#this is a neat thing to analyze

[kitxi-official]

I have too many thoughts on the new digital circus episode. So here they are because I need to get them out

One thing that really stood out to me from this episode was the cinematography and writing. Somehow the episode felt super uncanny and I couldn't understand why... until it came to me.

It wasn't a big adventure.

It's literally just them, in a fast food joint, working. Somehow, the other wacky, fantastical adventures made the one semi-realistic feel... wrong. I kept expecting some kind of build up into something bigger, but outside of gangle's descent and release, it was tame.

In regards to filmmaking, some ideas have to be dramatized to become interesting to the audience. For example, a healthy relationship won't be as interesting to viewers as a dramatic one that has to be built upon. So for me, this episode being so... simple, was such a fascinating writing choice. Normally this kind of writing choice in media is bad, it can lead to an uninterested audience. But in this episode, it really showed how disconnected the circus is from reality. Caine's adventures are built as stories; they have a quest, a build up, a peak, and then a return. The lack of campaign, quest, objective, was really put into perspective for me, "Oh right, I forget that this is what reality would be like." Not only is the main cast disconnected from reality, the audience is too

[wttcsms]

horribly short summary of what im trying to accomplish here, but if you were to read a fic featuring character, a soldier honorably discharged and is officially off the battlefield and yet he can’t seem to shake off the war from clinging to his body, and he’s basically a bit of a mess and feels incapable of returning to ordinary life and there’s you, the sweetest thing in the whole world, and he keeps trying to tell you he’s no good and you’re there to help him with everything (and it kills him a bit, to see you wasting your time to help him, and it kills him because he feels like he shouldn’t be the type of person who needs help) and !! just slowburn and falling in love and just read the tags for the vibe ok, who would it be for

[spock-adoodledoo]

permanent starter call for apothecary side character enjoyers specifically tianyu likers

[egophiliac]

hiii i have a question about your cheka !! did you use the professional or essential version of spine for it (im assuming you're using spine??) :0000 was debating on making some self indulgent sprites myself and i didnt know which version to buy

I use Professional! I don't use it as a professional anymore, but it works just as well for small silly things like fan-chibis. :D personally, I think the Professional features are absolutely essential (despite the cheaper version being called Essentials. it's a lie.) especially if you want to do a Twst-style chibi --I've stared at those little dudes for a looooong time trying to figure out how they work, and they're definitely using meshes, if not also constraints.

meshes are the big dealbreaker for me, since they let you weight the image to bones, and get actual deformation and bendiness:

(ignore the feather floating away, I didn't wanna fix it for the example :')

and of course, constraints are the other big thing! IK is the most obvious one:

but there's also ones that allow relative manipulation of other bones, paths, and all kinds of other fun stuff! I learned about keyable path spacing a while back and it absolutely blew my mind that you can just...DO that. god.

uhhhh yeah, sorry, I'm a Spine stan! I think Professional >>>> Essentials, although the price difference is, unfortunately, pretty steep (if it helps, I believe you can upgrade at any time for the difference in price, and for individuals it's a one-time purchase with perpetual free updates). it has a little bit of a learning curve, but once I got used to the UI I found it really intuitive, and there's plenty of documentation and tutorials!

tl;dr it's pretty expensive if you aren't using it professionally -- and you could definitely get good results using Essentials if you're clever about rigging -- but Professional is far and away the superior version.

[rohirric-hunter]

.

[timeloop-angel]

Ok so. I'm memorizing literary devices to better my media analysis and if i got this right the difference between allegory and allusion is that allegory is integrated as a larger, constant part of the overall narrative while allusion is more contained version, generally restricted to certain parts and/or as a piece for the allegory.......right?

Its like motif vs themes. Right? The allusion is the brick used to build the wall called allegory like how themes do that with motif

[gobstoppr]

and btw im in my hater arc rn. as time goes on the more i find a lot of 'fandom' stuff insufferable (i like art n stuff. just the way that fandom refits every media to fit a single mold and set of boring archetypes is exhausting.)

i just get really easily annoyed lately. and have been unfollowing people on a whim a lot. its not personal i promise

[star--anon]

How do you tell when you talk about traditionally romantic things in a platonic context way too much?

Are there any ways to tell that I talk too much about platonic relationships?

Because I just got kicked out of a server for “fetishizing friendships and aromantics” and I’m wondering if maybe that could be a sign?

[heartbeetz]

I can't even really explain what it is about Anton's voice that I like so much. But I like it. It's good.

[salmoncakepls]

..

[cy-fi-theansweris42]

Since I'm trying to remember my old thoughts and headcanons for Psychonauts, I'm about to reblog a bunch of old posts

So... sorry in advance for the sudden spam of reblogs, lol.

[erabundus]

I AIN'T NO COWARD TO USE ANON. First of all, the way you capture all the differences between the puppet's stages of life? Chef's kiss. Kabukimono's innocence and wonder, Balladeer's creepiness and grandiosity, Ren's exhaustion and just wanting to carve a spot for himself. All of it is So Tasty to read be it in replies or hc posts. I love to bits how Ren and Aether pull and push each other around every time they interact. And you!!! You're always so nice and easy to interact w/, a delight to see on the dash and your posts always brighten the day a little more w/ all the shenanigans. So v glad we started writing together. ^^

SEND    YOUR    OPINION    ON    ANON

[kocch]

“and you’re MY superhero” 

i find interesting how when el was showing mike how he never even wrote he loves her, it’s all from mike, from mike, from mike, mike goes and says “that’s ridiculous. you know what i think of you…” and then goes on to say how incredible el is and that she’s a superhero. but even now when being confronted mike still can’t address how he feels about el. it would be so simple to say it right then and there, but mike doesn’t. he talks about caring for her, about what he thinks of her, never about loving her and how he feels about her.

mike also keeps externalising things if that makes sense? in the sense that he never speaks of what’s going on with him, it’s all pointing towards el. you are this, and this, and you can’t let them ruin this and us. el isn’t talking about what happened at rink-oh-mania. she’s telling mike how her lack of words has made her feel in their relationship, and mike redirects that responsibility to others instead.

they both shut down each other in this scene and can’t reach a common ground to really listen and understand each other. el does it when she dismisses mike’s experience with bullying saying he doesn’t understand and mike does it when he says what el is saying is ridiculous and that others are to blame for it. and then, none of this is worked out later in the season

anyhow, the point of this post was to point out the word choice in mike’s dialogue. how they went with think instead of feel

[clockwayswrites]

Danny in Metropolis Ch2/Part 1

You all voted 🌆- I deliver! masterpost this is a first draft, please no editing or concrit <3

Kon knocked on the door frame of Clark’s office. The door was open. It always was unless Clark was on the phone or working on some story he didn’t feel Kon and Jon should see (as if Kon wasn’t a superhero too). Clark must be editing at the moment with how he was frowning at the screen with his nose all crookedly scrunched up. The expression cleared with Kon’s knock, and Clark turned around with a little smile.

“Heya Kon, how was school today?”

Kon shrugged. School was fine, but it had been another day that Danny hadn’t eaten any lunch except for the apple sliced Kon had stubbornly nudged his way. “Actually, I kinda had something, like, tangentially related to school I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Sure of course!” Clark quickly cleared off the second chair in the room and set the reference books on the floor at his feet.

Kon had a feeling the books wouldn’t be in a neat stack for long. For being Superman, Clark could be incredibly clumsy. Kon thought it might come from having to be so careful with every little movement that it all had to come out somewhere.(Not that Kon understood or anything…)

Once Kon had actually crossed the threshold and took the seat, Clark smiled (a little small, a little nervous) and asked, “So what’s this tangential issue?”

Kon fidgeted with one of of his many rings, turning it on his finger. “I’ve mentioned Danny, right?”

Clark nodded. “The new student that you partnered up with for your English project. Are you having trouble working with him?”

“No,” Kon said quickly. “Danny’s good. He’s, um, great actually. I’m just worried about him.”

“Worried how?” Clark asked as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Kon couldn’t decided if he looked more like a reporter or a dad right then.

“He doesn’t eat anything at lunch,” Kon explained. The words came out in a rush. “I don’t think he trusts food from his house much. Seems his parents bring their research work home sometimes, or used to pretty badly. So, of course I’m worried about him eating dinner too! But like, at least lunch I can know about? And he doesn’t want to eat the school lunches which I totally get, they’re nasty. So, I just, was maybe wondering, especially if I helped out some, if I could bring a second lunch with me for him?”

“Sure, of course we can, Kon,” Clark said gently. Softly. “Do you know if he has any food allergies or preferences?”

“Um, yeah, I asked him and made notes,” Kon said. He was a bit thrown by the easy acceptance, but he wasn’t going to try to over analyze it. Instead, Kon pulled out his phone and over to the notes he’d made (hopefully stealthily) while they had worked on the project. “So, meat is iffy. He says it depends on the day. But tofu is out. Weirdly also no plain broths, jello, or Gatorade? Or at least not cherry or lime of those.”

Kon didn’t expect Clark to frown at the list. It was a bit weird, sure, but it wasn’t really hard to work around most of that. No meat was the hardest part, but there was always yogurt or PB&J.

“Has Danny been seriously ill?”

Kon looked up from his phone, startled. “What?”

“It’s just that broths, jello, and drinks like Gatorade are often prescribed for something called a ‘clear’ diet that people are put on for certain medical conditions, procedures, or hospital stays. Since Danny ate those things enough for them to be on a no list…”

“Oh." Kon looked back down at the phone in his hands. He took a deep breathe and made himself relax his grip before he broke another phone. “I think there’s been a few times that he’s almost fainted at school and he had a really nasty nose bleed once. You think he’s really sick?”

“I might just be reading into it too much,” Clark said with that ‘trying to soothe civilians’ smile of his.

It didn’t help.

“But that list is no problem at all! I’m happy to pack another lunch. It’s no more work really to do one more. But, you’ll need to pick up a lunch box for him this weekend so I have it for Monday, okay?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll do that. Thank you, ah, Clark.” Dad.

“Of course, Kon. I’m happy to help you out with whatever you need.”

“Thanks, I’ll let you get back to work,” Kon said before he left quickly.

[txttletale]

hey what DO you watch on youtube? seems like you'd have some neat recommendations :3

i really loathe the like super-highly edited sound effect post-mrbeast slop most of youtube is now so i mostly like stuff that's like... calm and sedate. stuff i've been watching lately in no particular order:

northernlion vods and clips. he's an OG. i especially like his react court series, i must have watched all of them like five times.

speaking of OGs i've been watching zero puncutation (now fully ramblomatic) for like ten years and if anything it's only gotten better. best game review content on the internet. been really enjoying his more recent, slightly longer and more thoughtful 'extra punctuation/semi-ramblomatic' series too.

any austin's skyrim unemployment rate videos. instant classics to me, it's just a guy going around in skyrim trying to figure out the unemployment rate in every town. it's a very dry kind of humour, he plays it admirably straight, and it's weirdly calming.

kitten arcader's foot the bill videos. in a kind of similar vein, he watches the saw movies and then produces an itemized bill for everything jigsaw needed to buy to make his traps. it's kind of like... if cinemasins was fundamentally curious instead of fundamentally incurious, it scratches a similar sort of nitpicky detail-oriented quantifying itch but without inimical to the concept of art.

shuffle up and play. it's a magic the gathering play series that has enough editing that the gamestate is actually legible but not enough editing (or at least, not enough obtrusive in-your-face editing) that its annoying. i also like that they reguilarly play non-edh formats like cube and pauper.

spice8rack. i'm pretty picky about video essays but spice8rack has very obviously actually read books and has interesting things to say about the topics it discusses (mostly magic: the gathering). sometimes it has a kind of grating Theater Kid Energy but the fact that it actually meaningfully structures essays and analysis to earn the silly long runtimes is a rare delight from a video essayist.

jenny nicholson is a long-time favourite and another permanent fixture in my rotation. she's just extremely, remarkably funny which makes her the only 'basically just summarizing a thing' youtuber i think is worth the time of day.

i watch some sketch comedy, mainly wizards with guns and aunty donna, who both consistently put out really funny stuff that's kind of ITYSL-adjacent in its barefaced absurdism and contenmpt for concepts like "stopping a joke at the logical punchline". i also really like alasdair beckett-king and binging the old clickhole backlog for short-form comedy on youtube.

wolfeyvgc is right on the edge of the level of editing i find tolerable but as a long-time fan of multiple esports he Has It, he's absolutelyt fantastic at t elling the narrative of a tournament, explaining plays clearly, and generally making competitive pokemon esports thrilling and interesting ti someone (me) who#s never played it and doesn't care about pkoemon that much

i religously watch every elliespectacular/dathings YTP, the absolute best in the game right now, top tier snetence mixing and really good at actually setting up and paying off jokes in a way it feels like a lot of ytp doesn't. verytallbart is also pretty good.

trapperdapper is a channel i recently binged, it's a really fucking funny parody of minecraft challenge content that veers slowly from obvious angles of parody into pure absurdism with tons of blink-and-you'll miss it subtle visual gags.

too much future is a great youtube series where the two guys from just king things/homestuck made this world play through every fallout game and analyze them in that context. extremely funny and also just top-tier very sharp analysis. really good

another one of the rare good video essayists is jan misali. they're really funny and will go into topics that kind of seem narrow or strange to begin with in such depth and make them so interesting that it's consistently astonishing.

oh and finally sarah z makes pretty good videos. 'the narcissist scare' is an absolutely brilliant deconstruction of one of the most annoying pop-psych phenomena of the last couple years. and remarkably well script supervised i think did anyone else watch it and think 'wow the script supervisor on this must have been, a mind geniuse'

ok i think that's all i've been watching lately. hope you like whcihever of these recs you check out :)

[thiriumhound]

I know you said "No need for Amanda," but excluding the complete removal of the programming restraints in all androids (assuming it's not just a metaphor or something ofc), this is literally Connor. As he is in canon. This is genuinely just him.

Listen to the Cyberlife Tower Connor's speech again and tell me he doesn't see deviants as "fallen", exactly how you described. The way he talks to his deviant counterpart is almost on-the-nose with this post in mind.

And boy does he get offended if his beliefs are questioned. He gets more defensive about what androids are than any other pre-deviation android in the game. Markus says "that's not in my program", but Connor will straight up lash out at Hank for daring to question what androids are. He did not NEED to be so harsh in his conversation with Hank after he shot Chloe- and there are so many other examples, too.

You literally just articulated exactly how I see non-deviant/machine Connor. Amanda is just insurance in case anything goes wrong or he has doubts- an extra safety line pulling him in the right direction, and an off-switch if he fully breaks free.

Androids that are kept from going deviant not by some programming restraints, but by deep religious-like belief system about the importance of serving their life purpose, their intended function. No need for Amanda, they are all brainwashed to believe in their higher purpose by design. If you try to argue with them, they'll get offended. Androids who deviate from their original values are looked down by other androids, for them they're fallen, they failed and deserve punishment.

If you see them and you think it's wrong how they are treated like tools, do you really want to deprive them of their life purpose? Isn't it more cruel to take from them something that makes their life (from their own perspective) worth living? Do you want to destroy them? Will it really make them free?