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<div type="image" title="mental health depression anxiety stress disorder ADD panic OCD mood trauma sad tired  6" height="1229" width="2458" msid="75816591" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>I'm not one to get too emotional about celebrity deaths, but a rock star's death by <keyword id="6356238" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="suicide">suicide</keyword> three years ago inspired me to finally address the <keyword id="6354802" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="depression">depression</keyword> that had afflicted me for much of my life.</li><li>The coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns have made every aspect of life a potential source of anxiety.</li><li>In a recent poll, 45% of adults said stress related to the pandemic was harming their <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword>. But even knowing that much of the world is going through this is of little comfort.</li><li>We're months into a crisis of biblical proportions. And I'm trying to continuously remind myself that, among other things, it's OK to be terrified, just as everyone else is consumed with potential catastrophes that threaten their worlds.</li><li>It's <a href="https://afsp.org/keepgoing">National Suicide Prevention Week</a>. If you're in trouble, you need to know you're not alone. </li><li>This is an <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</li></ul><p>I've never been one to get too emotional over celebrities' deaths, even artists whose work I adored.</p><p>But when the <keyword id="1365267" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Soundgarden">Soundgarden</keyword> frontman <keyword id="357620" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chris-Cornell">Chris Cornell</keyword> died by suicide on May 18, 2017, I was viscerally shaken to the point that I reevaluated my life and placed a priority on managing my own mental health.</p><p>The steps I took a little more than three years ago are the foundation of what's keeping me from the brink during life in lockdown, working and raising a family in an apartment in the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.</p><h2>A middle-aged rock star's suicide scared me into therapy</h2><p>I was a music-mad teenager in the '90s, and while Soundgarden wasn't the most important group to me, I was most certainly a fan. It was Black Sabbath meets The Beatles, technically proficient rockers who merged heavy thunder with trippy melodies.</p><p>As an adult, I felt a certain kinship with Cornell, even though he didn't know I existed.</p><p>Just like me, he had buried too many of his friends while in his 20s. And while I'm no rock star, we were both dads, and lucky enough to do what we love for a living.</p><p>The last time I got to see Cornell perform live was in November 2016.</p><p>He was playing with Temple of the Dog, a band comprising Soundgarden and Pearl Jam members that recorded just one album, in 1991, as a tribute to Cornell's roommate Andrew Wood, who <a href="https://www.kerrang.com/features/the-life-and-legacy-of-andrew-wood-the-lost-hero-of-grunge/">died of a heroin overdose at the age of 24</a>.</p><p>The gig was at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCir4LRsO-A">Madison Square Garden</a>. I and about 20,000 other (mostly) Gen Xers left our deeply ingrained cynicism at the door and stood enthralled during a 2-1/2-hour set.</p><p>The show rocked, but a strange sentimentality ran through it, as though it were a long-overdue requiem for our decades-gone youths. It was loud, cathartic, and beautiful.</p><p>About seven months later, Cornell killed himself.</p><p>When I saw the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> of his death the next morning, I couldn't fathom it.</p><p>It had been so many years since too many of his peers died by accidental overdoses or suicide. He had talked openly about his struggles with depression and addiction, but he was sober and still producing new music as a family man in his 50s. I had seen him as a survivor.</p><p>And at that moment in time, I was an absolute mess.</p><p>I had recently become a new father for the third time, and barely two weeks later I became unemployed, learning the hard way that there are no legal protections for new employees against paternity discrimination in the state of New York.</p><p>I was poisoned with rage at the injustice of what had happened to me. I was pretty sure my career in journalism was over. I carried a physically debilitating anxiety that felt like an anvil on my chest, and for the first time in my life I had <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/10/3/16411378/male-post-partum-depression-mental-health">truly suicidal thoughts</a>.</p><p>They came with unsettling specificity, to the point that I needed to talk myself out of them.</p><p>Within days of Cornell's death, I sought help in earnest.</p><p>With my wife's patient support, I made conscious steps to treat what I now recognize is a predisposition to cyclical depression that I've endured my whole life. I'm still taking those steps — which include therapy, medication, and meditation — and probably will for the rest of my life.</p><p>Managing depression is a daily struggle, but it's easy to forget to maintain vigilance when things are going well, when you're feeling good, when the weather's nice.</p><p>When the entire world literally falls apart around you overnight, it gets a little harder.</p><h2>Depression is the wolf at the door. The coronavirus made it a roommate.</h2><p>Depression's a monster, a liar, a wicked beast of a wolf. It's a daily challenge to keep the wolf on the other side of the door.</p><p>When the coronavirus pandemic shut down life as we know it — almost three years to the day that my life was upended and I acknowledged the severity of my mental-health struggle — the wolf made it through the door. Now depression was my roommate in <keyword id="58679" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Quarantine">quarantine</keyword>.</p><p>So was irritability. And sleeplessness. And paranoia.</p><p>But the worst element of depression, corona-style, has been the extended bouts of self-loathing.</p><p>I've beaten myself up for matters both large and small, both recent and ancient history.</p><p>Did I ruin my kids' childhood by not decamping from the city years ago? Am I stunting their development because I don't have a yard they can run around in? Three little kids in an apartment make a lot of noise and leave very little space, but why did I snap at them engaging in some sanity-maintaining roughhousing?</p><p>I succumbed to pathetic "why me" indulgences for having the misfortune of living in the epicenter of the pandemic.</p><p>While the specter of excruciating illness and death remains evident in the sight of refrigerated trucks filled with bodies a few blocks from my home, I can't help feeling shame for engaging in such self-pity, given my incredible fortunes of health, family, and gainful employment.</p><p>Then there are the demon seeds of regret.</p><p>For stupid things I said and did in high school. For friends I feel like I failed in their time of need. For selfishness, narcissism, and insensitivity.</p><p>In rational moments, I'm able to grab the reins of my psyche and quiet the noise. But the demon never strays too far.</p><p>The UN and the World Health Organization warned of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/world/live-coronavirus-tracker.html">global mental-health crisis</a> as a result of the lockdowns, and a recent <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-reform/press-release/brief-examines-the-covid-19-crisis-implications-for-americans-mental-health/">Kaiser Family Foundation poll</a> found that 45% of US adults said stress related to the pandemic was harming their mental health.</p><p>But even knowing that much of the world is going through this is of little comfort.</p><h2>Talking about it might not help, but it can't hurt</h2><p>I had previously only ever understood depression as a condition, a state of being, not an actual affliction. Now I know better.</p><p>There are a lot of reasons to be depressed right now, but no one necessarily needs a reason. Brain chemistry can have something to say about that even when the economy's great and going to the supermarket doesn't come with potential life-or-death consequences.</p><p>At a time when we can't see people, we're inclined to retreat to online life, which can be the most alienating place on earth.</p><p>We weren't prepared for this. No one was. We're all figuring it out as we go. The best thing we can do for ourselves and our loved ones is to not hold ourselves to arbitrary expectations.</p><p>At some point, we'll get the chance to thrive. But for now, it's OK to settle for survival.</p><p>There was a time I would have found talking openly about my depression mortifying. But over the past three years, in the right moments, I've found so many people I respect and admire willing to share their struggle, and those simple gestures compound upon themselves.</p><p>They remind us that none of us are immune from depression, even if some of us will be hit harder or more often than others because of quirks in brain chemistry and the uniqueness of life experience.</p><p>We're only a few months into a crisis of biblical proportions. And I'm trying to continuously remind myself that, among other things, it's OK to be terrified, just as everyone else is consumed with potential catastrophes that threaten their worlds.</p><p>There's pride to be taken in recognizing one's own vulnerabilities, but not using them as an excuse. Depression's a monster, but it's not a weakness of character.</p>

Depression doesn't take time off for a pandemic

<p class="source"><span>Getty</span></p><p class="caption">The singer Chris Cornell.</p>Chris Cornell, the frontman of the legendary grunge band Soundgarden, died Wednesday night in Detroit at 52.<p>A representative for Cornell <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-the-latest-police-chris-cornells-death-a-possible-suicide-2017-5">confirmed the death to The Associated Press</a>, saying it was "sudden and unexpected" and that Cornell's wife and family were shocked.</p><p>Police are investigating the death as a possible suicide, according to the AP. A police spokesperson said that while they can't release details about what led <span>investigators to that decision, there were "basic things observed at the scene."</span></p><p><span>The police spokesman added that Cornell died at the MGM Grand Detroit hotel. The singer's wife reportedly called a family friend and asked him to check in on Cornell. The friend, according to police, forced open a hotel room door and found Cornell on the bathroom floor.</span></p><p><span>Cornell was on tour and performed with Soundgarden in Detroit on Wednesday night.</span></p><p><span>The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office will make an official determination about the cause of death, and a statement from Cornell's representative said his family will work closely with the office to make the determination.</span></p><p><span>Cornell's singular voice helped propel Soundgarden, formed in Seattle in 1984, to fame. The band helped popularize grunge in the 1990s, alongside other bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana. Later, Cornell also became the lead singer for the band Audioslave.</span></p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/judge-judy-friend-hot-bench-2017-5">Judge Judy's friend of 40 years explains what she's really like</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell has died at 52 in a possible suicide

<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span><span>You've probably never heard of Matt Chamberlain&#xa0;before,&#xa0;but if you've ever listened to Elton John, Kanye West, Dido, or John Mayer, you've definitely heard his music.</span></span></p><p><span>New York Times Magazine recently published an interactive feature titled "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/10/magazine/25-songs-that-tell-us-where-music-is-going.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine">25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music is Going</a>."&#xa0;</span>One section, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/10/magazine/25-songs-that-tell-us-where-music-is-going.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=magazine&amp;region=rank&amp;module=package&amp;version=highlights&amp;contentPlacement=1&amp;pgtype=sectionfront&amp;_r=0#/matt-chamberlain-john-cougar-john-deere-john-316-keith-urban">written by Jeff Himmelman</a>, focuses on 48-year-old Chamberlain.&#xa0;</p><p>Himmelman describes the drummer and composer as a "below-the-radar rock star who often shows up only in the liner not<span><span>es."&#xa0;</span></span></p><p>Chamberlain is a freelance session player, which means he'll be brought in to help compose a&#xa0;song, pushing it in the right direction with a skillful manipulation of different rhythms.&#xa0;He can also be hired to record drums for&#xa0;an album or single, or brought on for a live tour or late-night show performance.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Chamberlain's notoriety is&#xa0;due to his ability to seamlessly blend into any genre or sound, and elevate the&#xa0;music in a new&#xa0;direction an artist wishes to take. Not to mention he's still mainly crafting with instruments in a studio, not pulling from electronic samples. With music going more and more digital, talented studio musicians are becoming a rarity.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Chamberlain's minimal website features </span><a href="http://www.mattchamberlain.com/?page_id=1750">a&#xa0;list of the bands and artists he's recorded and/or toured with</a><span>.&#xa0;</span></span><span><span>Let's take a look at just a few of the included names:</span></span></p><ul><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Tori Amos</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Bill Frisell</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Soundgarden</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">David Bowie</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Fiona Apple</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Kanye West</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Elvis Costello</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Frank Ocean</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Eric Clapton</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Bruce Springsteen</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Morrissey</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Elton John</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Dido</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Pearl Jam</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">John Mayer</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Regina Spektor</span></li></ul><p><span><span><span>When Chamberlain was just 24, he </span><span>spent a season drumming&#xa0;for Saturday Night Live's studio band from 1991 to 1992. More recently he did</span>&#xa0;soundtrack work for movies like&#xa0;"Trainwreck," "Man Of Steel," and Disney's "Frozen."</span></span></p><p><span><span><div></div></span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Himmelman summed it up neatly: "<span>In a world of dwindling recording budgets and increased automation, [Chamberlain]&#xa0;could well be the last one drumming before software takes over completely."</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/10/magazine/25-songs-that-tell-us-where-music-is-going.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=magazine&amp;region=rank&amp;module=package&amp;version=highlights&amp;contentPlacement=1&amp;pgtype=sectionfront&amp;_r=0#/justin-bieber-sorry">the full New York Times Magazine post</a> for more insights to the world of contemporary music.</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-music-review-features-streaming-2015-7">How to use Apple's Spotify killer - now on everyone's iPhone</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="FibGx5dTrRKa9Z1biyzTU1SbW8sOl5jW" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

This rock star drummer goes completely under the radar playing for icons like Kanye West and Elton John

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p></div><p></p></div></div><strong>Warning: Minor Spoilers ahead for "Westworld."</strong></p><p><strong>The <keyword id="79969" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="insider">INSIDER</keyword> Summary:</strong></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>• An automated piano plays modern songs on "Westworld."</strong><br /><strong>• Creator Jonathan Nolan says it's a parallel to the robotic hosts.</strong><strong><br />• The music serves as an emotional trigger and reminder we're in the future.<br /><strong>• Also, he just loves Radiohead.</strong><br /></strong></p><p><br />"Westworld" fans with a keen ear have probably noticed the use of anachronistic music in the late 1800s setting of the show's theme park. Inside the Marisposa Saloon where Maeve (Thandie Newton) works, a player piano has been heard giving renditions of modern music.</p><p>The premiere episode featured Soundgarden's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg">Black Hole Sun</a>," plus a kick-butt take on the Rolling Stones' "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4irXQhgMqg">Paint it Black</a>." The second episode included Radiohead's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CVsCnxyXg&amp;index=10&amp;list=PLDdjexgjElXSTWp_GU_urkCaVdhWLmHPr">No Surprises.</a>"</p><p>During the "Westworld" panel at New York Comic Con Sunday, co-creator Jonathan Nolan was asked about his use of Radiohead and other bands inside the show's fictional Wild West universe. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">The player piano inside the Mariposa Saloon.</p></div><p></p></div></div><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, the album is called Paranoid Android, so it felt natural," Nolan said as the audience laughed appreciatively. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The album in question is actually called "OK Computer," but it's still fitting. "Paranoid Android" is a known single from the album, so we forgive Mr. Nolan's memory lapse.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"One of the first things Lisa and I talked about when we sat down to write the pilot were the sort of touchstone images that you would come back to," Nolan continued, gesturing at his wife and co-creator Lisa Joy. "The player piano was - and shout out to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Player-Piano-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/1501277251">Kurt Vonnegat</a> for the idea - sort of the first, primordial version of our hosts: A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine">Rube Goldberg machine</a> that is created to evoke human emotion."</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Kim Renfro/INSIDER</span></p><p class="caption">Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and Thandie Newton onstage at New York Comic Con 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">But aside from the subtle nod to an early version of automated machinery, the piano offers up an opportunity to set new tones and emotions for the audience. Most of the time it plays a piano-only version of the "Westworld" main theme song. The switches to modern songs are meant to trigger new feelings in viewers at home.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"[The player piano] was also just a great excuse to be able to use contemporary music in the show," Nolan continued. "Obviously it's a period Western, or as we call it a synthetic Western. But </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">contemporary music is very powerful because everyone comes in with a pre-existing relationship to the song. So it allows you to short-circuit or shorthand an idea or a feeling."</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The quiet melancholy of Radiohead, or build-up of energy from "Paint it Black" are two excellent examples we have of this so far. Future episodes will almost certainly feature new songs, as well. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>John P. Johsnon/HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Maeve and Clementine work at the Mariposa Saloon where the player piano is kept.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">For anyone who feels the use of modern songs pulls them out of the Western narrative, this is intentional on Nolan and Joy's behalf.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's also there to remind you that this isn't a Western, that this isn't taking place in the 19th century. It's taking place somewhere else - some <em>time</em> else," Nolan concluded. "And I just love Radiohead."</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-a-japanese-island-where-you-can-hang-out-with-deer-2016-9">You can hang out with deer on this Japanese Island</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BubjY0NjE6WgJ-njiiQBPyfUhPlNOOQt" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Here's why modern songs play on the saloon's piano in 'Westworld'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Twitter is taking a stab at e-commerce. </p>
<p>Today, the company's announcing it's rolling out a "buy" button for a small number of U.S. users. Over time, that will grow to include all U.S. users.</p>
<p>Here's how Twitter says it works: "<span>After tapping the 'Buy' button, you will get additional product details and be prompted to enter your shipping and payment information. Once that's entered and confirmed, your order information is sent to the merchant for delivery."</span></p>
<p><span>This product is the result of Twitter's head of commerce, Nathan Hubbard, and his small team. Hubbard was previously CEO of Ticketmaster. He joined Twitter about a year ago. </span></p>
<p>For the most part, e-commerce has failed on social networks. Facebook, for instance, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-made-its-second-largest-acquisition-last-week-and-its-much-bigger-deal-than-you-realize-2012-5">bought a startup called Karma</a>, which it turned into "Gifts." Gifts was a way to quickly send a friend a present, but it never gained traction and was recently shut down.</p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="" title_caption="An example of Facebook trying commerce. See the little bow?" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/540d9fc3ecad047a2edbc957-960/facebook-gifts-1.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="caption">An example of Facebook trying commerce. See the little bow?</p></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span>Between 2011 and 2012, Gamestop, JC Penney, </span>Nordstrom<span>, and </span>Gap<span> opened and closed stores on Facebook. At the time, Gamestop's marketing and strategy VP <span>Ashley Sheetz </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/f-commerce-trips-as-gap-to-penney-shut-facebook-stores-retail.html">told Bloomberg</a><span>, "We just didn't get the return on investment we needed from the Facebook market, so we shut it down pretty quickly ... For us, it's been a way we communicate with customers on deals, not a place to sell."</span></span></p>
<p><span>Even Twitter previously tried and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitters-daily-deal-product-flops-early-bird-set-aside-2010-9">failed with a daily deals service called Early Bird</a>.</span></p>
<p>The theory about e-commerce in social networks is that people are there to hang out, not shop. So, it just doesn't really work. Chris Dixon, an investor at Andreessen Horowitz <a href="https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/171080698160103424">explained Facebook's failure in 2012</a> by saying, <span>"Facebook is like </span>Starbucks<span> where everyone hangs out but no one ever buys anything."</span></p>
<p><span>Hubbard says Twitter will be different for three reasons:</span></p>
<ol>
<li><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Twitter's algorithms can help users see the right offers.</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Hubbard says Twitter's "interest graph, geo data, and contextual data" should help an e-commerce product.</span></li>
<li><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Twitter is a hive for influential people.</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> "Influencers, as they weigh in, can accelerate users down the purchase funnel," says Hubbard. When someone on Twitter says, "this is cool," it has far reaching impact and can lead to sales, says Hubbard.</span></li>
<li><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">We are moving to more "on-demand services" and Twitter is a real-time network that exists in the moment.</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> A big trend in e-commerce startup land is instant gratification. You want something right now? There's a company that can handle that. </span></li>
</ol>
<p><span>Of these three reasons, the last is the most convincing. Twitter, which is a real-time network, could grab some business from people who want things in the moment. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Otherwise, it's hard to see Twitter driving much commerce.</span></p>
<p><span>Twitter's best (and perhaps worst) feature is that it's a frantic messy place. It's an A.D.D. social network with tweets flying past you quickly. Even if you saw something you were interested in buying, odds are a new tweet has caught your attention before you can hit the buy button. </span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Twitter" title_caption="Still from the promo video from Twitter for its new buy buttons." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/540da1d26bb3f7171ffb05e8-960/screen shot 2014-09-08 at 8.14.11 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Twitter</span></p><p class="caption">Still from the promo video from Twitter for its new buy buttons.</p></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span>Interestingly, Hubbard says if Twitter sees traction with the new e-commerce product, it may have to think about how to deal with the speed of the Twitter stream: </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">If through this testing, if we see users want to engage, have to think about consumer product evolves to manage that." </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Fearful that people might misinterpret that comment, he followed up by saying, "<span>I don't think about adjusting the core product. I just think adjusting." </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He added, "The g</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">ood thing about Twitter is conversation, vitality. If we think there's a there <em>there</em> [with this commerce product], that's something we'd think about. We're always thinking about how we evolve the product. How to make it better for users."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">While e-commerce has generally failed at social networks, Hubbard <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/we-just-heard-some-incredibly-bullish-news-about-facebook-that-might-make-you-actually-believe-that-75-billion-valuation-2012-2">figured out how to use Facebook and Twitter to drive sales for Ticketmaster</a>. When people bought seats to a concert, or a game, they could share the location of their seats on Facebook. Then their friends would see those seats and click through to Ticketmaster.</span></p>
<p><span>Hubbard says this success led to him joining Twitter. "I was coming to Dick and Adam, saying, 'Why aren't you doing more of this?'" (Dick is CEO Dick Costolo, and Adam is Adam Bain, President of Global Revenue.)</span></p>
<p><span>"Dick said, 'I don't have anyone working on this, why don't you come and do this,'" says Hubbard. And so he built a small team, acquired a startup called Cardspring, and today we will begin to see the results. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">As far as revenue from e-commerce goes, for now it will be small. This is mostly a test to see what works and what doesn't. In the short term, revenue is not the focus.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here is Twitter's official blog post on the buy buttons:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" dir="ltr">Today we are beginning to test a new way for you to discover and buy products on Twitter. For a small percentage of U.S. users (that will grow over time), some Tweets from our test partners will feature a "Buy" button, letting you buy directly from the Tweet.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" dir="ltr">This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun. Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can't get anywhere else and can act on them right in the Twitter apps for Android and iOS; sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales. We're not building this alone: we've partnered with Fancy (<a href="https://twitter.com/fancy" target="_blank">@fancy</a>), Gumroad (<a href="https://twitter.com/gumroad" target="_blank">@gumroad</a>), Musictoday (<a href="https://twitter.com/Musictoday" target="_blank">@Musictoday</a>), and Stripe (<a href="https://twitter.com/stripe" target="_blank">@stripe</a>) as platforms for this initial test, with more partners to follow soon. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" dir="ltr">In our test, an entire purchase can be completed in just a few taps. After tapping the "Buy" button, you will get additional product details and be prompted to enter your shipping and payment information. Once that's entered and confirmed, your order information is sent to the merchant for delivery.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" dir="ltr">We built this test experience with your trust and security at the forefront. Your payment and shipping information is encrypted and safely stored after your first transaction, so you can easily buy on Twitter in the future without having to re-enter all of your information. Of course, you can always remove this information from your account. Your credit card is processed securely and won't be shared with the seller without your permission. For more information about our security and privacy policies, please visit our Support page <a href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/20171947" target="_blank">here</a>.<span style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 15px;"> </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We'll be starting the test with a group of artists, brands, and nonprofit organizations, so follow them now and look out for great products over the coming weeks:</p>
<ul style="padding-left: 30px;">
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Beartooth (@beartoothband)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Brad Paisley (@bradpaisley)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Burberry (@burberry)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Dan+Shay (@DanAndShay)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Death From Above 1979 (@dfa1979)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Demi Lovato (@ddlovato)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">DonorsChoose (@DonorsChoose)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Eminem (@eminem)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">GLAAD (@glaad)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">GLIDE (@GlideSF)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Global Citizen (@GlblCtzn)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Home Depot (@HomeDepot)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hunter Hayes (@HunterHayes)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Kiesza (@kiesza)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Keith Urban (@keithurban)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Nature Conservancy (@nature_org)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Megadeth (@Megadeth)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Mike Stud (@mike_stud)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Panic! At The Disco (@panicatthedisco)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Pharrell (@pharrell)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Paramore (@paramore)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">(RED) (@RED)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Soundgarden (@soundgarden)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The New Pornographers (@TheNewPornos)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">twenty one pilots (@twentyonepilots)</span></li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) 9/11 Day (@911Day)</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Watch for more offers from artists and brands you love coming soon.</p>

Twitter Is Trying Out A New Line Of Business - It's Adding 'Buy' Buttons To Tweets For E-Commerce

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Bruce Pavitt is considered one of the founding fathers of the Seattle grunge scene.<p>The Sub Pop alternative music label he cofounded with business partner&#xa0;Jon Poneman in the late 1980s&#xa0;kickstarted the global success of bands including Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney.</p><p>But in 1996, a year after Sub Pop sold a 49% stake of the business to Warner Music Group, Pavitt had become "bored with the industry," he told Business Insider at Web Summit in Lisbon earlier this week.</p><p>"I'm an entrepreneurial type; I'm a creative person. Typically, as businesses grow, by nature they have to become more bureaucratic and ruled by committee - and I don't thrive in that type of environment," Pavitt said.</p><p>"My background goes all the way back to the '80s, with fanzines, and supporting indie music with cassette demos. The decade of the '80s, that culture, a lot of the underground bands did not sell very much music, but that's why it was interesting. You had Fugazi, Sonic Youth, and Nirvana in the 1980s and the personalities were pioneers, iconoclasts. They weren't making money. They were doing art because they had to make art. To me that was - even though I was broke in the '80s - that was much more interesting," he added.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"But post-'Nevermind' [Nirvana's 1991 album, released by Sup Pop]&#xa0;you had big majors starting indie bands to make money. The music, and the dialog, and the interviews: the culture became safer. Sub Pop was more bureaucratic and the culture wasn't more interesting. There was more money, but I feed off creative," Pavitt said.<h2>8Stem: A remixing app that pays the original artist</h2><p>Now Pavitt works&#xa0;a five-person company that plugs his desire for creativity.</p><p>Founded&#xa0;in 2015 with Pavitt's business partner Adam Farish, 8Stem is a free mobile app that lets&#xa0;users remix music tracks. Like a recording studio mixing console, the app breaks out the stems of each track - the guitar, drums, bass, and vocals, for example - and makes it easy to switch them around or add new effects without needing to have the expertise and expensive software of a studio&#xa0;engineer.</p><p>There are<a href="http://www.musictech.net/2015/01/apps-remix/"> a number of music remixing apps on the market</a>, but 8Stem&#xa0;differentiates itself with its monetization model. Remixers on the app can opt to have their masterpieces uploaded to Apple Music and Spotify. The original artist gets compensated when the remixes are streamed and 8Stem makes its money by taking a cut of that revenue.</p><p>8Stem also has a partnership with DubSet, a company that provides music fingerprinting technology that scans each track to ensure users haven't, for example, added an unauthorized sample of a Michael Jackson song to their remix. The expense and complication of licensing is one of the reasons why <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/tunepics-and-innovate7-shut-down-2016-3">many</a> <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/crowdmix-collapsed-administration-raising-14-million-2016-7">music</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/01/bloom-fm-streaming-music-shuts-down">apps</a> find it difficult to take off, but partnering with a fingerprinting service like DubSet gives labels and platforms assurances about the protection of original copyright.</p><p>Pavitt is the company's creative director and chooses the artists whose tracks appear in the app. So far there are 40 artists on board, such as&#xa0;Telekenisis, an indie rock artist who had an <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sleep-in-strk-riot-remix-single/id1174476209?ls=1">8Stem remix of his track "Sleep" uploaded to&#xa0;Apple Music this week.</a></p><p><div></div></p><p>Pavitt is treating the startup very much like his former label. Around 75% of the current artists on 8Stem are from Seattle and the company's $500,000 funding to date has been raised from&#xa0;Pavitt and Farish's friendship network.</p><p>"When you think about friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, it's a pretty large network. One approach is to go to VC firms and try to get $1 million, another way is to get investments of $25,000 to $100,000 a pop. It's been coming in and keeping us going. I strongly prefer doing business that way, it's a lot more creative," Pavitt said.</p><h2>Pavitt predicts 8Stem will 'blow up' in 2017</h2><p>The app is currently in its early days, but Pavitt predicts 2017 is when "we are going to blow up" thanks to the growing popularity of&#xa0;music streaming and remixes.</p><p>Pavitt explained: "Go to YouTube and search for any pop song. There will always be a remix after that [original song]. And in almost every case there are more remix views than the original song. Up until now, remixers were considered criminals as the artists haven't been compensated and record labels were apprehensive to support remixes because of all sorts of complications, [but with fingerprinting technology] we are now seeing record labels encourage remixes."&#xa0;</p><p>But 8Stem is likely to get its biggest shot in the arm if it can convince an artist with a huge fanbase to come on board.&#xa0;</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Hypothetically, Pavitt references hip hop artist Macklemore, who has 6.5 million fans on Facebook. Were an act of that size to offer a track up to 8Stem, he predicts the app could see "100,000 downloads in a week or a day" - not to mention a spike in the amount of streams of the remixed song.<p>The aim is to get more global artists on board, but Pavitt remains incredibly loyal to the Seattle music scene.</p><p>"I'm very bullish in general on local music scenes. My theory has always been that every&#xa0;community has a talented artist. The challenge is to recognize the genius in our own community and recognize its importance," Pavitt said.</p><p>"I think that Sub Pop, as much as they have done a really good job, they have definitely shied away from supporting what's in their own back yard. They're a global brand. You can create a lot of heat with what's in your own back yard," he continued. "I think the Seattle scene is thriving right now, but you wouldn't know that&#xa0;looking at the Sub Pop catalog. That's not a diss on Sub Pop, but I saw a kind of vacuum there."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boost-your-iphones-reception-wifi-calling-2016-11">This hidden iPhone feature will boost your reception</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="FndmsxNDE6vk3uQVYRGSGZh3e00tqu6q" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The founder of Seattle grunge label Sub Pop explains why he jacked it all in and founded a tech startup

<br /> <keyword id="1862" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="kids">Kids</keyword> in India who grew up in the eighties or nineties –had the pleasure of being part of the golden age of comic books –something that most kids today do not have. The best part was, they didn’t restrict themselves to characters or titles from either the west or from the region as there were publishers that sourced titles from all around the world.<br /> While the west was gobbling up names like <keyword id="25718" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="batman">Batman</keyword>, <keyword id="7435" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Superman">Superman</keyword>, <keyword id="112243" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="X-Men">X-Men</keyword>, <keyword id="319257" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Avengers">The Avengers</keyword>, <keyword id="254726" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Justice-League">Justice League</keyword>, <keyword id="184711" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tarzan">Tarzan</keyword>, The <keyword id="46483" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Phantom">Phantom</keyword>, etc., children in India also had local heroes like Chacha Chaudhary, Nagraj, Doga, Bahadur and many more to choose from.<br /> But then what changed? There has to be a reason why there are so few young readers today. Most comic book slash graphic novels in India nowadays, target the 25 to 35 age group, which is a little uncommon when you compare it with the target audiences in Europe and America. One reason for this readership decline could be the advent of cable television and video games. Mainstream cable channels in India entered homes in the early to mid nineties, just when the comic book industry had reached its peak. And so did computer gaming. Suddenly, most children from middle class Indian families could (or in most cases, had to) make choices. This created a very unique dilemma for the comic book publishers in India. Their loyal readers were growing up and the next generation of children were simply not starving for <keyword id="4578" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="entertainment">entertainment</keyword>, at least not like their predecessors. It's like how the 90's grunge scene was hugely popular among the youth then, but today not too many new grunge bands are seen around, even though that 90's crowd (which has now aged) still swears by Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and other bands.<br />
Liquid Comics, which was known as Virgin Comics back when it was launched in 2006, made some serious efforts to turn the Indian readers towards a grittier, serious and darker path of entertainment through its <em>Shakti</em> series. The core essence of the titles was to make the content appealing to a wider and more international audience while still retaining the series' <em>Indianness</em>. It had characters such as <em>Devi </em>(a modern day reincarnation of a goddess) and <em>The Sadhu </em>(a colonial period piece about an Englishman who was a reincarnated version of a warrior sage from the past). The themes dealt with subjects like reincarnation, spirituality and highly developed individual characterisation (think Neil Gaiman's <em>Sandman</em>). These were clearly not aimed at children, but at late teens and adults.<br />
There is also Holy Cow Entertainment which refurbished the story of Ramayana through the perspective of the much misunderstood <em>Ravan</em>. The ten-part comic series, called <em>Ravanayan</em>, is written by Vijayendra Mohanty from Delhi and illustrated by Mumbai-based Vivek Goel. What makes this story unique is its creativity to steer away from the traditional 'good against evil' formula. The reader is made to empathise with Ravana, a demon king, who is the main antagonist in Valmiki's original <em>Ramayana</em>, and they are told why he made the choices he did. This is something really progressive in India, where any alternative view to the traditional narrative has mostly been condemned by religious fundamentalists.<br />
Comics have usually been a gateway drug to the addictiveness that is reading, and its decline is hence more worrying. Somewhere after the nineties, when the age of Cartoon Network dawned upon India, the number of young readers spiralled down. There's also the changing face of parents today. Children in the 80's and 90's had parents and grandparents who told them stories of epics such as <em>Ramayana, Mahabharata</em>, etc. not today. This is where comic books can make a great impact for young readers. Titles like <em>Chacha Chaudhary</em> and <em>Shaktimaan</em> dropped the ball by being too preachy. That is something kids today can easily see through. The key to breaking through to them lies in original content and storytelling. Maybe Indian publishers can develop apps that let young readers read online versions of comic books on their mobile devices. Indian comic books have a lot to offer, but they should try harder to adapt to new technology to deliver.<br />
 <br />

Can Comics In India Come Out Of the Lull Of The Last Decade?

<p><div type="image" title="Dolores and William confused Westworld" height="1080" width="1440" msid="75582953" hostid="261"></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>"<keyword id="2191702" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="westworld">Westworld</keyword>" started out as a fever dream of all my favorite things. </li><li>In the years since that first nearly flawless season, my relationship to the show has shifted for several reasons. </li><li>Above all, I'm still a "Westworld" fan. But boy is it starting to feel draining. </li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>From the moment I saw the first <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/westworld">"Westworld"</a> trailer in 2016, it was like being dropped into a fever dream of all my favorite things. </p><p>The unique sci-fi/western genre blend was based on a previous work of fiction (a specialty of mine I had been perfecting while writing about "Game of Thrones"), plus top billing included Evan Rachel Wood, Anthony Hopkins, and a Nolan brother! </p><p>Go ahead and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3u0IlBBO4">watch that trailer again</a> and tell me if you can guess what the hell that show is about. You can't. I didn't at the time. But I dove headlong into the chaos. I bought the original Michael Crichton movie and watched it to prepare. I received the first four episodes of the first season as press screeners, and spent a month watching and rewatching them and <a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-hbo-review-2016-9">telling everyone I knew</a> that they <em>had </em>to see this show when it came out.</p><p><div type="image" title="Teddy Flood and Dolores Abernathy  credit John P. Johnson Westworld" height="1000" width="1333" msid="75582956" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Four years later, and after what I can only estimate is hundreds of hours I've spent passionately analyzing and writing about this show, and all of my beloved fervor has changed into something more complicated. </p><p>While I'd still call myself a devoted fan of the show, I now see my journey as a "Westworld" obsessive as a roller coaster of highs and lows, particularly as each season emerges more and more divisive among the original fanbase.  </p><h2><strong>The first season of 'Westworld' is still one of the best seasons of <keyword id="6355065" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TV">TV</keyword> to premiere in the last decade</strong></h2><p>The debut season of "Westworld" rightfully earned an enormous, obsessive audience. At first, the draw of "Westworld" was the intriguing way the story literally zoomed out from the theme park. The pilot begins with a tight circle of exposition granted to the viewer: We learn about the "hosts," robots so well-designed that they're indistinguishable from humans, and how those hosts live inside narrative loops in a theme park designed to look like the Wild West. </p><p>We're also shown (again, in a tightly contained subplot), how a facility run by humans controls the hosts and their narratives, cleaning up the abused robot bodies before sending them back out for more murder and assault. There's a mysterious man named Dr. Ford (played by the enigmatic Anthony Hopkins), a terrifying man (Ed Harris) with no name and a penchant for terrorizing the hosts, and then of course the hosts themselves.</p><p><div type="image" title="Dr. Robert Ford Westworld" height="1606" width="2141" msid="75582958" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) is introduced as the sweet rancher's daughter, an innocent-type who loves the rugged cowboy host Teddy (James Marsden). We're told that she's the oldest host in the park, and also that the hosts are programmed so they're unable to hurt any living thing — even a fly.</p><p>The pilot cracks open its premise by the end with an important final shot: Dolores killing a fly as she serenely smiles, looking out over the "natural splendor" of her world.</p><p>As its first season unfolded, "Westworld" cemented itself as one of the best new shows on television. Filmed on location in Utah and Arizona, the sweeping vistas contrasted with a beautifully stark design of the Delos facilities. </p><p>Composer Ramin Djawadi was already a rising star thanks to his indelible work on "Game of Thrones," but now his bag of tricks was expanded with the "Westworld" score and playfully gorgeous piano covers of music from Radiohead and Soundgarden and more. </p><p><div type="image" title="Sylvester and Felix Lutz with Maeve Westworld John P. Johnson" height="1019" width="1359" msid="75582961" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The episodes following the pilot brought another key host, Maeve (Thandie Newton) to the forefront with her own hauntingly beautiful story of awakening. The circle of information grew larger, zooming out to show us how human guests like William (Jimmi Simpson) and Logan (Ben Barnes) arrived in the park.</p><p>Then, the theories began. </p><h2><strong>'Westworld' trained its audience to look for meaning in the smallest details, leading to an unwieldy external method of watching the show</strong></h2><p><keyword id="334157" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Reddit">Reddit</keyword> has been a hub for fandoms for a long time. It's not uncommon for individual shows or franchises to have their own subreddits, like <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/westworld">/r/westworld</a>, where theories and discussions and news can be shared and debated. </p><p>"Westworld" was seemingly designed for the eagle-eyed hivemind of a subreddit, with the tiniest of background details (like a label on a milk can) planted as clues of a twist ahead. Cocreator Jonathan Nolan is a redditor himself, and even <a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-reddit-jonathan-nolan-2016-11">dropped exclusive unused footage</a> from the first season in an innocuous comment. </p><p>From the jump, "Westworld" fans began trying to uncover the twists and turns of the season ahead. And they did it with <a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-season-1-analysis-2016-12">an incredible rate of success</a>. </p><p><div type="image" title="William and the Man in Black side by side Westworld" height="900" width="1200" msid="75582970" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The Westworld park's head of programming Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), turned out to be a host created by Ford, a twisted attempt by Ford to bring back his old partner, Arnold, to life. The biggest twist of all was that Ed Harris' character, the mysterious Man in Black, was actually William, and the first season had been showing audiences two different time frames, cleverly cut together so it looked like a single continuous story. </p><p>Even back then, keeping up with the fan theories was sometimes exhausting. The amount of information contained not just in the show, but in <a href="https://www.insider.com/best-westworld-website-easter-eggs-2016-10">the bonus "Westworld" content like a Delos Destinations website</a>, was overwhelming.</p><p>Trying to be the first to spot a new Easter egg on the website or uncover a coded message in the show was exhilarating. It was also a breeding ground for both anxiety and hubris. What if you got it wrong? What if you got it <em>right,</em> but were still missing a key piece of the puzzle? </p><p>At this point you're probably asking me, "Why not…chill out? It's just a TV show." Unfortunately that's not how my mind (or job) works. And while, yes, the season one roller coaster of fan theories and being wrong but also sometimes being extremely right was stressful, it was, above all else,<em> fun</em>. </p><p><div type="image" title="Dr. Ford and Dolores finale Westworld" height="1119" width="1492" msid="75582971" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The season one finale of "Westworld" is still one of my favorite episodes of TV I've seen in the last decade. But it's not just the finale, the entire pace and momentum of the first season is nearly flawless. Maeve's story still brings me to tears when I rewatch the run of episodes from "The Adversary" to "The Well-Tempered Clavier." Everytime Anthony Hopkins goes into a new monologue, I'm primed for chills. The score, the writing, the performances — it's all phenomenal.</p><p>It was also fun to have a show crafted by two very thoughtful and detail-oriented people like Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Listening to them speak about the show's ideas, and the way they were challenging the audience to draw parallels to the real world while also sprinkling in clever Easter eggs, always brought me new levels of respect for their approach to TV writing. </p><h2><strong>The second season had higher highs, but lower lows</strong></h2><p>Have you ever woken up at 1 a.m., quietly retrieved your laptop and headphones so as not to wake up your husband in a 425-square-foot apartment, sat down on the couch to watch a full spoiler video showing what happens in "Westworld" season two <a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-reddit-rick-roll-video-spoilers-2018-4">uploaded by Jonathan Nolan himself</a>, excitedly seen real new footage, and then slowly, horrifyingly, realized you have been RICK ROLLED?!  Well. I have. </p><p>Nolan and Joy, who had by then caught on to the way the "Westworld" subreddit was seemingly a step ahead of their planned twists, were trying to out-Reddit the Redditors. </p><p>I see the humor in it. And have almost no one to blame but myself for thinking that Nolan and Joy's practical joke on the "Westworld" Reddit fans <a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-season-2-spoilers-video-reddit-2018-4">might be real</a>. </p><p>But that was the moment when I had to relinquish some of the satisfaction I got from being a self-proclaimed expert on this show, and accept that I was just a passenger along on the ride Nolan and Joy were creating — even if that meant sometimes getting a rug jokingly pulled out from under my feet. </p><p>Season two started off very strong. Again that circle of information was pulled out a little more, opening the circumference of understanding. We learned more about <em>where</em> Westworld was. We saw other parks for the first time with Shogunworld and The Raj. We got a deeper understanding of how William took over the Delos company, and the corporate interests in the park's guests and data collection. </p><p>But this time, instead of two concurrent time frames interwoven to appear like continuous plot, the story structure went completely topsy-turvy. From the outset we knew there were multiple time frames. But we were seeing those through the perspective of Bernard, a host whose entire memory bank had been declassified and scrambled.</p><p><div type="image" title=" Doloers and Bernard Westworld season 2 finale HBO" height="1332" width="1776" msid="75582974" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Adding to the confusion was the introduction of the Cradle, a simulated version of the real world. Oh and the fact that actress Tessa Thompson wasn't just playing Charlotte Hale, but half the time had been Dolores disguised in a copy of Charlotte's body. </p><p>I was able to keep most of the scenes straight, but only with a large spreadsheet and weekly updates to <a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-timeline-spoilers-2018-4">a massive timeline graphic outlining the events of every episode</a>. </p><p>Many fans were left completely confused, and not in a pleasant way. Instead of feeling exhilarated by the challenge of unpacking every scene, a lot of folks were left just throwing their hands in the air and saying, "I don't know what's going on anymore."</p><p>Not everyone gave up, though. Almost every week, there was at least one scene or monologue or new piece of information that delivered those same season one feelings all over again.</p><p><div type="image" title="Akecheta Mesa lab Westworld" height="1105" width="1473" msid="75582977" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The real tour de force came with season two eighth episode, "Kiksuya," which gave us a long-awaited understanding of the Native hosts in Westworld. Told almost entirely in Lakota by actor Zahn McClarnon (a host called Akecheta), "Kiksuya" was one of the most breathtaking episodes of "Westworld" ever created.</p><p>It blew right past "The Bicameral Mind" in terms of worldbuilding, beauty, and a complete reset of expectations for how "Westworld" can build itself towards flawless character-driven storytelling.</p><p>Perhaps, in retrospect, the bar was set too high. </p><h2>The third season had its own highs and lows, but this time around it was more draining than fun</h2><p>Season three kicked off with some trepidation. What hijinx would the writers be up to this time around? How was the show going to feel without the backdrop of the beautifully constructed Delos parks? </p><p>As new episodes began, I started hearing more and more from people who told me that my articles, usually in tandem with <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/joanna-robinson">Vanity Fair writer</a> and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-westworld/id1163344992">professional "Westworld" podcaster</a> Joanna Robinson's coverage, was the only thing keeping them engaged with the show. Others confessed to me, as if I'd take it personally, that they had given up. Still more would ask me in a fretful manner if the new season was "worth watching." </p><p>I didn't know how to respond. I still don't. I'm a fervent believer in people choosing for themselves what kind of shows or movies are worth their increasingly precious time. The idea of telling something they <em>must </em>watch a show stresses me out. What if they hate it? What if they blame me for wasting their time? What if I'm wrong? (Welcome to the anxiety-soaked nature of my brain). </p><p><div type="image" title="Westworld season three Dolores " height="1158" width="1544" msid="75582979" hostid="261"></div></p><p>There was no way<em> I'd</em> ever stop watching "Westworld," so I didn't know what to say to people asking if they should. I enjoyed the first batch of episodes in the third season, and felt optimistic about the coming back-half. </p><p>Along the way, I felt a push and pull of enjoyment and frustration. At points, that old feeling of "Westworld"-driven glee rushed back. Lee Sizemore's reappearance, and then the reveal that he (and Maeve) were in a simulation, was a delight. Aaron Paul's character, Caleb, was a welcome addition to the already phenomenal cast. The midway reveal that Dolores had copied herself instead of bringing actual host allies into the real world was unpredictable and well executed. </p><p>I'd probably watch Ed Harris read the terms and conditions of a weather app and enjoy it, so seeing him flex his talent this season as William in a downward-spiral was pure joy (<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/westworld-season-3-ed-harris-man-in-white.html">even if Harris himself wasn't too jazzed about his character arc</a>). </p><p><div type="image" title="Delos William group therapy Westworld S3E6 HBO" height="1406" width="1875" msid="75582983" hostid="261"></div></p><p>But the thing I noticed above all this season was how my ratio of enjoyment to stress started getting inverted. As the weeks went on, I felt the pressure of trying to figure out exactly what was going on with each character, what the secondary story might be, what fun references and Easter eggs were lurking in every frame. </p><p>Before, in the first two seasons, those searches and analysis-driven days were exhilarating and satisfying. But for the first time this season I was sometimes left feeling foolish for overthinking some scenes or subplots. Characters seemed to either speak in vague terms or over-explain their plans. Motivations were intentionally hidden from us, just so their reveals later would feel like a revelation. For example, the entirety of Dolores' plans and her relationship to Caleb was needlessly opaque until the last possible moment. </p><p>Looking back on this season I can't tell if I was being toyed with as a viewer when it came to certain story threads, or if I simply wasn't meant to be paying <em>this </em>close attention anymore. But to borrow a phrase from the show: If you can't tell, does it matter? </p><p>Either way, I felt out of sync with a show that once satiated every level of my expert-TV-watching self.</p><p><div type="image" title="Jeffrey Wright Bernard Westworld season three HBO " height="984" width="1312" msid="75582986" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The engaging poetry of the first season and later episodes like "Kiksuya" got lost somewhere along the way for me. Again, not to say I thought the entire season was a slog. Or that I was constantly getting things wrong. While I still felt connected to the characters, and had satisfying discoveries as the season pushed ahead, there was something missing in the formula. </p><h2>Maybe it's not the show's fault, but like a lot of fans, I feel drained</h2><p>My exhaustion with the series is coming from a lot of fronts, both external and internal to the show itself. We were dealing with Nolan and Joy's vision of the world in 2058. It's not their fault our real world happened to start tearing apart at the already-strained seams just when the third season of "Westworld" began. But that coincidental timing likely contributed to the feeling of stress, rather than exhilaration, with each new episode. </p><p>By 2020, more people are walking around with brains that already feel like wrung-sponges, and "Westworld" threatens them with an extra squeeze. The show made its debut when the rise of intense prestige drama was still around its peak; a time when that squeeze was welcomed. Now escapist, feel-good content is having its moment, and for good reason. </p><p><div type="image" title="Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Westworld HBO season three finale" height="1203" width="1605" msid="75582989" hostid="261"></div></p><p>So if I'm going to spend the brainpower on a show like "Westworld," my expectations for the payoff will be a lot higher. I want that season one quality of writing back, where the smaller details and revelations added up to a deeper character arc. I want my ratio of enjoyment to stress back to how it was before.</p><p>I'm not done with "Westworld." Not by any stretch. They reeled me in from the start, and for I'm keeping myself on the hook. I would still rather wade through Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan's philosophies on AI and the future and technology and random art history references than almost any other showrunner working right now. </p><p>I just wish being a diehard of this show fan didn't feel so draining. Hopefully, by the time season four rolls around, I'll be welcoming the fever dream once again.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-season-3-unanswered-questions">31 questions left unanswered after the 'Westworld' season 3 finale</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-season-3-finale-jonathan-nolan-denise-the-interview-dolores-2020-5">'Westworld' writers Jonathan Nolan and Denise Thé shed light on Dolores' fate in the season 3 finale</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-season-3-finale-details-you-missed-explained-2020-5">13 details you might have missed in the season three finale of 'Westworld'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/westworld-rehoboam-name-meaning-stand-on-zanzibar-jonathan-nolan-interview-2020-4">Jonathan Nolan reveals the surprising sci-fi reference behind the mysterious 'Westworld' AI system 'Rehoboam'</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/its-hard-to-be-a-westworld-fan-show-criticism-2020-5">Insider</a>

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