#the profit Mainly goes to netflix.

[world-cinema-research]

Week 4 World Cinema Research Blog - by Natalyn Wakeling

Carrie 1976

Carrie is a horror film that was released in 1976. The film was directed by Brian De Palma. Carrie was a breakthrough for its time because it was one of the first mainstream horror films. What I found remarkable about the film was the way it was produced. the lighting, sound effects, and slow and speed up of time throughout the film really give it a dimension that I have not seen up until this point from films I have watched and researched for this class. The storyline of this film goes as follows: Carrie is a sheltered, high school girl who is tormented by her classmates. She possesses the power of telekinesis, and ultimately uses this power when she is finally fed up with all of the foolery from her classmates at the prom.

As stated above, the film was directed by Brian De Palma. The film was budgeted at 1.8 million dollars. The film grossed 33.8 million dollars, making it one of the most profitable of the films I have watched and researched at this point. These numbers make this film a big commercial success. Many cinematic works today have used elements from Carrie such as telekinesis, and the plot of revenge on classmates. We see telekinesis used in modern storylines such as Eleven from the Netflix series Stranger Things. Obviously the storyline of the film Carrie was already written out in the Stephan King novel, so this was the major influence of the film. Carrie was one of the groundbreaking films to be a commercial success in the horror genre, which paved the way for more mainstream horror films to come.

Critically, the film was highly reviewed by film critic Roger Ebert. He described Carrie as "an absolutely spellbinding horror movie, with a shock at the end that's the best thing along those lines since the shark leaped aboard in "Jaws."".

He is right in that the ending is the most recognizable part of the film. The ending truly is the climax, and all of the event before were the build up to Carrie's breaking point. The New York Times wrote of the film being "not frightening at all until the very end, and then it is briefly and extremely frightening." This made the movie very notable in this way, and probably produced a lot of word of mouth advertisement from people speaking of their experiences watching the film. There is mainly good things to say about the film from critics, and I would agree with the remarks made both by Ebert and the New York Times on the film.

In 1976, Apple was officially founded by Steve Jobs. This also happens to be the year that the film Carrie was released. These events coexistence has significance to me because There was a big jump in production from this film to a film made even 5-10 years ago. This film included a lot of lightening, sound, editing, and action scenes that all contributed to the ambiance of the film. This relates to Steve Jobs and the Apple company because it shows a progression in technology during this time. Steve Jobs starting up a user-friendly electronics company from his garage really displays the technological advancements of this time. Along side the productional advancements seen in this film.

I believe that marketing was on of the reasons why Carrie became a commercial success. The trailer in particular does a good job of introducing the story line, but not ruining the ultimate surprise at the end of the movie that makes it notable. I think this plays into why the film became a commercial success, and why critics and other ordinary reviewers of the film found it remarkable for its time.

Carrie is a horror film, and the production, acting, and dialogue serves in portraying it as such.

Margaret White: Witch. Got Satan's Power. 

Carrie: It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It's me. Me. If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things.

Carrie (1976) IMDb

This line of dialogue between Carrie and her mother sets the tone of the film. It displays Carrie's mother having personal insecurity of her sin outcasting Carrie, and Carrie constantly trying to defend herself to her mother. One particular scene that was remarkable to me was when the camera was slowly spinning out of control while panning in on Carrie and Tommy. It built suspense, and had symbolism of how the night would spiral out of control. Scenes like this show how the advanced production of films added new dimension to how we perceive the film.

From todays prospective, there is a familiarity to the film that is seen throughout many horror films I have watched. Sound effects, jump scares, and the suspense built in the film are all common factors of other horror films, which give it the familiarity. I think something standout about this film in comparison to other horror films was Carrie herself. Usually the protagonist is subjected to the horrors that take place in the film, but in this case, Carrie was the horror. "I'm goin', Mama. You can't stop me. And I don't wanna talk about it anymore. " When Carrie said this, she really meant it. She threw her mother on the bed multiple times with her telekinesis to make it out of the door for prom, which is where we start seeing the darker side of Carrie.

I believe that Carrie was meant to be unconventional for its time, but is definitely perceived as conventional now. Carrie was set up for success being a film of famous horror novelist Stephan King. The film is easy to follow, and not too deep until the very end, making have traits of a conventional film. I believe that the style and production of this film is what made it standout, and breakthrough, paving the way for other mainstream horror films.

Overall, Carrie was a huge success for its time. The innovation of production style and the introduction of horror into mainstream cinema, are components that made the film remarkable, and why there has been remakes and buzz around it to this day.

#Youtube

[moviemunchies]

Before creating The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins was an up-and-coming director among Christian moviemakers who made a deal with a studio (that was mainly known for wrestling??) for what everyone hoped would be a lucrative deal, making a bunch of successful Christian movies. He opened with a film he put a lot of work into, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.

Then it bombed at the box office, and Jenkins felt like his entire career was over.

Since it was on Netflix, I decided I’d give it a try! After all, I am of the opinion that financial success is no indicator of quality when it comes to art and media. There are plenty of great films that did terribly in the box office, and there are plenty of terrible movies that are incredibly profitable. 

Let’s give this one a try.

I mean, ‘eh’?

Alright, it’s fine. It’s a good Christian movie, and it certainly didn’t deserve to bomb, but I remember thinking that this came from the same guy that made The Chosen, which surprised me with how different it felt than a lot of Biblical screen fiction. The Resurrection of Gavin Stone felt like a typical Christian film. A good example of one, to be sure, and miles ahead of God’s Not Dead, but it didn’t feel like it was breaking much ground.

The story goes like this: Gavin Stone was a famous, mem-making child actor who has been trying to build his career in Hollywood as an adult, but it’s been hampered by his own party hard lifestyle. After a particular indiscretion, he’s sent back to his hometown and given community service at a local megachurch. While sweeping floors there, in order to impress the pastor’s daughter, he joins the church’s local play in the role of Jesus (he actually is a talented actor). But to do so he has to pretend to be Christian, and things become complicated when his Hollywood life comes knocking.

One of the ways in which this film is pretty heavy-handed is that Gavin is apparently almost completely ignorant of Jesus and the Bible? He knows who Jesus is, but he doesn’t seem to have a clue that Jesus of the Gospel is humble and doesn’t draw attention to himself. It makes an amusing set of sequences in which he’s desperately pretending he knows what he’s talking about, but really? He doesn’t realize that Jesus isn’t the type to shout down people with thunder? I know some people who don’t know the difference between Old and New Testaments, but it’s 

It’s worth noting that the other cast members of the play, especially those that Gavin works closely with, see right through his act and immediately know that he’s faking it based on simple conversations. They just don’t say anything about it because they want to help him, and because he’s the best actor in their cast.

Overall, I do really like these interactions. He’s utterly clueless about anything regarding church, and they’re utterly clueless about anything involving acting. I thought this bit could use more work, not because what’s there is bad, but what it’s pretty good and I wanted more of it. Entering a new group, whether that’s a religious group, a school group, or club, it’s important to have a group of people to build yourself with, and I’m glad it wasn’t just Gavin and Kelly bonding to help bring him to the point where the movie wanted him.

I also felt as if we really need a stronger motivation for Gavin to get involved in the first place. The one we get is that he wants to impress Kelly, the pastor’s daughter, and it spirals out of there. But why does he want to impress her so badly after meeting her once? I don’t know, their chemistry isn’t bad, but in their first conversation, it isn’t as if it’s enough to convince me they have an instant connection.

And to this movie’s credit, Gavin and Kelly’s relationship isn’t really a done deal by the end. I thought we’d get a shot of them kissing at the end and the movie being like, “LOOK! They’re perfect together!” the way most movies do (especially Hallmark-type movies do). Maybe being an explicitly Christian movie they didn’t want to do a kissing scene? Or move as fast as an average Hollywood couple? In any case, it ends with them deciding they want to keep seeing each other, and I felt that made sense.

Doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of cheese in that relationship over the course of the movie. YMMV on whether that’s a feature or a bug.

[I’m also super amused by how it turns out that apparently every guy in their age group has tried asking out Kelly and gotten nowhere.]

And so this movie is…fine. It’s good, but it’s not outstanding, not surprising in its general shape. It’s got fun little bits, but again, from the man who made The Chosen I was expecting something that would surprise me. And I don’t want to knock this movie or its cast, because I’m imposing unfair expectations on it. The cast does a great job with the material it has! Still, if you’re anticipating something as different as The Chosen, you’re bound to be disappointed.

#The Resurrection of Gavin Stone #Dallas Jenkins #Movie Munchies #reviews

[tumbwr]

#squid game #netflix #paik4president #tiktok #tik tok #transcript is in the notes ! TYSM to that person! #Edit: i’m unsure of how i feel abt this tiktok. i posted it while wine drunk lol #but for now i’ll take the tags out and add this addendum here bc it was a good point that these thingsare. a bit more nuanced #bc it was directed by a korean person and had a korean team #However Paik points out in his comment section that netflix is still american owned #and that while yes korean ppl were there #(the director/team) #the profit Mainly goes to netflix. #is what my understanding of this all is #i think it’s still useful of a critique tho #feel free to add any helpful commentary/be nice of course #and hi hello if you are reading this ♡ #edit edit: maybe it’s fine and i was overthinking this! but nbd. sorry for the many tags if ur reading this

[antoine-roquentin]

Over the course of 2020, Elon Musk’s wealth skyrocketed from $27.7 billion to $147 billion. Musk even overtook Bill Gates, to become the second richest person in the world. This was a tremendous jump in fortune: Musk was only at 36th place in January 2020. Musk’s enrichment was mainly due to Tesla’s rising stock price (TSLA:US), which surged from $86 in January to $650 in December. Tesla is currently one of the ten most valuable companies in the US stock market.

In an already record-breaking year, Tesla’s largest and most rapid increase in valuation came in November, due to its announced inclusion into the S&P 500 index, now scheduled for 21 December 2020. Within a week of this announcement, Tesla’s share price rose by 33%, as passive funds now have to invest more than $70 billion. This was a remarkable boost for stock of a company that many analysts say is already obviously overvalued.

some other measurements of tesla’s overvalued nature: musk’s wealth is actually more like $167 billion and the amount index funds invested was more like $80 billion. tesla ships 10% of the cars of general motors, yet will make up 1.5% of the s&p 500, as opposed to GM’s 0.17%. most of tesla’s just under $1 billion net profits as of its entire existence is due to sales of emissions credits, not cars.

so why is tesla so overvalued? it’s a sign of a deep structural problem in capitalism. anybody who’s read their marx or schumpeter comes away with a knowledge of how capitalism drives its own survival through creative destruction. blockbuster yields to netflix, kodak and polaroid to digital cameras to cell phones. however, this process is rather bad for individual capitalists, whose savings in these companies get wiped out.

in 1979, fed chairman paul volcker raised interest rates to an eye popping 21.5%, driving unemployment over 10% and harming millions of families in america and abroad, primarily racialized ones. he did this in order to keep the engines of capitalism going. many companies had become zombie companies, content with lower profits and lower increases in productivity, allowing their workers comfortable livings through detente with unions who demanded wage increases that fueled inflation. volcker destroyed most of these companies, allowing major businesses to pick up old steel mills, family farms, and mom and pop stores at discount rates and implement new technologies to increase productivity or outsource their workers. this is where we get wal-mart, niche steel, and big agro. it saved capitalism, but doomed everybody who had invested in these old companies.

today, interest rates are 0.1%. zombie companies are now 20% of all firms. it’s very easy for a company to pay out old debts by simply taking new ones. there is a global savings glut due to the massive amount of money that has accrued to the rich. since these people can only consume so much, they end up saving even more than if the money had been spread among the poor. since money saved is money invested, unless you’re doing something like keeping it under a mattress (and no rich person is), this results in a massive demand for any investment vehicles whatsoever. even the wildest ideas get funded. insane tech startups, rental properties, you name it. at the same time, most of the money is inevitably going to end up in stuff that just keeps its worth, like index funds, which have increased in value by $3.2 trillion between 2006 and 2018. as a result, stock demand goes up, driving values ever higher, even when these companies barely make enough money to justify their valuations, simply because they are considered too big to fail, and the fed will come in with commercial bond market purchases to rescue any investors who might lose. after all, some of that money will inevitably go into lobbying politicians, right?

so why the massive overvaluation for tesla? because it represents the best hope for any creative destruction, any real profit, in a time where there is none. the promise of tesla is that it will be so efficient that it will shake up the market and bankrupt lots of car and oil companies. and with this many billions in funding, there’s actually a reasonable chance it might get there, whereas under normal conditions (september 2019, when its stock price was $50 and not $650) it simply did not look like a great bet. but more importantly, the fact that investors are flocking to tesla instead of anybody promising truly high productivity growth is a sign that capitalism may be ossifying into something even worse, a neo-feudal system where the superrich have access to escape hatches any time they lose money while we don’t. were this to be reversed, where the working class has a cushion they can fall back upon when creative destruction occurs while the rich stand to lose their pants (save, of course, for the aforementioned floor on living standards), you’d have a much better functioning system (not to mention if there was a rise in demand through wealth redistribution to workers to end the savings glut). but the only people who advocate saving capitalism are the supposed socialists in government, AOC and sanders, and meanwhile the real socialists are nowhere to be seen.

[gooseymacleans]

a lot of white women in dbh fandom either fetishize white gay men. or sometimes they write these tone deaf self insert fics. usually depicting a white human lady who feels sorry for androids, showing how 'woke' she is by quoting mlk or nelson mandela or some other black person. it's like some of these people don't get how offensive it was for david cage to exploit the struggles of black people and they don't care either. they just want to fuck the white cop robot.

asjkdsajkld GO AHEAD KING STEP ON THIS PLATFORM BABEYYY! TAKE EVERYONE PRISONER!! LEAVE NO ONE LEFT ALIVE!!!

a lot of the fandom keep forgetting that their foundation is build on david cage’s exploitation of black people’s trauma, jewish people’s trauma, and profits off history that isn’t for him to tell. whenever a white person thinks they’re saying something by creating stories and films where “imaginary” characters are substitutes for marginalized people (ex. netflix’s “bright” and amazon prime’s “carnival row”). fairies, elves, and orcs go through a type of discrimination that is a lot like racism because of who they are, how they look, and how they are perceived as “other”. this is just a way for white people to digest the meaning of racism but it’s also incredibly harmful because it gives the perception that this doesn’t happen at all today when in reality, it is...and people are dying because of it. gosh not to get emotional but i was rewatching some of dbh because there was a mod for it and just...the way that this game is echoing a lot of what’s happening right now is just...it’s horrible! how can y’all demonize a violent revolution?? how dare a white person think that violence isn’t the answer when there is literal violence coming from the opposing side. then there’s the whole fucking fist symbol, the “i can’t breathe” shit, the “we have a dream”, the “hands up, don’t shoot”...literally getting sick thinking about how the game got away with so much shit and no one batted a fucking eyelash.

seriously, you really did capture this whole fandom in a nutshell. it’s incredibly frustrating when at the end of the day, the only thing the fandom walks away with from playing/watching the game is that connor is hot, nothing else. everyone’s attention is only drawn to connor’s storyline where they only care about him and the characters within his little world. it’s mainly white people (specifically white women) who are out here drooling over hankcon and reed900 as if gay men are some sort of sideshow attraction and say that they care about gay people when they don’t. even with rk1k, the ship between markus and connor, there are some works and fanart that depict a lot of racial stereotypes of markus and that shit ain’t right. people make fanfiction for stale side white characters and for what purpose? why can’t y’all think of headcanons for josh, a history university lecturer who definitely knows that history is repeating itself. what about rose and her son adam? why can’t y’all expand on her story and actually explore why she got into helping androids the that she does? and above all, why don’t y’all white stannies DESPISE markus? he is the literal at the center of dbh, this is his story...how are y’all just gonna brush him aside because you think he’s “boring”? this is not only the fault of DC but also the entire fandom. i have seen fandom literally create a character’s whole ass backstory, complete with fears and wants and dreams, for a side character that doesn’t fucking matter. trust if gavin was actually a man of color, he would be hated and cancelled. if hank was a man of color, he wouldn’t be forgiven for his past prejudices. hell, if connor was a man of color, y’all would NOT be this way with him...that’s on racism.

i did wanted to make this a separate paragraph because as a lot of y’all know, i used (maybe still..who knows) to write for dbh and i have seen firsthand the type of fics you described. the reader is either described as having the same prejudice as hank towards androids or the reader thinks “androids rights!” but it’s so base level activism and fake woke. like come on, girly, i don’t give a shit if you educated yourself by reading things, now what are you gonna do with the knowledge? how are you going to help this population? have you checked your own biases? then...that kinda gets to another thing where it drives me bananas thinking that white authors will write the reader as not having any sympathy towards androids...like what about us people of color who hurt alongside with them? who know what it’s like? it’s so vile to think that an author could write a reader to be so uncaring...it comes from a privileged place and that’s why i literally hate the self-insert dbh fandom. there is no representation whatsoever and whenever something is marketed as “neutral”, it never really is if the reader doesn’t care about androids. if the reader is actually written as neutral and to be “woke”, it’s a big ole bruh moment when they be like “why can’t we all get along :(” like fuck off!! we can’t get along because we still got a fucking police state, racist people in the streets, and the literal production of servants of color WHO STAND AT THE BACK OF THE BUS!! what is the reader doing about it? what are their biases? what are their privileges, if any? that’s why there’s not a single reader insert that is truly “neutral” because we know racism hasn’t been eradicated in the year 2038 (despite what rose said y’all KNOW that shit is deeply rooted and if the same establishments are still in place in detroit, we know racism hasn’t left) so we know that there will still be discrimination towards people of color. we can’t have neutral readers when writing in the dbh universe because that shit goes hand in hand. people of color, more so women of color, are gonna be far more sympathetic/empathetic towards androids and their cause than white people because they see a lot of themselves in them.

that’s why i tried to write for latinx readers while i was actively in the dbh fandom as a way to get the fandom into diversifying the reader. i have been incredibly vocal on my writing blog about these issues and though i was overwhelmed with love, support, and praise, i still wasn’t seeing the change the fandom promised to do. i was still seeing the same white reader being advertised as “neutral” ...and it hurt. neutral readers can’t provide the much needed nuances to discuss racism and discrimination about androids (since they symbolize black people/people of color do not argue this) because there needs to be a deeper understanding. yes, i have some privileges where i haven’t experienced half the shit others have experienced and i am not the spokesperson for people of color everywhere but i just know that we can no longer write neutral readers anymore when it comes to shit like this. it’s like when y’all right for 1940s!bucky barnes, you know damn well a woman of color would NOT be treated fairly during that time. that’s the nuance. you must be able to have the room to talk about it because then the work of fiction caters to white women. out of sight, out of mine and they go back to fucking connor. honestly, clown behavior.

no more “being hank’s daughter”, “gavin reed’s sister”, “reader that doesn’t care about androids/doesn’t believe in rights for androids” and other bullshit like that. society has progressed past being associated with white people!! fuck that shit xx

#ask #dbh #detroit: become human #mama mia i wrote a lot bye #Anonymous

[deep-sea-skiving]

Thoughts on the 90s sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.

One of the biggest and most well-known comedies of the 1990s was the British Sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. The show was created and written by Jennifer Saunders, an incredibly popular comedian who had previous television successes with her comedy partner, Dawn French. Though French was mainly absent from the Absolutely Fabulous series apart from a few cameos, her cooperation was integral to the creation of the show. Absolutely Fabulous actually has its origins in another show which featured both French and Saunders this being of course the French and Saunders sketch show. The Sketch was called Modern Mother and Daughter and featured in episode six of the show’s sixth series. The Premise of what would later become Absolutely Fabulous was already established here so much so that the daughter already had the name of Saffron. The sketch portrayed the relationship between a middle-aged mother who acted more like a spoiled child and her daughter who was 18 going on 50. Absolutely Fabulous continued upon this premise and explored this dynamic wider adding a wider assortment of now infamous characters such as Patsy Stone played by Joanna Lumley. The show went on to have immense commercial success with five series, 39 episodes, 7 specials and one movie.

The series like the previously mentioned sketch follows the disaster life of Edina Monsoon otherwise known as Eddy, a middle age woman who though she has everything a person would want in life she is still completely miserable. Edina’s character is spoilt, she has never had to try to work for anything or to achieve anything. She is incredibly consumeristic and only believes that something is worthwhile if it has monetary value or can give her the social status that she desperately craves. She will blindly follow any fad craze or new diet which is popular in the moment. Due to her spoilt nature, Edina is egoistic and self-centred, her struggles are greater and more important than anything that anyone else may be going through. As such she is extremely insensitive and lacks the ability to sympathise with others. Edina has even on occasions manipulated and exploited her own family for her own gains such as when she took advantage of Saffy (without her own consent), her own daughter for the sake of getting the chance to be featured in the big cover piece of a fashion magazine. Though Edina has got nearly everything under the sun she is still immensely unhappy with her looks and her weight. This causes extensive anger about the issues such as looks which Eddy can’t fix with money or at a clinic which is normally taken out on her daughter who is apparently the reason why a of this occurred. Edina is often accompanied by Patsy Stone, who can only be described as a dried-up old alcoholic and substance abuser. It is clear from the start that Pasty absolutely detests Edina’s daughter, Saffron but the reasoning behind this is more ambiguous. It could be argued that it is due to Saffron being a “killjoy” on most occasions or that Saffron takes Eddy’s attention away from Patsy. Without Edina, Patsy is fully alone, she has no true friends and no family. Therefore, Saffron’s existence poses a huge threat to Patsy friendship to Edina, this is probably a good explanation why she in one episode sold Saffron into slavery in morocco! Both characters are disgusted by the inevitability of aging and will try anything to remain youthful and relevant. Though in this relationship, Patsy is always the one which influence Edina’s behaviour and actions, mainly for the worse. Saffron otherwise known as Saffy, is the neglected child of Edina due to this Saffy had to grow up quickly to look after herself. The character is rational and pragmatic but holds an enormous grudge against her mother. As such, Saffy goes out of her way to be the complete opposite of her mother and enjoys the disapproval it brings. Some other notable characters include Bubbles an effectively useless PA and Edina’s mother arguably the main cause of some of Edina’s Psychological trauma and issues.

The series is incredibly enjoyable to watch, though some of the jokes nowadays may appear to be quite outdated and sometimes even a little be offensive. However, this is an evitability due to the main characters’ awful personalities and morals. What I find incredibly unique about the show is that Eddy and Patsy are incredibly unlikable characters and they are designed to be viewed like this. There are times where it may appear that Edina or Patsy has done something ‘caring’ or ‘good’, but this is always short-lived. There is nothing redeemable about these characters in the slightest which I think is rare in comedies which tend to have more lovable characters as their focus. The show very well portrays how the fashion industry is corrupted and controlled by those with a lot of economic and social status who themselves have atrocious morals and values. There is also the emphasis on the need to create profit and if individuals, animals or the environment get exploited in the search, then that’s just an unfortunate consequence. Though I think the portrayal of the lack of work which goes into the fashion industry is very misguided, this series does a good job at showing the inner workings of the fashion industry and the weird assortment of characters who operate in it. Absolutely Fabulous is available to watch in the UK on Netflix and if you have the chance you should check it out, though it’s not to everyone’s taste and some scenes are outdated there is still some enjoyment to be made.              

#retro #vintage #90s aesthetic #90s fashion #vintage 90s #90s nostalgia #90s #1990svintage #1990s aesthetic #1990s style #1990s #tv shows #tv #1990s tv #tv show #abfab #absolutely fabulous #jennifer saunders #dawn french #patsy stone #tv film

[queenmercurys]

So, I usually refrain from expressing too many “problematic” opinions on this platform mainly because I don’t wanna deal with anon hate. I’ve done so in the past and it’s never been fun. But since I’ve been talking my friends’ ears off about Disney recently, I thought I would give it a go here. Yes, in the safety of the “read more”-button, because overall, my opinion doesn’t matter and I don’t wanna force it on anyone.

Let’s cut to the chase. I kind of hate Disney. Don’t get me wrong, I watch Disney films and I occasionally reblog some Disney stuff. I think some of their earlier things, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Atlantis, are truly enjoyable films. But I’ve never been into the whole Marvel phenomenon. I don’t care about superhero movies, and the way Marvel is insistent upon franchising everything and essentially making every film a cliffhanger for another cliffhanger film, just makes the whole sub-genre less appealing to me. I’m not exactly an action film fan as it is, and when it’s done in such a chaotic way as the Marvel films tend to be, I’m even less convinced. I’m not saying every Marvel film has to be a John Wick in the quality of action, but... one of them could be, no? As for Star Wars, well, it is my personal opinion that Disney has thoroughly ruined the franchise, to the point that I actually prefer the prequels. Maybe they were messy, badly acted and boring, but at least they felt like films - rather than products made for a cash grab. 

As for their other products, well, I like Tangled. Moana is passable. Frozen is fine (but only fine). But none of these animated films have touched me in ways that, for example, The Swan Princess, The Prince of Egypt and Quest for Camelot have. Ever since I was a child, I’ve preferred non-Disney animated films without even realizing it. Maybe it’s because to me, the non-Disney films just tackle more complicated, fascinating stories that rely less on the chance to make merchandise and more on the opportunity to make good content. I have often heard the term of something being “too Disney”. Which, basically, kinda means that a film is just too family-friendly when it really doesn’t have to be. And that is probably something missing from the non-Disney examples I just gave. Admittedly, all of these films are from the 90′s, and I’m sure Dreamworks and co. have now fallen into the same cash-grab trap that Disney is currently sitting in. But nevertheless, I still consider most non-Disney animated films to be superior to their Disney counterparts. Part of it is definitely my annoying habit of disliking something that is too popular simply because it is popular - but I don’t think that’s the whole story. And my dislike of Disney has only grown over the years, to the point that I’m considering boycotting the company entirely. And here’s a few of the biggest reasons why:

Disney+. Yes, every company has the right to try to make money, and they should. But I think Disney+ will only mean the death of other streaming services, and eventually, the death of diversity and creative freedom in the film and TV industry. I prefer Netflix over anything Disney has ever spat out, and while I recognize its flaws, I hope that it will not get overshadowed by Disney+. But who are we kidding? It will. Especially in America, Disney is this sacred thing that nothing can defeat. Disney’s mediocre films (such as Frozen and Marvel movies) are praised as gifts from God, and everything else is either compared to Disney products, or discarded because of Disney. From everything I have read and watched, Disney+ is going to be a real threat to all of its contemporaries. It’s going to be cheaper than Netflix and others, and it’s going to have the products the masses adore (again, namely Marvel). Netflix will lose customers, and Disney+ will gain them. This will most likely make it difficult for Netflix to make new original content, and will most likely also affect movie theatres. Because if Disney+ continues their trend of releasing films on the platform rather than in theatres, well, what choice do Disney fans have but to join the service? And in the end, we’ll be left with nothing but films and shows that are so lifeless, or old classics we know from beginning to end. And neither one of these options encourage anything new. 

This brings me to my second point, which is the lack of creativity and new ideas. You only have to look as far as the Disney liveaction remakes to see that they don’t care if they give you new, quality entertainment. All they care about is getting your money. And again, I am also at fault here. I liked Cinderella just fine. I loved the new Aladdin. I paid to go see those films. I gave Disney my money and thus, encouraged them to make new liveaction remakes. So, I can’t really criticize much when I’m also the offending party here. But still. Remaking every single classic Disney film? That is just exploiting nostalgia to the point that it’s becoming absurd. And all this does is stop Disney from working on new, interesting films that don’t exist in an already established franchise, or aren’t direct remakes. It’s not like Disney doesn’t have the money to take risks. It just refuses to, because why take risks when you can make easy money? And make no mistake. Aladdin 2019 was easy money. Frozen 2 was easy money. And however nice these products are, it does show in the end result. The stories are recycled, and feel kind of lifeless. The fact that people are comparing The Rise of Skywalker to Avengers Endgame only proves that Disney is not only recycling its’ own ideas, but that it’s stripping the directors and writers involved of their creative freedom. I’ve read stuff about how much JJ Abrams had to change in The Rise of Skywalker to accommodate Disney, and it’s actually pretty scary. What the hell is even the point of trying to tell original stories if Mickey Mouse is just gonna come and tell you to rewrite everything you’ve worked on? Disney is perhaps the most obnoxious and money-hungry company I have ever heard of in my life, and that’s saying a lot when there’s companies like Amazon and Apple around.

My third and final point is the fact that Disney owns, or is on its’ way to owning, everything. Absolutely everything. Star Wars. 20th Century Fox. You name it. Almost everything in the film industry at this point is Disney. And that sucks. It sucks so much. I can’t put it any other way. It terrifies me that Disney is in charge of so much of the content we are given. Because, let’s face it. Disney is not the most risk-taking company (at least not anymore), and certainly not the most diversity-encouraging one. People of color, LGBTQ+ characters, you name it - all of the representation in film and TV will most certainly lessen even more once Disney has its’ claws in everything. Disney only represents minorities when it serves them, and when they know they’ll get money off of it. Like that lesbian kiss at the end of Rise of Skywalker? I didn’t even fucking spot it when I watched the film! That is not representation. Having a token black character (who is completely wasted in the case of Finn in Star Wars) is not enough representation. Disney is a coward, and has been for a long time. All Disney cares about is profit, and that’s it. That’s 100000% it. And I’m not saying that other companies are much better. Of course Netflix wants your money. Of course HBO wants you to hand over your credit card info. But at least the content we receive from those companies varies. Not everything Netflix produces is another Stranger Things. HBO has done things that vary from Game of Thrones. But Disney (in recent years)? Remakes. Sequels. Rebooting a known franchise. It’s all been done before. And I’m scared that, say, ten years from now, every single action film will have the protagonist say a variation of “I am Iron Man” before doing their own variation of snapping their fingers. And, in my very non-expert, very non-educated opinion, that would suck.

By the way, it goes without saying, but all of this is just MY opinion. If you love Disney+, if you love Marvel, that’s amazing. I am so happy for you. This is a really good time for you. I’m nothing but a pretentious dick who is complaining about what is essentially just harmless fun. Just wanted to make that clear. 

#i kind of needed to put this into words #the current state of the film industry terrifies me #rip creativity i guess #my ramblings

[maiyakervinen-blog]

Blog: Marketing Strategy in the News “How Businesses are Changing During COVID 19” By Maiya Kervinen

COVID-19 (commonly known as Coronavirus) is one of the biggest challenges the world has faced in the 21st century. It has affected millions around the world, the global healthcare system, the economies of nearly all nations, commerce and trade, the list goes on. 

In this blog, I will be evaluating businesses of all sizes, through various news sources, to illustrate how this tragedy has forced businesses to adapt and re-strategize to stay afloat during this unprecedented time. The future demands competitive new technological developments, new market offerings, and due to the virus, businesses need to adapt to new customer thinking.

Micro-Businesses - Changing How They Compete in the Market

It’s difficult not to worry about the micro-business owner during this time, particularly those who rely on human interaction and contact to make a profit. These include businesses like restaurants, photographers, small medical practices, agencies and offices, small entrepreneurs, etc. with ten or less employees. There are over a million micro businesses in the United States, and they make up 82.3% of total businesses. There are aid programs out there, but some aren’t even applicable to these micro businesses. “While these packages rightly include support for small businesses, there is a large swath of independent workers -- 57 million, according to a 2019 study -- whose businesses are too small to even qualify as a small business”. These businesses and their workers often rely on their paycheck to survive. Some can work remotely. Some can’t. However, all will be affected by this pandemic.

https://fortune.com/2020/03/20/coronavirus-economic-relief-gig-economy-self-employed/

What is a micro-business? According to Fortune, “These are the micro-business owners, the independent contractors, and the self-employed individuals who make up the emerging gig economy, and are about one-third of the total employable workforce in the U.S. They embody the spirit of Entrepreneurism and drive a vital part of the economy.” While the idea of working for yourself embodies a dream of many Americans, a global pandemic will certainly fuel the urge of many to acquire “safer” jobs, because micro-businesses are inherently risky. On the flip side, this might also rule out some of the competition for those who cannot compete during the pandemic. Competition amongst existing firms is one of the biggest factors affecting industry profitability, and now there might be more spots for the most sustainable businesses who can appropriately adapt to this sudden change. They need to restrategize and implement changes as soon as possible. Possible ways they can do this is by conducting internal and external analysis to drive growth. They need to focus their limited resources on the best opportunities to increase sales, but what can these businesses do to sustain themselves now, and then continue to stay relevant in the future?

Small Businesses - Predicting the New Norm

Small businesses make up 14.3% of total businesses in the U.S. They too are heavily affected by Coronavirus and have had to adapt to stay afloat. The goal is to increase sales even while nobody is buying, and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. 

https://www.cbs19news.com/story/41924527/wineries-changes-business-due-to-covid19

Wineries in Charlottesville, Virginia are a perfect example of this. Two wineries featured in the above article, Cunningham Creek and Veritas rely on the bustle of foot traffic. For safety precautions, they have closed their wine-tasting rooms. However, to continue to make sales, people can now buy their wine bottles through curbside pickup or over the internet. This is a new common practice of many restaurants, food service providers, wineries, and many more to promote social distancing, but still give people the profit. These wineries are in a better position than some, due to their land. “We have to avoid congregations to designated seating, so we've removed the seats and if you bring your own lawn chair and or blanket, you can picnic out in the open and we're not constrained to the 10 people inside". However, they are still greatly affected by these changes. They have had to cut back on worker hours. They continue to pick and produce wine, but there is a significant business cost.

They are just one type of the many businesses affected by Coronavirus who have been forced to adapt. It’s no longer about just the customer changing. Now it’s much bigger, and legally mandatory. In the aftermath, it is clear that the pandemic will cause a major shift in the way business is conducted. The customer experience will have changed, reaching customers in more modern, digital touch-points will become a norm (touch point consistency), and companies need to do this to reduce friction. The prime example of this for food providers is relying on curbside pickup and virtual ordering. These businesses need to focus on how they will have to adapt for the uncertain future. How can companies predict how these changes to the norm will affect their businesses when we don’t even know when the pandemic will start to slow or end?

Mid-Size Businesses -  What They Can Control Vs. What They Cannot

Many businesses have seen Covid-19 as a way to inform and educate business owners, which helps boost themselves as companies they might want to partner with, and to mainly help those in need. Trinet is one of these sources. Within the linked article there is also a helpful, free webinar titled “Guidance for Small to Medium Sized Businesses on Covid-19”. 

Mid-sized businesses make up 2.4% of total businesses. While they are better suited than micro and small businesses to adapt because of their larger size, and because they have more employees, more capital, and more resources. However, they are still vulnerable, and need to focus on what they can control about their businesses. 

Article:

https://www.trinet.com/insights/how-small-and-medium-size-businesses-can-prepare-for-the-impact-of-covid-19-part-2

Webinar Video:

https://www.trinet.com/webinar/webcast-replay-how-small-and-medium-size-businesses-can-prepare-for-the-impact-of-covid-19

The article, “How Small And Medium Size Businesses Can Prepare For The Impact Of Covid 19 - Part 2” discusses the many questions employers have at this time about changes in policies and employee compensation.  “Before changing policies, you will need to carefully consider your organization’s circumstances, your geographic footprint and the nature of the services provided by your company. For example, before instituting a work from home program, you will want to identify roles that are critical to your business operations and first determine whether your employees can effectively carry out their jobs from home”. The webinar educates the audience on how employers can take advantage of federal funding at this time, how employers should conduct the shutdowns, protected leave, etc.

For now businesses have to focus on what they can control, instead of what they cannot. This seems to be the running theme during the pandemic. They need to make decisions about how to transition employees from working in the office to working at home, and how they have to continue to make sales, assist in operations, provide support, etc. Some aspects of their business they can control such as the customer experience, especially now that sales are more than ever done digitally. These businesses need to make a plan, by deciding factors such as the immediacy and the impact to plot where they stand. 

In this time of market-stress, businesses need to remember that they control costs, and customers control revenue. There are some businesses that have benefited from the pandemic, such as Zoom, due to the need to virtually communicate, and Netflix due to the need for entertainment. Supplier bargaining power is also increasing for some businesses because they supply products people want right now such as surgical mask providers. A majority of businesses have struggled at this time. An example is travel related companies. Also, because economic prospects are not looking good because people are avoiding making investments, this has affected many businesses and the economy. This also affects how these larger businesses strategize. With less money in the economy, and less people buying, this is a major problem businesses need to strategize to combat. How can businesses leverage their assets to meet the needs of the consumer to fight the challenges their business can control?

Large Businesses  - Leveraging Brand Equity

Large businesses are in a tricky position. They have the resources to sustain themselves over smaller businesses, but that does not mean they will not have taken a hit during the pandemic. The biggest brands face many new challenges, particularly because they stand on the world stage and face challenges that could make or break them. While they only make up 0.5% of the percentage of total businesses, they still play a critical role in this time in staying afloat despite the pandemic because of the critical role they play in society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILf7lhKkuNE

This video summarizes the many large, well-known businesses that have benefitted from Coronavirus such as meal delivery companies and Netflix, and those that have not such as movie theatres. Netflix continues to grow their 158 million user base, and expanding and strategizing to provide new content to meet the growing number of subscribers during the pandemic. To grasp new customers they are continuously pumping out new content. One of the biggest industries affected by Covid-19 is the tech industry. The video discusses how Coronavirus has affected these businesses -- mainly damaging their supply chain operations such as assembly of parts by contractors, factories that create different parts, and the entire system that provides items like TVs and cell phones. This is because they are all interconnected, and many companies are struggling to meet demand due to these challenges. Even Apple has reported that they might not meet their supply demands this year. 

The world economy is so focused on tech giants because they are some of the most powerful brands in the world, their inability to meet the demands of consumers due to the pandemic is alarming. To leverage their brands, large companies like Apple need to strategize to meet the changes brought about by the virus, and continue to expand their stronger brands, instead of focusing on their weaker brands. They need to make key decisions now, because these will impact their business for the future due to the new and likely lasting changes of consumers.   

Conclusion

What we can conclude from these sources are very similar themes. Firstly, businesses must adapt to changes if they want to survive in these unprecedented times. They need to adapt to the new norm that will follow post-Covid. Businesses need to focus on what they can control, such as the touch-points they have with customers. Lastly, larger businesses need to focus on the brands they offer that are doing well in this time, instead of those that are not. Ultimately, all businesses, the economy and the world have been greatly impacted by this pandemic, and those that adapt to meet this new change in the way business is conducted using applicable marketing strategy will survive and obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. 

Sources

Statistics on Business Size: https://www.thinksmallcell.com/System/the-three-sizes-of-business-justify-different-small-cell-technical-solutions.html

Business Information:

Micro Businesses

https://www.cbs19news.com/story/41924527/wineries-changes-business-due-to-covid19

Small Businesses

https://fortune.com/2020/03/20/coronavirus-economic-relief-gig-economy-self-employed/

Mid-Size Businesses

https://www.trinet.com/webinar/webcast-replay-how-small-and-medium-size-businesses-can-prepare-for-the-impact-of-covid-19

Large Businesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILf7lhKkuNE

#Coronavirus pandemic marketingstrategy

[wazafam]

Spike TV's reality series Bar Rescue has been on the air for several years. The show, hosted by nighttime entertainment consultant Jon Taffer, features a roster of bar owners, nightclub managers, and experienced restaurateurs who offer their expertise to help floundering businesses rebound from financial ruin and to avoid bankruptcy.

RELATED: 10 Best Netflix Reality TV Shows You Need To Watch

Bar Rescue premiered in 2011 and has tallied more than 200 episodes in the span of nine years. The series also inspired a spin-off show called Marriage Rescue, which debuted in June of 2019. here are the best episodes of Bar Rescue ranked according to IMDb.

Updated on February 5th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Bar Rescue continues to be an engaging reality television show that is similar to Gordon Ramsay's various shows like To Hell and Back and Kitchen Nightmares where he goes to the most disgusting restaurants and tries to help fix them. Jon Taffer has continued to host Bar Rescue throughout its entire run as he goes into each failing bar with a crew including a mixologist and tries to help turn the bar around through mainly helping the owner with their leadership skills, their employees, their menu, and their decor. 

15 Silence Of The Ants (S5E26) 7.7/10

In Silence of the Ants, Taffer takes fellow bar consultant Tiffany Derry along with show narrator P.J. King to the shores of Long Beach, California to help clean up a serious insect takeover.

When John and the crew arrive in Long Beach, they discover a squalid barroom overrun by fruit flies and sugar ants. The title of the episode is an obvious reference to the Thomas Harris novel, The Silence of the Lambs, which was adapted as the 1991 Best Picture Winner by the late director Jonathan Demme.

14 Taken for Granted (S7E7) 7.8/10

Jon Taffer travels to try to save a bar called The Grant Bar. The biggest problem the bar has is that the owner believes that he isn't at fault for any of the bar's issues.

He always blames everyone else for the problems that arise in the bar, but obviously, Taffer isn't going to allow the bar to continue to operate this way with an owner who doesn't take responsibility.

13 Second Base Third Strike (S4 E11) 7.8/10

This episode follows Jon Taffer as he returns to a bar that the team had already rescued previously in the first episode where they attempt to re-rescue a bar called the Second Base Bar & Grill.

Taffer returns to a bar to find that the entire staff and bar is struggling mainly because the owner has become disengaged with actively running the bar and everyone is suffering because of it. It's one of the few episodes where Taffer walks out and refuses to help.

12 Phishing for Answers (S6 E15) 7.8/10

Taffer travels to save the bar Phish Heads when a couple asks him to come and try to push their son to successfully run the bar. The couple is on the verge of bankruptcy and their son is failing in running the bar and is threatening his parents' financial future if he doesn't get his act together.

Their son refuses to try and instead is lazily approaching the serious issue of their finances and his responsibility to owning the bar and doesn't have any determination or passion.

11 Mother Doesn't Know Best (S5E24) 7.8/10

In Mother Knows Best, the ninth highest-rated episode of Bar Rescue, John Taffer and his team take their advice to Sin City.

RELATED: 10 Fakest Current Reality TV Shows (And 10 That Are Surprisingly Real)

Upon arrival in Las Vegas, Taffer and his crew meet a matronly woman who owns a severely struggling dive bar along the strip. Prone to having a good time and abdicating her professional responsibilities, Taffer makes an impassioned plea for the woman to take greater ownership of her business and conduct herself with more discipline.

10 Storming The Castle (S4E16) 7.9/10

Taffer and company get more than they bargained for when attempting to help an attitudinal bar owner in Storming the Castle, is one of the highest-rated episode of the series according to IMDB.

When Taffer arrives at a barroom called Stein Haus, modeled after an ancient castle, he meets the owner, Ivan Vuich. Taffer soon realizes Vuich has extreme temper issues and an inability to control his anger. Taffer makes suggestions on how to improve Stein Haus, but they are met with surly sneers at every turn.

9 Antisocial Media (S5E4) 7.9/10

In Antisocial Media, Taffer attempts to help out a self-defeating bar owner and his brother, a military vet in California beset with severe PTSD.

In small-town California, John discovers a pub owner who is not only known for bad service, but also for a slew of negative social media posts made in response to critical customers. The owner also takes care of his PTSD-ridden brother, who can't shake the scars of combat, pulling his attention away from his business duties.

8 Operation Puerto Rico (S6E19) 7.9/10

In the one-hour special Bar Rescue: Operation Puerto Rico, Taffer was joined by the celebrity likes of Mark Cuban, Luis Guzman, Bethenny Frankel, and NBA player J.J. Barea for a major humanitarian effort.

Taffer and his crew faced his biggest challenge yet when tasked with helping rebuild the family-owned beachfront bar called El K'Rajo in Puerto Rico. The establishment was completely annihilated by Hurricane Maria in September of 2017, leaving its owner in total ruin as a result.

7 Still Bill (S7 E4) 8.0/10

This episode of Bar Rescue follows Jon Taffer as he tries to rescue The Midway Tavern bar that has fallen into disarray in Bill Rowe's leadership.

Rowe is a passive leader who isn't sure about what he should be doing in his position and tends to let everyone do what they want instead of being a successful and clear spoken leader. Taffer tries to get him in shape and help him become a successful leader so he can run the bar at a profit and pay back his in-laws.

6 Desi, You Got Some 'Splanin' To Do (S5E20) 8.0/10

In the 20th episode of Bar Rescue's Season 5, Taffer takes fellow nightclub consultant Brad Bohannon to help an elderly bar owner recover his business after suffering from a near-fatal stroke.

When John and Brad meet the owner, they realize he's too ill to keep his business afloat, much less successful. The man turns to booze to drown his pain, dwindling his own alcohol supply and dipping into his own profits. The episode title refers to the classic I Love Lucy episode in which Ricky (Desi Arnaz) tells Lucy "you have some splainin' to do!"

5 Breaking Brandon (S7E3) 8.0/10

The only episode of the most recent season to rank among the top 10 episodes of Bar Rescue includes Breaking Brandon, a titular reference to AMC's hit series Breaking Bad.

RELATED: 5 Of The Funniest Bar Rescue Episodes & 5 Of The Worst, Ranked

In the episode, Taffer tries to offer his services to a bar owner in the throes of a psychological meltdown. After sinking his mother's life savings into a business investment, the man is left with only four days to shut down his dream bar. With time ticking and pressure mounting, the man loses his senses.

4 All Twerk And No Pay Makes Taffer Shut It Down (S5 E18) 8.3/10

In this episode, Taffer tries to save Speakeasy Bar & Grill in Louisiana. The owner of the Speakeasy Bar & Grill has an emotional breakdown when it seems that her bar is going to fail before Taffer attempts to rescue it.

The bar and the owner suffers several setbacks and it all becomes understandably overwhelming and she worries about her well-being and the bar's future.

3 Casually Tapped Out (S5E22) 8.3/10

In Casually Tapped Out, Taffer faces a unique problem he never experienced in all his time on Bar Rescue, owner fatigue.

Taffer arrives at a shuddered neighborhood bar and learns the owner, who happens to be a firefighter, is completely burned out by the business. Taffer is tasked with reopening the bar, which cannot occur until the firefighter rekindles his passion and summons the energy to press on.

2 Punch-Drunk & Trailor-Trashed (S3E33) 8.4/10

Taffer's patience is pushed to the ultimate limits in Punch-Drunk & Trailor Trashed, in which he and mixologist Russell Davis get involved with an abusive and dysfunctional family in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

When arriving in Iowa to help rescue the O'Face Bar, Taffer meets a volatile family whose argumentative antics are too much to bear. Taffer ultimately decides the family and bar are beyond repair and walks away. It's the first bar in the history of the series which Taffer refused to rescue. In 2014, the government of Council Bluffs was so outraged by the owners of the bar that they refused to renew their liquor license. The decision has since been reversed upon appeal.

1 Things That Go Pahrump In The Night (S5E23) 8.5/10

The highest-rated episode of Bar Rescue to date according to IMDb is Things That Go Pahrump in the Night. In addition to Taffer, the show features fellow consultants Tom Bonello and Chef Vic Vegas.

Taffer's task takes a medical turn when arriving in Pahrump, Nevada to find a bar owner in desperate need of salvation. Not only is the man's bar in financial ruin, but a medical condition may permanently claim his eyesight. Taffer and his team race against time to help the man before it's too late.

NEXT: The 10 Best Reality TV Podcasts You're Missing Out On

15 Best Episodes Of Bar Rescue, Ranked (According To IMDb) from https://ift.tt/2AlGRVm

#Blogger

[fedoranonymous]

Infinite List of Beginner-Friendly Anime Recs: Ouran High School Host Club

"I hate all these damn rich people"

tl;dr I questioned someone’s recommendation for someone else’s first anime on the basis that people who are unused to anime might like something that’s less than 20 hours long and tells one complete story within the first hour or so, and 20,000 words later I decided to make my own post(s) because I clearly had Feelings

26 x 30 minute episodes | watch it: netflix | hulu | funimation

Okay, you know Jeeves and Wooster? Except there’s like six Woosters, and instead of trying to get out of engagements, they’re purposely leading the women on, for profit. Also it’s in high school. 

Follow the Read More for more convincing and trigger warnings (to my best recollection)

Features:

Okay, so like, we all know Bisco Hattori meant to be writing a feminist female protagonist, but all you have to do is take Haruhi at their word and you realize what you really have is a nonbinary protagonist. 

Haruhi’s dad, who crossdresses professionally and is just super supportive of his child and is working hard as a single parent and just. A good dad.

All of the characters are really fun hyperactive balls of energy, but the backstories for why they are Like That are nicely compelling as well

Okay you literally cannot list the appeal of a harem anime (genre where the appeal is all the eyecandy characters being in Love Love with the protagonist) without doing a roll call

hopeless romantic dumbass

thinks he’s sneaky dumbass

manic memelord dumbass and depressive memelord dumbass

bubblegum waif fu dumbass

easily manipulated dumbass

oneshot gay panic dumbass

wrong fandumb dumbass

really wrong fandumb dumbasses

and our protagonist, Mx. "I don’t care for labels; I want people to get to know me as a person." Themself

“You’re all such friggin’ dumbasses!”

I’m kidding, while the shenanigans these characters get up to is absolutely fucking stupid in the way only teenagers with way too much time and money on their hands can be, the characters are mainly tolerant to supportive depending on how stupid the antics in question are. It’s a good show with fun jokes, interesting characters, and pretty, pretty visuals. A bit of escapist “if I had all the money in the world” combined with not being able to stand these damn rich people.

Watch Out For:

It’s a gag a day comedy where one character is concealing their gender. Gender issues abound. People tell Haruhi how they should perform their gender, both erring masculine and feminine depending on what they perceive as the truth. Haruhi mostly goes along with whatever unless it’s really stupid; the only thing they won’t wear, it seems, is clothing that bares their belly. 

So Haruhi IS able to set and enforce limits, but mostly they just don’t see what the big deal is. Overall, I find Haruhi’s feeling on gender performance to match my own, but if you’re in a situation where your gender performance is being manipulated, you might find it cringey at best. It’s not every episode, but it is a lot of them.

There’s an episode where Kyoya tries very hard to convince Haruhi that they can’t trust him alone with them, he might try to rape them. Haruhi doesn’t buy it, but Kyoya is surprised he didn’t go through with it. To me, it reads as less a rape scare and more incipient toxic masculinity, which would fit since I think the author is trying to be overtly feminist but is either behind the times or just not being translated with that lens, but the text says it was a rape threat, so be aware of that one.

Folks with troubled parental situations might not like some of the characters’ backstories, “bad parents in all their forms” seems to come up a lot. (Another trans allegory?)

OHSHC is a lot of people’s gateway to understanding that they might not be cis, and that it’s safe and healthy to explore gender roles and how they affect your life. It’s also a much beloved classic comedy show. Googling for images shows that yes, people are still asking Google when season 2 is coming. There’s also a live action remake, but I cannot vouch for quality. It’s some good shit, y’all. 

#eli's anime recs #main trigger warnings = gender performance issues and one (1) rape threat #also for fuck's sake if you know the show and I missed something please chime in

[marksarmel]

What I’m Consuming 07/14/20

I haven’t done one of these mainly because I didn’t feel like talking about frivolous media consumption while the world is on fire, but we still here. Let’s get on with it. 

TV

George Floyd video -  I didn’t want to watch this because I just didn’t want to see a black man die. Again. If you haven’t watched it you should. To see and hear a grown man call for his dead mother is heart wrenching. It’s terrible. It’s disgusting. It’s merciless and it’s absolutely necessary. We must not turn away from this horror because it makes it too easy to ignore. This is what happens just down the street, on the “wrong” side of the road, and right next door. In the video one witness makes the comment, “He is human bro.” This says it all, but allow me to pile on. George Floyd is human. The cops are blithely inhuman.

George Floyd witnesses - Witnesses ask/beg officers to stop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. They are casually ignored. That very nature is the terror here. A man’s life is slipping away and the guy could be casually eating ice cream, texting someone, or waiting for the light to change.

Dave Chapelle - 8:46 - Dave dropped this on Netflix. It’s worth watching. It’s not funny as much as it’s one man’s exasperated commentary on things he’s been talking about his entire career; fear of cops, inequality, racism. If you’ve watched any of Dave Chapelle you probably know this. If you don’t you’re just not listening.

BLM Protest Videos - Watch as many of them as you can. These protests are the gesticulations of a people long ignored struggling to write themselves into their own story that has, up until now, been written by someone else.

MOVIES

I haven’t watched many new movies for obvious pandemic reasons. I think during this time it’s important to educate ourselves on what’s happening with race in America today. There are plenty of lists on things to watch and read and listen to, but I want to try to do something a little different and pair movies up with another piece of media that I think compliments it in some way.

I Am Not Your Negro - James Baldwin (2016) - To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (2015) - At the beginning of I Am Not Your Negro James Baldwin is asked if things are, “at once getting much better, but still hopeless”. His response is that the real question is, “what’s going to happen to this country.” 50 years later we are still asking these same questions. There is a shot at 37:12 in I Am Not Your Negro of a white cop standing with his knee on a woman’s neck. 50 years later we are still seeing these same things. In the past 50 years we have landed on the moon, mapped the human genome, invented the internet, cloned animals, built the iPhone, gone from records, to 8-tracks, to tapes, to cds, to streaming music, elected 11 different presidents and still, today African Americans walk through the world linked to their past by the chains of racism. 

Amy Cooper video (2020) and Get Out - Jordan Peele (2017) - This movie was a huge hit, but I think the ending is all the more terrifying and shows the real world horror of life in America for a black man when watched with the video of Amy Cooper. In the video Amy calls the cops and in order to get the response she feels entitled to, she tells the cops that Christian Cooper, a black man, is threatening her. Never have I seen a more clear example of life imitating art, intentionally or not.  Watch the movie first then watch the video.

Hurricane - Bob Dylan (1976) - The Hurricane - Norman Jewison (1999) - Just Mercy - Destin Daniel Cretton (2019) The arrest of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter in the late 60’s led to the protest song by Dylan in 1976 which led to the movie with Denzel Washington in 1999. The movie Just Mercy from 2019 is not about Rubin Carter, but it’s about the same thing. A black man is arrested, tried and convicted of a crime with very little evidence and is later found to be innocent. It’s the song, it’s the movie, it’s the movie again. Black people are living in a real life racist horror movie version of Groundhog Day.

 13th - Ava Duvernay (2016) - Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs speech (1986)

You can watch 13th for free on YouTube.

Reagan’s speech you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8gAQ_cQ7Q

The film goes into great detail about the issues with America and the prison industrial complex and Reagan’s speech is just a small part of it. I see Reagan’s speech though, as something I remember in my early life. Not the speech itself, but the the War on Drugs and the “Just Say No” campaign. The War on Drugs has terrorized black and minority communities and has led to mass incarceration on a scale so large that as of 2019 there are 2.3 million people in jail. Nixon began the war on crime that laid the foundation of the prison industrial complex, Reagan built the jails, Bush filled them and Clinton created the three strikes rule which was a shot of adrenaline to this system.

The following is not something I’ve come up with myself, but it is based on facts and it is true.The US criminal justice system is NOT failing black and brown people. It is working exactly as it was designed. This system was created to destroy black and brown communities. It was created to continue the system of slavery after slavery was outlawed. It is a FOR PROFIT industry. Those who profit from it are the modern day slave owners.

MUSIC

I feel the need to articulate current events with some music. Some old. Some new.

“Strange Fruit” - Nina Simone (1965) - There has been a spate of Black and Hispanic men and women found hanging recently. From May to June there have been 6 hangings, all ruled a suicide. If you want a horrifying description of these modern day lynchings listen to this song. 

Black on Both Sides - Mos Def (1999)- A honest and raw description of life for a modern black man. It is honest, boastful, and beautiful. The black man is simply put, a man. As a man he strives for love, success, and happiness. As a man he also sometimes fails. You and I are no different than a black man. In Umi Says, Mos Def repeats the refrain, “I want black people to be free.” We must all sing this same refrain.

“Changes” - 2pac (1998). Just listen to it. Then listen to again. This song was released in 1992. It could have come out right now.

R.A.P. Music - Killer Mike (2012)- Before there was Run the Jewels there was Killer Mike and El-P in the studio whipping out this AK-47 of an album. Follow this up with Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet. Follow that up with some action.

RTJ4 - Run the Jewels (2020)- A 2020 soundtrack. Or is it 2000? Or 1960?

RANDOM NOTES

I’ve also recently discovered the work of Tobe Nwigwe on Instagram. Check it out @Tobenwigwe

Gil Scott Heron said the revolution will not be televised. Heron, no doubt, did not foresee a world where everyone could be a camera, or that their voices could be amplified to such a degree, but the world is being forced to examine its own disfigured self. All through the mirror in our pockets and backpacks and living rooms. One thing Gil Scott Heron was right about in his song is this, “black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day.” We must join them.

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

The Walking Dead And The Law Of Creating A Television Show

By Edward Godino, Skidmore College Class of 2020

April 10, 2020

The Walking Dead is one of the most popular television shows of all time. The season 5 premiere raked in a record 17.3 million viewers[1], and with a total of 10 seasons so far, the series continues to be a powerhouse for AMC. However, despite its success, the show has had legal troubles for almost as long as it’s been on the air.

TWD’s issues date all the way back to the second season with Frank Darabont, director of acclaimed movies such as The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, who was the series’ initial showrunner. Following the surprising success of season one, Darabont reportedly wanted to fire all the writers going into season two for undisclosed reasons.[2] While it was never confirmed, this likely played a role in his removal as showrunner in 2011. Darabont’s sudden termination from the series came as a shock to many; fans had seen him on TWD’s Comic-Con panel just days before, and this gave way to a long series of legal battles between Darabont and AMC.

In 2013, Darabont sued AMC for breach of contract.[3] The story goes that Darabont’s initial deal with AMC involved him receiving 12.5% of the show’s profits, but the deal had to be renegotiated after AMC decided to produce the show with its own studio rather than through a third party. The terms of the new deal stated that Darabont would be paid via licensing fees. In the lawsuit, Darabont, partnered with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), accused AMC of self-dealing, or “selling shows at less than fair market value to networks they own, thereby lowering overall profits left to share with the participants.”[4] According to Darabont’s team, AMC accomplished this through a perpetual license fee formula, which set a fixed low license fee for the entire series that remained the same regardless of the show’s success or changing production costs. Darabont sued AMC for more than $280 million for breach of contract and wrongful termination, plus an additional $10 million for using shady accounting practices to withhold even more money from the show’s creators.

AMC denied all Darabont’s claims. They pointed to evidence of his unprofessional behavior while working on the show to explain his removal as showrunner,[5] and dismissed the additional $10 million lawsuit as greed from the CAA.[6] However, Darabont is not the only one suing AMC for dishonest behavior.

Robert Kirkman, the creator of the comic series on which the TV show is based, as well as several other executive producers are also claiming to have been cheated out of profits– as much as hundreds of millions of dollars– from TWD and its spin-offs.[7] Kirkman and the others say they have only been paid profits for two of the ten years the show has been airing. They also pointed out that licensing fees on other AMC shows, such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men, were higher despite not being nearly as lucrative as TWD. AMC again countered with an argument of greed, insinuating that Kirkman and the others simply want more money because the show wound up being more successful than anyone predicted.

Unfortunately, Kirkman’s case is a long way off from being resolved, as Darabont’s lawsuit has still not seen a trial. There were plans to hold one this upcoming May,[8] but the real-life pandemic of COVID-19 will likely delay the process even further.

These issues are mainly the result of the fact that AMC both produces and distributes the series, giving them full control over the profits, but the advent of streaming services may change how things are done.[9]

Netflix, for example, pays creators a flat fee up front instead of giving them a share of the profits afterwards, likely to avoid these kinds of disagreements. Disney has already begun to adopt a similar model, and AMC’s seven-year-and-counting courtroom escapades may inspire other studios to do the same.

________________________________________________________________

[1]https://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/talk/2014/10/amcs-the-walking-dead-returns-with-highest-rated-episode-in-series-history

[2]https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/marcusjones/walking-dead-drama-timeline

[3]https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/the-walking-dead-frank-darabont-1202494548/

[4]https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-03/walking-dead-lawsuits-kirkman-darabont-self-dealing-hollywood-accounting

[5]https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/marcusjones/walking-dead-drama-timeline

[6]https://deadline.com/2018/01/the-walking-dead-lawsuit-robert-kirkman-frank-darabont-caa-amc-redacted-1202245231/

[7]https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-03/walking-dead-lawsuits-kirkman-darabont-self-dealing-hollywood-accounting

[8]https://deadline.com/2019/02/walking-dead-frank-darabont-lawsuit-trial-date-amc-caa-1202550375/

[9]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/how-walking-dead-legal-fights-could-redefine-dealmaking-1286567

[jjpocketbook]

The Future of Ubersuggest

* Please read the whole post, I have some good news at the bottom, but it won’t make sense unless you read the whole post.

Do you know why I got into SEO?

Not many people know this, but I grew up in middle-class America, and I wanted a better life for me and my parents.

When I was 16 years old, I worked at a theme park called Knotts Berry Farm where I picked up trash, cleaned restrooms, and swept up vomit every single day.

I didn’t mind it because that’s life and I needed the money.

At 16, I realized I was too young to get a high paying job, so I did the next best thing… I started a business.

But making $5.75 an hour picking up trash wasn’t enough to market my business, though. The only solution that I could think of was SEO because if you put in the time and effort you can get the traffic for free.

It’s also the main reason I fell in love with it… it gives the little guy a chance to compete with the big guys.

And over the years I wanted to pay it forward and help out all of the entrepreneurs and small companies so they can do the same… succeed without having to spend a lot of money.

So, what did I do?

Well over the years, I’ve produced a ton of free content, videos, and guides that help entrepreneurs and marketers of all sizes succeed.

And in February 2017, I decided to take it to the next level by acquiring Ubersuggest for $120,000.

When I first bought it, I had the dream of creating an SEO tool that could compete with the big players that charged $100+ a month, but of course, offer it for free.

The developers that I had at that time estimated that I could do this for $30,000 to $45,000 a month. That was perfect as I had no issue losing that much money each month.

But as we got rolling and kept adding in more features, our expenses continually climbed. Just look at what I spent in the last month…

I spent $89,930 on hosting so far in January with an estimated spend of $128,680 for February. But again, let’s stick with January…

My back-end development bill from Tryolabs was $47,885 for January.

My data feed from SEO Power Suite, Data For SEO, and Shared Count totaled $75,253 for January.

And of course, my front-end developers as well as my dev-ops team Netlabs, which ran me $22,700.

Then if you add on miscellaneous costs, such as support, design, and project management, I was out another $11,450.

All in all, I spent $247,218 during the month of January 2020.

Keep in mind that my costs are continually rising. As the tool gets more popular, it costs me more.

One of the big reasons for the server expenses is scrapers.

Believe it or not, a lot of companies are scraping our data and continually rotating up IPs and creating fake accounts, which increases our server expenses. Especially when you consider that they are researching vague SEO terms or domains that aren’t cached in our system.

Don’t feel bad for me

Now the purpose of this post wasn’t to make you feel bad or guilty (unless you are scraping me). I just wanted to be transparent about my situation.

Originally, I was hoping that I could convert a portion of the Ubersuggest customer base into agency clients but as we continually move upstream and work with bigger brands, the conversion rate from an Ubersuggest visitor to a paying consulting customer has been low.

As that didn’t work out the way I wanted, which I learned around 11 months ago, it became harder and harder for me to eat the costs as they continually grew and I didn’t have a way to pay for them other than to dip into my own savings.

So, I started searching for solutions, such as turning Ubersuggest into a non-profit and raise money from foundations to help support the cost. I tried that for 5 months and I didn’t gain much traction.

I also tried to see if I could get sponsors for the tool who would help cover the costs, but that didn’t work out well either. Instead, many of them offered to buy the company for millions of dollars (some in the 8 figures) but I didn’t want to sell it as I knew their goal would be to turn it into another $100-a-month tool, which didn’t sit well with me.

After running out of options, I had no choice but to make some changes to Ubersuggest (don’t worry it is not closing down). But you can guess what the changes are.

But don’t worry…

First and foremost, my goal is still to give as much away for free as I can. Within Ubersuggest, you will still be able to do a lot for free…

Creating projects

You will always be able to create projects and track your rankings. And just like before you always have been limited on the number of keywords you can track and that, of course, is due to costs.

Keyword research

Within the app, you will still be able to see keyword research data.

You’ll see a chart with the latest few months’ traffic volume, data on mobile versus desktop search volume, demographic data, and even keyword recommendations.

And you can, of course, continually find new keywords to target.

Sure, some of the data is blocked, but did you know that only 14.3% of people used to register for a free account to unlock that data.

In other words, most of you never even registered because the application shows you enough for free without needing to log in.

Content ideas

Similar to before, you can also see popular blog post suggestions for any given keyword.

You’ll also be able to see the top keywords a blog post ranks for and the backlinks pointing to that URL.

Again, keep in mind the majority of you only looked at the top 10 results as 14.3% of you registered for a free account to unlock more data.

Traffic Analyzer

You will still be able to look up any domain and get stats on it.

Historical data is blocked, but you can see the last few months which is enough for most of you.

You’ll also be able to see the top pages for any domain and the keywords that page ranks for as well as backlinks.

The same goes for the keywords any domain ranks for.

Some of the data is blocked, but just like before only 14.3% of you registered to view that data. Which means 85.7% of you are happy with the free data.

SEO Analyzer

Not much has changed here, you can still analyze over 100 pages on your site and figure out which errors you have.

Here’s an interesting fact: Did you know the average site that goes through Ubersuggest only has 48 pages?

The median number of pages a site has in our system was similar at 43 pages.

And of course, there is the backlinks report, which now shows new and lost links as well as historical link growth.

Similar to what I mentioned above, very few people really cared to see the blocked off information as only 14.3% of you registered.

My dream

My goal in life is to help people generate more traffic. And I believe Ubersuggest can get better results and give you a fighting chance.

I also want to continually make the tool better. For example, why can’t SEO be automated? If you can have self-driving cars, there is no reason why you can’t automate SEO through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

But with the rising expenses, I was left with 2 options… either shut the tool down (which isn’t an option for me) or figure out a way to cover my expenses.

In the long run, I can’t keep sustaining the loss of $247,218 a month forever, especially when that number is climbing (that’s roughly 3 million dollars a year).

My team and I came up with an interesting concept that we think is fair and hopefully, you won’t be upset about it.

Remember how I said only 14.3% of people register to view more data but 85.7% never register as they were happy with the free data?

Well, nothing will change for 85.7% of you.

As for the 14.3% who register to create projects and track keywords, you can still do that for free. But if you want to add more projects or track a lot more keywords, you can upgrade to a paid plan.

The same goes for keyword research. If you want to view even more data, you can pay for the blocked data. Or if you want to analyze thousands of pages on your site through the site audit, you can also upgrade.

Don’t worry though, I am still following my original mission.

I promise to always keep Ubersuggest affordable (and mainly free). I decided to take the Netflix/Amazon approach and try to make the cost super affordable (as my goal is to only break-even).

On top of that, I made it a 7-day free trial.

You’ll also find that the pricing varies per country as my costs vary per country. In regions like India and Brazil when someone registers, creates a project and tracks keywords, my expenses are substantially lower than if someone from the United States registers and creates projects and tracks keywords.

The same goes for labor. My support team in India and other regions costs substantially less than the team in the United States or the United Kingdom.

If you also pay annually, you’ll get 2 months free so you can save even more money.

And as I mentioned above, I want to stick to the original mission, which is to help people generate more traffic without having to spend a lot of money.

There will always be a very generous free plan and I am hoping that I can break even by charging for a portion of the application.

What’s next?

Ubersuggest is going to continually get better.

To make things up to you, over the next month or two I am going to release a Chrome extension that will give you tons of insights for free. And of course, if you want a little bit more you can pay.

Here’s what the free extension will look like…

Whenever you perform a Google search you will be able to see the volume for any search term in any major country. And if you click the “view all” link you will see more data on that keyword.

You’ll also see the average domain score for any given ranking page and the number of links you need to rank in the top 10.

As you scroll down and go through each of the ranking results, you’ll see the domain score for each URL, social shares, and the backlinks pointing to that search result.

You can even drill down and see the top links pointing to each URL.

Now if you head over to the sidebar, you’ll see a list of related keywords as well as data on the top 10 keyword recommendations.

If you scroll a bit more, you’ll see a graph that shows how many backlinks each result has so that way you can see how many backlinks again you roughly need to rank in the top 10.

At the very bottom of the search results, you’ll see data on related keywords.

As time goes on not only will you have the extension, but I will continually add more and more features for free.

Conclusion

I’m sorry that I have to start covering my costs, but I hope you understand at the same time.

From my projections, it will take me roughly 6 months to break even, so I am going to be out a decent amount of money over the next 6 months… but that’s life.

I am not looking to recuperate my original investment and I don’t mind that being a loss, but once I break even on a monthly basis I will continue to either open up more stuff for free or consider lowering the monthly pricing if possible.

Again, I am really sorry, but I hope you understand that it isn’t sustainable for me to spend $247,218 a month indefinitely.

I am open to hearing your thoughts or ideas. I also want to let you know I appreciate everything you have done to support Ubersuggest and my site.

The post The Future of Ubersuggest appeared first on Neil Patel.

Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/ubersuggest-update/ via https://neilpatel.com

The original post, The Future of Ubersuggest, has been shared from https://imtrainingparadise.wordpress.com/2020/02/18/the-future-of-ubersuggest/ via https://imtrainingparadise.wordpress.com

[jimmyjohnsmnm]

The Future of Ubersuggest

* Please read the whole post, I have some good news at the bottom, but it won’t make sense unless you read the whole post.

Do you know why I got into SEO?

Not many people know this, but I grew up in middle-class America, and I wanted a better life for me and my parents.

When I was 16 years old, I worked at a theme park called Knotts Berry Farm where I picked up trash, cleaned restrooms, and swept up vomit every single day.

I didn’t mind it because that’s life and I needed the money.

At 16, I realized I was too young to get a high paying job, so I did the next best thing… I started a business.

But making $5.75 an hour picking up trash wasn’t enough to market my business, though. The only solution that I could think of was SEO because if you put in the time and effort you can get the traffic for free.

It’s also the main reason I fell in love with it… it gives the little guy a chance to compete with the big guys.

And over the years I wanted to pay it forward and help out all of the entrepreneurs and small companies so they can do the same… succeed without having to spend a lot of money.

So, what did I do?

Well over the years, I’ve produced a ton of free content, videos, and guides that help entrepreneurs and marketers of all sizes succeed.

And in February 2017, I decided to take it to the next level by acquiring Ubersuggest for $120,000.

When I first bought it, I had the dream of creating an SEO tool that could compete with the big players that charged $100+ a month, but of course, offer it for free.

The developers that I had at that time estimated that I could do this for $30,000 to $45,000 a month. That was perfect as I had no issue losing that much money each month.

But as we got rolling and kept adding in more features, our expenses continually climbed. Just look at what I spent in the last month…

I spent $89,930 on hosting so far in January with an estimated spend of $128,680 for February. But again, let’s stick with January…

My back-end development bill from Tryolabs was $47,885 for January.

My data feed from SEO Power Suite, Data For SEO, and Shared Count totaled $75,253 for January.

And of course, my front-end developers as well as my dev-ops team Netlabs, which ran me $22,700.

Then if you add on miscellaneous costs, such as support, design, and project management, I was out another $11,450.

All in all, I spent $247,218 during the month of January 2020.

Keep in mind that my costs are continually rising. As the tool gets more popular, it costs me more.

One of the big reasons for the server expenses is scrapers.

Believe it or not, a lot of companies are scraping our data and continually rotating up IPs and creating fake accounts, which increases our server expenses. Especially when you consider that they are researching vague SEO terms or domains that aren’t cached in our system.

Don’t feel bad for me

Now the purpose of this post wasn’t to make you feel bad or guilty (unless you are scraping me). I just wanted to be transparent about my situation.

Originally, I was hoping that I could convert a portion of the Ubersuggest customer base into agency clients but as we continually move upstream and work with bigger brands, the conversion rate from an Ubersuggest visitor to a paying consulting customer has been low.

As that didn’t work out the way I wanted, which I learned around 11 months ago, it became harder and harder for me to eat the costs as they continually grew and I didn’t have a way to pay for them other than to dip into my own savings.

So, I started searching for solutions, such as turning Ubersuggest into a non-profit and raise money from foundations to help support the cost. I tried that for 5 months and I didn’t gain much traction.

I also tried to see if I could get sponsors for the tool who would help cover the costs, but that didn’t work out well either. Instead, many of them offered to buy the company for millions of dollars (some in the 8 figures) but I didn’t want to sell it as I knew their goal would be to turn it into another $100-a-month tool, which didn’t sit well with me.

After running out of options, I had no choice but to make some changes to Ubersuggest (don’t worry it is not closing down). But you can guess what the changes are.

But don’t worry…

First and foremost, my goal is still to give as much away for free as I can. Within Ubersuggest, you will still be able to do a lot for free…

Creating projects

You will always be able to create projects and track your rankings. And just like before you always have been limited on the number of keywords you can track and that, of course, is due to costs.

Keyword research

Within the app, you will still be able to see keyword research data.

You’ll see a chart with the latest few months’ traffic volume, data on mobile versus desktop search volume, demographic data, and even keyword recommendations.

And you can, of course, continually find new keywords to target.

Sure, some of the data is blocked, but did you know that only 14.3% of people used to register for a free account to unlock that data.

In other words, most of you never even registered because the application shows you enough for free without needing to log in.

Content ideas

Similar to before, you can also see popular blog post suggestions for any given keyword.

You’ll also be able to see the top keywords a blog post ranks for and the backlinks pointing to that URL.

Again, keep in mind the majority of you only looked at the top 10 results as 14.3% of you registered for a free account to unlock more data.

Traffic Analyzer

You will still be able to look up any domain and get stats on it.

Historical data is blocked, but you can see the last few months which is enough for most of you.

You’ll also be able to see the top pages for any domain and the keywords that page ranks for as well as backlinks.

The same goes for the keywords any domain ranks for.

Some of the data is blocked, but just like before only 14.3% of you registered to view that data. Which means 85.7% of you are happy with the free data.

SEO Analyzer

Not much has changed here, you can still analyze over 100 pages on your site and figure out which errors you have.

Here’s an interesting fact: Did you know the average site that goes through Ubersuggest only has 48 pages?

The median number of pages a site has in our system was similar at 43 pages.

And of course, there is the backlinks report, which now shows new and lost links as well as historical link growth.

Similar to what I mentioned above, very few people really cared to see the blocked off information as only 14.3% of you registered.

My dream

My goal in life is to help people generate more traffic. And I believe Ubersuggest can get better results and give you a fighting chance.

I also want to continually make the tool better. For example, why can’t SEO be automated? If you can have self-driving cars, there is no reason why you can’t automate SEO through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

But with the rising expenses, I was left with 2 options… either shut the tool down (which isn’t an option for me) or figure out a way to cover my expenses.

In the long run, I can’t keep sustaining the loss of $247,218 a month forever, especially when that number is climbing (that’s roughly 3 million dollars a year).

My team and I came up with an interesting concept that we think is fair and hopefully, you won’t be upset about it.

Remember how I said only 14.3% of people register to view more data but 85.7% never register as they were happy with the free data?

Well, nothing will change for 85.7% of you.

As for the 14.3% who register to create projects and track keywords, you can still do that for free. But if you want to add more projects or track a lot more keywords, you can upgrade to a paid plan.

The same goes for keyword research. If you want to view even more data, you can pay for the blocked data. Or if you want to analyze thousands of pages on your site through the site audit, you can also upgrade.

Don’t worry though, I am still following my original mission.

I promise to always keep Ubersuggest affordable (and mainly free). I decided to take the Netflix/Amazon approach and try to make the cost super affordable (as my goal is to only break-even).

On top of that, I made it a 7-day free trial.

You’ll also find that the pricing varies per country as my costs vary per country. In regions like India and Brazil when someone registers, creates a project and tracks keywords, my expenses are substantially lower than if someone from the United States registers and creates projects and tracks keywords.

The same goes for labor. My support team in India and other regions costs substantially less than the team in the United States or the United Kingdom.

If you also pay annually, you’ll get 2 months free so you can save even more money.

And as I mentioned above, I want to stick to the original mission, which is to help people generate more traffic without having to spend a lot of money.

There will always be a very generous free plan and I am hoping that I can break even by charging for a portion of the application.

What’s next?

Ubersuggest is going to continually get better.

To make things up to you, over the next month or two I am going to release a Chrome extension that will give you tons of insights for free. And of course, if you want a little bit more you can pay.

Here’s what the free extension will look like…

Whenever you perform a Google search you will be able to see the volume for any search term in any major country. And if you click the “view all” link you will see more data on that keyword.

You’ll also see the average domain score for any given ranking page and the number of links you need to rank in the top 10.

As you scroll down and go through each of the ranking results, you’ll see the domain score for each URL, social shares, and the backlinks pointing to that search result.

You can even drill down and see the top links pointing to each URL.

Now if you head over to the sidebar, you’ll see a list of related keywords as well as data on the top 10 keyword recommendations.

If you scroll a bit more, you’ll see a graph that shows how many backlinks each result has so that way you can see how many backlinks again you roughly need to rank in the top 10.

At the very bottom of the search results, you’ll see data on related keywords.

As time goes on not only will you have the extension, but I will continually add more and more features for free.

Conclusion

I’m sorry that I have to start covering my costs, but I hope you understand at the same time.

From my projections, it will take me roughly 6 months to break even, so I am going to be out a decent amount of money over the next 6 months… but that’s life.

I am not looking to recuperate my original investment and I don’t mind that being a loss, but once I break even on a monthly basis I will continue to either open up more stuff for free or consider lowering the monthly pricing if possible.

Again, I am really sorry, but I hope you understand that it isn’t sustainable for me to spend $247,218 a month indefinitely.

I am open to hearing your thoughts or ideas. I also want to let you know I appreciate everything you have done to support Ubersuggest and my site.

The post The Future of Ubersuggest appeared first on Neil Patel.

Original content source: https://ift.tt/2uWvikL via https://neilpatel.com The post, The Future of Ubersuggest, has been shared from https://ift.tt/2HBGIxf via https://ift.tt/2r0Go64

[marketingcomcaio]

The Future of Ubersuggest

* Please read the whole post, I have some good news at the bottom, but it won’t make sense unless you read the whole post.

Do you know why I got into SEO?

Not many people know this, but I grew up in middle-class America, and I wanted a better life for me and my parents.

When I was 16 years old, I worked at a theme park called Knotts Berry Farm where I picked up trash, cleaned restrooms, and swept up vomit every single day.

I didn’t mind it because that’s life and I needed the money.

At 16, I realized I was too young to get a high paying job, so I did the next best thing… I started a business.

But making $5.75 an hour picking up trash wasn’t enough to market my business, though. The only solution that I could think of was SEO because if you put in the time and effort you can get the traffic for free.

It’s also the main reason I fell in love with it… it gives the little guy a chance to compete with the big guys.

And over the years I wanted to pay it forward and help out all of the entrepreneurs and small companies so they can do the same… succeed without having to spend a lot of money.

So, what did I do?

Well over the years, I’ve produced a ton of free content, videos, and guides that help entrepreneurs and marketers of all sizes succeed.

And in February 2017, I decided to take it to the next level by acquiring Ubersuggest for $120,000.

When I first bought it, I had the dream of creating an SEO tool that could compete with the big players that charged $100+ a month, but of course, offer it for free.

The developers that I had at that time estimated that I could do this for $30,000 to $45,000 a month. That was perfect as I had no issue losing that much money each month.

But as we got rolling and kept adding in more features, our expenses continually climbed. Just look at what I spent in the last month…

I spent $89,930 on hosting so far in January with an estimated spend of $128,680 for February. But again, let’s stick with January…

My back-end development bill from Tryolabs was $47,885 for January.

My data feed from SEO Power Suite, Data For SEO, and Shared Count totaled $75,253 for January.

And of course, my front-end developers as well as my dev-ops team Netlabs, which ran me $22,700.

Then if you add on miscellaneous costs, such as support, design, and project management, I was out another $11,450.

All in all, I spent $247,218 during the month of January 2020.

Keep in mind that my costs are continually rising. As the tool gets more popular, it costs me more.

One of the big reasons for the server expenses is scrapers.

Believe it or not, a lot of companies are scraping our data and continually rotating up IPs and creating fake accounts, which increases our server expenses. Especially when you consider that they are researching vague SEO terms or domains that aren’t cached in our system.

Don’t feel bad for me

Now the purpose of this post wasn’t to make you feel bad or guilty (unless you are scraping me). I just wanted to be transparent about my situation.

Originally, I was hoping that I could convert a portion of the Ubersuggest customer base into agency clients but as we continually move upstream and work with bigger brands, the conversion rate from an Ubersuggest visitor to a paying consulting customer has been low.

As that didn’t work out the way I wanted, which I learned around 11 months ago, it became harder and harder for me to eat the costs as they continually grew and I didn’t have a way to pay for them other than to dip into my own savings.

So, I started searching for solutions, such as turning Ubersuggest into a non-profit and raise money from foundations to help support the cost. I tried that for 5 months and I didn’t gain much traction.

I also tried to see if I could get sponsors for the tool who would help cover the costs, but that didn’t work out well either. Instead, many of them offered to buy the company for millions of dollars (some in the 8 figures) but I didn’t want to sell it as I knew their goal would be to turn it into another $100-a-month tool, which didn’t sit well with me.

After running out of options, I had no choice but to make some changes to Ubersuggest (don’t worry it is not closing down). But you can guess what the changes are.

But don’t worry…

First and foremost, my goal is still to give as much away for free as I can. Within Ubersuggest, you will still be able to do a lot for free…

Creating projects

You will always be able to create projects and track your rankings. And just like before you always have been limited on the number of keywords you can track and that, of course, is due to costs.

Keyword research

Within the app, you will still be able to see keyword research data.

You’ll see a chart with the latest few months’ traffic volume, data on mobile versus desktop search volume, demographic data, and even keyword recommendations.

And you can, of course, continually find new keywords to target.

Sure, some of the data is blocked, but did you know that only 14.3% of people used to register for a free account to unlock that data.

In other words, most of you never even registered because the application shows you enough for free without needing to log in.

Content ideas

Similar to before, you can also see popular blog post suggestions for any given keyword.

You’ll also be able to see the top keywords a blog post ranks for and the backlinks pointing to that URL.

Again, keep in mind the majority of you only looked at the top 10 results as 14.3% of you registered for a free account to unlock more data.

Traffic Analyzer

You will still be able to look up any domain and get stats on it.

Historical data is blocked, but you can see the last few months which is enough for most of you.

You’ll also be able to see the top pages for any domain and the keywords that page ranks for as well as backlinks.

The same goes for the keywords any domain ranks for.

Some of the data is blocked, but just like before only 14.3% of you registered to view that data. Which means 85.7% of you are happy with the free data.

SEO Analyzer

Not much has changed here, you can still analyze over 100 pages on your site and figure out which errors you have.

Here’s an interesting fact: Did you know the average site that goes through Ubersuggest only has 48 pages?

The median number of pages a site has in our system was similar at 43 pages.

And of course, there is the backlinks report, which now shows new and lost links as well as historical link growth.

Similar to what I mentioned above, very few people really cared to see the blocked off information as only 14.3% of you registered.

My dream

My goal in life is to help people generate more traffic. And I believe Ubersuggest can get better results and give you a fighting chance.

I also want to continually make the tool better. For example, why can’t SEO be automated? If you can have self-driving cars, there is no reason why you can’t automate SEO through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

But with the rising expenses, I was left with 2 options… either shut the tool down (which isn’t an option for me) or figure out a way to cover my expenses.

In the long run, I can’t keep sustaining the loss of $247,218 a month forever, especially when that number is climbing (that’s roughly 3 million dollars a year).

My team and I came up with an interesting concept that we think is fair and hopefully, you won’t be upset about it.

Remember how I said only 14.3% of people register to view more data but 85.7% never register as they were happy with the free data?

Well, nothing will change for 85.7% of you.

As for the 14.3% who register to create projects and track keywords, you can still do that for free. But if you want to add more projects or track a lot more keywords, you can upgrade to a paid plan.

The same goes for keyword research. If you want to view even more data, you can pay for the blocked data. Or if you want to analyze thousands of pages on your site through the site audit, you can also upgrade.

Don’t worry though, I am still following my original mission.

I promise to always keep Ubersuggest affordable (and mainly free). I decided to take the Netflix/Amazon approach and try to make the cost super affordable (as my goal is to only break-even).

On top of that, I made it a 7-day free trial.

You’ll also find that the pricing varies per country as my costs vary per country. In regions like India and Brazil when someone registers, creates a project and tracks keywords, my expenses are substantially lower than if someone from the United States registers and creates projects and tracks keywords.

The same goes for labor. My support team in India and other regions costs substantially less than the team in the United States or the United Kingdom.

If you also pay annually, you’ll get 2 months free so you can save even more money.

And as I mentioned above, I want to stick to the original mission, which is to help people generate more traffic without having to spend a lot of money.

There will always be a very generous free plan and I am hoping that I can break even by charging for a portion of the application.

What’s next?

Ubersuggest is going to continually get better.

To make things up to you, over the next month or two I am going to release a Chrome extension that will give you tons of insights for free. And of course, if you want a little bit more you can pay.

Here’s what the free extension will look like…

Whenever you perform a Google search you will be able to see the volume for any search term in any major country. And if you click the “view all” link you will see more data on that keyword.

You’ll also see the average domain score for any given ranking page and the number of links you need to rank in the top 10.

As you scroll down and go through each of the ranking results, you’ll see the domain score for each URL, social shares, and the backlinks pointing to that search result.

You can even drill down and see the top links pointing to each URL.

Now if you head over to the sidebar, you’ll see a list of related keywords as well as data on the top 10 keyword recommendations.

If you scroll a bit more, you’ll see a graph that shows how many backlinks each result has so that way you can see how many backlinks again you roughly need to rank in the top 10.

At the very bottom of the search results, you’ll see data on related keywords.

As time goes on not only will you have the extension, but I will continually add more and more features for free.

Conclusion

I’m sorry that I have to start covering my costs, but I hope you understand at the same time.

From my projections, it will take me roughly 6 months to break even, so I am going to be out a decent amount of money over the next 6 months… but that’s life.

I am not looking to recuperate my original investment and I don’t mind that being a loss, but once I break even on a monthly basis I will continue to either open up more stuff for free or consider lowering the monthly pricing if possible.

Again, I am really sorry, but I hope you understand that it isn’t sustainable for me to spend $247,218 a month indefinitely.

I am open to hearing your thoughts or ideas. I also want to let you know I appreciate everything you have done to support Ubersuggest and my site.

The post The Future of Ubersuggest appeared first on Neil Patel.

The Future of Ubersuggest Publicado primeiro em https://neilpatel.com