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scarlettlawyer · 5 years

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Part 12 of my reaction/commentary to the Phantoms & Mirages Saga, the fanfic series by @renegadewangs

(Chasing Phantoms): Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

(Haunted Specters): Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

(Vanquishing Mirages): Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Vanquishing Mirages / Lifting Spirits: Part 10

Lifting Spirits: Part 11

We are rapidly hurtling towards the end. Or… the “end”.

--------

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 12

A single line into this chapter and it had already one-hit-killed me (IN A GOOD WAY). What.

Ohhh my weakness, my weakness…!

THIS SONG?? HIM? THIS SONG???

I have such happy and important memories attached to this song, it’s not just a case of “oh it’s upbeat and I like it” for me, it goes pretty deep. I’m BARELY into reading this chapter and was already put into an unbelievably good mood on the power of the song alone and the memories I have attached to it, let alone everything else about the fact that he is the one who is listeni – ohhhhh going straight for my weaknesses aren’t we.

I’ve gone over being so very happy that he has the ability to listen to music and enjoy it before but you went right ahead and, this was a whole other level, suddenly.

He can pick up & enjoy the happy vibes of this song, aaaah…!

He is listening to Wham! on repeat and no matter what you do, no takebacks, I’m cherishing this for FOREVER. XD

IT’S SO GREAT AND SO AMUSING BECAUSE IT’S H

“You take the grey skies out of my way! You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day! Turned a bright spark into a flame-”

He was going to die. He knew he was going to die.

Honestly GREAT work here with the mood contrast, but I was too busy being blown away/happy and amused by the song situation and shocked that the narrative just did this xDDD like I picked up on this mood whiplash and was like “um whoa” but it kinda passed like a blip when it came to my absorption of this scene/overall mood ahahaha.

Truly though, what excellent contrast going on here simultaneously wherein the reader is drawn into reading of these two threads of such different emotional resonance at the same tiiiime.

And it’s scenes like this where he’s doing stuff like, you know, just sitting and listening to music and the PORTRAYAL and I’m just sitting here like oh my g… s-stop encouraging me… please stop encouraging me… “I’M BAD ENOUGH AS IT IS WHEN IT COMES TO BEING A PHANTOM FAN I REALLY SHOULDN’T BE ENCOURAGED LIKE THIS..!” sdkjnsdnklsd …The rest of this chapter refuses to stop said encouraging. :P

”If, through some miracle, they’ll grant me leniency, I think I’ll spend the rest of my life tucked away in some quiet little corner. That’s the best way for me to stay out of trouble, isn’t it?”

But the image this gave me was so absurd it refused to stick and just bounced right off. That’s just – no, nah, that’s not how this works, you know? There is no good ending. That’s impossible. It’s execution or prison and that’s that. And I was still advocating for execution. Welp. This statement took me off guard and there was this moment of… A sense of… Something. Before I dismissed it. Before it got lost again amidst the other things as I read on.

“One might argue that trouble has a way of hunting some people down.”

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 13

Phoenix Wright would be taking the defense again, as it was just as the Luster trial;

“wait wait wait WHAT – PHOENIX WRIGHT IS DEFENDING? PHOENIX WRIGHT?”

This info is just CASUALLY dropped in this “oh yknow just like with the Luster trial” manner - NO??? THE LUSTER TRIAL WAS A PURE PLOY TO CAPTURE MIRAGE AND THE PHANTOM BEING THE DEFENDANT WAS JUST, BAIT. AND HE WAS ACTUALLY INNOCENT OF THAT SPECIFIC CRIME IN QUESTION AND THE VERDICT ULTIMATELY HADN’T MATTERED ANYWAY AND? IT WAS ALREADY KINDA WILD TO SEE PHOENIX ACTUALLY BEING THE PHANTOM’S DEFENSE ATTORNEY EVEN BACK THEN AND AND AND…!

It’s NOT like the Luster trial it’s VERY different.

Phoenix Wright taking on the defense of Alexander Luster Jr’s case IMMEDIATELY implies a couple of things. Since Phoenix Wright is the posterboy of the entire Ace Attorney franchise, and he has won ALMOST every case he has taken and in each and every one of those scenarios where he won the case, he has indisputably been on the side of good and the side of right and- and he, as a rule, always tends to side with what is right and what is just. He is always ALWAYS striving to be on the side of justice. AND HE IS NOW ALEXANDER LUSTER JR’S DEFENSE ATTORNEY…

The dynamic of the games alone, the Ace Attorney Specific Tropes™ instantly then marks whoever’s side Phoenix is on tends to be a) The Right, Good Side & b) The Winning Side, applying both to the defense of Lex here. That’s what this tells us. That’s what it tells me. Told me. The narrative is directly reaching over and saying “Phoenix is advocating for him, and therefore this is the team you SHOULD be on. This is the team you should be cheering for”. And given Phoenix’s track record, the chances of him losing this are very, very slim.

And I was kind of sitting there like “Hello??? Excuse me?”. The narrative seemed to almost have this… assumption that we should be… Automatically accepting of this. That somehow, we should uncritically want Phoenix to win this trial and for Lex to win his lenience. By bringing Phoenix into this that’s kinda what it appears to definitively tilt the direction in. And I, with a years-old grudge against a character in an ENTIRELY different story written by an entirely different person*, and had been stubborn & adamant from the very beginning that the phantom NEEDED to face execution at any cost when the notion of rehabilitation was raised, was NOT buying it. I was not buying this. The narrative felt like it was making an assumption about the audience’s predisposition – about the audience’s wishes - that still did not apply to me.

*TttP is, for the record, not the only reason I felt the way I did at this point in the narrative. I’ll get into some of the other things fuelling my feelings on the matter a little later. But heh, yeaahhhhh.

Because like, you have characters like Bobby and Athena who are already fully established Lex-supporters, which is totally fine, but Phoenix has barely been in this and we’ve had no scenes at all with him interacting with Lex – there’s been no set-up of “Phoenix wants to advocate for Lex” – we are simply informed of this matter-of-factly, which implies “of COURSE Phoenix would take on Lex’s defense, it’s so OBVIOUS that it’s the right thing to do.” And I was like “oh so we’re doing away with subtlety somewhat on this front regarding the narrative’s agenda?” sdjsdbks. (I MEAN. LEX’S PORTRAYAL AND HOW WE’RE MEANT TO FEEL ABOUT LEX IS NOT SUBTLE AND I ADORE(D) THIS FIC FOR IT, but this was still different – a different angle as it is beginning to tackle the notion of rehabilitation/redemption/leniency head-on. The former was all fun and games but the moment the latter got raised I was immediately in a battle stance).

[Me, pulling up my sleeves: “oh so this is how you wanna play this huh. Bringing in the Big Guns with Phoenix being on his side- you talk a big game but see, not sure if you’re gonna be able to back this up buddy. Biting off more than we can chew, it looks to me.”]

Okay and the other reaction I had to this casual mention of “oh btw Phoenix is gonna be defending Lex”? IT WAS REALLY FUNNY BECAUSE IT WAS THIS SUDDEN JARRING MOMENT WHERE IT WAS LIKE OH, THIS IS ACE ATTORNEY FANFICTION. Okay I want to make this clear – I never at any point “forgot” this was Ace Attorney fanfic, of course. But like. This whole 4th fic so far has been focusing on Lex – now so far removed from the counterpart we see in canon, and Benny, an OC altogether, has also been so prominent and under focus. You of course, still have characters like Bobby and Simon but, see, at this point, this is the fourth instalment of the series, and we’ve been with these characters for so long now. We’ve been spending so much time with them that – these characters – the canon characters that were getting all the focus at this point were just about all VERY removed from the centre of the ace attorney series. It feels so very, very tucked away in this – such a niche little corner of the ace attorney universe with some very specific characters interacting and driving the plot forward, and having spent so much time with them independent of the rest of the ace attorney cast it’s really felt like they’ve well and truly taken on a life of their own that’s attached to this series specifically. Reading so much about “OC”s like Benny and Lex (because in AA canon there is no “Lex”!) and everything and then all of a sudden casually throwing the central character of all of the mainline ace attorney games casually back into the plot like this felt jarring in the best possible way. It was just like “oh, RIGHT. Phoenix. He actually EXISTS in this world. He’s still around, I mean, obviously. This is Ace Attorney Land. Oh my god. In spite of everything – in how much EVERYTHING has evolved and separated itself from and focused on this one tiny little realm of ace attorney characters and canon… he’s still around and can actually get involved in the plot like this. That’s so wild.” LIKE. I MEAN. It well and truly felt like Phoenix Wright was from A Different Universe, so independent and separate from a world where Lex, Benny, Alive & Post-Randy Bobby, and even Blackquill (after how much this fic has focused on him and a specific interpretation of his character) exist. Honestly to even think that Phoenix Wright and Alexander Luster Jr actually exist in the same canon fic verse… whoa.

“The fate of execution does not necessarily mean perfection. If leniency is deserved, leniency is what the prosecution is meant to support,” Simon found himself arguing despite his better judgment.

Me: “SIMONNNNN NOT YOU TOOOOO”

Me at this, on top of the whole Phoenix Wright Defending thing: [resigned, frustrated sigh] “You’re not gonna kill him, are you, Author? You’re not gonna go through with it and kill him off, are you?? I told you like two fics ago to KILL HIM.”

I was a) a phantom fangirl & had been for years (of course) b) “Lex is great how can you not love Lex?” c) Uh… still actively advocating for his execution d) NOT pleased that it looked like said execution was not gonna be followed through on by the narrative.

Okay, but this line from Simon was also frustrating for another reason: it engages with real-life morality, just as Benny’s assessment that Lex being “taken out back and shot” is not something that he feels is “the right thing to do” does.

I was sitting in an ever-so-simplistic corner and not critically engaging with how the ace attorney universe’s punishment system actually functions. The death sentence, as we all know, is so very prominent in this universe. If you kill someone, you die, them’s the breaks it seems. That’s the universe’s rule so that’s the rule we go with, right? Only taking this universe’s criminal justice & punishment system & morality into account, it was So Very Easy for me to sit there and fiercely be all, “the Phantom killed people, and even if he can feel things now, that won’t bring those people back, therefore he gets executed because THAT is justice according to the laws of this universe and justice won’t be served until that’s carried out.” This simplistic stance bypasses entirely any questioning or attempt to consider the actual “justice” of such a system, and flatly refuses to even question the ethics of capital punishment – a topic that can be so very controversial IRL.

It was frustrating to me personally because the narrative seemed to be bringing real life morality into this. In real life, so very many places have abolished capital punishment altogether. It’s a lot harder to flatly argue that Lex should be executed when considering that, realistically speaking, rehabilitation is the far more desirable option and if at all possible should probably be strived for in real world scenarios.

I was arguing for execution on the basis of Ace Attorney Morality and the narrative was retaliating with a taste of Real World Morality which gave me pause. I was so steadfast and convinced of my stance that to have it momentarily shaken like this was exasperating, because “no see, I know I’m right, see, I have to be right, because the alternative is just too far out of reach. It’s too absurd, it’s a pipedream… The phantom was just that sucky that even applying IRL morality… I must be right… right? Yeah. Anything else is just unrealistic. It can’t be done.” I shook it off, and ploughed onwards with my stance.

Leniency from the court system didn’t mean there would be leniency from those outside the courts. With so many people out for the Phantom’s head, there was no telling how fast any sentence that wasn’t the death penalty would lead to a furious rebellion. There was no telling how fast someone might attempt to hunt down Alexander and finish the job that the executioner was deprived from.

“Whoa, very good point. Okay, so maybe there’s a chance he’ll get executed after all since not getting executed is not necessarily being shown as the “better option” in this regard by the narrative. There’s still hope for an execution yet. A nice, clean execution if the alternative isn’t being portrayed uncritically as the “best” option.”

Simon wondered vaguely if he should apologize for all the times he’d thrown a blade at the defense or sent Taka their way. Ultimately, he decided against it.

Sdkjdskj

The scene with Bobby and Palaeno just before the trial begins… How worried Bobby is and how much he truly cares for Lex… It’s just not a joke anymore. It hasn’t been a joke for quite some time. It’s being played completely straight. There’s just nothing to even really laugh at or be amused by here?

Back in Haunted Specters a lot of Bobby’s behaviour towards/concerns for the phantom can largely be written off as Rule of Funny and also accepted BECAUSE of its intentionally surrealist nature & impression it leaves the audience. I readily accepted it because it slots into the character dynamic(s) role and set-up crafted by the story so perfectly, and it’s so much fun.

I, of course, could see the direction Simon and Bobby’s behaviour was heading towards… Yes, they were getting too attached for their own good, to the point where things would become painful. I knew it was coming and I accepted that and, in fact, I was READY for it.

But Lex.

What I did not foresee was the huge, HUGE transformation that took place. Lex changes everything. It changes the dynamic that is subsequently involved. It negates anything about Bobby’s behaviour being “kinda funny in a misguided way”. The existence of Lex changes it dramatically from “haha funny & surreal behaviour from Bobby” to just plain “Bobby is very invested in this man and very worried for him” and there’s nothing funny about it. We just feel plain bad for Bobby and that’s it. I’ve focused on Bobby pretty exclusively here because he’s the one whose narrative thread we’ve been following the most in this particular regard, but. There are many characters (like Palaeno) who care about Lex, and it’s played straight.

It is a scenario that can very much be pulled off and played straight with the emotionless phantom, but Lex’s whole existence throws an unexpected curveball in HOW the situation is played straight and the subsequent impact had on the audience.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 14

“Quite a long list of murders, several attempted murders, grand theft identity and all the crimes that accompany such a thing, terrorism, vandalism, assault, perjury in a court of law, selling government secrets… To name only a few.”

“And the defense’s assertion?”

“The defense’s assertion is that every single one of those crimes was committed by the Phantom- WAAGH!” Phoenix broke off into a terrified holler when Von Karma snapped her whip at him.

SDJBDKJSDJK perfect.

Volent smiled, his kindly demeanor at odds with his rather arrogant response. “Instability, Your Honor. The concept is exactly what it implies- the defendant’s emotional state is not stable. To put it in layman’s terms, he suffers from severe mood swings. I couldn’t uncover enough symptoms that would allow a full diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, yet I would daresay that further therapy might’ve confirmed such a thing. … It wasn’t my job to diagnose any sort of disorders either way.”

Whoa WHOAAA SPECULATION OF A REAL-LIFE DIAGNOSIS…!

This was SO good to see. I really REALLY liked – no, LOVED this a lot. It was just like, of course, of COURSE…! It’s not just cartoonish “hehe look at how emotional he is!” THERE PROBABLY WOULD BE AT LEAST SOME LEVEL OF CONNECTION THAT COULD BE TRACED TO REAL-LIFE DISORDERS…! I don’t know how to express how cool I found this kind of connecting-it-to-real-life to be and introducing mention of a REAL-LIFE disorder.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 15

Benny taking his testimony and turning everything around on its head was SO awesome. So very awesome. Only reason I’m not elaborating is that I have so very much to cover in this post…!

Simon’s. Testimony. My god, Simon’s testimony. I KNEW it was coming but ohhhhhh wow…! I’m still in awe, dude.

“Did you hear, mommy? It must be true love!”

OKAY YEAH OKAY THANKS FOR HAVING WACKED ME IN THE FACE WITH THIS LITTLE REMINDER WHEN I WAS STILL LICKING MY PHANTOMQUILL WOUNDS DFKJSDKLSDNS

BUT ALSO I REALLY LOVED THIS LINE LOL CAUSE LIKE? There’s a kid out there in this fic’s universe who canonically ships phantomquill. But it’s more than that it’s like!!! Phantomquill as a ship is definitely grouped in some of the LEAST kid-friendly ships I know. When I think about phantomquill the LAST thing I think about is a kid being aware of it let alone shipping it – it’s such an interesting juxtaposition to have (presumably) a child, given the information they’ve been presented with, immediately go “Oh True Love!” about what is, in standard practice, an unbelievably dark, twisted and angsty ship.

But in any case, it was around this point that I just kind of started thinking to myself “Oh my god… Oh my god… The author is actually gunning for this, she’s ACTUALLY gunning for a full second chance for him, THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN. BUT WHAT’S EVEN CRAZIER IS THAT SHE ACTUALLY APPEARS TO BE PULLING IT OFF.”

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 16

Crack! Franziska cut him off with a quick snap of the whip. “You must pay due respect to Cohdopian court regulations, Your Honor! This trial has an international nature, thus we can apply international rules. The defendant has recently regained his Cohdopian nationality and this method of questioning is a common occurrence in his home country’s court of law.”

This is ABSOLUTELY allowed, I’m not even gonna attempt to dispute it. Rule Of Drama is in full effect here and I LOVE it, it has my full support.

“Now then, witness. My first question,” Franziska leaned forward, resting one arm on her bench. She was watching Athena with a smug grin on her face. “Do you think the image of your mother’s corpse will ever be erased from your mind?”

OHHH MY GOD. I am… here for the brutality of this direct approach. It’s… necessary.

Lex had turned a few shades paler in a matter of ten seconds.

GET READY LEX. GET READY LEX. Strap in buddy. You WILL sit there and you WILL suffer. You are fantastic and amazing and my favourite character but :^) you’re on your own here.

Franziska shook her head in exasperation. “Tsk tsk. Very well then… Witness, is it true that the defendant took you hostage after he escaped from the federal prison in February?”

As we know, Chasing Phantoms felt like a separate entity from the rest of this series to me, and I had been somewhat less engaged while reading it. This just made me go “oh my god… she’s right… that happened in this series too…!” YOU WERE NOT ONLY TRYING TO ULTIMATELY GIVE THIS MAN A SECOND CHANCE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING HE’D DONE IN CANON, BUT HE HAS ACTIVELY DONE EVEN FURTHER TERRIBLE THINGS IN THE CANON OF YOUR STORY ON TOP OF ALL THAT. And you WEREN’T even shying away from acknowledging it either. You were shining a spotlight DIRECTLY on this fact as you ploughed forward against the incredible odds. AMAZING. You ALREADY had your work cut out for you and you had gone ahead and actually ADDED to that workload, you absolute madman, this was wild.

But not only this, you were, here, in this scene, drawing a direct link between Chasing Phantoms and Lifting Spirits, with their two such vastly different narrative landscapes. You are reaching out and reminding the audience - having the audience acknowledge the part of the story when the phantom was at his worst while showing us him, a changed person, at his best.

You’re not even trying to hide or gloss over a damn thing.

I don’t even know what to say about Phoenix’s cross-examination of Athena it’s just so good. So vivid. Like, I can picture it in my mind.

It was Lex who spoke up. It was Lex who pushed himself to his feet, his manacles producing a soft clanking sound as he did so.

Oh my gosh… Here it is…

This whole scene where he says thank you. It’s soooooo sappy but I don’t care, I don’t caaaaaaaare I LOVE IT IT’S PERFECT and I will eat it up I WILL eat this sentimentality up forevermore. I’d actually misremembered this scene as being complete with gratuitous tears and big, glistening eyes listen it’s over-the-top and I LOVE it being over-the-top. IF YOU’RE GONNA GO ALL OUT WHY NOT GO ALL OUT? And it DOES do just that SPECTATOR’S COOING I. I LOVE this goddamn series oh my GOSH.

I was so very stubbornly trying to work against my favourite character, but you brought your A-Game. You put in overtime for this character. it felt like WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO RIGHT AHEAD AND DRAW A FLIPPIN’ HALO ABOVE HIS HEAD?! DSJNKSDKJNSDNKJ. So much of Lifting Spirits was me BEGGING you to stop encouraging me to such a ridiculous extent, to no avail.

And noooow it’s AURA TIME.

Enter: Aura Blackquill.

A smile flickered across Aura’s face, but it disappeared again the moment her eyes fell on Alexander. Even from such a great distance, Simon could see it: the raw hatred that was shimmering through. It was no wonder, really, that Alexander cowered in his seat. Most people would think to duck for cover if they were on the receiving end of such a terrifying glare.

OHHHH MY GOD… AHAHAHA… YES.

“I have quite a few things to say to that miserable excuse of a defendant,” Aura began, her tone of voice as venomous as the look on her face. “but such words aren’t befitting of a lady and it appears some clods thought to bring children to this courtroom, so I’ll keep that particular feat of vocabulary to myself.”

Alexander cowered even further. Surely, he understood just how much Aura hated him. Just how far she’d be willing to go to see him hanged. Having her here in the courtroom must’ve been agony on both ends, for Alexander feared for his life and Aura ached to end it.

OMG. GET HIM. MAKE. HIM. SQUIRM.

“What I will say is this. If this monster hopes to be human, he needs to understand that real humans don’t get second chances at life. Especially not those who rob others of their only chance. We live as flawed beings and we die as flawed beings- the size of the handicap makes little difference. Why should he deserve to go on while others don’t? The rules of life and death apply to everyone, no exceptions.”

What a horrific speech. Leave it to Aura to spew something like that.

“I MEAN… SHE… HAS A POINT… SHE RAISES A VERY GOOD POINT…”

The worst part was that from the corner of his eye, Simon could see Apollo Justice nodding.

HHHHHHHHHHHH

Aura slammed one of her hands down on the witness stand, her shackles clattering loudly as she did so. She was addressing Alexander directly, now. “I am not speaking only for myself, I’m speaking for everyone who’s lost someone dear because of you. I’m speaking for everyone who’s suffering because of you. Believe me, we are great in number. We will not forgive and we will not forget. You can’t run from us.”

Ohhhhhh GOOOOOOOSH I WAS 100% CHEERING HER ON DURING FIRST READTHROUGH OF THIS SCENE BUT I AM TERRIFIED OF WHAT TRACKING GHOSTS COULD ENTAIL PLEASE SEND HELP

Alexander shivered and hid his face behind his hands.

PLEASE I JUST. PLEASE. NO MORE. Look at him.

“Hm. No, I believe I’ve made up my mind. Taking all the testimony into account, it’s clear to me what needs to be done.”

The judge raised his gavel. This was it. The moment they’d been working toward. The moment they’d been working for. Alexander’s life hinged on these next words. Nobody dared to speak. Nobody dared to move. Bobby’s hand once again found Simon’s own. He squeezed it in return and glanced sideways to see that Ambassador Palaeno was crossing his fingers.

Me: [Shakes head ruefully] “Well, okay, very well. You did it, author. You earned this, well and truly. Go ahead. You can have this. You actually did it, I suppose. I can’t believe you did it, but you actually earned him his right to a happy ending. So… I won’t object. It’s all yours for the taking.”

I mean, the fact that the trial was ending just after AURA’S testimony was a little foreboding, but… It just wasn’t enough to balance out the rest of the trial and the tone of the entire fic. The verdict felt so clear, I mean, c’mon. C’mon. And the narrative slant, too. The narrative and the POV characters that we are following are so very biased in his favour. This IS what the entire fic had been building towards, and the entire fic had been so terribly biased towards him and the notion of salvation.

So I’m like [rolls eyes], “alriiiight, go ahead, if you must. Give the man his verdict of lenience like ya set out to do. I’m not complaining like I thought I would be. You win again. You set out to do this and I don’t know how, but it looks like you actually got there in the end. If you insist, then he doesn’t have to die after all. I accept that.”

”It pains me to conclude that rehabilitation and civil commitment are impossible in his case. That is why this court finds the defendant guilty and hereby sentences him to immediate execution.”

…Come again?

Um.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 17

They'd known from the start that there could be only one ending to the Phantom’s tale. They'd known, yet they struggle to accept the bitter disappointment that comes with it.

Execution… Immediate execution. How soon was immediate? Quite soon, apparently, as Lang gestured towards the Interpol escort.

WHAT THE F U D G E

They saluted and made to surround Alexander. To grab him and drag him from the courtroom. The spy jumped up from his chair and backed away in painfully apparent fright, but there was nowhere for him to run. The agents snatched him by the arms just like that. The spectators became even more agitated.

“IMMEDIATE” EXECUTION?! THAT’S… THAT’S NOT HOW THIS WORKS THOUGH. That’s SO fishy. You can’t – you literally can’t just take someone out back and promptly shoot them IMMEDIATELY after a sentence is handed down… can you? THAT’S NOT HOW THIS IS SUPPOSED TO WORK. THERE’S SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE, PROTOCOLS AND PAPERWORK TO BE FILLED OUT AND SCHEDULING TO BE DONE… DON’T tell me they’re just gonna – WAIT. JUST WAIT. HOLD ON NO YOU CAN’T JUST – NO.

At the very least, “immediate” execution seemed like it would be carried out a few days after the sentencing, not… like… ACTUALLY immediately. BUT THE STORY SEEMED TO BE PLAYING IT LIKE THIS.

Just because it felt unrealistic, unrealistic to the point it was fishy, didn’t mean the story couldn’t be about to implement just that, though.

Yet, even through the chaos, Phoenix Wright’s shouts were heard.

“OBJECTION! Your Honor! The defense…-! The defense would like to cross-examine the last witness after all! Your Honor!”

But the judge was already getting to his feet. He was preparing to leave the trial behind. That was only natural. The verdict had been delivered and once that was done, no one could change it.

This is the bad end. This is the game over. God DAMMIT Phoenix you should have LEARNED by now that if given the option to further question the witness or not, you ALWAYS take it lest you choose not to and get an immediate game over. Okay. You need to listen to me. You DID save right before Aura gave testimony, right? So you need to press the start button and reload at an earlier save point and then when given the option to PRESS you- sdkjdflndslksdkj

“Lex!” Athena rushed out from behind the defense’s bench to block the group of Interpol agents. To stop them from dragging a struggling spy out the back door, towards the prosecutors lobby.

YES ATHENA SAVE HIM. SAVE HIM.

It didn’t do much good; there were five of them and only one of her. She was shoved aside as if she wasn’t even truly there.

AAAAAAAAAH

Alexander… He was attempting to fight back like a madman now. Perhaps he was a madman. He was digging his heels into the ground, moving every which way to try and slip through a crack in Interpol’s escort, yet their hold on him was too great. He was screaming, he was shrieking. […]

He would be taken away to be killed. A fate he’d accepted for himself a few months ago, yet things had changed. His desire to live had grown too great.

NO NO NO NOOOOOO. NO!

Phoenix Wright stood motionless by his bench, head buried in his hands.

The miracle never happen.

“I can’t. I have to… I have to see Lex,” Bobby insisted once more.

“No. Last will and testament need to be compiled and you would only get in the way. We’re taking the Phantom to be executed the moment all the final arrangements are done.”

THAT’S SO MESSED UP. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! THAT IS SO MESSED UP. “LEX. IS LEX IN THERE? IN THE ROOM? WHY CAN’T WE HEAR HIM HE WAS YELLING SO MUCH BEFORE WHAT’S GOING ON.”

“This is the only ending this story could possibly have and you knew that from the start.”

Oh how daaaaare you turn this line back around on me like this, against me. The first time I ever heard the equivalent of this line in the series, I knew it was planted with the intent to come back to bite the audience. I was all “hah, you don’t scare me. Joke’s on you because that ending to this story is EXACTLY what I want, so TRY me.”

Seeing it again NOW was terrifying. It was a threat. I did not truly believe that the story would end like this. But this line… embedded into the narrative as it had been, was effective at convincing me it was plausible… it was POSSIBLE. Recurrent lines like this would destroy me on a regular day when I know that they’re coming. I had done NO preparation to handle this line doing exactly what I figured it intended to do when it inevitably came back around because back then, when it was planted, it is exactly what I had wanted, and therefore felt like I didn’t need to. And in the interim, the narrative had gone soft, so very soft, so very, very soft on him, and appeared to no longer have what it takes to go ahead and kill him off, the arc words laying forgotten. Until now, being wielded with full force. Didn’t like the sound of this at all.

Now I would like to break down different aspects of the scene(s) that unfold in the aftermath of the verdict, because there are so many angles at play here:

1. The verdict is still unbearably painful even when clinging to the thought/hope and possibility that he isn't dead/manages to survive/will not die

Because we've spent the entire fic being shown just how much Lex is brimming with emotion and personality and potential from head to toe, only to be told at the end that all of it was worthless, that all of it IS worthless: that he is unworthy of salvation, that all of the striving was for absolutely nothing and MEANS nothing. That, even if the plot allows him to go on living, even if the characters and the narrative (and the audience!) clearly believe he is worthy of a second chance, the law and the legal system doesn't. That in the eyes of the law, his life and newfound being is not worth preserving.

A solid three fics spent on development - and the verdict declares in one fell swoop at the end of it all that he should die, the verdict declares he shouldn't even get to live and should in fact be killed as soon as possible.

The law does not know and does not care about the things we and the characters have seen, the things that the characters have been through together, or the extent of his suffering and STRIVING all the way up until this point. The law doesn't care.

The narrative seemingly turns on its audience in an instant with a snarl. "Well, what did you expect? You're an idiot for expecting anything more than this. Haven't you forgotten who that man is and what he's done? Don't tell me you were actually stupid enough to have hope. You're naive. Just as naive as the characters are. Even when you could see for yourself they were getting too attached for their own good, what did you do? Did you actually follow in their footsteps? You should have known better. You should have had more foresight than that. In fact, you DID have the benefit of foresight and you WASTED it! You have even less excuse than the characters!"

At least, that's the stunt it TRIES to pull, and momentarily, for a horrible, horrible point in time it almost works. But then I'm yelling my defiance too. It's like, "no, actually, story, stuff you, I wasn't stupid at all for having hope, because the narrative itself was the one to give me that hope and that belief in Alexander Luster Jr in the first place. It's wanted us to believe in him from the very beginning, so it's no wonder. This story has been ridiculously biased TOWARDS him, and I know that for a fact because I've been fighting against his having a second chance the entire time and received nothing but opposition in terms of the narrative's directional slant."

So it's like, okay, it wasn't stupid at all in terms of narrative portrayal. The audience can't blamed; it's no wonder they believed. But were they objectively right in doing so or was their belief misplaced after all?

There's this dizzying moment of "WAS the verdict right in its decision? Is what the judge says really true? Is there genuinely no hope for rehabilitation in his case? Is there something that the Judge can see that we can’t?"

The thought of it is so painful. Are the characters supporting him and the audience just idiots, but the court - the judge can objectively see the "full unbiased picture" that we aren't getting, in order to have reached this conclusion? Is he really not worth a second chance? But how? How?! How can that be!

And then the thought passes, it's shot down. No, no. Rehabilitation - a second chance - is obviously possible. How can it not be possible? How can you tell me I'm wrong?! It has to be, look at him. if you've been paying attention to Lifting Spirits for five minutes-

2. The verdict was not the right decision to make and does not bring about any kind of justice.

The verdict is wrong. That's the conclusion we arrive at. There is nothing just about this situation. There is no victory here.

“No! This can’t…! This can’t be right!”

This is wrong. This is not justice. The narrative doesn't even attempt to say otherwise: that's how it's being portrayed. The narrative AGREES that this is wrong.

“Let go of me! This isn’t right!” she hollered, hoping to free herself from Lang’s grip. “You can’t execute him! He’s not a killer anymore! Let go of me!”

Up until the very end... Even as the verdict was being read and I was convinced it would side with lenience, I wasn't entirely sure of what the right choice was, even though I had finally decided to accept such a verdict of lenience.

In the aftermath of the verdict's announcement, I still wasn't sure what the "right" course of action was, how best to handle his case, or what "should" be done.

But it didn't even matter any more. I didn't - I didn't care. I no longer cared about that. It didn't matter what the “best” decision was anymore, I wanted him to- where, where is his lenience?! Give - GIVE it to him!

I was desperate for him to have this regardless, to have this second chance, it was painful and this didn't feel right.

In a sense, when it came to the question of what "should" be done, or what side I was ultimately on come the end, that alone - my feelings and response to this situation - clearly gave me my answer.

And if he didn't die, if he managed to escape death somehow, that wouldn't truly be good enough in alleviating all the pain of this. No, that's painful and would imply still that he's not good enough. But that is antithetical to what we have been shown, and the idea hurts. He needed to be fully, properly have his second chance recognised in the eyes of the law. It got snatched away when it was so close and I couldn't - it needed to happen.

It’s torturous.

3. The main characters that we have been following are actively invested in his survival and his second chance. They WANT him to live and they do not WANT him to die.

Wasn't this what I wanted?

But the thought of his impending death was hurting our main characters so much more than the alternative. They weren't asking him to die. They weren't expecting him to die. It's a very different situation.

For Alexander Luster Jr, the chance of redemption hinges not upon accepting death, but in being granted life.

This idea of him needing to die... One of the key ideas it comes from is that to give him a second chance is disrespectful to all the people that he murdered and all the people that he's hurt, emotionally and physically.

But characters such as Athena, Bobby and Simon are members of that group of people hurt by the phantom, and they are the ones advocating for him, they are the ones who are desperate for this chance and his survival - for him to have a chance.

There is, of course, a very impressive list of other people hurt by the phantom for whom his death is deemed important and necessary. But we have not followed their POVs. As it stands, when we think of who the phantom has inflicted harm on, many of the first characters that may come to the reader's mind are those who /want/ him to live. So what meaning does "disrespectful to those who have suffered because of him" continue to hold when they are our main point of reference?

It does still hold meaning. But it's far more difficult to uniformly advocate for the man now known as Lex to die when this is how at least some of the phantom’s victims feel.

4. The bar for his salvation is set very low, and the severe injustice invoked by that bar seemingly not being met by the court's standards is portrayed very strongly.

The bar is so low. A) There is no need to forgive the phantom of all his many crimes, but merely to acknowledge Lex as his own person b) lenience. Just. Lenience. Not “all charges are dropped you are free to do as you wish”, lenience.

And in contrast, everything about the fake-out screams injustice, almost outlandishly so. The speed at which everything happens – he’s hastily carried away. Bobby and Simon not getting to say goodbye. The characters, the spectators who were on his side screaming their defiance. Everything is taken to its extreme in a mad rush.

And then, of course, there's Aura.

5. The narrative makes no pretence at ignoring the harsh reality of what the phantom was like and what he has done. There is unabashed acknowledgement.

I'm glad Franziska asked Athena if the image of her mother's corpse would ever fade. At that point I was a little like "whoa, okay, at least we are acknowledging this. We are ACTUALLY tackling this angle, I’m impressed.”

And then Aura just came in and blew me away. Aura came along and put my very own thoughts into words, she said EXACTLY what I was thinking, right at the last minute. Words I thought would be left unsaid, and would therefore leave me feeling somewhat frustrated and unsatisfied. But she voiced them and forced the story to confront the fundamental unfairness of the killer getting a second chance when he took away his victim’s only chance.

6. The narrative fully acknowledges that there is no way to make everyone happy and satisfied regardless of whatever outcome is chosen.

“In light of all the information and all the opinions shared with this court, I believe there is no way to please everyone.”

Through both the wording of the judge's verdict and the extremely divided and opinionated spectators, it's abundantly clear. This was a great signifier for me because to give him a happy ending, favourite character or not... It can be very hard to be fully satisfied when the consequences of his past actions are ongoing (e.g. people who are still feeling the losses of loved ones that can never be replaced) or if it feels like certain perspectives are being conveniently ignored/overlooked so as to justify a happy ending.

I fought against Lex's salvation partly because I was convinced that there was no way I could be completely satisfied with it, and that it would therefore feel somewhat hollow or sour if thought about in too much depth.

But the narrative just went right ahead and said "you might not be 100% satisfied, and that's fine; not everyone is going to be 100% satisfied in-universe anyway. Such a thing is impossible. If you're expecting all of the characters to be satisfied before YOU accept the ending, then I am telling you right now that you're asking for something that's never going to happen, because it's just not realistic."

The narrative also played a sneaky little game of "okay, if you're not happy with this, then here's a glimpse of the alternative. Now tell me, which ending do you prefer?"

I’d already conceded and accepted the presumed outcome towards the end, but the story wasn’t satisfied with my mere acceptance. Ohh no, it was like, “not good enough, you’re going to REALLY want this. You have to REALLY want this.” And BOY, AFTER THIS CRUEL FAKE-OUT DID I EVER.

The ending made itself all the better because it forced me to really work for it. Noooo way in hell was it gonna feel even remotely hollow, no way in hell EVER, I am no way no way gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

The acknowledgement of ANY ending’s inability to satisfy absolutely EVERY angle of every perspective in and of itself made me rush over to embrace the ending in all its splendid glory.

“That’s ridiculous! We’re just as much Lex’s family as Palaeno is!” Bobby blurted out.

There it is. There it is. The conclusion… The inevitable conclusion of what this entire series has been building towards since around Haunted Specters.

There’s only so far you can take a joke before you have no choice but to play it straight.

1. Set up and frame a seemingly absurd/surreal/odd scenario and seemingly play it for laughs

2. Keep playing it for laughs

3. Keeeep going. Keep running with it

And through both escalation and narrative reiteration and reinforcement…

4. It’s not a joke anymore and the audience is invested, Actually. No matter how odd the set-up seemed originally.

I loved that Lang immediately responds with anger to Bobby’s proclamation. I loved that. It makes sense that he would. In fact, it is a completely reasonable response. And we have spent so long building towards this. Lang’s irritation and misgivings about Bobby’s level of investment have been clear as day for a long time – he’s made no secret of it - and they have been building, and right here, Bobby confirms to him beyond all shadow of a doubt that he is too far gone, he is too far gone. He crosses a line. He crosses a line and it is too much for Lang. Two powerful opposing perspectives come to a head in this single moment as they both explode forth at once.

You played Bobby’s investment completely straight… and then you turned it back around on its head again as it is confronted like this by Lang. It is not enough to merely play it straight, but here, the narrative goes one step further and asks “if it is played straight, if it is grounded undeniably now in the character and the narrative’s reality, what does that mean? In what way should it be approached?”

Lang was right; this was bordering on Stockholm Syndrome. They shouldn’t care this much about Alexander.

I am. Floundering.

You are MEAN. YOU ARE MEEEEEAN. XD.

Maybe it was a little bit of Stockholm Syndrome.

No, no. This was a horrible kind of stinging slap to deliver.

Lang framing it that way was fine.

But a character like Bobby potentially internalising it was so very harsh a punch.

For other characters to react to and interpret Bobby (and Simon’s) investment in Lex in a realistic way was one matter. For the characters whose POV we’ve been following the whole way to take up the same line of thinking… felt like a horrific intrusion on some kind of sacred space. An unbreachable, unwritten narrative rule supposedly laid out by the series itself felt as if it were being mercilessly snapped clean in two here.

It seems so very cruel, narratively speaking, because it felt to me like the reader was never ASKED to frame the behaviour and dynamics of the characters in a realistic or critical manner. It was. A JOKE. It started as a surreal joke, serving its specific narrative purpose and then moving on its way. To have ever been realistically critical of the characters’ behaviour felt like it would have only hindered what the narrative seemed like it was trying to do at the time. And of course, it became more than a joke but the narrative has been tailored for the audience to be invested in these characters’ connections. To abruptly rescind on this unwritten rule of “this is fiction and therefore we can have some fun with it and set up some interesting character dynamics!” was like stinging betrayal.

Or rather, we ARE perhaps asked or even encouraged to be critical, but perhaps not in the way it is suddenly portrayed here. The reader does in fact pick up on the fact that Bobby and Simon are getting too invested and that this investment is perhaps not in their best wishes. But that investment seems to be portrayed so as to be compelling, something we are drawn to… not… like this. Or maybe that was just how it felt to me.

For a character like Bobby to be thinking about Stockholm Syndrome… It is not a clear-cut case of Bobby being hurt and grieving. He ponders framing his own grief and attachment in a critical manner. That he “shouldn’t” have been invested or cared this much. That felt so negatory of Lex and his whole existence… It felt negatory of the very plot that the readers had become so very invested in.

Cruel, cold realism.

You finally brought this particular narrative thread to a head, made it so very realised, and then immediately you appear to set about deconstructing it. Through Lang’s reaction. Through the internal thoughts that go through Bobby’s and Simon’s minds.

But my instinctive response is, "no, NO. Your attachment means something. It MEANS something! It's NOT just Stockholm Syndrome!"

If it was the emotionless phantom who had died that they were mourning, then sure, to think of their feelings in this manner... I don't think I would object.

But Lex is full of emotions, he cares!!!!

They can't possibly turn their back on the bond they'd ultimately grown with Lex like this. They can't.

And they aren't. They are just suffering a lot right now, trying to make some sense of this situation - anything, anything to try and make it stop hurting, to force it to hurt LESS. The narrative seems to teeter dangerously close to borderline dismissing the bond they'd grown with Lex through gritty, negative framing tied to a sense of realism. But ultimately...

It didn’t matter now.

Does it, would it even matter, how it's framed at this point? It wouldn't make a difference anyway. What's done is done, what happened is what happened.

The hurt inflicted by Bobby's internal thoughts in this moment and my instinctive objection to them is drowned out and washed cleanly away as we return to focus on the hurt caused by the overall situation and its magnitude. "Does it even matter?". It's like, who cares, who cares about analytical dissection right now, this is where we ended up either way.

It’s something Bobby considers but he’s just too tired to ponder it much because what difference did it even make? That same tiredness to fight back against the framing applied to me, as there was so much else to worry about in this moment.

What was perhaps the most cruel aspect of it all was that Alexander- no, the Phantom had attempted to shield them from this sort of devastation.

Oh no nooooooo. This hurt. Just twist the dagger in some more hhhjghj. It was absolutely true. The phantom had foreseen this. When it came to something like that kiss scene – I was busy focusing on so many other aspects of it, and very distracted by so many narrative threads after that and into Lifting Spirits that I totally failed to seriously register that attempt to shield a character like Bobby from this pain. I should have been prepared for that particular narrative angle to circle back around and I absolutely was not, I had not taken it seriously enough and had been far too distracted. I had been very dismissive of the phantom’s actions in that regard and found him so very stupid for it. Like, “yes, Bobby is too attached, this is apparent, but for GOD’S sake…”

Should have probably expected this, but I did not, and therefore it came as a very harsh shock that the phantom had seemingly been Right All Along.

This was so worrisome. Was the story REALLY about to dump a “this is the best outcome in a sense, as Bobby and Simon’s attachment was too unhealthy anyway, so this was the only way. It’s the best thing for the characters who should never have allowed themselves to senselessly get attached” on us?!

I knew there was one more fic to go in this series. I knew that much, and I did my best to cling to that, to cling to how suspicious and fast this all was, that they didn’t even get to say GOODBYE, but some of the narrative framing was so very scary. I did start to feel a tiny bit of panic, struggled to keep it at bay. But I was on the verge of becoming VERY, VERY upset. I could not allow myself to do so until I finished this fic, because if I allowed myself to become upset – to lose hope over this - it would be all over – there’s no telling how much it would’ve crushed me.

I just needed to power on through and keep reading as fast as possible before I had the chance to become upset. Just… keep reading, keeeeep reading, until I could relax once more… There had to be a reveal that he is okay, there had to be, because the alternative was too unbearable to consider.

The mere possibility of this truly being how this fic ends was way too terrifying.

It was like you suddenly out of nowhere grabbed my arm and BRUTALLY twisted it and just went “oh my god, shut up about phantomquill. Shut up about phantomquill. And will you STOP complaining already about every godforsaken little thing? I’ll kill him. I swear to god, I will kill him. I’ll do it. Do not test me. I’ll do it.”

This couldn’t be the end (could it?!) but there was no way in hell I was going to risk growing complacent and trying to call your bluff. I was terrified. I could NOT risk this all being real no matter what, no matter how small the risk might or might not be I was so scared.

“Please… Just… Just… Don’t do this. Please. Just let him still be alive.”

And he was.

“So… will you finally shut up about phantomquill? Will you finally be GRATEFUL once more and ACCEPT what you are given?!”

Oh, yes. Yes, Meowzy, please, just don’t hurt me.

When there is a defining moment in a story that causes me to flatly deem that moment and by extension everything after it technically “non-canon”, it is VERY hard, nigh impossible, to win me back, because it tends not to matter how fantastic anything that comes afterwards is – because the line of continuity to get to that point had been fundamentally broken in my eyes, usually senselessly so. The appreciation of great stuff from afterwards doesn’t feel “complete” because I am no longer capable of considering it the “true timeline”.

By “win me back” I don’t mean “enjoy the fictional work in question”, because I am still completely capable of doing that if there’s still awesome stuff going on. I mean “restore the work’s claim to being the “true timeline” in my eyes.”

A lot of the Lifting Spirits journey is winning me over and winning me back over. I had already largely gone “okay, okay, I guess… all of this stuff is just so awesome that it’s still pretty much the true timeline. It’s just so good.” Unlike in some other instances where I had made the “non-canon” declaration in the past:

-There is absolutely no drop in writing quality whatsoever. The work demands its place in the true timeline with the rest of the series because it fits in seamlessly

-Just about everything going on is so great and awesome that you’d be hard-pressed NOT to want to fully accept and embrace it all

-The occurrence that I had declared the work was “finished” over (Fake Phantomquill kiss) was so very inconsequential and minor in the grand scheme of things. The declaration loses its meaning when it becomes to seem like just a blip in the radar of all the amazing stuff going on

-The actual goings-on of the scene do fit in fine with the rest of the story, and the scene is not TOO central or relevant to what takes place afterwards so as to be a constant reminder or thorn in my side that I had been baited. The story moves on from the scene after it plays out to far more pressing matters.

But still, STILL, I had withheld its right to Full Canonicity in my eyes. I had been “wronged” XD.

But the fake-out… and then the ending… I was nothing but grateful. True timeline. True timeline. This WAS the true timeline; this is the true timeline and I fully acknowledge it 100%. I embrace it. Why would I EVER throw this golden ending away for the sake of some one-sided phantomquill, if I had to make that choice?! Never.

I’ve much more to say and/or elaborate on, and I will do so… in the next post!

Wow. Looks like one more post and I will have finally done it. That’ll truly take us to the end of Lifting Spirits…

#These dang things are so damn long and therefore such a pain to format into tumblr posts XD #as always I always kinda am still secondguessing bits of the wording in places #And feel that there's still unexamined angles left... But how much longer could I possibly make this. XD

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wineanddinosaur · 3 years

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The Father-Son TikTok Duo Behind the Viral JohnnyDrinks Brand

For more stories on TikTok, check out our whole series here.

On a chilly Friday in late February 2020, John Rondi and his son, John Rondi Jr., made Manhattans at a stone countertop in their kitchen, then headed to dinner in Manhattan proper, a 30-minute drive from their suburban home in northern New Jersey. Their destination: Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse in Midtown, a mid-tier favorite of bridge-and-tunnel theatergoers and corporate seafood-tower types alike, where the big reds are enormous and the bone-in ribeyes go for $77.

John Sr. went to Del Frisco’s often — or at least he did before the pandemic hit. But that night, with Junior by his side and the pre-Covid steakhouse’s dinner service abuzz, something happened. Something profound. Something that would send his relationship with his son, and indeed his whole life, in an unexpected new direction. Feb. 21, 2020, you see, was the night TikTok’s beloved booze-slinger JohnnyDrinks was born.

“That was also the last time we went to Del Frisco’s in the city,” Senior told me in a recent interview. “I guess [that date] is even more profound now.”

‘Make me a drink’

A common misconception about TikTok is that it’s strictly for nimble teens to share choreographed dances, goofy inside-joke reaction videos, and other various cultural ephemera deemed interesting by the world’s always-online youngest generation. But one of the vibrant non-teen niches on the popular app — which dominates app stores’ rankings with over 2 billion downloads and 850 million monthly users — is the one about drinks appreciation, loosely organized around hashtags like #WineTok (23.9 million aggregate views as of writing), #brewing (10.2 million), and #cocktail (1.3 billion).

[Check out VinePair’s report on TikTok’s age-gating challenges and potential for future alcohol advertising, right here.]

Plenty of those videos are the standard college-kid fare — wizard staffs, pouring challenges, and so forth. But there’s educational drinks content on the platform, too. “I’ve seen a master [distiller] go and talk about … the stories behind the alcohol, behind how it’s made,” says Molly McGlew, an independent social media strategist who personally spends about five hours a day on TikTok and advises consulting clients on their approach to the platform. Some of that informational drinks content — a few hundred videos’ worth, at least — is coming from the well-appointed house in North Jersey that the Rondis call home. Last February, before heading out to what would soon be their final Del Frisco’s visit before the coronavirus pandemic hit, John Jr. (I’ll call them Junior and Senior throughout the rest of this piece for clarity’s sake) walked into the kitchen to find his father fixing himself a cocktail. He took out his phone.

“My son says to me, ‘make me a drink,’ so I said ‘OK, I’m gonna make you a Manhattan,’” recalls Senior, 55, who has worked as a mortgage professional for 30 years. “As he’s videoing me, I’m not thinking anything of it.” Using a handheld butane torch, he fired up a smoking plank, eyeballed some Bulleit bourbon, bitters, and sweet vermouth into a mixing glass, then poured the concoction over a hand-chiseled ice cube into a stemless wine glass. Junior, 25, videoed this straightforward exercise in home bartending, added some basic captions on TikTok (“1. Smoke da glass”), and set the whole thing to Frank Sinatra’s “You Make Me Feel So Young.”

Content created, he posted the video to a new social media platform his 18 year-old sister had told him about: TikTok. “That was the first video I posted. I never really expected to want to post TikToks,” Junior recalls. Drinks drank, and video live on Junior’s @JohnRondi account, the Johns Rondi struck out for a big group dinner at their Manhattan steakhouse of choice.

@johnrondi

How to: Make a Manhattan #fyp #fypchallenge #manhattan #manhattanbridge #drinks #bartender #xyzbca #xyz

♬ You Make Me Feel So Young – Frank Sinatra

At some point during the Del Frisco’s repast, Junior checked his phone. “We’re sitting at dinner, and my son goes, ‘You know the video of you making the drink? It’s got over a million views,’” recalls Senior. Later that night, it was at 2 million. By the following morning, it was at 3 million, then 5. The father-son pair’s first outing on the video platform had gone bona fide viral on the hottest social media platform in the world. “That was my introduction to TikTok,” says Senior, laughing. “My son, with his very entrepreneurial mind, says ‘we got to do this again.’”

The Alcohol Everymen of North Jersey

As the pandemic took hold, the Rondis found themselves locked down at home like the rest of the world. So they began to spend more time filming content for their new TikTok handle. Scrolling through these early videos, you can watch the father-son pair shape the JohnnyDrinks routine in real time. The dialogue, drinks, and music change, but the plot is a set piece that remains more or less standard, and it goes like this:

Junior, holding the camera, wanders up to Senior, who’s either already making a drink at the family’s home bar counter, or is quickly convinced to take up a mixing tin;

Senior names the drink he’ll be making, then makes it, while Junior films the process and provides captions to identify the ingredients;

Drink mixed, Senior toasts the camera, sometimes clinking glasses with his son.

You get the idea. The videos are straightforward and slightly corny, straddling lo-fi and high-cringe in the style of so much successful TikTok content. The lack of depth makes the videos ideal for the platform, but that’s not to say JohnnyDrinks’ content (which has, at press time, racked up over 11 million likes across a couple hundred videos) is without substance. The pair plow through the modern mixology canon with a clunky, endearing earnestness, conduct Q/A segments with their fans, and do education sessions where Senior schools Junior on, say, what makes a stout a stout. There’s also the occasional non-alcoholic smoothie recipe video in there, for anyone following a drinks account who doesn’t drink. “Our audience is pretty broad,” says Senior.

Like all successful creators, the two have developed little gags and callbacks that function like Easter eggs for their 685,000 followers. Senior clinks his ring against pretty much every liquor bottle he picks up on camera (this is “tap the bottle,” in JohnnyDrinks parlance.) Sinatra’s light baritone scores many of the clips, giving them a patina of anachronistic Italianate lounge swank.

And then, of course, there’s “smoke da glass.” The ur-caption in the JohnnyDrinks oeuvre is maybe the purest distillation of the brand the Rondis are building, a performance that straddles the line between amateurism and expertise, between superficial consumption and actual craft. “You do things like that first, to catch someone’s attention,” says Senior, who is a longtime admirer of the technique and the spectacle it creates. After seeing a mixologist smoke a stemmed cocktail glass many years ago, he decided he would do likewise. “I said then, ‘I’m making that mine.’”

To state the obvious: Smoking cocktails is in no way proprietary to JohnnyDrinks. But while glass-smoking might be old news to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of modern mixology, it’s a novel visual for a TikTok audience that’s new to cocktails — that is, the exact sorts of viewers that the Rondis’ accessible, undaunting drinks content resonates with so well.

Plus, the theatrical flourish can also help paper over imperfections in a drink, which makes it an even better crucible by which to understand JohnnyDrinks’ everyman appeal. “We’re not experts,” says Junior. Watch even a couple of the Rondis’ videos, and that quickly becomes apparent. While Senior is clearly a knowledgeable, experienced, and curious drinking enthusiast — “I’m a savvy guy, in that there are not many liquors I haven’t tried,” he says — he is no trained professional. Ice cubes may splash, cocktails may wind up in stemless wine glasses. “You’d be able to catch on pretty quickly that we’re not as experienced” as actual bartenders, says Junior.

Senior, from whom most of the on-camera booze info flows, is quick to agree. But what the scrappy, self-taught amateur lacks in professional flourish, he makes up for with the unmistakable delight of a genuine home entertainer. He’s accessible, engrossing — even a bit adorable.

“There’s a side of me that’s creative, and I do things like smoking the glass, rimming the glass, and putting some other things [in a drink] to give it some sort of appealing, artistic look,” Senior says. “I think that comes natural to me because I like hosting.”

Building a Brand, and a Business

If Senior is the talent of JohnnyDrinks, Junior is the talent manager, looking for angles behind the scenes. The son, like his father, is obviously possessed of a considerable business acumen. But their paths diverge from there. Senior’s career traces a corporate trajectory; Junior’s professional perspective, by contrast, has been forged in the fires of online entrepreneurship.

At 25, Junior has grown up in a media ecosystem criss-crossed with blurry lines between influencer and agency, amateur and professional, personal and public. Much has been made about the “influencer economy” and the “creator class,” and Junior is clearly well versed in both. To wit, JohnnyDrinks isn’t his only hustle, he also operates an online marketplace app, STUNITED, where students at schools across the country can engage in what he calls “academically bartering.” (A disapproving professor might call it “students paying other students to do their homework”; tomato, tomato.) The app is rated well by 100-plus reviewers on the Apple App Store and recently hit Google Play.

“He’s a true entrepreneur, from high school through college,” says Senior proudly.

As we talk, a comparison to another very online, very Jersey hustler who used booze-based social media as a springboard to broader entrepreneurial aspirations comes to mind. I ask Junior: Is JohnnyDrinks a new-age version of the YouTube channel that Gary Vaynerchuk used to catapult himself from North Jersey wine salesman into A-list hustler?

“He was the person that really started personal branding and branching out from what you’re doing” into other enterprises, says the younger Rondi. “I don’t take everything he says as ‘word,’ the way I think a lot of entrepreneurs do. That being said, if I met him, I would be like, ‘You’re the absolute man.’”

No surprise, then, that when the conversation turns to JohnnyDrinks’ business opportunities, Junior slips easily into the Gary Vee vernacular that so many Fiverr strivers have made their own. He speaks about the “tailwind” the Rondis’ account enjoyed in its early days, when TikTok seemed to be “optimizing” cocktail and cigar content in what Junior hypothesizes was a bid to boost credibility among non-teen users. He muses about the value of “eyeballs” on TikTok compared to older platforms like Snapchat and YouTube (for now, “TikTok is probably the least valuable … but it’s not going to stay that way.”) As early adopters on TikTok, says Junior, “we have a unique opportunity to scale and be different.”

What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means selling merch. “Smoking da glass” makes for compelling visuals on TikTok, but it also doubles as a catchy, marketable slogan. On their website, Junior sells T-shirts emblazoned with the motto, plus smoking boards for fans who want to emulate Senior’s charring routine at home. They also sell the “Johnny Drinks Drinks Guide,” a $15 PDF (currently on sale for $9.75) that promises to “walk you through the process” of making cocktails seen on the pair’s TikTok channel.

How many have they sold? “I would say between 750 and 1,000,” says Junior. For those of you keeping score, that would be at least $7,300 in pre-tax revenue — most of which is pure profit, because as countless LinkedIn entrepreneurs and mindset bloggers will tell you, e-books are an extremely low-overhead, high-return way to generate passive income.

Another way to earn cash is sponsored content with alcohol brands, which are currently banned from advertising on the platform. JohnnyDrinks has partnered with Savage & Cooke, a boutique distillery in California’s Bay Area owned by winemaker/entrepreneur Dave Pinney (of The Prisoner/Orin Swift Cellars fame) on an exclusive blend of Burning Chair bourbon. The first barrel sold out, marking the beginning of what Junior hopes will be “a long-lasting, synergistic relationship.”

That quote comes from the bourbon’s description on Country Wine & Spirits, a San Diego liquor store that shares an investor with the tequila brand SWOL. “They asked us to try it out, and it’s definitely really good tequila,” said Junior. “So what we do is we’ll push it.” A recent video shows Senior touting SWOL as his “favorite sipping tequila” alongside offerings from Don Julio, Dos Artes, and Clase Azul.

In a follow-up to my hour-long interview with the Rondis, Junior clarifies that JohnnyDrinks takes a cut of sales on both the bourbon and tequila as part of deals that are brokered by a marketing firm he declines to name. There’s also Gothic Gin, a ubiquitous-on-TikTok clear liquor that has racked up millions of views on the platform thanks to popular drinks creators like JohnnyDrinks. “They reached out to us, we loved their gin, so we formed an agreement,” he says. “That is a promotion.” He declines to ballpark the revenue the Rondis earn through these deals, telling me he’s worried other brands might try to lowball them on future deals.

@johnrondi

Stuck inside on a snow day? MAKE A JOHNNY HOT COCOA! ☕️ 🍫 #johnnydrinks #cocktails #bailey #hotcocoa #snowday #fyp #xyz #drinks

♬ Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Dean Martin

TikTok’s community guidelines don’t explicitly bar creators from promoting alcoholic beverages (only selling and trading them), but the Federal Trade Commission’s rules about influencer endorsements require clear disclosures if material relationships — i.e., business deals — exist between the promoter and the promoted. Creators often do this using hashtags like #sponsored or #ad. I wasn’t able to find such disclosures on a spot-check review of nine recent JohnnyDrinks videos that feature the brands mentioned above.

I ask Junior if he knows about the FTC guidelines, or if he’s looked into whether the account’s videos might be in violation of them. He tells me he’s never heard of the guidelines. Then he says yes, sometimes he uses the #ad tag, but usually makes those videos private after they’ve been published for awhile because they don’t perform as well as the duo’s organic content. (One such video that remains visible on the account, a partnership with Empress Gin, appears to have done pretty well, racking up strong metrics compared to other JohnnyDrinks posts despite the #ad and #sponsored tags in its caption.) “You don’t need to know about the money I’m making,” says Junior. “I don’t want anybody else getting in trouble.”

Neither Country Wine & Spirits, Gothic Gin, nor SWOL Tequila responded to VinePair’s requests to comment for this story. Lauren Blanchard, the general manager of Savage & Cooke, told me that the distillery has an informal relationship with JohnnyDrinks and has compensated the Rondis with a “small marketing fee” for their efforts to sell their branded barrels. “We are looking forward to expanding the way that we work together [with the Rondis] this year and in the years to come,” she said.

To be clear, JohnnyDrinks is hardly the only TikTok creator doing promotions that appear to skirt the FTC’s regulatory requirements. This sort of breakage, viewed charitably, is simply the inevitable byproduct of what McGlew, the social strategist, calls the young platform’s relatively “wild West” nature. Entrepreneurial creators rapidly become popular and begin cashing in before getting educated. (This is a familiar story on every emerging platform, TikTok very much included.) But they do get educated, because there’s money to be made. And not just from small spirits brands, either. One recent post from JohnnyDrinks, uploaded to TikTok after my interviews with the Rondis, is a video in partnership with a primetime show on the Food Network.

Father and Son, Having Fun

Whatever the revenue the Rondis are earning off JohnnyDrinks, it’s probably not transformative. (Also, for what it’s worth, if their videos are any indication, they appear to be a family of considerable means anyway.) But it’s not nothing, either. In our first interview, I ask the Rondis how they divvy up the spoils of JohnnyDrinks’ budding celebrity, and Senior quickly jumps in.

“That’s interesting you ask,” he says, with that pitch-perfect kayfabe irritation that, among the North Jersey baby boomers I grew up around, at least, tends to be thin cover for deep fondness. Junior is quick to counter: “He said, ‘Look, you take all the money, and I’ll take all the liquor.’ So he takes all the bottles and I take the dollar revenue. I didn’t set that standard, he did!” In the background, I can hear Senior laughing.

This, I think, is the nexus of the JohnnyDrinks magic. The top-shelf liquor bottles, colorful cocktails, and democratized demonstrations make for compelling content, that’s certain. But after watching dozens of the Rondis’ videos, I realize that it’s the chemistry of father and son, the dynamic of a 20-something striver shadowing his successful father living the good life, that actually makes the account such a fun, aspirational follow for over half a million fans.

And why not? JohnnyDrinks is a window into a halcyon world where the drinks are always strong, Sinatra is forever on the stereo, and family pride is always on display. In Del Frisco’s Double Eagle terms: Cocktail recipes are the steak, but it’s the Rondis themselves who provide the sizzle.

The article The Father-Son TikTok Duo Behind the Viral JohnnyDrinks Brand appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/johnnydrinks-profile-tiktok/

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johnboothus · 3 years

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The Father-Son TikTok Duo Behind the Viral JohnnyDrinks Brand

For more stories on TikTok, check out our whole series here.

“That was also the last time we went to Del Frisco’s in the city,” Senior told me in a recent interview. “I guess [that date] is even more profound now.”

‘Make me a drink’

[Check out VinePair’s report on TikTok’s age-gating challenges and potential for future alcohol advertising, right here.]

@johnrondi

How to: Make a Manhattan #fyp #fypchallenge #manhattan #manhattanbridge #drinks #bartender #xyzbca #xyz

♬ You Make Me Feel So Young – Frank Sinatra

The Alcohol Everymen of North Jersey

Junior, holding the camera, wanders up to Senior, who’s either already making a drink at the family’s home bar counter, or is quickly convinced to take up a mixing tin;

Senior names the drink he’ll be making, then makes it, while Junior films the process and provides captions to identify the ingredients;

Drink mixed, Senior toasts the camera, sometimes clinking glasses with his son.

Building a Brand, and a Business

“He’s a true entrepreneur, from high school through college,” says Senior proudly.

@johnrondi

Stuck inside on a snow day? MAKE A JOHNNY HOT COCOA! ☕️ ? #johnnydrinks #cocktails #bailey #hotcocoa #snowday #fyp #xyz #drinks

♬ Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Dean Martin

Father and Son, Having Fun

The article The Father-Son TikTok Duo Behind the Viral JohnnyDrinks Brand appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/johnnydrinks-profile-tiktok/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/the-father-son-tiktok-duo-behind-the-viral-johnnydrinks-brand

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news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog · 5 years

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This sex toy company uses niche meme accounts to spread the joys of masturbation

May is National Masturbation Month, and we're celebrating with Feeling Yourself, a series exploring the finer points of self-pleasure.

It's 2019, and people are finally starting to understand that it isn't just dudes who are allowed to be horny.

While social media platforms lag behind on allowing sponsored posts for vibrators and other sextech, one sex toy company is getting around these barriers by advertising through something more organic: meme accounts.

View this post on Instagram

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

A post shared by Unbound (@unboundbabes) on Apr 20, 2019 at 6:09pm PDT

Male sexual enhancement has long been advertised openly. Older men toss footballs and describe how Viagra rejuvenated their love lives. Condom ads run in the same traditionally masculine tone as whiskey and beer spots. Sure, we've seen ads for menstrual products, where overly cheery women spike volleyballs on the beach and sprint across stretches of wildflowers as if their uteri weren't betraying them at that very moment. But products focused on female sexual health — and on pleasure, specifically — remain shrouded in shame. Companies in the sextech space face difficulty securing funding for new products and often can't advertise using traditional channels.

As a result sex tech companies have increasingly relied on social media to promote their products. Aesthetically pleasing sex toys found a home on Instagram a while back. (Vox dove into the many companies whose minimalist earth-toned Instagram grids echo those of beauty and skincare brands.) But Unbound, a sexual wellness company founded in 2014, takes a different approach.

Leaning in to chaotic horniness

The company's Instagram grid is curated chaos. Unbound also posts ethereal portraits of female and non-binary fans with their toys, but the soul of its Instagram presence is in the memes about eating ass and canceling plans to play with yourself instead.

"When it comes to subjects that make us feel vulnerable," Unbound CEO Polly Rodriguez told Mashable during a phone call. "The best thing to make people more comfortable is to laugh at the truths we all know are real but maybe don't talk about."

Buying toys for the first time can be an intimidating experience, especially if you don't know what you're looking for. Traditionally, sex shops were crowded with overwhelmingly flesh-colored silicone molded into equally overwhelming phallic shapes. For decades, Rodriguez says, toys for women were designed by men, based on cis male genitals. When she was diagnosed with cancer and treatment forced her into menopause at the age of 21, a friend who was a nurse recommended buying a vibrator to get a hold of her sex drive again. Rodriguez says she, "questioned why they all had to look like penises."

SEE ALSO: How mutual masturbation can help close the orgasm gap

She added that the packaging on the toys depicted women "in lingerie with big boobs and the hair," and said she didn't see herself in them. Unbound products are more whimsical and otherworldly than conventionally sexy — one of its vibrators is literally shaped like an alien spaceship. Rodriguez says when it came to designing these toys, she wanted people to feel comfortable leaving it out on their nightstand.

The fact that Unbound's toys are rarely shaped like any sort of genital almost makes their Instagram page more approachable for first-time buyers who may be more timid about their desires. It also naturally paves the way for a more chaotically horny, relatable social media landscape.

View this post on Instagram

MEET SAUCY: a body-safe silicone vibrator with magnetic USB charging capabilities. Haptic response technology means the harder you squeeze, the harder it vibrates. Waterproof so u can rub one out while u rub-a-dub-dub 💦 LINK IN BIO 2 SHOP. 🛸💫💙

A post shared by Unbound (@unboundbabes) on Feb 18, 2019 at 3:44pm PST

"That mentality of not giving a fuck relates to a lot of the audience," Rodriguez said, explaining the company's shitpost-y Instagram presence. "We want to follow meme accounts because they make us laugh."

A shift in the spon con landscape

Although Unbound really started taking off in 2016, at the height of color-coordinated, well-planned grids, Instagram users are moving away from avocado toast and selfies against saturated mural walls. As the Atlantic noted in an article about the decline of the perfect Instagram grid, "Fast-rising young influencers such as Emma Chamberlain, Jazzy Anne, and Joanna Ceddia all reject the notion of a curated feed in favor of a messier and more unfiltered vibe."

Unbound was ahead of the times. When Glossier's millennial pink-themed grid was the gold standard for Instagram accounts, Rodriguez said she let her former intern and now social media manager Emily Malinowski take the wheel.

"Emily was like we're just gonna post some weird shit and see what happens," Rodriguez explained. "That's where Instagram's trending — people want lowbrow in experience but highbrow in intellect."

But while Unbound's messaging and aesthetic resonated with its audience, Instagram itself still has a long way to go when it comes to sex positivity. The platform doesn't allow Unbound to use typical advertising methods like promoted posts, Rodriguez says, and frequently removes posts it claims are inappropriate. She calls it a "double edged sword."

"On one hand Instagram rewards brands and accounts that really care about visual aesthetic," Rodriguez explained. "At the same time, Instagram is constantly taking down accounts, banning accounts ... And yet male sexual wellness brands are allowed to promote."

Which is why Unbound uses the more unconventional advertising tactic of partnering with meme accounts. Many brands, of course, reach out to influencers to promote their products. But doing spon con through memes, like Unbound is doing, is brilliant.

View this post on Instagram

i have two loves in my life and their names are gem and ollie💎💗 @unboundbabes just launched #UNArea69 and it’s amazingggg!! use the code barbie69 to get $10 off of $50+ from them and use the link in my bio

A post shared by ♏️ 🦂 scorpihoé 🦇♏️ (@prozac.barbie) on Jan 31, 2019 at 7:24pm PST

View this post on Instagram

Use my promo code 'clara' for 10% off orders of $35 or more at @unboundbabes ! Especially luv the bender bc it’s USB chargeable, and cute but powerful (and bendy, ofc). This is my ideal weekend honestly I wasted so much time on bad rebound sex before my vibe #ad

A post shared by clara (@meme_love_you_long_time) on Apr 30, 2019 at 7:27am PDT

View this post on Instagram

it’s a mEtApHySiCaL paradoxical law of science and physics and chemistry that u cannot escape, boys (vibrator wand featured is the Ollie by @unboundbabes, I have a code “ghosted69” for $10 off)

A post shared by haley (@ghosted1996) on Jan 31, 2019 at 4:21pm PST

Linda Lin found Unbound through the meme account @ghosted1996, and was drawn in by the fact that she didn't have to visit a "sleazy website" to buy sex toys.

"It made it seem like masturbation was normal to talk about," she said through Instagram DMs. "Seeing memes and small influencers promote this material makes you feel good about being open about your sexuality."

Hyacinth Rios was surprised that when they first bought an Unbound toy and posted about it, a friend reached out to ask how they liked it.

"I remember being surprised that someone who I considered to be like a normie or local (not that either is bad) would be open about sex toys," they said through Instagram DMs. "Which made me feel like it was probably super widely accepted now."

Normalizing masturbation through memes

The fact that Unbound advertises through meme accounts is so smart because it not only normalizes sex toys in a humorous, approachable way, but because it presents them on the ground level. Sure, masturbation can be a sexy experience for personal awakening and empowerment, but it can also be something you do when you're bored.

The memes depict masturbation as any other kind of self care, like popping on a face mask or blasting your favorite album. They aren't necessarily presented as wholesome — but the fact that so many of the memes are about spending a night smoking weed and flicking the bean out of boredom or distress is what makes masturbating seem so normal.

By establishing a presence through Instagram memes, Unbound gets around Instagram's draconian rules for images surrounding female pleasure and also finds its way right into the lap of young people who are over cis men getting to have all the fun.

"Meme accounts earn the respect of their audience because to be funny is difficult," Rodriguez concluded.

She notes that not everyone can nail down the art of meme making — if you get it, you get it, and if you don't, you don't. We've seen brands attempt to get in touch with the youth and fail miserably. But by going straight to the meme makers, Unbound lessens the risk of making an embarrassing gaff.

Masturbating isn't a big deal. Just ask the meme accounts of Instagram.

WATCH: Co-founder of Facebook now wants it broken up

#_author:Morgan Sung #_category:yct:001000002 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_uuid:40a00f5d-775b-39c3-b1bc-623ca036fc13 #_revsp:news.mashable

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secret-diary-of-an-fa · 4 years

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2020: The Year That ALMOST Saved Culture

CONTENT WARNING: Culture is fucked; COVID and death; cocaine and deceased hookers. You know, the usual.

So, before COVID rocked up and basically fucked everything, 2020 looked like it might be the year that legitimately saved cinematic (and potentially televisual) culture. For years- and I mean insufferable fucking years- big genre-oriented studios (both cinematic and televised) ignored long-time fans and established fan-bases in order to cater to a more mainstream audience with less abtruse, specific tastes. Ghostbusters 2016 thought that it could get away with sucking the wit and surprisingly downbeat verbal, character-driven humour out of the franchise, leaving only the slapstick shell with a lazy, gender-flipped gimmick to draw dipshits in like the dangling light on a deep sea angler fish. Star Trek: Discovery moved in the opposite direction, taking an earnest, hopeful series with a vast ensemble cast and tightening the focus around one bell-end while everyone bickered like fuckwits in the background in a bid to create a more pointlessly fraught mood that low-brow angst-havers could relate to. Hellboy 2019 traded touching, likeable characters and a world that balanced Lovecraftian darkness with off-the-cuff whimsy for overblown spectacle and flat characters (made worse by the fact the film purported to be truer to the original comics but had clearly missed the point). And you know what, I’m still in the camp that says the Disney-era Star Wars films were a pretentious waste of time that shat on the legacy of the original just as badly as the fucking awful prequels.

However, perhaps the saddest on-screen failure of the last few years was Justice League. Fuck. Justice League should have been great. A lot of people hated the darker, grimier take of the Snyder-helmed Man of Steel/ Batman v Superman/ etc early DCEU, but I- and a large, loyal fanbase besides- absolutely loved it. It was great to see a version of the superhero genre that played so confidently with the real-world consequences of superpowers and the concept of modern mythology. And then poor old Snyder couldn’t finish Justice League, because he suffered a bereavement and the studio took the opportunity to rope Joss Whedon into the project because he’s a more accessible, mainstream director (no offence to Whedon, incidentally- I actually love his work on his own fucking projects: he just shouldn’t have been near this one). The studio’s thinking seemed to be that getting A LOT OF MONEY from a loyal fanbase of die-hard supporters wasn’t sufficient and they’d rather have ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, courtesy of a vast sea of mainstream consumers. Predictably, the film was a tonally-inconsistent mess and didn’t even make a lot of money, because (unlike die-hard fans) mainstream film-goers are flighty culture-hussies with no staying power who are easily distracted by every shiny object to bounce through their peripheral vision. The whole DCEU was forced to re-tool its direction and we got some good films out of it (most notably Shazam!, which just kicked a million times more arse than it had any right to), but the dream of an actual mature, nuanced, mythically-resonant superhero project with big cinema bucks behind it died on the vine.

Bascially, between the shitty virtue-signalling of gender-flipped sci-fi reboots, the over-the-top edgelord grimwashing of niche, charming little fantasies and the neutering of genuinely dark and complex budding superhero universes, the genre landscape at the end of 2019 was a fucking wasteland populated by horrible, poorly-conceived mutant franchises with terminally damaged DNA and no real sense of unique identity. Even the Terminator series finally seemed to be dying, and after so many bad movies and comebacks, I think we’d all just assumed that one was unkillable. Culturally, us nerds were in the shit. It was the eleventh hour and the cavalry weren’t coming.

Then something remarkable and quite possibly unprecedented happened. The big money folks behind the major studios stopped acting like the arrogant, charmless, talentless fuckwads that they are and instead (let jaws drop across the world) actually listened to fans! Not ‘audiences’, in that horribly amorphous and meaningless sense of the word, but the actual fucking fans. The studio bosses actually stopped snorting cocaine off of dead hookers for a minute and took the time to make a good decision. It started, rather grandly, with a sequel to a new Ghostbusters film... except this one wasn’t going to be a reboot or a retelling with a more air-headed script and a cast more palatable to modern audiences. Instead, it was to be a sequel to the original 80s films that specifically erased the 2016 reboot and refocused on characters who- while updated for the modern world- could still be more closely identified with the fans who loved the originals than whatever insane what-stupid-people-want checklist the 2016 berks were working from.

Other smaller things were happening at around the same time. Notably, towards the end of 2019, a truly lovely ten-year-old zombie comedy called Zombieland got a long overdue sequel that was entirely in the spirit of the original with no ridiculous attempt to bring it up-to-date, while adverts for the next installment of the semi-dormant Kingsman series started cropping up at the beginning of 2020. As isolated incidents, these things were just flashes in the pan: little positives in a cultural landscape of mind-squanching negativity. Contextualised by the arrival of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, they pointed towards a genre film industry that realised (at least on some level) something had gone terribly, terribly wrong and was edging its way back to a previous era of film-making from before everything when terribly, terribly wrong.

Then, the icing on the cake: the release of the Justice League Snyder Cut was finally announced. Zacky-boy was going to be allowed to finish his own fucking film (albeit, probably, in the form of a six-part miniseries) and the superhero genre was going to gain, at the very least, a last hoorah for the abortive darker-mythic project started in Man of Steel and, at the very most, a whole new timeline to keep that dream alive. I can’t really express my feelings on The Snyder Cut in a single paragraph- I’m gonna need to take a whole blog entry for that one, which I will do, soon. Suffice it to say, I was a very happy bunny.

Then COVID happened. 2020 was supposed to be the year to fix everything- or at least, all the things that could be fixed (Doctor Who was still broken beyond repair and, outside of the cultural sphere, the world was still fucked, with an upper class twit in 10 Downing Street and an evil cheesy whatsit in the Whitehouse). But, with cinemas closing and the production of new cultural artefacts getting bottlenecked by the sudden demobilisation of content creators, the high hopes that 2020 brought with it started to evaporate.

Britain is just now coming out of Lockdown (too early to be safe, by the way- did I mention we have a twit for a Prime Minister?) and that could be... interesting. You see, while coming out of Lockdown midway through the year before a vaccine is ready might be a very bad thing for humans, it could be a pretty good thing for culture, because it gives us time to play catch-up. There’s still time to release the films and miniseries that we need to start healing the liminal dustbowl that genre fiction has become. Here’s hoping that we can still salvage that at least. I mean, it’s no substitute for saveing actual humans from the crisis, but the situation we have is the situation we have and we might as well make the best of it. Roll on the fucking Snyder Cut.

#Secret Diary of a Fat Admirer

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cynthiajayusa · 5 years

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Kyle MacLachlan Talks New Gay Dad Role, Reaching LGBTQ Youth

In Giant Little Ones, actor Kyle MacLachlan plays a gay divorced dad named Ray Winter parenting a distant teenage son, Franky (Josh Wiggins), who’s grappling with his own sexual identity. I repeat: Kyle MacLachlan, a gay dad. The 60-year-old actor’s range knows absolutely no bounds, inhabiting diversified worlds and traversing genre, from comedy to drama, from soapy to supernatural.

MacLachlan’s first major role was in David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune (soon, Call Me By Your Name actor Timothée Chalamet will be slipping into MacLachlan’s stillsuit for the forthcoming remake) and two years later, in 1986, he collaborated with the screen auteur again on Blue Velvet, starring alongside Isabella Rossellini. But it was Lynch’s early-’90s cult TV series Twin Peaks that arguably made MacLachlan a marquee name (in 2017, he reprised his role as Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks: The Return).

In his three decades in TV and film and on stage, MacLachlan has played a city official based on first big-city openly gay Mayor Sam Adams, Fred Flintstone’s boss, the guy who fucks Nomi Malone in a swimming pool, Riley’s dad in Inside Out, Charlotte’s husband on Sex and the City, Bree Van de Kamp’s husband on Desperate Housewives, and because why the hell not: Cary Grant’s ghost. Starring in writer-director Keith Behrman’s Giant Little Ones as Helpful Gay Dad was really just an inevitably, but for MacLachlan, Ray is a warm hug of a role he deeply feels is important. One that, as a parent himself, even hits close to home.

Here, the actor talks about raising his son, Callum, much like Ray Winter does, gay fans who slip into his DMs and bears who love his rosé.

youtube

You’ve played dads before. But what about Ray spoke to you differently?

He had a journey in this as well, which I liked. It was really about the connection with his son, and at that age it’s very difficult and made even more challenging by the fact that the parents are separated. Under the circumstances, Franky just doesn’t know what to think or what to say, and I like that (Ray) really hung in there. I think in the original draft he was maybe a little more demanding, and so we kind of softened that a little bit. There are still those issues, but it was really important to me to feel like Ray was there and he wasn’t gonna go anywhere and to remain as non-judgmental as possible.

His presence is always felt, but he’s able to give his kid space at the same time. I appreciated that he tells his son to focus on who you’re drawn to and not what to call it, essentially letting him know that sexuality is a spectrum. How did that resonate with you?

That was a really nice piece of writing on Keith’s part, I thought. Again, trying not to judge. Especially at that age, I remember for myself just kind of trying to find where you fit in, what you’re good at, what you’re not good at, who’s your group. There’s lots and lots of questions and insecurities that are masked by a false sense of identity or control or “I don’t want to hear what you say, I’ve got it figured out myself.” The idea of just being present, it’s the way I approach the relationship with my son, the not judging. I’m not going at it trying to make him into something he doesn’t want to be.

You were the stepfather of a gay son, Andrew Van de Kamp, on Desperate Housewive. Who does the better job parenting a queer kid: Orson Hodge or Ray Winter?

(Laughs) Orson, bless his heart. You know, he had good intentions, and there was an understanding there at attempting to connect. I don’t think Orson was ever comfortable in that role. I think Ray is more conscious and he’s a champion, in some ways, for anyone who’s being judged. In this particular case, it’s “hang on a second.” He’s sort of about turning the page: “Let’s look at this and what’s really happening here.” I liked that. And he does it with an inner strength and a firmness, but it’s not without a wry sense of humor, and that I liked about him too.

youtube

When were your eyes first opened to having an LGBTQ following?

I think it was probably with Blue Velvet, I guess. Thematically it expected so much of the audience and it told a story that was so unusual and so true. That sort of started it, but I think with the advent of social media, suddenly it’s really obvious and present. And it’s great.

How has it become obvious through social media?

Just through comments, and its fun to read and great to feel the support. And then because so much of it is built around David Lynch, there’s a real shorthand just in terms of terminology and phrases, and because of David’s visuals and his images and his dialogue, of course.

I have a friend who says Blue Velvet was responsible for his sexual awakening. Is that what gay fans tell you on Twitter?

(Laughs) Maybe not quite so personal! But you know, that’s film. Film is all about experiencing something and having your eyes opened, and I think that film in particular was about that; the exploration of it and the themes of it were so interesting, and they hadn’t really been dealt with that much.

What kind of attention did Showgirls get you from the LGBTQ community?

(Laughs) I don’t think it found its camp niche until a little bit later. It had to go through the “Oh my god, this is perhaps one of the worst films ever made” reaction and then people sort of said, “I think it was, in a way, a guilty pleasure.” Then that began to grow, and there’s a true hardcore following of it and that’s really fun. I’ve never said, “Oh yeah, in fact, actually, that was the intention,” or, “Oh yeah, it’s a great film” – it’s not a great film. But it succeeds at a level that I think is still entertaining and fun. And why not? That’s our business.

youtube

I was at a gay bar once and they were showing Showgirls on all the TVs. When you shot that film, did you expect for it to live on in the LGBTQ community like it has?

I think we all entered into the film – certainly, I did – looking at the creative side of it. So you had really talented people – (director) Paul Verhoeven, obviously – and I think his intention was to do something that was sort of hard and cutting-edge and exposé and I think it kind of got away from him a little bit and became something else that was unexpected. But at the same time, we’ve all embraced it and said, “This is where it went,” and I gotta say, the film was probably gonna have a much longer life because of how it ended up than if it hadn’t. If it was a film that we intended to make, it would’ve been great and fine and OK, but now, it will live on forever.

Particularly at gay bars.

At least there! And midnight showings!

For 2004’s rom-com Touch of Pink, what was special about portraying the ghost of Cary Grant who gives advice to a gay Muslim man?

It was really fun. First of all, just the research alone was great. Getting to watch all the films, reading up about him, who he was as a person and the business side of things in Hollywood and how he really, really created this persona, which I think he tried to get away from but it was what he was known for. So I loved the research of it.

And the director, Ian (Iqbal Rashid), whose story this actually was, was so lovely and I see him occasionally when I’m in London. He’s just a terrific person and a very, very talented director, and I was flattered. He had actually seen me on the stage doing a new play with Woody Harrelson and I don’t quite know how he got there from that performance (laughs), but he thought I’d be perfect. So that’s a pretty big mantle to try to take on, and so we sort of softened that a little bit and said he’s more the spirit of Cary Grant – he’s not exactly Cary Grant. But I enjoyed stepping in those shoes and trying out that language and that kind of attitude and that whole thing. And it’s got a beautiful message, and just the ending when he has to let go, it’s very touching, I think.

In 2018, you were honored with a Dorian acting award by GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, for Twin Peaks: The Return, and in 2009, Desperate Housewives received Outstanding Comedy Series from GLAAD. Is there something special or distinct about having your work acknowledged by LGBTQ audiences and organizations?

Yeah, those stories, if they can speak to a community and there’s a resonance there, that’s the goal of this. They should be universal, but I think that if there’s a relationship that can be created then we’re doing a good job; something that’s worthwhile that creates an emotional response and a connection, that’s really what you want. I mean, that’s what I want.

You played the mayor of Portland in Portlandia. Do you think that character would make a good mayor of Twin Peaks or Wisteria Lane?

(Laughs) He wasn’t a really good mayor – but he was incredibly enthusiastic! I think that was the fun of it: He always got things a little bit wrong but they kind of ultimately ended up OK, with the help of Fred (Armisen) and Carrie (Brownstein), certainly. But, oh god, at least it would be a lot of fun to have him as a mayor of any community, I think.

Why haven’t we seen you in more openly gay roles?

(Laughs) It’s a good question. You know, the work just kind of comes, and it’s one of those things where once it sort of filters through a little bit of whatever it does in Hollywood it finds its way into my inbox and you take a look at it.

Have there been gay roles you’ve turned down?

It’s always about the quality of the material, so if it there was, it just wasn’t worth telling.

But then you read something like Giant Little Ones.

And you know that it is a beautiful story. I had the reaction that everyone had: This is a story that needed to be told, and for any kids out there who are having this kind of “I don’t know, I don’t know” and they don’t have anywhere to turn, it’s like, well, we’re not the answer, but we’re at least an experience to say, “You’re not alone.”

And a reminder to your own son that his dad is OK with whomever he becomes or wants to be.

In fact, he attends a school in New York and it’s all about that. It’s all about the acceptance of everyone, and it’s a wonderful thing to watch because that wasn’t my experience growing up. Public schools, small town, very conservative. Not unlike the situation of Franky, there was a lot of “however tough you are” and “whatever sports you play,” those are your identifiers. It’s nice that he’s having a completely different experience.

In your spare time, you are a winemaker. Are gay men some of your most loyal rosé buyers?

(Laughs) I should hope so, for god’s sake! Rosé is one of those crazy things: It just keeps expanding and people love it and now it’s not just for summer anymore, it’s not just for the Hamptons anymore. It can be year-round and, yeah, it’s been really fun. And yeah, very supportive.

In a queer context “bear” means a hairy, chubby gay man, so it can’t hurt that “Pursued by Bear” is the name of your brand.

You know, I was really going after the Shakespeare play, obviously, but yeah, not unaware and I thought, that’s kind of funny. There’ve been occasions where I’ve met a few guys – bears, you know – and they’ve said, “Oh yeah, I’ve got this in my cellar.” And it cracks me up! I’m like, “Fantastic, I’m glad you like it.” Its good wine and it should be enjoyed.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/03/27/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role-reaching-lgbtq-youth/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2019/03/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role_27.html

0 notes

demitgibbs · 5 years

Text

Kyle MacLachlan Talks New Gay Dad Role, Reaching LGBTQ Youth

Here, the actor talks about raising his son, Callum, much like Ray Winter does, gay fans who slip into his DMs and bears who love his rosé.

youtube

You’ve played dads before. But what about Ray spoke to you differently?

You were the stepfather of a gay son, Andrew Van de Kamp, on Desperate Housewive. Who does the better job parenting a queer kid: Orson Hodge or Ray Winter?

youtube

When were your eyes first opened to having an LGBTQ following?

How has it become obvious through social media?

I have a friend who says Blue Velvet was responsible for his sexual awakening. Is that what gay fans tell you on Twitter?

What kind of attention did Showgirls get you from the LGBTQ community?

youtube

I was at a gay bar once and they were showing Showgirls on all the TVs. When you shot that film, did you expect for it to live on in the LGBTQ community like it has?

Particularly at gay bars.

At least there! And midnight showings!

For 2004’s rom-com Touch of Pink, what was special about portraying the ghost of Cary Grant who gives advice to a gay Muslim man?

You played the mayor of Portland in Portlandia. Do you think that character would make a good mayor of Twin Peaks or Wisteria Lane?

Why haven’t we seen you in more openly gay roles?

Have there been gay roles you’ve turned down?

It’s always about the quality of the material, so if it there was, it just wasn’t worth telling.

But then you read something like Giant Little Ones.

And a reminder to your own son that his dad is OK with whomever he becomes or wants to be.

In your spare time, you are a winemaker. Are gay men some of your most loyal rosé buyers?

In a queer context “bear” means a hairy, chubby gay man, so it can’t hurt that “Pursued by Bear” is the name of your brand.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/03/27/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role-reaching-lgbtq-youth/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/183750970250

0 notes

hotspotsmagazine · 5 years

Text

Kyle MacLachlan Talks New Gay Dad Role, Reaching LGBTQ Youth

Here, the actor talks about raising his son, Callum, much like Ray Winter does, gay fans who slip into his DMs and bears who love his rosé.

youtube

You’ve played dads before. But what about Ray spoke to you differently?

You were the stepfather of a gay son, Andrew Van de Kamp, on Desperate Housewive. Who does the better job parenting a queer kid: Orson Hodge or Ray Winter?

youtube

When were your eyes first opened to having an LGBTQ following?

How has it become obvious through social media?

I have a friend who says Blue Velvet was responsible for his sexual awakening. Is that what gay fans tell you on Twitter?

What kind of attention did Showgirls get you from the LGBTQ community?

youtube

I was at a gay bar once and they were showing Showgirls on all the TVs. When you shot that film, did you expect for it to live on in the LGBTQ community like it has?

Particularly at gay bars.

At least there! And midnight showings!

For 2004’s rom-com Touch of Pink, what was special about portraying the ghost of Cary Grant who gives advice to a gay Muslim man?

You played the mayor of Portland in Portlandia. Do you think that character would make a good mayor of Twin Peaks or Wisteria Lane?

Why haven’t we seen you in more openly gay roles?

Have there been gay roles you’ve turned down?

It’s always about the quality of the material, so if it there was, it just wasn’t worth telling.

But then you read something like Giant Little Ones.

And a reminder to your own son that his dad is OK with whomever he becomes or wants to be.

In your spare time, you are a winemaker. Are gay men some of your most loyal rosé buyers?

In a queer context “bear” means a hairy, chubby gay man, so it can’t hurt that “Pursued by Bear” is the name of your brand.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/03/27/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role-reaching-lgbtq-youth/

0 notes

a-breton · 6 years

Text

Fundamentals Are Essential for Content Success

“That guy is gonna kill us.”

I was 19, just starting to find my rhythm – as a man and, more importantly to my ego, as a basketball player. I watched as a 6-foot-2-inch chiseled dude strode onto the court at Trinity College in Hartford. We were playing pickup like we always did after classes, just around 4. Nine of us had been casually shooting and Muscles McGee made it a perfect 10.

“That guy is gonna kill us,” I thought. “Just look at him.”

Tall, strong, and with all the right gear: a jersey made of some new-age material, an arm sleeve like LeBron James wears during games, and, come to think of it, LeBron’s latest shoes too. The guy just plain looked like a great player.

Then the game started and we realized: He was awful. He looked the part, but when it was time to ball he couldn’t even play.

I still don’t know his name. Today, I just call him Average Content Marketer.

See, average content marketers are far too concerned with looking like they can do the job. They endlessly research all the tech, tactics, and tools. They obsess over the latest gurus and experts, retweeting and repurposing the thinking. They know all the growth hacks and sound so very smart when presenting their ideas to their teams or boards.

But then the game starts and it’s obvious: They can’t play. They’ve forgotten what this work is all about, focusing more on the incremental stuff instead of the fundamentals. Average content marketers love the tips and tricks, the cheats and hacks, the gurus and the get-there-quick schemes. They obsess over gaming the system and laud the new trends. (Quick: What was 2017 the “year of” again? Did it even matter, like, at all?)

Average content marketers love tips, tricks, cheats, hacks, gurus, & get-there-quick schemes. @JayAcunzo Click To Tweet

We need to reset this industry to first principles – and fast. First principles are best principles and best principles are simply more important best practices.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Road Map to Success: Resources to Refresh Your Content Marketing Program

Focus on the fundamental, not incremental

There’s a way of thinking popularized by the great Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame: reasoning from first principles. The idea is simple to understand, hard to execute: Rather than rely on conventional wisdom to inform your logic, distill something to its fundamental truths – i.e., “first principles” – to develop your own thinking. The concept of “first principles” comes from physics, referring to the basic but hard-to-reach truths about the world.

Ol’ Muscles McGee had all the right gear and looked pretty darn professional as a basketball player, but then the game started and he couldn’t play. But playing basketball is what basketball is. Similarly, when content marketers, say, launch a podcast, most will ask experts about the right technology, the right distribution techniques, or the right way to measure the success of a show. But when it’s time to record, how many are any good on a microphone? How many even think about it? But being good on a microphone is what podcasting is.

I’ve watched companies build expensive in-house studios before launching their podcasts. Why in the world would you do this before ensuring that a podcast was worth your or your audience’s time? Why not invest that same money into training your host to be the world’s greatest or researching your audience members to know them more intimately? That studio is incremental, not fundamental.

As an industry, we’re losing our way in content marketing. We’re losing touch with what all this stuff is actually about, drowning in tips and tricks and how-to guides. We have to clear away the conventional wisdom and trendy new tactics that clutter our view.

What if we focused on the fundamentals instead? What if we paid more attention and clung more tightly to best principles instead of best practices?

Luckily, we’re surrounded by examples of those who have done exactly that. They can inspire us and empower us to break from our obsession with a nice, neat, packaged list of tips.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Road Map to Success: Creating the Content of Your Audience’s Dreams

B2C marketing with the queen of the porcelain throne

To more bashful crowds, Suzy Batiz introduces herself as the CEO. To her team, however, she’s the PEO. “I’m the poo executive officer,” she told me in an interview on my podcast, Unthinkable.

Suzy is the founder and C/PEO of Poo-Pourri, one of the most hilarious and successful consumer brands and content marketing powerhouses that we rarely cite inside our echo chamber. From its comical viral videos taking the piss out of everybody’s poo problems to its recent book The Woo of Poo (I can’t make this stuff up), the marketers at Poo-Pourri are masters of steering into the skid. (Too much?)

All of this started when Suzy made a simple observation about one very smelly problem. Her brother-in-law had just emerged from the bathroom during a party and lamented to Suzy, “Why can’t we figure out how to deal with odor properly?” Being a lifelong entrepreneur, Suzy couldn’t stop wondering if there was a better way to solve this problem. But to solve the problem she first had to understand it. She had to reach the first principle of the matter.

She realized, “(Odor) is airborne. Once the odor is created, it’s going out into the air. So I was curious to figure out if we could address the problem before it starts.” Over the next few months, she formulated a new type of spray. It wasn’t an odor-masking spray, like Febreze, but an odor-trapping spray. You simply spray the product onto the water before you go and the oily film it creates then traps odors below the surface. They never even reach the air.

Here’s how Suzy applied that first-principle insight to her marketing:

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She cut through the conventional wisdom used by her competitors to examine the details of her world in a more foundational way. She found the first-principle insight and, by addressing it, has created raving fans and generated more than $300 million in sales to date.

“It’s kind of all ridiculous,” Suzy said. “It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve made millions of dollars selling poo spray.’ It’s like some cosmic joke.”

And the punchline? Build your company – and your content – around the first principle of the problem you aim to solve and you’ll resonate more deeply with customers.

Build #content around the 1st principle of the problem you aim to solve & resonate more deeply. @JayAcunzo Click To Tweet

By publishing content that explores this first principle – particularly how your customers relate to this central truth – you demonstrate not only that you understand the problem better than anyone else but also understand them.

But best principles don’t merely apply to direct-to-consumer companies. They can be transformative in even the most competitive B2B niches.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Ways to Shift Your Thinking to Truly Focus on Your Audience

B2B marketing with design disruptors

InVision – one of dozens of companies that sell prototyping and project collaboration tools to software designers – has somehow separated from the pack. It didn’t do it by buying some advanced technology. It didn’t do it by studying the sneakiest tricks or smartest best practices. InVision is beating the competition because of a first-principle insight about its customers.

It began when marketing manager Clair Byrd was busy creating case studies for the company. In almost every interview she conducted, she noticed a strange trend: InVision’s customers got defensive. While they clearly loved their jobs, they kept justifying at length why product design was so crucial to modern tech companies. It was clear that something deeper was happening, so Clair investigated this problem further.

By spending more time with InVision customers, as well as asking them why they get so defensive, she realized that “product designer” simply wasn’t a common title. Whereas InVision wanted its customers to talk about how they created their designs (the action InVision’s product enables), the customers wanted to talk about something else: the need for product design to create an identity in the business world.

Clair had reached the first-principle insight, using it to inform all her work in marketing. She knew she couldn’t create another average case study. And so, to rally an entire industry around the brand and to help provide an identity to a career path, Clair and her team created Design Disruptors, an hour-long documentary film featuring some of the world’s best design thinkers from companies like Google, Facebook, MailChimp, Airbnb, Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Spotify, Dropbox, and more.

youtube

But here’s the thing: InVision never released this film publicly. Instead, through both the work of its team and volunteers in its audience, InVision premiered the documentary in offline community meetups – over 1,000 across more than 450 cities worldwide. In total, the documentary generated 70,000 highly qualified leads from some of the hardest-to-reach companies in the world, all of whom now look to InVision to lead their industry. In one year, InVision doubled its total product users and, to date, has raised over $155 million in venture capital funding, making it the most well-capitalized company in its crowded space.

Design Disruptors was a large and expensive project. It might seem crazy to film a documentary instead of a series of case studies, but that view is the product of conventional wisdom – that content marketing is about selling tools, marketing features and benefits, and creating PDFs and how-to articles. That’s what I call “last-mile marketing” and, too often, marketers focus on only those moments immediately before someone decides to buy. Instead, if marketers ran with them every step of the way, that last mile would seem like a no-brainer for them to take with the brand or product in mind.

If marketers ran w/ prospects at every step, the last mile would be a no-brainer for them to take. @JayAcunzo Click To Tweet

In other words, Clair knew she had to solve the fundamental problem (product designers needed an identity) before InVision’s marketing team could address the incremental problem (product designers need tools). It’s a logical argument, not an innovative idea: If product design lacks an identity, companies won’t understand its value. If companies don’t understand its value, they won’t prioritize product design. If companies don’t prioritize product design, they won’t provide budget or buy tools. To get to that last part and make it more likely to happen, InVision had to address the first principle.

What if we did the same in our industries too?

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Symantec Wins at Content by Responding to Its Audience

How to Use Documentary Filmmaking Techniques to Craft Memorable Content

You see, but do you observe?

Sherlock Holmes would tsk-tsk the entire content marketing community right now if he could only see the way it behaves – or, yanno, if he was a real person. His famous quote cuts to the core of the issue: “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.”

As an industry, we see things and collect data and create and promote content all the time, but do we stop and think critically? Do we ask why? Do we ask anything – like anything at all? Or do we cling to the best practices and latest trends, acting without understanding?

Content marketers see things. Collect data. Create content. But do you stop & think critically? @JayAcunzo Click To Tweet

Do we see or do we observe? That is the content marketing conundrum today. We experience it all the time. When we applaud each other for saying things like, “Focus on the audience,” or “Write blog posts for people, not search engines,” we’re tipping our hand. We’re revealing we’re so focused on the incremental stuff that the fundamentals now seem brilliant. But they shouldn’t. They should be table stakes. And knowing the root of the problem we set out to solve – both with the product or service and the content we produce – should also be table stakes, as should knowing the real reason the audience would read or listen or watch or share or, of course, purchase.

Nobody buys a poo spray. They buy confidence that they won’t be embarrassed. Nobody buys design software. They buy the certainty that their work matters in the business world. The self- and situational awareness that comes with finding first-principle insights in our work far outstrips anything that can be listed in a blog post, ultimate guide, or tutorial video.

Know your customers, know your craft, and, most importantly, know yourself. These are the foundations of good work and these can’t be hacked or gamed. There is no shortcut, no app for that. First principles are found through investigation, through daily detective work into your environments. Experts know absolutes, but investigators use evidence and, in doing so, find better ideas than any best practices can provide.

Know your customers, know your craft, and, most importantly, know yourself, says @JayAcunzo. Click To Tweet

Sure, throw on a headband and lace up those sweet, new LeBron shoes. Buy some drinks built by science and some protein bars too. Do everything you need to do to look like you can do this stuff. But when the game starts, just remember: You better know how to play.

Game on.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Do You Know Your Why? Your Content Marketing Success Depends on It

A version of this article originally appeared in the August issue of  Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription to our print magazine every quarter.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

from http://bit.ly/2Ez7bNj

#Online Marketing

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incarnateirony · 4 years

Text

I get blends of innocent beans confused with what queer coding is or isn’t, and malignant beans misappropriating points, so we’re gonna do a quick run through.

Queer coding started as a malignant thing. The truest use of the phrase “queer coding” came from stereotypes and villainizations that straight people found sCaRy. This is like, why Scar seemed classically flamboiyant, or a variety of Disney villains were long, lanky, gestured exaggeratedly, wore eyeliner, etc. There’s a million examples but I’m not going to cover them all because I think you get what I mean. At the time, straight culture was painting gays as bad so painting villains as how straights perceived gays was like, super useful, cuz it creeped the straights out oOOoooOOo.

When people talk about queer coding enforcing stereotypes, if you’re talking about the original form of queer coding, this is inherently true. However, coding reached other levels, and has adaptive forms.

For example, watching (as I’ve been mocked for saying 10,000 times, but because it’s needed) The Celluloid Closet will clear up a lot for you. Subversive queer coding is when queer creators use a great deal of things to communicate with a queer audience past censorship. The film documentary (if you can’t read the book -- which I understand, it’s difficult to find) clears a whole fuckton of this up.

There’s some things that, quite frankly, we as gays know as part of our language. It is what it is. While it’s not a stereotype, it’s quite literally a language I highly warn straights against stepping into, because then they flounder around confused on what’s our actual language and what’s a stereotype

A truly innocent bean asked of me yesterday, well why then is menthols fair subversive queer coding? How is that not a stereotype?

Well like, because it’s facts. And that’s really, really hard to wrap ones’ head around from an outsider straighty perspective or even someone who’s queer but trapped heavily in a hetnorm world outside of where this is visible and/or in the wrong demographic otherwise. A black person who hangs out with black people of all orientations is not going to blink at a media dude getting menthols generally, because it’s one of the cultures that statistically engages in it to the point of memes about Kools or whatever. That’s not my culture, I can’t comment on much beyond that, but it’s just something to take note of.

But even if you don’t want to take someone’s word on “no, seriously, white dudes smoking menthols is queer culture and literally like a great sign for a hookup to another queer white dude”, google the various intersections of gender and menthol, race and menthol, and sexuality and menthol.

This isn’t pulled out of thin air. These were populations quite literally heavily targeted by Big Tobacco and, by nature, are the ones that smoke it, whereas Big Tobacco put(s) on airs of masculinity and chick-magnetness to smoke good ol non-menthol shit. It’s literally marketing. Yes, it does literally impact who buys product and yes, it does after generations have a noticeable affect. Track the numbers I told you to google down and you’ll realize less than 3% of menthol smokers identify as straight white men (depending on the way the numbers sort out and the year of polling, often 1.x%, 3% is the liberal number).. Lemme tell you, on the street, that’s an “okay, honey :)” when you do find it. Maybe a little pat on the head. An invisible brochure for Welcome To The Gays. Like, White Men make up more than 31% of America and they still refuse to tally more than 25% of the US as queer [some censuses as low as 6% and LOL] so like-- that should be like minimum 25% of dudes available and nope, 1-3%)

(that’s not to say all gays or even all white gays smoke menthol, but this is that rule of “not all fingers are thumbs, but all thumbs are fingers” in loose application.)

But understanding these things, these signals, from the outside is utterly flabbergasting to people.

No, someone making an immasculating joke is not subversive queer coding. No, a dude wearing a certain kind of shirt or eating a certain kind of food generally isn’t queer coding (Unless it’s a rainbow flag BITCH IM GAY shirt, or uh, maybe for food quiche or hummus? I mostly joke for the latter two, but that’s the kind of self ball punching queer community sometimes does to itself in awareness that yes, there ARE elements. No, eating hot dogs and burritos isn’t gay. Yes, we make make penis jokes. No, that isn’t itself queer coding.)

When a queer author codes a piece, it’s designed to communicate to the resonant audience. It also may not communicate to /all/ gays. The language of a middle aged cis gay man that lived through the AIDS crisis is a whole other fuckin adventure from the language of 17 year old trans gays squatting behind their Xbox, it’s just fact, it’s just what is. Completely different cultures and lives being lived, completely different experiences resulting. A few things here or there may connect across generations but some shit that’s written by a gen Z gay is gonna whiff by a boomer gay, sorry. Also just facts.

Explaining exactly what is and isn’t queer coding is almost impossible beyond the fact that “if you don’t get it, it’s probably not for you.” -- At the same time, that leaves the problematic room of people taking that grey area and packing in a bunch of shit and we’re back to ground zero on the original problematic queer coding.

I once read a meta of uh-- I’ll just say, [Fantasy Character]. The fantasy character had an addiction problem that gave them villain-like attributes. Someone implied the “villain coding” made it queer coding. Okay like. Fucking absolutely not. Because if the show in question WAS doing that, first off, that’s literally the kind to make mockeries of gay people so you literally shouldn’t be reaching for that and second off they’d be doing that lanky sassy bitch with eyeliner bullshit like Disney villains with it, give or take. You don’t apply this shit in reverse, “he has villain attributes and so he’s gay” is literally the worst possible angle to take a discussion while trying to slap fight in a representation arena. Like I can’t say enough DO NOT DO THIS SHIT.

If you wanna write fic or headcanon whoever as gay or whatever have fun but like once people keep trying to talk about “coding” you’re talking about conscious elements inset by the authors. Does a character have a bunch of on the record sexual encounters that just happen to include dudes persistently even if we don’t exactly get the exact angle or Proof Of Dicking? That’s gay (also depending on the phrasing, as settled in older stuff, that’s just deadass queer text and settled long before this fandom ever had pissing matches about this shit in older cinema.) Does the character happen to be respectful and use like gender neutral pronouns on people? Sorry folks that unto itself isn’t gay, that’s gays writing allies at best, unless you can give specific and directly applicable situations relevant to the character rather than eternally vague blogging through and swearing up and down it’s just about their partners or some shit. Yelling it in general though, sorry, no.

Does the character engage in things or events with non-het gendered partners that in the very least are heavily coded into the areas of relationships even if they’re unclear (eg, do they routinely go out with non-family people and hold deep or meaningful conversations in things that LOOK like a date, even if nobody SAYS it’s a date) -- congrats, you have coded text. Alone it could even be queerplat stuff, depending on the suprastructure of the plot, text, subtext and everything else around it (same way, gasp, a man and a woman can sit at a table and not necessarily be in a relationship, but if they’re trading courting gifts and having unique and powerful exchanges or have big like, “the heart is the thing that binds us together uwu” shit, we all figure out what the fuck is going on like grown assed adults.)

It’s easier to list things that are NOT subversive queer coding:

Insults against gay people

Immasculating commentary

Random foods short of it deadass being a gay author making fun of some gay meme shit in some gay equivalent of ‘right in front of my salad’

Favorite colors or clothing

---

We got it? Good. Rule of thumb though. Deadass unless you are involved in some thick-ass queer culture don’t try to queer code shit. I don’t even care if you’re queer yourself because that doesn’t mean you’ve actually been subject to the culture in a meaningful way. There’s 30 year old bis that grew up in white picket fence suburbias on top of trust funds with hovercraft parents guiding them through 17 degrees and keeping them out of party culture that married a het-passing relationship and settled down and started having babies and their grasp of queer culture ends at what they perceive out of memes online, if they even hover in actual queer crowds online at all as much as general ones. That person literally is not going to speak much of the language. They aren’t. At best they’ll speak the language of 30 year old trust fund het-married bisexual mothers which, I mean yeah, technically some queer language but that’s a very, very fucking niche experience path right there compared to street-dwelling club-goers that attend pride, hold D&D parties with all their coworkers they figured out are gay on the weekend, occasionally brick a window in a riot. The latter is gonna have a far more diverse queer experience. And by such, a far more diverse queer language.

That’s not even to gatekeep. 30 year old trust fund het-passing-marriage bi-mom is in fact bi. So yeah, they’re queer. But we’re talking about language and culture, which is related to but not something you inherit. It comes by lives and experiences.

And I think this is where a LOT of the fucked up early Queer Coding fuckery comes from in discourse. Yes we have a language. Hell, to some extent a few things might even kinda BE stereotypes but there’s a certain amount of living and being where you know the difference between “this is a stereotype made by straight people villainizing us that has no idea what we’re fucking like” or “this is a stereotype born out of mass marketing that targeted and victimized then imprinted on an entire population that we’ve come to recognize among ourselves.” Or even “this is a stereotype but FUCK YES it’s one we embrace, go get fucked, straights.” And it’s not NEARLY as ambiguous as fandom circle jerks try to make these things out to be in the interest of wanting every interpretation to be valid or every character to be gay or not wanting to admit some person may know what the fuck they’re talking about more than they do.

Huge point on that last one though, because like. I’ve seen some angry straights that are pissy about the show try to throw wrenches in the gears by concern trolling as if in defense of the gays about “offensive queer coding” and most of the time they’re basically that “how do you do fellow kids gays” meme. “How do you do gays I am very concerned about *checks notes* the twitters talking about gay men walking fast” and half the time turn around like two tweets later like “besides the character doesn’t even have a lisp anyway” or some bullshit that is outright offensive ass stereotyping while they’re out here trolling over the fact that a gay man admits to diva worship as a cultural trait.

General rule of thumb: ask a queer culture immersed gay about queer coding.

Shipping culture in the blue hellsite is not queer culture, for the record. Even if a bunch of queerfolk are in it.

Thanks.

Sincerely,

A very tired gay

#supernatural #spn #fandom #queer coding

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topicprinter · 7 years

Link

Note: I originally posted this guide in this sub a few days ago, but it was sent to mod jail. The links have been removed with all the original information intact!If you want to view the original blog post, and for more content like this, you can click here.At the moment, LinkedIn is the best platform for B2B sales. By far (and you'll see why in the post below). I asked my friend Amar, to contribute a chapter explaining his exact process for scaling his business from 5 clients to 250+, primarily using LinkedIn leads. To make this process even easier, I took some of his core strategy and added some extra automation tools (see bottom of this post).Hope you guys enjoy. Would love to hear some feedback from peeps after they try this strategy for themselves.Onward!How to Grow Your Business Using LinkedInFind your ideal clients, start productive conversations, and make the sale.Most of us use LinkedIn casually. We send connection invites to co-workers and people we meet at networking events. Sometimes we stalk the profiles of old classmates (or is that just me?).So I’ll forgive you if my next statement comes as a surprise: LinkedIn is an extraordinarily powerful marketing tool.In fact, it’s one of the best marketing tools out there. LinkedIn has over 500 million members, and these members are wealthy, business-oriented, and open to solicitation.Are you asking $500 for your high-end service? No problem; LinkedIn members in the U.S. have an average household income of $83,000 per year. They have twice the purchasing power of the average U.S. consumer.Of course, most LinkedIn members also use Facebook, and some have a Twitter. Perhaps your business is already active on one or both of these platforms.But by approaching potential customers while they’re on LinkedIn, they’ll be more open to your advance.You see, LinkedIn generates conversions at a rate 3 times higher than Facebook or Twitter. (Source: a HubSpot.com study of over 5,000 businesses). So if you’re ready to blow up your conversion rate, it’s time to promote your business on LinkedIn!How to Win at LinkedInLike any platform, LinkedIn offers paid advertising. But I’ve had more success through a free marketing strategy. The strategy is quite simple: I simply look at profiles. Well, sometimes I send out messages too. But mostly I look.Sounds strange, right?The thing is, when you look at someone’s profile they get a notification telling them that you looked. And many a curious soul will click that notification and take a gander through your profile.And if your profile is a selling machine, they’ll soon find themselves daydreaming about your product. And chances are, they’re gonna send you a connection request. At that point, you’ll send them a strategic message to build your relationship and move towards the sale. (We’ll get into all that).In this chapter, we’ll go over all the steps to pull off this strategy:How to update your profile so it resonates with your customersHow to find your perfect audience on LinkedInHow to get in front of 300+ prospects per dayWhat to message potential leads to turn them into fans and customersLet’s get to it.Update Your Profile to Resonate with CustomersWith the strategy of marketing I’m going to discuss, your audience will first learn about you and your business when they view your profile.So your profile needs to make a good first impression. A first impression that says ‘I’m trustworthy, and I have an awesome product or service that could really help you with your problems.’The key elements of a trustworthy profile are:• A kickass profile pic • A headline that communicates what you do and why it’s valuable • A quick summary to go over details that the headline didn’t cover • Social proof in the form of testimonialsStep 1: Find or Take a Great Profile PictureWhen strangers visit your profile for the first time, they’re going to make snap judgments about you based on your profile picture.A good profile picture should tell the viewer: I’m professional and friendly.Here are some things to keep in mind when taking your picture:Wear what you’d wear to meet a client. You can’t go wrong with a nice button-up.Use a head shot – profile pictures are small, especially on a mobile device. Showing mostly your face allows your audience to easily see and connect with you.Smile! Just make sure it’s genuine. The whole “smile with your eyes” thing is true, and people can tell when it’s fake.Choose a background that isn’t distracting. A white background works, although it can be a little boring. Wood or outdoor shots are fine as long as they don’t take away the focus of the picture.Ask for feedback. It can be hard to be objective when evaluating photos of yourself. Ask a few people you trust if your profile picture conveys professionalism and friendliness. If you’re an overachiever, you can get feedback from strangers at photofeeler.com.Step 2: Write a Great HeadlineLet’s say you came across my profile and my headline was “CEO of ZenMaid.” You might be impressed that I am a ‘CEO,’ but you’d also think, what on Earth is ZenMaid?Not that you’d bother to look it up because...well, why would you? You’ve got better things to do.Don’t just use your job title as your headline.Instead, your headline should clearly communicate the value proposition of your business to potential customers.For example, my actual headline is “Helping Maid Services Manage, Run, and Grow Their Businesses with easy-to-use, time-saving software.”See how that’s more interesting? That’s a headline that really captures the attention of maid service owners (my target audience).You may want to use a similar structure for your headline: “Helping [Your Target Market] [Get XYZ Benefits] with [Your Product]”.Step 3: Write a Great, Easy-to-Read SummaryThink of your summary like a sales blurb. You are not summarizing your life story, you are communicating what your business has to offer.Ask yourself:“Who are my customers?” “What do I do for my customers?” “What are the benefits my customers get from working with me?”Use your answers to start writing your summary.Let’s say you’re a freelance writer who specializes in social media marketing. Your answer to some of the questions above may be, “I increase businesses’ website traffic and reader engagement by writing outstanding, easy to read content and sharing it on social profiles.”Now take that and try to write it in plainer English with a focus on the benefits for your customers:“We bring more customers to business owners’ websites so they can focus on other things. Businesses who work with us have amazing content posted on their websites weekly and shared through all their social media channels, without having to lift a finger!”Your summary can focus on similar benefits as your headline - it just gives you more room to expand.Step 4: Update Your Experience and Testimonials, and moreExperience Any experience listed on your profile should be relevant to what you do now. If none of your previous jobs are relevant, remove them all. Your customers don’t care about your previous work experience.Testimonials Finally, your profile needs social proof. (Just like a sales page does). If you don’t have any testimonials, reach out to your three best customers and ask if they’ll write one for you.Optional Additions You can get a lot fancier with your profile (by adding skills, school background, and more), but those extras aren’t necessary. If you already have them, and they contribute to the perception that you are friendly, professional, and an expert in your industry, then keep them. If you don’t already have them, there’s no need to add them.How To Find Potential CustomersOnce you have an impressive profile, it’s time to find your audience.You’ve got 2 options: 1. Join groups that cater to your industry, and then approach group members. 2. Use the search feature to find people in your industry.GroupsLinkedIn groups are my preferred way to find potential customers.One good group can mean thousands of leads. In addition, being in the same group as someone allows you to see their information even if they aren’t a 2nd or 3rd degree connection and you don’t have a premium account.And if you choose to message someone you found via a group, you already have something in common.(“Hey, we’re in the carrot-lovers group together. Do you love carrots too? They’re my favorite vegetable!”)You’ll notice that most LinkedIn groups aren’t very active, but they’re useful for their membership nonetheless.To find a group, just use the search bar and click the “Groups” tab below the search bar. Then enter keywords related to your niche. You’ll probably find several options.Another way to find groups is to look at the profiles of your current customers and connections and see which groups they’re in.For ZenMaid, we found groups both ways. We chose 15 groups that are filled with maid service owners from around the U.S., Canada, and the rest of the globe.SearchOne limitation of groups is that you usually won’t find ultra-specific groups. So if I only want to target owners of maid services with less than 5 employees located in the Pacific Northwest, I might not find such a narrow LinkedIn group.LinkedIn’s search allows you to find highly specific customers on LinkedIn. It’s also the only way to find potential customers who are not in any relevant groups.(Note that if you don’t have a premium account, you are only able to see 2nd and 3rd connections when you search - so your results would be limited.)LinkedIn allows you to narrow your search by the following criteria:• Location• Company name• Company size (by # of employees)• Job title• Job function• Job seniority• Skills (listed on someone’s profile or inferred by LinkedIn based on their listed skills)• Schools• Degrees• Fields of study• Gender• AgeNarrow your search as much as is helpful to you. If you’re looking for a very specific set of customers, you’ll probably be able to find them.How To Get Potential Customers’ AttentionWhen you find a promising potential customer, you have two options:Just view their profile.Send them a connection request and a message.View Their ProfileWhen you view someone’s profile, they receive a notification telling them you just viewed their profile. The notification includes your name and your headline. (Another reason it’s so important to optimize your headline!)When you send a connection request to a stranger, that person might be annoyed or be on guard against being sold to. But simply viewing someone’s profile seems innocent enough. You could have been viewing their profile out of genuine curiosity about who they are. Perhaps you randomly came across their profile (or so they might believe).Even if they do suspect that you are viewing their profile as a marketing tactic, it’s less demanding than sending a connection request. Those who choose to take a look at your profile will view it with an open mind and genuine curiosity.In my experience, about 40-50% of people whose profiles you view will check out your profile too.As high as 10-15% of those viewers will send you a connection request.Note that you can view up to 400 profiles per day.Send Connection RequestsFor most people, you’ll want to err on the side of just viewing their profile. Sending a connection request can backfire because the person may be suspicious of why you want to be friends when you’re a complete stranger.However, if you have a plausible reason to connect with someone without coming across as spam, then connecting will increase the likelihood that someone checks out your profile back.Reach out to people who are most likely to know who you are. For example, people with whom you share mutual connections, or who are in the same groups as you. Be sure to mention your shared commonality when you send them a connection request.LinkedIn allows you to send 50 connection requests per day.How to Start a Conversation with a Potential CustomerWhen you’re messaging someone you’ve never met in real life, you can’t just use the standard LinkedIn message. (“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”). Your message will probably be ignored, and you’re missing an opportunity to build trust.You also don’t want to go straight for the sale. Your prospect doesn’t know you yet, so selling will just come across as pushy.Instead, either offer the customer something of value (such as a free resource), or ask them a thoughtful and strategic question.Free Resource / DownloadI’ve tested many types of messages for my business and my clients’ businesses. A consistently well-performing message is sending out a free resource or download.In your message, say that you have a resource that you think the prospect will find helpful. Then link to a landing page on your website where they can unlock the resource by submitting their email address.You want to be careful to not come across as spammy. Just imagine you’re messaging a friend of a friend, and want to share a resource you think they might enjoy. Here’s an example of the tone of my messages:*“Hi Alex,I saw that you’re interested in improving your maid service. A lot of people in the ISSA group have really benefited from this free download. Check it out if you’re interested - I hope it helps.Best, Amar”*By offering something freely, you’re starting off the relationship on the right foot. Note that this strategy works best when your resource is truly relevant and helpful to your audience.Facebook groupAt ZenMaid, we run a fairly active Facebook group for maid service owners. Our customers LOVE it - oftentimes, they do not have other maid service owner friends to ask questions to or just commiserate with.If you have a Facebook group or an online forum, simply inviting someone to the group can be a huge value add. If I think someone is a good fit for our group, I send them a message like this:*“Hey Alex,It looks like you’re interested in improving your maid service. Check out our Facebook group for maid service owners - there’s a lot of interesting conversations going on on a daily basis.”*In this case, we’re not even asking for their email address. But when they join the group they’ll be exposed to substantial social proof for our brand.Before, I was just a random guy reaching out off of LinkedIn. But when our potential customer sees that our group has 1800 maid service owners, I become trustworthy. And suddenly my team and I are regarded as experts.Although they didn’t need to give us their email, they often end up signing up for our email list of their own accord.And even if they don’t, they’ll be exposed to our brand slowly through the Facebook group, which leads many to try our service.This tactic only works if you run an active group or forum. But if you don’t run one...why not? Groups are the new email list. People are yearning for more community, and groups around shared occupations or interests can provide this. Read more about how to start a group here.Thoughtful + Strategic QuestionsIf you don’t have any resources or forums to offer, then you can use a more direct method of selling in the meantime.You’ll want to send a message that leads the conversation towards a discussion of your product or service, without coming across as spammy.My favorite question is “How do you currently solve X?” where X is the problem that your product or service solves for.For ZenMaid, the message might be:“Hey, quick question for you. How are you currently managing your schedule and calendar?”Finding out how they are currently solving this problem is helpful to the sales process, because you can be specific about exactly how your solution beats their current one.Replies usually fall into two categories: 1. We’re currently using X method. 2. We’re currently using X method and we’re not happy with it. Actually, I’ve been looking for a solution for some time now, and that’s why we sent you a connection request in the first place!The more unhappiness they express with their current method, the quicker you can move towards a sale.Bad Messages (What Not To Do)There are a few messages we’ve tried or seen others use that we do not recommend.Aimless Questions Aimless questions are questions that do not strategically lead towards discussing your product.For example, “Hey, thanks for inviting me to connect. I was wondering, was there something on my profile that made you want to connect with me?”This question might get a reply, but the reply may or may not naturally lead towards discussing your product. (For example, they might say “Not really, I’m just trying to expand my network”).I have heard of companies that used a similar message with good results, but messages like this have not worked for ZenMaid. That said, I always encourage experimentation. If you suspect this might work in your market, give it a try a few times.Big Requests The second message to avoid is making a big request of the person.For example, some companies will immediately ask to set up a call. If you do this right away, expect a lot of No’s (or no responses). I’ve always found that it’s better to add value first, and then follow-up with anyone who shows interest.If you’re just getting started with your company or are looking for your next 10 customers fast, this might be a viable option. But in the long run, you’ll burn far more leads than you close.How to Automate Your LinkedIn MarketingYou’ve probably got a lot on your plate already. You know, the whole running your business thing.So you might not want to spend the time to view 400 new profiles a day, and then send 50 messages.I use a virtual assistant to help me with these tasks. Alternatively, you can also use dux-soup (dux-soup.com) and similar automation tools, that allow you to auto-view ALL of your search results. These apps run in the background, allowing you to choose a maximum view count and then open accounts at random time intervals.ConclusionIf you’re not marketing on LinkedIn, you’re missing out on a wealthy market that wants to be sold to. Fix up your profile, find your target market, and start viewing profiles! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly you see results.

#/r/startups #reddit

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nicemango-feed · 7 years

Text

Not Oppressed Enough : Being the Wrong kind of Ex-Muslim

For those asking over the past few days, wtf happened to start these mob attacks on me: Well...I'm not entirely sure, because they sort of came out of the blue. There's a general rift in left-leaning atheists and right-leaning atheists. And 'right-leaning' is seen as some sort of slur, when it's just an observation based on the politics coming from some of these types. If you're anti-left on everything, and rarely ever anti-right...it says something. Especially today. This split continues to become more pronounced in these times of the rise of the far right. While lefties are looking to focus some of their criticism there, others are trying to resist and silence that criticism.

Basically a few days ago, some dude I had never heard of, called @FuriousFossa was upset that I tweeted about not knowing what Taqiya was till I got on twitter. Despite growing up in Saudi. Because this didn't confirm his previously held beliefs, what good are ex-muslims if they can't confirm your bullshit views?! Then, someone upset him further by saying that people using that term while criticizing Islam are usually bigots. OMFG the B word!! We have to be extra PC with that word, so as not to upset the delicate sensibilities of the anti-PC, anti-sjw crowd, why can't everyone know that!!

And I'd agree, people insisting on using that word are usually pretty loony...(as was proven in this case). I've got news, Muslims can lie without any special religious permission. Just like any other theist. This isn't a widespread muslim conspiracy to deceive people. It's a niche concept that most aren't even aware of. And I mean, there's just so much actual terrible stuff that is commonly practiced in Islam (polygyny for one) to criticize anyway, there's little reason to cling defensively to obscure things like Taqiya. Here's another ex-muslim perspective on this:

Fossa was also upset I wrote something (to someone else, not him) about how pointing to ISIS is a great whataboutery tactic for apologists of the western right. Just point to ISIS, it'll always be worse, and you're off the hook.

That's it two strikes for me, and he decided he wanted to disprove my entire background and lived experience. This way, you know, once I was totally discredited...at least he'd know I was wrong about the concept of Taqiya, and he was right! Trying to prove me dishonest, after being upset I didn't confirm his views on a dishonesty concept in Islam....almost like...trying to prove me a taqiya-er. How taqiya-esque.

It got me accusations of deflecting away from the obvious point that ISIS is worse (which i'm sure I've said myself roughly about 9465 times. I just don't feel the need to utter it every time... with literally any other criticism of anything other than Islam.

It also got me accusations of trying to deflect from criticism of Islam. Lol.

Yeah. I'm sure it does take a little more than a bio, maybe like years and years of work of criticizing Islam, that are useless now apparently because I also criticize the Western right. These criticisms can't get any less intelligent, honestly.

*** Then...of course, Lalo - always on the lookout for jumping on any criticism of me, Joined in and helped to float the conspiracy theories to a larger audience (who knows why - I've barely interacted with the guy in ages...he's still always infuriated with me). And then Yasmine, who, it seems, had it out for me since we had a private falling out during Gad's last unhinged meltdown at me.

#TheTriggering of @gadsaad http://pic.twitter.com/F2ifbm3UcB

— Armchair Critic (@JoelRDodd) December 2, 2016

Because she, as my friend, publicly tweeted how those attacking me, and me were equally 'embarrassing' or something. I tried to privately discuss it with her, she deleted her tweet I believe, but it was clear she wasn't too sympathetic to the attacks on me because, she tweeted I was equally at fault..and because I criticized Gad/Rubin's far-right associations in the first place. People she clearly considered allies. I was pretty disappointed and put off, but my reaction was not to go out and slander her. I just silently disengaged and went about doing my own thing, which still included criticizing Gad and Rubin's shady associations. Of course, silly me. I didn't learn or keep my mouth shut after the last round of baseless attacks. Lalo even tried circulating the 'she's not a real ex-muslim' thing that time, but I think it got lost in Gad's endless stream of hate.

Then months later, this happened. This time Lalo got more traction. *** The Nitty Gritty Gather round peeps, I’m gonna share a really absurd tale about supposed ex-muslim allies, supposed critics of sjw style 'oppression olympics' and sjw ideological purity tests…but who are now furious because an ex-muslim they disagree with ideologically/politically in their minds was not oppressed ENOUGH.

A fellow ex-muslim, that I have personally promoted, jumped in happily to weigh-in on the drama and attempt to negate my lived experience by claiming I just *dabbled in oppression*, haven’t truly experienced it or anything… My life was like a 5 star resort apparently...and everyone else seems to be a good judge on what kind of life I had in sharia-land.

I wasn’t oppressed enough in Saudi fucking Arabia…This is a *real* objection raised by some, including a fellow ex-Muslim.

Let that sink in.

It's not even by people I actively debate or disagree with…but people I have little to no interaction with. They don’t understand the first thing about life in Saudi, none of them have lived there.. but are telling others far and wide what my life experience was like. They are giddy from having ‘exposed’ me, caught me out in some lie about the duality of life in Saudi Arabia as an expat. They've been working hard for this one.

Oh my.

Whatever will I do now. They’re on to me.

Not like I’ve podcasted about the duality of life in Saudi here, here, here, or here….and not like i’ve specifically addressed this strange juxtaposition in articles myself or anything. I have never claimed to be the most oppressed person in Saudi Arabia, quite the opposite in fact. I have always talked about being lucky to have the kind of life I did there. But, despite that...my life certainly wasn't free from the application of Sharia law, from standard Islamic theocracy regulations, that were just absorbed into my life as 'normal' because I knew little else.

Yet - They have clipped some audio, from *my own show*…that I do *publicly*…to demonstrate how ‘dishonest’ and contradictory i’ve been.

Great question indeed. Maybe try checking out the work of the person you're accusing, your question might be addressed in the very episode you're clipping.

(let me come out and say now that I’ve lived in both Saudi and Pakistan, lest they do some other genius clip about my ‘contradictions’ ..sometimes you will hear me talking about going to school in Saudi, sometimes you will hear me talking about going to school in Pakistan. It’s because both are true… not because I’m a secret spy or Taqiyya-er who can’t keep her lies straight)

This is almost too easy to mock and ridicule, I feel embarrassed for them, I do, and I’d normally just ignore insignificant people.. but they keep going on and on. They keep being told how wrong they are at each turn too. Brutal. But they’ve backed themselves into a corner now… the only thing they can do is double down and lash out at me…Not admit they made a mistake or something, and were wrong to accuse me based on zero evidence. That would be the decent thing to do.

A lovely summary from the detached-from-reality point of view, calling me an insult to women and ex-muslims suffering under sharia, this was posted on lalo's public thread.

I imagine this will only get crazier as their rage grows…because they cannot discredit me based on things I’ve been entirely honest about. Since I'm the wrong kind of ex-muslim, I do not get the charitableness anonymous ex-muslim accounts they don’t have issues with get.

Mostly, people on both ends have an issue with me because I refuse to pick a team. I think criticizing both Islamic far right and western far right is important. And I think in Trumpian times, Its vital to focus *some* of my critique on the western right and its apologists. When that toxic stuff overlaps with criticism of Islam, it does nothing but muddy the waters, and hold back valid criticisms from resonating with the mainstream. ***

Know this:

I do not exist to confirm any narratives.

I occasionally deviate from my appointed role as provider of anti-Islam masturbatory material.

I exist simultaneously as an ex-muslim woman who grew up under Shariah (that’s right I said it again), who will harshly criticize Islam when relevant, as an expat from Saudi who will tell you that in some bubbles life in Saudi was pretty secular at times, and as a *Western* liberal feminist. So I will have critiques of western sexism and misogyny too. And I will speak up against anyone pitting different aspects of my identity against one another. Do not use sharia to silence western feminists, and do not use western perspectives to silence women who speak up about hijab, etc. This is whataboutery. Women everywhere should want to better their situation. We are far from perfect equality even in the west.

I am happy to criticize feminism when it goes off the rails, but I do not buy into the “feminists are the real sexists” bullshit, or the western feminists should stfu because they aren’t getting stoned to death.

Anyway, I will have happy memories of my childhood in a secular compound in saudi…I will have tales of women bathing topless at my compound pool…and I will also have tales of being forced into a black bag against my will because of the ‘Muttawas' or morality police as we called them. I will have tales of having a great secular education, and I will have tales of horror where I, only a child, saw my mom’s ankles hit by a muttawa’s cane because her headscarf slipped in the market. I will have tales of being shepherded quite literally with sticks by morality police in Mecca who herd the women hastily into a segregated prayer area for women. I will have tales of being pushed to the ground and almost trampled because of the morality police forcefully segregating us in Mecca. I will have a story or two about running…being chased by muttawas as they yell behind me for my headscarf slipping…of narrowly making it into a car that was driven for me (because I did not have the right to drive)…and of the muttawas catching up, and grabbing on in vain to a little bit of black fabric as our car sped off and it slipped through their hands. I will have such stories of escaping the morality police in the street.. and of feeling fear, and… of feeling comfort ...that for some hours I had a compound to go home to…and to shed the black cloaks that I wasn’t given a choice on. A reverse amish compound as I’ve literally referred to it before.

I encompass all those identities and I’ve repeatedly, honestly explored them with my audience…I’ve pointed to the absurd duality. Yet the savage internet mobs who hate me (which only used to consist of islamists at one point..but now they are fewer than the rabid western right wing apologists) have portrayed this as some great shady conspiracy. Some incredible contradictory set of stories that simply cannot be consolidated.

It must be that I’m lying about one or the other.

“Either you grew up on a compound, or either you grew up in sharia - which is it” — heaven forbid they put some thought into it and realize, well… oh…it can actually be both! Imagine that.

Cue fellow ex Muslim, previous guest of my show Yasmine to jump in and cast further doubt. She posts an ad for the most extravagant compound in the entire country, and projects that onto my experience. My compound was nothing like Aramco, it was incredibly small and modest in comparison, but thats irrelevant, even if it were Aramco I'd have to experience Sharia every time I left. My life was not better than the life of most Canadians because I was still forced into a black bag against my will, pretty much every day. Morality police and their canes were a regular sight, I had few rights as a woman. But sure, please go out of your way to discredit my lived experience. Why they did this appalling thing, and insisted on it even after being told how it could be both...is beyond me.

Real classy.

Lol, cuz growing up in Saudi in a compound is TOTALLY like vacationing in the nicest hotel in Havana for a few months.

Cue random person who just isn't satisfied:

Not good enough apparently.

Still not good enough.

"I don't like what Ali had to say so I'm going to fill in my own details despite never having lived in Saudi or knowing anything about life there." "Eiynah barely left the compound, went to school on the compound" Umm, No. Actually I left the compound every day, to go *to* school. I just love that details about my life are authoritatively being discussed, without any actual knowledge, ffs. Yes I barely ever had a real conversation with a Saudi, I've talked about this several times. It doesn't mean I didn't speak to Saudis on a daily basis in the markets, and shops, etc. It just means I never actually had the chance to know a Saudi national closely and have a proper conversation with them because we were kept segregated. Something I have discussed repeatedly.

Not even multiple corroborations of this reality are convincing enough. No no, everyone who says this is lying, but these random internet people who know nothing about life in Saudi, are here to 'non-Saudi-splain' to me that my experience is inauthentic, that I’m an embarrassment to women who *really* live under sharia. I'm just an imposter, who lived under sharia but also had access to a community pool. So you know, discrediting my story is fair game. I also had air-conditioning. The luxuries I’ve been hiding from you all.

This is the same group of people mind you, that get upset when people try to discredit Ayaan Hirsi Ali's lived experience of being a victim of FGM. But because I don't fit the mould they'd like me to, and also will criticize people within the islam-critical scene. You can make comics to mock and laugh at my life experience.

Minus the *face* covering, both those pictures were my reality actually.

No amount of refutations of the lies put out there about me are enough. Surely anyone with a shred of principle would object to random false accusations being used to smear someone. I mean these ‘principled' types are out in droves when someone slightly misrepresents Richard Spencer the nazi or Milo. “I don’t agree with their ideas but” just doesn’t extend over to ‘the wrong kind of ex muslim’ I guess.

----Worse still…Yasmine, once a friend…someone who’s had a terrible experience under Islam no doubt.. I would never discredit her experience despite her vicious attacks on me, She’s someone I empathized with, with all my heart.. But somehow she has it out for me because I’m, you know, a shit disturber who derails from *only* criticism of islam, by having a problem with fellow atheists when they promote rape apologists or… white genociders… why can’t i just keep my head down and perform the role that is laid out for me as an ex muslim? Criticize islam, thats it. ----

This is especially funny because the example of loony he uses is someone normalized, legitimized and promoted by..none other than the person he's defending. Also what is up with the weird mentions of "loyalty", like if you've disagreed with me on Rubin, no need to be "loyal", just be honest. I won't respect that view, but it's better than dishonesty.

Yeah its totally mental and a delusion of grandeur to expect someone like Rubin who claims they are liberal to not promote rape apologists, like they've done nothing wrong...or white genociders. This is a convenient strawman of my position on Rubin, used repeatedly. I don't care if he aligns with me on every single thing, I enjoy some of Sam Harris' work, I don't agree with him on everything (as you might have noticed on my episode with him). I enjoy some of Maajid Nawaz's work...I don't agree with him on a lot, since he is an adherent of religion and I'm not. Heck, I don't think I agree with anyone on everything. But I do expect people to at least not look the other way on *rape* apologetics, White Genocide, Islamism...important values like that matter to me. they aren't some tiny, nitpicky details. For some people , I guess opposing *only* Islamism is important. (Oh, and not like I'm currently being targeted for a difference of opinion). Ah, the lack of self-awareness.

pic: via @vinikako

@NiceMangos @AkiMuthali It struck me as I was writing it that the people who've been going after you lately seem to want to establish an orthodoxy for ex muslims.

— Lefty Conspirator (@NoKnownFuture) March 31, 2017

Whatever mine and Yasmine's differences on Rubin were...was no reason to jump on the Lalo bandwagon to openly try to discredit my entire existence with no evidence. To post tasteless memes about me trying on some oppression, just dabbling in it for fun.

A) "Dabbling in oppression." What kind of person do you have to be to say that sort of thing- and without any intimate knowledge of the person who's life you're talking about. B) It's not all about passports, but yes to a great degree, people in Saudi are valued more in the workplace depending on their passport - another thing I've talked about on my podcast. However, when living in Saudi I had a total, bottom-rung, treated like garbage Pakistani passport, not a Canadian one. Wrong again on all counts. C) I hope you don't ever criticize concepts of white privilege or PoC being romanticized, because that doesn't come close to this level of "oppression olympics". It's just so so callous, can't wrap my head around this.

I’m at a loss for words, honestly. I wouldn't have expected stooping to this level. Though, things got a bit weird with her after Trump won, she was overly defensive about criticism of Trump voters. Since then, I’ve seen her compare DNC/Keith Ellison situation to Nazi Germany… in this TRUMP ERA

… I’ve seen her rejoice at the GOP winning….

I'm sorry but "I'm so glad GOP won" isn't a liberal sentiment, even if in response to Linda Sarsour, who's basically the flip-side of the problem to Rubin. Another sanitizer, downplayer, legitmizer of another far-right. But somehow calling out this version of far-right apologist is ok!

… I’ve seen her downplay the inhumane 'Muslim ban' that separated families. That could have potentially prevented people like her, from escaping the ME when they needed to. The idea that people around the world could be upset at the principle, despite a lack of their personal involvement... why is that so hard to grasp?

I'm happy to call out Linda Sarsour for this. But this is the same issue I take with Dave Rubin, he is masquerading as a liberal or at least pushing / doing apologetics for right wing conservativism, imo - And some people obviously prefer if you call out only *one* side of this. But sadly not only do they prefer it, they go after you in mobs, and try to discredit your entire being for speaking up on both.

My concerns of the easy slide to the right are pretty self evident. This is something ex-muslims are particularly vulnerable to, I myself have been courted by the right. But actively resisting it in the face of rising popularity isn’t something everyone can do. It's why I'm not too bothered about popularity. I'll happily take being less popular and more consistent.

Anyhow, she’s used this whole dumping on me process to tag Rubin in a tweet…and whaddaya know… get a spot on the Rubin Report, as I had predicted! Prove me right, that’ll show me!

***

I guess it means that there’s not many of my views that they can effectively argue against if my critics have to resort to weird conspiracy bullshit about me not really being who I say I am.

Imagine how stupid and risky it would be to make claims about being an ex-muslim from Saudi growing up under sharia and then to do a podcast series talking with people who lived there for real (unlike me)… about the details of life there. Why would I put myself in that situation? And if I wanted to make up my story, why not make up full oppression to the worst degree. Why this better compound life?

@NiceMangos @AkiMuthali @SurlyCripple @StrictlySid unless you've lived under locally-sourced artisanal sharia, I don't want to hear from you

— Martin Mannion (@NataliasDad) March 30, 2017

Lalo know’s that I’ve seen my mother hit by morality police, he knows these experiences but still wants to question and delegitimize. These are the same people so disgusted (rightfully so) when Greenwald misrepresents Sam Harris. How are these guys any better I ask? If we cannot have standards simply because someone is Islam-critical, then we are no better than the Greenwald's we so love to criticize.

#NotShariahEnough

Lets remember what’s really important here though... I am not oppressed enough. I am just pretending to be because it’s hip.

Thanks Yasmine!

So being forced to wear a hijab can be oppressive even in Canada (I agree). But being forced to do so by the state in Saudi is just 'dabbling in oppression'...like life in a 5 star resort!

It's baffling, it is.

But the only ongoing beef this crew has with me is over a difference of opinion on someone like Rubin or Douglas murray. Inevitably, if you probe their criticisms of me they end up around the fact that I don’t like Douglas Murray, that I had the audacity to have Sam on my show and do something other than talk about what we already agree on (yes, Islam sucks), that I had the audacity to ask Sam his views on or make him aware of what other prominent atheists are doing, that I shouldn’t criticize Rubin (no matter how much evidence I have) - It’s petty to go after bad actors on this side apparently. But its incredibly noble to go after Werleman, or Reza Aslan or Linda Sarsour or Glenn Greenwald.

Opposing bad ideas& apologists for people with bad ideas consistently is ‘tribal’ & ‘petty’. Picking a side and avoiding self-criticism is truly rational. Heck if I thought that way, I’d never have left Islam. (But have I really? how will we ever know?)

Yup, its the left that can’t tolerate dissenting views. Meanwhile Lalo blocked me long ago for having a conversation on MY podcast, with someone entirely unrelated.. whom he claimed to not even know… sure never mind it was known anti-muslim conspiracist who thinks Maajid Nawaz behaves like an Islamist. And Obama may have been a secret muslim. My questioning Robert Spencer so deeply offended Lalo, the champion of tolerance and rationality…

lol.

And remember, I'm the one supposedly with 'mental' 'delusions of grandeur' about people having to align 100% to my views for me to like them.

Now we’re at a point where the desperation to discredit me for wrongthink is so evident… my criticism of Rubin, Gad and co is based only on what they actually say or do, observable facts, I am happy to provide proof for any allegations of them promoting far-righters or even to talk to them, but none of these Classical Liberals wish to engage with the actual criticism, and none of them want to talk to me.… So - in retaliation for my evidence based criticism I get smears based on nothing…and some onlookers think this is a tit for tat. It’s being framed absurdly, as an equivalence. Which I will object to every time.

Lol, I'm the monster for objecting to what Rubin does. Not Rubin, for promoting rape apologists.

And, this is the passionate defense Rubin gets..that doesn't even engage with the criticism of him. It's not who he has on, but how he talks to them.

Yes, my cunt-like overreaction after days of being dragged through the mud, consisted of me simply saying its 'bullshit' to equate me with the people smearing me. And not to tag me in such tweets again.

Imagine if someone you considered a friend and ally suddenly interjected themselves into a public smear campaign about you, simply to put out a false equivalence to tens of thousands of followers.And basically say, 'its not my problem'...so they're all cool. Well, I guess it'll be #NotYourBeef next time someone is slandering Ayaan, as well. I mean of course, if someone finds themselves caught in an awkward position, theres the option of just steering clear and not involving yourself. Which I'd totally respect. But if you're going to publicly say they're A-Ok after what they did to me, then I will always object. #WhatACunt, couldn't even graciously accept a respectful equation between people lying about me, and me.

I'll say this again, I’m criticizing someone who is promoting far-righters in an environment ripe with hate crimes (very much the flip of what Linda Sarsour does with Sharia/Saudi Arabia, etc.)…There’s a legitimate reason to do this… this is not about hating someone personally. It's as necessary imo, as this very group of people think their criticisms of Cenk, Reza, Linda, CJ Werleman are.

The attacks on me are however are just pure hate…disagree with my actual views any time. I'd welcome honest disagreement, but don’t lie about me ffs. As Lalo says:

The Irony.

If I respond and defend myself against such baseless accusations I’m accused of being the petty one who just won’t shut up and let people spread lies about me. Ugh Eiynah….why so petty? Why can’t you just let people say hateful ridiculous stuff about you? The other 'petty fight' she's referring to below, is the previous Gad meltdown. Which consisted of days of him bashing me as an 'anonymous troll', 'Queen of anti-semites', 'plumpy pineapples'...because Jerry Coyne posted a pretty mild (evidence-based) comment of mine about Gad and Rubin promoting far right people like Tommy Robinson, PJW of Infowars. His meltdown is documented in this thread.

Anyhoo, I wanted to make note of this instance for just how crazy hypocritical it has been. Who knows where we’ll go from here…this is the ‘community' that supposedly values evidence but has few issues with the guy who legitimizes Infowars while crying that mainstream media are fake. This is the community that is constantly, (rightfully) upset at Ayaan being silenced for her harshly critical views on Islam, but won't really care if some from within are trying to silence ex-muslim views on the internal problem of legitimizing western far-righters. If you care about ex-muslims and muslim women's rights so much...you should technically care if the people potentially mistreating them are muslims or western far righters.

On paper many will have the correct answer to opposing the right wing hijack of criticism of Islam, but putting that into practice, gets met with resistance and character assassinations as you can see.

They call themselves ex-muslim allies. Nope… just when ex-muslims stick to criticism of Islam, and serve a purpose…

They are bothered by my anonymity now.. but had no issues with it for years when I mostly just criticized Islam. (They have no issues with more agreeable ex muslim accounts either). Now, I'm this 'divisive' person who won’t stfu about the Western right, when hitler salutes are in existence again. Let's stick to the important facts though, it's the left that's always at fault. Misrepresenting even people like Richard Spencer. He's not a white supremacist, silly lefties, he's a white nationalist.

Rubin and Lauren Southern talk about how Spencer isn't really a white supremacist and no one knows the arguments against white nationalism http://pic.twitter.com/h0y06Uur4T

— Tom Bloke (@21logician) March 2, 2017

***

There are many offshoots to this attack on me too… so many ppl with all this rage uniting against me … its really rather sweet that everyone came together like this to pile on total lies, false equivalences between me and my smearers.

Right, I'd LOVE to see evidence of this. I once long ago said that mocking muslims as dirty for eating with their hands, is not a legitimate criticism of Islam. This borders on some real weird bigoted territory. And this woman has obsessively stalked my twitter ever since, despite being blocked.

I'm sure she has no troubling views or anything.

Lol, in this instance its not her, but others are clearly using it to get her on yet another wonderful, totally liberal show with no history of far right support.

Staunch A (from above screenshot) has residual anger for me, because I wrote a blogpost calling out an anti-migrant publication she worked for. Run by the guy who tweets this stuff:

According to Yasmine I smear everyone, even though she participated in smearing and discrediting *me* completely uninstigated. To them smearing is simply when other people object to their lies. When people defend themselves... its an attack. Ok then.

This is truly some detached-from-reality, totally lacking self-awareness stuff. A) Smear someone, sling mud. B) Post tasteless memes negating their lived experience, because u don't like their views C) Accuse them of being intolerant of differing opinions D) Accuse them of smearing *everyone* & mud-slinging, when they defend themselves. E) Say you're the victim in all this. F) yes the only reason i'm speaking up about her now in the middle of a smear campaign is because she's more popular than me. That must be it.

***

If I emotionally distance myself from this cyber-flogging for my crime of blaspheming against Gad/Rubin/Murray its actually a fascinating case study of in-group out-group politics... and hardcore tribalism from people who are claiming to reject tribalism.

All they can do is think critically about pre-approved opponents Reza or CJ werleman, Cenk, Greenwald, Sarsour… if someone in their perceived in-group has the exact same tactics they’ll go out of their way to demonize anyone calling that out...

Charges against me

I said Yasmine was pandering to the Right and said she was an opportunist for using this specific instance to get airtime on Rubin. - provable through her own tweets, fb posts. Like seriously…she can go around discrediting my entire existence, post memes about me dabbling in oppression to be cool or something, and I can’t even in response point to actual behaviour I’ve observed, that might explain why out of the blue she chose to do this? As someone who promoted her, I think I can safely say she used me and my platform and publicly discarded me when she had no more use for me. I can’t even begin to fathom what kind of ex-muslim would say ‘she dabbled in oppression’ about another.

I criticize Rubin, Gad and Douglas Murray - only ever based on what they actually say/endorse..not on personal attacks. Though Dave and Gad have tried to retaliate via personal attacks. I welcome disagreement with my views, and have offered to speak to them many times. But they avoid engaging with my actual criticisms and avoid discussion.

I say Dave and Gad pander to the right - how is this even controversial? "Mr. Why I left the left, let me work with Dennis Prager on how shitty the left is", and "Mr. 'Trump has the superior position on Islam', and 'let me get Geert Wilders on my show to piss of Eiynah'"

I’m divisive - sure only as divisive as anyone pointing out Islamism is bad and apologists for it are bad.

I deflect from criticism of Islam - um.. nope? Have u seen my work? I just object to people using Islam to deflect from criticism of the western right.

I haven’t been oppressed enough. - Lol

I have not had as hard a life as people who didn’t live in a compound in Saudi - agreed. Never claimed that I did, in fact always have made this distinction, if u only took the time to look into my work, listen to my conversations with Saudi women.

My claim of growing up under sharia is untrue - Nope.

I once said to someone in a Tweet i’ve only personally *met* about 3 niqabis - so i must not know much about oppression/Sharia. Er, no. Having personally *met* and sat down with very few niqabis doesn’t mean i didn’t grow up around them, go on the bus with them every day, see them in the market all around me, see them in every waiting room, community gathering etc, etc. I personally don’t have such a religious family, and we don’t personally know such extreme religious people. I’ve met a handful, and its really uncomfortable talking to people in a black mask. I’ve lived around them my whole life though, and probably had many insignificant interactions with them. But no, I just don’t *know* many is all.

My ex muslim story is so dubious that even EXMNA had to reject me - Nope. Refuted. But not retracted, by Mr. Honesty himself.

It was mean of me not to graciously accept Michael Sherlock’s public false equivalence of people who smear me and me, right in the eye of that storm. I said that’s bullshit, so its understandable he jumped to “You are the monster u revile” “You are a crazy cernovich conspiracist about Rubin” (yeah ok if u think cernovich is crazy, then u should have no problem with the fact that i think Rubin normalizing cernovich’s craziness, is crazy) and then “cunt” x 2. - I’ll say it again…what an asshole thing to do to a friend…I have not known Michael to be like this, so I’m wondering if he was abducted by aliens or something ? Or if my criticism of Rubin had been building up as some sort of anger towards me? I don't know.

I’ve said before that in Saudi many of us weren’t aware of the extent of how barbaric some of the punishments were - like of course we heard about public beheadings and those rumours circulated, they weren’t publicly discussed or acknowledged in detail because…as any idiot would know, life in Saudi Arabia is a heavily censored in many ways. One of the most censored and silenced topics is the violation of human rights in Saudi. This doesn’t mean I have no experience living under sharia, it means this is one of the effects of living under sharia ffs. Information is kept from you in an Orwellian way. #NotShariaEnough indeed. Where else do you live under fear of morality police, think sneaking around with alcohol (moonshine) as a teenager could lead to death or deportation, where else are you forced into black bags without your consent? Where else do you live life as a woman knowing you are a second class citizen. That if you are potentially raped, there is no real recourse. Where else could you experience morality police canes?

I once said this to a guy in very frustrating conversation, where not even this was as bad as sjws to him.

which is presented by my critics as me saying all people who like or have been on Dave's show are fans of white supremacy and rape apologetics. Now if you actually read what I said, it says…”if you don’t have a problem with the promotion of those things” , clearly.. you’d be a Rubin fan… this is pretty self explanatory I think. But by now you’ve seen my critics aren’t very smart at all. Dave Rubin demonstrably promotes white genociders (a white supremacist conspiracy theory that builds fear about interracial 'breeding') and rape apologists unchallenged, laughed Mike Cernovich's rape apologetics off as 'Rattling Cages' ffs. This is one of the main criticisms against him. If thats fine with someone, or they are happy to look the other way because he serves some other agenda of crushing the evil SJWs who run the world…. then why would they NOT be a Dave Rubin fan? If you can overlook these things, yeah you'd be a Rubin fan. Im sure many people are Rubin fans just out of ignorance though, who aren't aware of the bigger picture or details of the kinds of people he's promoting, because he doesn't present these troubling guests accurately. In fact he presents them in the best light possible, as allies. But if you know, and don't find it to be a problem that's troubling.

I hate that Dave Rubin talks to controversial people - No. I’d be fine with his exact same guest list if he simply challenged these guests on some of their disturbing views, or if he at least made his audience aware of why these people are controversial in the first place. Instead it’s a nodfest. This is very harmful, especially in this political climate. And has visibly made the atheist scene toxic and overlap hugely with infowars /alt-lite/alt-right audiences. I actually really enjoyed David Pakman's interview with Richard Spencer. He did what Rubin pretends to.

I am somehow upset with Yasmine because she's more popular than me..haha. It certainly couldn't be that I decided I will no longer be silent about things I've observed about her, only *after* she contributed to negating my entire life story. Because those things might help to explain why she went after me like this. Also, last I checked I had quite a lot more followers, undoubtedly she'll get more if she goes the Rubin/Gad/Lalo route..but it hasn't happened just yet...so that too, is just false. I also said she was pandering to the soft right, not that she is right wing.

Ok but with Brilliant arguments like this, they definitely got me here:

Clearly this is a contest between Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Dave Rubin. Because Jihadis will always be the worst, undoubtedly (and we come full circle from how this started with Fossa being angry 'I deflect from Islam')…I guess worrying about the rise of far right hate and extremism in the West where many of us critics of Islam live, is just silly and frivolous. Not like the US has stepped few decades back in the past months or anything. Nothing to see here. Promoting white genociders and anti-feminists should proceed as normal.

Sadly this is the state of self proclaimed liberal twitter atheists, they resort to fox news tactics. And I'm not supposed to notice there's a problem.

Why can’t I just pick a team and stfu with all this inconvenient in-group criticism. It’s tribal *not* to. Such a smeary cunt-monster cuck, Eiynah. And I bet you haven't learned your lesson yet, about staying silent on these things. I bet you think the resistance to this shows just how important this topic is to discuss. No ideas above scrutiny, freedom of speech, etc.

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How about now? Will you be quiet now? --- Nope. ----------------- Thanks to those who stuck by me during the smear campaign. Thanks to those who are real friends, and thanks to those who support my work. New Patrons and old. Much love to you all. If you'd like to support my work you can do so here

from Nice Mangos http://ift.tt/2n8HTwi via IFTTT

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cynthiajayusa · 5 years

Text

Kyle MacLachlan Talks New Gay Dad Role, Reaching LGBTQ Youth

Here, the actor talks about raising his son, Callum, much like Ray Winter does, gay fans who slip into his DMs and bears who love his rosé.

youtube

You’ve played dads before. But what about Ray spoke to you differently?

You were the stepfather of a gay son, Andrew Van de Kamp, on Desperate Housewive. Who does the better job parenting a queer kid: Orson Hodge or Ray Winter?

youtube

When were your eyes first opened to having an LGBTQ following?

How has it become obvious through social media?

I have a friend who says Blue Velvet was responsible for his sexual awakening. Is that what gay fans tell you on Twitter?

What kind of attention did Showgirls get you from the LGBTQ community?

youtube

I was at a gay bar once and they were showing Showgirls on all the TVs. When you shot that film, did you expect for it to live on in the LGBTQ community like it has?

Particularly at gay bars.

At least there! And midnight showings!

For 2004’s rom-com Touch of Pink, what was special about portraying the ghost of Cary Grant who gives advice to a gay Muslim man?

You played the mayor of Portland in Portlandia. Do you think that character would make a good mayor of Twin Peaks or Wisteria Lane?

Why haven’t we seen you in more openly gay roles?

Have there been gay roles you’ve turned down?

It’s always about the quality of the material, so if it there was, it just wasn’t worth telling.

But then you read something like Giant Little Ones.

And a reminder to your own son that his dad is OK with whomever he becomes or wants to be.

In your spare time, you are a winemaker. Are gay men some of your most loyal rosé buyers?

In a queer context “bear” means a hairy, chubby gay man, so it can’t hurt that “Pursued by Bear” is the name of your brand.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/03/21/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role-reaching-lgbtq-youth/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2019/03/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role.html

0 notes

demitgibbs · 5 years

Text

Kyle MacLachlan Talks New Gay Dad Role, Reaching LGBTQ Youth

Here, the actor talks about raising his son, Callum, much like Ray Winter does, gay fans who slip into his DMs and bears who love his rosé.

youtube

You’ve played dads before. But what about Ray spoke to you differently?

You were the stepfather of a gay son, Andrew Van de Kamp, on Desperate Housewive. Who does the better job parenting a queer kid: Orson Hodge or Ray Winter?

youtube

When were your eyes first opened to having an LGBTQ following?

How has it become obvious through social media?

I have a friend who says Blue Velvet was responsible for his sexual awakening. Is that what gay fans tell you on Twitter?

What kind of attention did Showgirls get you from the LGBTQ community?

youtube

I was at a gay bar once and they were showing Showgirls on all the TVs. When you shot that film, did you expect for it to live on in the LGBTQ community like it has?

Particularly at gay bars.

At least there! And midnight showings!

For 2004’s rom-com Touch of Pink, what was special about portraying the ghost of Cary Grant who gives advice to a gay Muslim man?

You played the mayor of Portland in Portlandia. Do you think that character would make a good mayor of Twin Peaks or Wisteria Lane?

Why haven’t we seen you in more openly gay roles?

Have there been gay roles you’ve turned down?

It’s always about the quality of the material, so if it there was, it just wasn’t worth telling.

But then you read something like Giant Little Ones.

And a reminder to your own son that his dad is OK with whomever he becomes or wants to be.

In your spare time, you are a winemaker. Are gay men some of your most loyal rosé buyers?

In a queer context “bear” means a hairy, chubby gay man, so it can’t hurt that “Pursued by Bear” is the name of your brand.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/03/21/kyle-maclachlan-talks-new-gay-dad-role-reaching-lgbtq-youth/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/183608308425

0 notes