Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

I don't usually do story quests but for some quest i have to do both Raiden Shogun story quest to more further and it was fun and get to see her changing her mindset. and i got to use Raiden. Yepeee!!! (I want her)
Today i was thinking about which story quest i should do next and i did Zhongli story quest part one and it was good and Now i want him. It was great too
There is more to story quest then what we have experienced during event for example during lantern rite . We did Xianyun story quest too without going into story quest tab but in Xianyun Story quest which i one from story quest there was more details in it and missing was put back which was missing during latern rite (her banner time) . When i opened her quest i was like did that before but as storys goes there was more addition to story explanation. (If I'm remeber correctly Xianyun story quest has more secens compared to xianyun story quest during latern rite ).

Here's my notes throughout the Google Marketing Live. Some stuff may be omitted and I phrased everything how they would have in the presentation (overly positive).

Google Marketing Live 2024

~Philipp Schindler – Introduction~
New era of AI
-A few years ago the conversation was: What is AI?
-Now the question is: What can AI do for me and how can I implement it as fast as possible?

Google's Place in AI
1. Research Leadership
a. Google starting investing in AI over a decade ago
b. Last year, took a step w/ Gemini
c. Multimodality, Long Context, Agents
i. Project Astra
1. AI agent that can seem hear, react naturally in real time.
2. Can use camera to inform Gemini with questions
2. Infrastructure for the AI era
a. New AI models are already 100x more efficient than 18 months ago
3. AI to be utilized across all of Google’s products
4. Bold and responsible
a. Google aims to be at the forefront of policy for gen AI.

15% of searches are new on Google every day
-This number has held steady for more than a decade
“The perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you need.”

AI Overviews
· People who use AI Overviews use search more
· Higher quality clicks/more time on site
· Rolling out to US

Trend 1 – T he “Exactly-What-I-Want” search
The volume of searches with 5 or more words grew 1.5x as fast
- Instead of “men’s running shoes”
- “how to pick the right running shoes for a runner beginner with high arches”

Trend 2 – Complex Search Made Easy
“What are good options for aa day out in dallas for kids? What are some options with ice cream shops nearby?”

Trend 3 – Search Beyond Words
Search for things that are difficult to describe.
12 billion visual searches a month using lens
1 in 4 visual searches has commercial intent
You will soon be able to search with visual
Circle to Search
- Search anything on your screen with just a circle, highlight, or tap.

Trend 4 – Beyond Answers
Some people are not looking for answer, they are looking to explore, or be inspired.
- “Outfit Ideas”
- “Best Places to Eat with Kids”
- “Rainy Day Activities”
Rather than just getting a simple AI response, they will be getting a catered ai page specifically created for their request.

Small YouTube Blurb
- YouTube #1 most watched streaming platform
- 1B hours of YouTube on CTV daily
- Generative AI is the next playground for YouTube creators

Gen AI x Creativity
- Suite of tools for content creators
o Has image, music, and video models

~Vidhya Srinivasan~
People have limitless options to browse across devices
- 2 out of 3 consumers say making purchase decisions requires more effort than ever
- Have to be on every surface consumers touch
o Grab their attention
o Show them you are their solution
- Google is supposed to be the matchmaker for consumers and businesses
- Showing the perfect ad on every surface is difficult

“This is where Gen AI will unlock enormous opportunities”
- Last year they were just getting started with images
- They’re applying the latest Gemini models to teach their other models
o EX: teaching their algorithm about queries that have never been seen before
- Gen AI is still early-stage tech so they won’t get everything right
o Will become more powerful and helpful as they learn about your business

AI will influence the entire marketing cycle
- Creative
o Building creative will only take days/hours
o AI will draw on hero assets and create variations
o Every ad will be a better match for each consumer’s intent in the moment
- Media
o No trade-offs between precise targeting and growth
- Measurement
o Real-time adjustments based on campaign results

AI doesn’t have taste, it doesn’t have ingenuity, creativity, and strategic insights

Google Search – Generative AI
- Search in new ways
o More complex questions
o Searching with images
- AI overviews will appear in search results when they are particularly helpful beyond SERPs
- They will be stay focused on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creative
- More choice leads to more opportunity for advertisers
- The will be testing search and shopping ads being integrated into AI overviews
o Not just above or below!
- Match the ads, not just to query context, but also with the information within the AI overview
Example:
“How do I get wrinkes out of my clothes without an iron”
- AI overview gives tips
- Within the AI generated blurb, a wrinkle free spray sponsored ad appears

~Sylvanus Bent~
AI Applications in Search Ads
- Ads in Visual Search
o EX: You see a piece of luggage at the airport you love, but you don’t know how to describe it or what brand it is. Use visual lens to search for it, then sponsored product ads will show up within the results
- Every search ad is more than an offer, it’s an experience
o Exploring AI ads with recommendatiosn across different verticles
§ EX: Search for “short term storage” – ad shows up, but now you can click into a new dynamic ad experience, where you can customize your needs.
§ Takes the definition of a helpful ad to the next level

Conversational Experience in Google Ads
- Can give your URL to Google Ads to generate relevant assets
o Helpful for smaller businesses

Power Pair
- Combination of Search and Performance Max campaigns
o Delivers the strongest ROI

Profit Optimization
- Making it a new goal in PMAX and shopping campaigns
- Maximize profit by optimizing for gross profit

~Tim Frank – Asset Generation~
Advertisers who improve their PMAX ad strength to Excellent see 6% more conversions on average.

Creative Controls & Customization
- Brand Colors
- Brand Fonts – only closely matched
- Upload reference images for AI to generate based on

Additional Reporting & Controls
- Placement reporting and exclusions for YouTube
- Asset Level Reporting
o Asset reporting for each creative asset

~Nicky Rettke – YouTube~
AI-Powered Video Campaigns
- Video Reach drive awareness
- Video View drive consideration
- Introduced Demand Gen
o Reaches over 3 billion monthly users
- Demand Gen will roll out to Display and Video 360 and Search Ads 360
- Audience list threshold lowered to 100 users for Demand Gen lookalike audiences
- Over 40% increase in view through rate when utilizing vertical video
- Viewers can swipe left on shorts ads to go directly to a landing page
- Introducing animated image ads
o Pulls images from your product feed and animates them in on unite
- Demand Gen with Product feeds
o 33% more conversions at a similar CPA
- Shop while you watch

~Matt Madrigal – Shopping~
Product Studio
- Create custom scenes
- Change backdrops
- 2 new features
o Create visuals that match brand style w/ reference image
o Image to video
- Brand profile on search
o To be rolled out in the coming months

Shopping Ads
- Will start highlighting key attributes and stuff from reviews
- 3D shopping ad formats
- Immersive Ad Experiences
o Virtual Try-On
o Video Highlights

~Gaurav Bhaya – The Data Guy~
Good AI requires good data
- First party data delivers better results and helps protect your campaigns against privacy changes
- Collect, protect, and use your data.
- Google Ads Data Manager is now available to everyone
- Simplifies putting first-party management all in one place
- Have an active pipeline from all data sources to one place
- Measurement diagnostics is being introduced to Google Ads
o Check Engine Light for your site
- Google’s goal is for us to not have to worry about first-party data

Measurement
- Generated Insights and Reports
o Generate a report with a prompt.
o Generated insights

Marketing Mix Models
- Meridian is Google’s Open Source MMM and will be available later this year

About 4 years ago I went to work for a private cannabis startup. I worked as a staff accountant handling day to day transactions, underneath their CPA. Soon after starting I extended a loan of $100k to the company, for a 2-year period. About 1-1/2 years into the loan it was obvious (to me) the company was in real trouble, so I told the CEO I would be leaving the company and closing out the loan at the loan's maturity date that May. This was a 6-month notice. As things got closer and I could tell he was ducking the issue, so with 30 days until maturity I asked him point blank about my payoff. He said he'd "been meaning to talk to me" and that although I was owed the money, he didn't know where it would come from. This was a lie - I met with him face to face on a weekly basis to discuss A/P for the entire time I worked there, so he had ever opportunity to speak with me at any time, he just chose not to. Long story short is I quit that night and demanded my loan payoff at maturity, and even filed a complaint with the BBB since they were telling me I couldn't get my loan paid off but yet were still seeking new investors. Following the BBB complaint the company claimed they intended to pay me and tried to chalk things up to a misunderstanding. The loan matured and I received my check for $100k, deposited it, but the next day the funds were reversed from my account as the company had put a stop payment on the check. Prepared for the worst, I already had a lawyer lined up and they were served notice the same week. A week later I was wired the money plus interested for the extra days. I know this money came from the CEO himself as he'd been putting money into the company each month to keep it afloat. All told he has over $3m of his personal funds in the company when I quit.
So all was good for me, however there are well over 100 other investors in the company, roughly split between those who invested as capital and those who invested via short term loans. The company just closed almost half their stores, shuttered their cultivation, and turned over the company to a local group who is now managing it. They're on the verge of collapse and I don't see how any of the other 100+ investors are ever going to be made whole again, leaving me as the single person getting their money back from this entire mess. I feel like I'm able to walk away clean, but a few doubts linger:

1. If the company were to be determined to be a Ponzi scheme, could there be a lookback period that will allow them to try and recoup the money paid back to me? I remember hearing about people who got their money back from Bernie Madoff but were gone after because of this.
   
2. Since I worked there as a staff accountant (no decision making, that fell entirely to the CPA!), could I be deemed to have had any sort of insider knowledge? I really don't see how this would apply since I was only abiding by the loan payoff date that was agreed upon 2 years prior (unlike selling stocks) but lots of people are soon going to lose lots of money and I expect some resentment coming my way.
   

This was in the state of Maine.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

When I heard about the crazy prices, and that there was a group of people willing to stand up against Loblaws, I was immediately on board. I checked this sub often and was appalled at the price gouging and really hoped we could make a difference. I am always up for a fight for the little guy.
I'm a regular at Shopper's Drug Mart for supplies, mail, and prescriptions and I made the tough decision to take my business elsewhere.
I moved my prescriptions to a small pharmacy closer to home and even though their prices were higher, I was willing to make that sacrifice.
When I started seeing people taking pictures of the empty stores while making an exception for themselves I was confused, because boycott is defined as "a punitive ban that forbids relations with certain groups"
When I called this out, I was accused of shaming by being shamed for shaming. Attempts to clarify the definition of boycott was met with warnings from the mods, and my post was locked.
Someone once said "the left will eat their own." and boy, that applies here too. No discourse is allowed here the moment someone's feelings might be slightly affected.
Long story short, I moved my prescriptions back and had a wonderful time today at Shopper's Drug Mart with all their sales that you helped inspire.
As much good as you think you're doing, you're also shooting yourself in the foot. Loblaws will hold out for another ten days no problem.
I am sick of Reddit organizing boycotts that utterly fail because shaming is a four letter word. Shame is a useful tool to enact change, it's the very emotion you're trying to inflict on Loblaws.
What. A. Joke.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Those two lines kept me stuck for 5 months!I read these lines over and over. I thought this relationship was the “one”. It was healthy and so loving. I truly believed that when I let her go to self explore, she would return because we just had it all. I knew that I couldn’t be a better partner, I showed up for her in ways I never knew I could. I walked away knowing that I gave her everything I had in me. She gave me all the hope in the world and I held onto that. I worked on myself,therapy, gym, all the good stuff! But she was present, lingering, every step of the way. The best way I could’ve articulated it was let’s say….You’re applying to colleges. Harvard is your freaking dream school! Your whole family went there, room decked out in Harvard swag, you have wanted it for so long!!! Only to be waitlisted….You get into all these really good other schools but yet, they’re not Harvard. They could very well be your dream school but you can’t accept that reality until Harvard shuts their door on you. This was my reality and I hope so many of you who are holding on to this hope, hear me out. I wasn’t moping, wasn’t begging or pleading, I was moving forward,unfortunately, carrying a backpack full of bricks. Waiting for Harvard to welcome me! Until they didn’t. I finally reached out and we sat down to talk. I was given 90 minutes to hash it all out there. Was told if I reached out after, I would be emotionally manipulative. As if I am supposed to meet my ex, heart racing, and have all my clarity there. Long story short, I was told “We are not getting back together”. I am grateful for the closure and obviously really angry I didn’t unchain myself the moment she walked out of my life. I don’t ever want to change the hopeless romantic in me even if it makes me vulnerable. I just hope all of you waiting on this closure or fairytale ending, pause for a moment, and understand that if they left you, no matter the circumstance! Allow yourself to leave as well. If it’s meant to be, I pray that it will be! For all of you. 5 months later, I begin to finally move forward, genuinely.

Hi all. Long story short.
I'm going down the rabbit hole, starting with a firewall. I plan on running pihole or similar at this level, still working out all the details on that.
Question is, is there a container that just bypasses paywalls across my whole network? I almost never use one because it's kind of a pain to grab the url, go to the website, but the url in. But if it just worked in the background, that would be really cool.
Thanks.

I'm on boarding 2 more talented video editors to the team (examples for the style we're looking for are attached)~https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CrPVakFzJG_93AlegLUvvzpB1gJYhsCa?usp=sharing~
requirements:

• Uses premiere pro, and after effects (capcut is fine too)
• 24 hour delivery time
• Creative freedom and the ability to adapt to each video and not wait for specific notes, we want you to be creative, and we’re always open to suggestions
• The ability to handle bulk work
• Honest and always being on time
• Willing to do a short sample to see if you understood the above requirements
• The budget is $25 for a 60second reel

What to do:

• DM me your portfolio (put it on the first line of your message)
• briefly introduce yourself and talk about your experience and why you’re a good fit

Thank you

There's not a lot that she does that gets my goat, but the title of this video really did it this time.
Old Paris Flea Market in Oklahoma City has been a staple of the area since the 1960s. It was once the old GEX store that became the flea market when that went out of business.
Old Paris isn't the tidiest place, or in the most affluent part of town, but it is a cultural staple in the city. One of the investors happens to be the owner of Chileno's where our favorite pair of simmers ate dinner just the night before.
Old Paris is THE quintessential melting pot of commerce on a weekend morning. Native, Hispanic, Nepali, Indian, and Black owned businesses make up the lion's share of vendors in the mall. There is a knife maker who has been selling there for decades, and a really hip retro antique booth. She even took time to mock the handmade incense sticks at the market. I guess she just really likes to pretend she's spiritual without ACTUALLY supporting the culture that brought her the ever so precious "incense of the day".
Long story short, Cindy is free to keep her high falutin' gutterfun in Arkansas out of our flea market. Is it glamorous? Are they selling the most high quality products? No and no. But it's ours, damn it. Take your coke zero minis and scamper back into the mountains, Cindy. Go on now, GIT!
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Hi everyone,
This more like a vent and a request for advice so bear with me...
So long story short I've (26M) been dumped by my gf (23M) of 4.5y by text a bit more than a month ago now, we had a "happy" relationship, I don't even recall us fighting ever, other than one time about getting married now or in a bit, she said that she did love me but the fact that I had family issues I had to take care of for 2 years now, made her feel like she couldn't be my priority, and that made her feel unsafe for our future, that she got tired of waiting to be it (plus feeling bad for me about it, because she knows I couldn't do much to fix it), that by the time she took the decision she didn't see us functioning as a couple, more like friends.
I've been devastated since, somedays I do feel slightly better, that I don't even want her back, because I'll always be afraid she'll leave again, but the reality is that I still deeply miss her, she was my partner and my absolute best friend, my confident, a great source of advice when it comes to work (we do the same creative job) and my source of joy the person I was preparing myself to propose to (I had a trip planned to do so, that was cancelled...), we've been doing actual NC since the 27th of April, it's The longest time we did not even interact in 4 years. In those 4 year we had "broken up" for like 3 months, but we still saw each other and talked all the time and eventually found each other back. Before that NC, I tried to talk to her, set up a meeting, but she refused multiple time, saying that she said her piece in the breakup texts she sent me, that seeing each other will just hurt us, stubborn as I am, I did stupid things, leaving flowers and a heartfelt letter at her home, texting her to try and change her mind about just talking about it, but it all backfired, the 27th, she snapped and said that all I did during that period was hurt her, that she feels horrible and it take her steps back in her healing process whenever I do a "gesture". It's been radio silence since.
This morning I woke up to a reminder, "S's birthday prep" those 4 years I always made a point to throw her a great birthday date, we always spent those together, it was one of my favourite thing to do, i took great pleasure in preparing and teasing her until the date, seeing that reminder punched a hole in me and sent me spiraling the whole day, it confirmed that she's gone now with very few hope of comming back and I'm not even sure of what I want...

I know several examples of people growing up in two parent homes who turned out worse than people in single parent homes. My parents are prime example of that. Both my parent's parents were married for over 70 years, yet my parents have more issues than me, & I grew up in a single parent home. My mom & her siblings have many issues stemming from childhood, resentment, self esteem issues, & some of them always wants the approval of others. My maternal grandfather was a great father & grandfather, but he allowed my grandma to control everything & my grandma was never the best parent to do that because she herself had her own issues & terrible judgment (according to stories). I even overheard my maternal grandma confronting my grandpa about an affair he had years ago. So obviously their marriage had their issues. My father's parents? Even worse. My paternal grandfather AND my grandmother had numerous affairs on each other, they were poor, & they weren't the best parents either. My grandma would brag about how she was never a loving mother to her children, and referred to her grandchildren as "mfs". My paternal grandfather wasn't a hands on dad either. There's stories about my grandma always being the one to provide for the family, meanwhile my grandpa was at the nearest bar getting drunk. My dad & his siblings turned out bad too. One uncle drank himself to death, another uncle died from an overdose. And a couple of aunts were also on drugs. My dad did fairly well for himself considering the type of background he comes from, but he has some scary sociopathic ways about him. He has no empathy for anyone, and sometimes he can make downright awful comments to people. Saying their mothers should've flushed them down the toilet, calling his nieces & nephews (WHO ARE CHILDREN), little bastards etc. He can also go from 0-100 in a matter of seconds randomly. What he says can sometimes be unpredictable & you never know when things can go left. I know other people from two parent homes who have just as much issues. I say that to finally say all this, I've seen children in single parent homes turn out to be much better with less issues. Not just from regular people I know, but look at how many sucessful actors, actresses, singers, etc, who come from struggle & end up having amazing & succesful lives. I just feel like nowadays people always emphasize the fact that it's better when there's a two parent home, when that's not always the case. I'm not a parent, but it also seems like single mothers are easy targets to put the blame on, when a child turns out bad.

I hope I am asking this right. My mother in law wanted to set up a trust to protect her assets (which is solely her home) from medicate if she will require long term care. She is 79 and has 3 children. The trust is to pricey on her budget as she lives solely on SS. My husband suggested to his 2 siblings to split the cost of the lawyer to set up the trust as the account could potentially benefit then and the payments for her would be to much. Long story short the siblings are horrible with communicating. I don't think the understand and they were not willing to chip in $1000 each. My husband and I are considering paying for the whole thing and getting reimbursed by the trust if there are assets left. Also a general question on the trust. I know there is a 5 year aging requirement so wanted to check if a certian percentage is protected after the 1st year or if you have to wait 5 years. Wanted any thoughts on this. Thanks

The Truth was an anthology in the truest sense of the word. Each episode was a new present to unwrap. It is kind of surreal that it is gone now.
I recently did a partial review of The Truth on my blog, and I thought I’d share it with you guys here.
The Truth is an anthology of nearly 200 episodes spanning a wide variety of genres. It billed itself as movies for the ears, and it certainly lived up to that description. Now, it is true that quite a few audio dramas fit that description, but you have to consider the context that The Truth occurred in. The first episode of The Truth premiered way back in 2011. The indie audio drama community was still very much in its infancy. Fiction podcasts tended to be short story readings like StarShipSofa or Lightspeed Magazine. If you were lucky, you might get something like The Drabblecast, with music and sound-effects added to the mix. The Truth was a full-cast show, performed rather than read, and with immersive sound-effects and music.
The Truth was an anthology in the purest sense of the word. Each episode was a new present to unwrap. It spanned multiple genres and styles. The early years did tend to be a bit more experimental in terms of material. I had the opportunity to chat with series creator Jonathan Mitchell. Jonathan described these early episodes as scenes rather than stories. True, they are certainly shorter than later episodes, but that’s hardly a bad thing. Each of them was like a snapshot into a different life, and they were certainly memorable snapshots. I’m not the only one who is of this opinion. Many episodes from this era of The Truth were featured on various programs such as All Things Considered, Weekend America, Planet Money, This American Life, and Studio 360. Eventually, the need to pay the bills came knocking. So, the episodes began to favor longer stories in order to provide more space for ad breaks. Now, some people say this was the era when The Truth went into decline. Personally, I strongly disagree. There were still many quality episodes being produced.
The real decline, ironically, was around the time The Truth celebrated its tenth anniversary. Well, maybe not entirely ironically. I have noticed that many anthology podcasts tend to start going stale around the ten year mark. It was at this point the misses started to outnumber the hit. Now, to be fair, there were still a few diamonds in the rough. That being said, it was clear that the writers’ well of inspiration was starting to run dry. The episodes also increasingly had the same feel to them. The decline of The Truth didn’t come with a bang, but with a whimper.
It is certainly sad that the curtain has finally fallen on The Truth. No show can last forever. Eventually, if you smolder well past your time, you will see a steady decline in quality. In the immortal words of Harvey Dent, you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I certainly hope that The Truth is always remember for what it was, rather than the decline it saw during its final season.
And that, my friends, is what this review is all about. We are going to celebrate The Truth in all its myriad ways. From those early “snapshots of a life” episodes, to the more full-length episodes. We will also look at a few less than stellar episodes. They can make for a good teaching moment about what not to do.
Okay, all well and good, but what about science fiction? Well, I have reviewed three episodes that invovle science fiction.
“Moon Graffiti” is an alternate history tale. It is set in a world where The Eagle lander of Apollo 11 crash landed on the Moon. We follow Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin musing on life as they wait for their oxygen to run out.
“Brain Chemistry” follows a man named Richard. He was cryogenically preserved, but he’s been revived. The future isn’t quite what he expected. Oh, climate change is a bit of an issue, but the people are nice enough. Unfortunately, Richard, and others like him, could only be revived as a brain in a jar. He spends his days as an exhibit in a museum. He tells visitors, usually kids on field trips, about what the 21st Century was like. One day, he meets another cryonically preserved brain named Casey. Richard hasn’t had much to look forward to in a long time, but Casey lights up his world. They might be a couple of brains in jars, but they’ve got serious chemistry.
“Fish Girl” follows a girl named Win who has the ability to talk to fish. She befriends a porcupine pufferfish named Jane. Jane lives at an aquarium store, but longs to see the ocean. Win can’t do that, but she can take her down to the pond. Safely in a plastic bag, of course. It’s sure to be the adventure of a lifetime for them both.
This is merely part one. I’ll be making a part two, so be on the lookout for that in the near future. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s part three eventually.
Like I said, this just the start. More to come in the future.
Link to the full review is over here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-audio-file-truth-part-1.html?m=0

I don't mind someone coming in and poking a bit of fun at Cristina but with Hahn they just did entirely too much.
Even though it's rude when Hahn says she dates men so Cristina's usual tactics won't work with her, imo that could have been funny, it even was a little bit funny. But then straight after that Hahn tells Cristina that she assumes Cristina isn't talented and just slept her way into her job etc and that's too much because girl- Cristina Yang, as an intern, performed the head of cardio's surgeries, to say she has no talent is just incorrect. Hahn doesn't know this but that's the entire point she's assuming she knows everything about Cristina just because she slept with two of her mentors and what's worse is she won't even give Cristina a real chance to prove her wrong.
Hahn could have been fun but it's no wonder she's unpopular in the fandom. Long story short if Hahn had just chilled for a second with Cristina I could have liked her even if she messed around a bit with Cristina, who I adore.

So, I’ve been uploading my short stories on Wattpad somewhat periodically since this past November. In that time, my work has been generally well received, though I couldn’t help but wonder what one could say about any of my stories in a review format. I’ve tried a few places but I’ve mostly either gotten no response or been told that my content doesn’t fit what they review. I’ve gotten success with one but I’m still waiting on the actual review from that one review book. So, now I’m coming here wondering if anyone or anyone you all know is doing reviews, either on a review book, book club or here on Reddit.