#I start Talkin

[moltengoldveins]

so, I am already Adoring the discourse on The Creator, the new sci fi AI film that came out recently, but I’ve yet to see anyone talk about the fascinating religious undertones to the whole movie? Like, I’m Christian. I’ll be the first to admit my bias here: I tend to look for faith and spiritual undertones when consuming media because it’s an integral part of the way I see the world. but this movie was SO COOL?? Like, the Complete Lack of any sort of faith shown in the American characters in contrast with the AI and the Asian characters, a total shift from the modern cultural idea that religion and AI are incompatible. There are monks that are droids and simulants. The kid uses her technology powers by making a “praying” motion. There’s a robot preaching a pretty classic Judeo-Christian Messiah narrative to a bunch of kiddos. There’s only ONE American character given any sort of obvious religious identity and it’s that One Trooper Lady when she mentions Valhalla. This is such an interesting decision and I’m fascinated to know what y’all think of it. NOT TO MENTION (and this is by FAR my favorite part) the fact that the religion and the AI conflict and the treatment of human life are all implicitly bound up together. The Americans believe that the AI are ‘just programming,’ that they aren’t real, that they don’t have souls. The New Asians don’t. And that seems to bleed into the way they treat Humans as well? The kind girl near the beginning of the film, clearing the blast zone with Taylor, panics when she sees an AI online for the first time because she recognizes that he behaves like a person, while Taylor is cold, unresponsive, and insists that it’s just programming. The Americans SAY they value human life because humans are really people and AI aren’t, but they treat civilians and combatants, AI and Humans, Exactly the Same. Almost like, if you reduce one thing with a soul to ‘just programming, not of value’ that starts messing with the way you treat Everything Else. The New Asians, as far as the narrative tells us, don’t plan on retribution for the war. They’re careful with civilians, to a certain extent (I don’t love the van scene with the kiddos tbh :( feel like that was out of place? And the AI lady, the girlfriend of Taylor’s friend who was killed as well, interesting nuances there) and they treat one another like people ought. There’s very little distinction given between the more android and more human AI, which I think is awesome, and the climax of the arc of Taylor’s character happens In A Temple. The end of the story is a message of hope for reunification in heaven AND hope for reunification on earth. That’s. That’s so cool. Like. I think that’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in Ages. I can’t Ever remember seeing that kind of message done in a story that isn’t painfully preachy. One thing that often bothers me about modern film and media is the idea that religion and spirituality has to be handled in one of three ways: entirely unmentioned, preachy to the absurd, or blatantly disrespected. It’s not a universal problem, but it’s pretty widespread. I couldn’t tell what faith the directors ascribed to in this film, but I could tell they were discussing it intelligently and I LIKED THAT. I liked it a lot. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, my tastes, and beliefs: I’m willing to bet a lot of Christians won’t like this movie because they’re hung up on the lack of a blatantly Christian or preachy narrative. I’m willing to bet a lot of other people won’t like it because it tackled spirituality at all. But I liked it, because it looked at the world we live in and spoke of what it saw. It wrestled with the topics of death and life and souls and heaven and national pride and racism and capitalism and love and what it means to be a good person and it did it really well, and I admire that.

please please let me know what y’all thought of the movie? I’m really interested in knowing what people picked up on or thought the movie was saying. God bless y’all, and have an excellent weekend :) 💜

[xxplastic-cubexx]

welcome back to my accidental newfound journey to redraw every frame from this movie i GUESS

[compassiontale]

Killer got an ass whooping and Color got a headache after. The end.

Color belongs to Superyoumna

Killer belongs to Rahafwabas

(I had an idea of this for awhile, maybe I'll redraw this later on)

[en-chi-la-da]

what if when i started things i.... finished them??? 🤔🤔 whoah.... 😳

[bergoop]

mean to him

(x)

[feline-evil]

Saw this screenshot and thought of toki and pickles

[ruushes]

not generally a fan of how the game implements terminology like this but this is so funny to me it’s almost worth it. shut up lucanis i need you to be listening and learning rn

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 239

Y'know what I think would be hilarious for a DP and PJO crossover? Percy & co finally getting to Kronos, straight up ready for anything after they pass through magic and portal of green and-

There's the smell of cookies. Freshly baked cookies, a warm oven, something about it reminding them of home in this strange place of floating gears and ticking clocks.

And there's a long, serpentine tail twisting through the gears, twisting up and down and across in a size that could hides yet reveals just how large this entity is. There's power soaking into every inch of this place, every centimeter nearly sending lightning up their legs with each step.

The ticking is getting stronger, a distant gonging of the hour echoing through a place that should feel cold and empty like the ringing of bells in the end of times.

And suddenly there's a kid- a teen like them, human yet not- with a cookie half in their mouth and hair flickering like the cosmos as they peer down from above them with a frown, eyes brighter than the sun yet darker than the moon.

"Oh great, what did my half-siblings do this Time?"

[michajawkan]

encounter design is an interesting subject bc while I do enjoy games where every fight is designed to be fought and cleared by the party, it's not the whole of what an encounter can be and it's a shame that so many people think that's the only option, like, for some even just stepping back as little as removing the concept of "every encounter must be winnable" is too much for them

Like, again, I like walking into every fight knowing I am intended to be able to clear it in games built in that manner, it's very fun to navigate a battle with the foreknowledge that it's possible for me to handle in some way or another, but this design also inherently removes a lot of the tension from the situation, which is fine for a heroic fantasy adventure, but less useful in, say, a survival horror campaign

and "should encounters be assumed to be winnable" is just a tiny part of encounter design, which itself is just one segment of a larger game, and it already has such a strong effect on how the game feels, imagine how much it'd change if you altered even more of your approach, or removed the concept of them entirely

The mechanics inform the feel of the story you're telling through the game and I think that's really cool, and I really love seeing how different games emulate their different priorities through the design of their systems and it's a shame to see so many people disinterested in this and think any system out there can or even should do literally everything equally well all at once

[tunabesimpin]

September hit and so did Ruggie brainrot

[fisheito]

for those who have NOT seen the 55wad05da0722 maid eito + bookumo arts , i implore you to Behold;;:

And the nsfw followup:

[broareweabouttoviberightnow]

actually thinkin about Tim helpin Johnny get more in touch with his culture so hard. mixed Johnny n his family never taught him how to take care of textured hair. POC Tim who's been doin his own hair since forever. who used to braid Angela's hair n twist curlys. who diligently raised his siblings to be proud of who they were. mixed Johnny who's always kinda been in Tim's orbit. His buddy's kid brother. n one day Johnny shows up at Tim's door. anxious n unsure. n asks Tim if he can help him. n Tim takes one look at this kid n is like. yeah. you know what. why not.

[littlestarbigsky]

i sent my friend this text a few weeks ago and it’s aged like milk.

[ruushes]

Hi I love your oc, ailill mahariel, especially the art of them and was wondering if I could ask questions?

If so, how would they handle meeting going to the dalish camp in dao? Would they feel like a ghost and out of place especially with their looks from the blight sickness? (not their clan but the one you go to for help) and how would they react to others asking about their recruitment into the grey wardens? (Especially when its still new and raw)

Like sarel asking if they were recruited to make sure the dalish followed through on the treaty, and while that might be true its also overshadowed by the tragedy of mahariel and tamlen finding the eluvian.

Hope you have a good day and again I love your art and ocs!

the answer to if it's ok to ask about my ocs is ALWAYS YES and also i would kill for you. it blows my mind honestly that i rarely talk abt ailill but people still remember him and bring him up to me independently like that's so so so cool im glad you like my little guy 😭😭

and YEAH nature of the beast was a very fraught chapter of the game for him haha. he didn't want to collect on that part of the treaty in the first place - part unconscious fear of returning to a place so like home, part equally unconscious protectiveness and indignation on behalf of the dalish - and they only went bc he can't put his foot down lol

as for responding to questions about his becoming a grey warden, i take every available dialog option for him to be bitter about his recruitment haha, he never rly gets over that hurt even after (much, much later) accepting duncan's reasons for doing it. but being with zathrian's clan rly brutally enforces to him that he can never undo what happened and can never go home

he already felt not really dalish anymore after being (in his mind) exiled from sabrae, but having been made into a warden, he doesn't even rly feel like a person anymore. i hc that the sister clans spent a good amt of time together and their members would know each other to some extent, and that familiarity makes it even more stark how they treat him differently now - not exactly like an outsider, but with pity and a poorly concealed measure of horror

not rly related but an old sketch as thanks bc u asked 😌

[rad-roche]

thank you for answering my ask! i just like hearing about your process :) if you have any little tidbits about what you enjoyed most, please share them! writing is so so important

aw, thank you! hmm, tidbits... it was a lot of fun to write a mystery plot, especially a noir. dead man talking was my first real stab at it, and my introduction to the genre. it was, originally, just going to be a stylistically researched fic, but in reading old detective novels i fell so hugely in love with the genre that here we are, i'm still doing it! every time i got stuck on how to do something, i'd stop writing and go read another. between dead man talking and dead woman walking, i think i read about... twenty five? hardboiled books. and more since finishing! you never know what you'll be passionate about. if i hadn't had the whim one day, i'd have never known this about myself, and i think my life would be poorer for it.

constructing a romance for nick was also a heap of fun. i have a pet theory about video games with romanceable characters and how it's always the guy you can't kiss who gets the adoration. i think the act of having to plan for player interest, player appeal, inherently makes those characters less appealing because it takes focus away from other things they have going on. i call it garrus syndrome. they aren't focused on your character, they're focused on their problems and worries. but in fic, i can do whatever i want! so coming up with ideas for it, and how to make it seem natural and real, was hugely fun. part of gloria's character comes from 'what do i think would play well off of nick?'. and i think the answer is somebody as smart as nick, blunt, and who'd been through a lot herself, but not so similar that they're always affirming each other and their decisions. i think part of why i love making stuff for them is that i think the sweet, sentimental moments hits harder if there's that gritty undercurrent. they butt heads constantly. they have more baggage than an airport. their morals are, fundamentally, incompatible. they adore each other. digging into that stuff is so thrilling!

[columboscreens]