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monkey-network · 4 years

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The Odyssey of Spongebob Squarepants

A lot can happen as you grow up. Your tastes will change, you will have more responsibilities, and unless you can literally live under a rock, you can’t turn things back for yourself. So... after over 20 years, when the time keeps going in spite of yourself, does your past evolve and how should you feel about it? Spongebob Squarepants is a show so many have noted as the greatest of all time, but has grown to not be wholly beloved as its later years have not been as well received as it’s golden era. But I’m one to think: how has Spongebob evolved over time? What of this show makes it the greatest in my eyes despite thinking more about those vaunted first three seasons with its movie? Well, let’s roll back...

Back to the Past, To Remember Episodes that Sucked Ass

Despite what some may say, I don’t believe season 4 and 5 was where Spongebob started losing its mojo. There were definitely stinkers like Good Neighbors and Driven to Tears but the good ones definitely outweighed the bad. Not like the quality Golden Era didn’t have its duds, I really don’t like I’m With Stupid, Party Pooper Pants, and Spongeguard on Duty. Season 6 is where I say things surely falter, where for a good amount of time more episodes became unpleasant in retrospect. I noticed it’s more season 6 through 8 that people really take issue with. The Splinter, Boating Buddies, Pet Sitter Pat, the many we call the worst are some good time after the first movie. The first movie came out in 2004, season 6 was spring 2008 so it’s fair to say we had a grace period.

But it begs the bucking question: why did Spongebob stop being good? Numerous people have tried wrapping their heads around the decline citing reasons from flanderization, creative fallout and changes. Emplemon believed in his Spongebob video that the spirit of what connected the show to adults was severed due to merely become a cartoon for children, especially when Spongebob and Squidward’s dichotomy as adults was broken in later seasons. But you know what? I think I truly have the answer. It’s not so much production wise, but it certainly explains the many differing bad episodes that many have covered. It explains why I don’t like Sponge on the Run but we’ll get to that later. But a truth I’ve noticed, remembering and looking at Spongebob in its seperated eras is one I haven’t seen anybody talk about when it comes to why it could be considered bad:

The Plot Drives the Characters Too Much

The greatest episodes of Spongebob, I’m talking Band Geeks, Pizza Delivery, Ripped Pants, Chocolate w/ Nuts, Karate Choppers, etc., don’t have the premise take over the characters. Meanwhile the worst episodes always have the plot push the characters in noticeably different directions because it demands it. Spongebob is strictly a character based cartoon, and when you have episodes that, while can appear fitting on paper, force the cast to be somebody they’re not, people aren’t gonna be on board. Take the episode A Pal for Gary where Spongebob gets Gary a new pet that dangerously hates other pets only for him to be completely ignorant of Gary’s pleas and blames him in the end for banishing the monstrous Puffy Fluffy away. Reasonably, Spongebob is very much the asshole but unfortunately has to or else the plot would need to be seriously reworked. We can chock it up to poor direction but this is indeed a common occurrence for when Spongebob gets bad, not just in post first movie era. I’m With Stupid is a great classic era example where yeah, Patrick becomes an ignorant jerk but on paper, it works with the plot of him trying to please his parents. It does the job at the visible cost of the characters. We generally say the characters are bad but I’ve hardly seen people say the plots are bad like Family Guy where, despite also being character focused, the plots they have can go off the rails in favor of trying to get laughs and the sake of a status quo. The highlight of this problem lies with the coined ‘Squidward Torture Porn’

Squidward Tentacles can be a jerk. A real cynic, a character that’ll gladly try to bring down Spongebob’s childlike wonder in favor of giving him a dose of reality. The most memorable episodes of him are where him and Spongebob are in the same situation but have their clash of outlooks, with Squidward ultimately understanding Spongebob’s POV enough to have a moment of genuine happiness or a modest bit of karma. He’s indeed the most important character because adults grow to see where he’s coming from but at the same time wants to be on Spongebob’s side. The best provide Squidward the chance to understand differently and potentially enjoy a new perspective. The worst punishes him for simply wanting to live.

The plots of the worst Squidward episodes have Spongebob and/or Patrick actively antagonize Squidward because on paper, it makes sense to make someone like Squidward the punching bag like Elmer Fudd to Bugs Bunny or an egotistical asshole to the Warner Siblings from Animaniacs. But in the effort to do so, they never give Squidward the chance to fight back. It’s like they took the whole “No One Wants to be a Squidward” line and utilized that to make him the go to for misery based comedy without giving him any upside. Cephalopod Lodge, Good Neighbors, Choir Boys are stories designed around Spongebob ruining Squid’s life because... what? He doesn’t want Spongebob to be around every time of day? As a child, it can be some fun just seeing Squid get punished but for an adult, it can definitely be a turn-off. Some people see themselves in Squidward, for better or worse, so what’s it to them when Squidward is basically forced to suffer for no reason other than the plot demands it? Later stories give Squidward far more of a break, even some successes, but the idea of making him the butt of life’s joke is still leftover from the episodes that called for him to casually suffer.

The worst plots of the show can be the safest, the simplest, and pretty predictable because unlike the best where the characters are just allowed to make things happen, the story has to contain the characters in a way that’s fitting to who they can be but notably sacrifices who they were before. Why they got made is very up in the air, I’d have to listen to a ton of commentary to potentially pick that apart and I don’t have that much time.

But it doesn’t the change the fact that the plots were never what made Spongebob good. And it doesn’t mean all those bad episodes make for bad seasons either. We could say there was a decline but that would mean giving up on the show merely because it lost it’s footing with more bad episodes than good for a few seasons. Because I believe 4 to 5 years after season 6, things got back on track even if things weren’t exactly the same.

Return to Form, Change in Energy

I don’t believe that Stephen Hillenburg’s departure was what proposed the decline, I’d say the show never really declined, just had some real potholes within three particular seasons. But I say it’s clear that the direction of the show shifted because you gotta understand, with or without Stephen the show has to be unique, has to have fresh ideas in the midst of potential competition despite being the most popular of the network. Even the trusted of Hillenburg’s team might’ve figured Spongebob couldn’t make lightning strike so rough patches might be expected. This is where Spongebob’s 2nd film, Sponge Out Of Water comes in.

I wasn’t as into this film with my first watch. I know it wouldn’t compare to the first film, but things felt segmented to where it hardly felt like a structured movie. Going back to it again, it kinda showed how Spongebob was going to evolve as a series. A lot of Sponge Out of Water lies in the characters getting into a more chaotic adventure than before. Spongey’s dream sequence, the whole Mad Max apocalypse, inter-dimensional dolphins, really told that the show post 2nd film would follow in its footsteps both in the stories and in animation.

It’s to say the golden era of Spongebob was more... grounded with itself. The charm of the characters was what made the plots unpredictable in nature but mostly not to a visible extent. Idiot Box, one of the greatest episodes, literally have moments where we see nothing but a box but the episode’s carried by the performances. Modern Spongebob, post 2nd movie, started to run all over the place. That’s not a bad thing but clearly a change of pace. I think it’s befitting to say the modern era got more cartoon-y where it’s way more expressive and the plots themselves go in unpredictable places in a way that all feels refreshing. It’s not the same as before, but well enough in it’s own time. It’s like Teen Titans ‘03 vs Teen Titans GO! The two have their clearly different tones but they’re appealing in their own way, only Spongebob isn’t trying to poke fun at its older audience like a snarky ass motherfu-

That is the thing as well that I haven’t seen many people consider when it comes to the modern era: it always tries to be fun. I can say an episode’s bad, but there are times where a bad Spongebob episode was enjoyable at least. It isn’t like modern Simpsons where you could tell they’ve been running out of steam and you’d just wish it died. It feels like the staff were given some time and space to make Spongebob back into as intended, even when most moments aren’t as strong or memorable as before. It can appear as just another cartoon for children but it never felt like it wasn’t Spongebob anymore, especially after the 2nd film and with Stephen Hillenburg’s consulting return. Unfortunately, only after a few more years is where say Spongebob’s going in a direction that I’m admittedly not fond off. It isn’t on par with The Simpsons, but it’s not as comfortable a fate.

A Spongebob Cinematic Universe

I enjoyed Sponge on the Run, but I don’t like it what it stands for. Many say it’s a poor backdoor for the spin-off Kamp Koral and I can’t help but agree. I’m not speaking for Stephen’s behalf nor will I shame everyone who comes to love this mini-series when it comes out, but I can definitely see where he was coming from with his abstain of spin-offs. Spongebob is a show that works, always worked, on its own. It has many characters that, to this day, they’re bouncing with to create new adventures and jokes. Now, I’m actually okay with giving some spin-offs revolving around the other characters; a show for Squidward would be hype as all hell.

But Kamp Koral, by extension Sponge on the Run, feels less like a creator’s passion and more like a marketed decision. The fact that they scrapped a potential alien cat invasion movie all for a visually pleasing yet heavily derivative story tells quite a bit. It’s a movie that, compared to the previous, is just hitting certain beats; the plot again driving the characters instead of the other way around which leads to really off-putting moments. There’s fun to be had, but it feels superficial. And while I don’t think this’ll affect the next generation of Spongebob, the most recent episodes are good, but I have a bad feeling that it’ll be morphed into something Stephen genuinely didn’t want for the series and they do it because regardless of what the fans don’t want, they truly own the show now.

I was okay with Spongebob having its merchandise and a Broadway musical because the show helped make them work. After seeing SCOOB! and countless talks of making cinematic universes thanks not only to the MCU but stuff like Spider-Verse and Lego Movie though, it’s starting to feel more like an corporate sanctioned omen that I fear too much becoming a reality. But really, it begs one more question...

What Do I See in Spongebob?

I’ve said this when talking about the 1st Spongebob movie: “[It] works so well was because, speaking for adults, it is about embracing the you that you love as opposed to trying to be someone you aren't. You can grow up for taking that journey, but you don't have to be grown up all the time.” Even with its not so great history, Spongebob personally never comes off as a show that’s lost its identity. If there’s anything learned from the likes of Steven Universe and Family Guy, yeah, it’s that bad episodes or changes in tone doesn’t make for a buried series. Vast majority will definitely notice the difference between classic and modern Spongebob, but I don’t believe they’ll say it isn’t Spongebob anymore. I keep bringing it up, but it doesn’t feel like the Simpsons where you notice the burnout, the age of its existence in the late late seasons. Not that Viacom/Nickelodeon won’t hesitate the same fate because they can be fucking scum, but otherwise the show has run out of steam yet.

What mostly concerns me though is that the charm of the show falls by the wayside with trying to expand it outside the show. Bog down the love by making unnecessary spin-offs that try to do what fanworks like the Spongebob Anime do for the hell of it in order to retain that all age appeal. They’ll feel like memes that age horrifically the moment it’s trending on Twitter. Again I don’t wanna speak over Stephen Hillenburg’s behalf but it feels like Nickelodeon gets potentially too ambitious with something that should be simple enough at the same time. We got some good hype back thanks to the Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, but that only could boost our spirits so far this year.

To me, Spongebob was certainly a game changer and now, while still popular, it is very much among the crowd. It’s not a show we’re worrying about compared to stuff like Infinity Train, Glitch Techs, the Animaniacs reboot, Primal, shows that are continually changing the metagame in what people want for a cartoon. We might notice stand out moments and we’ll continue making memes, but it’s fair to say we aren’t as invested in Spongebob socially as back then when, as I remember, new episodes or specials felt like an event and it was considered the best out here in our friend circles. Now when we say it’s the best, it’s asterisked. Many love Spongebob Squarepants, but notably aren’t too keen with all of it nowadays.

But to truly conclude, I say for everyone who reads all of this, 1st thank you, and secondly to give modern Spongebob a chance. I can’t recommend Sponge On the Run but these later seasons (nine to recently) actually feel like the show cleaned up itself after many touted that bad episode era was what made Spongebob fall. I don’t believe the show’s fallen because I shouldn’t have expected this show to be flawless. Not every episode’s a hit, but there is not only still good variety but episodes that feel right at home. Mimic Madness, Boo-kini Bottom, Squid Noir, Moving Bubble Bass, One Trick Sponge, and any episode with Plankton are actual joys to see and rewatch if I’m in the mood. The episode premieres are all over the place nowadays but it feels like the crew are given their time at least. And I think this is the path is where I’m content with about Spongebob: it just gets to be a cartoon.

I see so many people try to prop up shows as more than meets the eye. I mention Infinity Train and Steven Universe as the new game changers but I hardly see people just recommend shows that are simple, clean, knows what they are without trying to be anything more premise wise. We just get some quality entertainment with characters we’ve come to know, just for the sake of it. We get a cartoon in its bare essence. Spongebob gets to do its thing like it always has these past 20 years and I’m grateful for that. I’ve seen a variety of shows, but Spongebob always felt like a show worth sticking with even when I feel I’ve “outgrown” it. Not because I want to regress in growth, but as an adult I see now why Spongebob worked so well as it did and why it’s worth sticking with. Even after everything, the show’s made it it’s sole passage to provide us the core reason why we love Spongebob: the show always wanted to love itself for what it was as Spongebob Squarepants always loved to be himself.

And there will never ever be another show like it.

#spongebob squarepants #spongebob #sb #sbsp #stephen hillenburg #nickelodeon #cartoons #animation #analysis #meta #reviews #long post #Good Stuff

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staysuki · 3 years

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Ash I don’t think some of my asks are coming through 😭. Like I sent two a few days ago but I still haven’t seen a response lol. Does this happen often? Is anyone else having this problem? I feel stupid if I send them again and in reality you’ve already seen it pfft.

Omg your getting so many asks I’m so happy for you rn!!! The hype is real. People are really throwing in their thoughts and feeling now, we’re definitely getting the ball rolling to you being tumble famous✨. Not to mention how fun it is to come up with conclusions wrong or right. It’s almost like we’re a jury panel trying to figure out who is guilty. I’m also glad to see you’ve got your mojo back, I know your were procrastinating a bit there at one point. Even so, you must have a lot of energy to keep birthing these fics haha. When I write I have so many crazy ideas, plot hooks and so forth but when I start writing I just get stuck at one point and give up🧍‍♀️.I always get writers block because of my perfectionist heart 💔. In school I was always good at creative writing, once I even got 97 percent on one of my best written pieces but now it feels like a chore for me to create new ones, school ruined it for me I think because I was made to do it. I envy you and your genius, you really are brilliant and I guarantee everyone here agrees 🥰♥️.

Also in 🍕’s ask not that long ago, where they asking me how I’m doing??? I wasn’t sure if it was aimed at me or you haha. Pizza is cute~

~ lovegame anon

what 😭 no, your asks are definitely not going through

i've seen other anons have the same problem before so they usually just resend the ask, dw about thinking it might be doubled! i'd rather have duplicates than not get your asks at all :,)))

AND YES so many asks, maybe that's why it's lagging??? idk, i definitely know some other users who get a lot more asks and theirs seem alright idk 😭 maybe it's just my tumblr? or your tumblr?? ever since the new mobile updates, i've been getting lots of glitches and bugs lately (like the photo issue and the readmore issue)

tumblr famous pLS. i could never. maybe only in stray kids fic tumblr but idk 🤔🤧 i like being here at the back~

thank u for always enjoying my crazy ass messy fics. i swear the next ones won't be as heavy anymore JHSHWJSHE I SWEAR. I PROMISE. I CAN'T SAY IT'LL BE FULFILLED BUT I WILL TRY TO WRITE LIGHTER ONES. i mean, the jeongin smau was really really fluffy tho so i'm just balancing it out 🤷‍♂️. ehaloj is like the neutral fic lmao, it's just slice of life.

but yeah, i've always loved writing ever since i was a kid, sometimes i get burnt out when writing the written chapters so i'm happy that SMAUs are a thing because i can just pump out content without having to like, write tons of paragraphs. and jgejshwjshss the time i was procrastinating was when i was getting ready to fly back to the PH so it was hectic 🤧🙈 got lots of time now though~ hence the new fic hehe BE EXCITED FOR IT. IT'S GONNA BE GOOD, join the fic name event (it's anonymous) if you haven't already!!

and i think that was for you uwu

#anon: lovegame

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indecisive-crisis · 4 years

Text

Blank

Unable to peel back the layers

Just painting more on top

What was once considered beautiful

Is now something ugly

The image of the layer before imprints itself in my mind

Before I take white paint, and reset it

Why didnt you keep it?

Why didnt it stay?

Why cant you finish something and leave it?

An itch to do better

Fills my body

This isnt my best work

Finish layering the white till the remains are not seen

With that gone creativity strikes

That painting could be anything, do anything

Hours go by of scrolling through what could be

Leave me with the decision that I am unable to be at that level

Happiness now dread I go to paint pain instead

Mojo gone, mojo lost, what was once freeing puts me in a box

The white of repainting is nowhere to be seen

The colors of regret stain the page

Masked by the image of happiness

Feedback trickles in

This is amazing

No its not

Its repulsing how I ruined what was once filled with possibilities

How tarnished it is

My blank canvas

- Habean

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glapplebloom · 4 years

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You see so much negativity about this show, let’s do something positive.

Original Art used before was by AJthePPGfan

The Catalyst

So I was watching Shadow Streak’s review on Save the Date when I notice a comment being upset that the girls are being constantly saved. I said that its only noticeable because the original focused on more action and had more episodes. If you count, you would probably see the girls being saved around the same amount of time. So I did via a speadsheet. This article was going to focus mostly on this before, but then the next review “Can’t Buy Love” happened.

One of Shadow Streak’s biggest complaint is that he doesn’t like the fact a six year old is having romantic feelings when they shouldn’t. I posted that they did show Buttercup give the Professor “something” for his date with the disguised Sedusa. For most people its likely a breath mint but I bet for others its a little more adult. And not mentioned in the comment is when the original had the confirmed 6 year old Buttercup crushing on a guy and said young adult taking advantage of her feelings. Don’t worry, its more about taking over Townsville.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike the show (Donny for example) but I would like the dislike being because of your taste and proper reasons. So while I could sit here and debunk others reasons (at least the ones that can be debunked), I think it would be better to see something more positive. So here are 10 things I like in the Reboot that would have made the original much better.

1 - Buttercup and the Derbytantes

Its no secret Buttercup is my favorite Powerpuff. And looking at the reboot it seems like Buttercup is the favorite there as well since if episodes aren’t focused on her she is doing something to advance the story. And outside some minor changes (like her wanting to make cash being an extension from her Tooth Knocking Out Business from the original), she hasn’t seen significant changes. But a positive to her and the others to a lesser extent is that they have friends beyond one episode or each other.

All thee of them got Barry, Blossom has Jared Shapiro (who is hit and miss) and Bubbles had Donny (who is a constant miss). But I’m making this about the Derbytantes for two reasons: 1- they’re less awful than the two previously. 2- they show Buttercup having interest outside her sisters. She has a group of friends who gets her. Who accepts her even if she is a Math Genius. And who share in her kind of fun her sisters wouldn’t. It makes Buttercup more than just the Tough one of the group.

2 - Blossom

In the original, Blossom was the least interesting to me. She was basically just the leader with your typical “I’m the leader so you should listen to me” attitude when Buttercup wants to go in. You know how many episodes focused on Blossom in the original? Four: ice powers, her stealing clubs, her hair getting ruined and suddenly losing and gaining confidence. Great for action scenes but as a character it makes her really one note.

In the Reboot, they gave her more to do. With Jared it shows she has a crush and how she deals with it. Her ego gets more explored as she has to handle not being in the right or being as good as she thinks she is. And even outside the 12 episodes focused on her, she has a lot more interactions with her sisters that makes them seem like sisters. One of my favorite moments is how Blossom suddenly acts like Rambo when the Daisy Robot takes over the house. To me, Blossom is a much more interesting character in the Reboot than the Original.

3 - Bubbles

While the Reboot feels like it favors Buttercup, the Queen of the Powerpuffs is Bubbles. When it comes to episodes focused on her, she’s the most in both the Reboot and the Original. Even the final episode of the original was a Bubbles focused one. While the Reboot does make her more airheady than the original at times, there’s one addition they made that not only is a great addition in my book but also perfectly extends to her character: her being a programmer.

From the original we know two important things: she’s creative and she knows other languages. Coding is basically another language and you know programmers can do amazing things. The concept of Easter Eggs was born because a programmer wanted to add something and said thing turned out to be a brilliant addition to prove their program was stolen. This is a perfect fit for Bubbles to show that you can be smart in your own way than to just give this to Blossom because she’s the generic smart one.

4 - The Professor

Him being more like the dumb fathers in animation is a justified complaint about the show. I feel its because he became a butt monkey in the end of the original series (having his voice stolen with the blessing of the Girls, acting like a child when they could fly instead of using his buggy, danced pants) and they decided to play it up more here. But there are moments I feel this Professor is a better father than the original.

There are two episodes focused on the Professor learning about the subject his girls are interested in so he can enjoy it alongside them. There’s an episode of a creation he made for the sole purpose of making sure they can’t guilt trip him into allowing them to stay up all night. And my personal favorite, being so angry he single handedly drove down to Townhall as Blossom is mind controlled because she disobeyed her. Even to the point that he won’t even let the other girls out of the car despite being thrown around. It just shows a lot more love than the original.

5 - The Fashionistas

The strongest aspect of the original are the villains. They are arguably the best part of the original. But sadly besides Morbucks they don’t have a strong female villain that can be put on the same pedestal as the likes of Mojo Jojo and HIM. Sedusa is so one note she usually loses to other people besides the Powerpuff Girls. For the reboot, their new villains don’t have the same spark as the old with one exception: the Fashionistas.

Consisting of the Bikini Sisters, Bianca and Barbarus, these two have a clear theme, unique plans and great personalities that can bounce off each other or other characters. Like feel free to hate the Bridezilla episode but I really loved that Bianca’s reason to break up the marriage was because she felt she would be left alone since Barbarus was the Popular one, the Funny one and the Attractive one. Its a nice dynamic that I think would have been great for the original.

6 - Silico

Despite having the most questionable reason since the show does a bad job telling us things like time, Silico is a good take for a villain that hasn’t been done in the original. Instead of being created alongside them, being jealous of them, or just simply being evil, Silico is a villain because of their actions. Since they destroyed his friends, even by complete accident, he’s going to destroy them.

This also was their attempt at an ongoing storyline in a similar vein as Steven Universe or Gravity Falls: have episodes be episodic and self contained but have clues or moments that would lead up to a later episode. Granted, not the best of said attempts but it is an honest effort to try.

7 - Episodes

Its easy to point out Bad episodes and say they’re not as good as the original, but I think people underestimate those moments when the Reboot not only has a good episode but knocks it out of the park. I could highlight these good episodes and compare them to the original’s bad ones but that is not a fair assessment. But what I will do is highlight three episodes that I feel not only are the Reboot’s best episodes but also up there with the best of the original.

Home, Sweet Homesick: the episode where Blossom discovers that you shouldn’t grow up too fast and enjoy your time as a kid. Bubbles the Blue: you can feel sad and that’s okay. And finally the Octi-Father: the rage you see in Bubblevicious sharpened as a knife and even more dangerous. All without actually throwing a punch. That’s how you know you’re intimidating.

8 - More of HIM

One of the biggest flaws of the remake is the lack of using the other villains. Outside HIM, Morbucks and Mojo, the most the others get is an episode of the Amoeba Boys working for Silico and the Gangreen Gang hustling. And while I do enjoy Mojo and Morbucks in the Remake, I know others don’t. But one you have to agree got a major push in a good way is HIM. This series really shows him living up to his one line: “Why destroy when you can torture with tooth decay” The Reboot also explains somethings weird from the original.

Remember the White Lie monster? How he seemingly came from nowhere and just as fast suddenly gone? The Reboot has a Secret Swapper Monster who was defeated in the same way: confessing. But the major difference is we know the Secret Swapper came from HIM, explaining why it suddenly came to be. This series shows how he can be just as devious as the devil people think he is.

9 - Concepts

Its easy to remake something: just update the graphics and fix the problems here and there. But it is hit and miss when you add something to make it a reboot. We’ve seen hits in Ducktales Reboot and we’ve seen fails in both Thundercats reboots. But while some of the ideas the Reboot of Powerpuff Girls presented are misses, there are some good ideas.

Silico I mentioned above. A 4th Powerpuff Girl as a result of a previous attempt at creating the Perfect Little Girl not working out is another interesting concept. Mojo creating a Robot that can match the girls in ways the Rowdyruff Boys couldn’t. Morbucks possibly being turned good. These are very interesting concepts. The Reboot not making it work doesn’t mean these ideas couldn’t been more successful under better hands.

Honorable Mention - Lego

Love Lego. Love Powerpuff Girls. Match made in Heaven. Just got to get Morbucks and Mojo.

10 - Inspiration

The one thing you have to give credit to the Reboot is that it inspired people to make stuff about it. Granted, a lot of it being stuff more in favor of the original but there are some great pieces out there about the old meeting the new. Some even highlighting how the Powerpuff Girls has changed over the years.

You got new, younger fans being introduced to these girls and soon wanting more discovering the originals. You have old fans revisiting the originals to show others how much better these were.You got a reviewer in Shadow Streak looking into each episode of the reboot to give them a fair shot. And be honest, the Powerpuff Girls wouldn’t be discussed as much as it is today if it wasn’t for the reboot.

And that’s my list. I know its easy to dislike the Reboot, but I hope this list helps you understand why it has fans. And hopefully it’ll help you appreciate this when the Live Action Movie of the PPG comes...

#PowerPuff Girls #Ppg review

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cheeky-kookie · 5 years

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MGC

It wasn’t like he didn’t love her. Don’t get him wrong, he loved her with all his heart. He couldn’t picture his life without her in it. Yet, every time he thought about the wedding it gave him anxiety beyond belief.

Every time she asked him questions about the venue or the colors, he felt like his lunch was trying to make it’s way back up his throat. Whenever he thought about how many people were going to be attending, he felt his pulse quicken. He felt like he needed to sit down whenever he thought about standing up in front of all the people they were inviting and reading off his vows.

But he loved her so much and he couldn’t bring himself to bring any of this up to her because he didn’t want to chance that she might get hurt. That was the last thing he wanted.

Yet, because of his feelings about the whole situation he found himself distancing himself from her. He would avoid sitting down and talking with her when he arrived home from work so he wouldn’t feel sick right after a long day. Every time she tried to have a serious conversation with him about it, he found a reason to change the subject or even leave the apartment. He was trying so hard to avoid hurting her, he didn’t realize he was doing the exact thing he didn’t want to; hurt her.

It wasn’t like she didn’t notice the change in her own fiancé. She didn’t know how to deal with the whole action of being avoided by someone she loved so deeply. She watched as the slight avoidance became a bigger problem. It came to the point where she had to do something about it because she was feeling so alone where she shouldn’t.

On one Wednesday, when Michael had come home from work he went to go directly in the bathroom to shower. His attempt to avoid confrontation and horrible feelings had been ruined by the sound of his favorite person sounding from behind him.

“Michael, come in here and talk to me right now.” She demanded from the living room. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning around and heading back toward the living room.

“Yes, love?” He asked, poking his head around the corner to see her sitting on the couch not amused in the slightest. Her eyes were puffy like she had been crying but she shown no signs of weakness.

“I mean it. Get in here and talk to me.” She sighed before finally making eye contact with him.

He took another deep breath, feeling an unhealthy knot form in his stomach. He then proceeded to come completely into the room with her and found a seat next to her on the couch. He could feel how heavy the atmosphere was around them.

“Do you not love me anymore?” She asked. Michael could see tears brimming in her eyes but he knew she was too proud to let them fall. He knew the amount of strength it was taking her to do this.

“I love you with all my heart.” He said quietly, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. Watching her hurt like this was not his intention.

“Then why are you avoiding me? Why can’t you sit down and have a real conversation with me instead of small talk? How come whenever I try, you leave the room or even the apartment?” She spit out in one breath, “God, Michael, so help me. I’m not stupid. Something is up with you. If you are seeing someone else, just let me know.”

Michael sat in awe for a couple seconds of the amount of turmoil his fiancé was in and it broke him slightly, “I’m not cheating. I would never do that to you. You know that, love.”

“Then, god damn it, what is going on?” She questioned, losing her control of her emotions little by little. He felt his whole being ache for her. He hated himself more knowing he caused her this much distress.

He clasped his hands together in front of him trying to find the words he wanted to say and sighed, “I love you so much but I- I’m having issues with the wedding.”

He watched her expression soften just a small amount, “What do you mean?”

“It’s just a lot, you know?” He began, feeling the emotions he had been suffocating for so long. He sniffled, “I’m not the one to usually fold under pressure, you know? But here I am doing that. I’m folding. When I see my future, I see you in it. I see our life. I see us building each other up and having mini me’s running around a nice beautiful house. But for some god damn reason, I can’t quit being anxiety driven. I have been avoiding you because bringing up the wedding makes me want to run and hide. That scares the living shit out of me because I’m afraid that I’m having second thoughts. Especially because I’ve never been so sure about someone in my life.”

“You don’t think I’m scared?” She asked him, he finally met her eyes, “I’m scared shitless. I have so much anxiety about this whole thing. I’ve definitely thought about running a good couple times because this is a huge step and commitment. There’s a lot more riding on this than our ideas of the future because this is our future. We stand up there and say our vows and then its official. But I love you and I want this to work. Do you?”

Tears flowed down his face and he nodded, “Of course I want this to work.”

“Then talk to me. If you have an issue you need to communicate with me, even if you think it would hurt me.” She voiced, though her voice wavered a bit from the tears that had finally broke through, “I need you to do that because I can’t do this again, Michael. I can’t.”

He nodded silently again and opened his arms up for her to fall into. She obliged, and once in his embrace she started to sob uncontrollably. He hugged her tight to his body and kissed her hair gently. He loved her. He couldn’t do this to her again, and he wouldn’t let himself.

Thank you to @geekygoddesss for giving me a prompt for this writing challenge! I’ve been dying to write forever but had trouble finding my creative mojo and you helped me with that! You gave me until the 28th but I couldn’t help but post it now lol

#5sos #5 seconds of summer #michael clifford #5sos imagines #5sos one shot #katewrites #katewrites5sos

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letithappeneverafter · 5 years

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Freo Groove - Musicians of Fremantle

Kevin Parker is pounding along the coast, between the sea and the great shattered ruin of the old South Freo Power Station, his mind buzzing with musical possibilities. He's always said you can make great music from anywhere - that place isn't a big deal. But the front man of successful psychedelic band Tame Impala recognises that Fremantle has shaped his musical journey: from his first exploratory jams with future band-mates to the modest weatherboard in South Fremantle that he's converted into a recording studio.

`I used to say that I could be anywhere in the world, and I still like to believe that, because I don't believe that the quality or the style of the music that someone makes is dependent on where they are. However, there are many things that seep into your music and one of them is where you live.

`Making the last album, Currents, I was stuck, sitting in the studio and my four walls. I got to a spot where I just wasn't feeling it and the music wasn't very evocative. I got my iPhone and headphones and walked along the beach down to the power station in Coogee. I couldn't believe how much the music opened up and spoke to me, made me feel all kinds of things again. 'A lot of the songs on Currents have passages that were directly inspired by the power house and doing laps of it. It is scary and confronting, but such a beautiful thing. I had one of the songs I was working on at the time on repeat and I wrote a lot of the lyrics down on South Beach. I suddenly remembered the value of being somewhere serene and beautiful and getting inspired in that way. I don't like to think of it as a necessity because music can be written for the purposes of escape. But so much of Currents was mentally conceived between here and the power station all along the coast.'

Gravity

He grew up in Perth, got drum lessons while in high school, and played rhythm guitar with his father, Jerry, playing lead. He went on to play music with Dom Simper, whom he met in high school. The two formed The Dee Dee Dums, the precursor to Tame Impala. Somewhere around the age of twelve, he began fooling around with cassette recorders; bouncing tracks and layering sounds, building a creative methodology that still endures, although the technology is worlds apart. His Fremantle musical story began when he was about twenty and he met the guys from the band Mink Mussel Creek.

`I was in a different band at the time, but I started hanging out and jamming with them. I was living in Subiaco then. I would leave Subiaco on Friday evening and go back on Sunday night. It was like a time warp, like another world. We would have a lot of fun and get up to mischief and make music. I thought it was amazing because it was like being in a parallel universe. It was just this black hole of the weekend when I'd be around Freo. 'It was just such an intoxicating environment, the absolute tunnel vision of the music. It was the centre of how we lived our lives. Everything was based around that. Going out for them was going out and playing a show, and we would start drinking and getting stoned in the afternoon. At some point in the night the show would happen. The show was just part of the evening. That was kind of what our lives revolved around and I just felt such a sense of belonging. A newfound identity.'

It was an intense period of short-lived bands thrown together as fluid musical experiments, with several bands running at once comprising different line-ups of the same core set of musicians. Often, he'd play two gigs a night - one with his old band, The Dee Dee Dums, and then just stay on stage for Mink Mussel Creek. There were gigs at The Swan Basement, The Railway Hotel, Mojos, and the Newport, but the Norfolk Basement - and its bar manager -provided the opportunity for Kevin to take his work to a new level.

'The Norfolk became our second home, because we met Jodie [Regan] and she fell in love with Mink Mussel Creek. She was the bar manager downstairs, and we just thought she was great. She was enchanted by us young, scruffy stoners, who were obsessed with music and didn't have any kind of ego about it. She was like, "Hey, I'll manage you" and we thought, Hey, we've got a manager! We'd go down there during the day and rehearse. The bar wouldn't open until later and I ended up doing a lot of recording down there. They had microphones and mic stands. So I could just go down there for as long as I wanted, which was a dream because up to then I had nowhere to record drums. `The first gig we ever played under the name Tame Impala was at Mojos. It was like a new and exciting time for me because it was just another step of me consolidating what I wanted musically. `There weren't a lot of people, but that didn't matter. Until I first started hanging out with those guys - hanging out in Fremantle - would care a lot more about the audience: how many and how much they were into it. After, it was, well, "they are there or they are not". Our attitude was, we are doing what we are doing because we love doing it. We're not out for approval or validation.'

A Fremantle share house provided a base for a while. Then as Tame Impala enjoyed wider success, Kevin was based in Paris before moving back to South Fremantle.

'I think it was a no-brainer. I had a lot of friends here. I bought a house and lived there for a while and then tore all the walls down and turned the entire thing into a studio and then I bought another house and moved there.'

Complexity

Kevin Parker's approach to making his own music is intense and solitary, although he has had long-standing working relationships with different local musicians. He composes in isolation and works with others to create the live performance.

'Tame Impala on the albums is just one person. It is just me multi-tracking; so basically, me recording wherever I am. 'Because I make music alone and it has got so many different parts to it, there is never a verbal conversation about it. When a band plays music, they are constantly having to talk about it to communicate it. So just from that process, just talking about it out loud, you work out what you like and you don't like. When that entire conversation stays in your head, it is just a thinking process, and you never really work out what you like and don't like and what strategies you like. It just happens. I don't have a framework. I have been doing it for that long it is something that kind of comes naturally. 'I potter in the studio even when I have other things to do. I might record a song or I just go around going, "hullo, what is this?" Unplug this...plug this in. Find a better way to record - kind of like a mad scientist. A cross between a mad scientist and an old lady in the garden pottering around. Somehow songs come out of that. `I make things more complex than they need to be. I would love my music to be simpler. I call my music "kitchen sink music". I just throw everything at it. I will think of a keyboard line - put it in. Think of a guitar line - put it in. Two different vocal melodies - put them in. As I get older I am trying to develop a musical discipline.'

Following the phenomenal commercial success of Tame Impala, Kevin's instincts and production skills, honed over countless hours and through endless musical experiments, are in high demand. As well as working with local bands, including Koi Child and Pond, he's been approached to produce a number of American artists in Los Angeles.

‘I like that I have two lives as a producer. One is doing my friends' stuff in Freo, the other is iconic artists that I've always dreamed of working with. I am suddenly in the same room. It's kind of two extremes.'

As for another Tame Impala album, Kevin will only say that there's some paint on the canvas, but he doesn't know what the final result will be.

‘The change in styles is one of the only things you can bet on. I don't think I would bother doing the same thing again. That is one of the only rules I put on myself. It has to be different and has to have evolved in some way.'

- Freo Groove - Musicians of Fremantle by Bill Lawrie & Claire Moodie.

Photo by Jeff Atkinson.

Published by UWA Publishing.

#kevin parker #tame impala #freo groove #bill lawrie #claire moodie #jeff atkinson #uwa publishing #books #mink mussel creek #currents

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awed-frog · 6 years

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So, the cuestion about writing it's just... I love writing, I love reading, I love my ideas and I really believe they're good ideas, but I can't finish them and I really don't know why. I thought maybe it was bc I had to plan them better, or bc I had to let myself just write and see what happens in the moment; I thought maybe the problem it's that I should tell them in a different way (like for a comic that then I could draw) but nothing I do works and it really hurts

Hi there! Thanks for writing back! So, what you’re describing is really a common feeling - I think most writers or artists have felt this way and can recognize what you’re describing. I’m going to talk about my experience, and I hope you can find something that you can relate to and that can be helpful to you.

The tl;dr part is, I think there are many possible causes for not being able to finish a story. Here are a few of them:

you’re having technical problems

you’re too much of a perfectionist

you can’t put on paper what’s in your head

you’re having what I call ‘the Vermeer problem’

you have too many ideas for other stories and can’t focus

you’re experiencing a lack of support for your writing

you are bored with your own story

you’re afraid to finish the story

you can’t finish the story

you can’t tell these things apart

Let’s have a look at them, and remember - I’m talking about my experience here, so this might not apply to you at all. I’m just talking into the void hoping this will help you in some way.

1) This is the most common problem for someone who’s only just starting out. You know your beginning should capture the readers’ attention, but you don’t know how to make that happen. You know the ending should be spectacular and magically solve every issue, but you don’t know how to get there. Since we are rarely taught creative writing in school, this is completely normal, and there’s no easy way to get past it. Like for everything else, you’ll need a lot of practice, and maybe some kind of formal instruction (for instance, this is a good book, but there are many more). So, you know - do what works for you. Maybe join a writers’ club, or an online challenge. Read and reread books you like, and remember to read them ‘with the mind-set of a carpenter looking at trees,’ as Terry Pratchett put it. If you can, write every day - I find codas are a great way to practice, get better and get read (and if you’re comfortable to, you can ask your readers for pointers or criticism). Not being very good at writing is a big problem, but it’s also a problem you can solve.

2) Being a perfectionist is one of those things that often trips you up more than it helps you, and there are some areas of your life - relationships, foreign languages, writing - where you have to let go of it. If this is an issue for you, remember that everyone is crap when they start out (do you know the original lyrics to Beatles classic Yesterday? ew!) and maybe experiment with breathing exercises, with yoga, or try writing with a soundtrack to get out of your mind a little. So, really - I’m not saying perfectionism is bad, but save it for your baking efforts and last drafts - your first draft gets to be as crappy as it likes.

3) This is a very common problem. When you do creative things, be it writing music or quilting, there’s often a great deal of anxiety and dissatisfaction in finally starting a project because the more your work, the less it looks the way you’d imagined it would. Sometimes I write something that’s supposed to be sad, or that was hilarious and sexy inside my head, and the I reread it and it’s just - flat. This happens to virtually everyone, but there’s something very important we need to remember: in the words of Jim Sollisch, “Writing is the art of figuring out what you know, not the process of recording what you already know”. Think about it like this: the inside of your head is a different country. Writing down a story is like finally getting to that city you’ve been wanting to visit for ages and ages - sure, you’ve seen all the IG pictures and you’ve planned your visit and you’ve fainted and drooled over museum websites and recipes of traditional dishes, but now you’re here, and it’s real, and it’s different. You’re here, and maybe it’s raining, and maybe that famous art gallery is closed on Sundays, and maybe that blueberry pie is way, way too sweet for your taste, but still - you’re here. Isn’t it wonderful? You can smell this city and walk down its street and discover small secret corners you never even knew existed and maybe fall in love with this one person you never ever thought you’d meet. So this, to me, is a necessary step to writing: to accept that daydreaming is good, that planning can be useful, but when the time comes, you have to let go of all of that and discover the reality of what your story is like.

4) I don’t know if you read Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring - it’s a favourite of mine, and I reread it a couple of times because I love how she writes UST, how understated and yet vibrantly present the feeling is. And anyway, towards the end of the book, the portrait is finished - this one, I mean -

- and everybody says Vermeer should finally sell it and start painting something else - only, Vermeer is not happy. He takes to spending hours in his studio - not painting, not working - just staring at the thing, because it’s beautiful and balanced and textbook perfect, but something is missing and he doesn’t know what (if you haven’t, please read the book and find out how he solves this, because it’s really beautiful). This is a feeling I often have when I read a first draft - everything that I wanted in there is in there, but something still feels - off. And here, I think, there’s no magic way of solving the problem - you can either ask a beta for help, and hope they see it, or you can keep working on it (and reading other stuff, and practicing, and getting better) until you see it yourself.

5) This is another familiar feeling: you start writing something and BAM, you’re distracted by something else. And here, you need to find out what kind of person you are, because some blessed people can work on two projects at once, and others just can’t. Me, I always fool myself and think, ‘I’ll just work on both things, a week has seven days, how hard can it be’ - but nope. Right now, for instance, I’ve got about thirty books of Roman history on my desk because there was this story screaming at me and deafening me and I really wanted to get it out of my head, but today I’m finally giving up and bringing all that stuff back to the library and accepting this is not going to happen - not right now. Not as long as I’m writing a different story and I’m in a completely different headspace. And if you’re the same way - just keep a folder, or a notebook, and fill it with these half ideas and pieces of dialogue and then put them out of your mind. One story at a time - that’s a good and reasonable goal. Because another problem of a beautiful and tantalizing scenario popping into your mind when you’re struggling to finish a chapter for something else is - that other thing is automatically going to look more appealing, because it’s not real, because it’s untested, because you haven’t ruined it yet. And that’s why you’re tempted to abandon that stupid thing you’ve got in your hands that’s not working and go pursue something else. But, again, that’s probably not the best idea. Sometimes you just need to see a story through, no matter what.

6) That said, it’s hard to finish a story when you’re keeping it to yourself. I used to be paranoid about sharing things, but fanfiction helped me to appreciate the importance of feedback. So even if you’re writing original fiction, it could be a good idea to give fanfiction a try - signing up for a bang could help you to stay motivated and focused (you’ll have a beta, and maybe an artist!), and writing codas will usually get you some attention, because many people will automatically look for codas and ‘missing scenes’ after the end of an episode. If you’re not interested in that, consider sharing your work with a friend, a teacher, or a writers’ group.

7) This is a tough one. Maybe you’re writing fanfiction and fall out of love with the show. Maybe you’re writing original fiction but you’re no longer interested in the story. It’s okay - not every story is meant to be. You’re allowed to give up (and you never know - there are writers who go back to their manuscripts ten years later, so I would advise against burning everything in a fit or rage). The trick here is giving up for the right reasons, so before you decide to walk away, look at your story again and ask yourself: what is it that’s not working? Could this get better with a new, exciting character? Should I drop this stale plot twist? Go with a different ending? If you can get your mojo back by shifting the pieces around, give it another try; but if the whole thing’s just a chore, and you simply lost interest, move on.

8) Many of us have a problem with endings. Ending a story usually means leaving your characters behind, and close a period of your life. If you write longer stories, fics and novels are like songs - they’re usually tied to very specific moments, and in letting them go you also let a part of yourself go. Plus, there’s always a lot of pressure on getting the ending right, because that can make or break a story, and it’s often the moment when big things happen - maybe there’s a slowburn that’s getting real, and you’re afraid the long awaited kiss won’t measure up to the fireworks display you implicitly promised your readers. Or maybe someone’s dying, and you’re not ready to say goodbye. Or maybe the big plot twist you’ve been teasing forever and ever just seems childish now, and you’re not sure how to make it more impressive. Whatever the reason, endings are hard. But, again, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. A lot of things can change between your first and last draft, so you have some time there. If you’re writing fanfiction, your readers will appreciate to finally know what happens, and if you’re hoping to publish your manuscript, an editor will probably help you to shift things around and make them better. Plus, as difficult as it is to say goodbye to this world you know intimately well, there’s also a sense of relief in finishing anything that takes up so much of your time and soul. It feels good. So: breathe. Relax. Write.

9) A distinct problem is that you objectively can’t finish the story, or even get past the middle, or past two pages of heartbreaking dialogue, because you simply don’t know enough about that world yet. You have this great idea but you’d need to be an expert in microbiology, or cordon bleu cuisine, or deep space, to make it work. Or maybe you’re daydreaming about your very own Westeros, but your writing keeps getting interrupted by stupid, yet necessary details (how far away are these two cities? how fast can horses travel? what kind of swear words would a character with a made-up religion use?). If you’re devoted to your story, and determined to make it work, you’ll need to do research and plan and get answers to your questions before starting to write too extensively, because the wrong scientific detail can make your entire plot collapse. And the thing is, doing research is not always possible. Maybe you don’t have time right now, or access to the right resources (speaking of, there are some excellent blogs here on tumblr that will help you with making stuff more believable - a favourite of mine is @howtofightwrite). So, it’s painful, but there are some projects that need to be postponed, and others that will probably never happen at all.

10) Finally, a big problem is that sometimes it’s hard to tell these things apart. Are you bored with your story because you can’t write a certain scene, or is it just a boring story? Are you being a perfectionist, or is this chapter actually out of balance and weird? Is this ambitious story too much for your current skills and knowledge, or are you just giving up? There is no easy answer to these questions, which is why I think it’s important to not walk away too easily - maybe come back when you’re in a better mood, or change your writing soundtrack, or set up a fake interview with yourself explaining why you’re so happy your novel is now taught in every school in America. If you can’t write, try drawing. If you can’t draw, create a moodboard for your characters, or a fake Wikipedia entry for your imaginary country. Play around with your story. Switch POVs. Create walls. Write scenes you won’t necessarily include in your final draft - get your characters trapped in an elevator, have them fired, have them hurt someone, or reminisce on childhood memories, or trudge through a really bad day. Go through writing prompts or shower thoughts or creepy Wikipedia entries and write something about that. Try to truly be honest with yourself, day after day (maybe keep a diary?), so you can get better at understanding whether it’s time to power through or time to take a break.

Finally, I think that engaging in creative activities, whatever they may be, should be a way to make your life better, not worse. There are times when you’re just not inspired, times when you have zero ideas and zero wish to write or art or do anything, times when it’s actually better to focus on other things - your studies, your work, traveling, relationships - so that one day you’ll have something to write about. And that’s okay. Writing is like life - it’s messy, and it changes, and you change, and you just have to be patient with yourself and find a balance between loving the hell out of it and not take it too seriously. I hope this could help with getting you started, and I wish you all the best for your life and those stories crowding inside you, waiting to be told.

#ask #writing #writing tips #writing advice #writing is hard #and lonely #imo you're amazing for even trying it #pat yourself on the back #and be kind to yourself #you can do the thing #<3

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restivewit · 6 years

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@philosoverted tagged me to do a little about the writer meme, so here we go. thanks, my dude. :)

it’s a little long, so here’s a cut.

which writing advice do you dislike the most?

I hate the discourse around said. there’s a time and place for everything, and sometimes said just works better than other dialogue tags. said isn’t a cop-out — but there’s nothing wrong with other descriptors, either. look, sometimes people say things, and sometimes they shout or murmur or hiss. it’s all fine.

same with -ly adverbs. “said in an undertone” isn’t any better than “said quietly,” which isn’t necessarily preferable to “murmured.” there’s a bajillion words in English, and a limitless way to use them. let’s not police language.

different styles work for different writers. as long as the reader doesn’t struggle to understand what’s happening and is enjoying themself, who’s to say that one way of writing is better than another?

how do you create your characters?

since I write fic pretty much exclusively about video games, I like to think about how the character fits into the story and the world. what qualities would make them interesting to play with? it’s role-playing, is all.

how long does it take you from getting the idea to actually write it down?

I chew on stories for months. I’m slow, and very easily distracted, so I have a lot of WIPs that hang out in my drafts for a long time.

what’s the most you’ve written for a story (aka word count)?

in the neighborhood of 20,000, for my half-finished, mostly abandoned longfic, where there is ruin (there is treasure). I generally stick to shorter fic for a reason — the longer it goes, the harder it is for me to see a clear end, and I started ruin without a clear idea of where I was going, so it floundered.

do you have a headcanon you haven’t told yet for your current story? which one?

I headcanon that Ari, my priest Watcher in Pillars of Eternity, loses her ability to do magic when she decides not to worship Eothas as a god anymore. she gets her mojo back at some point, but I’m still figuring that part out. I also haven’t… you know, finished any fic about her yet.

with which of your minor characters would you get along with the best?

hmm, probably Piper in Fallout. we have the same profession, so we’d have stuff to talk about, at least.

where do you get your inspiration from?

video games, mostly — I like to dig into the world and lore of big games and see how people fit in them. there’s often some emotional and personal layers missing, or at least incomplete, in games, so I like filling in the blanks in fic.

do your WIPs (if you have more than one) fit together? or if you have only one: do you plan on having fitting stories?

most of my Fallout fics are about the same Sole Survivor, June. and like I said, I have a few WIPs about my Pillars of Eternity Watcher, Ari. those will get done someday.

which one of your characters do you like the most?

I like my characters for different reasons, so it’s hard to say who I like most. June exists because I wanted to explore the duality in someone who is violent in a violent world (and who relishes that violence), but who also holds on to her softness and who loves and is good at being a mom. Ari exists because I needed an outlet to write about faith and where to place it.

would you like to get published?

for fiction? nah. I’m happy keeping that as strictly for-fun.

do you prefer to schedule your writing time, or go only whenever the creativity strikes?

I write when the urge strikes me. I’d love to get more structured about it someday, but I already have to force myself to write for work and that’s no fun, so I’d hate for my for-fun writing to just turn into more work.

home, coffee shop or library for writing?

home. I have too much anxiety to post up and write fic in public lmao.

would you ever collaborate with another writer on a story?

I dunno, I’m not consistent enough with my writing to feel okay with working on something with another person. if we had a shared idea that we’re both super motivated to work on, sure? but I’d hate to wind up in a situation where the other writer is putting in more work on a project than I am.

@matredaen has already been tagged, but I’m doing it again — get at it, girl.

#she memes

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duhragonball · 6 years

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Babbling about Comics

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get back in gear with my plan to read my entire collection of X-Men comics. I had this big plan to do it in 2015, but I only made it about halfway, which put me around Uncanny X-Men #280 (September 1991). That’s about 29 years’ worth of comics, though, so my plan was probably unrealistic.

Ever since I reblogged this, I’ve been thinking about how I used to be big into American comic books, but not so much anymore. One person in that thread jokes about how complicated it is to start reading X-Men and Wolverine, and the thing is, I actually know how to do that, because I spent maybe a week in 2014 obsessively studying the Marvel Chronology Project website to come up with a good reading order. Honestly, it’s kind of fun, but only because I’m a maniac. I can’t see how any normal person would even want to bother untangling that mess. The system was designed for only two kinds of immersion.

1) You bought the comics when they were published, and read them in more or less their intended reading order, because you had no other choice.

2) You’re a maniac like myself, who accumulated all this stuff after the fact and you’re determined to go back and figure out what happened.

Nowadays, it’s a lot easier for a new fan to dig into the past, because so much of Marvel’s back catalog is available in digital format, but it’s still a pretty big paywall when you think about how many X-Men comics they’ve made. And even if you download torrents, you still have to read the whole thing, and who has time for that? Generally, Marvel’s marketing strategy has been to try to make the new stories accessible enough for new readers to follow, while only reprinting the older material that’s important or popular. As a collector and a completist, this always frustrated me, but I think I’ve finally begun to see the wisdom of that approach.

See, the real gateway to a franchise like this is to stick to the greatest hits. For me, that’s Uncanny X-Men #94-167, which spans 1975-1983. Then you jump all the way to Wolverine’s solo book, which started in 1988. The first thirty issues of that are really, really good. I like the stuff that Larry Hama did with Wolverine later, but it’s not for everyone. If you want to read a crossover, I’d recommend “X-Tinction Agenda”, since it provides a decent snapshot of where the X-Books were at in 1990. Now, I’m skipping over a lot of other material from the period, but a lot of it was pretty awful, and the good issues of X-Factor and New Mutants were kind of inessential. The point is that you have to sample the best stuff first, then decide if you care enough about the characters to go dumpster diving through the rest of it. You’ll find some gems, but you have to be willing to put up with some real crap to get at it.

For example, right now, I’m in the middle of 1992, which was sort of a defining period for the X-Men franchise. Chris Claremont had ended a 17-year run as the writer, and they were trying to build everything around superstar penciller Jim Lee. I don’t know what went wrong exactly, but by the end of the year Lee had left to start his own company, and a lot of the X-Men comics from that year have a long list of co-plotters, co-scripters, and guest artists. The flagship title, X-Men v.2, held up reasonably well, but it’s sister Uncanny X-Men suffered from neglect. UXM #281 was supposed to herald this bold new era, but instead it just looks like a tire fire, one that continued to burn until #293 at least. But, those issues are notable because they introduce Lucas Bishop to the franchise.

I never cared much about Bishop, except that he looks pretty cool, and he had a cool voice in the X-Men cartoon. Otherwise, I only knew he was a guy from the future with a gun, just like the dozen other future-guys-with-guns in 90′s comics. But when Bishop was introduced, he hailed from the year 2062, where he’s part of a Judge Dredd-style security force. Bishop revered the X-Men as legends, but once he meets the real deal he quickly finds out they’re not what he expected. Bishop sees himself as a peacekeeper, and he’s honored to join the X-Men, but he keeps finding his violent, hair trigger methods at odds with the X-Men’s rigid protocol.

The thing is, I identify with the guy. I used to write him off as a knock off of Cable, or one of the other loose-cannon hardcases the X-Men keep recruiting, but they actually found a way to make Bishop stand out from the crowd. He loves the X-Men in theory, but he really doesn’t understand what makes them work. Which is sort of like me trying to read all these comics I only know by reputation. A lot of of the things fans praise the X-Men for are vastly overrated or completely misrepresented. The conventional wisdom I always got from the fans was that the X-Men were only great when Claremont wrote them, and then Scott Lobdell took over and Ruined Everything(tm). The reality (from my perspective) is that Claremont ran out of mojo around Year Eight of his 17-year run, and he was running on fumes from ‘83 to ‘91. I’ve seen fans carry a torch over what happened to Madelyne Pryor, but as far as I’m concerned Madelyne Pryor’s introduction was when the Claremont run jumped the shark. Her whole character arc was a no-win scenario and their biggest mistake was in not ending it sooner. I used to think the X-Men comics of the early 90′s were a creative train-wreck, but somehow it managed to generate Bishop, and that gives me hope.

Also, there is something oddly comforting about reading these old comics. Nothing ever really changes with the X-Men. If a character gets killed, they just come back a few years later. If a character quits or turns evil, it’ll get reversed later. The X-Men never really win or lose any battles. They just sort of show up and fight, and then something else happens and they get distracted by that for several issues. Last night I read the issue where Forge gets upset because he’s in love with Storm and he hasn’t even gotten five minutes alone with her to rekindle their feelings from 1988. He awkwardly proposes to her, and she punts, telling him she’ll think about it. In the very next scene they have together, he leave the mansion before she can even give her answer. Forge is convinced that Storm doesn’t really love him, and that she’ll never set aside her X-Men career long enough to make time for a serious relationship. As he slams the door, she mutters “I would have said... yes.” That’s classic X-Men for you. All angst, all turmoil, no resolution. We don’t know if Storm is sincere or not, and Forge won’t even stick around to find out. Is he right about her, or is he just too afraid of rejection? Maybe we’ll see in a later issue, but I bet we don’t. It’s Schrödinger’s ship. Everything sort of hangs in midair.

Now, I might have said that this is why I’ve come to prefer anime lately, because the stories are more decisive. Goku married Chi-Chi and that’s it. Done. There’s no hotshot editor trying to split that up or retcon it to clear the way for a fresh pairing. The real tragedy of Storm is that she’s trapped in Comic Book Time, so she couldn’t have a long term relationship even if she wanted to. If she had married Forge in 1992 they would have inevitably been divorced a short time later, because Marvel likes to rotate romantic partners around every few years. Storm actually married the Black Panther later on, but I’m pretty sure that’s over now. But Goku’s marriage to Chi-Chi is absolute. I like certainty. It helps make the characters feel more genuine, and less like imaginary dolls driven by editorial whims and sales charts.

But, having recently finished Revolutionary Girl Utena, I find the X-Men’s open-endedness kind of soothing. I didn’t get what I wanted from the ending of the Utena TV series. I’m not sure what I wanted, exactly, but what I got wasn’t completely satisfying. I may warm up to it later on, or I’ll watch the movie version and see if that’s more to my liking, but that’s pretty much all I’m going to get. With the X-Men, I’m not particularly invested in the characters, and I have a general knowledge of what happens to them, and that anything that happens to them is mutable and transient. It takes a lot of the punch out of Forge walking out on Storm, but it’s still decent theatre, and I’m not in the mood for dramatic punch right now. Utena was like getting dramatically punched by Star Platinum for five pages. I’d watch one episode and then I’d have to take a break before moving to the next one. Not everything needs to be like that. Sometimes it can be Bishop possibly getting Storm on the rebound, only to discover that she’s not as good in bed as the history books said she was.

Nevertheless, I think this is something the comics industry needs to address. I got fed up with following comics because the new ones are expensive and inconsistently produced, and nothing worthwhile ever happens in them either. They keep relaunching series with new #1′s, or renumbering them every time they get close to a Big Round Number, so it’s probably even harder to keep the reading order straight than it was twenty or thirty years ago. So it’s a lot of the same hassles you get from back issues, except my back issues are already bought and paid for, so I might as well waste my time reading them instead of paying for overpriced new stuff. Their best bet is to introduce new characters, especially female, POC, and LBGT+ characters that are tough to find in the back issue rack, because that’s something novel they can use to draw modern audiences. Because Thor’s dealt with Ragnarok about a dozen times already, and the X-Men haven’t accomplished anything tangible in 30 years, so eventually no one’s going to fall for the same corny “Nothing Will Ever Be the Same!” gimmick.

#disclaimer: i don't know if storm and bishop hook up or not #but the last issue i read sure seems to want me to think they could #but even if they did i know it wouldn't last because she ended up marrying t'challa in 2006 #but i have no idea what she was up to in between so maybe bishop had a shot #and that's what's neat about delving into a long run of comics #to find out if something just didn't happen or if it did and fans just never talk about it

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meupila · 7 years

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Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Seen on October 6th 2017 in a 2D cinema.

A beautiful film, powerful story, and immersive experience. It left me feeling like its protagonist– exhausted, confused, and yet somehow at peace.

I am certain there was symbolism that went way over my head, but I thoroughly appreciated what I was able to register. The theological parallels with the figures of the savior, the holy virgin, and the immaculate conception pushed my expectations along subtly but surely. I was as devastated as K / Joe (Ryan Gosling) when I found out that I would not get to follow the path of the hero after all. The question seemed to become: if you are not the hero of the larger narrative, what is your role?

K, much like the audience, becomes a witness to a miracle. When it becomes clear that he himself is not the miracle, he must choose either to fight to preserve it or to sink into indifference/nihilism. Either choice would be understandable in his circumstances, and both would make for relatable stories, but Blade Runner 2049 takes us down the path of fighting for a larger cause– a path shared by many characters in the film. Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) fights to keep hidden the story of the Replicant birth; Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) leaves his loved ones to protect the miracle they'd created; Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright) desperately fights for social order; Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) is keen to transform civilization. They are all driven by a grand vision larger than themselves.

Therefore, the climactic fight between K and Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) is significant not only in the lives of those involved but also as a conflict between self-preservation and self-sacrifice. By this point, K's motivation is mostly devoid of ego, while Luv's main concern remains to be "the best of the angels". Somehow, Luv's shameless egotism made me sympathize with her– there is some of that in all of us. Perhaps by fighting her to the death, K completely kills what remains of his own ego. Perhaps by watching it, we experience part of that too, and this may explain why I was on the edge of my seat during this fight, unable to pick a side, and dreading either outcome. The encounter is visceral and genuinely tense, with the water pulling everyone closer to their death, relentless and impersonal. The blue and yellow hues from the fallen vehicle were a creative way to light this crucial scene, making the struggle all the more ethereal.

The cinematography (Roger Deakins) and visual effects were stunning throughout the film. In retrospect, the range of landscapes presented to us is remarkable, but during the film, they flowed naturally. Every moment was filled with marvelous detail, but worldbuilding never overshadowed storytelling. The vast cityscapes, mind-bending architecture, deep colors, and the wondrous reflections that lit so much of this film all seemed but backdrops to a powerful central narrative. In between being utterly lost in the emotional and personal, I would suddenly become aware of the amazing world underneath.

I have yet to research the extent to which Ridley Scott was involved, but it is obvious the film owes a lot to Denis Villeneuve's clear vision as a director, and to a good script by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. The mojo is consistent, the structure is creative, and it's clear these filmmakers didn't take us for fools.

The acting was excellent. Mackenzie Davis as Mariette had a magical significance about her, and the overlaid performance with Ana de Armas as Joi was visually striking as well as emotionally potent. Armas completely sells the character of Joi, a disembodied entity that is totally genuine in its desire to be, to have a body, and to please K. The fact that Joi is a mass-produced product does not change the sincerity she projects, nor how easily we and K buy it.

Robin Wright as Lt. Joshi was very much human, with her arrogance and sensitivity blatantly exposed. Her final moments with Luv were painful to watch, and for a moment Wright embodied all of us in the face of the unyielding machine. When she downed that glass of whiskey, she knew what was coming, and so did we. In contrast, Jared Leto as Wallace was somewhat opaque and obscure, but I suspect this is how the character was intended to be. We get a glimpse of an overwhelming ambition and idealism driving him, but it felt distant and cold to me– human, but not in a way I liked. This should not be surprising, as after all there are very few Niander Wallaces in the world, and their calculated vision must be alien to most.

Harrison Ford, returning as Deckard, appears fairly late in the film and adds a reluctant charm, grounding the film at a point when it could have easily gone off the rails. He plays someone who has made tough choices and has long since learned to live with them. I wonder what a day in the life of Deckard would have looked like, drinking whiskey with his dog and tending to his bees amidst the surreal ruins of Las Vegas. One particular scene especially owed its poignancy to Ford's powerful performance: when Wallace throws into question Deckard's life and love as pre-determined and devoid of meaning, we get a long close-up of Ford's face and witness a sequence of subtle transformations. The terror that flickers across his eyes, and the weight that sets down upon him, and the inexplicable strength that he somehow musters to speak the words, "I know what's real," were thrilling to watch and a perfect vessel for my own experience of those same emotions.

The soundtrack (Hans Zimmer, Benjamin Wallfisch) and overall sound design worked wonders, completing the feel of the universe and driving home the dread and hope. I felt some kind of rage writhing beneath the music, subtle and powerful, and it hinted at the unimaginable inner experience of K and the Replicants in general. Who is to say what it is like to be an artificially intelligent bioengineered being? I have no idea, but rage is a primal experience I find easy to imagine in others.

Ryan Gosling's task of portraying K's utter fury and desperation cannot have been easy. Like Pinnochio, K is tossed between the lures of pleasure, dreams of family, and a quest for the truth. His relationship with Joi is fragile, touching, and tragic. His anger and hope in finding a father figure, Deckard, is ultimately baseless and heartbreaking.

On the one hand, his character is ultimately an alien– something entirely non-human; at the same time, his struggles mirror an experience that humans have utterly monopolized: the journey of defining oneself and one's path. The only reason this film works at all is that we can relate to K, but the main reason it works so well is due to the uneasy reminders that, in the end, he is not one of us.

There was a sense in me that his experience cannot possibly be authentic – a feeling clearly shared by K himself, who is constantly reminded that he "has no soul"– and yet I was convinced that those same feelings in me would be as valid as can be. As his doubt slowly seeped into me as well, I began to wonder about my own human experience: what makes it authentic?

In some sense, Blade Runner 2049 explored not so much what it is like to be an AI, but what it is like to be human. Perhaps the writers hid a jewel in an inconspicuous joke quipped by Deckard in the casino– when K asks him if the dog he lives with is real, Deckard smirks and says, "Why don't you ask him?"

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