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frankensteindotpdf · 5 years

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TGWDLM and Love

Okayyyy so I was supposed to write an assignment on how a romantic movie expresses love and I asked my prof if I could write about tgwdlm instead and he said yes?? Bless him so anyway I made wayyyy too many notes for a 500-600 word assignment lmao so I felt like i might as well post em here… this is a compilation of every time Paul and Emma interact pretty much lol its hella long (im not kidding it’s like 7 pages rip) so under the cut :)

finally done, @isaidsinggoddammit!!

Sidenote: There’s very mixed capitalization as my brain flipped between tumblr mode and assignment mode so excuse that lmao)

Coffee Shop Part 1

Tips well to impress her

Listens to her vent-she already feels comfy enough to rant to him or, alternatively, she’s just a really open person (but shhh she has to trust him to some extent)

Insults others he doesnt know too well but he knows she doesnt like, again to impress

Tries to act indifferent towards everyone else (and tough)

Almost says smth romantic (“Some things are worth it”) but backtracks when she looks confused

In this scene, he tries to act cool but is clearly super nervous. One thing I really like is how he never acts too cool for her, like a lotta people do. He’s genuinely interested in what she has to say and never pretends otherwise, and also never pretends to be interested to get her to like him. I just really love how good he is at listening

Cup of Roasted Coffee/ Cup of Poisoned Coffee

When he panics he goes to Beanies to get a coffee and relax (wake up)

He turns to Emma (subconsciously?) for comfort

Freaks out when she sings (for good reason)

Emma remembers him (“Paul, right?... You’re the guy who doesn’t like musicals”)

Doesnt seem to notice how weird he’s acting

Continues to vent

He pulls her away from the counter to explain what’s going on

Paul finds it important to tell her-she’s the first person he admits it to

Him venting to her like she does to him? Trying to connect in a similar way? Im reading too much into that

He holds her there while explaining, she has to find an excuse to pull away

She thinks he’s crazy-keeps glancing at him during the song (he looks terrified)

Seems concerned for him

He switches between nervously staring at her and anxiously staring into the void (mood)

She turns to him at the “end” of the song and comes near him in the middle

She runs to paul when they start singing

They grab each other

He tells her to run, pushes her forward and shifts so he’s between her and the aliens

This scene is reeeally creepy from Emma’s perspective like oh my gosh can you imagine a man yelling at you (not at you but at your singing but still) and pulling you away from your work and then holding you still when you try to leave??? Anxiety to the max poor babe but also i get paul’s side can you imagine seeing the whole apocalypse beginning and it’s so weird no one would believe you if you tried to tell them? Poor bb. There’s also a lot of things that come up later: the ways he holds emma in this scene is the same way he holds her later one, later it’s to comfort her but this time it’s more to calm himself… he also pulls her to a better spot like he does later on

Trash Bin Scene

He leads her away-he knows the neighbourhood better

Tries learning about her (you like film?) (cmon paul bad timing)

(at trash) hold hands, she grabs his shirt while panicking

He holds her firmly by the shoulders to calm & comfort (parallels Cuppa)

Emma instinctively grabs Paul’s arm when Bill pops out

“Emma stays with us”-stands up to ted even though he looks pretty scared of him

(sidenote-what did ted do to Paul? The poor boy looks straight up terrified the first time he shows up)

Emma looks real confused about “latte hottay” but she never brings it up

“Paul!” when he runs to Charlotte-gestures at Paul near end of song

Paul tends to comfort people by grabbing their shoulders/putting a hand on their back (Emma of course but also Charlotte and Bill- has a looser hold on them than Emma)

Here they’re already starting to react to danger by reaching for each other and it’s v cute also bless paul i just really like how he calms people down he’s so good and pure

Hidgens’ Fortress Part 1

They trust Emma enough to go to Hidgens’ place (not like they had many other options)

Men™ typically trusted for “strong” stuff-Ted and Bill cuff Sam

Paul stands up for Bill-such a protective boy (could also be doing it to look cool for Emma but tbh it doesnt seem like it ill bring this up again later)

Paul listens intently to Emma’s venting

He smiles, nods, asks qs and repeats phrases she says

Its obvious he genuinely cares

Emma’s v comfy with him-they have an easy chem when Paul relaxes

Emma progressively shares deeper shit as she becomes more comfortable around paul

Paul makes jokes to lighten the mood, but not in a disrespectful way

Seems more nervous when bringing topics to himself

She listens just as politely as he does

“Whoa thats like your origin story...so I guess I’m the supervillain” “I dont think of you like that at all, Emma.” Cutest, Softest smiles on both of them my heART “Listen, Paul”-she was about to confess her love dammit charlotte

I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: Paul is such a good listener. I dont know why i find this so cute but their convos are so perfect like he asks qs so he knows exactly what she’s talking about (“what’s a coatimundi?” “Oh, did she smoke a lot of pot?”) and he repeats back phrases she says which shows that he’s genuinely listening like...so many characters (and people irl, lets be real) just pretend to listen to get what they want but he cares so much about what she has to say i just cant stop talking about it it’s so cute also how he seems so comfortable when she’s talking and then starts showing sign of nervousness again when the convo turns to him? Pure mood

Join Us And Die

Both jump behind chair when Charlotte and Sam show up

Emma clings to Paul’s arm + hides behind him

She steps out “charlotte?”

Paul pulls her back when sam approaches

Paul puts himself between Emma and Sam

Emma puts her back to Paul and grabs his arm

Paul pulls Emma away by her arm (“What’s wrong with her shirt?”)

Emma’s caught up in the gore, Paul is relatively level-headed

He keeps an arm around her

Emma steps away from paul to yell at Sam +Char (“He has a daughter!!”)

Instinctively reaches for Paul when Char gets shot (and later looks back at paul a couple of times when shook at prof hidgens)

Alright they do this whenever aliens show up so imma just talk about it here: this part was in my assignment so 1 lets hope it doesnt get flagged as plagiarism and 2 i could rant about this all day.

Basically Paul fulfills the traditional masculine role as protector and leader. Whenever smth dangerous shows up, he has one hand on her (on her shoulder, arm or the small of her back)-both reassuring them that someone else is there and making it easier for him to move her-which he does lots. He pulls her behind him or pushes her forward (away from the infected), leading her to where he thinks is safest. He always puts himself between her and the aliens, leading her to a safer spot. Emma tends to get distracted (emotional female stereotype) and paul is the one to move them both to safety (strong stoic man stereotype). To be fair, he is a lot bigger than emma and would probs have an easier time in a fight (tho i dont doubt that emma would be v i c i o u s) Emma tend to cling to Paul’s arm when she gets scared (which is really cute)

Hidgens’ Fortress Part 2

Emma adds to Paul’s plan- taps on his arm to move him

Paul steps back in front of her- i always found this weird, he totally blocks her from the conversation like why

She steps back out to roast ted

Paul looks at Emma when Ted @s him-now here’s where I could see him standing up for Bill to impress emma again. It’s not the only reason, but i do think it’s a contributing factor (and probably was before too cuz lets be real, when your crush is around you gotta act tough) of course he wants to protect his bff but he’s super anxious around ted so wanting to look brave for emma gives him that extra push he needs. Alternatively, he looks at Emma as a way to calm himself down before saying smth scary (which is adorable)

Emma wants to help but is called back to help with the lab

This is another thing i find super interesting-wouldnt more people around make it more likely he gets stopped? Did he want an audience (more than just ted) cuz i guess that’s understandable but in that case why didnt he wait a little longer to see if they came back? Idk it just seemed weird to me (also the whole “nooo female cant go out where it’s dangerous” even though it’s more like “oh emma’s the only one i know here can she not leave” wait actually that’s probably it lmao he just didnt wanna be alone with ted ok relatable nvm )

“Hey, Paul?” grabs arms (paul reciprocates) she’s real nervous for him leaving-relates to how much he hates musicals

I find that really cute cuz it’s showing once again how much they listen to each other and idk i just really like that about them

Grabs his face and pulls him close-he pulls her hands down to look her in the eyes to tell her he’ll stay safe

He doesn’t kiss her-super interesting! She pulled him close like that (which coulda been a sign to kiss her) and this was a pretty emotionally charged moment which a kiss would have fit - Paul hates kisses hc?

Not Your Seed + General (technically, just a little note)

Paul holds Emma tight with 2 hands, but keeps 1 hand free when holding others (ie bill and charlotte)

Only tells General about Emma, not Ted or the Prof (tho to be fair, he hates ted and barely knows the prof but it’s interesting how he doesnt even say he has “friends”, just Emma)

America Is Great Again

Paul saves emma and Ted

“Should I take this chair?” asks paul to lead

Emma holds Paul’s arm when they run

She tries to pry “Greg”’s arm off Paul + tries to get Ted to help-not strong enough

“Thank you Emma”-she freed him/killed Greg? I wanna know what happened (i tweeted @ jon, lauren and nick asking, so far jon just liked it we’ll see if anyone answers)

Runs behind Emma + pushes her forward “run, emma, run!”-Emma grabs for Paul, he steps in front

He pulls her through Robert+Corey and turns her around

She pulls him away from the General-paul usually does the pulling to safety

Paul doesnt notice when Emma is grabbed by Ted (lmao i get that he’s a little busy but it still seems odd)

She struggles with 1, 3 are on Paul (not a sexist thing, she’s tiny and also Paul is the main character and the aliens know it plus they gotta do that cool lift thing)

Emma grabs gun + shoots the General, grabbing Paul-”Paul! The helicopter! Cmon!”

Usually Paul does that stuff, but emma takes the protective role more in the 2nd half of this song

Basically we have the classic paul protecting emma stuff but now also the emma protecting paul which is good and fresh and i love...the way she tries to protect paul is different than how he protects her. She yells more frantically, and also is more of trying to lead him whereas paul yells to get her attention and physically moves her himself

Helicopter Scene

He helps her onto the heli, back to his usual protective self

Keeps one hand on the back of her seat the whole time (aww he’s stabilizing himself physically cuz the copter’s shaky and emotionally cuz he’s closer to Emma)

“Emma, seatbelts” he reaches up to help her into her seat-he kicks the gun to save them

“Emma? Emma?” immediate response is to call out to her-that boy was literally awake less than a second before worrying about her i love him

Runs to her when he sees her

“”This is what seatbelts are for” in this scene he seems really like...over it? Idk if anyone else got that he just seemed really intent on destroying the meteor instead of anything to do with Emma… before saving their lives was priority but also spending time with her, here he nods like he’s trying to rush her and does not seem excited to kiss her (again, Paul hates kisses? ok that was a rant that got ahead of my notes but just-) this scene is weird to me like maybe he’s trying to rush to stop the meteor so they can be together after and like not die idk anymore

He reaches out for her, jumping away when she cries out in pain

The rest of the scene he has his hands hovering a few inches away from her, very protective but also very scared of hurting her

Emma comes up with the solution, Paul has to do it cuz she’s hurt (weak gal, strong man, injured person knows secret to survival and tells strong boi how to do it tropes)

“Hey, Paul?” slides over to him-he gingerly supports her back (scared to hurt her)

He shushes her to calm her while talking cuz she’s in pain- ok, maybe its less about “gotta get out of here” and more about “she’s hurt really badly and needs help asap, i gotta destroy that meteor so i can get help” ok that makes sense im dumb lmao

Emma is first to ask out + kiss me? + pulling him in by his tie- breakin stereotype of man making first move

Then the little “..okay..” after she asks him to kiss her...maybe he wanted it to be romantic aww he wanted them to have a real cute first kiss and this wasnt what he had planned (or he just doesn’t like kisses cuz like he looks so uncomfortable there’s gotta be a reason”

He doesnt wanna kiss her cuz of the blood (weak) and is happy to leave-this part is what throws me off most he just like runs on outta there with no hesitation but he loves her?? I dont get it

Dont really need a rant here cuz i did a lotta ranting in the points… excuse my little journey of discovery there lmao I was just confused at first cuz at face value he seems really different, super hell bent on getting out of there whereas in every other scene he pays way more attention to Emma. I suppose it’s because he knows he has to destroy the meteor asap so he can get her help, i just didnt catch that. His motivations seemed very different in this scene to me and i couldnt figure out why

Theory time

Now here’s the fun part-i saw a theory somewhere that Paul can only get infected because he has a true goal now, he really wants to end up with Emma. In What Do You Want, Paul? Mr. Davidson is trying to find out what he wants to use it as motivation to make him more susceptible to the virus/make him sing a song, but since Paul doesn’t want anything clearcut he cant be infected. Now, since Paul wants Emma, he has a goal and smth to fight for but also smth to sing about. The very reason he’ trying to save the world becomes the reason he fails.

HOWEVER. His goal could just as easily be saving the world cuz he literally doesnt bring emma up once? Like i get he’s preoccupied but idk if he’s about to die i feel like he’d at least mention her (unless he’s hoping they think she died and wont go looking for her if he fails) idk their romance is adorable until the scene before this and then these 2 scenes make it feel really off for me

Okay now onto the most fun scene >:) -since there’s so many details i separated them into actions and lyrics

Inevitable (Actions)

“Are you sure there weren’t any other survivors?” :(

“PEIP would like to see it become smth more” because she’s the love interest and they’re supposed to end up together ahhh it’s the alien talking

She grabs his arms to look him in the eyes then pulls him in for a hug (the cutest)

She’s v reluctant to believe it at first “Paul?” She’s still smiling for the first line

Slowly she starts to let herself see what’s happening “Paul, you’re scaring me”

She knows he’s infected but she’s trying her hardest to believe he could be playing a cruel joke

He has power over her physically- holds her where he wants her while they’re dancing

He dances with her at first, gestures to her to move closer, talks to her, moves towards dancing at her instead of with

He blocks her exit, pulls her to where he wants her and ignores her for part

This is where you can really tell he’s different. Paul would never ignore Emma, and he straight up ignores her to sing and dance

He points at her and then goes back to ignoring her

Emma starts sobbing and really trying to run

Emma is dragged to the center of the stage sobbing because she cant do anything

He drops character in credits, waving and smiling to the audience; she doesnt

He’s got physical power over her (strength) but also cuz he’s backed by all the aliens who can move her where she’s supposed to go

Inevitable (lyrics)

“Emma, I’m sorry, you lost.” couldnt kill aliens

“Lost your way” didnt want to join them

“I made it” ‘This is the life that I chose” “I’m still the man you trust” “what if the only choice is you had to sing to survive” “Put words to the lyrics and you’re playing the game now” -maybe he’s faking it (i also heard someone mention the fact that he sings in his natural voice and not the higher one he used for the Alien Brain in Let It Out which is a good catch) (also someone else brought up the fact that he was mostly singing reprises, maybe because he couldnt think up his own tune/entirely original lyrics?)

“It’s inevitable for us”-because she’s the love interest, it’s was inevitable that they’d wind up together

“Show me those jazz hands” He’s trying to convince her to join of her own free will

“or i might be inclined to plant my seed” but is willing to do it by force if she wont

This song is super interesting because of the parallels-he holds her the same way he did in previous songs, pulls and pushes her across the stage like before, but this time it’s turned against her. What was once meant as protection is now being used to force her to join the dance I talked more about this in my assignment but i dont wanna get too close to what i wrote before because it could get flagged for plagiarism and i do not want that so imma reblog this post alter and add my assignment for more info (if yall want anyway)

The lyrics could hint at Paul faking it, and it definitely appears that way (especially with the face he makes at “Im still the man you trust) but i think the part in the middle where he just kind of breaks off to dance really kills that idea for me. Even if he was trying to trick the aliens, he could have kept closer to Emma like he does every other time they’re in danger, and the fact that he straight up ignores her and lets the aliens move her around like that is just not in his character so apologies but i believe our man is gone

Also, regarding the theories that Emma is infected because of the beginning; I could see that happening, but in that case, why didnt she break character at the end? I have absolutely zero idea how/if the intro song fits into the story but idk i feel like she should’ve acted like the rest of them if she really was infected but on the other hand i really like the heartbreaking theory that they’re all infected and Paul just has to keep reliving the story of how he failed again and again for all eternity like ouch? But also? Its great in a painful way??

Um yeah so that’s that for my ranting (my 3 pages of notes became 7 pages with the rants included so sorry about that i just had so much to sayyyy

TLDR: paul and emma are cute thanks for coming to my ted talk

#tgwdlm #the guy who didn't like musicals #starkid #team starkid #analysis #my poor friends have to deal with this 24/7 #i tried to channel it all into this lmao #um yeah i never analyze stuff so im sure smth is off #also im v v dumb so i probably missed obvious things #but yeah #its soooo long im so sorry #also spoilers....obviously??

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takingcareandstuff · 6 years

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THE EASIEST WAY TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM

Okay so we’ve all been there - you know the situation where someone significant is coming over in 15 minutes and despite your ‘fool-proof planning’, your room is still a mess because finding motivation to clean is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Virtually the only way to find a needle in a haystack is to burn the hay, which whilst it may seem tempting, is probably a bad idea in regard to this situation.

I have compiled some tips and tricks to help you through this. Also, they are not the cliche ones where they say ‘play music - it will help you get motivated’. Trust me, that doesn’t work; I have tried.

If you follow this, you should be able to tackle the job in about 15 minutes. Enjoy.

| MAKE A TO-DO LIST |

Now I don’t know about you, but when I can clearly visualise a job being done I find motivation to complete it. Ticking of a checklist as you work through feels sooo good and it’s possibly the most satisfying thing ever. You can write this on paper or even use the notes app on your phone so you have it every time you decide you have to clean. Make sure you put it in order of how you will tackle the clean.

| SET A TIMER |

It might sound dumb but it actually works. Setting a timer kind of turns cleaning into a game or a challenge and it puts you in a good mindset. See if you can clean your room in 15-20 minutes, or push it a bit and try to do it in 10... I believe in you!

| GIVE YOURSELF A HEAD START |

You’re probably confused by this so let me explain: Before you start cleaning anything, shut all of the doors and make your bed. I promise you, it makes everything look about 10X CLEANER AND IT’S A LIFESAVING TIP! Try it.

| CLEAN IN ORDER OF PRIORITY |

Complete the bigger jobs first. Assess the room and determine what is making the most mess. Is your room being inundated by dirty clothes or are there books everywhere? Whatever it is, clear that first and work your way down. By the end, the job keeps getting easier!

| THROW SOME STUFF OUT |

Clutter is usually the main issue in terms of messy rooms. Sometimes you just have to let some things go. If you haven’t used it in the last 6 months and it holds no real sentimental value, chances are you are going to forget about it anyway. Either throw it in the bin or donate it. Less is more.

If you do these things, you will most likely end up with a presentable room. Remember that a deep clean is needed every once in a while (unfortunately).

I hope this helps someone! Share to save a life!

Thanks for reading! ♥️

#life hacks #cleaning tips #organization #clean room #inspiration

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putschki1969 · 6 years

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Guide: How to get your hands on Kalafina goodies

I have been getting a lot of asks about this topic recently. Usually those questions come from new fans or from fans who have never bought any of Kalafina’s music releases or their merchandise. Buying Kalafina related items can be quite intimidating for us foreign fans, everything is expensive and it all seems to be out of reach. But fret not, it’s actually not THAT bad. Here’s a simple guide on how (and where) to buy all kinds of Kalafina related products. Don’t hesitate to ask if you still have any questions left after reading this.

Sorry, I have had this in my drafts for a couple of days. I was so distracted by all the Kalafina related news that I completely forgot about this :P Anyways, let‘s get this thing started...

Some basics:

Have a friend in Japan who is willing to buy stuff for you as soon as it comes out (for most of us that’s not an option but I thought I’d mention it anyways).

Get yourself a credit card or PayPal. Those two things will make your life so much easier when it comes to purchasing items on the sites I will mention later. Some sites accept debit cards but most of them don’t.

Download an add-on/app for your browser that helps you translate the content on Japanese sites. Usually google translate will suffice but it doesn’t hurt to have something else.

Make yourself familiar with your country’s customs regulations. In many cases you will not be able to avoid being charged various customs and import fees so it really helps to know what you have to expect.

Be prepared to spend a lot of money. Kalafina stuff is not exactly cheap (this applies to both the music releases as well as the merchandise). While you will be able to make some good deals on second-hand websites, most rare items will be sold for a very high price.

Comprise a list of all the things you want (add the original price for future reference). So much stuff has been released in the past decade, it’s not easy to keep track of everything (especially if you add all the different store privileges and other bonus items). Here’s a comprehensive list of all the music releases. This incomplete compilation on cpm will give you a rough idea when it comes to merch/live goods. Also, check out these albums on the Kalafina Facebook Fanpage => Merchandise/Live Goods/ Store privileges. @seasonreaper mentioned that he is working on his very own list so if you need info on rare Kala-items, he is your best chance. Of course you can also ask me, while I am certainly not super savvy when it comes to old Kalafina merchandise, I am sure I can find info on pretty much everything Kalafina-related XD

Selected online stores: CDJapan amazon.jp Space Craft Online Store (old) Space Craft Online Store (new) Yahoo Shopping Yahoo Auctions Suruga-ya Wakana Online Shop Mercari

Selected proxy services: Buyee From Japan Tenso (for sites where you can use foreign payment methods but you still need a Japanese address)

Details below the cut!

Music releases: CDs, LPs, DVDs, BDs

Let’s start with music releases. This is usually the first thing you would want to buy as a big fan of a band. As a newcomer, your best bet is CDJapan since it’s super simple and there’s no proxy service required. They still have almost all regular releases of Kalafina’s singles/albums/concerts in stock. There are a handful of limited editions available as well but for the most part, those are sold out. Please note that external and first press boni are only available for a short period of time (they are usually sold out within the pre-order period). CDJapan offers different shipping methods and they ship to A LOT of countries. Their customer service is great, they have helped me out a lot in the past. You can choose from many different payment options. I have never had any troubles with my packages. They have all arrived safely. [I usually pick unregistered SAL/Air Mail. Yup, I am super cheap, I don’t like paying extra for tracking]. Small tip, always mark your order as gift, that usually helps if you want to avoid customs fees.

Now if you want limited/special editions (such as LPs), rare releases (such as the re/oblivious mini album) or you don’t mind buying used products then you will have to consider visiting sites like amazon.jp, Yahoo Shopping, Suruga-ya, Yahoo Auctions and Mercari. These sites offer a wide range of frequently changing products including MANY second-hand items. You will need a proxy-service to order from most of them (Amazon.jp is an exception, they do ship some stuff overseas). While CDJapan offers its own proxy service I would recommend using Buyee (which I linked above). It’s SUPER simple to use and the service fee is minimal (they have sinced increased the fee but it’s still affordable). They ship to quite a lot of countries (various shipping methods) and you can pay with either PayPal or credit card. I advise you to stay away from Yahoo Auctions at the beginning. It’s a great place to find rare items but people are willing to pay crazy amounts of money for them so you will often find yourself outbid (unless you are willing to pay even more money of course XD). Buyee offers an interface for Yahoo Shopping and Mercari so you can browse the site in English. That’s very convenient, purchases are pretty much a piece of cake. A similar interface is offered for Yahoo Auctions (in case you wanna try your luck). On Suruga-ya and amazon.jp you can use the “Add-to-Buyee” app but don’t worry, the sites are super easy to navigate, once you have figured out the basic stuff, it really isn’t a big deal. And believe me, these sites are worth checking out! You can find lots of rare treasures there and often they are being sold for a very reasonable price. But you have to be fast!

Goods/merchandise etc

Live goods and other merchandise are much harder to find. But it’s not impossible. First I’d check out CDJapan, while their selection isn’t as big as it used to be they still have a few pamphlets left in stock. I think you can also find a handful of old live goods there. Then of course you should take a look at the Space Craft Online Stores. Many things are already sold out but there’s still quite a lot to be found there. Beware though, Buyee doesn’t offer its services on these sites. You will have to use another proxy buyer (such as From Japan - I think their service is a bit pricey but they are reliable). You can also register on the fan club sites with an address from TENSO and make payments with your credit card (they DO accept foreign credit cards in the Space Craft online shops).

You will have a lot of luck finding merchandise on the sites that offer second-hand products. It pays off to check the sites frequently because new things are added almost daily (and older things will be sold out just as quickly). But like I said at the very beginning, make sure to write a “wish-list” and always compare prices. Sometimes paying the full price on CD-Japan will be your cheapest option but other times you will save a lot of money by buying a second-hand item (even with all the fees you can still make a good deal). Often a product will be sold for a super high price (usually because the item is rare), be sure to check on all other sites whether you can find a cheaper version!

Some final tips:

Add keywords to your searches if you are looking for something particular. For example, if you are looking for pamphlets, use “kalafina パンフレット”, or like @chibalein has mentioned, if you are just looking for merch and you are not interested in any of the CDs, then type “kalafina グッズ”. That’s very helpful if you are browing sites that offer a wide range of products (like Yahoo Shopping).

Never hesitate to order something if you want it, things are sold out SUPER QUICKLY!

Make sure to only make purchases during the office hours of your proxy service. There’s nothing more frustrating than to find something you have always wanted, to order it and to then be told by your proxy service that by the time they ACTUALLY wanted to buy the item, it was already out of stock so your order had to be cancelled.

Try to keep your packages as small and light as possible (as in, don’t order 5 hardcover pamphlets at once - unless you are ready to pay a lot of shipping). The bigger/the heavier your package is, the more you will be charged for shipping. Sometimes the cheaper shipping methods won’t even be available if your package exceeds a certain weight.

Some screenshots

I’ve prepared some screenshots so you can get an idea of what you have to expect.

The Buyee interface for Yahoo Shopping

When you click on an item, you will be able to add it to your shopping cart.

Once the item is in your shopping cart, you can choose a plan. I ALWAYS choose the Lite Plan. I have never had any issues. You pay the item price and the fee and then the order will be made. Buyee will buy the item for you and a few days later it will arrive at their warehouse. Then you can choose a shipping method (I usually go for SAL or Air Mail) and you can declare your order as gift. You pay for the international shipping (+ domestic shipping in some cases).

Here’s a screenshot of an item on Suruga-ya. This is the regular edition of the album so it’s not exactly special. But it’s still cheaper than buying it on CDJapan. You can use the Add to Buyee App to purchase the album.

#kalafina #reply #guide #live goods #merchandise #tutorial #basic guide #hope this was at least a little bit helpful #maybe one day I will make a guide for kalafashion #although I am not sure many people are interested in that :P

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rayroa · 5 years

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Q&A with Britt Daniel of Spoon

(Photo by Ysanne Taylor c/o Gasparilla Music Festival)

In an effort to save some time, I’ll be omitting full Q&A’s from any feature interviews that appear on cltampa.com/music. If you’d still like to read my chat with Britt Daniel of Spoon for research, then find it, not completely polished up, below.

You working on the new album with Alex today?

Not today. Today I'm just kind of getting ready to get back on the road we had a few days off.

What advice do you think Prince would give Spoon as it closes out this run?

He probably had some fashion advice that I would take.He would probably tell me to read the Bible.

I feel like you’ve explained the selection process behind the new compilation album every which way possible.

Yeah, I mean, it's that is the thing that gets asked the most.

How did you how did you pick the songs? How does it feel leaving this song or that song off?

Yeah. I'm happy to talk about whatever anybody wants to.

I don't know if you can answer this question objectively. But how's the signature Tele playing on the tour?

I love it. I mean, it feels really good. It looks really good. I have two main guitars I'm using right now about that. That one and a similar white. Thinline Telecaster and the yellow one. The custom one is a little hotter. When we were picking up the pickups for that guitar, I wanted it to be more of a ‘50s sort of really hot twangy sound. You really hear the pick scraping against the string. I love that.

Not a lot of guitar on Hot Thoughts, has the instrument returned to the tape for the follow up, I mean I know won’t be “Marquee Moon,” but you have two guitar solos on “No Bullets Spent”?

Yeah, there's something.. I don't know. I mean, I recorded that song before I had the Brit Daniel Telecaster, but I don't know what happened. It just started making sense to play some guitar solos for the first time. It fit with the song. I’m having more fun with it.

I think there were three contender songs as far as which new tune you wanted to put on the compilation. And I believe you're about halfway done with the new record. And obviously promo of this album, and this tour is going to keep you away from that. But how many songs are there are working for the new record right now?

We started five songs. We're pretty far on five songs. And I got, you know, a bunch more that I'm working on. As soon as the tour is done, I'm going to need to take a little time to do a little more songwriting to up the record for the end of the year.

You’ve obviously got some good lyrics, but chords and melody is really where I think Spoon expresses what it is feeling — is communicating a song’s sentiment easier or harder in an amphitheatre?

Everybody can hear chords and melodies, but there are people who sort of listen to music and hear the lyrics first.

That must be a little difficult when those kind of people go to see shows, because you can't always hear the lyrics in a live setting, you know? All we can do is just go out there and do the best show we can. Yeah, I'm one of those guys, with a lot of shows I've seen, especially in clubs, I might not know a single word that got said all night, but it doesn't matter. I still don't know whether or not I know whether or not I love the songs because of that melodic information. And because of the attitude that performers will be carrying on stage, the look and the way they moved — all that stuff.

It's interesting to hear you talk about when you go out to see shows because I remember you playing a festival down here in Tampa and you had come out into the crowd during the Warpaint set. Do get emotional at shows?

Sure, sure, of course I do. Not every show will I feel every type of emotion.

When's the last time you teared up or got really emotional?

Watching Prince, I wish I would get like that. When you’re watching Prince it’s almost like watching God’s love. It’s an amazing, otherworldly experience. I feel like he was probably feeling that, too. I do remember the festival in Tampa — that was a fun one. I remember I remember feeling like whoever put it together just did a great job with the lineup. It wasn’t too big, it was a nice, little comfortable, great environment.

You you and Warpaint played in that Moody part of the day to kind of cloudy and a little rainy, the time of the day when normally the sun's starting to kind of burn off. So that was pretty cool. And you guys obviously brought the the good lights that you always bring.

Does warming up these rooms ever make you think of the Natural History? And those tours that he took that band on?

I have been thinking of the Natural History a lot lately because there’s a book coming out, and there’s a piece in Playboy coming out about our history. I don’t know if you read that one, but it’s really good.

Someone asked me to mention “Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now,” but it doesn’t look like the band ever plays it live. Any particular reason why, is it just way too old to even remember? It’s kind of a fuck you song to that A&R person now, right?

It was definitely a release for some major frustration that we were feeling at that time. The way that that thing happened was.. first he quit the label. And then we got fired or got dropped the same week, you know, because he quit the label. And then shortly after that, we were back doing local shows in Texas, and our tour manager, out of the blue, he said, “Oh, the agony of Laffitte.” And I said, “That's funny. That should be a song, and then somebody else came up with “Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now.” So it was just that was that easy. We had the song titles, and then the songs had to be written because of them. And then we put it out just because it felt good, you know? And we had a manager her lawyers were saying, “Maybe that's not the best idea.” I said, “No, this is absolutely the best idea. This is the best thing we could do right this moment.” And I think I was right. But yeah, we've never played “Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now” live, I don't believe I could be wrong, but I don't think we have.

I used to play it solo all the time. So we do we do our show. And then we go away for the Encore, I come back out I play. And then the band will turn out we play a four song. So that was that was kind of a deal used to do.

The group seems to use empty space in songs almost as its own instrument by the absence of instruments; how did the group come to decide that these pauses in sound and large dynamic shifts in their songs were an important element of their music?

I think when we were working on Girls Can Tell, and that's when I kind of figured that out. And at that point I was I was getting pretty bummed on — I guess you'd call it “alt-rock,” it seemed like the formula was, you write a song on rhythm guitar, maybe you write it on acoustic, or whatever it is you write on, and then you when you record it, you just use this really heavy, distorted rhythm guitar that takes up all the space. And that's the sound of your band. I mean, that was the sound of Weezer. That was the sound of I mean, Nirvana did it well, but that was the sound of Nirvana to at some point, they also had an amazing drummer. I don't know that we just sort of the sound of alt-rock was distorted rhythm guitar, and I wanted to get away from that. And so at that point, we took it out. I said, “We're not going to do that anymore.” We're going to, I'm going to use guitar, it's going to be a little, single line. little note, it's gonna happen sporadically so that there's lots of states and just make it be more of a focus on bass and drums.

Just out of curiosity, did you guys ever re-demo “Written In Reverse” after Mark Ronson gave you notes on it?

We never recorded it until he gave me notes on it. I did a demo, and I sent him the demo, and he suggested that there'd be some kind of break. He had some other suggestion, I think I used both suggestions. And then we started playing it live with those things in mind, and we recorded it, but we never, we never ended up working with Mark because the schedule was crazy. We both planned, we would do the next record with him. And we were just waiting on it like, “It's gonna be it's gonna be too long between records,” you know? We would have a much different reaction to the next record if we've done it with him. But all things happen for a reason.

I like your story about “Lafitte” from earlier, how lawyers suggested otherwise, but you recorded it anyway. I think some people try to write about Spoon as if the band just so happened to last this long, but I feel like the real narrative is that Spoon always kind of did what it wanted to do artistically and didn't go and make another Ga Ga Ga Ga Gaa after the success of that one, you know?

Right, right.

I know we're kind of getting low on time here and I don't want to talk about Trump. Everybody's talked about Trump. Obviously the mayor Pete thing was cool and you've played some stuff for Beto… this stuff has happened in El Paso which is pretty far from Temple I mean, it's like 500 miles, but does this ever make you rethink about your place as a musician? Your audience in particular is engaged, intelligent a listening audience, in my opinion. Do events like this week's make you think about where you fit into bigger conversations like the one we’re having this week?

It’s honestly not the first thing I think about when these kinds of things happen, I don’t think about my band. But I did a a quiet remarkable photo of Trump holding an orphan baby today and with the thumbs up… one of the orphans, I think it's a two year old kid who lost both its parents during this massacre. It’s classic. I don't know what's up with this guy. I don't know you can get to a person like that just clearly did not have any emotion for that situation.

Maybe last one here. How much of the new album can fans expect to hear?

None. We’re playing such short sets. It makes more sense. We played one headline at the begining and got to stretch out. A lot of people don’t know us on this one, so we’re playing the best known songs.

OK, bye Britt.

Good to talk to you, thanks for the questions.

#britt daniel #spoon

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devontroxell · 4 years

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7 Easy Ways to Actually Stick to a Marketing Plan

The marketing team is the real revenue generator of an establishment, which is why marketing plans affect the growth of the entire brand. Watching a marketing plan fail is equivalent to watching a train derail. Everything goes out of control and things become unmanageable very quickly.

Speaking of derailing, why is it so hard to stick to plans anyway? I did a little digging, and reached some conclusions:

Constantly making changes to the plan.

Lack of motivation.

Lack of commitment in the team.

The plan itself seems very strenuous.

The tasks leading up to the goals do not seem quite doable.

Committing to a plan also means that you are committing to your team. Even when you are using the right marketing tools, you may reach a point where abandoning the plan altogether will seem like a good idea. And, though sticking to plans isn’t easy, it is required and it is necessary. As Johnnie Dent Jr. very aptly said in his book, Great Reflections On Success:

“You are too important to the bigger picture to just fall off the canvas.”

As a leader we must find ways to keep our team focussed on the project and engaged to keep working on the best outcome. I have compiled a list of 7 easy ways to actually stick to a marketing plan, all of which have proved beyond effective for my team without fail. Take a look at them and see how they can help you:

#1 Make A To-do list

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay

Every task needs initiation. A plan will not move forward until you do. But when you want to stick to a certain path, it is good to map out the whole journey before you act on it. With a to-do list, or even better, a workflow, it becomes easier to view the timeline of the whole plan and how it will unfold.

I know when I am attempting a task, I like to know what is next on the agenda. This acts as a driving force to achieve more while sticking to the plan. You can determine how to pan out a to-do list by stating everything that you want to see done.

For example, for a content marketing manager, the to-do list would say:

Research and analysis.

Prepare marketing plans and strategies.

Assigning a timeline.

Distributing work.

Providing SEO input.

Publishing the content.

Promoting it.

Once you have the list, you can easily focus on the most important tasks and take necessary steps to stick to the plan.

#2 Break the steps into doable tasks

geralt / Pixabay

It is hard to move forward and often easy to deviate from the plan when the steps leading you to the goals are borderline unrealistic. This is why we break the steps we made in the to-do list into smaller doable tasks.

For instance, using a task management software platform, you could easily map out a workflow with all the steps and break them into various smaller tasks. The best part of using such tools, in this case, is that you will be able to further break these tasks down to subtasks and track the progress of the whole plan moving forward.

For example, for my marketing team, this is what my tasks and subtasks would look like:

TASK 1: Research

SUBTASK 1: Find resources for research.

SUBTASK 2: Reach out to references.

SUBTASK 3: Find the right audience.

TASK 3: Strategize

SUBTASK 1: Put references together.

SUBTASK 2: Consolidate and discuss researched data.

SUBTASK 3: Run analysis.

SUBTASK 4: Set achievable goals to be fulfilled during the journey of the project.

TASK 2: Timeline

SUBTASK 1: Break the strategy into a series of tasks.

SUBTASK 2: Assign deadlines to all the tasks.

SUBTASK 3: And set a date where when you know you will have the desirable outcome.

#3 Support one another

mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

If you want your team to stay on topic, keep talking about it. Visualize goals, celebrate small victories. Bring together people to state the achievements they have witnessed rising from the plan and how it will benefit the whole team, and subsequently, the whole establishment.

Here are some simple steps that you can take to achieve this:

Make everyone feel that they are working towards shared goals.

Let them know how the whole organization is going to benefit from the plan.

Assign clear tasks and be open about what you expect from them so they don’t have trouble following the plan.

Use a collaboration tool to give the team a view of their tasks and how their work fits into the complete picture.

Distribute responsibilities to everyone and delegate tasks tactfully.

#4 Set milestones

FirmBee / Pixabay

Nothing is more motivating than watching yourself win. So, another way to save yourself from swaying from the path of your ambitious marketing plan is to mark milestones in your timeline. Milestones are nothing but checkpoints in the journey of a well-thought-out plan. These represent small achievements.

In our example for baking a cake, our first milestone would be getting back home after buying all the ingredients. And the second would be when we are done assembling the ingredients in the cake pan.

Achieving milestones is a great motivation booster because when we celebrate these milestones, it eases the pressure and also encourages the team to achieve more by trusting the plan.

#5 Get technology to help you

Free-Photos / Pixabay

Sticking to a plan is easy when we have reminders telling us to stay on the path. Automating the process can help you in the following ways:

Every team member can have a list of their tasks in front of them the whole time.

It is easier to analyze the timeline of the project and understand their personal responsibilities.

Make a workflow easily with the help of custom workflows and to keep track of individual progress. This will help everyone move forward with the plan more easily.

It is easy to collaborate with the team, share information, and send files with a management tool.

#6 Work on morale and motivation

StockSnap / Pixabay

The best way to stick to a plan is to maintain a place where morale is high. Now, we gave the team a list of tasks, told them when to do it and how to do it, we are using technology to streamline the workflow a step further, and are celebrating whatever success comes our way. Now, we make sure they are happy following the plan.

We need to motivate the team so they can feel engaged and hopeful. Here’s are the best ways to inculcate these 2 values:

Celebrate achievements by highlighting everyone’s contributions.

Schedule sessions to go over the numbers so everyone knows they are on track.

Set up a system of rewards and recognition.

#7 Make each day mean something

gabrielle_cc / Pixabay

—> Weekly goals

If you never want to slip from the pathway of your marketing plan, you need to make sure to make every day count. For example, when you start following a diet plan, you will have several opportunities to cheat, but you make conscious efforts not to.

Here’s what you can do to replicate the formula for your team:

Give them weekly goals and accordingly, achievable daily targets.

Keep records by enabling your team to report their activities at the end of the day.

Following these two points will help you make sure your team is on track to follow the marketing plan.

To conclude

Plans and strategies would mean nothing if we couldn’t follow through with them. When we are working on a marketing campaign, so much depends on it to work. So we must do everything in our power to make sure that the team is on board and ready to stick to the plan.

The key is to make sure that people in the team are motivated enough to go ahead with the tasks. So take my advice and follow these 7 tips to make the plan more manageable and effective at the same time.

7 Easy Ways to Actually Stick to a Marketing Plan published first on https://wabusinessapi.tumblr.com/

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completeautoloans · 5 years

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Car Loans for Unemployed Smackdown!

While it may not be easy to get approved for a financing without a job, there are ways of getting car loans for the unemployed. All you need to do is show lenders that you are capable of making the car loan repayments. Having a car while unemployed is essential as you are more guaranteed to get to interviews earlier thus increasing your chances of getting your career moving again.

Can you get a car loan if you’re unemployed?

The answer to this question is yes, but not as easily as you’d like to think. However, if you are unemployed and you wish to get a car loan here are some of the few thing you can do to make it easier:

Most lenders will approve you for a car loan while unemployed if you have good credit rating. If your past debt repayments are good then you might be instantly approved for a car loan.

Show your lenders that you have an alternative source of income such as pension, disability benefits, social security, child support, interest income and the likes. This shoes that you are capable of paying monthly car installments on time.

Most car loan dealers will also verify how long you have been staying at your current place of residence. Ensure that you are not someone who hops from one place to another because lenders will favor borrowers who stay in one place for at least a year.

To a lender, a lot of things will determine whether you are capable of paying back the car loan if you’re unemployed. Car loan dealers who offer their services to people who are unemployed and have bad credit assume applicants who pay down payments are less likely to default on loan payments.

Consider getting a co-signer to back the car loan being provided if you want to enhance your chances of obtaining an unemployed auto loan approval with no credit score or bad credit score.

Keep in mind that lenders who give car loans to the unemployed often charge higher interest as well as a substantial amount of fees if the applicant’s credit is bad. Therefore, take steps to build your credit score before applying.

Suggested read

How to successfully get financing with negative equity

6. Get an auto loan against property

Pledging your property or gold to obtain a car loan is yet another way you can get auto financing. You can use this to purchase a used or new car of your choosing.

7. Get a car loan against a Fixed Deposit (FD) account

If you apply for an auto loan against FD, this means that your lender will treat the loan as an overdraft facility against the deposit sum. If you have a joint Fixed Deposit account then you are required to get the written consent of the other account holder in order to apply for the auto loan.

8. Consider going for a low-priced car or a used one

We all know that the price of a new car is higher than that of a second-hand car. You will not miss out on a car dealership that sells certified and well-maintained second hand cars. If you opt to buy the car from a private seller just check to make sure that the car is not stolen property or has unpaid debts. You don’t want to end up paying more than you originally should because of such things.

Hottest topics this month!

Fuel injection Service 101

How many years can you finance a used car?

Using fuel treatments like a pro!

Can you finance a car without a job?

In this case, you can’t eat your cake and have it too. In order to finance a car you need to at least have a dependable source of income. Usually, if you are able to get a job that reports your income to IRS then that a sufficiently dependable income. However, if you are cobbling up money every month then it will be hard for lenders to give you a car loan. While there are some who will give you the loan anyway, they will charge you a very high interest rate to compensate for the extra risk they will be taking by lending you cash.

If you are still willing to get a car loan without having any way to finance it, ensure that you have a proper plan for making the repayment. However, if this is too risky for you then consider saving up enough to buy the car in full. While it may be a slow option, it can equally be an incredibly powerful and disciplined way to use your cash. It is also a good practice to build your money management skills. However, if you know how you will finance your car loan repayments without struggling and straining to hard then go for it, there are many lenders out there waiting to give you a car loan.

Car loan between jobs

There are those companies or businesses that often hire employees for a fixed term or as casual. This not only enables them to control their employment costs but also make it a bit tricky for you who might want to get an auto loan in future or any loan for that matter. You are more at risk if are in and out of work as the demand for your skill set changes.

If you are in between jobs right now and you want to take an auto loan, having a strong history of continuous employment will make it more likely to be approved for the loan. Getting a car loan in these situations however hard, is quite possible. You can make your application by doing the following:

Supplying your lenders with personal references that have authority to speak about your past employment

Providing previous years tax returns that show your annual income

Showing proof that you have a stable residential as well as loan repayment history

Offering lenders a letter from your employer confirming their intentions in regards to your employment

Remember that the lending market continues to become very competitive as more online lenders offer alternatives to big financial institutions such as banks. What this means is that you are now more likely to get lenders that accommodate people with alternative employment profiles and know that they are capable pf affording to repay a loan.

If you are unsure about where to get such lenders, try and seek advice from a trusted car dealership or broker. This is because brokers are usually up-to-date with the latest loan offers and changes to any lender policies. Therefore, if there is a car loan that you are eligible for they will definitely point you to the right direction or keep you in the loop every time something comes up.

One advantage of using a broker is that you will get to protect your credit rating as 5they will make sure that you do not submit any car loan application that doesn’t meet the required criteria. By doing this, you are ensuring that when you do get meet the criteria, your credit enquiries will not be a barrier to the approval of your car loan.

Benefits that auto loans offer the unemployed

Here are some of the benefits offered by auto loans for the unemployed:

Affordable monthly installments

Offers financing despite you having bad credit

Competitive rates of interest

May require less documentation

The process is simple, easy and hassle free

You can get approval within only a few hours

Get vital cash to buy the car of your choice

How to get the right car loan lender

1. Seek out local credit unions and banks

If you are a member of a credit union, you should check them out before you even considering any other lender for your auto loan. Keep in mind that credit unions are both community and member-oriented. For this reason, they will most likely offer competitive interest rates and a user friendly loan process.

If you already have a relationship with your local bank of the other hand, visit a branch and talk to someone about your car loan in person. The bank will have all the details of your financial history since they already do business with you thus making them more willing to work with you.

2. Avoid lenders who are predatory

Lenders who are predatory offer use fraudulent and unfair practices. Such loans prove to be attractive especially if you cannot provide proof of income since they are easy to get. Keep in mind that these loans come with very high interest rates as well as expensive charges and fees. While it is also not always easy to spot a predatory lender, here are some of the things you can be on the lookout for:

Advertising that promises to give you a car loan even if your credit score is bad. Such loans often come with extremely high interest rates.

Add-on packages that come with the loan such as theft deterrents, rust-proofing or even insurance. Such packages only inflate the loan amount instead of adding value to your purchase.

Lenders that encourage you to put false information on the loan. Such loans tend to be predatory.

3. Be careful of dealer financing

Be wary of dealers that try to convince you that you don’t qualify for a bank loan because you don’t have enough proof of income. Do not fall for this nonsense especially if you haven’t approached your bank in the first place. Such dealers may be trying to mislead you so that they can get you working with their financing. Unfortunately, dealer financing comes with higher interest rates most of the time meaning you will have to part with a bigger monthly installment.

Similarly, they also stretch the loan out for 72 months or more in order to make the monthly payment lower. In this case you could still be paying off the loan even after you no longer own the motor vehicle.

4. Do a thorough examination of all financing paperwork given to you by the lender

In the event that you opt for dealer financing, ensure that you don’t leave the dealership without a signed contract. There are those dealers that will allow you to take ownership of the car even before completing the loan process only for you to get a call a few weeks later with the news that your loan application didn’t go through because you didn’t qualify. Such lenders will then persuade you to accept a different loan with a higher interest rate.

Don’t fall for such lenders because this is a scam. Remember that a dealer can adequately assess the worthiness of your credit thus approving you for a loan there and then. Also if the lender is not willing to complete the loan process with you being present just go elsewhere.

Why repairing your bad credit is essential when looking for a car loan

Honest lenders evaluate your credit score before approving your car loan. Therefore, if you don’t have proof of income take some time to prepare so as to be credit worthy. The following will help you repair your credit score and also increase the likelihood of you +

Getting a secured credit card

Paying all your bills on time

Opening a store credit card

Creating a budget and working out a repayment plan to all your creditors

Paying off as much debt as possible

Disputing negative or inaccurate information on your credit report

Avoiding subprime loans

Conclusion

Getting a car loan while unemployed is possible provided you have a solid plan of repaying your lenders. Just make sure you are smart about going about, do research and seek advice from trusted parties.

from Complete Auto Loans https://ift.tt/2TYtx23 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Complete Auto Loans

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planetarduino · 7 years

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The $2 32-Bit Arduino (with Debugging)

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Arduino. But if I had two serious gripes about the original offering it was the 8-bit CPU and the lack of proper debugging support. Now there’s plenty of 32-bit support in the Arduino IDE, so that takes care of the first big issue. Taking care of having a real debugger, though, is a bit trickier. I recently set out to use one of the cheap “blue pill” STM32 ARM boards. These are available for just a few bucks from the usual Chinese sources. I picked mine up for about $6 because I wanted it in a week instead of a month. That’s still pretty inexpensive. The chip has a lot of great debugging features. Can we unlock them? You can, if you have the right approach.

The Part

For a few bucks, you can’t complain about the hardware. The STM32F103C8T6 onboard is a Cortex-M3 processor that runs at 72 MHz. There’s 64K of flash and 20K of RAM. There’s a mini-USB that can act as a programming port (but not at first). There’s also many 5 V-tolerant pins, even though this a 3.3 V part.

You can find a lot more information on this wiki. The board is a clone–more or less–of a Maple Mini. In fact, that’s one way you can use these. You can use the serial or ST-Link port to program the Maple bootloader (all open source) and use it like a Maple. That is, you can program it via the USB cable.

From my point of view, though, I don’t want to try to debugging over the serial port and if I have the ST-Link port already set up, I don’t care about a bootloader. You can get hardware that acts as a USB to ST-Link device inexpensively, but I happen to have an STM32VLDISCOVER board hanging around. Most of the STM32 demo boards have an ST-Link programmer onboard that is made to use without the original target hardware. On some of the older boards, you had to cut traces, but most of the new ones just have two jumpers you remove when you want to use the programmer to drive another device.

The “blue pill” designation is just a common nickname referring to the Matrix, not the pharmaceuticals you see on TV ads. The board has four pins at one edge to accommodate the ST-Link interface. The pin ordering didn’t match up with the four pins on the STM32VLDISCOVER, so you can’t just use a straight four-pin cable. You also need to bring power over to the board since it will have to power the programmer, too. I took the power from the STM32VLDISCOVER board (which is getting its power from USB) and jumpered it to my breadboard since that was handy.

The Plan

Programming the board is easy — I knew the community had done a lot of work to create a support package for it. You do need a recent version of the Arduino IDE (not the one that shows up in the default Ubuntu repositories). I downloaded version 1.8.1 from the Arduino website, just to be sure. That was the first step of my general plan of attack:

Load the latest Arduino IDE

Set the compile messages to verbose

Use the Board Manager to install the STM32 F1 packages

Get more tools

Capture the build directory

Run the right version of GDB

The recent versions of the Arduino IDE let you select platforms by using the Board Manager (available from the Tools | Board menu). However, if you look, you won’t see this board on the list. You’ll need to tell the IDE where to get the third-party support package. To do that, you can go to the Preferences menu item (on the File menu for Windows and Linux; I understand it is on the Arduino menu on the Mac). You need this same preferences dialog for step two, also.

Step 2 isn’t strictly necessary, but it will make step 5 easier. Just check “Show verbose output during compilation.” What you really need to know is the temporary directory the IDE uses for your build and this is the easiest way to do that, as you’ll see.

Further down the preferences screen is an entry for “Additional Boards Manager URLs.” If there’s already something there you should click the little button to edit the list. If it is empty, you can add this URL:

https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles/raw/master/STM32/package_stm_index.json

Now you can go back to the Tools | Board menu, pick Board Manager, and search for STM. You’ll probably see a few packages (I had three) but the one for the F1 will specifically mention the blue pill. Click the button to install and wait for it to do its thing.

Once installed, you’ll have some new entries on your board menu. When you have the blue pill selected, you’ll be able to pick a few options for uploading including the one we want: ST-Link.

Coding

The package has all the stuff you need to build and download programs using a variety of methods, including ST-Link. However, it doesn’t have the particular tool you need to do debugging.

It is simple enough to build the tools. The GitHub repo has the code and some simple build instructions. You do need libusb and CMake, but the page explains all that and once you have all the pieces, the build goes fast. For many OS choices, there are pre-built binaries you can use, too.

You’ll also need to know the USB ID of your ST-Link board and add it to the udev rules for Linux. If you don’t do this, you’ll need to be root to program the device and that’s not a good idea. However, depending on which ST-Link interface you use, it may already be there from other software or from the Arduino install. I’d try a test first and if it only works as root, you’ll need to update udev.

If you did your own build, I suggest running the tool stlink-gui to perform the test. You can also run st-info --descr

If you run stlink-gui, press the connect button with the ST-Link and blue pill powered up and connected. You should get the information about the device. If not, try as root. If that works, you need to update udev. I created a file, /etc/udev/rules.d/45-stlink.rules.

ACTION=="add" SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR(idVendor)=="0483", ATTR(idproduct)=="3744", MODE="0666", GROUP="usbusers"

You’ll need to modify that for the USB ID of your particular interface (mine was 0483:3744; the lsusb command can help). The mode allows all users to read and write the device. I made the group owner usbusers, but since everyone can access the device that probably isn’t strictly necessary.

Once you can do all that, try running the blink sketch from the IDE examples. Be sure to pick “Upload Method: STLink” from the Tools menu of the Arduino IDE. If it doesn’t work, you may need to use the tools you just built instead of the ones that come with the Arduino IDE. Mine worked but the debugging required the custom build (because the Arduino package didn’t ship with that particular tool built).

Finding the Tools and Build Directory

The Arduino IDE is pretty friendly, so it doesn’t try to install things like boards for all users, since that would require root. The board package you loaded winds up in your home directory under ~/.arduino15/packages/STM32/tools. There’s an STM32Tools directory and a few more levels down you’ll find copies of the ST-Link tools. If they don’t work, you can manually run the tools you built in the previous step to do your uploads. When we debug, we are going to do that anyway.

What’s really important though is back under the STM32/tools directory is another directory with the compiler that the IDE uses to compile your code. There’s also a matching version of GDB — the GNU Debugger — there that you will have to use.

If you loaded an example, make sure you save it to your own directory (I hate saying sketchbook). If you don’t, the IDE will make a private copy of any changes you make and things will get confusing.

Do a build (the checkmark icon) and — assuming you checked the box in step 2 — you’ll get a lot of output from the build tools. You might verify that the compiler in use is the one we mentioned above. You’ll also see that your program gets added to other things and put in a directory named something like /tmp/arduino_build_XXXXXX where the XXXXXX is a number. Your source code will be in this directory named something like sketch/Blink.ino. In the top-level directory will be the executable Blink.ino.elf. This is what you need to debug.

If you are comfortable editing your Arduino settings file (just be sure the IDE isn’t running first) you can also force a build directory using the build.path key. The IDE does have an “export binary” command (on the Sketch menu) that compiles to your sketch folder. However, this .bin file doesn’t have enough information for the debugger.

Debugging at Last

Finally, you can debug. Use the arm-none-eabi-gdb executable from the same directory as the GCC used to compile your program. This is important. If the versions don’t match you’ll get strange errors even though many things will seem to work. Provide the name of the elf file as an argument to GDB.

If you like, you can use the -tui flag to GDB to get a sort of text-based GUI. Either way, you have one more step to go. The st-util tool you built earlier can listen to the ST-Link interface and provides a socket that GDB can use to do debugging.

Start it like this:

st-util -p 1234

That will make it listen on port 1234. If you already use that port for something else, pick another one. Just remember that on Linux only root can listen on ports below 1024, so pick a bigger number.

Once that is running, you fire up GDB with your elf file name and issue the command:

target extended-remote :1234

Or, I’ve recently started using:

target remote :1234

You can run the two parts on different computers, so use a hostname if necessary (that is, devbox21:1234). Most times, the programs are on the same box and you can use localhost or omit it like I did. The difference between remote and extended-remote is that the server does not shut itself down at the end of an extended-remote session. It often works, but I have seen cases where I had to restart the server anyway, so lately I’ve been using plain-old remote to force me to restart it with each session.

A “load” command to GDB will now flash your program to the board. A typical session after a load might be:

break main continue list n n n

The “n” command steps to the next instruction.You can find a lot more about using GDB in an earlier post. You also might find it easier to watch the walkthrough in this video:

A few caveats. First, optimization can cause your lines to execute out of order, or even go backwards. It can also cause variables to not be visible where they have been optimized out. The other thing to watch out for is that, in some cases, the debugger internally single steps. This can cause very slow execution of delay routines, for instance. You might reduce or remove delays while debugging or be careful where you try to single step instead of placing breakpoints.

Final Thoughts

It would be neat if the Arduino IDE let you debug inside of it. However, there are ways to do that using Eclipse (and GDB) or Visual Studio (if you use Windows). If you are like me and OK with the command line, you might think about using one of the Makefiles for Arduino instead of the IDE. If you aren’t OK with the command line, there are GUI shells for GDB that you could try. If you’d rather hack the ST-Link firmware, we’ve seen that done, too. If you miss doing printf’s, you might want to try a Black Magic probe, which ought to work about the same as the ST-Link interface, but also provides a serial port for printf and other mischief.

By the way, Arduino isn’t the only choice for this board. It is possible to use mBed and other development tools with them. But that’s a topic for a future post.

Filed under: Arduino Hacks, ARM

The $2 32-Bit Arduino (with Debugging) was originally published on PlanetArduino

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