#i dont really mind but its not really an artistic choice - more a lack of commitment you know

[ftcatv]

2 | NEON from @falloutober prompts i swear im not gonna make all these prompts about nick

[littledigits]

What is your take on the current animation industry and the way its heading for AI and job hiring? Ngl its looking a little bleak and I would love to hear your insight!

HOO. This is going to be a long one, but good question. Please keep in mind I am but one person with my one opinion.

I'm going to give you a little context to what was leading up to the job bust, the shit reality, and the hopeful conclusion.

Its always been a completive industry and unfortunately it will more-so for the next little while, even compared to when I graduated. The reality is, the animation industry GREW SO MUCH over the streaming services greenlighting projects to a point where I was like . WHERE ARE ALL THESE CARTOONS GOING. It felt like we went from nothing to a ton and was amazing that so much work was going around (looking back we see why it was too good to be true) A lot of schools and studios responded to this by growing as well. This means while it may recover, I dont see a way that it could reach the highs we had in the 2015-2021 period - because that wasn't representative of a sustainable model or a model they were planning on sticking with forever.

So the streaming bubble popped, and a lot of the reason why it popped was because streaming wasn't as lucrative when everyone joins in. This is the reality of working under the umbrella of Hollywood companies. Mergers happened, projects got pulled - and it probably wouldn't have seemed as big if we didn't have THE MOST JOBS EVER like, just a year before. It was a big rug pull. With the huge growth came a steep fall and all of it because of bad investments and choices of the people with the money. aka, we all wanted to chase someone elses idea thats making money for them and it didnt pay off - which leads me to AI.

While AI is scary and will do/is doing damage, it will not last forever. The industry only looks like its heading this way because the people who like AI are desperate to make it work, so they're pushing at it from all angles despite no AI company being profitable. ( once companies see that its not going to make them money they will drop it ) Its really nothing but a glorified pattern and predictive text machine that of course looks impressive when you feed it oodles of data. People who live on linked in and drink management courses like its water think that sort of shit is impressive, but they dont actually know how it works and just buy into the tech industry hype cycle . What we're seeing is them trying to make fetch happen, and it wont. (some useful bits will stay around but it doesnt 'think', a lot of this is just pure fakery)

You can trace a lot of things that lost jobs to bad investments from people higher up, who just jump around to different jobs when they make a mistake, or just simply get a bonus.

Its a symptom of the greater issue which is the monopoly of people in media and tech, which have been merging over the years with digital streaming. Lack of regulation in industries since the 80s has lead to a lot of the shit you see all around you, and it starts to be controlled by people who only want numbers goup. Overall , I think the animation industry in north America is entirely too controlled by the major studios and broadcasters, and that's going to be a tricky thing to navigate since they're very mask off about what their intentions are at this point. Its a growth-at-all-cost mindset that leads to things like AI, so while im confidant that what we see as 'ai' will die , we do have to realize as artists that as long as these people are in charge they will always try to find a way to cut the bottom line and not invest in the industry.

Its totally reasonable to feel bleak, but that's the intent. They want people to have to settle for less, and they want them to forget a time that it was better. Demoralization is part of the tactics, and 'starving' people out of jobs so they're easier to negotiate with is extremely common and pretty much what is happening right now. And this is exactly why you're seeing more union push from lots of industries because we're ALL being taken advantage of here. While it feels hopeless, this actually puts us much more in line with the artists and storytellers before us. They were up against the same people fighting the same fight, they were just called communists haha. Different words, same tactics, but the history of moments like this in the entertainment industry is more common then the shiny package we tend to grow up idolizing . ( its good to admire but we do often put these products up on a pedestal to our detriment )

The industry will survive, and it will change into something different which is GOOD. Because what it is right now, while workable and still full of things I enjoy - is NOT sustainable. And if we want to keep the skills of 2d animation, stop motion or any sort of creative trade to continue, we NEED sustainability. This is why collective action is so important, and so is diversity in the amounts of media we have! For example

YOUTUBE INDIE ANIMATION IS KICKING BROADCASTERS ASSES RIGHT NOW AND THEY NOTICE IT.

And while there are ups and downs regardless if you work in a small studio or a large one, I am hopeful that the conversations I've been seeing will spark change. Because as sucky as it is , compared to the rest of my time in the industry ( i think im on like 16 or 17 years now ) , I've never seen so much engagement or even discussion on the topic which says a lot. I think as artists we are always up for putting a lot of hard work into our skills, I think if enough of us point that passion into our community and collective action, we can start building an industry that does not have such a power imbalance, and that starts with community, education and engagement ! ( learning about the history of unions/animation/hollywood/workers rights,and then sharing that stuff! just through convo like this !) I hope this gives you some perspective, its something we're going to have to work at, but not something that is impossible. A lot of how the animation industry functions is not great, but what matters is that we work to make it better and the people who HAVE been doing that work are the ones that you want to find. They are the people with the proactive solutions to show you how to take power back. It helps fight the bleak feeling <3 tldr :

the solution is that as much as it sucks we try to make it better for those who come after us - and you can be involved in that job or not ! even just by supporting or being aware. This isnt animation is all careers, we're all effected by the same thing.

never forget.

[radiation]

Video games talk dont even mind me

Bro video games as a whole are so far behind movies in terms of storytelling and pacing that it’s kind of baffling. Which of course is obvious and makes sense for plenty of reasons but like, just think about it — watching movies a lot can’t help but train a certain muscle that gives you a strong instinct for structure. I find that people who watch movies very casually, without too much artistic consideration, and don’t really know the language associated with it are still very often irked by specific issues with a movie’s pacing, dialogue, etc and are relatively capable of putting it into words. Likewise, for many movies out there, regardless of your opinions on any specific directorial choices, you do feel as if the movie is essentially cohesive and creatives involved reasonably knew what they were doing and were acting very intentionally, and there weren’t any major oversights. This includes independent films as well. Meanwhile I think both players and developers much more commonly lack the instinct for narrative cohesion when it comes to video games. Definitely a fair amount of exceptions to this, but in general I find it’s difficult to find video games that are very narrative heavy & aspire to great artistic heights that don’t suffer from inherent structural problems, pedantic dialogue, tons of dead air, etc in a way that wouldn’t slide as easily in a movie. A lot these flaws certainly have to be due to the presence of gameplay elements and having to balance that with story when the two are almost always, at least in some small respect, inherently at odds. As for the inability for devs and players to pick up on / fix these flaws…is it because gameplay can distract from it and make up for it? With longer games that have runtimes closer to the experience of a television series, is there a similar reaction where if it’s long enough you will sit thru smaller, momentary issues because you enjoy the bigger picture? Yet games are a lot more engaging than a show as a audio, visual, and tactile experience, you can’t multitask and tune the information out as easily as with a boring episode of a show, so you’d think people would be more picky? But maybe because it’s so attention-demanding people are more immersed, and believe in the experience enough to more easily accept the story? Books demand the same kind of active attention to experience though, and the bar for story in books is a lot higher, so what gives? Well a lot of these have kind of obvious answers but still Interesting questions to ask that lead to Damn , That Is Still Crazy How Much This Shit Is In Its Infancy like sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy with how many writing issues are present in games, particularly in indie games that are Trying To Be Good At Writing that feel excessively obvious and yet I often struggle to find my sentiment mirrored by others. IDK. And back to movies the thing is I feel like if the same people trying to write these kind of games had pursued movies instead then they would’ve ended up making well structured movies that avoided all of these pitfalls. WHAT IS IT WITH GAMES? Well we know what it is with games and we could spend all day discussing a million more reasons this is the way it is but no matter what I think we should just be super conscientious of these pitfalls when making narrative focused games and aspire to a greater level of intentionality that is absolutely possible . Build that muscle by really understanding the quality of storytelling long-present in other mediums.Well the other issue with indie devs is that everyone believes they are totally breaking new ground story wise that they don’t take a step back, humble themselves a bit, and cross-reference what they’re doing with the tons of other stories that have already achieved similar things But thats a conversation for another day .

[filmnoirsbian]

I have a question and lmk if its out of line or if you dont wanna answer it thats fine, but basically im a professional artist in the field of fine arts, and as such i have over time learned what makes art "good". I can like or not like it, but usually, im at least able to come up with a defendable opinion on why it is contextually bad art or good art, or rather, whether or not a given artist is 'good' at what they do. With poetry tho, while i (like everyone i think) journal recreationally, i really have trouble identifying whether either my own poems or other peoples are good. Like. This came to mind esp after your rupi kaur post, bc ur right, i dont like her, but i cannot for the life of me articulatw WHY i think its bad. Anyway tldr i guess how can you tell? What are some markers of good vs bad poetry ? (Especially technically speaking) i think these 2 things are similar bc with art too a lot of ppl will be like "ohhh its all relative" but like there are actual markers ofskill and well executed intent, and for fine arts i tend to know them (stuff like influence/filiation, taking into acct the viewers experience, intentionality of creative choices.....) but with poetry as a field i just like. Dont have that technical knowledge to talk about my feelings about a poem like i do with art ans i was wondering if u could help

This is a very complicated debate that has been ongoing since the birth of art and literature. I think it can be difficult for some people to allow that a piece of art (in this case, this includes poetry) can be technically well-crafted while not effecting them emotionally, and that a piece of art can effect them emotionally while being not technically well-crafted. A words app poem that you see which is filled with typos and accidental grammatical errors but which touches on a topic deeply important to you can make you cry while still needing work in its technical aspects, and that doesn't make it either good or bad as an objective work of art. Likewise, there are plenty of poems I've read which were deftly crafted by talented poets but were ultimately forgettable to me because they did not strike an emotional chord. Their lack of emotional resonance also does not make them good or bad. I think that because art has such a capacity for emotional resonance, it's easy to accept that as the most important criteria for what makes art "good," but I personally don't think that's fair. But to me, good poetry is honest--not autobiographical, but written with intent, some understanding of wordcraft as a medium, and meant to evoke a genuine understanding within the reader. Rupi Kaur is sort of a punching bag at this point, often from people who don't actually write poetry which I'll admit I find frustrating, because most criticism of her works is shallow and dependent on the idea that a poem must make you feel something to be good. That isn't a good basis for art criticism, because what makes you feel something is never guaranteed to make anyone else feel. But to me, what makes Kaur's poetry "bad" (not my preferred term, I'd describe it more as shallow or juvenile) is the lack of honesty. Her work is purposefully scrubbed of any distinction so it can be as widely applicable as possible, and in doing so, her poems become no more genuine or meaningful than the mass-printed fortunes in fortune cookies. And, worst of all, there is no technicality behind her wordcraft to make up for the lack of thematic complexity. Both style and substance are rendered as plain and inoffensive as possible. When an artist creates something, they are putting something of themselves into their work, so the art becomes a contract between the artist and audience. The artist is trusting the audience to genuinely engage with their work, and the audience is trusting that the artist has shared something genuine. Good or bad comes later; that it is something the artist created themselves with intent is the first step. But when art is made only with mass consumption in mind, it becomes stripped down to only the bare ingredients of art; it is art on paper, by definition, but it is not art by intent. It's a tree with no limbs, no leaves, no creatures making a home in it. It's not much better than a telephone pole.

When I judge a poem as good or bad, I look first for complexity, either in narrative or structure. This doesn't mean a poem must be a long-winded sonnet to be good; some of my favorite poems are haikus, and in fact haiku is my favorite poetic form. This is because often I find haikus carry multiple meanings, the poet packing in as much story as they can in such small luggage. Most of all, I just wish would-be critics would use their words; "Rupi Kaur's poetry is bad because it's boring" is not good criticism. Your definition of boring is not someone else's. "Rupi Kaur's poetry is rendered shallow and meaningless by the attention-consumption economy it was bred in and has no intelligent wordplay or articulation to constitute a poem that is at least engaging for the mind to read" is a bit more comprehensive.

[riddle-me-ri]

I posted 1,089 times in 2022

That's 896 more posts than 2021!

284 posts created (26%)

805 posts reblogged (74%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@finniestoncrane (💚❓️🐧)

@march-harrigan (💙🎩🐰)

@sweetums0kitty (💜😺💯)

@riddlersbimbo (💚🎞❓️)

@spicedchaiandromeda (❤💫📚)

I tagged 926 of my posts in 2022

Only 15% of my posts had no tags (oops)

#ri rambles - 305 posts

#ri answers - 137 posts

#rip - 100 posts

#ri writes - 93 posts

#edward nygma - 89 posts

#the riddler - 87 posts

#finnie writes - 70 posts (💚💚💚)

#fanart - 61 posts

#finnie 💚 - 41 posts (💚💚💚💚 ilysm can't you tell)

#dc comics - 41 posts

Longest Tag: 99 characters

#but i will literally try to compensate by knowing everything there is to know about its development

(rip this was me explaining how I'm a fan of video games despite my lack of capability to play them)

Keep Reading for my Top Posts of 2022, it was getting really long lmao

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Riddlers Reacting to Reader Wearing A “TikTok” Dress

A/N: okay so a few things:

1) This was one of my first original ideas for headcanons when I first decided to write fanfics again, so I’m excited to feel confident enough to write it rip (this is also one of the more self indulgent ideas I’ve had so bare with me)

2) Heidi Lavon owns my tiktok, so it’s my job to bless you with her content here’s her in the dress:

3) It’s called the Carmen Dress and it has a $300 price tag on god save queens

4)  As I mentioned this is 100% self indulgent, so sorry for ALL the errors, this idea has been brewing in my mind for months until I couldn’t hide it anymore, so if it reads like rambles…that’s why lol

( Also, I mention it in only one or two headcanons, but ALL these bastards would ask if it comes in green (unfortunately it doesn’t but I’ll be damned if a couple these guys won’t try and make it happen) also this all takes place in private)

Trigger Warnings: heavy suggestiveness (I mean...look at the dress) and strong language (I have a sailor mouth, sorry not sorry)

See the full post

143 notes - Posted October 13, 2022

#4

How our Riddleboys react to their asses getting slapped? Not like in a sex way. Just reader casually walks past and gives them a good ol’ smack on the ass to flirt in a silly way.

A/N: hehe…hehehe…sorry this request gave me the giggles for the longest time lmao. If this isn’t some shit I’d do hehe

How The Riddlers React to Having Their Asses Slapped

See the full post

148 notes - Posted December 14, 2022

#3

hi if its fine with you id like to request riddler with an artsy s/o and like theyre suffering artblock so they do a painting of him (he finds it sweet)

can be any riddler of ur choice and i also prefer gender neutral but if u end up writing fem i dont mind!

have a good night/day

-anon

A/N: aahhh that’s meee…this request resonates with me so well as an artist that suffers from art block or a chronic victim of endless reference scrolling to where I get lost saving references for everything but what I was looking for rip…only for me to settle and just draw Eddie from different media lol. And I'm so sorry ahead of time this got ridiculously long, I got really carried away and was having so much fun with the idea rip. So sorry for the length!

Riddlers React to Reader’s Art of Him:

See the full post

152 notes - Posted November 10, 2022

#2

I know Arkhamverse has trauma from being strangled, but I always want to kiss EVERY SINGLE RIDDLER on his neck! And that got me thinking... So I have to ask, how do the Riddlers feel about their necks? Like are any of them sensitive? Ticklish? Are any against their neck being touched? Do any love when their s/o goes for their neck?

A/N: okay but anon…how…how did you know I'm an absolute sucker for neck kisses?? Both giving and receiving?? Decided to go more headcanons this route, hope that's all right anon!

Neck Kisses with the Riddlers

See the full post

174 notes - Posted December 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Hey this was me who wanted a whole fic for this scenario for the bottom line "go be pretty over there away from me" could u do it thank u

A/N: I’m writing this at like 4 am cause I can’t sleep, so if this goes down later tomorrow I'm heavily editing it rip but hey at least I get to practice writing for other rogues that pique my interest! I hope I do them justice. This is another shot of just my own generalized takes on them (albeit I've been watching BTAS again, so they may seem softer than normal rip), and still no Joker sorry not sorry and most of these ended up being fluffier than I intended oop. Special thanks to @like-rain-or-confetti for supporting my ramblings in the tags of my reblogs lol

Batman Rogues x Reader - Yes, You’re Pretty…Now GO AWAY

See the full post

264 notes - Posted October 20, 2022

I’m genuinely surprised at all I was able to accomplish after taking a break from fandom and then kinda coming back full speed in September. I can’t even begin to imagine what the rest of this year would’ve turned out had I decided not to throw my hat in the ring. If I decided to just go ahead and post my first story, I wouldn’t nearly be as happy as a creator and I’m so grateful every day for the friends that I have made and continue to make on this platform. 

Thank you guys so much for everything. 

Here’s to 2023!  

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[neonhellscape]

hope you dont mind me jumping in here i have too many thoughts- tbh I'm kinda of the mindset that it's less the mechadendrites will do the work and more. i mean tech priests are making themselves in their own image, effectively. they dont even have beauty standards to influence them, they only have the direction of flesh bad/metal good and then go absolutely fucking wild with it

so a human would decide okay, i need returned function as quickly as possible. achilleas gets functional, elegant prosthetics made up that do comply a lot to his personal style and more typical beauty standards within that. but fundamentally, theyre there to serve a purpose, and are blackened metal with exposed components. you can barely even see them aside from the light of the data slate [and artist intention], he could passably pretend to have gloves on, if you're in a dark room. he doesnt want them to be a focal point, even if they kinda are to a viewer not used to these things [augments being way more common in 40k that people would probably barely notice]

pasqal meanwhile has gone a different way. his prosthetic is incredibly stylised- i mean again see the fact i can't actually count any practical component there. it's not what a human would go for, realistic or subtle, or overelaborate- it looks like industrial machinery. pasqal has his in a burnished silvery-gold alloy, distinctly displays it by keeping his axe in that hand which pushes his sleeve back enough to show off the exposed wiring in his forearm- wiring that makes no sense unless its decorative. looking at this again its even in little curved waves- a repeating pattern. the rivets too are unnecessary and decorative, they Cannot hold any structural force where they are. but they do tie in to the industrial look fantastically alongside the shaped metal

when you look at the art, his other hand/wrist is pretty slim, and kinda delicate. as proven by achilleas, if he wanted to match he could. by nature of differing proportions kinda messing with the brain, him having one really bulky arm/hand and one really slim one isnt the choice most people would go for. it'd be the substandard choice to patch the gap until your custom piece came in- not a custom crafted piece

through the eyes of a man who will become and is becoming machine, it's perfect. its heavy and durable- no weakness of the flesh. it's crafted to display a level of technical skill even beyond base requirement, then maintained perfectly to further show technical skill- better than his fucking robes at least jesus christ the dust and tears on that thing [btw- something he doesnt care about. something organtic, and irrelevant to the machine- only required by him for social protocol].

the guy has heavy looking weapons gear and reels of chains around his waist- idk if you lot have handled thick metal chain like that but im pretty strong and it is fucking Heavy, and thats without the quantity he's wearing. hell thats probably again a decorative counterbalance system just to put his center of gravity lower to the floor bc so much is at his shoulders. i know i draw him different [i kinda see it as resting mode [noodle mechadendrites] vs explorator mode [diamond drill bit easy access]] but based on the art his mechadendrites look like industrial tech- it looks like someone bolted two crane arms to his back. tech wise these do look like they make more technical sense, even if they are decorative in themselves, which reinforces the extremely decorative nature of his arm. and too his respirator- that isnt standard tech priest respirator. its heavy looking, its elaborate with its tubation and wiring- again if i were to list every function of every tube going into/out of that thing i'd run out of options, and thats if i ignored the vapour/smoke coming out of the vents by his face. we also know he's kept it despite the damage- considering the staples on his face highlighting the scar on his body that matches, i'd say the lack of repair is decorative too. he Could get it repaired or replaced with absolute ease, so this is an aesthetic choice

this is so many words but [throwing my tech priest at the crowd] look at him he's getting gender affirming drill attachments and god does he have an ego, just one the average human cant really process because your kind cling to your flesh as if it will not decay and fail you one day the crude biomass that you call a temple will wither and y

i was told to post these observations i made at whatever fucking hour on how functional achilleas' prosthetic hands are vs how decorative pasqal's are despite each kinda looking the opposite way round. i hope they are interesting

[deadgrantaires]

sometimes. i get really bummed out bc the art i put all this time and effort and have worked on and improved at for years will get hardly any recognition and almost none at all outside of circle of friends. and then i see other artists complaining about the same thing when they get like. 10x the engagement or more and. hm. made me kinda realize there isnt an end to this feeling or reaching a “good enough” height. theres always gonna be a jealousy of people who get more attention for their work than you do

like its not a wrong thing to feel dispirited about art when it feels like nobody sees it but its just a tar pit feeling that you cant really ““fix”“ theres always gonna be. someone getting more notes than you etc lol

ive gotten way more engagement on my stuff when i was a more inexperienced artist making more basic art so like. i know that the numbers are just fake and they arent a reflection on my worth even tho sometimes especially on social media sites it feels that way. and it still sucks, but im trying really hard to not let that dictate how and when i create art

ive seen many artists get so fed up with lack of engagement that they just quit art and delete everything altogether even when they get way more engagement than i have in years lol. i think thats why its so critical to make art like. just for yourself. if i was trying to make art that would get me the Good Numbers and still failing at it i think id really lose my mind but since everything i draw i WANT to draw its okay and i can be satisfied with it

just. seeing another person delete bc of this and like... however people need to deal with their emotions thats their choice. and i dont ever want to choose to give up on art even if im never popular even if i rarely even break 15 notes. i cherish every nice thing anyones ever said about my art and i love all my friends who care about me and my art and. thats enough

[sanstropfremir]

I absolutely LOVED reading your kingdom review. You gave me such an insight in things I never even considered, especially since our rankings are so different from each other. The Boyz was my favorite, the narrative was about RTK. How they felt bad for having to compete against their friends but eventually the groups only lifted each other up and it helped TBZ grow into the group they are now through the hardships and mental dilemma, falling into the next challenge right after they reached the top. It should have been more obvious though, I agree, it wasn't really visible for anyone who didn't know. I was wondering how you felt about the dancing in general? my reason for not ranking BTOB high was lack of choreo (and Peniel's verse), same goes for SF9. Mostly because I don't feel the hype when watching, it doesn't keep my focus on the stage. As a baby-performer myself, my goal is to make the viewer curious about what's next. is that the wrong way to look at it? that's what I've always been told, building the tension up and down to create focus. would love to hear your feedback on that! thank you so much for sharing, we need more reviews of people who actually know what they're talking about.

i'm glad that you got some insight from it! like i answered in the previous ask im here to hopefully bring some more depth and understanding for people that care and are curious!

you unintentionally proved my point about tbz’s performance: that is way too complicated! even the most talented solo dancers i can think of would have trouble distilling that down to something readable in 100 seconds, much less a group of like, a dozen people! the introductory stages are meant to show us the character of the group and their abilities in the most concise way possible, it's not the stage to do deep philosophical and emotional introspection. for a full stage? absolutely, go hog wild! but for this stage it was too ambitious and ultimately was ineffective to anyone that isn't a fan of them specifically. 

by dancing in general do you mean like, every group? i put most of my opinions on the dancing where i had them in each of the individual rankings but honestly? unless there is something that really stands out positively or negatively, a lot of ‘average’ kpop dance looks the same to me. i know it’s not, obviously, and if pressed i probably could do a more serious breakdown, but dance is only one element of performance. it has equal weight with all the others in my mind, and therefore i notice when it is either 

very good

does something unique

very bad, or

interferes with another element

which is the same as how i evaluate every element, if that makes sense. 

hmmmm. i thought about this a lot in the shower and turns out i had more opinions that i expected so i'll put them under a cut.

firstly, i don't think lack of choreo should be penalized or considered an ‘incomplete’ performance. at the end of the day, these are bands, and a part of their brand/product they sell is the music. complex choreo does not need to be attached to that to make it a successful performance. also, btob did have choreo. any movement on stage is technically choreography. but this terminology can cause confusion so usually non-dance choreo is referred to as ‘blocking.’ but they also did include the song’s original point choreo at 1.41. the blocking in their performance was well thought out and suited the arrangement, by placing spatial emphasis on each part of the song that needed it. obviously it comes down to personal taste if the performance is ultimately ‘successful,’ because all art is subjective, but just because something isn't as visually complex as something else doesn’t mean it doesn't have the same level of thought. think of it like this: one is a super clean-lined post-post-modern grey/white living room, and the other is a kitsch goth basement. both share interior design principles and have obvious care put into the space, but they are vastly different styles that appeal to different tastes.

part of the job of production designer/AD is to decide what gets emphasis. a question you're always asking yourself is ‘is this important to the story that we’re trying to tell?’ and btob/their AD made a very smart choice with their introductory stage because it says a lot about them and their abilities in a short amount of time. that stage said ‘our foundation is strong, we have the training and experience and confidence to be up here and not rely on visual tricks.’ because they know they physically cannot do the things the 4th gen groups can; they're a decade older and they only have four members, it's just not feasible. something you learn with experience is the power that specific and pointed emphasis holds, which segues into my answer to your last question. i don't necessarily think that ‘building hype’ is the wrong way to perform something, but i do think it is a flawed way to approach creating a performance.

i think that ‘hype’ is flawed concept at its core, and one that focuses on the idea that there’s always being something more, something next, beyond the work itself. now there’s nothing wrong with playing with tension within the internal structure of a piece, that's exactly how constructing a narrative happens. however, the flaws come once we extrapolate beyond the boundaries of that individual work. the idea of ‘whats next’ implies that you have to constantly be promoting, have a sequel coming, building hype etc so people will keep engaged with your work. which is deeply capitalistic in nature and operates on the assumption that art exists purely as a product to be sold. and in order to keep selling you need to keep making a bigger and better and more spectacular product. and this is not the case at all. marketability is not the essence of art, it merely a factor of creating it under this insufferable system. kpop in particular suffers from this because the industry is specifically fabricated to produce capitol. we can have discussions all day about idols and their artistic integrity but at the end of that day, they are all cogs working with a system that was specifically made up by essentially one person to be culturally exported and to just print buckets of money. so in following that train of thought, there is a constant attitude of bigger and better because shock value (whether positive or negative) gets social media attention and therefore it sells. and it has become exponentially easier (and also seemingly required) to make things that are bigger and better than ever before. i remember being blown away by the projection floor at the sochi 2014 olympics because something of that scale and complexity would never have been possible without literally having the funding of the olympics. now that technology is easily accessible to anyone with an amazon account and the time to learn how isadora works. in comparison, it took 2400 YEARS for just the job of a ‘theatre designer’ to be even become a job at all.

because of kpop’s fan culture it is especially prone to ‘hype’ behaviour. in general with the accessibility of the internet and social media, everything has turned into a competition, and who can generate the most buzz ‘wins’. but ultimately that has taken away the general public’s ability to recognize that you can enjoy something quietly and you can enjoy something slowly. that the enjoyment of something doesn’t need to be all exclamation marks and keysmashes and trending hashtags on twitter. there is value in a work engaging in an emotion within you that is not just excitement. most of the artists and companies that i consume the work of i don’t do so because their work makes me excited, i do so because i liked the experience of engaging with that work. several years ago i saw the eternal tides by legend lin dance theatre, which you can watch a really short clip of here. that is not slow motion, that is actually how slow the dancers are moving. and 90% of the show is performed like that. and its two hours long. and it was one of the most incredible performances i've ever seen. if i ever get the chance I will go see another one of their shows again, not because i care about how they can top that experience i had, but because i know they can produce that experience, and that is enough to make me want to seek them out again. the speed of the internet has also loosened the general public’s understanding of just exactly how long creating a performance work can take. the lead dancer in the eternal tides was with the company for eight years before she and the piece were ready enough to be performed. large scale operas, musicals, and plays often have a year or more of pre-production before they even get to rehearsal. smaller theatre companies workshop new pieces for years at a time. performance is hard and it takes time. you can eliminate some of that with sheer amounts of money and people, which is what the kpop industry has done, but it speeds up the cycle of consumption to a degree that is not sustainable, especially for companies and creators who do not have that kind of access. performers and performance makers often don't put enough trust in their audiences. if they like what they see, they will come back. they dont need to be constantly bombarded with content at all times.

now that i’ve said a bit about why i think hype is a flawed concept, let's bring it back to kingdom. sf9 did something very interesting with their stage in that they actively chose to limit their dance time. and this plays very well off the performance film stage that taeyang did a couple of weeks ago. taeyang is talented and confident (for good reason), and his solo was incredible. but when it came to the intro stage, instead of trying to one-up the solo stage, the group instead said ‘well people are going to be looking at us because taeyang is insanely talented, so let's show them that we ALL have the confidence and the attitude to be up here.’ no need for flashy theatrics, they had the foresight to do something that would make them stand out from the rest of the groups. even if i was just casually watching the stages without doing any analysis on them (like i did for rtk), i would still be able to distinguish them because they had the stones to stand around for half their stage time. now i recognize them and would like to see what else they can do. same principle as what btob and also what ikon did. there is a fine line between anticipation and hype that gets equated in media consumption nowadays, but the two are not the same.

i think the tldr on this is that you dont need to ‘build hype’ or ‘go all out’ to make an interesting work. just focus on telling the narrative that you want to tell, and the people that recognize that will come. i could have a lot more things to say about peoples shrinking attention spans and the constant stream of information that we consume on a daily basis that devalues the labour done by artists in the eyes of the public and promotes hustle culture that is burning out and damaging creators at a rate that is both exponential and frightening, but that’s probably for another time, because this is SO LONG

[tepperz]

happy out of touch thursday!

Ooh I didn’t know page cliffhangers were a thing but I know what you mean! There really is this undertow that pulls the reader through the story, always to the next panel and next page. I wouldn’t even know what to look for to make that happen (except questions like you said?)

yeah!! It's an important thing to do with any manga!! Leading the leader to the next page with a mystery. Furthermore, in every page you can lead the reader to the next panel as well, with the art and bubbles too. Sugisaki does both really well. Heres an example from a random page. I could go on and talk about the next page too for a clearer example study, but I think this is enough to get a rough idea of what im talking about.

its all a lot of manga-comic-paneling technical stuff that she does to make things very fun to read. That's why its easy for you (and me!) to get sucked into reading the same volume for the millionth time after just trying to reference one scene. I mean even looking at this one page again, its so masterful. The way the buildings at the end lead to the next bubble? Genius. I haven't even spoken about how the screentones prioritizing certain objects while also setting the mood. Then the unique panel arrangement with a slight dutch angle? The lineart skill and also her use of blacks? Sugisaki is a queen at fun paneling. Theres a reason why every panel feels like a masterpiece. This is all super geek nerd stuff from a comic makers perspective, but I could just rant. endlessly. It's just so good. Chefs kiss. Again, I have my gripes with sugisaki's artistic choices and storytelling, but I can't deny that she's a genius at a lot of other things. Even just studying this one page blew my mind again.

I can’t blame anyone for avoiding backgrounds lol. But it’s a shame because she goes all out on them when she does try! The level of detail is delicious.

true. And so many of her backgrounds are so western themed. I wonder if she had to do a lot of research. Did she travel a lot for her references? hmmmm

Nah, thanks for rambling! It’s interesting to see her works analyzed from a comic creator!

I RAMBLED MORE ∑(°〇°)

It is orz We stare at our pieces for hours so there isn’t that element of freshness!

ohhhh good point. I hadnt thought about it like that. I guess its like cooking a meal -- like, it tastes so much better if someone else makes it. Because if you cook it yourself you're basically already smelling it and taste testing it the whole time. I read about that.

Oh yeah, I miss the days of deviantart tutorials where they wrote paragraphs beside each stage to explain why they did things. I try to do that in my “tutorials” since I liked them so much!

I also like that style of tutorial!! Yo people shit on deviantart all the time and I get it but it had some real good trends. Like art memes? I still have so many art memes saved. Nowadays hashtags are so cliquey and you kind of have to already know about them to participate. But back then you could just look up art meme and find so many fun challenges. I still have a big folder of all these art memes I wanted to fill out thanks to deviantart! I dont care if its not cool anymore!!! >U

Σ(°△°|||)︴ so that’s what’s in there… 🧠

i have nothing to say except that was cute and funny xD

Ye, I color correct to try to match my irl colors since so much gets lost in scanning, but I’ll definitely add more contrast and alter it if I think it’d look better that way.

yeah that makes sense i do the same thing when I scan my traditional stuff. Its hard to digitize! Sometimes I wonder if those really industrial scanners they have in art schools would make a difference. What would it actually look like if something could be *perfectly* scanned? idk. Maybe it always has to be touched up by human hands first. I don't know! :U Technology!

Stuff that’s fine in person like paper texture and color intensity (or lack of) become kind of distracting when they’re turned into digital scans, at least for my works, so I do what I can to fix those.

I get that. They weirdly look like mistakes even though they're not. Thats the beauty of traditional work though, that it's hard to replicate authentically. I've gotten into these metallic watercolors lately? They do NOT scan well lol. But They look so pretty shimmering in the light...

only half related but heres something interesting. I have a distant relative who does prints himself, and what he does afterwards is put clear paint on after printing, so it looks like it has brush strokes after it dries, even though it was printed. It shocked me at first!

I see what you mean on your piece– The second one does look much bolder and has a stronger impact!! Your color corrections changed the piece a lot! Do you like to use layer modes to add shadows and lights or is it easier to mix the colors on just a few layers and then adjust afterward?

Yeah, im glad you noticed!!! So when I'm doing those kind of corrections, I usually just combine the whole painting to one layer and then use a brightness/contrast layer in clip studio paint. Makes things a little more saturated.

Agreed 100% on dark pieces. They’re a whole different mood! Oh canson mixed media are pretty durable! I used them a lot back in the day. The number of pages in the sketchbooks are great too. I mostly used strathmore 400 and fabriano 25%, but now I’m finally switching over to cotton papers.

oooooh. What is cotton paper like? owo

I’ve never painted the front of a sketchbook either! Just lots of stickers… But having your own style on the front would set the mood for whatever you put inside! :3c What do you think you’d put on there?

I just did it yesterday! lol

Ahh I know that struggle with other language videos orz  I wish there was a TTS for the subtitles or something (but then I’d miss out on the personality in his voice, dang) I guess that ensures we absorb the information lol! I didn’t know it got taken down wtf… That’s awful!! Why him of all channels?? I’m glad he didn’t give up after a setback like that. He is inspiring…

Yeah! So, from what i gathered... he had this google drive folder that was open to the public, so people could submit their art to be corrected in his videos. Well, japans laws being what they are, probably some of the art sent to him in the folders were considered against american law. Specifically, anime characters drawn in a lewd way that were submitted to him that could be read as being child-like in appearance. Naoki didn't see the art and doesn't think that it was sent in with any ill will, but that's what he guessed happened. And because google drive and youtube are both owned by google, his entire account got taken down with no chance of recovery. He was really devastated when he talked about it, especially because he uses that channel to support his family. But im really happy he's staying positive and continuing to upload, because his knowledge is so great. And not giving up, like you said, is amazing. But yeah, that's pretty much the sum of what happened to him.

Awesome I’m happy the references can be useful!! I have the digital version of the Artist’s Masters book too (wanted to read it before investing~) so I’ll add that to my drive if you want to check it out! And thanks, I really appreciate what you sent too ;v; I’m just trying to soak it all in now but I’ll let you know once I start applying all the lessons! I really like the skin ones at the moment. I “know” the rules about core shadows and subsurface scattering but actually putting them into practice is so much harder so it’s nice to see clear examples! o7

Oh yes, when you have time id love to hoard it! I mean, read it! :D I also have a lot of other tutorials and art books I can send as well.

Do you like motivational books? I feel like some of those I have are my favorites. Like "Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life" and my audiobook version of "the subtle art of not giving a fuck"

I actually never seal my works unless it’s a gift. I’ve seen some artists use wax for watercolor and gouache but idk how archival that is. It’s tempting for postcards though since being waterproof is important! So I just put those gift paintings in a glass frame. For dry stuff like charcoal I do use a spray fixative though; I like Krylon workable fixative because it lets me keep adding afterward (though it gives everything a sandpaper texture so not the most pleasant to touch).

ohhhhhh yeah framing is a good way to preserve them. Do you put the glass over the frames too or do you leave it out? I've seen some artist used packing tape over their stuff (I was planning to do it over my sketchbook cover to waterproof it), and recently I've seen people use something called "matte Mod Podge" to glue their work down as well, but it takes like a whole day to dry each page. I have a matte cover spray that dries quicklky but the fumes from it are suuuper thick and toxic, and I don't like using it because i don't want it to harm my kitties (or myself I guess, and i also feel weird about spraying it into the environment?). I've never heard of Krylon but it sounds super handy even if it makes the texture eeeeh.

I’ve heard that about hairspray too! For personal stuff or in a sketchbook it must be really convenient. Some artists say it yellows the paper but then some never have issues so maybe that depends on the brand of hairspray (and the quality like you said)?

Yeah it needs to be really high quality hairspray. I used it for my art one time and I didn't get a yellow texture or whatever. I also tried a cheaper brand and it kinda just made stuff wet and didn't even really seal anything. Hmm.... you know, thats a good question as to how its holding up now. Ill have to dig for that sketchbook to check when I get the energy. It was kinda funny though, I did buy and use the nice hairspray on my art... and afterwards gifted it to my mom for her hair because she said it was a great brand LOL

Hahaha honestly the cleanup is what makes watercolor so wonderful in comparison to oils. Just wash it away with water =v= 

True, it really makes it easy to bust out and have fun with!

You DON’T like mixing them!? But the urge to smear colors around on a palette…! Irresistible

8U NOOOOOOOOOO. LOL. When I'm mixing oils the only thing I can think is "this is going to be such a pain to clean"!!!!!!!!!! And the texture is so... eeeew. DISLIKE! It's like the oils are specifically trying to run away from me. Jail! Jail for oils!

I like mixing colors in general though lol. All my poor green watercolors are neglected because I just like mixing blue and yellow too much~ That wastes a lot of time though so just having your stuff ready is way more efficient~ 

Ohhh that means your watercolor sets will all look unique, as well as your pictures! Seeing used pallets are so aesthetic. Mixing real colors sure is different from digital, I'm learning. You really do need magenta and cyan and neon yellow to get any bright mixes, and white doesn't necessarily make things brighter. It's weird to me! An entirely different skillet.

I’ll wait a million years to see that Kirby (still half-dried probably. damn oils ;;;;)

I will check on kirby. I have checked on Kirby.

KIRBY IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lool on top of the regular mess of oil paints you also had to deal with cats around just waiting to smear it onto the fur! Plus their loose hairs would find a way onto the wet paint no matter what.

YES. BOTH OF THAT. YES.

Still love cats but making art with them is Extreme Hard Mode!! An ice cooler is a brilliant way to keep them out xD  Maximum security from paws.

kirby actually was stepped by a few paws before he knew safety for a time.

[Also. You have cats? What’re their names? How cute/troublemaking are they?? o//]

YES I HAVE CATS!!!! god i know this message is getting super long but LOOK AT MY BOYS!!!!

Jungle (nicknamed Juju, medium boy, medium, and medium fry), about 1 year 3 months old. He's named Jungle because he's such a creature. He paws around and looks at you with big eyes like he's taking the world in. Sometimes he acts like a cat (cat shaped? Uses litter box, check), or a lizard (kind of walks like a iguana), or a bird (he doesn't meow, he squeeks and it sounds like a high pitched bird chirp). He just does what he wants and never takes no for an answer. Me and Ashley (my wife) thought he was an idiot for a while but he's really not, hes just Weird and unpredictable. He had a couple injuries when we got him and can't raise his arms above his head, and his tail is broken in two places. Charm points: He's slightly cross-eyed, drools when he's pet and is VERY embarrassed about it (tries to lick it up afterwards), is vERY soft, and checks on you if you make any loud noises. A kind but stoic soft boy.

Second is Sandy (/Tiny, Tiny baby, Small boy, Small Fry) whos about 9 months old. He's named after Sha Wujing/Sandy in journey to the west. He's a little psychopath. A little bully with a lot of energy. He's also so sweet too though, you can pick him up virtually anytime and he also actively seeks cuddles. If you're doing something and he wants attention he will try to kill and replace whatever you're holding out of jealousy. If you give more attention to another cat, the kill bill noises go off. Charm points: he has a fat bottom and a tiny head, he doesn't come to his name because he expects to be waited on, and he'll play fetch if he feels like it. His texture is carpet-y. He's my current therapy cat.

Third is Neopoliton (Neo/Big Boy), about 7 years old. He's named because of the three colors on his nose -- chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. This boy isn't fat, just big boned. Truly a dumpus cat. Very soft, very shy. He's EXTREMELY polite. Charm points: general anxiety, has a pronounced snaggel tooth, THICC.

And an Honorary mention for Hammond, who passed away this year in a tragic accident. I can't make a list of my animals without mentioning my most beautiful and precious son. Hammond was almost 3 when he passed and he was my best friend. He followed me everywhere and constantly snuggled me. We even took walks outside together without a leash. I make art of him because he's my spirit guide now. He passed away two days after Sandy was born and I see a lot of Hammond in him. Jungle and Sandy both came to us this year after we lost him. Not to get heavy, but he means a lot to me.

It’s wild that you’ve had the opposite experience though!! Professional paints giving you less color… They’re supposed to make life easier, not harder! @@ Well, I got a couple used Daniel Smith paints and everyone says they're the best brand, but they’re ridiculously hard for me to rewet so they can be frustratingly weak too. I guess tubes are a way to guarantee you’re picking up all the color, but pans shouldn’t be fighting back quite so much!!

:0

._.

Y... you're supposed to wet them in advance?

Coughs. Maaaaybe that was my problem >>???????

???????????

How did you learn to draw so well? Like was it from classes or a book on fundamentals or just trial and error?

//// thanks for the kind question!

I guarantee you I would have improved faster if I’d taken a class, but I hope some of the materials I’ve used over the years can be of use to you too:

Andrew Loomis’ books - I never made it past the first chapters, but those had some great advice.

Youtube - Proko’s bean method. Figure drawing references will greatly improve anatomy and “drawing what you see”. It’s boring imo, so doing just 5-10 minutes a day can keep one from burning out while still seeing improvement. Speed painting videos are a nice way to relax and study.

Will Terrell’s People Drawing series - He’s a humble man with personal advice for artists. I watch his videos when I feel discouraged or lost.

Art, art, art - Whenever I see an artwork that I like, I figure out exactly what pleases me: line thickness, nose shape, finger positions, composition, the way the hair bends in the wind, etc. Then I try to incorporate that specific characteristic into my own art.

I have growing folders of (I’m a bit embarrassed) almost 8,000 pictures, organized by characteristics, for the sole purpose of studying their prettiness. Sometimes we don’t need a tutorial to spell everything out, just an example can help us envision our own works’ potential. Also, staring at pictures is a relaxing way to study too!

And of course, trial and error~ I don’t post my sad, failed paintings or all the weird sketches I make, but they exist and teach a lot!

[quarkcore]

1-5 for the asks :)

1: Song of the year?

ok so i feel like theres so many contenders for this. This year has been strange for me, and right until i finished my degree, I didnt listen to much new music. I had a real focus on nostalgic faves. Because of that I have a hard time placing a specific favourite; its all just this long blur of old familiar tunes. If we go by my spotify, “Alone Again Or” by Love is my top song, and i cant deny that its absolute bop. If were going by what song i consider my fave right now, its “Lay This Body Down” by Sam Lee.  If i was gonna choose an absolute favourite new track, I think i would go with “Rack Of His” by Fiona Apple. Obviously, her new album is an absolute masterpiece, and thats the song that i just consistently enjoyed the most.

2: Album of the year?

Not Fetch The Boltcutters, surprisingly. For the place I was in, I personally found it just a bit too much to take in. I had a pretty massive shift towards pop, which FTBC just..... isnt. I needed comfort, familiarity, something i didnt need to analyse. With that in mind, The Mountain Goats’ The Jordan Lake Sessions is becoming a real late game favourite for me. I have started listening to stuff that challenges me a bit more again, but i still crave old favourites, and TJLS has packed a lot of old favourites onto one album, while also filling the gap that the lack of live music venues created in my life. Listening to TMG live is a really special experience for me and to have something replicate that, even imperfectly, really meant a lot to me.

3: Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

There isnt an immediate standout for me, so I’m just gonna list a few good contenders. Rina Sawayama, who id technically listened to before, but never to the same extent is an obvious choice, Noname (who id also technically listened to before) is another. Id also listened to the Kinks before, but got into them after watching a part of the umbrella academy and rewatching hot fuzz (they feature on both soundtracks). Ive really been enjoying Dorian Electra, and 100 Gecs became a new favourite in abt the same time period. yet again im limited by how little new music ive listened to lghdkfgj.

4: Movie of the year?

FINALLY ONE I CAN DO!!!!! ITS PARASITE ITS 100% PARASITE!!! nothing has worked its way into my brain in the same way, I’ve watched it 3 times and every single time i went fucking ballistic. i dont think theres anything i can say thats not already been said better, but the single bit that hits me the most is the one where the Kim family’s sub-basement has flooded and the father tells his son “You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan. No plan at all. You know why? Because life cannot be planned. Look around you. Did you think these people made a plan to sleep in the sports hall with you? But here we are now, sleeping together on the floor. So, there's no need for a plan. You can't go wrong with no plans. We don't need to make a plan for anything. It doesn't matter what will happen next. Even if the country gets destroyed or sold out, nobody cares. Got it?” because GOD how fucking real is that. every fucking day im thinking about parasite.

5: TV show of the year?

SPN’s Destiel but only for the bants.

Nah, kidding. its still deep space nine for me right now, but red dwarf is also a contender. both are rewatches (continuing the trend for the year glhfgkj). If you havent watched red dwarf, its a sci-fi sitcom, focussing on Lister and Rimmer, the two lowest ranking people on the ship red dwarf. Along with the Cat (exactly what it sounds like) and Holly, the ships’ AI, they on a quest to return home to earth. If you are a big fan of star trek, and want something extremely funny, and which in many ways critiques utopian sci fi (imo) you cant go wrong. Red Dwarf’s vision of the future is that its more or less the same as now, and thats mined both for comedic purposes, and for more serious plot lines. I first watched it when i was around 10 years old, and going back and rewatching only reinforced my belief that its one of the greatest shows of all time. It has a lot to say abt the british class system, and abt the capabilities of the peopel at the very bottom of society, in my opinion. It also unfortunately has a lot of homophobia and misogyny. The way i personally cope with that is by not watching the only season with an actual human woman (yes, really), and by taking all the  gay jokes to their logical conclusion, and actually headcanoning multiple characters as lgbt. its my show now and i can do what i want.

if youre here, then i assume you know what ds9 is like and why its good.

edit: A) what did tumblr DO to this post, B) i forgot joanna newsom!!! its bc shes not on spotify rip. DEFINITELY a new fave and contender for new fave artist.

[easier-5sos]

Okay so there's this video (if you look up 'ghost of you luke crying' on youtube its the first one) of them performing ghost of you and Luke looks ROUGH. Like he's kinda shaking and he's all sweaty and pale looking, which is probably just the lights and stuff, but he looks nervous or like something's wrong. So could you write something about that? Like he has to perform with a fever or something?

heLLO!! He cried during Lie To Me at my MYT concert- highkey I wanted to jump on stage and hug my poor baby :((

(this has some comedy to it, which I thought was fuckin hilarious dONT JUDGE ME I HAVE A SHITTY SENSE OF HUMOUR LMAO)

-

Luke woke up in the hotel bed feeling rough- rougher than he had the day before. It was pretty cold in Sweden the last few days, and the band had been travelling in Europe during the colder months to perform their shows for the Meet You There tour. He sniffled his nose, rubbing it against the backs of his hands to hopefully clear them so he could breathe easier.

It was no hope.

He huffed out in annoyance, rolling round to face your sleeping body in the bed beside him- jealous that you could sleep easy, and he didn’t have a chance.

When it came to being sick, Luke was a wimp and you knew it. He was a baby when taking his medicine- always complaining that the taste made him feel worse, even if it did end up making him better; the poor boy cried when he threw up, tears running down his pale face; and he always wanted to cuddle you, even if what he had was contagious.

Finally, after a few more minutes of Luke sulking, feeling sorry for himself, and huffing angrily at the fact that he couldn’t breathe too well, he sneezed right in your face. You jolted awake, rubbing your tired eyes as Luke’s own blue ones apologetically looked toward you.

“Thanks…” You grumbled, pressing your face into the pillows to wipe away the snot and spit that landed there- it was a rude awakening.

Luke pouted, “I can’t help it! I think I have a cold…”

You nodded in agreement, reaching your hand up toward his forehead to check his temperature- to your surprise, he was hotter than the sex you both had a few days ago.

“Maybe a fever, bubs” You pointed out.

Luke whimpered, running a hand through his golden halo of curls. He was due to perform later in the evening, but performing whilst sick was a hassle he hated dealing with, especially since no one would let him take a day off. The managers had had enough of Luke complaining recently, especially when it came to something Luke wasn’t too happy with- you found it rather rude that management never took what Luke said on board, especially given he was the lead singer of the band.

A few hours later, and Luke’s fever had gotten much worse. He was sweating, dampening the golden curls that framed his face; his nose was red, even though it looked cute like that; and Luke wouldn’t stop complaining that he didn’t feel great, which the mangers were getting sick of.

“Baby…” Luke complained, arms wrapped around your own as you all but struggled to walk down the halls of the venue, “I don’t feel good…”

“I know bubs- you’ve told me so many times today. But you’ve got to. Management can’t afford to replace the date this late” You softly smiled toward him, knowing how Luke hated being sick, especially when he was due to perform for a few hours in the evening.

To accomodate Luke being sick, you took over the stylists and make-up artists job- since they didn’t want to catch whatever Luke had, and hearing him complain was driving almost everyone away from him, he was basically a gigantic baby. 

You’d found the lightest shirt Luke owned- one that covered everything he wanted to cover, yet was still light enough for someone running a fever to wear- which happened to be his almost sheer leopard print shirt; you forced him to put on pants that unfortunately didn’t match anything, however the flare at the bottom would keep his legs cool; and his boots without the heel, so Luke wouldn’t somehow fall over and sprain his ankle because of his shoe choice. In all fairness, you were pretty proud with the outcome of the outfit, tying it all together with a nice belt that adorned a large silver buckle in the middle- it was very Luke. 

Next, you tried your hardest to make Luke look more alive- as his skin was deathly pale, his nose was red, and his cheeks were tinted pink. You sat on the counter in the dressing room, Luke sitting on a chair between your legs, his sweaty hands on your thighs in a deathly grip he wasn’t willing to let go of. Letting the inner make-up artist inside you flourish- from watching all the beauty gurus on YouTube, and deeming yourself worthy of being a beauty guru- you dashed on some glittery pink eyeshadow to Luke’s eyelids, however highlighter wasn’t needed as he was already sweating so much from the fever.

You watched as Luke’s eyes grew heavy, blissfully falling asleep as you tried your hardest to pat his forehead down- his skin was burning, and the usual excited glint in his diamond blue eyes was gone, which was a telltale sign that Luke was well and truly sick.

In the back of your mind, you worried that Luke would collapse on stage during a song, maybe because he didn’t drink enough water to begin with, or because he was exhausted from the fever- and you hoped it wouldn’t happen.

Luke slowly sat up from the chair, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand as he gave you a weak smile. You were tempted to storm down to the tour managers and complain that Luke wasn’t fit to perform- however you knew they wouldn’t listen to you, you were just dating the lead singer, no big deal.

Slowly, the sick, lanky blonde made his way to where the rest of his band was situated, waiting for the signal to get on stage. He didn’t look great.

“Luke, what’s up man? Are you good?” Ashton inquired, tapping out a beat on the wall with his drumsticks.

Luke shook his head, wiping at his forehead again.

“Personally, I think he shouldn’t perform.” You butted in.

“Yeah- he doesn’t look at all lively” Calum pointed out, nodding in agreement.

Michael nodded too, “We should go talk to someone”

“They won’t listen. We tried this morning, but Luke’s fever got worse.” You sighed in annoyance.

Calum rolled his eyes, “Of course they didn’t.”

“Listen, I’ll get more water bottles from the dressing room, but can someone continue to remind Luke to keep his liquids up?” You raised an eyebrow toward the band, as they all hummed an agreement.

Luke whimpered, arms wrapping around one of yours once again, “Y/N I wanna go home…” nuzzling his face into your neck.

“I know bubs, I know- but you can’t. Fuckin’ management won’t let you.” You grumbled, getting tired of how management was pushing these boys to the extreme.

In under ten minutes, the band was out on stage- with Luke flopping around the place, a small smile on his lips as he tried his hardest to keep up with everything else around him. Lucky, no one had noticed his lack of enthusiasm just yet- as the first break rolled around. You’d managed to let the managers give the band a few more breaks than usual, as they’d noticed the lack of fire in Luke’s performance.

Luke immediately made a B-Line for you, almost collapsing his entire body onto yours the second his skin made contact with your own. You stumbled backward, falling onto a chair that was luckily behind you.

“You alright bubs?” You asked, hand soothing his wild curls.

Luke shook his head, “I can’t do it…”

“You’re doing amazing Lu! I’m so proud of you, okay?” You tried your hardest to give him positive reinforcement, so he’d be more willing to go back on stage- you knew that once Luke got comfortable, he was less likely to get off you again.

Only a few minutes later, he was all but dragged on stage by Michael, who let Luke sit down on the mini stage for Ashton’s drum kit- a water bottle in hand as he forced Luke to drink it.

Another break rolled around, and Luke was looking worse than ever. He stumbled toward you, and you let him collapse on you once again- being prepared by already sitting on the chair.

He whimpered into your ear, “I wanna go home…. Can’t do this…” once again.

“Only two more sets to go bubs, and then we’ll be on our way back to the hotel! You got this!” You smiled, watching as he rubbed his eyes- the eyeshadow going absolutely everywhere, tainting his hands in pink, glittery shadow.

Once again, the band dragged Luke on stage, and he performed at the seat of the piano- a microphone set up so Luke could sing from the comfort of the seat, instead of in front of the entire crowd, so they weren’t able to see how sick he really was. There was sweat trickling down his forehead, pink eyeshadow all around his eyes, and his hair was a mess- but he kept going.

That was, until the last break.

Luke came stumbling toward you, tears picking at his eyes and pink, glittery eyeshadow on almost every possible patch of skin on his face. You knew that this was the last straw for him, as he slouched down on top of you again.

You pulled out all the stops, “I don’t think he’s going to make it. I don’t want him collapsing from exhaustion on stage. I’m taking him back to the hotel.” You all but demanded.

Even though the situation was the opposite of romantic, Ashton made a comment about how much he adored the fact that you cared so much for Luke, as Calum awed- even though you knew Calum, of all people, didn’t believe in love.

Letting Luke slouch against your entire body, you made your way through the backstage hallways, ignoring the managers that shouted at you to give them the lead singer back. You’d have to explain it all in the morning, but for now, they’d have to do without the lead singer- who wasn’t capable of finishing the concert tonight.

Finally, after an hour of arguing with the security guard, who instructed you to take Luke back on stage, and another twenty minutes driving in an Uber to the hotel- you had Luke back in the hotel room. You pulled the sweaty clothes from his body, feeling just how hot his skin had gotten from performing and the fever on top of it all. The eyeshadow was no longer on Luke’s eyes, but all around his face instead, as you lightly chuckled at how much of a toddler Luke looked like. His golden curls were drenched in sweat, as you tied all the curls into a bun- making sure to massage Luke’s head in the process to calm him down, which always worked a treat.

After all that, it didn’t take long for Luke to pass out on the hotel bed, before sneezing in your face one last time- as a thank you, for helping him, you assumed.

[justapayneaway]

Okay so the video had some shit that I could potentially understand from an outsider's point of view but hell this is just plain stupid. The Harry situation was clearly a joke. Yeah I guess how he said it might have stung and made people question his thought but he was clearly joking. (1/?) (This is about that video with the hateful remarks of Liam, I thought maybe I should rant about it. Pay in mind it was late and I already had a crap mood so I'm pretty not okay during this rant)

The girlfriend situation, don't even start with it. Yeah she's 18, that girl ain't 19 and even if she was, internet really did her wrong by finding ways to show she aint. That situation fucked up Liam even more and idc if he loves her or whatever but it clearly didnt do him justice and I wish they never made it public, even if it's a stunt or a "real" couple. Like that made people hate him more. (2/?)

The merch is people's choice. I hate the hoodie but I like the t-shirt. He has the rights to sell whatever he wants. His album might be expensive online but its cheap af in stores. It costs 15$ cad here which is nothing compared to the others's album (Louis doesn't count). (3/?)

Mr. Boring" was given by hateful people because he looks like that jock guy that wants to fuck you and leave you like a rag but we dont even know him. Nobody knows any of the boys so this is just a wrong thing. This could be his persona or the real him but what does that do you? Y'all really love to make him look bad with any ounce of being you have. This boy is much more than Mr. Boring but all of you fuck him up constantly so of course he comes of different. (4/?)

I wouldn't blame him, if people always told me I was the worst or boring, you will try not to be or shut everyone out. Cringeworthy lyrics? OH GOD YES! But some of his tracks on Lp1 aren't as much. Stack it Up sucked balls and I wish its death because it was horrible. Strip that down is that generic song you find in clubs which is fine. All his songs lack something for sure but they are still very good. (5/?)

Lyrics wise he said he didnt have inspiration to write which honestly I don't blame him, maybe he ain't a wordy person to open up and ask people to write shit for him and I dont blame him. He gave what he could and I'm proud of him. Yeah some lyrics are problematic af and I wish they worded it better or made it look less crappy but what can we do? (6/?)

A lot of artists write like that but no! LIAM JAMES PAYNE has to be hated on it as if he is the only one who does those kind of lyrics. Some artists have the same intentions but some aren't as straightforward but still, it's all the same. Plus, Rude Hours and Both Ways are like 2 songs and he gets dragged on repeat for it when there are good songs on the album. (7/?)

I hate his team for making 3 different albums with the target one with 2 bonus and the Japanese one with 3 extra bonuses and that sucks. His features should've been out of the album and have those 5 beautiful bonus songs in instead. The Christmas one should have been off the album. Stack it up was a failure from the start. (8/?)

I just wish people would stop hating on him and always drag him down. He is much more but I see what those people see because Liam ain't himself and he didnt give his 100% but he seems okay enough to have this album out and seems pretty proud so just give him some rest. This album ain't as bad people make it to be. People hate those 2 problematic songs and wont even listen to the other songs. (9/?)

And not everyone has the same music taste. I like "sexual" pop music and rock. His music are those generic sex songs and that isnt a bad thing. If he likes doing it, who is to tell him to not do that? Y'all really compare him to 1D Eras and the bandmates but they are different. Liam maybe likes these 'popular' shit and what does that do you? Liam is human. Liam is Liam. We cant do shit and he lives his life. Give him a break jeez.. (10/10) [sorry for this rant, you can hate me if you want to]

__________________

Okay anon I don’t hate you at all! This is well thought and I do agree with a lot of point you made here. I’ll try making a few comments by ask since this is big lmao

BTW SUPER IMPORTANT: don’t watch that video and don’t spread it! Report it if you feel like doing something about it. 

1. But what even is the Harry situation? Him saying that they aren’t best friends? Or that they have much in common? Because that’s understandable. Or is it the “harry’s clothes” comment of 2017 that harries keep bringing up when you can clearly see that Liam was just joking?

2. I do agree with you! The situation with the teenager just made things way worse for him. It added a lot of hate and it was completely unnecessary, especially how they keep bringing her up every single time and how she is always there!

3. I actually like his merch. I think it’s simple, but the white t-shirt is amazing. Sure the hoodies could have been more elaborated, but they’re super cozy! The thing I appreciate most about his merch is that it’s actually affordable. Btw I agree that it’s personal taste. His album is kind of cheap compared to other albums I've bought. 

4. But the thing for me is that Liam was never boring. He is smart and has a brilliant dark sense of humor. I think that some old 1d fans didn't like him much because he was always the spokesperson and had to say the shit nobody wanted to be said. People don’t seem to want to get past that to be honest with you! 

5. I agree with you! I really prefer Liam to shut up these fucking people with his success and what he wants to do that being an underwear campaign. Sure, some of the lyrics aren’t poetic shit, but there are others that are really deep and have some dark themes behind them. The songs aren’t bad at all in my opinion. SIU should have never been released, but I think we can all agree with that one!

6. I do think that Liam wasn’t 100% inspired, but I also feel like these are the songs we were supposed to get last year. They aren’t current if that makes sense, so of course some lyrics aren’t worded okay. 

7. I never thought it was a bad thing to use lyrics written by other people. That’s literally why songwriters exist! And a lot of people don’t write their own lyrics, but apparently it’s only bad for Liam to do it. I do agree! He is getting dragged for two songs. 

8. I don’t understand why they made three different albums. I understand wanting to keep the old songs because in terms of certifications/streams it gives him an advantage, but the extra songs are so damn good! They deserved more than this and he actually wrote on them. With the whole thing of the album I really don’t understand why AIWFC was added! 

9. I think you say it all with this part “This album ain’t as bad as people make it to be”. That’s the truth! I like the album and sure I'd do thing differently, probably. But I think people are judging the album based on BW and they are just going along with the hate. This album is exactly what Liam said it was going to be! A mix of songs that felt like a playlist with different genres.

10. It’s a personal taste thing again! I consume all kinds of music, I’m eclectic. I’ve been like that since I was a kid and learnt to play music. It isn’t bad that Liam is showing what kind of music he did and experimenting with different genres. For me it makes him a more complete artist to be honest with you! I really hate that they keep comparing them. Just let them all be whatever the fuck they want!!

In conclusion, I don’t understand the hate and I wish it would end.  

(Hope this answers you and don’t feel bad about ranting! It’s good to let it out.)

[tessacxstello]

hello im (F, 24) an idiot and forgot to post tessa’s (F, 22, fictional) intro!

pls bare in mind most of this was written 5+ years ago n i haven’t written tessa since 2015...... but lets get this show (LOCKWOODRP) on the road (DASHBOARD). 

tw school shooting, tw bipolar disorder

art hoe. always covered in paint. why?? she bad at painting

the mark rothko jackson pollock kind of bad tho wher people are like.... omg.... revolutionary..... its a badly drawn vagina

fuckin loves astrology, but cant take it that seriously bcos one of her bfs was a gemini so there’s some lenience there. but she WILL blame her hormones and mood swings on the positon of mars

embodies pure sunshine. 

one of those really annoying people that can go through the most traumatic shit and still find a positive spin. 

cares so much for others but does not really care for herself n it’s meant she just bottles up all this shit n when someone asks her how her day has gone she just falls on the ground like tht bit in midsommar when florence does that loud wheezy noise and sits down 

has never really had much money at all. learns to make-do with what she has. loves upcycling!! her bookshelf is made from cardboard which she’s reinforced by pappering it over with pages ripped out of thrifted books. her sofa is an old car boot which she’s repainted, put on wheels and stuffed w cushions so that it’s actually bearable to sit on.

her knitted cardigan? its made out of wife material.

knits all the time. will crochet you a christmas scarf. if ur lucky you might get a knitted jumper with a penis in a santa hat

still sleeps with cuddly toys n then wonders why ppl dont think she’s mature enough for a serious relationship

very passionate about Sister Doing It For THemselves!! raised by a single mom who worked her ass off so that tessa could do fun activities after school, have lelli kelly shoes, and go to college (not necessarily in tht order of importance)

tessa was born out of wedlock as the result of an affair between her mom (a journalism intern in her early 20s) and a new york times editor. 

the editor offered to pay tessa’s mom off to have an abortion, but she was like fuck u and told the papers he’d done that and used the money to cover the cost of her internship which they refused to pay her for

and because of the scandal, he ended up going through a pretty messy divorce with his wife, and losing custody of his kids. so as a child  tessa was seen as the cause of a divorce and received mutliple letters from the editors wife (to tessa personally!) and his kids saying how she had ruined everything, but her mom moved them to another town so tessa didn’t have to deal with that crap. 

her mom worked 3 jobs to put her through school, so in return tessa pushes herself incredibly hard to succeed. needs a break and a hug and to get laid to be honest. 

an old soul. likes old films, old music, old people. only recently got an iphone 5s so not really with this century yet

very sweet and soft and kind but also a fucking mess and won’t listen to anyone else’s opinion. she’ll take comfort, but not advice. 

feminist buddhist bisexual vegetarian for human rights and animal welfare. standing on a soapbox shouting about the climate in the quad, shoving flyers into your hands. flyers everwhere. she turns up at your grandmas funeral and shoves one into her mouth. she’s stolen the mic from the vicar to talk about pandas.

says “mother of pearl” and “heavens to betsy”.

had an affair with her married piano teacher and he’s now facing a custody battle and his wife is leaving him and tessa has completely internalised that guilt despite her being the victim in the scenario

aesthetics: paint splattered jeans, loose curls spilling from a scrunchie, thrifted blouses in bright yellow, guzzling coffee in the library at three am when a term paper’s due, shoddily illustrated campaign posters to save endangered species, polaroids plastered to your bedroom walls with scribbled dates on the frames, jumping into a stack of autumn leaves, jumping off piers in the summer months and stripping off your wet clothes on the beach, digging your thumbs into peaches to leave a bruise, smoking with the extractor fan on to hide the smell, bath bombs, letting the girls at lush rub samples all over your skin, cacti with knitted bobble hats, decorative pillows and sun and moon blanket throws, basic bitch fairy lights hanging from every single window, painting the name of the boys you’ve loved inside your wardrobe door.

studies fine art and philosophy, and wants to become either a lecturer or the first woman president. vibe wise, very similar to leslie knope, missy from big mouth, and basically the naive everygirl with a high opinion of themselves trope

gets drunk off like one double vodka lemonade because she’s small and she’s a pretty messy wild drunk. it’s when slutty tessa comes out, and the next day she’ll thoroughly regret every choice made and decide she’s never drinking again and cutting out all men and starting daily sudoko

on the cheerleading team and is a flyer, which she sees as a HUGE responsibility and she works really hard to make sure she’s on it for her team. one of those get up at 7am and go to the gym before school types its sickening

she had a really traumatic time at high school because there was a shooting in her school. she was in the next classroom when it happened, and she lost one of her friends in the shooting. she had to take two months off school, was diagnosed with depression and put on anti-depressants because of it. in her 2nd year of uni she was rediagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety, which she’s now on medication for. she can be really good for several months at a time and feel super creative and determined (she actually finds manic periods helpful for her creativity n art, n sadly sometimes doesn’t take her meds in these periods to push herself more which is obvs super bad.....). but when the bad periods come they can also last months n she had to take a semester out of school last year because of her mood, so she should be a senior by now but she’s retaking junior year

she attends weekly stress-management sessions prescribed by her doctor which she finds pointless.

very childish in the sense that she can only see her own point of view and kind of views herself as the “protagonist” and thinks her ideas are super important and life changing and she IS Destined for Greatness! despite being pretty much average af

pinterest board.

STATS

age: 22

height: 5'2"

positive traits: kind-hearted, gregarious, selfless, philosophical, open minded, idealistic, courageous, feisty, charismatic, loyal, adventurous.

negative traits: stubborn, hot-headed, reticent, escapist, self-destructive, easily led, naive, troubled, complicated, stepford smiler, envious, overdramatic, explosive.

distinguishing Marks: heart-shaped birthmark on the right of her chest, splattering of freckles across the cheeks during summer months, full lips, large eyes, porcelain features, long wavy hair, tattoo of a bird and a cage on her ankles and a basic bitch arrow tat on her wrist (srry to anyone with an arrow tat).

skills: jack-of-all-trades, talented pianist, perceptive, knows the correct way to throw a punch, good survival instinct, is able to remain calm in stressful situations, endures, artistic, excels in academic studies, hard-working and self-motivated, expert liar and talented actress.

likes: wolves, vintage thrift store fashion, old leather-bound books, left-wing democratic politics, cigarettes, poetry, John Hughes movies, cold coffee, hot tea, the sound of laughter, staying up til 4am having deep conversations, Tchaikovsky, having deep conversations about life, stationary, DC Comics, horoscopes, winged eyeliner, cats, knee-high socks, house music, abandoned buildings, studio ghibli, the smell of the earth after rain, Wes Anderson films, herbal tea, old people, solitude, esoteric things, the smell of freshly baked bread, Charles Bukowski, the moon.

fears: death, oblivion, global warming, losing those she loves, isolation, clowns, guns, enclosed spaces.

nicknames: Tess, T-Dog, Tessie, Socrates, Princess, Sunshine Girl, Florence Nightingale.

alignment: Neutral Good

MBTI type: INFP

BIOGRAPHY

tw school shooting

Her story begins with Cordelia Costello, a twenty-three year old college drop-out, turned beautician, turned columnist, turned intern at a local publishing company. She was a youthful, beautiful, siren of a women, always surrounded by an aura of enigma and an entourage of men. It was no surprise to the gossips in the office that within six months working at the company, Cordelia had added to her list another title – mistress to Franklin Hozier, the Editor of the New York Times. After two blissful months and three hundred and twenty seven orgasms, Cordelia decided she wanted a baby. Franklin laughed in her face. Feeling isolated and used, Cordelia continued her affair with her boss’ boss for another month, before deciding to take matters into her own hands.

It started with a turkey baster.

Soon the infant cries of a baby girl graced the world, her wrinkled skin puckered and pink as her mother held her in her arms, glancing upon the most beautiful thing in her life. Once Tessa, named after Cordelia’s favourite literary heroine, entered the world, Franklin left her life and things took a turn for the better. Despite living in a rented one-bedroom apartment in Staten Island, on what little money Cordelia had saved, Tessa’s childhood years were filled with nothing but the happiest of memories. Times were tough, but what they lacked in money, the Costello’s made up in love. While Tessa was at school, Cordelia did odd jobs cleaning, child-minding, working in local nurseries, in order to save up enough money to give her daughter the best start in life.

Despite what she had been led to believe by television shows and teen movies, the first few years of High School were some of the best years of her life. Tessa threw herself into a multitude of activities that High School offered her, including the drama club, the orchestra, choir, badminton and the school newspaper. While she certainly wasn’t considered ‘popular’ at school, Tess had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. In fact, High School was a place where she made some of the greatest memories of her life, but come her final year, it was also a place where she was haunted by some of her worst.

On the January 17th of Tessa’s senior year of high school, a shooting took place in Westville High School. For two hours Tessa locked herself in a supply cupboard, her head between her knees as she tried to stay silent despite the screams of horror from the corridor. Eighteen students were caught in the crossfire, two of which were Tessa’s best friends. Bouquets of flowers, laminated photographs, Teddy Bears in cling-film bags attached to balloons littered the streets as families and friends came to pay tribute to the eighteen students withered before they had a chance to bloom.

It took two months of therapy before Tessa could return to school. Some of the survivors could never return due to the horrors that their eyes had laid witness to. Sometimes Tessa felt like a part of her had died with the friends that were stolen from her too soon, but one thought kept her going through: she had survived, she was alive and breathing, and she could not afford to loose a second of the precious time she had been granted on this earth. Despite the nightmares that continued to haunt her each night, Tessa found in the aftermath of the disaster a new sense of motivation. She began applying for scholarships for colleges without her mother’s knowledge, in the hope that her academic success would be enough to carry her through further education. Thankfully, it was, and after three torturous months of waiting Tess was offered an arts scholarship to her dream school, Lockwood University, where she hoped she could finally start to rebuild her life.

THE PRESENT:

Life at university was like a separate world. Students came and went like moths among the whisperings and the tequila and the stars. In this new world, Tessa was exposed for the first time in her life to alcohol, drugs, and the sexual appetites of other students her age – though she politely declined all three. Instead, Tessa threw herself into the vast array of activities in the hope that by distracting herself she could escape the terrible flashbacks that continued to haunt her. Tessa joined the lacrosse team, despite never having played before, and took up cheerleading discovering a new talent; she joined the musical theatre group, and the film club, and even set up her own acapella singing society. But despite how much she tried to throw herself into student life, her past hung around her like a bad smell, and with the added pressure of the Sinking Ships zine, Tess began to feel the weight of her secret tying her down like a pair of shackles around her wrists.

PERSONALITY:

If someone was to describe Tessa in a single word, it would most likely be ‘bubbly’, ‘open-minded’ or ‘sweet’. But they would be wrong – Tessa is not bubbly, or sweet, or stubborn, or hotheaded, or fiesty, or infectious, or any of the things the world see her as, but merely a numb and lonely echo of the gregarious, halcyon girl she once was. Tessa Costello was one of life’s enigmas. No one knew who she was, for to each person she met she wore a different mask – she dripped confidence, or was painfully shy; she was an exhibitionist, or a brooding wallflower; she took things too seriously, or not seriously at all. She was an actress and the world was her stage, each person she met a different member of the audience in the performance of her life. In truth, Tessa no longer even recognised herself. Insecure, and self-destructive, she tried to hang on to the extroverted, mischievous pieces of herself that everyone had once loved, but day by day it got harder to know what lay in the vacant holes blown through her mind. While she was stubborn and hot-headed, Tessa always saw the best in people, which meant that she was easily led astray. While she had grown up learning to be street smart and astute, she was idealistic and allowed silly fantasies to cloud her mind. By nature, she was passionate, which lead her to misimagine and romanticise those she met. Despite the hell she had witnessed, and the anxiety that feasted upon her, she believed that people were innately good and that to have courage and be kind could cure anyone of their sadness – yet she was unable to cure herself.

TWITTER:

@500daysoftessa: i blame disney films and musicals for my high expectations of men

@500daysoftessa: i am in love with the boy who works at starbucks. today i asked for a double latte and he gave me a tripple, which i think is proof that my love is requited. our children will be smart and talented and beautiful.

@500daysoftessa: little known historical fact: pharaohs were burried with their hands crossed over their chests because it was a popular belief there would be countless water slides in the after life.

[yiulee999]

Hey! What do you think of OPM season 2? I still love it & am looking forward to next weeks new episode but i just wish Saitama had more screen time ;-(

hey nonny~! 

apologies for the late reply, its a combo of not getting notifications (tumblr u useless trashbucket) and being on surgery rotation (i miss sleeping so much) 

firstly, i am truly glad you still love it and look forward to the new episodes!!! 💖💖💖please dont let anything i say from this point on dissuade you from that enjoyment 

THAT BEING SAID 

///cut for length 

ive only watched up to the second episode, and i am having Such Difficulties convincing myself to keep watching. i know my rxns to ep 1 were overall pretty positive and I stand by it but the more i watch the more the Cringe/Hypercritique starts take over. 

Turns out, the art style had a bigger impact than i thought on the length of which i enjoy shows. personally, i just really like when anime/shows have a happy marriage between writing and artwork. and when show directors know how to interpret writing, how to set up a scene (the angle, the music, the pacing), and then communicate with artists who have the skills to bring that idea to life using the medium they’re given -- that’s when writing becomes storytelling. OPM’s writing is still fantastic since they’re going off ONE (whereas GoT has the opposite problem where the production value is 4K and the writing is early 2000s livejournal/fanfiction lol god why is everyone dropping the ball in 2019??)

As for the art, since opm switched to jc staff and shingo natsume & co. left for other projects ( ;;_____;; im emo ), its inevitable we would see a drop in animation quality and i find myself constantly getting distracted by things i never used to get concerned about in the first season (bc of the high bar of expectations set by s1 artists/directors, like theres just no way jc staff would match up it to all of that and i feel bad for them, they’re trying their best but that doesn’t mean theyre immune to critique on the artistic liberties that they’ve taken that i feel as a viewer, may not have been the best choice?) 

the shading: no, just, unnecessary and distracting and why is it the center of saitamas face, im by far no expert in lighting but a bish can tell something doesnt look right??? 

the shading pt II: color choices. just gonna say i was not expecting sai’s ‘hair shirt’ in ep 1 to be bright-ass neon green, it was a little jarring at first and i miss him in red ;-; i get hes supposed to have poor fashion choices but i dont see him as the type to pick something that stands out so much in the crowd, like he likes to be left alone. NEON doesnt really relay ‘hi dont mind me im just barely existing here lol’ 

the shading pt III: genos arms/neck. okaY so the bby looks good in screenshots. like he’s shiny and nice to look at when nothings moving. bUT this is animation?? movement of objections is different from still life manga so making every single scene almost 99% like murata’s panels translates a little awkwardly to the screen (like staff is lucky bc murata’s a force of nature with his panels playing out like a movie for ref). but when genos moves, the arms are just distracting bc everything around him is drawn simply without shadows so they stand out by themselves and i (visually) forget about the rest of him haha. 

the pacing: it feels scripted, person A says this so we’ll show person A in the shot, then person B is saying something so we have to cut to person B, etc etc like keeping pretty steady to manga lines to the point where i was starting to get bored bc i knew what was coming. it was really intervaled? like someone had to be saying something at a certain effect and i think s1 had more dramatic pauses (lol) but thats how you can place emphasis on scenes to have an emotional impact if the character doesnt say anything and just let the soundtrack do some talking and the cadence of the script will change too (im 10000% talking about the sunset scene in s1 god bless. like it was slow, there was MOOD there wasn’t any rush and really gave the viewer time to think about the relationship between the two characters and what that moment meant to each of them) i feel like there were several scenes that could have been more like in the scene where sai protected fubuki, could have been a little more dramatically emphasized (aka just a pause) so the viewer could get a chance to understand that he purprosefully shielded her or when genos says that strong heroes are drawn to saitama--bUT nope its the same pace, like c l o c k w o r k just like my t eARS--

the fight scenes: how do i even start. the one scene that got me INTO opm (like watching the anime, reading the manga, drawing fanart, writing fanfic, reading fanfics etc) was kickstarted by the fight scene between genos and saitama in s1 that was circulating on tumblr a while back. i thought the characters were interesting and the fight was badass and it just looked SO COOL. (also the forehead flick at the end just kinda sealed my fate). going from that to s2 fight scenes where its mostly cut scenes and freeze scenes?? where theres a cut out behind the characters back?? during a fight scene????? this isn’t a calling card or an anime opening??? i dont understand. when they dont do cut scenes, its interesting but my initial impression is just underwhelmed. i can find good parts but it feels like i have to replay the scene to notice it? theres also an overwhelming amount of graphics/cgi manipulation that overpowers the actual art sometimes. its lacking some of the fluidity that comes from hand drawn fight scenes from first season. OTL

the sound directing: so i thought that the mood just felt off for certain scenes and the sound didn’t seem to support the scene as well (unless it was like the character’s theme or smtg) and i looked it up and the sound director was also replaced (Yoshikazu Iwanami replacing Shoji Hata). i have no idea if the sound director is also in charge of character lines but there were parts were fubuki was monologuing and i had no idea she was inner monologuing, i thought she was talking out loud and that just took extra effort on my part to re-orient myself (im nitpitcking i know but its just how i watch shows lol) 

there are still some parts i like about the animation:

fubuki looks bangin and i love her👌👗

all of this just made me realize how insanely lucky we were to have an amazing s1 and just have it exist and how i really could not care less if they had just waited forever to make s2 as long as we had the same crew come back. but anime is still a business and the quicker they dish out merch/seasons, the more money they can bring in. which they do in the short run but they would bring in more if they spent a little more on quality in the long run and it becomes one of those classics that ppl will rewatch and keep recommending to ppl who want to get into anime and oh my god we’re never gonna have that now, are we. if im gonna rec it to a friend its gonna be ‘read the manga!’ or ‘just watch s1!’ uGH. its just an unfortunate situation, its not one person’s fault either, so many factors go into what made opm s1 so spectacular and seeing s2 just made me appreciate s1 more. i guess im happy to have a s2 regardless? 

i’ll still watch to support (and bc i like suiryuu and wanna see sai in a karate gi and wig lol). maybe i just have to get used to the new style. 

so in summary,

[animentality]

Huge ass rant about men bullshit

Bro do I have a story about bullshit for you that talks about representation and content

So in my art school in my sculpture class this middle aged man comes to present his final piece. He starts by coming late to class and saying how someone jumped in front if the train, tragic right? We thought he was shocked but he was just angry that his bus got delayed??? At no point during his rant did he addresses what happened in a respectful way it was just him going off about how he almost missed the presentation so far. Anyway when brings he brings out his piece its not even a sculpture its a 2d collage that was very haphazardly put together, mind you this is his final. and boy is the content fucking controversial. Its basically a bunch of nude play boy magazine models and in the middle is a huge ass illust of a woman from Afghanistan in a blue burka covering the illustrations! He says its two different sides of the same coin that is the objectification of women and how women are forced to be in these positions. The professor killed him on sight saying that if this was presented in a gallery it would be shutdown under an hour. One guy asks him how this speaks to his own experiences, why is he talking about the women that way framing it as if it was from their lense, guy dodges the fucking question because. he went on how if playboy didn’t offer large sums of money he “guarantees” they wouldn’t be doing this type of modelling, he also talks about how some women don’t even know theyre being objectified. I then ask him if he knows what mansplaining is and i tell him its what hes doing. Although some of his points are correct they dont stand because of the angle in which he was presenting them. Moving on this headass talks about how this isnt about religion despite the huge ass burqa its about the culture of Afghanistan so already you can tell the cohesiveness of his piece is pretty much non existent. I tell him that in this case you cant seperate the two. The prof tried to symapthize with him saying he had good intentions but i was having none of that and called him out on how his initial idea was to talk about the Syrian refugee crisis “because people eat that shit right up” so this was clearly not coming from a place of genuine empathy and in the tiniest voice he goes thats not true. The prof told him how if he wasn’t there to present the work people wont get his intention of deconstructing objectification and i suggested that it might backfire because his background as a muslim east asian artist might suggest to people that hes enforcing his values on westerners. Prof also compared the piece to a different one by a white student who wore blackface to talk about black people’s problems ………… Anyway he was so defensive saying that we didn’t get it and that he just didn’t have the vocabulary to defend the piece. I told him as a muslim and a woman i was offended by the whole thing and he has the audacity to ask why after the prof and i were grilling him on it, which proves how selective or non existent  his hearing is. I told him a more sensitive approach was to talk about the men making and consuming the magazine n the taliban. Again ut went over his head. I asked him why he was talking about women in afghanistan specifically and again he had no real answer. He kept talking about how they were forced to wear one color only. Like really? Nothing about the other tragedies they undergo? Youre bothered by their lack of fashion choices?

He was warned about this but chose to make it anyway, guy avoids feedback like the plague. one point he said that in his defense someone would totally buy his piece i said yeah, i would buy it then burn it. I told him he needed to work on his listening “yeah thats a problem of mine” i say yeah its a big problem. What infuriates most of all is the fact that nothing about the piece critisized objectification, he was just mirroring the problem, he wasn’t adding anything new to the table. Fucking men dude.

[johnnymundano]

Possession (1981)

Directed by Andrzej Żuławski

Written by Frederic Tuten, Andrzej Żuławski

Music by Andrzej Korzyński

Country: France, West Germany

Language: English

Running Time: 124 minutes

CAST

Isabelle Adjani as Anna/Helen

Sam Neill as Mark

Margit Carstensen as Margit Gluckmeister

Heinz Bennent as Heinrich

Johanna Hofer as Heinrich's mother

Carl Duering as Detective

Shaun Lawton as Zimmermann

Michael Hogben as Bob

Maximilian Rüthlein as Man with pink socks

Thomas Frey as Pink socks' acolyte

Leslie Malton as Sara, woman with club foot

Gerd Neubert as Subway drunk

It’s just a hunch but I reckon Andrzej Żuławski was having a tough time on the marital front when he made this deliriously nuts arthouse splatter classic. Just a hunch, mind. Certainly Anna (Adjani) and Mark (Neill) are putting each other through the relationship wringer. Mark returns home to ‘80s Berlin after a long absence doing some shadily vague spycraft, only to find Anna’s been finding solace elsewhere. Like many couples in movies Mark and Anna shriek and bellow at each other while a child (Michael Hogben) looks tearily on, but the sense that the stakes are raised higher than Kramer vs Kramer (1979) is cemented when they meet in a café and Mark starts smashing things like smashing things is going out of fashion. It’s all very entertaining stuff, full of “deep” conversations delivered in a stagey way, but the bits where Mark loses his shit are best. Which is good, because during Possession Mark loses his shit a lot; he might even have surreptitiously stocked up on shit beforehand so much shit does he lose. Anna looks like a much better bet for any sense, but it turns out that she too is losing her shit, and her shit losing will reach truly operatic proportions before the credits roll and the viewer is left wondering just what the holy hell they just watched.

Things would be bad if Anna was just messing about with her ballet tutor, Heinrich (a thrillingly unhinged performance by Heinz Bennent, which doesn’t so much challenge the viewer but rather the entire concept of performance itself, and possibly singlehandedly redefines cinematic camp for the next hundred years). Unfortunately it’s even worse, she’s messing about on Heinrich as well with…well, uh, spoiler? There’s a reason the credits include Carlo Rambaldi, the renowned creature creator. I’ve never really been a Rambaldi fan, preferring instead Rick Baker, Screaming Mad George or even Rob Bottin, but Andrzej Żuławski keeps Rambaldi’s work off screen or splashed with gore, so any deficiencies are lost in the very effective shock the visual carries. 

Possession’s greatest special effect is the city of Berlin itself; it is set in Berlin when the Wall was up, see. It seems like some kind of early John Carpenter riff now in 2018, but, yes, the city of Berlin was in fact, post WW2, separated East and West, by a big wall with barbed wire, machine guns and sallow men in warm hats peering through binoculars. A divided city, a divided couple, yeah, all that stuff is in Possession. As is doubling, every clever director’s device of choice. And of course the title has more than one meaning. Sure, you could get all chalk and elbow patches about Possession but that’s on your own time. It’s the crazy shit I warm to and…hoo boy! Because as everything around him becomes ever more unhinged, some semblance of sanity finally possesses (ho!) Mark and he sets a detective on Anna’s trail, and when that works out badly he sets Heinrich on the case. Things look like they are trundling to a possibly merely slightly nuts conclusion when Żuławski goes “Ha!” and sets course for the heart of insanity with a final act that becomes apocalyptically demented and then carries right on through.

Possession’s an overwrought wail of a movie but it’s not lacking in discipline, don’t think that for one hot second. The tell is how the characters’ apparent lack of control in front of the camera is balanced by the total control behind it. Characters stomp around, spin on a pin and hurriedly flail off again, in rooms, down stairs, out of doors up and down, in and out, round and round but the camera stays right with them, it never misses a single step. No mean feat in the ‘80s when cameras were as big as suitcases. Żuławski’s hysteria is (ta-da!) rehearsed hysteria but the seeming spontaneity is uncannily convincing. The director’s control clearly extends to the performances; given everyone is so simpatico in their oddness Żuławski’s plainly had a word in every actor’s shell-like. Everyone is good, but Neill, Adjani and Bennent are volcanoes of thespian awesomeness. 

Adjani in particular is a revelation. She definitely has the hardest (because it is the most ambiguous) part, but she tears into it like a dog with a bag of hot chips. Actresses are eternally undervalued, largely because their roles are frequently underwritten, but here Adjani gets a chance to thesp until something snaps and she grabs it with both clawed hands. The bit where she has a breakdown (miscarriage?) in a pedestrian tunnel and ends up slouched in her own secretions of (apparently) milk, blood and fairy liquid is the kind of frenzied brilliance you’ll die happy you witnessed. Andrzej Korzyński’s earworm of a soundtrack certainly doesn’t hurt either. For a movie so apparently overheated and unrestrained  Possession turns out to be a thing of artistic precision and icy control.

Back in 1981 Possession was an unremittingly bleak spew in the face of optimism and yet…in 2018 the wall has gone, Berlin is united, Germany has healed and is doing just fine; so hope has snuck in retroactively. “This too shall pass” turns out to be the secret message of hope at the heart of Possession. A message secret even from the movie itself; a message equally applicable to divided cities and divided marriages; a message the movie wasn’t built to carry but then history always does the heavy lifting. I first saw this movie reviewed in “Starburst” (a British genre movie magazine, 1977 to present) in its year of release and made a pre-pubescent mental note to keep an eye out for it. Nearly four decades later I can rip that mental post-it note up. Possession was worth the wait.