#also hes split in half because i needed to put some kind of censorship on his lower body and i couldnt decide on the clothes

[oh-wow-a-drawer]

..and her hand emerged from the grave, and it reached oit to grab The Stylus.. ..and thus she began to create..

..she was dead.. it's been two months since she was last seen in the World Wide Web...

..and all this time.. she was thinking about life.. ..and one thought was occupying her mind ever since...

..and this thought was "lane with wings teehee"

[aion-rsa]

Mortal Kombat and the Man Who Gave Sub-Zero a Soul

https://ift.tt/3rEA11N

Mortal Kombat’s Joe Taslim (aka Sub-Zero) is one of the hottest martial artists on screen right now. It’s been a decade since his breakout film The Raid took the world by storm, and Taslim has consistently delivered high-octane action with dashing panache ever since. As movie martial arts masters go, few others are on Taslim’s level. While most action stars have some martial arts training in their bag of tricks, Taslim is more invested than most.

Prior to The Raid, Taslim was a professional Judo athlete and a member of Indonesia’s National Judo team from 1997 to 2009. He won gold medals at the Southeast Asia Judo Championships and the Indonesian National Games. No other actor can boast a competitive record like this. What’s more, Taslim is also trained in Wushu and Taekwondo, and he picked up Pencak Silat for The Raid, so his combative range goes far beyond Judo throws and falls.

The Raid was a game-changer for the martial arts genre. It placed Indonesia firmly on the map when it comes to action films, delivering relentlessly unflinching action and intensely complex fight choreography, held together with a threadbare plot. If martial arts movies are compared to porn films, The Raid was hardcore. The film spawned a sequel which picked up the action right where it left off in the original. In addition to Taslim, the franchise also introduced a stable of Indonesian action stars to Hollywood including Iko Uwais (Mile 22 and the upcoming Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins) and Yayan Ruhian (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, John Wick: Chapter 3).

Taslim moved on to Hollywood too. Two years after The Raid, he landed the role of Jah in Fast & Furious 6, followed by an appearance in Star Trek Beyond. But he never abandoned his country and continued to deliver films made in Indonesia specifically for that market. Most notable was The Night Comes For Us, which reunited Taslim with Uwais. Although an Indonesian production, The Night Comes For Us gained worldwide exposure after it was picked up by Netflix. He also starred as the villain in the South Korean film, The Swordsman, and became more recognizable to Western audiences audiences by playing the conflicted Tong hitman Li Yong in the Bruce Lee inspired series, Warrior.

Now Taslim is at the forefront of another predominantly Asian cast for the new Hollywood feature film, Mortal Kombat. And he is donning yet another villain mask as Sub-Zero.

“Sub-Zero is just an amazingly powerful, iconic character,” says director Simon McQuoid. McQuoid’s film explores the inbuilt rivalry between Sub-Zero and Scorpion coming out of the original video games. The connection between Sub-Zero (real name: Bi-Han) and Scorpion delves deep into Mortal Kombat lore, and within the film, McQuoid says this is symbolized by a bloody kunai (ninja ring dagger) which plays a critical role throughout the film.

“Blood is such a [vital] ingredient in Mortal Kombat,” explains McQuoid, “but we wanted to make it feel more than just blood splurts. We wanted it to have a blood line and lineage meaning to blood as well. We liked the idea that we could tell an emotional version of that blood story.” Just like the fighting game, Mortal Kombat is evenly split between good guys and bad guys, but ultimately Sub-Zero becomes the standout villain in the film.

“Once we got Joe,” beams McQuoid, “then we knew he was going to be a pretty kick-ass character because Joe’s so fantastic.”

Den of Geek had a video chat with Joe Taslim while he was home in Indonesia.

Den of Geek: Was the Mortal Kombat video game popular in Indonesia?

Yeah, I think it was 1995 when the first one released. I was actually not in the capital. I was born on the small island in South Sumatra, in Palembang, that’s my home city. So, I remember when the game came out and people talked about the game because it’s unusual because it was so violent. And it’s still violent now. So it was popular until now. But unfortunately, MK11 got banned because Indonesia is very sensitive of the violence level in that game where it’s just like funny now. The censorship here is like, “Oh, this is too much for Indonesia, so probably not.” So a lot of people played the game by downloading it. They know how to do it.

Did you play?

I played MK11, MKXL, yeah.

What challenged you the most about taking on Sub-Zero?

Well, the fans know Sub-Zero is badass, kick-ass, so much swagger, and a lot of attitude. But as an actor, the challenge for me to be in his shoes is to give him more soul, to give more heart, to make this character live. The fight is a visual. People enjoy the fight. But to bring people to feel inside the fight is something else, it means that you got to give more. You got to give the intention. You got to give a story, without delivering any lines, that people can see. Is he losing? Or does he know he’s going to die? Or is he very confident?

Jet Li did an amazing job in his movies to deliver those attitudes—the story of the fight. So I learned from him and I learned from The Raid, The Night Comes for Us, and I just bring everything to Mortal Kombat. There’s a lot of stories in that final fight. You can see the character is just dynamic—what he’s feeling, the way he fights, he’s just getting slower and slower. He’s just catching his breath.

So that’s the most important thing in fights, in my opinion. Because a lot of people think a fight scene needs to be badass, kick-ass. That’s number two. But number one is you got to be inside the shoes and know what’s going on inside this character first. Then when you visualize the fight, it makes sense.

How was it working with the mask?

Ooh. Well, it took me a while to adapt because it’s a heavy costume. And the mask, kind of like, well I have the mask. [Taslim holds up his Sub-Zero mask]

Ooh.

Well, the awkward thing about the mask, because when you move, the mask doesn’t move because it was a solid mask. So it was quite technical. If I have to move really fast, sometimes my face moves with like a delay. You see the mask kind of follow in slow-mo. We did a lot with this—put a lot of straps here just to make when I move really fast, so the mask could follow. A lot of technical stuff happened in the process, but yeah, it was a fun journey to just discover the best look, the best fit for the mask, the costume for me to be able to fight the best.

How was your experience fighting with all those special effects?

I think this is my first [movie] that involved the supernatural. The superpower stuff in previous movies, it was like a man versus a man or a man versus five men. But in this one, a lot of imagination is involved for sure. I’m glad I’m a gamer myself. I played a lot. I’m used to being a daydreamer. I’m still daydreaming until now. I have this mind that I like to have fun with. So during the shooting [when] it’s involving something they’re going to add in post, they ask me just to imagine, which I love imagining things.

I had so much fun just imagining the sword and creating the icicle—the ice sword—because it wasn’t there. Everything is in post. So I was just like, “Sure, believe that it’s there. It’s there.” You don’t see it, but I know it’s there. When the camera captured that moment, and if I believe in it, then I think everybody’s going to believe in it as well.

Read more

Movies

Mortal Kombat: The Challenges of Making the Movie Reboot

By Gene Ching

Movies

Mortal Kombat: Why the Movie Created New Main Character Cole Young

By Gene Ching

I really loved your role in The Swordsman. And I got to be honest with you, because I’ve been following you, and I was surprised that I didn’t recognize you for quite a long time in this film.

Really?

It wasn’t until I recognized your eyebrows. You’re playing a lot of villains now. Do you like playing villains?

I was a good guy in The Raid and The Night Comes for Us, but yeah. Playing villains is interesting. Because as an actor, you know when you play a villain role, almost there’s no limitation because there’s no rules. [There’s no] you cannot do this, you cannot do that, because you’re the protagonist. “You have to speak this way because you cannot be evil when you speak—you’ve got to be polite.”

When you play a villain, there’s so much freedom. In The Swordsman, I remember I had so much freedom. And the director, he was just like, “What do you think about the role?” I say, “I don’t want to sound like this. I’m going to change my voice.” I’m going to do that because he’s a nomad and he’s from Qing dynasty. He’s Manchurian, and their language is like almost from the throat. I want to deliver that. I want people to see that genetically, when people speak through the throat, they’re going to sound different. 

So all those freedoms that you have as an actor, and the director gave you the freedom to do those stuff, it’s a blessing. Because it’s just so easy for the director to just say “no,” and now you’re in trouble. And you’re just a puppet. “Do this, go there from there. And don’t smile. Don’t do anything.” That’s the nightmare for an actor to work in that condition.

How was it for Mortal Kombat? Were you given a lot of leeway with Sub-Zero?

A lot! Simon [McQuoid], he’s amazing. With almost everything, we’re on the same page. I came up to him almost every morning because we stayed in the same hotel, and he’s actually on the same floor with me. So before, I bothered him a lot. And I know he was busy. I need to ask something. I want to do this. I want to do that. I want to have this layer of him when he’s doing this, he’s doing that. So he was like, “Do that. I love it. It’s brilliant. We’re on the same page.” So it reached the point, I think half of the movie, he just looked at me, I just looked at him. Sometimes we just looked at each other, and we understand we’re on the same page. It was a beautiful relationship with him.

Do you feel that you captured Sub-Zero in a way that you wanted to represent him? Was he a character that you played when you played the game?

Probably different because in a game, people probably like more Kuai Liang, the brother. I think the Mortal Kombat 11, it’s more about Kuai Liang [the original Sub-Zero’s brother], and Bi-Han’s already a new cyborg. But I’m happy with what I saw. I’m happy that this anti-hero character, even though it’s a very thin layer here and there, but I gave it on screen. I gave [a lot to] Bi-Han/Sub-Zero. And probably people don’t know, but there are a lot of layers that I gave to this character. People need to see the pain of him. In the beginning of the fight, when he’s inside the house, for me, I look at this boy and it reminds me of my brother, Kuai Liang. That’s why I smile at him.

And then I just realized that my destiny for this family is to wipe them all. So those small thin layers here and there that I gave in this character, it’s there. They didn’t cut it. Everything is there. I’m so happy that I know when people watch it the second time, they will probably pick up a little bit of that here and there. 

I remember Jax—Mehcad [Brooks]—said “You’re a bad guy. You killed a boy. But somehow I feel you. Somehow, I feel so weird, but I feel empathy for your character.” And then I was like, “Okay, that’s it. That’s the goal. That’s what I wanted to do.” Because Sub-Zero/Bi-Han is a dark character. But tragic things happened to him when he was a kid. He got abducted. It’s by force, to become an assassin, to be part of Lin Kuei assassins, because he didn’t choose that path.

It was destiny [that chose to put him on] that path. And then for him, well, while a lot of people probably look for the light, he is just the kind of person to say, “It’s too late. I’m just going to be who I am.”

Mortal Kombat premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23, 2021

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[inaroplo1970-blog]

Philip DeFranco is still successful. Pewdiepie is still successful. Shane Dawson is still successful. Unlike the DoD deal, censorship in China is required by law. The only alternative to a censored Bing is no Bing and an entirely Baidu controlled market, which is a lot worse. The withdrawal of Google is what led to baidu becoming so big and powerful to begin with. Those parts of management suck. I have never been good at developing people that are not self motivated and I know part of that is on me, I am trying to 진도출장샵 get better at it. 1,356 points submitted 23 hours ago. Remember: Charlize Theron and Mila Kunis don really have that nipped waist and they are theatrical romantics. Drew Barrymore doesn seem to have it, either. She a straight romantic. Really significant thing to note is that it wasn about ongoing or even regular smoking. It was about having ever smoked. This basically correlates testosterone to the likelihood of taking the first step and making the risky decision, which is something we all expect rather than saying the inhalation of smoke has a positive effect on sperm count. I tried to make a report of a driver that hit me with their mirror, I waited around for half an hour, the police said unless I wanted an ambulance they wouldn make a report, and despite having the license number he was out of town and therefor not anything they were 진도출장샵 going to do about it. Just a big waste of everyone time. Oh, and they had no issue telling me about a dozen ways that it was probably my fault.. If she is married, her husband is also automatically considered a parent and you would have to go through court to dispute it. If she is not married, she can not just put a random name on birth certificate because you need dad signature as well. If they both agree to beeing parents, then they both sign the document and that is that. I will echo what another commenter said about her memories with her mom, my kids LOVE veg out days when I just can't do it anymore. We get snacks and cuddle up on the couch and turn on movies haha. Not the most productive, but they happen less and less the more I recover from birth and build up my meds in my body. I agree The Challenge needs to move away from the team setting all the way through 100%. If the winner of Survivor could have their prize money stolen away from them just for the sake of drama, I would never watch it again. Survivor IMO is a better show because you can just be a 1 trick pony all the way through. The fact of the matter is, there are science based practices for treating drug addiction but they get tangled in philosophical discussion such as this. Feelings need to be taken 100% out of the conversation in order to treat this epidemic properly. Look at it this way: I am an addict in long term recovery and I was not upset by your comments involving Social Darwinist methodology. I initially wanted to nail it to the wall or get some kind of hooks but the right side of the branch is quite thin and although it's strong, I was worried about it splitting if I put a nail through it. I couldn't nail it on a thicker part either because the branch is quite curved and the thin part is only part that actually touches the wall on that side. I couldn't find any nice hooks either that would be the right size.

[snarkybluechristian]

My OC x Out of Character Yandere Male

Edit: I don’t remember if I submitted this before, but it is worth sharing again.

Chelsea sat on the floor of the dungeon taking pictures of the window leading to the outside with her smart phone.  It was rare for her to be locked inside a large spacious castle dungeon, so she took the opportunity to take the best photographs she could.

She looked at the pictures and sighed in frustration.  The dungeon was too dark to take any decent photographs until the moon finished rising.

Her phone buzzed.  She received some funny text messages from her friend Albina and responded to them with witticisms that she knew didn’t match hers.  She got another text message from her father telling her dinner was almost ready. Chelsea responded to him with reassurances that her work would be done soon.

The 18-year-old half Japanese girl had been kidnapped by [insert psycho main character here] and was waiting for him to make up his mind to show up to fulfill his misguided, unoriginal “50 Shades of Gray” fantasies.  

She had been chained up in a compromising position, but being really bored and highly competent, she used her mutant powers to escape them.  Chelsea could leave whenever she wanted to, but she had a point to make.

“Author, would you please finish your eternal revision of the first fan fic and get to writing your original content soon!” Chelsea yelled at the person writing this parody story. “I’m so sick of being a damsel in distress in almost every story you have with me!  It sucks!”

As if on cue, her captor slammed the door open with an over-the-top evil grin.  Imagine him to be whatever fictional character you want as long as he’s uncharacteristically evil.  He was wearing a scary dark outfit that was all black to match his over-the-top persona and hopefully make up for his one-dimensional personality.

He looked at the spot where she was chained before, and his eyes flashed in panic when he saw the chains cut apart on the ground.  

Chelsea scooted herself away quietly so that she was more completely covered in shadow.  She was grateful that she was wearing dark clothes for the occasion.  She was wearing dark blue jeans, black tennis shoes, a green and brown plaid coat, and a black blouse with a neck line that ended just above her breasts to throw him off guard, of course.  Chelsea had been planning this for a while.  The brightest thing she wore was the red-beaded necklace her mother made for her.  

“I told you not to escape, slave!” her captor said angrily.  “Now, you will pay the price!”  

He left the door open and started walking around the prison cell to look for any trace of his new plaything.

Chelsea facepalmed. At least, GLaDOS and the dream organization people were smart.  It was worse than she thought.  

Once he was close enough and had his back turned, Chelsea quickly activated her powers.  Hard blue light photons flowed out of her hands to form two large discs.  She put one of them on the ground and jumped on top of it.  It rose into the air and she quietly flew over her captor’s head. Chelsea then dissolved the disc under her feet and fell on top of him knocking him over immediately onto the ground.

“What the hell?!” he yelled while Chelsea kneeled next to him with her disc still on her arm which she held above his neck.  “I’m supposed to be the one doing the torturing!”

“What are you doing right now?” Chelsea asked.

“What?”

“Seriously, what are you doing?  Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean? I’ve kidnapped you, so I can torture you and traumatize you and make you fall in love with me somehow!”

“If you want to hurt me, why would I fall in love with you?”

“No, I’ll turn into a gentleman, you’ll forget all about the abuse, and we’ll be happy ever after!”

Chelsea rolled her eyes.

She then stood up, dissolved her disc, and said, “Please tell me you know what’s wrong with that sentence.”

The frazzled Christian Gray wannabe stood up and said, “You will not be disrespectful to me, slave!”

A whip appeared in his hand out of nowhere and he prepared to strike it at Chelsea, but she created a shield with both her hands and until it surrounded her.  Her captor struck at her shield while she yawned in boredom.

“No fair!” the black clad villain yelled while jumping up and down like an upset toddler.  “You have superpowers and can fight back!”

“How do you like them apples?” Chelsea asked with a smirk.

“No, this isn’t over!” he yelled extra dramatically.  “We can still make this work!  Follow me or else!”

“Or else what?” Chelsea asked.  “I could kill you right now if I wanted to, and I have established that I can defend myself if you threaten me with anything.  I also know for a fact that none of my biological or spiritual family is in any danger.  I have literally no reason to go with you.  Face it.  This whole setup is dumb.”

“No, it’s not!” her captor whined before pulling a maid outfit out of his coat.  “Now, for your impetuousness, you have to wear this maid outfit and clean my house!”

Chelsea gagged in disgust and said, “You can’t be serious.  The skirt of that dress barely even covers my ass.”

“Put it on now!  I’ll watch!”

“How about no?”

Chelsea created a disc and fired it at the outfit immediately splitting it in half.

“No!  No!  NO!” her captor yelled once again throwing a tantrum like a small child.  “It’s all ruined!  You messed up everything!  You have to make up for it!  Come have sex with me!”

“No,” Chelsea said.

“Why not?  I haven’t even tortured you!  We have to go straight to the happy ending now!”

“There would be nothing happy about that ending I assure you.  I’m not doing it, because one, you’re crazy.  Two, I’m a Christian.  I don’t believe in having sex before marriage.”

“What?  You mean you’re a virgin?!  That’s ridiculous!”

“Yes, clearly, that is the most ridiculous thing about this whole scenario.”

“Now, you have to have sex with me!”

“No, I don’t!  See, that’s your whole problem!”

“What do you mean?”

Chelsea sighed in frustration, created another disc under her feet, sat down on it, and rode it until her light blue eyes were locked with whatever kind of eyes this character has.

“You’re clearly not getting the point, so let me explain it to you,” Chelsea said.  “This whole scenario we’re in right now and your whole fantasy in general, is unoriginal and screwed up beyond comprehension.”

“No, it’s not, slave!” he replied acting completely shocked and offended.  “This scenario is completely original and completely good!”

“It’s been used in every dime store novel ever made, including in 50 Shades of Gray.”

“Okay, fine, but ladies like this sort of thing.  Every woman wants to be dominated by an evil man who turns out to be good.”

“No, they don’t.  They might get off on it, but they really don’t.”

“Huh?”

Chelsea sighed as she prepared to give a longer explanation that she wasn’t completely confident would make this guy understand and silently wished Albina was there since she was much more competent at wordplay.

“Look,” Chelsea said. “I believe in the First Amendment and being a member of a disliked faith and disliked race of mutants that society distrusted before it fell apart, I believe in tolerance.  Live and let live, you know?”

“What?  Society fell apart?” he asked in shock.

“It did in my dimension. You mean you haven’t read InGodzHandz’s 330,000-word Portal fan fiction story that’s in a perpetual state of revision? And whose characters will eventually be in a separate fiction series?  You monster!”

When he didn’t reply, she knew her sarcasm had fallen flat again.

“I was kidding,” Chelsea said.  “But seriously, check out Portal 3.  It’s long af, but it’s a great story.  Anyways, ADHD is getting me off track again.  That’s not the point.  The point is that people have the right to tell whatever kind of story they want, but that doesn’t mean they should.”

“What?”

“People are influenced by the stories they read.  That’s why in the Bible Paul makes a point of telling the Philippians and us to make sure they’re only putting true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy things in their minds.  The stories you read influence your view of reality, and even if between believer and non-believer these beliefs about the right way to view reality vary, we can still agree that there are certain ideas we should be perpetuating and ideas we should be discouraging.”

“You say a lot of big words for a teenager.  I like intelligence in a slave.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes and continued, “Your idea here in this story that women should fall in love with a man who abuses them is wrong and people need to stop pushing it.”

“It’s just harmless fun…” he complained.

“It is not harmless. Men and women have been guilty of abuse in romantic relationships since the fall of man.  Bad ideas like these have consequences and victims, especially when they’re on the Internet.  Any impressionable young person could read this and think this is a desirable relationship to be in or that this is a good way to go about romance.  The abusers will think they’re doing nothing wrong in forcing people to do what they want, and the victims will endure abuse thinking the person will change or that they deserve it when tragically they could die as thousands of people do from this every year all over the world.  I don’t believe in censorship.  I never have, but people need to start pushing better ideas or people will continue to abuse or be victimized.  Do you see what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, but you’re being quite preachy.  Aren’t you?”

“I’m too outspoken for my own good,” Chelsea with a proud smile.  “It’s because I’m passionate about this.  Ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

“No, there isn’t,” he said. “Since I listened to you, will you have sex with me now?”

Chelsea’s face fell in exasperation.

“Okay, that’s it,” Chelsea said.  “You’re never allowed to have sex again.  If you ever do, I’m gonna come back here and cut off whatever you use to reproduce.”

“You can’t do that!” he yelled.

Chelsea created two more discs in her hand and said, “I can cut through chains.  You think your dick is that much stronger?”

Her captor screamed and ran away.  Chelsea dissolved the discs in her hands, pulled out her phone, and took some artsy photos of the dungeon in the moonlight.  When she was done, Chelsea used Elizabeth’s tear opening powers from “Bioshock Infinite” to go back to her own dimension.

[duhragonball]

Jumping onto the anime split another anon asked about earlier, I have seen some purists and elitists hate the split because they hate that some fans like the Kikuchi Soundtrack for DB but prefer a different soundtrack for DBZ. Never mind that these same purists and elitists didn’t complain about DBZ Kai using a different soundtrack (at least before the “Yamamoto Scandal” lead to the Kikuchi Soundtrack being reinserted in the Saiyan to Cell Sagas).

Good point, Anon. Kai just isn't on my radar, tbh, because it came out in 2009, long after I had already experienced the episodes that Kai was re-editing. I'm aware of Kai having a different score, and I've even enjoyed listening to it on YouTube, but I keep forgetting that there's a whole other cut of DBZ with a different score.

But a lot of younger fans got started on Kai, because it was available on cable TV and in video stores, and so on. So it shouldn't surprise me that there's a schism between "Kai loyalists" and "Z traditionalists."

What does surprise me, is that there's a schism over the BGM for Dragon Ball and DBZ, because Shunsuke Kikuchi did both. I'm assuming this is less about the composer and more about "We had a perfectly good set of songs, and they just ditched it all in favor of this awful new stuff."

I find that humorous, because one of the major bones of contention about the Funimation dub was the Bruce Faulconer score. "Oh, the Faulconer score ruined everything!" they would cry, except half of them probably thought the original score had already ruined everything.

What amazes me is that, in this day and age, you can pretty much watch this stuff any way you please now. I have my Orange Brick sets, and I can watch subs or dubs at will, and I can also watch the dub with the original Japanese score. It's letterboxed, but if I cared enough, I could buy the un-letterboxed editions somewhere. If I liked the Kai version better, I could buy that. If I hated Kai, the Orange Bricks are still available for purchase. If I hated all of the anime productions, I could just buy the manga.

But there are still people who complain! I think this is why we've seen an uptick in fans kvetching about aspect ratios and "faithful" remasterings. In the 90's, subs vs. dubs made some sense, because in the days of VHS you didn't always get a choice, and when you did, the subs were on one tape and the dubs were on the other, and most people couldn't afford to buy both. So I can see how there would be some tribalism over that. But now you can get just about any version you want if you want it badly enough. I think that's why the "purists" gripe about things that aren't likely to ever change. If they get what they want, they'll just move the goalpost, because complaining is all they ever really wanted.

What frustrates me is that so much of this is just gatekeeping and tribalist bullshit. I'm about to go on an old man rant, so maybe I should put a cut here.

Okay, so about me: I'm 44, so I'm old enough to remember the 90's, but I didn't get into anime until about 1999, when I was 22. Before that, I remember in college when I'd go down to the dorm basement to watch TV, and sometimes there'd be a group of people setting up a VCR to play some anime tape they had. It was a whole communal experience back then. Anime was expensive, and you probably needed a circle of friends to share tapes like that. But I can't really speak on that experience because that wasn't my scene. I'd just come down the stairs, see those guys setting up, and I'd give up on any aspirations of watching "Star Trek" that night.

When I got into anime, it was because of "Toonami" on Cartoon Network. Toonami played it smart, because they ran a lot of American cartoons from the 60's, 70's and 80's, and they would sprinkle a little anime in there too. For me, it was like sneaking cat medicine into a piece of salami to get me to eat it. And they lowered the cost-of-entry. All I had to do was turn on the TV in the middle of the afternoon.

By 2001, I was writing Tenchi Muyo! fanfic, and I saw all these older guys pissing and moaning about the dubs, and Cartoon Network censorship, and this-that-and-the-other. They were mostly complaining about kids and teenager who got into their fandoms through Toonami, but they were also talking about me, a 24-year-old man with a job who understood that Cartoon Network can't show naked titties on TV. Of course they painted swimsuits on everyone in the onsenscene. What the fuck else could they do? Why was there an onsen scene in the first place?

But it was easier for them to cast the new influx of fans as idiot children who hadn't even seen the """real""" version of Tenchi and DBZ, with actual swearing and sexual harassment and so on. One time I bought a Tenchi manga collection at a comic book store, and the guy just assumed I was just as anti-Cartoon Network as he was, because I looked old enough to be on the "right" side. I didn't want to bother telling him that CN was the only reason I was buying the thing.

Over time, I realized that this was more of a cultural thing than anything else. The established fans had to go out of their way to get into these shows--watching bootleg fansubs or buying tapes through mail order-- but the new fans were just channel surfing one day and got hooked on a safe-for-TV edit. The older fans would complain about the edits, the dubs, the music, but those were never the problem. The problem was just that these new fans didn't share the experiences of the old fans. They were watching the same show, but they didn't watch it the same way, which meant they were now bad somehow, or incomplete.

After so many years, I had hoped that the schism would die down. Dubbed DBZ had become a fait accompli, and nobody was interested in spelling "Vegeta" with a "B", and Toonami airs at midnight now, because it's a nostalgia show for kids who grew up with it in the 2000's. But there's still new things happening, and new fans who want to create division. When all those video games came out in the 2000's, I remember seeing GameFaqs dolts arguing over whether the game would run better on XBox or Playstation. So I guess it shouldn't be much of a shock that Dragon Ball Kai is a line in the sand for some people. There's probably some 30-year-old who thinks the only right way to watch Z is to watch Toonami like he did when he was ten.

But the arguments over the Japanese BGM only proves that there's no finish line for this sort of thing. Well, I guess one day, enough people from my generation will have died off, and later generations will just accept that there's multiple BGMs, because Dragon Ball's been around for so long. But by that time, some other division will come along.

And I'm not saying people can't have differences of opinion on things. I think Dragon Ball GT fucking sucks, but I know a lot of people love it (for some reason) and I try to respect that. Some people love Super, others hate the entire thing, and I'm kind of in the middle, because I despise parts of it and love other parts of it. There's room for nuance, is what I'm saying.

But a lot of the cranks I've seen, they aren't interested in nuance. They just want to make blanket statements. "Everything after Episode X is garbage, and if you like it, then you're garbage too." "If you experienced X this specific way, then you're a true fan, but otherwise your experience doesn't count." Just stuff like that.

I think a lot of that is based on this inability to see beyone one's own self. Like, okay, I don't like GT very much, so it would be very tempting to just assume that no one likes it, or that no one can like it. And that mindset--that GT is objectively bad-- would lead me to think that anyone who claims to enjoy it is being dishonest or trolling. That mentality is toxic. I'd go around treating GT-likers as if they were despicable enemies, and encourage others to do the same.

And I think that's where this DB vs Z thing got started, to circle back to the original topic. I can understand where some fans didn't like the Z branding, or the new music that went with it. But loads of people did like it just fine. That doesn't make them wrong or evil, or delusional. It just means there's a difference in tastes. Nothing more.

But the reason I wanted to compare that schism with others is because I want to warn anyone reading this: Don't fall into that trap as you get older. When I was younger, I used to see all these old farts lambast my generation over dumb things, and now I'm an old far and I see so many people my own age criticize younger people the same way. That's bullshit. I had hoped we would all break the cycle together, but no. For some people, they just don't notice that they're even getting older. They just get crankier and more out of touch and they assume it's the rest of the world's fault. That's why you see people treasure the early stuff (like OG Dragon Ball) and hate on the newer stuff (like DBZ). It was like that 35 years ago, and it was like that 20 years ago, and it's still like that today. It'll probably always be like that, but you can make the decision to rise above that sort of elitism.

[neptunecreek]

Speaking Freely: An Interview with Christian Frank

Christian Frank is a freelance IT consultant who was born and raised, and currently resides, in Cologne, Germany. Last year, he did some work protesting the Article 13 demonstrations in Europe, a topic that he remains passionate about, as you’ll see in this interview.

Our conversation gives some perspective as to the differences between German and U.S. views on freedom of expression, particularly when it comes to hate speech. But there’s also a lot of similarities: Christian’s experiences growing up in Germany during the split between East and West, with parents who experienced World War II, have shaped his views about who should—and shouldn’t—regulate what we can and cannot say.

We also discussed the promise of social media, and the internet as—to use Christian’s words—“another living space” that we need to keep fighting to protect.

Jillian C. York: Thanks for joining me today, Christian. Let me start with a basic question: What does free speech mean to you?

Free speech to me means that I can speak my mind without fearing for reprisals. It doesn’t mean that I can berate or hate on people, but it means that I can speak my mind without fear.

York: We’re at a difficult moment right now when it comes to a variety of different online speech. What do you think we should be doing when it comes to speech online?

For me, there is a distinction between free speech and hate speech. As long as I speak my mind, I don’t think we should do anything. If I start hating on other people, I would expect someone to stop me. I think there’s a different. There’s this old saying from Rosa Luxembourg: “Your freedom ends where the other’s begins.” That’s kind of my take on it.

I would object to any kind of censorship, but free speech is not an excuse for hate speech. At least that’s how I see it.

York: I’m curious then...you said you’re against censorship. Do you think that some limitations on even hateful speech could be censorship?

That’s probably the most difficult question, and I don’t have an answer. From where I grew up, in Germany, we’ve always had a limit on free speech, and that limit is that you’re not allowed to speak in favor of the Nazis. I think that’s quite okay; I would not consider that censorship, but that’s also because of my cultural background and the fact that it’s always been that way.

I don’t think that it’s curbing your free speech if you’re required to use some civility and not spread hate that way.

York: From where I sit, one of the concerns that I have is the question of who gets to decide what is hate speech, or who is a terrorist, and so on. What do you think about the current state of play on the internet in terms of how much control corporations have over the governance of speech?

Well, at the moment, corporations have all control, right? There’s no governance body outside of the corporations. And I personally think the corporations, because they’re not bound by ideology, are actually doing a reasonable job. I would much rather have the corporations continue than to introduce a state-run body. That’s open for misuse.

The generation before mine perfected this, and I don’t want that again. I don’t want states to control free speech. Corporations aren’t necessarily evil, they just want to make money.

York: Huh, I feel like that position really must depend on which state one comes from.

Well, both my parents were in the last war, so I have direct connections, so to speak. The other half of Germany was a dictatorship until 1989, and we all know what the state can do to free speech. Censorship is a really powerful instrument, I think, and I would not give this amount of control to a government. Governments can change, democracies can go away. Maybe we could introduce some kind of neutral body, but I don’t know.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trust Mark Zuckerberg as a person, but even Facebook is doing a good job to protect their ad revenues, which is a much better driver than ideology.

York: Is there a personal story you’d be willing to share that helped shape your views on speech?

Well, for me, that story is visits to the GDR. In the GDR, they had a very strong secret service, the Stasi, so whatever you were saying, even in private settings, you had to be very careful about what you said. And we, as Westerners, were under double scrutiny. That was not free at all, it was very oppressing.

I never had any personal consequences, but every time I was in East Berlin, I was very very careful. As a West German citizen, I had to cross over back from the east at 10pm, so even if you were with friends at 9:30, you had to rush, since it was a nightmare if you didn’t make it. I remember at midnight, the American broadcasting station in Berlin would be tolling the Liberty Bell, and I would sigh and think “I’m home.”

But—I grew up white and male, I’m absolutely privileged. In my daily life in West Germany, I never had an issue.

York: Still, it’s an important perspective. Many people who grow up with some sort of privilege never get to see these things firsthand.

So let me ask this: What advice would you give to the next generation, the younger generation? I worry sometimes that younger folks don’t care that much about free speech anymore.

May I digress? I’d actually like to object to what you’re saying, because from my view, Generation Z is so political...at least the people that I see. Around Article 13, they were brilliant. It was so much fun to go to the streets with them. When I was young, after the ‘68 student revolts, we were very political. We’d march against nuclear energy, missiles. Then, after us, nothing happened, there were a lot of apolitical generations after us. But this current generation is so political! I was happy to be able to support them with Article 13, and now I’m happy to be able to support them on the climate strike, doing grown-up stuff for them.

So, to Generation Z, the only thing I can say is: Don’t give up. Go on. You’re already on the right path.

I think this generation values speech very highly. If you hear them talk about climate justice, it has a very social and very liberalist aspect. So, like I said, with the current generation, I’m not worried at all.

York: I love that! Okay, then I guess I want to also ask you a little more about Article 13. It’s an unfortunate and interesting time when it comes to copyright. A lot of people don’t see the right to share, the right to remix, as a speech issue. So, how do you frame it as a free speech issue?

What I see the big music labels and publishers do is try to protect their revenue stream. I don’t think it’s really an issue of free speech or not [for them], they’re just trying to protect their revenue stream. What they ignore completely, is that all the provisions in Article 13 would close social media.

For me, it’s not as much about free speech—even if it comes into full effect, I can say what I want, I just can’t share what I want. From my point of view, it’ll kill social media, it’ll kill off the environment that my kids grew up in, which I’m pretty mad about—they are too—but I can still put myself out in front of a white wall without music and say “our government is shite.” That Article 13 won’t prohibit. It’ll completely cut down my reach, but it won’t disallow me to speak my mind. It’ll kill off social media, all the discussions, the communication, the conversation. It’s absolutely awful.

Now, here, it’s taken a backseat to climate issues, but we still have to fight it. It’s not over. There’s still hope.

York: Yes, I agree, there’s still hope. Well, I think we’ve covered most of my questions, but: Are there any other thoughts you want to add?

What really worries me is the right-wing groups putting out their hate under the cover of free speech. There’s a lot of servers—not just 4chan or 8chan, but even on diaspora*, where a “free speech” server will play host to hate. They’ve kind of occupied the term, and this is enabled by the US president, who would say that if you don’t publish these nutters, you’re against free speech.

York: So the term has been co-opted?

Yes. And that’s something that we, “liberal-minded intellectuals”, need to think about. Free speech is important, it’s a basic human right. If you can’t speak your mind, you can’t think. It’s a massive violation of your basic human rights. But still, I don’t want to give it to the right-wing people and have them spout their fascism, which is not free speech.

York: Well, it is in the US.

I know, I know. I can only speak from my point of view, and yes, I’ve spent most of my time in Europe. I think what we need to do is take back control of free speech as a fundamental liberal value. Free speech is ours.

York: I’m curious what you think about the idea that fascists will always find their way around censorship. You can ban the swastika, for example, but they’ll just use other symbols to identify themselves.

Well, I grew up in a country where the swastika is banned, and I think it’s a good thing. Yes, they can come up with other symbols, but you can ban those too. I don’t see this as a problem. But that’s my background—I grew up with the understanding that the limit to free speech is the Third Reich, and none of that is allowed.

Banning symbols is one thing, but hate speech or inciting violence is another thing. If they start using code words, the mass appeal is gone. They can’t reach as many people if they’re not speaking plain language. If someone says “kill the Jews,” I think it’s right for them to be banned. I don’t see that as censorship, personally.

York: Well, that's possibly incitement. But social media platforms have also co-opted “hate speech” as a term. On Facebook, for example, “kill all men” is hate speech, but Holocaust denial isn’t. That doesn’t make sense to a lot of people.

I mean yes, that is entirely wrong. That’s not how it should be. But that’s probably close to Mark Zuckerberg’s beliefs. He doesn’t strike me as very liberal. But we can always go to Twitter.

The point is, social media is run by corporations, and run for profit. So we cannot expect a company to provide a platform that adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It’s theirs, it’s not mine. I use it, but it’s theirs and they can do what they please. It’s a corporation, not a state, not people.

The difference is if I go to a community-run diaspora* server and I get banned, I can appeal, and it works. But if I go to Mark’s student project [Facebook] and he doesn’t like me saying things, well...it’s his server. I’m not even a customer, which would give me certain rights, I’m just using it. If we’re in a commercial space, can we really argue with fundamental rights? I don’t know!

York: [laughing] That’s what I’ve been doing for the past decade, so we certainly can!

Right, right. But if I go to national German radio, for example, I can force them to adhere to the UDHR. Can I force a corporation? I don’t know.

York: Right, I understand. It’s difficult to find a way to hold companies accountable to a human rights framework.

Obviously, I would fully support it, but now, the question is: Who can hold them accountable? They’re transnationals. The only body that could reasonably hold them accountable would be the United Nations. And I’m fully for it, the more we can force them to adhere to basic civility and liberty, I’m for it. I’m just thinking aloud: Where’s the body? Who can actually go to a corporation and say “you’re misbehaving”? And it means different things in Germany, or Saudi Arabia, or Hong Kong. So the only universal body would be the United Nations, and I would be all for it if they came up with a framework for social media.

York: I think that we’re getting to that point.

And yes, I think that would be the right body. It’s not up to the German government to make rules for Facebook. Even the EU is too small, in my opinion. The one thing that I don’t want to go back to is regional networks. Having a truly global network like social media—that’s something that I would like to protect. I don’t want it to be like, “In India you can say this, in Germany you can say this,” and if you want to talk across borders, you have to use your passport.

I lived through the transition of having to use a passport to go to the Netherlands to having free travel. And we also have free travel on the internet. If I want to talk to someone in Yemen, I can, provided we speak the same language of course. So that is, for me, also a huge freedom that social media has brought us. The internet has always had it, but social media for me made the internet accessible, and now I can chat with, say, Japanese guys.

York: Yeah, it’s easy sometimes for me to forget that the internet is still providing such an incredible way for people to meet across boundaries.

Yes, there’s a huge freedom in social media that we need to protect, that I would like to see protected. I have “internet friends” all over the world, and the only rules I need to obey are, for example, YouTube’s community guidelines. Okay.

So the question is: Is YouTube the right person to set those guidelines? Eh, maybe not, but who else? Most definitely not my government, I don’t want them to interfere at all.

The internet, to me, is like another living space, a second world. It needs protection. I’m always so fascinated to see the way my kids grew up—at 12, they had more connection to the world than I had at 30.

York: Indeed! Thank you so much Christian, I learned a lot.

from Deeplinks https://ift.tt/2GDAg8s

[josephstoontown]

Eat at Joe’s, Chapter III

Chapter III of Eat at Joe's, a Joseph's ToonTown story.

Yeah, no.  You're not seeing things.  I just… decided to split the story up a little more finely. Partly because of DeviantArt.  Grr.

Co-written with: @shinkothetoongirl Word count: 6,680 – Character count: 37,637 Originally written: April 5th - April 25th, 2016 Converted/revised: January 10th - January 12th, 2017 Re-split and revised on: August 14th, 2017

Shinko devastates some targets before proposing a scenario to her new friend.

Shinko the Toon Girl and related characters and properties created by and © her creator

[ ↶ Prev. Story | ← Prev. Chapter | Next Chapter → | Next Story ↷ ]

    As Shinko walked in through the double doors of the building, she explained that the location was a near-wall-to-wall shooting range.  Every corner of the place seemed to have its own theme, ranging from the wild west to sci-fi, too, the sounds of lasers and gunfire being heard no matter where you went.     All manner of ‘toons seemed to be there, all bringing their own guns and shooting at the seemingly limitless amount of targets that the place provided.  But, amidst all the marksmanship, a desk lay at the center of the building where people paid to use the facilities by-the-hour – the rate of which seemed to be about $20 an hour for unlimited use of all the facilities and ranges during that time.

    Shinko glanced over when she saw that one ‘toon had a wristband that had a red light that was beeping, signifying that their time was up.  With a disappointed look, the ‘toon put their gun away and headed back over to the counter to return the wristband before walking past Shinko to leave.     She smiled all the more at the additional ruckus.  It always felt good to be around other ‘toons who shared a skill similar to hers.  It made her feel like she truly belonged…  However, a thought slowly entered her head.  Was Joseph okay with all the loud noises?  The ‘toon quickly glanced over at the anthropomorphic fox to see how he was handling the situation… and, to her relieve… and great interest… Joseph seemed completely entranced by what was going on!     His normally half-closed eyes were wide with wonderment, his ears swiveling back-and-forth, and his head looking around, several things catching his attention in a very short span of time.  The displays of lasers and muzzle flashes… the sound of ammunition of all sorts in the wide variety of ranges… the pings and zaps of the targets being shot time-and-time-again…  It all seemed very captivating to him!  It was… a little surprising, for Shinko.  But, at the same time, she was also happy that he seemed to be enjoying what he saw, so far.

    “This is so coooool…!” the fox quietly squealed after a moment.  He was doing his best to keep from being too loud while, at the same time, trying to talk over all the gunfire.  His tail was wagging faster-and-faster and his excitement grew the more he looked around.  If he was at all bothered or intimidated, it was extremely well hidden under his enthusiasm!  The redhead by his side giggled a bit as she turned to look back at the chaos that was before them.     “It is pretty cool, huh?  If it wasn’t so expensive, I’d be trying out my rifle more than once every couple of months.  I usually save up for two or three hours because… well… I get really into it.”     She flustered a bit, shaking her head.     “Sorry…  That was probably more than you needed to know.  But…”     She offered a smile, then.     “I’m glad you like this place.”     To her surprise, though, the fox was still half-distracted by the sights and sounds of the range, his tail wagging at a rapid pace and eyes still wandering.  It took him a minute to even realize she talking to him, again.

    “Um… huh?  Oh, uh… y-yeah, this place is pretty wild!  But, in a good way.”  He rubbed the back of his head and gave a chuckle.  “I honestly can’t say I expected a place like this from what I’d seen of ToonTown.  And…”     The fox looked his companion over, a grin appearing on his face.     “I’m still kind of surprised a nice girl like you would be into this.  But, believe me when I say…”  He tilted his head down and grinned more.  “It’s a pleasant surprise.”     “Well,” Shinko giggled, “it’s really not that big a deal…  There’s plenty of girls in skirts who take a weapon out of their hammerspace every now-and-again.  It’s just harder to do with guns because of censorship.  That’s why a lot of them come here to blow off some steam.”     Joseph couldn’t help but grin and chuckle at the phrasing Shinko used to describe her position, stifling a full-blown laugh when she mentioned “censorship.”  However, he thought he knew what she meant.     “Anyways,” she said, shaking her head, “we can stay and watch for as long as you want.  I don’t think they’ll kick us out with so many paying customers around them.”     She paused, a small frown appearing on her face as she looked around.     “Yeah… too crowded…  I probably wouldn’t be able to find a decent place to shoot from anyways…” she murmured to herself as if she was trying to talk herself out of using the building’s facilities.  Despite her “reasoning,” though, she knew that the current amount of people around them was basically the norm in terms of how full it was.

    “I’m actually kind of surprised Joe’s Diner wasn’t this busy,” Joseph started to reply, “what with it being the afternoon and all.  But, ah, to get the most fun from your weapon-of-choice, I’m guessing you’d need a long stretch between you and the target… not to mention some place to rest your gun to get a good shot if it’s one of those really high-powered, super-long-range ones.  Not sure what the number of people here has to do with that, though.”     The fox gestured to Shinko, taking on a neutral look.     “If combat simulation games have taught me anything, it’s that’s the two key things to hitting your mark are patience and focus.  Maybe you could think of the other patrons as distractions?  I mean, they could be – especially if they’re gunnin’ for the same target you are.”     Shinko blinked at that before giggling at his response.     “Well, you’re not wrong.  But, no.  My problem really lies in the fact that everyone is much more animated than I am.  If they move into the line-of-fire…”     She shook her head with a frown before returning to a soft smile.     “Anyways, it doesn’t matter.  Like I said, there’s a reason I only come here once every couple of months; I can’t afford $20-an-hour… and, you’d be surprised how short an hour is when you’re having fun!”     She gave a sigh and looked back toward the fox.  As she did, however, she noticed… something had apparently upset him.  His eyebrows and ears were lowered…  She gave a blink, perking as he spoke.  He was just soft enough for her to hear but sounded fairly annoyed…

    “What kind of da– ang fool,” the fox adjusted on-the-fly, “would get in the line-of-sight?  I mean, it should be pretty obvious when you’re doing things…  I can’t imagine you not having key frames – um… that’s what they’re called, right?”     Shinko flustered when he mentioned her key frames.  She was usually embarrassed to talk about just how barely animated she was… yet, just hearing Joseph get the term right made her smile a bit.  She placed her hands on her cheeks, still looking very flustered.     “Y-yeah… you’re right.  That’s what they’re called…” she responded.  Joseph’s ears perked a little, his head tilting to one side as he noticed her flustered look… but, he continued.

    “So, like I was saying… I’d think you’d have key frames for idling, aiming, and maybe even firing the weapon.  Like… knockback or whatnot.  So, if anyone got in your way, I’d think it’d be their own dang fault!  Besides…”     Once again, he gestured with a one-armed shrug.     “I’d think a place this nice would have some sort of quick or easy access to a medical facility.  Even if their policy is ‘fire at your own risk,’ you’d think they’d have someone or some way to help someone in need.  Accidents happen, be it misfires, weapon malfunctions, or someone just plain falling on their faces.”     Joseph crossed his arms.  Even though he’d admitted his ignorance about firearms as a whole, he seemed like he knew what he was talking about.  Of course, he had no actual idea if any of what he said was even relevant… but, at least he sounded confident.

    “Um…”     Shinko shook her head, shaking off her shyness before looking back up at him.     “It’s not the ‘getting hurt’ part that’s my concern,” she began to explain.  “It’s just that, if someone gets hit… they’ll want to hit back.  It’s like starting a bar fight… but, with guns!  I can usually deal with a decent amount of distraction… but, that’s just too much, you know?”     “Oh.  Yeah…” he said, a thoughtful look on his face.  “I can’t imagine starting a wild gunfight in a place like this would end well…”     He paused for a second… as if thinking about the consequences.     “Frenzy at the Firing Range!’” he suddenly proclaimed in an “official-sounding” voice a moment later.  He once again gestured with his hand, as if printing a newspaper headline.  “‘Cute ‘toon girl causes massive gunfight at local shooting gallery!  Receives one-week ban and small cash prize for accuracy.  Details at 11!’”     He laughed a bit before smiling to Shinko, clearly teasing.  Shinko laughed as well, shaking her head at the thought.         “But, anyway, Shinks… still wanna spend some time here?  I don’t exactly have unlimited money, myself, but…”     He paused again, looking to one side with his arms behind his back.  He looked back a second later, wagging his tail and smiling more.     “It’d be worth it to me just to see you enjoy yourself!”

    “Well, you already bought me lunch, technically speaking…” she countered, causing the fox’s head to tilt the other way.  “I don’t think I should make you pay any more.”     “Well, you didn’t really make me buy you lunch…  You just weren’t, ya know…”     He closed one eye, and held his right hand in his left, making an L-shape with the former.     “Quick enough on the draw?”     Shinko gave a grin and shook her head as he laughed at his own bad pun.     “But…” she continued, “if you really wanna see me in action for a bit, I guess… today, it would make a good excuse to splurge a twenty.”

    She offered a smile to the fox.  Although she’d been hesitant to actually utilize the range herself, a new thought had entered her head.  She really wasn’t sure when Joseph would be on the road again or how long it would be until they next see each other.  If anything, then seemed like the one time where she shouldn’t worry about the money.  After all, what was she going to do?  Make Joseph wait a couple months just so she can splurge on the shooting gallery?

    She didn’t think so.

    Without another word, she finally approached the circular desk in the center of the building, walking up to the serious clerk who looked like they were just about done with everything that day.     “Just one hour, please,” Shinko told him, taking out a twenty and handing it to the clerk.     Oddly, he didn’t say a single thing, barely even noticing her as he took the cash, put it in the register, and wound up a wristband for an hour’s time before handing it to Shinko.  It wasn’t much of a surprise to her, though.  She could certainly relate to the clerk’s low spirits, being in customer service, herself.     Joseph gave the clerk a look, himself.  Part of him wanted to ask the man a couple of questions… but, not unlike his friend, he figured the clerk was in no mood for extensive interactions.  With that thought in mind, he just gave the man a nod and murmured something about spectating, not paying much attention to whether or not the man cared.

    “Hmm… let’s see…”     Joseph’s ears perked again as Shinko spoke.  He figured she was talking to herself since she was looking around… but, he still smiled at her.  She walked beyond the desk a second later, followed closely by her fox friend, glancing about at all the various shooting ranges.     “It looks like the Space Invasion section looks the least-populated,” she commented.  “Not my favorite one, but…”     The ‘toon reached behind her, causing Joseph to blink and stare.  Her next key frame showed that she had pulled out a long sniper rifle and by her next frame, she was already looking through the rifle’s scope.  Usually, she would need something to somewhat steady herself… but, with Joseph present, she felt like showing off a bit.

    “Okay,” Joseph started.  “I’m pretty sure you didn’t have that last time I… was…”     But, the fox found himself trailing off as he noticed how focused Shinko seemed.  He quietly cleared his throat and stood behind her and to the left, ears perked and tail swishing low to the floor, his eyes looking down the field at anything she might be aiming toward…

    For a while, it seemed as if she was stuck in that one key frame.  But, really, she was watching the patterns on the targets to see just how many targets she could get in the quickest way possible.     After a moment… her frame updated ever-so-slightly.  Her visible eye narrowed and her gaze was set upon a loop of aliens that seemed to be coming from the top of the gallery.  Then, in an instant, her shot was added to the rest of the sounds in the gallery!     Unlike herself, the ‘toon sniper rifle was fully animated and, thus, one could watch as the bullet spiraled out from the barrel and hit its first target, knocking an alien out of the never-ending loop.  However, Shinko didn’t stop there…     Though every kick wasted a fraction of a second, she managed to get right back into position and shoot the incoming target aliens until a good amount of the loop had been taken out.  She reached behind her, reloaded her gun, and continued to move on to some flying saucers in the left corner which were erratically spinning in a generally circular motion.  Just as before, the shots came quick and he saucers were dispatched.  There was one bothersome saucer that was only nicked the first time and needed a second shot to take it down but, otherwise, the half-animated ‘toon was on a roll!

    During all that, Joseph could do little more than stare in complete awe…  The first shot had startled him, despite all the other gunfire around them, and he found himself briefly distracted by the contrast in animation styles between her and her weapon… but, his attention turned back to the field just as quickly when the first target was dislodged from its path.  He was about to cheer her on when she fired her second shot… then, the third.  It didn’t take long for Joseph to realize that Shinko was in another place… and it was making for quite the interesting show!

    When Shinko had stopped to reload, Joseph turned to look at her.  It was then that Joseph began to notice something he hadn’t before…  He closely watched the girl as she set into her second volley.  After a few shots, Joseph felt like he could see her move between moves… almost like his mind was filling in the frames between key frames and, to his mind’s eye, not a single motion was wasted.  She moved like a well-oiled machine with each shot, but there was a grace… a beauty… to her actions.  Even if gunplay was just a hobby, there was a genuine passion for what she was doing and, whether she realized it or not, it was showing.  He found himself wondering as he’d watched… was that a side of Shinko that she’d hidden from everyone years prior?  Or… was it a more recent development, not unlike her new form?         About twenty minutes had passed as Shinko focused on nothing else but her targets.  When she finally did stop, it wasn’t because she ran out of ammo.  Rather, it was because it was dawning on her… she couldn’t tell how long she had been silently shooting at things and ignoring everything else around her.  She stood up straight, holding her sniper rifle in both of her mitten-like hands a moment later, her blue eyes staying on the targets for a little longer until she finally turned to glance back at Joseph.     W-wait… has he been there the whole time? she wondered with growing concern.  Oh, gosh… did I go on for too long?  Is he getting bored…?     Those worries filled her mind as she looked towards the anthropomorphic fox…  It didn’t help matters that he just sort of stared at her, eyes open, ears still perked, and tail in a neutral position.  It seemed like it took him a few seconds to realize she was looking at him…  As soon as he had realized it, though, he blinked, then covered his muzzle and coughed, letting his face relax as he looked to one side, ears folded.     “I… guess you weren’t kidding about being a crack shot,” he said in a casual tone, rubbing his cheek.  “Or really getting into it.”     He paused again, keeping his head turned as he looked at her.  She seemed worried…     “That was some pretty amazing shooting, though!  You’re scary-good, Shinks.”     The fox gave a light chuckle, continuing to rub his cheek and avoid eye-contact with the blue-eyed girl.  There was a definite air of awkwardness to how he was acting… but, for what reason?  Still, Shinko managed a small smile as she walked up to him a moment later.

    “Thanks… but, I hope that doesn’t mean you think I’m scary, now.”     She stopped a few feet in front of him, tilting her head a bit.     “You… okay though?  You seem kinda nervous…”     “It can wait,” he replied with another chuckle.  He turned to face her, tail flicking and ears perking.  “You’ve only got like, what, half an hour for this session?”     The fox confidentially reached to the ‘toon girl and ruffled her hair.  Shinko shut her eyes and giggled a bit at that.  It was kind of nostalgic, for her…  She only remembered people being able to ruffle her hair because she was so tiny.  But, with Joseph doing exactly that despite her increased height… all those feelings she associated with being cute and small were resurfacing.

    “Don’t spend it talking to me,” he continued, taking a step back and gesturing for her to keep going.  “There’ll be time for that, later.  For now?  Make the most of it knowing that I’m having fun watching.  And, just so you know?”     Shinko opened her eyes as he finished and smiled at seeing him grinning.     “You’re not scary to me… but, I do feel extremely bad for anyone who really cheeses you off!”     Another giggle escaped her throat at that… and made her smile.  It meant a lot to her that he felt that way… and continued to remind her of her “younger” days as a small and cute ‘toon girl.  It was something she’d all but forgotten as she experienced life in ToonTown…     “Well… okay,” she said as she got back into position.  “And, after this, maybe you’d like to head to where I live?  We can hang out and relax and stuff!”     “That depends…”  He waggled a finger and winked.  “Does your place has a policy against pets?”     She shook her head at Joseph’s joke… though, she was still smiling.     “I’d love to, Shinko,” he said with a smile of his own.  “Thank you.  Now, show those smart-alecky targets who’s boss, lady!”

    He brought his hands behind his back then and stood nearby, ready to watch the girl show her stuff all the more.  Upon hearing him cheer her on, she went back to aiming at the targets with a small grin on her face.     “Gladly.”

    After what felt like far too short of a time, the two heard the buzz and saw the light flash on Shinko’s wristband, signifying that her time was up.  It was fun while it lasted, her shots hitting target-after-target while Joseph watched in awe… but, with a small sigh, the former put her gun back into her hammerspace and gently removed the wristband.     “Thank you,” she told the clerk, returning the item.  After she walked by the desk, she motioned for Joseph to follow her out the door.  He gave a slightly disappointed nod but offered a friendly smile as he walked behind her again.

    Outside, the sun was slowly starting to set… but, that didn’t mean that ToonTown was losing any momentum.  If anything, it seemed like it was literally the town that never slept!  That aspect somewhat surprised the fox and he brought his wrist up to check the time.  Unfortunately for him, he’d forgotten he wasn’t wearing a watch.     “Does time move faster around here?” he curiously asked, beginning to look for a clock tower or something similar.  “Or… does ToonTown go by its own time?  Not that it seems to matter either way, of course…”     “Time flies when you’re having fun,” was all she offered as an explanation.     “Seems like there’s never a dull moment here,” he continued with his ears perked, attuned to the sounds of things going on near-and-far.  “Though, I have to say, this section of town seems a little less chaotic than that other place we were, earlier.  Better-animated, too.”     He offered a playful grin… until he remembered who he was talking to.     “N-not that there’s anything wrong with…!  I… I mean, uh…”     Shinko gave a sad sort of smile as she watched Joseph look away and rub his left arm.  His ears were folded back again and he’d apparently deciding to stop talking after putting his foot in his mouth like he had.  Really, she knew he didn’t mean anything by what he’d said… but, it was still something that bothered her every-now-and-again.     “The apartment complex is over there,” she casually stated,     glancing a little down the street near Downtown Disney.  “Come on.”

    There really wasn’t much to be said during their walk down the road.  A mix of self-inflicted embarrassment and curiosity of his surroundings kept Joseph quiet as he followed an equally silent Shinko through the streets of downtown streets.  Before long, though, the two arrived at an apartment complex.     It looked fairly standard save for the fact that it seemed to be about ten stories and painted a bright color.  There were many windows lit up in the twilight sun as well as several cars in front.  Despite the normalcy, Joseph seemed impressed by the sight of the building.

    Following a brief stop at the front door, Shinko led the way to the elevator that would take them to the sixth floor.  As she traveled with Joseph through the dimly lit halls, it seemed noticeably quiet and almost kind of dreary… which was quite the contrast to the outside areas.  The two also passed by various numbered doors before stopping at the door with ‘605’ on it.  It didn’t take Shinko long to retrieve her key ring from her hammerspace and unlock the door     “Make yourself at home,” she told Joseph as she made her way inside.     His ears perked at her offer and he gave a nod, looking around all the more as he followed.

    The door had opened up into a living room setup with a dark green couch against a wall which was facing a shelving unit topped by a small television.  A window was to the left of the couch, facing out onto the street so that one could have a decent view of Downtown Disney.  One could even see the spotlights from the House of Mouse, from where they were.     Across the way, just beyond the TV set, was a small, sectioned-off area for the kitchen, complete with all the basics; a fridge, a sink, a stove, and a counter where a toaster and some other things sat.  To the right of the kitchen sat a small hallway that had two doors on either side of it.  The door on the right, which was open, showed a small bathroom whereas the door on the left led to what Joseph assumed was the bedroom.

    “This is a pretty nice place you’ve got here…” he idly commented as he walked toward the window.  “You have a pretty good view of downtown, it seems like.  This place is decorated pretty nicely, as well.”     The fox turned toward the ‘toon and offered a smile.     “I like it.”     “I’m glad,” she replied with a small smile.  “The remote for the TV should be on the couch cushions and you can help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen.  Umm….”     She rubbed the back of her head.     “It’s… actually been a long time since I’ve had company over.  Even my animator hasn’t seen my place yet!”     “Well,” he said as he walked toward the couch, “for what it’s worth, I’d say you’re doing a good job of being a good host.  Although… are you going somewhere or something?  You seem a little restless…  I-I mean… if you’re really tired or want to take a shower or something, don’t let me stop you!  But, ah, I dunno…  I’m probably misreading you.  Heh.”     “Ah–!  N-no…”  She flustered a bit, quickly shaking her head.  “No, I’m not going anywhere, I just…  I’ve never really entertained people at my own home before, so uh…”     She glanced down at herself, shyly pressing the tips of her vaguely shaped fingers together.  Joseph had slipped his backpack off and set it down near the couch before putting his hands in his pockets and warmly smiling to Shinko again.  He seemed like he was waiting for her to figure out what she was doing before he did anything else.  After a few moments, she looked back up at him.

    “I mean…” she quietly started, “is there something you’d like to do?”     “I dunno,” he replied, rocking back and forth on his feet.  “You’re the one who brought me here, after all.  Surely, you must have had something in mind?”     Shinko’s head tilted a little.  Between his wagging tail, the grin on his face, and the curious, sing-songy tone of his voice, it was hard to tell if he was implying something… or just teasing her.     “Hmm… well, maybe we could watch a movie?  I got some DVDs we could watch.  They’re basically all animated movies, of course…” she offered, still looking a bit shy.     He smiled all the more, his own head tilting, then.  She seemed to be fidgeting a little… and, with good reason.  Her mind had suddenly wandered to an odd question…     Have I ever been alone with a guy like this, before…? she wondered, unable to recall.  There was a chance it had happened before her reboot… but, she didn’t want to think too much about her past…  She had become her own ‘toon since those days and she was going to try her best to be a decent friend to Joseph, if not a good host, at the very least.

    “Animated movies, ya say?”  Joseph hummed, tail swishing and ears flicking.  “I like animated movies, yeah…  Sounds like a good way to spend the rest of the day… well, night… to me!  Or, ya know, however long it is ‘til you kick me out anyway.  Heh heh heh.”

    The wink he gave made Shinko giggle a little.  A moment later, she gave a nod and looked over to her DVD collection, the majority of which were gifts from her creator… a little something to make her feel more at-home in her new apartment.  Joseph, meanwhile, decided to settle down on the couch, taking a seat on one side and getting comfy.  He stretched a bit and gave a light grunt before looking over to Shinko again.

    “If you don’t mind me asking… do you live by yourself?  Sorry if that’s a bit too personal…” he added with a little chuckle.  “I’m just kinda curious… partly because I think it’d be funny to explain to a roommate that came home why there’s a distinctly non-‘toon, bi-pedal fox-man sitting on your couch.  And, partly because…”     His ears fell a little, but they quickly perked back up as he finished his thought.     “Well, never mind.  This is ToonTown, after all, not downtown Murasama City.  What’s the worst that could happen in a place called ‘ToonTown,’ anyway?  A drive-by pie-ing?”     Joseph rubbed his muzzle and grinned, though his ears folded back just a hair.  Why his mind had gone down that road was beyond him…  He really couldn’t imagine anything bad happening in a place called “ToonTown.”  But, then… the place had already surprised him in several different ways, that day.     “Well, yeah,” Shinko nonchalantly replied, ignoring the thoughts that followed his question.  “I live by myself.  Gotta be a strong, independent ‘toon if I plan to make it anywhere, you know?” she replied with a small smile.  “Even if… I don’t know where I’m going just yet…”     While she answered his question, she decided to take out “How to Train Your Dragon” and slipped the DVD into her player.  Joseph wasn’t surprised that he’d never heard of the movie she’d picked… but, it looked like something he could get into.  Dragons and movies always seemed like a fun combination, to him!         Once she’d hit play and the movie started, she turned around to have a seat next to Joseph.  He smiled and wagged the tip of his tail in response – which shifted positioned to the opposite side once she sat.  Shinko, though, seemed more focused on her lap than anything…     “But, yeah, that would be funny, wouldn’t it?  Too bad I don’t have a roommate… though, that brings me to something I’ve been thinking of, today.”     She glanced back at him with a somewhat worried expression.  Joseph noticed the thoughtful look on her face and perked up, ready to listen.

    “You were basically thrown into a world you maybe vaguely remember, armed with some cash and some magical ring by some stranger… and, you don’t even know why.  Right?  Well… I don’t know… it doesn’t feel right just to kick you out when you don’t know anyone else aside from Woody and whoever else you met.  So, I was thinking…”     She twirled a fringe of her orange hair again as she looked away.     “That you could… crash here… for a while?  You know… have some place to fall back on until you figure out where you plan to go next?  Something like that?”

    “Does… your lease say anything about whether or not you can have guests over for an extended period?”     She glanced at him, noticing his soft, neutral look.  His tone had also become as serious as hers.     “Because,” he continued, “if you’re allowed to, then… it’s probably not a bad idea…?”     He leaned back on the couch, looking at the ceiling of the apartment with a sigh.

    “Honestly, I actually hadn’t thought about where I was going to sleep, tonight…  I probably would have gotten a room – or tried to – some place in town.  But, putting things into perspective… I really don’t know how long this four-hundred… what’d you and the waitress say?” he asked, briefly glancing toward Shinko.  “‘Bucks’?  Yeah… I really don’t know how long it’ll last me, especially since I’m still not 100% sure how much it’s actually worth… though, compared to Rai, it seems 100-times less.  Like, 100 Rai would be something like 1 Bucks.  Er… wait.  Is that right?  ‘Bucks?’  Or, is it ‘Buck?’     “Well, regardless, I’m not sure how far that would get me – especially the way I use it.  But, as they say… if you can’t learn from your mistakes…”

    The fox sat forward before turning to Shinko, brightly smiling and letting his tail wag.     “I really appreciate your offer, Shinko.  Hopefully, I can find something to do, either here or someplace nearby, so I won’t be too much of a stretch on your budget… but, for now?”     He leaned back against the arm and grinned.     “Sharing a cozy place with a pretty, young lady sounds pretty good to me.”     His grin returned to a smile a moment later as he added a “Thank you,” in a sincere tone.  She smiled sheepishly at him once he’d finished his thought… only to have give him her own.         “As much as four-hundred bucks is… spread thin, it probably won’t last you long, especially since we don’t know how long you’re going to be staying in this world.”     “Could be worse, I suppose…”  He grinned again.  “That ‘M’ person could’ve given me 500 Rai instead of 500 Bucks.  Then, I’d really be in trouble!”     “And, really,” she continued with a soft smile, “the leases here are pretty fluid.  So long as the rent gets paid and nobody mentions anything, everything’s good!  From what I see, the worst that can happen is that I’ll have to pay extra for the time you spend in my apartment.  But, really, I’m willing to do that in the long run.”     She let out a small sigh before leaning back against the couch.     “And, you’re welcome,” she added, still smiling.

    Joseph laughed a little more before leaning back again.  He then noticed Shinko doing something with her hair…  She’d apparently gotten tired of wearing her hair up in a ponytail and swiftly undid it, putting the hairband in her hammerspace and allowing her shoulder-length hair to come down.  This caused the fox to tilt his head…     “Oh, wow, how’d I miss that…?”  He smiled again.  “Guess your hair grew with the rest of you.  I’m sure I’ve said this a couple times already… but, you really did grow up pretty, Shinko.  But, you weren’t exactly ugly when you were smaller either so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised…  Though, there is one thing I find kinda funny…”

    Shinko stared a little, watching the fox lean toward her.  When he reached up and gave the sprout of hair on the top of her head a playful flick, she gave a nervous laugh…     “Seems like this part didn’t grow with you.  I mean, it doesn’t seem quite as pronounced as I remember… but. it’s still just as cute.”     “I’m glad you think so,” she said, shyly looking away.  “I mean… I’ve been called cute when I was little, too.  I just… didn’t think that cuteness stayed with me when I grew up…”     Her blue eyes finally glanced back at him, her cheeks slightly tinged pink.     “Thank you, though… for all the compliments and encouraging words.”     “Abso… lute… ly…”     Joseph blinked a couple of times, his speech slowing to a stop.  There was something about the way she’d spoken… or, maybe it was the fact that she couldn’t seem to maintain eye contact…  But, something about her… was having an odd effect on him, then…     “I, uh…” he started to say, finding it hard to stop staring at the blushing ‘toon girl.  After a couple of awkwardly silent moments, however, he looked away, ears folding back.

    “Hey, Shinko?” he started again, brushing his hand over the top and back of his head, doing his best to avoid eye contact, himself.  “What, um… what can you tell me about the past?  Like… specifically, about me?  Anything in-interesting…?”     “Hm?” she asked, glancing up at him for a moment.  “You mean, before my reboot?”     It wasn’t long before she was in a thinking pose, her eyes glancing up with her hand on her non-existent chin.  By her next frame, she was looking back at him with a small smile.         “Well, you were always so nice to me.  Despite me only being a half-animated ‘toon… and, the fact that I was so young and inexperienced… you were among the top people that made me feel welcome and wanted.  In fact, we even went out for pizza once and… you gave me this.”     She reached behind herself before shifting to another key frame.  When the fox looked, he noticed that she was showing him a watch… once with a black, cartoon mouse on it.     “I’m never late to work when I wear it,” she giggled.

    Joseph blinked again, staring at the timepiece for a while longer.  Seeing the watch there in her hand seemed to spark something.  His ears were still folded back… but, there was a warm, sentimental smile on his face.     “You… you kept it?”     “Of course,” she replied with a sweet smile.     “I… I’d forgotten all about that…  Until now, I mean.”     The fox rubbed the back of his head again, his mind wandering a little…     “H… hey, Shinko…?”     She looked up at him, an expression of curiosity on her face.  There was a tinge of pink to him, visible even through his fur…     “There’s… a lot I don’t remember about this place,” he started.  “But, spending time with you today… I… think remembered something.  Something I…  W-well…”

    Shinko quietly blinked, watching him.  Her face turned to surprise several moments later he reached over and took her hands in his own.  The girl’s eyes widened a little when he gently squeezed them… but, he had her full attention.  She could feel her face warm along with his as he looked into her eyes.  Before long, continued to speak.

    “I remembered how adorable you always were,” he said, his eyes unwavering from her own.  “I remembered how much fun it was to be with you.  I remembered what a wonderful person you are.  I remembered how beyond your years you seemed, despite your young appearance… and, I remembered how much I admired you just for being you.  But, as I remembered all of that, there was one last… very important thing… that I recalled.”     He looked down for a moment before looking back to her.     “I remembered… how very fond of you I was.  And…”     He leaned in, cautiously rubbing his nose to her cheek in an affectionate way before leaning back.  His blush was painfully obvious as he did.     “And… neither this weird amnesia nor years apart has changed that, I’m afraid…” he whispered with a nervous chuckle.  “Even if it did take me a minute or two or remember…”

    She had listened intently to every single word he had to say and, by the time he’d rubbed his nose against her cheek, she couldn’t help but giggle, her cheeks staying pink as she looked back at him.  Beyond that, she seemed… speechless.  Yet, after a few moments of reflection…     “You know… I didn’t forget that part,” she quietly said.  “But, I didn’t want to assume anything.  That and, well…”     She glanced down with a small smile on her face.     “I guess… back then… I wasn’t sure if I wanted this sort of thing.  As a little ‘toon girl, there probably wasn’t much I’d be ‘allowed’ to do.  But, now that I’ve been rebooted with a form that better suits me…”     She took a moment before slowly leaning into Joseph, her head on his shoulder.     “M… maybe I’ll try it… this time.”         Her eyes closed again as she stayed there against the soft fox, just content to enjoy his warmth…  She didn’t know what the future held… but, for that moment… it seemed like it held nothing but good things.     Besides… she thought, if a goofy, white rabbit and a Tex Avery-esque ‘toon woman could be a thing… why not a half-animated ‘toon girl and an anthropomorphic fox?

    For the time Joseph spent there, letting Shinko rest against him, he found himself pondering her words…  Questions came to mind, more assuredly… but, for some reason… he just couldn’t find the will to ask them.  Eventually… he decided to gently nestle his own head against hers and closed his eyes.

    The fox’s arms and tail softly curled around her slightly smaller frame and, for several moments, he remained like that, ignoring the opening cinematics of the DVD playing on the TV.  Nothing more needed to be said or done, then…  It was just a peaceful time for them both…

    One… that he didn’t want to end anytime soon.