#kinda trying to improvise something fast but decent

[domonomin]

Working on Underlord

Issue #1 was scary.... I did not have a lot of faith in it when I started working on the story. The thing about it was that I had to be able to deliver a lot of exposition without having it drag on the story and also leaving enough information out to still have some mystery.

Took me 4 drafts to figure it out. Wrote up like 15 pages. only really used 4 of them... the issue as a whole ended up 44 pages... which is fine cause I think it turned out good. a lot of the pages were for slowing down pacing and having neat little character interactions. I didn't write a 5th draft, I just kind of made a bunch of notes on how things should play out and made things up as I went along. which was honestly freeing

my style of writing has been something I struggled to figure out since I started making comics. you'd think that just writing a script would be enough, but I get a little more leeway seeing as I'm a solo act. So I went from no script with my first comic, to a heavy script with the second, to a little mix of both for this one. I've settled on just doing a little outline where I describe what the character is doing and then write a page breakdown with dialogue. It's quick and gives me enough room to improvise when things aren't working quite how I want them to. I'm a lot happier with it.

enough about writing, Lets talk about the art side of things.

I mentioned some confidence issues in my first comic post(Though I doubt you read it...link here) and I guess doing another comic in-between that one and this helped me chill out more. going into this, I had a decent grasp of what I could do, so the main focus was on refining some of my skills and trying to push a little more. Mostly my layouts and compositions. I just wanted to be more creative and I think I handled it well enough with the regular, comic style pages.

The webtoon style ones were hit and miss I think.

so lets talk about pacing for a bit.... Pacing has been my enemy for many years. things always went by faster than I would have liked. I like it when things have time to breathe. My issue with my previous comics was that It felt like things happened a little too fast. writing definitely played a part in it, but I figured, at the time, that maybe using the regular comic format did too. so I actually would draw things normally, then copy and paste panels into the webtoons format to see if that would help. It's not bad, but it is more work. Not to mention that I'm not really used to the style, so things are here or there. I think the first/second part worked out best. the rest are decent, nothing special. At the moment, I'm wondering weather to just stick to one format or the other. That way I could plan things out better. I'll probably test it out with issue 3

Moving on. I mentioned confidence a little earlier. Confidence made me jump into this. Like I did a bit of concept art for some locations and maybe 2 or 3 characters, but for most part, things were made up on the spot and adjusted from part to part. Once again, Nice. Still think some things would work out a little better with more forethought, but I guess that's writing(???).

Don't quote me on that...

I changed art programs twice. Parts 1-4 were done on medibang, 5-9 were done with CSP and for the rest of it, I used procreate. each had their bonuses. I think drawing In procreate is the better of the 3, but lettering in it is kinda rough. I end wrestling with it more than I'd like. I might end up transferring pages to my pc for lettering next time. hopefully that helps.

It's nice seeing how much better I get with drawing as time went on.

I'd like to go back to the issue at some point. Cause there are a lot of easy to fix errors that bother me on re-reads. Originally, I figured I could just redraw the whole thing, But I one of the rules of webcomics is to keep moving forward. If I get to it, I'll be fixing things without erasing my old art. Fix errors and make some changes to help out with character consistency

any who, that's the ramblings of some guy you don't know on a comic He'd love for people to read. It's not the greatest, but it's mine and I'm happy to have done it. I guess next I'll ramble about issue 2 and some plans for the future

Till next time

Link to comic btw!

[tethys-the-aquatic-sea-godness]

Elia Martell Appreciation Week - Day Two: Book Moment:

Oberyn telling Tyrion about his and Elia’s visist to Casterly Rock

[606nox]

Heartslabyul x subnatica

Deuce x subnatica reader

Btw yall I forgot to say that in every single one of these that I will write the reader is always around the same age as them because the og subnatica player is canon like at least 21 but not here just has to say that

×××××××××××××××××××××

Deuce is trying to turn his life around so he tries to stay out of rumors or drama because "good students don't listen to drama right?". But even so he couldn't help but notice you from the opening ceremonie and not only that but he also remembers that you were magicless. He wishes you good luck he had heard the nrc can be mean to people with magic so what about people without. He feels really bad for you but he can't really help you either. So when he meet you he was honestly a little interested in learning about you after all theirs never been a case of a magicless person in the history of twisted wonderland so why wouldn't he. At first when he met you he was reminded of this old delinquent friends at first he had no reason to think so but it just felt that way. But was pleasently surprised that you were really nice and friendly but you just really didn't like ace running away from his punishment. And were very fast for a normal human ? But he didn't question it to much and it's not like its was any of his business anyways you two barely know each other. After you guys broke the chandelier deuce was the first to rush off into the cave which worried you a bit even if you didn't know him that well you still were wanted to make sure that no one got hurt. Which is why you ran into the cave dragging ace and grim with you. But the moment you guys found the stone you needed a blot monster appeared. And everyone else was freaking out but you just kinda stood their and and was like "ugh not again". Deuce then tried to pull you out of it's way because he knows that you don't have magic. You follow him out and you all make a game plan . Which you end up having to improvise. The blot ramed into the tree but soon the plan had to go out the window. You were to the side where you couldn't get hurt originally but ace,grim and deuce were clearly struggling to which you remembered a little something you had the stasis rifle. So you began to charge the rifle and while it was charging you yelled at the blot monster.

"Hey over here".

"Hey what do you think your doing".

"Yeah deuces right".

You shoot at the monster it was fully paralyzed "ok do what you guys gotta do ". Ace and deuce shot their magic and you shot the stasis rifle for a while until you got tired of the back and forth and got out you repulsion canon and threw a whole bolder at it. To everyones surprised it just died and honestly everyone was just like FINALLY. After you head back and you officially become a student deuce congratutes you and grim is pretty much jumping around the place talking about how hes the best. After he didn't expect you to stick around but he was happy you did but something weird happened while fighting riddles overblot you seemed vicious Dispite your normally chill friendly behavior it's one thing to be scared but this wasn't fear this was more like a reaction a violent one but you still seemed to be in at least a little control of your body because you weren't going for riddle himself but for his blot monster. You used your repulsion canon and threw a table at him and you continued to switch between repulsion and stasis. You even lonched riddle into a bush after taking the tree from him but even then you never actually hurt him only his blot monster after awhile everything was decently normal. You would hangout with ace and deuce. Deuce would try to help you study but he doesn't even know what's going on with half of the stuff you ask him to help with even if you end up helping him understand it. He is almost like a puppy after everything you've done he thinks your so cool and admires you. Hes even asked if you can teach him some of the moves you've used.

Deuce fell in love with you when yall were fighting riddles overblot monster he just couldn't help but admire you. You were magicless but still tried to help and also were brave and fierce you also held your ground while still being nice and polite and he really admired that about you. But that doesn't mean he realized he had a crush on you well it was more like denial because he was scared to lose your friendship so he tried to keep it to himself of course tho ace noticed and teases him a blot but ace does have too say that deuce did a good job hiding but ace knows him to well. But after deuce confirmed that it was in fact true ace tries to wing man for deuce but it never quite works because you can tell that something's up and just tell him to be himself. Eventually he confesses with a little help with his confidence boosted he asks trey for some advice and helps quite a bit well more then the others. Which is why when he confessed he brought you your favorite dessert. He wasn't expecting you to answer so fast but you automatically said yes and after he can't help but help but be giddy he's just so happy that you feel the same. Right after the confession as soon as he can he gets nervous but also happy and calls his mom up to tell her about you and his mom is so happy for him but deuce also asks her what to do now that he's in a relationship with you and his mom just tells him to be kind , patient and to just spend time with you eventually after awhile in the relationship he gets comfy. But sometimes when he's hanging out with you he can't help but think about what happened to you when riddle overblotted you seemed almost vicious ready to snap at any moment which honestly really consered him even if you two weren't dating at the time. He wanted to ask you but trusted that when you wanted to talk about it you would. But one day you two somehow get on the topic of riddles overblot and deuce decided that he would ask but if you didn't wanna answer you didn't have too

Oh yeah his overblot was really stressful.

Yeah it was but I have a question for you

Yeah what is it.

What happened to you during that if you don't want to answer you don't have too.

Oh that uuummm well that a bit of a story but if you wanna I'll tell you.

Yes please do tell

Well for around a year of my life I was crashed on a planet that was only water I had to fight to survive and had to fight giant leviathans it was very traumatizing but I did what I had to do to survive

That I just can't imagine it I'm sorry that something like that had happened to you.

But it's ok now

Are you sure?

The best I can be

[mimisempai]

Missing you comes in waves and tonight I'm drowning

Summary:

After seeing Loki disappear before his eyes and confined to the TVA because of the failed mission, Mobius decides to still believe in Loki and search for him. He witnesses the discussion between Sylvie and Loki on the train

Notes:

My theories on the method used by Mobius to locate Loki is probably very far-fetched and lacks technical truth, but that's not the most important point here, so I hope you'll forgive me for my short cuts. (I miss them together!)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32162878

2008 words - Rating G

"Loki! Wait!"

Loki looked at him for a moment before stepping through the portal.

By the time they got there, it was too late Loki and the portal was gone.

"I knew he would betray us as soon as he could!" said one of the hunters right next to Mobius.

"Shut up!" shouted Mobius at him before returning to the TVA.

As he walked toward Ravonna's office, the same thoughts swirled over and over in his head.

Had Loki betrayed him! What were his plans? But worst of all, was he in danger?

He tried to think rationally.

Loki always said he was one step ahead, but Mobius knew that wasn't true. Loki was improvising. Loki was adapting. So reason told Mobius that this is what he had done.

That's when Mobius decided to do something he'd never done in his life at the TVA, he was going to bet on chaos. On the fact that Loki had chosen to follow the variant not only for his own sake but also because it was his mission.

Because Mobius could not imagine that what they had shared was nothing in the eyes of the god.

"Mobius! In my office!"

Ravonna... he was already imagining her reprimands, "I warned you" "he can't be trusted"...

As soon as he entered her office, she showed him a screen and just said, "Look!"

A scene showing the variant fighting in a hallway with the guards and Loki in the locker room retrieving his daggers then arriving at the place where the guards were eliminated.

Next scene Loki and the variant fighting, Loki trying to convince her to team up, at this point, despite the faith he has in him, Mobius could not determine if this is a way to stop her or get what he wants.

Then Rovenna arrives and the variant uses Loki as a hostage.

Mobius could not prevent a gasp.

Still on the screen, seeing that Rovenna is not persuaded, Loki grabs an object that opens a portal above them and he and the Variant disappear.

Mobius tried not to show his relief, but he saw that Rovenna was not fooled.

"So you still trust him?"

Mobius looked at her defiantly, "As long as I don't have concrete, real proof that he betrayed us, yes I’ll trust him!"

"Always the idealistic dreamer huh?"

Mobius didn't answer, Rovenna continued, "You're grounded here until I tell you otherwise. You can get out."

Once out, Mobius sat in a chair, held his head in his hands, and began to think. He was grounded, but there was nothing to stop him from trying to figure out where Loki was.

He just had to figure out how to locate him.

The difference was that now, thanks to Loki, he knew to look in the apocalypses, what he had to find now was the equivalent of that candy, something out of the ordinary, something anachronistic.

He stood up suddenly, he had found it!

He went to the office, where the screen that displayed all the nexuses was located.

"Casey! Come here!"

The younger man got up and joined him. Mobius spoke more softly, "Will you help me with a secret project?"

Casey, who had great respect for the man, nodded.

"Follow me."

They headed into the archive room. Mobius chose a table a little out of the way.

"You sit here. I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, he returned with a stack of files that he separated into two piles.

"In all these apocalypses, we need to find one where it mentions two Lokis variants and unusual magical acts."

"Got it!"

Mobius didn't know if his smoky theory would work out, but he didn't have much choice.

He couldn't help but think back to a similar scene a few days earlier, when Loki had fallen asleep. He had let his guard down in the presence of Mobius, so that meant something, didn't it?

He started to flip through the files.

"M-Mobius! I think I've got it!"

Casey was showing him a file, Lamentis-1 - 2077, a woman reports that two demons tried to attack her. One even allegedly posed as her deceased husband in order to get information.

Mobius could feel it in his bones. It was Loki and the Variant.

He was going to have to gamble on someone again.

"Casey. I need you to keep this a secret for a while longer. If Ravonna gets wind of this, I'm afraid she'll launch an assault and won't hesitate to eliminate Loki."

Casey nodded without taking time to think, "As long as you need Mobius."

Mobius was surprised that he didn't have to persuade Casey more than that.

After all, he seemed to be the good, loyal employee who never disobeyed.

Casey, seeing his reaction, added with a knowing smile, "You know, I like Loki too. He promised me he'd show me what a fish is and you know? The drink he took from me the other day, he bought me another one and apologized. A villain wouldn't take the time to do something like that right?"

Mobius's throat tightened. Casey was the first person other than himself to acknowledge that there was good in Loki.

"Thanks."

Casey nodded and returned to his desk.

Mobius headed straight for the video archive room. The advantage of being an agent of his rank was that he had unrestricted access to this section of the archives.

He searched through the shelves until he found the videos of Lamentis 1 in 2077.

He sat down in front of one of the small projectors provided for this purpose. He was going to start from the described scene that Casey had shown him.

After entering a few parameters, the screen lit up with Loki being blasted by an old woman.

The noise of the meteors that rained down around

Loki and the one who accompanied him, prevented Mobius from hearing what was being said.He pressed the fast-forward button until Loki and the girl, after some trouble to enter the train, found themselves in a box in the dining car.

He turned up the volume to hear their conversation.

He was amazed at how easily they seemed to converse, despite the jabs on both sides, and couldn't help a twinge of annoyance that he refused to recognize as jealousy.

The variant said to Loki, mockingly, "FYI, that wasn't even a plan."

"Oh, really?"

God how Mobius missed that cheeky attitude. Even when unmasked, Loki still had that irritating confidence.

The variant replied, "Plans have multiple steps. Dressing as a guard and getting on a train is just doing a thing."

She couldn't hold back a yawn.

Loki responded, "Oh, are you a bit tired? Feel free to, you know, get some rest."

One thing Mobius had realized and Casey had confirmed to him just before was that Loki cared more about others than he let on if you paid attention.

The variant grunted and replied, "I can't sleep in a place like this."

"You can't sleep on a train?"

The variant retorted, irritated, "No. I can't sleep around untrustworthy people."

Loki replied, still cheeky, "Oh, right. That's me?"

Fearing he might misinterpret what had been said, Mobius pressed rewind and let the scene play out before him.

The image of Loki nodding in agreement about not being able to sleep near people he couldn't trust was superimposed on the image of Loki sound asleep in his company.

He could not suppress the pang of his heart.

Loki trusted him, Loki considered him trustworthy.

While he was thinking, the video had continued and Loki was now talking about his mother.

Mobius had witnessed Loki's relationship with his mother and his devastation at the news of her death.

Loki's voice had become more hushed, with that hint of fragility he had whenever he spoke of her.

"She was, um... A Queen of Asgard. She was good. Purely decent."

Then the variant and Loki respectively provoked each other about the fact that they were adopted and Loki continued, "You know, when I was young, she'd do these little bits of magic for me. Like turn a flower into a frog or cast fireworks over the water. It all seemed impossible. But she told me that I'd be able to do it too because... Because I could do anything. You wanna see?"

Loki sets off tiny fireworks over his hand.

Mobius could not deny his feelings at that moment.

The sight of magic coming from Loki's hands, pure magic, was enchanting.

Loki continued, "She was the kinda person you'd want to believe in you."

Mobius could not help but whisper, "Loki, I believe in you."

For a few moments he didn't catch the conversation until it was audible again. Apparently they were talking about their love interests.

The variant asked Loki, "How about you? You're a prince. Must've been would-be-princesses or perhaps, another prince." She finished with a wink.

Loki, replied with a serious look, "A bit of both. I suspect the same as you. But, nothing ever..."

The variant finished his sentence, "real."

"Let me find you and I'll prove to you how real it is." Mobius didn't realize he was speaking aloud. He pushed fast-forward again.

The Variant had fallen asleep and Loki looked a little giddy.

Loki waved his hand and was back in his TVA agent costume.

He could wear the illusion of any outfit, and he chose this one. Why stay in these clothes?

Mobius really didn't want to be under any illusions, because how could he imagine that someone like Loki, a prince, a god, would want to claim a belonging to something like the TVA... to someone like Mobius?

Loki had started to dance and sing.

Mobius could not help but laugh. Then his laughter died down as Loki's song became more melancholic,

I stormsvarte fjell, jeg vandrer alene

Over isbreen tar jeg meg frem

I eplehagen står møyen den vene

og synger "når kommer du hjem?"

Men traner danser og fossene stanser

når hun synger, hun synger "kom hjem"

Then seeming to regain his spirits, Loki began to dance and sing happily again as if trying to prevent nostalgia from invading him.

When the music stopped, he joined the Variant and resumed his seat in front of him. Mobius managed to understand what they were saying to each other.

"What did you just sing to look so disturbed?"

Loki looked a little moved and answered him with the voice Mobius knew well, the one he used when he was serious, when he was sincere.

"It's Asgardian, it says:

In storm-black mountains, I wander alone

Over the glacier I make my way

In the apple garden stands the maiden fair and sings,

"When will you come home?"

Loki stopped, apparently moved, and the Variant simply said, "So there's a would-be-princess somewhere..."

Loki chuckled looking so sad before answering her, "I like metaphors you know, it's not a princess it's a prince, and I don't know if he's waiting for me or hoping to see me again, it's not even really my home, but..."

"But you'd like to believe that right?"

Loki nodded.

Mobius, didn't dare to believe that it was him that Loki was talking about, even though he couldn't stop the hope from rising up inside him.

The video continued, much more animated, after a wild fight, both jumped off the moving train and found themselves walking through a kind of desert towards the energy source they apparently needed to reactivate the tempad.

Mobius saw Loki suddenly stop, looking shocked. But Mobius was unable to hear what they were saying, the sound of the meteors again covering their voices.

Suddenly, Loki shouted louder, "But they don't know that!"

And they began to run.

Mobius could see that Loki was repeating something as he ran, an expression that Mobius had never seen on his face. Like he was worried. But he couldn't hear him. He zoomed in closer to try to read Loki's lips and finally succeeded.

Mobius.

_________

The whole serie here : The story of Loki and Mobius

Not beta'd I hope you enjoyed it 🥰

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

Mango, how do the boys dance? I kinda wanna draw them but I’d like to know which styles they’d prefer. (If I’ve missed a post about this I’m very sorry)

Interesting question! I go more in dept about the dark sides in this post but i can summarize and add the others:

Patton doesn’t really know how to dance, but he does enjoy doing it! He can do those big group party dances that are done at town halls for parties and festivals, but aside from that its a lot of “funky suburban dad just trying his best”

Logan is an excellent dancer....as long as he is doing something he knows. He took several classes on the subject, and quickly converted the lessons to memory, so he looks like a natural when it comes to ballroom dancing! But, he’s not actually all that graceful, and if he’s made to improvise, it gets very bad very fast. He will trip and fall.

Roman is a very good dancer! Him and Remus were trained in all kinds of styles as children, so there’s very little they can’t do. Roman’s dancing is a little smoother than Remus’s, but Remus is more energetic, and better at improvising. They both really like the couple’s dances, like waltz, tango, swing, etc.

Dee is a decent dancer, but he doesn’t know many steps. He knows what he has had the patience to let Remus and Virgil teach him, which basically stopped after waltz and swing, because the rest was too fast and too much work. He does know how to bellydance, though, as it is a tradition for Yuan-ti.

Virgil is an amazing dancer, definitely the best in the party. (Logan is better when he’s following his steps, but aside from that, i mean.) He learned everything from Remus, and added in his own flair from the gymnastics he had to practice as a kid. He really enjoys ballroom, ballet, and contemporary, because the first two are fun and fast exercise (and bonding time with Remus), and the second is basically just doing his stretches/training, but in a way that’s more fun and allows him to show off

[square-enix-headcanons]

Hi I wanted to ask you if you could rank the organziation members by their cooking abilities? Like who could pull a 5 stars meal and who would more likely end up with burned cornflakes. And who would like baking more than cooking?

Prefers cooking: Xigbar, Vexen, Saix, MarluxiaPrefers baking: Xemnas, Axel, XionLikes/Dislikes both equally: Xaldin, Lexaeus, Zexion, Demyx, Luxord, Larxene, Roxas

Ranking:

Marluxia. He might not get up to a 5 Star meal, but his cooking is actually really good. He doesn’t do it often, but when he does, it feels vaguely familiar to him; pretty good at improvising, but he also looks up recipes occasionally. While he can go for something fancy, Marly prefers more simple recipes.

Luxord. He’s pretty good at it, and it’s something he enjoys doing in his free time. Usually he starts by looking up a recipe, and then adds his own little spin on it. He especially likes trying out fancy stuff.

Xaldin & Lexaeus are pretty much equal, though their strengths lie in different parts of cooking. Lex is especially good at making the “base” of the food so it’s got a nice look, texture, and taste, while Xaldin is really good at refining food with different spices and getting it from “Nice” to “Delicious”. When they were still apprentices, they often ended up cooking together for that reason, with Aeleus preparing the base and Dilan making the food great.

Demyx. Demyx is actually kinda hard to place; a lot of his stuff comes out wrong, but that’s because he likes to experiment. If he makes stuff that has worked at least once before, it probably works again. (Just don’t give him a recipe, for some reason he’s really bad at following those.)

Larxene. While her cooking is pretty much okay, she really doesn’t enjoy it. And that shows; she has a couple of recipes she knows and can do well enough that they taste good, but she wouldn’t look up new ones, for example.

Zexion. Opposite of Demyx in a way - He can make some really decent food, but only if he has a recipe to follow; he’s bad at improvising. That also means that while his food is nice enough, it’s often a little bit bland, since he tends to not think about spices.

Vexen. Similar to Larxene, he really doesn’t enjoy cooking. It’s time consuming and annoying. Most of the recipes he knows are really simple and fast for that reason.

Saix. He’s like, barely better than Axel; edible, but not great. Interestingly, Saix’s baking skills are a bit better than his cooking skills - But he doesn’t like to bake.

Axel. It’s... Edible, mostly. He won’t starve to death if left to his own devices, but it’s not great food, either. Baking is more fun to him, but that doesn’t mean he’s any better at it. However, there are a few things he can do pretty well.

Xigbar. Usually edible, but that’s pretty much all that can be said about it. He doesn’t really care, to be honest; as long as his food means he doesn’t die, it’s fulfilled its role.

Xemnas. He uh... Doesn’t normally cook. He is not good at it. Let’s leave it at that.

Xion & Roxas share this spot; they do have potential, it’s just that they’ve never done it before, so if you put them in the kitchen, it’s kinda just... “????”. They’ve never cracked an egg before, for example, nor do they have any idea which temperature they should put the stove, etc.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Venom review

You know, Venom really isn’t so bad.

Not that you’d know that. Critics everywhere are saying this movie is bad, with the more lenient reviews calling it “So bad it’s good.” It has been compared to The Happening, I’ve seen it compared to Catwoman, it has been called a disaster, it has been called a pile of shit… and frankly I’m still kind of unsure why after seeing it. I think the “so bad it’s good” argument has a bit more merit, but even then, I don’t actually think the film is bad enough for that. This isn’t Suicide Squad we’re talking about, my brain was on for this whole movie. It’s silly, a bit campy, kind of goofy… but I think Venom is a pretty solid movie.

Of course, right out the door Venom has an uphill battle: it’s a PG-13 version of the notoriously violent brain-eating anti-hero, so of course the lack of gruesome brain-eating is pretty disappointing. That being sad, Venom has been good in more family-friendly environments, like the PS1 Spidey game or the various cartoons, so it’s not an impossible sell. The bigger hurdle is overcoming the character’s connection to Spider-Man, but frankly I think people make a bigger deal out of that than is necessary. Venom is a cool character regardless of Spider-Man or not, and I think this movie does a solid job of establishing that. Venom doesn’t NEED Spider-Man, not necessarily. I certainly wasn’t crying over Spidey’s absence in this movie (though considering where Spidey is as of Infinity War… yeah, you know, probably a good reason why he can’t show up).

Anyway, here’s the story: Eddie Brock is a journalist, and one who kinda does what he believes is right, consequences be damned. Too bad he decided to go up against a corrupt billionaire and ended up destroying his own life and relationships in the process. Eddie gets a chance at redemption when one of said billionaire’s scientists gives him some secret details of what the guy is up to; Eddie sneaks into the labs this guy runs and ends up getting infected with an alien parasite. Now the billionaire wants his alien back, but that’s easier said than done when it has bonded with Eddie quite well, though it turns out to be more of a shoulder devil than a shoulder angel. Can Eddie curb this alien’s violent tendencies and figure out what to do before he gets captured?

Ok so that plot summary is kind of a mess, but then so is the plot. But it’s not a mess in the sense that something like, say, Suicide Squad is, where it’s a trainwreck to the point of being incomprehensible. No, Venom is more of a mess in the sense that the plot shifts gears so often it’s honestly a bit nuts. So much shit happens in the span of this film, it’s almost ludicrous. I believe Tom Hardy said in an interview that about forty minutes were cut, and honestly, it does kind of feel like it when some scenes end abruptly and some plot points just happen so fast. All that being said, the movie is still pretty straightforward and simple, and while there are bumps the ride is mostly enjoyable.

This really comes down to the absolutely brilliant and bonkers performance from Tom Hardy. Muttering in some completely unknown accent and just having the most epic freakouts and reactions imaginable, he seems to be channeling Jim Carrey from the 90s in this film, and I mean that as the highest compliment. While Eddie Brock is a bit cookie cutter in terms of character archetype, Hardy injects quite a bit of charm and likability while still making Brock a flawed but still likable character. Brock is a lot nicer than usual, but he broke into his fiancee’s computer for private files and ended up getting her fired and is okay with Venom eating people he deems as evil, so it’s clear Brock isn’t 100% nice. It really shows that a lot of Hardy’s performance was improvised, and frankly I think that was for the best; Hardy knows what he’s doing, and it pays off well as even in the duller moments Hardy carries this film.

The bickering friendship between Brock and Venom is really amusing, and Venom himself when he shows up is cool. Frankly there’s a lot of homoerotic tension here, which culminates in Venom possessing Eddie’s former flame and making out with him (as I’m sure you’ve already heard everywhere; it makes more sense in context). I guess that level of closeness just comes from being a symbiote. The best part of it all though is Venom’s eventual rationale for becoming a good guy: Venom was a loser on his home planet, just like Eddie, but together they’re a lot cooler. I am not fucking kidding. Seeing such a bizarre and silly rationale played straight like that (or IS it being played straight?) is so absolutely endearing to me; a lot of the stuff in this movie is like that.

The action is mostly ok, but it’s not anything too special. I think that neutering the film to a PG-13 was a huge mistake on Sony’s part, because they could have had a very impressive amount of black comedy on their hands. Oh, there’s still some good dark jokes here and there, but I feel like it would have been so much better if all the gory glory was on display. If they are gonna do Carnage, as the mid-credits scene teases, they better be prepared to up that rating because a neutered Venom is one thing, but a neutered Carnage is inexcusable. But yeah, the action is a bit generic but passable, which is also what can be said for the evil symbiote Riot. He’s an okay villain, but not amazing or anything. You’ll probably be wishing they had just made Carnage the bad guy, though I do have to give them props for using a character that not many people know about. I always like when comic book movies utilize less well known characters.

Overall, this film is a lot of goofy, cheesy fun. It is by no means a perfect film, but I do think it lays a decent foundation for sequels, and most importantly, unlike Sony’s previous attempts to make a Spider-Man movie, this film is very standalone and doesn’t try and shoehorn in a bunch of elements for an expanded universe like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did. So props for that Sony, you’re slowly learning! I’d definitely say check this out, especially if you’re a more casual comic book movie fan or are a big fan of cheesy early 2000s style superhero movies; I will say this is a lot more Raimi Spider-Man than theatrical Daredevil or Catwoman at least. If you’re a hardcore Venom nut who is appalled that he could be PG-13, just skip this and wait to see if they release an extended cut, because I think if there is one it could help the film be a lot better. Bottom line, it’s a fun film if you’re in the right mind for it, and I do think there is enough genuinely good elements to keep it from being bad enough to be “so bad it’s good;” with a little more polish this film could have been genuinely great, and I definitely think sequels can improve upon what was laid out here.

If nothing else, this is 100% genuinely better than the last time Venom appeared in a live-action film. I may have forgiven Spider-Man 3 for a lot of its sins to be able to find it unironically decent… but some  stains just run too deep to ever be fully cleansed. Topher Grace Venom is one such stain.

[theplagueraven]

Wanted to try my hand at something extra teeny tiny, as well as relatively fast, pretty different from what I usually do. Man, it's kinda tough going quick and doing it tiny! Especially with little details and trying to smooth things out. I can barely fit my tools in there to do stuff! I also ran out of clay so I didn't have enough to do her cheek fur or hair tuft (I improvised with the hair tuft after baking and stuff because she looked so EMPTY WITHOUT HER FLUFF). Got a bit scorched in the oven, and I have yet to discover a way to keep light-colored clay from becoming fuzzy from EVERYTHING IN THE ROOM. I tried. T_T SHE'S SO SMOL SHE CAN FIT ON A QUARTER. AND ZEPHYR LOOKS SO GIANT NEXT TO HER, AAHHH Done with colored Premo Sculpey clay, with some white paint for the placements and eye highlights, and grey for the paw pads. Everything else (including eyes!) is all colored clay! Someday I'll have a proper lightbox and a decent camera again OTL

[thisgirlhastales]

Keith unintentionally spies on Lance in the training room  … (Part Two)

… where the Blue Paladin is kicking ass. And Keith’s kind of mesmerized by it. Then he’s more than mesmerized — he’s freaking out because he’s actually kinda sorta into this brutally efficient soldier version of Lance. 

(Part One Here)

By the time Lance gets to the final staging area, Keith is holding his breath. He has no idea how long it’s been (it normally takes him between twenty to thirty minutes to complete this battle simulation himself). But Lance has been powerfully fast, and, even though his chest is heaving, seemingly indefatigable.

At first, Keith thinks the heat spreading throughout his body is in empathy to seeing Lance so sweaty and disheveled. But a snarky, rather Blue Paladin–sounding voice is informing him that, Dude, you are deluding yourself right now, and it’s kinda sad. You know what this is.

And what really sucks is that Keith can’t deny it with the evidence right in front of him. 

Lance is at the penultimate set of barriers, and the reason why Keith usually starts charging with his sword at this point is because, soon enough, the gladiators will do the same — and that is exactly what starts to happen.

But Lance, Lance manages to fire off three more shots, taking down three more gladiators, before he volts himself over his cover and proceeds to beat the crap out of the robots with his rifle. Keith’s mouth is now open far down enough to probably hit his knees.

Lance is not bad when they’re out fighting the good fight. He’s quick, he’s a good shot, and when he’s not bragging about it, he’s a fairly decent pilot. Keith has even said these things out loud to the Blue Paladin, which somehow made Lance even more annoying — because now he tries to goad Keith into saying them all the time, and if Keith didn’t like him so much, it would be ...

Ah, there it is, the snarky voice in his head sounds satisfied, and that is definitely Lance’s tone that his brain has chosen to use, and Keith is so a goner.

The point he was trying to reason out in his head (not the stupid crush thing, let that go for now, freak out later) was that Lance had never really had the opportunity to do something like this — not when Keith and Shiro were the upfront, close-combat fighters, with Pidge, Hunk, and Lance performing range and support roles. It worked best that way. 

(Except yesterday, when Keith hadn’t seen the Galra soldier creeping up on him until it was too late — until the sword stabbed into his back, aiming for his heart, but just missing.)

Lance smashes one gladiator in the face, bringing it down and stomping it into submission while he raises his rife and fires at two more. Then he ducks under the electrified baton of another that got too close — Keith hisses at the near miss, at the sinuous way Lance avoids the hit — and manages to bring his weapon up again, shooting rapidly.

The Blue Paladin makes it to the finish line by rolling beneath and between several robot gladiators, and he’s there, kneeling with his rifle up, gasping for air, when everything powers down and the Castle’s computer announces, “Simulation complete. Final time sixteen doboshes and forty-two ticks.”

Lance had beaten Keith’s best time by nearly four minutes. “Holy crap.” 

While he’d said it very quietly, he had also spoken into silence, so his voice carries, almost painfully loud.

Lance whips around, his eyes widening, and their gazes lock.

“Holy crap to you,” Lance says breathlessly. “Dude, what’re you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping? Keith, you just got out of the healing pod —”

Keith takes a hesitant step forward. Then another. “I’m fine. The healing pod did its job hours ago and — forget me, what the hell was that?”

Author’s Note: Okay, so yeah, this is a thing now. At some point I’ll finish and post on my AO3, but for now it’s rather fun to improvise on the fly and post here :) 

Author’s Edit: And now there’s Part Three Here.

[royal-despair-threads]

Takuma & Petra [Prologue]

Petra was...basically at a loss. How could this guy call himself a musician when he didn't know any Jazz? That was basically blasphemy and, honestly, Petra was embarrassed for him. This simply wouldn't do. Not at all.

"Alright. I can't teach you this shit in one sitting, but the Major 7,  Minor 7, and Minor 9 chords are your new best friends. Can you at least manage to play those on your own?"

Quickly receiving his instrument from its case, Takuma's fingers darted across the fret board, his right hand plucking at the strings as he did so. The chords echoed out one after another, carefully mixed together as to create a nice tune.

"I'm the SHSL Acoustic Guitarist, of course I know how to play those chords. It'd be pretty pathetic if I didn't."

"Well thank fucking god, for all I know, you're one of those musicians that just plays everything by ear," Petra said. She wouldn't even be surprised considering the massive idiocy this guy had displayed earlier.

"Anyway, those chords are pretty commonly used in Jazz. There are obviously a shit ton of others, but it's probably better we start simple," Petra explained. "Now. Choose a random key, I literally could not care less what it is. Just play whatever you want within that key, don't worry about following any specific melodies. It can just be random. A huge part of Jazz is just improvisation. You can do that, can't you?"

Giving the Jazz Singer a cheeky grin, Takuma couldn't help but dart his fingers along the strings, plucking out a little tune that almost sounded jazzy.

"Can I improvise? How do you think I learnt to play guitar?" He almost sounded cocky as he spoke, though a subtle hint of fear still remained in his voice.

What? She'd taken a punch to the face like it was nothing. He had every right to be afraid.

That was decently close to Jazz and the best Petra could probably expect from an amateur. It took dedication to truly accomplish the soul and passion it took to play Jazz. You couldn’t just play a silly little tune and call it a day.

“Oh, so you did learn to play guitar by ear,” Petra said. Or at least something similar. Based off his comment, professional training wasn’t really a ‘thing’ for him. “Whatever. Your tune was okay, but I wouldn’t call it Jazz. Kinda pathetic that a musician can’t perform in multiple genres.”

"Well of course it wasn't Jazz, you can't honestly expect me to pick it up right away, can you?" Takuma chuckled quietly, his fingers pressing down hard on the strings as he did so. Unable to resist the opportunity to show off his skill, his left hand darted along the fret board, a fast-paced, aggressive song that could only be described as Punk echoing out. From there, the tune almost seamlessly transferred into that of an R & B song, his fingers shooting to the headstock, retuning the strings as he played.

Eventually, the song faded into silence. A silence that was instantly broken by Takuma. "I only said I didn't play Jazz. Never said I couldn't perform in multiple genres." Oh god, he sounded cocky again. "Hell, I even did Country music for a bit." His voice suddenly went monotone. "Those were dark days."

So he was able to play all those genres, but not Jazz? Petra just pursed her lips in frustration. How could a self respecting musician just...never play Jazz before? She was somewhat disgusted. Was she supposed to be impressed he could play a bunch of genres he didn’t care about?

“Yeah, no shit those were dark days,” Petra said. “You played fucking country before Jazz? Come the fuck on.”

She ran a hand through her hair.

“Have you even heard any Jazz songs before? You have to have at least heard It Don’t Mean a Thing If it Ain’t got that Swing? Or Swing, Swing, Swing. Or even Fly Me to the Moon.”

Please dear god tell her he wasn’t that hopeless.

Absentmindedly plucking at the strings, Takuma gave the redhead a small smile. "To be fair, I only started playing different genres because people asked me to, so I guess I just never met anyone who was really into Jazz." The smile twitched for a moment, just a moment, as he continued. "We don't talk about the kid who asked for County, people say that if you do, you'll never be seen again."

The mischievous glint to his eyes made it clear he was merely joking with that last part, but when he heard Petra's next question, a more thoughtful expression spread across his face.

"Not a big fan of Frank Sinatra, something about his voice just doesn't work for me, I dunno. I prefer the works of Charles Mingus and Miles Davis, though I did also enjoy listening to the other songs you mentioned." He paused for a moment. "That said, I haven't heard any of your work, so for all I know, you could be better than all of them combined." He made sure to flash the singer as charming a smile as he could manage, most likely hoping to get a reaction from her.

So he'd never met anyone who was really into Jazz before. Wow, that really showed what poor shape the world was in, lacking in Jazz fans. Absolutely disgusting.

"You'll never be seen again? What did you do? Murder him? Is his vengeful spirit out for blood?" Petra asked teasingly, though she actually seemed pretty interested in his answer.

"Mm, well, I only bring up Frank Sinatra because he's more entry level. Your knowledge of Jazz is better than I expected, even if you can't play it," Petra said. "My work is mostly covers, dumbass. People don't exactly come to Jazz lounges to hear anything recently written, they want to hear the classics. I'm a singer, not a songwriter. I have like two fucking originals and I didn't even write them. What about you, you actually write your own songs?"

"Oh, I didn't do anything to the kid, it'd put a serious stain on my permanent record." Takuma spoke in a relaxed tone, similar to that of someone talking of the weather. "That being said, one of my friends knew a guy, who knew a guy, who my lawyer tells me i'm not allowed to say anything about." All of this was clearly a joke, but at the same time, one could never be too sure with him. "It's a shame too, that kid owed me ¥500."

However, with the next question, Takuma suddenly seemed to appear rather timid, his grin seeming more forced, and his eyes glancing anywhere but Petra. "I-i mean, I've kinda been working on, erm, one or two songs in my spare time." He couldn't help but raise his hands up, palms outwards, in a worried manner. "T-they're not any good though, the lyrics are rather boring, and the chords don't flow together yet..."

Suddenly remembering who he was talking to, the guitarist's head quickly shook, his usual grin returning as he ceased the action, a hand reaching up to brush his hair back to its usual state. "We're getting off topic here, you have some original music? I'd love to hear it sometime, if you don't mind."

Petra’s excitement and interest evaporated at Takuma’s response, returning to a bored, almost annoyed, one.

“I genuinely have no idea what you’re even trying to say anymore so I’m not even going to attempt to respond to that clusterfuck,” Petra sighed.

As for his music, on the subject of it, Petra couldn’t help but notice the drastic attitude change, from bizarre and cocky, to a nervous mess. She smiled to herself. Oh? Was this a weakness she’d spotted? Good to know. She would have to build him up to really break him down. Well, that was an option anyway, she was still mulling it over. “Well dear, it probably won’t sound good if you have such little confidence while playing. You know you can make nearly anything sound good if you play with confidence. You mentioned lyrics, do you sing as well?”

And there went the moment of vulnerability, but that was fine. Petra had already seen what she needed.

“You want to hear my original stuff? I can’t imagine why, but whatever. Do you want me to sing for you now or something?”

[metalindex-hu]

Like a worldview – interview with Plini

Like a worldview – interview with Plini - http://metalindex.hu/2018/08/23/like-a-worldview-interview-with-plini/ -

It’s not your first time to play in Budapest. How do you like the city and the venue?

From purely music prospective, the crowd is always amazing. The first time we can with Animals [as Leaders], the crowd was insane. The venue is beautiful, and we came back, and it was just as beautiful, and now we’re back again and it’s still beautiful.

Do you like the architecture of Budapest? Have you had any chance to take a look at here?

Yes, we are only here about a day, but always trying to walk around. Like this morning, we went across the green bridge [Szabadság-híd] into the town a little bit, and the drummer [Chris Allison] playing with me tonight…it is his first time here, so I was walking with him and just see his reaction to it. It was funny because he was just like…’holy fuck, this is beautiful’. Yes, it is an incredible city.

How you started to have any kind of connection or relationship to music? What was the start?

When I was growing up, I guess when I was 5 or 6 years old, my family was to listen to The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and like that, and I just started to tap along, and then eventually that turned into me wanting to play drums. And then I finally started playing drums, but it’s too loud because we lived in an apartment, so I played ukulele for a little bit until it broke. And then I got a guitar to replace the broken ukulele, in that kind of set this whole thing off.

Have you ever learnt playing guitar, or just managed to grab it, and started to play?

Yes, I just picked it up. I tried learning some scales, but I found it really boring. So I just started to learn songs by bands I like, and then techniques from guitarist I like.

What do you think, in the life of a guitarists or a guitar player, how important the role of the talent, and how important the amount of practicing is?

I think talent doesn’t necessarily matter because I know a lot of guitarist, and I know that they all have different talents, like some people are just naturally really good at playing fast or really good at learning music, and others are terrible at playing fast but they play really expressively. I guess the most important thing is to figure out what you’re naturally good at, and then work on that, because you can become more unique and expressive in that skills.

You told that drums were quite loud, and you told a bit about the broken ukulele, and later on you ended up with guitar, but why guitar was the next one, why not say piano or something like that?

I’m not sure. I can’t exactly remember, but it might be that I started getting into metal music around that time and so I was getting interested in the stuff that metal bands are doing. I guess the most interesting part to me if not the drums is all the riffs.

Where your inspiration is coming from? I know about cheese, but what else is inspiring you?

Totally stuff like this [around me]. Traveling around, getting to see different places in the world, getting to meet different people and starting to think about writing music. Sort of the same way as people who write books. The only way that they get continued inspiration is by doing things and meeting people, so they have stories to play with and I think the same with music.

I had the impression that touring all over the globe is quite a tiring job and most of the musician are simply trying to survive it without getting inspired.

I guess it can be but I never was in a band until I started doing this. So I’m sort of invented my own idea what touring should be, I think it should be totally fun, surrounded by friends and that’s not tiring. We try to sleep as much as possible, walk around and eat.

How are you writing music? You are the only person who is responsible for everything, or you can get inspirational or input from the other band members?

Usually I recorded demos, so that includes some bad bass playing and programmed drums and then send it to them and see what they think. Hopefully they like it and then from there, we can work on it together and they write their own parts to be more interesting.

In your mind or in your practice, writing the music or writing the song is a step-by-step work or it’s quite a spontaneous one?

It’s a bit of both. There are parts of it that are quite logical, like arranging a song or layering different instruments, but a lot of the time it’s random sparks of inspiration that make the song that I end up finishing and releasing.

Your main occupation is to play in a band, manage this band and do studio works, tours, whatever else. Do you have any time remaining over that?

Not really. Even today we were driving from Bratislava which was about two and a half hours, and I spent most of that time messaging somebody that I’m hoping to collaborate with next year, so just talk about how we can make it work, and when he’s free and started getting the logistics of that. It’s a kind of…like a non-stop [job], just planning ahead and head and ahead. But then I guess I have free time like when we got here, we walked around for two-three hours, so it feels quite balanced.

If I’m right, in the past you used to use Primetone pics, and I think playing fast music you need a sharp one.

I started using the same pick that Jakub Zytecki using which is the [Jim Dunlop] Jazz III, I’m not sure exactly which one it is, but it has a grip on it, that’s not like the standard one. I found that just the slightly thinner pick is a little easier for the fastest stuff.

I just read in one of your interviews that your opinion was to have very little change with the instruments, with the guitars, but nowadays we have many-many virtuoso guitar player, so what’s the reason behind if not the instrument?

I guess I’m not actually that interested in the guitar. I mean have one what I really like, it is enough for me because I want to make music not make guitar noises I guess.

How important part of your music is based on improvisation?

In the beginning I guess it all comes from improvisation because I start up just playing whatever happens, but then there’s quite a large amount of work between the original thing that I play and the final product.

Vast majority of your songs are more or less continuous or ‘endless’ solos. How easy is to learn them, to remember them?

It’s getting easier and easier I guess. I have decent muscle memory so if it comes to playing a song that we haven’t played for a year or two, usually it comes back quite fast, and I think it helps that I played it in the first place.

Do you need any kind of warm-up before starting a gig?

If the temperature is cold then definitely. But I find the best warm-up for me is just being relaxed and in a good mood because none of the music is too difficult and I’m not too worried about making mistakes. Usually if I make a horrible mistake I find it funny, and people in the crowd will find it funny rather than…I don’t think it will ruin the song, unless I were ruin three whole minutes of the song but that hasn’t happened or that maybe happened once. So the best warm-up is just getting into it, kind a good friend of mine, I can just go and have fun.

How many time do you have for your family, how they can tolerate this lifestyle?

I guess they are very supportive and excited for me. And it works out that I’m maybe home half of the year or maybe a little less than half of the year, which is still quite a lot. I mean I live with my family so I see them more than a lot of people would see their families anyway.

What was your impression on the Brutal Assault two years ago, and now?

The first one that was by far the biggest show that I ever played in my life and then to have such a positive crowd response was amazing. This time, I kind of had high expectations as because I’ve done it before, I knew that everything’s great, the catering is great, the production and all the crew are really nice, but then isn’t exceeded my expectations this time. It’s an amazing festival.

I have seen the half-moon on your guitar tabulatures, on the CD’s and also on your guitar. Does it have any kind of specific meaning for you?

Not that I remember. I think the artist who did my first EP just put one on there on a whim and then I really liked it so it ended up being on the next album artwork, and then just became a sort of logo. I guess in a loose way I like space and planets, but nothing specific about that.

Your guitar tabs are available in different kinds of shops. Are you writing them on your own? How they were created?

That is a guy that works for Sheet Happens who published them all. I send all the individual parts to him and he transcribes and then sends to me and I make sure it’s all correct. It’s kinda crazy how good he is, like he knows which fret it will be in on which string even it’s the same note. He can usually get to that 95% right straight away, and then I make the changes, and that’s it. Sometimes he transcribe in a way that’s easier to play than the way I originally played it and I end up learning that.

You are running your own band from Sydney from Australia but you are also involved in Intervals from Canada. Where the relationship has been coming from?

I guess from the internet. We are both people who play guitar and write music and sort of in a similar way. We got to know each other just because of that like ‘hey man, your project is cool’, and then started chatting eventually Matt, and got along really well as people as well, and that’s how I kind of just crossed over.

Is it possible to make any kind of practicing together because you are living on the opposite side of the globe?

Before we did those couple of tours, we would get together for a day or two before the tour started, but I guess because the quality of the musicians we play with is just so good, that everyone learns their parts, and we just come together and everyone kind of logs in quite quickly.

So you don’t really need long practicing sessions or to train together.

No, I mean in an ideal world, we probably would have a week or something but usually the first show will be pretty good, the second shall be good and then from there it’s hopefully really good.

If I’m right then you are doing different kind of workshops during tours, but what about teaching?

Teaching…it’s something that I like doing…I’ve never done much regular teaching so having a student that I see every week or anything like that. When I’m on tour I really like meeting people who were working on similar things or interested in what I’m doing…it’s a fun thing to do.

Are you doing workshop now here in Budapest, or not at the moment?

No, this is the first tour in a while when I haven’t done anything and I actually really like, because I have more free time. So right now I would normally be doing a lesson and then going to be rushing to have dinner and play the show. It’s nice to have a little bit extra time.

What the music does mean for you?

That’s a big question! I don’t know…I guess it’s the one thing that I enjoy everything about. Like if I go to a restaurant, I’ll be listening too what’s happening in the music, or I’m going to go to a concert or I’m thinking about like how can I make this river into a song, or something like that. Just a kind of like a worldview.