#would love to write an analysis more focused on roy at some point because i think his whole deal is definitely impacted by being sent away | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ouppyjamie · 1 year

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mentioned this in my royjamie fic but i love learning about the relationship between trauma and BDSM. first important to acknowledge that enjoyment of BDSM is not conditional on trauma and trauma does not cause an interest in BDSM but there has been research into how trauma relates to BDSM

this article in particular was really interesting in looking at how survivors of childhood trauma use BDSM to “heal from, cope with, and transform childhood abuse or adolescent maltreatment”

some of the themes they found were cultural context of healing (using bdsm and therapy to reframe kink and trauma), restructuring self-concept (self-image), liberation through relationship (learning to be valued by intimate others), reclaiming power (setting and maintaining boundaries), and redefining pain (transcending painful memories through masochism)

*this is getting long so jamie / royjamie interpretation under the break*

i think this is super fascinating when looking at jamie since he canonically was abused by his father and seems to engage in kink on-screen (puppy play with keeley, EVERYTHING he has going on with roy)

i know others have probably said this before but i think BDSM and kink would genuinely be very healing for jamie! like kink itself is not a substitute for therapy but it can be helpful in the aforementioned themes

just pulling some more stuff from the article, having safewords is a prime example of having control and it is such an important aspect of safe kink that when someone wants to stop, their wish will be honoured. and we can see with jamie how this is not something he gets with his dad (repeated “don’t speak to me like that” yet his dad doesn’t stop)

also looking at restructuring self-concept, we have jamie specifically acknowledge how much he hated his dad calling him soft and we see his dad calling him a bitch when he tries to set boundaries. i think if jamie were to engage in a BDSM relationship with roy, name calling and degradation would be something they would have to be very careful with but it could also help jamie change his perception of those words and thus himself (like ideal scenario for me is roy calling him soft but in a super fond voice or just praising him in general) i also think feminization would be fun for them and a nice way for jamie to reshape what it means to be soft or girly or “weak”

since BDSM requires a lot of trust, it can allow a person to let go if they feel safe in their partner’s hands. we see jamie really listen to roy when they start their personal training since he knows roy is doing what is best for him (besides almost getting his dick ripped off lol) so i think this would translate well into a kink relationship with jamie as the submissive partner since he trusts roy to take care of him

being able to set boundaries that are respected is also really important, something he doesn’t get from his dad (“i’d rather them not” repeated). being able to set limits that roy respects would let him reclaim a sense of power

repurposing behaviours i think would play into the physical abuse jamie experienced, so being able to “re-enact” that in a sense with someone he trusts could help recontextualize that, especially since these experiences are about centering pleasure which can actually help survivors “salvage their bodies” and view that as a vehicle for pleasure, thus redefining pain

plus, aftercare would definitely fulfill jamie’s desire to be taken care of and pampered

i think engaging in kink and bdsm (specifically masochism, praise, power exchange, bondage, puppy play, and more) with roy would be very therapeutic and also a lot of fun for both of them!!

#whew that turned into an essay #i’m just so fascinated by this topic!!!#would love to write an analysis more focused on roy at some point because i think his whole deal is definitely impacted by being sent away #at such a young age and loosing his grandad unexpectedly #royjamie #ted lasso #jamie x roy #roy x jamie #jamie tartt

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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years

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New Written Review from Mike Crowley on You’ll Probably Agree: 10 Reasons Why ‘Blade Runner 2049’ is better than ‘Blade Runner’

If you haven’t’ seen the movie, see it then read this. No intro, let’s jump right in.

1. K is a replicant

The reveal of K’s genetic code, or lack thereof, flips everything we assume the movie will be on its head. We are learning along with K what it means to exist. Do we as humans, live like replicants? Do we obey a society that treats us like trash but breath anyways out of the fear of death? Where we viewed “Blade Runner” mostly through Deckard’s eyes who didn’t have much of a personality, K’s lack of a character is his entire purpose for existing. For K to emote is to face death.

Where Harrison Ford’s Deckard entire arc was us questioning if he’s human or not (despite what Ridley Scott unequivocally says), there’s nothing much of substance to Officer Deckard. He gets drunk, retires replicants, that’s it. Name one thing that makes Deckard standout? I’ll wait. Ryan Gosling’s Officer K goes from a machine that is dying spiritually on the inside to someone wanting to have a purpose in life. All while maintaining his composure, if perhaps too much poise for the film. Anything with a conscious can feel. Whether or not how it was made is as relevant as where you were born or what skin color you are. The importance is that you’re here.

K doesn’t seek gratitude nor affirmation. He doesn’t suffer from a narcissistic personality. All he wants is not just to be another useless piece of metal.

2. Deckard has depth this time

Being a daddy changes you a lot. Rick isn’t just a slouchy drunk who likes to shoot robots out of legal obligation. He’s a man who’s principles and love for forbidden things cost him his life. What kind of soul did Deckard have in the first film? Who did he care for? Please don’t say, Rachel, we all know why he was attracted to Rachel. Like Winston in 1984, Deckard rejects Big Brother for a life of pain to gain a glimmer of happiness.

3. It’s horrifyingly relevant

Denis Villeneuve based the imagery in 2049 on a planet that has become degraded with pollution. The buildings are extrapolating enormous amounts of water into the atmosphere, the sea wall at the end of the picture will be our new Mount Rushmore, the orange Vegas is happening now. Denis Villeneuve didn’t predict the earth looking like this, but his production team was still spot on. A picture that transcends its very style, developing a look that will be discussed on its merits separate from the ubiquitous original, is a stunning achievement.

Everything isn’t dystopian because that’s the way it was in the book. It’s what will happen to us in real life, why we’d look for colonies to live on if we had the technology or funding towards NASA to do so. God help us all.

4. The love story questions the essence of relationships

The story between K and Joi further examines the meaning of love, sex, and mortality, with the two being different versions of artificiality. When the default sexed-up version of a naked Joy pops up on the screen, we are emotionally mortified. Some of us may be repulsed to observe a character we care for utilized like a thirsty Godzilla.

The towering ad tries to seduce K tempting him to buy it, rendering everything Joi said to K throughout the picture questionable. Its manipulation solidifies his final decision in life to help another man. We’re not sure if she loved him or said what it thought it wanted him to hear throughout the narrative. Possibly Joi herself didn’t know her intentions. An unusual amount of nuance and uncertainty rests in the love story. Who do we love? Why do we love? Do we love by the heart or the heart of our designers whom we don’t know?

Meanwhile, Deckard was just drunk and horny when he bashed Rachel up against the wall. Sorry, that really was all there was to their passion despite what Wallace says.

5. The movie was an honest commentary about how the world views woman

Here’s a controversial one. A lot of women were disgusted by the way they were depicted in the film. Outwardly watching the movie, I can’t blame them. I’ll let Mr. Villeneuve speak for himself. “I am very sensitive to how I portray women in movies. This is my ninth feature film and six of them have women in the lead role. The first Blade Runner was quite rough on the women, something about the film noir aesthetic. But I tried to bring depth to all the characters. For Joi, the holographic character, you see how she evolves. It’s interesting, I think. What is cinema? Cinema is a mirror on society. Blade Runner is not about tomorrow; it’s about today. And I’m sorry, but the world is not kind on women.”

Villeneuve is right. Women today are still sexualized. Even with the Me Too movement, women are continually seen as sex objects or subservient slaves in a male-dominated society. Villeneuve isn’t interested in painting a rosy picture that Hollywood does for female roles to make the audiences feel comfortable. It’s an honest reflection on who we are. What we see is what we don’t want to see, but that’s part of the honesty of cinema.

6. The score is mesmerizing

Another point in which I may face some contention. Yes, Vangelis’ score is iconic, but it only works for the era it was composed in. Much of its mixture of bleeps, blops, and wind chimes are a product of its time. A lot of emotion is missing from the score other than the opening theme and “Tears In Rain.” Hearing much of the soundtrack while on the road, I sometimes thought I was listening to something from a porno. Take a listen to “Wait For Me” in the soundtrack and tell me otherwise. Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Walfisch’s score is timeless while also paying respect to Vangelis’ synthetic use in the original. It dives into the character’s mind providing a replication of something more human than what Vangelis composed.

7. It thematically ties more directly to “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” than “Blade Runner” does.

“Blade Runner” got the overall gist of Phillip K Dick’s novel. Replicants are scared, trying to find a way to survive as Deckard hunts them down. However, the Andies in the movie almost deserve to die. In their quest for more life, they torture and kill multiple civilians. What did the guy making the eyes do to deserve being frozen to death? What about J.R. Sebastian? He was nothing but pleasant to Roy and Pris. Did Roy eye gauge him when he was done with Tyrell?

Aside from Luv (Sylvia Hoeks), our replicants are fully rounded people. Sapper Morton is a watchful protector who was meant to be a NEXUS 8 combat medic; Joi’s true intentions come into question for herself and us. K’s inner conflict is the central core of the story. All of this revolves around the meaning of existence within a world that has forgotten about you. The introduction of Robo procreation is an evolution of Dick’s ideas, widening his notion of why life exists in the first place.

8. It doesn’t get lost in the scale

Many sequels love scope over characters. Remember “The Matrix”? Remember how they talked about Zion and all these other things we didn’t see? When the sequels brought in Zion, the focus got lost in the spectacle. “The Matrix Reloaded” was a bumbling CGI mess of Agent Smith Clones and cave orgies. “The Matrix Revolutions” was a glorified “Space Invaders” game. Shoot as many sentinels as you can before becoming overwhelmed. Amidst the sequels bumbling chaos, I missed the smaller scale of the Nebuchadnezzar crew.

The story of “2049” could have focused on the replicant uprising with thousands of robots slamming into humans. We could have gone off-world to finally see what all these other colonies we’ve heard about are like. Some have argued that the movie could have borrowed some of its source material from the later novels about replicants creating humans, so on and so forth. All of that sounds incredible in theory. In execution, you would likely get “The Matrix” sequels.

A movie that overreaches in scope, attempting to please fans by showing everything. What we got was an incredibly meaningful story that further explores the themes of the original while building upon its world without going too far. We see what’s beyond L.A. on the dilapidated west coast. The answer is not much. The film aims at minimalism over extravaganza.

9. We’re still talking about it

After being MIA for decades, “Blade Runner 2049” isn’t forgotten. I can’t say the same for “Superman Returns,” “Monsters University,” “The Incredibles 2,” “Live Free or Die Hard,” and “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull.” In fairness, people do talk about Indy 4, but not in a positive fashion. “Blade Runner 2049” returned to the limelight with disastrous box office results yet high accolades, even gaining the Academy’s attention. Ironically it seemed destined to live the life of its predecessor.

“2049” may have tanked because it was a multimillion-dollar art film that respected its audience’s intelligence. Maybe “Blade Runner” was too far gone amongst the public to gain an interest geared almost entirely towards comic books and Disney. I think the trailers after the reveal teaser looked too generic for my own two cents, turning me off from the film for a short while.

Here we are with Honest Trailers in 2020, making a video about a film that came out in 2017. Bloodsoaked orange skies from the headlines mention the atmosphere of this film. Somewhere, about 100 other people are writing their analysis of “Blade Runner 2049” as I type right now. Seven years from now, we’ll be talking about why the world is still like “Blade Runner 2049.” Villeneuve made a timeless sequel to be remembered.

10. It’s better than the first film and one of the best films in the last ten years

Here’s why you’ll probably agree with this one when you put your pitchfork down. Remove your nostalgia goggles. I know it’s hard to do, please, trust me. Look at the points I made above. Think about how ironic the love story is to our lives. The layers of meaning behind K’s existence is lightyears beyond the featureless Rick Deckard. The picture isn’t flawless. Niander Wallace is spectacularly corny in his scenery-chewing grim monologues. Dr. Eldon Tyrell had some ambiguity regarding the morale of his intentions. For that, I’ll give the original the benefit of my doubt. I understand Ryan Gosling was cast to be intentionally deadpan, but it’s okay to emote once. His distant stare in all of his other performances made it difficult for me to discern myself from the actor’s rather dull persona.

With this said, “Blade Runner 2049” understands cinema. Its atmosphere is why we venture into a dark room that takes us to a different place. Denis Villeneuve’s masterful follow up is one of the most orgasmic cinematic experiences I have witnessed in the last ten years that demands a re-screening in 2022 when theatres reopen at an entirely safe capacity. The style doesn’t overshadow its substance, which is far richer in detail than the original without grasping at blatant metaphors. “Blade Runner 2049” is slow cinema at its finest, letting us into the character’s heads, knowing when to be quiet and when to be loud.

Like “The Empire Strikes Back,” not everyone appreciated the movie at first. Time has been incredibly kind to it, though. I wish the Academy recognized “Blade Runner 2049” beyond its technical marvels in 2018. I suppose it wasn’t the type of picture that catches Oscar voter’s eyes. But it has acquired the audience’s to this day. Now, if you could just look up and to the left for me?

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edyacouky · 5 years

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Stressful Week

Ok so I just wanted write a little something about this post

Don’t know if I will write a “completed” story or just that or just some scene ...

Hope you will at least like what I give you （＾ω＾）

Read on AO3

Can be read on Tumblr : Next

-*-*-*-

“Hood is down. Almost scream Damian panicked in his communicator

-What happened Robin? Ask Bruce. Are you alright?

-It was Scarecrow. The clues were here to ambush here with him.”

Bruce almost swears. Only a voice sounded like Alfred in his head prevented him.

“You were shot with fear gaz.”

Not really a question. Crane is not strong enough to fight against a kitty so Red Hood and Robin. No, he uses his fear gas not only by sadistic but also because it is the only way he can win a fight.

“Not me. Only Red Hood.”

Bruce frowns. He want be relieved. Better have one of his sons compromised that two. But Jason always reacts badly to the gaz. And he was suppose wear a mask. How hard was he punching in the face so that it can’t protect him?

“Are you hurt? Did Hood have a concussion?

-No. No.”

A scream interrupt Damian. He gulps when continues:

“We realize it was Scarecrow too late. The gas was already release. He … I … I am sorry … I didn’t take a mask … I forgot mine was broken with the last Jo… Clown’s attack and I didn’t …

-Robin. Interrupt Bruce. You did nothing wrong.

-Yes I did!”

Despite Damian assure him he didn’t was infect by the gas, he really sound hysterical.

“I … He … he make me wear his mask …Father I …

-I am here in a few second, Robin. Breath and don’t come too close of Hood.”

When Jason is like that he can be dangerous.

“I am sorry about Scarecrow too …

-Everything is fine, Robin. Pennyone inform Red Robin and Batgirl. Breathe. I am here.”

Before exist the Batmobile, Bruce put his mask. He didn’t enter by the front door. Not taking the chance fails in an ambush despite how much he want hug his sons.

Fortunately, Damian was telling him the true. Scarecrow was gone. No one, except his sons and him, was there.

He comes near them calmly, for not threat Jason.

Jason is curled up on the floor, shaking violently. Shouting and panting. He seems unable to stop crying, making his breathing harder. For now, he didn’t seem see Bruce yet.

Damian didn’t listen to him and was seat beside Jason, holding his hand. With the strength he seems to put, it must be painful. But Damian still wear Jason’s mask so Bruce can’t tell if he was ok.

“I don’t know how calm him” Damian desperate

Bruce can’t help but smile. Damian tries to hide how good he is. Perhaps he is afraid of being rejected. But his son is deeply caring. Sometimes he wishes he wasn’t. He can’t forget that was what hurt his other children, what killed Jason.

“You did well, Robin. Come here now. I don’t want Jason hurt you while I inject him the antidote.

-I think we have to take the risk.”

He tries to let go Jason’s hand but it make Jason put more strength in his grip.

“Ok. We will have made sure you stay behind me.”

Bruce is sure that Damian rolled his eyes but said nothing.

Patiently, he comes near them. Watching as Jason react to his approach.

He must make a louder sound because Jason suddenly looks at him. At first, Bruce want take off the cowl but he knows it is a bad idea. Who knows who can watch them?

He gets ready in case Jason reacts violently and he has to use force to inject the antidote

And Jason reacts violently, but not the way he expects him to do.

His cries redoubled and he extended his other hand to Bruce.

“D… Dad … Please …”

His eyes were so full of despair and terrified. Bruce can see Jason when he was twelve years old and so lost and frightened by the world. Now he has just twenty years old.

Bruce removed his glove to allow Jason to feel it despite the scent blocker. He was hopping that scent Omega’s scent (can he hope enough to think his Dad’s scent?) will calm him enough.

Jason loved against his wrist without hesitation. It seems calm a little his nerves.

“Everything will be alright Hood. I will give you the antidote, ok? Keep breathing.

-Father … I don’t think he breathes at all. Damian whispered scared

-It would be alright.”

Bruce doesn’t lose any more time and take the syringe containing the antidote. Damian helps him by lowered Jason's armor top collar.

Because of the shot pain, Jason press more against Bruce’s wrist with a painful moan and he almost broke Bruce and Damian’s hand.

“It would be alright. Shh. Everything will be alright.”

The dosage doesn’t seem enough to completely cure Jason, but it was enough to calm him down. Finally he starts breathing correctly and his gaze became more lucid.

“Everything will be alright.”

While they carry Jason to the Batmobile, Alfred informed them of the latest events. Scarecrow has been arrested by Batgirl and Red Robin, Nightwing secure all the civil who were touched by the attack and Batwoman and Oracle succeed find the shipment, prevent the Crane’s plan to succeed.

Good. Bruce can focused on heal Jason.

Jason who refuses first to let him go when they arrive to the car.

“Hood, I need to drive and I can’t if you hold me.

-I can drive! Damian propose a little too joyful

-No.” Jason groans and take the little pup in his arms

It seems like Jason is more anxious having Damian out of his sight.

“What?! Father!

-Thank you for your sacrifice Robin.

-Father!”

In the car, Bruce takes away his mask and focused on the driving. On the backseat, Jason hugs Damian, trying to press his nose on Damian’s neck and groan when he can’t because of the mask.

“Stupide, useless alpha”. Damian groans and takes away Jason’s mask

Bruce is not sure but he thinks he saw Damian relax when Jason rubbed the top of Damian’s head with his cheek, like older pack member do with the pup.

He will not lie, not inside on his head. But sometimes he thinks Jason doesn’t see them as pack any more, he afraid that Damian doesn’t feeling like he belong with them. So seeing both of his sons like that, despite the circumstance warms his heart.

On the Batcave, with Damian’s collaboration, Jason let him be cured.

“Are you sure that the antidote really works? Jason asks to Bruce when he was more lucid. I don’t feel like it works.

True is Jason reek anxiety. Better than terror but he is still on the edge. If Alfred doesn’t bring some good sense, Damian will be in his arms.

“I will take a blood sample. Are you on medication?

-Just the contraceptive pill.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

“What? That doesn’t exist only for Omega you know?

-And you know that doesn’t properly testing?

-Like Omega’s.

-Ok point taken. Did you at most take the one makes by WE? Bruce ask while taking him his blood

-What exactly your enterprise doesn’t make?”

Bruce grins and start the analysis.

“Littlewing ! Dick yell. Little D ! Are you alright?

-I am fine.” Damian said when the Beta hugs him

He trade one bothering older brother for another. Damian sighs.

“Let me go now Grayson.”

Without listen to Damian’s complaint, Dick ask :

“And you, Jason?

-I am fine.

-He is lying. Antidote doesn’t seem work well.

-Fuck Demon Brat.”

As Damian expected, Dick let him after one long kiss in his forehead to go see properly Jason.

“What is mean the antidote doesn’t work?” Dick ask scenting Jason

Beta are maybe less sensitive to smell like Alpha and Omega but that doesn’t mean it is useless.

“It works. Jason tries to say. Just not good enough.

-God Littlewing ! You stink !

-Fuck you ! Jason yells while Damian laughs at him

-Are you sure you should be here? Maybe you will feel better on a room or in the kitchen with some tea.

-No he better stays here until we know exactly why the antidote doesn’t work. Who know what trigger can provoke a crisis.” Bruce answer

Dick and Jason roll their eyes and exchange an accomplice look at that.

“And it is for that I am still in the cave and not at home.” Jason said

Even if the last month Jason feels more comfortable with Bruce’s pack, he doesn’t feel at ease in the manor. For him, his home is with Roy, on Kory’s island or in their loft.

Shit, maybe now it isn’t the right time to think about the Omega. Suddenly he can’t help himself but worry if Roy is safe and sound.

What if one of Roy’s experimentation fails and explodes? What if one of their enemies attacks and he is not there to help him? What if Roy forgets to eat? What if he slips and broke his neck? What if …? What if …?

“God ! Jason, breathes. What happen? He stink fear more than one second before!”

Now, Dick is worry. Why Dick is worry? What happen? Did something bad happen? Is someone hurt?

“Jason ! Inhales.” Bruce order

Hearing the voice of the leader pack, but also the First Omega of the pack, Jason obeying without thinking.

“Now exhale. Good. Again. Inhale. Exhale.”

Bruce repeat the order until Jason doesn’t him to while Dick hugs again Damian who didn’t put down Jason’s mask.

“Sorry … sorry …

-That fine. You did nothing wrong. Just keep breathing, ok?”

Jason feeling tired nods and didn’t riposte when Bruce hug him. He feels better surrounded by Bruce’s scent.

Bips coming from the computer startled them. Jason coughed and shoved Bruce who let himself go to look at the results. Dick gently put his hand on Jason's shoulder.

“Oh. Bruce said surprised. You’re going on rut.

-What? Already? Which day is it? Jason said confused

-You don’t take a track of that?

-Well yeah … Normally but I was distracted lately. Wait. What does it have to do with that?

-The gas seems disrupt yours hormones.

-Beside my rut?”

Rut and heat don’t make alpha and omega mindless with only the desire to making children. They can still think, but their hormones messed with their attitude. For example, they cry more easily, yell for nothing, but it is true they can be hornier too.

And now on top of that, the gas fear messed his head making him anxious.

“The antidote works but whiles your rut you will still be anxious.

-You mean I have an all week where I panicked for everything? Jason ask irritated

-I think that more day pass calmer you will be.

-But I am compromise until my rut end?!”

Bruce’s silence tell enough.

“Fuck.”

-*-*-*-

Tadaam ! Hope you enjoy it (〜^∇^)〜

Have a nice day !

#dc comics #aboverse #Damian Wayne #bruce wayne #Jason Todd #dick grayson #omega!bruce #beta!dick #alpha!jason #jayroy

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rebeccacatalinas · 7 years

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Super just curious, 100% not judging, not trying to debate, really just wanna here your thoughts bc RoyAi thoughts are Good Thoughts and I too don’t think Roy and Riza were Best Friends before Ishval was over: how do you see their relationship having developed in canon??? It’s fun to imagine them being Young and Into Each Other but at the same time they were v formal at the funeral and in Ishval sooooo I often wonder how they *fell* in love (that seems too simple a term for them but anyway...).

MUAHAHA im excited to answer this [and i wanna say someday ill write it out, but lets be real, im mostly a oneshot kinda gal]. and ok it got longer than i intended but i have so much fun writing about them:

heres how i see their relationship in canon [obviously theres some of my own headcanons thrown around in here but im trying to keep it mostly analysis]:

as older teens living together - barely acknowledged one another, didn’t speak often, riza was already pretty reclusive thanks to her father’s neglect and roy was focused entirely on his studies so he could finish his apprenticeship as quickly as possible. a few conversations here and there, but considering she still refers to him as “mr. mustang” i dont think they ever became friends or spend any alone time together outside of a few meals.

tattoo reveal - i dont think there was a big jump in their relationship, it was mostly awkward and full of uncomfortable promises and roy realizing he shouldve noticed her sooner [maybe he couldve stopped this tattoo from happening? roy would definitely blame himself for something like this when he has nothing to do with it lol]. riza trusts him because of his inspiring words + her grief/confusion towards her fathers death [cuz it was probably a weird combo of grief and relief and that made her latch onto roy’s words about ‘saving everyone’ even more]

in ishval - after finding out about each other being in ishval, riza felt betrayed and angry and roy felt even guiltier and dirtier than he already had. and they have a couple of uncomfortable bonding moments ‘cause roy feels responsible for her being out there [tho riza didnt join the military for him, it WAS his words that inspired her to enlist]. i dont think they had the opportunity to spend much time together in ishval, tho riza was one of three amestrian women to appear in the ENTIRE ishval volume so i think hed be constantly worried about her [for good reason].

back burning - [this is the most complicated time for me to think about LMAO ive read like 600 fics and thought about every possible version i can for this…scene. and nothing feels completely right. i just wanna know the details of what they did, arakawa. i gotta KNOW.] i imagine it was an intensely emotional situation, guilt heightened by their recent ptsd and the way roy talked about how familiar he is with burning flesh and to what degree he can harm someone…he tried to look at it objectively and pretend not to be fucked up by the situation, and im sure he could just combine burning riza with all the other people he’d burned and let it pile onto his guilt. so theres still no love, just guilt and responsibility and pain. likewise for riza, she feels lots of guilt and responsibility and pain. LOTS of pain. i think during this time/afterwards is when roy shares his ambitions with her and his desire to change things in the military and she can fully understand how much he wishes he could undo what he did.

“be my assistant” - sttiiilllll, i dont see any love in this decision. its all based on responsibility and guilt which is the core of their bond which is so sad and fucked up. he wants to give her the opportunity to take back what he took from her, in a sense. to fix what he broke. tho there wasnt anything romantic behind it necessarily [tho i imagine by this point in their lives, grumman and hughes and christmas have already started shipping them lmao], making her his assistant and giving her permission to kill him was tying their fates together forever and they were both totally aware of that and, like, its INTENSE. its like a marriage proposal but worse and more dramatic.

love???? - so when/how did they fall in love??? id say…..very gradually over the course of their time working together. lots of late nights and close encounters and accidental touching and comments from friends and family combined with a lack of legitimate dating and the fact that they planned on working together for as long as possible…i love the idea of roy having a flick switch in his brain one day and he realizes hes been in love with her for a long time, whereas riza’s admiration for him just grows to the point where her heart feels full when theyre together and maybe she doesnt immediately realize that its love [i dont see riza as someone who spent a lot of time thinking about romance] so its fun to imagine that she really just didnt realize what she was feeling. BUT I DIGRESS, thats all headcanon, i just see it being a nice slow burn between “id like to make you my assistant” and when they first appeared in the manga. a beautiful slow burn that ive read hundreds of fics for and they all get my heart flutterin’

so this turned into a much longer thing than i realized. i stand by everything here as headcanon but i feel pretty strongly about most of it, i llloooovveee roy and riza’s relationship so much lmao.

#royai #roy mustang #riza hawkeye #fma #meta #this is so looonngg im nervous LMAO #dogpantry #carro answers

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joiedevivremx · 5 years

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Monthly Thoughts 2018

December 2018

Keep Busy

After being in a constant rush, at times the hardest part of a day can be just doing nothing.

Even though there are times that aren't going so great and you are in a waiting line, you don't want to slip into a slope. You want to stay prepared for when you're up, for when the whistle blows and its time to run once again,

And when you are busy you could kill for some time to rest.

Resting is part of keeping busy, it´s catching up to the day, processing what is happening, and having the energy to keep going stronger.

Sometimes, doing nothing is the most productive thing you can do.

November 2018

Comparing your life with anyone is inevitable and stressful.

You may be so excited to get something done, on the other hand, you know it's not half as good as someone else.

On the one hand, it can help you try a bit harder and be a bit ambitious, but sometimes trying hard isn't all it takes to accomplish something.

You be you is what you've heard since ever, and it still rings true. Life isn't fair is another piece of advice commonly handed around.

It´s a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie- as said in one of the coursera courses I took.

Sometimes you just need to remember not to be so hard on yourself.

October 2018

Boss

I´ve gotten quite a lot why don´t I start my own business, proper not just consulting.

I´d love to, yet trying to get into the Person First idea that I have explained in previous months I´d like to start from the wellness of the team.

And the wellness of the team needs support, money, which means the offer would be, is more expensive, and so I'm trying to begin with the basics, getting people to understand the importance of the price and where you spend your money. Because at the end of the day 99% of a person will prefer something cheaper than to something with a better background.

I am trying though to find the formula.

But it is a problem way more than just getting better paid, that involves many scenarios -

6hr a day 5x a week: I am totally full-on 100% agree with this model. - what happens, people can take it for granted and it will be something to make a habit, some people - starting with me - would probably use this to have more than one job. The 6hr a day will work when the other hours are used for personal use. This means a well paid 6 hr a day job.

Fair wages: for a person to be well off the payment should be much more than the minimum wage, to start off with. Considering a wage where someone can have a place, food, security and have their children well kept, well right there is quite a sum. Plus add to that the lovely tax system which would be 36% of what the person gets.

Pricing: just these two factors (not going into any other element and there are plenty more) would up the pricing quite a lot, and there goes the circle, just the people that are well off enough would be able to invest in it. Like now when we buy cheap unthought prices we are generating more ill-paid jobs.

ROI: I'm heavily invested in profit and return of investment because of this, for this to work we would have to prove that whatever amount established and paid would have to make you more profits than not doing it.

Today: what we have to start supporting and shifting is knowing the value of work vs time invested - understanding that it is not only NOT CORRELATED but in fact negative correlated- unfortunately, I don´t see that being done in practice, at least not yet.

We have a lot of growing up to do.

September 2018

Cruches

a thing used for support or reassurance.

Cruches are usually frowned upon. Asking for help, using some extra help to get you from point a to point b.

People tend to see them as a weakness, at where your soft point is.

The way I see it, it couldn't be further from the truth.

Recognizing you need some help to get through whatever needs to be done.

Calling in a favor for the one you did with or without knowing it.

Goes back to the mentality that you have to suffer for your efforts as if it were a contest to see who suffered more.

The thing is, life is already complicated as it is. Yet people look for a way to make it harder.

A brand in México had to make a product INFERIOR because people found it too easy and good to be true. It made them feel useless.

The products had to match peoples' self-esteem, for them later to complain why nothing good has ever happened to them.

Some cruches are for the privileged, that is a fact. A toll freeway for example. Then why are some cruches frowned upon? The burden of privilege perhaps?

Cruches should be boasted, a way to let people know that -at least not yet- nothing is going to keep you down.

August 2018

Random Podcast

Traffic has become a delight, listening to my podcasts while I'm stuck in traffic has changed my whole perception of what otherwise could easily be diagnosed as claustrophobic anxiety has now turned into, an escape to a different world.

I´ve stopped listening to marketing tapes. Now I totally disconnect, stories, lifestyles, biography, analysis of situations.

and, as it´s hard to deny, they all help me connect back to marketing, ways people think, how things got to be and how things are perceived.

A step away from my little world.

We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

That is what I love to learn about the dark matter (at least for me).

July 2018

Just Do It

One of the best lines ever, no matter what excuse you are trying to give, the answer is easy: Just Do It.

Quit waiting, quit whining, quit making a zillion excuses. Just Do It.

Maybe it won't be perfect, at first. At least you will start, one of the most complicated things to do.

If you fail, you´ll just have to start again, and then, Just Do It

June 2018

Fresh Air + Space

The true commodity is a life well-lived. This affects you, of course, but all your customers as well, will they think what you are offering is actual help or a distraction.

A constant bet of will my life will be better or not with the next decision.

This answer will be answered after all by the person way of thinking, particularly is it short term or long term.

As people, we usually go from one to another but tend to think of one way more.

If we only focused on long-term everything will be a constant wait for the prize. If we only focused on short-term everything would backfire, mostly savings and health.

Mapping out your situation is a good thing, place what can be for now and what actions can be for later.

Searching for the holy grail of what is positive in the short and long-term way of thinking.

May 2018

Hand To Mouth

How to stop this vicious cycle. First off: Get real. At times this situation is brought on by trying to one-up someone or something else, not knowing they are going through the same thing.

The second step which feels almost impossible: take a second to access.

Ways to avoid this: prevention.

All so simple, and yet a lot of us have been there, trying so hard to get nowhere and not growing.

This is exhausting as well as frustrating, a downward spiral that will do you or your company in.

In short, as learned in any teen movie, be true to yourself.

April 2018

Waiting

Most of my life is waiting - I guess most of our lives are.

to get somewhere

to save up for something

to get off work

to get to work

for the weekend

for vacations

to get someone to understand what you're saying.

I would say 90% waiting and 10% actually being there.

I know its wrong. No way to enjoy a life that way. It just is.

Maybe 40% waiting, 40 % processing, and 20% actually being there.

Constant zombie mode.

Then again, as in a flowing manmade river, and as well as various books, series and I'm guessing philosophers. You can do, or you can let things happen, and we will pretty much get to the same place anyway. Sometimes even worse, you can't force things. Not all the time.

At least that is the way of thinking I grown up with. This being said I no longer know if it's right or just really mediocre way of thinking. I keep doing, either way, waiting for whatever to happen, and hoping my actions have helped the outcome.

-and after all my efforts, I´m exhausted, just hoping it was the right time to try and not to enjoy.

March 2018

Writing a Book

I´ve been trying to write a book for some years now, I change how and where but the ideas are the same.

I can't seem to get to the easy explanation of how or why this book is important nor what to expect from it. I try it out in my classes, my students don´t always know, but it helps me see where some more explanation needs to be had or how to get to point a to b even easier.

It´s all in my head, all messed up and hard to be linear about it.

Maybe the new format I´ll try is a type of choosing your own adventure type of thing.

What's the objective of the book, pretty much to show off everything I know and how I knew it before most people. That is a big reason for the newsletter, blog, and posts on social media. I get frustrated when there is a "discovery" which I knew years beforehand. I want the credit, and if people magically for some reason pay me for that, the better.

I digress, but I like it. I like to see how ideas connect no matter how far off the road you go. Most people get frustrated. They want a quick answer. It´s not that simple. Nor is there an answer for everything. It´s part of learning to think - but also knowing that things aren´t as simple as they look.

The book, how big would it have to be? How technical? Id like references but also some, because I said so and just trust me, kind of thing.

Is it a challenge for myself, maybe.

Am I hoping to get so recognized I can live off the book and presentations? Definitely.

But the book, the book, why do I want to write a book. To make my classes easier? Instead of a book am I hoping for a magical formula?

Maybe when I find that out, I can actually get it done.

February 2018

Ego Cost

The numbers don't add up. After checking the SES in México you can see how divided the classes are, with a higher percentage for the lower class you come to wonder. How are these people getting their car, coffee, and for most of the country´s "little luxuries".

For that reason, I've come to the conclusion that most people are hurtfully living above their means. Shames to admit they're true position, they are doing themselves more harm. Getting some of the highest interest rates, renting instead of owning (sounds great now, but how about when they are too old to work) add to that, that our lifespan has increased.

The inevitable explosion of when these (ok for now) people grow up will end up being the burden of their friends and family, making this a vicious circle.

Why would someone live beyond their means - not only that - why are they doing everything possible to prove that untrue? EGO.

Our ego is doing ourselves in, now and exponentially in the future. Our whole circle of buying fake, or in months is the exact reason that makes people not get enough pay to live well.

While good things aren't necessarily related to price or brand, people will go the extra mile just to show off.

Ego isn't ambition, I will be the first to advocate to reach for the stars and beyond, but also be realistic about where you are in the moment of your reaching.

Humility wouldn't even come to play, normally people that truly have something, seldom boast it.

Fake it till you make it. Keyword: Fake. This concept is well known, yet it can make people go overboard.

Lesson being, don´t let your ego rule your decisions.

January 2018

The effort of getting your work appreciated.

The toughest part is making it look easy, and if your good enough to do that, then you struggle with the fact that people might take for granted your contribution.

The day-old dilemma, the fight for justice, and some for the ego.

When you see something done easily, "that I can do that" you are looking at an expert, that has their mind wired in such a day that they can figure something out by practice and gut with a nice confirmation of an elaborate system.

It comes so naturally to them, second nature, and sometimes, not even that. first nature you can say. This sometimes is in the blood, some bits nature some nurture, and of course a lot of practice.

This can lead to the understatement of being worthless. meaning unappreciated.

When that happens, all the time you save by an efficient job, turns to time it takes you to explain it to exactly those people that are so clueless, they think it's simple.

#mexico #thoughts #ideas

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filipeteimuraz · 6 years

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7 Marketing Mistakes That Nearly Broke Me… Literally

When you look at me, what do you see?

Someone who is a marketer… maybe even an entrepreneur.

As you may already know, I’ve co-founded a handful of companies. I’ve received a handful of awards from people like President Obama and the United Nations. And I am a New York Times bestselling author. The list keeps going on and on.

In other words, most people see me as successful.

But what if I told you that behind that success is a bunch of failures?

Sure, overall, I’m up, and my successes have more than made up for my failures. But just like everyone else, I have failed many times.

And many of the failures were so big that they cost me a lot of money

In other words, I’ve screwed up a lot. But what helped me do so well was that I was able to learn from my mistakes and avoided making the same ones over and over again.

Today, I thought I would do something a bit different. I want to share with you the biggest marketing mistakes I have made. Hopefully, you will learn from them and avoid making the same mistakes as me.

Here we go…

Mistake #1: Spending $400,000 on Facebook fan page likes

I used to have the philosophy with social networks that the best thing you could do was build up your following.

If you have more followers, then whenever you have a message that you want to put out there then, hopefully, thousands of people will see it.

But you know what’s common with all social networks… not just the ones Facebook owns?

They all have a pattern or restricting your reach. And by doing that, it leaves you no choice but to spend money on ads.

But me, being a smart aleck, I thought I would outsmart Facebook by continually growing my fan page. That way after I built up a good user base, I wouldn’t have to spend money on ads.

youtube

Boy was I silly.

I am not saying you shouldn’t spend money on ads, but with any social network, you should avoid spending money to build up a community. Just think of it this way…

Why would you spend money to build up a community when you can’t control if they will see your message?

This is one of the biggest and silliest marketing mistakes I have ever made. History has proven that social networks continually change their algorithms and restrict your reach, yet I still blew money trying to build up a community.

The two big lessons I want you to take away from this first mistake are:

Have a direct ROI – If you are going to spend any money on ads, make sure it is cash flow positive. Trying to get an indirect ROI on your ad dollars is silly unless you are willing to experiment and potentially lose a lot of money.

Be cautious, not slow – Every major marketing channel has algorithms. Start off small and as long as the numbers work out, scale up as fast as possible.

Mistake #2: Picking too small of a niche

In business, we call it total addressable market (TAM)… you want to go after a big TAM.

It’s really hard to own 100% of a market no matter how small or big it is. It’s much easier to own 1% of a market. So you should go after a huge market so your 1% is worth something meaningful.

In marketing, everyone talks about how you need to pick a niche. But here is what people don’t tell you… it takes almost the same amount of effort to market a business in a small niche as it does to market a business in a much bigger market.

So, why not go after a big market as it will help you make more money?

With one of my earlier startups, Crazy Egg, we created a heatmap solution that helps show you where people clicked on your site.

Eventually, we added mouse tracking, A/B testing, and a handful of other features.

But we should have done that years before. If we had done it sooner, the company would have easily been double the size, just like how Optimizely generates over 100 million a year in revenue.

What’s crazy is that there isn’t much more work to expand our marketing to include keywords like A/B testing from an organic or even paid perspective. It also isn’t hard for us to write blog posts on these new areas.

Sadly, this mistake is one I’ve made one too many times. I kid you not, my net worth would have an extra 0 at the end if I just chose big enough markets from day 1.

Now there are a few ways to figure out if the market you are going after is large enough:

Google Trends – type in the space you want to go after. Look for verticals that are bigger than “digital marketing” as a rule of thumb.

CrunchBase – look to see if there are any venture funded competitors. If someone has raised over 10 million dollars, the chances are it is a big enough market.

Publicly traded companies – if you have any competitors that are public, look at their market cap. The bigger the number, the better. Keep in mind that most publicly traded companies offer multiple products and services, so this number is usually inflated.

Mistake #3: Not all search traffic is the same

NeilPatel.com isn’t my first blog. Technically it’s my third.

And because it was the last marketing blog I created I was able to do things a bit differently because I was able to learn from my previous blogging experiences (I had more money).

The way I grew NeilPatel.com was simple… type in a competitor URL into SEMrush, see what their top pages where, and then write better versions of it.

Once I did that, I would then go to tools like Ubersuggest, find popular keywords that I wasn’t going after, and then create content focusing on all of those terms.

That strategy has helped me get over 3 million monthly visitors of which 1.8 million of them are unique.

But what’s wrong with that strategy?

Well, first of all, not all traffic is equal. But that wasn’t my mistake because I was smart enough to look for keywords that had a high cost per click, as that is a leading indicator that the keyword is more valuable.

The big mistake I made was not focusing on regions. When doing keyword research and competitive analysis using tools like SEMrush I focused on creating content that would generate traffic from the right keywords… but I never looked at regions.

I am Indian, and I love India. But traffic from India doesn’t generate me anywhere near the amount of revenue as traffic from the United States.

Now here are my traffic stats per region:

As you can see, the United States is my most popular region, but it is not the majority. Over time it has gotten better as now when I do keyword research, I focus all of my effort on the United States.

Even when I find popular articles written by my competitors, I plug them into Ahrefs, and I look at the traffic stats per region before deciding on whether or not I want to create something similar.

Mistake #4: Traffic doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t convert

The last startup that I created was called KISSmetrics. It didn’t work out as well as I wanted, and I eventually bought some of their assets.

I raised over 17 million dollars and we were off to a fast start. We even had some Fortune 500 companies who were interested in potentially acquiring us early on.

When we started, our traffic was up and to the right.

And then came a competitor, Mixpanel, who copied a lot of our features and didn’t know marketing as well as me. Just look at their traffic stats:

Considering that we had almost 3 times more traffic than them, how much do you think KISSmetrics was worth during our peak?

Let me give you a hint… Mixpanel’s last valuation that they announced was $865 million!

So, what do you think? Maybe we were worth double them… or at least the same valuation.

Nope. Guess again.

We weren’t even worth 10% of their value.

That’s when I realized that the real formula to marketing isn’t just who is getting the most eyeballs, it’s about focusing on monetization.

Don’t just focus your efforts on traffic acquisition, focus on conversion optimization. It’s the area I didn’t spend enough time on early on.

And to give you an idea of how many companies are making this mistake… I interviewed 208 companies that generate over a million bucks in revenue. Here’s where they are spending their marketing dollars.

And here are the channels producing the biggest ROI.

Do you see what’s wrong?

SEO produces a higher ROI than paid advertising for most businesses, yet very little budget gets allocated to it.

And what you don’t see in the chart, as it is classified in “other,” is conversion optimization produced the biggest return, yet very few companies spend money on it.

Mistake #5: Not monetizing early enough

Speaking of monetization, I also make this mistake too often.

I love giving everything away for free and then when it comes time to monetize, my numbers don’t look as good as they should.

It’s not that I don’t know how to monetize. It’s more so that I’ve trained my users to expect everything for free.

The moment you switch things up, the numbers never look as great.

I learned this lesson from Ramit Sethi. When I launched my first ebook course on Quick Sprout, I couldn’t generate more than $30,000 a month. Don’t get me wrong, that’s good money, but not when you are generating over 200,000 unique visitors a month.

On the flip side, I monetized NeilPatel.com much earlier than Quick Sprout and, of course, I got better at marketing and entrepreneurship at the same time.

But when I released an ebook/training course (I no longer sell it), I was able to generate $650,000 a month from just 450,000 visitors during my peak.

As the course got older, my monthly revenue dropped but it stayed around $381,722.

The point I am trying to make is don’t wait too long before you monetize.

There is nothing wrong with charging for a product or a service. But if you wait too long before you start charging, people will have this notion that it will be free forever and they won’t be as likely to convert in the future no matter how good you are at marketing.

Mistake #6: Taking people for granted

I have a skill set that I have always been good at. Can you guess what it is?

It’s making websites popular. 😉

Just because I know how to make a website popular (and I can even convert those visitors into customers) doesn’t mean I am going to be successful.

I’ve always tried to run my companies lean in which I never wanted to have more than 50 employees.

Over the years, I’ve more than surpassed that number and I have hundreds of people working for me. But I should have done that much sooner.

Without people, you won’t grow that fast no matter how much of a scalable business you have.

You need great operators and managers if you want to see fast growth.

For example, my business partner, Mike Kamo, doesn’t know marketing as well as me. I have more experience as an entrepreneur and I’m more book smart.

Yet every time he takes my traffic and monetizes it, he generates more revenue from the same traffic than I do. And again, I know more about marketing and business than him.

But because he is great at hiring and building up people, he is able to generate more revenue from the same amount of traffic.

For example, he hired Nick Roshon as our VP Sales, who is amazing. In December, which is one of the worst months for us due to holidays, Nick’s team closed $1,585,093 million in revenue.

Not too shabby for a 30-day period!

And even Nick knows, without his team, he wouldn’t have had a good December. It’s all about the people and you shouldn’t ever forget that.

If you want to grow fast you need to hire people. Hire people who are process oriented and know operations well. Don’t be afraid of headcount… remember teams build great businesses, not individuals.

Just look at Elon Musk, he’s one of the most brilliant people of our times, but without his team, Tesla and SpaceX wouldn’t be as big as they are today.

Mistake #7: Control your own destiny

As an SEO, I have ranked for some of the most competitive terms on the Internet. And I am not just talking page 1… I’m talking the number the #1 spot on page 1.

Some of the terms I have ranked for over the years are online gambling, online poker, web hosting, credit cards, and auto insurance to name just a few.

Those are super competitive terms!

All of the sites that ranked for those terms generated me a nice amount of money from ads and lead generation.

But do you know what? It didn’t last forever.

Eventually, those sites stopped ranking for one reason or another and my income went down to 0.

Sure, some of the ranking drops I deserved because I used black hat techniques to get there, but over time I learned to only use white hat tactics and to think long term. I still lost revenue, however, due to circumstances out of my control.

With some of those sites, I was pulling in over $100,000 a month in affiliate income.

And sadly, I’ve had similar issues with Facebook Ads and even Google AdWords.

I was making a killing and for no reason I got my ads pulled because Facebook thought they were politically related when they had nothing to do with politics.

In other words, sometimes things go wrong even when you do all of the right things. And there is little you can do about it.

This has taught me to have an omnichannel approach to marketing. Sure, you know me as an SEO, but I do a lot more than SEO.

Just look at NeilPatel.com, I have text-based content, video content, a podcast, and even free tools.

I never rely on 1 traffic channel anymore.

Even the people I surround myself with are skilled at other marketing channels than just SEO. My head of paid, Chris, is amazing at Facebook Ads and Google AdWords. Funny enough, he is an ex-Facebook employee.

The point I am making is you are going to have ups and downs with your marketing. But if you want your business to be a bit steadier, diversify your marketing. Don’t just stick to one channel. Heck, I even recommend doing things like releasing free tools so you aren’t reliant on any channels.

And now my free tool generates 213,967 unique visitors a month.

Conclusion

Just like I did, you are going to make mistakes. All entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, make mistakes.

This is fine. Don’t worry about it.

But what separates the great entrepreneurs from the mediocre ones is that they learn from their mistakes and avoid making the same ones over and over again.

You have a list of some of my big marketing mistakes above. Learn from them and avoid making the same ones as me.

Have you made any big marketing or entrepreneurial mistakes?

The post 7 Marketing Mistakes That Nearly Broke Me… Literally appeared first on Neil Patel.

Read more here - http://review-and-bonuss.blogspot.com/2019/01/7-marketing-mistakes-that-nearly-broke.html

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ericsburden-blog · 6 years