#can we see a major difference in the image quality? I'm using all my same edit settings here | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

20dollarlolita · 1 year

Text

Picking quilt prints to use in lolita fashion

You're going to find different opinions on if you can use quilt fabric for handmade lolita fashion. Some say that it's fine, and some say it'll never work. The actual answer is really simple: you can definitely absolutely sometimes in some applications use some quilt prints, maybe.

Aren't we glad we've cleared things up?

One of the difficult things about using quilting fabrics in lolita fashion is that prints that read really well in a quilt do not always read very well in a garment. Quilts are made up of small squares of fabric, usually somewhere between 12" (30cm) and 2" (5cm) on a side. This means that a lot of quilt prints are meant to have the majority of the print contained within that small space.

Garments, on the other hand, especially lolita skirts, have very large amounts of fabric in them. I cut a lot of skirts at about 88", or twice the full width of the fabric. When some patterns repeat every 7" or so, it starts looking boring or muddy when it's gathered up into a big lolita skirt.

Quilts also are generally viewed from up close. The backing of a quilt is a large expanse of fabric. However, it's also usually only viewed from a couple of feet away, the distance between a person and their bed or their lap. If someone is viewing my skirt at the same distance that they're viewing a quilt, they are much too close to me.

This is about prints, but I'm going to include a couple of fast tips about quilt fabric. 1) If you're making a garment with quilt fabric, lining is not optional, even in skirts. 2) If at all possible, when you're still learning how to spot good lolita quilt prints, go to a physical store. Ideally, see if you can go to a quilt store with a lot of prints and a lot of collections. Just like how we need certain scales of print for our garments, quilters need different scales of prints for different applications in the quilt. Quilt collections have coordinated fabrics with several different scales, so if you find a fabric that you love and that just plain won't work, you have other options of related fabrics. For what it's worth, most quilt stores can get you higher quality prints for less than you pay for them at Green Craft Store and other similar fabric places. Your local quilt store can't necessarily match Green Store's $5/yard thingies but they'll have pieces comparable to Green Store's $18.99 prints, but for $12.99. If you find the perfect

So, let's break into the main thing about working with quilt prints for lolita fashion: how well does any given fabric look when a large chunk of it is viewed at a distance. Shopping in a physical store is great for this, because you can see the scale close up.

We're going to talk about motif prints (prints with things on them, like animals or food or plants) instead of geometric things like polka-dots or stripes. There's plenty of existing images for how to work those things into a dress, so I'm going to jump in to the more complex element of picking detailed prints.

If a fabric can work largely depends on four components: how large the motif is, how far away the motifs are from each other, how the motifs are laid out on the fabric, and color palette/contrast.

This print, while cute, is something that I won't use. It does fine in one of the categories, and not fine in three of them.

Motif size in this case is how big the dresses on the print are. Here, you can compare them to my thumb. What size of motif you have is going to depend on your garment. A headbow, which is much smaller than a skirt, might need a small motif, so that you can see all of it in the finished piece. A skirt can use a much bigger motif, since it's a very large space, and the whole motif will be visible. These dress motifs on that pattern are large enough to show on a skirt, but small enough to be visible on a bodice. This is a motif of a usable size.

Motif spacing is the one that's going to kill most print spaces. Let's look at how much space there is between the dresses. There's pretty much none. There's a few filler patterns in between, which clutter up the space a little bit. However, look at just the dresses in the print. While this condensed space works really well in a quilt block, they don't have any breathing room.

On a lolita print, we often have more space between the motifs than we have motif. This is very hard to find in a quilt print, but remember that it's the look we're going for. Another element of motif spacing is how much fabric you go through before the motif repeats. If we use the dress with the yellow bodice as our reference point, we can see that it repeats twice in the 22" of fabric that we can see. This isn't too close together, but keep in mind that a fabric that repeats the print every 10" is going to have the same print motif a lot when it's on a skirt.

Motif alignment is just taking into account that garments are inherently directional. Your dress has a distinct top and bottom. You can't put on your socks upside-down or wear your blouse with the collar around your waist. Because clothes have a top and a bottom, prints that are intended to be viewed from any angle often look like part of them is upside-down when you use them in a garment. If we make a dress out of this dress fabric, half the dresses will be flipped.

Color palette is how many different colors there are in the fabric, as well as how close they are to each other on the color wheel, how much contrast there is between the lightest and darkest shades of each color, and the colors in general. For this print, we have a lot of colors: teal, yellow, pink, white, and a little bit of green and brown.

When we plot those colors on a color wheel, we see that the colors aren't particularly close. We have two of the most dominant colors being directly opposite on the color wheel. While it's totally okay to have complementary colors in your print, when both of them are dominant colors, the print can start to read as muddy when you look at it from far away. You don't need to plot every print on the color wheel, but it's a good way to show where the colors fit.

So, let's just look at a bunch of fabrics, and how I feel they do and don't work for lolita fashion. Some of this is just kind of my opinion. Some of these would look okay with good styling, and some wouldn't look okay unless there's good styling. But let's jump in.

Here's some small prints with geometric repeats. I like the teal one for lolita. Even though you can't really see the details from a distance, you can see the geometric stripe pattern. When you get a little closer, you can see the pattern, and the motif there is a nice lolita-applicable concept. I grabbed the one on the right because I thought it reminded me of a skirt by The Black Ribbon, but when I looked it up, it didn't look at all like that. That said, it still looks okay from a distance. The color reads as green, and isn't muddy or ugly. You get a little bit of geometric texture from a distance, and you can see the motif when you're a little closer.

Here's some that don't work. While the cupcakes and the teapots are both nice ideas, and we love cupcakes and teapots in lolita prints, they're not in a good presentation here. The teapot fabric has the teapots so close together that you can't actually tell what they are from a distance. The cupcakes are also very tightly packed together, making it hard to tell what the image is. Look at the cupcakes with the light brown swirl on the top, and look at how many times you can see it in this one image. The fruit is another example of the repeat being too close together, as well as having a bad color palette. You can see how many times the red fruit repeats, as well as how the red and green right next to each other doesn't read well from a distance.

Not sure why I stuck these four in the same collage, but let's go. Up top, we have some fabrics that don't work due to color palette and texture. Some of these are actual rainbows, and the way they're arranged gives them the feeling of movement. When this is on a garment, it starts making your eyes tired. In lolita fashion, we don't want people to be exhausted just looking at us. The gray one would just read as kind of messy and dirty, since the print is a more grunge print. The ones on the shelf also have the same problem of either having too many colors that are too far apart on the color wheel, or having really irregular patterns that would read as dirty or messy.

This coffee one is something that I really want to work, but the print spacing kills it. On the left, we can see that the standing coffee lady three times in a single 11" square. Also, between every large motif is a lot of filler text. Sadly, this just reads as a mess from a distance. This would be a lot more usable if we could delete all the "it's coffee time!" text. As far as fabrics go, it's not the worst on this list, but it's not ideal.

The blue fabric at top left is a good choice! You can see how much space is between each flower. It's a nice, empty space, and it reads well when you gather the top up. I'd wish that it'd have more detail in the print, so the flowers could look better up close, but I went through so much fabric here and it was nice to find one that felt good.

Top right, we have two small motif fabrics, with very different spacing. When you look at both of them from a distance (bottom right), you can see how the one on the black background reads more yellow than black, and the one on the white background reads as dots on a white background. This is just something to keep in mind when you're looking at motifs.

On the bottom left, we have two prints that have some color palette issues. The green one has some lovely leaves that could work in some more classical applications, but it doesn't look good from a distance. All of the green shades are very close together, without a really dark shade to make the shapes distinct from a distance. The butterfly one also doesn't have enough dark colors to look good from a distance.

Here's a nice example of why shopping at places that have collections is a nice idea. This line has an all-over pattern with bird's nests, and a border fabric with a much larger print. If we stacked these two, we'd have a nice print on our hem, without the large print being too big for a bodice. The bird nest fabric has a more wide print spacing than some other prints. While I wouldn't use it as a standalone fabric, it works well when paired with the print. The extra-large scale of the border fabric helps the all-over fabric look more spaced out.

These terrifying baby animals with too long of eyelashes would feel like it wouldn't do too well as a dress. The print is nice for a skirt, but kind of big for a bodice. There's a lot of colors here: orange, gray, green, yellow, pink.

However, there ARE dresses that use horizontal stripes all over, which have mostly this color scheme. The pop of green is unusual, but not unheard of. This is one of those ones that is going to need some really careful styling. This is also why it pays off to window shop and make lists of things you do and don't like in lolita fashion.

This one is pretty damn adorable, and it's got a wider spacing than most prints, but you would have to figure out how to come to terms with the fact that no matter how you cut it, some teacups will be upside-down.

If you can find some border prints, definitely consider them! Most premade lolita print dresses and skirts are made of a border print fabric. This geometric metallic print isn't an ideal example of a border print for lolita fashion, but it does demonstrate the different ways that motif spacing can work. If you look at the very center of the fabric, you'll see that the little motifs have a huge amount of space between them. This is more the spacing that we want for many of our pieces. At the bottom, they're all packed together, and in the middle, they're spaced out like most quilt prints are. It's okay to have a lot of detail on the hem of your skirt. The petticoat holds the print out and makes it more visible. If the print is just at the hem, it doesn't overwhelm the whole piece, even if is much closer spaced than you'd want in the area around your waist.

So, let's get some basic guidelines for buying quilt prints for lolita fashion:

a) How much of the background color of the fabric can you see? To make sure you're getting good spacing, you want to see a lot of background.

b) How many times does a part of a print show up in a 10" square? Is there a big, notable piece that shows up multiple times in your sample space? Watch out.

c) Can you determine what's right-side-up and what's upside-down on this fabric? If there's highly directional motifs, you don't want your garment to always look like it's on wrong.

d) how much does this look like fabric used in extant lolita pieces? If you get this fabric, are there references available for how to style it? It never hurts to have some references for what you're trying to make!

And now, a quick reminder about buying fabric: quilt fabric shrink, maybe a lot. It often comes with a sizing on it, which makes it easier to quilt with, but harder to determine what the fabric will really look like. Having worked in Green Store for almost five years, I can assure you that I've never personally seen their quilt fabric shrink more than 10" in width when it was first washed. I'll leave a significant pause after that statement and let you fill in some blanks. Some cheaper quilt fabric will shrink a whole lot, or lose pigment, or really change feel when you wash them. Some expensive fabrics will do the same. I really recommend doing a prewash with liquid fabric softener on the first wash. I know a lot of people hate fabric softener, but you only need to do it once per project. If you don't mind smelling like pickles and reducing the longevity of your garment, you can use white vinegar instead of fabric softener. Just get that sizing out and pre-shrink your fabric so that you know what you're working with.

As a final note: the more you actually transform some fabric into a garment, the more you're going to learn about how to do it. We all have things we look back on and wish we changed. Don't let your fear of it being imperfect stop you from making the thing you want to make. It will be imperfect. It will always be imperfect. Everything is imperfect. We learn when we make decisions that weren't ideal. You will learn when you try.

Some old posts from this blog that are related: Print Scale from 2018, and A Quick Guide to Prints from 2015 (Which, yes, was actually photographed with a potato. I believe that camera was 2.1 megapixels).

#lolita fashion #handmade lolita #egl #fabric shopping

111 notes · View notes

amberduan-ual · 1 year

Text

Risograph Induction (1/3/23)

I was really excited to do the riso induction here because I've previously worked with riso printing at my home school Pratt, and I was interested in seeing what the differences would be in terms of the process. At Pratt, I did a project about learning a new skill and chose riso printing for my topic, so I'm really invested in the process and media.

The group of students I took the induction with were mostly graphic design majors, with a couple photo and design management students as well. Prior to the induction, we were all asked why we were interested in riso, which was an interesting question and opportunity for self-reflection. My personal reason is that I adore the colors that riso is able to print, mainly the fluorescent colors. I think the way it forces you to think about colors is also really interesting.

Oftentimes as an illustrator, I start to think in terms of swatches and spot colors when planning out a piece for riso printing. I also think about how layering different colors could get me new colors and opacities of those colors, which means I'm constantly thinking about the printing process as I create. I really like the finicky process of separating out an image for riso printing, since it's quite different from traditional laser or Inkjet printing. You have to be quite precise about it, but at the same time riso printing is a process that's inherently full of surprises. I love that extra element that's slightly out of my control since I'm usually quite perfectionist about my work. It lets me discover and embrace new things, which I really appreciate.

The LCC risograph printers are both quite new, so the way you print on them is slightly different than what I was used to. The riso printers I usually work with are not connected to the network or a separate computer, so it's necessary to print out and scan riso masters into the machine. I was so excited to discover that you can print straight from the computer to the riso printers here, since that allows for more precision and less quality loss (in addition to saving time and money required to print out the masters.) The riso printers at LCC also allow you to adjust the dithering and dot process settings very precisely, which is a really cool feature and much more control than I'm normally used to.

The induction left me with so many possibilities and taught me that there's much more than one way of working with the riso, which has definitely broadened my horizons already. I'm really excited to experiment with the riso while I'm here and play with the features that I won't be able to after I leave!

#misc

1 note · View note

jmoneydollarsign · 2 years

Text

HOW TO DRAW WILD KRATTS ART STYLE

in the specific way that i've learned to do it

FEATURING A BOY IN MORTAL DANGER

SO! You want to know how to replicate the iconic lineless art style of Wild Kratts. Cool! There are a handful of people in the fandom who can do this, and as I have recently become one of them, I'll walk you through my process!

Remember that everyone does it differently so what works for some may not work for others, it's ok to experiment!

I'm going to make it clear first off that if you're looking to know how to freehand draw the characters, this is not the tutorial for you. My method is far less technical and, to some, probably less authentic. But it works and it's fun and it's easy so here it is!

SPECS

I use the Medibang Paint Pro mobile app to draw. It's available for both Android and iOS. (There's also a PC version but I'm less familiar with it.) A couple years ago, I paid for an expansion that lets you group layers and download brushes and idk if that's still behind a paywall or not, but those are things I can do.

Also worth noting is that I draw on a 4k canvas (3840x2160 pixels). It makes it easier to get little details in higher quality on any given drawing.

SKETCH AND REFS

ALRIGHT ON TO THE DRAWING

I'm using a fake screencap I've already finished for demonstration. I've cropped it down to just Chris because there's some PFJ plot tied to this image that I'm not going to allude to just yet 😉

Looks pretty accurate, right? The reason is because this image was actually drawn based on a bunch of screencap references from episodes of the show.

I downloaded the broad majority of these from @calliecat93's screencap compilations. As you can see, I have some biases. (not me subtly pushing the martiva agenda in the middle of a drawing tutorial 🤣)

I used about seven different images of Chris to make this one, but this is the base image against the main sketch:

As you can see, it matches how I wanted it to look so this is how it starts. But the position of his head is completely wrong so we need to fix that.

This is what happened when I slapped all the references on top of each other, I had refs meant individually for his head, his eyebrows, and the part of his arm that's blocked in the base image.

So basically I take all these images and Frankenstein them together until they look like what I want. Sometimes cropping, sometimes selecting and literally bending images at the joints to a point that works. Whatever gets it to look like what it needs to.

THE DRAWING

The first thing I do is trace all the lines in bright red. This way, when we go back to color them, it's easier to see where we've been and what we need to cover. Lines stick out in a lineless style and if they're disorganized it can look even worse.

(I've moved the drawing out of line from the refs since I made this, but note that this was drawn with the refs showing underneath to keep the lines clean and on track.)

IMPORTANT: I always make sure to keep like-colored lines on the same layer and separate them out. So it would be like, the head layer, the hair layer, the inner details of each, eyeballs, pupils, neck, and body. Groups of lines that are gonna be the same color when you go back over the image.

The neck layer in particular is important to keep separate because of the show's use of gradient to highlight the separation on most of the characters. We'll cover that in a bit.

I make sure to pay attention to line thickness on the detail layers so it looks as accurate as possible.

After you're done with the lines, we can move on to coloring!

COLOR

The first thing I do is make a new layer to put all the flat color on. How you select and actually color in the lines is up to you, but I keep a separate reference open to pull the colors from to keep the colors consistent. This is usually the same image every time.

Flat color comes BEFORE coloring the lines because you'll use the color you fill it in with to go over the lines to ensure an accurate color match.

But this is what he looks like with just the flat color. The lines have been colored in now but I can explain that.

Up above your layers, you can turn on certain setting for the one you're selected on. "Protect Alpha" is a setting that will make it so you can only draw in places where you've drawn previously, making it easy to slap down the color for the lines without too much hassle. And when you put everything on separate layers, you don't need to worry about overlap and recoloring in certain places.

And this is where I'll mention his neck. The gradient effect is best achieved if you put down the entire neck, completely colored, and then add another layer for the gradient and use the "Clipping" feature to make the gradient only appear on the neck. In this case, I just selected the part I would need to put a gradient on and did it without the clipping, but it still looks the same so it's not a big deal.

The final step is to add the background and lighting!

Background and Lighting

Lighting is my favorite part of any drawing because there are so many layer blending filters to play around with.

This is what the background looks like. Simple and to the point and also referenced from an episode.

Play around with lighting however you want! it's all up to you and it can change the entire tone and context of a scene

So this is what it looks like after all the lighting and foreground elements are added! Looks like it's right out of the show! And now that you're able to duplicate this chad of an art style, you too can bend reality to your will--

This was a pretty rushed explanation of what I do, so if you have a question, I'll be more than happy to answer it!

#wild kratts #chris kratt #drawing tutorial #jmoneydraws #i think the drawing i'm using here is the first one i ever did #using the method i'm describing #so what i'm saying and what the images say might not line up but the process is still in its infancy #maybe one day i'll upgrade to freehand but that day is not today 🙃

61 notes · View notes

jgnico · 3 years

Text

Okay, I'm going to elaborate on my earlier post and to do so I'm breaking this down into two very important sections:

1. The JJK fandom's feminization and fetishization of Gojo as a character and in his relationships, and

2. The general issues with racism when portraying queer poc characters in relationships that happens in fandom culture.

PS: I'm not touching the topic of why male ships shouldn't be characterized in terms of sex or why saying one character is a bottom vs another is a bad thing. If you want breakdowns about that, I guarantee that there are resources and posts that you can find through google. It's a well-known debate and I'm only here to talk about the issues that come up with Gojo's portrayal in fandom.

Staring off, I'm gonna to remind everyone that Gojo is neither skinny nor pale. He's an Asian man that's not only well into the 6'3 range, but he's also extremely fit. He is not skinny. He is not a twink. He has never been portrayed within the manga as such. In fact, if you want a clear picture of his physique, Gege has given that to us in the most blatant way he ever could.

Gojo's a big dude. He has a broad chest, straight shoulders, and big hands. There is absolutely nothing slim about him.

Even if you wanna go strictly off the anime, he's still larger than pretty much every other character in the show. I think the only character that possibly has him beat size-wise is Todo, but they're still the same height (give or take a cm) with Todo having a more obviously muscular build.

But let's look at some official art for the anime as well.

If seeing him beside Geto and Kuroi doesn't make this obvious, I want you to look at Gojo in comparison to literally everyone else in this picture. (We're not counting Panda, because Panda's literally a bear.)

The only reason that Gojo looks "skinny" is because he dresses in clothes that fit his body type without clinging to him. They sit comfortably on his frame and give off a more lithe impression of his build. (Which I would hope that they do because his shirts cost more than my car and that's how any properly fitted/tailored outfit should look.)

When he's not in uniform or more formal attire, he tends to wear hoodies/jackets over loosely fitted shirts and pants, which gives him the same effect while using a different method.

So he's not a twink. It's just the clothes.

Now, I don't think that I should have to point out why he's not white just because he has blue eyes and pale hair. I don’t care if you can’t picture him as Asian, because that just means that you have your own issues to work through with someone more qualified than me.

He's Japanese, end of discussion.

That being said, the problem that we run into with Gojo despite all of this is that fandom thinks of and portrays in him the same way that they would any white twink character. He's described effeminately when nothing about his personality or physique are "feminine" in nature. A lot of his canon qualities and traits get left out or out-right contradicted (such as describing him as "slim/boyish" or “timid/coy" when he's none of those things) in an effort of making him fit the image that's been assigned to him, regardless of if it's true to canon.

And you see this very clearly when you look at the role he's given in fanfiction vs Geto, who has more obvious Asian features and a darker skin tone.

This is without any additional filters (as in no specific ships, ratings or languages, etc. No filters!) and while, yes, you can make the argument that Geto hasn't really been in the anime yet, it's a trend that continues and is a point I'll touch on later in this post. So bear with me.

Note: I’ll also go out on a limb and say that the majority of the bottom Gojo fics are written from his POV vs the POV of the person that he’s with.

The reason that this is a trend is because Gojo looks like a "white" character. He has a lighter complexion, pale hair and blue eyes, which makes it easier for mostly white, female author's to put themselves in his place when they write him. And this is something that's been an issue in anime fandoms for a long long time. But broadening out into fandom culture as a whole, it's also how we get situations where white ships with white characters gain way more popularity than poc ships with one or more poc characters.

Fanfiction and fandom as a whole is dominated by white female content creators. They make up the majority of authors and artists, and always have. But this issue becomes even worse when you bring in poc characters, because you run into the problem where the character with more ethnic features (darker skin, darker eyes, etc) becomes the "male" stand in of their ships, regardless of personality or body type or age.

The top or bottom role that's assigned to characters often has absolutely nothing to do with those characters themselves. Its a form of self-insertion without being obvious and if you were to ask most writers/artists why they've given the characters the roles they have, they often won't have a solid answer other than a general feeling or their own preferences.

In contrast, a lot of poc content creators will fall to the other end of the spectrum and advocate for poc or more clearly ethnic characters to be portrayed in the same way as their white or white-passing counterparts. But they'll ultimately get shut down by white creators for "fetishizing" minorities. I've seen this happen so many times in the 10+ years that I've been in fandom and I know other poc creators have run into this issue as well, but if you point this trend out to white people in the fandom, they either won't agree with you or they'll be shocked that its a problem because its never occurred to them.

Which leads me to Gojo's ships.

While, I can't speak for Nanago (and won't speak for Gofushi/Goyuu; I'm not touching those ships with a ten foot pole) I'm going to take a wild guess that most explicit fics boil down to Nanami being Gojo's dom and any non-smut fics still mostly keep him in this role in a less obvious way.

So we still run into the self-insert through canon characters issue, but it's probably not because one is more obviously Asian that the other like we see with Satosugu.

I want to reiterate that this is with no additional tags other than the one for their ship. I haven't filtered out anything else.

Even if you take away the "bottom" tags, the majority of their fics place Gojo in that role anyways. Despite Geto having more traditionally "feminine" traits that in a fully white ship would typically lead to most people making him a bottom (such as a more empathetic personality, tendency to crave familial bonds, and a more reserved demeanor on top of being smaller in stature to Gojo) he tends to get slotted in as the top in the relationship, oftentimes at a cost of those very qualities.

Note: Again, with most fics being from Gojo’s POV, just like what I’m guessing we see with Nanago.

I cannot begin to stress how many time I've seen Gojo and Geto described through actions and speech that don't fit their characters at all and while, yes, I completely agree that having certain qualities doesn't mean that you should fit into a certain role when it comes to sex, there is an issue that comes up when the default work around to that is "pick the pale character." Especially when you add in a heap of mischaracterization and physical descriptions that don't fit that character.

I guess to reiterate my original point, stop portraying Gojo as a twink, or worse, a thinly veiled self-insert that came with a backstory.

I genuinely don't care if you prefer him as a top or bottom. Do whatever you want with that because I can't dictate your preferences. I just ask that if you find yourself always putting him in a certain role or enjoy consuming media that does, try to do so in a way that fits him and is faithful to his character.

#this is incredibly messy #but i've ranted about it enough to my friend that I think it was time to make a post #gojo isnt you free space for a self insert #he's a fully realized character #and changing aspects about him to fit the image of him in your head #to make him more palatable is a garbage thing to do #get well soon #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #thoughts

60 notes · View notes

batwhimpix · 3 years

Text

An Interview with Former Takarazuka Top Star Asumi Rio: The Laidback Personality Behind the Handsome Face

(Translated by me 8/19/2021)

While still a member of the Takarazuka Revue, Asumi Rio was known for her sensitive acting which digs deep into the heart of each role, her crystal-clear vocals, and her captivating stage presence. As the top star of Flower Troupe, she gained an immense level of popularity. Now, it has been one year since her retirement from the company. She has expanded her repertoire from stage to screen, and continues to showcase new sides to her talent. In her first name-bearing variety program, the Hulu Original "Asumi Rio's Atelier," Asumi-san learns new tips and techniques to "step up" both her lifestyle and her design sense. Totally different from her intense onstage aura, this program offers a chance to get to know Asumi-san's soft and relaxed offstage persona.

It's been a year and a half since you left the Takarazuka Revue. How would you describe that period of time for you, Asumi-san?

When I was in the Revue, because I had managed to enter the world of Takarazuka, which was my absolute favorite place, I felt strongly that I didn't want to have any regrets. So I was very motivated to work as hard as I could to polish my craft. I was completely lost in it, but within that, I always had my fans cheering me on, and the guidance of so many around me. In the last year and a half, I've realized all over again just how precious a thing that was.

Until I left, my only experience was on the stage, so stepping into the world on screen for the first time, a lot of totally new forms of expression were expected from me, and I felt a lot of anxiety. Parting from Takarazuka and living as just one individual human, every day is full of challenges. But that said, every day now is also rich with new experiences and new possibilities, so I've come to face that with a lot of gratitude.

While you were in Takarazuka, there was a very clear image, that of a perfect "otokoyaku," to aspire to. Now that you don't have that anymore, what kind of actress are you aiming to become?

There are a lot of qualities I have now precisely because I was an otokoyaku, and I think it's probably okay for me to just embrace that. As top [abbrev. "top star", the starring otokoyaku actress in each troupe], I was in a position where I had to lead the troupe, watch over and guide all the other actresses, and shape each production as the lead actress. I think I've picked up a lot of grit through that experience, and even as a woman, I think having a bit of a masculine edge in your lifestyle and how you deal with things can be a positive, right?

Even when I was playing otokoyaku roles, moreso than aiming for a particular ideal, I came at each role separately, like, this time I'm playing this kind of man, next time I'm playing this kind of man. It was like a gradual broadening of my horizons. Now I'm simply adding female roles to that roster, so it's kind of like the scope of roles available to me has doubled. When it comes to my outward appearance, as my hair grows out and I transition toward a more feminine look, I've been having all kinds of new discoveries, like, "Oh, this kind of styling makes me feel like this." Within my drama roles as well, I like those discoveries like, if I do it like this, won't it be interesting, or if I do this, I can get viewers to say, "Oh!" I want to keep digging to find those little moments where I can really surprise people within each role.

Since your retirement from Takarazuka, what overall on-set experience sticks out the most in your memory?

I think that has to be the first show I had the opportunity to take part in, "Ochoyan" [NHK serialized telenovella]. Until I was on that set, I always thought that the stage was the most incredible place in the world. I would never find anywhere else where every member is so unified in their vision, where everyone has so much pride in their troupe and so much love for the production they're building together, as in Takarazuka. Even now, I still think Takarazuka is a very special place, and my love for it hasn't changed.

But on the set of "Ochoyan," like Takarazuka, there were so many staff working to create this thing, who truly loved the work and brought all kinds of skills to the table to bring it to life. Among the cast as well, the atmosphere during recording, where all of us in the Tsurugame Family Theater [the name of the theater company employing main character Takei Chiyo as well as Asumi-san's character Takamine Ruriko] really did feel like a family, wasn't that different from Takarazuka at all. On the contrary, because our time together was limited just to the recording of this show, it felt like everyone valued that time all the more. Being on a set like that was a huge experience for me.

In Takarazuka, you had a very hectic schedule. As soon as one production closed you were already thinking about the next. I'm sure your lifestyle has changed in a big way since then. What kind of feelings do you have about that?

I retired and moved here to Tokyo right around the start of the pandemic. During the lockdown, when I was in my house all day, I realized how long the day really is. Suddenly it was up to me to decide how to spend all this time in the day. I could use it to rest or, if I had some area I was struggling with, I could use it for training too. I had a renewed realization that depending on my own feelings, I could choose to change myself in any number of ways.

These days, how do you find yourself spending the majority of your time?

These days, I'm doing a lot of types of work I'm totally new to, and working on sets with people I've only just met, so I'm still in a place where I spend a lot of time nervous. When I'm on a set I haven't gotten used to yet, my antenna is going in all different directions, so after I get home I try to relax as much as possible. In order to fully refresh myself and go into work the next day in high spirits and ready to face whatever comes, I've been making a conscious effort to be kind to myself.

What activities allow you to refresh your batteries the most?

Zoning out, and eating delicious food.

On "Asumi Rio's Atelier," you gave steaming rice in a donabe [TN: earthenware pot traditionally used to steam rice, supposedly more delicious than steaming in a rice cooker] a try for the first time, but what kinds of things do you eat most often?

As long as it tastes good, I'll happily eat anything. I like vegetables, meat, fish, and I love carbs, too. Ideally, I want to eat a good balance of a lot of different things.

Speaking of that program, how were the topics for each episode decided? Were you able to make requests?

For "Atelier" we had the general framework that I would be trying different activities I was interested in from the onset, so basically they asked me, "What kind of things are you interested in? What do you want to try?" And then...Yeah, first I had about 30, then we added about 30 more, so in total about 60, ideas that we pitched. The program staff wanted to include as many of my requests as they could, so actually, within each episode there are probably three or four different ones. In addition to that, there's an interview in each episode that relates back to that episode's theme. I enjoyed the chance to reflect on my Takarazuka era and memories from my childhood.

On the topic of your Takarazuka era, in your first interview for us, you said, "I wasn't necessarily aiming to become top star." But within the system of Takarazuka, to climb all the way to top star, you must have been aware of something within yourself that made you want to aim higher?

Let's see...Ever since I was an underclassman, I had a strong drive to improve as an otokoyaku. I wanted people to find my performance interesting, and I wanted to be seen as a necessary part of the production. I wanted to act a lot, and I wanted to sing a lot of songs that I love. I wanted to bathe in the spotlight, and I was happy when I got to wear more gorgeous costumes. If I really think back on those feelings now, first in the shinjinkouen junior performances featuring only actresses who have been with the company seven years or less, and then in performances at the smaller Bow Hall theater next to the Takarazuka Grand Theater, inevitably I started aiming for the lead roles that would allow me to stand on stage for the longest every time.

Somewhere along that road, when I was told I was being transferred from the troupe I was first inducted into, Moon Troupe, to Flower Troupe, this feeling that I had wanted to be the Moon Troupe's successor welled to the surface. And since that's the same as saying, "I wanted to be the top star of Moon Troupe," that was the first time I became aware of that goal. Every troupe in Takarazuka has its own character, though, so after my transfer, I was desperate to hurry up and become an otokoyaku befitting Flower Troupe first...

So as you worked to further your artistic development, there at the zenith was top star.

If you were to ask my underclassman self, the Top-sans are unbelievably incredible performers, and the more shinjinkouens you experience, the more closely you come to understanding just how incredible they are. Then as you spend more years with the company and find yourself in a position where you're working directly under the Top-san, you realize how much work they're really doing, and...The more you know, the more you lose the ability to say something like "I want to be the top star" carelessly.

And yet, you bore the heavy responsibility of a top star for five-and-a-half years. It's hard to imagine from your usual laidback attitude, but when it comes to your art, you're incredibly diligent and strong-willed. That gap is captivating.

When it comes to theater, I'm very picky. I mean, I'm way too stubborn for one thing. Especially in productions where I'm playing the lead role, I always have really strong feelings about how I want to perform things, and I'm not in a position where I can hesitate to convey that. It's important to listen to the opinions of various other people too, but when it comes down to it, if I have a clear idea of the direction I want things to proceed and direct things with that in mind, it makes things easier for everyone else, so I always tried to communicate my thoughts clearly and directly. If I'm delivering consistently good work, there's a persuasive power to that. Not only do the underclassmen naturally follow along, but the staff listen and respond to my requests as well.

But when you're making this kind of production, you do have to be pretty strict. But then, the real me is more of a people pleaser. I want everyone to like me, or more like, I don't want to be disliked. I didn't want the younger underclassmen to feel like I was unapproachable or like they couldn't talk to me because I was the top star. I wanted them to think of me like family. So outside matters relating to work, I tried to give off as relaxed a vibe as possible. Definitely, I think there was quite a gap between "on" and "off" for me.

Are there a lot of differences between "Asumi Rio the otokoyaku" and "Asumi Rio the actress?" How about between your stage name persona and your private self under your birth name?

I've lived under my stage name for so much longer than my birth name that I feel like, at this point, the parts of myself that belong to my real name are few and far between. I do have the feeling that, in some respect, I've grown up together with my stage name. In essence, while I was in Takarazuka, I didn't worry too much about creating a separate persona. Thanks to the kindness of my fans and the environment I was in, I felt like I could leave my otokoyaku persona on the stage and stay pretty close to my natural self everywhere else. I guess the only thing is, when I'm alone in my house, I revert to goblin mode. (laughs wryly) Like I'll have trouble getting myself to go take a bath, or I really should clean but my back hurts, etc., etc.

By contrast, now that I've graduated from being an otokoyaku, a lot of the things I'm doing as an actress are total firsts for me, so I think I feel more discomfort with my presentation now than I did then. There are times when I get really nervous, and then I get disappointed in myself for feeling that way. Like, until just a little while ago, I was in a position where I was responsible for keeping everyone's morale up. I would get up on that stage like, "It's alright, just leave it to me," so what am I all anxious for now? I often think about how much I still have to learn, and how badly I want to hurry up and learn it so I can show the results of my efforts.

Is there a particular ideal you're currently pursuing? What kind of actress do you want to become, and what kind of woman?

Since leaving Takarazuka, I've had a lot more opportunity to meet all kinds of new people. On every set I've been on, each of the actresses I meet has their own unique aura, and seeing their acting up close, I'm blown away by each of them. Among the staff as well, there are so many different kinds of professionals of all ages, and I often find myself inspired by their work ethic and lifestyle. I'd like to continue to enrich my life by learning from the amazing people I meet and experiencing many new things, and work to become a more fully rounded human being.

*Bracketed notes not marked "TN" (Translator's Note) were present in the original article.

#mirio #asumi rio #takarazuka og #takarazuka #this interview is super detailed so i've been wanting to translate it for a while #she's such a stubborn person but i kind of admire that about her??#must have been hell to work with at times tho #but such a calming presence offstage lol #hanagumi #tkz #og #mytranslations

60 notes · View notes

euphoniouspandemonium · 2 years

Note

(this is @citywillow from my main lol)

hello! you’re like—the resident fashion expert on here from what i’ve seen, and i have a question about fashion, so who better than to ask than you?

one of the wips i’m writing, the tradition, takes place in roanoke in 1857, and i’m kinda curious as to what everyday clothing would look like for young women back then, so that i have a better mental image of my mc. and then possibly for like—women of slight power, like the wife of a governor as well.

idk. just a thought i had!

Omg, I'm honoured to be thought of as the resident fashion expert-

So, I'll first give you an overview and answer your questions, and then I'll link some resources so you can do your own research!!

First of all, the invention of the crinoline. It's quite important to note, since it was patented in 1856, and since your WIP is set the year after, I would assume there would still be some women here and there still wearing multiple petticoats, but crinolines definitely weren't very expensive so probably the majority could afford them but yeah. Just an anecdote.

Putting the rest under a cut cause it's lengthy

Anyways now let's cover undergarments!! For all classes of women, these involved a chemise and drawers usually made of linen cause they would need to be washed often, stockings, a corset and a corset cover, and if the person was in the possession of a crinoline, then a modesty petticoat, crinoline, two petticoats on top. If no crinoline was involved, then a modesty petticoat, a corded petticoat, and around 2-4 petticoats on top of that. And I hope you know this - contrary to popular belief, corsets and crinolines were in no way dangerous to the wearer, corsets were basically bras with added back support and crinolines just carried the weight of petticoats for you and were very light.

The class differences were actually noticeable in the undergarments - the undergarments of wealthier women would have more lace and frills, and she would probably have silk stockings and such.

I rambled too much about undergarments, didn't I- they're quite important to know about when writing though, I would say? But yeah let's move on to overgarments.

While the silhouette was the same among all classes, the decorations were not, so the wife of a governor would be much more richly dressed, and would adopt new fashions faster.

"Richly dressed" aka. Frills and Lace. Not for every occasion but yeah. And also rich and high quality fabrics, so silk, velvet, satin etc etc.

These are both evening gowns; for day dresses and such the sleeves would be long.

As for a young woman, who I presume is like, middle class? Not as much lace, we see a lot of wool and linen and muslin, that kinds of stuff. If your MC is say, 17? Her hem might not reach her ankles, especially if she's wearing hand me downs and such, because in the 1800s girls usually wore dresses with the same silhouettes as adult women but shorter, with the hem progressively creeping downwards as they aged.

These two dresses are from the early 1850s, but just imagine the skirts as being rounder and the waistlines being higher.

All classes of women would wear bonnets when going outside, and a very popular hairstyle was just a low bun, often with quite a bit of volume on the sides of the face.

I think?? I don't have anything else to say??? So onto the resources!

Dressing up an 1850s lady

Dressing up a middle class lass, circa 1850s

1850-1859 fashion history timeline

Making an 1850s corded corset

Making an 1850s crinoline

The effects of the American Civil War on northern fashion of the era as reflected in Peterson's Magazine - the Civil War started in 1861 buuuttt it could be helpful I suppose? Idk this is more of a If You Want To Learn More thing and not necessarily that important for the story.

I honestly couldn't find much else?? Idk, feel free to ask me any questions you have! You can also find fashion plates from this period on Google and Pinterest, which can be useful too!!

Have a good day/night <33

#fashion history

3 notes · View notes

flowerslightning · 4 years

Text

(Part 2) Cloud Strife and his Mental Illness

a.k.a Psychiatric Disorder

| 1. Memory | ⇦ Click if u havent read it yet

2. Hallucinations, Illusions and Delusions

Since these three things relate well with Cloud's troubled memories, I'll be talking about them first before jumping to his Confused Personality

This post will bore u a bit or maybe a lot 😂 it depends. If ure interested with psychiatric stuff, u'll find this enjoyable as much as i do

Disclaimer : I'm 21 and still a tiny meany student. During my intern at Psychiatric Department, I learned and witnessed psychiatric problems from real life patients. And since Cloud (my fav FF character) has psychiatric issues, I'll be sharing some of my knowledge and interpretation of Cloud's character. Im not diagnosing him, rather i'm giving my own opinion about his status

@nibelheiim created a post about dissociation, she explained about hallucination, PTSD and more. Come and check her out! Her words were more direct and easier to understand. She explained about Psychological matter and she's a real psychology student too!

While my explanation will be more focusing on Psychiatric Topic and words used will be more complicated (with grammar errors). My facts will be based on ICD 10 and DSM-IV

A lot of people were confused with these three terms - Hallucination Illusion Delusion - These terms associated with abnormalities of perception. It is important to understand that this abnormality holds two keys; ● 1. Perception is the process of becoming aware of what is presented through the sense organs. ● 2. Imagery is an experience originating within the mind that usually lacks the sense of reality that is part of perception.

Abnormalities of perceptions have 4 theme, but I'll be focusing on two major types that relate with Cloud: (i) Hallucinations ; (ii) Illusions. Some cases, perception can be normal in intensity and quality but has a changed meaning for the person who experiences it - it is called as Delusional Perception. It is not an abnormal of perceptions, rather it is a disorder of a person's thinking.

Try guessing, how many from these terms does Cloud has?

1. Hallucinations

- A perception experienced in the absence of external stimulus to the corresponding sense organ. Eg - patient hears a voice when no one is speaking within a hearing distance or patient sees something approaching him when visually no one is there. There are 2 qualities to determine a hallucination: ●it is experienced as a true perception●it seems to come from outside of the head●

The above gif, where Sephiroth suddenly appear again before Cloud's eyes even able to touch Aerith's shoulder, it illustrate perfectly the 'Visual Hallucination'. No one can see Sephiroth, other than Cloud himself.

Cloud [Remake] kinda had anxiety when he stared at the fire and later he saw Sephiroth surrounded with flames, then poof, that silver guy disappeared along with the images of fire. He said he was hallucinating stuff after the first bombing mission. Idk how Sephiroth could create fake images of fire around him, either Cloud was really hallucinating or it was really Sephiroth that came to see him. But, this is what we call as 'Visual and Auditory Hallucinations'. Cloud SAW Sephiroth and HEARD him talking when no one else did. I can also add in 'Tactile Hallucination' because he probably felt the burning sensation on his skin from the flame around him that caused him to feel hot and sweating, or probably it was his anxiety that caused him sweating upon meeting Sephiroth with the flashback of his burning hometown

Hallucinations can occur in all sensory modalities; visual, olfactory, auditory etc. In the Remake, the Whispers could only be seen by certain people. To those who couldnt see it, they would be puzzled what was happening to u, and would've thought that u were hallucinating something, like in the case of Aerith.

In Cloud's case, perhaps Cloud [In OG] had auditory hallucination due to his severe case of Mako Addiction. But then, that wasnt exactly a hallucination though, cuz the thing he said "'Coming.. They're coming" was actually true. A monster fell from the sky.

Other 'hallucinations' that Cloud had was the images of Sephiroth that appeared in certain headache. Cloud may claimed it was his hallucinations, but i've read it somewhere that says it was really Sephiroth appeared before his eyes. Sephiroth was messing with Cloud's mind, trying to break his mental in order to control him. However, IF IT WASNT SEPHIROTH that came, Cloud's 'hallucination' would be known as a mental disorder that may lead to severe case - eg Schizophrenia.

2. Illusions

An illusion is a misperception of an external stimulus. It often occur in several circumstances: (i)level of sensory stimulation reduced (ii)attention is not focused on the sensory modality (iii)level of consciousness reduced (iv)being in a state of intense emotion- fear.

Does Cloud has it? Urm, maybe? Well, it can be proven when he saw his 'noisy neighbour next door' as Sephiroth. As stated above, illusions occur in 4 conditions, and Cloud was in number (i) and (iv). When Tifa yelled him to stop, Cloud came back to reality and got really confused when the 'Sephiroth' that attacked him was actually a sick guy. We can also add in 'Hallucinations of Deep sensation' in this scenario bcause Cloud experienced the feelings of being pushed down by 'Sephiroth'.

However, we all know that 'Sephiroth' was real at that moment. For Cloud, he thought it was an illusion, but for us the audience, it was a real thing.

If u want a better explanation and example, try watching Joker the movie. The main theme of the movie was 'mental illness'. There are lots of scenes that shows different type of hallucinations, illusions and also personality disorder.

3. Delusions

a.k.a fixed false belief. A belief that is held firmly despite evidence contrary. A delusion is nearly always a false belief but not always so. There are around 11 types of delusions according to the book. Half of it may suggest Shcizophrenia. Schizophrenia is certainly not in Cloud's case. I've studied one by one the type of delusions and none of them match with Cloud FF7.

I will surely give anyone a good punch in the face if they dare to say Cloud suffers from Schizophrenia. I've met with bunch of patients having it, and the way they see this world is totally different from us.

In some other cases, eg a spiritualist convince a person to believe in his spiritualism and he present with contrary evidence to the non-believer. This non-delusional belief is called 'overvalued ideas'

Overvalued ideas is an isolated , preoccupying and strongly held belief that dominates a person's life and may affect his action. One of the easiest example i can come up with; a friend who had skin cancer may be convinced to her roomate that cancer is contagious, and her roomate suspects any abnormal skin conditions she has is an evidence to show she too, may have developed the same cancer, when the truth is, she's just completely fine.

It is very hard to distinguish between a delusion and overvalued ideas.

I had a patient, he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. He looked like an ordinary man, but when he talked, it sounded so unreal. He said he had jumped off from 10th floor several times and didnt get a scratch from it. He believed he wont die bcause he had gained super power. He even convinced me to try his 'so-called-secret technique- on how to survive a jump. By doing that often, I will have a superpower like him - a strong physical body. Up until now, I still dont know if he was being deluded with his thought or he was overvalued his idea, bcause from his psychiatric record, he did try to jump off from the second floor of his apartment's balcony a few times.

So, Im not really sure of myself did Cloud [FF7] really had delusion or not. Well, he believed he made it to SOLDIER bcause he had mako eyes. But was it something we called as delusion or was he just overvaluing his idea? He didnt know the truth and his memory messed up. No one could explain to him why he had Mako eyes, except Prof Hojo and Zack who knew the truth

Besides, after Tifa helped with his memory, Cloud accepted the fact he wasnt in SOLDIER. For patient who deluded with their own thoughts, they hardly could believe what people told him.

However, surely Cloud [in AC] had delusions of guilt and worthlessness due to the fact that he believed he had done something shameful and sinful - the main trigger of this theme was, he got infected with Geostigma while he was searching a cure for Denzel. Cloud got depressed with the loss of Aerith and the memory of Zack death had returned, but I think he was recovering very well in that two years time skip. The moment he got Geostigma, he became deluded he was worthless and his depression kicked in again.

Hallucinations and Illusions are normal to be experienced by healthy people, but it wont be if u encounter too many hallucinations & illusions in 2 weeks time. Believe it or not, a lot of people around us are actually mentally ill bcause some of them may have excessive certain delusions, such as delusions of jealousy, grandiose delusions, nihilistic, paranoid etc. Although 'it is consider as normal' in a few circumstance, a few cases need to refer to psychologist and in severer cases, must refer to psychiatrist. If u follow Dr Phil's show, u'll see a bunch of patients have different kind of crazy delusions.

Overall from my statement above, I would conclude that since Sephiroth always appear before Cloud's eyes, this resulting Cloud to think he has both Hallucination and Illusion, when in fact, he's just a normal guy with amnesia and personality confusion. Cloud doesnt have Delusion like how many fans said, neither he has an overvalued idea, even with the evidence of Mako eyes supporting his reasoning + he's a great fighter. I will have to say that perhaps it is his brain defence mechanism that tricks his mind to believe he is a Soldier.

If only Sephiroth stop disturbing Cloud's life, it will be a lot faster to fix Cloud. Tifa alone will be the main strength to get Cloud back to normal. Ah, but this is the beauty of the game. Life wont be exciting without the presence of a beautiful villain and a love triangle (Tifa-Cloud-Sephiroth). Lol Technically I see them trying to fight for Cloud's mental health. Tifa wants to help Cloud with his mental status while Sephiroth is trying to destroy it. Lolololol

My crack theory : Sephiroth says he's going to take Cloud's most precious thing, and he ends up choosing to kill Aerith, but ofc there's another reason why Aerith got killed. But if Sephiroth kills Tifa first, I think he can take over Cloud's mind faster, because then, no one will be holding Cloud back. Honestly no one can ever will, not even Aerith. So does that mean Sephiroth doesnt know about Cloud's deepest secret or is Cloud just good at hiding his weakness?

I WILL UPDATE THE NEXT POST LATER because I've reached tumblr limit images agaiiin. The next part will be focusing about his personality - Personality Disorder

If there is any part that I've mistaken, pls correct me. I'm sorry for my english. English is not my native language, so there are plenty of grammar errors.

#final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 remake #final fantasy gif #ff7r #mygif #ff7r spoilers #cloud ff7 #cloud strife gif #sephiroth gif #final fantasy sephiroth #character analysis #psychology #psychiatric disorders #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough

109 notes · View notes

script-a-world · 4 years

Note

hello. i want to write a story set in a very religious place. like fanatic level of religious. in my mind, this place is ruled by what the church says but has a "cover" figure to "connect" with the people. the people of this place are devoted to their religion, meaning they know passages, go to mass, and shun those who don't support it. here is my question: how does one go about creating a religion that feels real? what do i need to take into consideration (i'm not religious myself).

Mod Miri Note: At the same time this came in we also received from the google form the question “How do I world build a religion?” I can’t confirm they’re the same anon, but we’re combining them for the answer.

Brainstormed: You seem to have a very… narrow perception of religion? If you aren’t religious yourself and you’re (presumably) from a Western culture, it makes sense that the Christian church and more specifically Catholicism are your go-to images of hyperreligion. Saying “mass” and “church” and “passages” kind of gives away the fact that you’re trying to base your religion off of at least your idea of an Abrahamic religion, but I’d ask you to reconsider. Right now it sounds like you’re trying to create a negative critique of these religions, and even if that is what you’re going for, you need to do a lot of research on their theology, history, and practices before you can do so with any competence.

I’d suggest doing some basic research on types of religions, like animism, pantheism, polytheism, general superstition, etc. There are plenty of spiritual worldviews that you might consider way over the top, but whose believers find it more bizarre when people don’t follow their teachings. Fanatics are never fanatics in their own mind, and especially among their own people, but also… fanatic might be a relative term. If you’re approaching this from a nonreligious background, then you might consider X-amount of religion in one’s lifestyle to be fanatic-level. Whereas a person who actively practices religion would consider X-amount to be perfectly normal, and only folks who take it to XX-amount plus some shadier practices are the true fanatics.

Remember, religions start because people want to make sense of the world. There is a deeper feeling of wonder and personhood and power, both within a human being and in the whole world around us, that drives spirituality and generates superstition. Religion, at least to start, is beneficial to people, otherwise no one but sadists would follow its teachings. Now, like anything else, religion can devolve into a means of power hoarding and control of a populace, but only because of the people in charge getting greedy. The vast majority of religions I’ve studied have had radical, freeing, empowering teachings applicable to everybody when they first sprang up, and only later did adherents twist those teachings into societal oppression. If there is no satisfaction or benefit in your religion, there won’t exactly be any incentive for people to follow it so closely, aside from whatever negative consequences occur for those who fall away. And negative consequences aren’t often enough to keep people in a religion. If following religion is more painful than the consequences of leaving it, plenty of people will jump ship.

Religion can also show up in every single part of life. According to Wikipedia:

A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of Western society. William James popularised the concept.

You look up and see a cloud, a spiritual person sees a portent, or a spirit, or a castle where the gods live. You take a break from work for a minute, a spiritual person now has time to mutter a prayer, or observe the mood of the world, or dedicate their work to their god. A person doesn’t have to be anywhere near a fanatic to have their religion be in every part of their life. Especially if they adhere to a more lax spirituality or superstitious worldview instead of an organized religion, the central spiritual experience of religious belief alters the perception of self and surroundings. It isn’t only a set of rules to follow.

It can even help areas of society that modern Western society considers nonreligious! Historically, medicine has always come under religion. Witch doctors, medicine men, witchcraft, even the hygiene laws laid out in the Christian Bible. Physical health has often been considered a reflection of spiritual health, which, in a way, is true! The placebo effect means tending to one’s mental and emotional health with the reassurance of religion will improve one’s physical health as well. Not only that, but the power of a “spiritual experience”, regardless of if you believe the supernatural is real, can cause religious ecstacy, something you might perceive as a serious psychological problem but those who experience it consider to be a deep form of spiritual expression to be treasured and sought after. The spread and preservation of information is also often aided by religion, even though that can change should those in power want to change history or obscure truth for their own reasons. Just look at the history of the printing press and how that was driven by the need for Bibles. Many cultures, most famously Australian Aboriginal peoples, have oral histories thousands of years long that tie in closely to their spirituality.

You also might be confusing religion with cults. If you think all religion is predatory, playing on people’s weaknesses and fears in order to coerce them into a miserable lifestyle of following strict laws and living under control of those in power, you definitely have conflated “religion” and “cult”. If you’d like to worldbuild a cult, go ahead! It’s likely to be smaller and less acceptable than an established organized religion, not very transparent to the outside world nor its members, and have a spirituality that is in fact just a veneer over gaining power, instead of genuine belief and devotion, and may in fact require people to murder or commit suicide. Just look at Scientology, or these, or even Jared Leto, and a more in-depth look from this organization covering many different kinds of cults.

On a more worldbuildy note, are those who practice this religion correct? Does their god(s) exist? Is the supernatural real? If yes, then are they really fanatics if they’ve been right all along? Even if they’re incorrect, the dedication and deep-held beliefs of religious people shouldn’t be mocked wholesale, in my opinion. Make sure to keep some genuine three-dimensional development for characters who are part of this religion, or include other religions with different practices, or the only thing you’ll accomplish is “waaaa religion bad believers dumb”. And if that is the story you want to write, feel free, but I can’t help you there.

Feral: What makes a religion feel real? Sincere faith.

Specifically among the leaders. I mean, sure, those lemming-like peasants who actually believe that superstitious nonsense will have sincere faith, but honestly? There is going to be a higher percentage of people faking it among the masses than among the clergy. Clergy members are generally required to go through rigorous studies and often take vows that can cause great discomfort. I am sure there are those who did it for the power - there are in atheist organizations as well, humans can be crap - but if you actually read the writings of important Church leaders of the past, not to mention rabbis, imams & mullahs, and archakas, you’re going to find that they have sincere faith.

Something you should always keep in mind when developing pre-modern religion in a Western context is that before the advent of modern scholarship, which starts to become a thing in the West during the Renaissance, all the important scholars were clergy. And again, those learned people either had to be really, really dedicated to their power-hungry ambitions or had to have sincere faith.

That does not make religions perfect by any means nor does it mean that the god they have sincere faith in is omnibenevolent (though the qualities of an omnibenevolent god will be strongly dependent on the culture that worships it). And religious leaders are absolutely capable of doing terrible, terrible things even if they profess to worship an omnibenevolent god, and politicians can definitely twist things around to suit their needs (again, this is not exclusive to religiosity). But your ask has this weird given that a major religion (on par with Catholicism/Christianity) in your world is a scam, and while yes, that happens in cults and alternative religions and in splinter groups*, as Brainstormed pointed out that’s just not how, at least, the four major religions of our world got started.

Yes, it’s true that bureaucracies of a certain size and age will inevitably begin to change focus to protecting its own existence. And yes, it’s true that ambitious sociopaths will be drawn to places of authority even if they are difficult to achieve. And yes, it’s true that an individual entering a toxic environment is more likely to be changed by the environment than to change the environment. But guess what! That has nothing to do with whether the organization is religious or not.

Why does a religion exist in the first place? It explains the universe in a pre-modern world; it provides organization and structure for community focus - in other words, many social programs have historically been run through religious organizations and leadership. And it provides hope and comfort in a very scary world.

Some clergy might be able to fake all of that for a little while, but a large bureaucracy with many clerics who are all in on the fake? No. Allow me to rephrase: hell no. People are not dumb. Maybe you believe that of all religious people, but you are wrong and they are not. The people in your world, if they’re anything like the people in our world, are gonna sniff out the bullshit if none of their religious leaders believe what they’re selling. There is a reason Scientology has to keep blackmail files on all its adherents, and I promise you, the Catholic Church does not do that.

*A note on cults, alternative religions, and splinter groups: Cults and alternative religions (their PR friendly name) are “religions” that are scammy and/or actively dangerous to the participants or others: People’s Temple, Branch Davidian, etc. Splinter groups are congregations that start as normal members of a large religion or denomination but its insular culture creates a divide that just takes things a little too far even for the most fanatical of the main sect (think terrorist groups that link themselves to religions). These types of religions might be what you are actually asking about. Groups like these can be highly, highly influential but in a very contained area. What cults often do is the leader settles in an area and buys property and builds a church and maybe a school and then encourages the members to all move either onto the plot of land if it’s large enough or to buy up surrounding land and homes and push out all the non-believers. That area can then be fortified or just have a de facto boundary with the rest of the world. Sometimes a group like this can become large enough to constitute an entire town, but rarely a city - groups that large will more often have centralized compounds but with the members living scattered among non-believers, as Scientology does. Obviously a group concentrated like that will have an impact on local politics, if they are allowed to participate, but it’s not going to go farther than the county line, so to speak. As we all know from the news, splinter groups like ISIS can become very large and globe spanning, but those types of groups have within them splinter groups and factions, and I don’t think that’s what you’re asking about anyway, so I’m just going to leave it there.

But frankly, your ask reads to me as “how do I create a fantasy!Catholic that is secretly evil and will show the audience how evil religion is in the real world? Opiate of the masses!” And my advice is… don’t. Because it lacks compassionate understanding of people of faith (many faiths), it lacks a factual understanding of how world religions differ and function, it totally lacks nuance, and finally, because it is absolutely, monumentally, extremely, really, very cliche.

Maybe the way your ask is coming across to me is totally not how you intended it. Maybe you only used the jargon you used because you assumed we wouldn’t know any other terms and maybe your understanding of world religions is actually quite sophisticated. Maybe you really do have this insanely clever way to spin a tired cliche into some new and original. In these cases, we strongly encourage you to come right back with as jargon-full and specific an ask as you can write, use our submission google form to do it. Otherwise, give our responses some thought and if after you’ve developed your religion, you want to come back with a specific ask other than “how do I world build a religion?” (which is a little too broad), please feel free.

#pylons #religion #Anonymous

44 notes · View notes

i-am-very-very-tired · 3 years

Text

📷 JAN 13, 2021 BY JESSICA MCKINNEY Image via YouTube/pgLang 📷📷 Kendrick Lamar is working on a mysterious new project. In March 2020, he tweeted a graphic logo and the word “pgLang,” with no explanation. Then he followed that up with a short teaser, along with a link to a professional website. Minutes later, rising artist Baby Keem and former Top Dawg Entertainment president Dave Free followed suit, sharing similar images and links. That’s how most of us were introduced to the new company pgLang.The company is still in its infancy, but it has already managed to collaborate with Hollywood stars and major fashion brands. pgLang, which is being described as “an at service company” for artists and creators, is getting a lot of buzz, but we still don’t know much about it. After a little digging, though, we were able to get a better grasp at what the company has done so far and what we should expect in the future. Everything you need to know about pgLang so far is below. What is pgLang? Video via YouTube 📷 Founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free, pgLang is a service company for creators. “PgLang is multi-lingual,” the company’s mission statement reads. “Our community speaks music, film, television, art, books, and podcasts – because sometimes we have to use different languages to get the point of our stories across. Stories that speak to many nations, many races, and many ages.” The statement says the company is focused on using the experiences of its many collaborators “to build stories that are equally accessible and engaging, then fitting them within the best media.” In a statement shared on launch day, pgLang clarified that it is not a record label, movie studio, or publishing house. The statement went on to say, “Lamar and Free’s new purpose at pgLang embodies something deeply personal to them. pgLang is at service to creators and projects that selflessly speak with, and for, the shared experiences that connect us all.” Dave Free added, “In this overstimulated time, we are focused on cultivating raw expression from grassroots partnerships.” On launch day, Kendrick Lamar’s only words about the project were the following: “Selfless. Reset.” Why is it launching now? Video via YouTube 📷 While they’ve been cryptic about most things, pgLang has provided an explanation about why it launched in 2020. “This is happening now because the media landscape is rapidly changing, empowering audiences with choices like never before,” their online statement reads. “Only a few contemporary creators have figured out how to speak the evolving language of this generation without fading into the white noise or pre-assigned market share. pgLang is designed to be artist-friendly above all else and embrace both quality and unconventional concepts. This ethos will be applied to an array of creators who will join pgLang, including authors, film and television directors, fine artists, producers, musicians, and blah, blah, blah… you have all heard this shit before.” Has pgLang released anything yet? Video via YouTube 📷 Yes. There are two videos available on pgLang’s website right now. The first visual, titled “Welcome to pgLang,” includes appearances from Baby Keem, Jorja Smith, Yara Shahidi, and Kendrick Lamar. The video begins with Baby Keem looking up at the sun while sitting in a grassy area. Yara Shahidi appears, and the two engage in a conversation about gazing at the sun for too long. Later, Kendrick Lamar and Jorja Smith make cameos. The second video, “Propaganda,” stars Baby Keem and includes short clips from 2019 concerts. In addition to the visuals that are on the company website, pgLang has also shared more visual content on its Instagram page. The most recent visual, posted on January 13, appears to be in collaboration with Calvin Klein. The promotional video depicts model Mecca Allah walking up a spiral staircase. Their Instagram page suggests there will be seven videos in total, featuring Mecca Allah, Baby Keem, Travis Bennett, Ryan Destiny, Keith Powers, Amber Wagner, Brent Faiyaz, Exavier, and more. They will begin rolling

out on Jan. 14, 2021. The company has also released merch, but it was sold out shortly after being posted. There are still some pgLang hoodies available for purchase on eBay, but it is expected that more pieces will be sold online at a later date. They have also released music from Baby Keem (more on that below). Who has been involved so far? Baby Keem. Image via YouTube/PgLang 📷 As mentioned in its mission statement, pgLang is an “artist-friendly” company that embraces “both quality and unconventional concepts.” The company welcomes collaborations with artists and creators from many different backgrounds, including musicians, producers, television and film directors, fine artists, and more. So far, PgLang’s content has included well-known artists and actresses like Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem, Jorja Smith, and actress Yara Shahidi. There are a lot of creators who have earned credits behind the scenes for production and creative direction as well. Florence Welch, the lead vocalist of indie band Florence + the Machine, Kamasi Washington, and Dave Free, all have writing credits on the first two visual releases. What is Baby Keem’s role? Video via YouTube 📷 Baby Keem isn’t credited as a co-founder of pgLang, but he has been a face of the brand. Keem has starred in all of the visuals for the company so far, and he’s the first solo artist who has shared his own music through the company. Both of his 2020 singles “hooligan” and “sons & critics freestyle” were released under pgLang in September 2020. He has also spoken about his involvement with the company and his relationships with Dave Free and Kendrick (who is rumored to be his cousin). In June 2020, he told Crack Magazine that Kendrick and Free were helping a lot with his creative vision. “[They are helping with] everything. Me as a whole, Baby the artist, Hykeem Carter. Everything, every aspect,” he said. “They’re my guys, that’s my team. That’s my life.”In pgLang’s launch day statement, Keem also said, “Astronaut ideas. That is what I call the shit that I know I want but that stand alone. You know? Like, not everything has to ‘make sense’ to me in a rational way. This is how my mind stays fresh, by letting myself have my astronaut ideas and developing them even though it might confuse anyone else.” What have its founders said about pgLang so far? Image via YouTube/pgLang 📷 Kendrick Lamar has remained rather quiet about his involvement in pgLang, although he has shared a lot of the content on his personal social media accounts. In an interview between Kendrick and Baby Keem for i-D, though, the two spoke briefly about the company and their visions. K. Dot mentioned the need to be able to “share and experience the same language or teach another language” when collaborating with others. Then he asked Keem about his thoughts on what pgLang represents. “I’ve seen pgLang before it was even an idea that came to fruition. It’s sticking to and believing in something, even when you don’t know how it will be created, and it starts out as just a small idea,” Keem responded. “I believed in it, and I stuck to it and now everything is paying off. So I’ve seen it from when there was no idea, to now. So to me, pgLang represents loyalty and trust.” Did anyone see this coming? Image via Getty/Ollie Millington/Redferns 📷 Many fans were surprised by the announcement of pgLang in March 2020, but there may have been clues that suggested Dave Free and Kendrick were up to something. In an interview with VIBE in 2018, Dave Free revealed that he was planning to get “heavy into the film game.” “I'm trying to get heavier into it. Kendrick’s trying to get heavier into it. A lot of the guys want to get more into the content creation game,” he said. “To us, it's about replicating the success but also stretching our hands into as many fields as humanly possible. So all those big investors and all those big guys that wanna be with a winning team, come talk to TDE ‘cause we’re looking into a bunch of different fields. There's no label on what we can do now. Top literally just left my house and

we were talking about everything else that we have to do.” In 2016, Top Dawg Entertainment also announced its intention to get into film, calling on producers and directors to join their team. Although Free parted ways with TDE in 2019, his previous comments suggest he had an interest in tackling another big project that touches many mediums.

0 notes

simkjrs · 7 years

Note

Hi please PLEASE talk to me abt the socioeconomic state of japan in bnh verse I am SO interested to hear ur thoughts? I'm a poli theory major and let me tell u im a SLUT for fic that deal w the political/social repercussions of fictional happenings

sure thing!

disclaimer: i only just graduated high school so i’m pulling all of this out of my ass one semester of macroeconomics i took in senior year. feel free to add onto or correct any of this

edit: if anyone wants to use this for reference when writing boku no hero japan, feel free! i’d appreciate any credit, but it’s not necessary.

what really got me thinking about the socioeconomic state of boku no hero japan was probably the difference between orudera junior high (bakugou and izuku’s school) vs. yuuei, both of which are in the same city, musutafu. orudera junior high gives off the feeling of a school that’s a bit run down; not terrible enough that it obstructs the kids’ education, but enough that you think the school probably can’t afford to keep it in good repair.

here’s a screenshot of bakugou and izuku’s classroom:

and then here’s izuku’s desk, which has details indicating that it’s in slight disrepair:

if you go back through the chapters and look at the setting at yuuei, it’s spic-n-span. just super clean and well-kept. it’s an entire world of difference… so already there is this huge disparity between the junior high school in izuku’s neighborhood, and yuuei, which is a 40 minute subway ride away (chapter 3).

makes sense that yuuei would be so nice and expensive if it’s the most prestigious hero academy in the country, right? but there’s more details too, like this brief exchange between bakugou & iida right at the very beginning:

bakugou’s resentful comment about iida being an “elite” really only makes sense to me in the context of economic disparity. let’s infer that soumei junior high is better funded, better equipped, better everything in general. of course bakugou will resent iida for that, especially coming from the more ill-maintained orudera junior high. the difference in their economic status is already apparent.

this isn’t even going into the difference between yaoyorozu’s incredibly rich status vs the rest of the class vs uraraka, who has decided to become a hero because she wants the financial security, and who also lives in an apartment by herself and skips meals to save on money. so even within the class itself there’s a huuuge difference in economic status.

you could just think of it as the individual circumstances of the characters, but i think it’s more of a systematic problem – see, again, the difference in infrastructure quality between the different schools (the public school is not doing so great but yuuei is doing fantastic). maybe the city is poor, or maybe all of its funds go towards repairing the constant property damage from villain attacks, or maybe there’s just some areas they don’t care to maintain. either way: just by traversing different parts of the city you’ll probably see big differences in how well the neighborhoods are kept.

and now, for a different question: if this is the golden age of peace, why are there still so many villain fights?

looking at chapter one (the first villain we see is a guy who stole a purse and then tried to fight back when he was caught) and chapter 115 (villain activity increases sharply after all might’s retirement), i feel like… these attacks are driven by financial need. look at this:

a group of adults gathered to commit crime… just to steal a register from a convenience store. that’s such a small sum of money! but they were so elated to get just that amount. it seems like the kind of thing that would happen if you were strapped for money, right?

and then the villain from chapter 1: why would he fight so hard just because he got caught stealing a purse? he stopped the trains, for pete’s sake. all i can think is that a) he needed the money he’d be able to get by selling the purse, or b) he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford the fines, and that’s why he fought.

maybe i’m reading too much into this, but based off these crimes, plus the other details provided above, i really feel like there’s a growing problem in boku no hero japan where there’s an increasing disparity in wealth.

another thing to consider: in the golden age of peace, you’d have to be pretty stupid, pretty reckless, or pretty desperate to commit a crime where heroes frequent. (or you’re a black market dealer and/or evil.) if you’ve got an increasing number of people who are poor, who are dropping from the middle class to under the poverty line, or who have no upwards economic mobility, then you’ve got plenty of people desperate enough to try some petty crime for the sake of just a bit more cash for rent this month. that would be enough to explain the frequent villain fights that heroes get into – which are common enough that people will stop by and watch the show on their way to work. (chapter 1)

this is really just a theory… but what could you use to explain why there’s a growing number of people struggling to make ends meet?

here’s some factoids about japan (this article is from 2016):

its real wages were falling, and as such, had weak domestic consumption; people buying less & saving more, or people just not having the money to spend in the first place, resulting in less money circulating in the economy and causing the economy to slow down. efforts to stimulate wage growth in 2015 did not make it down to the workers

there was an increasing number of people with non-regular jobs, part time jobs, etc. as opposed to full time jobs, so they couldn’t get the financial security of a full time job (source)

one in six people in 2014 were living in relative poverty. this rate is higher among single mothers and among middle aged men without families, i believe.

japan was like, 39th of 41 developed countries in terms of child poverty (the higher the number, the worse it is). something like that

this is despite japan having a high labor participation rate and a low unemployment rate, and also a low violent crime rate

basing boku no hero japan off of actual real world japan’s current economic problems: we could surmise that, in boku no hero japan, although nominal wages are rising, real wages are falling; infrastructure spending is poor and disorganized, geared towards repairing villain-inflicted property damage and not enough towards everything else; and people are finding difficulty holding onto jobs (as seen with uraraka’s parents) and are forced into low-paying, part-time work, and may find themselves struggling with debt.

oh, and here’s a quote from the guardian (jan 2017): “experts say programmes to help needy children are underfunded and held back by bureaucratic inefficiency and political apathy.”

so it’d actually be quite viable for boku no hero japan to be doing quite badly, economically, and to be struggling with wealth inequality and other super fun things like that.

boku no hero japan is also like centuries in the future, one where villainy is commonplace, so it’s not a surprise that people’s response to struggling to make ends meet would be “well, i have a pretty good quirk. if i’m lucky, i think i’ll be able to steal some cash, and i’m desperate enough to do it, too.” SO, my personal guess, is that this is a biiiig portion of the crimes that heroes fight.

i mean, it doesn’t really make sense for villains to do so much… villain-ing… when there’s footage almost every single week of the heroes taking down yet ANOTHER criminal. why do they keep coming out of the woodwork? why’s there still enough criminals to keep all the heroes in business? ‘cause they’re desperate and need the money, probably. which is understandable. so even if you eliminate a villain, you haven’t addressed the economic problems that drove them to become a villain in the first place; hence, there’s always someone else rising up to take their place.

on that note, let’s take a closer look at the hero industry!

in chapter 1, horikoshi gives us a brief history of heroics. quirks emerged, the government wasn’t sure what to do to combat quirk-related crime, heroes emerged, and heroes eventually became sanctioned by the law. and when that happened:

so that’s pretty cool! seems like heroes aren’t specifically a government institution, but they are affiliated with & rewarded by it. makes sense, since heroes have to work closely with law enforcement on some matters, anyways. heroes =/= police only because heroes are specifically there to combat quirk-related crime.

but times have changed since then, as shown in the latest manga chapter:

“it’s all about entertainment and approval ratings and whatnot.”

we know from the stain arc that heroes are still paid by the government:

‘given my status’ – in other words: his hero ranking? popularity? how respected he is as a hero? hmmm.

uraraka’s mentor that arc explains that heroes are sort of “paid on commission” by the number of crimes they can resolve, but said commissions usually get sent their way by the police:

but to get your name out there (both to the police and to the public), and to become higher ranking in the popularity polls, you need to cultivate a public image, too. get yourself some attention.

so to cultivate a public image, one thing that heroes can do is to conduct a fight in a public, open space where anyone can see. apparently this happens often enough that izuku would actually regularly run into one of these fights on his way to/from school, and would stay to take notes and learn from them. villain attacks are ALSO frequent enough that apparently all might keeps arriving at yuuei late because he stops to help out:

in other words, villain attacks and fights are a regular, almost quotidian experience. more on that in a sec. for now, just think about how the heroes benefit from public fights: they get to show off, and their fights are broadcasted, and they can get a boost in their rankings. fighting against a villain, they don’t just have a motive to do their job and save people; they have a motive to grab the spotlight and show off. popularity boost! we actually see this happen in chapter one, when mount lady leaps into kamui woods’ fight and defeats a villain in one kick.

so, as a citizen, you may be grateful to the heroes for saving people – but you might resent them for turning these situations into a spectacle for showing off. incidents sometimes turn into competitions between heroes. if you take that a step further, you might think some of the heroes are only helping because they want to look good. and hey, that’s not the kind of person you’d want to entrust your life to, right?

because heroics is now partially driven by entertainment and image, heroes are all forming their separate hero agencies to try and differentiate themselves. for example, this list:

while they work together to fight crime, they have to battle for popularity and attention… they probably even have to vie for commissions/crime cases from the police. they all need to make themselves stronger, cooler, & a better choice than the other hero agencies. it’s something of a conflict of interest. you can imagine sometimes that gets in the way of cooperation (i.e. endeavor’s forever grudge against all might. y’all should read the illegals spin off.)

and if you’re battling for popularity and attention… it would also make sense for you to center your hero office somewhere with lots of crime, and lots of people to see you fighting crime. right? urban centers would provide plenty of both. what about slums, and the underground, and the outskirts, then? these are places that news reporters and cameras can’t reach easily – and possibly might not want to travel to at all. these are also places where passersby and onlookers might run away instead of praising you. you won’t get a lot of return (in terms of publicity) by working here. so if you’re business-minded… you’re not going to conduct your hero investigations here.

i mean, yuuei even has a business department. heroics is a business. you make money off of this, and you have to sell your image to the police and the public. if you focus more attention on places that are profitable to you, then the other areas lose. there’s no way around that.

so poor neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, camera- and television broadcasting-inaccessible places get the short end of the stick. the heroes don’t go here as often, because it’s not profitable. (well, the heroes probably come down here if they get a police commission. but where are they if a spontaneous crime happens, hm?) meanwhile you turn on the t.v. and you see like five heroes show up at one battle downtown, which is complete overkill. you’d feel pretty resentful, right? do the heroes think your area of residence isn’t worth protecting, just because it doesn’t get them as much attention? do the heroes think it’s okay to just ignore your area of residence? fuck that, right? heroes are supposed to serve the public, and you’re still part of the public too, right?

that’s gonna build up more resentment between bad neighborhoods & areas v.s. the areas that heroes frequent (often urban, downtown, lots of people to witness their good deeds). and it definitely builds up resentment towards heroes who aren’t so discreet about the money-making aspects of their businesses.

like: all might sells merchandise. okay, understandable. present mic has a radio show (which probably gets paid to run advertisements). okay, that’s pretty cool! but then you get things like this:

a hero using their public service, publicly paid hours… to shoot a commercial and make themselves a little bit of cash on the side. if you’re in one of those areas that heroes don’t frequent so often – wouldn’t you be pretty furious to find out that the person who’s supposed to be fighting crime in your neighborhood just made $500,000 by filming a commercial instead?

you’re going to turn on the television and see ads with pro heroes in them – pro heroes who used their public service hours to do something for their own profit. this isn’t to say that heroes can’t film commercials, or make money on the side. if they’re helping people, it’s great that they can make a living! but they’re making that living by pandering to the entertainment industry when they’re supposed to be… you know… helping people. even kendou (in the picture above) comments that it’s not very hero like. the next page, momo replies that this aspect of the hero business is ‘unavoidable.’ ads, entertainment – it’s all part of the hero industry now.

and they don’t feel that good about it.

if all this conjecture is true, then – as grateful as people are to the heroes – they might be quite critical of the hero industry itself, and the heroes that embody the worst parts of it. i’m not surprised that there are a whole bunch of people who feel “othered” by heroes, and by society as a whole.

like… that’s no excuse to be a villain. stop that. but it would certainly be a reason for people to dislike the hero industry. AND it would explain why it is that stain’s ideology resonated so deeply with other people.

AAAAND that’s basically the rundown of what i think the socioeconomic state of boku no hero japan is like. sorry this was horribly long

#teasdays #readmore because this is unbearably long #meta #i guess?#i don't really have a proper tag for this stuff #ask

592 notes · View notes

sally-mun · 7 years

Note

As someone who hasn't, wouldn't, and won't be experiencing Major/Minor (or whatever it was called) could you perhaps analyze more specifically some of the things you felt were missteps more in depth, so others who decide they might want to make a visual novel or even just a story, might be able to avoid the same issues? I realize this might not be your area of interest, but I'm always interested in these kinds of analyses.

Man, where do I even begin.

I suppose I should start by saying that this game could have been fine; I don’t necessarily hate this game for the story, even if I think it’s uninspired. I play lots of point-and-click games and usually enjoy them (even the stupid ones) so long as they have merit in one area or another. But that’s the core of the problems with Major/Minor: It has NO merit to work with. Its construction shows absolutely no understanding of this genre of game design. Or of writing. Or of entertainment in general. Or of simply respecting one’s audience.

First and foremost, let’s discuss visual novels.

The critical difference between a novel and a visual novel is interactivity; a novel is a set and done deal that takes its readers along for the ride, whereas a visual novel invites the readers to be part of the ride itself. The direction of the story is influenced by the player, and this allows them to personally take ownership of later events. It’s the sort of game that tries to put you in the role of the protagonist in the most direct form possible. Like other first-person games your view as a player is exactly that of the character you’re playing, but in a VN’s case it’s like reading a comic book in a choose-your-own-adventure format.

Major/Minor not only fails on both the visual and novel elements, but it also fails when combined as a visual novel.

1) Visual

For the most part, visual novels don’t have a lot of action. They primarily consist of conversations with NPCs and usually take place in static locations. For this reason, both the characters and the environments need to have a lot of personality. Players need to feel like they’re actually having conversations with the characters and that they’ve entered a unique location that sees real use. This is the red, meaty center of how VNs engage and gratify their players.

Designing characters in a visual novel is about more than giving each one a different face; it’s about giving each character enough of a range of actions and emotions to sell the idea that the character is actually interacting with you, and in a way that’s truly unique from every other character. In real life, people do all sorts of crap when speaking: Our expressions change, we gesture with our hands, our posture varies, and sometimes we even have small ticks associated with certain topics or emotions. Between these visual cues and the actual discussions themselves, players ought to know the NPCs well enough to be able to describe them like real-life friends by the end of the game.

This brings us to Major/Minor’s first serious offense: Every character has one face. Typically in a VN, each character has a minimum of half a dozen expressions, poses, and gestures/ticks to match the different emotions they’ll need to exhibit over the course of their conversation topics. The characters in Major/Minor can only make a single expression and pose throughout the entire game, which immediately leads to some seriously disjointed discussions. It’s hard for me to take a character seriously when they say they’re angry with me when the art staring through the computer screen is bright, cheerful, and apparently mid-laugh. Sorry, NPC #672, I really don’t care that you’re allegedly on the brink of tears, because your singular piece of character art is so smarmy and mischievous that I forgot you were trying to tell me something tragic.

What makes this even more annoying is that most of the characters DO have a secondary piece of art, but it’s only ever used ONE time as an introduction to a new character before the game chucks it in the bin and we never see it again. Each character COULD have had at least two expressions if the dev had planned his commissions carefully enough, buuut instead he chose to get two shots that are barely distinguishable from one another so there could be a ~=*FLOURISH*=~ when we see someone for the first time. Granted, two per character still isn’t anywhere near enough, but it’s a hell of a lot better than just one! It makes me wonder why he bothered to spend the money on a second image for each character at all, since half of these commissions only get about 10 seconds of screen time. What a waste.

And hey, speaking of wasted opportunities, let’s talk more about the environments! Lots of visual novels don’t spend much energy on their backgrounds, and although that’s usually fine (albeit not my first preference), Major/Minor seriously needed to think more about its settings. For the moment I’ll ignore the laziness of the fact that the backgrounds are generic photos with a blur filter over them; what’s more important is that this game loves to tell us all kinds of random crap about the rooms we’re in, especially during the scenes that take place in Japan. This game would’ve benefited dearly from simply having more detailed backgrounds and just letting us observe the goings on of the room on our own. Y’know, because that makes it more... visual.

Honestly, if it were me, I would’ve taken it all a step further and gone full-blown Ace Attorney on the environments. In AA games, investigating the scene is very important because you have to look for clues. I’m not saying Major/Minor needed to let you hunt for items, but I do think that it could’ve cut a ton of random information from the text by simply letting us inspect the backgrounds. That way the players that want to know what a kotatsu is can find out on their own time and players that already know or don’t care can move on.

Something else that would’ve brought the game a much-needed boost of interest is cut scenes. As noted earlier, visual novels don’t tend to have a lot of action, so when something physical DOES happen, it makes an impact. One way to maximize that flash of excitement is with a cut scene – or at least, the visual novel equivalent of one. A “cut scene” in a VN isn’t typically a full motion video like most video games boast; it still makes use of a static image, but it’s an image whose quality far surpasses that of the rest of the art in the game. Maybe it’s abnormally large and the camera slowly pans across for dramatic effect, or maybe it’s a scene drawn from an interesting angle that isn’t the player’s POV. Some games take this even farther and really do animate their cut scenes a bit (usually on par with a nice animated gif). Lots of VN cut scenes make use of sound effects or action-specific music cues to keep the player emotionally involved with the scene, as it’s a moment that’s out of the player’s control.

Major/Minor, on the other hand, does none of this. Much like the drought of facial expressions, the game simply pelts you with paragraph after paragraph to tell you about the events taking place around you, rather than simply letting you see for yourself and be, y’know, involved. Even a handful of cut scenes that had some real effort put into them would’ve really given this game some pep. Not only would it have kept me engaged as a player, but it would’ve weeded out even more unnecessary narration.

Oh, and speaking of weeding shit out of the text…

2) Novel

The writing in this game badly, badly needed to be edited. Like, so badly it makes me physically hurt from how poorly this text is constructed. I’m not talking about the simple things like misspellings and failed capitalizations, I mean BIG mistakes, like sentence fragments and improper conjugations and completely misusing some words all together. It’s also excruciatingly repetitive. Never in my life have I ever seen prose that recaps itself so frequently – sometimes literally within minutes of the event that it’s reminding you of. It even recaps itself within the same block of text a few times.

It’s pretty obvious the dev never allowed a seasoned editor to proof the text, but it’s so unbelievably bad that I’m not even sure the dev himself ever gave it a second glance. It reeks of being a first draft that was never once revisited; actually, it strongly reminds me of the sort of stories I myself wrote when I was about 13. At that time I wanted so badly to write big, dramatic stories! Stories that had deep themes and lots of intrigue! With a complicated plot and several subplots!! And lots of characters that would all totally be different and completely matter!!!! But the problem was I was so wrapped up in wanting to make my stories big, impressive epics that I stretched myself way too thin and everything came out incredibly shallow. It’s honestly kind of eerie to think back on the things I wrote as a kid while I play this game. The similarities are so striking that I can’t tell if this is something the dev wrote at that age and just never decided to polish, or if he did write it as an adult but has the writing skill-level of a teenager.

But honestly, I’d overlook all the technical flaws and melodrama this guy could throw at me if he would just show and not tell. “Show, don’t tell” is one of the oldest rules in the book when it comes to storytelling, and for good reason: Telling instead of showing is not only fucking boring, but it treats the reader like an idiot. If a writer knows what they’re doing, they shouldn’t have to tell, because they’d just demonstrate those things instead.

For example, let’s examine another huge flaw with the writing: Incredibly shallow characterizations. Early in the game the player meets a character named Rook. Rook is very rude. I know this because the game tells me. All. The. Time. I legit don’t remember how many times the game has mentioned that Rook is rude at this point. The dev seems completely oblivious to the notion that you don’t have to tell the player these things. You can just… write Rook as being rude. Trust me, my dude, I can figure out if a character is an asshole or not. Not only can Rook’s rudeness be demonstrated by how he treats me as a player, but it can be further reinforced by other characters reacting to him in a put-off manner. If you’re so concerned that I won’t pick up on the fact that Rook is a rude person just based on how he behaves, then you’re doing it wrong, end of discussion.

But then, as I said, the characterizations are shallow in general. Everyone tends to have their one basic trope and the story rests on the idea that you know what the character is. None of the scenes go out of their way to really dig into who someone is – which is kind of amazing, honestly, since the prose is so obsessed with making sure you know the most inane and unrelated shit half the time – and even after I’ve known a character for several chapters they still feel like a cardboard cut-out to me.

To be honest, I’m kind of impressed by the sheer volume of ways that Major/Minor fails at showing instead of telling. It tells you what characters are like instead of just letting you interact with them, it tells you about the places you visit instead of just letting you view them, it tells you every single time the characters have a mood shift or expression change because it couldn’t be bothered to give them each more than one face, and it hamfists unnecessary information into the script where it’s unneeded and interrupts the scene – and THEN, it makes SURE you notice that it’s telling instead of showing by repeating those things over and over and over again!

All of this is further exacerbated, by the way, because the dev has no idea how to tell a story in the first place. Even with all the above flaws, I miiight have still been able to enjoy this game if it was just a compelling narrative in any sense of the word at all. I will happily deal with poor construction and telling-not-showing if the story still has some intrigue. Even a flawed story can have a mind-blowing plot and keep you reading just to find out what happens next, right? I thought so too, until I realized that Major/Minor goes SO far out of its way to spoil its own plot that it frequently makes you sit through scenes that you, the protagonist, are not even present for. Yes, in a game that’s built upon being a first-person experience, the story will slam on the brakes and take you OUT of the protagonist’s shoes to make you sit by as an observer to events that probably would’ve been an great reveal later on had the dev just kept his mouth shut.

3) Visual Novel

So the visuals suck and the writing sucks, but hey, lots of games get by without investing much in those areas. Could Major/Minor pull it together and at least give the player an interesting mechanic? Hahahaha no, of course it didn’t. As far as the gameplay is concerned, Major/Minor is so bad that in many ways I hesitate to even call it a game.

The cornerstone of visual novels is making choices. They can range from serious decisions that determine the overall outcome of the game or small cosmetic details, but either way, the core of this gaming style is putting the player in the driver’s seat as often as possible. When playing Major/Minor, however, the player is strapped into a straight jacket, blindfolded, and tossed into the trunk of the damn car. This game is so reluctant to surrender control of the narrative that it’s not uncommon at all to go through entire sections of the game having made no choices whatsoever. It fails so spectacularly as a visual novel that I’d be willing to bet that the dev had never played one before. He is astonishingly disinterested in what makes a visual novel enjoyable to the player.

There’s a principle in game design called Illusion of Control. The goal of this idea is to allow the player to feel like they’re in charge of the game while actually keeping them within strict boundaries. It applies to a lot of games, but it’s especially important in visual novels. Players need to be able to dictate how the story progresses, even if some of those choices make no real impact on outcomes. For example, players can enter conversation trees with NPCs that seemingly offer a lot of control – perhaps the player chooses the discussion topics, or can decide if they want to be shy or snarky in their replies – and yet at the end of the scene there could realistically be no change to the story’s progress. The greater point is that the player feels like they handled the conversation the way they wanted to. This allows them to still feel like they’ve gotten somewhere and that they accomplished something.

Major/Minor appears to scoff at the very idea of this, like the game’s worried you’ll cramp its style if it gives you too much power.The player is allotted no input whatsoever on how the PC treats the other characters, what subjects to discuss, where they’d like to go, how to react to the actions of other characters… It’s truly mind-blowing just how consistently the game misses opportunities to allow the player even the illusion of control. For example, there’s a scene where the player character (PC) is awakened in the middle of the night by a pounding on the door, and no options are offered on how the player would like to handle this. A better game might allow the player to choose if they want to pretend to keep sleeping, or call out to whomever is knocking, or try escaping out a window, or crack the door open to see what the person wants. Even if it’s an absolute necessity to the plot that this person enters the room, it’s still better to let the player choose, because there are a plethora of ways to redirect each of those options back around toward the character getting in.

Unfortunately, Major/Minor is just too damn lazy to be bothered with gameplay, and the PC just lets the stranger in with no input from the player. Soon after, the stranger attacks the PC, which would again be a prime opportunity for lots of reactionary options: The player could duck! Or the player could punch their assailant! Or maybe they could kick instead! Maybe they’d try to run away or call for help! Buuut no, Major/Minor really doesn’t care what you want YOUR CHARACTER to do, and it’s already decided that you’re going to put up no fight at all and immediately pass out. It’s by far one of the most unsatisfying things I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

The disconnect between the player and the protagonist is so extreme that I honestly don’t feel it’s a fair assessment to refer to the protagonist as the “player character.” It’s not uncommon for visual novel protagonists to speak in the first person, but in most games it feels like the PC is speaking on your behalf because they’re acting according to your will. The protagonist of Major/Minor decides so many things for themself that it stopped feeling like “my” character a very, very long time ago. This character isn’t me and never was; it’s the main character of a book that I didn’t ask to read, who very occasionally pauses to ask my opinion on something.

HEY HOWDY HEY SPEAKING OF PAUSING… If you boot this “game” up for a session, you’d better hope you have plenty of time on your hands to get through it, because you’re at the dev’s mercy for when you can save your progress. Being able to save anytime you want is a staple of visual novels because 1) people read at wildly different paces, and 2) for many people, excessive reading makes them tired. Not only that, but sometimes life just plain gets in the way and you have to pick up and go on short notice. Major/Minor ignores all of these factors and leaves the player relegated to appointed checkpoints throughout the game.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying that checkpoints are inherently bad, but they do need to be used very, very wisely. Any game (VN or otherwise) that doesn’t allow the player to save anytime they want needs to be sure checkpoints are reasonably close from any given location, and furthermore that they’re spaced at regular intervals. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, however, the dev flushed that idea down the toilet along with what was left of his common sense and parents’ love. Sometimes Major/Minor stacks save points practically back-to-back within the span of a few minutes, and in other cases I’ve literally played for over and hour before the game finally rewarded me with the option to save.

There’s no discernible pattern or technique that I can detect for when save points are bestowed on the player; you’re not even guaranteed an opportunity to save when the game switches chapters! I would say that I can’t fathom why the dev thought this would be a good idea, but let’s not kid ourselves here, it’s clear that the dev never thought this through in the first place. If he had, he might’ve noticed that players being uncertain about whether or not they’ll be able to save their progress discourages them from playing at all.

Also, before I fully move on from the game design, I just wanted to make a brief side note about the music. To be honest, I turned the music off a VERY long time ago, so I don’t even remember what it sounds like; however, I’ve read that all of the music in the game is from the free assets you get in RPG Maker. I’ve further read that the free assets (both audio and visual) were the entire reason the dev decided to use RPG Maker for this game in the first place, in spite of the fact that there are other programs out there specifically geared toward making visual novels. This is worth mentioning because it further highlights just how lazy this entire game is. It’s not a sin to use free program assets – that IS what they’re there for, after all – but when you ONLY use the free assets and then advertise your game on Steam for being sooo creative and original, AND have the gall to charge $20 for it?? Yeah, that’s a gigantic slap in the face.

Speaking of Steam, you’d think a game like this would’ve been weeded out by the gaming community for being the garbage that it is, right? After all, there’s a ranking right at the top of the page showing the proportion of good and bad reviews it’s gotten, and right now it says the feedback is “very positive.” I will say that I do take community feedback into consideration when I’m thinking about a game that I haven’t otherwise heard of before, and my misstep with this game has definitely taught me a valuable lesson. When I saw that the game is ranked “very positive” and I scrolled down to see several glowing reviews, I felt that was sufficient enough research to know if the game was worth my time and money.

However, upon trying out the game and realizing just how badly I’d been deceived, I did a little more digging. As it turns out, the dev is known for flagging negative reviews as “abusive” and getting them deleted, allowing him to effectively filter out the bad press so long as he can make some kind of a case to Steam. This debacle has taught me that it’s not enough to scroll to the bottom of a Steam page for user reviews, as those tend to be the most recent; what you do instead is click the “Read all [x] reviews” link, as those reviews are sorted by popularity. THIS is where you’ll find the reviews that the community has deemed the most helpful and informative, and in this case, it’s like night and day. ALL of the highest-ranked reviews of Major/Minor are negative, and the numbers are staggering. Literally HUNDREDS of people have ranked these terrible reviews as helpful, and most of them are in the 80-90% range on agreement. You have to load more reviews four times to find even one single positive post, and once you do start getting into the positives, the upvotes are significantly fewer.

SO, in conclusion...

I want to say that’s about all I have to give on this subject, but the sad truth is it’s not. I could probably critique this game line-by-line, moment-by-moment, if I really wanted to. Fortunately for my sanity, I really don’t want to. … Not right now, anyway. I’m sure I’ll lose it at some point and decide to go through and count all the missed opportunities in the game or something, but I won’t be doing that right now, thankfully.

So in the vein of others learning from the mistakes of this game: If you were thinking about buying Major/Minor, don’t. If you bought it a while ago during a sale and were thinking about starting to play it, don’t. If you’re interested in making a visual novel and wanted to learn from this game’s mistakes… Well granted there’s a lot to learn about what not to do, but still, don’t give this lazy, deceptive dev any more money. Learn from this guy’s shortcomings based on the feedback of players. Hell, read or watch a Let’s Play if you really want to experience it first-hand. Just please don’t buy and play this game. As a favor to ME, please don’t buy and play this game.

| First| Next >>

#sciver #Sallymun plays Major/Minor #I hope you guys enjoy this because it was not easy #if you know someone who's thinking about this game please show them this post #REBLOG TO SAVE A LIFE

39 notes · View notes

gentlespaceman-blog · 7 years

Photo

Bridal Photography for Weddings and Events

okay so now we're introducing a model into the seam and I'm not going to ever do anything fancy I'm just going to have your sit there and kind of just capture the whole thing this could be using example if this was the actual bride you can have her sitting on the side of the chair pulling the chair a little bit so we're gonna get a little bit of shots with her the model in it and again I'm using my 35 it is a wider lens so it's going to be a lot easier to get the whole set in this if you're using a 50 it's going to be a little harder actually less the one where your we were like looking have your head a little down yeah like that actually stay like that and again I'm not going to do anything fancy like there's no Victoria's Secret poses here actually get that all their hands with the other hand yeah yup and like looking down and have your hand watch the hand movements how to model or bride has your hands hand like this no like claw hands you know the claw machine hey you can never win good three okay you let's have your hand on the chair chillin hookah lounge and also because this is a white dress I'm going to underexpose the photo just a tiny bit because you don't want this to get blown out and Photoshop I'm 25 now nobody else awkward anything with opera because that's really that's really good too yeah true because a lot of people usually when they first you know in all the pictures even their entrance for the ones they hold their bookcase this way and they walk in and you know there's someone here they're holding it this way is this so it actually needs to face the people so you can you know see ya okay my words are and you're not surely the actual Stenson yeah you're right this is for the shoe so we left and we didn't wrap it up or whatnot but for sure I mean you don't have you on the side I know that you know a little bit I always have the right point it down or yeah for sure so it's rather than holding it up like this ya know holding it down a little more down okay see like that actually keep it like this way turn it this way you and that's really facing me and then let's see what I always do a shot where it's an aerial shot so getting an aerial shot of this is really nice because you can get the challenge again as your name is talking about having the bride hold it like this it's going to be a little bit weird in pictures on as you see son and everything if you ever just point it down a little bit it just changes the whole thing so a little bit like that and sometimes what otherwise I'll crop this and then i'll just get the top of her dress or I'll play point it down have you looking kind of towards account we have to suck it up expressionless know Smarties a lot is I was joking I know it really does happy that no one's happiness in the picture being mr. my pictures are lighted metric abominable mad it's...

See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ithWlLlYoBY

What exactly are the Rewards of Working with a Professional Wedding Photographer?

This particular article describes about the advantages of choosing a specialist Asian wedding photographer with regards to your wedding. Easily the most precious day of anyone's life is certainly their wedding ceremony. This is an occasion when two hearts meet to begin a brand-new life. The panache of wedding celebration is that it is able to introduce excitement, enjoyment, love, delight, smile and also tear all sensation in your heart at the same time. The very best method to catch all of these memories of a marriage ceremony is really to enlist the services of a competent wedding photographer. The qualified professional wedding photographers aid you in immortalizing the priceless memories in an unique and elegant method. Asian wedding, even more so Indian wedding is not a one day function. There are a number of rituals as well as ceremonies, which accomplish approximately in a week. Therefore, there is not a sight that the assortment of precious memories will certainly complete without an epic photo album. Employing the services of a competent wedding photographer is a smart move to be sure that each and every moment of your special day is immortalized in an extraordinary an exquisite manner. The majority of the people do not enlist the services of a professional photographer so as to save their money. Nevertheless, choosing a professional photographer can easily offer you benefits in a number of means. Capturing breathtaking and astonishing photographs is certainly not something that anyone can do completely without needing abilities and appropriate tools. Professionalism is just one of the greatest advantages of working with a professional Asian wedding photographer UK. The experienced photographers come with a desirable know-how about the important criteria of photography. Aside from that, they are equipped with all the resources and accessories really needed for immortalizing all-natural looking and stunning photographs. The specialists record each and every image manually so as to provide extraordinary reminders of valuable moments. The wedding photographer will certainly provide careful attention to each and every ritual so as to capture every moment of your wedding day. Whenever employing the services of a qualified wedding photographer, you can rest assure that you will obtain only unrivalled quality photographs of your wedding day. They manage all the details and identify exactly how to seize the subject in the best possible natural effect. An additional benefit of employing a specialist wedding photographer is valid practical experience. The skilled photographers provide hands-on knowledge in many different sorts of wedding photography. This makes it easy for them to assist their clients in selecting the correct theme, colour and design of their wedding day. The specialist photographers deliver many different offers for them to comply with the different wishes of the clients within their budget. Additionally, they customize the package based on your need and requirement. The photographer will definitely also make it possible for their clients to safeguard their big day recollections in varieties of formats. Many qualified professional photographers will supply a wide range of photography choices to select from. The bride and groom may select from photos printed on a variety of colourful papers, a comprehensive wedding album or in an electronic format such as Compact discs as well as DVDs. So, whenever you employ a competent photographer you will definitely get photos that are going to assist you remember your wedding for many years.

#indian wedding photography news #asian wedding photography london

0 notes

topicprinter · 7 years

Link

A lot of you asked that I post the content I linked a few days ago so here you go! I left out a large overview of this post so I'll include a link to the full blog post here. If you're just interested in how to produce quality content and some different strategies to market that content, the info below should help. Please let me know any thoughts of feedback and let me know if you have any questions. Always happy to help!How to Produce Great ContentI’m sure you’ve heard it before, if you produce quality content, you’ll have a chance to rank on Google. Or rather, if you don’t produce good content, you’ll never rank on Google and have wasted your time. Well, something is better than nothing so that’s not completely true. Let’s make sure you don’t just produce “something” and actually produce great content for your content marketing strategy. Let’s continue with another list. Not just because they are easy to follow and liked by readers, but Google likes them too!Let’s start with the first thing someone sees, the title - Please do yourself a favor and don’t just create a random title. Your title should be relevant to the content you produce and include a few searchable keywords. I know the title on this blog isn’t the best example, but we try to tailor our titles to exact terms that people will search for. This blog: 8 Kitchen Backsplash Trends for 2017 is rich with keywords and people might actually search for something like “kitchen backsplash trends 2017” or “backsplash trends 2017”. Go ahead and try for yourself and you should find us on the first page with big name companies like HGTV, Lowes, Angieslist, and others. In just one month, we have managed to rank #5 out of the 4.5 million possible results. Remember how I brought up trust earlier? I hope I’m gaining yours and I’ll continue to explain how we are ranking so high and so fast.IMAGE REFERENCING BLOG HEREPut numbers somewhere! Especially in the title - I’ll keep this one short since I didn’t want it to drag on with the “title” section, but it still relates. People love to see numbers. We love putting numbers in our title whether it’s to emphasize some sort of list or even a specific year. Notice how many titles have numbers in the image above? All of them except 1! Numbers are eye catching and readers love to see them. Of course, not every title will have a number and not all of ours do, but it is suggested when you can include them. Don’t ignore using lists and bullet points - The structure of your content shouldn’t be ignored. It may sound silly, but Google’s ranking algorithm likes to see some different formatting other than a 5 paragraph essay. Get creative and make a few lists, make a few bullet points, just try to do something! If you had a chance to click our blog above about the backsplash trends, you’ll see some lists, some bullets, and even bolded words. Not to mention, different things make your content easier to read and only benefits the reader. That brings me to my next point.Embed some videos in your content - A lot of SEO “specialists” will claim videos have no effect on a site’s overall SEO. While videos might not optimize a page’s SEO presence, they give a user the opportunity to stay on the page longer. One factor that will allow you to rank on Google are statistics of how long a user stays on your page and if they click around to other pages on your website. Ultimately, these stats show your content is valuable and relevant to your visitors. If you produce your own video content, you can double-dip on your end by embedding those videos directly on blog content. If you’re generating enough traffic, you’ll get quite a few video hits and those videos will additionally rank on Youtube’s search page.Internal links to your website and other content - An internal link is a link to another web page within the same website. It is important to use relevant links for the reader so they can continue navigating through your site. For example, if you’ve read through the blog to this point, you might want to open the first part of how we generate leads in another tab. Assuming what you’ve read up to this point has been valuable, you might have clicked that link which is ultimately good for us. It shows Google (and other search engines) that the content was a high enough quality to invoke some sort of additional interaction. All of these things tie together and play a role in being seen on search engines. Make sure internal links are not all to the home page or a “contact us” page either. It’s okay to have some links to those pages, but it’s also important to spread the links so all of your website’s authority isn’t focused on just a few pages.How long should your content be? - If you’ve read up until this point, you should know you can publish quality that isn’t quite this long. As long as you are above 500 words and include a few pictures, you should be good to rank. We try to produce content that is at least 750 words. So I’m sure you’re thinking, “okay, I know why content is important, I know how to produce, how to I market it effectively?”How to Market Your ContentThe best content strategists have the total package. The most difficult part of a content strategy for most is the marketing side. Being able to effectively drive traffic to content will allow it to rank much faster. If done correctly, you could have thousands of visitors to your content just in the first few days. Now, this might not happen on every blog or video you produce, but it can be accomplished for some. Treat every piece of content as if you are launching your website or company. Grow an audience and viewers with different strategies for each blog or video. Let’s continue with another list of things to do.Create social shares and social signals - Google’s SEO algorithm looks your social presence and how often your content is shared, tweeted, pinned, etc. If you’re going to spend some sort of budget on marketing your content, don’t spend it on anything other than Facebook. Facebook’s advertising tools are the most lucrative and affordable to give you the highest return on investment. To get social signals to your content, share the content on your company’s Facebook page and “boost” that post. Even $10-$20 will provide you with some results if done correctly. In the post below, we spent $20 to boost this piece of content. This is a pretty small amount to spend, but we can squeeze every penny out of the value and receive a healthy return on investment. I’ll elaborate on my next point how to fully capitalize on boosted content.BOOSTED CONTENT IMAGECapitalize on boosted Facebook content - As you can see above, the post received 50+ likes and additional shares. The dark orange line signifies impressions that we PAID for and the light orange shows the ORGANIC impressions that were generated. The organic views come from people who already like our page, but the majority of organic views come from the friends of the people who liked this post. Essentially, every like is almost as valuable as a share (not quite, though). Overall, we were happy with those numbers. The $20 we spent was enough to generate a few project leads on Great Pros and generate some additional website traffic. Mission accomplished right? Well, not completely. Each person who likes a piece of boosted content should be personally invited to like your Facebook page. Out of the 50 likes, you should get 1-3 people to like your page. It may not sound like much, but over time this will add up and it takes less than 1 minute to do. Lastly, make sure your blog post has some way of capturing how many social shares are taking place. This shouldn’t be hard to implement, but it can’t be ignored. Below is what ours looks like.IMAGE I REFERENCED ABOVEUse internet forums...the right way - Using internet forums to generate traffic can be the most effective strategy if done correctly. You may have heard people say, “yeah just post your content all over the internet. Someone will see it!” Well, you might get a few clicks, but it won’t get you very far. You’ll need to do some homework and see where your target audience is going on the internet. Find those sources and see if there is a way to interact and get those users to your website. You should be able to find plenty of sources. One of the best internet forums that anyone industry can use, is Reddit. In a nutshell, Reddit is a massive internet forum with thousands of smaller forums within the website. Be aware, when you post on Reddit, or any forum, you need to deliver your content effectively so it is received positively by the audience. The example below is exactly how your marketed content should be written. How do I know? I wrote this piece of content for a past client who sold suits and wrote the content on the forum so it would be received well. I’ve repeated this success multiple times and I’ve also done this unsuccessfully. My suggestions to be successful, keep it short, ask for feedback, reference that you wrote the content (you can be vague instead of saying it upfront), provide an overview of what it’s about, and say thank you. This method can be a hit or miss depending on the quality of your content and what you wrote in your forum post. I’ve had instances where I’ve generated 3000+ page views in a 3 day span (like with this example) and I’ve seen as low 10 page views.EXAMPLE OF HOW TO WRITE FORUM CONTENTYou need email marketing tools - Your website needs some sort of mechanism to capture user emails. It doesn’t necessarily have to be on your blog (by all means it can), but you need to capture it somehow. Capturing profile information is a great way to do this. There are free tools, like Mailchimp, that you can incorporate into your marketing campaign for your first few thousand emails. In order to capitalize on repeat business, use those emails and send your content to your past customers. Be careful not to spam emails. 2 emails a week or once every 3 days can be very effective and not too intrusive.Educate yourself on other major traffic sources - Traffic on the internet is virtually unlimited. You need to continue educating yourself where you can capitalize and capture some of that traffic. If I wrote about every source to pull traffic from, this blog wouldn’t even be halfway done. I’m going to include two additional resources that you may find helpful if you want to continue doing your homework and learn about marketing your content. The first is an overview to generate traffic on Quora. This trick isn’t all that difficult, but it will take some time to master and reap the rewards. The second tip I would suggest is learning how to use LinkedIn to drive traffic. It has been proven through case studies that LinkedIn is the best source to drive B2B business. If you’re in B2B, I’d suggest reading this guide about LinkedIn.FULL BLOG POST HERE

#/r/startups #reddit

0 notes

gentlespaceman-blog · 7 years

Photo

Wedding Film Review - Zarkhan Media

Frank Adams here for wedding film school in today's the first video in a new series called wedding highlight review it's where you submit one of your favorite wedding films in the comments section below I picked the one that has the most upvotes and then I do a review the next week of that video in essence this is a chance for you to show off the kind of work that you do I would love to celebrate the differences between my film your films and everyone else's I did not expect over a hundred entries you guys are crazy but I had to pick one and I did from zarkan media so let's do a review ok music is coming up all right ok so that logo was an HD it's interesting to start with a logo like it it's unique all right so you got a watermark of your logo up there um unless people are gonna steal it it seems I don't know I'm just not used to putting it there I've had people link my videos as you know their own but I've never had to put a watermark before i do see people who are more well-known do that before just because people steal it so if this was your first wedding i'm not sure you're benefiting too much from a watermark so i don't know if i would have it there ok so let's focus jeez ah there's gonna be a lot of start and stop people I have a lot to talk about ok so this film is three four and a half minutes start with some nice pans of a building ok framing wise I would like this to be further down maybe Lux Lux deserves to be in the center of the frame if not being able to read it but just composition wise like I want to see a little bit more ok so shot this with another person so a two person team and they shot on t two eyes I believe music comes in pretty good pretty well so that sets up the location so there's some sharpness so the one really really quick thing that I would do that would improve these every single film you shoot from now on is to just lower that sharpness in camera so you probably have it just set on standard picture profile I would drop the sharpness because I can tell right here a pattern so it sounds like the audio was on camera just from what I can hear they said that they had a zoom and a countryman be three alright so the sequence you know we start with this girl but obviously she's not the bride cuz she's not wearing white so we get that but we start with the the groom story here I like that so the transition to have him get the bag resident get to the card so he's reading the card in essence so that makes sense story wise this is a good hero shot he looks like a boss using the window light that's good we have very very yellow mids and blue dark switch is a color correction choice which works but it's it jumps out at me a little bit great your exposure is working so far I digs so this can i move that yeah...

See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IsThoiB-Yg

What are the Advantages of Employing the services of a Specialist Wedding Photographer?

This particular article explains about the perks of hiring a high quality Asian wedding photographer regarding your big day. Easily the most pleasurable day of anyone's entire life is most certainly their wedding day. It is a moment when two souls meet to start a brand new life. The charm of wedding day is that it can easily provide excitement, enjoyment, romance, pleasure, smile and tear all sentiment in your heart at the same time. The most reliable means to record all of these types of memories of a wedding event is certainly to employ a specialist wedding photographer. The competent wedding photographers enable you in immortalizing the priceless moments in a distinct and also breathtaking method. Asian wedding, even more so Indian wedding is certainly not a one day function. There are many different rituals and also ceremonies, that finish at least in a few days. So, there is not a sight that the collection of wonderful memories will definitely finish without an epic photo album. Employing the services of a professional wedding photographer is an effective move to make certain that every moment of your wedding is captured in an one-of-a-kind an exquisite method. The majority of the people do not employ a professional photographer in order to save on their cash. That being said, enlisting the services of a professional photographer can easily offer you positive aspects in a number of ways. Immortalizing impressive and amazing images is actually not something that any person can do entirely without needing abilities and correct tools. Professionalism and trust is one of the greatest features of employing a professional Asian wedding photographer UK. The expert photographers come with a good understanding about the fundamental guidelines of photography. Additionally, they are armed with all the equipment as well as extras needed for catching organic looking and magnificent photographs. The specialists catch each and every image manually so as to deliver phenomenal reminders of valuable moments. The wedding photographer will deliver careful attention to every ritual in order to capture each and every moment of your wedding. Whenever choosing a specialist wedding photographer, you can rest assure that you will get only premium top quality photographs of your big day. They look after all the elements and figure out effective ways to catch the subject matter in the most effective possible natural aspect. An additional advantage of employing a specialist wedding photographer is verifiable experience. The competent photographers possess hands-on experience in different types of wedding photography. This makes it easy for them in order to help their customers in choosing the best theme, colour as well as appearance of their wedding day. The competent photographers furnish many different package deals so as to fulfil the varied wishes of the customers throughout their finances. Furthermore, they customize the deal based on your need and requirement. The wedding photographer will definitely also allow their customers to safeguard their wedding recollections in varieties of forms. A lot of specialist photographers will deliver a large range of photography selections to select from. The bride and groom may select from photos printed on various brilliantly coloured papers, a comprehensive wedding album or in an electronic format including CDs as well as DVDs. So, when you enlist the services of a qualified wedding photographer you will certainly get photos that will definitely help you remember your wedding for many years.

#asian wedding photography

0 notes

topicprinter · 7 years

Link

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

0 notes