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john-cardoza · 5 years

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Let’s talk about the prom!

As most of you know today the prom will close after 23 previews and 310 regular performances. They will have run for under a year after 4+ years of preparation.

I personally found out about the prom in late 2017 when they were in between their run at the Alliance theater in Atlanta and opening on broadway. I fell in love, found what little content existed, followed their instagram account, and forgot about the show until things started being announced for broadway.

A little background. I am a lesbian, I am also in high school, I’m lucky enough to live in a bigish city where gay people are common and relatively accepted in everyday life. When I first found out about the prom I did not know my sexuality, and it was causing me stress mostly due to the belief in our society that you should know exactly who you are when you are still young. Getting to see a musical that was centered around two teenage lesbian characters was so important, and helped me down the road of finding out who I was. Not only that getting to see a musical that normalized having multiple gay/lesbian characters and featuring multiple women in important roles with good character arcs? Even better.

When a broadway show opens they tend to do multiple performances on many different media sources to raise publicity. The first performance that prom did was at the Macy’s thanksgiving parade where they made history by having the first same-sex kiss in the parade’s history, not only that the performance was televised nationally, it is a program that is mostly watched by families and children. Who knows how many children who live in conservative homes got to see their first kiss between two women in a pure, prom like scenario when through their lives they have only been told that homosexual people are ‘wrong’. I can only hope that girls who are attracted to girls got to see an example of their sexuality being valid and that it will help them come to terms with it when they get older. The prom had many other performances on different television shows and such, and in all of them they went to lengths to show good lesbian representation while still advertising their show.

When it comes to the tony awards the prom had the honor of being nominated for seven different awards, one of which was best musical. Because of the number of awards they got they were also given the option to perform at the tony awards. It is not an overstatement to say that I cried when I saw their tony awards performance. It was yet another example of lesbian representation in theater which is something that is relatively uncommon. I do have opinions on the fact that they didn’t take home any of the tony awards that they were nominated for, but I will avoid sharing that here as I don’t want to talk about things the prom didn’t do. (I will mention that they won the drama desk award for best musical)

The two leads of the show who play Emma and her girlfriend Alyssa are Caitlin Kinnunen and Izzy McCalla. Caitlin Kinnunen who has been playing Emma since the first workshop for the show four years ago is my hero. There is probably another way I could phrase that, but I think that hero is accurate. It is rare to see an actress in a broadway production who is as open about their non-hetero sexuality as Kinnunen has been. A couple of months into the broadway run Kinnunen went to an interview where she talked about how she had recently started to realize her own sexuality thanks to in part, her role in The Prom. She also felt comfortable enough to share that she had just recently started dating a woman for the first time. Since then she has come out as bisexual, which I would consider a huge step forward as there are still many queer roles that are being played by heterosexual, cisgender people. Not only on broadway, but also in movies and television. Kinnunen is also very open about her own mental health issues. She has never shied away from talking about her anxiety and how it affects her day to day life as a broadway actor, like the fact that she usually cannot stagedoor and that she occasionally has to call out of shows to deal with her mental health. As a teenager with anxiety who has an interest in going into theater as a career (though I am more interested in the technical side), it’s inspirational to see someone as successful as Kinnunen be that open about her sexuality. The other lead who was mentioned above; Izzy McCalla, is also someone I look up to. A few weeks ago she went on a popular podcast titled “Thank you for coming out” there she talked about her struggles with her sexuality, due to the fact that she had never been in a real relationship with a woman. As of recently she has also come out as bisexual.

I was lucky enough to see the prom last month. I scheduled the trip when they announced closing, knowing that I would regret it if I never got to see the show live on broadway. Needless to say the show was amazing, but more specifically I was amazed by how good the show was quality wise. Right away it pulls you in, something that I feel many broadway shows struggle with, by the end of the first scene I felt completely invested in the plot and the characters. Not only that, but you stay invested, I find it hard to believe anyone could leave at intermission after the heartbreaking scene that closes out act one. Finally, near the end of act two there is a song called unruly heart that made me cry. It starts with Emma sitting alone on her bed with her computer and guitar, creating a song about her experiences with the prom. Near the end of the song ensemble members dressed in pajamas enter the stage behind her, representing the comments on the video. Something about that scene just hit me, it was amazing to hear people on stage voicing things that I have though in regards to my sexuality. I know that wasn’t the most eloquent explanation, but that is the only way I can think to put it.

Of the primary leads in the prom, three of the four of them are women. Of the secondary leads two of the four of them are women. Not only that but all of the women are fully fleshed out characters with emotions, and character arcs. It would be so easy to make Mrs. Greene nothing but a villain and a terrible person, but at the end of the show it is implied that she may be able to fix things with her daughter and become more accepting. Dee Dee Allen, the egotistical broadway star who starts the show as nothing but a narcissistic, selfish, asshole is also given the chance to learn from her mistakes, by the end of the show she is willing to make a huge sacrifice in order to help Emma. Having multiple female characters who all have flaws and make mistakes like a normal person is huge, especially on a broadway stage where many shows are reduced to “multiple men and a love interest”.

Lastly there are many amazing examples of representation that don’t necessarily apply to me so I won’t go super in depth about them. For one Izzy McCalla is Haitian and multiple actresses who understudy Emma and Alyssa are also not-white. Caitlin Kinnunen has diabetes and has been open about that, even wearing her medical bracelet during the tony performance.Overall the show has a lot of diversity among the ensemble actors which is uncommon in many shows. I will absolutely not say that it is perfect, but it is still amazing when compared to the more white shows.

Honestly I don’t know exactly what my intention is with making this post, but I can’t stand to let this beautiful show disappear without talking about it. I guess these are all my reasons as for why the prom shouldn’t be closing this early. Either way I will always love this show, and I hope that other people will too. Also make sure to go see the tour if you are able!

#i just cut it off there #it goes on #yes this is long #im emotional #sue me #the prom musical #the prom broadway #the prom closing #caitlin kinnunen #izzy mccalla #isabelle mccalla

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womenofcolorincomedy · 5 years

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The Rise of Nicole Byer

Nicole Byer is an actor, writer, and comedian originally from New Jersey. She is perhaps best known to audiences for her work on Nailed It! (Netflix), MTV’s Girl Code, and Loosely Exactly Nicole (Facebook). While I am no biographer I am a huge Nicole Byer fan and look to her as a source of inspiration. The following is pieced together based off of what I’ve learned about Nicole from her podcast Why Won’t You Date Me? If any of the following sounds inaccurate please let me know in the comments.

Nicole first trained at AMDA, which she lovingly refers to as SCAMDA (lol lol lol) in acting. She then moved to New York City and studied and performed at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade (UCB) before moving to Los Angeles, where you can watch her perform Tuesdays at UCB Franklin in Search History.

As a student at the UCB in LA I always looked up to Nicole. She’s not only a dynamic powerhouse of a performer, she’s kind and thoughtful. And a hustler. Nothing stopped her from going for her goals and as a result of her hard work she’s a homeowner in LA (um, yeah, props to that) and makes a very good living doing comedy. Let’s take a closer look to learn how she got to where she is.

Nicole’s journey to where she is now is an untraditional one for stand up comics. Most stand up comics believe the only way to get noticed in the entertainment industry is through the open mic route. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of benefit to doing open mics, but let’s be honest ladies: open mic settings can be daunting because you will be outnumbered by the men. It’s even more isolating when you’re a woman of color because of the lack of diversity, inclusion, and support.

What I love about Nicole’s story is that she found a way to bypass the open mic route and go straight to becoming a PAID stand up comic who regularly travels to perform. And the way she did this was by being willing to learn a new skillset. Her improv and acting training, along with her hard work, is what helped Nicole get her first big break on MTV’s Girl Code. This exposure to new audiences is what got her in the door as a comic and it’s because she won audiences over on Girl Code. Up until this point she was just an improvisor and never considered herself a stand up comic. At her agent’s request, she taught herself how to write and tell jokes so that her agent could get her more work, thus bypassing the open mic route that many people think is the only one available to them. Her web series Loosely Exactly Nicole, which can be viewed on Facebook, also helped her reach new audiences. What this means is that regular ol’ folks got to know her first through her work on TV, and because she did such a great job of winning audiences over she created a demand for her own live shows. In this day and age, and thanks to the awful reputation of many male comics (have you read the New York Times lately?), it is more difficult to convince regular audience members to go see a live stand up show these days when the comics performing are people they’ve never heard of. But a recognizable face that has already proven to make you laugh in the comfort of your own home is a powerful way to motivate real fans to buy a ticket to see you live.

There is so much we can all take away from Nicole’s story. For one, all comedy training is valuable but it’s what you as an individual put into it that will get you ahead. To be a working comic you have to approach this as a business. No one is gonna come pluck you up from an open mic, give you your own show, and make you a star. YOU make yourself a star. YOU put the work into yourself in developing the product you are trying to sell (your comedic self). At the end of the day, this is a business. An agent’s job is to get you work because that’s how they make their livelihoods, and you should want an agent that works for you like their rent depends on it because that’s the kind of ally you need in this business. Nicole admits to being hesitant about starting stand up comedy because she never considered herself a stand up comic. I think a lot of us, myself included, think of stand up comedy as its own thing and maybe this stems from the fact that women of color simply don’t see themselves in mainstream stand up comedy. The ones we do see only made it because they are the exception. But when you have an agent who wants to get you more work, you need to do what Nicole did: learn a new skill set. A lot of people give up on learning after they graduate high school and/or college, but the reality is you need to be a life long learner NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE. But especially so in comedy, you need to be willing to learn so that you can grow. Comedians are artists, too, and artists evolve.

The other significant take away from Nicole’s story is the role of social media and the internet in her success. If we didn’t have the internet we’d probably have no idea who Nicole even is. The reality is online streaming platforms and podcasting are providing opportunities to under represented voices in a way that traditional television and comedy clubs are incapable of doing unless there is a radical overhaul in leadership. Internet platforms are more inclusive, diverse, and accessible to both content creators and audiences. Who doesn’t have a smartphone these days? And who doesn’t consume a great deal of content on these tiny little computers?

What I’m urging anyone to do, but especially women of color pursuing comedy, is to create your own content. Don’t wait for someone to choose you, choose yourself. Make a web series where you star in it and involve the people you want to work with. Start a podcast. Start a blog. Find creative and inventive ways to share your comedic point of view. But most importantly, invest in your product. Be willing to invest in yourself by taking classes, by outworking everyone around you, by taking care of yourself. If you approach this as a business and you think of yourself as a product (but not in an objectifying way) you will attract like-minded people to help you sell your product because everyone stands to make some money that way. We live in a capitalist society and everything revolves around the Benjamin’s, so be a business woman/person. That’s what will set you apart from the rest who merely spend their time day dreaming about the glamour and fame but never take meaningful action to manifest the life of their dreams. Be bold, be different, be you.

In closing, I’d like to quote the wise words of Jerry Springer, the talk show host: take care of yourself and each other.

To learn more about Nicole Byer and her work visit her website:

https://www.nicolebyerwastaken.com

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noramoya · 5 years

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#FactsDontLiePeopleDo #FactsMatter #MJisTheRealVictm #MJisInnocent

“A week ago, when I first watched hbo’s highly controversial film Leaving Neverland, I purposely did so without refreshing my recollection on the facts regarding the allegations of child sex abuse against Michael Jackson from many years ago. I wanted to see the movie in much the same way that the average viewer did.

Like most people who viewed it, I was emotionally impacted by the horrific nature of the alleged abuse, but was eventually turned off by the obvious unfairness of allowing two unverified accusers being allowed four hours, with the support of tremendously manipulative production elements, to make un-scrutinized claims against an un-convicted dead man (who, it should also be noted, paid $20 million to a 13-year-old accuser in the 1990s as part of a settlement out of court). As someone who had long suspected Michael Jackson was likely guilty of child abuse, but whose own coverage of his 2005 trial as a Los Angeles talk show host made me actually start to doubt that presumption, the whole thing was conflicting.

Since I absolutely despise that I have somehow become known as someone who is willing to defend those accused of sex abuse even though we live in an era where such an act, regardless of the facts of the particular situation, makes you automatically a “bad” person, I was extremely hesitant to delve further into the matter. However, even my initial evaluation of the voluminous record involving the movie’s two stars, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, made it very clear that the movie was a journalistic travesty, and that someone should be willing to take a stand against the prevailing narrative on behalf of truth and fairness.

As is always the case, before I eventually dove in headfirst, I engaged in extensive research on these claims, and spoke to several people with direct knowledge of the other side of the story. I did lengthy in-person interviews with two key members of the Jackson family. One of them, Brandi Jackson, had dated Robson throughout their entire teenage years, including during the time when the abuse was allegedly occurring.

One of the many difficulties in telling a version of events which is contradictory to someone the news media — as opposed to the courts — has determined is a “sex abuse victim” (especially those who, like Robson and Safechuck, have been sanctified by Oprah Winfrey on hbo) is that, particularly post #MeToo, no one data point can ever been seen as a “smoking gun” that their allegation is false. However, when viewed in the full context of Robson’s already suspect narrative, I strongly believe that Brandi’s version of events comes as close as possible to being just that (as do many other non-Jackson fans who have spent the time to hear her, and her cousin Taj, out).

In a remotely rational world, where the news media still even plausibly functioned as a source of truth, and where basic fairness still had any real currency, Brandi would have immediately been invited on multiple major television news outlets (heck, her story even involves a normally irresistible tidbit about Robson cheating on her with Britney Spears, thus causing her infamous breakup with Justin Timberlake). However, to the mild surprise of even a grizzled media cynic like me, that did not happen.

Even before our interview, multiple members of the Jackson family told me that they felt like the major news media was purposely censoring Brandi’s explosive story. I told them that it was possible that the media just may not fully understand the significance what she has to say (none of which, it should be noted, has never been contradicted at all by Robson, or anyone else), but I now must conclude that I was being naïve.

To be clear, I am not alleging some sort of anti-Jackson conspiracy, but actually something far more treacherous than that. Based on the news media’s unwillingness to even give Brandi a voice, it is now abundantly obvious that a new media rule has been created that no one, no matter how credible, unless they are huge celebrity, is allowed to directly contradict the veracity of someone the media is invested in as a “victim,” no matter how lacking in credibility that allegation is (and to be clear, books could easily be written on why the current story of Robson, who enthusiastically testified as Jackson’s first witness at his criminal trial, is not to be believed).

Within the news media, there is just far too much fear/risk, and not nearly courage/reward. So, here is what really happened in this situation…

Michael Jackson has always been suspected of being capable of literally anything because of his obvious extreme weirdness and seemingly inappropriate attachments to young boys. A filmmaker with an obvious agenda interviewed two middle-aged men for several days and ignored the many problems with their stories (for the record, a close look at the movie discredits huge chunks of Safechuck’s narrative as well, especially with regard to the real circumstances surrounding him not testifying at Jackson’s criminal trial), using about the first three hours to get his audience emotionally invested in his subjects, which was very easy given the widely-held suspicions about Jackson, who is no longer around to defend himself.

Not being armed with even the basic facts (inexplicably, and quite tellingly, Brandi Jackson is not even mentioned), the audience, including the media, was easily manipulated into being able to disregard even the biggest holes in their stories, and to gladly accept even the most bizarre rationalizations for their nonsensical actions. Once Oprah, an abuse victim herself, effectively validated their stories (even as Safechuck, who barely participated in the post-movie interview, sweated noticeably right in front of her), the preferred narrative was set, and nothing would then be allowed to credibly contradict it.

It needs to at least be mentioned that the most bizarre aspect of the news media embracing this movie is, because of the narrative used to explain why the accusers didn’t realize they were abused much sooner, it actually has elements which are arguably PRO pedophilia. This “we didn’t think sex abuse was bad” explanation could have been simply a result of the accusers having to craft their stories to escape statute of limitations problems in their lawsuit against the Jackson estate.

Regardless, there is no need to give the Jackson family much of a chance to respond — or even see the movie before it came out — because, after all, we now know for sure that they are just part of an evil machine which is knowingly covering up for a dead pedophile, all in a desperate attempt to protect the value of the pop superstar’s estate. Gee, what could possibly go wrong with that sort of thinking, especially since Jackson was never convicted, or even found liable, in a court of law?!

Part of my naïveté here was that I stupidly thought the Jussie Smollett fake hate-crime fiasco would have, at least for a few months, made the news media a little more hesitant to blindly buy into outlandish stories with no proof and a clear financial motive. Obviously, that has not happened, and it is because the modern news media, for many reasons, is now completely, irreparably, and dangerously broken.”

•John Ziegler is a senior columnist for Mediaite. He hosts a weekly podcast focusing on news media issues and is a documentary filmmaker. You can follow him on Twitter at @ZigManFreud or email him at [email protected]

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love-takes-work · 6 years

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Steven Universe Podcast: Volume 2, Episode 3: Peridot

In the new season of the Steven Universe Podcast launched January 25, 2018, episode 3, released February 8, 2018, is about Peridot! The official description:

Why does Peridot call everyone a "clod?" Find out on this episode of the Steven Universe Podcast as creator Rebecca Sugar and former Executive Producer Ian Jones-Quartey return to discuss Peridot! Discover what inspired her design and personality traits, and how Rebecca's real life experiences shaped Peridot's development and storyline. Plus, Shelby Rabara, the voice of Peridot, and storyboard artist Amber Cragg join to share their favorite Peridot moments and episodes, and speculate on how Peridot is spending her free time away from the Gems! And Peridot herself answers some fan questions about best pets, earth fashion, and the Crystal Temps!

This is very long because the podcasts are getting long, and I don’t want to skimp on the detail but I also don’t want to overwhelm anyone with too much text. Therefore, I will open with bulleted highlights and include a more detailed narrative under the read-more.

Highlights:

Shelby Rabara thinks Peridot letting Steven and Amethyst help her in the episode “Back to the Kindergarten” was a real turning point for her as an expression of trust.

Amber Cragg thinks Peridot is a fantastic “icebreaker” character who is functioning these days as a Crystal Gems mascot.

Peridot’s free time on the weekends, according to Amber, would probably be occupied playing video games like Farmville and trying to make vlogs but failing to edit properly. Shelby thinks she does random art installations.

Peridot’s “clod” catch phrases originated with Ian Jones-Quartey doing an alien impression in the writers’ room, combined with an interpretation of science bros being condescending about concepts like evolution when they could have easily been more gentle and welcoming.

“Marble Madness” combined story elements of discovering the Gems’ pasts with the Gems themselves learning something new about the present.

Rebecca feels that Peridot’s evolution from being a Homeworld flunky to discovering what happens when the system does NOT work for someone is a very important aspect of her character.

Peridot truly believed Homeworld’s philosophy was good for everyone and was not shy about being cruel to those who defied it; Rebecca related this to her experience being a Jewish kid getting shamed for her assumed beliefs by people who honestly thought they were doing her a favor.

Do Gems emerge from the ground with their indoctrination to Homeworld already embedded, or is it taught to them through propaganda? Some of both.

Shelby Rabara, in character as Peridot, suggests the Crystal Temps’ next adventure should involve baking an ube roll with Lars; that she’d like to learn eating so she can make noises; that she’d like to make vinyl pants that can have music embedded in them; and that dogs are the Best Earth Animal.

The detailed summary, including Shelby and Amber discussing Peridot's evolution, Rebecca and Ian discussing Peridot’s origin, and fan questions answered in character . . .

Read it all below!

McKenzie opens by asking storyboard artist Amber Cragg and Peridot's voice actor Shelby Rabara to discuss the episodes "Raising the Barn" and "Back to the Kindergarten." Shelby feels very in suspense when she watches new episodes because it's been so long between when she recorded and when she gets to see it. She loves when Peridot is so depressed lying in the bathroom, with that awful face Paul Villeco drew on her, and how she wants to bring her music to the kindergarten.

Shelby points out that Peridot lets her friends Amethyst and Steven cheer her up, and says it's an act of trust, which is a bit of a turning point for her. Even though Peridot ends up having an outburst and unloading, it's important to know that hope can sometimes come in the form of other people inspiring it in you.

Amber thinks an important aspect is Peridot's energy; she has a ton of it, and she can end up investing it in the wrong place. She was so careful with Lapis that she never wanted to say anything to rock the boat, and Lapis didn't talk back much, so neither really communicated, and it became a disaster of misunderstanding. But sometimes even if you invest energy into what ends up being a wasted effort, it's okay. You have to know when to move on. Amber mentions loving the scene that Katie drew looking at the sunflowers and riding in the train.

McKenzie clarifies that sometimes the issue is it being the wrong person you invest your time and effort into, and sometimes it's the wrong time. You can't fixate too much on ONE thing that has to be perfect or it's all over, or you could end up with nothing. She brings up Peridot's changing love for the Earth and its inhabitants, and asks what they think about that. Shelby thinks Peridot's love has developed partly because of how others there have treated her. Peridot's no longer just a "space Dorito"; she has empathy now. Amber says the Crystal Gems helped her find her roots, and now whether she likes it or not, Earth is home.

McKenzie leads into discussing Peridot's relationships and sense of self. Does Peridot put Amethyst down as defective as a way of increasing her own sense of self-worth? Amber says Peridot first noticed how all the Gems on Earth ignore the rules she's lived her life by forever, and how she's incensed by this at first, only to find she can develop her own personality through ignoring what she was told to be as well. Shelby runs through some interpretations of Peridot's perceptions of the other Gems, seeing Pearl as beneath her, Amethyst as cool despite her flaws, and Garnet as requiring compartmentalization. Shelby brings up Peridot's willingness to let the others show her who they are, and highlights the scene with Peridot being willing to try dancing with Garnet. (Her interpretation is that Peridot's response is to feel dirty and resolve never to try again.)

Still, the Crystal Gems being full of surprises parallels her experience with Earth itself. Peridot herself got to be a complete ham, take herself in whatever direction she wanted and be encouraged by the others. No one will ever stifle her attempts to grow. We can take the message home that we can change even if we're past childhood or adolescence; we can reinvent ourselves and still access support.

McKenzie asks what the other Gems may have learned from Peridot, and Amber says they may have been inspired to see someone new coming into the fold as someone who needed their guidance and help. Amber thinks Peridot almost functions as a mascot--as a source of energy and morale. Everyone loves her, and she's a great "icebreaker" character, inspiring the others to be less blocked in and cautious.

And for her last question to them, McKenzie brings up how Lamar and Rebecca suggested Garnet and Greg play tennis on the weekends; in that light, what do Amber and Shelby think Peridot does? Amber thinks she argues with people on the Internet and is a pro gamer on Farmville (handle: ClodFarmer3000). She probably also tries to make vlogs but can't edit. Maybe she's taking a class in Adobe After Effects. Shelby thinks she does random art installations. Maybe blending in with a tree, not blinking. Or trying to be a mannequin in a clothing store. Or eating french fries and messing with people using her metal powers. She wouldn't let anyone in during her art creation process.

Ian and Rebecca talk origins and concepts:

Peridot was conceived pretty early on. Ian used to bust out with an alien impression in the writers' room, with generic not-understanding-humans statements, and he really wanted to put a similar alien in the show.

The origin of Peridot's favorite word "clod" began with Rebecca and Ian watching the Cosmos remake, which sort of makes you fall in love with science--but then there's another side of it, with people who get mad at religion and are angry with those who don't understand evolution. Ian would do a voice of a "frustrated liberal": "But the Earth was created in seven days!" "No it wasn't, you CLOD." "Evolution is real, CLOD!" They point out that evolution is such a beautiful concept, but some of its proponents want to win you to their side by being mean about it. They believe more in being gentle.

They connected this with Peridot eventually, first starting with Elle Michalka wanting to include a Gem named Peridot combined with Rebecca's inkling that she wanted to handle Steven getting cyberbullied on the show. That didn't exactly come to fruition, but the idea of the person doing it--harassing someone and threatening someone from far away--became Peridot. This worked well with their desire to include discovery of the Gems' pasts and mix that with them learning something new about the present. Rebecca loved the episode "Marble Madness" because they'd written everything referenced in that episode to all be tied in together, dependent on information that had been revealed carefully in previous episodes.

Rebecca enjoyed bringing Peridot in as an example of a Gem who really toes the line and buys Homeworld propaganda; she relates it to her experience growing up Jewish and having other kids tell her they know she's categorically wrong about all of reality based on what box they believed she belonged in. The kids were never shy about telling her what punishment awaited people who don't pick the right religion, and honestly believed they're helping her out by saying these things; Peridot is similar, having never met a Gem for whom the order of the Diamonds was not beneficial, and she is not worried about whether the Crystal Gems' feelings will be hurt if she says so.

Rebecca says Peridot may seem conceited, but she isn't; she knows she's a grunt, a maintenance worker, and is only proud because she knows her place. She believes the others she's meeting are just as not-special as she is, but then she comes to find out there are Gems who were failed by the system, and that changes her outlook. Always before, she thought the Homeworld philosophy really was the best for everyone, but when she finds out it isn't, she also realizes she herself is outside the system. You have to change your thinking when you learn the way things are is bad for some people.

McKenzie then asks about Gem indoctrination; do they pop out of the ground with these beliefs intact, or is it drilled into them? Ian acknowledges this is a big question about the nature of Gems, and they agree it's some of both. Peridot, as a maintenance worker, didn't think about questioning the system because she was just too busy working within it, going to a bunch of different places and learning about them, and also unknowingly absorbing revised history created to edit out what made Homeworld look unsuccessful or imperfect.

Peridot answers questions:

Peridot perks up at the mention of questions sent through Twitter and demonstrates recognition of the medium, and claims she has only taken over the CN Twitter when she's had PERMISSION.

McKenzie: I've heard rumors that you forcibly took over Cartoon Network's social media channels?

Peridot: I wouldn't call it forcibly. I basically did it because I felt like it, but who needs permission these days? I'm Peridot, hello.

McKenzie: That's fair. You are the #1 cartoon character according to that post.

Peridot: Did you see Shelby Rabara congratulated me? I got to talk to SHELBY RABARA. Oh my god. I don't think she knew that I self-proclaimed that I was the #1 cartoon character.

McKenzie: Would you ever consider leading another adventure as the Crystal Temps?

Peridot: I love being the Crystal Temps. I mean, everybody knows that I am The Garnet, the best one. I'm not as good as THE Garnet, but I think Lapis and Connie and myself, I think we would be really really great at baking cakes, specifically ube cakes with Lars.

McKenzie: Interesting! So would Pumpkin accompany you on that one, or would Lars take the place of Pearl?

Peridot: Oh no, Pumpkin definitely would be by my side, who's gonna lick up the extra ube cake when it--I don't wash floors, that's what Pearls do.

McKenzie: Speaking of food, if you could eat anything, what would you want to try first? Cookie Cats, Fry Bits, or something else?

Peridot: I would definitely try fry bits, because there's something about the oil bubbling really violently that makes it really really neat to watch. And apparently when I watch Steven eat the fry bits, he makes this loud noise, so I'm interested in how many loud noises I can make all at the same time.

McKenzie: What is objectively the best Earth pet? There's dogs, cats, hamsters, are you familiar with those?

Peridot: What is the difference between a hamster and--cats?

McKenzie: Cats are larger and they would probably eat a hamster.

Peridot: Oh my god, they eat a hamster? Cats eat hamsters?

McKenzie: They eat mice, which are related to hamsters I'm pretty sure.

Peridot: I ate a Cookie Cat. Was I eating a real cat?

McKenzie: That is a separate thing.

Peridot: Are dogs loyal?

McKenzie: They are. That is their main feature.

Peridot: Okay. Well, Pumpkin is super loyal to me, so if Pumpkin's anything like an Earth dog, I would have to say my final answer would be the best Earth pet is a dog, if it's remotely anywhere near Pumpkin.

McKenzie: What is a piece of Earth fashion that you've always wanted to try on?

Peridot: Is there something called vinyl on Earth? I would like to try on some vinyl pants. Very shiny. I don't know if they're easy to walk in, but something about the vinyl, the scratchy sound it makes. Don't Earth people put music on vinyl? Or am I getting that mixed up with the round thing?

McKenzie: Yeah, they're both called vinyl. They're not on the pants. There's no music in the pants.

Peridot: There should be music in the pants.

McKenzie: Maybe that should be the next step.

Peridot: Is that something that I can contribute to Earth? Making vinyl music pants that can play music while you walk?

McKenzie: I think that that's definitely something you should look into.

Peridot: Peridot, Peridot, Peridot, Peridot is going to own vinyl music pants!

McKenzie: I look forward to getting a pair.

Peridot: Me too. Me too. Me too McKenzie.

McKenzie: What is your favorite part about being a farmer?

Peridot: It is just so amazing to have my hands in the dirt. I love the smell of dirt, I love those white little rock thingies that supposedly help with water drainage. I really enjoy that something like soil has striations in it, just like rock. You have to put the bottom layer with rocks and you have to put some mulch on top, and then on top of that more dirt, and more rocks on top. So there is definitely a way to create soil that has good drainage, has all the yummy stuff for all these flowers and fruits and vegetables to grow in. So I really do believe being a farmer is something that is just ingrained in me.

McKenzie: You take it seriously.

Peridot: I take it very seriously. I am mulching every other day McKenzie. I am getting bags of mulch. Pumpkin likes to eat the mulch, and that's a problem.

McKenzie: If you had a podcast, what would you make yours about?

Peridot: This is a great question. I'm gonna need a moment. Now, what we're doing right now, a podcast, where people listen to us in our podcast, would I be able to have guests come on my podcast?

McKenzie: You can have guests on the podcast.

Peridot: I watched an episode of Mr. Rogers one time. Steven was watching it, so I got to watch it as well. And other than Camp Pining Hearts, that's still my number one show. Mr. Rogers has all these people come on the show and talk about how they make things, like mozzarella cheese. One time this man came on the show and showed how they made mozzarella cheese, and stretched it with their hands and put it in the water after molding it into little balls. I would really like to have maybe the inventor of yellow Post-It sticky pads. I would just wanna know people's thought processes? Like, what makes that glue on the top of the Post-It note? How does a microphone work? Who invented the button? I don't have any buttons on my clothes, obviously, but Steven one time wore a polo shirt with a button. And I was fixated with this little tiny round thing with four holes. I would like to know who made that button. Who are the great minds behind Earthling things?

McKenzie: Buttons have probably been around for a while. I don't know that the person who made buttons is still with us, if you know what I'm getting at.

Peridot: Oh that's a shame.

McKenzie: But I think that the mozzarella cheese thing sounds great!

Peridot: Where do people go?

McKenzie: Um....

Peridot: Is that for the next podcast?

McKenzie: Yeah we'll talk about that next time.

Peridot: Okay.

An episode about Pearl is next week!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

#steven universe #steven universe podcast #peridot #shelby rabara #mckenzie atwood #ian jones-quartey #rebecca sugar #amber cragg #myblog

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weirdoandherwords · 6 years

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Freedom of speech needs EVERYONE to read this. Calling for people to speak out, this is how. #Savetheinternet

Never has anything been more important for the fight for freedom of speech on understanding this and what we are seeing lately. I urge everyone to watch this Youtube video (see at the very end) and see for yourself and to comment on that video condemning Youtube. Many will not know this man. You may want to watch more videos of him and look him up but just to give you a brief profile; he is a podcaster, Youtuber, philosophiser speaking on politics, relationships and science, you name it. A fan of truth and bringing insightful and interesting debate hence why he has a great following. You may disagree with him and that is welcomed by him, the need and right for people to debate and have an honest dialogue. The shocking horror that not everyone thinks the same, who knew. Yet Youtube nearly banned him just recently with a vague striking system. It was an outrage from his Twitter followers that stopped this and thanks to him having other social platforms but eerily what if he hadn’t? Why was he nearly banned? A violation of users’ rights is happening and people need to pay attention now. Whilst you’re ignorant to this because unsurprisingly this won’t be covered in the mainstream, scary things are happening and you need to wake up. The internet is a saviour but even that is facing a scary uncertainty.

I am appalled and angry for you Stefan Molyneux. Please, anyone who reads this and views the video at the end, just speak up, leave a comment under the Youtube video to show and tell Youtube this is unacceptable and we as consumers of the content do not want this to happen. All this will do is create a way for another platform. Be warned Youtube, you will lose market, if you're willing to silence and shut down voices unjustly. The fight for freedom and speech will always prevail because it is reason and truth that we hold on to so I'm so happy to see people speaking and switched on to this. Don't be ignorant. Ignorance is not bliss. People who are not on the internet are in a bubble with only the mainstream media to give them their news and 'truth'; the internet is the place now and to even see Youtube acting out censorship is outwardly disturbing and terrifying. This should terrify people.

Whether you agree with Stefan or not (even though he is an intelligent man who is willing to THINK hence being a philosopher and gives truth, intelligent and insightful debates and speaks on real issues that need a platform so I wonder how you could be hateful to him), the censorship of voices should be what EVERYONE should stand against as in time the very people who claim to have moral superiority and exhibit the hypocritical bigotry onto others they want to censor, the can of worms opens and you'll be regretting allowing this to happen.

I watch many things on Youtube, from people I don't always agree with and those I do, I spend a lot of time there, learning, being enlightened, being cheered up, being entertained by different voices with many who have divisive opinions. That returning demon of the evil that not everyone thinks the same eh. I don't tend to comment, just indulge in content after content and I often scroll down on comments to get a sense of the reaction and it pleases me to see people are not falling for the biases and are all here for truth but on this that I've just come across, I cannot help but comment and urge anyone and everyone to comment in support for Stefan here, as it is not just a comment for Stefan, but for speech, for freedom and to show Youtube and everyone that consumers and the people are intolerant over Youtube's (and other sites that are feeling pressured) intolerance. We need to call out this hypocrisy, the injustice and violation over users' rights. Pressured from an SJW army and direction from corporate contributions like adverts (the demonetisation of users), they do this to 'appease the people'. Well this is why it is crucial people comment to show this is not what the people want, give the voice, give the pressure that what they are doing is wrong, show them, tell them, speak up and people who are with this fight, if you wonder what you can do, comment under the video to show this and to tell Youtube we will not be using if they continue with the violation of not only the users but of ours as the consumers and show we are against this, that we know what they are doing before there is no video from him to comment on.

Watch. Comment in condemnation against Youtube on this and to show all the social media platforms and sites out there. Speak out in numbers. I want to see millions! I want to see who is out there and in support. This could be a movement. Fight and be on the side for freedom of speech. I’m calling for a movement to get people engaged, angry and voiced in reaction to all the outrageous and unjustified anti free speech incidences happening (Count Dankula, Tommy Robinson, James Damore to name a few cases) and what we are seeing here with Stefan. Show these major platforms that their CSR is misaligned, that they have nothing to fear if many disagree with some of their users’ content and that by censorship, banning and violating their policies towards ideas that are different or indeed misrepresented is not going to be tolerated. Many voices are shut down before people have had a chance to see clearly that often what the SJWs and media portray is the opposite. Funny how agendas work. The more we speak, the more we show they shouldn’t be pressured to censor and that we are not standing for this violation, injustice and plague on freedom of speech, for debate and truth. So start by a comment underneath after watching Stefan’s video. Tweet. Make videos. Blog. Debate your peers, your friends and strangers. Inform them of this and all that is going on. In your tweets, videos, blogs etc. make it clear we are watching, we demand as consumers and the people for fair platforms of ideas for even the ones you dislike, disagree with and may see as ‘hateful’. After all, the way to combat evil is to shine a light on it and not let it fester in its deep and gritty darkness to then build up into something monstrous. Of course, most of the time this isn’t the case as we have a judicial system in place to lock up true evil but there is a case to shine the light on bad ideas so that we know what ideas are out there and how to resolve people’s thinking by debate, intelligence, sharing of information and honest conversations. To show the hateful and harmful and to win by better ideas and debate. What are you scared of? That you might learn inconvenient truths, that you can’t debate? The best way to win a debate is to not have one it seems and what a ludicrous and telling observation and a scary world to be in. The misinformation, lack of self-thought, rational thinking and agency to look into things is creating these demonised characters that must be shut down when they are often not even remotely dangerous, only insofar for the ones that want to take away their voices... and you’ve got to wonder, why would they want that?

Think of this as an open letter to the world from just a girl who likes to learn and seek truth with a laptop. If you like truth, ideas and freedom of speech, please join and make this movement. The internet and the history, the present and the future of humanity need it.

#Savetheinternet.

youtube

#Youtube #Freedom of speech #Youtube violation #Stefan Molyneux #Count Dankula #James Damore #Truth #Ideas #Save the internet

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nothingman · 7 years

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Liberals are still all but helpless in the face of right-wing lies that mutate and evolve.

As we learn more about how Russia used social media as part of its campaign to help elect Donald Trump, what stands out is how easy it was. Spend $100,000 on Facebook ads, create a bunch of Twitter bots, and before you know it you've whipped up a fog of disinformation that gives Trump just the boost he needs to get over the finish line. Even if it's almost impossible to quantify how many votes it might have swayed, it was one of the many factors contributing to the atmosphere of chaos and confusion that helped Trump get elected.

As new as it might seem, this is just the latest manifestation of a broader problem that goes back a long way, one of the degradation of truth, a conservative electorate taught to disbelieve what's real and accept whatever lunatic things their media figures tell them, and liberals who can't figure out how to respond.

In the latter, I don't exempt myself. I've been thinking seriously about this problem since the 1990s, when I first went to graduate school to study political communication. And I still don't have the answer to what we ought to do about it.

On a recent episode of the podcast "Pod Save America," Hillary Clinton described the problem as she saw it:

The other side has dedicated propaganda channels, that's what I call Fox News. It has outlets like Breitbart, and crazy InfoWars, and things like that. In this particular election, it was aided and abetted by the Russians and the role that Facebook and other platforms played. We are late to that. We did not understand how a reality TV campaign would so dominate the media environment, and I confess, I was trying to do everything I could to build on the success of President Obama's campaign, I had a lot of people you guys know involved in the campaign, we were really proud of it. But boy, it was tough to break through. So I think the Democrats can do a lot, but they are still going to face a very difficult media environment. And we've got to figure out how we're going to break through. Obviously, more podcasts, more other ways of communicating so voices can be heard and real positions can be understood is part of it, but we're still at a disadvantage.

She says liberals were "late" to it and didn't "understand" the kind of collective madness that would overtake the broader media environment, which may be true. But if you could go back in time to two years ago and give them advice, what would you tell them to do? Would calling attention to the Russian manipulation have mattered? What would you advise them to do about a news media possessed by the idea that Clinton's email management practices were the most important issue of the campaign? How would you tell them to respond to the fact that the GOP candidate was perfectly willing to tell dozens of lies every day and repeat them over and over no matter how many times he had been fact-checked?

At the heart of the problem is that when it came to what conservatives were willing to believe and act on, 2016 was simply an exaggerated version of what had come before. This is where Clinton is right that even if liberals come up with "more other ways of communicating so voices can be heard," it won't be enough.

That's because liberals have plenty of ways of communicating. There are huge numbers of liberal websites, and magazines (Like this one! Subscribe today!) and even radio and television shows out there where their perspective can be heard. But the effect they have on their audiences is of a profoundly different character than what conservative media achieve.

There's a doctrinal basis to conservative media that makes it fundamentally different from liberal media, that makes Rush Limbaugh most definitely not the mirror image of a liberal radio host and Sean Hannity not the mirror image of Rachel Maddow. It's not merely about the conservatives' and liberals' respective adherence to truth or penchant for ugly demonization of their opponents, though they differ in that too. It's that an argument about the larger media world is the foundation of conservative media. Conservative hosts and writers tell their audiences over and over again that nothing they read in the mainstream media can be accepted, that it's all twisted by a liberal agenda, and therefore they can only believe what conservatives tell them. It's the driving backbeat to every episode, every story, and every rant.

Liberals complain about media coverage of one story or another all the time. What they don't do is tell their audiences that any news source that is not explicitly and exclusively devoted to their ideological agenda cannot be trusted. But conservatives do.

Hearing that message thousands of times over the last couple of decades has left them not only uniquely vulnerable to fabricated stories and ludicrous conspiracy theories, but with an immunity to the kinds of sober refutation of those lies that mainstream media, with the noblest of intentions, attempt to carry out. Who cares if The Washington Post's Fact Checker or PolitiFact says that the story my aunt just put up on Facebook about Hillary Clinton is completely bogus? They're just liberal media! As the Russians discovered, those stories can be injected into the electorate from anywhere and they spread like a malignant virus, eventually infecting even some who aren't already devoted to the right-wing cause.

Not long after the election, NPR spoke to a man in Los Angeles who had hit upon a money-making scheme in which he'd create bogus stories under official-sounding but nonexistent publications like the "Denver Guardian." Stories aimed at ginning up conservative outrage—people are buying pot in Colorado with food stamps! An FBI agent investigating Hillary Clinton was murdered!—quickly went viral, spreading to thousands or even millions of unsuspecting eyeballs. But he couldn't duplicate his success with the other side. "We've tried to do similar things to liberals," he said. "It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out." And now conservatives have a president who feeds their gullibility and contempt for anyone who tries to distinguish between what's true and what isn't.

The optimistic take on all this would be to say that it only matters at the margins. After all, despite the best efforts of the conservative propaganda machine and his own relentless fabulism, Donald Trump's approval ratings are in the 30s. Your uncle may tune in to Fox and watch Sean Hannity tell him that Trump had the biggest inauguration crowd in history and criminal immigrants are killing and raping all our white women, but he was never going to vote for a Democrat anyway.

The trouble is that even if it matters only at the margins, sometimes the margins matter a great deal. Like they did in 2016, where the candidate who got nearly three million more votes lost the electoral vote.

And as media change, disinformation will change with it. Twenty years ago it was Jerry Falwell sending out hundreds of thousands of copies of a videotape called "The Clinton Chronicles," which accused Bill and Hillary of running drugs and having their enemies murdered. Today it's Russians spreading bogus stories on Facebook about Hillary Clinton having Parkinson's disease. Twenty years from now it will be computer generated holo-fabrications of a Democratic nominee kicking a puppy placed into our VR brainstreams. A certain number of conservatives will believe it all, and liberals will still be asking themselves how they can fight back. And we still won't have the answer.

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podcake · 7 years

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Podcasts & Structure

Every time I get around to sitting down and actually writing these articles, I have to seriously consider what I’m going to talk about. It seems the conversation of audio drama is becoming more widespread lately, oozing its way into mainstream media faster than I can keep track of.

And so many are being made at such a rapid pace, catching up with it all can be its own challenge. A lot of people are starting to see the power and potential of audio plays and it’s a slow burn revolution I am a hundred percent behind.

When I achieve my dreams of becoming a licensed journalist under that sweet, sweet trademark PodCake©, know that I’ll be somewhere in the front lines, keeping everyone up to the date and in the zone until I’m old and gray and still very, very pink.

So with this exciting idea in mind, I find it appropriate to do a somewhat different type of “Podcasts&”. This is still very much an article dabbling into my specific interests and experiences though also a guide of sorts to those who may be wrapped up in the creative hype. Allow me to pull you starry-eyed artists aside for some well-meaning advice. May you follow in the footsteps of your idols, though know you are above any of their common mistakes.

I had a few options in store to pick from when it came to another topic covering audio drama critique, though I felt that I wanted to address this first. This is another dabbling into the more specific structures of my podcast journalism and the consumption and creation of audio drama in general.

In a similar vain to my latest article, “Podcasts & Critique”, I’ll be talking about something that perhaps not many are willing to discuss out in the open but is certainly touched upon enough that I feel the merits to bring it up in more depth. What we will be discussing today is the element of effective story structure.

Get comfortable, this is gonna be a long one.

Let me start by saying that I adore and always will adore a nice, rich setting presented only through words. I adore lavishly designed dystopias and lively apocalyptic wastelands more than the next guy and the idea of a soothing, sweet voice cooing to us over a delicately designed world is a surefire way to ensure a fanbase. This is the popular set up known as The Newscaster or The Fake Radio Show or Handsome Male Character Headcannon Sitting in a Big Chair or whatever you want to call it.

I enjoy this format namely for its simplicity and ability to relay information to the listener all while still characterizing the narrator as an active part of the world. Though these shows might be more episodic, to a degree, the ideas are still being connected by one single thread. It’s such a regular aspect of the podcast scene that it’s nothing short of being a style.

This style places a lot of emphasis on lore and quirks and memorable little moments that arrange themselves into a little audio scrapbook. We’re given this collection of information, all gorgeously described in luscious detail.

That’s why it’s such a shame how boring it can be at times.

Don’t get me wrong here, my problem is not with interesting landscapes and rich lore, my problem is when a lot is being said but not enough is being done.

I fell out of love with Welcome to Night Vale for this particular reason, this inconsistency with stakes and conflict that made any enjoyment to be found quickly tedious. Night Vale is and always will be a staple in the audio drama community, though it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from its mistakes that may go over our heads due to its excellent writing and characters only sometimes overshadowing it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: an excellent audio drama is the sum of many parts and only succeeding in one area won’t always make the cut. But today’s topic is less about writing and more about narrative pacing…which is still kind of about writing but in a different way.

The central issue with these types of single narrator driven shows, being that we are being presented with a setting, problems, and characters who can solve that problem, but an effort is rarely ever made to get to a satisfying conclusion that is worth the wait. Of course, there actually being conflict to resolve can be its own and even more disappointing dilemma.

A crowning example of this type of flaw occurred in what used to be one of my favorite audio drama comedies, Kakos Industries.

I promptly stopped listening to Kakos after a lackluster attempt at it’s first real arc after roughly fifty episodes of filler and build up that didn’t contribute much to whatever the arc was trying to get across. None of the past episodes helped create a central theme that the arc was meant to represent, making its conclusion lack any emotional stakes or a reason to get invested.

The primary mood of the arc was all over the place with rapid character changes, unclear motivations, and a rushed explanation behind multiple episodes with little to no foreshadow to back it up. Furthermore this supposedly crucial ending didn’t tie into the continuation of season three beyond the absence of the past antagonist who was the center of the whole thing and the victim of a bloated backstory that needed way more than twenty minutes to be summarized.

No one changes from the whole ordeal, not even the protagonist who goes about his daily life as if none of it ever happened, and nobody and nothing is lost from the whole thing besides the character we already knew was bound to kick the bucket because it needed to end somehow. Generally, it does everything arc is not supposed to do as it doesn’t act as a changing phase for the story and doesn’t give us any vital information that will effect any of the characters long term.

The problem also lies in that there are a number of interesting subplots that emerged within the show’s canon as of season two: some more details about head rival Melantha Murther that imply she may be older than she seems, the relationship she has with Corin Deeth I as well as his involvement with the company, and a theory about cloning being brought up to name a few, but we have yet to even gently nudge at these ideas yet for a good batch of episodes because we wouldn’t want all those penis jokes to go to waste.

This is content with potential to be interesting arcs on their own and functional ones as they key into new information about characters we’ve come to know and gives Kakos Industries the tension and mystery it desperately needs.

These little bits and pieces of information can keep a listener engaged long enough to keep tuning in, but it can quickly become a chore to go back to something that seems to have been forgotten in exchange for repeated jokes and some new standalone characters that don’t really matter.

These might be in the footnotes of the creators for episode whenever, though to us they feel like throwaway lines pitched as bait more than anything of actual importance. They’re just there to be there.

And when the show peddles back to its roots of everyday shenanigans and jokes, the luster is lost, no matter how funny or well executed they might be. In the end, a lot of gimmicks and a lot of chatter with no real weight becomes nothing short of a series of filler episodes with no purpose.

I understand that indifference and dissonant serenity is part of the Kakos Industries’ humor though it often comes at the cost of events not carrying any real weight because it’s already predetermined that it’s being treated like a joke or that things will be resolved and go back to status quo with minimal effort. It insists you don’t take it seriously even if the problem at hand would suggest otherwise. To anyone else listening, this makes the stakes nonexistent and the protagonist seem overqualified to handle any problem thrown at him, never giving him a chance to be vulnerable to the slightest misfortune.

The same could be said for Welcome to Night Vale, a show with many compelling ideas and character drama though one that loves to meander and reestablish how strange and bizarre their world is on repeat instead of doing anything of actual substance, at least as far as season three is concerned.

Night Vale has a much better grip on characters and conflict that Kakos Industries does, though it also suffers from some of the same problems. Night Vale also had arcs, one incredibly well done to the point it’s been considered a crowning moment of the series while another that wavered a bit too long and simply wasn’t intriguing enough to make a huge difference in the end besides being another case of the Put On the Bus trope. And when they concluded, we’re back to square one again.

Once again, we are given a lot of ripe material here: There’s instances of Cecil’s childhood that we must piece together, pretty much anything about Kevin is bound to be creepy and interesting, Carlos and his apparent involvement with a college university, and something about sleeper agents and traffic signs and blood space but I lost count.

The case here is almost as dire as this is something of a multiple choice scenario where there’s just piles and piles of plots being given to us but all of it feels for naught when something else is being added to the collection a second later.

The same way Kakos is so obsessed with its dark and sexy aesthetic to the point it under develops its characters and has an absence of stakes, Night Vale is the same with its surrealism and seems to pull the “it’s a weird show” card whenever something gets unresolved.

There comes a point where a show’s quirky nature can only be used for so long to avoid the big question about what it’s all in service of. If all the oddness has no meaning and the plots are just being pitched with no real agency, then they fail to provide the show with any real purpose.

The point of an arc ending is for another one to start later, namely by picking up leftover plot points from before or starting something else that still entwines with the story’s central lore.

For a good example of how to manage an arc, I’d recommend Wolf 359 that has at least four in the duration of about forty episodes. I’d go into more detail about exactly what made the individual arcs in Wolf 359 work so well though that would lean heavily into spoiler territory and I wouldn’t want to ruin anything for those who haven’t listened to it yet.

This too started as a sort of news caster from space format until it flourished into the characters offering their points of view on a scenario and developing as people as they are placed in tight spots.

We learn more about who we’re dealing with, what is at stake, and grow invested because we never know which direction the events can take us. Wolf 359 has become so successful in its run because of the writer’s ability to admit something is amiss which gives the listeners something to anticipate rather than just tolerate.

Listen here, I know that podcasts are all for entertainment’s sake and I will always respect that, but even something that is entertaining must have a hook-line-sinker mentality, as I like to call it:

The hook is the first impression: What made you want to listen in the first place? Did the general synopsis intrigue you? Maybe there was just an actor in the show that you really like. Simple.

The line is the plot: This is the thing that makes you keep coming back for more. You’ve gotten comfortable with the story and its characters, you want to know as much as you can about the lore and the stakes. This is very much literally “a line” the audio drama is following and encourages you to keep up with.

The sinker is the payoff: This is where all the accumulated information you’ve gathered really matters-the climax. This is where we get the hidden motivations of characters, know about the dark secrets and figure out who the heroes and villains might be. We have a winner and a loser or at least some kind of ending, be it good or bad for the protagonists.

Many podcasts are capable of the first two steps though tend to forget the third. And when we do forget to touch that oh-so crucial sense of conflict and resolution, it becomes the equivalent of a Breather Episode series.

To those who don’t know, a Breather Episode is a common trope that is put into place to remind the audience that all of the past problems have concluded and we can once again revel in comedy and lighthearted fun.

I am a big fan of the this trope, it’s an implication that the past troubles of our protagonists have been dealt with and they can now relax, getting back to basics, but it’s getting back to the old grind that really matters.

We as listeners are a bit bloodthirsty, to say the least, constantly seeking out what new thing might be out to threaten the characters and disrupt their tranquility. Though in the character’s universe, and, to some extent, the writers, this is a pleasant period to soak in for a bit for just a little while.

It is prone to overstay its welcome if the average episode is nothing to look forward to. In short, if there’s nothing to hold on to, people will drop your story knowing it was of no loss to them.

A constant barrage of drama can be very overwhelming to the story’s ability to stay surprising and believable, so it’s good to have that even blend of “the bleeder and the breather”, as I’d like to call it, to keep things balanced.

But Podcake, you might be saying. This is audio drama! Emphasis on audio. They’re just sounds! Why expect so much when we can’t get visual input?

And you have a point there metaphorical reader. I’m not saying every show needs this epic score, high budget, and groundbreaking editing, I actually encourage shows who rely on this minimalism to try even harder in the writing department.

It is actually possible to have a consistent sense of tension even with limited sound effects and budget.

A good example would be The Bright Sessions. The presentation is mostly contained in one room and only occasionally stepping outside of it to overhear conversations. Despite the format being mostly casual and calm, there is still a pressing sense of drama and conflict we keep coming back to. And when we do get “the breather” in between, it’s a welcome change until going right back to where we started.

This is because the show stands on its own two feet in the dialogue department to get their point across and let things flow naturally. No big pizzazz or flashiness, just saying what it needs to say.

And if you insist on the superb audio editing part of this, I’d say Hadron Gospel Hour is always an recommendation, as well as defining the even blend of episodic with tension combination.

Gospel Hour is a sci-fi comedy with multiple unrelated cutaway gags and strange characters that have events in episodes that may not always be highly relevant to the next. But this has yet to cripple the storytelling since there are always connecting threads our protagonists go back to that develop their backstory or truly emphasize the dire circumstances they’ve been put in, something I’ve begun to notice in later episodes.

And if you’re still concerned about arcs, The Once and Future Nerd has the decency to have well established and satisfying beginnings, middles, and ends to each chapter. They have a wide and vast world to explore and take any opportunities they can to remind you of the fantastical yet still dangerous and grisly setting.

And maybe you’re really stuck on the newscaster format. Fine, I like those shows too. From here I’d highly encourage The Bridge: a show with a rather complex world, decently sized cast, and a steady increase in drama that isn’t afraid to step back from the main character’s perspective to tell a complete story.

Sorry to name drop so much in this particular document, though this is a narrative problem I’ve seen so often and so poorly I want to save anyone attempting this style from the same shortcomings. If you enjoy these shows for that exact reason, that is completely fine, though don’t be afraid to ask for something more genuine than just empty world building.

A good story is what you make of it but a memorable story can be much more.

#podcast #audio drama #audio play #radio drama #radio play #podcasts and #welcome to night vale #kakos industries #the once and future nerd #the bridge #the bridge podcast #hadron gospel hour #the bright sessions #wolf 359 #wolf 359 podcast

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thelaurenshippen · 7 years

Note

This might be a strange question, and I don't know if you've answered something similar before, but how were you able to get started creating a podcast like The Bright Sessions? There wasn't any patreon or advertising at the beginning, so it must have been self-funded, but you still had a bunch of people working on the project and the production value was really high. How were you able to get people involved, afford equipment and editing software, etc. to get started?

Oh my god, you’re so sweet to say that our production value was really high at the beginning. It was NOT. The first 9 episodes were recorded on a Blue Yeti microphone that Anna had (about an $80 mic) and edited by myself on Adobe Audition (free trial yo!). We recorded everything in my bedroom (still do in fact) so there were no studio charges and we used tumblr as our main website so the only expenses were the RSS hosting and the editing software once the trial was up, totaling about $40 a month.

For the second season, I bought a better mic and started the Patreon, which cost more money upfront than we were making from it because of reward costs. But all in all, I personally spent about 1k of my own money on the first two seasons. Now, that’s a lot of money, especially when you’ve been getting your income from acting gigs/a restaurant job as I had been. But it’s nothing compared the cost it takes to make one episode of a web series. I was willing to eat that cost and now, because of the generosity of our listeners, I was able to pay myself back, only a year later.

So on the equipment/recording front I’ll say this: you can use an $80 mic if you have a concept that doesn’t need more than that. Find a quiet room, some good actors, and go to town. It’s all about the story.

Now I’m going to ramble on for a bit, so for more podcast-making advice (or anything-making advice really) read on:

The most valuable asset that I had at the beginning was the people. I was an actor who had been living in LA for three years - I was constantly surrounded by talented actors who weren’t getting the work or recognition their talents deserved. So when I started writing and thinking about actually making the thing, I started thinking about which crazy talented people I could rope into doing it with me. Those people were Anna (my best friend who would do anything for me, as I would for her and one of the most talented people I’ve ever known), Julia and Briggon (two friends from acting class who I had admired for so long and who are some of the kindest, smartest people in the world). Thankfully, they all said yes and the rest was history.

Having such incredible people upfront made a huge difference for two reasons: 1) the production quality sounds high with a non-fancy mic because the performances are so compelling and 2) they encouraged me to do it. I sat on the first episode for a year before writing the rest because I didn’t really share it with anyone after I had written it. Once I realized these characters weren’t going to leave me alone, I wrote the rest and decided to share it with these three actors I hoped would lend their voices to their project. The only reaction I was looking for was, “yeah, this is cool and it won’t eat up a ton of my time so sure, I’ll do it”. Instead I got enthusiasm and dedication and encouragement and, boy oh boy, does my brain like those as motivators for doing a thing.

Having Julia, Briggon, and Anna be excited about the project and willing to do more regardless of it’s success was an enormous factor in actually getting the thing done. I would have made the first season regardless because I needed to get it out of my brain and into the world, but the podcast most likely never would have continued beyond the first nine episodes without these people.

I think sometimes when I talk about making @thebrightsessions, I make it sound like I just had this thought in my car and it flowed freely onto pages and then these incredible actors came waltzing into my life and we recorded some stuff and it floated onto the internet and all the way onto the iTunes Best of 2016. And while there is definitely a large amount of luck and happenstance and timing, this podcast has also been a lot of work. I have spent the majority of my waking hours in the past 18 months making this podcast - and not just the writing and recording. The biggest time-suck is the promotion, the social media, the admin, the budgeting. I emailed about 40 different newsletters/blogs/websites after we launched to get them to listen and maybe heard back from 2. I spent hours online trying to nudge people in the direction of our podcast without being too overtly self-promotional, I told every single fucking person I met about this podcast.

This is all to say that making a podcast does not have to be expensive or require you to have fancy equipment and a lot of editing skills - but you do need a strong idea, good people, and the willingness to do an extra full-time job for free. From there, it is a lot of luck - after about six months of hard pushing, we started to snowball and soon our listeners were doing our promotional work for us with word of mouth. Then @mischastanton found us and the quality of our sound effects went up a whole bunch which gave me the freedom to write more (in both the time it freed up for me and the possibilities it opened us up to) and we just grew and grew.

To recap, here are the things I had and did that really helped me make @thebrightsessions what it is:

Blue Yeti Mic

Macbook Pro

Adobe Audition

An amazing acting studio to pull actors from

A chalkboard (this is how I do all my season planning)

Evernote

Libsyn Pro (use Podtrac if you can though - I’m p. sure it’s free, I just didn’t know about it)

Twitter

A best friend who was willing to do graphic design for free

Listen to every audio drama you can - shout-out to WTNV and Cabin Pressure (not a podcast but whatevs) for inspiring me in the first place, and to @theblacktapespodcast, Limetown, @wolf359radio, @arsparadoxica, @serial, and so many others for keeping the bar very high.

Read a ton and write a ton - it’s the only way you get better

Patreon

Squarespace

Tumblr

Amazing listeners that inspire me and make me think

And literally a million more things but this is getting too long so I’m going to stop now. I have no idea if you were asking this question because you’re making your own podcast, but if you are, good luck!

#answered #the bright sessions #podcast #advice #podcast advice #long post #ministryofsillyhats

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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12/22/2018 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 1:1-2:21, Revelation 12:1-17, Psalms 140:1-13, Proverbs 30:17

Today is the 22nd day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It is a joy to be here with you on Christmas Eve Eve Eve but we’re or headed right into it. We’re ending another of our weeks together and turning the corner into a new weekend. We’ll be greeted by a shiny, sparkly, brand-new blinking Christmas and I'm looking forward to that and I hope you are too. So, we’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week and that's how we will finish our week off. And we’ll read from Zechariah chapter 2 verse 1 through 3 verse 10 today.

Commentary:

Alright. So, we’re only days away from Christmas and, you know, if you’ve got kids then they're probably counting down the hours at this point. And some of us are preparing to travel and we’re packing and getting ready for that and others are making preparations to receive those who are traveling in and that can be across town, that could be from across the ocean, but we’re preparing to you to be together. This coming back together is the joy…one of the joys of Christmas and it should be. And those that have been around us our whole lives, right, maybe as siblings or parents, uncles, aunts, cousins will be reunited. But even though those childhood days may be gone, we’re adults now, maybe even have families of our own or maybe we’re in another city and we’ve built our own life there. When we all get back together it doesn't take long to fall back into the role we played when we were younger. So, those young, soft places inside, they start getting touched and maybe old words of teasing or scorn, they start to creep in and then the strangeness between generations and, you know, maybe different people in our family hold different convictions than we do. And, so, all these things start rubbing against each other and then before we know it something volatile gets said, and they’re words that kind of just hang out there just waiting to explode and create a bad day and maybe even a bad holiday experience. So, the book of Psalms today gave us some sage advice for navigating the next few days that we’re heading into. The psalmist says, “take control of what I say oh Lord and guard my lips. Don't let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness. Don't let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong. Let the godly strike me. It will be a kindness. If they correct me it is soothing medicine. Don't let me refuse it.” So, we should take that Psalm to heart and let it discipline us in advance so that we don't find ourselves being the one who says the volatile thing, the thing that's going to blow everything else up and the dominoes fall and the holiday’s…well…then they get a black mark over them and there are tears and there are apologies and it's it doesn't have to happen. So, king David, he's the one who gave us the words to this prayer but the prayer itself, it forces us to make choices now, right, before the first gift gets unwrapped because in the heat of the moment that's not the time to start making decisions about how you’re gonna handle your words, right? In the heat of the moment words form and they get spat into the world and they can't be taken back. So, we have to remember that we were…when we were a kid…you know all these old things start to seep into the family dynamic. That is not who we are. Like, we’re not who we were when we began this journey this year. We spent almost a whole year in the Bible together. We are not the same as we were when we started. And, so, rather than, you know, diving into that haze of conflict that can erupt we can choose to bring light and life and good news where we would have once maybe brought darkness. But if we’re going to do that we have to choose in advance. Like we have to choose now how we’re going to handle ourselves so that in the heat of the moment we can remember, I've already made my decision how I’m gonna deal with this. So, let's remember. I mean, tomorrow is the is the last Sunday of Advent and then it's Christmas Eve and then it's Christmas. And this season is the season that reveals that God is not willing to withdraw from our story and its the season that shows us how deeply He's desiring to be a part of our lives and how intensely He wants to be with us no matter who we are. And that includes those that we find ourselves in conflict with all of the time. So, this is our opportunity to give the joy of Christmas or we can withhold it and see what happens. But whatever we’re gonna do, if we choose in advance we have such a better chance of actually seeing it through.

Prayer:

Father, we pray along with the psalmist. Take control of what I say Lord. Guard my lips. Don't let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness during this holiday season when I am observing the fact that You came to rescue me from all of that. Don't let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong. Come Holy Spirit and flow through me. Let me be an agent of light and life and good news to my family and my loved ones. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what's happening.

And it's Christmas time and that's what's happening. I went to a Christmas program last night. I go to one tomorrow. So, these kinds of things are happening right? And then Christmas Eve we normally do a candlelight service. And, so, it is certainly Christmas time and I doubt anyone of you are surprised by that. Tomorrow is the last Sunday in the season of Advent. And the Christmas Eve on Monday will be the last day of Advent. And, of course, Advent is a means arrival. So, it's a season to contemplate the arrival of what God did by sending His Son to earth to become one of us and all that the work of Christ represents, not only in our own hearts, but to humanity. So, try to stay in the rhythm, try to find some time to contemplate that. Just sit with that, enjoy some rest, and some silence, and some quiet.

I've talked to you about the family Christmas album that we have. You can listen to that, like, wherever you get your music. Like, if you have Apple music or wherever you stream music or get music, you can get the family Christmas album, just search for my name. It's kinda made for exactly what we're talking about. It's the kind of record that you want turn the Christmas lights on and everything else off and just kind of immerse yourself in the season. So, this is something that we have to fight for the closer that we get to Christmas because it's so busy and yet we can be so busy that we miss what's actually happening and what this season represents. And, so, try to find some time one way or the other, even if it's just a few minutes even if it’s to still than the noise that's going on and just have some inner serenity as we contemplate that God came for us in person. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of the year than thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this is a message for the Prodigal. I just wanted to say that your one of the people whose voices I always recognize the moment you start calling. And your calls are always very insightful and always make a real impact on me. And we really don’t want you to go. You’re needed in this community and no matter how you may feel bad about yourself we love you and God loves you and you’re needed. And I’m calling from Australia. You’re making an impact all around the world and we just don’t want you to go. We need you. So, we hope to continue to hear from you. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Wes, and I’m actually a first-time caller here and I just wanted to start out by saying a huge thanks to Brian and Jill for this amazing podcast. I try to listen to it every day when I can and I’m really just calling in for a person called Prodigal. It just sounds like he’s going through really dark times right now and I can’t imagine what that’s like. And I just have a Bible verse for you, it’s Psalm 23:4 and its, “even though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.” And this verse has helped me get through dark times as well. And just know that God really loves you and I don’t think he created…I know he didn’t create a single human being with the intention to commit suicide. So, we are all praying for you here at the Daily Audio Bible and we want what’s best for you and hopefully you can reach out to other people like maybe in your area as well and hopefully you guys can talk and stuff like. But we’re praying for you and hope for the best.

Hey DAB family, this is Byron out in Florida calling for John, calls himself the Prodigal. Amen, thanks so much for your call on the 21st. I’m sorry you’ve been going through such a rough time having lost so much. I’m thankful that you did call, I’m thankful as always, your honesty. I just want to encourage you that God isn’t done with you yet, not by a long shot. And I don’t know if you heard it but on the same day the first call that aired was from Walta and her encouragement I think was very important for you. And that fact that you wake up every morning with your eyes open is hard and fast proof that God isn’t finished with you yet and He still is more for you to do. Walta doesn’t call herself the burning bush for no reason. She’s been through it and back again and still going through it. So, for her to find that insight is tremendously encouraging not only for me but for you. God is not done with you. You’re searching the Scriptures to find validation for suicide. Search the Scriptures for validations for reasons still being here, that He who began a good work in you will see it to completion. He’ll give wisdom to anyone who asks for it. And our Lord is the Lord who wept when He saw the pain and loss that His children endured. God knows how you feel He’s not far from you, He’s right beside you. So, wait on Him and He will bring it all back. We’re praying for your brother. I love you. Call in again, even if you don’t know what you’re gonna say, we want to hear from you. Bye.

Hi this is Toni from Germany and this call is specifically for the Prodigal. I am grateful that you listened to the priest and I would like you to go back to him. He asked you to come to us. I ask you to go back to him. And then the other thing is, I’m not gonna tell you to do this though I would love to, go get another dog. Alright? I want to as does everyone else on Daily Audio Bible listening to hear your victory story. So, I thank you for hanging in there, for giving thanks to the Lord even in your suffering. And then let’s watch and see how the Lord will help you come to victory in 2019. I’m looking forward to your victory story and that you will be able to bless many others as a result. God bless you. I’ll be praying.

This is for Prodigal. I was in the dollar store last night and there was a lady and two kids behind me in a long line. There was one big kid and then the smaller kid. The bigger kid had a pack of glow sticks and the toddler was screaming for them. The mom opened the pack and gave him one which stopped the tears. He walked around with it smiling and the bigger boy took it and the toddler started screaming again. Just as the mom was about to do something the older child took bent the glow stick and handed it back to the toddler. As we walked outside the store at the same time the toddler noticed that the stick was now glowing, and his brother said, “I had to break it so that you could get the full effect from it.” I could hear that saying to me, “I had to break you to show you why I created you. You had to go through it so that you can fulfill your purpose.” The precious child was happy just swinging that unbroken glow stick around in the air because he didn’t understand what it was created to do, which was to glow. There’s some people who will be contentious being but some of us that God has chosen, we have to be broken, we have to get sick, we have to lose a job, we have to we go through divorce, we have to burry our spouse, our parents, our best friend and / or our child. In those moments of desperation God is breaking us but when the breaking is done then we’ll be able to see the reason for which we were created. So, when you see us glowing just know that we have been broken but healed by His grace and His mercy. You can keep going the way you’ve been going Prodigal, knowing where that may lead, or you can give yourself a real chance for a better life. The fact that you’re listening to this shows that you want another option. There’s only one real source of hope for a life that possesses meaning, fulfillment and joy and that source is Jesus Christ as you know. Speaking about his followers Jesus said in John 10:10, I have come that they may have life and to have it to the full. Through your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Prodigal, you can experience overflowing love and forgiveness and peace and joy in your…

Good morning daily audio Bible family, this is Dorothy from Dustin. And I just heard Prodigal call and my heart is breaking for you. Please, please don’t take your life because God gave it to you and he has a purpose for you and a plan for you and He is the great Redeemer, He is the God of second chances. Please don’t do this. I know it’s hard. It’s hard for me it’s hard for so many people at this time of year but your God is a great God and He loves you so very much. He has a plan for you. Don’t take His plan. This time next year will be a faint memory and He’s gonna do something wonderful for you and let that take place. I’m praying for you and I know so many others are. Lord Jesus, we lift Prodigal up to you right now. We thank You for his life. We know how much You love him. Please show him Your love, reveal it to him through people and through situations Lord. At this time of year Lord, we thank You for Your birth, we thank You for coming for us and we thank You for Your son prodigal. Bless him Lord Jesus. Merry Christmas my family. Thank you for this Brian. Thank you for this outreach it’s so precious to me and Sue so many. Merry Christmas.

Hey, my brother Prodigal, I heard you loud and clear today. Man, I balled my eyes out for a second. I am so encouraged that you called. God Almighty is answering your prayers. I too have been there. This is Alex from San Diego, Friday the 21st. My friend, I hope you have ears to hear right now. It’s to all the prodigal’s out there who have had those thoughts, who have not yet been transformed by the renewing of their mind. My answer is a revelation to me where Jesus told me, yes you must die, you must pick up your cross and follow me. We’re gonna go die. Where gonna go die that old man, that old way of thinking. That arrogant, prideful, selfish jerk that I once was had to die, and I needed to be made new and I found my answers in Romans chapter 8. My plan sat there in plain sight. In order to lose my life, I needed to find it. No, I needed to lose my life completely to find it. In the name of Jesus I pray that you hear these words. Romans 8:13 told me finally one day and I got it. It says if you, Alex, if you, Prodigal, if you put to death the deed of the flesh you will live. And I started to get a deeper understanding that I had a job to do. I had to put down that arrogance, I had to put down that anger. I had to stop pointing and picking on things on my computer that I did not need to point and click on. I needed to stop listening to that music that didn’t give me anything but in my old thoughts. I had to transfer my whole way of doing things so that I could find a new life and I pray that this message goes out and that its put on the air and that you hear it my friend, that you stop doing what you’ve been doing and become that born-again spirit, man that can find the abundant life. You cannot have a victory in those old thoughts that you’re thinking right now. They don’t belong. That’s the adversary. He wants to take you out. In God Almighty reaching through these airwaves.

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coin-river-blog · 6 years

Link

Op-Ed

Cryptowhispers explores the wildcatting world of direct denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and why the socially maladjusted tend to flock to that particular vector … especially for coin projects they hate; a popular cryptocurrency trading application executive was involved in a serious car accident on the eve of an anticipated cross promotion at Comic Con; and what would a crypto gossip column be without Twitter drama.

Also read: Philippines Embraces Cryptocurrency: Exchanges Issued Provisional Licenses

Cryptowhispers at Comic Con San Diego 2018

Rumor has it a multibillion dollar smartphone cryptocurrency trading application executive was involved in a serious car accident Friday, July 20th, ahead of a major promotional reveal. The company has been on a tear this year in particular, expanding its offerings while staying hungry enough to try new, innovative marketing.

As far as anyone knows, these two were not paid for their efforts.

Its cross promotion over several days at the Comic Con International San Diego gathering, where an estimated 300,000 cargo-shorts wearing nerds descended upon the city’s convention center and famed Gaslamp District, was set to climax Saturday, early afternoon. The company partnered with Lionsgate to feature two products: the studio’s forthcoming movie and the app’s crypto platform.

Fans were led via social media in an effort to find literal money drops off campus, around San Diego’s downtown. At about 1 am that morning, just hours before the final drop, the very high up trading app executive emailed involvement in the accident and of sustained injuries bad enough to warrant an emergency room visit. That’s right, the executive, while under trauma examination and still at the ER, was sure to apologize for not being able to make the final event. Such dedication might be at least one reason said company is thriving.

Crypto Twitter Aflutter as Craig Wright is, well, Craig Wright

Vinny Lingham, voted one of the world’s top CEOs, founder of Gyft and Civic, and a Bitcoin Cash supporter, is the latest to be bounced by Mr. Wright, the controversial once-thought-to-be-Satoshi-but-admitted-he-wasn’t and prolific academic entrepreneur. He’s apparently clearing up follower space. Mr. Wright has also recently excommunicated Vin Armani of CoinText fame. Even prominent Bitcoin Cash developer, Amaury Séchet, has had enough of Mr. Wright’s social media theatre.

With talk in some quarters of how Bitcoin Cash is controlled or centralized, those claims are increasingly becoming more difficult to sustain. BCH proponents are taking polar opposite sides on the coin going forward, and debate seems more of feature than a bug. But it does make trolls very happy.

Mr. Lingham is taking the latest weirdness in stride, retweeting the spectacle. Mr. Wright has also more recently taken to outright bizarre diatribes against “anarchists,” insisting they had little-to-nothing to do with crypto’s development. Each tweeted rant usually ends with Mr. Wright “not giving a fack,” emphasis mine on the last word to underline his Aussie patois.

DDoS Attack on Bitcoin Cash Projects

Avinoc.com is an initial coin offering (ICO) accepting bitcoin cash (BCH). Understanding how, in some quarters, trolls were prone to make incorporating BCH an issue of derision or worse for entrepreneurs, Avinoc gave previously hidden 5% post-deposit bonuses. They also used airdrop promotions, common in the ICO space, whereby the company hatched user missions, tasks, one of which involved promoting BCH and a faucet — a previous tradition in the community is to give away small amounts of BCH to entice folks into downloading a wallet and giving the BCH experience a try.

Word got out, and before its latest BCH faucet promotion could commence, the Avinoc site was held up by a direct denial of service (DDoS) attack vector, effectively preventing customers from using the site (now closing-in on 200,000). Rumors are the company relocated entry servers in anticipation of future malicious acts.

A person familiar with the matter explained the attack lasted at least “a day. The website was down for several hours. Well, not really down, but unreachable. [The company] had another small one yesterday very early in the morning, but [they] were already able to handle that.” Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver voiced exasperation, “The fact [attackers] are willing to do such things shows that their morals are in the wrong place.” “Everyone [at the company] is a huge Bitcoin Cash fan, but […] it can be dangerous to publicly state this. […] the token contract creation [was purposefully delayed] in the hope to have it working on BCH, but the May hard fork was too little. [The company hopes] that OP_GROUP will be added ASAP [so they] can eventually move [the project] from ETH to BCH,” a personal with firsthand knowledge noted.

BTC Trolls Getting Desperate as BCHers Continue to Build

As ICOs go, Avinoc is a compelling idea, at least theoretically. They “have a working product for business aviation since almost 10 years ago. And it is a real competitive advancement for its users. However, the real problem of the Bizav is that is has more than 50% overhead ($150+Billion/year),” a person in the industry detailed. That’s “because there is no unified global data solution. And even the best product is always a competitor to all other solutions. So the only solution to crack that issue is to create something that is not a competitor.” Thus the reason for the company’s “blockchain based data layer. [Permissionless], every competitor can […] integrate it and eventually it will eliminate all the overhead.” Avinoc is also rumored to have moved servers out of Asia altogether, and to an undisclosed location in “the west.” An anonymous source ranted, “For real, those Core trolls should do something productive with their lives. The world is full of real enemies of freedom, there are plenty of actual real enemies worth to be fighting against.”

Placing the blame at the feet of BTC trolls comes only as an inference. The source has “some experience with regular DDoS attacks on Bitcoin sites, [and] usually one gets an email with some demand. This time we got nothing, so that clearly indicates that the DDoS was not to get a ransom.” This was very personal.

Rumors also include the company being bullish on BCH going forward, even with hater potential at annoyance level. The source insists, BCH is “the real Bitcoin, and frankly ETH is a mess compared to Bitcoin,” and the company sees “a great potential for it in the future.” A mainnet launch is in the works with the current token referred to as “just a placeholder,” as BCH is the company’s go-to.

OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article.

What juicy tidbits do you have? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images via Pixabay, Twitter.

Be sure to check out the podcast, Blockchain 2025; latest episode here. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section.

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letstheeric-blog · 6 years

Text

Do companies really care?

How To Fix This Problem

There is a lack of parody in the systems used in this Modern era for business with the approach that limited relationships, efficiency, and productivity.Some strategies can be implemented to correct these careless errors with research done from books written by

credible published best Arthur's. Be an influencer; business has the power to create long-lasting remembers for their customer. Moreover, this is key nowadays because people are emotions and how they can be offended. “Some business is not purposely trying to be great, so they have accidentally become average” (Quinney, C).

What Wrong With Customer Service Today And How Can We Fix It?

In the mid to late 1900s, people made agreements by word and not by contract; good old fashion communication. In this current generation, there is no communication at all and business today suffers because of it, from reading (Greene. R 1998) it showed that business uses some of his strategies. Law 11 states “Learn to keep people dependent on you” (Greene.R 1998). A focal point of the overall goal for the business is to keep the consumer coming to for-profit, but not a single thing about loyalty or valuing anyone besides cheap loyalty program that takes ages to earn something ever useful, despite what they say. This corrupt mindset of business is part of what is hurting business today. Just like the Apple battery scandal in December of 2017, withholding information from a customer to get paid and save their image, it should be some loyalty shown instead of watching capital revenue stack up. Law 13 states “When asking for help, appeal to people self- interest never to mercy or gratitude” (Greene. R 1998). After the consumer purchase a product, company makes it very hard to replace or received funds back, and people are sick of it. “Twenty-eight percent of dissatisfied customers intend to stay with the company” (Harvard Business Review, 2015). Business is losing money because they are mismanaging their multi-channel customer interactions, all small clogs in an outdated system.

Being A Servant

Being a servant is the for sure way to correct this problem with customer service today. In the book (Hunter. J, 1998) said: “Meeting their needs, not their wants being their servant, not their slave because you cannot entrust a bias mindset.” The customer should feel that the business is concerned and go out of the way to fix the problem. In 48 Laws of Power, law 46 shows the standard that customer holds the companies "never appear to be perfect" (Greene. R 1998). Everyone is going to make mistakes, be it in the actions of the mistakes that make the difference. “And nowadays, businesses just jump into a ball crying “Wet behind the ears back side tight smelling like molasses”(Smith.S, 2017). He says it mostly after because pro team sports or player cannot handle the pressure, and the same goes for most business.

How to Build Rapport In A Conversation?

As stated earlier, customer service has different formats of communication like online forums, emails, and phone calls.This is great because time is changing and we need different ways to communicate. However, the problem is we are not building a connection with anyone because business is taking these different forms of communication for granted. It is time to get back to the old days, as the company just started was filled with joy and the willingness to give the customers you are all. Starting with a greeting makes it compelling filled with it enjoyment like old days. Looking back to see what prior methods worked and used the tools of yesterday is now, find the source of the business and change the service helping both sides of the spectrum should be happy. The tremendous American philosopher Eric Johnson said: “ One should never burn a bridge because you never know you may have to cross it again.” The ideas from this part of the theory based on the book The Motivation Manifesto (Burchard.B, 2014).

Focus

“ One thing that you are always In control of is your focus” (Furtick.S 2017). If business continues to make customer service a secondary concern, it will most likely hurt their brand. Fifty-three percent of people switch because they feel unappreciated by business (New Voice, 2017). Eric Thomas said, “To have a short memory of the good things and bad when you wake up start over and act like you did not prove anything” Every customer service employee should have the mindset that every time someone calls, it is going to be the best service ever. The customer has two types of expectation: non-communicating expectation and unseen expectation and this expectation is what causes a problem in the world, in this case, law 19 of The 48 Laws of Power, “Know whom you are dealing with do not offend the wrong person” (Greene. R 1998). Business needs a system that is going to help their employees and customers to have a balanced approach to things to work out. Eighty-two percent felt that their service provider could have done something to prevent them from switching (Accenture, 2017). If this business makes this small change they could make more money, eighty-six percent are willing to pay up to twenty-five percent more for better customer experience (Right Now, 2017).

Theory Ending

Business customers’ service is often remembered by customers and their experience with the company good or bad. So every call, every experience should be the best it can be but it is not going to be perfect, however, in life, we magnify what we choose and just trash the minuscule things. Therefore we need have a system that leaves everyone accountable and brings out the inner skill they possess. These solutions can fix what is wrong with business today?

References

Burchard, B. (2014). Motivation Manifesto: 7 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power. Free

Press.

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First Take [Television series]. (2017, October 30). Los Angeles, CA: ESPN.

Gautam, Nitish. “Ameyo Callversations.” Customer Service Experience The Good, the

Bad

And The Ugly, Ameyo, 24 Aug. 2017,www.ameyo.com/blog/customer-service-experience.

Consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/07/the-problem-with-customer-service/index.htm

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Toman, Matthew Dixon Karen Freeman Nicholas. “Stop Trying to Delight Your

Customers. “Harvard Business Review, 14 May 2015, hbr.org/2010/07/stop-trying-to-delight-your-customers.

Hunter, J. C. (1998). The Servant. United States of America, NY: Crown Publishing.

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wjpzalumni · 6 years

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1.) What's your career path been like?

Frustrating. I haven't had to move around a lot or get fired from a million places, but it took forever for anybody to take a chance on me and let me host my own show. It's basically been me beating my head against walls until I finally broke through one. Don't think I'd change it though, if it had been easy I probably wouldn't work as hard as I do. In life, I've always operated with a chip on my shoulder. In a good way. The fact that I had so many people say "no" and tell me I didn't have what it takes to be a host makes me walk in every day with something to prove, and I like that. Even on days I don't want to work, or do the show, I still do it 110% because I never want those people to be right.

2.) What's the weirdest/funniest/best/most "wtf" moment you've experienced in your career thus far?

A moment I can think of that was rather weird was a few years back. I was working as the 3rd mic on a show and I was also the producer. I booked Tom Cruise for a phone interview and the hosts were incredibly excited about it. They told me, on air, that they didn't believe me and said he would conveniently cancel. I guaranteed he was booked and said "if he cancels, I'll get I LOVE TOM CRUISE tattooed on my inner lip". He cancelled, I fulfilled my promise and got the tattoo. RIGHT after the tattoo segment was over, literally right after, the hotline rang and he rescheduled for the next day. Couldn't have written it better. Plus, I got a free tattoo.

3.) How is doing radio in 2018 different than when you started?

In my opinion it's made it better. It's also made it harder. With all of the other entertainment options out there for people now and the creation of apps, podcasts and smartphones you really have to be on top of your game. Plus, PPM has really changed the game. We have so much data now that we can use to our advantage. It's no longer just up to the marketing department to get people to remember your name (in PPM markets). Your success really is based on your performance. Sure, there are outside factors that can hurt, but ultimately it's made people better because talent and content really make a difference. The days of heritage are gone. Just being on air in a market for a long time doesn't guarantee you ratings anymore. You've got to be delivering top quality content on every break. I like that, but I like to work and I am always looking for ways to improve.

4.) How do your standup comedy and morning radio skills overlap?

I started performing standup and started working on getting a radio job at the same time. I think the skills that I've learned from standup have helped immensely with timing and writing. It's taught me economy of words. In comedy, as in radio, brevity is key. Get to the point, get to the joke. Learning to cut out the fat has been huge. Especially for PPM.

As for writing, people often try to discredit me in radio for writing out my intros to segments or preparing jokes to deliver during segments. Sometimes I throw away what I've written and improv but just as I do in stand up, I go into every break with a plan. Nobody is good enough to just "wing it" and be great every time. Having a respect for the craft of being entertaining by being prepared is key. It's also helped me know when a joke has gone on too long and when to get out of a bit. Also, humility. Learning to shake it off when you bomb. That's a very important skill to have. I've seen many hosts get hung up on when a bit doesn't work or when something doesn't go exactly as they've planned. They carry that frustration throughout the show and they take it out on their staff. Learning to bomb is key. You sucked that night, or you sucked that segment. Don't worry about it, move forward, and get them twice as hard the next time. I've never understood why that's one of the main critiques I get as a host. Yes, I write things. I think it's very disrespectful to your audience to not be prepared and put on the best show you can. The people that do say these things always point out that they are passionate about "true radio" being unscripted. Um, it started as a scripted form of entertainment. To me, that thinking is lazy and egotistic. Write, work, get better. There's always room to improve. I argue that if you prescribe to your show always being off the cuff and never preparing anything, or giving yourself a guideline to work from then you're not truly and entertainer. If you are passionate then you'd want to be the best you can be, at all times. Sorry, did I mention I operate with a chip on my shoulder?

5.) What's the most important skill an aspiring broadcaster should have?

Trust. Trust in themselves. You can learn diction, you can learn to press all the buttons correctly, you can learn how to be a broadcaster. What sets you apart from the rest though? You. If you truly believe that what YOU want to do is great, then trust your gut. Entertain and deliver whatever your passion is the way you believe it will work. You may be wrong in some situations, but you'll ultimately find your lane. That comes with trusting yourself and learning your voice and compromising without trying to please. You can't please everyone, but if you're being true to what you believe is great, you will be. You hear people critique certain broadcasters saying things like "how is that guy successful, he's so boring, no energy". Or "how can people listen to her, her voice is so grating". You know why those people win? Authenticity. Even if who you want to be on air is a faux persona, if it's what you truly believe will win, you'll win. Along with that be willing to learn. Trust yourself but also realize you can take what others teach you and make it your own.

6.) The one thing I've learned from setting my alarm absurdly early to do a morning show every day is ______________.

You never get used to it. 7.) Who's your favorite interview subject?

I'm not a huge fan of interviews. For me, it was Steve Buscemi. The reason: he hated me. We did not get along at all for some reason. I wasn't because I was being disrespectful or asking bad questions. Maybe he was just having a bad day. Either way it was so painful and awkward. The interview ended when I stopped him and said "this isn't going well for either of us is it?" He agreed and I replied "well how about we just end the interview now". I shook his hand and walked out. It was so hilarious to me and it did end up making for some funny audio to play on air. I take a lot of pleasure in the really awkward moments in life. Hence why I'm okay with bombing. It's fun sometimes to see just how bad you can do.

8.) What's your favorite city to perform standup?

West Palm Beach, Florida. For whatever reason those crowds love me. Still not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. Either way, I've had some of my best shows there. I write on stage too, so when you're on a role you can riff and write new jokes and tags to jokes. I was scared at first because the audiences were very old. Old people usually hate my act, but they loved it. They're weird and I like them.

9.) What's a topic that constantly creates "radio gold"?

It depends how you define "radio gold" I guess. If you're talking lots of phone calls and listener interaction the most mundane topics usually do the best. Just life, it relates to people. You can work hard on a topic and it bombs and then you can just say "screw it we're gonna talk about what condiments people like to put on hot dogs" and the reaction is huge, and the conversation ends up being fun. We did a topic one time that people still talk to me about. We did it as a joke. My producer and I were arguing about what cereal mascot faces would be on "cereal Mount Rushmore". We decided to do it on air, more for ourselves than anyone else, and it ended up being really fun/funny. I think anything that everyone can relate to usually makes for the best topics.

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