#animation post:: “lucky footage..”

[forsaken-huntershunted]

-> round 1.

[aboringredmop]

k still don't know how im gonna post the videos (YouTube? unlisted?someone please help) but I can't sleep so I thought it'd write down whatever I remember happening!

(edit: here's the full recording! )

Becky and Joe walked on stage wearing sunglasses and red leather jackets and threw 3 of the trio plushies into the crowd. didn't get one unfortunately but it's really cool some people got free plushies :)

they made this robot child called the Inspiration Child, who's clearly meant to be a nod to ai (can learn from our show and generate it's own content!)

they explained how they met (and had some dodgy animated retelling), and how they started with small projects like commercials and music videos, until they came up with designs of the trio (and a mysterious fourth fella)

they made the designs first, then made the set, then the song and finally wrote the script for creativity. red guy was just a red mop head with legs at first ("alien squid thing") but Joe put the red guy head on for shits and giggles once and Becky thought it was hilarious so they kept it in the show

they were really not expecting it to blow up, and when Sundance called because they wanted to show creativity Becky thought it was a scam caller lol

they talked about the kickstarter and the credit card fraud kid. the mailed him saying "hey maybe dont do that" but the kid didnt know how to undo it cuz he just found a website full of credit card information and went ham, so Becky and Joe had to contact kickstarter because people were pulling out of the funding because they thought the project was overfunded (kickstarter was very difficult to contact)

they also made (lighthearted) fun of nsfw fluffybird art ((no padlock 😔) "using OUR characters to act out their SICK FANTASIES" - Becky) and theorists, especially because most if not all of the webseries is just them fucking around.

Inspiration Child also says something along the lines of "wow what a cool show with a great message of how corrupt the media is. I hate the media!"

Becky and Joe had these rules to make the show as vague as possible (no pop culture references, no names, no swearing and way too much detail put into small things)(the duck guy drag queen absolutely obliterates the no swearing rule lol)

they talk about the pilot, how they focused too much on the story because they felt like they had to due to it being on the big screen now, and how it ended up ruining the atmosphere and such of the pilot. they did show the entire thing sped up but my phone sucks ass so I could not get it to focus correctly. I'll see what I can salvage so you people can dissect frames of your blorbo you're Legally Not Allowed To See (which is also the official reason we don't get the pilot)

also pilot concept art showed that Mean Steve is in fact just called Key

they showed a whole post-it wall full of ideas for the tv show. don't know how much I got on footage, but what stood out most to me were 2 episodes called Money and Christmas. Joe mentioned "clock in a wheelchair" specifically

also really fun fact. Becky made the Lesley suit during covid, and pretty much threatened Baker into writing a human character into the show to wear it. concept art also shows Lesley with a mask made out of the same fabric, don't know if this was part of the original suit tho

they showed Warrens old models (?). he was gonna be a wayy more ugly looking silicone pug-worm thing y'all got lucky with the bald fuck

lily and todney were directly based off of some cancelled show about two porcelain doll children with panda parents. do not for the life of me remember what it was called but Becky and Joe were very enthousiastic about it (UPDATE: Candy and Andy!)

international release of the show soon!

Inspiration Child talks about what he's learned and sings a little song, then generates his own dhmis inspired content of a cult meeting in a forest at night. the dhmis Discord server called this "potential new content" but I doubt it

3 cultists walk on stage, face the screen backs to the crowd, drop their cloaks and boom! drag queens!!!

they were not mentioned on the site or during earlier parts of the show at all so they were a complete surprise. I asked Becky about it later during the night and she said she really wanted them there, so she asked and they were excited to! hope this means more official content with them soon I love them

they dance to There's Three Of Us, then Duck lipsings the shredder song which turns into a techno remix while Red and Yellow dance during the background

then Duck and Yellow make out while Red tries to undress to the instrumentals of the Fucked Up Part of Creativity but can't get out of his suit on time before the song ends

the drag queens, Becky and Joe and the Inspiration Child walk around during the meet and greet later and I got signatures from all of them! except inspiration child he didn't have thumbs

the drag queens were so fucking funny. Duck adopted inspiration child and loudly yelled at everyone to "GET AWAY FROM MY FUCKING CHILD" (their duck voice is sooo good). yellow stood in a corner staring at a wall for like 10 minutes and red was constantly awkwardly hovering just outside the frames of pictures (and also could not see shit lmao)

Becky liked my shirt! (the one with the melting trio heads) said she handdrew it

I'll post the signatures and some more stuff tomorrow because it is. 5 am

edit Heres the signatures! yellow guys is Italian I think? and means hi I love you :)

(the liyskaen is duck trying to spell my name. they got pretty close)

[ghostiemothp1mp]

|BREAKING: HAZBIN SEASON 2 LEAKS FLOOD THE INTERNET!|

You heard right folks! There was a breach at A24 and Spindlehorse toons resulting in almost the entirety of season two being leaked onto several platforms but mainly Tik tok. While something similar happened last year when Hell's Greatest Dad got leaked, this time it was to a much greater scale, including several songs, animation clips, and more spoilers than imaginable.

Yes, this is disastrous for Spindlehorse and the entirety of Hazbin Hotel as show. In fact, we're lucky that Hazbin hasn't been dropped from Amazon all together. A lot of times when a breach this big happens, the show just get cancelled, but Amazon has stated that their legal team is trying their best to clean this up and find the perpetrator who did this.

However, the leaks are spreading like wildfire and the amount of views and shares is growing by the minute. The best thing that is fans and viewers can do is NOT SHARE. DO NOT SHARE. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU CAN HELP IT! AND REPORT REPORT REPORT! If you come across spoilers of ANY kind—for example, footage, song clips, fanart—REPORT IT IMMEDIATELY AND GET IT TAKEN DOWN.

Now, you might say, "but spoilers aren't a big deal! I wanna know what happens!" Believe me, we are all excited for the next season, but we need to find out what happens the RIGHT way. I will not be sharing exactly what was leaked because I do not want to feed the fire, but the leaks released kind of ruin the show cuz a) they don't make sense cuz they are just random bits and pieces and b) it makes it a lot harder for Spindlehorse to even keep the show and fandom going. We are extremely lucky that Amazon is even keeping the show, please PLEASE help Spindlehorse keep it that way!

According to Spindlehorse, they believe that the person who leaked the footage was actually someone either on their team or on A24, in other words, this was an inside job. Whoever did this had full intention of sabotaging the success of this show from within, either to serve their own nefarious purposes or someone else's. Currently we don't have any more information on it, but hopefully Amazon's legal team can find the culprit and punish them accordingly.

Okay, so, some footage got leaked. What's the big deal? Well, I didn't go that in depth as to the real effects of the leak earlier, but I will do so now. First of all, it's one of the biggest breaches a show has seen in a WHILE. Including hundreds of shots, MULTIPLE musical numbers, and character reveals that were not planned drops. What does this mean exactly? Well for starters, we probably won't be seeing any more con teasers or sneak peeks. Remember the Baxter teaser? Yeah, that probably won't be happening again. Second of all, I have already seen the fandom start to slowly fall apart on Tik Tok, hundreds of videos talking about how angry they are, not just about the show being spoiled in the first place, but the content of the spoilers themselves. People are already saying how furious they are about the twists and turns the show is taking, without even considering the fact that these leaks don't even contain the full context. Third of all, as the leaks spread and fanart and edits and cosplays of the spoilers flood the internet, the likelihood of Hazbin growing in popularity and hype with the release of season two grows slim. Nobody will be super excited about the "big reveals" next season because they've already been spoiled. Yes, this is pretty disastrous, not just to Hazbin as a cartoon, but to the fandom as well.

That is why we must take action! We must aid Spindlehorse and Amazon in the clean up by not sharing the spoilers. We must aid them by not creating fanart or edits or reaction vids or cosplays of spoilers either. We must aid them by reporting these videos and getting them taken down. We can save Hazbin, but we have to work together.

If anyone sees this post, please share. Please help stop this madness and keep things that should be secret, secret.

[ateez-himari]

SHOW! JAPAN REUNION

Music Core in Saitama serves as a place of reunion between a mentor and his producing pupil.

July 1, 2024 (11:57PM)

It is not unusual for mentors to have close relationships with juniors of the same company yet the artists who drew attention for their warm reunion during ongoing performances do not have that preset hierarchy present, being from separate companies without the senior having any hand in the younger's training. On June 30th, SHINee member Taemin was seen watching the music core event from the sidelines despite their own performance having taken place the day prior, and the reason became quite clear once he greeted ATEEZ vocalist Himari with a warm embrace as the group left the stage.

Taemin was the very first artist who took a chance on the young yet talented producer, entrusting her with 'Never Gonna Dance Again : Act 1' which turned out to be his second most popular album to date and leading the two to work together ever since. Interviews with this artistic duo revealed that the senior idol would align album recording dates to fit his junior's schedule as she was apparently the only one who truly understood the vision he had for his discography. It was also said that due to his experience in the industry along with their holding of the maknae position in their respective groups, the young producer grew comfortable enough to seek advice in him, creating a sense of mentorship in between them.

The soloist never fails to engage in long rants praising his protégée whenever her name happens to appear in a conversation, meanwhile the maknae tends to take a much more timid approach in making statements on the amount of adoration held for her senior. Posts uploaded to the eldest's social media page demonstrating their unexpected bond has shown that this is simply stemming from her shy nature, as some were taken on friendly outings.

During the event, lucky attendees seated above the section they were located in were able to witness rather animated conversations along with affectionate skinship, certain even shifting their cameras simply to capture these surely unforgettable moments. It seems pieces of footage were added to the growing list of hints pointing at the most speculated upon relationship within ATEEZ, as the main rapper was seen joining their conversation only for the senior to act elated after gesturing between them.

While the rising vocalist visibly holds many friendships within the industry, fans have fawned over this specific pairing since their very first interview together and will without a doubt cherish it as much as they do one another. Now all that remains is sitting idly waiting for another album announcement to appear on social media feeds, one which will without a doubt shatter expectations so long as these powerful artists continue creating together.

REMINDER to stream the 'Hush Hush' music video by ATEEZ and BE:FIRST!

Share This Post

[nyanko-sensei-tte-yonde]

After months of arduous toil I have finished my fic for the 2024 BKDK Big Bang! Here's chapter 1, the ao3 link includes art by my wonderful artist BakuDoodle420 (twt insta bsky)! (and the rest of the fic...)

Explicit | Graphic Depictions of Violence | 47,746 words | Midoriya Izuku/Bakugou Katsuki | Post-Final War Arc, Canon Divergence

It’s been a year since the final, decisive battle and Katsuki’s going to beat the shit out of that damn nerd when he finds him. Izuku Midoriya went missing eleven months ago and with the rebuilding efforts after a near total societal collapse, progress on finding him has been slow. But Katsuki’s been looking, and now he has a lead on a certain green-haired freak living out in the boonies. If it’s Izuku, and it better fucking be Izuku, Katsuki’s going to kill him, beat the shit out of him, and tell him everything he couldn’t say a year ago. Not necessarily in that order. Canon divergence where rebuilding society is a slow, painful slog, they don’t go back to school, and everything’s just harder (or, where I ignore most of the Epilogue Arc and pick fights with the rest).

Orbital decay is the gradual decrease of the distance between two orbiting bodies at their closest approach over many orbital periods. If left unchecked, the decay eventually results in termination of the orbit when the smaller object strikes the primary

The car shook from the force with which Katsuki shut the door. His boots scuffed against the gravel road as he turned to stare at the faded sign outside the bar. He could faintly make out the name Serizawa in brush letters, as well as maybe the words alcohol and snacks, also hand-painted on red fabric. He looked back down at the paper in his hand. Street names weren’t much use this far out in the boonies so he had to go off the red and white striped signage and lucky cat statue to the right of the door. This had better be the right building, or someone would have hell to pay.

The sun was already passing the horizon as he pushed inside. A little bell tied to a pink ribbon jingled as he had to jostle the door when it stuck. Katsuki muttered a curse as he tried to let that little frustration fade into his general frustration with the day after six hours of driving and getting lost and almost getting stuck in a ditch after his stupid car (a generous, free gift from his parents for getting his license after they refused to let him get a sports car) slipped off the road.

He let his gaze roam over the dozen-ish patrons as he approached the bar. A few glanced up at the stranger, but most of them were already too far in their drinks to pay him much mind. He thought he heard an old woman mutter, “Hey, is that… you know, that guy? The explody kid.” The man next to her laughed and shook his head, drink sloshing.

Katsuki ignored the chatter, scanning for a familiar crop of green hair— there, at the bar. The guy in question sat at the end of the bar, head bowed over what looked to be an almost-empty bottle of shochu. His hair was quite long, but not a year’s growth long. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt even though it was already well into spring and Katsuki could make out faint scars on his hands as he approached. He had his head in his hands and was saying something to the old woman behind the bar, who was holding the remote for the dinky little TV that sat on top of some shelves.

“C’mon, Granny, just change the channel?” He was slurring his words a little.

The TV was showing a news anchor in front of a graphic that read “1 Year Later…” Footage from a year ago flashed across the screen, U.A.’s floating battlefield, various League members, Katsuki blasting himself at Tomura Shigaraki. They were a few days off from the anniversary of the battle and it’d been all that three different news channels would talk about. It didn’t feel great for Katsuki to watch, either.

“No way! I gave you today off, so no complaints about what I choose to put on. It’s just the news.”

“Granny…”

Katsuki tapped his shoulder. “You not working today?”

The guy looked up at him, eyes bleary and wet and just as green as ever. “Huh? Sorry, no. Uh. Do I know you?”

“You Hisashi Yagi?”

“Er…yes!” He said emphatically, after a pause.

“Could you be any more obvious?”

“E-excuse me?”

Katsuki frowned at him, but the woman behind the bar interrupted before he could say anything else.

“You gonna order something?”

“I have some business with your employee,” Katsuki growled. “Stay out of it.”

“Well, I never!” the old woman huffed.

Katsuki turned back to Izuku— this was definitely Izuku and he wasn’t sure if he should be happy or relieved or just pissed off— who was leaning forward at him and studying his face intensely.

“Hey, you know, you look like someone I know,” Izuku slurred. He giggled a little, looking up at Katsuki with his big round eyes, cheeks red from the alcohol. Katsuki could still count the freckles on his left cheek through the flush and he could make out a faint scar peeking out from his hairline. Rough scar tissue ran down the right side of his face, but it seemed to have faded quite a bit since Katsuki had last seen him. He had one arm on the bar and was teetering a little.

The idiot wasn’t even old enough to drink yet. Katsuki mentally added that to the pile of things to beat his ass over.

“Yeah, who’s that?”

“He’s the best!” Izuku slumped onto the bar. “He’s super strong and cool and amazing and…” His smile slid off his face and now he looked like he was going to cry. “He’s so pretty… Kacchan… I wonder how he’s doing now… He’s probably pissed at me but he might just be so busy he hasn’t even thought about me in almost a year, which would be fine. I try not to think about him too much because it just makes me sad, and I’m trying to stay busy, too, but sometimes it’s so hard because there’s only so much to do out here and…”

Katsuki grimaced. Even drunk, the damn nerd was a motormouth. “Get up, Izuku. I’m taking you home.”

Izuku peered up at him, eyes narrowing. “What?”

Katsuki slammed his hand onto the bar. “You heard me, you cowardly piece of shit.”

“This can’t be happening…” He resisted as Katsuki tried to pull him up by the arm. “Y-you have the wrong guy!”

“Fuck off with that! Don’t make me carry you out of here!”

“Nonononono! I won’t! You can’t make me!” Izuku gripped the bar with both hands as Katsuki started to wrap his arms around his torso.

“Quit struggling! I’ll blast you into the goddamn sun!”

“Hey! What’re you doing to him?!” The old woman had rolled up a newspaper and was smacking Katsuki over the head with it. “Leave Hisashi alone!”

“Stop that, you hag! Hisashi Yagi isn’t even a real guy!” Katsuki lifted an arm to swat away the newspaper, blowing it into smithereens when the woman wouldn’t stop hitting him. He grabbed Izuku by the back of his shirt and pushed him toward her. “What, you don’t recognize him?” His gaze went to the TV, which was showing an aerial shot of Izuku facing off with Shigaraki.

Izuku finally stopped struggling, shrinking into himself in defeat. Katsuki wrestled down a wave of guilt as Izuku looked up at him pathetically, face screwed in betrayal.

“Fine, Kacchan,” he said, whisper quiet. “Let’s talk.”

Katsuki shot a haughty look at the old woman as he half-dragged, half-carried Izuku out of the bar. Damn, the guy was heavy, especially when he wasn’t putting any strength into walking or holding up his own weight. Katsuki ignored his sniveling as he pulled his key out of his pocket and unlocked the car.

“Oh my god, Kacchan! You have a car?”

“It’s my parents’ old one,” he muttered in reply. He shoved Izuku none too gently into the passenger seat. “They said it’d be a waste of money to get a sports car for my first. Like I’m gonna wreck this thing.”

“You can drive?” Izuku looked around the car, tears still drying on his face. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “That’s amazing!”

“Well, it got annoying needing to wait on the train and stuff.” Katsuki didn’t have it in him to feel smug about the praise. He clambered in and pulled out his phone, slamming the door shut behind him. Hopefully he wouldn’t be led down a wrong turn this time. “Let’s go, we can talk on the way.”

“Kacchan, wait!”

Katsuki looked up from his phone. “What?” His tone must’ve come out grumpier than he’d meant, as Izuku cringed a little in his seat.

“I… I can’t go home yet! Can we just… stop by my place first?”

Katsuki considered for a moment. It was getting dark, and he wasn’t familiar with the roads, and he was tired after driving around the middle of butt-fuck nowhere and wrestling Izuku out of the bar. And, okay, yeah, it might be fair to let the nerd get his shit from wherever he was staying. “Alright. Where is it?”

“Just get back on the road and turn left when I tell you.”

Katsuki nodded and started the car, following Izuku’s directions until they arrived at what was essentially a two-story shack hidden behind a crop of trees at the end of what could barely count as a road. If Katsuki had just passed it by, he would’ve assumed it was abandoned. And haunted.

“You live here?” Katsuki climbed out of the car and followed Izuku to the door.

“Mrs. Serizawa lets me live here in exchange for helping at the bar and around her house. She said her brother lived here before he moved to Tokyo.” Izuku pulled out a rusty key and opened the door. Katsuki followed him inside to see a rundown but neat kitchen and living room. The furniture was sparse and looked old. There was a paper door that presumably led out to the backyard, visibly patched with discolored paper.

“Jeez…”

“It’s not so bad. It’s pretty small, but that’s fine since I’m here by myself. Everything works and there’s hot water, so.” Izuku went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water and Katsuki followed. He seemed to have sobered up a little, but he still teetered as he went. “I think I have an extra futon, is that alright? There’s no bed.”

“Don’t think you’re getting out of coming home,” Katsuki said, unwilling to sound like he was making a concession by staying the night. “And you better not fucking throw up on me.”

Izuku snorted. “I won’t! You think I can’t hold my alcohol?”

“You shouldn’t even be fucking drinking!”

“It’s not like anything bad’s happened…” Izuku was petulant as he trekked up the stairs. He opened the door to his room and pulled the chain hanging from the bare lightbulb on the ceiling. The room was pretty tiny, with a desk and chair and a small wardrobe. And no bed. They’d need to put the futons right next to each other for both to fit.

“Yeah, and it’s totally fine to lie to that nice old lady who took you in, too.”

Izuku just pouted silently as he leaned against the desk and sipped his water. He didn’t seem to have many belongings, just some books on the desk and a few shirts and pants that were visible through the open wardrobe door. There wasn’t even a piece of All Might merch in sight. Katsuki let himself stare at Izuku, who was pointedly staring out the window. The freckles he had left were a little darker and he’d even gotten a little tan. His hair was long enough to reach his shoulders in the back and looked like it’d been hacked at with kitchen scissors, which it might well have been. He seemed to have grown a few inches, though he’d definitely lost some weight. His cheeks still had some baby fat and Katsuki had no idea how he’d been able to convince the old lady that he was old enough to drink.

The bags under his eyes were as bad as Katsuki had ever seen them. He’d planned to drag him home immediately, but the idiot probably needed to sleep off the alcohol.

“You should go to bed,” Katsuki said.

“Weren’t we going to talk?”

“Fuck that. Sleep first. Where’s your futon?”

Izuku’s gaze went to the closet. “I can get it.” But Katsuki was already sliding open the door. He heard Izuku sigh and shuffle up behind him, felt his arm reach over his shoulder to pull out the futon.

“The fuck, nerd? You’re in the way.”

“I can get out a futon in my own house,” Izuku said. “And you’re the one who’s in the way.”

“What’d you just say to me?!” Katuki turned around and found his face inches away from Izuku’s. Historically, Izuku had always been a little shorter than him (always a little slower, a little behind him), but now his eyes were level with Katsuki’s, green and sad and a little unfocused.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Izuku whispered. He was looking at Katsuki’s lips. That couldn’t be a good sign. “How did you find me?”

“It took a lot of fucking work, I can tell you that.” Katsuki stared at Izuku, not sure where to look. His eyes, over his shoulder, the hint of collarbone from under his shirt. From here, he could smell the familiar scent of Izuku’s sweat and also the stink of booze. “They had me on clean-up duty, clearing rubble.” Once his heart had recovered enough for him to do anything strenuous and he was able to use his arm again. “You know, ‘cause we had cities to rebuild? So I had to find time between that to look for you.”

Hawks had come to him with an address and a report of a green-haired, 5 and a half foot youth in another town after Katsuki had a particularly bad breakdown six weeks after Izuku disappeared. It hadn’t panned out, but he’d eventually come back with another. Katsuki had no idea where he was able to get all these leads, but he’d chased down every single one when he had a day or two to spare, taking trains and buses and hitching a ride with Best Jeanist until he was able to get a license and his own car.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be found.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Katsuki snapped. He turned his head as Izuku leaned forward a little and put his hand over Izuku’s mouth. “What are you doing?”

“I missed you.” Izuku’s words were muffled against Katsuki’s fingers, his voice tight. Small beads of tears were collecting in the corners of his eyes. He took Katsuki’s hand from his mouth and kissed his palm, working down his wrist and arm. Katsuki was sorely tempted to blast his fucking face off. It’d be a big fucking blast, too, with how sweaty his hand was, but he didn’t want to risk blowing a hole in the side of the building.

Instead, he said, “Izuku. Hey!”

Izuku wasn’t paying attention to him, pulling him closer with his other hand. Which was rubbing circles down Katsuki’s back and working its way to his ass. “Kacchan, we don’t have to go to sleep just yet.”

“Holy shit, Izuku, go to bed!” Katsuki pulled himself free, shoving Izuku’s face away as he tried to kiss him again. “You’re drunk!”

“I’m not, I promise!” It came out like a whine and more than a little slurred.

“The hell you’re not! I’m not fucking doing this while you’re fucking drunk!”

Izuku looked at him, puppy dog eyes at full force. Katsuki matched with a glare with the intensity of a thousand suns. Izuku looked down at the ground and mumbled something.

“What?”

“So you’ll do this while I’m not drunk?”

“I don’t fucking know! Fuck off!” Katsuki felt his face go a little hot despite himself. “Sleep it off and then we’ll talk!” He shoved past Izuku and spread out the futon in the middle of the floor. “Now go the fuck to sleep!”

“Where are you gonna sleep?”

“There’s a couch downstairs. I don’t know if I trust you with my fucking virtue right now,” Katsuki growled at him. “I’m sorry, Kacchan…”

Katsuki slammed the door shut as he stomped his way down the stairs. Deep in his heart, he hoped Izuku would wake up with the mother of all hangovers. He peered into the fridge, just out of nosiness, and saw a few bottled drinks, half a carton of eggs, some wilting green onions, and what looked like a half-eaten home-cooked meal in a plastic container. Maybe from the old lady? The pantry was pretty much empty except for a bag of rice and the kitchen looked barely used. Was that piece of shit even taking care of himself?

He went to the couch and lay down, checking his phone to see if he’d missed any notifications. Reception had been a little spotty on the way here, but now it seemed to at least be existent. A few photos in the class A group chat which he ignored, a “Free this weekend?” from Kirishima, and a text from Kaminari he’d meant to reply to a week ago, the notification for which he’d left to remind him to do that. Oh, well. Then a text from Hawks came in saying the Commission was asking about him. He’d… deal with that later.

It was starting to rain. A draft blew through the old, probably barely structurally sound house and Katsuki suppressed a shiver. Like hell he was going to go upstairs and ask for a blanket, though. He tossed the phone onto the table next to the couch and felt in his inner jacket pocket for the paper he’d folded up and put in there. He’d kept it on him every day for the past eleven months, something to fill up the space since he’d lost his All Might trading card.

Every now and then, when he was feeling really hopeless, he’d pull it out and unfold it, reading the fading ink letters and trying not to grip the paper too hard since the creases had gotten so weak from all the unfolding and refolding. He didn’t pull it out this time; he hadn’t really need to after the first couple weeks. He’d memorized it after reading it over and over, almost compulsively, after Izuku had just up and disappeared for the second time.

* * *

Four weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he was finally getting discharged. Katsuki woke up with the sun, squinting against the bright lines of light sneaking their way through the gaps in the curtain. His head was aching— sleep had been hard to get despite the oodles of painkillers they had him on— and he’d startled awake with the weird sense that something was wrong. But the room was quiet except for the usual mechanical hum and there were no nurses around.

Izuku had been discharged a week ago, something that pissed Katsuki off to no end, but what with getting a hole punched through his chest and then continuing to fight after getting his insides sewn together, the doctor had been insistent that he stay a little longer. Izuku had still visited every day, staying by his bedside for as long as he was allowed. Visiting hours would start in a few hours.

But Katsuki was still restless, throat dry and scratchy as he looked around the room. There was a neatly folded sheet of paper on the bedside table. Had the nerd left that there yesterday? But it hadn’t been there when Katsuki went to bed last night. He didn’t like this, something like dread bubbling up in his throat, but he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and grabbing the paper.

Kacchan—

I heard you were getting discharged today! Congratulations! I can’t wait for you to achieve all your dreams and become a hero even greater than All Might! Don’t tell him I said this, but I really believe you can do it. And I’m sorry I won’t be here to see it.

The embers of One for All are completely gone. I told you I had to transfer it to Tomura Shigaraki and I don’t regret doing it. But it’s gone and I’m Quirkless again. So I can’t be a hero with you. I can’t bear to stay and watch as you and everyone in 1-A and everyone else who was there soar to even greater heights while I’m just here. Useless. I know you’re probably mad at me, and it’s okay if you don’t understand. I’m sorry I couldn’t say all this in person. Please don’t look for me. Please win as much as you can and save as many people as you can and live the best life you can.

Thank you for everything. Deku

Just before the sign off, there was a line that was crossed out so heavily Katsuki couldn’t read it. If he flipped the paper over, he might be able to see the outlines of the letters, but when he did, he saw that the back had been scratched out too. Fucking hell... He was starting to have trouble breathing and he was getting a little dizzy and god his chest hadn’t hurt this bad since he’d gotten out of surgery— what the fuck, how could he do this?!

“Izuku, what the fuck?!” His voice came out raspy and choked like he was about to cry. Katsuki squeezed his eyes shut as he registered the sting of tears, taking slow, deep breaths in an attempt to regulate his heartbeat. When he found that fucking piece of shit he was going to murder him. And then bring him back to life, and fucking murder him again! He clenched his good hand into a fist and counted very slowly backwards from twenty before grabbing his phone and calling Izuku. It didn’t connect. He tried again three more times, but no dice. He pulled up the class group chat; a few of them tended to be up this early, but no one had sent any messages about getting anything from Izuku. He shot off texts to Uraraka and Todoroki as the nurse came in.

“Good morning, Bakugou! You’re up early.” She was chipper as ever as she opened the curtains, letting the blinding morning light into the room. She checked his vitals as she did every morning and tutted. “You doing alright? Looks like your heart rate’s a little elevated.”

Katsuki put his phone down in his lap and pulled the blanket higher over the letter so she couldn’t see it. “Yeah, fine. Just… had a nightmare.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that!” Her earnest concern was grating on Katsuki’s ears, but he didn’t even have the wherewithal to get pissed off over it. “Do you think you’re okay to be discharged today? I can talk to your doctor about having you stay another day or two.”

Katsuki shook his head, maybe a little too quickly to be polite. “No. I… I think I want to go home.”

“Okay! Your parents said they’d be here by nine today, and once they fill out all the forms you’ll be good to go.”

“Uh huh. Thanks.”

“Is there anything I can get for you?”

“No. I’m good.”

“Alrighty! Remember, I’m just a button push away!” She swept out of the room to continue her rounds and Katsuki had to fight the urge to throw something.

Izuku had liked this nurse, she’d been in charge of both of them after Katsuki had been moved to Izuku’s room. They’d kept sneaking off to go see each other and the hospital staff had gotten so fed up that they’d put them in the same room, and they’d spent weeks pretty much on top of each other. Weeks, with no indication that Izuku was going to…

Katsuki looked down at his phone. Uraraka hadn’t responded— maybe she wasn’t awake yet— but Todoroki had texted him back with “?” and then “Talked to him yesterday” twelve seconds later.

“Fuck.” He didn’t know what to do, except sit there and shake and try not to cry.

[tea-moth11]

Fic Tag Game

Was tagged for this game by @hemi-demi! 💛

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

All of my fics are for TMA and only 1 of my 21 fics is not Jmart. I think everything I will include will just be Jmart fics.

Lesser Celandine (Rated G)

They had gotten rather lucky with the weather. A rare sunny and warmer day for late spring in London. The park near their flat much busier than usual with people, families and couples seen milling about.

Jon had brought up the cat he’d seen over lunch that day, explaining to Martin that they needed to head to the park today right after work. He insisted on leaving on time for once, telling his boyfriend about the cat he thinks he has been seeing around lately, never seeing the animal but out of the corner of his eye. It had started to bother Jon, not knowing how the cat was doing everyday.

Scrapbook (Rated E)

Sorry y'all I cannot share the first couple of lines cause it get to prove it's rating very quickly.

So Kiss Me In The Dying Light (Rated E)

DAY 2

Jon and Martin didn’t really have a honeymoon when they first got married two years ago. They were both so new to where they found themselves after crossing the rift that there was never a good time for it. Jon had been saving for a honeymoon well before Martin had even proposed, wanting to gift him with good memories for them to look back on, their time together already tainted with more hardships than the average person would ever endure. 

He isn’t sure when he first thought of it, but Jon became determined to have them go all out for a tropical getaway. Experience a beach the way they really should have, not thinking of the shoreline of The Lonely when they envisioned the expanse of sand. 

Cryptid Watch (Rated M)

It is the sudden buzz that alerts you. The phone’s screen now lit up with a notification telling you of a new video posted onto the Cryptid Watch fan account. The video has been uploaded by none other than the host themselves, Tim Stoker.

You quickly open your phone, eager to see the latest chaos filmed by Tim. The first few second of the video shows a familiar logo on the screen, a bright green eye with text of the show’s title on a black background. 

Suddenly the screen is brightly lit as the video shows the interior of a building. Plenty of people milling about or seated in the rows of chairs to the right of a walkway.

Something To Hold You Over (Rated E)

Another one that I cannot really give a preview on.

Footage [REDACTED]: Missing Scenes from Cryptid Watch (Rated E)

It takes everything in Martin not to cry from laughter as he enters his room of the cabin, the door closing with a soft click behind him. Before passing out in alcohol fueled slumber, Jon had mumbled something unintelligible, promptly flopping over, feet hanging off the bed. Martin was too drunk to do anything besides let him sleep, unsteady on his own feet. 

Jon may be ridiculous, but it was still so much better than how prickly the man was towards him when they first started out. Martin had done his best to stay out of the other man’s way, frustrated that an accident had caused them to get off on the wrong foot. He wasn’t used to that occurring, careful and well planned interactions over a lifetime of practice often worked in his favor for how Martin was perceived. 

My mind has not been silent since you (Rated E)

It had started pouring down buckets of freezing rain five minutes before they made it back to the cottage. The small hideaway standing lonely at the end of the path was a welcome sight. Trail of smoke barely seen through the screen of water. While not the warmest, Jon knew that it would be better than being outside.

The two set down their heavy bags, full of supplies so that neither would need to leave the safety of the cottage for some time. The soaked coats and boots would stay in their resting spots until the storm had long passed, droplets all but faded from the materials.

Slipping under (Rated E)

It felt wrong to ask him to do this. 

This wasn’t fair to Martin. He already asked so much from him in the past.

To deal with Jon’s past issues and continue to be there for the fallout of the trauma they both went through must pay a heavy toll. Surviving the apocalypse and crossing the rift together was a feat all its own. Working to become a person again was harder. 

Chipped (Rated T)

The holidays had felt short and that was certainly a first for Jon. The new year had come so suddenly after their first Christmas together. Even with the holidays behind them, he could at least count down the days until he would finally be rid of his horrid flat to move in with Martin. 

Jon lets himself drift off, daydreaming of relaxing evenings on the couch, curled up watching some documentary he has memorized at this point. Martin would be beside him of course, working on one of his numerous crochet projects.

I Can't Tell Which Way's Home (Rated E)

Georgie and Melanie had found a room away from all the others for Jon and Martin. Muttering something about making sure everyone got their rest before they carried out the plan that would change the course of the apocalypse. 

It was cold and damp. Smelling of mildew and old water, not that Martin minded. He was given the opportunity to have maybe his last night with his mate. He had to hold out hope. He had to believe that they would make it out the other side of all this. He would help Jon fix it and then…

Open tags for who ever would like to play this tag game!

[life-on-our-planet]

I think that you are the best blog that I have seen yet. Thank you for posting gifs of our great animal kingdom! I will never see all of these creatures in person in my lifetime, so it's a blessing to see them move.

that's such extremely kind praise, thank you so much! and tbh that's exactly how i feel. we're so lucky to live in a time when we can see such intimate footage of animals all over the world in their natural habitats! from high definition to underwater filming to tiny cameras on long wires... there's so much to see! i love collecting all the footage and i'm glad other people like seeing it too~

♡loop

[foodfightnovelization]

Interview With A Cast Member, Action Figures and More!

Hey everyone! It's time for another update. As mentioned in my previous post, I was lucky enough to be able to interview an actual cast member from Foodfight! a while ago. Her name is Holly Cruikshank (or at least it was when the movie was in production, today she goes by Holly Ireland) and she did the motion capture for Lady X! So yeah, I didn't score an interview with Charlie Sheen or Christopher Lloyd or anything- but did you really expect that from a small blog like this? Besides, it was wonderful talking to Holly and she made it clear from the start she had only good things to say about working on the movie- a far cry from a lot of crewmembers who unfortunately had a thoroughly miserable time on the project.

For example, this animator (who appropriately titles themselves "tortured artist") talks about their experience on Foodfight! with nothing short of hatred. A large amount of said hate is directed towards the director, Lawrence Kasanoff, who apparently made them clean up his dog's diarrhea and switched up what they were supposed to be working on on a whim, as well as ordering constant do-overs on scenes that had already been done countless times over. This really sounds like a terrible work environment, and as much as I have a sincere apprecation for Foodfight! it's clear there was some incredibly poor direction going on behind the scenes, and that Kasanoff treated a lot of crewmembers really badly. But there are two sides to every story, and in my interview with Holly she speaks of working on Foodfight! with people who were genuinely excited to be there every day and thoroughly enjoyed their time on it. So without further ado, here's my full interview with her, taken directly from our emails with each other (the purple text is me, and the black text is her).

This was a really lovely interview, and I was delighted to talk to someone who was so happy to discuss the movie and share their experience on it in a positive way. Some interesting things to note here are that the show she was doing was a Broadway play called "Movin' Out", and if you look up footage of that show online...

...the character Holly is playing in that show looks INCREDIBLY similar to Lady X! The dark hair, the red dress, etc... is it possible Kasanoff cast her because of how closely she resembled the character he wanted her to play? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely interesting. It's also sweet that she talks fondly of Larry, remembering him being kind, fun and supportive, especially considering how negatively a lot of former crewmembers speak of him. Not that said crewmembers are in the wrong for this- considering Larry's apparent behavior during production I'd say all their comments are justified, it's just interesting to get a different perspective on the matter.

She also mentions filming all the motion capture, then having to come back around a year later to do some more scenes- presumably this was down to either not having correctly captured some scenes the first time (the motion capture technology seems like it was quite temperamental) or script revisions requiring some scenes to be redone. I think it's also a really fun anecdote to share that when she did the motion capture she was in the early stages of her pregnancy- and by the time the movie finally came out her daughters were old enough to actually watch the movie! It really puts into perspective just how long it took for Foodfight! to get released.

I also completely agree that the creative team behind the movie had "an amazing story and idea" and I think it's fantastic she was excited to be a part of "something inventive and unique"- I really do think there's a hidden gem at the heart of Foodfight!, it's just hard to see with the horrible animation casting such a large shadow over it- I don't blame her daughters for not wanting to watch the finished film). Overall though it was a pleasure talking to Holly, she was so enthusiastic about the movie, as well as being very gracious and open to answering all my questions- even telling me to let her know if there was anything else I wanted to ask. A lot of people who worked on Foodfight! had their lives go in very different directions after they finished working on it, and with there also not being many fans of the film to begin with, I imagine this was the first time anyone had really asked her about it. It was really fantastic to get to talk to someone who worked on the movie, but I have other things I'd like to share in this post as well!

That's right, Foodfight! action figures! No, not the plush toys that were actually released and sold off in arcades and carnivals as prizes, these were prototypes that never made it to shelves. These pictures were found in the trademark registration documents for Foodfight! and show off a wide variety of Foodfight! figures and plush toys, none of which have ever been seen before or since.

First off, we have a line of small collectible figurines, based on all your favorite characters from the film! There's Dex Dogtective, Daredevil Dan, Sunshine Goodness, Vlad Chocool, Cheazel the Weasel, Polar Penguin, Maximillus Moose, an Xobyte, Lord Flushington, a Brand X soldier, Hairy Hold, Lady X, Lieutenant X, General X, and a variant of Dex in his fancy tuxedo. That's a pretty wide range of figures, 15 in all! Towards the back, you can also see a set of 5 of these figures packaged up, and on the box we can see these were made by Playmates, as opposed to Nanco, who created the actual merchandise released for the movie. Honestly, the way these figures are designed, the way they have no articulation, and the way they're packaged, they remind me a lot of Homies. You guys remember Homies, right? The little figures you could win in capsule machines (or buy sets of) that depicted various caricatures of Mexican-American culture? No? Well those would've been popular around the time these figures were made, so I wonder if they were an inspiration? In any case, these figures look ADORABLE and I wish they were fully produced, because I'd LOVE to have had a full set of them. They're so teeny and tiny and cartoony, they're adorable. At the very top of the first image, we can also see the packaging for something called "Dex Dogtective's Utility Belt", but since we can't see the rest of it, there's no knowing what it would've consisted of.

Onto the second image, and this is where it gets interesting. These are plush toys of various movie characters, but they're very different to the ones that actually came out (a given, considering these were prototypes and made by a different company). They're incredibly detailed and have hats and coats made out of different textured materials (with Dex's hat being a hard plastic for instance), and are seemingly the kind of plush toy with a hard wire interior so that you can pose them in various different ways. A sign below also says "We're electronic! We say movie phrases!" Again, none of the official movie toys are electronic (but it's debatable if even these were given they're just prototypes). And of course it has to be said, these plush toys look FAR superior to the ones that were actually released. Just for fun, here's a comparison between the prototype Dex plush and the one that was actually released.

I have to admit, I started laughing out loud putting these two pictures side by side. I'm reminded of that popular internet joke (look it up if you're not aware of it) of a character saying "this edible ain't shit-" and then cutting to to them looking absolutely wrecked. With that being said though, it's not entirely fair to compare a prototype to a mass-produced plush toy, and I still find the released Foodfight! toys to be endearing enough that I'm currently in the process of collecting a full set of them. (I'm hoping to collect every piece of Foodfight! merchandise at some point, I'll make a fantastic post showing everything off eventually). Regardless, it's an interesting look into what might've been with the world of Foodfight! toys, and it's fascinating to see them all presented this way- it makes me think of that scene from Toy Story 2 where Woody sees Al's "Woody's Roundup" collection and realizes he was famous. Everything here is laid out in a way that makes Foodfight! look like it was a smash hit. Not in this world though...maybe in some other world.

Anyway, I have one more thing to talk about in this post. Remember a while ago, when I talked about the various Foodfight! websites over the years? It turns out I actually missed one! In around 2008, the Threshold Animation Studios website had a section on Foodfight! containing some very interesting information about the movie. You can view it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20081003194856/http://thresholdanimationstudios.com/foodfight.html

Unfortunately, only the website's text has been preserved, so none of the images have been archived. There's a main page explaining the plot of the movie and a subpage about the cast, but that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about the Foodfight! Foundation.

So yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Foodfight! was at one point planned to launch alongside a charity organization that helped cure world hunger and feed starving children. As admirable of a goal as this is, it's also insanely ambitious- cursory research will show the Foodfight! Foundation did exist at one point, but I highly doubt it was ever actually active or fed 10 million kids. It's fascinating to see how much of a hit Kasanoff thought this movie was going to be- sometimes it's good to have realistic expectations in mind.

There's one more thing on this website worth talking about- there's a section called Merchandising Program, and on there we see a list of tie-in merchandise they had planned for the movie. We see videogames, (which we saw a clip of at E3 2006- see a previous post for my discussion of that) amusements (Nanco is mentioned here, who were the company who made the actual Foodfight! plush toys released in stores) but...what's this under publishing?

That's right, it's a mention of the novelization of the feature film! The book that started this whole blog! This is the ONLY official mention of the book I've found anywhere on the internet, and it's fascinating to see it acknowledged in an official capacity by Threshold. This still doesn't answer my one lingering question about the book- WHY is there only one copy of it in the entire world? But if I had to guess, I'd say it was commissioned, written, published and printed just for the sake of showing off to potential investors in the project the merchandising potential the movie had. That's the only reason I can think of that there'd only be one copy, and it fits with the prototype action figures we saw above. But how did the novelization end up on eBay? How did the only existing copy end up in a Goodwill in Minnesota? (that's where it was shipped from) I have no idea...

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I know the topics I discussed here weren't particularly connected to each other and don't segue into one another very well, but I had a whole bunch of Foodfight! stuff I wanted to share and I didn't want to just post my interview with Holly by itself, since it was pretty short. So that's it for this round of Foodfight! facts, knowledge, and wild speculation! Tune in next time for something rather exciting...

[kamehamehamlet]

A teaser for Mayor Lear of Townsville, showcasing a handful of projections which would be used in the show and edited in homage to a then recent trailer for Twin Peaks: The Return.

Play-Dot Archives: Mayor Lear Projections

Early on in development, I knew I wanted to use projections for Mayor Lear and that one of the MN Fringe venues was Intermedia Arts. Intermedia Arts, like many incredible theatre and arts building in the Twin Cities has since shuttered, but in 2017 the theatre's projector could be used to cover the back from floor to ceiling.

In a later scene in the Mayors office, the Townsville Skyline was animated to be on fire. (Emily Rose Duea, Bre'Elle Erickson, Natalie Rae Wass, and Meghan Wolff). Photo by Alex Wohlhueter.

And for the MN Fringe, where all of your props and set needed to be in and out of the theater in a matter of minutes before and after each show, using projections meant we could have near effortless set changes. Well, effortless during the show at least. See on top of writing the script, I also tasked myself with making the projections. Since I was responsible for both, I had no one to blame but myself for needing over 50 projections with a mix of flat images, animations, and one very special video.

A folder containing many of the still images of Mayor Lear of Townsville.

It's also worth noting that many people assumed our images had come from the TV show when in reality they were all created digitally by me. Although many of the popular location were recreated with heavy reference usage. It was really fun to learn the shows art style, and in some cases animation style, and it really can't be overstated how cool it was to be in that theatre with the projections covering the whole wall. Seven years on, it's easy to be nostalgic, having packed the memories of stress at trying to get all of these ready on time somewhere deep deep away.

A longer image which would pan across the backwall, imitating a shot in the TV shows opening. Since this took place years after the show, a few of the villains were aged up and other baddies were added as well. To cap off this longer archival post, I want to share one last stupid choice I made that summer: I became the world's most amateur storm chaser. Throughout June and July, I kept a close eye on the weather and when a Thunderstorm was approaching, I race to a bluff about a 10-minute drive away, trying to catch a recording of lightning alongside the Saint Paul Skyline. All to sell a bit during big Lear storm scene, where the cartoon world would snap away and we see the inner turmoil of The Mayor.

The hills outside of Townsville during the storm, and the opening of Scene Nine. While I did catch the perfect bolt lightning which illuminated the city... my equipment was not made to capture it well. Eventually, I would have to cobble together some of my footage, use some after effects basic vfx, and call it a day. But as meh as I felt my video was, there's a real magic in theatre. After 40 minutes of campy cartoony melodramatic fun, it was absolutely electric watching Natalie shed the hokey outward persona of The Mayor and deliver one of Shakespeare's best monologues. It made every soaking wet, bone chilling minute of my foolish storm chasing task worth it. I had known for years Natalie was an incredible force of nature on stage and we were so lucky to have her as our lead. I choose not to take the easy pun and say as "our Lear" because... did I mention she was double cast?

Come back tomorrow to learn about my other favorite scene in Mayor Lear! Want to see more photos of the projections? Check out yesterday's archival post!

Have questions about Mayor Lear or Kamehamehamlet? Join us during our weekly Rally Stream on YouTube this Saturday.

[davisexplainableart]

May 25, 2018 (Half-O-Ween 2018):

*a coffin is shown in front of a fake graveyard*

*the coffin's door slowly opens, and I.M. Weasel (dressed as a vampire) rises up from the casket*

I.M. Weasel (in a slightly harrowing tone): Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! I am Count Weasel, and welcome to Fridays. It is Friday, May 25th, and that means it's almost time for Half-O-Ween!

*Weasel laughs evilly as the headlights off camera flicker to resemble lightning, while lightning sound effects play in the background*

I.M. Weasel (speaks in his normal voice again): *looks back at the camera* Oh, but don't worry about Tommy and Tara, they're taking the week off. Not to worry, everyone, we'll be able to make do without them, at least for this week.

*Weasel steps out of the coffin*

I.M. Weasel: As you may already know if you saw last week's show, we're preparing a little game show for you viewers at home tonight. We have teamed up with some animators and copyright owners from Burbank, CA to give some lucky winners a chance to go trick-or-treating early this year.

*footage of this game show appears onscreen*

I.M. Weasel: Every half hour tonight, one of you lucky viewers will get a chance to go on a 40-second scavenger hunt. There will be 6 different house, but choose carefully! Some of them are filled with prizes for you to keep as your own, but others will be home to the scariest creatures you'll have ever laid your eyes upon!!!

*cuts back to Weasel as he laughs again*

I.M. Weasel: But not yet, of course. We've still got a night of Fridays to enjoy. But stay by your phones as you watch tonight's shows. Those who submitted texts and/or post cards and memorized our caller ID must be dying to get the opportunity of a lifetime. For now, however, let us commence with tonight's brand new Stick Friends, because we can't actually play the game until the episode is over...

..........

I.M. Weasel (drops character): Also because this isn't the costume I'm going to wear. I-I'm going to be wearing something else after the break...

================================================

While Fridays did do something Half-O-Ween related for May 31, 2019, I was more interested in including a segment from this night instead because of how interesting it is.

Here's what happened, as part of a collaboration between Great 5 Productions and Nickelodeon, we were given permission to utilize one of their Halloween events from the 90s for ourselves.

In this case, we were allowed to utilize the format of a call-in trick-or-treating game show, where players had 40-seconds to search for prizes (it's explained at 0:25 in this video).

Back when it was first created, the event was part of a yearly Halloween event/contest that Nickelodeon held known as "Nick or Treat".

We decided to remove every mention of Nickelodeon's name (including the "Nick or Treat" name) from the packaging for 2 reasons:

Some of the higher-ups were worried that the inclusion of the Nickelodeon name would be a bit too distracting on Cartoon Network.

Well... the original name sounds like... yeah, you know...

Now, how exactly did we do this call-in thing without the trademark... name...?

Well, what we did was give out a phone number and caller ID (I believe it was "CN Fridays" or something) on May 18, 2018 for people to write down and memorize. Viewers who texted "Half-O-Ween" to that phone number were asked to label that number with the ID that was featured on Fridays. The viewers would know that they won based on what the caller ID was.

Oh yeah, and we managed to get a hold of the original game show's music, as well as a non-music version to prevent musical confusion with sound effects during the game. That was weird because when TeenNick's "The Splat" brought back the game show thing for Halloween 2015 (a few years before this), they apparently didn't have the original track with them. Not sure what happened there.

For this Fridays show, 2 games were played every hour of the block. Each hour was hosted by different Cartoon Cartoon characters (while Tommy and Tara had the week off), each wearing costumes that were similar to (or exactly) the ones they wore during the CCF Halloween Party.

I can't quite remember all of the hosts, or what order they went in, but I believe Dexter (as Courage) and Blossom (as Eddy) were 2 of the ones who appeared (as well as Weasel of course).

As for why the Halloween CNF logo is here despite being May? Well, since we forgot to use the logo in October 2017, we decided to make up for that by using it here.

Alright, that's all I got for you guys. Happy Half-O-Ween, everybody!

[clitoral-minded]

x

this is such an interesting post that i do not want to respond to directly at all. i'll just use it as a jumping off point for my own rant.

anime is pretty fucked.

loli is more normalized in animanga compared to western media. the vast majority of sexy stuff in western media is either 1. text or 2. filmed using adults. there are minimal sexualized images of people who appear to be underage. unless you go to any porn website and see the 'teen' category at the very top of the page. i should be fair and take that into account.

(maybe i should also take into account storylines which normalize teen/adult relationships in western media, because that one seems constant as well.)

but regarding media which is not explicitly sexual, it's obviously more acceptable to show inappropriate drawings of a child than it is to show innapropriate footage of a child actor. and to define what i mean by this:

there are plenty of anime that happen to include a 800-year-old-8-year-old love interest or a character who peeps on middle schoolers. (azumanga daioh, lucky star...) it's become normal to look past it and say "well i'm not watching made in abyss for the sexual jokes about the child characters, i'm watching it for the amazing artwork and worldbuilding," because that is often true. but i think getting used to looking past it is... not great.

anyway. the reason i feel i have something to say on this topic that is based in reality and not internetdiscoursebrain.

i've only ever had two people tell me i "look just like an anime girl( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉ" and both of them have been to jail for a sex offense. additionally one of them said that many of the people in there. were huge anime/mtg nerds. not to mention my white karate teacher who solicted underage girls for nudes. also that other other anime guy.

that's a weird thing to be aware of as a lifelong anime fan! it's bad! i am being compared to a plastic ornament here! such is the disconnect from reality that otaku suffer from!

[sobtanian]

Jean-Michel Jarre's BIG MESS

First of all, Merry Christmas to you all and hopefully a Happy New Year.

It feels a little weird composing this post when the last blog I did ages ago was almost the exact opposite, but here we are.

A few weeks ago, Jarre announced that he was going to perform in The Hall of Mirrors at The Palace of Versailles. A Christmas Day special event where only a small audience could attend, but, more importantly, it was going to be a mixed live/VR event.

Unlike his previous three VR events (more info in the last blog if you're interested) which were recorded and then played back on demand when you joined, this was meant to be happening at the same time as the real thing. Jarre would be performing in the palace, wearing some AR headset that no one had heard of, hence enabling him to allegedly both see the real audience and what was going on in VR.

The VR aspect was to go live at the same time as the concert, using VRRoom's beta app. It is important to note here that VRRoom have been his VR partners since the beginning, but they didn't have their own app, they were piggybacking the performances on the well-established VRChat platform, something they managed to do extremely well by the third (Oxymore) VR event.

Obviously, none of this came to happen.

Just hours before the event, there was an announcement on Twitter (I'm not calling it X and that's a hill I will die on!) that the public access VR event was being delayed for 3 hours after the live show. The official excuse was to allow them to "ensure the highest quality production." The official TV broadcast and YouTube stream were scheduled for the same time also.

This immediately rang alarm bells. Wasn't this meant to be a hybrid live/VR event we could experience together? Maybe they delayed it because they wanted to record the VR part, tidy it up, and release a good version of it? Or was it that they just weren't ready for the whole thing?

It turned out to be the latter.

Come VR performance time, no one could actually join. If you were lucky enough to manage to login to the VRRoom servers, you were faced with a black message with a sand timer on it, telling you to click here to join. Join what? The void? If you were patient enough, you may have seen that black screen turn into a concert poster! Wow, progress! You clicked to download the "shared assets" to your headset, and once that happened you might have seen the same click here to join message.

You clicked and the screen faded to black and finally you were going somewhere. Back to where you started that is. No matter how many times you tried, you just ended up where you started. Nothing. If you made the mistake of quitting the app and trying again, you couldn't even login anymore.

Now, this wasn't just me, or some people, this was everyone who tried VR. I have searched multiple fan groups and pages to see if anyone, anyone, got in, and no one did. So much for "highest quality production."

30 minutes of this frustration was enough for me and the group of people I was chatting to. We quit the app, and decided to watch what was left of the TV stream from the live concert earlier in the day. The YouTube stream never materialised and hopefully never will.

We found ourselves watching what had to be some Black Mirror version of a Jarre concert.

There he was, in the middle of this hall with audiences in front and behind him. The footage was mainly a camera going round and round in circles, sometimes showing the (dimly lit) crowd, who didn't quite know whether to clap or dance or not, and then mixing into this awful VR version (rehearsal?) of the performance with a VR audience that was made up of black silhouettes of people. Not animated, not moving, nothing. Just black mannequins. It gave this very dystopian image of some mad man playing music to a bunch of dolls. This was obviously just a mix that someone quickly threw together to try and make the TV contractual obligation and hope no one notices.

Your fans are tech-savvy Mr Jarre, by definition we kinda are because you came along at a time when tech was blowing up and we grew up with it and your music hand in hand. We noticed.

Perhaps the most embarrassing of all however was his "live" performance. It's no secret that 99% of his concerts are playback, but then most electronic acts are. But most electronic acts have the dignity to acknowledge this and even play to its strength: Kraftwerk just stand behind desks pressing a button now and then, heck occasionally even replacing themselves with robots that just stand there while the music plays; The Chemical Brothers just go from twiddling one knob to another that may or may not make any changes to the track that's playing at the time. And that's OK, we're there for the music, not the craftsmanship.

Jarre seems to think that jumping around pretending to play notes is what people want to see, and maybe that might've worked if he was playing on the rooftops of Houston for example. But in such a small space, with cameras everywhere, what we got was an old man who was trying to act half his age, forgetting what he was meant to be doing and just jumping around from one keyboard to another. A tune would play and his fingers would be just hovering over some keys and not even moving, he would suddenly stop "playing" the main tune and start clapping or interacting with the crowd, or he'd spin around to face the crowd behind him, abandoning whatever keyboard he was pretending to play and the music somehow magically carried on. I was reminded of The Weeknd's excellent "Save Your Tears" music video that parodies artists younger than Jarre by fifty years. Click the scissors below to see what I mean:

The final insult to this injury was that he was doing all this while wearing that headset. To see what? I don't know. Definitely not the VR version of this big mess. Maybe he was watching The Weeknd's video on repeat and wondering how it all came down to this.

While I will forever be in awe and respectful of Jarre as a musician and artist, it is still very sad seeing him fall to such low ground after a career that literally took his music to outer space. I could not shake the feeling that Jarre's seventy five years have finally caught up with him, and no matter how eternally youthful he looks or wishes to be, time will always win in the end.

I Iove you monsieur Jean-Michel but perhaps it's now time to put your feet up and relax. Leave the miming to your grandchildren.

[jerry618]

LED Backdrop Screens: Maximizing the Impact of Your Event

Email: sale05@xygledscreen.com

WhatsApp & wechat: +86 18038197291

www.xygledscreen.com

People expect higher production value from your events. It's not their fault - current technology makes it so we can put up a proper show, even with a modest budget. And one such piece of technology is a LED stage backdrop screen.

Possibilities are limited only by your imagination. You can turn your stage into a winter wonderland or universe of colors. But, before you give your imagination wings, you should learn more about LED backdrop screens. Let's go.

What is LED Backdrop Screen?

In short, it's a giant LED screen that serves as a background to your performance, presentation, lecture, or any other event. They contain similar light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as your flatscreen at home. As such, they can produce high-resolution images and videos that come with vibrant color and excellent contrast.

These screens come in various sizes and can be adapted to any venue and stage size. And it doesn't stop there. LED backdrop screens are a staple in movie and TV productions, and news studios as well.

Applications of LED Backdrop Screen

Concerts and music festivals

These days it is rare for a concert production not to include LED backdrops, especially if the visitor numbers rise to four or five digits. An LED backdrop can provide a better view of the artists to ticket holders who are not lucky enough to find themselves in the front rows. Or they can vastly enhance the stagecraft and the performance itself.

Corporate events and trade shows

Branding is everything. So, what better way to showcase your brand than by playing promotional material in the background or providing visual accompaniment to your presentation?

Houses of worship

Mega churches are one of the earliest adaptors of this technology. However, you don't need a congregation numbering over 10,000 people to inject some color into your sermons. The same job stained glass windows have been doing for centuries, LED backdrops can do today.

Theatrical productions

Imagine trying to bring Hogwarts to life in a stage production with classical props only. How will you create the moving portraits? What about the house ghosts? And what about the light show that happens when spells start flying around? A single or a system of LED backdrop screens can bring magic to any stage.

Broadcast and recording studios

An LED backdrop easily changes to suit different scenes and shows. Plus, they can be used to impart additional information by displaying weather maps, graphics, pictures or footage of scenery, and anything else you can think of.

Sports events

Not everyone can get their hands on courtside seats, but they can still keep their eyes on the action through LED backdrops. You can also use them to display scores, banners, ads from sponsors, and who knows, maybe even a kiss cam.

Private events

A pair of marine biologists can't marry at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. However, they can bring some of the underwater charm to their special day through the help of an LED backdrop.

Advantages of Using LED Backdrop Screens Over Traditional Green Screens

Real-time visual effects

LED backdrops allow for the integration of real-time graphics, footage, and effects, eliminating the need for post-production work.

Seamless integration and superior image quality

LED screens deliver high-resolution visuals that feature vibrant colors and excellent contrast at wide viewing angles. This ensures that everyone present has a great view. They can also provide a seamless blend of live broadcast and pre-recorded material, creating a stunning and immersive viewing experience.

Flexibility and versatility

There is no limit to what you can display on one of these backdrops, ranging from images and videos to animations, interactive elements, and live content.

Environmentally and budget-friendly

Not only is LED technology more energy-efficient than its alternatives, but its presence will prevent waste that comes from purchasing one-time-use decorations and/or props.

You can wear green

Rejoice all of you who had to waste additional time and funds on a wardrobe that can work in front of a green screen.

Tips for Creating Impactful Visuals with LED Backdrop Screens

Go big or go home

Get the biggest screen your budget allows. Try to cover the entire stage or the majority of it for maximum impact.

Color in motion

They can handle it, so bring on all those vibrant hues and complex motion graphics. Create contrast, mix and match colors, add moving patterns, mesmerizing transitions and effects, etc.

Play with the perspective

LED backdrops offer an excellent depth of perception, so take advantage of it. Go 3D with your animation and other visuals to create a truly immersive experience for your audience.

Let there be light

Ensure that your LED backdrop works well with the stage and venue lighting. You need to create a balance between illuminating the people on the stage and the screen light.

Testing, testing, one, two, three

It's a boring but vital step. Make sure everything is working flawlessly and smoothly. Check for glitches, what the image looks like through your phone screen or camera lens, look for timing issues, resolution problems, etc.

Have fun

Go with your wildest ideas. Things that seemed impossible are now a child's play. If you can't come up with something that takes your breath away, the audience won't be impressed either.

[see-arcane]

Hi,

I love Nope. But I’m a bit confused at the chase part? what was the purpose for that chase and why did JJ kinda flipped upside down? Thanks I like reading your post about this movie

The chase/run was basically the group's way of luring Jean Jacket into plain view so Holst could get footage of him as proof.* (*Which was promptly snafu'd due to artistic differences and Suicide By Slurping. Thanks, Holst.)

The flip was JJ reacting to the sight of the flag cord trailing away from Lucky, making him and OJ look like the horse statue that got stuck in JJ's throat-gut and agitated him. OJ rightly assumed the flags would act like a visual warning to JJ--like how bright colors warn us from poisonous and venomous animals--and JJ twisted away as a reflex, cutting off any chance he might accidentally suck up the 'statue' and suffer another round of blockage/indigestion.

Glad you like my scribbles!

[freeced]

TRIGUN LO-FI // Typhoon's Eye | Freeced [Trigun Stampede Song] Hey, it's been a while! I know I've skipped a few songs...I'll get back to them...probably...but this is my newest one and it's the one I'm excited about right now so this is the post you get! TRIGUN LO-FI // Typhoon's Eye is my soft and poetic tribute to Trigun Stampede as well as a retro nod to the anime's roots. I've done a few lo-fi rap tracks, and though I did include a short rap verse in this one, I really wanted to leave a lot more room for the instrumental and melody to shine through by doing a little more singing and a lot more shutting up. As with a lot of my more singing-focused songs, it bears a strong melancholy tone and enough queerly-flipped religious imagery to make you ask if I'm okay. I am okay! The music video for this song was edited by my best friend and longtime collaborator @carovt, which meant I could do things like shoot some live-action footage for once and throw it at her instead of figuring out how to fit it into an AMV myself. I had a very good time leaning over her shoulder and going "Make this nearly imperceptible change I want" while she calmly explained how complicated my requests actually were in After Effects, a program I have come to despise with a passion usually reserved for programs I have ever used. And then she'd make the changes anyway, because she's the best. Thank you, C. I did all the live-action filming myself. I waited till kind of late in the day, which is the main reason why there isn't much, but I got really lucky when a train just happened to be passing right behind the spot I had picked out. I don't often get chances to show my favorite places in the city where I live, because most of them aren't the sorts of places you'd take someone. I've always had a thing for the broken-down parts of town, the train tracks, the empty roofs, the paint-marked alleys, and the rubble piles left over from construction projects that never seem to end. I'm glad I got to show you one of those spots, even if it's nothing really special, because it's where I live and it's where I am alive. I wish I'd been able to shoot the rap part while the train was still going by, but I'm so bad at remembering my own lyrics that I couldn't get a solid take before it passed. Ah well. I'm proud of what we got. Anyway, that's TRIGUN LO-FI. If you've listened to it already, I hope you liked it! And thank you! If you haven't yet, I hope you will! It's for Trigun fans, it's for queers like me, it's for anybody who just needs something calm to listen to while the wind and grit and gunsmoke fade away. Oh yeah, and it's on streaming platforms too. If that's where you go for anime-inspired lo-fi songs that are melancholy and written by queer folks with obvious comfort characters. For instance. - Freeced

[sovietpostcards]

Hi! I just wanted to ask, what do you think of Gosteleradiofond?

I think you guys are very lucky to have a state agency like that which uploads so much of their archives like that. In the Czech Republic we don't have that much media from the socialist era easily accessible anywhere, meanwhile I see Gosteleradiofond uploading several times a day random bits of media like news reports, songs, movies, animations, etc. It gives people such a rich insight into the cultural life of the late Soviet period.

Oh I love Gosteleradiofond. They do a great job. I was sad when YouTube blocked them... Luckily, they undid it quickly.

For people not familiar with it, Gosteleradiofond ( = State TV and Radio Archive) has a Youtube channel that posts a lot of TV bits from years past. I've watched a number of musical and variety shows, some news bits, and my favourite are so-called sketches or essays - just lovely footage with background music and no commentary.

The pace of old TV was so much slower than today. I do enjoy it sometimes.

Some random recs from me:

Making of roly-poly toys (1980)

Excersizes everywhere (1982)

Flowers of Moscow (1972)

End of school year (1986)

The Snowstorm by Georgiy Sviridov, performed by the Grand Symphony Orchestra of Central Television and All-Union Radio (1984)

Views of Kostroma (1978)

Views of Leningrad (1978)

Moscow is waiting for the Olympics (1979)

New Year preparations (1977)