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toldnews-blog · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/technology/entertainment/an-appraisal-john-singleton-did-justice-to-a-poetic-vision-of-african-american-life/

An Appraisal: John Singleton Did Justice to a Poetic Vision of African-American Life

“Boyz N the Hood” rests in American movie history like a boulder in a riverbed, altering the direction of the stream. After its release in the summer of 1991, everything looked different, including its precursors. “Mean Streets,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” the Blaxploitation spectacles of the 1970s, the socially conscious crime dramas of the 1930s, classic westerns and samurai epics — somehow John Singleton, a very recent graduate of the University of Southern California film school, synthesized all of those models even as he came up with something bracingly, thrillingly and frighteningly new.

“Boyz” made him the youngest person — and the first African-American — nominated for a best directing Academy Award. In the annals of cinema, there aren’t many first features to match it for ambition and impact (“Citizen Kane”? “Breathless”?), and its influence on what came after is hard to overstate. Singleton, who died Monday at 51, filled his characters’ lives with warmth and humor even as they were constantly menaced, and often destroyed, by violence. He infused familiar coming-of-age and gangster-movie tropes with a rare authenticity. This wasn’t just a matter of his intimate knowledge of the setting known then as South-Central Los Angeles, but also of his brave, even brazen confidence in himself and his audience.

[Read the John Singleton obituary and a recent interview with him. | See where to stream his best films.]

A blazing debut can be a hard act to follow, and Singleton’s second film, “Poetic Justice” (1993), didn’t enjoy the same success, at least with critics, as its predecessor. But when I heard the news of Singleton’s passing, “Poetic Justice” was the movie I found myself thinking about. Partly because its earnest sentiments — its open-heartedness about creativity, love and loss — seemed most apt for mourning an artist who left too soon. Grief, after all, has been part of the film’s legacy since its male star, Tupac Shakur, was murdered in 1996. And there may be no purer dose of early-’90s nostalgia than watching Shakur and Janet Jackson travel the romantic-comedy arc, their progress from conflict to harmony punctuated by the poems of Maya Angelou and breathtaking vistas of the California countryside.

“Poetic Justice” is, in its way, as influential as “Boyz N the Hood” and as political as “Higher Learning” and “Rosewood,” Singleton’s subsequent confrontations with past and present-day manifestations of American racism. “Poetic Justice” begins with a sly and pointed critique of Hollywood representation. A note tells us we’re in South-Central, but the images are of high-rise, well-heeled Manhattan, where a white couple, played by Billy Zane and Lori Petty, are drinking wine in a penthouse.

The joke is that this is a movie-within-the-movie showing at a Los Angeles drive-in. (The marquee tells us that it’s called “Deadly Diva” and has an NC-17 rating.) The patrons, including Jackson’s Justice and her boyfriend (Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest), don’t look like the people onscreen, but they’ve bought tickets anyway, as generations of black and Latinx moviegoers have before them. With a few exceptions, it’s always been that way.

“Poetic Justice” sets out to change that situation, by every means available. The stylized, consequence-free gunplay of “Deadly Diva” is soon drowned out by a shooting that pulls what seemed like an ’80s-vintage teen comedy into the brutal world of “Boyz N the Hood.” Within a few minutes, before the opening titles have even scrolled, we’ve swerved from satire to sex farce to tragedy, and Singleton is only getting started.

Eventually, Justice and Lucky (Shakur’s character) will set off for Oakland in a Postal Service truck with their friends Iesha (Regina King) and Chicago (Joe Torry), and “Poetic Justice” will turn into a road movie. Before their departure, Singleton lingers over the funny and painful details of their lives at home and at work, sketching a portrait of working-class black life that looks back to the radical neo-realism of the L.A. Rebellion and forward to the businesslike striving of the “Barbershop” franchise. The casting of two stars of popular music as a hairdresser (Jackson) and a mailman (Shakur) doesn’t so much glamorize the characters as affirm the realness that the performers had already established as the cornerstone of their appeal.

Between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, the four travelers journey through a kind of utopian space. Not that everything is harmonious among them. Iesha and Chicago have some issues, and Lucky and Justice are barely on speaking terms. Harsh words are exchanged, followed by a few slaps and punches. But the movie’s close attention to this interpersonal friction might cause you to notice what isn’t in the picture. There are no police on the highway and almost no white people (except for a belligerent truck driver at a gas station). Justice and company crash a family reunion, where Maya Angelou herself dispenses wisdom and passes judgment on her temporary nieces and nephews. They stop at a cultural festival where revolutionary poets and drummers hold the stage.

This dream evaporates in Oakland, where a shooting has claimed the life of Lucky’s cousin and rap partner. The point of the film’s long, languorous middle was never to imagine an escape from violence and racism, but to show some of the richness and variety of life in their shadows, to free the characters from the obligation to behave like symbols or avatars of social problems.

Watching “Poetic Justice” now, I was put in mind of Barry Jenkins’s recent “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and not only because Regina King is (splendidly) in both films. Their visual and storytelling styles are very different, but Jenkins and Singleton are directors whose primary motivation is their unstinting love for the people they conjure into being.

They push aside the noise of plot to capture the quiet intensity of ordinary moments and the poetry of everyday experience. They notice beauty everywhere. “Beale Street” and “Poetic Justice” are stories of black artists falling in love in a world that tends to devalue both their creativity and their feelings, and each movie simultaneously illuminates those struggles and shares in them, in a spirit that is sorrowful but never grim or despairing.

My point isn’t to establish a lineage, but to identify a common spirit, and to measure the shape and size of the doorway that Singleton made, an opening wide enough for so many others to walk through.

#entertainment news aggregator #entertainment news luke perry #entertainment news page six #entertainment news please #entertainment news yen.com #Entertainmentbazz

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dorishull · 5 years

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The A-Z Digital Marketing & Social Media Dictionary

The advent of social media and digital marketing gave rise to a new language.

If you are not proficient in social media and digital marketing use, you may find some terms confusing. Even frequent social media users may not recognize all the terms.

In this article and accompanying infographic, I demystify some of the most common social media and digital marketing terms and acronyms.

The Digital Marketing and Social Media Dictionary

Algorithm – What is an algorithm?

A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.

API – What is an API?

Stands for “Application Programming Interface.” Acts as a medium for different software applications to communicate with one another.

Avatar – What is an avatar?

A picture that represents you in an online environment such as forums or social networks.

B2B – What is B2B?

Business to business (businesses that sell to other businesses).

B2C – What is B2C?

Business to consumer (businesses that sell to consumers).

Blog – What is a blog?

A type of website where the posts (web pages) are arranged in chronological order with the most recent at the top. Topics and content vary greatly, depending on the industry and goals of the blog, e.g., educational, inspirational or personal.

Bookmarking – What is bookmarking?

A way of marking a website or webpage you want to come back to.

Buyer’s journey – What is a buyer’s journey?

The process a buyer goes through from awareness to decision, ultimately culminating in a purchase.

Chat – What is chat online?

One-to-one communication through a text-based chat application, commonly referred to as instant messaging (IM), e.g., Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, iMessage, etc.

Clickthrough rate – What does clickthrough rate mean?

A common social media metric used to gauge visitors’ immediate interest in a piece of content, often advertising. Calculated as the number of clicks it receives divided by the total number of impressions it receives.

Content curation – What is content curation?

The process of finding and sharing content created by industry influencers or peers on social networks, accompanied by the curator’s opinion or point of view.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) – What does conversion rate optimization mean?

A system for increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, e.g., fill out a form, watch a video or make a purchase.

Crowd funding – What is crowd funding?

Sourcing capital for an idea, movement, project or business through a large group of people, generally an online community, rather than a few specific investors. Made popular by services such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.

Crowd sourcing – What is crowd sourcing?

The act of outsourcing tasks to a large group of people, usually an online community, rather than traditional employees or suppliers.

Customer avatar – What is a customer avatar?

A fictional character representing a brand’s ideal client. Helps marketers better understand the motivating beliefs, fears and desires influencing their customers’ buying decisions.

Customer mapping – What does customer mapping mean?

A visual representation of every experience a customer has with a brand from the original engagement to a possibly long-term relationship.

Digital marketing – What is included in digital marketing?

Advertising and marketing delivered through digital channels such as search engines, websites, social media, email and mobile apps.

Digital sales – What does digital sales mean?

Selling through social media without ever seeing the customer directly.

Digital selling – What is digital selling?

The integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how it operates and delivers value to customers.

Direct messages (DM) – What is a DM?

Private conversations that occur on social platforms.

Embedded posts – What are embedded posts?

A post from a social network added to the content of your webpage and updated in real time.

Embedding – What does embedding mean?

The ability to add different forms of media to a webpage or blog. Commonly done with videos, slideshow presentations, media players, etc.

Endorsements – What are endorsements?

A validation of skills listed on someone’s LinkedIn profile by another LinkedIn member.

Engagement rate – What does engagement rate mean?

A popular social media metric used to describe the amount of interaction a piece of content receives, often expressed in likes, shares and comments.

Followers – What does it mean to follow someone online?

People who have chosen to receive another user’s social media posts.

Friends – What are friends on social media?

People connected to a user on a social media platform, usually on Facebook.

Geotagging – What is geotagging?

Attaching location-based data to social media posts, such as photos, videos and text posts.

Handle – What is a handle on social media?

The term used to describe one’s user name on social media networks, expressed with an “@” symbol: @username.

Hashtag – What is a hashtag?

A hyperlink enabling one to call up other instances of the same topic to track its use on social networks. Expressed by a word or phrase with a preceding “#” (hashtag) symbol, e.g., #SocialMedia or #DigitalMarketing.

Impressions – What makes up impressions online?

A way for advertisers to keep track of the number of times an ad is shown.

Inbound marketing – What is inbound marketing?

A style of marketing that uses permission-based marketing techniques to reach prospects and convert them into customers. Leverages tactics and tools such as SEO, blogging, social media, social selling, lead generation, email marketing, lead nurturing, marketing automation, personalization and CRMs.

Instant messaging (IM) – What is an IM?

Real-time, text-based direct communication between two or more people. More advanced instant messaging software also allows enhanced modes of communication, such as live voice or video calling.

Joint venture partner (JVP) – What is a JVP?

Two or more people/companies coming together to form a temporary partnership to complete a specific event or project.

LinkedIn Publisher – What is LinkedIn Publisher?

A place where members can publish articles within their LinkedIn profiles to highlight their professional interests and expertise. Sometimes incorrectly referred to as LinkedIn Pulse.

LinkedIn SlideShare – What is LinkedIn SlideShare?

An online social network for sharing presentations and documents.

Link preview – What is a link preview?

An automatic feature that displays how links will appear once pasted into a post on social networks.

Live streaming – What is live streaming?

The act of delivering video content on social media in real time.

Meme – What is a meme?

Rapidly shared photos or videos reflecting a relevant cultural symbol or social idea, generally meant to mimic or mock.

Mention – What is a mention on social media?

Any social media post that mentions a person by their user name.

Modern buyer – What is a modern buyer?

A digitally-savvy buyer who expects personalization of their shopping experience. Prefers consultative sellers who educate, build relationships and connect with them digitally.

Modern seller – What is a modern seller?

A seller whose selling process is based on forming and nurturing strong relationships online. Provides buyers with a personalized and meaningful online engagement, supplying value in advance.

Native advertising – What is native advertising?

Online advertising in which the ad copy and format adhere to the format of a regular post of the platform it’s being published on. Gives an ad an appearance of a regular post or article, promoting engagement.

Newsfeed – What is a newsfeed?

The post-login homepage for social networks that displays posts and status updates from people and pages a user is connected to.

Permalink – What is a permalink?

A permalink is the URL of a particular post within a blog or website that remains unchanged.

Podcast – What is a podcast?

Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

PPC – What does PPC mean?

Pay-per-click: a type of Internet advertising in which the advertiser pays the ad publisher when the ad is clicked. Used to drive traffic to websites.

Recommendations – What are recommendations on social media?

A testimonial on LinkedIn provided by one member to another member that aims to reinforce the user’s professional credibility or expertise.

Retargeting – What is retargeting?

An online marketing technique allowing marketers to display ads to people who have visited their websites or are part of their contact databases.

Sales cadence – What does sales cadence mean?

A system sellers follow that dictates the frequency with which they reach out to prospective clients and the methods they use to contact them.

Sales enablement - What does sales enablement mean?

The process of providing the sales organization with the information, content and tools to help them sell more effectively.

Sales and marketing alignment – What does sales and marketing alignment mean?

Coordination of the activities of sales and marketing teams to achieve a common goal. Improves the buyer’s journey, financial performance and customer buying experience.

Search engine optimization (SEO) – What is SEO?

The process of optimizing web content so it can be indexed and found in popular search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Selfie – Why do people take selfies? Okay, what is a selfie?

A self-portrait typically taken using the front-facing camera of a digital photographing device, such as a smart phone, and usually shared on social media.

Social media monitoring – What is social media monitoring?

A routine observation of specific topics, conversations and social media posts relevant to a business, person or organization’s interests.

Social proof – What is social proof?

A modern version of word of mouth advertising. Includes reviews, testimonials and endorsements of products or services people rely on to make their own purchasing decisions.

Social selling – What is social selling?

The usage of social media platforms and other digital tools to find and connect with potential leads, thereby increasing sales. Depends on building relationships with prospects on platforms such as LinkedIn.

Subscribe – What does it mean when you subscribe to someone?

The action required to receive a particular user’s posts and other types of content on social media or websites.

Tagging – What is tagging?

A special type of link connected directly to the tagged person’s profile, commonly used to identify social media users in photos.

The cloud – What does “the cloud” mean?

An online data center, where users store and access information over the Internet.

Troll – What is a troll online?

Somebody who instigates negative activity on social media through their comments with the specific intention of provoking a reaction. (Trolls should not be fed!)

Unfollow - What does it mean to unfollow someone online?

The act of ceasing to receive any further social media posts from a specific user.

User-generated content – What is user-generated content?

Content, such as photos, videos, blog posts, etc., created by users of digital media and shared on online platforms. Can include relevant hashtags.

Viral – What does viral mean?

Term used to describe photos, videos or any other form of content circulated rapidly on the Internet.

Vlog – What is a vlog?

A blog post in video form. Made popular by YouTube.

Webinar – What is a webinar?

An interactive web-based video and audio presentation, in which the host broadcasts the presentation to a group of people over the Internet.

Commonly abbreviated terms

BTW By the way

DM Direct message

#FF Follow Friday (on Twitter)

FOMO Fear of missing out

IDK I don’t know

IMO or IMHO In my opinion or In my humble opinion

IRL In real life

ISO In search of

OP Original poster

OT Off topic

PM Private message

TMI Too much information

TTYL Talk to you later

SEM Search engine marketing

SM Social Media

SMM Social media marketing

What social media and digital marketing terms would you add to the social media dictionary?

While this list could easily be 10 times longer, I wanted to include only the most relevant terms for businesses and sales professionals.

Let me know any additional terms you’d like to be explained in the comments below.

The post The A-Z Digital Marketing & Social Media Dictionary appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

The A-Z Digital Marketing & Social Media Dictionary published first on https://likesandfollowersclub.wordpress.com

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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5 WTF Ways Trump Has Been Immortalized As Artwork

It wasn’t his knowledge of policy, his charm, or anything remotely leadership-like that led to the popularity of Donald Trump. If anything, it was the ease and willingness with which he turned himself into a walking meme, complete with a fandom busy creating fanfiction, fan theories (i.e. insane conspiracy theories), and, of course, tons of bad fan art. Here are some of the weirdest and wildest pieces in the current Trumpian art movement for you to absorb before they find their way into the National Portrait Gallery.

Deep Dream Trump Is Pure Nightmare Fuel

While computers are getting better at everything that makes humans so special (like opening doors), there is one area where we’ll always have them beat: abstract thought. After all, it’s hard to have a sense of whimsy when a misplaced semicolon can turn you into scrap. In fact, the closest we’ve gotten to giving computers a world of pure imagination is through “deep learning” — software that mimics how our neutrons fire and is perhaps the future of artificial intelligence. And like any good humans, we gave computers the gift of creativity, only to squander it on monstrosities like this:

Chris RodleyThat’s why you don’t share a teleporter with Muppets.

This is a deep learning interpretation of one of Donald Trump’s family photos. And if you’re wondering why Melania looks like Miss Piggy on her way to her third divorce, that’s on purpose. This art is the result of artist Chris Rodley plugging pictures of Donald Trump into a deep learning algorithm which was also “looking for images from Sesame Street.” The result is this hellscape of vacant expressions, googly eyes, and wandering hands — plus elements from Sesame Street.

Chris RodleyCourtesy of Industrial Light and Horror.

It could be a lot worse, though. You could be looking at a video of Trump transformed into an awakened eldritch horror struggling against the confines of our universe:

youtube

Though on the plus side, Trump’s hair has never looked more in its element.

Eric Cheng/YouTubeOh, like you’ve never had a wookiee sex dream.

This nightmare fuel was brought into our world by Eric Cheng, who said he created it by plugging a video of a Trump speech into a deep learning algorithm that was simultaneously thinking about Cthulhu. The level of Cthulhu influence was governed by the volume at which Trump was speaking. We’re lucky that it was one of his quieter rants. If it had been about minorities or women, that video might have accidentally opened a wormhole into the domain of the Elder Ones.

All Hail God-Emperor Trump!

To a lot of internet manbabies, Trump is the ultimate badass. He’s an ass-kicker and a risk-taker, a street fighter and shot-caller, the guy who puts the Big Mac into Mack Daddy. Of course, in order to maintain that view of Trump, you have to constantly ignore all of reality. Fortunately, the internet boys have found a way to easily block out the pesky truth by replacing it with hardcore sci-fi fan fiction!

Meet God-Emperor Trump, may his clogged arteries reign for eternity. Based on the lore of the popular tabletop gaming universe Warhammer 40,000, which is set in a ludicrously dystopian future, the cruddy side of the internet is filled with images of Trump as the iconic Emperor of Mankind, immortal ruler of the human empire bringing his never-ending war to the undesirables. Feels like satire, right? It isn’t.

via The Flama

via The FlamaHis armor appears to be made from the Ark of the Covenant, which is appropriate, since it makes us want to melt our faces off.

Sure, it’s pretty weird to pick an awesome god of war as the avatar for a dude who used alleged bone spurs as an excuse to get out of military duty, but that’s where the total disillusion comes in.

via r/Warhammer40k

Robokoboto/Art AbyssCarrying the skulls of his own supporters doesn’t seem ominous at all.

Read Next

Teach Kids The Alphabet With These Medieval Death Prints

But the comparison isn’t flattering for either side. Showing again that they have the cultural insight of someone who’s been in a coma since the ’60s, Trump fanboys seem to not realize that this Emperor of Mankind is nothing more than a freakish ghoul whose “shattered, decaying body can no longer support life,” or that his rule gave rise to “technological and cultural stagnation, and a regression into tyranny, superstition and religious obfuscation and intolerance.” So God-Emperor Trump is based on some creep who rules over a dystopia in which mindless, alien-hating fanatics sacrifice thousands daily to keep the bloated corpse of their despot ruler going. Maybe they did do their research after all.

And to put the cherry on the dumb neo-Nazi cake, the God-Emperor isn’t, uhm … white. He was born in central Anatolia (Turkey) in 8,000 BC. Meaning the web fascists have turned their white supremacy hero into a space-age Middle Eastern king.

Warhammer 40kOh yeah, this guy is totes going to preserve the white race, you dolts.

The New “Alt-Right” Cartoon Mascot Loves Dressing Up As Trump

You already know about Pepe, the lovable comic book frog who became a hate symbol. But since Pepe has gotten too mainstream, hardcore “alt-right” dudes have created a perfect mascot for the new Trump age: a poorly drawn copyright infringement.

via Will Sommer/Medium“Racist Frog, Reclining Nude”

This corpulent little shit-grinner is Groyper. No, that’s not a Trump-inspired new Pokemon (although we understand the confusion). We’re talking about Groyper the Frog, the MS Paint cartoon mascot for hardcore politicos. He even comes in many adorable outfits for fans to play dress-up with (dog whistle sold separately). There’s Papa John Groyper:

via Slate“These boxes actually contain Hungry Howie’s.”

Hulk Hogan Groyper:

via Will Sommer/Medium

Even a special edition “Are you offended yet?” Burka Groyper:

via SlateDon’t try to make sense of it. That way madness lies.

But among the favorite flavors of Groyper stands Trump Groyper, somehow looking less slimy as a lumpy frog:

via Will Sommer/MediumAnd the fake hair on the fake Trump-toad looks less ridiculous than the real hair on the real Trump-golem.

So if you’re wondering why all the worst accounts on Twitter switched up their avatars to this, that’s why. It’s definitely not because Matt Furie, the creator of Pepe, has started suing the white laces off of any popular enough site for copyright infringement. No, it’s because Pepe isn’t cool enough anymore. Not like Groyper, who’s too cool for school — art school, specifically.

Donald Trump/Twitter

The Anti-Obama Oil Painter Now Thinks Trump Is The New Messiah

Jon McNaughton is possibly one of history’s greatest artists. Not because he created anything breathtaking or profound or thought-provoking, mind, but because his works are some of the goddamn funniest examples of religious right-wing bathos.

Jon McNaughtonFirst and foremost, why would you plant a tree three feet in front a place where people will be sitting?

This lovely painting, titled You Are Not Forgotten, features Herr Conditioner and proves that you can’t make Trump look warm and charming even if you draw him yourself. But the real beauty of McNaughton’s art lies in the fact that he’s just a really, really hacky political cartoonist with a better brush stroke game. He often boasts about the number of “symbols” he manages to stuff into a single canvas. Here, the theme is unity. That’s why a not-that-keen eye can will spot that Everyman Trump is looming over a working-class family (whom he’s screwed) as they plant a flower (which he’s going to kill) in front of a crowd of veterans and soldiers (whom he dishonors), disabled people (whom he doesn’t care about), black people (whom he doesn’t like), various cabinet members (whom he’s fired), police officers (whom he’s insulted), and laborers (whom he doesn’t pay).

But McNaughton didn’t make his name by trimming half a dozen inches off of Trump’s waist. He became a conservative darling by taking dumps on President Obama for a solid eight years. Here’s his interpretation of Obama’s domestic policy:

Jon McNaughtonDid you notice the 9/11 symbolism? The thing that happened seven years before Obama was president, when a Republican was in office?

His foreign policy:

Jon McNaughtonTo be fair, Los Alamos does have a really nice golf course.

His stance on Obamacare:

Jon McNaughtonThere goes the plot for National Treasure 3.

And here again is that classic, featuring Obama trampling over the rights of the very same working man who Trump will later save while all the good Republican presidents are yelling at him:

Jon McNaughton“But I wanted to plant a tree there …”

Man, Obama really seems like a dick in these portraits. We’re surprised that the nuclear blast didn’t affect his golf swing, or that he escaped unharmed after dipping the Constitution in napalm and setting it alight in his hand, although that’s to be expected when you’re Literally Satan. His abilities are truly unending, as is his cruelty … as demonstrated by that time he forced a soldier to eat a slice of a gay wedding cake.

Jon McNaughton“It’s not even ice cream cake. Thanks, Obama.”

Save us, President Trump! Save us from that treacherous black sn- oh, you already have.

Jon McNaughtonThere is an extremely famous flag advising against this very thing!

Barron Trump, Manga Star

While Trump himself has a very divisive sort of popularity, the same can’t be said about the Trump children — Ivanka, Donnie Jr., and the one who looks like a hardboiled egg with a face drawn on it. His spawn are nigh-universally ridiculed, constantly putting their feet in those mouths they can’t ever seem to fully close. But one Trump kid is exempt from this ridicule: Barron, the unassuming, sweet-looking 12-year-old who actually has to live in the White House with his mom and dad. Making fun of a kid is not the nicest thing to do, so two sensitive artists have gone the other direction, trying to delve into the mind of this quiet boy and figuring out the turmoil he must feel from having the most powerful terrible father in the whole world — in fabulous manga form, natch.

Yuusuke Hori“At least it’s not a racist amphibian.”

This very melodramatic piece was posted by artist Yuusuke Hori right after Trump’s inauguration. It shows Barron in sparkly bishonen form with a title that reads “My loud, annoying dad is president, so the quiet unassuming life I wanted is completely over.” It was only meant as a silly mockup cover, but because it got insanely popular, we eventually got the for-realsies The Adventures Of Barron And His Loud-Mouthed President Father, and it’s everything we’ve ever wanted.

Joy LingWell, except for Trump not to be president, but still.

To all the non-otaku out there, TAOBAHLMPF (created by Brooklyn-based artist Joy Ling) sees Barron, who really just wants to “watch Netflix and play Pokemon,” teaming with Sasha and Malia Obama to solve the puzzle surrounding a “mysterious anomaly” that appeared after his father took office — which is not a polite way to refer to Kellyanne Conway. We don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but one of the central conflicts revolves around Barron trying to persuade his father to help put things right. Oh, that’s right, Donald Jerwillickers Trump makes an appearance, or at least the DJT from the universe where he doesn’t believe that exercise is a liberal plot to sap his precious bodily fluids.

Joy Ling“Please don’t tell me which flui-“ “Semen.”

Adam Wears is on Twitter and Facebook, and has a newsletter about depressing history that you should definitely subscribe to.

Art is great for letting some of the tension out, in case that’s a thing you need to do in this day and age, so maybe pick up some Bob Ross oil paints?

Support Cracked’s journalism with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more, check out 8 Hilariously Offensive Artworks Featuring Famous Presidents and 5 Unsettling Sub-Genres Of Fan Art Lurking On The Internet.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_25547_5-wtf-ways-trump-has-been-immortalized-as-artwork.html

from Viral News HQ https://ift.tt/2LbRvyT via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

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kristinejrosario · 7 years

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How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog

For several years, I’ve been using Reader Avatars (also called Reader Profiles or Personas) on my blogs – and I’ve found them very effective and helpful.

To create your first reader avatar, you’ll need to spend some time thinking and writing about a type of reader that you’re either attempting to reach or who is already reading your blog. Describe them in as much detail as you can – who they are, what their interests are, why they might be reading your blog and what their needs are.

(We’ve created a template you can use to help you do this, and I’ll be sharing some examples of my own reader avatars throughout this post.)

The idea is that you end up with a picture of who you’re writing for that you can then use to create posts that will resonate more strongly with your actual readers.

Before I talk about the benefits of doing this and make some suggestions on how to create reader avatars for your own blog, let me show you one that I first created several years ago for my photography site

"Grace" Mom-a-raz-zo

Grace describes herself as a Mom-a-raz-zo photographer because 90% of her photos are of her young children. She’s 34 years old and lives in London.

She is in the market for an entry level DSLR and lens to help her capture her kids growing up. She studies photography is high school so has a basic understanding of how to use a camera, but until now has been using an entry level point and shoot camera.

Grace reads dPS for two reasons - firstly to help make a decision about which camera to buy. She’s a little nervous about making the choice and is looking for the advice of others. She’s also looking to connect with other Mom-a-raz-zo photographers and to learn how to improve her portrait photography.

Grace is a photography book addict - she subscribes to a photography magazine and has an expanding collection of portrait related photography books.

Grace dreams about one day making a little money from her photography - perhaps using what she learns in photographing her own children - to photograph other families. Her biggest obstacles in achieving this are a lack of confidence (she worries a lot about what others think of her work) and the equipment (which she is saving for).

Grace is on Facebook, is a heavy user of email and has a Flickr account.

The profile above describes one of the types of readers that we have on DPS – people whose main use of their cameras is to photograph their kids.

The profile describes why “Grace” reads DPS, some of her dreams, the type of photography she’s into, how else she uses the web, a little about her demographics, the level she’s at, and so on.

Here’s another one from a different type of reader at DPS:

"Keith" Grey Nomad

Keith is a first time digital camera owner. He’s recently retired and has bought an entry level DSLR to help him record an upcoming trip across the USA.

Keith reads dPS to work out how to get the mosts from his new camera, which to this point, he is using only in Automatic mode.

His needs and challenges are fairly beginner level and include learning about settings like Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, knowing how to get his images off his camera and to store them safely, as well as basic composition techniques.

Keith dreams of taking great landscapes, macro photography and a little portrait work.

Keith is on a budget, living off his savings. He is willing to spend a little to improve his photography but researches all purchases carefully.

Keith has been online for years, but his preferred way to connect online is email.

Again – I’ve described another type of reader in a similar way to the first.

In each of these cases the reader profile is based upon a reader group already within the Digital Photography School community. If you’re just getting started with your blog, this same exercise could be done with potential readers – or the type of person you want to read your blog.

Why Should You Create Reader Avatars?

Hopefully you can already see some of the benefits of these kinds of reader avatars – but let me list a few of the things I’ve found most useful:

It makes your blogging feel more relevant and personal – I find that having a person (real or pretend) in mind as I write reminds me that there are real people on the other end of my posts. There are people with faces, names and needs – I find it inspiring to visualise them reading what I write, and thinking about them helps me to write in a more personal tone.

It informs your writing – having these kinds of avatars in mind as I write reminds me of some of the problems and questions that readers might have. That leads me to write write more practical posts that focus on real readers’ needs. Often as I write, I visualise the questions and reactions that these different readers might have to my posts – and then try to build answers to those into what I’m writing.

It identifies opportunities – although it was several years ago now, I still remember writing the first profile above (Grace) and realising that quite a few of my readers have mentioned their dreams of one day making some money from their photography. As a result, I created a section of the DPS forum specifically about making money with photography ... and later, we published an ebook on “Going Pro”. (Note the forums are currently closed.)

It can be helpful for recruiting advertisers – potential advertisers will want to know what type of reader you have. You can simply share your reader avatars with them: no need to think through a new answer each time. This also shows that you’ve thought about your readers and run a professional site.

It identifies ways to connect with your readership – you’ll notice I’ve included details in the profiles on what else the reader does online. It’s really useful to know what other sites your reader uses and which social networks they prefer as this can identify opportunities to identify places where potential new readers hang out.

It will identify opportunities to monetize your blog – knowing what your readers currently spend money on, what their needs are, and what kind of income they have at their disposal will give you all kinds of ideas for the types of advertisers you should seek out, the type of affiliate promotions you could do and the type of products you could develop.

How to Create a Reader Profile?

There are no real rules – you can see I’ve developed a certain style in my personas above. I added a picture to each of the type of person in the profile to further personalise it. I’d suggest trying to include information in the following areas:

Demographics – basic facts, like age, gender, nationality, and education level. You can use Google Analytics not only to see how many readers are coming from which countries, but also to see how your readers fall into different age categories, and what the balance of genders is. Google’s page on Demographics and Interests explains how this works.

Financial situation – are your readers well off, secure, or just about managing? This will obviously affect the types of products you choose to promote as an affiliate, or create yourself.

Needs and/or challenges – what are your readers struggling with, or what are they keen to know about? With photography, for instance, readers like Grace will want to know how to capture their children as they grow up.

How they use the web – you might want to think about the other blogs they read, the news sites they visit, the social networks they’re active within, and whether they tend to browse on a computer or on a tablet / mobile (again, Google Analytics can give you insight into this).

Motivations for reading the blog – for instance, are your readers hobbyists or taking their first steps into a career related to your topic? Do they read your blog to be inspired, educated, or entertained?

Level of experience with the topic – are your readers total beginners, highly experienced, or something in between? You may want to create several reader avatars for people at different levels of experience and familiarity with the topic.

Dreams – what do they wish they could accomplish ... and how can you help them get there? You might find that the emails you receive and the comments on your posts help you figure out what your readers’ dreams are.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list – if you’ve created a reader avatar (or several) before, please feel free to share your suggestions and tips in comments below.

Let me finish this post off with one last persona – again for DPS.

"Gareth" Going Pro

Gareth (39 and living in Denver) prides himself on being one of the first people in his friendship group to own a digital camera. He invested heavily in a Sony Mavica that had the ability to take and store 9 images on a floppy disk!

Gareth sold his extensive film camera kit years back and fully converted to a Canon DSLR kit which he regularly updates and adds to whenever a new camera, lens or accessory comes onto the market. He also collects a range of other cameras - Liecas, Holgas and other more obscure models. He has a high disposable income.

Gareth works as a successful freelance designer but had recently put together a portfolio site for his photography and is on the way to going pro as a photographer.

Gareth knows most of what there is to know about photography - he is part of dPS because he loves to show his work and help others improve their photography. He’s also looking to increase his profile and exposure as a photographer.

Gareth photographs everything - he particularly loves live music photography, urban landscapes and anything experimental.

Gareth is an early adopter in many areas of life - he’s prolific in social media circles, has his own blog, Flickr account and is active on Facebook, Twitter and regularly uses Delicious for social bookmarking.

Now it’s over to you. Have a go at writing at least one reader avatar for your blog ... and leave a comment below to let us know how you got on.

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richardrobertsimsuccessblog · 7 years

Text

How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog

For several years, I’ve been using Reader Avatars (also called Reader Profiles or Personas) on my blogs – and I’ve found them very effective and helpful.

(We’ve created a template you can use to help you do this, and I’ll be sharing some examples of my own reader avatars throughout this post.)

The idea is that you end up with a picture of who you’re writing for that you can then use to create posts that will resonate more strongly with your actual readers.

"Grace" Mom-a-raz-zo

Grace describes herself as a Mom-a-raz-zo photographer because 90% of her photos are of her young children. She’s 34 years old and lives in London.

Grace is a photography book addict - she subscribes to a photography magazine and has an expanding collection of portrait related photography books.

Grace is on Facebook, is a heavy user of email and has a Flickr account.

The profile above describes one of the types of readers that we have on DPS – people whose main use of their cameras is to photograph their kids.

The profile describes why “Grace” reads DPS, some of her dreams, the type of photography she’s into, how else she uses the web, a little about her demographics, the level she’s at, and so on.

Here’s another one from a different type of reader at DPS:

"Keith" Grey Nomad

Keith is a first time digital camera owner. He’s recently retired and has bought an entry level DSLR to help him record an upcoming trip across the USA.

Keith reads dPS to work out how to get the mosts from his new camera, which to this point, he is using only in Automatic mode.

Keith dreams of taking great landscapes, macro photography and a little portrait work.

Keith is on a budget, living off his savings. He is willing to spend a little to improve his photography but researches all purchases carefully.

Keith has been online for years, but his preferred way to connect online is email.

Again – I’ve described another type of reader in a similar way to the first.

Why Should You Create Reader Avatars?

Hopefully you can already see some of the benefits of these kinds of reader avatars – but let me list a few of the things I’ve found most useful:

How to Create a Reader Profile?

Financial situation – are your readers well off, secure, or just about managing? This will obviously affect the types of products you choose to promote as an affiliate, or create yourself.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list – if you’ve created a reader avatar (or several) before, please feel free to share your suggestions and tips in comments below.

Let me finish this post off with one last persona – again for DPS.

"Gareth" Going Pro

Gareth works as a successful freelance designer but had recently put together a portfolio site for his photography and is on the way to going pro as a photographer.

Gareth photographs everything - he particularly loves live music photography, urban landscapes and anything experimental.

Now it’s over to you. Have a go at writing at least one reader avatar for your blog ... and leave a comment below to let us know how you got on.

Thrive Leads Shortcode could not be rendered, please check it in Thrive Leads Section!

The post How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog

#Richard Roberts IM Success Mix #How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog

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silvino32mills · 7 years

Text

How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog

For several years, I’ve been using Reader Avatars (also called Reader Profiles or Personas) on my blogs – and I’ve found them very effective and helpful.

(We’ve created a template you can use to help you do this, and I’ll be sharing some examples of my own reader avatars throughout this post.)

The idea is that you end up with a picture of who you’re writing for that you can then use to create posts that will resonate more strongly with your actual readers.

"Grace" Mom-a-raz-zo

Grace describes herself as a Mom-a-raz-zo photographer because 90% of her photos are of her young children. She’s 34 years old and lives in London.

Grace is a photography book addict - she subscribes to a photography magazine and has an expanding collection of portrait related photography books.

Grace is on Facebook, is a heavy user of email and has a Flickr account.

The profile above describes one of the types of readers that we have on DPS – people whose main use of their cameras is to photograph their kids.

The profile describes why “Grace” reads DPS, some of her dreams, the type of photography she’s into, how else she uses the web, a little about her demographics, the level she’s at, and so on.

Here’s another one from a different type of reader at DPS:

"Keith" Grey Nomad

Keith is a first time digital camera owner. He’s recently retired and has bought an entry level DSLR to help him record an upcoming trip across the USA.

Keith reads dPS to work out how to get the mosts from his new camera, which to this point, he is using only in Automatic mode.

Keith dreams of taking great landscapes, macro photography and a little portrait work.

Keith is on a budget, living off his savings. He is willing to spend a little to improve his photography but researches all purchases carefully.

Keith has been online for years, but his preferred way to connect online is email.

Again – I’ve described another type of reader in a similar way to the first.

Why Should You Create Reader Avatars?

Hopefully you can already see some of the benefits of these kinds of reader avatars – but let me list a few of the things I’ve found most useful:

How to Create a Reader Profile?

Financial situation – are your readers well off, secure, or just about managing? This will obviously affect the types of products you choose to promote as an affiliate, or create yourself.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list – if you’ve created a reader avatar (or several) before, please feel free to share your suggestions and tips in comments below.

Let me finish this post off with one last persona – again for DPS.

"Gareth" Going Pro

Gareth works as a successful freelance designer but had recently put together a portfolio site for his photography and is on the way to going pro as a photographer.

Gareth photographs everything - he particularly loves live music photography, urban landscapes and anything experimental.

Now it’s over to you. Have a go at writing at least one reader avatar for your blog ... and leave a comment below to let us know how you got on.

Thrive Leads Shortcode could not be rendered, please check it in Thrive Leads Section!

The post How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

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bizmediaweb · 7 years

Text

How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog

For several years, I’ve been using Reader Avatars (also called Reader Profiles or Personas) on my blogs – and I’ve found them very effective and helpful.

(We’ve created a template you can use to help you do this, and I’ll be sharing some examples of my own reader avatars throughout this post.)

The idea is that you end up with a picture of who you’re writing for that you can then use to create posts that will resonate more strongly with your actual readers.

"Grace" Mom-a-raz-zo

Grace describes herself as a Mom-a-raz-zo photographer because 90% of her photos are of her young children. She’s 34 years old and lives in London.

Grace is a photography book addict - she subscribes to a photography magazine and has an expanding collection of portrait related photography books.

Grace is on Facebook, is a heavy user of email and has a Flickr account.

The profile above describes one of the types of readers that we have on DPS – people whose main use of their cameras is to photograph their kids.

The profile describes why “Grace” reads DPS, some of her dreams, the type of photography she’s into, how else she uses the web, a little about her demographics, the level she’s at, and so on.

Here’s another one from a different type of reader at DPS:

"Keith" Grey Nomad

Keith is a first time digital camera owner. He’s recently retired and has bought an entry level DSLR to help him record an upcoming trip across the USA.

Keith reads dPS to work out how to get the mosts from his new camera, which to this point, he is using only in Automatic mode.

Keith dreams of taking great landscapes, macro photography and a little portrait work.

Keith is on a budget, living off his savings. He is willing to spend a little to improve his photography but researches all purchases carefully.

Keith has been online for years, but his preferred way to connect online is email.

Again – I’ve described another type of reader in a similar way to the first.

Why Should You Create Reader Avatars?

Hopefully you can already see some of the benefits of these kinds of reader avatars – but let me list a few of the things I’ve found most useful:

How to Create a Reader Profile?

Financial situation – are your readers well off, secure, or just about managing? This will obviously affect the types of products you choose to promote as an affiliate, or create yourself.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list – if you’ve created a reader avatar (or several) before, please feel free to share your suggestions and tips in comments below.

Let me finish this post off with one last persona – again for DPS.

"Gareth" Going Pro

Gareth works as a successful freelance designer but had recently put together a portfolio site for his photography and is on the way to going pro as a photographer.

Gareth photographs everything - he particularly loves live music photography, urban landscapes and anything experimental.

Now it’s over to you. Have a go at writing at least one reader avatar for your blog ... and leave a comment below to let us know how you got on.

Thrive Leads Shortcode could not be rendered, please check it in Thrive Leads Section!

The post How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

How to Create a Reader Avatar for Your Blog published first on http://ift.tt/2u73Z29

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amberstrain · 7 years

Photo

Symposium. notes, I found perhaps what I said was too academic and not conservational, my strength is reading the narratives I made and not so much essays. technical issues happen so it was only unlucky that slides had be to deleted last minute and the clicker created a delay. I was happy with the video I made, perhaps for the symposium I will put more time into visuals and animations which are far more interesting than talking over a long day. Feed-back; what is nature?, Donna H videos, id VR the right medium?, getting further into spec design, and theories Next time i would love to have pushed my project and my presentation even further. I am proud to have tried new things and pushed myself this time with new skills, it can only get better. I would like to check in with others about what they thing is strong and interesting, therefore, helping me with a direction. Script Virtual eco-therapy: A speculative inquiry into the simulation of nature's therapeutic qualities in virtual reality. slide “Design speculations can act as a catalyst for collectively redefining our relationship with reality” (Dunne and Raby, 2). Speculative Design is a process that gives us hope (Dunne and Raby 1). Hope that the future will work out. Hope that gets designers and other professionals play to with problems that seem unfixable; “inspire us to imagine things could be radically different than they are today, and then believe we can progress towards that imaginary world” (Dunne and Raby 1). Virtual eco-therapy is a speculative project that aims to generate discussion around a complex issue. It asks whether the therapeutic qualities of nature can be simulated in virtual reality. This speculative inquiry is in regards to a possible dystopian urban future. Virtual Ecotherapy could be a solution to well-being issues created by a lack of access to ‘real nature’ in this dystpopian scenario. The medium of Virtual Reality will be discussed as an empathetic, and immersive experiential design platform. I have conducted many digital and analogue experiments that contribute to the design led investigation. These makings tested the capabilities and limitations of Virtual Reality in terms of representation and experience. Rather than aiming to perfect a design solution this research sets up scenarios that explore whether the medium of Virtual Reality might afford an ecotheraputic experience. The series of qualitative and conceptual design experiments culminate in a speculative proposition in response to the dystopian scenario. A deliberately imperfect solution, Virtual Ecotherapy asks; “is this our future?” slide Virtual Reality is continuously becoming more accessible, desirable, and immersive. Following current trends the future promises a realistic, creative, and more seamless Virtual Reality experience. It offers the unique experience of placing someone within a “place of imagination unfettered by physical restrictions” (Popat 358). So should it be used to simulate real life? The investigations made in this research project looked closely at the experience of virtual reality, what it feels like to be both present and absent in the real world?. What was founds was; “The nature of action in virtual worlds is such that our bodies are both present and absent, experiencing agency and aspects of sensation even though there is no direct contact between flesh and world” Currently Virtual Reality users experience eerie disembodied and embodied effect (Popat 364). Simulations without an avatar are not as immersive as ones with one. Without a body that we can see and move, we become more aware of the fabrication of the environment. People chose to act dangerously, embark on activities their body could not complete in reality. They know the experience holds no real consequence (Popat 364). Would awareness of the environment not being real, mean that ecotherapy cannot be achieved? If we were to remove the disembodied effect of VR would simulations feel so real that; Slide “By the middle of the present century, will we be uploading our consciousnesses into cyberspace and leaving our obsolete bodies, or “meat,” behind us, or will embodied experience connect us across physical and virtual worlds?” (Popat 360). Virtual Ecotherapy combines the realms of the natural, human, and technological (Botz-Borenstein 9). In the face of an uncertain and possibly dystopic future reality, this research proposes that we can use technology to change our realities through unreal means. Botz-Bornstein in his text Virtual Reality: The Last Human Narrative, discusses the nuances of a techno-human future. Botz-Borenstein uses the term; “uncritical post-humanism,” which applauds the “continuation of the human by non-human means” (9). Virtual Reality through an “uncritical post-humanist” eyes, is a narrative space that expands our consciousness and reality. If we became more symbiotic with technology then perhaps the future of the human race, and what it means to be human, could be continued long after we evolve beyond our human forms. On the other side; Design proposals that suggest simulation of the ‘real’ world are controversial. There are concerning trends in which an individual can lose touch with reality and become dependant on digital or virtual realities (Brey 5). Science Fiction narratives allude to the possibility of scenarios such as The Matrix (1999), this film suggested a future where humans are unaware their world is a simulation and the ‘real’ earth is a dystopian war ravaged land. This research proposal then aims to spark the conversation if Virtual ecotherapy is ethical? If there is a possibility it could be abused and used as an escape from the ‘real’ world ,should Virtual Reality all together be prevented from going further? (Popat 360; Brey 6) Another ethical issue with this concept is that would we even need to care about real nature with experiences such as Virtual Ecotherapy? Emma Marris in her TED talk Nature is everywhere -we just need to learn to see it, said; “we need people to care about nature, so we need a generation of children that can touch nature”. Marris argues that people at least need to see the real plants available in urban areas. Marris finds value in letting children appreciate nature in a tactile way, and yet this is something Virtual Reality could offer. Haptic technology can simulate touch in virtual realities. With those questions in mind slide Previous experiments shown during this presentation had the effect of being creepy and uncomfortable, undesirable if I am trying to facilitate ecotherapy. In this experiment I created a VR forest this is a written piece about my experience in it: Adorning the Virtual Reality headset over and over again. I am numbing myself to the experience. Like eyes of a haunted portrait, the leaves follow you. Each way you turn your head they mirror you. Adjusting themselves into the optimal position. This environment is conscious. Made with a purpose. In a real forest I feel small and insignificant. It does not care that I am there, it exists without me. In this space I am the focus. The creator. The critic. I do not exist in this space. I cannot see my body, or feel anything I see. I am all too aware this is not real. I am not benefiting from being here. After interviews and further research I discovered that what was missing from this experience wasn't just audio and visual stimuli, but other senses. Greater relaxation would be achieved with inclusion of more sensory information, such as temerature,, smell, and touch. The simulation of more senses “may act by enhancing the feeling of reality in the virtual setting, hence increasing the recovery effect” (Annerstedt, Matilda et al. 249). Greater sense of presence into the experience results in a more vivid illusion, equaling greater restorative potential (Annerstedt, Matilda et al. 249).If Virtual Ecotherapy were to be created; multiple sensory information would be simulated to achieve the effect of tranquility. slide At the end of my research, interviews and investigations I created my impression of what virtual ecotherapy may be like.. Let’s imagine for a moment it’s a 100 years in the future. You’re your great grandchild. At work, in an office cubicle. Of many future possibilities, this is now your reality.Cities have become monstrous in size. The urban landscape is all you know. Sure you’ve seen images about what the earth used to be like. That’s all gone now, the human-built domain reigns supreme. IYou need the escape. Your body, mind, and spirit want a change. Let’s then imagine there is a solution. Reclining in your office chair you put on a pair of glasses. Your brain switches off, your senses go numb. There is no feeling, no seeing, no being. A cold breeze then brushes through you. You rub your now goose-bumped arm. Inhaling; the stale office air has been replaced by a cool scent of moss and dirt. The silence has grown into new sounds. Leaves rustle, a stream trickles, hills hum in the breeze. Shades of green, white, and black spots begin to appear. They grow and merge into the forest scene. Virtual Ecotherapy is far more than a visual space. It smells, feels, and sounds familiar. You are alone in the natural virtual environment. It could never be better than real nature, it does not try to be. This is the alternative. Real nature no longer exists. So immersive your mind is lost in the space. Bliss.Let yourself go. The sensations call you. For it is only an experience, and nothing more. It only works when you have a willing suspension of disbelief. No matter how real it seems you are not completley fooled, only willing to play along. The exposure to the virtual nature is making you happier and even healthier.This is Virtual Ecotherapy. Slide VIDEO

#spatial design

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myupdatesystems-blog · 7 years

Text

Top Twitter Tips For Business

New Post has been published on https://myupdatesystems.com/2017/04/14/top-twitter-tips-for-business/

Top Twitter Tips For Business

Twitter has been a powerful asset for my business! It’s one of those things that has really fit me. I’m not really a sociable person in real life but it really fits me well and it’s been a huge asset for my business. I got really into it last November or December. I have a list here of things right off the top of my head that I noticed that people do wrong and that people should be doing and things that I do that makes twitter work.

1. Picture: Your picture (the avatar picture) in almost all cases should be a picture of you. You don’t have to have a portrait quality picture, that’s not really necessary. What’s really important is it’s a picture of you.

2. Username: In almost all cases, your username needs to be your first and last names. You need to have your name viewable. If you want to use your business name, go ahead but then also include your real name so that when they click on your avatar, they will see your real name. I see too many businesses on Twitter, people trying to run an online business and don’t tell their names – that is crazy! You must have your name up there. I just use Steve Weber, that’s my username and a lot of marketers, that’s just what they use. If you have a choice (unless you have a really good reason not to), use your name as your username. You can change usernames any time you like.

3. Tweets: 90 to 95% of the “tweets” need to be about good content. Say something worthwhile! It doesn’t have to be about your niche, your area; it can just be about life in general or current events. Post a topic worth reading and is interesting enough to catch people’s attention. Point people to links on your site or your blog, to cool links that you found on the Internet. Direct people into that kind of content, that’s relative to either your specific niche or to a lot of people who are into Internet and computer because those are the ones in general who are always on Twitter. A lot of people are interested in all kinds, all things on the Internet. About 95% of the time, (that sounds like a lot, but really you need to do that) you are sending them content and not some kind of offer to buy something.

4. Blog: A lot of times, I create blog posts that have really good content in them; but also I have an offer on that page. So it’s not like I’m sending them right to a sales page. I send them to a blog post that has really good information and says, “By the way, here is a link to an offer or here’s a link to a free download.” Most of the time I have a video on that page and they see that I sent them to my page with really good content or to somebody else’s really good content. You just can’t put up every other tweet to be a link to a sales page. You just can’t do that. That just totally defeats your purpose.

5. Be Consistent: If you are not consistent, then don’t bother. Don’t waste your time. If you’re going to get on Twitter once or twice a week, just forget it. You are just wasting the time that you’re on twitter. If you want to make twitter work as a marketing tool, you have to get on it every single day. Sure, on an emergency or something that came up that you cannot get onto your computer, that happens, but if Twitter is going to work as a marketing tool for you, you have to log in and check your account every single day. Not all day! You don’t have to be on there every hour, every day. However, you need to be on there to check the replies and check your direct messages and respond back to people, and communicate with people and put some tweets up and keep yourself relevant, keep your account moving forward and keep your account out there in front of people. You just have to do it. If you can’t do that, it may not be for you. You don’t have to use Twitter as a marketing tool. If you can’t be relatively consistent in using Twitter then don’t waste your time but it is a very powerful tool. If you choose to do that, if it fits you, then go for it. If it doesn’t, then don’t waste your time by once or twice a week getting on there.

6. Always Be Present. Always reply; always check your direct messages (DMs) throughout the day. Every time you get on twitter, you should always check your DMs and always check your replies. I highly suggest you use Tweetdeck; it makes this whole process of keeping up with your DMs and your replies easier. If you just use the web interface for twitter, it’s too much work trying to keep up with all that stuff. But Tweetdeck makes it a whole lot easier because it keeps track of that stuff right on the screen for you.

7. Be Social. If people re-tweet you, if they have a little re-tweet right in front of your tweet, re-tweet it to their followers. Always thank them, or say something nice to them, reply or add them to your follow Friday list — something to acknowledge them. Be social, be nice, recognize and appreciate them. Check your daily feed in twitter, look at some people and try to follow people. Whenever you are on twitter, try to always respond to somebody, you have to be social. You will be amazed at the connections and the contacts you’ll make if you’ll do that.

8. Make “Retweetable” Tweets. Figure out ways to create tweets that will be re-tweeted. Kind of experiment and see what your followers will re-tweet. Remember, once they re-tweet your tweet, then you’re showing it to all their followers. Then, some of those followers will re-tweet, and so it just magnifies in it and it’s snowball’s re-twitter. Different groups will respond differently to different things. So try to work on what your followers will re-tweet, do whatever it takes with your followers. It’s very important to spread your account out there. It will really spread like wildfire if you can get 2 to 3 or 4 or 5 retweets a day because it adds up.

I do motivational tweets once or twice a day, for example, motivational quotes. They always get re-tweeted like hit across twitter. Just things like that and things related to your niche. If you are targeting your followers like I teach you in a Twitter blast, you can tweet about your niche. That will get re-tweeted a lot. If you have done your targeting work correctly, that will work really well.

9. Unfollow people who do not follow you. Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give this person a week or so, usually, because some people are not that current. It takes some people time to get up to speed on twitter. If you follow on somebody, and they are not following you in a day or two, well don’t just un-follow them then. Give them ample time before you un-follow them because if they are like I was (early on, I signed up last May and I hardly did anything with twitter until November), then you might just un-follow someone who can be worth a good follower. They might be like me at the start, but would, later on, use twitter a lot, so give people time.

You need to go to your following — the people that you are following and go into the pages. Go backward and find that last page where there are people who are not following you. If there is no direct message option, that means they’re not following you. So then you un-follow them and you work from the back of your list up. You can stop where you think it’s enough, it depends on how many followers you have, but you don’t work all the way into the front of your list. You give those people time to follow you. But keep up with that, don’t make that drudgery, don’t let that get out of hand, where every two or three or four days, go on and un-follow people who aren’t following you over time. But like what I’ve said, do give them time to follow you initially.

10. Tweetdeck. You really need to learn how to use Tweetdeck. If you have been using the web interface, and then you try TweetDeck, you will not like it. Most people don’t like TweetDeck when they first go to it because it’s something new and they are not used to it. They are used to using twitter on the web, and it worked and they’re just not used to it. It takes a time to get used to it. Well, trust me, if you are marketing with twitter, you need TweetDeck because it keeps track of your replies and your DMs right on your screen, and you can delete them in there unlike in the web interface.

11. Tweetlater. Now, there’s way to purge your DMs through tweetlater.com (it’s free!) There is no easy way to purge your DMs within twitter itself. It’s very handy because you don’t have to manually delete your messages (that’s a pain) and you have an option to delete DMs older than 7 days or 30 days. Keep up with those direct messages and use tweet later to purge those old direct messages since twitter doesn’t have a mechanism for doing that.

12. Auto-follow. A lot of third party tools out there, like tweetlater.com have what they call the auto-follow feature. So you could set that up so that when somebody follows you, your account automatically follows back. Now I do have that setup, and the reason I do (there are pros and cons and I will tell you what they are) is because there are so many people following me that for us to go in I have to follow all those people. It just saves a lot of time in the long run to auto-follow those people.

Now, I’ll tell you the downside to that is when you see these porn type scammers out there. These people that you really don’t want to associate with, if they follow you, well you’re account’s going to follow them too. And it looks kind of funky if somebody doesn’t understand the process and they come in and look at your account and they see that you are following these porn-looking people. You just have to take the good and the bad there. For us (we’ve talked about this a lot,) and we think it’s better for us if we auto-follow. So kind of do that as you please, as you think and kind of experiment with that. We omit and delete those people if we see them, but there’s so many of them, it’s hard to do.

13. Tracking Tip. One last little tip that I’ve started using that’s working really well. Tweetdeck has a way that you could follow groups of people but it doesn’t work worth anything. It just isn’t very good. Well, I will just give you an example of myself in the area of Internet marketing. There are about 20 people that I really want to keep track of, that I want to socialize with a lot because I can make connections with these people and get to know them. They have big lists and it just works really well if I could get to know these people. Well, it takes a long time to go up into the browser and go to each one of their sites, so here is how I did this and this is a huge piece of advice. You’re going to love this.

I use Firefox for my browser, for my normal twitter and everything else. I do not use Internet Explorer very much. But on my computer, I have gone to Internet Explorer and set up another twitter account and I’ve gone in and follow all those twenty people that I want to keep track of. On my computer, I always have that minimized, I can go to my Internet Explorer and go to that other account and refresh it and I can see what these other 20 people are talking about recently. I can keep track of all twenty people real easy with that other twitter account.

Now, if somebody there says something that I want to respond to, then I go back to Firefox which I am logged into my regular twitter account, and up in Firefox, I can save (you could use bookmarks or whatever, but I drop them onto the toolbar at the top), I have all twenty of those addresses so I just click that little arrow and all twenty addresses for their twitter home pages drop down. There’s each one of their feed and I just click on the one that I want to talk to that I know just tweeted about something. There’s their feed and I can hit reply and I can talk to them right there. That works really well.

No matter which niche you’re in, no matter which area you are in, you need to seek out those relationships with people who are connected in those same areas as you are and communicate with them and socialize with them. You’ll be amazed at the results from doing that alone. It’s a little complicated and I wish there was an easier way to do it but that works really well once you begin using that other browser with that other twitter account to follow those specific people that you want to keep track of.

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symbianosgames · 7 years

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The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Recently, I've had the chance to showcase my analytical work and poster on Thief: The Dark Project at the 2017 Game Developers Conference as part of the Game Narrative Review Competition, in which I was named a Gold Winner. Essentially, what I did is that I fully expounded to attendees the ludonarrative nuances and elements that made Looking Glass's magnum opus such a consummate example of environmental storytelling.

In this article, I shall provide an extensive description of the ways Thief manages to captivate the active participant with its level design and mechanics. The following paragraphs are derived from the paper I submitted for the contest:

OVERVIEW

Set in a steampunk metropolis dubbed “the City,” Thief: The Dark Project puts players in the shoes of Garrett, a witty and highly disciplined master thief. After proving his abilities by stealing priceless artifacts and escaping an assassination attempt by a crime lord, Garrett is offered a fortune to retrieve a mysterious artifact known as the Eye. As he gathers the talismans necessary to access the haunted cathedral harboring this mystical relic, Garrett becomes embroiled in a conflict between the City’s two major warring factions, the technocratic Order of the Hammer and the nature-worshipping Pagans.

BREAKDOWN

As one of the first games to embrace the “immersive sim” philosophy of player agency, Thief uses its backstory and setting to create a subtle but effective dialog between the player and the environment. This is accomplished by allowing the player the freedom to uncover the story on their own initiative, and through detailed level design that accentuates the player’s sense of vulnerability to create a palpable environmental narrative that complements the game mechanics.

Thief sets the mood for each of its sixteen levels through cinematics that combine Garrett’s explanation of his situation, cryptic quotations and a map of the relevant locale that acts as an important world-building element. Maps for abandoned places such as the Old Quarter and Lost City are somewhat sketchy and crude owing to their lack of human activity, whereas populated locations such as the Hammer Temple have explicit labels indicating points of interest.

Regardless of detail, these maps only serve as general guides. It is ultimately up to the player to carve out their own path by scouting out the mission area, circumventing conspicuous entry points that are blocked by hostile NPCs and/or environmental hazards, and navigating critical mission areas in search of loot and objects of interest before escaping. This design strategy reinforces the player’s sense of tense immersion without resorting to extensive dialog to communicate the danger and lore of each level.

The contextualized placement of interactive items also helps reveal character and story through the environment, compelling the player to discover for themselves the location of loot and information. In Ramirez’s manor, for example, the player comes across multiple rooms to explore. Using common sense and their insight on the level layout, the player might think that little to no gold would be found in spaces such as the cellar. But in that one room, Garrett will come across the mansion’s owner counting his loot judging from a conversation between two servants the player may have overheard earlier. The Thieves’ Guild is another good example of important items being placed according to the narrative, with the peculiar location of a priceless vase in a safe hidden behind a banner highlighting the paranoia and strife of the two bandit leaders calling the shots. Aside from the opening cut scene expounding this conflict, all of the information the player needs to acquire the vase is obtainable through eavesdropping on NPC conversations as well as collecting notes scattered in the level.

This symbiosis of improvisational exploration and environmental storytelling means that the player’s success hinges on their desire and ability to uncover the backstory of the level and the City as a whole. Letting players uncover the world for themselves makes them feel like they’re accruing knowledge they’re not meant to stumble upon, resulting in the same rush they would get from finding a shortcut to circumvent guards. All of this is possible thanks to how gameplay necessities sync with the reality of the game’s locales, enhancing the City’s sense of place and the player’s absorption of the environmental details without the need for contrivances such as conspicuous quest markers or dynamic mini-maps.

The City, in particular, benefits greatly from subtle world-building and scene-setting that broaden the player’s worldview without spoon-feeding them. Despite being a linear game, Thief provides the player with a portrait of a rich, detailed universe that lies beyond the levels’ boundaries. For instance, the player can overhear a conversation between two guards outside Bafford's manor arguing about going to the bear pits. One guard insists it’s entertaining because the bears don spikes that make them vicious, while the other is old enough to remember when bears didn't need that kind of equipment.

This mix of pure scene-setting pieces, like notes about how to prepare dinner and ledgers of illegal payments, and gameplay-relevant information, such as a tip describing the incompetence of certain guards that alerts Garrett to potential exploitation of their demeanor, means that Thief strikes a fine balance between gameplay and environment storytelling by leveraging its lore to not only bolster the player’s worldview, but also apprise them of potentially beneficial information on points and items of interest that will compel them to explore every nook and cranny in the game.

The levels’ structure also highlights the sense of danger and uneasy emotional involvement that the player subconsciously feels as it's being fed back into the player-environment dialog. Water, for instance, serves as a boundary between the game's safe and hazardous spaces. Locations such as Cragscleft Prison and the Opera House require Garrett to swim through water, emphasizing that the player is entering a high-risk area. This design technique of establishing a motif of impending danger becomes especially noticeable in the second act, from stealing Constantine’s sword to retrieving the Eye in the haunted cathedral using the talismans found in the Opera House, Mage Towers, Lost City and Hammerite Temple, which gradually contrasts the natural and paranormal threats with the City’s technological prevalence to which the player has previously been exposed.

The same can be said of the rift in structural layout between rich and poor areas, which underlines the idea that power and technology are meant to be feared. The variety of surface materials Garrett can step on, from damp dirt to solid tiles, makes the player more confident in shabbier areas such as city streets and ruins, and more fretful in rich or high-security locales such as prisons and mansions with their noisier surfaces and narrower corridors, forcing the player to devise new strategies to evade their physically and numerically advantageous foes. Likewise, the use of torches that can be extinguished with a water arrow in downtrodden areas and lamps that can’t be deactivated in wealthy ones emphasizes the progress the player is making through the game from an environmental standpoint.

This, in turn, opens the door to twists and turns that can highlight the daunting nature of the game’s locales and the core pillar of subterfuge that defines much of Thief’s gameplay and emotional tension, such as the Eye locking the haunted cathedral’s doors behind Garrett upon entering it and retrieving the artifact, and narrowing the gap in knowledge between the player and their avatar. The sense of vulnerability stemming from not knowing what exactly awaits the master thief can also impact the briefing information the player and Garrett possess upon being dropped into a level.

The sound design also alerts the player to their situation. For instance, once they reach the chapel at the top of Cragscleft Prison, Hammerite chants are overheard in the background, highlighting the building’s sanctity and level of security. Likewise, a riotous tune lets the player know they’ve infiltrated the heavily guarded Thieves’ Guild, and a looping melody imparts a sense of relief upon reaching the sword room in Constantine’s manor. The same can be said of the abandoned and rural areas in the game such as the Lost City, Boneyard and Old Quarter, where the game’s atmospherically paranormal elements crop up. Regardless of where the player goes, the feeling of danger in populous and ruined areas serves to reinforce the theme of nature in decline vs. technology on the rise. By using the soundscape to communicate the precarious shifts in danger, Thief lets the player know that either technological evil or natural hostility can lurk around every corner.

Thief grants the player freedom of movement by making them nimble, but also encourages stealth by making them physically weak. This mechanic affects the narrative from both a player and environmental standpoint. As an embodiment of Garrett, the player experiences a sense of exposure and peril in a hazardous world filled with enemies who greatly outnumber him. From the environmental perspective, that emotional involvement enhances the theme of nature vs. technology. The uncertainty of how scenarios will play out due to the enemies’ advantages and Garrett’s weaknesses emphasizes the importance of information-gathering, which bolsters the sense of player agency while preserving the tension of the story.

STRONGEST ELEMENT

Thief’s greatest strength is its use of subtle foreshadowing to mete out critical bits of exposition. The quotations in the cinematics are a good example. While many of these are pure scene-setting, such as the Hammerite and Keeper quotes that flesh out their beliefs, others, such as those pertaining to the Pagans and the Trickster, hint at story events that will later prove to bear terrible fruit. This foreshadowing pays off at the game’s major turning point: Garrett’s betrayal at the hands of Viktoria and Constantine upon retrieving the Eye. This event triggers Thief’s third and most intense act, in which the Pagans attempt to open a portal to the Maw of Chaos in hopes of restoring the City to nature. This scheme is intimated by the surprising amount of vegetation in Constantine’s mansion which, given the City’s segregation of nature and technology, a perceptive player may find incongruous. In addition, several documents, such as a letter that can be found in a crime lord’s accounting vault, hint at locations and characters that may prove important later in the game. The seamless integration of these hints encourages inquisitiveness, tangibly investing the player into the story.

UNSUCCESSFUL ELEMENT

Thief falls short in its overreliance on underdeveloped paranormal elements, such as ghostly specters and the undead, in sparsely populated missions that don’t involve burglary. Although effective at bolstering the game’s oppressive atmosphere, these entities are mechanically incongruous. Their relatively predictable AI reduces the risk of getting caught or killed, discouraging exploration and diluting the player’s emotional involvement. This shortcoming could have been avoided by rebalancing the behavior of the paranormal entities to more closely match the threat posed by the human opponents, or simply removing them from the story altogether.

HIGHLIGHT

Of all the locales Garrett visits, Constantine’s mansion stands out. Its clever use of environmental storytelling and level design toys with the emotions of the player more potently than any other part of the game.

By the time players begin the mission dubbed “The Sword,” they will believe they have developed a good understanding of the tactics required to infiltrate well-guarded establishments, sharing Garrett’s confidence in his ability to plunder the mansion. However, the associated map challenges the player's initially optimistic mindset. Although the front of the mansion is clearly labeled, the back is left blank, owing to its recently built nature and Garrett’s reliance on observation and hearsay to get a rough idea of the layout.

As the player ventures into the mansion, the disorientation increases. The back of the estate contains cavernous tunnels full of foliage, rooms that spiral, tilt and go upside down, and magical booby traps, enhanced by haunting ambient sounds. At the moment the player gets their hands on the sword, they discover that their client was none other than Constantine himself, now revealed as a manipulative and potentially dangerous character.

The lack of expository dialog on the strangeness of the mansion or its twisted occupant enabled the designers to evoke a specific emotional effect essential to the impact of the story: stupefaction. This scene exemplifies Thief’s commitment to letting the player uncover the game’s story through exploration, with little or no handholding.

LESSONS

Use exposition subtly to present world-building elements: As a way of compelling the player to search for details that will broaden their worldview and gameplay knowledge, Thief cleverly mixes expository information with pure scene-setting elements that flesh out the game’s locales and characters. For example, the design of Constantine’s mansion slyly apprises players of dramatic possibilities, making their discovery all the more impactful as they materialize.

Set the tone for each level and design them in a way that communicates progress: In addition to the objects and characters that provide gameplay and narrative information, designers should consider the theme and mood of each mission to communicate their level of challenge and adjust the player’s expectations. From using water and sound design as spatial barriers, to populating the levels with different light sources, corridors and surface materials to reinforce a fear of power and technology, Thief makes effective use of level structure to bring its locations to vivid life.

Let players feel as if they’re learning things they’re not supposed to know: Designers should hint at the backstory, doling out lore and exposition in bits and pieces (such as the documents and conversations encountered in the Thieves’ Guild) scattered across the levels. Player agency is enhanced by encouraging exploratory improvisation.

Use mechanics to communicate story and player-environment dialog: Garrett’s constraints and vulnerabilities play an essential role in bolstering the player’s sense of tension, reinforced by an emphasis on non-lethal tools and restrictions on killing NPCs. Thief produces its intended emotional effect by stressing the importance of subterfuge, solidifying its synergy of narrative and mechanics.

SUMMATION

With its deft integration of mechanics and level design, Thief weaves a satisfyingly deep and dark experience. Its tense environmental narrative and palpable sense of agency opens a possibility space for the player that encourages exploratory improvisation, fully delivering on the promise of its title.

Let me know what you think of my article in the comments section, and feel free to ask me questions! I’ll do my best to get back to you as promptly as possible.

Personal blog: http://ift.tt/2jHSIDs

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Watfen64

LinkedIn: http://ift.tt/2iKYMac

Facebook: http://ift.tt/2jI2y8n

Email: [email protected]

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netmaddy-blog · 7 years

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New Twitter Tips For Business

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/new-twitter-tips-for-business/

New Twitter Tips For Business

5. Be Consistent: If you are not consistent, then don’t bother. Don’t waste your time. If you’re going to get on Twitter once or twice a week, just forget it. You are just wasting the time that you’re on twitter. If you want to make twitter work as a marketing tool, you have to get on it every single day. Sure, on an emergency or something that came up that you cannot get onto your computer, that happens, but if Twitter is going to work as a marketing tool for you, you have to log in and check your account every single day. Not all day! You don’t have to be on there every hour, every day. However, you need to be on there to check the replies and check your direct messages and respond back to people, and communicate with people and put some tweets up and keep your self-relevant, keep your account moving forward and keep your account out there in front of people. You just have to do it. If you can’t do that, it may not be for you. You don’t have to use Twitter as a marketing tool. If you can’t be relatively consistent in using Twitter then don’t waste your time but it is a very powerful tool. If you choose to do that, if it fits you, then go for it. If it doesn’t, then don’t waste your time by once or twice a week getting on there.

9. Unfollow people who do not follow you. Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give these people a week or so, usually, because some people are not that current. It takes some people time to get up to speed on twitter. If you follow on somebody, and they are not following you in a day or two, well don’t just un-follow them then. Give them ample time before you un-follow them because if they are like I was (early on, I signed up last May and I hardly did anything with twitter until November), then you might just un-follow someone who can be worth a good follower. They might be like me at the start, but would, later on, use twitter a lot, so give people time.

10. Tweetdeck. You really need to learn how to use Tweetdeck. If you have been using the web interface, and then you try TweetDeck, you will not like it. Most people don’t like Tweetdeck when they first go to it because it is something new and they are not used to it. They are used to using twitter on the web, and it worked and they’re just not used to it. It takes a time to get used to it. Well, trust me, if you are marketing with twitter, you need TweetDeck because it keeps track of your replies and your DMs right on your screen, and you can delete them in there unlike in the web interface.

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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5 WTF Ways Trump Has Been Immortalized As Artwork

Deep Dream Trump Is Pure Nightmare Fuel

Chris RodleyThat’s why you don’t share a teleporter with Muppets.

Chris RodleyCourtesy of Industrial Light and Horror.

It could be a lot worse, though. You could be looking at a video of Trump transformed into an awakened eldritch horror struggling against the confines of our universe:

youtube

Though on the plus side, Trump’s hair has never looked more in its element.

Eric Cheng/YouTubeOh, like you’ve never had a wookiee sex dream.

All Hail God-Emperor Trump!

via The Flama

via The FlamaHis armor appears to be made from the Ark of the Covenant, which is appropriate, since it makes us want to melt our faces off.

via r/Warhammer40k

Robokoboto/Art AbyssCarrying the skulls of his own supporters doesn’t seem ominous at all.