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blackmoonlightexpress · 10 months

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About the mixed response in China & why I think TTEOTM will prevail in the end 💪

Saw the "Badly Received in China?" post earlier and thought to share a longer take on the situation in China, why are there so many antis, and my own predictions on its future.

First, a clarification, TTEOTM has been an massive hit in China. The data speaks for itself in every way you can measure commercial success: viewership, platform membership, app downloads, social media heat index, advertisements, merchandise sales, unintended tourism GDP contribution. The drama has shattered records and outperformed all the recent xianxias, which you'd never dare to expect for a drama with no dingliu (顶流) that airs exclusively in the dead April slot on a platform that's 3rd (sometimes 4th) amongst online streamers. (Some day I'll create a master post just on the stats.)

The only area it falls short on is critical response. It's not just the low Douban rating (opened at 6.x and now dropped to 5.6). The three Bs - Douban, Weibo, and Bilibili (which you can think of as China's IMDB, Twitter, and Youtube) were full of attacks against the show. This included trending topics on how the actors looked (LYX too thin, BL looking old/big/overshadowed by CDL, CDL 照骗 not looking as good as in photo) as well as allegations of plagiarism and drama behind the scenes between cast & crew members. A lot of people watched video edits that twisted the facts and had a poor impression of the drama and even left 1/2-star reviews on Douban without ever watching an episode. (This type of brainwashing is more effective than you'd think. I've been reading a lot of negative posts about the Little Mermaid movie and almost caught myself writing something negative about it without ever watching.)

As all of this unfolded, I kept asking myself, why all the smearing? Who is behind it? And why TTEOTM in particular?

A lot of what appears to be normal user activity is driven by water armies, marketing accounts, and "black" hot search ranking, all paid. This is all backed up by photo evidence captured by netizens. It comes down to commercial interests of rival platforms, productions, actors. This actually happens to every drama that is threatening in some way (almost a proof of success), but TTEOTM attracted more anti $$$. Why? For one, it's seen as the secret weapon that could elevate Youku's status as a 3rd/4th player to a close 2nd to rival and even at times overshadow Tencent. It's no coincidence that, Bilibili, which is owned by Tencent and has way more daily active users than Youku, has promoted hate videos and limited the traffic of fan videos - at some point not even recognizing the drama's Chinese title in search results. (Bilibili used to be a haven for LYX fans and a platform LYX has partnered with extensively. This flipped 180 degrees since he no longer has any unaired dramas with Tencent.)

TTEOTM is also a target for rival productions. It's got big name stars with solid acting reputation, one of the hottest IPs, and high anticipation from all the promotional materials - they've been super loud in letting everyone know that they have better costumes, special effects etc Meanwhile, there's a massive pipeline of unaired xianxia dramas that stick to the old formula and will likely feel dated after people have watched TTEOTM. People even started questioning how some productions with bigger rumored budgets ended up with cheaper-looking promotional materials, costumes, CGI (read: embezzling). So if you've invested in xianxia 101, you'd really want to discredit TTEOTM and stop people from watching it.

But there's also rival fandom jealousy, which is almost worse. Someone asked which fandom is behind it, I would say everyone. There are only so many "resources" to go around in the "entertainment winter" and it's a zero sum game. LYX and BL are both already big stars but still not at the top yet. They are big enough to threaten the dinglius, but not big enough to be accepted as having "made it" by other rising stars. E.g. Yang Mi, Yang Zi, Xiao Zhan receive a lot of hate too, but it's less realistic as a prospect to bring them down. In contrast, the smearing of Bai Lu actually kind of worked. (And I'm really talking about the fans. The actors probably leave it to their agencies/companies.)

Other fandoms are especially bitter in this case because TTEOTM really upset the status quo and commonly accepted truths in a way that kind of discredits everyone else. A lot of the below have been used by fans of dinglius as excuses for when a drama doesn't perform:

Youku is a rubbish platform and Youku exclusive web dramas will never have high viewership

It’s impossible for an actor to break out twice within the same genre

An actor can only develop a big dedicated fan base with CP marketing

Breakout hits are always unanticipated dramas that come out of nowhere

Autumn/Spring is a dead slot. Hits can only come out of the summer and winter holidays.

IMHO A lot of the intense hatred comes from long held beliefs being proven wrong. LYX has always been thought of someone who’s borderline A list and B list, yet the opening viewership of TTEOTM is like double that of dramas led by bigger stars. It would have been less threatening if it started low and slowly gained traction because the drama proved to be good. But the initial hype speaks to the market power of a LYX xianxia, so a lot of people wanted to see it fail and looked for faults everywhere.

Moreover, because TTEOTM had an explosive opening, it did not have enough time for word of mouth to develop before people started bashing it. If you look at Douban ratings, shows that fewer people watched tend to have better reviews because only fans bother to rate it. Starry Love and Back from the Brink, both harshly dismissed as flops by the industry, both have >7.0 on Douban. Meanwhile, people love to hate on a show that is receiving a lot of hype - suddenly they are held to completely different standards even if the budget is similar. Why are people more accepting of the rise of Dylan Wang and Esther Yu in LBFAD? In the end because the expectations were pretty low. They were able to build up a fan base while no one was watching.

Finally, TTEOTM does have lots of production problems, some of their own doing and others not their fault. Either way this left the drama less defensible in the face of scrutiny or tucao (吐槽) culture. The production is very ambitious and took risks, but did not deliver everywhere. It's got parts that look like a blockbuster film and parts that look like a B grade TV show. I personally did not like some of the editing, lighting, cinematography, color grading, special effects, makeup. AND this is precisely the type of production details Chinese viewers LOVE to fixate on. Meanwhile, compared to western viewers, they are more forgiving about things like mediocre acting, dubbing, slow pacing, repetitive tropes or storylines, uninteresting characters. (I think this has something to do with cultural differences around rewarding perfect execution over innovation/risk-taking, sum of the parts over parts that carry the sum.)

And then, there are creative choices that are daring and controversial. These are not problems per se - for every viewer that hates it, someone loves it because it's different. But this perhaps explain why its score has dropped further, even in non-Chinese platforms like MDL, even amongst fans of the show. For example... (spoilers ahead)

Opting for a bad/open ending, knowing that it'll upset some fans, but sticking to it because they feel that it protects the overall integrity of the story (no deus ex machina). Of course, most viewers prefer a happy ending. It would have been easy to just give people what they want. The screenwriter doesn't even have to come up with a new ending for god's sake! However, almost every xianxia that has come before has resurrected the lead character after the big climax. Viewers have been making fun of the cop out: What's the significance of life and death if everyone just reincarnates?

Packing lots of details in a fast-paced, highly complicated, non-linear plot, trusting viewers to be engaged enough to use their brain, rewatch, and discuss outside the show (a bit like Christopher Nolan films). The downside of this is that it's hard to edit out a scene. There's also high risk of viewers getting confused and complaining that the plot makes no sense. Even though most things do if you go several layers down, some rightly point out that they just want to be entertained and the drama should stand on its own.

Making this a male lead centric (大男主) drama, which is rare in the xianxia genre that more recently has targeted young women exclusively. The story shifts from focusing on LSS's mission to TTJ overcoming his fate, perhaps at the expense of the romance (a criticism I see a lot from viewers looking for a pure love story). However, for context, viewers in China (including CCTV itself) have been complaining that the xianxia genre has lost the "xia” (heroism). It's gone from Chinese Paladin, which is about ordinary people overcoming odds to become heroes, to stories that are just about pretty people, who happen to be gods, falling in love since the success of Eternal Love and Journey of the Flower. TTEOTM brings the focus back to "zero to hero" character development, so this is also a change that many welcome.

Allocating a crazy portion of budget and screentime to superhero fight sequences. I agree with all the critics who say these scenes don't add much to the story, the B roll looks better without CGI, and they could have kept other scenes instead. BUT guess which scenes I find myself rewatching and showing off to friends the most? Episodes 14, 15, 32. Because it is thrilling and glorious. Plus after enduring so many Marvel films over the years, I'm pleased to see a version that's genuinely Chinese (not some pan-Asian BS), rooted in our philosophy and martial arts tradition, featuring Chinese faces that have real kungfu training.

Going over the top on aesthetics - colorful costumes, hair accessories, and heavy makeup. A violent reaction against the simple pastel aesthetics that have dominated xianxias over the years. Of course, lots of people hated on the eyeliner and found the extravagant visuals distracting.

However, even with all its flaws, I'm glad it aired and did not wait for perfection. (A lot of May dramas did not go live last minute due to "technical problems" i.e. government censorship. These days, airing = success.) In addition, I predict that over time people will come to appreciate TTEOTM more. Here's why:

1) A lot of dramas now widely lauded as classics started out with poor ratings. Over time, the noise will die down and make way for what really matters - compelling acting and story. Empresses in the Palace (2011) opened with a Douban rating of 2.7 out of 10 (yes, this bad). Viewers didn't like the casting choice. They thought the actors looked bad. There were also issues with the costumes. Over time, its rating increased to 9.4. It's now a show rewatched so loyally that data analysts use its viewership to track market size. Similarly, a lot of the issues people have with TTEOTM are superficial. The things that matter most like acting are good, and even if you dislike the story and editing choices, it did manage to keep 70M people watching and engaged till the end, incl. people who don't watch a lot of TV or like this genre.

2) Moreover, when people look back or rewatch, they tend to focus on just the highlights, and TTEOTM is full of memorable scenes. There are also so many standout memes/gags (出圈梗) that will live in our cultural fabric forever. Fans on Douban were surveyed on who they would have chosen as the director instead and still overwhelming "rehired" Kuk Kok Leung. Biases aside, I think people realize that you could have a better executed drama overall - higher production value, greater consistency, more attention to detail, BUT you might also lose a lot of the things we loved. I don't know if another director would have allowed TTJ go full creepy/evil/weak in the first few episodes or filmed all the steamy love scenes without a modesty backlight. TTEOTM feels so different because it breaks ALL the rules (see above) that I'm not sure if dramas in the future will try to replicate. If they do, TTEOTM would have started a trend. If they don't, TTEOTM will remain the only option.

3) Only dramas that inspire passion will stand the test of time. There are plenty of dramas that score well but don't inspire passion - they will fade away over time. The TTEOTM fan community is intense - there's so much discussion and engagement everywhere. Its Douban group is the #3 most active ever (measured by # of comments). Its MDL page has 68K comments, highest of all aired CDrama. Its Douyin topic has close to 29B views, highest of all costume drama. (Interesting to note that TTEOTM has an excellent reputation on Douyin, the platform with the most active users and least amount of toxic fan activity.) Fans have spent >25M RMB on merchandise, an unprecedented amount - 3M RMB on a character that appears for <10 mins (OG Devil God). It's got to have done something right because this is way more buying power than the fans of LYX and BL combined. And in my N=1, I've not been this excited about a franchise since Game of Thrones and then Harry Potter.

Bottom line, you might have liked it, liked it with regrets, hated it... but if you're spending the time to read this post, all the way till the end, you've become a luna-tic (or 烬神病人)!

#till the end of the moon #black moonlight holds the be script #luo yunxi #bai lu #tantai jin #ye xiwu #chang yue jin ming #chinese drama #cdrama

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avissapiens · 3 months

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JBS retrospective.

Jockbull summer was definitely something where I shot for the stars. 15 tasks where everyone else had only 5. Fairly stringent time limited goals that got more intense and all consuming with each set that was developed. I knew I wasn't going to be perfect at it or even approach 50% completion. And yet i still feel fucking amazing to have done it! In an 8 week span i jockified certain segments of my life in ways that really did feel like they resonated through my whole being. It sounds a bit hyperbolic, I know. But I do think that undergoing such a structured battery of tasks, having it constantly in my mind every single day, even to the point that for 8 weeks straight my phone background was some of the images I generated for each set of post diaries did something to me. Thinking about these Jockbull tasks definitely left a mark on my mindset. And the tasks themselves left a mark on my life because I think some of them are simply going to stick with me.

But they were starting to drag and i noticed myself getting more and more exhausted with..well..everything as the cut came to its end. So it had to come to a close as all good things must

Set A

Of the tasks that are gonna stick with me here I definitely think elements of the competition task are gonna have a big impact. It was perhaps overenthusiastic to demand weekly competition from other people. But I have noticed my approach to things the longer I've held this task in my mind is a lot more geared towards winning and just enjoying competition in general. It’s still not fully realized yet though. There is more I can do to embody that jock mentality of victory at any cost. Maybe i should delve into some specific self programming so that i take it beyond just video games

The other task I think is going to stick is Baki. I just didn’t anticipate how fucking fun it would be and how much it aligns so well with my particular kink ecosystem. But moreover, I think deliberately pursuing baki rather than just mindlessly consuming it has opened me up for more media exploration, and exploration of the sort that will help me see the archetypes in more forms of art. That definitely had an impact on my vibes sets too. And in the time since then I've opened up to exploring shows like Letterkenny which has a whiff of jockbroness to it.

Set B

I feel like Set B was mostly more geared towards accomplishing a specific goal for the cut. And now that it’s accomplished and thensome I can thank it and file most of it away. Maybe bring some of it back around when I do a cut in future. One thing that will definitely be sticking is the Personal Training element. Keeping this task in my mind has really opened up the possibilities. Especially as I’ve talked it through with Abg and others more thoroughly. I want to keep synthesizing my loves and my passions. I moved here to NZ specifically because I wanted to combine my interests into something niche and eclectic but that could still serve me. And the same goes for Personal training. At first I thought I'd be stuck just working in a gym and I was fine with that. But I want more. I want to be able to take this knowledge, this business, and combine it with the different brilliant works I've already put so much work into. The abyss, the archetypes. I wanna do online training and help you all actually physically attain these goals and help you make a transformation Even more astonishing than my own. Combining Personal training and the hypnotic structures I've created. And I'd love to be able to make something steady and sustainable out of it so I can get my own space and grow even more while finishing my degree here. I know it’s lofty. But I've always put in the work and this is no exception. We’ll see how things go once I've got the quals.

Set C

I truly wish that the meditation task was the one I was gonna keep around. Set C however really illustrated how precarious setting too many things in stone can be. Daily routines, a biweekly creative work schedule, weekly fast days. It was a lot. Things eventually had to give and meditation was one of them. Now that I'm trying to gain some muscle mass, fasting days are actively counter productive. And being on commission mode means that a lot of my creative bandwidth is taken up by those. I will however be maintaining the daily routine. It’s not perfect. It never will be. And it sure as hell isn’t for everyone. But I am very much an abyssal creature of habit and structured chaos. And the creation of a daily routine for skincare, supplements, Breakfast. It all makes me feel a lot better and has 100% elevated my aesthetics. Not to mention really entwining himbo as something I relate with and aspire to more and more. For most of JBS i was also using a pretty strict time table for a bunch of summer related things.

But I've decided to retire it because the longer it went on, the more tired and numb I grew and the lower my success rate with any given day’s tasks were. But it was incredibly successful at the start of summer and allowed me to get a lot done and set a great momentum for the rest of it. My libido never really “went away” during the cut like sometimes happens to bodybuilders, but it defo got attenuated or at least shifted. But holy fuck now that i’m back on carbs you can bet that i’ll be doing task 3 almost unthinkingly

All in all, I really enjoyed this experiment and I’d love to try it again in a different form. Maybe with a wider sample of bros who might also benefit from the structure and accountability. In a way the dudes I generated these with stopped being the main form of accountability for me, and you all reading the blogposts and listening to the Voice logs kept me going instead. So thanks so much. Back to regularly scheduled programming

#jockbull summer #jbs #bull #jock

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dial-a-dyke · 5 months

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Do you know about Queering the Map?

Hey y'all! I wanna highlight a queer platform I've been really interested in recently, one that has gained popularity in the last couple months especially. You might recognize this heartbreaking and intimate excerpt from Gaza that's been circulating social media platforms in the last couple months:

I’ve always imagined you and me sitting out in the sun, hand and hand, free at last. We spoke of all the places we would go if we could. Yet you are gone now. If I had known that bombs raining down on us would take you from me, I would have gladly told the world how I adored you more than anything. I’m sorry I was a coward.

The post comes from queeringthemap.com which, according to their Instagram, "is a community-generated counter mapping platform for digitally archiving LGBTQ2IA+ experience in relation to physical space."

Basically, Queering the Map allows you to post your own queer memories from anywhere in the world, completely anonymous. Wanna mark where you and your girlfriend had your first date? Drop a pin. Wanna place yourself in the middle of the ocean as a metaphor for unrequited love? Drop a pin. Wanna reflect on being the only queer person in your town? Drop a pin.

There is no limit to what users can post - or what they can see. Every post that users have ever created is still on the site, serving as make-shift digital archive for queer memories. Posts are public to any user who visits the website, allowing people to browse the digital globe and the queer experiences people have shared.

Founded by Canadian artist Lucas LaRochelle in 2017, Queering the Map has connected countless LGBTQ2IA+ people from around the world. Some like to share their own memories, others find hope in reading others' posts, and some share the posts to other platforms for rhetorical purposes.

Take the excerpt above from Gaza, for example. It first began to circulate the web (to my knowledge) roughly a year ago, and then again in June after it was featured in a NYT article. Then, in October, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and Tumblr users began sharing the screenshotted post to show solidarity with Palestinians - especially queer Palestinians. The Dyke Project used this excerpt and others from Gaza to display on bus advertising systems. Something about Queering the Map captivated attention in a unique way - something about it made people feel like it was the right place to turn in moments and feelings of tragedy and horror.

Other times, people share posts that simply spoke to them. Illustrator Aude Nasr brought some posts to life, helping us picture the moments people were trying to document. I've posted some of Nasr's art here.

I encourage you all to check out queeringthemap.com at some point, if not to post for yourself but to just see the beautiful, lively, and complicated memories someone, somewhere, wanted you to see. And to my queer siblings everywhere: I am constantly amazed by our desire to connect with each other, to defy borders and time, and to write our stories down.

Quick userguide:

Entering the website, users find themselves in a zoomed in location on the map. The water is blue, but the land is pink with dotted lines indicating borders between states or regions, and straight lines between countries. Using their mouse, one can scroll to zoom in or out. Memories are marked on the pink map by black location tags, which you can click on to view the specific memory a user shared for that location, or simply run your mouse over it for a smaller box to show the text. Zooming out too far, a user might see a black blob, no pink space in sight as so many memories have been posted to a particular region.

Were you familiar with Queering the Map before this post? What about before the last couple of months? What Queering the Map entry speaks to you? What does queer memory making mean to you?

Here's some posts I've been thinking about lately.

It gets better. When I first got here I was so unsure of myself and if I would be accepted. Now, I know I am loved, I am more sure and I have been accepted and embraced unlike ever before. Roll Pride baby!

came out to my daughter here while driving her to school, 6 years later and 6000km away she came out to me .

Came out to my folks. It didn’t go too well.

Was with the cutest guy I’d ever met

I’m from rafah and she’s from deir al balah, she got married later and i left gaza strip, to this day i think of you, to this day i wish to be back to sleep with you in the same bed, i want you to call for my name again, i wish if i can be with you again my heart. بحبك وبالرغم من الي صار دايما في بالي.

Idk how long I will live so I just want this to be my memory here before I die. I am not going to leave my home, come what may. My biggest regret is not kissing this one guy. He died two days back. We had told how much we like each other and I was too shy to kiss last time. He died in the bombing. I think a big part of me died too. And soon I will be dead. To younus, i will kiss you in heaven.

First kiss 16 years ago

One day, this sea will not divide us.

i hope your family knows i will love you until the day i die. i hope we meet in every life, no matter how many times you break my heart. Wo ai ni

故事从这里开始 : ) Un día te olvidaré, no importa que sea tan difícil. Me lo creo.

#queer #queer history #lgbtq #sapphic #gay

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genericpuff · 4 months

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This is the Christmas of "media that's really hard to find that I inexplicably got my hands on"

Not-LO related - I am a huge, HUGE fan of Circa Survive. I started listening to them when I was around 16, leading into the years that I would spend learning to navigate the "real world" away from my hometown and family. I fell in love with them immediately with Blue Sky Noise, and I've been following their music ever since. One thing I've been working on collecting is the vinyl collection. So far I have Juturna, Descensus (which I ordered to a new apartment I was moving into and proceeded to take the entirety of my time living there up until the last 2 days before I had to move again when it finally showed up), Two Dreams, On Letting Go, and the single-sided 7" Battle, My Love track that was released as a charity track to aid in Hurricane Sandy relief back in 2012.

Aside from the vinyl albums I'm still missing (Violent Waves, Blue Sky Noise, The Amulet, and Appendage) this particular find was an 7" split they did with mewithoutyou (a band that I've listened to but never really got into, RIP), meaning there's one song on Side A by Circa Survive and one song on Side B by mewithoutyou. And that ONE Circa Survive song is one that you can't find on any official album or released as a single. "Awake in a Dream", which, while not a commonly loved track, is probably one of my favorite Circa Survive tracks of all time.

There is some speculation as to what RPM the track is supposed to be listened to (and with a 7" disc no less) but this is likely the closest to what it's supposed to sound like:

youtube

I decided to give finding this track on vinyl another try. But see, here's the catch - it was only produced on these vinyl splits, only sold at select record stores during Record Store Day back in 2016. This shit ain't even on Spotify, all listening is exclusively done from recordings on Youtube that are, again, speculated over as to whether or not they even sound as originally intended. So I'd have to rely on the used market. I've attempted to do this in the past to no success.

I found it this time. And it came in this morning, after I had almost forgotten I'd even ordered it in the bustle of the holiday season. And it only cost about $40 after shipping from Discogs (these guys rock) which is a pretty fair price to pay for something that only had one limited print run half a decade ago. The only disclaimer on the sale page was that it had "minor corner wear on the sleeve".

So yeah, pretty damn psyched to own this split now, the hunt is (hopefully) over, assuming that the vinyl itself plays smoothly. The disc is a gorgeous shimmering opaque blue and looks, as its previous owners described it, like it's in very clean practically brand new condition.

So yeah! As soon as my roommate gets home, I'm gonna lovingly bully her (/j) into helping me set up her sound system with my vinyl player so we can test drive this baby ＼(≧▽≦)／ (and while I wait I might see about finding a vinyl copy of Appendage because goddamn I need "Lazarus" on vinyl)

#i've also got the stardew valley vinyl collection on its way huehuehue #self post #media collection #vinyl collection #circa survive #awake in a dream

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antianakin · 3 months

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Hi! I hope you're having a great day or night :)

Theres a question I've been wanting to ask for a few days now so I might aswell ask you now.

What's your thoughts on the Clone Wars (2003) 2D Micro-Series and the Clone Wars Multimedia Project?

I heard some Star-Wars Fans say that they prefer the Multi-Media Project and Clone Wars 2003 over the 2008 Clone Wars and think that it fits better in the Prequel Trilogy Continuity than Clone Wars 2008, so I'm curious on what's your take?

So I only ever watched like half of the 2003 Clone Wars show, which I think is what you're calling the 2D Micro-Series that aired between AOTC and ROTS in very short like 2-3 minute installments, so my opinion of it is obviously somewhat limited since I never saw the entire thing. I was watching it on YouTube I think very shortly before it got put onto Disney+ and the last half ended up unavailable before I could go see it and I haven't gone back to finish it because I figure I've kind-of gotten the gist.

Which I guess tells you something of my opinion on it on its own.

I don't dislike it by any means, but I think that the 2003 Clone Wars show is, by its nature, VERY different from the 2008 show. It doesn't take itself even HALF as seriously as the 2008 show does, which means that the stakes are very low and I as the audience can give it a lot more leniency on a lot of things. I'm not EXPECTING these big epic storylines in the 2003 show because that just, quite simply, isn't what it's made for. The 2008 show on the other hand clearly WANTS to be taken seriously most of the time and definitely takes ITSELF more seriously, especially in later seasons where it definitely hits on some heavier topics. So as a viewer, especially an adult one, I tend to sort-of analyze it with the perspective that it's a show that does WANT to be taken seriously to some degree and it wants me to feel things more than a slight thrill at the cool visuals.

So I had some good fun watching some of those early 2003 episodes, like the Mace Windu one and the original Kit Fisto on Mon Cala episode, etc. It's a silly show with some silly little storylines in a fun 2D art style.

But, while there are a LOT of things I think the 2008 show did badly and missed the mark on, there's also a lot of things they ADDED to the worldbuilding that I really love and some genuinely emotional storylines that have stayed with me. In particular, the clones. I don't think anything truly gave the clones the real character and pathos that the 2008 show did, I LOVE the way they were written in 2008, I love how much they want the AUDIENCE to care about them and the nuances added to the characters in how they view themselves and the galaxy and their place in it, I love their relationships with the Jedi, and I love the addition of the chips in the sense that I really like the way it changes Order 66 into this additional tragedy for the clones and the way their fate parallels the Jedi's. They would always mean each other's doom, but it also meant that their people were intertwined from the beginning and this was actually something all of them really cared a lot about and genuinely loved and appreciated, which just makes Order 66 THAT MUCH MORE TRAGIC (and I'm an angst ho so I love that shit). And I am of the firm opinion that the Umbara arc is the best-written storyline in the entire show, hands down, I would rather have the Umbara arc even if it means having the rest of TCW along with it than not have the Umbara arc at all, that's how much I love it. It's heart-wrenching and difficult and visually stunning and complicated and one of the very few storylines that allows the clones to truly shine.

And I like that the 2008 show was able to give a little more depth to some of the Jedi side characters in a way the 2003 show just couldn't (I recognize comics often did more with these characters, but we're not talking about those right now lol). In particular I'm thinking of Shaak Ti and Aayla and Ki-Adi-Mundi and Mace and Luminara and Adi and Eeth and Kit. Barriss of course got treated better in 2003 than in 2008, sadly, but GENERALLY the Jedi characters who got even one or two episodes of focus in the 2008 show got treated kindly and given some additional personality that I found really nice and gave me more Jedi characters to love. In 2003, we get to see them do some action-y stuff that's fun, but from what I saw, they don't necessarily get given super distinct personalities.

So, I guess, TL;DR, the 2008 show is able to do a lot more things regarding the Jedi and clone characters who had up until then remained pretty sidelined that the 2003 show did not, but the more in-depth storylines of the 2008 show invite a deeper analysis of it sometimes that it doesn't always live up to for me while the 2003 show remains a fun, light-hearted, silly romp that can be enjoyed for what it is.

If there's more to the "Clone Wars Multimedia Project" just assume I don't know what it is and haven't seen it so I have no real opinions on it.

#star wars #the clone wars #tcw #2003 clone wars

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tj99er · 3 months

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I'm sick and tired of social media, but I can't stop myself from logging in to Twitter and looking at toxic discourse. I still don't know what's wrong with me...

When it comes to curbing a social media obsession, will-power alone often isn't enough and there is nothing wrong with you for struggling with that.

As much as I love the internet and the social media found amongst it, most social media websites are intentionally designed to be addictive.

But IMO social media is still worth engaging with as long as the media that keeps you coming back is something that makes you happy.

But with Twitter in particular, I've noticed that, more and more, that is no longer the case. When it reaches that point, you should

0. Identify when it reaches the point of obsession. Of realizing that a hub of your free time has gone from something you enjoy engaging with to one that is involuntarily stealing your attention and making you unhappy.

When you do inevitably notice this, there are a number of steps you should take, either short term just to redirect your focus or long-term if you're committing to a full exitus like I have been.

1. Uninstall the app from your phone. No good can come from having the source of your problems in your pocket and 1 button press away. AT BARE MINIMUM remove the shortcut from your phone's background. It is more confrontational to delegate your primary Twitter access as something you can only see on your main computer.

At least there, any time you spend on Twitter is directly proportional to the time you could spend doing literally anything else. This should automatically make you care less about it since now competes with everything else you could possibly want/need to so and it can no longer permeate the between-spaces of your day as much.

If you're like me and the main reason you keep your Twitter account at all is to keep up with notifications...

1b. Stop ALL forms of non-essential posting INCLUDING RETWEETS of things you like. After being conditioned for years as the guy who retweets every Orin post he sees, this has been a slow unlearning process, but for every single post you make - even if it's just sharing someone else's art - is an open prompt that gives you more reason to return.

Copy a link and share it in a discord server if you MUST, but any time you open the website and see a number next to the notification tab, it is a validation that you have reason to keep coming back.

If limiting it to your main computer isn't enough...

2. Completely log out. You know what's even more confrontational than needing to already be in your recreational space? A big ass screen plastered with the website's branding that requires you to manually enter your information.

If your browser has your login info saved, remove that shit. Your mission is to make signing into your account as inconvenient as possible.

Doing this much has historically been enough to keep me away most of the time, but some people may need to go farther...

3. Change your password. Create a completely incomprehensible and string of characters and store it somewhere inconvenient, but in a place you will never lose it. This is where things can get a bit risky, but if you truly and utterly misplace your password, you got a recovery email and 2FA for a reason.

And if forcing yourself to jump through all of these hoops isn't enough, you may just have to face that it's time to

4. Delete your account. Look, if you are struggling to control yourself to a point where you can STILL notice your usage habits are out of your own control - even after jumping through every single one of these hoops - this is an extreme problem and the time for cautious self-created barriers is probably over.

If you truly and utterly can't fight off the urge to return to a platform that you can confidently recognize as being harmful to your well-being, then the only thing left to do is to give yourself nowhere to return to.

Take a day to archive any personal favorite posts or bookmarks, and wipe the slate clean. Twitter may very well continue existing but you can at least ensure your own space within it does not.

Just as your addiction can be fed by the press of a single button, so too can it be cut off. Social media is given value through the connections you make over it. Although you technically CAN just create a new account, it will never be the same as your old one and that gives way you less to return to.

#tjytcomments #social media #addiction #obsession

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rainedragon · 10 months

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kind of a weird question maybe (hopefully not too weird). I bought my first lolita pieces in 2020 and now I mostly wear it casually to sit in my basement as I work from home. I'm not on any social media other than tumblr, I don't have a local comm, and don't really take outfit photos since I mostly enjoy just wearing the clothes and going about my day. However, I'm getting to the point where I'd like to both A) document my expanding wardrobe a bit better and B) share my love of frills a little bit more openly. But I've been scratching my head about how to make a wardrobe post that works with tumblr's post format when I'm used to basically only seeing wardrobe vids from lolita youtubers. Do you maybe have some advice or examples of formatting for wardrobe posts that work well with tumblr's particular post style? Thanks a bunch

Traditionally, wardrobe posts were made on Live Journal in January due to a monthly post theme event the EGL mods started. Some people started making video posts later on because they were more active on Youtube than blogging platforms.

While I haven't tried to do a wardrobe post on Tumblr (I have a long form blog at rainedragon.com where I post anything longer), I have seen people do wardrobe posts on Tumblr. Typically they will either do one post per piece spread out over a month or so with closeups and such in each post. OR they will group things (book prints, red pieces, everything from a specific brand), and make a post that shows those pieces that meet that specific criteria. That said, one trick we used in the LJ days when we got too close to the post limits was to save multiple dresses as a single image like this...

It looks like 5 pictures, but it's really 1 with white bars in the photo. And you can list out what things are with little numbers, or use a key with numbers in the actual photos...

Angelic Pretty Candy Pop JSL

Angelic Pretty Dot Pony Applique JSK

Angelic Pretty Dot Pony Applique Skirt

Angelic Pretty Polka Dot Pleated Sailor JSK

Angelic Pretty Dream Magic JSK

You can also photoshop photos and text together into a single image to save space, but the text won't be searchable / accessible to people who use screen reader technology.

I personally document my wardrobe in lolibrary's wardrobe feature, though in the past I've used a spreadsheet and a google photo album.

If you wanted to document just your wardrobe on tumblr long term, you might consider doing a side blog for it, and putting one item per post and then sharing it to your main blog or linking to it.

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crestfallercanyon · 2 months

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1, 4 and 21 for Mickey Milkovich since I’ve seen you post about Shameless <3

I have seen you liking some of my posts about Shameless, too! I'm always excited when mutuals overlap in other fandoms than just the root one, if that makes sense <3

Anywho, to the questions!

Why do you like or dislike this character?

This answer's long, so sorry, but I feel like it's hard to talk about all of Mickey in a succinct way. While there are parts of Shameless that the writers severely fuck up, and that fuckery did occasionally get his hands on Mickey Milkovich (like constantly trying to write him off it seems??), Mickey has some of the greatest depth and is also consequently one of the most consistent characters they managed to write.

I've said it before, but he has every reason to "look out for number one," and he does, but his number one stops being himself -- it's for his family (Mandy and Ian in particular). While that has its own ramifications, it's also a beautiful thing about him.

He's also smart. I like that he is not a stupid man, which I feel he could have been very quickly reduced to (and I think they sometimes try to do to him in later seasons but that's a rant for later). Reckless and flippant sometimes, but he is smart and he can and will learn. His biggest character growths aren't from lack of understanding due to ineptitude, it's due to biases, and when those biases gets shattered he learns from them and keeps those lessons with him (my main example of this is when he was so very against letting Ian go to a mental hospital -- the whole progression of Mickey taking care of Ian during his illness is what I would say is where he has most of his rapid growth: it's where he stops trying to pretend he doesn't love Ian, it's where he realizes that he can't do everything on his own and has to ask for help sometimes, it's where he loses his ignorance about what exactly Ian is going, much of what he learns in that season carries with him throughout the rest of the show it seems).

Mickey's story is so full of tragedy, and I thought that Shameless was going to "life sucks and then you die" to him, honestly (whenever something went right, they immediately took a hammer to that fragile happiness as soon as seemingly possible). But he wins. He gets the boy he fell in love with, and has a job, and makes his way out of South Side. It's not the dream he thought he'd always have (he thought he'd be King of South Side) but that dream was also made up of a lot of... resignation. So I'm glad that that was turned on its head for him and he still had happiness, I thought that was consistent with the rest of his life, too.

4) If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

This is a fascinating question. To be perfectly honest, I actually wish a character like him was in Sons of Anarchy. There were parts of that show I really enjoyed (I mean, boil it down and it's essentially Motorcycle Hamlet), but I think his character and his arc (with Ian, too, actually) would have added a lot of additional depth to that show -- that and have it address queer characters in a meaningful way (the only queer character I remember from that show was very limited and quickly off the show if I recall correctly). I think he'd be really well suited to meld into that world, actually, with a few tweaks to get him as part of the SoA in the first place.

I also would love to have him in a western or noir, but that's more fanfiction au ideas, not actually placing him in another piece of media haha

21) If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I love to write his dialogue, the snappish way he speaks. I particularly like to write earlier seasons Mickey because he's got such a front he's putting up, it's fun to figure out dialogue where he's clearly saying one thing and hiding another in-between the words; or just straight up contradicting his own thinking because he has to and is desperately hopeful and also terrified that someone (Ian) can see right through him. There's so much internal conflict of Mickey early seasons that while it can be a challenge, it's also so fun to write.

What I don't like? I'm not sure how to articulate this correctly, but I struggle with writing some of the antagonism he and Ian continue to have in later seasons. I mean it's definitely there, it's a part of him, just because Mickey loves Ian and vice versa doesn't mean those two don't insult each other or all that -- I just tend not to write those moments that much because I either will go overboard and write too strong of an argument or it won't feel quite like their energy, if that makes sense.

Thank you so much for the asks! They were a lot of fun. They come from this: Character Ask Game

#ask games #character ask game #shameless (us)#shameless #Mickey Milkovich

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genlossneg · 10 months

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Any short film or media project can be submitted to film festivals pretty much off the bat so long as you appropriately own all the copyrighted material or have permission to use it

There's hundreds of smaller film festivals that ranboo could've submitted genloss too, including film festivals with focuses on experimental media like genloss is. But ranboo ran straight for an Emmy, the cream of the crop and literally nowhere else

It's both a mix of a massive ego and ignorance. Obviously I go to film school so this information was given to me by professors and it was discussed pretty extensively in class, but if Ranboo was genuinely trying to make genloss into anything, I don't think it's crazy to assume he should've submitted genloss to these film festivals that are much more in the lane of what genloss is

Also what peeves me off is because film makers have a crazy stupid amount of passion. I'm surrounded by them in my classes, my profs, we learn about them. And most of these people also have huge egos, and honestly what I've found is that very rarely can this ego be backed up by any substance.

But at the very least, they have an ego and they're trying to do something with it and actively putting in so many hours

Ranboo quite simply hasn't put in any time to make genloss, much like his extraordinarily misplaced budget, he didn't use his time where he shouldn've (don't worry one day I'll jump into your inbox and talk about the incredibly misplaced budget)

The way my particular program works is we all produce a short film at the end of each semester. We get a crew and actors and locations all on a college student budget and one of my classmates actually submitted their work for a film festival and got nominated for their category (very proud of them)

I didn't because I know my film wasn't very good. Am I proud of it, yes! I'm insanely happy with how it came out. But I have the self-awareness to know overall, it isn't this amazing thing that everyone needs to know about

Ranboo lacks this self-awareness, which along with any art, is absolutely critical for growth. Ranboo has never spoken about how he wishes he had done genloss differently or any regrets he had (aside from time crunch or things they couldn't make work) and that's how I know he didn't actually learn anything from this first run of genloss

Because the reality is, genloss wasn't good. And like my film, Ranboo can be proud of what he did as well as critical of the final product

An artist should always be their own worst critic because then they can see what the did wrong and then try and improve

Ranboo's biggest problems from my very limited perspective is a lack of understanding of how to tell a story, the lack of a backbone. He rushed genloss for an arbitrary reason. The production management was a joke too

To go for an Emmy, you're saying you think you are good enough for the highest prestige and that you believe that you've put in the appropriate amount of time and hours and that your work is worthy of gaining international recognition. And if Ranboo submitted it for the meme, that makes it worse. It shows his complete and utter lack of respect for the craft

Now, do bad movies exist, yes. Do I love some bad movies, also yes. But never have you heard of these directors hyping up these movies the way Ranboo has. And yeah, sometimes movies are cashgrabs. But again, the attitude ranboo carries as the director of genloss rubs me and so many other people so wrong as well as the attitude of boobers who think genloss is peak media. I can easily admit a movie I really like is objectively terrible but I still find enjoyment but boobers would flay you for daring say genloss isn't good (shout out live action Scooby Doo movies. They're absolutely terrible but they're fun to watch and I have fond memories of them from my childhood)

Apologies for the essay

-film student anon

film student anon this essay is wonderful. theres so much here i don't think i could reply to it all, and i really appreciated your takes on film festivals and passion projects vs the emmys. some of my favorite bits:

so big brain here. i would just keep quoting your ask in my reply because you make a ton of great points of effort not equaling quality.

i think the thing that gets me is that your first try of something is never going to be perfect. even with all the practice in the world your first try always is a bit messy, and that's how you get experience. but by submitting it for an emmy, it implies this first try was perfect, or at least close enough to be considered for such a high award. and like.. it wasn't horrible but it certainly had flaws.

i'll be so curious to see what happens with all this when the nominees get announced and what the fandom does with whatever happens

#gen loss neg #gen loss crit #ask #emmyloss

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just-a-carrot · 7 months

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Yo yo yo Carrot.

I did do research on character design a bit ago. I was just wondering if there were any specific tips/things you kept in mind while designing any of your characters. I have a general idea of where I'm heading but I figured it couldn't hurt to try. No need to push yourself though.

(Orlam has a white shirt because he's basic :). It's perfect character design. )

hhhhh... i can try 💦

behind the cut because this got long

i think the problem is i never have any specific things in mind. for the life of me i can't even think back to how i came up with any of the characters i've ever come up with. usually they are like a mish-mash inspiration of various ideas tumbling around in my head, often influenced heavily by sheer vibes and/or music i'm listening to and/or media i've consumed or images i've seen

for me i think the biggest thing i've noticed is that i develop characters incredibly slowly lol. like i have a really hard time jumping into a new story with new characters that i haven't spent a long time thinking about (i.e., literal years). they all start from like a small random kernel of an idea or inspiration and then they grow and develop as the rest of the story starts slowly turning into random scenes into my mind, and i continue to learn new things about the characters even while actively writing (i think i've said before but some of the biggest themes and plot points in OW that feel like core parts of the story i didn't even come up with until i was actively in the midst of writing it, like, post writing arc 1 and even arc 2; arc 4 in particular like i had not planned 80% of what happened in that arc until i was writing it laksjdfa)

and i feel like a big part of this is because i'm actually really bad at designing/developing characters at the drop of a hat and can only figure them out through long periods of thinking and writing

2018 vs 2023

i first drew the OW characters in 2018, but i'd had the idea for the general story (arc 1) even before that. from what i can remember when trying to come up with what they'd look like, i would try to think about their vibes from their role in the story. iggy is somewhat soft, awkward, and anxious, so i guess my mind developed a somewhat nerdy disalarming look for him with kinda muted colors (we don't talk about the fact that his shirt/overshirt combo makes no sense laksdjfads). orlam i knew i wanted a kinda scraggly little guy with greasy hair (sooper sekrit never-before-heard!ow lore: i actually did originally design him with a ponytail but it changed to a rattail while working on arc 1)

i'm quite bad when it comes to fashion design in general so i often come up with fairly plain-looking outfits. but some of the things i like playing around with the most are things like height dynamics and color variety (i always try to use a diverse range of hair colors for instance, as i feel like it's one of the big things that can instantly differentiate characters in a group)

you can see this in easter too i guess:

admittedly with easter it was a bit different in that tho i had some mental images in my head of generally what i wanted the chars to look like, some of the details and choices got limited because i had to use a sprite generator someone had made to create the sprites for the game (because it was an RPG maker game and i wasn't good/still am not good at creating animated sprites). so their final designs were a bit of a mix between my original ideas and my ideas translated into sprite generator options, hence some of the... odd design choices lakjdfsd

going back even further to characters i designed for other stuff like novels and stories, though my art style was different back then i feel like a lot of the same types of design choices can perhaps be seen LOL:

also please enjoy this old old old old OLD carrot!art from 2005 of three chars i created as a child that i thought were the coolest things ever...

i feel like i've lost the plot here a little bit LKAJDSFLKADSF

though i guess this is simply because i can't really explain what my head does when it comes up with characters. i don't have any sort of formal training in character or game design. i do have an art degree but that was more formal stuff (and i was often told that my personal cartoon-esque style of artwork and the stuff i drew in my sketchbooks was Not Creative). so i don't really have any set sort of guidelines or rules or even strategies that i use for coming up with characters. they tend to just kinda form over time in my mind according to my own aesthetics???? like i create characters that i would like to write and draw. i create groups of characters because i really really like group dynamics. i create characters with varying heights and body types and vibes. i create lots of short loud-mouth snarky asshole characters ldkajfsldkadlfafLDJFADFAD

if you have any more specific-type questions i can try to answer them but i think this might be the best i can do for just talking about my general mindset for characters... 💦

#ow: asks #game dev asks

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angorwhosebabyisthis · 6 months

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there really needs to be a name for the trope where a piece of media makes a very obvious fantasy stand-in for an irl marginalized group--or just straight up people from an irl marginalized group--so they can conflate them with their oppressors, whether directly or with sly innuendo and imagery to evoke it. this is never used as an opportunity to explore lateral violence, let alone done so with sensitivity; it's bait dangled in front of an audience who's just aware enough of political movements, structures, and ideologies to go Ideology Very Bad and instantly shut off any examination of the messaging behind it.

(which is, often as not, either shifting the blame to marginalized people so the audience can hate demographics they're already comfortable with hating instead of grappling with the discomfort of real privilege being called out or held accountable, 'so the horrific and violent bigotry leveled at that group irl is totally justified and we should Do More of That Actually,' or both.)

like. i keep seeing this over and over and over. don't get me started on how SF/F media in particular seems completely unable to restrain itself from having at least one black character in a setting that breathes anywhere near fantasy racism say and do just the most ungodly racist shit ever. every time, jesus fuck, it's awful.

this trope is not at all limited to racism or antisemitism--it shows up for pretty much any marginalized group you can think of, BOY i have rants in me about a lot of portrayals of abuse survivors in various media i'm into--but it seems to pop up most blatantly and obviously for those. and fascism in general, which, i HIGHLY recommend these excellent essays for a more articulate and in-depth analysis of than i could give in a paragraph of one post. they're fantastic go read them and come back. especially the second one.

more specifically, it's a special favorite of these fucking people to evoke this with nazism. so the closest term i've got to what i'm describing is naziwashing, which i think is still useful as a descriptor of a subset of that phenomenon but again does not nearly cover all of it. so i'm a bit stumped.

#tagging #sdmi #mystery incorporated #scooby-doo mystery incorporated #professor pericles #in this one because i have OPINIONS about that in a reblog but this is a general trope thing and pericles is very much fandom-specific #i also want to be clear that this is not an invitation to bring Certain Current Issues into it on this post #they are in some ways very much relevant to this and a lot of other media crit i've talked about before; and maybe i'll discuss that someday #but there's a time and place and i am super not going to make that about fandoms right now #for now this specific trope has been on my mind a lot for years but especially since i started revisiting sdmi recently #and have finally been really registering the ways in which i am incredibly pissed off about how both the show and fandom treat him #anyway.#nazi mention cw #racism cw #antisemitism cw #anti-survivor mention cw #queerphobia cw #antiblack racism cw #the salt files #the crit files #sdmi tag

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buck-yyyy · 1 year

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HI YES HELLO SO I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING REALLY COOL IN THE GOLDFINCH AND I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT IT

mirrors in media are commonly symbolic of truth. when a character looks into a mirror, they're often seeing themself for who they truly are- truly recognizing themselves.

so, as i'm sure you can imagine, i find the use of them in the goldfinch (movie) particularly interesting. i've written a little bit about the phenomenon here, if you're interested- though it's fairly limited, only focusing on one scene.

but! i finally got around to finishing my re-watch of it tonight, and BOY do i have more thoughts.

i think that it's pretty well agreed on that symbolically, theo is the goldfinch. he's the painting who survived the explosion, the one who defied all the odds, the little bird imprisoned by a chain so small that even theo himself can't see it.

which is why i find this particular scene so interesting:

this is the very last scene of the movie, after boris gives his speech about good versus bad, and after theo returns home to see hobie. it's only the second time we get to see audrey's face. both interesting in of themselves!

but the shot of theo and mrs. barbour being cut into the scene at the met is SO fascinating to me- because for all purposes, it doesn't need to be there! you could easily argue that it disrupts the flow of the scene. so why is it there?

the fact that the framing of the characters is really similar in the fifth and sixth screenshots really catches my attention. one standing slightly behind, looking down at the other person, who's staring ahead. a couple ways we could interpret this!

theo looking at the goldfinch at the same time as he looks into the mirror (seen just before the screenshot was taken) is creating a parallel between the usage of mirrors and the usage of the goldfinch. i mean, think about it- the times where the goldfinch is present are some of the most emotionally driven moments in the movie. they're when we're able to see theo as THEO- not as the mask he puts on. the same is true for theo and mirrors! whether theo himself is actively looking into the mirror (his attempted suicide scene, the aforementioned shot with mrs. barbour), or only the audience can see his reflection (the scene i reference in the above post, where he's trying to hide the painting from his dad at his mom's apartment), we're able to see a glimpse into who he really is.

the swap in positioning with theo and audrey versus with theo and mrs. barbour is representative of the role that theo takes on after he reunites with the barbours. it's really reinforced that theo is really the one who brought mrs. barbour "back to life" in a way- despite my own personal feelings towards her, they have a relationship that's incredibly unique compared to theo and any other character.

i also really like that theo looks away from the goldfinch to lock eyes with pippa. it reminds me a LOT of the scene (specifically, the one in the movie, because what i'm referencing isn't actually in the book) where theo and pippa are out to dinner, and pippa's a little lot drunk, and she says something along the lines of 'we can't lean on each other'. this isn't a fully developed thought, but something about theo looking away from the goldfinch to look at pippa instead, ignoring his mother and the painting for a moment, before he turns back and looks at the painting and smiles makes me want to chew glass /pos.

i suppose my interpretation of it is that theo looking away from the painting in favor of pippa is representative of his obsession/infatuation with her. i've always been of the opinion that theo never TRULY loved pippa in the way that he thought he did, that it was simply a bond over shared trauma and a way to fill in the space that his mother left- and i feel like this goes hand in hand with that. he looks away from the painting (he looks away from himself) to watch pippa (infatuation) while ignoring audrey's comments on the painting being her favorite (could represent both his confusion of those feelings for pippa AND him not realizing until far too late just how many people loved and cared about him), before he finally turns away and looks at at the painting while standing close to his mother (the understanding that we see in the book, where he realizes that his love for pippa was "muddied up below the waterline with my mother, with my mother's death, with losing my mother and not being able to get her back" [page 509], as well as theo beginning to accept himself for who he is and not only reach closure but also the start of the path to healing).

anyways. i love this book, i love-hate this movie, and GOD theodore decker, you are the most fascinating character i've ever SEEN.

#the goldfinch #theodore decker #pippa blackwell

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stormblessed95 · 1 year

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Thanks for answering my ask.....if you don't mind me asking (again), who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hi! Thanks for another fun ask! I actually have one post up about some of my favorite OTPs from books from a little while ago. All are canon couples from book series. But you can find that here in this post:

But why would I NOT take the chance to share more OTPs that I love, especially if I can dip into some of my favorite non canon ships too and now ive got some new ones and from other media as well. 🤣 the limitations of only 10 though is always hard. Here are another 10 of my current favorite ships I obsess over. I won't include any from the post above though even though I'm still in love with ALL of them too. Some of my favorite couples, 10 of them, in no particular order:

Victuuri (Yuri On Ice, Anime)

I watched this anime and fell in love with it and their chaotic but adorable and sweet relationship SO HARD. And the relationship is right there in canon which is SO NICE to see in anime where it's just another small portion of their lives. The way they are both obsessed with each other too 😍

youtube

Edwin and Royai (FMAB, Anime)

Both canon. Royai is canon, argue with the wall! Lol I guess Royai is like half canon, but whatever. Explicit confirmation is not needed to know those 2 are married. Ed and Winry are the peak childhood friends to lovers arc in the most adorable. Plus she is a badass mechanic. HIS badass mechanic. The way their love grew organically is adorable and so sweet. They take such good care of each other. And Royai are the epitome of a married couple. They also are both so equally badass and have such infinite and complete trust in each other?? It's AMAZING. The way they literally trust each other with their lives and their mental well being. The way Roy literally trusts her to be his eyes when needed also? He literally calls her his queen. I love them so much

youtube

Clexa (The 100, TV Show)

CANON yet they did us dirty with the bury your gays trope. But like the "I'm only soft for you" bullshit they had going on. UGH I ate it up so hard. Lol they are both such extreme badasses, morally Grey anti heroes. OF COURSE THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS INTENSELY PERFECT TOO! I love the bellarke ship with the best of them too, but out of all Clarke's relationships, the best and my favorite will always be with Lexa. She loved her SO MUCH and the way Lexa always protected her 😭

youtube

SasuNaru (Naruto, Anime)

Not canon, I know, but I'm obsessed with the ship anyway because it SHOULDVE BEEN CANON. I could write whole essays over how painfully gay and queer coded these 2 are. Canonically soulmates and everything. Lol their characters and their relationship was the most flushed out in the show and therefore, them being shipped together just makes sense. Especially with how homoromantic and angsty half the shit they did was.

youtube

Shakadolin (Stormlight Archive, Book)

Not canon, but the author said it would've been in a different timeline and that even in the current on, Adolin and Shallan (the Canon couple) probably would've been willing to go for it. Lol you can't convince me otherwise thay they aren't both lowkey in love with Kaladin. They invite him to be their bodygaurd on all their dates for a reason! 😂

HuaLian (TGCF, Donghua)

I've read these books for the first time recently and now these 2 live rent free. Like honestly, the OBSESSION with each other. The adorableness. The respectfulness of boundaries. The ICONIC one liners dropped. The do anything cross any line be wherever you need devotion. The way one of them is the sweetest human alive and the other embodies the "I hate everyone but you" trope. Lol the awkwardness of the positions they find themselves in. The jealousy of each other that they make up themselves. Lol the slow burn is painful!! It's been literally 800 years just tell each other you love each other and get married!!!!

youtube

So many ATLA ships lol but I love a good Zukka, Sukka, Zutara, Kataang, Korrasami, Rangshi, Suzukki as my ot3 love too lol (TV Show)

There is a good mix of canon and non canon ships here lol what can I say, I'm easy to please! But I will say that it speaks to my Sapphic soul in the best way that the wlw ships are CANON! Thank you ATLA universe for that blessing. And they are canon in the most amazing of ways. Korrasami will always be my favorite. The bi icons those girls are and they way they are EVERYTHING and are so freaking sweet and cute and BADASS.

youtube

Solangelo (PJO, Book)

Loves of my life, this relationship is grumpy x sunshine trope personified. They are so sweet, so cute, so perfect for each other it hurts. I clearly have a dynamic I love here. Lol because they are also both insanely badass. Plus the ghost king who controls death and his medic doctor boyfriend? Yes please. Literally made for each other and the way they help each other heal and be happy 🥺

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The Iron Triangle, aka Yizhi, Shimin, and Zetian (Iron Widow, Book)

Love triangles done correctly and ended perfectly, aka bisexually. Lol to quote the author, "Iron Widow is just 400 pages of Zetian and Shimin suffering nonstop while Yizhi has the most bisexual time of his life." Lmfao. They are the morally Grey anti heros and lowkey villains in love badass scifi/fantasy cast of characters who ALL fall in love with each other and are only stronger for it. And it's a true triangle, where all 3 are in love and feel more complete for it. There is no choosing.

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Darrow & Virigina, and Sevro & Victra (Red Rising, Book)

Unhinged characters falling in love. What could be better. They both match energies so well, bring out the best in each other and fight so hard for each other or sometimes fight each other too. These books are so good, but so brutal. Lol the relationships follow suit. But I freaking LOVE them. I cried so much reading it all and yet I'm obsessed and have been since I first read them. It'll probably never stop.

#storm book recommendations #storm recommendations #my favorite OTPs #my favorite ships

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geryuthespacesquid · 3 months

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Hi I'm a nobody asked digital artist, here's my thoughts on all the digital art programs I've tried. These are based entirely off my own memory, and I'm not picking up any of these programs again to test them. Just going off vibes.

Autodesk Sketchbook - Mobile:

This is more or less the definitive Draw You In To Art program. No exaggeration, I think if you asked maybe 50 digital artists in the modern day, most of them would've tried this one at least once. It projects an illusion of polish to distract you from a number of critical missing features, but overall, it's not even remotely bad to start out with. I think if my mobile tablet had a halfway decent degree of pressure sensitivity I could make something okay with it.

A more detailed explanation of my thoughts is hard, but to sum it up, this program bombards you with a million brushes for free, something rarely done by digital art programs, but, it also has extremely limited layer behaviors, you can't change canvas size anymore, and the stablizer is pits. I won't say it's bad. It's not. It's just not good. 5.8 out of 10.

Ibis Paint X - Mobile:

Comedically simple, this is the program you pick up when you're doing digital art a little better, and want to actually have fun. Bread and butter of the mobile digital artist. It has literally everything you need, it's just not fancy in any way. Getting every brush isn't worth paying for, but you'll live. They recently tried to step into AI and got punched in the gut so hard they stopped, which I like.

In general, this program doesn't do anything in particular extremely well, but it also doesn't do anything poorly. It's well rounded. I'd say if you're gonna do digital art on mobile, you'll always find yourself coming back around to this. It's just too solid. 7.8 out of 10.

Medibang Paint - Mobile:

I am biased against this program. I just don't like it. Maybe I was using it wrong, or maybe the mobile version is just worse, but it felt like drawing with mashed potatoes and gravy. Also it seems to be no longer available on my tablet, so fuck it.

In truth, my memory on this program is hazy despite me using it probably the second most out of all of these. No clipping mask, limited layer styles, an extremely limited number of brushes, no way to get more on mobile, anti aliasing made everything pixelated, and I don't think it can change canvas sizes, or if it can, I never figured out how. I just don't like anything about how the program feels. 3 out of 10.

Clip Studio Paint - Desktop:

Goddamn. I wanna recommend it. I really do. But. You have to know things.

First and foremost, the new subscription model for CSP essentially means that after a year, whatever version you have is obsolete, and won't even get updates while you have it. You have to pay a yearly subscription to get the updates for your current version. if you pay for the 3.0 version when it drops in march, it will be 10 dollars extra to get any of the updates to the 3.x version until 4.0 drops, when you can pay 25 dollars to upgrade to that and get all the 3.x updates, plus whatever came in 4.0. On top of that, it can cost anywhere from 25 to 200 dollars depending on which version you get, and if it's on sale.

But goddamn. It's pretty worth it. The brush engine is fluid, works great for making your own, I've never seen the program fail to do something. It has limits, but I've never hit them. 8 out of 10.

Rebelle 5 - Desktop:

Listen to me carefully. This one is extremely specific. You have to WANT a digital art program that replicates IRL media PRECISELY. If you don't care about that, this program is not worth it. I got it on sale for 10 dollars. Can I reccomend it at that price? Heartily. But at the near 200 dollar price point it usually goes for? FUCK NO. Rebelle caters to a specific demographic. Nothing else matters.

That said. When it works, it works well. I do like how rebelle feels and works. But not enough for me to ever tell someone to get it for full price. 4 out of 10, but if you really want to replicate traditional media, 9 out of 10.

Corel Painter - Desktop:

Never before has a program sent me on such an emotional rollercoaster as this one. It's just so much. It's a midpoint between Rebelle and Clip Studio, but for the worst. It's expensive beyond comprehension, you can't make your own brushes, only pay for new ones, it's a yearly format meaning a new, barely distinguishable version goes on sale every year for another 300+ dollars, and I only got it as part of a Humble Bundle for 25 dollars, and I still feel like I wasted my money.

And you know what? I didn't just dick around in this program. No, I made a full drawing in it. Nothing spectactular. Just a simple drawing. And I felt accomplished. and I went to export it, to share. Only to find out you can only email images to the email associated with your account to get a regular image version. Now. This made me irrationally angry, but, I calmed down, and tried it.

It only works with microsoft emails, and I have a gmail account associated with my Corel account.

This program is 300 dollars, and lacks the functionality to simply export a png to your computer. 2 out of 10.

#squidzard.txt #squidzardart #art #artists on tumblr #digital painting #digital art #digital illustration #art programs #rant

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