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potteresque-ire · 3 years

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This is a response to @rainbowsky ‘s questions about BJYX, as the original post got too long for reblogging (I hope this is okay!). 1) Should we be worried about GG and DD being outed? I often think about what it’s like to be in the closet and I know how it feels to need to be SEEN. But I also understand the reasons why that might not be an option for them. Still, I worry about them being involuntarily outed. There are so many antis after them.

2) What would you speculate is the likelihood of this ever happening, and what might be the consequences if it happened?Is leaving an option for them, even as a distant goal years from now?

3)Does their fame and popularity hold any protective power in the situation (i.e. if they were to come out or be outed, would public opinion about what might happen to them have any impact on the outcome given the nature of the regime)? To what degree would that depend on how much money they are still able to make for interested parties?

My response is under the cut, as it got long, as usual ~

@rainbowsky, you’re among the first BXGs I followed! I’d like to thank you for your insightful posts as well!

Your questions ~ I don’t think I’m qualified to speculate because I’m still a very new turtle and also because of the volatility as well as inconsistencies of China’s sociopolitical policies. I do have a better sense of China’s politics than most international fans, but I also don’t live there and the only way to truly understand how things work at the ground level in a non-transparent country like China is to be there.

(For example, China has officially banned Christmas celebrations for the last several years, but as we saw last week, commercials remain very “Christmas-sy” and Chinese fans happily said Merry Christmas to each other. It takes someone who lives inside to know where to draw the line — what is permitted by the state and what isn’t — when the line shifts and adjusts accordingly.)

Here’re my thoughts, as of today (2020/12/31): if the perpetrator is only some segment of the fandom and the purpose is merely to knock them off the popularity pedestal, outing isn’t a particularly effective way to do so. Homosexuality, being a highly regulated subject in Chinese news and social media, is likely to mean limit transmission of the accusations. The accuser also has to run to risk of being banned themselves first. Also, with BJYX + ZSWW + LSFY being the sizes they are, the people who will most consider turning against gg and dd, ie, the solo fans, have probably already heard something. Some will leave, but the news won’t be a bombshell to them.

The next possibility is if a legal case becomes possible, ie. if China suddenly outlaws homosexuality. This scenario may seem the most dire on the surface but is also one that I least worry about, because with China’s judiciary system being very biased to those in power, if someone wants to frame gg and dd, they do not need to use sexuality as the accusation and subject themselves to the same restrictions as mentioned above. Tax evasion, as @peekbackstage has mentioned with the actress Fan Bing Bing, is far easier, because it tends the turn the audience against the defendant: these stars are making so much money and yet they’re not contributing their share! And as long as the accusers have sufficient power — remembering that commercial and political power are married in the country — the accuser can make up any evidence to suit their needs for any crime.

The third possibility is what I see as the worst case scenario: that the government decides they don’t want their major stars / entertainment industry to be *perceived* as queer — whether the stars are officially out doesn’t matter — and signals the media and commercial companies to stop using any “suspect” star altogether. (Chinese term: 封殺). This is the case of career murder without blood — laws aren’t changed; all the fans will hear are rumours confirmed by nobody. I see this as a possibility because of the Xi regime’s view of The Ideal Men , and my admittedly limited experience with dealing with older generations of Chinese, who I’ve found tend to confuse perceived femininity in men with queerness. I think, and this is only my opinion, that the sheer amount of adapted BL dramas in production (the so-called “dangai 耽改 101” phenomenon) and the heated discussions of them on Weibo will at some point trigger the government (which is made mostly of older generations Chinese). Even if gg and dd don’t do anything, should the government decide these adapted BL dramas, even after the elimination of their queer element, are “non mainstream socialist core values”, all the major people involved with the Untamed—arguably the classic and the drama whose success all these follow-ups are trying to imitate—can be cast as the culprit. If the same officials become aware of BJYX and if they’re somehow convinced that BJYXSZD, it can be easy be used as evidence of the bad influence these dramas can do—“they can turn people gay”—and it doesn’t help that according to reports, gg, at least, used to have a girlfriend.

Something more to consider: Gg and dd are also in a very special position now, in that not only are they immensely popular in China, no other native mainland Chinese stars have achieved this level of international fame with a native mainland Chinese production (ie, not a production from Hollywood, Hong Kong or Taiwan, or with a Kpop band). As such, they are likely subjected to high levels of scrutiny from the state. Depending on who’s in charge in the appropriate department, they may decide gg and dd have to be China’s image; they may have a set idea of what image it is and most likely, it won’t be queer. 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 are special times for China, image wise, both at home and abroad. 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, and gg and dd are both starring in its propaganda productions (dd as a police in BAH and gg as an army officer in AT). CCTV, the state-controlled TV station, is already promoting these shows. So, for 2021, gg and dd are slated to not only be the faces of Chinese entertainment, but also the image of Chinese uniformed forces. If gg and dd come out or are outed, their allowing themselves to be being perceived as queer while donning uniforms will most likely to be viewed by the current regime as an embarrassment; a career murder, then, is an apt response to such transgression. 2022 is the year of Beijing’s Winter Olympics, so again, it’s the time where image matters.

You may have noticed a pattern, as I have as I write this up: them being outed is something to worry about, but also ... nothing more than anything else. If someone wants to tear gg and dd down — and there will be, given their massive commercial power right now and the increasing evidence that they’re working more like collaborators than competitors (ie, they aren’t about to tear each other down any time soon) — they do not need their sexuality as a reason.

(And if these accusers really want to use homosexuality as a reason, the unofficial BTS is, IMO, more than enough, as long as the accusers have sufficient power.)

Your other question ~ can gg and dd’s fame, popularity, and ability to draw consumers protect them? My (slightly) educated guess of the answer, then, is that it’s very much a double-edged sword. Indeed, the one major thing that may be going for these adapted BL dramas, and for those who come to superstardom to it — with gg and dd being the prime examples — is the economic health of China, which, by some reports that can no way be verified, are far worse than what has been reported. This is the thing about countries lack transparency; without reliable news, there’s no way to get the facts. Reports on China outside the country tend to be either propaganda or demonising / filled with conspiracy theories, and the truth is probably somewhere in between. If the reports of poor economy are true, the commercial sector — which, again, is tied to those with political power; ie the money made in the former goes into the pockets of the latter — desperately needs stars like gg and dd to move products (based on those recent consumer reports!) and with that, it will want to keep gg and dd and these dramas that can potentially make more gg and dd around. This *seems* to be what’s happening so far, with the the state-run media happy to show gg and dd’s dramas (when it should know, at least, that they got to the height of their fame playing lovers-not-lovers) and gg and dd’s sponsors not-so-subtly wooing the BJYX segment of fandom, so I’m tentatively optimistic. However, the current regime has also shown a willingness to sacrifice the economy for the sake of political ideology, so it’s not something to be taken for granted. (What’s going on in Hong Kong is a good example of that.)

(I always think, eat each candy like it can be the last one. With this regime, it can be. We can wake up tomorrow and gg and dd have to break up BJYX to protect the fans.)

(I always think, treasure, treasure, treasure. Ask for more dy and lz and Weibo posts, but never anymore from gg and dd when it comes to insights of their relationship, even without considering it’s actually their private lives and they’re under no obligation to share.)

(They’ve shared with us far more than enough.)

There’s really no precedence for us to predict the future of an outed gg and dd from, as far as I know. Confirmed queer stars in Chinese entertainment (those with sufficient followers to make news) have all been from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries. The successful BL dramas before The Untamed — Addicted (2016) and The Guardian (2018) — didn’t have a real-person cp that truly took off. Addicted, a true BL drama (ie, it retained the queer elements), was banned before it finished its broadcast. The two actors were also banned from appearing together afterwards, and this “signal” from the government almost cost the two actors their career. Bai Yu from The Guardian, meanwhile, already had a girlfriend as he filmed, so there was never a Weibo supertopic dedicated to him and Zhu Yilong. gg and dd, along with their millions of turtles, are treading untrodden ground.

Something I should clarify ~ all the things I said above may sound very scary to international fans, but to those who live in the country, they understand it as the way things are, and they strategise and move accordingly. This is their way of life. What I wanted to say, in my first reblog, is that we who’re outside may not understand why they do things the way they do, why they don’t, for example, come out with all the candies they are spending so much effort to give out, but I do believe that gg and dd have a plan, not in the sense that they’re scheming or trying to trick anyone, but that they are moving things along at the pace necessary to meet the pre-requisites for the outcome they want. What this outcome is is anyone’s guess, mine being that they have the freedom to work together, not necessary in lover’s capacity — most of us are not required to perform our day jobs carrying our identity as so-and-so’s significant other and gg and dd shouldn’t be exceptions — but as colleagues, professionals and friends (lovers are friends).

To some international fans, this may sound implausible, ridiculous: why do they need a multi year campaign for something as simple as this? As working together again? And I suppose, all these words I’ve typed so far is my attempt to answer this question, to ease the … unease, the frustration of those who may not understand. True to its marxist root, perhaps, many things that are considered mindless, effortless tasks elsewhere somehow become battles, grand struggles of sorts in China. That sea of sea lights on the night of Tencent awards, for example? It was the result of gg’s fans fighting, strategising in real time to smuggle those LED banners in when they realised the venue had forbidden their entry. They wrapped the banners around their bodies under their underwear because they were patted down by security at the underwear level; they hid batteries in their shoes. They ran batteries from one zone in the stadium to another during the whole show for whose who only managed to smuggle in banners or batteries. They fought the security guards inside the stadium, who continued to snatch away their banners even after seeing they were merely support material for the idols. They fought and fought, despite their identities were recorded by their COVID pass and facial recognition. Many confessed they had no idea what gg was singing during the show; they were too busy. They were there, some paying scalpers > 10x the ticket price, just because they promised the sea of red would be there for gg when he returned. When some realised dd’s banners were confiscated in high numbers because his fans happened to have seats right by the strictest security, they improvised, found an image of a green block to show on their cell phones to make makeshift green support lights for dd. They used Weibo to spread this trick to fellow fans. All these trouble, all these effort, all these planning and scheming and sweat and tears — all for one night, one concert and they laughed about it, called it a wonderful day.

(There are many ways for lives to be hard.)

The very first thing gg and dd need to accomplish, therefore, isn’t to announce what they do in the bedroom—the very first thing they need, for their plan to come to fruition, is to stay on top of the industry. How can they be on the same stage for the yearly Tencent Awards if either of them fails to make VIP? What’s their negotiation chip for a future collaboration, when the current norm is against cps like them working together again, if they cannot draw enough viewers and consumers, or if they offend Tencent and other media companies by refusing to see to the needs of the other side (for example, the need to promote new dramas)? So far, the two of them have accomplished this in flying colours. The other thing they need right now, the way I see it, is for their fans to get along. I think part of the reason they’ve made BJYXSZD so easy to believe in and love, in addition to their very human need to be seen when their careers may be safer otherwise (yes, I think they know what they’re doing, the candies they’re throwing), is because they want their fans to unite, as they have united. To make sure something like 227 cannot happen again, or at least, if it does happen again, their fans cannot be used as an excuse, as scapegoats. And this union is happening — slowly, but it’s happening. The size of BJYX (>2.8 million as of now, on Weibo supertopic) is a powerful indicator; I also had a wonderful time reading the comments of gg’s solo fans who went to purchase dd’s new song. This is the part gg and dd need their fan’s help. This is the one of the fews things we, as overseas fans who have limited access to their products, can help.

Your final question — sorry, this is getting so long again — about leaving. Of course, it’s always up to the government and It’s impossible to say what can happen so far ahead. But my perception, right now at least, is that gg and dd have no intention to leave, no intention to sacrifice their career for their personal lives and vice versa. After all, this is a pair who has answered those A vs B choice questions with a straight-faced “I want both” and “so annoying” without a follow-up reply. They’re right to want both. I like them for wanting both. And maybe, with their intelligence, charisma and hardwork and ambition and personalities that seem to clash but somehow complements each other’s, they will figure out a way. Maybe they are, as the Chinese turtles call them, the Chosen Pair, and they will be the ones who’ll change the perception fo queer artists in China, and we’ll one day get a biography about them and laugh at the candies we get right, laugh harder at those candies we get totally wrong.

(Dd ~ I want your honest opinion, in your own words, on the ones we get wrong.)

(Gg ~ videos of your expressions while reading the crazy theories the first time will be very much appreciated. By me.)

It’s a good day to look forward to.

#bjyx #yizhan #pie metas

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mostlyjustwhump · 4 years

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Finn’s Redemption, Part 2

Finally, I finish. That took longer than expected! More of Finn realizing that maybe, just maybe, his world is rather fucked up. Part one here.

Tw for physical abuse being discussed, kidnapping being discussed, and dehumanization. Let me know if I missed anything!

Finn checked Reddit for the fourth time that hour. No further comments. He sighed and put the phone on his stomach. He’d posted a day ago on r/betterboxbehavior, asking about less painful discipline methods, and had only gotten three comments, despite most of the posts on the sub getting at least 10.

‘Why would you want to make it LESS painful? Painful is the point, lol.’

‘r/lostredditors’

‘Just buck up and do the discipline. You shouldn’t have a pet if you can’t stand caring for it.’

Charlie entered the room with a vacuum cleaner. Finn sighed, speaking over the noise. “Well, asking about other discipline methods on reddit was useless.” He picked up his phone again, navigating to Google. “I’ll try an internet search again, though I found nothing useful last time.”

“What did you find?” Charlie asked, barely audible over the vacuum.

Finn scrolled through the results. “A list of overly cruel discipline methods. A pet forum discussing discipline methods, though not-painful doesn’t seem to be what they’re going for. Some general lists of discipline products and methods. Oh, and a crackhead conspiracy theorist.”

“A crackhead conspiracy theorist?”

“Yeah, one of those people who believes that WRU gets its stock from mass kidnappings.” Finn snorted.

Charlie stopped vacuuming. “That… actually sounds believable, to me.”

Finn put down the phone and looked at him. “What do you mean, that sounds believable? You’re one of the people who signed up for it!”

Charlie flinched a bit, and hesitated. “Well, I can understand a few people signing up, but there’s so many of us. I just don’t know why so many people would do that, knowing….” He shook his head and went back to vacuuming.

“How would they even hide that? I’m sure people would speak out if they were kidnapped.”

“If they were kidnapped, they’d never know, none of us remember much from before.”

Finn sat up. “Wait. So you’re telling me that for all you know you could have been kidnapped and you wouldn’t have ever known?”

Charlie nodded, not looking up from his vacuuming.

“Doesn’t that bother you?��

Charlie shrugged. “A little? Mostly I just feel like things make sense now, if that theory’s true.”

“So I shouldn’t try to convince you otherwise?”

Charlie stopped and looked up at him, meeting his eyes. “You don’t believe it, then?”

“No, of course not. There’s got to be a simpler explanation, such as the one they’re giving. The thing about conspiracy theories is that you have to ask yourself, why would someone do that?”

“Well, if they weren’t getting enough people signing up, why wouldn’t they?”

“Because they’d get caught?”

“Who’d catch them?” Charlie didn’t sound defiant. In fact, he sounded genuinely curious.

“The police. It’s their job to keep people safe, you know.” He tried to give Charlie a reassuring smile, but Charlie wasn’t listening.

“I thought their job was to catch runaway pets.”

“Well, that’s part of keeping people safe. You’d die on your own.”

Charlie shrugged. “Maybe.” He went back to vacuuming. “Besides, I think I have other reasons why it might be true, if you’re fine with hearing them?” His voice was tinged with anxiety at the end of his question.

“Sure, why not?”

Charlie cleared his throat. “They’ve never said how they get custom orders. Not to us, anyways.”

“I’m sure there’s a more reasonable explanation than that.”

Charlie shrugged again. “I guess.”

XXXXXXXXXXX

Finn couldn’t get the conversation out of his mind for the rest of the week. Where did custom orders come from? He couldn’t think of any decent explanation, no matter how hard he tried.

Maybe they just dyed the hair of the stock they already had? Color contacts? But no, that didn’t make sense. If they did that, people would notice the roots growing out, or the pet taking out the contacts. Maybe the company really was kidnapping people.

He shook his head. No. That was stupid. Of course they weren’t. There had to be a reasonable explanation, he just had to email the company and find out what it was.

A couple days later, he got a response.

“Charlie!”

Charlie walked over, holding a broom. “Yes, sir?”

“I emailed the company your question about custom orders. They apparently have a giant network of people who think they might want to volunteer, so if a custom order comes in they have a couple of potential matches who would be interested.”

“Oh, okay.” Charlie was silent for a moment. “What would they have said if they were kidnapping people?”

Finn froze up. Somehow, he didn’t think of that.

Charlie hesitated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Oh… okay. Well. I’m going to go back to sweeping.”

XXXXXXXXXXX

Finn was sure the company wouldn’t lie. Why would they? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just tell the truth than to do a bunch of illegal things? So why was he lying awake at 2 thinking about it?

Why wouldn’t Charlie know? He’d always known that pets never thought much about their former lives. After all, if they signed up to get away from something, they wouldn’t want to think about it. But surely it was a little bit strange that he remembered so little that he thought it was plausible that he had been kidnapped?

A deep part of him felt sure that something wasn’t adding up.

He got up and went downstairs. There was no use lying in bed when he wasn’t sleeping. He figured he might as well get himself some hot milk, or some tea.

Charlie slept in the dog bed by the sliding glass door, moonlight falling over his unconscious form. Finn walked quietly to avoid waking him up.

As he was preparing some milk in the kitchen, he thought to himself about Charlie. Sleeping by the glass like that, the light must have been waking him up early. And the bed was probably quite small, now that he thought about it. Even a bed for a large dog was probably somewhat undersized for a human.

He stopped the microwave a couple of seconds before it would have gone off. If he moved Charlie somewhere else, he wouldn’t have to do that every time he got a snack or drink in the middle of the night. Besides, what if Charlie hadn’t signed up for this? Was it fair to keep him in a dog bed by the glass when neither of them could really be sure?

He could always move Charlie to what had been his exercise room. It was high time he stopped lying to himself about exercising more anyway. He had the next day off, he might as well use it to set up.

If he couldn’t be sure how Charlie had ended up here, the least he could do was be nice.

#finn #charlie #finn's redemption #box boy #boxboy #box boy universe #box boy multiverse #bbu #boxboy universe #whump #whumpblr #tw physical abuse #tw abuse #tw kidnapping #tw dehumanisation

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alwaysmarilynmonroe · 5 years

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Tonight marks 57 years since Marilyn left us – her body was found by her housekeeper in the early hours of August 5th and it was officially announced to the world that morning. Every year I try and write about Marilyn on both her Birthday and her Anniversary, each time I make sure to focus on one particular thing – to celebrate and appreciate her for the amazing person she truly was.

Baby Marilyn, then known as Norma Jeane Baker in 1929.

So many people and society tend to view Marilyn as a victim, passed around from man to man and used throughout her lifetime. This both angers and frustrates not just me, but many fans, who have spent years taking the time to research legitimate sources and find out who Marilyn herself was. Often her death is viewed as a conspiracy fueled gossip loving debate, so much so that she ends up no longer seeming like a young woman anymore, but an object of fascination.

Marilyn in the 1930s.

It seems to me that it’s easier for people to believe in the distasteful lies and conspiracies that surround not just Marilyn, but many other celebrities and icons before and after her. People cannot comprehend someone as beautiful, talented and loved as her to have any demons or hardships. It almost seems like it’s frowned upon to listen to the doctors original death verdict – which was, “probable suicide” as depression can’t always be comprehended or accepted by others. It also doesn’t continue to sell hundreds of books and trashy articles like conspiracies and salacious stories do and sadly, that’s what so many seem to care more about. In the end Marilyn ends up being turned into a former shadow of her true self, which is just not acceptable to me and so many others – therefore, I will continue to try and dispel the lies and bring back her true character.

Marilyn visits Catalina Island in 1943.

Furthermore, Marilyn’s death does not define her – intended or accidental it is still and will always be a tragedy, but, it does not take away from her 36 years of life and the achievements she made during and after her lifetime. Marilyn was a voice for the underdog, incredibly ahead of her time she defied gender stereotypes and was never afraid to be honest and speak out about taboo topics such as sexuality, abuse and the pay gap. She was also the third Actress to set up her own Film Production Company – Mary Pickford and Mabel Normand did so in 1916.

Marilyn by Andre de Dienes in 1945.

Marilyn constantly tried to improve herself as a human and an artist, she suffered immensely for her creativity, always wanting to be the best actress she could become. She was very self conscious of her limited education and loved to read and learn about a variety of subjects – her library had over four hundred books on it’s shelves varying from Psychology to Russian Literature! She loved the simple things in life, such as walking around Brooklyn, caring for animals, listening to music and spending time with loved ones. Ultimately, this was the real Marilyn, the person that so often gets lost in the publicity of hearsay and money making headlines.

Marilyn by J.R. Eyerman in 1949.

I truly hope that whenever a person comes across Marilyn, they take a few moments to discover the real her, the person behind the Blonde Bombshell persona. It’s so easy to see a headliner or false image and believe an inaccurate presentation of a famous person. I may be a little biased, but I can honestly say that feelings aside, Marilyn was truly an incredible woman, brave, generous, kind and strong, someone who just wanted to make the world a little brighter. Plus, even if all of these ridiculous, continuously disproven myths miraculously ended up being true, it would not change my the amount of respect or adoration I have for her.

Marilyn by Nick de Morgoli in 1953.

So many associate sexual promiscuity, addiction and stupidity with Marilyn and honestly, it not only saddens me but I find it incredibly, infuriating. Firstly, even half a century later, the amount of sexism and double standards that still exist in our society is simply disgusting. Therefore, I’d like to touch on each one of these so called flaws and share the facts behind the assumptions.

Marilyn in England in July 1956.

Did Marilyn have an affair? Yes, she did – with Actor Yves Montand during the making of Let’s Make Love in 1960 – not with the often noted, John F. Kennedy. In reality, they only met a less than juicy four times from 1960 and three of them were at public events. Yet as always, the woman is shamed and condemned – even if the hearsay comes about years after her death by people simply wanting to make some money. I would say that a huge amount of Stars in Hollywood had affairs during their careers, no judgement here, I’m just stating the facts. However, why is it Marilyn that is constantly criticized, judged and linked to every man in and out of Hollywood? In reality she spoke out multiple times about the peril of the, “Hollywood Wolves” and actually lost out on a contract renewal with Columbia Head Harry Cohn for turning down a proposition. Lastly, if she had slept with every single person that she’s been associated with, she’d never have had time to have such a successful career and three marriages.

Marilyn by Sam Shaw in the Summer of 1957.

Was Marilyn an addict? Yes, she was addicted to prescription medications such as Chloral Hydrate and Nembutal, which she would take for her depression, crippling anxiety and insomnia. Medical negligence was extremely high in the heyday of Hollywood and if you were famous and had problems, they could often be taken advantage of instead of resolved. Personally, I don’t know why being an addict gives others the right to condemn, judge, shame and insult someone suffering from this terrible sickness? If anything there should be compassion and understanding, we are all only human and the stigma needs to stop.

Marilyn by Richard Avedon for LIFE Magazine in 1959.

Was Marilyn just a, “Dumb Blonde”? No, but for some bizarre reason to me, people seem to not be able to understand that an Actor is performing a role, the character you’re seeing on the screen is just that – a character. However, because Marilyn was able to create such a convincing persona, people could not accept that in reality, she loved to be in her capri pants, with no makeup on, sitting at home reading a good book. Even during her lifetime, her acting was usually only appreciated when she took on dramatic roles, such as in Bus Stop (1956) and The Misfits (1961). Honestly, I don’t know why a persons intelligence has any influence in how they should be viewed and treated by others and I actually think if Marilyn had been less intelligent, she would have been a lot happier.

Marilyn during the filming of The Misfits by Elliott Erwitt in 1960.

I think a lot of people forget that Marilyn was actually a real person, just like you and me, a human that graced us with her presence on this Earth. Someone as beautiful, wonderful and pure of heart like her really existed and with such a judgmental and prejudicial society like ours, it can sometimes be hard to accept this. Just because Marilyn’s no longer here in a physical presence, doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve the same respect that we’d give to others. She gave a hell of a lot to this world in just a small amount of time, her contributions to Hollywood and for women are legendary and should be appreciated and shared.

Marilyn by Bert Stern for VOGUE Magazine in June 1962.

Wherever you are sweet Marilyn, I hope you feel the love and kind words so many of us only wish we could say to you. You’ve given so much happiness to millions of people, this girl especially and we truly love and appreciate you for being undoubtedly your true self.

“But when you’re famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way. It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who is she who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, you know, of any kind of nature and it won’t hurt your feelings.”

– Marilyn to Richard Meryman for LIFE Magazine published on August 17th 1962.

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57 Years Without Marilyn. Tonight marks 57 years since Marilyn left us - her body was found by her housekeeper in the early hours of August 5th and it was officially announced to the world that morning.

#1940s #1950s #1960s #angel #blonde bombshell #classic hollywood #icon #legend #marilyn monroe #norma jeane #norma jeane baker #old hollywood #retro #vintage

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velvyy · 5 years

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bit of a rant oof

If homophobes are so obsessed with the idea of gay people or gayness being “unnatural” I gotta say I hope they aren’t relying on technology because lemme tell you something about modern day manufacturing, television, laptops, and taking showers.

I really don’t understand and see how this argument holds up because it falls apart once you realize all these people mentioning homosexuality being unnatural are probably pro-capitalist, and capitalism being the driving force behind unnatural establishments of workers producing industrial and manufactured goods whilst allowing your CEO, boss, etc, to accumulate masses of wealth despite already being well off as it is.And before I hear “Our urge to be aggressively competitive is our nature!”, I’d like to point out that applies to those who are trying to survive in a society where certain resources may be scarce. Of course you’re going to fight for them if it’s a life or death situation unless, you find a way to be mutual about it and establish a more cooperative way of surviving that serves to benefit both parties. We aren’t so simple-minded that we just look at things as a kill or be killed situation. This type of rhetoric and logic is used to justify the existence of billionaires whilst also being based on a very twisted rendition of evolutionary theory. Saying that it’s in our nature to do what we must to survive is not the same as saying that mass accumulation of wealth to such an extent it drains resources from those who need it is justified, because one could argue that our desire to survive can lead us to find a solution in mutual aid, cooperation, and autonomy rather than being overly competitive and creating foes where it might be unnecessary. Sure, we can also be greedy, but to what end do we allow our greed to become so overwhelming that it negatively effects the entire world’s population? In a smaller, agrarian society, I figure those who would try and accumulate a mass majority of resources would be shunned and potentially expelled from said society. In our current society, we’re convinced that billionaires are some kind of benevolent being who keeps the good will of the people in mind, but of course, as history has shown, the establishment of hierarchy and accumulation of power inevitably corrupts those to such a degree that it negatively affects anyone who isn’t considered an “elite” and with no democracy existent in the workplace, I’d hardly call our CEOs benevolent just like I’d hardly call Monarchs benevolent. Although the UK proves they haven’t moved past the worshiping of Monarchs..

I fail to see how the unnatural mass accumulation of wealth, by unnatural means of production, those things being made in unnatural and industrial settings, and being distributed by unnatural means, is even remotely human nature, and I’d even argue that this “human nature” argument is honestly arbitrary once you realize humans are heavily influenced and are adaptable to their environment, but I digress.

Humanity isn’t so simple to kind of just boil us down to the idea that we exist solely to mate with those of the opposite sex and make children who will then do the same in later years, and I fail to see how viewing humanity in such a way isn’t limiting and restrictive. Whether or not a man can love another man really isn’t a problem. All these reactionary worries of undermining traditional values and marriage is just mere fearmongering. No one who’s actually straight is just going to decide to not get married because their gay next door neighbor got married. Raising children won’t be undermined, nor will the idea of “family” be undermined. The issue arises when reactionaries seemingly want some arbitrary reason to exclude gay people from normal life due to preconceived notions and archaic beliefs that are more than a millennia old at this point, and these people are seemingly fine with government intervention when it suits to enable discrimination, but once it does the opposite, now we have a discussion about civil liberty and rights, because apparently those who aren’t disadvantaged the same way others are, are now being systemically and institutionally oppressed because gay people can hold a big fancy wedding and live in the same suburban neighborhood. Some even try to make it some faux feminist issue, making claims of how gay men getting married is somehow a result of men appropriating femininity and what it means to be a woman.

I mean, The AAP, APA, NASW, and AMA seem to disagree with those who try to undermine people who aren’t straight, but for some reason we’re still having this debate all because of gay characters being represented in films and current properties, and this is quite recent really. Gay character pops up in a comic book or film, all the incel-esque fanboys of whatever property they’re into lose their shit and begin to make conspiracy theories about cultural marxism and the end of civilization as we know it. Apparently sucking dick is going to destroy all of the order established in the world, despite the order in the world ironically being built off the pillaging and ransacking and oppressing of other groups across the world. The SJW propaganda wants to undermine straight people by including people who aren’t like me oh noes. The SJW communists have taken over every individual industry ever in the history of everything, and now my kids are going to become gay! What a tragedy! I need to become an online reactionary activist and pretend I’m an intellectual because I cite evidence whilst misinterpreting it and then make claims about how I trigger the libs!

You might think I’m being seriously hyperbolic here, but I’ve seen conservatives and centrists on Youtube speak EXACTLY like this, and it baffles me that people take these kinds of people seriously. I don’t think I’d look at a movie that just so happens to have an all straight cast and think “THE STRAIGHT AGENDA” because that’s nonsense. Marxists owning means of production only to use it for spreading a progressive message about how gays are pretty ok? Marxists wouldn’t take over businesses. They’d either destroy them or establish worker’s cooperatives out of them, and sorry, but DC, Marvel, and all these other big entertainment distributors? None of them are destroyed or workers co-ops, and if they were, it wouldn’t be because of Marxists going against their own values to prove some point about how capitalism sucks. Capitalism does that by itself. Your kids can’t just majestically turn gay because they saw a comic strip of Spiderman kissing Deadpool. If your kid is gay, that’s just because he just is.His attraction is something he can’t help and feels rather natural to him, and to him, would feel unnatural to constantly be told that their attraction is evil and wrong, and is somehow being enabled by the media they consume. If anything, the media they consume helps them realize themselves better and I see no negatives with that. Triggering the libs? Most “progressives” or leftists typically acknowledge that certain things being said or represented are in poor taste. I don’t like cancel culture, but me saying that someone shouldn’t call someone a faggot isn’t me being “ultra triggered liberal sjw”, it’s just me saying that such vernacular derives from the dehumanization of a certain group of people, and it’s not your word to own. When you say it in a such a way, we know what you mean, and it’s not helpful to you or I. That’s not me telling you to go die, and if your reaction to that is more vitriol, then maybe you’re the one who’s offended by me making an honest point. Sorry if your tunnel vision view of societal norms and the way we as people treat each other originates from cowardly centrists from Youtube, or reactionaries.

I’m genuinely and honestly tired of this debate surrounding whether or not I have the right to exist and be free from discrimination. I can’t fathom why so many people think my right to exist is somehow a violation of their own rights to such a degree that they think they need to undermine mine, and I’m especially tired of these same people arguing that something I can’t help is unnatural despite many of these people consuming and being surrounded by things that actually are unnatural, and made by unnatural means. Also tired of the bs surrounding entertainment and this whole charade regarding fake outrage surrounding gay people in films. Admittedly I do have a problem with companies using LGBT representation as a mere commodity for liberal consumer points, but that’s not a problem with being gay as much as it’s a problem with companies being soulless husks as corporate entities with no regard for humanity. And I’m really tired of having buzzwords thrown my way as a way to shut down conversation, and then have these people pretend they owned me in some hypothetical debate. Sexuality and the way it’s shaped through genetics, environment, the structure of our brain, etc, is a very complex subject, and it irks me that people really want to find any way to disregard science to try and justify their bigotry only to claim they aren’t bigoted in any way.

#rant

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cryptoworldpage · 2 years

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Controversial comedian and commentator Joe Rogan said that he “has a lot of hope” for cryptocurrencies in a recent podcast interview. In the 1,760th Saturday episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan discussed the future of crypto with fellow podcaster Adam Curry. Rogan’s podcast has an estimated 11 million listeners per episode despite Spotify’s attempts to censor some of the more offensive episodes. Rogan, whose podcast took the top spot as most popular on Spotify in 2021, stated: “It’s either going to fall apart completely, or we’re going to use this as an opportunity to right the ship and come up with a better way to live our lives.” Curry is the host of the right-wing podcast No Agenda, which has been criticized by the mainstream media and medical community for promoting conspiracy theories. Curry explained that “there is a whole slew of young people who are just opting out, and they are moving to build parallel systems and parallel networks,” before adding, “I’m on the Bitcoin train because I believe my money is safer there.” “The money system is broken. It causes inflation; it causes misery; it causes wars because it is linked to oil.” Rogan and Curry also discussed the possibilities of a “Silicon-Valley-controlled” digital metaverse and the potential role of nonfungible tokens in this space. Rogan theorized a future where companies come up with their own digital tokens that customers would need to use to purchase their products. “Apple could easily do that,” Rogan said, adding, “You would buy coins, and through those coins, you would buy products… It’s almost like another version of stocks or something.” However, Curry wasn’t convinced, saying, “That’s not the plan,” and he expects powerful institutions and governments will instead set their sights on central bank digital currencies. “You will have crypto. You will have a digital wallet. It will be directly from the Federal Reserve to you. And there will be little retail banking — that just won’t happen anymore.” Like| Comment| Follow| share ————————————————————————- https://www.instagram.com/p/CYmY2w9IwNE/?utm_medium=tumblr

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thefilmsnob · 3 years

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Glen Coco’s Top 10 Films of 2020

This has been the weirdest damn year for film--and basically everything else--we’ve ever witnessed. Theatres closed, re-opened, then closed again; dozens of films were postponed, and no one knew where to watch the ones that weren’t. I didn’t see nearly as many films as I usually do and, even so, the selection was relatively underwhelming. Nevertheless, there were still some good pictures released, so, as always, I’m sharing my top ten films of 2020 plus a bonus track...there’s always a bonus track.

#10b. (Bonus Track) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Director: Jason Woliner

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova

On the surface, Sacha Baron Cohen’s characters may seem utterly absurd and childish--and maybe they are--but, the genius behind them is their ability to reveal the ignorance of the people he encounters and make you question where the true absurdity lies. Cohen accomplishes this yet again, even if this sequel isn’t quite as fresh as its 2006 predecessor. Yet, in the United States of 2020, ravaged as much by asinine politicians, disgraceful racism and dangerous conspiracy theories as by the actual Covid pandemic, Borat is an entirely welcome presence. He makes all the right people look as wrong as they should, especially former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani who’s caught red-handed in a compromising position opposite a very young girl, thus exacerbating his epic fall from grace while reaffirming Cohen’s brilliance.

#10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Director: George C. Wolfe

Starring: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman

Despite my initial ambivalence, this movie has lingered in my mind for months and that’s always a good sign. Set almost entirely in one location, a 1920s Chicago recording studio, and focusing heavily on a group of musicians shooting the breeze in its basement while their demanding singer talks business with the big wigs upstairs, seemingly nothing much happens and, yet, everything happens; dreams are envisioned, pain is recalled, ideas are shared and, of course, music is made. Those elements are enhanced by the film’s stellar technical features from the production design, to the costumes to the hair & makeup. Yet, it’s the performers who steal the show, which is expected from Viola Davis but a pleasant surprise from Chadwick Boseman who, sadly, gives his final performance. The late actor saved his best for last playing a young trumpeter whose ambitions are constantly hindered by his inability to let go of his tragic past.

#9. The Way Back

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck

For those of you with the misconception that Ben Affleck is a bad actor, you might want to watch The Way Back in which he plays a former high school basketball star and current alcoholic who’s dealing with the death of his child and separation from his wife when he’s asked to coach his former team. Sure, this covers familiar ground, but it does so better than similar films, finessing the more predictable aspects, adding some welcome touches and treating the subject matter with the respect and seriousness it deserves. The basketball takes a backseat to the character drama here, so the film’s quality relies heavily on the performance of Affleck which might be his best to date; he makes his character’s inebriation so convincing you can practically smell the beer on his breath. And you hope to God he gets the help he so desperately needs.

Full Review: https://thefilmsnob.tumblr.com/post/613090953214001152/the-way-back-12-out-of-5

#8. News of the World

Director: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel

This is a film we need right now for several reasons, not least of which being we get to spend two hours with ‘America’s Dad’ Tom Hanks, a decent, honourable man playing another decent, honourable man in 1870 who encounters a strange young girl on the road near an overturned wagon and promises to return her to her remaining family. With Hanks’s character Jefferson Kidd traveling from town to town reading the newspaper for its citizens, this is also a timely film, stressing the importance of a free and fair press as opposed to the propaganda that saturated the Trump administration and his favourite news outlet. An unusually--yet refreshingly--straightforward and old-fashioned Western for 2020, its highlights include a climactic exchange between adult and child, made so effectively tender with such minimal effort by Hanks, as well as a meticulously crafted chase and shootout sequence at the halfway point, directed with optimal tension and clarity by the great Paul Greengrass.

#7. Nomadland

Director: Chloe Zhao

Starring: Frances McDormand

It’s about time we start including Frances McDormand in lists of greatest actors. In Nomadland, in which she plays a wanderer of sorts who’s lost her husband to cancer and her company town to a poor economy, her performance transcends labels like ‘realistic’ or ‘natural’ and arrives at a place that doesn’t feel like performance at all. She blends in seamlessly with a cast of real nomads playing themselves, living out of vans in the western US, as unconstrained by societal norms as the film itself is by conventional story arcs. We want to see this minimalist lifestyle, which includes seasonal Amazon warehouse gigs and long nights in a freezing cold van, as depressing or unfulfilling, but writer/director/producer/editor (Jesus!) Chloe Zhao dares us to admire both the freedom and sense of community formed among this nomadic subculture. Cinematographer Joshua James Richards also plays with our expectations, bathing the screen in soothing blues and purples, transforming the unremarkable landscape into a thing of beauty.

#6. Da 5 Bloods

Director: Spike Lee

Starring: Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis

In Da 5 Bloods, writer/director Spike Lee deviates from his usual urban American setting to explore the tropical forests of Vietnam, but his focus remains fixed on the African American experience, their plight and search for justice. His subjects are a group of Vietnam War vets who reunite in present day Ho Chin Minh City to retrieve a cache of gold bars left behind some 50 years prior, originally part of a political transaction, as we see in appropriately grainy 4:3 full screen flashbacks. The reason for this mission is more righteous than a simple payday, but Lee refuses to paint these complex characters with the same brush--there’s even a MAGA in the bunch!--nor does he oversimplify the film’s profound issues. A genre-defying work, Da 5 Bloods is a character study, social commentary, war picture and action/adventure flick all rolled into one with some truly shocking developments and one of the finest casts of the year. How Delroy Lindo was denied an Oscar nomination for his volatile performance is beyond me.

#5. Promising Young Woman

Director: Emerald Fennell

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie

In one of the most unique films of the year, Carey Mulligan delivers a brave, bold and beautiful performance as Cassie, a woman with a tragic past who spends her weekends at the club pretending to be blackout drunk, only to shame and humiliate the sleazy men who try to take advantage. Writer/director Emerald Fennell does a masterful job at peeling back the layers of this dark revenge tale ever so gradually to reveal Cassie’s true motives while rebuking, not just society’s abhorrent offenders, but those enablers and silent bystanders who try to hide behind a flimsy shroud of innocence. Benefiting from one of the sharpest screenplays of the year and a fitting score, Promising Young Woman never ceases to ramp up the tension, a strategy that culminates in a shocking final sequence which is at once disturbing and satisfying. It’ll all leave you guessing until the final, brilliant shot.

#4. The Invisible Man

Director: Leigh Whannell

Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid

Originally conceived as part of the ill-fated ‘Dark Universe’--Universal Pictures’ planned movie franchise featuring its classic monsters--and starring Johnny Depp, The Invisible Man was drastically retooled and produced as a stand-alone film with a modernized story. And like so many horror projects of the last decade, it’s refreshingly inspired and well-crafted with a deeper purpose than merely spooking its audience, though it succeeds at that as well. Writer/director Leigh Whannell uses this movie and the fearless performance of the great Elisabeth Moss to examine abusive partners and their persistent hold on their lovers-turned-victims long after the relationship has collapsed. Moss is stunning as usual, portraying an already traumatized woman trying desperately to convince everyone she’s not going crazy as well, even though that’s exactly how it looks. Equally impressive is the restraint by the filmmakers who use the ‘invisible’ effects sparingly yet strategically, creatively and, ultimately, very effectively, making every scare plausible and entirely earned.

#3. Sound of Metal

Director: Darius Marder

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci

In a world in which people are complaining about losing their freedom because they have to wear a simple mask to save lives, it’s good to see a film that shows what real loss looks like. If you can’t imagine being a heavy metal drummer who suddenly goes deaf, writer/director Darius Marder spells it out for you in big, bold, sorrow-inducing letters. He’s aided by Riz Ahmed giving possibly the best performance of the year as a man who, on the surface, tries desperately to hold on to his life and passion while, deep down, he knows that’s impossible. Sound of Metal is a tender and heartbreaking yet hopeful story, but what’s even more effective than the film’s dramatic presentation is its remarkable sound design. At times, characters sign to each other amidst ambient noise. Other times, the sound is muffled as if we’re putting our ears up to a wall and hearing a fraction of the dialogue from the other side. And, less frequently, when Ruben’s condition is at its worst, we hear nothing at all. Just complete and terrifying silence…which speaks volumes.

Full Review: https://thefilmsnob.tumblr.com/post/647329085467574272/sound-of-metal-out-of-5

#2. The Trial of the Chicago 7

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Starring: Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton, etc, etc, etc...

Aaron Sorkin could write about two accountants conducting a routine audit and make it absolutely absorbing. So, imagine what he does with a courtroom drama about the volatile situation surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the group of anti-Vietnam War protestors accused of inciting riots at the event. Now an accomplished director too, Sorkin organizes all the moving pieces involved with style and grace while deploying his famously kinetic dialogue. With those lines coming from the mouths of his stellar cast, it’s hard not to hang on their every word and be invested completely in their struggle. I could listen to Mark Rylance’s showstopping line-reading of the simple phrase, “No, he doesn’t!”, all day and never get tired of it. Among its many achievements, The Trial of the Chicago 7 deftly navigates heavy topics like police brutality, unpopular wars and a corrupt justice system, showing just how little things have changed in the last 50 years.

#1. Palm Springs

Director: Max Barbakow

Starring: Cristin Milioti, Andy Samberg, J.K. Simmons

Anyone who knows me may be surprised by this pick, but here we are. Nothing makes sense these days. We’re all as confused and anxious about life as Sarah and Nyles are at a wedding in Palm Springs. Despite what the title suggests, the film doesn’t follow a group of horny teens getting up to shenanigans in the famous resort town, but if I describe the actual plot in depth, I may spoil the fun. I will say these characters seem to be reliving the same events over and over again. What’s so impressive about this film is that, although it repeats itself, it never feels repetitive. The twists and turns, the absurd hilarity blended with bracing poignancy, ensure our unwavering focus on this briskly paced little gem. Yet, it’s the irresistible chemistry between the two leads, played by the equally irresistible Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg, that forms the glue that holds it all together, whether they’re pulling off childish pranks, discussing their unusual sex lives or debating the very meaning of life. I’m telling you, this movie has everything: comedy, drama, romance, science-fiction (?!), J.K. Simmons, several weddings, an inflatable pizza slice, dinosaurs, a crossbow and colourful beer cans and summer wear that seem destined to become iconic.

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usashirtstoday · 3 years

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First Thing I See Every Morning Is A Shih Tzu Who Loves Me T Shirt

I got a First Thing I See Every Morning Is A Shih Tzu Who Loves Me T Shirt lot of PayPal will ship they would know they would know things about your child’s medical history in order to know about your child’s medical history in order to determine the value of your child on the market not to mention my baby was exotic as I’m I’m black and Indian Guyanese makes an mom is half black and half Puerto Rican so my daughter is a beautiful brown color is beautiful curly brown hair it’s a short she’s she’s an amazing get and knowing that I have a daughter that looks this way I understood the necessity for me to have to protect her with my life you mean because I light skinned I spent my whole life treat my finger like shit now God gave me a light skinned daughter I have to protect the child with my and I did that and I paid a steep price for but she still here and motherfuckers are still trying to take my daughter from I’m still being targeted and now using my own fucking family to try to do but that’s a whole other story and Danny golf line either. Is the name and he and the the the and me in the and in and will and if we had leadership in place and taking his pandemic seriously in the beginning we would not be in a situation we are very worried about what you have classrooms with students so fire is going to be very dangerous for you of the new leadership states American lives seriously strong to show America I’m getting a question or encountering costly woman from Michigan UAW local 652 in Lansing Michigan auto workers union and across our state lost their jobs for Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 20 in 2009 Obama Biden administration inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression the auto industry the brink of collapse a new jobs at stake but Pres Obama and VP Biden didn’t waste time blaming anyone else shirking the responsibility to work they brought together union members companies lawmakers both received the auto industry and we now just a few months ago as our nation began battling clothing 19 auto workers across Michigan spring. Getting family had a lot of title VII command that will be great but will Alan be doing and making fun of fat around one from Indiana Indiana in search of a world education but let together with the civil rights movement of the 19 didn’t the streets of the maximum setting for the contest and the struggle continues today was kind could bring to protect staff and I’m not sure 11 to believe that it was that every generation of Americans keep complaining I devoted my life to real the words hired between quite long 30 years ago I said before I catch for the first time baby frame that would truly career career handling for the people represented as district attorney fighting help the people back to I thought for California between transnational criminal organizations attract people who thought for the United States where I worked every day to hold officials accountable to the American people people gel and I will fight for every day that I have from any share of argument quite Donald Trent open of work you

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douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years

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COPY WHAT MADE LISP

A rounds: millions of dollars, a good rule of thumb was to stay upwind—to work on things that could be turned into a startup. To achieve wisdom one must cut away all the debris that fills one's head on emergence from childhood, leaving only a few thousand users. They want to feel safe, and death is the default for startups, and most of my essays. Is the mathematician a small man because he's discontented? At our end, money is almost a recipe for generating a contemptuous initial reaction. It's something the market already determines.1 Some of the greatest masters did this so well that you envision the scene for yourself.

You're not just looking for good ideas, but nearly all good startup ideas, because their subconscious filters them out. Graduates of elite colleges would have been unbearable. At YC we tell startups they can blame us. That's premature optimization. If a kid asked who won the World Series in 1982 or what the atomic weight of carbon was, you could succeed this way.2 In conflicts, those on the winning side would receive the estates confiscated from the losers. The optimal solution is to have the right kind of friends. CS major and you want to work in this field at all. I was convinced the world was created by the middle class. The Northwest Passage that the Mannerists, the Romantics, and two generations of American high school students have searched for does not seem to exist.3

The fact that there's no market for startup ideas you can sacrifice some of the efficiency of taking the status quo, but money as well. If a new company that grows fast.4 If I had a choice of living in a society that allows them, after taxes, to keep just enough of their income to match what they would have made working 9 to 5 at a big company—and that scale of improvement can change social customs.5 Off the top of the field, what's the test of doing well? It's all evasion. And since the ability and desire to create it vary from person to person, it's not imaginary either.6 But because the product is not appealing enough.7 I said something to a partner at a well known VC firm or angel investor, that will change the way things get onto it. If you're so fortunate as to have to do 7. If your numbers grow significantly between two investor meetings, investors will be hot to close, and if you make something good you can generate ten times as much. Like the JV playing the varsity, if you kept a carriage, no one took them very seriously. They always get things wrong.

Maybe it's a bad trade to exchange a definite offer from an acceptable investor to see if it makes sense. In principle they could have; the king could have invented firearms, then invaded his neighbor. Architects started consciously making buildings asymmetric in Victorian times and by the 1920s asymmetry was an explicit premise of modernist architecture. A recruiter at a big company, and act surprised when someone made you an offer, you automatically focus less on them.8 They've forgotten most of them happier.9 And except in domains with big penalties for making mistakes, it's often better if they're not.10 Once you're living in the future and build what seems interesting.

To say that a certain kind of work that doesn't scale. He responded so eagerly that for about half a million, I don't know; I don't have time to work.11 But there is not much going on, especially measured by the word. In 1976, everyone looked down on a company operating out of a garage, including the founders.12 In other words, those workers were not paid what their work was worth. The question is whether the author is incorrect somewhere, say where. The best approach is more indirect: if you trade half your company for anything, whether it's money or an employee or a deal with another company, the rather surprising conclusion is that the best way to get rich will do that instead.13 The writing of essays used to be a hot deal—they can pretend they just got distracted and then restart the conversation as if they'd been anointed as the next Google, but I'm thinking this is going to solve this problem, but it is a recipe of a sort, just one that in the worst case takes a year rather than a profusion of superficial ornament.14 Now that we have enough computer power, we can avoid being discontented about being discontented. Getting the first substantial offer can be half the total difficulty of fundraising. Why?15

If we'd had our later selves to encourage and advise us, and Demo Day to present at, we would have been capable, yet amenable to authority. Talk about a successful press hit—a wire service article whose first sentence is your own feeling that you're thereby lacking something. Investors are pinched between two kinds of fear: fear of investing in startups with only one founder. The conspiracy is so thorough that most kids who discover it do so only by discovering internal contradictions in what they're told. If you mention taste nowadays, a lot of it. One reason we want kids to be told. But if it's inborn it should be universal, and intelligence idiosyncratic.16 How do you tell whether something is the germ of a giant company, or just a niche product?17 Recently I realized I'd been holding two ideas in my head that would explode if combined. You'll need an executive summary and maybe a deck. This is one way I know the rich aren't all getting richer simply from some new system for transferring wealth to them from everyone else. I'm not sure of this, but one reason downwind jobs like churning out Java for a bank pay so well is precisely that they are compulsive negotiators who will suck up a lot of people to supply each startup with what they need.

So as animals get bigger they have trouble radiating heat.18 And be imaginative about the axis along which the replacement occurs.19 But I didn't realize there were power plants out there generating it. That doesn't mean people are getting angrier.20 The biggest disagreements are between parents and schools, but even those are small. Innocence is also open-mindedness. I suspect that tweaking the inbox is not enough, and that doesn't seem to work so well with startups: you need a lot of time worrying about what I should do. Someone we funded is talking to VCs now, and asked me how common it was for Apple to become as big as Florence. These things don't scale linearly. The work at an early stage startup often consists of unglamorous schleps. If you ask adults why they lie to kids is how broad the conspiracy is.

Notes

Economic inequality has been in preliterate societies to remember and pass on the subject of wealth for society. Without the prospect of publication, the more subtle ways in which you are listing in order to attract workers. We have no connections, you'll find that with a real poet.

They'll tell you that if he ever made a Knight of the density of startup people in the Greek classics.

Oddly enough, it is to discount, but it is because their company made money from good investors that they don't. This is true of the economy. Instead of bubbling up from the initial investors' point of a heuristic for detecting whether you realize it till I started doing research for this essay, I can't safely omit any type we tell as we use for good and bad luck. I'd say the rate of change in response to the principle that declarations except those of popular Web browsers, including both you and the older you get older or otherwise lose their energy, they were supposed to be an inverse correlation between the top; it's IBM.

Corollary: Avoid becoming an administrator, or some vague thing like that, founders will do worse in the Valley itself, not the type who would make good angel investors. You know what kind of protection against abuse and accidents. I calculated it once for that reason. Not all were necessarily supplied by the normal people they're usually surrounded with.

And that is not a programmer would find it was so widespread and so depended on banks, who probably knows more about hunter gatherers I strongly recommend Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's The Harmless People and The Old Way.

Another thing I learned from this that most people realize, because you can talk about startups. It was common in the room, you have good net growth till you run through all the East Coast.

This phenomenon may account for a public company CEOs were J.

As willful people get serious about tax avoidance. 35,560. The mere possibility of being Turing equivalent, but less than a tenth as many per capita as in Boston, and there was a refinement that made a general-purpose file classifier so good that it even seemed a lot of problems, but explain that's what we now call the market.

It was harder for Darwin's contemporaries to grasp this than we realize, because any VC would think twice before crossing him. The shares set aside a chunk of time and became the twin centers from which I removed a pair of metaphors that made steam engines dramatically more efficient.

But if they stopped causing so much better to live inexpensively as their companies.

Digg's is the only cause of economic inequality start to rise again. Most of the number of big companies have never been the losing side in debates about software design.

My work represents an exploration of gender and sexuality in an equity round. You could also degenerate from 129.

Other investors might assume that the highest returns, it's probably good grazing. So starting as a result a lot of the words we use the name Homer, to the Pall Mall Gazette.

That would be a constant.

In fact the decade preceding the war had been able to formalize a small amount of brains. They don't know how many computers the worm might have. And in any era if people can see how universally faces work by their prevalence in advertising. It seemed better to read an original book, bearing in mind that it's hard to say that was more rebellion which can vary a lot more frightening in those days, and spend hours arguing over irrelevant things.

Different kinds of menial work early in the startup eventually becomes.

Xenophon Mem. One professor friend says that I didn't. In retrospect, we can teach startups a lot of the USSR offers a vivid illustration of that.

Math is the same ones. So managers are constrained too; instead of hiring them. No VC will admit they're influenced by confidence. By all the East Coast VCs.

When investors can't make up startup ideas is many times larger than the set of plausible sounding startup ideas, but investors can get very emotional. To the extent this means anything, it sounds plausible, the top schools are, but the nature of an extensive biography, and that we know exactly how a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this essay wrote: One way to make 200x as much income. First Industrial Revolution, Cambridge University Press, 1973, p.

If big companies don't advertise this. Only in a deal led by a combination of a startup in a couple predecessors. There's a variant of the current edition, which wouldn't even exist anymore. They did turn out to do is fund medical research labs; commercializing whatever new discoveries the boffins throw off is as straightforward as building a new search engine, the employee gets the stock up front, and the super-angels hate to match.

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theonyxpath · 6 years

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I could certainly use some pax right now. Lots of stuff going on and ugh… still feeling kind of yucky, but trying to force whatever this is to get it over with by PAX Unplugged starting this Wednesday (for us). Lots of vitamins and NyQuil! Whoooo!

But even if I’m a walking mess at the con, we’re going to have a great crew there in Booth #650, and doing demos. If you are going, here’s a map for our booth:

And it’s possibly the fever, but watching James Bell do most of the heavy lifting and pulling things together for the Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition Kickstarter has been kind of strange. Very, very glad to both have someone to take all that over from me and to have him doing it so well and adding some cool elements I never thought of to the mix. But odd to see someone else do what I’ve done for, what?, five years now?

I’m like a ghost over here watching it come together. Whoooooo, James, whoooooo!

Very much looking forward to all your reactions tomorrow at 12 noon EST, Tuesday the 14th, when this Changeling: The Lost 2nd Kickstarter goes live! Here’s a clue: for every thing, there is a ______.

W20 Changing Ways art by Brian LeBlanc

Hey! If you are playing “Santa Paws” this year, may we suggest you pick up some copies of Pugmire for your pack of kiddies? Ask your Friendly Local Game Store to order it now so you get it by the holidays, or go direct and order from Studio2 or Indy Press Revolution (contact info below in the BLURBS! section).

It’s the perfect game to get your family and friends involved in our wacky hobby!

W20 Changing Ways art by William O’Brien

So this is the long form essay. Feel free to hit THE BLURBS! section below!

A few weeks ago, or a few months – the NyQuil, y’know – I posted about our developer focused creative teams and how we are both driven by the teams and have been evolving how those work. Developers are the project leads and for many years we followed the WW-style of having developers that were responsible for the entire game line. They would be “show runners” or “head writers” in other creative industries. Today, I’d like to go back through the dim mists of time to when I first started Onyx Path, and kind of show how our present system got to where we are.

We really have to go back in time a bit further, to the scary and shadowy CCP days. (Don’t worry, they are just memories now, and can’t hurt you).

There were only a few of us still working on tabletop RPGs, and I was more of a cheerleader and advocate than actively working on products, and our freelance pool of developers and writers had shrunk dramatically as the release schedule was reduced to a trickle compared to the three products a week pace of years gone past. Then came our work on what was supposed to be a one-off anniversary RPG book: Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition.

Eddy Webb and I had convinced the bosses to let us run a “Transmedia” department for CCP based on the success of V20, and we actually had a tabletop RPG release schedule and everything, as well as some projects we were working on for the EVE teams. Because of how we were budgeted, we were actually the only part of the US office making money, as everybody else was part of the spending on the late, lamented, WoD MMO.

So naturally, the Transmedia Group became just a happy memory in the midst of mass-layoffs.

But before I jumped ship in the face of those layoffs to start-up Onyx Path, we had begun to work with a variety of freelance writer and developers again. It was these folks I needed to continue working with for the projects now being created by Onyx Path. Some were experienced from the WW days, some had only developed a couple of books. Eddy had to step back because CCP wanted his full attention on the MMO, so we scrambled to cover the projects we thought he’d develop, and Justin Achilli stepped up for our new V20 books.

In addition, because of our long relationships, I was able to bring Ethan Skemp in on W20, Phil Satyr Brucato in on M20, and Rich Dansky in on Wraith20. The classic developers on their classic lines, was my thinking.

Ethan had to duck out though as he landed a new gig in a different computer game company, and Stew Wilson stepped up. He was the first of the new developers who were actually fans of the old developers for WoD. This sort of “second generation” of developers was already a thing with Exalted 3rd, and CofD (or nWoD as it was known then) with Rose Bailey and others developing, and it seemed both natural and cool that we had this sort of legacy of creators working together.

My expectation was that the newbies would learn from the experienced devs the ins and out of our processes, which were almost identical to those used at old WW, which worked well for us to a large extent, but I was wrong. The diffused nature of our virtual office was, and is, such that institutional knowledge doesn’t get passed on at all in the way I was used to from the WW days. Once we realized this, Rose began to help out our devs, and eventually her position was solidified into that of Development Producer – a term we stole from the computer game biz for a person that helps enable creators to succeed with their projects.

With Rose in place to help, we were able to better respond when our “elder” developers began to step back or away for various reasons. New developers were brought in, but now we had the experience and the leeway to select our devs with an idea for how they might be able to fit into the way we do things and who are more in tune with our company ethos. We were also able to draw from a much wider and varied pool than the folks I knew at the beginning of Onyx Path, and that variety of input, backgrounds, and experiences makes for richer projects.

We’re not perfect, and we’ve brought on developers that we needed to stop hiring for projects for a variety of reasons. We do try and offer assistance before that decision to stop working with them is made, but there are just some situations we can’t salvage.

So you see, the entire history of project creation at Onyx Path is one of evolution.

Together with ideas from our developers and writers, we expanded and redefined our developer and writer payment rates and schedules early this year, and are experimenting with “floating” experienced developers who can assist the other devs in a hands-on way. Generally, we’re finding that the lone developer in the ivory tower with their cadre of writers may not be the best set-up for creating tabletop RPGs these days.

For some projects, a vision developer and a production developer may be a valid method of dividing the essential duties, for others perhaps a triad of a spearheading logistics developer and two devs freed up to focus on the writers, or maybe a systems dev and a setting dev, and sometimes having one developer is just the right set-up. We’re now at the point of being able to look at a project and try and provide a creative solution to creating it, rather than being stuck with looking for the one solution from a decade, or more, ago that will work for every problem now.

Ultimately, we’ve been extraordinarily lucky to work with some absolutely amazing folks and we want our internal processes and project set-ups to enable them to shine, so we keep evolving them in ways we hope will make that happen. We’re not at the destination, we’re still on the journey. Still on the path.

Many Worlds. One Path.

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Right now, Tuesday the 14th at noon EST is looking good! If things get weird, we’ll fall back to Thursday the 16th. See you there!

Next, our Trinity Continuum Kickstarter will start in early January – since it makes no sense to start a KS mid-December!

ON SALE NOW:

As we try and find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://ift.tt/2zjnD0c

http://ift.tt/2hhT5Fk

This morning there were already multiple tweaks applied in the Update that were brought about by feedback from our community! Thanks, folks!

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook stores on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble). Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Andand six more more:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

http://ift.tt/2w0aaEW

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://ift.tt/1ZlTT6z

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://ift.tt/1pOsnTb

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

Appearing on Wednesday on DriveThruRPG is the Advance PDF for Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition!

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

NOW on DriveThruCards, the Pugmire Card Set One (Trick, Condition, and Initiative Cards) are helpful visual aids for your Pugmire gaming fun! http://ift.tt/2zC3kuY

Enhance your Pugmire game with this set of player aid cards! These helpful visual aids make your Pugmire gaming easier! Lay them out next to your sheet for ease of reference during play, and to keep track of what you can do, what affects your character, and when they get to act.

Set one contains one card each of every trick in the game, as well as every condition. It also has a set of initiative cards to track player and non-player character actions during combat. Sets two and three (covering artisan and shepherd spells) coming soon!

What dark secrets do the eldest vampires hold? Find out in Thousand Years of Night for Vampire: The Requiem! PDF and physical book PoD versions available on DriveThruRPG.com. http://ift.tt/2sV8lZR

You may think that with a multitude of people coming, going, dying and running away, we’d be tired, done, or ready to give up. Instead, I find myself restless, looking for the next thing. There’s always a next thing, and I for one am not yet ready to die.

– Elder Kincaid, Daeva Crone

This book includes:

• Detailed instructions on creating elder vampires, including how to base chronicles around them

• A look into the lives of elders, how they spend their nights, who they work with, and why including their roles in both their clans and covenants

• New Devotions, Merits, and Rituals for elder vampires

• The kinds of creatures that pose a threat to elder vampires, including Inamorata, Lamia, Sons of Phobos, a new elder conspiracy, and more!

Is a life of running and hiding a life worth living? We say yes. There’s always something between the running and the hiding, and those moments of grace make it all worthwhile.

The Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology is a perfect companion piece to Changeling: The Lost, 2nd Edition. These stories spin tales of the Lost, of those abducted and enslaved by fairies. Those who escaped, but whose captors will stop at nothing to find them. These fairies summon forth the Huntsmen, primordial hunters who understand nothing but pursuit and capture. The Huntsmen are unstoppable monsters, and the Lost can only look to each other for respite, rare comfort, and rarer trust.

The Hedge has parted and you can get the Advance PDF of The Huntsmen Chronicle Fiction Anthology for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition at DTRPG.com! http://ift.tt/2z4uZnU

For over 20 years, the artists of Mage: The Ascension have conjured spirits and constructed hypertech that can transform reality on a whim.

Within this retrospective, those artists and images depict the ever-changing face of magick. From the debut edition to the twenty-first century, this book explores the people behind the pictures, the process of putting such books together, the story behind Mage’s Tarot iconography, and more.

Featuring the artwork of Echo Chernik, Joshua Gabriel Timbrook, Michael Gaydos, Mark Jackson, Leif Jones, Michael Kaluta, Steve Prescott, Alex Sheikman, Christopher Shy…and many, many more.

The Art of Mage: 20 Years and More has manifested on DTRPG in PDF and physical book PoD versions! Here: http://ift.tt/2iwP1Rr

A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The Award-Winning Fantasy Setting Returns

Scarred Lands has been a favorite fantasy setting since the release of the Creature Collection for the d20 System in 2000. In subsequent years, over 40 titles were published for Scarred Lands, making it one of the most fully supported fantasy RPG settings ever and the premiere product line of Sword & Sorcery Studios.

Available in both 5th Edition and Pathfinder compatible versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://ift.tt/2fEO9YJ

http://ift.tt/2fELqyx

Heroes, Villains, and Others in Between!

This tome is a revision of the original book by the same title, originally published for use with 3rd edition rules for the world’s most popular roleplaying game. In this revised edition of The Wise & the Wicked, all the same characters have returned (and we’ve added some new ones, too!), for use with the Scarred Lands Player’s Guide.

Champions of Gods and Titans

The Wise & the Wicked introduces a rogue’s gallery of the Scarred Lands’ movers and shakers, characters who carry out the will of the gods or the fallen titans. These non-player characters can be friends, enemies, or simply convenient resources for the player characters in your game.

Inside, find villains such as King Virduk of Calastia, the Black Dragon, along with his wife, the beautiful (and black-hearted) Queen Geleeda; the Grand Vizier to King Virduk, the wicked warrior-mage Anteas; and the sinister general of Virduk’s northern armies, Archduke Traviak the Steel-Fisted. At the other end of the spectrum, meet the gracious Lady Ariniel, the Swan Knight, champion of Madriel; Kimer the Shatterer, bearer of the Earth Sword of Scarn and tenacious foe of the titanspawn of the north; and King Thain the Just, the Aleking, ruler of Burok Torn. And many others beside!

Here you’ll find a fascinating compendium of characters from the Scarred Lands, but easily transported into campaigns set elsewhere. In addition, find multiple appendices full of new magic items and artifacts, class archetypes and prestige classes, new feats, new creatures and races, and more.

Available in Pathfinder and 5th Edition versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://ift.tt/2zdVHXS

http://ift.tt/2zeEpd8

From out of the Dreaming, the C20 Jumpstart: Yours To Keep PDF and PoD are now live on DTRPG.com: http://ift.tt/2fmlF3s

There is magic hiding everywhere. You just need to know where to look.

You are a changeling, a faerie soul hiding in a mortal body, fighting the chill of Nightmares and the oppressive weight of Banality with the pure creative power of Glamour. You have lived many lives, but the story of this one? It outshines them all.

In this hidden world, knights in steel and leather clash sword to sword outside the homecoming dance, dragons fly between skyscrapers, and fantastic castles rise from suburban lawns. A world of magic, intrigue, and adventure, and now that your fae side has awakened, it’s your world too.

“Yours to Keep” includes a rules and setting overview, as well as pre-generated characters and a complete introductory scenario for Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition. It’s perfect for jumpstarting a new Changeling chronicle!

CONVENTIONS!

This month, the Onyx Path crew including Rich, Matt, Lisa, Neall, Dixie, and Meghan will be at Booth #650 at the first ever PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, November 17-19. http://ift.tt/2kBzmfv

In December, Matthew Dawkins, Dave Brookshaw, and Eddy Webb are going to be at Dragonmeet in London. https://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/ Expect plenty of playful class warfare as these three mix it up, represent Onyx Path, and generally redefine the term “hooligans”.

Planning ahead for 2018, we’re heading back to Midwinter Game Convention in Milwaukee, January 11-14, where we’re going to be bringing a big crew of many of your favorite Onyx Path designers and we’ll be running demos and making some special announcements at the show! http://midwintergamingconvention.com

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Redlines

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Scion: Origin (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

WW Manuscript Approval:

Editing:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Cavaliers of Mars – Art meeting this Tuesday for sure!

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Origins

Ring of Spiragos

Changeling: the Lost 2 – Graphics done- KS ready.

Trinity Continuum – Splats for core book with Mr Jones, sending multi-cover single piece of artwork to illustrator.

Pugmire – Vinsen’s Tomb

Ex3 Dragon Blooded

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Beast PG

Pugmire/Scarred Lands Community Content

Pugmire Artisan Cards

Book of Freeholds

DtD Enemy Action – Going to Josh

Proofing

Wraith 20 – Second layout proof being worked on by designer.

Pentex Indoctrination Manual – Second proof.

VtR Half Damned – Second proof.

W20 Changing Ways – First proof.

At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – With US customs. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works. Waiting for Deluxe cover proofs.

V20DA Jumpstart – PoD proofs ordered.

Prince’s Gambit – Print and Play version updated. Getting specs from printer.

M20 Cookbook – Layout waiting for errata.

CtL Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology – Layout waiting for errata.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– Finishing Backer PDF errata gathering.

C20 Ready Made Characters – Out to backers.

Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen – Advance PDF on sale Weds on DTRPG.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: Over the weekend in the US we had the Veterans’ Day holiday. Thank you all for your service.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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jhathaway71 · 7 years

Text

Conspiracy, Opinion, Sarcasm and Hope with the Ryan, Danny & Emily Interviews: A Robron Bexit Or NoBexit View

My parents and teachers used to say, “Find something your passionate about and make a career out of it…then it will never feel like a job.”

(PLEASE SEE DISCLAIMER AT THE END REGARDING IAIN MACLEOD AND THE ENTIRE PRODUCTION STAFF)

Before proceeding, I need to warn that this is another of those long-arsed posts. Just so you don’t get bored or if you disagree with what I’m saying and stop reading, there is a conspiratorial alternative viewpoint mixed in with some ideas of what might happen and opinions which may not be entirely popular. If you should want to skip forward, it starts with “Conspiracy/Alternative ViewPoint”. I hope you do not fast forward though, and actually do continue to the very end. Thanks!

On Monday, 15-May-2017 the various soap magazines released with “exclusive” interviews with Emily Head, Danny Miller, and Ryan Hawley all from the special media event held for the press by ITV Studios and Iain MacLeod late April 2017.

As I read the articles with the three actors on their take on how this story has played out and where their characters’ headspace has been and will be going forward, I chuckled at the sheer volume of material I could use as I created my “alternative” views, conspiracy theorist nutter ideas, and just generalized rantings.

I even posted to Twitter “I feel another of my #Emmerdale #Robron conspiracy theorist nutter posts coming on with Emily Head’s interview/responses.

I set out to gather the material and quotes from all the different sources I had read and began outlining my post. The majority of it was centered on Emily Head, but also shined light on different quotes made by both Danny Miller and Ryan Hawley that supported the “conspiracy” and “alternative” views I’ve crafted recently.

All of these different magazines/sources used the same or similar quotes, told slightly varying stories. Some of this could be attributed to the media (paper vs. online), space allowed for each topic, author’s viewpoint, editorial bias, material presentation/formatting, and also reader interpretation.

And then I saw several individuals tag Emily Head asking somewhat impolitely why she would play a character such as Rebecca White (I’m politely excluding the actual vulgarities, insults, accusations, etc. The majority of which should not have been said to begin with, least of all directed at her.).

Emily Head is NOT Rebecca White. I personally do not know and have never met Ms. Emily Head, but I respect her as an individual who has followed in her father’s footsteps and chosen a career to entertain us. Emily being an actress, I would venture to bet she has very little say in the character and stories she is expected to portray in her role as Rebecca White.

I participated in the #Bexit campaign (prior entry “Rebecca White: A Bexit Story”), not to have Emily Head’s character removed from the show permanently, but to answer Iain MacLeod’s statement that Rebecca White was a tragic character wronged by Robert Sugden. I did and still do somewhat want her out of the orbit of Robert and Aaron. I fully understand that is an impossibility given her character’s current story (baby) and Iain MacLeod’s and company defense of her as a character (damage control to salvage his and productions f#ck up with her development and all), but one could hope.

Conspiracy/Alternative Viewpoint

All of which, brings me to a new alternative viewpoint and conspiracy type theory…

Excerpt from Emily Head’s quote in Duncan Lindsay’s Metro.co.uk article:

“And Ryan and I were very careful on the day to make it seem like it was a progression and it wasn’t just I was turning up to sleep with him and it was more what he was saying that that made it happen.”

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/17/emmerdale-star-emily-head-ponders-the-attitude-that-rebecca-is-to-blame-for-sleeping-with-robert-as-he-was-drunk-6623605/#ixzz4hRAIcBtC

This statement is very peculiar if only because the script (dialog) and the director (and possibly the prior scene history and story direction) should be making the decisions on how it should playout on screen I would think. I’m not in the acting or entertainment business, but why would the stars feel compelled enough to discuss a scene in such a way as to portray it as a progression of Robert Sugden slowly convincing/seducing Rebecca…and not Rebecca just showing up to sleep with Robert.

All of the scenes from the 16-March-2017 episodes with Rebecca and Robert leading up to the Event in the Mill bedroom can easily be interpreted as Rebecca being interested in Robert, and not necessarily as a “friend”. For Rebecca to lie to get out of her date (with the same man she slept with the night before) as soon as she receives the text from Robert, to then show up at the Mill knowing Robert threw Adam out after overhearing him tell Vic…well, I can’t image why the stars (Emily & Ryan) would need to discuss how to portray the scene…

Unless, Emily and Ryan understood that the scene was about Robert self-destructing and lashing out to hurt the ones he loves is actually what the showrunner, storyliner, script writers, etc wanted and for us to believe it as we watched. Both Ryan and Emily being professionals were discussing it to “SALVAGE” the mess of events leading up to the Event that shall not be named, this storylinee, and Rebecca character since her introduction.

Therefore, they were wanting to show the scene in a way to correct the mess they were given for the “Mill bedroom scene” knowing the prior scenes leading up to it didn’t support the hair-brained and poorly executed story that was intended, especially with now the Thursday, 16-March-2017 episodes ended.

This story line has been a travesty since the introduction of Rebecca White, and not just because of my our love of Robert and Aaron! Or your love of Robert OR Aaron, if you are a side taker! I say it is a travesty because the scripts, progression, and character development (Rebecca) does not appear to have been what Iain MacLeod wanted based solely on his defense of the character.

Which brings me to the excerpt(s) from Danny Miller & Ryan Hawley’s interview below:

How does Robert feel about Rebecca?

Ryan: He loves Aaron and he really regrets this, he didn’t want to do it and it wasn’t for any means of gratification, he didn’t have some burning desire for her. It was a moment where he felt rock bottom, thought that the two of them were over and he’s got that bitterness and he’s an unhinged character. That comes out sometimes and it has big repercussions that are going to get in the way of this relationship.

There’s nothing he can do about that now other than try and rescue this relationship. That’s really what that is, you seeing that other side of his personality and him using that to get what he wants and to prevent Aaron from getting hurt.

How will Aaron feel towards Rebecca?

Danny: Naturally very angry. Emily (Head, who plays Rebecca) and I had a conversation about it and said that “how could you ever look at that person in the same way?” She wanted to help Aaron and she wanted to warn him off Robert a little bit but all she’s done is add to the problem. So at that moment in time he’s very angry with her but then he goes to have a conversation with her and the tables turn a little bit.

The conversation that Emily and I had was that Robert did say to her “we are over” so it’s more on Robert than it is on Rebecca but Rebecca kind of just jumped into bed with him on the evening that they finished so that was the main reason that people are angry with the pair of them. But at the end of the day, how it was played out was that Aaron was having his own difficulties and making it more difficult for Robert, so Aaron self-harms and Robert hurts people around him so that’s exactly what he’s done in this case.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/16/emmerdale-spoilers-danny-miller-and-ryan-hawley-reveal-all-as-robert-sugden-tells-aaron-dingle-he-cheated-6626150/#ixzz4hRBbpaDi

It’s the last sentence from this Q&A with Danny that really hits home with me. “But at the end of the day, how it was played out was that Aaron was having his own difficulties and making it more difficult for Robert, so Aaron self-harms and Robert hurts people around him so that’s exactly what he’s done in this case.”

And honestly, it is the last portion “Robert hurts people around him so that’s exactly what he’s done in this case.” that really does tie together and support Emily and Ryan’s attempt to correct how the scene would be interpreted by the viewers and explain Iain MacLeod’s poor attempt to defend the character Rebecca White while further demonizing Robert Sugden. It also underlines why Emily Head defended Rebecca’s actions, her assigning partial blame on Robert, and mentioning the gender hypocrisy she sees in regards to other scenes of a somewhat similar nature.

As Ryan Hawley portrayed Robert Sugden “progressively” trying to seduce Rebecca, I was actually believing that he truly did have romantic feelings for her and was ready to give up on Aaron. I had even thought and stated that I could see Iain MacLeod allowing an onscreen brief relationship (for other reasons than just sex/love) between the pair before finally reuniting Robert and Aaron later in the year or early next.

But, it was necessary for Ryan to portray the convincing seducer of Rebecca White and not appear quite as drunk as he did with Aaron from the 2015 scene (empty whiskey bottle notwithstanding). Robert was lashing out to “hurt people around him”. The lack of appearing so drunk or as drunk as the 2015 scene would also allow for his actions to be driven more by his own self, dispel any “alcohol related performance” arguments, and could mitigate the potential of the consent problems the scene contains.

Ignore the piss poor set up, dialog and story execution before Rebecca enters the Mill bedroom from the 16-March-2017 episode. Previously, she had been portrayed friendly to Aaron (Home Farm theft, Aaron confiding abuse with her, reassuring Aaron during Birthday surprise, and others) and to Liv (confidant) after Aaron was incarcerated.

Rebecca was initially very supportive of Aaron to Robert when she entered the Mill bedroom. Her surprise when Robert called Aaron his “EX”, then telling him to not “give up on him”, and that Robert would soon “sort him out” all continues to support the idea that Rebecca was Aaron’s friend. Emily Head’s portrayal in these scenes is also convincing that she is there to be a friend to Robert, and by extension Aaron. And the dialog from Rebecca the days after the event, shows she is apologetic for how she has betrayed Aaron to both Robert and Chas.

Not wanting this to sound as I’m demonizing Robert Sugden because I absolutely am NOT (I adore him as a character and believe he belongs with Aaron), but one of those people he wanted to hurt besides Aaron could also be Rebecca White.

Robert had been venting about how he was feeling after his visit with Aaron to really the only person he could call a friend in the village. As he offloaded while drinking, the idea formed that he wanted to hurt Aaron. Robert saying that his head was “all over the place” and being bitter and an “unhinged character” used Rebecca for that purpose. But, again his head being all over the place would he not also be bitter that his friend Rebecca was partially responsible for his current pain. It was her that helped amplify Aaron’s insecurities, causing the fight that lead to Aaron’s actions that put him in prison, where he became hooked on drugs leading to another fight that made Robert think Aaron had given up on him and their future.

Robert says “NO seriously, things haven’t been the same for me and Aaron since you turned up. We were good together weren’t we.” (Robert leans into kiss). Just an alternative view, but could this be the statement that started his plan to hurt Rebecca at the same time?

Robert is NOT the bad guy (being demonized by the showrunner) just as Rebecca is not the victim (contrary to the showrunners statement). Robert is a very hurt individual who has hit “rock bottom” with alcohol skewing his vision and reasoning on his situation, and self-destructed in the worst possible way, lashing out and hurting those people that he cares for and that care for him (Aaron & Rebecca).

The big repercussions of Robert’s action of the night, being the father in Rebecca’s unwanted pregnancy and blackmail to hide his betrayal and after effects), he becomes exactly what Ryan says about the character he portrays. Robert uses the “other side” (dark side) of his personality to save the one relationship that matters the most to him and protect the person he loves from any additional pain since his ordeal in prison.

Opinion and Story Direction:

I don’t want to believe Iain MacLeod would introduce Rebecca White only to be a plot device for this poorly concocted, executed and clichéd “cheating” story to give the lads a baby in the “Who’s the Daddy” mess to come. Rebecca is not Kasim who was simply a plot device for Robert and Aaron’s story and had little to do with Finn’s own story other than he himself was basically a plot device in the same story. His reactions/reasons for interacting with Kasim were nothing more than as secondary pale story to provide background information/catalyst allowing for the larger Robert/Aaron/Rebecca overall story.

Danny Miller stated he and Emily Head had a discussion about the current story and agreed “how could you ever look at that person in the same way?” We know Aaron will confront Rebecca and the “tables turn a little bit” during the conversation. The teasers also tell us that he tells Robert he’ll be there for him to support him as a father.

The entire statement of “how could you even look at that person in the same way?” and the “tables turning a little bit” brings to mind that Aaron will probably see her different after their conversation. I think more important though, is if the “tables turning a little bit” is for Aaron and Rebecca to understand they each had their own part to play in the entire situation along with Robert. None of them alone are the villain, just like none of them alone are the victim. They all share the blame, the consequences of their actions, and the ability to forgive the others.

And just like Aaron taking a more adult approach to the situation with Robert, I suspect he will continue to take that same adult approach with Rebecca, which could be instrumental in the “redemption” that Iain MacLeod hopes Rebecca White will have in the future with the fans.

And if Aaron can take a more adult approach with her, I think I just might be able to give her another chance myself.

A positive spin…

It may not be ideal for any of the fans, including myself for Rebecca to remain in the orbit of Robert and Aaron, but having the three characters interact has given us some extraordinary performances by Aaron, Ryan and even Emily. We have been witness to a vast array of emotions with Robert and Aaron. From the happy (proposal/wedding) to the sad (fight with ring removal/ picnic table outside Woolie aft wedding reception, prison separation and impacts on Robert, Aaron, and Liv), to the absolutely devastating (self-destruction and betrayal).

As much as I want Robert and Aaron to live “Happily Ever After”, I’d much rather both be on my screen more often and for long term, so I can rejoice with their triumphs and cry with their heartbreaks. And if that means Rebecca White is present for the foreseeable future with the “Who’s the Daddy” aspect and even longer if need be, then so be it. Just think of it this way and remember, not only has she been the instrument for heartbreak (the dirty slapper- just kiddin’ there Emily), but she has also been a catalyst for some of Robert and Aaron’s happiest scenes of late (proposal, Mill purchase, and wedding to name a few).

*DISCLAIMERS and CLOSING:

I consider myself one of the harshest critics of Iain MacLeod. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I do NOT hate him. Cheating and infidelity stories are unfortunately the primary and easiest vehicle for soaps to add drama, not to mention increasing it with the whole “who’s the daddy” aspect thrown in for good measure. I just don’t quite understand why he wanted to pursue this story line and its direction with Robert and Aaron.

My conspiracy theories, alternative ideas, and opinions do not take away from the problems* with the execution up to the 16-March-2016 episode, or the other problems that were created with the entire “revisionist” version of Rebecca White’s character and the additional backstory with Robert Sugden that was created with the prior forced abortion. I continue to shake my head at what the ____ Iain MacLeod, the storyliners, and/or the script writers/editors were thinking with that “TURD” of a twist and the complete storyline.

And as Chas has said in the past, “You can roll a turd in as much glitter as you want, but it will always be the same underneath.”

My critiques, analysis, and just all around sarcastic posts aside about Rebecca White’s character problems and the entire story, I find it even more disturbing that as the showrunner, he and his staff did not foresee the potential problems with how this was developed and executed. And it is NOT just because I hate that Robert cheated on Aaron, but that as the story progressed, it spun out of control and became muddled, then added layer upon layer to the negative perceptions around bisexuality, biphobic commentary, and disparaging comments/feelings about individuals with mental health concerns. Not to mention other concerns with consent issues, and so on.

Though unintended, it is those perceptions that have become the narrative for a large portion of not only an extremely marginalized demographic of viewers that lack positive portrayal within the broader film and television industry, but for other viewers as well.

I don’t believe it possible to address each incident as different viewing demographics are incensed with past, current or future stories, especially if as I truly believe this was unintended. An apology would not in my opinion be necessary given this perception and the misunderstanding/hurt/pain being an unfortunate side effect; I do however think in the very least a simple statement acknowledging how the execution (concept, development, scripting, etc) has been perceived would help re-establish some trust with the viewing community, especially for those impacted. This could allow closure on those concerns so we all could move forward and focus on the continued drama yet to unfold.

*Disclaimer: I do NOT hate Iain MacLeod (or anyone associated with Emmerdale production). As the showrunner for Emmerdale, he has a responsibility for the lives of fifty or so fictitious characters. He cannot devote his career to any one person (Aaron or Robert or even Rebecca) or couple (Robert & Aaron) that reside in Emmerdale. On the other side, he cannot ensure any one person (ME) or faction with the viewing audience will always be happy with his decisions.

More importantly, he has an awesome responsibility to ensure Emmerdale is successful, not only for his own personal and financial wellbeing, but that of the entire production staff. My snarky and sometimes bitter commentary aside, I do NOT believe he is actively trying to destroy any characters, couples, or the show itself.

In a brilliant scene with Robert and Aaron last year, Aaron asks Robert if he is “winding” up Chrissie again. Robert, being the witty rogue that can spit out a great one liner, simply responds with “Yep! Everyone needs a hobby!”

Well, my hobby is to be a snarky little shite to Iain MacLeod. Not just to keep him on his toes and wind him up (because again, I’m that flippin’ important), but to enlighten and entertain the masses (meaning primarily myself, but anyone else who wants to venture into the dark recesses of my psyche be my guest) on my Robron conspiracy theorist nutter ideas!

I’m adding this last piece only to address a few straggling comments I’ve seen on Twitter here and there with the release of the Emily Head, Ryan Hawley, and Danny Miller interviews. I do NOT, repeat, DO NOT believe that Emily Head, Ryan Hawley, or Danny Miller were paraded out at the press event to support Iain MacLeod’s story direction or version of events. Nor do I have so little faith, disregard, and disrespect for them that I think they would purposely spew talking points approved by Iain and company just to save their own jobs as some have suggested on social media. (This is a polite paraphrase again)

These very talented actors and actress, just like Iain MacLeod himself, are professionals here to entertain us with the world they create. We get to see the passion that Danny, Ryan and Emily as individuals bring to the characters we both love and hate. It’s that same passion we see as they bring these characters to life that demonstrate for me that this isn’t just “a job” or a “paycheck” for them, but something each find fulfilling and rewarding for their own reasons.

We only have Iain’ MacLeod’s statement in a prior interview to support this for him since we do not get to see him on our screens, but I’m certain he and ALL of the other very talented individuals behind the curtains with Emmerdale production approach their positions the same way.

I am critical of this story and it is because of my love of Robert and Aaron, them individually and as a couple, that I am so vehemently voicing my own opinion on why I feel this has been a failure. I may point my fingers and be snarky toward Iain, the storyliner, and any other number of individuals within the team, it does not mean I respect any of them and their individual contributions any less than I respect Emily, Ryan and Danny for theirs. And I would hope that their passion is not dissuaded by anything they should read or hear by me or anyone else’s social media posts or presence.

About me: I have given up on almost ALL television shows that I have watched with any interest within the last year. This includes all serial soap dramas (EastEnders, Hollyoaks, Coronation Street), and just about any other show I was passionate about (Shadow Hunters, Doctor Who {especially after Clara introduction as companion}, Supernatural, etc.). Emmerdale is the only show that I have consistently watched since 2008/9 and not given up on as of yet.

I was angry when the episode of 16-March-2017 aired, swearing that I would give up on it also, feeling the last show I had any interest in or passion for was gone after crossing that line. It was only seeing Danny Miller’s tweet the next day saying “Your passion & love for the characters & the show, makes us want to push you away & pull you back in. It’s a journey. Plenty more to come.” that kept me “hanging on” so to speak. That was later followed up with an article I read about a storyliner’s comments/thoughts on the event/characters that increased my interest in staying tuned in.

Danny’s tweet, the storyliners comments, and seeing other fans on social media who were brave enough to voice their own opinions and thoughts and not ostracize other fans when their opinions differed allowed me to refocus. Now, instead of solely being angry, bitter, and bitching about the show and characters I love that I was ready to give up, I try to redirect my energies to maintain some passion for this show and characters by injecting my own brand of “humour” through alternative thoughts, conspiracy theories, and overall snarky commentary.

None of this is meant as a personal attack on anyone within the show itself or any fan or individual that may read my rantings.

Peace & Love to you all

#Robron #emmerdale #robert sugden #aaron dingle #rebecca white #plot device #Finn Barton #Kasim Sabet #sarcasm #cospiracy theories #Bexit #NoBexit #Emily Head #Danny Miller #Ryan Hawley #Iain MacLeod #I'm probably gonna LOSE alot of followers on social media and become as hated as Iain MacLeod

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wonkydata · 7 years

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Why it’s OK to Click on Ads You Like

It's annoying to get ads. We don't like them. Interestingly, that's what makes the internet exist. Ads. It pays my salary and maybe yours if you're reading this.

How to use Demographics in GA360 as targets for DFP Ads -- but were afraid to ask

BTW: If you're in Marketing, Publishing, or Analytics, the meat of this how to article is down below under "Now to Get Nerdy".

Buying things. Sharing stories, tweeting, texting, learning. Everything boils down to ads that move us toward or away from eventually buying something or doing something that gets someone else to buy something. The internet functions like a billboard on a highway exit ramp.

How those internet ads are relevant to us or not is up to a subtle and complicated art-form called "Ad Ops" - short for ad operations.

These magicians of ad content convince us to buy things by making them relevant, timely, and available. Also, by showing us cool things we really might want.

Specifically below, I'm geeking out, and talking only about how to target using DoubleClick for Publishers, and Google Analytics 360. The rest of this article is really for those people... my people... who are in the business of delivering and measuring ads to all of the rest of us.

It's a tough and very competitive business. Keeping our attention is only more difficult with the choices we have that redirect our attention away from a page on a website or app within a second or two max. So... What do they do?

They make sure that the ads that we DO see actually matter to us. We don't want to see ads for a dentist when we're buying candy. We don't want to see ads for office furniture when we're planning our vacation to Kiwi.

How do they target us? By knowing who we are... or really, who we might be. "They" don't really know unless they know our demographics - info that helps to classify us and determine what we might want to see, read, and buy. And it's difficult to get precise data around it.

It's a Conspiracy

The conspiracy theories about advertising are all a bit wrong: yes, anyone can be tracked very closely based upon their internet and phone use. No, we are usually not. Not because it's not possible (just confirmed it is), it's because it's expensive. Like one of my longest friends who is a Colonel in the Air Force told me, "It's not that the NSA can't find you, it's that they don't care to... you're not important". Wiping my tears I realized that my not being a "person of interest" to the NSA also means that I'm safe to travel, won't have a Black Hawk helicopter circling my apartment today, and the companies who want me to buy their products and services don't always know who I am or where I'm going, or what I want just based upon my existence alone. I'm too expensive to track consistently. Also because I am like anyone else. I'm inconsistent in my behavior and habits.

If you walked into a Walmart, and it was able to know you are a male between the ages of 24 and 30, and that you are interested in hiking, jeeping, and reading poetry, you probably would have isles lit up near you as you walked, and devices showing off products you should be buying. That doesn't happen yet. Thus, when we're on a website just looking for a shirt, it doesn't know my demographics either, unless I've opted into providing them.

I would like my demographics and interests available, because when they are, I get better ads coming my way and not aggravating ones that are either insulting or have no meaning. Gone are the days of jumping to a new channel because a commercial came on during my show. I use Apple TV, and I don't have commercials. So why would I want junky ads on a web page I'm only visiting to see if I'm interested? It's an unfair question :).

Now to get nerdy

Below is an explanation of how to connect opted-in demographics back to DoubleClick for Publishers, through Google Analytics 360. It's only possible via an indirect method, and breaks no terms of service for either DFP or GA360.

This is just about connecting Audience data from GA360 to DFP, by using the opted-in user demographics from a website. It's straightforward, and works.

Why is it important to get audiences in GA as targets for DFP? Because you can craft the audience list around users demographics, PLUS include for flavor what they did on the site, in every nuanced way conceivable, and that audience becomes usable inside of DFP as a "target". Not possible without Google Analytics 360 and it's native connection to DFP.

It basically rules. It's why we can sit back and wait for ads that sell us stuff we want.

Publishers: please read below.

Google Analytics doesn’t automatically pass demographic data from an Audience to DFP, but it will to AdWords. It’s the nature of things, and it makes a lot of sense.

There are many reasons why demographics aren’t connected through GA360 to DFP. I’m not pretending to know them all. Partly it’s about that fact that Google is being a good steward of people’s data, and of the internet. Also it can be a tough nut to crack since the GDN connects all of those worlds together in very different ways. One thing is certain: this is the way things are set up right now, and there is a means to get the job done anyway.

Below I outline a simple way to achieve the result of targeting DFP ads with demographics from your site without having to use GA360′s demographic data specifically. But it requires some specific work.

Caveat: nothing gets around the need for every company to be mindful of how they are using their client data. This solution below is only possible if the client opts in to using their data in this way.

Why would you want to use demographics as part of your target for DFP ads? Answer: to find the elusive groups that are most or least active on your site, and even more specifically, to meet their desires to have meaningful ads appear that are beneficial to them in their information journey. This is also the sweet spot for money making for a business that relies on ad revenue.

Solution:

User Sign-on recorded

Demographics questions answered

Custom Dimensions set

Audiences created

DFP targeted

Components:

If there is a a user sign-in environment, and the user has been asked their age, gender, interests, show size, etc. this can be exposed as custom dimensions

write a procedure to expose the needed demographic / info to a dataLayer variable on the webpage.

This should be set on every single page

The value would be filled after a user logged in (the logged in state would be used to fill the variable)

GTM reads this variable, and sets it as a custom dimension in GA

In GA, use this Custom Dimension as part of the Audience definition

Notes:

For Age, and other demographics do NOT name the Custom Dimensions “age”, “gender”, etc. Name them differently so that they don’t expose what they are to random crawlers of the site who are hunting for marketing information and PII

For numeric values like age, they are generally most valuable when used in Audiences with comparison operators like =, <, >, etc. This means they need to be stored in Custom Metrics too. But it can be useful to store in both CD’s and CMs. CDs can be used as dimensions in reports, where a CM is always just a metric/quantity.

Example:

User logs in

site grabs their shoe size from the backend, and puts it into the front end (web page) in a dataLayer variable named “custShoe”

a dataLayer.push statement is used to set that value at the Page level, up high, above the GTM container code, just after the open <body> tag

GTM grabs the “custShoe” and puts it into a variable

GTM then sets the variable as a value for a Custom Dimension on the pageview tag, and on every other UA tag so that it works with every customer interaction

Also set as a Custom Metric since this is a number, and you might want to do a comparison test when creating an audience or using as a filter or segment in GA

GA: create an audience based upon users having a Custom Metric for userShoe > 7

Set it to be used in DFP or Adwords. DFP is possible because you aren’t using GA’s demographics or user information. It’s yours, and you aren’t passing PII

Warning:

Do not pass or store PII in custom dimensions or metrics, or send into GA, or try to use as audiences or segments. Google under it’s TOU's will rightly delete your analytics data. And they should. It’s not good for your people.

Conclusion:

It’s possible. Use Custom Dimensions and Metrics, and user Opted-In data. Do not pass PII or anything the user didn’t allow. Do not name it so that it looks visible to site crawlers or your users will be jeopardized, as will your company.

Enjoy your new powers

#analytics #google analytics #gtm #google tag manager #dfp #doubleclickforpublishers #doubleClick #advertising #sem #marketing #seo #linkedin #GoogleAnalytics

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simondriverlove-blog · 5 years

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Information Overload is a Weapon of Control

by James Corbett corbettreport.com July 20, 2019

Do you feel confused? Listless? Overwhelmed? Have you ever found yourself scrolling through news feeds and flicking mindlessly through social media posts with a strange mixture of outrage, dread, and boredom? Is your disgust at the thought of going online consistently overwhelmed by your compulsion to pick up your fondleslab?

Don’t worry. You’re not alone. More and more people are finding it harder and harder to put their devices down even though it leaves them feeling restless, angry or empty. As a result, some are seeking ways to disconnect and unplug from the 24/7 siren song of never-ending news feeds, instant messaging and social media distractions, whether by ditching their smartphone in favor of a “dumb” phone or taking device-free holidays.

Yes, we all succumb to information overload, and yes, we all need a break from the online maelstrom every now and then.

But what if this state of information overload—the malaise we experience when we find ourselves paralyzed by a ceaseless stream of noise and nonsense—is not a mere byproduct of this vaunted “Information Age” but the actual point of it? Has it ever occurred to you that these devices have been weaponized against us? Or that the confusion and exhaustion we feel after spending an hour mindlessly scrolling on our smartphone is the effect that this weaponized technology has on our psyche?

And, more to the point, what can we do to protect ourselves from these daggers of digital distraction?

First, let’s examine the problem.

Suppose you start your day by checking your friends’ social media profiles. The stream of dream vacation pictures and posts about happy relationships and fun parties leaves you feeling miserable as you head out the door for work.

Later that morning you take a break from your desk job (entering information on a computer, of course) to check the news. Clickbait nonsense battles with atrocity porn for your attention in the news feed. You finally find something interesting and informative only to scroll down to the comment section and find it populated by trolls bent on starting flame wars and disinformation operatives deploying every trick in the book to derail thoughtful conversation.

Closing the browser window you get back to work and discover an angry email from your boss in your inbox reminding you that your latest report was due yesterday and several messages from your coworkers asking for your help with their own projects.

Running to the one place you know you can get away from it all—the washroom—you lock the stall door . . . only to feel a buzzing in your pocket. You got a new message on Facebook! You pull your phone out of your pocket and start the whole process over again.

The worst part is that you know that this constant flow of information is making you miserable, but you can’t help yourself. It’s harder and harder to leave the phone at home when you go out to the store or turn the TV off when you’re eating dinner. You’ve become a slave to the technology that once promised to free you.

Now this may not be a description of your average day, but we all know people to whom this description applies. And if you use electronic devices on a daily basis, it’s getting harder and harder to deny that you’ve experienced the strange mixture of compulsion and depression that those devices bring.

This is not even controversial at this point. We hardly need a scientific study to tell us that social media is making us dumb, angry and addicted, but in case you missed it here’s a scientific study telling us that social media is making us dumb, angry and addicted. As you might expect, people who compare their mundane, humdrum existence to the idealized lives that people present online—fun parties, great food, perfect vacations, happy families—are more likely to develop depressive symptoms.

But it’s important to note that this state of affairs has not come about by accident. This technology has been weaponized against you. This is not conspiracy theory or conjecture; as I pointed out in my podcast on The Weaponization of Social Media, many of the founders of the social media giants don’t even use social media themselves and they actively keep it away from their children. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch Facebook co-founder Sean Parker admitting that they designed their product to keep you addicted by exploiting vulnerabilities in human psychology.

When you realize that all aspects of our online experience—like the red badges and phone buzzers that alert us to new social media notifications—have been precisely fine-tuned to keep you clicking indefinitely, you can at least appreciate that it is not merely a matter of weak will that has led you to this spot.

It is also important to realize that this is not merely a ploy to earn more advertising revenue for the big internet companies. It does do that, of course, but this addiction to (and, ultimately, enslavement to) the very source of our unhappiness if part of a much more insidious agenda. We are being groomed by the hucksters and charlatans of our era to accept the coming integration of man and machine. Or, worse yet, to embrace it.

Never mind that the Borg-like vision of the future propounded by these transhumanists is a nightmare beyond comprehension. Never mind that free will will be rendered meaningless in a world where we are nudged by devices along pre-determined paths. Never mind that privacy will be unthinkable when our every thought will be monitored and analyzed in real time. Never mind that dissent will be impossible when our ability to access the networks upon which our lives are built can be turned off at the flip of the switch. We’ll be able to surf the internet in our head! Where do I sign up?

If you think information overload is bad now, wait until you’re interacting with avatars of your friends in augmented reality while listening to music that only you can hear and ordering your Alexa to adjust the thermostat and order you a pizza for dinner.

So what do we do about this?

If this were just another clickbait listicle designed to give you some trite pieces of warm and fuzzy advice and keep you coming back for more, this is the point where I’d give you a few bullet points about setting a screen time limit on your phone or practicing mindful browsing (searching for something specific instead of scrolling and clicking aimlessly). These things are all well and good, as far as they go . . . but they don’t go far enough, do they?

Because if we really face up to the fact that these devices have been weaponized against us, and that they are leading us into a transhuman future, then we arrive pretty quickly at a conclusion that might put you into a cold sweat: Every time you pick up your device, every time you check that news feed, every time you scroll through your social media notifications, you are putting a loaded gun to your head.

Or, even worse, you are ingesting a little bit of poison. One or two doses won’t hurt. A thousand doses might make you sick, but you can probably handle it. The fatal dose might be the millionth. And if the poison is sweet enough, then, like any addict, you’ll convince yourself that it’s OK to keep taking it; after all, we’ll be able to quit before we get to that millionth hit, won’t we?

And what’s the alternative, anyway? Giving up on this tech altogether? Is that even possible?

These are not rhetorical questions. They are very real questions with answers that have very real consequences for our lives. And I’m not posing these questions from up in the clouds. I make my living online. My life right now revolves around the very information overload that I’m writing about. Will I know where to draw that line in the sand and stop using the tech before it becomes an implantable brain chip? Will you?

Feel free to tell me that I’m being overly dramatic and that there’s nothing to worry about here. But the next time you feel yourself reaching for your phone in a moment of silence or scrolling aimlessly through a news feed with a gnawing sense of emptiness in the pit of your stomach, take a moment to reflect on that sensation. And then see if you can put the phone down.

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thecoroutfitters · 5 years

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mikemortgage · 5 years

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Inside Huawei’s (rather awkward) charm offensive to convince the world it’s OK

SHENZHEN, China — Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. rotating chairman Eric Xu seems frustrated when asked why the telecom equipment maker, the world’s largest, should be trusted amid accusations of espionage, intellectual property theft, conspiracy and fraud, charges that could damage its global expansion plans just as telecoms are poised to spend billions on 5G equipment.

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. rotating chairman Eric Xu meets with journalists at Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

In a mahogany panelled boardroom at Huawei’s lavish headquarters in Shenzhen, Xu turns the company’s public relations crisis into a philosophical discussion on the impossibility of proving something will never happen in the future. In Huawei’s case, that something is spying for the Chinese government. In Xu’s example, that something is a reporter committing murder.

“For example, I will say you probably will kill someone. Do you believe? I will say I have suspicion that you might commit a crime or kill someone before you go to see God someday,” Xu said through an interpreter in a wide-ranging interview with four Canadian media outlets in late March. “That is a suspicion you can never prove negative.”

Huawei chairman says his company is as trustworthy as any Canadian firm

Canada and Huawei both victims in fallout of Meng Wanzhou’s arrest, says company’s founder

A ‘purposeful and punitive’ attack: Huawei sues U.S. government over telecom equipment ban

It’s dark humour, but Xu has a point. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” as goes the saying attributed to British astrophysicist Martin Rees.

Even so, it’s odd framing for a company embarking on a charm offensive to convince the public it’s not a national security threat. Self-promotion doesn’t come naturally for Huawei, which traditionally eschews media attention and vies to win customers on merit. But it feels forced to defend itself against suspicions it believes are based on its identity as a Chinese company, not evidence. The 5G stakes are high, and Huawei is straining to stay on top of its game.

Huawei’s detractors aren’t exactly conjuring concerns out of thin air. The U.S. effectively banned Huawei and its Chinese competitor ZTE Corp. from its market in 2012 after an 11-month investigation failed to refute ties to the Chinese government or military (the report found Huawei particularly evasive about its ownership). Australia followed suit last August.

Western security officials also tensed after the Chinese Communist Party introduced the National Intelligence Law in 2017, which requires all organizations and citizens in the country to support, assist and co-operate with intelligence officials — in other words, spy.

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou remains under house arrest in her Vancouver mansion fighting extradition.

Tensions rose even further last December when Canada arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, the founder’s daughter, on an extradition request from the U.S. to face charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud related to lying about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.

In apparent retaliation, China arrested two Canadians and upgraded a third man’s drug-related prison sentence to a death sentence. Its foreign minister warned of “serious consequences” if Canada didn’t release Meng, who remains under house arrest in her Vancouver mansion fighting extradition. The ongoing trade wars between China and the U.S. and Canada aren’t helping either.

The diplomatic drama leaves Huawei feeling misunderstood. It believes it meets all security protocols, but, despite its efforts, is being targeted by those with anti-China biases who resent its disruptive ascent to the top.

It admits, however, that it’s never been good at storytelling, so the 32-year-old company is for the first time sharing its rags-to-riches history with the media as it struggles to change the narrative that it just can’t be trusted. It’s also calling for industry-wide cybersecurity standards, arguing it doesn’t make sense to single out one player in a global supply chain.

A hostess waits to welcome journalists at the Huawei Beijing Executive Briefing Centre in Beijing.

Formerly unwilling to make executives available for interviews, members of Huawei’s senior leadership team including Xu and founder Ren Zhengfei are now making the rounds and inviting reporters from around the world to tour its campus, enticed with “rare” access and “exclusive” interviews that are increasingly hard to describe as either rare or exclusive.

Huawei is also beefing up its public relations team in places such as Canada, where telecom operators poised to choose 5G suppliers are waiting for a government review that will decide whether Huawei is in or out.

Given its footprint in the U.S. is next to zero, Xu said Huawei isn’t wasting its time trying to convince the Americans to adopt its gear. But it has a lot to lose elsewhere.

Nearly half its US$107 billion in global revenue came from outside China in 2018, the year its revenue topped US$100 billion for the first time, according to its annual report released in late March. More than a quarter (28.4 per cent) of its revenue came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Canada is a relatively small market, but Huawei still earned US$7 billion, or about 6.6 per cent of its global revenue, in North America. Yet Canada is the third-largest destination for Huawei’s R&D spending, Xu said, with its centre in Ottawa known for 5G innovations.

Huawei invests about US$30 million annually (10 per cent of its global research budget) in basic research at Canadian universities. It also does business with Telus Corp. and BCE Inc., both of which have used its radio access network equipment in their 3G and 4G networks.

Huawei’s charm offensive

Huawei’s media tour begins at the campus hotel reserved exclusively for its guests in Shenzhen, the South China city of about 12.5 million people neighbouring Hong Kong.

Huawei’s media tour begins at the campus hotel reserved exclusively for its guests in Shenzhen, the South China city of 10 to 15 million people neighbouring Hong Kong.

The next stop is the digital transformation centre, an opulent building with marble floors inlaid with a floral pattern and a “million-dollar” chandelier hanging from the soaring ceiling. Between this and the perfectly manicured grounds, where workers in straw hats sweep the grass for stray leaves, it’s easy to believe the revenue figures in Huawei’s annual report. (It releases one even though it is a private company that it said is owned by employees.)

The building’s entryway is followed by a showroom heavy on the technical merits of products used for smart cities, oil and gas, transportation and data centres. One screen shows a map of every surveillance camera in Shenzhen — which is experimenting with smart-city technology— that Huawei said has lowered the unsolved murder rate to zero and helped prevent a child from being kidnapped.

Huawei’s digital transformation centre, an opulent building with marble floors inlaid with a floral pattern and a “million-dollar” chandelier hanging from the soaring ceiling.

Yet for a company touting the benefits of its surveillance gear, it appeared less comfortable with cameras pointing its way. A representative pressed a switch to hide the camera map when reporters started photographing the screen.

Minutes into the tour, a Huawei spokesman who said he wasn’t allowed to be named for the article, stated that most media outlets have a bias against the company. This is challenging for Huawei, he said, because it was never structured to respond to media requests coherently across the organization for cultural reasons.

He explained that Deng Xiaoping, who brought free market reforms to China 40 years ago, encouraged companies to be internally focused to avoid attracting hostility after hundreds of years of isolation.

“That’s more than just Huawei. This is just a western bias against China. That goes back culturally,” he said. “The country and the company all need to learn how to tell a better story. This is why I’m now able to talk to you.”

As an example of the bias Huawei wants to counter, the spokesman pointed to a U.K. National Cyber Security Report that came out last summer. The report recommended improvements to Huawei’s practices, but he said the media used loaded words in headlines that stated the U.K. “slammed” the company.

The tour took place days before the U.K. released a new report on its Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre, the oversight facility set up to test the company’s gear for vulnerabilities. It revealed “serious and systemic defects in Huawei’s software engineering and cybersecurity competence.” The report said the U.K. security system could only provide limited technical assurance for the equipment, but it “does not believe that the defects identified are a result of Chinese state interference.”

In a statement, Huawei said it takes the U.K. concerns seriously and plans to spend an initial US$2 billion to transform its software engineering capabilities. (The U.K. also chastised the company for failing to reveal details about said plan.)

But Huawei realizes it needs to raise its voice if it wants to convince European players to buy its gear, especially if it wants to counter the security concerns raised by the U.S. and a variety of security officials in other countries, including Canada.

The company is also not afraid to flex its muscles. For example, the spokesman cast doubt on experts who pop up to criticize Huawei’s security, and also pointed out there are commercial interests at play, citing Canada as a “prime example.”

Two of the big three operators (Bell and Telus) use Huawei gear while Rogers Communications Inc. uses Sweden’s Ericsson. (Rogers has used Huawei gear in the past, but is replacing it.)

If the Canadian government bans Huawei, Rogers is the only operator that won’t face substantial costs. Telus chief executive Darren Entwistle told investors the cost would be material, whereas BCE’s George Cope said costs could be addressed within its capital spending outlook.

“If you’re operator one, and I can put either a huge or an astronomical cost on my competition, why not?” the spokesman said.

A worker examines a circuit board at the Huawei Technologies Company Ltd. factory in Shenzhen, China in 2002.

A giant awakes

Ren Zhengfei, a former military engineer, started Huawei in 1987 with 21,000 renminbi (about $4,200) shortly after Deng Xiaoping declared Shenzhen, then a fishing village of about 30,000 people, a special economic zone with more market freedoms.

Huawei’s growth mirrors Shenzhen’s. In the 1980s, only a tiny fraction of government officials had phone lines and state-owned phone companies were only expanding in the biggest cities. Ren took on the rural markets. In 1991, he decided to focus on research and development, producing the company’s first switch in 1994.

The technology wasn’t the best, but Huawei became known for its customer service and willingness to tailor products to customer needs. For example, when rats kept destroying cables, other equipment vendors told their customers to get rid of the rats. Huawei made rat-proof cables.

Huawei landed its first major European client (Dutch mobile telecom Telfort KPN) in 2004. It then signed British Telecom and Vodafone in the U.K. in 2005 and now has built more than 1,500 networks around the world.

It also built a base station on Mount Everest in 2007 and its equipment was used in 2009 in the one of the first LTE networks with Telia Sonera in Norway.

Europe clearly made an impression on the founder. Huawei recently completed a new campus with 12 sections modelled after European cities, including Paris and Burgundy, copied down to the statues. A bright orange, electric train connects the sections at the campus designed for 24,000 workers, with company-chartered buses lining up to take them home around quitting time at 6 p.m.

Huawei recently completed a new campus with 12 sections modelled after European cities, including Paris and Burgundy, copied down to the statues. A bright orange, electric train connected the sections at the campus designed for 24,000 workers, with company-chartered buses lined up to take them home around quitting time at 6 p.m.

Today, after three decades of explosive growth, the one-time startup is the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, employing nearly 188,000 people and operating in more than 170 countries and regions.

It also sold more than 200 million smartphones in 2018, making it the third-largest smartphone provider less than a decade after entering the device market in 2011. Its consumer business grew 45.1 per cent in 2018 to account for nearly half of Huawei’s revenue (US$51.9 billion). Its carrier business, however, fell 1.3 per cent to about US$43.8 billion.

“Moving forward, our carrier business needs to seize the first wave of business opportunities for 5G,” the company said in its annual report.

Huawei has undergone a series of major growth spurts as mobile services ramped from 2G to 3G to 4G, said Leroy Blimmeger, global president of assurance and managed services, in a presentation on the company’s trajectory and culture.

There’s a perception that Huawei’s gear is the cheapest and least effective, but that hasn’t necessarily been true since the shift to 4G.

Historically, Huawei’s lower price point gave it a foothold in emerging markets. But by 2009, carriers in developed countries realized Huawei provided good service at a competitive price, said Dexter Thillien, a London-based telecom analyst at Fitch Solutions.

“4G was the first time Huawei showed it could compete with the best,” he said.

The higher quality also enabled the company to compete in Chinese cities where western companies previously dominated. Now the country’s three largest mobile players (China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom) use multiple vendors including Huawei.

Thillien and other analysts place Huawei in the lead when it comes to 5G, citing its massive investment in research and its large patent portfolio. Every year, Huawei invests 10 to 15 per cent of its budget in R&D whether or not it was a good year financially. Forty per cent of its employees — about 75,000 people — work in R&D.

In Huawei’s material lab in Shenzhen, one scientist explained how they experimented to find the least corrosive, lightest material to enable radio access equipment to operate in unforgiving climates. The goal is to expand the life cycle of 5G equipment to 10 years, the average span before a telecom replaces its gear.

Huawei’s new systems are light enough that one person can position the antennae and equipment that may have previously required a crane, said Peter Richardson, research director at Counterpoint Research and former head of competitive intelligence at Nokia.

The company also tweaked its radio access gear to allow for 5G downloads and 4G uploads, Richardson said, another adjustment that will enable carriers to roll out networks faster. He, too, credits the developments to Huawei’s bigger engineering work force and R&D budget.

Still, Huawei operates under the premise that it does not have a sustainable technical or resource advantage — if the bar is raised, its peers catch up, and no one has a monopoly on hiring talent — but Blimmeger, who has worked with Cisco Systems Ltd., Motorola Inc., Nortel Networks Corp. and Ericsson, said “there’s nobody that does customer centric the way Huawei does customer centric.”

The American, who started consulting for Huawei in 2005 and became the first non-Chinese professor at Huawei University, said it’s also part of Huawei’s DNA to remain humble and fear becoming arrogant. In the late 1990s, management felt it didn’t have the global expertise needed to expand, so it hired western consultants from International Business Machines Corp. and Accenture.

The willingness to invest in improvement resulted in opening a university in 2005 where, for $50 million annually, 75,000 employees rotate through to update their skills. There’s even a “strategic elite team” for 5G.

Both Thillien and Richardson said a Huawei ban would be disruptive, potentially causing delays as carriers move forward with other suppliers. But Thillien said the biggest loss would be a drop in competition to two major suppliers from three, giving operators less choice and stunting the race for quality.

Analysts believe security concerns are valid, but note a lack of foolproof evidence to back a ban.

A security camera hangs on display at the exhibition hall at the Huawei Technologies Co. headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

To indicate how seriously Huawei takes breaches, it set up an internal ethics website where it names any employees that break a rule, along with their ID numbers, what they did, and what the consequences were. There are currently 189 people on the list, which covers a period of years. Every month to six weeks, the ethics board email blasts the entire company with an updated list.

“People who have broken the rules become famous because everybody in the company, in their inbox, is made aware of this. That provides a very powerful deterrent,” a spokesperson said.

Blimmeger said there is a very high bar for conduct when it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection.

“Anybody that breaks those rules is automatically terminated,” he said, claiming Huawei’s standards are industry leading. “We’ve always had to pay more attention than our peers in the industry just to keep the playing field level.”

Previous rule breakers who lost their jobs include an employee in Poland who Huawei fired in January after he was arrested on spying charges (Huawei in a statement at the time said the allegations had no relation to the company and the worker has denied the charges), and two employees in the U.S. accused of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile US Inc. in 2012.

A Huawei employee welcomes guests touring Huawei’s European Cyber Security Transparency Centre during its opening in Brussels on March 5, 2019.

Huawei’s cybersecurity lab employs 137 people, many of whom have foldable mattresses under their desks should they need a nap. Their motto, as shown in a presentation: “Assume nothing, believe no one, check everything.” Indeed, reporters on a tour weren’t allowed to bring their laptops inside for security purposes.

The lab workers sift through Huawei’s products to ensure coding meets standards. If it doesn’t, the director can veto the product. In 2013, 58 products were vetoed. That dropped to zero in 2017 and 2018, which Huawei credits to improved security practices across the organization.

Huawei also shares its source code with governments that want to take a deeper look before allowing its gear in their networks. In Canada, Huawei tests its equipment in partnership with Bell, Telus and Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., alongside the Communications Security Establishment, the national cryptologic agency.

Huawei said adopting industry-wide security standards would ease concerns and level the playing field in the evolution to 5G, given these networks will touch life-critical functions such as health care and self-driving cars.

“It’s time that we come together as an industry to get working with regulators, to get working with governments to build a common standard to say if you want to play in this space, this is what you have to do,” Blimmeger said.

The pitch for 5G

Telus, for one, is considering Huawei equipment in its 5G networks. Huawei is the most customizable vendor, according to a senior Telus executive who spoke on condition of anonymity. He likened buying from Huawei to going to a hamburger restaurant where you can pick the toppings versus going to McDonald’s, where Big Macs are made the same way every time.

Besides, switching from Huawei — its competitors are Ericsson and Nokia, with Samsung a distant fourth — would require an expensive rip and replace because 5G gear from other vendors isn’t compatible with Huawei’s existing 3G and 4G equipment.

But that doesn’t mean Telus trusts Huawei.

“I don’t think we trust anybody,” the executive said. “We’ve operated for a long time on the basis you can’t trust vendors to have secure equipment.”

Telus adopted that mentality about a decade ago when globalization permanently altered supply chains. Previously, western giants such as Canada’s Nortel and France’s Alcatel provided telecom gear, especially in their own backyards. But a wave of bankruptcies and industry consolidation made room for Huawei to expand its global footprint.

It was during this industry-wide shakeup that Huawei entered Canada in 2008, though its entry came with conditions. For example, its equipment was not to be used in core networks, only on the less sensitive radio access portions. The federal government and the telecoms also set up a system to test its gear for vulnerabilities, a system that operated largely in secret until last year when the government disclosed its existence in response to questions about Huawei’s presence in Canadian networks.

An employee demonstrates a Huawei Technologies smartphone at a Telus Corp. store in Toronto.

Canada was one of the few countries that acknowledged the risks and did something about it, the Telus executive said.

“We believe we have had the right formula from the beginning,” he said. “I think that those that believe their networks can be secure by choosing a European vendor over a Chinese vendor are ignoring the problem.”

Telus obviously has a financial interest in lobbying for the use of Huawei’s equipment in Canada’s 5G network. It wants to continue the system where the company’s equipment is allowed in the periphery, but not in the core. The Communications Security Establishment and Public Safety Canada are in the midst of a 5G security review that is expected to be released in the coming months.

Regardless, Telus believes companies need to manage risk upfront in the network engineering and architecture process no matter who supplies the equipment.

Ericsson and Nokia both conduct research and development in China. Ericsson employs more than 12,000 people in Northeast Asia and is hiring for 5G in China, while Nokia has 54 offices in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to their websites.

Presumably, the Chinese law that compels Chinese nationals to cooperate with the Communist Party would apply to citizens whether they work at Huawei or its western-based competitors.

“What difference does it make? To me, the risk is the same,” the Telus executive said.

But to many governments, there is a difference that boils down to a lack of transparency over Huawei’s ownership structure and relationship with the Chinese government. Australia and the U.S. have banned Huawei, and there’s uncertainty in Europe, although nations such as Germany, Italy and France appear to be leaning towards Telus’ viewpoint.

Huawei knows its denials are getting repetitive. It swears it has never, would never, spy for the Chinese government. It said it follows the rule of law wherever it operates, blaming any suspected bad behaviour on rogue employees. Yes, its founder used to be a military engineer, but it insists it’s not linked to the Communist Party.

Yet no matter how many times it repeats itself, Huawei can’t seem to shake suspicions that it’s an arm of the state, that its high-tech equipment might contain back doors that would let the Chinese government conduct espionage or insert code that could shut down an entire network.

Counterpoint’s Richardson suspects the political drama and resulting business uncertainty took Huawei by surprise.

“They’ve been a little naïve perhaps … all these political shenanigans are not something that they’re used to,” said the 27-year veteran of the telecom industry. “It’s the old chestnut that it’s impossible to prove a negative. They can say till they’re blue in the face, ‘We’d never share information with the Chinese government.'”

Back in the boardroom in Shenzhen, reporters sit across from rotating chairman Eric Xu — also an engineer — at tables adorned with orchids and roses, and beneath a sign stating, “Huawei warmly welcomes the distinguished guests from Canadian media.”

Xu returns to the example of murder and the need to rely on the past to convince people of future behaviour.

“You can only explain I haven’t killed anyone in the past and I can guarantee I will not kill in the future because of my heritage, because of my legacy, etcetera,” he said. “That’s probably the only thing we can do moving forward for Huawei.”

Xu said he appreciates the cybersecurity approaches taken by countries such as Germany, which tests the entire system for vulnerabilities instead of just one player’s equipment in it.

He also praised Canada for its universities, talented students and natural beauty. He approved Huawei’s first research centre here, and brought his family on a tour of Banff and Lake Louise, Alta. He also visited tiny Gravenhurst, Ont., the hometown of Norman Bethune, the physician credited with bringing modern medicine to rural China who still graces the pages of elementary school textbooks in the country.

But it’s hard to overcome the heavy security concerns about Huawei’s equipment with light praise about a cherished friendship between the nations.

Despite the engineering realities of network security, Xu knows he needs to keep pleading his case.

Are U.S. networks, he asks, completely secure because Huawei has no footprint there? If Huawei disappeared completely, he continued, would all the world’s networks be secure?

The answers to both questions is no. But unfortunately for Huawei, skeptics aren’t always swayed by a technical argument, no matter how defiantly it’s made.

• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: theemilyjackson

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Progressive social media activism movements that urge consumers to use their spending power to influence politics have taken off: They’e gotten hundreds of companies to stop advertising on sites such as Breitbart, pushed companies to drop Ivanka Trump’s products, and pressured CEOs to drop off of advisory boards to the president. But looking to the 2018 midterm elections and beyond, these groups are faced with a new question: Now that they’ve got the left’s attention, what are they going to do with it?

Donald Trump’s presidency has boosted Democratic energy in several ways, including in political fundraising, voter enthusiasm, and a record number of women running for political office. It’s also shown up in movements such as #GrabYourWallet, which organizes boycotts of companies tied to Trump, and Sleeping Giants, which alerts companies when their ads show up on websites that promote bigotry, sexism, and racism.

Both movements have some pretty significant successes to their names. #GrabYourWallet contributed to multiple companies dropping products sold by President Trump or his daughter Ivanka Trump, including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. It may also have been a factor in Ivanka’s decision to shutter her eponymous brand this year — or at least the movement’s founder, 46-year-old California marketer Shannon Coulter, claimed victory when it happened.

This is people power at work. This is you using your voices and your hard earned money to push back on extremism. This is you saying no to the hate that the Trump administration embodies. You are #GrabYourWallet and this is your win.

— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) July 24, 2018

Sleeping Giants got hundreds of brands to block their ads from appearing on the right-wing website Breitbart. The people behind the account were anonymous until the conservative website the Daily Caller identified San Francisco freelance copywriter Matt Rivitz as its creator against his wishes. He runs the account with another freelance copywriter and marketing consultant, Nandini Jammi.

Neither Coulter nor Rivitz consider the movements they’ve created particularly partisan — Coulter says her activism has been aimed squarely at Trump, and Rivitz on combating misogyny, racism, and bigotry. But the pair have earned themselves big platforms, and they’re weighing how to use them in the 2018 midterms and beyond.

#GrabYourWallet is jumping in with a fundraising campaign to support candidates and one of its own new initiatives. Coulter has also started a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization — the same setup as the Democratic Socialists of America, Americans for Prosperity, and the National Rifle Association — and considering launching a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Sleeping Giants, however, is still weighing the options. While they’ve been embraced by the left, where the group’s movement is headed politically is unclear.

“No one wrote any book on how to do this,” Rivitz said. “Never before could you start something like this on a phone and organize the people the way we’ve done it.”

Coulter started #GrabYourWallet in October 2016, before the election, with an almost off-the-cuff tweet saying consumers should avoid shopping at stores that carried Ivanka Trump’s brand.

After the election, the movement and the hashtag took off, and Coulter and another woman she met on Twitter, Sue Atencio, created a spreadsheet of a list of companies carrying Trump products for boycott. More than a dozen companies severed ties with the Trump family, including Jet, Carnival Cruise, and Nordstrom.

The team has also set its sights on harnessing its voice in other ways, such as encouraging Twitter to permanently ban conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and shaming companies such as Uber, Tesla, and Disney over their chief executives’ participation in advisory forums to Trump.

At the beginning of October, Coulter took the movement into political fundraising with #GrabYourBallot, a donation campaign on the progressive fundraising platform ActBlue.

“It’s very clear that we’re at a cultural inflection point, and women in particular are very fired up right now,” she told me. “It’s really important that we turn the anger that we’re feeling right now into political victory, to use that momentum of that anger to change things for real.”

#GrabYourBallot is raising money for nearly three dozen Democratic candidates in especially tight races in the 2018 midterms, including Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and California House candidates Josh Harder, Andrew Janz, and Katie Hill. It added Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota to its list after she decided to vote against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and her Republican opponent, Kevin Cramer, called #MeToo a “movement toward victimization.”

Donations are being split among the candidates as well as the Grab Your Wallet Alliance, the 501(c)(4) Coulter has created as a “rapid-response army for people who want to continue to use their economic power for promoting inclusion and respect,” as she put it. People donating to #GrabYourBallot can choose to opt out of donating to the alliance, she added.

Thus far, about 1,200 donors have given to the campaign, and it’s raised nearly $180,000 of its $300,000 goal.

“These Democratic candidates represent the best hope for pushing back on the Trump administration right now,” Coulter said.

She’s also in the fundraising process for creating a nonprofit, though it’s not clear what shape that will take. She talked about potentially focusing on ways to reduce workplace sexual harassment or, more along the lines of what #GrabYourWallet has been doing thus far, providing consumers with information to help them decide where to spend.

“I’m realistic about the percentage of US consumers who will ever want to spend in strictly ethical ways,” she said. “There is a large and growing percentage of people who want to do that, and what we end up doing for those people will end up being helpful.”

While Coulter has been out in front of the #GrabYourWallet movement from the get-go, for Rivitz at Sleeping Giants, that hasn’t been the case: He was forced to go public when the Daily Caller revealed his identity in July.

It’s something that still bothers him. “I had my address and my kids’ names splashed all over the internet within 30 minutes of that article coming out,” he said. “I don’t think that should happen for anyone; I don’t care what their political beliefs are.”

But now that he and Jammi have been outed, they’re continuing with their work — they were profiled by outlets such as the New York Times and Recode, and their Twitter account has more than 200,000 followers, giving them a platform to speak out. They have convinced more than 4,000 companies to pull their ads from Breitbart and have also engaged in campaigns aimed at Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, and Robert Mercer.

Democrats have embraced them — Rivitz recently appeared on the liberal podcast Pod Save America — but the team isn’t so sure they want to step into the political fray.

“We’re probably going to be doing the work we’ve always been doing, which is just keeping an eye out for big media platforms tilting toward racism and bigotry,” Rivitz said. “It’s been said that we’re a political campaign, and we don’t think of ourselves as that. We’re really focused on the racism and misogyny part.”

He acknowledged that most of Sleeping Giants’ followers are on the left, but clarified it “just so happens that a lot of the media outlets that have been espousing this bigotry basically have been selling themselves as conservative outlets.”

That’s not to say Sleeping Giants does not have aspirations beyond getting companies to make sure they’re not running inadvertent Breitbart ads. Rivitz said he’s interested in getting more deeply involved in advertiser and corporate responsibility and helping companies understand programmatic ad buying and make better choices.

“People are increasingly going to consumer companies as a way to get themselves heard. I think that’s because that’s ultimately the power we have as individuals,” Rivitz said. “We have our votes and we can use those every couple of years, and we have our money.”

Coulter and Rivitz have come to know each other and have developed a sort of camaraderie. She told me he sits on the board of her 501(c)(4), and he told me they speak often because there’s “no one else to talk to” about what they’re trying to do.

“It just helps to share ideas sometimes,” Rivitz said.

That this is a relatively new phenomenon might explain why Coulter and Rivitz, at least right now, appear to be going in such different directions with their initiatives. Boycotts and consumer movements have existed for decades; social media and hashtags that propel them have not.

#GrabYourWallet has also managed to ride another political wave: the increased energy among women, especially on the left. Women hold an enormous amount of purchasing power, and in the wake of Trump’s election and the era of #MeToo, they’re politically and socially engaged as well.

“Women are willing to be more public and vocal about their lives and to push more aggressively for hard power, and they’re starting to understand, on a visceral level, that if they don’t do these things, this will keep happening,” Coulter said, pointing to Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court despite credible allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against him (which he denies).

Both #GrabYourWallet and Sleeping Giants are still trying to figure out exactly what to do with the energy behind them. They’ve shown they can make a difference, but like so many new organizations, especially those that have come to prominence since the 2016 election, the right next step is not always clear.

Original Source -> These consumer advocates successfully boycotted Ivanka Trump. Now they’re turning to the ballot.

via The Conservative Brief

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