#the clothes!!! the edginess!!! it screams the late 2000s

[happyfunf3tti]

im finally reading campus apocalypse and there is just so much late 2000s cheese in this

[yieldingtides]

CaL in Flow

A month has passed since I committed to “stay in the flow” of my process and I’m thriving! I’m nearly done writing Coals and Lilacs first arc (got two to three chapters to go). There’s so much I want to talk about the CaL cast, but for now, let's focus on this sad fisher lad first.

Robert is the first character I ever made, somewhat coinciding with Paule’s creation. He was created out of a means to be somewhat of an edgy teen despite not being outwardly edgy myself in the late 2000’s. You know the tropes: black clothes, fallen angel wings, “nothing personal kid” vibes, and whatnot. Shadow the Hedgehog (at least with his SA2 incarnation) was the main influence on his characterization. It’s like silent punk energy, even with the outlandish looks I had with him back then or what I thought was cool at the time. He still intends to do good, but if he must, he would also consider methods that would do the least amount of harm to the people he cares for.

RPs back in the late 2000s - early 2010s were ground zero for the two of them, as I navigated in those spaces to flesh out their character backgrounds. Most of my time spent role-playing is just seeing how far I can understand these two till I feel comfortable writing a narrative. Robert was doing a lot of fantastical sci-fi-related work. Sometimes murdering outright (within reason woops) till I dialed back to make him more of a weird everyday man.

His name too changed. Before Robert, he was called Rekana. It’s an edgy interpretation of “Recant” or denying an opinion or belief. I still think this holds true to his character. I threw this guy into situations he didn’t ask for just to see how he’d respond, mostly in denial. I think the only thing that stayed the same was his overall hairstyle, his fishing hobby, and his personality. Incarnation after incarnation, that’s been consistent with him for years.

Often I recalled a dream I had years ago where I was pinned against the wall by Robert, shaking and screaming why I wrote his narrative as it was. Thinking of ways to make him suffer more (as you do with your characters) and demanded a reason. I straight up told him “It’s for the narrative” till my life snapped in half. Well, he snapped my neck and I immediately woke up, vowing I would never manifest my characters in existence. That’s the nice thing about fiction, I suppose. It’s also why I grew to like Aurelius from Dislyte so much, to my surprise at least. Similar character vibes and such. I tend to find weird hunches like that.

Onto Paule. Her role changed a lot. I also used her in old RP spaces till I took the time to flesh out her goals. Thought it would be fun for her to be a magical girl in 2009, till I scrapped the concept (it reminded me of Madoka vibes before Madoka existed), and an author insert similar to Rohan in Araki’s work. She’s probably the closest I had to my younger self, or reflection of. I wanted her to be cringe, engrossed with her hobbies but still outwardly kind by a fault.

If I had the energy to change her now, she would be more like Cara or Dao Hoa. They’re flawed as hell, but I’m not suggesting Paule is less so (she has her little dark secrets too lol). I would rather make new characters that fit more of that energy than readjust her personality for such trends.

I can’t say much about her current characterization since CaL is in progress, but at this point, she always nurture flowers and plants than I can be in person. I don’t have a green thumb, and it’s a struggle for me to care for plants, but at least through her, she lives that part of myself. Maybe that’s a hope for future me to try out.

Anyway, Coals and Lilacs is always the project I hold close to me…it’s the first major narrative story I’ve written, and now it’s going somewhere. May it grow strong and proud.

[mindlostagogo]

041921

I love cartoons, a lot. Over the pandemic, I’ve spent my sudden surplus of free time reacquainting myself with old loves and pastimes I’d otherwise abandoned. One of those loves being My Chemical Romance, and one of those pastimes being, well, learning about everything that inspires Gerard Way (no point in hiding it, lol).

I finally got around to revisiting the Breakfast Monkey animatic earlier this month; the last time I saw it would’ve been about a decade ago now. Something that stood out was, separating my love of MCR and strictly as a lover of cartoons, the strength of the creativity and humour jumped out at me. I’ve re-watched it dozens of times now, I can’t get “Cruising for Crazy” out of my head, and it always makes me laugh. There are times where I laugh because, admittedly, I’m projecting on certain moments (ie. being a fangirl). But there are times where I laugh and I completely forget this has anything to do with Gerard (and Joe—I’m sorry, I don’t forget Joe Boyle, but I can’t help how I found the show).

I don’t know anything about the industry, but I do know it took Cartoon Network another half-decade before it started putting out the types of weird cartoons (now very much CN’s bread and butter) Nickelodeon would jump onto without question around the same time (late 90s/early 00s).

I know the original pitch was meant for Adult Swim—which was definitely more stoner-friendly humour at the time, especially in the simplicity shared by many of the shows (I love 12 oz. Mouse so much more than I probably should); Comedy Central and MTV’s animated output at the time was similar. All that to say, Nickelodeon, the channel that was bold enough to take on Invader Zim as an ‘all-ages’ nightmare, probably would’ve been a better home for the Breakfast Monkey as far as dealing with producers goes.

Breakfast Monkey, even now, doesn’t exactly scream AS. There’s an underlying ominousness that you get hints of—the moment with the dude telling Lucha to “Do as the Monkey says” says a lot—even more so when you see the production art of the Warp Maggot. And who knows where Gerard and Joe would’ve gone with storylines (I’m also aware it was meant to be short-form, but given the standard, you’d still probably be looking at 11-minute run times).

When it comes to Adult Swim’s output, the most prevalent things you notice (depending on the show) are: sex, gore, swearing, and simplicity—with an emphasis on simplicity. That’s not a negative reflection of the creators in any way, I’m just pointing out what AS is drawn to—it’s partly why Rick and Morty stands out so much. They did, after all, pull the plug on Morel Orel for getting too existential; dark is not the problem, heavy is, and MO definitely got heavier than was initially pitched. (That said, the braver thing to do would’ve been to ride out Dino’s inventiveness at the time.)

I know the reason stated for the show not getting picked up was because Aqua Teen Hunger force had just gotten picked up, and AS “already had a food show.”  Even still, without hitting more, for lack of a better term, ‘edgy’ marks, I don’t know if Breakfast Monkey would’ve been at home on AS. If anything, Breakfast Monkey makes me think more Spongebob-meets-Zim, something I think would’ve blown up, especially around that time. Zim got the plug pulled pretty quickly, despite having an extremely dedicated following; Breakfast Monkey would’ve scratched the edgy itch while also being palpable given Monkey is absolutely adorable.

Where my mind goes, I guess I would describe Chowder as diet Breakfast Monkey. I love Chowder, I love all the different ways they explored art; the moving pallets under the linework on certain characters’ clothes sometimes is burned into my mind, no doubt in part due to the sometimes aspect of not knowing when I’ll get to see them again. But, again, given that Gerard’s mind seems to know no bounds, I can’t help but call Chowder hypothetical diet Breakfast Monkey.

Suffice to say, for CN to look at Breakfast Monkey and not see a potential Spongebob-level success—WITHOUT interfering with the creative intent—says everything you need to know. It comes down to how edgy Gerard and Joe planned on taking the series. Worst case scenario, you’d get the majority of Canada’s adult animated output. Every show Teletoon picked up for their adult animated selection between the early 2000s and the 2010s was so forced in making sure every show had sex and/or just the most low-hanging comedic crass fruit wherever possible. (Side rant: I genuinely liked some of those shows, but they are not what I would objectively call ‘good.’ What do I mean by good? I mean I don’t think anyone at any step of the creative process—writers, animators, producers—could comprehend how milquetoast even their most inventive ideas were. I don’t put that on minds of the creatives, I think they exceeded brilliance as far as Canada’s restrictive original content output is considered. There’s a reason most of our best either go into teaching or move to the States.)

Breakfast Monkey, at the time, could not be shown to CN or AS and not expect to be manipulated with—and that’s really sad, because that animatic is extremely strong.

[burng0d]

i luv this shit bruh!! i was tagged by @ladyancientcosmos so uh 🥺🥺ty

nickname: well uh my first and middle names are thomas jaymes so most ppl just call me tj lol, but i also get teej and jayme sometimes, and one of my best friends calls me tommy (he's the only one that gets away with it though lol)

zodiac sign: we cancer up in this bitch!! 10th july babeyyy!!!!

height: around 5'5.5" i think? (lol) i gotta remeasure myself but i've grown since i last measured myself n i was Just short of 5'5" then soo

hogwarts house: i have no clue!! i've taken the test soo many times and i get a different answer every time!! it puts me in slytherin most but i don't think i really match the slytherin traits?? tbh i think i'm a ravenclaw, but ig maybe a hufflepuff?? i'ma have to go w/ ravenclaw tbh though lol

last thing i googled: uh i was looking up the dates of stonewall for an essay for my english language class

song stuck in my head: holiday by green day (a bop!!)

following: 141

followers: 40

amount of sleep i get: generally anywhere from 2-5 hours (yikez!) but i tend to like wake up n then not move for minimum half an hour, and on thursdays (bc i start late) and weekends i generally get like 4-8hrs

lucky number: 7 or 13 lol

dream job: making music bruh!! i live for that shit!!! i'm (technically) working on a covers album rn (but i hit a lil bit of a standstill what w school n stuff rip)

wearing: pair o those art socks (the ones w/ the scream on em), grey workout shorts, a cheap lion ring i got from claires when i was like ten, n then a black shortsleeve tee over a (bright) orange (i luv halloween) hoodie (+ my friendship bracelet and necklace lol i luv my friends sm bruh)

favourite songs: fully i'ma jus drop the tracklist for my covers album here jus bc i have an excuse to now lol;

midway arcade treasures - ghostbusters vhs

townie - mitski

lithium - nirvana

drown - bring me the horizon

jesus christ - brand new

wallflower - moses campbell

half a man - dean lewis

cop graveyard - teen suicide

say something - ceschi

mama - my chemical romance

song for the sleepless - ollie mn

brite boy - (sandy) alex g

broadripple is burning - margot and the nuclear so & so's

like real people do - hozier

u.n.i. - ed sheeran (might change this one tbh but i stand by the fact that this is his Only good album imo)

we found two dead swans and filled their bodies with flowers - teen suicide (yes it's the second teen suicide song on the tracklist lmfao but it's a banger so why not)

thas not all my faves but uh yuknow lol (i need to stop sayin "uh" lmfaoo)

instruments: guitar, bass, ukulele, a lil piano, recorder(if we're counting that), whatever i remember of clarinet from yr5, the teensiest bit of drums, and i'm tryna learn violin at some point

random fact: i recently shaved my own head (down to a buzzcut) for a laugh and livestreamed it on instagram lmfaoo

aesthetics: in terms of clothes mid-to-late 2000s noel fielding lmfao, but in general i luv anything even vaguely edgy and i love mid-to-late 2000s low qual emo shit and midwest emo (especially irt music), and i was gonna say sumn else but my mind jus blanked but yh basically i luv edgy (especially ironically edgy) shit

okay so uh now i gotta tag 17ppl so uhh,, dw if you don't wanna do it n sorry if you've already been tagged or already done it hnnnggg:

@b-lurryblitzbee @izzy-24-xx @glennatohowerton @theentiregdtime @hauntedmoth @anthonycrowley @junkyardvampire @idioticnimrod @macfoundhispride @whatriverrunsdeeperthanthis @bookishbloop @crazypaddydennis @floralmac @gayfatmac @bastardmanvibes @lesbianfreyja @weirditalienplumber