In this segment of my talks about my involvement of the Pickup Community, I will talk about how I originally got into pickup and why.
From my understanding, pickup has been going on for a while. It started out with Ross Jeffries, who developed a system based off of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) called Speed Seduction back in the 90's. Then in the late 90's and early 2000's, we had Erik Von Markovik aka Mystery, who developed his own set of routines and seduction tactics based on years of trial and error in the field. Back then, the Pickup Community was nothing more than just a handful of guys posting on some messageboard. However, one of the guys who came about the Pickup Community was Neil Strauss, who back then was mainly known for his articles in Rolling Stone magazine and his autobiographies for Marilyn Manson and Jenna Jameson. Neil Strauss got involved with the Pickup Community back in the early 2000's, which led to him writing the book The Game, the book that brought to light the entire Pickup Community and paved the way for the once small Pickup Community to develop into what would become the massive Pickup Industry, leading rise to many Pick-up Artists (PUAs) that peaked sometime between 2005 and 2009.
Despite all this, I had absolutely no knowledge of the Pickup Community until 2011, right after I graduated from grad school at the University of Central Florida (UCF). No one I knew talked about it or even knew anything about it; it was one of those things that was very underground despite becoming mainstream - something very surprising considering that I was on a very large and very active campus. I discovered pickup on accident. It was February 2011, things in my life weren't going all that great, and that included my dating life. I was online searching on OkCupid when all of the sudden I saw a link that said "Nice guys do finish last. Click here to find out why!". I was skeptical at first, but it did make me curious so I went to check it out. The link led me to a video of a guy who went by the name David DeAngelo. He talked about his ebook Double Your Dating and why you should get it. I've bought books on dating beforehand, including a Dating For Dummies book, but what really stood out was he was the first guy to mention that he at one time sucked really bad with women but he was about to share how he got really good to the point where he was dating all the hottest women he could ever hope for. That's what I wanted and that's what drew me in! I went ahead and paid for the ebook. I wanted to see if it really did go beyond common sense and traditional dating advice and tell me something I didn't already know. Sure enough, it did. Not only that, but it pointed out EXACTLY everything I was doing wrong, from being way too nice to being a pushover to being insecure and needy, etc. The book kicked my ass, as I would say, and I couldn't wait to get more. The rest is history.
Five years later, I know now not to trust such shoddy advice and marketing. However, back then I was not only ignorant, but I was desperate and thus extremely vulnerable to anyone marketing pickup material to me. I never questioned the validity of the guys marketing it; if I was drawn in by the marketing, that was enough to make me shout "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!". Why was this? Well, not only did I never date in high school, but I never dated the entire time I was in college either. There's two major reasons for this. 1) I wasn't the highly social type and was much more interested in other things, mainly academics and sports I was involved in, and 2) I had very unrealistic expectations. There would be one or two girls that would come along every year that I would crush and obsess over, believing she's the one and I absolutely MUST get with this girl in order for my life to be complete or else I will be sad and desperate forever. As I was obsessing over said girl, I thought that no other girl could compare. I even went as far as fantasizing about said girl and creating stories about where the end goal would be to get with said girl. Looking back now, I realize how utterly pathetic that was, but the truth is that was the norm and that was reality for me, and it went on for many years. It very well could have continued on had I not discovered the Pickup Community, so I give it credit for helping me get past that. After all, the last girl I obsessed over, I was stuck on for a year and a half only for it to amount to absolutely nothing. Looking back, none of the girls I obsessed over, crushed over, even wrote fantasy stories about, would have been a good match for me. This is despite thinking at the time they were absolutely perfect and it would be impossible to find another girl or a better girl. This is especially true with the very last girl I was stuck on, who still lives at home with her parents and wants to live with her family in her small town forever. No problem with that; but that doesn't support my goals and aspirations at all.
So why was I so vulnerable to shady marketing tactics? Because everyone around me, be it family members, friends, and society as a whole, made it clear that nothing you do in life is more important than your relationship/dating/sex life. If you don't have that together, then you are a LOSER even though you are successful in many other aspects. Throughout my life, I have been judged and ridiculed for not having a girlfriend, not ever being in a long-term relationship, not having an active sex life, etc. It was like there was something wrong with me because all my friends were in relationships, even if they weren't with the best girls. My mom was one of the worst offenders. So overall, I really craved the validation. I was open to any crazy, manipulative tactic to get any girl I wanted just so I wouldn't feel like a loser and so people would shut up. The part that made me REALLY desperate was the fact that I just realized that I was already 26 years old, meaning that my 30's was coming up and I was afraid that if I didn't make an effort to get this part of my life handled, it will be too late. Nothing else mattered. The problem was, other than get a good job, I pretty much put the rest of my life on hold and made it the most important thing ever, but unfortunately following pickup advice did nothing but backfire. With that said though, pickup advice did help me get out of my comfort zone and got me into doing stuff I didn't think possible, and I am thankful for that.
Stay tuned as I will go more in depth with the PUA's I was heavily involved in. I will start by going in more in depth with the first PUA I followed religiously, David DeAngelo.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
The Demise of StyleLife
Before reading this post, be sure to read my post from January 2015 Banned From StyleLife to get a basic backstory as to my involvement with this company and why I eventually left.
When I was banned from the Elite Forums at StyleLife and decided to not involve myself with the company anymore, things weren't going so hot over there. Forum activity was at an all-time low, they hadn't come out with any new material for the past few years, they were offering about half the number of bootcamps in 2015 that they did in prior years, and whether they were going to have their annual world conference in Los Angeles that year was totally up in the air. Had Neil Strauss not been involved with the company and have him and his legacy from The Game represent the site marketing, it would have gone out of business years ago with the likes of other PUA company websites. Now however, it looked like Neil Strauss was interested in moving on from the PUA community for good. His wife was about to have a baby, and he was in the midst of writing a book that would talk about how pickup really fucked up his mind.
When I was banned, I still had forum access but I just couldn't post, so I could at least see what was going on. To my disappointment, nothing interesting really happened. Once I was gone, it was back to business as usual. People were still posting like social robots, the coaches were still giving out the same shoddy advice. The only difference was the posts were less frequent. Nothing really stood out other than this tool named Jack Sherwood on the site posting about how his new girlfriend found his copy of The Game and claimed that she's now "winning the game against him" and must game her even more just because she found out he manipulated her with pickup techniques. I don't even have to comment on the ridiculousness of that...
I predicted that StyleLife wouldn't stay in business within the next five years if they didn't make necessary changes to their business. Well, I got the five years part wrong. It turns out it only took about a year for that to happen, and the decline in 2015 was rapid. First of all, the forum posting became even less frequent than it already was. Second, they were having trouble filling slots for the few bootcamps that they did schedule for the year. I found it odd that they would go from having most of the slots open up until only a few days before some bootcamps only for them to be filled up, meaning that they probably got other people to fill those slots who were not paying students. Third, there was no world conference in 2015. If there was one, it certainly wasn't advertised let alone advertised well, no one talked about it, etc. If they had a conference at all, it was probably a completely private event where they handpicked a couple of students to attend - if they had a conference at all. Fourth, they went from writing some new articles and recycling others to completely recycling articles when they decided to post one at all. Even their StyleLife Girl interviews, which they were holding every month, dwindled down to pretty much nothing.
You thought 2015 was bad, 2016 has been completely abysmal so far for StyleLife. They had one bootcamp in LA in January (that no one went on I bet) and haven't had one since. They went from recycling old articles and material to just flat out not posting anything at all. I think they still have the calls but I wouldn't doubt that no one gets on them and I'm sure that's going to be axed soon as well. Some people on the forum at the beginning of the year even complained that none of the videos worked, and I experienced the same problem when I wanted to watch the wing wing wing joke video just for laughs. Now as of April 2016, forum activity is down to absolute zero. There has been absolutely no activity on the Elite Forum for almost two months now, the longest the forum has ever gone without anyone posting. Even their public forum, which I'm sure will stick around forever since it's through vbulletin and anyone can join and post on it, doesn't have much activity; just the once in a while sporadic comment, but there's no one moderating the board it looks like, which probably means if you try to register and a mod has to approve you, you'll be stuck in limbo forever. Something tells me there probably won't be an annual conference again this year.
What happened? Did the coaches, the people running the company, and Neil Strauss himself just give up? They were in complete denial that the company was going under when they banned me, so now is this their way of saving face? By just walking away, not telling anyone they're closing their doors, and just leaving their website up until the domain expires? That's most likely the case. They decided instead of restructuring their business to revive it, the coaches and people running the business decided to just walk off and play Dungeons & Dragons instead. What about people who are still paying for a monthly membership? Did they get rainchecks? I still see they're still advertising memberships, still charging a ridiculous amount, and still using the same bullshit marketing tactics that PUA companies usually use.
At this point, StyleLife is pretty much dead. It might be still alive and breathing, but it's basically a vegetable. I don't think it's ever coming back especially since the entire pickup industry is going under. Even Real Social Dynamics, the frontrunner of the pickup industry, is experiencing a decline. It will only be a matter of years before the entire industry bottoms up.
When I was banned from the Elite Forums at StyleLife and decided to not involve myself with the company anymore, things weren't going so hot over there. Forum activity was at an all-time low, they hadn't come out with any new material for the past few years, they were offering about half the number of bootcamps in 2015 that they did in prior years, and whether they were going to have their annual world conference in Los Angeles that year was totally up in the air. Had Neil Strauss not been involved with the company and have him and his legacy from The Game represent the site marketing, it would have gone out of business years ago with the likes of other PUA company websites. Now however, it looked like Neil Strauss was interested in moving on from the PUA community for good. His wife was about to have a baby, and he was in the midst of writing a book that would talk about how pickup really fucked up his mind.
When I was banned, I still had forum access but I just couldn't post, so I could at least see what was going on. To my disappointment, nothing interesting really happened. Once I was gone, it was back to business as usual. People were still posting like social robots, the coaches were still giving out the same shoddy advice. The only difference was the posts were less frequent. Nothing really stood out other than this tool named Jack Sherwood on the site posting about how his new girlfriend found his copy of The Game and claimed that she's now "winning the game against him" and must game her even more just because she found out he manipulated her with pickup techniques. I don't even have to comment on the ridiculousness of that...
I predicted that StyleLife wouldn't stay in business within the next five years if they didn't make necessary changes to their business. Well, I got the five years part wrong. It turns out it only took about a year for that to happen, and the decline in 2015 was rapid. First of all, the forum posting became even less frequent than it already was. Second, they were having trouble filling slots for the few bootcamps that they did schedule for the year. I found it odd that they would go from having most of the slots open up until only a few days before some bootcamps only for them to be filled up, meaning that they probably got other people to fill those slots who were not paying students. Third, there was no world conference in 2015. If there was one, it certainly wasn't advertised let alone advertised well, no one talked about it, etc. If they had a conference at all, it was probably a completely private event where they handpicked a couple of students to attend - if they had a conference at all. Fourth, they went from writing some new articles and recycling others to completely recycling articles when they decided to post one at all. Even their StyleLife Girl interviews, which they were holding every month, dwindled down to pretty much nothing.
You thought 2015 was bad, 2016 has been completely abysmal so far for StyleLife. They had one bootcamp in LA in January (that no one went on I bet) and haven't had one since. They went from recycling old articles and material to just flat out not posting anything at all. I think they still have the calls but I wouldn't doubt that no one gets on them and I'm sure that's going to be axed soon as well. Some people on the forum at the beginning of the year even complained that none of the videos worked, and I experienced the same problem when I wanted to watch the wing wing wing joke video just for laughs. Now as of April 2016, forum activity is down to absolute zero. There has been absolutely no activity on the Elite Forum for almost two months now, the longest the forum has ever gone without anyone posting. Even their public forum, which I'm sure will stick around forever since it's through vbulletin and anyone can join and post on it, doesn't have much activity; just the once in a while sporadic comment, but there's no one moderating the board it looks like, which probably means if you try to register and a mod has to approve you, you'll be stuck in limbo forever. Something tells me there probably won't be an annual conference again this year.
What happened? Did the coaches, the people running the company, and Neil Strauss himself just give up? They were in complete denial that the company was going under when they banned me, so now is this their way of saving face? By just walking away, not telling anyone they're closing their doors, and just leaving their website up until the domain expires? That's most likely the case. They decided instead of restructuring their business to revive it, the coaches and people running the business decided to just walk off and play Dungeons & Dragons instead. What about people who are still paying for a monthly membership? Did they get rainchecks? I still see they're still advertising memberships, still charging a ridiculous amount, and still using the same bullshit marketing tactics that PUA companies usually use.
At this point, StyleLife is pretty much dead. It might be still alive and breathing, but it's basically a vegetable. I don't think it's ever coming back especially since the entire pickup industry is going under. Even Real Social Dynamics, the frontrunner of the pickup industry, is experiencing a decline. It will only be a matter of years before the entire industry bottoms up.
I Am Leaving Pickup After Being Involved For Five Years
It has been over a year since I've updated this blog, and I think it's about damn time to update once again. I've been so busy preoccupied with other things as well as lacking motivation that I just didn't have the willpower to blog, especially since I haven't really gotten settled into this blog after Xanga went down the tubes.
Anyways, I have a LOT to say about being involved in pickup since February 2011 and how and why I decided to all but abandon it in April 2016. So much so that it will have to be split up into different categories and topics, such as my experience following a certain "guru" or company, where I was and where I'm at now, my bootcamp and seminar experiences, etc.
There's one company I want to talk about first before I get into anything though...
Sunday, April 19, 2015
UNFRIENDED - A Followup Review
When I posted my initial review of Unfriended, it was just a couple of hours after seeing the movie. Being late at night and not giving time for the movie to really sink in, I mainly shared my initial thoughts of the movie. This was from seeing the movie the night before opening night. Now that the weekend is wrapping up, I can conclude that almost everyone who wanted to see this movie and then some has seen it. The feedback I'm seeing has been mostly negative, many admitting they went as far as walking out right in the middle of the movie. Now that the movie has sunk in, I still stand in actually enjoying the movie. It's innovative with the use of the computer screen, the dead background silence makes it much more eerie, and Laura is a badass. Plus I think Blaire is pretty hot but that's beside the point.
With all that said, I don't deny that this movie has its flaws, and they are major flaws at that. First of all, the characters - They suck. Blaire is OK. She gets props for being cute and only mildly annoying. She did turn out to be the one who brought all this upon everyone, but we don't find that out until the end. At least there was some substance to her. The other characters were extremely disposable and weren't killed off fast enough. When you're rooting for the villain to win, mainly because the characters suck so bad, that's a huge problem. In fact, the real crazy thing is I feel way way WAY worse for Laura dying than the other characters in the movie. It's like with her I was really hoping she wasn't dead, but with the others it was like "Yeah!".
Which brings me to my next point - I speculated whether Laura was really dead or not in the movie and it looks like that pretty much is the consensus - she really is dead but has come back as an evil ghost. Wha?? That is so STUPID. I guess that was the best way to do things in order to avoid explaining too much of what was happening. It's such a stereotypical move. I mean, I guess it makes more sense how the people die in the movie; she goes to all their houses and kills them. That's just SO CHEAP though. I thought my theory of what happened would have been much more original, much more creative, and while still far-fetched much more realistic. Plus, the use of computers to terrorize people would have been MUCH more plausible! I mean, being an evil ghost, she didn't even need to use the computer. Plus, how do ghosts use computers anyway?
To sum up my theory of what happened and what should have happened:
Laura didn't really die. The only evidence of her dying was the video, which she conned some people into filming and staging the whole thing with a blank. She disappears from home (which was abusive as evidenced by the movie) and the guys who helped film the video sneak her on a boat to India where she learns her 1337 hacking skills after already being a super genius to begin with. On top of being an elite hacker, she also discovers a way to hack into parts of a person's brain via satellite and other signals floating around in the air, which leads to the killings.
But of course I guess it would have been more like a comic book action flick rather than a horror flick, and the filmmakers were going for horror so they had to go the paranormal route instead. Hence the original name of the film: Cybernatural.
But here begs the question: will I see this movie again let alone buy it on DVD? You bet. Despite its flaws, Unfriended was a clever movie that is still enjoyable to watch. Sometimes it's so bad it's good and I think the villain ironically is the one that saves the movie from being a total bomb. So if you haven't seen it already, go check it out!
With all that said, I don't deny that this movie has its flaws, and they are major flaws at that. First of all, the characters - They suck. Blaire is OK. She gets props for being cute and only mildly annoying. She did turn out to be the one who brought all this upon everyone, but we don't find that out until the end. At least there was some substance to her. The other characters were extremely disposable and weren't killed off fast enough. When you're rooting for the villain to win, mainly because the characters suck so bad, that's a huge problem. In fact, the real crazy thing is I feel way way WAY worse for Laura dying than the other characters in the movie. It's like with her I was really hoping she wasn't dead, but with the others it was like "Yeah!".
Which brings me to my next point - I speculated whether Laura was really dead or not in the movie and it looks like that pretty much is the consensus - she really is dead but has come back as an evil ghost. Wha?? That is so STUPID. I guess that was the best way to do things in order to avoid explaining too much of what was happening. It's such a stereotypical move. I mean, I guess it makes more sense how the people die in the movie; she goes to all their houses and kills them. That's just SO CHEAP though. I thought my theory of what happened would have been much more original, much more creative, and while still far-fetched much more realistic. Plus, the use of computers to terrorize people would have been MUCH more plausible! I mean, being an evil ghost, she didn't even need to use the computer. Plus, how do ghosts use computers anyway?
To sum up my theory of what happened and what should have happened:
Laura didn't really die. The only evidence of her dying was the video, which she conned some people into filming and staging the whole thing with a blank. She disappears from home (which was abusive as evidenced by the movie) and the guys who helped film the video sneak her on a boat to India where she learns her 1337 hacking skills after already being a super genius to begin with. On top of being an elite hacker, she also discovers a way to hack into parts of a person's brain via satellite and other signals floating around in the air, which leads to the killings.
But of course I guess it would have been more like a comic book action flick rather than a horror flick, and the filmmakers were going for horror so they had to go the paranormal route instead. Hence the original name of the film: Cybernatural.
But here begs the question: will I see this movie again let alone buy it on DVD? You bet. Despite its flaws, Unfriended was a clever movie that is still enjoyable to watch. Sometimes it's so bad it's good and I think the villain ironically is the one that saves the movie from being a total bomb. So if you haven't seen it already, go check it out!
Thursday, April 16, 2015
UNFRIENDED - The Review (Contains Spoilers)
UNFRIENDED
Not going to lie, this is one of the first times I've been really excited to see a movie in the theater, let alone a rare and obscure movie. Usually I will count down to when movies like Star Wars or The Hobbit come out. In fact, I only knew about this movie about a month before it came out - when I saw the preview for The Kingsman. I'm not into horror films, especially ones about paranormal activity, but this just looked very intriguing. Everyone knows what happens because the previews have been playing everywhere - a popular girl in high school named Laura Barns has a dirty video of her posted online, which causes people to post nasty things about her on the Internet. Three days later, she kills herself by turning a gun on herself in broad daylight out at her high school. One year after the suicide, she appears anonymously on a Skype group chat, and starts killing off the people on the chat until one tells her who posted the dirty video. This baffled me in so many ways. A computer that could kill people...like HAL 9000? No no no. Who was it pulling the strings? I had to know. As a computer geek, there were a lot of questions I had that needed answering! I couldn't wait to see the movie...
Luckly for me, the theater I live near had an advanced screening the night before the movie would premier in theaters everywhere. I drove to the near empty theater (Thursday night), grabbed my beer at the bar, and headed in where the movie was going to play, only seeing a few people in the audience. Later, more and more people showed - mainly college-aged kids including some hipsters. The previews reminded that I was about to watch a horror movie and hence they needed to show previews for upcoming horror movies.
AND NOW TO THE MOVIE
We see the Universal logo opening, which has a glitching twist to it, obviously referencing the movie we're about to watch.
The entire movie is viewed from the computer screen of the main character named Blaire, played by Shelley Hennig, who you might remember as the girl from Teen Wolf (a show I've never watched). In fact, one of the pages she has open on her browser is the MTV home page for Teen Wolf, which I guess is supposed to be some sort of promo or easter egg? I dunno. So anyways, the movie begins with Blaire viewing the suicide video everyone has seen in the previews, but this time unfiltered. Her fellow classmates are shouting from the background yelling at her to stop but she doesn't listen as we see her pull the trigger and fall over dead, with one person running over to her. Why they just video taped it and didn't, I don't know, interfere somehow, is beyond me. Would Laura have shot them if they interfered? Very possible considering what happens in this movie...
We then cut to Blaire talking to her boyfriend named Mitch on Skype webcam, which almost partook in webcam sex until, SURPRISE SURPRISE, their three other friends Adam, Jess and Ken log on and they partake in a group chat of sorts. However, there seems to be something slightly wrong as they see an anonymous user without video that's on and everyone is confused as to who it is. They all hang up to try to get rid of whoever it is but he won't go away. What's interesting is throughout the movie you'll see Blaire talking on Skype, sending texts on Skype chat and on Facebook, listening to music, searching websites, watching YouTube videos, etc. This entire movie seemed like one big product plug for popular Internet websites. Anyways, Mitch tells Blaire that he received a message from Laura Barns, which Blaire took as a bad joke at first until she received a message from Laura on Facebook. Thinking it's just some creep that somehow hacked into Laura's account, they start suspecting one another of a really tasteless prank. Blaire attempts to unfriend Laura only to find that the Unfriend option is greyed out. She refreshes the page and it shows that Laura has been unfriended, only for Laura to message her back saying "You shouldn't have done that".
They invite on another friend of theirs named Val, who apparently is their friend but not really their friend but some girl who has a bitch reputation...I don't know. Teen drama. They think that she's the one pulling the strings and ask her to quit her shenanigans, but we learn that it isn't her. Shit really starts hitting the fan as we see some dirty videos of Val posted on her Facebook wall, which was made to look like they were posted by Jess. Chaos starts to ensue as they accuse each other of making each other look bad online with dirty photos and the like. Val gets fed up and decides to call the cops. She logs off during this time only to later log on with just her standing very still by a bottle of open bleach, indicating that she swallowed some. She falls over when the cops arrive and they give codes, which Blaire looks up online and determines Val killed herself.
The problem was the whole time I was rooting for the villain Laura, and I guess that's because everyone on the Skype chat was so annoying that I couldn't wait for them to be killed off. Blaire was the only somewhat decent character. but that's not saying much. Things got serious when Laura said they were all going to die if they logged off and started making idle threats that became real. Ken (aka Chunky) was the next one to go. He was the computer geek of the group and had everyone install a trojan program that would rid all their computers of the Laura Virus, which seemed to work at first but only caused a more angry Laura to come back showing a screen, which turned out to be on the floor at Ken's house. We all know from the preview that Ken is a goner when he experiences death by blending machine, which was probably the most graphic scene in the movie. Things were really serious now that they know Laura was on to them and wasn't fooling around.
Laura had the remaining four on the chat play a game called "I never had", which got them to admit dirty little betrayal secrets such as stealing money from one another, ratting someone out, cheating on boyfriends, being a slut, etc., all which caused everyone to want to kill each other before Laura had the chance to. Adam was the next to go, by reading a piece of paper saying not to show it to the screen, which somehow gets him to put a bullet to his head. How...?
Well, now we're down to three. Blaire gets on some random chat site looking for someone random to talk to and finally gets to some guy-girl in Nevada and asks her to call the cops and send them to Jess's address to try to be "undercover" somehow. Well unfortunately that didn't work out all too well because Laura knew what was happening all along and Jess ended up frying herself with...a vibrator? Who knows? She's dead. Two left...
Apparently they're still playing the game from earlier, and the suspense is in the air when Laura starts the countdown for someone to give her an answer. Laura wants Blaire to come clean and tell her who posted the video. Blaire insisted that it wasn't any of them and that they were good people and made a mistake posting the mean comments to the video. Blaire gives in however and admits that Mitch was the one who posted the video, which leads to Mitch stabbing himself in the eye with his big knife and falling over dead, leaving only Blaire.
With only Blaire left, Laura revealed footage from the video that it really was Blaire who videotaped Laura passed out behind the shed and leaked out her nether-regions. It was complete betrayal since they were both best friends, and so Laura turned the tables on her and posted that video linked to Blaire's Facebook account, which led to people slamming her online. Laura logs out of the chat and closes the laptop, and we see Laura jump into the screen roaring before it cuts to black...and that was the end.
SO WHAT DID I THINK?
Well, I thought the movie was very creative, which most independent films usually are. It was a very innovative approach to film, having the whole film being viewed from Blaire's computer screen and showing all the texting she was doing, all the YouTube videos she was watching, all the sites she was looking up, etc. You could tell she was very proficient at using the computer because she moved through sites. The movie did very well by having mostly dead silence and no background music (other than some tunes that play on her computer from some Pandora-like online music player). Was the movie scary? Not really. In fact, like I said before, you're going to find yourself rooting for the villain because the characters in this movie are so douchey that you can't wait for them to get killed off.
The biggest problem I had with the movie is I went in with questions that I was looking forward to getting answered only for them to NOT get answered at all...for the most part. The movie did establish this: Laura really isn't dead, and that really was her causing all the chaos behind a computer. Still, this leaves a lot to be asked. Did Laura stage her whole death, or is she a poltergeist of some sort? Her roaring into the screen made no sense, but I guess the movie was trying to be subtle? Also, how did the people on the chat end up killing themselves? All were acts of suicide it looked like, but what caused them to do it. There are theories floating around that the human brain can be hacked into through a computer, but that possibility was NEVER even addressed in the movie. So I'm guessing the movie makers are indicating that there will be a sequel of some sort? Will we ever learn the answers to these questions, or will we go on forever and ever not knowing?
Maybe that's just the way it was meant to be and how the filmmakers intended for things to be. I definitely would like to see a sequel of some sort, preferably in the form of a TV series where things get more complicated like in the show Lost.
Not going to lie, this is one of the first times I've been really excited to see a movie in the theater, let alone a rare and obscure movie. Usually I will count down to when movies like Star Wars or The Hobbit come out. In fact, I only knew about this movie about a month before it came out - when I saw the preview for The Kingsman. I'm not into horror films, especially ones about paranormal activity, but this just looked very intriguing. Everyone knows what happens because the previews have been playing everywhere - a popular girl in high school named Laura Barns has a dirty video of her posted online, which causes people to post nasty things about her on the Internet. Three days later, she kills herself by turning a gun on herself in broad daylight out at her high school. One year after the suicide, she appears anonymously on a Skype group chat, and starts killing off the people on the chat until one tells her who posted the dirty video. This baffled me in so many ways. A computer that could kill people...like HAL 9000? No no no. Who was it pulling the strings? I had to know. As a computer geek, there were a lot of questions I had that needed answering! I couldn't wait to see the movie...
Luckly for me, the theater I live near had an advanced screening the night before the movie would premier in theaters everywhere. I drove to the near empty theater (Thursday night), grabbed my beer at the bar, and headed in where the movie was going to play, only seeing a few people in the audience. Later, more and more people showed - mainly college-aged kids including some hipsters. The previews reminded that I was about to watch a horror movie and hence they needed to show previews for upcoming horror movies.
AND NOW TO THE MOVIE
We see the Universal logo opening, which has a glitching twist to it, obviously referencing the movie we're about to watch.
The entire movie is viewed from the computer screen of the main character named Blaire, played by Shelley Hennig, who you might remember as the girl from Teen Wolf (a show I've never watched). In fact, one of the pages she has open on her browser is the MTV home page for Teen Wolf, which I guess is supposed to be some sort of promo or easter egg? I dunno. So anyways, the movie begins with Blaire viewing the suicide video everyone has seen in the previews, but this time unfiltered. Her fellow classmates are shouting from the background yelling at her to stop but she doesn't listen as we see her pull the trigger and fall over dead, with one person running over to her. Why they just video taped it and didn't, I don't know, interfere somehow, is beyond me. Would Laura have shot them if they interfered? Very possible considering what happens in this movie...
We then cut to Blaire talking to her boyfriend named Mitch on Skype webcam, which almost partook in webcam sex until, SURPRISE SURPRISE, their three other friends Adam, Jess and Ken log on and they partake in a group chat of sorts. However, there seems to be something slightly wrong as they see an anonymous user without video that's on and everyone is confused as to who it is. They all hang up to try to get rid of whoever it is but he won't go away. What's interesting is throughout the movie you'll see Blaire talking on Skype, sending texts on Skype chat and on Facebook, listening to music, searching websites, watching YouTube videos, etc. This entire movie seemed like one big product plug for popular Internet websites. Anyways, Mitch tells Blaire that he received a message from Laura Barns, which Blaire took as a bad joke at first until she received a message from Laura on Facebook. Thinking it's just some creep that somehow hacked into Laura's account, they start suspecting one another of a really tasteless prank. Blaire attempts to unfriend Laura only to find that the Unfriend option is greyed out. She refreshes the page and it shows that Laura has been unfriended, only for Laura to message her back saying "You shouldn't have done that".
They invite on another friend of theirs named Val, who apparently is their friend but not really their friend but some girl who has a bitch reputation...I don't know. Teen drama. They think that she's the one pulling the strings and ask her to quit her shenanigans, but we learn that it isn't her. Shit really starts hitting the fan as we see some dirty videos of Val posted on her Facebook wall, which was made to look like they were posted by Jess. Chaos starts to ensue as they accuse each other of making each other look bad online with dirty photos and the like. Val gets fed up and decides to call the cops. She logs off during this time only to later log on with just her standing very still by a bottle of open bleach, indicating that she swallowed some. She falls over when the cops arrive and they give codes, which Blaire looks up online and determines Val killed herself.
The problem was the whole time I was rooting for the villain Laura, and I guess that's because everyone on the Skype chat was so annoying that I couldn't wait for them to be killed off. Blaire was the only somewhat decent character. but that's not saying much. Things got serious when Laura said they were all going to die if they logged off and started making idle threats that became real. Ken (aka Chunky) was the next one to go. He was the computer geek of the group and had everyone install a trojan program that would rid all their computers of the Laura Virus, which seemed to work at first but only caused a more angry Laura to come back showing a screen, which turned out to be on the floor at Ken's house. We all know from the preview that Ken is a goner when he experiences death by blending machine, which was probably the most graphic scene in the movie. Things were really serious now that they know Laura was on to them and wasn't fooling around.
Laura had the remaining four on the chat play a game called "I never had", which got them to admit dirty little betrayal secrets such as stealing money from one another, ratting someone out, cheating on boyfriends, being a slut, etc., all which caused everyone to want to kill each other before Laura had the chance to. Adam was the next to go, by reading a piece of paper saying not to show it to the screen, which somehow gets him to put a bullet to his head. How...?
Well, now we're down to three. Blaire gets on some random chat site looking for someone random to talk to and finally gets to some guy-girl in Nevada and asks her to call the cops and send them to Jess's address to try to be "undercover" somehow. Well unfortunately that didn't work out all too well because Laura knew what was happening all along and Jess ended up frying herself with...a vibrator? Who knows? She's dead. Two left...
Apparently they're still playing the game from earlier, and the suspense is in the air when Laura starts the countdown for someone to give her an answer. Laura wants Blaire to come clean and tell her who posted the video. Blaire insisted that it wasn't any of them and that they were good people and made a mistake posting the mean comments to the video. Blaire gives in however and admits that Mitch was the one who posted the video, which leads to Mitch stabbing himself in the eye with his big knife and falling over dead, leaving only Blaire.
With only Blaire left, Laura revealed footage from the video that it really was Blaire who videotaped Laura passed out behind the shed and leaked out her nether-regions. It was complete betrayal since they were both best friends, and so Laura turned the tables on her and posted that video linked to Blaire's Facebook account, which led to people slamming her online. Laura logs out of the chat and closes the laptop, and we see Laura jump into the screen roaring before it cuts to black...and that was the end.
SO WHAT DID I THINK?
Well, I thought the movie was very creative, which most independent films usually are. It was a very innovative approach to film, having the whole film being viewed from Blaire's computer screen and showing all the texting she was doing, all the YouTube videos she was watching, all the sites she was looking up, etc. You could tell she was very proficient at using the computer because she moved through sites. The movie did very well by having mostly dead silence and no background music (other than some tunes that play on her computer from some Pandora-like online music player). Was the movie scary? Not really. In fact, like I said before, you're going to find yourself rooting for the villain because the characters in this movie are so douchey that you can't wait for them to get killed off.
The biggest problem I had with the movie is I went in with questions that I was looking forward to getting answered only for them to NOT get answered at all...for the most part. The movie did establish this: Laura really isn't dead, and that really was her causing all the chaos behind a computer. Still, this leaves a lot to be asked. Did Laura stage her whole death, or is she a poltergeist of some sort? Her roaring into the screen made no sense, but I guess the movie was trying to be subtle? Also, how did the people on the chat end up killing themselves? All were acts of suicide it looked like, but what caused them to do it. There are theories floating around that the human brain can be hacked into through a computer, but that possibility was NEVER even addressed in the movie. So I'm guessing the movie makers are indicating that there will be a sequel of some sort? Will we ever learn the answers to these questions, or will we go on forever and ever not knowing?
Maybe that's just the way it was meant to be and how the filmmakers intended for things to be. I definitely would like to see a sequel of some sort, preferably in the form of a TV series where things get more complicated like in the show Lost.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Banned From Stylelife
This past week, I was banned from Stylelife's elite forum and essentially blacklisted from attending any future bootcamps or conferences. While I still have access to the material I was given upon registering (even though I have no plans to use it), I have burnt bridges with everyone there after being a member for 1.5 years.
How did this happen? How did this go down? Well let me start from the beginning:
I read the book The Game by Neil Strauss as well as Rules of the Game back in April 2013. I heard about both books a couple years prior but never got to reading either. When some friends of mine finally convinced me to check them out, I did so. I had already been deep into learning about mens dating advice for the past two years, but I had never been a part of the PUA community per say. I thought both books were very interesting, with The Game being the story of how Neil got into the community and became "the master seduction guru of the world" and Rules of the Game being a practical guide and the first instance of the Stylelife 30-Day Challenge, a set of exercises given to you each day for 30 days including crazy exercises like randomly cold calling people and getting three movie recommendations. I don't exactly remember how I came across the Stylelife community, but I think it involved doing an assignment or checking out a link provided by Rules of the Game, and then I started getting emails about how I should join Stylelife and that the game is always changing and they have this great training system in place. I never seen anything like it before and I enjoyed what I've read so far, so I decided to join with the basic membership, and that's how I got introduced to the Stylelife elite forums.
I never really intended to be much of a regular on the forums. I've had bad experiences with messageboards in the past dealing with issues like rogue/fascist moderators and flame wars, and it turned out the Stylelife messageboard was no exception, which I will get to in a minute. I started out doing the basic courses. I did have to pay about $89/month, but I thought it was unique to be doing daily assignments that got me out and about getting out of my comfort zone, and the assignments did help me do just that as ridiculous as some of them were. What I thought was really interesting however was there was a monthly coaching call that Neil Strauss himself holds, and students can buzz in and ask whatever questions they like. Being fresh off of reading The Game, I was ecstatic about this. I didn't know what my chances of getting on live were, but I was able to the first time.
Over the months, I continued to do the assignments and get on the calls as well as participate in the messageboard. I actually became the most active member there. Eventually, I signed up for the In-Field training. It cost about $2,000 (paid in four installments), but it seemed like a real bargain because it included a bunch of course material, a bootcamp, coaching calls, and free access to the conference in LA where you get to meet Neil Strauss in person. Again, all was well and I felt that I was on the right course.
The demise began however when I decided to meet up with one of the other guys on the forum who lived locally. At the time, he wasn't a big active member but he did write very thoroughly so I thought it would be great to meet up with him. That turned out to be a big mistake. Unfortunately for me, the guy turned out to be the world's biggest douche-assmonkey. Sure, he knew a lot and was very knowledgable, but he didn't want to get to know me and would never shut up. He also posed as an expert and said a bunch of shit that really pissed me off. Nevertheless, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He interacted with women very well. I gave him two more chances, even let him stay over night at my place, but within that short time period (within two months), I could tell he was out to do damage and I had to get rid of him immediately, so I blocked him from contact and stopped hanging out/interacting with him. I started to really hate the whole pickup routine/jargon language like "sarging", "DHVs", "IOIs", "kino escalation", "peacocking", etc. Nevertheless, I still decided to stick around. Maybe he was just a wannabe guru and would get schooled by the real experts. Not the case.
Here is the defining quote from The Game that Neil Strauss originally posted on a messageboard back before he wrote the book:
Have you ever noticed that there's something strange about a lot of guys in the Community?
It's as if just by looking at them, you can tell that something is missing. They don't seem entirely human.
Some of these guys even do well in the field. They get great reactions- sometimes even numbers and lays- but they never seem to have a girlfriend.
Are you one of these guys?
To find out, ask yourself the following questions:
Most of the sargers I know are social robots. This is especially true among those who found the community in their teens or early twenties. Because they haven't had much real world experience, they have learned to socialize almost entirely through the rules and theories they've read online and learned in workshops. They may never be normal again. After a great twenty minute set with many of these social robots, a woman begins to realize that they don't have anything more going for them. And then they post online complaining that women are flakes.
The Internet newsgroups and the pickup lifestyle can give you so much- I know it's given me so much- but it can take away a lot too. You can end up becoming a one dimensional person. You start to think that everyone else around you is a social robot too and begin to read too much into his or her actions.
The solution is to remember that the best way to pick up women is to have something better to do than to pick up women. Some guys give up everything- school, work, even girlfriends- to learn the game. But all these things are what make one complete and enhances one's attractiveness to the opposite sex. So put your life back in balance. If you can make something of yourself, women will flock to you, and what you've learned here will prepare you to deal with them.-Style.
I couldn't agree more. This was the absolute best quote out of the entire damn book. But what happened? It's hard to believe that after reading The Game and seeing Neil as just a curious guy who never really wanted to be a major part of the PUA community has become the very thing he hated in my opinion. He stated originally he was against the commercialization and industrialization of the seduction community only for him to become the biggest advocate for it. Even Mystery, the guy who invented all of the crazy gimmicks, routines and jargon that became popular and was Neil's personal mentor, has evolved and has moved past all that (for the most part). Not Neil Strauss. Neil Strauss may be focusing more on stuff that actually makes sense, but he and his company Stylelife are still deadset on teaching guys things like canned openers, "DHVs", etc. essentially turning guys into social robots, and the field reports written on the Stylelife forum proves just this. I'll post an abridged version of a typical field report written on the site:
Hi everyone. I went out with my wingman to this bar in town. We saw a 3-set, which included an HB9 and two HB7s. I went up and used my cashmere sweater opener. After that, I bridged and executed the best friends test. I then threw in some DQ's and ran the ring finger routine and 5- questions game. I got a few IOI's but got stuck as to what to do next so I had to eject from that set...
I lose braincells reading these field reports, but I give my own advice, which states to not be a social robot, only to get countered by the coaches and the senior members.
Other than what goes on in the forums, I realized a lot of major problems with Stylelife itself that anyone who pays money to be a member (which I stopped shortly after I 'graduated') has the right to question. Here are just some of the things I was questioning:
1) How come Stylelife keeps recycling the same videos and printed material from 2008 and claiming that it's 'new material' in their monthly editions of Wingman Magazine and the monthly DVD's? Anyone who's new to Stylelife and watches the material would think that the coach named Bravo is a current and highly active Stylelife coach but would have to dig through the forums to find out he left the company years ago.
2) What's with all the bait and switch?
3) On the regular self-paced course, how come you can only do one assignment at a time and only be enrolled in a few courses at a time instead of having access to it all?
4) Why are many of the links to material, particularly on the In-Field training course, broken or unavailable?
5) What happened to all the coaches that used to be with the company? From my understanding, the only ones that are still there are Evolve and The Sneak. I think JGatz and Mojofist might be there, but they seem to only be involved with the company every now and then.
6) Why is Stylelife so adamant about students learning canned material when there are far better tried and tested alternatives out there?
7) Why is it that on bootcamps, the coaches just stand around and don't really approach the entire weekend?
8) Why are there less bootcamps this year than last year?
All this and more. I was already on bad terms with the coaches by standing up for Julian Blanc from RSD and by condemning canned material and the rigid and obsolete philosophies that Stylelife practices (e.g. instead of using the skills you already have to your advantage like dancing, you should memorize a whole bunch of bar cons). What got me banned however was taking a huge risk by pointing out all the flaws in the business and how these flaws are going to lead to the demise of Stylelife unless drastic changes are made. This lead to the coach The Sneak threatening to ban me for stepping out of line instead of doing what any responsible person who co-operates a business and take these things into consideration. Another long-time member agreed with me about the problems with Stylelife and eventually that got him banned as well. It really cements the fact that the ship that is Stylelife is sinking and I did the right thing by jumping overboard.
It really is a shame that things went down the way they did. I was able to attend both the bootcamp and conference last year and enjoyed both overall. I thought the coaches were pretty cool guys and I thought it was great to get to meet Neil Strauss in person. The company had a good thing going for it and had a unique training system, and I give Stylelife credit for pushing me to get out there in the field. I even gave a positive video testimonial at one point. I would say there's just very poor execution in place, and the people running the company now are running it into the ground. You don't need to be an insider or a business analyst to suspect that there's a lot of chaos going on behind closed doors and that's why we're seeing less bootcamps scheduled and why many of the former coaches are MIA. Maybe this year Neil Strauss and his coaches will realize what they need to do to save their business and make the necessary changes to be a successful and reputable company for improving the dating skills of men. If not, then chances are we won't be seeing Stylelife anymore in the next five years.
How did this happen? How did this go down? Well let me start from the beginning:
I read the book The Game by Neil Strauss as well as Rules of the Game back in April 2013. I heard about both books a couple years prior but never got to reading either. When some friends of mine finally convinced me to check them out, I did so. I had already been deep into learning about mens dating advice for the past two years, but I had never been a part of the PUA community per say. I thought both books were very interesting, with The Game being the story of how Neil got into the community and became "the master seduction guru of the world" and Rules of the Game being a practical guide and the first instance of the Stylelife 30-Day Challenge, a set of exercises given to you each day for 30 days including crazy exercises like randomly cold calling people and getting three movie recommendations. I don't exactly remember how I came across the Stylelife community, but I think it involved doing an assignment or checking out a link provided by Rules of the Game, and then I started getting emails about how I should join Stylelife and that the game is always changing and they have this great training system in place. I never seen anything like it before and I enjoyed what I've read so far, so I decided to join with the basic membership, and that's how I got introduced to the Stylelife elite forums.
I never really intended to be much of a regular on the forums. I've had bad experiences with messageboards in the past dealing with issues like rogue/fascist moderators and flame wars, and it turned out the Stylelife messageboard was no exception, which I will get to in a minute. I started out doing the basic courses. I did have to pay about $89/month, but I thought it was unique to be doing daily assignments that got me out and about getting out of my comfort zone, and the assignments did help me do just that as ridiculous as some of them were. What I thought was really interesting however was there was a monthly coaching call that Neil Strauss himself holds, and students can buzz in and ask whatever questions they like. Being fresh off of reading The Game, I was ecstatic about this. I didn't know what my chances of getting on live were, but I was able to the first time.
Over the months, I continued to do the assignments and get on the calls as well as participate in the messageboard. I actually became the most active member there. Eventually, I signed up for the In-Field training. It cost about $2,000 (paid in four installments), but it seemed like a real bargain because it included a bunch of course material, a bootcamp, coaching calls, and free access to the conference in LA where you get to meet Neil Strauss in person. Again, all was well and I felt that I was on the right course.
The demise began however when I decided to meet up with one of the other guys on the forum who lived locally. At the time, he wasn't a big active member but he did write very thoroughly so I thought it would be great to meet up with him. That turned out to be a big mistake. Unfortunately for me, the guy turned out to be the world's biggest douche-assmonkey. Sure, he knew a lot and was very knowledgable, but he didn't want to get to know me and would never shut up. He also posed as an expert and said a bunch of shit that really pissed me off. Nevertheless, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He interacted with women very well. I gave him two more chances, even let him stay over night at my place, but within that short time period (within two months), I could tell he was out to do damage and I had to get rid of him immediately, so I blocked him from contact and stopped hanging out/interacting with him. I started to really hate the whole pickup routine/jargon language like "sarging", "DHVs", "IOIs", "kino escalation", "peacocking", etc. Nevertheless, I still decided to stick around. Maybe he was just a wannabe guru and would get schooled by the real experts. Not the case.
Here is the defining quote from The Game that Neil Strauss originally posted on a messageboard back before he wrote the book:
Have you ever noticed that there's something strange about a lot of guys in the Community?
It's as if just by looking at them, you can tell that something is missing. They don't seem entirely human.
Some of these guys even do well in the field. They get great reactions- sometimes even numbers and lays- but they never seem to have a girlfriend.
Are you one of these guys?
To find out, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you panic if you run out of "material" during a conversation with a woman?
- Do you think that everything a woman says to that isn't 100 percent positive is a "shit test?"
- Do you see every other male who is interacting with a woman as an alpha male who must be destroyed?
- Are you unable to discuss a woman without first asking, "What's her rating?"
- Do you call women in your life who you are not sleeping with a "pivot" instead of friend, girl or woman?
- If you are around a woman in a non-social setting such as a business meeting or a nursing home, do you get a strange shot of adrenaline and feel obligated to sarge her?
- Have you stopped seeing value in things that are not pickup related, such as books, movies, friends, work, school, food and water?
- Is your self esteem constantly at the mercy of the reactions of women?
Most of the sargers I know are social robots. This is especially true among those who found the community in their teens or early twenties. Because they haven't had much real world experience, they have learned to socialize almost entirely through the rules and theories they've read online and learned in workshops. They may never be normal again. After a great twenty minute set with many of these social robots, a woman begins to realize that they don't have anything more going for them. And then they post online complaining that women are flakes.
The Internet newsgroups and the pickup lifestyle can give you so much- I know it's given me so much- but it can take away a lot too. You can end up becoming a one dimensional person. You start to think that everyone else around you is a social robot too and begin to read too much into his or her actions.
The solution is to remember that the best way to pick up women is to have something better to do than to pick up women. Some guys give up everything- school, work, even girlfriends- to learn the game. But all these things are what make one complete and enhances one's attractiveness to the opposite sex. So put your life back in balance. If you can make something of yourself, women will flock to you, and what you've learned here will prepare you to deal with them.-Style.
I couldn't agree more. This was the absolute best quote out of the entire damn book. But what happened? It's hard to believe that after reading The Game and seeing Neil as just a curious guy who never really wanted to be a major part of the PUA community has become the very thing he hated in my opinion. He stated originally he was against the commercialization and industrialization of the seduction community only for him to become the biggest advocate for it. Even Mystery, the guy who invented all of the crazy gimmicks, routines and jargon that became popular and was Neil's personal mentor, has evolved and has moved past all that (for the most part). Not Neil Strauss. Neil Strauss may be focusing more on stuff that actually makes sense, but he and his company Stylelife are still deadset on teaching guys things like canned openers, "DHVs", etc. essentially turning guys into social robots, and the field reports written on the Stylelife forum proves just this. I'll post an abridged version of a typical field report written on the site:
Hi everyone. I went out with my wingman to this bar in town. We saw a 3-set, which included an HB9 and two HB7s. I went up and used my cashmere sweater opener. After that, I bridged and executed the best friends test. I then threw in some DQ's and ran the ring finger routine and 5- questions game. I got a few IOI's but got stuck as to what to do next so I had to eject from that set...
I lose braincells reading these field reports, but I give my own advice, which states to not be a social robot, only to get countered by the coaches and the senior members.
Other than what goes on in the forums, I realized a lot of major problems with Stylelife itself that anyone who pays money to be a member (which I stopped shortly after I 'graduated') has the right to question. Here are just some of the things I was questioning:
1) How come Stylelife keeps recycling the same videos and printed material from 2008 and claiming that it's 'new material' in their monthly editions of Wingman Magazine and the monthly DVD's? Anyone who's new to Stylelife and watches the material would think that the coach named Bravo is a current and highly active Stylelife coach but would have to dig through the forums to find out he left the company years ago.
2) What's with all the bait and switch?
3) On the regular self-paced course, how come you can only do one assignment at a time and only be enrolled in a few courses at a time instead of having access to it all?
4) Why are many of the links to material, particularly on the In-Field training course, broken or unavailable?
5) What happened to all the coaches that used to be with the company? From my understanding, the only ones that are still there are Evolve and The Sneak. I think JGatz and Mojofist might be there, but they seem to only be involved with the company every now and then.
6) Why is Stylelife so adamant about students learning canned material when there are far better tried and tested alternatives out there?
7) Why is it that on bootcamps, the coaches just stand around and don't really approach the entire weekend?
8) Why are there less bootcamps this year than last year?
All this and more. I was already on bad terms with the coaches by standing up for Julian Blanc from RSD and by condemning canned material and the rigid and obsolete philosophies that Stylelife practices (e.g. instead of using the skills you already have to your advantage like dancing, you should memorize a whole bunch of bar cons). What got me banned however was taking a huge risk by pointing out all the flaws in the business and how these flaws are going to lead to the demise of Stylelife unless drastic changes are made. This lead to the coach The Sneak threatening to ban me for stepping out of line instead of doing what any responsible person who co-operates a business and take these things into consideration. Another long-time member agreed with me about the problems with Stylelife and eventually that got him banned as well. It really cements the fact that the ship that is Stylelife is sinking and I did the right thing by jumping overboard.
It really is a shame that things went down the way they did. I was able to attend both the bootcamp and conference last year and enjoyed both overall. I thought the coaches were pretty cool guys and I thought it was great to get to meet Neil Strauss in person. The company had a good thing going for it and had a unique training system, and I give Stylelife credit for pushing me to get out there in the field. I even gave a positive video testimonial at one point. I would say there's just very poor execution in place, and the people running the company now are running it into the ground. You don't need to be an insider or a business analyst to suspect that there's a lot of chaos going on behind closed doors and that's why we're seeing less bootcamps scheduled and why many of the former coaches are MIA. Maybe this year Neil Strauss and his coaches will realize what they need to do to save their business and make the necessary changes to be a successful and reputable company for improving the dating skills of men. If not, then chances are we won't be seeing Stylelife anymore in the next five years.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
The Beginning of a Great New Year - Time To Focus!
The year has just begun, and there are two major things I need to focus on: building the business and seduction. I will devote blog entries to both, but for right now I want to focus on seduction. What would I like to happen? Be able to seduce a superchick by July 1st. A superchick is what I call my perfect 10, and is typically very tall, fit, has long hair and thick lips. It's the type of girl you would see modeling in magazines like Cosmo or Maxim. I need to keep in mind however that the process is more important than the outcome, and I will need to do some things to keep me focused:
1) I need to start going out to key places by myself. The problem I'm having with going out with friends, at least the ones I have, is they become very distracting. I need to listen to my own intuition and remember the advice from the mentors I've watched videos of and read books from. I'm really starting to flush out the StyleLife routine crap, and now I need to flush out any distractions friends are giving me. I find I do best when I go out and am forced to approach on my own.
2) I need to be outcome independent. Gone are the days of routines that are meant to elicit great reactions from women if executed flawlessly. Gone are the days of vanity and having to impress someone and thus getting into double jeopardy when I get blown off. I realize there will be more OK to disappointing, sometimes brutal nights, much more, than very successful nights just like there are when running a business.
3) Talk to three groups a night. The focus should be just to talk and not expect anything out of it. Easier said than done, I know. Things will get chaotic. Momentum is key, and I find it's much easier to approach when momentum is high. However, this means I would need to be reliant on good reactions and I'm working to get away from that.
4) Keep it going for the next 90 days. I know there will be days I will need to miss, especially for business, but I need to stay focused. 1-3 hours per night should suffice. After 90 days, I can assess my progress. I can also update on a weekly basis any highlights or mistakes.
5) Incorporate online dating. While I shouldn't be spending too much time on this, I believe I need to pick up online dating once again. It has been a while and I have been successful with it in the past. I just need to keep doing it.
Let's make it happen!
1) I need to start going out to key places by myself. The problem I'm having with going out with friends, at least the ones I have, is they become very distracting. I need to listen to my own intuition and remember the advice from the mentors I've watched videos of and read books from. I'm really starting to flush out the StyleLife routine crap, and now I need to flush out any distractions friends are giving me. I find I do best when I go out and am forced to approach on my own.
2) I need to be outcome independent. Gone are the days of routines that are meant to elicit great reactions from women if executed flawlessly. Gone are the days of vanity and having to impress someone and thus getting into double jeopardy when I get blown off. I realize there will be more OK to disappointing, sometimes brutal nights, much more, than very successful nights just like there are when running a business.
3) Talk to three groups a night. The focus should be just to talk and not expect anything out of it. Easier said than done, I know. Things will get chaotic. Momentum is key, and I find it's much easier to approach when momentum is high. However, this means I would need to be reliant on good reactions and I'm working to get away from that.
4) Keep it going for the next 90 days. I know there will be days I will need to miss, especially for business, but I need to stay focused. 1-3 hours per night should suffice. After 90 days, I can assess my progress. I can also update on a weekly basis any highlights or mistakes.
5) Incorporate online dating. While I shouldn't be spending too much time on this, I believe I need to pick up online dating once again. It has been a while and I have been successful with it in the past. I just need to keep doing it.
Let's make it happen!
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