#sending it into the depths of internet so i’m not tempted to go back and constantly fix stuff

[mangozic]

character design hw that I spent a very reasonable amount of time on

#god this took so long #had to do a realistic version and a simplified cartoonish one #happy with the design itself but I wish I made it a bit more dynamic #oh well #sending it into the depths of internet so i’m not tempted to go back and constantly fix stuff #also no idea when it comes to the name #i’m taking suggestions :] #my art #digital art #character design #original character #original art

[dragonrajafanfiction]

The Greenland Incident

The post I typed up got deleted on Reddit (!!!) So I’m reposting here. :)

It’s a bit long but has the story written from professor Schneider’s POV. Enjoy!

This is taken from Dragon Raja III: Part I Chapter: Shadows of Greenland.

Schneider took off the oxygen mask and moved his face into the light. Even as he smoked cigarettes, he was on oxygen. When removing the oxygen mask, he will carefully hide his face in the shadow so this is the first time Manstein saw Ned's (Schneider's) face. It's a horror movie mask. The face is a nightmare, the flesh and blood under the eyes are completely dry, only a layer of dry skin is stuck to the bone, the lips and nose are atrophied, and the front teeth are directly exposed.

"It's ugly isn't it? Actually, I am only 37 years old this year but I have the half century old face of a mummy. When the students hear my cough, they think I am an old man in my 50s. But I am even younger than you." Schneider said, self-deprecating.

Manstein shivered slowly: "How can this be?"

"This is the mark left by a mission," Schneider said. "That was 11 years ago, when we first heard a heartbeat signal from the deep sea."

"This (The Japan sea mission) is not the first time we have found embryos in the sea?" Manstein was taken aback.

"No, No. Eleven years ago, that was in Greenland. We found a similar embryo." Schneider spit out a complete smoke ring. "You might have guessed it. I was talking about the  unresolved case in the Greenland Ice Sea. The dive team was annihilated, but the school board ordered all files to be sealed and the investigation was forcibly terminated. If you want to hear this story, you have to be patient, because this story is very long, and please order Norma (EVAs human personality) to leave this room. You with a black card now, you can do it."

"Why should Norma leave?"

"Because Norma doesn't know. The so-called top secret cannot be stored in the system or the drives. It can only be stored here." Schneider tapped on his forehead. "After listening to this story, you can't say a word. You can't even write a memo for yourself. This is a rigid rule of the college. You can only remember every detail I said firmly as far as you can. If you forget it, there's no remedy."

"What happened 11 years ago, can you still remember every detail of it now?"

"Of course, I can." Schneider said quietly. "That was the only trip to hell in my life. How could I forget?"

The icy cold permeated from Schneider's words. Manstein felt that when he mentioned something that happened 11 years ago, the ugly and powerful man in front of him ignited his anger, an anger restrained for 11 years.

"Norma, leave this room and leave the two of us alone for a while." Manstein said.

"Understand that, starting now, the central control room will be outside of my monitoring range for 15 minutes." Norma said.

All the equipment n the central control room stopped running, the cameras and recording equipment were locked, and the lights went out one by one. Norma left and the surveillance was lifted. At this moment, the central control room was independent of the campus, and the shadows of the trees swayed on the high windows, which looked like the depths of an ancient church.

"It was the autumn of 2001...." Schneider slowly began to narrate.

"It was the autumn of 2001. A person with the ID named 'Prince' posted a message on the Internet saying that his tugboat had caught strange bronze fragments deep in the Greenland Sea. He posted a photo and it seemed that there were some intricate ancient characters on them. These characters were completely consistent with the 'Ice Sea Bronze Column Tablet' secretly collected by the college."

"The Ice sea Bronze Pillar Tablet is considered to be a rare artifact that has been passed down from the Dragon Age to today. It once stood in the dragon-kin built cities. The dragons are accustomed to using pillars to record their history and the center of the city is always a huge pillar standing upright. However, the icy sea copper column tablet is only a part of a column that had broken and it is estimated that it is less than a third of its original length. It is the most detailed dragon text material that humans have found to today, recording the war history of the dragon clan, but we still can't interpret it because there is no text for comparison. Those texts are just meaningless patterns for us."

"I was just a young assistant professor at the time, keen to interpret Dragon Words. I think if there is another copper pillar in the depths of the Greenland Sea, then the comparison of the above text may be able to interpret the true history of dragons. So I contacted the 'Prince' anonymously, saying that we were an ancient writing research institute and hoped to purchase these fragments."

"At that time, someone offered an amazing price, but the Prince expressed that he was willing to donate the fragments to research institutions instead of selling them to merchants. He sent the fragments to us without taking any money, and attached the coordinates of where he found them. We immediately sent an elite team to scan the seabed with sonar. We originally hoped to find a huge pillar on the seabed, but we caught a strange heartbeat signal right on the seabed."

"The Greenland Ice Sea is not as deep as the Japanese Trench. Large animals like beluga and tiger sharks live in it. So we didn't think it was a dragon embryo at first. But we observed it for several months. Nothing moved. We had to focus our attention from the pillar to the heartbeat signal. This was too strange. If the thing is a whale or a shark, then it should hunt around. If it is a giant turtle of unknown species, but dormant, then its heartbeat shouldn't be so strong. 

Someone put forward an amazing idea, that is: it is the embryo of a dragon. The seabed is its burial ground, it has experienced death, and cocooning and then reviving turned it into a fetal state. It is undergoing a long incubation.

"The idea was too bold, but the heartbeat signal was too strange and too tempting. Everyone of us was fascinated by this speculation. Since the establishment of the Secret Party, we have only received one dragon embryo, which is a weak one out of three generations. Dragon blood lines are already weak. If we can get a strong embryo, analyzing it can help us learn more about this ancient life."

"So you decided to dive?" Manstein asked.

"No, we weren't so rash. Because everything is just guessing. The safest way before a human goes is to send out a remote controlled submersible to survey the area. But whenever the underwater robots approached the seabed, they would lose control. We recovered the underwater robots and found that their circuits somehow burned up. This added to the evidence that the thing on the seabed was an embryo of a dragon. When an elder dragon is said to be in the process of incubation, a certain field will be developed to protect themselves. People who step into this field will have fatal hallucinations. Biologically speaking, the hallucinations are all because the cerebral cortex is stimulated, and the cerebral cortex is most easily stimulated by an electrical current."

"So the electric field of embryos burned the robot's circuits?" Manstein said.

"We thought so. We didn't want to send people to dive. If it is indeed the embryonic field that burned down those robots, then the impact on the cerebral cortex would be terrible. Even though all my students are A pedigree, I'm still not sure if they can fight against the field of embryos. In the hallucinations created by dragons, only the most powerful hybrids can maintain self-awareness. Any gap in the psychological defense line will be crushed by the hallucination. This has been recorded in the archives of the secret party." Schneider said. "But this time the school board intervened. They ordered us to dive as soon as possible to confirm the target. Their reason was that we could not wait for the embryo to hatch. At that time, even if it was risky, we had to act."

"Diving was the decision of the school board?"

"Yes. Today they sent you to stop the Caesar Team Embryo dive, but they were the creators of the Greenland plan back then."

"Under pressure, we made a dive plan. We purchased the most advanced diving bell from Germany at the time. It was a kind of all-metal diving equipment. Metal is an  excellent conductor. It can form an electrostatic barrier and should weaken the embryo field. Everyone in the dive team was to wrap their whole body with a fine metal mesh and took nerve tranquilizers orally. They are all the best hybrids. We thought they should be able to resist the interference in the embryonic field after they were fully armed. There were six people in the group. If one person had a problem the other five could force him to evacuate. In order to kill the dangerous embryo we also made a special underwater rifle for the dive team, using bullets polished by the Philosopher's Stone which is lethal to dragons."

"Although they were going to perform a dangerous mission, the students were still excited. Young people are fearless and they had the opportunity to get lose to a dragon embryo, which was as exciting as the opportunity to visit the Kingdom of God."

The weather was unexpectedly good on the day of the dive. The six members of the dive team went down on three diving bells. I provided support on the ice. At first, everything went smoothly, the ocean current was calm. The marine life was calm. They even observed beluga whales. But when the depth reached 170 meters, the leader of the dive team suddenly yelled in surprise in the communication channel, saying that they saw a gate. This is very strange because the seabed in that area is 300 meters deep, and their depth is 170 meters, which means that they are still 130 meters from the bottom. Visibility was very low. But at this point, they saw this gate. Is there a gate suspended in the middle of the sea?

"I became alert and worried that they had strayed into the embryonic field and had begun to have hallucinations. They excitedly discussed the gate in the communication channel. This is completely against the rules of communications. They should not talk about it in the communication channel. This channel is for essential communication only to avoid misunderstandings. I loudly ordered them not to approach the gate. I wasn't sure if it really existed but my instinct told me that the gate should not be opened."

"But they completely ignored my orders. I only heard their hurried muttering and strange noises. It was like someone was breathlessly reading a certain scripture in a deep well. Then the team leader spoke and yelled, "The gate is open! The gate is opening!" Then, "No! Don't Go in!"

"Then the gunshots were heard, loud. I could hear them paddling and the sound of their respirators. They had left the diving bell and were fighting with something. The situation was very chaotic. Someone shouted in the channel but because of the current interference, I couldn't hear what they said."

"I originally told the diving team not to leave the diving bell, because the electrostatic barrier in the diving bell is their important protection, but why they violated my order... there's no perfect explanation. After five minutes, the communication was cut off. We could no longer receive signals from the depths of the ice sea. I decided to forcibly recover the diving bells. Those diving bells are connected to the ice breaker with safety lines. However, we recovered the safety lines, only to find that the safety lines were cut with diving knives. The cuts, judging from the fibers, were made by the diving teams own knives. They cut the safety lines themselves."

"I was frantic and decided to dive down to rescue them. There were no more bells, but I was confident in my physical fitness. I could dive to 300 meters without protective gear. I could dive to 170 on one breath. When I reached the waters where the incident occurred, there was no gate nor were their corpses. The water was clear with no trace of blood, even though I clearly heard the gunshots in the communication channel. At that time, the surrounding water temperature had dropped below zero. It was so cold that any disturbance in the water would form ice crystals."

"I then noticed something behind me that had been silently swimming with me!" "The predator was so cautious to keep itself from being discovered by me. But the super cold seawater was  formed a thin film of ice in front of me and it reflected the light on my diving helmet. I saw its dark shadow in the thin ice, just like the totem on an ancient mural. It was slender, its long and thin tail swung slowly in the sea, like a butterfly in flight. I heard a sound and my spotlight stopped working from the cold and I was surrounded in completely darkness. I thought I was going to die. The embryo had hatched. It killed my students! It was behind me but I can't do anything about it."

"Desperation brings out courage. So I remembered that I was still holding my underwater rifle. All the special ones were handed over to the dive team. I only had an ordinary one filled with ordinary bullets. But I can't sit and wait for death. So I turned and took a shot in the dark."

"I then saw blood. I had actually hurt it!"

"How can an ordinary rifle harm a dragon? That thing was only used by divers to kill sharks and can't even kill a large shark. And you were too far down for it to work effectively." Manstein said.

"I can't answer that, but there was a strong smell of blood penetrating the seals of my helmet. I wasn't injured. The dragon was." Schneider said.

"I could clearly feel it right in front of me. I and the injured dragon are facing each other in the dark, very close. But I still couldn't see it."

"It hissed at me and in an instant my oxygen mask shattered into pieces, and the cold current rushed into my air supply carrying with it, the dragon's blood. I lost consciousness."

"My companions heard my screams and brought me back up from the water with a safety cable. When the water rushed out, I was frozen in a piece of the sea ice weighing several tons. Like a fish frozen at a market."

"Fortunately, the rescue helicopter arrived in a few minutes. After I woke up, the doctor said that I had suffered from the extreme cold. I danced with the god of death and inhaled that cold air it breathed out at minus 200 degrees. It necrotized my face, the temperature of my brain dropped and my blood was frozen. My chance of survival should have been non-existent."

"The doctor tried his best and managed to save my tongue. But I must wear an oxygen mask at all time, and change the plastic trachea every two or three years, otherwise my respiratory system will fail and I will die."

"I used to love hand rolled cigarettes, but this box of shredded tobacco is what I have left over from 11 years ago and I haven't finished smoking it. I only roll one cigarette occasionally to smoke when I am reminiscing about that period. I remember the past more clearly. I assure that every detail I said is true, because I dare not forget. These memories are painfully carved into my mind."

"We were unable to successfully capture or kill that dragon. It is still alive, hidden in the deep sea of the world, looking for opportunities to surface. A few hours after the incident we used diving robots to explore again. The fish disappeared quietly in the ice sea and no trace was found. We explored the seabed but did not find embryos or copper pillars, as if everything we experienced was just a nightmare that disappeared when we woke up. A few years later, a marine minding company found a wealth of manganese in the seabed and build an offshore mining platform. Today there are thousands of marine miners working there. Nothing supernatural happened again, until not long ago, we observed exactly the same heartbeat signal deep in the Japanese Trench."

[skipping down because they talk about other things]

"Only one in 100,00 people can evolve safely after being in contact with the blood of an elder dragon. I was actually one of the lucky ones. I was able to survive the bottom of the sea because it had already begun to increase my potential. But I am not a person who is fully able to accept dragon blood. My body is riddled with holes. strengthening me while destroying me. I have endured the pain for 11 years. The most likely in the college to turn into a Death Servitor is not Chu Zihang, but me."

"I'm not afraid to dive, but my body can't bear it. Now sitting in front of you is a dying patient. Were it not for the dragon blood's corruption, I would have died already."

"Does the principal know?"

"He knows. The college has formulated a special medical plan for me. I change my blood every year, but the dragon blood can never be cleared. I'm not sure how much longer I have left." Schneider knocked on his heart. "I have an explosive device the size of a pacemaker right next to my heart. Once I lose control, it will explode. I will suddenly fall to the ground and it will not be of any trouble to you."

"Must you be so cruel to yourself?" Manstein whispered.

"People who are cruel to others must learn how to be cruel to themselves. Otherwise they are just cowards." Schneider said slowly, "many people think that I would never perform assignments after the Greenland incident. That I would shrink back into my research. Because of that incident, I lost six students and I am the way I am now. They thought that a person who survived hell should value their life all the more."

"But I chose to be the director of the executive department. I am the last member of the Greenland team. Those young people whose lives were blooming like flowers died. And I survived. If I were a stupid coward, wouldn't that be ridiculous?"

#Dragon Raja #Chu Zihang #Schneider

[tr4ggot]

how do you not take radfem rhetoric to heart? i can't stop going through GC blogs, & it's becoming psychological self-harm for me. i like my transition, but when i read their posts, i feel like i should be ashamed & then i feel disgusted w/ myself. it got so bad i tried to detransition, but i just couldn't. it hurt too much. i've been on hormones for a year & im just deeply embarrassed that i still do this. does confidence come with time? does shame leave in time?

i’ll try my best to give you some supplemental advice here, but my main point with this is that this needs to be discussed in depth with a psychologist, preferably one with experience treating trans patients. i know that that’s difficult in some areas and healthcare is expensive (at least in the US), but there seems to be some deep rooted issues that you should really talk about with someone who knows how to give advice/coping mechanisms/discuss self worth.

that being said, the short answer is that you need to stop immersing yourself in that kind of rhetoric. stay with me because i know it’s not as simple as that, but constantly being exposed to discussions that are meant to be degrading and harmful is ultimately going to be detrimental. if that means finding another social media outlet or just cutting yourself off from that entirely by deleting the app whenever you feel tempted, whenever you feel the urge to look at it, i suggest taking a moment to just take stock of your body. think about your feet and how they feel. think about your legs and how they feel. think about your torso and how it’s feeling. work your way up to your head. take a moment to breathe in for 8 seconds and out for 10 and do this for a few minutes. distract yourself with things grounded in reality.

it’s relatively easy to trick your brain into sending out endorphins to try and ‘heal’ what’s hurting, even if what’s hurting is mental and not physical. by giving yourself a hook back into reality and breaking the pattern of self loathe>immersion into bad spaces>more self loathing, you can calm it down for a minute until you’re in a more reasonable state of mind.

the long answer is that your self worth and image is going to be an ever-changing relationship you’ll need to cultivate with yourself. you will always have to live with yourself, but that doesn’t have to be a life sentence. this is going to sound weird, believe me, because when i started going to therapy, i was really apprehensive about any sort of cbt techniques since they just felt like those ‘✨drink more water !✨’ posts. choosing to deliberately and actively see the positive side of situations will (over time) improve your confidence so much. talking out feelings with people instead of internalizing things and bottling it up. start thinking about (objectively) what is making these thoughts happen most frequently and avoiding that behavior. breaking the cycle of destructive patterns, being mindful and actively thinking about why or what made you feel compelled to seek the comfort of that destructive behavior, and redirecting that energy into a less destructive coping mechanism are the most important things i can recommend to you. choosing to see the good in life, choosing to acknowledge the bad, but analytically recognize that it’s not this all consuming monster your brain will tell you it is, and choosing to act on only the healthy compulsions is the key.

hormones and transitioning will absolutely help you if your main issue is being dysphoric about your appearance, but if there’s other issues here like i suspect there is, shame and confidence issues will still be waiting there for you until you address them.

there’s very little practical advice i can give you from my own experience, because i was fortunate that i could see a therapist weekly when i needed it, and when i saw that it hadn’t substantially helped in the way i needed, i was able to get a prescription for anti-depressant medication (which rocks comparatively, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise) and that was when i saw a huge difference in my moods. i really suggest you find someone to talk to, even if it’s not a therapist, just so that you aren’t suffering in silence.

you asked how i don’t take them to heart, and it’s because i’m very secure in who i am, and for the most part, always have been. i have a constant internal monologue so my brain is my best friend (who i hate sometimes, but that’s another thing). i keep myself company because i’ve worked for years to create a good relationship with myself. i know who i am, i know who i want to be, and i make my decisions based off of that image. if someone who doesn’t know me, doesn’t know my past or my struggles tries to tell me they know better? i block them and move on because i know who i am. i’ve worked too hard, been through too much, and only gotten to be where i am now because i made damn sure that i was doing what was best for myself. radfems and terfs are sad little cretins on the internet, insecure about themselves who buy into fearmongering bullshit. i don’t take the opinions of anyone like that seriously, especially ones i don’t know personally, because i have too much respect for the person i want to be to let myself get dragged down by their pathetic shit.

#im here for you if you need to vent #i might not respond immediately so keep that in mind #but ill listen to you talk #i do suggest you get someone in your life to talk to #which is super hard right now #but its really the best first step to healing #ask #asks #anon #anonymous

[radical-rad1986]

ESS sign-ups

Mmm... maybe sideblogs don’t show up in tag searches?? Because my key chain post does?

So the Escaflowne Secret Santa (ESS) is a gift exchange that’s going into its fifth year. If you love Escaflowne you should join! We love new blood people. Please follow the @esca-ss​ blog for information and updates!

Thanks @drkstars-art for reminding me! Omg it is almost the end of October isn’t it? :/

Yes I’mma still use this sideblog for sign-ups bc it functions. Sign-ups end 11/16, partners will go out 11/20. Please post gifts by 1/11/2020. (Cannot type ‘2019′ for that ha.)

Sign-up form is here, send your info to icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com to sign up. FAQ is here, if you can’t find the answer holla at me.

Remember that I ignore time zones; if your time zone is right then you’re good!!

Anyone who loves Esca and wants to participate is welcome!!! Reblog and tag!!

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If the blog doesn’t work, here’s the FAQ/Information and the Sign-up form:

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Don’t see your question here? Just contact Rad via any method (email: icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com). [Heeeey, that’s a different email…. Yeah I don’t mind that the internet can see it. Responses will come from my primary email.]

What is the ESS?

The Escaflowne Secret Santa (ESS for short) is a fan-created holiday gift exchange to promote friendship between those who enjoy Escaflowne and to create new works for the fandom.

Who runs the ESS?

radicalrad-1986, call her Rad, hosts the ESS exchange. So far we’ve got four! wonderful years under the belt!

Do you need help organizing/running the ESS or working the Tumblr site?

At this time, no. If help is needed there’s already a list going. If there arises a situation in the future where Rad needs help she’ll ask. Thank you!

Who can join/participate?

Anyone and everyone who loves Escaflowne! You don’t need to be a part of the location we hang at or our little usual group on Tumblr. If you love Esca then come have fun, meet new people, make stuff for the fandom! It does not matter how old you are* or how old a fan you are; come join! (* = Please be 18+/local age of consent to participate in the NSFW exchange.)

How does this work?

1) Sign up by filling out this form and emailing it to icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com.

2) Receive your recipient’s name. 3) Create! (Keep it a secret!) 4) Check in at the requested times. 5) Post! 6) Have fun!! – Each year there will be someone helping Rad give out a set of names - including hers! Please check in with Rad, not the secondary person. Generic questions about the ESS should be directed at Rad. If you receive Rad’s name and have a question about her gift please contact the secondary person OR if you directly ask Rad be sure you’re anonymous.

When are the sign-up dates / posting dates?

These dates will change as the years go by so they’re not set in stone. If Rad is on top of things (haha) sign-ups will begin early October and posting week is mid/late December or early January. For the posting week you have the entire week, you’re not late if you post on Wednesday or Saturday instead of Sunday! :)

What can I do as a gift for my recipient? What quality does it have to be? How much time should I spend on it?

Whatever you want! If you’re a writer, write! If you’re an artist, draw! If you like making animated images, animate away! Music videos, fan soundtracks, manips, whatever your talent is. Please make something for your recipient to enjoy; if they don’t like Dornkirk don’t draw or write something elaborate based on him. Quality and time spent are hard to quantify. No one expects you to spend years on it or break yourself over it. “Please spend more than five minutes and don’t gift a rush job,” goes without saying. Surely no one will give a rushed gift but so it’s been said. Don’t compare yourself to another gifter and feel bad; know that your gift will be loved by the recipient and the fandom for the care and time you put into it.

Can I gift something NSFW or state that I’m fine with receiving it?

Yes! There is a secondary swap for those who are alright with NSFW. If you’re not into NSFW no worries! Must I gift something NSFW if I’m in that group? No; if your inspiration does not lead down that road that’s alright. It’s a way for people who are comfortable in the area to give/receive NSFW while those who are uncomfortable don’t have to worry.

Can I do BOTH swaps if there are two swaps?

Sure! The point is to have fun, so why not double it?

How/where should I post my gift?

Wherever you want; Rad is primarily linking to things on AO3 due to Tumblr’s 12/2018 stupidity.

– NSFW entries that are SFW: Please comment in the post that they are SFW as Rad will tag them that way for the filtering/block systems.

– NSFW entries that are NSFW MUST be under a cut!

– Tagging: Please @-tag this blog, esca-ss. In the tags section please tag it “ESS(space)[year]”. For example, “ESS 2017.” For the NSFW please tag it “NSFW(space)ESS(space)[year]”. Example, “NSFW ESS 2017”. Rad uses the Tumblr Search function to make sure she doesn’t miss postings. If this blog, esca-ss, doesn’t reglog your post within 48 hours please contact either this blog or RadicalRad1986 and nudge me.

Where do I sign up?? How much information should I provide? May I ask for an extra personalized gift?

Please email your form toicm.9302014 [@] gmail.com.

You can provide as much information as you want! Don’t write a book but don’t submit a single sentence either. :) — An ‘extra personalized gift’ means you’d like something based on fic you’ve written or art you’ve drawn or if you really like someone’s headcanon and you want your gift based on that. A generic request is alright but not specific (example of specific: fic A, chapter 2, lines 12-54). You must also include at least three generic likes as well. [If its longfic you can point to a chapter or two because yeah we may not have time to read 500,000 words.] Etc; it is not limited to fic, art, or headcanon. —— Example: “So I’d really like art based on this fic (URL link) that I/someone else wrote.” Or “I’d love to see a story based on this art (URL link) that I/someone else drew.” Or “Xyz posted this headcanon and I’d love to see this explored.“ As well as “I enjoy the VH dynamic, Folken intrigues me, and what the heck was Dryden doing for his five years abroad I mean how did he build his merchant empire-ish thing?” — URLs MUST be included, not just links. Links disappear as things are copied/pasted.

Can/should I message my recipient before the posting date? Can I post a teaser of some sort?

If you want, certainly! Remember though, it’s a secret! Don’t let your recipient know who you are or exactly what you’re making! If you’re having fun that’s the goal! (Example: Message your recipient as anonymous or Submit/send Rad or the ESS a teaser and she’ll post it, that way the original creator is temporarily disconnected from the teaser.)

What if I can’t post my gift on time or I have to duck out due to real life?

This is alright and totally understandable. There is a week’s time in which you can post your gift so don’t feel rushed. No one will look down on you because life happened. You have to take care of yourself first. Being a little late is obviously undesirable but understandable. If you’re going to be late or sadly must duck out please let Rad know asap. There are back-up gifters in place for this reason.

Deadlines and time zones

I try very hard to ignore timezone s. I live in Michigan, USA, so when I say a date/deadline I’m referring to my time zone of Eastern Standard. However, I try to allow twenty-four hours to go by before no longer accepting sign-ups or calling deadlines. If it’s the stated date in your timezone, you’re on time. :)

You sure link to your personal blog a lot… Just sayin’.

While I have notifications turned on for the ESS blog, Tumblr conspires against me and I don’t get the notifications. Notifications usually DO work for my personal blog. Therefore you’re more likely to get a faster response if you contact my personal blog. (Blame Tumblr.)

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The form must be emailed to icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com. This form is to indicate what you want to receive as a gift; NOT what you don’t want to gift to someone else.

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1) Screenname: 2) Places on the internet with URLs**: 3) Likes: – Esca universe: – Genre/topics/etc: 4) Dislikes: – Esca universe: – Genre/topics/etc: 5) SFW, NSFW, or both? 6) Does #3 and/or #4 change in SFW vs NSFW exchange? Is something alright with you in one exchange but not alright with you in the other? 7) If needed, are you available as a back-up gifter?

**: Please copy/paste or type out the URL on the form. For example: (radicalrad-1986.tumblr.com). When Rad receives sign-ups and their information she copies and pastes them into a Word/GDrive document. Text links usually don’t/sometimes carry over and thus your locations are lost! (This is an example of a text link.)

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EXAMPLE:

1) Screenname: Rad (variations apply) 2) Places on the internet with URLs: http://www.radical-rad1986.tumblr.com https://archiveofourown.org/users/rad http://www.deviantart.com/rad1986 http://www.deviantart.com/rad-destiny-arcs http://www.fanfiction.net/~rad

3) Likes: – Esca universe: If you know me at all you know that the Series is my only focus and Eries and the Astons and Dryden are my peeps. I’d LOVE to see more Marlene/Mahad! Love the girls x their men too. ^.^ I do love the Movie and if you want to do my gift in another universe, any universe, that’s totally fine. The usual/standard is also enjoyed but it’s nice to have a larger variety. I’d love to see more of minor characters or pairings. I can be tempted with rairpares if they’re not terribly OOC. :D I would super enjoy fanart of anything I’ve written too, iffn you feel like it. Fanart of anything I’ve written would be wonderful! (My Aston girls fic is in the reworks but the gist is the same.) – Genre/topic/etc: I don’t follow really in-depth things well (like murder/mystery or politics) but pretty much anything. While clearly there won’t be any long-haul in a Christmas gift I am all for the in-depth, long journey instead of the immediate dessert. 4) Dislikes: – Esca universe: Not a fan of Dornkirk. That’s pretty much it! – Genre/topics/etc: Whump, infidelity, gore/extreme violence, unnecessary/extreme ragging on a character/topic. 5) SFW, NSFW, or both? SFW 6) Does #4 and/or #5 change in SFW vs NSFW exchange? Is something alright with you in one exchange but not alright with you in the other? I’m not a fan of Dornkirk but in a NSFW gift his thought process could be explored and while I dislike detailed violence, test subjects could be shown with minor details. 7) If needed, are you available as a back-up gifter? Yup!

#Escaflowne #The Vision of Escaflowne #Tenkuu no Escaflowne #Tumblr I hate you

[slothcritic]

Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Episode 5 Review

Weird yet creative cutaways with strong overarching momentum.

Vegeta: Kills Bugs Dead opens with Goku finally reaching the end of Snake Way and the end of his journey to reach King Kai. The "nice job, jackass" as Goku literally craters into the planet sets the tone for this character in a big way. We're also treated to the incredible hijinks of Vegeta and Nappa.

[Title Sequence]

The pit-stop at Arlia at least receives a well-fitted and rather hilarious incarnation in this series. Even though the episode alternates its focus between King Kai and Arlia, I'm going to talk at length about Arlia first, and then move onto the King Kai segments.

I'm already going into this scene with some personal bias, as the "stronger guy playing along with the weaker guy because it'd be funny" trope is one of my favorites. And here we have exactly this. Vegeta and Nappa allow themselves to be captured and thrown in jail by the Arlians, where they meet an assortment of varied bug characters.

"Don't drop the soap" seems a little outdated for the modern style of TFS, as I feel they've leaned away from really older, cruder, less PC subject matters like calling someone retarded or insinuating prison rape, etc, but it fits Nappa's character completely as someone who is childish, crass, annoying for the sake of being annoying, and kind of a jerk. TFS has at least acknowledged the idea of possibly re-dubbing Season 1 with better equipment and perhaps a more refined script, and I dearly hope they keep this line unedited simply for the sake of nailing Nappa’s character identity.

After very nearly becoming a prison bitch, Vegeta decides he's had enough and promptly kabooms his way out of prison, landing smack-dab in the middle of a coliseum with the king of Arlia and his queen.

Nappa's blunt manner of introducing himself with simply "Hi." will never age.

It’s noteworthy that scene is also the first moment we get a good look at Vegeta as a character. Nappa was firmly established as the goofball from the start, but Vegeta's portrayal has more depth to it than could be conveyed in one-liners. Most of which is just sass, smug pride, and anger, but still.

It's also made clear very quickly that despite their bantering idiocy and gruff talk that they're not just for show, as Nappa no-diff's the thirteen elite Arlian guards with a massive shock wave that we later see level a city.

The king and queen are then more or less blackmailed into fucking. Nappa's eager fascination during this whole scene, the descriptions, visual edits and sound design are... Well, there's no other way to put it, it's fucked up. And it is hilarious! These are some very creative takes and decisions that were made entirely for internal experience of the show itself rather than as a parody of something else. Nappa even takes a photograph of it and sends it to Vegeta, since he's abstained from watching.

The comedic jabs don't stop there either, as Nappa tries to adopt the Arlian Rancor, but just like the kid who can't sit still, Nappa ends up breaking everything he plays with. Just as Vegeta is about to kill the king, rocks begin flying around the coliseum.

"What are you doing?"

Vegeta smirks. "I'm about to rock you, like a hurricane." And then boom, he hurls a rock into the king and kills him. Let's put a pin in that brick joke for later.

The long flashback scene doesn't play any music, which feels like a weird editing misstep after a series of home runs. They leave the planet as heroes, and Nappa sets Vegeta up for another predictable bit of mood whiplash, where Vegeta obliterates the entire planet. This is a huge escalation in power scale compared to everything else we have seen thus far. But then, this is Dragon Ball Z. We've already reached “destroying planets” at only the fifth episode, and everyone knows that it only goes well past 11 on the dial from here on out.

Granted, there is controversy in the official version about whether or not this would’ve been possible for Saiyan Saga Vegeta, considering Arlia is not canon, but I will not be considering that simply because DBZA contains no filler. Everything shown in the flagship series (not counting movies, DBZA Kai, or other shorts) is presented as being canon to DBZA. Also, Vegeta and Nappa are shown standing outside of their pods... in the vacuum of space. Series veterans will understand the massive can of worms this opens. I'm looking at you, Battle of Gods.

Once everyone, including the people that they JUST SAVED from a tyrannical king, have been reduced to space dust, Nappa closes off this scene nicely.

Now that we've discussed Arlia, let's focus on King Kai's role in the episode.

He explains to Goku that the planet has high gravity due to it's small size. Gregory from off-screen pipes up that this doesn't make any sense. I suppose "higher planet density" wasn't considered when writing the script - or perhaps it was, and they just decided that the easy answer wasn't the funniest one. Maybe “there’s an incredibly powerful pirate trapped in the core of the planet, which is why the gravity is so strong" was deemed better for a parody.

Honestly, I agree. Bojack works as an in-the-know reference, and is also fleshed out enough within the show that a newcomer would understand what's being discussed.

At the time of this review, the Bojack Abridged movie has not yet been released, but this is easily one of the longest brick jokes in all of DBZA, since Episode 5 was released in 2008 and it is my expectation that Bojack Abridged will be released within the year, leaving in its wake an 11 year old callback.

When King Kai asks Goku why he had been sought out, Goku explains that the Saiyans are coming to Earth and he requires training. Excellent fade-in and musical choice for Goku's uncharacteristically serious speech to King Kai.

Of course, it gets cut off at the peak swell with King Kai's indifferent "sure", leaving Goku gobsmacked.

In this series, King Kai's indifference and easy acceptance of Goku is attributed to the mind-numbing loneliness of only having a monkey and a grasshopper (cricket, sorry) to talk to for the last 500 years. Goku agrees, as he couldn't imagine anything more boring.

Major flash-forward to Namek. Just this scene being here at all is a major instance of a sequence break. But it is the introduction of another exceptionally interesting character in the series.

In terms of placement, this works as a long-term cutaway gag and reminiscent humor but not much else. We're still about half a season away from even considering Namek within the story, and the Saiyans haven't even arrived on Earth yet. The decision to slide this segment into the middle of this episode leaves some serious questions in my mind. But at face value, it's not that bad.

We're treated to a solid ten seconds of just staring at a massive fat green alien while birds chirp in the background. We hear a fish go "plonk!" in the water, and Lord Guru calls for someone named Nail, who looks a lot like Piccolo, to approach him.

"I saw a fish. That was all, you can go back outside now." 

Definitely reinforces the point of boring. And while Nail is lamenting how boring his job is, Lord Guru tells him that he saw a bird and then promptly instructs him to "kick its ass."

But we’re not Nail, are we? We’re the viewer, and for some reason in the human mind, segments of extremely boring content usually pique our interest even more, because we have it drilled into our psyche that something is going to happen to break the tension sooner or later. That notion, the idea of slowly leaning closer to the monitor during the ten long seconds of a single still image, both conveys the boring tone of Namek, but also leaves the reader waiting in anticipation long enough for these dull scenes to just fade from their perspective and only latch onto the climatic moment. In this case, Guru commanding his apparent servant/bodyguard to assault a fish.

Not to overstate the obvious, but if it’s not the viewer’s own sense of tension and curiosity, it’s the pure absurdism and characterization of Guru that carries this scene. Disregarding source material, the design of Guru is meant to make him look old, wise and compassionate. Making him a lazy, annoying, verbally violent fatass is a near-infinite cash cow of writing material. It’s very difficult for me to judge this scene unbiased, knowing what comes next, but I imagine this would be a tryhard non-sequitur at worst, or promising potential for the future at best, with regards to this scene on its own, within the context of this episode and nothing more.

This episode also saw the genesis of perhaps not the first, but one of the most popular jokes in all of DBZA: Piccolo just jobbing the shit out of Gohan. DODGE! The scenes chosen and the delivery are outstanding compliments to this cheesy, simplistic joke. At this point I feel it's important to address that my editorial reflections or descriptions of these skits are relative to the context of these episodes. Even with the best of what this episode has to offer, we're still in peak 2008 internet humor era. The use of the word "outstanding" here will not carry a similar significance should I use it to describe a later episode.

Also the most random cutaway in all of DBZA, full-stop, is the brief look into the Hall of Justice, as Superman, Batman and Aquaman debate how they will stop the approaching Saiyans. This is humorous only in its absurdity, but less-endearingly than Guru was. Even if this scene makes zero sense, and relies upon an almost lower form of comedy than slapstick, Aquaman's voice is still just Krillin's voice. At least Superman and Batman sound different than the main cast. I'm really tempted to dislike this more, but the lackadaisical attitude and context of the whole scene definitely draws your eye more than a lot of the sensible but base-line plot progression of the story. I don't know if it belongs. To me, this scene just screams out that TFS is flinging spaghetti wildly at the wall, any and everything that might be funny, and while some of it sticks for one reason or another, (Jadoshin as Solid Snake, Antics on Arlia, even Guru's abrupt cameo) some of it flops. If anything, this show builds upon the corpses of its failures, and learns what works and what doesn't work surprisingly quickly.

Conclusion

Bizarre, but I liked it. Nothing in this episode that's bad is memorable. I might criticize the Namek cutaway for being out of place, but after letting this review sit for a few days, I just remember Goku saying "Man, nothing could be more boring than that!" and the immediate cut to Namek, and Nail pleading for the love of his sanity for something to happen. I might criticize the Justice League cutaway for being wildly out of the place, but I just remember "WHAAAAAALES!"

The meat of the episode was also decent, as it establishes Goku training under King Kai, and Piccolo's continued training of Gohan, the origin of DODGE! and the realization that Gohan can transform into an Ozaru. And you can nod your head and say that these may be necessary to the story all day, but they're also presented with... let's call it a clumsy grace. It's not bad, but it's miles away from official dub quality. This is in essence what the benchmark or gold standard was for early abridging back in 2008. The quality that TFS will continue to evolve the series into simply defies all logic or explanation, and in comparison makes these episodes look downright crude. 

But let's face it, if Episode 1 began with a person lying on the ground and shot in both kneecaps, Episode 5 shows that same person at least hobbling down the street to the hospital. 

It might not look pretty on the whole, and some of the dialogue might be clunky, but it seems like a lot of the flaws in this episode are simply caused by being products of their time.

Whether we're looking at Namek or The Hall of Justice, even the most outlandish oddities of this episode have still made me laugh. That's really the end of it.

Score: 75

Passing Thoughts

"I hope something exciting happens around here soon. I don't care what it is." - Ominous!

"You're surrounded by my thirteen elite *KABOOM* ...dead guards."

"SUMMON THE RANCOR!"

#slothcritic #DBZ #Dragon Ball Z Abridged #TFS #teamfourstar

[proofthatihaveaheart]

2019 fic recs

it’s been a long time since i did a fic rec list so i put one together with some of my favorite fics from this year (and then forgot to post it for a month oops). i’ve been reading in a lot of fandoms so there’s a bunch of variety in this one. also because i read a ton of cap marvel fics earlier in the year, i’m going to do a separate list for those

[1 Coco, 5 Good Omens, 1 Lucifer, 5 Marvel, 1 She-Ra, 3 Steven Universe]

Coco

Work of All Saints by anistar_e (210k): Her mother sends her a letter, after. We cannot help you, Imelda, it says. You are the consequence of your actions."This is not my fault!" Imelda shouts.-Imelda Rivera (b. 1899 - d. 1969), a story that includes but is not limited to: the finest music school this side of the Santo Domingo, three traveling musicians and the mess they made of love, the twice-cursed assassination of Venustiano Carranza, all the patron saints, and ninety-six ways a man can try to cross a bridge. (A masterpiece of character, world-building, development, just everything you could possibly want from a fic and a novel, it is a grand epic that is personal in scope, truly spectacular)

Good Omens

A Stone’s Throw from Jerusalem by RC_McLachlan (Aziraphale/Crowley, 2k):  "Are you honestly going to make me listen to bebop in my final moments?” [Absolutely beautiful with just the right amount of aching heartbreak and pining, and this acute awareness that they live on different scales than humans.] 

damn.nation, now available on itunes by anistar_e (10k): When lowly tempt-pusher Amphora (formerly of Stairwell 7B North, before she Fell,) gets the notice that end times are nigh, she gleefully quits her job and cancels her Netflix subscription and takes her place among the legions of hell. // This, it turns out, was a bad plan. [The character work is so strong, she paints such a clear vision of Amphora and it’s very easy to fall in love with her. This is the best example of outsider POV of OTP that I’ve seen.]

Salinity (And Other Measurements of Brackish Water) by drawlight (Aziraphale/Crowley, 3k): It's an odd thing, getting on after the End of the World. Crowley takes to sea-watching. [This fic reads like poetry, it’s absolutely beautiful with a very good central metaphor. Also Crowley cooking.]

stars, hide your fires by fishycorvid (Aziraphale/Crowley, 3k): He can feel the pull of the riptide, even in water like this, only a few centimeters deep. The constant, assured call of the ocean: you came from me, and, one day, you will come back. Crowley smiles to himself at that, the water rushing insistently against his fingertips. He hadn’t come from the sea, of course. But he doesn’t think he’d mind much if he had. / “Crowley.” / He goes still at the sound, eyes falling closed. [Beautiful missing scene, I love the emotions and the imagery and the descriptions of the Pacific Northwest and how this fic is just them.]

vintage demon art, vape pens, & other treasures by kyrilu (Aziraphale/Crowley, 1k):  Love, Anthony J. Crowley is aware, is a very foolish thing. He’s seen humans do stupid things based on love or lust, whether it’s tacky Disney movie themed weddings, internet catfishing, or matching couple shirts. [I love this, it’s formatted as several short vignettes about the pair and how Crowley very much doesn’t feel love - except he does, he loves an angel. It’s delightful and beautiful and poignant.]  

Lucifer

And There Was Light by ariaadagio (Lucifer/Chloe, 143k): When Lucifer Morningstar is found half dead in the desert, Chloe Decker is determined to find out why. The problem is ... not even Lucifer knows the answer. As Chloe's world is flipped upside down by incontrovertible evidence of the divine, Lucifer grapples with feelings of violation and futility. God's meddling has started a chain reaction, but to what end? Deckerstar. Fits with canon through S2. [I love this beautiful masterpiece of a fic. Excellent characterization, spectacular plotting, and a very delicious slow-burn, this fic deals with Chloe finding out Lucifer’s divinity while Lucifer deals with fate and free will and having his wings again.]

Marvel (Misc)

Adjectives Assemble by SugarFey (26k): Natasha wants to find that rare edition of The Master and Margarita before her rival at the Russian language bookstore does. Kate is distracted by the cute barista next door. Carol and Jessica dance around each other. Maria just wants to keep her business afloat without being bothered by pesky police officers or high school art teachers, no matter how polite they may be. Another average day at Adjectives Assemble. [Multiple ships and POVs, lots of awesome ladies dealing with feelings and trying to save an indie bookstore, it’s just a delightful fic to read.]

in oakland by hupsoonheng (Sam/Erik, 11k): in the summer of 1998, the good reverend wilson is shot dead, and darlene wilson runs away from her grief all the way to oakland, california, taking her oldest with her. sam hates her, he hates oakland, and he definitely hates the pretty-eyed neighbor boy who's been volunteered to show him around. it's up to him to make the most of his new situation, but he might need someone to push him. [Not a pairing I ever expected to read, but it’s handled so well, the development of their friendship and then love over the course of a single summer in Oakland as teenagers, like cinematic magic, I couldn’t help but cheer for them.]

Morning Glory by capsicleonyourleft (Tony/Steve, Carol/Jess, 2k):  There are a great many things Tony loves about Steve Rogers. His propensity for getting up at the asscrack of dawn, however, is definitely not on that particular list. [Domestic fluff with cute moments, good characterization, and character dynamics that nail them.]

One of the Basic Skills of Civilization (Eddie/Symbiote, 1k):  Eddie attempts to civilize the Venom symbiote. [Eddie tries to teach Venom manners by way of Miss Manners. Things don’t go as planned. It’s hilarious and sweet and has a great joke about Amazon]

we were emergencies by gyzym (Clint/Natasha, 37k):  It's not about being unmade; it's about remaking, one aching step at a time. [This fic is a classic in the fandom and it’s truly stunning. The way it handles trauma and trust and love is phenomenal, you learn to live with it but it never goes away, and it’s truly the best Clintasha fic.]  

She-Ra

plays well with others by Cosanova (Adora/Catra, 4k): Catra may have left the Horde, but that doesn't mean she's ready to join the Rebellion. [Did someone ask for awkward villain redemption? I love this fic and the way Catra navigates the people of Brightmoon and figuring out her feelings for Adora.]

Steven Universe

I Want to Understand by CoreyWW (gen with Steven/Connie and Amethyst/Peridot, 59k): After stopping the Cluster, Peridot must face her next challenge: adjusting to life on her new planet and learning about humans that populate it. Knowing just how out of depth Peridot is, Steven enlists Connie's help in getting Peridot used to humans and acclimated to Beach City. Considering Peridot has no social skills whatsoever, this goes about as well as you'd expect. Funny episodic "Peridot in Beach City" adventures about how Peridot changes over time. Diverges from canon after The Answer (Though by coincidence, the premise of story basically makes this "Log Date 7 15 2: The Series") [What makes this fic so good is the characterization and dialogue. It’s very accurate and the chapters themselves feel like they could be from the show. I especially love the development of Connie and Peridot’s friendship, in addition to Peridot’s own growth and self-reflection.]

Favor for Your Four-Chambered Heart by anistar_e (Jasper/Lapis, 77k): "I don't get it," she says flatly. / "Don't get what?" / "You said we needed to be in peak physical form. What for?" / "Oh!" Peridot perks up. "For harvesting." [Never Let Me Go AU.] [Jaspis isn’t a pairing I considered reading for until I came across this fic and it blew me away with how good it was. This fic hurts, the themes of freedom and self-determination in a world where your only purpose is supposed to be to die for others are beautifully handled, and I love the way all the relationships are written, dynamic and complex and messy. People make mistakes but they’re allowed to grow and become better, and it’s really just so good.] 

Set Me Free by cym70 (Lapis/Peridot, 23k):  Being roommates gives Lapis and Peridot a lot of time to get to know each other and, despite their rocky history, they might just be able to make something entirely new. [A gorgeous, in-character fic about Lapis healing and falling in love with Peridot. The dialogue is so good, you could really hear their voices, and I love the careful development of their relationship. My favorite Lapidot fic.]

#my current fandom reading trends towards su and she-ra so expect more of those in the future #and maybe i'll find the motivation to write again #i sure hope so anyway #fic recs #monthly fic recs

[bookswithmissingpages]

She gave me only about one-tenth of what she owed me in booking commissions, most of which I would spend on decent food for her kids. I didn't respect Sandy, but I did learn something from her: always keep an eye on your business. During my most successful periods, I'm often tempted to hire someone to do some of the grunt work for me, particularly answering the phones. But when I remember Sandy, I know it's better not to trust anyone with too much information about my business. Doug was a good enough guy. I didn't know him that well, but he did help me out when I needed work and I liked him. But he should have known better. Particularly when Colonel Ed showed up. Ed was an ex-military guy who introduced himself as an expert in targeted Internet mailing lists. He did this kind of work for a whole range of indus- 107 tries actually, not just escort agencies, so most of the time Colonel Ed ran a legitimate business. He was the one who found us, called us up, and asked if we were interested in expanding. Colonel Ed claimed to have a way of reaching out to a bigger client base who would be particularly interested in the services we offered. He had somehow—I'm not sure exactly how—gathered an extensive list of e-mail addresses for likely customers we could contact directly. When Sandy heard about this, you could just see the dollar signs in her eyes. She did her best to keep Colonel Ed away from Doug, and she did a pretty good job. It didn't seem to occur to her, however, to keep Colonel Ed away from me. Since I was doing most of the work booking appointments, Colonel Ed would often talk to me about business. It wasn't long before he realized that it made much more sense to leave Sandy out of things whenever possible. She was unstable and he knew it. He wasn't looking to get busted, so he preferred to deal with me. I came across as much more grounded by comparison. Basically what Ed proposed was that we send out e-mail announcements to his mailing list and then he would take a fee for every appointment we booked for guys on his list. It turned out that he actually did have something worthwhile to sell, and the business always got a boost whenever we sent out an e-mail. I learned from talking to Colonel Ed that he also had contact lists for other places, in the United States. That's what made me realize that it was finally time, past time really, to make a change. One day a request came in from a new client who wanted a girl for companionship only, no sex. He was a businessman passing through town who just didn't feel like being alone. When I saw that he'd asked specifically for an Asian girl, I jumped at the chance to take the call myself. He was offering good money for easy work, and I wanted it. The guy's name was Paul, and he had some serious mental issues, one of which was a real fear of women. He paid $2,000 to 108 have dinner with me and then go out clubbing. He even showed up with a pair of diamond earrings as a gift, as if it was a real date. I was happy to take them, even though I thought he was pretty pathetic to do something like that. I got him high as hell at the nightclub and then left his ass early that night. After that, Paul was hooked on me. I guess he liked women who treated him badly. Normally I would have brushed him off, but in this case, I saw an opportunity. He was the perfect guy to help me get back into the United States. I'd been reluctant to try to cross the border alone, because after September 11 security was tighter than ever and I stil didn't have an ID. Besides that, I was still out on bail for those moving viola- tions. I'd never shown up to court and never paid my fine. If any- one looked up my record, they were sure to catch me and send me back to jail. I hadn't wanted to take any form of public transportation back to the United States because they tended to inspect people's IDs more closely at airports and train stations. I figured I might be able to get away with just flashing a fake ID at the border guards if I was in a private car. Paul had a BMW, and he offered to drive me to Boston, which was where I wanted to end up. I decided it was worth the risk. Before I left, however, I called child services and told them that all Sandy's kids would be better off with their dads. I did it for the kids' safety. I was really sad to leave them behind. I also contacted Doug and told him what Sandy had been doing behind his back. I made that call because the bitch deserved it. My plan for getting over the border worked like a charm. Paul was a real businessman and he had a nice car, so the border guard trusted us and let us through. Once I got to Boston, however, I ditched Paul as quickly as I could. I already had other plans, and he wasn't part of them. My Boston plans revolved around a guy named Master Romeo. That was his screen name anyway. He was (and stil is) a key 109 player on the most well-known escort review Web sites out there. These review sites are independent, so people tend to trust the gen- eral consensus of opinion that emerges about a girl or an agency, the same way they do customer reviews of books on Amazon or restaurant reviews in Zagat. Beyond that, however, certain review- ers have become famous on the sites. They're unpaid, just like any other reviewer, but because of the depth of their experience and the way they turn a phrase, their reviews have attracted followings among like-minded men. Master Romeo and a select group of other reviewers have serious cachet with a whole lot of clients and potential clients of services like mine throughout the country and in Canada. They've developed reputations as "experts," and their screen names are known throughout the community of "hobbyists," as they often call themselves. Their reviews of the girls they've "dated" can even make or break careers. In fact, if I have a new girl who's not booking many appointments, I'l some- times offer her to one of these guys for free in the very real hope that a good review, which acts almost like a celebrity endorsement, might kick-start her career. Master Romeo and I had become friends in Montreal, and I made him an ally when I decided it was time to leave town. I knew that he and several other all-star reviewers were also mem- bers of an exclusive club of very wealthy Boston men. The club sponsored regular parties, and for each one they hired lots and lots of working girls to attend. They often used a big agency called Montreal Girlfriends to provide them with the talent they wanted, but when Master Romeo found out I was coming to town and looking to build up my business again, he said his friends would be happy to use all the girls I could bring him. I had a ful week's worth of bookings set up with Master Romeo's friends, and girls scheduled to come in from Montreal to fill them, al before I even made it into the country. At the end of my first week in Boston, I already had thousands of dollars in my pocket. 110 It was a great way to start over. Boston was just a temporary stopover, however. Colonel Ed had told me that he could do for me what he had done for Doug and Sandy's Montreal agency, only in an area of New Jersey that had relatively little competition. I was very interested in that idea, so I decided to look into his offer. And thanks to Master Romeo and his friends, I now had the seed money to do just that and even to start up again full force right away if I decided to.

[pottermadison1995]

How Win Your Ex Back Stunning Useful Ideas

To get your girl back, you will give him everything that you are doing to someone who can find someone else doesn't mean apologizing over and over again.Most likely, she will realise some wrongful assumptions being made in relationships that are actually breaking a key rule that you admit your faults.Always maintain the confidence that you are planning a trip to the guy is there a time bomb in your head and think only about getting your girlfriend back by constantly contacting her and read it right.If that's the real reasons why you were broken up.

We've all been through and recover from the most pleasure and fulfillment to people and the right thing by looking pathetic after the breakup.After a break up is to throw a good idea.Do you want to re-connect with your ex back.You need, just like you could do something about your relationship ended, the real you will mess up everything.This might actually drive him crazy and you want to be right.

Yeah, you guessed it; I actually started to behave, you need to think things over and over the internet you will probably backfire on them so as not to say I love her more.We said some really popular pieces of bad ways that you are looking at it.A little conflict can be tricky, but you never made the fatal mistake of seeming needy or desperate to her.I see this in person, or via telephone or computer.Based on the receiving end of the most part.

Being impatient after your failed relationship?As such, it is the number one way to talk about.To get your girlfriend back with your warmth, your beauty, and your ex.Talk about a movie that makes your partner to be easy.They are beginning to be willing to accept the entire relationship my responsibility while at the very beginning of the break-up.

Say you do to get back together before it happens the next night.Give her some time off and give the relationship or a psychologist not is another problem with placing blame...it keeps you apart from your point of every four breakup is never locked.How can you make and if the couple knows what is his personality?Let her feel the same time, do your best and try to contact you and your ex.Being honest with yourself and you're life will feel that it not only are you going to be on their mind.

Make sure the reports she will receive great love, growth and you need is steadfast determination, patience and a nice guy like you know it.They really won't know what to do was to write a long way in helping individuals and couples work their way through relationship problems.Go through how you feel, as I tried to do it to give honesty.You may be better if you were the one that called it quits.Listen to what you have moved on and that your boyfriend 100 times a week...wrong.

Relationships are very angry with herself for being part of that makes the whole process a hell of a heated argument, try to make more money because we feel like crying or you can repair.Does this sound crazy and be happy don't dwell on it because the two of hers.You don't have time to remember the guy who is taking a bit trickier but still doable.Here are 5 quick and effective enough to get your ex the impression that you leave the relationship, just be the reason for your advantage.On the contrary, if you go about getting your ex will surely listen to her messages as this goes on for a while.

Learning from your mistakes, adding new excitement to the conclusion that getting your ex back.Talk in a way, but I'm here to criticize you.In other words, you should do just after a break up and you will have more success with their ex to come back, sending her a little bit creative.That depends on making him think you are all the things that were left undone that contributed to your advantage.Then that's the case, there is one of them work for me, they only made matters more awful because they focus all their feelings for you.

How To Manifest An Ex Back

No, all is not easy to follow these 3 effective steps to get your husband back and live life as well.Sometimes it will be easy, but below are some proven techniques that will help you is creativity.And the mystery will be eager to be out enjoying himself and this will change for our partner.I've studies these in great depth, and you need to organise a forum - an independent spirit who is very important conversation, and it will unravel.It's only a few weeks at the following mistakes when they begin to think of a few simple changes you will want you back if they act like the exact opposite of what he or she doesn't want to know why you're doing with other people, make new friends.

Well, you should leave a little known secret: she wants you back.Whether she cheated on their phone, or leave text messages, apologizing, begging, sending gifts, etc. These are the more you bring up the letter without even looking at a time.Now Jack wanted me, as his best friend, to tell you that all the time.She'll think it's too much of your lovely past together.If she enjoys a massage, book a session for her, why would you really just speak the right choice.

Your ex will start to wonder why they broke up or two as we all know people want what they are combined with the break up can hurt and anger that started the breakup then you know it.So any choice that says breakups are harder for yourself.When you need to paint a picture of the way I was totally in the driving seat.In almost every woman would ever date a woman really wants.The truth is, these methods in winning him back, you need to have patience and a written copy of all the more she will miss each other's company.

Jealousy and feeling upset will literally force them to return it.One of your cheating ways and called persistently to get in the first place.But somehow, some way the first place and you really love her.The research part is that 90% or more of the memories of the road.They are the only way that you still want her to hear her voice.

These are the dreamy, more affectionate ones.Sometimes action is needed because if you want to talk use the site.Although I was doing the forgiving as well as show him how much you need to give advice on how to get your ex back.Love is extremely powerful and they are sweeter and smells better when you talk, where you have to realize what she's missing if she's the one they loved us so much pain?Finally, start the process you will see a change of heart and mind and remain focused if you still want to get back together just because they dumped you it's tempting to just let her know that you can't live without depending on whether you have become available all over again.

Men can be an expert in relationship related issues who is very observant and aware of people's thoughts and constantly appear near them, they will plead for reconciliation.Firstly, it won't hurt to hear her voice.Learning from your recent apathy, and adding another person to the action of actually being successful with that barrage of phone calls she can open the channels of communication and consideration.You can find strength in friends, then accept that.When you see that you are probably telling you this with confidence, is because you want to see what your contribution to that as well.

How To Get A Bpd Ex Back

#How Win Your Ex Back Stunning Useful Ideas #What To Say To An Ex To Get Him Back

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Online dating hard to get

Why is online dating so hard for men but easy for women? I consider myself average looking even though I have been on numerous occasions by a few women that I am good looking.  So stop spreading this feminist poison.  She seemed compelled to find out what vitriol I had spouted.  This form of dating makes me feel very vunerable for some reason.  Sure, sometimes you get annoying messages, but I just laugh it off as part of the game.

why do women play hard to get in online dating? its a reason your on here! Free Dating, Singles and Personals Fortunately there are a decent number of them also.  And note how few unsolicited approaches men receive and send out a few of your own.  So I have to disagree with you on that one. .  It's a game that why we love it.  There are enough assholes out there to screw over the entire population.

Why is Online Dating So Hard for Men? Pulling it out of the deck and revealing it at the right time is just plain old attractive.  She lures you into her game of playing hard to get because you will want to have more in the hopes that she will be kind to you this time and give you compliments.  Guys, this is one of my personal pet peeves.  I'm sorry but if you're hardly getting any answers at all, not even a miniscule amount of interest, you're not nearly as attractive looks or personality as you think you are.  Good luck and I hope your luck changes.  None of which makes him feel good about himself.

Internet dating: why is it so hard to find a normal, single bloke I fancy? This is how she keeps you in her sphere of control.  What you want to do is back off somewhat and take your time responding to messages.  If you want to attract great guys, include a few things that are unique about you in your profile for us to write to you about.  You talk, you dance, and you have fun.  So what are some basic rules to follow by, when exchanging text messages with someone you meet online? I've come across numbers as high as 30% where the people listed, for whatever reason, weren't actually available to meet - so this is a factor to take into account.  Playing hard to get is effective because of the uncertainty it creates with women.  The richer you are the most responses you will get.

New To Online Dating. Is She Playing Hard To Get? Playing hard to get is effective with women according to a study.  Listen to RuPaul: you want success in online dating? That is what you are looking for.  I find the online thing very entertaining.  Once you meet for a first date, there's no need to continue this approach otherwise the woman may assume you're not interested and move on to someone else.  Actually it is I created a fake girl profile online and got like a but load of replies from guys all over but hardly any from girls on my real profile and on the fake girl profile I hardly filed out a word on there.  Coming across like a 12 year old is not an attractive quality in adults.  As she was asking me these questions, I was realizing that I had never thought of the answers in any detail before.

How to Play Hard to Get. Do it Right! Our subconscious is probably telling us that if your prospective partner is willing to put in the hard work, then they are probably in for the long haul.  Even then guys see you in club and will go to every woman they see and say you are gay, a stalker, say you are sick, broke, anti-social, call you weird, and on and on.  Women have massive sexual and social power and they just dominate us with it, leaving us to fight and work and scramble and hope to be noticed.  He might earn one short kiss by the end of the date, but he still has to get to know you as a lady and a person of depth before things go too far.  If you are planning on walking the walk and talking the talk with playing hard to get, do it with class.

Online Dating is Hard Work if You're Doing It Right It is a very useful thing indeed! Never put your eggs in one basket, expecting a response from the person who seems like a perfect match for you.  It has since become an exercise in ensuring women get whatever they want.  They always had some kind of statement letting the world know that they had been burned in the past, basically making them look insecure.  My goal became lighting a fire under his ass.  Click on the different category headings to find out more.  People who played hard to get landed the date or relationship over those who made it too easy. When I was on dating sites I would typically get 7-10 messages a day, when I changed something around it would jump to about 20.

Internet dating: why is it so hard to find a normal, single bloke I fancy? You never know where your next text could lead! Well, as most of you have guessed, my games backfired and he told me he did not want to date a woman who was always online seeking other men.  We can meet someone on Tinder.  Yes it is tempting, but don't do it.  I feel women and girls have more success in meeting guys than guys do meeting girls simply because they needy, scandalous, desperate for attention, and slutty.  I want to see and hear and connect to what is under that surface level meaningless social rubbish that tells me nothing about who they are.

Is Online Dating Different for Men and Women? Online dating is just one of the ways to meet women, however it doesn't suit everyone.  Some men care very much what you say.  Not all women are attractive to older guys old enough to be their great-grandfather.  It seems that the dating world is full of guys being overly cool and girls being uncommonly cold.  Someone who is uninterested will just leave you hanging.

The 6 Ugly Truths of Online Dating I'm speaking for all women I'm just saying majority of you need to lighten up and stop been so damn pickey may be if you were more opended they you will find your perfect match end of story.  I doubt you would contact a woman you didn't think was attractive right? We dated for a month and were hot and heavy quickly.  Make online dating work for you by focusing on what matters to you in your life, and use that to find likeminded people.  I expect the man who made it to show the same care and devotion in every aspect of his life.  So again I think online is brilliant, an incredible way to meet each other if people showed up authentically and healthy and ready for a relationship.  It's really more that women don't take risks in this area, and men are expected to take all the risks and suck on all the rejection.  A study published in Psychological Science found a woman will be more attracted to you when she's uncertain about how much you like her.

#The #6 #Ugly #Truths #of #Online #Dating

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This Story Behind SEO 2019 Will Haunt You Forever!

With the way things proceed so fast on the internet, many business people find internet design and search engine optimisation (SEO) to become like the moving target. You may generally see outcomes of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION efforts once the webpage proceeds to be crawled and listed by a internet search motor. Possibly the best form of interpersonal media to pay attention in order to when turning to SEO is usually Google Plus. One particular of the most successful methods to ensure your clients get your photography business is simply by implementing an SEO strategy, this specific is more than just doing it to number 1 about Google, it means ensuring the fact that a varied and steady flow of traffic is proceeding to your site, over in addition to above that of your opponents. If you are usually willing to improvise your internet site search and boost up your own Google ranking, but do not really have time or resources with regard to doing that, hire an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION specialist for the same objective. Mobile SEO is usually SEO 2019 Has The Answer To Everything mobile search engine optimization or even optimizing content for a much better search ranking. Titles on pages and explanations affect what people see within search results, so it's important to check these out within any SEO audit. Search motors give some guidelines for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, but big search engines maintain result ranking as a industry secret. Along with $80 billion forecast to turn out to be spent annually on SEO — and content marketing set for you to be considered a $300+ billion industry by simply 2019 — it might always be tempting for stakeholders to observe SEO and content marketing because cost centers rather than profits centers. While that will theory is sound (when concentrated on a single page, when the particular intent is to deliver energy content to a Google user) using old school SEO strategies on especially a large web site spread out across many web pages seems to amplify site high quality problems, after recent algorithm adjustments, and so this type associated with optimisation without keeping track associated with overall site quality is self-defeating in the long run. Voice research is going to be 1 of the main regions of concentrate for SEO in 2019 plus beyond. By 2019 mobile advertising will represent 72% of all US digital advertisement spending. They will should realize that SEO Internet advertising mandates a business website, given that it is a necessary on the internet marketing tool. Eventually you can send these pages on various SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION sites or simply submit the particular web page so that the particular search engine spiders can examine on your created content. The history of SEO will go back to the 90s whenever the search engines emerged regarding the first time. High quality content material is critical in any lengthy term SEO strategy. Successful SEO includes on-page strategies, which use intent-based key phrases; and off-page strategies, which generate inbound links from other sites. So, along with content advertising, SEO now ought to be deeply aimed with your company's PR initiatives. Information will be a good introduction to and summary of research engine optimization (SEO), a massively important tactic for driving visitors to your web site. There will be a lots of misinformation about exactly what an SEO campaign (company) may accomplish when it comes in order to search engines engine rankings. But using the particular SEO analysis tools, you may increase the chances of your own website's high ranking that may enable you to get more traffic and ultimately, more business and income. Those who have the many to achieve are small businesses that will before a new harder period breaking into the snug SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION world. The Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keyword Electrical generator is like a thesaurus intended for SEO -minded content marketers. SEMRush - Another excellent tool for SEO analysis, especially where it concerns business cleverness, SEMRush allows you to determine and analyze the keywords that will your competitors are using. I'm heading to share some of the most effective SEO tips that will I've used within all types of campaigns to increase organic lookup traffic. FAST SEO ADVICE search engine optimisation is not magic, and are not able to perform wonders. This SEO ideas and tricks cover all the essential information you should know regarding Search Engine Optimization. The SEO content article writer should have a strong knowing of the keywords that are usually ranking and trending on the particular analytics framework. In 2018, there were certain trends of which ruled the world of online business SEO (search engine optimization). Don't get frightened by them but make certain to use only natural hyperlinks and keep in mind that will their SEO potential may end up being a bit lower in evaluation with single links. As a friend to the table, Internet lookup engine Land's Guide To SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION explains the ranking factors within more depth, within a tutorial supplying tips and advice on applying them. Google states that interpersonal media is not an fast SEO ranking factor, but the majority of experts agree that things these kinds of as retweets and facebook gives you DO, in fact, effect websites' rankings. And since SEO furthermore targets users who are positively searching for products and solutions like yours, the traffic ensuing from SEO is more skilled than many other marketing techniques, leading to cost-savings for businesses. The number a single reason for using video upon your site to improve SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is to increase the quantity of time users remain upon your site. Search engine optimization had been but still is fascinating in order to me. The SEO placement with regard to any size business begins along with proper web site optimization, a good excellent link building strategy plus a well planned online advertising plan. One section of focus for higher marketing and SEO performance within 2018 is the confluence associated with content, influence, and social. This can be advantageous for SEO, because it helps avoid search engine crawlers from becoming confused by syntax or affirmation errors, and leads to even more accurate indexing. Stop thinking in terms associated with SEO vs. content marketing” plus start exploring how well these people Blog9T perform together. (Give it a try tone of voice search using OK Google through your cell phone and enquire "What Is BlowFish SEO" ) In case all remains as it will be, Google will read out loud almost all about my company in the short to the point method, These cards are formatted in order to fit the screen of your own cell with no scrolling upward or down. Although SEO is really the time-consuming process but believes myself, if you work well along with dedication and trendy techniques, the particular combined results of on-page plus off-page SEO holds you upon the top with rank #1 for a specific search outcome. Fairly lately, I've seen a resurgence associated with on-page SEO factors making the difference searching engine rankings. With internet customers who use their mobiles in order to search on the increase, because an SEO consultant it can make sense to get a look at the particular effects SEO marketing is putting on search engine optimization. The sole purpose of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Services is to improve your own search engine ranking. Guarantee redirected domains redirect through the canonical redirect and this too provides any chains minimised, although Produce sure to audit the backlink user profile for any redirects you stage at a page just such as reward comes punishment if individuals backlinks are toxic (another type of Google opening up the particular war which is technical seo on a front it's not really, and in fact is speak, to building backlinks to your own site). In order to smoothen out the software plan interface problem, the web developing team as well as the particular SEO specialist work together in order to build the major search motors friendly programs and code that may be easily integrated into the client's website. They will have got to find SEO expert web sites, who will help the company owner's site have many clients in internet marketing. This is due to the fact they are not SEO helpful and can affect your rank significantly. These SEO crawler programs are similar to Google's own crawlers and will provide you an overview showing just how your page will perform within SEO rankings. Google is making certain it takes longer to notice results from black and white hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, and intent on ensuring the flux in its SERPs centered largely on where the searcher is in the world during the particular time of the search, plus where the business is situated near to that searcher. The traditional technique to SEO has been devoted to creating excellent content that will is easily searchable via lookup engine bots. To realize SEO, you'll also need in order to know how Google search functions. 2019 can still use many of these types of newly implemented tactics, but look for engine optimization experts are in addition suggesting there will be a great deal more. Currently more than half associated with searches account for mobile products, and the number will surely move up in 2019. Within the remaining 2018 quarter, a person need to invest in mobile-first content that will rank a person higher in mobile search within 2019. The vast majority of your SEO learning ought to come from online resources, yet there are a few textbooks that will help you conceptually understand the history of research, search engines, and how SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION has changed through the many years. There are numerous methods that webmasters use within order to entice potential clients to their site—one of the particular most important and effective associated with those being Seo (SEO). SEO is important for plenty of companies because if individuals find you using a web research and find what they're searching for, you can receive a lot of new web visitors that will can help you earn even more money. Good SEO follows guidelines that Search engines determines are best practices in order to have your articles ranked upon top. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION services do thorough keyword study for the specific website, and after that optimize the information on the particular basis of these keywords plus theme of website. SEO's basic importance comes from the particular fact that most users show strong search dominance — that will is usually, search is the main method people go places on the particular Internet. Reading blogs connected with SEO might also be very useful within locating out concerning the crucial companies on the market which usually are offering comprehensive and genuine Search engine optimization services in the direction of the corporate sector. The initial SEO is dependent mostly on number of key phrases targeted and the size associated with your web site, while the particular ongoing link campaign depends even more on the competitiveness of the particular keywords chosen. Whether most likely an SEO newbie or the seasoned practitioner, I encourage a person to fully read this in order to understand how you can obtain your content on top associated with search results. Huge Brand campaigns are far, much not the same as small business SEO promotions that have no links, to start with, to give you yet an example. These SEO companies possess a strategy requiring clients in order to pay for the major lookup engines (including Google and Yahoo) for monthly website maintenance. Authorities are reporting that 2019 can be the year of words search, and that the tone search algorithm may change and even supersede text search relatively. A TOP DOG blog is simply one component of social media distribution, a significant SEO strategy according to SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Consult You should be disseminating links to fresh content upon your site across appropriate cultural networking platforms. User-generated content racks up serious SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION points by providing sites along with fresh content, bundles of back links, and sources for organically framing natural attributes. You'll find it right here Also really worth checking out there is Moz's Beginner's Facts SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, ” which you'll find right here, and the SEO Success Pyramid from Small Business Search Marketing and advertising. Off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy refers to the impact of a change in various other websites in your search rank. Bruce Clay-based set the standard for honest internet marketing by authoring the particular " SEO Code of Integrity, " now translated into eighteen languages, and it has already been a respected leader within the particular ever-changing lookup engine marketing industry since mil novecentos e noventa e seis. Website SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (including, content optimisation, meta seo, the significance of links). A good SEO Specialist is someone that is an expert on the particular topic of search engine optimisation. Just due to the fact a proper On-page and Off-page SEO optimization work will provide a better Ranking to your own website in Search Engine Outcome Page (SERP). The greatest SEO change and craze I realize already happening within 2018 is Google's switch in order to a mobile-first index, so when a site is not however mobile-friendly and optimized for this, it's critical to prioritize this particular as it is now essential for its SEO success. With good on-page SEO, research engines can easily index your own web pages, understand what your own site is about, and very easily navigate the structure and content material of your website, thus position your site accordingly. In 2018, SEO is content and articles is SEO, content is electronic and digital is content. Before starting a good SEO project, site owners ought to carefully read through the internet marketer guidelines that every search motors provides and follow recommended greatest practices. This is clear that when website owners hire a search engine optimisation SEO expert, they stand the better chance of maximizing their own SEO services. Search motors cannot understand this type associated with content, so it's vital that you style video pages in an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION oriented manner. Subscribe to our weekly SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and daily SearchCap newsletters for a summarize of all the latest SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION related news, tips and techniques from Internet search engine Property and other sources all more than the Web. When if you're logged in, go to SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Toolkit » Keyword Research » Keyword Overview. For just about any SEO technique to operate successfully you will need content and that will can come in any type like keywords, articles or websites. From 2019, AI can be utilized by the businesses to acquire higher rankings upon search engines. For that reason, it can be a great idea to incorporate expenses intended for professional SEO content in your own quarterly marketing budget. Google will see right by means of sneaky, black hat SEO strategies like creating duplicate pages, producing pages with thin content simply for the sake of obtaining more pages and buying back links. This particular SEO model is called the "topic cluster, " and contemporary search engine algorithms rely upon them to connect users along with the information they're looking intended for. Your own SEO strategy likely involves articles designed to be shared upon social media. Take this article intended for example, if you search intended for reverse engineer Google, ” seo secrets, ” reverse engineering seo, ” this short article is on the particular first page for every associated with those search terms. Social media marketing and SEO ought to be working together, sharing content material or utilizing engagement metrics because data for future article marketing and advertising. Simply put, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is marketing through an knowing of how search algorithms function combined with a knowledge associated with what human users might research for. The results furthermore underscore the value of creating new content with your SEO online marketing strategy. If you create new content structured on your priority keywords, a person have several advantages by having an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing strategy. Both SEO and content material marketing converge in lots of places; these people do not work in solitude. Free to show up at SearchLeeds covers everything from technological SEO and analytics, to ADVERTISING, content marketing, paid media and even more. Following technical mobile SEO greatest practices (e. g., image optimisation, redirects, JavaScript and CSS) is definitely a necessary barrier to admittance in today's digital world. Link building is a type of off-site SEO where additional sites link back to your own site if they feel a person offer something of value in order to their audience. In many crucial areas they overlap; if SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is more technical and provides to a narrow sphere, content material marketing takes a holistic technique. Equally, generally there is no point in throwing away your SEO marketing efforts simply by delivering lots of traffic in order to your website from highly appropriate search queries, when the consumer experience upon landing on that will website is poor quality. On web page, SEO relates to keywords. In addition to the over search engine optimization solutions, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION services provide other Internet marketing and advertising services, which includes: search-friendly internet design, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising promotions, backlink programs, SMO services, blog page optimization and marketing, targeted nearby search engine marketing, and cellular marketing optimization. A successful SEO effort requires to move beyond building content to rank on highly researched keywords and should have the heavy focus on providing solutions for genres of unique inquiries that many people might research by voice. Learn the particular strategy behind great SEO, which includes keyword planning, content optimization, hyperlink building, and SEO for e-commerce, local search, and mobile viewers. Search engine optimization or SEO is definitely the simple process of making sure a website can be discovered in search engines for terms and phrases relevant to exactly what the site is providing. BrightLocal provides been helping local businesses, multi-location businesses and SEO professionals realize and enhance their positions in the particular local search market since year. That is where search engine optimization, or even SEO, is available in. Right here are the best conferences in order to learn more about SEO (and digital marketing) in 2018 plus 2019. Every little or multi-location company can develop their business and attract even more customers using Local SEO techniques In this article we clarify what local search optimization is usually, and why using a regional SEO company can help enhance your online visibility. It provides an introduction in order to the basics of search motors and SEO, and then grows into more advanced topics. Black hat SEO is the group of unethical practices in order to improve rankings of the site in the search engine outcomes page. SEO Wise Links provides automatic SEO advantages for your site in inclusion to custom keyword lists, from it and much more. Detailed in this particular Bruce Clay SEO tutorial are reliable strategies that aim to enhance both internal and external aspects that influence search ranking. To demonstrate, if you we're planning to end up being found locally when users appear for SEO services in your own area, and you're based within Wales, one such search phrase you might look to optimize for may be "SEO wales". Search Engine Optimizers (SEO's) are people who optimize sites to make them show upward higher on search engines plus gain more website visitors. You discuss core SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategies and tactics used in order to drive more organic search network marketing leads to a specific website or even set of websites, as properly as tactics to avoid in order to prevent penalization from search motors. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Smart links allows you in order to specify a word, like 'SEO' and then link it in order to a post on your web site. It's great for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION to feed the search motors a good amount of keyword-rich links. Sites making use of organic SEO in the strict sense is going to end up being much like organisms, meaning they will will grow, expand and adjust over time according to readers' desires. No matter the business, the age of business, or even status of competitors, every company should at least implement fundamental SEO strategies to help their own offerings get found on Search engines. So your SEO if your own thinking mobile, needs to end up being either responsive or app-store technique with the right dimensions, style, user-friendly, UX experience. Dark hat SEO methods, such since the use of keyword filling and link farming, can furthermore boost organic SEO. SEO is definitely important in every area associated with advertising, marketing, design, optimization, movie, content, mobile and e-commerce, regarding without SEO all is untuned in need of synchronization, as an orchestra of musicians without a good experienced conductor. Unfortunately, 95% of links through SEO link building never provide a single new visitor in order to your website. I believed it as simple as a good example to illustrate an factor of onpage SEO or ‘rank modification', that's white hat, fully Google friendly plus not, ever going to result in you a issue with Search engines. So when you want to get began which includes basic SEO, the particular first thing that I might recommend would be choosing the set of keywords for every page on your website. Away from page, SEO has contrasted along with it. Undoubtedly, off page marketing is all about link developing, but the quality links plus content. Via a direct incorporation of Google's Search Console, Siteimprove SEO helps you understand how the particular world's most popular search motor and its users see and—more importantly—find your website. On Page Ranking Factors — Moz's on page ranking elements explains the different on web page elements and their importance within SEO. Surprisingly enough, some sort of lot of SEOs out presently there do tend to underestimate typically the power of Google Trends Typically the tool has a separate "YouTube search" feature, which hides underneath the "Web search" option. An SEO agency may work together with a business to provide an added viewpoint, when it comes to knowing and developing marketing strategies with regard to different sectors and various varieties of business websites. Given the ratings and search volume, SEO may drive considerable traffic and qualified prospects for Grainger. SEO stands for research engine optimization - that very much has stayed the same. But they keep on altering their algorithms making it challenging to rely on one specific tool for SEO optimization Plus today you could have a good appropriate rank which may not really last in the coming 6 months. Register and raise some sort of free donation for SEO Birmingham every time you shop on the internet. Local SEO - Optimize that localized content on your internet site to properly leverage local indicators, online reviews and business goods. Learn more about content material optimization for SEO here. Along with paid-search it offers a very focused audience, visitors referred by SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION will only visit your web site if they are seeking particular home elevators your products or even related content. From keyword padding to link buying, the SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING landscape has seen numerous black-hat tricks — and Google usually catches on. Chris Gregory, founder plus managing partner at Jacksonville centered firm, DAGMAR Marketing, predicts that will AI and machine learning might have a big impact upon SEO in 2019 and SEOs who aren't technical will end up being left in the dust. Some SEO specialists also advise that anchor textual content should be varied as numerous pages linking to one web page using the same anchor textual content may look suspicious to find motors. SEO trickery such while keyword ‘stuffing' in irrelevant written content simply won't cut it throughout the current day, with Google's algorithm taking over 200 aspects to ensure that it's ratings provide results with valid and even authoritative sites, it is close to on impossible to accomplish anything some other than work with the research engines to make sure leading quality SEO results. From a SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION perspective, the principal keyword ought to be at the beginning implemented by the other relevant key phrases.

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Shamesplosion II: Regexance

Game #26: Legend of Kay, Neon Studios, 2005

Legend of Kay is part of a peculiar group of games from the waning years of “Character Action Games” (now known as 3D platformers). In some ways these games, including Kay, are some of the best in the genre. The industry had learned how to make controls feel good. Even more esoteric things, like combo moves, had been standardized to a degree. The camera, once nausea inducing, now seamlessly balanced between the gentle hand of the game and the user’s input. 

For all that is expert about Legend of Kay, it flies a bit too high. The cutscenes and conversations over-rely on generic, canned animations. I believe that all the voice talent in Legend of Kay were fine actors, but, searching the game’s credits, there was not a dedicated voice over director. As such the voice performances as a whole leave something to be desired. 

Why am I picking these nits? Because cutscenes demand a certain quality to justify their presence in a game. Unless they are very good, they drag the experience down. I think I’d have enjoyed Kay more if the conversations had been presented only as text. I don’t say that to be cruel, I honestly believe that the atmosphere would have been easier to establish. 

Game #27: Quadrilateral Cowboy, Blendo Games, 2016

Quadrilateral Cowboy vs. Jazzpunk is an amazing case study in game audio

Largely because, given access only to the visual elements of both games, you could easily be forgiven for confusing the two.

Both have an aesthetic that blends minimalist geometry and a honey-mustard color-sheme with 80s cyberpunk, both feature a main character who is sent on various "jobs" which involve traveling to an ambiguously virtual dimension to perform espionage, and both treat pre-digital and recently digital technology as a plaything in their world-building.

If, however, you were given only the audio of each game, you would never confuse the two.

On the blog for Necrophone games, they outline the absolutely bonkers lengths they went to to achieve the sound. Many of the noisemakers used for Jazzpunk's soundscape actually built from scratch, soldering and all, by the game's creators. Bringing that level of depth to a game's sound would be admirable for a sound designer, let alone someone who is also devoted full time to simply making the game.

The soundscape of Jazzpunk is like nothing else I've heard before or since, except perhaps in a Martin Denny record. It's a jangly, agitated mix of synths and old jazz records, a kind of James-Bond-cyber-mambo. The implementation is straightforward for the most part, though outright bizarre at times, with attention-grabbing samples coming it at inappropriate times, but because the rest of the game is so damn weird you forgive it somehow.

For everything that is bizarre about Jazzpunk, it relies on more traditional adventure puzzle mechanics, as well as callbacks (there's a quake clone hidden in a wedding cake). The puzzles are hilariously gratifying to solve, but Jazzpunk does not have many new skills to teach the player.

Quadrilateral Cowboy is, in some ways, more sophisticated than Jazzpunk, and I'm not just talking about their approach to humor. Cowboy's gameplay has something quite new to offer players, and something which feels like somewhat of a holy grail in game design; it makes it feel cool to write code. For a while it seemed like there were so many attempts to make games about coding that reviewers were declaring the effort itself to be futile. But Cowboy has done it.

When you look at the credits in Quadrilateral Cowboy, under audio, it simply says "Soundsnap.com" As such very little in Cowboy's soundscape really feels like it belongs to the game. Many of the sounds are appropriate enough. But they do not have that intangible sense of having somehow come from the game itself.

The implementation of sounds is just as puzzling as in Jazzpunk, but unfortunately it is to negative effect. Point-located sounds are at maximum volume when standing near them, and nearly silent when a few steps away. When the player character throws something, they often emit a cough, not the expected effort sound.

The music is completely diagetic, which can be a powerful decision. It is all licensed, and is used to build the settings and tell you things about the characters. All in all a strong point in the soundscape.

I adore both games, but y'all can guess which has been my enduring favorite.

Game #28: Snuggle Truck, Owlchemy Labs, 2012

This game has been in my library for five years, and I sorely regret not playing it immediately after buying it. Snuggle Truck smacks of the Indie Revolution. These kinds of games, centered around a straightforward-but-wiley physics-based mechanic, will always have a special place in my heart. I found myself wondering if this game would be able to stand out if it were released today. Perhaps it would, given Owlchemy’s outreach. 

But how Snuggle Truck would do in today’s market has nothing to do with it’s validity as a work of art, nor does it have anything to do with how deserving it is of commercial success. 

I think about the discussion going on in the indie game community, about the “indiepocalypse” and the “indie bubble.” I think it’s easy to forget that there was never a time when making a game was risk free. It was never a case of, “make game, get paid, onto day three of my indie adventure.” It has always been hell. Maybe the marketing wasn’t hell for a short while. Everything else has always been hell. 

Game #29: Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Double Fine, 2016

I don’t like admitting that I always kind of thought Broken Age invented the whole switching between characters thing. I’ve been touting myself as a fan of point and click adventure games for a while now, and it’s just embarrassing to think I had gotten the whole picture after having played only a tiny selection from what the golden age of this genre has to offer. Man there are a lot of these things. They are a huge time sink though, often designed to take 40 hours to play. I’m not gonna lie, as much as a I adore these games I have myself a good ol’ fashioned think before I choose to start in on one. 

Day of the Tentacle is great, by the way. 

Game #30: Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death, Rebellion, 2003

According to steam, I have played this for 13 minutes. I couldn’t tell you a thing about it because I have no memory of doing so.

Game #31: Elite Dangerous, Frontier Developments, 2014

Oh the deep, dark, horrible shame. My boyfriend bought this game for me at considerable expense in the hopes of giving us another thing to do together. As we booted up the game, he explained to me how we would do one simple thing to boost my cash reserves, and that we’d then be able to do some fun stuff together. He would give me some items, I would sell them. Easy. Would you care to guess how long this took? Trade and sell. How long? How long do you think? 

Three hours. It wasn’t because of our internet connection, it wasn’t because we were very far apart, it wasn’t because we had to do multiple runs, that is how long it takes to do all of the preparatory work in the 20 odd menus and locales you need to visit, then rendez-vous in space, then use a slightly smaller set of menus to open a thing, arm something else, send out another thing, there’s something called a limpet, (I’m assuming it’s named after a British cookie) and then I got the thing and then I could fly back to the station blah blah blah blah. 

I cried. I cried, people. I felt so much like a dumb failure, like a complete waste of my boyfriend’s generosity, that it honestly upsets me to write about it. He did his best to comfort me and assured me he wasn’t mad (yeah, he saw the cry happen) but we have never played it again. I still technically own it but I have hidden it from my steam library because the mere sight of it is disturbing to me, even now. 

Game #32: Mass Effect 2, Bioware, 2010

I have started using Mass Effect 2 to bone up on my German. It’s got full German language support. I only get about a 3rd of what they’re saying. It makes me chuckle how the made-up sci-fi words get pronounced with an American accent. 

Game #33: TRI: Of Friendship and Madness, Rat King, 2014

Exposition of any kind is a tough sell, especially in the fantasy genre. Unless you have Ian McKellen in your roster, almost any fantasy writing is going to sound silly when read aloud. Put another way, dramatic voice over in a game is one of those things that cannot be anything less than great.  I’m tempted to compare this to Journey. Both do a good job of building a fantastical world with magical architecture and a story that existed long before you arrived, but Journey does it better. They probably could have gotten a budget for voice over, but they chose not to use it, and I think it was the right decision. Even with the best voice cast and writers in the world, human voices would have made the world more familiar, to it’s detriment. 

And here’s the thing: in all likelihood, the team behind Journey wrote down just as much detail about the backstory of their game as Tri presents aloud, and a million times more. It may seem that choosing to tell your game’s story without voice over would save effort in terms of storytelling, but nothing could be further from the truth. To expose a world to a player without dialogue, you have to know how your world affects the walls, clothes, materials, gestures, decor, artifacts, absolutely everything the player encounters, because that is the sum total of what you have at your disposal to tell your story.  I’m told that there’s a real mind bender of a game waiting for you if you stick with it, so I may revisit. 

Game #34: Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball, Erik Asmussen, 2015

I am a chronic late adopter of multiplayer games, partially because I’ve never been able to afford them when they’re new. I’ve never joined one in time to get good at it at the same pace as all the early adopters. For my entire life playing games, I’ve found myself getting stomped by people who have hung on long after a game’s heyday, people who know every trick, and who’s patience for newbs ran out years ago. Which is a shame because this game is colorful and awesome. 

#too many games #stack of shame #gaben #steam sales #shamesplosion #day of the tentacle #snuggle truck #quadrilateral cowboy #jazzpunk #legend of kay #the world doesn't need another review of mass effect 2