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"Abraham Lincoln failed in business twice, lost eight elections, and suffered a nervous breakdown before he became the 16th American president. Walt Disney went bankrupt with his first animation studio, lost money on three of his first five feature films, and, at his lowest point, didn’t make his rent. Similarly, Stephen King’s first novel Carrie was rejected 30 times before it became the bestselling modern horror classic it is today."
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Self-promotion: Twitter is a social networking tool — a certain amount of shameless self-promotion is to be expected. However, you'll get unfollowed faster than you can say "Check out my blog" if your feed is nothing but links to your own work. Engaging with other users and sharing material that doesn't belong to you is as integral to the experience as the self-adulation. For every link of your own that you share, balance it out with two or three posts that engage with other users or share someone else's content.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
A must-read for new and veteran Twitterers alike---a well thought-out, comprehensive reference of do's & don't's. After reading about what most annoys other users, those of us who tweet regularly may find that we need to re-think a few of our own practices. When it comes to voice actors and others related to the VO industry, we've observed that the most common transgressions via Twitter seem to be over-sharing, over self-promoting and way, way too many sales pitches. There's nothing worse than reading an interesting headline promising a brilliant nugget of information, then clicking on the link only to find that you have to sign up for a class or seminar to get the information or advice promised.
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How Can I Get an Agent, or Jobs in Video Games? Here is Some Great Advice from a Great Talent Agent! Debora Duckett Owner, dB Talent
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Succinct, excellent advice on what it takes to become a video game voice actor from an outstanding veteran talent agent, Debora Duckett from DB Talent in Austin, TX.
She's absolutely correct that there is a big difference between video game characters and animation characters, even though they seemed to get lumped together much of the time. Animation voice acting requires brilliant acting, improvisational skills, versatility and a vivid imagination. Video game voice acting also requires these same skills, but the overall energy level and tempo can be markedly different; plus you need a solid understanding of how various types of games are structured and played.
BTW We've had the pleasure of working with Debora Duckett on vo casting projects in the past and hope that her clients appreciate how lucky they are to have such a knowledgeable, committed rep.
ED. The guy in the picture is Troy Baker, who along with Nolan North, are probably the two most in-demand voice actors working today. If you don't who either of these guys are AND you aspire to work as a video game voice actor, you really need to start reading and learning a LOT more about video games.
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“The misguidance of love is that it’s all about feeling good. But pride is what makes something worthwhile. Pride is what makes you care about the quality and impact of your work...".
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Brilliantly insightful and very true. It's the pride in your craft that keeps you going...striving to get better and helps you survive the rough patches and disappointments that are an inevitable part of every actor's career.
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"...way back in 1988, I was a five-time undefeated champion on Jeopardy!, ...I was also a semifinalist in the 1988 Tournament of Champions; a participant in the first prime-time tournament, in 1990; the winner of the Battle of the Bay Area Brains in 1998; and a Round One winner in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005. Okay, résumé over.
Now, I’m competing for the chance to go head-to-head against other 1980s Jeopardy! champions in the show’s 30th Anniversary Season Battle of the Decades!...bringing back former champions from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s to compete in a multi-level tournament...The show’s producers have already selected 14 champions from each decade, but the 15th and final spot in each tournament is up to Jeopardy! fans — this means YOU — via an online voting campaign."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Please CAST YOUR VOTES NOW for one of our own, Michael Rankins, a fellow voice actor (and InsideVO follower) who, we can assure you, will represent voice actors brilliantly on National TV.
Here’s how you can support Michael daily starting now through 6:59 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Monday, October 7. Visit Jeopardy.com, choose Michael , from the five Fan Favorite nominees, and click the “Vote Now!” button.If you’re on Facebook, you can go to the Jeopardy! Facebook page (a.k.a. Facebook.com/Jeopardy) and use the Battle of the Decades voting tab. Just like on the Jeopardy! site, you can choose Michael as your Fan Favorite, and click “Vote Now!”If you’re a Twitter user, you can vote for Michael by tweeting:Michael #JeopardyVote. (Be sure to include both first name and the hashtag.) One such tweet per day counts as a vote for Michael.
You can vote for Michael once each day in each format — that’s one vote on Jeopardy.com, one vote on the Jeopardy! Facebook page, and one vote via Twitter using Michael's name and the special hashtag: Michael #JeopardyVote.
Please spread the word and ask other voice actors, and your friends and family members who are Jeopardy! fans to vote for Michael. Many thanks to all of you who take the time to do this. Michael, his family, colleagues and many friends appreciate your support!
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Writers don’t write stories about average days and normal nights. They write about the unusual night, the night where somethinghappens—the night where something extraordinary happens. You do not have to always “Act” the way the character would “normally” behave. Let this be the night that the character acts differently, goes against the norm, shocks himself or herself, and all those around. Contradictory behavior under the stress of the situations presented by a good writer is truthful to life, it is interesting, and, most importantly: it is revealing.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
We strongly recommend this excellent article by actor/coach, Adam Lazarre-White, that does an outstanding job of explaining what it means to be "yourself"and what it means to play your "truth" as an actor.
He also clarifies the difference between making COOL (passive) choices and HOT ( brave) choices and why making stronger choices is always so much more interesting and engaging.
By the way, when you hear actors discussing "raising the stakes," making HOTTER, more consequential choices in which their character is far more invested in the outcome is what they mean.
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Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
In this short video, the brilliant Bryan Cranston shares a simple, but powerful auditioning insight he had 18 years ago that he describes as the "breakthrough" which pushed his career to the next level... "Know what your job is."...BTW Your job IS NOT going into auditions trying to get the job.
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OK, Alan Varner, you probably think it's real cute that you broke through the "fourth wall" in this Little Caesars radio ad from Barton F. Graf 9000, inviting listeners who visit the restaurant to "tell 'em Alan Varner sent you.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Voice actor, Alan Varner hits the VO jackpot! Not only does he have the Little Caesar's account, which is a pretty sweet gig in and of itself, but the company has also decided to use him as the centerpiece of their radio ad campaign. As a result, Alan is getting what probably amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars of free advertising...
And in case you're wondering, if you go to AlanDoesVoices.com it actually takes you to a cheesy (pun intended) website that's been created for the ad. Way to go Alan Varner!
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Paul Robins and Bethany Crouch talk to actor and Sacramento Native Chris Sullivan. He's been on television, film and on Broadway. One of his latest projects includes the voice of the Geico Camel in a new commercial.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
An inspiring "voice actor makes good" story...
On-camera and voice actor, Sacramento-native, Chris Sullivan moved to New York to pursue his dreams years ago. Chris had a moderately successful career going---working on stage, on camera, in small indy films and vo---but had toiled in relative obscurity until the day he auditioned to play a camel for a Geico ad. The rest, as they say, is history, and now, some 14.6 million YouTube hits later, Chris, is now in an HBO film with Julia Roberts and Mark Rufalo.
Just a lucky break where an actor just happenes to stumble upon a role for which he is perfectly suited? Sure, some luck is involved, but if Chris hadn't been doing the work, day in and day out, preparing for years, he would not have been in the position to take advantage of this opportunity.
Chris is a perfect example of why you should never underestimate the importance of acting skills when it comes to creating characters and why there's so much more to it than just "doing a voice." Chris invests the camel with a personality that you recognize immediately...he's all of those obnoxious, loud-mouthed, but well-meaning and ultimately endearing guys, you have worked with all rolled into one.
If an opportunity like this presented itself to you, would you be ready? If not, why not and what are you doing to change that?
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The WHAT!? Understanding Voice Over Lingo was so popular and some of you sent us a few new words to add to our little voice over lingo dictionary. I decide to write a part two for everyone to enjoy.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Are you fluent in voiceover? If not, Piehole is back with more voiceover and recording studio-speak. Reading through this article and the first article referenced above, should give you a pretty good grounding in Basic Voiceoverese.
Sure there is more jargon to master (and it varies by where you're located geographically), but knowledge of these commonly-used terms should get you through a typical commercial recording session.
By the way, animation and game sessions use may of these same terms, but they also have their own specific terms that are relevant to those particulars genres.
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"There are many DAWs (Digital Audio Workstation software) available for purchase, and choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. It’s important to remember that many of these programs are created with music recording in mind, and you likely won’t need all the bells and whistles for your voiceover work."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
This article covers options ranging from the free Audacity to ProTools, the full version of which costs $700, and gives the pros and cons of each.
As the author correctly points out, voice actors often end up buying way more complicated software than they really need. Unless you're producing music, or plan to, you don't necessarily need the recording software with all the bells and whistles.
We also suggest scrolling through the comments. There are some good alternative suggestions and helpful feedback from fellow voice actors on the types of recording software they've used successfully to record audiobooks.
Word...feel free to skip over the 2-3 know-it-all gas bags that inevitably show up in every comments section of this type whose sole purpose in pontificating and arguing is to prove to everyone else that their knowledge base is bigger...
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Robin Good's insight:
Firepype is an online multimedia production pipeline service which allows you to program and automate the transfer, conversion, posting and notification of audio and video files.
For example if you need to periodically convert and upload files to a certain video or podcast sharing platform Firepype can be of great help.
Conversion and posting pipelines can be setup and customized to suit your specific needs.
Key features include: audio ripping from video clipscross-posting to multiple sharing sitesautomatic adding of watermarksautomatic resizing of videono file size limitations
In Beta. Free to use (for now)
Try it out now: http://firepype.com/ ;
Tour: http://firepype.com/index.php/take-a-tour ;
FAQ: http://firepype.uservoice.com/ ; Via Robin Good
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Looks like a brilliant tool that allows you to cross-post, covert to different formats and rip audio from video and even adds watermarks. Better yet it's in the cloud so you don't have to download anything. If it does half the things they claim, it's well-worth checking out.
Many thanks/mille grazie once again to the master of new media, Robin Good, for posting this.
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"It's...versatility that has allowed (June) Foray and other older voice performers to continue to land a variety of roles.
"You've got to be malleable," says Bob Bergen, Foray's friend and the current voice of Porky Pig. "An on camera actor may need an hour in their trailer with their acting coach to get into the mood. A voice actor has to be immediate." Bergen first performed Porky Pig in 1990, the year after the man most closely associated with the voice, Mel Blanc, died. (He has re-auditioned for the role four times since winning it.)
Many voice performers, such as Blanc and Daws Butler, voice of Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, among others, continued to play the roles right up until their deaths.
"There are sometimes in voice-over sessions where I'm 51 and I'm one of the younger people in the room," said Tom Kenny, most famous as the voice of the ever-youthful SpongeBob SquarePants."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Gee, thanks LA Times...as if people out there needed even more reasons to try their hand at voice acting!
Kidding aside, this is an excellent and inspiring article from the LA Times on the longevity of successful character voice actor's careers. All actors cited have careers that span decades and are still going strong, and it's nIce to know that 50+ year old Tom Kenny is often the "kid" in the room in recording sessions. There is one BIG catch however...braking into the ranks of the top echelon of animation voice actors, like the ones in the article, isn't easy and you have to have superior acting skills, a world class imagination and impeccable vocal technique in order to be able to do this.
We're also glad that they make a distinction between veteran voice actors who are trained in the craft versus celebrities who are hired primarily because of who they are; not for their voice acing skills.
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In Both Acting and Life, Your Greatest Successes Often Spring From Your Biggest Failures | Backstage
"Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985. It was a very public failure. And as we all know, the man went on to change the world. As he said in his 2005 Stanford address...'I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me...Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.' Those last three lines could apply to every successful actor you’ve ever seen perform. So never, ever look down at failure. When you hear someone failed, it means that person took a chance. It means that person was brave. And that’s a good thing. Cowards never fail because they never try."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
A well-written, Inspirational article from an LA agent on how failure can lead to success if (and this is a big "IF") you are able to survive your mistake, learn from it and keep moving forward.
You cannot be successful as an actor or voice actor without taking risks regularly, and that also means that you are subject to failing often. While experiencing failure is never "fun" or "easy," over time you can learn how to handle it better by not "wasting" your mistakes; you figure out what didn’t go right, so that you can avoid making the same mistake in the future. For more specific steps on how "To Make Failure Your Friend," check back tomorrow. We'll be posting an article on that very topic...
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"Lean toward the risk. Toward the unknown. In the room. In the work. In relationships. Out there in the world. That’s really why you signed up for acting anyway. It wasn’t to do things perfectly, and be safe and do it like everyone else. It was to inherently take risks in ways that life sometimes doesn’t give us the permission to take them. Or rather, we don’t give ourselves the green light to do it."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Between the cut-to-the-chase advice given in this article by director & acting coach, Anthony Meindl, and the very short video with Bryan Cranston's insightful observations we posted a couple of weeks ago, http://sco.lt/8V9CF7 , you have pretty much everything you ever really need to know about auditioning, BUT ...and this is a big BUT... both of these posts assume that you already have the fundamental skills you need to be a successful actor or voice actor DOWN COLD! i.e., that that you can act well, break down and interpret a script, visualize and play a scene, connect to the person you're talking to, engage your listener, use a to your advantage, adeptly perform the character type and/or dialect required, etc.
It won't do you any good to go "all out," as Anthony suggests, if your "all" is mediocre at best.
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Technology has made it easier for anyone to get into the “voice game.” Like any profession, the pretenders and amateurs eventually fade away or are weeded out. We are experiencing a peak in people pursuing voice work. In the end, professional and real talent will win out!
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Smart advice from the good folks at online cast site, RTC (RealTimeCasting), one of the few online sites that screens voice "talent" to make sure they are in fact, talented, before they allow them to be on their site. What a novel idea!
We concur with RTC that, In the end, professional and real talent will win out, especially when it comes to booking jobs of any real significance. Given the trends of hiring cheaper and cheaper voice talent over the past 6-7 years, if you're a bit skeptical about this claim, we can hardly blame you. We're willing to go out on a limb, however, and predict that over the next few years, the pendulum will swing back the other way; towards hiring trained professional voice actors with talent and away from hiring any guy with a voice and mic on Fiver. (We have several theories as to why these changes are coming, but we'll save those for future posts. Stay tuned...)
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"One morning this summer, I got up at first light...then drank a strong cup of coffee, sat near-naked by an open window for an hour, worked all morning, then had a martini with lunch. I took a long afternoon walk, and for the rest of the week experimented with never working for more than three hours at a stretch.
This was all in an effort to adopt the rituals of some great artists and thinkers: the rising-at-dawn bit came from Ernest Hemingway, who was up at around 5.30am, even if he'd been drinking the night before; the strong coffee was borrowed from Beethoven, who personally counted out the 60 beans his morning cup required. Benjamin Franklin swore by "air baths", which was his term for sitting around naked in the morning, whatever the weather. .."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Fascinating article about the habits and rituals of highly creative people. There is a whole lot of food for thought in this article and you may do well to examine if the way in which you structure your day/life is conducive to stimulating your creativity?
There are many differences between how creative geniuses work, and the author of the new book Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration And Get To Work, observes that "the true lesson of the book is that there's no one way to get things done;" however there appear to be six repeating patterns between a majority of creatives. A couple of these may surprise you, because they contradict conventional wisdom about creative people. Interestingly, having MORE focus and structure in your life---not less---is the key to freeing you to become more creative:
1. Be a morning person 2. Don't give up the day job 3. Take lots of walks 4. Stick to a schedule 5. Practice strategic substance abuse 6. Learn to work anywhere
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"She is Siri, Apple's voice-activated virtual "assistant" introduced to the masses with the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011. Behind this groundbreaking technology there is a real woman. While the ever-secretive Apple has never identified her, all signs indicate that the original voice of Siri in the United States is a voiceover actor who laid down recordings for a client eight years ago. She had no idea she'd someday be speaking to more than 100 million people through a not-yet-invented phone. Her name is Susan Bennett and she lives in suburban Atlanta."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
So the Siri mystery is finally resolved...Atlanta based voice actor, Susan Bennett, laid down the tracks that eventually became synthesized into the iconic Siri voice back in 2005, but has had a long career providing the vo for automated services, beginning 40 years ago as the voice of "Tillie the All-Time Teller."
You'll hear on the video that Susan's natural speaking voice is very different from Siri's, but if you happened to see wildly polpolar The Verge video last month about how text-to-speech technology is created (and ironically what led to Susan's "coming out" as Siri), you know that voice actors provide the "raw materials" for the voices which are subsequently dissected, manipulated and reconstructed by teams of interactive voice scientists and engineers into the artificially-produced voices we all recognize. (In case you missed it, here's the link to the original The Verge's 10-minute video that started it all: http://sco.lt/7OrAkz ;)
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Guardian Express
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
If we had to guess, we'd bet that it's Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, who did win an Emmy award for playing the character...however, we don't think that death will necessarily mean the end of Bob's appearances on The Simpsons. Treehouse of Horror anyone?
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“Grand Theft Auto V,” the latest installment in Rockstar Games made $800 million worldwide retail sales on its first day of release. This just shows how popular role playing interactive games have become, thus growing the voice over industry. [But]this is not an easy business to break into. Voice acting is a specialized skill, and because a voice-over job can be completed in a short amount of time, one voice actor can take on many jobs over the course of a year, leaving little room for competition."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
A general overview that covers basic skills you need to work as a video game actor---and we're really glad to see that they posted "Take acting classes" as the top tip---but we think they missed a couple of critical ones...
One skill that they didn't mention, but is absolutely essential if you aspire to act in video games, is the ability to imagine and visualize. You have to have the ability analyze the copy and to "see" what is happening in the scene in your mind's eye first, in order to bring it to life. Of course, you won't be able to do that without strong acting skills, so that's why the previous tip, "Take acting classes" is so important.
Hand-in-hand with visualization/imagination goes the importance of having a broad, current knowledge of literature, movies, TV, games, pop and cultural references, and a well-developed sense of storytelling. When you're auditioning for video games, more often than not, video game character breakdowns will include references to characters from all media genres---from the Classics to game characters to obscure characters from TV shows.
By the way, if you're not familiar with J.J. Abrams' or Joss Whedon's body of work, we highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with it.
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The key to Open Source and Royalty-Free and Public Domain media is collaboration, and the furtherance of humankind by using what our predecessors have made and building up and outward. YouTube has taken to this call to action with great enthusiasm this week with the YouTube Audio Library, supporting the likes of burgeoning artists and ancient artists alike with a collection of freely-downloadable music they suggest could – and should – be used as backbeats for future YouTube submissions. They’ve made it all so easy, that is to say.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Thanks to YouTube (and Google) you'll now have a growing library of free, legal-to-use background music tracks to use for your media productions. Obviously, the intended purpose is to use them for YouTube videos, but thery don't restrict you from using them in other media.
To be honest, we were a bit skeptical of the quality we would find, but a quick scan of the selections yielded several good tracks that would be perfectly suitable to use for voiceover projects.
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Today's casting assistant is tomorrow's casting director. The front desk receptionist at an agent's office may be on track to becoming an assistant and then an agent. The grip or production assistant on a set can—and probably will—talk about the actors. I have seen actors acquire a bad reputation because of their rude behavior towards people that they perceived to be "inconsequential." No one in life is inconsequential. If you don't know that by now, please get your head out of that dark place as soon as possible! Anyone you meet in this business may become someone that you'll need someday, but being a considerate person should never be part of a strategy.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Some very smart, practical advice from ABC's Executive Director of Casting, Marci Phillips about avoiding some of the traps that all aspiring actors---both on-camera and voice--- fall into.
We always remind students that being kind and considerate of all the people you encounter is not only the right thing to do ethically and morally; but it makes good business sense, too. The story you always hear about the the talent agency receptionist who one day becomes an agent is not an aberration; it's exceedingly common. Just be the kind of person that others want to work with.
It's also important to have a realistic budget and avoid getting in over your head. You don't ever want to get yourself into a situation where you become desperate to find work. In fact, if there's one way to guarantee that you WON'T find work, it's to give off the vibe of being a desperate actor. Sure, you need to invest money in good training and the tools-of-trade---this is true whether you aspire to be an actor, a plumber a chef or a surgeon---but are you really getting your money's-worth by flying across the country for an over-crowded seminar or dropping a few thousand on a a top-of-the-line Neumann mic when you don't really know what you're doing yet? Maybe you should explore other, less expensive, good quality options, like local professional-level acting and improv classes or studio mics in the $400-800 range.
Karlton B McIver's curator insight,
August 6, 2015 4:13 PM
Some very smart, practical advice from ABC's Executive Director of Casting, Marci Phillips about avoiding some of the traps that all aspiring actors---both on-camera and voice--- fall into.
We always remind students that being kind and considerate of all the people you encounter is not only the right thing to do ethically and morally; but it makes good business sense, too. The story you always hear about the the talent agency receptionist who one day becomes an agent is not an aberration; it's exceedingly common. Just be the kind of person that others want to work with.
It's also important to have a realistic budget and avoid getting in over your head. You don't ever want to get yourself into a situation where you become desperate to find work. In fact, if there's one way to guarantee that you WON'T find work, it's to give off the vibe of being a desperate actor. Sure, you need to invest money in good training and the tools-of-trade---this is true whether you aspire to be an actor, a plumber a chef or a surgeon---but are you really getting your money's-worth by flying across the country for an over-crowded seminar or dropping a few thousand on a a top-of-the-line Neumann mic when you don't really know what you're doing yet? Maybe you should explore other, less expensive, good quality options, like local professional-level acting and improv classes or studio mics in the $400-800 range.
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Whether music is a hobby or you're house hunting for Dr. Dre, an in-home recording studio is an awesome feature for a home to have We scoured Estately's real estate listings across America to find these homes for sale that come with a recording studio. Be warned though, they don't come cheap.
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Who's in the buying mood? Make sure to invite us over when you've finished moving in.
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"I was having a conversation with a friend this week. She’s an actress. Like most actresses, she also has a Day Job that she works to pay the bills between acting jobs. This is the reality for most working actors in LA, New York and the other major centers of the entertainment industry. She was pointing out to me that she viewed her theatre background as a weakness in her Day Job career field, and that it was holding her back. She asked for my advice. My advice? There IS no weakness in having a theatre background. There is only strength..."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
An interesting and insightful argument for why the skills you acquire by majoring in theater are far better preparation for the business world than actually getting a degree in Business.
We think this writer's astute observations are right on point, but we'd be remiss if we didn't point out the obvious irony...
While trained actors are often very successful in the corporate world, we find that they often fail to apply these skills to becoming successful in the acting world. Why? Because they don't view acting as a real business, but as art.
Might it be time for those of you are getting frustrated by your lack of progress as an actor to consider how you'd approch the job of advancing your career differently, if instead of being the "artist," you were the business person hired to manage your career?
[Many thanks to voice actor, Tracie Warden Denga, for sending us a link to this article.]
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"Today’s talking phones and cars are almost human sounding. That’s because they are human. Or at least, they once were.
For every Siri, there’s an actor sitting in a sound booth, really needing to go to the bathroom or scratch an itch. Once that person finishes her job, she can go home. But her voice has only begun its journey. The story of that journey, from human to replicant, is one of a series of complex technological processes that would have been impossible 10 years ago. But it’s also the story of our stubborn desire as social beings to form relationships, even with unconscious objects. In order to establish trust in our machines, we have to begin to suspend disbelief. This is the story of how we fool ourselves."
Sirenetta Leoni's insight:
Fascinating video & article about the science, technology and psychology behind creating artificial speech, for apps such as Siri, Google Plus, Kindle, which include interviews with some of the voice talent who lend their voices to these apps.
The article also mentions how many voice actors dislike the technology, which they worry might ultimately replace them! Our .02...we think that it is indeed possible that in the near future digitally-produced voices may indeed replace "readers" who are paid not a lot to read copy clearly with some inflection. However they are still a long, long way from creating anything that genuinely sounds like a real person who's engaged in actual conversation or real dialogue.
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As promised, here are five steps that you can take to "make failure your friend."
There's some very smart, useful liberating advice in this article starting with #1: Before you can learn from it, you have to own it! You won't be able to move on with your life until you stop blaming your failure(s) on some one or something else