#clone andy advance wars

[honks-n-stonks]

this image has been haunting me since reboot camp dropped and only now have I decided to do something about it

yeah there are a bunch of tiny issues with this. but. I do not feel like fixing them....

[kynimdraws]

Andys

If you know the top left one, you can get a veteran’s discount

[bubble-jasmine-tea]

experimental piece because I have advance wars on the brain and wanted to mess around with clone anatomy hcs

(Extra: in-progress Image where the internal workings are more visible)

[neokatt]

I love these two

[macro-land]

Me: Midway through adding the rest of the Advance Wars cast onto my muse page so that I can finally get the party started.

Opera GX: CRASHES

Me:

[bubble-jasmine]

I have no idea what I’m doing but I give them all 5 minutes before someone explodes and dies

They’re very, VERY happy about their temporary housing as you can see

[pikachu-deluxe]

they really did nail the music in advance wars reboot camp tho

[helispark]

headcanons for every advance wars 1+2: reboot camp CO

nell - straight transfem andy - gender nonconforming max - asexual, himbo-type beat sami - eeeeeasy sami is a butch lesbian sonja is her girlfriend. poor girl has every bi person crushing on her hachi - is hachi a CO? i always assumed they were some kinda secret CO, they would fill in that empty slot on the collectibles screen nicely. anyway hachi is nonbinary, agender. used to date sensei

olaf - he's like a bear to me grit - bisexual maybe idk, what i'm certain about though is grit is the most aromantic guy in this game. like it explains his whole arc in AW1, and his details in AW2, he's a drifter who won't commit to any side and operates the same with relationships. colin - colin is gender questioning, they're an egg but they will probably be that way for a long time, this sopping wet thing has some issues to sort through first

kanbei - kanbei's gay. him and drake are gay af and very romantic about it. they enjoy walks by the beach and have gone to an innumerable amount of pride parades together sonja - yea she's transfem. is dating sami. also a lesbian sensei - sensei is bi, sensei threw the first brick at stonewall

eagle - easy, eagle is transmasc. look at him. how many trans men wouldn't want to have his fit. he's a communist, and so is the entire nation of green earth drake - as stated before he is gay and in a romantic relationship with kanbei. if you're going to take anything away from this shitpost it should be that these guys have REALLY good chemistry they're just two good dudes who love the world. if either one of them ever lost confidence in things the other would be right there to help them up jess - i do not trust anybody who thinks jess advancewars isn't some flavor of queer. imo they're nonbinary, a bit masc-leaning but still very much nonbinary, also asexual

sturm - closet case who uses world domination as an elaborate coping mechanism clone - like andy, clone is also gender nonconforming. is under sturm's watchful eye but the next three guys are helping him experiment with himself flak - part one of the flak-lash-adder polycule. he's a furry. there are probably others in this game that fit that bill, but you cannot look at me in the eyes and say that the guy who wears scarlet red goggles 24/7 and has battle animations that are that goofy isn't a furry. you know it to be true. lash - part two of the flak-lash-adder polycule. enjoys dominating but comically bad at it. i'm very conscious of the fact that the only polyamorous people i have here are on the bad guys' side, but the general vibes work well for these three to be poly adder - part three of the flak-lash-adder polycule. adder has gone through so many labels over the years and is on track to abandoning them completely. best thing you can land on him is he's some kind of very outgoing, gender-ambiguous twink hawke - the only cishet person in this game. macbeth lookin ass

[bellybiologist]

Gotta Ramble. Advance WAAARS

I'm only about 12 fights into AW2's story, but i gotta gush. BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW.

-Screaming Crying and Throwing up cuz everything looks and sounds so GOOD.

-COs have like like 4 song versions (normal, powered version, buying-a-unit version and one you hear on the world map. and 5 if you count the one with extra drums when engaging units). Incredible. We are SPOILED.

-All the animations are CLEAN as fuck and the art style is super cute. The multiple win/lose animations in the battle! Bitches been wanting these back since they got rid of them in AW2! 👏🏽

-My girls (Sami and Sonja) and my boys (Andy and Colin) look so good. HOWEVER. Some of the COs have weird detail choices (though not in a bad way, just that im noticing it!) Like Lash and her SUPER FOREHEAD. (Andy got a huge forehead too)

-Drake is very cute too. he is so ROUND. admittedly, i expecting him to either sound more Pop-eye or Mr. Krabs-like. It was a decision 12 year old Verzi made and i saw no reason to change it. :P

-Speaking of which! Some of the voice work feels a little weird. It's not the best, but im not hating it and its not detracting from the experience.

-Due to said voice work, i realize i've been pronouncing Sonja's name wrong for ~20 years.

-PLAYABLE CLONE ANDY. and he has his OWN ANIMATIONS AND SONGS???? Incredible.

-I think they fixed Sturm's Meteor calculations cuz I tried baiting it like i did in the other games and it didnt work. 😜 (i might not have used enough APCs though, lol)

-Me, playing as Sonja and parking units 2 squares away from the enemy knowing they can't see me cuz they have 1 vision and the AI doesnt cheat: 😈😈😈

-I like how they stayed true to the CO's stats from the respective games, and change them accordingly with the campaign. That said, I *was* hoping they would do some rebalancing! (even if only outside the campaigns, cuz i understand that rebalancing could really fuck with the mission balance/difficulty). CO balance was always such a hot topic in AW forums back in the day, and its wild seeing Hella Broken AW1 Max and AW2 Colin come back just as hella broken as they were. Though that means all the bad is coming back too (Sami, gurl, your AW1 stats! 😭)

-I'm also noticing the changes in the story! Which make sense since they got rid of the player self insert from the 1st game, and the extra details that help things make sense (like Sami explaining Macro land is Not Cosmo Land in the AW2 campaign)

I'm not even done yet and havent even touched the war room and map editor yet, and i am so in love with this remake. I will probably make another ramble post if/when i find more stuff to gush about.

[honks-n-stonks]

why is your pfp just frezzi's but evil and fucked up

teehee giggle

[famicom-wars-advance]

Despite being in the Advance Wars fandom for almost a year now, I haven’t really posted that much of my legitimate art online for mainly 2 reasons. 1, I didn’t have this blog at the time and didn’t want my main of mostly Splatoon fans to be confused, and 2, I was just embarrassed. But now that it’s been awhile, I thought I’d post some of it.

I drew this picture of Colin from sometime in August to sometime in September, I believe. It was the second full piece I did digitally for AW.

We got pirate Drake from again August to September. This specific one I originally was gonna have flipped, but when I flipped the canvas to check the proportions, I liked it better.

Another picture or Colin that I worked on from October to November. As you can see, I never ended up finishing it.

Clone Andy! I drew this one in less than a day, actually, back in December. 

Being the 2nd the most recent finished piece I have in my AW folder, I drew this one in mid April. I was gonna post it on my main at some point, but I never did. This isn’t all of the stuff I have in my Aw folder. In fact, there’s actually alot more. It’s just alot of it is unfinished. 

There’s also a large amount of doodles, as well as sketches and flat colors. Since I draw in MS Paint and Paint 3D, I save my sketches, flat colors, and finished pieces all as separate pictures in case something corrupts. Here are some examples of them:

It’s interesting to see how the way I paint and draw has changed since I joined the fandom, it’s already been so long. Also

Gotta go, GN!

[lazaefair]

The difference between the Rogue One crew dying and the Rogue One crew escaping Scarif was a mysterious squad of six mercenaries.

Andy and Quỳnh predate even the Old Republic. Nicolò and Yusuf date from the Knights Of The Old Republic period. Booker from the Clone Wars. Nile’s the newest - she dies on Jedha.

The immortals had been working for the Rebellion almost from the start. After the fall of the Republic and Order 66, they showed up on Mon Mothma’s doorstep.

Andy and Booker had been undercover in the Empire, working with Galen Erso to carry out his sabotage. After Galen died, their covers were blown so they escaped with the rest of the Rogue One crew back to Yavin 4. Their reunion with Joe, Nicky and Quỳnh was the first time they’d all been together in years.

And then Cassian Andor comes to them with a desperate plan.

And then Chirrut says, “How fortunate, that you are not the first of your kind I have met today,” and it turns out he dragged Nile off Jedha when they were all escaping because, well, how often do you come across a person who dies and then clearly comes back to life according to your bodily senses, but has vanished from your Force senses?

(He finds them absolutely fascinating. They’re almost completely outside of the Force. NO ONE is outside of the Force. Even advanced droids have a spark. And yet these people have been singled out by the living Force to never be absorbed into its stream in death.)

Anyway, they all go to Scarif and nobody dies and Joe and Nicky save Bodhi from being blown up, Andy and Quỳnh help Chirrut and Baze get the shields down, Booker’s in the archives with Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO, and because Bodhi didn’t get blown up he could snatch them off the comms tower and get off-planet before they got caught in the Death Star wave.

The shuttle is crippled so they limp back into Yavin 4 just in time to take out a couple TIE fighters during the assault on the Death Star, before crash-landing on Yavin. So yes, they’re present for the MASSIVE party afterwards.

Joe and Nicky snatch Bodhi out from under Baze and Chirrut’s noses. Baze and Chirrut return the favor a couple days later. Eventually they agree to a shared custody arrangement.

BONUS (thanks to @iwritesometimes):

Andy’s been a goddess, a queen, a mercenary, a smuggler, a soldier, a healer, a teacher - you name it, she’s been it. And she knows EVERYBODY. (Lando Calrissian owes HER money.) Like, she’s literally in the Jedi sacred texts and Yoda’s scared of her. Even the Hutts don’t fuck with her.

BONUS BONUS:

Bodhi to Andy: “How old are you, really?”

Andy: “Have you ever heard of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?”

[neokatt]

finally got around to drawing the boy!

my dear skrimblo with like a few minutes of screentime then is never mentioned or brought up again <3333

[tristanlovesthequeen]

Something Smart

Tristan Arcelona

Claire Daigle

Minding the Canon HTCA-502-01

11/30/16

Artist as Purveyor of the Contemporary Landscape

The first time I saw a representation of Salvador Dali's “The Persistence of Memory” was in a cartoon on Nickelodeon called “Tiny Toons.”  I forget the exact scene but somehow this image stayed with me and has pervaded popular culture since its inception.  Dali first came up with the idea during a after a dinner party with his wife, Gala and some artist friends.  After dinner the group decided to go to the cinema and Dali decided to hang back.  He sat at the head of the table observing a loaf of Camembert cheese and pondering the super soft texture of it.  He sat down and began to work at the painting.  It was almost complete upon the return of his wife.  Upon seeing it she proclaimed that it was a sight impossible to be unseen.

The simplicity of the initial concept of soft cheese was then taken to the next step through Dali's hyper paranoiac conceptualism and then taken even further by art critics, theorists, and historians who believed it had to do with Einstein's theory of relativity.  Later on in Dali's career he began to paint about this topic, with the advent of nuclear physics and string theory, molecular structures and DNA mapping.  This is an instance of artist creating a brand, and the symbiotic relationship between the supply chain and the demand creating new technologies, hybridized paintings, and advancement in concept.  Dali drifted between faith systems his entire life, finding sources of inspiration and exploring them, sharing his findings and experiments through the medium of art.  What started as landscape and portraiture evolved into impressionism then cubism and then his most famous surrealist stage.  This period explored the concept of dream reality and meaning of dream symbols which directly connected him to the theories of Sigmund Freud.  When criticized by fellow surrealists as purely a commercial painter, he denounced surrealism, needing only his wife Gala.  He lived a life in the spotlight through wars, moving from Europe to New York and back again.  He progressed the ideas explored in surrealism to scientific theorems and in the tail end of his career he became more of a faith based painter.

Sometimes the mythology of a painting's creation is more interesting than the painting itself.  It's reputation precedes it and therefore it achieves high levels of fame.  One such painting is “Dance at the Moulin de la Galette” by Renoir.  The Moulin de la Galette was a popular dance hall/ bar/ restaurant for the impressionists to meet in Montmarte Paris, France during the late 1800's.  Pierre Auguste Renoir had a studio nearby.  Legend has it that everyday he would carry the canvas with a friend down to the Moulin de la Galette and set up his easel.  

Renoir leased a studio at 12 Rue Cortot, in April 1875.  It came furnished and had two floors, where he lived with his brother.  He made several studies at the Moulin de la Galette.  Renoir's civil servant friend Georges Riviere writes how friends helped carry the canvas back and forth “We would carry this canvas every day from the rue cortot to the moulin, because the painting was executed entirely on the spot.  This was not without difficulties, when the wind blew and the big canvas threatened to fly away like a kite over the Butte.” (pg. 64)

Renoir used his friends and acquaintances from all walks of life as models.  He had a favorite female sitter, whose name was Jeanne and was sixteen who refused the main role in the painting but appears later in life as the main character in “The Swing.”  Instead, her sister Estelle models the pink and blue ribbon dress.

Renoir went through a period in his life where he and his fellow impressionist compatriots were penniless.  Renoir combated this period in his life by writing letters to friends asking for money, also by staying with fellow artists such as Monet.  It seemed the impressionist vision was fading with the salon show actually losing money and his artist group parting ways.  His main gallerist Durand-ruel closed his London location and it seemed that all was lost.  Famished, Renoir started painting portraits and with a stroke of luck and genius, he was able to make the acquaintance of one of Duret's friends Deudon, who was a wealthy lawyer and owner of a clothing store Old England.  Duedon comissioned him to paint a mural in his estate, a portrait of Madame Duedon and five of his finished pieces.  

This granted Renoir passage to build upon what he had been pursuing with his portrait studies to create the symphony of motion and light that we know as Bal du Moulin de la Galette.  After exhibiting, he was able to land several published reviews as was the style at the time.  However, instead of advancing his process and concept, the reviews were mostly negative, 2/6 were favorable.

Most of Renoir's paintings are figurative, all signifying spacial pictoral depth.  Some are landscape.  Now they seem highly unoriginal, the best part about them being the color and motion of brushstroke.  His model choice changed slightly over the years, yet remained mostly young white women, beginning with light red hair and progressing to black.  He undeniably had a type, at his worst remained a blank, doll-like expression.  Even in the Bal du Moulin de la Galette, his most populated painting, it looks as though the main female model repeats over and over as though she were dancing with her clones.  However, he combats this with the dappled shadows from the overhanging branches, the representation of the contemporary styles of the time, and the bright and sunny disposition of all the participants of the scene.  One cannot help but feel nostalgic for a period that would not have existed if the Impressionists had not imagined and created it.  

Advance time about a hundred years or more and we find Bruce la Bruce's movie Super 8 1/2.  This movie is a mockumentary based on a queer fetishistic porn producer's life and work.  Things have changed since the 90's, with the advancement of the internet interrupting basically every aspect of our lives.  Porn is everywhere.  This movie is reminiscent of John Waters' tongue in cheek reality.  The stars are not perfect right wing citizens, they are “underground” and rife with problems, and we see how very real they are.  The main character takes after Andy Warhol, he has taken to alcoholism and lives in a dingy room with aluminum colored space blankets on the walls.  He is always in a state of heartbreak and his relationships with his costars are argumentative and violent.  

Googie is an adventurous porn producer who finds her subjects in mysterious ways.  She finds a lesbian couple hooking up in a graveyard and casts them as her new stars.  A confessional interview shows them talking about their threesomes with strangers and hatred for hetero cis men. They like to “fuck them, and fuck with their minds.”  Wednesday and Friday describe going into clubs with a pair of scissors and cutting off straight men's ponytails.  They aren't serious strippers, they are quirky and take their sexuality and dancing with a slight humorous bend.  

The stars are full of themselves and obsessed with fame.  Their egos cause them to blow up in violent outbursts at each other and exploit each other.  The difference between Bruce la Bruce's porn and every other run of the mill porn filmed in New York or the valley, is that these stars have been given credit for being avant garde art stars. One such plot is Bruce driving an old Jaguar down a a desolate country road and hitting a hitchhiker.  He gets out of the car to check on the man who he has hit and ends up getting a blowjob when he regains consciousness.  The movie concludes with the stranger throwing up on the side of the road and Bruce hopping back in the car and driving away.

A movie directed by Googie and starring Wednesday and Friday, the two lesbian “sisters,” pictures them holding a man up with a WWII army beretta, lubing up his rear and shoving the covered pistol in his behind.  They finish him off by stripping him bare in the brush, powdering him and equipping him with a diaper.

The movie is a black comedy.  Visually it is devoid of colour. Needless to say, it is weighty in its stark portrayal of a scene that is hardly ever represented in the main stream without being over glorified.  It is an industry, much like the meat industry, that remains invisible in its process, yet is pervasive throughout history, since the dawn of photography.  It has it's parallels in the art scene, with painters and photographers alike representing models who may or may not have participated in porn shoots.  The credit goes to the artist usually, with the model being a conduit to his concept, and it is impossible to see how much the subject actually contributed to the process and final image.

Eventually we see Bruce's participation in the industry drowning him in sorrow. He stumbles around the courtyard of an insane asylum in black doc martens, white pants, and a white straight jacket.  He has been exploited to no end, what was supposed to save his career, the interviews and collaborations, actually detrimented from it.  His friend describes him as losing touch with reality, blurring the line between his movies and his waking life.  We see him shellshocked on camera dropping a line of infinite wisdom and rebuking it, attempting to cover his tracks, rephrasing it as if it can be edited out of the space time continuum.

The film is filmed in low-fi black and white with almost no budget. Needless to say, it is an art film.  It documents a sub culture that concerns itself with a subversive beauty, that the mainstream is dangerous.  It takes hard work no matter what you do, whoever said being a pornstar is easy?  We see the image of a young black man on a benchpress, the director condemning him for not being able to get it up, that he has had “Three fluffers already.”  That the price of fame might be the price of your mental well being, that the more one departs from mainstream society the more danger one welcomes into their personality.  That somehow being beautiful and volatile gives you control over others, it creates a desire in them to do your will. However, it is only tolerable for a short period of time.  Misery loves company but it also attracts a certain type of self aware genius.  We are only comfortable with our avarice in the midst of a reflection, and when that reflection starts to change we are disgusted and need to move on.  We accept that life is hard and must accept the most gruesome of challenges because our ability to tolerate and moderate these events bring us a sense of personal satisfaction, the sense of grit to survive.  The fear always lies with our insecurities.  When will this life bring me under?  How much is too much?  In this industry, pain and substance abuse go hand in hand.  In theory, the dampening of the limbic system allows us to surpass the constant onslaught of painful memories.  What is actually happening is quite the opposite.  How one chooses to combat these issues or feelings depends on a personality type or a type of abuse someone has endured in the past, whether it was mental, physical or sexual.  Occasionally people attempt to welcome back this type of abuse into their lives, they put themselves in situations that repeat or glorify an abusive situation and it becomes a cycle without rebirth leading to their ultimate destruction and downfall.  Given the right willpower, resources, and technique one can break this cycle.  Life is not without pitfalls and setbacks, but only if we take them that way.  This can lead us further into space or further equip us to deal with life has to offer us.  

Ultimately society was not built to do us any favors.  The kind of free sexual rebellion that this movie introduces is somewhat refreshing somewhat stale.  It shows us that this behavior might not land us in prison, but might lead us to a sort of mental exile where we feel alien to the world.  The world has offered us an escape from mainstream only to find that we are caught in another mainstream. Crimes against humanity are rampant wherever we go and it is not until we accept them as part of our culture that we find any release.

Tony smith created the steel sculpture “Die” in 1968 with the intention of representing the “square root” of six.  It is literally six by six feet, metaphorically representing death by being six feet deep and a six foot box.  It is brooding in its intentionality, also seems to be a means to an end goal of traveling to New York.  The NGA describes the piece as “embracing the heroic and humanistic attitudes associated with abstract expressionist art of the 1950's,” however I would describe the movement as one filled mostly with a sense of white male machismo.  How could he have not noticed the gigantic black cube in the middle of Jerusalem called the Kaaba which houses the holy book of the Q'uuraan?  Millions of people flock to the religious site each year to pay homage to the prophet Muhammad.  Arguably, this is an even larger homage to organized religion and the prowess of another man of a separate ethnicity. Both cubes are homages to death, one is immensely popular and other remains a mirror of a small dying culture, we shall presume the reader knows which one is which.  

Sometimes art is less conceptual as a metaphor for what is already present in life, and turns into a science project that invigorates the future of materiality, which is what all visual art media is based.  Traditional materials are often decided by trends in the economy, sudden turns of fate determine which path is chosen and which materials will become the new norm.  What replaced the steam engine with the gasoline powered motorcar and what replaced paper made from trees instead of hemp, was usually a rich investor that decided it was easier to pollute than to create something that is sustainable and equally as useful.  What we have now is a bunch of overworked, underpaid employees that are just as polluted in their minds as the environments lakes and rivers.  

Iris van Herpen is a designer that falls into a new genre of material futures.  Material futures deals with finding a category of unsustainable or overused materiality, whether it be, organs, meat that we eat, or clothes that we wear.  She creates new fabrics that are produced using 3d scans and furthermore printed and stitched by hand and machine to create designs reminiscent of HR Giger meets fairy princess, Hufflepuff meets Slitheryn in Harry Potter fan lore. She is conducting science with the touch of a skilled wizard, producing new leather from cow cells and lightweight fabrics lighter than silk.  This technology continues to progress around the world. Her theory is not that we should be creating new wearable technologies that are stylistically unsound, meant to connect us to the outside world without bringing anything new to the physical realm.  Her textures and textiles connote that we can represent how we feel and what we have experienced through  a suit that we wear. 3D printing is becoming more accessible, to the point that people could do it “if they could only find the time.”  If Iris van Herpen ever becomes mainstream we might not find the time to leave the house in the morning, staring at our reflections, robing and disrobing again until we can find the right form to describe our ever changing mood.

As it so happens, Iris van Herpen interned for Alexander McQueen, a famous English fashion designer who has died but his name still rings on.  Before his death in 2010, he put together a show called VOSS, in which models were to reenact the mentality of being in an inpatient unit.  Models shaped like gazelles stumble around in high heels looking posh and sleek with some sort of headdress that looks as though they have strapped pantyhose to their heads.  Kate moss fumbles at the walls, which, are double sided mirrors, the audience can see in but none of the models on the runway can see out.  The models, while nice to look at, sporting some amazing designs by McQueen, are perhaps not the most interesting part of the show.  The climax comes, as the large rectangular rhombus in the center of the room comes crashing open, glass shatter and butterflies spread everywhere, fluttering about in the light.  The main character, unclear whether she is the protagonist/ antagonist, reclines nude inside the cube, sporting a gas mask with concord wings a precursor to a character in Mad Max Fury Road.  

It just so happens that this model is Michelle Olley, a London based writer and magazine editor who specializes in culture.  She was a key figure in queer and fetish culture in the 80's and 90's and has since hopped around from job to job and now works as content manager for Turner Broadcasting's Adult Swim.  On her blog, she describes the experience of being involved in the project.  The all around stress she was under and the real life torture she felt being kept in the box.

“If it weren’t for yoga I’d be in absolute agony by now. I can’t move much because moving breaks wings; my lower leg is dead after about twenty minutes on the chair. I’ve got at least an hour and a half alone in here, and that’s if the show starts on time, which of course they never, ever do. After about another fifteen minutes my right shoulder, which is leaning on a cushion, starts to ache. I’m clutching onto Stephen’s best scalpel—which I need to slash open the butterfly net that contains 250 live moths and butterflies. I’m holding the net in my other hand trying to keep it still so I don’t disturb them. The radio earpieces are throbbing—they’ve been hurting since they wrapped the bandages round them. It’s not too bad in the mask. I can breathe OK. The temperature is awful, though. They need to keep it cold in there so that the moths will remain still/placid. Cold air is being piped in, as when the lights go on at showtime, it’s going to get really hot. The cold air is giving me goose bumps and making the glue/moth parts all around my body really itchy. My head’s hot, my body’s freezing. Time to test whether they really are listening at all times. I ask Anna to turn off the air con and they agree to give it a rest for ten minutes. I have no idea how long it took to shut it off or low long it was off for, but it wasn’t enough. Before I know it, the pipes are blowing again—sending another flurry of broken wings and antennas off me and I’m shivering. Anna tells me they’re running about twenty minutes late (it was about an hour to the official start by this point). By this stage I have no idea how long I’ve been in there, or how long I have left. Time has ceased to be quantifiable. I’m too focused on not thinking about my discomfort, not getting emotional, saying warm and not thinking about the fact I was busting for a pee. I just wanted desperately to get it over with. Sometime later Anna calls to say it would be another fifteen minutes on top of the twenty (“We’re waiting for Gwyneth, who’s stuck in traffic”). Bring. It. On. Before getting in the box, I’d seen all the names on the chairs through the two-way mirrored glass. Paltrow was at my feet, next to Nick and Charlotte Knight; my backside was right to Isabella Blow, Grace Jones, Sharlene from Texas and Ronnie and Jo Wood. Could they tell I was hatching a radio mic? I’d also spotted Tracy Chapman, Tracey Emin and Jake Chapman’s names on the chairs. My early comment about “doing it for art” was coming true in an unexpected fashion...

No, it’s the art thing again. I want people to know what I just went through wasn’t a breeze and I did it for art. Yes, art. Because I believe it’s worth going through that much palaver if it creates a strong image that conveys an important idea. And I believe that the idea that we are trapped by our “civilized,” socially approved identities is massively important. It causes women so much suffering. Fear of aging, fear of not being thin enough. Fear of not having the right clothes. Fear of our animal natures that we carry in our DNA—fish, bird, lizard, insect, mammal. We’ve never had it more techno, we’ve never needed it more human. We humans living now still cannot turn ourselves into perfect beings, no matter how long we spend at the gym, beauty parlour, shops, etc.”

Sometimes it takes a whole orchestra of behind the scenes folks to get a project realized.  Sometimes it is only a handful of people who receive the credit for a massive undertaking such as this.  Why is Tracy Chapman still relevant?  Because she is involved with the culture.  And when all is said and done, however equally distributed the pain and strife of the work that was completed, we still live in a world where Benjamin Franklin is accredited with the discovery of electricity.  Perhaps McQueen would have not felt so weighed down by the responsibility of stardom if the attention received for such a project was distributed with more equity.  Michelle Olley still learned a valuable lesson in body image from the experience of participating in the project, so it seems that process can be the most important part of creation.

Haruki Murakami writes in his novel Kafka on the Shore, “That’s why I like to listen to Schubert while I’m driving. Like I said, it’s because all the performances are imperfect. A dense, artistic kind of imperfection stimulates your consciousness, keeps you alert. If I listen to some utterly perfect performance of an utterly perfect piece while I’m driving, I might want to close my eyes and die right then and there. But listening to the D major, I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of—that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. And personally, I find that encouraging.”

Contemporary art seems to operate solely upon this concept, that there are continuous builds based upon the notion that everything here is imperfect.  Competition is based on this nodule that human kind has something to prove, that there is somehow something better to be strived for.  Competition within contemporary art pushes boundaries of what is conceptual, accepted, what element of art history the piece is derived from, and what new materials can be used.  Since there is no purpose in striving for perfection, it eliminates the competition within the art world.  What is left is abstract free flowing ideas.  Competition in the art world, it seems only exists within the art market.  Survival of the fittest is based on who has the latest advancement in technology “who has the biggest guns” and who can obtain the largest chunk of the economy.  Eventually people try to compensate by dumping the largest amount of money into a particular project, here size of the object, materiality, location, and finish come into play.  What is left can be impactful, just because of the immense capabilities of one particular artist.  

The Japanese synth composer Yuzo Koshiro, who is famous for his video game scores during the 90's describes this concept when being called the king of FM synthesis.  “It’s an honour for me. Though there are a lot of people who use the FM synth well. As I said before, in terms of game music... Trying to use an FM synth with MIDI had so many restrictions. I don’t think people could use the chip to its full potential exactly as they wanted. Since I made my own editor and driver, I could control everything about the chip down to the fine details. So I think that’s why I was able produce that level of sound. I definitely don’t think I’m great at making quality tones though. Being able to control every little thing freely was one of the main reasons I received that kind of praise.”  Koshiro was able to fine tune his process by using his own tools, which he developed, using his own ideal of how he saw the future.  Still, he believes the final product was not the embodiment of perfection.  He finds that the more one plays through a video game with the music that he has composed, the more the melodies grow on us.

“Is it the quiet shore of contemplation that I set aside for myself, as I lay bare, under the cunning, orderly surface of civilizations, the nurturing horror that they attend to pushing aside by purifying, systematizing, and thinking; the horror that they seize on in order to build themselves up and function?  I rather conceive it as a work of disappointment, of frustration and hollowing—probably the only counterweight to abjection.  While everything else –its archaeology and its exhaustion—is only literature:  The sublime point at which the abject collapses in a burst of beauty that overwhelms us—and that cancels our existence” Kristeva.

Kristeva's “Powers of Horror” is a long, drawn out study on the abject.  How she was able to complete such a tour de force is beyond us, which is probably why it seems so intelligent.  She was able to sustain concentration on the most unbearable subjects, and most art students, given the the task of completing the entire transcript, are unable to do so.  If there is one positive concept to be derived from this reading, it is that the abject is necessary in small doses, in order to achieve the opposite.  What disrupts and disgusts us can make us believe that there is an opposite.  That notion is described in the quote as the sublime.  

If we look at the hollowness of space as terrifying, then we see why people decide to huddle together within city walls.  We condense only to realize that this too, can be perceived as abject, and in the instance, we decide to disperse.  In this way, the feeling of abjection can flip flop, all at once describing the fickle nature of the human personality, and the lightness of being alive.

“Women artists are more inward-looking, more delicate and nuanced in their treatment of their medium, it may be asserted. But which of the women artists cited above is more inward-turning then Redon, more subtle and nuanced in the handling of pigment than Corot? Is Fragonard more or less feminine than Mme. Vigee-Lebrun? Or is it not more a question of the whole Rococo style of eighteenth-century France being "feminine," if judged in terms of a binary scale of "masculinity" versus "femininity"? Certainly, if daintiness, delicacy, and preciousness are to be counted as earmarks of a feminine style, there is nothing fragile about Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair, nor dainty and introverted about Helen Frankenthaler's giant canvases. If women have turned to scenes of domestic life, or of children. so did Jan Steen, Chardin, and the Impressionists-- Renoir and Monet as well as Morisot and Cassatt. In any case, the mere choice of a certain realm of subject matter, or the restriction to certain subjects, is not to be equated with a style, much less with some sort of quintessentially feminine style.”

Traditionally, throughout history, most of the credit of winning has been given to men.  Credit is sometimes equated to fame, such as Alexander McQueen's stylistic designs and art shows, where there are numerous participants.  However, what equates fame?  How do we quantify how well known something is?  If something that lives in our hearts is more important than fame, how is it that we measure?  Many ideas presented in the art history canon have been proposed by women first. We see this in the example of Carolee Schneemann's “Meat Joy” and also “Up to and Including Her Limits.”  Matthew Barney used the same ideas in his piece “Drawing Restraint” several years later and arguably received more credit.  He is also referencing his “personal mythology,” which might include pieces that Schneemann has produced.  Meat Joy creates a scene where the body is abjectly presented as a vessel of meat, flesh we consume is also the flesh we destroy, and the theme of abject flesh is now popularized in contemporaries like Jenny Saville.  Where once upon a time it was popular to idealize the human form, it is now popular to debunk the myth of a perfect form and present the new ideal as a medley of body types and human characteristics, not ignoring the ever presence of the abundance of flesh, and bodily fluids.  In terms of art, the gender of the object is attributed to whomever created it, no matter how rugged or polished the piece may be.  The independence of women artists does not suggest that they did not particularly belong to a certain school or class of artists, it just means that they were not recognized for being there.  Since the presence of art history is also based upon the presence of critics and historians, the relationships between these individuals and the people they chose to represent is important too.  The interpersonal relationships amongst individuals in the art world also influence who receives a review. Ana Mendietta is mostly recognized for her relationship with Carl Andre, as Lucian Freud is mostly recognized because he is grandson to Sigmund Freud.  Not to say either is necessarily without talent, which is quite the opposite, however people are recognized mostly from their upbringing and what circles they revolve in.

Which leaves me believing something is missing within the art world and the world at large.  We all experience the sense of the void, which is a mirror of the total amount of dark matter in the universe.  There is something amiss, and we are not quite sure what it is.  The Fifth Element addresses this concept, with the notion that there is a missing element that will save the universe.  With designs by Jean Giraud Moebius and Jean Paul Gaultier, this french cult classic is one of the most visually stunning movies to date.  

The plot revolves around the main character Korben Dallas and his relationship with the embodiment of the fifth element, Leeloo.  She is a fanboy's dream, a young model actress that does not speak English, is the visage of perfection but does not have any visual or cultural preference of her own to speak of, nor any knowledge of who she is or what humans are.  Besides this general monotony, she contains an element that is activated by a particular piece of knowledge.  What Korben Dallas teaches her, is the concept of love.  This is the final unifying element in the universe, the one that clarifies the dream, and brings light to an otherwise dark place.  No matter what your belief system is, if you are a human, animal, sentient being, this rings true.  What is the essence of life, what is the point of materiality if there is no feeling there?

With my own work, I feel a sense of displacement usually rather than belonging.  A jumble of ideas are mashed together usually to bring a solution to some sort of negativity, in order to see the light shine through.  Many artists use their art as a way to connect on a broader spectrum, in this way I am no different.  I find that personally I connect best at a small scale, one or two people rather than a huge group.  Limiting options of who to talk to can create a stronger bond, as if limiting one's palate, in order to know what is truly motivating one's soul.  

With what I create, I tend to maximize my reference points.  I create a mashup of things I have experienced, usually told in the form of a fable created through symbolism of images derived from 90's pop culture.  Perhaps this is me bringing to the forefront the notion of keeping my childhood alive, by subliming memories of contemporary life.  Art can be about breaking free of limits, so my process constantly changes to remove myself from an XY axis and a grid, to constantly build and destroy, to remove anger, hate, and turn it into love.  

This semester I have learned a few things about the art world and art school in specific.  There are a few key tropes that reoccur and navigating them is mostly about the language used to describe them. For example, using the word umwelt for someone's personal bubble; using the term post humanism when someone really means Sci-fi; structuralism for patterns that repeat; anthropocene for the current affect of global warming.  Part of the interchangeability of words to describe these things has to do with the malleability of the ideas themselves.  As we saw with Salvador Dali's study of string theory, different personal views conjure up different worlds.  The study of these worlds leads us on our own personal journeys.  We envelop these concepts and let the future unfold, perhaps we use art as the mechanism to advance human kind.  I always thought of art as some kind of pseudo-science, now I can say that these things are interchangeable, art can be science, theory, personal reflection, fortune telling, and the economy.  The mythology that leads us here today can change time.  

Works Cited

Barbara Ehrlich White, Renoir His Life Art and Letters. 1984. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.  New York

NGA.gov for tony smith's die

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/t-magazine/iris-van-herpen-designer-interview.html?_r=0

http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/michelle-olley-voss-diary/

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/09/yuzo-koshiro-interview

The fifth element

[cbilluminati]

Old School properties rules over at The Dub this week, and we got your looks. Here’s the IDW Publishing Previews for 4-19-2017.

Back to the Future #18

Writers: Bob Gale, John Barber Artist: Marcelo Ferreira Cover Artist: Marcelo Ferreira

TWO SECONDS! Doc Brown faces the gravest danger he’s ever encountered—he forgot his anniversary! So, he tells Clara he’ll be back in two seconds and cranks up the flux capacitor—after all, what could go wrong? Unfortunately for Doc… everything.

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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Cosmic Scoundrels #3

Writers: Andy Suriano & Matt Chapman Artist: Andy Suriano Cover Artist: Andy Suriano

Our two men and a baby narrowly escape being converted by The Sisterhood of the Stained Glass Squadron, Love Savage gets his Bi-Bi-Bebar account hacked, the true owners of Roshambo’s Galactic Gauntlets come to collect (hint: they aren’t Etsy users), plus the “real” Tad and Jacob show up and aren’t happy with what The Cosmic Scoundrels have done with their ship (and here Miss Bills was complaining her boys never come to visit)!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99 

Bullet points: 

Andy Suriano is an Emmy and Annie Award-winning artist who has worked on such iconic series as Samurai Jack and Star Wars: The Clone Wars!

Matt Chapman is a writer of Disney’s Gravity Falls and the co-creator of Disney XD’s Two More Eggs and Homestar Runner!

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G.I. JOE #4

Writer: Aubrey Sitterson Artist: Giannis Milonogiannis Cover Artist: Aaron Conley

Outnumbered and outgunned, the G.I. Joe field team hits the road with a captive and ranting Crystal Ball, but the Dreadnoks are hot on their heels! Meanwhile, Lady Jaye & Gung-Ho, with their cover blown, struggle to fight their way out of Athens. And a terrifying new threat rears its head in the Crown Jewel of the Hasbro Universe! From the explosive creative team of Aubrey Sitterson (Street Fighter x G.I. Joe) and Giannis Milonogiannis (Prophet).

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points: 

Variant cover by Ben Marra!

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Haunted Horror #27

Writers: Various Artists: Hy Fleishman, King Ward, Ed Goldfarb, Bob Baer Cover Artist: Adolphe Barreaux

The terrifying third and final installment of THE HORRORS OF IT ALL 3-issue special screams to its corruptible close, as THOIA blogger/horror host, Mr. Karswell unleashes another unhealthy dose of Pre-Code plagues upon the unsuspecting comic book world! This one will be the final nail in your coffin!

FC • 32 pages • $4.99 

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Highlander: The American Dream #3

Writer: Brian Ruckley Artist: Andrea Mutti Cover Artist: Andrew Griffith

The cult-classic film’s triumphant return continues! The American Dream follows Scottish swordsman Connor MacLeod as he clashes with powerful immortals from the American Civil War to 1950s Manhattan on an unstoppable march toward The Gathering, where the last of the immortals will duel to the death. And to the victor goes the Prize… and control over humanity’s destiny.

FC • 32 pages • $3.99 

Bullet points: 

The cult phenomenon returns!

Written by Scottish fantasy novelist Brian Ruckley (The Godless World trilogy)!

Interior art by Andrea Mutti (Rebels)!

Subscription covers by Italian artist Claudia Gironi!

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Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me

Writer: Devin Faraci Artist: Vic Malhotra Cover Artist: Vic Malhotra

Jim Thompson’s sinewy, brutal, and beloved novel comes to life in this graphic noir-novel! In The Killer Inside Me, Thompson went where few have dared, giving us a pitch-black glimpse into the mind of the American serial killer years before Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, in the novel that will forever be known as the master performance of one of the greatest crime novelists of all time.

TPB • FC • $19.99 • 120 pages • ISBN: 978-1-63140-854-0

Bullet points: 

Advance solicited for April release!

With an intro by Stephen King!

“Probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally-warped mind I have ever encountered.” –Stanley Kubrick

“The Killer Inside Me captures the specificity of the original novel as well as its elegantly disturbing tone.” 10/10  –Newsarama

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M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand #5

Writer: Brandon Easton Artist: Tony Vargas Cover Artist: Tommy Lee Edwards

With all secrets revealed, Matt Trakker and the M.A.S.K. team take on Miles Mayhem and V.E.N.O.M. in a brutal final assault. With their first major victory in their sights, the M.A.S.K. team must remain vigilant as other powerful and unforeseen forces rise up from the darkness. New enemies are on the horizon and you must NOT miss what happens on the last page!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points: 

All-new storyline starts next month!

Variant cover by Juan Carlos Ruiz Burgos!

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My Little Pony: Friends Forever #38

Writer: Andy Price Artist: Andy Price Cover Artist: Tony Fleecs

A minor squabble between Princesses Celestia and Luna turns major and the two decide they need some time apart. When they divide Canterlot castle between the two of them, will the leaders of Equestria find a way to live harmoniously again?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points: 

Variant cover by Sara Richard!

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Powerpuff Girls: Power Up My Mojo

Writers: Haley Mancini & Jake Goldman Artists: Derek Charm, Nicoletta Baldari Cover Artist: Ben Carow

Three all-new tales! The girls make a deal with Penny Farthing to teach them how to ride a bike; enter into the annual soapbox derby; and get blasted by the Sassy Ray while stopping The Fashionistas! Collects issues #4–6.

HC • FC • $12.99 • 80 pages • 6” x 9” • ISBN: 978-1-63140-871-7

Bullet points: 

“Any ‘90s kid can’t pass this up. We’re in our 20s now, but Powerpuff Girls means just as much to us now as it did back when we were kids.” — ComicWow TV

Advance solicited for April release!

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Star Trek/Green Lantern Vol 2 #5

Writer: Mike Johnson Artist: Angel Hernandez Cover Artist: Angel Hernandez

STRANGER WORLDS PART FIVE! The blockbuster event of 2017 continues here as the fight for the future of the Green Lantern Corps erupts! Can Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise stop Sinestro from conquering the planet Oa for himself? Or is it too late to stop the green light of Hal Jordan’s ring from fading forever?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points: 

Following the blockbuster success of last year’s Star Trek/Green Lantern, DC Entertainment and IDW once again bring you the best team-up in the galaxy!

Variant cover by Chris Mooneyham!

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Star Trek: New Visions: The Traveler

Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Cover Artist: John Byrne

A mysterious Traveler is pursued by a ruthless robotic horde. Or is he? Jim Kirk must answer that question before his ship and crew are lost!

FC • 48 pages • $7.99

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via IDW Publishing

HIGHLANDER, JOE and TREK, Oh my! IDW Publishing Previews for 4-19-2017

Old School properties rules over at The Dub this week, and we got your looks. Here’s the IDW Publishing Previews for 4-19-2017.

HIGHLANDER, JOE and TREK, Oh my! IDW Publishing Previews for 4-19-2017 Old School properties rules over at The Dub this week, and we got your looks. Here's the IDW Publishing Previews for 4-19-2017.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1266

Monday, June 17, 2019

 Marvel makes it hard to be a comic book collector kid. Spider-Man fans had to break into their Spidey banks to buy all 6 Spider-Man books that hit the racks last Wednesday. That's over thirty bucks Canuck here in Ontair-ee-air-ee-air-ee-oh. Talk about binge reading this week.

 Detective Comics #1005 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Brad Walker (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The conclusion of the Arkham Knight story has Batman and Robin saving Gotham City from the misguided zealot. The art is what keeps me reading but I hope the next story arc is more interesting.

 Catwoman #12 - Joelle Jones (writer) Fernando Blanco (art pages 1-8, 10-13, 15-17) Hugo Petrus (art pages 9, 14, 18-20) John Kalisz (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Using the old switcheroo for the heist of the art object during an auction may have been boring but the threat to someone that Selina cares about is what keeps me reading.

 Archie #705 - Nick Spencer (writer) Sandy Jarrell (artist) Matt Herms (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). Archie and Sabrina part 1. The conclusion of a story arc is the start of a new one. I want to see how this whole new relationship started and find out what the ominous changes are going to be happening. Archie comics are much more interesting these days.

 The Superior Spider-Man #7 - Christos Gage (writer) Lan Medina (pencils) Cam Smith (inks) Andy Troy (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Otto goes to L.A. and teams up with the West Coast Avengers in this War of the Realms tie-in. If Marvel ever brings back a Gwenpool comic book with Christos Gage as writer I'd read it for sure. Bet you didn't know that Doc Ock had invented a Phantom Zone eh?

 Marvel Action Spider-Man #5 - Erik Burnham (writer) Christopher Jones (art) Zac Atkinson (colours) Shawn Lee (letters). This story could be called "Kraven's First Hunt". Poopypants J. Jonah Jameson has hired Kraven the Hunter to capture Spider-Man and Sergei pursues his prey with gusto. I really like this book with Miles and Gwen getting schooled by Peter. It's higher on my "must read" list than Amazing.

 Ironheart #7 - Eve L. Ewing (writer) Luciano Vecchio (art) Geoffo (layouts) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Riri and Nadia team up to fight zombies at the airport. As if O'Hare needs any more reasons for flight delays.

 Event Leviathan #1 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) Joshua Reed (letters). This is billed as a 6-issue mystery thriller. The big mystery is who is Leviathan? This first issue wasn't super thrilling but it did have its moments. Bendis is remaking the DCU and he's started by destroying A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans), The D.E.O. (Department of Extranormal Operations), Kobra, Spyral and Task Force X. now Batman and Lois Lane are sleuthing to beat the band. It's explicitly stated that Leviathan is not Lex Luthor so my guess is wrong. I want to see if this story actually changes things in the DCU.

 Silver Surfer Black #1 - Donny Cates (writer) Tradd Moore (art) Dave Stewart (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Not to worry true believers, Norrin Radd is till silver. If you haven't been following the death of Thanos story in Guardians of the Galaxy than suffice it to know that the Silver Surfer is trapped in a dark dimension after saving his fellow heroes from the same fate. Here he encounters a malevolent villain who is quite formidable indeed. The art in this space fantasy brings to mind Jean Giraud AKA Moebius's work. I love the sleeker ballet dancer bod on Norrin. They've captured the tortured noble soul that appealed to me when I first read  Jack Kirby's creation so I will continue to read this 5-part arc.

 Immortal Hulk #19 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Ruy Jose & Belardino Brabo (inks) Paul Mounts & Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Oh my god, this issue is incredibly gross and awesome. The new Abomination, Harpy and Hulk meet for the first time. The encounter gives a new meaning to "eat your heart out".

 The Amazing Spider-Man #23 - Nick Spencer (writer) Ryan Ottley (pencils) Cliff Rathburn (inks) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I give this epilogue to "Hunted" 5 eye rolls. First one was for the Avengers and friends rounding up the super villains after the force field came down. It's okay continuity conundrum complainers, this story takes place before War of the Realms. The second was for the Vulture getting the band back together with a new name, the Savage Six. The third was for the fine bromance between Task Master and the Black Ant. The fourth was for the death of Kraven the Hunter which means there's a new Kraven the Hunter now. The fifth and final eye roll was for the surprise super villain on the last page. The one thing that keeps me from benching this book is that there's a hint to who the mysterious super villain with the creepy crawly is. It's someone who knows Peter and Mary Jane and has the hots for MJ.

 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7 - Tom Taylor (writer) Ken Lashley (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). No eye rolls for this comic book. "Feast or Famine" part 1 starts a new story involving Aunt May and her charity work. I'm sorry to say that the art isn't as nice as it was before this issue but the writing is still top drawer.

 Spider-Man Life Story #4 The '90s - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Mark Bagley (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). It's 1995 and Peter is 48-yeards-old. This one has Peter's clone Ben Reilly and old men Doc Ock and Norman Osborn. Now that I get what this mini series is all about, aging Peter Parker in real years since he got bitten at age 15 in 1962, I can stop ragging on the stories because they make a lot more sense.

 Symbiote Spider-Man #3 - Peter David (writer) Greg Land (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The highlight this issue was Felicia seducing Peter out of his black costume. The symbiote is not happy to have a piece of itself cut off by the Black Cat.