#what a strange niche of television

[mihotose]

PEARL??

#i started watching guy mont spelling bee. hey pearl you were just in tmnz s4 #what a strange niche of television #'teenager to make adult comedians feel lame' #gemitus #taskmaster nz #guy montgomery's guy mont spelling bee

[lizardsfromspace]

Ben Chatham was too niche to ever become known outside one forum but it's the My Immortal of Doctor Who. It was a series starring the writer's self-insert companion, Ben Chatham, and I guess it started with his fanfic version of series 2 (not sure if it's still online anywhere, but there's a summary), where Jackie dies of cancer bc the author thought chavs shouldn't be allowed on Doctor Who & the Doctor murders a hamster. His stories are full of random grim moments, and no one is ever heroic, since everyone just dies until UNIT can save the day. Ben Chatham is gay and a military-loving Tory. He reintroduced Adam and Jack over the course of the season bc he didn't like writing women doing or saying things and bc he felt Rose was too lower class to be allowed on television

I think I first learned about him when he posted his pitch for Matt Smith's first story:

"Martha Jones is walking down the cobbled street of the Cornish village of Little Bampton towards the local Inn, pondering why UNIT had sent her to investigate the strange sightings nearby and disappearances. Since entering into full time investigative work for UNIT in the UK following the events of Journey’s End she had never been so bored by a case. Nothing has happened in the three weeks that she had been in the village and she found the locals distasteful and she suspected some of the older ones were rather prejudiced.

Suddenly there is a familiar sound and she sees the TARDIS materialise in front of her. She grins excitedly as the door is flung open: “DOCTOR……….OH” she shouts as instead of the Doctor, a slip youth with floppy hair emerges, dressed in jeans and a casual jacket. “Who are you? Wheres the Doctor” she exclaims. “Hey babe, I’m like the Doctor. I’ve regenerated like. Wow its great to see you again. Wicked!”Martha is perturbed:

“But you’re so….. So much younger.” “Yay its great to be a kid again. I’m like so gonna get a myspace page. You look great in that jacket babe, I’ve like SO got the hots for you. Hows about we get up close and personal on the TARDIS double bed.” The Doctor coyly lets his floppy hair descend over his eyes."

There's a lot going on here, but my fave parts are picturing Matt Smith saying "Hey babe, I'm like the Doctor" and the fact that Martha internally refers to the events of Journey's End as the events of Journey's End. I've accepted ever since that Martha Jones can sense episode titles; she was just out there living her life until she suddenly sees a vortex and the words "THE STOLEN EARTH" floating in the air and groans at having to do this again

Also, in the Chatham canon, Martha hates going on adventures and loves to whine and do nothing. Just like everyone else. Meanwhile the Eleventh Doctor is a horny freak who wants to fuck and post to MySpace. Both of them despise poor people

This story also features the Russian mob whose leader, named Ivan, has henchmen named Ivan, bc he could only think of one Russian name.

Was the writer of this serious or a troll? We will never know. Certainly he was surrounded by trolls. He got an entire subforum quarantining promoting his stories, and there were fanfics of his fanfic, made by trolls whose sincerity was also, for many years, in doubt (they were trolls)

What we do know is that the writer repeatedly insisted it was canon, and wrote a letter to Doctor Who Magazine demanding more coverage of his OC. They sent him a lengthier letter he posted on forum but in the magazine all they said was

"Er…who?"

Which just about sums it up

#doctor who #long post

[writers-in-moominvalley]

Moominpappa's Memoirs vs Adventures of Moominpappa part 1

In which I compare the episode to its source material.

Warning: this essay is a 13.3k word long deranged rambling written by someone who is obsessed with Moominpappa's Memoirs and its characters. Continue at your own discretion.

Background and clarification

The Exploits of Moominpappa was a book written and illustrated by Tove Jansson and originally published in Swedish in 1950. It is the 4th story in the Moomin book series and follows Moominpappa, Moomintroll's father, as he writes his Memoir which has been mentioned in the past 2 books and reads it to the child main characters. The Memoir itself recounts his life story from childhood, his adventures with the other children's parents and up to his rescue and first meeting of his wife, Moominmamma.

Later in 1968, Tove made a revised version titled "Moominpappa's Memoirs" which followed the same outline but with changed scenes and extended sequences, adding much more compelling characterization and character-driven moments to move the story along.

Moominpappa's Memoirs was then adapted in May to August of 1991 for the hit Moomin adaptation series, Moomin (1990), as a series of 3 episodes interspersed between other episodes under the encompassing title "Adventures of Moominpappa".

Despite what Wikipedia tells you, it is not in fact an adaptation of the original The Exploits of Moominpappa (although the title might mislead you to believe that) as much of the content in this trilogy adaptation takes from Moominpappa's Memoirs, such as the frozen sea scene or the Joxter's introduction. However, much of its content has been cut, spliced or changed altogether to fit the 60 minute runtime allowed for these three 20 minute episodes.

What this post aims to be is a critical look at these episodes as pieces of television entertainment and as adaptations of the book, starting with the first part.

For clarity, I did not grow up on this show and this show's writing has never been perfect to begin with, even when we take adaptation out of the equation. I don't dislike the show as a whole by any means, but I can tell very clearly that it has managed to dodge criticism for so long (well, at least for fans who aren't personally connected to the previous incarnations of the franchise and therefore their major criticism would've been "this isn't like the thing that came before!") because of the sheer Vibes that the show exudes and its weirdness in its substance was only seen as amusing rather than a problem or as the same thing as the weirdness that's inherent to the whole franchise (which is a subject I may touch upon in a later date.)

The long and short of it is; it's not perfect in either avenue of how you view these episodes. However, I do not fault anyone for liking any of them and much of this is my own opinion and simply observations on how well it's handled as an adaptation. I'm doing this out of a love and passion for this franchise and this isn't a niche that's been covered before as far as I'm aware (also, Tumblr user @helshdy has requested me to do this and that's my excuse for getting me going on this)

And for clarity, the adaptation has changed the names of the characters in the English dub for some strange reason, and here's the list (book names - show names):

Hodgkins - Samuel Fredriksson (fun fact, it seems to my knowledge that the English translation of the book is the only one that doesn't use a variation of the original Fredriksson. The reason is totally unknown to me. Also, he never had a first name in any previous material he appears in, so I don't know where in Moominland they came up with adding Samuel there)

The Muddler - Fuddler (Fuddler is actually the name of his child who is not Sniff in the comics)

The Mymble - Mumaline (is that how it's supposed to be spelled?)

The Mymble's Daughter - Mumaline's Daughter

The Fuzzy - Muddle (yes, without the r)

Edward - Eduardo

For the sake of simplicity I'll be using the book names, except I'll be abbreviating the Mymble's Daughter to MD and refer to the King/Autocrat as King Jones like in The Exploits of Moominpappa (because I am majorly upset at Tove removed his name in Memoirs). And I'll be referring to young Moominpappa as Moomin while his son will be referred to as Moomintroll.

In this post, I'll only be covering the first episode and do the other 2 episodes in seperate posts, as well as an extra post evaluating this trilogy as a whole and diagnosing what it did to the story to end up the way it did.

So with all that out of the way, let's begin with the

Recap

The episode starts with Moominmamma preparing something in the kitchen and going upstairs, Moominpappa is sick in bed and Moominmamma gives him a warm glass of milk and onion juice. Moominpappa muses about how if he was gone then Moomintroll and Moominmamma wouldn't know about his childhood, Moominmamma asks about the memoir he's been writing throughout the show and he says it only starts from after he saved Moominmamma. Moominmamma is confused but flattered that the memoirs start with the beginning of their relationship, even if she thinks they usually start at the beginning of one's life. Moominpappa says rather vaguely that he has his reasons for not starting from the beginning (we'll get to this in the review portion).

We then get treated to Little My gathering Sniff and Snufkin to meet up with Moominpappa and using lies to make sure they don't skip out on listening to Moominpappa telling everyone about his Epic Backstory, and then when after the misunderstanding is cleared up, Moominpappa lays the foundation of what he's going to tell them, mostly about the people who "kinda looked and sounded like them".

Finally, Moominpappa recounts the dreary August where he was found in a shopping bag at the doorstep of an old orphanage run by a principal who was very reminiscent of Mrs. Fillyjonk. We see a montage of how his childhood went; he gets marked in marker with the number 13, he wets the bed and gets washed in the sink, he fails to bow down with his tail in a 45 degree angle, all the while he questions everything and his principal complains about him being more troublesome than the rest.

Then, one late winter, he decides to head to the forbidden seaside on a whim and skates on the ice. He admires himself in the lake reflection and describes himself fondly, his only complaint being his legs being "too short for perfection", although he hopes they might grow longer if he skates and walks more. He continues on skating and breaks the ice, causing him to fall into the water and narrowly escaping with his life. This, Moominpappa considers, is his first adventure, and the thrill is much too enticing to let it be his last. That night, he decides to escape the orphanage through the window while everyone is asleep, all the while a voice over narrates the letter he left for his principal about his departure and that she needn't fret.

With a side bag worn, he's off to the races in his grand escape! But in his way is an increasingly terrifying unknown forest which he imagines is out to get him as he runs with all the speed his small legs could carry him, afterwards, in the windy night, he cries himself to sleep in a hollow log.

He wakes up to a bright and beautiful morning where he meets with a brook and spots a strange spinning wheel turning in it, he muses about it and then a man in a purple onesie appears in front of him explaining that it's an experiment for his ship that'll launch that day. The two become fast friends and Moomin learns that the man's name is Samuel Fredriksson (but we'll call him Hodgkins) and he takes him to the boat.

Hodgkins calls for his nephew, Fuddler (Muddler), as he seems nowhere to be seen, but then he pops out of his giant coffee tin with a can of red paint and apologises. Hodgkins introduces him to Moomin and tells him to hurry up with the painting, to which Muddler ensures that he'll do it as fast as possible.

Hodgkins and Moomin enter the pilot-house where we are introduced to Joxter sleeping on the couch. Hodgkins gets upset and asks if he read the "No Admittance" sign on the door (there's literally no sign, visually?) and says it means he shouldn't go in, Joxter lifts up his hat and proclaims that he doesn't understand signs (cue audience cheering).

The 3 of them step on the deck and Moomin asks what the ship's name is, Hodgkins says that of the names he's thought of, he named it the Ocean Orchestra (the Oshun Oxtra) since it sounded poetic. Moomin asks how they'll set sail and Muddler realises they haven't thought about that, Hodgkins reassures everyone and says that they'll employ the help of Eduardo (Edward) the Booble. Hodgkins explains who and what Edward is and Moomin asks if he's dangerous, Hodgkins says he's not really but if you're not careful he can step on you, but don't worry! He always pays for the funeral!

Hodgkins proceeds to yell out into the distance calling for Edward and asks him to bathe in the river instead of sea since it's so nice that day. Edward then rises up from out of the forest in slow motion all Kaiju-style and Hodgkins and Moomin run back to the boat, Edward does a 6/10 belly flop into the river causing the water levels to rise. Moomin and Hodgkins make it to the pilot-house where Joxter is sleeping again, Hodgkins takes the wheel and yells out vaguely nautical sentences to nobody in particular and the boat finally takes off. But oh no! Edward is blocking the way! Moomin is worried they might crash into him, but also asks what's behind Edward, Hodgkins does this monologue about the sea and it being adventurous and Moomin is very dreamy about finally getting adventures at last. Hodgkins gets out of the pilot-house to yell at Edward to get out of the way, and yelling about how he's been preparing for this for years finally convinces the Booble to get out of the way.

Just as Hodgkins was saying this would be classified as a historical moment, Muddler yells out from his floating tin and Joxter suddenly wakes up, commenting on how it sounds like he might be in trouble. The crew runs to the back of the boat to see what's up, Hodgkins seems annoyed as if this is Muddler's personal doing but Joxter reassures Muddler that they'll get him out of there, Muddler gets upset about the crew being mean and leaving him behind but then Hodgkins through him a lasso which knocks him over.

Muddler ties the rope to the key-type can opener and they sail past Edward, which causes a bit of a turbulence and flooding but ultimately they cheer in victory of a successful maiden voyage.

Then it's sunset, the crew stop at some cliffs and find the Groke chasing an unknown person through them. Moomin asks about what happens if the Groke touches them and Hodgkins explains that the Groke doesn't really do anything and that she's lonely, but if she gets too close the person would freeze. Joxter also concurs that it's too late for them to do anything. Moomin isn't deterred by this and rushes to rescue the mysterious person being chased by the Groke by swimming down to the cliff with Muddler's tin as a catcher, all the while he and Hodgkins argue about this decision. As it turns out the mysterious person was his Orphanage Principal (although Moomin doesn't realise that until later) and she jumps into the tin, after which they swim back to safety with the Groke looking on and the crew cheering.

We then get Moominpappa in the present talking about how this is the third adventure he's ever had and the first of many rescues. Moomintroll gets really excited and inspired to become an adventurer like his father and Little My asks who Moominpappa saved and what happens next. Moominpappa tries being cheeky by saving the continuation for another time but Snorkmaiden insists on telling them who it was at least. He finally tells them that it was the principal of the orphanage, as she was looking for him after he made his escape.

We then cut back to his story after Moomin got the tin on deck. Moomin expresses displeasure at his rescue being that of his Orphanage Principal and says he wouldn't have saved her had he known it was her, Hodgkins assures him that what he did was brave. The Principal then becomes a demanding presence, making Moomin and Hodgkins instinctively straighten their posture and asking Moomin who everyone is, then declaring that she'll take them under her wing and teach them how to behave.

Joxter excuses himself to go below deck and Muddler follows him after, Hodgkins and Moomin also run elsewhere while she's distracted and she continues yelling demands at them.

We're back once more to Moominpappa and the family, Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll amusedly comment on the unfortunate situation, Moominpappa laments that he might've saved her anyway if he had known and that you can't just win, can you? Moominmamma expresses terrible pity for Moominpappa's childhood but he reassures her that it wasn't that bad. He then continues saying that the next part of his story is really exciting but they must wait until he recovers from his illness. The narrator then tells us to tune in for the next part where we find out what happens to the Orphanage Principal after… (*checks episode list*) 3 other unrelated episodes.

The end.

Episode review

While it is a very watchable and enjoyable episode of a kid's show there are a lot of glaring issues with pacing and writing efficiency.

The introduction does a good job at introducing our original main cast but I am very baffled at the convoluted way they decided to reconcile the memoir Moominpappa has been writing throughout the series and the backstory he's telling the kids in these series of episodes by having the show's memoir be about everything that came after his meeting with Moominmamma, in fact Moominmamma herself questions the issue because even if it's not really a full autobiography the starting place lacks a lot of important context that lead up to it, and the writers had the gall to make Moominpappa handwave this question with a vague answer that doesn't excuse anything.

A much more efficient writer would've just had him ask Moominmamma to bring his yet unfinished memoir to read to the kids after his musing and used the time from this conversation for something else but whatever that's not the biggest issue.

The biggest issue I have with the episode's writing efficiency is the very unnecessary break near the end of the episode where the kids ask who the person Moominpappa saved was, because we quite literally see the Principal hopping into the tin? She quite literally comes from the shadows and we see her very clearly which renders the subsequent scene utterly pointless? In an in-universe perspective, yeah sure it makes sense for the kids to impatiently ask who it was but we get the confirmation right after! This is a show made for an audience who can see the flashback taking place and doing something like this is redundant and it's wasted time that could've been used to, I don't know, flesh out the story's characters more? Add a bit more substance to everything between the action?

Speaking of that, there is a noticeable amount of emphasis on the action with little to do with characterization here (which is an issue throughout the trilogy but we'll get to it when we get to it). There are about 3 whole action scenes in this episode: the ice break, the escape and the launching ceremony, the latter two of which kind of overstay their welcome a few moments too long (especially the ceremony).

The ice break was fine, it accomplished itself as the Call To Adventure in Moomin's Hero's Journey and that's all it really needed to be, it's a fun and intense enough scene with good character animation on top of that.

The escape from the orphanage was a bit too unnecessarily intense to the point where it didn't well fit with the tone of the rest of the story and could've used some better editing, especially with the parts surrounding the bit where he cries inside the hollow log; it would've been preferable if we actually saw him crawl inside it and then crawl out of it in the morning, I think it would've improved the flow of the scene.

It was an odd choice to give Edward a full Kaiju moment with the slow motion and everything and even have him block the path just to extend the scene after they got Muddler tagged along, and having the boat be flooded and everything, all it really does accomplish is adding a bit more to Hodgkins' character with his dialog which is kind of meh? And it's not at all characterization that gets used later on in the episode or the whole trilogy so what the scene accomplishes is coolness for the sake of cool at best (which only applies to the first half of the scene honestly) and runtime filler at worst.

You could argue that the emphasis on action is a product of Moominpappa's way of telling his story in-universe, and I would say I completely understand that reasoning, but there's not much in the way of acknowledging that this style of storytelling is Moominpappa's doing and is an extension of the story's nature as an in-universe story, and the episode fails to properly establish that Moominpappa is prone to embellishments or wanting to make himself seem cooler than he is (this issue is somewhat rectified in the beginning of part 2 but this is what I'm talking about when it comes to efficient storytelling). So in the end it makes it feel like this is the writers simply doing their job rather than putting their writing through the filter of Moominpappa's character, which leads me to the point of characterization.

The characterization is… okay and it does a half-decent job, but it's definitely very boring in the way that it makes Moomin too similar to Moomintroll and it makes Hodgkins a little too indistinct on whether he's nice or not. Joxter and Muddler could've used some work but they aren't majorly important characters in this first part and it does establish their characters and quirks pretty fine for the little screen time they have. Edward is… a sea monster with no thoughts behind those eyes and listens to Hodgkins like a dog it seems, he's more like a plot device than anything.

Funnily enough it's the Principal who has the best characterization out of everyone, definitely not likeable by any means, but it's that obvious unlikeability and consistent, obvious character motivation that makes her the most well-established character at least in this episode. I just… really wish she wasn't treated so cruelly by the other characters honestly, like I get it, she's annoying and authoritative and didn't treat Moomin well but nobody is holding back any punches with her, who is, mind you, the only major female character in the story so far. To make Moomin say despairingly how he wouldn't have saved her if he knew it was her? To have the kids talk about it like it was a hilarious misfortune to save her life from the Groke? It's a bit… mean-spirited, far more than usual for this show.

But I'll talk about the characters more during the adaptation section of this post.

Overall I'll say that the episode is decent but doesn't have truly interesting characters that would've really elevated the episode for me.

Adaptation review

Okay so this is where my teeth are going to show because it is very, very much NOT a good adaptation.

Part 1 is an adaptation of the prologue, chapter 1, chapter 2 and the first third of chapter 3. The thing is that it skips over the whole preface Moominpappa wrote but that's whatever, all the preface accomplishes is some humorous establishment that Moominpappa is most certainly not a reliable narrator and that he hopes to be viewed as important by those who read it, it's difficult and not necessary to adapt in animated form with the format they decided to use. The rest, however? They've skipped over quite a bit and made a complete overhaul to the characterization and tone of these chapters. Which is understandable for a 20 minute episode and admittedly even just one chapter is very long even without the tangents Moominpappa goes into, buuut…

PROLOGUE (AND PREFACE)

The way the episode's version of the prologue handled Moominpappa's character is already a big indicator of this. In the book, Moominpappa feels the absolute indignance of being sick for the first time in his life and getting a very, very bad experience with the cold on top of that. The cold made him miserable and annoyed, he refused to consume anything medicinal from Moominmamma, he couldn't sleep, he had a great amount of tissues under his hammock, he had an unbearably sore throat that rendered his speech unintelligible when he asked Sniff to get the meerschaum tram for him. His family and adoptive children felt pity and tried to accommodate him as they could until he fell asleep, terribly vexed by all this.

Moominpappa awoke with a throat that felt a little better and spoke to Moominmamma about the significance of the aforementioned tram to which she doesn't really understand, which upsets Moominpappa immensely and he is resentful that she and their son wouldn't know about the great history he went through had he died from the cold. Moominmamma suggests after some deliberation, as she always had, that perhaps he should finally take the time to write and read his memoirs using an old notebook she found while cleaning the attic, Moominpappa gradually agrees to this and declares that he won't read a word of it to the others until he gets a whole chapter ready, though, she'll be the only test audience for the chapter until he moves onto reading to the children.

One thing to keep in mind for book Moominpappa (and by extension, his younger self) is that he is very… egotistical, which is a facet of his character I would love to go into excruciating detail about once I finish this series of essays but let's just say he's egotistical and over-dramatic and just LOVES writing about himself in the most melodramatic and egomaniacal way and the adaptation tries very, very hard to either downplay it or remove it entirely even though it is an essential part of his character that separates him from the likes of Moomintroll.

Moominpappa's vexation with his illness is one example, it's his first experience with the common cold and this is the situation we get introduced with to establish him and his surrounding characters; this Moominpappa is one that is stubborn, melodramatic and miserable over the helpless and undignified position he's suddenly placed in. This whole sequence wasn't a part of The Exploits of Moominpappa, either, it is added here with the purpose of showing us the kind of person we're reading this perspective from and the context he wrote this story in. It establishes his dynamic with the characters that surround him and even establishes those characters themselves in the most essential way there can be.

The scene in the episode does not establish any of Moominpappa's melodramatic and sour attitude from being undignified, it doesn't even establish him as being prone to being a generally unreliable narrator like in the preface, or that he really likes to talk about himself (he doesn't take the time to talk at length about himself in a self-aggrandizing way or even anything seemingly superfluous AT ALL within the story even though that is the whole premise of why he's writing his damned Memoirs and is one of the foundations of his character that affects his interactions with the other characters within the book). It establishes the audience characters very well, even more so than the book did, but it doesn't establish Moominpappa himself very well, and he's meant to be the point-of-view character and the most important one in this series of episodes.

It's almost fascinating how they dared to tone down such a straightforward character like Moominpappa even when they didn't seem to have an issue with the aforementioned aspects of Moominpappa in other episodes.

Moominpappa's Memoirs is, in essence, a parody of how self-important men write about themselves and the people around them in their own memoirs, this parody circles all the way back to sincerity by showing us genuine vulnerability, emotion and the outside process and reaction to Moominpappa's story. By not establishing just how self-important but also sincere Moominpappa is you're missing out on half of what the book is set out to do.

CHAPTER 1

The chapter 1-3 sections of the episode is what you get when you skim over the personal expression in narration to get to the barebones plot, and even the barebones plot gets smushed in the middle to save time. The adaptation as a whole really would have benefitted from the advantage given by the inclusion of the narration gimmick and let Moominpappa tell the audience about his thoughts and how he felt in the situations we're presented with. Show don't tell may be a rule of thumb in visual media but the book and story's whole personality hinges on expositing Moominpappa's thoughts on most, if not every matter he tells us about and even talking directly to his audience, to remove that would be to remove what made the book unique from the others in the series with its first person perspective. This is a story relaid to us by a character, it should've been treated as such. But as we're going to see, the adaptation does not concern itself with the emotional narrative of the book.

Chapter 1 gets into the nitty gritty of his life in the Orphanage, or in actuality, the Moomin Foundling Home.

Right off the bat there's a minor issue here that could be used as an example of how the adaptation prioritised the overall "Adventure" over the purpose of each detail and how it contributes to the themes of the story.

In the episode, the Orphanage is a diverse one that is run by a Fillyjonk. In the book, the Foundling Home is one made to house specifically Moomin-children and is run by a Hemulen.

Now, from a character design perspective I can kinda get it, I would've liked to see how creative they could've gotten with designing the 12 other Moomins but alright, fine. But from a thematic perspective it cements Moomin (number 13) as a strange individual even within his own species rather than being inherently strange for being the only Moomin. Moominpappa goes on and on about how special he is juxtaposed to a regular Moomin, how talented he is, how imaginative and curious he is compared to his vapid peers who just obey the Principal and don't talk to him. He's special because he specifically was born special, not because he was born a Moomin, and that is a difference that is greatly cemented within the book that it's practically part of his personal definition of himself, and that difference gets lost in translation when you make him the only Moomin in that orphanage.

The Principal being a Hemulen was also a pretty important point in the book. In the book series as a whole Hemulens generally represented authority or even just a parody of Adults, they're the antithesis of Moominpappa's imaginative spirit and he dunks on them in many ways throughout the whole book.

Hemulens are antagonists who want to take away some aspect of his life that he cherishes, people don't like to talk about Hemulens, Hemulens have no taste in fashion, Hemulens love duty and unfulfilling routines, Hemulens love sticking their noses in business that doesn't pertain to them, Hemulens are annoying and bossy, Hemulen orphans are seldom found and therefore a foundling home for them would've been useless, everyone born 20 minutes after Moomin would've been in a Hemulic Voluntary Brass Band (so be very careful of when your children will be born and plan/calculate accordingly!)

Hemulens have always been the subject of judgement and misfortune throughout the book series despite not doing anything morally reprehensible and still nowhere is the judgement more intense than in a book where an in-universe character gets to tell his story.

The Principal being a Fillyjonk in this adaptation does little more than to tie Mrs. Fillyjonk in all of this somehow (although I will admit her design is very pretty *cough*) and make all the criticism into mean-spirited bullying that's almost unfairly concentrated on her. I am aware that Moominpappa implied he switched the species of at least one Fillyjonk to a Hemulen character in his preface;

“In consideration of the feelings of many persons still alive, I have sometimes exchanged Fillyjonks for Hemulens or Gaffsies for hedgehogs, and so forth, but the talented reader will have no difficulties in understanding what was actually what.”

Alas, it's not a particularly convincing argument in favour of changing her species, especially given the context of the book.

The 90s series very notably tends to disregard the social commentary posited by the source material and in effect it either perpetuates the things the source material critiques/avoids (the sexism) or nullifies the original message by either not following through on the message of the story or contradicting it entirely (most of the adaptation episodes, really). There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of why the story is written that way, or they do in fact understand but deliberately try to circumvent addressing the themes of the story in the name of making them uncontroversial and removing them from modernity. But in doing so they don't replace it with anything that's of substance, they don't let the characters be themselves with their original warts and oddities either.

For the sake of brevity I'll save most of the minutiae of Moomin's characterization within the memoir for a later post, but I'll summarise that in the book he is characterised as a pitiable egomaniac after an early childhood of asking questions about the fundamentals of reality and being met with hostility or avoidance by everyone around him:

“So passed my early childhood in quiet and constant wonderment. I was permanently astonished, always repeating my questions of "What, when?" and "Who, how?" The Hemulen and her obedient foundlings avoided me as best they could; the word "why" seemed to make them uneasy.”

(...)

“But by and by a change came: I started to muse about the shape of my nose. I put my trivial surroundings aside and mused more and more about myself, and I found this to be a bewitching occupation. I stopped asking and longed instead to speak of my thoughts and feelings. Alas, there was no one besides myself who found me interesting.”

Much of the first half of the chapter is exercising what these 2 paragraphs summarise. The Principal seems more preoccupied with order and cleanliness than actually raising these children, she says dreams are trash right to Moomin's face.

However, the origin of why Moomin describes himself as talented rather than strange or some other word is because of her and her interest in astrology.

“However, the Hemulen who had built the Foundling Home was interested in astrology (somewhat), and wisely enough she observed the dominant stars at the time of my coming into the world. They indicated the birth of a very unusual and talented Moomin, and the Hemulen accordingly worried about the trouble awaiting her (...)”

Assuming that the Principal told him of this when he had the capacity for memory formed (or that any of this is true), she is the cause of why Moomin seems to act the way he did (presumptuous genetic disposition and inherent neurodivergency aside)

Moominpappa has latched onto this adjective ("talented") as if it were a lifesaver. He defines himself so immensely from this one word that it makes a hypothetical visit to a therapist a rather concerning prospect. But, again, I won't go too far into detail about it.

And here we come to face the original Call To Adventure. The early spring (yes, spring, not late winter like in the episode) in which he almost fell into the frozen sea. This is the one scene I wanted to talk about greatly, since it is the perfect microcosm of the difference between 90s Moomin and Book Moomin.

Moominpappa talks about this visit as a mere, vague whim. It was the first time he saw such a bright and full reflection of himself. Before, he had only looked at himself in the hall mirror back in the Foundling Home, and he'd look into his own eyes and wail sad phrases describing his misery until he felt better, but now… now there's a whole new light to see himself in, and he sees himself as a creature to compliment.

Here's the major difference between the source material and adaptation;

You may recall that in the episode his only complaint were his legs and he hopes to himself optimistically that they'd grow longer if he worked towards it. In the book, on the other hand…

“The paws were really my only disappointment: they had a look of helplessness and childishness that bewildered me.

"However," I thought, "perhaps it will pass with time. Doubtless my strength is in my head. Whatever I do, I will never bore people. I'll never give them time to look as far down as my paws." ”

He was offended by the mark of helplessness and indignity, just like in the prologue. He thinks about compensating, to make himself so grand and exciting that people won't have the time to notice his faults.

He won't give them the time. Not that they wouldn't dare, not that they'd never notice and not even that they'd ignore those faults, he'd be the one with agency to strip them of that possibility. And I believe that's very telling.

He lays down to get a better look at himself and sees not his reflection but the deep, dark vastness of the sea. He was initially giddy but soon falls into terror as he contemplates the depth of the waters he's sitting over until he feels upset. He stands back up and stomps on the ice to see if it would hold, he goes further out and stomps on the ice again, it breaks.

One of the major compromises of the adaptation that does an injustice to the book is that we don't get to take a proper look at his thought process. What was a brief and imaginative introspection in his supposed final moments (that really ought to cause some alarm about his priorities) that ends anticlimactically turns into an action scene.

“Perhaps one of the threatening shadows would devour me! It was not impossible that he would take one of my ears along to his children and tell them, "Now, eat up before it goes cold! This is genuine Moomin and not to be had every day!" Or I would float ashore with a tragical clump of seaweed behind one ear, and the Hemulen would weep regretfully and tell everyone she knew, "Oh, he was such a singular Moomin! What a pity I didn't understand it in time . . ."

I was just starting on my funeral when I felt something very cautiously nipping my tail.”

Moominpappa calls these thoughts "enticing dreams", which- erm, okay sir (the full implications of this is another pin I'll address in a future post). But anyway this establishes very clearly what Moomin's first thoughts will be when faced with certain situations, and that is the prospect of being given attention and acknowledgement, to be considered special and worth people's time. That even in the face of potential death he finds some way for his death to Mean Something for him and those who stumble upon him.

He also wants his Principal to be Wrong about him and realise that, and this will come into play in chapter 3.

The adaptation really fails to establish his priorities and desires, it even contradicts them outright later in the episode, but we'll get to that.

After crawling back on shore Moomin comes to the epiphany of wanting to experience the real world and taking his fate into his own paws, he can't possibly stay in the same living situation after such a matter.

He was cold all day after the incident but nobody asked why, which cemented his decision as nobody seemed to care about his well being in the slightest. He tore his bed sheets to use as a rope and his peers looked on without a word, which hurt his feelings, and finally in the evening he wrote his farewell letter and made his escape.

The escape itself had a lot of emphasis on how terrified he was, the bushes and stones turned into formless monsters because of his terror and imagination but it wasn't quite as sensational or emphasised as the episode portrays it. Moominpappa just describes how… scared and in need of comfort he felt, that even the Principal would've given him some comfort, but he just couldn't retreat after such an imposing letter announcing his leave.

Then we get our first intermission with Moominpappa in the process of writing these events, I will say that I won't be describing these mid-chapter intermissions in this essay unless they mention anything particularly important to the plot as they aren't necessary for this analysis.

And then sunrise came and it was the most glorious relief, it was his own private morning, he claims. And he tore the tail tag that marked him as number 13 and celebrated.

… Ah right I forgot to mention it was a tail tag and not a number written in black marker on his back, which is just… an extremely silly creative decision which strips away the symbolic victory he had in his escape, it didn't even stay on his back consistently even before the escape. It would've been really neat symbolism if he washed it off himself in the river the morning after his escape, a sort of renewal and cleansing of himself rather than the break from chains, but I suppose that's just plain missed opportunity. It's also a bit odd to not have him celebrate the escape, like, at all? Why is there no catharsis and victory after this big plot point?

After this, he celebrates, eats the pumpkin mash he took from the orphanage, celebrates some more until the sun set, then when he gets tired and ready to go sleep he decides that becoming a famous adventurer (yet another pin of discussion about Moominpappa's egotism) is what he'll do with his life and goes to sleep.

After waking up and admiring the great green world he finds himself in, Moomin comes across a Hedgehog lady (supposedly originally a Gaffsie as the preface implies?) who is cleaning a bowl made out of a walnut shell. The Hedgehog actually does a cameo in the episode but I understand why her character was removed from the story. Their conversation about who owns the forest and what Hemulens are isn't particularly important aside from establishing Moomin's naivety and lack of experience both with the world and interactions with other people, and that perhaps it wasn't only the Foundling Home who finds Moomin a bit of an unpleasant child to have to interact with.

(Side note: I say child but it's difficult to gauge how old he is, I'm assuming he's a teenager at this point because he distinguishes between "childhood" and "youth" and had to actively escape the foundling home, whereas such institutes tend to let their children go on their 18th birthday)

Continuing this removed section of the chapter is Moomin's imaginary house-building and showing it to the Hedgehog. This is an instance of Moominpappa's extended tangents throughout the book, here he goes into very, very vivid detail about drawing a Moominhouse (as he calls it) in the dirt and he's so proud of "building one" that he goes to show it off to the one person he's met this far only to realise he didn't actually build it, he receives a very cold and disgruntled reaction from the Hedgehog and they both walk away, she to her dishes and he to the brook. Then he goes on yet another tangent trying to reason that actually, building the house would've been a bad decision for Many Reasons, therefore he walks away from the interaction with his dignity intact.

I personally really enjoyed this section with the Hedgehog because it establishes how inexperienced Moomin is and just how stunted in his social capabilities it has made him. It gives us a lot of characterization and that Moominpappa is Totally Normal about houses, just… super, normal about them, guys. It sets a clear precedent on how his interactions with regular people would go, and clearly demonstrates how his childhood friendship has affected him. However I'm not quite so angry about the removal of it in the adaptation, as it doesn't really progress the plot or give us pertinent information that is essential to understanding the setting or characters, the Hedgehog doesn't even make a comeback for the rest of the book, her character is very much confined to this specific scene and doesn't quite elevate the story by that much besides the characterization and rather humorous scene it helps to provide. Very ironically, Moominpappa calls this sequence the first "real Event" in his life and "of the greatest importance" to his development. (I swear I love the way he talks about this so much in the narration.)

And here comes the real important first event of his life; his discovery of the water-wheel and first meeting with Hodgkins.

The way this interaction goes is a bit different than in the episode, Moomin only inspects and doesn't talk aloud about the water-wheel and Hodgkins' voice explaining what it and its purpose is comes out of blueberry bushes until he reveals himself. (the experiment was for counting the revolutions rather than the episode's explanation of it being him figuring out the propeller[?? Why change it to that??])

Moomin looks up at him and asks to whom he has the honour of speaking to, the stranger replies with a very brief "Hodgkins. And who are you?", Moomin then proceeds to introduce himself as a Moomin and a refugee born under special stars and Hodgkins asks "What stars?".

Moomin becomes very eager to answer this "first intelligent question put to him" (excuse to talk about himself at length) and proceeds to sit beside Hodgkins and backstory dump with some obvious embellishments and more importantly without interruption. Moomin loves that Hodgkins is clearly invested and after graciously finishing his backstory Hodgkins could only sit there in thoughts and say;

"Strange. Rather strange."

Moomin agrees, Hodgkins then makes a comment about Hemulens being unpleasant and gives Moomin half a ham sandwich. The two of them sit together until sunset, Moominpappa talks about the way Hodgkins talks, then goes on a tangent about how to make a water-wheel before finally describing how the two of them slept in Moomin's imaginary house built on the meadow, finally ending the chapter with this:

“The only thing of importance was that I had found my first friend and consequently begun my life in earnest.”

…

(*Clears throat to perform an impression of a voice over for an animal documentary*) And here we observe the lost, orphan Moomin imprinting on the first creature to show him patience and decency. How disastrous it'll be for his mental health and future interpersonal interactions, we'll just have to wait and see.

Okay but in all seriousness this interaction is very much the most important post-foundling home event as it changes the whole course of his life and maybe possibly his entire brain wiring. Hodgkins here is the first person to let Moomin talk about himself and offer kindness and patience with him. Hodgkins is the first person Moominpappa mentions in his special thanks for the preface, Hodgkins is the only person he'll show any semblance of sympathy towards, the only person that could convince him to take responsibility for anything, Hodgkins' absence is what causes Moomin to spiral into a depression, Hodgkins is the only person besides any kingly figure that he admires and is the golden standard everyone fails to live up to.

Hodgkins is IMPORTANT. He is the most important and awesome figure in Moomin's life until he meets Moominmamma at the very end. Hodgkins is by no means written as flawless (probably because Tove didn't want to get too into the exaggerations Moominpappa would've actually made and it wouldn't be as interesting or entertaining) but I cannot overstate just how much he means to Moominpappa.

This is Moomin finally Meeting The Mentor before he Crosses The Threshold in his Hero's Journey, and that Mentor will be the cause of his Abyss/Death & Rebirth. Hodgkins is the creator of the literal vehicle on which the middle part of the story takes place in, the creator of the other vehicle the first climax of the story takes place in, and he, quite possibly, has the most agency in the story, either as much or more so than Moomin depending on how you look at it.

You can remove the other characters but Hodgkins is the only character besides Moominpappa, Moominmamma and the Principal that you cannot remove in an essential retelling of the story (which is why the stage play in the Golden Tail episode of Moominvalley 2019 bothered me immensely but I digress.)

The way the adaptation portrays this relationship as a casual acquaintance to sort of friendship with no emotional or interpersonal ramifications for Moomin's character is an insult to the very foundation of the book's emotional story-telling, but then again, as I've mentioned in the beginning and demonstrated in this whole analysis of the chapter: the adaptation does not concern itself with the emotional narrative. Just the barebones plot.

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 is where we meet our companion characters, the Muddler and the Joxter, meet our antagonistic Chekhov's Gun, Edward the Booble, and finally Cross our Threshold.

This section won't be as in depth as chapter 1 because its focus is mostly on other characters rather than Moominpappa's feelings or establishing themes and it's not their turn to be the subject of my derangement because, as Moomintroll stresses in the intermission for chapter 3, this is Moominpappa's story (although they might have their turn in the future), and also the episode pretty much reconfigures the entire chapter to be as simple as possible for the sake of time so there isn't much to compare the book's version of events to.

What the chapter aims to do is establish the dynamics between the characters, do a little bit of act 1 setup and get the plot really going. Some may not notice this at first, but Moomin is very much not a part of any of these dynamics besides a continuation of the one he has with Hodgkins. In fact, one could argue that his lack of dynamic with the other characters right from the introductions is a dynamic in itself, as it highlights Moomin's pattern of not giving or receiving substantial acknowledgment by or for everyone but Hodgkins. However, this isn't to diminish these new introductions and dynamic establishments, as it contributes to highlighting Moomin's Issue as well as giving us characters that would be much needed to progress the plot, expand on the themes and give us new avenues to be entertained.

How the adaptation fails at this is due to both time constraints and a disinterest in the emotional and interpersonal narrative of the book, focusing instead on the action and adventure elements.

The chapter starts with Moomin waking up to Hodgkins using a fishing net on the brook. Moomin asks if there's any fish in that brook and Hodgkins, in very brief, disjointed terms, explains that there aren't any fish in the brook, but since the net is a birthday gift from his nephew, he couldn't let it go to waste lest he feels sad at its uselessness. Moominpappa then gives us a second-hand explanation on who Hodgkins' nephew is: he is a chap by the name of the Muddler who had his parents disappear during spring cleaning, lives in an old blue coffee tin and is a collector who is particularly fond of buttons. Moominpappa then explains that Hodgkins' speech pattern does not allow for even this brief of an explanation to be given at once, though he fails to mention the singular exception to this which we'll find out very soon.

After all this Hodgkins wiggles one of his ears at…

Okay let me digress a bit because I didn't know where else to put it, but Moominpappa's Memoirs places a lot of strange emphasis on ears and I can't for the life of me figure out how much importance to give this and whether or not this is some thematic symbolism, or even what it could mean thematically if it were the case. The first thing Moomin compliments about himself in the frozen sea scene is his ears, the morbid near-death imagination puts emphasis on his ears in both scenarios, Moomin does a lot of ear things, Hodgkins' defining physical trait is his ears to the point where we are quite literally introduced to him via his ears and they are one of his main modes of expression/communication, Muddler flapped his ears in his helplessness and Edward was concerned about children crawling up his ear and Snufkin covered his ears in shame and Moominpappa covers his ears with his hat, and he wiggles his ears in satisfaction at the end. There's just so much… ear stuff, so much more than any of the other books, and I have no idea what to make of it.

Now with that digression aside, Hodgkins wiggles one of his ears at Moomin and then goes into the woods, Moomin follows him. And then we arrive at the Muddler's coffee tin, Hodgkins blows a whistle (I swear to you guys that Muddler is actually dog-coded believe me I've had too much time for this thought to sizzle) and Muddler pops out of the tin bright as day and energetic as a kid on Christmas. Muddler talks very erratically without much room for reply but is stopped by Hodgkins who replies to 2 of his sentences; nevermind tidying the tin, and this new person is a Moomin (but with bare minimum words, of course). Muddler welcomes Moomin and retrieves a box of miscellaneous items tied with string.

Hodgkins asks Muddler if he can paint, Muddler confirms and then proceeds to ask what kind of paint job he needs and if it has to do with the surprise Hodgkins has apparently been keeping from him until this day. Hodgkins says it's a secret which causes Muddler to get over-excited and break his box's string which spills all the (somewhat strange and alarming selection of) items, Hodgkins calmly helps him pick it all up and re-ties it with a rope from his own pocket, all the while Muddler explains that he lost a splendid piece of string and needlessly apologises. The three of them walk on until they arrive at a hazel thicket, Hodgkins gives the two of them a serious look and Muddler asks if the surprise is behind the thicket, Hodgkins nods and they crawl through the bushes.

What I really like about this sequence is that it characterises Hodgkins and Muddler very thoroughly and establishes that they already have much of a close history far before Moomin entered the picture. Hodgkins is generally a very good dude who is gentle about his nephew's feelings and Muddler is a very eccentric and excitable but polite person, the two of them seem to have a very close relationship with one another and we don't even have much backstory besides Muddler's orphanhood and independent living condition.

Strangely enough Moominpappa doesn't take an aside to express his thoughts on Muddler and the most Muddler ever says to him is "Hello! Welcome! Certainly!". These two are devoid of interaction and it almost definitely feels deliberate on the author's part, especially compared to Muddler and Hodgkins.

Our trio crawl out of the bushes into a clearing and it turns out the surprise is a boat, nay, a ship. Moominpappa describes the ship as so:

“It was squat and strong, like Hodgkins himself; it looked just as secure and trustworthy. I knew nothing about ships, but I experienced at once a strong feeling of the concept of a ship, so to speak.”

(Really helpful at visualising the ship, Pappa, I almost can't tell how much you take a liking to Hodgkins himself)

He then describes how excited he got about it but then he imagines Hodgkins' process for building this boat, how he must've come here every morning to work on the ship on his own every morning for who knows how long and not have anybody know about it, which made him feel sad. Moomin asks what the ship's name is and Hodgkins proceeds to call it the Ocean Orchestra, named after his long-lost brother's poetry anthology and he says that the name should be painted in ultramarine blue.

… I really really dislike how they changed this in the adaptation by making it Hodgkins' own original name because it really takes out the sentimentality of the name. It's such a simple change too, he could've just said "Her name's the Ocean Orchestra, named after the book my poet brother wrote" in the adaptation but it didn't and it frustrates me because it takes out so much of Hodgkins' character in one fell swoop and makes him seem a bit pretentious especially given how he treats Joxter and Muddler within the episode.

That aside, Muddler gets immediately excited and basically asks if he can paint the ship in red, Hodgkins nods and tells him to be careful with the waterline. After Muddler leaves for his tin Moomin tells Hodgkins that he's quite the carpenter, to which Hodgkins replies with an unprompted ramble about the construction of the ship which Moominpappa (disappointingly) doesn't relay to us at all. Hodgkins even takes out a pen and paper to describe the paddle wheels, Moomin wasn't quite able to understand any of it besides Hodgkins seeming troubled about the paddle-wheel, and Moominpappa admits he couldn't be of much help as his talents do not extend to the field of engineering.

This is the exception to Hodgkins' speech pattern that I mentioned earlier.

You must understand that Hodgkins is very, very, very fixated on engineering, like he gets so excited about it, I can't stress it enough.

Anyway, Moomin's attention gets drawn to the little house in the middle of the boat and asks Hodgkins if he lives in that little thing he describes as a "Moomin sunmer-house", Hodgkins corrects him by calling it the pilot-house in a disapproving tone (please, he's even fastidious about his creations, it's great). Moominpappa starts critiquing the boat's aesthetic (he's very normal about house-building, remember) and Moomin enters the pilot-house to see someone sleeping on the floor with a hat covering his face.

Moomin asks Hodgkins if it's someone he knows, "The Joxter," says Hodgkins after checking the interior. Moominpappa proceeds to describe the Joxter in a way that can be summed up as: "doesn't take care of himself". Muddler announces breakfast, Joxter wakes up and stretches and Muddler proceeds to scold Joxter a bit about not following the No Admittance sign on the door, Joxter concedes that the sign is exactly why he came inside.

We are then treated to a description of the Joxter's behaviour, which boils down to him being a very anti-authoritarian punk but otherwise pretty much your average overfed housecat. Afterwards, our now 4 main characters head to Muddler's tin to eat cold tin lids of omelette served on a checkerboard.

Now… the Joxter is pretty weird as a character within the narrative. He doesn't accomplish much in the ways of contributing to the larger plot besides knocking the idea of fixing the Ghost problem into Moomin's head way later which could have easily been done by someone else, he is a very useless character narratively and mostly serves to add to the book's humour and dialog. What the Joxter contributes to the theme and emotional arc, however, is being an ideological opposite to Moomin. Where Moomin is an ambitious monarchist with a goal in life, Joxter is a lazy anarchist who only lives for life's sake, and that serves as an interesting foil to highlight Moomin's character despite the lack of interactions they have otherwise. Another weird thing about Joxter is despite his unimportance to the plot, he is much more discussed in Moominpappa's narration of the story than Muddler, usually to muse about his own philosophy and need to be a part of great opportunities as opposed to Joxter's laid back attitude towards the majority of matters.

What we learn about Joxter's relationships to the other two in this scene is that Hodgkins doesn't seem to particularly mind Joxter's presence and Muddler doesn't approve of his rule-breaking, further characterising Hodgkins as still a pretty patient cool dude and Muddler as a goody-two-shoes.

The crew eat their breakfast and Hodgkins, after a while of silent chewing, notifies Muddler that there's something hard in his mouth, to this, Muddler freaks out and tells him to spit it out. Hodgkins spits out a few cogwheels and Muddler apologises for the mishap, Hodgkins simply frowns and stares at his dish and Muddler proceeds to cry.

Interestingly, the Joxter is quick to plead for forgiveness on Muddler's behalf. Hodgkins says there's no need and draws up an inspired diagram on how Muddler's cogwheels would fix his aforementioned propeller and paddle-wheel issue (Moominpappa even redraws this for the audience for some reason which brings up the question if every other illustration is also Moominpappa's artistry in-universe but it's not important) and after they finished the meal Muddler gets so inspired by the fact he somewhat helped Hodgkins with something that he starts painting the ship with all his might. Once he was done, he painted a lot of things other than the boat red as collateral, including himself (though he didn't forget to paint the name in ultramarine, of course).

Hodgkins inspects the paint job, which unfortunately did not heed his previous warning about the waterline and the name was misspelt as "the Oshun Oxtra", Muddler eagerly awaits his assessment and begs him to say something about it, Hodgkins takes a moment to think and says "Take it easy, it'll do". Muddler is relieved at this positive-adjacent review and goes to paint his own tin with the leftover paint.

In the evening Hodgkins fishes out a binnacle and aneroid barometer out of the brook using his birthday net and Moominpappa comments on how strange of a find it was before we get to our second intermission with Moominpappa and his beta audience.

The characterization of Hodgkins and Muddler's relationship here is really astounding, here we can understand that Hodgkins seems to care deeply about Muddler's feelings and stops himself from saying anything hurtful towards his nephew. Hodgkins here is characterised as very tender-hearted and prefers to spare others' (or at least his nephew's) feelings when he can and is incredibly patient, which is compatible with Muddler's extremely polite and emotionally intense nature as he's prone to crying when he thinks he's slighted Hodgkins in some way. This stands in stark contrast to Moomin's relationship with his Principal, as she was depicted as very critical and impatient with Moomin while Moomin is seemingly unempathetic about making her upset and continued with his irritating behaviour in spite of it.

Hodgkins' patience and consideration is exactly what made Moomin gravitate towards him in the first place, and I find it very ironic that the adaptation has Hodgkins assuming that Muddler flaked out of painting the boat and the first thing we see him tell Muddler is introducing Moomin and then to hurry up with painting because of the new kid he met and invited to this important launching ceremony a mere minute ago.

After the intermission Moominpappa describes his first bit of wood carving and his creation of a scaled onion-shaped ornament that would adorn the roof of the pilot-house; he was proud of it, but Hodgkins had other concerns at the time. Hodgkins is unusually talkative as he is extremely worried about the boat being stuck and unable to be launched, Joxter sees this, gets a bit didactic about the unending cycle of work and recounts a story of his cousin who studied trigonometry and got eaten by the Groke. Moominpappa describes that he's quite reminiscent of Snufkin and how he never cared to worry about worthy matters, he also backhandedly says that the only thing Joxter would be remembered by is his inclusion in Moominpappa's memoirs (we get quite a few of these odd insults at Joxter and Muddler from Pappa's narration, unfortunately).

Joxter asks when they'll start launching, Moomin asks if he's coming along, Joxter answers "of course" in an astonished tone. Muddler comes in saying he's been asking the same thing as he can't live in his tin anymore and continues to explain that the red paint he used on the tin never dried and thus got into everything including his food and bed, which is driving him insane. Hodgkins tells Muddler to go and pack and Muddler rushes off while musing about the future, and we get this rather blunt line from Moominpappa's narration:

“In my opinion, our crew wasn't too reliable.”

After some attempts to get the boat unstuck with no success, Hodgkins sat down and buried his face in his paws to ponder a solution. Moomin thinks Hodgkins is grieving and (this is literally the only instance of Moomin doing this in the book) tries to comfort him, Hodgkins corrects him and starts thinking out loud, coming to the conclusion that, rather than bring the boat to the water, he needs to bring the water TO the boat; he needs Edward the Booble to sit in the river and raise the water levels.

Moomin asks if this Edward creature's butt is really that big, Hodgkins says it's bigger, then he asks if Moomin has a calendar. Hodgkins didn't really need it as he seemingly memorised Edward's schedule and finds that his bathing day is today, perfect. He tells Moomin to follow him. Moomin asks if Boobles are savages and Hodgkins explains that they are but they don't step on people on purpose, they cry about it for a week and even pay for the funeral. Moomin mumbles about how that stuff isn't really helpful once you're stepped on, feeling a bit brave, and they arrive at Edward's leg which Moomin mistakes for a tower. Hodgkins, after correcting Moomin, tells him to keep quiet and proceeds to shout at Edward asking where he plans to bathe that day.

Edward answers (oh yeah Edward actually talks in the book, I'll get to that) that he'll bathe in the sea like always, and calls Hodgkins a sand-flea (Edward insults the other characters by calling them small things very often). Hodgkins tells him to try the river as it has a sandy bottom, Edward calls out his bullcrap but Hodgkins insists, Edward grumbles and relents but threatens to not pay for their funeral if this is a trick, as Edward has very sensitive feet and behind. Hodgkins whispers at Moomin to run and they rush back to the boat as Edward sits down and roars in pain. They make it to the boat and it was flooded in foam, but then it finally floated and Hodgkins lead the way through the woods and over the sandbanks using the boat's wheels; the launching of the Oshun Oxtra was a success! Except for one small thing…

A red tin floated over the river, which reminded everyone that OH CRAP THEY FORGOT THE MUDDLER! And the Muddler was in danger of almost strangling himself in his scarf as he flapped about helplessly, covered in red paint. Moomin and Joxter hoist the tin up on deck, Hodgkins asks his nephew how he feels and Muddler basically tells Hodgkins how everything's become a mess, even his mind, though Muddler then proceeds to happily reorganise his buttons. The boat continues paddling down the river and Moomin sits beside Hodgkins and asks if he thinks Edward is angry with them, and the chapter ends with one of his usual short answers:

“"Very," replied Hodgkins.”

I said in the beginning of this section that Edward is a Chekhov's Gun, and by that I mean that he's established in "act 1" of the book and will then be used to resolve an issue in "act 3", albeit not intentionally by the characters. Here we have the set up, and it very clearly illustrates just how massive Edward is which will come into play, we get the reminder which we'll get to in the part 2 analysis, and then we finally get the payoff in part 3.

What I will say about the reminder is that the adaptation fails to give it to us because it decided that Edward's personality is completely unneeded for the story, so his sense of vengeance which lead up to the reminder step is left out and it makes the (anti)climax in part 3 feel out of left-field. Edward in the book is not only a plot device but also the angry comic relief, he is his own character who has a history with Hodgkins (at least) and clearly a less than good one at that. Edward's personality is what drove Edward's actions and role in the story later on and that makes him an interesting character, but then again, the adaptation doesn't care for that.

He is the first character we see Hodgkins being unkind to in this book, using him as a means to an end and disregarding the consequences that come from it. What's different with Edward for Hodgkins to do this to him? To be so uncaring about his sensitive bottom? Well, Edward is the solution to his boat problem.

Hodgkins will go to any length for his precious inanimate daughter to the point of looking past other people if it means fixing a problem or focusing on his creation, you think I'm exaggerating but this is actually another set up which leads to a big point in the plot. Hodgkins is a good, kind fellow but he is still humanly selfish and fixated engineering, in fact this is hinted at in the way he treated Moomin when the boat is in conversation, correcting Moomin about the pilot-house in a disapproving tone and cutting him off when brainstorming a way to fix the boat being stuck, or even forgetting that his nephew wasn't on the boat.

THIS. WILL BE. IMPORTANT. FOR LATER.

This is also an important turning point in Muddler's character as we don't see him being as hyperactive and excitable as he is in this chapter for the rest of the book, him describing himself as going crazy from the red paint probably has something to do with it. Although he doesn't go actually insane, or at the very least doesn't act like it, it's still noteworthy how his overexcited demeanour shifts into something a little more reserved later on, especially considering how Moominpappa describes Muddler as having his fur tainted pink for the rest of the time he knew him. Or it could just be that he's going to be stuck in an unfamiliar environment for the rest of the story.

It's a miracle he hasn't died from lead poisoning due to the red paint, though.

CHAPTER 3 (⅓)

Chapter 3 is where we finally get our Road of Trials after Crossing the Threshold. There's no turning back to the familiar world for Moomin and there will be many problems that will await him down the river. In this chapter our crew will be meeting with allies and enemies who will be the dominoes that lead them to their… admittedly unplanned destination. However for this part of the analysis we'll just be meeting with our first nuisance; not the Principal, but her aunt. Let me explain:

Moominpappa starts the chapter describing how the boat continued along the river and generally describing the situation with everyone, mainly that he and Hodgkins were the only responsible members of the crew while Joxter and Muddler minded their own businesses. They left the tin on the deck and they never succeeded in cleaning Muddler of the red paint. Moomin would spend most of his time sitting in the pilot house, checking the barometer and thinking to himself. Namely, Moominpappa describes, he most enjoyed thinking about how impressed the Principal would be with him:

“I especially liked to think about the Hemulen. How impressed she would have been to see me an adventurous part-owner of a river-boat. As a matter of fact, it would have served her right!”

(This is what we call foreshadowing, my friends [you are my friend if you've made it this far in the essay, no takesies backsies])

One evening, they come by a bay, which gives Joxter a foreboding feeling that Hodgkins heeds as warning right away, ordering Muddler to let go of the anchor. Muddler, in his excitement, throws their kettle of Irish stew instead of the anchor by accident, Muddler apologises and hopes to make up for it by finding some jelly, after which Moominpappa makes an unnecessary jab at his whole species saying that mistakes like this are common with them.

Joxter stands over the railing on look-out, Moomin asks him about the foreboding and Joxter tells him to hush because he hears something. Moomin himself doesn't hear anything and promptly dismisses him, and tells him to come inside. Muddler announces that he's found the jelly but right then all of them hear the sound of wailing, which scares Muddler into dropping his food. Joxter identifies it as the Groke's hunting song.

Moomin asks if the Groke can swim and Hodgkins says that nobody knows, and then Moominpappa describes the thoughts that came from her sound.

The crew notice someone running around on the bank of the river bay, and Hodgkins glumly assumes that person will get eaten alive by the Groke. Moomin heroically declares that he'll save them (Moomin/pappa uses "gender-neutral he" here but I'll just use they/them), to which Hodgkins says he won't have the time, but Moomin's already on the rail having made his decision.

“"An unknown adventurer doesn't ask for wreaths on his grave. But I'd appreciate a granite monument with two weeping Hemulens!"”

Moomin dives into the river, bonks his head on the kettle Muddler dropped and scoops out the stew continuing to swim towards the soon-to-be victim.

“"Courage!" I cried. "The Moomins are coming! There's something rotten in a country that allows its Grokes to eat anybody they like!"”

(The Groke is a metaphor for the police? /joke)

The Groke's singing ceased and now Moomin can only hear the panting of the mystery person. Moomin yells at them to hop into the kettle and they do, making the kettle sink down to its handles from their weight. Moomin swims back with the person while the Groke howled disappointedly (Moominpappa describes this in a very long and self-congratulatory way). They get the person on deck and Hodgkins lights a lamp to see who it is.

I think it was a clever creative decision in how the way they changed Muddler's rescue in the adaptation ties into how they changed this scene, by making the tin tied to the boat via rope and thus making it readily available for Moomin to use as a container to save this person. I dunno, I think it's one of the few decisions I actually agreed with in this adaptation.

This, Moominpappa describes, is one of the worst moments of his youth, as he had saved his Principal. Out of instinct and fright he raises his tail at 45°, but then he snaps out of it and acts all nonchalant and cocky, saying he'd never believe it. The Hemulen asks "Believe what?", Moomin answers that he'd rescued her- he means that he'd saved her life- he means… Did she get his farewell letter?

The Principal seems strangely confused, she says she'd never seen him before and got no such letter and speculates that he must've forgotten to do the proper procedures for sending mail, but then graciously compliments him on his swimming.

Joxter asks if Moomin and the Principal knew each other and as it turns out… uhm... She's actually the Principal's aunt. The Hemulen Aunt, Moominpappa calls her. Quite embarrassing.

She then asks Hodgkins to bring a rag for her to clean the floor for them, Hodgkins gives her Joxter's pyjamas in a rush. As she's cleaning, she explains that she's mad and tidying up is the one thing that helps her with that feeling. A silence falls as the crew watch her, Joxter finally exasperatedly mumbles about his aforementioned foreboding, then the Hemulen Aunt snaps at him and tells him how bad it is for someone as small as him to smoke, and that the crew are lucky that she's on board now and they're going to keep things in order. Hodgkins excuses himself and locks himself in the pilot-house.

Moominpappa describes how the barometer fell 40 notches from fright and didn't rise back up until the incident with the niblings. We are then treated to an intermission with Moominpappa and his audience.

And that's where we're going to end the description of the book for this post.

Now, the way the episode adapted this irks me.

In the book, the Principal and the Foundling Home is one of the few things we don't get any closure on, and likely intentionally so. One of the first things Moomin really wanted to get out of this is to prove his previous guardian wrong, or at least how she should've seen his supposed specialness in a good light, to realise even if too late that he was singular and good and worthy of praise. Here he almost seems afraid of what he thought was her, he toned down his righteousness just to basically ask if she came for him, only to be embarrassed (although he doesn't describe his embarrassment here). He instinctively fixed his posture for her and even in trying to seem nonchalant he LOWERED himself for her, he wanted to know if, at minimum, she was worried and came looking for him. But it's not her, it's her aunt. A person he's never met before and already presented herself a roadblock to the personal freedom he and the crew were supposed to have on this boat.

His old life never gets closure, he never finds out what his principal felt or what she did when she found the letter. That prospect of closure gets shot down by this new character and we are to never hear of it again.

This isn't to say I'm opposed to the idea of the person he rescued actually being the Principal herself, I find it a really interesting venture, actually. Can you imagine if we've had Moomin's ego and desires established in the episode and the dire devastation she'd bring upon him by not realising her wrongness but instead chastising him for taking his life into his own hands (as he sees it)? The bitterness and grief and probably depression/guilt he'd feel from this? It would've been such a great avenue for his character to be explored in this nightmare scenario and the adaptation just throws it away by making him just… disinterested in her and saying that he wouldn't have saved her if he knew. It's such a blow to his potential to be an interesting character.

We don't get any ounce of her being her own person like we do with the Hemulen Aunt, either. The Hemulen Aunt in her introduction already seems bossy and talks to people derogatorily but she isn't above complimenting Moomin or actively trying to stay calm in the face of her humiliating circumstances because she's polite and trying to make the most of the situation, she sees this group of irresponsible men and she wants to help them, even if her demeanour seems rash. In the adaptation the Principal had supposedly gone to search for Moomin but she doesn't show an ounce of relief or personal concern for his safety with these strangers, there is no dimension to her, there is no shred of politeness or decency or trait that doesn't pertain to being annoyed at Moomin for everything he does here. This is the most mean-spirited the show has ever gotten and it comes from not only how the Principal acts but how the other characters treat her as well. There's such a lack of sympathy from both ends.

Final Thoughts

Moominpappa's Memoirs is a character-driven story yet the adaptation fails to frame it as such. Where the book gave us an emphasis on characterization and feelings for this part of the story, the episode takes its time with the overextended action scenes and unnecessary interruption near the end. Moomin isn't given a drive or personality in the adaptation aside from a back-seat desire for adventure that came out of a near-death experience, Moominpappa's narration is underutilised and isn't given its characteristic pzazz, Hodgkins is too talkative but somehow much more vague of a character than in the book (and what little we can understand of him is entirely inaccurate to the book), and Muddler, Joxter, and Edward the Booble fall by the wayside because of the writing's priorities.

As someone who is deeply passionate for the book (if you can't tell already), it's really upsetting to see such a fun story with dramatic elements be so poorly representative of its characters and lacking in thematic writing or exploration.

With all that said, I thank you for reading this egregiously long essay and hope to write the next 2 parts a little more quickly now that I've set up the foundations of this book. I also hope you find this a useful essay for both writing and your understanding of the characters, the Oshun Oxtra has been a painfully misrepresented group of characters for the whole fandom and there just isn't a lot of in-depth analysis of the book that fully captures the entirety of what it depicts in these characters. I'll see you next time.

- Yours truly.

#moominvalley #moomin #moomins #lightbulb moment #moominpappa #moominmamma #moomintroll #muddler #hodgkins #joxter #moomin muddler #moomin hodgkins #moomin joxter #the muddler #the joxter #edward the booble #snufkin #moomin sniff #moominpappa's memoirs #adventures of moominpappa #moomin analysis #sorry this was a day later than I promised 😔😔😔 BUT ATLEAST I DID IT. DEAR GROKE I DID IT!!!!!! #PLEASE READ I BEG OF YOU IDC IF YOU PUT THIS THROUGH A TEXT TO SPEECH TO LISTEN TO IN THE BACKGROUND JUST GIVE ME VALIDATION #I DIDN'T PUT MY WHOLE LIFE INTO THIS JUST TO GET IGNORED I AM HOLDING YOU BY THE SHIRT RIGHT NOW #(for legal reasons this is an exaggeration and a purely comedic expression of myself) #also I couldn't be bothered to put pictures or accentuate the text with bold and italics in this one so I'm sorry if it looks boring

[dangerously-human]

I just want you to know that I don’t know what farscape is about and at this point I’m too afraid to ask

Farscape is, aside from the current love of my life in every way, a practically indescribable Australian-American sci-fi show from the turn of the millennium that ran for four seasons and a miniseries of "am I on LSD or did that actually just happen" delight, interspersed with some of the best character (and relationship) development ever to grace television.

It starts with an American astronaut, John Crichton, getting yeeted across the universe in a scientific experiment gone wrong, and landing on a ship full of escaped prisoners, some of whom are Muppets. It is at this point that the thus-far-uncommitted viewer starts to ask themselves if this is really what they planned to get themselves into. It was not: it is so much better. It also gets much, much more bizarre from there, in the best way. John imprints on all of his new alien allies pretty quickly, especially Aeryn, who was up until John's arrival part of this end of the universe's version of a rent-a-cop/mercenary army. Somewhere in the midst of dodging the law, exploring strange new worlds, accidentally starting some major conflicts and averting others, and generally seeding and feeding chaos wherever he goes (mostly inadvertently), John becomes besties with his new alien pals and falls in love with Aeryn - but none of the relationships in this show are simplistic, and they all have a LOT to figure out together along the way.

A mere handful of the themes Farscape does an outstanding job tackling: home, identity, navigating cultural differences (especially linguistics stuff), revenge vs. justice, mental illness and trauma, family (of all kinds - I'm particularly fascinated by the way a few characters and plotlines relate to parenthood), breaking generational cycles, the price of peace, how far is too far to go in pursuit of a goal... I could write whole essays of meta, and might eventually; I've already hollered about a few so much that I'm halfway there, honestly.

Oh, and it's freaking hilarious as well as emotionally devastating in turns, and all fully earned - no shortcuts here. The acting is phenomenal, and the love for the story being told is so clear from everyone involved. It's definitely a niche sort of show - you have to like truly weird sci-fi, for starters - but I cannot sing its praises highly enough.

#personal #farscape

[krebsyoung64]

Reveal the Bizarre Regarding "Skibidi Toilet" : A Virus-like Animation Phenomenon

In typically the realm of internet entertainment, where peculiar and offbeat content material often reigns supreme, "Skibidi Toilet" has emerged as a shocking viral sensation. Launched in February, this animated YouTube series has captivated visitors with its unconventional narrative, unique characters, and even complete absence associated with dialogue. Inside of this blog submit, we dig into the inquisitive world of "Skibidi Toilet, " exploring it is premise, characters, and typically the secrets behind its social media receive. skibidi toilet In the beginning look, "Skibidi Toilet" could appear to be a hallucinatory dream sequence. The series unfolds in a surreal universe the place an army of toilet-dwelling villains is the best. These kinds of mischievous antagonists, depicted as vocal heads peeking out and about of loo mainstays, have successfully taken control of the particular world. What units this story apart is its stark juxtaposition: typically the eccentric toilet villains face off towards adversaries whose mind include on a regular basis hardware items such as digital cameras, speakers, and televisions. Eccentric Characters Central to the attract of "Skibidi Toilet" are its quirky figures. On one particular aspect, we have the toilet-dwelling villains—enigmatic and oddly charming, they form the guts in the collection. Their weird existence and strange antics cause them to become strangely relatable, despite their outlandish nature. On the other facet of this unusual conflict are the hardware-headed adversaries. These characters, while extra conventionally developed, offer a stark distinction to the toilet villains. Their visible attribute adds depth to be able to the series, making it a visual feast for typically the viewers. A Silent Stage show Perhaps some of the challenging aspects of "Skibidi Toilet" is its determination to forego dialogue completely. Within a channel dominated by conversation and storytelling via speech, this animation collection sees silence as a type of storytelling. The particular absence of talked words forces audiences to rely only on visible signs, facial expressions, and body language to comprehend the unfolding narrative. This inventive choice challenges the traditional boundaries of cartoon, creating an uniquely impressive viewing expertise. The Battle intended for Control Every single episode of "Skibidi Toilet" unfolds like a silent battle involving the bathroom villains in addition to the hardware-headed adversaries. The designers ingeniously weave a story where power alterations forwards and backwards between these types of two peculiar factions. This fixed tug-of-war keeps visitors engaged, excitedly anticipating the subsequent flip of occasions. "Skibidi Toilet" might possess began as a good obscure animated Vimeo series, but its meteoric increase to social mass media stardom is a testomony to the power associated with originality and imagination in the digital age. With its weird premise, remarkable characters, in addition to a story that flies in the face of the necessity for voiced words, it includes carved out a niche within the ever-expanding panorama of on-line leisure.

As the sequence continues to seize the creativeness of viewers throughout the world, "Skibidi Toilet" is a tip that within the huge realm of web content, actually probably the most unconventional ideas can find their particular viewers. It stands as a testament to the never-ending prospects of online creativity, showing that typically, essentially the most unexpected journeys result in the most remarkable locations. .

#Skibidi Toilets

[alyssaonaux]

The Unsung Hero of Ted Lasso

A deep dive into the meaning behind the music.

There are few characters that go unloved in Ted Lasso, if any at all. As we are reintroduced to the faces and stories we’ve come to adore and so deliciously crave, I implore you to pay particular attention to the mightiest of supporting characters, one that drives the show well beyond the quick-witted dialogue on the page. 

“The Lasso Way,” as Hannah Waddingham’s Rebecca not-so-deceptively establishes in the show’s premiere episode, has certainly swept us off our feet. There’s no other way of putting it: “Ted Lasso is a vibe.” Creator and star Jason Sudeikis uttered the words himself whilst speaking to The Guardian during a press run for the streaming series’ second season, and it’s become somewhat of a battle cry for fans. If you ask me, which no one necessarily is yet here we are, nothing more directly and appropriately conveys the true essence of that vibe, than the music that carries the show. 

If you’re tired of cycling through your ‘on repeat’ playlist, or looking to mix things up on your 2am train ride to work like me, look no further than the Ted Lasso soundtrack. While the original score for the show is equally as evocative and emotionally compelling, it is the song selection that truly crafts a narrative of its own. 

Sudeikis has said more than once that decisions for the show are made with intention, and extreme attention to detail. It’d be naive to think those songs were selected without greater meaning. So, here I am, tipping my hat to the music supervision of this beautiful show. 

Music in absolutely any context has an incredibly niche way of infiltrating our defenses, exposing every nerve to the complexities of life. And that is why the song sourcing that goes into curating the soundtrack of Ted Lasso is so impressive. It is robust, resolute. It truly takes you by the hand and guides you through the series. While our favorite characters’ stories still have 12 episodes to resolve, the final words of an episode - the lyrics, those melodies - they are what bring us home each week. 

Those songs that play us out - or end the episode, if you’re not familiar with the term, à la Bill O’Reilly’s infamous on-set meltdown - they provide us relief in ways dialogue just can’t. It’s why there are entire categories at major award ceremonies dedicated to songs written for film and television. Hell, the Emmys only added a category solely for music supervision in the last decade. Better late than never, to say the least, but in classic English vernacular, I’m chuffed to bits by it - because the soundtrack is largely what makes iconic on-screen moments memorable. Those songs make must-see tv, must-listen, too. 

It all leads back to two vital pillars to any successful storytelling: pace and tone.  

Think “Kiss Me” and She’s All That, “Chasing Cars” and Grey’s Anatomy, or literally any John Hughes project - these are the shows and movies that made us, and they are intrinsically intertwined with songs that bring us back to the moment we first got to experience them. They’re inevitably linked in our minds forever.

Certain songs will live alongside the series’ legacy far beyond its impending end. “She’s A Rainbow,” “Strange,” “Somewhere Only We Know,” just to name a few, all contribute to moments that are embedded in the heart and soul of the show. Moments where our beloved characters are faced with the steepest peaks and deepest valleys their fictional lives come to encounter. I’d be remiss not to acknowledge that many of the most captivating scenes of the series are accompanied by songs with uncanny parallels to the character’s storylines.   

The word that comes to mind is catharsis. In scenes loaded with suspense like Ted’s season one panic attack during Rebecca’s commanding karaoke performance of Frozen’s “Let It Go,” we cling to the melody and ride that tension right until it breaks. Then, you delve into the lyrical content and piece together even more context to the scene, like reading between the lines for little messages left to us by the brains behind the show. A well-placed song elevates a scene; it amplifies the emotional intensity of what’s written on the page, and just makes us feel all the feels. And at the end of the day, that’s why we’re all here. We watch so we can feel. So we can experience and emote as a collective whole. A community. 

My anticipation for the third season surrounds greatly around the role music will play in what is likely the final installment of this series. After screening the first four episodes, I can confidently confirm the music supervision hasn’t missed a beat. If anything, the songs chosen feel even more integral to the passionate, visceral sways of emotion already taking over our beloved characters. I’ve already added several of the songs to a private playlist, so as not to spoil anything for the negative six people perusing my Spotify. 

As an avid lover of music and fierce defender of song feeding the soul, I'm enthralled by how Ted Lasso’s melodic arch tucks right alongside the dialogue, editing, cinematography - the whole kit and caboodle. It’s all right there, swirling the sweetest harmony and serving this wonderful, wonderful show. 

Because anyone will tell you, on a ride that's long and labyrinthian, you’ve gotta have somebody good on the aux.

#ted lasso #jason sudeikis #tv show #review

[meatbricks]

I got thinking about what if Bruteforce did his usual bar comedy thing, no mask, just acting like Some-Fucking-Guy; and when he goes back to drink the g/n reader just walks up to him going "So d'you know about CTTV" because holy shit they KNOW that voice and that guy. Reader also being possibly just pretty looking at first glance but having traits of 'Oh they're a bit fucked up actually', stuff from bruised eye bags, self harm scars, chain smoking and what-have-you.

howdy anon!! i liked this idea enough to come out of my disillusionment-induced coma to write a (hopefully) equally neat fic!! not much else to say besides that (apart from the fact that i've been horrifically sick and burnt-out for the past few weeks), so.. well. enjoy!! :D

warning(s): implied self-harm, implied drug use, implied insomnia, mentions of needles & medical subjects, mentions of snuff films, uhhh. awkward fan meet-ups

"Hey... do, uh. D'you know about CTTV?"

It was a simple question, really. Nothing too complex or strange. It'd been asked of him nearly immediately after he returned to his seat from his place onstage, sure, but Bruteforce was used to being swarmed by fans as soon as his act had finished. Even still, he found himself blinking a few times in response, before turning fully around to face the individual who'd asked it of him.

And there you were.

He simply looked at you for a brief moment, bewildered. From a quick once-over glance, he would've never thought you to be a fan of his... less mainstream material. You were good-looking enough, he reckoned. At the very least, you looked well-adjusted enough... although so did he, or else he wouldn't have been up on stage a minute and a half ago. Nonetheless, your question left him confused, especially given the circumstances. Despite such, he still responded.

"Uhh... you mean, CCTV?" Another question; not to answer yours, but to confirm it.

"No," you bluntly replied, "CTTV. It's, uh, an acronym... uh... Crime Time Television."

Now he was certain. He had to hand it to you, he was impressed at your ability to recognize him even without his mask. And the longer he sat and looked at you while the two of you spoke, he started to notice more and more that you were exactly the kind of person he'd expect to be in his audience, both here and on the dark web.

Not that he didn't still think you were attractive. Arguably, he found you more attractive after looking for a little bit longer.

The deep, heavy bags underneath your eyes. The thin scars just barely peeking out from beneath your long sleeves. The faint, yellowish tint of your nails that he recognized as a telltale sign of a chain-smoker. He could've sworn your eyes were slightly red... either you hadn't slept in a good long while, or you were high off your ass.

He remembered that he'd been streaming on the dark web every day for the past week.

Sleep deprivation it was, then.

After hesitating a moment, he spoke again.

"Could you... uh... would you mind... following me? Outside, I mean."

You shrugged. "Why not?"

The two of you made your way out of the building, and into the immediately adjacent alleyway. He examined the area thoroughly, and once he was certain there was no one around to hear the following conversation, he turned back to you.

"You're not gonna believe this," he smiled as he spoke, "but I'm the CTTV guy."

You smiled back.

"I knew it...!"

"I kinda figured," he laughed. "I know a fan when I see one."

He wasn't entirely sure if he was telling the truth or not.

"Well, I, uh... I'm a pretty big fan, actually," you affirmed (admitted?), still wearing an ear-to-ear smile that made itself impossible to hide. "I wasn't expecting to like... ever actually meet you, like, in person... it's... it's a huge honor..."

"Oh, we're in the same boat here," he stated. "Fans of my, uh, more niche work are pretty hard to find around here. Nice to know they exist, though!"

You quietly giggled, shifting back and forth on your feet in a giddy-nervous way. You gazed at him, starstruck, and he gazed back at you, equally as elated to meet someone so like-minded. It was endearing, he mused, that you seemed so excited at this chance meeting.

"Yeah, I'm, uh... I'm the guy who always asks for needle-related stuff in chat... like... remember last time, when you guys watched that one morgue video? With the syringes...? Yeah, I was, uh... the one who requested it... I, uh, really like you guys' commentary about... like... medical stuff... and drugs, and all that nerd stuff... it's... actually pretty fascinating to me... I-I'm actually planning to start my own thing, someday, like what you guys do... like, probably not soon, I'd need to move out of my apartment, but it's something that I've put a lot of thought into and I thought that maybe I could show you some of what I have planned and, uh, maybe get some tips...?"

As you rambled, he stood and listened intently. The mention of the morgue video and requests for needle and drug-related content rung a bell in his mind, and it soon dawned on him that you were, indeed, one of the most frequently-active chat members and one of the most prominent supporters of the project as a whole. As the realization made itself apparent, he found himself mildly surprised that someone who requested such morbid things was such an unassuming presence when away from the keyboard. What really intrigued him, however, were the plans you mentioned. Plans for something similar to his own show. It was no secret to him that what he provided in terms of dark-web content was debatably the first of its kind, and he certainly wouldn't mind seeing more content like it... why not help you out, he figured? You seemed nice enough, and he couldn't deny that he was charmed by your mannerisms. He wasn't usually one to keep in touch with fans beyond responding to their livestream chat messages, but he figured that you were a worthy exception.

"Well, I'll tell you what," he replied as you finished speaking. "I don't really have all night, but what I do have is an instant messaging profile."

"You mean...?" Your eyes widened, seeming to glimmer in the lukewarm iridescence of the streetlamp.

"...Well, yeah, this is basically the equivalent of exchanging phone numbers, but... y'know..." he paused, trying to think of some way to make this seem a bit less awkward. "Either way, I'd like to hear more about those plans you mentioned. I assume there's, uh, a fair amount of medical malpractice involved?"

"You could say that..." you giggled again, watching as he scrawled a username down on a small piece of paper he'd procured from a small notebook in his pocket before handing it to you.

"Here you go," he punctuated the transfer of the small paper, still wearing his million-dollar smile. "I look forward to hearing about what you have in store."

After thanking him, you looked down at the paper and couldn't manage to stifle a laugh.

"Interesting username... what's 'meatbricks' supposed to mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

#this is the answer (ooc) #this is the answer #this is the writing #x reader #🪓 #urbanspook #the painter urbanspook #urbanspook analog horror #i dont know if this is intended to be written as romantic or not but i mean. you sure can read it that way if you'd like #i had a really vivid image in mind of this reader while writing this. can you tell. is it obvious guys #also sorry if this is kinda low quality its pretty late at night right now and im a little bit out of it #but anyways yippeeeeee my first finished fic in a really long time!!!!!!!! yaaaaaayyyyy

[rabbitcruiser]

National Twilight Zone Day

“You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!”

Beloved by children, teenagers and adults alike, the cult classic TV show The Twilight Zone has affected entire generations of people, prompting them to take a closer look at life and various phenomena and take nothing for granted, thanks to its unique combination of science fiction, mystery, and thriller/horror themes. Not to mention how many of today’s well-known actors got their start in it—Burt Reynolds, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, to name but a few. How then could this majorly influential show not have its own holiday?

History of Twilight Zone Day

The Twilight Zone was created by acclaimed television producer Rod Sterling in 1959, with the first episode premiering on October 2nd. At the time of its release, it was vastly different from anything else on TV, and it struggled a bit to carve out a niche for itself at the very beginning. In fact, Sterling himself, though respected and adored by many, was famous for being one of Hollywood’s most controversial characters and was often call the “angry young man” of Hollywood for his numerous clashes with television executives and sponsors over issues such as censorship, racism, and war. However, his show soon gained a large, devoted audience. Terry Turner of the Chicago Daily News gave it a rave review, saying, “…Twilight Zone is about the only show on the air that I actually look forward to seeing. It’s the one series that I will let interfere with other plans”. The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964.

Twilight Zone Day is an annual holiday created to celebrate this thought-provoking television series, where everything was strange and surreal and nothing was ever quite as it seemed to be.

How to celebrate Twilight Zone Day

There are a number of ways to celebrate Twilight Zone Day, and the one you choose may be connected to how well you know this TV series. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who have never seen it! You could watch some episodes from the classic series, perhaps “To Serve Man”, “It’s a Good Life”, or “The Eye of the Beholder”, episodes that are widely considered some of the very best in the enitre series. If you don’t know the series and would like to get a taste of what it was like in a nutshell, you could also watch the 1983 Twilight Zone Movie. If, on the other hand, you know The Twilight Zone very well, you could get together with some other Twilight Zone aficionados and play Twilight board or trivia games. Alternately, you could discuss who you think were the strangest Twilight Zone villains, and what the true reasons were for them being the way they were. And what would a good party be without some tasty drinks? Yes, there are Twilight Zone cocktails! Finally, you can try making Twilight Zone cocktails, by mixing Bacardi White, Dark and 151 Proof Rum, Triple Sec, pineapple and orange juices. Sounds pretty scumptious, right? And that’s not its only benefit—if you have a few Twilight Zone Cocktails, you may well find yourself transported to a different dimension, too!fa.

Source

#summer 2023 #National Twilight Zone Day #NationalTwilightZoneDay #11 May #on board a plane #flying East #original photography #travel #vacation #clouds #daylight #night shot #twilight #nature #summer 2015 #national day #tourist attraction #geography #USA

[hooverduus22]

Going through the Phenomenon of "Skibidi Toilet" : A Bizarre But Captivating YouTube Series

In the ever-evolving panorama of online entertainment, where unique and offbeat content often finds their niche, "Skibidi Toilet" has emerged as the sensation that defies conventional norms. This animated Youtube . com collection, which in turn made its first appearance in February, has rapidly received widespread consideration and even captivated audiences throughout social media platforms. While its premise could appear surreal and weird at first glance, the show is rising popularity signifies that this has minted a chord with viewers all over the world. A Surreal Plotline The main plot of "Skibidi Toilet" revolves round a rather unconventional premise—an military of toilet-dwelling villains, depicted as singing heads peeping out of loo features, has managed to take management of the world. These uncommon adversaries find themselves pitted in opposition to a group of people whose mind consist of hardware gadgets such as cameras, audio system, and televisions. Every episode of typically the sequence depicts intense battles between these kinds of two contrasting parti, with the particular upper hand moving forwards and backwards in a continuous battle for energy and management. What sets "Skibidi Toilet" apart is its remarkable capacity to communicate this advanced narrative totally with out talk, relying entirely on visual storytelling. A visible Party Certainly one of probably the most hanging elements involving "Skibidi Toilet" is its visible fashion. The particular creators of the sequence have masterfully created a world where the boundaries between your surreal and the particular tangible blur. The animation quality is top-notch, providing a visually fascinating experience that keeps viewers engaged throughout every episode. The characters, despite their non-traditional designs, manage to share an extensive range associated with feelings and movement, including degree for the narrative. The Silence Echoes Volumes

Perhaps some of the intriguing elements of "Skibidi Toilet" is their choice to forgo discussion completely. skibidi toilet in an era the place most animated collection and films closely depend on dialogue to convey plot and character improvement, this kind of collection takes a daring and unique strategy. The lack of spoken phrases locations greater emphasis upon visible storytelling, facial expressions, and body vocabulary. This decision challenges viewers to interpret and join with all the characters and even their feelings inside a more profound means. A Virus-like Sensation Since its debut, "Skibidi Toilet" has experienced a new meteoric rise on popularity, cheers in no smaller part to it is viral unfold throughout social websites platforms. Its weird idea and charming visuals have made it a subject associated with dialog, producing numerous memes in addition to fan discussions. The collection offers resonated with followers who recognize the quirky, out-of-the-box storytelling and the ability to convey a narrative with out words. "Skibidi Toilet" stands as a testament to the various in addition to innovative landscape of on-line leisure. Its ability to captivate and have interaction visitors via surreal storytelling and beautiful movement, all without uttering an one phrase, is a testomony to the inventive prospects of the modern world. While this unique Vimeo collection continually garner attention and construct their fanbase, that is a tip that within the dominion of on-line content, the great typically finds its place among the many strange, and the weird can become a new celebrated phenomenon. .

#Skibidi Toilet

[frostcunningham98]

Skibidi Toilet: The particular Quirky Animation Sequence That Took the Internet by Storm

In typically the ever-expanding panorama involving online leisure, YouTube has proven to be a fertile floor for creativity and development. One of the numerous channels and content creators, the peculiar animated collection emerged in March, quickly fascinating audiences using its ridiculous yet surprisingly endearing premise. "Skibidi Toilet" offers turn into an internet sensation, blending elements of the weird and the creatively fascinating to supply a singular viewing experience like no other.

The Enigmatic Plotline At first glance, "Skibidi Toilet" could seem like an distressing fever dream. The series unfolds in the world where an army of toilet-dwelling villains, pictured as singing heads peeping out of toilet fixtures, provides by some means managed to be able to take control of the complete planet. What follows is a constant battle between these toilet-bound adversaries and the more conventionally styled foes, whose heads include hardware items such as digital cameras, speakers, and televisions. What units "Skibidi Toilet" apart is its distinct lack of conversation. https://standrewsbrewster.org/demon-slayer-funko-pop-figures-revealed-during.html unfolds and not utilizing a single spoken phrase, relying exclusively on visual storytelling and absurdly creative eventualities to communicate the continued battle regarding energy and control. This unique method not only provides towards the present 's enigmatic charm but in addition causes it to be generally accessible, transcending language barriers to reach a worldwide viewers. The Rise of a Viral Discomfort In the months since it is debut, "Skibidi Toilet" offers managed to astound audiences on social websites platforms, changing into a viral sensation in its own right. Its success may be credited to a number of elements: Quirkiness: The sequence sees its eccentricity wholeheartedly, making it stand out in an era where distinctive content is very valued. Viewers are drawn to its offbeat humor and unpredictability. Visual Imagination: "Skibidi Toilet" is a testament to be able to the ability of visible storytelling. It is creators have was able to craft a creatively participating world filled with bizarre characters and fascinating situations. Universal Appeal: The absence involving dialogue allows "Skibidi Toilet" to transcend language and cultural boundaries. Anyone, regardless of their local language, can certainly enjoy and perceive the storyplot. Cultural Media Buzz: Social media platforms have played a pivotal role within the collection ' success. Followers have eagerly shared clips and snippets, producing a buzz that continually propel the present 's reputation. "Skibidi Toilet" is a testomony for the limitless prospects involving online entertainment. In an electronic panorama saturated with content material, that was able to carve out a niche of its own by embracing the particular weird and wonderful. The viral success is definitely a testament to the facility of creativity plus innovation on programs like YouTube. As the sequence continues to achieve grip and construct it is fanbase, 1 factor is obvious: "Skibidi Toilet" is not only the passing internet fad. It's some sort of reminder that on the earth of on-line entertainment, the truly unique and unconventional can discover their own place within the spotlight. Whether you are a fan of typically the bizarre or just seeking a refreshing break from the strange, "Skibidi Toilet" is an cartoon collection worth checking out. .

#Skibidi Toilet

[mi6021miakillackey]

Character Design - what can be said?

As I have my own personal interest in character design and potential desire to work within this field, I want to look deeper into this area of animation/ pre production aspect of film, game and thing making.

I have had some thought on what character designs, concepts and representations convey to a wider audience and how it can be used to shift a perception of a gender, race, culture etc of real people outside of media. One of these I wanted to look upon in this final project was the designs of female characters in juxtaposition to male characters - why there seems to be less range with designs of girls and women than there is with men and boys - for example how small the margin is for what is "acceptable" or "desirable" of a feminine concept of a character, with majority of them having a slim figure and a "pretty face".

The elements that make them seem to fit a very niche, westernised view of what a woman should look, talk, move and behave like - and we have a lot of characters, old and new that support this.

A good example would be Daphne and Velma from the children's television cartoon Scooby Doo - we have Velma, an intelligent, rigid character whose design has embodied her whit as well as a lack of concern with male attention by making her look "less attractive' by giving her freckles, squared man-like glasses, a frumpy sweater that conceals her less defined figure and no makeup.

Then Daphne who we know to have a romantic interest in Fred, a handsome dimwit. Her design is polar opposite to that of Velma's, she is slim and curvaceous, she wears heels and adorns makeup, a stylish vibrant head of curled locks and feminine aspects to her outfit like a headband and classy scarf. This is a deliberate choice of designs and representation for these two women - but also ingrains into viewers what a woman who is smart and self focused looks like, compared to what a woman who is more self centred and concerned with looks and romantic interest looks like.

Then we have a figure like Jessica Rabbit from the movie Who Framed Rodger Rabbit - all of the characters express their disbelief towards her marriage with Rodger, a significantly "less attractive" character than Jessica, depicted as a sultry, sensual woman much like that of Marilyn Monroe - the picture of sexual desire and lust - a teeny waist, long toned legs and small heeled feet, plump red lips, big prominent breasts, low and seductive "bedroom eyes", and a head of luxurious curled red hair. she is an icon of sex within everything she does, and knows it "I'm just drawn that way"

But why is the focus mostly pinned upon the woman figure to uphold these impossible body and beauty standards as well as how they should behind and present themselves?

In the gaming world - the same patten is presented.

Lara Croft has always been another sex symbol used for male satisfaction in the games - with her wildly inappropriate outfits for the life and environments she is placed in and her strangely unscarred skin on a swimsuit model body - it would make sense for her to be more clothed and covered in action and to have a muscular, perhaps less "feminine" body type indicating her great strength.

A character from a much more recent game, 2020, would be Abby Anderson from the game The Last Of Us part 2 - a strong, deeply complex character who while beautiful and feminine in her own way (as all women are) is designed to suit her environment and willingness to survive in the harsh reality in which there is no escape to. This design was rejected and criticised by a lot of fans and players of the game upon release and to this day nearly four years on - majority of these rejections came from male players who found her design "disgusting" and some going as far to call it an abomination.

But here we have two very strong female characters in all aspects of themselves and yet their designs couldn't be more different.

I have looked at a few studies done on this matter that I will be including in my dissertation to support my question and argument, but I want to use this to question if I fall into this category also, am I representing women in a diverse progressive way? what can I change about my approach to designs if not? does there need to be a change? why is it important to show a variety of forms and details within characters?

I decided to do a little sketch of a concept of Cordelia - thinking of more range with body proportions and colour palettes that could work. I will stick with my previous design of her however I think because I like how she looks and her shape/clothing is easier for me to keep consistent I would say.

but I like exploring more designs and coming up with a wider range of ideas for characters. representing different body types and styles really matters to me personally.

[larsonstender80]

Skibidi Toilet: The Quirky Animation Series That Took the Internet by Storm

In the ever-expanding panorama of on-line leisure, YouTube has confirmed to be a fertile ground for creativity and innovation. Among the countless channels and content creators, a peculiar animated series emerged in February, shortly fascinating audiences with its absurd yet surprisingly endearing premise. "Skibidi Toilet" has turn out to be an internet sensation, blending elements of the weird and the visually captivating to supply a singular viewing expertise like no different. The Enigmatic Plotline At first look, "Skibidi Toilet" may appear to be an unsettling fever dream. The sequence unfolds in a world the place an army of toilet-dwelling villains, portrayed as singing heads peeping out of bathroom fixtures, has by some means managed to take management of the whole planet. What follows is a constant battle between these toilet-bound adversaries and their extra conventionally themed foes, whose heads encompass hardware items similar to cameras, speakers, and televisions. What sets "Skibidi Toilet" apart is its distinct lack of dialogue. The entire narrative unfolds with no single spoken phrase, relying solely on visual storytelling and absurdly artistic eventualities to convey the continued battle for power and control. This distinctive strategy not only provides to the present's enigmatic charm but in addition makes it universally accessible, transcending language barriers to succeed in a global viewers.

The Rise of a Viral Sensation In the months since its debut, "Skibidi Toilet" has managed to captivate audiences on social media platforms, turning into a viral sensation in its personal proper. Its success may be attributed to several factors: Quirkiness: The series embraces its eccentricity wholeheartedly, making it stand out in an era where unique content material is very valued. Viewers are drawn to its offbeat humor and unpredictability. Visual Creativity: "Skibidi Toilet" is a testament to the ability of visible storytelling. Its creators have managed to craft a visually partaking world full of bizarre characters and charming situations. Universal Appeal: The absence of dialogue permits "Skibidi Toilet" to transcend language and cultural boundaries. Anyone, regardless of their native language, can take pleasure in and understand the story. Social Media Buzz: Social media platforms have performed a pivotal function in the collection' success. skibidi toilet have eagerly shared clips and snippets, generating a buzz that continues to propel the present's popularity. "Skibidi Toilet" is a testomony to the limitless possibilities of online entertainment. In a digital landscape saturated with content, it managed to carve out a niche of its own by embracing the strange. Its viral success is a testament to the facility of creativity and innovation on platforms like YouTube. As the series continues to gain traction and construct its fanbase, one factor is clear: "Skibidi Toilet" is not just a passing internet fad. It's a reminder that on the earth of on-line leisure, the really distinctive and unconventional can find their place within the highlight. Whether you're a fan of the bizarre or simply looking for a refreshing break from the strange, "Skibidi Toilet" is an animated sequence value exploring..

#Skibidi Toilet

[nanomyre]

Well it’s that time again folks!

Time to choose your required persona for the thanksgiving holiday get together with family a vast majority of unhappy teens and twenty-something’s will be dragged to.

This year I present for the adults:

Painfully normal ‘man’- you have changed your major to business, you have a girlfriend of seven months named Rebecca who’s family lives in a different state so she couldn’t join for the holiday (how sad), you recently started a subscription to time magazine and have been ultimately disappointed by the amount of advertisements, television doesn’t interest you in the slightest (besides wwi documentaries of course), and you have started spicing up your wardrobe with fun socks (you wore your turkey socks for the occasion.

Painfully normal ‘woman’- you are still trying to decide if you want to keep pursuing your degree in nursing or if you want to switch to pursue teaching, you found the best thin 3/4 sleeve sweaters on Amazon and cannot stop suggesting them to people, you don’t currently have a boyfriend but just amicably broke it off with an engineering major named Joshua, you have joined a book club recently and it has reignited your love of reading and provides a lot of variety and friendship to your life.

Strange person- you have a challenging haircut that everyone warned you wouldn’t fit your face shape but actually looks quite good, you over accessorize for every occasion (usually with things that make noise any time you move), you will not stop bringing up your work study in the colleges lab focusing on freshwater sponges found in your state recently and how surprisingly widespread and diverse they are, you keep a pocket thesaurus on you at all times to keep your sentences ‘spicy’, and you highly suggest everyone go barefoot hiking once in their life

For the teens (by an adult):

Perfectly normal ‘boy’ teen- you have been on the basketball team for a few years now and you finally placed on the regional level, you are working to bring up your grade in science because you fundamentally misunderstood the periodic table, you submitted an essay to a national contest and won a minor prize for it, and you are thinking of asking Ashley to the dance later this month

Perfectly normal ‘girl’ teen- you are an active member of your schools student government, you are very upset about the recently updated dress code, your friend group is organizing a Christmas holiday fundraiser for the local cat shelter,and you have been preoccupied with a 7 book coming of age series about a teens journey through highschool and college during the Cold War

Strange teen- you decided to dye your own hair lime green in the bathtub last week, you want to join the nature club next year, you have been thinking about getting your ears pierced a second time, you have been active in online spaces about a niche movie series following a group of people solving the recently discovered maze of Daedalus, and you’re pretty sure you could survive the apocalypse depending on what kind of apocalypse it is.

#nanoposts #thanksgiving #this is all nonsense I’m writing in the car on the way to thanksgiving lol.

[gbim]

Tips and Tricks about How to Manage the Entire Advertising Budget?

Small businesses need marketing budgets even more than bigger ones. Small business owners may not have much experience making budgets. In addition, as these businesses grow, it is essential to keep costs as low and lean as possible. In a strange twist, you need marketing to grow. It is hard to sell your goods and services without it. In simple terms, a business requires an advertising budget to maximize profits.

What is an advertising budget?

An advertising budget shows how much your business plans to spend on marketing over a specific period, like a year, quarter, or month. When making a budget for marketing, you should include all of the costs that come with it, like paid ads, hiring costs, marketing tools, website maintenance costs, and more.

Why should you set aside money for advertising your business?

Want to know why your business needs an advertising budget? Here are the five most important ones.

It helps you keep your money in order.

It helps you put money where it should go.

It helps you set goals and make plans.

It helps you think about the future.

It is an investment in the growth of your business.

Create an advertising strategy

Companies often try advertising methods without thinking about which ones will work best for their business. Having a good plan for advertising lets your business put its money into the platforms that will have the most impact. Some companies might want to spend money on blogs and digital content, while others might do better by making paid, targeted social media ads. Let us look at the tips and tricks for managing the advertising budget.

Make Data-Based Decisions

Using data analytics is a great way to make the most of your information. Once you know how much money your business can spend and the best way to reach your goals based on your strategy, you can use that information to spend your advertising budget wisely. Analytics can tell you what has worked in the past and where your advertising money will waste.

Set Clear Goals for the Campaign

Focus on one or two campaigns at a time instead of running many of them at once, and set clear goals for what you want to get out of each. Clearly define whom the campaign is for, how it will reach them, and what success looks like so that it can be measured. At the end of each campaign, you should look at how well you did at reaching your goals.

Make Your Infographics When Niches Overlap

How to market a single product or service to several small and very different markets is a common problem in marketing. You may have a lot to offer each of these niche markets, but you may not be able to afford to make separate campaigns for each one. In this case, infographics are the perfect answer. These images are easy to share, very cheap to make if you use a free template, and can reach multiple parties or markets at once by showing multi-step solutions to complicated problems in a single image.

Re-use Your Ads

Whether you are advertising for a brand-new start-up or a small business that has been around for a while, you may have ads that you feel have already done their job. Advertising materials do get old quickly, but if the audience changes, they can be treated as new. Compare your most successful ads' return on investment rates, change them for new markets, and let the work you have done continue to bring you new customers.

Select Media Carefully

If your business wants to focus on a media-based strategy, you will need to figure out which kind of media will reach your audience the best. Print, radio, TV, podcasts, the web, and social media can all be used. Not all forms of media will help you reach your audience the best. Even though some media, like television, can reach the most people, they may not get as much attention as more targeted media, like targeted social media ads.

Keep Hidden Costs in Check

You could have the best, most detailed spreadsheet in the history of marketing, but if you do not put all the information you need on it, you will be in for a shock at the end of the quarter. Keep in mind that there are more costs to your marketing strategy than just product launches and promotional events. 

Set Up Your Sales Cycle

When you break down your advertising budget, you need to set up your sales funnel. Your sales funnel is an essential part of your marketing budget because it helps you decide where to spend your money. The process your audience goes through to become a paying customer is your sales funnel.

Content Creation

When you make videos, photos, or even blog posts, you have to pay for the time you spend on them. Content marketing brings in three times as many leads as other methods, so it is worth spending money on it. Plan how much it will cost to make this content so you can change things based on how well it does.

Now that you have a better idea of what to put in your advertising budget jump start your business with positive thinking.

Advertising budget is essential for growing your business, but you do not have to go into debt. Asking for help from colleagues or experts will help you reach your goals faster. However, keep in mind that there are resources for business owners who might want to do things independently. Find out what marketing works best for you and do more of that.

#internetmarketing #advertising #ppc #digitalmarketing

[stringniece74]

How To Be Able To Missing Simple . Television Shows

Your local NBC, CBS, Fox or ABC affiliate will each have their own television life schedule. If you watch NBC at home, and thus travel to NYC and turn on NBC, the going figure out different programming, or must not programming on at different times. Each local affiliate of television stations will decide points they want to show, once they want to exhibit it, and when it is time to play something other things. It depends on local demographics, local interest, and even their cheap. Not all television stations have got the same budget. Now an individual have gotten past that decision, you can now to start enjoying the many benefits of satellite television for computer. One of the best features available nowadays has regarding the When needed function. At will gives you access towards shows and flicks from your favorite network. Many of us are so busy these days that we can hardly remember when our favorite television shows are on, or when that movie we was going to see is playing on HBO. With On Demand, you can view the programs they provide any time of the day or night. You can pause to rewind too, as purchase watching a usual DVD or video. The crucial change could be the library became very in order to them. My oldest child, who didn't (and still doesn't) prefer to read, was forced up to. Today she finishes an e-book every 1 to 2 weeks. When my middle child is at fifth grade, she refer to a twelfth -grade height. 해외축구중계사이트 did very same. I know he read The Hobbit when he was in third mark. Television today gives which you broader spread of educational and children's agencies. Kids can learn about the universe, different countries, you will learn things succeed. Adults and children alike can experience virtual offshore fishing, racing across the Baja, and climbing the world's highest mountain ranges. Television production crews go to great lengths to bring us exciting thrills like arctic crab fishing - Deadliest Catch anyone? CRT: Cathode Ray Tv. It is large heavy conventional television, now no more in make full use of. But if you are selling for that then Insignia NS-27HTV 27inches are good. The fourth answer towards question just when was the first television made is in 1880 when George Carey developed a process that has cells still that is really produce sunshine. Then after that Mr. Graham Bell, resulted in a photo phone which can send manner. Then Mr. Paul Nipkow made gadget in 1884. He termed it as the electric telescope end up being transfer a photograph by a disk that provide resolution though the wire get rid of image is not clear. The glasses operate by tricking your brain, letting you take by 50 percent separate images - one for the left eye and one for the importance eye. The glasses manage this by rapidly alternating between lenses, shutting off one eye at once. You do not notice it doing this, except because you first put them on then there is a strange flickering sensation as they warm upward. Of course there is generally! Not everything on television today will appeal to each individual. That is the beauty of it - there is something for the public. Television executives today have so quite more creative independence. They can market to small niches of customers. They don't have to produce what's going to appeal into the masses. Happen to be channels promptly love sports, not just sports generally but a variety of sports like racing, golf, rodeo, and others. There are channels devoted to cooking, home decorating, news, accessories. You can find just about anything you like on television today.

#스포츠중계 #해외축구중계 #무료스포츠중계

[tratserenoyreve]

"surely this is just a niche online issue"

do people not remember how the child actors on "stranger things" were treated. publicly. on every media outlet.

"oh but if they're teenagers they're already aware of s3xual stuff/talk about it at school"

teens interacting with their own peers their own age is vastly different than hundreds if not thousands of strange adults breaking basic decency and openly ogling and objectifying them. it is straight up traumatic to be 17 and have people anticipating the day you're legal for it to be "okay" to s3xually harass you, just as it is traumatic for a fifteen year old actor to be asked on live television on what they think about people writing fiction about them and their friends being posted all over the internet.

adult r//p//f is no better. saying "well, it's like tabloids" isn't a good look, people have hated those for decades, they're sh!tty and invasive and disrespectful and fvck up people's lives. everyone who watched jerma's dollhouse project and walked away going "teehee i ship him with the maid" completely missed the point being made about how upsetting and dehumanizing that behavior is to experience, how you are taking a whole person and treating them like a toy. it was a comedy performance that became horror and i am so sad that it flew over so many people's heads.

#tratser talks about stuff #csa mention -/::-:;/: #anyways i am probably gonna play more old rpgs and whack things with a sword