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jackdawyt · 4 years

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With Dragon Age 4 still quite a few years away, given it's expected 2022-2023 release window. I've been reflecting and thinking retrospectively about how long Dragon Age 4 has actually been in development. And so, with that question, here I am on a quest to try and answer it.

This investigation has been put together for the betterment of everyone in the BioWare community, including myself, plaguing the developers with infinite questions regarding what’s next for Dragon Age and when will we hear something about the next game.

If we, as a community, can understand at which point BioWare are with the development of the next Dragon Age, then perhaps we’ll have more grace and patience as we support the developers with their hard work and dedication to creating the next game.

We’d have some appreciation, all the while garnering an understanding of how long this game has left in development. Yes, for our sakes, but also for BioWare’s sake. We need to see if EA are giving the Dragon Age team enough time for them to create the Dragon Age game they want to make, and nothing short of that.

And that’s exactly what I want to uncover in this video. With that, let’s begin. it's no secret that the next Dragon Age game has already had quite the tumultuous time in its early stages of production:

The previous iteration known as 'Joplin' was canned and has been rebooted for 'live service elements'.

The Creative Director and 14-year BioWare Veteran Mike Laidlaw left the studio, along with his vision for the next Dragon Age game.

Shortly after that, the Lead Writer and 17-year BioWare Veteran David Gaider left the studio to pursue other games design avenues.

Not to mention the anxiety and panic attacks the developers faced ensuing Anthem's development.

Although all of these factors point to disaster and worry, and they can lead to mixed feelings about the next game in production, I can assure you that there's still plenty confidence and hope for the next iteration of Dragon Age 4:

The developers working on the next Dragon Age game are creating the next with "an eye to what the fans love about Dragon Age, which is easy because they love Dragon Age."

The Creative Director of 'Morrison', the latest iteration is Matthew Goldman, the previous Art Director of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Plenty of BioWare Veterans are still in the studio, working on the next Dragon Age title such as Patrick Weekes (15 years), John Epler (13 years), Caroline Livingstone (12 years), Mary Kirby (13 years), Graham Scott (13 years), Mark Darrah (23 years?), Parrish Ley (14 years), Lucas Krisjanson (22 years), and many more legacy developers!

There's been signs of improvement within the working conditions at BioWare, Casey Hudson personally has been getting involved with solving these issues. I've seen a few developers sharing tweets that they're enjoying working at BioWare, and they're eager to share more on the next Dragon Age game. I'll share even more on this topic in my next news video coming end of May! But it seems that the developers are staying on top, and positive for the next Dragon Age.

Regardless, I'll take any chance I can get to inspire folks that the next Dragon Age game is in the right hands and BioWare are aware of what the fans expect from them. Let's move on to the main investigation of this video, to examine the next Dragon Age game’s development process.

Ironically, the next game hasn't officially been announced, according to many of the developers at BioWare, yet EA have already given the project an initial release window of 2022-2023. One of the main questions I want to answer by the end of this video is, do BioWare have enough time to create an epic Dragon Age game, with that strict deadline mandated by EA?

Well, in order to answer that question and understand the production stages the game is currently at, I'm going to have to begin at the start by revisiting Jason Schreier's "The Past & Present Of Dragon Age", which I know we've talked about a lot, but it's the biggest indicator on Dragon Age 4's development. So, here we go.

2015:

Following Dragon Age: Inquisition's Trespasser DLC release in 2015, Dragon Age 4's previous iteration began its very early stages of production. The plans for the next game were very exciting, and some of the developers had put their best work into it.

The project was called 'Joplin' and it would've centred on spies embarking on heists in Tevinter, smaller in scale then Inquisition, however, much further in depth, choices and consequences. And there was an emphasis on repeat play, having the player's visit previous areas again, with new content.

2016:

However, the first major bump in the road occurred in 2016, one year after development had started. Mass Effect: Andromeda required all hands-on deck, and so many members of the Dragon Age team were moved to work on Andromeda, they're even mentioned in the credits of Andromeda as the 'Dragon Age Finaling Team.'

2017:

After Andromeda's release in March 2017, it was back to working on 'Joplin' for the majority of the shifted developers. For some developers, it was refreshing to get back to working on the next Dragon Age. However, it wasn't long before BioWare's next releasing title - Anthem was suffering through development troubles. By the latter half of 2017, Anthem was in real trouble, and so EA took drastic action.

In October, 2017, EA cancelled Joplin's development and moved the bulk of the project's staff onto Anthem. With two years of development on a project that will never see the light of day, Mike Laidlaw departed BioWare that same month.

Alexis Kennedy was previously working on 'Joplin' too, however, according to his LinkedIn profile, he left the project in October too. It seems his work only extended to 'Joplin' and will most likely be scrapped as well.

Towards the end of 2017, as the majority of "Joplin's" core team went to work on Anthem, a very small skeleton team stuck around to work on a brand-new Dragon Age project under the new title 'Morrison.' This team will have consistent of developers like Patrick Weekes, who was anointed the role of Lead Writer since David Gaider departed. Other key developers working on the foundations of 'Morrison' in 2017 included: John Epler, Matthew Goldman, Daniel Kading, Matt Rhodes and many other talented designers.

It's unknown how much of "Joplin's" previous work will make its way into 'Morrison', surely a project with production escalating over two years would have some worthy elements that could be added to 'Morrison'

As it stands, we don't know if the games will share the same vision, or if any of the same key mechanics, concepts, story threads, etc, have made their way into Morrison.

All that is known about 'Morrison' is that the game has been rebooted with Anthem's codebase, so the developers aren't starting from complete scratch, they'll have somewhat of a preset of the Frostbite engine that can act as Dragon Age 4's very foundations. However, unlike Joplin, this new version of the fourth Dragon Age is planned with a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue.

A few developers working on 'Morrison' stated that this game will change drastically in the next two years, however, that's been the case with every Dragon Age game. The point is that the project will take many different shapes until it feels like a Dragon Age game.

2018:

So, we know that this project reboot happened around the end of 2017, with a very small skeleton team going forward following a slightly new approach, and a new Creative Director. This is the new Dragon Age 4 that was later teased at The Game Awards in 2018. However, unbenounced to us at the time, we didn't know the game was rebooted, and therefore, as fans do, we presumed that this title would release soon.

In actuality, when 'The Dread Wolf Rises' teaser dropped, the new iteration of Dragon Age 4 had only been in very early development with a small team for about a year, hence why we still haven't heard, or seen anything of this project since. the game's production stages had barely started.

Not only that, but the teaser wasn’t supposed to act as an announcement, but more of a message to the fans that something is happening with Dragon Age.

2019:

Anthem shipped in February, 2019, and following its release, the Dragon Age developers who were shuffled to the Anthem team back in 2017, then went back to the new iteration of Dragon Age in May of 2019, including the Executive Producer, Mark Darrah.

The Dragon Age team; fully operational with all hands-on deck, could begin to wrap up its pre-production stages, and start production development. We discovered a few key production stages last year in my massive 2019 news roundup, things like voice acting, concept art, and potential 3D models.

Fernando Melo left the studio in August of 2019, stating that his work of “guiding the team through EA’s concept and early production phases” had been complete, and he felt it was the least messy time to leave the company. This proves that indeed; the title has begun production stages.

2020:

With that, we can safely say that Dragon Age 4's production has continually increased, as the project makes its way through many core development stages.

To this date, the game has recently had script readings for scenes, some of them being romance moments. Animations for a dog-like companion. Something about coding 'Scriplets' and plenty more of tidbits, that if you're interested be sure to check out my latest news video.

Conclusions:

So, in an attempt to work out how long Dragon Age 4 has been in development... If we do some quick maths, it seems that project 'Joplin' was in development for around two years, between 2015 - 2017.

Therefore, project 'Morrison' has been in development for around 3 years, given that it started in 2017 - present.

However, from late 2017 to early 2019. the work on 'Morrison' was pre-production. The main production stages began in May 2019.

So, 'Morrison' has been in pre-production for approximately 18 months, with the production stages starting around a year ago, in May 2019.

With its release window of 2022-2023, can BioWare successfully create an epic Dragon Age title? Is this enough time for the developers to create the best Dragon Age possible?

Well, I'm not one to leave you with rhetorical questions. If we look at Dragon Age: Inquisition's development, a game that I'd consider to be a Dragon Age epic, that served the fans supremely well.

In a 2014 interview with Mike Laidlaw, conducted by UK newspaper The Guardian:

Dragon Age: Inquisition's production had been about three years, but taking in the early concepting, it would be four years. As studio general manager Aaryn Flynn kindly pointed out, that’s about 10% of Mike's life.

If we go by that measure, 'Morrison' with 18 months of pre-production and one year of full production, and two to three years of development left before an initial release window.... it sounds quite plausible that BioWare could pull this off.

Although BioWare have their work cut out for them, I have hope that they can deliver an amazing Dragon Age game dedicated to the fans. With plenty of time spent on the pre-production stages, hopefully the team has learned from Anthem and Andromeda's rough early stages, and they've conceptualised the development enough, that production can carry on at ease.

And regarding Joplin's two years of previous work, I hope that at least some aspects of that project's production went into 'Morrison', the core concept alone sounded like it could've been the best Dragon Age game to date, and with so many developers pouring in some of their best work, I truly hope that it all hasn't been canned and it can make its way into the next Dragon Age game.

Regardless, I have a news update in the works for the end of May as I mentioned before, there's still plenty of tidbits coming out, and as I stated in my Tinfoil Tea Party podcast, I'll be doing news videos before the first of every month when we have enough, well news... In April, we got a fair bit, but May has been epic so far. So, stay tuned for that!

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wilstudies · 5 years

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Get a grade 9 in a language GCSE!

Please note:

1. These tips are almost entirely applicable to any AQA language at GCSE. 2. Modern Foreign Languages at GCSE Level is anywhere from A2 to B1 (dependant on the tier and grade) on the CEFR scale, but, there is no official equivalent.

In November 2018, whilst in Year 10, my teacher saw that I was excelling in French, with my extensive knowledge of tenses and idioms. So, she proposed that I’d do the January mocks, alongside Year 11, despite not knowing more than half of the subject content. Then we’d see where I’d go from there.

I followed the AQA exam board, higher paper. Specification. You can find the Kerboodle textbook I used, here.

Here’s what I did:

Throughout the year, I was also studying the Year 10 content (Theme 1 - Identity and culture) in class.

In my own time, each month I’d cover one or two units, completing the more challenging activities on each page of the textbook. Luckily, each unit was only 4 double-page spreads long.

In January I completed my mocks. This was the first time I had ever sat in an exam hall, so it was really daunting to be doing it with a bunch of kids who were older than me, even though I knew I had enough knowledge. Overall, I got a secure grade 8, in my mocks, despite not knowing half of the course content.

I also did “pre-exam mocks”, two weeks before each exam. These consisted of specimen papers which are notoriously harder, so my results looked almost exactly the same as past papers, which was upsetting as I couldn’t see that I’d actually improved. But practice is practice!

MY ACTUAL GCSE RESULT:

With a lot of work. I managed to achieve a grade 9 (the top mark, higher than an A*), which was insane. I’m so, so proud of myself, and grateful for all of the teachers that supported me!!!

^Edit from 25/08/2019.

LISTENING

In my opinion, listening is based purely on practice and knowing the exam technique that works for you.

To practice:

frenchpod101 intermediate listening comprehension

Going through every specimen track and listening activity I could find - pausing it after each sentence, saying it once in French, then translating it into English. I’d do this in the shower, on the way to school, wherever.

Know your vocab!

My exam technique:

In the 5 minutes reading time: underline keywords and themes in the questions. This time goes very quickly, but I’d also try to jot down a few synonyms in the French section too.

Multiple choice questions: the process of elimination; key vocab; negative and positive tonality and opinion words - watch out for negative structures!

Completing the sentences: note down words said in French or translate each sentence into English in your head, then remember it when it comes to writing it down.

French section: fill each sentence with key French words that you hear. Don’t worry about accents, unless it helps you determine the word.

Remember each track plays twice.

READING

The January Mock: I didn’t know much of the course content, so I struggled with the translation. I also circled and placed a question mark near any words I didn’t know, as it was a mock and my teacher would be able to note down any translations for me. I think what boosted my grade, to a 9 for this paper, was knowledge of grammar.

T/F/NM questions are usually a gamble. Just look for explicit information and know your negative formations.

Texts change their minds often: look out for counter-arguments and opposing exclamations

Use the method of elimination for multiple choice: rule out if there’s no mention. Be wary that a text can mention an option, but say it wasn’t that.

Texts often refer to things mentioned prior.

If you know a certain type of texts are your kryptonite (it was the classical stories with dialogue, for me), then download as many of that genre as you can. Understand the way speech and dialogue works, and the structure, before you tackle the vocab.

Many say skim read and don’t read the whole thing, but I found it easier to translate big chunks in my head as I went along and lightly annotate each text, which just comes with practice.

WRITING

Top tip: don’t go any more than 10% over word limits!!!!!!! Teachers say they have to mark all of it - no they don’t. If you do double the word limit, your last few bullet points could come after the cut-off point, cutting off access to half of the marks!!!

90 WORD - 99 words maximum! About 20-25 words per bullet point.

150 WORD - 165 words maximum! About 75 words per bullet point.

Which brings me to mention, that you must cover every bullet point: those are your content marks, which cover about half the marks of each question.

90 WORD Question (16 marks)

Content - 10 marks: Making sure your writing covers each bullet point enough.

Quality of Language - 6 marks: Using interesting vocabulary, such as “malheureusement”.

Stick to about one page.

If you’re giving an opinion, great, just stop there. If you explain it too much, you risk going over your word limit.

150 WORD Question (32 marks)

Content - 15 marks: Every. Bullet. Point. Detailed.

Range of Language - 12 marks: get in those adjectives, idioms and grammatical structures!

Accuracy - 5 marks: correct basic tense conjugations (present, past, future simple/future proche)

In order to hit all of these I came up with a mnemonic checklist, and it scored me full marks in a specimen paper I did for my teacher! And I made it into a cute phone background, so I’d start to remember it, I still can now, hehe! You can find it here. If that doesn’t work, then download it here.

SPEAKING

Know your question words! (x)

For the roleplay and photocard, my teacher printed off me a load of practice cards in bulk and annotated two or three every day, using the planning techniques mentioned below.

Roleplay - 2 minutes; can be any theme.

When planning, try to avoid writing out answers, but just keywords and gaps for you to fill in with pronouns or articles etc.

Keep it brief, one sentence per bullet point, but cover each part of each bullet point.

Photo card - 3 minutes (aim to speak for at least 2).

Plan with a small spider-diagram of nouns, opinions, anecdotes etc. for each known question.

Use one or two prepped anecdotes for the prepared questions - e.g. where you went last year, who with, what you did.

For the unknown questions, keep it short and sweet and fill up any time with opinions and reasoning.

General conversation - 5-7 minutes.

Lie and make up stories! Be creative and use the words and structures you know.

I was a little extra and I prepared every theme as flashcards. You can’t get away with only revising your chosen theme!

I made flashcards that could cover several types of questions: I had bullet points of topics and keywords on one side and a sample paragraph on the other.

Pretty sure I made about 80 flashcards oops.

I also went through the mark scheme and see which areas I could secure marks in and which areas I needed to improve.

VOCAB

Learning vocab is SO important!

I started by making spreadsheets of jumbled word lists from the specification and doing a colour-coded match up.

You can access a pdf of all of the vocab grids here. There might be the odd word missing due to copy-pasting errors, but if so, don’t stress, just look it up in a dictionary and note it down - sorry in advance!!!

Then with the vocab that I had to look up in a dictionary, I added to a Quizlet and wrestled it into my noggin.

You can find the Quizlet here.

Remember that:

sauf - except

puisque - since

presque - almost

GRAMMAR

To me, learning tenses was like learning formulae for maths. So find a way to learn rules like that, if it’s easier for you.

e.g. Conditional Tense = subject + (future/conditional stem + imperfect ending)*

*note that future stems are the same as conditional stems.

Know your DRMRSPVANDERTRAMP verbs, and their past participles. These verbs go with ÊTRE and always agree with the subject.

Know your auxiliary and irregular verbs.

MUST KNOW: avoir, être, aller, faire, vouloir

HELPFUL: devoir, pouvoir, vivre, boire, voir, dire, savoir

OTHERS: mettre, prendre, venir, écrire, lire, recevoir

I learnt these by making flashcards, and then brain dumping them on paper over and over again until they stuck - my teacher thought I was insane, madly scribbling away.

Memorise some key structures that can be used in writing and speaking.

If you want 7+ structures, find them here.

MISC TIPS

Always write notes about improvements and errors in practice papers and mocks.

Find a native french internet friend.

In my opinion, music, movies and TV shows aren’t great for revision. However, if you begin to understand them, they are a great confidence boost.

I highly recommend the Skam France series, which you can find with and without les sous-titres (subtitles) here.

And here’s my french music playlist on Spotify.

MORE ASSISTANCE

I’m happy to offer my assistance to anybody who needs it, pop me a dm or an ask if you think others will find it useful too.

Here’s some ways I could help:

Finding some resources about a certain topic (videos, worksheets, mindmaps) - I have them all backed up hehe

Sending you some of my past answers

Sending you pdf of my general conversation/irregular verb table flashcards

Marking practice answers

Talking to you in french

Etc. etc.

Thank you for reading! Please reblog to help any others that might find this useful. If any of the links are faulty, please pop me a dm, and I’ll get them sorted asap!! 🥐

-Wil x

#french #gcse #langblr #studyblr #study #gcses #french language #lovelybluepanda #wilstudies #studies #etudier #francais #emmastudies #a level #b2 #b1 #cefr #masterpost #masterlist #advice #a2

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doomedandstoned · 4 years

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Wasteland Coven Summon Doom From the Rust Belt

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

You're about to meet a true blue, dyed in the wool doom band from Ohio, which I discovered just a few weeks ago. This is WASTELAND COVEN, aptly named considering the industrial devastation that has visited the midwest, accentuated now even more in a time of pandemic. 'Ruined' (2020) is their debut EP and it features a singer, Susan Mitchel, that I would rank with Susie MacMullen of Brume and Dorthia Cottrell of Windhand. Sometimes vocalists try to pull off that coveted, full-bodied range, but end up sounding thin and wobbly. Not here.

Performing double duty on bass, Susan is joined in this Toledo crew by guitarists Bill Anderson and Brandon Collins, along with drummer Jason Wilcox. This is meat and potatoes doom, too, each of the three tracks on Ruined bearing the formative influences of Candlemass and Saint Vitus (the vocal cadence and guitar solos of "The Great Colossus"), Trouble and My Dying Bride (the mysterious and dramatic "Endless Night"), and the aforementioned Windhand (the riff laden intro to "Midsummer Days").

This mix of beauty and beast works well for Wasteland Coven. Susan's vocals take wings with sad urgency, rising above the dense, darkly downtuned procession of smoke and fire. Bittersweet leads break through the haze here and again, too, if for no other reason than to accent the gravity of the moment.

I've listened to the EP multiple times in a row and it is substantial enough to keep my appetite for doom satiated, without overstaying its welcome with an overly-familiar taste. Look for its release on Friday, April 17th (pre-order CD here), and listen to the record whole right here, right now via Doomed & Stoned!

Give ear...

Ruined by Wasteland Coven

A Chat with Wasteland Coven Guitarist Brandon Collins

Take us back to the band's origins. How did it all begin for you guys?

Things got started in late 2018, when our drummer Jason posted on Facebook asking if anybody wanted to play something dark and heavy. He was already playing in a punk band (The Old Breed) and a noise rock band (Sog City) so he was really looking to start more of a Manilla Road inspired band - he's a big Manilla Road fan. Sue (bass and vocals) and I (guitar) were both interested in Jason's pitch but style shifted a little bit as we all got together. By the first time we met up, he said to aim for Candlemass meets My Dying Bride (which I declared sorcery) and from there we drifted into the doom menagerie that we're at now.

Jason quickly roped in another guitar player, but after a month or two he lost interest, so we spent some time looking for another. During that search period we sketched out our first songs and booked some studio time for later in the year - we were going to record what we had regardless of who we had. Eventually Sue reached out to Bill who solidified the lineup midway through 2019 and we were officially a band. We practiced, finished up the songs as a four piece, and went to Lakebottom Recording House in September 2019.

How about a walk-through of the songs on 'Ruined' (2020)?

Midsummer Days

I think we all agree that this is the best song on here. It was going to be a shorter and simpler song originally, but it really kind of blossomed with all of us adding new bits to it. Lyrics mainly involve the imagery and feelings of a dying world. Really it's a sad, poetic veil over the changing of seasons, summer to fall to winter - seeing everything in nature fade and decay as seasonal depression kicks in. Admittedly, "Midsummer Days" isn't really a doomy title, but when you realize that they're dead. That'll teach you to judge too quickly! Kinda had to push Sue a bit to do the "trailing off into the void" vocals right at the end. She was reluctant, but I'm really glad she did them. It really adds some resonating loneliness.

Great Colossus

So originally, I came up with the riffs for this, played them for Jason, and when he added drums, his style immediately put Sue in mind of robots -- giant robots. And that drove us to make this our weirdest song lyrically, about falling in love with a giant robot with sexual overtones. Sue and I went back and forth on the lyrics for this one a lot, tweaking it to put just the right sultry spin on something cold and mechanical. This song sort of prompted the cover art. Around the time we were recording songs Sue was at an art show and saw the piece. Made her think of the song and said we needed it on our EP!

Endless Night

This was our first song, so I like to say it has first song syndrome -- not quite as strong as the others and maybe sticks out a little more 'cause you're trying to find your direction. But the main riff and the solos are still fun, so why not? Since it was going to be the first song for our doom band, the lyrics hit on a pretty typical doom metal topic: death. But I suppose the twist is that it's more about setting aside your fears and finding peace in your demise -- even as the music kind of betrays that peace and hints at the dread and dark thoughts behind it all. Solos here were fun to do. I take the first half of the solo section and Bill takes the second half, so we each get a chance to go our own direction just meeting for a moment to hand it off in the middle.

What was the recording process like for the band?

The bulk of it was done over the course of two weekends, September 27-29 and October 4-6 in 2019 (with a bit of touch up and review a few times afterwards). We went to Lakebottom Recording House in Toledo owned and operated by J.C. Griffin. Jason had recorded with J.C. many times before and refused to go anywhere else. But for the rest of us, it was our first time there and it was fantastic.

It's hard to imagine how it would have worked out with anyone else. J.C. is super encouraging and immediately invested in making sure you're getting a great sound - he's gives great direction for process, equipment, and performance. Really great weekends overall hanging out and playing music the whole time. The hardest part might have actually been the work week in between those two weekends -- coming down from all the joys and excitement with days full of music made "regular" life such a dull slog where we were just desperate to go back and do it again. Easily the most fun and best experience I've had recording.

In retrospect, maybe it was a bit weird that we were all so happy and having such a great time producing this melancholy music, but I don't think we put any thought into it at the time. Susan was extremely nervous and self-conscious when it came time to do her vocals, but with enough liquid courage she nailed it.

It looks like you had the album cover commissioned?

Artwork was done by Jackie McKown who lives here in Toledo. Sue saw the piece at an art show where Jackie was showing her stuff. These giant robot creatures wrecking shit was pretty in line with the initial themes of Great Colossus - it was lacking the sex/love angle, but it still fit just fine with the kind of destructive war-machines that could inspire love. Sue was very taken with it right away, so we went with it.

There's also presumably death and longing for better times involved in that kind of city-wide rampage, so you can tie into the other tracks as well. We sort of let that guide us, having the artwork inspire the title "Ruined." We had a city being ruined on the cover and we could find some form of ruination in each song. Then when it came time to lay everything out, we decided to ruin things a little more, adding wrinkles and dirt marks and imperfections.

This last question is just for the gearheads! Tell us what you're sporting these days?

Brandon: Epiphone Les Paul Studio guitar with an Orange Crush CR120C amp (frequently used to accidentally drown out everyone else), and for pedals: Big Muff Pi (with Tone Wicker), MXR EVH Phase 90, Cry Baby Wah.

Sue: Ibanez BTB 5 String Quilt Top bass, DR Dragon Skin strings (allergic to nickel), with a Fender Rumble 500 Combo amp and Big Muff Pi pedal.

Bill: ESP LTD Viper-256 w/Gibson 498T bridge guitar, ESP LTD EC-100 w/EMG 81/85. Amps include Peavey Valveking 2x12, Carvin X100-B 100 watt head*, and Carvin 4x12 Cab (used as needed). Pedal of choice: Digitech GNX4 Multi-Effects.

Jason: Tama Rockstar Drums.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

#D&S Debuts #Wasteland Coven #Toledo #Ohio #Doom #Metal #D&S Reviews #HeavyBest2020 #Doomed & Stoned

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thestudyfeels · 5 years

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Why Celebrities Are Worth More Than You

Before I dive (copy that? Because this post is gonna be so deep? Edit: I’ll take Jesus and one litre of bleach, thank you) into this storm of revelations, ANNOUNCEMENT!!! This is the first post in a series where I go all in on a particular topic and dig up hidden nuggets of wisdom from it. In other words, I rant. Hard.

Why am I blessing you with this goodness?

This entire series boils down to improving your mindset. You’ve probably heard the legend that in the Solomon Islands, villagers practiced an, ahem, unique form of logging. If a tree was too large to be felled with an ax, the natives withered down the tree by cursing it for weeks. That’s the idea behind this series: repetition. The PRIMARY reason why I win a lot, is because I am a perennial liar and I won't take a no for my dreams. If I want to have ‘x’ trait, I’ll lie and say I have ‘x’ trait till I do have ‘x’ trait.

This is also known as the Reality Distortion Field, popularised by Steve Jobs. “Steve Jobs’s “reality distortion field” was a personal refusal to accept limitations and to convince himself that any difficulty was surmountable. This “field” was so strong that he was able to convince others that they, too, could achieve the impossible. It was an internal reality so powerful it also became an external reality.” (x)

The catch? The distortion field, and mindset in general, works MAJORLY through repetition. So I don't care if you think you’re the biggest, saddest wanker around, I’m going to drum into your ears that you’re a star and trust me, by the end of this series, every constellation out there will be pining for you.

So tea, I’M ON FIRE TODAY, so if you have a coffee (tea?) to drink, some time to invest on yourself, and a sturdy ol’ cerebrum to upgrade, then join in and watch out for this series (Letters From Solomon Islands, WHATTUP) on your dashboards. My people already know that the how-to’s are clickbait anyway (Coughs, chokes on the shade.)

Why We Adore Our Celebs

The other day I was stalking Tom Hiddleston in my bathroom (please don't use your imagination) and exactly one day ago I had been stalking Billie Eilish in there (yes nosy Eric, I'm bi, but again, don’t get carried away) and there was an interview talking about her rise to fame, and THAT, fellow denizens, got me wondering: Why do we have celebrities? (A profound question Nandini, you’ve done us proud.)

Before you spit something political like “capitalism!”, put down that crochet pattern for a sec. Close your eyes (welcome to woke therapy, ayo), and I want you to envision one of your role models- the people you look up to and would DIE if you get a chance to meet them. The icons you stalk excessively on Insta and have all the notifs on for. No, Sally, your crush on Zac Efron’s abs doesn't count. Sorry to crush your hopes.

Second, consider WHY you love this person so much. It could be anyone - an actor, influencer *smirks*, singer, that hot man down the street who helped you pick up your groceries that one time because you’re clumsy- yup, anyone. Now, trap that love here, in these pages, as you read. (Oh Sally, here’s toilet paper and a cookie, stop sniffling.)

Here’s some foreshadowing: In a nutshell, ‘celebrities’ exist because the rest of us are— excuse us, politically incorrect statement coming through— losers. Or better put, because we can't become ‘celebrities’ ourselves. Don’t run in with your frying pan just yet, James, I’ll do a thorough deconstruction. Stay put and listen up:

Look around and you’ll find that most of the citizenry is living a life for others. Whether subconsciously, or consciously, it’s as if we’re pre-programmed to imitate and copy whatever the herd is up to. “Yo, whatcha up to, Nate, you out partying? I’ll see you in ten then.” “Lol, are you living under a rock? Do you seriously not know what Uggs are?” “I mean… yeah, I hate Justin Bieber too, of course I do.”

And that's not our fault, really. Society briefs us on the ground rules of fitting in pretty early on: get good grades, go to college, try to find a nice paying job– and we do it, like unquestioning muppets helpless in its domineering hands.

Because we all know the ramifications that’ll crop up if we don’t. If anyone even dares to be a bit different, they’re freezed out and ridiculed. They’re slapped with labels such as “insane”, “naive”, “misfit”, or the best one yet - “selfish”. Selfish for living true to themselves. Selfish for hustling hard and making THEIR dreams a reality. Selfish for having the courage to put their own desires before society’s. What. A. Big. Yawn. I’m sleeping on y’all.

And that’s precisely where celebs beat us to the finish line.

Look, these ‘acclaimed’ personalities bubble up because most are afraid to be the most bona fide and best version of themselves. It’s much easier to plop on the couch, switch on the TV, and say, “Man, I could do that any day. And prob better too,” while trying to pick up the remote control with your two toes because you’re too comfy to get up right now.

Your role models, idols, and mentors – the entire bulk of these people have a willpower and fortitude that you could only dream of. They’ve hunted down their fears and faced numerous challenges to follow their dreams. They’ve chosen to remain true to their authentic selves even under constant judgment. Sure, they were all called eccentrics and crazy at one point or another, but— ok no, (edit: wow, I had a mood swing here, lmao) they ARE eccentrics. They ARE crazy. Wild for wanting to change the world. Mad for inspiring millions of people. They’re lunatics who had the audacity to dream big, shed the shells of doubt and insecurity, and dared to live their best life.

Moral of the story is: Celebrities, pop stars, and internet personalities aren’t just people who got lucky and wealthy. They had a special kind of fearlessness and self-awareness to get here, qualities worth examining for yourself.

So here’s your mental workout for this post —

Go and ruminate deeply about what makes you love the people you admire. What do they have or do that you want as well? Is it their spontaneity? Their courage and faith? Or is it their kindness and humanity? Or perhaps most importantly, their passion? Have you fallen in love with their excitement to go to work or does your heart melt at the gratitude they show others?

Find out what it is that makes your eyes sparkle and the corners of your lips turn up when you look at them. It is easier to find what you’d love to do from what others are doing than brainstorm on an empty page. *Sally looks up from the corner* “And then what?” *Me, smiles, sensing the crazy philo rant coming ahead* “And then, Sally dear, you live.”

The next step is a big one. You do what THEY did. If they’re passionate, YOU learn to become devoted to your dreams as well. If they don’t give up, you NEVER STRAY either.

You see, we have it in all of us to become great. And we can start wherever we are. Jen Sincero, an author and coach, put it well: “It’s not your fault you’re fucked up, BUT it is your fault if you stay fucked up.” So start where you are. Start NOW. Follow the advice Will gave to Louisa in his departing letter in Me Before You (I’m a soppy romcom fanatic) – “There is a hunger in you, Clark. A fearlessness. You just buried it, like most people do… so live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Just live well. Just LIVE.”

Love, the world isn’t as scary as we’ve all grown up to think it is. Passion, kindness, faith and magic breathes among us. You’re not a loser, darling, scribble over that insult so it says “lover”, and heal, knowing that the world awfully, I give you my word of honor (still an 18th century woman, y’all), wants you to win.

And I? I’ll be right here waiting for the day when there’ll be no such demarcation of people as “winners” or “suckers”; just conquerors with big hearts and unbreakable faith, all ready to make that small life count.

Go win.

The End Card That Rambles On And Plugs Even More

🌚🌝 Further reading? 🌝🌚

Last post: 13 Lessons from the 2018 Chapter

if you don’t love yourself, read this. please.

+ Want to request a post? Leave your request in my ask box & I’ll get back to you asap!

Thanks for dropping by! It was a pleasure having you around. If you wish to stick for a bit, I’d suggest picking one of the related posts mentioned above.

I post new posts bi-weekly, and my wins, & journal entries throughout the week, so follow me if you’re into conquering life, leaving a legacy and being the baddest badass you can possibly be. I’ll be your side pal, cheering you along.✨

And that was it, it’s a wrap! Martha, shut the cams, Henry, pause the audio, and Nandita, I know you’re pretending to be deaf, but Mom’s yelling something about doing the dishes. Better skip along.

And you, fellow conqueror? Keep slaying life, doing the work and making it count. I hope you’re well, stay strong and go conquer life. ✧

I’m sending you so much love, see you soon.

— Nandini 💌 (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

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supersecure-blog · 5 years

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Week 7 Case Study - Pre-readings

This week’s case study concerns privacy - specifically should the government be allowed to collect data for individuals to be used in the interest of public safety?

I’ve compiled some notes on the sources we were given:

2019 - Facial Recognition to Replace Opal Cards

Facial recognition could be used to replace opal cards

Digital rights groups say it would pose a risk to privacy

Transport minister said facial recognition would provide convenience for commuters -> envisioned something similar to Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology. "All about making the journey easier and faster for people"

Opposition have major concerns about technology being rolled out -> data collected would be of large commercial value to owner. "NSW taxpayer shouldn't be used by their government to make money, and government shouldn't be trusted with this technology

Tim Norton - "worrying to see such flippancy from the gov about potential rollout of technology like this across public services like transport -> these decisions shouldn't be taken lightly, and require extensive public consultation to ensure citizen's rights aren't impacted"

People must have trust that governments are taking appropriate action to protect the privacy that people expect when in public

Justin Warren, board member of Electronic Frontiers Australia - how would an opt-out system be used if everyone is scanned. "needs to be public debate about plans to roll out this technology, need to stop taking the framing from government that this is something that needs to happen -> ask why?"

2019 - Australian Views on Surveillance

“Australians tend to accept government surveillance, particularly if they think it necessary or trust the government"

If surveillance continues to increase -> general public opinion might reach a turning point and start adopting measures to 'hide' themselves

Government surveillance justified as necessary to protect us from criminal or terrorist attacks

Intelligence agencies, federal and state police can request access to telephone and internet records. This can reveal info about location, recent contacts

Proposed legislation would allow the government to share photos and other identifying info between government agencies, and private organisations for law enforcement, road safety, national security purposes

Recently passed "Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 - allows gov agencies greater access to encrypted messages like from WhatsApp

Study with 100 Aus residents about their views on gov surveillance

52% said they accept gov surveillance

Average response was 3.1 (acceptance for surveillance)

Two main factors that influenced acceptance:

Is surveillance needed

Most influential factor

Practical implications as lawmakers capitalise on people's responses to events to justify new legislation

For example - "The need for the powers in this bill has become more urgent in the light of the recent fatal terrorist attack in Melbourne and the subsequent disruption of alleged planning for a mass casualty attack by three individuals last month – also, sadly, in Melbourne. Individuals in both of these cases are known to have used encrypted communications."

Do I trust the gov?

Overall trust in the gov also determined their acceptance -> trust in the Aus gov is generally quite low

Might be more influenced by general view of gov rather than their views of specific policies and practices

Large amount of people opting out of the My Health Record

No link between people's level of trust in the way the gov manages data and their acceptance of surveillance

AI can analyse CCTV footage without human input -> when face recognition is used to identify suspects, there is the risk of matching people with similar, close matching profiles. Results in a high error rate, posing risks for innocent people.

Threat of repurposing - when info is collected for one purpose and used for another

Concerns that insurance companies could access and use info from the My Health Record

2018 - Facial Recognition Used by Aus Authorities

NSW police and crime agencies preparing to use new facial recognition system to match pictures of people on CCTV with their driver's license photo to detect criminals and identity theft

Federal and state gov has access to data and photos from passports, driver licences, visas for facial recognition system

People do not have the option to opt out of their details being included from the facial recognition system

NSW gov has allocated $52.6 million over 4 years to support this tool

Two parts:

Face Verification service: 1-1 image-based match of a person's photo against a government record such as a passport - already operational

Face Identification Service - one-to-many, image match of an unknown person such as a criminal against multiple government records to help establish their identity. Access to the FIS will be limited and expected to come online this year

Monash Uni Professor said the system breaches privacy rights by allowing collection, storage and sharing of personal details from innocent people

Gov spokesperson said laws allow these services to be used for "identity and community protection activities"

Research indicates that ethnic minorities and women are misidentified at higher rates than the rest of the population

Significant concerns about the reliability or otherwise of its algorithms and biases that can be inherent

"There are no proper definitions of how the data will be used under the current bill"

Law enforcement authorities habitually push for greater access to private data and info to help them do their job

Government has to balance safety and welfare of citizens, and the limitation on people's civil liberties, and the threat to life in the case of terrorist attack

2017 - Benefits of Surveillance

Issue of mass surveillance

Amount of data collected - bulk collection only way to handle volumes of data

What data is collected - some places don't have clear distinctions of what data is to be collected

How data is collected

Key points of intelligence officials' statements on the effectiveness of surveillance technology are that:

Difficult if not impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of surveillance programs

Because data is aggregated with other data to form a larger picture, it becomes hard to evaluate the effectiveness of surveillance tech

Purpose of intelligence is to inform policy makers and to improve their decision making, but it is hard to measure this impact

Seven measures of effectiveness drawn:

Thwarted attacks

Lives saved

Criminal organisations destroyed

Output

Context

Support

Informed policy-making

However: counting successful cases seems to have merit with officials as a measure of effectiveness of surveillance technology employed for tactical intelligence purposes, but not for strategic intelligence

2015 Australian Metadata Retention Laws

Following information need to be retained be telcom service providers:

Incoming and outgoing telephone caller ID

Date, time and duration of a phone call

Location of the device from where phone call was made

Unique ID assigned to a particular mobile phone of the phones involved in each particular phone call

Email address from which an email is sent

Time, date, recipients of emails

Size of any attachment set with emails and their file formats

Account details held by the ISP such as whether the account is active or suspended

"The content or substance of a communication is not considered to be metadata and will not be stored"

ASIO, police, Crime Commission, ATO, ICAC are able to view stored metadata without a warrant except for journalists (need to seek a warrant)

Act was supported by law enforcement and security agencies including federal police and ASIO - argued telcom data is critical to criminal investigations, need to be made accessible through legislation

Act questioned for its effectiveness as a tool to combat crime, increasing encroachment of privacy in Aus, consequences for journalism and journalistic practice

2013 - Opinion: Why We Need Government Surveillance

Edward Snowden - leaked classified intelligence

Willing to give up on his job, family, home, relationships to stop the U.S government from destroying privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties with their surveillance

New revelations about gov surveillance programs -> why are same policies being used across presidents?

Government overreach

21st century war is different - requires new ways of gathering info

Move towards 'home-grown' terror will require collection of U.S citizen's conversations with potential overseas people of interest

Constant armed struggle against terrorist threats has adjusted beliefs on what citizen's expect government to do in order to protect society

Need for enhanced intelligence activities is necessary, but abuse can occur easily

After compiling these notes I’ve also drafted some points to answer the discussion from both perspectives, which summarise the main points raised in the articles above.

Government agencies should collect and have access to your data for good purposes:

Necessary to sacrifice privacy for the greater good - if you're not a criminal then in an ideal system you shouldn't have to worry about being falsely accused

Protect against terrorist/criminal attacks - lives saved

Identify suspects/unknowns in the database before they are able to execute an attack -> prevention, attacks thwarted

Can be used in biometric technology like facial recognition which has applications for public transport -> replace physical cards, and provides convenience for commuters

Data can be used to help inform policy makers, and better increase the quality of their decision making

Shift towards 'cyber warfare' context has caused a shift in people's expectations for what role the government should play in protecting the welfare of all citizens ->collected intelligence might be necessary to thwart terrorist attacks

Government agencies should not collect and have access to your personal data:

For use in public transport, etc:

Does the benefit of convenience really outweigh the cost of lack of privacy, and risk of having data being stolen from the government?

For use in the interest of public safety:

Are terrorist attacks so rampant that they warrant action of this scale?

Can we put complete faith into this technology to make life-implicating decisions for individuals?

Studies have shown that minority groups and women are more likely to be mismatched -> higher rates of error

Can policy catch up to the technology -> currently there are no definitions in bills/acts which distinctly determine what data is allowed to be stored and collected -> grey area

Significant concerns about the reliability or otherwise of its algorithms and biases that can be inherent

Risk of matching people with similar, close matching profiles. Results in a high error rate, posing risks for innocent people.

Threat of repurposing - when info is collected for one purpose and used for another

How is data collected and stored? Is it ethical? Are there any risks of data being leaked or the risk of an insider attack?

Overall increase in surveillance activities -> might lead public opinion to distrust the government, and ask why is it necessary to be monitored so heavily -> where are our human liberties to privacy?

Public opinion of NSW already as the "nanny state" -> could be the tipping point for complete rejection of government

#week 7 #case study #pre-readings

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hypeathon · 5 years

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A Belated, Nuanced Response to the Rooster Teeth Animation Glassdoor Controversy

2019 has been an especially problematic year to be a fan of animated content from Rooster Teeth.

By now, any of you reading this might already know what happened. But for those that don’t know the gist of it, since late March of 2019, Rooster Teeth consecutively received rather scathing reviews from anonymous employees via the job recruitment website, Glassdoor.

As of the time of this post, there have been 15 negative reviews listed that can mostly be seen with a Glassdoor account. Although they did gain a bit of attention from certain people that attempted to exploit this to any Rooster Teeth Animation fans at one point or another, it was not until RWBY Conversations on Tumblr made a blog post on June 15th with a compilation of screenshots of each review and addressed the matter quite aggressively. That same day, the post made its way to all the major social media platforms and emotions spiked incredibly high.

There have been numerous opinion pieces in the form of tweets, blogs, reddit posts and videos, the last of which has been made by people who otherwise don’t know anything about Rooster Teeth. Lots of other people have been outspoken about the matter, but what do I think of it? First off, as a clarification, I was... somewhat aware of this reputation Rooster Teeth had recently been receiving a couple of weeks prior to when things blew up. I say “somewhat” because I stumbled into this from someone (who shall remain nameless) who has been quite known for being committed to paiting anything related to RT Animation in a negative light. I took the matter with a grain of salt not because I thought the reviews I saw were false (more on that later) but rather because not having an actual Glassdoor account, I only saw a small fraction of the reviews made available so I admittedly underestimated the magnitude of the situation.

With that out of the way, to sum up my thoughts on the controversy, it’s definitely concerning. Coming from someone that has spent a good year highlighting and analyzing the skills of individual animators from RWBY and the show’s production into volume 6, the scale of the backlash from former and current RT Animation employees has been a bitter pill to swallow. It’s alarming knowing that things have gotten bad enough to warrant the responses seen on Rooster Teeth’s Glassdoor page as both a stern advisory to higher management and a warning to anyone who has considered working there. However, as alarming as this all has been, what I’m not going to do at this point and what I’ve been mostly careful about avoiding is emitting a knee-jerk, heightened emotional reaction.

As stated in the beginning of this post, 2019 has been pretty rough for fans of RT Animation. This is far from the first controversy of the year to come by and invoke extreme and conflicting feelings regarding this one company name and what tends to follow are very loud, irrational and even some bad faith discussions. It doesn’t matter if it’s about the company’s animation department or about blacklisting a voice actor or what an employee advises about watching something you don’t like, the responses have been consistently reactive with extreme opinions and with little thought for nuanced or educated conversations. This matter with RT Animation has been no exception in that regard, though to be fair, it’s not without good reason. I may have my interests towards RT Animation and content both in front of and behind the scenes, but I do also value seeking information and learning. And going forward, the latter is very relevant in order to get as much of a full picture of this controversy.

Now, having said that, this is something to be genuinely concerned about and is thus a rather difficult and touchy subject to talk about. I want to make it clear that everything I’m about to say from here-on is not meant to discredit what former and current employees have said nor is it to sugarcoat Rooster Teeth’s tendencies. I may ultimately be giving Rooster Teeth some benefit of the doubt, but I’m not going to obscure the things they have done that have led to things being the way they are. At the same time, I’m not going to viciously crucify them over this either. I won’t judge or blame anyone that has or will continue to resort to harsh measures to call out Rooster Teeth on their practices regarding crunch and production management. I’m just choosing personally to throw my two cents in a less harsh manner since what I plan to cover in this blog post will require avoiding that. The goal is to share and dissect some things using whatever information I can collect and contextualize which would hopefully provide a better understanding about how things got to the way they have and what Rooster Teeth is supposedly attempting to do about it.

Getting to the Bottom of The Situation

There’s a lot to unpack so let’s first start by breaking down the reviews themselves. As mentioned earlier, between the months of March and June of 2019, there have been at least 15 critical reviews from a combination of current and former employees regarding their experiences at Rooster Teeth animation. They each may vary a bit in tone and wording, but just about all of them share the same set of complaints that can be summed up as follows:

More often than not unpaid overtime work hours

Poor planning of scheduling and budgeting from managers in higher-up positions

General pay that’s too low to compensate for the unpaid overtime

Unfulfilled promises to contract employees of being given full-time employment after their time was up

Inexperienced directors/producers/managers

This is the bulk of the criticisms and to breakdown the pattern of reviews further:

5 of them were from former employees while 10 of them were from current ones.

4 of them were from animators (2 specified 3-D animators), 2 were from compositors and the rest did not specify.

2 claimed to have worked at RT Animation for less than a year, 7 claimed to have worked for over 1 year, 2 claimed to have worked for over 3 years, 1 claimed to have worked for over 5 years and the rest did not specify.

Now some fans who have spoken about the reviews questioned the legitimacy of them. This is an understandable reaction but given the broken down information between the set of reviews, there’s evidence to suggest that they are very true. Most of who claim that they are true would immediately point to a handful of tweets from the creator of the 2-D animated series, Nomad of Nowhere, Georden Whitman who left RT Animation in 2018. His claims have much validity to them, but he’s not the only former employee who has brought up the matter directly or indirectly. Without getting too specific or naming names, one person who had been credited on RWBY & Red vs Blue from 2016-2018 indicated that the management and scheduling of productions was the reason said-person left. Another instance was one whose position was in the post-production stage of a few projects who had left RT Animation in early March of this year after having been credited in a few projects since latter 2017. This actually matches the description of one of the former employees who left a review in late March, who had been working at RT Animation for over a year. Even the description of one of the current employees who claimed to have been working for over 5 years is especially specific, as that would’ve been at least since at least 2014. Back then, the staff count on productions like RWBY volume 2 and Red vs Blue season 12 was much smaller and Rooster Teeth’s animation department was not officially founded until later that same year.

So it’s not really a matter of whether the reviews themselves have any truth to them or not. Instead, a better question to ask and focus on is why did this happen? How did things get so problematic that it led to harsh responses one after another on just one job recruitment site alone? One thing I’ve seen fans and critics of RWBY suggest after this controversy broke out was to have volume 7 be delayed, with some going as far as launching a signature campaign to plead Rooster Teeth to delay the volume as if volume 6′s production was the main culprit behind the backlash. Putting aside the very questionable success rate of online signatures, while delaying the next installment of one of their shows is not ultimately a bad idea, it’s overlooking a couple of important details. The big one is the timing of these reviews which again, have been consecutively posted on Rooster Teeth’s Glassdoor page since late March of 2019. On the 9th of that same month, the season finale of Gen:Lock premiered which actually was the same date as when the former employee who worked in post-production left the company. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Gen:Lock’s production was what ultimately led to the backlash when you take into account director and writer of the show, Gray Haddock, posted a journal entry on June 2018 where he elaborated on the arrangement of staff between that show and RWBY volume 6′s production.

“Some of you have had questions about how production of gL impacts RWBY or vice-versa, and the answer is that these are largely parallel productions with separate crews.”

Earlier in January of 2018 on the season 1 finale episode of RWBY Rewind, Gray confirmed that Gen:Lock was “in the throws of pre-production”, where Gray was finishing a couple of the scripts left characters and mechs were being designed. A month prior, Gray posted a journal entry, stating that storyboards started on the first week of December. Though when he said the characters and mechs were being “designed”, it’s unclear whether that meant they were already designed and were in the midst of being modeled or not. But given how Gray also said animation would start “pretty soon” at the time, it might’ve been the latter, maybe?

It was never made clear when the animation phase started for Gen:Lock between the months of January and June of 2018. Regardless, the fact that both productions were for several months happening at the same time was what bit Gray in the butt. Now on the one hand, he’s not entirely wrong about the crews between productions being separate. As far as higher positions like directors, supervisors, leads, and assistant leads were concerned, certain teams like animation, lighting, and modeling between Gen:Lock and RWBY volume 6 did have separate names leading the helms. However, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details and upon closer inspection, not all teams for both shows’ respective productions had separate leads such as camera layout, crowds & tech. Not only that, but the lower positions of each team had a lot of names overlap. And these credits were just from the first episodes of RWBY volume 6 and Gen:Lock. This is not counting how certain names like Paula Decanini who was co-lead animator throughout RWBY volume 6 wound up being co-lead animator for Gen:Lock by episode 7. Also, something to keep in mind is that a one or two reviews mentioned how some employees were under contract for roughly 90 days, equating to 3 months. It’s possible that Gen:Lock needed the extra hands by earlier January as maybe a sign that maybe deadlines during the production were not being met accordingly.

Now none of this is to say that RWBY had no potential issues of it’s own. One review from a 3-D animator mentioned about doing a “10-14 minute episode in 2 weeks” (whether that’s through the entire production or during later episodes is unclear) as an example of higher management having insanely high expectations, which likely referred to RWBY. It doesn’t help that for volume 6, the Lost Fable episode marked both the longest and one of the most difficult episodes to make, so it is not exempt from this. However, Gen:Lock’s episodes were longer, spanning between 20-30 minutes on average which meant that on the day of an episode’s premiere, every stage and aspect of that half-hour long episode had to be finished with each episode premiering back-to-back without a break. While RWBY’s episodes can vary more wildly in length, they are on average under 20 minutes. Also, not every episode of RWBY has a fight sequence whereas every episode of Gen:Lock had at least one either in the form of actual battles or sparring matches between mechs, humans or aircraft. That’s noteworthy due to how, at least in RWBY, a fight sequence can span between 4-6 weeks while a dialogue sequence can take roughly 2 weeks to do. Assuming a similar time frame applies to the same kinds of sequences in Gen:Lock, that, combined with each episode’s run time and the amount of animators, compositors, lighting artists, modelers, layout artists and crowd artists having to go back and forth between RWBY volume 6 & Gen:Lock, especially when the latter premiered right when the former finished, that would have likely led to the absurd crunch periods we’ve been hearing about.

Speaking of crowd artists, that’s another matter to consider. RWBY and Gen:Lock may both be 3-D animated projects, but the latter is arguably more demanding of its presentation due to its story’s hard sci-fi setting. This can apply to the show having a set of assigned User Interface or “UI” compositors for the many holographic images and text displayed throughout the show, which is unique to Gen:Lock, as well as models of background characters and their animations. In an interview from the website Inverse on October 9th, 2018, Miles Luna, the voice of Migas in Gen:Lock and co-writer of RWBY said the following:

“It’s one thing to make a fantasy world because you can’t compare it to real life,” says Miles Luna. “But a cartoon version of something that exists? All eyes are going to be on what’s correct. One of those things is crowds.” Without getting deep into the specifics, Luna says Rooster Teeth has made leaps in efficiently creating crowd scenes, not to mention making them look alive. “We did a whole bunch of R&D on crowd research for gen:LOCK that we’re now able to use retroactively for RWBY Volume 6,” he explains.

It was never specified ever since what supposed leaps were made in creating crowd scenes, but there is a clue. Back in RTX Austin of 2018 in August, it was confirmed from both the compositing and tech panels that RWBY volume 6 would be utilizing a new software for Crowd simulations called Houdini from Side FX. This is different from how for volume 5, the Autodesk Maya plug-in, Golaem was used and before that, crowds were done more manually. This is backed by lead crowds artist, Jacob Hilton on episode 1 of CRWBY: Behind the Episode season 2. It’s a likelihood that Houdini was similarly used for Gen:Lock and this is not the first time a software was used for one production before being used for another one. Though given the scale of background characters for crowds that have to sit, talk, walk, run and whatever other kinds of gestures in various shots, it may have possibly served as a challenge to handle, even with a more efficient software. It doesn’t help either that a majority of the main cast are seen wearing 2-3 different outfits which require extra models to be built and rigged.

I want to stress that all of backlash is not due to Gen:Lock exclusively, as much of this applies to other animated shows like RWBY. But it does seem to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for some and it’s production and scheduling might’ve been part of a broader problem. In 2018, there was a certain strategy to scheduling various Rooster Teeth animated shows, be it 2-D or 3-D ones. Let’s look at the following:

RWBY Vol 5 - October 14, 2017 - January 20, 2018

RWBY Chibi 3 - January 27, 2018 - March 17, 2018

Nomad of Nowhere - March 16, 2018 - April 20, 2018

Red vs Blue S16 - April 15, 2018 - July 23, 2018

Camp Camp S3 - May 25, 2018 - August 10, 2018

RWBY Chibi S3 (Cont’d) - June 30, 2018 - August 17, 2018

Nomad of Nowhere (Cont’d) - August 17, 2018 - September 20, 2018

RWBY Vol 6 - October 27, 2018 - January 29, 2019

Gen:Lock - January 29, 2019 - March 9, 2019

Red vs Blue S17 - March 9, 2019 - May 25, 2019

Camp Camp S4 - June 1, 2019 - September 28, 2019 (Presumably)

Although there are a few small gaps and a one or two overlaps, a season/volume of each show have come and gone right after one another. And that was just from 2018 to 2019 as of the time of this post. Scheduling content like this was not always case for Rooster Teeth, even back when the Animation department was founded. I imagine that this schedule is parallel to the gradual changes in how their first membership has been arranged which is due to the success of their animated content. Once upon a time, before Rooster Teeth Animation existed, it use to be that RWBY and Red vs Blue would be available for paid subscribers a mere hour before it was made available for everyone else on the website.

It’s clear that Rooster Teeth does consider their animated content very valuable, but the scale of the projects and the rate they end up being made are at the expense of the middle-men going through unpaid overtime. There are cases where with say, RWBY, measures are taken to increase the quantity of staff so that almost everyone is not required to wear more than one hat, have the pipeline for different software and plug-ins set-up at the start of a production and making sure every team has their own coordinator and manager. But it’s clear that despite these measures taken, they have not been large enough to fully compensate for the increased scale of the productions and the rate these productions need to get made. These circumstances are unfortunately not exclusive to Rooster Teeth either, as this has been a prevalent problem in the Japanese animation industry. On rare, more extreme occasions, you hear of staff members of animation studios either committing suicide or dying from overwork (otherwise known as “Karoshii”), whereas reports of how animation studios are suffering tight schedules to get shows like Black Clover, Dragon Ball Super, Märchen Mädchen, Dynamic Chord, God Eater the Animation and Attack on Titan out week-to-week with either poor, mixed or efficient-looking results through the presentation are more commonly made. Though similar to this Glassdoor situation, there are people in the anime industry, such as production assistants, who have anonymously spoken out about the harsh, troubling working conditions. Part of these situations may be due to Japan’s culture being taken to an extreme, but the systemic woes plaguing the anime industry can always be seen as cautionary tales of what a company like Rooster Teeth should avoid doing.

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Looking Ahead towards Rooster Teeth’s Future

A lot has been touched on regarding the Rooster Teeth’s poor management within their animation department and there’s more I could touch on. There might even be certain woes behind-the-scenes that I’m unaware of. However my goal is not to perpetually dwell on the downsides. The question to ask from here-on is what can be done about this or rather what is being done about it? To stress, it’s not just about what should be done. Yes, Rooster Teeth should improve their management and recruit people who know how to handle deadlines better. Yes, Rooster Teeth should avoid overtime crunch periods from happening in their animated productions as much as possible. Yes, staff of various positions should be payed better. There’s a lot of discussions about what they should do and I do not disagree with any of those advisories. But there’s not a whole lot of what they can do or even what they are supposedly doing about the situation right now.

There have been certain suggestions on what Rooster Teeth can do. Delaying RWBY volume 7 is one thing, but balancing out the scheduling between all of their live-action and their animated content more would help, assuming they haven’t already done so. Unionizing would also be a significant improvement and is something I’ve seen a former employee desire. Another animation studio in Austin, Texas, Powerhouse who is most known for making the Netflix Castlevania series, is one of many studios signed to collective bargaining agreements with The Animation Guild. These are some valid steps they could take, though for now, let’s examine what is actually being about all of this, starting with looking at Rooster Teeth CEO, Matt Hullum’s Journal Entry post who responded about the matter on June 17th. More specifically, certain segments of his entry are worth examining:

“Over the last several months we conducted a review and have taken several steps to improve communication and workflow to ensure we have a studio where people are happy to come to work every day. We are announcing today new measures on the road to improvement.

Effective today, we are moving forward with a previously planned change in our producing and creative structure. Gray G. Haddock is stepping down as head of studio for animation to dedicate himself to a strictly creative role. With Gray’s help, we have been in the process of hiring a new production head of the department, who will be responsible for the overall producer hierarchy and staff management. We want to thank Gray for his hard work and dedication to growing the animation studio over these years, and are excited to continue working with him in this new capacity.

Further, we are consulting with experienced leaders in the animation industry on our workflow, pipeline, production structure and other areas to enhance the workplace experience for our staff. Margaret M. Dean, the head of Ellation animation studios and president of Women In Animation, will consult with us and aid the search for a new studio lead.”

There are a few important things to dissect about Matt’s response. First of all, the fact that this is something higher-ups at the company have spent several months doing can be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, it can be seen as wondering why is it that only in that span of time have more drastic steps been taken to do something about this as oppose to a year or so before that, which is a very fair counterargument. On the other hand, taking several months to do this which could’ve been around the time the series of Glassdoor reviews since March were posted, if not before that is at least a sign that they have been conscious about these issues to want to do something about it and spend the time tending to the matter.

If the journal entry ended there, then it would naturally be seen as vague, damage control, press release speak that would satisfy no one. But there is of course more to examine, such as Gray Haddock stepping down from his position as Head of the animation department. When Gray became the head of RT Animation as the department was founded in September of 2014, that was at a time when the staff count was a lot smaller than what it is now. Whatever the reasons why, Gray stepped up for the position when the department was just starting. The problem is that as far as his career up until that point, his prior credentials were generally in voice work and theater, specifically anime dubbing. He had a creative background, but not so much a management one. That’s not to say his time spent on voice acting did not lend itself to management at all, though. In an interview with Inverse on August 7th, 2018, Gray mentioned as a means of being flexible, until the rest of the cast for Gen:Lock got around to recording lines for their respective characters, Gray “voiced the entire first batch of episodes by himself”:

“We had to hit milestones. We had to begin animating,” he said. “I read all the parts with the cadence and intonations I was hoping to direct the performances into, and roll with the changes as needed. The poor crew had to put up with three or four months show of me performing every part on the show.”

This is elaborated more in his interview with Anime News Network on October 26th, 2018 where he mentioned that despite getting A-List actors on board, getting the cast to do recordings in the midst of their busy schedules forced the production staff to be flexible. Whether or not this included the character Kazu Iida, who was voiced by Koichi Yamadera at Warner Bros anime in Japan and thus constantly speaks Japanese (Gray supposedly knows some Japanese), that was a hell of a task to do either way. This is not the first time he did this either. During production of volume 3 of RWBY, when Meg Turney, the voice of Neon Katt, was not available to record lines for the character, Gray had voiced all of her lines for chapter 5 so that the animators could get around to handling the character. So he has at least been pretty conscious about making sure the ball in a given production like Gen:Lock kept rolling through whatever he could do. But it’s clear that as Rooster Teeth Animation is growing up, not just through the tone of their content but through the need for a more efficient and healthy working environment, Gray Haddock was only capable of so much.

This leads us to the final point of the journal entry, the matter of consulting with experienced leaders in the animation industry. As far as animation studios go, RT Animation is still a fledgling that since its founded has arguably grown too big, too quickly. and at least some of the management staff do not have many years of experience under their belt. So to consult names like Margaret M. Dean, the head of Ellation Animation and President of Women in Animation is an especially big deal.

Though before talking further about her, a quick clarification should be made as to what Ellation and Women in Animation are. Ellation is a division of Otter Media which is under Warner Media Entertainment. Ellation studios is Ellation’s animation department with two sites located in Burbank, California and Tokyo, Japan. Women in Animation is a non-profit organization that Margaret has remained co-president of since 2013. With that out of the way, what is Margaret Dean’s relevance in all of this? This is sadly the part of the journal entry that’s most neglected even though it’s the most important. To make matters worse, the few people who have referred to Margaret when talking about the journal entry associate her name exclusively with the Crunchyroll original animated project, High Guardian Spice announced last August. This is one of those times where it could not be any more essential for one to separate his/her opinion of a work (or in this case, a teaser trailer for an upcoming work) from the names involved with the project and their credentials. With Margaret M. Dean, what people should look into is her IMDB profile page which gives an extensive list of her career in the American animation industry.

This is someone with over 27 years worth of experience in Animation and almost all of her credentials have to do with production management, coordination and supervision on a variety of shows. That’s nearly 5 times the amount of time Gray has been credited as supervising producer in a majority of the animated shows he has been involved in so far. To further put this in perspective, here’s a list of some of the animated productions she worked on:

Production manager/assistant for episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show (1992-1993)

Production supervisor for every episode of Teen Titans and the Trouble in Tokyo movie (2003-2006)

Production manager for season 1 of Men in Black TV Series (1997-1998)

Production supervisor for many episodes of Ozzy & Drix (2002-2004)

Production supervisor for seasons 1 & 2 of Xiaolin Showdownn (2003-2004)

Line producer of most episodes of What’s New Scooby Doo (2002-2006)

Supervising producer of Supermansion (2016-2019)

Supervising Producer for 30 episodes of Robot Chicken (2015-2018)

Supervising Producer of Hot Streets (2016-2018)

That is not a resume to sniff at and the fact she’s one of the experienced leaders in the animation industry Matt and Gray have been consulting is a testament to how seriously they are about resolving this problem going forward. Or maybe this is all a way for them to save face. Who knows? I’m a just fan making educated guesses, not a psychic.

What Can Fans Do About This?

This situation has of course led to varied emotions suddenly erupting when the Glassdoor reviews went viral. Some have been weary about this while others have capitalized on the matter to stir up further controversy for the sake of views. But some (including me) have wondered if there is anything the fans can do. Some have declared that they would cancel their First member subscriptions to teach Rooster Teeth a lesson. I’m not going to tell people how to go about spending their money (and no, what I spoke of in my Monty Oum Vision, part 1 video was not meant to say otherwise) but I’m not sure how much good rioting by not paying anything will do beyond getting the company’s direct attention. At best, it may put the higher-ups on even higher alert but the whole point of the reviews is to address the need for current and would-be employees to have better working conditions and better pay.

We’re talking about certain animators that due to various circumstances, one of which being financial, that at least some employees are stuck with working at Rooster Teeth. Make of that what you will, but that is the reality and I’m not so sure how much canceling a paid subscription will help the animators as oppose to hurting them. Again, this is not about me telling you to keep your subscriptions out of obligation. That’s not the point. Rather, this is about finding other possible ways on our end to help the ones suffering the most.

So what can we do? Well, that’s another reality about the situation. There’s really a whole lot we, the general public since this is something that at the end of the day has to be resolved internally. Sure, we got the CEO’s attention over the course of the weekend. But beyond that, I’m not so sure we can cause more to happen than that. That said, we can provide support to those who either currently are or have worked on the Rooster Teeth shows we are fans of. Familiarizing yourself with the names of anyone in the staff of a show’s production through the ending credits and following them on Twitter or wherever else they frequent via social media is a good starting point. This is especially helpful in case certain folks may announce needing financial help of some sort. RWBY and RWBY Chibi animators Asha Bishi and Andrea Caprotti specifically spring to mind. Asha, who some may know of for her expertise character acting, including with Faunus characters like Blake, Kali, and Sun and how their animal traits are animated, put up a Go Fund Me campaign since April of 2019 where she needs outside help in order to pay off her Hospital Bills after going through some heart problems and being rushed to an ambulance a few times. Andrea who has animated scenes in Gen:Lock, RWBY, RWBY:Chibi & Red vs Blue, including Pyrrha kissing Jaune goodbye, part of Cinder, Emerald & Mercury vs Amber, and the “Evil Genius” skit, opened art commissions as of late June to raise money to get a ticket to see a very close friend of hers going through Chemotherapy.

These are right now a couple of the only examples I could find, but they are nonetheless more helpful ways fans can immediately help any skilled talent. And even if you can’t pitch in by providing money yourself, spreading the word also helps. Beyond that, the best thing we can do is wait-and-see. I know that’s not the most game-changing answer, but again, this whole situation is mostly internal affairs and while much greater measures are being taken to make things better for the animation departments employees, whether this will ultimately amount to great improvements is something only time will tell. That’s not to say I’m advising people to stop speaking out about the matter (though perhaps contacting them via email may be a more direct and expressing what you want for the employees may be a more direct and precise way than broadly shouting via social media). That might be necessary at this point in order to make sure the company does not get too lax on resolving the problem. At any rate, we can expect to start seeing the results of said-changes either as soon as RTX or whenever we see the new name for the next head of RT Animation in ending credits, whoever that might be or if there is a change in the scheduling of their content. Whatever happens, change is definitely on the horizon, one way or another.

#Rooster Teeth #rwby #genlock #fndm #glassdoor

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countjason · 5 years

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Jason’s 8th Annual Post/Pre-Year Review/Goal

Last year, I didn’t do this so is this 8 or is this one again? Maybe’s it’s 7? Idk…let’s assume it’s 8.

I forget why I didn’t do this since I’ve been pretty good over the course of the decade in both setting goals and reflecting, both good and bad on the outcome of those goals. I couldn't give you an answer why 2018 was so different than the previous 6 years. For good or bad, these entries are the only ones I do and maybe the last on Tumblr now that the platform may be dying due to porn. Either way, I will reflect in the best I can given I didn’t set goals for 2018 and start anew with goals for 2019.

2018 Reflection

Work

2018 was hard. It started strong with the new position at my new job as a scheduler. I soon realized, however, I made an ill-made choice. I can't say it was a "bad" decision because, at the time, I wasn't happy on what became of me being a configuration, change, release manager and the prospect of me being a project manager was slim with the ongoing fight between our contract prime and my company at the time. The decision to leave seemed easy since my current company had a pay increase so, hey, follow the money right?

Well, six months in and I began to grow tired of the sheer boredom of the job. Here I go from running a major project, flying to Germany to work with the customer, addressing changes and being active (though be it not what I wanted to do) NOW basically perform statuses once a month and learning nothing new. It’s almost to the point where I think I’m forgetting some skills like my SharePoint knowledge since they don’t use that tool at all and caught in their own ways (and anytime you try to change or show them a better way, you’re immediately dismissed).

I can pinpoint the exact day that started the ongoing job hunt. It was not after I graduated - no, it in September 2018 when my company posted a position for a project manager and I immediately inquired to my boss for which I was told I don't have enough experience for the role. Not enough experience? How the heck am I supposed to get experience when I’m not mentored, spinning in my chair picking my nose half the month and told there’s nothing else I need to do or I’m not physically doing any aspect of the job to gain said experience you want in a project manager here? Do you really think I would leave you hung out to dry or wouldn't know where to ask for help should I needed it (which was likely)? Are you so concerned with your company image that the slightest ignorance in any area is a death sentence? Here I was familiar with the protocol the company did for financials, scheduling, and other areas that I learned over the course of nine months but because I wasn't an engineer, I was told they wanted to more likely recruit talent from a competitor and more engineering minded despite the fact all the previous PMs had little to no engineering experience at all. Mind you this was after graduating with my master’s degree in Project Management, have more certifications that are gold standards for my line of work, and just having a background in previous project management type functions and keep in mind folks - a PM is not necessarily the subject matter expert, they are what keeps the project rolling so you really don’t need to know every aspect of a program, just who to talk to and where to look.

They made me a “Deputy Program Manager” after this conversation but the bulk of my job has been the same as I started...

It didn’t help they screwed over one of my only friends I barely made at my company and he quit. I’m horrible at making friends and I respected this guy because he was one of the few people that valued my input and didn’t treat me like a high-school intern (“ok children, today we’ll learn what a work breakdown structure is…”).

Now to continue and conclude with the job topic because this horse is beat’in to death (Sorry, Not Sorry PETA), I will say that the outlook VERY recently is looking good. I have a few more interviews between a couple more companies and hopefully, I can land where my talent is useful.

School

I graduated college in 2018 the 3rd time.

This time with a master’s degree in project management as I previously mentioned. It was never my desire after graduating in 2011 to go back to school but in 2015, after watching Caitlin struggle with part-time work and full-time school, I wanted to set somewhat of an example in that you can work full-time work and school and get done with things. Fast forward to 2018 and I’m done with that and Caitlin is still in school. I am proud of this accomplishment since the 21-year-old Jason would have never believed I’d have a master’s degree.

There's some internal vindication for all those Navy Officers that were "better than me since they were Officers" or Chief’s that said “leaving the Navy would be the worst decision I ever made” that I now have a higher education than over half of them a decade later. They say revenge doesn't feel good – they are full a shit or I'm messed up. I got to fly my parents to Maryland to witness the graduation in person so at least I know they got to see that. I did enroll at Columbia Southern University in 2018 to work toward my DBA. I finished all my prerequisite classes but had to put my school on hold due to the expense of Caitlin's school doubling on me. More on this in 2019 goals. I’m looking to start that back up in the summer if all aligns properly.

Entertainment

If there’s one thing that I like to do these days is follow NASCAR. I turned into my father but don’t hate it really. Here’s me running at New Smyra Speedway this past past weekend.

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Unfortunately, when it came to going to NASCAR races this year, we bet and lost on rain occurring in Atlanta (we ended up getting a cat named “Rain De’Lay” as a result and I watched the race happen on TV even though every weatherman said it was going to pour!) and Dad got sick this year and he couldn’t come to the Roval race we planned as well. We did plan the Bristol night race in 2019 so hopefully, I can have that. Caitlin was a trooper for going to the Charlotte race with me which I know she didn’t overly like which was expected...

BUT…she did go camping and see the north which leads to later this month in us going to the Asheville area of North Carolina for Christmas vacation. If there’s one time in my life I want snow to happen it’s coming up here soon.

Also in entertainment, we had mini-adventures that’s needed – I went to St. Augustine overnight hunting ghosts (or talking to a lamp) at the British Pub’s upstairs apartment.

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Worth noting but technically out-of-bounds for this topic is Caitlin and I went to New Orleans LATE December 2017 (so almost 2018). I also rode in a boat during the Gasperilla festival which is a whole new level of experience. I am curious to know how many water balloons we will have this year?

We went to Daytona several times this year including our annual family stay at the timeshare and mini-getaways as recent as last week. We also explored Washington DC and Baltimore during my graduation trip.

Okay – now planning/goals out 2019…

Get a new job – This one is important since 90% of my waking existence is at a job. If I’m not happy there, it’s too my core and I’m not happy in general. I wish I was better in this area since Caitlin works in the funeral business and has a better appreciation toward the little things but it’s still a thing since it is 90% of my waking life and I’ve worked since I was 16 yrs old. I would obviously like to get paid what I feel I’m deserved too – not just get a job to get away from another job.

Vacations – I have a cruise planned in May which is almost paid for and I would like to eventually go to Las Vegas. I wouldn’t want to go to Vegas without a little money in my pocket, but we’ll see. I also have the Bristol night race in August which represents the final bucket list race I could want to do with my Dad. Does that mean I’m done after Bristol? Probably not but I could certainly wish my Dad off should he die knowing I got him there, Talledega, Daytona, Homestead, and Atlanta.

School – I got a long way to go for a DBA but I’d like to get the main classes started in 2019. I gotta wait until money isn't so tight or there are options like tuition assistance but I'd like to get started in that.

Find more friends – A lot of my friends 8 years ago I don't really relate to now. I'm simply not the same person. Those people, in most cases, are the EXACT same people and we don't relate. Going back to 90% of my day with work, I need to find work friends but certainly not at my current job where everyone I work with me is 20 years older than me or are unsociable. I mean it can't get any worse than now where I have a co-worker literally 5 feet behind me and insist to communicate primarily through email. Even if it's not "work" friends, I need friends that have the same goals, likes, and what not. That's why I like people like Eric or James– they have ambition in areas I like today. I still need to find a NASCAR buddy too but that’s surprisingly hard.

Health – Anyone that says getting older doesn’t suck can blow me. I know less than 5 years ago, I could run in the morning and had gym buddies which motivated me. Granted I was walking around like I was crippled half the time afterward, but it was fun. I really don't have that same motivation these days. I still go to the gym periodically but not as I used too. I joke about my fat head so maybe in 2019, I'll find that extra gas in the tank and while I've accepted not being 180 lbs again, maybe just looking better which will make me feel better as well.

Financially working in the right direction – To get my house, I had to use retirement money. To fix the carpet that got destroyed in Caitlin’s library, I had to use more. I have quite a bit of old debt and new debt that is higher than I like but there’s always been this assumption that I’m just waiting for the right job to pay me what I deserve, AND Caitlin will finally pull her weight since I support her. Once one or both those things happen, we will be able to work off that debt and maybe see the chances of retirement….eventually.

Potentially Move? – Given the job prospects, I’ve been looking at opportunities to leave Florida. I am so over “hot, humid, high of 100” every-freakin-day. Part of the upcoming North Carolina trip is to expose Caitlin to the cold. If she tolerates it, the option to move up north is more present. I mean hell, our house is an igloo anyway. Even still talking about moving north, moving east in Florida has the same possibilities. I know 2019 may be too soon given the dependency I have with Caitlin but given the right situation, it’s entirely possible.

Help Caitlin – I could jokingly say “well this is a huge project” but I don’t mean it like that. She’s been fighting her demons and I’ve been helping. I would also foresee myself assisting in her passing her classes and exams she needs to take but that’s really all on her and if she asks for it. In all, I just hope to continue to be a good(ish) role-model and help when I can.

Iracing – 2 more to 10…geez, we’re hitting the bottom of the barrel now. This is just a hobby, be it an expensive hobby I built up, but I hope to continue doing well in the game and not get bored with it lol. It’s just too expensive to not.

House Upgrades – I would like to upgrade the floors in the man cave and the bedroom in 2019. This is a lot of work and shifting of things since I have the master bed which is huge in one room and the racing rig and desk in the other. I have the supplies sitting in the corner collecting dust waiting to be done, but I would need to shift so much around to do it, I’ve told myself it can only be done if we move. We’ll see, not putting a lot of hope in this one but it’s number 10 on the list.

Well that’s 2019′s plans for you and some reflection on 2018. Talk to you next year Jason (and anyone else that reads my rhetoric).

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fromtheringapron · 6 years

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WWF SummerSlam 1994

Date: August 29, 1994

Location: The United Center in Chicago, Illinois

Attendance: 23,000

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Results:

1. Bam Bam Bigelow & Irwin R. Schyster (with Ted DiBiase) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (with Afa and Capatain Lou Albano) via disqualification.

2. WWF Women’s Championship Match: Alundra Blayze (champion) defeated Bull Nakano (with Luna Vachon).

3. WWF Intercontinental Championship Match: Razor Ramon (with Walter Peyton) defeated Diesel (champion) (with Shawn Michaels) to win the title.

4. Tatanka defeated Lex Luger.

5. Jeff Jarrett defeated Mabel (with Oscar).

6. Steel Cage Match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart (champion) defeated Owen Hart.

7. The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated The Undertaker (with Ted DiBiase).

Analysis

SummerSlam 1994 is pretty underrated, although it’s easy to see why it’s never received the praise it deserves. As this show takes place in the mid ‘90s, the wrestling business is stuck in struggle city, and the WWF isn’t an exception. The glory days of the Rock ’n’ Wrestling era are long gone and in their place is the New Generation which, despite putting the spotlight on the likes of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, is churning out a number of one-note characters who fail to catch on with fans. Though this is the first pay-per-view following Vince McMahon’s exoneration on steroid distribution charges, the resulting bad publicity from the scandal has cost the WWF millions of dollars in a time already marked by low revenue. With all that messiness as a backdrop, this show is seemingly fated to not be fondly remembered.

Much like the year’s King of the Ring, a similarly underrated show, this edition of SummerSlam is also known for its notoriously bad main event which pits The Undertaker against, well, The Undertaker. In some ways, the whole fake Undertaker storyline is a classic example of campy ‘90s WWF cheese. Heck, the moment Paul Bearer opens a giant gold urn to summon a ray of white light feels like something straight out of an attraction at Disney World. Unfortunately, the actual match is a total dud, which brings the previously hot Chicago crowd to complete silence. Their indifference is birthed out of confusion more than anything. It’s obvious Ted DiBiase’s Undertaker is the fake, so where’s the fun in watching the real one beating the crap out of him for 12 minutes? You can just tell from the inflection in Vince McMahon’s voice on commentary that he knows this thing is a flop from the opening bell. The build to the match is also hampered by skits featuring Leslie Nielsen trying to track down the real Undertaker, which aren’t even as funny as some of the Zucker brothers’ worst parody films.

Despite these blunders, it’s still a solid show overall. All three title matches here range from fun to fantastic. Though it has its detractors (and I can only suggest they remain in hiding), the steel cage match between Bret and Owen Hart is one of the best ever. I personally love how it puts emphasis on escaping the cage, which you’d think would be the obvious objective but most cage matches don’t play with the idea enough. The flurry of escape attempts by both men is still just as exciting to watch now and even if the match goes over 30 minutes, it’s never boring. The ending is particularly creative, with Owen hanging upside down like a brat stuck on a jungle gym, a poetic end to the character’s story arc over the previous nine months. The Intercontinental and Women’s title matches are forgotten gems, the latter marking one of the brightest moments for the WWF’s sorely underutilized mid ‘90s women’s division. I’d ramble on how Alundra Blayze deserved better, but then I’d just be stating the obvious.

Opinions vary on Tatanka’s heel turn on this show, and it did wind up killing his WWF career in the long-run, but it’s somewhat clever for its time. Of course, we in 2018 would’ve seen the turn coming a mile away the instant Tatanka really started harping on Lex Luger about his alleged involvement with the Million Dollar Corporation. But for 1994? Kinda shocking, and no doubt it pulled the wool over the eyes of the WWF’s younger audience. It’s been argued Luger turning heel instead would’ve been the better result for both the storyline and Luger’s career. I certainly agree but that doesn’t take away the actual turn, which solidifies Tatanka as a heel pretty well. The image of him stuffing money down the throat of an Americana-attired Luger is killer.

There are a couple of interesting bits of trivia unique to this show as well. Firstly, on a sad note, this is the last WWF pay-per-view appearance of Randy Savage, who stands as the last remaining bastion of the previous era. It’s a pretty inconsequential curtain call to one of the biggest and most iconic superstars in the company’s history, as he only makes a brief appearance here. He’ll be in WCW by the end of the year and never truly make his way back into the fold. This also remains the only WWF/E show to take place at the United Center, with the company sticking to the Rosemont Horizon as its Chicago go-to ever since. Fortunately, the change in venue here doesn’t hinder the Chicago fans from being their typically great selves. Well, except for the main event, of course. But a dull contest between two dead men needs a dead crowd to match, I guess.

My Random Notes

This show sees the debut of The Undertaker’s new purple look, often dubbed as “Purple Taker,” which a lot of people dislike but I personally love. Still don’t know what possessed them to change the color of his attire though. I feel like the mindset in the ‘90s was basically “Mmm, you know what would make this thing look more modern? Purple!”

Even if the fake Undertaker thing was a bust, it’s weird how it didn’t stop them from doing pretty much the same thing with his brother Kane 12 years later.

The dead giveaway to Tatanka’s heel turn is clearly his bangs, am I right?

During the opening match, Vince McMahon translates Afa’s words as “Domino’s delivers!” You can always count on ‘90s Vince to drop some corny dad humor and a shameless tie-in to the sponsors all at once.

Kinda surprised they brought Davey Boy Smith back into the fold immediately following the steroid scandal considering his firing two years before was due to that exact thing. At least he had enough sense to update his look into that of a jacked Eddie Vedder just in time for the show.

Gotta love Diana Hart Smith going into business for herself by flopping over the guard rail along with her husband. Get it, girl.

As if you needed proof of the WWF’s casual racism in the ‘90s, poor Bull Nakano is saddled with the old Orient Express music for her entrance, the same music given to a bunch of other Asian wrestlers around the same time period.

I couldn’t help but notice: 1.) How out-of-touch Men on a Mission feels to the actual rap scene in 1994, which was increasingly leaning towards gangsta rap, and 2.) That there’s little to no evidence here that Mabel will take part in the worst SummerSlam main event ever just a year later.

I’m a bit of an Adam Bomb mark so I’m a little sad his match with Kwang was relegated to pre-show status and that we were robbed of seeing him defeat his blood rival, as I’m sure that’s what the whole world was dying to see.

On the Million Dollar Corporation: For a stable that could’ve been truly great, I don’t think it quite took off as intended. It feels like everyone who joined became this boring, diluted version of themselves and most of the storylines involving them totally dragged. So of course they went on to suck up a large bulk of TV time in the year following this show, including a pivotal role in the main event of WrestleMania 11. Such is the tale of WWF’s creative woes in the mid ‘90s.

#summerslam #bret hart #the undertaker #wwf

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jackdawyt · 4 years

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ICYMI: As my last video/post for 2019, I figured we should have a reflection on Dragon Age 4’s major news updates and uncover what we know about Dragon Age 4 throughout this year and beyond! So, we can go into 2020 with the right expectations and understanding of the game’s development!

The Dread Wolf Rises:

To boot of this year - we had the most exciting announcement from The Game Awards in December - the official confirmation of the next Dragon Age project with the current given title: #TheDreadWolfRises.

The trailer, while enigmatic, showcased the next Dragon Age centring on the Solas’s plan to rise up and destroy the veil, fulfilling the Dread Wolf’s prophecy. At least that’s one interpretation of it.

The trailer seemingly was made for the fanbase of Dragon Age with the given title, because if you didn’t know what Dragon Age was, or anything about The Dread Wolf, you could totally pass up that trailer as a different game entirely. So, it was more of an ode to the fans that the next Dragon Age game is in the works.

Alongside the release of the trailer, the Dragon Age website was updated for #TheDreadWolfRises with Mark Darrah, Executive Producer & Matthew Goldman, Creative Director sharing a few words on the production of the next Dragon Age.

TLDR: Mark is excited to show more and Matthew states that this is the strongest team yet and they’re venturing forth on the most epic quest ever.

In a September blog post, Casey Hudson wrote that ‘I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises,’ alluding to the narrative and production of Dragon Age 4. Before we delve into the current development of Dragon Age 4, we’ve got to talk about the two initial iterations of Dragon Age 4.

Project Joplin:

Based on Jason Schreier’s expose’ into the past and present developments of Dragon Age 4 - the previous iteration of Dragon Age 4 was known as ‘Joplin’, like Janis Joplin.

Janis Joplin was one of the biggest female rock stars of her era, she revolutionized her genre of music for the next generation – clearly, this is something the devs were going for with the original Dragon Age 4 project – to revolutionize the Role-Playing Game genre.

The developers on Joplin were committed to avoiding the mistakes they’d made on Dragon Age: Inquisition. Veteran Mike Laidlaw was the creative director of ‘Joplin’ until the project was canned and reworked so ‘live service elements’ could be added. After the decided rework of Dragon Age 4, Mike left the studio in late 2017.

Project Joplin’s initial concept followed the next protagonist ‘playing as a group of spies in Tevinter, a large chunk of the narrative centred on heists. The goal was to focus as much as possible on choice and consequence.’

There was an emphasis on this ‘hugely reactive game, smaller in scope than Dragon Age: Inquisition but much larger in player choice, followers, reactivity, and depth.’

The developers talked about building systemic narrative mechanics, allowing the player to perform actions like persuading or extorting guards without the writers having to hand-craft every scene.

It was very ambitious and plenty of the developers were excited, stating that they put some of their best work into this project.

However, Anthem was in real trouble, and there was a concern that it might never be finished unless the studio did something drastic. EA and BioWare took that drastic action, cancelling Joplin and moving the bulk of its staff, including executive producer Mark Darrah, onto Anthem.

Project Joplin was reworked into Project Morrison with a skeleton team building the very foundations of the next Dragon Age.

Project Morrison:

The latest iteration of Dragon Age 4 that is currently in the works is known as ‘Morrison’, like ‘James Morrison’ – the lead singer of the rock band ‘The Doors’.

Jim Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. (Wikipedia).

Morrison is being built on Anthem’s tools and codebase of the Frostbite Engine, this will save time as Mass Effect: Andromeda, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Anthem were each built from scratch. With a pre-set already there, Morrison’s development can save a lot of time.

This new version of the fourth Dragon Age is planned with a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue. It’s not clear how much of Joplin’s vision will shape Morrison.

Matt Goldman, art director on Dragon Age: Inquisition and then Joplin, took over as creative director for Morrison.

Many of the BioWare developers “know it’s going to change like five times in the next two years.”

Morrison will change its shape multiple times. However, “Dragon Age games shift more than other games.” So, it’s not uncanny for a Dragon Age project to undergo drastic changes in its development.

Live Service/Multiplayer:

It has been confirmed on LinkedIn that BioWare has hired a software engineer to work on a multiplayer component for Dragon Age 4, however, it’s unsure what exactly this multiplayer could look like.

Jason Schreier stated that “he heard some ideas for Morrison’s multiplayer include companions that can be controlled by multiple players via drop-in/drop-out co-op, similar to old-school BioWare RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, and quests that could change based not just on one player’s decisions, but on the choices of players across the globe.”

In 2018, Casey Hudson tweeted a statement on live service: “Reading lots of feedback regarding Dragon Age, and I think you’ll be relieved to see what the team is working on,” he wrote on Twitter. “Story & character-focused. Too early to talk details, but when we talk about ‘live’ it just means designing a game for continued storytelling after the main story.”

It’s still unclear how much of this game will focus on live-service elements and multiplayer, it could follow something as simple as Dragon Age: Inquisition’s separate multiplayer mode, or it could transform the game completely. Take note that Morrison is still early in the works and it will change multiple times until release. That is for sure.

Production:

Now we get to the tea - The past and present developments of Dragon Age 4’s new iteration.

So, Project Joplin was canned in late 2017, with Project Morrison rebooting sometime after that with an essential, small team. The rest of the Dragon Age team that worked on Joplin, went to fix Anthem during its troubled development. Even Mark Darrah, the Executive Producer of Dragon Age was shuffled to Anthem’s production. All the while, Morrison lay low in very early pre-production stages.

In 2018, the majority of the news we got on Dragon Age 4 came out in January, with Joplin’s initial codename and Anthem’s reshuffling. However, with Morrison in deep pre-production, nothing substantial - production-wise - was heard on this project until The Dread Wolf Rises teaser launched at The Game Awards eleven months later in December. Of course, this trailer was hype hype hype!

In early 2019, BioWare resumed their focus on Anthem and its release date. After Anthem was released in February 2019 - according to comicbook.com - the core Edmonton team working on Anthem, returned to work on Dragon Age 4 in full-scale development following the reworks of Morrison.

Built on Anthem’s codebase and its pre-sets of the Frostbite engine, following a very enigmatic live service model – Dragon Age 4 entered its pre-production stages with a full-team. As Casey Hudson later confirmed in September:

“We have several other big projects in the works. I wish I could tell you more about them, but they’re mostly super-secret right now. I can say however that one of our projects has a large and growing team in Edmonton working through pre-production, and based on the progress I’m seeing, I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises.”

Key processes during the pre-production stages include:

Concept Art

Storyboarding

Level Design

Mechanic Design

Around June, an IGN Greece article resurfaced again, according to said article ‘an anonymous BioWare employee had given clues Dragon Age 4. Stating that the game will be released in 2020 and that the voices of the characters are already being recorded, which indicates an advanced stage of development.’

This article initially launched in 2018 and has many rebuttals, the first being the release date.

This 2020 expected release date has been debunked because according to EA’s 2019 earnings call, the new release window for Dragon Age 4 is at least April 2022, and any time after that. Perhaps Joplin’s initial release window was 2020, and the developer may have shared that, but as far as Morrison is concerned, the project is 3 years away.

However, voice work being in the works could be plausible at this stage. Alix Wilton Reagan has teased a few seasons of her in full mocap mentioning NDA’s and #dragonage and #inquisitor, this could just Alix teasing us, or using social media to its full advantage, or it could be something Dragon Age-related.

Surely the Inquisitor will make a cameo appearance and that could justify why Alix could be doing VO?

On top of both Alix’s tease and IGN Greece’s article, very recently Jo Berry, a writer at BioWare tweeted about voice over work coming in and it being fantastic, however, they have to remove the goofy robot text to speech which is awkward and funny to listen to.

“When VO is coming in and it’s fan-tastic, but it means saying goodbye to that goofy robot text-to-speech that makes you all laugh.”

So, indeed voice work does seem to be going on for Dragon Age 4’s development at this stage.

In jest, BioWare hasn’t replied to my request for voice acting a character in Dragon Age 4, so I think because of that, we can assume that they haven’t started the majority of the main character’s voice work just yet, right?

Moving on…Throughout the months of August and September, BioWare moved to a new office space in downtown Edmonton. Once they had settled in, a few very interesting Dragon Age 4 titbits came to light.

Emily (Domino) Taylor posted a picture on Twitter, showcasing a post artboard for Dragon Age 4, as we can assume it’s Dragon Age! There’s a Grey Warden and their Griffon-friend showcased in the picture.

Griffons and Grey Warden’s confirmed for Dragon Age 4? It’s not too much of a stretch considering the drama at Weisshaupt and Last Flight’s ending, but alas, as we can see BioWare’s art division are getting ready to line up concept artwork for further production and development. Probably for 3D model creation and animation stages.

Regardless, it’s very exciting to see the start of official artwork developing for Dragon Age 4, I’ll be keeping an eye out to see how this board develops further.

Another huge titbit that was revealed with BioWare’s office move, was when the mayor of Edmonton decided to visit and congratulate BioWare at their new offices. On one of the photos the mayor and his team took, there was a shot of an HD version of Solas on a TV Screen.

I personally believe that this is a shot from Dragon Age 4 or the prototype version of Morrison showing off Solas. There’s been no confirmation of where this shot comes from, and I’ve spent an entire video dissecting it. However, my point is, I don’t think this comes from Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s way to HD, look at his face, the fur on his outfit, the outside environment. It’s very distinct, and I believe it’s the first shot of Dragon Age 4 revealed.

I’ve not seen any rebuttals to this, and I’ve openly asked multiple times online, however, no one has come up with anything. So, even towards the end of 2019, it remains a mystery. I think this is a Dragon Age 4 shot, let me know if you think otherwise!

Around the same time, Matt Rhodes, an Art Director, posted a short story on his Instagram stating that he’s “more excited working on Dragon Age 4 than any other project so far.”

Just after BioWare moved offices, Fernando Melo, a senior producer on The Dread Wolf Rises left the studio after 12 years.

As stated on his LinkedIn profile, a lot of Fernando’s job on Dragon Age 4 surrounded “help[ing] establish the vision for the game. Guid[ing] the team through EA’s concept and early production phases. Prov[ing] out the core concept and key innovations of the game”.

He signed off with an email sent to everyone on the Dragon Age team, stating that he left at the “least disruptive timing as it would likely get.”

Considering that Fernando’s job was ensuring the pre-production stages were completed efficiently, and with his departure being at a time where it’d be least hectic for the development of Dragon Age 4, it’s safe to say that the pre-production processes are wrapping up and the team can begin to enter full production.

Fernando said that “with a great game leadership team in place, a fantastic creative vision, and some of the best devs in the world. Morrison is well underway to becoming the definitive Dragon Age experience - and I’m incredibly proud and honored to have played a part in that. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to experience the next DA as a fan this time around.”

So, with Fernando’s send off via email, the entire Dragon Age team has moved on from the initial pre-production stages to the main development of the project with an estimated release window of any time after April 2022.

Mark Darrah Major Hints & Teases:

Now we get to the most divisive news topics - the teases from Executive Producer Mark Darrah!

Mark has actually been teasing us since the beginning of 2017, when he dropped a video of an artbook that collated a plethora of Dragon Age concept characters, with many mysterious and ominous photos showcasing potential concept art and character designs.

A logo of a wolf, on fire encased in a tower, was all we had on Dragon Age 4 at the time. However, considering Project Joplin was canned at the end of that same year, I think it’s safe to assume this work went alongside that project, whether it will remain, we’ll uncover in-time.

At E3 2018, in a video interview with Game Informer, Mark Darrah said that Dragon Age 4 was going ��swell’ with a cheeky grin.

At Pax West 2018, Dragon Age 4 was officially confirmed again since it’s reboot in development, the Triforce Quartet played Dragon Age: Inquisition’s theme as Mark Darrah confirmed that the next instalment is in the works… again.

Towards the end of November, Mark Darrah teased the entirety of Twitter with his Dragon Age remarks. Having tweeted the single words “Dragon Age”, he had PC Gamer and many other onion articles writing up on his huge Dragon Age 4 tease.

However, to be fair, Mark dropped an image that resembles Dragon Age, only we’ve never seen anything quite like it before.

Midnight snow, rocks, forests, a completely different landscape to any of the maps in Dragon Age: Inquisition, yet very familiar with its Frostbite Engine aesthetic… is this a shot of Tevinter, more than likely taken on Mark Darrah’s phone?

Well, I think so. It doesn’t resemble any location I can recall in Dragon Age: Inquisition… But you might say “there’s snow in Tevinter, which is the opposite end of Thedas’s Equator, that doesn’t make sense lore-wise.”

Well, Mark Darrah replied to someone questioning if and why there would be snow in Tevinter, he sent them a link to this article that explains how there can be snow on the equator, meaning that Tevinter can have snow.

So, is this our second or first look of Dragon Age 4? Well, depending on if the Solas shot is viable, I’d say definitely, but I’ll let you make your own mind up on that. Speaking of Tevinter, Mark Darrah also teased that the working plot title of Dragon Age 4 is titled “Tevinter of Our Discontent”, which is a huge story reference that I’ll touch upon in a separate category.

However, back to the picture teases, and Mark Darrah also posted another photo…

A sun blinding a knight, very ominous, I don’t even know where to start with this one… I mean it could have some subliminal message about how Solas may destroy the veil, or it could have a rather obscure context that fits to Dragon Age 4’s narrative, but I honestly just don’t even know what this is…

On Dragon Age Day, Again, Mark Darrah posted another screenshot of Dragon Age 4 with everything redacted other than a pixel in the corner.

And, erm, yep. That’s super. Thanks for that, Mark.

If you’d like to see more Dragon Age 4 teases that may or may not make sense and will most likely leave you frustrated and clueless, why not give Mark Darrah a follow-on Twitter. He’s one to keep an eye out.

Story:

The next narrative surrounds the Dread Wolf rising and attempting to destroy the veil, it’ll most likely be our next protagonist’s goal to stop Solas from achieving this.

We will have a new protagonist, like every other Dragon Age game. It’s been confirmed copious times by many developers old and new that the Hero of Ferelden will never return in the future, so stop asking. And even if they did return, Patrick Weekes is in charge now.

Dragon Age 4 will be set in the Tevinter Imperium, if Trespasser’s ending wasn’t a good enough clue for you, Project Joplin was also set in Tevinter. Alternatively, according to PC Gamer, it was the newly announced Tevinter Nights book that confirmed Tevinter to be Dragon Age 4’s setting.

Mark Darrah confirmed and teased on Twitter that the working plot title of Dragon Age 4 is Tevinter of our Discontent, derived from Shakespeare’s “The Winter of our Discontent” which is the opening lines from the play - Richard III (3rd).

As a TLDR: the words lay the groundwork for the portrayal of Richard as a discontented man who is unhappy in a world that hates him. However, since his family were victorious in the war, they reign the nation once more, and so as winter dies, glorious summer is upon them.

There are plenty of references we can make to Solas and his scheme to destroy the veil, he’s woken up to a world that despises his name and people that revoke his actions as evil. He wants to correct this world and restore his ‘family’ so to speak. Perhaps, like Richard the 3rd, Solas’s glorious summer is what awaits him in the next game.

So, we have plenty of plot potential with this given title and I do have a separate video for even more thorough speculation on this topic. However, based on Shakespeare’s work being the main inspiration for Dragon Age 4’s narrative, we should expect tragedy to be one of the main themes of the plot.

According to Video Gamer, in 2017, Alexis Kennedy was writing freelance for BioWare, ‘working on a whole chunk of lore and backstory for the faction in the game that you would think of if you were thinking big old goth. You know, if you were interested in death.’

Instantly what comes to mind is Nevarra’s Mortalitasi – Death Mages that’s responsible for the mummification process of the dead in Nevarran culture. However, we’re not sure how much of his work went into the cancelled Joplin, considering the timing at which he worked on Dragon Age 4.

According to Alexis’s LinkedIn page, he worked freelance at BioWare from February – August 2017. The end of 2017 was the same time Joplin was canned, and Mike Laidlaw left the company, so there’s a huge possibility that Alexis’s work has been shelved.

Even if Alexis’s work wasn’t shelved at the time, given his recent allegations and controversy, Mark Darrah confirmed on Twitter that BioWare no longer has a working relationship with him, so his work seemingly has been scrapped.

According to Dark Horse writers Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir who’re creating the comics. In a comicbook.com interview, they shared the collaboration with the BioWare writers, it’s a case of sharing notes on where the narrative is going, and how the comics can help reach that point for Dragon Age 4’s narrative.

So, if you want to see where Dragon Age 4’s narrative may go, or which characters could turn up, read the comics as they’re pushing the narrative forward.

According to Chelsea Fariello, Assistant Animator at BioWare, it seems we could have a Mabari War Hound companion, or at least NPC in Dragon Age 4, as she stated on Twitter that she was interested in what interactions people would want to see for a dog-like creature in a video game. With the hashtag Dragon Age. Perhaps Mabari War Hound, or even a Griffon? “What interactions would people want to be able to do with a dog like creature in a video game? I need to know…for reasons… #DragonAge “

The “creature” part in that tweet is what makes me think it could be a small griffon? If it’s a Mabari then it’s just a dog, however, if it’s a small griffon then that could make sense. That’s just my hot take.

On Dragon Age Day, Arby’s expressed their interest in opening a new branch in Thedas, could we see a new type of cuisine in Tevinter? It’s hard to say, other than the fact that John Epler loves Arby’s, not Wendy’s though. Don’t mention Wendy’s!

Weekes’s Tweets:

Adding to the story category, we have plenty of tweets by Patrick Weekes that hint at future elements for Dragon Age 4.

Patrick Weekes responded to Autumn Witch when asked on Twitter ‘to pick one character from Dragon Age that has never been a companion or advisor that you would like to see as a companion in DA-4? (For the sake of this post, Lace Harding is also not available.)’

Patrick said: “Oh that’s obvious, I’d go with (Reads parenthetical) THIS IS RIGGED.”

So, Scout Harding as a Dragon Age 4 Companion teased? I freaking hope so.

Patrick Weekes posted on Twitter that they just teared up reading a scene, so unless they’re cutting onions while writing, we should expect tears to be shed in Dragon Age 4. If I were to guess, I mean Solas is walking the Din’anshiral. Which means there is only death on this journey…

Weekes was asked about non-binary lingo & representation and if the players would have the option to not identify as a male or female in the next Dragon Age. They replied saying:

“No guarantees (it’s something that is very difficult in romance languages we get translated into), but our team is always looking for better ways to let players see themselves in our games.”

Other Dragon Age Projects:

According to EA’s 2019 Earnings Call, “there are plans for not only Dragon Age 4, but other Dragon Age products too.”

At a guess, this ‘other product’ could simply be a mobile companion app to coincide with Dragon Age 4’s launch. Or it could be the rumoured tactics game that we haven’t heard about since Mark Darrah’s tease in 2017.

On top of that, at a guess, it could also be an extension to the Dragon Age Keep.

Expectations:

There’s still a couple of years yet with an expected release window at any point after April 2022. However, that doesn’t mean the news will not be coming, just look at all the tidbits I’ve uncovered from developer tweets on the side.

Not to mention that BioWare generally start the marketing phases of their upcoming games two years prior to release, so if Dragon Age 4 were to release in 2022, we could actually see something in 2020. I’m not banking on that, but just for the doubters out there, we’ll easily hear something regarding this game in 2020, whether that’s a trailer or small tweet trials of news, we’ll be sure to get something, and I’ll be sure to stay on track of that.

if you have anyone saying there’s no news for Dragon Age 4, just gently send them my way and share this video in their dm’s!

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junker-town · 4 years

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5 tips for running a social media burner account as an athlete

Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

It’s not difficult to run a good burner, if you follow these tips.

Hello, my name is James Dator. I last spoke to you in 2018 about how to run a burner Twitter account, but much about the social media landscape has changed since then. It’s time now to revisit how you, an elite athlete, should run your burner on Twitter to defend your honor, and most-importantly: Not get caught in the process.

First, some personal news, I regret to inform everyone that Matt Ellentuck will not be with me to recommend social media guidelines at this time. Unfortunately he is no longer here at SB Nation, but can still be followed at @mellentuck, where he is currently getting into beef with WNBA teams. Now, without further ado, onto the tips.

No. 1: Pick a good username.

This week we were introduced to the latest potential athlete burner: @jayce_frost, which is purported to be an account used by Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. It goes without saying, but this is a terrible username.

Nobody in the history of humanity has had the name “Jayce Frost” with any semblance of realism. There are only two kinds of people who can pull off this name.

Actors in the adult film industry.

A super villain trying to push the sun away from the earth to start another ice age.

If you’re intent on going the full name route you need to pick something commonplace, but not too obvious. This means no @johnsmith, but instead something like @derrickmclellan. Everyone believes there are dudes named Derrick McLellan wandering around a Lowe’s home improvement in Augusta, Georgia looking for a 4 3/8ths roofing nail. In fact, there are probably 15 Derrick McLellan’s doing that as we speak.

If you instead decide to go the route of “generic sports fan,” pick a team OTHER than the one you’re defending. In Carr’s case the perfect foil would be @KCChiefs_83. It reeks of a 37-year-old NFL fan, not a current quarterback.

No. 2: Don’t have a one tract mind when it comes to tweeting.

This is where Carr really messed up. Every single tweet from Jayce Frost was either defending Carr, or talking about his alma mater, Fresno State.

So @TJFsports found Derek Carr’s burner today. It’s since been deleted - was @jayce_frost - but thanks to https://t.co/BOCMFbvfLE we can still find gems like this pic.twitter.com/mSTi3XrHFV

— Bird Law Expert (@RealBirdLawyer) August 5, 2020

2. The account deactivating within MINUTES of me posting the first tweet makes me think I was correct and he panicked and 3. this tweet reads a little weird if it's one of his brothers but makes sense if it's him pic.twitter.com/PDvaB2prVq

— Tom (@TJFsports) August 5, 2020

This is a rookie mistake. In order to successfully run a burner you need to give the semblance of a real person. Post some food pics, grab a generic shot of a dog, sprinkle in everything required to sound like a real human whose entire existence doesn’t center on Derek Carr.

Which leads us to tip three ...

No. 3: Diversify your sports takes.

This requires skill and finesse, and may take some practice. In this case we’ll again assume the identity of @KCChiefs_83. Firstly, think in your character. What does @KCChiefs_83 care about? The Chiefs, obviously. So reply to some of their tweets with the following:

“My Chiefs looking goooood this year!” “Hell yeah those boys are ready!” “Mahomes HoF lock ALREADY.” “Nobody stands a chance against my Chiefs.”

NOW you’ve established a base, so when you see a Raiders fan talking trash about Derek Carr being terrible, you can really defend with a semblance of honor, saying:

“I HATE the Raiders, but y’all are crazy to give up on Carr.” “I’d MUCH rather see Mariota than Carr. So go for it lol.” “I’m a Chiefs fan, but seriously Carr gives you the best chance to win.”

You have a right to defend your athletic honor, but do it intelligently. This is the key to running a burner effectively.

No. 4: Always look for plausible deniability.

At some point someone will accuse you of being a burner. It comes with the territory. So be proactive and pre-schedule some tweets to happen during Raiders games. These can be simple, effective and vague.

“GOOD STOP!” “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!”

Things of that nature. Schedule them during the middle of the second quarter of a Raiders game, so if anyone dives in they’ll see these tweets and be like “well, the Raiders were playing — so it can’t be Derek Carr.” Then you can chuckle for a job well done.

No. 5: Don’t volume tweet.

The final tip is to pick your spots. Don’t spend all day talking about a single player or team. The bulk of your burner time will be building the persona. When it comes time to defend a player go after a big account and reply.

Wait under Adam Schefter talks about there being doubts about the Raiders’ QB situation, then dive in to get maximum exposure. Remember to front that you’re a fan of another team, and then you will start to gain some traction.

I believe in you athletes, you can do this — just follow these simple rules.

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years

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Will the Low- and No-ABV Movements Survive Covid-19?

If it seems like everyone in your social media feed is drinking more right now, they probably are. According to IWSR data shared with VinePair, retail alcohol sales during Covid-19 have hit double-digit growth, mirroring “holiday-type” volume and value spending.

Of course, any current data should be examined with the caveat that on-premise sales have plummeted, and many are replacing those purchases with stay-at-home Quarantinis. There’s also stockpiling to consider, though IWSR figures signal that the bulk of this took place during a two-week period in March, and sales since then have remained strong.

But just as our interactions with the physical world are largely confined to the views from our windows, we should not overlook the subjectivity of social media feeds. Put simply: Not everyone is drinking more right now.

“If anything, I’ve seen this kind of outpouring of, ‘Here are all the ways that I’m taking care of myself,’ and lots of people doing yoga and meditation,” says Sam Thonis, co-owner of Getaway, an alcohol-free bar in Brooklyn. Opened in April 2019, the bar has become a brick-and-mortar signifier of the growing low- and no-alcohol movements.

Prior to Covid-19, these movements had started gaining significant traction, with coverage reaching national media. By the end of last year, publications such as The Washington Post and The New York Times had devoted significant column inches to the popularity of lower-ABV spritz cocktails and hard seltzers, and the growing interest in the “sober-curious” lifestyle. While it was harder to back the “trend” with sales data, low- and no-ABV drinks had by then entered the cultural lexicon.

But like everything else right now, the future of the low and no movements feels delicately poised. Convincing drinkers that it might be a good idea to lower their alcohol consumption is difficult enough at the best of times, let alone in the midst of a global pandemic. And looking forward, there’s the dark cloud of recession looming on the horizon, which is likely to impact consumer spending. That could be a particular challenge for the zero-proof category, whose products have been priced at retail similarly to the boozy libations they were designed to replace. To boot: The non-alcoholic botanical “spirit” Seedlip sells for around $30 for 700 milliliters, while a slightly larger bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin sells for $25. These issues raise the question: What does Covid-19 mean for the future of the nascent low- and no-ABV movements?

Drinking Habits In a Global Pandemic

For Thonis, there’s no question that the zero-proof scene was gaining traction prior to Covid-19. After Getaway opened, it received significant press. While skeptics could argue it seemed like a niche “New York” concept, multiple operators around the country reached out to Thonis and told him they wanted to emulate his model.

Sales, too, seemed to indicate that the city that never sleeps was willing to take the occasional night off from booze. “Before March, when everything changed, the two normal months of 2020 were our best months yet,” he says. “We were on a serious upswing.”

Sadly, those sales have now crashed to nothing. Unlike some New York cocktail bars, Getaway hasn’t pivoted to takeaway or to-go options. And when stay-at-home orders are finally relaxed, Thonis realizes his bar’s offerings might be deemed as a luxury by some. “[Non-alcoholic cocktails] are not human necessities, unlike food and arguably alcohol,” he says.

Lifestyle writer Ruby Warrington has noticed contrasting attitudes on her social media feeds. In 2018, the New-York-based British author wrote a book on alcohol abstinence titled “Sober Curious.” Some have even credited the work with popularizing the no-ABV movement. Warrington also hosts a podcast of the same name and interacts via social media with a community of people who choose not to drink.

Many of those interactions have included people speaking about how glad they are that they don’t drink right now and don’t need to navigate hangovers in the midst of a pandemic. But when she opens her Facebook feed, which has a lot of people from her “pre-sober-curious life” in the U.K., she notices some friends repeating the kind of statements that could double as a quarantine meme, such as “How early is too early to start drinking?” and “Drinking alone doesn’t count in a crisis.”

“It almost feels like there’s a lot of bravado, a ‘let’s drink our way through it’ sort of attitude,” she says. “With my sober-curious goggles on, it does seem like underneath there’s a lot of fear.”

Her evaluation is backed by psychological science. “It makes a lot of sense that people are drinking more during this time: They want instant relief from anxiety, boredom, depression, and just not wanting to feel their feelings — alcohol offers a solution to that,” says Lindsay Hayden, a New York-based licensed mental health counselor who specializes in addiction.

Hayden warns that without the structure and routine of normal life, those who are using only alcohol as a coping mechanism could soon be facing more serious issues. “Not everyone who is relying on alcohol will come out of the pandemic with an alcohol addiction, but it is definitely something people should be watching out for,” she says.

Drinking Habits During a Recession

While the “new normal” of quarantine life is unprecedented to all experiencing it, at least some of what comes after Covid-19 is not without parallel. By many accounts, the world economy is headed into a long and potentially deep recession. The IMF predicts the coronavirus crisis could knock as much as $9 trillion off global GDP over the next two years. If previous recessions are benchmarks, that doesn’t spell good news for the low- and no-ABV movements.

During the eight-month 2001 recession, whose economic impact lasted for several years, alcohol volume sales grew year-over-year, totaling a 4 percent increase between 2001 and 2004, according to IWSR’s chief operating officer, Brandy Rand.

While alcohol sales growth was somewhat flat during the Great Recession of December 2007 to June 2009, that was only because of declining beer sales. “[U]nemployment rate at the end of 2009 was 10 percent, yet there was still an upward consumption trend outside of beer,” Rand explains.

The purchasing habits from both of the most recent recessions indicate that when economic times are tough, consumers turn to the bottle. Amid the uncertainty, and with less cash in their pockets, they also favor higher-ABV beverages to leverage more bang for buck.

Lisa Laird Dunn, executive vice president of Laird & Company, predicts a similar trend this time around. Founded in 1780, her family runs the oldest licensed distillery in America. In its 200-plus-year history, Laird & Co. has survived more than 30 recessions, two world wars, and even Prohibition.

While known for its Applejack, the distillery’s portfolio contains a broad range of products, priced from high- end to value brands. Laird Dunn confirms that the company’s lower-priced value brands typically sell best during a recession and expects to see a repeat of this trend following Covid-19. “I think you’ll find that there will be more price shopping versus just brand shopping,” she says.

But national sales statistics and the experience of recession-defying distilleries paint just part of the picture.

In January 2013, the University of Buffalo published a study on alcohol use during the Great Recession. Polling more than 2 million Americans between 2006 and 2010, the study uncovered notable increases in heavy drinking (3.9 percent) and frequent binge drinking (7.1 percent), but also found a slight increase in abstention from alcohol (0.8 percent). Put more simply: Not everyone decided to drink more. And there’s more than just anecdotal references to prove the same thing is happening right now.

On Thursday, global research firm Wine Intelligence published its first Covid-19-related consumer analysis report. Based on data collected at the end of March and beginning of April, the report found that, on average, wine consumption has remained stable during lockdown. But once again, this trend only tells part of the story.

“We’re seeing an increase in frequency of wine consumption amongst more engaged wine drinkers,” says CEO Lulie Halstead. “So those who were already drinking wine at higher frequencies are increasing that frequency.”

On the flip side, younger drinkers who were just discovering wine are now drinking it much less frequently than before, she adds. While this finding is based on data collected in Australia, Halstead says early examinations of international data appear to show a similar trend in other markets.

Hope For the Low- and No-ABV Movements

During previous recessions, those who opted not to drink were limited to sodas, seltzers, and water. But this time around, the market is already awash with interesting alcohol alternatives. From no-ABV beers to zero-proof spirits, there are a number of non-alcoholic options that taste just like the real thing (or pretty darn close) without the alcohol and with fewer calories. If consumers can get past price concerns, the compelling flavors and low-calorie appeal of these products could help keep the low and no movements humming along.

As one notable example, Scottish brewery BrewDog has reported strong demand for its range of alcohol-free beers this year. Compared to the last four months of 2019, volume sales on its e-commerce platform have surged more than 350 percent between January and April of this year.

“Just last week, we had our strongest day of online sales ever with the launch of our newest NA beer: Ghost Walker,” says CEO Jason Block. Demand from wholesalers has been stronger still, with volume growth reaching quadruple digits during the first four months of 2020.

The thirst for no-ABV spirits appears to be similarly strong. Ritual Zero Proof, a non-alcoholic beverage brand that offers gin, tequila, and whiskey alternatives, sold its entire six-month inventory in just five weeks when it launched in September last year. Despite the current global pandemic, March 2020 sales were up 16 percent over February, and April sales are on track to double that.

“Spirit alternatives like Ritual are today what veggie burgers and almond milk were a few years back: New, easy to knock, and so broadly desired there are now sections in the grocery store dedicated to them,” says founding partner Marcus Sakey. “Almond milk did $5.3 billion in 2018.”

Support from internationally acclaimed bartenders has given these alternatives further credentials. At Bar Kumiko in Chicago, partner and director Julia Momose curated an extensive “Spiritfrees” cocktail menu. The bar is currently offering five of these drinks as part of a temporary to-go menu.

One of the most vocal supporters of low- and no-ABV cocktails has been Derek Brown, owner of Washington D.C.’s Columbia Room. In February, Brown authored a high-profile article on embracing “mindful drinking” and detailing his own complicated relationship with alcohol.

Brown believes zero-proof cocktails can be just as delicious, interesting, and thought-provoking as those with booze. While he’s also noticed an anecdotal increase in alcohol consumption, he doesn’t think that will harm the low and no movements. In fact, Brown believes our current situation might serve as a wake-up call for many. “A lot of people who went into this wondering whether they had a drinking problem will come out of it knowing the answer to that,” he says.

For those who do, there’s never been a broader range of alternatives and support to help change those habits.

The article Will the Low- and No-ABV Movements Survive Covid-19? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/coronavirus-impact-low-no-alcohol-movements/

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johnboothus · 4 years

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Will the Low- and No-ABV Movements Survive Covid-19?

Drinking Habits In a Global Pandemic

Drinking Habits During a Recession

But national sales statistics and the experience of recession-defying distilleries paint just part of the picture.

Hope For the Low- and No-ABV Movements

One of the most vocal supporters of the low- and no-ABV drinks has been Derek Brown, owner of Washington D.C.’s Columbia Room. In February, Brown authored a high-profile article on embracing “mindful drinking” and detailing his own complicated relationship with alcohol.

For those who do, there’s never been a broader range of alternatives and support to help change those habits.

The article Will the Low- and No-ABV Movements Survive Covid-19? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/coronavirus-impact-low-no-alcohol-movements/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/will-the-low-and-no-abv-movements-survive-covid-19

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tak4hir0 · 5 years

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It starts with someone posting an AWS press release in the company chat. “AWS Announces FooBar,” the headline reads. The announcement skirts around technical details, as usual, but contains a worrying amount of buzzwords that overlap with the company’s product. Somebody responds with a grimace emoji 😬. Others reply with all the ways AWS FooBar is totally not like our product and, anyway, ours is better, and, and… The flurry of replies betrays their true collective emotion: We’re screwed. They’re right to be worried. As a marketing consultant to enterprise software startups for the past six years, I’ve helped companies navigate and succeed in this scenario at least eight times.[1] In this article I explain why every software startup should be prepared for this scenario, why the initial panic is justified, and how to position products against alternatives from “Big Cloud” (AWS, Azure, GCP). Every Software Startup Should Be Prepared to Compete Against AWS, Azure, and GCP Even if you’re not competing with Big Cloud today, there’s a good chance you will soon. This is especially true if your product is in the serverless, stream processing, machine learning, containerization, IoT, data warehousing, or batch processing space. Those are the fastest growing cloud services—according to a survey from Rightscale—and Big Cloud companies know it. Big Cloud companies earn the bulk of their revenues from metered billing of storage, compute, and streaming. Having turned those infrastructure workloads into commodities, the Big Cloud companies are in a race to provide differentiated products higher in the stack just to bring more customers onto their infrastructure. That is evident in the sheer size of their product portfolios and pace of product releases: AWS has 182 products and made 83 major product announcements (launches or major releases) in 2018.[2] You Should Worry When Big Cloud Launches a Similar Product There is a tendency, upon learning of a Big Cloud intrusion, to bury our heads. Internal emails will include explanations for why the Big Cloud product “is not really competitive,” “is not as good as ours,” and “can only take a small piece of the market.” Maybe those things turn true, but there are good reasons to at least take the competition seriously: 1. Resource Imbalance Big Cloud companies can win by brute force: Pouring obscene amounts of resources into engineering, marketing, and sales until they outrun or outlast the competition. It won’t be enough to have a better product by a smidgen, or to have a small head start in the market. 2. Complicated Relationship Startups participating in Big Cloud partner programs, such as the AWS Partner Network, will find themselves sharing sensitive information and valuable resources with the competition. For them, leaving the program would mean relinquishing a potentially significant acquisition channel. Meanwhile, Big Cloud wouldn’t flinch at losing a startup partner, and therefore has no incentive to be prudent with the information it obtains. 3. Broad Reach and Influence AWS can get on stage and influence a thousand people, or send an email and influence a hundred thousand, or play a TV commercial and influence millions. Using their broad reach and brand recognition, Big Cloud can influence how people perceive the market and make their decisions. 4. Captive Audience Even better than a reachable audience is a captive audience. Big Cloud companies have millions of users, already running on their platforms and familiar with their products. They can reach this audience to upsell and cross-sell products in a few clicks. 5. Pricing The objective for most Big Cloud products is not to make profit, but to bring customers onto the platform and increase infrastructure usage (compute, storage, streaming). Therefore the products can be users as loss leaders: Priced at very low or no cost, provided they drive increased infrastructure usage. For startups, at best this eliminates the option to compete on price, at worst it forces them to lower prices with no way to make up for it. 6. Easy Access Engineers at companies already running on AWS can buy, deploy, and integrate an AWS product before their coffee cools. Metered billing means there are no upfront costs or negotiations. Being on the same platform means seamless integration between tools and services. 7. Early decision In the past, decision makers had to choose whether to build a solution in-house or purchase software from a vendor. Today, the low prices, easy access, and brainshare of Big Cloud offerings create a new option for decision makers: Use what their cloud platform is offering. It used to be “buy vs build.” Now it’s “buy vs build vs big cloud.” For software startups, this means they can be ruled out even earlier in the buying process, before any conversation, evaluation, or feature comparison takes place. How to Win Against Big Cloud Prepare Attend trade shows, seek out insiders who might tip you off about looming competition, and generally keep an ear to the ground. Advance warning will allow you to dredge a wider moat, prepare a response, and avoid company-wide panic when the press release hits. Having a pre-emptive strategy for competing against Big Cloud will make it possible to ride the initial wave of hype following their announcement, leveraging their campaign to bring attention to your own product, and pulling away from other startups who will be caught by surprise. With the right strategy and execution, the launch of a competitive product from Big Cloud could be turned into a positive inflection point for the startup and its market. Even if you are not competing against Big Cloud now, good preparation will improve reaction time and chances of succeeding when the moment comes. If your product even remotely encourages more use of cloud compute, storage, or streaming, then you should prepare. Support Multi-Cloud According to the same survey by Rightscale, 84% of enterprise organizations have applications and workflows scattered across on-prem, private cloud, and public cloud environments. If you are “the #1 solution for X on AWS,” and AWS launches a solution for X, you become a distant second choice. If your product works across a variety of environments, then it will remain a viable—and probably better—option for buyers that want to solve an organization-wide problem. Those buyers will need a solution that works across their entire infrastructure, not just the part on AWS. Support for multi-cloud and hybrid environments is one of the most common reasons I hear from decision makers for why they bought software instead of using the cloud offering. Multi-cloud and hybrid-environment support could be a decisive advantage over Big Cloud offerings. And, unlike a small lead in features, this advantage will last a while: Big Cloud companies have little incentive to make products for other platforms. With options like Kubernetes and Gravity, adding that capability to products may not require a monumental engineering effort. Think Twice Before Open-Sourcing While it helps with awareness and credibility, open-sourcing products in whole or in part lowers the barrier to entry for competitors. For any new and sufficiently popular open-source product X, it is trivial for Big Cloud to introduce a “Managed X” offering, as AWS did with Elasticsearch, or to pair it with their security products and package it as “X for Enterprise,” as AWS did with MongoDB and as Google did with Kubernetes. (The Kubernetes story has a few fun twists in it: First, the company Docker released an open-source containerization product. By the time they launched a paid container management service, Google already developed and open-sourced their own container management solution, Kubernetes, which won the market. Then, after Docker released an enterprise solution for managed containers, Google beat Docker once again with the launch of Google Kubernetes Engine.) For example, when AWS launched a “Fully managed, scalable, and secure” packaging of the open-source software Elasticsearch, it led the makers of that software to admit: “… Amazon competes with us for potential customers, and while Amazon cannot provide our proprietary software, the pricing of Amazon’s offerings may limit our ability to adjust the price of our products.” The questionable benefits of open-core business models, combined with the vulnerability it opens to competition from Big Cloud companies—who are not ashamed of taking advantage—is why I advise companies to guard their product and not go open-source, or to limit their vulnerability if they already open-sourced, as Confluent did by changing their licensing when AWS pulled the same maneuver with Kafka, the open-source software from Confluent. Position Against the Category, Not the Product Now that companies decide between “build vs buy vs big cloud” before doing side-by-side comparisons of products, startups must position their product as a better alternative or complement to the entire “big cloud” category of solutions. Don’t talk about who has the better features. First, given the engineering resources available to Big Cloud companies, any feature advantage will be short-lived. Second, buyers make feature comparisons much later in the buying process, after ruling out the majority of options based on their perception—not features—of those products. So why is your product better than Big Cloud, despite the (likely) higher cost and time to deploy? Here are common answers I have found from my interviews with buyers, that may or may not apply to your product: Works Anywhere with Anything “Our product deploys, runs, and integrates with applications on any infrastructure. Organizations running applications hybrid or multi-cloud environments can use the product without restrictions and without consolidating to one cloud provider.” Self-Service for Non-Technical Users “Products from Big Cloud providers often serve the users closest to infrastructure work, such as engineers, operators, architects, developers. Our product lets non-technical users such as […] do their work without being blocked by or burdening technical teams.” End-to-End Solution “Our product is an end-to-end solution that does not require engineering work to glue parts and other systems together. Big Cloud products act more like building blocks that work well with other parts of their platform, but are not that useful or even usable on their own.” Purpose-Built “Our product was made—and continues to be developed—to solve the unique needs of your industry. It integrates seamlessly with people, workflows, tools, and systems you already have, such as […].” Expert Partners “In addition to documentation and examples relevant to your use cases, we provide expert support and consultation to all customers, regardless of their size.” Customer-Driven Development “We are laser-focused on making the best product for […], constantly making improvements based on input and emerging needs of people like you.” If you’re still unsure how to explain your advantage over Big Cloud products, ask the buyers who chose you over AWS, Azure, or GCP, like I did for Gravitational and for Netlify. After developing new positioning to compete against Big Cloud, turn it into new or updated messaging, align the company on that messaging, and bring it to market through your sales and marketing channels. Conclusion The entry of Big Cloud is not always a death knell, but it’s serious. Startups that acknowledge the threat from Big Cloud companies, prepare accordingly, and react with the right strategy and sense of urgency could not only survive but thrive. Maybe even long enough to be acquired by one. [1] An incomplete list: I was consulting FoundationDB when AWS launched Aurora; Scalyr when AWS launched its Elasticsearch service (often used for searching through logs); Gravitational when Google launched GKE; Domino Data Lab when AWS launched Sagemaker; Etleap when AWS launched Glue; Nexla when Google acquired Alooma and as AWS launched AWS Lake Formation; Netlify when Google acquired Firebase and when GitHub (owned by Microsoft) launched Actions. In one case I saw things from the other side: When the startup Particle launched their IoT solutions, I was consulting AT&T on launching their own IoT platform and marketplace… True to form, AWS also launched an IoT platform that year. [2] Product counts are approximate, and do not include general business product groups such as G Suite or Office 365. Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. ◼ PS - Liked this article? I write one every month or so, covering lessons learned on B2B startup growth. Don't miss the next one:

#Greg Kogan

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stringnarratives · 5 years

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An Act of Shelf Discovery

[This post brought to you spoiler free and full of the blogger’s personal experience!]

In my third-ever post on this blog on March 23, 2017, I wrote about making the switch from physical books to e-books. For someone who loved (and still loves) the sensory aspect of physical books, it was a daunting challenge, but a necessary one: At the time, I would go on average 6 months between moves, had three shelves at my consistent disposal, and more books than I could count. Books lived in piles next to my bed, were stored in boxes in the closet, were forced upon my brother (who is also an avid supporter of this blog and probably reading this post: In which case, hi!) under the guise of “recommendations” so they could live in his space instead of mine.

Fast forward two years and that habit has set in hard - I purchase between 85 and 90 percent of my books digitally now, even though some of the circumstances that made it necessary have thankfully expired (For the record, infrequent moving is an absolute joy!). In addition to a more compact, generally cheaper library that I abuse less and finish more, e-books have also contributed strongly to another new book-buying habit I’ve developed: Preordering.

In 2019, I made it a goal to learn more about my own literary consumption by forgoing the majority of traditional book shopping and preordering any new release that piqued my interest. Tracking each of my pre-purchases via color-coded spreadsheet (as one does, and indeed, must), I’ve thrown myself full-force into the new, and learned a lot in the process, both about the function of preorders in the publishing industry and about my own taste in literature.

The Purpose of Preorders

Before this experiment, my main experience with pre-orders had been primarily in relation to video games (I’m a sucker for midnight release downloads directly to my console) or limited edition media that I’m unlikely to procure without being proactive. I didn’t really know much about them beyond the consumer perspective, but being the chronic researcher I (clearly) am, I wanted to know what my new purchasing habit meant in greater context.

To break it down, preorders serve two main purposes in the publishing industry. They are A) a promotional tool for authors and publishers to build hype for a book before it’s released and B) an indicator for stores to properly respond to a book’s demand.

A preorder’s promotional value could come from a few different avenues. As pre-order sales contribute to the release week sales total for a book (as mentioned in this Parnassus Musings post), they can be valuable fuel for books that rocket to the top of bestseller lists. For first time or less well-known authors, having a preorder page automatically create an additional searchable content and feeling of legitimacy for books in the promotional phase. The more people who pre-order the book are also potentially more people who would share about their pre-order with their friends.

For established authors, preorders often come from existing fans of a series or the author themselves, and serve as an indicator as to the activity of the existing fanbase, efficiency of an author’s platform for communicating with fans, as well as their interest in new work.

In 2016, the written script of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” became Amazon’s No. 1 preorder for the year, according to CNET, and topped Barnes & Noble’s chart as well, according to Rolling Stone. While the exact number of preorders was apparently not released, it makes complete sense that the number would be a big one. Pottermore (which Wikipedia describes as a “digital publishing, e-commerce, entertainment, and news company from J. K. Rowling” not limited to the popular virtual Hogwarts experience) released a bulletin early last year that over 500 million Harry Potter books had been sold in the 20 years since the first book’s release.

In addition to their promotional function, preorders also serve as an indicator for a book’s popularity upon release. In a 2017 blog post to authors about the importance of pre-orders, Penguin Random House stresses that a high enough preorder number could “lead to retailers increasing their initial orders.” Last November, Barnes & Noble reported former first lady Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming” to be the most preordered book of 2018, according to The Washington Post. This article in particular points out how booksellers prepare for a book’s popularity based on a preorder buzz, “bracing” for enormous numbers of books to fly off the shelves by bulking up their orders ahead of time.

Preorders are a function of marketing in the publishing industry - an opportunity to get readers in the door early, and get them to talk about a book before its release. In return, readers get discounts, bonuses, the satisfaction of knowing they’ll be one of the first members of the public to receive the work, and, very occasionally, some insight into who they are as readers.

Getting Shelf-ish

In the four-ish months (at time of writing), around 22 books have come to me through the preorder method. With 13 books total read so far this year, about 7 of them were preorders, both they and the books between them have plenty to tell about how I read.

My taste is more consistent in concept than it is in practice.

Anyone who’s stuck around String Narratives long enough will know that, across mediums, I’m big on a few genres: Science fiction, horror and satire, primarily. When I started preordering books as a part of this experiment, I thought it pretty safe to assume that if a book fell into one of those categories, there was a good chance I’d enjoy it. Which, for the record, probably still holds true.

But one thing that I did notice early on in this experiment and didn’t expect at all was that I very, very quickly get bored with my own taste. I can get ahold of too much science fiction at once, too much horror. Both genres can get absolutely exhausting without a break between them - breaks I took naturally when purchasing books in a more traditional fashion without realizing. So, for all of those winter sci-fi reads I was so excited about started losing their appeal, I found myself turning to much different fare as a palate cleanser: YA fiction, books about food, and biography - three genres much lower on my radar which I ended up enjoying just as much.

Access to books is rarely the thing that keeps me from reading.

It is what it says on the tin. Where I’d previously easily blamed “not having anything to read” (a concept laughable to anyone who knows me, much less has lived with me and my books) for a lack of desire to consume printed work, I have to now own up to my truth. As books are on a similar mid-week release schedule as most other popular media, I get at least one book delivered to my e-reader most Tuesdays, which means there is always something to read. If I don’t want to read, it’s simply because I don’t feel like it. (Which is totally okay! Life happens and we roll with it.)

My library is built from recommendations.

Recommendations and reviews are my bread and butter when it comes to choosing what kind of media I want to ingest, and not always in the way you think. I typically rely on others to help discern the true atmosphere of a work when I’m easily caught up in cover art and promotional images. While books in the promotional stage are less likely to have a significant number of reviews, I still rely fairly heavily on Advance Reader Copy (ARC) reviews to estimate how much I’ll enjoy a book before preordering. Adding onto that, I get a lot of my book news from online outlets specifically dedicated to new book releases, including Verge’s monthly round-up of science fiction books and Book Riot’s whole entire site.

My new release discovery time is anywhere between 1 month and 10 months.

Was I absolutely stoked to find out that my book of the year 2018 - Semiosis by Sue Burke - was getting a sequel? I absolutely was. Did I preorder that sequel nine months and 11 days before it’s projected to come out? I absolutely did. For authors I already know, love and follow, I’m happy to be that fan that lets everyone know I’ve already made the preorder. For authors I’m less familiar with, or who are debuting their first book, that ten month window might actually shrink to something more like ten days. It isn’t a hard and fast rule, but there certainly is something to being in the know when it comes to favorite authors’ upcoming releases - a result of great communication and even better marketing.

The narratives we consume say a lot about us. They speak to our loves, our fears, the places we want to go between the hours of our waking lives. We pass them along to those around us, intentionally or not.

But as we become consistently more aware of how the stories around us shape our lives and mature in our understanding of how they fit into the world, we must also, I believe, recognize something else: The way we acquire narratives says just as much about us as the stories we choose to slip into.

#topics #preorders #books #book #ebooks #topic #preorder #a horrifying pun title

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jackdawyt · 4 years

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As my last video/post for 2019, I figured we should have a reflection on Dragon Age 4's major news updates and uncover what we know about Dragon Age 4 throughout this year and beyond! So, we can go into 2020 with the right expectations and understanding of the game's development!

The Dread Wolf Rises:

TLDR: Mark is excited to show more and Matthew states that this is the strongest team yet and they’re venturing forth on the most epic quest ever.

Project Joplin:

Based on Jason Schreier’s expose’ into the past and present developments of Dragon Age 4 - the previous iteration of Dragon Age 4 was known as ‘Joplin’, like Janis Joplin.

There was an emphasis on this ‘hugely reactive game, smaller in scope than Dragon Age: Inquisition but much larger in player choice, followers, reactivity, and depth.’

The developers talked about building systemic narrative mechanics, allowing the player to perform actions like persuading or extorting guards without the writers having to hand-craft every scene.

It was very ambitious and plenty of the developers were excited, stating that they put some of their best work into this project.

Project Joplin was reworked into Project Morrison with a skeleton team building the very foundations of the next Dragon Age.

Project Morrison:

The latest iteration of Dragon Age 4 that is currently in the works is known as ‘Morrison’, like ‘James Morrison’ – the lead singer of the rock band ‘The Doors’.

Jim Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. (Wikipedia).

This new version of the fourth Dragon Age is planned with a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue. It’s not clear how much of Joplin’s vision will shape Morrison.

Matt Goldman, art director on Dragon Age: Inquisition and then Joplin, took over as creative director for Morrison.

Many of the BioWare developers “know it’s going to change like five times in the next two years.”

Live Service/Multiplayer:

It has been confirmed on LinkedIn that BioWare has hired a software engineer to work on a multiplayer component for Dragon Age 4, however, it’s unsure what exactly this multiplayer could look like.

Production:

Now we get to the tea - The past and present developments of Dragon Age 4’s new iteration.

"We have several other big projects in the works. I wish I could tell you more about them, but they’re mostly super-secret right now. I can say however that one of our projects has a large and growing team in Edmonton working through pre-production, and based on the progress I’m seeing, I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises."

Key processes during the pre-production stages include:

Concept Art

Storyboarding

Level Design

Mechanic Design

This article initially launched in 2018 and has many rebuttals, the first being the release date.

Surely the Inquisitor will make a cameo appearance and that could justify why Alix could be doing VO?

"When VO is coming in and it's fan-tastic, but it means saying goodbye to that goofy robot text-to-speech that makes you all laugh."

So, indeed voice work does seem to be going on for Dragon Age 4’s development at this stage.

Regardless, it’s very exciting to see the start of official artwork developing for Dragon Age 4, I’ll be keeping an eye out to see how this board develops further.

Around the same time, Matt Rhodes, an Art Director, posted a short story on his Instagram stating that he’s “more excited working on Dragon Age 4 than any other project so far.”

Just after BioWare moved offices, Fernando Melo, a senior producer on The Dread Wolf Rises left the studio after 12 years.

He signed off with an email sent to everyone on the Dragon Age team, stating that he left at the “least disruptive timing as it would likely get.”

Fernando said that “with a great game leadership team in place, a fantastic creative vision, and some of the best devs in the world. Morrison is well underway to becoming the definitive Dragon Age experience - and I'm incredibly proud and honored to have played a part in that. I'll be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to experience the next DA as a fan this time around.”

Mark Darrah Major Hints & Teases:

Now we get to the most divisive news topics - the teases from Executive Producer Mark Darrah!

At E3 2018, in a video interview with Game Informer, Mark Darrah said that Dragon Age 4 was going ‘swell’ with a cheeky grin.

However, to be fair, Mark dropped an image that resembles Dragon Age, only we’ve never seen anything quite like it before.

However, back to the picture teases, and Mark Darrah also posted another photo…

On Dragon Age Day, Again, Mark Darrah posted another screenshot of Dragon Age 4 with everything redacted other than a pixel in the corner.

And, erm, yep. That’s super. Thanks for that, Mark.

Story:

The next narrative surrounds the Dread Wolf rising and attempting to destroy the veil, it’ll most likely be our next protagonist’s goal to stop Solas from achieving this.

Instantly what comes to mind is Nevarra's Mortalitasi – Death Mages that's responsible for the mummification process of the dead in Nevarran culture. However, we’re not sure how much of his work went into the cancelled Joplin, considering the timing at which he worked on Dragon Age 4.

So, if you want to see where Dragon Age 4’s narrative may go, or which characters could turn up, read the comics as they’re pushing the narrative forward.

Weekes’s Tweets:

Adding to the story category, we have plenty of tweets by Patrick Weekes that hint at future elements for Dragon Age 4.

Patrick said: “Oh that’s obvious, I’d go with (Reads parenthetical) THIS IS RIGGED.”

So, Scout Harding as a Dragon Age 4 Companion teased? I freaking hope so.

Weekes was asked about non-binary lingo & representation and if the players would have the option to not identify as a male or female in the next Dragon Age. They replied saying:

“No guarantees (it's something that is very difficult in romance languages we get translated into), but our team is always looking for better ways to let players see themselves in our games.”

Other Dragon Age Projects:

According to EA’s 2019 Earnings Call, “there are plans for not only Dragon Age 4, but other Dragon Age products too.”

On top of that, at a guess, it could also be an extension to the Dragon Age Keep.

Expectations:

if you have anyone saying there’s no news for Dragon Age 4, just gently send them my way and share this video in their dm’s!

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