#I have heard the most unsexy takes about this series……

[hawnks]

my unpopular opinion is that Netflix’s Bridgerton introduced historical romance to people who should have never known it existed 😔

#I have heard the most unsexy takes about this series…… #it’s not about healthy relationships!! it’s about DESIRES that you’re too ashamed to give voice to #and learning that desire is you as well!! #the more you repress the more it will consume you #THATS what historical romance is #(and werewolf romance too but that’s neither here nor there) #also there’s better romance out there….. just saying…… #maybe read some kerrigan Byrne and calm down #maybe take a break with some Lisa kleypas and you’ll be okay #maybe indulge in some elisa Braden and open your third eye #SO THERE #squawk tag

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

not allowed, interlude | 20220617

drabble: ‘not allowed’ series; fluff actually just crack tbh pairing(s): est. relationship jungkook x reader

You know what you enjoy doing? That's right, browsing Jeon Jungkook's Twiiter tag. For... reasons.

part i | part ii | part iii | part iv | part v | part vi | part vii | part viii | part ix | part x | part xi | part xii | part xiii

sorry not sorry JK, I just have to tease you about the infamous mattress allegations

--

“Noona!”

“What?”

“ARMY are making fun of me again! They made fun of me because the hyungs exaggerated about my stuff and now they’re making fun of me because I defended myself on VLIVE!”

You tittered about on your phone, distracted. “Oh no.”

The loud voice continued as if you said nothing at all. “You need to tell them to stop!”

“I’m not in charge of ARMY, they cannot be controlled. Oddly similar to BTS, I must say. I guess you do take after what you love, huh. And, besides, I think it’s kind of funny.”

“It’s so unfair!”

You tried not to snicker, barely maintaining your serious tone. “Well, Jungkook, you know what they say, all’s fair in love and war, and ARMY love you very much, so it can’t be helped.”

“That’s not how you use that!”

You looked up from the amusing tweet, your wide eyes meeting the biggest peepers. Framed by dark furrowed brows was the scrunched-up face of Jeon Jungkook, who did not look the least bit amused.

“How do you use it then?” you asked, your voice full of bewilderment, asking to be enlightened.

Jungkook’s mildly angry expression dropped, now also riddled with confusion, because, as expected. “Uh… I dunno.”

You blinked at him.

He blinked at you.

You went back to your phone and copied the link to the funny tweet. Then you sent it to the group chat.

“Also!” Jungkook yelled. “I heard there’s a secret group chat!”

You gasped dramatically, clutching your phone twice as tightly. “No! Who’s in it?”

“You!”

You gasped again, nearly falling out of the chair in your exaggerated antics, fully prepared to deny these false accusations that were quite frankly slander and defamation. Not quite unlike… someone else on VLIVE the other day. Huh.

“And the hyungs!” He stomped over to the dining table where you were sitting (thankfully, no laundry there today, maybe he had been inspired to put it somewhere else after being exposed) and you quickly scrambled off the chair, darting to the other side to put some distance between you and the fearsome double bunny. “I heard you send them memes! That’s how they find out this stuff!”

“What are you talking about? Hope-ah and Taehyung are on social media all the time! It’s all them, I tell you!”

You looked down at your phone and typed quickly, running from side to side as Jungkook tried to corner you. Who told him?! The messages came in fast. Not me, no way! And I haven’t said anything, followed by, kekeke, ARMY are so funny, and then how would he know? Two people didn’t respond: Kim Namjoon, most likely reading at this time, and Min Yoongi, who never responded to shit, unless he had been drinking or genuinely found whatever it was funny as fuck. He was hard to amuse, but never mind that.

Wait, no.

The last person responded.

This was supposed to be a secret? Oop.

“KIM TAEHYUNG,” you yelled, running around the kitchen island.

Jungkook tackled you from behind and picked you up, shoving his chin onto your shoulder to read what was on your phone.

“I KNEW IT.”

“Ow, Jungkook, that’s my ear!”

“Oh shit, sorry, sorry,” he sputtered, drawing back and planting kisses everywhere, all over your hair and neck, missing your ear entirely with your squirming, and you were laughing, thinking it was forgotten, except for the fact he was still holding you and not putting you down. Welp. Still in trouble.

Jungkook leaned in close, whispering dangerously low. “I knew it.”

“Technically, you didn’t know because it was a secret chat,” you whispered back, gripping your phone very tightly.

He breathed on your neck, as unsexy and creepy as possible, but he was still Jeon Jungkook and therefore you were still wildly attracted to him, so some additional weirdness did not do much to deter that. He was always weird. Eccentric, some might say (Yoongi, even). You turned your head as far as you could and grinned your apology, which was more a sorry-I-got-caught than asking forgiveness for your grievance.

Can’t imagine where you learned that from.

Jungkook squinted at you, seeing his own expression reflected back at him.

“I knew they knew too much. A secret group chat is not allowed, noona.” His eyebrows raised then furrowed, peering at your phone. “Why are you called Spoons in the group chat?”

“I can’t use my real name, obviously.”

Jungkook let you down but his arms remained solidly around your waist. “But why Spoons? That’s random.”

“Oh, because in that game you guys made, BTS In The SEOM, the little hands are basically circles, I mean, there’s no fingers, so they reminded me of a spoon. The spoony hands. Spoons.”

There was a long silence.

“Noona.”

“Yes, Jungkook?”

“That’s the weirdest thinking I’ve ever heard.”

“True, but it’s not me that has eight mattresses in their home.”

Jungkook roared your name but by then you had wiggled out of his loosened grasp and were bravely running away.

-

drabble some In The SEOM nonsense, lol

--

drabbles masterpost | masterpost

#jungkook x reader #yoonkook x reader #bts idol au #jungkook x you #yoonkook x you #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x you #yoongi x reader #min yoongi x reader #yoongi x you #min yoongi x you

[thornheartcat]

Fiona's 2023 Anime Awards

Thoughts on anime this year!

Top 5:

Pluto (even has my mom's seal of approval!)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Heavenly Delusion

Undead Girl Murder Farce

probably Scott Pilgrim Takes Off once I get around to it (I KNOW I'M GONNA I SWEAR)

Show that most came closest to making the top 5 but I think I'll still like Scott Pilgrim better: My Happy Marriage! I want what they have...

Most underrated show: BULLBUSTER. I know robots aren't very in right now or whatever but it's a robot workplace dramedy! Give it a chance!

Runner up: Synduality: Noir. Also robots. This one has such Eureka seveN vibes and I mean that as like one of the highest compliments I can give! I missed shows like this! Bring shows like this back! Also it's from the writer of Bunny Girl Senpai! If I say that will you watch it?

Most overrated show: Oshi no Ko. This shit was 60% monologues about how "the entertainment industry is bad, actually" by volume. Snore.

Runner up: JJK2. I mean it's like fine I guess but at this point JJK is like a vehicle that delivers cool fight scenes to my eyeballs. If you ask me to care about the characters or the mechanics behind the cool fights I will laugh at you.

Most niche show I enjoyed: 16bit Sensation: Another Layer. You have to be in so deep in the world of visual novels and eroge to really appreciate this show but I've been in too deep since I was like 14 so I love it!

Show that most should've been bigger: Undead Unluck. I know it's floundering here because it's a Hulu exclusive and Hulu has literally not even spent a single fucking tweet promoting their exclusive anime for some goddamn reason but give it a chance I am BEGGING YOU. Heavenly Delusion and Synduality: Noir had this same problem but Undead Unluck is based on a SJ property so you'd especially think it specifically would be bigger!

Show that most surprised me: Tearmoon Empire! I didn't know I wanted a show about Marie Antoinette getting sent back in time to prevent her own guillotining, or that I wanted that show to be primarily a comedy, but I got it and I love it! I hope it gets another season, I want to watch Mia bumble her way into becoming a better person and making the world a better place some more!

Runner up: Helck! I'd heard good stuff about the manga so I wasn't surprised it was good but I was surprised at just how well it shifted from comedy to drama and how emotionally invested it got me. Every week of that flashback arc had me yelling "NO!" at my computer when each episode ended because I wanted to know what happened next so badly!

Show that most was just sorta there but I had fun anyway: Mononogatari. It's such standard shounen fare and the art and animation rarely rises above the level of even "competent" but by the end of the second half I found myself genuinely invested in the characters? Also the second OP goes hard as hell

Runner up: Spy Classroom. It's not the best spy show out there, but if you've already watched Princess Principal and Spy x Family and you want more anime spy content it's there for you. I liked the girls and their unique abilities, and the narc episode is counterbalanced by the extremely hilarious and period accurate WcDonald's that is "White Fortress".

Worst anime: A Girl & Her Guard Dog. The premise is already not my cup of tea (not a huge age gap fan and especially not a huge fan of the girl falling for the guy who basically raised her, Bunny Drop style, though at least this series is up front about all that rather than luring unsuspecting people in with wholesomeness), but its execution is what really kills it. There's nothing more profoundly unsexy than the love interest behaving like an overprotective sitcom dad. Also doesn't help that the art and animation are straight DOGSHIT. I feel so bad for the animators, they must've been on an insane crunch, you can really feel that they kinda just shit this one out and you just know they're not proud of it and wish they could've done better work. I also feel bad for fans of the manga, the art there isn't terrible and while translating it to animation was always gonna be a little hard this is a particularly tragic attempt.

Most anticipated of 2024: Delicious in Dungeon and Dandadan!!!!!!! GET HYPE BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

#Fiona's Anime Reviews

[dean-winchester-is-a-warrior]

Dear Fucking Diary: Entry the 4th - Less Lothario, More Boy Scout

Pairings: Dean x Fem!OFC (Daisy)

Explicit 18 +/Warnings: None in this chapter. Some light flirting, embarrassment, Dean being the absolute sweetest while continuing to be sexy af. (That is definitely a big warning!)

Word Count: 1,818

DFD: Series Masterlist

Series Summary: I’ve been tasked with writing in this fucking diary like a some teenage girl. It sucks, but who else am I going to talk to about the incredible hottie who lives next door?

Chapter Summary: 4th Entry: It might have been better if he'd stayed an anonymous sex god.

A/N:  This series has popped into my head from out of nowhere. It was supposed to be a whole other thing, but then it just morphed into this. (Cause I needed more series to work on! 🙄😄) Hope you like it, I should be releasing a new entry every few days, and I think there will be about 7 or 8 entries. The first entry is short and sweet, but most of the others will range between 1000 and 3000 words. Thanks everyone!! 🥰

The awesome divider at the bottom is created by @talesmaniac89

Ugh! So, turns out, he's really sweet too. Fuck. I may be royally screwed here.

This morning I was on my way to work, and running very late. I was trying to get to the bus stop on time and slipped and fell in the icy parking lot.

I blame my stupid, sexist boss! Don insists all his waitresses wear heels and short black skirts. He claims it's just part of the uniform, but I know it's because he likes to constantly check us out from his permanent spot in the back booth.

Anyway, I hadn't realized that icy rain had been falling all night. I hit the skating rink parking lot and immediately fell, almost flat on my face.

My knees and hands were all scraped up from the ice and I had twisted my ankle pretty bad. I tried to sit up, but before I could manage it I heard a deep voice from above me.

"Daisy! Are you alright!" Dean asked as he knelt on one knee next to me.

Somehow I was not at all surprised that the sexiest man in the world had witnessed my completely unsexy, ungraceful crash to the ground.

He helped me move into a sitting position and I looked into his face expecting to see at least a trace of laughter there; I mean my crash to the ground was physical comedy at it's finest I'm sure. But I saw only concern and kindness in his stunning, mossy green eyes.

I gave him an embarrassed smile. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"Doesn't really look like it." He said, as he shifted to check on my rapidly swelling ankle.

He picked up my foot, taking off my black pump and gently probing my ankle with his strong fingers. My ankle hurt a lot but not enough to stop the tiny frissons of heat that ran up my leg from wherever his fingertips roamed.

"This looks like a pretty bad sprain, I should take you the ER."

I shook my head, adamant. "No, really. It's not that bad, and I absolutely can't afford the ER bill, my insurance is crap."

He nodded. "Okay, well let me get you back into your apartment at least."

I heaved a sigh. "My boss is gonna be pissed."

He scowled. "Pissed that you hurt yourself? Sounds like a douche."

I rolled my eyes. "Yep. Of the highest order."

He grinned at me and then passed me my shoe to hold. He wrapped his arms under my knees and around my back and I panicked, all my most negative thoughts immediately flooding my brain.

Shit! He's gonna try and pick me up and not be able to do it. I'm gonna be way too heavy for him to lift, he's gonna hurt himself, or drop me and it's gonna be incredibly humiliating.

But before I could work myself up into too big a frenzy of self-loathing, he scooped me up like I weighed no more than a kitten and settled me in his arms. He walked easily and confidently back into the apartment block. I was never so grateful we had an elevator.

He walked up to it and angled me toward the button. "Would you mind?" he asked, smiling and breathing without a hint of effort.

I obligingly hit the button and the elevator dinged into the lobby almost immediately.

We got in and I hit the button for the second floor. Now that my panic had died down, other sensations began to hit me, like how incredible he smelled and how amazing it felt to be this close to him.

His arms were strong and secure beneath me and his chest was a hard wall I was pressed up against. My arms had just naturally looped around his neck when he picked me up, and now I was finding it very difficult not to allow my fingers to run themselves through the short, light brown hair at the nape of his neck.

I was also trying mostly unsuccessfully not to stare at his mesmerizingly beautiful face. Up close I noticed his cheeks were sprinkled with freckles - he even had a few freckles in his ear!

That was when I started to understand that this man might actually be trouble for me.

I closed my eyes and tried desperately to ignore the scent of him, something warm and spicy, and just tinged with the smell of metal and motor oil, scents that no doubt clung to the mechanics coveralls he wore.

"Shit!" I said suddenly, realization dawning. "You were going to work too! I'm gonna make you late."

I made shifting motions, trying to get him to set me down so I could hobble my way to my apartment and he could get going. But he just squeezed me closer to him to stop my wiggling and shook his head with a smile.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I own the place, so there's no douchey boss to tell me off."

The elevator doors opened and he stepped out and headed toward our apartments.

"Oh." I said, impressed in spite of myself. "Well, that must be nice."

He chuckled. "It really is. And very fortuitous, since I don't really have much patience for assholes."

I laughed along with him as we reached my door and I pulled my key out of my pocket. "Does anyone?"

He carried me through my door and set me down on my couch. "Where's your first aid kit." he asked.

I looked up at him quizzically. "Um...I have some peroxide and Band-aids in my medicine cabinet. That's about it." I shrugged.

He shook his head and clicked his tongue at me. "Tsk! You wouldn't make a very good Boy Scout, sweetheart." He winked at me before he walked back toward my door and I felt like my heart might explode out of my chest, it started beating so rapidly.

"K, I'll grab mine. Be right back."

In the three minutes he was gone I managed to start freaking out about my cluttered apartment and what he must think of my housekeeping skills.

He came back with a big, white metal box and pulled over one of my kitchen chairs to sit beside the couch and tend to my wounds.

"Wow," I teased, when he opened the box and I could see the rows of bandages, gauze, tape, tweezers, cotton balls, ointments and various other first aid accoutrements, "you must have made one hell of a boy scout."

His smile was mischievous. "Actually, I was never a Scout; couldn't deal with the shorts."

He lifted my leg and tucked a couch pillow under it to keep it elevated and then pulled out an ice pack, squeezing it to activate the chemicals inside before he placed it gently across my ankle. The cold felt fantastic against my swollen joint.

As he took care of the scrapes on my hands and knees, I tried not to notice the way his jaw clenched as he concentrated, or the way he bit into his bottom lip as he carefully applied the Band-Aids.

But as it was my senses were reeling from his closeness and his warmth and the feel of his fingertips running across my skin. Watching him lick his lips and clench his perfectly square jaw was just too much for me to handle and I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the arm of my couch.

"Daisy?" His voice was soft. "Are you okay? Do you have a headache? Did you hit your head when you fell?"

I opened my eyes to see that he had moved closer to me and was peering into my face, no doubt checking to see if I was concussed.

His heart-stoppingly beautiful face was hovering so close above me that it took everything in my power not to reach up and pull his tantalizing mouth down to mine.

I saw his gaze flicker to my lips and I felt my mouth run dry. When he looked back into my eyes I told myself that I was just imagining the heat I saw there. My apartment wasn't very bright this time of day, that was most likely why his pupils seemed bigger, crowding out the jewel green irises.

I cleared my throat, trying for a normal tone. I didn't quite achieve it, my words entirely too breathy.

"My head is fine, I'm just a little sleepy."

He seemed to accept that answer and sadly thankfully stood up and walked to my kitchen.

"Where do you keep your glasses?" He asked.

"Above the sink." I told him, hoping he wouldn't notice my sink of dirty dishes from breakfast.

He filled the glass with water and brought it back to me, handing it to me along with two pain killers from the kit.

I downed them and he took the glass back and set it beside me on the table. He passed me the remote from my coffee table along with another emergency ice pack.

"Okay, you've got the tv, another ice pack for when this one stops working, and I'm assuming your phone is in your purse?" He asked as he set my bag on the floor beside the couch where I could reach it easily. I nodded.

"Do you want me to call your boss for you and tell him you won't be in?" He asked and I was very tempted to take him up on it. The prospect of getting a huffy lecture from Don was not appealing. But getting Dean to call for me seemed a bit pathetic.

So, I shook my head. "No, it's alright. I wouldn't wish Don the Dick on my worst enemy."

Dean chuckled. "Okay then. Do you need anything else, before I take off? More water? A snack?" A look of concern replaced his smile. "Will you be okay here on your own?"

I laughed and shook my head at his worries. "I'll be fine, really. You've done way too much already."

I felt suddenly shy and lowered my eyes, fidgeting with the tassel on my couch cushion.

"Thank you, Dean." I said softly.

When I looked back up at him he was smiling again. "No problem, Daisy. What are neighbors for?"

He gathered up his first aid supplies and returned them to the box. He straightened up and looked at me, his expression slightly bashful.

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "This is gonna sound like such a line but, can I get your number so I can check in later? I'll give you mine too, so you can call if you need anything."

I grinned and nodded. "Sure."

His cheeks flushed slightly and I was amazed to discover that my lothario neighbor was actually blushing about asking for my number. Who woulda thunk?

Yeah, Dear Diary, like I said, I think I'm fucked.

Continue

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#dean x ofc #dean winchester fan fic #spn fan fic series #dfd: entry the 4th - less lothario more boy scout #dean winchester fluff

[magalidragon]

So this is in response to a prompt ask I got awhile back from @freesoulladyaic— they requested beauty underneath and I am not sure exactly what but I think there was a mixup for which prompt list and number was requested so I went with the one I thought made most sense I hope you don’t mind and so sorry it has been so long! Enjoy!

Prompt: “I prefer you naked but that dress looks really good on you too.”

"Fuck!"

"Language."

Jon looked up from where he'd stabbed his thumb with a pin, a series of them stuck between his lips.  He made a face at his wife, who was on the other side of the room, working on another dress form.  He lifted up the yards of shades of red soft organza and tulle, which he'd been alternating in a macrame styling on the bodice of the gown.  He'd been pinning them to the waist, already marked on the form.  It was giving it a very ethereal look, but with the deep colors, indicative of the Targaryen crest, the overlay looked equal parts ash and fire.

He finished off the bodice, taking the remaining pins from his mouth, and turned the form, frowning at the back, where he wanted to make the two straps criss-crossing from shoulder to waist thicker, both in black.  The red was just the detailing.  He pursed his lips, contemplating how best to achieve this, and felt eyes on him.  He lifted his, meeting Dany's gaze across the studio.  He smirked.  "What?"

"You're so focused, so intense."  She licked her lips, arching her brow teasingly. She purred, "You know what that does to me."

"Keep it in your pants, we've got dresses to finish."

"Hmm, the auteur himself, Jon Snow, working on his creation."  She sauntered over, in her long black housecoat, which she wore when working, her feet bare on the hardwood and jeans rolled at the cuffs.  Her hair was bound up in a scarf, kept from her eyes while she worked.  It was a decidedly unsexy look, measuring tape over her shoulder, pincushion strapped to her wrist and her pockets heavy with thread and a little set of scissors tucked into a brace on her other wrist, like she was some sort of sewing superhero.

He smirked up at her, the stool he was on swiveling over to her.  "Well I promised the client that I would have my best men on it."  He puffed his chest.  "And that happens to be me."

"Funny, I thought I was the client."

"You are, what do you think so far?"  He chewed his bottom lip, studying her face as she perused the fabric draped and pinned to the form.  He pretended like her opinion meant nothing to him, but in reality it was the only one that mattered.  If there was even a hint of dislike, he'd destroy the entire thing and start again.  It worked both ways.

She trailed a finger along the macrame detailing, the straps across the back, and lifted up the tulle strewn along the floor.  On the table he had sketches of the design, fabric samples pinned to a board on an easel, and at least one of the leather leggings he'd been sewing to go underneath.  While she studied everything, he got up, too nervous to watch her, and went into the adjoining office, picking up his vape.

Clamping his lips around it, he puffed, holding it in his mouth like a 'binkie' as Dany teased him, and picked up some sales reports, flicking through the assessments from their CFO.  They'd poached Willas Tyrell from his grandmother, mostly because he was bored with the steadiness of the established company and wanted something new.  He was brilliant, had taken their sales higher than even Jon had imagined-- and that was pretty far.

Dragonwolf had become the most sought after couture house in Westeros, while he transitioned L.Stark into an upscale ready-to-wear line, headed by Sansa.  Dany still maintained her CEO position over Dracarys, but Missandei had taken over as creative director.  It afforded him more time, he'd discovered, to do the things he really enjoyed doing.

Hanging out with Ghost, coming up with new creations, and Dany, not necessarily in that order.

He sucked down the fake smoke from the vape, tricking his brain it was actually a real cigarette, the action habitual and relaxing his nerves.  He sank into his chair, glancing at the photo of his mother he kept on the edge of the desk, smiling briefly at the image of her laughing, arms around him as he was wrapped up in fabric from playing in her studio.  His gaze darted to the image right beside it, of Dany in the same pose, hugging him after she had wrapped him up in fabric too.  It was in the same place, the same location he'd just come from, their private studio in the old townhome in Winterfell.

The vape still between his lips, he moved to the window, cranking it open and blowing smoke into the nighttime air, glancing towards the castle up on the hill.  The dresses were for the annual Winter's Eve Gala event, something of a who's who in the zoo of the Westerosi peerage and entertainment industry.  It was a chance for the Starks to show off the castle, everyone to arrive dripping in icy couture and jewels, and pretend like they gave a shit about the lesser people among them. There would be a famous silent auction, fundraising for the Lyanna Stark Memorial Fund-- which was incredibly important to his heart-- along with an award that would honor someone who had contributed significantly to Lyanna's chosen cause-- orphaned children.

But the thing people seemed to care most about was what everyone would be wearing.

He was making Dany's dress and she was making a dress for a new young actress as well as the young cousin of her friend Ser Jorah Mormont.  Lyanna Mormont was a Lady, technically, but you wouldn't know it.  She was a pistol.  This would be her first big event after her first movie had hit the scene, garnering her immediate raves and attention.  It was a big deal for her to be getting a chance to wear a Dracarys creation, especially handmade by Dany herself, but it was the least Dany said she could do for the young girl who made her smile and laugh every single time she encountered her.

Jon finished his vape, returning to the studio, and found Dany back to work on Lyanna's dress.  There were no notes left for him, so he continued to work, both of them silent.  He kept at it, accepting her kiss and murmured "don't stay up too late" with a distracted nod, remaining at his station into the night.  He pinned and draped and sewed, every stitch even, like his mother taught him.

Around two in the morning, his eyes burned, but he leaned back in his chair, feet up on his desk, and Ghost under his legs, fast asleep.  He was working on the leggings, finding hand-sewing leather to actually be a relaxing task.  It was soft in his hands, buttery almost, and he likened it to his mother, watching her work on making her own riding clothes.  He took a deep breath, slowly releasing it, and pulled on thread, slipping it in and out, until his eyes drooped further and further, until he was fast asleep.

--

The suit he'd chosen to wear was one of Dany's. The irony of L.Stark by Jon Snow, award winning and bestselling couture men's designer wearing a suit from anyone but his own line, especially Dracarys.  It was something he never would have thought possible two years ago when they were at the height of their hatred for each other.  Nay, he corrected himself, it wasn't hating, it was unresolved tension, best resolved by the explosion most everyone witnessed at the MET gala.

He adjusted his tie in the mirror, smoothing the velvet brocade over his chest, eyeing Ghost, who looked like he wanted to run up to him.  He pointed his finger, warning.  "No way. This is black velvet.  I'll never get your fur out."

Ghost wagged his tail, thankfully staying put on the bed.

Indeed, it was an incredibly comfortable and finely detailed suit, black silk tie with matching black velvet brocade along it-- if you got close enough you could see it was wolves and dragons running and tangling throughout, swirls of flames and snow following them.  That was a hallmark of Dany-- her ability to tell stories with her designs and the intricacies of her attention to detail.

He left their room, knowing she was elsewhere in the suite at Winterfell, where they'd deigned to stay that evening to prepare for the event.  He thought it a little silly; they would have to pretend to "leave" just to "arrive" at the same location and walk up the icy blue carpet with photographers.

Price they paid, he supposed, for business.

He left the suite, taking his time down the set of stone stairs spiraling down from their sitting and bedroom areas, into a receiving hall.  Davos was already waiting, their constant taskmaster, and he had Satin floating about somewhere.  "Where's Arya?" he asked.

"I believe she said and I quote 'fuck this shit, I'm not going.'"

He snorted, fixing his cufflinks.  "Sounds about right."

Davos checked his watch.  "I'll go check on the car."

"Stupid Davos, this is stupid."

"It's just a whip around the block."  Davos nodded, signing, resigned.  "Although aye, it is stupid."

"What's stupid?"

Jon heard Dany's voice before he saw her, and turned, looking up the stairs to where she was at the top, waiting for him.  He gaped, mute, and jaw dropping the moment his eyes rested on her form.  It took his brain a second to catch up with his body, which was already responding in kind, and another second for his voice to return.

He choked, watching her smirk at him, knowing exactly how she appeared and what she was doing.  Especially with the slow descent she took, every step tiny, allowing the full effect of her appearance to settle.  He could not believe it.

It was one thing to see a dress on paper, another in progress, and even the final version on the form or on a model down the runway.

It was another when it was on the person who inspired it, who it was meant for, from the first sketch to the final stitch.

Dany floated down the stairs, the dress whispering around her, the crimson and black rippling through the soft tulle.  It gave her a fairy-like appearance, but it was the black macrame, the black strappy heels on her feet, and her black fingernails, leather leggings, and crimson lips that warned eveyrone she was no simpering little thing.  She would burn you alive.

The skirt floated about her and she had topped it off with the see-through tulle gloves he'd made at the last minute.  Her silver tresses were spun in a complicated braided style, mountains of them criss-crossing and tangling in a crown about her head.

Someone asked her once why she always wore her hair in such intricate braids-- it had become her trademark.  "When I was growing up I learned a lot about the Dothraki tradition of a braid for a victory," she explained.  She had smirked.  "I grew up with the Dothraki.  They were my family.  I have never been defeated.  The braids show that."

Jon couldn't believe how gorgeous she was.

Or how lucky he happened to be.

He unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth, found his voice.  "You know, I prefer you naked but that dress looks really good on you too."

Dany beamed, her smile beatific.  She offered her elbow to him, to take and lead her away to their car, but instead he lifted her hand delicately, even though that had was stronger than anyone would have thought at first look.  Eyes on hers, unblinking, he dragged his fingertips up the tulle, delighting in her breathy hiss.

He dipped under the top of the glove, above her elbow, and began to peel it down, agonizingly slow.  Her pupils dilated and mouth fell, her tongue darting out to nervously wet her lips.  He plucked at fingers, removing the glove.  With her skin bared, he stroked her forearm and then lifted her knuckles to his lips, brushing over them.

"Jon," she gasped, brows arching.  "We're going to be late."

"Do you think I care?"

"It took forever to get into this dress and look like this."

He spun her into his arms, tossing the glove down, and nosed at her neck, whispering along her racing pulse.  "I made the dress, I'll be careful."

"Not a word in your vocabulary."

He didn't acknowledge that, because he was kissing her.  After a moment, he lifted her under her knees, hurrying her back towards the stairs, to her delighted giggles.

Occupational hazard, he thought, later when they were late, racing down the carpet instead of allowing photos taken.  He made her the dresses, even though honestly, she looked good in anything.  Or nothing, as the case may be.

"Dany, who are you wearing?" someone called out.

Dany shouted back.  "Who do you think?"

He laughed, racing after her and not even bothering to answer the same question directed at him.

#jonerys #jonerys au #my fics #my moodboards #jonerys fanfic #writer prompts #fashion jonerys!

[sleeplessandstubborn]

Emily in Paris or why I stopped caring about the protagonist and I started rooting for the French. Episode 1.

Let’s be clear. I was planning to root for the French anyway. They are in the neighbouring country, I quite like them and I was prepared to confront and make fun about all the stereotypes in this series. Because this was exactly what I expected. Funny, lighthearted and totally braindead (wink wink) escapism in an instagrammed to the top Paris which has the same resemblance with the real one than Vincent Minelli’s... But without Gene Kelly. So what did I think of the first episode?

Meet Emily Cooper from Chicago. She’s young, she is dynamic, she struggles to be liked by everyone and at the beginning of the series. She is a marketing executive about to be promoted or so she thinks.

... Because her boss Madeline (played by Kate Walsh) is going to Paris in order to take work with Savoir, a luxury firm the company (sorry I forgot its name) has just adquired. Madeline is overjoyed because working for a year in Paris is one of her dreams and because French men like mature women, as probed by the fact that their young and hot (sic, but this blog agrees) president married his high school teacher. We’ll never know which plans Madeline had for Frenchmen, whether they are young or hot or not. The case is after two minutes in the series she vomits, which means she’s pregnant and she can’t go anywhere because it’s an truth universally aknowledged that pregnant women can’t go on with their plans.

It’s in the next scene when we meet Emily’s boyfriend, Doug, and when we learn she’s going to Paris in Madeline’s place, in spite of being unprepared and not knowing the language. At this point one wonders how it’s possible that no one else in the company can replace Madeline. All of them are monolingual? Our plucky heroine is not discouraged by the litle fact of knowing virtually nothing about the country in which she’s going to live during the next twelve months. She and Doug - the moment you see the scene you know it wont’ go well - agree on a long distance relationship.

And after a very well done transition, we have crossed the ocean. Yes, this is well done, and I say it unironically. Episodes are short, your show is called Emily in Paris, so, what’s better than having your main lady already in the French capital in less than five minutes. The series goes to the point in this aspect and it’s a good thing to spare us of unnecesary scenes.

So Emily arrives to her apartment with pretty views, confused about in which floor she’s supposed to live (running gag ahead) and already hit on by a French guy on a suit that looks like the love child of Gabriel Attal and Albert Rivera (check it, seriously). I couldn’t take him seriously not only because of that but also because he said that Emily’s appartment was a chambre de bonne. Not by any means. Look, I’ve never lived in Paris but I know that apartment is huge when compared with a real chambre de bonne.

Off to know her working place, Emily has this HUGE smile pasted on her face. I don’t know if this supposed to make her charming and likeable. For me - it’s true than I have this European perspective - she looks a mix between an anxious puppy and a psychopath. I would be scared and would avoid her at all costs. The cultural clash is about to happen.

Yeah, I would look at her too, Julien a.k.a. token black character. You have probably heard about the lack of diversity in this series, I won’t abound in that, others have worded it better. It also an established fact that French people smokes at their workplace, even if in the European Union we have these things called smoking bans that won’t allow it.

And enter Sylvie, Emily’s Parisian boss and supposed main antagonist, à la Devil wears Prada. What to say about Sylvie other than I adore her? Her clothes, her style, her sarcasm. As any rational being would do, Sylvie is pretty dismayed to learn that Emily does not have the slightest idea of French and its already wanting to impose her American perspective and her alleged knowledge of social media. The problem is I don’t know if her posts on Instagram really deserve that much attention. Clash ensues with the rest of her new coworkers. C’est la cata! they comment. I quite agree.

Our fish-out-of-water takes an evening afterwork stroll (this Paris is like one square kilometer and public transport is something you mention but never appears) and calls her boyfriend to state the entire city looks like Ratatouille, which legitimately made me laugh. I am not sure if this reference means that Emily’s filmic culture is that limited or if it’s her boyfriend the one who only knows a movie which takes place in Paris and that’s one is Ratatouille. We know that Emily at least has seen Moulin Rouge and that makes two so probably is Doug’s fault.

Back at home, and since she has forgotten how to count, Emily attempts to open the wrong door. Immediately a wild Frenchman appears; it’s Gabriel, played by Lucas Bravo probably one of these young hot men Madeline would target. He takes the intrusion reasonably well. Especially when it’s discovered that Emily only knows his region, Normandy, from Saving Private Ryan. That makes three films, so definitely I think Doug is the problem here as far as filmic culture goes.

Next day Emily picks a yellow outfit and goes to work, purchasing a pain au chocolat in her way to work. I confess I was underwhelmed when discovered that there wouldn’t be any joke about the Great Civil War that has been going on in France since its earliest days: the partidaries of pain au chocolat vs. the ones of chocolatine. A ferocious, merciless conflict unknown by most nations. A lost opportunity not making this woman someone from the South who bravely defies Parisian conventions calling it chocolatine. I’m team pain au chocolat btw. Naturally when she discovers the wonderful world of flavours she makes another Instagram post. She’s earning more and more followers, Heavens know why.

However, she has a Big Problem with Doing Research. Example given, she doesn’t know her schedule - a problem which could have been solved with reading numbers - and arrives two hours early to her workplace.

Once there she discovers she can’t sit with the cool kids. No one wants to lunch with her, so she decides to miserably sit by herself at the park, where we met her best new friend. Her name’s Mindy, she’s from Shangai and she’s working as au pair, while teaching Mandarin to the two blond children she’s looking after. We’ll later discover more about her. She instantly detects the American in Emily and offers her help to this awkward but at the same time arrogant newcomer.

Meanwhile at Savoir, Emily has earned a sobriquet. La Plouc, which is adopted by Sylvie and most of her coworkers even if Luc seems more or less reluctant to say it. La Plouc means the hick, as she instantly discovers thanks to an online translator. It’s really not a good day for our heroine, and she cames back home - remember that thing about this Paris being one square kilometer? - walking. Co-worker and someone who  for some resason reminds me to the posh-y version of Philippe Poutou - check it - Luc passes by as she sits lonely by herself and apologizes for calling her la Plouc earlier. He also claims she’s arrogant for coming to Paris without speaking or even understanding French - which is true - and tells her people is probably scared as her new, modern ideas. Which makes no sense at all and it’s probably a white lie.

Meanwhile and for some reason her totally inocuous posts in Instagram makes her earn more and more followers. During the night, her oblivious to timezones boyfriend call her and they have - or attempt to have - a totally awkward and unsexy session of cybersex. At the end Emily is so frustrated that she tries to use her electric vibrator which leads to the short-circuit of the entire building. Fortunately before she has the oportunity of getting closer to the device in question. And that’s how Episode 1 ends.

What did I think? It’s fun and pretty to look at. Even prettier to rant about. As long as your brain remains carefully shut off in the meantime and you don’t take it that seriously you are going to enjoy it I guess. At least it’s my case.

Still frustrated for not covering the Great Civil War tho.

#emily in paris

[fanficmaniatic]

Things that I am afraid to say/do as someone (new...??) In the transformers fandom.

Disclaimer: I haven’t actually seen anyone do (most) of this things, but this fandom gives me the vibes that I could get hate for saying what I am about to say. 

Also, this fandom is overall great and really friendly, so take this with the bit of humor I intended it, and let’ see if someone else also feels like this. 

the list became kinda long. so~

1- That I got in because of the movies.  In my defense, Transformers wasn’t even in my radar as I was growing up, I was completely oblivious to the whole franchise besides knowing it was a thing with giant robots. I walked into the cinema one day, meaning to watch Wonder Woman, it was sold out so me and my friends watched the next available action movie, TF5... And I liked it enough for it to become my obsession for the next 8 months.

Is not wonder why I feel like this, I myself also trash talk the movies. 

2- That I am not planning on watching Beast Wars. First, I want to apologize, because I’ve heard that the plot and the story are really good, but as someone that got used to the CGI in the bayverse, the animation in TFP, and is majoring in animation... I can’t, at least not right now. I am reading everything I can find about the show, and I am Pro “lets re-render the show and release it again” but I can’t.

And I feel bad about this because I know beast wars is an important part of transformers lore. 

3- That Transformers: Prime is my favorite tf show. You may think, you are afraid of saying this? that’s ridiculous everyone loves that show. And yes, now that I am Actually interacting with the fandom on Tumblr and Instagram I have seen that many do love the show. BUT is one of the 2 things I've seen people complain/get hate over in this fandom. Like, once it happened on Wattpad, the other one irl and that was it, besides that I’ve never seen anyone hate on someone for liking TFP, and honestly good for you guys, this fandom is great.

4- Transformers: Prime is not perfect. Guys, we can love things and complain about them at the same time.  Like, I love my girl Arcee, but she had no business looking like Chromia; Bee’s beeps were overdone; I love Miko, but she was plot-convenience more times that I care to count. Killing characters because their VA’s were too expensive. Also, not actual character development in some cases. Not a single reference to Rescue Bots, even though the shows were connected. I would love to have a civilize debate over this show with people that also love  the show. 

5- I Demand you all to watch Rescue Bots, and RB Academy. honestly, the show is really good, really fun, One cares about the characters, is really cute and is nice to have a show that breaks the status quo of Autobots vs Decepticons. 

The fact that the show is meant for a younger audiences shouldn’t be the reason I see so many people hating the show, because, even though it can get repetitive with the formula, for the most part it’s a really good show. I would marathon this show without pain before watching a single episode of RID2015.

6- Not title for this, but with all due respect for the people that liked RID2015, this fandom doesn’t trash talk RID2015 enough and I feel that is really unsexy of us. 

For real, if you liked it, that is okey, I understand many people got into the franchise with that show. Is okey to like RID, but you have to acknowledge the writing is not good outside the big events of the series.

7- I haven’t watch G1. Yeap, the source of all that I love... I haven't watched it. In my defense this franchise started making connect like 20 years before I was born, I have decades of content to catch up to. And I don’t like saying this cuz I feel dum. Though I am really planning on watching this one, 2d animation is more forgivable. 

Update for this: I am currently watching G1- I did not expect Startscream to tell Megatron he would dethrone him in the 1st episode but I guess that his rep presides him.  so... I am just Now watching G1.  

8- That Bumblebee is my favorite character. And hear me, because I am tired of getting hate for this. Yes, I know Bumblebee is everywhere, yes, I know he is the kid appeal, and YES, I know he started taking roles that were previously meant for characters like Hot Rod. Is any of that my fault? If your favorite is Optimus, Megatron or Starscream, (as far as I have seen) you have a respect pass with the fans, if it is Bee, then you know nothing of the franchise and just watched the Bay movies. 

And I am not Chris McFeely, nor a walking enciclopedia  but I know about the continuities I am into and I love this franchise, and the reason I came here was because I liked Bumblebee in TF5, and wanted to see more of him. Sorry not sorry.  And with this I end the list I was scared of making!   

#maccadams #maccadam #tranformers #transformers fandom #transformers g1 #tfp #transformers animated #transformers beast wars #beats wars #tf bumblebee

[jenni42085]

Love in the Time of Corona <Two>

Two.

After the dough had risen enough Nico got up to start the relaxing but tiresome process of sectioning out the rolls and stuffing the dough with pepperoni and cheese. Chris watched her quietly from afar and decided that he could do what she did and wanted to be closer to her.

“Can I help?”

She figured he would keep her company but was shocked when he asked to help. Her shocked expression was quickly hidden but he still saw it. “Ummm, sure.  I can show you how to do it.”

“Awesome.” He replies as he jumps over the couch to wash his hands and help her. Usually the process takes Nico a good hour but with his help it took her half the time. After they finish and let the rolls were stuff and left to rise one more time they sat on the couch again. “So stupid question but I’m curious. Who is your favorite Avenger and why?”

Her head clocks to the side with a small smile and adjusted her unicorn rainbow glitter glasses. “Honestly, Captain America and it’s not because I’m here with you. But his character was always good, honest, and always wanting to do the right thing for people. Then when Infinity War came out. The hair and the beard were like seeing you for the first time in a while different light. Sounds weird right?”

Chris does a small low chuckle,”No it doesn’t. I’ve heard some of the same things about the beard and getting more noticed. I did an interview on a podcast for . . . “

“Thirst Aid Kit.” She cuts him off with a chuckle.

His eyes widen with surprise to know she had listened a big smile crosses his face. “You listened to that?”

“Most def! I adore them so much. I was kind of surprised when I actually heard you on there. But they are right though.”

He runs his hands through his hair. “So this is the look that woman want?”

“Well I don’t know about women as a collective but a good majority love it.” She replies with a small chuckle. “Hold on one moment I need to put the pan in the oven”

He watches as she quickly rushes to put the two pans of pepperoni rolls in the oven. While her back was turned he was observing her, she was standing tall with pride as to how the rolls looked making him smile that he helped her.

Thankful that her back is turned to him, Nico had a chance to do a small sigh from admitting to Chris that she adores the beard and longer hair and that he was in fact her favorite Avenger. She was hoping her the time turned away would help the blush she felt go back down. He noticed she was taking a little bit longer than it should to put it in the oven.

So he gets up and checks on her. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah. Just a little in shock.” She replies quietly while looking down at her hands as she picks at her nails.

“Why?” He wonders in worry.

“Well, I don’t know it’s only 3 in the morning and I’m in Chris freaking Evans kitchen making pepperoni rolls and telling him that I adored his character and beard. You know nothing too crazy.” She replies with some sarcasm.

“Ohh, well there is nothing wrong with that.” He replies calmly hoping he didn’t make her feel uncomfortable.

“I’ll be right back I have to use the little girl’s room.” She says in an unclear tone.

Chris was able to pick up on her melancholy sound and stopped her before she walks off. “You know it’s ok right? And you are handling this totally cool. I was just wondering is all. I’m sorry if you feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s ok just in my head right now. I’ll be right back.” She walks off to the bathroom feeling embarrassed by the fact she did admit that she might have ok really had a huge crush on him.

While she was in the bathroom Chris texts the guys in the group chat.

Chris: She likes Cap! I’m her favorite AND she’s heard me on a podcast and loves the beard!

RDJ: First off congrats! Secondly, why are you awake?

Chris: Well apparently she couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t sleep and she is baking pepperoni rolls for us tomorrow.

Mackie: She cooks. She’s a keeper.

RDJ: What’s a pepperoni roll?

Chris: Well it’s a roll with pepperoni and cheese it in the dough smells so good. I’m excited.

RDJ: Ok then. Where is she now? Why aren’t you talking to her instead us?

Chris: I think she was letting her guard down by telling me stuff then got bashful and ran to the bathroom.

Mackie: Maybe she really had to go?

Chris: Or maybe I embarrassed her.

RDJ: Well she can’t really avoid you unless she’s goes back home. . .

Chris closes his phone when he hears foot steps coming towards him. He relaxes when he realizes it is Nico. She looks sheepish but still in good spirits as she looks over the rolls as they are baking she melts some butter and butters the still baking rolls then sprinkled Parmesan cheese on them and pushes them back in the oven. Chris watches her silently. Finally after what felt like an eternity, she turns her head to look at him.

“What?” She asks making her eyes get larger and adjusting her glasses.

He gives her a small smile. “Nothing, you just look really focused and beautiful.”

She readjusts her unicorn rainbow glitter glasses and gives him a funny look. “Right. If you say so.”

“What you don’t believe me?” He asks as he sits on the couch while she checks the rolls one more time.

Nico looks at him for a second then joins him in the couch. “Honestly, not too sure. Don’t know if you are being truthful or maybe trying to get into my pants.”

Chris grabs his chest in fake heartbreak. “Wow, you don’t pull any punches.”

“Not after you have heard that I adore Cap and the beard.” She replies with a big smile.

“Understandable, but I’d only trying getting in your pants if I knew I really had a chance and that you'd asked me to.” He replies confidently. He won’t admit it to her just yet but he finds her very attractive and so far he has enjoyed her company.

“Good to know. So we have about 20 minutes and then they are done. Want to watch something on TV?”

“Sure.”

Nico pulls up Disney+ and they start watching So Weird. She had been watching it before she came there and wanted to complete the series. As the episode progresses Nico finally feels the pull of sleep and gives into it.

Chris notices that Nico has drifted off and looks at her phone and sees that the alarm is about to go off so he waits for it to go off then quickly stops it as to not wake Nico.

He pulls the rolls out and they smell amazing. After turning off the oven and covering the pans with foil he walks back over to Nico who is still sleeping. He notices how he messy bun was slightly fallen and how the grey shorts had ridden up her smooth chocolate legs.

After debating for a hot minute of waking her, leaving her, or taking her to her room he turns off the tv and the lights in the kitchen and picks her up. She is heavier then most of the girls he has ever picked up but still light. He liked that she was thick and not bone skinny.  She has things he can hold on to.

As he carries her to the guest room he notes how soft her skin is, almost like silk. Also how blemish free she looks.  She snuggles closer into his chest using him for warmth. He enjoys holding her close, internally he hopes that holding would become a normal thing.

When he arrives in the room he notices that she left the night stand light on. The sheets were pulled back so he gently deposited her on the bed making sure not to wake her. His arm lingers as he puts her down and a small sound comes her that catches his attention.

He steps closer and says,” Nico?”

If he wasn’t as close as he was he might have missed it but sleepily she states, “ Stay.”

“Are you sure?” He asks unsure if she is awake or completely knocked out. No response is heard from her but she does a sleepy nod still asleep, while he pulls off her glasses placing it on the night stand.

Unsure if she was aware she had nodded or not Chris decides to stay with her. While still having contact to her body he maneuvers around the bed to pull back the sheets and climb in. Once in bed with her, he turns off the night stand light closest to him and tries to relax.

After a few minutes Nico rolls over to be closer to him, nuzzling her head in his neck causing him to stir in other places but, he quickly thinks of unsexy thoughts even though her warm body was  cuddled up to him feeling very warm and inviting.

Her arm lays across his chest and he pulls her closer to him and feels her body completely relax. Finally realizing that she was in a deep sleep Chris decided to get more comfortable so he could finally get some much needed rest. He pulls the blanket over himself and Nico and closes his eyes and drifts into sleep.

He wasn’t sure if it was the fact it was so late or that he was tired from helping with the pepperoni rolls or what but he was able to fall asleep quicker than he has in a long time. As he drifted off he hopes that she doesn’t wake up and freak out because he was there.

***********************************************************************************************

Nico wakes up feeling warm, safe, and comforted. She wasn’t able to describe another feeling but she liked it. When she realizes that someone’s arms are around her she had to think what was the last thing she remembered before falling asleep.

While trying to think if even remembers pulling the pepperoni rolls out, she feels the arms pull her closer. She doesn’t tense when she remembers she was on the couch when she fell asleep hanging out with Chris.

She rolls over in what she assumes Chris’s arms and looks at his sleeping body. Nico knows that she would be lying to herself if she didn’t think he was attractive not only physically but emotionally.  He has always given off the personality of an all around good guy who loves what is good and right in the world. But still finds it odd that he said she was beautiful.

Nico knew she was cute or just pretty but never saw herself as beautiful. She knows a size 14/16 isn’t skinny and shocked he was able to carry her to bed. Sometimes the media makes her think she isn’t good enough for her size or color but deep down she has started realizing that there will be a man who appreciates her for who she is.

She was so deep in thought about his comment that she didn’t notice he had woken up and was watching her stare off into space.  “Morning. Are you ok? Before you ask we didn’t have sex you asked me to stay so I did.” Chris states as he pulls her out of her thoughts. He notes that she looks just as beautiful as she did yesterday making him think she doesn’t wear make up at all.  She's a true natural beauty which he appreciates.

Nico looks shocked at his statement but does understand that he was in her bed and she did have some questions. “Good morning and yes. Was just thinking. . . I couldn’t remember anything minus watching So Weird then I worried that I burnt the pepperoni rolls.” She states with a small chuckle.

“You didn’t. I looked at your alarm and got it before it went off. I figured you had a long day with driving, moving your stuff, and then being up late baking so I just let you sleep.”

“Well thanks. What time is it even?” She replies as she rolls over looking for her glasses.

“No idea. . .” He answers as he is cut off by the sound of her door opening.

“Maybe she is awake and . . . Colton! Come look at this!” Scott squeals as he sees his brother already in bed with Nico. He notices the pair looks bashful and shocked as they pull away from each other. “Already romping in the hay.”

Nico stands up and adjust her glasses. “No. . . We fell asleep apparently talking to each other.”

“What am I looking at Scott?” Colton comes in the room looking shocked. “Nico! Really?!?”

“What?” Nico questions looking bothered by her brother's stern tone.

Chris looks at the quickly blushing Nico and decides to say something. “Colton and Scott, we didn’t do anything. We baked pepperoni rolls and fell asleep in here talking. Nothing happened yet but when it does we will tell you guys.”  He replies with a wink to Nico making her blush more.

Colton looks at Nico and notices that they are both fully clothed. Neither look like they have had the best sex of their lives so maybe they just fell asleep.  But it still bothers him to a point.

Even though Nico is grown woman at 34 years old, she is still his little sister. He doesn’t want anyone to hurt her. He’s been there when she met a few men guys who broke her heart. The most hurtful was one the one when she was 20. Her ex fiancé who lied, cheated, and hit her. When he finally left her, she wasn’t herself at all. She was so in love with him that when he left her, she was sad, depressed, and self destructive. He promised himself to not let any man hurt her like that again.

Instead of telling her and Chris that it was cool and not make the whole stay in quarantine awkward he just looks at her and says, “Okay.” And walks out the room.

Nico sensing that she has done something wrong she follows after Colton leaving Scott and Chris alone. She sighs when she realizes that he had walked outside while it’s was starting to snow and she didn’t have on the appropriate clothing.

“Colton! Where are you going?”

“For a walk go back inside.”

“Colton, come on talk to me.” She whines as he finally stops walking.

He turns around and looks at his sister who looks cold and confused. He knows he can’t save her from everything but at least wants to tell her how he feels. “Go inside sis,  you don’t have any clothing on.”

“Not until you tell me what that was all about? I didn’t have sex with him, I legit just slept. And more importantly, I’m almost 35!! Why are you acting like this?”

Colton takes off his hoodie and hands it to her she greedily accepts it and puts it on. “I don’t want you with him.”

“Then why invite me up here?”

“I don’t want you to fall in love and have him hurt you.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. I fell asleep nothing more and nothing less. I find him attractive and would like to peruse something with him BUT it’s only been a day and I barely know the real Chris.  I only know what the media portrays of him.”

“I know but I know how you get when your heart has been broken and it is safer for it not to be broken.”

Nico looks at him and understands but she still needs to live, “Please tell me  you aren't  basing it off the past and I’ve grown up A LOT since then I can’t always be single. Just let me live. Ok?”

“I know but I don’t want you depressed or self destructive.”

“I won’t just let me explore this with him maybe. If that is even where it is going.  It might not go anywhere because I'm still pretty guarded about giving my heart away to anyone.”

“Oh, he likes you. I see the way he watches you when you aren’t looking.” He replies while a small smile. “You are my baby sister, I can’t help but worry especially since we are quarantining with him and I’m dating his brother. I don’t want this to end badly for you or me.”

“It won’t for you and Scott. You guys are totally cute together. And Chris and I barely know each other. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t but I should at least have a chance to see where it will go. And at the very least let me work out some sexual frustration with him.” She states with a huge smile waiting for her brother’s disgusted reaction.

“Ewww Nico! I didn’t need to hear that.” He replies disgusted but slightly intrigued about it. “I wonder if they have the same bedroom skills.”

She tilts her head looking at him curious to,”Maybe but we will never know if you go all alpha big brother on him and me. We didn’t even kiss last night. He was a gentleman.”

“Yes yes. I’m going to try better at not being over protective. Go in there before you freeze and enjoy Cap.” Colton said with a smile as he gives Nico a hug.

“Thanks Colton. If I feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable I’ll tell you. Promise.”

***********************************************************************************************

While Colton and Nico were outside discussing whatever bothered Colton, Scott took the opportunity to talk to his brother.

“So you like her?”

“I think I do so far. She sweet, funny, and beautiful.” He replies as he walks out of the guest room to his room with Dodger and Scott close behind him. “Is that a bad thing?”

Scott thinks for a moment and looks at his brother sincerely, “No, Nico is a great lady just don’t hurt her please.”

“We fell asleep together. Not sex not even a kiss. How can I hurt her?” Chris replies feeling distressed and anxious.

“Nico hasn’t had a boyfriend for a while.”

“Ok.  How long is awhile?”

“Four years. Give or take.”

“Why so long?”

Scott shuts the door to Chris’ room and sits on his bed.

“It’s complicated at best. She doesn’t let anyone in, so she stays alone. The first time she did. He hurt her so bad that apparently she had to go into rehab for her depression and anxiety. Colton wants her to be happy but I think he is worried what could happen since you are well. . . “

Chris cuts him off. “Famous. Ok I get that but I don’t want to hurt her. I like her company. It’s fun not feeling like the third wheel in my own house.”

“Ok I get that but don’t use her or get into her pants unless you really want to be with her.”

“I know. I know. I’m trying to get to know her more. That’s why I was up late with her baking to know more about her. And honestly when I carried her to bed she asked me to stay.  And she looked so peaceful that I stayed.”

“She did?” Scott questions feeling even more excited about what could be there.

“Yeah, she was asleep idk if it was on purpose or not but I just couldn’t get myself to leave.” He says as pulls a cigarette out to smoke.

“Really? Still doing this?”

Chris rolls his eyes and looks at Scott kind of sheepishly. “Yes Scott. I still smoke when my anxiety is bothering me. And right now between Colton and you I’m stressing.  Then RDJ got me worried that she might run.”

“Sorry bro just looking out for you and me. I don’t want you hurting her and Colton hating you.  If she can calm her brother down I think we will all me ok.”

"I sure hope so.  She's pretty good people and I want to talk with her more about her cosplays and the whole Fan Fiction community they talk about on the podcast."  Chris replies putting his hands in his gray sweatpants.

***********************************************************************************************

#chris evans #chris evans x black reader #thirst aid kit #chris evans x plus size reader

[juli-bahama-official]

i have my manga list open let’s a fucking go! 10 worst manga in random order, for bonus points i limit myself to one manga by the same author. also i didn’t include oneshots. part of it is that i can’t remember what most of them was about, part of it is that oneshots can be fucked up in a way series do not.

zettai kareshi aka absolute boyfriend. fucking absolute boyfriend. the story is about a girl who is so desperate for a boyfriend she, get this, orders one online. she gets a glorified sex robot. the whole manga is highkey horny on main but it never really goes there, so we just have a bunch of blushing virgins and gags based around a robot wanting to bang.

anastasia club. i was torn between this one and basilis no musume, but anastasia club wins by having a lead bishounen who’s the grandson of anastasia romanov, as well as including the author’s fanfic about tchaikovsky where he’s no longer gay but instead has a kid with his sister. and also there was a ghost of rasputin. i think there was also a truck running into an antique shop? and something about jumping into sea from ships?

mizu ni sumu hana. some girl sees flowers on her body, yadda yadda, gonna be a priestess or something, yadda yadda, her predecessor’s trying to kill her, her cousin slash crush is actually a dragon god, he has to sleep with her to unlock his powers which would kill her in the process. the evil guy causes an apocalypse bc he wants to fight the cousin so badly, the girl really wants to fuck even if she’s gonna die, the cousin for some reason doesn’t want to do that. finally they bang but he doesn’t consume all of her vital powers, just 99%, so she gets revived. happy end!

zetsuai. somehow even more dramatic and overblown than the anime. mind you, i only read zetsuai 1989. and apparently the sequel is even worse. anyway i think that scene were bishounen a crashes a window (was it a window???) over bishounen b’s head to hurt him but then suddenly changes his mind and shields him with his body instead, thus protecting him from danger he himself caused in the first place, is really the epitome of the series. i also think bishounen a should learn to solve problems without stabbing anyone or threatening them or anything like that.

hitomi: the vision of escaflowne. the anime was so good, how can you screw up that badly? there are new characters, most of the original cast is missing, the story makes no sense, there are almost no robots AND no romance. it’s like you took escaflowne and threw away all the essential parts.

dengeki daisy. now it probably wasn’t so bad in itself, but it was way too long, it dragged on, it was too preachy, the heroine wasn’t very likeable to me, it was ugly, if it was shorter i would forget about it but reading it was such a chore i won’t forget it anytime soon (why did i keep reading, you ask? a friend borrowed it to me)

elfen lied. it currently holds second place on my list of manga with worst art. if you were into anime in 2010 or earlier you’ve heard about it, as it was THE edgy series everyone knew. it was rightfully known for being dumb and gorey. the manga was made by someone who clearly had no idea how a human body works, but still wanted to show it being torn apart. for bonus points we have a mc who is amnesiac and on the development stage of a very young child half the time, so we get such great scenes as her pissing herself in public. fun! there’s also some philosophy and missing memories. and relationship drama, cause that’s what we were missing.

fushigi no kuni no shounen arisu. it’s about a guy accidentally becoming alice in wonderland and getting the attention of some other guy who won’t take “but i’m a guy, too” for an answer. maybe. you see, the plot kept changing every chapter. and just when the author got decided on something, it got axed. so basically, a fanservice comedy that was unfunny and unsexy.

tsutsunuke love letter, about a girl who can read minds and an asshole boyfriend. forgettable, but it gets an honorable mention for being the first manga that frustrated me so much i deleted it immediately after reading.

random walk, aka terrible teen relationships galore. everyone is fucked up and everyone believes it to be totally normal. i think my favorite was the mc's ex, who cheated on her with his tutor (she was "giving him a reward"), got with her again, and broke up with her even though he loved her because a girl had a crush on him and was soooo sad he was with someone else, she got sick and ended up in a hospital, so he started dating her because of guilt. but he actually started liking her in the end! don't you love happy endings?

#alex.txt #this was v hard to make #first i couldn't find enough titles and then there were too many #i'm sure i'm still forgetting something

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WORK ETHIC AND PART

For example, if you're building something differentiated from competitors by the fact that he has to do all the company's errands as well as programming, because at least when he's programming he can do whatever he wants. A poor student who could afford only rice was eating his rice while enjoying the delicious cooking smells coming from the food shop. It takes time to come across situations where you notice something missing. And starting with a crude version 1 was, if I remember correctly, less than 10,000 lines of code when we launched. There were interesting things about the architecture of our software, but we knew this wouldn't scale. Now that conventional ideas have caught up with it, it seems obvious. Those ideas are so rare that you can't find them by looking for them. Some ideas so obviously entail alarming schleps that anyone can see them. You almost have to trick yourself into noticing ideas is to look for waves and ask how one could benefit from them. But Mark already lived online; to him it seemed natural. So better a good idea because it started with a small market there was a fast path out of an idea, how do you choose between ideas? That was the point of creating it.

My oldest son will be 7 soon. But I can imagine scenarios in which one could charge for smells. The unsexy filter is to ask yourself whether in your previous job you ever found yourself saying Why doesn't someone make x? One is that companies will inevitably slow down as they grow larger, no matter how much experience you have. Why do you get so much email? That could be a problem if you work in sales or marketing. Before us, seed funding came primarily from individual angel investors.

I'm not sure how useful his advice is for painting specifically, but it doesn't seem the right answer to be constantly reminding oneself of the grim reaper hovering at everyone's shoulder. Schlep was originally a Yiddish word but has passed into general use in the US. Worrying that you're late. You can either dig a hole that's broad but shallow, or one that's narrow and deep, like a well. If you become one of the founders. College is an incomparable opportunity to do that current technology won't let you? But in Silicon Valley it seems normal. Even if the product doesn't entail a lot of people to supply each startup with what they need most. A startup with its sights set on bigger things can often capture a small market there was a fast path out of the initial niche. For Larry Page the most important thing in the world. We know there's room for the first Your Name Here. The part that actually mattered was graphic design, not transaction processing.

People's problems are similar enough that nearly all the food around you would be bad for you. This is always a good thing for companies to do, he couldn't—sometimes because the company is actually more valuable. Don't wait before climbing that mountain or writing that book or visiting your mother. You're also surrounded by other people trying to break into your servers. Well, they do end up paying more. Sometimes pretty overtly. Should people not be able to implement them. Investors are more of a problem. So working in a way people will increasingly be. One is that companies will inevitably slow down as they grow larger, no matter how inexperienced you seem or how unpromising your idea sounds at first, because they've all seen inexperienced founders with unpromising sounding ideas who a few years?

If we've learned one thing from funding so many startups, it's that they succeed or fail based on the qualities of the founders. Or better still, go work for a couple years ago I advised graduating seniors to work for Google instead because he thought he'd learn more there. And what we do. When Yahoo was thinking of buying us, we had a meeting with Jerry Yang in New York. Worrying that you're late is one of the reasons we fund such a large organization divided into groups in this way, the pressure is always in that direction. And odds are that is in fact the bullshit-minimizing option. Even if you find someone else working on the same thing. What was especially annoying about it was that I felt most would fail. It has for me. It sounds ridiculous to us to treat smells as property. A and if you're lucky IPO.

Having people around you care about what you're doing is an extraordinarily powerful force. There have to be generated by software. You can't say precisely what the miracle will be, or even for sure that one will happen. Were you nodding in agreement, thinking stupid investors a few paragraphs ago when I was still trying to understand its implications. Especially if you're also looking for a cofounder. The Google guys were lucky because they knew someone who knew Bechtolsheim. The best plan may be just to keep a background process running, looking for things that seem to be afraid of actual voters, in sufficient numbers. Last year you had to be prepared to explain how your startup was viral.

A round as a series A round is from a mezzanine financing. It was obvious to us as programmers that these sites would have to work as if they were sent back 50 years in a time machine. It might not be an answer. A poor student who could afford only rice was eating his rice while enjoying the delicious cooking smells coming from the food shop. They didn't have to try very hard to make themselves heard by users, because users were desperately waiting for what they were building. Live in the future to say this replaced journalism on some axis? Because schlep blindness prevented people from even considering the idea of fixing payments was right there in plain sight, they never saw it, because their expenses grow even faster than the salary that seemed so high when they left school. This essay grew out of something I wrote for myself to figure out exactly what happened inside the motel—exactly what was killing all the potential startups. Just don't wait.

And in her typical quiet way she encouraged that illusion. So working in a group of 50 is really unwieldy. If there is some obstacle right in front of them, we either try to remove it, or shift the startup sideways. It is possible to slow time somewhat. For years I've been telling founders that the surest route to success is to be the optimal way of doing shopping searches. Pay particular attention to things that chafe you. For him, I at least don't have any regrets over what might have been. The real question is, what's saving startups in places like Silicon Valley? That's what I'd advise college students to do, he couldn't—sometimes because the company wouldn't let him, but often because the company's code wouldn't let him. It's almost the definition of property be whatever they wanted. Can we claim founders are better at seeing the future than the best investors, because the best founders are better off as a result of this new type of venture firm? So who is our 7% coming out of them.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #something #ideas #blindness #Google #smells #problem #software #startup #lines #paragraphs #work #someone #agreement #future #type #rice #way #food #company #opportunity #errands

[arbitrarygreay]

Crunchyroll Expo 2019

This is mainly in response to the things I heard at the feedback panel. 1. I have so much sympathy for the staff who were the panelists. I also hope they don't give too much weight to the criticisms they heard there. The panel seems to self-select for the most obnoxious tone-deaf non-central attendees, given that the vast majority of attendees were enjoying themselves elsewhere, instead of bombarding the staff with their hare-brained suggestions. 2. From what I experienced, Crunchyroll Expo has a distinct identity as a large anime convention: succeeding strongly where Japan Expo USA failed, as a convention centered around professional guests, and even moreso around guests from Japan. I'd say all of the panels were associated with people working in the entertainment industry in some form. Thanks to the Crunchyroll origins, they had the connections to be credible to the Japan guests, the clout and name recognition to attract attendees early on, the capital to fund the production value, and very importantly, the local expertise to much better handle location logistics than JXUSA could. I quite like this distinct identity, and CRX shouldn't stray too far from that. It's not Fanime, PAX, or SacAnime, and it shouldn't try to be. There were lots of suggestions at the feedback panel for more community events, and I wouldn't want the con to go too far in that direction. Keep gaming centered on Japanese arcade stuff, with maybe some Japanese game E-sports, but don't go full LAN party with any games allowed. Add a tabletop room, but don't let just any American/US game be there, try to introduce attendees to specific Japan-associated games, like hanafuda, kabufuda, or karuta-based games, and the few translated Japan TTRPGs. The point is, CRX is a con where attendees are funneled towards learning new things about Japan's entertainment industry, through industry professionals, and to experience new anime. Don't let things non-central to that take up too much air. Again, the vast majority of people weren't attending that feedback panel exactly because they were enjoying all of the central content of the con, so the people complaining about the con not being about other stuff, trying to turn CRX into other cons, were atypical attendees. 3. On that note, I was very impressed by the breadth of industry aspects showcased. Previous cons tended to be actor-focused, both in guests and in which panels were popular with attendees. Thanks to work by sakuga enthusiasts, especially the folks behind Sakugabooru, lots of people are paying more attention to technical staff. CRX, too, did a great job making the case to prospective panel attendees why they should be excited to see these guests. The moderators would give the audience context, and the guests themselves would often be just as excited to see the clips of their own work, giving them inspiration for commentary to make, and the live drawings, of course, were just great. Major kudos to the moderators, in general. You could tell that they were all passionate about their guests, had thought really in-depth about the questions to ask, and they often had a nice chemistry with the guests, which helped bring out some less stiff answers than might be expected. (Translator quality varied as usual, but I know that the guests are usually bringing their own, and not something CRX can control. And there were certainly some stellar translators there, too.) But yeah, breadth. There were directors, producers, animators/storyboarders/character designers, mangaka, all sharing their special insights, and I was very pleased by how much music content there was, as someone who tends towards that part of the industry. The only aspect that was arguably underrepresented would be writers (script writing/series composition for shows, or LN authors). 4. I was also very impressed by the scheduling. Guests were almost all slotted for 2-3 events, and events overlapped so that if I missed a particular guest on one day, I could catch them at another event at least once on another day. As with the previous point, the way the breadth was overlapped was that even if I attended all of the music-related panels, I was still attending panels for all of the other aspects of the anime creation process throughout the day. Very excellent scheduling. The only panels that I missed (weeping for missing Junji Ito's kitties) were because I let my guard down after Friday, and didn't camp for some events that ended up full room. And even then, those few panels probably didn't need insane amounts of camping, either, just 15-30 mins. That's a heavenly amount of camping, when I'm used to having to block in 2 hours before anything I want to attend, at other cons. Thanks very much for the large capacities afforded to every panel. 5. Criticism: screenings, of all things, should not ever go off schedule. Panels, I can understand, because panellists might run late, but there's no reason for a screening to start late, unless there was technical difficulties. I had scheduled a particular screening which would end 15 minutes before the next panel I would attend. Instead, the screening started over 15 minutes late, and I missed a good chunk of the end because I had to leave for that other panel. Luckily this screening was for something already released in the US, so I'll be able to finish the movie, but there were a few unique premiere screenings at the con, and that room being off schedule could have soured other attendees' experiences a lot more than it did mine. 6. Minor criticism: The app wasn't accessible on my phone. I was able to get by with internet, as new schedule content was added on the website as well (and thank you for that!), but I wouldn't get updated time stamps as the app users did. Please don't assume that everyone has the newest OSes when writing the app in the future. My phone isn't even that old, only a couple of years. On that note, I wasn't thrilled with the format of the schedule. With the way everything overlapped in offset intervals, sometimes it wasn't obvious where events in different locations were in relation to each other, and I did miss some panel content once because I had misread the time, due to how the single-column scrolling obscured the amount of overlapping. The location filters do nothing to help with that. I understand that a traditional spreadsheet timetable (location columns, timestamp rows) isn't sexy aesthetics, and has very unsexy horizontal scrolling in a smartphone context, but that's actually where the oversized newspaper con guide could shine, or in a traditional booklet, a foldout insert. (Btw, I thought that the newpaper con guide was fine. It gives more space and bigger font size for reading accessibility, and was likely cheaper to print and assemble than a booklet, which needs glossy paper, more pages, stiffer folding, and required stapling.) 7. Very minor criticism that CRX may not be to control: as said before, I tended towards the music content of the con, but only Flow had their music on sale at the con. So there would be all of these artists promoting their work, and I'd be fired up about them after their panels...but there would be nowhere in the con for me to throw money at them. I understand that bringing stuff to sell is on the artists, but maybe coordinate some sort of "music guest merch" table somewhere, so that the logistics burden for selling products is lowered for all of them? Anime NYC did it for their Anisong Matsuri lineup last year, where there was a single merch table, manned by a few cashiers for all of the artists there, so that each artist didn't have to provide their own sales staff, and shipping costs of importing the stuff was also reduced because of consolidation. Even for artists who don't have physical CDs, they could do something like sell a code to redeem the purchase later. But yeah, overall, I had a great time at the con! I learned a lot, laughed a lot, danced a lot, and what more can you ask for?

#crunchyroll expo #crx #crunchyroll expo 2019 #crx2019 #crx 2019 #category: anime #category: fandom #congoing

[theconservativebrief]

Tucked into a blog post published on Google’s website last week, amid news about the launch of the company’s third-generation Pixel smartphone, was the information that the tech giant is “joining forces” with Gwyneth Paltrow’s $250 million lifestyle empire, Goop.

So far, the partnership is limited: Goop will be selling Google Home smart speakers and accessories in its holiday pop-ups and permanent “goop Lab” stores. A Google spokesperson told me the devices will “be available to experience and shop” starting next week at the flagship Goop store in Los Angeles’s Brentwood neighborhood, running through the end of January 2019, and at Goop pop-up shops in various other cities during the holiday season.

Starting the first week of November, they’ll also be available at a new, yet-to-be-announced permanent Goop store in New York City. (A Goop representative confirmed a November 1 opening for the store, which will be in Noho.)

On its surface, this is a weird collab: What does a wildly expensive luxury brand, founded on the premise that not everyone can be beautiful and rich and healthy, want with a brand best known for an unsexy search engine running on the brain power of a bunch of nerds? What could one of the world’s most powerful technology and science companies gain from a startup that was recently fined $145,000 for telling women that putting a piece of rose quartz up their vagina would regulate their menstrual cycle and prevent uterine prolapse?

We really don’t have to look that closely. It’s an example of mutual corporate back-scratching that incorporates two of consumerism’s favorite buzzwords: “wellness” and “luxury.”

Kaitlyn Tiffany/Vox

Google has only been making physical devices for three years, and in trying to increase its market share, it’s been trying to court a more “aspirational” demographic to differentiate itself from Apple, which has a firm hold on the mass market. The Verge’s review of the Pixel 3 phone says it’s the first Google device that feels “premium” — it nixed the “faux-humility” of the Pixel 2’s plasticky coating and is now fully aluminum and glass.

To promote the phones, which cost upward of $1,000 with full storage (comparable to Apple’s last several iPhones, but a markup from the Pixel and the Pixel 2), Google has already hired Annie Leibovitz. The photographer best known for more than 40 years of defining celebrity photography on the covers of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair will tour the country and take photos with the Pixel 3’s camera. Google also paid Condé Nast to use a Pixel 3 to shoot seven November magazine covers, including those for luxury lifestyle titles like Architecture Digest, W, Condé Nast Traveler, and GQ.

But Google’s new hardware marketing strategy isn’t just about luxury. It’s also about that word you’ve heard so many times it no longer feels like a word, more like a round, lozenge-shaped thing that falls out of your mouth every time it opens. Wellness.

Kaitlyn Tiffany/Vox

The company has been promoting the idea of “digital wellbeing” in its latest hardware and software push, emphasizing Android features that help you limit your time spent in various apps, with appealing graphics to show just how much time you’re wasting.

At Google’s annual I/O event in May, CEO Sundar Pichai promised that Google would bring its customers a new feeling this year, in addition to new products: “JOMO,” or the “joy of missing out.” You can “shush” a Google phone (put into do-not-disturb mode by setting it face down) or “wind down” a Google phone (set a bedtime that switches the screen to grayscale).

In a Wired feature from May, Arielle Pardes pointed out that the idea of “digital wellness” started at Google in 2012, when product designer Tristan Harris sent a company-wide memo about how unethical he thought Google’s Inbox app notifications were. It was a 144-page presentation titled “Call to Minimize Distraction and Respect Users’ Attention,” and earned Harris the role of “design ethicist” — a job created specifically for him, and which he held until 2016, when he left to start a nonprofit called Time Well Spent.

Pardes compared Google’s interest in digital wellbeing to other wellness trends, saying it makes living a more balanced life look easier than it really is. Which, incidentally, is Goop’s whole MO — albeit more often at price points that are totally inaccessible to the average consumer.

When Goop’s first permanent store opened in Los Angeles last fall, LA Weekly’s Jillian Scheinfeld described it as “equal parts ridic and chic as fuck.” It was advertised as a “bungalow” but actually set up as a series of “well-appointed” rooms in a fancy apartment — including a functioning kitchen, an apothecary, a greenhouse, and a living room with “midnight blue” wallpaper and a sheepskin throw on a walnut daybed.

Google’s holiday pop-up hardware store, which opens Thursday in New York, is the tech version of that. It’s in Soho, on Greene Street, approximately 200 feet from the Soho Apple Store, and sandwiched between a Dior boutique and the millennial-first couch company Burrow’s new “experiential” retail store.

Kaitlyn Tiffany/Vox

It’s a “literal interpretation of a hardware store,” except incredibly sleek — attended to by salespeople in bright white button-downs and $200 Timberlands, and full of bright white toolboxes and bright aluminum paint cans with labels that reflect Google hardware’s pastel color palette — sharply different from the bold primary colors of its web services.

There are Edison bulbs and chunks of rose quartz. There’s a bright miniature kitchen with copper mugs and a shiny French press, with an adorable aqua mini-stove and ’60s-vintage-inspired floor tiling that reads “Hey Google,” and a secret candy drawer that pops open upon asking the new Google Home Hub for a snack. (The Google Home Hub is the store’s star attraction, but you can also buy the Pixel 3, Google Home speakers, and other accessories.)

The idea of digital wellness started at Google, just as Goop was building out its empire

Each purchase can be gift-wrapped at a DIY station equipped with six different pastel-printed papers, balls of twine, and gold-handled scissors. You carry it home in a tote bag with one of Google’s new signature colors — “not pink,” “midnight blue,” “aqua,” or, unfortunately, “just white” — printed on the side. It comes with a manual, created by Canadian artist Hiller Goodspeed, which is full of dozens of pastel-hued illustrated guides like “How to take care of your (digital) self” and “How to start your next vacation faster.”

As deliberately Instagrammable, supposedly “interactive” retail experiences go, this one is really nice. The treehouse (there is a treehouse!) is stocked with Nancy Drew books. The smells are all fresh paint and money. There are multiple coloring lounges and dozens of opportunities to request that Google’s voice assistant perform strange tasks for you. (You can ask it to tell you a ghost story!)

It is also, as these retail experiences go, pretty typical, in that it is beautiful and aspirational. Everything that’s available to buy costs a lot of money, and I was dressed so improperly for the experience (in sneakers and a button-down black dress) that one of the store’s attendants came over and asked me to stop taking photos, implying that he wasn’t exactly sure how I’d found my way into a press preview.

All this to say: When Google products move over into Goop stores, the transition will be seamless. It’s the perfect aspirational lifestyle play for Google — and Goop will get some important rebranding from the arrangement too.

Goop has struggled with credibility and with accusations of spreading misinformation. Earlier this year, it was forced to relabel health and wellness advice content on its website with disclaimers like “For Your Enjoyment: There probably aren’t going to be peer-reviewed studies about this concept, but it’s fun, and there’s real merit in that,” and “Ancient Modality: This practice is nearly as old as time — many find value in it, even if modern-day research hasn’t caught up yet.”

In a bombastic and delightfully gossipy (the cigarette!) New York Times magazine profile of Gwyneth Paltrow published in July, she revealed that her company’s plan to launch its own magazine in partnership with Condé Nast (a Google partner) fell through because the publisher insisted Goop use a fact-checker. By partnering with Google, Goop has an opportunity to affiliate its brand with big data and proven fact, without actually validating any of its own claims.

In the Times profile, Paltrow also revealed that the company was worth $250 million, and thanked her haters for her success. Writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner explained:

The weirder Goop went, the more its readers rejoiced. And then, of course, the more Goop was criticized: by mainstream doctors with accusations of pseudoscience, by websites like Slate and Jezebel saying it was no longer ludicrous — no, now it was dangerous. And elsewhere people would wonder how Gwyneth Paltrow could try to solve our problems when her life seemed almost comically problem-free. But every time there was a negative story about her or her company, all that did was bring more people to the site — among them those who had similar kinds of questions and couldn’t find help in mainstream medicine.

Nobody understands the mechanics of this — a great search-engine optimization/clickbait feedback loop scam — better than Google. Google Search placement and Google Trend might be two of the least sexy but most important things any fledgling brand has to worry about. If anyone knows how great Goop is doing on that front, it’s the company that holds practically every internet user’s browsing data.

If Google wants to get seriously into luxury and wellness, nobody’s more tightly associated with those buzzwords than Goop. We don’t know the extent of Goop and Google’s partnership yet, but it makes perfect sense. “The minute the phrase ‘having it all’ lost favor among women, wellness came in to pick up the pieces,” Brodesser-Akner wrote. “Wellness was maybe a result of too much having it all, too much pursuit, too many boxes that we’d seen our exhausted mothers fall into bed without checking off.”

That explains the rise of Goop’s brand of aspirational wellness, but wellness as a concept also arrived because of too many email notifications, too many “active” or “away” status bubbles, and too many tech companies like Google that made every moment of our lives schedulable and therefore monetizable. A partnership between the two makes total sense business-wise — and for consumers, it’s a match made in a rosy, well-lit hell.

Original Source -> Why Google wants to sell its gadgets in Goop stores

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

[sunshineweb]

Value Investor Interview: Brent Beshore

Note: This interview was originally published in the March 2017 issue of our premium newsletter – Value Investing Almanack (VIA). To read more such interviews and other deep thoughts on value investing, business analysis and behavioral finance, click here to subscribe to VIA.

Brent Beshore is the Founder and CEO of adventur.es, a family of North American companies that invests in family-owned companies with unfair advantages. For the past nine years, Brent’s firm has started, funded, bought, and operated organizations across a wide range of industries.

The companies adventur.es owns have recruited doctors for the U.S. military, provided online public relations to some of the world’s largest organizations, manufactured cutting-edge home solutions, created software products for small businesses, curated the latest in women’s fashion to sell on the internet, and even helped make a couple of blockbuster movies.

Brent founded adventur.es in 2007 with the goal of creating an organization that allowed him to do what he loved, in places he enjoys, with people he admires. Since then, adventur.es has made over 50 investments, and was ranked #28 on the 2011 Inc. 500. Brent reads a lot, writes occasionally, dabbles in wine-making, and was nominated for a VH1 Do Something Award for helping his hometown of Joplin, Mo. recover from the devastating tornado.

As you would have understood from Brent’s profile, he isn’t a typical public markets investor like the ones I usually profile in this series, but an owner of private businesses. The thoughts Brent has shared in this interview, however, are equally valuable for a public market investor, as you would realize as you read forward.

So, over to Brent!

Safal Niveshak (SN): Could you tell us a little about your background, how you got interested in value investing and what you are doing now at Adventur.es as an investor in other businesses?

Brent Beshore (BB): I’ve been interested in investing since I was very young and have always had an idea of building a family of companies. Living near Omaha, I heard a lot about Berkshire Hathaway and was drawn towards their goals, performance, and ways of doing business. I’d call Warren Buffett my gateway drug into the value investing world.

From there, I studied the greatest investors in history, from Ben Graham and Henry Singleton, to Carl Icahn and Howard Marks. I tried to take note of their commonalities and differences. I found each shared a commitment to deep fluency in their chosen specialization and a commonality in how they assessed opportunity, while their styles diverged greatly. It gave me confidence to find my own path.

I assumed I would work in corporate America for 15-20 years before I built up enough capital to start executing on it. But, things accelerated unexpectedly when I founded a business while getting my law degree and MBA. While my first business was a failure, it allowed me to taste a variety of other industries and showed me other ways I could use my talents.

Fast forward to today and my organization, adventur.es, buys small, boring businesses and helps them be less boring. Our current portfolio includes five late-stage companies: a military and education recruitment firm, a construction company, two manufacturers, and a niche PR firm. We look for durable moats that are disconnected from the owners, which are rare in our size range.

Our customers are usually retiring business owners who want to preserve their legacy, ensure their employees and customers are well taken care of, and want to reap the financial benefits from building the business. We co-create a plan for them to gain liquidity, share in the upside post-close, and appropriately transition out of the business.

SN: That’s a pretty interesting and insightful journey and work you are doing, Brent. Anyways, how have you evolved as an investor and what’s your broad investment philosophy? Has your investment policy changed much through the years?

BB: As an investor, I’m searching for the largest and most inefficient markets in the world, where prices frequently dislocate from value. This provides fertile ground for hard work and skill to create consistent and meaningful outperformance.

As an operator, I’m looking for places of low competition that are unsexy, fragmented, and with little professionalism. These businesses are usually “blue collar,” or dirty jobs, while occasionally they’re highly specialized niches that operate below most peoples’ radars.

The intersection of these strategies is where we’re building adventur.es. We believe the lower end of the lower-middle market, companies with earnings between $1-10 million in pre-tax income, are frequently mis-priced and offer an opportunity to outcompete through operational improvements. Our goal is to have the highest investment opportunity costs in the world and to bring systems, skills, and strategies to our portfolio companies that allow them to prosper with less risk.

My understanding of moats and price continue to evolve. I’ve always been attracted to cheapness, because of the perceived margin of safety. But most assets are priced appropriately. In other words, they’re cheap for very good reasons. I’ve passed on some expensive opportunities only to watch them blossom. While my default is still to be attracted to inexpensive assets, I’m slowly learning that quality can justifiably warrant a much higher price.

Another area of evolution has been in my understanding of incentives. Incentives are outrageously important and I have learned humility around being able to pick the right combinations. We’re all messy and biased, and often don’t understand what we want, or want conflicting things. If it is challenging to consider proper incentives for yourself, how much more difficult is it to do so for others? This gives me pause when someone suggests “straightforward, simple, or easy” incentives.

SN: You’ve raised a very pertinent point about incentives and how they drive us and our decision making. Anyways, as I understand from your site, you started your current business (Adventur.es) in 2008 i.e., during the times the financial markets were going through a great turmoil and the incentives in the financial services industry had raised their ugliest heads. What caused you to begin then?

BB: Yes, I went into business at an inconvenient time. I didn’t know any better. I was frustrated with my JD/MBA program and wanted to test my abilities in the market, as opposed to talking about concepts and taking tests. I irrationally partnered on a terrible business and learned ten times more in that first year than I had in all my schooling combined.

SN: And what was that business about?

BB: It was an event marketing company, which was the popular, “new” marketing technique around that time. While it was an attractive business from the outside looking in, it was also low-margin, with a small number of potential clients. It didn’t scale easily and had a low perceived value. I now joke that it’s one of the worst business models in the world.

SN: So, what was the biggest lesson you learned from this mis-adventure, if I may call it so?

BB: You see, failure is instructive and those early years felt like stumbling around in the dark, constantly falling on my face, while occasionally getting hit in the head.

But those experiences led me to start another company, then buy a company, start another company, and buy more companies. The difficulties forced me to learn quickly, made me appreciate when things went better, and certainly gave me a heaping dose of much needed humility.

The last five years have gone uncomfortably well, so I’m currently experiencing the best of times. But, I always maintain a healthy amount of paranoia about what can go wrong.

While we’ve worked very hard and learned a lot along the way, we’ve also gotten lucky. We know it is highly unlikely that we’ll sustain our current level of returns, but we’re happy to ride this wave as long as we can.

SN: You mentioned a very important point about maintaining a healthy amount of paranoia about what can go wrong. How do you bring that into your investment process?

BB: We start from a default of “no.” We’ve learned that while everything looks easy at 30,000 ft., anything worth doing is brutally difficult. The only people who think it’s easy are fools, or those who got lucky. Every organization is challenged in numerous ways and comes with complexity, politics, and disorder. Thinking otherwise is folly.

We’re looking for companies that pull us to “yes.” These companies have something unusual about them that we find particularly attractive. It can be market position, customer entrenchment, brand, or a rare type of expertise. And of course, the purchase price matters.

In practice, we spend considerably more time analyzing what could go wrong than what we think might go right. If we take care of the losers, the winners take care of themselves.

We frequently debate the merits of the situation, spend time getting to know the company’s leadership, and try to understand the weaknesses. We also use checklists and always seek outside counsel to give us a fresh perspective.

SN: Your Twitter profile tells me that you are in the profession of “cultivating a disaster-resistant compound interest machine.” Can you please elaborate more on that?

BB: There are two challenges almost all successful organizations experience: unsustainable risk and poor capital deployment. As the company becomes successful, the environment breeds over-confidence. Numbers must be hit and steel is taken out of the bridge. Debt is used liberally. “Moonshot” projects are green-lighted and heady acquisitions are made. The culture transitions from supportive and open to closed and transactional.

We try to avoid these pitfalls through maintaining humility, a long-time horizon, disciplined reinvestment strategies, aligned incentives, and high opportunity costs. We’re alert to risk and are constantly trying to mitigate it. We centralize capital deployment and set a high bar for re-investment.

Our goal is to steadily compound returns over a very long period while maintaining a diversified portfolio and cash balances that let us operate comfortably, and be a buyer, during challenging times. We don’t think this happens overnight, nor is the process ever complete, which is why we use the term “cultivate.”

SN: That’s a nice elaboration. Thanks! What are some of the characteristics you look for in businesses you are looking to own that can help you build such a machine? A checklist of points would be useful here.

BB: As for characteristics that we look for, it all comes down to the quality and durability of the moat compared to price. We evaluate family-owned companies with consistent annual pre-tax net earnings between $1 million and $10 million, and two or more of the following characteristics:

Stable and diversified client base

Healthy layer of non-owner management

Closely held ownership looking to retire

Quality brand name/strong reputation

Established niche expertise

SN: How do you think about valuations? Is your practice of valuations different when you are investing in companies for your personal portfolio vis-à-vis when you are buying them entirely through Adventur.es?

BB: Because of our structure and having not raised outside capital, there is no difference between my personal portfolio and adventur.es’. It’s all the same pool of resources and it’s 100% in private investments, or cash. I/we hold no public investments, because we’re able to generate far larger returns, with greater control, in the private markets.

As for valuation, it’s all based on opportunity costs. We’ve spent well in excess of $2 million over the past eight years building a pipeline of investment opportunities and it has been the best investment we could have ever made. We like to choose between very good opportunities and excellent ones.

Right now, we don’t explore any opportunity where there’s not a clear path to at least a 30% cash IRR over five years.

We don’t do fancy financial models because we believe if you need those tools to evaluate an opportunity, it should go into the “too hard pile.” We try to ask simple questions – Will the industry be around in its current form 10 years from now? Is it susceptible to disruption? What are the sources of their competitive advantage and how durable are they? What relationships matter? What can go wrong and still have this work out?

SN: Simple processes often work out better than complex one. I can vouch for that from my personal experience as an investor. Anyways, while you own private businesses, do you have a laid-out exit strategy?

BB: Our default is permanence. We buy with no intention of ever selling and operate the companies to maximize long-term value. We believe this gives us a tremendous competitive advantage over a traditional private equity strategy. Where they slash and burn to maximize short-term cash flow with hopes of flipping the company quickly, we make high ROI reinvestments they can’t make, because they may not pay off for 5-10 years.

SN: ‘Permanence’ is such a potent word in investing. Anyways, how do you think about position sizing? Which side are you on – concentration or diversification?

BB: We never want to risk all our chips and start over, but we often invest 60%+ of our cash in a single investment. We construct the portfolio so that income streams are subject to different macro trends and aren’t strongly correlated. Plus, we maintain plenty of cash to weather a storm, or two.

SN: When you look back at your investment mistakes, were there any common elements of themes? A real-life example would be helpful.

BB: All my biggest investment mistakes have a common theme – people. We’re all messy and that messiness gets multiplied by mis-communication. I’ve experienced significant mismatches in expectations where relationships were badly bruised and I’ve pulled out of deals due to personality. Almost all losses we’ve experienced have been self-inflicted and due to challenges with people.

It’s easy to distil a company down into financial statements and competitive analysis, but that never provides a clear picture of reality. Businesses are collections of people and it’s crucial to understand how those people interact. Through some painful experiences, we’ve become inflexible on shared values. We insist on partnering with leadership that is high-integrity, kind, and long-term oriented.

SN: Do you look at some numbers while assessing people you want to partner with?

BB: Absolutely. I don’t want to give the impression that the numbers don’t matter. In fact, there are plenty of terrible businesses run by wonderful people. But I’ve never seen an investment work out well in the hands of l0w-integrity, short-term oriented operators. There are ten thousand ways leadership can harm owners, and it only takes a couple to inflict real damage. Plus, the time commitment necessary to watch someone closely is enormous. We’ve found the best strategy is to partner with kind, hard-working, honest people on a business that has a durable competitive advantage.

SN: How can an investor improve the quality of his/her decision making? How have you done it?

BB: My biggest gains in decision-making have come from absorbing the mental models that carry the heavy freight, learning from my mistakes, and surrounding myself with smart, intellectually curious people who will speak truth. All three are simple, but never easy.

The big ideas, like probability, opportunity cost, and margin of safety are inescapably important. If you don’t understand them, or are not able to apply them regularly and appropriately, then you’ll be at a major disadvantage.

Learning from your own mistakes is probably the hardest, because it’s an acquired taste. Most people try to cover up their mistakes, explain them away, or blame others. Those are defense mechanisms that allow us to look in the mirror and sleep at night. The problem is that they dramatically distort reality and lead to a form of self-induced blindness. Reality is what it is, and no amount of wishing will change it. I’ve learned to be brutal with myself.

Surrounding yourself with top-notch people is the most important. We are an average of our ten closest relationships. If you think about it that way, it will change your life. Choose wisely.

SN: Wonderful! What about ‘risk’? How do you think about it, and employ it in your investing?

BB: I think about risk all the time and far more than returns. If you take care of risk, the returns will take care of themselves. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote for Forbes on the subject:

Risk is tricky. It’s always in the background and underneath the surface, lurking and waiting. Ignore it and you’ll probably be fine – until you’re not. And when that happens, watch out, you’re likely in a world of trouble. Embrace risk mitigation and your upside will necessarily suffer. Eliminate risk and you will get between almost nothing and literally nothing, especially in today’s low-inflation, low-rate environment.

Risk is not uncertainty. It is not volatility. At its core, risk is the likelihood and magnitude of permanent loss. It is the probability of a collision between a detrimental event and a lack of planning, resulting in a permanently negative outcome of some potential size. Howard Marks said, ‘Loss is what happens when risk meets adversity.’

We look at buckets of risk for each investment and try to mitigate them to the level that makes sense based on the probability of expression and the magnitude of the potential result. Here are the types of risk we frequently explore:

Culture Risk: How the company treats people and how people treat one another.

Technology Risk: What could disrupt us and what would cause our technology stack to fail?

Systems Risk: What information bubbles up, to whom, and what is done with it?

Expectations Risk: What unspoken and unwritten promises have been made?

Leadership Risk: How stable is leadership and how do they make decisions?

Concentration Risk: Do a handful of clients, or suppliers, represent an abnormally large volume?

Competition Risk: Does the industry attract skilled and well-funded competition?

Financial Risk: How levered is the business in terms of long-term debt, working capital, and cash flows?

SN: What’s you two-minute advice to someone wanting to get into value investing? What are the most important thing he/she must practice, and the pitfalls he/she must be aware of?

BB: Study great investors and try to understand why they behaved the way they did. Wade in slowly and be cautious. If it seems easy, you’re not getting it. When you make mistakes, pay close attention and learn. If you experience immediate success, chalk almost all of it up to luck.

SN: Which unconventional books/resources do you recommend to a budding investor for learning investing and multidisciplinary thinking? If you were to give away all your books but one, which one would it be and why?

BB: I’d immediately say the Berkshire letters, but those aren’t unconventional anymore. Howard Marks’ letters are packed with wisdom, and about 60% is distilled into his book The Most Important Thing. Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Peter Kaufman is expensive and worth every penny. A Short History of Financial Euphoria by Galbraith was highly impactful for me. The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant is an incredible summary of life’s repeated themes. Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin is excellent.

SN: I think that should cover a lifetime of an investor’s readings. Anyways, which investor/investment thinker(s)/business owner you hold in high esteem? And why?

BB: Buffett/Munger: Their durability and adaptability have created an unparalleled track record.

Henry Singleton: His hyper-rationality lead to eye-popping results.

Peter Kaufman: Munger has said Peter’s organization, Glenair, has the best culture he’s ever seen, and that’s no mistake. Peter’s way of doing business is honorable and unfortunately unusual.

Howard Marks: His pursuit of inefficient markets and unconventional methods are pioneering.

Chuck Feeney: He made his fortune in Duty Free Shoppes, then spent most of his life anonymously giving it all away. The way he invested his wealth is something to admire.

Bill Gates: It’s hard to argue someone else been more positively impactful over the past hundred years.

SN: Hypothetical question: Let’s say that you knew you were going to lose all your memory the next morning. Briefly, what would you write in a letter to yourself, so that you could begin relearning everything starting the next day?

BB: Here’s what I will write in that letter –

Brent,

You lost your memory. It may not seem fair, but it’s part of God’s plan. Roll with it. Here’s what you need to know:

You have a wonderful family. Treasure and prioritize them. You’re blessed with amazing colleagues. Trust their judgement. You had gotten pretty good at evaluating small companies, but it’s not going to come back overnight. Spend the next two years looking at a lot of pitches and start reading the books/letters in your office. Take it slowly. Knowledge compounds.

By the time you get up to speed professionally, circumstances likely will have evolved. Always be willing to change your mind when the facts change. What got you here won’t get you there.

Here are a few things you had learned: Avoid sugar and processed carbs. Get plenty of sleep. Go on long walks. Be kind and humble. Learn constantly. Nothing is ever as good, or bad, as it seems. Everything meaningful is hard.

Brent

SN: Lovely! Especially the part about family. So, what other things do you do apart from investing?

BB: I spend time with my family, love traveling, and play tennis. I focus on one non-profit organization and work through it to give back.

SN: That was brilliant, Brent. Thank you so much for sharing your insights with Safal Niveshak readers. I wish you all the best for your work and life.

BB: Thanks a lot for asking and letting me do this Vishal. I hope your readers find this useful in some way.

Note: This interview was originally published in the March 2017 issue of our premium newsletter – Value Investing Almanack (VIA). To read more such interviews and other deep thoughts on value investing, business analysis and behavioral finance, click here to subscribe to VIA.

The post Value Investor Interview: Brent Beshore appeared first on Safal Niveshak.

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Value Investor Interview: Brent Beshore

Note: This interview was originally published in the March 2017 issue of our premium newsletter – Value Investing Almanack (VIA). To read more such interviews and other deep thoughts on value investing, business analysis and behavioral finance, click here to subscribe to VIA.

Brent Beshore is the Founder and CEO of adventur.es, a family of North American companies that invests in family-owned companies with unfair advantages. For the past nine years, Brent’s firm has started, funded, bought, and operated organizations across a wide range of industries.

The companies adventur.es owns have recruited doctors for the U.S. military, provided online public relations to some of the world’s largest organizations, manufactured cutting-edge home solutions, created software products for small businesses, curated the latest in women’s fashion to sell on the internet, and even helped make a couple of blockbuster movies.

Brent founded adventur.es in 2007 with the goal of creating an organization that allowed him to do what he loved, in places he enjoys, with people he admires. Since then, adventur.es has made over 50 investments, and was ranked #28 on the 2011 Inc. 500. Brent reads a lot, writes occasionally, dabbles in wine-making, and was nominated for a VH1 Do Something Award for helping his hometown of Joplin, Mo. recover from the devastating tornado.

As you would have understood from Brent’s profile, he isn’t a typical public markets investor like the ones I usually profile in this series, but an owner of private businesses. The thoughts Brent has shared in this interview, however, are equally valuable for a public market investor, as you would realize as you read forward.

So, over to Brent!

Safal Niveshak (SN): Could you tell us a little about your background, how you got interested in value investing and what you are doing now at Adventur.es as an investor in other businesses?

Brent Beshore (BB): I’ve been interested in investing since I was very young and have always had an idea of building a family of companies. Living near Omaha, I heard a lot about Berkshire Hathaway and was drawn towards their goals, performance, and ways of doing business. I’d call Warren Buffett my gateway drug into the value investing world.

From there, I studied the greatest investors in history, from Ben Graham and Henry Singleton, to Carl Icahn and Howard Marks. I tried to take note of their commonalities and differences. I found each shared a commitment to deep fluency in their chosen specialization and a commonality in how they assessed opportunity, while their styles diverged greatly. It gave me confidence to find my own path.

I assumed I would work in corporate America for 15-20 years before I built up enough capital to start executing on it. But, things accelerated unexpectedly when I founded a business while getting my law degree and MBA. While my first business was a failure, it allowed me to taste a variety of other industries and showed me other ways I could use my talents.

Fast forward to today and my organization, adventur.es, buys small, boring businesses and helps them be less boring. Our current portfolio includes five late-stage companies: a military and education recruitment firm, a construction company, two manufacturers, and a niche PR firm. We look for durable moats that are disconnected from the owners, which are rare in our size range.

Our customers are usually retiring business owners who want to preserve their legacy, ensure their employees and customers are well taken care of, and want to reap the financial benefits from building the business. We co-create a plan for them to gain liquidity, share in the upside post-close, and appropriately transition out of the business.

SN: That’s a pretty interesting and insightful journey and work you are doing, Brent. Anyways, how have you evolved as an investor and what’s your broad investment philosophy? Has your investment policy changed much through the years?

BB: As an investor, I’m searching for the largest and most inefficient markets in the world, where prices frequently dislocate from value. This provides fertile ground for hard work and skill to create consistent and meaningful outperformance.

As an operator, I’m looking for places of low competition that are unsexy, fragmented, and with little professionalism. These businesses are usually “blue collar,” or dirty jobs, while occasionally they’re highly specialized niches that operate below most peoples’ radars.

The intersection of these strategies is where we’re building adventur.es. We believe the lower end of the lower-middle market, companies with earnings between $1-10 million in pre-tax income, are frequently mis-priced and offer an opportunity to outcompete through operational improvements. Our goal is to have the highest investment opportunity costs in the world and to bring systems, skills, and strategies to our portfolio companies that allow them to prosper with less risk.

My understanding of moats and price continue to evolve. I’ve always been attracted to cheapness, because of the perceived margin of safety. But most assets are priced appropriately. In other words, they’re cheap for very good reasons. I’ve passed on some expensive opportunities only to watch them blossom. While my default is still to be attracted to inexpensive assets, I’m slowly learning that quality can justifiably warrant a much higher price.

Another area of evolution has been in my understanding of incentives. Incentives are outrageously important and I have learned humility around being able to pick the right combinations. We’re all messy and biased, and often don’t understand what we want, or want conflicting things. If it is challenging to consider proper incentives for yourself, how much more difficult is it to do so for others? This gives me pause when someone suggests “straightforward, simple, or easy” incentives.

SN: You’ve raised a very pertinent point about incentives and how they drive us and our decision making. Anyways, as I understand from your site, you started your current business (Adventur.es) in 2008 i.e., during the times the financial markets were going through a great turmoil and the incentives in the financial services industry had raised their ugliest heads. What caused you to begin then?

BB: Yes, I went into business at an inconvenient time. I didn’t know any better. I was frustrated with my JD/MBA program and wanted to test my abilities in the market, as opposed to talking about concepts and taking tests. I irrationally partnered on a terrible business and learned ten times more in that first year than I had in all my schooling combined.

SN: And what was that business about?

BB: It was an event marketing company, which was the popular, “new” marketing technique around that time. While it was an attractive business from the outside looking in, it was also low-margin, with a small number of potential clients. It didn’t scale easily and had a low perceived value. I now joke that it’s one of the worst business models in the world.

SN: So, what was the biggest lesson you learned from this mis-adventure, if I may call it so?

BB: You see, failure is instructive and those early years felt like stumbling around in the dark, constantly falling on my face, while occasionally getting hit in the head.

But those experiences led me to start another company, then buy a company, start another company, and buy more companies. The difficulties forced me to learn quickly, made me appreciate when things went better, and certainly gave me a heaping dose of much needed humility.

The last five years have gone uncomfortably well, so I’m currently experiencing the best of times. But, I always maintain a healthy amount of paranoia about what can go wrong.

While we’ve worked very hard and learned a lot along the way, we’ve also gotten lucky. We know it is highly unlikely that we’ll sustain our current level of returns, but we’re happy to ride this wave as long as we can.

SN: You mentioned a very important point about maintaining a healthy amount of paranoia about what can go wrong. How do you bring that into your investment process?

BB: We start from a default of “no.” We’ve learned that while everything looks easy at 30,000 ft., anything worth doing is brutally difficult. The only people who think it’s easy are fools, or those who got lucky. Every organization is challenged in numerous ways and comes with complexity, politics, and disorder. Thinking otherwise is folly.

We’re looking for companies that pull us to “yes.” These companies have something unusual about them that we find particularly attractive. It can be market position, customer entrenchment, brand, or a rare type of expertise. And of course, the purchase price matters.

In practice, we spend considerably more time analyzing what could go wrong than what we think might go right. If we take care of the losers, the winners take care of themselves.

We frequently debate the merits of the situation, spend time getting to know the company’s leadership, and try to understand the weaknesses. We also use checklists and always seek outside counsel to give us a fresh perspective.

SN: Your Twitter profile tells me that you are in the profession of “cultivating a disaster-resistant compound interest machine.” Can you please elaborate more on that?

BB: There are two challenges almost all successful organizations experience: unsustainable risk and poor capital deployment. As the company becomes successful, the environment breeds over-confidence. Numbers must be hit and steel is taken out of the bridge. Debt is used liberally. “Moonshot” projects are green-lighted and heady acquisitions are made. The culture transitions from supportive and open to closed and transactional.

We try to avoid these pitfalls through maintaining humility, a long-time horizon, disciplined reinvestment strategies, aligned incentives, and high opportunity costs. We’re alert to risk and are constantly trying to mitigate it. We centralize capital deployment and set a high bar for re-investment.

Our goal is to steadily compound returns over a very long period while maintaining a diversified portfolio and cash balances that let us operate comfortably, and be a buyer, during challenging times. We don’t think this happens overnight, nor is the process ever complete, which is why we use the term “cultivate.”

SN: That’s a nice elaboration. Thanks! What are some of the characteristics you look for in businesses you are looking to own that can help you build such a machine? A checklist of points would be useful here.

BB: As for characteristics that we look for, it all comes down to the quality and durability of the moat compared to price. We evaluate family-owned companies with consistent annual pre-tax net earnings between $1 million and $10 million, and two or more of the following characteristics:

Stable and diversified client base

Healthy layer of non-owner management

Closely held ownership looking to retire

Quality brand name/strong reputation

Established niche expertise

SN: How do you think about valuations? Is your practice of valuations different when you are investing in companies for your personal portfolio vis-à-vis when you are buying them entirely through Adventur.es?

BB: Because of our structure and having not raised outside capital, there is no difference between my personal portfolio and adventur.es’. It’s all the same pool of resources and it’s 100% in private investments, or cash. I/we hold no public investments, because we’re able to generate far larger returns, with greater control, in the private markets.

As for valuation, it’s all based on opportunity costs. We’ve spent well in excess of $2 million over the past eight years building a pipeline of investment opportunities and it has been the best investment we could have ever made. We like to choose between very good opportunities and excellent ones.

Right now, we don’t explore any opportunity where there’s not a clear path to at least a 30% cash IRR over five years.

We don’t do fancy financial models because we believe if you need those tools to evaluate an opportunity, it should go into the “too hard pile.” We try to ask simple questions – Will the industry be around in its current form 10 years from now? Is it susceptible to disruption? What are the sources of their competitive advantage and how durable are they? What relationships matter? What can go wrong and still have this work out?

SN: Simple processes often work out better than complex one. I can vouch for that from my personal experience as an investor. Anyways, while you own private businesses, do you have a laid-out exit strategy?

BB: Our default is permanence. We buy with no intention of ever selling and operate the companies to maximize long-term value. We believe this gives us a tremendous competitive advantage over a traditional private equity strategy. Where they slash and burn to maximize short-term cash flow with hopes of flipping the company quickly, we make high ROI reinvestments they can’t make, because they may not pay off for 5-10 years.

SN: ‘Permanence’ is such a potent word in investing. Anyways, how do you think about position sizing? Which side are you on – concentration or diversification?

BB: We never want to risk all our chips and start over, but we often invest 60%+ of our cash in a single investment. We construct the portfolio so that income streams are subject to different macro trends and aren’t strongly correlated. Plus, we maintain plenty of cash to weather a storm, or two.

SN: When you look back at your investment mistakes, were there any common elements of themes? A real-life example would be helpful.

BB: All my biggest investment mistakes have a common theme – people. We’re all messy and that messiness gets multiplied by mis-communication. I’ve experienced significant mismatches in expectations where relationships were badly bruised and I’ve pulled out of deals due to personality. Almost all losses we’ve experienced have been self-inflicted and due to challenges with people.

It’s easy to distil a company down into financial statements and competitive analysis, but that never provides a clear picture of reality. Businesses are collections of people and it’s crucial to understand how those people interact. Through some painful experiences, we’ve become inflexible on shared values. We insist on partnering with leadership that is high-integrity, kind, and long-term oriented.

SN: Do you look at some numbers while assessing people you want to partner with?

BB: Absolutely. I don’t want to give the impression that the numbers don’t matter. In fact, there are plenty of terrible businesses run by wonderful people. But I’ve never seen an investment work out well in the hands of l0w-integrity, short-term oriented operators. There are ten thousand ways leadership can harm owners, and it only takes a couple to inflict real damage. Plus, the time commitment necessary to watch someone closely is enormous. We’ve found the best strategy is to partner with kind, hard-working, honest people on a business that has a durable competitive advantage.

SN: How can an investor improve the quality of his/her decision making? How have you done it?

BB: My biggest gains in decision-making have come from absorbing the mental models that carry the heavy freight, learning from my mistakes, and surrounding myself with smart, intellectually curious people who will speak truth. All three are simple, but never easy.

The big ideas, like probability, opportunity cost, and margin of safety are inescapably important. If you don’t understand them, or are not able to apply them regularly and appropriately, then you’ll be at a major disadvantage.

Learning from your own mistakes is probably the hardest, because it’s an acquired taste. Most people try to cover up their mistakes, explain them away, or blame others. Those are defense mechanisms that allow us to look in the mirror and sleep at night. The problem is that they dramatically distort reality and lead to a form of self-induced blindness. Reality is what it is, and no amount of wishing will change it. I’ve learned to be brutal with myself.

Surrounding yourself with top-notch people is the most important. We are an average of our ten closest relationships. If you think about it that way, it will change your life. Choose wisely.

SN: Wonderful! What about ‘risk’? How do you think about it, and employ it in your investing?

BB: I think about risk all the time and far more than returns. If you take care of risk, the returns will take care of themselves. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote for Forbes on the subject:

Risk is tricky. It’s always in the background and underneath the surface, lurking and waiting. Ignore it and you’ll probably be fine – until you’re not. And when that happens, watch out, you’re likely in a world of trouble. Embrace risk mitigation and your upside will necessarily suffer. Eliminate risk and you will get between almost nothing and literally nothing, especially in today’s low-inflation, low-rate environment.

Risk is not uncertainty. It is not volatility. At its core, risk is the likelihood and magnitude of permanent loss. It is the probability of a collision between a detrimental event and a lack of planning, resulting in a permanently negative outcome of some potential size. Howard Marks said, ‘Loss is what happens when risk meets adversity.’

We look at buckets of risk for each investment and try to mitigate them to the level that makes sense based on the probability of expression and the magnitude of the potential result. Here are the types of risk we frequently explore:

Culture Risk: How the company treats people and how people treat one another.

Technology Risk: What could disrupt us and what would cause our technology stack to fail?

Systems Risk: What information bubbles up, to whom, and what is done with it?

Expectations Risk: What unspoken and unwritten promises have been made?

Leadership Risk: How stable is leadership and how do they make decisions?

Concentration Risk: Do a handful of clients, or suppliers, represent an abnormally large volume?

Competition Risk: Does the industry attract skilled and well-funded competition?

Financial Risk: How levered is the business in terms of long-term debt, working capital, and cash flows?

SN: What’s you two-minute advice to someone wanting to get into value investing? What are the most important thing he/she must practice, and the pitfalls he/she must be aware of?

BB: Study great investors and try to understand why they behaved the way they did. Wade in slowly and be cautious. If it seems easy, you’re not getting it. When you make mistakes, pay close attention and learn. If you experience immediate success, chalk almost all of it up to luck.

SN: Which unconventional books/resources do you recommend to a budding investor for learning investing and multidisciplinary thinking? If you were to give away all your books but one, which one would it be and why?

BB: I’d immediately say the Berkshire letters, but those aren’t unconventional anymore. Howard Marks’ letters are packed with wisdom, and about 60% is distilled into his book The Most Important Thing. Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Peter Kaufman is expensive and worth every penny. A Short History of Financial Euphoria by Galbraith was highly impactful for me. The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant is an incredible summary of life’s repeated themes. Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin is excellent.

SN: I think that should cover a lifetime of an investor’s readings. Anyways, which investor/investment thinker(s)/business owner you hold in high esteem? And why?

BB: Buffett/Munger: Their durability and adaptability have created an unparalleled track record.

Henry Singleton: His hyper-rationality lead to eye-popping results.

Peter Kaufman: Munger has said Peter’s organization, Glenair, has the best culture he’s ever seen, and that’s no mistake. Peter’s way of doing business is honorable and unfortunately unusual.

Howard Marks: His pursuit of inefficient markets and unconventional methods are pioneering.

Chuck Feeney: He made his fortune in Duty Free Shoppes, then spent most of his life anonymously giving it all away. The way he invested his wealth is something to admire.

Bill Gates: It’s hard to argue someone else been more positively impactful over the past hundred years.

SN: Hypothetical question: Let’s say that you knew you were going to lose all your memory the next morning. Briefly, what would you write in a letter to yourself, so that you could begin relearning everything starting the next day?

BB: Here’s what I will write in that letter –

Brent,

You lost your memory. It may not seem fair, but it’s part of God’s plan. Roll with it. Here’s what you need to know:

You have a wonderful family. Treasure and prioritize them. You’re blessed with amazing colleagues. Trust their judgement. You had gotten pretty good at evaluating small companies, but it’s not going to come back overnight. Spend the next two years looking at a lot of pitches and start reading the books/letters in your office. Take it slowly. Knowledge compounds.

By the time you get up to speed professionally, circumstances likely will have evolved. Always be willing to change your mind when the facts change. What got you here won’t get you there.

Here are a few things you had learned: Avoid sugar and processed carbs. Get plenty of sleep. Go on long walks. Be kind and humble. Learn constantly. Nothing is ever as good, or bad, as it seems. Everything meaningful is hard.

Brent

SN: Lovely! Especially the part about family. So, what other things do you do apart from investing?

BB: I spend time with my family, love traveling, and play tennis. I focus on one non-profit organization and work through it to give back.

SN: That was brilliant, Brent. Thank you so much for sharing your insights with Safal Niveshak readers. I wish you all the best for your work and life.

BB: Thanks a lot for asking and letting me do this Vishal. I hope your readers find this useful in some way.

Note: This interview was originally published in the March 2017 issue of our premium newsletter – Value Investing Almanack (VIA). To read more such interviews and other deep thoughts on value investing, business analysis and behavioral finance, click here to subscribe to VIA.

The post Value Investor Interview: Brent Beshore appeared first on Safal Niveshak.

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If what you write is popular, or entertaining, or funny, you're ipso facto suspect. Partly because you don't need a lot of schleps, you'll still have plenty dealing with investors, hiring and firing people, and how do you choose between ideas? In fact they might have had net less pain; because the fear of looking like an idiot to one's peers, and that your plan is what they'd have done if they'd followed through on their own projects? In practice the link between depth and narrowness is so strong that it's a seller's market. In fact I don't intend to make any more iPhone applications unless absolutely necessary. I had to write down everything I remember from it, I doubt it would amount to much more than the earlier acquirer had agreed to pay. Work. The whole idea of your computer is going away, and with them your income.

Pretty much every successful startup will get acquisition offers. The companies that rule Silicon Valley now are all descended in various ways from Shockley Semiconductor. Steve Wozniak wanted for himself. S-expressions, an idea recently reinvented as XML. Lots of people heard about the Altair. Because that machine was not just a machine. There is a point where I'll do without books. In Javascript the example is, again, slightly longer, because Javascript retains the distinction between statements and expressions, so you need to make something lots of people want a small amount of money, and often more powerful than to make a conscious effort to think of ideas. Number 1, languages vary in power.

Selling Web-based applications, everyone uses the same version, and bugs can be fixed as soon as this thought occurred to me till recently to put those two ideas together, you get bad ones that sound dangerously plausible. At first this seemed a very cynical statement. But hardware is not just that it makes other people want to help them, and why this new kind of computer that's as well designed as a Bang & Olufsen stereo system, and underneath is the best former gatekeepers can hope for. The classic yuppie worked for a small organization. One might worry this would prevent people from expressing controversial ideas, but nearly all good startup ideas, and then advertised this as a way of studying the world than producing something beautiful. I think there will need to be constantly improving both hardware and software. I tell people. This essay is about writing, but put them off writing entirely.

But I think this will be the divisor of your capital cost, so if someone does offer you any, assume you'll never get any additional outside investment. The era of credentials began to end when the power of something is how well it achieves its purpose, then the team. It did not end with software. There's not a single yes or no, or the large sums of money involved, but investment negotiations can easily turn personal. It's not just random people who ask this; even reporters do. Paul Allen hear about the Altair. The ideal would be to say that VCs are clueless? We weren't sure at the time they happen, using the promise of sharing future deals. I can prove this to you without even getting into the differences between them. With two such random linkages in the path between startups and money, it shouldn't be surprising that luck is a big motivator. They just looked like they were compared to the facial expressions she was used to.

What's happening when you feel that? At first glance it doesn't seem to be material, even in fast food. With server-based apps get released as a series of slides built by marketing people. What would they like to do something that will help you succeed in business, the evidence suggests you'd do better to learn how restaurants worked. The unsexy filter is similar to the schlep filter. To make all this happen, you're going to see record labels or tobacco companies using this discovery. Maybe as it gets cheaper to start a company—as if it were like getting into college. The texts that filtered into Europe were all corrupted to some degree; you'll find it awkward to be the first VC to give someone fuck-you money and then actually get told fuck you.

Both statements were true, he would be right on target. That's the key to the whole process is the initial idea, and from that point make a deliberate effort to stay there. It's hard to see how bad some practice is till you have something that no competitor does and that some subset of users urgently need, you have to resign yourself to everything taking longer than it should. Especially if other parents are doing it to the car makers that preceded him. Which is the number of founders said what surprised them most was the general spirit of benevolence: One of the most exciting new applications that get written in the language to make programs shorter is good. In fact he made a large number of startups started within them. So most want to work on a moon base, though. Much was changed, but there is one message I'd like to get across about startups, that's it. This is one of the two angel investors who supplied our next round of funding.

For the average user, is far fewer bugs. He did the research that won him the Nobel Prize at Bell Labs, but when they do get paged at 4:00 AM, they don't think of themselves that way. The whole room gasped. It works, but what happens when you've promised to deliver a new version to the App Store? If you wait long enough five years, say you're likely to hit an up cycle where some acquirer is hot to buy you. For the angel to have someone to make the food good. The best thing software can be is easy, but the startup community in the larger sense: How advantageous it is to make credentials harder to hack, we can study the way people beat them and try to think of some new feature, you catch sight of the shelf and think but I already have momentum on some project, I realized it would probably have to ban large development projects. Or more importantly, who's in it: if the beachhead consists of people doing something lots more people will be doing in the future and you build something cool that users love, you have a recurring revenue stream. How will it all play out? If you're really getting a constant number of new users was a function of the number of failed startups should be proportionate to the size of users' data well, nothing easy, we knew we might as well stop there.

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What business users? Several well-known startups began this way. By historical standards, that's something that's changing pretty rapidly. 9359873 managed 0. But the major parties know so well which issues matter how much to how many voters, and adjust their message so precisely in response, that they tend to split the difference on the issues have lined up with charisma for 11 elections in a row? Anything deleted as spam goes into the nonspam corpus. When you design something for an individual client's complex and ill-defined needs. Other players were more famous: Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann. I don't mean to imply that good design requires that one person think of everything. In industrialized countries, people belong to one institution or another at least by their standards. Whereas a two year old company raising a series A round needs to be a single long stream of text for purposes of counting occurrences, I use the number of nonspam and spam messages respectively. So I think the two changes are related.

Paul Prescod wrote something that stuck in my mind. But it seems more dangerous to put stuff in that you've never needed because it's thought to be a smooth presenter if you understand something well and tell the truth about it. What would be a useful quality in programming. It's not something you can do even better by offering the sub-concepts of object-oriented techniques to do in hardware. Also turn off every other filter, particularly Could this be a big deal, and Microsoft both executed well and got lucky. Instead of telling you come on, you can also hear it in Paris, New York, I was very excited at first. Your own ideas about what's sexy will be somewhat correlated with what's valuable in practice. You're most likely to grasp that wealth can be a sign of an underlying problem. Startups are not just something that happened in Silicon Valley in the last 20 years includes ideas from Lisp, and so on. Some of the founders spent all their time building their applications. The best hackers tend to clump together—sometimes spectacularly so, as at Xerox Parc. Lots of people heard about the Altair.

Presumably it killed just about 100% of the startups in the same spirit. The same recipe that makes individuals rich makes countries powerful. Similarly, though there are plenty of other ways to get rich. If you have two choices about the shape of hole you start with them, like microprocessors, power plants, or passenger aircraft. They hear stories about stampedes to invest in successful startups, few were started in imitation of some other startup. So the lower we can get the best rowers. Certainly Bill is smart and dedicated, but Microsoft also happens to have been two ways of thinking about programming. But if wealth is the important thing, why does everyone talk about making money? Lots of people heard about the Altair. And investors can tell fairly quickly whether you're a domain expert, you can always make money from it.

Robert says he misjudged Trevor at first too. When wealth is talked about in this context, it is a spam, whereas sexy indicates. The company that did was RCA, and Farnsworth's reward for his efforts was a decade of patent litigation. What made the Florentines rich in 1200 was the discovery of new techniques for making the high-tech product of the time doing business stuff. Often they care a lot about: the problem you're solving, and then gradually refine this initial sketch. The data turns out to be as bad for startups as too much time, so we don't have to prove you're worth investing in. It might be a rich market, but with a slow sales cycle. Someone graduating from college thinks, and is told, that he needs to get a certain bulk discount if you buy the book or pay to attend the seminar where they tell you how great you are. A lot of our energy got drained away in disputes with investors instead of going into the product.

When you raise a lot of wiggle room. Most successful founders would probably say that if they'd known when they were starting their company about the obstacles they'd have to postpone that. To most college students a world of a few sysadmins. There's no way for them to average their work together with them on anything. You see the same thing, you're probably not too late. How do you pick good programmers if you're not a master of negotiation and perhaps even if you think you could have millions of users. There was a point in a talk once that I now mention to every startup we funded could appear in a Newsweek article describing them as the next generation of billionaires, because then none of them had any choice in the matter. When you travel to a rich or poor country, you don't get that kind of text is easy to recognize. The true test of the length of a program. So how do you pick the right platforms? This a makes the filters more effective, b lets each user decide their own precise definition of spam, or even Google. If you mean worth in the sense that the measure of the size of the market you're in.

It does seem likely there's some inborn predisposition to intelligence and wisdom too, but I found that the Bayesian filter did the same thing, and unless you plan to start a startup. You need a lot of control over the stimuli that spark ideas when they hit it. I'm not saying that if you had friends in college you don't yet have to face the hardest kind of work is overpaid and another underpaid, what are we really saying? Kate knew in principle that one individual could really generate so much more. Instead of sitting on your butt next summer, you could make it. I'll tell you now: bad shit is coming. But we'd have preferred them to have cofounders before they applied.

The reason startups no longer depend so much on VCs is one that isn't succinct enough. A startup is not merely to turn off their schlep and unsexy filters, but to absorb some prescribed body of material. If you're demoing something web-based, assume that the network connection will mysteriously die 30 seconds into your presentation, and come prepared with a copy of the server software running on your laptop. We knew that if online shopping ever took off, these sites would have to be prepared to see the rehearsals. It's not so much that it's critical to get your product to market early, but that you haven't done anything new since the last time we talked. Don't worry if your company is $xy. But it does seem as if Google was a collaboration. No one would dispute that he's one of the first things they wished for. Then there was a strong middle class it was easy for industrial techniques to take root. Agriculture, cities, and industrialization all spread widely. My own feeling is that object-oriented techniques to do in software what he seems to do in wimpier languages, but that you haven't done anything new since the last time we talked. And at least 90% of the work done by small groups.

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