voice over her suit’s speaker systems, and who is her only connection to the surface.

The progression of Gyre and Em’s relationship is sooooooo fucking good, and impactful, and SEXY AS HELL. Em is terrible. She is hyper-controlling, with no compunctions in straight-up hijacking Gyre’s suit, forcing drugs into her system and effectively taking control of her body, for her own good. Em is also a huge woobie... just a huge woobie whose coping mechanism is manipulation and gaslighting. Even as they come to understand one another’s issues and actions and horrible personality traits, there’s never a moment where the tension is gone, where the reality of how terrible they both are is. Gyre, rash and belligerent and slowly losing her grasp on reality the deeper into the cave she gets, keeps looking for those moments where Em stops being a monster and always gets her hopes up, that finally, finally this is Em at her best, finally Em has let go over everything that makes her behave the way she does. But obviously its not that simple. Obviously Gyre is continuously disappointed. 

The ending just blew me away and was better than anything I could have expected. It’s a book about two women who go through complete, utter, excruciating hell together, psychologically eviscerate one another, rip into the sinews of each other to tear one another apart, and then come out unable to separate themselves from each other. Their relationship is full of hate, and pain, and fear, and distrust, and endless pools of grief, yet also this intense co-dependent love forged from countless near-death experiences and having only each other to rely on. It’s so hot. It’s whump central!! Jesus christ. I really do not know how to describe it in words that truly capture how good this book was. I also really don’t want to spoil it but it feels inevitable. Please just read this if you want women being horrible to each other while losing their sanity in haunted caves.

Also ehehe. ehehehehehehehe. 

Slow Damage (cw for n s f w/ noncon discussion)

This counts as a book when its a 60 hour long visual novel. Actually I only completed two routes (Taku and Madarame) and am halfway through Rei’s and am takig a break. But it counts. I think this is actually my favorite Nitro+chiral VN for overall plot; the story is extremely engaging and I’m enjoying bits and pieces being revealed as I go through each route.

Also I LOVE the translation/localization SO MUCH. You can tell how much care was put into choosing just the right words to get across characters’ personalities and relationships into English, while also making it very enjoyable to read. And I LOVE the choice to translate Rei’s fem neesan vibes into Valley Girl-wannabe club queen vibes, so much. The way he and his friends speak really bring me back to my days hanging out with fems and queens in gay bars/clubs, it all sounded so naturally written and like a lot of care was put into it.

There’s some word choices that made me go ???? but overall I think this is one of the most smoothly translated and localized visual novels, or any Japanese media, I’ve read. The twitter drama complaining about the translater being horrible was dumb as hell, okay lol. 

But I also think it’s one of my least favorites in term of actual erotic content lol... Somehow it feels EXTREMELY tame? Like, there’s dubcon, there’s guro, there’s yandere kidnapping petplay, there’s forced drugging, there’s a lot! But none of it lands right or like... goes as far as I’d expect it to... it feels like a lot is being held back. Maybe N+C games were always like this, and it’s just less impressive to me now that I’m an adult and not in middle school? IDK.

Taku’s route especially was disappointment cus he’s the only DILF Towa gets to fuck, and is explicitly the daddy kink route. But his good and bad end just left me really cold. Madarame got to me a lot more, because his entire thing is noncon petplay and caretaking and eye trauma kink, which is like, my entire fucking jam, hello. But it felt so emotionally EMPTY... I think that’s generally my issue, is Towa is a protagonist who doesn’t /care/ about anything, who is emotionally numb, and who is such a masochist that he doesn’t even react when people force themselves on him, he actively enjoys it. N+C is usually noncon kink central so a protag who just loves everything anyone does to him doesn’t hit. Madarame route was also nice because Towa FINALLY showed emotional reactions of fear and anger, but then it like fizzles out near-immediately as he just goes along with everything Madarame does, because Towa just does not care. I did end up liking the Madarame bad end though, there’s that!!

I guess I just realized the big appeal for me in N+C games is the poor pitiable protags who are terrified for their lives and being terrorized, and Towa is like, impossible to put in this position, because he is the world’s most extreme masochist...  Also I really wanted more with the other DILFs in the game (Toono, Sakaki) but even when Toono has Towa held captive, forced to crossdress, and forced to pretend to be Toono’s lover to freak out Taku, nothing happenssssss whyyyyyy there’s so many opportunities for fucked up shit that go nowhereeeeeee

ok thats my horny brain review of Slow Damage’s first two routes, thanks for your time

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Mega CD - Heavy Nova

Title: Heavy Nova / ヘビーノバ

Developer/Publisher: Micronet

Release date: 12 December 1991

Catalogue No.: T-22014

Genre: Mech Action / Fighting

This is one of the absolute worst games ever released on the Sega Mega CD. The game starts with a fairly well-done anime-style cinematic, within the options menu we have the possibility of selecting which level and what part of it we want to start the game. This gives us the chance to play the entire game without having to deal with its difficulty. Its main positive aspect is the inclusion of a mechanic in which after advancing the action and platform sections we will unlock new combat skills in 1v1 mode. So, what's bad about it? Practically everything, the graphics section looks bad with basic sprites and overly generic scenarios, and the animations are crude and with few frames which generates a rather unpleasant feeling of slowness. The sound effects are scarce and of poor quality, the soundtrack, without being completely bad, despite them being CD music, has little to offer and falls into mediocrity. The worst thing about the game is its mechanics which are not polished at all, uncomfortable controls that take forever to respond, making combat simply a constant mashing of buttons without any type of strategy. The collision boxes work very poorly, and, in many cases, it is extremely difficult to land a hit. Finally, the difficulty is excessively high, combined with the poor functioning of the controls and hitboxes, making this game an exasperating experience.

So, to sum up, the game starts well with a well-done intro that reminds us of the great mecha animes of the time, unfortunately after the cinematic everything falls into disgrace. The graphics and sound section are bad, and the controls have a prolonged response, making the title practically unplayable. Although the idea of combining action and platform scenarios with one-on-one combat is interesting, the final result ends up disappointing in both scenarios. Another good, wasted idea is to acquire skills as we progress in the adventure, without any type of indication of how to execute these commands it is indecipherable how to use the new skills obtained. I do not recommend this game at all, it is better to avoid it at all costs, without a doubt one of the worst games I have played in my entire life.

[jcmarchi]

Customer Retention: Reasons Your Business May Be Losing Customers - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/customer-retention-reasons-your-business-may-be-losing-customers-technology-org/

Customer Retention: Reasons Your Business May Be Losing Customers - Technology Org

Small business owners know that loyal customers are the best customers. They will continue to purchase from you and even refer friends and colleagues. You can improve your business by identifying the factors that may be affecting your customer base.

Happy customer – illustrative photo. Image credit: Brooke Cagle via Unsplash, free license

What is customer retention?

Customer retention is the ability of a business to retain customers over time. It is a metric that measures how many customers remain at the end of any given period. Customer retention is when your customers remain loyal to your brand and its offerings. It can also contribute to your growth. Instead of a constant influx of new customers to your business, returning customers speak to their satisfaction with the brand.

If you’ve noticed this isn’t the case for your company, here are possible reasons why your business is losing customers.

1. Providing poor customer service

Good service can increase customer satisfaction. Apple and Amazon are examples of organisations that have high standards when it comes to customer service. These companies have shown that placing customer service at your core business model leads to greater success and customer retention. Small and large companies can learn a lot from these leading companies to remain competitive and retain their customers.

What does good customer care look like? Consistency, reliability, and responsiveness are key to every customer interaction. One bad experience can cause you to lose a customer for good. Each interaction with your company should encourage customers to return. A friendly smile and a positive attitude are important, but there is more. For example, aim to answer questions and resolve problems as quickly as you can. Set goals for response times and successful resolutions. Train your staff to be able to correct any mistakes, and empower them.

2. Failing value proposition

Failing to provide the value you’ve promised goes hand in hand with a poor customer experience. If you fail to accurately deliver the product or service you provide, your clients may assume that you don’t care about them. This is not good for business.

Send your clients regular updates that show the progress you are making for them. When you have good or bad news to report, make sure to communicate it promptly, which is important for all businesses, but especially those who foster close one-on-one relationships with their clients.

3. Outdated technology

Technology is an important factor in today’s brand loyalty equation. Consumers today are not only demanding, but have little patience for inefficiencies, since they can find a similar if not better service elsewhere. Slow checkout processes or a lack of convenient payment methods – online and offline – may cause some customers to look for businesses with better operations.

Simple, intuitive technology will help you retain customers. Your websites should load quickly and be easy to navigate on all devices. This includes computers, tablets, and smartphones. Make sure your business is active on social media and that you are keeping up with it. Use technology to enhance your products and services. Consider listing your restaurant on a delivery application to retain customers who may prefer to order takeout online.

4. Failure to reward customer loyalty

When it comes to establishing customer relationships, recognising the long-standing customers you do have is equally as important as improving on those that need a little more work. It can be very effective to reward customers for their loyalty. Encourage customer loyalty by rewarding those who choose your business over competitors. Customer loyalty programs can be used to offer discounts and special promotions. You can make it less likely that your customers will take advantage of a competitor’s offer by providing them great value without having to make any changes.

Money-back incentives are one way of rewarding customer loyalty. Create a feeling of community and belonging. You can show your appreciation to customers in many ways, such as by featuring them in newsletters and sending them birthday and holiday cards, or by asking them for feedback and including them in the creation of new products and services.

5. Pricing does not match value

Focusing on price instead of value is not a great idea for small businesses. As a low-cost supplier, you will find it difficult to raise prices if you are forced to. A larger competitor can also more easily undercut your prices to steal your clientele.

Focusing on value is the best way to increase customer loyalty in small businesses. Customers are not only interested in price, but also service, consistency and accessibility. Especially when larger competitors are involved – if a customer is choosing your product or service, it’s likely because they want a more personalised experience.

6. Incentivising employees poorly

Employee satisfaction is an indicator of customer satisfaction. If you cannot keep your employees, then don’t expect your customers to stay either. Consider how you can motivate and engage your sales team with sales incentives. This will keep them focused on the behaviours that serve both your customers and your business.

From a longer term perspective, ensure your salary packages are competitive, including insurance, holiday and sick payments that cover what it costs to be an Australian in today’s society.

Why is customer retention important?

Customer retention is a measure of a company’s ability to acquire new customers, as well as how satisfied they are with their existing customers. It also boosts ROI, increases loyalty and attracts new customers.

Returning customers are more likely to spend more, buy more, and recommend friends and family. Research shows that a 5% increase in retention can boost revenue by 25 to 95%.

Smart customer retention strategies ensure that customers are educated about your brand, products and service, and they’re satisfied with the customer experience. They also encourage them to come back to your brand to purchase additional products or receive updates.

Increase customer lifetime value

Lifetime value (LTV) can be defined as the total amount a client is expected to pay for your products over the course of their lifetime. The better your retention strategies, the higher your customer LTV. When you have a solid customer retention strategy, your LTV will soar. It is important to spend as little money as possible on acquisition, and then gain as much as you can from LTV.

Retention and acquisition best practices

Increased customer loyalty requires a targeted, focused approach. You should follow the actionable and achievable approaches to maintain a strong customer base, even though every business will lose some customers.

You can reduce customer churn by taking the time to engage, educate and empower your customers.

Inspire customer loyalty

Keeping existing customers is more profitable and cost-effective than attracting new ones. It’s only the beginning to avoid these common mistakes that lead customers away. It takes time to build customer loyalty. The payoff will be well worth the effort.

Bonus tip: Business insurance can also show your professionalism. It’s vital to keep the most valuable relationships you have in your small business. Maintaining the right insurance is a part of this to build trust with customers and show a commitment to your integrity.

Clients often see insurance as a sign of a financially responsible business owner, which can help protect reputation.

Use AI to create proactive experiences

Proactiveness is another important retention strategy. It’s not enough to respond to customer needs. Customers expect more than ever. They want you to give them what they need even before they ask.

Technology can help. According to Forbes, 48% of customers will be more loyal to a brand that uses the latest technology. Instead of reacting to issues that arise in real time, AI algorithms can identify and solve potential problems before they become a problem, such as through live chatbots on your website.

Personalise customer experience using data

To reap the benefits of personalisation you will need to connect all the data across the customer journey. You can combine customer data from various sources such as your marketing automation system, customer support software or order management tools.

Building an ecosystem of connected customer data allows for possibilities such as sending personalised offers to customers who have recently closed tickets. You can ensure that you don’t duplicate promotions offered by another team.

Adapt to changing customer needs and expectations

Businesses are constantly changing their products and services to meet the needs of customers. Companies who are able to improve customer retention usually have processes that allow them to quickly act on feedback from customers and optimise their operations.

Data transparency is driving agility. Agile organisations can stay ahead of the market’s rapid changes by paying attention to their customers’ data.

****

Think about these tips, and ask yourself whether there are any other areas where you can show your customers that you care. Work with your employees to make sure every interaction is positive. By reviewing your files whenever you receive a service request,you can train your team (and use AI) to go beyond what customers expect.

[francescomanetti]

BIO & ARTISTIC VIEW.

Born in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy, September the 13, 1982, Francesco Manetti grew up devoted to Art, especially the visual arts. Since he was a child he nurtured a love for drawing and painting, for graphics and illustration. At the age of 20 he started composing his first works with greater dedication and in-depth research, strongly inspired by the work of contemporary masters such as Jean Michel Basquiat, Mark Rothko, Jean Dubuffet, Franz Kline and Cy Twombly, just to name the most important. At the age of 23 he started studying visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara (Italy), where he developed that combination of techniques and disciplines that then characterized his future artistic project. In his early artistic career, parallel to the painting, he dedicated a particular attention to the world of illustration, to which he dedicated his degree thesis, which took place in 2010. He has worked assiduously in the field of illustration collaborating with various publishing houses specialized in illustrated books for children. At the same time, he has carried on his pictorial project, through collective and solo exhibitions, in a constant evolutive “work in progress” that has led him to his actual artistic way based on the abstract expressionism style, a fertile ground for a totally free artistic and existential expression. 

In his artworks Francesco Manetti brings together everything that he assimilates in everyday life, both in visual, auditory and emotional terms. This constant tangle of elements is abstractly translated and visually synthesized by him into images that are deliberately not figurative, but visually poetic. Codes and mappings of the surrounding world summarized in layered emotions that become gesture and color. Delicacy and rude gesture. The call of beauty, through color, composing by contrast. It is the search for the balance between order and chaos that drives him to create paintings. 

Francesco Manetti mainly works with acrylic painting on canvas, that is prepared with a first layer of plaster that represents a real first step in the creation of the artwork. The plaster makes the canvas a more processable surface that can be carved, ribbed, consumed: it's like to give it a “first level of soul”. The artworks then acquires the other “soul's levels” with a stratification of multiple layers, where each one of them represents a different step in the completion of the work: an intricate combination of colors, marks and scratches that goes to compone the unique and final body of the opera.

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2023 | Impronte d’Arte part II, Duepuntozero art gallery, Bergamo, Italy (collective exhibition)

2022 | Impronte d’Arte part I, Duepuntozero art gallery, Bergamo, Italy (collective exhibition)

2022 | Art.Box.Project Palma 1.0, Casa del Arte, Palma de Maiorca, Spain (collective exhibition)

2022 | Open Art, Art Number 23 art gallery, Barcelona, Spain (collective exhibition)

2022 | Biennale di Vercelli, Studio 256 art gallery, Vercelli, Italy (collective exhibition) 

2013 | Gipsy Art, Gipsy House Casa del Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina (collective exhibition)

2012 | La Noce a Tre Canti art gallery, Pietrasanta, Italy (personal exhibition)

2007 | Brainstorming art festival, Fortezza Vecchia, Livorno, Italy (collective exhibition)

2007 | Effetto Refugio, Officina Refugio art gallery, Livorno, Italy (collective exhibition)

2006 | Pollock art gallery, Pisa (PI), Italy (collective exhibition)

2006 | Effetto Refugio, Officina Refugio art gallery, Livorno, Italy (collective exhibition)

2005 | Efetto Venezia art festival, Livorno, Italy (collective exhibition)

CONTACTS.

Official instagram channel: francescomanetti_paintings

Inquiries/collaborations: francescomanetti82@tutanota.com

WHERE TO BUY MY ART.

TRiCERA

Saatchi

Kaleido

Art Boxy

Artepreneur

[shivlabs]

A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding the Best PHP Development Company

One of the most popular server-side languages is PHP. 78.3% of websites worldwide use PHP for backend development, which is shocking. PHP, introduced in 1995, has remained a top programming language for 25 years.

 It is the most popular language among businesses, and the top PHP development firm would tell you that they enjoy its characteristics—one of the most popular front-end and back-end programming technologies among professional developers. Choose the leading PHP business if you want to use this profitable programming language for your next website development project. 

Top PHP Development services 

Website development is possible for all PHP developers. Can each be trusted? Not! Find the best PHP development agency that offers several PHP web development services. Some of the best PHP development services are described below:

1. PHP-CMS Development

Popular CMS like Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress are PHP-based. CMSs let users edit, publish, and modify material from one place. It also simplifies maintenance from one interface.

PHP-based CMS development is famous for commerce, blogs, and news websites. If you want this kind of web app development, ensure your PHP web development business has expertise with PHP-based CMS.

2. Custom PHP Web Development

Each company needs a unique selling proposition to stand out. Your online app needs distinct features. PHP development services offer customized development to meet your demands. When you engage PHP developers from that organization, they must grasp your needs and budget. 

3. Corporate website development 

Corporate website development differs from others. Before starting a new endeavor, you need plenty of practice. Business requirements must be met on corporate websites. 

Website security must be top-notch when hiring web developers to protect company data. Make sure any business you choose has produced a corporate website using PHP and has developers who can provide high-quality security.

4. Portal Web Development

Developing a web portal requires a platform that can handle high traffic. The Portal serves as a customizable library for many sources. PHP can create such a site. Portal development is complex and needs professional help. If you want user-friendly portals, ensure the web development business has PHP knowledge.

Top PHP development company's features

First, you need to compile a list of top PHP development company that provide the services you need. The top PHP web development firms may be located by following this procedure. Here are the specs that need your attention:

1. Evolution Toward Agility

Agile PHP web development describes a customer's and interdisciplinary teams' collaborative effort. The benefits to the customer and the developers are substantial.

Hiring PHP developers via an agile process firm will allow you to provide them with frequent and timely feedback on their progress. Plus, you'll have a constant line of communication open to voice your opinions at any time along the PHP development cycle. This ensures safety and better results when PHP development services are done without a hitch.

2. Enhanced Safety

When competing with other businesses, protecting sensitive information is as essential as having a highly secure website. As a business owner, you know how important it is to safeguard your intellectual property.

You may anticipate the highest level of protection for whatever is discussed between the development business and your team. They must guarantee that all professionals working on your project will maintain the confidentiality of your data.

3. Extensive Verification

A website's PHP development is only complete if it has been subjected to rigorous testing before its release. Users expect bug-free functionality from every online program they use. 

Therefore, thorough testing is essential. The final launch will go off without a hitch if it passes many levels of examination. This safeguards your PHP web program once it has been released.

4. Competence in Technology

What if the business you pick to do the PHP web development for you isn't up-to-date on the newest PHP technologies? There are a few things more worthy of your focus. 

The business you choose must use cutting-edge features in their custom PHP development. Hiring PHP developers from such a firm ensures you'll get professionals well-versed in all the frameworks and other relevant programming technologies.

5. Maintenance and Support

Anything with ongoing assistance and regular maintenance succeeds. Like people, PHP websites need adequate care to perform well over time. The PHP web business handbook makes this clear.

You can only risk hiring a web development firm with PHP website support and maintenance knowledge. Make sure their maintenance services keep your site running smoothly.

Conclusion

PHP web development companies must be dynamic like PHP. The company needs skilled PHP developers who know the technologies and the newest PHP frameworks. Remember that you are not hiring a PHP web development firm to just develop a web app on time, but to gain success from it. 

[aimlay7research]

Accelerating Scholarly Impact: UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication 

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of academic publishing, the need for efficient and swift dissemination of research findings has never been more critical. Scholars worldwide are constantly in search of platforms that offer fast publication without compromising on quality and credibility. One such avenue that has gained significant attention is UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication. In this article, we will delve into the world of UGC CARE journals, particularly focusing on their fast publication process, the 2023 list of such journals, and their significance for researchers looking for UGC Care journals with low publication charges.

Understanding UGC CARE Journals:

UGC CARE, or the University Grants Commission Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics, is an initiative by the Indian government to compile a comprehensive list of quality journals for researchers. The aim is to provide academics with a reliable reference point for selecting journals in which to publish their work. UGC CARE journals are categorized into different groups, namely Group A, Group B, and Group C, based on their quality and impact factor.

Fast Publication: The Need of the Hour

In the realm of academia, time is often of the essence. Researchers are under constant pressure to publish their findings promptly, particularly in rapidly evolving fields. This need for rapid publication is not only to establish priority but also to contribute to the ongoing discourse and progress in a given field. This is where UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication comes into play.

Fast publication in UGC CARE journals is characterized by a streamlined editorial process that expedites the publication timeline. While traditional journal publication may take several months or even years, fast publication journals aim to significantly reduce this time frame, sometimes publishing research within weeks. This accelerated timeline can be a game-changer for researchers looking to share their work with the academic community swiftly.

UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication List 2023

As the landscape of academic publishing continually evolves, the UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication list for 2023 has brought to light a plethora of options for researchers seeking swift publication. These journals not only offer a quick turnaround but also maintain the rigorous standards of UGC CARE journals. Here are a few notable journals from the 2023 list:

Journal of Rapid Research: Known for its commitment to speedy publication without compromising on quality, this journal covers a wide range of disciplines, making it an attractive choice for interdisciplinary researchers.

Express Scholar: With a focus on rapid dissemination of scholarly work, Express Scholar is a go-to platform for researchers looking to share their findings with the global academic community quickly.

Swift Science: True to its name, Swift Science prioritizes swift publication while upholding rigorous peer-review standards. It covers a variety of scientific domains, ensuring a broad appeal to researchers.

Speedy Social Sciences: Researchers in the social sciences will find Speedy Social Sciences a valuable outlet for their work. This journal prioritizes timely publication of research relevant to society and human behavior.

TechTrek Express: For researchers in the technology and engineering fields, TechTrek Express offers a fast track to publication. It is known for its efficiency in disseminating cutting-edge research.

Significance of UGC CareJournals with Low Publication Charges

In addition to speedy publication, cost is a significant concern for many researchers. UGC CARE journals often strike a balance by offering quality publication at reasonable charges, making them accessible to a broader range of scholars. This is especially important in a global academic landscape where research funding can be limited.

UGC Care journals with low publication charges not only benefit individual researchers but also institutions and countries as a whole. Affordable publication options reduce the financial burden on researchers and their institutions, enabling them to allocate resources to other critical aspects of research. This, in turn, fosters a more inclusive and vibrant academic community.

Moreover, the affordability of these journals ensures that research from diverse backgrounds and regions can find its way into the scholarly conversation. It democratizes access to academic publishing, leveling the playing field for researchers irrespective of their financial resources.

Paid Journals in UGC CARE List

It's important to note that while UGC CARE journals often offer low publication charges, they are not entirely devoid of fees. Many of these journals require authors to pay a publication fee or an article processing charge (APC). These fees, though significantly lower than those of some commercial journals, are essential for covering the costs associated with the publication process, including peer review, editing, and distribution.

The presence of publication charges in UGC CARE journals is not necessarily a drawback. It ensures a sustainable model for journals to maintain quality and integrity in their publications. Additionally, many institutions and funding agencies offer grants to cover publication fees, further reducing the financial burden on researchers.

Conclusion

In the dynamic world of academic publishing, UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication has emerged as a beacon of hope for researchers seeking both speed and affordability. The 2023 list of UGC CARE journals offers a diverse array of options for scholars across disciplines, ensuring that their work reaches the academic community promptly and without breaking the bank. These journals, while not entirely free, strike a balance between quality and accessibility, contributing to the democratization of knowledge and fostering a more inclusive academic ecosystem. As the pursuit of knowledge continues to accelerate, UGC CARE Journal Fast Publication stands as a vital ally for researchers worldwide.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Will They or Won't They Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❝ She suddenly understood, with a nauseating surge of regret, what a precious thing she'd been so careless with all those years ago, too blinded by distrust and self-loathing to see it standing right in front of her, if she'd only been brave enough to reach for it. ❞

❓ #QOTD Who is your celebrity crush? ❓

❝ The point was that he loved her now...The kind of love that cast a warm glow back through time, all the way to their first meeting, reframing the past through the lens of the present. Powerful enough to illuminate the protective shell she'd thought surrounded her heart, revealing that it wasn't a shell at all, but a cocoon. Her heart hadn't been calcifying, it had been biding its time, breaking down and rearranging at the molecular level until it was finally safe to burst free and reveal itself, trembling and brilliant and brand new. ❞

💜 From the first chapter, Ava Wilder does an outstanding job at creating the type of sizzling tension and undeniable chemistry of a book you would expect with this title; the type of chemistry that will keep you reading page after page, starved for more. The true feat here is Wilder's tendency to take, restructure, and defy rom-com tropes that easily would have made this story predictable. There's insta-love, but not in the boring, obvious, or nauseating sense we're accustomed to. Focused on the present, the story is an enemies-to-lovers second-chance romance, but when you rewind to the true beginning, it's far more complex than that. There's even a third act break up (which, at the first indication of it, made me put the book down for a second), but NOT; a twist that's so beautifully compromised that I'm shocked I didn't see it. Lilah and Shane have layers upon layers of characterization, making them real and painful and raw in ways that make empathizing with their decisions easy (once you see the whole picture). Lilah's social anxiety gives the story a mental health focus that seems natural amidst the behind-the-scenes chaos of the film industry (and my gf works in film, so I hear about it plenty). Meanwhile, Shane's people-pleaser demeanor is a guise for his insecurities. While they've both earned their fame, we see the double standard between men and women, too. Wilder touches on so many real-world concepts without blatantly telling, instead showing through Lilah and Shane's shared (and separate) experiences. The character growth between them is stunning, but better yet, Wilder leaves them in a place that demonstrates they'll KEEP on growing—whether together or apart.

🦇 Though I have a long list of pet peeve tropes, a miscommunication-powered plot is one of the biggest. The entire story relies on Lilah and Shane failing to express how they're feeling, or saying the wrong things out of anger, or making assumptions because of their failure to communicate. However, I deeply appreciate the solution to put them into couple's counseling, to force them to recognize what they're feeling, and how to communicate it. They progress from therapy to saying the smallest things unprompted outside of therapy—you see their growth and willingness to try as time goes on. However, anyone who's watched Ted Lasso knows good stories don't need to rely on miscommunication; there's real talent in writing adult characters who are beyond that.

🦇 Recommended to fans of sweet, blistering tension, the harsh but tantalizing bite only enemies to lovers can provide, and second-chance romances you can't help but root for.

✨ Vibes ✨ 💔 Lovers to Enemies to Lovers 🎥 Dual POV & Timeline 🎬 Mental Health Focus 🎥 Immediate, Constant Chemistry 💔 Second-Chance Romance

🦇 Major thanks to the author Ava Wilder and publisher Random House for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

[chetanbhagat2]

One Night @ the Call Center: A Tale of Life, Love, and the Corporate World

One Night @ the Call Center: A Tale of Life, Love, and the Corporate World

One Night @ the Call Center is a novel by Chetan Bhagat that was first published in 2005. The book revolves around the lives of six call center employees who work at a call center in Gurgaon, India. The story takes place over the course of one night, during which the characters face a variety of personal and professional challenges.

The six main characters are Shyam, Priyanka, Esha, Vroom, Radhika, and Military Uncle. Each character has their own unique personality, background, and struggles. Shyam is the protagonist and is in love with Priyanka, who is engaged to someone else. Esha is struggling with her weight and self-esteem issues, while Vroom is a flirtatious womanizer. Radhika is a single mother trying to balance work and raising her child, and Military Uncle is a retired army officer who now works at the call center.

The story begins with the characters working their usual night shift at the call center, dealing with angry and demanding American customers. However, their night takes a dramatic turn when they receive a call from God, who speaks to them and offers to help them with their problems. The characters are skeptical at first but eventually come to believe that the voice on the other end of the line is indeed God.

As the night progresses, the characters share their personal stories with each other and try to make sense of the strange situation they find themselves in. Shyam tries to win over Priyanka's heart, while Esha gains confidence and stands up to her boss. Vroom, who is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend, makes a surprising discovery, and Radhika confronts her ex-husband.

The novel explores various themes, including the struggles of the Indian middle-class, the pressures of the corporate world, the pursuit of love and happiness, and the role of faith and spirituality in modern life. One Night @ the Call Center is a compelling and thought-provoking read that offers a glimpse into the lives of call center employees in India and the challenges they face.

The Theme of Corporate Life and its Impact on Individuals

In Chetan Bhagat's One Night @ the Call Center, the theme of corporate life and its impact on individuals is a major thread throughout the story. The book provides a sharp commentary on the struggles and pressures that the modern-day workforce faces in the fast-paced corporate world.

The six main characters in the story work at a call center, which is often considered a symbol of the high-pressure and stressful work culture that has become commonplace in India's corporate landscape. The novel portrays the call center employees as being overworked, underpaid, and struggling to cope with the demands of their jobs. The characters work long and grueling hours, deal with rude and demanding customers, and face the constant threat of being laid off.

The novel exposes the emotional toll that this kind of work can take on individuals. Shyam, the protagonist, is deeply unhappy in his job and is searching for meaning and purpose in his life. Esha, another character, is plagued by self-doubt and low self-esteem, which is exacerbated by her work environment. Vroom is constantly chasing after his goals and dreams but is unable to find fulfillment in his job.

The story sheds light on the dark side of the corporate world, highlighting the damaging impact that it can have on mental health and well-being. The book exposes the absurdity of the corporate culture that values profits over people, and where employees are treated as mere cogs in a machine.

One Night @ the Call Center encourages readers to reflect on the broader implications of the corporate world and its impact on individuals. It raises important questions about the nature of work and its role in society, and calls for a shift in the way we view work and its impact on our lives. Ultimately, the book challenges readers to rethink their own relationship with work and encourages them to prioritize their well-being and happiness over their careers.

The Theme of Corporate Life and its Impact on Individuals

In Chetan Bhagat's One Night @ the Call Center, the theme of corporate life and its impact on individuals is a major thread throughout the story. The book provides a sharp commentary on the struggles and pressures that the modern-day workforce faces in the fast-paced corporate world.

The six main characters in the story work at a call center, which is often considered a symbol of the high-pressure and stressful work culture that has become commonplace in India's corporate landscape. The novel portrays the call center employees as being overworked, underpaid, and struggling to cope with the demands of their jobs. The characters work long and grueling hours, deal with rude and demanding customers, and face the constant threat of being laid off.

The novel exposes the emotional toll that this kind of work can take on individuals. Shyam, the protagonist, is deeply unhappy in his job and is searching for meaning and purpose in his life. Esha, another character, is plagued by self-doubt and low self-esteem, which is exacerbated by her work environment. Vroom is constantly chasing after his goals and dreams but is unable to find fulfillment in his job.

The story sheds light on the dark side of the corporate world, highlighting the damaging impact that it can have on mental health and well-being. The book exposes the absurdity of the corporate culture that values profits over people, and where employees are treated as mere cogs in a machine.

One Night @ the Call Center encourages readers to reflect on the broader implications of the corporate world and its impact on individuals. It raises important questions about the nature of work and its role in society, and calls for a shift in the way we view work and its impact on our lives. Ultimately, the book challenges readers to rethink their own relationship with work and encourages them to prioritize their well-being and happiness over their careers.

Love and Relationships in the Modern Age

One Night @ the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat is a story that explores the intricacies of modern-day relationships and the challenges that come with them. The novel presents a nuanced and realistic portrayal of love and relationships in the age of technology and globalization.

The story is primarily centered around the romantic relationships of the six main characters. Shyam, the protagonist, is in love with Priyanka, who is engaged to someone else. Esha struggles with her self-esteem and the insecurities that come with being overweight. Vroom is a flirtatious womanizer who is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend. Radhika is a single mother who is trying to balance her work and family life. The characters' love lives are complicated by the demands of their jobs and the pressures of modern-day society.

The novel shows how technology has transformed the way people communicate and form relationships. The characters are constantly on their phones, texting and messaging, and relying on social media to keep in touch with one another. The story also highlights the challenges that come with long-distance relationships, as some of the characters are involved in cross-cultural relationships that are complicated by differences in language, customs, and values.

One Night @ the Call Center also deals with the issue of infidelity and the challenges that come with forgiveness and moving on. The novel highlights the complexity of relationships and the emotional turmoil that comes with navigating the ups and downs of love.

Through the characters' experiences, the novel portrays the importance of communication, honesty, and trust in relationships. It also emphasizes the need for individuals to prioritize their own happiness and well-being, rather than sacrificing their own needs for the sake of a relationship.

Overall, One Night @ the Call Center provides a nuanced and thought-provoking look at love and relationships in the modern age. It challenges readers to reflect on their own relationships and the challenges that come with navigating the complexities of modern-day romance.

A Reflection on the Book's Message and its Relevance Today

One Night @ the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat was first published in 2005, but its message remains as relevant today as it was then. The novel provides a powerful commentary on the pressures of modern-day life, the impact of corporate culture on individuals, and the complexities of love and relationships in the age of technology and globalization.

The book's central message is one of hope, urging readers to find meaning and purpose in their lives, even in the face of challenging circumstances. The characters in the story face a range of obstacles and struggles, from the demands of their jobs to the complexities of their personal relationships. However, despite these challenges, the novel shows how individuals can overcome adversity and find fulfillment and happiness in their lives.

The book's message is particularly relevant today, as individuals around the world face an array of challenges and uncertainties. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, has upended the lives of people across the globe, leading to widespread economic hardship, social isolation, and mental health challenges. The novel's message of hope and resilience is especially important in these times, encouraging readers to stay positive and find ways to overcome the challenges they face.

The book also raises important questions about the nature of work and its impact on individuals. The corporate culture that the characters work in is one that values profits over people, leading to a range of negative consequences, including stress, burnout, and a lack of fulfillment. This issue is particularly relevant today, as more and more people around the world struggle to find meaning and purpose in their jobs.

Finally, the novel's exploration of love and relationships in the modern age is also highly relevant today. The rise of social media and dating apps has transformed the way people form relationships, leading to new challenges and complexities. One Night @ the Call Center highlights the importance of communication, honesty, and trust in relationships, as well as the need for individuals to prioritize their own happiness and well-being.

One Night @ the Call Center is a novel that remains highly relevant and impactful today. Its message of hope, resilience, and the importance of finding meaning and purpose in life is one that readers can take to heart, even in the most challenging of times.