#might digitalize it later when I have time I think it'd look cool :)

[quill-n]

me: at least 7 hours of sleep please

my brain: 4-6 take it or leave it

anyways, here's some practice pen doodles of them from earlier <3

also some tiny minecraft doodles to fill the weird spaces because this was a scrap sheet of misprinted paper lol

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Something I Noticed When Organizing My Playlists

99% of the world might use Spotify... I'm one of those 30-year-old dinguses who still uses iTunes. Yes, you heard right... iTunes... I have a digital music collection, I carry around a 2011-era iPod Classic that all my music is stored on (never to disappear because of a random rights issue or whatever), and I have a few meticulously arranged playlists... I prefer it this way, when not listening to music through physical media.

I have a playlist for every year in music collection. For example, my playlist for 1967 contains over 400 songs... It's probably my favorite year in popular music... And they're all in chronological order. The playlist starts with 'Break On Through (To the Other Side)' by The Doors, the opening track of their eponymous album released on January 4, 1967... And ends with a song called 'Take Out a Loan' by Ray Yeager... Actually, a release date or year for that song - to go on a tangent - has never been found. Most of his singles were released in 1966, and this undated one? I have it in 1967, my gut tells me it's from 1967. Discogs, 45cat, and other record databases have no evidence of a release year... Because there doesn't seem to exist any data! Okay, if we take this obscure country rock song out of the equation, the playlist ends with a couple of songs that were *in fact* released in 1967... But no month is given... So they're all "unspecified 1967 releases"... Songs like 'Time is Set For Now' by a Cleveland, Missouri-based garage rock group called Fugitives (which I have to specify, because it seems a million bands were called "The Fugitives" back then), 'I Won't Be Your Fool' by The Oscar Five, and 'Cafe Creme' by Christine Pilzer...

If I lost you there, I apologize...

Anyways... These playlists, which I created over the course of years in my spare time, helped give me an idea of when this music all came out and what was out at a given time... Like, what was available in April 1967, and what was a few months old by that point... Then I place myself in that timeframe, and it's like... This is almost a snapshot of the cultural wave, what was out, what was in, what wasn't, etc. etc.

So sometimes, in a given year, I'll notice that the sound changes fast, as does the zeitgeist in real life... It's a very hard thing to keep up with. Suppose I put on my 1967 playlist, and I hear plenty of songs that sound very 1967... Psychedelic, less traditional poppy, having a bit of an edge... But sometimes you'll hear an example of something very, say, 1965... In the mix, as if the people making the song weren't entirely up to speed with what was going on, and just made what was considered a standard... And it'll sound a little dated. Like, this song is from 1967?? I would assume, by listening to it, that it's from a few years prior! And then you'll hear something a year ahead of its time... It's an art form, much like film and animation, that is rapidly changing...

I was thinking about last year's crop of animated movies, and even 2021's for that matter... I look at Disney Animation's films, like RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, ENCANTO, and STRANGE WORLD... And I see what their cousin studio Pixar has been up to post-ONWARD... And other studios as well...

I think, now that we're in a post-SPIDER-VERSE age of CG animated movies, there's some questioning as to why Disney Animation - the original American feature animation studio that's still standing, and one of the big guns - still sticks with the house style that they started using with BOLT and TANGLED way back in the late aughts/early '10s, and arguably perfected with some of the later movies, like MOANA.

And I think... STRANGE WORLD, their latest movie... Release that in 2015, it'd be cutting edge and it'd be greeted - I feel - with a sort of "wow, cool!"-type reaction. In post-SPIDER-VERSE times, it's more of the same, same as it ever was. Ditto RAYA and ENCANTO. They are undeniably well-made, handsomely-crafted films with ace animation and effects work. Their $150m+ budgets definitely show! But they also seem to look backwards, visually... Or do they?

These films were all greenlit before any footage from INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE got out to the public... And yes, before SPIDER-VERSE came out, very stylized CG pictures *did* exist. Disney Animation themselves experimented with promising and exciting technology that gave us the very hand-drawn-looking PAPERMAN way back in 2012, and the painterly FEAST in 2014... But then they didn't really do much with those discoveries afterwards, for the features anyways. Shorts still kept some of that alive. Reel FX made a very "moving concept art"-looking movie with the innovative THE BOOK OF LIFE in 2014. THE PEANUTS MOVIE in 2015 and CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS in 2017 are also stepping stones to SPIDER-VERSE. Heck, I'd even throw in 2009's CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS.

But I'd argue that SPIDER-VERSE was the movie that really, really solidified this move towards more stylized CGI. It's no surprise that we're seeing more of these kinds of movies now, not just from originator Sony Pictures Animation, who went on to give us the equally envelope-pushing THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES in 2021. Look no further than PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM...

But these were greenlit *after* SPIDER-VERSE came out. And before someone brings it up, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH is not the same film as the one that was scheduled for a 2018 release and then scrapped four years before expected completion. That was Chris Miller's PUSS sequel, NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES. It was likely going to look just like the first PUSS IN BOOTS, that he directed, and the other SHREK movies. THE LAST WISH is an entirely different iteration, an entirely different project, and it began active development *after* SPIDER-VERSE came out. Anyways- Moving on...

Disney's animated features up until this past year... *weren't* greenlit after SPIDER-VERSE... STRANGE WORLD, a 2022 movie release, was on the boards as early as winter 2017, right after its director - Don Hall - finished up his work as a "co-director" on MOANA. Par for the course with an animated movie of this caliber. The teaser for INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE debuted at the end of 2017, almost a whole year after STRANGE WORLD got put into active development.

STRANGE WORLD was likely locked as a typical house style WDAS movie, and maybe Hall himself wanted it to look like that, too... Given that he directed BIG HERO 6, and co-directed MOANA... STRANGE WORLD possibly could've opened earlier if not for a particular problem that occurred. You see, Hall was pulled off of STRANGE WORLD to take over RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, which saw a baffling director shake-up... Quite close to release, may I add. STRANGE WORLD could've released earlier if not for that, or maybe not... WDAS, exing COVID from the equation for a second, usually aimed for one a year. Every Thanksgiving season, with some exceptions. Had a deadly virus never happened, RAYA would've hit theaters in Thanksgiving 2020... And it likely would've been followed by ENCANTO in Thanksgiving 2021, which it *did* make it to, and then STRANGE WORLD after. That all has to do with scheduling and Disney figuring out its usually massive movie slate and where everything - Disney, Pixar, Marvel, etc. - falls. One might suggest... After SPIDER-VERSE, why didn't Disney just take STRANGE WORLD and reroute its visual style? They had plenty of time, right?

From what I understand, everything is probably determined early on: Look, assets, pipeline, etc. A big change in that, I assume, would throw a lot of things off... And up the budget, significantly. So, STRANGE WORLD was likely all set in that department before footage of SPIDER-VERSE even got out... If any WDAS movie is to embrace a completely different and dynamic visual style, it would be a film greenlit after John Lasseter's tenure as Chief Creative Officer, and probably after the 2018 release of SPIDER-VERSE...

WISH is the studio's next film, which was directed by Chris Buck. The only CG films he directed at Disney Animation prior were the FROZEN movies, which utilized the TANGLED style through and through. At Sony Animation, he directed SURF'S UP, and before Disney's purging of 2D features, he directed TARZAN, which used a ton of CGI. WISH has another director, too, Fawn Veerasunthorn. This is her directorial debut of any kind, be it feature or short or television series episode.

... and from what I've seen, WISH promises to be that proverbial PAPERMAN: The Movie endeavor. Would be fitting, given Buck previously directing a 2D film. Question is, was this a post-SPIDER-VERSE greenlight? Did SPIDER-VERSE's very existence influence the look of the movie? Did it tell Disney Animation heads that that PAPERMAN look *could* indeed sustain a feature after all?

Even then, the previous string of features were started at one time, and released at another. In those four years, a lot changes in the film world, the animation world, the cultural zeitgeist... Big changes just can't happen at last minute just like that! And if they do, it'll certainly cost.

This all reminds me of THE JUNGLE BOOK...

Coincidentally, Walt Disney's animated musical adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling stories was released in 1967... Look at that.

And yet, a lot of that film feels like it belongs in 1965. Maybe a year earlier.

The vultures, well known to be based on The Beatles (to the point where the studio wanted the Fab Four to actually voice them), are strong evidence of this... But they resemble a certain era of The Beatles that was long over by the time the movie was completed and released...

It's probably partially because of the film crew not being entirely in tune with the ever-changing maelstrom of pop culture and the music scene. Like, do you think 63-year-old Walt Disney in mid-1965 was interested in being up to date on The Beatles and other groups that teens/young adults were into at the time? Ditto much of his equally old film crew that handled the movie?

The film's principle elements were likely pretty much locked and in place by the end of 1965... Because of animation taking a lot longer, with less technological aid, back then... But The Beatles vultures in that film are very much based on the band's pre-RUBBER SOUL era. RUBBER SOUL came out in December of 1965 and marked a noticeable shift in the individual Beatles' songwriting talents. They looked a bit different, too, and they would call it quits on touring months later...

The pre-RUBBER SOUL era. The image. The seemingly fun-loving moptop image that the Fab Four tried to shed as they matured musically. THE JUNGLE BOOK was released in October 1967... That was only one month before MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR's US LP configuration was released, and a few months after their more experimental and adventurous album SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND... And that came off of the psychedelic and equally adventurous REVOLVER (which came out in August 1966), and the 'Strawberry Fields Forever'/'Penny Lane' single in February 1967... A lot happened in those three years! Night-and-day difference!

THE JUNGLE BOOK's vultures are very much modeled after the 1964/65-era Beatles, and other British Invasion groups of the period. They could easily be caricatures of, say, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. In fact, one of the voices of these vultures was British Invasion lad Chad Stuart, the late Chad Stuart, from the folk duo Chad & Jeremy. Stuart himself joked on the 2007 behind-the-scenes documentary for the film "They couldn't get The Beatles." The filmmakers wisely had the vultures sing a timeless barbershop quartet-style song instead of the very 1964-sounding pop song that was planned early on, that would've dated that entire portion of the movie. In its own release year! They would've been too late, like a sort-of reverse-SOUTH PARK situation. That'd be like a modern animated movie referencing, I don't know, 'Old Town Road' or something.

And also, by late 1967... What hip American teen or young adult was jamming to Louis Prima? He was their parents' music! A lot of that film's jazz soundtrack recalls big band and swing from the 1940s and 1950s, though the dialogue from the movie definitely suggests a more modern sensibility than, say, THE SWORD IN THE STONE. Interestingly, Louis Prima continued to work with Disney after THE JUNGLE BOOK came out. He did additional music for the studio's 1973 film ROBIN HOOD that only showed up on record, and was at one point supposed to be in THE RESCUERS... Moving on from Prima, you also have Baloo, voiced by contemporary comedian Phil Harris. Much of Baloo's talk in the movie definitely places it in the 1960s...

And yet despite these anachronisms, Walt's movie still struck a chord with audiences of all ages in 1967/68. It was among the year's blockbusters, such as THE GRADUATE and BONNIE & CLYDE. Being the last animated feature Walt himself personally oversaw certainly must've helped, too. In Europe, as usual for a Disney animated movie, it collected some serious coin. It was an incredibly popular film in West Germany, of all places (where it made an impression on a particular German boy named... Andreas Deja), and it was a massive hit in France... So, the dated stuff either didn't matter, or it worked in the movie's favor in some way or another. Maybe people in their 30s and 40s, a little behind the counterculture and maybe more into Frank Sinatra than Bob Dylan, were delighted to see that the funny singing orangutan in the movie was voiced by Louis Prima.

Even today, with all of our technological advances, not all animation can keep up with an ever-changing zeitgeist and audience tastes. Thankfully for WDAS, RAYA and ENCANTO seem to be quite popular and well-liked movies, especially the latter and how *that* blew up circa December 2021/January 2022. Ultimately, good storytelling that resonates with people helps these things last. It's what helped THE JUNGLE BOOK in 1967, for sure, to use that film as an example once more. That film also did fantastically in re-releases, and on video, it was part of Disney's Platinum/Diamond/Signature series. So, yeah, RAYA and ENCANTO - despite being released well after SPIDER-VERSE - are still successful in their own ways. STRANGE WORLD was like a horse being shot before it could even show if it could race, and even that seemed to do well enough on Disney+, too. Some of us may look at the visuals of these movies and think "They're nice and all, but c'mon Disney! You gotta experiment and try new things! Innovation! You're making the same movie you've been making since 2013!" And yet... I have to keep in mind, a lot of things in animated movie production are probably locked down and determined well before a frame is even animated, before a design is even rendered, etc.

[koushirouizumi]

Meanwhile with DigiAdvs 02's Daisuke+Co. & KouTai [and some O.C.s]

Koushiro: I could try cleaning up the picture a bit, but it might prove "difficult". It's pretty small, and... "low quality." (Showing others Again) Koushiro: We may not get as much "detail" as we hope. But based on this alone, we can "see" some obvious details already. Koushiro: They have dark (Black) hair, dark (Brown) eyes... The hair is a little "spiky" at the ends, but not overly so. (*Pointed Blinking*) It's just how it naturally falls. They're short... and small of build. Maybe somewhat wider shoulder width than {mine} the average person we'd know... Taichi: (I wonder if they played sports at all?) Daisuke, muttering to Taichi: (They said they weren't very "sporty". I think they might have ONCE though, but it's probably not "just because" of that... not like your training) Koushiro: ...And they wear all black. (*Showing*) Chosen not Koushiro: (Like a 'goth'.) Hikaru, Staring: Hikaru: It's true Shane wore black often back then, but sometimes wore blue jeans and the like too... Miyako: That's still very ("goth") like that, though!! Iori: They might stick out in a crowd in Odaiba... it'd look out of place at my residence and the dōjō too, if my family didn't "know" you all already. Daisuke: Yeah, but this was in the U.S. Hikaru: I did live there when I was younger, but we moved by the time I entered high school... that's when I met you. My old friends and some family are still there but... (*trails off*) Daisuke: (Hikaru doesn't understand why someone looking like Hikaru's long time childhood *online* 'mutual' Shane would still be tied "there" instead of "here". Hikaru might still not believe it's them...) SHANE: ... Shane: (/I'm close enough I can touch Hikaru./) Shane: (I saw Hikaru "in-between" but even now Hikaru looks a bit different...) Shane, carefully reaching a hand out, trying to gently touch at the ends of Hikaru's curly hair... suddenly half-Physical: SHANE: (!!!) (*FADES*) HIKARU: !! I Felt something?? (Just... now?) Hikari: What happened?? Hikaru: From the back, I felt "something"... TAICHI, Looking at Daisuke: DAISUKE, LOOKING BACK: (I don't think Hikaru would mind if Shane "revealed" themself now, but Hikaru might get emotional...) SHANE, Digitally floating back and higher, "out of sight": (I'm Not Going To) Wormmon, nudging Ken, noticing Tailmon staring INTENTLY at said spot: KEN: ... Ken, Looking at Daisuke: You said you actually "saw" or encountered someone like this person? Daisuke, Nervous Laughing: It's A Long Story But Hikaru: But Shane disappeared over 10 years ago... Koushiro: Do you remember any other specific details? Hikaru: Shane suddenly stopped coming to the local synagogue's services, which was suspicious even for Shane... once people there and Shane's family realized Shane was truly missing and not just "off on Shane's own", they put out a notice. But not even Shane's few family members left there could find Shane after, and the room was "spotless". I didn't find out until the news showed the report... Ken, Quiet: ...Like when I... left. Hikaru, still doesn't know Everything from when Ken was the Kaiser but had Ideas since they had some private Talks: Maybe... but there were no signs of struggle, and not even a message left... just that the computer chair was pushed back a little, and the screen was "on". But all it even showed was part of the desktop. And the Internet browser was open, but not on any page. Just the default. Like Shane was only just logging in and hadn't actually started using it yet. (We e-mailed back and forth a lot...) Koushiro: There's still a chance something to do with the Digital World happened, but... Daisuke, Didn't Tell them Shane Has A Partner: KEN, Looking at Daisuke: (We Need To Talk.) DAISUKE: (Later!!) SHANE: (...) (Oh, so that's Daisuke's other Queer-platonic Life partner.) (I recognize them now.) (They had a cool Partner 'Mon and helped Daisuke out a lot as support back then. But they're... kind of Stiff.) SHANE: (I'm {probably} going to have to keep this up for a while...)