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davidmann95 · 3 years

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Sooo… Superman and the Authority?

magnus-king123 asked: Your thoughts on Superman & the authority Give it to me...lol

Anonymous asked: Seeing Bezos take his little trip into space the same day Morrison puts out a Superman comic that touches on how far we’ve fallen from the days when we dreamed of utopian futures where everyone explored the stars was a big gut punch. Not used to Superman being topical in that way.

Anonymous asked: What'd you think of Superman and the Authority#1?

This is far beyond what I can fit in the normal weekly reviews, so taking this as my notes on the first six pages, with this and this as my major lead-in thoughts:

* Janin's such a perfect fit for Morrison - the scale, the power, the facial expressions selling the character work, the screwing around with the panel formatting as necessary to sell the effect, the numinous sense of things going on larger than you can fully perceive amidst the beauty and chaos. It's a shame he wasn't around 25 years ago to draw JLA, but I'll take him going with Morrison onto other future projects.

* His intro action sequence is such a great demonstration of why Black actually does have something to offer, and also how he's such a dumbass desperately needing Superman to save him from himself.

* While Jordie Bellaire didn't legit go with an entirely monochromatic palate the way early previews suggested, it's still an effect frequently and excellently deployed here. And glad to see Steve Wands carry into this from Blackstars since there's such an obvious carryover from its work with Superman.

* "Gentlemen. Ladies. Others." Great both because of the obvious - hey, Superman's nodding at me! - and because it's a phrasing that reinforces that this take on him (and let's be real Morrison) is old as hell.

* I'm mostly past caring about whether this is an alt-Earth Superman until it becomes indisputable one way or another, this and Action both rule so what does it really matter? But while there are still a couple signs in play suggesting some kind of division (the Action Comics #1036 cover, Midnighter up to time-travel shenanigans) the "lost in time" quote clearly thrown in after the fact to explain how he could have met Kennedy outside of 5G that wouldn't be necessary for an Elseworlds, the assorted gestures towards Superman's current status quo, the Kingdom Come symbol appearing in Action, and that Morrison would have had to completely rewrite the ending if this wasn't supposed to be 'the' version of Clark Kent going forward as was the intent when they first planned it all say to me that no, no fooling around, this is our guy going forward one way or another.

* Janin and Bellaire making the first version of the crystal Fortress ever that actually looks as cool as you want it to.

Anonymous asked: I like that Superman and The Authority is basically the anti-All-Star; instead of the laid back, immortal Superman who is supercharged, we have a stressed, ageing Superman whose tremendous powers are fading. The former will always be there to save us, but the latter is running out of time and needs to pull off a Hail Mary. Also, he mentions in his monologue to Black that he was "lost in time" when he met JFK, so maybe he is the main continuity Clark. Or he's the t-shirt Supes from Sideways.

* You're absolutely right - the power reversal is obvious and the ticking clock in play seemingly isn't for his own survival but everyone around him as he wakes up and realizes all the old icons grew complacent with the gains they'd made and he's not leaving behind the world he meant to. Both, however, are built on the idea of preparing the world to not need them anymore - it'll still have a Superman in his son, but that'll only work because of the others he empowers and inspires. The question is what happens to Clark if he's not going to live in the sun for 83000 years.

* Clark's 'exercise' here does more to sell me on the idea of Old Man Superman as a cool idea than however many decades of Earth 2 stuff.

* Intergang being noted alongside Darkseid and Doomsday speaks to how much Kirby informed Morrison's conception of Superman.

* This isn't exactly the most progressive in its disability politics but at least it makes clear Black's being a piece of shit about it.

* It's startling how much Clark can get away with saying stuff in here you'd never expect to come out of Superman's mouth. "I made an executive decision" "Privacy, really...?" "You have nowhere to go, Black. Nothing to live for." "There are few people in my life who I instinctively and viscerally dislike, and you've always been one of them." It only works because there's zero aggression behind it, he's just past the point of niceties and being totally frank while making clear none of these assessments preclude that he cares and is going to unconditionally do the right thing every time. He is absolutely, per Morrison, humanity's dad picking us up when we're too drunk to drive ourselves home.

* The story doesn't put a big flashing light over it, but it's not even a little bit subtle having the material threat of the issue be a ticking timebomb left by the carelessness and hubris of generations past.

* Manchester keeps trying to poke the bear and prove his hot takes about Superman and it's just not working. The front he put up under Kelley is gone after decades of defeats, and as Morrison understands what actually conceptually works about him as a rival to Superman underneath the aging nerd paranoia he's exposed as what he absolutely would be in 2021: a dude with a horrific terminal case of Twitter brainworms. I was PANICKED when I heard there was an 'offensive term' joke in this, I was braced for Morrison at their well-meaning worst, but it's such a goddamn perfect encapsulation of a very specific breed of Twitter leftist who uses their politics first and foremost as a cudgel and justification to label their abrasive, judgmental shittiness as self-righteousness (plus it's a killer payoff to a joke from way back in his original appearance). Cannot believe they pulled that off when they're so very, very open about basically not knowing how the internet works.

* @charlottefinn: Manchester Black using his telekinetic powers to force someone he hates to fave a problematic tweet so that he can screenshot it and start a dogpile

@intergalactic-zoo: “Once they cancel Bibbo, Superman won’t be *anyone’s* fav’rit anymore!”

* Friend noted this issue had to be fully the conversation because the whole premise stands on the house of cards of these two somehow working together, and with three 'silent' inset panels the creative team pulls off that turning point.

* So much of this feels on the surface like Morrison bringing back the All-Star vibes with Clark, but when he drops a "That's all you got?" in a brawl you realize what's underlining that bluntness and confidence in the face of failure is that deep down this is still the Action guy too. This dude ain't gonna get wrecked in his Fortress while the other guy chuckles about him being A SOFT WEE SCIENTIST'S SON!

* Bringing up Jor-El made me realize that Morrison already spelled out that this is the final threat to Superman, what he faces at the end of the road:

"Now it's your turn, Superman."

* A l'il Superman 2000/All-Star reference with the Phantom Zone map!

* There's so much intertextuality going on here even by Morrison standards - Change or Die with the old hero putting together a team of morally nebulous folks out to 'fix' everything, Flex Mentallo with the muscleman trying to redeem the punk, Doomsday Clock with the fate of the world hinging on whether Superman can get through to a meta stand-in for an idea of 'modern' comics cynicism, DKR and New Frontier and Kingdom Come and Multiversity and Seven Soldiers and What's So Funny and All-Star and Action and the last 5 years of monthly Superman comics and Authority and probably Jupiter's Legacy and Tom Strong - but none of that's needed. You could go in with the baseline pop cultural understanding of the character and not care about any of the inside baseball shit and get that this is a story about a leader of a generation that let down the people they made all their grand promises to as inertia and day-to-day demands and complacency let him be satisfied with the accomplishments they'd made long ago, looking at a new era and seeing the ways its own activists are dropping the ball. The only thing that fundamentally matters in a "you have to accept you're reading a superhero story" sense is that because he's Superman he's willing to own up to it and listen to people who might know better about some things and try to set things right while he and those who'll take his place still have a chance. And yes, the oldster looking back on their legacy with a skeptical eye and hoping for better from the next generation, hoping most of all that their little heir apparent can fulfill the promise inside of him instead of being a provocating little shitkicker, is obviously also autobiographical.

* The overlaying Kennedy reprisal is such a great visual of a sudden intrusive thought.

* The Kryptonite secret is the obvious "This is going to matter!" moment, but "He lied about his son" is a bit that doesn't connect to anything going on right now so maybe that's important here too? More significantly, the Justice League can't actually be the villains here but that Ultra-Humanite's crew are in an Earth-orbiting satellite makes pretty clear what's up.

* I've said before that between Superman, OMAC, and a New Gods-affiliated speedster this was going to use all of Morrison's favorite things. King Arthur playing a role isn't exactly dissuading me.

* Love the idea that all the antiheroes have their own community in the same way as the capes and tights crew. They definitely all privately think the rest are posers though and that they alone are Garth Ennis Punisher in a mob of Garth Ennis Wolverines.

* Manchester's fallen so far he's gone from trying to convince Superman to kill to convince him to dunk on people for their bad takes and Clark just doesn't get it. Official prediction of dialogue for upcoming issues:

"According to these bloody Fortress scans, the only thing that can restore your powers is an unfiltered hit of dopamine. Don't worry, Doctor Black has a few ideas."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll plant a nice tree?"

"...fuck you."

* Ok I already talked about how great the Fortress looks in here but LOVE this library.

* A pair of pages this seems like the right spot to discuss from Black's original appearance that underlines both his and Superman's inadequacies up to this point:

Responding to the problem of "the government and penal system are hopelessly corrupt" neither of them has any actual notion of what to do about it in spite of their respective posturing beyond how to handle individual outside actors - each is in their own way every bit as small-minded and reactionary as the other. Clark's coming around though, and he's holding out hope for the other guy.

* Superman: Have a lovely mineral water :) proper hydration is important :)

Manchester Black: *Is a dude who can get so mad he vomits and passes out. At water.*

* That last page is the one to beat for the year, and does more to put over the idea of this as an Authority book than that Midnighter and Apollo are literally going to show up. It also feels like Morrison tacitly acknowledging all the ways the premise could go or at least be received wrong - from Superman saying 'enough is enough' to who he's bringing into the fold to go about it - in the most beautifully on-the-nose fashion imaginable. Maybe they'll save us all! Or maybe they'll drown us in their vomit.

#Superman and The Authority #Superman #The Authority #Manchester Black #Grant Morrison #Mikel Janin #Jordie Bellaire #Steve Wands #Opinion

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lesbeet · 5 years

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god i remember i used to listen to the tsn soundtrack while i was teaching myself to code and making themes and shit lskdlfsdkfj

it’s so funny i remember seeing it in theaters w a friend of mine when it came out in 2010 and i thought it was mediocre, kinda boring, wished i hadn’t spent the money to go see it

i DON’T remember watching it a second time and i don’t remember why i even would have because of how indifferent i’d felt about it the first time, but like. somehow we’ve ended up here and it’s my favorite movie in the world and i’m so glad

i’m putting the rest under a cut bc it got long but like. see more rambling about the social network (2010) below if you have any interest:

i do remember being pleasantly surprised when i found out there’s a tiny little online niche of twitter/tumblr people who love it as much as i do bc i feel like when i tell most people tsn is my favorite movie they’re like “...huh? weird” and i dont wanna go into the whole spiel about IT’S NOT ABOUT FACEBOOK IT’S ABOUT A FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN TWO HORRIFICALLY REPRESSED COLLEGE BOYS WHO ARE PROBABLY IN LOVE, AND ALSO THE SCREENWRITING AND DIRECTION ARE STELLAR

like there are ofc the big-ticket items that everyone knows and loves (”it’ll be because you’re an asshole” “the marlin and the trout” “my prada’s at the cleaners” “i’m just checking your math on that” “let’s gut the friggin nerd,” the chimney-to-pool zipline, and so forth bc aaron sorkin might be pretentious as hell but i LIVE for his dialogue and as much as people complain that he’s too elitist and that he alienates viewers w his dialogue, like...the west wing is widely considered one of the best shows that’s ever been on television, and most peoples’ favorite parts of this particular movie are the zingers and one-liners and other memorable quotes) but also just. on every level it’s so good. on every level!

i wanna talk more about sorkin bc as much as i credit fincher w the reason i love the movie so much bc he’s my favorite director, sorkin did a lot of the heavy lifting as the writer! fincher can obviously hold his own w scripts that are very different

(in fact most people were surprised when they found out he’d be directing this film in particular bc it seemed so different from his usual tastes, and understandably sorkin’s and fincher’s styles don’t necessarily seem readily compatible at first glance, though obviously it worked well! i think fincher’s clinical, sleek look just the right amount of seriousness to the story. so much of it takes place on a college campus and there are college idiots doing stupid shit throughout a lot of it, and i think other cinematography styles might’ve either made it too funny or too dramatic, and we would’ve lost that crucial element, which decontextualizes a lot of the personal growth (or lack thereof) in the different characters. also it feels high-tech and clean and that style works so well with all the tech-mimicry trent reznor + atticus ross wove into the score.

like i don’t really know much about very many other directors, but i’m trying to picture if like. chris nolan or even like. fucking spielberg or whomever directed the movie and i just don’t think it would’ve fit as well. fincher loves digital and cgi and precision and i think that works very well with the pointed tightness of the dialogue, of the rigidity of the majority of the characters in the film (esp mark!!) who seem to change very little, if at all, through the movie, and just visually it’s like w black mirror or ex machina or any other films or shows that feature some sort of technological innovation, where they keep everything high-def and impersonal and sleek and deliberate)

the amount of information about the characters that’s conveyed in the very first scene with mark and erica, more or less unrealized by the audience! the non-linear structure that changes the fundamental story question of “what will happen” to “how did this happen”! the way sorkin made us care about an antihero who literally doesn’t change or grow as a person until the very end of the movie when he’s left with no choice but to realize how badly he’s fucked up!

how about the fact that eduardo literally only mentions his father in 3 little lines throughout the 2 hour film and despite the fact (or because of the fact) that we actually know very little about eduardo as a person those little lines carry SO much weight

now i’m just gonna mention some of my favorite little things in the movie that i don’t see people talk about a lot sldkfjsd

first off that cut from sean saying “you know what’s better than a million dollars?” to eduardo in the deposition saying “a billion dollars.” fucking brilliant (though i think one of fincher’s best cuts of all time is actually in gone girl, when it goes from nick and amy kissing to nick being swabbed for dna, but that’s an obvious one i think)

also “you know how much i’ve read about you? nothing.”

“because we are gentleman of harvard”

“anne, punch me in the face. go ahead”

“whoops, broke your 350 year-old doorknob.”

divya falling and disrupting the a capella performance

“i can’t stare at that loop of niagara falls which has absolutely nothing to do with the caribbean.” (also the fact that they were at an AEPi party klsdjflksjd)

“what you just said makes no sense at all.” “i’m devastated by that.”

brenda song lighting the fucking scarf on fire

i really love the whole scene w dakota johnson it’s such a breath of fresh air from a lot of the rest of the movie (also ik fincher has said he wanted to make a clear visual distinction between california and cambridge, and since this is the first time we’re seeing the west coast in the film the brightness and sun and lax-ness really highlight that)

“the winklevi”

eduardo’s face the entire time sean is talking at dinner is just the visual equivalent of “.......”

hand covers bruise of course duh

“you wanna hire an IP lawyer and sue him?” “no, i wanna hire the sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer”

“i’m sorry that you are not sufficiently impressed with my education” “and i’m sorry i don’t have a rowboat, so i guess we’re even”

“i’m not a psychiatrist, but—” “well i’m glad we’ve got that on the record.”

[EDUARDO: you didn’t bring down the record companies. they won

SEAN: in court

EDUARDO: ....yeah ??]

i didn’t mean for this to get so long i just really love this movie ksdjflkjsdf

#mine #tsn #sefa rambles #im starting a new tag called sefa rambles i think just so i can keep all my digressive garbage in one place

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starsisbig · 6 years

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Part 3~ @histrionicdaisy im on a roll

Lee isn’t sure why he decides to go back again and again. Maybe he needs to know it’s real– that he didn’t dream up a scary flirt and a ghost from his past. He doesn’t tell his dad how ridiculous it is or how useless it seems. No, Lee takes the next check and hops on his bike.

He hopes this is the part of him that wants to get better taking over.

Lee had woken up early. Immediately uneasy from a forgotten dream, he’d slugged through his morning ritual with persistence and resistance smacking at each other. Every room felt unfamiliar, and for a halting moment, he couldn’t remember which toothbrush was his.

The first breath of outside air felt like a parachute. He was no longer uncontrollably hurtling toward– something. Relief was so loud. Loud enough that he didn’t hear the broken latch crack against metal.

Lee is taking the longer, safer, back-road through the trees. Riding in the narrow strip of gravel along the highway is far less peaceful; tractor-trailers and pick-ups roar by with their coughing diesel engines, hardly taking care to avoid bicyclists. The wind off their tires and exhaust burn the inside of Lee’s nose.

Here, it smells like pine and blooming pollen. The breeze carries gently over to his back. Cars are sparse, so he can look up to notice the sky and enjoy how it looks against the white of birch bark. This route is longer, too. Something like contentment finds him three-quarters of the way there.

When he arrives, two people are visible through the front window. One has a dark, beanied head, the other has voluminous curls of black hair. The two least likely to talk to him.

Despite this, anxiety starts to boil deep in his chest. He’s going to have to sit in that tiny waiting room with them and their “not-talking.” They’ll be looking at him. They’ll wonder what a guy like him is still doing at group therapy. They’ll look at him and think about how pitiful he must be to land here from where he was.

Lee takes his time unwinding the bike lock. He plays with the idea that he can’t remember the combination. Then, of course, the rubber-like material on the coil is absolutely confounding. It’s not his fault if he takes an extra minute to examine its properties.

A car skids into the parking space behind him, forcing him out of his mind. With a hand over his pounding heart, he reflexively turns around.

Theo barely shifts the car into park before he’s swinging out of his dingy-gray Honda Civic. His eyes are harpooned through Lee’s neck.

Fucking hell.

Lee puts additional focus into the chain-link fence, fantasizing about the glorious safety of the waiting room. Russ and Daphne’s gazes would be kinder. He imagines ripping his heart out and chucking it across the lot, Go fetch!, and breaking for the building.

Theo doesn’t speak. He walks over slowly, occasionally dragging his rubber-soled shoes over the pavement.

When the noise stops, Lee manages to look up.

Heat floods the two-foot gap between them.

His face is completely blank. He doesn’t know what Theo wants from this. Lee should probably say something. Ask him. Make it friendly. Impossibly black eyes give nothing away. Freckles across his nose and cheeks don’t spell any clues, and his lips are cracking, in desperate need of Chapstick.

Freckles?

Why is he so scared of this little bespeckled kid, again?

He’s about to release his bated breath when Theo sniffs, making Lee and his traitorous cheek flinch in surprise.

Theo nods and starts over to the door. Okay.

There’s something off about that guy.

In an unspoken agreement, everyone sits in the same spots as last time. Dora slouches languidly in the largest armchair, Cassie twirls on a padded office chair, and Theo hops to his perch on the arm of a yellow loveseat, strangling the life out of a decorative pillow.

Dr. Usa opens “How is everyone today? Anything big happen since we last saw each other?”

Cassie immediately raises her hand.

“Cassie! Great. With a small group like this, you can feel free to just shout it out.”

“Yes, ma’am!” she enthused with a dinky salute. “Well, I put pictures of some of my paintings online– watermarked, of course– and someone bought one! I don’t know them, but they’re going to send the money through PayPal. They gave me their address. I’m sending the painting– it’s a view of the sky from my backyard– to them in the mail!”

Lee feels a smile force itself onto his face, cracking the plaster of an incomplete mask.

“That must feel very rewarding.”

“Oh, yes!”

His hours of sleep feel infinitely far away. What has he got to be proud of. Anymore. Lee remembers newspaper clippings on the fridge, surprise parties from his team and his family, his little brother swearing up and down Lee was the best football player in the world, and how Neal was going to be a quarterback just like him. God, did he take that harmony for granted. Now, his father and Neal just look at him. That’s all they manage to do when he’s around.

“Lee?”

“Yes?” He blinks a couple times, meeting Dr. Usa’s gaze. “Sorry. I was...” he trails off.

“Someone didn’t have their listening ears on.”

He sighs and looks at Dora. Eyes tired, he says “That’s why I apologized.”

Something flashed in her eyes, face assuming a rather odd expression. Surprise, maybe? Embarrassment... seems unlikely.

“It’s quite alright, Lee. I just asked how your day off went.”

Air puffs through his lips. “It was fine. My little brother had a soccer tournament, so he and my dad were out all day.”

“You didn’t want to go with them?”

“Nah. I liked having time by myself.” He starts fiddling with his sleeves. Alone is safer. Fewer awkward conversations that no one wants to have.

“I feel that.” Theo agrees in an exhale, thumb and middle finger pressing over his eyelids.

With the focus momentarily elsewhere, Lee takes the opportunity to sink into his chair. The heat of the spotlight recedes. Theo is talking. From what Lee’s seen, it’s obvious he takes to attention like a plant to the sun.

“We had extended family from all over tarnation at the house yesterday. It was ridiculous! They wouldn’t understand my right to privacy if it bit them in the–”

“Theo.”

“Sorry, but they wouldn’t! They act like lowering their voices protects the sanctity of the quote, unquote ‘secret’ when they’re telling it to everyone!”

“Why don’t you like your family discussing this?”

“‘Cuz it’s me they’re discussing!”

“Please keep your voice down.”

“Sorry.” Theo says it quick, like an afterthought. “They aren’t acting concerned. They’re tossing around what’s ‘wrong’ with me like hot gossip. Like– finally something interesting is happening in the family.” The last part is drawled with a dramatic touch of the fingertips to the sternum, but his voice is too sharp to be simply joking.

“Every family, and every person in it has a different way of expressing their emotions toward a situation. It’s possible this is their way of showing that they see what’s going on, and just don’t know how to help.” Dr. Usa’s voice is melodious and quiet. It’s a very distinct contrast to Theo’s frustration.

“Well. I wish they’d cut it out.”

Lee notices the subtle tremors in Theos hands as they cover his face. Something’s coming loose. He has a feeling that when Theo falls apart he doesn’t crumble. No, those are bolts rattling, threatening to blow outward with the shriek of scalding steam.

“My family acts like nothing happened at all.”

When silence strikes the room, nerves punch him right in the gut. Shit. That’s where his plan ended. All eyes have moved back to him. He successfully got the attention away from Theo– go him– but he, being an eternal idiot, failed to realize that now he’d have to hold it.

Thankfully, Dr. Usa says “It’s likely a very painful topic, seeing someone they care about hurt.”

He laughs. Immediately he covers his mouth, feeling like he’d just smacked himself across the cheek. Wiping the knee-jerk reaction from his face, Lee swallows.

“Yeah.”

Before Dr. Usa has a chance to follow up, Cassie bursts in.

“If they don’t care, they don’t matter!”

Her nose is scrunched up, pinched by the angry purse of her lips. A newly pale-painted, manicured finger points at the ceiling, as if that’s where the injustice is hiding.

Cassie always seems to have a motivational quote up her sleeve. This is not the first time one had been directed at him. And though the words themselves aren’t helpful, the earnest way she delivers them always heals a small part of the ache.

“Thanks, Cassie. They matter. They’ve just moved on. They have other things to worry about.” The half-lie tastes weak as it leaves his mouth. He knows his family is embarrassed by his mistakes; they can’t bear to revisit the shame.

He sees movement in the corner of his eye, where movement is usually not. Russ is signing something.

“Family is not always right.”

Instead of going home right after, Lee decides to sit cross-legged on the pavement next to his bike. He has Twitter open on his phone, but he’s not really reading anything.

It’s nearly 10:45. His brother is probably up. Neal’ll probably hang around the house for a bit, texting a couple of his bajillion friends to meet up. Then, he’ll borrow dad’s car and pick them up on the way downtown, uptown, or a McDonalds in either direction.

Dad is probably working on the shed. The roof caved last winter, and he needs a dry place to store the tractor. Since his brother is taking the car, he’ll have no choice but to stay home.

A kick to his left shoe startles him back to the real world. He sees ragged black jeans.

Theo looks at him, avoiding his eyes.

“Thanks.”

Thanks? Not sure what he’s referencing, he responds “Uh, yeah. No problem.”

“Sorry. You know, about earlier. You’re confusing.”

Not as confusing as this conversation. Lee just looks at Theo, hoping for some elaboration.

“Okay.”

Theo turns and skips back to his car. He opens the drivers-side door and points to Lee over the roof.

“You’re a real one, Lee Pugnator,” he shouts. “If Nicki Minaj lyrics were enough I’d be serenading you right now, you gorgeous son-of-a-bitch.”

Lee laughs helplessly.

That kid is absolutely inscrutable.

#jck #lee pugnator #:)#histrionicdaisy

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superfruittreeshaker · 5 years

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Project Bo: Saving lives in Sierra Leone with Solar, Batteries and Twitter

Authored by: Michael Liebreich

In November 2017, browsing my Twitter timeline in the cab on the way to an industry dinner, I came across a Tweet that hit me like a punch in the guts:

“Three of our oxygen-dependent babies died last night when the power went off. Not good enough in 2017. Low-cost tech e.g. affordable solar power must be a priority for saving newborn lives.”

The Tweet was from Dr. Niall Conroy, Assistant Professor in Emergency Medical Science at University College Dublin, who had been shuttling between Ireland and Sierra Leone to set up a neonatal intensive care unit at the governmental hospital in Bo, the country’s third largest city, working with UNICEF and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

Sierra Leone’s medical system was ravaged by the civil war which raged between 1991 and 2002. Then in 2014, the country was hit by Ebola, and for two years the country could focus only on mastering the outbreak, which claimed nearly 4,000 lives. In 2018, according to UNICEF data, Sierra Leone ranked second worst in the world for infant mortality, with 34 newborns dying for every thousand live births, and a further 48 dying before their fifth birthday.

For some context on the country’s energy landscape: In 2016, the World Bank reported that just over 20% of Sierra Leone’s population had access to electricity. Of that 20% with access, 46.9% live in urban areas, but only 2.5% live in the countryside. As of last year, the country’s 7.6 million population was served by just 170 MW of capacity. On average, Sierra Leoneans use just 61 kWh per person per year — just 1% of that used by the average EU resident, and 0.5% of the power used by the average American.

The neonatal unit at Bo Government Hospital is connected to the grid, but the grid is unreliable. The Bumbuna dam, completed in 2009 at a cost of $327 million, provides nearly half the country’s power. In the rainy season it delivers 50MW, but in the dry season the water level drops and it can manage only around 20MW, most of which is sent to the capital, Freetown. The rest of the country suffers frequent rolling power cuts, lasting as long as a week or more. Although there are plenty of plans and projects to increase generating capacity – including a $700 million 200 MW Phase II for Bumbuna, suppressed demand will easily mop up additional supply, and there is no chance that grid power in Sierra Leone is going to reach developed world levels of reliability in the foreseeable future.

From the point of view of a vulnerable baby in the neonatal unit at Bo Government Hospital, a 20 minute power cut can be tantamount to a death penalty. Infant-warmers, incubators and oxygen generators – which can be essential for survival – all require electricity: not huge amounts, but more than the average rooftop solar system serving just lights and phone chargers can supply, and it absolutely must be resilient.

It was hard to argue with the logic of Dr. Conroy’s tweet: It is indeed unacceptable that babies should be dying in this day and age because the local power supply is unreliable.

While others enjoyed the dinner, I reached out to Dr. Conroy. If he could handle the in-country side of things – permits from ministries, liaison with the hospital leadership – I committed to raising the money and managing the process of installing a reliable solar and battery system. I was lucky – because of my work with the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative I could draw on a network of experts. Richenda Van Leeuwen, former Executive Director, Energy and Climate, Energy Access at the UN Foundation immediately volunteered to co-lead what we were soon calling Project Bo. My wife pitched in to build a website. Sonali Mehta and Harry Boyle, two early employees of New Energy Finance, now married, offered to help with fundraising. Laura Stachel, founder of We Care Solar, a US charity which provides solar systems for birth units in Africa, was a fount of advice.

We quickly settled on Energy for Opportunity, a Canadian NGO with operations in Freetown, as our local partner to design and build the system. Simon Willans, Executive Director and experienced African solar project developer, immediately sent a crew to Bo to scope the system. Within weeks we had the spec for a $100,000 system – 25 kW of solar PV panels and 125 kWh of battery storage – that would operate off-grid if necessary. We added in $5,000 to provide a tap so that the nurses no longer had to traverse the hospital lugging buckets of water, added a contingency of £25,000 for training, maintenance and unexpected costs, rounded the total to £100,000 and started fundraising.

The batteries – 125kWh of Deka lead gel cells – at the heart of the Project Bo power supply, Government Hospital Neonatal ICU in Bo, Sierra Leone. Copyright Niall Conroy.

The response was extraordinary. Within weeks we had raised the first $25,000, enough to order the batteries – the longest-lead-time item which had to be custom-built and shipped from the U.S. (we went for proven lead-gel Deka batteries rather than take a risk with lithium-ion). By the time they landed in Freetown, we had raised enough funds to build the whole system, and by August we had raised the full £100,000.

I am incredibly grateful for the generosity of our donors. A few were wealthy philanthropists; two institutions, the Hamburger Klimaschutz-Fonds (HKF) and Eurelectric (the association of European Electricity Utilities), were early supporters; but the majority were individuals who simply responded to our crowdfunding efforts – again mainly publicised via Twitter – and supported us with open hearts. I thank them all.

Project Bo’s system went live in September 2018. Once he has collected a year’s worth of comparable data, Dr. Conroy is planning to publish a peer-reviewed study of its impact. However, even based on preliminary data, it’s clear that it is saving lives. Controlling for other variables, it looks like mortality in the unit has dropped from 18% to 7% due to the advent of reliable power, potentially saving around eight lives per month.

If these figures hold up over time, the cost per life saved, assuming a system lifetime of just seven years, would be $156. This compares incredibly favourably with the oft-quoted record-low figure of $3,340 to save a child’s life via insecticide-treated mosquito nets. And there is no reason the Project Bo system should last only seven years – the batteries will need to be replaced around that time, but by then a new set should cost only $20,000 and will give another seven to 10 years of life-saving service.

We are still sitting on around $20,000 of the contingency raised as part of the appeal. The Project Bo steering group decided to spend it on initiatives that support maternal and neonatal health in Bo, rather than sit on it and wait until new batteries were needed. We donated $6,000 to We Care Solar for units at two maternal health units in the region around Bo, in recognition of their help. For the remainder, Dr. Conroy is working with the hospital leadership to identify the best use of funds, and will shortly submit a proposal. Most likely it will be spent on a dormitory for the mothers, who have nowhere to sleep while waiting to breastfeed babies admitted to the neonatal unit. Currently, they are sleeping outdoors and risking malaria, and in some cases, taking their babies home too early.

If it sounds like Project Bo was plain sailing, that is not entirely correct, there were certainly some rocky moments. And there were many lessons learned, which I believe are very much worth sharing.

First of all, here are five tips for anyone planning to undertake a project like Project Bo:

Go for it! Project Bo has proven that solar and battery-powered mini-grids can save lives. As described above, we don’t yet have definitive data, but it is clear that the system is producing results. When Dr. Conroy visited the unit shortly after the system went live he asked the head nurse if the electricity was saving lives. Her response was unequivocal: “Yes, yes, yes. Less babies are dying now” (read more of Dr Conroy’s impressions of his first visit to Bo after the system went live here). Yes, Richenda Van Leeuwen and I had the benefit of existing contacts to help us complete Project Bo, but with some determined networking, anyone could have done it.

Be ambitious but pragmatic. The first design Energy for Opportunity produced for the system was too small to run the equipment 24/7. The assumption was that right-sizing the system would make it too expensive. We insisted on a system that would solve the problem of intermittent power once and for all, and it was the right thing to do. However, we were also pragmatic: the system includes a small diesel generator, which can run the ward and charge the batteries in case of equipment failure. Given the choice between being 100% renewable or 100% resilient, when it comes to life-critical equipment, the choice is clear.

Focus on governance. I refused to kick off fundraising for Project Bo until Dr Conroy talked me through the leadership structure at the hospital and reassured me that equipment and facilities

Dr Conroy, Assistant Professor UCD Centre for Energency Medical Science, on the wards at the Government Hospital Neonatal ICU in Bo, Sierra Leone, which he helped to set up. Copyright Niall Conroy.

could be secured from theft. Even so, when the system was first installed, three unapproved air conditioners were immediately and mysteriously connected to it, causing unexpected power outages with potentially fatal consequences. Only after emergency intervention from Energy for Opportunity and training of the nurses could we feel confident the system would not be abused.

Budget for training and maintenance. This is something we insisted on from the start. We were determined to avoid the classic fate of the donor-funded mini-grid – it works fine when first installed, but no one is trained to use it, and there is no budget for maintenance. We set aside a contingency for regular visits by Energy for Opportunity to train the nurses and maintain the system, and financed a local store of spare parts (under lock and key). We are in the process of adding an internet connection so we can monitor system performance remotely.

Plan for suppressed demand. Prior to the installation of the Project Bo power supply, the neonatal unit was admitting up to 70 patients per month. Over the past six months, admissions have been up to 110. In part, this may be due to the improved treatment on offer – it is too early to tell. Whatever the reason, we did not think hard enough about future demand growth when identifying system requirements and developing the engineering design. I would feel more comfortable had we raised $25,000 more and installed a bigger system.

Secondly, here are five messages for the NGO, multilateral agency, and donor community:

Make medical appliances energy efficient. The equipment which drives demand for power at Bo Government Hospital’s neonatal unit – baby warmers, incubators, and oxygen concentrators – was donated by UNICEF at a cost of around $10,000 to $15,000. The Project Bo power system we built cost up to 10 times as much as the equipment it supplies! As things stand, there are no more efficient models on the market than the ones in use in Bo. But I am willing to bet that with a bottom-up redesign, their power demand could be halved. Even if the equipment cost were to double (which I sincerely doubt), the overall cost to provide life-saving care would be reduced. Come on medical equipment suppliers, let’s have models designed around the realities of the power supply in the developing world!

Reduce mini-grid system costs. Although the cost per life saved by Project Bo looks set to be incredibly low, $100,000 is a huge amount of money for a single hospital ward’s power supply, in the context of a country where GDP per capita is just $510. There is a need for resilient power throughout the health system in the developing world, but there will not be many other use cases where so many lives can be saved with such a simple intervention as in an urban neonatal intensive care unit. By standardising designs and procuring in bulk, it should be possible to reduce the cost of this type of resilient power supply, so they can be deployed throughout developing country health systems.

Create a clear customs waiver programme. The biggest uncertainty we experienced in budgeting for Project Bo was whether or not our equipment would be subject to customs duties. In general, humanitarian supplies are given a waiver, but you can’t bank on it up front. To receive our waiver, Energy for Opportunity and the hospital to request it from the Health Ministry, who had to inform the Finance Ministry, who had to inform Customs and Excise. None of this could be initiated until we had a Bill of Lading, which means precious time was lost. The multilateral community must surely be able to set up a robust pre-approval process, or even a blanket waiver of customs duties on clean energy equipment, given how vital it is for health, education, and economic development.

Proactively capture health-related power data. All we knew when we started Project Bo was that babies were dying because of power cuts. We had no idea how frequent they were, or how long they lasted. To this day, I have no idea if this data exists for Sierra Leone, the city of Bo or the hospital. As a result, we had to design a system that could effectively operate off-grid. With a year’s worth of accurate data, we might have been able to design a cheaper system – one with a smaller battery, or perhaps even one with no solar panels, using just intermittent grid power. In the case of Project Bo, the humanitarian need was so pressing, we did not have the luxury of collecting data before designing the system. A massive data-logging exercise focused on power quality at health facilities in developing countries would be a very good use of aid money.

Get smart about energy and aid. Let me be blunt: there is little point donating baby warmers and oxygen concentrators to a neonatal unit if the power supply is intermittent. I don’t want to be too harsh on UNICEF because they are far from the exception: the developing world is full of donor-funded equipment, at best run from diesel generators with horrible environmental impacts and unacceptable power quality, and at worst sitting unused until it disappears. Donors and aid agencies need to think of the power supply as an integral part of their offering, whether in health, education, agriculture, or economic development; they need to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the best clean energy NGOs, and everyone must be measured by the same metrics.

In summary, Project Bo has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that clean energy can help make dramatic, rapid improvements in health outcomes among some of the most vulnerable populations in the world. However, these improvements will not accrue automatically through generic improvements in energy access. In health care, power quality – especially reliability – matters as much as quantity.

We need to take the lessons from Project Bo and from an increasing number of other projects like it, and apply them at a programmatic scale. There may be no other single intervention that could deliver such substantial improvements in health outcomes for vulnerable patients in poorer developing countries.

Finally, Project Bo was one of the most humbling and gratifying initiatives I have ever led. I can only thank our donors, Richenda Van Leeuwen and the other members of the Project Bo steering group, and the ever-inspiring, selfless Dr. Niall Conroy, whose tweet back in November 2017 was the catalyst that launched Project Bo.

Michael Liebreich is the Founder and CEO of Liebreich Associates. He founded and is now Senior Contributor to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Michael was a founding member of the High Level Advisory Group for the UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative, and serves on a number of industry and governmental panels. The Liebreich Foundation is his family charity, funded mainly from the sale of New Energy Finance.

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unifiedsocialblog · 6 years

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Writing for Social Media: 7 Tips and Tools

There’s loads of great articles about writing, including writing for social media.

Maybe this will become one of them. Whatever.

However, this piece is different.

You’ll see.

Bonus: Get the step-by-step social media strategy guide with pro tips on how to grow your social media presence.

7 writing tips for social media

…and for any kind of persuasive writing.

Sure, great writing may take talent and innate creativity. And hey, you’ve got something to say, right? No matter your current level of experience or skills. With a little gusto in your writing step, you can make the reader feel something, take an action, or be more informed than before.

A few tips below to show you how.

Suggestion: let loose, try some (or all) of these, and repeat them for a few of your posts. Build those new writing-muscles.

You’ll be amazed at how clear you’ll write, and how you’ll zero-in on your voice.

1. Barf it out

Writers block is a myth. if you wanna balst past it just write out anything in your head, without leaving teh keybord. just keep your fingers typing, looking at the keyboard not the screen, so your brain engages. forget about sentence structure, spelling, punctuation… just keep your fingers moving and p[ower through any blockages. do this for an articel, tech-doc, and kind of writing thingie. Even for a paragraph or three. whenever your stuck just typw. editing will come later. This is a brain excercise, not a make-it-look-just-right process. Editing comes later, but don’t mix the two. It’s never write the first time. but push stuff that’s in your head onto the page, then mnake your 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 edits…. LATER.

Okay, I’m back.

Whenever, I’m ‘stuck’, for any kind of writing… I just type. Every time, something useful appears before my writing-eyes-and-brain.

The same will happen to you, too.

Punch the so-called “writer’s block” right in the gut. It’s bunk.

2. Write to an 8th grader

Not because they are dumb. Because it forces you to write clearly. And to ditch the jargon and terms that eyeballs just gloss over.

“Drive innovation.”

“Become a disruptor.”

And my absolute non-favorite, “Transform your business…”.

Oh please. Some of the most over-used, under-effective statements of all time.

Companies and their writers hide behind these terms every day, all across the web. Statistically speaking, probably you, too. I’m just sayin’.

I don’t know if this intentional or not. But here’s the thing…

Terms and jargon say little, while making you and your biz appear as a commodity. Like many others. Better to do the heavy lifting for the reader. Because they certainly won’t. They’ll stop and leave, versus stay and scroll.

Do the work. Say something real. Practice on your kid, mom, or any outsider to tell your important and useful message.

Your readers will appreciate it. It makes good business sense.

3. Write to the reader

Because no one cares about what you (or I) do. Readers only care what they can get from what you (or I) do.

So then, write from the readers’ perspective. Make them the hero.

A list of features? B-o-r-i-n-g.

Words that paint a picture for how the reader’s life will improve, that’s the ticket.

Sometimes, “standing out” is nothing more than writing from the reader’s point of view. Because most of your competitors don’t.

4. Write with a purpose

And write that purpose at the top of your draft piece.

To keep your mind on the target while you write.

For an email, blog post, white paper, and of course for any social media post—be clear on the purpose.

What action do you want the reader to take?

Click the buy, call, or contact us button?

Or maybe you just want them to feel a certain way. Empathy? Bliss? Informed?

Too often, we humans write to write. Not a problem.

Unless you want to sell your stuff.

Social posts are usually a top-of-mind selling approach. And an opportunity to build, show, and share your brand.

And still, write with a purpose to raise your signal, lessen your noise.

Hey, don’t forget to delete the purpose reminder at the top of your draft.

5. Write to make the reader feel successful

Which is hard to do when reading long paragraphs, without breaks—like single lines and bolded lines.

Lead your reader down the page by breaking up your message.

Short paragraphs. Short sentences. Transition lines. Bullets. Some bolded items, too. Like this one…

Allowing your readers to skim and scan your message is nice.

It helps them feel a series of successes as they move down the page.

The more they read, the more they understand.

Good for everyone, right?

Oh yeah, and questions are good too. They encourage the reader to ‘lean in’, with interest.

What are you doing to help your readers scroll down the page?

Maybe I’ve overdone the short paragraphs in this post. Maybe not. Part of the just-try-it-and-see-for-yourself model. Better ‘too much’ than ‘too little’. You can dial it down later.

6. Write with a hyper-focus

…and with a tomato.

What the…?

Stay with me.

Too often, we look at a piece of work and think, ‘Ah man, I need a bunch of time to do this post.’

There’s a better way.

By defining and going after a small section or piece of your post, document or whatever you’re writing. Right now. Say, in the 15 minutes before your next meeting.

Define a small portion to write (I’m doing this right now for this single section)

Set a tomato timer, that you can hear going tick-tock-tick-tock

Barf it out (like we talked about above)

Make your edits

Finí

Go to your meeting

Progress made. Feels good.

I wrote this section in 17 minutes. You can, too. String a bunch more of these together to complete your writing, iteratively. Without feeling like you have to set aside a load of time in one or two sittings.

I love the Pomodoro Technique for getting anything done with a hyper-focus.

7. Use pictures to enhance the words

I’m not going to say much about this.

Of course, pictures enhance the words.

This piece is about the words.

I don’t want to leave you hanging though. Here’s one of a thousand good reads about adding pictures to your work.

7 writing tools for social media

Opinion: writing for social media is fun. Those writing tips and tricks help me enjoy the process. And so do these writing tools.

1. Session buddy (Chrome extension)

Good for: Reducing browser clutter by restoring windows and tabs for your writing project. In seconds. Cost: Free.

When writing, I usually do web searches to find related content or topics. These often become input into my writing piece. I arrange browser instances and tabs within each instance. Then, place them carefully on the screen to move around as needed.

Now, say I need to work on something else. Fine:

Click on the session buddy icon, in the Chrome toolbar

Name and save the session

Close the all the windows

Now you’re ready for action on a new task. Distraction free. Without any browser clutter.

Then, when it’s time to resume that project:

Click on the session buddy icon

Select and open the named session

Everything like before, instantly

Here’s a list of alternatives. Try and use what works for you.

Bonus: Get the step-by-step social media strategy guide with pro tips on how to grow your social media presence.

Get the free guide right now!

2. Hemingway app

Good for: Writing anything succinctly and clearly. Cost: Free online, $19.99 for the desktop app.

Hemingway app will make you a better writer. Period.

That whole jargon thing I complain about, it all goes away when you write like Ernest did.

Same for long sentences, unnecessary adverbs, superlative adjectives, and passive phrases. And, with hints for alternatives.

Write what you write

Paste it into Hemingway app

Visually see what works, what doesn’t

Make your changes, to do more of what does work

Paste back into your writing piece

Use Hemingway app often to build your writing skills. After a bit you’ll need it less. Though I still use it often to keep me in check. An amazing tool.

3. Markdown

Good for: Writing an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to HTML. Cost: Depends. There’s a load of editors to write your markdown. Some are free, others cost. But not much.

Markdown allows you to write plain text for nearly all your writing projects. Find and choose a Markdown editor, for Windows, Mac or web.

Word, Google Docs, and the others of that same ilk? Oh please.

Feature bloat, complex to use, and limited to a tool. No thanks.

Markdown just works. With a simple WYSIWYG editor for headers, bolding, italics, bullets, highlight, horizontal dividers, and quotes.

Who needs more than that?

And, instantly convert your work to HTML to post on any platform, using their already-in-place CSS formatting.

In other words… you write text, export as HTML, publish anywhere.

Not sold?

Fine, try it out on your next writing piece. Easy to learn, even easier to use.

Markdown is the only way I write nowadays. Be careful, the same might happen to you. If you’re lucky.

4. ZenPen

Good for: Distraction free writing. Cost: Free.

There’s plenty of clutter in life. ZenPen is one small corner of the distraction-free-universe to help you write without outside interference.

Go to zenpen.io

Type and write

Copy and paste, or download (via markdown, plain text, or html)

Do something beautiful with your new Pulitzer-prize-like content

5. Grammarly

Good for: Making your writing clear, effective, and correct. Cost: Free online

Grammarly promises to keep your social posts on point. It will flag everything from contextual spelling errors to poor word choices. And, the tool integrates with lots of online platforms, including Twitter, Gmail, and Tumblr.

I make up words all the time, and misspell others. Not always a bad thing for getting people’s attention. As long as one is intentional about it.

Use Grammarly to convert the unintentional to the intentional.

6. Pomodoro Technique

Good for: Staying focused, for writing or anything else. Cost: Depends on the specific timer tool you choose. Loads of free ones.

I know, I already mentioned this.

It’s worth another mention.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a timer to break down work into 25 minute intervals (usually), separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro (Italian for tomato).

Cute, huh?

But Pomodoro is more than cute for getting s&$% done.

I use it all over the place, especially when writing:

Define a section or two to write

Set the timer (for 25 minutes)

Work until it rings (and only on that task)

Put down a checkmark on a piece of paper

Take a short break

Lather, rinse, repeat

Works as a good tracker, too. For instance, four checkmarks = about two hours for the completed effort.

I use an online Pomodoro timer that makes an obvious tick-tock (a kitchen timer works great, too). My wife knows not to interrupt me when in this highly-focused state.

As long as I follow up with her about the ever growing to-do list she came to me for.

7. Dropbox Paper

Good for: Writing and collaborating with others. Cost: Free for the individual or small business. It costs for the enterprise.

Dropbox paper is my main writing, editing, and collaboration tool. Clients dig it, too. I teach them how to use it in one minute.

It looks and reads beautiful

Super-duper easy to write, distraction free (with a simple toolbar that pops up only when text is highlighted)

Works as web content editor, versus a document editor (who needs line breaks anymore?)

Write together with others, real-time

Alert your mates, immediately, with comments off to the side

Export and download in the common formats to publish elsewhere

Not much more to say. Try it yourself. I dare you.

Compose, schedule, and publish your expertly written posts to all the major social media channels—including Instagram—from one dashboard using Hootsuite. Try it free today.

Get Started

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