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My opinion is that buying 10 shares at a time is better than buying in bulk, prove me wrong.

Hey guys, this post is not intended to tell you what to do. I'm not a financial advisor. This isn't my day job. I am not even a day trader. I learned the difference between call and put options like 3 months ago. I don't trade options. I don't even know how yet, to be frank. I recently got an RH account to try to learn how and then this shit blew up. This post is viewable to the general public and is not "insider knowledge". Everything I am about to say, I have gleaned from PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE DATA. That Hedge funds and other people in the media, the government, and in the general public ALL have access to. This is MORE VISIBLE than even Facebook. Let alone a country club or private "dinner party". Just saying. I am a real person. I am not a bot. I am not trying to screw anyone over. I like the stock I am choosing to gamble my disposable income on and think it will be a good investment regardless of the action over the next few weeks. 💎🙌
I CAN earn it back if I have to. I didn't stake my entire savings. I don't advise people to gamble with money they don't have. Not for financial reasons, solely, but more for mental health reasons.
Bias disclosure: I currently have 1882 shares of AMC at an average price of 9.27$ and I occupied Wall Street for a bit after the financial crisis, mostly on reddit as I was in medical school at the time, and supported occupy the SEC. Please see my post history. It's all there in the top posts. I have nothing to hide as I know I am a valued member of our society, I pay my taxes, I treat mental illness, I follow the law, and I don't normally gamble. This is not about the money for me personally, it's about principle. It's my token of rememberance for the failed actions of our government to hold these types of people accountable for the great recession and the subprime mortgage crisis. Also, WSB just happened to stumble upon these criminal vulture firms, in the act of active company rape and decided to give them a licking. If you were interested in GME and were one of the people on the other side [IE at one of these firms] reading the discussion over at WSB should have been your job as a form of market research. If you missed the warning, it's not Reddit's fault. If you suck at your job, it's not Reddit's fault. I don't see how pinning them in that position was illegal. It wasn't planned, it wasn't private. It developed organically like a movement. It continues to grow. Silencing us will only make it louder. You need to level the playing field and regulate the markets. What they did to defend themselves was illegal. The manipulation of the market and the media was illegal. The restriction of buying was illegal. The algorithmic ladder attacks were illegal. Thus I will hold the line, as I HAVE been since Tuesday. It's been a wild ride and I'm tired of this shitshow. I want to get back to normal investing after this fiasco. It's much better for my sleep.
*So here goes my theoretical question. AGAIN, I AM NOT saying you SHOULD do this. What you do is your call. I am asking if this has been done before or if it even can be done. I'm a n00b. Educate me. I'm trying to learn how the arena works. Like how it really works.
If short ladders by algorithms are being used to artificially deflate the stock price. IE: tanking the price of AMC with low trade volumes that they simply pass amongst themselves. I think yesterday it was 5% buy and hold and 95% sell for AMC but each time with low volumes in a very predictable pattern. (Trey from the link below explained it very well several times better than me.)...
What prevents retail traders from spacing out their purchase orders to 1-10 shares at a time and holding. Wouldn't that be better than just impulse buying 100 shares because you want in and you like the stock? Would it do the same thing as short laddering but in converse? Just curious. Would like to hear your opinions.
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I've been watching this channel to learn about AMC action and markets in general and it has been super educational.
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*I am not investing in AMC to make a quick buck. I am not a day trader or a pump and dumper. I am doing this because I think AMC will not die from the pandemic, was artificially deflated by vulture hedge funds, almost to the point of bankruptcy, and will NOW be able to pivot into a better business model with fresher screens, Hollywood exclusive releases, fancier theaters, pent up demand, etc., with the new capital and public interest. People LIKE the MOVIES. I grew up in NJ and movie theaters were a HUGE part of my life and many of my most memorable moments occurred at the movies. They make me warm and fuzzy. They have a certain nostalgia for me personally and I like supporting local business when I can. [I know AMC was bought by China, but the staff are all local]. In my opinion GME has an antiquated business model bc I buy games on STEAM and online. AMC was only struggling because of COVID and I don't think that otherwise people would completely stop going to the movies. We Americans LOVE going to the movies. I love going to the movies. That's just my opinion. Don't hate on me for it. I think that the "real value" of AMC is AT LEAST about 10-20$ which is what they were at before 2020 and it wasn't even their peak value. Even if the real value is closer to 5$, according to the arguments of experts, that's just their fucking opinion. It's a different situation now and I don't agree. Is that my right to disagree with them and pick my own stocks? Or can I only bet on what Fox Business tells me to. Or Jim Cramer. As an individual investor, am I free in this country to spend my money how I want on the stock market, or am I not? Am I free to make my own choices about whether to buy a stock or not? At least I think I should be. If I am not, it will solidify my opinion [and the watching world's opinion] that "free market" capitalism is indeed a farce. It will highly depreciate the value of the American dream and my respect for our current government. Which I was Ecstatic about during Election Day. [Disclosure, Bernie/Liz Bro, who voted for Biden and abstained from voting in 2016 due to bitterness about the primaries. Damn you DWS, you know what you did.] We all know the hedge funds sure are free to buy as much stock as they want to. Apparently even to buy stock that doesn't exist. WTF is that? Glad I found out now. Even if I lost 8k by betting it will be 10$ in 2022 rather than 5$ isn't it my CHOICE when to sell? Am I not free to HOLD the damn stock if in my opinion, I'm willing to consider it a tax on sending a giant reddit shaped middle finger into space to these people that rape companies regardless of the consequences to local staff? These parasites who prefer profit to morality and decency? Who sold their souls in the search of...what?...private islands and yachts? Let THIS MOMENT be your Memento Mori, you soulless motherfuckers. If you have any of it left, now is your time to search for it. Your actions will leave behind a husk of an economy and earth if left unchecked. We the Reddit "Retards" stumbled upon our teeth. For the first time the MARKET BITES BACK AND WE ARE NOT LETTING GO. WE ARE MAKING A STAND. FUCK YOU. We all know that the American Citizens will end up footing the bill anyway in taxes when all those people start relying on the government for survival after you motherfuckers artificially drive their employer into bankrupcy. FUCK YOU. You're already taking my money and you know it. I pay 47% in taxes due to my income and living in NYC. FUCK YOU for evading them with offshore accounts you GREEDY FUCKS. I am willing to lose 8k to do that (send you a message) and to rapidly learn about what is going on to manipulate markets. It's also partially the cost of education in my calculus. I have learned more in one week riding this wave, than in 4 years of getting my Economics degree. Either way, my current buy in as at 9.27 so I will hold at least until I make my initial investment back. I am also disclosing that if the stock goes up to 30$ I will likely SELL enough shares to cover half of my position because I am not a degenerate gambler and have been holding the line since Tuesday and it has taken a toll on my sleep and my sanity. I know I might lose some money and this is a crazy roller coaster. I want to get out most of my investment ASAP and then ride the wave to then END with you all. IF it happens. I know it may not. I don't care. The message seems to have been sent. Seems like they received it. But we don't know who will be regulated and how yet. I am tired of this fight. I don't like it. I don't want to do it anymore. But I stayed in for the principle not the principal, and for the people just finding out about this now to still be able to make a choice about what to do before we release them from the HOLD. This is a constantly evolving situation. Will they censor the media from talking about stocks? Why target Reddit? Reddit is LIKE the media. It's not a private chat room. THESE WORDS CAN BE READ BY ANYONE WITH AN INTERNET CONNECTION AND WE ARE AWARE OF THIS. If it falls, and I lose my money, I don't think the government will come in and save me. I don't expect them to. I EXPECT them to let this play out and not SIDE with these assholes. It upsets me that they seem to have decided to save Vulture capitalists. Anyway, despite my fear of posting this question and the associated rant, I really want to know the answer. Has it been done before by Algorithms pushing stocks higher? Is it possible to make a crowdsourced one? Is it legal?
If this gets removed or censored in some way. You have your answer I guess.
facta non verba.
Thanks.
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****IMPORTANT ADDENDUM****: I want to add that I was quite revved up when I wrote this and have had some time to reflect. I want to stress that it is not my intention to lay blame or judge any individual person or organization for the current situation [Of stacked odds in the retail investor vs hedge fund battle]. Emotions run high in the stock market. I know this through experience now. I was angry when I wrote this post. [I am leaving it unedited for posterity and since whoever needed to see it already saw it so removing it would be pointless] This should not become a witch hunt or be personal. These guys and girls are people too. They work for a corporation. They earn a paycheck. They have friends, partners, and families too. I am a person. You, reader, are a person. Don't make this personal. They didn't invent algorithms and weren't the ones that necessarily wanted to take these short positions. The market calculus at the time, dictated that this was a good call for them, it wasn't. We accidentally stumbled upon it on WSB and shit-posted about it until it blew up and they were really in a bind. I understand their calculus to a degree, but I am a "smooth brained" "retard" when it comes to these things. I am learning fast though. I understand that certain companies are likely to fail and it is possible to make a profit off that. My moral views about it are irrelevant as the situation they're in dictates their actions, not my personal views about that. I understand that they're getting screwed at the moment and I'm sorry. I truly hope most of them do not get too damaged by this and have had time to change their positions. But I also believe in the American dream, and think that the people that were able to find a good position in the stock market [the retail investors] should be rewarded. I sincerely hope this doesn't trigger a massive systemic issue and we don't accidentally BREAK the stock market with this action on those stocks. It doesn't seem like that would happen, but again smooth brain here. WE NEED THE MARKET TO STAY ALIVE to have peace and stability in this country. Reddit crew, I beseech you, please understand that the individuals involved are also playing by the rules given to them by the market. The problem I personally have is that the rules are different for the retail investors vs. the big institutions. I don't have a problem with them as people. I don't want to destroy anything or any institutions. That was never my goal as an activist nor as an investor-activist and I can only speak about myself. I just hope they could find it in their hearts to try to understand our outrage and consider playing by the rules or at least letting us play by the same rules. We are attacking them and they don't like it. I get it. In either case, please understand that I am not vested too strongly in either outcome anymore. I am tired and want to return to my regular life and will not be on reddit for a while, nor will I be investing any more money into the stock market for a while... The whole thing has taken it's toll on me and I am going back to my regular life. This is not my war.
On the government's side, I also understand that their goal is to enforce the rules. I hope I'm not breaking any here and will remove my posts if I am. I am not trying to cause a revolution. This country has been through too much and we finally have a shot at beating COVID and have a competent administration that can guide us back on the right track. I truly believe that the people in charge now are decent people and will do good for this country. If Biden says no more diamond hands, I will listen to Biden. What I do further with my shares shall remain my business otherwise. I will no longer tell anyone what I am doing with my shares. I realize now that this is not always a good idea and should be done with tact and experience. I am not a financial advisor. But also, financial advice and being one is not a joke. I realize this now. MEMEing about stocks is like MEMEing about drinking bleach. People might listen to you and sacrifice their lives on a losing battle. Not everyone knows the stakes and not everyone knows what they're doing. Now that this is blowing up, people can get really hurt financially. Reddit, we could be putting people in danger. I see this now. So you all, too, reading this, PLEASE be careful. About investing and about what you say on social media. INVEST but INVEST RESPONSIBLY and not with money you can not bear to lose. I pledge that I will personally no longer post any inflammatory shit on Reddit. Because now I'm afraid that WE are suddenly some form of weird market makers and I don't have as many lawyers as the hedge funds. I am tapping out from posting any more about the current battle. I wish you all luck on both sides, truly. In the next round tomorrow.
Dear Government: If you want this to end, don't you have the power to delist these "Meme" companies and distribute the shares somehow? If not, the the system is truly stronger than our institutions. If you do this, please make sure people don't lose their life savings somehow. That would be nice. Then, please try to make sure this won't happen again and that the SEC actually regulates and prosecutes people so their calculus isn't that the fines are too low to justify following the rules. [Just my humble opinion as a smooth brain with limited experience of markets. Do what you think is best and I will obey the laws as an individual]. Sorry you might disagree hedge fund guys and girls, but I am entitle to my opinion in a free country. This is my platform. You can have CNN and Fox News. Sorry for saying something. I promise this is the end of it. But also, a lot of market makers on TV seem to assert that the market will self correct and I don't see how this should be a large risk for overall wealth. Who knows, none of us can predict the future. But I think if a bunch of Reddit "retards" get a couple hundred thousand bucks, it won't change the overall situation or necessarily be a net negative; and may in fact trigger a renaissance in this country. You'll still be the biggest fish, just in a more biodiverse pond. It may just create a new class of petite bourgeoise in this country. But it is not likely that if they win, it will cause something like the French Revolution. There will be losers and winners, but in the end, it will be a good story for Hollywood. [Hopefully played on an AMC screen in a post covid world] But what do I know, I'm a just another "retard" on reddit.
I hope that after this, you are all decent humans at the end and don't break any law on all sides. [Reddit, Retail investors, Government, Hedge fund investors, etc] I hope we don't break the market over this. If that is a true risk we need to make the market unbreakable or this WILL keep happening. If anyone is resentful about losing future gains on a good position so the government can fix the market, don't be a fucking greedy idiot and look at what we've achieved so far. This is already a big win for the small guy. And if our markets are vulnerable, the next winners will not be idiots on reddit. But will likely be our enemies from abroad. Not to name names. We will ALL benefit more from long term stability than short term gains. We MUST come together as a country so we can spend that money in the future for things. If we break the stock market, we will not be able to buy things with all that worthless money. But if the system isn't at risk, I don't understand what all the hullabaloo is about. There have been countless bubbles before. Why weren't those regulated as much. Maybe they were and I'm an ignorant smooth brain. In any case, I hope that we can stop fighting over carcasses for greed. This was always about making the rules of the casino fair for me, personally. It's not life or death. I'm not an extremist or an ideologue. It's not about burning down the casino. I hope that the government will intervene if they think it is going to short circuit the whole thing and that people reading this gamble responsibly.
This will be my last post about this as I have a life to live.
-Tememachine OUT.
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EDIT 2: Now they're making fun of the movement. Fuck Wall Street. I hope they get what's coming to them one day. [In terms of regulation and prison sentences] I'm still out of this war. But seriously. Fuck them.
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Wheelz Casino 20 gratis spins + €300 free bonus + 100 free spins

Wheelz Casino 20 gratis spins + €300 free bonus + 100 free spins
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A Deep Dive - Ghislaine Maxwell: Silver Spoons and Hard Times

A Deep Dive - Ghislaine Maxwell: Silver Spoons and Hard Times
This story was published in Frank's Report. Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist. Frank Report is one of the internet’s best destinations for true, unfiltered, hard-hitting journalism run by the acclaimed journalist Frank Parlato.
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Ghislaine Maxwell – Silver Spoons and Hard Times

August 9, 2020
By Paul Serran
https://frankreport.com/2020/08/09/ghislaine-maxwell-silver-spoons-and-hard-times/
http://archive.is/by7md
Ghislaine Maxwell led much of her life under the world’s fascinated microscopic view, always enthralled by her – famous and infamous – as it watched her fortunes wax and wane.
From the celebrated miracle daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell; to the broken young woman who fled scandal in the UK to a small New York apartment, trying to launch a new life; the rebirth Jet-set Ghislaine, who was everywhere at once, longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein, a man even richer and more shady than her father; the sophisticated middle age woman, a runaway alleged criminal trying hard to avoid detection by her pursuers – finally, to the incarcerated, indicted suspected sex trafficker and perjurer.
Ghislaine was Robert and Betty Maxwell’s miracle baby, born on Christmas Day, 1961. Two days after that, their eldest son suffered a fatal car accident.
In 24 hours, it all had been somehow foretold: joy – and then tragedy.
During the Swinging Sixties, Robert Maxwell served two terms as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham. He led a multimillionaire lifestyle, and was the host of star-studded parties at Headington Hill Hall, his baronial fifty-three-room Oxford mansion.
The Maxwells spent a million dollars redecorating the mansion. In a stained glass window scene for the imperial staircase, Israeli sculptor Nehemia Azaz depicted Robert Maxwell as the biblical hero Samson tearing down the gates of Gaza: “a titan of luck, impossible achievement, and unlimited wealth”.
They had the use of chauffeured luxury cars. They traveled the world in Robert’s Gulfstream IV Jet and his sleek 180-foot yacht, named Lady Ghislaine.
“If Bob Maxwell didn’t exist, no one could invent him,” Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock celebrated the bombastic, demanding mogul who dined with kings and presidents and had a bottomless appetite for family, food, fortune, and fame.
The first brush with financial and professional hardship came at a age when young Ghislaine would have been mostly sheltered from it.
In the early seventies, after Robert Maxwell tried similar shenanigans in a failed attempt to swindle the American financier Saul Steinberg, who was interested in a strategic acquisition of Pergamon Press. Steinberg claimed that during negotiations, Maxwell falsely stated that a subsidiary responsible for publishing encyclopedias was extremely profitable.
At the same time, Pergamon had been forced to reduce its profit forecasts for 1969 during the period of negotiations, leading to a suspension of dealing in Pergamon shares on the London stock markets.
It was found that Maxwell had contrived to maximize Pergamon’s share price through transactions between his private family companies. This was a criminal practice he would utilize again in the future.
Inspectors from Britain’s Department of Trade and Industry declared Maxwell unfit to run a public company: “Notwithstanding Mr. Maxwell’s acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company.”
‘Captain Bob’ established the Maxwell Foundation in tax haven Liechtenstein, in 1970. By the 1980s he come back roaring, prompted by money later said to have originated in the Soviet Union. He bought the Mirror Group built and a massive media conglomerate.
The good times were on: Ghislaine was nicknamed “The Shopper” because of her wild spending funded by Robert’s millions. He also bankrolled her failed corporate gifts business.
During this period, she reportedly had a VERY close relationship with her father and was widely credited with being her father’s favorite child.
In Oxford, Ghislaine led a student life of wealth and privilege. Her father would send Filipino servants to the college house she shared to clean, arrange the table and cook, in the event of a party.
Her career piggybacked on her father’s businesses. She was made director of the Oxford United, and later, put in charge of “special projects” of the New York Daily News.
With her father’s money, she found her way into society, especially in New York — a haven where she could escape his complete control.
But the good times were not to last. Overextended and over-leveraged, Maxwell’s empire was about to crumble.
At this time, Maxwell reportedly was a regular at London’s casinos, playing three tables at once, even dropping $2.5 million in a single night. For years, he had been an inveterate gambler, but this was the behavior of a desperate man whose time was running out.
“He was a very crude man,” said a female writer for Time magazine. “His polish was not very deep. If you were with him for any length of time, it peeled away. I was in his library in the Maxwell House penthouse—a beautiful apartment with marble and servants all over the place—and while I was admiring his books, his valet said to me, ‘You should see Mr. Maxwell’s collection of pornographic tapes’.”
Ghislaine visited her father in his office before he flew off to Gibraltar. “He was looking for an apartment in New York—a sort of pied-à-terre, where he could talk and have meetings—and he wanted me to help him,” she told Vanity Fair. “He asked me to go see a particular apartment. He said, ‘If you like it, I’ll make time to see it and come to New York.’ ” But the next time Ghislaine saw her father, he was dead.
”Ghislaine is the baby of the family and the one who was closest to her father,” her mother Betty told Vanity Press. ”The whole of Ghislaine’s world has collapsed, and it will be very difficult for her to continue.”
When she finally appeared before the reporters, she had collected herself. “How did your father die?” a journalist shouted at Ghislaine Maxwell. “He did not commit suicide. That was just not consistent with his character. I think he was murdered. ”
Maxwell, it turned out, had debts of nearly $5 billion, and had stolen hundreds of millions from the Mirror Group’s pension funds to shore up his faltering companies. That left 32,000 employees exposed to retirement ruin.
The irony was not lost on the hard-hitting British press: Robert Maxwell, a socialist, stealing hundreds of millions of pounds from the Mirror’s pension fund!
He swindled money from two of his public companies, transferred millions in and out the secret family trusts in Liechtenstein, to manipulate the share price of his Corporation.
Robert was called “rogue,” “crook,” “bully,” “thief,” “megalomaniac,” and “gangster.” The press told lurid tales of his sex orgies with midget Filipino hookers.
He was seen as a 310-pound aberration gorging on spoonfuls of caviar. An erratic and cruel tyrant who used Turkish towels for toilet paper. Journalists wrote that he was a spy for the K.G.B. or Mossad or Czech intelligence—or all three.
“My daughter Ghislaine has no money, no trusts, no funds anywhere.” her mother Betty told Vanity Fair. “Neither of [my children] had any money. Their father never gave them any money.”
Their assets were frozen. His son Kevin’s house was put up for sale, as were the Lady Ghislaine and the Gulfstream IV Jet. Their passports were seized.
A friend told The Times of London, “[Ghislaine] had always been the life and soul of the party wherever she wanted to go in the world and never had to worry about money.” Now she was the broken child of a monster, his name forever synonymous to scandal. “She was catatonic,” the friend said.
Forced to vacate her huge company-provided residence, she moved into a small apartment. When a friend came to visit, Ghislaine told her, “They took everything—everything—even the cutlery.”
Little did she know how many more times things in her life would shift from silver spoons to hard times. A woman brought up in luxury, she had everything taken from her, before she came to the United States to begin again.
“He wasn’t a crook,” Ghislaine told Vanity Press. “A thief to me is somebody who steals money. (…) Did he put it in his own pocket? Did he run off with the money? No. And that’s my definition of a crook.”
“I’m surviving—just,” she said. “But I can’t just die quietly in a comer. I have to believe that something good will come out of this mess. It’s sad for my mother. It’s sad to have lost my dad. It’s sad for my brothers. But I would say we’ll be back. Watch this space.”
Ghislaine Maxwell was also being hunted by the tabloids. The Maxwell name was so detested in London that she is said to have had to walk around in a blond wig so people wouldn’t recognize her.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s reinvention didn’t take long. Maxwell moved to the United States just after her father’s death. Her photograph boarding a Concorde to cross the Atlantic caused outrage – her father had just defrauded pensioners out of 750 Million Sterling Pounds.
According to the Mail on Sunday: “Unnoticed by almost everybody, traveling with her was a greying, plumpish, middle-aged American businessman who managed to avoid the photographers. It is to this man that 30-year-old Ghislaine has turned to ease the heartache of her father’s shame.”
“His name is Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Whose house is this, Ghislaine?” a friend asked her in the early 1990’s. “Who lives here?”
My friend,” Maxwell replied.
“Well, is he banging you?” the friend demanded. “What’s the scoop here?”
A trust fund is said to have provided her with an income of $145,000 a year. A far cry from her previous seemingly unending wealth. She “never, ever had any cash. Lots of credit, of course, but no cash”, one friend recalled to the press.
And yet, she lived the high life. She was known in New York as the “female Gatsby” for her lavish entertaining. Had a “reputation for being charming and funny, and a glittering lifestyle straight out of the pages of a society magazine”.
She was now “far from the ever watchful eye of the British press,” Hello! magazine wrote in 1997.
“She is proud of the fact that her new life is all down to her own hard work and has her elegant apartment to show for it,” the magazine mistakenly added. One day, she would “get married and have kids. But it has never been a focus: My focus is my business.”
Ghislaine’s presence added more fuel to the question: “How did Jeffrey Epstein amass his fortune?” For one of the most propagated theories is that Maxwell’s father Robert bankrolled him with funds hidden from the UK authorities.
Jeffrey Epstein built a 21,000-square-foot mansion on a massive ranch in New Mexico, which – he boasted – made his New York townhouse “look like a shack”. He named it the Zorro Ranch. He also acquired a 72-acre island in the Virgin Islands and an 8,600-square-foot home in Paris, with a specially built massage room.
She had found a path back to the lifestyle she’d lost when her father died. “She was used to living very well,” says a friend who knew her then. “She didn’t want to go back to where she was.” All she had to do to keep it was to give ‘the monster’ what he wanted.
Maxwell was expected to drop everything to serve Epstein.
She had to keep everyone in line, because one misstep would unleash the wrath of Epstein, one of the few people who could make Maxwell cry. “He would be screaming over the phone,” recalled an Epstein victim, “and she would burst into tears.”
The New York townhouse became a social nexus; guests could have included members of the Kennedy and Rockefeller clans, “along with the requisite sprinkling of countesses and billionaires,” according to The Times of London.
She was “a modern-day geisha” in a “domain filled with the richest people in the planet. “It’s a world frequented by young half-naked girls in bikinis, billionaires and lavish lifestyles, but it borders on the grotesque. You are never really sure what is going on behind closed doors.”
Royalty was specially prized, which is why her friendship with Prince Andrew became so treasured. In 2000, Maxwell and Epstein attended a Prince Andrew’s party at the Queen’s Sandringham House estate in Norfolk, England. It has been reported that the event was in honor of Maxwell’s 39th birthday.
And yet, Ghislaine began trying to distance herself from Epstein long before he went to jail. In the early 2000s, she hooked up in California with a man much richer than Epstein: Ted Waitt.
Waitt lived in a seven-bedroom, 14-bath mansion in La Jolla, sailed the world aboard a 240-foot mega-yacht, the Plan B. It was equipped with a helipad, Jacuzzi, elevator, gym, and HAD AN ONBOARD SUBMARINE, which Maxwell soon was licensed to pilot.
After Epstein went to prison in Florida for a short period, Maxwell saw the silver spoons turned into hard times again.
Acquaintances that crossed her path reported how she was almost unrecognizable. She was not stylish and attention grabbing anymore, seemed determined to go unnoticed. Her face had no makeup. There was a hint of gray in her black hair, she put on some weight.
“I was so shocked by her look,” a friend recalled to the British press. “I didn’t recognize her.”
She even gave up her once proud name, sometimes introducing herself to new acquaintances only as “G.”
“Where are you living, Ghislaine?” the friend asked. “I lost touch with you.” Maxwell suddenly went blank. “Oh,” she replied, “a little bit everywhere.”
December 2014: Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida describing Maxwell as Epstein’s “primary coconspirator and participant in his sexual abuse and sex trafficking scheme.”
Maxwell made a huge mistake, issuing an “urgent” statement to the media dismissing the claims as “obvious lies.” That allowed Giuffre, to sue Maxwell for defamation in federal court in New York, a lawsuit “widely viewed as a vessel for Epstein’s victims to expose the scope of Epstein’s crimes,” according to the Miami Herald.
Maxwell affirmed her innocence with fury, at one point of her testimony banging her fists on the table. She also, according to charges filed by the DOJ SDNY, committed two counts of perjury.
2019: when the SDNY reopened the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine was far away, living the high life.
She met with her friend Prince Andrew in Buckingham Palace, and participated in “Cash & Rocket”, an annual charity road rally. Between races of the rally, she joined the super rich in attending a Masquerade Ball in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as a White dinner at La Reserve in Geneva and the Red party at the Yacht Club de Monaco.
Those were to be her last reported events. Cash & Rocket scrub Maxwell’s photo from its website once Epstein was arrested and the scandal assaulted the headlines again.
On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested by federal agents at Teterboro Airport, arriving from Paris. The FBI raided his mansion, and charged him with sex trafficking of minors.
“Epstein’s pimp girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, a very well-connected Brit socialite cannot just walk free,” actress Ellen Barking tweeted the day after Epstein’s arrest. “This woman is his pimp. She pilots planes [sic] to and from the island. I know because she told me.”
Maxwell again went into hiding, unreachable during legal proceedings. It surfaced in December 2019 that Maxwell was among the people under FBI investigation for facilitating Epstein’s crimes.
She was faced with a tabloid frenzy even bigger than the one that accompanied the death of her father. She again uprooted herself and tried to start over in Manchester-by-the-Sea, a quiet village 30 miles north of Boston, she lived for a time in the $3 million, five-bedroom colonial home of Scott Borgerson, CEO of CargoMetrics, a hedge fund investment company involved in maritime data analytics.
Since Epstein was found dead in jail, last August, she is reported to have moved 36 times, out of fear for her safety. Credible Death threats arrived by social media, email, phone, text, and postal service. It began in earnest with Epstein’s arrest, multiplied with his death, and accelerated in the months that followed. They soon became a routine part of her life.
She hired a professional security firm, with operatives that are veterans of intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
This photoshopped photo of Maxwell surfaced last year to mislead the public into thinking she was in Los Angeles. Frank Report was the first to report the photo a fake, a story that went viral.
“Where in the world was Ghislaine Maxwell? Everyone, it seemed, had a theory, each wilder than the last. She was said to be hiding deep beneath the sea in a submarine, which she was licensed to pilot. Or she was lying low in Israel, under the protection of the Mossad, the powerful intelligence agency with whom her late father supposedly tangled. Or she was in the FBI witness protection program, or ensconced in luxury in a villa in the South of France, or sunning herself naked on the coast of Spain, or holed up in a high-security doomsday bunker belonging to rich and powerful friends whose lives might implode should Maxwell ever reveal what she knows—all the dirty secrets of the dirty world that she and Epstein shared.”
(Vanity Fair – Jul 3, 2020)
Maxwell remained at large, beyond the reach of attorneys, tabloid reporters, and a 10,000-pound reward from The Sun in London.
“It’s a little bit like Elvis—you get lots of reports but they’re hard to verify,” a victim attorney said in May.
She was periodically said to have been spotted around the world, usually in places where she was not. Reporters scoured the globe. Some said she was in Russia trying to get a Oligarch to protect her. Others pointed to Israel or Brazil, China, Singapore, the Middle East, England.
She was “both everywhere and nowhere,” lamented UK’s The Guardian.
On August 2019, she was apparently photographed eating a burger and fries in the Cahuenga Boulevard, in the San Fernando Valley. She held The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives. Given Ghislaine and her father Robert’s alleged ties to Intelligence Services, this choice does not seem accidental.
Papers were running out of incredible stories to account for her disappearance. A bizarre new theory emerged she could be hiding in a submarine which – as we saw – was not downright impossible, since she DID have a license to pilot underground vehicles.
On July 2nd 2020, Maxwell was arrested by the FBI and NYPD in the small New England town of Bradford, New Hampshire. It is situated at driving distance of the NYSD. They finally found her in a luxurious four-bedroom, 4,365-square-foot home on a wooded lot, called Tuckedaway.
Ghislaine Maxwell was charged with six federal crimes: luring and enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children and perjury.
The crimes took place between 1994 and 1997, the years of her “intimate relationship with Epstein,” when she “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls.”
One of the three unnamed victims was “as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18.”
FBI assistant director William F. Sweeney Jr. described Maxwell as “one of the villains of this investigation,” who had “slithered away to a gorgeous property” in New Hampshire, where she was “continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims live with the trauma inflicted upon them years ago.”
“I am optimistic about my future,” she said in 1997, “and believe things will continue to improve for me as time passes.”
Now, according to sources close to her, “I don’t think [Ghislaine] sees there is a future,” came the reply.
If found guilty of all charges, Maxwell could face a prison sentence of 35 years. She denies the accusations, and has pleaded not guilty to all six charges.
She will await trial locked up in the Metropolitan Detention Center, in Brooklyn. A dreadful prison that is as removed from her previous “silver spoon” upbringing as it’s possible in the US. Hard times.
She used to be a larger than life character, who once hosted a dinner for NY socialites on ‘the fine art of giving a blow job’. But then, she really blew it.
A report from a source familiar with the Metropolitan Detention Center gives a glum picture of Ghislaine Maxwell’s present conditions.
She is in the women’s section and believed to be confined to a solitary cell. Because of the past history of the MDC, it is not impossible to suspect that Ghislaine could be having sexual relations with one or more corrections officers, either male or female. Her available wealth would permit her to buy some privileges directly from the corrections officers who could smuggle in items for her.
MDC has a history of guards, male and female, enjoying sex with prisoners and smuggling in everything from alcohol to cell phones to drugs. While she is not enjoying what anyone would call a privileged life, and is most likely [because of Covid protocols] confined to her cell, dank and cold [in summer] perhaps as much as 23-24 hours per day and possibly getting only one hot meal per day, our source says, with her wealth and talent to charm, if there is any privilege, any opportunity, any luxury to enjoy at MDC, she is enjoying it.
Of course, she is probably under near-constant surveillance, for no guard wants to go to prison for letting her get murdered or commit suicide – as did her former lover Epstein. It is not known how frequently she is meeting with lawyers in special rooms set aside for the purpose. But an MDC source tells Frank Report that prison officials are known to eavesdrop on those conversations with lawyers and defendants and do so on high profile cases. Whether they report to the prosecution what they learn is unknown.
In the end, Maxwell has a hard road to hoe and will remain in the brutal and unsanitary MDC until she stands trial or makes a plea deal or dies. The possibility of additional charges other than those currently charged against her – for hebephilia crimes in the last century – remain a possibility.
The late Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted hebephile, a person who has urges for post pubescent but under the age of consent children. Is Ghislaine one also? And are there others, famous and prominent men of power who have indulged as Jeffrey and allegedly Ghislaine have done?
The ace in the hole for her, obviously, is, if she has info on other prominent hebephiles that the DOJ for its own partisan or PR reasons might like to selectively prosecute, she can trade that info for a lenient sentence and hopefully not be murdered for doing so.
Her former lover, Jeffrey Epstein, might have committed suicide, as the Mainstream Media and the US Govt. urges you to believe, but there are some who find the coincidences, cameras being off, bones broken indicating he was strangled, guards happening to fall asleep as they were assigned to watch the most famous prisoner in the world, such that that it just might cause reasonable people to doubt the official narrative a little more than the corporate media and prison officials would wants us to doubt.
The same fate might befall Ghislaine and we may never know just what she did. Whether her crimes were confined to herself and Epstein or whether there was a vast network of hebephiles joining in – or – in fairness to her – she is innocent as she claims, something that a trial, if she makes it to trial, might help us determine.
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stretcher during the funeral service in Jerusalem’s main convention hall on Nov. 10, 1991. The body is laying on a stretcher, draped in a white Jewish prayer shawl with black stripes as is it tradition of Jewish burials in Israel. (AP Photo/Natik Harnik) Ghislaine is fourth from the left.
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Luchino Visconti's The Leopard Or: Why I Think It's One of the Greatest Adaptations (SPOILERS)

Once again, before I start my analysis on why I think Luchino Visconti's The Leopard is a fantastic adaptation, it should be worth noting that there ARE spoilers in this review regarding with both the film and the novel. If you haven't watched nor read the book or movie (I highly recommend you reading the book first and watching the movie after to appreciate this one), then go do so before reading this.
Warning: This review will spoil the last two chapters of the novel version. The movie doesn't show the last two chapters.
There has been a lot of wonderful adaptations from theater to the big screens, myth to big screen, maybe even a line from a song into a movie. But we cannot forget about the most common source of film adaptation: Books themselves. There has been a lot of successful and not-so-successful novels in the history of films including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Martian, The Princess Bride, Casino, and the list of adaptations can go on forever. Film has always had some type of relationship with literature. Some novels depict different meanings and interpretations from the directors, most notably ones like A Clockwork Orange. However, there has been one adaptation that has stayed on my mind ever since I first watched it years ago. It was the story of Il Gattopardo or The Leopard, written by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and then directed by Luchino Visconti, the movie itself is already a beautiful film about old Sicily.
So, what makes The Leopard so different from other adaptations. Let's go through a quick preview of the good qualities that I'll be talking about: It follows by the author's style of having a timeline of random events that are linked together, the cinematography captures Lampedusa's detailed portrait of Sicily, the acting is superb, and how Visconti implants the last two chapters into the film's third to final chapter or A Ball, November 1862. These three reasons mean more than what I have listed.
Starting off with the story structure in both versions, they don't have an actual linear story. There's not really a main problem, there's not a main antagonist, and there aren't any exterior conflicts to really sink into. When I first read this, I'll admit, I felt lost with what was going on. I didn't know what it was about and I was expecting some type of serious conflict going on. In fact, I knew it was going to be an interior conflict but much rather a more serious problem. After a while, the storyline sinks into me about halfway through the novel and I begin to understand much more of how Lampedusa writes it out. It's not a very easy story, but after you find the indirect, miniscule connection between these random events, they slowly knit themselves together for a good finale. Let's talk about the novel first for now. The story is about the chronicles of the final days of a dying clan in which there is always a prince (Or the leader of the family) that is called, "The Leopard." The main character, Prince Don Fabrizio (Played by Burt Lancaster in the film), is a grouchy prince that has strict rules and a strict schedule in his house and wherever he goes. His family fear him, the people try not to upset him, and his wife must control her tantrums before the Prince starts to get mad with her. At first, we don't see much of this guy. He's not sympathetic, kind, or the type of person we would want to be with. Later on, towards the end of the novel, Lampedusa specifically wrote the last parts of the novel with little to no attention towards this character. He turns sympathetic, old, sorrowful, and eventually dies off without much detail in the novel. In the movie adaptation, Visconti also follows Lampedusa's direction by showing his sorrow, pain, and his little to none screen time in the Ball sequence or the third act of the tale. There is a melancholic tone with how Visconti created the ending. It's much more different than the novel and there's an emptiness in that final act. Sure, Prince Fabrizio is just slowly walking off into the dark alley but nothing more, nothing less. We feel sad that we expected a superior and much more emotional ending. But Visconti took Lampedusa's interpretation of Sicily as an old city that always sticks to tradition, one that doesn't change so easily. Even in the end of the second act, Prince Fabrizio told Chevalley, a government official requesting Prince Fabrizio to be an appointed member of the Senate, hoping to hear and have some change in Sicily. Fabrizio refuses, saying that Sicilians aren't interested in change or even in politics for that matter. Sicily, for Lampedusa, is a place that rarely changes while the rest of Italy begins to change around them. They are a dying part of Italy but one that is still barely alive. With the sadness and the timeline of the story structure, Lampedusa and Visconti creates melancholy throughout the whole story to show the final days of Prince Fabrizio, the last Leopard. I think it's just one of those fascinating stories that Visconti adapted the same way Lampedusa did and I think it was a great choice.
The cinematography itself is also a grand masterpiece on it's own. There are several scenes in this film that uses an old but familiar technique called the deep focus/depth technique. First famously shown in Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game and later with Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, The Leopard also uses this to display his shots as art rather than a literary device to tell multiple subplots or a different viewpoint of the situation. There are a few shots that do tell that different viewpoint but his deep-focus is what made his film so grand. One of my favorite shots in this film is in a scene where Prince Fabrizio, Chevalley, Tancredi (Played by Alain Delon), and a few other family members (I believe, if my mind doesn't trick me, also including Count Cavriaghi played by Terence Hill), are all playing cards together in the living room. They're talking, nothing dramatic about the situation. We just see a group of men playing cards while there is a large hallway filled with open doors. The depth on this shot is enormous and superb. The depth and the constant use of big hallways with open doors is a common trick even in Jean Renoir's 1939 classic. But Visconti uses this properly to create a painting itself. Renoir uses this technique to tell a story and to easily slide from one subplot to another while Visconti rarely moves the camera, letting it just stay there and let the audience sink into the painting itself. Of course, where the deep focus is at it's best would be none other than the ball sequence. With the duration of about 45 fast-paced minutes, Visconti creates a ball that is dazzling, lost, and completed with masterful composition and execution that compares to Kurosawa's strictly straightforward and symphonic composition and movements in nearly all the films he's made within his grand 30 film career. While this famous ball sequence makes it hard for us, the audience, to find our protagonists in the waltzes, it is purely intentional and reasonable to do so because no large party can make it easy for anyone to find somebody in the mass crowd of dresses, movement, and joy of everyone in that room (Hoping the screams are made of joy, not of fear). It is not nearly as great as Renoir's party sequence but the way Visconti continues on with the story is wonderful. Not a single minute was wasted in this sequence. The lighting is great, no shot ever felt unreasonable, and the use of long shots also gives the audience a moment of reflection and recovery from such dizzying and overwhelming amount of details in one scene alone from this movie at any point of the story, not just the ball itself. Lampedusa's novel is also quite overwhelming and might require one to take a rest from a chapter or a part in the story (The novel itself is made up of parts with no minor chapters. Every chapter is a part of the book so there's no minor checkpoints or save spots). Close-ups have been perfectly used and far-shots aren't too far for us to not be able to see the action. The position of the camera is used wonderfully, not indicating the wrong interpretation or feeling for the character themselves. Thank you Giuseppe Rotunno (The cinematographer) for properly understanding the craft, the importance of cinematography, and how this can tell a story indirectly but importantly. Giuseppe's work also contributes well to the spectacular performances of our main characters.
For acting, Burt Lancaster plays a character that isn't a direct rip from the original source novel. The novel depicts him as a mean and grouchy man. However, Burt's version is a much more calm, understandable, while intimidating at times of a character. It's also wonderful that despite it was against Visconti's vision to be playing him (Visconti didn't like Burt at first), he eventually got the respect and even the friendship with Visconti himself. They became great friends afterwards and it's very rare to have a Hollywood actor as kind, understandable, yet strong as Burt. One that has perhaps inspired some of the many other wonderful actors including Robert Mitchum (Who was making films the same period as Burt) and Arnold Schwarzenegger. His intense expressions in the film subtly hints at what Lampedusa's version of the character originally was. While he plays a different type of character, he also respects the author's original view on the character. I would go as far to say that I enjoy Burt's version of the character much more than the novel itself. There's a certain charm that Lancaster brings into his role that clicks wonderfully in the adaptation that Lampedusa's version couldn't exactly hold. Not all the praise is going to the already fascinating Burt but also everyone else in the film. Claudia's character plays with a sense of class but also the implication and body language of an immature girl inside. She is perhaps the only perfect role in the film as she is the only one in that entire film's cast that is Italian or at least looks like Italian. She's charming but it's not her charm that takes the showcase but also her brilliant level of acting. While I love Cardinale and Lancaster, I think the one that really took the show was Alain Delon's portrayal of Tancredi Falconeri. His role is played with such power and ferociousness that many might end up thinking that he could've been the next Leopard. His character is very relaxed, interesting, and fun to watch on screen. He plays as the young and daring boy going headfirst into war. While my descriptions on him don't feel like justice to how I love his role in this film, there is one scene in particular that I really think was executed fairly well and just may be one of those scenes in the film that many have overlooked on. In the scene that I will be discussing, Tancredi (Alain Delon) meets Angelica (Claudia Cardinale) for the first time and fascinated but also falling love with her at the same time. Meanwhile, Concetta (Lucilla Morlacchi), a lady who has been with Tancredi and in love with him at the same time, doesn't speak much during the conversation but rather developing somewhat of a jealousy for her. If it isn't jealousy, then who knows what really went on her mind? Both the novel and the film itself points the spotlight towards Tancredi and Angelica. Tancredi tells them about a story of his time at the army when he stormed into a convent. In the end, he told Angelica that if she was there, the soldiers wouldn't have needed the nuns. Angelica laughs wholeheartedly at this story while Concetta misunderstood the story and gets upset at Tancredi and his inappropriate story. She turns her back to him and walks away. Given the context, the reason why this certain scene in the story is so great can only be explained through the last chapter of the book. This leads me to the final point of this essay, the masterful and rewarding foreshadowing of the film.
At this point, this is where spoiler territory comes in. In the final chapter of the novel version, Angelica and Concetta are two elderly women living in their dead mansion in early 1900s Italy. One day, Tassoni visits Concetta. Tancredi, who married Angelica sometime between the 1862-1883, has already died sometime ago from old age while Angelica is still alive and just met Concetta right before the scene I am about to introduce. Everyone else has already died long ago, leaving Angelica, Tassoni, Concetta, Carolina, and Caterina (The last two mentioned are younger sisters of Concetta) as the last of their family and the last living characters in the story. Tassoni reveals to Concetta that Tancredi always loved her and even Lampedusa hinted a detail in the chapter, "Love at Donnafugata," that Tancredi and Angelica's love relationship would never been as wonderful as it will ever be other than that time in the chapter when they were running around in the old mansion. While there were no arguments or any contempt mentioned in this story, he didn't make them live happily ever after like a fairy tale. Sure, they loved each other but it was really Concetta that Tancredi truly loved. And you know which scene in the story did he showed his love for her once? Yes, the dinner scene where he was telling the story. He was nervous to even talk to her and often talked to Angelica instead. Alain Delon does justice to this scene by having his character tell the story while giving off quick, frantic nervousness in his body language by having his eyes look behind him where Concetta is sitting every few seconds while also stuttering and moving more than usual. The body language isn't easy to notice if you have never read the book or found out about his love for Concetta (Even though he did love her in the beginning) but for those who have read the book, I highly advise you to observe Delon's body language in this scene the next time you watch this (If you noticed it, I'm very proud of you that I'm not the only one to have noticed this). Tassoni told Concetta that Tancredi confessed that the story about the convent was all a lie and that he wanted to kiss Concetta when she reacted with anger to the story. The grief of Tancredi's character stayed with him forever until his death and this just may be one of the reasons why Tancredi and Angelica's relationship never soared off. It was because he never loved her truly as Angelica and he lost the chance of loving Concetta. An unforeseen tragedy that the film barely shown (The tragedy of the relationship with Tancredi and Concetta actually occurs in the Ball chapter of the film but never goes into full depth as the novel did). The film itself didn't just foreshadow the last chapter but also the second to last chapter that didn't make it. The second to last chapter is also in the Ball chapter. The novel never discussed it nor mention anything about the painting on the wall in the library room. In the film, Prince Fabrizio goes into the library to take a rest from the exhausting and youthfully energetic ballroom waltzes and discussions. His face all sweaty and a tired expression wearing him down. He notices a painting above a mantelpiece. The painting shows a dying man in his bed with his loved ones, including his dog, around him at his final moments. The pain and sadness in the man's expression as everyone around him weep in a emotionally brutal image. Prince Fabrizio looks at this image for a long time before being interrupted by Tancredi and Angelica. The foreshadowing here is much more obvious than the example I gave above. In that second to last chapter, Prince Fabrizio dies from old age in a hotel room in Sicily. The date was July 1883 and everyone, including Tancredi and his favorite dog, Bendico, are watching him at his last minutes. It is a tragic scene that Visconti couldn't shoot but rather symbolize in the ballroom sequence which I think is one of the best uses of foreshadowing.
After my initial viewing of The Leopard, I fell in love and understood why director Martin Scorsese admired this film so much. Other than the beautiful cinematography done by Giuseppe Rotunno, there's a whole layer of appreciation to the novel that the readers can admire that Visconti understood. He implanted the last two chapters of the story, made sure the actors like Delon are hinting at a much more detailed character study, and capturing the colossal and challenging of the story with deep, lyrical cinematic poetry. I think I can safely say that Luchino Visconti's The Leopard is an adaptation masterpiece and one that I would recommend people reading first before watching. You wouldn't be appreciating as much as I did if you haven't read the novel. After countless films and adaptations, this one is one of the few films I have seriously enjoyed and appreciated in a long time.
The Leopard is a spectacular, complex novel and Visconti did more than just making another great film, he gave us, what I consider, one of the greatest adaptations.
Thanks for reading. Sorry for the long post btw. This is not for school I swear!
submitted by NeoNiCally to TrueFilm [link] [comments]

[H] 650+ steam keys [W] Wishlist games (30+)

Looking to trade games of equivalent isthereanydeal.com value. Will trade multiple either way.
Not accepting offers for games not requested at the bottom of this post at this time, sorry.
Edits: H/W list up to date post 1 transaction in this thread (10/29) H/W list up to date post 2 transactions in this thread (11/3) - 619 games left!!
[Have] (mostly steam keys, please check platform beside title)
[Want] (Steam format only please)
submitted by meltboro to SteamGameSwap [link] [comments]

(OFFER) . Sword in the Stone . Little Mermaid . Avengers . Avengers AOU . Iron Man 3 . CA Winter Soldier . (REQUEST) . Hercules . Aristocats . Lilo & Stitch . Bug's Life . Ratatouille . Detective Pikachu* .

 
NEW ADDITIONS
 
FILM BUNDLES & COLLECTIONS & MISC
 
Disney / Marvel
..... Sorry, I don't use split Disney codes - only looking for unsplit Disney .....
  • 4K Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 (Unsplit DMA / no DMR)
  • Bambi II DMC Exclusive (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Doctor Strange HD (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Planes (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Planes: Fire & Rescue (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Oz the Great & Powerful (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
..... Sorry, I don't use split Disney codes - only looking for unsplit Disney .....
 
4K UHD MOVIES
  • Alien (MA 4K)
  • Despicable Me 2 (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Pitch Perfect 1 (MA choice of iTunes 4K or Vudu HD)
  • Bumblebee (iTunes 4K)
  • Mission Impossible: Fallout (iTunes 4K)
  • Hell or High Water (iTunes 4k)
  • Annihilation (iTunes 4K)
  • Saban's Power Rangers (iTunes 4K)
  • X-Men Days of Future Past (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • X-Men Apocalypse (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Fifty Shades of Grey (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Battleship (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (iTunes 4K)
  • XXX Return of Xander Cage (iTunes 4K)
  • Legend of Hercules (choice of iTunes 4k or Vudu HD)
  • Jurassic World (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Snow White & the Huntsman (Extended) (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • iTunes 4K upgrade spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsJkCX4DIv2oeCKQ7zp2ArkR1qKEXCUuCMBbUtHtmh4/edit#gid=0
 
MA ELIGIBLE MOVIES: HD unless otherwise marked- MA eligible & will port to linked accounts
  • Despicable Me 1 (MA/Vudu HD)
  • Bourne Legacy (redeems @ Vudu)
  • Men in Black II
  • The Hangover Part III
  • Honey 3: Dare to Dance (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • 22 Jump Street (x2)
  • Broken City
  • The Campaign (HD @ MA)
  • Jack the Giant Slayer (HD @ MA)
  • The Lucky One (HD @ MA)
  • The Dark Knight Rises (HD @ MA)
  • Krampus (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • Curse of Chucky (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • Split (choice of iTunes 4K or Vudu HD)
  • Kingsman: Golden Circle (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Straight Outta Comption (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • The Young Messiah (redeems @ Vudu)
  • The Grey (choice of iTunes 4K or Vudu HD)
  • Unbroken (choice of Itunes or Vudu)
  • Happy Feet 1
  • Rio 2
  • After Earth
  • Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  • The Dark Tower
  • Argo
  • Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows Pt 2 (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Man of Steel (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Girl's Trip (redeems @ iTunes)
  • End of Watch (redeems @ iTunes)
  • Bad Words (redeems @ iTunes)
  • The Watch
  • Underworld Awakenings
  • Project X (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Get Hard (redeems HD @ MA)
  • The Apparition (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Seal Team Eight: Behind Enemy Lines
 
MOVIES: HD Paramount / Lionsgate / MGM - the following are not MA eligible and do not port to linked accounts
  • The Big Short (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • Safe (Vudu)
  • World War Z (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • Overdrive (iTunes)
  • Acrimony (iTunes)
  • All Eyez On Me (iTunes)
 
MOVIES: SD - will trade 2-for-1 for HD
(* The movies marked with an "L" are Lionsgate titles from dvds which will often redeem in HD. There is no guarantee that they will redeem in HD, however, and no way to check, so consider them SD for trading purposes.)
  • L Born to Win
  • L Frozen Ground
  • L Wild Card
  • L Sicario
  • L Last Stand
  • L Last Witch Hunter
  • L John Wick
  • L Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt 2
  • Daddy's Home 2 (Paramount)
  • L Vendetta
  • L Backtrack
  • L Dragon Blade
  • L The Duel
  • L Escape Plan (x2)
  • L Hell or High Water
  • L The Homesman (Vudu)
  • L Maggie (Vudu)
  • L Mud (Vudu)
  • L Drift (Vudu)
  • Spring Breakers (A24 Vudu)
  • L John Wick (Vudu)
  • L Empire State (Vudu)
  • L Condemned 2 (Vudu)
  • L Criminal (Vudu) (x2)
  • L Sinister (choice of iTunes or Vudu)
  • L Warm Bodies (Vudu)
  • L Dredd new version (Vudu)
  • L Tyler Perry: Peeples (Vudu)
  • L Tyler Perry: The Haves & the Have Nots (Vudu)
  • L Tyler Perry: Temptation - Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (Vudu)
  • L Safe (Vudu) (x2)
  • Company of Heroes (MA)
  • The Company you Keep (MA)
  • Monuments Men (MA)
  • The Words (MA)
  • The Vow (MA)
  • Captain Phillips (MA)
  • Fury (MA)
  • Marine 6: Close Quarters (MA)
  • The Perfect Guy (MA)
  • This Is The End (MA)
  • Joe Dirt 2 (MA)
  • Arthur new version (MA)
  • Resident Evil: Retribution (MA)
  • Parker (MA)
 
MY WANT LIST - Here are a few specific titles I'm looking for:
  • Finding Dory (4K) unsplit
  • Cars 2 (4K) unsplit
  • This Means War
  • Knight & Day
  • Goosebumps 2 (4K)
  • Abominable (4K)
  • Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (4K)
  • Salt (4K)
 
USEFUL LINKS:
 
TRADED
  • (MA SD) Will Ferrell Triple Feature: Talladega Nights / Step Brothers / The Other Guys (MA SD)
  • Back to the Future Trilogy (MA HD redeems @ iTunes)
  • Weird Science (MA HD redeems @ iTunes)
  • Sixteen Candles (MA HD redeems @ iTunes)
  • Breakfast Club (MA HD redeems @ iTunes)
  • Avengers Age of Ultron HD (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • The Sword in the Stone (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Monsters University** (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Iron Man 3 HD (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • $3 Vudu credit - prefix VFVT (redeem by 9/18 - limit one per account)
  • $3 Vudu Credit - prefix VAU9 (redeem by 10/1 - limit one per account)
  • Get Smart (1965) - complete series/5 Seasons/138 episodes (Vudu SD)
  • Speed Racer (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Space Jam (redeems HD @ MA)
  • Crazy Stupid Love (redeems HD @ MA)
  • War Dogs (MA HD)
  • No Good Deed (MA HD)
  • 10,000 BC (MA HD)
  • 22 Jump Street (MA HD)
  • The Commuter
  • Knock Knock (Vudu)
  • Lawless (Vudu)
  • 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded
  • Tower Heist (redeems @ iTunes)
  • The Campaign
  • American Reunion Unrated (redeems @ Vudu)
  • Getaway (HD @ MA)
  • The Departed
  • American Girl 3: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight (MA redeems @ iTunes)
  • Walk the Line
  • Mistress America
  • Deadpool (MA redeems 4K at iTunes)
  • Monsters Inc (unsplit DMA / no DMR points)
  • Little Mermaid HD (unsplit DMA / no DMR points) don't think Little Mermaid codes can be split
  • TMNT (2007 animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
  • Zero Dark Thirty
  • Flight (Vudu)
  • Good Man (Vudu)
  • Dying of the Light (Vudu)
  • The Amazing Spider-Man (MA)
  • Insidious: Chapter 3 (MA)
  • Roman J. Israel, ESQ. (MA)
  • 21 Jump Street (MA)
  • That's My Boy (MA)
  • Lost River (MA HD)
  • The Judge (MA HD)
  • Focus (MA HD)
  • Strawberry Shortcake: Snowberry Days (MA HD)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II Secret of the Ooze 1991 live action (MA HD)
  • Man on Fire (MA HD)
  • TMNT Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated 2007 (MA HD)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time live action 1993 (MA HD)
  • Scooby-Doo Moon Monster Madness (MA HD)
  • The Water Diviner (MA HD)
  • Skyfall (Vudu HDX)
  • Warrior (Vudu/FN/GP)
  • Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
  • The Doors (iTunes 4K/Vudu HD)
  • Saw: The Complete Movie Collection - 1-7 Unrated does not include Jigsaw (Vudu HD*)
  • Premium Rush (MA HD)
  • 4K American Gangster: Unrated Extended Cut (MA 4K)
  • Tom & Jerry Winter Wackiness (Vudu SD)
  • Admission (MA HD redeems @ iTunes)
  • TMNT III Turtles in Time 1993 live action (MA HD)
  • Arrow Season 1 (Vudu HD)
  • 4K Casino (MA 4K)
  • Transporter Refueled (Vudu HD)
submitted by wewannawii to uvtrade [link] [comments]

A Couple Of Picks For Today

I looked at several Indiana Downs races for today and see a couple which has the potential to pay decent. I will probably take a small exotic shot at both of these races but since I like a race more tomorrow at Evangeline Downs, I eill wait until then to bet my usual amount on that race.
​
Ind. Race 2: Maiden Special Weight ---$31,000-- 2 YO-- Five Furlongs:
​
5) His Glory(8-1) is well bred and makes the first start of his career. However, he has worked in company with the favorite in this race twice and the favorite beat him once for sure and they finished side by side in the latter work. Trainer Amoss is a top trainer and knows how to get them prepared. If the first work his stablemate already had a couple of works under his belt, si he had the advantage in that work, which was my choice his published work. He has 2 more works in 2 weeks since then, while the favorite has only the one they worked in company.
​
8) Hopes And Prayers(9-2) has 2 lifetime starts, finishing 3rd in both, the first at 2 furlongs and the latter at 5 furlongs that was taken off the grass. However, he is among the best bred in here and holds an experience edge over the other two I like. He also returns in 11 days since his last, so trainer thinks he is fit.
​
11)Magine(3-1) is the stablemate of my top choice but I like my pick better for one simple reason. His works since he started training has been consistent but this one's works has been spread out a little more than I preferred, indicating he either needs time between works or he may have some sort of a minor physical problem. The better jockey chose this one, though.
​
7)Two More Times(15-1) is another who could jump up and run a big race. he also has one start and finished third on a muddy track. But his sire Soldat is a son of speedy sire War Front and Two More Times's broodmare sire, Pioneerof The Nile is sire of TC winner, American Pharoah. Pioneerof the Nile was also speedy and finished 2nd in the Ky Derby to Mine That Bird who ran away with that edition of the derby on a muddy track.
​
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7th Race: Allowance O/C $25,000--- 3 YO & Up F&M ---- Purse $32,500--- 5 Furlongs Turf:
​
2) Niece Jackie Davis(15-1) will be my top choice. Her trainer, Haran, is sneaky but knows how to get one ready and usually pops one when others does not believe his horse has a chance. Two starts back, this horse won an allowance N/W 3 lifetime against Ind breds, but rose in class to face open breds in her last and got crushed. Sine that effort, she has came back and worked, an indication the trainer still thinks she is fit. Rxpect big odds because you will probably get them here with this one. Her sire was a speedy sprinter on dirt but her broodmare sire was also speedy and actually won a stakes at Hollywood Park on grass in 101 1/5 for 5 1/2 furlongs and he hails from the sire line of Uncle Mo, known for their speed on grass.
​
8) Sugarsugarsugar(8-5) is the favorite in here and will be the one to beat. She was beaten N/W 2 lifetime at this track, surface and distance last year, but has improve since then. She has won 3 of 4 starts this year but her last at Belterra was slightly easier than this field. However, she likes to make a late run and there is enough early speed in here that she should be rolling in deep stretch and be tough to deny.
​
7) Southern Candy(30-1) will be my choice for third but she could upset if my top choice does not break cleanly. Her sire, Sidney's Candy was a turf and AWT specialist who took the SA Derby from gate to wire and won for fun when that track had an AWT. He also broke his maiden in 102 and change in his 2nd lifetime start on that surface. Southern Candy's 3rd dam, Pattern Step, won the G1 Hollywood Oaks on dirt in 1988 after just missing in both the Senorita S and Honeymoon H, both on grass at 1 mile & 1 1/16 mile. The only reason she is not my top choice is because I know little about the trainer, who is fairly new to the game.
​
​
I am including the race for tomorrow at Evangeline Downs. This track used to be my 2nd favorite track to bet when it was a "bull ring" and have many solid days there but they rebuilt and moved a few miles up the road so they could add a casino. They have grown in popularity since while La Downs has fallen on hard times, mainly because another casino brought them and has refused to invest in their racing side of the business.
​
5th Race: Evangeline Downs---- Maiden Special Weight---- La Bred 3 YO & Up Fillies and Mares---- Purse $24,000--- 7 1/2 Furlongs Turf:
​
5) Marywood(10-1) will be my choice to win. Her trainer also has 2 entered in this race but I feel this is a better spot for this one. She has 2 lifetime starts. After breaking poorly in her first start on dirt at 5 1/2 furlongs, she did not run much at all. She was then entered on grass and stretched out to 1 1/16 mile. Again, she broke near the back, and made a late run to just miss while finishing 3rd at 28-1. She does not have a work since then, but since I know this trainer's intentions, it does not bother me as much as it normally would. Her sire, Paddy O'Prado, ran 3rd in the 2010 Ky Derby in the mud and after a 6th in the Preakness, he was switched back to grass and won 2 G2 and the G1 Secretariat S in his first 3 starts back on that surface. His only 3 off the board races in his life was on dirt. Her broodmare sire, Kissin Kris, won the G1 Haskell Inv. for his biggest win but also won the G3 Palm Beach S on grass. His sire hails from the Roberto sire line.
​
8) Labruna(10-1) is my choice for 2nd but you will probably get much higher odds than her M/L suggests. After making 10 starts which included a 2nd and a 3rd, both on grass and one start this year, she was idled for 3 months where she was privately purchased and switched trainers. She returned on the grass and pressured the pace to the top of the stretch before fading badly at 1 1/16 mile. Now she is being shortening back up to a distance that should be more suitable for her. Her sire, Big Brown won the 2008 Ky Derby & Preakness but has had more success siring grass runners, as his pedigree success he should. Her broodmare sire, Bandini, was the third choice for the 2005 Ky Derby after running away with the Blue Grass S, but finished 19th of 20th. While Bandini was never tried on grass, his pedigree, too, suggests he would have probably performed better on that surface. Labruna's trainer, Walter Trahan, comes from a family known to pull shockers when least expected and this horse fits that profile.
​
6) Ide B A Soldier(3-1) has a 2nd and 2 thirds from 4 lifetime starts but is making his debut on grass. He should drop back early and move along with my top choice. While he has a chance to win, I believe third is the best place to put him. His trainer, Dale White Sr knows how to get a horse ready but his only work since his last start is a little slower than I would prefer, especially since he will be near, if not, the favorite at off time. However, he has grass bloodlines and his broodmare sire was a leading sire in Louisiana for several years, so I can not totally dismiss.
​
1) Temple Of Roses(5-1) has 5 lifetime starts, including 4 on grass including a 2nd and a 3rd. She is being stretched back out after her last start at 5 1/2 furlongs on grass was simply a tactic a lot of trainers uses to try to get their trainees to show more early speed. She also has a work since then suggesting she has some speed but I already had realize that, judging by her three previous races at 1 mile. She just hasn't been able to finish the deal. While her recent activity could be enough to get her over the top, my bet will be that it will not be quite enough. However, she has the look of one that is ready to break her maiden and the one who wins the pace battle between her and my 2nd choice, should still around for the exacta and/or tri.
​
My Bets: WP 5, Ex Box 5-8, Tri Box 5-6-8, .10 Super Box 1-5-6-8, Super Key 5 with 1-6-8 with 1-6-8 with 1-6-8.
​
One more note, there are several other trainers in this race that will take a lot of money, so if you can hit this race, you will be likely to be rewarded well. And that is what I always hope for.
submitted by hodsct59 to horseracing [link] [comments]

Cultivating Burning Desire by Steve Pavlina

I found this article to be quite helpful and inspiring and a perfect fit for this sub. You can read the original on his website.

Cultivating Burning Desire

When asked during an interview how he managed to reach the top as a professional bodybuilder and Hollywood actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger replied with a single word, “Drive!” All great success ultimately begins with an idea, but what makes ideas become reality is the fuel of human desire. An idea by itself can give you a temporary feeling of inspiration, but burning desire is what gets you through all the perspiration necessary to overcome the inevitable obstacles along the way.
Take a moment to think about the goals you’ve set for yourself. (You have set goals, haven’t you? If not, go read the article on setting clear goals.) How committed are you to achieving these goals? Under what conditions would you give up? What if you could significantly increase your desire to achieve these goals? What if you wanted them so badly that you knew with absolute certainty that you would absolutely, positively never ever give up? When you are truly 100% committed to reaching your goals, you move from hoping to knowing. If you want something badly enough, then quitting is simply not an option. You either find a way or make one. You pay the price, whatever it takes.
Those with an intense, burning desire to achieve their goals are often referred to as being “driven.” But is this special quality reserved only for a privileged few? Certainly not. With the right approach, anyone can cultivate a deep, burning desire within themselves and move to a state of total commitment, knowing with certainty that success is as inevitable as the sunrise.
So how do you cultivate burning desire? You begin with an outside-in approach, altering your environment in ways that will strengthen your resolve while eliminating doubt. If you take the time to do it right, you’ll establish a positive feedback cycle, such that your desire will continue to increase on a daily basis.
Here are eight steps you can take to cultivate burning desire to achieve any goal you set for yourself:

1. Burn the Ships

I’m not going to pull any punches with this one. If your goals are really important enough to you, then you can start by burning the proverbial ships, such that you have no choice but to press on. For instance, if you want to launch your own business, you can begin by making the commitment to quitting your job. Write a letter of resignation, put it in a stamped envelope addressed to your boss, and give it to a trusted friend with firm instructions to mail the letter if you haven’t quit your job by a certain date.
One Las Vegas casino manager made the decision to quit smoking. He didn’t feel he had the personal willpower to do it alone, so he took out a billboard on the Las Vegas Strip with his photo on it along with the words, “If you catch me smoking, I’ll pay you $100,000!” Was he able to quit smoking? You bet! (Ok, bad pun.) This is called willpower leveraging. You use a small bit of willpower to establish a consequence that will virtually compel you to keep your commitment. As Andrew Carnegie once said, “Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket!”
In the classic book The Art of War, Sun Tzu notes that soldiers fight the most ferociously when they believe they’re fighting to the death. A good general knows that when attacking an opposing force, it’s important to create the illusion of a potential escape route for the enemy, so they won’t fight as hard. What escape routes are you keeping open that are causing you not to fight as hard?
If you don’t burn those ships, you are sending the message to your subconscious mind that it’s ok to quit. And when the going gets tough, as it inevitably does for any worthwhile goal, you will quit. If you really want to achieve your goals, then you’ve got to burn those ships to the ground, and scatter the ashes. If you’re thinking that the average person won’t do this, you’re right — that’s why they’re average.

2. Fill Your Environment with Desire Boosters

Let’s say one of your important goals is to lose weight. Get some poster board, and make your own posters that say, “I weigh X pounds,” where X is your goal weight, and put them up around your house. Change your screensaver to a text message that says the same thing (or to some equally motivational imagery). Get some magazines, cut out pictures of people who have bodies similar to what you’d like to have, and put them up around your house. Cut out pictures of healthy food that looks good to you, and post those around your kitchen. If you work in an office, then alter your office in the same manner. Don’t worry about what your coworkers will think, and just do it! They may poke a little fun at you at first, but they’ll also begin to see how committed you are.

3. Surround Yourself with Positive People

Make friends with people who will encourage you on the path to your goals, and find ways to spend more time with them. Share your goals only with people who will support you, not those who will respond with cynicism or indifference. If you want to lose weight, for instance, get yourself into a gym, and start befriending those who are already in great shape. You’ll find that their attitudes become infectious, and you’ll start believing that you can do it too. Meeting people who’ve lost one hundred pounds or more can be extremely motivating. If you want to start a new business, join the local chamber of commerce or a trade association. Do whatever it takes to make new friends who will help you keep your commitment.
Although this can be difficult for some people, you also need to fire the negative people from your life. I once read that you can see your future just by looking at the six people with whom you spend the most time. If you don’t like what you see, then change those people. There’s no honor in remaining loyal to people who expect you to fail. One of the reasons people fail to start their own businesses, for instance, is that they spend most of their time associating with other employees. The way out of this trap is to start spending a lot more time associating with business owners, such as by joining a trade association. Mindsets are contagious. So spend your time with people whose mindsets are worth catching.

4. Feed Your Mind with Empowering Information on a Daily Basis

Inspirational books and audio programs are one of the best fuel sources for cultivating desire. If you want to quit smoking, read a dozen books written by ex-smokers on how to quit the habit. If you want to start a business, then start devouring business books. Go to seminars on occasion. I advise that you feed your mind with some form of motivational material (books, articles, audio programs) for at least fifteen minutes a day. This will continually recharge your batteries and keep your desire impenetrably strong.
When you absorb material created by an extremely passionate person, you’ll often find yourself feeling more passionate as well. A great book I read was Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. As I read the book, I was absolutely amazed at how someone could be so fanatically enthusiastic about coffee. Other enthusiasm-building authors/speakers I highly recommend are Harvey Mackay and Zig Ziglar.

5. Replace Sources of Negative Energy with Positive Energy

Take an inventory of all the sensory inputs into your life that affect your attitude — what you read, what you watch on TV, the cleanliness of your home, etc. Note which inputs influence you negatively, and strive to replace them with positive inputs. I’ll give you some good places to start. First, avoid watching TV news — it’s overwhelmingly negative. Do you really need to hear about the woman who was mauled to death by her neighbor’s dog? Fill that time with positive inputs instead, like motivational and educational audio programs. If you like to watch movies, then watch movies that are full of positive energy, such as light-hearted comedies and stories of triumph over adversity. Avoid dark, tragic movies that leave you feeling empty afterwards. Dump the horror books, and replace them with humor books. Spend more time laughing and less time worrying. If you have a messy desk, clean it up! If you have young kids or grandkids, spend some time playing with them. Some of this may sound a bit corny, but it will really help increase your overall motivation. If you have a hard time motivating yourself, chances are that your life is overflowing with too many sources of negativity. It’s far better to happily achieve than it is to feel you must achieve in order to be happy.

6. Dress for Success

Whenever you pass by a mirror, which is probably several times a day, you get an instant dose of image reinforcement. So what image are you currently reinforcing? Would you dress any differently if your goals were already achieved? Would you sport a different hairstyle? Would you shower a bit more often?
Although for years I enjoyed the ripped jeans and T-shirt look, I noted that when I visualized myself in the future, having achieved certain goals, I was dressed a lot more nicely. With some experimentation I found a style of clothing that looks professional and is also comfortable. So I gradually donated my old clothes to charity and replaced my wardrobe with clothes that fit the new identity I was growing into. (Consequently, there’s a Salvation Army store with quite a stock of gaming industry T-shirts.) I learned this idea from an ex-Navy Seal, who stressed to me the importance of taking pride in your appearance, and I can say with certainty that it makes a noticeable difference. So make sure the clothes you wear each day are consistent with your new self-image.

7. Use Mental Programming

This is a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) technique that will help you associate strong positive emotions to whatever goal you’re working to achieve. Find some music that really energizes and inspires you. Put on your headphones and listen to it for fifteen to twenty minutes, and as you do this, form a clear mental picture of yourself having already achieved the results you want. Make your imagery big, bright, vivid, colorful, three-dimensional, panoramic, and animated. Picture the scene as if looking through your own eyes (this is very important). This will help you form a neuro-association between the positive emotions elicited by the music and the goal you want to achieve, thus strengthening your desire. This is a great way to begin each day, and you can even do it while lying in bed when you first awaken if you set things up the night before. You should cycle the music periodically, since the emotional charge you get will tend to diminish if you listen to the same songs each time.
Keep in mind that this form of mental programming is already being used on you by advertisers. Watch a fast-food TV commercial, and you’ll note that the food is big, bright, and animated — spinning burgers, lettuce flying through a splash of water, ripe tomatoes being sliced — and don’t forget the catchy tune. So instead of letting others program your desires for you, take charge and mentally reprogram yourself.

8. Take Immediate Action

Once you set a goal for yourself, act immediately. As you begin working on a fresh new goal, don’t worry so much about making detailed long-term plans. Too often people get stuck in the state of analysis paralysis and never reach the action stage. You can develop your plan later, but get moving first. Just identify the very first physical action you need to take, and then do it. For instance, if you’ve decided to lose weight, go straight to your refrigerator, and throw out all the junk food. Don’t think about it. Don’t ponder the consequences. Just do it immediately.
One of the secrets to success is recognizing that motivation follows action. The momentum of continuous action fuels motivation, while procrastination kills motivation. So act boldly, as if it’s impossible to fail. If you keep adding fuel to your desire, you will reach the point of knowing that you’ll never quit, and ultimate success will be nothing more than a matter of time.
If you apply these eight strategies, you’ll add so much fuel to your desire that the fire will never burn out. You’ll move towards your goals like a guided missile to its target, and you’ll enjoy the process because you’ll be so focused on the positive rewards instead of the difficulty of the tasks. If you get enough positive energy flowing into you, you’ll soon have positive results flowing out of you. And you’ll quickly become the kind of person that others refer to as “driven.”
submitted by DrHackenstein to DecidingToBeBetter [link] [comments]

[Table] IamA Lead Designer on the Biohock series & Creative Direcror at The Deep End Games AMA!

Verified? (This bot cannot verify AMAs just yet)
Date: 2015-06-20
Link to submission (Has self-text)
Questions Answers
What does a creative director do? How do you become a creative director? Creative Directors are like film directors. They set the tone for the project and drive the overall creative vision. This usually means working very closely with the different departments to hone content to ensure cohesion and overall awesomeness.
For example, for the sequence at the start of the trailer where the blizzard reveals the house, I worked with Hung, our level artist to find the right look for the house's facade, and also David from FX ville to get the snow feeling right and finally with Jim Bonney, our audio director to find the right mood for the audio.
It's a whole lot of talking, digging up references, gesticulating and creating crude prototypes/mockups.
In short, it's hellafun.
There is no proscribed path to becoming a CD. For me, I worked my way up from QA (quality assurance). The key is to learn as much as you can as possible. Every situation is going to be different, but the only way to make it happen is to get out there and start making stuff happen. Mod, network, learn, communicate - do whatever you can to do something related to your dream.
You'll get there eventually if you plug away at it.
How did you get into game design? Did early childhood passions lead you to it? My two passions growing up were film and video games. I was OBSESSED with both. My parents actually owned one of the first video stores in the state, so I pretty much watched everything (especially horror!)
This also gave me access to video equipment, so I was always shooting horror films in my back yard. Truly terrible stuff.
Anyhow, when I was about 9 or 10, I sent in some design ideas to Nintendo - including a "design pitch" for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. A few months later, I received a letter from Nintendo saying "you'll be pleased to learn that Mindscape is making Indiana Jones." I read that as "we're making YOUR game."
Anyhow, I then spent years learning about making games, but thought it would never happen since development was mostly in Japan at the time.
After a short stint in Hollywood, I came home, decided to learn about making games (thanks to inspirations from Blizzard et al). I took up my old college job at Electronics Boutique and met Ken Levine, creative director at Irrational. Somehow, I managed to impress him and he was kind enough to give me a shot in QA.
Having just heard of Perception for the first time, how would you describe the gameplay? Is it more puzzle based akin to Unfinished Swan and P.T. or more action-adventure like Bioshock or Fatal Frame? I think the trailer we're releasing on Monday should definitely help paint a clearer picture.
There are definitely BioShock elements in mood and narrative, but you're not armed to the teeth like in that series. In fact, all you have is your white cane and your phone.
Alien Isolation is a pretty good point of reference. The Presence is essentially unstoppable and will relentlessly hunt you.
Be sure to check out our new gameplay trailer though.
There are definitely some bits in here that may have some of the same feeling as PT. Love that demo. Although I wish it weren't so obtuse at times. :P I had a tough time figuring out what I was supposed to be doing. Had to frequently check the FAQs/walkthroughs. Unfortunately, I played it right after it came out and the details weren't quite out there yet.
Then again, I'm not a smrt man.
From what I've seen of the game so far, the color scheme appears pretty limited. What challenges does this present in level design (as colors are often used as subtle indicators to steer players in the right direction) and what was the rationale behind this unique style, particularly after working on a series as famously color-rich as Bioshock? I remember discussions about making sure we didn't disappoint people in this regard. We tried a few different approaches here, and I believe we wound up with the "rewards" based on a combo of what was right for the story and the feedback we got from early testers.
I was wondering in what you look for when you're hiring people either from indie studios or right out of school and what should be focusing on going into an interview. Do you think some schools are better than others when it comes to getting their students industry ready? Eventually though, you should move toward building something that you're proud to show off as part of a portfolio. Doesn't need to be anything big or exotic. Just make it clear. Sell it. Your idea should stand on its own legs with minimal explanation. If you need to talk people through it, you probably have more work to do. As for schools, I know there are a lot of great programs out there, but I don't know first hand. I've had the pleasure of visiting Becker College a few times (MassDigi) and they do a spectacular job preparing students. Best of all, they make some fantastic games - check out Castsunami or Midnight Terrors to name a few.
What excactly is your job as lead designer, and what as creative director. How does your average workday look like? Both roles vary from studio to studio.
As Creative Director, I drive the vision of the project. It's a lot like a film director.
It involves a ton of collaboration, seeking and sharing motivations, touchstones and inspirations.
Then, getting in the trenches with different departments to realize the vision. That can mean working directly with an animator to nail the timing of a sequence or to help balance the gameplay.
It's a ton of work, but a ton of fun. If you're interested in this path, I would recommend learning as much as you can about development and try to get your foot in the door as something like QA (Quality Assurance). That's how I got my start 13 years ago.
Okay, what was one of your favourite things cut from BioShock Infinite that you feel should have been in the game? Well, I think all the cuts we made were the right calls. It pains you to see your ideas killed off, but with the perspective of hindsight, I think we made all the right cuts. I do have a soft spot for our environmental modding system. We've talked about it a bit publicly, I believe, but it was a system that let you raise or lower the pressure in Rapture. This had a variety of different effects, but it was primarily meant to interact with the Big Daddy/Splicer ecology. Raising would make one class stronger and lowering would do the opposite. So it was a cool way to "hack the world" as we called it then.
Hey! I have a question, wich id like your opinion about. Most new games, promise alot with trailers and teasers, but it never is the same. I have a few games in mind, but i dont want to point fingers :). Haha. I think it's always been this way because games are unpredictable and need to change during production. The choice is to have 100% trailer to retail accuracy, or the ability to adapt to feedback and issues as they arise. That may not sound like a fair choice, but it does touch upon one of the challenges of development. I think most devs create trailers with the best of intentions, but the reality is that again, things change. It's impossible to predict what's going to work and what issues are going to arise. So, I think track records mean a lot. I think games have to pass a certain degree of a smell test. So, by all means, be critical, but I wouldn't put us in the same categories as politicians. That hurts. ;)
I'm a Games Designer coming into my 4-5th years of experience in the industry, and i'd like to one day make the jump into a Lead role. What kind of qualities/experience do you think would help me make that leap from a team player to a team leader? Find a chance to take ownership over something and run with it. If you feel that there is a part of the game that isn't up to par, find a way to identify what the problems are and, more importantly, how to solve them. You need to be very, very careful here. Keep in mind that people don't always like to have their work criticized. But if you stick to the facts, provide examples of how other games are solving the problem and how you can do the same, you'll increase the liklihood that people will listen.
Also Would you kindly take a picture of yourself with the most interesting thing on your desk? Avoid hyperbole, don't make it personal, use compliment sandwiches, but be honest. If you do this in the right way, you may find yourself being given more responsibility. Then, keep at it.
How large is Deep End Games, and how do you think the size of a development team can affect creative output? We're 12 people total, but I'm the only one full time at the moment.
The team size affects the game in every possible way. However, a bigger team doesn't necessarily equal a better game. I've seen countless teams crash and burn just because they were too big to manage. I've also seen smaller teams take on too much and fail.
This is why I've taken every lesson I've learned over the years to carefully choose which battles the team takes on. Every decision we've made has carefully weighed the team size along with our strengths and weaknesses against our core vision.
We're lean and mean.
Bill help! how do I get a job in the gaming industry? I'm kinda there programming casino games but I've want something more fun and creative? how can I get jump ship into something more interesting? Sorry for the copy/paste job, but this has been asked a lot. Feel free to talk to me at @gameongardner if you want more insight. If you're looking to become a designer, then get out there and start building stuff. It doesn't matter if it sucks or if no one ever sees it - you'll learn a ton. Eventually though, you should move toward building something that you're proud to show off as part of a portfolio. Doesn't need to be anything big or exotic. Just make it clear. Sell it. Your idea should stand on its own legs with minimal explanation. If you need to talk people through it, you probably have more work to do.
I've heard a phrase "balancing of philosophies" thrown around when refering to game development. what are these philosophies? Haha. We do use a lot of buzzwords and phrases in development, don't we?
Every project is different. But one theme that is consistent across genres, studios and countries is the headbutting of philosophies. There are different approaches to development, design, you name it.
And so, development is about carefully weighing issues. How cool is this feature? Does it apply to our core vision? How much time does it take to build? When you weigh factors like these, you can make more informed decisions, and in theory, better games.
A bit of a simplification, but that should give you the gist.
Last updated: 2015-06-24 12:27 UTC
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