#this is the driving force for the next 200 pages

[cleolinda]

Varney the Vampire - chapter 2

Chapter 1: A completely different, much longer approach to the first recap.

Chapter 2: Honestly pretty much the same recap as before (Livejournal, December 7, 2010, in the same post as chapter 1), with some updating/revision.

Chapter II.

THE ALARM. -- THE PISTOL SHOT. -- THE PURSUIT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

So! Brought the room down a little last time! Oddly, the first chapter is this tour-de-force of Effective Gothic Atmosphere That Is Honestly Troubling If You Think About It, and then... the dialogue shows up. Welcome to the rest of Varney the Vampire!

Let's stop for a moment to introduce the rest of the family. ROLL CALL:

Henry Bannerworth: Flora's brother and the head of the family, which is broke and semi-disgraced. If you remember the recaps previously, he is the one who practically had to be carried home because vampire hunting is harrrrrrd;

George Bannerworth: Flora's other brother, who is "is of a highly susceptible nature and the very idea of [a vampyre] would kill him," and, indeed, he does get pretty panicked about it. He still has more gumption than Henry does;

Mrs. Bannerworth: Their widowed mother, who—as I originally phrased it, "screams and cries and faints a little, but doesn't ever do much else." This is, of course, the writer's choice—to have a character to wring her hands, and then push her aside to be "paralyzed" at a key moment rather than do anything interesting with her. You might look ahead to Lucy Westenra's mother and wonder if Stoker thought about this;

Mr. Marchdale: Mrs. Bannerworth's childhood friend (??) who lives with the Bannerworths, occasionally pitching in for groceries and stuff. I have a lot of questions about this setup and I can't remember if they were answered when I read ahead 10,000 years ago, but if I were writing this he would completely be Mrs. Bannerworth's live-in "friend"

And now we proceed to one of the key features of James Malcolm Rymer's writing, which is: real-time dialogue between the most excruciating people on earth. Rymer's gonna drive this penny dreadful like a slow cab and by God he's gonna keep the meter running. Did you hear a scream? I don't know, did you? I'm pretty sure I did or I wouldn't be asking? Yes, I think I heard a scream! Do you know where you heard the scream? It was so sudden that I cannot say! You guys, I think it came from FLORA'S ROOM! FLORA'S ROOM? YOU MEAN THE ROOM OF OUR SISTER? WHY YES I DO THINK SO! GET UP! I AM UP! DID YOU HEAR IT TOO? I SAY OLD CHAP I DO BELIEVE I DID! I am not even kidding. It's still going, in fact. DO YOU HEAR THE SCREAMS? THE SCREAMS, THEY SCREAM AGAIN! WHY YES I DO! CAN YOU DOUBT THEY ARE FLORA'S NOW? WHY I DO NOT BELIEVE I CAN! WE MUST SEARCH THE HOUSE! WHY, DO YOU NOT KNOW WHERE YOUR SISTER'S ROOM IS? WELL I'M JUST SAYING THAT MAYBE WE NEED TO BE THOROUGH ABOUT THIS! BUT I THOUGHT WE AGREED IT'S FLORA (WHO IS YOUR SISTER) WHO IS SCREAMING? So finally we get to Flora's room, but it is locked!! I will spare you the next umpteen pages of three grown men trying to conquer this one door, except to say that Marchdale runs off and gets his crowbar (what, you don't keep a crowbar in your bedroom?), and we start to make progress. Kind of.

"Another moment," said [Marchdale], as he still plied the crowbar -- "another moment, and we shall have free ingress to the chamber. Be patient." 

OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, GODDAMN

Finally we get into Flora's room, where—and this will be important later—everyone sees

a figure, gigantic in height, which nearly reached from the floor to the ceiling. [...] Before it passed out they each and all caught a glance of the side-face, and they saw that the lower part of it and the lips were dabbled in blood. They saw, too, one of those fearful-looking, shining, metallic eyes which presented so terrible an appearance of unearthly ferocity.

And then, some 200 words later, Marchdale shoots the vampyre. BLESSINGS UNTO.

That face was one never to be forgotten. It was hideously flushed with colour -- the colour of fresh blood; the eyes had a savage and remarkable lustre whereas, before, they had looked like polished tin -- they now wore a ten times brighter aspect, and flashes of light seemed to dart from them. The mouth was open, as if, from the natural formation of the countenance, the lips receded much from the large canine looking teeth. A strange howling noise came from the throat of this monstrous figure, and it seemed upon the point of rushing upon Mr. Marchdale. Suddenly, then, as if some impulse had seized upon it, it uttered a wild and terrible shrieking kind of laugh; and then turning, dashed through the window, and in one instant disappeared from before the eyes of those who felt nearly annihilated by its fearful presence.

Well, it's no Angel Cupcake Marble Sparklepire, but I'll take it. (This is another feature of the 1800s vampire: they're only pale when they're hungry, and they actually get some human-looking color after feeding; as such, they can walk around pretty much undetected if the tank is full.) LET'S FOLLOW IT! NO DON'T! MOTHER, I MUST! NO, MY SON! YES! NO! YES!!! NO!!1! Blessedly, Flora's mother faints at this point, so that everyone can shut the hell up and chase the damn thing. And then we (eventually) get to the first part of the book that nearly made me cry laughing.

They looked in the direction he indicated. At the end of this vista was the wall of the garden. At that point it was full twelve feet in height, and as they looked, they saw the hideous, monstrous form they had traced from the chamber of their sister, making frantic efforts to clear the obstacle. They saw it bound from the ground to the top of the wall, which it very nearly reached, and then each time it fell back again into the garden with such a dull, heavy sound, that the earth seemed to shake again with the concussion. They trembled -- well indeed they might, and for some minutes they watched the figure making its fruitless efforts to leave the place.

I don't know why Varney can't get over the wall. It's not, like, a holy garlic wall or anything. All I know is, I nearly fell out of my chair at the image of this poor vampire desperately trying to jump over it, perhaps with a sad little grunt, and then falling on its ass... over and over and over.

(Chapter 3 will go up on Friday, March 17.)

#the chapter where he can't get over the wall #varney the vampire #vampires #long post #queue #recaps #vampire studies

[usafphantom2]

USAF positions B-1B bombers in Guam amid friction with China and North Korea

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 06/07/2022 - 08:33 AM in Military, War Zones

Two years after the U.S. Air Force withdrew four bombers from Guam, four B-1Bs are back at Anderson Air Force base on the island.

The aircraft arrived on the island on June 3. Personnel, aircraft and assets arrived from the 28th Bombing Wing of Ellsworth Air Base to conduct PACAF training alongside allies, partners and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Joint Force, the service reported.

The four B-1B bombers at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. (Photo: Planet Labs)

The U.S. Air Force ended the Continuous Presence of Bombers on the island after 16 years in 2020, when five B-52s left the base in April. However, reports from military circles last month said that the U.S. Air Force would redistribute the B-1Bs as an impediment to North Korea's missile tests and rising tensions with China and Russia, according to The Drive website.

Although not specified, B-1Bs may be in Guam to participate in the Valiant Shield exercise, a series of multi-domain exercises, which is taking place in Guam between June 6 and 17, in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and at sea around the Serra da Ilha das Marianas Complex.

The Valiant Shield will have the participation of the attack groups of aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Abraham Lincoln.

A statement by the commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet added that more than 200 aircraft would participate in the exercise, although there was no specific mention of the B-1Bs. The U.S. Air Force also brought the B-52Hs to the island last February for the annual Cope North multinational military exercises.

However, the deployment of B-1Bs comes amid reports that China has assembled replica ships in Guam to practice missile attacks. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) also recently revealed images of its next-generation D-26 ballistic missile, nicknamed "Guam Killer" for its range.

With the increase in Beijing's threat, measures to increase Guam's missile defense capabilities beyond the existing THAAD battery have been widely discussed. In addition to training to better survive a more limited attack, Iron Dome batteries were also deployed on the island in an experimental initiative to combat missile threats.

The U.S. has already increased the number of nuclear-powered attack submarines stationed there, with the arrival of a fifth vessel in April this year.

The U.S. had already deployed the bombers during North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations in 2017, when the aircraft flew along the Northern Border Line in the West Sea. The measures are being seen as a show of strength aimed at avoiding potential provocations from North Korea.

However, since 2017, bombers have never appeared on the Korean peninsula. Three years later, the Pentagon removed them from Guam, stating that bombers may be more effective when flying from their bases in the continental United States.

Tags: Military AviationB-1B LancerbombersUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Indo-Asia-Pacific

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in a specialized aviation magazine in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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Cavok Brasil - Digital Tchê Web Creation

[speed-seo]

2023: A Transformative Year for These Profitable Digital Marketing Niches

 Well, 2023 has come and gone. And what a transformative year it was for digital marketing! I don't know about you, but my head is still spinning from all the changes that shook up major niches this past year. In this article, we’ll explore the biggest 2023 shifts and their implications moving forward. Here’s what we’ll cover: Overview - Thesis: 2023 was a disruptive year that redefined niches through new tech and behaviors. - Purpose: Equip you with insights to future-proof your marketing. Top 5 Niches Impacted - E-Commerce - SaaS - Healthcare - Real Estate - Finance These industries faced new technologies, regulations, and consumer behaviors that changed the game. Trust me, you need to know what went down in these niches this past year. The developments in 2023 set the stage for the future, and gave us a crystal ball into what’s coming down the pipeline. I’ll give you the scoop on the most disruptive changes, how brands adapted, and what you can learn for your own marketing efforts in the years ahead. For each niche, we’ll discuss: - The change that shook things up - How it impacted marketing strategy - What brands did to adapt - What this signals for the future My goal is to help you future-proof your marketing strategy by revealing the biggest digital marketing trends and examples from these major niches in 2023. That way, you can get ahead of what’s next and avoid getting blindsided by the rapid pace of change. Key Takeaways - Summarize the major lessons and trends that emerged in 2023. - Strategic advice for capitalizing on what’s next. By the end, you’ll understand the most disruptive 2023 shifts and how to harness them for the years ahead. Let's start unraveling the moments that redefined marketing in these 5 major niches. Sound good? Let’s dive in! 2023 E-Commerce Technologies and Consumer Behaviors Massive Shifts The e-commerce niche underwent massive shifts in 2023 as new technologies and consumer behaviors took hold. Here are two of the most impactful changes: The Rise of Livestream Shopping Livestream shopping, which allows real-time product demonstrations and sales through live video, exploded in popularity this year. Over 75% of consumers made a purchase through a livestream event in 2023, up from just 25% in 2022 according to Fit Small Business. This impacted e-commerce sites by: - Driving searches for terms like "livestream shopping," "live shopping," and related queries as consumers sought these experiences. - Forcing sites to integrate live video and real-time engagement features to meet this demand. - Developing more engaging and interactive product pages to mimic the dynamic experience of livestreams. E-commerce brands that capitalized on livestream shopping saw revenue gains of 200-500% over their competitors according to Walk The Chat. 🔎 Research firm eMarketer estimates that the global market for livestream shopping will generate a massive $500 billion in revenue in the current year. Voice Commerce Gains Traction Voice search and AI assistants like Alexa became a major new shopping channel this year. 40 million households now use voice assistants to purchase products online, a 100% increase over 2022 . This shift led to: - New voice search optimization tactics like using natural language and commands ("Alexa, buy more paper towels"). - Brands developing "skills" for AI assistants to enable seamless voice transactions. - More focus on audio and video content to engage voice users. Early adopters of voice tech and optimization saw 30% higher conversion rates from voice queries . AI Transforms SaaS Industry in 2023, Reshaping Customer Choices The SaaS niche also saw massive upheaval in 2023 through new technologies like AI and shifting subscriber preferences. Two examples include: AI-Powered Solutions AI adoption boomed in 2023, with over 70% of SaaS companies now using AI in some capacity . This created major impacts such as: - More searches related to AI-enabled features like predictive analytics, sentiment analysis, etc. - Pressures to integrate and promote AI capabilities to meet market demands. - Using AI chatbots and assistants to provide fast, 24/7 customer support. SaaS firms that developed AI solutions saw 60% faster growth than the competition . Subscription Fatigue With the rise of the subscription economy, over 60% of consumers now feel "subscription fatigue" from juggling multiple SaaS memberships . To adapt, SaaS brands had to: - Adjust messaging and positioning to acknowledge and alleviate subscription burnout. - Offer more flexibility like month-to-month plans or discounted annual subscriptions. - Develop additional value-adds and perks to maintain loyalty. Companies that responded to this trend saw churn rates reduced by 75% YOY . Things that Changed in 2023 for the Healthcare Industry Healthcare organizations faced evolving challenges in 2023 with new regulations and technologies disrupting traditional practices. For example: Telehealth Services Use of telehealth services like virtual doctor visits skyrocketed, with over 85% of patients now open to remote healthcare options versus just 22% in 2020 . This drove major impacts like: - Dramatic rise in searches for terms like "telehealth," "virtual healthcare," etc. - Pressures to offer seamless online booking and video visit capabilities. - More focus on developing omni-channel engagement across virtual and in-office care. Orgs that invested heavily in telehealth saw patient satisfaction scores increase by 40% . AI Diagnosis and Treatment Use of AI in areas like medical diagnosis and treatment planning grew exponentially, with over 55% of healthcare organizations now leveraging these technologies . This created shifts such as: - Optimizing for keywords related to AI health services. - Promoting AI capabilities to attract tech-savvy patients. - Re-training staff on integrating AI-driven insights and recommendations. Early AI adopters achieved 30% higher diagnostic accuracy using intelligent algorithms . 2023 Real Estate Two Transformative Changes The real estate niche saw two transformative changes: the Metaverse and evolving consumer journeys. Metaverse Home Tours With the Metaverse going mainstream, over 25% of home searches now involve a Metaverse tour . This is forcing drastic digital experience changes like: - Optimizing for Metaverse-related search terms. - Developing 3D staged home tours and immersive open house events. - Retraining agents on virtual staging best practices. Early adopters have seen home sales improve by over 20% using Metaverse tours . Evolving Journeys The path to homeownership looked completely different in 2023. Today's journeys are 60% digital, with buyers relying on resources like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to learn and search. This requires shifts like: - Placing video ads and optimizing content across new digital touchpoints. - Developing channels on TikTok, YouTube Shorts and other emerging formats. - Creating engaging social content that informs and nurtures modern buyers. Realtors who embraced these new digital touchpoints saw leads increase by 100% . Final Verdict While this article only scratched the surface, 2023 brought massive change across digital marketing niches. The takeaway is that complacency is no longer an option - to thrive, brands must constantly adapt and evolve. The good news is that by staying on top of trends and technologies, there are always new opportunities to better engage audiences, rank higher, and drive results. Key Takeaways - Major shifts like livestream shopping, telehealth adoption, Metaverse integration, and more upended multiple niches this year. - Search patterns, consumer expectations, and best practices changed dramatically across the board. - Proactively embracing these new trends and realigning strategies will separate the winners from the laggards. - With the pace of change accelerating, no brand can afford to stand still - constant learning and iteration is a must. The question now becomes: How will you take advantage of what’s next in 2024 and beyond? The future favors the bold. Are you ready to seize it? Read the full article

[thxnews]

UK Government Prioritizes Growth with New Brexit Reporting Changes

  Plans to reduce costly and time-consuming regulatory burdens on business have been revealed by the Government today . A wide range of UK companies, investors and industry experts have been invited to give their views on non-financial reporting regimes, in a new call for evidence that aims to find ways to reduce reporting regulation burdens on businesses so that they can focus on growth. Non-financial reporting provides valuable information to investors and is a way for companies to tell their ‘story’ beyond financial information. This includes future strategy, and detail on how a wide range of factors may affect the company’s performance, providing insight into the business and culture of the company. However, companies and investors have been calling for the simplification of these requirements in the wake of the deregulatory opportunities offered by Brexit. Annual reports now run at an average of 200 pages for the largest companies in the UK, creating unnecessary burden for businesses. With this review, the Government will aim to: - Save businesses time and money with a more streamlined and focused corporate reporting regime - Ensure company annual reports contain clearer, more useful information, by asking investors what really matters to them - Make the UK an even more competitive place to do business by placing growth and investment at the heart of reporting requirements  

Official portrait of Kevin Hollinrake MP. Photo by UK.GOV. Wikimedia.   Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: We want to shred unnecessary paperwork so businesses can focus on what’s important to them – growing and making profit. By seizing on the opportunities of Brexit to streamline our non-financial reporting regime, we’ll make the UK an easier and more competitive place to do business, while delivering on our priority to grow the economy.   As part of this, we will also review the size thresholds that determine some of the information a company needs to produce in their annual report, in particular the definition of micro-enterprises. This threshold, a relic of an EU directive, could be forcing too many of Britain’s smallest businesses to spend time and money preparing information to a level of detail only needed for larger companies, distracting them from focusing on growth and creating jobs. The call for evidence will end on 16 August. The Government will then use the information collected to develop detailed proposals for public consultation next year. Subject to the views shared, the Government will then look to legislate for any changes. This builds on the “Smarter regulation to grow the economy” policy paper (10 May 2023) which set out how the government would improve regulation across the board to reduce burdens and drive economic growth now that the UK has left the European Union. Our departure from the EU allows us to shape rules and processes so that they work for the UK’s specific circumstances and businesses, including for non-financial reporting, while upholding our strong record on workers’ rights.   Sources: THX News, Department for Business and Trade & Kevin Hollinrake MP. Read the full article

#Brexit #DepartmentforBusinessandTrade #Investors #KevinHollinrakeMP #NewBrexitReportingChanges #Regulation #UKcompanies #UKGovernment

[sophiaede]

Space Online Collaborative Residency

In January I was successful in being selected by Space, 37 Queen Street for their Online Collaborative Residency (OCR).

Before applying I wasn't sure if it was worth while. I had just turned down an extension of my part time job at The Art Place Pop-Up for feeling over committed and was wanting to focus on my Uni work for the final 5 months. The OCR is 14 weeks long and offers an artist fee of £200 and a materials budget of £100 with an online digital exhibition at the end. I was concerned about committing myself to another project and uncertain the artist fee and digital exhibition was worth the additional pressure. I, however, discussed it with multiple friends and collegues who pointed out the fantastic opportunity it was to meet other artists and build contacts. And they were right!

I was partnered with Sally Maddams, a mix media artist who teaches photography at sixth form level. Her works focuses on walking and her surrounding landscapes by building multi media pieces from paint, photography and found objects. We hit it off straight away. We have many common practices and interests. I have created work inspired by walks in the past but also we are both keen runners and promised to do a run together one day.

Our starting point idea was to combine Sally's subject matter of walking with my medium of choice, pinhole cameras. Because of Sally's job as a photography teacher, we both have access to darkrooms. Sally had never built her own pinhole camera before. I sent her a pdf of how to create one but she also borrowed a crafted wooden box pinhole camera and black changing bag from her school. The changing bag was so she could load paper from home without a darkroom. We also discussed how our immediate surroundings differ. Sally lives out in the countryside surrounded by fields and rural living. I, however, live in Colchester town centre making my environment much more urban. This was a nice contrast that would be visible in our photography.

The OCR participants and Space team met on zoom every second Saturday for 2 hours. We were also given tasks by the Space team throughout the project. First was for each pair to write a partnership Artist statement.

Sophia and Sally are both multi-media artists. Sophia explores documentation and the production of indexical signs through darkroom processes and camera building. Sally uses Photography as a starting point for her work as well as having a particular interest in different dark room approaches. Sophia also considers what we call a camera by building the unexpected and found object pinhole cameras that produce some of her artwork. To her, the cameras she produces are as much about the work than the images they capture. Sally has a particular interest in the textures and weathered and worn surfaces which she has encountered on her journeys.

This collaboration allows for a great deal of experimentation and to allow the landscape to take over and see where the work progresses. Using pinhole cameras as a starting point Sophia and Sally plan to document the changing seasons through the next few months, both urban and rural and create outcomes which are connected through the same theme.

Our pinhole camera results varied with poor weather conditions and human error sometimes getting in the way. I did, however, greatly enjoyed the process. Having only recently moved to Colchester, this project forced me explore my local surroundings on foot. I discovered so much that I wasn't aware of by driving the same roads everyday.

Each partnership was asked to take over Space, 37 Queen Street’s Instagram account for 3 days each. Our scheduled 3 days happened to fall upon very busy days for the both of us so we planned our posts in advance. As our work is experimental and still in progress we decided to add borders to both neaten their appearance and tie our pieces together. That way when the Instagram page is viewed our work is identifiable. Due to our busy schedules we chose to keep our take over simple by posting once a day over the 3 days. Other partnerships chose to use Instagrams stories, reels and live functions to present additional elements to the artwork they have made. This would include research they’ve conducted, artists who inspire them and backstories to each artist in the partnership. I found this really interesting and they got a lot of engagement with their audience. This is something I would definitely consider doing in the future if I was to do another Instagram take over and had more time.

Our artwork is very experimental and playful. Some other partnerships focused on complicated concepts or laid out intentions for their artwork very early on. We, however, used our surrounding landscapes and pinhole photography as our starting point and then let the artwork determine it’s own path and progression. We also respond to each other’s artwork by learning skills from one another and letting it influence our development. Sally often uses image transfer in her work by lifting laser jet prints with Liquidtex onto porous materials. This inspired me to revisit Polaroid lifts that I had learnt a few years ago. Sally had never come across this technique before and was a new skill for her. Paint is another medium that I haven’t personally used in a long time but Sally often reworked her images using paint.

The hardest element of the residency was preparing for the final online showcase. Instead of a physical exhibition we were asked to build our own webpage on a microsite that presented our work. We really struggled as we weren’t familiar with building a webpage. The microsite is through Wordpress. Sally admitted to having little interest or knowledge of tech and she found zoom meetings hard enough to master. As an online residency we were suggested multiple different apps and programs throughout the 14 weeks to aid us in planning and communication. These apps recommended were Padlet, Simple mind and Canva. Many partnerships did use these but Sally and I preferred not to.

Writing this PDP blog throughout the semester really helped in understanding how to navigate the microsite builder. The layout uses multiple blocks. These blocks can be text, image, url, gifs etc. These can then be moved around to build the structure of your page and use the ‘preview’ tab to view how the final page will be presented. We received a how to demonstration by a member of the Space team a few weeks back and it was recorded for us to refer to. I originally went into building our site’s page thinking it would be relatively simple and I would only need to spend a couple of days on it. I arranged to meet Sally in person to go through it together and plan our layout. We discussed how we would like to present our work. Over the 14 weeks we had built up a surprisingly large collection of work with many being quick experiments. We were able to review last year’s examples to understand the different approaches each partnership had. Upon talking with the rest of the group, many believed it was important their journey and progress was laid out for the viewers to follow. As exhibiting artists, and with my interest in curating, Sally and I wanted to approach our presentation similarly to if we were to curate a physical show. Of the many pieces that we produced we selected the most successful. It didn’t matter to us who had produced which piece. We felt that mixed up and sitting side by side they all worked together. We then whittled our selection to 4 pieces that we considered our most clearly resolved and finalised. These 4 images plus an artist statement would be the highlight of our exhibition. We used the artist statement we wrote at the beginning of the project but re worked it to better present our journey.

Sophia and Sally are both multi-media artists. Sophia explores documentation and the production of indexical signs through darkroom processes and creating pinhole cameras. Sally uses photography as a starting point for her work as well as having a particular interest in different dark room approaches. Sophia considers what we call a camera by creating pinhole cameras out of unexpected and found objects. These are then used to produce some of her photography. Sally has a particular interest in the textures, especially weathered and worn surfaces which she encounters on her journeys.

This collaboration incorporated a great deal of experimentation and allowed the landscape to dictate the direction and progress of the work. Using pinhole cameras as a starting point Sophia and Sally produced artwork in response to both urban and rural landscapes, as well as each other. The outcomes are connected through the theme of their surroundings and landscapes but also experimental photographic processes.

We then treated the remaining successful pieces as supporting artwork further down the page. This will give the viewers an insight into our project’s journey without having to give them a play by play account. We accompanied these with a quote from both of us on our experience in the project. We understand that although this is a showcase for us as artists, it’s also a showcase of Space Online Collaborative Residency. Viewers will be interested in how we personally found the project as well as the work it produced. Finally we ended the page with a small gallery of behind the scenes images. Pinhole and Polaroid cameras were fundamental to our process so this gave an opportunity to show off our tools and equipment.

Building a microsite page was frustrating and wasn’t something I would have chosen as a form of exhibition. In hind sight though, it has been a very valuable lesson. If I am planning to build myself a website in the future a lot of these skills are transferable. But most importantly as a contemporary artist, digital technology is something I will be utilising at times. As proven by the pandemic, digital exhibitions and showcases are becoming more common and I may enter more of them in the future. I didn’t know what I was entering at the start of the project and had assumed I would be handing over digital files of my work for someone else to display. Although it was hard to navigate and took up a lot of my time, I appreciate the skills building a microsite page has taught me.

[thegreatgodbird]

i like watership down because it has wonderful worldbuilding & parts that strike genuine fear into my heart but my favorite part is when the bunnies settle down in their new home and hazel is like this isn’t going to work. and all the bunnies are like why hazel? and he goes WE HAVE NO FUCKING WOMEN

#watership down #this is the driving force for the next 200 pages #personal log

[ghoste-catte]

I was curious what advice would you give to someone new to writing fics? I've been wanting to get back into it but haven't seriously written something since high school. I hope this isn't an annoying question or anything!

Not an annoying question at all! I'm just a little worried that I won't have terribly good or useful advice. To be honest, I also sort of stopped writing in earnest right as I finished high school, and didn't pick it back up until my late 20s. It's certainly an adjustment! But I think the few things that really helped me get back into writing fic as a hobby and something I spend quite a bit of time on would be:

Write for yourself first, then find your other motivations. My original inspiration in getting back into fic writing was that there just were not that many fics I liked for my favorite pairing, and I wanted more of them, and I especially wanted more with the tropes and characterizations I wanted to see. I think at the very core of anything you need that internal spark that drives you. At the same time, for me at least, if I just relied on my own drive, I would not get much done; I need some external guardrails. So having people send prompts, or writing for particular events, or writing stuff for friends really helps me to get my ass in gear and finish stuff. That may not be the perfect motivator for you, and that's fine! You just gotta figure out what is.

Be open to inspiration. Anything and everything can be spun out into a story with the right tweaking. Obviously stuff like music is a classic inspiration source, but I've also pulled ideas from poetry, from memes, from Reddit threads, from YouTube videos, from rambling conversations on Discord and from real life to make fics out of. So many times, someone will post a silly Twitter screencap, and I'll think, There's a fic in this. And a lot of the time, there is! Research is a wonderful thing, but so is serendipity. If you're out there actively looking for ideas, eventually one that you like will stumble past you.

Find your community. I can genuinely say I never would have finished more than one fic if I didn't have fandom friends to talk to about even stupid headcanons, to bounce ideas off of, and to encourage me (and to encourage them in turn!). Discord has been a godsend, and some of my closest online friends are people I met in the GaaLee discord server. As I've gotten more comfortable as a writer, I've also joined general writing servers and Reddit communities and have found them immensely helpful on both a motivational level (bingos, sprints, owe-me challenges) and on a craft level (plot workshopping and writing ethics and live grammar help). It's a lot easier to think about fic ideas and hash through problem moments when I have a constant stream of fandom-related chatter coming from the little people who live in my phone! Ao3 is an amazing website, and it's great as, well, an archive, but it isn't social media by design. If you want conversation and human connection and cheerleading, you've gotta forge out and find it.

Make it a habit ... If you want to produce anything longer than a couple hundred words, you really have to set aside time for it. And writing is just like knitting or dirt biking or painting little model figurines: the more you do it, the more easily it comes. When I was first getting back into the proper swing of things, I committed myself to 30 minutes of writing per week. Just 30 minutes. I didn't even hit that goal every week, but there were tons of weeks I got on a roll and went over that amount, and by the end of the year I'd written over 200,000 words. I used to spend an hour laboriously tip-tapping out 200 words, but now I can easily blow through 1k in a 50 minute sprint. It's all about training that muscle.

... But don't make it a chore. With fanfic, you aren't doing this as a job, and you aren't ultimately doing it for anyone other than you. That means you can take breaks when you need them, you can set deadlines and then fail to meet them, you can write stuff and then decide to never post it. When you start getting burnt out, when the practice loses the joy and energy, stop. There's no 'hustle' here. In our capitalist society we're so trained to push past our limits and keep going even when it hurts us, but the hobby you do for connection and relaxation and whatever else shouldn't be like that.

Ignore metrics. Sometimes stuff isn't gonna get hits, or kudos, or comments. There are some basic 'rules' as to the stuff that does and doesn't get traction, but every time you post something it's a roll of the dice. If you're focused on watching that kudos counter tick up, you will get bummed out fast. And any writer will tell you that the stuff you think is your best work will never be the stuff that gets the most accolades. So you have to find something else to give you a sense of success. For me, it's watching my wordcount go up in my stats and those occasional comments where someone has a lot to say and that one person who always leaves me a <3 emoji (and, shout out to @egregiousderp, having someone to have long one-on-one conversations with about the stuff that never made it to page).

Don't strive for perfection. It's really easy to want your first ever fic to be a complete showstopper, the best fic fandom has ever seen, hitting all the tropes and the ideas and the characterization that you just know fandom is missing and would be everyone's top favorite if only it was written. This is a trap. No one fic can be all things. Most people who want to write an epic as their very first venture will not see the end of that epic, because they haven't put in the practice hours to make something on that scale work. That's not to say you can't start out with a big, sprawling multichap, just don't expect it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread if you're just starting out, and be okay with abandoning it for greener pastures if you get to that point. Think of the first time someone makes a vase out of clay or bakes a loaf of bread. That's never their best vase or their best bread. If they keep up with it, they'll make more and better vases and loaves. Likewise, your first fic is probably not gonna be your best fic. See it for what it is: your launchpad.

You can't edit an empty page, but you can over-edit a full one. This kind of spins off of #7, but if the words aren't there, you can't fix them. Daydreams and headcanons are fantastic (and god, how many times have I wished for a speech-to-text engine that projected my falling asleep thoughts onto a Google doc for later perusal), but they aren't fic. If you want to write fic, you've gotta get comfortable with the idea of sloppy outlines and rough first drafts. You can't build a house without a frame and you can't build a man without a skeleton (I mean, you can, I guess, but he'd be one floppy man). The nice thing about fic is that it doesn't matter if that frame is structurally unsound or the skeleton has 18 too many bones, you can clean that up in the editing process. But you can't start hanging curtains and arranging furniture in something that doesn't even have walls. That's the process. But! Also know when to set down the editor's pen and say, "Okay, this is good enough for government work", and call it done. ("Done" doesn't have to mean "posted", but it does mean, "I'm done picking at this for now, and I'm gonna go write some more stuff".) Over-editing can make stuff seem laborious and forced, and it prevents you from actually improving. To continue belaboring the house metaphor, you can spend your whole life rearranging furniture in just one room, but the end result of that is a pretty narrow existence and a room with a lot of footprints and tracks in the carpet.

Write shit down. When you have ideas, jot them down--in a notebook, in a Google Doc, in the Notes app of your phone, in pen on the back of your hand. You think you will remember that brilliant line of dialogue or sparkling snippet of narration or genius plot that came to you in a dream, but you Will Not. Write it down. Write it down. Write it down! There have been so many times when a fic was completely saved by past!me having written down my shower thoughts about what happens next in the fic, that present!me had completely forgotten about and was floundering over.

Have fun with it! Try different stuff. Try stupid stuff. Try experimental stuff. Do stuff you've never done before that you aren't sure will work. It's important to get comfortable with your niche (for example, I know I'm never going to be the sort of person who writes intricate plots of intrigue or super long 100k epics or detailed battles), but you can't find that niche unless you explore lots of different niches! Figure out what you love and what you absolutely hate, and then keep doing the stuff you love.

Okay, so that was actually TEN things, but ... I hope you still found this helpful. Feel free to send another ask if any of this was confusing or unclear. Good luck with your fic writing and, if you want, send me a link to what you've written once you've written it! I'd love to read it.

#answered #anonymous #writing advice #i guess? #am i qualified to give this? #no #but im doing it anyway

[gifted-burnout-archive]

The Other Side of Hollywood

Part Seven

Word Count: 5.2K+

Author’s Note: I KNOW THE GIF IS FROM EPISODE ONE BUT I WANTED TO USE IT EARLIER AND FORGOT SO HAVE IT NOW INSTEAD!!! And I couldn’t find the time to make my own gif of Luke in that suit today so you’ll get it tomorrow with the finale. Also, I am genuinely concerned for Willie in the real show so I did us all a favour and changed a thing or two.

Warning: threatening language, more jolts, sad stuff.

Linkaroonies - One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Masterlist and Y/N Moodboard.

--

The plan wasn’t exactly simple… But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the band really had no other choice.

After Julie’s rousing speech the night before, planning quickly began: what the boys had been struggling over for a week was quickly solved when they were reminded by Julie of their number one strength. Being ghosts. And after Willie stopped by to check in and promised to get rid of the opening act for Panic! At The Disco overnight, and after he assured them no-one would be hurt, maimed, or made into a ghost themselves in the process, he vanished and promised to report back by morning.

It’s how Alex, Reggie and Luke found themselves standing outside the Orpheum the next day, impatient in their wait for Willie’s return while Julie paced her way around the studio at home.

“Look, don’t worry guys, Willie said he’d get us on that marquee.” Alex assured, his eyes travelling up to the neon blue sign.

“This gonna work, right?” Reggie asked, glancing over at his bandmates, his brothers, with a look of worry. They were riding on Willie’s help, and after he disappeared last night, all that was left for them to do was plan a show that might not happen.

“It has too.” Luke said with a sigh, before all three of them were suddenly hit with another jolt. It sent them doubling over, the pain getting more intense and more frequent the closer they seemed to come to the week’s end – they were on a deadline.

“Hey, you guys ok?” A voice asked behind them, Willie appearing out of the thin air, quickly looking around himself as if someone was missing. He seemed confused, but quickly looked back to the three guys in front of him.

“Yeah.” Alex answered after the trio shared a glance. “Yeah, it’s nothing we haven’t felt before… How’d it go?” He asked, and Willie smiled.

“Well, when that opening band wakes up, they’re gonna find their bus 200 miles outside of Vegas with no chance of getting back in time.” Willie turned to show the jacket he had nabbed from the band that was meant to be supporting P!ATD that night, turning back around and receiving a fist bump from Luke. Another whoosh sounded from behind Willie, Luke’s smile immediately fading away while Alex and Reggie looked surprised.

“You know, that means there’s probably a promoter upstairs right about now freaking out.” Y/N smiled, Willie looking at her with a proud expression. “Hey Reggie.” She said with a wave of her fingers, the boy waving back. “Alex.” She nodded. “… Denim. Like the fleece.” She complimented, earning a snicker from Alex, who quickly stopped with a glance at Luke…

He had never seen him look so angry.

“What is she doing here?” Luke asked Willie, only to be interrupted by a jangle of keys, the item finally through the air and forcing Luke to instinctively catch them. A set of keys, and by the stickers and keyring, it seemed like they were the keys for the tour bus currently stuck in the middle of the desert.

“I told you last night I wanted to help… And Willie can’t drive. Not as well as I can anyway.” She explained herself quickly, and it became clear why Willie was so pleased: Y/N seemed to have switched sides.

“Thanks, Y/N…” Reggie said after a moment, earning a scowl from Luke. “What? She helped!” He defended himself, and Y/N just smiled at the bassist.

“It’s alright Reg.” She promised. “I wouldn’t be forgiving me either…” Y/N’s eyes fell to the ground, her shoes scuffing against the sidewalk. “The things you’ll do for family, right?” She muttered, loud enough for only Luke to really hear. It left him confused for a moment, not quite sure what she meant, and the silence that followed was quickly broken by Willie.

“You, know, I might have to disagree, Y/N. From what I’ve seen, Hollywood promoters are super chill in the face of… Problems.” Willie said with a chuckle, and Y/N smiled softly, bringing up a hand and messing with his hair.

“Good luck tonight, guys… I mean that.” She said with a final glance at the boys before her, all looking a little more hopeful than the night before, before disappearing into the air. Alex took a few steps forward to Willie once the air had settled again, pulling him aside from Reggie and Luke, who quickly caught on and backed away a little.

“I know…” Alex paused, taking a breath, clasping and unclasping his hands. “How much you’re risking…” His eyes finally met Willie’s, who was smiling bright and sweet. “Thank you, Willie.”

“I told you, I’d do anything for you.” Willie responded with a shrug, meaning the words he spoke. Alex hesitated for a moment, almost tempted to end it there, but his heart got the better of him, pulling Willie into a tight hug.

They held onto each other for a moment, Alex knowing that if something went wrong, it might just be the last time he got to see the skater. Willie was quick to hug back, his head going into the crook of Alex’s neck, his eyes closing as he breathed in, trying to retain Alex’s faint smell of dust and old cologne.

“Right…” Alex pulled away first, patting Willie’s shoulder before taking a step back, clearing his throat. “You uh… You’d better get out of here before Caleb catches you with us.”

“Yeah…” Willie nodded, a poof of air landing his skateboard in his hands. “I’ll see you around, hot dog.” He smiled, and Alex smiled back for a moment: it’s the first time Willie had used the nickname since the club, since all this chaos began.

Willie dropped his board to the ground, Alex watching him skate away as his friends came back to his side, Reggie placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Alex, you all right, man?” He asked, genuinely concerned, but Alex shrugged him off and nodded, turning to face his bandmates with a small smile, sad in nature.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m ok.”

“Well…” Luke started. “Thanks to Willie, Panic! At The Disco needs an opening band.” The attention was brought back to the job at hand, Luke ignoring Reggie’s addition of “And Y/N…”.

“Then I guess someone up there needs to know we’re available.” Alex smiled, his friends smiling right back as they poofed away in unison, only to land two storeys above in an office, where a very angry man was shouting down a phone.

“Stop… Stop saying the bus drove itself!” The man yelled, banging the phone against the desk in the hope to release some of his frustration, while his assistant watched on with a sigh.

“Yeah, Willie was right… This guy’s a total pro.” Reggie whispered, the sarcasm clear, and earning a chuckle from a decreasingly less grumpy Luke.

“All right, boys. Let the magic happen.” Luke announced, before feigning a stern expression. “Alex, no dancing!” He commanded, prompting the blond boy to jump and raise his arms like a ballerina.

Alex danced his way over to the far side of the assistant’s desk with poise and grace that left both Reggie and Luke near tears from laughter as they followed him. With a twirl a flick of his wrist, Alex knocked a pencil holder to the floor, and in a mad rush of Alex writing and Luke directing Reggie in finding their YouTube video from the week before, the boys stepped back as the assistant lifted herself and the fallen object back to the desk.

She was surprised to find a video playing on her screen when she sat back up, and quickly scrolled down to see who exactly this band were, even more surprised by their amazing sound.

“Tasha!” Her boss called to the assistant, who glanced up from her laptop. “Get me CJ. Tell him I need a band to open in 3 hours.” He demanded, and she grinned.

“Sure, but you might want to check this out.” Tasha sat back, continuing to watch the video as her boss hurried over, and Alex couldn’t help but chuckle as the boys watched the scene unfold before them. “Somehow this video started playing on my laptop. It’s got 4 million hits in just a week.”

“Who are they?” He asked, shocked, and Tasha scrolled down the page.

“They’re a hologram band. They call themselves Julie and the Phantoms.” She read out.

“Tell your friends.” Reggie instinctively replied.

“Where are they located?” He asked quickly, and she smiled even wider.

“Our very own City of Angels.”

“Then book ‘em!” Her boss demanded, the boys sharing a cheer.

“Sure, I just don’t know how to…” Tasha trailed off, her eyes falling onto a post-it note, right there on her desk, bearing a number alongside the band’s name.

“Your handwriting is better than mine…” Luke mumbled, earning a pat on the back and nod from Alex before the three vanished, headed home to find Julie and tell her the good news.

“Oh my God!” Was the first thing they head when they landed, Julie having spent most her day pacing the studio: by the looks of it, she had worn down the carpet. “What took you guys so long?! Did Willie do it? Did you talk to them? Did they watch? Did they like us? Are we playing tonight? Can someone answer me? Why’s no-one talking-”

“Whoa, that’s a lot of questions!” Reggie interrupted, allowing Julie a chance to catch her breath. “Luke, you wanna take this one?” He suggested, and Luke turned to face Julie with a smile.

“Take a seat.” He instructed, and Julie’s sat back on the couch she had been too anxious to stay on earlier, while the boys found themselves kneeling on the other side of the table. Atop it, sat Julie’s phone. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.” Luke said with a smile.

“Yeah. Willie and Y/N took care of the other band, and we saw them watch the video.” Julie smiled a little at the mention of Y/N’s name, glad the ghost-girl she had become so close to over the last week was on their side. “You should be getting a call right… Now!” Alex explained, pointing to the phone and everyone leaned forward. When the screen stayed blank, he cleared his throat and tried again. “Right… Now!” He pointed a second time, this time the action followed by the screen lighting up with an unknown number, the boys high-fiving. “Nailed it…”

“The phone!” The boys quickly realised Julie was yet to answer after a moment had passed, and she quickly grabbed her mobile, the room going silent as she answered.

“Hello?” She said softly, the tension thick in the air as they waited.

“Hi, this is Tasha from the Orpheum…”

--

Y/N had always been Willie’s best friend. If anything, she was more like his over-protective younger sister. From the moment he arrived at the club, she was watching out for him, keeping him safe, and she intended to keep doing that, whatever the cost. Even if it led to her handing over the boy she liked on a silver platter with his bandmates to Caleb. Even if it meant spending eternity being hated by the people she wanted most to like her, Willie included.

Because, when all is said and done, Y/N would do anything to protect her family.

“Why so blue, sunset?” Caleb asked as he walked into the club to find her keeping up with her daily chores: scrubbing away at the floor until Caleb could see his reflection on the wood. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the big dance number tonight?”

“I don’t want to perform anymore. Not for you.” Y/N muttered, getting up from the floor to sort herself out with some fresh water, a hand coming to her shoulder. “You know, the only time I’ve ever enjoyed anything to do with music was when I sang with Luke? With the band you want so badly to tear away from Julie. My friend?”

“They aren’t your friends, Y/N… I’m your friend.” Caleb corrected, gesturing for Y/N to set down the bucket and sit, which she did without hesitation. “I’m also the friend who owns your soul, owns your best friend’s soul.” He reminded, and Y/N sighed. “So, you do what I say. I say I want you on my stage tonight, that’s where you’ll be. Got it?” He snapped, and Y/N quickly nodded. “Good. Now, what have they been up to since we last spoke?”

“They’ve figured out their unfinished business… They plan to finish it tonight.” She reported back, and Caleb froze. “You’re too late.”

“The lifer’s address. Give it to me.” Caleb demanded, and Y/N stood up, taking steps towards backstage, only to be hit by a jolt that sent her to her knees.

“Caleb please… Please just let this go, let Willie go. Reconsider.” She begged, coughing through her words to try and lessen the pain in her chest.

“I OWN YOU!” Caleb yelled. “You do what I say! Now,” He snapped his fingers, changing from a suit into a tuxedo and top hat combo. “Tell me where they are.” With a roll of his hand, he offered Y/N a pen and paper.

As she wrote down Julie’s address, Y/N could only hope that the boys were already at the Orpheum, already with Julie and ready to play again. He smiled as she scrawled the address down, snatching the paper back and closing his eyes as he disappeared, leaving Y/N to recover, to change…

To get ready for another show.

--

“Julie and I were thinking we start with Stand Tall.” Luke suggested, he, Alex and Reggie gathered around the grand piano in the studio, deciding the final order of the songs. He looked up to find both his bandmates rather out of it, and frowned.

“Perfect.” Alex said with a quick nod.

“Sounds good.” Reggie added with a sigh.

“Sounds good?” Luke asked, looking between the two like he was missing something. “Dude wake up! I wanna hear ‘it sounds awesome’!” Luke said with vigour, trying to pump up his friends, before letting his shoulders drop. “I know this isn’t how we wanted things to turn out, but we gotta be all in tonight.” He reminded them. “This is our second chance at playing the Orpheum!”

“I… I get it, I get it, but it’s hard.” Reggie said in a soft voice, melancholic and sincere. “Do we even know what’s on the other side when we cross over? Do we all still get to hang together? You…” Reggie paused, his shoulders slumping. “You guys are the only family I have.”

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen either, but… It’s not like we have a choice.” Alex said softly, reaching to place a hand on Reggie’s shoulder when another jolt hit the three, sending them doubling over.

It was worse this time, a lot worse, the pain no longer in their side but the centre of their chest, almost like the jolts had been travelling this whole time towards their hearts. Each was having to find support from the piano to simply stand up at all, and as the pain started to fade from their chests, it relocated to their wrists where the stamps marked their skin.

“I’m pretty sure we do… And it rhymes with the Hollywood Ghost Club.” Reggie said with malice in his voice as he rubbed his wrist, his friends sharing the same thought as the garage doors opened, Julie walking in and pausing at the unhappy looks on her friends’ faces.

“Are you ready?” She asked before fully registering the situation, her smile quickly dropping. “What’s wrong?” She asked, holding on tighter to her dress, stored neatly in a clothing bag. The boys did their best to hide the level of pain they were in, Alex brushing it off with a light chuckle and smile.

“Yeah. We just got rocked pretty hard by one of those jolt things.” He explained with a shrug, leading the walk over to their friend, their bandmate, their leading lady.

“Pretty sure I ghost peed a little.” Reggie added with a forlorn look, Alex glancing over and rolling his eyes at the comment.

“We’re fine though.” Luke smiled. “How are you doing?” He asked, noticing the way his friend wringed her hands round the coat hanger.

“I’m a little nervous actually.” She admitted with a slight laugh. She was, after all, about to play the Orpheum, one of the most well-known stages in LA. She hung the dress on the door quickly, rubbing her hands against the denim of her jeans.

“Julie, you’ll be amazing, as always.” Reggie reminded, receiving nods of agreement from the other guys, easing Julie’s nerves slightly.

“Can… Can I ask a favour?” She said softly, looking at the three idiots who had become part of her family, who had become her home.

“Anything, Julie. You know that.” Luke smiled, and Julie nodded, looking down at her toes and taking a breath.

“When you guys cross over, if…” Julie swallowed, and Alex took a step closer in concern. “If any of you happen to see my mom, can you tell her I love her… and thank her for bringing you to me?” She asked softly, sad smiles being shared between the four: it was a request the boys most definitely hoped to keep for her.

“We will.” Alex said softly, on behalf of the three of them, and Luke cleared his throat.

“Guys, band circle.” He ordered, the four coming together and joining hands where possible. “We don’t know what brought us here, but what we do know is… You’re a star, Julie.” Luke smiled at her, a feeling of pride swelling in him the boys no doubt shared: she was their Julie, and the last months had changed them all. “And just because this is our last night together, it doesn’t mean we won’t be watching you from above… or…” Luke glanced down at the floor with a light chuckle, earning scoffs from his bandmates. “Now let’s go rock this show, and give them a night they’ll be talking about until the sun comes up.” He jumped a little with the words, and more laughs were shared. “Legends on three.” Luke said finally, putting his hand into the circle’s centre.

“One.” Alex responded immediately, his hand landing on top of Luke’s.

“Two.” Reggie followed with a dopey smile and a shrug.

“… Three.” Julie finished, all four raising their hands with a cry of ‘Legends!’, quickly followed by Julie’s dad Ray beeping his horn. “That’ll be my dad. He’s driving me there, so I’ll see you guys soon.” She smiled at the three of them, grabbing her dress and jogging out the door and down the driveway to where her dad waited.

The guys watched the leave before drifting around the room, taking it all in for one last time. While Reggie and Alex got lost in their own dazes, Luke’s eyes travelled to the couch, his mind replaying the sound of Y/N’s voice when she sang with them the week before. The feelings of her head on his thigh, the way her laugh vibrated through her body into his, the way their hands felt interlocked.

“Take it in boys, it’s the last time we’ll see this place.” Luke said under his breath, but Reggie and Alex heard him. They were thinking the same thing.

“And where is it that you think you’re going?” The voice came first, followed by a flash and Caleb, who lounged on the grand piano before the boys in a top hat and tuxedo. He seemed to radiate evil now that they knew what and who Caleb really was, so obviously they felt stupid for not realising before.

“What are you doing here?” Luke asked in a growl, stepping in front of Reggie and Alex, ready to take on the first round with the man who was trying to enslave them for the rest of time.

“Such hostility!” Caleb said with a tut and a gasp, shaking his head. “I’m just here to congratulate you on your big night.” He let out a chuckle. “Not everyone gets to play the Orpheum!”

“No. Ok, we know that it’s your stamp that’s hurting us.” Luke informed as he pulled his sleeve up to show the stamp, the branding, on his wrist. “We already told you, we have a band. We don’t want to join your little club.”

“Yeah, and you can’t make us either…” Alex built up the courage to back up Luke, but after a glance and raised eyebrow from Caleb, he cleared his throat. “Sir.”

“Right! You’re crossing over tonight. So exciting!” Caleb whispered, the dramatic facial expressions just emphasising his sarcasm. “Funny thing about the cross over, no-one really knows what’s waiting on the other side.” He told them with a wave of the hand and an evil smirk, tapping the brim on his hap. “But I know what’s happening on this side.” With a pressing of his hand to his mouth, Caleb blew a kiss and sent the boys spiralling…

Only to land straight up somewhere unfortunately familiar, dressed in new clothes and armed with their instruments. It wasn’t the first thing Luke noticed as he landed though, no… What came first was the noise.

“You told me you would help them, Y/N!” It was Willie’s voice shouting, which surprised Luke most considering that he had never met someone so friendly, so chilled out. As his eyes focused, his view of the pair became clearer, Y/N stood before them in a stunning deep green dress, a single tear trailing down her cheek as Willie yelled. “You lied, and you lied again! How could you do this to them, to me?!”

“I didn’t have another option Will…” Her voice wobbled; her eyes red as she did her best not to sob. Y/N looked broken, reaching out for a pacing Willie but never quite getting to hold him. “I picked the lesser of two-”

“What did you get in return, huh? The penthouse suite?! Control over the work rota?!” Willie asked. “What did he give you this time to do his dirty work, Y/N?” Willie asked, his head turning and stopping dead as he spotted the three boys, stumbling back and hitting the floor. “No, no…”

“Well, don’t they look nice?” Caleb’s voice led five pairs of eyes to his descending the staircase, now dressed in a purple sequin tail coat, filing his nails as the boys looked over themselves, the tuxedos they had been put into.

“Sweet threads..” Reggie managed, earning a smile from Caleb.

“How… How’d you know our size?” Alex asked, glancing over, and seeing Willie for the first time, his heart breaking at the sight of him.

“That’s your question?” Luke snapped, though Alex was now preoccupied, and his eyes fell on Caleb with a glare, before passing over to Y/N. She looked beautiful in spite of her tear stained cheeks and paler than normal complexion. He hadn’t noticed it earlier that day, nor the night before: but she did look sick.

“I know you boys aren’t my biggest fans.” Caleb said with a tut and a sigh, gesturing as he spoke. “And an eternity at my club might seem overwhelming. But… I just put you in sweet threads, so humour me this one last pitch.” He handed off the nail file, taking a few steps back and taking both Willie and Y/N by the arms, bringing them both to his sides. “Now, first off, isn’t it nice that you’re all here together? And believe me, thanks to Y/N, everything you want, including Willie,” He nodded to Alex, “Including Y/N,” His gaze settled back on Luke, giving the two uncomfortable teens at his side a squeeze. “It’s here. And on my stage, you don’t vanish when the music stops. You soak in the applause for as long as you want. The connection that you will feel with that audience,” Caleb dropped his hands from Y/N and Willie, walking forward and straightening Luke’s bow tie. “It will be like no other.” He smiled a little. “I promise.”

“I’m so sorry-”Y/N began to apologise, this time her gaze directed towards Luke, but Caleb shushed her.

“Do you hear that? They’re waiting for you.” Caleb stated as cheers began from out in the audience, viewers ready for a show. The boys were suddenly hit by another jolt, curling up at the pain, only to hear a female whimper, and a thud, eyes following Y/N as she slumped down to the ground. “That one looked like it hurt.” Caleb said with a shrug, walking back towards the stage. “Now, let me remind you, you don’t know if playing the Orpheum is your unfinished business. Do you really have time to make that mistake? I suggest you accept my offer because the clock is ticking.” Caleb lifted a glass of champagne and took a sip as another jolt ran through the boys, this time they witnessed it run through Y/N as well. “You know where to find me.”

As Caleb’s music started up in the background, Willie helped pull Y/N to her feet despite his anger, the girl gripping onto his arm and pulling up the sleeve.

“Y/N, what are you-” Willie asked, trying to pull away when he saw his stamp begin to glow, and like magic lift off of his arm. The boys watched on in amazement, Willie’s stamp shattering in the air into nothing, leaving the skin on Willie’s wrist clear.

“You were working for him all along…” Luke muttered, and Y/N looked up, holding tight to Willie.

“He gave me an offer… Either you three died and Willie was destroyed along with you… Or you all lived, with the bonus of Willie… Winning back his soul.” Y/N explained, suddenly feeling dizzy.

“The things we do for family…” Luke muttered, finally understanding what she had said before.

“I’m so sorry I did this…” Y/N groaned and held a hand to her head, sitting herself down on the floor as the words of Caleb’s song floated around her head, as she watched Alex begin to twirl a drumstick between his fingers and Reggie bounce to the track’s beat. “Willie you need to leave… Go somewhere safe.”

“The studio…” Alex suggested absentmindedly, before he disappeared in to a puff of smoke, only to reappear on the stage by the drum kit.

“You’ll be safe there…” Y/N promised, and with a final glance back at the stage, Willie left the Hollywood Ghost Club a free man for the first time ever.

“Y/N, are you alright?” Luke asked, Reggie disappearing from his side as he knelt down to see to the girl clutching her head. Reggie’s infamous bass lines began to resonate around the room, and Luke felt his fingers itching to play, felt his body dying to be on the stage.

His heart wanted to stay, with Y/N…

“Now Luke.” Caleb called from the stage, Luke’s hands working with a mind of their own as they began to play, his legs pulling him from Y/N’s body as the temptation took over.

The moment Luke’s feet crossed over the threshold of side lines to stage, a cosmic shift occurred with the completion of Y/N’s deal. To the sound of guitar riffs and drum beats, Y/N’s mind was filled with memories of a life she never knew, of a life Caleb stole from her…

Of a life Caleb took away.

--

The boys hadn’t arrived… They didn’t get to cross over. The jolts got them first.

The fears circled through Julie’s brain as she ran from Flynn and Rob, the tech manager, fleeing out the Orpheum’s side door onto the alleyway. As she broke through the doorway, her feet came to a slow stop, recovering from the run. Julie looked to her left, her right, and finally to the sky as the cold night air set in, traffic passing by on the main road, the blue glow of the Orpheum’s catching on driving cars. And, like that, Julie just felt angry. Like the world had turned its back on her and stolen the people she loved over and over again.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, Mom, but…” Julie started, cut off for a moment by a soft sob. “I can’t handle it.” She admitted to air. “You know, Flynn says you’re supposed to be behind everything, but I don’t know… If I was supposed to help the guys, I didn’t.” Another sob racked her body, and Julie tilted her head back. “They’re gone and I’m so sorry… They were my friends, my band… My family.” She sniffed at the thought, wiping her tears away with her hands. “Why can’t you just come pick me up and… and hold me in your arms and just tell me that everything’s gonna be ok and that I’m gonna get through it?” Her voice cracked at the thought, and Julie took a shaky breath. “And tell me that even though they’re not here with me, they’re still up there with you. I just… I just wish you were here.” Julia sighed, her head dropping down as she finished, a passer-by stopping by her side.

She looked the poor girl over, dressed like a popstar in a back alley, crying to someone who was no longer there, and felt the deepest movement of sympathy within her. Without thinking much of it, she held out one of her newly bought dahlias to the young girl, who accepted it with surprise, and made her way home.

Julie looked at the flower, the sign she had been waiting for, and turned towards the side entrance of the Orpheum, her glance triggering a gust of wind to throw the doors open and send a picture from a pinboard by the entrance off of its pin, floating down to the ground. Picking the photo up from the floor, Julie felt even warmer inside, immediately noticing the face in the centre of the picture. Even twenty five years younger, her mother had the same smile and hair and eyes, she threw her head back to laugh in the same way.

That’s what the photo was: her mom in that same jacket Julie wore that night, holding tightly to her friends as they posed for the photo. Her mom wasn’t centre though, instead it was a girl in a birthday hat, her smile bright as he held a hand to her chest and another over the third friend’s shoulder.

“Rosalee…”

Julie, with her dahlia in one hand and the photo in the other, marched back down the stairs and back to stage side where Flynn and Rob were trying to co-ordinate and get Brendon Urie on stage. Instead, Julie stopped for a moment by Flynn’s side, a smile on her face as she brandished the flower like a sword and pressed the photo to Flynn’s chest.

“Signs.” She said simply, walking on stage without hesitation, which prompted Flynn to look down at what she had been handed by her best friend.

A photo of Julie’s mom, about twenty something years younger, beside the girl Flynn had seen flickering at the party as she sang with the band.

A photo of Rose and Y/N… From 1995.

--

Part Eight (The End) is here...

--

Tags: @im-a-writer-right​ @elioelioeli0​ @jenjen889​ @walkingonshunshine​ @parkeret​ @lolychu​ @leahstypewriter​ @j-mar-memester​ @sunsetcurve-h​ @musicconversedance​ @gracefulpenguin​ @shae-is-not-ok​ @talksoprettyjjx​ @smol-book-nerd​ @lord-of-the-fried​ @siennanoelle01​ @deadpoolgirl23​ @theatricalfangirl​ @deepsleepnat @hhyunj1n​ @lovesanimals @oswin05 @ifilwtmfc @crappy-unicorn @eries45 @noncannonships @tenaciousperfectionunknown @theorangestofjuices @oopsiedoopsie23 @elephants-bubbles-brachosauruses @aesthetic-lyss @voguesir @michellebarista @caitsymichelle13 @bellero 

#luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson x y/n #jatp luke x reader #jatp luke #jatp #julie and the phantoms #fanfiction #fanfic #jatp au #reader insert #the other side of hollywood #luke patterson fluff #fluff #fantom

[digital-corruption]

Haunted by the Past Part 55

Nothing like a late night sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by a bunch of documents that don’t make sense. Definitely my idea of a fun night in... not!

“Is it just me or do some of these clauses read as ‘You shall not pass!’” I joked while flipping to the next page of the paperwork. “And now ‘You shall not collect $200 as you are not passing predesignated location A.’”

“I've seen a few NDAs and contracts in my time and they never get easier,” Jake sighed.

“At least Frank sent us some cliff notes,” I shrugged and picked up the carefully typed pages. “It seems they’ve nearly planned the entire operation already. I'm to arrive at the Senate under the guise of meeting with Senator Conway’s staff. Makes sense, he's such a vocal opponent of Hathaway, he’s probably endorsing the whole thing. I suppose they expect us to access the server through one of Conway’s terminals.”

“Which we won’t,” Jake pointed out.

“Ah the ol' going to the ladies room trick!” I smiled.

“Well, you'll have to do something more complicated than that. They’ll probably escort you to the bathroom,” Jake thought out loud. “I'll see if I can get plans for the Senate.”

“Really? Can you?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, but I’m not leaving you to improvise under the watch of the nation's strongest security force,” Jake rubbed his head.

“Hmm, you'll be giving me a USB, right?” I questioned.

“Yes, why?” Jake looked at me quizzically.

“Make it double! The first is a fake for me to plug into the machine they want me to use. Give it something slow and boring to run as a distraction while I find another terminal,” I explained.

Jake smiled at me, “I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s why you unconventionally married me,” I grinned.

“I'll have to figure out what task to have it run so it looks convincing for any IT staff, but also make sure it’s not shorter than the real one. You'll have to make sure you don’t get them confused,” Jake teased.

“Please for the love of everything, don’t use two nearly identical USB drives! Different shapes and colors!” I insisted.

“Hmm, does the contract explicitly state what terminal we're to use?” Jake questioned.

“Uh, not that I can tell, why?” I asked.

“We don’t want the agreement to become null and void just because we gave them the slip,” he pointed out.

“Oh, right. We might want to tell Frank just in case,” I winced. “I'd hate to anger our lawyer over us playing loose with the rules when he’s trying to look out for us.”

“Ok, but we can’t tell him too much about our plan. Just that we stipulate we are to use any terminal we decide to use, not some predetermined terminal,” Jake pushed.

“You don’t trust him?” I tilted my head.

“You’re the only one I trust,” Jake replied sincerely.

“What about your sisters?” I queried.

“Not even my sisters,” Jake chuckled. “Can you say either one makes intelligent choices?”

“Yeah, they don’t have the best track record,” I smiled and yawned.

“Ok, time for you to go to sleep,” he declared.

“But we've got only... 5 more pages!? Really? Why do lawyers have to make everything so wordy,” I complained.

Jake got up and moved around to my side of the table and nudged me up, “It'll still be here in the morning when you’re nice and rested.”

“You too, when is the last time you slept?” I frowned.

“I'll tell you what, I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep. If I fall asleep too, then so be it, but if I can’t, I’m getting back up. Now, come on,” Jake ushered me to the bedroom.

I lazily got changed into my sleep shirt while Jake stripped down to his boxers and shirt. Jake waited until I climbed into bed sleepily before turning off the lights and climbed in next to me. I wiggled closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. Our legs intertwined into their usual positions. Jake gently stroked my head, but was interrupted by brushing his own hair back.

“I really need to cut my hair,” he commented. “I keep forgetting to order new clippers.”

“Hmm? What happened to your old ones?” I mumbled.

“I forgot them at the warehouse,” he laughed. “The only evidence they would’ve found - my old clippers and trace hair evidence.”

“You look sexy with longer hair though,” I muttered.

“Oh like you’re one to talk,” he teased. “No it just looks messy right now.”

“Messy is sexy,” I smiled in the dark.

“While I agree it is a good look for you, this length keeps bothering me,” he complained. “It gets in my eyes, but it isn’t long enough to push back.”

“So we get you clippers tomorrow and cut your hair,” I declared. “I’ll help you with the back.”

“Thanks,” I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

I reached up and played with his hair while I still could.

“Hey! I just fixed it!” he complained.

“Oh you like it,” I pointed out.

“It might be the only reason why I’ll consider not cutting it,” he admitted. “But it still bothers me.”

“So get a headband,” I laughed.

“Sometimes I wear headphones for that reason,” he chuckled.

“I thought I was being too loud!”

“No, you’re never too loud.”

“It is too short for a man bun.”

“Yuck.”

“You’re just saying that because Phil has one,” I laughed. “I could get the top into a small ponytail... or two.”

“Now you’re just playing with me,” Jake took my hand away and wrapped his arms around me to hold my arms down. “It’s just hair, it'll grow back.”

“I’ll still love you,” I teased.

“That’s it, I’m buzz cutting it,” he joked.

“Nooo, my precious!” I cried out.

Jake rolled us so he was propped up above me, his face lowered to mine just enough that his hair dangled in my face, “See how annoying it is?”

I laughed and brushed his hair out of the way with my fingers, then I leant up and kissed him. Jake deepened the kiss, pushing me into the bed. He pulled away ever so slightly, “We're really bad at putting you to sleep.”

“Just a sweet, innocent good night kiss?” I mocked.

“Those are never innocent with us,” Jake’s lips met mine again for another passionate kiss. “At least I know you'll sleep well after.”

Jake’s phone beeped repeatedly. He reached over for his phone while keeping his lips locked on mine and silenced it.

I broke away, “That sounded important.”

Jake groaned, “It can wait. I have more pressing matters.”

#duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood jake x player #duskwood fanfiction #Haunted by the Past

[soapdish290]

Harrow the Ninth may be one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Under the cut for some of the questions I need the answers to, as well as me mulling some implications / potential theories.

Harrow the Ninth is horrifically, horrifically dense, and is the first book I’ve ever read that made me take actual honest to god notes on first reading, but my entire GOD is it worth while.

I’ve never ready anything with a form / point of view quite so immensely complicated whilst still adding to and complimenting the narrative. Absolutely masterful shit.

I’m going to go hog wild with spoilers under the cut.

Edited in a probably fruitless attempt to make the formatting not The Worst on Mobile

IT WAS NEVER IN SECOND PERSON OEFHAUIOFNBaufbhAPIhbaip

It was always Gideon. I kind of jokingly wondered if it was back when I first heard it was going to be written partially in second person, but I didn’t BELIEVE it!

Things we should have known

1. There are so many clues that Harrow has inexpertly switched her cognition of the very word ‘Gideon’. I mean we know she’s wiped HER Gideon out of her head way back in Chapter 2 when John talks about Harrow’s Cav, name drops Ortus, and Harrow notices “As he spoke, his mouth looked strange.” Well yes, hearing something out of sync with what’s actually spoken will do that!

But we can actually see that it’s MORE than that way back in the Dramatis Personae. Everyone has their name, written out grammatically and normally, and then we have ORTUS. All in caps.

Obviously the real tell however is the codenames in Chapter 36. We know from Cytheria’s funeral that the Lyctors are naming themselves [Necro first name] [Cav first name]. The codename’s reflect this - apart from ‘Ortus’s’, which is G.P. P for Phyrra, G for Gideon. That’s when I got it.

What I MISSED, is that this tells us, right there and then, that he was very involved with our Gideon, who is named for her mother’s last word. Her mother whose last word was for OG Gideon.

2. Palamedes knew there was a perfect Lyctorhood and outright told us way back in chapter 33. “Tell me you [became a Lyctor] correctly. [...]Tell me you finished the work. You out of everyone could have worked out the end to the beginning I was starting to explicate”. I had to stop and stare at a wall for a bit with the implications of this one, at the time.

Things we now know

1. The thing for me, the real thing, is how goddamned casually the answer to one of the biggest mysteries is dropped. It’s an afterthought. Chapter 51:

“You clawed my face so bad that my blood ran down your hands; my face was under your fucking fingernails. When I let you go you couldn’t even stand, you just crawled away and threw up. Were you ten, Harrow? Was I eleven?

Was that the day you decided you wanted to die?”

Gideon is trying to work something out. She’s trying to parse together how Harrow opened the locked tomb. The entire opening part of this chapter is Gideon’s brain, whirling, working, following the reveal that the Necrolord Undying’s “unbreakable ward” was a blood ward. Rightfully, a ‘cell’ ward. And that Gideon is God’s blood.

So what have we learned?

In order:

We've learned that only John could open the ward. That Harrow couldn't possibly. That the latter half of her life has been a tragedy based, as is oft the case, on a misapprehension.

Then we learn that God is wrong, because he doesn't understand blood wards as well as he thinks he does.

We learn at the same time, through implication, that the locked tomb is blood warded (and think back to Gideon Prime's advice to Harrow RE warding).

Then we learn that our Gideon was birthed to be a weapon used to open the locked tomb. She is the blood of God.

And here, casually, that when Harrow decided to commit suicide by ward, she did so with our Gideon's fresh blood underneath her fingernails.The locked tomb has been open for 8 years.

(as an aside this is ‘casual’ because Gideon’s entire goddamn existence has just been torn asunder by learning her parentage and hearing what might become known, in the literary canon, as The Dad Joke Undying. It’s casual and seemingly disconnected because Gideon is dissociating to FUCK and Muir is a damn MASTER of linguistic form echoing narrative function).

2. “Alecto had your eyes from the moment any of us first saw her.” Harrow, who is in love the the body in the tomb, would have seen this, too. A 10,000 year old body with the same exact eyes as Gideon Nav. Nothing specific to add here. Just... worth noting. There are potential implications.

3. Oh yeah, Wake’s spirit was in the sword as well as Cytheria sometimes. OG Gideon probably knew this when he was macking on the corpse, seeing as both he and his Cav were fucking her. Although she ALSO very much tried to kill OG Gideon, so go figure. Wake was haunting Harrow and trying to steal her body. Apparently people were having trouble with this.

Things we do not know, but would like to.

1. ‘“Augustine”, he said, “if the man you were - the man you were before you died, before the Resurrection - could hear what you just said to me, he’d tear your throat out.” Augustine said, “Thanks for confirming that.” And then he was silent.’

So, this has some pretty legit implications right? Augustine has just told John to give up on his ‘invasion force’. So either Augustine has changed over 10,000 years and John hasn’t, or else Augustine was LITERALLY someone else before the resurrection. This leads in to the next thing that I Would Very Much Like to Know:

2. What the BALLS caused the Resurrection. What WAS the resurrection. Why was it necessary. Why does John need an invasion force? What, succinctly, the fuck is going on?

3. John says that he will forgive OG Gideon for failing to “fix or put down” Harrow. A scant page later he says that he “was trying to save her”. Save her. By ‘putting her down’. That’s not the language you use for someone you’re trying to save. That’s the language you use to minimise what you’re doing. What the fuck was John doing. Who was he manipulating. He told Harrow he wished she was his daughter. He asked OG Gideon to try and kill her. Why. What the fuck my dude.

3. The Stoma at the bottom opened for John. They’re only supposed to open for the Resurrection Beasts. “some kind of heinous underworld that only opened for the undead souls of monstrous planets”. What the fuck IS John, at this point? I can’t help remember that he had bodies and souls left from the Resurrection - he used them at the start of the book to rejuvenate the Ninth House and ‘buy’ Harrow. I’m reminded of Teacher from Gideon, who was 50 men. Of Harrow herself, who is 200 children. How many is John? Cytheria said she was doing her work on behalf of the 10 billion. The population of earth in the presents near future? of the solar system? Going back around to an earlier point, WHAT DID JOHN DO.

4. Gideon-in-Harrow is saved by the body. By Alecto, who speaks “with the wrong voice twice removed”. Whose voice? Why is it wrong? Who is she talking to when she asks for chest compressions? I assume she’s with Blood of Eden? With the Sixth and Coronabeth?

5. The Harrow who wrote the letters still knows more than we do. She knew that Camilla was around, that Corona was, that Judith was. She knew enough to know that Judith would need to be muted instantly.

6. The Epilogue. To me the implication is that they have Harrow’s body, but do not know who is driving. They give the bones and the sword, and look for a reaction.

7. Gideon’s body. Where is it. The assumption is that Blood of Eden have it. Why.

8. Oh, Gideon outright states that Ianthe was playing games with Harrow, up to and including lying about seeing Cytheria’s body under her bed (fucking nightmare fuel right there by the by). Not surprising, but oddly specific if just doing it for shits and giggles. Could just be that Ianthe assumed Harrow was doing all the made shite on her own and just egging her along, could be something else. Doubt we’ll find this one out, I’m probs overthinking.

I’m definitely missing a lot. I could also list the fucking effortlessly cool shit that keeps happening in this book, but this is long enough.

#Harrow the Ninth #Harrow the ninth spoilers #The Locked Tomb #The Locked Tomb spoilers #Tamsyn Muir #this is a fucking long post #and I'm not joking about the spoilers

[jadelotusflower]

July 2021 Roundup

Discussed this month: The Once and Future King, The Good People, The Secret of Kells/Wolfwalkers/Song of the Sea (aka "Irish Folklore" Trilogy), The Matrix Trilogy, the John Wick Trilogy, Space Jam: A New Legacy

Reading

The Once and Future King (T.H. White) - I've actually read this before, but it was a long time ago and I remembered very little of it so it seemed time for a revisit. Written between 1936 and 1942, this is a surprisingly meta retelling of Arthur and Camelot, very obviously and heavily influenced by WWII, with much academic pondering on the concept of humanity and war and ongoing conflict against Might=Right - looking to the past to try and understand the present. Some familiarity with the legends is assumed, White occasionally making reference to Malory, and there is a strange anachronistic feel - Merlin lives time backwards and talks of Hitler and other 20th Century references, White frequently refers to Old England and the way things were "back then", but also calls Arthur's country Gramarye, the narrative taking place an a kind of alternate history/mythology where Uther was the Norman conqueror of 1066, and yet reference is also made to the Plantagenet kings.

Comprising five volumes (the first four published separately at the time, and the final posthumously), it struck me on this read how each of the first four are structured around the childhood of a major player -Arthur (The Sword in the Stone), Gawain and his brothers (The Witch in the Wood), Lancelot (The Ill-Made Knight), and Mordred (The Candle in the Wind), and how their upbringing played a part in the inevitable tragedy of Camelot. In the final volume, The Book of Merlyn, it comes full circle as Arthur on the eve of his death is taken to revisit the animals of his childhood for much philosophising (at one point Merlyn argues at length with a badger about Karl Marx and communism.)

The Sword in the Stone is the most engaging, with young Arthur (known as "the Wart") and his tutelage under Merlin, being turned into various animals like an ant, a goose, and a hawk to learn about each of their societies (political allegories), and meeting with Robin Wood (Hood) and Maid Marian to battle Morgan le Fay, and the climactic pulling of the sword from the stone. This was of course the source material for the Disney film, although missing the wizards duel with Madam Mim (appearing in the original publication, but removed for the revised version).

The Ill-Made Knight is the longest volume and was honestly a slog to get through, because honestly Lancelot is pretty dull/terrible, and the Lancelot/Guenever love affair less than compelling. Ultimately it's Lancelot's hubris that dooms them - he is warned that Mordred intends to catch him out in Guenever's room, but he goes anyway, and doesn't leave when he tells her to, because he is stupid.

It’s no surprise that the female characters are given the short shrift, but there’s an uncomfortable vein of misogyny running through the book. To wit:

Elaine had done the ungraceful thing as usual. Guenever, in similar circumstances, would have been sure to grow pale and interesting - but Elaine had only grown plump.

And then later:

Guenever had overdressed for the occasion. She had put on makeup which she did not need, and put it on badly. She was forty-two.

Morgause (the eponymous witch in the wood/queen of air and darkness) is a negligent mother whose sole motivation is revenge, Elaine rapes Lancelot by deception, Guenever is hypocritical and shrill (but achieves a sliver of nuance in Candle), Nimueh is a nonentity, and Morgan le Fey is a monstrous fairy. If only White had turned his academic pondering inward and in order to examine the role of women in his worldview other than as damsels or instigators.

But Arthur also gets the short shrift - after all the focus in his childhood, he becomes almost a peripheral figure in the rest of the story until the very end, and we're not actually given much to show why he is the once and future king, other than that he tries to institute a slightly less brutal system.

Ultimately, White is more interested in philosophy than character, and so Camelot's inevitable tragedy feels more clinical than visceral.

The Good People (Hannah Kent) - If the Irish Folklore Trilogy (discussed below) is the beauty and wonder of Irish myths and legends interacting with the human world, this book is the cold danger of superstition and the devastating affect of folklore used as an explanation for life's ills. Set in 1820's rural Ireland, Nora is widowed and left with the care of her young disabled grandson Michael, believed to be a changeling. The local wise woman Nance, who feels the touch of "the good people" sets about to drive out the fairy from the child, believing that the "real" Michael will return, much to the growing dread of Mary, the teenage girl Nora has hired to care for him.

Here fairies are seen as a malevolent force, "sweeping" away women and children, causing bad harvests, and bringing death to the village - to be respected and feared. And then there's Nance, bartering traditional cures for ailments and troubles - some work, some do not, and some pose great danger. On the other hand, this is a remote village where a doctor must be fetched from Killarney, and only one priest who is less than charitable. Neither provide any help or support to Nora.

SPOILERS It's an upsetting read dealing with dark subject matter - grief trauma, child abuse and accidental infanticide, a kind of slow burn horror. If it takes a village to to raise a child, it also takes one to kill a child, as mounting fear and superstition moves through the population like a contagion, heightening Nora's desperation for the "return" of her grandson, and Nance's to prove her knowledge. It's an impeccably researched novel (based in part on a true event) but very unsettling - poor Michael is never really given humanity, and I feel this book would be hugely triggering in its depiction of disability and neurodivergence.

Watching

The Secret of Kells/Song of the Sea/Wolfwalkers (dir. Tom Moore) - I've been meaning to watch these films for absolutely ages, and I finally got to them this month. I’m pleased to say that the many people who recommended them to me were absolutely correct, because they appear to have been made to specifically cater to my interests. Some mild spoilers ahead.

I watched these in internal chronological order as suggested by @ravenya003, starting with The Secret of Kells, set in 9th Century Ireland where the young monk Brendan helps illuminate the to-be famous manuscript and befriends a forest sprite Aisling, under the threat of a Viking raid. Next was Wolfwalkers, jumping forward to 1650 Kilkenny where the English girl Robyn, daughter of a hunter, is drawn into the world of the forest and Mebh, who turns into a wolf when she sleeps. And finally we go all the way to 1980's in Song of the Sea for the story of Ben, who must help his younger sister Saoirse (a selkie) find her voice and bring back the faeries who have been turned to stone by the owl witch Macha.

Although the stories are completely separate, they've been described as Moore's "Irish Folklore" trilogy, and it’s easy to read a through line from Kells to Wolfwalkers in particular - both deal with fae of the forest, and Aisling appears as a white wolf at the end of the film (having lost her ability to appear in human form). I like to think that Aisling is in some way the progenitor of the wolfwalkers - after all, Kells and Kilkenny are less than 200 kms apart.

Song of the Sea is distant from the other two in both time and subject matter, dealing with selkies, creatures of the water. In many ways, Kells and Wolfwalkers feels like a duology, with Song more its own thing. On the other hand, an argument could be made for common fae spirit/s in different forms across all three films - Aisling is a white sprite, Robyn takes the form of a white/grey wolf, and Saoirse a white seal.

The strength of these films other than the folklore is the visual style - I really love 2D animation, and while I appreciate the beauty of cg animation, I often find in the latter’s focus on hyper-realism the artistry can be left by the wayside. These films not just aesthetically beautiful, but the art is used to tell the story - from the sharp angles that represent the darker or harmful elements (Crom, Vikings, the Town), to the circles and rings that represent safety and harmony (the Abbey, the forest, Mebh and her mother/the wolves healing circle, the holy well). The exception is probably the home of Macha, the owl witch, where circles are also prominent and represent magic, and this is often the case in folklore (fairy rings, fairy forts, etc).

Kells is the most stylised, resembling tapestries or pages and triptychs from medieval manuscripts, playing with perspective. I actually saw pages from the real Book of Kells years ago in Dublin, and remember them being very beautiful. We only get glimpses of the Book and the stunning Chi Rho page at the very end of the film, but the style of art is present throughout the film and particularly in the forest where Brendan finds inspiration for his illumination, and on the flipside his encounter in the dark with Crom Cruach, represented as a chalk-drawn primordial serpent.

This style is also present in Wolfwalkers, particularly stark in the way the birds-eye grid of the town often looms over Robyn in the background and in her work at the castle. The depiction of the forest has more of a storybook quality however, as does Song, where almost every frame resembles a painting, particularly the sequences of Saoirse's selkie trip through the sea and Ben's fall through the holy well.

Rav points out in her review that there is the ebbing away of myth and magic in each successive film, contrasted with the rise of Christianity/modernity. But there's circles and rings again, because while the ultimate power of the faerie world is fading away, the interaction between our human protagonists and faerie actually increases with each film. In Kells, we have only Aisling and Crom, in Wolkwalkers, we have Mebh and her mother whose ranks grow to include Robyn and her father, and finally in Song we have Saoirse, Bronagh, Macha, the Na Daoine Sídhe, and the Great Seanachaí.

Watching in the order I did, it does give the impression of the mythological world opening up to the viewer, gaining a deeper understanding and exposure as time progressed. On the other hand, that is also because the human world is gradually encroaching on the world of Faerie, from isolated settlements like the Abbey of Kells, to growing town of Kilkenny and the logging of the surrounding forest, to a modern Ireland of motorways and power lines, and industrialised Dublin where the remaining fairies have moved underground. It makes the climax of Song, with the fairies restored but returning to the land of Tír na nÓg, rather bittersweet.

I also credit the strength of the voice acting - the adult roles are minor but with greats including the dulcet tones of Brendan Gleeson and Sean Bean, and the ethereal Maria Doyle Kennedy (who I wish had gotten to do more). But the child roles are all performed so well, particularly Honor Kneafsey as Robyn, whose growing desperation and distress is just heartbreakingly palpable.

The Matrix Trilogy (dir. The Wachowskis) - I usually don't post rewatches in the Roundup, but I really, really love these movies. I will never forget seeing The Matrix at the cinema as a young teen, knowing nothing other than the tease of the enigmatic trailers, and just being completely blown away by it, and then becoming completely obsessed a few years later in the leadup to Reloaded.

It wasn’t my first fandom, but it was probably the first time I took fandom seriously. I was very invested in Neo/Trinity in particular as well as all the mythological/literary references that fed directly into my interests. I haven’t however gone back and read the fic I wrote, for fear that it is very, very cringe. I know where is is though, so maybe one day before the ff.net is purged.

This is Keanu Reeves at his most handsome, and while he doesn't have the greatest range (as many actors don't, although they don't get as much grief for it), when he's in the zone there's no one else who could do it better. He just has a Presence, you know? A vibe, and it compels me.

This is particularly present in Neo, a character whose conflict is almost entirely internal, burdened by the weight of his responsibility and destiny, both before and after he learns it is a false prophesy. He’s not your typical quippy macho action hero, but much like my other fave Luke Skywalker, is a character who is ultimately driven by love and self-sacrifice. I definitely have a Type of male hero I adore, and Neo fits right in there.

I also really love the sequels, flaws and all, because you know what, the Wachowskis had Ideas and they weren't going to deliver Matrix 2: Electric Boogaloo. Each film goes in an unexpected direction, and not in a subverted expectations ha ha silly rabbits way, but one that does have an internal logic and pulls together a cohesive trilogy as a whole, and how often does that happen these days?

The sequels are so…earnest, with none of the cynical cool detachment perhaps some would have preferred - at its core a trilogy exploring philosophy and the nature of prophesy vs choice, determinism vs free will, and the power of love. Maybe it can be hokey, and some of the dialogue a bit overwritten, but I don't care, there's so much I still enjoy even having seen the trilogy many times over the years.

Not to mention the great female characters - while I'm not sure any of the three strictly passes the Bechdel Test, we have Trinity and Niobe in particular who I love with all my heart. It does kind of annoy me that the Trinity Syndrome is so named, because it only applies in the most reductive reading possible, and Trinity expresses agency (and badassery) every step of the way, saving Neo just as much as he saves her. I mean..."dodge this"/"in five minutes I'll tear that whole goddamn building down"/"believe it"? Niobe piloting the Hammer through the mechanical line in Revolutions? Iconic. There are criticisms that can be made, sure, but the trilogy ultimately loves, respects, and appreciates its female characters (and important to note that the avatars of The System, the Architect and the Agents, are all white men).

Then we have the Oracle, who ultimately holds the most power and is the victor of the human/machine war. There's so much going on with the Oracle I could talk about it all day. It's that fate vs free will question again (“if you already know, how can I make a choice?”), but with the wrinkle of manipulation (“would you still have broken it if I hadn’t said anything?”). Choice is the foundation the Matrix is built on, the unconscious choice for humans to accept the system or reject it - the Architect can't control that, he can only manage it, and the Oracle can't force Neo onto the path she has set out for him, only predict the choices he will make based on her study of the human psyche ("did you always know?"/"No...but I believed"). But she plays with the concept of fate in a complicated web of prophesies for outcome she wants and trusting the nature of Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo to bring it about.

And then there's the visual storytelling - there is so much meaning in almost every frame and line of dialogue. The mirroring and ring cycles not only in the constant presence of reflective surfaces and central metaphor of the Matrix as a simulacrum, but the androgyny of Neo and Trinity, bringing each other back from the dead in successive films (and ultimately both ultimately dying in the third), Neo and Morpheus’ first and last meetings, Smith who is ultimately Neo’s dark mirror, the Oracle/the Architect, just to name a few. I just…really really love these movies? Maybe I’ll do a full post rewatch sometime.

I am however reserving judgement on the Matrix 4 - already there are a few things making me uneasy. Lana is the sole director for this one (Lilly is not involved), and Laurence Fishburne apparently wasn't even asked back, even though Morpheus actually survives the trilogy (as opposed to Neo and Trinity). But I’m interested, and don’t want to go in with any expectations, but rather ready to be surprised again like I was when I watched the first film (and hope I can stay away from spoilers).

John Wick Trilogy (dir. Chad Stahelski) - It was a trilogy kind of month! This genre is generally not my thing, as I don’t have a high tolerance for graphic violence and pure action bores me after a while, but I was in a Keanu kind of mood and I'm always hearing people go on about John Wick so I wanted to know what (if anything) I was missing. While still a bit too violent for my tastes, if nothing else I could appreciate the dance-like fight choreography, even if the worldbuulding is absolutely ridiculous - I mean, literally thousands of assassins across the world chilling in sanctuary hotels, supported by a vast network of weapon suppliers, tailors, surgeons, spy networks, etc? It’s silly, but hey, I was happy to go along with it.

What I do appreciate about Keanu Reeves, and this seems to be a common thread, is that even when in action hero mode (Matrix, Point Break, John Wick, and to a lesser extent Speed), he consistently plays a man who is completely in love with his partner/wife - like, completely, unapologetically devoted to them, and I think that is a big part of the appeal - it's that Keanu energy that is often the antithesis of toxic masculinity, even when in roles that would ordinarily rely on those tropes.

Wick is in many ways the spiritual successor to Neo - insular, taciturn, and even as he's dispatching death with clinical precision. Much like Neo, Wick is a character who is somehow Soft (tm) despite all the violence. I once listened to a podcast where they amusingly discussed the Reeves oeuvre as simulations of Neo still trapped in the Matrix, and it’s very easy to make the case here and imagine John Wick as Neo plugged back in after Revolutions, mourning Trinity and set on mission after mission to keep his mind active (and it would certainly explain why the guy hasn’t dropped dead after being stabbed, beaten up, strangled, hit by a car, shot, and falling off a building). It’s a fun little theory.

Stahelski was Reeves' stunt double and a stunt coordinator on The Matrix and there's plenty of homages in the visual style and reuniting Reeves with costars Laurence Fishburne and Randall Duk Kim (who played the Keymaker).

I did also find it amusing that Wick is also often referred to as babayaga (equated in the film to the bogeyman). Well, Wick is in many ways a witch who lives in the woods, just wanting to be left alone with his dog, and there is a supernatural energy to the character, so...I guess?

Space Jam: A New Legacy (dir. Malcolm D Lee) - I took my niece to see this at the cinema and it was…pretty much what you would expect. I thought it was fine for what it was, even if a bit slow in parts (it takes a looong time for the looneys to show up) and I wonder if they have the same cultural pull they had in the nineties (the age of Tweety Bird supremacy). But the kids seemed into it (my niece liked porky pig) and that's what counts I guess.

This time, the toon battle royale takes place on the WB servers, where evil A.I. Don Cheadle (having the time of his life chewing the cg scenery) wants to capture Lebron James for...reasons, idk. James and Bugs have to find the rest of the looneys scattered across the server-verse, a chance for WB to desperately remind people that they too, have media properties and a multiverse including DC comics world, Harry Potter world, Matrix world, Mad Max world, Casablanca world etc. Some of it feels very dated - there is I kid you not an Austin Powers reference, although it did make me smile that Trinity was on James’ list of most wanted players (skill: agility).

Unfortunately, nothing it really done with this multiverse concept except “hey, remember this movie? Now with looneys” six times, and the crowd for the game populated by WB denizens including the Iron Giant, Pennywise, the monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, Scooby Doo and the gang, etc. But still, it's fun, and hardly the tarnishing of a legacy or whatever nonsense is driving youtube clicks these days.

Writing

The Lady of the Lake - 2335 words.

Against the Dying of the Light - 2927 words, Chapter 13 posted.

Total: 5272 this month, 38,488 this year.

#roundup #reading watching writing #long post

[cyber-flight]

Notes from the AHWM Explanation Livestream

This will be long, so fair warning! If you're on computer, you can press the spacebar to skip this post if you want!

There was CG smoke for the bomb

The last shot was running after the bomb goes off, filmed during the day

Many cursed images

(0:56 - Guns Blazing) November 5th = gunpowder treason & plot (a reference)

Ethan is the one yelling during the run

Helicopter/Car was filmed in a place formerly known as Spiderwoods (spiders, snakes, and bugs everywhere)

Mark's patented method to get rid of snakes is to tell them to fuck off

There was big black snake near the library

Chica snore-grumbles

Most of the choices were pretty evenly split in the video data

The guy who owned the field in Helicopter/Car also owned the helicopter

It was hard to get the cameraman to know that the camera is an interacting character

They filmed up to 10 pages a day

Prison was the first 2 days of shooting, as well as the part with the most characters/extras (12 people)

Mick gets typecasted in roles of authority

The Prison location is a functioning mental hospital

John was a Prisoner, first mate, and is a realtor IRL

There is no "why" to recording this to keep a broad audience and have fun after Mark was in a depression and made WKM

The Gregory Brothers / Schmoyoho made 2 renditions of I Don't Wanna Be Free (which is on Apple/iTunes/Spotify)

The musical was a production/recording nightmare on the 2nd day

They had 20 minutes max. to learn each segment; they had a choreographer helping them learn the dances

The original vocals didn't have the accent

Mark had to do the vocals, acting, blocking, etc. in 30 mins

Mick was supposed to cross frame during the top-hats-part, but they had already recorded it; the producers weren't comfortable telling Mark "no" yet, so they had Amy do it

The smashed bricks were styrofoam; Mark was typed to a rope that was pulled

The director of photography was Phillip J Roy; he took a pay cut to work on this project

Yancy's sleeve tattoo is the whole map again

Yancy's tattoos are Tiny Box Tim and Mark/Dark across his knuckles; those were Makeup's ideas

The Musical was only 1/4 of a recording day

There was 3 work weeks of shooting (15 days)

Day By Dave made a remix

Yancy was named "Prison Mark" until the fight scene started to be made in post-production, where he needed a name; Mark liked Yancy and Amy was very against it originally

Yancy killed both of his parents; Mark knew people were gonna fall in love with him anyway

"Yancy stans, go, march on"

Yancy has an emoji bandaid

Heapass (canonically) makes an appearance in Thanks and also Yes Please; he had "Heapass" on a cast, but it was on the wrong side from the camera

Holt Boggs (the cell guard) is an amazing man; he was overqualified ("soft hands")

The cell was in a green-screen soundstage, so there was more improve

Yancy was supposed to be hidden in the ceiling or beside the bed, but under the bed turned out better; he's hidden under the bed the whole scene

The Red Gemini was the camera that they used for this project

Mark just runs off frame in Thanks and also Yes Please

The audio-only part was very convenient for filming and fitting for a 1st-person perspective

Yancy's talk at the gate was Mark real-acting & the late shot of the 1st day of filming, which made all of them realize that the project could actually work

Yancy WANTS to be in prison; he knows all the ways out - he'd leave if he wanted to

The items in the box are more representational achievements

Mark needs our help to promote AHWM, through liking the video(s), commenting good things, and spreading the project; the performance of this dictates the ability to make another similar project

Mark worked for FREE for 5 months, taking no cut of the budget for himself

"Yancy is just Prison Mark with amnesia" "There could be a time-skip there; it could work"

Robert Rex, "a god walking amongst mere morals;" has always wearing the same thing; Mark didn't know that he was going to do different accents

Amy is the hand with the feather-duster

The Warden's desk moves into the hallway after a smash-cut

Mick's line had to be rewritten so it can be ambiguous; you can only tell if you were looking

The Warden embodies "big strong hands," something Mark writes into dialogue a lot (along with "trust you me"); everytime he touches something it cracks (his desk, Yancy's shoulder)

Pulling stuff from behind Mark's back was on-the-spot

The dirt joke was a prop-person and Mark throwing buckets

Mark helped Holt Boggs make a short video

HOLT BOGGS

The truck in Prison was a one-take-wonder; they actually bashed the truck through the wall in a such a cartoony, perfect way

The Bob/Wade skit was a reference to Prop Hunt

Mark comparing the disappointment of people not liking the video to a cup of dirt under the Christmas tree

The lid to the sewer says "a heist with markiplier"

The sewer was in an actual sewer treatment plant, which took about a week of filming; some parts were flooded so they couldn't film there; this place was scheduled to be torn down

Mark forces us to choose the Light Tunnel first

Cranbersher, GrittySugar, and Lixian collaborated for the Light Tunnel; it was originally going to be live action with a green-screen and a pre-made raft; Cranberser offered when he had a 3-month break from other projects

Amy notes that Mark did a lot of "falling"

Mark had to carry a 200 pound man and a heavy camera rig to carry Y/N

There was poison ivy, snakes, spiders, etc. on the island

The Game Grumps voiced the aliens; Erin originally was meant to play the Warden & Danny was meant to play one of the guards

Many roles fluctuated due to scheduling

Getting abducted is a reference to ADWM ("not again!")

Mark loves MatPat's scenes and acting (Build a Shelter)

There were so many mosquitos near the Cave and the actors couldn't put on bug spray because they had to preserve their makeups

There was a giant hole in the Cave from which grasshoppers rained down

They were a mile into the cave; they weren't able to staff them for 3 days, so they recorded for 2 days and had fo cut some shots

The Cave freeze-frame was unscripted; the camera director didn't tell cut and it was too funny

The Hermit was originally supposed to be Jacksepticeye but scheduling errors were in the way

Mick was originally supposed to be Crazy Ed

When the sound-guy didnt have a sound effect, one of them riffed something at the mic and it was modulated to fit as best as possible

Mark's camera loses signal/battery power

Mark has done the hot-wire-while-moving in Car before (van videos)

The blue flash during Car is you from the future/another timeline

Mark was actually driving the car; someone flashed the blue light so it was a bit dangerous

Tyler and Ethan make appearances as Zombies

Tyler actually let Mark hit him with a rock

There was a dead beaver in the shed during the Zombie Apocalypse

The Zombie Apocalypse shots were in VERY hot weather

The barricaded front door but very open back door was intentional humour

Ethan's zombie handshake was thought up on the spot

Moe was the man screaming from the fire and zombie attack, making everyone behind the camera laugh

Rosanna Pansino sings opera & speaks Chinese

The Scientist had to be broken up (the cuts are in the gunshots)

243 is a chemical identification symbol in an actual laboratory, nothing meaningful to the plot

The code leads to the AHWM website

What's truly inside the box is the real timeline, which is the team making the project

The room where the monitor was in (Amy, script manager, etc.) was locked out and no one could see what was going on, only hear it through headsets

Mark threw 2 dummies (main video, Absolutely Not!)

Chica likes to climb through the cords underneath Mark's desk

The true/canon ending is For The Greater Good, which leads to ADWM

SodaPopIn hasn't really done this before, but he went with it because he was told Mark was nice; he continued even during harsh weather, many planes, and a long take/monologue

The sandwiches are a callback to ADWM

The montage endings were inspired by the ones Amy made for ADWM

There was never any time set aside to get photos for the montages, so they had to continuously get pictures

Catherine makes an appearance in the Warfstache bit

Warfstache is just a meta joke > you respond by writing in the comments as a survey, producer Catherine is more powerful than the video-editing, ringing the bell for notifications

They rented the same place for the Warfstache bit that they used to film all the other previous Warfstache bits

Dark inserts himself wherever he feels like being

There is charity (#TeamTrees) merch for each of the egos/Mark characters in this project (including the new ones)

Edge of Sleep's last episode aired yesterday (as of the stream - 6/11/19)

A "reverse" charity livestream is happening soon

The next project(s) are already in the works

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT HEIST

Amy originally wasn't going to work on this project until they went to Texas; she became Creative Producer once Mark put himself into too many places

Iba originally auditioned for the man in the burning truck, but his voice was so good he became the seer/guide

The project has been "cooking" since May

The next project would be a completely different project, not a continuation

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT HEIST

Regular uploads start again tomorrow (7/11/19)

#ahwm #a heist with markiplier #a heist with markipler spoilers #markiplier #long post #explanation livestream #ahwm explanation livestream #tw snakes #tw spiders #ahwm yancy #tw prison #tw poison ivy #tw mosquitos #tw grasshoppers #tw zombies #ahwm the box #chica the dog #wilford warfstache #darkiplier #edge of sleep #SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE HEIST #very long post

[kk095]

Sideswiped

*here's my latest story! There may be some typos and additional editing I need to do, but I hope everyone enjoys!*

Rachel was a 34 year old white woman with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and was of average height and had a slim build. Life seemed to be going pretty well for Rachel; she was recently engaged to her boyfriend of 3 years, and the two were planning both a wedding, and buying a house together. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for Rachel this morning.

She worked at a mortgage company downtown, and the commute was about 30 minutes each way. This morning, she had an important meeting to attend. While making the drive to the office, an SUV merged onto the highway without signaling or looking, sideswiping Rachel’s passenger side. Rachel wasn’t immediately injured, but she lost control of her car and slammed head-on into a guardrail. Her neck whipped forward, causing a whiplash injury. Her chest struck the steering column before being blown back by both the impact and the airbag. A loud crunch was heard from the car striking the guardrail. One of the windows broke, which sent a handful of glass shards flying around, which struck Rachel in her right cheek, and above her right eyebrow.

After the crash took place, traffic came to a screeching halt on the highway and EMS was alerted. The vehicle that struck Rachel fled the scene, but an eyewitness took a picture of the vehicle on their cell phone, which had a clear view of the license plate.

In the coming minutes, emergency services arrived on scene. Police helped direct traffic, while also talking to the witness who took the cell phone picture. The medics went up to Rachel’s mangled vehicle and began their initial assessment. Rachel complained of chest pain, pain during inhalation, neck pain, and feeling cold. EMS placed a c-collar on the woman and placed her on a backboard, then took her into a nearby ambulance. Once in the ambulance, Rachel’s top was snipped off, only sparing her black bra. There was apparent redness and swelling on her chest from the steering wheel injury. IV access was able to he obtained on scene, and a 5 lead ECG with portable heart monitor was set up. On scene, Rachel’s vital signs were BP 79/42, heart rate 126bpm, and oxygen saturation was down to 93%. The medics hung a bag of ringer’s lactate to combat her low blood pressure and to begin fluid resuscitation, and they started her on an o2 mask with high flow oxygen. During auscultation, distant heart sounds could be heard, along with diminished breath sounds on the right side. The ECG showed an alternating tall-short QRS complex.

During transport, Rachel was drifting in and out of consciousness, and began groaning in pain. The steering wheel injury caused fractures to a few ribs and her sternum, but based on her vital signs and other observations, she was likely experiencing a major thoracic injury. Rachel remained semi conscious during transport, and asked the medics to call her fiancée, to which they told her the ER will call him as soon as they get there.

A short while later, Rachel arrived at the emergency department. She was taken out of the ambulance and wheeled into the trauma bay while one of the medics updated a few members of the trauma team. Once in the trauma room, Rachel was transferred onto the table. A few nurses snipped off Rachel’s pants, and removed her shoes, leaving her barefoot and almost completely nude. The trauma team started Rachel on blood transfusions and ordered trauma labs. The next step was to order a chest x-ray and a FAST scan.

The chest x ray showed multiple rib fractures on the right side, along with a sternal fracture. There was also evidence of a ride sided hemothorax, and possible cardiac herniation into the right side of the thoracic cavity. The echocardiogram showed no evidence of cardiac tamponade, but that’s typically common in cardiac herniation cases since the pericardium is usually completely ruptured. However, the exact location of the ruptured pericardium couldn’t be found, so it was possible the tear was on the side, or back of the heart. In the meantime, the trauma team decided to order a chest tube placement on the right side, page radiology for a portable CT scan, and page cardiothoracic surgery for a consultation.

The right sided chest tube placement began promptly. The area of Rachel’s 6th rib on the right side was sterilized with betadine and an injection of local anesthetic was injected to numb the skin. A 3cm incision was made in the skin anterolaterally, which is just anterior of the mid axillary line. The underlying tissue was incised further so the pleural space could be sufficiently exposed. With the proximal end of the chest tube clamped off by a Kelly clamp, it was advanced into the small cut and a tunnel was made so the tube could be inserted deep enough to properly drain the blood that was squeezing Rachel’s right lung. Rachel yelped loudly, feeling the tube being forced into her chest while she was wide awake. Once the tube was correctly placed, a large amount of blood and air shot out of the tube, splattering all over one of the resident’s trauma gowns.

After the chest tube was placed, the trauma team had to hang another bag of blood products to compensate for the blood loss that was being experienced. Following the additional blood products being hung from the rapid infuser, radiology showed up with the portable CT scanner. The scan took several minutes, but her head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis were all scanned. The head, abdomen, and pelvis came back clear, but the chest portion of the CT scan confirmed cardiac herniation with a 12cm blowout of the posterior pericardium. The heart was sitting outside of its fibrous casing, and the pulmonary veins were stretched out, and possibly damaged or partially detached from either the left atrium or the right lung, but the scan’s findings were inconclusive when it came to that aspect of Rachel’s injuries. But shortly after the CT scan, Rachel’s vital signs began to deteriorate rapidly.

Rachel’s breathing was slowing down, and her eyes were wide open, with a scared look present on her face. Due to blood loss, both her BP and heart rate were dropping rapidly. Since her breathing was slowing down, the trauma team elected to intubate her for airway management purposes. Before intubation began, Rachel gasped dramatically a few times. Her eyes opened wide before letting out a calm exhale and going limp on the table. No pulse was felt, and PEA ran across the heart monitors, so rapid sequence intubation and resuscitation efforts commenced at the same time.

Up by Rachel’s head stood one of the residents, trying their best to navigate a 7.0 ET tube into the attractive blonde’s airway. Just a few feet away stood a nurse who was pumping the 34 year old’s chest repeatedly. A cracking noise could be heard during CPR because of the rib and sternum fractures that Rachel sustained in the accident. With life saving efforts ongoing, a nurse injected epinephrine and atropine into Rachel’s IV. Shortly after the drugs were administered, the ET tube was placed successfully and held in place with a blue tube holder.

Over the following few minutes, Rachel received deep, strong chest compressions. Her chest caved in rhythmically while her b cup breasts jiggled around. Her belly rippled and bounced outwards from the residual force of the compressions she received. At the 3 minute mark of the code, the trauma team pushed the next rounds of epinephrine and atropine into Rachel’s IV in an attempt to obtain a shockable rhythm. About 45 seconds after the meds were pushed, coarse v-fib appeared on the monitors. The defibrillator paddles whined as they were gelled and charged to 200 joules. After a cycle of CPR, the paddles were pressed up against Rachel’s chest and a shock was delivered once everyone stood clear. Her body trembled on the table in response to shock #1, but the monitors still displayed v-fib. A nurse immediately resumed strong, forceful compressions on the attractive blonde while the paddles were recharged to 300j. The paddles were pressed up against Rachel’s chest a moment later, and shock #2 was delivered. Rachel’s lifeless body squirmed on the table in response to the jolt of electricity while her beautiful blue eyes stared lifelessly above. V-fib still persisted after shock #2, so a cycle of CPR was performed while the defib paddles were recharged to 360. Once the paddles were ready, they were placed onto Rachel’s chest again, and the 3rd shock was delivered. Rachel’s body shuddered and flopped in response to the increased intensity of the 3rd shock. But like before, this shock failed to shock the woman out of v-fib. The paddles were recharged to 360 and placed back onto Rachel’s chest, and the next shock was delivered seconds later. Rachel’s feet leapt up just above the table before crashing back down half a second later, wrinkling the soles of her size 7 feet.

This 4th shock converted Rachel to sinus bradycardia, so ROSC was able to be achieved after a downtime of 5 minutes and 8 seconds. Rachel regained semi consciousness seconds after her heart was restarted. “hey there, welcome back! You gave us a scare!” one of the nurses said. Rachel’s eyes wandered around the room, and then stared at the breathing tube and EKG electrodes on her chest. Her torso was then covered up with a blanket before she was wheeled out of the trauma room and up to the OR. Rachel stared at the one nurse who talked to her as soon as she regained consciousness. Rachel had a confused look on her face, wondering what had happened in the last handful of minutes.

In the following minutes, she was transported to the OR and prepped for surgery. She continued drifting in and out of consciousness, and her vitals were still a bit unstable. Her BP was 60 over palp and her heart rate was down to 41bpm.

Once in the OR, Rachel was moved onto the OR table. With her unstable vital signs, the anesthesiologist had some concerns about her low heart rate and blood pressure, so a round of vasopressors were pushed in order to increase her bp and heart rate in order to start the surgery in the next few minutes.

After those few minutes came and went, Rachel was anesthetized and the emergency surgery began. Her chest was covered in betadine in order to sterilize the area and limit Post-OP infection. A cut was made in her 5th intercostal space, extending across the entirety of her anterior chest. Next, the underlying tissue and fat was separated, creating a space in between the ribs on both sides of her chest, while also exposing the sternum. The next step was dividing the sternum horizontally with a sternal saw. The saw made a high pitched grinding sound as it sawed through Rachel’s breastbone with relative ease. After the sternum was divided, a finochietto rib spreader was placed into the middle of her chest with the bar facing downwards towards her belly. The knobs on the spreader were turned, forcing her chest to open. Upon entry to the chest via a clamshell thoracotomy, there was a rush of blood. Suction was applied in order to restore a line of sight for the surgical team. Blood kept leaking from her chest and accumulating on her torso and on the table. It was decided at that point to place a 2nd chest tube for additional drainage. The 2nd chest tube was placed over the following minute or so, and the surgical attending was sprayed with blood upon placement of the chest tube. The 2nd chest tube was able to create better visualization of the thoracic cavity, but blood loss was becoming a problem. 2 units of O+ PRBC's were hung from the rapid infuser and a dose of rhogam was injected intravenously since Rachel’s vital signs were once again on the brink of becoming dangerous. The surgeon worked on locating the source of the bleed over the coming minutes while the rest of the OR team did everything in their power to maintain Rachel’s vitals; but as time went on, that became more and more of an uphill battle. The bleeding continued over the next 45 minutes or so, and at that point, Rachel went into pulseless bradycardia. The surgeon paused the surgery to begin internal massage on the 34 year old. A wet, rhythmic, squishing sound was heard while internal compressions were being performed. 0.5mg atropine and 2 micrograms/kg dopamine were pushed intravenously as part of the pulseless bradycardia ACLS algorithm. The aorta was cross clamped near the diaphragm, and a clamp was placed on the right pulmonary hilum since a bleed in the right lung was within the realm of possibilities.

4 minutes came and went until a shockable rhythm was obtained by the OR team. The internal paddles were called for and inserted into Rachel’s chest and a 10 joule shock was delivered. Her torso flopped on the table in response to the shock, but she still remained in v-fib. A 20 joule shock was then delivered. A dull, wet thunk was heard after the shock was delivered but once again, there was no change whatsoever. The internal paddles were called for once again and charged to 30j for the 3rd shock. The large, spoon shaped paddles were placed back into Rachel’s chest, and shock #3 was delivered. Rachel’s toes curled at the other end of the table, showing off the soft, prominent wrinkles in the soles of her feet. However, this shock sent her into PEA. Epinephrine and atropine were pushed into her IV and internal massage continued on Rachel.

At the 10 minute mark of the code, the surgical team was able to obtain a shockable rhythm once again, so the internal paddles were readied for the next shock. The blonde’s arms and head twitched for a moment before returning to their previous position, but the shock was unsuccessful. Her heart twitched in the doctor’s hands as a cycle of internal massage was performed before the next shock. Next, a 30j shock was delivered, making a dull, wet thunk in the OR. No change was present on the monitors, so another 30j shock was delivered shortly after. This shock unfortunately sent Rachel back into PEA. The surgical attending injected a dose of adrenaline directly into Rachel’s heart, hoping to stimulate the cardiac muscle.

The code droned on and on, eventually reaching the 20 minute mark of the code with Rachel deteriorating to asystole. Her heart sat still in the surgeon’s hands as they manually pumped her heart, desperately trying to bring the woman back to life.

The surgical team worked diligently on Rachel over the following few minutes, maxing her out on drugs, and performing internal massage. At the 25 minute mark of the code, Rachel’s pupils were checked and were fixed and dilated, while her heart sat completely motionless inside her chest cavity. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the code was stopped and time of death was called at 9:17AM.

The monitors were switched off and the ambu bag was detached. Next, the rib spreader and EKG electrodes were removed, along with the rest of the equipment. Her body laid limp and cold to the touch while her chest was closed up by the surgical residents. Lastly, a toe tag was placed and her body was covered up before being sent to the hospital morgue.

A short while later, Rachel’s fiancée was given the terrible news about what happened. Later on in that day, the person that sideswiped Rachel was apprehended for fleeing the scene of an accident. The suspect faced criminal charges, but was also sued civilly by Rachel’s fiancée and parents, and settled for an undisclosed amount.

Rachel’s autopsy revealed that she died from cardiac herniation, which disconnected the pulmonary veins from the right lung, explaining the massive hemothorax and blood loss she experienced.

[researchedetc]

A Market Research Report on AlmagiteFrequently Asked QuestionsWhat is the USP of the report?What are the key content of the report?What are the value propositions and opportunities offered in this market research report?Related Reports

Global Almagite market research reports give an in-depth analysis of this market segment, segmentation, profit forecasts, and global geographical areas of this market. It can reveal the impact of the recent CO VID-19 global pandemic on market growth with various insightful insights like current market conditions, industry developments, profits, challenges, trends, geographic areas, and outlooks. The entire report is rich in detail and analysis and easy to read. It has been prepared by analysts and researchers from several major investment banking, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, biotechnology, metallurgy, and other financial institutions and firms. It covers the full spectrum of industries including chemicals, fuels, energy, personal and household goods, chemicals, electronics, aerospace and defense, water-borne technologies, health care, marine, transportation, telecommunications, personal and pet products, rubber, optical fiber, soft drinks, and foods, chemicals, and energy sectors.

Global Almagite Market Research is a comprehensive study of all aspects of this important industry. With thorough market analysis and up-to-date quotations from industry experts, it provides timely guidance for decision-making. With well-researched recommendations and reliable data, this invaluable product guides analysts and research managers. It is replete with more than 200 pages of fully documented content and more than 50 chart-driven graphs, tables, maps and diagrams. It comes with full support for both buyer and seller aspects of the almagate business.

This comprehensive almagate market report covers all important topics related to this important industry. These include current industry trends and prospects, outlooks, risks, opportunities, and future directions. Buyer's guide - this part of the book - provides a detailed overview of almagate and its various applications and markets; buyers' guide - which give practical advice on buying almagate; almagate research - to help you analyze the market and identify potential suppliers; technical analysis - to help you explore technical and economic data; and finally, business strategy - to develop a clear business plan.

This in-depth analysis also covers market size and scope, demand, competition and industry trends. The primary focus of this report covers almagate's applications in five major industries. These are chemical, personal and household products, aerospace and defense, water-borne technologies, health care, and transportation. In this section, the authors provide industry-specific details on almagate's product type and overall market size. The first two chapters of this report provide industry-specific background information on almagate and its various applications.

After analyzing the five almagate applications, this second part focuses on the topics of demand, competition and industry growth. This is divided into four parts. Chapter one talks about topics related to almagate demand and supply, the almagate industry itself, the almagate supply chain, the almagate supply and process and almagate distribution. Chapter two explores topics related to almagate production, almagate processing, almagate supply chain processes and the almagate manufacturers themselves. Chapter three analyzes the almagate supply and process and its effects on the almagate manufacturers. Lastly, chapter four talks about almagate demand and supply topics from a business perspective.

The fourth chapter analyzes almagate production and its effect on the downstream buyers. This includes both small and large players in the almagate industry and the various relationships among them. The authors identify the different almagate supply chains and the effect they have on downstream buyers. They conclude their analysis by discussing what the almagate manufacturers need to do to move forward and improve their ability to influence the almagate market.

The fifth and final chapter of the almagate market research report examines almagate manufacturers and their relationship with the almagate supply chain. The focus of this chapter is on the almagate manufacturer's marketing activities to create new markets and to keep existing markets viable. It then goes on to detail the almagate manufacturer's financial performance relative to these markets. The final chapter highlights almagate demand and supply indicators from recent almagate industry studies.

Summary and Conclusion summarize the key findings from the almagate industry chain of thought presented above. The overall conclusion states that the almagate market can continue to grow for at least the next five years. Growth is projected for at least five years beyond that. The growth is driven primarily by the growth of in-house almagate manufacturers and the outsourcing of certain almagate parts by other manufacturers. Overall, the report offers an in-depth analysis of what is happening in the almagate business. Following the almagate boom will come the inevitable challenge of maintaining that growth while facing the competitive landscape and the issues addressed in the analysis.

The research team projects that the Almagate market size will grow from XXX in 2020 to XXX by 2027, at an estimated CAGR of XX. The base year considered for the study is 2020, and the market size is projected from 2020 to 2027.

The prime objective of this report is to help the user understand the market in terms of its definition, segmentation, market potential, influential trends, and the challenges that the market is facing with 10 major regions and 50 major countries. Deep researches and analysis were done during the preparation of the report. The readers will find this report very helpful in understanding the market in depth. The data and the information regarding the market are taken from reliable sources such as websites, annual reports of the companies, journals, and others and were checked and validated by the industry experts. The facts and data are represented in the report using diagrams, graphs, pie charts, and other pictorial representations. This enhances the visual representation and also helps in understanding the facts much better.

By Market Players:

 Almirall

 Hanmi Pharm

 Yuhan

 Yangzhou Il-Yang Pharmaceutical

 Davipharm

By Type

 Suspension Agent

 Chewable Tablets

By Application

 Baby

 Adult

By Regions/Countries:

 North America

 United States

 Canada

 Mexico

East Asia

 China

 Japan

 South Korea

Europe

 Germany

 United Kingdom

 France

 Italy

 Russia

 Spain

 Netherlands

 Switzerland

 Poland

South Asia

 India

 Pakistan

 Bangladesh

Southeast Asia

 Indonesia

 Thailand

 Singapore

 Malaysia

 Philippines

 Vietnam

 Myanmar

Middle East

 Turkey

 Saudi Arabia

 Iran

 United Arab Emirates

 Israel

 Iraq

 Qatar

 Kuwait

 Oman

Africa

 Nigeria

 South Africa

 Egypt

 Algeria

 Morocoo

Oceania

 Australia

 New Zealand

South America

 Brazil

 Argentina

 Colombia

 Chile

 Venezuela

 Peru

 Puerto Rico

 Ecuador

Rest of the World

 Kazakhstan

Points Covered in The Report

 The points that are discussed within the report are the major market players that are involved in the market such as market players, raw material suppliers, equipment suppliers, end users, traders, distributors and etc.

 The complete profile of the companies is mentioned. And the capacity, production, price, revenue, cost, gross, gross margin, sales volume, sales revenue, consumption, growth rate, import, export, supply, future strategies, and the technological developments that they are making are also included within the report. This report analyzed 12 years data history and forecast.

 The growth factors of the market is discussed in detail wherein the different end users of the market are explained in detail.

 Data and information by market player, by region, by type, by application and etc, and custom research can be added according to specific requirements.

 The report contains the SWOT analysis of the market. Finally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included.

Key Reasons to Purchase

 To gain insightful analyses of the market and have comprehensive understanding of the global market and its commercial landscape.

 Assess the production processes, major issues, and solutions to mitigate the development risk.

 To understand the most affecting driving and restraining forces in the market and its impact in the global market.

 Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by leading respective organizations.

 To understand the future outlook and prospects for the market.

 Besides the standard structure reports, we also provide custom research according to specific requirements.

The report focuses on Global, Top 10 Regions and Top 50 Countries Market Size of Almagate 2016-2021, and development forecast 2022-2027 including industries, major players/suppliers worldwide and market share by regions, with company and product introduction, position in the market including their market status and development trend by types and applications which will provide its price and profit status, and marketing status & market growth drivers and challenges, with base year as 2020.

Key Indicators Analysed

 Market Players & Competitor Analysis: The report covers the key players of the industry including Company Profile, Product Specifications, Production Capacity/Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2016-2021 & Sales by Product Types.

 Global and Regional Market Analysis: The report includes Global & Regional market status and outlook 2022-2027. Further the report provides break down details about each region & countries covered in the report. Identifying its production, consumption, import & export, sales volume & revenue forecast.

 Market Analysis by Product Type: The report covers majority Product Types in the Almagate Industry, including its product specifcations by each key player, volume, sales by Volume and Value (M USD).

 Markat Analysis by Application Type: Based on the Almagate Industry and its applications, the market is further sub-segmented into several major Application of its industry. It provides you with the market size, CAGR & forecast by each industry applications.

 Market Trends: Market key trends which include Increased Competition and Continuous Innovations.

 Opportunities and Drivers: Identifying the Growing Demands and New Technology

 Porters Five Force Analysis: The report will provide with the state of competition in industry depending on five basic forces: threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, and existing industry rivalry.

COVID-19 Impact

 Report covers Impact of Coronavirus COVID-19: Since the COVID-19 virus outbreak in December 2019, the disease has spread to almost every country around the globe with the World Health Organization declaring it a public health emergency. The global impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are already starting to be felt, and will significantly affect the Almagate market in 2021. The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought effects on many aspects, like flight cancellations; travel bans and quarantines; restaurants closed; all indoor/outdoor events restricted; over forty countries state of emergency declared; massive slowing of the supply chain; stock market volatility; falling business confidence, growing panic among the population, and uncertainty about future.

 Almagate Market report offers great insights of the market and consumer data and their interpretation through various figures and graphs. Report has embedded global market and regional market deep analysis through various research methodologies. The report also offers great competitor analysis of the industries and highlights the key aspect of their business like success stories, market development and growth rate.

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Contact us: https://www.reportmines.com/contact-us.php 

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[vidsquad]

VIDSQUAD REVIEWS 2021 — ⚠️SCAM EXPOSED⚠️

VIDSQUAD WHAT IS IT

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Videos are the MOST POWERFUL form of Content. Also Video will dominate the internet. Video will be the primary medium for how internet users will consume information. Even The Huge $398 Billion E-Learning Industry is Served Using Videos. Top E-Learning Sites like Coursera, TreeHouse, Udemy, CodeAcademy Udacity &, SkillShare are Using Videos to Sell & Deliver Courses and Bank Millions. And it’s not done yet here because People are not enjoying all the videos personally even they love to share with others on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and other networking sites and modes.

Your shared videos could go viral producing Non-Stop Traffic, Leads, Sales & Profits, 24/7, 365 Days a Year 100% Hands Free. But Using A Video Can Quickly Turn Into A Headache For MOST Marketers. REASON. Uploading a video to the same hosting where your website is hosted. And chances are pretty high that you face one or more of these challenges on a daily basis. Limited Views and Earnings. You are paying over $600 for platforms like Vimeo, Wistia etc. every year. That’s SUPER EXPENSIVE.

YouTube’s never-ending ‘Skip Ad’ feature and it’s frustrating your traffic. Some Marketers are simply copying your content. You’re getting Non-related or fake traffic to your videos… People are looking for just something to entertain them. Your Customers want to see your videos but they only see a BLACK SCREEN. Your Customers are facing Buffering issues in every seconds. The List Goes On And On. Imagine If You’re Being Able To Host, Manage & Publish THOUSANDS of HD videos without any uploading issues or buffering issues, without worrying about reaching any uploading limits , Views Limits and being forced to pay every month for your Business. Proudly Presenting VidSquad.

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Get VidSquad – Smart Futuristic Video Profit Technology, while they’re excited to offer unrestricted access for a single price. They can only do that during this Limitedd launch. As soon as launch closes, the price WILL increase to a monthly membership. Get everything now for a low one-time fee … Or risk missing out & pay much more at MONTHLY price later. The decision is yours.

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[mints-software]

Mints App REVIEWS 2021 — ⚠️SCAM EXPOSED⚠️

MINTS SOFTWARE WHAT IS IT

Mints Software is A Complete Funnel, Website and Landing Page Builder With Stunning Designs to Mesmerize your Visitors and Pre-optimised to Convert like Crazy.

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Good websites and landing pages are the lifeblood of any digital marketing campaign.  Without them, visitors don’t know what to do next. That makes your website and landing page a driving force for conversions. But they can also take hours to build. Can be extremely expensive (a good looking sales page cost as high as $1,000 or more). Also, Without a doubt. There’s a good chance you’re either using or want to use ClickFunnels to build beautiful sales pages and sales funnels. And for good reason, it’s a great service.

But it’s also one of the most expensive services out there. ​If you want the full feature set, you have to lay out $297 EVERY MONTH! That’s a crazy $3,564 every year. ​​​​That means ClickFunnels costs you a CAR every 10 years! (And that’s if they’re nice and don’t decide to drop another price hike on you.). They needed a solution, and most of things they found on the market weren’t good enough, some of them could create beautiful websites for sure but weren’t really optimised for online marketing so they decided to create the ultimate solution that won’t just knock out stunning pages but create pages that will strategically grow your businesses online, capture more leads and generate more sales daily.

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The Mints Software Easy To Use Robust Drag and Drop Page Builder: You’ll love the fact that building pages in Mints is incredibly easy. You can either choose from a template or build your very own page from scratch with the Mints Editor.

Completely Customizable Sales Page Templates: They didn’t leave anything to chance with this option. They’re giving you templates to help you get your funnels up and running fast. Use them for your own digital products, physical products, upsells, downsells, and more. It’s as simple as selecting a template you like, editing the sections you want and voila! Your page is ready to start making sales!

Drag & Drop Page Builder: Drag & Drop Elements, Easy & Simple Styling, Mobile Responsive Design, Fully Customizable, 20+ DFY Templates, Different categories like, Landing Pages, Optin Pages, Thank You Pages, Webinar Pages, Coming Soon Pages, Checkout Pages, Sign Up Pages, Giveaway Pages

Powerful Built In Autoresponder Mailer: You can also use the built in autoresponder to mail all of your subscribers and customers. It’s as simple as adding your own smtp server and you’re good to go. You’ll be able to set-up different campaigns and send email blasts with ease. Now you won’t have a need for any of the popular autoresponder services that overcharge for the same subscribers on different lists.

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MINTS SOFTWARE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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