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[equinoxxcreativeacademy]

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[miled72]

Sometimes you need your transform gizmo to be oriented in a certain way, other than the typical orientations, to perform operations like Move, Rotate, and Scale. Starting from Max 2023 we have this nice tool called Snap Working Pivot Tool, that allows us to do that, and it comes with multiple options to help us create and manipulate the working pivot point. Also, in addition to that, it gives us the ability to extract a construction plane out of the created working pivot. This tool is useful in many areas, like transforming objects, rigging, animations, Smart Extrude, etc,... So watch the video until the end to learn about this tool and its various options.

[frameboxxbarrackpore]

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[catchcrows]

got a new photoshop after approximately a billion years and i feel like i'm navigating a spaceship

though tbh i think i might be based on how my laptop fans sound like they're trying to achieve vertical lift any time i make a selection

[concerningwolves]

i get so sad when people label older films or TV shows as bad for being corny or unrealistic on the basis of the acting & special effects. compared to most other forms of performance film and TV is so so young, and it's come so far. we've been learning to tell stories on screen for, what, 130 years (give or take)? that's nothing! there are people who have lived 116 years. cinematography is barely older than the oldest person. and in that timespan we've gone from films of less than a minute long without sound and a single steady camera, to epics of special effects (practical and CGI) with sound and camera work that would make the Lumiere brothers weep in wonder. of course a film from the 1930s will seem strange to us. they were still playing and learning with the art form, figuring out how to translate stories from stage to screen. i think it's incredible

[extraordinarilyextreme]

on 妖 yao (and 慕声 Mu Sheng) in 永夜星河 Love Game in Eastern Fantasy (2024)

crossposted from a twitter thread!

there are SO many things i love about YYXH, but something i really appreciate is their portrayal of 妖 yao.

in ep. 10, Mu Sheng says, “人心有七窍，妖心只有一窍。所以大多数妖物的品行都简单执拗。” / "Human hearts have seven apertures [are complex and calculating]; but yao hearts have only one [are simple]. That's why the conduct of most yao creatures is uncomplicated and obstinate."

窍 / apertures (openings; orifices) are where the human body is connected to the outside world. as such, 七窍 seven orifices usually refers to the eyes (2), nose (2 nostrils), ears (2), and mouth (1). BUT...

in the context of the heart, it more often alludes to the virtuous character of 比干 Prince Bigan from the Ming dynasty novel 《封神演义》 Investiture of the Gods.

there, it was said that 圣人之心有七窍 / the hearts of saints [good men] have seven apertures...

...so, of course, the righteous and smart Bigan was rumored to possess a 七窍玲珑心 / lit. delicate seven aperture heart.

Bigan's story didn't end well (his heart was cut out by order of the infamous King Zhou of Shang), but 七窍玲珑 still means "clever and quick-witted."

now... 窍 can mean "opening"—but another way to say so could be 眼 / eye (or, "hole"). that is, we can draw a near-equivalency between 七窍玲珑心 / lit. seven-chambered heart and 多心眼 / lit. many heart's eyes; an overabundance of concern...

in particular, 多心眼 (or to say that someone 心眼多) not only implies wit and sharpness (i.e., "having a lot of thoughts"), but also some level of cunning and shrewdness. that is, to be "mindful of many things" means one is "considering of many things" and "calculating."

hence, returning to Mu Sheng's explanation: humans are crafty, always thinking of a hundred other variables and planning another hundred steps ahead. (that's why humans betray and deceive and hurt one another...)

but yao are simple.

yao don't have so many of these excess considerations. if they are hungry, they will seek to feed. if they are hurt, they will fight back. if they are scared, they will hide. if they are cared for, they will respond with equal gentleness.

in other words: yao are not human.

and this distinction is what made so many classic xianxias and yao-centric stories so compelling (think 白素贞 Bai Suzhen from the romance folktale 白蛇传 White Snake Legend).

to discuss our beloved 慕声 Mu Sheng as an example: it can be easy to say he has a jiejie-complex or is almost yandere-like about 慕瑶 Mu Yao, but we have to remember that as half-yao, he doesn't operate on the same frame of reference as humans. Mu Yao is the one person who has been consistently kind to him since he was young, and so he will reciprocate that kindness to (human standards of) extremity. likewise, when our cutie-pie 凌妙妙 Ling Miaomiao regards him with kindness, Mu Sheng will feel inclined to answer that with affections a hundred or a thousand times stronger.

though he grew up among humans, Mu Sheng's yao half should not be forgotten. humans may be fickle in their feelings; but yao (in general) will not be. once they have found someone worth their affections, they will love fiercely and to a terrifying degree. you can also understand it as yao not necessarily posessing the same understanding of 分寸 / "propriety" that humans do.

so, again, yao are not human—and that is why their stories have always been so compelling to us. we place limits on our conduct and behavior for a variety of socially-imposed and learned reasons, but yao as an imperfect reflection of our human selves allow us to live out our "fantasies" of extremity.

i think the new era of xianxias have largely traded that yao-human distinction for other things, like eye-catching CGI, flowy costumes, and the three lives, three worlds formula—which are, of course, not inherently bad.

YYXH itself is part of this new chapter of storytelling/the genre of xianxias after all (esp. given its existence as a 古偶), but that is ultimately precisely why it stands out so much to me.

is it the first or only xianxia in recent years to show that yao are nuanced? that yao are neither all good nor all bad? — of course not!

but i think it is undoubtedly among the very, very few in recent years that has successfully portrayed just what it is that makes yao so uniquely compelling. and that is due in large part to both strong writers (who also did 《苍兰诀》 Love Between Fairy and Devil) and strong actors.

in short, YYXH feels like a labor of love. love for the original 《黑莲花攻略手册》 novel; love for the xianxia genre; love for storytelling, in an era driven by capitalistic cash-grabs and the ruthlessness of c-ent.

the reality of that is up for debate, but as one individual viewer, i want to say that this drama has made me very happy. it is both respectful of and pays homage to the yao of classic xianxias.

and to be able to share and enjoy that cultural artefact—something that is so uniquely and immutably Chinese—with others, is something that brings me a lot of joy. ✨

[yugsly]

No pressure but do you want to explain why you like Noroi so much? Im a huge horror movie nerd and i would love to learn more about it because im sure if youre a fan you saw a lot of details i didnt get when i watched it once like 5 ears ago :D And i love to hear people geek out

I love Noroi for a lot of reasons, but I think the thing that makes it stick with me the most is because it feels so real. It's very low-key, it's not flashy, it's not overly dramatic. It's very grounded. It is done in the style of a 'found footage' documentary- and it's done so well, you forget you're watching a movie sometimes. You feel like you're just watching a documentary. The acting is incredibly candid. It makes you believe in what you're seeing. The sense of dread builds over the course of it's run-time very slowly. It has no jumpscares, no cgi, no horror makeup- that is not where the horror comes from. It imbues a dark, gut-twisting feeling in you as the movie reaches it's climax. And that feeling doesn't go away. It follows you into the night long after the movie has ended. The images flash in your head as you're trying to sleep, you reflect on that woman's actions, you feel a little ill. The scary imagery in the movie is barely decipherable, buried under the lens of low-quality video footage. It forces your eyes to try to make out what you're looking at, and when you fail to fill in all the dots, the fear and dread hits. It's a very unique feeling, one we are rapidly losing due to the advent of high-quality camera footage at our fingertips. Long gone are the days of 280p shitty 'real ghost footage' on youtube. I truly believe "low-quality" footage to be far scarier than any high definition scary makeup, cgi, etc- nothing wrong with those things of course, though. That's just another reason why Noroi sticks with me (along with the director Shiraishi's other work). Then, there's the historical aspects of the film that I love, that also lend to the realism. The old religious village that was forced to evacuate to make room for a modern dam, leaving their centuries-old homes sunken under a man-forged lake. A very sobering reality for many old Japanese villages in real life (also a theme in the Higurashi series). The religious practices & traditions we learn about from the village, the footage of the Kagutaba ritual, the scrolls, it's incredibly detailed and realistic. I just love stuff like that. You can tell the director is a huge history nerd and it rules. This movie makes me feel sick. I won't get into it for spoiler reasons (I truly believe everyone should see this movie), but the contents are truly harrowing, and made all the more harrowing with how realistically they are presented. God it's so good. EDIT: IT'S ON YOUTUBE FOR FREE GO GO GO

[quantum27]

To whom it may concern - the mutuals, the fandom-in-laws and the average movie goer. I would like to explain the plight of the Tron fandom.

The sequel announcements Disney pulled this year (2024) are insults to anyone who enjoys movies. There's nothing wrong with sequels, don't get me wrong, but to have a catalogue that has only 1 original movie announced is truly saddening, especially to those who love animation.

Then there's also the fans of Tron.

Tron (1982) was the first major motion picture to use CGI extensively for it's settings, vehicles, and many more things. Many of it's animators would go on to work at Pixar and pioneer CGI there. It was so early that it was rejected at the Oscars for special effects because it was considered "cheating" essentially. This isn't a post about the history though I recommend learning about it if you're interested in the medium of animation.

Tron was an average boxoffice movie. It made back it's money and that was it. However it became a cult classic. It's a strange movie- a bit hard to get into- I only fully understood the plot the second watch, even though it's not that complex.

It would spawn a video game sequel, Tron 2.0 (2003). Years later, in 2010, another sequel would come out, setting the current canon timeline (think of a Star Wars legacy canon and disney canon or Star Trek alpha or beta timelines- that's how the fans treat it) Tron: Legacy.

There were also other supplements, the ever mourned, cancelled after one season cartoon midquel Tron: Uprising- tie in video games and comics and a complete ARG before the release of Legacy. Then there was the planned third movie. It languished in development hell, canceled and uncanceled. (There's more complexity there, involving even, Tommorowland (2015) and of course money.)

Now what we're getting is Tron: Ares. A movie that doesn't even feature the actor for the character Tron, Bruce Boxleitner. There's also the fact that Cindy Morgan who starred in the original movie and original video game sequel was always ready to come back has now passed away. Jeff Bridges is set to return in some capacity, the most well recognized actor from the franchise to the point people assume he is the actor who portrayed Tron.

The first short trailer shown for Tron: Ares shows fundamental flaws in misunderstanding the concepts in the prior works, watering it down to an aesthetic. Most fans I've spoken with have little hope for a good movie at this time. It even stars the controversial actor Jared L*to as it's main character! All of these are red flags.

So, to those who read, please know, after waiting for a decade, Disney has decided to shill out a product with less love than any prior element in the franchise. And I mean even less love than the tie-in movie games for Legacy, of which are of varying quality. This is likely due to the opening of the US version of the Tron rollercoaster. The rollercoaster has more love and attention in it than the trailer shown. And with complete love to it and what I've seen of it- the movie should be a higher quality than a rollercoaster in terms of story and lore.

Our only current hope is for more visual novels after Tron: Identity was released in 2023. And I suppose the NIN fans will get a soundtrack.

Disney does not care about it's audiences. But it especially does not care about Tron fans.

[juniperhillpatient]

while based on everything I’ve read I fully agree with the many criticisms people are rightfully giving the Lilo & Stitch remake & my eye actually starts twitching every time I learn something new about it - I just rewatched the original & I want to focus on how much I love it! the tags are full of people angry for good reasons so let me just put out some positivity about one of my absolute faves 💙

Some of my favorite things about this movie:

* it’s visually so fun! I have no idea what the fixation with making animation live action is because I’ve been really enjoying the visuals on this latest Disney cartoon kick I’m on. I really love the way Stitch moves & scuttles around & how you can tell when he’s trying to imitate the movements he sees around him versus moving how he naturally moves. I also love every character design in the movie. The aliens of course but also even the background characters like the ice cream cone guy & all the side characters like the little old lady with the vegetable stand or the life guard etc are each so uniquely designed & fun to look at.

* the soundtrack is really fun & unique for a Disney movie! I figured given that the songs are one of my favorite parts of Disney movies when i rewatched this one id miss the songs because I remembered there’s really just the one original song. Well first of all Hawaiian roller coaster stands on its own as a great song & I love it. I hadn’t seen the movie in a long time but I listen to Disney radio all the time & I kinda didn’t remember WHY it’s so good & it is because of its place in the story & the montage with Stitch being brave thanks to his newfound support trusting Nani & Lilo to keep him safe on the surfboard & having fun even though he can’t swim. It’s such a big step for his character & it’s done perfectly. Also I totally forgot all the Elvis songs & Stitch hilariously trying to be like Elvis because apparently that’s Lilo’s baseline for a model citizen 😂

* I’m not practicing any more but I was a licensed social worker for a while. I went to school for social work. One of my biggest media pet peeves is the way social workers are constantly portrayed as villains who are evilly determined to separate families out of some kind of cruel malice. I really enjoy the way Cobra Bubbles is never the villain & instead portrayed as someone who has Lilo’s best interest at heart & is doing his best to give Nani a chance.

* obviously I gotta say the relationship between the two sisters. I remembered that much but also. It really did hit me on this rewatch 😭 Nani & Lilo are just so real. The way they scream at each other& fight but also love each other. Also - “I like you better as a sister than a mom” 😭

* “this is my family. I found it myself. it’s little & it’s broken but still good.” Need I say more? 🥺

Anyway I don’t know how you can screw up a message as straightforward as “Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind” but I’m not surprised live action disney managed it. Not that I particularly wanted ugly ass cgi Stitch in my life anyway. But I just wanted to share some love for the original because it really is one of my favorites 💙

[bringbackmaes14]

So the live action Lilo and Stitch movie, right? I was already planning on not seeing it because the animated one did not need to be remade and I honestly don't need to give another reason.

But I'm going to because I have found out multiple changes they have made to the movie for the live action that are arguably gonna make this, without me having seen it (or having any intention for seeing it, especially after all this), the worst fucking live action remake Disney has ever made.

Major spoilers for the Live Action 2025 Lilo and Stitch movie ahead

In no particular order:

- They're completely changing Cobra Bubbles character. He's not a former-CIA operative turned social worker. He's a CIA operative who is going undercover (to keep an eye on the alien residents) as a social worker. Which is gonna mean he's probably gonna have next to nothing to do with actually keeping Lilo safe and making sure she has a stable household like in the animated film. That'll be the new social worker character, Mrs. Kekoa's job.

- They're not letting Pleakley crossdress. In fact Pleakley (and Jumbaa) aren't really gonna look like aliens at all. Apparently, in the live action film, it was too much work to make them look like their alien selves and then dress them up in human clothes, so they just wrote in some technological device that makes them look human. So... Jumbaa and Pleakley are gonna look like human men for a majority—if not the entirety—of the movie.

- The ice cream guy. We know him. We love him. Lilo loves taking pictures of him. She loves taking pictures of him because she loves taking pictures of tourists and seeing people she hasn't seen before, and here's this big white dude with really bad sunburn and tanlines and his mint chocolate chip ice cream. And what do we get in the live action film? A large native Hawaiian man with a cup of shaved ice. Okay maybe I'm being overly nitpicky about the shaved ice but like come on (except by reading on the Disney wiki I've also learned that apparently the memorable scene where Stitch smashes his face in a snow cone has been remade into him smashing his face into an ice cream cone and it's like, can y'all fucking pick one????). I understand that, as the movie takes place in Hawaii, it's important to cast Hawaiian actors. And I actually think it's really cool that they did that! For David and Nani and Lilo and y'know. Other characters that are actually supposed to be from Hawaii! But making the ice cream guy also a native Hawaiian completely changes the context of Lilo's hobby!!!!

- Captain Gantu is not going to be in the movie. At all. Y'know, the main antagonist that is trying to rip apart Stitch's new family? They apparently thought about including him and then they realized they didn't like how he looked CGI animated ("It's just one of those things that doesn't work in live action sadly")(I call bs, if the Minecraft movie could be successful, if Mickey 17 could make aesthetically cute aliens, if the httyd franchise can live action recreate TOOTHLESS? They can fucking CGI Captain Gantu. And Jumbaa and Pleakley for that matter.)

- So that leaves the question of who the villain is of course. And the answer is Jumbaa. They make Jumbaa the fucking villain. They basically send him down to Earth under Pleakley's supervision to recapture his experiment, the same way it happened in the animated film, but this time, Mad Scientist Jumbaa Jookiba does not get a redemption arc. I have no idea what this means for Pleakley. I honestly haven't looked that far into it.

- And I guess finally, the worst change of all that they're making, that snuffed out that final 0.02% desire I had to maybe pirate it when it was out. Nani gives Lilo up at the end of the movie. You read that right. They set Nani up the whole movie with like, she wants to go to college for Marine Biology and she's got a scholarship waiting for her, and she basically has to decide between going to college or taking care of Lilo. And I guess they decide Ohana means fuck all because Nani allows Mrs. Kekoa (the social services agent) to put Lilo into a foster home run by their neighbors, and then Nani leaves for college.

So yeah. Fuck that movie. Fuck all the decisions they're making. Fuck them for trying to ruin an honored childhood favorite. And fuck the director in particular for this statement:

[newts-frogs-toads]

Ride the cyclone movie concept, by me

Cast: off Broadway 2016 cast

Type: regularly 2d animated, but every Choir song has a different animation style.

What the world needs: A video game-ish style animation showing how Ocean views life as a game, it has pixel art, she goes to the next level every time she insults another choir member.

Noels lament: A classical old time-y 1930s animation style, in black and white. Sorta like these:

(Betty boop)

(Classic cartoon by BIO675 on devienart , keep in mind I did not research so idk if they drew this or just posted it)

Mishcas songs: I genuinely don't know about TSIA (maybe like a clone high type animation)

Talia would be in a sort of Disney style, maybe 2d like Cinderella or the hunchback of Notre dame (One of my favorite Disney movies) or the other 2d Disney movies, or CGI like Tangled.

Space age bachelor man: Obviously an 80s cartoon style animation. Cat ladies will almost look like the original She-ra girls.

The ballad of Jane doe: Sort of (wow im saying this a lot) like an animatic, but a little more polished. It would be in black and white. It would start out with the OG porcelain doll Jane, but over the course of the song, will show different Jane dolls (that way everyone wins). It would end back with the porcelain doll look.

The new birthday song: Would be like TBOJD at first, but then slowly turn back into regular 2d animation like before.

Sugar cloud: STOP MOTION BABYYYYY!!!!! And everyone wold be on clouds for half the song!!!

Other things I would add/ leave out:

Ricky keeps his disability, and he's on a wheelchair/ has crutches for the whole thing.

Since we want this movie to be longer, it's only fair if we learn more about the kids families, father Marcus, Karnak, cut characters (THEY ARE CANON TO ME) etc.

Noel still makes out with Mishca, obviously.

After the movie has been out for a while, we get an animated short (like 5 minutes) explaining the plot of legoland.

This one is probably just me but ld like a little blush with Nishca and/or Spacedolls

Thank you for listening to my longer than usual rant. If anyone makes this happen, I love you, I don't care who you are, lets get married.

[avesgrayson]

I think it'd be so funny for Damian to have a pet crow. That shit would be amazing

Ever heard the stories of people befriending crows who them proceed to bring them gifts and/or attack perceived threats? I imagine that Damian would have a fuckin blast with that. Plus, crow friends!! They're super smart!!!!

Just imagine him hiding a whole flock in a barn or something, maybe opening his window a few times a day to allow them in/out of his room. Alfred is fully aware of their little friends, how could he not? The mass amounts of caws and wing flaps are pretty obvious. (He takes to preparing small treats for the birds with Damian's help, teaching him how to properly make them and what is/isn't safe for them to eat)

Batman and co. are just wondering if it's some kind of omen that Robin patrols with a steadily growing flock of birds around him. And why sometimes it sounds like there are multiple Robins laughing at once (mimicry my beloved)

As for the crows, I'm abt to be an animal nerd below real quick. It includes some fun fact about corvids abilities if anyone is interested in writing something lol (if you do and need someone to help do research PLEASE LMK!!!)

So, first things first is that birds are smart. A lot smarter than people people tend to give them credit for! When people think smart animals they don't immediately think of birds. (Well, okay, more people are slowly learning how smart they are)

They think of primates and maybe the octopus studies about them being super smart. Of course people know some birds are smart, at least enough to be able to mimic voices and sounds. But not many realize that birds often actually understand the meaning of what they're saying. They learn association, risk and rewards based on various tasks, they learn and remember.

Corvids in general are one of the smartest species of bird! They're able to construct TOOLS!! This is something only ever seen in humans and great apes¹ (e.g. gorillas). Not just that, but they can remember people who are safe versus those that pose a threat,² and can remember peoples faces³. They're super fucking smart, and can be mean little bastards when they want to.

Crows are able to communicate through social means about safe people versus threats⁴, which is why some people start off feeding one or two crows and it turns into a whole murder of them. It's been shown that they're smarter than some minor primates, and can problem solve successfully!!

It's not a far stretch to assume one can teach them tricks. Fuck, dude, people forget crows and ravens are able to mimic sounds! [Here] is a fun little blog post that goes into more depth about corvids mimicry.

Sources:

¹Bayern, A.M.P.v., Danel, S., Auersperg, A.M.I. et al. Compound tool construction by New Caledonian crows. Sci Rep 8, 15676 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33458-z

²John M. Marzluff, Jeff Walls, Heather N. Cornell, John C. Withey, David P. Craig. Lasting recognition of threatening people by wild American crows. Animal Behaviour, Volume 79, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 699-707, ISSN 0003-3472, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.12.022.

³John M. Marzluffa, Robert Miyaoka, Satoshi Minoshima, and Donna J. Cross. Brain imaging reveals neuronal circuitry underlying the crow’s perception of human faces. PNAS, vol. 109, no. 39, 2012, pages 15912–15917, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1206109109.

⁴Heather N. Cornell, John M. Marzluff, and Shannon Pecoraro. Social learning spreads knowledge about dangerous humans among American crows. 29 June 2011. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0957

[alpaca-clouds]

Something that will forever be a thing that drives me nuts, is people not understanding that yes, there are aspects about art that are subjective.

Look, no matter how good or bad a piece of art is, it does not mean it will connect to you. That is fine. As a picky eater, I always likened it too food. Were those eight-course meals that I got served in France objectively better than a fucking Pizza Hut pan pizza? Yes, they were. I will still choose the pan pizza every time, thank you very much.

And it is the same with media. One of my favorite movies of all time is Van Helsing. And I can tell you a lot of things the movie does good. I like the soundtrack a lot. I find the comedic timing in the movie amazing. And some of the actors are great. However, is the main reason I am watching this, that I am a simp for Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale? Yes. Yes, it is. And while the script is funny to me (like I really do enjoy the humor), it is certainly no master piece and if I was a youtuber, I could probably do a two hour video on stuff about the script I take issue with. Don't get me wrong. It is not a bad script by any means. Just... very mediocre. I am able to tell that. Just as I am able to call out the CGI that has aged a lot worse than the CGI in other movies. And some costume choices that were... less than ideal. I still love the movie.

Or maybe an even better example: I freaking love the movie Megamind. It is one of my Top 5 animated movies of all time. But the script was written by two guys who had never learned or studied screenwriting. And this shows. While the script had been edited a ton by people who knew more about screenwriting than them, it absolutely shows in some places, that it was written by folks, who just did not know how to best pace out scenes and stuff, how to work with show and tell, and how to think cinematically. But you know what? To me it does not matter, because I love Megamind and Minion as characters. Again, I am not saying it is a bad script because of it, just that... it could have used even more work than it got.

And this, too me, is part of the reason why I even in my childhood had a big issue with people who are like: "I love this piece of media and hence it is objectively the best thing that was ever created!"

I had this a lot in my first real fandom. Digimon. Because, yeah, it is perfectly fine that you connected more with Digimon Adventure or Digimon Adventure 02, but this does not mean that either of them were better written or better crafted than Digimon Tamers. Like there are very obvious problems in the writing of the first two seasons. Mind you, these days - after getting my answers on why this happened - I am way more chill about it. Like, I get that the people who wrote this were still trying to do the best with the options given to them. But partly because those options were limited, that "best" was just not the same "best" Konaka could do with Tamers, due to on one hand having more experience, and on the other hand just being a lot more stubborn about certain things.

Again, no, that does not mean you have to love Digimon Tamers. It also does not mean you have to dislike Digimon Adventure or Digimon Adventure 02. Like, heck, while I would argue there are more problems in Adventure, they are a lot more noticable in 02 - and I still like 02 more than Adventure, despite the animation being at times worse than some of those fan animatics on youtube. And yes, I mean animatics. Actually things that are not fully animated. Because 02 was suffering from timecrunch in the production a lot, so the animation really at times is a mess.

Why am I talking about this now?

Well, mainly because I am once more annoyed by this. By the fact that people do not acknowledge the fact that writing and art does have objective factors. And that there are rules to follow - or that if they get broken need to be broken for a good reason. Like, you absolutely can for artistic reasons subvert any writing or artistic rule. Totally fine. But only if it is done for artistic reasons and not, let's say, because of fucking time crunch.

And yes, this is still because of Arcane, and me being very, very sick of people claiming season 2 was well written. It was not. I am sorry, there are rules to writing and those rules were broken. Most notably rules of set-ups needing either a payoff or a clear subversion, and the good old screenwriting rule of "show, don't tell, you are a visual medium after all". (Please note at this point: Show don't tell was always for Screenwriting and visual media, it was never meant for pure prose writing, as in prose writing you will always just tell - given words are the only tool you have at your disposal. Yes, it usually works better if you write about characters in whose head your POV is not more in terms of reactions, rather than 'XY was angry', but other than that... there is only so much you can do as someone just using words.)

Like, it is perfectly fine if you totally connected to the story or specific characters. I mean, despite seeing the flaws with the writing - given they were really, really noticable - I would lie if I said I did not cry at some places. But yeah, if you were all there for Caitlyn, Vi, Viktor or Jayce, all power to you.

But the writing was not good. And from all we know the chances are very good that the reason the writing was such a mess was executive meddling of one sort or another. (Very probably the writers getting less time to tell their story than they had expected.)

And that exactly is why I am so fucking pissed at people being like "Oh, but the writing was great!" Because what you are saying with that is basically: "Creative interference and executive meddling is the most amazing thing. Creative people should not have their own freedom. Who also cares about people learning writing as a craft. Let's just let AI write this stuff, I don't fucking care."

And I actually do mean that last part. Because while I do not think that AI had written anything for that season, the time crunch made it so that there were certain things showing up, I have seen a lot in AI writing. Mainly the tell over show, and the set-up without payoff. Because AI is obviously not good with setting up and paying things off, because the AI does not plan a story. It just gives you a line of words in a row, that it has predicted have a high probability to go with a prompt it was given. And those usually do not have a payoff to set-ups.

Also, yes, I am very much the person, who will always give the creative behind any project a lot more benefit of the doubt, than any executives. There are times where it turns out that this is not warranted, and it turns out that indeed, something was weirdly written, because like some guy, who might or might not have been called Joss Whedon, wanted to write something that was titulating for himself. But still, in many cases where a piece of media turned out to have obvious issues, and someone broke their NDA, it often is the case that some executive was to blame for the mess that existed. Be it, because they wanted to pander to a specific audience. Be it, because they wanted to force in certain advertisements. Be it, because they decided that the creatives would just not have the time to do the creative stuff - or not enough time within the piece of media (runtime) to tell the story they wanted to tell. Be it, because some producer decided that his nephew Larry needed to have a role in the show, and because now this role was played by Larry, who was after all his nephew, this role needed to be way bigger than it was originally intended to be.

No, I do not know what happened behind the scenes of Arcane season 2. I can make some educated guesses, but I do not know it. But I know at least in part what happened behind the scenes of Digimon Adventure and 02, and exactly that makes me kinda pissed of people excusing stuff that was fully and completely there because of executive meddling.

Because yeah, most people who write for TV and movies have in fact somehow learned screenwriting. Not all at uni, some are self-taught. That is totally fine. But they have learned writing. The producers meanwhile have not. And it shows.

[justjudethoughts]

So, I watched the live action Snow White and here are my takeaways:

1) Modern Disney Hates Fairytale Logic

Every change that was made to Prince Florian (a bandit named Jonathan in this version) makes his character worse. Of course, it was done so that he had more screen time and she "didn't fall in love with a man she just met" but the thing is, she still did. They have virtually no time together and in a fairytale that would work. In a fairytale, we suspend our disbelief and remember how fairytales operate---stock characters, formulas, tropes, and symbols. It's okay if there is love at first sight, because we know love at first sight represents something deeper than instalove or lust. But here's the problem: by trying so hard to subvert this trope, but still not creating a well-developed romance that takes place over a reasonable period of time, the live action feels more instalovey than the original.

2) Modern Disney also hates animation

There was no reason to make a Snow White live action in the first place. There are so many Snow White retellings that are live action. Just because something is animated, it doesn't mean it is inferior to live action. The OG Snow White was so ground breaking because of what it did with the medium of animation. We don't need to remake that bad cgi and people in hideous costumes.

3) and has a weird vendetta against motherhood

Okay, so at the beginning of the movie we learn about Snow White's parents. Both are very loving and instill her with morals. Her mother dies, and then shortly after, her father dies. So Snow White would have clear memories of both of them, and have been pretty close to both of them. However, the only person she mentions the entire movie is her father. She always talks about wanting to be her "father's daughter" or live up to what her father wanted her to be. Which is wild, considering the wayyyyyy too long narrative exposition at the beginning of the movie highlighted the importance of both of her parents.

This becomes even more interesting when you think about the "girlbossification" of Snow White. All of the original character's motherly traits have been nixed, in favor of making her a "leader" (as if she wasn't in the original. Motherly people lead too). When she thinks about being a ruler, she talks about living up to her father (so much for an egalatarian marriage and ruling style, I guess). I suppose this means we are left to assume that her mother wasn't a very noteworthy person because she wasn't a girlboss.

4) and hates princesses

Look, the song "Princess Problems" simply does not belong in a Disney Princess movie. Full stop. Absolutely not. Put it in High School Musical as a diss against Sharpay Evans. Not a Disney Princess movie. And certainly not a Disney Princess movie in which the princess in question has been viciously abused for years and treated like a slave. Not to mention that his entire premise doesn't make sense. He is trying to diss Snow White for having "princess problems" which are what, exactly? Well, according to him, wanting the world to be a better place is a princess problem? Only the rich want the world to be a better place because the poor are so focused on survival that they don't care? W h a t? How can you be simultaneously mad at your sovereign for trying to help the poor and also mad at your sovereign for being rich and calling it a "rich people problem" to want to help???? What the heck is that? (Oh and also, it's not like he doesn't know Snow White was abused. He does. When he met her he didn't realize she was a princess. She was in rags sweeping the kitchen. He knows she was forced to be a maid. He's just classist).

The moral of all of the above points is simple: Disney is trying so hard not to be offensive that they are actually more offensive. The issue is modern Disney seems to believe that all fairytales are inherently sexist and classist, so they change important plot points so drastically that the end result is not only more sexist and more classist than the source material, but also, not even a good story.

[thephantomcasebook]

Martin's post really solidified the fandom divide and even channels that are trying to smooth things over are getting blacklash. And while I knew Ryan becomes very full of pride, and so he probably will not change his plans, I also think about how much hbo needs this show to not fail. So I wonder if this will affect S3 somehow, and they will try to curse correct at least the Maelor and Alicent stuff.

Nope, not a chance.

Condal is backed by HBO, under the false assumption that his plans are popular. Condal - if he takes anything from the backlash - will believe that the reason everyone hates Season 2 is because we didn't have any battles and the season got cut off.

Because of his false assumption that he and Sara Hess's scripts and ideas are genius, he'll stuff Season 3 with action and battles to try and make up for what he perceives as what the audience wants.

In reality he'll take HOTD right into a meat grinder that is reminiscent of Season 7-8 of "Game of Thrones". In which he believes now that he has all the characters established and down therefore he can put character development on the backburner to put his foot on the gas and rush into The Dance.

Condal and Hess are a mixture of pettiness, stupidity, and arrogance. They'll never course correct and GRRM turning against them and their vision will be soothed by the studio that has historically learned all the wrong lessons in the past - which is why they're 50 Billion Dollars in debt.

Condal, in his heart, truly believes that he's right and the fans, the hardcore fans, and GRRM are wrong. Not only that, he thinks that CGI Dragons going "Pew! Pew!" at each other will sate the normie audience enough to carry his show that is sinking under bad premises and atrocious character writing.

Alicent and Rhaenyra will be the focus of Season 3 in King's Landing - which literally no one wants. Daeron will be a footnote as a way of punishing the hardcore book fans and GRRM for pushing so hard for a character that he nor Hess wanted in the show. They'll axe Maelor from existing to protect Rhaenyra. And it'll be over all mindless garbage with CGI Dragons fighting so that retards in a bar can make monkey chatters at every cheap pop.

[avaantares]

Emotion-wrecking scenes? In my Guardian?

(It's more likely than you may think!)

When it comes to scenes that gut us, I feel like we (the fandom, collectively) tend to fixate on the tragedy of Weilan -- and, I mean, fair -- but in terms of sheer emotional impact, this scene, in which Chu Shuzhi learns that Guo Changcheng did not return to Haixing with him, is one of the most brutal in the entire series. Possibly because it's part of a bait-and-switch that spans multiple episodes and is engineered to pull the rug out from under you. Maybe because it involves characters who have been largely treated as one-dimensional and/or comic relief for most of the series, so it's an unexpected turn. Or perhaps it's so powerful simply because it's a completely terrestrial bit of drama -- there's no CGI, no greenscreening, no fake blood, no suspension of disbelief required. And it's something we've all experienced, at some level: Coming out of a situation where you think everything is okay, only to be blindsided with the worst news possible. We all know what that feels like, to some degree. Many of us know firsthand how devastating it is to wake from a dream in which a loved one is still alive, only to remember seconds later that they aren't.

Of course the characters and their history are a significant part of it, too. Not only do we see the heretofore unbreakable Chu Shuzhi be absolutely destroyed in real time by the realization that he has effectively caused the death of another younger brother (a relationship that Chu Shuzhi only let himself admit during the riverside conversation in his dream), but Zhao Yunlan is the one who has to break the news to him -- Zhao Yunlan, who is already stressed and suffering over Shen Wei's imprisonment and torture and the betrayal of Haixing Inspectorate and everything else that's gone wrong in the past 24 hours, who is no stranger to loss himself, and who can't bring himself to even mention the mistakes Lao Chu made that led to this situation. Despite the fact that he dragged Lao Chu into his office and literally shouted at him the previous day over sending the puppet into Zhu Hong's dream, he knows there is nothing he can say now that will even register as a reprimand. Chu Shuzhi has failed not only Hei Pao Shi, but the SID as well, and lost the person closest to him. Zhao Yunlan doesn't say anything to assuage Lao Chu's guilt, but also can't say anything to make it worse, and defends his silence to Da Qing in the following scene. (And at some level, he's probably thinking about how Xiao Guo is also his responsibility, and he's worried that Shen Wei will be the next to fall on his watch. Layers upon layers.)

But most of that is just background for the scene itself. What really sells the sequence is the phenomenal acting: Jiang Mingyang's emotionally raw breakdown, and a more understated but no less effective performance by Bai Yu.

OOF.

Just more proof that this cast was too good for this show.*

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* I say this while holding deep affection for the drama, but also acknowledging that I've acted in literal class projects that had better production values. Also one Asylum film, which almost certainly had a lower budget than Guardian and still managed to have better special effects -- which is saying something, coming from the studio whose most successful commercial venture was Sharknado.

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(This wasn't at all what I originally had planned for the "Revelations" square on my @guardianbingo card, but I was skimming through the episode looking for a reference for a different prompt, and the power of this bit struck me afresh, so I decided to focus on the unpleasant revelation in this scene instead.)