#except like not in a these youtube people don’t know etiquette way just in a i treated it like youtube and avoided the twitch features way
Text
Dream SMP fandom etiquette
So. This post is probably too little, too late, considering the fandom and the issues I'm about to talk about have existed for so long now, and a lot of the people who need to hear this probably aren't on tumblr anyways, but I just wanted to dedicate a quick post to talk about fandom etiquette. Mostly pertaining to discourse, and interactions with people outside of our circle. These are just going to be my own personal thoughts, of course, but I felt it could be good to bring some of this to attention. So without further introduction:
Where to (not) talk about discourse:
Don't go into other streamer's vods to only focus about a different character. If you want to analyse, for example, c!Techno, do it in Techno's stream. Don't go into unrelated streams, like Tommy's, Tubbo's etc. to do it, even if they were a part of the event in question. This is, of course, with the exception if the character in question didn't stream their own pov. But otherwise, stay in your own space. This is to prevent cluttering a streamer's comments about unrelated discussion. To give further example: Tubbo's vod comments should primarily focus on Tubbo's character. Not Tommy's, Ranboo's, Techno's or whoever else's.
Don't start discourse in the comments of animatics. Seriously, stop that. Animatics aren't discussion boards. The comments are there to analyse and appreciate the video presented, not argue. It's especially rude if you pick a small detail, that wasn't even the focus of the animatic, or even a completely unrelated issue to rant out your frustrations about. To give examples: starting disc discourse in an animatic of Tommy talking to Wilbur, or rambling about how tragic Techno's character is in an animatic focused on clingy duo, etc.
This applies to fan songs as well.
Video essays are the exception to these rules. I think it's safe to say they're the place to bring your hot takes, if you really feel so inclined to argue in youtube comment sections (Though I'd personally advise to still keep the topic relevant).
Keep negativity out of fanfic comments. This isn't nearly as big of an issue as the last points, but I've seen it happen a couple times, so I'm deciding to mention it. Fanfics are written for fun. Even if you disagree with the characterisation or something else, unless the author is clear in accepting critique, keep criticism to yourself. And definitely don't rant about how you dislike a character unrelated to the fanfic. Sharing your thoughts on the fanfic itself is of course fine and welcomed, but when it turns from discussing the author's story to talking about how you dislike a character in canon, that's when it crosses a line. Example: comment talking about what you don't like about c!Tommy on a Bench Trio fanfiction.
When commenting on art, keep the feedback positive. Even if you dislike any presented character, keep that to yourself. Example: Don't say things like "I hate x character, but this art is good". You might think the author would feel honoured, but it's actually just hurtful.
How to deal with discourse:
This is gonna be a shorter section, because I think we all chose to do it in different ways, and that's valid. Also, it's just that I, myself, am still learning how to do this well, but I thought it could be good to try to lay it out anyways.
Try to scroll past takes you disagree with instead of arguing if you don't think you'd be able to keep your cool. Noone likes a random person yelling at them through a screen, and if you rant, you'll get an equally frustrated reply back, and noone will be happy. Either explain your point in a calm manner, or scroll past/ unfollow/block.
On the keeping cool thing, remember to just step away. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down before proceeding. To minimize the frustration you feel on a daily basis, filter tags, block people, avoid videos and youtube comment sections that you know will upset you, and leave certain internet spaces if you find yourself unable to escape negativity even with all those steps. Remember: in the end, it's all a game played by friends, a story, and your enjoyment of it lies in what you take from it. Abandon what makes you unhappy. Marie Kondo your fandom experience.
Also, here's your reminder, to whom this is relevant, to take care of yourself. Hydrate, eat, sleep, clean up, get fresh air, remember the things outside of all this. There's plenty to do outside of this fandom, and what you can do here can wait. There is no pressure, or obligation. Not for the content you create, not for the discussions you bring, not for responding to discourse, not for anything. Fandom is meant purely for fun, so take care <3
Interacting with people outside of the fandom:
This is something that I've seen a bit of talk about, and I thought I'd drop in my own thoughts on this as well. No matter the differences, we're all just trying to vibe, and I think these are important things to keep in mind to leave both sides better off:
Don't interact with hate posts. Just don't. You don't want to see them, they don't want to see you. Even if your response is lighthearted, their animosity is not. They will feel frustrated regardless, and the grudge will only grow. And if they're being agressive, calm discussion most likely won't happen even if you're being polite. Just leave it, please.
Correct misinformation calmly. I completely get how it can be frustrating to see blatant lies and all, but with our reputation, people will not listen if you're being antagonistic. Provide sources, explain, and leave it at that.
Don't be hateful, send death threats, or assume privilege or whatever else. That's stepping into the same shoes of the people you hate. Misunderstandings go both ways, and the fact of the matter is, I think most people who dislike DSMP, even the ones who are agressive about it, don't have their stance rooted in maliciousness. To expand on why the situation became what it is today, taken from a discussion on discord:
I think it's just a combination of Dream growing so insanely quickly + how internet spaces have changed over the years. When ccs like jackstepticeye or pewdiepie etc. grew popular, activism wasn't as prevalent and held to such importance. Now it's thankfully more talked about, but that also leads to Dream being more scrutinized in comparision. Add twitter trends and the general prevalence of the fandom, and you've got everyone feeling tired and frustrated and paranoid. People also tend not to fact check stuff, especially when it comes to celebrities and stuff they're not really interested in, so rumors spread fast.
And actually, I think there's absolutely valid reasons to be made uncomfortable by Dream SMP, either in it's creators, content or fandom, and there is, of course, stuff to criticise in general. The problem is the hate and misinformation and overexposure, but we are not going to solve any of that by being aggressive in return.
(This is, by the way, not talking about more serious cases. Like doxxing, or leaving gore images in hashtags, or similar instances. That's a whole different complicated issue that I don't feel qualified to tackle.)
And finally, don't overwhelm outsiders who merely mention the Dream SMP. Don't send asks asking them to watch it, don't write paragraphs explaining the lore, don't confuse them with inside jokes, just... Don't jump on people like that. Unless they're explicitly clear in wanting interaction and getting into the fandom, that kind of thing will just drive them away. This is in no way exclusive to the Dream SMP fandom, pretty much every fandom has people enthiastic to have more people involved, but since there are so unbelievably many of us, it's especially easy to go overboard with this stuff. Just... be polite, and don't pressure anyone. Be nice, please.
So.... ya! This would be it for this one, I think. Sorry that it's kinda long, thank you if you read it at all. Hope y'all have pleasant days ^^
#dream smp#mcyt#fandom#fandom etiquette#fandom critical#tommyinnit#technoblade#tubbo#dreamwastaken#let me know if i should remove tjose tags - i'm not sure whether it counts as crosstagging or not sorry#long post#my own post
186 notes
·
View notes
Note
So, I've got a very long rant/opinion here and Idk really know how to say this without coming off kinda bad but I'm gonna say it anyways. I agree with the fact that the seventeen tag has been kinda dry lately on most fanfic places, but it's really only in the smut area. It's the sane way with other groups too I feel like. All of the nice little innocent tags are boomin to this day and thats completely fine. I think the smut tag is dry tho bc lately I feel like a few social issues (like sexualizing people and disrespecting them and their identity) have crossed over into kpop and have been ?blown out of proportion? Lately there's been a rampage of people who like to say that writing smut about someone is disgusting and is dehumanizing because people want to assume that it would make the idols uncomfortable which could equate to some morality issues on how you are reducing someone only to their body without their consent and a bunch of stuff like that. It kind of pisses me off bc this is fiction. About grown adults. Clamping down on horny people who simp over hot asian men isn't going to solve the issues we face in real life. I think a shit ton is wrong with the world we currently live in, and deciding to come after something that isn't even real bothers me. Like what does that actually accomplish. But yeah, I think thats a reason why smut has been dying down. I mean, on youtube almost every video about unpopular opinions, or things they dont like about kpop will include something about shipping idols in fanfics. And then everyone in the comment section will talk about how its all fine and dandy in moderation, but once people start writing smut it's crossing the idols personal boundaries. It's something I've been seeing a lot more often and I think people who are interested in writing smut are being turned away from it bc we've gotten to a point where people are being called disgusting for having fantasies.
Hi Anon, thank you for sending in this Ask.
I want to preface this by saying: when I write or talk about Mingyu and Wonwoo fucking on my blog, it is a fantasy. I am not speculating about what the real Mingyu and Wonwoo might be like in bed. I am imagining the versions of Mingyu and Wonwoo that I have created in my head, that exist only in my stories. None of it is real. I understand that this can be a blurry boundary for some people. But for me, the separation between fantasy and reality is well-defined. Now, on to your Ask!
You’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. You’ve also touched on many of the issues I have been struggling with myself as of late. It’s difficult to argue about morals since everyone has a different set of values, as well as different comfort levels. Some people think real person fiction (RPF) is a gross invasion of privacy. Others are fine with it. And others don’t care one way or another. There is no single answer; I can only offer my answer. Which means, of course, people are welcome to disagree with it, or parts of it.
In this essay (LOL But forreal: this is an essay), I will be sharing my experience in the k-pop fanfic community from 2014 to present, the etiquette I personally abide by as a reader and writer of RPF, as well as my stance on RPF in general.
I started reading and posting fanfics back in 2014/2015 on a website called AsianFanfics (AFF). Obviously, no one on that site had a problem with RPF, since AFF is a platform made specifically for sharing stories about Asian celebrities. For many years, I read and enjoyed RPF with zero guilt. I scribbled away by myself in my own corner of fandom and curated my own content. I didn’t interact much with other fans, readers, or writers. I didn’t have a Twitter, and I only used tumblr to reblog memes. As a result, I’ve been able to avoid a lot of anti-shipping discourse, as well as purity and cancel culture. I had no idea there were so many negative opinions about RPF. It wasn’t until I became active on the subreddit r/Fanfiction last year that I learned about all the discourse surrounding RPF.
This newfound ‘awareness’ does make me feel guilty at times—but only because after mulling this over, I still don’t think this is something to feel guilty about.
Here’s what I remember, first and foremost, when I create and consume RPF: fanfics and my favourite ships are fictional, and fiction is fantasy. This is basic etiquette when it comes to RPF, and most people in the k-pop fandom understand this. Delusional fans exist, of course, but they are not representative of the entire k-pop community.
Another point of etiquette is to keep fanfics within fandom spaces. I would never push my fics into celebrities’ faces, or go around claiming that my fanfics are accurate representations of a k-idol’s life or personality, in any way, shape, or form. I would also discourage directing ship-related questions to official accounts, or bringing them up during fansigns or other face-to-face interactions; I believe that in these instances, shipping does have the potential to strain real-life relationships.
So with basic etiquette out of the way, let me share my approach to RPF in general.
As much as we like to think we know our favourite celebrities, we really don’t. All we see is their public persona. And this public persona is intentionally controlled, managed, and curated by a team of people: directors, tabloids, editors, makeup artists, publicists, etc. How “real” are these celebrities? We are so distanced from them that they may as well be fictional.
I draw from the public persona that idols project, and I work them into my own writing. But at the end of the day, these personalities are my own interpretation. My interpretation is probably nothing like an idol’s actual personality. I just use the “public persona/character” that idols portray as inspiration for my own stories, which are set in wildly different universes.
More than anything, I think of k-pop idols as “actors” in my fic. You know how when you write an original novel, you scroll through Google images, looking for the perfect person to portray your original character? RPF is literally that, except you might build upon pre-existing dynamics and personalities.
When it comes to explicit fanfiction, two main concerns are prevalent: one of consent, and one of sexualisation.
If we argue against explicit RPF due to lack of consent, we should be willing to apply the same lens to all explicit works. How do we know that the creator of a movie, book, series, etc., is okay with us using their characters in our stories, explicit or not? We don’t. Perhaps some creators encourage fanfiction, but don’t want their lovingly crafted characters engaging in sexual acts or experiencing trauma. We just don’t know. I feel this line is even more blurred when we talk about characters from movies or TV series.
Let’s take Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, as portrayed by Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan, from the Captain America movies as an example. I am willing to bet that when people consume and create explicit fanfiction about Steve and Bucky, they are imagining Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan in their heads. I doubt many people are imagining the 2D cartoon versions of Steve and Bucky, even though they’re technically the exact same characters. Why? Well, it could be because movies are more readily and easily consumed than comics, and so people are unfamiliar with comic book Steve and Bucky. But it might also be because fans find Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan attractive. Is this really any different from RPF, where fic authors make up everything about a celebrity’s life?
When readers and writers of fanfic talk about how hot Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes is, those comments are about Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan’s bodies. When reading explicit stories, fans are going to picture Chris and Sebastian’s bodies in their head, doing sexual things. Can we say, “Well, it’s not really you, Chris/Sebastian”, when in a way, it is?
The reality is, people are going to thirst over celebrities, regardless of whether or not explicit fanfiction exists. They’re going to post thirst tweets on Twitter. They’re going to talk to friends and strangers online about how hot [insert celebrity name here] is. They’re going to fantasize about dating and having sex with their favourite celebrity. Or, as it is in my case, they’re going to make up stories in their heads about their favourite idols dating and banging each other. People are going to do all of this without ‘getting consent’ from the celebrity. Cracking down upon and shaming writers of RPF isn’t going to change any of that.
To be honest, I’m not sure why people think it is disgusting to imagine sexual scenarios about real people. It is okay and normal to have these kinds of fantasies. I suppose the alternative is to fantasise about having sex with cartoon characters instead? It’s a very binary way of thinking to say that if you imagine/write real people in explicit scenarios, you are immediately sexualising, dehumanising, or objectifying them. There is more to dehumanisation than writing smut about our favourite celebrities. For one thing, you can love someone and appreciate all parts of them, and still want to fuck their brains out. And generally, fanfics come from a place of love—love that is not only sexual in nature.
Is it the sharing aspect inherent to fanfiction? The possibility that a celebrity might stumble upon explicit works about them? The chances are very low, I think, of the k-pop idols I enjoy writing about coming across my English fics. But I also believe in curating your own content, and that applies to celebrities too. Perhaps a celebrity should not go searching for fanfics about themselves. And of course, people should not show celebrities their fanfics, unless invited.
Another argument I hear against (explicit) RPF is, “How would you feel if someone wrote fanfiction about you?” First off, I don’t like this argument because there’s a difference between someone who decides to be a public figure versus someone who decides to remain a regular private citizen. Celebrities should and do know what they’re getting into when they choose their occupation. (This is not to say, “They are celebrities; sexualise them all you want because that’s what they signed up for.” Here, I am only acknowledging that people might have sexual fantasies about celebrities they are attracted to. Presumably, celebrities are cognizant of this.)
If someone (whose existence I am not even aware of, mind you) decides they want to write explicit fanfiction of me in some tiny corner of the Internet, I wouldn’t care so long as: (1) they don’t shove it into my face, and (2) they don’t harass me and ask invasive questions about my personal life and relationships. It’s not hurting me or negatively affecting my life, so it wouldn’t even register as a blip on my radar. When fanfiction remains within its appropriate spaces, it is largely harmless.
Now, if a k-pop idol were to ask their fans to stop writing fanfiction about them, would I? Yes, I would. However, I can’t imagine that happening. Judging by the number of ‘sexy’ concepts, fanservice moments, and variety shows such as ‘We Got Married’, I am certain that k-pop idols realise they are the stars of many fantasies—some of which are explicit in nature. Considering the prevalence of shipping in the k-pop industry, I would argue that shipping is subtly encouraged.
It’s sad that so many talented writers are shamed out of fandom, or feel that k-pop cannot be the medium through which they tell their stories, or explore their sexuality, or cope with trauma, or simply have fun. Professional works and Hollywood love their RPF—readers and writers of fanfics should be able to, as well.
As you said Anon, “clamping down on horny people who simp over hot asian men isn't going to solve the issues we face in real life” (this is a lovely sentence, by the way). The kind of person who dehumanises another and reduces them to a sexual object will do so some other way, if not via fanfiction. I don’t think the issue of fetishisation can be fixed simply by telling people not to write explicit RPF. In my experience, people who read and write RPF are more respectful and thoughtful about these things than the general public. We’ve all seen the general public say highly sexual things about celebrities in the media and to their faces, or tag celebrities in their thirst tweets. Are these things less invasive than fanfiction? Personally, I don’t think so. And in my opinion, there are more pressing and damaging issues in stan culture than fanfic.
In conclusion, I don’t think there is anything wrong with creating and consuming RPF, both explicit and non-explicit so long as we:
Remember we are writing fiction
Keep RPF within its appropriate space, and
Do not harass celebrities about their personal lives and relationships
RPF is not for everyone. There may be people who enjoy RPF, but draw the line at explicit stories. This is fine. Everyone has their own personal preferences. What is not fine, however, is attacking people for creating things you don’t like. I’m not sure what kind of moral crusade people are on and what they hope to achieve by shaming writers of RPF, explicit or otherwise. Ultimately, fic authors are writing a fantasy. It’s not real; no one is being hurt. I think it’s important for people to curate their own content, and AO3 makes it very easy to filter out explicit works and unwanted tags.
Maybe this is me trying to justify my own participation in explicit RPF—I don’t know. What I do know is that I love k-pop, and fandom is an important part of my media and entertainment experience. I adore the k-pop idols I write about, and I just want to imagine them being happy and getting lots of love and orgasms. Let a bitch be horny, goddamn…
Some bonus fun facts!
At the time I am writing this, on AO3:
26.2% of Stray Kids fanfics are rated M or E
26.3% of Seventeen fanfics are rated M or E
29.0% of Merlin fanfics are rated M or E
34.9% of Captain America (Movies) fanfics are rated M or E
40.1% of BTS fanfics are rated M or E ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Coincidentally, I saw this post on Reddit this morning: Can we have a RPF positivity post?
#asks#my writing#fic & fandom#I keep coming back to fiddle and add things to this answer#but I think I've said all I wanted to now...
14 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hello! I know you did this project well over a year ago, but I just found your post about making a physical copy of DCWT. I have been toying with the idea of doing the same for a couple years, but never quite got around to it. I also realize what a significant undertaking it is. I wanted to ask if you have any suggestions for someone hoping to make a hard-cover book. Like: why did you decide to do the binding yourself rather than ordering from a company? What were some of the important formatting aspects for the document prior to printing? I would really appreciate any advice you have on this. Thank you so much!
-Laurel
Alrighty so! Let me try to answer these well, so bear with me.
1st of all, the reason why I hand-bound it was largely because I’d been curious about trying my hand at book-binding for a while, and I was passionate enough about DCWT that it felt like a project I would follow through on. (I will say that I got lucky things turned out decent. I would NOT recommend starting on a work this long to bookbind if it’s your first time like it was mine). I also went into the project with the intention of giving the final book (if it turned out nice) to my friend Charlie as a Christmas gift, since they introduced me to DCWT in the first place and I always think a hand-made touch is nice. I never really looked into companies who bind things for you since I intended on using this project to learn from the beginning, so I don’t really have any opinions there either way.
For formatting, to make things a little easier for myself I decided to format for standard 8.5x11 printing paper which would then be folded in half to make the mini booklets that would be bound together to make the full book. A.k.a. each “page” of the book is itself half of a standard printer paper sheet. I will say though, that standard printer paper is deceptively thick, and because I formatted the book this way the pages were a little narrower/smaller which resulted in a VERY thick and a little bit cumbersome book I’m ngl. If I were to do it again I would probably go through the hassle of formatting the pages wider (since you’ll need to trim the edges anyways) or the book larger overall and try to find access to a thinner/book friendly paper.
Speaking of trimming the book edges, I originally attempted to follow a tutorial which uses an exacto knife and ruler. This obviously wasn’t meant for a book as monstrously thick as mine, which meant when I tried it, it still resulted in ugly, uneven edges (I hate deckled edges on books, fight me). Now, typically if you have a thicker book the way to get a smooth edge would be to use a specialized guillotine. I’m lucky enough to go to an art school which gives me access to a ton of these specialized equipment, but for reasons I won’t get into I didn’t have the courage to ask someone where/how to use it. Therefore, I defaulted to using a belt sander. DO NOT USE A BELT SANDER. The only reason this technique ended up working for me was because my book was so monstrously thick. Using a belt sander is NOT an advisable way to get a smooth edge, but worked for my home-made Frankenstein needs. These are the only two options I know off for that part of the refinement process, and so if you don’t have access to these kinds of equipment I’d probably just google.
Speaking of googling, I won’t go more into any more of the binding process since the above are things that were specific to my project. Everything else I pretty much learned from Sea Lemon’s youtube channel where she posts a bunch of various bookbinding tutorials. She can say it better than I ever could lol.
Lastly, in terms of digitally formatting the actual text into an actual book form, I used Adobe InDesign. I don’t really have any more concrete advice beyond that, since I am an unexperienced book maker and pretty much just took cues from how some other books I owned were formatted. I would be open to sharing my InDesign files, except that because I was/am an unexperienced book maker, the way I formatted those files was super inefficient and super not flexible to any future change, and so I would consider them super static and not any more helpful than looking at a printed book. Since I pretty much went on intuition and tips from my university type classes, I’m sure there are tutorials or lessons out there on good book type setting etiquette. Youtube is always your friend.
I know a lot of that wasn’t concrete, but I’ll be honest. DCWT was and is the only book I’ve ever bound, so the best I can do is tell you what I did, what not to do, and straight up recommend you people who actually know what they are doing. This was kind of long but I hope at least some of that was helpful lol.
#pls feel free to ask more questions or anything#i wont have the most professional advice but ill deffo try my best lol#I will say that I have toyed around with the idea of re-doing this project to have a physical copy of DCWT of my own#and to improve upon the mistakes I made#and so if I ever do that I'll probably try to document my process better lol#egg answers
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
Being Human (UK)
This is a show that I recommend to people... but I add a lot of caveats.
The recommendation: A werewolf, vampire and ghost are flatmates. This show is hilarious! So much macabre and slice of life humor! And horror and whump!? Also, the show was run by a side-channel of BBC (BBC3) and I guess they had no production money, so the actors mostly look human and they just refer to each other as being a 500-year old vampire or ghost or whatever. Which makes it even better. The werewolf is Jewish, recites a Jewish prayer at least once, and hangs out watching “The Real Hustle” with the vampire. They work in a hospital as janitors. The ghost has a habit of making everyone tea to soothe herself and the flat is cluttered with tea mugs everywhere all the time. Also, people do get fang-y or wolf-y or do weird poltergeist stuff. And gore happens.
Longish post, more below the cut.
PS, this is the 2008-2013 UK version of Being Human, which I hear had a cult following. There’s certainly stuff on Tumblr. I found the BBC version through the US remake of Being Human, but I’m much more charmed by the BBC version. (The US version has the vampire and werewolf as hospital doctors? Why?) Also I watched the show maybe 4, 5 years ago, so impressions are from that.
And the caveats: There’s a lot of sexism which was hard to watch. It’s engrained in the premise and plot and occasional gross sexist jokes. And there’s other problematic stuff in the writing. It’s like having glass shards show up the meal you are enjoying, and it’s why I’m not sure I’ll rewatch the series (or not in it’s entirety, anyway). There’s also a limited spinoff web series called Becoming Human which also had some problems for me, including some gross sexism and fatphobia. (John Boyega from Star Wars does show up as a character in that series, for anyone interested.)
Back to Being Human and overall series recommendations. So the 1st season was good. I kind of forgot what happened in the 2nd and 3rd season (I think they got depressing and slow?). The 4th season picked up again, much to my surprise, and I remember liking the 4th and 5th season a lot. Even though [spoilers] there was a complete cast change by this time. But it worked, somehow. The show did go from at least having one woman of color to having an all-white cast at the end, which was not great. And there’s other racism too.
For people who like their happily-ever-after: uhhh so I vaguely recall that a lot of characters don’t really get a happy ending. Granted, half of them are walking around dead already, so...? Overall, the ending of the 5th season is... Is that a happy ever after? Happy for now? The Bonus on the DVD kind of makes it a happy-for-now with a continued possibility? It’s an acceptable HFN?
.....And now, the notes for all the hurt/comfort people and whumpers:
Holy crap people, there is SO much h/c and whump!?
OK first -- George the werewolf. George’s transformation sequence, SUPER whumpy.
youtube
Also, George ends up naked often, come to think. And he screams a lot during the show, for various reasons. The actor himself, in the bonus DVD interviews I think, cheerfully says something like, “People really like the way George screams, I do too.” (This is like when David Tennant cheerfully talked about how he enjoys playing a character who is unconscious and sick and gets fussed over by people.) And George is a very sympathetic, nerdy character who is easy to feel for. Who occasionally turns into a SNARLY SCARY WEREWOLF AGAINST HIS WILL. As mentioned, I think I liked season 1 George more than seasons 2 or 3.
Emotional hurt/comfort -- so Annie the Ghost provides a lot of the emotional centering, as I recall. Throughout all 5 seasons, all the characters lean on each other for support and there’s a lot of lovely warm fuzzies from that. Also, one of the later werewolf characters, Tom, is generally a sweet kid. I’m glad they didn’t do too much of the transformation horror with him, honestly. George/Russel Tovey could carry that, but I thought Tom’s strong point was looking puppy-eyed and folorn-eyebrow’d and trying to navigate the world with a mix of naivety and half-feral-ness.
Above: exhausted naps on the couch.
Below: Classic Being Human humor. A review of house rules and vampire stabbing etiquette, between Annie and Tom --
youtube
[Spoilers from here on] Okay, so as mentioned, the cast changed over between season 4-5. And to my surprise, I think I loved the new trio as much as, or more than, the original trio. I liked how loud Alex the ghost was. And I liked both Annie and Alex.
Also, I did not expect this either, but I got so interested in Hal! Yo! First of all, Hal is a centuries-old Vampire and speaks/looks like, idk, a Regency Character. And then 19-yr old Tom puts Hal to work at a fast food shop and bosses him around, and Hal’s indignation is hilarious. So already, this is excellent.
And somehow, Hal is very, very whumpy? So: the character of a “vampire who is trying to be good and suffers” is not new, and I’ve encountered versions where I haven’t been interested. (I was lukewarm about Mitchell, the original vampire in the show.) But for whatever reason, I really dug Hal. Maybe, for me, Hal was just the right mix of very serious and earnest but also ridiculous and tragic all at once. (I read some interviews with the actor Damien Molony, who mentioned how he’d done a lot of history and addiction research in to prep for the role. The new trio actors also had a lot of chemistry and fun on sets, it sounds like. So I might be picking up all that.)
Also, Hal is actually two characters -- the ridiculous indignant serious Good Hal who is desperately trying to keep the horrible, rude, murderous, Bad Hal from taking over. But, as one of the show producers, a woman, cheerfully commented in the DVD extras: “And then Bad Hal shows up, which is great, everyone likes a bit of Bad Hal”.
Honestly, why do we even pretend to hide our fascination with the macabre and the whump, when showrunners and actors are cheerfully not hiding it all.
Here’s clips of Good Hal in Season 4:
youtube
Oh, I forgot about this part until I rewatched the last clip -- but at the end of season 4, Hal asks his flatmates to forcibly bind him to a chair, because he’s trying to fight off Bad Hal. Based on my perusing of the whump community, pretty sure that scenario is of interest to someone.
Also notable is the episode “No Care, All Responsibility” (Series 5 ep 3). In one scene in particular, where Natasha has offered Hal a way to control his bloodlust and there’s this mix of vulnerability and power with Hal asking Natasha to put a stake against his heart, I remember thinking -- “I bet a woman wrote this ep and I bet she knew exactly what she wanted”. And I was right, that woman is Sarah Dollard, a queer woman who has also written a lot of other things (including Doctor Who). She also wrote Being Human goofy web extra eps with Alex, Hal and Tom called “Alex’s Unfinished Business” and they are so good ! (Interview).
Also... the opening 3-minute backstory in “No Care...” made me cry. You get a glimpse of the show’s baddie showing real care and emotion in rescuing this little kid (an important character). When this kind of scene is done well, it just gets me. every. time.
Anyway here’s an appearance of Bad Hal (much later), being completely awful, murdering people and turning them into vampires and singing Broadway tunes during this.
youtube
Side note on Vampire narratives. Although Hal’s narrative arc of season 5 was interesting, and I’m aware this is show is urban fantasy, I still have qualms of the show enforcing IRL stigmas/ideas that addition is incurable and addicts are doomed. They’re not. (General overview on NIH page.) Addiction research is a growing field. From listening to NPR and reading articles, my impression is that addiction treatment will change quickly in the next few years. Related to the vampire blood addiction trope, Terry Pratchett covers vampires finding ways to be “dry” (one vampire, Maladict, swaps out blood addiction for coffee addiction) and you can find fanfics about the topic as well. (General link to Being Human Ao3 fanfics, why not.)
Side note on Hal’s dual characters -- recently, I did consider, “Is there overlap with Hal and portrayals of Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD) folks?” IRL DID people have complained about movies with gross portrayals of people with DID. To me, Being Human’s Hal feels removed from that and closer to a fantasy.... but, I’m also not multi, so.
* Update: after having learned more about plural history, I’m even less sure now. (Note: my opinions are of someone who isn’t plural, as far as I know, so note that.) There’s a number of early problematic movies and books that hugely affected the popular narratives of plural people in the west, and still affect how therapists and non-plural people treat plural people even today. These include the movie “The Three Faces of Eve”, which has the narrative of “Good Eve, Bad Even, and later smushed together become ‘Fixed Eve’ or whatever”. There’s practically a whole lecture series on how the books/movies were made with sensationalism and formulas in mind and pretty gross things. Chris Costner Sizemore, the IRL Eve, had to fight the movie studios in court because the studios claimed they owned her life story. (There’s practically a whole lecture series on early plural history in the west, I might link more information later). Like, even today, multi people feel pressured to hide their plurality because they are afraid singlets or other people are gonna say “oh so which one of you is the ax murderer”, or that they are going to be fired from work. So.
This post turned into a “Being Human seasons 4 + 5 Appreciation Post”. I guess Season 1 and 4, 5 were my favorite. I watched the show through library DVDs, but I think there’s eps of the show on YouTube. The DVD extras are probably on this YouTube playlist?
(Also, there is a pilot episode, with different actors except George/Russel Tovey. I don’t think one needs to watch the pilot to watch the main series; I kind of recall that the main series recycled some of the pilot. There is a funny scene in the pilot where George and Mitchell meet Annie.)
Being Human: a macabre, hilarious, horror-filled, flawed, sometimes dragging, emotional, whumpy, oddball show that I still think about sometimes.
#being human#being human bbc#annie#mitchell#george#alex#tom#Hal#vampire#werewolf#ghost#bbc#bbc3#being human 2008#whump#hurt/comfort#gore#good hal#bad hal#macabre humor#russell tovey#i see russell tovey in other roles and each time I'm like 'GEORGE!?'#lenora crichlow#Aidan Turner#Sinead Keenan#Michael Socha#Damien Molony#kate bracken#vulnerable men#being human uk
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Why I Love Reality TV for Language Learning (+ how to make the most of it)
Reality TV is my favourite type of TV for language learning. Read on to find out why + learn how to make the most of it.
Your Personal Netflix Language Study Pack
The thing I don’t like about Netflix is how stuff gets lost in my Watchlist and then I end up watching the same stuff.
And when it comes to using it for language learning, sometimes you want to sit down and really use it well to improve my languages. But it’s tricky to know where to begin.
I figured you might have the same problems from time to time. So, I made a printable and digital Netflix Language Study Pack to help you really use Netflix for language learning.
Click below to get your personal Netflix Language Study Pack now.
I grew up in the Big Brother age. I was around 12 when Big Brother first launched in the UK.
At that time, it was tame enough for a 12 year old to watch. They had chickens, they had to budget for their weekly food together, and with the exception of ‘Nasty Nick’, it was all very lovely and calm.
As I grew up, so did Big Brother.
Now it’s gone and here in the UK we have Love Island that seems to have replaced it. Not quite suitable for a 12 year old, I imagine. But I’ve never watched that. I guess I grew up too much. (That said, I do still watch Made In Chelsea…)
So reality TV, at least in its modern guise, has very much been a part of my life from my formative years.
However, when it comes to language learning, it was something I’d never really considered until the arrival of Netflix, and one show in particular: Terrace House.
Terrace House is a Japanese reality TV show that’s more like the Real World than Big Brother. But it’s also not like anything else at all. Here’s a trailer for the latest series at the time of writing: Tokyo 2019-2020.
youtube
Cameras film 6 young and aspirational Japanese people (and sometimes ‘half’ Japanese, but more on that later) both in the house and out and about living their daily lives. The daily life stuff often involves modelling shoots, and extreme sports training, or performing gigs. So, you know, typical everyday jobs.
Typical for reality TV it would seem, right? Not exactly.
You see, the beauty of reality TV in different languages is that by default, that involves different cultures.
I’ve learnt more about Japanese customs and etiquette from Terrace House than from any textbook.
Like how you say ‘tadaima’ when you come home and will always get a ‘okaeri’ in response.
And like how it’s totally normal to ask someone who looks a little less Japanese if they are ‘half’ mere minutes after meeting them.
And like how holding hands is a much bigger deal in Japanese dating culture than any Brit on Love Island would have you believe about British culture.
But, spoiler alert, my attitudes to dating were never like Love Island would have you believe to be totally normal for every single Brit. That’s where Terrace House becomes incredibly useful as a cultural resources.
The beauty of Terrace House is that it’s kind of like two shows in one. As well as the main show of the people in the house, there’s also regular cuts to a group of comedians and presenters watching together. This means that when something happens that does seem a little unusual, they’re there to not react or be like “Woah! That was weird!”
This video nicely sums up Terrace House if you’ve never seem the show.
youtube
Recently, whilst learning Korean and looking for something to watch that’s not K-drama (I’m sorry, other than Boys Over Flowers, I’ve just struggled multiple times to get into one) I found Hyori’s B&B.
Hyori’s B&B has become my Korean equivalent to Terrace House. It’s giving me the same cultural education that only reality TV can give, it seems.
There’s no second group of people watching to clarify when stuff is “normal in Korea” or not, but there is a slight divide between Hyori and her husband (and to some extent their celebrity staff helpers), and the guests. So sometimes, they discuss each other’s actions in that sense.
Also, differently to Terrace House, Hyori’s B&B has text pop up, obviously added by editors post-filming, which tries to assume how people felt in certain situations.
Here’s a quick intro to Hyori’s B&B if you’re new to that one. This is a random clip but it gives you an idea of how different it is to Terrace House with text and sound effects etc, yet alike in the mundane simplicity of the whole thing.
youtube
So with that in mind, how does this really work? Can reality TV really be used for language learning? Let’s dive in…
How to Use Reality TV for Language Learning
Most of the suggestions would work just as well with any type of TV, but I really just wanted to make the case for reality TV as I know, like me, not everyone loves drama shows!
Cultural Insights
Reality TV can be a great in context introduction to many aspects of a culture, giving you some base knowledge to research further and ask your tutors and language exchange partners about.
For example, I knew from the start of learning Korean that honourifics and respect for elders is a big deal in Korean culture. However, with Hyori’s B&B, I saw this in action when an elderly couple visited the house.
It’s also great to see attitudes to food and drink, for example.
Hyori and Sang-Soon make tea in an almost ritualistic way, with a full tea set on a tray that includes a cup for the initial bloom among other things. Of course, this could just be them or a small number of Koreans that do this, but it’s still an insight into something I don’t imagine many people doing at home in the UK.
Key Phrases in Context
The easiest way to use reality TV for language learning is to listen out for those key phrases that you hear again and again.
With Hyori’s B&B, they say ‘yeobuseyo’ when they answer the phone, which contradicts what I’d heard on a YouTube video!
I hear them say ‘kaja’ when they get ready to leave the house or walk the dogs.
With Terrace House, I noticed the words they say upon entering the house, and the response that everyone already there gives.
These things happen a lot in these types of shows. This means there’s plenty of chances for repetition without boring rote learning!
Read interviews or reviews of the show
A great way to expand beyond the show itself is to find interviews or reviews of the show online to read.
You might even find YouTube videos or podcasts here too, which would work well as extra listening practice. This is much more appealing because it’s on a topic you enjoy.
As I mentioned, I’ve noticed as well with Hyori’s B&B, there’s lots of text that comes up on the screen too.
Onomatopoeia type words and also these presumptuous statements about how the cast are feeling, such as “He’s sad because she’s sick.”
How they know for sure he’s sad and that her being sick is the reason why, I don’t know. But anyway, there’s extra text with that show as I watch, which is a nice bonus.
Stimulus for Free Writing
TV, whether it’s an entire series or an episode, or even a scene, can make for a great stimulus for a free writing piece.
Write a summary of what’s happened, what you think will happen next, or what you’d like to happen next. (See those chances for using different tenses there?)
Write an email, a review for a magazine, a script for a play. Get creative with the format and pick one to help give you some direction and structure.
Maybe even write a poem about the show! You’ve got complete creative control here.
If you’re looking for some inspiration for writing, here’s All The Writing Resources for Language Learning That You’ll Ever Need
Record Your Spoken Opinions
What do you think of the show? Record your opinions spoken aloud.
Of course, this works well as a follow-on activity from the free writing because you can simply record what you wrote.
Alternatively, if you’re feeling confident enough in the language to do it, go in with no plan and just start speaking as soon as you hit record!
Related: All The Speaking Resources You’ll Ever Need.
Change Tenses, People, Gender etc to Test Your Grammar
Pick a topic, any topic.
Just been reviewing how a certain tense works in that language? Watch a clip from the show. Pause it. Change the sentences you’ve just heard to that tense.
You can even expand to create further sentences related to the ones you’ve just switched.
Mindmap Vocab
With my current level in Korean, this one’s my favourite.
Simply watch a clip of the show until you catch a word/phrase you want to learn more throughly.
Start to mindmap that word and do some outside research to learn more related words.
Remember those onomatopoeia words I mentioned that always show on screen in Hyori’s B&B? I spotted one that led me to learning many more through this activity.
To show you how this works, I recorded myself doing it for this video too.
youtube
To catch more videos like this, be sure to subscribe to my channel on YouTube.
Free Netflix Study Pack
Ready to use TV for language learning? I’ve got a free Netflix Study Pack just for you to help you work through something. You’ll find this especially useful if you’ve never studied with TV. Click the image below to download it now.
How do you use TV for language learning? Do you like watching reality TV or is there another genre that works better for you? Share in the comments!
The post Why I Love Reality TV for Language Learning (+ how to make the most of it) appeared first on Lindsay Does Languages.
from WordPress https://ift.tt/2YYR5WS
via IFTTT
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Hardest Question I Get Asked
Recently, I had a Q&A session on my Instagram and I had a few questions sent to me. One of which caught my eye the most, mainly to do with how long my answer could have been. The question was “Biggest struggle being trans?”. I posted on my Instagram story that I would do a Tumblr on that question, so here it is!
Now, there’s no way that I’m going to be able to write down every single thing that a transgender woman could go through as there’s simply too many. I’ll be going through some of the biggest struggles that I face, and that I expect to face before, during and after my transition from male to female.
To kick this off, I’ll start with the obvious and that is being transgender in itself is a huge struggle. From the initial thoughts to the coming out and much more after that are each struggles in their own right. The initial thoughts of transgenderism and the realisation that I did in fact wish to become female were hugely difficult times, my main instinct was to repress these feelings as put it down to being a phase. But there comes a point where after so long where, I realised deep down, after staring into my mirror wishing I had a woman’s body, that this is what I want. I don’t want to wear skirts and dresses because it’s a phase, I want to wear skirts and dresses because it goes towards validating me as a girl. For some people this may just be a phase and there’s nothing wrong with that, but for me it wasn’t and I realised that, on the inside, I was female! My first thought after being honest with myself and realising I was transgender went straight to having to come out to family, friends etc which was a lot to think about at the time, so much so that I’ve still not been able to come out to them. I’m honestly scared of the reaction I might get, people telling me that it’s just a phase or worst case scenario, that I’ll be forced out of the family because of it. I know that these are worst case scenarios, but the fear of these happening grips me to the point where I’m not sure I can physically do it.
The next struggle that I expect to face is passing as a woman. I don’t think I have a particularly girlie face, or a womanly body which I hope will be fixed through hormones but I know that for a while, I’ll be seen by the world as ‘a man dressing up as a woman’ not ‘a woman’. This is a terrifying thought as trans discrimination is on the up, and I don’t want to be attacked, raped or even murdered just because of my gender.
Speaking of hormones brings me to my next point, which also brings me to another question I was asked: “What surgeries do you plan on getting?”. Surgeries and medical procedures aren’t a huge scare to me but I know that they are to some others, so starting HRT, having facial feminazation, bottom surgery etc, are a huge deal. I know that there are things that can go wrong with these procedures but that’s the risk I’m willing to take. The main goal for me is getting bottom surgery, and for those who don’t know what that is, it’s the surgery that will, in short terms, turn my penis into a vagina. This surgery means a great deal to me as that really is the thing that would validate me as female. As far as I’m concerned, everything about me is a woman, except my body, so changing my body to be female, will make me feel 100% woman. Obviously this comes with complications, the surgery itself and the aftercare that goes with it, but I’m willing to go through that. Other surgeries like getting my breasts done I think I’ll only be sure about after I start my hormones.
A big topic with transgenders is obviously relationships. Personally I don’t feel like there’s a huge amount of men out there who are willing to date trans women. I imagine that because some transgenders still have male genitalia, it can be off putting or seen as gay. I believe that it isn’t gay as I see myself as a woman and that it would be a straight relationship between a man and a woman. On the other hand, there a a few men out there who are into transgenders as a sexual fantasy type thing. I have no issues with this as it means there are more options when it comes to sexual partners. The only issue would come from if they were to lead me on and not be clear that it was just sex. I’ve never had sex so I’m yet to know what it feels like, but after watching a few YouTube videos, I know the kind of thing to expect. I almost want to just get it out of the way. One thing that I will say is, I cannot wait to have vaginal sex for the first time.
Leading on from sex is an issue that could arise down the line for cis-women but won’t for me, and that’s pregnancy. I would love to be a mother but I know that I won’t be able to become pregnant. This is something that bothers me quite a lot because of my dreams of being a mother, even coping with childbirth as I see that as being a ‘normal’ woman, and not have female reproductive organs means that I’m still not ‘totally’ female. Maybe in the future this will somehow change but I doubt in my lifetime, as much as I’d love for me to be able to get pregnant.
Those are the bigger issues, smaller issues for me are things like; clothes, as I was born a boy, I’m worried that girls clothes won’t fit me, and that I won’t pass as a female. The biggest challenge I face right now though is getting girls clothes without anyone I know finding out. Shaving is another issue for me as it’s seen as ‘unmanly’ to shave, meaning that if I’m alone at my university accommodation for example, whilst I’m able to wear skirts etc, I’ll still have hairy legs, and I’m worried that shaving them will lead to questioning about why I’ve shaved, this goes for face, armpits and everywhere really. The most annoying thing is that I have an excess of hair in all the wrong places, but on my head, where I want to have long hair, I don’t have enough. My height also causes an issue for me as I’m 6ft, and wearing heels makes me look like a giant, and I’m worried that when I do go out as a girl, I’ll only draw attention to myself as, quite an obvious transgender. This also applies to makeup, which I’ve not quite mastered yet to say the least. This applies again to general female etiquette, like sitting, walking and speaking like a woman, which I hope with practice and hormones, I’ll get nailed down. To go along with this, I’ve not got boobs yet, so I can only wear clothes that I can stuff a bra with to make it look like I’ve got boobs. I try and keep any bra that I get quite small, usually a B cup just to make sure I don’t look overly obvious. But I still have to wear clothes that cover them up so no one can see. The last thing I’ll talk about, is tucking. For those who don’t know, it’s what you think it is. It is tucking the penis back to give down there a more feminine outline so to speak, for one, tucking is uncomfortable as it requires a lot of tape to keep everything secure. The most effective form of tucking also means that my testicles go back into the socket inside my body, which is very uncomfortable at first, and still gets uncomfortable when sitting etc.
A lot of these issues I think will pass in time when I start my hormone therapy, others I’ll just have to deal with but one thing remains certain; regardless of these issues, I know that I’ve got to overcome these to become what I want, and what I want more than anything, is to be a woman!
Ellie
xoxo
1 note
·
View note
Text
PSA
When you start providing services for your community, whether in the form of Rootwork or simply spiritual readings, there is a spiritual etiquette that should be established, because frankly it’s common sense. I’ve seen too many posts and situations like this in the past week so damn right I’m gonna say something, cause it’s getting tiresome.
When you begin giving services, if you have to ask for help from others in interpreting candle workings or any other simple task as that, I figure you’d best not be taking folks money. Arrogance and ignorance love to play in this game and they will be your downfall. What you do for others is subject to judgement by the spirits. Now every once in a while I’ll see a sign I ain’t never seen before and I will reach out to colleagues for their opinion on it.
In my practice, I don’t do this for the money. Yeah a good buck can help pay bills but I also understand the situations in which folks can’t pay. So I barter: I’ve received many things as payments for work such as a jar of scorpions, fresh farm eggs, rabbit and coon skins, tobacco, whiskey, playing card decks, groceries, the list goes on. All that matters is that something is given or done in return for my services. For folk healing I only accept donations of some kind if they wish to give them, because that’s just how I was taught. You don’t barter someone’s health for money. The old midwives of Appalachia often only asked for a bit of food and drink in return.
Too many times I have seen the big dollar get more attention then the actual needs of a client! And that ain’t right. These folks lives you’re playing with, who are taking funds from their pocket to pay for. I’ve done month long works to help get single mothers back on their feet and never asked for a dime or nothing because that’s just how my mama raised me. Know when and when not to charge, often times they’ll still wana give you something so I don’t decline. Cause it makes folks feel good, nobody likes to get “hand-outs,” they like to give back for their dignity and out of respect. That comes from your foundation with them.
These folks who just wana make a quick buck abuse their clients, often without realizing it. Especially if said client should instead see a medical professional or psychiatrist. This is why I don’t do love works a lot, because many times the client has some sort of unhealthy obsession stemming from something else in the past and I’m not going to be part of extending that, giving it fuel, or furthering their mental health with any possibility of their desired loving them or returning. It’s just too messy. I also don’t lead on long with clients who just can’t follow what I say to see results, they doubt the work or do it wrong, after so many times I just cut them off. Yes I could keep taking their money and working for the same thing, expecting them to again mess it up and ask for more work, but that ain’t right! So I don’t do it.
I’ve also seen folks who just up and talk about their clients personal lives. THAT AINT RIGHT! These folks come to you in confidence and with hope that you can help! Now I’ve found that when you’re truly working in the spirit, you won’t remember much of what they say or even who said it!!! I know that folks have told me about sexual abuse, domestic violence, theft, and all sorts of other things that are best left private and often tmi for me. But you wana know what? I cannot to this day tell you which secret matches with who, cause I was only the hear piece for spirit, not a mouth piece to others beside my client. So I can’t tell any of my clients secrets because i don’t remember.
Too many workers are working without the most important pieces of this work: an honest heart, integrity, hospitality, manners, and simple common sense! These folks are dangerous because of their ignorance and arrogance. You ain’t the shit just cause you successfully helped two folks, tell em about all those disappointed ones where you didn’t know what you was doing! You are playing with peoples lives, their sanity, their comfort, their money, and livelihoods. Everyone is watching YouTube and coming up a root doctor! Running off to the graveyards without protection, calling up infernal spirits without a damned thought rackin their skull. Shits crazy! You can’t build a reputation that way! It ain’t about products, or pretty websites, or anything that gets you to a good place in the community except for your reputation. Your reputation with folks is the foundation of your work and business with them! Folks now don’t wana spend the time it take for that to work with folks one and one, simply get reviews, test the waters, help folks just because and make long time friends in the process. It’s all about that money! And in the end it’ll still be all about it cause they still won’t have none! A house divided cannot stand, so if your work or heart or mind is divided on things, don’t roll the dice for success cause it ain’t happening under that roof! Fill your cup, make your dish and then you can serve others. Ain’t no point in going to a rootdoctor who can’t even take care of their own shit. I won’t lie to you, I got my own issues as everybody does, but I’ve been doing this long enough to have patience and watch first before making my move, even in my own life, cause it’s better to work and get results than just waste a candle and a bunch of herbs because you didn’t listen to what was being said. If I don’t feel the problems that big in my own life, I ain’t gonna spend time to fix it until it is. I don’t lie to folks, there ain’t no point in it when you doing honest work with and honest heart and a humble prayer. Ain’t nothing to hide!
So for the safety of yourself, your reputation, and your clients, please make sure to build your foundation first with folks before making an empire. We see how well this all worked with Lucky Mojo didn’t we? She didn’t spend the time to gain and keep the trust of the community, she built for a big buck and now goes through groups and communities who like her company until they see true colors and leave.
So be smart, be honest, be humble, and keep building. Because once you been doing this long enough, you’ll find a different type of satisfaction in this work that will outweigh the money every single day!
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
Speaking Of Pretentious Pseudo-Intellectuals:
Let’s talk about internet psychologist @ravenstag-wytch who thinks she knows everything because she took a psych-101 course once and likes to use every cliche trope in the book to “internet diagnose” people with “problems” which if she knew anything about psychology at all she’d know she couldn’t do. So, here’s the little DM she sent me because well...she practically BEGGED me for attention while claiming I’M an attention whore, weird right? Here we go.
I find this message interesting for a few reasons.
Look at how she starts this whole thing like she’s about to write a fucking thesis, that’s how we already know we are dealing with someone who’s about to say a bunch crap that they have absolutely know education in.
1. There are posts on your blog in which you rant and rave about people not listening to you or reading your posts correctly, yet it’s very clear that you didn’t read mine. I never said that you said no other fandom was like this; I was simply pointing out the fact that all fandoms have the crazies (because it’s true).
Yes this is pretty much what the fandom uses to dismiss my argument they never read the rest of what I say which funnily enough despite all her accusations against me she still didn’t manage to see. Even in the original DM I sent her. Where I clarified that, I know there are crazies in every fandom that was never the point I was trying to make. What I was saying is the majority of the Hannibal fandom is crazy and that’s the difference. In larger fandoms, the crazy people are the minority not the majority so they can be more easily ignored. That’s not the case with the Hannibal fandom, and as such, the majority represents the minority who are mostly good people. Weird that she couldn’t finish reading all of that before jumping down my throat right? Moving on.
I’ve been participating in fandoms for about 15 years, so I know from experience. If anything, your response showed just how quick you are to jump on the defense, to the point where you don’t bother to finish listening to the other party.
Not true I read all of what you said and what they have to say but it’s very clear from this response you did not finish reading what I told you so you are literally projecting your own problems onto me and acting superior about it. Also if people are “experts” based on how long they’ve “been in fandoms” I���ve been doing it longer so I’m more of an “expert”. Just to clarify this is sarcasm, how long anyone has or hasn’t been in “Fandoms” doesn’t matter.
These are bad debate skills, and since you seem to have made an entire hobby out of being argumentative on the internet, you should perhaps brush up on debate etiquette; you simply look like a fool. Perhaps you know this, which is why you chose to PM me instead of reblog and make your defense public.
Bad debate skills? How? I read all of what you said, you didn’t read all of what I said before writing me an essay about everything wrong with me. I’m pretty sure you’re the one with bad debate skills. Also what debate were we even having? This wasn’t a debate. I thought she misunderstood my argument and my point about the majority of the fandom representing the group which makes the normal people in the group look bad. This isn’t a debate, why is she classifying it as such? To make her feel better? To make her feel like she won? Yeah probably. Also I didn’t reply in public because I thought it was more polite to discuss it privately not because I’m a coward or my only hobby is arguments on the internet? That’s a weird conclusion to jump to.
2. ...speaking of. I see another, quite long post on the “issue” of the Hannibal fandom being “obsessive”. I find this to be really interesting as well, considering that it’s very obvious that you are inherently obsessed with the Hannibal fandom (and in quite a negative way). You have put in more effort into your posts than some of us have on actually contributing to the fandom.
I type 90 words per minute anything you’ve seen me write took me 5 minutes at most and 99% of it is copy and pasted from things I wrote years ago and are being cross posted on this blog to get traffic to my website. So...really it’s not taking as much time as you think it’s taking.
I also see you make YouTube videos doing the same - again, a clear display of obsessive behaviour. That’s quite hypocritical of you, no matter how you look at it.
Have you watched any of these videos? No? Because the vast majority of these videos talk about people in the fandom running scams, preying on young girls, and stalking celebrities. The vast majority of the videos I have done are not about the show, not about the “general fandom” they are about criminals in the fandom and the crimes they are committing. Now I’m really sorry if it’s “obsessive” to want criminals to be held accountable for crimes they are committing but if it is, then I I guess I’m just a bad person. I’m assuming that you haven’t watched any videos or looked at one or two titles if that’s what you think my channel is about. Also, that channel has existed for I think 5 years? So those videos have gone up over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME not a week. That’s pretty normal non obsessive behavior. Might want to figure out the difference.
And as an aside... I had the wonderful opportunity of attending a Hannibal convention for the very first time this year, and I was overwhelmingly surprised at how incredibly lovely the people in this fandom are. Many times, I mentioned that I’d never been part of such a frictionless, bright fandom full of caring and just overall wonderful people.
Just because you’ve never had the experience I have that means I must be lying and it’s not true nor could it have possibly happened. Very mature outlook there. You are “sorry” I had this experience because your very small, only ever attended one convention with cult members was “normal” and “fun”. Except I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that if you found these people NORMAL and inviting you are exactly the type of crazy person I’m talking about and have been all along so lol why am I even trying?
So many people have said the same. I’m actually very sorry that you haven’t had the same experience. Regarding your claims about sanity/mental illness... First, I see no facts; only opinions. Please present your proof if you are going to argue a point (this goes back to debate skills - innocent until proven guilty and all that), and also be sure to include numbers since you are saying such things as “the MAJORITY”, etc. My experiences with this fandom have been exactly the opposite as yours.
Okay so now she’s repeated herself, and once again she’s trying to make the claim that because she’s never SEEN this happen it couldn’t have possibly happened and is demanding proof which I have all over my website and youtube channel which she’d know if she’d ever watched the videos but she hasn’t. She assumed the content of the videos, then assumed I was lying or something without bothering to do the research because her experience (and this is where the narcissism comes in) differs, she can’t even step outside of herself to see maybe she’s wrong.
And I hate to say this, but the only negative I’ve ever experienced in this fandom has been this one... I’ve never encountered someone who is simply so hateful about tearing people down who are just trying to enjoy something (fandoms are an extracurricular activity). If you dislike the fandom so much, just leave it alone. ‘
If you dislike what I’m saying so much how about you leave me alone? Furthermore if you were paying attention and I know you weren’t because you expect people to read what you have to say but don’t bother to listen to them, is that my major complaint with the fandom is how they let scam artists get away with scamming and sexual predators get away with finding victims that’s like 90% of the complaint which you’d know if you were actually paying attention to anything you saw me upload or write.
On the other hand, you have Mads Mikkelsen who attended RDC several times (you know, despite the fandom being “dead”) who continually says he would love to continue Hannibal (in fact, he and I spoke about this in person - don’t worry, I didn’t stalk him. It was at a PAID meet and greet at the con). Even during interviews for other movies and works he’s doing, if Hannibal is ever brought up he talks about how he loves the Fannibals and the show, and he would make time for it in a heartbeat if the opportunity comes up. This is a drastically different picture than, say, the Sherlock fandom (and I’m not trying to pick on them, it’s just what came to mind based on actual public evidence). So yeah.
Oh because celebs don’t publicly talk about it that means they aren’t bothered by it? Really? That’s your claim here because Mads Mikkelsen has never mentioned it he must have never been affected by it? Are you freaking serious right now? Costas Mandylor who still attends conventions to meet Saw fans has had problems with many stalkers and has never spoken up about it publicly. The only reason people know is because they know who these stalkers were in the fandom, by name, because they made themselves obvious. Think you have no idea what you are talking about if you think that the only proof of people being bothered by stalkers is if they mention it publicly. God DAMN you have a narrow minded view of the world don’t you?
I guess I just don’t understand your perspective based on the evidence supplied. I also don’t understand your very hypocritical nature, nor why you seem to be such an angry, hateful person. I feel sorry for you, living with all that negative energy. 😞
No actually you don’t understand my perspective based on the 2 seconds of “research” you actually did. The evidence is there, the proof is there, I have put it up and hilariously enough you’ve been to my youtube channel you’ve watched nothing, you’ve decided your opinion based on I don’t know, vague skimming you complain that I don’t listen to you or read what you have to say when I have done that, and then you pull the bullshit “pretending to care” when you don’t really care. It’s condescending and sickening. You are literally every problem I have with this fandom. The projection, the immaturity, the unwilling to listen to anyone who doesn’t parrot back what you hear from your echo chamber. You are 100% the type of Fannibal I have been describing this entire time and you fail to realize it because you are just as insane as the people you are attempting to defend.
So, sweetie, did I give you enough attention? Though I doubt you’ll read literally any of this since you put SO MUCH EFFORT Into trying to understand me before. (That was sarcasm it’s clear you are too dumb to understand that) and for the record I’ve politely approached several people like I have you on here to get a better understanding but you are legit THE ONLY PERSON who reacted this way. Maybe you need to consider that, sweetie. Hope this is enough for you because I don’t intend to give you more.
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
I’m too lazy to make a youtube channel and I feel like ranting
I have no idea if anybody will ever see this or care but I felt like ranting about this dude because I need some sort of outlet. So...
I’m currently a senior in high school and am a part of my school’s yearbook. I’ve taken the class for the past two years and know how it is run and how we get shit done.
Last year, the majority of our staff were seniors and only 6 of us returned this year. Our new yearbook staff is mostly new (obviously) which is fine. Most of them kind of know what they are doing and understand how important our jobs/deadlines are in order to make the yearbook possible.
But there is this one dude.
Let’s call him Even. One of my best friends used to be close with Even but they had some sort of falling out. I don’t know all the details, however, I do know that they no longer get along. I was never really close with Even. We knew of each other and smiled in the hallways, but that was really it.
The second week of school Even shows up in Yearbook. I don’t think much of it nor do I really care that he is in the class. So the majority of the first month of school the editors and returning members of the class help get the newbies settled and show them the basics of Yearbook.
In my district, we start school in August. We don’t necessarily start working on everything for the class until like mid-September. A lot of that beginning time is us messing around on our phones and doing literally nothing or teaching the new members how to work the computers and cameras. Really easy stuff in my opinion.
Even is someone who talks and gossips a lot. He doesn’t have boundaries when it comes to certain things. Now I think it is rude and disrespectful to call someone a whore.
But Even is kind of a man whore.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care what he decides to do with other males in the bedroom. Honestly, I don’t. It doesn’t concern me in any way, shape, or form. Except he brings it up in class. This is where the ‘no boundaries’ thing falls into place. Even would tell us (the people who sat at my table) about his hookup stories. At first, some of them were funny, but then he started going into more detail. It got uncomfortable.
Now, in Yearbook, we get certain pages we need to work on. We call them spreads. This year I had a sports spread. So did Even.
When you get a spread you need to call people out of class to interview them. The right etiquette is to call one to two people out at a time. The yearbook room is the size of a normal classroom. If everyone in the class has someone pulled out to interview, it gets pretty hectic. We end up not having enough seats, it gets loud to the point that you probably can barely hear the person you’re interviewing, and it honestly is just a lot of chaos.
Even would not use that etiquette. No, he would call out the majority of the team and interview them all at once. One day I was trying to sell some senior night photos to the football players. Again, it was one of those days where a lot of people were interviewing. I went out to call out one of the guys from the team. I left my computer with my photos up in order to say ‘hey don’t use this computer’ while I was gone.
The computer I was using was the main computer that holds all of Yearbook’s photos. Obviously, I needed it open so I could show the guys the photos I had gotten for them to purchase. I leave for like 5 to 8 minutes tops. When I get back, Even has left my folder with my photos and went into his and has crowded the area with people from the team he is interviewing. No one can get to the computers and it is in everybody's way.
I’m not the only one frustrated at this point. My friend and I were trying to sell our photos, the guys from the football team were already there, and Even was refusing to move. Eventually, after getting three more people involved, the five of us got him to move to the empty part of the room.
This was just one incident.
I guess this is the end of part 1.
3 notes
·
View notes
Link
This is not the post I was intending to write.
You see, I started updating my "Enough with Sensei Scumbag's Shenanigans" post. I used to have a list of martial arts instructors arrested/convicted of sexual abuse and other crimes of that nature in that post, and I realized I hadn't updated it in a while. In fact, that list became so long, I decided to create a new post with a better list that I could update in an easier way.
Welcome to your near future, Sensei Scumbag.
That's the post I was going to publish today.
BUT.
In my research for that post, though, I ran across a web site that had a much more comprehensive list than I had assembled. By my own independent research, this list is pretty correct, even if it's missing some, notably Ralph Hall. It's a really good list.
At first, I was really excited, as I think such a list is an EXCELLENT idea, so that people searching for martial arts instruction online can make informed choices about who they - or their child - will train with.
I think we can all agree that being informed is one way to help combat the problem of sexual abuse in our community, right? So, I thought to myself, awesome, I can just link to that list and I won't have to reinvent the wheel.
Then I started reading more of the site.
I won't be linking to that list or that site (not anywhere, including in this post). The post intended for today will stay unpublished for a while.
Here's why:
The author is one of those folks in certain Christian circles that believes that the martial arts is sinful and you can't train if you're a Christian, because the martial arts is against the Bible and they interpret things like dojo etiquette as non-Christian religious behavior.
The author contends that we need licensing and universal background checks to address abuse in the martial arts, to start, but as you read through other pages on the site, as well as his YouTube and Twitter channels, you can see his real agenda really quickly.
He wants the martial arts banned.
Used this before, I'll do it again, sorry not sorry.
If you Google it, you'll see lots of debate out there on whether or not good Christians can train in the martial arts, and they can or can't train. There's plenty of Christians out there who would agree with the author of the site that I'm avoiding linking to.
I would point out that this does not appear to be the majority view. We have LOTS of organizations in our martial arts world that are Christian in nature. Karate for Christ, the International Fellowship of Christian Martial Artists, The Christian Martial Arts Council and The Christian Martial Arts Association are just a few.
If you think that the martial arts are an irreligious thing for you to participate in, I can respect your decision. I think this is an erroneous interpretation of what is happening, I think they don't understand that the martial arts is not a monolith (my style comes from a Christian part of the Philippines after all), and I think they are misinterpreting giving respect to a teacher or a founder of a system.
If you feel like it's the right thing to do in your religious faith, by all means, don't train.
But BAN it because it's against your religion? Not in my country, my friend. We don't do stuff that way.
Damn straight, it does!
What really burns my cookies here is that the author of the site I will not link to is actually doing something I think all of us will agree with, but I can't and I won't use his resource because literally every other thing he believes I completely and utterly disagree with.
ARGH!
Licensing? I wrote about the problem of that (and objective standards) here, and I think that this guy WANTS martial arts training to be way too expensive for most people so that's not a problem for him.
Background checks? Great idea and lots of martial arts schools and organisations are implementing this. BUT I doubt it will have much effect. When you look up these Sensei Scumbags, most of them had clean records before they were caught. I can think of one notable exception and there's more, but usually these are crime-free upstanding members of the community. That's what makes them so dangerous.
Here's the thing - there IS a grain of truth to the criticism he's offering. He thinks that the very nature of training makes us ripe for cult-like behavior, authoritarian command-and-control leadership structures, and puts us in a position for the abuse of our trust.
I noted these very tendencies - and more - in the "Sensei Scumbag" post I linked to above. I think that our training culture makes it very easy for Scumbags to prey on us, and I suggest some ways to make it harder.
BUT it does not automatically follow that therefore, the martial arts community as a whole is inherently dangerous and must be regulated or banned from existence.
It'd be like arguing that because a pastor uses his charisma, sales tactics, and authority over his church for personal gain, ALL churches are like that. Or arguing because of the nature of Christian church organization, it's too easy for predators to use the church as a way to easily access - and silence - sexual assault victims so we should therefore ban churches (and it's not just the Catholics, guys, read here).
I am NOT engaging in whataboutism here. I think that any group that has any kind of leadership structure and/or money and power over people will struggle with these problems. This includes The Boy Scouts. USA Gynmastics, team sports of just about every sport you can name (here's ONE example).
If there's a group of people that includes potential victims, there are predators using that group for access to those victims.
Sensei Scumbag, Coach Scumbag, Teacher Scumbag, Pastor Scumbag, President Scumbag, Mentor Scumbag, Principal Scumbag, Father Scumbag, Boss Scumbag... they all exist.
Banning the martial arts, sports, churches, schools, workplaces, etc. won't stop him.
If you're a Christian, do you struggle with a conflict between faith and martial arts training? What would you suggest as a way to combat Sensei Scumbag? Did I give too much attention to a crackpot in the internet? Let us know in the comments!
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
ugh no my parents treated me like a baby. they allowed 0 independence. i think even til this day i have a lot to learn in social skills 😂 i'm too shy to start a conversation but if someone approaches my first then i can keep it flowing? so excited for you for when you're able to leave!!
OH MY GOSH STARRY I'M SO SORRY!!!!!!! 😧🥺 it isn't a pleasant thing to talk about regardless i should have chosen a different word 😭 HAHAHAHA no it made me chuckle out loud!! 🤣🤣 got some questioning looks from my son but yes 😂😂 these days i struggle to not hear exo things in my head.. everytime i see or hear "we are one" i hear myeon screaming exo SARANGHAJA wildly in my ear 😂🤣
looks like we're not the only ones that need to learn basic social skills and etiquette. but at least we're self aware!!
yep i originally came here to quietly exist and read fics and save some exo pics 😅 then i felt guilty so slowly started liking and reblogging. and now you've got me tagging! maybe more than needed but still 🤣 this is as close i get to being a fic writer. like youtube reactions but..tumblr? that makes you a tumblr influencer!! 😝
omg i used to be sooo obsessed with being a particular size in clothing. even now sometimes it affects my decision when buying clothes. i keep having to remind myself that the size is just a guide and it doesn't matter. i worked in retail for a long while so i was constantly surrounded my model-esque people 😔 i feel that too!! i came across a little documentary a while ago about autism in girls and the reason why statically boys are more likely to be diagnosed on the spectrum compared to girls is because girls actually "mask" their symptoms better? so pretending things are okay and trying to behave 'normally'. it's pretty interesting! i feel like it's the same for other mental health conditions. we should allll be screened just so we can get the right help! ooomygosh that sounds so sweet 🥺 minseokkie when is this happening!? i'm ready for you 😫
OMG STARRY! maybe a small exo series about first dates using these? 🙏 they're all so cute!! 🥺 but wait WHAT!? you haven't had kbbq or hotpot!? they're my favourite things in the world 😭 along with boba omg i'm obsessed with boba. i want to get another pet and name it boba 😂 SEHUNS DATE ALSO NEEDS BOBA!! 🧋🧋🧋 omfg if we weren't in pandemic times i would fly there and take you to get kbbq and hotpot 🤣
HAHAHA JUNMYEON WYD HONEY, WIFE HER UP SO Y'ALL CAN REPRODUCE SOME GORGEOUS BABIES!! but same i'm constantly being questioned how old i am and get all these judging looks from people when i'm out with my kids 🙃 i'm 27 okay not 16, relax 🙃🙃🙃 yes LOLL he was the ultimate geek ceo in that series 🤣
my dad hates tattoos with a passion and i know it's my body my rules but i just don't want to deal with the headache that it'll bring if i got one? like it just isn't worth. so i said later on down the track it'll happen, just not now. but the temptation to actually go and do it gets stronger every single time i talk about it 😫
SINCE U BEEN GONEEEEEE I CAN BREATHEE FOR THE FIRST TIME!! yeah f u c k them!! thank u NEXT!! hahahaha in that case you and me both 😂
lolll it was so hard to ask my parents to hang out with friends🙄🙄i never went out bc it was such a hassle😔😔but yes i suck when it comes to starting conversations but if someone else reached out first i can talk to them!!
don't worry about it l!! i should have said something somewhere lol but u know now that's all that matters!!! agh i loved when jun said "we are one exo saranghaja" i love imitating it it's hilarious🤣🤣yes i quote "shut up and go away" a lot when i get angry and every time i hear an english word that was in an exo song i always think of the song!!
agh i came to tumblr bc i read so many exo fics on here before making my account and i wanted to try out writing for exo and here we are!! 103 followers :DDD i'm so happy thank u all followers <33 and yes i love reblogging gifs and stuff it's a way to save it! omgg i'm a really small influencer loolll
i honestly have been a large for years so i've accepted being that size lol, although a couple times in high school when we had to order shirts/sweaters for events/clubs and i said large i got really insecure bc most of the people were healthy weight and stuff✌🏻oh wow masking symptoms? i don't think i really do so i feel i'm pretty expressive in my emotions and whatnot but i want to mask it when around others bc i don't want to show people how i feel esp if it's in school or something! and yes mental health awareness is soooo important! it's just as important as physical health!!!
WAIT??? THAT MAY BE A BLURB/DRABBLE SERIES??? YES??? OMG UR MIND!!! and ofc how could i forget sehun and boba? and AGH i want to go to get korean bbq and hotpot so bad!! maybe i'll go with my best friend they said they had korean bbq before and they said it was good!! omg boba is fantastic!! just the other day i had lychee green tea with lychee bubbles and it was the best thing ever!! lychee is so good😫😫
ugh i hate getting disapproving looks🙄🙄people suck sometimes,, but fun fact i did all my growing in middle school and when i was a freshman someone thought i was a junior🤣🤣🤣but i've basically looked the same since i was 14 loool (except i got longer hair and fatter)
ugh same my parents hate tattoos (and piercings, i want a nose ring and a belly button piercing lolll) but honestly i don't care because they'll be small so easily covered lmaooo,, my cousins have tattoos and piercings despite their parents wishes so why not follow suit? my cousin even joked about taking me to get my piercing🤣🤣 and when the time comes i may ask my cousins how it was to get tattoos and stuff lol!
0 notes
Link
15 Really Cool Jobs That Let You Enjoy Full-Time Travel! / Visa2Fly.com
Travelling is great. Except, during a pandemic, you can’t really do much of it – unless it’s part of your job scope! It’s times like these where we miss moving across the globe, and also have time to re-think our life (and career) choices. To blur the two would be amazing – travel is an expensive investment, although you do gain a lot of priceless memories. Club this with a job, and you don’t have to worry about spending a fortune, or saving – in fact, you’ll be doing the opposite: earning money!
Read on to know more about how you can make travelling a permanent part of your life.
1.Government/International Relations Jobs
There are a few jobs you can take as part of the Government – such as being a diplomat – that allow you to travel. Although these require quite a lot of preparation and dedication (including some tough exams on the way), they are valued highly and you can serve your nation in the process. You will probably be holding a new passport by the end of it – and standing in a new country as well! These are more long-term and require some commitment, so once you get in you may not be able to get out easily. But it is definitely worth the effort.
2.English Teaching
For some reason, there always seem to be vacancies in the English teaching community. Many countries actively search for qualified teachers, so if you can crack IELTS or TOEFL and are a good teacher, this one’s for you! You may even be able to take on ESL (English as a Second Language) jobs in schools or communities, and gain exposure through educating professionally.
3. Flight Attendants
Picture this: you’re 30,000 feet in the air. Your other crew members are there to keep you company, along with passengers who are seated. You see the sun rise in front of your eyes, and when you land, you get off in a new country. Cool, isn’t it? This could be your reality if you’re a flight attendant.
However, this will come along with irregular sleep, long working hours, unsupportive passengers, and learning all the proper etiquette and techniques necessary for the part. Keep that in mind!
4. Volunteer Work
Doing volunteer work is one way of guilt-free travel – you’re helping others whilst helping yourself too! But make sure to choose your projects carefully. Often, humanitarian work is given in places that have local resources – which make the latter underutilized. Choose organizations that empower locals in the long-term, such as contributing to awareness of local crafts/ empowering local teachers with resources and training. Do this instead of building infrastructure (which locals would know how to do, considering their knowledge about the land and its resources) or helping out in local produce.
5.Cruise Ship Careers
Working on cruise ships means that you’ll be able to travel across the Seven Seas full-time! Provided you’re not prone to seasickness, that is. There are many such careers to be found on board, such as attendants, clergy, entertainers, restaurant occupations, or even lifeguards. Although these may sound glamorous, they come with a lot of hard work. You may not be able to get out and explore cities as much as you would like, but many cruise operators do allow their staff to get off the ship on breaks.
6.Travel and Teach
Teaching opportunities aren’t just lacking in English. There are many ways you could use your knowledge to help others abroad. Maybe you know how to perform Bharatanatyam, are a certified Yoga instructor, or are an expert at crochet. Either way, there’s always a window out there for you! Do your research before you get on the plane, get any certifications you need, and go forth!
7.Translators and Interpreters
This job comes in many different levels. You could be a translator for a local school, or even for the nearest Embassy! Choosing the option that covers your comfort level and priorities ensures maximum satisfaction – for you, and the person whom you are working for. Make sure you write all the necessary examinations of the language you are planning to translate, and are well-versed in the nuances and culture of the country you are planning to travel to. This narrows down the options of places you will be able to travel (for work), but ensures that your experience there is enriched.
8.Journalism and Blogging
Do you have the skill needed to start a travel blog and make it successful? Or maybe you are well-versed in the realm of writing for travel? Either way, you could make this a profession and monetarily benefit from it – whilst travelling, of course! Many famous travel-related companies like NatGeo, BBC and Lonely Planet employ on-field writers to publish articles for them. You could be next!
9.Fitness Instructors
If you’re a fitness buff or know a lot about how to keep fit, you could make a profit out of it, too! Many gyms and fitness centers across the world are on the look out for good staff, and maybe you’re the one they have in mind. Often, you will need to have prior working experience, be able to demonstrate your abilities, and have a certification for the same. This improves your credibility and gives them no reason to refuse!
10. International Aid Workers
Working for the United Nations in areas of the World that require urgent assistance is a valiant and good-willed occupation. You get the chance to travel to otherwise inaccessible territories, and are able to provide aid for those who need it most – in a way that could benefit them well. Instead of being the person who donates, you could be the one who is on-field helping war-torn societies with those donations. Remember that this is not a job for the weak-hearted, but it is one that supports many.
11. Hostel Occupations
Hostels are prevalent in any country you go to. A popular alternative to hotels, these establishments are more casual and have greater freedom. You can just walk into one and see if they have an opening, or do your research beforehand and then settle on one that is a good fit for you. Either way, make sure it is a professional and well set-up place in a connected area – to ensure your safety and salary!
12. Influencers
Being an influencer online is a job that many seek. It comes with fame, followers… And lots of flights for you! Depending on the type of influencer you aim to be, you could opt for one that allows you to travel and vlog. Upon becoming popular (which is where the risk sets in – that you need to be popular to be successful), you would be able to snag good brand deals and maybe even become an ambassador – leading to more and more travel. Choose a platform that suits your style of marketing – Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, WordPress, YouTube, or all of them!
13. Be an Au Pair
An au Pair is a helper from another country (which could be you), who travel to live with a host family – and help them with childcare and housework. If you are good with kids and dream of managing your own home someday, this could be you! Typically, Au Pairs are unmarried and are legal adults between the ages of 18-30. Although, you could still pick up this job after that as well.
14. Special Events Planners
Being an events planner means you’re going to be planning the A to Z for someone’s important day – be it a graduation ceremony, wedding, or the Olympic banquet! If you get really good at your job, you’d gain recognition and well-known clients that could propel your career abroad. Destination weddings are common as well, and this allows you to travel and work at the same time.
15. Anthropologists, Archaeologists and Cartographers
Studying culture, history and geography in school does come in handy – here. Following migratory patterns, unearthing dinosaur remnants or charting territories of the World are all things people of these professions do: along with travelling, that is. This isn’t a very common job scope, and not all people from these professions travel. But if travel is what you want, you could definitely choose a specialization that allows for the same.
And there you have it! Professions that allow you to travel the World and get paid, too. Of course, each comes with its own difficulties – but its own benefits, too! If you’d like to get a visa to ensure your travel is hiccup-free, check out our website at Visa2Fly.com! Check out our other blogs on solo travel and language learning platforms, so you’re updated on the coolest ways to travel!
0 notes
Text
Note: Here’s a continuation of the Kacchako’s family fic. This one is mainly about daddy Bakugou. Also some todomomo bonus. Warning for some swearing. Enjoy!
In which Bakugou babysits
“I don’t like this,” Bakugou spoke under his breath, carefully glancing over his shoulder. Uraraka’s homemade curry, now perfected to a t, was simmering away in the quaint kitchen of their home, its pungent smell travelling throughout the living room. Behind the couple, Angel, now 5 years-old, sat opposite a young boy, who appeared to be overly amused at the card game the two were engrossed in. The latter was Kazu, a name meaning ‘peace’. Inheriting his mother’s dark hair and intelligence, he was considered a genius at the young age of 4.
“Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are away on a mission until,” the brunette tilted her head up briefly, noticing the hand that just struck 6, “11 tonight. They want someone to look after Kazu; Todoroki’s sister isn’t available and you know how Yaoyorozu’s parents live too far now. She’s not comfortable leaving him to their maid either.”
A burst of loud giggles echoed.
“I’m supposed to look after both of them alone?!” The blond man could already feel the dread sinking in and Uraraka covered his loud mouth in an instant.
“The kids will hear you! I’ll be back, just gotta pick up the usb drive from Tsuyu’s, you know about our mission tomorrow right? You can do it! I believe in you.”
Bakugou grunted, mouth opened, readying to propose a countermeasure.
“No more complaining,” Uraraka playfully wagged her finger, “You can do it. The dinner’s ready anyways. All you have to do is scoop the rice and feed the kids.” Her hands landed on her hips and he knew a tirade was coming.
He groaned in preparation.
“No swearing, wait for the curry to cool before you give it to them, and most importantly, don’t show them violent videos on youtube like you did last time,” she halted, eyes directed to the ceiling in thought, “oh and make sure to be careful of Kazu’s spouts of ice. Todoroki said he hasn’t fully developed his quirk yet so a lot of weird things could happen if he gets too excited or –“
“Yeah I get it,” Bakugou cut in. That was the only way to signal her to a stop, “Just make sure you get back as soon as possible, I’m not sure if the house will still be standing after the next half hour.”
Uraraka let out a short exhale, entertained by the images of her husband running around, chasing after the two younglings, “Alright, call me if you need anything.”
~~
“Uncle Katsuki!” Kazu cried out. His short legs dangled and swung as he scooped the rice, coated messily with yellow curry, “I want to watch more videos!”
“Daddy, me too!” Bakugou’s daughter smiled from ear to ear, resembling greatly of the warmth that his wife imbued. His daughter’s fingers made zigzag motions, spinning and toying with the spoon that was in her hand just a second ago, in thin air. Having near perfect control of her telekinetic quirk at such a young age was a cause for celebration in their household, Bakugou clearly identifying such feat as the result of his talented genes.
Nowhere in his DNA did talents in ‘babysitting’ lie, however. The man wiped his hands along his face, chest rising. He needed to calm the fuck down.
“It’s ‘Frozen’ every time we decide on a movie,” Bakugou muttered. He could sing ‘Let It Go’ in his sleep by now. Not that he enjoyed singing. Hell, no one except for his wife needed to know that. Noticing a piece of potato stuck on the side of his daughter’s chubby cheeks, he flicked it off with his finger, “How about we do something else?”
Kazu’s lips turned downwards, kicking his legs even harder. The squeak of his chair prompted the girl beside him to lay a gentle hand on her companion’s black spiky hair.
“Daddy, how about stories,” Angel’s eyes sparkled in the prospect. “Kazu and I love stories. About heroes. ”
Seemingly intrigued, Kazu’s back straightened and his spoon tapped in anticipation. Bakugou’s eyes darted at both of them. Their plates were half empty, and judging from the size of their tiny, bulgy stomachs, the kids were just about full.
The man scratched the top of his forehead, “Well, what kind of stories do you guys want?” He was getting impatient. “Stories about your godfather, All Might?”
A flash of excitement left their expressions as soon as it came.
“Uncle Katsuki, I want stories about you and daddy,” Kazu rested his cute, little head on both of his palms. Angel followed suit, nodding.
Bakugou sighed. Todoroki and I? He thought in frustration. Fabricating a tale about two princesses and a talking dog in space was probably easier than finding a story about him and two-face that didn’t involve too much swearing. And no way was he going to survive tonight if he dared make the story too violent. If Yaoyorozu didn’t scold him, his wife sure would pack a wallop to his stomach. A revelation hit him.
“Okay,” He started, and leaned forward, red eyes blazing, “I’ll tell you guys a good story.” The kids tipped over, their elbows supporting their weight halfway on the dining table. If Uraraka were here, she’d tell them about table manners, but he wanted to keep his ‘cool Uncle Katsuki’ image, so screw etiquette.
“Long ago, when Uncle Shouto,” he looked over from Angel to Kazu, “well your dad, were on a rescue operation-“
“What’s an operation daddy?” Angel interrupted and Kazu quickly responded.
“It’s like a mission,” the boy whispered, and Bakugou nodded.
“Yes, exactly Kazy.” A nickname only Bakugou called him with. “So, we went to rescue a group of people who were stuck in a city destroyed by a giant tsunami.” The man raised his arms and made a towering motion to enhance the atmosphere. The kids gasped.
“And then?”
“And then, we found out that it was a villain with a water quirk. I tried to blast the sick bast—“ Bakugou paused immediately. Crap, almost said ‘bastard’ there.
He cleared his throat to continue, “the enemy with a giant explosion. BOOM! It went.”
The kids jumped a little from the sudden rise in volume.
“Uncle Shouto was trying his best by freezing the water and it was really powerful, but it wasn’t enough. Even with my crazy amazing explosions, the enemy’s quirk was too strong.”
Bakugou had to sneak in praise for himself; no way was he going to give all the glory to Todoroki.
“My daddy freezes things all the time,” Kazu looked almost pleased, “he says I’ll be like him soon.”
“That’s great Kazy,” Bakugou reached a hand over to ruffle the tuff of hair on the boy’s head and went on, “so Uncle Shouto and I had to retreat a little. JUST A LITTLE.” He had to emphasize, “Because our team-“ of crappy underlings, he wanted to add, “had to rescue the injured people stuck under the buildings. But just when we thought we were safe. A tower behind us came collapsing down like dominoes. You guys know dominoes right? We played it last time Kazy came over.”
Kazu and Angel exchanged glances, a flux of fear running through their bodies.
“Daddy, I’m scared,” Angel’s mouth scrunched into a frown, eyes teary, and Bakugou quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“Hey nothing to be scared about, Uncle Shouto and I are too cool to get hurt,” he soothed.
“So what did you and daddy do?” Kazu asked and Bakugou revealed a sly grin, fingers tapping.
“We immediately leapt away but a piece of the shattered concrete came flying over. WOOOOSHH,” The man waved his arm, ceasing right before it hit Kazu’s shoulder and the kid flinched.
“But it never hit us, do you guys know why?”
Angel wiped her eye with the back of her hand, “OH I KNOW! Is it because Daddy blew it away?”
“OR MAYBE DADDY FROZE IT!” Kazu added quickly, but the man shook his head from side to side.
“Nope, you two were both wrong. Your mommies came.”
The pair slacked their jaws, a sense of admiration etched upon their bewildered faces.
Bakugou stared deeply into Kazu’s, “Your mommy created a giant metal wall in an instant. And your mommy-“ it was Angel’s turn, “your mommy swooped in and touched some of the debris, floating them up, up and away.”
The ending roused the kids with exhilaration and both of them began to leap off their chairs, grabbing onto Bakugou and the man grinned.
“WHOA! MOMMY IS COOLER THAN DADDY!” Both of them chanted simultaneously, filling the room with lively chatter.
Little did the kids know they were the man’s weakness. Possibly even more concerning than Uraraka’s infamous puppy-dog eyes.
~~
When the gravity hero arrived home, sandals kicked off at the front door in a hurry, her husband and the two kids were sound asleep in the center of the living room. Dishes placed haphazardly in the sink, cushions looked pounded on in the outskirts of the room, and she could probably count about 10 curry stains scattered in the kitchen.
It looked like a warzone.
She walked over, surveying their relaxed figures, and sighed. She crouched down, watching as Angel’s blonde head rested soundly on her husband’s spread arm and was about to touch him gingerly on the shoulder to shove him awake. At the last second, she retracted. There was another hour until Todoroki and Yaoyorozu would come.
For now, they all deserved a rest.
~~
BONUS:
“Yo,” Bakugou picked up his phone, “What’s up, two-face.”
“Nothing, just wanted to thank you for taking care of Kazu yesterday,” Todoroki sounded distracted by something in the background, “Hey did anything out of the ordinary happen with you know, Kazu’s quirk?”
A minor shriek in the back reached the blond man’s ears and he cocked an eyebrow, “No, why?”
“Kazu came home last night talking about some story you told him and Angel that was apparently very…exciting.”
“And?”
“Well he wouldn’t go to bed, and when Momo was tucking him in,” Bakugou could make out a gulp from Todoroki’s side which was unusual of him, “he made a bunch of ice figurines without thinking. The ice was shaped like you and me.”
“Isn’t that great? His quirk’s manifesting fully now,” Bakugou said, clearly unsure what his friend was getting at.
“Well its awesome,” Todoroki paused. Another shriek.
“But they fucking move, Bakugou.”
“What?”
“Yeah you heard me, the ice figures fucking move. Jesus you have no idea. The sculptures of you and I were fighting. It’s so realistic. He’s making a bunch of animals now. Momo’s going berserk.”
Bakugou let out a chuckle. The cool and collected Todoroki getting frantic over his son? This was way too funny. Plus, he wanted to add, isnt this what you fucking get when your wife makes shit out of her skin? Genes were a fascinating thing.
“Well if you wanna you can bring little Kazy over. I wouldn’t mind seeing what this is about.”
233 notes
·
View notes
Text
How to Not be Rude in Newfoundland
So I’ve been working at a NL museum this summer where I’ve met a bunch of tourists visiting the rock after seeing Come From Away on Broadway. And like, 99.99% of you are amazing and wonderful people! I’ve seriously had the greatest time talking with incredibly friendly strangers who are just having a time on their vacations. That being said, I’d just like to list a few requests for the .01% of people who missed an information session on a few NL subtleties. I’m not trying to be salty here but after being yelled at a more than a few times by guests, there are a few bits of etiquette in Newfoundland that may be less intuitive than I thought. So here we go…
1. The term “Newfie” is regarded as derogatory by some Newfoundlanders. Some are like me and don’t care at all but some really do. Just to be on the safe side, don’t call Newfoundlanders “Newfie.”
2. It is normal for people to wear seal skin here. There is a seasonal seal hunt in the north where Newfoundlanders, Labradorians, and First Nations hunt wild seals in their natural habitat. Because it’s a contentious issue, I’m not going to get into too much detail except to say that mainlanders who have never lived up North should reserve their judgement until they understand the context of what it’s like to live in such places. If you don’t feel comfortable wearing seal skin, you absolutely do not have to wear seal skin. But there is no need to go on a self-righteous-mainlander crusade to end the seal hunt and scream at the museum girl who just offered to let you try on a pair of traditional Inuit seal skin gloves.
3. We already know what our accent sounds like. We don’t need your “goofy-Newfie” impression to remind us (see above). If you start picking up some of the slang, that’s completely normal. A day doesn’t go by when I’m talking to some couple from North Ontario who, just by way of talking with me, start saying “best kind” and “No b’y.” That being said, if it’s not coming naturally, no need to force it.
4. It’s probably best if you don’t ask anyone to “do the accent.” Ask about the definition of Newfoundland slang, where the accent comes from (which is actually interesting) and we’ll happily tell you perhaps with some demonstrations for example. But asking anyone in any part of the world to perform their accent for you is kind of annoying. Look it up on Youtube if you want to hear it that badly.
5. This is less of an etiquette thing and more of a disclaimer: Newfoundlanders say “b’y” to refer to everyone. Yes, technically it means “boy” but it is used to refer to men, women, children, whites, blacks, Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists etc. Some older Newfoundlanders will call grown women “girl.” Similarly, it’s not meant to demean or offend, it’s just what they say. Same deal with “missus” and “buddy.” EVERYBODY HERE IS A “MISSUS” or a “BUDDY!”
6. By nature of the immigrants who settled here, Newfoundland is very white. I’m sorry but I can’t change that.
Just generally, don’t be rude to the girl at the museum because she’s not allowed to disagree with you.
1 note
·
View note
Text
16 nice things we've seen on the internet in 2018 so far
We're halfway through 2018 and it's safe to say the internet's already had some serious ups and downs.
If you reflect on the year thus far, your mind might wander to its low points, like when YouTuber Logan Paul filmed a dead body in Aokighara, known informally as a suicide forest in Japan, and uploaded the video online. Or maybe your mind jumps to the time Roseanne Barr made an extremely racist remark on Twitter.
Heck, perhaps you've blocked those cringe-worthy moments out because you’re too busy watching President Donald Trump spend his days angrily tweeting into the abyss. But despite all the bad the internet has offered us in 2018, it's had its fair share of good moments, too.
SEE ALSO: Hot knife ASMR videos are therapy for your retinas
From hilarious children and adorable animal videos, to impressive memes and chill celebrity interactions, the internet has given us a lot to smile about this year.
Here are 16 things to remind you that the internet isn't always an absolutely terrible place to spend time.
1. Lisa Frank's social media game
Looking back at social media in 2018, one unlikely hero managed to consistently deliver fresh, peppy, colorful content. That hero is Lisa Frank.
The beloved brand that ruled your childhood is over here absolutely slaying the social game — sharing relatable AF memes, cheerful animal graphics, and rainbows galore on Facebook and Instagram on a near-daily basis. If you're looking for a heavy dose of positivity, some Monday inspiration, or an unexpected laugh, Lisa Frank’s got you covered.
How’s your Monday going? #mondaymood #lisafrank #sweettooth ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
A post shared by Lisa Frank (@lisa_frank) on Jun 11, 2018 at 3:28pm PDT
2. Will Smith's Instagram account
Though the world welcomed Will Smith to Instagram in December 2017, the actor and super-cool dad really hit his social media stride in the new year.
Smith gives us everything we could ever want in a celebrity Instagram account — he serves up laughs, gives us looks into his personal life, posts those Fresh Prince of Bel-Air throwbacks we all crave, and shares photos with his family members and famous friends. We are barely worthy of your content, Will, but we're glad you're here.
I’ma keep it 💯 wit’ y’all... I Hurt Myself doin’ that Champeta Move.
A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith) on May 9, 2018 at 7:07am PDT
3. Kids finding out they were going to see Black Panther
Since its release, Black Panther has shattered box office records and inspired tons of memes, but we're not sure anything about the franchise will ever be able to top this video of Atlanta middle school students learning they'd be going to see the film.
In one of the nicest feel-good clips out there, Wade King — teacher and director of curriculum and instruction at Ron Clark Academy — captured video of students reacting to the news.
The students just found out we are all going to see BLACK PANTHER! We will have a day of cultural classes, African dancers, historical lessons and then we will all go see the film! Turn up!!!! @ronclarkacademy @chadwickboseman #tlhanna pic.twitter.com/oUhWse5ghr
— Wade King (@WadeKing7) February 2, 2018
Is this not one the purest things you've ever seen? Want more? No problem. The school's founder Ron Clark tweeted another video.
4. The #M'BakuChallenge
Black Panther had such an impact in online communities that it wouldn't be right to simply highlight one glorious Wakanda-related internet moment. Behold: The M'Baku Challenge — a delightful trend that called on people to recreate some of the most iconic lines from Jabari tribe leader M'Baku (played by Winston Duke).
Many Black Panther fans made admirable efforts, but 7-year-old Jordan's rendition was so superb that even Michael B. Jordan showed him some love.
A post shared by Brittnilutherqueenjr✊🏾 (@badgyalbribri) on Mar 4, 2018 at 5:31pm PST
5. Inspiring Twitter thread of women lifting each other up
It's an absolutely beautiful sight when an overwhelming amount of positivity is born from a single act of negativity. That's what happened in May when Twitter user @lewisbcfc74 claimed to be "sick of" seeing girls complimenting each other on Instagram.
Sick of going through insta and seeing girls commenting on other girls pictures 'look at u!!😭' and 'have you seen yourself😍' grow up man you don't even know each other
— Lewis (@lewisbcfc74) May 17, 2018
"Sick of going through Insta and seeing girls commenting on other girls pictures 'look at u!! and 'have you seen yourself’ grow up man you don't even know each other," he wrote. The tweet inadvertently inspired a thread of women who came together for the sole purpose of complimenting one another.
Girl you’re one to talk. Look at your skin, GLOWING
— Saya Norton (@sayanorton_) May 18, 2018
At the time of writing this article, the original tweet had 2,000 replies — most of which are women lifting each other up. Could someone please @ me when all of Twitter is this perfect?
6. Meghan Markle's pre-glow up photo
When actress Meghan Markle married Prince Harry on May 19, we were blessed not only with gorgeous photos from the big day, but with photos of a young Markle in her pre-royal family days. While she was off becoming the Duchess of Sussex, the internet was busy obsessing over an old photo of the former actress as a teen tourist posing in front of Buckingham Palace in London.
Straight-up inspired by her transformation from teen tourist to adult royal, people dubbed Markle's love story the Ultimate Glow Up. #Goals
every time i feel giving up on anything i'm just going to look at this picture set and get my life pic.twitter.com/t7AFDO2DW7
— indie (@INDIEWASHERE) May 19, 2018
7. Dramatic Little League kid
Little League is no laughing matter. Unless, of course, you're this adorable jokester who was told to run from third base to home "as fast as he can."
In one of the most dramatic moments in Little League's little history, Twitter user @TabbyRodriguez's teeny cousin Lenn completed his victory sprint in agonizing slow motion, taking more than 45 seconds to run to home base. Lenn ignored the haters, making for some absolutely perfect content.
8. Jenna Fischer telling The Office fans about Pam and Michael's airport goodbye
Fans of the beloved NBC comedy The Office still aren't ready to let go of their Scranton family. So when Jenna Fischer, who played Pam Beesley on the show, took a moment to reminisce about the emotional Goodbye, Michael episode, people were pretty pumped.
In an Instagram live, Fischer revealed to followers what her character said to Steve Carrell's during their touching airport goodbye scene.
"That was me talking to Steve," Fischer told her Instagram followers. "I told him all the ways I was going to miss him when he left our show. Those were real tears and a real goodbye. That was a really emotional scene."
BRB, sobbing.
youtube
9. Fans coming together after Brooklyn Nine-Nine was cancelled
A brief moment of absolute panic descended upon Brooklyn Nine-Nine Twitter in May after it was revealed that the show had been cancelled by Fox.
ME IMMEDIATELY AFTER FINDING OUT @Brooklyn99FOX WAS CANCELLED AT WORK pic.twitter.com/8IrllX2TYU
— Nicole Gallucci (@nicolemichele5) May 10, 2018
Fans (and celebs) were distraught by the news, but quickly bounced back from mourning to fight like hell to keep the show going. People tweeted at networks, shared how important the plot lines and characters were to their lives, and furiously thanked the creators, writers, actors, and crew members for all their hard work.
And you know what? IT WORKED. In a beautiful 2018 plot twist, NBC decided to pick up the comedy for a sixth season. One of the most blessed turn of events all year.
We got your SIX! #Brooklyn99 is officially coming to NBC! pic.twitter.com/NNQw2OZquH
— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) May 12, 2018
10. Mom's viral cheesecake rant
"Do you want the fucking cake or do you not want the fucking cake?" That's the question fed-up baker and business owner Kim Copeland — and eventually thousands of others — were dying to know the answer to in May 2018.
The internet got the rage-filled hero it needed when Twitter user @adrienne_bc shared an entertaining 2:20 long video of her mom, Copeland, contemplating a vague AF cheesecake order commitment made by some flaky person named Ginger. After reading their text exchanges, reflecting on proper cake-ordering etiquette, and explaining everything she has going on in her own busy life, Copeland straight-up went OFF, asking, "Just tell me, Ginger, do you want the fucking cheesecake?"
I wonder if Ginger will dare order another fucking cheesecake again.
11. Kendall Jenner vs. Kacey Musgraves
Ah, FEUDS! Gotta love 'em... especially when they're between celebrities, and they end far sooner than expected and in a very gentle manner, right? Thus is the story of Kendall Jenner and Kacey Musgraves' short-lived, not-actually-a-feud feud.
The tale goes like this: In May, Jenner shared a photo on Instagram of herself sipping tea on a New York City rooftop while wearing lingerie...as one does. And in the background of her picture was a Musgraves billboard, except OH WAIT. It's blurred out. *gasp*
A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner) on May 3, 2018 at 4:44pm PDT
In response Jenner's possible shade, Musgraves shared a screenshot of the Instagram post to her own story, prompting Jenner to apologize profusely for the misunderstood shade via Twitter. Jenner explained she "...didn’t edit this photo! Kacey is literally my fuckin fav! ... ask anyone of my homies i die for her!"
Aw, how nice. It's refreshing to take a breather from hardcore public feuding every so often, isn't it?
12. Busting a move at graduation
Few days in life are as important as your pre-school graduation, and 5-year-old Aubrey Toby celebrated hers to the fullest.
On stage, diploma in-hand and dressed in her purple cap and gown, the precious and fiercely talented North Carolina student proudly danced her way across the stage and towards the exciting world of kindergarten.
Toby's godfather Merle Murrain II shared footage of her busting a celebratory move to Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling" alongside her far-less enthused classmates. She clearly stole the show and better make the graduation dance a regular part of any future ceremonies.
A post shared by Merle Murrain II (@themerlemurrain) on Jun 2, 2018 at 9:59am PDT
13. The #APESHITCHALLENGE
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have had quite the 2018 already, what with going on tour together and dropping a joint album out of nowhere. And in case that wasn't enough, they also inspired a very good viral challenge.
The #APESHITCHALLENGE was born after Bey and Jay dropped their music video for "APESHIT" (which was casually filmed at the Louvre in Paris, btw). In one scene, Beyoncé thrashes at the top of a massive staircase while dressed in a huge white gown. Fans promptly recreated the moment in their own homes, using a white bed sheet to get the effect.
14. Hillary Clinton mocking James Comey
Remember that time Hillary Clinton absolutely roasted former FBI Director James Comey on Twitter? 'Twas brilliant.
She simply couldn't resist after it was announced that Comey used a personal email account for his own official government business. Yes, this is the same Comey who opened an investigation ahead of the 2016 election into Clinton's private email account usage during her time as Secretary of State.
But my emails. https://t.co/G7TIWDEG0p
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 14, 2018
"But my emails," Clinton wrote, quote-tweeting news of Comey's personal email troubles. A tweet so iconic it almost lives up to "Delete your account."
15. DJ Switch
Say hello to DJ Switch, the coolest young DJ in Ghana. BBC News Africa shared a video of Erica, aka DJ Switch, who started dropping beats at the age of 9 and has been inspiring people ever since.
"I picked the name DJ Switch because I switch up people's happiness," Erica said, explaining that while DJing is her passion, she wants to be a gynocologist when she grows up so that she can "help women."
HERO.
16. A massive Twitter thread of puppies
Finally, we end this light and joyous trip down memory lane with this extremely lengthy Twitter thread of puppies meeting, playing, and being very cute together. Twitter user @BlairBraverman truly blessed the internet with this one.
As you know, we have a lot of puppies right now. pic.twitter.com/Vsw5SE0Wzt
— Blair Braverman (@BlairBraverman) June 26, 2018
It's been a wild ride. Let's hope there's more where these came from in the second half of 2018.
WATCH: Have your face and eat it too with these custom lollipops
#_uuid:3f76a610-9006-3437-aa3b-a6568907dee5#_author:Nicole Gallucci#_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL#_revsp:news.mashable
1 note
·
View note
Text
Is your online reputation affecting your business profitability?
“First impression is the lasting impression”. You have heard this expression before. When you prepare to meet someone important such as going on a job interview, delivering a first-time public speech or hosting a dinner for new friends, your end result is that you want to make a good positive lasting impression. From your attire to the table side etiquette, you set yourself up to be perceived as confident, trustworthy and approachable.
The same rule is applied to your business. Big corporations spend a great deal of money, time and resources to introduce global service standards and core values to their employees. They empower their associates from the CEO to the front desk representative to improve customer service, be good listeners, provide guidance, respond in a timely fashion and continue to delight their customers while building great relationships.
Small businesses, on the other hand, may have limited resources and budget to invest in professional support to provide them with best business practices. However, they have a good concept on how to bootstrap. Building one client relationship at a time, relying heavily on a word of mouth and strive to build a good solid reputation within their community.
What about the first impression of your online business?
Building a website for your business is no longer optional, it is a must have. You want to attract more customers, increase credibility and build trust with your online visitors. No excuses. So how are you going to build a long-lasting impression online? You cannot see your visitors in person to offer a friendly greet. No initial introductions. They cannot see how you dress or define your personality to determine if they can establish a relationship with you. They can’t read your body language or your personality to determine if they can establish a relationship with you.
What about those disgruntled employees that go online and start to bash and trash your business on every channel just to make themselves feel good? The first impression is no longer in question, but how to recover from such accusations that you have no control over? What do you do when those Google search engine 5 stars are dropping? Your potential customer might wonder if they should spend a valuable second of their time to click on your website without being instantly drawn by one of your competitor with a full blown 5 stars blast and hundreds of positive reviews.
Your audience lives online.
It is no longer a shocker that people across the world are consumed by their digital devices. As if we are living in a two-dimensional world but sharing the same time zone. We listen, talk and eat while keeping a fingertip on our cell phone screen, browsing, reading and texting simultaneously. Multi-tasking is no longer an impressive skill on our resume, it is expected.
Having said that, customers have become extremely research savvy. Before utilizing your services or products, they look up your business online and read other customers’ reviews about you. They browse your landing page to see if your website is professional at first glance. They read your blog and make up their mind in a split second to trust your website enough to do business with you. Finally, if you are easily approachable, then you have attracted and converted a lead successfully.
Here are 5 tips on how to resolve, improve and manage your online business reputation:
1: Blogging
Consider blogging as you would build your credit score. Write a resourceful business-related content and publish on different targeted business platforms. Make sure you are only blogging about your related industry. Also, look up websites that allow guest bloggers. Offer to write guest posts and ask for a link back to your site. This will help generate more traffic to your website and rank you higher on search engines.
2: Social Media
Create a new positive online presence by developing business related platforms on social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest etc… Consistently engage with key industry leaders. Post related business images and videos to encourage more likes and generate more traffic to your website. Thus, getting ranked higher on the search engine.
3: Be Original
People know when you are honest and transparent by the way you write your content. So be human and tell a story. Your readers will help you in understanding your buyer behavior. Encourage customer review and respond frequently to their inquiries.
4: Negative Comments
Easy come but difficult to go. Although I can empathize with a customer expressing discontent with a product that they had high expectation to resolve their problem, it is also understandable that a business owner wants to deliver exceptional quality service and satisfaction guaranteed. After all who wants a returned product or an unhappy customer, right? This is a lose/lose situation for both parties.
The goal of your business is to delight your customer.
Hint: It is more difficult to attract new customers than to ensure the satisfaction of your existing clients. In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, you have a 15x increase in your ROI when campaigning for current customer’s returned business, than when you are campaigning for first-time buyers. Meaning, you can easily network with your current customer and they are much more likely to continue utilizing your products and services. So, it is to your great advantage to tackling negative comments by responding openly and assuring them that you will make corrections while offering something beneficial in return.
5: Monitor Regularly
A wildfire starts with only a spark. Be Smokey the Bear. Keep a close check on your brand reputation. Run a Google Analytics report. Check Google search to ensure your site is listed on the first page of the search index. Perform SEO if your site is not readily visible. Check for any broken links on your website. Protecting the integrity of your brand will ensure the safety of your reputation online. If you don’t have time for routine maintenance, then seek professional digital marketing support.
By following these tricks and tips, any negative comments or articles will be suppressed or pushed down in less than 4 months and will no longer appear on Google search. In the long run, it will dramatically increase your visibility as a trustworthy advisor.
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
story-ok-agreement85
Untitled
ravendiaries7
𝔯𝔞𝔳𝔢𝔫♱༻
jor-dan-iel
jordaniel
connorphilpphotography
Connor Philp Photography