#I'm a storyteller at heart and this isn't really a new concept for me

[murderofsomeone]

have you every thought of getting into Thomas the tank engine fandom? i've found lots of amazing artists and writers (i've even started making stories and art and lotttts au's) i'm not even into the books or show i only like the fandom

(this is murdoch from the show btw)

oops forgot to answer this but idk I don't really choose what I get into, it kind of just happens. Some things land better than others, but as of right now I'm trying to enjoy my current interest before I'm ready to get into something else.

[andypantsx3]

Andie send help. I'm a Nanami stan through and through (Or so I thought...) but with the new jjk season and everyone talking about him, I fear my weak heart can't resist Gojo anymore... OTL

So defeated and ashamed I come to you: do you by any chance have any Gojo x reader fic recs?

Thank you ❤️

Lmfaoooo Gojo is inevitable!! I do have a couple Gojo recs off the top of my head although I am certain I am forgetting some. I will try to come back and add more as I remember them!!

First of all I recommend anything by the ult Gojo simp @stellamancer. Niku has several really good ones, some ongoing, and they are all super different premises but all of them perfectly capture Gojo's annoying enigmatic-ness. Niku also has this really heartfelt style of storytelling; you will eat her fics up with a spoon.

For me, @petrichorium's usurper!Gojo series was like the gateway into Gojo simpery. This is one of my fave series ever, and again Pluvi captures his character so well, he's so dangerous and cocky and yet so soft and careful with the things he really cares about. I want to lick his boots. :/ (Total perfection.)

I recently reblogged @lorelune's fic dawn instinct and I cannot recommend enough. It's purportedly smut but Lore does like insane levels of character work throughout and it's so completely, masterfully executed. I haven't read all their other stuff yet but I added like everything to my TBR, they're so good.

I also recently reblogged @mintmatcha's vignettes in cerulean and hoooly shit. It's short but it's so impactful. Mint's writing is somehow very focused and cerebral and I found myself thinking about this one for days and days after. I think it will stick with you too.

I also have to recommend @yeowchies' whet your appetite fic too. This one literally gave me butterflies. Gojo is so fucking sexy and obnoxious here and I wanted to climb into the fic and beat his ass!! You will love love love his characterization here.

And no Gojo list would be complete without @hawnks's first law of motion!! Mint is one of the most reliable writers in our niche and one thing I love about her fics is how the love interest usually falls fast, and soooo hard! If you want to feel loved and cared for, read this. This one is lengthier too so you will have plenty to simp over!!

Also I haven't read it yet but @seoafin's rip 2 my youth is on my TBR!! It's a Gojo x Reader x Getou fic, and it looks so fucking good. I have seen multiple people dissolving into puddles over this fic, so you know it has to be good. I'm so excited!!

I also haven't read this one yet but I have @shibaraki's the white rabbit on my TBR too!! Monty has the most creative concepts in this entire niche and this one features courtesan Gojo and I am certain it is gonna be both nuanced and sexy as hell hehehe.

Lastly, this isn't an x Reader, but if you are willing to read Gojo x canon characters, I'm absolutely obsessed with this gojohime writer on ao3 called unpetitlapin. Her Gojo is unbearably obnoxious but so good and flawed and so multidimensional kjsfjshdkfjshdkgl. I love it.

Anyway that's what I can think of for now, although I am certain there are ones from earlier in 2022-2021 that I will need to track down and add here. But in the meantime, happy reading!!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

How come some people think fanfic is a new thing? I mean isn't it why every mythology and legend always have multiple versions of a story? I'm pretty sure for some ancient stories only the fanfic version survived and being passed down over thousands of years because the storytelling was better than the "official" one :DDD. Have a great weekend, Steph! Hearts and hugs!

Hey Nonny!

LOL beats me... Fandom predates ALL of us... if you REALLY want to get pedantic, churches display fanart of the Bible *shrugs*. I mean there was fanfic of Sherlock under a different name while ACD was still alive to get around IP and copyrights. I was getting fanfics from Usenet boards before forums and geocities websites in the 90s, and then from FFNet in the early naughts. Like it's not a new concept at all.

I think the problem is, it seems, (at the risk of sounding like a millennial who prefers "old internet") the... uh... the way misinformation is spread so wildly in this social media age, and garbage apps like tiktok providing instant gratification, and in turn no one wanting to research for themselves so if it's not fed through an algorithm, then it's "stupid".

AO3 certainly "popularized" fanfiction for the mainstream audience, but it's been around forever.

[fatefulfaerie]

It was years ago that you said this, buuuuut...can I ask you to continue on why Dreamworks is better than Disney?

Sure!

I have no memory of what I said before but it basically comes down to the matter of adaptation.

They both definitely have their values. Walt Disney and the company he created turned dark, unapproachable fairytales of caution into lighthearted narratives with hope and wonder. There is a lot of value in that and Walt Disney himself had a childlike perspective that, in tow with his team's inventive newness in creating animated sequences, really turned the tide for storytelling through cinema. No child was too old to feel like they could take part in it.

To me, the 1990s and early 2000s were a time of Disney creating and perpetuating the fairytale conventions that Dreamworks in its foundation seemed to actively try to dismantle. Again, both have their value, but at a certain point Disney became a studio that was churning out existing fairytales and Dreamworks flourished as a studio that took a different approach.

Yes, the Prince of Egypt was based on the Bible and How To Train Your Dragon was based on a series of books by Cressida Cowell but they made it their own in a refreshing way. There's also original concepts like Megamind and Kung Fu Panda that are just absolutely fantastic stories.

I can't speak for Dreamworks now since I stopped watching their movies after my dad left the company but specifically in their first 20 years, you had this company that wasn't afraid to go out of the box, make fun of the box, or even absolutely demolish the box. Sequels like Kung Fu Panda 2 and How To Train Your Dragon 2 are deep and soulful. They bring out a conflict in the existing protagonist that has to do with their past, which Disney didn't do justice until Frozen 2 (so good!)

I think Disney not only created this box for themselves but after their boom in the 90s they just became this money making machine. It was no longer about art-making. What fairytale can we do next? Here's this direct-to-dvd sequel. And now with the live-action. Do you see Dreamworks doing that? Not yet at least. They respect the the original animators and storytellers.

I'm not against adaptation. I get it. The old version is problematic? Fine okay. But if you're making it just to make it, what are you even doing? There's a huge difference between making a live-action version of a movie that's basically the same thing and creating something like Once Upon A Time (tv show, 2011, technically ABC so Disney but not really in their control as far as storytelling) where there are twists to the fairytales and something that is unexpected or has shifted. Something is added or detracted in an interesting way.

So yeah I guess when I say Dreamworks is better I'm referring to the fact that they have more quantity as far as substantive work that isn't an adaptation, and that even the work that is has something very human and special and unapologetically adult. A lot of animated movies these days treat kids like babies, and I was grown up treated by Dreamworks like an adult.

Of course there are exceptions to this and I hate when people generalize. Tarzan, for one, is something very different to the box and Madagascar 3 is pretty ridiculous. It's just in general, I really value Dreamworks setting out and honestly saying "okay so Disney is making money this way, but fuck that, we're gonna do it this way". We're gonna animate one of the darkest stories in the Bible, showing slavery and death and abuse without romanticizing it and add a tragic brotherly bond that was never meant to be. We're gonna have a protagonist in a fairytale that's a belching ogre who doesn't know he's in a fairytale and show a version of love that is the least superficial it's ever been in a fairytale (I think Shrek is also based on something now that I think of it but still). We're gonna make a cushy, cuddly panda this kung fu hero with a heart of gold who doesn't really question that a goose is his dad because found family. We're gonna create a protagonist with a lot of flaws according to his Viking island, but compassion when it counts, when he faces a dragon tied up and fearing for his life and, seeing himself, chooses mercy. We're gonna create a movie that makes fun of the archetypes of heroes and villains but turns out to accidentally be one of the best movies of all time (I'm not biased towards Megamind). You get the idea. I say Dreamworks is better because I can respect them. I can't say the same for Disney anymore. If Dreamworks starts doing live-action, this will change.

I hope that answers your question. Thank you so much for asking and sorry about the chaos!

Disney movies that are must-sees:

Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Mulan (1998), Tarzan (1999), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Frozen (2013), Frozen 2 (2019)

Dreamworks movies that are must-sees:

The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Shrek (2001), Kung Fu Panda (2008), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Shrek Forever After (2010), Megamind (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Puss In Boots (2011), How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

I don't know what the heck was happening on Flower Street in 2010 and 2011 but something about that year was REALLY GOOD. Yes let's make five movies in a row that a random character effects animator's daughter will absolutely love.

[thejaytapes]

So, I ended up seeing Elemental. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw all the trailers, I didn't see the appeal or draw at all, and I was the first to start picking it apart about how bland the film looked and how much the comedy it was presenting made me cringe.

But here's the thing.

The advertising did this movie so dirty. Whether you like the movie or not, you can't deny this. What the advertising campaign did essentially tried to sell a character drama as a comedy, and they took the film's jokes out of context and edited voice clips over different shots to frame the jokes in a different way. They almost built the advertising the way Illumination tried to sell the Secret Life of Pets, where it capitalized on a series of silly jokes and "memeable" moments, but like. That was all the Secret Life of Pets was really banking on. But for Elemental, I think there's a genuinely good film that the advertising for some reason didn't have faith in.

And the key reason for that is the director Peter Sohn. I really haven't heard much discussion at ALL about him. I've heard critiques about how animated films attempt to explore the ideas of racism through objects or animals, and they are valid critiques for sure. There is something to be said about applying concepts like chemical reactions or the structures of the natural world being compared to the cruel and illogical mindset that is racism. But I haven't heard enough discussion about WHO was behind this film. This isn't a film attempting to cover the topic of immigration by a white director. It's directed by someone who was directly inspired by his own life.

There is such a genuine and earnest heart behind the story of Elemental. While the analogy isn't a perfect 1-to-1 comparison to the nuances of human existence, I don't think it needs to be. Because it's about the emotions and personal experiences of one second-generation Korean immigrant, and the way his imagination, storytelling, and worldbuilding melded with it.

The movie paints such a loving and empathetic picture of Ember's parents, even though they cause internal conflicts within Ember. Because Sohn clearly knows how much of a risk immigration can be, and how difficult it can be to build a new life and a new home in a place that doesn't really understand or fully accept you. And how hard it can be to leave behind everything you've ever known to start something new. Especially when that new place is built to put you at a disadvantage, and built around discriminating against you, while other people are born into success and comfort. And how important it is to remember the culture where you came from while also looking forward to the future and how to continue to burn even brighter, to make your family proud.

But it also understands and empathizes with the children of immigrants, who are both a product of the culture their parents imparted to them as well as the culture they grew up around beyond their household. And how those two things can coexist, even if it causes some culture clashes along the way. And more than anything, how much those second-generation immigrants' perspectives still matter, and they can make their families proud while also pursuing what they are passionate about.

So yeah, is using elements a perfect metaphor? No. But I think people really need to take a closer look at this movie to see where it succeeds in telling the story Sohn wanted to tell.

...Oh yeah, and why the HELL is that kid Clod so heavily advertised when he's barely in the movie?

[dasboligrafo]

The Hours -- Metropolitan Opera House May 21, 2024

Oh dear, not me reviewing a show a month a half later...argh....

So obviously these are my big impressions and what I can remember.

As background: The Hours is one of my favorite movies, a personally formative one. It's a star-studded, confident, visually striking, mature work of high-ish concept Hollywood storytelling with a fantastic score, the kind of movie they quote "just don't make anymore." (It's not a trilogy and doesn't have any superheroes.) It shaped certain ideas I long held about city life, artistic identity and about womanhood. Once, a bad French man seduced me by sharing an insight about the movie (good insight, mediocre seduction.) I also really loved the book, and really, really like Mrs Dalloway.

By coincidence we learned a friend was similarly a fan of the three precedent works and had tickets to the opera, we changed tickets and went in a group. The group was two semi-philistines who were new to Woolf/The Hours and two louche little decadents who loved the triad. Three investment bankers in the group. In preparation, we read both books and did a British-themed finger-foods-and-wine book discussion/movie viewing. (The DILDO life-style: double income little dog owners.) Our Woolf-naive friend hated Mrs Dalloway, didn't finish the Hours, and thought the movie was fine. I cried for about 20 minutes during the movie.

So like -- the hype going in was high.

By the end of the first act I was....nonplussed. Maybe our Woolf-naive friend was right and Mrs Dalloway kind of sucks? I am an inveterate opera cryer (I think I've said before that my theatre rating system is how many times I cried, over 5). The combination of the music and the emotions, when they strike the same chord, will move me to tears every time, even if the music or the emotions -- OR BOTH -- are of only debatable worth. At the end of the first act I was decidedly unmoved.

Never fear; by the end of the second act I was a teary mess, so it was a successful opera in the end, though it looked chancy for a while. I gave demerits to Rene Fleming (I know!!!!! The author of one of my favorite classical music albums of all time!!!! La Fleming, how could you...), whose performance seemed nothing so much as....underwhelming. Arguably the libretto didn't help her? Kelli O'Hara in the role of Laura, I thought, sang very well....but seemingly didn't understand the character! And the interpretative dancing was. Ugh. I'm sorry, I found it cheese, distracting at best.

But then...but then. Joy DiDonato. Ahhh....she got the character (Virginia Woolf), and she nailed the singing. She sounded fantastic. Grand, measured, tragic and wry. And Fleming/OHara DiDonato, when finally together, were occasionally breathtaking.

In the first act the music never seemed to come together for me. The second act starts with an emotional bang and never lets up until the end, the lush tragedy of it all verging on Wagnerian. The opera innovated enough over the movie (tall order), putting an interesting interpretation on some of the connections between Laura and Virginia for example (by extension, Septimus, though he isn't a character in either the Hours book/movie/opera). Kyle Ketelsen as Richard was devastating. It's not a perfect opera, yet I found it, through its second act, as ravishing and haunting as you want your opera to be.

Coda:

I found myself wondering if I have enough distance from these works to approach them in any way critically. Maybe they're just too close to my heart? Interestingly, later that summer, ABT gave me the chance to take up this exact question.

[ask-the-rpg-3]

WE HAVE REACHED 200 FOLLOWERS.

I DON'T HAVE ART. I DON'T HAVE A MILESTONE SURPRISE. I WASN'T READY FOR THIS.

THE AMOUNT OF FOLLOWERS I WAS GAINING HAS BEEN STEADILY INCREASING OVER TIME AND IT GOT FAST.

I.

Oh my lord I gotta be sentimental again like last time- 100 followers was like 2 months ago!! We're to 200 in that time!! You guys are amazing!!

I- Ok, I always hoped for attention on RPG3, but I never thought I'd get here. 200 followers.. Notes on posts getting higher (mostly on non-comic posts smh /lh)

RPG3 is something I've wanted to for so long. For those who were there for the story pre-boot, it. Well it sucked. It was just me really wanting to put these three in a story together where they were friends- But with the pre-boot, I skipped this story completely and had it take place AFTER the underground adventure. Honestly? Big mistake, big loss on things I could have done-

Rebooting the idea and starting this blog was a great thing for me. I am having an INCREDIBLE time putting so much lore and effort into something of such a silly concept.

I'll always be thankful for the goofy ask box nonsense and the people really invested in this story.

I'm so incredibly thankful for all of you and for enjoying this dumb story and I promise you it's going to get pretty epic as it goes on.

My art isn't perfect and I'm trying my best as a teenager who's still going through school and dealing with god-awful anxiety. I'm going to have moments where I fall in and out of motivation to work on this. But this story WILL finish. I have so many plans and I need to show them to you all.

I've always wanted to be an author/storyteller in one way or another. Despite this not being an original project and instead a crossover story, this is still a fun start for me. While not a regular kind of comic, this is has been incredible fun.

Everyone who follows me and enjoys this content that I didn't think would get me far means the world to me and I'm so thankful for all of you.

I just don't know how to express who HAPPY and grateful I am to have gotten this far!! I know it's just a number but it's a number of how many people are following my project. I know 200 isn't that big a crowd compared to everything else ever but it's SOMETHING. And the steadily increasing pace of new followers is crazy.

SO QUICK THAT I DON'T EVEN HAVE SOMETHING READY TO CELEBRATE!!

I'll figure something out but wow.

I know this is just a post full of text but I hope at least some of you read it and know how grateful I am.

I'm not a person with high self esteem, I'm very down about myself and am just. insecure as hell. But it's a lot to take in to know that there's an audience of people online who are excited to see what you make and excited to see the story you're carving.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Join the Discord server pinned at the top of the page if you want to come say hi, I love meeting all of you. <3

I appreciate each and every reblog, so happy at the possibility of spreading RPG3 for everyone to see. Cuz I think it's cool.

Let's see what happens from here on out.