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#the evolution of Keith here is amazing
waugh-bao · 1 year
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The Stones at the London premiere of Shine A Light (2008)
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bluemoondust · 2 years
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✧Pokemon Professors as Yanderes✧ (Part Two)
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Decided to be more bold— aksjkwkwj Here's the second part I said I would write. Still can't believe they got Keith Silverstein to voice Oak in Evolutions, that's not fair 😔
I know some of these people aren't professors but they are researchers so I wanted to include them (also they showed up on Bulbapedia under Pokemon Professor).
Also also, my heart was destroyed while reading up on Professor Cozmo.
Warning(s): Obsessive Behavior/Thinking, Implied Stalking, Delusional Thinking, Clingy Behavior
Characters: Professor Oak, Professor Cozmo, Captain Stern, Professor Rowan, Doctor Fennel, Cedric Juniper, Professor Laventon
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✧Professor Oak✧
Oak here is an extremely mellow yandere. You wouldn't be able to tell if he was no matter how hard you tried. He isn't too overbearing, but he would still like to keep tabs on you how ever he can. Talking to you, spending time with you has become a highlight in his days. He'd love to not have this ever end. Too much of a good thing shouldn't be considered bad, right? Oak is also a great listener as he is extremely reliable, so it's easy for him to gather information on you through such. He becomes a yandere you put your complete trust in. Sometimes you can't help but here his words when you're about to make a decision... Especially when he might deem it as unnecessary.
✧Professor Takao Cozmo✧
An odd fellow indeed, but he is a kind man despite that. As a yandere, Professor Cozmo is a bit obsessive given how he likes to take note of information about you. He's also a little clingy and a yandere who would want to fulfill your needs in order to keep you around. It's mostly because he has this fear that you'll eventually leave him either because you grew bored of him or he didn't give you enough love/attention. He promises to be an amazing partner! He will take you to see the stars, your favorite places, you can vent to him too! Just, please promise you'll stay. He'll be absolutely crushed if you walk out on him.
✧Captain Stern✧ (basing his looks on the manga)
Mr. Stern can be described as a typical yandere. He likes to make excuses to keep you around in order to get to know you better by asking for favors. You're a reliable person, so he knows that he can count on you. One thing to mention that separates him from a average yandere is that he sometimes... Leaves you clues to his true nature. In some sense he is aware but there are times he just isn't for unknown reasons. He's not too impatient, but occasionally Stern would like the pace to be picked up. It's either you catch onto to his feelings for you or come to the realization that those affections aren't as innocent as you believed to be.
✧Professor Rowan✧
Ah yes, we've talked a bit about this before. Some might believe Rowan is a very stony type of yandere; strict as well. In some aspects, Rowan is strict but he isn't too harsh on you. He has patience despite the semi controlling nature he tends to hold. Many do not realize that this man is truly a softy deep down. There is some leniency when it comes to him, but do keep in mind that you are only given three strikes before he takes matters into his hands. Don't cause trouble for him and behave. That's all he's asking for. Other than that, along with monitoring the people you interact with, he's almost on the same level as Oak.
✧Doctor Fennel✧
As many professors mentioned before, Fennel is also an obsessive yandere but it can rival Sycamore and Bellis' level of obsession. The moment she gains a fixation on you, all her time will be spent on picking up any details about you; especially your dreams. Unfortunately, she's a bit overbearing as well... And delusional. Fennel tries to be patient in giving you calls and messages, but her excitement gets the best of her as she bombards you with whatever is on her mind. It's just that... She loves you oh so much! She just has to share what she discovered! As for the delusional part, sometimes you wonder if she is aware but just ignores reality entirely. It's as if Fennel prefers her own little dream world where everything goes the way she wishes it to be. So... Rejection will not be taken lightly.
✧Cedric Juniper✧
Now, where do you think Professor Juniper gained some of her traits? Yeah. Like the professor, Cedric is the type of yandere to collect information on you due to how interesting you were to him. Soon, it became more than that. He doesn't really sugarcoat things, so Cedric is very aware of his unhealthy behavior but much like Juniper, he chooses not to concern himself. He's a lighthearted man overall, but just as a heads up, he knows when to get serious. Cedric is the type of yandere who will deliberately hint at his yandere traits. It's a little exciting to him, seeing if you'll figure it out or not.
✧Professor Laventon✧
Laventon enjoys being in your presence, which is a little obvious at some given times. He is, just like others, an obsessive yandere but also a tad overprotective. Not so much where he will take control over aspects of your routine, but more along the lines of him showing deep concern over your well-being. It's a dangerous place, the Hisui region, and he'd never forgive himself if something dreadful happened to you. Laventon uses the excuse of safety in numbers whenever either you go outside the village or he goes off to do research. Even so... It does get awfully lonely out there. Company would be nice. In that time, he makes sure to record any possible information about you... And sneak some photos. Laventon just... Adores you so much. He thinks the world of you. Absolutely no one has the right to talk ill of you.
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theloniousbach · 2 years
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PROGRAMMER’S NOTES: JAZZ SPECTRUM, WGTE TOLEDO PUBLIC RADIO, 2 JULY 2022
The host, my friend for over 60 years, needed to record three shows this past week, so he asked if I had ideas, suggestions, even a whole show. Well, sure I did. This one—save for one substitution and sets seven and nine—is mine. I did have a Song of the Week and five other sets, but I didn’t plan it as a whole show as such. “Just some sets to use over the three weeks,”Fri(end), along with a set of blues by Kansas City connected musicians (and there are some amazing jazzers from our shared home town) for next week when I will be there to see my sister. The July 16 show is probably mine as it takes off from Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz.
Here, with interspersed commentary, is the playlist:
Set 1
Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage, "Dolphin Dance" (9:16)
Grachan Moncur III, Evolution, "Evolution" (12:24)
Renee Rosnes, Written in the Rocks, "Galapagos" (7:14)
I discovered GM3’s Evolution through my recent listening project of listening to the vibraphone instead of piano as a bed for horns. His collaborations with Jackie McLean are even edgier than Dave Holland’s brilliant quintet with the same instrumentation. GM3 died in the middle of that excursion, so this tune is in order.
Of course, I would like a tune called Evolution, but it’s an impressive composition. So is Rosnes’s Galapagos which shares an inspiration. Dolphin Dance is always good to hear and is at least vaguely related.
Set 2
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet, Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet, "I Mean You" (2:47)
Fred Hersch Trio, Alive at the Village Vanguard, "Dream of Monk" (6:10)
Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch, "Hat and Beard," (8:25)
Grachan Moncur III, Evolution, "Monk in Wonderland" (7:54)
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet, Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet, "Mistrioso" (3:24)
We kid ourselves that every show should have some Ellington/Strayhorn and some Monk. Bags was part of the vibraphone journey so he frames three tributes/pastiches by some worthy acolytes, including GM3.
Set 3
Miles Davis, Round Midnight, “Round Midnight” (5:58)
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, Live at Carnegie Hall, “Monk’s Mood” (7:52)
Ornette Coleman, New York Is Now, “Broadway Blues” (8:40)
Pat Metheny, 80;/81, “The Bat”  (6:05)
A bit more Monk, but this set and the next was to see how sidemen sounded with different leaders. So John Coltrane with Miles and Monk, then Dewey Redman and Charlie Haden with Ornette and Pat Metheny. Here is where the substitution was as I had a tune by Keith Jarrett’s American quartet. I have no objections to this choice, but Jarrett was more familiar to me and that band has always intrigued me for what it synthesized. But Metheny does the same thing and 80/81 is a more significant album. It may be a bit more Ornette influenced though.
Set 4
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Africaine, “Lester Left Town” (7:57)
Miles Davis, Miles Smiles, “Footprints” (9:46)
Ornette Coleman, The Art of the Improvisers, “The Alchemy of Scott LaFaro” (9:53)
Here it’s Wayne Shorter and his tunes with the Messengers and Miles before Scott LaFaro with Ornette and, at least by plan, THE Bill Evans Trio. That he played with both is illuminating about all three of them. It may be that he’s more out there with Evans.
Set 5–Song of The Week
Invitation has shown up on my streams and intrigued me, but I heard the Webster Jazz Faculty do it at a program that also featured tunes from the 1957 Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall concert. There it got fixed in my mind that it was written by Bronislau Caper who also gave us On Green Dolphin Street.
I do poorly with singers but Sarah Vaughn, Tony Bennet, and Dinah Washington are safe, right? Jackson, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, and John Coltrane too make for illuminating improvisational juxtapositions.
Les Brown and His Band of Renown, The Les Brown Story, “Invitation” (3:16)
Milt Jackson Sextet, Invitation, “Invitation” (3:55)
Joe Henderson, Live at the Lighthouse, “Invitation” (7:34)
Sarah Vaughn, You’re Mine You, “Invitation” 2:16)
Set 6
Tony Bennet, The Good Things in Life, “Invitation” (3:14)
Lee Konitz Trio, Oleo, “Invitation” 4:38
Dinah Washington, I Wanna Be Loved, “Invitation” (2:39)
John Coltrane, Standard Coltrane, “Invitation”  (10:22)
Set 7
Walt Dickerson, To My Queen, “To My Queen”.
Set 8
Out to Dinner, Play On, "Rebecca's Dance" (5:34)
The Stan Getz Quartet, In Paris, "The Knight Rides Again" (10:10)
Sonny Rollins, No Problem, "No Problem" (7:43)
 Melissa Aldana, 12 Stars, “Falling” (6:21)
This set both plays with vibes and guitars, but no pianos, and a tenor sax survey with new favorites, Nicole Glover and Melissa Aldana, each with tenures in the all star band Artemis, framing giants Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins. That’s Glover’s tune with Behn Gellice’s project that uses the Dolphy Out to Lunch instrumentation while Aldana’s Falling kicks off her album with Lage Lund that started me down the sax/guitar project.
The Knight Rides Again with Gary Burton is way edgier than lots of Getz. The Rollins is not as spectacular as he can be, but he is with Bobby Hutcherson and guitarist Bobby Broome. On The Bridge he and Jim Hall opened up spaces and tested the guitar as a substitute for the piano; this is the example I found of him playing with Bobby Hutcherson.
Set 9
Glenn Dickson, Wider Than the Sky, “Brave Shines the Sun”. 9:44
Tomas Fujiwara, March, “Silhouettes in Smoke”. 5:29
John Yao’s Triceratops, Off-Kilter, “Quietly” 6:53
Gordon Grdina Nomad Trio, Boiling Point, “Shibuya”.
Sets 7 and 9 are from the regular host and they are typically interesting. I’m sure I’d learn some new music, but I will do that by other means as I’ll have turned off the radio by then because I’m old enough to have been friends with someone for over 60 years.
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redgoldsparks · 4 years
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July Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe
Serenity (novelization) by Keith RA DeCandido
I bought this novelization of Serenity back in 2005, not long after watching the movie in theaters. I had recently been introduced to Firefly by friends and fell in love with it, possibly because there was so little of it: the fact it had been prematurely cut short meant it was left to my imagination how amazing the conclusion COULD have been. It's one of very few TV shows that I've watched more than once, and I hold onto an extreme nostalgic fondness for the characters and the world. It was interesting to re-read this book in 2020, with a much fuller knowledge of Whedon's unsavory behavior, and also during a period in which JKR's evolution into a full, loud TERF has caused me to spend a lot of time reflecting on how much or little of an author's problematic beliefs can be seen in their work. Part of what drew me to the Firefly crew was the fact that 4 of the 9 main characters are women, each one interestingly different from the others. As a high schooler, this near gender parity in a sci-fi ensemble show delighted me. Reading the book through much older eyes, I noticed that each of these unique women are completely defined by their relationships with men. This aspect of the story is probably more emphasized in the novelization because of the added internal narration. The dialogue in this book is exactly the same as the film, but the author gives thoughts to these women that I didn't always agree with or love. Still, it was fun to revisit this story, and I think there is still value in reading a flawed book, especially if it inspires some good thoughts or conversations.
Witch Hat Atelier vol 5 by Kamome Shirahama
Another beautiful installment of one of my favorite manga series. Coco's classmates taking the second test of witch craft have been attached by a member of the Brimmed Hats, the witches who want to bring forbidden magic back to the world. Coco and her friends have to use the limited spells they know to save a fellow apprentice from a terrible fate. Gorgeously drawn as always!
A Year Without a Name by Cyrus Grace Dunham
Dunham's short but powerful debut memoir covers the year in which they finally decided to start taking testosterone and do top surgery, after a lifetime of struggling with intense dysphoria and mental illness. Prior to the beginning of the narrative shown here, Durham had already been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder and generalized anxiety. They lay bare their failed attempts at self-definition through desire and worship of others, a string of passionate romances that bleed into each other, often twisted with jealousy and fear. Durham's life seems unmoored by responsibilities, as neither jobs or school commitments are mentioned between a trip to India, time spent in their parents house on the East Coast, their shared queer apartment in Los Angeles, and road trips up to the Bay Area. I always enjoy recognizing places I know in memoir, and I was delighted to read a scene that took place on a Northern California beach I also visited and loved as a child. It was hard not to compare Durham's gender evolution to my own, and be grateful for the comparative quietness and gentleness of my own journey.
Hotel Dare vol 1 by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre
Blond preteen Olive travels to Mexico with her adopted Latinx siblings Charlotte and Darwin, to spend the summer at their Grandmother Lupé’s (possibly haunted?) hotel. They discover a series of strange artifacts which allow them to visit alternate worlds, and also a history of missing family members. All of this plot is wrapped up quite quickly, though the ending also leaves the door open for a sequel. I liked a lot of the concepts in this book, but it just didn't quite come together for me.
Kriss: The Gift of Wrath by Ted Naifeh and Warren Wucinich
Kriss is a pale, emo, teenage misfit in village of hearty medieval peasants. He suspects that the couple who raised him are not his birth parents; he is haunted by ghosts, or gods, who whisper to him about the northern kingdom of Darkovia where his true destiny lies. Kriss's only friend in town is a kind girl named Anya, who confiders her own sadness over her mother's recent death. Kriss goes into the forest to hunt down the beast who killed her, and defeats it at great personal cost. This isn't a complicated story, but Naifeh is good at developing characters with clear personalities and motivations. I am curious to see where this story goes in volume 2!
We Are The Fire, We Are The Ashes by Joy McCullough
I had the pleasure of illustrating this novel! So I got to read the book early, and my review will be quite biased :D It takes place mostly over one summer during which high schooler Em Morales loses her faith in the justice system after the frat boy who raped her older sister is found guilty by a jury, but not sentenced to any prison time. Em was a writer on her school paper, and used her small social media platform to raise awareness and advocate for her sister's case. Now she is ready to quit journalism altogether in disgust. At loose ends, she reconnects with Jess, a nonbinary acquaintance also home for the summer but trying to avoid their divorcing parents. Jess is in the drama club, practices sword fighting, and loves medieval history. Jess introduces Em to the story of Marguerite de Bressieux, a 15th-century French noblewoman who according to legend took up a sword to avenge victims of sexual violence. Em starts writing poems about Marguerite de Bressieux, which Jess illustrates. I created 18 black and white pieces (Jess's art) for the book and it was one of my favorite illustration projects to date. I, too, was once a nonbinary Renaissance-Fair-obsessed teenager; I looked through a bunch of my own high school sketchbooks, as well as reference books on illuminated manuscripts, for inspiration while working on this. I can't wait for readers to get to see the book when it comes out in early 2021!
Deadly Class vol 1: Regan Youth by Rick Remember, Wes Craig, Lee Loughridge, and Rus Wooton
Set in the late 1980s, this story opens with teenage orphan Marcus living on the streets of San Francisco. He has a violent and tragic past; he has a bleak present; he wonders if he has any kind of future at all. Out of the blue, on Dia de Los Muertos, a handful of cops begin chasing Marcus seemingly trying to kill him. A group of teens intervene, and they save Marcus's life before kidnapping him and taking him to meet their mentor. It turns out they are all students at an underground school for assassins and they've had their eye on Marcus for a while. Most of the students are the children of Mafia, Yakuza, Neo Nazis or the heads of drug cartels, but Marcus is offered admittance. However, remarkably little of this first volume takes places at the school or shows any of the education that takes place there- instead it mostly follows two off-campus trips Marcus does that turn into drug-fulled murder scenes. I liked the art quite a lot and the inventive page layouts drew me in, but the story didn't do much for me. If you want to read about kids at an assassin school I'd recommend instead Five Weapons, a comic series by Jimmy Robinson which is much lighter, humorous and clever; or the fantasy trilogy Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence, which is set at a girls' martial arts monastery and has multiple queer characters; or Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, the opening book of an epic and devastating fantasy series.
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theepoetrygod · 4 years
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Things I Love in Wrestling Pt. 2
I love a great rivalry. Whether it be fueled by emotion, storytelling, or just flat-out competition, a great rivalry gives us wrestling fans a reason to love what goes on in the squared circle. Here are some honorable mentions:
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Shawn Michaels vs Triple H
This is one of the main examples of enemies to friends to lovers in the wrestling world. They fought wars against each other, banded together to fight wars against others in the ring, and had spectacular matches in their singles careers. This rivalry constantly has people debating who was the better man, but what us undeniable is that this feud was red hot. Notable matches in their rivalry would Armageddon '02, Survivor Series '02, and Bad Blood '04.
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Kane vs Undertaker
The old saying goes that nobody wins when the family feuds, but I'll be damned if the fights aren't entertaining. Bump and Boo the Spooky Two, aka Kane and Undertaker, were brothers from Parts Unknown who had amazing in ring work rates. Just like Triple H vs HBK, Kane and Taker were friends, enemies, and brothers. In all three of those aspects, the two had great matches. Their prime has since passed, but their impact is felt forever in the hearts of wrestling fans. Their best matches were at Wrestlemania 20, as well as a few episodes of Smackdown from '06-'08.
And now on to some of my favorites!
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Lita vs Trish Stratus
(Left to right: Lita, Trish Stratus)
Two generational wrestlers with completely different styles, Lita and Trish Stratus have participated in amazing feuds in their careers. During a time when the women of WWE were (sometimes) treated like dogs, these two were at the forefront of why women's wrestling was important. Other game changers in the 2000s include Jazz, Mickey James, and Gail Kim. Their most notable match was at Wrestlemania X-8 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the Women's Championship (pictured).
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The Four Horsewomen vs Each Other
(Left to right: Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch)
Moving from the Ruthless Aggression Era to the NXT Era, these four women revolutionized women's wrestling in NXT. Before them, NXT was recognized as WWE's developmental brand where wrestlers went when they weren't good enough to work on Raw and Smackdown. After them, NXT was recognized as Smackdown and Raw's equal and a proper third brand. One of the reasons why? The Four Horsewomen. They've had singles matches, tag matches, title matches, Wrestlemania matches, and as of May 14th, 2020, one (1) fatal four way match involving them. I honestly implore you to watch this rivalry. Starting in NXT back in 2014 to the present day, the Four Horsewomen are a beacon of hope in a sport that, at times, seems extremely bleak as far as storylines. The most notable matches are Sasha Banks vs Bayley for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT Takeover Brooklyn 1, Becky Lynch vs Charlotte in a Last Woman Standing Match for the Smackdown Women's Championship at Evolution 1, and Sasha Banks vs Charlotte at Hell in a Cell 2016.
Also, congratulations to Becky Lynch on your pregnancy, here's to your years of service, have an amazing maternity leave! 🍾
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Keith Lee vs Dominik Dijakovic
(Left to right: Dominik Dijakovic, Keith Lee)
How to describe this feud in tumblr terms...? Ah! I got it!
Big Beefy Bois Doing Things That Beefy Bois Shouldn't Be Able To Do.
The most recent example of Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, Dijakovic and Lee started lighting up NXT last year, and have put on entertaining matches every time they step into the ring.
This feud has everything: Mutual respect, likeable characters, fan support, and most of all, really really good wrestling. Every match of their matches are amazing, watch all of them.
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Shane McMahon vs Vince McMahon
This rivalry has a lot of layers that honestly make it seen like a fever dream. Here's some of them:
Infidelity
Buying the competition
Treating Trish Stratus like a dog
Levels of resentment that are ABSOLUTELY MENTAL
And the worst example of father-son bonding
This storyline is a soap opera from start to finish, and if you're a fan of twists and turns, this is the one for you. Their blowoff match was a Street Fight at Wrestlemania X-7 in Houston, Texas, but the entire feud is absolutely bananas.
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The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Moving from one Attitude Era rivalry to another, it's the most electrifying game of You Think That's Good? Hold My Beer. A lot of people only know The Rock as a movie star, but he was also an excellent wrestler. His matches were amazing, his promos were breathtaking, and the one wrestler to truly match that energy is Stone Cold. Austin also cut great promos, his best one coming after he won King of the Ring in 1996. The crowd reactions when they walk out is like nothing else, and there's nothing that has come close to it ever since. Their notable matches being the Wrestlemania Trilogy at 15, X-7, and 19 (pictured).
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Tomasso Ciampa vs Johnny Gargano
(Left to right: Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano)
From the greatest Attitude Era rivalry to NXT's portrayal of Friends to Enemies to Lovers to Enemies again, Gargano vs Ciampa is the greatest story in NXT.
They burst onto the scene as Projecy DIY, a tag team that lit the yellow brand on fire. The two wrestlers were over like rover with the fans, but could never quite win the big one. During their run, Gargano and Ciampa had a one on one match during the first Ceuiserweight Classic, with Ciampa winning. This where the dissention started to show. They won the tag titles at NXT Takeover Toronto, and all was safe... for now. At NXT Takeover Chicago 1, they lost the titles, and Project DIY was over. And so began the greatest rivalry in NXT history. Through injury, emotion, and immaculate storytelling, this is an Oscar-winning piece of wrestling history.
Just like Lee vs Dijakovic, all their matches are great, and the storyline is like no other.
And that's some of my favorite wrestling rivalries! What are some of yours? Let me know!
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eledritch · 6 years
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Ok but... the Galra obviously have very long lifespans, to have had control over the universe for ten thousand years. As part Galra, Keith may not live as long as a full Galra, but his lifespan will be significantly longer than a normal human... and that used to terrify him where Shiro was concerned. He didn't know if his heart could handle losing Shiro after decades happy together... and then they find out one of Haggar's 'improvements' will give him a similarly long lifespan - CUE FLUFF.
oh....fluff has been successfully CUED.
Galra can live for centuries. Krolia told him as much during their time in the Abyss when he had halfheartedly joked about returning to the team as an old man. 
She had given him an odd look and said, Keith, you have Galra blood. You will outlive your fellow humans by fifty Earth years, at the very least. 
Keith had stared at her for a long time, his stomach sinking hard and fast.
He hadn’t said anything. All he could do was think of Shiro. Shiro, growing old and withering away while Keith...didn’t. 
She must have seen some of his shock and grief in his eyes, because she’d patted his back, a little awkward but entirely heartfelt, and murmured, I know it can be difficult. Humans are comparatively short lived...but not too short. You will have many years with your friends, Keith. They will remember you, and you, them.
But what about the ones who are more than friends? Keith had whispered. 
Her eyes had widened. Keith...?
Keith turned away. What about Shiro?
*
When they returned from the Abyss, and when Shiro returned from the astral plane, Keith could not help but treat him differently. More carefully. How could he touch Shiro without remembering that he would die long before Keith was ready for him to go? Keith would never be ready, truth be told. 
But when he holds Shiro in a secret alcove aboard the Black Lion, and feels the slow thud of his heartbeat under his fingertips, and imagines the stuttering line of an EKG, plastic tubes running through scarred skin, pills poured down his throat and into his bloodstream, nothing but white walls and strange white coats and Keith’s terribly young face to keep him company.
Maybe Shiro will leave him long before that happens. Keith wouldn’t blame him. People would make assumptions, judgments, if Shiro aged much faster than Keith. They would look at them differently, especially Shiro. And after everything, Shiro doesn’t deserve that. He deserves someone he can be happy with, without reservation, without secrets and confusion. 
Keith doesn’t tell him any of this, though. Not yet. He can’t bring himself to, because he fears either Shiro will leave him, or think that Keith would want to leave him. Nothing could be further from the truth. Keith doesn’t care what Shiro looks like (though he has no complaints on that front whatsoever); he would love him until the very end, and long beyond that, if he’s being honest. But would Shiro? Shiro has one of the kindest hearts Keith has ever known, but even he might grow bitter as Keith’s Galra blood kept the wrinkles and gray hair at bay. 
And even if he did stay...even if he kept Keith at his side for that long...Keith doesn’t know if he could bear it; losing Shiro again, this time to a battle neither of them can win. His heart hurts so much just thinking about it.
So Keith holds Shiro close and tight like he might shatter at any moment, and stays quiet. He tries to memorize every kiss, every word, knowing full well he will have forgotten the things that matter when Shiro is gone - the way he smiles, the way he smells, the way he laughs, the way he cries, the way he looks at Keith like no one ever has before, or will again. 
*
“Amazing,” Coran murmurs, standing beside Sam Holt and peering into the microscope. “Well, the witch might be off her rocker, but she sure knows how to make a lasting super-weapon!”
Shiro flinches. Keith puts an arm on his shoulder and says, “Explain.”
Sam shakes his head. “Well...I don’t quite believe it, myself, but these cells are extremely resistant to viruses, bacteria, and, er...aging. They replicate faster than any I’ve ever seen...it’s incredible.”
Keith blinks, hardly daring to hope. Shiro whispers, “Sorry, what?”
Coran folds his arms and eyes the two of them. “My guess is that they’re modified Galra cells,” he declares. “Galra have similar anti-aging cellular properties. But Keith, you’d know all about that, eh?”
Shiro looks at him. Keith ducks his head. “Um,” he whispers, “not, not much, no.”
“Ah.” Coran nods sagely. “Well, as a half-Galra, you’re likely to live around two centuries, if not more, my boy! I’d guess Shiro here is in the same boat. Good thing two of you will still be around for awhile yet!”
“Two centuries?” Shiro repeats, aghast. “How...?”
Coran wiggles his fingers. “The wonders of evolution! And a little pinch of vatrayil, I expect!”
“Uh-huh,” Keith says faintly, not really listening at all. 
Sam clears his throat. “I expect you two are busy...”
“Right!” Shiro says, and all but drags Keith to the door. “Busy. Yes. That, we are. Thank you both!”
Coran frowns and strokes his mustache. “Say, either of you feel like donating a few cells? I’ve heard Galran cytoplasm encourages voracious facial hair growth...”
“Maybe another time!” Shiro calls over his shoulder. Keith is silent as he lets Shiro herd him out of the room, and into what must be an empty classroom. Keith sits down heavily in the nearest chair. Shiro sits on the desk next to him, head tilted and eyes soft.
“I’m sorry,” Keith says on instinct. 
Shiro’s brow furrows. “Why are you sorry?”
“I didn’t...I couldn’t tell you,” Keith says, looking down at his lap, hands twisting in his officer’s jacket. “I could barely even admit it to myself.”
Shiro exhales. “You thought you were going to outlive me.”
Keith nods. “By at least fifty years.”
“Shit,” Shiro says. “Keith.”
“I didn’t want to lose you again,” Keith says. “But I didn’t think I could let you go, either. I did that once already, Shiro, and...” He shivers. 
“Hey.” Shiro reaches into his lap, tangling their fingers, and Keith looks up at him. “I’m not going anywhere, Keith,” he promises. Keith’s face crumples. “I’m not. Not as long as you want me around - oh!”
Keith all but flings himself onto Shiro, hugging him as hard as he can. “I will always want you,” he whispers into Shiro’s shoulder, “always, always.”
Shiro sunders to his embrace, resting his chin atop Keith’s head, hands warm on his waist and in his hair. “You too,” he whispers, voice trembling. “Of course.”
Keith doesn’t know how he ever managed to settle for being alone.
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soundcheckmnl · 6 years
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To The Boyzone We Have Loved Before
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By Anna Pangalangan | Photos: Josiphine Tagudin Edited by Jacqueline Ortega 
In the music industry, reinvention is a key to keep up with the tide of change. There is no stopping time and the changes in the seasons can seem like fate. Well, fate certainly smiled on a certain boy band, allowing its members to enjoy a career punctuated with highs and lows, separation and reunion, and constant evolution. This all-male group is none other than the Irish boy band, Boyzone, comprised originally of Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately who died in 2009. The foursome recently went on an Asian tour, with the Philippines as their last stop, to celebrate 25 years in the industry and to say some sort of “goodbye” to the fans. The farewell concert is not meant to elicit tears, though. It was more on letting fans know that they are moving on to another chapter in their personal and collective career, and inviting those who join them in the journey for the last time. 
Case in point: The band is set to release their latest and last album together entitled “Thank You & Goodnight” this November. Lynch said, in his spiel halfway through the concert, that the album reflects the individuality of each Boyzone member.
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As a sneak peek, the group showed the music video of “Because,” their latest single that was made in collaboration with musician Ed Sheeran.
“Thank You & Goodnight” will also pay homage to Gately. In the boy band’s official website, they released the following statement: “We're especially excited to share a very special tribute to Stephen in the shape of a new song, ‘I Can Dream.’We came across a demo that he originally recorded for his solo album in 2002 and we've had the opportunity to re-work the song and add our harmonies alongside his lead vocal. It was a bittersweet experience to hear all our voices together again. It's the closest the five of us will ever get to being in a room together again making music.”
It can be said that that the reinvention was also driven by love for their fans all over the world. This is the group’s last effort to reach out to fans, which, like them, did some growing up in the last two decades. “You gave us love, you gave us passion. You gave us everything. It has been spectacular. The next 12 months for Boyzone would be very special. The album comes out in November. It is our final record but it’s our best piece of work ever so please get yourself involved. Have a listen to the record. I am sure there is something out there for everybody in this room,” Keating said. With a smile dripping with a boyish appeal, he hinted another possible concert in the country. “We will see you next year I believe one more time for a bigger thriller in Manila,” he enthused.
Boyzone, which was formed in 1993, is one of Europe’s most popular bands. The group split in 1999 but decided to come together again in 2007. Following the death of Gately, Boyzone was able to release two more albums, with “Thank You & Goodnight” as the third one on the way.
They have an amazing portfolio with hits in both the UK and Irish charts since they started their career. Their albums are all warmly received by fans all over the world, selling over 25 million in 2013.
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Boyzone’s concert offered a trip down the 90s memory lane. After local talents 4th Power and Christian Bautista opened the show, Boyzone took over the floor with their first song, “Picture Of You” to set the energy and mood in the packed Mall of Asia Arena.
In the middle of the concert, Keating turned his attention to the audience to express his gratitude.
He said, “It’s great to be back in Manila. It’s been 25 years since this young band started, and it has been a hell of a ride. The loyalty and the love that we found here for Boyzone in the last 25 years have been incredible.” The group also belted out their original and cover songs such as “Love You Anyway”; “Love Is a Hurricane”; “Baby Can I Hold You”; “All That I Need”; Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me”; Bee Gees’ “Words”; and Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son.”
Other songs in the roster included “Love Me for a Reason”; “Isn’t It a Wonder”; “I Love the Way You Love Me”; “When the Tough Gets Going”; “Everyday I Love You”; “Who We Are” and “Gave It All Away”, the group’s tribute song to Gately. Turning emotional, Duffy said that he felt the presence of his former band mate Gately in the arena. But instead of an apparition of a full grown man, Gately came in the form of a butterfly. 
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“Stephen always loved butterflies. And when we were on our first tour, after the death of Stephen, we were all a little bit sad. One day, in the middle of rehearsals, a butterfly just flew. And we felt that that is Stephen, telling us that he is still with us. And tonight, as we sat here, we saw a butterfly flew across the stage. So we know that Stephen Gately is in the house tonight. He is here with us,” he said. 
Indeed, it was a night of looking back to the past and anticipating the future. With 25 years all behind them now, time can only tell what tomorrow holds for the quartet. Whether they all continue to pursue a career in music or anywhere else, they will always be remembered as the Irish boys who took the whole world by storm.  
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sage-nebula · 6 years
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3, 11, and 12 please?
3.) Three songs you were recently obsessed with:
“Ta ga Tame no Sekai” --- Shigaki AkikoI’ve actually been picturing this as an OP to one of my longer works whenever I listen to it. I put it to Paradigm Shift most often, though it would probably fit the Keitor Big Bang fic I’m writing a bit better. Either way, though, it has that sweeping, epic feel that I love.
“Ichirin no Hana” --- HIGH and MIGHTY COLORThis was actually a re-discovery; I’ve known and loved this song since high school, but somehow I lost it over the years and only recently acquired it again. Still know all the words, too. ♥ (Maybe I’ll sing it in karaoke next month . . .)
“Open Your Eyes” --- Snow PatrolI wouldn’t say I’ve necessarily been obsessed with this one recently, but I refuse to skip it every time it comes up, and I still consider it to be the quintessential happy!Keitor song. So I still love it a lot.
11.) Three favourite songs from movie or TV series soundtrack:
“Toothless Found” (How to Train Your Dragon 2) --- John PowellWords honestly can’t describe how perfect this track is. The chorus in the beginning, and how the music segues into a slow, emotional rendition of the second movie’s leitmotif as Hiccup tries desperately to break through the Bewilderbeast’s control to get his platonic soulmate back . . . the way the leitmotif swells triumphantly (that chorus returning!) as he succeeds, and they both go plummeting toward the ocean, Hiccup throwing himself down after Toothless . . . the percussion beats as Hiccup finally makes it onto Toothless’ back and they prepare their counterattack (along with the way the second movie’s leitmotif is used again, agh) . . . and the way the first movie’s leitmotif plays at the end as they succeed in knocking Drago’s staff away from him . . . on a soundtrack that is honestly incredible with pretty much every track, this one in particular stands out. It makes me feel things every single time I listen. It’s perfect, 100/100.
“Battle Scars (Plugless Ver)” (Blue Exorcist) --- Sawano HiroyukiNot quite as epic, and possibly not even my favorite track on this honestly incredible OST, but definitely the one I’ve listened to most often recently and the one that I never skip. This song gets me pumped and is fun to sing, as a bonus, despite being written for Okumura Rin, it is the perfect song for Keith Kogane. The lyrics hit the mark on practically every beat; it’s incredible. 
“Trisha’s Lullaby” (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) --- Senju AkiraAgain, probably not my favorite song on this OST, but certainly one that makes my heart squeeze with emotion every time I hear it. It’s so beautiful, sad, heartwrenching and heartwarming in the same beat . . . and it really speaks to the heart of this show, so I have to give it a special mention here.
12.) Three favourite songs from video games:
I’ll have you know that this is probably the most difficult one, because there are so many that I want to list here (as in, probably upwards of ten from the Legend of Zelda series alone . . .). I’ll only list three, but bear in mind that there are plenty more that I would absolutely list as my favorites.
“My Half is Unknown” (Mystic Messenger) --- Flamming HeartIt should honestly be illegal for a visual novel dating sim made for cell phones to have an OST has phenomenal as Mystic Messenger does, but it’s not and so here we are. Honestly, so many tracks from Mystic Messenger could earn their place on this list, but I have to give it to “My Half is Unknown” for how heartbreakingly beautiful it is, especially with the way it builds up to the crescendo, beginning at 2:45. My heart.
“Don’t Speak Her Name” (Fire Emblem: Awakening) --- Kondo ReiApart from being a beautiful track, what’s notable about “Don’t Speak Her Name” is that it plays throughout the entire battle. It doesn’t break once, and it really adds to how frought with emotional tension that entire situation is---the grief, rage, misery, and pain of everyone involved. It’s a beautiful piece that perfectly encapsulates the moment and I will probably always love it.
“Sealed Vessel” (Hollow Knight) --- Christopher LarkinThis one is a new discovery (obviously, haha), and it’s possibly the newness of it that has me so grabbed by it, but it’s incredible. The way the music kicks in with an epic punch at 0:45, but especially the way it tapers off and switches to an agonized, slow, painful tempo at 2:15 as . . . well . . . it’s major spoilers, but let’s just say that at that part in the battle, I actually didn’t attack because I was so shocked and stricken with sadness at what I saw. The music matches it perfectly; it really is beautifully done.
And three honorable mentions because, honestly, I was very close to slotting these ones in instead:
“Hyrule Castle” (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) --- Kataoka ManakaThe entire Breath of the Wild soundtrack is amazing, and in fact I was originally going to list the “Main Theme” here for how beautiful it is at the start, and then for how it sweeps into a crescendo that takes my breath away every time at 1:12, but “Hyrule Castle” deserves the mention because of how incredible this track is for how many different important themes it incorporates into it. It has the standard Hyrule Castle music featured in several different games (A Link to the Past and Wind Waker to name a couple), “Zelda’s Lullaby,” “Ganon’s Theme,” “Song of the Hero,” and even “Ballad of the Wind Fish.” They’re all put together in one masterful medley, so it definitely deserves its mention here, even if I still adore the main theme as well.
“Overture” (Pokémon) --- Masuda JunichiLook, whatever my issues with Masuda right now, the fact remains that I pretty much burst into tears the second I hear this song start up. (I actually did cry when they started playing this during my live Symphonic Evolutions concert.) Words can’t really describe how many emotions this makes me feel; it’s the song that feels most like coming home, like it’s where I belong. It’s certainly worthy of an honorable mention, even before all the other incredible songs in this series.
“Resurrections” (Celeste) --- Lena RaineThis one amost replaced “Sealed Vessel.” Celeste has a great soundtrack in general, but I particularly love “Resurrections” for how much it incorporates. We have the nice, even, pretty tempo throughout the beginning as Madeline makes her way through, prior to releasing Badeline (Part of Her) from the mirror. Once Badeline has been released, and the true challenge starts, the music grows louder. It’s still not too frantic yet, as Madeline’s mental state hasn’t driven her to that point yet, but you can tell that things are harder now, they’ve gotten more real. (And it’s music to groove to, too; I love it.) And then, of course, there’s that switch at 4:26 to Badeline’s Theme as Madeline confronts her for the first time, and can I just say that I love that melody; it’s haunting, eerie, and emotionally wrought all at the same time. It perfectly encapsulates how Badeline represents Madeline’s insecurities and mental illness. And then, of course, the tempo picks right back up (with some build-up!) at 5:52 as Badeline begins outright attacking Madeline . . . god, this track is just so good! The whole OST is, really, but special mention goes to “Resurrections.” It’s no doubt my favorite. 
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ganymedesclock · 6 years
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I was here thinking, hm. Paladins are decided by their values/personality and how they match with their lions. Everyone knows that, Allura said it on the first episode. So I was here thinking. What values/qualities do Allura and Lance share, as well as Keith and Shiro? Also you're amazing, keep going sweetie 💙
I’ve talked before that I don’t think the shifted paladins relate to their Lions the way they relate to their original Lions- but rather, how they relate to the Lions’ original pilot. (a good point I saw raised elsewhere, I believe by @aaawunder, was that Keith explicitly directs his words to Shiro several times in Black’s cockpit and doesn’t ever seem to talk to Black explicitly as themselves)
In that sense, the Lions do seem to originally take to the auxiliary paladins when they do something that appeals to their sensibilities. Black, who views things heavily in terms of duty and responsibility, initially opens for Keith in s2e1 when Keith tries to connect with Black, something he doesn’t want or see as a good fit, because they need this. Shiro is in danger.
Red opens to Lance when, as Allura spells out, Lance prioritized the head over personal glory and wanted to support Keith.
Blue opens to Allura when she shows compassion and emotional wisdom to support Lance.
So that suggests there’s two components here to building these auxiliary connections:
1. An assertion of the bond with the original paladin/motivated to do this because of [x]
2. Behaving in a way that pleases the sensibilities of the Lion.
So for example you could see Hunk forging a new connection with Green if he did something that pleased Green’s values of innovation, evolution or curiosity, but was also in order to protect/support/assist Pidge.
All successful Lion swap foot-in-the-doors we’ve seen, seem to follow that mold, and all unsuccessful ones don’t. For example in the scene where everyone tried the Black Lion, Keith was the one focusing on his connection with Shiro- the other paladins, while no less worthy, didn’t specifically think about Shiro going into this. Also, trying to act in a way that focuses on a prior paladin might work (as Allura did with Alfor towards Red) but it would have to also appeal to the Lion’s virtues (Allura takes a very duty-related approach)
In this sense Allura trying first Black and then Red was a half-success each time, but failing in the other sense- she successfully appeals to Black’s virtues, and Red’s old connection, but not to Black’s connection or Red’s virtues.
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johnboothus · 3 years
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EOD Drinks With Stevie Stacionis and Sarah Bray Founders of Bâtonnage
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In this episode of “End Of Day Drinks,” VinePair’s editorial team is joined by Stevie Stacionis and Sarah Bray of Bâtonnage. Bâtonnage is a mentorship program that seeks to stir up conversations surrounding women in wine. Stacionis and Bray explain that, in response to issues the wine industry faces on diversity, inclusion, and equity, they decided to create a mentorship and educational program for women-identifying people working in the wine industry.
Bâtonnage has three levels of mentorship in various disciplines that include sales and marketing, retail, hospitality, viticulture, and production. Tune in to hear Stacionis and Bray discuss mentorship and what’s next for Bâtonnage.
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Keith Beavers: Hey, everybody! Welcome to “End of Day Drinks.” My name is Keith Beavers, and I am the tasting director of VinePair and the host of the “Wine 101” podcast. Today, we are joined by Stevie Stacionis and Sarah Bray of Bâtonnage. It’s a mentorship program, and I cannot wait to get into it. Today, we are also joined by people in our editorial team. We are joined by Emma Cranston, Joanna Sciarrino, Tim McKirdy, Katie Brown, Cat Wolinski, and Adam Teeter, the CEO of VinePair.
All: Hello, hi!
Sarah Bray: Excited to be here, thank you for having us.
Beavers: I am so, so excited that you guys are here. I’ve known the two of you for a long time, and I’m just so excited to talk to you about this initiative that you guys built. You two amazing people have built something amazing. I think we need to really talk about it, because it’s really, really important. It’s a mentorship program called Bâtonnage. I think we should get it out. What is it that you guys built?
Bray: No, I mean, I think we could start off with just the idea of Bâtonnage, which, you know, is Stevie’s brainchild, so I’ll let her kick it off.
Stacionis: It’s fair to stumble over how to even introduce it, because honestly, I really didn’t know what I was doing when I started it, which is actually pretty typical for me. I tend to have a vague idea of something great that someone should totally do. I would have no idea how they should do it, but they should. I like to think of myself as an instigator. I instigate people getting things done. In this case, I kept trying to instigate it, and everybody would say “no, when are you doing that thing that you said?” To backtrack, I think there was a perfect storm around the #MeToo Movement, around the 2016 election, and around my own son’s traumatic birth also in 2016. I ended up having a pretty tumultuous 2017, in the world, personal life, and professional life. Then, I sat on another podcast at the end of 2017 and talked about the year in review. One of the questions was “what would you like to see happen in 2018?” I said, “I would really love to see somebody do some events, spur a conversation about issues that women in the wine industry are facing specifically.” Many people listened to that podcast and kept asking me, “So when is that thing that you mentioned happening?” People kept saying you should do it. You should totally do that thing. It kept turning back on me, and I was the right person for it. As I said, I launched something that I really didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t even have a full vision for it. I just knew that conversations needed to happen, and they weren’t happening yet. I felt that if we approached it with a sense of positivity, inclusiveness, and this idea of forwarding progress rather than dwelling on negative historical events and bad shit, that we could maybe make a change in the industry. I invited my team at Bay Grape, which was almost all women at the time. I asked, “Do you want to sit and brainstorm with me? We can figure out what we want to talk about, how we might frame this conversation?” I’m getting very wordy, but essentially, we thought that maybe five to 15 people would join us in this afternoon of drinking and having conversations. It morphed into an event of over 300 people about six months later.
Beavers: Amazing, so that was the first time?
Stacionis: That was the first time. It became clear that a lot of people wanted to have these conversations and try to figure out a more positive, inclusive path forward for our industry. Then, Sarah is one of my absolute best friends, who I very conveniently met at Alphabet City Wine Company when I was working there. Sarah became my best friend after coming into the shop frequently and buying things that I thought were awesome. Eventually, we ended up hiring Sarah to take my place. Sarah and I went on to be very close friends and accomplices. While I was scheming all of this, I called Sarah a lot. I needed her help. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Very quickly, as I am apt to do in our friendship, I roped her in.
Bray: I met up with her in May, and the event was in July, so we made it happen.
Stacionis: That’s a really long backstory framing up the inception. Essentially, Bâtonnage exists as a forum for what we call “stirring it up.” Bâtonnage: to stir, right? The idea was that there is this dead or no-longer-working-for-us dysfunctional background in our history. If we can stir up this conversation around it, we could, in the same way Bâtonnage wine creates freshness, give some life, character, and texture to wine. We could do that for our industry, so it was focused on issues that women or those who identify as women face in the wine industry. Now it’s grown into this more inclusive movement, talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion and figuring out ways to actually chart meaningful, positive, and forward progress. The mentorship program specifically has blossomed out of that conversation. I think we said the mentorship program is a way to stir our conversations about equality actions and create equity. Boom!
Beavers: I love it!
Bray: It was a really natural evolution. The topics that we were tackling in the actual event itself, which was in-person in 2018 and 2019, then moved to virtual, our partners put on a wonderful over-four-week Bâtonnage Connect discussion. The topics are not necessarily cocktail party conversations. We are talking about things like: “How do you negotiate and advocate for yourself better?” “What are the pathways to inclusion?” “Sexuality and wine sales.” “Departing dysfunctional relationships.” It was a natural evolution to think about what was next — to capitalize on this community that we built with fantastic people at all stages of their careers, some very advanced, some in new stages, and create pathways for change that we were talking about and wanting to see. Within a pretty short period of time, we pulled together a really amazing team of people and launched this first quarter or first level-one mentor. We can detail that a bit more for you and talk about all that we’re doing there. However, like the forum itself, it was an idea. All right, let’s go.
Beavers: That’s just amazing.
Stacionis: My perspective on everything has been, look, we all know this is a thing. Let’s just do something about it. I often ignore the walls or challenges that might be facing me and say “this needs a solution.” And we’ll just sort of tackle it in the sense of knowing these conversations are going on. Why aren’t we trying to be open? The same thing with the mentorship program. I already know that mentorship needs to happen. Let’s just make a program that solves that. Of course, all of the details and the in-between logistics can become much more formidable than I anticipated, which is where I really rely on Sarah.
Bray: I’m a really good wing woman.
Stacionis: I do have to say we have this amazing team, and I’m the instigator. OK, let’s do it. I have to believe, then push everybody and say, “OK, flesh out what we don’t know how to do.” It’s been amazing to call on all of our team that’s working with us on this and say, “OK, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I have a lot of enthusiasm. You know what you’re doing in this particular part, you want to get involved, so let’s just bring everybody together.” It’s been really powerful and amazing to see our whole team with so many different backgrounds make something so much bigger than what I ever thought it could be.
Bray: It’s interesting because we all have different areas of focus and ways that our own careers have developed. I mentioned we did what we have dubbed “passing the baton” between ‘19 and ‘20. Katy Canfield or Rebecca Johnson from O’Donnell Lane actually took over the running of the forum. They’ve been now part of this core team of thinkers and shapers and helping lead a lot of the conversation. Then, when we started the mentorship program, Priyanka French, who’s the winemaker at Signorello, was also having this same conversation with some of the Napa Valley Vintners and thinking through what we could do locally. This event has always happened in Napa. Obviously, people have flown in, and being virtual made it possible. I think we reached 600-plus people this year, many outside of the California area, a few even outside of the U.S. She spoke on a panel where mentorship was brought up as well. It’s this great melding of the minds. She’s done a really good job of pushing this forward and charting a great path. Then, because she is a winemaker, she knows that cellar production side. Between Stevie’s retail background, my background in sales and marketing, Priyanka’s cellar and production experience, we rounded out at least our core committee in this initial year with Marimar, who’s the long-time viticultural manager for the Harlan family of wineries, and Tonya Pitts, who is the wine director at One Market to bring in someone to lead the way with the hospitality discussion. And then on the viticultural side, we are trying to be holistic in our approach to thinking about the business of wine here.
Emma Cranston: Hey y’all, this is Emma. I just wanted to hop in real quick because I was actually really impressed with your mentorship programs and the number of fields you offer training in. I’m especially curious how Covid has affected any hands-on learning opportunities in your specific fields, that being the retail and hospitality programs. Can you explain to our listeners what these mentorship programs offer and any challenges that the pandemic has created for you?
Stacionis: I’ll jump in and say it was roughly perfect timing. Something did work out in terms of the pandemic, because to back up from the entire program, we have three levels. Level one, we think of ourselves as a network and connecting people to resources and having informational interviews. Then, level two goes a step deeper into what actually pairs up specific mentors with mentees rather than allowing mentees to speak with as many mentors as they want. Level two will start to get more hands-on, but it’s really about helping them identify what area they need to focus on in terms of their work experience. For example, building their resumes to further solidify them as potential leaders in the wine industry. Then, level three is the most hands-on experience, almost like an internship. There will be placements in particular settings. For me in retail, someone will come on as an intern here in selling wine. In viticulture, it might be going out and working at harvest or doing an entire spring season with pruning. With that framework in place, you can see then how level one, which we’re actually wrapping in five days, works even better with the pandemic because we could have formidable mentors on and let them do three Zoom sessions reaching up to 60 people. Then, naturally flow from that to having some follow-up email questions, or can we actually have a phone call after that based on the mentor’s availability. Our program, in that sense, was greatly enhanced thanks to the pandemic and the virtual nature of last year. Now, as level two evolves, we’re kind of lucky because there are some things opening up and a lot of hope to still be held remotely. I think we’ve all seen that many things that we didn’t think can be done remotely, actually can. In-person things will be much more one-on-one, and you can still distance and wear a mask. Hopefully, by the time late this year rolls around, we’ll be able to do more of those really impressive level-three internships at the same time that we’re actually ready and on track for that level three to roll out.
Bray: To Stevie’s point, we’ve been candid and transparent with both our mentors and mentees that this is a work in progress. They are part of figuring this out. We’ve really dedicated this year to a trial. I’m sure a lot of errors are going to occur as well. The largest pool that we’re able to reach is this coffee date, level one. The virtual format has really been wonderful with a lot of people’s work schedules and work lives changing. At least on the mentor side, we’ve given them carte blanche with how they want to run their own sessions. Some are more formal.”Here are two sessions you can join, we’ll be talking about these topics.” We had one person set up her own panels. I think Shelley Lindgren‘s doing a weekly, virtual happy hour with her mentees. Anitha Gandhi is doing the same thing on Mondays with check-ins on different topics. The panel provided people the ability to connect in the ways that they were most comfortable and most available to do that with. That was great. Now, some were still in-person. If you’re in the viticultural program, I know Marimar met with a lot of folks one-on-one outside in the vineyards and talked about things like that. It was adaptable. There are challenges with people outside of the U.S. that are part of the program. We’ll see what happens down the line when we’re looking to help people with placements. I know we had one woman in India who loved this opportunity. I think she joined every possible call she could, just to learn about the industry at large. A lot of people on the mentee side really looked at this as an opportunity to shift their focus. They can use this as an opportunity to learn about retail or some of these other businesses. I think it was a great networking opportunity for a lot of people as well.
Stacionis: Absolutely. I think Sara is right. I think we helped set the tone. Before every event or anything we put out, we give that disclaimer of this is a work in progress. We’re all still learning. We all make mistakes. I usually say something along the lines of, you will be upset by something or something wasn’t offered to you. That’s great. We want that feedback. This should always evolve. I would rather get it started and have lots of imperfections that we improve upon, than not get it started from fear of making those mistakes.
Adam Teeter: Hey Stevie, it’s Adam. Obviously, both of you have full-time jobs. Stevie, you’re in the midst of opening your second wine shop location. Sarah, you’re pursuing Masters of Wine. What’s the vision long-term for the organization? I assume it has a 501(c)(3) status, but is the idea to grow it? Install an executive director? We’re really curious here on the editorial team how you take this amazing idea and keep pushing it forward. If you’ve given thought to that, as well as what the organization might look like in 5 to 10 years?
Bray: Yeah, we think about this a lot. It’s one of the reasons that we did the whole “pass the baton” initiative, because, after two years of doing this, I think in our second year, she was about to open a restaurant. I was traveling 280 days of the year, and it was an insane year. We both felt we had started something, believed in this, and created this community, but we didn’t necessarily have the bandwidth to carry it on on our own. That concept was born, and the idea is to have it continue moving forward. Every several years, there will be another group of people that we will pass the baton on to who will just be part of our growing family of people running Bâtonnage. That’s why we’ve involved more and more people. You made the comment about the 501(c)(3). We’re actually in the last stages of getting that set up right now. We’ve always run this as a volunteer-run without any official formation. As it has continued to grow, we’ve seen the need to formalize that. We actually just submitted the paperwork today for that with our organizing board of directors and officers within that. Now we are in the fundraising stages.
Stacionis: We’re looking for money.
Teeter: How do people give?
Bray: Well, we had a generous donation over the course of three years from Napa Valley Vintners to support this, which is a matching donation. It was really part of the impetus for the 501(c)(3), to be honest. People wanting to know how to contribute, and realizing we needed to formalize it and put pen to paper about what this platform was about. We’ve got a partnership with Nomadica that is actually hitting shelves in April, where they’ve generously donated product, allowing us to make some money off of that. There are beautiful packages Stevie worked on with their designer and the photographer, Alicia Sommer, with some information about the Bâtonnage mentorship program on there. We’re in the process of seeking out other synergistic partners, whether it’s going to be people who want to host virtual tastings with us or give $10,000. Also, help us find a way to host appropriate level-three mentor internship opportunities. It’s all a work in progress because we really believe in what we’ve built, the community, in collaborating and having as many co-conspirators as possible so it can continue to have legs. Also, trying to figure out the organizing principles to keep it going, because you’re right, everybody is a little busy.
Stacionis: To very directly answer your question, they can go to batonnageforum.com. There’s a big “Show Your Support By Making a Pledge Here” button. They can also email Sarah because she’s taking care of all the corporate sponsorships and partnerships.
Teeter: Amazing. It’s awesome you’re working with Nomadica, too. They’re one of our favorite wine brands, and Kristin’s awesome. That’s really cool that partnership is happening.
Stacionis: She’s one of our mentors.
Beavers: How do you promote Bâtonnage?
Stacionis: Things like this. Anything. Everything. Always. Everybody that meets me, I’m like, “Oh, we’re doing the thing. You should tell people about it.” Social media to retail partnerships, any press. Conversations like this. If you have more ideas, please tell them to us.
Bray: The beauty of having such a big team is that we are all proactively pursuing our own channels. Katie and Rebecca spoke with château. We are just trying to tap into any opportunity that comes our way and finding the best fit within our organization to speak to the audience.
Tim McKirdy: This is Tim speaking, I have a quick follow-up question to some of the stuff you mentioned earlier. You pointed out that this is ever-evolving, and you’re learning as you go along. I was just wondering when it comes to the program, how are you tracking the success and the impact? Is that something as simple as the number of mentees that you’re able to run through the program? Are there other ways that you’re charting that?
Bray: I can jump in. Stevie mentioned that we’re wrapping the level-one first-time go around. A big part of that is really having to do with having a series of forums and different things that we are submitting both to the mentors and to the mentees. Also, seeing how many people signed up and participated in the program. We also know who has participated in all of the events online as well. Creating benchmarks, creating ways of tracking the growth over time, is very important to us. It’s also important in terms of some of our donor requests or knowing who we’re servicing and how we’re growing and where we’re growing. We’ve also made an internal commitment to make sure that a portion of our placement opportunities ultimately goes to the BIPOC community. It is important for us to track and know that we are making the change that we seek. Stevie and I have talked a lot about “How do we create the next iteration of what we want our industry to look like?” OK, fine. It doesn’t exist right now, so we have to put things into place in order to get people and this industry where we want it to be. Thus, we can have people in those management positions, we can hire the people that we’re looking for, and create that ladder in that channel that doesn’t exist right now.
Stacionis: Also, not coming from a corporate background, a lot of this data may exist at very large companies but doesn’t exist at a lot of small ones or organizations like mine. There isn’t a lot of data out there. There are some pretty good organizations doing work in parallel with our efforts at Bâtonnage. The Diversity and Leadership Forum. Our friends Miriam and Elaine have compiled all of the different organizations doing this work and their amazing diversity in food and beverage is an organization specifically that’s working in the U.S. to actually start accumulating this data on a more industry-wide scale and witness what is happening.
Bray: Obviously, it’s going to be an optional portion of our feedback forms, but we are including questions that are defocused so that we can begin to build the database that doesn’t exist. There are people focusing on this in different ways, more and more. Without the data at hand, it’s going to be hard to track the changes. Trying to plug it into all the things we do, where we can, and where it’s appropriate.
Joanna Sciarrino: Hi, this is Joanna. I was just wondering, I know you’re in the planning stage for the 2021 forum, but what could people expect for that?
Bray: Well, we’re working on the programming right now. That’s what Rebecca and Katie are helming. We’ve divided and conquered. They’re in their second year of another digital iteration. This year, they did an amazing job and actually held multiple sessions over about four weeks. It’ll be a more condensed version of that this year but looking to continue the conversations about financial empowerment and diversity. They’re looking at an amazing lineup of speakers. I don’t want to have any spoiler alerts. June is the timing for that. It’ll be an interesting thing to watch. We’ll probably start all of our promotion around that in the May timeframe.
Cat Wolinski: Hey, this is Cat. What are some words that you think publishers and media companies can create? Not only the conversations around equity and representation in wine, but that action piece that’s needed.
Bray: Hire writers of color, hire women, pay well, have pay equity. It’s a lot of the same issues, right? I started in publishing in 2008. I moved to New York to write, and that was such a great career move, given what happened to publishing. That’s why I took a job at Alphabet City Wine Company. It helps pay the bills. There’s been a big movement since that time for people, for unpaid labor. We see it everywhere. “This is just free promotion for you. Do this, and we’ll get the word out for you.” We have to pay people for their work and their time and recognize that, even when it is for an editorial situation or a shoot. I think if you want more diversity, you have to be willing to help people pay their way and pay living wages for things and have fair rates and be transparent about your rates.
Stacionis: Those are definitely the answers, but I usually try to push things a step further, just because I love debate. First of all, I have a lot of friends who fit one of the minority checkboxes. Suddenly, everybody wants to talk to them because they’re the “woman winemaker” or if they’re the “black sommelier” or if they are the “disabled queer viticulturalist.” It’s annoying. There’s a lack of transparency often on the part of the press of “we know we’re supposed to be more diverse.” That’s great, but you’re not fixing the problem other than scratching the surface. To go a little deeper, I think that publications need to be writing about these exact issues. This is an issue, call it out. It’s a problem in our own industry, it’s a problem in our own business that we’re trying to figure out and this is our first step. Everybody needs to be paid more, I want to pay my people more, but I don’t have the money. My point always comes back to: the guests or the consumers need to understand the issues so that they are willing to pay more for the services. We, as businesses, can pay more for the people that are working for us, because it always comes back to me and it sucks. It sucks knowing that you’re part of the problem, but you can’t charge your guests more, because they’ll throw a fat fit. They won’t come in, they’ll give bad reviews, and it’s not worth the high price tag. This is literally what the problem is. If you want to go out to eat or you want to buy a bottle of wine, you’re going to need to pony up. I mean, pointing out that winemaker is not enough.
Bray: It’s back to your specific question about publishing, too. It’s trying to get people to understand what a paywall is. To pay your writers at the end of the day, you all know, I get that what I said has a trickle-down effect to the bottom line. There’s this gap in people’s awareness between what they’re paying for as a product or service, and how that impacts the workforce in any field.
Beavers: I love it. That’s the beauty of all this, just getting the conversation started is the first thing. Watching where it’s going is just incredible, and people like you are actually making that conversation move forward in the right direction. Not only in the right direction, but with the right approach and with all the right ideas about it. I love the idea of Stevie saying, “I want to do this. How do I do it?” Every great idea started that way, and that’s just awesome.
Stacionis: Thank you. I would also just play with people. The world is so negative right now, people are so fast to bully each other on their mistakes. It’s calling people out instead of inviting them in. I hate it. Let’s just start the conversation and be loving about it. Let’s just say this is a problem. I know that I haven’t done everything that I can to fix it. I made a lot of mistakes, and I’m going to keep doing it. But I care, I really care. I want to have difficult conversations, and I want other people to chime in with their own thoughts that will spur me forward instead of holding me down or back. I would like everyone listening to not be scared. It’s a very scary place, but if you approach it with an open heart and a real desire to do better, hopefully the people that you interact with will see that as well and will meet that and join that. And if they don’t, just know that you’re not alone in somebody critiquing you. I’ve cried so many times. I’ve really f*cked up (I don’t’ know if I can say that). It’s so scary. It’s so hard to get back up after you’re like, “I did this wrong. I don’t know what this word means. I don’t know how to use it.” I’ve called people “hey you guys” instead of “hey, y’all” or “hey you people.” We have to make mistakes. And we have to be like, “hey, it’s fine, no problem. Come on back to the party. We’re going to make this better altogether.”
Bray: Well, as the southerner on the call, I am all for “y’all” being just the way we talk about everybody. Greatest gift to the English language.
Beavers: This is the perfect way to end this conversation. Stevie, that was awesome. I just wanted to thank you guys so much for coming onto this podcast. It’s so important what y’all are doing. I can’t wait to watch it grow even more.
Stacionis: Yes. Thank you so much for having us! Thanks for spreading the word. It’s really humbling, and I’m seriously so honored.
Bray: I’ll just do one more plug for your listeners. Bâtonnage is spelled with T and two n’s. Go check out batonnageforum.com, I encourage you to check us out. We have all of our past recordings, audio from the first two live events, video from this year. There’s a lot of good stuff there. We also welcome new ideas. This is an iterative process that we hope to keep growing from. We thank you all for your interest and your support, and we look forward to a toast in person at some point. An “EOD Drink” together in person.
Beavers: Nice, nice, cool, guys. Thank you.
Stacionis: Cool y’all.
Bray: Thank y’all.
The article EOD Drinks With Stevie Stacionis and Sarah Bray, Founders of Bâtonnage appeared first on VinePair.
Via https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-batonnage/
source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/eod-drinks-with-stevie-stacionis-and-sarah-bray-founders-of-batonnage
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wofuru · 6 years
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Voltron legendary defender ask game
~Voltron Legendary Defender Ask Game~
Tagged by my lovely lady @seiteki9​  (Yes you are love, don’t even try to tell me otherwise)
How did you discover the show?
Well ... I’m an illustrator and have been selling for years in conventions with my gf @seiteki9​. Along the line (I think when S2 came out) I heard about it by clients who asked me for goodies from VLD. It took a while before I checked the serie because I thought it was juste another mecha anime and I’m usually not into these really. So at some point, since it is on netflix and all AND when I learned it was made by the same studio as Avatar last air bender ... I gave it a shot. And oh boy did I fell head 1st into this show. Sheith is my life now, thank you. 
Was it love at first sight or did it take you a while to get into the the show?
1st sigh. I think it took .... 10 minutes. I fell in when Keith rescue Shiro and makes that so tender expression recognizing him on the table and unconscious. 
Do you have a favorite episode?
S2 ep 1 is definitely among my favorite ones that’s for sure (Gee guess why huh) and I think the trial at the blades of mormora would be there to. But it is hard to decide, this serie is so amazing in general and also so much sheith moments >_< 
Do you have a favorite Paladin?
Shiro, yeah, totally. Keith in close 2nd. 
Do you have a favorite Lion? (If it’s different from your fav Paladin, why?)
As dork as I am, I would say Black. Not because she is the head, but also because of the evolution between her and Shiro and the whole complicated relation/story with Zarkon. 
Do you have a favorite Villian?
Hmm ... I think that would be Zarkon. I love his tragic story. How he came to be, but also how much of a dangerous man he became. What goes around him and also we know where he’s going. 
Do you have a favorite Alien Race? (Recurring and/or minor)
I do really love the galras in all their glory and bad sides to. I mean they are mostly brawl over brains you know. Their designs are all so interesting, but also I love how their mind set has been presented so far (since we don’t know much about the culture yet). I think in 2nd would be the balmerans (I’m not sure who it’s written). They look so awesome and their story is so sad and interesting at the same time. 
Favorite side / other character(s)- Rebels, Generals, Blade of Marmora, Garrison, etc?
I love Shay and Narti ( ;_; ) so much. 
Also Lieutenant Ozar looks like such an interesting character (yeah I know you guys are wondering who’s that lol) 
How/Why did you join the fandom?
Falling face 1st into Sheith, I looked around for some fanart here on tumblr and it slowly went from there. I decided to join Sheith Big Bang that is currently on going and it’s been really fun so far. 
Care to share your favorite headcanon?
I really like the basic idea of Sheith pre-kerberos (not being a couple back then at all tho) where Keith was like this teen kid wrecking havoc everywhere for no reason. Not bullying people, but just losing his shit every so often because he was angry all the time and then Shiro met him and decided to take him under his wing, to get in his life even if he had to force his way in / tame the beast and just believe in him and giving him what any human deserves which is a sense of belonging somewhere and be loved for who they are. 
What do you think is the best part of the show?
The characters. Their lives, how they are. All the little details we can catch on all the time, but also these elements in the show that you just don’t see anywhere. I love that they made it so we could see representation and good values teaching to people seeing this serie. How a character can be so cool and not just a comic relief while being an overweight character OR a straight guy that is someone who takes care so much of his own body and appearance without it being weird OR a genderless character (or someone who doesn’t care) that despite her size is such a kickass character OR you know someone who’s so strong for everyone all the time but with such deep scars that you wonder how he keeps going OR a child who was abandoned again and again and how his life goes on. And I’m not talking about the multicultural elements (Allura not being just this pompom stereotyped girl but a woman of color with such an big temper while being such a variety of things and stories). Oh, and please, myore love for Coran people, he’s or favorite uncle. 
Any hopes and wishes for future episodes / seasons?
Please Shiro be safe, come back to us and PLEASE be the black paladin again while Keith comes back to red. I loved the old roster of paladin (no offense allura, I just loved you more while being the pilot of the castle and a diplomat and now an alchemist O_O !). I’m so praying they don’t end up doing like in the old series where Shiro just becomes the blue paladin because he’s emotionally compromised or whatnot and disappear in the background like being the black paladin is the highest title, which no ... it’s not the case and its not a competition. Also poor shiro worked so hard to bond with his lion to just ... be thrown away again ?! 
Do you think you’ll stick it out until the end of the show?
Oh I will. If my worse fears come to be, I’ll cry my world, but I’ll stick to the end. 
Tag your friends or someone you want to get to know better: @escaleamare  ?? (no pressure lol)
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rankwell · 4 years
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Brought to you by Rankwell https://www.rankwell.com.au Rankwell
# leadgen # leadgeneration #internetmarketing #rankwell #digitalmarketing #ppc #sem #seo #smm 
I love SEO.
You love SEO.
Everybody loves SEO. Right?
But why?
To find out, I asked some of the top SEO experts the reasons why they love SEO.
Here were their responses.
1. The SEO Community
“The people! Without the amazing wisdom shared by everyone in this community in person, in blog posts, and at conferences we would all be hacking away at this by ourselves trying to guess what worked.” – Eli Schwartz
“The people are some of the best I have met in any industry.” – John Doherty
“The people are so, so great. Once I stopped being intimidated about meeting the ‘SEO celebs’ I started getting to know them. I learned that we are all a fun group of nerds who love the industry and helping businesses improve their online visibility. Our community won’t hesitate to help one another, no matter what. I know I have a ‘search homie’ in almost every major city and I love seeing everyone at conferences and while traveling.” – Kelsey Jones
“The SEO industry is for the most part very supportive of one another, which is admirable.” – Paul Shapiro
“I love SEO and all the folks that are part of the industry for a very simple reason: You/they can help make good things happen for each other and for the sites they support.” – Topher Kohan
“I’m honored to work with some of the most curious, collaborative, and compassionate professionals I have ever known.” – Jamie Alberico
“There is a constant drive to stay educated, which is impossible without the community. The community itself has become like family to many involved.” – Brian McDowell
“Going to conferences has become a summer camp of sorts and I’m eternally grateful for my peers’ support and knowledge that is readily shared. We all help each other level up.” – Britney Muller
“It’s an industry that is very open to knowledge sharing and has the best events.” – Jes Scholz
“You can ask a question online and multiple people will offer different points of view and experiments to try.” – Carolyn Lyden
“I like the fact that everyone is so willing to share knowledge and the camaraderie between competitors (for the most part.) If you have a question or need some help – you can find it fairly simply by just asking in a forum or even on Twitter!” – Carrie Hill
“I love the generosity of the SEO community, whether it’s sharing information or just looking out for each other.” – Dr. Pete Meyers
“The industry is fantastic because while it is massive, it is also tight-knit. The friendships and working relationships are amazing.” – Melissa Fach
“The community surrounding SEO has some of the funniest—and most intelligent—people I’ve ever met. I’ve made friends in this space that have lasted me nearly a decade at this point. There’s always somebody willing to give, share, or help.” – Joel Klettke
“The best part about the SEO industry is the people. I’ve met and become friends with some of the most amazing people in the world.” – Greg Gifford
“The industry is full of amazing caring people I am privileged to call friends.” – Tony Wright
“I love the SEO industry because of the wonderful people involved in it.” – Elmer Boutin
“I love the people, the camaraderie, the work, and the challenges. I feel that I am privileged to have had the positive experiences I have had working in the industry. I’ve met lifelong friends, colleagues, and have made connections that I otherwise would not have made in other fields.” – Brian Harnish
“The best community on earth. We’re all brothers and sisters and more.” – Cyrus Shepard
2. SEO Is Always Evolving
“SEO evolves, too. So it’s inspiring to keep pushing new ideas.” – Grant Simmons
“I love its ever-changing nature, which allows me to face new challenges on a daily basis.” – Eric Enge
“I love the constant evolution of both the search engines and user behavior.” – Brian McDowell
“The challenge of change.” – Bill Hunt
“The constant change. It is an industry that requires you to research, test and implement on a regular basis.” – Mindy Weinstein
“Its dynamic nature. It’s fast and ever-changing and requires constant attention to evolving best practices.” – Casey Markee
“That constant change is the norm.” – Martin MacDonald
“That constant change, and the willingness for the SEO community to continually educate and openness to call B.S. when they see it, is what really excited me about SEO every day.” – Eric Wu
“The people. The fast pace. The ever-changing landscape. SEO is fun!” – Heather Lloyd-Martin
I’m endlessly curious and I love that SEO is constantly evolving. It’s a perfect match! – Jon Henshaw
“I enjoy how this industry requires you to stay on your toes and adapt.” – Jesse McDonald
“There are a lot of fields where you can become an expert and always be an expert. Not SEO. Things change and you have to stay on top of what is happening and be willing to try new things.” – Casie Gillette
“The constantly evolving environment, technology, challenges, opportunities – and the need for us to evolve and change with that.” – Jono Alderson
“Above all, I love the fast-changing pace of SEO. What was true yesterday might not be true tomorrow so we need to learn every day to stay sharp and accurate.” – Max Prin
“What was considered a best practice yesterday, may no longer be today. I love the constant change because it forces me to continue learning.” – Anna Crowe
3. Learning Constantly
“I love learning, and so I like working in an industry where I can surround myself with innovations.” – Will Critchlow
“I love that SEO moves at such a fast pace, it means that there’s always something new to learn or a different challenge to tackle.” – Hannah Thorpe
“There is always something new to learn and new tips and tricks to discover. There are new industry entrants making fantastic contributions all of the time, whether they be technical, creative, or anything in between.” – Glen Allsopp
“Constantly learning and adapting to changes in the algorithms and technology.” – Rob Woods
“I love the constant stream of new challenges and opportunities to figure out how to fix broken things.” – Carolyn Shelby
“It requires you to constantly learn and adapt.” – Dave Rohrer
“The continual need to learn and grow.” – Dawn Anderson
“I am curious about how people use information, and want to help them find what they need.” – Bill Slawski
“Studying the intersection of human behavior and technological advancements.” – Rhea Drysdale
“How everyone is so deeply fascinated about both people and technology and how the two interact.” – Kelvin Newman
“The daily shift and change – the need to learn every day.” – Rishi Lakhani
“Constantly evolving in new and unique ways. Collaborating with and learning from other passionate and smart people.” – JR Oakes
4. SEO Is Never Boring
“I love the impossibility of getting bored search marketing offers us.” – Gianluca Fiorelli
“Every day is a new challenge.” – Dana DiTomaso
“The job as an SEO changes on a daily basis. Your work is never done.” – Jan-Willem Bobbink
“The industry offers you the ability to work in a variety of situations (in-house, agency, consultant – on location or remote) and that you can approach it from a specialty that most interests you (technical, content, strategy, local, vertical, etc). There is a lot of opportunity for anyone with any particular skill set, strengths, and passions.” – Dan Shure
“I totally enjoy the broad spectrum of SEO and being able to work together with so many different teams and personalities from different backgrounds and even cultures.” – Bastian Grimm
“I like that SEO work lets me wear many hats: a psychologist, a forensic investigator, a negotiator, etc.” – Motoko Hunt
“I’ve been in the field for over 15 years already, and it feels like I’ve tried hundreds of different professions and roles. Search engine algorithms keep changing so rapidly, making us adapt, grow and acquire new skills really fast.” – Aleh Barysevich
“I love SEO because it is never dull. It touches multiple disciplines that range from really nerdy tech to super creative marketing and always keeps us on our toes.” – Arsen Rabinovich
“The disciplines within SEO seem perfectly aligned to meet the needs of people who are technical, or people who are data/mathematics-oriented, or people who are creative/literary. As a result, the industry attracts a diverse set of talented people.” – Keith Goode
“To be great in digital marketing you have to be willing to evolve as both technology and users become more intelligent and demand new behaviors. Talk about never getting bored!” – Ashley Segura (Ward)
“I love the chase of the SERPs and the fact that no two days are ever the same.” – Andy Drinkwater
“No day is the same! My work days range from various industries/topics to a variety of research, audit, and client delivery tasks, allowing me to stay fresh and avoid the feeling of ;having to make the bagels’ daily.” – Chris Boggs
“The constant complexity and weaving a practice that touches on design, usability, promotion, data, and gut. It’s always an adventure.” – Mike Ramsey
“SEO is like having a girlfriend who always keeps on your feet, never gets boring.” – Michael Bonfils
5. Testing, Sharing & Collaborating
“I love the fact that it is essentially a blackbox and no one knows exactly how the algorithms rank websites, forcing SEO’s to constantly test and learn. The constant knowledge sharing, case studies and tests/studies are what excites me about the industry – as an industry we are all banding together to learn more about the intricacies of search engines.” – Jason Mun
“People are constantly learning and sharing; trying to make themselves and others better.” – Patrick Stox
“The amazing people who dedicate time selflessly to doing research and furthering our field of practice.” – Dan Taylor
“SEO lives from sharing lessons and new discoveries and I know no other industry that’s so adamant of using collective brain power.” – Kevin Indig
“I absolutely love when I discover something new and get to share it with the rest of the SEO community.” – Dan Petrovic
“I love that SEO is constantly evolving – there’s always more to learn and new things to test out, and a wonderful community of people sharing what they’ve learned!” – Ruth Burr Reedy
“Smart (and lovely) people, doing brilliant and fascinating things that they’re happy to share and talk about. – Andrew Optimisey
“I love the fact that everyone is so open and willing to share their knowledge and up for having a bit of fun whilst doing it.” – Ross Tavendale
“I love how the SEO industry is always openly sharing and discussing their experiments, best-practices, and fails.” – Marcus Tandler
“I love that people spend so much time and effort learning new things just so they can share them and enrich the community. No other industry does so much R&D and gives it away for free.” – Stephen Kenwright
“It’s such a collaborative industry, where so many people who are nominally competitors are keen to share knowledge and insight to help the broader industry and raise standards for everyone.” – Barry Adams
“I love the generosity of the SEO industry. It’s one of the only industries where you’ll find competitors helping each other.” – Annie Cushing
“I thrive on the collaborative community we’ve all built where brilliant people of diverse backgrounds and skills all work together to share knowledge, build useful things and cull out the bunk. I love that we all tackle big, strange and interesting problems, celebrate each others’ successes and occasionally laugh at the rogue noindex tag.” – JP Sherman
6. Helping Businesses Grow & Succeed
“I love helping companies create a profitable internet presence.” – Tony Wright
“You get to watch businesses grow because of your technical (and marketing…that’s SEO, too!) help.” – Mindy Weinstein
“Helping businesses thrive and creating new jobs.” – Shelly Fagin
“Helping businesses grow. That never gets old. – Damon Gochneaur
“There is something very satisfying about helping people grow their dreams. Not that long ago it wasn’t easy for someone with a small budget to be successful. They could not compete without radio or TV advertising etc., but not through SEO anyone has a chance to live their dream. I love being able to help them achieve that through what I do.” – Mat Siltala
“I love to see when people use SEO to grow their business and improve the quality of their life as a result.” – Tim Soulo
“I love helping clients succeed with their businesses, watching traffic convert to sales, and educating folks on the importance of search to their revenue.” – Scott Polk
“Every day, we get a chance to work on one of the most ridiculous, frustrating marketing channels there is and help our clients succeed.” – Andrew Shotland
“The growth possibilities are endless.” – Kaspar Szymanski
7. Solving Puzzles
“It is the perfect storm for my skillset – I have a background in web development, academic experience of AI, and I love puzzles!” – Tom Anthony
“I enjoy solving complex, strategic-based problems, translating executive goals into action plans.” – Alexis Sanders
“The problem-solving aspects are what interest me the most – feeling like a detective analyzing the problem and coming up with creative solutions.” – John Shehata
“Solving mysteries and seeing traffic and revenue grow as a direct result of something we’ve implemented.” – Bryson Meunier
“The detective work that leads to discoveries that help me understand what makes a site rank well and what I can do help sites rank is what I most enjoy about SEO.” – Roger Montti
“I love that it is always changing; it is like a mystery that is never fully solved.” – Cindy Krum
“It’s like a riddle that never gets solved, constantly evolving and demanding you’re at your best at all times.” – Lisa Myers
“There are still problems left to solve, making me an optimist.” – Oliver Mason
8. SEO Changes Lives
“The ability to impact the world at scale.” – Duane Forrester
“I love that for the first time any person, company, or product, has the chance to get near equal exposure as established and successful competitors. Search engine optimization changed the way we look at marketing and customer service.” – Brent Csutoras
“The work can change the lives of those running a business; I love that.” – Melissa Fach
“Connecting users with their needs at the moment they need it the most.” – Kate Morris
“I love SEO because the impact of our work is huge. We make the user and hopefully the companies happy when we optimize websites and it’s content.” – Marcus Tober
9. Analyzing Data & Measuring Results
“I love analyzing data to make decisions to improve organic rankings!” – Kristopher Jones
“I enjoy the balance of data and creativity, while using both sides of my brain.” – Loren Baker
“SEO is one of the industries that allows you to directly see (and measure) the results of your hard work.” – Bill Hartzer
“Targeted, cost-effective and measurable — and long-lasting.” – Trond Lyngbø
“Most of all that it’s easy to prove (through results) that you know what you’re doing.” – Richard Baxter
10. Some Things in SEO Remain Constant
“Everything is always new, while everything is always the same.” – Alan Bleiweiss
“It’s always changing, yet continues to adhere to consistent marketing principles.” – Stoney deGeyter
“It’s like real-world Monopoly: there are winners and losers and it’s more or less zero-sum.” – Dave Davies
“SEO is an area where hard, smart work can pay off in huge ways.” – Cyrus Shepard
Why do YOU love SEO? Let us know in the comments.
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piratefrost · 7 years
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Voltron: Evolution AU
Holy crap this took me so long to finally get written/posted 
THIS AU WAS CREATED BY THE AMAZINGLY AMAZING @fangirltothefullest !!
This is only one chapter, there’ll be more..
chapter one under the cut:
Chapter One
It was only an hour or two since they all got back from the battle with Zarkon, they had all felt the odd wave of sickness and pain flow over them after the whole ordeal, Lance especially was feeling under the weather with his pounding head and sore feet. Maybe he should just go and get some rest... it sounded best. He coughed to clear his throat before he spoke.
 “well… I’m off everyone.” He said with an exaggerated wave of his arm, “I’ll end up DYING FROM SLEEPYNESS if I stay up any longer.” It is already very late as it is, no reason to still be up.
 Keith, who was sat up against one of the many couches filling the room, sighed and rolled his eyes at the blue paladin, “stop being so dramatic, seriously, we were almost killed by Zarko, not to mention that we were blasted badly.” He huffed, there was no getting to lance when he was this tired. Hunk had already gone to sleep, and Shiro was nowhere to be seen. And Pidge was falling asleep in her own hand.
 “Yeah, I know. Mr. so serious.” Lance said, clearly mocking Keith’s constant attitude, he stretched his jaw open with a loud yawn, leaning back to crack his back. He was so sore, like he went eight continuous hours at the gym with no break, or running for at least a day straight with the growing ache and groan in his legs. He left the room in a daze, leaving the other paladins to themselves. Walking down the hall fast to reach his bed.
 Muttering something to himself, Lance rubbed at his neck, feeling an odd tickle in his throat. But it was more than a tickle because he found himself gasping for breath a few moments later. It was like someone or something was strangling him! Holding his throat so he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t explain it, but one moment he was walking without breath next moment he was on the floor with a loud THUD and the sound of tearing cloth, his legs had given out beneath him. A crack came from his legs as he heard tearing cloth. He let out a shout as a bolt of pain came from within him. Lance screamed this time, a blood boiling scream as he swore his legs had just broken.
 He clawed at the stone ground, unable to move. Unable to breathe, his skin burned and head ached. He was suffocating and he didn’t know why. Lance started to go stiff and he heard muffled steps, his ears starting to ring. Something grabbed his shoulder and pulled his head back up. “Lance! Lance!!” Shiro called out to him, “Come on, buddy. Get up!” The black paladin gave him a harsh tug to try to bring him to his feet, but that was pointless.
 How could one stand without any feet, or legs… Lances legs were gone, having merged together with different shades blue scales, colours separated at the joints of his newly formed limb. It was a tail… His skin had also changed, from his natural tan to another murky paler colour of blue than the ones of his scales. Seemed fitting for the paladin of the blue lion of Voltron. Even his hair had changed its colour. Fins came from his hips and elbows along with the large paddle at the tip of his tail.
 What has happened…
 Shiro gasped and covered his mouth in shock, dropping Lance back to the ground in the process, the now merman fell and continued to cough and gag on the air. No longer able to breathe the sweet, sweet air. ‘Healing Pod, he needs to get to a Healing Pod!’  Shiro thought to himself, it was the only way to keep him from drowning on oxygen. “It’s ok, Lance! You’re going to be ok!!” Shiro called again, quickly picking his friend up by the torso to toss him over his shoulders. He gave a bolting charge towards the end of the hall. Lance wouldn’t stop coughing.
 Around the corner and through the door, Shiro reached the room with the circle of Healing Pods. “Computer!” Shiro called with desperation, “Activate Pod number three, set to Mer survival conditions!” Quickly a pod rose from the ground, looking inside Shiro saw water quickly fill up inside. The cap popped from the Pod, ready for something to enter. Shiro hurried to haul Lance up and over, he landed inside the Pod with splash and quickly regained conscious with a gasp of water filling his lungs.
 “Shiro! Shiro!! Let me out, I-I… Why am I in here?!” Lance braced his hands against the Pod, rubbing his eyes and breathing the water calmly, and not even realizing it. Or his tail. But that didn’t last long, Lance looked down as he didn’t recognize his own body movements, he saw the tail and let out a scream. His voice muffled from inside the Pod. “SHIRO!! Wha-…what-” he started to wave the tail around, the thing banging back and forth into the cylinder shape of the Healing Pod loudly. He breathed fast and uneven in the water as the situation dawned onto him. “What’s happened to me?!” Lance demanded, pounding clenched fists against the glass.
 Lance quickly started to hyperventilate, this all becoming too much. Shiro just stood there, letting the Healing Pod do its work on Lance. He looked horrified as his friend was stuck in panic. “La-Lance! Calm down! I-I’ll figure som-” Shiro cut his words off with a groan as a burst of energy had struck through, his body. A hand rose to his temple as Shiro stepped back in pain. “I-I’ve gotta go and find Allura!” He managed. If she couldn’t figure this out than no one could
 Something was definitely wrong here.
 (thanks for reading!!)
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petersthree · 7 years
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top 6 buzzfeed moments and top 6 try guys moments
EYYY OKAY
Top 6 Buzzfeed Moments: 
WHEN THEY FOLLOWED ME ON TUMBLR CAN WE GET AN AMEN SHOUTOUT TO BUZZFEED FOR STILL FOLLOWING ME 
When they also featured me on three articles, aka, The Reason Janie is So Up Buzzfeed’s Ass 
Can I just, like, put every episode of Worth It & Unsolved here? kk thanks 
Literally whenever Adam gets to eat on Worth It 
 the Why I Left Buzzfeed Videos lmao 
yeah idk their employees are cool 
that’s really it 
Top 6 Try Guys Moments: 
The entirety of the Lie Detector episode that was the one that actually got me into Try Guys before that I would look at their video thumbnails and go “who tf are these dumbasses and why are they simulating labor” 
“We are throwing our friend Keith a bachelor party - WITH NONE OF OUR MONEY! We work for Buzzfeed, one of the biggest media companies, and if we can’t exploit that to throw our friend a bachelor party, then what’s the point?”
When Keith found out that he was like 1% African American and Eugene almost cried bc he said he’d give Keith like a million dollars or something
lmao trying to do the UFC fighting thing and going “zach and keith will fight bc they’re the gentlest” and then the UFC fighter going “uhhh actually no”. 
 Oh their uh Evolution of Viral Videos was pretty amazing tbh 
OH OH when Eugene was like “this is the worst blowjob i’ve ever gotten” and zach just fucking, spilled the drink from his mouth onto Eugene’s pants lmao that was hilarious I had to pause from laughing so much 
Ask me my top 6 anything!
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azlissian · 7 years
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Voltron Season 3 Review - CAUTION: RANT INBOUND
I just finished watching the newest season of Voltron: Legendary Defender, and holy cheeseballs on a cracker I need to get some of these emotions out because I was NOT. READY.! 
I never use Tumblr. In fact, I make an effort to steer away from it. But with such a large fanbase, it’s hard to find anywhere else to rant in such detail. So, here we go.
WARNING: As you might expect, this contains extreme spoilers. Look away now!
To start off, I just want to congratulate the Voltron team on creating yet another amazing addition to the series, even if it’s only 7 episodes long. This was probably the most heart-wrenching, scream-inducing, absolutely bonkers and overwhelming season to date, and I commend you for managing to make me feel approximately 543859746 emotions in the space of a few seconds constantly throughout. These 7 episodes - these nuggets of purest space-tastic beauty - are simply glorious..
..and here are my reasons why. My long, long reasons why.
1. Strap yourselves in boys, this is going to be a long one. The raw emotion in every. single. scene. - in every single character - is indescribable. The Paladins are adjusting to things they never thought would happen, and you can see it taking a toll on each character right from the get go. 
Keith - precious, upset, amazing Keith - oh boy.. I need to hug this kid and never let him go. He lost his role model and basically best friend all in one go, and he’s so caught between anger and grief and anguish he doesn’t know what to do with himself! He is thrust into this new position with the force of an ion cannon and you can visibly see it in his eyes; the fear, the uncertainty, as he tries to take on the role that Shiro left behind. His anger overtakes him on so many occasions, and so many times we think he’s going to lose it completely! (Which, in all fairness, he might as well have). And every time he’s brought back by his team (bless Lance and his perfect face - I’ll get to him later) or shut down by somebody, you can see the emotional frustration. You can feel it. I certainly felt it. This boy is not experienced as a leader, but he is sure as hell trying. 
Although, I am extremely surprised about the lack of discussion about his time with the Blade of Marmora. It is undeniable that he is part Galra, but this was not addressed at all in season 3. Whether this was because the team have simply accepted and adapted to it now, or whether the Voltron crew are holding back some serious angst in preparation for season 4, I am looking forward to seeing where they go with it.
Lance. My goodness. I was expecting some kind of character development this season, but not at all in this direction. He is, undoubtedly, the sharpshooter the team needs, and he’s also the comedic emotional support that keeps Keith and the others from falling apart. Meanwhile, he must abandon the blue lion, who we know he had a strong connection with ever since the beginning, and become the right-hand of Voltron - of Keith. There is hesitation abundance here, but he takes it in his stride and pilots the red lion with confidence. He’s watching out for Keith more, ready to step up and take charge or defend when he needs to, and I think that says a lot about their relationship development. He confides in Keith, something he would never have considered under different circumstances, and bares himself as someone who doesn’t feel needed anymore once Shiro returns. Lance is ready to give up his position to let Keith back in and ‘make the team stronger’, but Keith won’t give up on him, and we can see it means a lot to him to have his old rival, his leader, his friend?, believe in him. I think we’re going to see a much more self-conscious Lance as time goes on, but also a much more stable and prepared one in the aftermath.
Shiro. Need I say more? Yes, because this man has been through hell and back twice now at the hands of the Galra empire, and he deserves a hecking nap. He is captured, again, escapes, again, has to survive on his own, again, and is captured a further time - only to find new allies within the depths of a frozen tundra-like planetoid. There’s a moment during that episode where he takes shelter within the remains of an unknown monster, and I couldn’t help but remember the phrase ‘into the belly of the beast’. He is literally in the belly of a strange beast, but figuratively, he is right back where he started; stuck in a domain where he is alone and must fight to survive. He hijacks a Galra fighter and has Voltron within his grasp, but they’re too fast for him, and the utter despair on his face is heartbreaking. I almost cried. I thought he was done. But the relief on his expression minutes later brought everything back and reminded me how strong of a person he is, but also shows how much he relies on his team - on Keith - who clearly shares a bond with him deeper than we could have expected. The thing is, with two leaders now ready to take command, Shiro finds he cannot pilot the black lion anymore; a moment which in itself was also considerably upsetting. He leads Voltron from the castle, despite Keith’s attempt to make decisions himself, and we’ve come to a crossroad where they will have to decide who is the ultimate voice of command.
Allura has far more development in this season that I ever would have expected. With Shiro gone, the team in shambles, and the Galra threat still imminent, the struggle to make decisions and direct the Paladins is visible in every shot. The blue lion chooses her, and she doesn’t know how to handle it. She doesn’t want to be a disappointment, because everyone is counting on her, but she has to stop thinking like a princess and start thinking like a Paladin in order to get things done. Her crying broke my heart - it’s hard to witness. She’s put through so much within this time and is forced to make horrible choices, but she emerges from them stronger. Uncertain, and still a little inexperienced, but stronger. 
There are real similarities here between her and Keith; both of them must step up to their new positions, to walk in their role model’s footsteps, but both are scared. It’s a side of them I love seeing, but also hate seeing because of how much pain these characters and their fight make me feel.
I’m a bit disappointed as to how little development there is for Pidge and Hunk, but then again, there is only so much they can put into these episodes when they’re already chock-full. Besides, I think Pidge in particular will be getting a lot of screen time in the upcoming season 4 if the pictures and hints we’ve seen are anything to go by.
2. Lore galore. If I weren’t a lover of backstories and intense information-dumps and theorizing, this season would have caught me extremely off-guard. But I loved every single second of it. We learn more about the Paladins of old and how their fate came to be; we learn about Zarkon and Alfor and their relationship, in addition to Haggar; we learn about Lotor and his crew of incredible, strong, and frankly beautiful Galran fighters; we discover the creation and evolution of the lions -- there’s SO MUCH to consider here! 
Lotor is not your regular Galra leader, or at least, not in comparison to Zarkon. He is delightfully cunning and uses tactics that his father may not have even considered in order to get what he wants. He commands troops that most Galra would not even consider giving a place in their ranks (according to Throk - rip). They have abilities other, regular Galra don’t seem to posses - mind control, for one thing - and I feel as though these skills will be shown off more as their battle against Voltron continues. Unlike his father, Lotor believes in alliance rather than destruction. It’s an entirely new take on the Galran conquering system. However, he is also absolutely brutal, as shown when he throws another commander’s severed, robotic arm at Haggar’s feet. He recognizes Voltron’s change and uses it to his advantage. In short, Prince Lotor is a new, fabulous challenge I cannot wait to see more of. 
On a separate note.. To be completely honest, I feel kind of bad for Zarkon, at least when he was younger and, y’know, not evil. He loved working and fighting with the Paladins; he loved his wife; he cared more sincerely about his empire. In reality, I think he just wanted to keep his wife alive, but it developed into more than that, and I think that’s the saddest thing about his situation. Haggar doesn’t remember who he is until the last moments, but this could mean a shift in their dynamic too in the upcoming season; especially with the knowledge that Lotor is Zarkon’s son, but we have no idea who else helped bring him into this world. There was no hints that Haggar - or Honerva, as we discover - ever had a child, or that either of them were caring for a child at the time of their homeworld’s destruction. So, is Haggar Lotor’s mother? Will Haggar resent Zarkon for having Lotor when the two of them are married, even if neither of them remembered? Who knows. I want to find out! But this is one of those things we might never see purely because it’s not yet plot-related, and I accept that. For now.  (I also loved seeing baby Allura and young Coran - I need more of that purity in my life).
Voltron is far more powerful and indestructible than I first thought, and I’ve got to tell you King Alfor; you did an awesome job sweetie. The lions are so complex that they can not only adapt themselves to make them stronger, but also adapt to their Paladin, and in this case, adjust to whole new Paladins! Blue connects to Allura and helps her save the team from the depths of a cloud-covered, tech-jarring storm planet. Red, although subtly, waits for Lance to learn the ropes as he comprehends the increased speed of his lion. The black lion still senses Shiro as he’s drifting in space, perhaps channeling Keith’s desire to locate him, and immediately alerts his pilot of this fact. They’re all learning and forming a new Voltron dynamic; one that I think will change the entire image and perception of the Paladins for the rest of the Universe.
Ok, I think that’s enough for now. I am exhausted and I need some time to go over everything again! It’s just- (ok, fangirl time) such a GOOD SHOW!! It’s crazy, it’s inspiring, it’s beautiful, it’s well-written, well-choreographed, well-animated, has an amazing plot-flow, and the characters are so gosh darn relatable sometimes I want to cry!
Thank you Voltron team for giving us this fantastic show. I’m going to go put up a pinboard and create crazy theories now. 
Bye!~ <3
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