#always remember to get your [character development] from a trusted licensed source !

[trainingdummyrabbit]

WORLDS SHITTIEST APOTHEOSIS

#can i press b. im pressing b. presses b. presses b. pr #piktalk #always remember to get your [character development] from a trusted licensed source ! #potion of Stop FUCKing Metamorphosing Girl It is the DEAD OF WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #'ohhhh this motherfucker better not be--' They Are

[galacticlamps]

Tagged by @the--highlanders​ ! Thanks!

How many works do you have on AO3?

13

What’s your total AO3 word count?

76,200

(oh what a nice even number - I should try to mess that up as soon as possible, shouldn’t I?)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Aw man is this intentionally worded to be really hard to answer? I get that it says ‘written’ and not ‘posted’ but then what constitutes a ‘fandom?’ I definitely wrote fics for stuff I was interested in long before I even knew the word ‘fic’ - I did it throughout my childhood, and then in high school, and while I didn’t do it as much in college, it still happened from time to time. So a lot of the books/movies/tv shows/plays/musicals I wrote things for aren’t really fandoms, and frankly, I had to check my old folder just now to even remember some of them existed. I’ll just list the ones that I know for sure had fandoms, since that’s more fun (and embarrassing), right?

Obviously Doctor Who, classic and modern, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes (ironically more of these seem to be about the books, but yes, I will admit, some for that tv show too), Les Mis, a couple different Marvel comics & movies, Good Omens, hell, I even found a Night Vale fic in there just now.

And I know there are other older things not even in that folder, some of which never made it to a computer at all, so if I had to ballpark a number I’d probably say around 25ish but really, who knows?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Across the Gap

On the Spot

Expectations

Shards of Memories & Fragments of Glass

Itemized

(this was fun, I’d never noticed Ao3 even had a stats page until now lol)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes I take a long time to do so but for the most part, I usually get around to it. The rare exception would be if I first saw the comment when I was super busy/distracted and then felt like way too much time passed before I noticed it again, that it might be awkward if I said something at that point.

I do genuinely enjoy hearing what people think, but I’m also weirdly terrified of making anyone feel like they have to reply to my comments. I know that’s probably a little strange, but it’s actually a large part of why I made this Ao3 account in the first place - my original one, from high school, is followed by some long-time friends of mine who aren’t interested in this fandom, some of whom are involved in art & writing professionally. The thought of anyone like that reading something I wrote out of friendliness or even just curiosity and potentially having to pretend they liked it for the same reasons stressed me tf out, so I like having this virtually anonymous one because I can relax knowing that anyone who reads or interacts with something I wrote has probably done so only because they wanted to, rather than feeling obligated, and there’s no pressure on them to be nice to me about it if anything I write or post annoys them - so I really hope nobody who does just know me as an anonymous blog has ever worried about offending me by not replying to something, trust me, I’m perfectly happy with it!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think I’ve really written any angsty endings? I guess the answer would have to be Reckless just because it involves the characters arguing about sad/weighty things and there isn’t really any solution to those issues - but even then I think I ended it with a kind of acceptance that stops it from really qualifying as angst? I also set it in the the same universe as other fics, so maybe that doesn’t even count as an ending? Am I that bad at ending things on angst? Lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Obviously none of the fics I’ve posted are crossovers but I’m trying to think now if any of my WIP’s are - I’ve definitely poached setting/premise ideas from other media, but in terms of actual crossovers . . . I’ve got a few cross-era or cross-Doctor, a few involving Torchwood, but that’s already the same universe, so the only thing that’d qualify as a true crossover would be some vague pieces of a fic where Jamie, Zoe, and Two end up on the Enterprise, since I think the 60s series of Star Trek and Dr Who feel kind of compatible, don’t they? In fact, aren’t there like officially licensed crossover comics or something? Or did I make that up? Idk, and the ideas are very loose, so it’s not much of a WIP either

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, never

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I’ve never written smut, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that could change soon. There’s a longish multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, and the plot does call for a sex scene at one point towards the end, but I can’t seem to make up my mind on how - uh, I guess the word is explicit? - it should get. I know I could easily do a fade to black/implication thing, but it’s kind of a source of contention and anxiety for the characters, so to skip over writing the actual scene and just revisit them afterwards rings of “and they slept together and now everything’s fine!” which feels kinda cheap to me - in this context, anyway - and not the right payoff for a long fic that’s otherwise more of an interpersonal drama/slightly a period piece, if I had to place it in a genre. I feel like my aversion to actually writing the scene might just be prudishness I should get over, or maybe just self-doubt, because I know I’d rather have a well-written, funny, character-development-supporting sex scene than nothing at all, but since I’ve never had any interest in writing a scene like that before, I don’t know if I can do it well, and I also don’t want to ruin a fic I’m otherwise proud of by doing it badly... ugh I have to figure this out

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, it’s gotta be Two & Jamie. I’ve shipped things before with varying levels of investment, but I’ve never been able to use the term ‘otp’ in a literal sense until I came across them, and now it’s already basically gone out of fashion, go figure!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m not sure if I have one? My WIP doc is huge, but I don’t actually intend to get around to finishing everything in it, so I’d like to think that anything I’ve currently singled out to complete can actually get done.

That said, I do have a few AU’s that I don’t really plan to finish, but it might be cool if I could. Two of them are for all the main + some supporting characters of the Second Doctor’s era - one’s a modern day school teachers AU, and the other is a typical fantasy/fairy tale AU. Another is just Two/Jamie, based on Doctor Faustus (specifically the Marlowe play version) but right now there are two different versions of the ending coexisting in my head. I’ve written parts of scenes & some gen. backstory for all of those ideas, but I don’t know if I’ll ever try to finish them, or what form a finished product would even take - a series of one-shots set in the same universe? one long multi-chapter fic with some kind of overarching plot? And the amount of context/worldbuilding a big AU like these would require might not make them very appealing fics for people to read, so maybe it is better if I just keep them to myself, since in my head I already know what’s going on in those worlds lol.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don’t know. I haven’t had a creative writing class since middle school, and since then I’ve only ever shown creative writing to others in a fandom context, so it’s been a while since I’ve discussed it or gotten critical feedback. I suppose when I work in other arts or even academic writing contexts, people usually say I’m kind of insightful or at least detail oriented, which might just be another way of saying I overthink things, but I like to imagine I’m decent at finding little points of interest to expand upon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

If you’ve read this far I feel like you must know what I’m about to say: I do not know how to be concise.

Usually when I’m writing a fic, I put down the dialogue first on its own, leaving out the action of the scene and whatever plot/context led there, even if I’ve already figured all of that out. But then when I go to add those things in, they’re always longer than I wanted them to be. I don’t mind writing something long, but I don’t want my fics to be a slog to get through either, and there can be a point at which the stuff I’ve added for context overwhelms the stuff that I wanted the fic to be about in the first place, so it becomes a structural/proportion issue too. I haven’t completely given up on any fics because of this yet, but there’s one I’ve been struggling with for a couple months now - probably because I’m even second-guessing myself on which scenes need to be written out and which can just be referenced like a recap. Hopefully I figure that one out soon.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

((this is karma isn’t it? i posted a fic last week with two words of gaelic in it and was worried about that and now this is karma))

In general, I don’t want to do it. I feel like you’ve gotta have a really good grasp of a language to write dialogue & speech patterns for someone who’s a native speaker, and since I’m far from fluent in any language the characters I write for are, I wouldn’t feel confident writing any significant amount of dialogue in, say, Gaelic.

As a sidenote, though, I kinda love it when other people do it, particularly for Jamie. Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish (Gàidhlig) are both languages I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, because my family’s fresh out of living speakers of either & I think that’s a shame, but I started with Irish and at the moment I’m still very much learning it. As different as they are, it still helps me understand parts of lyrics or texts that I come across in Gàidhlig fairly frequently, so when it comes up in a fic I get to feel like I’m being responsible and practicing, and it’s great when I can actually understand what’s being said.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m gonna go with Harry Potter even though that’s probably not a perfectly accurate answer - it’s almost certainly the first thing that has a fandom that I ever wrote for, but it was in a notebook when I was a kid and never something that I even typed on a computer, much less posted online or shared with other members of a fandom. But even then, I’m sure it wasn’t the first pre-existing fictional universe I ever set an original story in, because I did that a lot when I was a kid, it’s just hard to remember those clearly or on any kind of timeline.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I’m very partial to Across the Gap, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that ranked first on the kudos thing above - but I’ve also got a soft spot for So Merrily We’ll Sing. It’s so self-indulgent it feels silly saying ‘it was so easy to write!’ but I guess having a fic that’s already just 100% headcaonons and fluff tied together by a song you really love does prevent it from being much of a labor (I also managed to refrain from making that one unnecessarily long, so that’s another win there)

tagging @terryfphanatics and anyone else who wants to do it - sorry I’m bad at remembering whose tumblr goes with whose Ao3 account, but I really would be interested to read this if anyone else feels like answering them!

#oh boy that was long #sorry #also sorry if the 13 is really big for some reason #i dont know how it got that way so i dont know how to change it #it doesnt look like that when i edit the post only when i save it #not fic but fic talk

[aawesomepenguin]

“[The Sonic Movie] was always one of my dreams”, Takashi Iizuka and Sonic Movie staff reveal new details

The Sonic Movie release in Japan is very close, and in order to celebrate, 4Gamer has done an interview with Takashi Iizuka (Head of Sonic Team),  Nakahara Toru ( Senior Executive Officer of SEGA SAMMY, and also SEGA’s Lawyer), Jeff Fowler (director of the Sonic Movie) and Toby Ascher (Sonic Movie Producer), and in it, they gave us some details about the movie and what the experience was like.

Remember that the translation isn’t 1:1, but it gets the point across.

Q: What advice did Sega give to the movie staff in the making of the Sonic movie? Iizuka: Advices related to Sonic in various situations, such as how he looks and moves, and his character, as in "Sonic would never say that". Sega has some guidelines for giving advice to people who do not know Sonic, but it is not a comprehensive guide, so I commented a lot during production. Toby: Mr. Iizuka's advices on Sonic's personality and design were very helpful. I wanted to make Sonic the correct Sonic that fans know. Iizuka: Since this work is a hybrid movie that combines live-action and animation, there are many scenes where actual actors and Sonic are involved. The movie isn’t set in Sonic’s World,  so I proceeded to think on how he would react to all of it.  The biggest challenge for us this time was that we had to think about Sonic from a completely different perspective when compared to the games.

Q: What did you pay most attention to not betray your fans? Toby: I was under pressure because I knew that the expectations of fans were very high because we are from a generation that played Sonic games when we were kids. But at the same time, I also wanted to make a movie that a newcomer to the series could also enjoy. I was very concerned about that balance. I wanted to make it possible for people who don't know Sonic to enjoy the world of Sonic, while putting in a lot of material that fans can still enjoy. Nakahara: That was the mission behind this movie. To please our generation raised in Sonic and children who have little experience playing with Sonic. I hope this movie will create a new generation of fans.

Q: Are there any differences between the Sonic from the games and the one from the movie? Jeff: This is the first time we're introducing Sonic's backstory! Iizuka: Baby Sonic is a young Sonic that hasn't appeared in games. In the movie, it’s shown how his experiences as a baby changed him, and how his personality was formed. The games feature an already grown up Sonic, so it's good that the story up to that point wasn’t very clear [in the games, allowing the movie team to be creative with Sonic’s backstory].

Nakahara: Baby Sonic is being compared to Baby Yoda's in Star Wars. They’ve become big rivals. Jeff: Let me tell you, Baby Sonic is an idea that we came up with before Baby Yoda was revealed (laughs). It takes time to make characters and CG... Nakahara: Baby Sonic’s design was created under the supervision of Mr. Iizuka, but the actual CG animation was created by Marza Animation Planet Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the SEGA SAMMY Group. Hollywood companies are included in the special visual effects of this movie, but Japanese companies such as Marza and Sega played a central role in the animation of Baby Sonic and Sonic. Toby: That's one of the great things about this film. As a fan of Japanese animation, a collaboration between Japan and the United States made me very happy.

Q: When you hear that it's a joint production movie between Hollywood and Japan, there are some movies that didn’t succeed, but this time it seems different. Nakahara: Most of the Japan-US collaboration in movies so far involved only the Japanese content holders signing IP licenses. So Japan doesn't get involved with the production, and they don't pay much for the production. As a lawyer, I've seen many contracts where you only get a license fee. That's not really the case. However, this time, we have invested in the production costs for Sonic, and we are on an equal footing with Original Film, the company that has produced the blockbuster movie series, Fast and the Furious, the director of "Deadpool," and Paramount Film Company. There was also a big discussion, "Can you do a movie with an equal partner with so many different creative visions?" That's a big risk. But in the end, including the terms of the deal, the decisive factor that brought all of us together was that Sonic needed to be a movie star. Sonic is a big star in America. Because of that background, we joined hands in conditions that everyone was satisfied with. As SEGA, they jumped over the license agreement and suddenly became an equal partner, and there was a mix of expectations and anxiety. As a lawyer, I've been involved in a variety of works, but I was able to establish a relationship of trust that surprised me, "How can we collaborate so well?". Of course, small issues have come up every day, but I feel that we have been able to overcome them comfortably throughout.

Q: Weren't you able to make a case against Hollywood because you Nakahara-san, are a certified American lawyer? Nakahara: I may not be the one to say it, but this all truly is Sonic. Everybody loves Sonic. Whenever some big development occurs, a lot of it can be attributed to Sonic. Sonic is like Tom Cruise in the way that he has this presence of greatness that makes him feel like a star from throughout the years. Q: Is there any reason for making it a hybrid movie? Jeff: I thought it would be more fun and more enjoyable for the audience to get into Sonic's sense of speed when it gets put into the live-action world. From Sonic's point of view, the world is always slow, but from a human perspective, he is always moving at super-fast speed. The important thing was to express the power and speed of Sonic in a fun way. The baseball scene in the trailer is my favorite, and he uses his speed to enjoy baseball alone. From a child's perspective, if you were to move at that speed, you would want to play all the positions yourself, right? Q: Sonic has established a star position in the West, but what do you think was the reason why Sonic is particularly popular with Westerners? Iizuka: Sonic is a character born in Japan, but from the beginning we were aware of the West. With a Californian image of the blue sky, blue sea, and palm trees, we added a sense of speed with a deep blue appearance. Sonic’s character of strongly sticking to his morals and to his justice without ever being affected by anything else was also a characteristic of Western characters. And also, Sonic’s World doesn’t take much elements from Japan, or Japanese culture. In fact, Sonic’s World is more Western, and the coolness of the Western people we always see around have been incorporated into Sonic's world, so it has been accepted by Westerners and supported so far. Sonic has always been western in nature, so our goal in a way has always been making Western-style games, create characters with Western-ness, and that eventually landed us a Hollywood movie... so I feel like I've finally arrived there in the 27th year.

Q: Please tell me about the character that Jim Carrey plays. Iizuka: Dr. Robotnik, the villain in the movie is called Dr. Eggman in the games, but in them, he has a round body and thin legs, and a figure that can’t be seen in a live-action human being. So if we wanted someone actually human, we had to create a new Doctor Robotnik look. Should Dr. Robotnik in the movie resemble Dr. Eggman from the games? Would they talk in a similar way? Jim Carrey splendidly created a new Doctor Robotnik! Dr. Robotnik always was a crazy scientist, but Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik is crazy, unlike anything we had imagined. That's very interesting. Did Jim Carrey bring half the fun for the movie? I think he played a really good Dr. Robotnik. Nakahara: Jim feels like a gentleman and a calm philosopher during the breaks. But once the camera turns, he becomes a different person and a lot of energy comes out. 

Q: What are the highlights of this work? Jeff: Jim Carrey and James Marsden, of course, but the star of this film, Sonic, is definitely the highlight. Laughs, charming, confident and laid back. Fans will definitely enjoy it. There are many easter eggs. If you send me a list of how many you have found, I will tell you that there are still some that have not been found yet (laughs). Toby: It's a movie designed to be enjoyed over and over again, so every time you watch it, you'll discover something new. Also, Dr. Robotnik's dance! It's great!!

Q: Please tell us about your future plans for Sonic. Iizuka: This year, we finally made a movie about Sonic. That was one of my dreams, and since we are about to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sonic next year, many people will have been brought in by the movie, and then they’ll have more opportunities to come into contact with the series through the [30th Anniversary] game. I hope we can get you a better game. Sonic is evolving with the evolution of game technology, so I hope we can continue to release surprising game titles.

SPECIAL thanks to @dizzydennis​ for helping in the translation in some parts.

Source

#Sonic News #Sonic the Hedgehog #Takashi Iizuka #Sonic Movie #Toby Ascher #Jeff Fowler

[the-desolated-quill]

Quill’s Swill - The Worst Of 2019

Congratulations! You’ve made it through another year! You’ve faced many obstacles and overcome many adversaries to arrive here, at the dawn of a new decade. So as we prepare to leave the 2010s and make our way into the 2020s, lets take a look back at the challenges and hardships of 2019. And by challenges and hardships, I of course mean shitty fiction and media.

Yes, it’s time for yet another edition of Quill’s Swill, where we mark the absolute worst stories that the industry had to offer over the past year and proceed to tear them to shreds. Think of it as like voiding your bowels before the New Year.

As always remember that this is my personal, subjective opinion. If you happen to like any of the things on this list, that’s fine. More power to you. Go make your own list. Also bear in mind I haven’t seen everything 2019 has to offer due to various other commitments. So as much as I really, really want to, I can’t put Avengers Endgame on here. I know what happens. It sounds fucking terrible, but I haven’t seen the film, so it wouldn’t be fair of me to put it on the list, even though it would most definitely deserve it.

...

Seriously, read the synopsis of Endgame on Wikipedia some time. It’s like fanfic written by a nine year old. It’s truly shocking. And now it’s the highest grossing movie of all time? Give me strength.

All In A Row

Don’t you just hate it when you’re expected to parent your autistic child? Like actually show love and care and consideration to your offspring. Look at him, expecting you to treat him like a human being. Selfish bastard! If only there was a play that explored the horrors of having to be a decent person to your own flesh and blood and how objectively awful it is. If you’re one of those people, then the play All In A Row will be right up your street.

Premiering on the 14th February at Southwark Playhouse in London, All In A Row was a total shitshow to say the least. The playwright, Alex Oates, claimed to have ten years of experience working with autistic children, which you wouldn’t have believed if you saw the play as the autistic child at the centre of the play, Lawrence, seemed more like a wild animal than a person. In fact two of the main characters compare him to a dog. And if you thought this wasn’t dehumanising enough, Lawrence isn’t even a child. He’s a puppet. Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds.

All In A Row seems to place all of the blame for the family’s predicament on the autistic child, who’s presented as barely functional, bordering on bestial. There’s no effort to really make an emotional connection with Lawrence (how can you? He’s a puppet!) as the play instead focuses on how this kid has effectively ruined this family’s life because of his autism and aggressive behaviour. Speaking as someone on the autism spectrum, I can say quite confidently that this play is fucking despicable. Badly written, badly conceived, insulting and downright mean spirited. I wouldn’t want Oates looking after my autistic children, that’s for damn sure.

Anthem

EA is back and this time they’re dragging the critical darling that is BioWare down with them.

Anthem was a desperate attempt to jump aboard the ‘live service’ bandwagon, trying to replicate the success of other video games like Overwatch, Destiny and Warframe. They failed spectacularly. The game itself had more bugs than A Bug’s Life, loot drops were often stingy and unrewarding, loading times were farcically long, and the story and worldbuilding was fucking pitiful. Oh yeah, and if you played it on PS4, there was a good chance it could permanently damage it. Thankfully I have a uni friend with an Xbox One and they allowed me to play the game on that. It was a crushing disappointment, especially coming fresh off the heels of Mass Effect Andromeda, which didn’t exactly set the world on fire back in 2017.

It didn’t help that EA’s reputation was in tatters thanks to the lootbox controversy of Star Wars Battlefront II and having to try and win back the trust of fans, but worse still reports began to service of what went on behind the scenes at BioWare during the game’s development. Apparently the game’s story and mechanics kept changing every other day as the creative directors and writers didn’t have the faintest idea what kind of game they wanted to make, and the developers were often forced to work obscenely long work hours in abusive crunch periods to get the game finished for launch. It got so bad that, according to an article on Kotaku, some members of the team had to leave for weeks or even months at a time to recover from ‘stress casualties.’ 

To think this was the same company that gave us Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Knights Of The Old Republic. Thank God that Obsidian Entertainment is there to pick up the slack on the RPG front because I think it’s safe to assume that BioWare won’t be around for much longer at this rate.

The Lion King (2019 remake)

Here we go. Yet another live action remake of a Disney classic. Excpet it’s not live action, is it? Well... it’s live action in the sense that Dinosaur was live action (remember that film? Don’t worry if you don’t. No one does). Real locations but CGI characters. Millions of dollars spent on cutting edge tech to create photo realistic animals... and the film ends up duller than a bowl of porridge that really likes trainspotting.

It’s not just the fact that The Lion King remake is yet another soulless cash grab from the House of Mouse, it’s also the fact that it’s done really badly that upsets me. The Lion King works as an animated film. Bright colourful images, over the top song and dance sequences and vibrant character designs. As a ‘live action’ film, it just looks awkward and stilted. None of the animals are very expressive, leaving it up to the poor voice actors to carry the film, and to cap it all off the CGI isn’t even all that convincing in my opinion. At no point did I look at Simba and go ‘oh yeah, he looks like a real lion.’ It’s so obviously fake. In fact it reminds me of those early 00s movies like Cats & Dogs or Stuart Little where you see the jaws of the talking animals moving up and down like some messed up ventriloquist act or something. And here’s me thinking cinema has evolved past this.

BBC’s The War Of The Worlds

Remember Peter Harness? That guy who wrote that Doctor Who episode about the moon being an egg? Yeah, he’s back and he’s doing an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds. And guess what! It’s fucking ghastly! :D

The three part BBC mini-series was without a doubt some of the worst telly I think I’ve ever seen. It’s staggering how clueless Harness is as a writer. For starters he managed to achieve the impossible and somehow made a Martian invasion of Earth boring. I didn’t even think it was possible, but somehow he pulled it off. Then he sucks all tension out of the story by revealing the ultimate fate of the Martians at the beginning of the second episode, so now any threat or danger has been chucked out of the window because we know that the main female protagonist Amy at least would survive. And then finally he takes a massive dump over the source material by having humanity weaponise typhoid to kill the red weed rather than just having the Martians die of the common cold like in the book. Because God forbid us Brits should be presented as anything other than heroic and dignified.

So what we’re left with is a poorly realised allegory with ineffectual horror tropes full of OTT progressive posturing in a pathetic attempt to make Harness and the BBC look more liberal than they actually are. There’s no effort to really explore the themes of imperialism and colonialism outside of casual lip service, and we barely get a glimpse of the dark side of humanity. Everyone is presented as flawed, but basically awesome or, in the case of Rafe Spall’s character, utterly gormless. Our TV license fees help fund this shit, you know?!

And if you think this was bad, just wait till New Year’s Day where we’ll get to see Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ butcher Dracula. Can we stop giving these beloved literary icons to these hacks please?

Glass

I liked Split. It wasn’t an amazing movie, but it was entertaining with some good ideas, a great performance from James McAvoy and was a true return to form for M Night Shyamalan. That being said, I wasn’t keen on the idea of it taking place in the same universe as Unbreakable. I feared it would be a step too far and we’d end up having something like... well, something like Glass.

On paper, Glass isn’t a bad idea. The idea of superpowers being a delusion is legitimately intriguing and could have been a great post-modern deconstruction of the superhero genre. Except Shyamalan never actually does anything with it. The first act drags on and on with absolutely nothing happening, none of the characters really grow or change over the course of the film, Bruce Willis in particular is basically only here for an extended cameo as his character does pretty much nothing for the majority of the film, and then the entire film is undermined by that stupid Shyamalan twist. Turns out superhumans are real and there’s a big cover up. Oh great! So not only does it render the entire film pointless, it also undoes what made Unbreakable and Split so good. They’re no longer people capable of extraordinary feats via rational means. They’re just superhuman. They can do anything. Sigh.

Shyamalan... maybe it’s time to give up the director’s chair, yeah?

Cats

Oh come on! Don’t act surprised! Did you honestly think I wouldn’t put Cats on this list?!

Cats, without a doubt, is the worst film of the decade and, yes, the CGI is terrible. Not only are there these sub-human cat mutants running around, we also have mice and cockroaches with child faces, James Corden coughing up furballs, Taylor Swift trying to give the furries in the audience boners, Idris Elba looking disturbingly underdressed and Rebel Wilson being... well... Rebel Wilson. It’s a disaster of a film. And really, should we even be surprised? We all knew this was going to suck. And no it’s not because of the CGI. I thought the CGI in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu was creepy as well, but at least it had a decent script and good performances to back it up. No the reason why Cats sucked is because... it’s Cats. It’s always been that bad. No amount of ‘advanced fur technology’ was going to change that. It was still going to be a confused, plotless mess with one dimensional characters and bad songs.

The only consolation I had was that I didn’t waste money buying a ticket. A friend of mine snuck me into the premiere and we watched it in the projector room. The plan was to make fun of it and have a laugh, but we didn’t even do that because honestly there’s nothing to really make fun. There’s only so many times you can take the piss out of the CGI and honestly the film was just boring more than anything else. It doesn’t even have the distinction of being so bad it’s good like Sharknado or Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. It’s just bad, period.

I just hope we don’t see something similar happen to Starlight Express. Just think. Anthropomorphic, singing trains on roller skates. Shudder.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Finally we have yet another cynical cash grab from Disney.

I confess I didn’t exactly go into The Rise Of Skywalker with an open mind. I was never all that keen on a sequel trilogy in the first place, and neither The Force Awakens nor The Last Jedi ever convinced me otherwise. Admittedly they weren’t bad movies. Just derivative and painfully uninspired, and I was expecting more of the same for Episode IX. What I got instead was quite possibly the worst Star Wars film since Attack Of The Clones. Yes, it’s that bad.

This film is very poorly made, filled with plot contrivances and logic holes galore. I lost count of the number of times the protagonists got into a dangerous situation because of Rey constantly wandering off like a confused toddler lost in a shopping mall. Oh and we finally find out who her parents were and it was quite a twist, but only because it was really stupid. Of course we didn’t see it coming because nobody would have guessed it would be something that moronic. I feel JJ Abrams’ stupid ‘mystery box’ philosophy is to blame for this. It’s derailed countless franchises before such as Lost and Cloverfield, and now Abrams has fucked up Star Wars because he’s obsessed with mystery for the sake of mystery and Disney are so lazy that they couldn’t be bothered to plan an actual trilogy out properly beforehand. Instead they just wing it, making it up as they go along, which led to Rian Johnson ‘subverting our expectations’ and left Abrams desperately trying to pick up the pieces. 

In fact a lot of The Rise Of Skywalker seemed designed specifically to appease people of both sides of the wide chasm The Last Jedi had created. The roles of characters of colour like Finn and Rose were significantly reduced, Poe and Finn don’t end up together because of homophobia, but we do see two women kiss in the background of one two second shot that could easily be cut out when they release the film in China, Kylo Ren gets his stupid redemption even though he hasn’t fucking earned it, Lando Calrissian shows up for no fucking reason, Rey is given ‘flaws’ relating to her parentage in order to combat those accusing her of being a Mary Sue, but they’re the boring kind of flaws that don’t have any real impact on her character, and that ghastly ship Reylo is made canon even though it makes no sodding sense in the context of this movie, let alone the whole trilogy. They even go to the trouble of baiting us with a FinnRey romance before pulling the rug out from under us. Then, just to add insult to injury, the film retroactively ends up making the entire original trilogy completely pointless. All because Disney wanted more dollars to put in their Scrooge McDuck money bin.

The Rise Of Skywalker, and indeed the entire sequel trilogy, should serve as a cautionary tale against the dangers of hype and nostalgia. The reason The Force Awakens was successful wasn’t because it was a good movie (because lets be brutally honest here, it really fucking wasn’t). It was because it gave gullible Star Wars fans warm fuzzies because it reminded them of A New Hope whilst tempting them with the vague promise that things might get more interesting later on. And when that didn’t materialise, quelle surprise, the fanbase didn’t take it very well. I would love to think that this will serve as an important lesson for the future when people go and see Disney movies, but who am I kidding? I guarantee at some point we’re going to get Episodes X, XI and XII and we’ll have to go through this sorry process all over again.

So there we have it. The worst of 2019. May they rot forever in Satan’s rectum or wherever it is stories go to die. Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the other end of the spectrum. Yes it’s the Quill Seal Of Approval Awards! The best of the best! Who shall win? The suspense is killing me! Ooooh, I can’t wait! You’ll be there tomorrow, won’t you? Of course you will. How could you not?

#quill's swill #quill's swill 2019 #worst of the year #review #opinion

[alboobx2-blog]

How to Start a Real Estate Business?

Introduction to the Real Estate Sector:

Among the booming sunrise businesses in the world is undoubtedly Real Estate. Today, it's been recognized as one of the most lucrative investment choices. A fantastic number of individuals despite the demographic aspects are seen considering property as a critical investment mainly because this is one sector the value of which is guaranteed to take up in the long term.

Furthermore, this business has ended up making a win win situation for all of the stakeholders that have been hold direct or indirect interest in the same. This is one of the very important reasons that has led to the increase of property business in general, which is precisely why we see a range of real estate businesses and agencies laying foundation in every nook and corner of the road.

There might be plenty of people around who are looking forward to establish their own successful real estate businesses. However, they are frequently confused as to where they ought to start from. So as to bring an end to the problem faced with such individuals out there, we'll be assisting you with a concise blueprint which we believe may wind up playing a critical part in your real estate journey.

The Starting Point - Boost Your Start Up Capital:

1 main requirement for kick-starting a business is to start by raising the essential start up funds, the core function of which is to fulfill the different fixed and variable expenses. This notion holds equally true in the event of a property business. So as to give birth to your fantasy, you will need to start by finding and eventually investing in the office area, purchasing the essential office equipment, designing logos and preparing additional marketing material and of-course diverting funds towards insurance. Similarly, you'll also require funds to meet the regular operating expenses in the days to come. After the funds are in place, the first step is readily met.

Meet Regulatory Requirements:

It's vital for you to remember that you can't truly begin transacting in the real estate arena on any day randomly. In the majority of the states, you want to maintain a valid license so as to have the ability to function as a consultant. It's a good idea that you get on board a trusted legal counsel in order to better acquaint yourself with the rules and regulations which are widespread in the real estate platform of the nation. As soon as you have the required permit in hand, you may start your operations as a property consultant.

Get into Your Hiring Boots:

Next up you'll be asked to initiate the recruitment and selection processes so as to employ agents to your group. At this time, it's vital that you draft an independent contractor arrangement in order to maintain clarity and clear communication between you as the employer as well as your unique agents. The arrangement should necessarily house details concerning the ratio in which the commission will be dispersed, code of ethics that will need to be imbibed from the brokers and of-course the general office associated policies and processes.

Repair in Your Mind - Client is your Whole & Sole:

As soon as you're through with the above 3 steps, you want to proceed further so as to construct a loyal customer base. To be able to survive and succeed as a real estate entrepreneur, a stable clientele becomes crucial. You may reap results in this region by investing towards direct and indirect advertising, integrated marketing communication models and of-course a bit bit of public relations. Similarly, you may even put weightage on joining hands with a Search Engine Optimization firm, which is thought to play a vital role in boosting your visibility and presence on the market.

The Greatest Add-on - A professional looking site:

The above mentioned elements are essentially the preliminary droplets that would wind up contributing to your broad ocean of property business. Aside from the aforementioned aspects, there's still another element, which if added to your business initiation program is guaranteed to benefit you in a gigantic way. The building block about which we're speaking here is the requirement to develop and present a relevant, innovative and of-course different looking professional site for your business unit.

If we were to require the statistics, then we can easily arrive at the conclusion that at the recent times it's been discovered that over eighty percent of those individuals begin their home search online. This is precisely why a professional site is very likely to come useful to your property unit. Similarly, a website may also help you endure the cut-throat competition by making your details available to the potential clients at large.

But one area that the majority of the companies wind up giving a miss is with respect to the listings. The majority of the actual estate agents rely heavily on the Multiple Listing Service and don't recognize the value of listing out all of the properties which come under their basket, on their respective sites. It's fairly obvious that only once you provide a holistic listing in your site will you be able to listen to your cash registers ringing, that is really the final result of a broad number of sales.

Why Should I Invest My Money in Real Estate Business?

Now a days we can see the trend of investing money in real estate business is growing day by day. It ranges from acquiring one little house or plot to acquiring a significant estate. Nowadays we can observe the existence of high level companies in real estate business as well as ordinary buyer. It shows how important this property business today. None of the big players neglect the significance of real-estate industry. There are a number of factors behind the success of the business. Some of them are:

1. More security for your investment

2. Cost of land and properties will always go high

3. Investing in real estate is similar to increasing assets

Real-estate appears to be low risky business in contrast to other important investments. Let's consider the share market business. Investing cash in share market is high insecure. We can't predict the specific income generated from discuss marketing as a result of high volatile nature of the business. If we're lucky we will have the ability to get a fantastic amount from share market business. If we're unlucky we may face a big drop of cash. Real-estate business don't have such a risk. We can anticipate a minimal money back guaranty in real-estate business. It's due to some characters of real-estate market. Properties we acquire are strong rather than a paper money like in share market. It's an asset which also can contribute extra income.

If we invest our money in buying a building, it's the process of acquiring additional advantage. Even if we don't sell this building to another individual we could get rent from it. It's an extra source of income along with an investment for future business. Besides this, market value of a building and property will always go high. So we can always anticipate more by investing our money in real-estate market. This feature make our business a low one.

It's important to be aware of the basic tendencies in real-estate before investing your money in it. You ought not invest your money in a business without understanding the pulse and fashion of it. So if you're seriously planning to spend your money in purchasing property and building, you might consider the advice from the experts in the area. There are lots of regional consultancies that are prepared to guide to correctly and guidance to how and when you should invest your money.

Their head office is at Trivandrum (Capital of Kerala) and in most significant areas in kerala they have their own branches. Kerala Real Estate is a promising spot for investing money.

#real estate #investing #business #real-estate business #successful real estate

[dmech]

What should one do in their 20s to avoid regrets in their 30s and 40s?

Pranav Park

, Enjoying life since birth!

Answered Nov 18

‘YOLO’ lifestyle is overrated. Discipline is paramount. It is what will either make or break you. Grasp this fact quickly.

Save money. Every penny saved is a penny earned. It will lay a lot of eggs (dividends) by the time you turn forty. You will have more money to spend on important things rather than having wasted them on unimportant things.

Build networks. You can’t achieve anything great alone. Building network does not mean sweet-talking or being a sycophant. It simply means keeping in touch with like-minded, identical goal oriented people.

Realize that Growth mind-set > fixed mind-set. Realize that learning is a process and it never stops. Till your last breath. No matter how old you become, there are still things to learn. Develop that growth mind-set.

Invest time in yourself. Don’t take your talents, family privileges, third-person praises, fame etc for granted. Explore who you truly are. It may sound way too cliched but it is not as easy as it sounds.

Be true, at least to yourself. Remember, you are your only friend. And best friend. Every other person can only complement your life. Nobody can live your life. Don’t ever try to outsource your self-esteem through other people.

Never engage in gossips. This is difficult in 20’s because gossips can pretty much be the sole source of entertainment in your life right now. But with practice, you can avoid gossips. You will save yourself of so much time, energy and group conflicts. Moreover, people will respect you for this.

Disappointments are necessary, not failures . There seems to be a lot of self-help books solely focusing on the importance of failures. Trust me, too many failures will horrendously demotivate you. Failure in itself is not a vital factor. It is the disappointment arising from failures, rejection, expectations, lack of abilities etc that actually acts as an impetus to succeed.

Face as many embarrassing situations as possible. Ask that stupid questions, apply to high-profile jobs, do a bad presentation, pitch your mundane ideas. It’s okay to look small in front of others. In your 20’s, you will have enough vigour and strength to bounce back in no-time. But guess what, now in your 30’s you will no longer fear rejection and embarrassment. You will speak your mind out with clarity.

Challenge yourself. Regularly, try and do things which you have been secretly fearing the most. Go ahead and ask that girl out, complete that arduous assignment in the best way possible, do that difficult course, learn a new language, learn coding, try public speaking, speak to that person boldly, communicate what you genuinely feel etc.

Learn to cry when you have to. This does not mean crying to gain attention, crying to gain sympathy, crying to persuade others into doing something. It is much more significant than that. Crying in isolation is different. Tough people do that. Ambitious people do that. Emotional people do that a lot. And it is good.

Learn to focus on priorities. Spend more time with your family, friends and important people of your life. No matter how busy you are, there is always time for that one phone call. Remember, your parents did not ignore you when you were growing. Learn to reciprocate.

Learn to say NO. No to late-night parties, no to excessive alcohol, no to self-destructive habits, no to last-minute plans, no to toxic people, no to over-spending, no to breaking laws, no to unnecessary arguments etc.

Cultivate the art of being nice to people who are not nice to you. This may sound rubbish, but the secret is that you will no longer be affected by other people’s opinions of you. You will be the sole owner of your emotions. A blissful achievement. Highly recommended.

Invest time on your communication skills. No matter what career stream you pick up, communication is all that will set you apart from the rest. If you communicate with clarity and with lucidity, you will win people. Even your crazy boss won’t mess with you.

Learn to view everyone equally. Everyone are equal but everyone is different. Respect everyone but don’t start worshiping them. Yes, Elon Musk is great. Learn skills from him. But don’t try to be him. That place is already taken. At the end of the day, we are all mortal Homo sapiens.

Learn to trust your gut-feeling and instincts. More importantly, learn to differentiate between your gut-feeling and your mind-created illusory feelings.

Practice self-control. After an exhausting day at work, you should be able to sit in front of your favourite dish with an empty stomach for at least 5 min before you eat. You may ask what’s the point. You know very well that you won’t die in that 5 min. But, you are just conditioning your instincts there in that 5 min. It will be immensely useful in the later part of your life.

Exercise regularly. Toil your body as much as possible. This is the age to set a strong physical foundation for the rest of your life. A healthy body can do wonders. Mind simply follows a healthy body’s orders and vice versa. Take charge of your body and hence your body.

Meditate. This does not mean aspiring to sit on top of Himalayas and breathing snow. It simply means to sit quietly at a designated spot everyday at a particular time and just observe your thoughts. With time, you can start flushing the bad ones out with practice. Meditation sessions are almost like being born again. If done properly.

Learn what money is. It is not primarily meant to be spent. That’s what foolish people do. It is meant to give you returns. It is meant be in circulation, not sit idle in your bank. Learn stock markets and investment. Play around with money, the right way!

Take risks. This is possibly the best time to take multiple leap of faiths and learn your lessons the hard way. If you succeed, you succeed. If you fail, you have a great story to tell in your 40′s. At this age, you will have all the energy, courage and spirit required to rise back. Moreover, you will not be afraid to fail which apparently sets apart successful people from the others.

Read a lot of books. I mean a lot. My entire life changed just because of this one habit. You become more knowledgeable as a result of which you can speak to people on a wide variety of topics. You social and professional circle expands. But remember, reading is labour. It is time-consuming. So make sure you spend your time on the right kind of books. Read books that challenges your mind-set, character, perception and resilience.

Be flexible. Don’t have strong opinions on your ambitions, capabilities, interests etc. This is the time to explore various avenues, interests, adventures. Your calling will come when your character is ripe.

Learn to control your temper. Never, ever, ever spit out vicious, venomous, acidic words, not matter how livid you are. Moreover, never blurt out any secrets which someone had entrusted you with when you are angry. This attribute will clearly demonstrate your level of maturity.

Learn who your true friends are. Eliminate the toxic ones. We have very limited time on this planet, let’s spend them with the one worth it.

Learn how the world operates. How money works, how politics work, how economies work, how governments work, how the water-cycle works, how climate works, how physics work etc. Let these not be esoteric to you.

Learn to spot liars. Read books on this. Liars have specific body-language. It can save you a lot of time, money, energy and even relationships.

Learn to spot fake news. Don’t get carried away in any mob-movement straight-away. Be it physical or virtual, learn to analyse a piece of information. Do your independent research if required. And for God’s sake, don’t ever circulate sensitive information about someone on Whatsapp groups!

Realize that character is more important than success. Success does not give you a license to act sick. You can even become a president, but that does not make you great. Neither will people respect you long for your position. There is a difference between a celebrity and a personality. It is okay if you are not a celebrity but it is vital to have a great personality.

The big three: politics, human-beings and God. Your opinions on these three will radically change with time and maturity. So, don’t get stuck to them too early in your lives.

Practice gratitude. Be grateful for what you are and have today. Life is precarious and highly uncertain. On your happiest day, there are chances of you receiving a phone call from your doctor about your growing cancer. People have. Your entire life is simply an interaction between your genes and ambient environment.

Practice service. People land up on the streets not because they are lazy, sick or criminals but because they were unfortunate. Fate, destiny, karma, you call it whatever you want. It is our duty to help the less-fortunate people as much as possible. We are not doing a favour. We are simply doing our duty.

Respect women. Don’t objectify them. Don’t squeeze them. Don’t slam them. Don’t judge them. Let them be themselves. Most importantly, No means No. No matter what. Let this rule not be an option in your life.

Fall in love. Do it genuinely. It is okay to get your heart broken. They make you strong. It is also okay to break a few hearts (not intentionally though!). You will learn your lessons. Life moves on. A heart-break is not a sad episode. It is an essential episode.

Stop consuming adult pornographic content. I don’t think I need to elaborate on this. Total bullshit.

Pranav.

[rolandfontana]

Four Essential Principles of Emerging Market Success

About 15 years ago — before this blog and China became such a big part of my legal practice, I thought of myself as an “emerging market lawyer.” Back then, my work and that of my law firm consisted mostly of Russia, Korea, China and a smattering of Southeast Asian, Latin American and Eastern European countries. Despite the wide-ranging scope of countries, our legal work — then as now — consisted mostly of representing/protecting American and Western European companies that do business in countries with less developed legal systems. Emerging markets.

Then as now, this mostly consisted of my law firm doing the following:

Protecting intellectual property internationally (mostly trademarks and copyrights), via contracts and IP registrations.

Drafting international contracts. This mostly consists of contracts between a company in one country and a company in another country, though sometimes these contracts involve an actual country on the other side of the deal. These contracts truly cover the waterfront, but our most common ones involve manufacturing, employment, IP licensing, real estate, media/entertainment, high technology, or the sale of goods or services.

Helping companies figure out in what country to do business and guiding them on how to do business in or with particular countries.

International Litigation and arbitration that involves companies from different countries.

Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions.

I am getting nostalgic because I was just informed today by a leading legal publishing site that it will shortly be cancelling all non-paid accounts. This is relevant because one of my all-time favorite articles was one I did for this site way back in 2004 and it saddens me to learn that article will soon cease to exist on the Internet, unless I do something fast, which is the point of this post.

What I am doing is simply reprising that article here and with all that is happening with China, it could not be more timely. My law firm’s client base of mostly American and Western European companies has largely grown wary of dealing with China and looking at other countries in which to conduct their business. Many companies that have their products manufactured in China are looking to completely sever their China ties — some immediately and some over time. But most of our other clients are looking more towards simply diversifying so as to minimize their China risks. These companies are looking to have their software coded or their research and development undertaken or for other tech services. Few are looking to change their operations that focus on selling to China as opposed to buying from China, though many are cognizant that even this may end up having to change due to political and trade tensions with China.

And all of the above has brought emerging market countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia, Turkey, the Ukraine, Cambodia, and countless others to the fore. All this makes my old (but not outdated!) article hyper-relevant for today. So here goes (modified ever so slightly for today’s world ….

  FOUR ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES OF EMERGING MARKET SUCCESS 

Emerging markets are high risk and high reward. In my work as an attorney representing Western companies in emerging markets, I have concluded there are four essential elements to emerging market success: a good partner, an open mind, active participation, and extreme patience.

I have seen enough essential similarities between such diverse countries as Russia, Korea (ten years ago when it was still an emerging market country), Vietnam, and even the Gambia and Papua New Guinea, to believe certain core generalizations hold true for all or nearly all emerging market nations. Just as a good concept, a strong market, and good execution are necessary in all countries, so too are these four simple principles the keys to success in emerging market nations.

  PRINCIPLE ONE: A Good Partner is the sine qua non of Success.

The quality of your local partner is the indispensable element for emerging market success. So where do you begin?

Start with due diligence. Before doing business with anyone, you must first determine what you need from your partner in the particular country in which you will be conducting business. In my experience, foreign companies need a local partner who is effective, cooperative, and (most important of all) trustworthy.

Emerging market countries almost always have less-than-fully-formed legal systems. Their laws are oftentimes slanted towards the government and away from free markets. Their courts are slow and often corrupt. Form takes precedence over substance in ways completely unfamiliar to Westerners. One small technical miscue on your part might eliminate your right to sue your partner for having stolen all your money. It might even lead to you and your company being kicked out of the country, while your assets remain.

Of course you should do your best to avoid technical miscues, but the better strategy is to pick your partner well. So what should you look for in a local partner? Political connections? Yes and no:

• Yes, because you probably will need someone with sufficient dexterity to maneuver around often-suffocating business laws and a bureaucracy that may try to cut in on your business at every turn.

• No, if you think that is all you will need. Just as in the West, the politically connected are usually more a “government type” than a business person. Partnering with someone in an emerging country with whom you would never consider partnering back home is a mistake. Political clout in emerging market countries is often more effective for avoiding legal responsibility for something like a debt than it is in generating business revenues. I have seen countless instances where a foreign company partners with someone because he or she “is tight with the governor,” only to see the business crushed by the new governor as part of a political house cleaning. The best partner is politically connected only to the extent necessary for business success.

Your partner’s character and reputation are your protection in countries where the court system is not. Do not partner in any sense of that term without having conducted thorough due diligence.

Get to know your potential partner. If they are legitimate and want to work with you for the long term, they will expect you to want to get to know them better and they will think nothing of your wanting multiple meetings before signing any deal.

Use every source you have to find out about your potential partner. Check their references, particularly those of other foreign firms with which they have worked. Hire a local lawyer or investigator to confirm that they and their various businesses are in good standing with all creditors and taxing authorities. If your potential partner is in Chiang Mi, Thailand or Hanoi, Vietnam, hiring a lawyer in Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh may not be good enough. Find someone you can trust with contacts where your potential partner conducts business.

  PRINCIPLE TWO: Keep an Open Mind. Assume Nothing.

Doing business in an emerging market means taking nothing for granted. I have a mantra for my own legal work in these countries that translates well to the business world: “Assume nothing, but assume that you are assuming things without even realizing you are doing so.”

Things will be different. Very different. Things you take for granted in your home country might not exist in the emerging market country. Things you take for granted in your home country might be the exact opposite in the emerging market country. Things you think will be totally different in the emerging market country may be exactly the same. Things you thought you knew about emerging market countries based on what you know from another emerging market country may be completely different in a neighboring country, or even in another region within the same country.

The principle, one more time: Keep an open mind, and assume nothing.

  PRINCIPLE THREE: Participate in Everything.

In many emerging market countries, local businesses take advantage of corruption to avoid complying with laws. This may work for the locals, but it will not work for you. The easiest way for a local rival to drive you out is for you to do something illegal. Neither you nor your government will have good grounds to complain if your rival gets your business closed down due to your illegal activity. It might even be your own partner who reports you so he or she can assume full ownership and control of your business.

You must have your own people on the ground, leading, training, and instructing on business methods, business ethics, efficiency, and quality control, among other things.

We have a saying in our law firm that one day of face-to-face meetings is equivalent to one month of telephone calls and e-mails in terms of getting things done. This is equally true on the business front.

  PRINCIPLE FOUR: Exercise Extreme Patience.

This principle stems from the maxim that everything takes twice as long as you think it will. If it takes twice as long in the West, triple that in emerging market countries. You’ll go in both as a businessperson and a teacher—and in both roles, the learning curve of your partner will almost certainly take way more time to deal with than you think.

For example, many emerging market countries have a history where “bad business” meant “thinking long-term.” A year or two after the fall of Soviet communism, I was involved in a matter where an investor put $250,000 into a Russian joint venture. The business very quickly was making good money and all indicators pointed towards steadily increasing profitability. But, quite quickly, the Russian company stole the $250,000. Was it so irrational for this Russian company to think so short term in a country where the government and tax systems had such a history of unpredictability?

Remember: It takes patience to encourage change of mindset. Extreme patience.

  EMERGING MARKET SUCCESS

Emerging markets cannot be approached with a quick-kill mentality. Above all else, emerging market success demands a good partner, an open mind, a high degree of participation, and extreme patience. It is certainly risky. It can also be very profitable.

Four Essential Principles of Emerging Market Success syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

[attendantdesign-blog]

New Post has been published on Attendantdesign

New Post has been published on http://attendantdesign.com/mac-software-program-guidelines/

Mac software program guidelines

The way to accelerate a gradual Mac

Mac walking too slow? Right here are a few extraordinary performance hints & software program guidelines to hurry up an iMac, MacBook or Mac mini and make OS X and macOS Sierra run faster.

In case you’ve had your Mac for some years you’ll be looking longingly at the Apple website wishing you can justify the fee of purchasing a brand new Mac. Luckily you do not must fork out for a brand new Mac to experience velocity increases. Follow our pointers to beautify the overall performance of your contemporary Mac (unless you are simply set on shopping for a brand new one, in which case you might want to study this: What’s the first-rate Mac? Apple Mac customers’ guide)

There are some motives why your Mac can be walking slowly: It can really be antique age; perhaps the difficult force is sort of complete; you may have too many stuff trying to run mechanically whilst you start up your Mac; you might be going for walks an old version of the running machine that is not designed to paintings with a number of the apps you are strolling; perhaps some of the heritage workings of the Mac have come to be muddled – as an instance your permissions might be damaged; or possibly you’re just jogging too many packages at once (Mac users are infamous for now not nicely shutting down their Macs at the quit of the day so some apps may were walking in the background for weeks).

Whether or not you’ve got an iMac, a MacBook (of any type), a Mac mini or maybe a Mac Pro, our speed guidelines will assist make your Mac run faster.

Spending a chunk of time cleansing up the working device, be it Mac OS X or macOS Sierra, and performing some fundamental housework with the applications you are walking, will assist your Mac pelt in advance at complete velocity.

  Agile and Scrum Certification Training

In a bid to improve their process prospects and task management abilities, many a students are passionate about attending an Agile Scrum Grasp certification Education. Allow us to take a close have a look at why it’s far critical, what are the diverse certifications inside the marketplace and which one is the high-quality for you.

assignment control had a drastic exchange while Agile and Scrum practices got here into being. As a result, the personnel licensed with Agile and Scrum certification began getting greater mileage from the recruiters and their existing employers.

Groups and industries throughout numerous domains use Agile and Scrum to better control their projects. Scrum allows its practitioners become more Agile. Businesses are benefitting from Agile inside the following regions: Agile facilitates learn how to respond quick and correctly to dangers and closing dates. Quicker choices that help in quicker shipping of merchandise. allows increase complicated software program by means of breaking them into achievable modules and preserving music of module shipping. Enhance the high-quality of latest deliverables as well as present merchandise by ensuring sound trying out, improvement and collaboration between groups. Commercial enterprise turns into more reliable and credible as a result.

Certifications on Offer

Allow’s do a round off of the marketplace. There are numerous certifications devised by using exclusive Organizations. Some famous ones are:

licensed Scrum Grasp from Scrum Alliance: Scrum alliance, an business enterprise targeted on Training applications has devised this certification. it’s far a beneficial certification for practitioners seeking to be successful in assignment control, masking basics to superior degree ideas. The certification ensures check takers are actually gifted in Scrum values, practices, and programs.

Scrum certifications from Scrum.Org: A stringently devised certification this is granted to those who’ve displayed an appropriate stage of knowledge within the assessment. The disadvantage is that the certification is damaged into many tracks. The certificate are lifelong and do now not require any additional payments or renewals.

Agile PMP: Qualified venture managers are usually in call for. The Agile PMP certification facilitates examine a candidate’s knowledge over Agile in a challenge management scenario. How equipped they may be for the actual international. The certification is dependent across the route fabric based on requirements posted by means of the task control Institute standards Committee. A course that has matured with time. However, slightly vintage wherein a marketplace prefers new buzzwords and new certifications.

But, one certification that has set itself other than the group and is the maximum renowned aspect for your resume is – the Agile and Scrum certification from EXIN.

Agile and Scrum Certification from EXIN

EXIN Agile Scrum Master certification is aimed in any respect specialists who need to prove their mettle inside the arena of software program engineering and mission control practices. Developed by using international specialists, it is in which abilties meet actual world information. The certification path covers numerous modules like product carrier making plans, application design, software improvement, testing and so on.

There are checks a candidate is required to take, the primary is the EXIN Agile Scrum Foundation and the subsequent EXIN Agile Scrum Grasp. There are a number of task roles a certified practitioner can circulate to inclusive of Enterprise Facts Supervisor, provider Manager, Enterprise Architect and eventually a first-rate Statistics Officer. You could cross for an Agile Scrum Certification On-line path along your process and get future and marketplace-ready very quickly.

So get commenced in your adventure to the agile way of thinking, nowadays!

Five Guidelines For Moral Enterprise Communications

Do you apprehend what behaving ethically entails? Consistent with Michael Josephson, there are four concepts of Ethical conduct: honesty, integrity, equity, and challenge for others. You could suppose of those four fundamental standards as the legs of an imaginary stool. One missing leg will create a wobbly stool, However lacking legs makes the stool fall apart. If you aren’t truthful or being concerned, your delight in being honest and having integrity way nothing.

Moral behavior in Commercial enterprise

As of late, Ethical Commercial enterprise conduct has been a primary topic of difficulty. Reviewing the occasions of the final yr, it might appear that the phrases “Enterprise” and “ethics” are conflicting phrases. Whether or not you look to Wall Street, mortgage corporations like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or non-public organizations like AIG, by no means thoughts all the loan companies being investigated for questionable Enterprise practices, the news is depressing. It seems that the 1980’s mantra “greed is ideal” never actually went away.

The criminal dealings of top entrepreneurs have been exposed, which must motivate other people to behave more ethically. In truth, But, it usually acts as an excuse for now not changing poor behavior.

What harm can there be in the usage of your employer’s Computer computer for personal Enterprise when your Supervisor uses the business enterprise’s phone for personal lengthy distance calls? when personnel see how corporation management conducts itself, they start to experience no disgrace for anything little indiscretions they’ll have devoted themselves.

Managers can accidentally be signaling that unethical conduct will be tolerated when they put pressure on a smaller, downsized body of workers to produce greater. whilst employees experience pressured to meet company desires by some thing method feasible, Moral conduct may match with the aid of the wayside.

They get the message, “It is Ok to be dishonest, as long as you meet your objectives.” because the financial system takes us on a roller coaster trip, we want to assess our very own thought styles to make certain that we don’t permit ourselves to fall into unethical conduct simply because it looks as if we can without problems escape with it. There may be always room for development to your Business communications.

Those are Five Tips to help you in communicating ethically (supply: “Enterprise Conversation, Process & Product,” Mary Ellen Guffy, 2000):

(1) Be truthful. Statements which might be deceptive or unfaithful need to by no means be made. It is also not Ethical to tell partial truths or to exaggerate.

(2) Be sure to label reviews as critiques. Do not try and convince anyone that something you merely trust to be authentic is already a verified reality. Do the work; research very well and guarantee yourself that you aren’t simply representing every other character’s opinion as your own.

(3) Do not display bias. Keep in mind that your own subjective ideals may also come via for your writing. Even If you are passionate on your reviews, ethics call to be able to be dispassionate in your presentation.

(4) Your communications need to be clean to recognize. You need to positioned down your mind clearly, so they’re simple to comprehend. Ensure that what you write can be easily understood by the reader. do not muddy the waters by way of using convoluted sentences and all styles of difficult-to-realise enterprise jargon.

(5) Credit your sources. Do now not reproduction all of us’s work. Most of the people have the basic understanding that they ought to use citation marks if they’re using a direct quote from another writer. Yet there are a number of those who do no longer Remember that they need to properly Credit score other humans’s thoughts as well. You’re nonetheless cheating If you paraphrase sentences and throw in a handful of new phrases with out crediting the writer.