#also *2011 twitter op mixed it up

[neopoint]

i don’t get angry easily but this photoset made me realize that some people definitely deserve to be violently killed by a mob

#like a hot flash of anger legit hit me #also *2011 twitter op mixed it up #wall street #diary #mine

[schalaasha]

Top 20 Games of the Decade

Hi, I felt like writing about my top 20 games of the decade because I kept thinking about it. This is a semi-ranked list, but I decided not to throw numbers into the mix since, really, outside of the top 2, I can’t think of how to rank the games prior to them. I also commissioned hyiroaerak (@/HRAK__S2 on twitter, https://hyiroaerak.weebly.com/work.html) for art to commemorate this occasion.  Our characters are cosplaying as characters from our games of the decade!

Mega Man 10

I actually like Mega Man 10 more than Mega Man 9 out of the two platformer revival games in this series. Though a bit of background on this: Mega Man 4 is my favourite, and I prefer the games that are not 2, 6, 7, or 11, so I suppose that contextualises this for others.         Either way, despite it not having weapons that were as useful as Mega Man 9’s, I felt like 10’s level design and pacing worked more for me in my favour. Though I’m saying that as someone who liked the double fortress design in earlier games so that might invalidate how I feel.

 Time Attack mode from Mega Man 9 returns as well as Proto Man (but he’s unlockable right off the bat). It also has a proper Challenge Mode compared to Mega Man 9’s challenges, whereby challenges for certain levels or bosses are unlocked when you actually do it in the main game. Being able to play as Proto Man off the bat allows for the fluidity Mega Man had in 3 and beyond by letting you slide and use charged shots. I personally liked being able to play as Proto Man off the bat as while he has the 3 and beyond advantages for his moveset, he is a glass cannon and you still have to watch where you’re going.

 I feel like the levels were a little better designed and if I needed more of a challenge, Hard Mode was still there to cut my teeth on. I liked the colour schemes throughout the level maps a lot more than 9’s as well. The bosses felt particularly gripping and trading blows with them fit into a nice rhythm.

 It has more content than Mega Man 9 and I had a lot more fun with 10 than I did with either 9 or 11. The formula itself is pretty static compared to other Mega Man games, but I like simple things. Why fix what isn’t broken? It’s just a nice piece of cake at the end of the day and that’s all I really want.

  Trauma Team / HOSPITAL: 6人の医師

When I started university for the first time in 2006, I was pre-med.  I eventually got sick and tired of the politics and people in the program (ie: folks saying they only wanted to go to med school so they can get rich or make friends with pharma reps who might give them perks), and I left the program to pursue program majors and a minor to prepare me for speech-language pathology instead.

 We had a Wii in our student lounge. My main university campus wasn’t exactly big and a lot of the people who hung out in the student center were kind of cliquey. I think I had the benefit of being really good friends with one of the guys who was the biggest social butterflies at the school so I got to meet a lot of people or get involved with stuff if I felt like it. So that meant I got to play with other students in games or wi-fi sessions during classes or after classes if I didn’t have to commute home right away.

 Because almost everyone I knew at my school wanted to go into medicine, everyone played the Trauma series. Some kids played Under the Knife during class. Some kids played Second Opinion on the Wii in the student lounge. Some kids played New Blood. This was before like… Farmville took over everyone’s computers at the time.

 Trauma Team came out way after that, and some of us were either graduating or staying in school an extra year because we didn’t know what to do after the recession or knew what to do but needed extra courses for graduate school.  So the Wii was free to use.  I don’t think people hooked it up as often anymore anyway. By 2010, a lot of us who had met each other in first year decided to go our separate ways, not even in the same majors or programs anymore. A lot of us either branched out into research, psychology, neurology (like me), kinesiology, epidemiology, forensics, genetics, etc. So Trauma Team for the rest of us who were still there was a good fit.

 Trauma Team took some influences from the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic considering that was when the development phase occurred. Now, I live in Canada, and Canada was one of the focal points for the 2003 SARS outbreak. This was when health bodies in the country decided to make some changes to how they respond to potential pandemics. A lot of things they tell medical students or any students studying health policy (like I was at the time) emphasized how different parts of the hospital or medical or health care staff need to work together in order to care for a patient. I actually find the different professions involved in Trauma Team useful and a reflection of what my class of 2010/2011 became later on (a lot of us graduated in 2011 and took an extra year).

 Diagnostics and Forensics were what I was really interested in since they don’t play the same as surgery/emergency medicine since they played out like a point-and-click. Later on in life, I had to look at so many medical reports and radiology reports and file them but by then I realised what my patients had but I can’t tell them myself since I’m not a doctor. But Trauma Team gave me a chance to do so and practice my terminology as a student. A friend of mine, who ended up becoming a doctor at a hospital in Toronto, really enjoyed endoscopy since it merely involved using the Wiimote as an endoscope and the nunchuk to steer. A lot of us played co-op too.

 The difficulty in Trauma Team, I felt, was decreased from previous games. But that doesn’t really spoil it. It was a varied game and it looks fantastic. It’s a shame that the game style hasn’t been replicated or given a sequel in later years, because while I’m older and my classmates are doing completely different things and I haven’t seen some of them in years, I’d love to take a stab at these types of games with a well-practiced laboratory technologist’s hand.

  Sonic Colours

I think it goes without saying. My first community when I joined the old forum was the Sonic community. Just a bunch of people who were interested in talking about Sonic so much in almost every thread that we ended up making a community thread together. I don’t post in the new forum everyone is at but I still talk to mostly everyone via different social mediums.

 I wasn’t around when Sonic Colours came out but I think I remember reading the joy everyone felt when nearly universally everyone in that thread seemed to really like Sonic Colours. I remember the thread title still. I preordered Sonic Colours because apparently previews were saying it was… good? I didn’t bother playing Sonic Unleashed until after I’d joined the forum, but hearing Sonic Colours would be a return to form since I was one of those people who didn’t adjust well to the 3D games made me interested.

 Sonic Colours is everything I wanted from a 3D Sonic game. Or rather, a 3D version of a platformer. I didn’t really like where 3D platformers were going because they were hard to look at, hard for me to pay attention to, and to be honest I got dizzy while playing a lot of them since you’re expected to work in a 3D space as opposed to a 2D space so it was really hard for me to process. I really like the hybrid nature of the level designs that’s where Sonic Colours got me.

 Sonic Colours isn’t without its hangups: some of the levels are really short; existing mostly for ranking/getting red rings. Sonic’s jump is pretty floaty. The script is fairly short even if the jokes can be funny. Bosses are reused. Sonic Colours is not a perfect game, but the attempts it made were fantastic enough in its own right.

 The music continues to be great, but the areas are visual spectacles. Whatever you think of the series, it’s fairly undeniable that the games try to have style. From the lighting, to posing, to setpieces, to colours used in assets in the level design – Sonic has always had really great ideas.  Sonic Colours is no exception – areas like Aquarium Park, Planet Wisp, and Sweet Mountain have a variety of neat level ideas and they look good trying to execute it. From popcorn on the floor to one of the best darned water levels in all of video games due to the drill wisp, to a fresh take on a grassy knoll with beautiful music, Sonic Colours can bring tears to your eyes because of what it attempts. Terminal Velocity Act 2 is also one of my favourite parts of the Uncolourations games partially because it’s a well-executed setpiece, but it also showed me that maybe those 3D racing bits aren’t that bad.

 The bosses may be really easy, and the final boss ends far sooner than it should before it could perfectly execute its Kamen Rider reference, but I think the point was to fully enjoy the theme park that Sonic Team threw at you this time.

 In 2020 I like to say that out of all of the Uncolourations games, Sonic Unleashed is my favourite due to the balance it struck and its presentation/artstyle, and basically having one of the best soundtracks of the previous decade. But I recognise everything that Sonic Colours brought to the table. If it wasn’t for Sonic Colours, I wouldn’t be friends or acquaintances with so many people that I am with now.

  Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Have you ever played a game that made you feel warm and toasty? Canadian winters can be really cold, you know.

 When I lived at my old run-down house, my old room didn’t have good insulation. Whenever it got cold, my room got really cold. I had my own personal heater because we didn’t really have a good heating system in my room either. So I only wore flannel pyjamas, wrapped myself in faux-wool blankets all the time, and went to sleep covered in at least four quilts or comforters (which is something I still do out of habit sorry). I used to make hot choco every day because it was just so cold in my room.

 I love Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Kirby’s Epic Yarn makes me feel warm and toasty inside because I think of being wrapped up in yarn and sheets and scarves and I just feel so happy. There are so many pastels used in KEY’s earlier stages that I can’t help but to feel toasty and happy when I’m playing it. It’s not the most challenging game. The game is really easy and all you mostly do is collect furniture, music, beads, and parts of the results wheel in every level, but I don’t think that’s the point of it. The point is just to have fun. Watching Kirby turn into a car to sprint, watching him turn into a little parachute or transform during those vehicle bits, you just can’t help but to feel so enveloped by the cute.

 Being able to interact with cloth by pulling a loose button and releasing something, taking off tags, pulling on stray thread, spin balls of yarn… it feels so fulfilling because it’s a clever use of the medium. It’s exactly what you’d do if you’re stitching or knitting. Placing furniture around Kirby’s little apartment makes the Animal Crossing fan in me so happy.

 I appreciate the lengths Good-Feel went to producing the level designs. They took photos of the fabric they bought and created the graphics that way. The music is calm and relaxing, with lots of woodwind and piano and lighter sounding instruments. The entire game feels so soft and sweet. It’s a visually-impressive game since everything animates incredibly fluidly.

  Cuphead

Like anyone my age or older, I grew up watching a lot of older cartoons by Max Fleischer with watercolour backgrounds, hand-drawn characters with a lot of focus on expressions, rotoscoping, etc Lots of slapstick and musical scores out of that decade.  I would have never believed I’d play a video game that looks like that but here we are playing Cuphead this decade.

 Cuphead is a blend of that artstyle with older run and gun style games. It combines a gunning experience with puzzles, reflexive actions, and dying… and dying a lot. And learning. Underneath it’s cartoony and child-friendly veneer lies a game that is unrelentingly difficult. There aren’t really any checkpoints in the game save for one. You can’t regain lost health. It’s just you versus the game. You may spend hours on one single level learning everything about it. And you can’t beat the game until you finish off every other level on regular difficulty.

 Different levels have different forms: they can be run and guns á la Contra, which are actually, oddly enough, breathing room levels. They’re probably the “easiest” levels in the game. Other types of levels can be straight up shmup-like boss fights where you’re flying in a plane. They can be hard as a regular shmup.

 The best crafted types of levels are the ones that include platforming as part of their boss battles because they use the artstyle and ideas involved in the art piece as interesting platforming mechanics. You have a more limited control scheme but the scenario you’re involved in is really interesting and unique. You fight a woman in a play and the setpieces in the play change according to how far you are in the boss fight, for example. The game also has a parry mechanic whereby you can double-jump off of anything that’s coloured pink and fill your super meter in order to kill bosses faster. The parry cues change per boss so it’s really cool to see what they look like every time you encounter something new.

 I think while Cuphead can be utterly unforgiving, I think it should be experienced at least once for how much work was put into making things look so fluid and how creative every boss and level can be. It’s what I wanted the UBIart framework to eventually evolve into. I think the game’s aesthetics and sound are its own reward in addition to that feeling when you finally conquer That One Boss.

  Asura’s Wrath

Asura’s Wrath was a game I was incredibly iffy on even buying at all. I heard about how the ending was part of paid DLC, that the game didn’t have a lot of gameplay, and that it was incredibly unremarkable. I don’t think I had a remarkably low bar or anything for this, but I decided to purchase it on the cheap.

 Asura’s Wrath definitely isn’t a game for everyone, and I feel as though it’s an acquired taste. The main character’s art might not jive well with everyone, the lack of ‘play’ will probably deter some folks, and its episodic nature/final chapter unlock sequence would probably get on people’s nerves. With that said, at first, it seems to be an action-cinematic game without necessarily expanding on the “action” part. A lot of it at first seems to be a bunch of QTEs to move the narrative along, with the narrative not necessarily being that strong in the first place. I think that’s due in part to the game’s structure initially. The first few chapters and the first act truly don’t seem very remarkable. The Buddhist and Hindu aspects of the game are very obvious and very central to the game’s plot, but at the same time, they don’t seem to be specifically mentioned whenever someone talks about the game to me. The Asuras were not one singular character or a god, but a race of warlike beings exhibiting wrath and pride. They were incorporated into Hinduism and Buddhism through their mention in The Rigveda. With that said, I was continually impressed by how many references—whether it was mere mention of regular terms/concepts/people, the artstyle and inclusions of things like lacquer skin, mandorlas, Vajras and Pretas, and also Siddham script—was included in this game. Asura’s Wrath ended up feeling incredibly natural and a nice way of shedding some light on non-Judeo-Christian religions.

 Anyway, I genuinely liked that the game felt like a playable anime. I don’t feel like the game would be as effective if it were put into another genre, or were less cinematic. It ends up getting its message across with its carefully-researched artstyle, great scene direction, well-composed music, and penchant for feeling like it was a fantastic shounen anime. I also feel like the game has more combo-based gameplay than people give it credit for. A lot of the complexities come to the forefront on Hard mode, and going for S-ranks and finding ways to do that quickly and effectively on higher difficulty modes is always an interesting affair.

  Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

I finished marathoning all of the Ace Attorney games in 2010. I don’t recall if I was doing it before Ghost Trick but I think what enticed me to get the game was its amazing animation. I hadn’t seen 2D sprites move that fluidly in a very long time. Characters have exaggerated movements, exaggerated dances (ie: the panic dance), and they have big flashy gestures to show off the game’s animation engine.

 You’re introduced to all sorts of eccentric characters, many of whom don’t overstay their welcome (Circus case from AA2, I’m looking at you). You have a desk lamp, a doggo, a dancing detective, a little girl who’s the focal point for one episode, etc. Everyone’s dialogue is relatively snappy, their expressions and animations make them stand out from others, and due to how everything is presented right down to the character art portraits, everything just jumps off the screen.

 Because you’re a spirit with amnesia, you’re given the ability to go through time, and also the ability to through environments by hopping from object to object and possessing them in order to influence what happens in the past to save people in the present.  This is just a path to trying to figure out who you really are or to find who or what killed you. A lot of the gameplay revolves around trying to figure out which objects to manipulate and when in order to influence an outcome. It makes the game partially point and click, but also partially a physics puzzler. I don’t think I remember a single object in the puzzle segments that was wasted. In other circumstances, you must manipulate time in order to save someone in their last four minutes.

 If anything, I feel like Ghost Trick is a necessary inclusion simply because of its style and attention to detail, as well as its sort but sweet story where nothing overstays its welcome. Its soundtrack also feels similar. The game is fairly consistent and nothing really changes in terms of progression over most of the game. But I see that as a plus as opposed to a minus for the most part. It helps to bring the game to a compelling and surprising conclusion.

  Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

I marathoned all of the Assassin’s Creed games in one year prior to Assassin’s Creed III since I wanted to see what the deal was with the series because the first game wasn’t that great from a play perspective for me. The thing that resonates the most with respect to Assassin’s Creed for me is marshmallow-flavoured birthday cake and a bag of regular Bugles. I started this marathon on one of my birthdays that decade.

 Assassin’s Creed II is one of my favourite games out there, but Brotherhood adds so much to the formula despite its middling storyline compared to its predecessor. But that’s because most of Ezio’s growth happened in the previous game. He is a middle-aged man searching for the Apple of Eden, and while the story does not carry as much emotional impact, that isn’t exactly what I’m looking for with respect to the earlier AC games.

 One of the things I absolutely love about the earlier AC games is its attention to detail even if it isn’t necessarily completely accurate. At first I missed the fact that I could explore many different towns like I could in AC2. But then I realised how big Rome and its surrounding area is. Rome is gigantic, and it has so much attention to detail with historical buildings everywhere (which you need to pay to rebuild), old tapestries from the era, citizens dancing in the streets, lovers flirting with each other behind pillars, etc. There are more roofs and buildings to parkour over and between. The game adds towards that require you to take over them before you can use them to gain access to vendors and things to renovate. You can also find the glyphs (much like the ones from the previous game) to solve puzzles in order to gain access to more lore.

 I genuinely love the renovation aspect of this game. It’s more involved and a lot better than what the previous game tried to do with its economy. You renovate in order to gain access to shops, which in-turn generates income for you, and then you can renovate other stuff based on the income that you generate. It’s something that I’ve come to miss in later AC games. It felt a lot like a Suikoden game in some aspects.

 Platforming missions return in the form of finding parts of a cult and cutting the beginnings of a conspiracy off by its limbs. They’re faster paced than AC2’s tombs and there is more variety in terms of what you platform through. I like both types equally since one allows you to marvel at the beauty of a cathedral, while the other allows you to clock a few folks while making your way through a lair.

 In addition to the lairs, there are different types of missions for each faction that you forge alliances with, there are Da Vinci missions that involve new war toys and blowing things up in a scripted way. Assassin missions can vary in terms of how you carry out the assassins (albeit still scripted; improvisation was not a thing until ACUnity).

 The crux of AC: Brotherhood is being able to recruit assassins to your cause. Random citizens throughout Rome may be under attack by Borgia soldiers, and once you save them, they are recruited to join your cause. You level them up, send them out on missions, improve their gear, and ask for their help when you can and when they’re available. This feature gets expanded upon in later AC games but it gets a very good start here.

 Brotherhood is so full of content and a lot of little things that playing it for me makes it feel like comfort food for me. It may not have the best story and it certainly isn’t as memorable in that sense as its predecessor. But it’s so fun that I can’t help but to feel satisfied every time I turn it on.

  Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

I played the original Pac-Man CE on 360 years ago at my cousin’s house, where they added a timer and a morphing maze to the base original game. I thought it was a neat novel thing at the time but didn’t think further.

 Pac-Man CE DX adds more mazes and more mechanics and more modes to the championship edition base. It added sleeping ghosts where, if Pac-Man moves near them, they wake up and they chase him around the maze in a line until you can finally eat them all and rack up a huge score. You can also elect to use a bomb at a small expense in order to save yourself and send ghosts to the middle of the maze again. These changes assist in maintaining the game’s flow and it never makes a score attack daunting or boring.

 Devouring big long conga lines of ghosts following you is so satisfying while you’re listening to a bumpin’ soundtrack and chilling out looking at the cool lights on the maze. Really and truly, while at its core, PMCEDX is a score attack game, it makes for a beautiful loving chill sensory experience and I couldn’t ask anything more from it.

  Deadly Premonition / レッドシーズプロファイル

I think I, like a lot of people, was introduced to this game via the GB series. I didn’t have an Xbox 360 so I eventually imported the Japanese version for the PS3. The game’s dub was already in English; the text was in Japanese and it was pretty easy and reasonable to get through. Deadly Premonition actually the Guinness World Record winner for most critically polarizing horror video game since the reviews at the time were so all over the place. And yes, I will contend that Deadly Premonition is definitely not for everyone.

 I am not the type of person to play shooters. I actually hate them a lot. I don’t like gushing blood in video games, and I don’t really like the act of murdering someone in a game. I used to play a lot of survival horror games when I was younger on the PS1 and PS2, but a lot of the time you’re dealing with the undead or oddball things going on around you so it’s not nearly as bad I think. It’s funny; I deal with people’s bodily fluids and body parts all the time in real life as part of my job (ie: I’ve had to help dissect someone’s stomach before fresh out of the operating room), and it doesn’t bother me. But the mere act of seeing it done or doing it, makes me feel squeamish. I don’t like it. I don’t even like watching blood being drawn from me or needles being stuck into me, even though I’ve done it to other people as part of my work.

 For the most part, inexplicably, in Deadly Premonition, you’re dealing with the undead anyhow. I’m not the best person at shooters, but I certainly know what’s a good one and what isn’t.  Deadly Premonition is not a very good shooter. It’s really janky. Some of the weapons don’t make sense in terms of how balanced they are. The controls are also really janky. This is not really a surprise considering the game’s strength wasn’t supposed to be its shooter aspects. In fact, those parts weren’t even supposed to be there.

 Deadly Premonition is often cited as an artistic piece or a good game simply because of its story and character writing.  It has an excellent main character who was cast almost perfectly. It has a lot of eccentric characters filling the town of Greenvale to help you solve the murder mystery or help obstruct it. The end result of having an unreliable narrator works out in the game’s favour. It helped sprout pop culture references, weird humour, quirky dialogue and more. I have certainly never watched Twin Peaks but I got the allusions either way since the show was so big. Slowly uncovering how every cast member lives their lives throughout the town and every day makes you more emotionally connected with them.

 Greenvale is more of a sandbox than just a place where a crime is committed. You can play darts. You can race cars. You can do a ton of sidequests somewhere that will reward you elsewhere. You can collect trading cards??? You can carry some lady holding a pot everywhere? You can taste-test for one of your coworkers? You can do a lot of stuff that makes zero sense but I still end up enjoying it all anyway.

 It looks like a PS2 or Dreamcast game or something and I almost found that utterly endearing in the era in which it was released. The soundtrack itself is so dissonant and doesn’t always fit the situation. Sometimes the sound mixing is so all over the place that it often results in making a scene more hilarious than it should be. There’s a song that’s just… American Idiot… on the soundtrack for some reason. Along the way, you start wondering “is this game real? Am I real? Is this really happening right now?” and yes, yes it is.

 In the end, because of its cult success and getting people talking, it allowed Swery 65 to make more games. Deadly Premonition was lightning in a bottle for him. He followed up with D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die (unfortunately in limbo). He cowrote Lord of Arcana and Lord of Apocalypse. He recently released The Missing. If anything, I’m more interested in what he makes. I’m eagerly looking forward to The Good Life.

  999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Text/Puzzle-adventures, rather than pure visual novels, became a staple of some players’ libraries due in part of the popular Ace Attorney series, Professor Layton series, and whatever Mystery Case File games that were published by Nintendo. 999 is not a pure visual novel. It’s a puzzle adventure game with visual novel elements. With art by Kinu Nishimura and a story written by Kotaro Uchikoshi (who had a few visual novels under his belt), it was difficult for me to ignore this game. I was also at a point where I really wanted to get into a lot of the games that Aksys published so it was a natural choice to buy.

 A lot of the localization and language in this game was edited so that while it stays true to the spirit of the original language, a lot of care was put into making the dialogue and writing sound natural in the English language versus going line by line exactly. It worked out in the game’s favour because the script was fairly large. Based on Uchikoshi’s past games, he likes to ask a question and generally incorporate some pseudoscience in his narratives. 999’s version of pseudoscience ended up being morphogenetic fields (see: Rupert Sheldrake). This theory ended up the basis for a few characters and it is the way the story unravels. He also took inspiration from another older game of Chunsoft’s: Banshee’s Last Cry where the player is put into an unsettling position right off the bat. Indeed, 999 starts the player in media res, but the player is already in trouble when you begin to control the main character.

 The puzzles were added to the game so that it would be received well by a wider audience than just visual novel readers. They were naturally and seamlessly integrated into the experience that the game became almost wholly about the puzzle rooms and whatever flavour dialogue occurred during the puzzle rooms. A lot of inspiration seems to have been taken from browser-based escape games like the Crimson Room from 2004. Escape the Room games were a subgenre of point and click adventure games and it was nice seeing the concept integrated in a narrative experience that wasn’t Myst (see: http://www.fasco-cs.net/ for more information). Due to the puzzles being a fundamental part of the game’s story, with them getting more and more difficult, the final puzzle for the entire game at the end of the true route is both a relief and also incredibly impactful due to using both of the DS screens and also revealing a lot to the player about the narrative.

 If I had criticism for the game, I feel like it would be having to play the game repeatedly, doing the same puzzles repeatedly in order to unlock another prerequisite ending for the true ending. I did not play the later port which rectifies this but I’m not entirely sure that being able to see the branches would be great for the game either. I also feel like, just like a lot of Uchikoshi’s writing and previous games, that when the characters start cracking jokes when they have to urgently do things to not die, the tone feels a little off.

 With that said, 999 is one of the more compelling text/puzzle-adventures from last decade, and it uses its native platform to its advantage. There weren’t a lot of games that used the DS screens to convey a narrative properly but when you are faced with the revelation that the game was using the two screens for a remarkable reason, you feel like the game is a natural and powerful addition to any DS library and gives significance for the dual screens.

  Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

The funniest thing about Metal Gear Rising was that I actually disliked it at the beginning when I first started playing it. I didn’t know what I was doing half the time, and I didn’t ‘get’ the parry mechanic. At first, I guess I was playing it for the sake of playing it? It definitely took me a while to even warm up to it. The camera was obnoxious (and still gets to be obnoxious in some places), and I felt incredibly nauseous while playing it sometimes.

 It wasn’t until I got to the Mistral boss that I finally … found what I was looking for… I’m sorry. I’m serious, though. Metal Gear Rising truly shines during the boss battles. When I finished that particular boss battle, I’d reflected that I was smiling like an idiot the entire way through. I don’t think I’d fought satisfying boss battles in years prior to that. Returning to previous chapters told me that Platinum really likes to frame and teach players via trial by fire. Learn to parry yourself, here’s a test to see if you can parry well and you can get a trophy for it, here’s the final test to see if you can even parry (Monsoon). I loved that Metal Gear Rising threw a lot of what we knew about Metal Gear Solid out of the window, with a significantly interesting score, boss battles that centre around the climax of a battle (expertly done via excellent sound design as I noted in my SotY writeup this year), and a more interesting and personable version of Raiden. It relies far more on offense than defense and stealth, and that’s okay to me. It ends up separating Raiden even more from Snake.

 The final boss is a love-it-or-hate-it sort of affair, and I ended up loving every single part of it. I felt like it was one of the best final bosses in years. Don’t know how to parry? You’re fucked. Don’t know how to use the game’s other offensive rush tactics like Defensive Offense and running? Good luck. The game makes sure you try to know how to do these things before even bothering to attempt the boss, with the major roadblock being Monsoon. And if you can’t parry by then, the game brutally tells you that you aren’t doing it right by making the boss battles ramp up to significantly require you to use one of the game’s core mechanics for elegant combat. This isn’t the most elegantly-designed game whatsoever. In fact, it can be really sloppy. With that said, it’s one of the better action games I played all decade.

  Papers, Please!

Papers, Please is work. It feels like work because it is work. You can grant freedom and admittance to people, or you can just take their freedom away or not permit them to cross the border. Everything you do is controlled by the government, or by rules and regulations. If you do something wrong, you’re written up. Do enough wrong, and your pay is cut. Do enough wrong and your pay is cut multiple times, and you can’t provide enough for your family. Everything about the game just feels like work. Even right down to the end of the day when the whole thing feels like a budget calculation and spreadsheets. Everything about the game’s UI feels a lot like work. Where do you allocate space to do your job? How much money do you allocate to heat/food/medicine? It ends up feeling very tedious, but somehow fulfilling.

 You are an immigration officer in a fictional Soviet state. The interesting part of the game is that it doesn’t only feel like a job, but it also feels like government and self-evaluation. You end up studying why the government keeps regulating the border the way they do, and thinking about how mundane the job can be. You know that people’s livelihood and family lives hinge on whether or not they cross the border, and sometimes your penchant for following the rules and disallowing people across the border may be called into question when people plead with you to go through. Do you accept docked pay so you can reunite people or save people from slavery, or do you do as you’re told and live with the consequences of your actions. In a small way, your ethics are called into question. It’s a nice reminder that a lot of things, despite people being people and having their own stories, generally seem to come down to bureaucracy and pieces of paper as opposed to a full understanding of humanity or extenuating circumstances.

 I’d also like to add that Jorji is one of the best characters of 2013 to me. I think his glass half-full philosophy / if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again philosophy is something to look forward to whenever I encounter him in-game.

 In many ways, Papers, Please feels a lot like the Milgram experiment. Are you going to make cruel judgement calls to separate a family, or keep people in slavery because the authorities and higher-ups essentially tell you to do your job so you can keep your family healthy? Papers, Please in many ways is written incredibly well. It doesn’t use reams of text to make you understand the overall premise of the game but through your actions, you’re also helping to tell the story. That’s the sort of weird and wonky player “agency” that I find interesting.

  World of Final Fantasy

The Final Fantasy series had a better decade than the last decade, I feel, considering the quantity of releases increase from the previous decade.  However, it had a lot of growing pains to deal with at the beginning of the decade. Final Fantasy games sell well all the time, and more people playing games than ever, it makes sense that sales numbers continuously increase. Attach rates aren’t as large.  Final Fantasy XIV came out in 2010 and it was not a good game at all to the point of having to be structured for its 2013 re-release. Final Fantasy XIII had mixed reviews, as well as its subsequent direct sequels.  Final Fantasy All the Bravest wasn’t exactly the best mobile debut for the series. The brand also suffered from dilution – the Final Fantasy name was attached to almost anything and everything for the sake of sales, and numerous spinoffs were released and the quality varied.

 Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, originally planned to be part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis setting with Final Fantasy XIII were renamed and rebranded/redesigned to be their own titles: Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy Type-0. Both games also had mixed reviews and multiple delays. If anything, I can probably say that this decade was the most divisive for Final Fantasy fans.

 World of Final Fantasy came out during the same year Final Fantasy XV. I think I’ve made my feelings about Final Fantasy XV fairly well-known.  Perhaps my feelings about that game influenced how I felt about World of Final Fantasy but as someone who has played this series for decades (for reference: the first game is one year older than I am, and my first Final Fantasy was the first game), I felt like World of Final Fantasy was a love letter written to fans like me. I am a long-standing fan of the series over the course of decades and have been through its up and downs, and while I don’t like every game in the series (we all know how I feel about half of the games in the series, after all), I can still look at them for their influence on the rest of the series.  I also like the newer games equally as the older games and dislike and like games from all of the eras, so I don’t really have issues with how the series is represented in general unless the games are really bad.

 World of Final Fantasy feels like a Kingdom Hearts-esque exploration of the Final Fantasy games while throwing Pokemon into the mix. It involves a lot of older references as well as bringing new references in and throwing it into a presentation mode that fans of all ages can enjoy. The main characters are chibi which fits right into how the older games represented characters, but they can also grow taller to represent how the newer games are represented. You can create stacks of party members according to their height and balance well accordingly out of classic Final Fantasy enemies and characters in order to battle against other classic Final Fantasy characters, villains, and monsters.

 The game is exactly what I wanted a mainline Final Fantasy to look. It retains a cartoony look, embracing stylization while adding so much detail to the areas’ setpieces so that they also stand out while the characters move around on the map. I also felt like the score was also a brilliant blend of old and new: with Masashi Hamauzu composing the score but also remixing older Uematsu themes to fit within the context of the score. The score was loftier compared to Hamauzu’s older works and the strings, synth, and piano works incredibly well to bring the game’s world to life.

 The idea for WoFF was to try to bring younger fans into the fold, hence the Pokemon-like influence for using and rearing many classic FF enemies so that children could start to recognise them. The loftier script was also written in-mind taking into account both lighter storytelling from older FF titles and some darker bits taking into account newer Final Fantasy games. I’m not too sure that SE was very successful with bringing younger fans into the fold, but the way the game was written fit well with what I remember liking about FF for the first few games I had played. I also enjoyed that characters were chosen for their involvement to the plot versus them simply picking the most popular ones. This is why we got characters like Eiko and Shelke as well as regular FF mainstays. All of the characters were woven into the story well, as citizens of Grymoire as opposed to characters who just have their regular identities transported into Grymoire instead.

 I felt like the Pokemon mechanic was handled well. I even loved it enough to have the idea commissioned in combination with our FFXIV characters.  I liked that it changed up whatever skills you had access to, it influenced your stats, and it looked adorable to boot.

 I would absolutely love to see a mainline game made by this team because I felt like the loose style of storytelling and worldbuilding made for a very good Final Fantasy game, and in essence, WoFF was the real Final Fantasy XV to me. It felt more “Final Fantasy” than a lot of the games released in the same decade, or even compared to ones released in the previous decade. It was a nice step and touch to demonstrating that there were staff members who remembered what Final Fantasy is to older fans.

  Va-11 Hall-A

I’m too young to have a big attachment to older PC games like the ones on the MSX or the PC-88/98. But I’ve always had a fondness for their graphics and their music, like sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong time or something. It’s one of the reasons why I gravitated hard to the PC Engine—I felt like it was a way for me to finally experience stuff like that.

 Valhalla is supposed to be a bartending simulator but in reality, mixing drinks is a bit of a break and distraction between the visual novel bits. Usually if you’re stuck in a futuristic landscape akin to Bubblegum Crisis or Blade Runner, you’re asked to investigate a mystery or explore it. But nope, you’re a bartender making drinks and making enough to scrape by and pay your rent. You hear a lot about the world from various clientele while you serve them drinks but you don’t necessarily have to do anything with the information they give you.

 I worked as a medical administrator for a few years and over that time, I got to hear a lot of stories, meet some famous people (like been on TV people or youtubers or people who got paid to do things for celebrities), and just meet a lot of neat and interesting regular people. I got to hear stories about people’s health or their personal lives or witness people falling in or out of love. You don’t necessarily have to do anything with that information (in fact you can’t due to patient confidentiality), but the stories become sealed in your head. I can’t help but to think of some of these people I met for those few years or where they are now. I actually run into some of them at my current lab so I keep getting to see some of their stories. You eventually learn how quickly icebreak in situations like these to make people feel at ease or find a topic of conversation while they’re waiting. I even used my phone to gauge news because a lot of the time when I got home, I was too tired to do anything or getting news in the palm of my hand was incredibly easy to do.

 In this sense, I understood Valhalla. It may look dull and it doesn’t look special but you’re the one who makes it so that it doesn’t have a dull moment in the bar. You’re the one who has to make it enjoyable even if your pay sucks. Because you don’t want to be miserable either. It’s through the conversations with others that you learn about Jill because she has to add commentary too. Everyone has a different way of requesting something and it’s up to you to figure out how to decipher it. It’s a lot of like practice in being in the service industry.  You need to consistently gauge a conversation in order to actually give the client what they want to unlock more conversation.

 The pacing in this game may be a little slow, but it doesn’t feel like a hindrance because the writing is really good. Something always happens to keep you interested or you have to mix drinks to keep yourself on your toes. The humour comes across well, and nothing really falls flat. Part of the reason why I feel like the writing is genuine is because the game’s developers wanted to write something that reflected how they live in Venezuela, akin to laughter in the middle of despair according to the developers. The writing is balanced well with the music and the visuals which makes the whole package a wonderful experience.

 This game also has Rad Shiba so it belongs on the list by default.  

  El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

I had gone to Catholic Schools all my life. I was even in a nursery school operated by nuns when I was a toddler, and they always tried to get me to write with my right hand instead of my left (which left me ambidextrous for some things lol).  Because of my experiences with religion growing up, I absolutely had questions and doubts and concerns with metaphysics, theology, and epistemology. Every Catholic, I think, as they grow up and have to take religion classes, and having to take what the province mandates as metaphysics are somehow inserted into math and biology syllabi without even being mentioned in the coursework at all, questions it. And that’s okay. You should. The best religion and philosophy teacher I ever had growing up always said we should question everything we learn including what he taught us.

 Going through school, though, and reading the Bible and having Bible study, my friends and I always sorta wondered what it’d be like if a game was made about this stuff?  I know it may be a little sacrilegious but there are so many stories in there that would fit a game. Throughout my life, as I became acquainted with others from different branches of Christianity or other western religions, I talked with others who played games who… surprisingly had the same ideas and desires?  It probably won’t ever be done. El Shaddai is inspired by the Book of Enoch and while it is considered as non-canon in most Christian and Jewish sects, I guess it might come close to what some of us wanted.

 El Shaddai was a game that I picked up mostly because I bought almost every niche game back then. I just looked at some of the trailers, thought it looked just okay, and picked it up because I felt like Ignition was going out of business and it would be a novelty item. Ignition did not have the best reputation among the people I talked to back then. I played Lux-Pain whose localization left a lot to be desired. Nostalgia was a middling RPG. Arc Rise Fantasia’s localization left a lot to be desired despite being a good game. Deadly Premonition had an English dub already but the text localization wasn’t that great. I felt like El Shaddai was the most polished game that Ignition released. They got incredibly great voice actors, including Jason Isaacs. They developed a score attack combo ranking system for replayability. They had a fantastic art director and background art. They made two bishounen that screamed for female audiences to pay attention.

 All of it didn’t exactly work out for the time the game came out, and I always contended that the game was released before its time. Unfortunately, all the effort put into El Shaddai didn’t exactly save Ignition. I feel like if El Shaddai were released in the later half of the decade, it would have been accepted. However, I also feel like its marketing was mishandled. It doesn’t feel like a Devil May Cry successor. It shifts between genres continuously. It is very much like Nier in this regard: it is not for everyone and it has its own unique feel that sets it apart from other games.  It is also a score attack action game, not a hard character action game.

 One thing I really enjoyed about El Shaddai was that all of the setpieces aren’t exactly the same. It ranges from a watercolour painting to abstraction to 2D children art to more abstraction to Final Fantasy VII and keep going like that. It references rhythm games, 2D Platformers, racing games, action games, Devil May Cry (with its own brand of Devil Trigger to boot), and other genres to create something that syncs up very well with the rest of the game due to lore reasons: different enemies prefer different things so that’s why each environment looks different or the gameplay styles may be a little different. I’m okay with this because it shakes things up per chapter and the game doesn’t feel stale at all. You’re expected to adjust to new mechanics per area.

 The combat is a lot like Rock-Paper-Scissors, where certain weapons beat other weapons, or some bosses change which weapons they’re weak against (and the game gives you other weapons so you can adjust accordingly during fights). The weapon you wield also modify your platforming abilities (ex: one allows Enoch to dash, one weighs him down, etc), and they also vary in terms of character strength. In order to obtain G-rankings for each stage, the player needs to analyse which weapon would be the most useful for certain enemies and combo while guarding, guard-breaking, and stealing enemies’ weapons.

 I am putting El Shaddai on this list because I really enjoyed it for what it was. It’s a brilliant score attack action game with a fantastic soundtrack and fantastic art design. It made for a pleasant sensory experience and made some religious figures fairly compelling with good character designs. It’s definitely one of the most rewarding and prettiest score attack games I’ve played this decade.

  To the Moon

Everyone goes through life with regrets. I’m in my thirties now and I think I’ve done things I’ve regretted, or I didn’t other to do something and I’ve regretted that. Kan Gao was inspired by his grandfather’s illness when he was writing and making To the Moon, he’s noted that when he gets old and when his time would come, he might end up regretting some decision he’d made throughout his entire life.  Everyone goes through that when faced with introspection. You can have the courage to love, you can feel pain, you can live your life fully, or not live it enough. To the Moon explores this, and while the writing isn’t the best and can be a little messy (this gets improved on in Gao’s later sequels to this game: A Bird Story and Finding Paradise), I understand what To the Moon was trying to accomplish. To the Moon is an exploration of everything that life throws at us, and the results of the decisions made throughout our lives that touches everyone and everything around us until our time passes.

 Eventually you build up so many wishes and have a big bucket list but eventually there will come a time where you won’t remember why half of those things are on those lists.  To the Moon relates the story of Johnny Wyles, an elderly man on his deathbed with one wish: to go to the moon. The problem is that he could not remember why. The general flow of Gao’s games have involved two scientists from Sigmund Corp, specialising in wish fulfillment at the end of someone’s life, creating memories for people in their final moments to generate comfort for the patient. How ever you may feel about the moral implications of generating false memories for someone prior to their end of life, this is merely a set up for traveling through time to understand what the patient had wanted and what they’d accomplished.  

 Johnny’s character revolves around another character with an ASD. I will also note that my brother has autism (compounded with a multisystem syndrome). While the central focus was on Asperger’s Syndrome (Tony Attwood books being mentioned in the game), I’m a little happy that ASDs are being brought up in games and the game truly hit home for me. The writing may not be stellar, but I felt that the theme of the impact of medical disorders was communicated well. Particularly the theme of why communication and connections with others is so difficult for those with ASDs and those who take care of those who have ASDs. It’s easy to sympathize with the characters trying to express what they mean to each other.

 The game itself is relatively short. Regardless of its length, players must confront some uncomfortable situations and emotions that people struggle with daily or even at different points in our lives. I’m older now and I appreciate this game a little more since I’ve come to experience more of what the game had been trying to tell me a decade ago. The writing may not be the best, and it can be a little messy at times with respect to how it’s presented and written, but a lot of its messages come across as utterly genuine. Slowly unraveling the reasoning behind Johnny’s desire to go to the moon is beautiful. This game is quite human and I appreciate all three games that are a part of this subseries that came out this decade.  I am looking forward to more.

  Nier Gestalt

If you’ve played a Drakengard game or the first Nier game at all, you kind of know what you’re getting into.  Not the best graphics of the decade, plays pretty janky, having bosses that can be difficult to manage, etc.  So going into Nier Gestalt in 2010, I knew what I was getting into. Not a lot of people bothered playing this game since I don’t think it got as much promotion considering it came out during the same year a mainline Final Fantasy game got localized.  Nier also got a little scrutiny since the west got a different protagonist from the Japanese version.  I will say that this worked out in its favour, since the protagonist being one of the central character’s father versus her brother makes for a better, more interesting story than having yet another shounen protagonist.

 I will support the case that, like the Drakengard games before it, Nier Gestalt was difficult to get into. The gameplay is jank.  Easy is too easy.  Normal doesn’t drop enough stuff to warrant playing on the mode. Hard can be a little hard but eventually it evens out. I generally used spears for the charge portion of the combo but in the end it doesn’t necessarily matter what weapon type you use. It doesn’t even matter if you use magic or not unless the game prompts you to do so. It’s either broken or not and the game doesn’t have a set balance for anything. Combos are boring and you’re essentially mashing a button. Even playing through the Nightmare DLC for extra drops, it continues being like this. I was used to playing shmups so it wasn’t necessarily revolutionary that AoE attacks looked as though they were spat out from a shmup either.

 I wasn’t quite understanding why game started acquiring a cult following, because what I’d played of it was pretty boring and standard. “It’s just a regular ARPG starring an older character versus a young protagonist,” I said to myself. I guess that was the reason.  I didn’t quite understand why, even past acquiring Kaine, because I guess I accepted that there weren’t a lot of NPCs and certain towns were the way they were due to, what I surmised were, RPG conventions. It wasn’t until I finished the questline for the brothers, where their mother tried to run away with a man and abandon her children, that I finally started to understand.

 Within every substory, there was something that resonated with someone.  I couldn’t fathom why someone would want to abandon their responsibilities, and at the same time I understood. Sometimes you just want to take care of yourself. With the way the older brother sort of understood why even through his anger and disappointment, it resonated with me. I finally ‘got’ the story, so I wanted to play more. This became one of those rare games where I played only for the story and lore and abandoned any hopes of the gameplay getting better.  I fished, I upgraded weapons, I did enough sidequests for the trophies. I almost platinumed this game, but since the drop rates are so terrible for this game, I didn’t.

 I started enjoying the game for what it was. It was genuinely a fun romp where it feels like everyone taking part in the game’s design contributed something unique and something they were fond of.  If you read any interview from Emi Evans from this time period, you’d realise language is something she’s particularly fond of, so much of the composition and lyrical content of every song was a phoneme from any language that would make it sound like an evolved or a sort of Esperanto version of a current language. This came into play with the game’s lore, and many of the interviews were interesting to read from back then.

 Many of the game’s stages borrowed from different genres of video games. There were the obvious shmup references, the rail shooter reference, the visual novel reference, the Resident Evil/fixed angle horror game reference, the Shadow of the Colossus references, the 2D platformer references, the Zelda references, the top-down puzzle game references, etc. For what the game lacked with respect to its combat, the game excelled at reliving genres and putting maps together in such a way that it felt like an ode to other games and genres that inspired it. The City of Façade’s language being a loose phoneme reconstruction of Japanese felt right at home with the dungeon’s Zelda references complete with Zelda fanfare for me. The Forest of Myth being one long visual novel was so hilarious and unique at the same time.  

 Playing more of the game and opening up the lore with every playthrough was neat. I don’t particularly like when games waste my time, but Nier made each new playthrough worth it. Killing bosses quickly for a trophy, redoing dungeons to see the enemies’ perspectives, and unlocking more of the story and learning more about the world that came from a Drakengard ending felt satisfying. As someone who was studying linguistics at the time, constructing nonsense words from drops out of different morphemes to act as accessories or armour was really amazing for me.

 Much of Nier felt organically put together, from characters’ writing and what they wanted from each other, to the dungeon design, to maybe even the combat design… it felt like a truly special game made from the heart with as much lore as it could possibly include. I had purchased the Nightmare DLC primarily to get weapon drops and while it isn’t nearly as interesting as the rest of the game, it has some implications for the lore. The music and resulting soundscape lends so much to the worldbuilding and includes many peoples’ languages from the area with French, Japanese, English, German, etc phonemes thrown around to sound utterly organic and special.

 At the end of this, I have come to realise that despite saying to myself that I never played this game for the game… I’ve been lying to myself this entire time. I actually did play the game for its game parts. Those are the bits I remember the most about it, and they’re the reasons why I genuinely loved the game. It’s unforgettable for me and it’s why it’s one of my favourites in general.

  Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

I did not care about MMOs in my late 20s because I was far more focused on finishing school and actually working hard in my field. I think by the end of university, I barely played games because I literally didn’t have time for them. I probably stressed myself out a lot. I threw myself into a semester where I had what felt like 500 evaluations, had to study a lot, had to write papers, and I ended up breaking up with my ex-boyfriend amicably. I was on my own a lot and to be honest, I think I felt okay that way. I think maybe others thought I was unapproachable.

 My best friend now turned fiancé had been begging me to start playing Final Fantasy XIV for a really long time, since he was in the beta prior to its 2.0 release. I made excuses and said I won’t play until a speedster class was implemented since nothing really stuck out at me. In reality, I was mostly busy. Well, Ninja got implemented late 2014, so I ran out of excuses. I got a copy of ARR but to be honest, I didn’t have time for it and I didn’t play it much so I didn’t bother to try harder since my focus was elsewhere.

 Luckily, I got into a semester where I didn’t have that much coursework to think about so I ended up playing XIV more. I caught up during ARR and really my intention was to only play through ARR and finish the story and quit. But my fiancé’s friends were so nice and welcoming to me. When the servers shut down for Heavensward maintainance and I’d finished the ARR storyline literally that night, I made the conscious decision to buy Heavensward. By that time, I was falling a little too hard for my best friend and I really liked my newfound friends. I wasn’t ready to leave Eorzea yet.

 Of course, I had some quests to finish up during Early Access so I didn’t get the opportunity to play with anyone I knew during the main storyline for Heavensward. Heavensward was leaps and bounds above anything I experienced in ARR. The story was well-written, the English voices were recast and given better direction, character deaths were meaningful, a smaller cast made for good character building, the environments were large and you could only assume things happened in each area eventually (they didn’t in the long run), each area was different, it reminded me of Canada… Heavensward made me feel at home.

 Almost every job felt built on, since nothing was really truly culled. A lot of what you got felt like an extension of what you already did. The three new jobs didn’t start out too well or too balanced. Machinist was a mess. Astrologian felt weird. Dark Knight had some growing pains but probably performed the best out of the three once the Alexander raid was implemented given that its specialty at the time centered on magic defense. I was one of the five people who really liked bowmage since it required you to think before you cast but you still did a lot of damage if you thought before firing. I swapped to an omnihealer main officially halfway through the patches because my fiancé requested it.

 Heavensward had a lot of growing pains. For all the team did for the base game, they took a six-month vacation to recharge. 3.1 wasn’t really worth the wait and a lot of people quit the game or stopped playing because nothing really meaningful was added to the game other than a faceroll raid, poorly-tuned exploration missions, and two dungeons. Gordias earlier in the expansion nearly killed the raiding community as a whole.  3.2 didn’t fare too much better, though it did add the best raid tier that has yet to be topped. 3.3 was when FFXIV solidified itself as an MMO with a grand story to tell, with one of the best conclusions a Final Fantasy game had seen in almost a decade. The sound design was near-perfect for this patch, and it was when a lot of us genuinely felt comfortable with the game and its future. Heavensward wasn’t perfect; it still had its missteps and balancing issues, but it was the most comfortable and profoundly skilled I’d ever felt with the game.

 Final Fantasy XIV may not be what it used to be.  I feel old and I feel like I’ve played the game for a really long time.  Now while it’s riding the wave of success, currently having the best story Final Fantasy has seen in a very long time, I can’t help but to remember Heavensward when we finally felt assured about the game and it felt like a cohesive gift to players who were active at that time.  I got to know so many people during Heavensward, and now I’m engaged to my best friend partially due to our experiences together playing at that time.

  Undertale

The late half of 2015 was a really bad year for me. The first half was really great. I started playing FFXIV often, I finished the hardest year I’ve ever had of my 9 years of university so far with high grades and was going full-on hard into my residency year, I fell in love with my best friend.  I was pretty happy since I finally felt very successful.

 If anyone can recall (or this may be new to the person who is reading this), towards the end of 2015 my dad was falsely accused by our neighbour of possession of a weapon (it was a gardening tool), and he had a restraining order put against him so he couldn’t live with us anymore.  My little brother is severely disabled so that’s why I still lived at home so I could help out.  Without my dad around, it was so much harder.  I came home from my days at the hospital every day after a 12-hour day, had to babysit my brother since my mom still cooked food to carry for my dad who had to live at my aunt’s, somehow had to find time to study for my licensing exam and do some work for school and my thesis, had to find time to socialise a tiny bit otherwise I’d go crazy, maybe had to take my brother to his appointments by coming home a little early, and then had to find whatever time I had left to sleep.  I stopped posting on message boards because I literally had no time to do so and I wouldn’t have anything of value to contribute to discussions either.  

 I detached myself from a lot of people. It was actually kind of lonely. It was really hard. I lashed out at people when I shouldn’t have. I don’t look back on those days other than the bright spots with fondness at all.

 Before that, everyone was telling me to play Undertale but I sort of didn’t want to? I felt like the fanbase was sort of making the game unapproachable around the time it came out. By the end of the year, I was so out of the loop about games that I didn’t give a hoot.  A friend of mine, Shadow Hog, bought the game for me on Steam. I still have the e-mail message for it.

 My now-fiancé got his own copy so we could play it together because at that point I didn’t want to do much of anything alone. I was actually sinking deeper into depression and verging on a mental breakdown. I was not mentally sound and every single week it felt like someone had to save me from doing something stupid.

 I started Undertale and I didn’t really think much of it at the start.  I can’t remember when it started clicking with me but maybe it was around the time I got into a battle with Tsunderplane and Vulkin and got to Hotland that I gave up and started having fun with it because it was just… silly. It was time to let down your hair and have some fun for once and not feel completely guilty about it.

 The idea of having to win and achieving a certain ending by sparing your enemy isn’t necessarily new – SMT’s demon negotiation, Silent Hill 2’s morality system, and MGS3’s fight with the Sorrow have some sort of sparing mechanic. The hybrid of a turn-based battle system with enemy negotiation, as well as dodge system inspired by a shmup makes every encounter both strategic (ie: having to avoid bullets while also sparing enemies in a set order per battle) and consistently active.  Unless you are going for a certain other ending, you cannot just sit there and hold down the attack button and expect to win.  That said, this makes a lot of encounters a little longer than a standard RPG battle, but the flavour text for each uniquely-designed enemy makes many of the battle worth it. Undertale isn’t a hard game unless you’re playing on a certain route. But I don’t necessarily think the gameplay part of Undertale speaks properly for it. The dungeon maps are relatively simple. They all have their little gimmicks. The battle system is relatively easy to understand.

 The reason why Undertale has such a prolific fanbase is primarily because of its character writing and ability to make and use memes properly enough that they catch on. Many of the characters are easily encountered early, are easy to draw (propels a lot of fanart), and understand due to the character writing. What also helps is that the game is 4-6 hours long, and it came out at the right time with the right kind of word of mouth.  Undertale could have easily fallen into the sea like so many other RPGs before it but it didn’t.  My fiancé and I were shopping for work clothes one day at a store that sells business clothing, construction clothing, and scrubs. He was wearing a shirt with the Delta Rune on it since he loves game shirts that are relatively subtle. Even then, one of the sales clerks pointed it out and was pretty excited to see it.  It was pretty crazy to both of us how popular Undertale had gotten.  I don’t think the popularity was unwarranted. I think it’s a fantastic game, helped by a considerably lengthy varied and catchy soundtrack. Granted, I was not as exposed to how explosive its popularity was when it came out. But I understood why so many people liked it. It wasn’t for its gameplay.

 As I progressed through Undertale, instead of thinking of the lore (which was well-written), I was thinking of how the monsters treated your character with respect and love because you treated them that way.  They didn’t go out of their way to fear you, and welcomed you as one of their own.  In the end, they were hesitant to even kill you, and you were hesitant to kill them.  Even then you still had the spare/save commands.

 At the very end, you only had the Save command.

 And that’s how I felt. When Hopes and Dreams started playing, I couldn’t help but to cry. When I was repeatedly nudged to press the Save command, I didn’t actually feel like the game nudged me to do so. That was something I wanted to do. Just remembering how depressed I was when I started playing this game and then progressing to its true end with Hopes and Dreams and SAVE the World playing, I couldn’t help but to feel like my hopes and dreams were still alive.

 Even if I was going through a really hard time in my life, hope was still there as long as I had people around me that supported me all the way through. That was the time in my life that I realised who my real friends were. And in the end, I felt like Undertale told me my friends saved me and that my dreams weren’t crushed, now matter what threw at me.

 And that’s why it’s my game of the decade. It may not be the most perfect game that came out this decade or the objectively best-crafted, but it did so much for me. When I was prompted for my game of the decade, Undertale was the first thing that popped into my head. I didn’t question it. I just knew. I don’t think we’ll get another Undertale again in my lifetime, but I’m glad to say that I gave it a shot and I love it for what it is.

#games of the decade #gotd

[recentanimenews]

Anime Awards 2021: Meet the Judges & Categories Revealed!

As the insanity that has been 2020 comes to a close, we begin to look towards the future, and to the awards show that captures the best of the year in the world of anime: the Anime Awards! Today, we’ll be formally introducing you to our incredible class of judges from around the world who helped curate and craft the nominees we’ll soon be revealing. But first — we would like to introduce you to the categories for this year’s event!

    Anime of the Year <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Animation <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Opening Sequence (OP) <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Ending Sequence (ED) <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Boy <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Girl Best Score <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Performance by a Voice Actor (Japanese) <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Performance by a Voice Actor (English) <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Director <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Character Design <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Protagonist <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Antagonist <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Fight Scene <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Couple <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Drama <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Fantasy <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Best Comedy

  If these categories look familiar, that’s for good reason; they’re the same ones we used last year. After carefully considering voting behavior, audience feedback, social media engagement, and insights from industry leaders, we were happy to find a collection of categories that satisfied the most needs for the most people, and allowed the greatest number of anime to be celebrated with the world. The nominees themselves are one of the most exciting parts of the Anime Awards, and in just one short month, the six nominees per category will be shared with the world on the Anime Awards Website. Please keep an eye out for more details, and fun ways to share your votes and predictions with your fellow fans.

    Last year, we added more judges than ever before — that is, until now! As both the audience of Crunchyroll and the Anime Awards becomes increasingly international, so too has the panel of judges. With more than fifty judges representing dozens of unique countries and cultures around the world from all walks of life, I can safely say that this year’s class of judges is the best the Anime Awards has ever had.

  The judges for the Anime Awards play a critical role, determining the nominees for every category in an independent capacity, based entirely on their own critical perspectives and opinions of the anime released in the last year. Judges were hand-selected by Crunchyroll’s community team based on their reputation, regard, and credibility, and represent large swaths of the huge diversity that can be found in the anime fandom at large.

  Just as with last year, the judge nomination process will also go towards the final winners of each Anime Award, weighed 70:30 with fan votes. Based on the last four years of Anime Awards, we found that this ratio achieved the most meaningful results: the fan vote was impactful and flipped several categories, but the awards were not simply a popularity contest and many underrated titles were still able to take home awards. We saw more positivity than ever before with last year’s changes, and so we're happy to keep this same ratio for this year's event.

  As a note the bios you’ll see below were written by the judges in their language of choice and have been adopted for your pleasure in whichever language you’re reading right now. Beyond translation, they have only been altered by the Crunchyroll team for clarity. Without further delay, please meet our judges for the 2021 Anime Awards!

  Meet the Judges!

  Ajay Stewart     Ajay, better known online as “AnimeAjay”, is a British anime fan, specialising in all things related to animation. His YouTube and Twitter presence are focused on the behind-the-scenes at Toei Animation, and has become the go-to source for fans looking to know the ins and outs of animation, and who was responsible for their favourite scenes.

Alfonso "Fonzy" Ortiz     Alfonso "Fonzy" Ortiz is the Senior Manager for qdopp Inc. and Editor-in-Chief for Honey's Anime. Originally from Texas, he was a cook for 13 years, lived in LA and Tokyo where he found his dream job working in the anime and gaming industry, and has just under a decade of experience as well. Honey’s Anime is his passion and loves helping to bring as much great content to readers about the anime, manga, and gaming industry. It’s the best place for anime enthusiasts as we are all fans!

Andrew McDanell     After consuming anime for over 25 years, Andrew started up the Otaku Spirit Animecast podcast with his brother, Chris.  Connecting with fans from many countries across the world, their goal has always been to break from the mold and serve a community with a positive and entertaining view of the fandom they love so much.  With over 1300 anime titles under his belt and passing 900 anime reviews recorded, Andrew has enjoyed giving every show a chance and never falls onto the 3 episode rule.

Antonio Escudero     Antionio Escudero has been a fan of anime, manga, and video games for over 30 years and considers it his lifestyle. He's currently part of the editorial team of Misión Tokyo, where he writes to promote both his passion for and the legal consumption of Japanese culture.

Bruno De La Cruz     Journalist for AnimeLand magazine and the French anime/manga press since 2014.

Burak Dogan     Burak Dogan is an editor and press contact at the German anime news website Anime2You. Besides covering News and reviewing countless anime and manga releases on the German market, he can also be met at various conventions. Since 2011, he has watched over 1,000 individual shows.

bxakid (Julien)     Julien, or bxakid is a french content creator and journalist for Webedia. Anime enthusiast forever, one waifu at a time. Caitlin Enger    Caitlin Moore has been an anime fan since it cost $30 for a two-episode VHS tape. She has been writing about anime every chance she’s gotten since high school, and now is a staff writer for Anime Feminist and contributes regularly to Anime News Network as well as running panels at conventions and podcasting every chance she gets. She analyzes anime through a progressive, intersectional lens and has a deep love of shojo and josei manga and anime.

Caroline Segarra     Working as an animator, journalist, streamer, and voice-over artist, Caroline's specialties include Japan, anime, manga, and Japanese music. Caroline is also founder of the audiovisual production company Fantastic Raccoon, is currently on LeStream, and has worked at Nolife, Japan FM, Japan LifeStyle.

Clarissa Graffeo     Clarissa Graffeo is one-third of the Anime World Order podcast and occasional contributing writer for Otaku USA magazine. As a fan of anime and manga for over 20 years that makes her practically ancient by anime fan and Hollywood standards, and she should probably have more to show for it. Clarissa has run numerous panels at East coast conventions both alone and with her fellow AWO hosts, on a variety of topics such as BL, Black Jack, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, anime openings, and building plastic model kits. In both the podcast and convention panels, she attempts to balance detailed discussions of individual works and the industry with accessibility to new viewers, and is hopefully successful at least some of the time.

Daryl Surat     Having just turned 40, Daryl Surat is a revenant otaku bound in human flesh and er, NOT inked in blood. Having spent the majority of over 25 years as an anime fan existing in near isolation, trapped in the MMO that is social media, the 2020 quarantine hasn’t really been noticeable! As a contributor to Otaku USA Magazine (https://ift.tt/187UJdS) as well as the Anime World Order podcast (www.animeworldorder.com), Daryl is A HUNDRED PERCENT SURE all of the deserving nominations were proposed by him.

Михаил Судаков     Creator of the KG-Portal.ru website, anime lover with 20 years of experience, admirer of Makoto Shinkai, Hayao Miyazaki and P.A. Works. Big fan and collector of retro games, retro computers and retro consoles. Dawn H    Dawn (aka "Usamimi") is the producer/host of The Anime Nostalgia Podcast, a mix of waxing nostalgic with fellow older fans while introducing younger fans to older titles! The podcast also serves as an oral history from before things like streaming & social media were commonplace, and how anime & manga fandom has always been diverse. She's used her knowledge to write for outlets like Anime News Network and Crunchyroll, & has helped on multiple anime releases from AnimEigo & Discotek Media.

Dennis Vsesvyatskyi     CEO of 2x2 tv-channel, home of adult animation in Russia. 2x2 is broadcasting international animation and anime-hits since 2007 and has it's own animation studio. Brand 2x2 has a significant cultural status among russian viewers and fans of animation and is expanding it's influence every year with new shows, art-statements and collaborations. Our motto is: "Don't grow up, it's a trap!".

Diego Lima     IGN Brazil reporter, writing about the entertainment industry since 2014. Started career as a host for Gazeta Games, on Radio Gazeta, and then as the host of a gaming radio show at Band FM, discussing classic titles. Joined IGN Brazil in 2017, as a gaming and anime specialist. When Diego is not writing about horror games and fighting games, he's writing about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Naruto, BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS, Attack on Titan, Yashahime and many other series.

Eunice Ibama     Eunice Ibama started @blackgirlsanime as a simple meme page in 2017 as an escape during one of the hardest times of her life—without many hopes attached to it. As an outlet for her own struggles, she began to grow a community. Then, as BGA grew, the hope to create a safe space for black women that love anime and its culture blossomed. Cue the adding on the fearsome foursome of Shanequa, Bri, Kim, and Chels and it was like the stars aligned for the brand. Emboldened by their unshakeable bond with each other and the passion that brought them together in the first place, the team buckled down and got to work making Black Girls Anime, LLC the best brand that it could be. Now equipped with an editorial website, ongoing partnerships with brands like Netflix and VIZ Media, and much more in the works the page has rapidly grown into a network that influences and advocates for not only black women, but people of color of all ages and backgrounds that feel underrepresented in the anime and nerd-centric communities.

Evgeniya "Jenya" Davidyuk     Jenya Davidyuk was born and raised in Novosibirsk, Russia, where she also graduated State University. Since 2005 she has been living and working in Tokyo, Japan as a seiyuu (voice actor), hosting radio and TV programs, and consulting on Russian language in anime and film production. As a part of her seiyuu career, she sings with Anime & Game Symphony project under Japanese conductor Kenichi Shimura, performing live concerts in Japan and Russia. Jenya has an N1 level certificate on the Japanese language proficiency test.

Geoff Thew     "Geoff Thew is a veteran video essayist who's spent the last 5 years talking about anime on his youtube channel, Mother's Basement. When he's not obsessively analyzing the little details in anime, from easter eggs in openings to fight scene choreography, he likes to help those who can't watch anime full time find better shows to fill the time they do have. Geoff and his partner Yazy live in beautiful BC, Canada, under the tyrannical rule of their three cats, Kuro, Junkrat, and Spaghetti.

Gerald Rathkolb     With a history of anime going back over 30 years, Gerald has has a connection to anime longer than most have been alive. Having started as part of the Robotech generation Gerald quickly outgrew that and is currently part of the Anime World Order podcast, the longest running anime-only podcast out there. A frequent writer for Otaku USA and contributor for Anime News Network, Gerald will continue to butt in where he's not welcome for the foreseeable future.

Hannah Collins     Based in the UK, Hannah is the Anime/Manga Feature Lead for CBR. As well as CBR, she has written about anime and manga for sites including The Mary Sue, Anime Feminist, Ranker, and WatchMojo, after getting her start in the blogging world with angry feminist rants and silly listicles about The Twilight Saga. A child of the ‘90s, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cardcaptor Sakura are her all-time anime and manga faves; more recently, she’s become obsessed with Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man, and Dr. Stone.

Jacob Parker Dalton     Jacob Parker-Dalton is an otaku journalist and writer for OTAQUEST. He has been watching anime and reading manga for the better part of 10 years, stemming from a childhood infatuation with Studio Ghibli. All he wants is for someone to adapt the rest of Medaka Box, the greatest manga of all time. His style icons are both Naoki Urasawa and Bob Dylan in equal measure. James Perkins    James Perkins is the Lead Anime Writer for the UK-based publication STARBURST MAGAZINE. A fan of this breathtaking art form for almost 25 years, he lives and breathes all things Anime. This is his first time as a judge for The Anime Awards and can't wait to celebrate this year's contenders.

Jazmine Moore     Jazmine Moore—known on TikTok as kiri.jaz—describes herself as a young Black woman who enjoys watching anime and creating anime/cosplay related content. She's also an artist who hopes to inspire others to believe that no matter who you are, you can love anime and enjoy the world that we created as a family.

Julio Velez     Julio Velez is a journalist and critic who has specialized in anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture for more than 15 years. He is also a promoter and enthusiast of Japanese culture and dubbing in Latin America and works as Editor-in-Chief at Otaku-Shi in Mexico's Cine PREMIERE magazine.

Kaho Shibuya     Kaho Shibuya is a Japanese talent, author, cosplayer and anison DJ in Tokyo. She has been passionate about manga and anime for her entire life as a 90s girl, who also started streaming as a Twitch partner in May 2020. Kambole Campbell    Kambole Campbell is a freelance critic based in London in the UK, writing and speaking on animation as well as other film and TV for the likes of Empire, Thrillist, Polygon, All The Anime, Sight & Sound, Little White Lies, the BBC, and others.

Kate Sanchez     Kate Sánchez is the co-founder and EIC of But Why Tho? A Geek Community, a website dedicated to uplifting marginalized voices in pop culture. She is also a Rotten Tomatoes Certified Critic and member of the Austin Film Critics Association. In addition to writing, Kate is also a host on But Why Tho? the podcast, where she and her co-hosts discuss pop culture, and a host on Did You Have To?, a podcast dedicated uplifting brown and Black women in anime.

  Miki Koch Miki is the host and editor at Sumikai's Rolling Sushi podcast. She love calm and wholesome anime and like to consume anime-centric YouTube videos.   

Krystal Shanelle     Krystal is a 25-year-old content creator pushing the One Piece agenda. An anime fan since elementary school—with both the first and favorite series being Naruto—Krystal is most proud of cosplaying as Sakura from Naruto and Raven from Teen Titans. Krystal is currently studying animation and visual effects in Los Angeles with the dream of working on live-action anime, and is excited to be a judge for the Crunchyroll Awards!

Kwok-Wai Hanson     Kwok-Wai Hanson is a Writer/Host/Consultant within the anime industry. Since 2013, he has been creating content focused on data aggregation and community polls amongst seasonal anime series. Through his content creation, he has worked closely with various publishers from Japan and abroad within the industry. Currently, Kwok is the head of social at Mangamo, a manga subscription platform. He is also a host seen at Anime Expo and Crunchyroll Expo, including this year's Virtual Crunchyroll Expo.

Lauren Orsini     Lauren is a blogger and writer for outlets like Anime News Network and Forbes. She lives, works, and builds Gunpla in the Washington, DC suburbs.

Łukasz Kaczmarek     You don't know him, but you know his work. Łukasz Kaczmarek, also known as lukeatlook, is the person responsible for the Internet's most viral anime recommendation charts of the last decade, put together based on years of experience introducing his friends, students, and family to the world of anime. Sysadmin by trade, he's a vocal member of the anime community both on the Internet and the local Polish fandom, where he manages the English program at the biggest fan convention in Europe, Pyrkon, attended annually by over 40 000 unique guests from Poland and all of Europe.

Lynzee Loveridge     As executive editor of Anime News Network, Lynzee has the unique position of knowing what's tracking with the critics and with viewers in the anime fandom. She not only writes her own reviews every season but also reads everything from ANN's editorial staff! Outside of work, She's just a magical girl living in a Junji Ito world.

Maria Luiza Barros Maria Luiza, also known as Moo, is an actress, cosplayer and creates online content about anime and manga in Brazil since 2016. She's half of the duo behind Bunka Pop, a widely known anime and Japanese culture video series that were one of the most popular shows on the cable channel PlayTV. Now, Moo also works as a host on Bentô, an anime talk show created by Omelete, the biggest pop culture portal of the entire Brazilian internet.

Matheus Chami     A filmmaker who is passionate and bold when it comes to pop culture. Have a problem to solve? Call Chami!

Matt Schley     Matt Schley writes about anime for The Japan Times, Otaku USA Magazine, and elsewhere. He lives in Tokyo.

Megan Peters     Megan Peters is the editorial lead for anime coverage at ComicBook.com. As an entertainment journalist, she enjoys series such as Fullmetal Alchemist and Princess Jellyfish. Rumor has it she also likes K-pop and and comics as well!

  Michael Sudakov (Михаил Судаков) Creator of the KG-Portal.ru website, anime lover with 20 years of experience, admirer of Makoto Shinkai, Hayao Miyazaki and P.A. Works. Big fan and collector of retro games, retro computers and retro consoles.

Mohammed Naami     Mohammed Naami is the founder of Ai Show group, the biggest community for anime and manga in the Arabic speaking world, and was the Middle East representative in Anime Japan 2019, Saudi Arabia - Riyadh entertainment season Ambassador of 2019, and a host in Saudi Arabia Anime Expo 2019, the biggest Anime festival in the region.

Nino Kerl     Nino Kerl is the founder and producer of NinotakuTV and NinotakuDE. Since his early childhood, this Munich-based journalist has been an avid fan of both anime and Japan as a whole. Thus, his YouTube channel and news website are also heavily centered around Japanese pop culture.

Orophin Ancalimon / Денис Боровский     Orophin Ancalimon has been an active member of the Russian anime community for over ten years.  A person who has watched more than 1,500 anime of different genres, a blogger and creator of the Betrayed Expectations YouTube channel, where he analyzes various trends in anime, and also shares his impressions of interesting TV shows and films.  Recently write a column for Crunchyroll Russia.  His special interest is meha and maho-shojo anime, but at the same time he tries not to miss a single high-profile novelty.

  Priscila Souza Ganiko     A Brazilian entertainment journalist with a burning passion for anime, K-pop, and game related content, some of Priscila's favorite things are stories with good character development, bowls of ramen, emotional and inspiring OSTs, meaningful action sequences, and a great redemption arc, especially since "evil" characters end up being so irresistible.

Rafael Brito     Nicknamed 'Jiback', for over 7 years Rafael Brito has been editor-in-chief at JBox, one of the oldest Brazilian websites devoted to anime, manga, tokusatsu and all the japanese pop culture information.

Ricardo Santiago     Ricardo Santiago, better known as Rik, works as a content creator since 2008, producing a number of different, irreverent and creative segments on his YouTube channel and his livestreams. One of his most popular segments, Vamos Falar De... (Let's Talk About...), went on to become a succesful standalone channel.

Ryo Koarai     Ryo Koarai is an anime watcher and columnist at Kawadon-entertainment in Japanese talent agency, Miki-production. She watches over 100 anime titles aired and distributed in Japan every week since 2012, thus watches anime more than anyone else in Japan today. She writes anime-related columns on Yahoo! News Japan and is often invited to national TV news programs as a guest commentator. Additionally, she studies anime from an academic perspective as a Ph.D. candidate at Hokkaido University.

Semyon Kostin     Semyon is a staff journalist for online media DTF and regularly writes about anime, games, and movies. He has been watching anime since the mid-90s and still continues.

Sloan Lester     Known as Sloan The Female Otaku on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, Sloan is back to help judge the awards for a third time. Otaku isn't just for show, as she's seen over 300 anime and continues to educate others on anime across all platforms.

Sydney Sures     Anime content creator on Tiktok with the handle @morallygreyismyfavcolor. Long time anime fan, wildly over active imagination, and too much time on her hands. Wants to be a ninja, but knows she bruises way too easily; settles for reading fanfiction instead. Overshares her anime-centered daydreams on social media for others who share her same brand of crazy.

Theo Ellis     Theo J Ellis is the Founder of Anime Motivation, the largest anime site in the UK. And the biggest site dedicated to anime quotes and life lessons.

Tristan Gallant     Tristan "Arkada" Gallant is a Canadian YouTuber known for reviewing Japanese animation with his series Glass Reflection since early 2009, gaining a following of over 500K subscribers. With a variety of red outfits and overly enthusiastic expressions, he has displayed his passion for anime since his start, covering everything from shows like Mob Psycho 100 and Shirobako to related topics such as anime legality and industry support.

Valentin Paquot     Between the 80s and 90s France had what they call the "Generation Club Dorothée," a generation blessed with hours of anime on National TV. Nursed with high quality classic like Touch, Kimagure Orange Road, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, and many more, Valentin got hooked. Now, thanks to simulcast services, the availability of anime has never been so great. Valentin genuinely likes all kinds of anime, but has a particular sweet tooth for slice of life stories and worships Akemi Takada.

Quoc Viet Nguyen     Viet Nguyen is a video games journalist and host at Rocket Beans TV (YouTube & Twitch). He discusses anime and manga in his monthly podcast "Nani?! - Der Anime-Talk" and streams various games on his own Twitch channel. On Twitter, Instagram and Twitch, you can find him @Pixelviet.

Nezu aka "Madara's Daughter" Madara's Daughter is a content creator who dwells in the Anime Kingdom 24/7, cosplays, and would at least like to think she's funny!

By: Miles Thomas

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[egyptbra6-blog]

Around the Horn: Cubs will rely on INF stars

In the weeks leading up to the start of Spring Training, MLB.com has been going Around the Horn, examining different facets of the Cubs' roster. In the final installment this week: Infielders and catchers.

There is no shortage of star power within the Cubs' infield.

In the weeks leading up to the start of Spring Training, MLB.com has been going Around the Horn, examining different facets of the Cubs' roster. In the final installment this week: Infielders and catchers.

There is no shortage of star power within the Cubs' infield.

Kris Bryant already has a pile of hardware to his credit -- not to mention historic bragging rights on creating the final out to clinch the 2016 World Series. Javier Baez has electrified fans with his jaw-dropping tags, slides and home runs. His breakout showing last year nearly netted him the National League MVP Award. Anthony Rizzo has been a source of stability, while Ben Zobrist has brought both versatility and veteran leadership.

This is not a group without concerns, though. Shortstop Addison Russell will begin the season by serving a suspension for violating MLB's Domestic Violence Policy. Even when he comes back, Russell is not a sure thing, coming off his worst season in the big leagues. Bryant is coming back from a season-changing injury, Zobrist is not getting any younger, and look no further than catcher Willson Contreras for a combination of overflowing talent and enigmatic results.

To get where they want to go, the Cubs will need their stars to play like stars in 2019, and that starts with the cast of characters around the infield dirt. Here's a look at Chicago's infield and catching situations.

First base There are few questions about this spot. Rizzo has been a source of offensive consistency (he's averaged 30 homers and 100 RBIs over the past five years combined) to go along with plus defense (two NL Gold Glove Awards). Zobrist and catcher Victor Caratini offer backup options for first, and both Bryant or Ian Happ can handle innings there in a pinch.

Number to know: .905 OPS That was Rizzo's OPS after his slow April. He posted a .303/.393/.512 slash line in the 135 games that followed his rough first month (.448 OPS).

Video: Zobrist talks 2018 season, looking toward 2019

Second base At the start of the season, the Cubs will likely mix and match at second base between Zobrist and Daniel Descalso, who can each play multiple positions. For the season's first month, Baez is expected to patrol shortstop, filling in for the suspended Russell. Manager Joe Maddon can get creative here based on platoon splits and how the rest of the defense is aligned for any given game. The versatile David Bote could also serve as a backup option for second. Happ has experience at the spot, too.

Number to know: 5 Defensive Runs Saved Baez had five DRS in 699 2/3 innings at second base last season, compared to five DRS in 1,530 career innings at shortstop. Defensively, the Cubs are best with Baez on the right side of the infield.

Shortstop Russell is in the midst of serving a 40-game suspension, making him ineligible to suit up for the Cubs until May 3. He is currently going through a treatment protocol given to him by both the Cubs and MLB. If he does not meet the standards, Chicago can terminate his non-guaranteed contract. In the meantime, the club has the NL MVP Award runner-up in Baez, who hit .290 with 34 homers, 83 extra-base hits, 111 RBIs and an .881 OPS last year. Bote represents the third-stringer at short.

Number to know: 80 wRC+ Off-field issues aside, Russell has seen his offensive production drop over the past couple years. The shortstop had an 80 wRC+ last year, indicating he was 20 percent below the MLB average. That was down from 85 in '17 and 95 in '16.

Video: Bastian on how Bryant's health is key for Cubs in '19

Third base The Cubs are counting on a return to health for Bryant, who saw his slugging percentage drop dramatically (.460 in '18 vs. .546 in the previous two years combined) due to a left shoulder problem in 2018. The former NL Rookie of the Year Award (2015) and MVP Award ('16) winner ended the season hitting .272 with 13 homers, 52 RBIs, an .834 OPS and a 125 wRC+. Backup options for third include Bote, Descalso, Zobrist, Happ and Baez.

Number to know: 69.3 percent That was Bryant's rate of pulled ground balls in 2018, marking the highest percentage among right-handed batters (minimum 75 grounders), according to Statcast™. Grounders were a major issue in the Cubs' second-half offensive slump. Over the final two months, Chicago ranked last in MLB with a 47.8 percent grounders rate.

Video: Willson Contreras is the No. 5 catcher right now

Catchers No catcher caught more innings (1,109 2/3) than Contreras did last season and the Cubs will be leaning on him a lot again this year. Chicago will be hoping to get more of the version of Contreras who slashed .277/.366/.442 over the first four months and was voted the NL's starting All-Star catcher. This spring, Contreras plans on tackling the issues that plagued him both in the batter's box and behind the plate. Caratini is the backup catcher.

Number to know: 0.5 degrees That was Contreras' average launch angle over the final two months last season, representing the second-lowest mark in MLB (minimum 100 results). It was 9.4 degrees on average in the first four months combined.

Jordan Bastian covers the Cubs for MLB.com. He previously covered the Indians from 2011-18 and the Blue Jays from 2006-10. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, follow him on Twitter @MLBastian and Facebook.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/cubs-will-rely-on-infield-star-power-in-2019/c-303598994

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[deniscollins]

‘A Slap in the Face’: Black Veterans on Bases Named for Confederates

Black service members make up about 17 percent of all active-duty military personnel.  There are 10 major Army installations named for generals who led Confederate troops — all in the former states of the Confederacy — as well as many streets and buildings on military academy campuses that are among at least 1,500 symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces in the United States. If you were on a military panel, would you rename 10 military bases currently named after Confederate military leaders since they engaged in race related treasonous behavior: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

When Timothy Berry was recruiting black students for West Point, where he served as class president in 2013, he often reflected on his senior year, when he lived in the Robert E. Lee barracks. It bothered him then; it bothers him now.

“I was trying to tell black and brown students that they would have a home there,” said Mr. Berry, who served as an Army captain with the 101st Airborne Division from 2013 to 2018. “It sent a very strong mixed message.”

For many black service members, who make up about 17 percent of all active-duty military personnel, the Pentagon’s decision to consider renaming Army bases bearing the names of Confederate officers seems excruciatingly overdue. Generations of black service members signed up for the military to defend the values of their country, only to be assigned to bases named after people who represent its grimmest hour.

“It is really kind of a slap in the face to those African-American soldiers who are on bases named after generals who fought for their cause,” said Jerry Green, a retired noncommissioned officer who trained at Ft. Bragg, N.C., which is named for a Confederate general, Braxton Bragg. “That cause was slavery.”

There are 10 major Army installations named for generals who led Confederate troops — all in the former states of the Confederacy — as well as many streets and buildings on military academy campuses that are among at least 1,500 symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces in the United States.

The push to rename military installations and place names is not new, and it is one that black service members and veterans, as well as groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have largely pursued.

The movement this week seemed to attract a growing consensus, including among former senior military officials of all races, before President Trump declared on Wednesday that he would block any of those 10 bases from being renamed.

A petition by the liberal group VoteVets received over 20,000 signatures in 24 hours urging the military to ban Confederate symbols and rename Army bases, a spokesman for the organization said. In a poll conducted this week and released Thursday by the group, 47 percent of 935 registered voters surveyed said they would support the removal of Confederate imagery across the entire military.

The Marine Corps issued a ban last week on displays of the Confederate battle flag at its installations, and the chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael M. Gilday, wrote on Twitter Tuesday that he had directed his staff to “begin crafting an order” banning such displays from public spaces and work areas on bases, ships, aircraft and submarines. Leaders in the Army have called for bipartisan commissions to explore changing the names of some its installations.

“The unique thing about this moment is that white friends and colleagues now see this,” said Mr. Berry, who lives in New York.

After a white supremacist rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Va., turned deadly when a man drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, and after a white police officer fatally shot a black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, “these were conversations that black officers were having among themselves,” he said. “It was not an open conversation among their white peers.”

The fights over statues and Confederate flags in public places have bubbled up often over the years, with their defenders repeatedly suggesting that banning or removing those items would be akin to erasing history.

In 2015, shortly after a white supremacist killed black parishioners in a church in Charleston, S.C., a budget bill in Congress almost failed amid an ugly floor fight in which Democrats, led by black lawmakers from the South, beat back a push by Republicans to allow Confederate symbols at national cemeteries.

This week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi once again called for the removal from the Capitol of 11 statues of Confederate figures, including Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, the latest salvo in a yearslong battle. On Thursday, two veterans in the House also introduced bipartisan legislation to create a process to rename military installations named for Confederates within a year. The Senate Armed Services Committee separately advanced a similar measure with a three-year timeline.

For black members of the military, seeing confederate names on military barracks delivers a special sting, given that they lionize men who led a treasonous war.

“I have been in every one of those barracks,” said Stephane Manuel, another West Point graduate who served in the Army from 2011 to 2017. “I studied in them and had friends there. I didn’t like it. The military hasn’t wanted to reconcile that the Confederate forces were traitors. I always felt from the mere moral standpoint of what they were fighting for went against what West Point stands for today.”

On his deployments, the topic would come up now and then, Mr. Manuel said, often leaving him uncomfortable as his white colleagues defended the practice.

“I felt it was best not to be political,” he said, noting that his experiences led him to establish an education technology start-up, TrueFiktion, which uses comics to tell “the untold stories of marginalized groups.” “I was often one of the few black officers. I felt it was better to leave my perspective at home.”

For some middle-age and older veterans, particularly noncommissioned offices like Mr. Green, who retired from the Army in 1998, the realization of their indignities came later.

“It wasn’t anything that stayed on my mind and I think that was because I was young,” he said. “I don’t ever remember ever having a conversation about it when I was on active duty. With my veteran friends, it later came more to light that African-American veterans were upset about it and it kind of enlightened me, too.”

Daniele Anderson, a former Navy officer who graduated in 2013 from the service’s academy in Annapolis, Md., and went on to serve until 2018, recalled how a professor at the school — later removed for other behaviors — wrote an Op-Ed that denigrated students from the military prep schools, who were disproportionately people of color. Leadership conferences rarely featured minority speakers. In her junior year, Ms. Anderson said, she was in charge of events for Black History Month, and found that the posters she put up around campus were frequently ripped down. “I was told by fellow classmates that was a regular occurrence during Black History Month,” she said.

“There was always an underlying anxiety and the feeling that you have to always be alert and choosing your words carefully and not wanting to seem like you were playing the race card,” she said. “That really messed with a lot of black and minority students’ confidence. I think this social anxiety we have to navigate all the time really did contribute to lower performance.”

Like others interviewed for this article, Ms. Anderson said the events of the last week made her cautiously optimistic that the military would view the fight over removing Confederate names and symbols as an opportunity to look deeper at its broader culture.

“In the military, we have treated ourselves as if we are separate from society,” she said. “We have to know and understand that the military is part of society, because we draw our people from society, and we look at and listen to the same things as our civilian counterparts do.”

As a black veteran, she said, “I am in a unique position of being able to say, ‘Hey, I went to this institution, I made great sacrifices to do so, and we are calling on these institutions so they can be the best versions of themselves.’ ”

#Racism #Military

[newsbiteswithjennysok]

Fri, Mar 20, 2020

1. A former Google star engineer charged with stealing trade secrets from its self-driving car program has agreed to plead guilty in a deal with prosecutors, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Anthony Levandowski, 39, was a founding member of an autonomous vehicle project in 2009 called 'Chauffeur,' one of Google's more ambitious undertakings. Several years later Levandowski began thinking of leaving Google for another self-driving endeavor that was eventually named 'Otto,' the plea deal said.

He began negotiating with ride-sharing giant Uber to invest in or buy Otto while he was still working at Google, and admits having downloaded a whole series of documents a few months before his resignation in January 2016.

'Prior to my departure, I downloaded thousands of files related to Project Chauffeur,' Levandowski said in court documents.

Levandowski was leader of the light-detecting and ranging (LiDAR) team when he resigned from Google without notice.  

The technology is important for self-driving cars to measure distances and avoid obstacles.

Levandowski will plead guilty to a count of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets in exchange for prosecutors dropping the rest of the charges filed against him, the court filing showed. 

He could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine under sentencing guidelines, but a federal judge would be free to determine the punishment.

'All of us have the right to change jobs, none of us has the right to fill our pockets on the way out the door,' US attorney David Anderson said in a release announcing the original counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets last year.

The allegations came out in a civil case in which Google's self-driving car division, now renamed Waymo and under its parent Alphabet, accused Uber of stealing trade secrets.

2. The mayor of West Hollywood, John D’Amico, has tested positive for COVID-19. D’Amico did not attend a City Council meeting on Monday due to feeling ill, and informed City Manager Paul Arevalo that he’d tested positive, reports WeHoVille. Arevalo then informed all staff members to leave work and shut city buildings to the public and all non-essential staff. A full sterilization of facilities will happen soon.

“The mayor is taking every precaution as directed by his physician and public health directives,” said the city’s announcement. “[D’Amico] is home resting and practicing an abundance of self-care. His husband is doing fine and is doing his part to quarantine at home with Mayor D’Amico. To facilitate their household’s focus on wellness, the mayor is asking for privacy at this time.”

D’Amico, 57, is openly gay and HIV positive. World health organizations warn that people over the age of 60 may have an increased risk of severe coronavirus infection. While HIV positive people have to be more vigilant about their overall health, there is no evidence that HIV+ folks on antiretroviral therapy have greater risk of COVID-19.

West Hollywood and Long Beach now have the most confirmed COVID-19 infections of any Los Angeles County city or neighborhood by capita, with 12 cases in each area as of Thursday.

3. Florida Dem rep Andrew Gillum was found in a hotel room at Mondrian South Beach last Friday morning with two other men, Travis Dyson, 30, and Aldo Mejias, 56. Gillum, a married dad-of-three who narrowly missed out on becoming Florida's first black governor, was too 'inebriated' to tell cops what went down.

Dyson, a male escort, was found naked and in the throes of a drug overdose. Images obtained by DailyMail.com show baggies of 'crystal meth', empty beer bottles and pills scattered among trash and soiled bedding in the room. There's a small bottle of an injectable medicine containing alprostadil which is typically used to treat erectile dysfunction and shouldn't be mixed with alcohol. Beer bottles and sheets covered in bodily fluids can also been in the photos, obtained from police under Freedom of Information law.

Gillum, who has three young children with his wife R. Jai Howard, whom he while studying at Florida A & M, issued a further statement Sunday evening.

'After conversation with my family and deep reflection, I have made the decision to seek help, guidance and enter a rehabilitation facility at this time,' he said.

'This has been a wake-up call for me. Since my race for governor ended, I fell into a depression that has led to alcohol abuse.'

Gillum, who lost the gubernatorial election to Republican Ron DeSantis in 2018, is stepping down from 'public facing roles' to 'heal fully and show up in the world as a more complete person'.

'I want to apologize to my family, friends and the people of Florida who have supported me and put their faith in me over the years,' he added, requesting privacy for his family.

4. Amber Heard smirks, rolls her eyes and nibbles on cookies as she's forced to listen to herself admitting on tape that she 'clocked' Johnny Depp in the face. The 33-year-old actress was confronted with the bombshell recording as she sat down for a deposition during their bitter 2016 divorce.

As DailyMail.com revealed on Tuesday, it captures the then-husband and wife discussing a violent incident in which Depp claims he was struck by a bathroom door and punched in the jaw. Heard denies slamming the door into him intentionally but apologizes on tape for deliberately hitting the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, pleading: 'I just reacted and I'm sorry. It's below me.'

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes as Depp, 56, says on the tape: 'I'd just been hit in the head with a f**king corner of the door. And then I stood up and then you f**king clock me.'

'I was trying to escape from a room where Johnny was attacking me,' Heard protests as the recording is paused.

'And in order to escape, I was trying to get onto the other side of the door attempting to close the door and he was attempting to get in, despite my attempts to try and escape an assault.'

Attorney Blair Berk, representing Depp, asks Heard repeatedly if she ever hit the father-of-two – and if she didn't, why apologize?

But Heard denies being the aggressor during their toxic 18-month marriage and says the tape 'misrepresents what actually happened'.

'I'm trying to keep him out of, and then he runs the door over my toes trying to get into the room,' she goes on. 'I tried to push him out of it, which is what the hit is that is referred to.

'And Johnny, whenever he was hit or touched at all, referred to it in these ways of punching or clocked or whatever.

Despite her denials, Depp's supporters say the audio is just one of several taped 'confessions' that proves Heard was the domestic abuser throughout the doomed union, contrary to her claims.

'Whatever Amber Heard is eating in her August 13, 2016 deposition, it is certainly not truth serum,' Depp's attorney Adam Waldman said of the newly-emerged video footage. 'And she ignores the fact that bathroom doors open in, not out.'

Waldman told DailyMail.com: 'We have assembled a giant, ever-growing body of evidence to expose her ever-growing abuse allegations as a hoax.

'But our star witness turns out to be the serially violent Amber Heard herself, perjuring remorselessly in a sworn 2016 video deposition that we've just obtained, and then exposing her diabolical lies with her own friends and employees' testimony, subsequently discovered audio recordings, text messages, CCTV footage, TV appearances, multiple frauds, attempts to suborn perjury and documented abuse of others.'

A spokesman for Heard's legal team hit back, however, saying: 'Ms. Heard's testimony is clear that, in the incident described, she was attempting to escape an assault at the hands of Mr. Depp.

'It is unfortunately common for men who have committed domestic abuse to present themselves as the 'victim' when nothing could be further from the truth.'

Depp and Heard met on the set of The Rum Diary, back in 2011 and married in February 2015.

However they split less than two years later when Heard filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp for allegedly beating her up, an accusation he has repeatedly denied.

Amid a torrent of headlines and blood-curdling allegations, the pair agreed to a $7 million divorce settlement in August 2016 - which Heard says she donated to charity.

However their back-and-forth feud reignited when she wrote in her December 2018 op-ed: 'I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out.'

The article didn't mention Depp by name but he sued regardless, arguing he was the victim of an 'elaborate hoax' instigated by Heard to generate positive publicity and advance her career.

Heard responded with a lurid 300-page filing of her own, cataloging the 'horrific' abuse she claimed to have suffered at Depp's hands, describing him as 'the monster' and recalling many of the allegations she made during their divorce.

The case is due to be heard in August.

5. She announced to her Twitter followers she was having to spend time apart from her new boyfriend as she self-isolates during the coronavirus pandemic. But it seems that Pose star Angelica Ross may now be social distancing herself from her man for a completely different reason.

Following her tweet, the transgender rights activist and actress learned her new beau already has a fiancee and a son.

On Wednesday, Ross, 39, tweeted photos of her looking happy with her boyfriend and wrote: 'Finally found him and have to distance myself from him .. an early test we’re committed to passing, I miss you B ❣️.'

On Thursday, she gave an update on Twitter, sharing:  'The internet is AMAZING. I’ve been talking to the mother of his son and fiancé (sic) all morning. #PlotTwist!'

She then retweeted a summary of her situation tweeted by a fan Andrew Roby, confirming the summary was accurate.

Roby explained: 'For those who don't get it. Queen Angelica found this man and was dating. She posted this on Twitter and we all REJOICED in excitement. Twitter FBI probably saw the tweet and told Angelica this man has a kid and is engaged. Angelica was talking to his fiancé all morning."

'Basically,' Ross said as she retweeted Roby.

She then teased her fans,  tweeting: 'Think I might just spill the full tea on my IG live tonight. With a bottle of...[insert sponsored drink].'

[learningrendezvous]

Entrepreneurship

INSIDE CHINA: 4. THE NEW ENTREPRENEURS

Chinese business case studies The Chinese economic miracle Women in business Small businesses in China

China's "new billionaires" are well-known but what about the small businesses? Many were set up by migrants who have battled against hardship - and many are women.

THE PR BUSINESS 24 year old Tian Qiuyu started her business while she was still at university and now employs 6 people - but she never forgets her roots in a poor, remote village area where education was a fight against the odds. She wants to help educate other young people from the country. "They shouldn't just accept their fate. I didn't."

THE BEAUTY SALON Yu Xinpei is also the daughter of poor farmers, but now owns two beauty parlours and employs 60 people. She now mixes with Shanghai's other young high-flyers whom she is keen to learn from.

But for most migrants, earning a living is a hard struggle. Mrs Zhang set up a small retail business with her husband - with the heartbreak of leaving her children behind.

DVD / 2014 / 23 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - HONG KONG BUSINESS INTERMEDIARY: THE DYNAMIC OF INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

By Ali Farhoomand Claudia H L Woo

Hong Kong Business Intermediary ("HKBI") was Hong Kong's first business brokerage company that specialised in small business sales. Leading the company was Edwin Lee, a young entrepreneur who took his every chance to drive the company to new levels of success. In November 2001, after realising that there were no business brokerage firms in Hong Kong, Lee set up HKBI and started to offer 'matchmaking' services for prospective business sellers and buyers. As the company diversified into too many additional services without proper planning, the rising operation cost turned into a cash flow disaster for HKBI in 2005. Lee then restructured his business model into a more systematic and integrated way and successfully turned his company around, earning himself the award of Hong Kong's Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. HKBI's business model and efforts in promoting entrepreneurship had also received recognition worldwide.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2012 / 13 minutes

BUSINESS PLAN IN ACTION, THE: THREE CASE STUDIES

Three businesses and three business plans. Why did they need them? What did they put in them? Were they worth it?

AIMS & OBJECTIVES: Every business plan should have a company's aims and objectives. The Croft Tea Room has the ambitious aim of helping to regenerate the run-down area of St Mary Cray. And linked to a firm's aims will be a description of its product or service. In the case of the Spoonfed company this is a website where you find out everything that's going on in London.

MARKETING: At the heart of any business plan has to be a marketing plan. Who's going to want your product? How are you going to tell them about it? How much are you going to sell it for? Vital, too, is to show you've done your market research. For the founders of Spoonfed this meant getting on their bikes and surveying potential venues. Meanwhile Louise, founder of fitness business Penelope Fitstar, has developed a "brand identity" which she says is crucial to her marketing plan.

FINANCE: Many people consider the financial section of the business plan the most important - it shows how the money works. You have to explain where your revenue is going to come from, and, critically, that you will have the money when you need it - your cash flow. The financial section is especially important when using your plan to raise money - the founders of Spoonfed used their plan to raise GBP 1 million. Also: plan v reality - how did things work out in practice?

DVD / 2011 / 25 minutes

ENTERPRISE CASE STUDIES III: STARTING UP

People start enterprises for many different reasons - to make money, to give themselves interesting jobs, maybe even to make the world a better place. But they all have to find a way to get going - and starting up is never easy.

INTERNET BUSINESS: Spoonfed is a web-based guide to events in London. started up by two students in a basement. Taking the plunge meant doing hard research on the venues and potential customers for their service. They got important help from mentors, put a lot of work into recruiting a well-motivated team and made great use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to build up awareness of Spoonfed.

THE TEA ROOM: Who in the world would go to a poor area, with a bad reputation, and set up an old fashioned tea room serving locally made food in a state-of-the-art eco-building? Carole Wells, that's who. Carole set up her Croft Tea Room as a new type of business - a social enterprise called a CIC - a community interest company. Marketing the business has meant using a computer database, emailing and old-fashioned house-to-house leafleting.

THE FITNESS BUSINESS: Penelope Fitstar is a tiny business -- with big ideas. At the moment founder Louise Whyte is helping new mothers in her local area to get fit, but her hope is for a global brand with franchises everywhere. Setting up has had its problems, too - not the least of which has been a clash with a multinational company over copyright issues!

DVD / 2011 / 25 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - CROWN WORLDWIDE: INTEGRATING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN BUSINESS

By Ali Farhoomand, Claudia H L Woo, Ricky Lai

Founded in 1965 by Jim Thompson, the Crown Worldwide Group is the world's largest privately held relocation company. The company operates in 55 countries and employs 5,000 employees.

Crown's success can be largely attributed to the founder's insistence on high service quality and continual improvement through innovative information technology. Thompson also has a strong passion for community development and CSR values have been at the heart of the company for decades. With customers becoming more aware of CSR, Thompson realized that the company's CSR had to be integrated strategy and day-to-day business operations. This volume explores the company's roadmap for successful CSR integration.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2010 / 18 minutes

ALL ABOUT ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2: HOW BUSINESSES WORK

This film looks at businesses, what they are and how they work. How are they changing under social and environmental pressures?

THE ENTREPRENEURS: Early entrepreneurs like Richard Arkwright were key players in the industrial revolution. The entrepreneur "super stars" of today are the direct descendants of Arkwright. Think of an idea, get backing, make a fortune -- this is the classic model of what's called "free enterprise".

TYPES OF BUSINESSES: Key to the development of businesses is the idea of limited liability - which enables shareholders to invest in businesses without being personally liable for their debts. There are two main types of limited companies - public and private, but there are many other kinds of organisations, too - from sole traders to co-ops.

FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS: Businesses are divided into what's called functional departments, including marketing and sales, finance, production and personnel. Employees of a small UK manufacturer explain how their departments work.

PUBLIC SECTOR: But not all organisations are privately owned. Many are funded by the taxpayer and are there to provide services, for example, the National Health Service, schools and the local council.

EXTERNAL FACTORS: Almost as important as what happens INSIDE a business is what happens OUTSIDE. These are called external factors, and include the general state of the economy, exchange rates, and our membership of the European Union. Are the burdens of EU bureaucracy outweighed by the advantages?

GLOBALISATION & ETHICS: Much of what we buy is produced by people working in poor conditions in the developing world. The idea of corporate social responsibility has emerged - the idea that companies have a responsibility to a wider group than just their shareholders - their "stakeholders". But, by law, directors are obliged to run the business in the interests of the shareholders and this mean profits come first.

NEW WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS? Capitalism is supposed to be all about competition. But it's also about cartels and price-fixing - as has been suspected of the energy companies in recent years. Recent years have seen a growth in "social enterprises", companies who claim their main aim is to improve society. But what about the need to protect the environment? Some companies are taking steps to be greener - but is this enough for the health of the planet?

DVD / 2009 / 30 minutes

ENTREPRENEURS, THE - 1: TOSSED, THE SALAD BAR

Tossed is a new salad bar chain set up by twenty-something entrepreneur Vincent McKevitt in the teeth of catastrophic economic conditions. Will the credit crunch make or break his new business?

HEALTHY EATING: Vincent set up his first salad bar in 2005. His aim is to sell "healthy eating" - nutritious food but packaged in attractive ways.

HOW TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR: Vincent started young - seliing ice cubes to his sisters! He funded his new business with loans from friends, family - anywhere he could get the money. He works from five in the morning until bedtime, seven days a week.

BAKER STREET GOES LIVE: Against the odds, Tossed opens a new store at London's Baker Street - on time. Customers seem impressed with the product. A key attraction is they can choose what they want in their salad. But there's a worldwide financial crisis underway and this brings Tossed problems - but also opportunities.

MARKETING & BRANDING: The big challenge - how does Tossed make itself stand out in the crowd, in other words, differentiate itself from the competition? The answer - a store with bright colours, lively designs and "cheeky" messages.

The design agency Honey Creative explains the thinking behind Tossed's appearance in the high street.

CRUNCH TIME: But the store faces financial problems. Tossed's accountant Nigel Harris is concerned that they may be moving too fast. What about cash flow? Where's the money going to come from to finance their rapid expansion? And is this the right time for Vincent to be talking about taking out GBP50,000 as a personal bonus?

A SALAD BAR TOO FAR? To generate the cash he needs to run his business Vincent is counting on the opening of another store at the huge new Westfield shopping centre. But operating in the shopping centre is a big challenge, and requires a different type of store. Will Vincent's gamble come off?

THE FRANCHISE: Meanwhile, there are problems at the Baker Street store, too. This store is a franchise and Vincent is worried the franchise holder isn't up to scratch. Sales are dead in the evening and the store isn't being kept stocked up.

FIRST DAY MADNESS: The new Westfield shopping centre opens and so does the newest Tossed outlet. Chaos breaks out, queues form, and Vincent is worried that customer service isn't as good as it should be.

DVD / 2009 / 27 minutes

FAIR TRADE IN ACTION: FASHION FIRM CASE STUDY

What is fair trade? How does it work in practice? What difference is it making to people in the developing world? This is the story of fair trade fashion company People Tree

SWEATSHOP LABOUR: The UK fashion business is worth over GBP40 billion annually. But beneath the industry's glamorous facade, there's an inconvenient truth: most of the clothes are made in the developing world using sweatshop labour. People Tree set out to make a difference, by selling well-designed clothes produced in the developing world for a fair price. They're now selling through Top Shop and working with 50 producer groups in 15 different countries. UK turnover is GBP1.5 million.

HAND-MADE: All People Tree's garments are hand-made. This means it is all much more labour intensive and slower than in factories. But that's the whole point: to create as much employment as possible. Care for the environment is also part of People Tree's plan. They use natural dyes and avoid toxic or synthetic raw materials. They use organic cotton which means not relying on harmful pesticides - but they're not totally organic yet.

BANGLADESH: One woman working on People Tree's clothes in Bangladesh does seem to be benefiting from fair trade. She tells how working on producing fair trade clothes has improved her life, brought her more money and freed her from being stuck at home. But fair trade isn't an easy option. People Tree has little money for advertising and marketing and every day is a struggle. Fair trade is still only a small fraction of the fashion business - can it ever go mainstream?

DVD / 2008 / 29 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - BANYAN TREE POST IPO: BRAND SUSTAINABILITY DURING RAPID GLOBAL EXPANSION

By Cathy Enz, Ali Farhoomand, Pauline Ng

Singapore-based Banyan Tree has niche positions in three core areas: hotels and resorts, spas and retail. With more than 120 international awards and accolades, and a successful IPO in June 2006, Ho Kwon Ping has ambitious expansion plans. The Volume shows the challenges surrounding global branding of an Asian villa-themed spas and resort business. The dangers of brand dilution are addressed within the context of developing a niche market based on customer experience.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2008 / 27 minutes

BUSINESS PROFILES: JESSICA MACLEAN WITH MACLEAN LAW

An interview with Jessica MacLean, Founder and owner of MacLean Law

When starting a business, all entrepreneurs must assess the benefits of going it alone versus having partners. After being employed at a law firm and defending large, nameless corporations, Jessica decided she no longer wanted to be that kind of lawyer. To become the lawyer she really wanted to be, Jessica had to break out on her own and start her own law firm. She now focuses on women's issues, such as child custody, child support, and domestic violence.

DVD / 2007 / ( Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

BUSINESS PROFILES: NATALIE TESSLER WITH SPA SPACE, CHICAGO

An interview with Natalie Tessler, Founder and owner of Spa Space, Chicago

As a child, Natalie was always dreaming up business ideas, and as an adult she always knew she would start one up eventually. She just wasn't sure what kind of business she wanted. So, she did some soul searching to find out what she was really good at outside of her work as an attorney. Knowing she wanted to be in customer service and interact with different people daily, she decided to combine the clinical, professional feel of a dermatologist's office with the calming feel of a spa and created Spa Space. "Being an entrepreneur is not glamorous; it's getting your hands dirty and being willing to do anything to see the business succeed."

DVD / 2007 / ( Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

BUSINESS PROFILES: SCOTT SWANSON WITH JPMORGAN CHASE

An interview with Scott Swanson, JPMorgan Chase

Small businesses make up a significant portion of the US economy, but may fail within the first five years of operation. Small business owners must become experts in many things: marketing, business organization, management, production, and finance. Financial institutions can be a great help by developing strong relationships with small business owners. By doing this, financial institutions can provide the resources and the solutions to maximize small business's effectiveness in the marketplace.

DVD / 2007 / ( Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

ENERGY REVOLUTION, AN? RENEWABLE ENERGY IN GERMANY

Germany is leading the world in encouraging renewable energy. By 2050, half of its energy could come from renewable sources. But what's the real cost of its energy revolution?

Germany's landmark EEG law compels power companies to buy electricity at above market prices, from anyone using renewable technology to generate it. "It's the beginning of an energy revolution," says politician Herman Scheer.

The renewable revolution has already come to the German village of Juhnde where residents now produce their own electricity from manure.

"I'm personally very happy," says one resident, "because now I am independent of the international oil prices." 30 neighbouring villages are so impressed they're planning to invest in their own plants.

Germany is now the world leader in renewable energy. 10% of its electricity requirements are now supplied by wind, solar, bio-mass and small hydro. That will grow to 20-25% within 15 years, when nuclear is scheduled to be phased out.

The EEG law has also led to a boom in solar power. Near the German city of Leipzig is a brand-spanking-new solar panel factory using groundbreaking technology developed in Australia. Germany's support for renewable energy is sucking in technology from around the world.

Germany's renewable energy industry now employs 170,000 people - a new industry. But not everyone is a fan. Power companies, forced to buy renewable energy at a high price, pass the cost onto consumers and business.

This means electricity for domestic use is the most expensive in Europe - for business it's the second most expensive. The critics say that makes some parts of German industry uncompetitive - and actually costs the country jobs.

For Germany's big four energy companies, renewables represent a big threat. With conventional power stations, they make money both from power generation and from distribution. But with renewables they are largely restricted to distribution alone.

Dieter Schaarshmidt is a renewable energy pioneer. He manages a windmill co-operative and is aiming towards 100% renewable energy in the region. "We think that renewable energy should be owned by the people in the region," says Dieter. But the bigger companies are already starting to take over.

The big power companies argue that renewables can't guarantee supply. And because electricity itself cannot be stored on a large scale, they say for the foreseeable future, renewables can only fill a minor, top-up role. And they're getting support from some German politicians who want to keep open the option to use nuclear power.

But Hermann Scheer says renewables alone can meet Germany's entire energy needs, because hydro and bio-mass can guarantee supply when wind or solar are not available. He says the power companies oppose renewables for financial, not technical reasons.

"The most important question is how long do we need?" says Scheer, "Because if this development is postponed and postponed again and again, then we will lose the race against time."

DVD / 2007 / 30 minutes

ENTERPRISE CASE STUDIES 1: WINNERS & LOSERS

Starting a business isn't easy. Half of new businesses go bust within the first three years. How do you keep yourself going before the money starts rolling in? What if the money DOESN'T start rolling in? The following case studies tell stories of enterprise success -- and failure.

THE SMELL OF SUCCESS: S'Amuser is a bold experiment in retailing -- a business in Glastonbury offering customers the chance to blend their own perfumes. But this high street perfume bar is only the beginning of the founders' business concept. Their aim is to launch franchises all over the country.

THE CRISP MAKER: Will Chase started his business life as a farmer. When he was 20 Will bought his family farm with a GBP200,000 bank loan. But he couldn't pay it off, and in 1992 Will went bust. Then he bounced back, selling potatoes to the big supermarkets.

But fed up of being pushed to cut prices by the supermarket buyers Will thought of something else to do with his spuds - make them into crisps -- hand-cooked artisan crisps. It was a big investment and a huge risk, but it paid off. Tyrrells crisps are Britain's big snack food success story of recent years.

BONE BUSINESS: Ayshe is an osteopath - she cures people who have pains in their backs without using drugs or surgery. Most osteopaths work in clinics - but Ayshe has set up her own business called Backbone. She's experimented with different types of marketing and advertising - but believes the best promotion for her business is word of mouth. She now hopes to open her own clinic. But it all means lots more responsibility and hard work.

THE ONE THAT FAILED: Jonny had a bright idea for a business. It seemed like a good plan -- finding venues for companies that wanted to hold events. Jonny went for it -- but turning the idea into reality took time and money. Cash flow was a big problem, debt mounted up. After two years he had to give up. He feels his biggest mistakes were not having a proper business plan and spending too much, too soon.

DVD / 2007 / 45 minutes

ENTERPRISE CASE STUDIES 2: TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Many people start up new businesses looking to make money from technology and innovation. But what are the realities of starting a technology-based business? The following case studies illustrate both the possibilities and the pitfalls.

SELLING GLASSES ONLINE: Three years ago Jamie was in university. Today he's the boss of GBP3 million company. The secret of his success - selling glasses direct to customers over the internet.

It all started when he was doing his exams and needed a pair of glasses. He believed the high street price of GBP150 was a rip-off - so started "Glasses Direct" a web-based firm which sells its glasses at an amazing GBP15 a go.

Buying is simple - you just type in your prescription into the website. You can even try out your glasses out online! But success didn't come without problems - to begin with everything was done from home and the high street retailers gave Jamie a hard time by putting pressure on his suppliers. The big secret, according to Jamie, is start small, grow big.

THE MOBILE PHONE BROTHERS: It's got a dodgy image, but two brothers claim to be bringing an "ethical" approach to the mobile phone sales business with an enterprise called Foneoptions.

The brothers literally started their call centre operation in a bedroom - but got into trouble with the neighbours. But now they're in commercial premises and aim to be the best in the business - by, they say, being honest. It's hard work and they fight all the time -- but the brothers reckon it's all worth it.

THE WEBSITE DESIGNERS: Fed up of working for someone else, Jill and Jonathan set up their own business - Futurate -- designing websites. Most of their customers are in the public sector and this involves tendering for business - a long and difficult process. Futurate almost went bust after an important client took their web-design work in-house.

DVD / 2007 / 36 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - BIOCON: FROM GENERICS MANUFACTURING TO BIOPHARMACEUTICAL INNOVATION

By Michael Enright, Venkat Subramanian, Jeroen van den Berg

Following a successful IPO in April 2004, Biocon - India's foremost biotech company - is in the midst of an ambitious overhaul. Long dependent on revenues from the production of enzymes and generic drugs, the Company feels competitive pressures from within the country, as well as from other developing economies such as China. The Volume shows how the company's founder, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, intends to take the company to the next level by transforming Biocon from a producer of generics into India's first true innovator in the field of biotechnology.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 28 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - DAKSH AND IBM: BUSINESS PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN INDIA - PART 1. THE FORMATIVE YEARS

By Ali Farhoomand, Kavita Sethi

In one of the largest acquisitions in India, technology giant IBM took over Daksh eServices Ltd in April 2004. Since its inception, Daksh eServices had mirrored the fiery growth of the Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. In the short span of four years, it had acquired 6,000 employees with facilities in five locations. The Volume examines the issues surrounding different financing models opened to a start-up by weighing the pros and cons of different options. It also gives a detailed overview of BPO and business process transformation.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 26 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES GROUP: DIVERSIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION

By Yuen-ying Chan, Ali Farhoomand, Pauline Ng

HKET Group, a successful financial newspaper publisher, has used diversification and differentiation as the cornerstone of its corporate strategy. Over the span of nearly 20 years, the Group has extended into book publishing, multimedia services, electronic information services, recruitment advertising and training. The Volume demonstrates the challenge of managing a diverse but interrelated portfolio of companies. Lawrence Fung's management philosophy of "differentiate or die" drove many of its diversified products to number one positions within their respective market segments.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 30 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - PEARL RIVER PIANO: HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES IN THE GLOBAL MARKET?

By Michael Enright, Emily Ho

Pearl River Piano (PRP) is a classic Chinese success story: the manufacturing company used Western know-how to develop its core competencies and ultimately dominated the local market. Venturing into the international market, PRP uses its advantages as a national champion to build a global brand. The Volume explores whether a state-owned enterprise would be able to develop a strong brand to operate and compete in global markets. It also sheds light on branding issues in businesses sensitive to skills and refinement.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 26 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION: MOVING A BRAND UPMARKET

By Ali Farhoomand, Tom Hout, Amir Hoosain

As high-end watches became more and more a status and fashion symbol in the 1990s and 2000s, Seiko, arguably the world's foremost innovator in the watch industry, had to deal with the issues surrounding stagnant sales and ambiguities surrounding its brand. The Volume demonstrates how Shinji Hattori, a great-grandson of Seiko founder Kintaro Hattori and current president and CEO, tries to lift the Company's brand and margins through technological innovation and brand repositioning.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 28 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - WE MARKETING GROUP: BUILDING A GLOBAL MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION COMPANY IN CHINA

By Ali Farhoomand, Kineta Hung, Grace Loo

WE Worldwide Partners, a start up advertising venture focusing on China market, is at a crucial point in its expansion strategy. Viveca Chan, the visionary force behind WE's conception, has to evaluate the viability of WE's business model and growth strategy in the fast-moving and dynamic China market. The Volume explores how WE can position itself as "the third force" in a market dominated by the international advertising agencies, on one hand, and crowded by the small, local independent agencies, on the other.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 28 minutes

MANAGING SMALL BUSINESS START-UPS

Featuring The Little Guys

Located just south of Chicago, The Little Guys Home Electronics specializes in selling and installing home theater equipment. In just 12 years, they have grown from a start-up company to an established business with annual sales of more than 10 million dollars. Their success is based on a combination of hard work, self-confidence and improvisation. The founders of the business had worked for years for another retail electronics company but they believed there was a better way to do business.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

SECOND CITY BUSINESS CASE STUDY, THE - STARTING AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS

Featuring: Second City

The Second City began in 1959 when a group of adventurous University of Chicago students combined satirical sketch comedy and live improvisation and performed shows inside a local coffee shop. They created a unique style of comedy that revolutionized the industry. A decade of cultural change was approaching and The Second City's cast used political references and national sentiment to participate in this change. Their ability to listen and react on stage created a strong method for the group as a business venture.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 4 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - MTR: STRATEGIC CHALLENGE OF ENTRENCHING LOCALLY WHILE EXPANDING GLOBALLY

By Ali Farhoomand, Emily Ho

This Volume discusses how MTR Corporation transformed itself from a local transportation company to become a global player. Despite MTR's proven rail-property model in Hong Kong, the company is faced with a new set of economic, cultural, regulatory and operational challenges abroad. This case illustrates the growth model of a local company during internationalisation and the trade-offs involved in its strategic decisions.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2006 / 28 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - PHOENIX SATELLITE TELEVISION: THE ART OF BROADCASTING IN CHINA

By Yuen-ying Chan, Amir Hoosain

In presenting its family of channels as the Chinese TV viewers' window to the world, Phoenix was able to capitalise on ambiguities in China's regulatory environment to target news programming at mainland Chinese viewers. The Volume explores how the company needs to grapple with the challenges brought about by the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting, the further liberalisation of China's media industry, and the gradual roll-out of digital TV networks around the country.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2006 / 28 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - SHUI ON: BRANDING PROPERTIES FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH IN CHINA

By Frederik Pretorius, Emily Ho

This Volume explores how Shui On, a large Hong Kong-based property developer, leveraged its established relationship with the Shanghai government to obtain the rights to participate in a very large urban redevelopment project to build the now world-famous Xintiandi retail and entertainment centre. It also probes whether or not the company could repeat its success in other Chinese cities by exploiting the brand value of its flagship project.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2006 / 26 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - THE HONG KONG JOCKEY CLUB: REPOSITIONING A NOT-FOR-PROFIT POWERHOUSE

By Ali Farhoomand, Amir Hoosain, Shirley Chan

The Hong Kong Jockey Club, with a statutory monopoly on horse racing, football betting and lotteries, is not only the territory's largest single taxpayer, it is also its largest charity and community benefactor. The Volume explores how the company has to tackle the threat posed by illegal and unauthorised offshore gambling operators, and how it should reposition itself. It also highlights the paradox of producing a sustainable betting turnover without being perceived as promoting gambling in the community.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2006 / 28 minutes

INNOCENT DRINKS

This is the story of the highly successful company Innocent Drinks - a company that claims to have been ethical in all aspects of its business. Innocent makes fruit smoothies - and is now using its healthy image to carve out a unique position for itself in the drinks market.

HOW IT ALL STARTED: The company was set up by three young men in 1998 who knew each other at college and always wanted to have their own business. The early days were difficult - raising the start-up money was a particular problem. Business boomed and the firm's turnover is now running at over GBP70 million.

A NEW WAY OF MARKETING: Their main market is people like themselves - the cash-rich, time-poor. At the heart of their marketing approach is the language they use to sell their drinks - engaging with customers in a lively, jokey, informal way. Customers chat back with e-mails.

NEW PRODUCTS: Building on the success of their smoothies, the company has launched a range of other products, all with a health-related angle. They moved into the children's market in 2005. It's been a big success -- in one year they've seen GBP10 million revenue from selling kids' smoothies alone.

ADVERTISING: Their first TV advert they made themselves with their own video camera. The second they made out of "recycled" existing clips and footage. The accent, as in all their marketing, is, they say, on a simple, homely, honest approach - "the innocent way".

THE INNOCENT WAY: Grass covered vans, grass even on their office floor and fun events like "Fruitstock" are all part of the Innocent way. But it also takes an ethical approach which includes giving 10 per cent of its profits to charities which run community projects in the countries it gets its fruits from. But is 10 per cent enough?

THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS: Innocent outsources the actual manufacture of their juices to other companies. Innocent claim they are pushing them to be ethical, too - but would not allow the film-makers to visit their factories.

HOW GREEN IS MY COMPANY: The firm has its own "sustainability squad" whose job is to monitor and reduce the company's carbon dioxide emissions. Their cars and vans are hybrids or run on bio-fuel, they use green electricity in the office and they're introducing 100% compostible packaging.

BUT IS IT ENOUGH? But how much difference does one off-beat company like Innocent make in the scheme of things? Is Innocent part of a trend to healthier eating and drinking, and more environmentally friendly ways of doing a business? Or a mere drop in the ocean of the big companies and the capitalist system?

AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW: But exactly how innocent is Innocent? How healthy are their products? Dietician Catherine Collins outlines her own reservations about the company and argues that they stand guilty of misleading marketing.

DVD / 2006 / 27 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Entrepreneurship_1912.html

[flauntpage]

Actually, Gabe Kapler Isn’t Just Throwing Darts

I’m interested in lineup construction. I want to know why a manager hits certain guys in certain spots and what exactly goes into the thought process as he mixes and matches a lineup to counteract an opposing team’s arms.

Most of the time, a manager’s lineup decisions are self-evident, while sometimes the tinkering might be a slight deviation from conventional wisdom. Occasionally, those deviations are more extreme. When this happens, such decisions typically elicit a skeptical “what the hell is this?” from observers.

As the Phillies continue their ongoing efforts to spark an inconsistent lineup that has underperformed for much of the season, that question has been asked more frequently of manager Gabe Kapler’s lineups.

Kapler certainly raised some eyebrows earlier this week when he put the struggling Rhys Hoskins, a hitter who has spent the bulk of his career in the middle of the order, atop his lineup prior to Wednesday night’s game.

Rhys Hoskins is batting leadoff? Why the hell is Rhys Hoskins batting leadoff? 

If you think I’m making up a false reaction for the sake of providing a framework for this piece, well, I’m not.

Do a Twitter search for the terms “Kapler” and “lineup” together and see what comes up. There’s a critic or two – or 500.

“Does Gabe Kapler just throw darts at a board to pick his lineup?” 

As it turns out, he doesn’t.

Hoskins, who entered Wednesday night’s game in the midst of a hideous 2 for 32 stretch over a nine-game span in which he failed to knock in a run, singled in his first at-bat and later recorded his first RBI since August 3 with a sacrifice fly.

He hasn’t exactly heated up since being put in the leadoff spot – going only 1 for 6 – but he has reached base three times in addition to that sacrifice fly in nine total plate appearances.

I asked Kapler prior to Thursday’s wild walk-off win that completed a rejuvenating three-game sweep of the Cubs about lineup construction, what factors go into the changes he makes, and about Hoskins’ move to the leadoff spot.

I found his answers to be insightful. I’ll interject with some thoughts along the way.

Crossing Broad: How do you weigh out your lineup? Say Rhys gets hot in the leadoff spot, right? Because he’s back in there tonight, and he’s starts to gain some traction, do you look at that and say, “Okay, now he’s getting going, so we’re going to leave him there?” Or do you say, “His natural positioning should be in the middle of the order, so now let’s transition him back.”

Kapler: It’s such a good question, and it’s something that we think about every day.

Thanks, Gabe. Continue.

Kapler: Every day is looked at as it’s own unique entity. Because you’re facing a different pitcher everyday. Players are dealing with different emotions and adjustments they need to make everyday, and you’re trying to account for what the opposing manager and club is going to do. So by way of example, you saw us have Harper at the top of the lineup on several occasions. We also at that point had Haseley down at the bottom of the lineup, or you’ve seen some other guys who haven’t performed historically as well against left (left-handed pitching) down at the bottom of the lineup. And what we saw is that opposing managers are going to try to take advantage of that, so they will have their best left-handed reliever available for the bottom of the lineup, take him all the way through the top and try to get Harper, too.

So, for example, this is just an exercise in lineup construction, game strategy, etc. If Harper is our leadoff hitter today, and Haseley is our eight-hole hitter, and our best options off the bench are left-handed, you can envision a scenario where they’re going to bring their best left-handed reliever in to force us to use maybe a lesser right-handed option, or if we use Logan Morrison by way of example, they’ve got left-left-left to go through with Harper at the top.

Right, so the first thing to consider is the matchup with the opposing starting pitcher. Taking a player’s psyche into consideration is part of the equation as well as how an opponent’s bullpen is best suited to attack the lineup in the later innings. Pretty standard stuff. Matchups and make sure the the player can mentally handle it.

Obviously, the Phillies don’t view Harper as a prototypical leadoff hitter given he hasn’t hit there most nights, but with the offense tanking, they thought his on-base skills could provide a spark. Of National League hitters with at least 300 plate appearances this season, Harper’s 15.6% walk-rate is third. He’s also been productive in eight games out of the leadoff spot with a .972 OPS, but that positioning became problematic when opponents countered in late innings against their left-handed heavy offense. More Gabe:

Kapler: So we’re constantly thinking about best lineup construction, staggering left and right against a right-handed pitcher, the mental well-being of the player in question – in this case Rhys – and try to balance all of those things. I don’t think it’s any magic formula.

I think it’s considering all of those angles on a daily basis and then getting ready to explain it to people so it makes sense. Because if you don’t have these kinds of conversations, it just looks like you’re kind of randomly selecting people to put into spaces. When in reality, from the time the game ends, you’re planning that out until we get to this moment today and literally having conversations about it throughout the night.

Kapler and the Phillies organization are often criticized for ignoring the human element of baseball. You hear things all of the time like how Kapler needs to “go with his gut” in the dugout or how he needs to “get off his computer,” but such comments are a bit of an oversimplification.

Do we know what “going with his gut” means, or what his “computer” says? Often, something like this gets said when a decision backfires, not because it was gut versus analytics.

In fact, the term “analytics” gets grossly overused in this city because we often don’t know what specific data is part of the equation for certain decisions, nor do we know how each of the equations variables are weighted. Instead, it simply serves as an umbrella term to lazily explain away what we may not be able to explain at a basic level.

Phillies. Numbers. Analytics. Bad. The end.

Interestingly, one of the most common critiques of Kapler as a manager is the supposed lack of continuity in his lineups, but the facts show that when compared to how other teams juggle their lineups, Kapler has done it way less than his contemporaries this season.

After using a staggering 138 different batting order combinations a season ago, the Phillies have used only 74 different lineups this season. Only the Braves (64) have used less combinations among NL teams. In fact, five of the NL’s top six offenses have used more combinations this season. Have a look:

Dodgers 101

Braves 64

Rockies 102

Diamondbacks 92

Nationals 85

Cubs 109

For further context, the 2010 Phillies used 94 different batting order combinations, and the 2011 Phillies used 105, so while Kapler isn’t exactly plugging in the same eight guys in the same eight spots every day (and why would he with an offense that is in the bottom-third of the league in several statistical categories?), his lineup iterations are comparatively conservative this season, and they also aren’t an outlier to Manuel’s teams.

As for Hoskins, Kapler feels accentuating his best qualities as a hitter might get him to relax a little bit.

“Why is Rhys Hoskins who he is as a hitter? What is his best skill? Getting on base. Two things: hit home runs and get on base,” he said. “But the get on base thing is the most important thing. More than steal a base, be on base. Because you can’t steal first base. You gotta get there.”

It’s obvious the Phillies and Kapler don’t view Hoskins as a long-term solution in the leadoff spot. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s out of there at some point this weekend against the Padres. Then again, the Phillies have scored 18 runs in two games with Hoskins leading off. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Right?

Not exactly.

Kapler: It’s so important because sometimes I’ll find, I’ll take you back like several weeks. There was one point and we won a game, and I had heard through the grapevine that there was a conversation coming into the dugout. There was a different lineup up, and the narrative was like you don’t change the lineup after a win, that was something I heard from one specific guy, and I realized that’s really how a lot of people feel, right?

In those situations it’s really important to draw attention to the best teams in baseball over the last 20 years and how they actually do change lineups based on the opposing starting pitcher or trying to get a guy going at the top of the lineup.

Right or wrong, I don’t know. What I do know is that while you may not like Kapler’s methodology or thought process as he constructs his lineups on a daily basis, he’s not just throwing darts.

The post Actually, Gabe Kapler Isn’t Just Throwing Darts appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Actually, Gabe Kapler Isn’t Just Throwing Darts published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[gardenpeony71-blog]

Inbox: How Cubs could earn an 'A' for offseason

After eight years of answering fan questions about all things Indians, it's time to debut my first Cubs Inbox as the club's new beat reporter for MLB.com. I have appreciated the warm welcome from Cubs fans since announcing the change earlier this month. And, for those who may have missed it, I also wrote on my blog about what readers can expect from me moving forward. Now, on to the Inbox.

After eight years of answering fan questions about all things Indians, it's time to debut my first Cubs Inbox as the club's new beat reporter for MLB.com. I have appreciated the warm welcome from Cubs fans since announcing the change earlier this month. And, for those who may have missed it, I also wrote on my blog about what readers can expect from me moving forward. Now, on to the Inbox.

Addressing an offense that posted an 86 Weighted Runs Created Plus (14 percent below league average) across the final two months combined would certainly be ideal. That said, given the height of the Cubs' payroll before even making a move this offseason, the likelihood of adding a free agent like Bryce Harper seems slim.

• Submit a question to the Inbox

Never say never, I guess, but it really sounds as though much of the lineup improvement will need to come via positive regression from core hitters already in place. That is, unless the Cubs can pry open some at-bats and dollars via trade. In that way, I'm not sure I'd be confident slapping an "A" grade on the offseason until we can see if Kris Bryant returns to form or some of the other batters make the offensive jumps necessary to justify a quiet winter for lineup upgrades.

If Harper isn't walking through the door, the Cubs' focus will need to be on addressing their middle-infield situation and bullpen. If Chicago can do that, and also get its offense back on track next summer, that would make for a successful winter.

We'll know by Friday whether Addison Russell is tendered a contract. His off-field issues aside, Chicago could definitely upgrade the 79 OPS+ posted by the shortstop over the past two seasons combined. Javier Baez can stick at short and the Cubs can find a fit for second base. Ben Zobrist or Ian Happ could slide back to that spot, of course, but the market includes Daniel Murphy, DJ LeMahieu and Jed Lowrie, among others.

Two names that could be a fit for the Cubs' bullpen -- and two I'm very familiar with from my years in Cleveland -- are lefty Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Miller is coming off an injury marred campaign, but his reputation obviously carries weight. Allen was a reliable, versatile late-inning arm for the Indians, but he had a career-worst showing in 2018. Due to their circumstances, both relievers could come at a discount, and either would add a wealth of veteran experience.

Are the Cubs looking into signing a veteran backup catcher? I think it is necessary. -- Andres M., Socuellamos, Spain

After reading up on Socuellamos, I feel like I should be sipping a glass of Spanish wine while answering your question. Yes, the Cubs are in the market for a veteran backup catcher behind Willson Contreras. One thing I've been told is that the team felt it was lacking some veteran leadership in the clubhouse last season. That might be something that comes along with adding a veteran catcher. But if the Cubs do not find the right fit, they would be fine with going into 2019 with Victor Caratini as their No. 2 catcher again.

Do you see the Cubs being aggressive on Andrew Miller or Zach Britton this offseason? -- Zach G., Omaha, Neb.

I definitely think the Cubs should be aggressive on relievers of that type. While handedness does not matter if you acquire a lights-out arm, Chicago definitely could benefit from adding a lefty as a late-inning complement. If Brandon Morrow is healthy and Pedro Strop keeps doing his thing, that's a great end point for the relief corps, but it'd look a lot sturdier with one more experienced southpaw injected into the mix.

You covered Michael Brantley for years while covering the Indians. Do you see a fit for Brantley to be the leadoff guy for the Cubs? -- Greg K., Hartford, Wisc.

This is good. We've worked in Indians-related content in three of the first four questions. Thanks for easing me into things, everybody. Brantley would be a great fit for any team. He's quiet, but a good clubhouse leader, and played a big role in Francisco Lindor's growth as a hitter. Offensively, Brantley hit .309 last year while leading the Majors in lowest swinging-strike rate (four percent), as well as highest contact rate (90.9 percent) and contact rate in the strike zone (97.3 percent). Brantley is fine in left field, but not an elite defender by any means.

The issue here wouldn't be fit in the lineup -- teams can make room for good hitters -- but fit on the field. Brantley would need to play left. Well, that's where Kyle Schwarber has found a home. If not left, Brantley could maybe play first. Some guy named Anthony Rizzo occupies that spot. There's no designated hitter and Brantley's days as a center fielder are long gone. So, I just don't see it as a roster fit for Chicago unless the club cleared room via trade.

Welcome to the Cubs family again. I read your blog about coming back home and, man, I can't imagine what you were going through on Nov. 2, 2016. That's actually one of my questions: How did you feel during that World Series? You were the Indians' beat writer, but also a Cubs fan. -- Alex L.

I get this question a lot, but the key here is I was a Cubs fan when I was growing up in Chicagoland. After 14 years as a beat reporter, I'm not a "fan" of any one team. I'm probably more of a baseball fan than I was as a kid, especially with the wealth of information available at our fingertips these days, but I don't live and die with a team. During the 2016 World Series, I reflected back on my late Grandpa Bastian (a Cubs fan born in 1909) and his role in getting me into baseball as a kid. At the same time, my young son just saw his Indians lose in Game 7. That part was hard. For me, personally, it was just an awesome World Series to write about and an experience that created lifelong memories.

Jordan Bastian covers the Cubs for MLB.com. He previously covered the Indians from 2011-18 and the Blue Jays from 2006-10. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, follow him on Twitter @MLBastian and Facebook.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/previewing-the-cubs-offseason-plans/c-301167622

[cornvest1-blog]

Almora's time as everyday player 'on the horizon'

MESA, Ariz. -- Cubs manager Joe Maddon believes center fielder Albert Almora Jr. will soon grow into being an everyday player. That, however, is not likely to be the case when the regular season begins.

The 24-year-old Almora, who was in camp on Friday ahead of Sunday's reporting date for position players, will be one piece of Chicago's outfield puzzle. Maddon said he plans on taking a similar approach as last season, meaning the playing time will be managed based on matchups, planned rest and ensuring that the handful of outfield options are each getting enough plate appearances.

MESA, Ariz. -- Cubs manager Joe Maddon believes center fielder Albert Almora Jr. will soon grow into being an everyday player. That, however, is not likely to be the case when the regular season begins.

The 24-year-old Almora, who was in camp on Friday ahead of Sunday's reporting date for position players, will be one piece of Chicago's outfield puzzle. Maddon said he plans on taking a similar approach as last season, meaning the playing time will be managed based on matchups, planned rest and ensuring that the handful of outfield options are each getting enough plate appearances.

:: Spring Training coverage presented by Camping World ::

"He's still young," Maddon said. "And I know, when you are young, impatience, being impetuous, is really a part of that age bracket. His time to be an everyday player is probably on the horizon. But among the mix that we have right now, and if everybody is well, you're going to still see a lot of what we did last year, trying to put them in there against their best matchups and making sure that everybody is being taken care of and developed."

Maddon said the goal is to have Almora continue to show improvement against right-handed pitching in order to earn more days in the starting lineup. Last season, the center fielder's strong start (.332 average and .830 OPS through June) was followed by a second-half slide (.232 average and .548 OPS from July 1 through the end of the year). For the season, Almora had a .684 OPS and 84 wRC+ against righties, compared to a .742 OPS and 101 wRC+ against lefties.

Overall, Almora hit .286 with five homers, 30 extra-base hits, 41 RBIs and a .701 OPS in 152 games in 2018.

"Every year, every offseason is different and you learn a lot about yourself every year," Almora said. "Especially myself, I'm still considered young. I'm 24 years old and I'm learning a lot about myself. But, I feel great. I worked at every aspect."

Video: Hamels discusses 2019, Almora Jr. looks back at 2018

Back to baseball Much of the first week of Cubs camp has been dominated by off-field issues. Atop the list has been the situation surrounding shortstop Addison Russell, who spoke with the media on Friday for the first time since being suspended last year for violating MLB's Domestic Violence Policy.

Maddon admitted that the week has been draining.

"Absolutely," Maddon said. "We are here to play baseball. I know we're part of the social fabric of this country and people watch us all the time, and we're very popular as baseball players. But I would prefer to get back to just talking about baseball. That's what we're here for. We're here to entertain."

Video: Russell, Maddon talk about Addison's suspension

The manager said he was "impressed and proud" of how Russell handled the press conference.

"Not easy for him to do," Maddon said. "I thought he held up really well. I talked to him afterwards. I talked to him again today. I gave him a big ol' hug, because I know that's probably the most difficult thing he's ever done publicly, or maybe ever done period. So I give him a lot of credit for that. I thought his answers really addressed the situation well. I also believe a moment like that can be a tremendous growth moment for a human being."

Bryant robs Almora With his last swing of batting practice today, Almora drove a pitch to deep left-center field on one of the Cubs' spring diamonds. As the ball left Almora's bat, he yelled out, "You better catch that!"

Kris Bryant was roaming the outfield at the time and broke back to the fence, where he made a leaping catch to rob a would-be home run. His teammates erupted in cheers and Almora greeted him with a fist bump at the edge of the infield.

"Did you get that on camera?" Bryant quipped to reporters.

Worth noting • Mike Montgomery is dealing with stiffness in his throwing shoulder, according to Maddon. The lefty threw long toss during Friday morning's workout and could be back on a mound within the next few days.

• Right-hander Junichi Tazawa, who was signed to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training, has not been in camp yet due to visa issues. He is expected to arrive on Monday.

Jordan Bastian covers the Cubs for MLB.com. He previously covered the Indians from 2011-18 and the Blue Jays from 2006-10. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, follow him on Twitter @MLBastian and Facebook.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/albert-almora-jr-will-start-in-of-rotation/c-304054148

[endenogatai]

CommerceDNA wins the TechCrunch Hackathon at VivaTech

It’s been a long night at VivaTech. The building hosted a very special competition — the very first TechCrunch Hackathon in Paris.

Hundreds of engineers and designers got together to come up with something cool, something neat, something awesome. The only condition was that they only had 24 hours to work on their projects. Some of them were participating in our event for the first time, while others were regulars. Some of them slept on the floor in a corner, while others drank too much Red Bull.

We could all feel the excitement in the air when the 64 teams took the stage to present a one-minute demo to impress fellow coders and our judges. But only one team could take home the grand prize and €5,000. So, without further ado, meet the TechCrunch Hackathon winner.

Winner: CommerceDNA

Runner-Up #1: AID

Runner-Up #2: EV Range Meter

Judges

Nicolas Bacca, CTO, Ledger Nicolas worked on card systems for 5 years at Oberthur, a leader in embedded digital security, ultimately as R&D Solution Architect. He left Oberthur to launch his company, Ubinity, which was developing smartcard operating systems.

He finally co-founded BT Chip to develop an open standard, secure element based hardware wallet which eventually became the first version of the Ledger wallet.

Charles Gorintin, co-founder & CTO, Alan Charles Gorintin is a French data science and engineering leader. He is a cofounder and CTO of Alan. Alan’s mission is to make it easy for people to be in great health.

Prior to co-founding Alan, Charles Gorintin was a data science leader at fast-growing social networks, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where he worked on anti-fraud, growth, and social psychology.

Gorintin holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, a Master’s degree in Machine Learning from ENS Paris-Saclay, and a Masters of Financial Engineering from UC Berkeley – Haas School of Business.

Samantha Jérusalmy, Partner, Elaia Partners Samantha joined Elaia Partners in 2008. She began her career as a consultant at Eurogroup, a consulting firm specialized in organisation and strategy, within the Bank and Finance division. She then joined Clipperton Finance, a corporate finance firm dedicated to high-tech growth companies, before moving to Elaia Partners in 2008. She became an Investment Manager in 2011 then a Partner in 2014.

Laure Némée, CTO, Leetchi Laure has spent her career in software development in various startups since 2000 after an engineer’s degree in computer science. She joined Leetchi at the very beginning in 2010 and has been Leetchi Group CTO since. She now works mainly on MANGOPAY, the payment service for sharing economy sites that was created by Leetchi.

Benjamin Netter, CTO, Lendix Benjamin is the CTO of Lendix, the leading SME lending platform in continental Europe. Learning to code at 8, he has been since then experimenting ways to rethink fashion, travel or finance using technology. In 2009, in parallel with his studies at EPITECH, he created one of the first French applications on Facebook (Questions entre amis), which was used by more than half a million users. In 2011, he won the Foursquare Global Hackathon by reinventing the travel guide with Tripovore. In 2014, he launched Somewhere, an Instagram travel experiment acclaimed by the press. He is today reinventing with Lendix the way European companies get faster and simpler financing.

And finally here were our hackmasters that guided our hackers to success:

Emily Atkinson, Software Engineer / MD, DevelopHer UK Emily is a Software Engineer at Condé Nast Britain, and co-founder & Managing Director of women in tech network DevelopHer UK. Her technical role involves back-end services, infrastructure ops and tooling, site reliability and back-end product. Entering tech as an MSc Computer Science grad, she spent six years at online print startup MOO – working across the platform, including mobile web and product. As an advocate for diversity and inclusion in STEM & digital in 2016 Atkinson launched DevelopHer, a volunteer-run non-profit community aimed at increasing diversity in tech by empowering members to develop their career and skills through events, workshops, networking and mentoring.

Romain Dillet, Senior Writer, TechCrunch Romain attended EMLYON Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He covers many things from mobile apps with great design to fashion, Apple, AI and complex tech achievements. He also speaks at major tech conferences. He likes pop culture more than anything in the world.

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[drasifshahid-blog]

Saudi women can drive at last but some say price is silence

A Saudi woman leaves a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 2, 2017. Picture taken October 2, 2017.

RIYADH  - Saudi Arabian women were given the right to drive last week after nearly three decades of campaigning, but some activists say that breakthrough has come with a price: their silence. While the royal decree ending the ban on women driving has been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom, some women say they have been cowed into not speaking about it - a charge the government denies. Four women who previously participated in protests against the ban told Reuters they had received phone calls instructing them not to comment on the decree. Two women said around 25 activists had received such calls. As Saudi Arabia pushes through reforms over the objections of conservatives, the leadership is trying to modernize without losing the support of its traditional base. Some Islamist clerics seen by the government as dabbling in politics have been detained after an apparent crackdown on potential opponents of the kingdom’s rulers last month which now appears to have paved the way for lifting the driving ban. Activists and analysts say the government is also keen to avoid rewarding activism, which is forbidden in the absolute monarchy, and seems determined not to antagonize religious sensitivities. But seemingly inviolable Saudi norms are being turned on their head, with some religious clerics who supported policies such as bans on women driving and gender mixing now apparently changing their minds. The changes suggest a possible shift in the power balance toward the Al Saud ruling family away from the Wahhabi clerical establishment.

WHAT MATTERS IS THE WIN

In the first protest against the driving ban, in 1990, 47 women drove around central Riyadh for nearly an hour until they were detained by the religious police, then fired from their jobs and barred from traveling. One participant, a university professor now in her 60s, recalls that act of defiance which sparked a new era in the Saudi women’s rights movement. “On the first loop, we were not caught. But the second time, we were caught. I think somebody called. I remember one man, he was in front of us in his car. He went like this,” she said, wagging her finger. “That meant he didn’t want us to drive.” More protests followed, but the government has not acknowledged the activists’ efforts since ending the ban. Activists who said they had received phone calls ordering them to remain silent spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “He was very straightforward. He said you are ordered not to comment on the women driving issue or procedures will be taken against you. You are held accountable for anything posted after this call,” one of the callers said. Another woman, Tamador al-Yami, apologized on Twitter for being unable to comment “for reasons beyond my control”. “Everybody knows.. everybody who follows.. we don’t need to say it out loud :)” she wrote. “& it doesn’t matter, what matters is the win, and we won”. The government says the allegations are false and cites women who have spoken out, with op-eds in the New York Times and CNN. “No one has been censored or warned about expressing their views,” an Information Ministry statement said. “Saudi Arabia welcomes both the enormous interest and contributions to the debate, especially those from our own citizens.”

THE KING WINS

Ending the driving ban is part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform program aimed at diversifying the economy away from oil and opening up Saudis’ cloistered lifestyles. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, is the face of that change. Many young Saudis regard his recent ascent to power as proof their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women’s progress. Yet the crown prince has been noticeably absent from the rollout of the new driving policy, which was presented to the media in Washington rather than Riyadh. That may reflect the riskiness of the move, which was welcomed by many but met with confusion and outrage by others. Saudi media has tagged news about the ban: “The king wins with women driving”. Police however issued two arrest warrants over the weekend for men who posted threats against women drivers. Activist Hala al-Dosari, who lives in Boston, said lifting the ban had also been intended to silence women activists. “The monarchy wants to be central for the Saudi state inside and outside as the owners of any reform. They are not willing to have their position contested,” she said. “How can they convince the world they are the patrons of modernization when the women of Saudi Arabia are challenging those notions?” Eman al-Nafjan, who participated in a driving protest in 2011, said she was relieved the ban had been lifted but frustrated that the role of women activists had been overlooked. “Were our efforts the reason the ban was lifted? Or was it a decision that had been made regardless of our struggles?” she wrote the day after the royal decree. The professor who took part in the 1990 protest said her family had not expressed strong opinions about her activism all those years ago, but one relative now thinks she is a celebrity. “My niece thinks I‘m someone special,” she said. “She says, ‘Oh, auntie! What you did!'”

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The Role of Social Media in Crisis Communication

Since the mid-2000s, social media have played an increasingly important role in shaping the perceptions and responses to crises. According to Duggan and Smith (2013), nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults belonged to at least one social media site. In addition to managing traditional or controlled media, public relations practitioners are today advised to develop a crisis response plan that incorporates social media—not as an afterthought, but as an integral part of crisis management strategies that are unique to the communication channel. According to Coombs (2014), an organization can use social data analysis to quickly report a crisis, which results in less reputational damage than if another source first reports. This diminishes, or at least reconfigures, the gatekeeping role that was once the domain of news organizations. Crises, when they occur, can prove difficult to contain. Like putting out a wildfire with several points of origin, it is often hard to know where to start and when one is finished. On the other hand, as Austin, Liu, and Jin (2012) have contended, a growing number of U.S. adults not only prefer to get information online, but also perceive information gleaned online as more credible than what is available through traditional media channels.

Social media data analysis offer a range of specific opportunities and challenges. Among the opportunities, social media have the potential to be collaborative, allowing many voices and viewpoints to find representation, and the possibility of meaningful two-way communication including the opportunity to mobilize and reach a plethora of voices. New media can amplify traditional media or provide a forum for discussion and debate of stories that originate through other media channels. On the other hand, social media often initiate or lead news stories on traditional media. Columbia Journalism Review reported that nearly 60 percent of journalists have Twitter accounts, while a study conducted by the University of Indiana School of Journalism found that almost 54 percent were active users. Clearly, even for media professionals, social media have the advantages of timeliness, flexibility, and directness. Timeliness is a key factor. As Cho, Jung, and Park (2013) have shown, news of the 2011 earthquake in Japan began to surface on Twitter 20 minutes before traditional news sources began to report the story. Moreover, the interactive potential of social data analytics, as demonstrated as early as 2007 in the immediate wake of shootings at Virginia Tech, during the Arab Spring and Haitian earthquake, and the 2013 attack on Westgate Mall in Kenya, represents a key advantage in connection to risk communication and fostering public awareness during an emergent crisis (Simon et al. 2014). On a more mundane but nevertheless powerful level, social media present the opportunity for the public to engage directly with organizations or celebrities. Distinctions between content creators, gatekeepers, and audiences, stakeholders, or publics are thus eroded.

Challenges include managing the sheer volume of information. Separating the wheat from the chaff becomes an onerous task and few organizations have the resources to fully scan the social media environment 24/7. Nonprofit organizations in particular historically have failed to recognize the potential for two-way communication embedded in social media (Muralidharan et al. 2011). In contrast to traditional media, the emerging nature of social media makes more apparent the struggle to manage the flow of information amid the noise. According to Cho and Gower, the way a crisis is framed affects how an event is evaluated, as “the public perceives not the objective fact of a crisis event, but the facts constructed by the media or news releases from the party in crisis” (2006, 420). Austin, Liu, and Jin (2012) suggested that it mattered less to many social media users whether or not crisis information was accurate or not. The speed with which a single tweet can travel can incite unanticipated consequences.

The Red Cross learned this lesson in February 2011 when social media director Wendy Harman accidentally posted a tweet about beer that included the phrase “when we drink we do it right” followed by the hashtag “#gettngslizzerd.” The tweet went unnoticed for about an hour before it was followed with an explanation issued by the organization: “We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.” The strategy, which mixed corrective action with self-deprecating humor, proved effective and led to a fund-raising opportunity including a partnership with Dogfish Head beer, the subject of the “rogue tweet” (“Case Study” 2011). The same may be said of the way DKNY handled a photographer’s claim that the company improperly used one of his images in a display. Claiming it was an accident, the company issued a sincere apology backed up with a donation of $25,000 to a local YMCA.

Applebee’s restaurant had less success negotiating social media in 2013 in the wake of the firing of Chelsea Welch, a waitress who posted a photograph on her personal Facebook account of a minister’s bill decrying the 18 percent tip added to the bill with “I give God 10% why do you get 18.” The company claimed that Welch violated the customer’s privacy, a reasonable proposition until it was revealed on social media that the company had itself posted a similar receipt on the corporate Facebook account that clearly identified a client. Apple-bee’s attempts to defend its actions quickly garnered more than 10,000 comments, the majority of which were negative (“Big Op-Ed” 2013). Further complicating the crisis response, the company attempted to delete many of the negative comments and entered into argumentation with customers. Their defensive response violated the public’s growing expectation, fostered by social media, for transparency and candor (Wendling, Radisch, and Jacobzone 2013).

Celebrities and public figures often evade crisis situations, distort their responses, and exacerbate the situation in social media environments, often making the crisis more conspicuous and extensive. In the context of revelations about doping, Lance Armstrong concentrated on the crisis communication strategies of attacking the accuser, stonewalling, and bolstering on his official Twitter account, which was inconsistent with a range of strategies such as mortification, conforming, and retrospective regret that he used in his Oprah Winfrey interview. Armstrong failed to exhibit a similar degree of contrition and be consistent in his crisis response strategies between traditional media and social media (Hambrick, Frederick, and Sanderson 2015). He thus missed the opportunity to effectively respond to the crisis and possibly redirect the audience to more positive themes and images.

Organizations can be blindsided by social media attacks. Planned Parenthood proved to be unprepared for the successful attacks mounted on social media by LiveAction. As Wigley and Zhang contended, “Crisis managers should think about social media as a way to prepare for a crisis and develop relationships with stakeholders, by using dialogue, etc.” (2011). Social media have become a crucial platform for crisis responses and occurrences as well. Although organizations can monitor or detect a sign or prodrome of crisis, more often they respond to crisis with selected strategies ranging from “simple denial” to “mortification” on social media (Benoit 1995).

A recent illustration of the power of social media to affect attitudes occurred on August 9, 2014, at 12:03 p.m. when Twitter user @TheePharoah posted the now famous message “I JUST SAW SOMEONE DIE OMFG.” Within the course of the next few minutes, this and a subsequent photograph of Michael Brown’s slain body in Ferguson, Missouri, had been rapidly retweeted nearly 6,000 times. The city of Ferguson failed to respond for more than five hours, heightening the perception that the police had acted improperly. Other blunders, such as lack of sensitivity in communicating with the public, the restricted access to journalists, and the militaristic tactics employed on the ground, led to an escalation of the crisis (DeVries 2015). Considered as an organization facing a crisis, the city of Ferguson would have benefited from advice about the role of social media in a communication strategy offered by Veil, Beuhner, and Palenchar (2011): accentuate open, honest communication from the start, collaborate with the media, and adopt a stance of empathy that suggests partnership with stakeholder publics.

#digitalmedia

[flauntpage]

Actually, Gabe Kapler Isn’t Just Throwing Darts

I’m interested in lineup construction. I want to know why a manager hits certain guys in certain spots and what exactly goes into the thought process as he mixes and matches a lineup to counteract an opposing team’s arms.

Most of the time, a manager’s lineup decisions are self-evident, while sometimes the tinkering might be a slight deviation from conventional wisdom. Occasionally, those deviations are more extreme. When this happens, such decisions typically elicit a skeptical “what the hell is this?” from observers.

As the Phillies continue their ongoing efforts to spark an inconsistent lineup that has underperformed for much of the season, that question has been asked more frequently of manager Gabe Kapler’s lineups.

Kapler certainly raised some eyebrows earlier this week when he put the struggling Rhys Hoskins, a hitter who has spent the bulk of his career in the middle of the order, atop his lineup prior to Wednesday night’s game.

Rhys Hoskins is batting leadoff? Why the hell is Rhys Hoskins batting leadoff? 

If you think I’m making up a false reaction for the sake of providing a framework for this piece, well, I’m not.

Do a Twitter search for the terms “Kapler” and “lineup” together and see what comes up. There’s a critic or two – or 500.

“Does Gabe Kapler just throw darts at a board to pick his lineup?” 

As it turns out, he doesn’t.

Hoskins, who entered Wednesday night’s game in the midst of a hideous 2 for 32 stretch over a nine-game span in which he failed to knock in a run, singled in his first at-bat and later recorded his first RBI since August 3 with a sacrifice fly.

He hasn’t exactly heated up since being put in the leadoff spot – going only 1 for 6 – but he has reached base three times in addition to that sacrifice fly in nine total plate appearances.

I asked Kapler prior to Thursday’s wild walk-off win that completed a rejuvenating three-game sweep of the Cubs about lineup construction, what factors go into the changes he makes, and about Hoskins’ move to the leadoff spot.

I found his answers to be insightful. I’ll interject with some thoughts along the way.

Crossing Broad: How do you weigh out your lineup? Say Rhys gets hot in the leadoff spot, right? Because he’s back in there tonight, and he’s starts to gain some traction, do you look at that and say, “Okay, now he’s getting going, so we’re going to leave him there?” Or do you say, “His natural positioning should be in the middle of the order, so now let’s transition him back.”

Kapler: It’s such a good question, and it’s something that we think about every day.

Thanks, Gabe. Continue.

Kapler: Every day is looked at as it’s own unique entity. Because you’re facing a different pitcher everyday. Players are dealing with different emotions and adjustments they need to make everyday, and you’re trying to account for what the opposing manager and club is going to do. So by way of example, you saw us have Harper at the top of the lineup on several occasions. We also at that point had Haseley down at the bottom of the lineup, or you’ve seen some other guys who haven’t performed historically as well against left (left-handed pitching) down at the bottom of the lineup. And what we saw is that opposing managers are going to try to take advantage of that, so they will have their best left-handed reliever available for the bottom of the lineup, take him all the way through the top and try to get Harper, too.

So, for example, this is just an exercise in lineup construction, game strategy, etc. If Harper is our leadoff hitter today, and Haseley is our eight-hole hitter, and our best options off the bench are left-handed, you can envision a scenario where they’re going to bring their best left-handed reliever in to force us to use maybe a lesser right-handed option, or if we use Logan Morrison by way of example, they’ve got left-left-left to go through with Harper at the top.

Right, so the first thing to consider is the matchup with the opposing starting pitcher. Taking a player’s psyche into consideration is part of the equation as well as how an opponent’s bullpen is best suited to attack the lineup in the later innings. Pretty standard stuff. Matchups and make sure the the player can mentally handle it.

Obviously, the Phillies don’t view Harper as a prototypical leadoff hitter given he hasn’t hit there most nights, but with the offense tanking, they thought his on-base skills could provide a spark. Of National League hitters with at least 300 plate appearances this season, Harper’s 15.6% walk-rate is third. He’s also been productive in eight games out of the leadoff spot with a .972 OPS, but that positioning became problematic when opponents countered in late innings against their left-handed heavy offense. More Gabe:

Kapler: So we’re constantly thinking about best lineup construction, staggering left and right against a right-handed pitcher, the mental well-being of the player in question – in this case Rhys – and try to balance all of those things. I don’t think it’s any magic formula.

I think it’s considering all of those angles on a daily basis and then getting ready to explain it to people so it makes sense. Because if you don’t have these kinds of conversations, it just looks like you’re kind of randomly selecting people to put into spaces. When in reality, from the time the game ends, you’re planning that out until we get to this moment today and literally having conversations about it throughout the night.

Kapler and the Phillies organization are often criticized for ignoring the human element of baseball. You hear things all of the time like how Kapler needs to “go with his gut” in the dugout or how he needs to “get off his computer,” but such comments are a bit of an oversimplification.

Do we know what “going with his gut” means, or what his “computer” says? Often, something like this gets said when a decision backfires, not because it was gut versus analytics.

In fact, the term “analytics” gets grossly overused in this city because we often don’t know what specific data is part of the equation for certain decisions, nor do we know how each of the equations variables are weighted. Instead, it simply serves as an umbrella term to lazily explain away what we may not be able to explain at a basic level.

Phillies. Numbers. Analytics. Bad. The end.

Interestingly, one of the most common critiques of Kapler as a manager is the supposed lack of continuity in his lineups, but the facts show that when compared to how other teams juggle their lineups, Kapler has done it way less than his contemporaries this season.

After using a staggering 138 different batting order combinations a season ago, the Phillies have used only 74 different lineups this season. Only the Braves (64) have used less combinations among NL teams. In fact, five of the NL’s top six offenses have used more combinations this season. Have a look:

Dodgers 101

Braves 64

Rockies 102

Diamondbacks 92

Nationals 85

Cubs 109

For further context, the 2010 Phillies used 94 different batting order combinations, and the 2011 Phillies used 105, so while Kapler isn’t exactly plugging in the same eight guys in the same eight spots every day (and why would he with an offense that is in the bottom-third of the league in several statistical categories?), his lineup iterations are comparatively conservative this season, and they also aren’t an outlier to Manuel’s teams.

As for Hoskins, Kapler feels accentuating his best qualities as a hitter might get him to relax a little bit.

“Why is Rhys Hoskins who he is as a hitter? What is his best skill? Getting on base. Two things: hit home runs and get on base,” he said. “But the get on base thing is the most important thing. More than steal a base, be on base. Because you can’t steal first base. You gotta get there.”

It’s obvious the Phillies and Kapler don’t view Hoskins as a long-term solution in the leadoff spot. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s out of there at some point this weekend against the Padres. Then again, the Phillies have scored 18 runs in two games with Hoskins leading off. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Right?

Not exactly.

Kapler: It’s so important because sometimes I’ll find, I’ll take you back like several weeks. There was one point and we won a game, and I had heard through the grapevine that there was a conversation coming into the dugout. There was a different lineup up, and the narrative was like you don’t change the lineup after a win, that was something I heard from one specific guy, and I realized that’s really how a lot of people feel, right?

In those situations it’s really important to draw attention to the best teams in baseball over the last 20 years and how they actually do change lineups based on the opposing starting pitcher or trying to get a guy going at the top of the lineup.

Right or wrong, I don’t know. What I do know is that while you may not like Kapler’s methodology or thought process as he constructs his lineups on a daily basis, he’s not just throwing darts.

The post Actually, Gabe Kapler Isn’t Just Throwing Darts appeared first on Crossing Broad.

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