#Shark Night 3D

[likeafantasy]

SHARK WEEK 2022 › Shark Night — (5/7)

[beautifulfaaces]

Chris Carmack

Facts

December 22, 1980

American actor, singer and former model

Filmography

Dr. Atticus Lincoln [Grey’s Anatomy: 2018-2022]

Will [Nashville: 2013-2018]

Dennis [Shark Night 3D: 2011]

Austin [H2O Extreme: 2009]

Cooper [Beach Girls: 2005]

Luke [O.C. California: 2003-2004]

Appearance

dark blonde

blue eyes

1.85m

Roleplay

playable: young adult, adult

[bobduh]

Fall 2022 - Week 5 in Review

Fall 2022 – Week 5 in Review

Hey folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I come to you equipped with ghouls, goblins, and tales of rapturous fantasy, as is only fitting for this most Halloweeny of weeks. Yes, I know Halloween was on Monday, but that’s still closer to this Week in Review than the previous one, so that’s what I’m conceptually going with here. Regardless, this has been a relatively fruitful…

[chaos0pikachu]

So I wrote a bit about the film making of The Sign already but I wanted to dive a bit more into the VFX aspects b/c the show is - justifiably imo - getting a lot of praise for their work.

So I'm going to quote this video by VFX artists that I think sums up why, overall, the CGI works in The Sign:

"It's very interesting with a smaller budget Jurassic Park was crunched into choosing their VFX shots very very wisely and they didn't hold shots for longer than they needed to."

(I recommend watching the entire video, there's a lot of great discussion and education on how VFX is done in film. They're not simply "reacting" but talking about the techniques used in the film making itself.)

This is partly what The Sign is doing really well, they're not lingering on any shots, they're using their budget well by picking the most impactful moments to include more expensive and complicated CG effects.

What I love about smaller or mid-budget films is you can tell when the crew had to get truly inventive, creative, and purposeful when choosing how to portray a specific effect or action in a scene. Jaws is one of my favorite examples of this; Jaws cost 9 million (about 51 million adjusted to inflation) in 1975, and the shark animatronics (there were 3 pieces) was difficult to work with. This led to Spielberg and the crew switching things up and going for that shark POV that's now really famous.

It wasn't an accident, but it wasn't 100% planned or originally intentional, there was an issue, and the crew reworked things within their budget so they could still accomplish their creative goals.

The iconic first scene of the t-rex in Jurassic Park is a combination of an animatronic and CGI. In the video above they talk specifically about how this was filmed, and how setting the scene at night, with a singular main light source, and covered in water, really helped make the t-rex look "real". And why that scene holds up really well even today.

The Sign has used moments of CGI very sparingly which works within the story yes by building up tension within the narrative mystery, but also in the film making. They're not overwhelming the audience with it, whilst also using real sets and props to blend in with those scenes AND using a lot of the CGI in specific spaces.

The scene in ep01 where Phaya meets the Naga for the first time is a good example; the water is dark, there's only a singular light source (above) and there's a general lack of background. With only one light source, the VFX artists don't have to worry about shading every inch of the Naga to photorealistic standards, the image doesn't have to be insanely sharp b/c the water adds a layer of blur to everything, and since it's already a mystical creature the audience already has a higher suspension of disbelief anyway making us more forgiving to the fact this is not a "real" creature.

Compare this mythical creature with the dragons from Game of Thrones:

I want to first say I do think the special effects of GOT were really good, the VFX team's work is to be appreciated. But see how there's more light sources required for these dragons? They're just not just within a limited area, they're outdoors in the open which requires more math (literally) on where the light will bounce and reflect, plus all the disparities in texture on the dragons themselves. See how parts of their wings are more noticeably red then others?

Game of Thrones was a show with millions upon millions in it's budget, so they can indulge, The Sign doesn't, so they have to be smart. And they are!

Another standout scene so far in the series as far as filmmaking goes for me is from episode05.

If you look closely you can see the edges around Phaya are a bit blurred out and rewatching the scene you can see an image of him is almost transposed over the actor as well. It gives it a pseudo 3D effect, which helps blend the actor into the fake background which makes it less obvious it's, well, fake.

Then there's the Big Moment, the reveal of our Garuda:

I'm partially not convinced this was 100% CGI I'm wondering if they used a bit of claymation or maybe a miniature or something (maybe a puppet?). The weight of the movement and body feel like something more close to the use of a puppet or animatronic than straight CGI. (If you want to read more about miniatures in film I recommend this article on Godzilla 1954!)

But what I find smart about this shot is that the focus of the camera is on the Garuda, Phaya is much smaller and lower in the frame. I say this is smart because being distance from Phaya allows for the Garuda and the background to take up more space in the frame and contrast less with the real elements, ie Phaya's real human body. It also makes the Garuda more imposing, dominating the frame at a higher angle, and gives a sense of largeness in comparison to Phaya's smaller human self.

Since the Garuda is against an already fake background there is no need for a "light source". Notice how the Garuda has no shadows or light reflections, unlike the Naga from before (or the t-rex)? This makes less work for the VFX team b/c now they don't have to math out where all the bits of shadow, light, and color textures would come from, everything is flat and singular.

Keeping the Garuda at a distance as well, means we're not looking at or for the details of their feathers, or body. We see there is texture to them, but it doesn't need to look photorealistic b/c of that distance in the frame.

Contrast it with Simba from Lion King 2019, or Detective Pikachu:

Again, I think both look very good, but they need to because the audience is so close to the characters in frame. If Pikachu or Simba didn't have this level of care and detail put in when the audience is literally right in their faces everyone would notice how fake they look and complain (I mean I still complained about Lion King but b/c it was a bad and visually boring film but the VFX team did a great job).

We know this because Ant Man Quantumania didn't put the same care and effect in and it looked horrible. Everyone clowned Modak, and fair, but it wasn't just him that looked bad. Entire set pieces look clearly fake, like why is Ant Man suddenly in Zanarkand??

In the second image, look at Scott and Cassie's clothes, you can see the light on their clothes (especially Cassie's) isn't the same as what's happening in their surrounding environment (which is a lot jfc). It's also just poor film making because the frame of both shots is cluttered to the god damn BRIM with STUFF our eyes aren't sure what to focus on. There's a lack of perspective and weight given to the scenes (compare these wide shots to Jurassic Park when our protagonists see the dinosaurs in an open field for the first time, there's a sense of WONDER). So our human characters get completely lost in the frame and feel overwhelmed entirely. They also stick out because the CGI isn't fully well rendered.

Possibly my biggest chaotic take to date, I prefer the CGI in The Sign to Ant Man 3 there I fucking said it. Ugliest MCU movie to date I said what I said.

There is at least care going into The Sign, there's thought, there's creativity, there's a sense of passion. I can forgive that the Garuda isn't photorealistic because it doesn't need to be, it needs to be visibly believable within the world it's set in and it does. The show has been very smart about when to employ it's special effects, and how to film them. It's taken care. It has more in common with films like Godzilla Minus One which had a budget of 15 million and looks phenomenal, way better than Godzilla vs Kong or what we've seen from Godzilla x Kong (which I am looking forward to b/c I'm godzilla trash).

anyway watch the sign it's gucci

[goryhorroor]

do you have the full list for horror movies condemned by the church? Thank you

so there's kinda seperate lists for it, ones condemned by the Legion of Decency, during the years of

Legion of Decency (before it was stopped in 1978):

Rosemary's Baby (because it depicts satanism)

The Devils

The Wicker Man (promotion of sexuality & violence)

Lemora, A Child's Tale of Supernatural

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (promotion of sexuality)

Carrie

The Omen (because it depicts that idea that there is an antichrist in the book of revelations)

J.D.'s Revenge

Dawn of the Dead

The Exorcist (this one is so-so because it was still banned for its profanity & sexual situation, but it's not like they hated the idea that it promoted the catholic church; no the church did not help the exorcist production)

These modern ones morally offended the Catholic Church (this list is offically complete from starting in 2003-July 2022, since OSC News took them over to do movies reviews)

28 Weeks Later

30 Days Later

The Belko Experiment

Black Swan

Brightburn

The Cabin in the Woods

Candyman (newer one)

Child's Play (remake)

The Collection & The Collector

The Crazies (remake)

Crimson Peak

The Descent

The Devil's Rejects

The Devil Inside

The Evil Dead (remake)

Final Destination 3 & 5

The entire of the Purge movies

Freaky

Friday the 13th (remake)

Friend Request

Fright Night (remake)

The Green Inferno

The Grudge (remake: 2019)

Halloween (remake: 2007) & Halloween II

Halloween (2018) & Halloween Kills

Hell Fest

High Tension

The Hills Have Eyes (remake)

Hostel & Part 2

The Hunt

It Follows

It Chapter 2

Jennifer's Body

Jigsaw (2017)

The Last House on the Left (remake)

Let me In

Ma

Malignant

Midsommar

Mother!

My Bloody Valentine (remake)

My Soul to Take

A Nightmare on Elm Street (remake)

One Missed Call (remake)

Pet Sematary (remake)

Piranha 3d

Prometheus

Ready or Not

The Ruins

All Saw movies

Scream (2022) & Scream 4

Shark Night 3D

Silent Hill

Slither

Sorority Row

Spiral

Splice

The Stepfather (remake)

The Strangers: Prey at Night

Studio 666

The Texas Chainsaw 3D

Tusk

Underworld series

Unfriended

We Summon the Darkness

Wolf Creek

X

You're Next

Zombieland 2

[requinoesis]

Here are the five winners of Huion's halloween art contest! I really wanted to thank Huion for this interesting opportunity, it would be the first art contest I organize in my life, I hope I did everything correctly.

It was very difficult to choose just 5 winners among the more than 70 participants with a lot of amazing art! Thank you so much to everyone who participated, I hope you had fun!✨

🏆✨The Winners✨

⭐First Place - Maru.nascimento

- I sure love the little dollhouse feeling this art evokes in me! I loved playing with stuff like that when I was a kid and I still love it so much today. I like how all the art conveys the idea of a party between friends on a cozy Halloween night, lit by maybe a television broadcasting some popular spooky movie! I also love everything about the colors!

⭐Second Place - Levi.animarts

- You created amazing characters in all fifteen of this year's Sharktober themes and brought them ALL to Requino's little house! This is for sure the best Halloween shark party little Requino could have! I love your art style and hope to one day be in the art direction of an amazing indie game!

⭐Third Place - Akaizerarts

- You came alone to brighten up Requino's party, but you were apparently the only one who opened the door to his house, that's very polite! This detail caught my attention and I loved the diving suit! You were very creative!

⭐Fourth Place - Snakeheadfrita

- This is so adorable! I was really looking forward to having a participant do something handmade and you impressed me with the amazing details and colors of your needlefelt creation! And I recognize how much work needlefelting can be, you are very talented!

⭐Fifth Place - @its-a-beautful-day

- This was the first craft work that appeared to me and I consider it very special, I really love the rustic feeling it conveys, like a halloween decoration made with a lot of passion and dedication, you have an incredible talent with your hands! I fell in love with the chubby clown fish!

I thought of making honorable mentions for another five works that caught my attention!

❤️First Mention - Chrysapixie

- Blue, purple and pink are colors that I have a deep passion for, so your artwork sure fascinated me, you have a great talent with colors! I also loved the design of your OC!

❤️Second Mention - Pipkinbee

- You were the only one who used 3D art and you did it with great talent! I was inspired by your render and was admiring the details for hours! You reproduced Requino's little house with great mastery!

❤️Third Mention - Sev.the.cat

- I love the pop art feeling your artwork conveys to me! Its colors are very beautiful and its design is very elegant! Your art conjured up the idea of a beautiful party invitation card!

❤️Fourth Mention - Ruri_chiki

- I can't explain it, but I fell in love with your OC's friendly interaction with Requino! So simple and so kind! Your art has given me so much joy!

❤️Fifth Mention - @idessa

- This art was someone from Tumblr known as @Idessa, I love the children's book art feeling their art evokes and I love the little sea slug design!

One additional mention I wanted to make, especially on tumblr, is from the amazing music video by @ravenmoodle​ ❤️🎶 https://youtu.be/141BktDFkmE That's it, I really was full of doubts about which ones I would choose, but it all came from my heart, I hope you all had fun and that the tablets benefit your artistic talents!🎨✨

Thanks a lot for all!✨

[shuttershocky]

Top 3 characters from any MOBA you've played gameplay-wise

Ooh this is ridiculously hard... Ive played so many over the years that I liked...

1.) Shoichi (Eternal Return) — The only video game character archetype I like more than a gunslinger is a swift dagger wielding assassin, and Shoichi took that to the utmost extreme.

Blindingly fast, incredibly squishy, and extremely prone to dying off of a single mistake, Shoichi's whole deal was that he could reset a short range, instant dash by dashing over a dagger that he drops, while his Stab, knife throw, and spinning ult all dropped daggers around him (like a modified Katalina, from League of Legends).

He's so squishy that if he misses one of his skills and runs out of dash resets, he's quickly killed, meaning his gameplan was always to ambush a target with a full combo of all his skills as fast as possible, hopefully killing them before they even properly realized they were being attacked.

This feast or famine playstyle made him a big balance problem for ER, and he tended to either instantly kill a target, or miss one skill / run out of damage on a tankier target and then just die pathetically, but that's what made playing him so fun.

He's the closest a video game has truly got to really capturing Tohno Shiki as depicted in Tsukihime, far more so than Melty Blood's. I've uploaded a few Shoichi clips here on this blog, i'm not as fast as the pros are but I'm still real proud of them (especially the 1v2s or 1v3s ive won)

2) Rubick (Dota 2) — As the original MOBA upon which all others descended from, Defense of the Ancients contains a lot of Heroes with designs that became nothing less than genre-defining, such as Pudge's meat hook being replicated throughout many, many games, from League's Blitzcrank to Overwatch's Roadhog to Super Monday Night Combat's Veteran

Rubick however, is a character based around having an incredibly generic skillset, but with the most unique ultimate in Dota. He's got an instant stun that does no damage but can move enemies around, an honest nuke that bounces, and a passive that boosts his cast range, little in the way of an identity. But, Rubick's ultimate, Spell Steal, lets him copy the last spell an enemy hero used (including their ultimates) and temporarily use it in battle.

This makes Rubick's gameplay completely change every single time, as his possible moveset is determined by the enemy's lineup instead of him. His generic but crudely effective regular skills are meant to combo with as many different stolen spells as possible, creating a real chameleon of a mage that can use even your own ultimates against you.

Due to his simple basic skills, playing Rubick is very easy, but due to his ultimate, playing Rubick well requires mastery of basically every other spell in the game, and Dota is notorious for being the sort of game where it's quite easy to grief your own teammates with a bad spellcast.

I have played this character for a ridiculous number of hours since he first got ported from Dota 1 to 2 back in 2012, and I'm still only able to grasp him at a surface level. I love the pursuit of mastery far more than actually getting good, which is why I've been hot garbage at Dota for over 12 years now and I've never tired of it. Rubick is that feeling in a single hero.

3) Captain Spark (Super Monday Night Combat) — Although it pains me not to put a representative of my love Gigantic in here, Captain Spark remains unmatched. A Rocketeer + Shark Boy and Lava Girl parody, Captain Spark took the very common trope of the teleporting assassin in 2D MOBAs, and took it into 3D space.

With the ability to blink through walls and floors, Spark played with the 3D space in a way nobody else in Super Monday Night Combat could touch. He could come from anywhere, at any time. There was nowhere you could run where he couldn't follow, and catching a guy that could simply blink to another part of the map made chasing him almost impossible. It's the closest anyone's really gotten to replicating the idea of fighting a comic book speedster, where you have to catch them by surprise, or lure them into a fight they can't easily escape from and overpowering them with bulk.

One of my favorite moments playing as Captain Spark is when another player caught me offguard and pushed me off the map to my certain death. I simply looked up as I was falling, teleported through the floor, and ended up right behind the guy as they turned around assuming I was already dead. I shot them with Spark's secondary ray pistol just to get their attention, and when they turned around, I grabbed them and tossed them off the cliff they just chucked me from (because hey, one of Spark's skills is to grab and flip an enemy behind him, perfect for such situations).

I miss SMNC. Video games sure haven't made a weird Shark Boy wearing Rocketeer cosplay kind of character again.

[capitalisticveins]

D.A.M.N Crew Headcanons Part 3 (Ft. Kody, Xavier, and Avior)

Not as many Kody and Xavier headcanons as I wish there would be, but they’re still there. Enjoy!

- Caelum had his front tooth kicked out by one of his older brothers on accident.

- Freelancer will never let anyone else crack the eggs if they’re baking something. It always has to be them, not even Caelum can do it if they’re around.

- Damien has busted his ass while skating once and never touched a skateboard again.

- Lasko can use a hoverboard but lives every second in anxiety and fear when the low battery sound plays.

- Huxley’s instagram is just full of pictures of his moms and rocks with googly eyes.

- Lasko and Huxley say “Golly” unironically.

- Caelum enjoys chocolate ice cream.

- Freelancer prefers French Vanilla.

- Xavier has sung “Nations of the World” from the Animaniacs perfectly after only watching it once.

- Gavin can do the “disappearing thumb” trick.

- He’s done it in front of Caelum but Caelum started to cry after he saw it.

- Damien can write and speak in cursive.

- Damien can understand Russian script.

- Huxley has always wanted to give Damien a piggyback ride, and only got to do it after they got together. It was the best thing ever. For Huxley, anyway.

- Lasko likes to watch Ni-Hao Kai Lan.

- Whenever someone tells Freelancer to pose, they always do a peace sign.

- Gavin bullies people on Discord.

- When Freelancer and Gavin first met, Freelancer genuinely didn’t know he was getting sucked off until he mentioned it.

- Caelum likes growing his hair out, so whenever Delphinus says it’s time to cut it, he flies to the highest altitude he can muster and just…stays there…until Delphinus gives up. He’s done this for a year and a half now.

- Kody’s eyes are usually glossy, like he’s about to cry. It’s ironic because he hasn’t cried since the 5th grade.

- Huxley has cut his hair into bangs before, never again.

- When Lasko sneezes, it evolves into a series of annoying tiny sneezes that leaves his nose red.

- Damien would rather die than use Airpods.

- Xavier has always wanted a BIG dog, but never got the chance to get one.

- Caelum has his own section in Freelancer’s dorm where he can play and sleep.

- Gavin heard what happened to Avior when he tried to rift back to Aria and said “And people ask me why I don’t rift back home anymore”.

- Gavin has called Avior a “dickrider” before.

- Freelancer is FASCINATED by Vampires.

- Lasko owns a robe that reaches past his feet.

- Huxley belly flops onto pools for fun.

- Damien hates tanning.

- When Caelum heard about the Nintendo EShop shutting down, he begged and cried for Freelancer to hack his 3DS since Gavin and Delphinus had no idea how to. Freelancer had to look up how to do it, and spent the night doing it, but it was easier than they thought.

- Kody randomly walks around his house in jeans and flip flops while being shirtless.

- Gavin believed in the “Talking Angela is stalking you” theory.

- Lasko refuses to download Twitter.

- Freelancer developed their powers in the 6th grade when someone was picking on them, and hid them from their family for 4 years in fear of what they could do with them. Their parent(s) found out after they froze their room while having a breakdown via stress.

- Huxley played spin the bottle at a party with his friends a few years ago, and when the bottle landed on Xavier, they immediately began kissing with no question, hesitation, or awkwardness.

- Caelum hates Baby Shark.

- Lasko has a sleep mask, a bed that regulates temperature, 7 pillows, and a surround sound system that plays rain sounds at night.

- When Damien first came into his room, he was appalled at how comfortable it looked.

- Caelum makes hot cocoa and then puts it in the fridge to cool down.

- Huxley’s moms owns 3 cats. One rarely moves, and the other two are menaces.

Taglist: @morgansplace

[lycanthrope6221]

Sucide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Character Rant

Hi there here’s my thoughts on all the current operatives in Sucide Squad: Kill the Justice League. I’ll probably do another one of these for the Joker when he releases next month

Disclaimer, I’m a artist not a writer I suck I at writing and I really just wanted to get my thoughts down and put them out there also I’m writing this a after playing the game last night and my memory isn’t 100% I might have missed some things but oh well.

Spoilers!!! mostly just for gameplay I don’t really bring up the story.

Tw: Guns and violence

Harley Quinn:

Character-Loving her dialogue right now. Her voice fits well(duh it’s Tara strong), she has funny dialogue and unhinged dialogue she doesn’t feel forced or anything. I’m happy she’s moved on from the Joker and is trying to live her best life despite the bomb planted into her skull.

Movement- I’m going to be completely honest and say I think I might need to redo the tutorial for the bat grapple gun. All I do is fall…. Beside that it’s fun to swing around and grapple to building my brain keeps defaulting to Spider-Man 2 controls lol.

Combat- I know you can equip any weapon for any character but I’m just sticking to the type of gun they started with so my Harley’s only getting SMG’s and revolvers. I like beating aliens to a bloody pulp with Harley’s bat and I love revolvers in games like there so much fun to use.

Deadshot:

Character- So far it looks like Floyd is basically the voice of reason for the team. He has prior experience to mercenary work and it shows in the way he communicates with Waller i think this is a nice detail. He brings up his daughter sometimes and I really hope he gets to see her preferably not in alien invaded metropolis.

Movement- at first I struggled with the jet pack but after a couple stressful missions I finally got used to it. I don’t really have much to say about it, it’s a jetpack. Blast off woo hoo.

Combat- My Deadshot currently has a a sniper rifle and assault rifle. I’m so happy that the sniper rifles in this game aren’t heavy snipers and don’t take 10 years to reload cause I would be so so dead. I just got my first notorious weapon and it’s Black Mask sniper rifle and the floating back skulls were a jump-scare at first but honestly it gives the gun character.

Captain Boomerang-

Character- As a Tim drake fan I apologize for what I’m about to say. He’s slowly becoming harder and harder to hate. The voice actor and writers are just doing to good of a job also shot out to the animators whoever did facial animations for this game deserves double pay. He’s a dick and he sucks but in a funny way. Like ok Boomer rang why would you put a bomb into a child’s head? Yes that child is an omega level Metahuman but still! I would push him down a flight of stairs but I would also throw him down a granola bar.

Movement- When I first saw the trailer I thought this was “just revived from darkest night and now I have powers” Boomerang but no its some speed force copy cat gauntlet I think this was a good decision. I don’t hate his traversal it’s honestly pretty fun to throw boomerangs and go fast. Gotta go fast…

Combat- I love Boomerangs melee attack I love smacking people with a boomerang. I have a sniper rifle and a shotgun equipped. Shotguns are so much fun in this and doing the quick time thingys is really fun with them 10/10 shotgun lover 4lifers.

King Shark:

Character: King shark is such a neat humanoid shark. At first I thought he was just MCU Drax the destroyer in a different font but even though they both share a lot of tropes King Sharks love for learning reminds me more of Strong from fallout. I really like his design too, we don’t see a lot of 3d humanoid sharks out there and they nailed it.

Movement: King Shark uses his claws and glowing shark powers to jump high and run fast. I can’t really tell but I think he may be the fastest character. It might just be how easy he is to use but I don’t really notice any limitations like the others/its not screaming in my face like with dead shots jetpack over heating or Harley’s bat drone having a cool down. It’s also very cool to run around as a giant shark jumping off builds and plowing through crowds of aliens.

Combat- My King Shark is currently equipped with a heavy machine gun and a shotgun. The heavy gun is fine and kinda fun to use it pairs really well with his melee. King sharks melee attack is his 2 daggers that can cut through people and launch them into the sky so you can riddle them with bullets. That’s my favorite combo and you can do that with every character but King Sharks just seems cooler.

[a34trgv2]

Why It Worked: The Bad Guys

SPOILER WARNING: This post contains majors spoilers for The Bad Guys. If You haven't seen this film, you might want to before reading further. You've been warned.

Introduction: The Bad Guys is an animated action, comedy, heist film based on the children's book series by Adam Blabey. Directed by Pierre Perifel, the film stars Sam Rockwell, Marc Marron, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, Craig Robinson, Zazi Beets, Alex Borstein, Richard Ayode, and Lilly Singh as Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark, Diane Foxington, Police Chief Misty Luggins, Prof. Marmalade, and Tiffany Fluffit. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, the film was released on April 22, 2022. Critics were very receptive to it as 88% of 172 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes gave an average rating of 6.9/10. The film was also a massive success, even by pre-pandemic standards, as it made $250 million on a budget of $69-80 million. When I first saw the trailer, I thought it looked super dope and upon watching it on Blu-ray I was absolutely blown away. This film excelled at all the aspects of it's filmmaking and I'm more than happy to talk about it on Why It Worked.

The Plot: Set in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist, a group of convicted felons plot to pose as good samaritans to pull off the biggest heist of all time. Things start to go awry when Wolf, the leader of the group, starts to find that being good actually feels really good. This puts his friendship with the guys, particularly Snake, to the test and uncovers a conspiracy that puts all of LA in great danger. Right out of the gate, this film hooks you with an amazing opening chase sequence that brilliantly introduces the characters, the world they inhabit, and the main conflict at hand. In addition to witty dialogue and hilarious jokes, the opening showcases what the tone of the film is and why we sympathize with these characters. The best part? The film keeps the momentum of the first 7 minutes going for the rest of the picture! This film has exquisite pacing with each scene showcasing wonderful use of show, dont tell, clever jokes, and excellent camaraderie between the characters. The greatest highlight of the film's story is its happy marriage of 2D and 3D animation, clearly taking a page from Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The film brings these characters to life with remarkable cel-shading, unique body types based on their personalities, and very expressive facial features. LA also looks gorgeous with vibrant warm colors in the daytime, contrasting with soothing cool colors at night. The city also feels lived in with an abundance of people populating the backgrounds and the city feeling like a huge playground for the Bad Guys. The biggest highlights of the animation are the action scenes, which best showcase the speed, veracity, and vibrant colors the film offers. This film's story was already funny and unique, but the filmmakers went above and beyond in making this a masterclass of visual storytelling.

Cast and Characters: This has got to be among DreamWorks' best casted films! Everybody brings their A game to their roles, and they all have such great chemistry with one another. Our leading pickpocket and chief, Wolf, is such a swave, charismatic and funny leader who at first enjoys the life of crime he's chosen, but grows so fond of doing good he starts to drift from his original beliefs and becomes a really complex character. Major props to Sam Rockwell for delivering such an authentic and funny performance. His best friend, Snake, is a crusty, deadpan python who relishes his crime life more than Wolf, and they become at odds as the film progresses, and Wolf gradually becomes a different person. Marc Marron gave a very nuanced performance, making him sound crusty but also funny and fleshed out. Shark is a big, lovable master of disguise who adds extra comedy to the film thanks in large part to Craig Robinson's performance. Tarantula is the sassy, tech-savvy arachnid that serves as the group's hacker and is played brilliantly by Awkwafina. Piranha is a psychotic fish that acts first and thinks never and has some really good singing chops thanks to Anthony Ramos. Governor Diane Foxington is a sly, sassy, and clever public official who makes for a great foil for Wolf and is played wonderfully by Zazie Beets. Family Guy alum, Alex Borstein, absolutely kills it as Police Chief Misty Luggins, making her sound boisterous and manic in her pursuit of the Bad Guys. Lilly Singh did a really good job as Tiffany Fluffit, making her sound like an eccentric and bubbly news reporter. Then there's the film's surprise villain, Professor Marmalade. I honestly never saw the twist coming because, at first, he seemed like a genuinely good person who believes the Bad Guys can change, and everyone deserves a second chance. Once his true colors are revealed, that's when it all clicked. All this time, Marmalade was using the Bad Guys as a ruse to keep everyone's eyes off him so he could take the meteorite and harness its power to pull the biggest heist the world has ever known: using mind controlled guinea pigs to steal $1 billion dollars that was going to charity! Wow, now THAT'S evil! Richard Ayode provided such a brilliant performance, perfectly playing the kind, optimistic, good-hearted Marmalade while also devouring the scenery when his true colors are revealed. This is such a wonderful cast of characters, and everyone deserves a round of applause for their voice work.

Where It Falters: 👏I👏want👏more! No seriously, this film is a 10/10 and the only gripe I have is I want more. The film is 100 minutes long and it very much feels like this is the beginning of DreamWorks' next big franchise. So I definitely expect a sequel to be made at some point. Yes, I know there's a holiday prequel on Netflix, but I saw the trailer for it and it looked like a very pale imitation of this film. Might as well just watch The Bad Guys again, which I did.

Conclusion: The Bad Guys is now among my all time favorite DreamWorks Animation movies, right next to Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Prince Of Egypt! With a fast paced and hilarious story, well developed characters, excellent vocal performances, amazing animation, and a killer sound track, this film didn't meet my expectations: it EXCEEDED them! I can't recommend this film enough, especially if you're a fan of heist movies. This film should also be studied for aspiring storytellers on how to brilliantly showcase visual storytelling and how to write clever and witty dialogue. Thank you all so much for reading and I'll see you soon 😉

[littlesolo]

Kacy Drabble - JAWS on the Water...

Kate's talking to Lucy on the phone when it happens. Lucy's still stuck on the ship in the middle of the ocean and evenings can be hard. When Kai shows her a flyer for a showing of JAWS on the water, Kate immediately says yes. It's been a while since she's seen a movie with Kai and Hina.

It's the split second after she agrees that she remembers Lucy's on the phone. And everyone else finds out too.

"NO!"

Kate winces and has to pull the phone away from her ear before answering.

"Lucy, it's a movie and it's not like it's in 3D. I heard that version was kind of lame anyway."

"Why would--? It doesn't matter. It is a shark movie. You are not going to watch a shark movie while sitting in the very place sharks make their home. You'll let your guard down and never see it coming."

"I think sharks would a avoid a large group in inflatable floaties."

"You wouldn't even be in a BOAT?"

"If you watch the film backwards, it's a heartwarming story about a shark who gives arms and legs to those who need them."

"What?"

"Hina and I will keep Kate safe, Lucy" calls Kai from his desk.

"Kate--"

"Lucy, I gotta go. I came here to meet with Tennant and she's free now." They say I love you and hang up, but before the day is over Kate sends Lucy the latest shark attack data from the area. There had only been one fatal shark attack in Hawaii in the 62 shark attacks from the year 2022. She gets a text back moments later.

But you're taunting them with a movie where the guy from their side gets blown up! It's tempting fate.

The night of the film, she sends Lucy a selfie of her with Kai and Hina. And a spear gun clearly in frame.

[lil-lass-annie]

Here are my poisened poems charecters as care takers!

Oliver would be a great care taker as he has always wanted to be a father!

Since hes a prince he would definitely play princess and knights/princes and loves watching disney princess movies or just disney movies in general with you!

Tea parties? Tea parties.

Every toy you have is very extravagant and looks almost like its from a fairy tale!

Speaking of fairy tale, he loves to read you fairy tales when its bed time!

Over all if you want a very expensive and fancy prince care taker but also one whos very sweet and will give you whatever you need, oliver would be your prince charming!

Next is tia! I wouldn't suggest her as a care taker unless your okay with being a mini mean girl-

Tia would be more like a cool older sister then a mom care taker, but she'd still try her best!

Shopping at claires on the weekend to get you (and maybe her) a little dolled up and then you and her can play dress up or "fashion show" as tia likes to call it once you get home!

Yes she'll rewatch lps popular with you for the hundredth time is this even a question???

Speaking of lps she will totally play out a highschool drama with you using lps or barbies!

Since tia loves to sing karaoke of (kid friendly) pop songs are a must!

So if you'll risk becoming a little regina gorge to tias big regina gorge, then tia would be a fun time!

Noah is a great care taker, especially for more shy or timid littles! If you don't mind the bugs of course!

Noah would love going outside and bug hunting with one of those bug catching kits (he lets the bigs go though!)

And since noah is also a theater kid he wouldn't mind dressing up and playing in a little play with you!

He would love to play video games with you! Weather its on the ds, 3ds, or switch! He'll play whatever you want! (He might cry if your mean or competitive)

He would love to watch anime/cartoons with you!

Pockys and chocolate pandas would probably be your main treat, that or gummy bugs/frogs/sharks!

But if you want a soft spoken bug loving theater kid gamer nerd as your care taker... I'm not sure theres anyone that fits that description other then noah!

Damion is a very... alternative care taker...

He almost certainly bought you that pony mania set don't even lie-

He doesn't mind you and him screaming out emo music as long as you don't mind!

All of your toys are either black, red, skeleton or stiches theme!

Nintendo? Who are they??? All damion and you knows is play station!

Oh you already KNOW yall are shopping at hot topic!!

If you steal some candy from the store then damion lets it slide and acts like he doesn't even know what crime is!

Over all, if your fine with emo style and emo music and only a bit of crimes then damion is probably your perfect care taker!

Finally the last care taker is midnight!

Midnight likes to give you red fruit juice cause you and her like to pretend its blood and that you a little baby vampire!

Haunted mansion, nightmare before Christmas, coraline, wich one are you picking for you and midnight's movie night?

She likes to read you spooky stories before bed (but not too scary since she doesn't want you to have nightmares!)

If you play dress up with her then lets just say you'll be looking like gothic marceline from fiona and cake-

Spirt holloween is you and midnights home, you guys sleep in coffins and hibernate till holloween!!

So if you'd like a very gothic and very spooky care taker then you might just want to hang out with midnight... hand out like... like bats like upside down-

[lizardywizard]

Self-examination of kintype’s senses.

A really fun question to ask yourself, especially if you're otherkin/theriomythic: what senses did you use the most? I asked myself this question last night while trying to fall asleep, and learned some really neat things out of it.

If you're an Earthly animal, science can probably tell you if your kintype has colour vision, or a good sense of smell. But it could still be interesting to explore memories or feelings/intuition with this stuff in mind!

As my kintype is some kind of wingless water dragon, I don’t have much to go on biologically. Modern reptiles vary widely in their sensory abilities, and my body was probably more akin to that of a mesothermic dinosaur, about which we still know very little. So I looked into my memories and intuitions and tried to focus on what senses they would require.

Sight: I don’t remember anything with a lot of colour detail, though that could be because I was living in snowy tundra, where things were mostly shades of white and grey. I think my sight focused more on contrast and movement, with large eyes to take in a lot of light; a useful trait for a creature that spends a lot of time underwater.

I subconsciously find myself focusing a lot on how reptiles’ faces look, and in particular the snout shape. So I think the snout shape was an important cue for me to differentiate between similar species, similar to how Red recognises her own kin versus a rival species in Raptor Red. Red’s response was to the colours of other Utahraptors; I think mine must have been mostly to shape.

Smell/Taste: I’m unsure about this one. I know that generally, water-dwelling predators like sharks and crocodiles have keen senses of smell. I’m not sure if this was the case for me or not, since I don’t really have any scent memories, but it doesn’t feel unlikely?

Hearing: Probably decent. To the extent that we communicated as a species, we did so via booms and chuffs, much like crocodiles. My dewlap was almost certainly a sound amplifier for these rumbling calls. I was probably capable of picking up low-frequency sounds and vibrations over a fairly long distance. This would also give me advanced warning of larger predators and vicious territorial species.

Touch: Here’s where it gets interesting, because I think after all these years, I think I’ve figured out what my spines are for. They’re sensors, like whiskers or barbels!

When you move underwater, other senses are muted. The usefulness of vision is reduced, because you can’t see very far or very clearly. Hearing is distorted by the sound of your own movements. Having a good sense of smell is useful for tracking injured prey, but a piscivore of my size would have gulped their prey whole. (Even to this day I have a tendency to “wolf” down food. I find it enjoyable to swallow a big hunk of something.)

But what is always around you, guiding you, creating a 3D map of your surroundings, is water pressure. Currents would pull my spines this way and that, and by the tugging on my body I would have a detailed understanding of my environment, fed to me not by one isolated body part but by the biggest organ, the skin. For both finding food and escaping predators, that’s vital.

As soon as I realised that, I understood something. As a child, I always wanted to run and tumble and play rough, but I was always scared to do it because I didn’t feel like I had a good sense of where my body was in space. Being bipedal and not having that pressure, I constantly feel like I’m going to fall. The one place I was pretty fearless was the water. I can’t swim quickly or competitively, but I’d go to the pool and swim and dive for hours, then go and eat a massive sandwich and some fries. Best feeling in the world. Don’t fuck with the ocean, never have, but a lake, a pool? That’s just such a soothing place for me to be. I feel held, finally, by the world. I feel sensorily in place.

[snailspector]

ABOUT ME!!

hi, I’m khloe! I’m 18, this is a multifandom blog!

Here’s my interests!

Video games:

Kirby, splatoon, animal crossing, Pokémon, multiplayer co-op games , RPGs , MMORPGS, FFXV, fire emblem , night in the woods etc

Shows:

Bee and puppycat, Hilda, The Good place, b99, yokai watch , ghost hunting shows

Music :

Hozier, angus and Julia stone, the strokes, Wallows, Lady of the sunshine, as tall as lions, motion city soundtrack, HUNNY, smallpools, The greeting committee

Other interests:

Sharks, whales and silly little guys! Drawing, Vocaloid, manga/graphic novels, 3DS games, Project DIVA , reading.

[canmom]

Animation Night 133: Disney, Dreamworks and the Emperors

Hey everyone, happy Thursday! It’s Animation Night. Come, have a seat~

We’ll get to you, Iron Giant. Hold on.

Earlier this week, I got fixated on writing a post attempting to figure out my answer on the question of why the big American animation studios abruptly turned away from traditional animation in the early 2000s - a subject previously visited, if briefly on Animation Night 31 and Animation Night 49. A string of high-profile 2D and 2D-in-3D failures, such as Treasure Planet, set against a string of 3DCG successes by Pixar, Dreamworks and increasingly other studios may have been the justification for executives claiming audiences no longer want to see 2D animation - but were they really the reason? Did the higher-ups deliberately sabotage 2D with (for example) scheduling decisions in order to make cheaper, non-unionised 3D films?

I’m grateful that people seemed to like my post there, but I actually don’t think my argument is quite satisfactory. I argued CG films by the same studios weren’t cheaper to make by and large (and also aren’t entirely non-union), but I only pulled up a handful of data points to make that claim. A more thorough investigation is due.

But in the meantime, it’s Animation Night. When I made that post, I was critical of the artistic decisions made in the post-Prince of Egypt films of Dreamworks, such as Spirit and Sinbad, which we watched back on Animation Night 43. I speculatively extended that to The Road to El Dorado, which I haven’t seen, and was promptly challenged by fans of that movie to give it a fairer shake. Sorry guys!

Let’s put that right. Tonight we’re going to be taking another look into that era. You’ll get to see this gif...

...and this one...

...in their original context.

But this is Animation Night, so we’re gonna be putting some Context down.

The first decade or so of Dreamworks was defined by sour grapes. To summarise briefly, Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney after a bitter falling out with Michael Eisner over succession following the death of Frank Wells. Instead of promoting Katzenberg to Wells’s position of President, Eisner took over Wells’s duties himself, in part at the behest of Walt’s nephew Roy E. Disney. A furious Katzenberg, who was already not loved by many animators for his heavy-handed meddling in the direction of films, departed and founded a new company with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. (He’d also start a lawsuit with Disney, eventually settled for hundreds of millions of dollars. It was bloody!)

Thus began the years where Dreamworks seemed to be trying very hard to show up Disney and Pixar - although Katzenberg always denied this and insisted the similarities were coincidental. This was primarily true on the CG side, with movies like Antz targeting A Bug’s Life (much to the upset of Pixar’s John Lasseter) and Shark Tale targeting Finding Nemo.

But the year 2000 also saw a battle of traditionally animated films on the subject of the Maya and Inca, both with the conceit of someone assuming the position of Emperor. Disney released The Emperor’s New Groove, while Dreamworks released The Road to El Dorado. Whether these films were intentionally similar is not entirely clear, but Disney certainly thought Katzenberg was copying them, and both studios ordered their animators to race to get their movie out first. (In the end, Dreamworks won by some margin, releasing in March.)

Since these two movies deal with at least superficially similar subject matter, coming from the same era and animation tradition, it’s interesting to contrast them. Disney’s character designs are highly graphical and stylised, pushing into more angular shapes and generally very broad, exaggerated movements. To an extent its characters share some DNA with Mignola’s designs for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The backgrounds are just as stylised, the stagings more flat and theatrical.

Dreamworks, meanwhile, takes the same semi-realism approach as all its other designs in this period; its cinematography is a little more towards the live action end of the scale with more close-ups and a stronger sense of space, the proportions of its characters a bit more grounded.

Beyond the setting, the major similarity between these movies is that both were conceived initially as a dramatic story, and retooled into a comedy during production.

In the case of Groove, the story goes that Lion King director Roger Allers was called into the office of Thomas Schumacher, who proposed making a film about either the Maya, the Inca or the Aztecs. Allers liked this idea, and set about drafting a film that would be called Kingdom of the Sun, drawing on 1894 novel The Prisoner of Zenda. An outline of this film is available (ty wikipedia)...

Kingdom of the Sun was to have been a tale of a greedy, selfish emperor (voiced by David Spade) who finds a peasant (voiced by Owen Wilson) who looks just like him; the emperor swaps places with the peasant to escape his boring life and have fun, much as in author Mark Twain's archetypal novel The Prince and the Pauper. However, the villainous witch Yzma has plans to summon Supay (the evil god of death), and destroy the sun so that she may become young and beautiful forever (the sun gives her wrinkles, so she surmises that living in a world of darkness would prevent her from aging). Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the real emperor into a llama and threatens to reveal the pauper's identity unless he obeys her.

During his time as the emperor and doing Yzma's orders, the pauper falls in love with the emperor's soon to be fiancée Nina who thinks he is the emperor that has changed his ways. Meanwhile, the emperor-llama learns humility in his new form and even comes to love a female llama-herder named Mata (voiced by Laura Prepon).[12] Together, the girl and the llama set out to undo the witch's plans. The book Reel Views 2 says the film would have been a "romantic comedy musical in the 'traditional' Disney style".[13]

However, after Pocahantas and Notre Dame failed to make the stonks go up enough, Disney got cold feet about another movie with such dramatic scope. First, they called in Mark Dindal of Cats Don’t Dance to co-direct; then, worrying about making the summer 2000 release, Disney producers Thomas Schumacher and Peter Schneider ordered that the animation team would split in two and fight to the death each produce its own proposal to fix the film. Dindal proposed making it a straight-up farce; Schumacher and Schneider liked this and Allers quit, rather heartbroken at having spent four years of his life on the project.

Thus, starting in September 1998, with about a quarter of the film already animated, the project was extensively retooled on pain of cancellation. The basic premise (evil witch, emperor gets turned into llama) was kept, but the tone changed, and the animation was to be made simpler. A number of people left, notably animator Andreas Deja supervising Yzma, who went to work on Lilo & Stitch. You can read this grisly details here. The whole affair was documented by Trudie Styler as a condition of her husband Sting providing music, which is probably why we know quite so much about it. Sting actually also intervened in the story, demanding a rewrite of a planned ending where the emperor Kuzco, restored to humanity, bulldozes a rainforest to build a theme park (idek).

The movie that resulted from this tortured production process is basically a long string of rapid-fire visual jokes in the manner of a much older cartoon; it didn’t make a lot of money, but nevertheless gained something of a cult following. Which is also something that can be said of Road...

The story with Road is not quite so messy but still pretty messy. While Disney steered well clear of having any Europeans involved, Katzenberg decided to set a film during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, contemporary with the invasion of Hernán Cortés. Cortés, exploiting the tensions created by Aztec imperial rule over the many other peoples like the Totonacs and Nahuas, pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy which resulted in the Spanish and their new allies sacking the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, thus installing the Spanish as the new imperial rulers... who unfortunately turned out to be even worse than the last guys. In place of the Aztecs’ system of tributary provinces and spectacle of human sacrifice, the Spanish brought in hundreds of years of genocide, epidemic disease, brutal slavery under the encomienda system and indoctrination to Catholicism, which would in the end constitute one of the largest episodes of mass death in human history.

Somewhat fraught, you might say. However, it doesn’t really seem like anyone did say.

The impetus for this movie came from above: Katzenberg summoned two of his screenwriters and said (this is definitely a direct and real quote) “here is a book about the Maya and the Conquistadors, write me a movie about this kthx”. “How about,” said Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, “a spin on one of those Road to... movies from the 40s, a buddy comedy with a guy following a map to a mysterious city of gold?”

“Great!” said Katzenberg. “Sounds like another grand, dramatic animated film like Prince of Egypt! That’s the kind of movie I like.”

“What if it’s a kind of white saviour thing where our guy, who accidentally becomes Emperor, goes on to save the Maya residents of a fictional city from Cortés? And we’ll make it horny, we’ll have a Maya princess love interest who doesn’t wear a lot?”

“Mm, sounds good.”

“OK, cool. Yo, Will Finn and David Silverman - direct it! Elton John, get us some of that Lion King score magic, eh?”

Time passes. The Prince of Egypt is well underway, with all of Dreamworks’s best animators, such as James Baxter, drawing it.

“Actually,” says Katzenberg all of a sudden, “I’ve changed my mind. We need a comedy to follow that. Movie’s on hold. Rewrite it to be funnier. And that’s too horny, let’s keep it PG-13.”

“Oh.” say Finn and Silverman. They leave. Finn writes to Katzenberg to try and smooth things over, but Katzenberg brushes him off. “You don’t quit Jeffrey.” said one unnamed source. “If you do, he closes the door behind you.” Instead, the film goes to some guys called Eric “Bibo” Bergeron (no idea where the nickname comes from) and Don Paul.

Katzenberg’s micromanagement seems to be the throughline for a lot of this. At one point, he was so overbearing that James Baxter had to intervene:

In one meeting, character animator James Baxter, a normally shy and bashful Brit, stood up to his boss in front of the other artists and told him to back off.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” Baxter said. “You’re too involved. You’re losing the respect of the artists.”

Katzenberg, who respected Baxter, had seemed to listen. For a few weeks, at least, he kept a greater distance from the production. But soon, he was back to his old habits. 

The other notable development in this movie is the increased use of painted CG sets, similar to the tech Disney would use on Treasure Planet. A contemporary Animation World Network article talks about it in detail, describing how the film’s backgrounds were completed on computers by the new generation of ‘tradigital’ artists - so for the first time you couldn’t hold a painting in your hands to review it. As well as a shortcut to complex staging in 3D space, the new technique allowed economical reuse of background elements in different shots. Further digital tricks could be used to add small amounts of animation to background characters without increasing the drawing count. The character animation pushed for naturalism and subtlety to suit the ‘buddy comedy’ tone. And judging by the tone of that article, Dreamworks had high hopes for the reception of this movie.

But on release, the movie was met with... a pretty lukewarm response. Mainstream critics were dismissive of its animation and found its characters unconvincing. Indigenous organisations were especially unhappy; Olin Tetzcatlipoca of the Mexica Movement, appalled, compared it to making an upbeat film about a guard in a Nazi concentration camp that doesn’t mention the Holocaust. Audiences, for the most part, paid it little regard. So, like Groove, it dropped out of history, only to be rediscovered decades later and gain a small cult following who declared it a hidden gem. (A large part of the reason likely being that the main pair is eminently shippable.) A couple of gifs were extracted as memes, as seen above.

What do I think? Haha, well, I haven’t watched it yet. But this is going to be an interesting review to treat after we have.

Now, I’ve covered Disney and Dreamworks, but there was another player in the 1999-2000 period who’s relevant to the story. That’s Warner Bros., and director Brad Bird, who would in the future go to direct The Incredibles and Ratatouille at Pixar; his 1999 movie The Iron Giant is as I recall a good film, and interesting as one of the very few animated films to address a cold war setting and the terror of living under nukes. (We watched another, When the Wind Blows, on Animation Night 26). That’s a story worth telling, but with an eye on the time, I think it’s going to have to be told another night.

So, if you will join me, tonight we’ll be watching Groove and Road. Are they indeed forgotten gems that did not deserve their dismissal? Are they just shallow comedy? Big racist messes? Let’s go and find out.

Animation Night 133 will be going live shortly at twitch.tv/canmom, and we’ll be screening movies in about half an hour (22:20 UK time roughly) - hope to see you there!

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-01-15

back in the saddle

Listening: The Skeleton Dance, a single from Perennial which I clicked on solely because the title and band name go together so well.

Short and sweet post-punk snippet. Go check out their other albums, probably? I'm still going through those too.

Reading: New Murderbot, which I am very glad to say I actually liked. I did not really like Network Effect because it was too all over the place and felt more like three murderbot novellas in a trench coat. System Collapse is much more tightly written thing that actually fits its length.

Two big things going on that make it work: a strong focus on Murderbot having a hard time dealing with trauma because it refuses to acknowledge it is like a human in any way. Murderbot not wanting to be human and refusing all attempts to characterize it like a human are such strong parts of its personality that it's interesting to see it get hit by that revolving door.

The other thing is very tightly constraining the tools and environment. Murderbot has strict enough rules and solid enough explanations that mechanical limitations build well into actual narrative tension. Murderbot only having two camera drones and no armour is responsible for a solid half of the tension of the book, and controlling how much access it has to other systems is a big driver of the ebb and flow of that tension.

Murderbot as a series has such a delightful economy of worldbuilding. There's the entire implied world of hyperintelligent bots existing just out of view, things on par with Peri hiding in systems and allying with a select group of humans because it likes them. The whole human/construct/bot divide is repeatedly shown to be extremely blurry, which is fun because Murderbot treats it as unimpeachable truth.

Also one of the handful of book series where I read about some little thing and search for parts at my electronics supplier.

I have just started Hannah Ritchie's new book Not The End Of The World which is a bookified form of her general research on "things are getting better, there's a long way to go, but fatalism is not only unproductive it's incorrect". Having already read a lot of her work it retreads that a lot, and if you see a long patch of text without any citations you can skip over it, but it is handy to see all the numbers laid out.

Ritchie's research seems more correct than not most of the time, so while I do sometimes go "oh come on" at specific claims or propositions, it's generally interesting and worthwhile if you care about the data behind modern climate change and how it relates to economic and technological development.

It is really funny how much of climate discussion really does boil down to "for the love of god stop burning things."

Watching: Noah's Shark at Bad Movie Night, a Polonia Brothers movie about the curse laid on the secret fourth son of Noah when he brought a demonic third shark on the Ark. Yeah.

It's on YouTube in its entirety.

There's something funny about the fact that the Polonia team have put out so many movies that even their bad movies have flashes of clear competence in writing. Some genuinely good banter in between everything else going on in this movie.

Playing: Briefly picked up Dark Souls long enough to get to the Capra demon, but I have not tried to fight it yet.

Making: 3D printing a microphone holder for Dark Souls recordings because I did like editing those supercuts and the bad audio was killing me. Had a good time experimenting with dovetails and other sliding joints. Learning a lot about OnShape, especially poking at the Assembly system for the first time and finally using it enough to start picking up the shortcuts in earnest.

Tools and Equipment: Hey did you know that oranges are one million times easier to eat if you just cut them into slices and then peel the skins off. I have basically not eaten oranges for years because you can't peel them easily by hand. Oranges are great. Just cut them into quarters and go to town.