Hello!

At the beginning of the year, we kicked off a series of events to celebrate... well a number of things! The subreddit growth is insane, so we hit 10 million subscribers while we were just finishing up celebrating 9 million...

But we started that celebration with a new Essay and Video contest! I'm happy to announce that after a long series of deliberations, we're ready to announce your winners! First and foremost, I want to congratulate everyone on producing such wonderful submissions. I and the other judges absolutely enjoyed reading/watching them, and I hope this encourages you to create more. I'm always here for what limited guidance I can give.
Reminder: Prizes are funded through Reddit's Community Funds program! The top 3 positions will receive gift cards to Crunchyroll's (formerly RightStuf) store! Please, I would love to see what you're going to purchase with them.

Writing Contest

1st Place: In This Corner of the World: Agency, The Past, and The Paths We Did Not Choose by VelaryonAu

VelaryonAu hits it out of the park with this essay. It stays true to the theme, starting strong and continuing that quality until the end. Much like Suzu's life, it expertly moves from point to point, example to example, all the while using succinct and pleasant prose. We all enjoyed every second of reading this piece and we think you will too. VelaryonAu wins a $200 gift card.

2nd Place: Gunslinger Girl and Confronting the Posthuman by paukshop

Paukshop delivers an essay that exemplifies the reason why we keep the themes for these contests vague, with it being a clever examination of a beloved classic under a unique lens. This is probably one of the best structured essays we received, clearly laying out step by step how each relationship in the show may evoke different interpretations of the posthuman. Its broad coverage and almost academic nature earn it 2nd place, winning a $100 gift card.

3rd Place: Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Eternal by baquea

As expected from a fan of Madoka Magica, and much like the show itself, this essay is dense with meaning. Baquea's prose ebbs and flows—sentences sometimes stretching out into labyrinthian snakes or curving back around into pointed statements. Regardless of what you think about the show or the writing style, this essay makes itself heard. Its clear passion and depth of knowledge towards the subject earns it a $50 gift card.

Videos

1st Place: Heavenly Delusion: Body Horror, Gender, & Transformation by thedman1954

This video is not only laser focused, it utilizes the video format pretty near to its fullest potential. The subject matter is exciting and engrossing, and it serves to be a vessel for the feel of the show itself. Editing is a strong point, using slick transitions and title cards to further illustrate key points. A nearly flawless entry earns it first place and a $200 gift card.

2nd Place: [Blue Reflection Ray]( I Want to Change!) by thegajumaru

Thegajumaru's "[Blue Reflection Ray] I Want to Change!" starts off in a peculiar way, but I think one of the best things about the video format is that you can experiment and be eclectic and maybe... go off on a completely non-anime tangent about Star Wars before jumping into your real topic of Blue Reflection Ray. The most notable thing about this video is just how watchable it is. It flows from point to point with ease—both the editing and script leading the viewer along, almost unbeknownst to them just how entertained they are along the way. This addicting quality earns thegajumaru a $100 gift card.

3rd Place: Grief in To your Eternity by paukshop

Pauk digs into a core concept of To Your Eternity in this video, following the throughline of our main character almost literally carries his grief for his friends and family with him. My personal notes on the video mention quote, "it's quite to the point and the point is strong," and in a sea of videos that are stretched out as long as they can for monetary's sake—it's a breath of fresh air. One of the hardest things to do in a contest like that is coming up with a concept that fits/subverts the theme, but pauk combining literal as well as metaphorical transformations, as well as adding a small personal touch, really elevates this video. He gets a nice $50 gift card for his efforts (in addition to his essay win!).
That's that! Congratulations to our winners, but also to everyone who managed to sneak in a submission. Please view the round-up of EVERYTHING here. I love seeing well thought out posts to the sub, whether that be in essay or video format. If you have any ideas on how to encourage this content, let me or the rest of the mod team know. Oh and also, if you submitted an entry and would like some brief notes on what we thought, message the moderators or PM me!
Winners, expect to receive a PM asking to confirm some information, and then accept your prize!
Thanks all!

My husband's sister-in-law is an INFJ and has never liked me the moment we met. For a year, she was very difficult to be around and would make passive aggressive comments to me. Whenever I would greet her, she would avoid eye contact. It got to the point where my husband's dad noticed she was being "snooty" towards me (his words) and had a talk with her.
We eventually had a conversation over the phone once it came to a head. I told her that I understand not everyone will like me but I was worried I did something wrong. She said I haven't done anything wrong and that she's just a very guarded and protective person. My husband's ex-fiance was her best friend and when they broke up, it was difficult for her to move on because she's a loyal person and her friendships run deep.
It's been over three years and she's still been hot and cold with me. It's like walking on eggshells with her. I've tried to be friendly and kind to her. I made a cake for her birthday last year and got her nice gifts for Christmas. I've tried hard to have a good relationship with her but I think something about me she just doesn't like/trust but I don't understand or know why. At this point now, I've resolved to stop trying to go out of my way for her but it does make me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious when I have to see her at family events. I'm an INFJ. Just for context, her husband (my husband's brother) is an INTJ and my husband is an ENTJ.
I'm curious, can any ISFJs provide some insight on why she is this way towards me so I can better understand her?

i am making a bot for personal use. the desired greeting i wrote is quite long, coming in at 3,000+ characters. i don’t want to shorten this greeting, and i want to know if there is a way to fit the entire greeting into either multiple messages or find a way to break the character limit so it fits in its entirety.

(This might be a long read, have patience)
If there is anything i’d take from my experience of being blackmailed (Sextortion), it’s too never ever pay! But the irony is that you only learn this afterwards. You realise it’s just a brutal chess game of psychology…the scripts they use are too make you scared for your dignity in the moment & then completely surrender to their demands.
I never heard of this whole scam until after it happened to me, ofcourse you can guess the usual… talked to a girl on instagram casually, ‘she’ (lol) got abit frisky & ofcourse I returned the same energy thinking it was some harmless fun.
Then BOOM a scripted paragraph saying i’ll be exposed, with the 🍆 pics, face pics & my list of followers blah blah blah…
They asked for $ which i payed out of pure compliance (how stupid) then afterwards it was ‘over’, pics allegedly deleted with video proof.
A few weeks later after not responding, lo and behold i’m back too square 1…they still have the pics and trying to put fear into my heart.
Let me tell you this…
NO ONE scares me.
I called his bluff & told him to post it wherever and too whoever, I couldn’t care less!
The realisation i had was: The moment they had the photos, it was all over & they will always hang that over my head if i let them…so the only real straightforward strategy is too give them no hope of squeezing anything out of you. Play boring, broke & dumb.
Yes obviously there is still an element of concern as too what they’ll do with the photos but I’ve accepted that it’s uncontrollable…the mistake has been made.
As much as it’s typical & probably not what you want to hear… in the bigger picture, it means absolutely nothing…even if the whole world seen my 🍆, in 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years…no one will care. Plus my life goal is too raise an organic family not involved in the social media world & ofcourse meet a women with those same values. So if the ‘worst’ happens & it’s leaked too all people i know then it doesn’t change my overall goals regardless.
As difficult as it is, just take it on the chin.
Just remember that regardless of who you are and your situation, there’s good people in this world who will help and listen! Your seriously not alone & PLEASE don’t do anything silly like ending your life! It’s not worth it over something like this.
Ofcourse the main thing is preventing your personal family from seeing anything, so for their sake just tell them briefly that a scammer tricked you & has some inappropriate photos of you and tell them too not engage with any accounts they don’t know.
Put all accounts on private & change your account names or better yet create new ones, change any other links like phone numbers or emails…& the most obvious, never ever send your 🍆 too anyone online! Keep it in person lol.
(Bonus points: Get antivirus security software for all your devices, get a vpn service, pay for extra security on your wifi network (from your provider) & block ALL bot accounts you come across)
& you could also pay for a blackmail advisor consultation with a professional but that’s if you have the money to do so.
I’m not trying to say my experience will reflect identically to yours but sharing my experience could give you that extra information you need to make a strategic decision or possibly reassure you.
Good luck & remember in the massive timeline of your life…non of this will matter too you.
You just got to stay mentally resilient & remember they’re just trying to get paid…but there is rare cases of more evil people that will just do it for fun, so like i said…make a strategic plan based on your specific situation.
Understand scammer psychology, understand basic human instinct & you may get an edge to put a lid on the issue.
It’s ashame this exists but it’s happened! Your here! And now you need to adapt to fix it.
(One last point…they could be 1 step ahead and go through reddit to see the advice people give eachother. Not saying it’s true but I wouldn’t leave out the possibility! So be careful with the information and amount of detail you share regarding your experience & strategy.)

Title: ChatGPT: Revolutionizing E-commerce with Personalized Multilingual and Cultural Shopping Experiences
As the digital marketplace continues to expand, e-commerce is facing the next frontier of customer service: personalized multilingual and cultural shopping experiences. With the integration of advanced AI like ChatGPT, online retailers have started offering services that go far beyond the standard one-size-fits-all approach.
Imagine logging into a website and being greeted by a chatbot that not only speaks your language fluently but also understands your cultural context. This is now becoming a reality. ChatGPT, with its sophisticated language models, is powering a new wave of customer interactions that feel remarkably human and incredibly personalized.
For international customers, the benefits are immediately clear. They can shop with ease in their native language, receive product recommendations that resonate with their cultural background, and interact with customer service bots that understand local nuances, idioms, and expressions. This reduces the friction that often accompanies online shopping in a foreign language and leads to a more enjoyable and stress-free experience.
Moreover, these AI-driven services can provide real-time translation and support, breaking down the barriers to accessing global markets. As a result, businesses are not only able to provide personalized shopping experiences but can also expand their reach to a broader audience without the need for extensive multilingual staff.
Behind the scenes, ChatGPT is constantly learning and adapting to individual customer preferences, taking into account past interactions, purchase history, and even sentiments expressed during chat sessions. This allows for a degree of customization in marketing and communication strategies that was previously unattainable.
For e-commerce businesses, the implications of utilizing AI like ChatGPT are profound. With the ability to scale personalized experiences across diverse markets, they can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, drive sales growth. This digital transformation in e-commerce is not just about technology; it's about creating connections with customers that feel personal and authentic, no matter where they are in the world.
As we forge ahead into this era of enhanced online retail, it's exciting to think of how these personalized, multilingual, and cultural shopping experiences will shape the future of e-commerce. The revolution is just beginning, and the potential for creating deeper, more meaningful customer relationships is immense.

To start this story off, I suppose it's best to talk a little bit about myself and my experience in the TTRPG space. I've been an avid TTRPG enthusiast for almost two decades now. Yes, I'm a bit of an old hat/old fogey. I started my enjoyment of the hobby with Pathfinder 1st edition, eventually transferring over to DnD 5e when it first arrived on the scene, mostly because it was the new hotness, but I ultimately found that it was better suited for the type of games that I enjoy running at my table. While I very adamantly enjoy the structure that a game's mechanical rules bring to the table, 5e provided a rules system that wasn't invasive, and so me and my friends were able to focus on the things about the game that we enjoyed the most - the roleplaying, the storytelling, and (most importantly) the fun.
Many years would go by, as well as a couple of what I would consider to be successful campaigns - basically anything that managed to survive longer than 3 months. Scheduling, right? I digress. Eventually, I arrived at a point where my current circle of friends and I were itching to play a new campaign, and for the shits and giggles of it we decided we would livestream it on Twitch. At the time, we had managed to get affiliated on Twitch, and one or two of us would occasionally have a couple of viewers pop in when we were streaming whatever video game we were playing, and we figured it would be fun to do the same thing with our next campaign. So we did. As you might expect, nothing really ever came out of it. We were just doing it for fun. The campaign only lasted about 3 months or so, and we never set out with the expectation that what we were releasing into the world was anything amazing - we were just four normal dudes having fun playing a game we enjoyed, and if you happened to find yourself on our Twitch channel to see it, awesome! If not, cool. We weren't doing it for you.
So, yeah, that campaign eventually fell off, and we would eventually return to just streaming whatever video game excited us. One of friends got married, and had a kid, and was too busy for DnD. Another friend got a new job, and his schedule just didn't give him the time. Hell, even I managed to land a pretty decent job at the time, and I struggled to make time for our weekly video game nights, but I managed. But ever since that streamed campaign had ended, I had an itch in the back of my mind that I really wanted to scratch. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about livestreaming our campaign. Sure, it was nothing to write home about, but I fell in love with the showmanship of it all. Maybe it was because of the thought of the potential for someone to eventually watch it, but whenever we would stream, I would get in the zone and pretend I was putting on a show for thousands (even though we may have only ever had three or four viewers at max). Basically, I had fallen in love with the idea of putting on a show for others, and I knew I would jump at the chance to do it again in the future. Enter Wayne.
A little over a year ago (at the time of this posting), I was perusing through the /LFG subreddit and not looking for anything in particular, when I stumbled across a post that checked off all the boxes.
I don't like to admit that I'm picky, but that fact that this sub exists should give credence to that fact that one should, at the very least, have a criteria when looking for games to invest yourself in when looking at advertisements. And if my little backstory above should inform you, there were a number of things on my checklist that this post had. For starters, it was longer than a few sentences. Clearly, the person who posted this was meticulous about what they wanted and what they didn't want (I would learn, much later on, that Wayne was not the one who wrote the post, but one of his players). Secondly, the post was very adamant about what was of paramount importance at the table - rich and compelling narratives, deep exploration of characters, and a passion for roleplay. And thirdly, the plan was to turn this into a "production". The post even included a promo video of respectable quality. Clearly, the people involved with this had a plan, much more of a plan than my friends and I had when we streamed. And, I considered myself a pretty decent roleplayer, so I applied. They were only looking for 1 applicant, but I figured I had a decent shot, with my previous livestreaming experience, and the fact that I already owned a (what some would call excessive) microphone and camera. So I shot my shot. If I didn't get picked, no biggie, life goes on. But when I received a discord invite and told that I had made it to the second round of the application process, I was ecstatic.
It is around here that I should introduce you to our cast of characters (names have been changed, of course:

• There is, of course, me, Dave - a guy who fundamentally believes that fun and safety at a table supersedes everything else, who happens to really enjoy hamming it up in character, and telling exciting stories.
  
• Ava - an already confirmed player at the table, with a past experience of playing with Wayne. I would come to find out that Ava was the one who had written the LFG post. Ava was also in charge of Discord moderation, and the second round interview process. She has her own story, which I will allude to here, but is ultimately hers to share.
  
• Jelly - Wayne's significant other. Jelly was supposedly not involved with the upcoming campaign at all, but had a presence on the Discord, and have previously played in Wayne's campaigns.
  Seth - another already confirmed player at the table. Admittedly, Seth plays a minor role in the story, but his inclusion is necessary.
  
  • and Wayne - the lead character of our story. The DM of the upcoming campaign. The visionary. The guy who plans to have the next big thing in the TTRPG actual play space.

There are at least a half dozen other individuals involved in this story, but ultimately play very minor roles. If at some point while I am writing this one of them pop up, I will update the list above to include them.
Back to the story. I was ecstatic to find out I had been selected for an Discord interview and scheduled it at my earliest convenience. This is where I first meet Ava. To be honest, I don't recall much about the interview, but I remember it being pretty standard and what I was expecting an interview to be. Mostly it was just going into detail about some of the stuff I had included in my primary application and talking about expectations and goals. I was told that after the Discord interview, the next step would be a participation in a practice one shot, to get a feel for how I would play at the table. After the interview was over, Wayne hopped into the voice channel, and this would be when I would meet the man, the legend.
I pride myself on being very good at reading people. I can usually pick up on when someone is trying to sell me something, pretty quickly. I tend to over analyze words and expression looking for intent. I have been gaslit and manipulated several times in my past by people very close to me, and so I have developed this defense when meeting people for the first time. Very rarely do I take someone at their word, or completely buy what they are selling when I hardly know them, and even less so to a complete stranger. In this case, when meeting Wayne for the first time, my defenses failed me.
Perhaps it was because it had been over a year since I last ran a campaign. Perhaps it was because it had been even longer than that that I actually got to be a player in a campaign. Perhaps it was because of that itch of wanting to perform again for an audience. Or, perhaps, it was because Wayne was very good at pitching his plans. Whatever the reason, my first impression of Wayne was that this was a guy who had a plan, and had the means to enact that plan, and I wanted to be a part of it in any way that I could.
Wayne, you see, had two big passions in life. The first was DnD. The second, as he would admit, was being an entrepreneur. He owned his own business in New York City. One of several ventures he had pursued, and it afforded him a premium NYC apartment and the time and luxury to spend on his second passion - playing DnD. And so, he thought, why not marry these two passions together? He had a great head for business. And according to him, the last campaign he had run was fantastic. So fantastic, he thought, that surely other people would enjoy listening to it. And so he hatched a plan - he would use his business knowledge and savvy to launch a Youtube channel that would be home to his next great campaign. But he had the foresight, at least, to know of just how saturated the DnD actual play space has become in recent years. If he wanted to be successful at this venture, he would have to stand out from the rest. And he had a solution to that. He wasn't going to put out just any old DnD actual play. He was going to create "DnD Cinema".
To do that, he said, he needed the right people that share in the same core philosophies that he had. Namely, a "pretentious level of hyperfixation on roleplaying and narrative storytelling". Most other actual plays, to him, were playing "beer and pretzels" DnD. You know, the type of game were you sit around with your friends having a good time and a laugh, where you might spend five minutes on an out of character joke, etc. Shit like that wasn't going to fly in this campaign. When you came to the table, you were going to be in character from start to finish. And recording sessions were going to be seven hours long. Could I handle that?
And I admit that I told him I could. Like I said, he had a way with words. He was clearly passionate about it. And he talked a good talk. And he was friendly enough. So he said he would be in touch. And the wait began.
Over the course of the next month or so, I would come to become friends with Ava and Wayne. We would hop into Discord and play games, talk about the upcoming campaign, etc. It was going to be several months before the campaign actually began recording, and so Wayne was still conducting the interview process while also working on worldbuilding for the campaign. He was also spending over $3000 dollars commissioning an animated table for the youtube video. This was clearly something he was very proud of, as he took every and all opportunity to talk about how amazing and innovative it was going to be.
You see, in Wayne's vision of "DnD cinema", the videos that would be put up on youtube would not include the faces of the players. Or battlemaps. Instead, it would be animated table that he could manipulate in editing at various cue points. It would feature portraits of the characters that would light up when they speak. It was the next big thing in the TTRPG space - a (frankly) audio only experience that was accentuated with the occasional fancy animation that cost thousands of dollars. No one else was doing it, he would say, and that would help him stand out even more.
It was also during these more innocent days that I would come to understand Wayne's obsession with Brennan Lee Mulligan. He idolized the guy. In fact, he would brag on multiple occasions that his significant other's job had her 3 or 4 degrees removed from Brennan - basically, she worked for someone who worked for someone who was involved with the Dungeons and Drag Queens season of Dimension 20, and he would often mention how he was hoping to use that connection to someday have a sit down and meet and greet with BLeeM himself. As time would go on, I would eventually find out that Wayne actually considered Brennan Lee Mulligan as his competition.
About a month would past before I would hear anything about my application. I never brought it up during our gaming sessions, as another core tenet of mine is that I don't want my friendship or acquaintance with someone to give me an edge over other candidates. I want my experience and what I bring to the table to stand on its own merit. This will come up later in our story. Eventually, I would get a message from Wayne asking me if I would be interested in participating in a try out one shot for the campaign. Apparently, he had completely forgotten that I had applied, and wanted to schedule in a last minute try out for me. My fellow players during the one shot would be Ava, some other member of the discord community, and Jelly.
I'll be honest, the one shot was nothing to write home about. And even Wayne would admit it was something he threw together last minute so that he could say I had my chance. I immediately found Ava to be a fantastic scene partner, and even for a one shot, put the time and effort into her character and actions. Jelly, on the other hand, was not that good. To be fair to Jelly, my criteria for grading her performance was strictly on the curve that Wayne himself said he was grading people on. I found her to be a very selfish player, who failed to pick up on narrative cues, and was solely focused on her time in the spotlight. But it was a trial one shot that didn't mean anything. My biggest take away from Jelly was that she was a player that I would not enjoy playing with in the future, and that I wouldn't seek out as a player at a table that I was DMing for. Not horror story bad (yet), but not good. Average.
When the application process was done, it would eventually come down to two choices. I was one. Wayne loved my southern twang, and thought it would sound good in a production. And we had become friends. The other was someone with a theater and acting background, who had been to Julliard. I was not selected. And I was okay with that. The decision did not impact my friendship with either Ava or Wayne, and we continued to hang out and play games together. I then learned of Wayne's new plan.
In the original posting ad for the campaign, it had been mentioned that a possibility for guest character appearing in the campaign could happen. The original idea was that, as members of the Discord community would play in one shots, Wayne would then be able to invite stand out performance to appear in an episode or two of the new campaign, as a gift to the community and to give those players a chance to play in a campaign with other players of similar caliber. This all changed as the months got closer to release date. The idea for guests at the table changed completely. Instead, Wayne's plan was to use the guest spots at the table as a networking opportunity. Don't forget - Wayne is an entrepreneur. This was a business venture for him, and successful businesses need to show growth. And he wanted to achieve growth at an accelerated pace. The plan was simple - as the channel grew, Wayne would scour the internet for similar channels with slightly higher subscriber count than his. Well, I say Wayne would do this. Wayne would actually pawn this off on to someone else. A tangent that I will perhaps need to touch on later in this story - Wayne was very good at finding ways of pawning off work on to others, and then taking the credit. He very much believe himself to be a manager, and other members of the Discord that showed any interest in the success of this venture as his employees. He would then engage in communications with these other channels in the hopes of achieving some Quid Pro Quo. You send someone to be a guest on our channel for a few episodes, and we'll shout you out. In return, he would send someone from his channel to theirs, and get a shout out in return. Something to note here - all of this was done without ever including his players in the discussion. He was offering them up to strangers without even asking if they even wanted to do that.
Time passes, and eventually recording for the campaign begins. It would be about two months into recording when Wayne approached me about being the first guest character. (At this point, I had been an active member of the Discord community for over six months now). He wanted me to be the first guest character for two reasons. The first was because I was familiar, and he wanted to test out the format before bringing in strangers. The second was because of my prior livestreaming experience. I was a part of an affiliated Twitch channel that met the criteria of having a slightly higher subscriber count than his. But for the most part, our old Twitch channel was dead. Sure, we still streamed games into the void, but there was practically no engagement. And I told him so when he asked me if I wanted to be introduced as someone from that Twitch channel. I was more involved in his community as that point, anyway. And so, I finally got what I was wanting - to sit down and play quality DnD with like minded individuals for the purposes of entertaining others.
At this point, only a handful of episodes had aired. The recording schedule had them a grace period of a month or so before release, and I admittedly hadn't watched them. Honestly, I wasn't that interested. I don't know if that's bad or not. There are a lot of actual plays out there of varying quality. And each one requires a lot of time commitment to watch. Already I was regularly watching Critical Roll, and I was having a hard time to find time to watch some of the other really good shows I was enjoying, like Dimension 20 and The Glass Cannon. On top of that, it was an game that I wasn't a part of, so yeah, I admit I hadn't watch any of it. But even if I had, it wouldn't have prepared me for what playing at the table was actually like. The released episodes were highly edited, with sound effects and music. It wasn't until I became actually involved at the table that I would find out just how manufactured the game actually was. And I use the word "game" very generously.
For starters, once recording began, all out of character talk and banter was immediately and explicitly forbidden. We were to remain in character at all times. Secondly, I would find out that Wayne had developed a "formula for success" in regards to time spent recording. No scene would ever last longer than ten minutes. If players spent too much time having their characters engaging with each other and the time elapsed, we were moving on the next scene, regardless of if it was a natural conclusion or not. Speaking of the characters, I would come to learn that the characters that the player brought to this campaign were secondary to the story that Wayne wanted to tell. "This campaign isn't character focused, it's story focused" he would say. The campaign simply did not have time for that. I don't like to toss out the word "railroaded" very often, but it quickly became apparent that there was a good bit of railroading being done here. The only character decisions or choices or conversations that would ever make it to the final cut were ones that provided what he thought would be the most interesting while pushing his narrative forward. And for a DnD game, there wasn't a whole lot of game being done here. Sure, the players had character sheets, and classes, but it was all superficial. Combat was a rarity on the level of a shiny Pokemon. I think mostly because Wayne didn't find combat narratively compelling. But in that case, I have to ask, why use DnD as your game system? If all you want to do is roll clicky dice and improv, there are much better systems out there. And speaking of the dice - I'm sad to say that in most cases they were superfluous, as well. The only real purpose the dice served to Wayne was when they could be used to clip epic moments of success or failure. A natural 20 or a natural 1 was gold for him, because then he could clip it into a Youtube or Tiktok Short and grow those subscriber numbers. For a game in which "every decision hung on the roll of a dice", there weren't a lot of dice rolls, there weren't a lot of decisions, and when there were decisions, most of the time, the outcome was predetermined by Wayne. Everything Wayne did in regards to this game was in service to growing his Youtube channel. And the sad part? It worked.
In a shockingly short amount of time, Wayne was able to grow his Youtube channel from just over a 100 subscribers to over a 1000. This was mostly done by his excessive push of Youtube and Tiktok shorts. For a short period of time, I was deemed trustworthy enough to have access to the Youtube channel's admin, and I could view the statistics. The turnover rate for shorts into actual video views was miniscule. Only a tiny fraction were tuning in for the actual show. At this point, he had just become a Youtube Shorts creator.
And I want to mention at this point - I understand and respect the hustle. The world of Youtube is a dog eat dog world, and you have to have to play the game to stay in the game - I get it. I don't have any issue with being proud of what you've created, and pushing it out to people. I really don't. My issue was with how deceptive Wayne was being with it. And how deceptive he was, in general, as I would come to find out.
You see, before the inaugural campaign had even launched, Wayne approached me one day to see if I would be interested in running a campaign on his channel, as I had experience before in it, and had expressed an interest in doing it again. And I will admit, I was excited about the prospect. But before my words of "Yeah, I'd love to talk about" even had a chance to dissipate into the ether, Jelly would hop into the channel, in the middle of the discussion to say, "You know who should run a campaign? Seth." And then immediately log off.
I don't have a lot to say about Seth. I think he is an amazing, caring, friendly guy. He also happens to be an incredible roleplayer and storyteller, and his character is Wayne's campaign is truly phenomenal. I envy how easy it is for Seth to get into and portray the wide arrange of emotions of a character. He also happens to be a great GM. I understand why Jelly would suggest him to run a campaign. What I didn't understand, at the time, were her motives. Wayne, Ava, Jelly, and Seth had all played in a previous campaign together, and Wayne and Jelly had become enamored by just how good Seth was. And even prior to that, Ava and Seth had a past campaign together. Jelly wanted to be a player in a Seth run campaign. And if Wayne was going to have a second campaign on the channel, she wanted it to be Seth's, and she wanted to be a player in it.
And so, immediately, any and all discussion about me running a campaign was ceased, and the legwork was put forth for Seth to run a campaign. Wayne would approach him about it, and he was interested. Seth would already have in mind the players that he wanted for it - two friends of his from outside the server, Ava, and another player from the Wayne campaign. Noticeably missing from that list - Jelly.
Strangely, Wayne would then tell Seth that if he was going to run a campaign on the channel, he would have to have an application process for the players, and open it up so that anyone could apply. After Seth had already stated he already had players in mind - players who already said yes. I don't know about you, but as a DM, I would never let someone dictate to me who I could have at my table. If I have players in mind already, it's because I have a reason. But Wayne demanded an application process be followed, and a second LFG post would appear in LFG for the Seth run campaign - that was noticeably advertising for 4 players. After Seth had chosen his players. The advertisement came with another well edited and narrated youtube promo that was, and still is, the highest viewed video on the channel. And all of it was a sham. Which I knew it was. And I confronted Wayne about it. It was then that I learned some unsavory backstory involving Ava and Jelly and the prior campaign. That is not my story to tell. I have shared my accounts of events with Ava, and she is considering posting an account from her perspective following this. The most I am willing to say on this is that involves situations that should never be okay at a DnD table, and that Wayne would gloss over and sugarcoat these situations as no big deal. It would lead to Ava not being comfortable with being at a table with Jelly which both I, and Seth, would understand.
Wayne, however, found this to be unfair and manipulative on Ava's part. Those past incidents should have had no bearing on Jelly's consideration for the Seth run campaign. Which is why he would demand an application process. He would then confide to me when I questioned the duplicity of the LFG advertisement that it wasn't completely misleading. There would still be someone chosen from the list of applicants - because he was going to make sure that Ava wasn't part of the campaign. After Seth had already told both Wayne and her that she was. After the players for that game had already come together for a session zero. He claimed that Ava had prior incidents of being difficult to work with, and that because he wasn't involved in the campaign, he couldn't be there to handle any situations that might arise of conflicts between players at the table. At the time I thought that was an odd statement to make - if you are trusting enough of another person, like Seth, to run a campaign on your channel shouldn't you be trusting enough in their ability to handle problems between players? Looking back now, I can only assume he made that statement because he was certain that Jelly would be a player at the table, and that problems might arise between Jelly and Ava. He asked that I keep the conversation between us. But that was something I could not do. None of that situation felt right to me. Wayne, Ava, and I had been friends playing games together for nearly a year now. I never saw any inclination of Ava being a "problem player" - she was great at the table, and a great person to hang out with. And I found it weird that Wayne would say those things about her, and not approach her about it. So of course I talked to her. For weeks she had been sharing her excitement of the new campaign with me, often with Wayne in the voice channel with us. Ava would then share with me her past experiences with Wayne and Jelly. Again, it is not my story to tell, but I am a good judge of character. I believed Ava's account of events. It made sense to me, with how Wayne and Jelly acted.
I wish I could say this story had a happy and/or satisfying conclusion. I'm not even really sure if there is a point to it, or even if it will be a good read. It has been clear for some time now that Wayne has been entirely obsessed with the growing of his Youtube channel, damn any and all bridges burned, and walking back some of his initial promises of what he claimed the campaign and the Youtube channel would be. It's also very clear to me that Wayne is someone who absolutely has to have control over everything, especially the narrative (fictional and real life).
There are so many minor grievances to air about Wayne that I haven't already touched on, and I feel like I've already taken up too much of your time already. Here's just a brief overview, I'd be more than happy to go into more details if you want them:

• Multiple players from the Wayne campaign confided in me about some of the problems they had with Wayne and how the game was being run. When Wayne found out, he blew his lid, and said that he was both Manager and HR, and no one should be complaining to anyone outside of the table. If they were going to complain to anyone, it should be him.
  
  • It turns out, Wayne has a prior history of being an asshole. Long before the Youtube channel, and the campaign, even before the previous campaign, he told his then group that they were playing the game wrong. He then found a new group, sang their praises to the old group, and then even brought both groups together to show the old group "the right way to play"
  • In addition to Wayne, he has two editors working for him. One of which he pays. The other one has had no compensation. The one not getting paid is doing the same work as both Wayne and the paid editor combined.
  • I mentioned way early on in the story that Ava was the Discord Administrator for the Discord server. After the Seth campaign incident, Wayne unceremoniously removed Ava as Administrator, told her it was "by mistake", and never put it back. As far as I can tell, there was nothing to warrant this other than control. I suspect it was because there were certain Seth campaign related channels or other channels he didn't want Ava to see.
  • The unceremonious removal of myself and Ava from the Youtube channel admin. Admittedly, we contributed very little to it, but it was removed without a word mentioned.
  • Recently making a post requiring his "talent" to purchase a minimum $5 dollar Patreon subscription. He has admitted to me the reasoning for this was to inflate Patreon subscriber numbers to entice new subscribers. He has since walked that back after much outcry from the "talent"
  • Asking Seth if it wouldn't be too much to convert his envisioned DnD campaign into a Daggerheart campaign, because Daggerheart is the new hotness, and will attract more viewers.

Ultimately, I suppose I feel disheartened and deceived. Deceived because I originally signed up for what I thought was going to be a bunch of friends sitting around and recording themselves playing quality DnD, and it has shifted so far from that original purpose. Wayne is obsessed over subscriber numbers and views, it's all he ever talks about. He claims that his goal is to reach a level of success to which all 10+ people involved will be able to achieve financial freedom (which he claims is roughly $2000 a month). I'm sure you've done the math, just like I have. Even if you believe $2k a month is financial freedom (I certainly don't), that comes out to $240,000 a year. That's an insane level of success to promise your players. Oh, I'm sorry, your "talent".
I feel disheartened because....there's actually good work being done here. Some of the players are some of the best I've ever played with. Wayne can actually be a good storyteller, when he's not pushing for likes or clicks. The editors do a really fantastic job. I have seen and listened to the work being done on the Seth campaign (luckily Wayne is only tangentially involved), and Seth's campaign is turning out to be something really special. There is something good being done here, but it seems so tainted by Wayne and his obsession for Youtube and Tiktok success. So, maybe this is an RPG Horror Story, maybe it's a cautionary tale. I dunno. I have committed to finishing out my run in the campaign, (I was brought back to the table multiple times because the players enjoy playing with me, and also I suspect I was involved in one of his highest viewed shorts), but my hearts not in it. I've told Wayne I've no interest in any of his future projects, and I wish him well on his Youtube journey. But in the pursuit of clicks, and likes, and subscribers, I feel like he has fundamentally lost what attracts people to actually watch and invest in TTRPG actual plays - authenticity.

Hi all, as the title states - I am looking for feedback on my pay plan. I've worked at a large new and used Subaru dealer in MA for the past 2 years. Our current pay plan is as follows:
\ 100% commission based with some bonus opportunities from the dealer and manufacturer, no hourly/base pay **

• $200 mini on new/used, or 20% front end profit after they take $1,000 pack off the top (uncapped)
• after you sell and deliver 15 for the month, you get an extra $30 retroactive
• if your survey scores from the new cars (survey sent from manufacturer) scores remain at 95% (any return below 9/10 tears your score down drastically) you get an extra $850 for the month (from my dealership)
• once you have 3 new cars for the month, the manufacturer pays $70 per new car, and if your survey scores are high enough you get an extra $50 per new car (total of $120)
• our BDC department is oddly structured as a management position here rather than an entry level position (everyone in the role was previously a sales person as well). We call it the INT department, basically internet sales. Their department works with customers over email/text/phone calls (not in person) for scheduling test drives, they also follow up on every lead from online traffic (sales people do not have access to any online leads, we can only meet a customer by answering the phone, greeting a fresh customer when they arrive to the dealership, or by referral from a previous customer). However, if BDC collects a deposit on a vehicle and then hands the deal off to a sales person (the sales person is then responsible for getting all paperwork/insurance info/trade appraisal completed, and once the vehicle is registered we then spend about 60 mins going over each and every button and feature in the car with the customer...) I expect to be with a INT handoff customer about 4-5 hours all-in-all in most circumstances - and my commission is capped on every BDC handoff to $200 - even if there was $7,000 profit after they took their $1,000 pack off the top.

Right now, just about every single car leaving the lot is a $200 mini... we are selling new cars below employee pricing, and I don't think I've hit 15 once so far this year - it's been very rough to say the least. We have no receptionist at our dealership, which means that us sales people are responsible for answering/redirecting all incoming phone calls, as well as taking messages for others. We are also responsible for stocking in new vehicles, snow removal, writing online car descriptions (that one is funny to me because it seems like a task more designated for the INT team, but who am I to decide that?), and so many more tasks that most other dealerships have other employees to take care of. I am feeling so much frustration because management has been promising us for more than 6 months that volume is expecting to be ramping up and it hasn't - if anything, it's been steadily slower and yet they have hired two new sales people (14 of us total now). I am only paid for the vehicle I sell and I feel the work here is not matching the compensation. Hell, even when the market was "great" I did not even clear $7,500 for a 5 week month delivering 18 cars.
I absolutely LOVE my coworkers, and I really do look up to my GSM and SM's - they have taught me so much and do so every day, however they aren't paying my bills. If things do not change NOW, I will lose everything my apartment, my car - it's not like I'm not putting in the hours and the hard work. My closing ratio is high and my surveys/reviews are excellent - the traffic is horrifically low, and its like another slap in the face blowing every deal out to a mini on top of it. I feel as though they are expecting sales people to take the hit and ride out the slow market, all while higher-ups are reaping volume bonus incentives.
I guess my question here is: what is your pay plan like? what are your thoughts on mine? can you give me any advice? thank you in advance for reading all of this, and I really do appreciate any and all feedback. wishing you all a busy and prosperous May!

So I actually watched the first 4 episodes when they dropped, but I was very underwhelmed and decided not to post anything as I didn’t want to be negative. I didn’t dislike it, but I was definitely disappointed because I had very high expectations after all the press, the promo and what was being said by the cast and the crew. However, since then I rewatched the 4 episodes and I definitely like it more now after rewatching with no high expectations.
The things I had issues with:

• Pacing. I thought the pacing was all over the place. The episodes felt slow while the main romantic storyline felt rushed. We would have a fast paced scene and then a scene that seemed to drag would follow it. I feel like that happened a lot during these 4 episodes. I also think that splitting the season was a huge mistake as just when the show was starting to gain some momentum there was nothing else left for me to watch and based on the LW conflict and the side storylines they will cram a lot in the second half.
• Colin. I don’t understand why they decided to go down this route with the character. I haven’t read his book so I’m not sure how accurate it is, but I feel like in a romance show you don’t wanna find your male lead cringe and creepy and I’m sorry, but in the first 2 episodes he was borderline creepy. I know what they were trying to do, but it did not work for me at all. I feel like they could have shown him putting up a facade for the ton in different ways that don’t make him look so bad. I think the threesomes were absolutely unnecessary, but that seems to be a popular opinion. I just don’t get why we couldn’t just have the same Colin from the previous seasons with a bit more charm and oomph. He seems to be dropping the rake act now and hopefully in part 2 we can have the old Colin back somewhat.
• Penelope. Sort of. I kinda have mixed feelings about her character this season, but I did like her more than Colin. Why did we need to see her humiliated so many times? I just wish they stopped doing that. I’m sure we’re going to see her suffering enough when Colin finds out about LW, we don’t need to see her going through so many humiliations. Seeing her beg Colin to kiss her was painful. Also what was that balloon scene? Just move to the side lol.
• Benedict. I’d like to know what the point of this character is at this point besides fucking a different woman every season and looking happy in the background. I know he has a lot of fans, but I don’t get it. He is just so ‘there’ and that’s about it. I found his storyline the weakest and I’m not sure how it’s going to pay off and what the point of this is again. It feels like the script for Benedict is a copy+paste of s1 every season now. The woman he’s fucking this season is also just so meh. They also have absolutely no chemistry so that also doesn’t help. Their dance was very odd, her trying to be so badass or whatever that was supposed to be just came off as awkward and cringe to me. I don’t get the purpose of this storyline and honestly I’m not even curious to see what happens with them in part 2. Luke Thompson is completely wasted in this role.
• The Mondriches. This storyline was actually intriguing to me before the season premiered as I thought they’d be more involved with the main storyline with the other main characters, but that hasn’t really been the case so I’m wondering how this is going to pay off. I feel like every time we cut to them the pacing starts to drag and their storyline just doesn’t really flow with the show. But tbh I preferred seeing them over Benedict so there’s that. I feel like there has to be a purpose to this storyline and that there might be something more interesting happening with them in Part 2.
• Cressida. Meh. I don’t get why we need to have Cressida be some poor little mean girl who’s hiding some deep pain. Sometimes a bitch is just a bitch and that’s fine. Another storyline that I just didn’t really care for.
• Polin. Sort of. I feel like we needed more time with them. It feels like they barely had any scenes together this season. I know we’ve known them for the past 2 seasons, but we needed to see more than Colin falling in love after a kiss. That just felt so rushed to me. I wanted to see more of them interacting instead of Colin just staring at her and Lord Debling. Their first kiss was also incredibly disappointing. Not the kiss itself, I found it lovely actually, but Penelope begging him to kiss her was soooo not for me. I hated that. I don’t understand why we need to see Penelope humiliated so many times. I feel like the pacing of their romance could have benefited from a few more scenes of them together before the end of Part 1. But nope, I guess we needed to see Benedict fuck instead.
• The Queen. I’m actually struggling to even remember what she was doing this season. Forgettable storyline and also repetitive. I wish they figured out a different way to include QC in the story. I loved the QC spinoff and coming back to this version of her is just kind of disappointing.

A thing I'm unsure about for now:

• Violet and Lady Danbury. I’m not sure how I feel about this yet. I haven’t made up my mind about this storyline yet because I feel like I haven’t seen enough about it. It could end up in either direction depending on how they chose to develop this storyline. I just hope they don’t end up having a rift because of this brother business. I’m very much down with Violent finding someone though.

Now finally onto the positive stuff:

• Polin. Sort of. So I have mixed feelings about their romance. As I said, I had issues with not having enough scenes of them together. However, I did like most of what we actually got. The carriage scene was 10/10. I loved it lol, it was hot. Can’t believe Bridgerton is making me like a Pitbull song when I’m definitely not a Pitbull enjoyer to say the least. I also really liked Colin’s dream, I loved that it was his dream and not hers like it was probably expected. I also really liked their first kiss, it was lovely, I just wish it didn’t happen cause she was begging him for it. Other than that, it was probably my favourite first kiss on the show. I liked that we got to hear about them meeting as kids even though we didn’t see it. And yeah, I just wish we had more of them together interacting to make Colin falling for her feel less rushed.
• Penelope. Sort of. I actually kind of like that she’s petty and dissing Colin in her column lol, but I’m gonna need to see that conflict have a proper resolution in Part 2. I hope they do the LW storyline justice and they don’t rush it like they’ve done in the past in both previous seasons. I loved her new hair, clothes and she looked great. It was nice finally seeing her want to get away from her family and taking matters into her own hands. Her scenes with Lord Debling were fine, but since I know Colin is her endgame I didn’t really care much about him.
• Eloise. I liked Eloise so far. I was a bit annoyed by her last season, but so far I’m enjoying what they are doing with her. I liked that she kept Pen’s secret and that she obviously misses her and still tries to help her and save her from Cressida’s antics. She also seems to be reflecting on her friendship with Penelope and she’s realising that she hasn’t really seen her properly before and yeah I just like what they are doing with them despite the Cressida element this season. She’s also toned down her complaining and has learned to adapt without being unnecessarily rude while also being the same person as before. I liked that development.
• Francesca. I enjoyed Francesca’s storyline this season and I loved seeing her meet John. They were super cute. I have actually read her book and it’s my favourite among the ones I’ve read so this is extra special for me. I did think that we got a bit too many suitors and that I was starting to get bored of that, but then John showed up and I forgot all about it lol.
• The Featheringtons. I know that this might be an unpopular opinion, but I love them lol. Especially Portia. I just love the actress and think she’s great. Her lines are just so much fun and yeah I love this character. She’s not a good mother and person tbh, but I can’t help but find her incredibly entertaining. Her faces, her lines and yeah I just love her scenes. The daughters were great this season as well together with their goofy husbands. The 'inserts himself?' scene was one of the funniest scenes so far on the show for me. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but also enjoyed their plot last season even though I do think the one from this season is a lot more fun.
• Kanthony. I loved seeing them pop up for an episode. Them being all lovey dovey was nice, but I wish we had more interactions between Kate and the Bridgertons, but we’ll be seeing more of them in Part 2 so I’m hoping we’re getting that then.

So these are my thoughts and even though I was disappointed I did enjoy the season overall even if it seems like I have many complaints, it’s still Bridgerton and I just love the show. I feel like my thoughts would be much different with a full picture of the season and not just 4 episodes. I am sure that after Part 2 my feelings about it will be a lot more positive since the storylines will all pay off hopefully. I’m also hoping that they don’t do this split release in the future as I genuinely think it hindered my enjoyment of the season.

For context: I live in Tennessee and I work in an office setting. Work hours are from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
I work in a position that deals heavily with clients and customers. Typical morning duties include filing and documenting legal paperwork that has come in after hours and notifying clients about voicemails left after hours.
Previously, the salaried supervisor would take care of this around 7:40 am since she comes in to work early. Now, upper management wants the hourly office workers to take care of these tasks, but they still want it done before the office opens to the public. They instructed us to come into the office and perform these tasks at 7:50 am. That's fine with me. I started clocking in at 7:50 am to reflect this.
When I submitted my time the next week, they denied my timecard stating I have to clock in at 8 am. Since then I have started coming to the office at 7:55. I still perform these tasks and I'm ready for the day by 8, but I'm not working off the clock. I just had a talk with upper management and they're not happy. They are threatening corrective action if I continue to come in at 7:55. They told me I need to be in my seat ready to go at 7:50 am, but I am still only allowed to clock in at 8 am. My personal time is valuable as well. Being ready to work by 7:50 means I need to arrive at the office at 7:45 to boot up my computer. I'm losing an hour and 15 minutes of pay every week that this happens. I love this job, but I need that extra time in the mornings for personal reasons. Is there any way I can win in this situation or am I going to have to lose the time and money? Is any of this even legal? Please advise.

Greetings.
So last month I discovered Suno and decided to use the account for work purposes to increase engagement with my team by creating funny work related songs in their favorite genre. Worked out great.
I started with the $8 subscription and quickly burned through the 2500 credits or so in just over a week.
Decided under their payment options the best option forward was to buy their max credits of 10,000 and just cancelled my monthly subscription.
Fast forward 3 weeks and I burned through about half those credits. Had about 5500 left or so.
On May 19th my “one month” subscription expired. On May 20th I login to zero points and reached out to here and wrote Suno billing.
Found out that the monthly subscription credits expire after a month and get reset. I also found out that the ones you buy do not expire but you need a subscription to use them. Both stupid and dirty tactics in an emerging market. Fine.
Reached out two Suno with two questions. One, if I re subscribe will my 5500 credits return so o can use them and get 2500 points for subscribing?
Which ones are used first? The subscription points or the purchased ones?
Neither of these questions were answered but instead I got a generic response that subscription credits expire after your subscription renews which wasn’t even applicable to my questions.
So not only does their subscription model suck and is unnecessarily scammy but their support doesn’t even read the emails they get.
In their defence I did get a “one time gesture” of my 5500 points back but because of this garbage experience I’ll be moving my audio AI money to another provider even if this garbage subscription is industry standard. It’s too bad too because I would have easily purchased 10k points every 4-5 weeks religiously. I’m just one person yeah but if my story stops other people from wasting their money on this app than good.
I’m too old and I don’t know Reddit enough to know if this is an official subreddit for Suno but if it is, or if it’s monitored you suck Suno. Do better.

I M19 daydream, I doubt that many people would ever consider this an issue with mental health but I promise I will get there. I'm a screenwriter with an imagination about 5x the size of my confidence. For years I have struggled with anxiety and depression so badly that in order to enjoy any part of my life all I would do in the day was daydream. I would dream about a life where I was famous, rich, in love, had a family so on. Until recently I met someone, a girl who is clearly very important to me. I say this because all I do in the day is daydream about her, I still daydream about everything else that I dreamed about but now It has to include her. My problem was that I would daydream so much that after a while the lines began to blur. The other day whilst out with her and some friends she tried to get my attention and in response I called her 'my love' it was the first but not the last time I did that. This week I went away for family reasons, looked at starting to get my life on track. Eating better, losing weight, improving my personal hygiene, dress sense, buying a new aftershave, all in the hopes to mature. I was able to sit down and write a draft script in 3 days because all I did was stop procrastinating and just concentrated.
I managed to stop daydreaming entirely. I used to tell my friends that daydreaming is the worst, because you create these worlds in your head were everything is perfect but when you wake, you are faced with the reality that your life still sucks and none of it was real. Now that I no longer daydream I am almost more miserable than I was when I did. I dont know why I am so miserable all of a sudden, I got what I wanted but ended up worse off. All of the things I have been struggling with seem to have resurfaced despite the fact that I have worked so hard to find ways to cope and ways to help myself stay positive. Why is it that daydreaming can feel so dangerous but like a drug I am addicted to the high.

That Joel is involved with Lauren’s killing. Why else would he be acting as a lawyer for Nathan out of choice?
I am actually kind of disappointed as Joel seemed like a decent guy despite what happened with his ex/ deedee not knowing about her until recently, and it’s disappointing that they’re likely taking this direction with him but I suppose I’m not surprised considering how rubbish Corrie is now.
Nathan’s return has also been a bit meh for me. I was excited for it but maybe the actor just has been given rubbish scripts as he doesn’t seem as good as before.
Also don’t think that Lauren is dead but personally I don’t care much either way.

Hello! I need some advice on hand shakes. Often times when I walk in to a room for an interview everyone is sitting down other than the hiring manager who greets me when I walk in.
My question is: IF everyone is sitting down should I walk to each person (depending on how many people?) and shake their hands even if they are sitting down? What does everyone normally do in this situation? Sometimes I get the vibe to shake everyone's hands and sometimes it's the opposite so I don't.

I just got the urge out of no where to revisit this show, I watched a bit when the show was live. I'm a couple episodes into the first season, but....... It's rough going. My main feeling right now is that it reminds me a lot of Babylon 5. Babylon 5 is one of my favorite sci fi shows of all time but the first season is really bad lol. So much so that I skip it on my rewatches. I have so many friends that say they started Babylon 5 and didn't like it, and I tell them "Honestly, a part from 1 or 2 episodes. Just skip season 1 all together." It's mostly just a "Space Station problem of the week" structure in season 1 and it really feels like B grade sci fit. The show gets EXPLONENTIALLY better with a near perfect seasons 2-4.
Do people ever feel that way about Fringe Season 1? Like it's just the "Problem of the week" season meant to cement itself in cable and the series really gets going with a strong macro level narrative after season 1?
I think when it was live I got to the end of Season 2? I remember the alternate universe being established and I believe I stopped watching when FO-livia was introduced and switched places. I'm trying to remember why I stopped watching. I made a point of taping the show while it was on, so I did like it a lot. It might have hurt it that Lost absolutely shattered my faith in mysterious, carrot dangling 'oh maybe you'll get answers to this mystery next episode' style of show. Though I know now it was executive meddling and the creators made one of the best shows of all time in The Leftovers.
Things I liked a lot:
The acting is amazing. The 4 Main Characters (Walter, Peter, Olivia, Phillip). Honestly, in this first season it feels like the actors are propping up some sub-par writing. Reminds me a bit of when I rewatched Lie to Me and didn't realize the writing was so terrible because the actors were so amazing that they completely carried the script.
Those late 2000's early 2010's vibes. Man I miss when we thought the advancements in the 90s/2000s would continue on forever and the future would be stranger than we could possible imagine. The show really captures the zeitgeist of how we all thought the trend of technology would keep going to unimaginable places.
I know the macro level narrative is there. I remember it from 15 years ago. I'm fully expecting to enjoy it once I pick up where I left off.
Things I dislike:
The obvious monster of the week format with just small nuggets of moving the plot forward.
Like I said before, the writing feels really "meh". The actors totally carry some bad dialogue with their skill though. I'm hoping this is just early show issues. I know a lot of good shows have bad writing at the start.
Man JJ Abrams feels like a guy that knows absolutely nothing about science, but really really wishes he did. We've got some serious "Spout some scientific nonsense that an average person will tune out but accept as an explanation, but really makes absolutely zero sense". I'm hoping his influence in the show drops off as it gets better as he offloads responsibility to others while he focuses on other things.
So right now I'm fully expecting the show to turn a corner about half way through Season 2? Am I right on that assumption? Does the "Bad guy of the week, X-Files" type structure drop off and stay off around then? I know from peoples comments it does eventually. I'm also hoping the show kicks it up a notch in writing quality, because right now it's not great.
I know I probably stopped watching in 2010 right before it hit it's best season in Season 3. I also know people seem very satisfied with how the show ended and tied things together. So I've got faith that good times are coming, both from what people say and the things I remember from '09. I guess I'm just hoping for a bit of a road map I can place a pin in to get me through the next 20 hours or so; and that I'm right in my expectation of a significant uptick in quality around mid-season 2.
Anyways, thanks for letting me freeform my thoughts down on paper for you all.

After getting alot more experience, I have decided to rerelease my first script, with a few formatting changes. I wanted this and the rest of the ongoing series to match the standards of the other scripts in my library.
Note: Monetization is fine, just credit me, send a link of audios, and ask me before making changes of any kind.
Context: A young woman (listener) goes into the forbidden forest to get healing herbs. Her grandmother has gotten deathly ill and only the herbs in the forest have the power to her ailment. As the woman is picking the herbs, she feels a nearby presence. She brushes it off as being a curious animal, but the presence seems to get closer and closer. Before she knows it, a hand rips away her basket and starts rifling through it. The hand belongs to the elf prince who rules and protects the forbidden forest.
Elf Prince: (Smirk) Ah ha! Look what we have here! A little human trying to steal from my forest. Don’t you know it is not nice to take what is not yours?
…..
Elf Prince: [basket rustling sounds] Fire blossoms, Moon berries, and Golden apples. All of these would fetch a high price on the black market. (Voice lowers, menacing) You’re not planning on selling these, are you?
….
Elf Prince: These are for your sick grandmother? (Voice goes back to normal) That honestly makes more sense. You do not really look like the type to sell stuff on the black market. Let me guess, you are going to make that healing soup, the one that is supposed to heal any illness?
….
Elf Prince: So, since the doctor could not help, you decided to take matters into your own hands? In that case, I guess I will not kill you. However … I do require payment.
[Heartbeat and fleshy sounds]
Elf Prince: (Shocked voice) This heart is nearly spotless! I do not normally see mortals with hearts this clean. Now, do not panic. This heart is not like the one that keeps your blood pumping. Once you stepped into the elven domain, the way your body functions slightly changed. This crystal heart is a physical representation of a person’s intentions, thoughts, feelings, etc. When mortals typically cross the border, their hearts are covered in black spots or are nearly black. They usually come here for fame, money, magic, or even eternal life. You, on the other hand, came here for your sick grandmother, a non-selfish reason.
….
Elf Prince: You do not know how this heart can be payment? You see, a heart of this condition can be used for all sorts of things. Jewelry, elixirs, love potions, amulets of power. And besides, it is the most valuable thing on you. The elves do not accept your human coinage anyway. If it makes you feel any better, I will cut you a deal. In exchange for half of your heart, I will let you leave my forest with everything in your basket. However …. there will be some side effects.
Elf Prince: You will still be able to feel and love, but you will always feel like something is missing. Like your life is not fully complete. But it is all worth it for helping your grandmother, right?
….
Elf Prince: The side effect of losing your whole heart is that you would never be able to love again. Shadows would forever follow you and the world would be tinged with gray. You would still be able to be polite to people but never make deep emotional connections. If you feel like paying with half of your heart is not a good deal for you, I could take you to see my mother, Queen Freyalise. (smirk) I do have to warn you though, she is not always as good-hearted as myself.
….
Elf Prince: Very well! I will take you to Her Majesty’s court in a moment. In the meantime, here is your heart [heartbeat and fleshy sound] and here is your basket. In could keep these, but you would never make it out of the realm alive if you tried to run, so it does not really matter if you hold these or not. Come now little mortal, it is time to pay mother dearest a visit.
(Time Skip: The Elven Prince and Listener have arrived at Queen Freyalise’s court. Word has gotten around that the prince has found a human, who wishes to make a deal with the queen. Her majesty sits upon her throne, waiting for her son with open arms and anticipating Listener’s next move.)
Queen Freyalise: Prince Damar, my son! You have finally decided to pay your dear old mother a visit! Now come here and give me a hug!
….
Queen Freyalise: Oh! I see my son has forgotten to mention his name. He is Prince Damar Aquarius Uriqen. My youngest of four sons and the only one unwed
Damar: Mother, for the thousandth time, I am not interested in having a bride. I am fine being by myself and looking after the forest.
Queen Freyalise: Do not “Mother” me, young man. It is about time you settled down and gave me grandchildren. I am not getting any younger, you know.
Damar: Mother, you are over three thousand years old and immortal. You will always be “Younger.”
Queen Freyalise: That is beside the point. (Talks to Listener) Now, my dear girl, I have gotten word of your virtually unblemished heart. May I see it?
…. [Heartbeat and fleshy sounds]
Queen Freyalise: So, it is true! This heart is almost completely clear! I only see a few flaws here and there, but they are hardly noticeable. As for the deal, unfortunately, I hardly ever offer lower than three-fourths of a heart.
….
Queen Freyalise: However, since your heart is purer than most mortals that come into our lands and your purpose was not for your own gain, I will make you a deal that I have only made one other time. In exchange for you leaving my realm with your heart and the herbs you gathered, you will complete three tasks for me. One, collect a tail feather from the Ruby Thunderbird. Two, collect a scale from the mammoth emerald serpent. Three, gather the tears of a silver unicorn. And since you mortals usually need help on quests like this, I will allow you to pick one companion from my court, not including myself of course.
….
Damar: (surprised) Me?! Mother, you can not allow this! Who will look after the forest?! Why do I have to babysit this human?!
Queen Freyalise: First of all, I said she could pick anyone here besides me. Second, Garolon (second oldest prince) will take over your duties during the tasks. And third, you are not babysitting her, you are making sure she stays on the path and does not get eaten. Besides, you two may even fall in love and give me my grandchildren. Now, my dear girl, you have a long day ahead of you. My maids will show you to your room and will help you settle in for the night. Tomorrow, we will get you two all set for your journey.
(Time Skip, the maids are helping Listener take a bath to try and calm her for bed)
Elven Maid 1: You must excuse the queen, miss. She has been wanting grandchildren for a few hundred years now. For some reason, the three other sons have yet to produce any. She just gets over-excited whenever she finds a potential bride for Prince Damar. [water pouring sound]
Elven Maid 2: You are actually quite lucky to be considered as a potential bride. Her majesty typically does not see humans as worthy of marrying into her family, but your heart proves that you may bring some good things into the court. I honestly find some of the noblewomen quite stuffy. [soap suds sounds?]
Elven Maid 3: Also, you are the second person to ever be offered those three tasks. The first was another mortal woman who wanted some Golden apples for her siblings. Her village’s food supply was running low during a particularly bad winter. She saw those Golden apples on a branch just outside the forest’s entrance and picked some. She was immediately taken to the Queen by some guards and was asked why she dared to do such a thing. After the woman stated her case, Queen Freyalise offered her three tasks in exchange for the apples and food to help her village survive until spring. The woman managed to complete all of the tasks and was sent home with enough food for the winter. [water pouring sounds]
Elven maid 1: If I remember correctly, the human woman looked awfully a lot like you. Who knows, you two may be related and that could be another reason why you were offered the tasks. Now, let us get you into some warm clothes and to bed. You have a long day ahead of you.
(In the Queen Freyalise’s chambers)
Damar: I still do not know why you even considered that girl for the trials. She would be killed the moment the Thunderbird sees her. I can not have her blood on my hands.
Queen Freyalise: I made that deal because she reminded me of that other mortal woman. I even have a feeling that the two of them may be related. As for you, her blood will not be on your hands. She chose this and if she dies, then at least she did for someone else. Life is full of sacrifices and risks. You can not always play it safe when someone else’s life is on the line.
Damar: But mother…
Queen Freyalise: Goodnight Damar. You have a long journey ahead of you and you will need your sleep. I will make sure enough supplies are packed for the two of you. Also, please keep her alive. I have a feeling she will bring a lot of light to this old place.

Hello friends!
My name is Anas and I'm a writer and editor of comics. I have self-published several works, crowdfunded a couple of books successfully, participated in anthologies, I've done work for hire projects, had a one-shot published through Source Point Press last March, a mini-series coming out this year from Band of Bards/Dauntless Stories, and I'm currently pitching an OGN with my agent.
I'm an experienced writer with an eye for visual storytelling. I love writing gut-wrenching and emotional stories but I consider myself versatile and have dabbled in various genres. I have availability to take on projects for 2024, my page rate is $35 USD and that includes two rounds of edits. The scripts I deliver are properly formatted, proofread, and are curated to fit the artists' specific style while playing to their strengths. You can find links to all my works with their genres listed in the comments below! Or by checking out my carrd. P.S. I am also open to collaboration on pitches if the project is right for me!
Scripts are available upon request (only for personal projects that I own and am allowed to share). I'm quick, efficient, and always meet my deadlines. I also have plenty of experience with pitching comic books to publishers and can help you create a stellar pitch with a strong logline, story breakdown, and synopsis. I hope to hear from some of you and I look forward to making some magic together!

Many moons ago I fell deeply in love with Twin Peaks, David Lynch, and everything surrounding it. Presented today on the 7^th anniversary of the premiere date of Twin Peaks: The Return, is an interview with the actress and homeowner of the Palmer house who graciously gave her time to answer some fan questions that have been haunting us for years.
Journey with me to find out some answers you wanted, some you didn’t know you wanted, and some you can’t believe you lived without knowing including how to tour the Palmer home yourself!
Questions by Luke Sweeting
Luke: How were you approached to be an actress in The Return?
Mary: I was standing in the kitchen making sure there were enough donuts and coffee for the few key people DL (David Lynch) brought with him on 2nd of 3 visits before filming, which was the 4th visit. DL came into the kitchen by himself and said, Mary, are you an actress, and I said No. He then said, “Have you ever acted?” I said I hadn't. He then asked, would you like to have a small part in the movie? I said, “Sure”, but was nervous and excited at the thought. He said that it wasn't for sure but that if it did move forward, I would be in my own home and to act naturally, in other words, just be me. He has been watching me interact with some of the people he had brought. I heard he does like to observe people and get a feel for how they interact, look and sound. It is key to him that the person fit the character he is trying to create. He said if it did happen, I would get my script and go to hair and make up with the other actors. He was already trying to make me feel comfortable right there on the spot which I found very empathetic of him.


Luke: Had you ever acted before?
Mary: I really had not acted before other than a few commercials for the local TV station I worked for back in the day, but never a speaking part. I looked at it as definitely out of my comfort zone but who would turn down this opportunity? It was also therapeutic as I was going through a very trying time in life, so it was good to channel those feelings into doing something fun.

Luke: Has anyone recognized you in public yet? If so, do they call you Mrs. Tremond or Chalfont?
Mary: I have been recognized a few times which is funny but kind of cool at the same time. I was called Mrs. Tremond, which made me laugh. That is also on my license plate; I had to take advantage of that:)

Luke: (I know this answer, but I feel people would love to know the answer too) Was being a David Lynch fan the reason you bought the house, or was this just a happy accident?
Mary: I knew about Twin Peaks and about DL before buying the house. It is not why my ex, and I purchased the house in September 2014. It needed a lot of work at the time. The previous owner we purchased it from was the woman who lived here the first time around when Twin Peaks was filmed here. That is quite a story in itself, and I really wanted to sit with her afterward and chat with her about it, but she passed a few months after purchase.

Luke: Was there ever a culture shock moment of realizing you bought THE Palmer house, or did that happen after The Return finished airing?
Mary: This house was our first home purchase and we moved to Everett because of the history, great old historic homes and how much more house we could get up here. This area of Rucker Hill has some great history and amazing houses. The man who built this house was one of the first pitchers for Seattle baseball. We heard rumblings of Twin Peaks returning but it was around 2 months after moving in that we were away for a bit and came home to a notice at the door from the location scout asking us to call him right away as they wanted to do a film here. It was a mystery as to what it would be, but we felt it was going to be Twin Peaks. The whole filming process, when our parts were going to be aired and everything about the Return was a mystery. They actually filmed the Finale at the very beginning, so I had no clue where it was going to fit into the whole Film. Filming was an amazing experience. They were here for approximately 2 weeks preparing the home for both the Hawk/Sarah scene and the Finale. It wasn't until the Finale was aired that I realized how cool this experience was in the whole scheme of things and the impact in the Return itself. I wish I could relax a bit more and soak it in again, just to relive the experience and really study the process. Each person here was so professional and fun to watch do their work with such expertise. I couldn't have asked for friendlier people.

Luke: How has the fandom treated you?
Mary: The fans are incredible. They have been extremely kind to me. They are great gift givers and just very authentic and genuine folks in love with Twin Peaks. I didn't realize how intense these fans were, but I truly get it. There is nothing like this ever made before and it set the stage for a lot of other great TV and film. The fans have been awesome and I have many great friends from this experience.

Luke: Is there anything you wish fans wouldn’t do?
Mary: The only thing I wish for fans is that they don't just walk up to the door at various hours of the day and night. It is private property and not a public place for people to peek in windows and walk the grounds. There have only been a few that have done this; the majority is very respectful to me and my home.

Luke: Is it ever scary to sleep in the proverbial Palmer house? Are there ever guests who stay over and become a little nervous?
Mary: I am not afraid in the least to stay here. I was a tad apprehensive when we first bought it, but like the lady who lived here before would say, "this is just my house." Now a few of the guests who have stayed, they were a bit nervous to sleep in Laura's room, but that may be because I have a life-sized Bob mannequin in the closet:)

Luke: I know that you’re gracious enough to let guests visit this mecca of ours, could you tell me and anyone interested about how and when to properly ask to visit? (You could also mention your favorite flowers or favorite wine? I know I’d feel bad showing up empty handed)

Mary: I prefer people get a hold of me on Messenger or IG or Twitter and ask to see the house, so I can make an appointment for them, especially since Everett is not that close to North Bend and Snoqualmie. I do now charge $25 for a 30-45 minute tour as I have done quite a few. I do love flowers and red wine. I have received some very incredible gifts from some fans which I am forever grateful for. The fans are so very thoughtful, and I have a little spot in my Palmer dining room where I proudly display some of the gifts and artwork.

Luke: I understand if you don’t want to answer this one. What does your role in Twin Peaks mean to you? To us fans I feel like it was the perfect subversion of expectations while also being incredibly meta.
Mary: There are 2 questions I can't answer and one of them is expanding on my character. I do, however, think it is cool to be an infamous Tremond!

Luke: How does it feel to be appreciated as a part of a now 30-year-old piece of media that will last forever and has influenced kids like me to make careers in film?
Mary: It is very humbling to be part of the TP mystique and genre. I am blessed and love being able to share a piece of it with fans who have never been able to see the Palmer House. The responses of people who visit is my gift. I love seeing their excitement and joy at walking through my door and each and every person is a joy for me. I have made great friends, learned wonderful theories and have listed to some reveal trauma in their own lives, which invites me into some very private parts of their lives. It has been a life changing experience for me, and I hope it has been for them as well.

Luke: Finally, what was it like working with David? Are there any fun tidbits or stories of how he directed you / that wonderfully haunting scene burned into our memories forever?


Mary: Working with DL was an incredible experience to say the least and very humbling and rewarding. He is a master filmmaker and director. The gift he gives is what we as individual viewers choose to take away from his art.

He is a wonderful director in that he ceases to tell you how to act, rather use your raw and organic natural emotions to drive the performance. I believe he knew I was going to be a bit anxious and guarded and most of all a bit nervous, which worked well for answering the door at night to 2 strangers. He tweaked a bit but left us to the scene and frankly Kyle and Sheryl would make most people look good. We only had 2 takes which was great. We practiced a bit outside before the scene which helped. Also meeting Kyle and Sheryl in hair and makeup was an introduction to them both that was organic and for me very helpful. I felt like I was acting already with 2 friends. DL and Kyle and Sheryl were very encouraging. DL knows what he wants and how to transfer his ideas out in the scene with great kindness and finesse and humor.

Luke: I’m sorry but I have to ask. Any hints to what was being spoken to you behind that menacing white door?
Mary: There were no hints of who was behind door other than me calling him Honey. He was supposedly answering my questions and then I was relaying answers to Kyle and Sheryl.

Greetings everyone,
I am a European citizen (Portuguese), but live in Switzerland.
I am on my early 30s and currently thinking on moving to East Asia, as I am planing to retire early on my mid 40s.
I do not wish to continue a European lifestyle anymore, rather start a new chapter of life in Asia.
How easy is it to immigrate to Macau, as a single person, having Portuguese citizenship? Is Macau accepting of foreigners?

I had a crush on this guy, he was my family friend. I only saw him when I visited my cousins in virginia. We live in the same state but we only meet in Virginia for some reason like mutual ppl parties. Last summer I had an intense crush on him. He was a whole new person who wasn’t just my type but elevated it too. Like if I wanna date someone I’d look for him or his qualities in him. Qualities like : respects elders, my entire family loves/adores him, he’s very very smart, very very funny, and cute and handsome. Just a typical crush. But he’s very confusing, I haven’t made any moves but I do clearly remember asking him the classic “do u like olives” question in the car one time, I was kinda drunk so I don’t rmbr what he said. I think he said maybe or something like that. My cousin sister said he likes me ( he didn’t actually tell her that, she does thinks that by the way he acts with me) but my other cousin said maybe because he’s like that with everyone. sometimes I feel like he likes me but is too shy to say it. I rmbr me and a bunch of ppl and him went to the Barbie movie, he hugged and greeted everyone except me, he only shook my hands and smiled but after the movie he asked if I liked it like separately just me. After a while those feelings for him just died? Bc I hadn’t seen him for a very long time. Now summers back and idk what to do. Do u guys think there’s something here? ( and I think he maybe actually does like me but again I’m not sure)