#was a thirty second animation probably over ambitious?

[kaenith]

Winter's Delight (@fswintersdelight), day 26

Happy December! Hope everyone's been staying safe and warm (or safe and cool, if you're in the southern hemisphere!)

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" from Marvel Studios' What If...

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Back when Marvel Studios announced the new lineup of films and shows, I was admittingly underwhelmed. Nothing we've seen so far has been poorly written, far from it, but during the announcement, nothing really popped out at me as worth getting excited for. That is, except for one series: Marvel Studios' What If... An animated series that changes the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all through the simple question. The question being, "What if this happened instead of that."

From the get-go, I was sold on this idea. I'm a sucker for hypothetical scenarios, thinking up all the ways of how some of my favorite stories in fiction could be drastically different thanks to one tiny change. Some might call that "Fanfiction the Series," and while you're not wrong, I fail to see how that's a criticism. Because fanfiction can be fun...just as long as you ignore the sick freaks, sure, but it still can be fun! So whether Marvel Studio's What If... is fanfiction or not, it still didn't change how excited I was to watch it. Was it all worth the hype? Well, to answer that question requires spoilers, so keep that in mind as we dive deep into Marvel's most ambitious project yet.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

The Watcher: Gonna get the generals out of the way before I talk about what I specifically like about this episode. Ok? Ok.

Now, using the Watcher as the narrator for this series is just perfect. What If... already has a similar energy to The Twilight Zone: An anthology series that takes viewers to new and mysterious realities all through the guidance of an omniscient narrator. And using the Watcher as that type of narrator might just be the second-best choice...number one would be Stan Lee, obviously, but...he's dead now. May he rest in peace.

I haven't read that many comics, so there's not much that I know about the Watcher's character aside from a ten-second Google search. But something tells me that a character described as a celestial being that observes and records the events surrounding the galaxy sounds like the exact type of omniscience to guide us through the unknown. All added with Jeffrey Wright's performance, who really does convey a character that sounds like he's as old as time and wise beyond his years. Plus, it's pretty cool that such a seemingly odd character now technically plays a major role in the MCU canon. Comics are weird, and if the Watcher proves anything, it's better to embrace that weirdness than deny it.

The Animation: Looks like someone watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.

That really is the feeling I got when watching this. What If... doesn't look as good as Spiderverse (Nothing can be as good as Spiderverse), but the idea is still there as it combines primarily CGI animation with a few hand-drawn elements. It makes certain scenes just pop and, at times, even makes specific shots look like they're straight from panels in a comic book. Besides, while Spiderverse still looks better, that doesn't mean the animation isn't phenomenal in What If... The scenery looks gorgeous, the CGI models moderately match their live-action counterparts, the expressions are fantastic, and movements are as smooth as butter. There was definitely some money that went into this series to make it look as good as it did, and my eyeballs were more than grateful because of it. Especially when it comes to--

The Action: Holy s**t, was it a good thing that this series was animated!

The MCU has had its fair share of great fight scenes in the past, but it always felt restricted to what the big superhero fights could be due to everything needing to look "realistic." That all changes in What If... Because now that this series is animated, we can finally chuck realism out the window and allow these characters to be as epic as they were in the comics. The movements are swift, the blows look like they hurt, and best of all, you actually get to see characters fighting each other! There are no random cuts to hide the stunt doubles or weird camera angles to avoid audiences seeing how ugly the CGIed replacements are. We get to see all of the action with zero restraint, thanks to the fact that animation is limitless and allows writers to get away with literally anything. And shows like this make me wonder, "Why the hell isn't the MCU animated?"

Peggy as Captain Carter: It's here that we get into the specifics, and by golly, do I love me some Peggy Carter making a return. And what a return she made!

Seeing Peggy kick Nazi ass as Captain Carter is as awesome as it sounds as she gives a new definition of a "Strong, independent woman." She took s**t from no one and was more than willing to destroy anybody who said differently. It's a ton of fun for fans (the ones who aren't sexist, at least) and even fun for Peggy as well now that she gets a chance to wreck shop. However, that in itself could cause problems. If you watched Agent Carter (a great show, by the way), then you'll know that Peggy doesn't act as...somewhat meatheaded as she does here. As she said it herself, she's "usually more covert than this." And she is, as she was pretty much the first superspy in the MCU, who's impressive through how she effortlessly infiltrates her way to winning the day with diminutive requirements for fighting. So stripping that away gets rid of a core part of what makes her character so interesting. Although, in fairness, you could blame the fact that the reason she's acting like this is that the super-soldier serum is messing with her brain a bit. We've seen through U.S. Agent the reciprocations of the wrong person taking the serum, and while Peggy is far from the worst pick, there are hints of why Steve Rodgers was the best choice. Still, even though it's not the same Peggy Carter, that doesn't mean Captain Carter is a poor addition to the hero roster in the MCU. She's cool in all the right ways, even though they're drastically different from what made her compelling, to begin with.

Howard Stark: Another character I'm more than happy to see again!

Howard didn't leave that much of a grand of an impression in Captain America: The First Avenger, but in Agent Carter (Seriously, great show), he was a blast. You can just tell he was Tony Stark's father through all the ways he fast-talks in and out of problems and brilliantly comes up with solutions thanks to being tech-savvy. The main difference between Howard and Tony, however, is that Howard prefers to stay on the sidelines, where Tony learned to be more proactive. You get a sense of that in this episode. Because even though he goes to save the day, you can tell that he would rather be anywhere else. And, as a bonus, Howard's just funny. Probably not up there as one of the funniest characters in the franchise (Paul Rudd's Ant-Man reigns supreme), but he still cracks me up more times than not. Howard may be nothing more than a side character, but he'll always win me over no matter how small of a role he has.

Steve Rodgers in the Hydra Stomper: Don't mind me. Just admiring the fact that despite being crippled and skinny, Steve Rodgers still finds a way to fight the good fight, which is who Steve is to me. One of the best things about The First Avenger is that it fully understands the hero that is Captain America. Serum or not, he will do all he can to do the right thing and won't give up despite how many times others tell him he should. So if Steve's going to fly around in a suped-up Iron Man suit that's appropriately named "The Hydra Stomper," then Steve'll f**king soar. Because he is a gosh dang superhero, no matter what name he takes at the end of the day.

Fast-Forwarding Through Events: Some fans might take issues with this. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see all the little changes that Captain Carter makes to the story, but realistically that's not the best choice to make. Let's be honest, there's not that much to show other than what this episode did, and doing a full-on rewrite of Captain America: The First Avenger would have rubbed some fans the wrong way. Besides, from what I can tell, most of the What If... comics are one-shots that very rarely branch out into longer arcs. The primary goal is less to write this large-scale story and more of this self-contained narrative that does what it precisely delivers: Show fans a glimpse of what would happen if this happened instead of that. That's what we were given, and I can't really complain that much. I would have loved to have seen more, but I can learn to be happy with what I got.

Colonel Flynn Taking Credit: This guy is sexist and an idiot, and that's why I hate him...but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least chuckle when he said everything was his idea. It's such a scumbag move that I couldn't help but find the humor in it.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING !)nd Steve falling in love inThe First Avenger, which certainly wasn't helped by how they had these dumbass misunderstandings of each thinking the other was dating someone else. Here, they at least get to interact, confiding in one another about their insecurities and offer support when needed. And while it may be a little rushed, I'm more willing to believe their romance in under thirty minutes than I did in over two hours. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING AT THE TIME!)

“I won’t tell you anything.”/”He told me everything.”: That's the Peggy Carter I know and love! Added with a solid joke, too.

Steve’s Pratfall: It's nice to know that no matter what universe we see, Marvel is still funny.

Peggy’s Sacrifice: Much like Peggy and Steve's romance, I buy Peggy's sacrifice way more than Steve's. Several fans already pointed out how it makes no sense for Steve to crash the plane into the icy waters when it seemed like he had enough control to land it or could have easily jumped out after aiming for the crash landing. Here, there's a more legitimate reason why Peggy sacrifices herself. The monster was undefeatable, and the only way to stop it was to push it back through the portal. Peggy, being the only one strong enough to do so at the moment, was the only option, and there was no way where she didn't end up going through with the monster. Even her return makes more sense, as I think her being lost to time and space sounds more believable than Steve surviving being frozen in ice. Something no mortal man should live through. Peggy's sacrifice proves that while the MCU can't change its cannon past, the writers learn from their mistakes and make something better.

WHAT I DISLIKED

The Reasoning Behind Peggy Becoming Captain Carter: So, the idea that one small change can greatly alter the story we knew is a great one, and it's one of the main reasons why I was excited about this series...but how does Peggy staying in the room cause the Hydra agent to detonate the bomb early? I understand the ripples that come from the Butterfly Effect, but I feel like that's too big of a leap to reason how Peggy ends up taking the serum instead.

Colonel Flynn: How is it possible that this guy is somehow even more of a pain in the ass than the general he replaced? At least Chester Phillips had the decency to respect Agent Carter!

Red Skull is Still on the Dull Side: Red Skull isn't an awful villain, but he wasn't really a great one. It's the same here, as he's just as forgettable and wooden an episode of television as he was in a full-length movie. But at least he had a cooler death this time.

Sebastian Stan is Not a Great Voice Actor: He's not awful, but his talent really doesn't shine in this regard. Some people think that being an actor and a voice actor is the same thing, but it's not always the case. Through live-action, actors are given a chance to express emotion through their expressions, movement, and voice. With voice acting, actors still have to convey emotions, but strictly through their voice. Meaning that actors like Sebastian Stan are limited to what they're used to and can stumble a bit when trying to perform in a field of acting they're unfamiliar with. You can tell he was trying his best, but this type of thing can take far more practice for others to perfect.

“Whew. Thanks. You almost ripped my arm off.”: ...hhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHA! HA HA! Ah...oh man...I, uh...I felt the internal bleeding with that one. Wow. Just...wow.

Bucky Leaving After Steve “Died”: Ok, now that's the biggest bout of bulls**t I've ever heard. BUCKY WOULD BE WITH STEVE 'TILL THE END OF THE LINE AND WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT THAT QUICKLY!

...This episode did Bucky dirty, didn't it?

IN CONCLUSION

I'd say that "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" is an A-. It's still a solid start of what I can already tell will be a great series, but some elements could have used some polishing out. I loved it, but it wasn't as bloody brilliant as it could have been.

(And I meant it: WATCH AGENT CARTER! It's pleasantly surprising!)

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 3 of 26

Title: Acceptance (The Southern Reach #3) (2014) - REREAD

Author: Jeff VanderMeer

Genre/Tags: Horror, Science Fiction, Ecological Horror, Cosmic Horror, Weird, First-Person, Second-Person, Third-Person, Unreliable Narrator, Female Protagonists, LGBT Protagonist

Rating: 10/10

Date Began: 1/11/2021

Date Finished: 1/20/2021

Area X, a self-aware wilderness along the coast, has existed for decades behind a mysterious border. The landscape itself annihilates humans and repurposes them for its own ends. Hundreds of people have died attempting to uncover its secrets. But no one has yet discovered its origins or true purpose.

Now, Area X has spread past its former borders, perhaps to the entire world. Acceptance follows several key figures through the history of Area X, and their attempts to fight against an impossible threat.  

You feel numb and you feel broken, but there’s a strange relief mixed in with the regret: to come such a long way, to come to a halt here, without knowing how it will turn out, and yet... to rest. To come to rest. Finally. All your plans back at the Southern Reach, the agonizing and constant fear of failure or worse, the price of that... all of it leaking out into the sand beside you in gritty red pearls. 

Full review, major spoilers, and content warning(s) under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Extreme body horror, altered states of mind, and psychological manipulation, including hypnosis. Several characters lose their sanity, and you see it happen in real time from their perspective. Intentional self-harm/mutilation as a plot point. Some violence and gore. There are brief references to animal abuse and terminal cancer. Not many happy endings in this one.  

This review contains major series spoilers. It’s also super long, as the book covers a lot of material. 

Acceptance is the most narratively ambitious book in the Southern Reach trilogy. While Annihilation and Authority feature a single protagonist/perspective, this one has four rotating POVs and one guest narrator partway through the book. It also covers a broader timeline than previous entries, from the origins of Area X 30-ish years ago to the ongoing present-day apocalypse. Acceptance is one of the few books I've read that utilizes first-, second-, AND third-person narration in a single volume, adopting whichever one makes the most sense for the character and their situation

While this sounds complicated, it's basically just a way to tell four different stories at the same time. VanderMeer also uses each storyline to address the major questions of the series. How did Area X come to be? What happened to the biologist? What was the former director of the Southern Reach trying to accomplish? And perhaps most pressing-- what is the fate of the world now that Area X has spread? Not everything is resolved, but it's definitely a conclusion.

The stories have some unifying connections, containing similar themes and callbacks/references to each other. However, for the purposes of this review I will be looking at each story and protagonist individually.

First up is Saul Evans the lighthouse keeper. He's been mentioned before, but never in much detail. Going in, we know a few things-- (1) he knew the director/Cynthia when she was a child and (2) something happened to him that turned him into the Crawler, the eldritch creature which writes the sermon on the walls of the tower in Area X. In Acceptance, we learn he's a former preacher who had a crisis of faith and left his old life, taking up the role of lighthouse keeper on the forgotten coast. It's implied this is partially due to him realizing he's gay and fleeing the resulting homophobic fallout. His past vocation explains the elevated, sermonic language of the words in the tower.

From the onset Saul is an intensely likeable character. He's trying to build a happier and more genuine life for himself. This part probably takes place during the 70s or 80s, but he's cautiously optimistic about his new life with a local fisherman named Charlie. He also forms an unlikely friendship with Gloria (aka Cynthia), a local kid who loves exploring the coast. However, he is tormented by the "Séance and Science Brigade", a shady organization that investigates/worships(?) paranormal phenomena. They sabotage the lighthouse beacon, which we learned in Authority is a marvelous piece of technology with a mysterious history. Shortly after, Saul accidentally absorbs a fragment of the beacon into himself, and shit goes downhill real fast.

While the catalyst of Area X may seem a little weird, the reader can piece together that part of the beacon has extraterrestrial origins, and Saul unintentionally activates part of it. The gradual shift from a normal life to something deeply unsettling has its appeal. I especially like seeing his logs/journal entries and how they devolve as proto-Area X overtakes his mind. The disturbing bar scene near the end is great as well. We know going in that this story has a bad ending (from a human perspective), but learning specifics about Saul as a person gives this more impact. Saul's is a sad tale of a man who wants to make a better life for himself and gets screwed over by bad luck.

Cynthia/Gloria/the former director is the next perspective character. In Annihilation she serves as the antagonist, but in Authority we learn it isn't that simple. She had ulterior motives, handpicking the biologist for the expedition in order to use her as a weapon against Area X. And, of course, we learn she was the little girl in that old picture of Saul, which means she probably grew up there before the border came down. 

This part opens with Cynthia/Gloria's death as "the psychologist" in Annihilation, but told from her perspective. From there, the pacing is a little slow, in similar style to Authority. We learn how Cynthia lived her daily life, how she infiltrated the Southern Reach, and her interpersonal relationships with Grace, Whitby, and Lowry. However, her storyline ramps up when detailing Area X and the lead up to twelfth expedition. Lots of old scenes/dynamics from Annihilation hit different with the new context. Especially interesting is the interview between Cynthia and the biologist; turns out there was a lot more context that the biologist obscured in her story. On some level we already knew she was an unreliable narrator, but it's fun to have it pop up again in a different book entirely.

I admire how VanderMeer makes someone who comes off as a throwaway villain into the one of the most complex, important characters in the series. This part is also really cool as it's written in second-person perspective, and the story justification for this (Area X examining her memories) is neat. While I like Cynthia's characterization in this part, the additional bits in Saul's story and his interactions with Gloria add helpful context and emotional impact. The end of the book being her letter to Saul is so damn sad.

The third main storyline follows Control and Ghost Bird in the "current" timeline-- exploring Area X in the immediate fallout of Authority. I love this part for several reasons. The contrast between the two leads and how they perceive themselves, Area X, and the current situation is great. Control is very much losing control, feeling "the brightness" taking over (a callback to Annihilation). Meanwhile, Ghost Bird is in her element, seeing and experiencing things the regular human characters do not. There's the sense that she's truly something "new" in terms of both humanity and Area X.

We also learn a ton of stuff about Area X that is hinted in earlier volumes but confirmed in Acceptance. (MAJOR SPOILERS) The first is that Area X isn't on Earth at all; something briefly hinted at in Annihilation, when the biologist doesn't recognize the stars in the sky.  Instead it mimics Earth, or something representative of it. The second big thing is that time works differently here. The uncanny state of decay noted in earlier books isn't actually a direct result of Area X. It's just the passage of time, because way more time passes in Area X compared to the "real" world.

The guest narrator/story is told within the Control/Ghost Bird storyline. The two meet up with Grace, who has managed to survive the Area X attack on the Southern Reach. She took shelter on the mysterious northern island and discovered an old journal written by... the biologist from Annihilation, which details what happened to her over the last THIRTY YEARS (yeah, the time thing) until she finally decided to give into Area X.

This section is sobering and sad; basically a glimpse at how the biologist's isolation slowly made her go mad. She finds an owl (hello cover) that she believes is her husband post Area X conversion and the two live together for decades. When it dies, the biologist loses the will to keep fighting Area X. It's ambiguous if the owl really is her husband, or if she's just projecting, but her heartbreak at the end is probably the strongest emotion she shows in the series. But what is interesting about this part is it confirms a cool detail. Injury and pain can halt the progression of "the brightness" within someone. Which is how the biologist managed to survive 30 years, how Grace survived what turns out to be 3 years, and so on. Even more interesting, when someone DOES finally succumb after warding off the brightness this way, they turn into something more strange and alien. Hence the moaning creature, and Saul/the Crawler. It's also probably why some creatures have incongruencies, like the dolphins with human eyes.

The biologist? She transformed into a giant, oceanic eldritch abomination COVERED in eyes. Just primo aesthetic. We get to see her from both Ghost Bird and Control's perspectives. Ghost Bird feels solidarity and a sort of euphoria meeting her alternate self. Control... basically breaks in the face of something like that, full cosmic horror style. Again, the contrast here is really appealing to me.

Both of their story arcs end in a way that is narratively satisfying, though the ending is open. The future seems hopeful in a bittersweet way, but presumably Area X has destroyed humanity as we know it. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on your perspective and is a central thesis of the series.

So, I said I'd discuss how this series approaches aliens. While there's an appeal to anthropomorphic alien species one can talk to and communicate with, I think an "unknowable" perspective is more realistic. After all, who's to say alien life formed under similar conditions or has any resemblance to our own? The extraterrestrial element in The Southern Reach is very much this type. But it's a fine line to walk in fiction, because handwaving the weird alien stuff as impossible to comprehend (and thus conveniently ducking any responsibility for explaining it) is lazy writing when done wrong.

The thing I find interesting about this series is the human characters understand lots of the what of the alien elements, but not the why. For example, Area X transforms humans into various plants and animals. We know it instills a sense of "brightness" in humans exposed for too long, which encourages assimilation into itself. Humans infected in this way, even if horrified or resistant, have thoughts of this being inevitable, even a good thing. The biologist takes samples in Annihilation and finds several plants and animals have human cells. Control logically knows what Area X does to people, but he is ultimately helpless to resist the process when he experiences it firsthand.

As for the why of it all... we don't really know! There's multiple ideas presented throughout the story. Ghost Bird probably gets closest to the "truth"; that Area X is part of a machine organism from a dead alien civilization, and that it has a bizarre effect on Earth's biology based on its now defunct programming. Other worlds would have their own Area Xes based on this idea, as it's implied the Earth version is just one piece of many. But it's worth noting that Ghost Bird is a creation of Area X and sees things differently than the other characters. Unreliable narration is ironically consistent through the series. So it's hard to say if this is true or not; perhaps it's silly to think any explanation would be understandable to a human mind. Obsession with finding the answer is a recurring theme that drives characters insane. I think this is an interesting compromise when discussing the unknowable; to have some facts and theories but not necessarily a concrete answer. 

If I have a criticism for this book, it's the role of the "Séance and Science Brigade", especially in Saul's storyline. While they're set up earlier in the series, we only really see them in this book. Our limited perspective via Saul leaves a lot of ambiguity as to their purpose, function, and goals. There's an implication that Control's family influenced the organization's decision to sabotage the beacon and create Area X. But I consider the subplot with Control's mom/grandfather to be one of the weaker ones in the series, and this book didn't help. The S&SB comes off as campy and ineffectual, which is perhaps intentional? But since they're narratively the fanatics who caused Area X to happen, I really wish they felt more sinister and impactful. There's some attempt to make them scary, but it's not very convincing when compared to Area X. Kind of like a Saturday morning cartoon villain vs the unknowable cosmic horror of the universe. This is a nitpick, though.

While rereading the series, I discovered there's a planned fourth book which may or may not star a minor character from Saul's story. I'm interested to see what else there is to explore about Area X and the Southern Reach. As it stands, I still really like this series. Between the horror and general weirdness, it's not for everyone, but it sure does appeal to me. I think this is one of those series that you'll either adore or hate. Obviously I recommend it.

[curious-minx]

Review of the first episode of The Great North (plus some sad Bob’s Burgers’ news)

2021.

I was going to begin my review of the pilot episode of The Great North, the sister sister series of Bob’s Burgers, with my trademark  snarky and slanted curlicue wit... Instead, I am reckoning with the headline of the death of Bob’s Burgers character designer, Dave Creek.

Dave Creek.

Type his name out and put it in comic sans and you can see it’s a name meant to be involved with TV. One of the rare individuals to pass away from something other than Covid-19 or our rising totalitarian government. The artist contributed to the show in many ways, most profoundly with the design of Lady Tinsel from the Bleakening, one of Bob’s Burgers most visually ambitious episodes to date. I am ill-equipped to eulogize the man like his fellow peers are doing, but as someone who writes and thinks about the Bob’s Burgers series it is impossible to not address his passing.

//////

The Great North.

“Sexi Moose Adventure”

Look up there! What Do You See? Nature and stuff Like a rock And a tree Oh, The Great North Way up here we can breathe the air Catch some fish Or gaze at a bear Wow! Oh, The Great North Here we live, oh, oh Here we’ll stay, oh, whoo From longest night To longest day In The Great North

An Alan Thicke bop or the wimpy Cheers theme this aint. A jarring theme. I had to transcribe it to lay it out in front of me to see how wordy it is, but to my surprise the theme song looks more concise on paper. Still, I am not sold on this theme song. Mainly because I prefer the misheard lyric of “Here we’ll say (it’s actually “stay”): oh, whoo,” digging further into the regional grunts.

1:24, One minute and twenty four seconds in and there is already a  little bit of winking scatalogical humor by the ever youthful Paul Rust, or as I am sure he’ll be known for generations, Ham Tobin, the middle of the three Tobin sons. Compounded within these first two minutes is a stylistic swivel away from Bob’s Burgers comedic well with a Brokeback Mountain themed wedding cutaway joke with real-world celebrity cameos. Speaking of celebrity cameos, how about a side character conversation with an Alanis Morrisette  constellation (and she’s a recurring character!) you’ve never seen that in Bob’s Burgers! In the first three minutes and thirty seconds we have two instances of explicitly expositional dialogue, the first is the cleaner introduction of eldest Wolf Tobin (voiced by Will Forte) and his fiance Honeybee Shaw who has just moved to Alaska from Fresno and helps set up the reverse All in the Family Meathead and Gloria dynamic. What comes next is once again another moment I can only describe as jarring when the inexplicably normal named Judy Tobin explains to Alanis Morrisette constellation exactly what is wrong with sweetly overbearing father. The reason involving a somewhat convoluted background story about the former Tobin matriarch's  abandonment of the family and Beef, the Tobin patriarchy, is in denial of this  fact. Beef prefers to live in the reality where no wife of his would leave him she could only have been eaten by a wolf.  

What goes on throughout the episode is what I believe is a cardinal sin of episodic storytelling: Making jokes and observations at the expense of an off screen character. There are already WAY too many characters being thrown at me and not once throughout the episode was I able to identify any of the characters by any names other than the name of the celebrity voice actor. Minute six and yet again we are hit with Honeybee  generating another celebrity name for a joke and I really hope that the writers develop more of a game for her. Oh wait a minute the episode reminds me again at the eight minute forty sixth second mark that she is in fact from Fresno. More diarrhea and fart jokes snaking their way back into the scene as well, but Jenny Slate has always relished in the poopier jokes (see: any of her stand-up, Kroll work, or Obvious Child).

At the ten minute mark there is a quality character defining joke when Wolf distracts Beef by pointing out an indoor potted plant in a mall, which causes Beef, ever the Nature man, to take matters into his own hands by trying to rescue the potted plant. Beef is basically a combination of the two Rons from Parks & Rec, the emotional frugality of Ron Swanson and a touch of Sam Elliot’s Ron Dunn Earthiness. Julio Torres’ mall juicer character is also introduced with a perfunctory but enjoyable deadpan exchange with the awkward Judy, but it’s the kind of performance Julio Torres could give in his sleep (and probably did).

The eleven minute mark introduces a character that I was initially pretty jazzed about, Judy’s boss at the mall photography store Alyson Lefebvrere (gosh I hated typing out that name >.<) voiced by long-time Molyneux collaborator, Megan Mullally. On paper, much like the theme song, a heated exchange between an emotionally vulnerable Beef and a character voiced by real-life wife Megan Mullally should be dynamite, instead much like their podcast it feels like a wet fart in the sheets. Mullally’s work on Bob’s Burgers as Linda’s sister Gayle is terrific and with the power of animation having her play an unconventional looking character really works to her advantage. Alyson’s character design is boring and conventional cartoon  attractive as she’s clearly being set up as a potential love interest for our leading Beef man, but the whole thing in execution falls completely flat. The extended 69 joke between Beef and Alyson is supposed to be funny because we know it’s between a real life publicly beloved celebrity couple. You cannot coast on innate chemistry alone! The setting up of the love interest isn’t even coy, we see Beef get heart eyes and drool over Alyson, which is just the most predictable and least interesting choice. A route this show seems dangerously flirtatious with.

Finally, at minute:second mark 13:15 we get introduced to a potentially fun and quirky sitcom character, Londra the neighboring fish mongerer. Voiced by Judith Shelton, an actor I am sure we all remember as Sally from Seinfeld and Angela from the Gregory Hines Show. Instead she gets instantly shut down and shuffled by in favor of advancing the plot of the episode. Moving on to the birthday party. Yep Honeybee makes another pop culture reference this time the Minions (it was Squidward last time, but I was too faint of heart to mention it at the time). We also find out in a forced confession from Ham that he is gay. I am glad the show has hired an openly gay actor like Julio Torres to play a bit recurring character, but it feels weird having Paul Rust a thoroughly heterosexual actor portray a gay goofball character. I feel like there easily could have been an actual gay goofball Paul Rust type out there deserving of the job, but this show does do right by having Dulce Sloan as Honeybee and Aparna Nancherla as MVP, Moon Tobin (Who I’ll get into later). Therefore I should not let this irk me, but clearly this show and I are not seeing eye to eye. In an era of gestures towards meaningful representation I would just like to see some consistency. Rust will probably go on to join the ranks of the many other hetero men who have also portrayed perfectly competenent and sensitive gay characters, but with gay characters should come paychecks for gay voice talent. In the end of this dead end debacle I much rather  Paul Rust have the role  and be spared the unimaginative Randy Rainbow casting. Back on track.

There’s a four square action sequence of the four siblings that also feels like the show attempting another stylistic flourish to separate itself from Bob’s Burgers. The episode, all one straight ahead single narrative, comes to a happy ending to also establish that the Bob’s Burgers sister sister series is also interested in being a sentimental sitcom to its core. An unfortunately okay first episode that got worse for me with a repeated viewing. The only character and overall performance that sticks out to me is Aparna Nancherla playing what is essentially the show’s Tina and  Louise lovechild of a character Moon Tobin, an animal identifying gender flipped peculiar savant-like child. She’s one of those comedians that I will always root for and appreciate whenever she pops up and I really hope that this show treats her right. She really elevates the material. Everyone else does just fine. The first episodes and first seasons of any sitcoms are rarely all that innovative or memorable so I am certainly going to allow this show to grow on me.

For the time being, this first episode of the Great North is deserving of Two Sexy Moose Antlers out of Five Forced Pop Culture References

[clevelandstate]

Film Students and Safe Sets

Written by Lauren Koleszar // The Vindicator

*This story has been edited slightly for length*

Film & Media Arts is one of the most hands-on majors at Cleveland State. It relies on massive collaboration and in-person filming that normally requires between ten and thirty cast and crew members for upperclassmen producing junior- and senior-level professional content. New COVID-19 guidelines require a “Safe Sets” certification, and students have been limited to crews of ten people or less on a set at one time. Camera departments that normally run on four to five students are being managed by two if they’re lucky. Students are choosing to produce scripts that need only a few actors and can be filmed at safe, easily accessible locations. Students are desperately working on pre-production and editing from home; and when on set, they’re filling multiple crew positions to make up for the absence of the much larger number of students who are normally able to work on one set together.

In spite of these challenges, film students at CSU are producing impressive creative content and becoming multi-faceted filmmakers as they take on many new responsibilities that are ultimately shaping them into better equipped professionals who will have a wide range of skills and experience.

We talked to film major Davis Chu, whose freshman year at CSU coincided with the opening of the university’s new film school in the fall of 2018. The initial lockdown hit during Davis’s second sophomore semester, and he took us through his personal experience and observation of the evolution of student filmmaking at CSU over the course of the last year.

LAUREN KOLESZAR: Elevator pitch. Who are you, what do you do and what interests you? DAVIS CHU: Hello there, my name is Davis. I’m a third-year film major, concentration in post-production, with a minor in graphic design. I am also in the Honors college. My passions include: writing, comedy, animation, editing, music, screenwriting, acting, and television. To clarify, when I say “television,” I mean watching it. Although I’m also working on an original pilot for school.

LK: Why are you studying film, and what are some of your favorite films, creatives or influences? DC: I think if life is a circus, then studying film is a trampoline. It may not have the safety net of other more stable fields, but it’s a great launching pad for someone who wants to pursue the arts. 

I’m a film major, but I don’t consume as much film as I do comedy and TV. My comedy influences include the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Mel Brooks, Larry David, Dave Chappele, Ricky Gervais, Dana Carvey, Marc Maron, Conan O’Brien, John Mulaney, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert...

For TV shows: VEEP, Barry, Fleabag, Atlanta, Master of None, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Succession, Girls, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty...

LK: Film is so hands-on, and most classes changed dramatically with the switch to Zoom. Describe the impact of the March 2020 lockdown on your film classes and projects. What kinds of things unique to film students had to change? DC: The period of January to March was a very slow, then exponential realization that the world was falling apart. I was supposed to edit a student short. My assistant editor was my dear friend Alex Maytin. They were yet to shoot, but the production was underway, and Alex and I were preparing to tackle the footage. It was an ambitious project and it honestly seemed monumental. Little did we know that the lockdown would dwarf our problems completely.

When school announced it was going virtual, Alex and I started brainstorming a potential remote workflow. He was gonna merge and organize the footage, mail it on a USB and I would edit. Like, we really thought the production was still happening. Needless to say, it didn’t.

Everyone in the school had to take on their own projects and oversee it from start to finish. People chose to make documentaries, short narrative films, I decided to make a small series of sketches titled Under Quarantine.

LK: What has filmmaking been like in the era of COVID-19? DC: I think the lasting impact on the film industry will be distribution. We were already moving in the direction of streaming services. But I think the presence of COVID-19 has accelerated the process. My prediction is that studios and creatives will probably lean away from film and into miniseries. I don’t really mind that. Storytelling is storytelling, whether it’s a 120-minute movie or a three-episode hour-long miniseries.

LK: How has your personal approach to creating and studying changed over the past year? DC: I’m definitely not alone in saying I’ve grown a lot in the past year. What changed the most is my approach to learning and creating. I’ve come to the conclusion that almost every skill is learnable. If you want to get good at something, all you have to do is take the time to do it. Last semester, I had a lot more time I could dedicate to my schoolwork (just by removing the time it takes to walk to and from class). I made some stuff I was really proud of. I found a love for animation. I think I have more patience for overcoming learning curves now.

LK: What has changed for the better? For the worse? DC: There are a couple super small silver linings if you look close enough. One of them is the accessibility and flexibility of education. For most of the classes I was taking, the transition was rather smooth. If I’m taking an animation class, and we’re all using our computers anyway, why don’t we take advantage of this great technology and just meet virtually?  

LK: How has the transition been for professors and faculty? In what ways have they helped make accommodations for students? DC: The professors have been incredibly accommodating. Earlier this semester, I tested positive for COVID and [it] wiped me out. I emailed all of my teachers and within a day, every one of them responded with empathy and get-well wishes. Through extensions and exemptions, I was able to catch up and now I’m back! It’s also cool that the faculty are conscious enough that not everyone has access to the same level of technology.

LK: Has there been anything you've learned or had the opportunity to experience because of the impact of COVID-19? Personal or film-related? DC: I don’t know how much of this is related to COVID-19 but I have been pretty introspective lately. I’ve been slowly coming to terms with the Asian-American experience and how race has affected me. With this topic in mind, I started writing a TV pilot for my class. I guess that is one of the benefits of being an arts major. Be it COVID-19 or racism or any problem, we have the luxury of being forced to process our emotions. 

LK: Finally, what inspires you and how do you work to overcome the weight of the pandemic on your college and creative experience? DC: I take everything one step at a time. And I try to remember that so long as I’m doing my part to keep other people safe, that’s all that really matters. Control what you can, set a good example for others, and let go of the rest. And creatively, so long as I have access to tools I can use to make stuff, I’m satisfied.

*To read this article in it’s original, full-length format or to check out other great Vindicator content, visit thevindi.com/post/film-students-and-safe-sets.

[angelanimedesaray]

Through The Looking Glass Chapter 2: Like Smoke

AN:  Ahhh, yes, I get to continue this one--I keep getting distracted...by the planning for this series.  I’ve got pages and pages of notes for this series now, It’s getting to be quite the ambitious project.  OH and I have a playlist for the series, too, on YouTube.  There’s a link for it on the Masterlist.  BTW I’m tagging all of the things that have to do with this (Chapters, Masterlist, and Playlist) #TTLG and all my fanfics have my penname AngelDesaray in the tags (Unless for some reason I forgot)

P.S. to find my masterlists, I link the masterlists for series in every chapter (As well as previous or next chapters).  Links to stories and series masterlists can also be found in my Author Masterlists, which can be found as a separate page on my blog under the Masterlist tab on desktop (Only shows published pieces), or as a link in my blog bio for mobile users (Also has upcoming pieces listed).

Characters:  Levi, Reader, Reader’s Mom, Kenny (Mentioned)

Pairing:  (Eventual) Levi x Reader

Warnings:  I mean, there’s fluff...and there’s some sad stuff near the end...

Word Count:  5004

<---Previous Chapter    Masterlist    Next Chapter--->

(Gif From Your Lie In April, found on Your-Lie-In-April on Deviant Art)

*Levi’s POV*

The sound of a distant woman calling a familiar name roused Levi from what may have been one of the best rests he’d had so far in his very young life, eyes fluttering open slowly as he tried to remember where he was.  Everything was so soft, and he just wanted to drift back to sleep, curl up in the fluffy warmth around him and…

The woman’s voice came again, a little closer this time, and there came a sudden burst of movement next to him, Levi’s eyes flying open as the little body of Y/N flailed to untangle themselves from the mess of blankets around both of them.  She struggled to her feet with a squeak and fumbled for the door that she toppled ungracefully out of, crawling on hands and knees out the door and kicking it shut.  Levi was left dazed, halfway risen out of the blankets, and wondering what had just happened, but now also laden down with the weight of several more blankets since she had thrown blankets and pillows onto him in her mad dash to get out the door.  He pushed a few blankets off, crawling over to one of the tiny windows to catch a glimpse of the girl reaching the door to the back of the house, where the woman who had been calling her name was standing in the doorway.  He could only hear fragments of the conversation if he listened hard enough.

“...sleep in...all night?”

“...forgot...check...almost couldn’t sleep....”

“...school...thirty minutes...late…”

Levi shook his head, dropping back down into the mess of blankets with a muffled yawn as he glanced around trying to find the water bottles in the now tumultuous mass of blankets and pillows.  Once he found them buried in one of the corners he finished off the one bottle he’d started on the day before he laid back down, contemplating going back to sleep despite the light filtering into the little house.  He was so comfortable, and if something happened and he had to go back, then he wanted to enjoy it while he could.

The door was thrown open, startling Levi with the suddenness of it all as he saw Y/N stick her head inside, huffing like she was out of breath and hadn’t stopped running since she scrambled out of the tiny house.  After her head poked in and she saw where Levi was, she tossed a sac of some sheer, opaque material inside, its contents rolling around.  She spoke quickly in the brief flash that he saw her, the last part tacked on as she shut the door and hurried away.

“I gotta go, I’m late for school!  Here’s food, see you later!”

Her mother shouted from the house for Y/N to hurry, even though she was already scrambling back.  Afraid that if he tried to fall asleep again she’d simply re-appear and scare him awake, Levi resigned himself to getting up for the day, reaching for the bag she’d tossed inside and poking through its contents.  There were two more rolls inside, no longer fresh and warm like they’d been yesterday, but still good.  There was also a green apple, something hard wrapped in some kind of thin, shiny, silvery covering, a spoon, and two white and red containers a little bigger than his hands that were cool to the touch and had a similar silvery covering over the top.

Deciding to investigate the stranger things later, he munched on the bread and the apple first, gazing out the window thoughtfully.

When all that was left of the start of his breakfast was half the apple, he grabbed the bag and one of the water bottles and decided to venture back outside, a little more used to the light this time since he’d woken up to it.  His legs were stronger than yesterday, steps surer as he tentatively ventured out of the little house, staying close to the walls of the little house and his head turned towards the house to keep an eye on it as he shuffled closer to the trees behind the house.  He wanted a closer look at the trees--wanted to sit quietly outside in the warm sun, breathing in the fresh air while he ate and explore the surface while he was up here.  If Y/N was going to be gone for a while, then that was what he wanted to spend the day doing.

The shade was much kinder to him than the direct sunlight, easier on his eyes that were used to the dark and not as hot.  It was comfortable and cool in the shade, and he stopped when he saw another large house starting to appear through the trees, doubling back a bit and finding a nice dry patch of grass in the shade to sit down in, curling up comfortably on the ground and squinting up at the sunlight flickering down on him through the leaves.  He was close enough to a tree he could put his hand gently against its trunk, feeling the grooves of the bark beneath his fingers and watching the rather large black ants travelling up its trunk while carrying tiny crumbs of food.

Speaking of, he still had the stranger things in the sack she had thrown him to eat.

Resting his back against the tree trunk with his knees pulled halfway up to his chest, Levi set about investigating the stranger, silvery wrapped things in the bag, finding a soothing solace in the quiet and the green all around him.

*Reader’s POV*

School couldn’t go by fast enough.  Sure, you were in trouble with your mother for messing around outside looking for a stuffed animal instead of getting ready for school.  It was better than her finding out you’d hid a boy in your playhouse all night, though, right?

Of course, with how antsy you were to get back home and see him when you had school to distract you, he must be bored out of his mind alone in that playhouse!  And he wasn’t going to get lunch until you got home, either!

With all these thoughts, you were bouncing in your seat on the bus, then racing home on foot once you finally reached your stop.  Your backpack lay abandoned at the front door, causing your mother to yell at you to pick up after yourself as you skidded into the kitchen.  Your tongue poked out as you hurried to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before your mother came in and tried to stop you from having a pb&j for a ‘light snack’.  Once that was finished, you grabbed two Capri Suns your mother probably thought she’d hidden, grabbed a family sized bag of chips, and dashed outside towards the playhouse.

“I’m back!  I brought...some…”

You paused, head craning and foot poking at the mess of blankets in case he was simply buried under all the fluffy things.  Still, you didn’t find Levi in the playhouse, and you stepped back outside with a frown, wondering where the little boy had disappeared to.  Your mother would have instantly pulled you aside to talk about Levi if he’d gone inside the house and been seen.  Maybe he’d wandered into the brush behind your house?

Changing directions, you started picking your way through the trees and bushes, looking for the skinny boy you’d been smuggling quite a bit of food to by now.

“Levi?  Levi!” you called as you came closer and closer to the backyard of the people who lived behind your family.

You squeaked in surprise as his head suddenly peaked out from behind one of the thicker trees, disheveled strands of black hair falling into eyes that were slightly brighter than they had been yesterday.  It seemed he was sitting with his back against the tree, legs curled up towards him, and the plastic bag of food you’d given him earlier now holding his trash at his side.  You gave him a bright smile, sitting down next to him and offering the pb&j to him.

“I brought lunch,” you said cheerfully, opening the bag of chips that made Levi jump from the loud pop sound before you placed the bag between the two of you, working on punching the yellow straws into the Capri Suns.

The silence lasted perhaps only a few seconds as Levi tore into the sandwich before it rapidly devolved into almost frantic smacking noises from Levi.  Maybe you’d put too much peanut butter on it?

You giggled as you watched him continue to make those smacking noises, struggling with the amount of sticky peanut butter with an amusing look of bemusement on his face.  When he looked at you accusingly for laughing at him, you offered him one of the Capri Suns with that bright smile still on your face.  He took it carefully from you, eyeing you more than it as you sucked happily on your own Capri Sun.  When he finally started drinking the juice, he seemed to relax, the juice soothing his peanut butter problem.

“You must have been bored, out here so long,” you said once your Capri Sun was finished.  Levi shrugged, taking smaller bites of the pb&j now.

“I like it out here,” he said simply, and now that you looked, his eyes did seem to constantly drink in the greenery around the two of you.

“There’s a...a con...conservation place a little ways away,” you said slowly, making sure the bigger word came out right.  “Mom lets me go play there--we could too.  There’s long grass, and trees, and berries, and a pond with fish and frogs and rabbits--we can play there.”

Levi was silent, chewing on the last of his pb&j thoughtfully.  “How far is it?” he asked slowly.  You suddenly remembered how he’d had a hard time moving around yesterday.

“A few streets over…” you admitted sheepishly.  “But I could carry you!”

Levi made a face, but you were already on your feet and exuding raw unbridled, positive energy.  “No, really, I’m pretty strong, I can pick up my friend at school, and you’re tinier than them.  I could give you a piggyback ride there!”

You started putting your trash in the plastic bag, rolling up the so-far untouched bag of chips.  “We can take the chips with us--I’ll throw this away, tell Mom where I’m going, and come get you!” you said cheerfully, already making your way back through the brush towards the house before Levi had the chance to agree or disagree.

*Levi’s POV*

She hadn’t been lying when she said she could carry him.  It was embarrassing, but no one seemed to be looking as the two children made their way down the sidewalks.  Levi’s legs were wrapped around her waist, her hands tucked under his knees to support him as she leaned forward slightly, Levi leaning against her back with his arms wrapped around her shoulders and across her chest for extra security.  His head peeked around hers to look around him as she carried him down a few streets paved with some kind of seamless black stone down the middle and raised brown stone on the sides.  Every now and then he saw some sort of strange horseless carriage like objects sitting unmoving along the edge of the black street or still on the wider brown-stone pathways leading up to homes.  He didn’t ask what they were, figuring it was something only surface people got to have, and Y/N was pretty much ignoring them, so he figured it was a normal sight for her, even if he found it strange.

As they went up a hill, Y/N started to pant underneath him, her hands starting to feel sweaty on his legs and her movements a little slower.

“I can walk,” Levi murmured as she continued to struggle.  He wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to make it if he tried, honestly, but the girl shook her head.

“No, it’s...just on the other side.  I can carry you...the rest of the way,” she said between huffed breaths, shifting her grip on his legs and picking up her speed slightly as she powered stubbornly forward.  Levi clung tightly to her, turning his head and resting it on her neck as his eyes looked up at the light blue sky, gaze tracing the outlines of the soft white clouds that drifted lazily by and watching the leaves of the trees in various yards sway high above him in the breeze.  If he hadn’t been so transfixed by the sight of the surface world, he could have easily fallen asleep against her back, the secure comfort she was giving him making him feel drowsy in contrast with the energy that raced through his system with the excitement of everything around him.  Her breathing underneath him was heavy, and he could feel her quickened heartbeat against his ear, but she kept climbing with Levi on her back without a word of complaint.

When she crested the hill, the street dipped low just briefly before stretching out in one straight road, trees framing both sides for several paces before the trees on the right gave way to a meadow of long grass, just like she said.  Levi stretched forward over her shoulder to see it, eyes widening as more and more of it came into view.

Y/N only carried him until the edge of the meadow, setting him down in the soft grass with a relieved sigh.  Levi pressed some of the longer grass down as they walked forward, the meadow opening up and dipping into a lower basin where a fairly large body of water rippled and sparkled in the sunlight.  On the other side of the meadow was a thick collection of trees and bushes, and if he looked hard enough, he could see spots of dark red or blue on some of the bushes.  But that was for later--right now, he wanted to get closer to that giant pond in the middle of the meadow.

The grass tickled his arms and legs, causing him to scratch here and there as he stumbled his way down the uneven slope on shaky legs, Y/N close by the entire time with her head tilted up to the sky and the warm sun with a smile on her face.  She was so...so...happy.  She probably didn’t have to worry about anything, didn’t have to be afraid of anything.  She could only be this happy because she lived on the surface, and the things that lurked in the dark underground weren’t lurking above it.  Her life seemed...easy, perfect, and he envied her for it.  But he couldn’t envy her for it for long, because she was still sharing it with a dirty Underground dweller like him, even if he couldn’t fathom why.

“Can you swim?” she asked him as they finally reached the bank, already taking off her shoes and socks as she spoke, sitting on her rear with her feet kicking in the air in the process.  Levi shook his head, and she gave him a sheepish smile.  “I’m not a good swimmer, yet, I just bob.  We can just stick our feet in, cause it gets a little deep.”

She sat down on the edge and dipped her feet in with a little giggle, smoothing down a patch of the long grass around her and looking at him expectantly.  Levi still approached the water slowly despite the fact he was already imagining how refreshing it was going to feel, not wanting to get too eager and accidentally fall in after she said it was deep.  He settled down next to her, feet stretching out experimentally towards the water and tentatively dipping his rather dirty feet below the surface.  It was cool--not cold thanks to the sun shining down on it, but not warm either.  Pleasant in contrast to the warm air with the sun beaming down on him when there was no shade to protect him.  Levi leaned down, letting his hand dip into the water as well, swirling the waters around between his fingers.

While he was doing that, a thought occurred to him, and he dunked both hands below the water, taking the time to scrub at the dirt on his hands, arms, legs, and feet before he cupped his hands and scooped up water to splash on his face, rubbing at the dirt there, as well.  It felt so good to be clean, to see and feel the dirt giving way against the crystalline water and see the water droplets against his skin shimmer clearly under the sunlight.

Now he wouldn’t get any more dirt on all those comfy blankets and pillows in the small house he was sleeping in.

There was a sudden splash, and water spattered across his face, followed by the sounds of giggles beside him.  He was taken aback at first, looking over at Y/N just in time to see her splash the water towards him again with a huge grin on her face.  She laughed more audibly this time, with Levi trying to duck to avoid getting splashed in the face again before he returned the splashes with some of his own.  It quickly escalated, water sloshing violently between them and getting them both soaked, Y/N’s gleeful shrieks filling the air and a wide smile working its  way across Levi’s face.  He felt lighter than he’d felt in some time, like he would float away up into that blue sky any moment.

“Okay, okay!  Uncle!  Uncle!  I give up!” she eventually laughed, the splashing finally calming down and the waters returning to its calm state around their feet.  They were soaked now, and Levi shivered, but the sun was still warm against his skin, and he felt like he’d dry out in no time.  Y/N pulled her feet out of the water, trying to wring the water out of her hair as she stretched, eyes on the bushes on the other side of the pond.  “Do you want some berries?”

“Okay.”

He watched her head over to the bushes he’d been eyeing earlier, brushing hair out of his face and watching as she picked berries off the bushes and used her shirt as a makeshift basket to collect them in.  The only sound was the occasional drip of disturbed water or the rustle of leaves, and he laid down, some of the grass curling back up around him and towards the sky.  A soft breeze wafted the grass above him, the thin blades waving in and out of his immediate field of vision.

Please...let me stay...

A few minutes later, Y/N had reappeared, standing over him with her shirt basket heavy with berries as she kneeled down next to him.  He sat up on his elbows as she showed him her collection of small red cup-shaped berries and round blue berries, her free hand already digging into her collection to grab a few of the red berries.

“Raspberries are my favorite,” she explained with a small giggle, offering the berries to him after she’d grabbed what she wanted.  Levi got a handful for himself, a lot less hesitant in trying the foods this time since almost everything she’d given him so far had been delicious.

He didn’t care much for those chalky rectangular things in the silver wrapping this morning, though.

Something caught Y/Ns attention, her head turned to the side as she went still, nose wrinkling as she suddenly became far more concentrated than Levi had seen her so far.

“Hold these,” she said quietly, dumping the rest of the berries on him so suddenly that Levi had to scramble to snatch them up before they all tumbled to the ground.  She wasn’t even paying attention anymore, crouching low in the grass and creeping slowly towards the pond like a kitten stalking a mouse.  He watched her, confused, wondering for a few moments if she’d seen a fish in the pond or a bird or something.

Suddenly, her hands shot out, cupped around something as she let out a loud squeal and leapt to her feet.

“I got it, I got it!” she crowed, prancing back over to where Levi was sitting, getting really close on her knees with her cupped hands between them.  She held it up close to his face, but craned her head awkwardly so she could see as well, forehead knocking against his.  “I don’t want it...to get away…”

Slowly, she bent her thumbs, a small crack appearing in her cupped hands that she gradually widened further and further.  At first, Levi didn’t see anything, but then, slowly, two glimmering, tiny, beady black eyes caught some of the sun, and Levi realized there was some kind of tiny creature trapped in her hands.  He got closer, trying to see what it was, faintly making out a fat but tiny body, spindly limbs, and--

Y/N suddenly shrieked, hands opening reflexively.  “AH!  It peed on me!”

All Levi registered was peed and the fact that suddenly a tiny little brown and spotted body was flying out of her hands, through the air, and directly towards him.  His own vocal reaction was lost in her continued shrieks of disgust as he tried to get out of the way, a tiny, bumpy, sort of slimy body landing on his arm.  Afraid the thing was going to pee on him, too, his arm jerked upwards in response, and it flew off of him and disappeared back into the tall grass.

Y/N had abandoned him to the little menace already, her hands plunged into the pond as she scrubbed valiantly at her hands, muttering ew over and over before she pulled them back out and tried to shake the water off her hands.  Levi was still wide eyed and trying to figure out what just happened.

That grin was back on her face as she turned towards him again.  “I think I want to try and catch another one!”

“Why?”

“So I know I can really catch a frog; I wasn’t just lucky that time!”

Levi scowled, looking down at all the berries that had been scattered everywhere while he’d flailed around trying to get away from the stupid, tiny frog.  She only laughed at his reaction, coming over and grabbing his arm to pull him up onto his feet, dragging him with her towards the trees.

“Okay, okay, we can play hide and seek instead.  There’s plenty of places to hide in the woods.  C’mon, c’mon!”

And just like that, the little hellion frog was forgotten as she urged him on towards the next experience, sweeping him away into more discoveries and experiences before he had the chance to dwell too long on whatever bad tried to poke through.  Even though his legs were shaky, she volunteered to be ‘it’ over and over so he could rest in his hiding spots while she tried to find him, stopping every now and then to look at a bug they’d found, to pick a few berries from the bushes in the area, and at one point, to stare in wonder at a small nest of baby bunnies hidden in a hollow at the base of a tree.  They looked but didn’t touch, watching the two tiny rabbits squinting back at them with their little noses twitching furiously, the two rabbits curled close together much like Levi and Y/N had curled up under the blankets last night.

And when the sky started to turn to a rusted orange, she carried him on her back without complaint once again as they headed towards her house once more.  Levi could hardly stand after all the running around they’d done, but he didn’t regret it.  In fact, he was perfectly content, even with the burn in his legs and ache in his arms.  He was already dozing off as he tucked his head against her back once again, the exhaustion mixed with the relief from her carrying him back instead of him having to walk back, mixed in with the warm air and the dim light from the sun making it easy to simply...drift…

He woke up long enough to realize when he was being set down in front of the little house, weaving on his feet as Y/N helped him back inside and he curled up in the cloud of blankets and pillows with a softly sighed good-night, his hand groping about to find Tuff before he slipped into a blissful sleep.

When Levi opened his eyes again, it wasn’t to the bright light filtering into the tiny house as he curled up in a nest of blankets.  It was dark, and the smell of sweat and dirt and decay assaulted him much more viscerally after the contrast of the clean, fresh air.  He wasn’t even curled up on his side like he’d been when he’d fallen asleep, but still sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, back against the wall, arms wrapped around his legs.

Directly across from him was the bed that still had his mother’s dead body.

It was...a dream?

Blinking slowly, it seemed he hadn’t moved an inch, and he was covered in dirt and grime once more, not a hint of a clean patch of skin after scrubbing clean by that pond.

Or was I...seeing things?

It didn’t matter...it wasn’t real.  Levi’s heart plummeted, and he ducked his head into his arms, surprised that his eyes actually stung with tears when he’d thought he was too dehydrated to cry anymore.  None of it was real.  The surface, the sun, the air, all the green, the nest of blankets, the food, the girl...it wasn’t real.  He was still wasting away, forgotten where no one cared about him anymore, waiting to finally die.  If he was seeing things, maybe he was finally close.

And yet…

The door to the room opened, a pale yellow light cutting across the room and over the bed, drawing Levi’s attention towards the man who stood just inside the doorway.  The sudden appearance made him forget--for the time being--that he wasn’t hungry anymore.

*Reader’s POV*

“Where do you think you’re going with that bowl, young lady?”

You froze by the back door, a bowl of cereal you were hoping to bring out to Levi before you had to go to school in hand, suddenly feeling cold at your mother’s scolding tone.  This was it, you’d been caught, you couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough and your mother was already closing in, probably to take the bowl from you, but Levi needed to eat before you left.

Looks like you couldn’t hide the boy in your playhouse much longer.  Why did you feel like telling your mom about him was going to get you in trouble.

“I...I need to...Levi needs breakfast,” you said in a small voice, feeling like you were about to get yelled at any moment.

“Levi?” your mother asked, pausing just by the door.  “Who’s Levi?”

“T...The boy in the playhouse.”

Her expression went blank, and then for some reason, worried.  “There’s a boy in the playhouse?”

You nodded very slowly.  “He-he’s been there since the other day.  He needs to eat before I go to school, or he’ll have to wait till I’m home.”

Your mother’s expression was unreadable as she stared at you and the bowl in your hand for several long moments, then carefully said in an even tone, “Can I see Levi?”

She wasn’t yelling, so you didn’t think she was angry.  Maybe this was good--if your mom knew about Levi, she could make sure he was taken care of while you were at school--he could have real food and eat dinner inside with you, sleep in a bed--or on the couch at least--and probably get a change of clothes.

After you nodded, your mom took the bowl out of your hands and followed you outside towards the playhouse.  You hoped he was already awake--he probably was, since he’d fallen asleep so early yesterday.

“Levi?” You called softly, opening the door to see...a mass of blankets and pillows, like yesterday.  Again, you pushed around a few of the blankets but couldn’t find him.  Your mom was standing outside the house with the bowl still and you shook your head as you immediately went to look in the brush again.  “He was back here when I came outside yesterday, he’s probably there, now.”

“Y/N…” your mother was starting to say tiredly, but you were already picking through the trees looking for Levi again, ignoring her as you tried to find your new friend.

“Levi?  Levi?  Levi!” you called, hoping his head would peek around one of the trees again.  But he didn’t show up--you couldn’t find a trace of him.  Did he leave?  Did he leave in the middle of the night or before you woke up?  He’d seemed happy yesterday, so why would he leave?  Didn’t he like you, didn’t he like sleeping in the blanket nest?

“Y/N, its okay to have imaginary friends, but you can’t waste food on them, they don’t eat like you and mommy and daddy--” your mother was saying carefully behind you.  Hearing her suggest Levi wasn’t real made you suddenly angry and frustrated as well as hurt at the thought that Levi had simply left.

“He wasn’t imaginary, he was real!  A real boy that was really here!”  Your eyes burned and a few angry, hurt tears slipped past your eyes, the words starting to stick in your throat as you felt yourself starting to cry.  “His name was Levi...and he didn’t even say bye.”

Next Chapter--->

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[the-rockstar-lestat]

I've recently become interested in astrology. Not surprising, I suppose , it's all over the internet lately, I'm more surprised it took me this long. I did have to ask Gabrielle what time I was born, as it wasn't something we'd ever discussed. She told me, and I quote "lestat, dear child, do you think after nine pregnancies and seven births I remembered a thing like what time I was finally free of you accursed things?" Which, first of all , fascinating way to look at the miracle of childbirth, Mother, but I can't say I blame her. She did manage to remember it was morning, and I think that's all we're going to get. Anyway, perhaps the time I made up was correct because, I believe the phrase is, this chart was AT-ing me. So here we are, presented with commentary.

(Also do you know how long it took me to find a site that allowed me to enter the year 1758?)

"Sun in Scorpio

The sun determines your ego, identity, and "role" in life. It's the core of who you are, and is the sign you're most likely to already know. Your Sun is in Scorpio, meaning you have a fundamental urge to get to the bottom of things, which can at times lead you to be manipulative or power-hungry, but it comes down to an intense passion for authenticity, real intimacy, and the truth. It's in your twelfth house, meaning you feel the need to distinguish yourself from others through privacy, secrets, and introspection."

Well this comes as no surprise. I knew I was a Scorpio, passionate, sensual, easily angered, and ruled by emotions. I've been told Scorpios are one of the harder zodiac signs to put up with, with intense personalities. Guilty. I do like it mentioned my need to authenticity and tendency for introspection, which people often forget about.

"Ascendant in Sagittarius

Your ascendant is the "mask" you present to people. It can be seen in your personal style and how you come off to people when you first meet. Some say it becomes less relevant as you get older. It changes every two hours, so if it doesn't make sense, text your mom to confirm your birth time. Your Ascendant is in Sagittarius, meaning you come across as independent, optimistic, and confident, though sometimes overly blunt or critical. Generally a charming conversationalist, your free-spirited approach may come off as restless or easily bored."

Well I don't know how much older I'll have to get before it's less relevent, because I think "independent, optimistic, and confident, though sometimes overly blunt" is probably how most people would describe me if they're being kind. As is restless and easily bored.

"Moon in Aquarius

The moon rules your emotions, moods, and feelings. This is likely the sign you most think of yourself as, since it reflects your personality when you're alone or deeply comfortable. Your Moon is in Aquarius, meaning your emotional self is intuitive, observant, detached, and rational. You are often in your own world, but are scared of how you truly feel. It's in your second house, meaning you find security and safety through money and material possessions."

And this is where the relentless @-ing appears. In my own world? Scared of how I truly feel? I'm in this picture and I don't like it. Find safety through money and material things? We WONT bring up what Louis calls my tendency to throw money at problems. The Valentines Day debacle, anyone?

"Mercury in Scorpio

Mercury determines how you communicate, talk, think, and process information. It also indicates how you learn. It is the mind's planet. Your Mercury is in Scorpio, meaning your intellect is intense, serious, and obsessive. You have tendency to see things that others don't through your perceptive and insightful intuition. You don't take things lightly and like to get straight to the point, which can come off as harsh, suspicious, or intrusive. You tend to communicate through your body language. It's in your eleventh house, meaning you are curious about and inclined to analyze your friends, how to make an impact on people, and your political life."

Yes, THANK YOU, I'm actually quite intelligent, I'll remind you, people don't remember that because I do hide it under a lot of LOUD, see aforesaid ascendent in Sagittarius, but I spend a lot of time --too much time--thinking. And I have been called blunt. And as I've been called animated more times than I'd like to count, the expressing things through body language is true.

"Venus in Libra

Venus determines how and what you love. It indicates how you express affection and the qualities you're attracted to. Your Venus is in Libra, meaning your romantic side is idealistic and eager-to-please. You want an equitable relationship, and you're willing to make compromises to get there. You can be a little self-obsessed, and may have trouble being realistic or loyal in your relationships. It's in your eleventh house, meaning that for you, love is often expressed in social status, including platonic and casual friends, along with your hopes, wishes, and dreams."

....... Presented without further comment.

"Mars in Sagittarius

Mars is the planet of aggression. It determines how you assert yourself, take action, and the energy that surrounds you—particularly in your sex life, your ambitiousness, and when you're angry. Your Mars is in Sagittarius, meaning you assert yourself in a way that pushes boundaries, you easily become impatient and restless, and you push things forward with more vision than thoughtfulness. It's in your first house, meaning you put a lot of energy into your self and self-image—and, because it's your first house, your Mars in Sagittarius is hyper-present in your personality."

More vision than thoughtfulness can shut up. It's not wrong but it can shut up

"Jupiter in Sagittarius

One of the two social planets, Jupiter rules idealism, optimism, and expansion. It's also very philosophical. Your Jupiter is in Sagittarius, meaning you grow and find understanding through questioning, curiosity, independence, and debate. It's in your first house, meaning you find success through your self and self-image—and, because it's your first house, your Jupiter in Sagittarius is hyper-present in your personality."

A little too much questioning and curiouity, hmm, Marius?

"Saturn in Aquarius

The other social planet, Saturn rules responsibility, restrictions, limits, boundaries, fears, and self-discipline. Your Saturn is in Aquarius, meaning you struggle with obstinacy, a superiority complex, and being overly detached. It's in your third house, meaning you have had difficulties with the things you know and are familiar with."

Me??? A superiority complex????? Obstinate? You know, I'm almost flattered. Just call me the Brat Prince, chart, it'd be faster.

"Uranus in Pisces

Uranus stays in each sign for seven years, meaning it rules a generation more than a person. It rules innovation, rebellion, and progress. Your Uranus is in Pisces, meaning other generations are shocked by your generation's sense of empathy, dreaminess, and gentle nature. It's in your third house, meaning that for you, this manifests in rebelling against dated expectations about the things you know and are familiar with."

I wouldn't call my generation empathetic or gentle, but we were thoughtful. Though compared to some, perhaps we were.

I do not choose to coment on rebelling against dated expectations , as once again, they don't call me the Brat Prince for nothing.

"Neptune in Leo

Neptune stays in each sign for around fourteen years, meaning it rules a generation more than a person. It rules dreams, imagination, and the unconscious. Your Neptune is in Leo, meaning your entire generation finds inspiration through magnanimity, leadership, thinking big, and confidence. It's in your eighth house, meaning that for you, this manifests in your ideal—verging on unrealistic and impractical—about darkness, taboos, rebirth, sex, and transformation."

This is a bit more how is describe those of us who were Young in the years just before the French Revolution. We were throwing ourselves into a new world, a world we were determined to make, and unafraid of the darkness we were about to fall into.

"Pluto in Sagittarius

Pluto stays in each sign for up to thirty years, meaning it rules a generation more than a person. It rules power, intensity, obsession, and control. Your Pluto is in Sagittarius, meaning your generation's psyche is comparatively positive, free-spirited, curious, optimistic, forward-looking, independent, and confident. It's in your first house, meaning you personally are transforming your self and self-image—and, because it's your first house, your Pluto in Sagittarius is hyper-present in your personality."

As is this. The Age of Enlightenment. I do wish some of us were still around

Now tell me, friends and fans and fellow Scorpios, do you agree with the stars?

[rheyninwrites]

The Photographer’s Assistant

You’ve been traveling with your cousin, Albert, trying to help him with a photography project he’s been working on. He’s trying to document the true, unspoiled American wilderness, and the animals of each region. One day, as he’s trying to lure out some coyotes to photograph, a mysterious stranger comes along to help him out, and you find yourself inexplicably drawn to him. He’s strong, handsome, and has an almost unnatural knack for handling the wildlife you’ve been trying to photograph. What’s this man’s story, and is he as drawn to you as you are him?

*I forgot when I posted this to mention it’s part of a series based on the “Arcadia for Amateurs” mission. Also, I am trying to keep it gender neutral.

You sat on a nearby rock, waiting, while Albert made the final adjustments to his camera. He was definitely a perfectionist, which was probably why his photographs always turned out so nice, and why he was so popular with the upper class when it came to his portraits. He could have made a fortune that way, if he’d wanted. But the wilderness called to him, or at least he thought it had, and he’d asked you, his dearest cousin, to come along to help him out.

It probably had a lot to do with the fact that he knew your mother had been continually harassing you about marriage. Past thirty, you were proudly marching beyond an easily marriageable age, and she just couldn’t stand the thought of it. She’d begun throwing every eligible single in the area your way, just hoping you’d give in and marry one of them. For you, it simply wasn’t an option. All of your life, you’d known that it would take a pretty extraordinary individual to get you interested in marriage. It wasn’t that you disliked the idea of committing to one person for the rest of your life, quite the opposite. It was that you couldn’t fathom the idea of marrying anyone that you didn’t feel absolutely certain you’d never get tired of or bored with.

After you’d written all of this to Albert, he’d shown up weeks later, begging your mother to let him take you as his assistant. He needed family, someone who he could trust. Someone kind, good with animals, and, most of all, someone with your natural eye for art. He’d plead his case so fervently, your mother couldn’t help but agree. Of course, the idea that you might make money from book royalties didn’t hurt, either. So now, here you were, watching with bated breath as a lone coyote approached the bag of meat Albert had set out. He laid low in the grass, crawling slowly towards it. Little by little, bit by bit, he made his way over . . . and was startled off by a man approaching them on horseback.

“What you doing here?” He asked, dismounting and walking over.

As you watched, the coyote disappeared into the distance. You leapt off the rock after him, ready to tell him off for disturbing the shot, but the words of fire you’d prepared died on your tongue when you saw him. He had to be just about the most attractive man you’d ever seen. Albert, undaunted by the disturbance, walked up and introduced himself. As he began explaining the project, you took the opportunity to stare at this handsome stranger shamelessly.

He was at least six feet tall, with broad, heavily muscled shoulders and arms, and dark sandy brown hair. Heavy, furrowed eyebrows sat atop steel blue eyes, with a beautifully chiseled nose between, and full, weathered lips beneath. His jawline was firm, squared, covered with a perfect dusting of stubble, and it was making you feel more than a little weak in the knees. His shirt was partially undone, giving you a view of his burly chest, a fine tuft of dark hair peeking deliciously up from the bottom of the gap. Everything about his body said he was a rugged powerhouse of a man who could probably throw you over his shoulder without a second thought, and the very thought made your cheeks flush.

As Albert was talking to the man, trying to convince him to pose for a photo, the coyote returned. He slunk forward slowly, then moved so quickly that you didn’t have a chance to breathe a word of warning before he’d grabbed the bag and run off with it. Moving almost as quickly as the coyote had, the man took off after him.

“That bag had some of my supplies in it!” Albert cried after him.

While you were busy chastising Albert for being so careless with the expensive supplies, the gentleman, whose name you learned was Arthur Morgan, chased the bag. Before long, he returned with it in hand, but not before you’d heard him yelling out a warning to the coyote to stay away. The thought of such a rugged looking man talking mindlessly to animals was so adorable, you had to stifle a laugh as he approached.

“I got your bag!” Arthur approached with an unmistakable strut. “But a bag of meat will tend to bring out the worst in the local wildlife.”

Albert thanked him profusely, then disappeared back into the world of his camera, effectively dismissing Arthur, but he seemed reluctant to leave, glancing at the camera and watching everything Albert was doing. After a minute, you walked over to him.

“Can I help you, Mr Morgan?” You asked in your sweetest voice, giving him a look that would melt butter. “You seem very interested.”

He shuffled his feet a bit, looking down just after meeting your eyes. You could swear you saw a blush across his cheeks. All that from just a look? Who would have guessed this tough looking guy could be so easily rattled?

“Uh, yeah. I was just wondering about this project you’re doing. You just working around here?” He hooked his thumbs on his belt, doing his best to look you in the eyes, but failing miserably.

“Oh, no. We’re actually traveling quite extensively. Albert intends to photograph as many species of wildlife as he possibly can, as well as document what life is like for people who live in the more remote areas of the country.”

He looked a bit impressed. “That right? Your husband’s pretty ambitious, ‘specially for a man with no wildlife experience.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Albert’s not my husband!” Albert glanced over upon hearing his name. “He’s lovely, really, but he’s my cousin. I’m just here to help.”

Arthur’s eyes brightened at that, and he’d just opened his mouth to say something when Albert came butting in.

“Mr Morgan, would you mind terribly stepping over here a moment?” He lead him away to a spot in front of the camera while you watched on helplessly. “It’s just that you are a fine example of a rugged outdoorsman. A man who lives by his wits, fighting the elements! It would make a wonderful photo.”

“Me?” Arthur asked, his doubts written across his face.

“Oh, certainly, Mr Morgan.”

“Yes, Mr Morgan, please do pose for Albert!” You tried to be as encouraging as you could. A photograph of this man might be all you’d have to remember him by, and you definitely wanted to remember him. “We can send you a copy of the photo, if you like.”

With your encouragement, Arthur relented, and Albert snapped several different poses before he was finally satisfied. When he was, he disappeared back into his own little world, packing up his camera and talking to himself. Not wanting Arthur to feel abandoned, you walked over to where he was standing, then accompanied him to his horse. Trying to delay him just a few moments, you apologized for Albert.

“He doesn’t mean to be rude, he’s just very absorbed in his projects.”

“Ah, it’s alright. No harm done, to me anyway, but if he insists on leaving meat out for wild animals, he might have some harm coming to him. Or you, for that matter.”

“ I do tell him these are bad ideas, he’s just so determined! As I said, he’s quite focused.”

“Well, I’d hate to see harm come to you ‘cause he’s intent on being an idiot.”

You laughed, then shook your head. “I hope it won’t come to that.”

“Well, you take care.”

“I will, Mr Morgan. Thank you again for your help.”

With that, he smiled softly and mounted his horse, but just before he rode off, he turned to you again.

“Where’d you say you’d be taking pictures again?”

“Oh, well, I didn’t, but Albert has mentioned some wildlife he’d like to see over near Valentine, and some wild horses near a place called Emerald Ranch. Plus I know he’d really like to get some shots from the swamps by Saint Denis, and his most prized shot would be to get an Eagle, nesting.. I’m not sure about the safety of that last, though.”

“Yeah, me neither.” He pursed his lips for a minute, like he was thinking hard about something. “ You know, I travel around a lot. Maybe I’ll catch up with you later on.”

Smiling warmly, you replied “I’d like that very much Mr Morgan.”

[thefloatingstone]

Somebody asked me for some anime recs. I asked them what kind of genres they’re into but I’m not getting a reply, so here are just some general recommendations for good stuff to watch.

I assume they meant new anime so I’m only focusing on those.

Made in Abyss (2017) (warning for Body horror, violence and gore)

The Abyss—a gaping chasm stretching down into the depths of the earth, filled with mysterious creatures and relics from a time long past. How did it come to be? What lies at the bottom? Countless brave individuals, known as Divers, have sought to solve these mysteries of the Abyss, fearlessly descending into its darkest realms. The best and bravest of the Divers, the White Whistles, are hailed as legends by those who remain on the surface.

Riko, daughter of the missing White Whistle Lyza the Annihilator, aspires to become like her mother and explore the furthest reaches of the Abyss. However, just a novice Red Whistle herself, she is only permitted to roam its most upper layer. Even so, Riko has a chance encounter with a mysterious robot with the appearance of an ordinary young boy. She comes to name him Reg, and he has no recollection of the events preceding his discovery. Certain that the technology to create Reg must come from deep within the Abyss, the two decide to venture forth into the chasm to recover his memories and see the bottom of the great pit with their own eyes. However, they know not of the harsh reality that is the true existence of the Abyss.

Pros:

Ghibli artists working on the backgrounds and environments

likeable characters

crushing atmosphere

incredible world building

Really compelling mysteries

Very emotional

Cons:

The manga its based on has a lot of lolicon bullshit. But the anime has doneits best to either remove or downplay those elements as childhood innocence rather than the author being a creep

Ends without clear answers as we have to wait for season 2

Not for you if you dislike violence or body horror

That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime (2018)

Thirty-seven-year-old Satoru Mikami is a typical corporate worker, who is perfectly content with his monotonous lifestyle in Tokyo. In the midst of a casual encounter with his colleague, a knife weilding maniac attacks them. Satoru, in shielding his co-worker and his co-worker’s new girlfriend, is fatally stabbed, and dies.

And then he wakes up again. But now, in the body of a blob of slime. In doing so, he acquires newfound skills—notably, the power to devour anything and mimic its appearance and abilities. He then stumbles upon the sealed Catastrophe-level monster "Storm Dragon" Veldora who had been sealed away for the past 300 years for devastating a town to ashes. Sympathetic to his predicament, Satoru befriends him, promising to assist in destroying the seal. In return, Verudora bestows upon him the name Rimuru Tempest to grant him divine protection.

With a goal now, the newly named Rimuru sets out to explore this fantasy world, stumbling into situations where other people need help, and since finding ways to live peacefully is much less hassle, Rimuru does his best to settle conflicts and help people to get along. Mostly because he’s got nothing better to do.

Pros:

Likeable, chilled out protagonist who acts and behaves like an adult

Not the average wish-fullfilment harem-in-disguise type stuff you expect from the average Isekai show

Characters focusing on trying to help each other and be kind without coming across as cheesy or unrealistic

Fun powers and “how are you gonna fix this mess?” situations

Cons:

occasional anime tiddy

Mob Psycho 100 (2016) (If you’ve seen season 1 already then watch season 2)

An Eighth-grader Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama is possibly the most powerful psychic on earth. Which is the only thing he has going for him which, in his opinion, isn’t much. Due to his powers going crazy if he gets overwhelmed by his emotions, Mob has spent his life suppressing his feelings, both negative and positive. As a result, however, Mob is an extremely socially awkward and shy person who struggles to connect to people.

The story follows Mob as he tries to find ways to better himself as a person, aided by the fake psychic Reigen who both uses Mob’s real psychic powers to exorcise ghosts, but also uses his fake con-man skill of charming people and being a smooth talker to help people fix their problems rather than have them rely on a psychic for help. He also acts as a mentor to Mob, not on how to be a better psychic, but on how to mature into a good, capable person. Because according to Reigen “Having psychic powers is just a skill. Some people can run fast, some people can can sing well, some people are good at studying, some people are funny, and some people have psychic powers.”

Now if only the assortment of Cult leaders, Ghosts, Secret organizations and Powerful psychics trying to take over the world could leave him alone.

Pros:

A subversion of the “I must get stronger!” shounen story where the character is already the strongest and needs to focus on being a better person instead.

Probably the best animated show to come out in years

Good uplifting morals

A wacky off-beat art style and sense of humour

Genuinely complex and 3 dimensional characters who are likeable

Really relatable in many ways

Cons:

I can’t think of any tbh

Then we have anime I have on my “to watch” list and come highly recommended but I haven’t seen yet. But I want to recommend them anyway

A Place Further Than The Universe  (2018)

a “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” show.

Filled with an overwhelming sense of wonder for the world around her, Mari Tamaki has always dreamt of what lies beyond the reaches of the universe. However, despite harboring such large aspirations on the inside, her fear of the unknown and anxiety over her own possible limitations have always held her back from chasing them. But now, in her second year of high school, Mari is more determined than ever to not let any more of her youth go to waste. Still, her fear continues to prevent her from taking that ambitious step forward—that is, until she has a chance encounter with a girl who has grand dreams of her own. Spurred by her mother's disappearance, Shirase Kobuchizawa has been working hard to fund her trip to Antarctica. Despite facing doubt and ridicule from virtually everyone, Shirase is determined to embark on this expedition to search for her mother in a place further than the universe itself. Inspired by Shirase's resolve, Mari jumps at the chance to join her. Soon, their efforts attract the attention of the bubbly Hinata Miyake, who is eager to stand out, and Yuzuki Shiraishi, a polite girl from a high class background. Together, they set sail toward the frozen south.

The Promised Neverland (2019) (warning for violence and gore)

Surrounded by a forest and a gated entrance, the Grace Field House is inhabited by orphans happily living together as one big family, looked after by their "Mama," Isabella. Although they are required to take tests daily, the children are free to spend their time as they see fit, usually playing outside, as long as they do not venture too far from the orphanage—a rule they are expected to follow no matter what. However, all good times must come to an end, as every few months, a child is adopted and sent to live with their new family... never to be heard from again. However, the three oldest siblings have their suspicions about what is actually happening at the orphanage, and they are about to discover the cruel fate that awaits the children living at Grace Field, including the twisted nature of their beloved Mama.

Zombieland Saga (2018)

There’s a good chance you might have heard or seen this one floating around tumblr as its one of the really big, really popular anime to have come out that features a trans main character written and presented in a positive light.

Zombieland Saga is both a satirical parody of Idol anime, a complete embracing of what makes idol anime enjoyable, and a criticism of how the Idol industry treat women and young girls. A lot of the girls in the idol group are the complete opposite of what is considered a “good Idol” from one girl being trans, one girl having been an Oiran many many years ago (a historic proffession for women where they play instruments, perform tea ceremonies and entertain paying guests. As well as being very high class prostitutes) as well as debating and comparing the ideal of an Idol as they were seen in the 80s versus the modern interpretation.

Zombieland Saga is at both times the complete antithesis of everything an Idol anime should be, while also being one of the best examples of the genre at the same time. It also features really well written characters with emotional depth and arcs to them and boasts a lot of good humour to boot.

Yuru Camp△  (2018)

Another “Cute Girls Doing Cute things” anime

While the perfect getaway for most girls her age might be a fancy vacation with their loved ones, Rin Shima's ideal way of spending her days off is camping alone at the base of Mount Fuji. From pitching her tent to gathering firewood, she has always done everything by herself, and has no plans of leaving her little solitary world. However, what starts off as one of Rin's usual camping sessions somehow ends up as a surprise get-together for two when the lost Nadeshiko Kagamihara is forced to take refuge at her campsite. Originally intending to see the picturesque view of Mount Fuji for herself, Nadeshiko's plans are disrupted when she ends up falling asleep partway to her destination. Alone and with no other choice, she seeks help from the only other person nearby. Despite their hasty introductions, the two girls nevertheless enjoy the chilly night together, eating ramen and conversing while the campfire keeps them warm. And even after Nadeshiko's sister finally picks her up later that night, both girls silently ponder the possibility of another camping trip together.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (2018)

You’re gonna look at this gif and that title and think this is some Light-Novel sexy fantasy wish fullfillment bullshit, but I absolutely assure you it’s not.

The rare and inexplicable Puberty Syndrome is thought of as a myth. It is a rare disease which only affects teenagers, and its symptoms are so supernatural that hardly anyone recognizes it as a legitimate occurrence. However, high school student Sakuta Azusagawa knows from personal experience that it is very much real, and happens to be quite prevalent in his school. Mai Sakurajima is a third-year high school student who gained fame in her youth as a child actress, but recently halted her promising career for reasons unknown to the public. With an air of unapproachability, she is well known throughout the school, but none dare interact with her—that is until Sakuta sees her wandering the library in a bunny girl costume. Despite the getup, no one seems to notice her, and after confronting her, he realizes that she is another victim of Puberty Syndrome. Mai’s unapproachability and air of not wanting to interact with people has manifested that it is now borderline impossible for people to physically notice her. Or in some cases see her at all. As Sakuta tries to help Mai through her predicament, his actions bring him into contact with more girls afflicted with the elusive disease.

Bunny Girl Senpai is an anime that deals with Societal pressures, especially as they apply to teenagers, as well as being a criticism of the Japanese mentality of “not rocking the boat” and in dutifully conforming and falling in line with what society dictates is “proper behavior”. It has the running theme that this mentality of just accepting the way things are and not doing anything to change it is unhealthy, and does more harm than good.

Dororo (2019) (warning for violence and Gore)

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics—lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan. 

An anime adaptation of one of Osamu Tezuka’s manga, but deciding to go for an updated, darker art style to match its mature tone.

Dororo is currently still airing but so far reviews are extremely high.

Anyway I hope those are enough to give you at least one new show to check out.

[hellskittcn-blog]

have you ever noticed that ( patricia walker ) from the ( marvel universe ) looks a lot like ( rachael taylor )? but ( she ) also goes by ( hellcat ). having the abilities of ( enhanced agility and titanian enhancements ) sure makes them a force to be reckoned with. they’re known to be ( ambitious, ) but also ( frenetic, ) and they’re ( thirty-three ) years old. 

{ trigger warnings : mental illness, implication of assisted suicide, child abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, drugs, anorexia, bulimia —> but most those are in the section called patricia’s backstory, the rest is clean to read if you skip that part }

hey everyone, i’m ty!! i’m trash and neglected my sweet angel baby by forgetting to post her intro, so here it is now!  

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION ABOUT PATRICIA //

ok i don’t even want to talk about how much s2 of jessica jones did my girl dirty. so for the most part (excluding backstory, which i’ll get to in a second) patricias life story is more heavily based on the comics canon, just more of a modernized character like in jessica jones.

basically this means: shes much less likely to parade around spouting phrases like good golly. and more likely to answer to trish than patsy.

it also means ill be keeping the comic version of how she got her powers & what those powers are ( more on that below )

PATRICIAS CHILDHOOD BACKSTORY // ( pls skip over this if it’s likely to trigger you <3 )

her mom was super obsessed with her growing up and wrote a comic about her call it’s patsy

when she was about 5-6 her mom forced her into the limelight, creating a tv show based off of the comic series

patsy was a childhood star and her mom was her agent. she was always forced to eat what her mom wanted her to eat and look how she wanted to look. her mom forced her to become anorexic and bulimic, something she would eventually recover from, but not until her mid-to-late twenties.

patricia though grew tired with her mom’s obsession and fixation on her, so she tried to rebel against the patsy brand. this resulted in their relationship becoming even more strained, dorothy verbally and physically abusing her daughter. the physical abuse would stop around the time when they fostered jessica jones, but the verbal abuse continues still to this day.  

she became a teenage pop sensation, starring in multiple music videos, as well as hollywood films, as patsy. her whole life reflected around being someone else, wearing different coloured wigs, dressing in her mother’s image. she never developed an identity of her own — perhaps that’s part of the reason why she also became so fixated on super heroes, due to most of their alter egos.

regardless, trish had an equally rough time in her adolescent and early-to-mid 20’s. her mother forced her, at the ripe age of 15, to start giving head to (and often engaging in intercourse with) male directors so she would get better parts in films. she fell into the hollywood party scene, and became very addicted to drugs. she could often be found in bathroom stalls completely inebriated, throwing herself at any man she could, just so she could feel something. being in such a vulnerable state made her very susceptible to being taken advantage of, particularly sexually, and this influenced her need to later make sure “no one touches her again unless she wants them to”.

BECOMING HELLCAT // ( tw implication of assisted suicide )

trish was eventually married to a man named robert baxter, a childhood friend of hers who was training in the airforce. trish lived on and off the base for a couple of years, when her husband was moved to a secret facility where Beast was working, she learnt more about superheroes and started working with the avengers. it’s at this time that she found the suit greer nelson aka tigra had used under the alias The Cat and sported it as hellcat.

her marriage then had a falling out, so when the titanian priestess known as moondragon offered  to take her back to Titan for a period of training, trish was quick to accept. there she had her potential enhanced by titanian technology and was trained in several forms of martial arts (though, keeping in line with the Jessica Jones canon, krav maga is her favourite).

she came back to earth and started working with the defenders (probably so she could work with jessica, just saying). she met daimon at this time, fell in love with them, they got married and moved to san fransisco and worked as occult investigators, working especially with the avengers west coast branch

when daimons dark soul started getting corrupted again, trish had a mental breakdown. she was depressed to the point of near-vegetation, until a mercy killing entity called the Deathurge came to her. trish begged the entity to kill her, and therefore removed her soul from her body, killing her.

HELLCAT’S RETURN//

she ended up in mephisto’s realm fighting in the arena of tainted soul from which she would eventually be freed when daimon tricked the avengers into resurrecting trish

she came back, wrote an autobiography, and started a book tour.

after teaming up with mephistop, hela, and pluto, trish stopped dormammu from taking over all the dimensions of hell. she then went back to her life as hellcat.

the rest of her life up until this point has been a constant string of working as a PI (particularly for occult related things), being kidnapped to some dimension of hell by daimon or some other high ranking demon ruler, working with the defenders, avengers, working as an undercover agent, going rogue, working as a partner of jennifer walters, or taking a break to write more books and go on more tours.

all in all, trish has done it all, and will continue to do it all. she’s determined and motivated, resilient, and loves to keep busy. really the only thing she’s missing in her life to truly make her fulfilled (aside from a partner who won’t kidnap and drag her for hell for all eternity,,,, whoops) is a family of her own.

seriously, bring me trish children. that is all <3

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HER POWERS//

enhanced strength, speed, endurance, agility, and reflexes

sensitivity to psychic phenomenon: including seeing things on an infrared spectrum, detecting mystical energy even from a distance, and seeing through magical glamours and illusions ( particularly ones caused by demons ) 

in near death situations the true extent of her psionic powers will activate and she can move objects with her mind and release telekinetic, concussive blasts. however, excessive use of her psionic powers lead her to chronic migraines so she opts not to use them unless necessary. 

she can magically summon her hellcat costume on command & swap it for whatever item of clothing shes wearing. basically an anime girl

being tortured in mephistos realm gave her magical resistance to the point of near-immunity. she can break free from magic spells and even deflect magical attacks off her aura 

MISCELLANEOUS//

trish is a raging bisexual. that is all

also she has a bruise k!nk

her hair was bleached blonde by her mother at a young age and she was forced to wear ginger and strawberry blonde wigs throughout her life. the redhead patsy from the comics in my opinion is a wig she wears that’s part of her hellcat suit. otherwise she keeps her hair blonde, because it’s part of the only identity she has.

she loves fashion and makeup and overall girly things but will also throw down with the nastiest of them do not get on her bad side

one time she summoned an army of demon rabbits to magically build a bridge for her to cross 

can u say badass

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Rambles about their original story that’s kind of an Avatar ripoff

I decided to make this post just to get it out there to anyone who’s interested. This is a complex (I think) story so this might take more than one post to summarize.

It’s a running joke (with myself) that this is an Avatar ripoff because of the four elements, but this changes later on anyway. I created this story out of spite for Masashi Kishimoto who wrote Naruto with its main heroine Sakura Haruno. He confessed that he’s unable to draw good heroine characters and fashioned Sakura as a girl who could not understand men, the best example of a heroine he could come up with. [source]  I still respect the guy, but I couldn’t understand how he couldn’t come up with a good female character and how Sakura was the best that he could do. That’s why this story has a female lead.

Where can I read the partially completed story?

https://betabooks.co/books/5772

I write for the sake of getting my ideas down on paper. Quality isn’t guaranteed.

What is this story about?

The name I have for it right now is: “The Manipulators”

It’s about a girl named Seraphina Konan who lives in a universe where children (at age 12) receive elemental (fire, water, air, and earth for now) powers based on a test that is instructed to them. Due to current events and crime rates rising amongst people with those powers, the classes (that were as large as thirty or so) before now dwindled down to eight. Seraphina has seven fellow classmates: 

Characters:

Seraphina Konan: Element: Fire Sera is a caring person who is dependable and reliable when it comes down to it. She’s a hard worker, but she doesn’t overexert. She’s a bit quick to snap sometimes, and when she has her mindset on something, she won’t stop until she gets it. 

Ayden Hakuryuu:  Element: Water Ayden is a guy whose flaws sometimes overshadow his good sides. He’s not very open with his emotions and hates showing affection.

Hikari Chiba: Element: Fire Hikari is a very level-headed intelligent girl who is hardworking and tenacious, but despite what people think when they look at her stoic expression, she is sympathetic and does care about people she’s close to.

Celio Zaveri: Element: Earth Celio is laid-back and relaxed. He’s not easily angered besides the occasional annoyance. He sometimes feels inferior because of his blindness. He feels self-conscious towards the idea of holding back others because of his disability.

Eve Val: Element: Water Eve is very level-headed and relaxed unless peanut butter or sleep are in the mix. She is quite crafty when it comes to getting out of work, but she doesn’t like interacting with people when she’s tired.

Jayden Alphonse: Element: Air She’s extremely laid-back to the point where it might even be a fault. Unlike many of her classmates, she is very open emotionally. She is emotionally and sensibly smarter than the rest of the cast. She’s a bit transparent and ditzy though. She wears sunglasses all the time to the point where only Eve (her best friend) knows what she looks like without them (although it’s a faint memory).

Koa Danzer: Element: Earth Koa is a walking ball of anxiety that eventually opens up to his classmates. He always wants to help those he cares about even if he stutters when talking and trips over himself.

Matthias Xander: Element: Air Matthias is lively and energetic. He is often described as a bouncy ball that never stops, and he is always there to put a smile on people’s faces. 

She also has two... eccentric teachers that teach her and her seven classmates.

Hiyoshi Kamiya: Hiyoshi is an apathetic sadistic trickster who loves playing jokes on people. He’s intelligent in terms of nature, environment, and spatial cognitive functioning, but he is just above average academically (but never tries). But he is very apathetic and almost ruthless. This is caused by his upbringing, but he can kill in cold blood without a second thought. He likes blueberry milk, but he’s scared of his cousin and his parents.

Edward Uchiyama: He’s a little similar to Hiyoshi except he prefers to laze around and is generally a lot more caring and sympathetic. He is rarely seen without a blue blanket which is “part of his person”. This character has a lot probably the most connections to one of the major antagonists to the story.

There are other side characters as well, but I think you can skip over this if you’re new:

Serene Kamiya (Hiyoshi’s cousin): She’s the one who keeps him in check as the school’s headmaster. She’s far more diligent than her cousin despite being younger by two years. She was raised by a single mother who is Hiyoshi’s father’s sister.

Amanda Franz (Hiyoshi’s girlfriend) She’s a very kind-hearted girl with a sense of justice. She is able to put on a charismatic front, and she possesses beauty unlike any other. In the past, she used to be quiet, shy, and withdrawn student until she met her best friend.

(Name is up to change) Antagonist: Edward’s former neighbour. He met him after always hitting his ball into the open window of his house on the outskirts of town. They eventually became very close friends. He is jaded by his past and believes that the destruction and rebirth of society are for the best. He knows societal secrets that no one else knows, but he lost his family at age sixteen.

General Overview (probably could’ve done a better job at this):

Chapter One: 

Mind: People who are smart and value intelligence can manipulate the element of fire. Soul: People who are laid-back and relaxed can manipulate the element of water. Body: People who are ambitious and determined can manipulate the element of earth. Heart: People who are caring and compassionate can manipulate the element of air.

These are the faculties that you can fit in after taking your assessment.

Sera does the assessment and eventually finds out that she is an unconventional candidate of some sort since her results are undeterminable due to the fact that she fit into all the categories. You can get two or three, but it is strange to get all four. 

Her backstory is revealed. She reveals that to her knowledge, her family was killed by a rogue manipulator (which is what you call a person with elemental powers). This includes her mother, father, and older brother. After, she is adopted by an ungrateful family who lost their daughter due to illness and takes their grief out on her. 

The government requires you to live with a family (biological or adopted) until age twelve (which is when you are allowed to leave).

Chapter Two: 

Sera meets some of the cast for the second time including Ayden who is a bit of a standoffish asshole who’s too tall for his age. She meets her teachers. 

There are some demons that exist inside Sera since her power doesn’t fully resonate with her because of the fact that she didn’t officially fit into any faculty/group of any kind. They go home for the day and come back the next day to find out that they have to go through excruciating training. If you give up, your power will leave you unaccepted. This results in only eight students being left: Seraphina, Ayden, Matthias, Koa, Jayden, Eve, Hikari, and Celio.

Cue ice cream bonding trip, training montage, exposition, and Sera abandoning her abusive family. 

Sera takes the paper test where they are supposed to use their power/element to affect a piece of paper. Sera fails and falls unconscious because what a loser.

Sera finds out she is neighbours with Ayden who is apprehensive about telling her the conditions of why he lives in such a rundown building (which will be explained much later). Hikari also lives a floor below.

Ayden and Sera do the paper test again. Repeat what happened with the demons coming back in denying her capabilities even though she’s a protagonist (so her success goes without saying).

Chapter Three:

School years start in January and end at the end of October (the 30th to be exact). The kids are two months away (more like three because they always forget that October is a full month) so exam season is coming up. A lot of the students (Ayden, Eve, and Jayden) worry because they’re stupid.

More exposition occurs where characters get more dialogue.

Students try to study last minute.

Exams occur, and some are successful while others aren’t exactly. The teachers finally mention (amongst themselves and just to the reader) that they have not graded any of their students’ assignments throughout the entire year. Jayden has never received a double-digit (meaning more than 10%) on anything. They realize that they need to call the headmaster to make arrangements. She threatens to tell Hiyoshi’s dad (who is named Rintarou).

Chapter Four:

The students now have to do some extra credit since quite a few of them didn’t pass their classes. All of them are roped in though. This is pretty much community service. They have to find a cat named Basura and a bunny named Annabelle. More development happens as they eventually do return the two animals (Basura is a raccoon and not a cat by the way).

Chapter Five:

They end up going on a short trip for the rest of the spare day they have. No teachers end up saying what’s the trip about, but once they arrive, they find a crime scene that shouldn’t have been seen. It turns out that their job was to protect those in that town, and since it wasn’t seen as a major threat, they figured they were safe. They ended up being ambushed where the kids now had to use their powers to do something.

Wow, it took five chapters for this and was an inserted fight because they eventually had to wait longer. They’re still quite weak though.

After arriving back home, nobody exactly wanted to talk about the fact that they had just seen places where people died and actually watched some people die. Sera ends up eventually snapping and asking why they were sent there in the first place and why they weren’t sent earlier to do their jobs and protect the people. It’s explained that it was originally a low-grade threat, but since they were there and saw those crime scenes that weren’t touched since it was generally towards the outskirts, the students were told that they would’ve been killed if they’d been there at that moment in time.

Their teachers explain further saying that it isn’t uncommon for things like that to happen, but it is rare for information of these attacks to surface since the government officials do their best to keep it under the carpet. Sera officially says (informing her classmates) that she could’ve been killed alongside her family. Her classmates comfort her because welp, how are you supposed to support a classmate whose family was a victim of mass murder?

Chapter Six:

Sera and the rest of the students may be approaching the end of the year, but that’s used for an excuse so that they can renovate the school before getting into the colder months. They are given a week off school.

Celio, Hikari, Sera, and Ayden hang out. They end up listening to someone trash Sera over the rumours of her test results from the assessment surfacing. They are quickly put down by her friends as they go to Celio’s house and end up meeting his dad Carter. The friends do stuff.

This chapter is about Celio’s story surfacing.

“His birth mother dropped him at the steps of a house that belonged to Carter Zaveri. He took the child in even after discovering that the child would never see. His wife at the time (Johanna May) insisted on abandoning the child at an orphanage, but Carter refused resulting in their split. He now works as a doctor. Celio did not discover his history with Johanna until Chapter Six where Ayden read a letter to him that Hikari may or may not have exposed while reading books on his shelf.”

Chapter Seven:

They have a year-end tournament with the threat of expulsion if they do not win their match. Spoiler Alert: Nobody gets expelled. Why would they? They have fights that go along like this (the first person in the bracket won): Koa vs Matthias Jayden vs Eve Hikari vs Celio Ayden vs Sera However, due to the overuse of her power, Sera falls unconscious during the battle resulting in her losing from that cause. She is rushed to the infirmary and wakes up a week later to find out that none of their classmates got expelled. They all go out to eat afterwards then vacation starts.

Chapter Eight:

October 31st is not Halloween but is instead a day to honour the dead. Sera and Ayden meet there coincidentally. Ayden opens up that his parents didn’t take care of him for the majority of his life because his mother murdered his father in a fit of rage caused by his infidelity. His aunt on his mother’s side raised him until the age of eleven because she died of leukemia. They end up walking home (partially because Ayden was temporarily banned from public transit until further notice), and they briefly complain about none of their classmates or them being able to get jobs.

Finally, on the last day of the year, they meet, and exchange presents.

Chapter Nine:

Elemental weapons are weapons that can be brought out by a manipulator by using their energy and the mastery of their given element. This is explained to them.

But first, the teachers inform the students that they’re going to be celebrating Ayden’s birthday. Unfortunately, they didn’t get around to any birthdays the previous year because it was their first year as teachers and any mistake (which leads to their firing) would result in them not getting around to all their birthdays. This seemed to be a large concern because they are both highly irresponsible and are both walking liabilities.

Ayden didn’t seem to celebrate his birthday which was seen as odd since he was the type of person to make things about himself in those kinds of circumstances. But it is later revealed that he hates his birthday because it’s the exact day that his aunt (the person he looked up to) died. He blames himself for her death because she had to support him with the little amount of money she had while trying to pay for healthcare. She ultimately pushed herself too hard making herself sicker than she was originally resulting in her early departure. His classmates try to reason with him saying that it isn’t his fault, and Sera ends up kicking him across the face to snap out of it. She says that friends don’t bottle their anguish internally and that being strong isn’t shown by keeping it under wraps. She tells him to hit her with all he’s got. The other students go outside to call their teachers about the cancelled occasion (and to keep other students out of the classroom due to the amount of noise they were creating from the fight). Sera doesn’t fight Ayden back and instead accepts his blows. Once the teachers return, they find that many things in the classroom were broken. Upset, they soon realize the circumstances since the students informed them about Ayden’s aunt’s death. They ask whether Ayden is okay and feeling better to which, he says yes and asks whether they can resume the pizza plans the following day. They ask whether Sera is okay as well, but she lies and says that she’s fine (even though she’s in a lot of pain). Her teachers sense this and decide to drive her home even though it’s an “equally deadly experience”.

They go out for pizza, and Ayden gets a new mattress to replace his old one. He finally happily celebrates being thirteen as he begins to realize that he might actually like his birthday now.

Chapter Ten:

The kids go to the blacksmith house for a weapon orientation (despite not needing physical weapons) with their teachers along with weapon expertise from two side characters that I don’t know will have much of a role later on. Their names are Zahra and Ramiro. Don’t ask. I used a random name generator. They each receive a weapon. There is some fluff written in, but it’s not necessary to the story.

The students’ weapons:

Sera: Sword with flames Ayden: Double-ended naginata with poison Jayden: Kunai fans (two) Eve: Wires (which are used in combination with water) Koa: Staff with a hammerhead on each side. Matthias: A giant shuriken Celio: Two dual axes that can fuse together Hikari: Bow and arrow (arrows are produced by the archer)

Chapter Eleven:

Sera celebrates her birthday.

The kids go back to the blacksmith house for a checkup. It has only been a few weeks, so they find that they are not good with their weapons at all. They stay at the blacksmith for a three-day trip with a two-day training camp. During the final morning of their stay, they are awoken by a man screaming for help at their doorstep. Sera, being the only one who’s awakened by the noise, goes and opens the door. The man bursts in despite her trying to close the door after seeing who it is (since he has a similar appearance to the rogues mentioned in another chapter). Half-asleep Sera has no logic. I relate. Chaos ensues. The man states that he would take the “future rogue of four colours” (regarding Sera’s test) the antagonist. Edward seems very angry about it and ends up killing the rogue before getting any information out of him. Can they get away with murder? Yes, because once you are proven a rogue, your life is worth no more than an ant’s. They ask Sera why she opened the door in the first place. She says that she has the instinct to help those in need which is met with great criticism.

Chapter Twelve:

Rumours of the four colours starts to deepen. With Sera’s results almost being public knowledge, individuals start approaching and harassing her about the details which she doesn’t want to disclose. She gets the crap beaten out of her, and she isn’t allowed to fight back due to manipulators being frowned upon by the public. It’s a manipulator’s job is to protect the citizens, and with the rogue population on the rise, there is more mistrust in the manipulators than ever. Any action taken against citizens can result in automatic expulsion. 

She has to prove (with the eventual help of her classmates after they found out in bad circumstances) that she is defending herself when she finally decides to fight back. She succeeds.

Chapter Thirteen:

Eve’s backstory is revealed when Matthias brings in a cat. Basically, Eve meets Jayden after having her cat killed by a bunch of little kid assholes.

Chapter Fourteen:

Ship stuff happens. I don’t know. I wrote it until 5am because I couldn’t sleep.

The old lady from chapter one (not really important but she’s still old) is dying and needs a plant for her treatment. They’re subjected to go to the outskirts and get it. There’s a thunderstorm going on. Hiyoshi and Edward are stupid and split everyone up. The rain causes the ground to give in while Hikari is looking, so while Celio is having some guilt about being literally a waste of space in their search, he almost fails to realize this. He jumps into action and shields Hikari’s fall at the expense of his physical well-being. He’ll survive. He eventually falls unconscious, and when Hikari gets up, she realizes what had just happened. She carries him as far as she can until they reach a higher point of ground at which point she signals for help. They’re eventually found and carried back by Matthias and Koa who find the plant but end up giving some of it to Hikari and Celio so that they would get a lot of the credit for all they’ve gone through. There are other points of view here, but they’re not “crucial to the plot”.

Chapter Fifteen:

We needed a vacation arc sometime, and I thought that it would be good to see how the kids reacted to going to a lake. That’s right. I’m not going to do a bathhouse or a beach. You kind of learn a bit more about the characters I guess, but this arc has not too much relevance to the overarching plot.

Chapter Sixteen (not yet written):

They go in for partnership testing. If that sounds like forced shipping, you aren’t completely wrong.

I’m not sure what the whole process is (I’ve changed it about five times).

The final pairings are as followed: Sera & Ayden Hikari & Celio Eve & Jayden Koa & Matthias

Future Plans and Developments?

The truth behind Sera’s backstory is revealed

Edward’s connection to the antagonist is revealed

Other backstories are revealed

Sera eventually does get captured (kind of like Kacchan) because she is seen as a “loose link that can defect and join the opposing side”

Ayden meets Sera’s brother Yuki who was supposed to be dead but isn’t

“Test of Courage” arc because I always wanted to have one of those other classic anime filler arcs

The origins of the powers and where they come from eventually get revealed far later

New powers are introduced

[whiiskeys]

— STATISTICS

“APPROACH THAT ONE AT YOUR OWN RISK. SHE SHOULD COME WITH A CAUTION SIGN.”                                       — A WISE BASTARD WHO LEARNED THE HARD WAY 

BASIC INFORMATION.

FULL NAME: Virginia May Crowder — nicknamed NIA since childhood.

NICKNAME(S): To those who are familiar to her, RYE is her chosen name. Otherwise, she’s strictly WHISKEY or MS. WHISKEY (depending on how formal the situation is). To a lucky (very) few, she’s Nia. If she allows you to call her by her given name, you’re in.

AGE: Thirty-eight.

D.O.B.: March 7th, 1980.  

HOMETOWN: Dertosa, California.

CURRENT LOCATION: Detrosa, California.

ETHNICITY: White (primarily Irish) on her father’s side. Black on her mother’s (Ethiopian).

NATIONALITY: American.

GENDER: Cisgender female.

PRONOUNS: She/her.

ORIENTATION: Bi(romantic/sexual).

RELIGION: None. There was no mention of God in her household, and she sees no reason in crawling to him on her knees now.

POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Independent, though she seldom participates in politics.

OCCUPATION: Co-owners of Vices (and, by extension, Forbidden Vices).

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: Lives in a comfortable loft in the city. She likes the bustle, the energy, the noise, and would be hard pressed to give that up in favor of the seclusion of the suburbs. She grew up in a house with quite a bit of property, and she now associates the quiet with unnerving memories — namely, the one that got her father taken away from good.

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English, a small amount of Spanish.

ACCENT: The slightest hint of a Georgia twang, picked up because she mimicked her father when she was younger. Because she lived a relatively sheltered life, only exposed to California kids during school hours, she learned to speak like her Southern parents.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

FACE CLAIM: Ruth Negga.

HAIR COLOUR: A deep, near-black brown.

EYE COLOUR: Chocolate brown.

HEIGHT: A misleading 5′2 (her presence makes her appear much larger).

WEIGHT: A sinewy, muscled 120 lbs.

BUILD: Strong and sturdy, like a gymnast. Her muscles are short-twitch, compact, made for sprinting. She can pack one hell of a punch, and her kicks could definitely knock a jaw off its hinges. There’s nothing diminutive about her.

TATTOOS: None.

PIERCINGS: One in each ear.

CLOTHING STYLE: If she’s trying to project an air of professionalism, she’ll go for something simple but with a bit of flair — like a dark suit with a bold shirt underneath, or a classic suit in a vibrant color (since she doesn't mind some attention). Otherwise, girl vacillates between dresses and beanies, between jeans and a fringed motorcycle jacket and something a little more girly. Her Doc Martens and moto jacket are definitely her prized possessions, however.

USUAL EXPRESSION: Relatively neutral. She’s not an asshole right off the bat; more than anything, she’s efficient. She’s not going to waste time on small talk, and you better not waste hers.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: The beauty marks that spot her face, like a smattering of stars. The free way she walks, hips swinging. Her voice, which is loud and commanding without any effort. Her stare, which can morph from warm to ice-cold within seconds (a trick she inherited from her father).

HEALTH.

PHYSICAL AILMENTS: Only the occasional splits in her knuckles or pulled muscle from running or boxing (her two chosen exercises in order to remain strong enough to defend herself).

NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS: None.

ALLERGIES: Cats. Get those fuckers away from her.

SLEEPING HABITS: Consistently sleeps about five hours a night. There’s simply too much to be done, too many dreams that need capturing, too many ideas that need to be implemented. She can’t afford to waste nighttime hours — the day is short enough as it is.

EATING HABITS: Much more irregular. Often she foregoes meals in favor of something on-the-go, or something in liquid form (i.e: her favorite dark beer, or even a cabernet if she’s feeling fancy). However, she is partial to a good mac and cheese — her mother’s was her absolute favorite as a child.

EXERCISE HABITS: Runs six miles each morning, every day, without fail. Similarly, she tries to get a couple matches at the boxing gym, or at least knock a few out on a bag. She has a lot of frenetic energy, and a lot of aggression that she tries to keep at bay, so the physical activities are necessary parts of her day.

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: Rye probably ranks a 10/10 on emotional stability, whereas Nia herself is somewhere around an 8. She has her moments, but she generally manages to keep herself neutral, mild, and unaffected. In truth, she’s father sensitive about certain things, and she’s definitely got a soft interior when it comes to her fellow Drinks. She is joyful when around them, and loves to witness their happiness. Anything happens to them, and she’ll go into efficient Amy-Dunne-frame-a-motherfucker-for-my-murder mode. She’s capable of it, too.

SOCIABILITY: Rye is truthfully a social being, though that doesn’t necessarily extend to everyone. Again, it’s her fellow Drinks that she most prefers (and a select few in particular). Though she doesn’t necessarily tell them, she certainly demonstrates her love for them. She’s a total mama bear.

BODY TEMPERATURE: Despite all her energy, she’s usually cold. It’s like her body knew she would constantly be running around, covering this problem or that, and so gifted her with superhumanly cool blood in order to keep her from sweating profusely. When she’s stationary, her body goes into shock — it demands a blanket, heat, something. She likes to curl up around a fire.

ADDICTIONS: Does moving count? She can’t stop and sit still. Other than that, nothing. She doesn’t allow herself to get too addicted to anything — everything is okay in moderation.

DRUG USE: None, besides the occasional melatonin when her mind simply won’t cease buzzing.

ALCOHOL USE: Regular, but nothing excessive. Definitely not beyond the one-drink-a-night on average, despite her work.

PERSONALITY.

LABEL: The Ambitious, The Mafia Princess, The Pariah, The Loyalist.

POSITIVE TRAITS: adaptive, creative, committed, efficient, determined, flexible, honest.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: aloof, bull-headed, blunt, obsessive, rude, disinterested, distant.

GOALS/DESIRES: To continue to run Vices efficiently, providing a good working environment for her employees (and a positive experience for her customers). Additionally, she wants to expand business, make it even more of a spectacular — she has a few ideas about some underground operations, but she’s keeping that hush hush so far (until she can sway Moonshine over to her side — quite a feat)

FEARS: Failure.

HOBBIES: What are hobbies? Girl is always working.

HABITS: Picking at her cuticles. Absently gnawing on her lip. Leaning her head against her hand; cocking it sideways. Going glassy-eyed when someone bores her (she can’t help it!) Stopping people when she feels they’re wasting her time. Speaking bluntly, which can often come across as rude. Cutting to the chase. Smacking people who are close to her on the shoulder, or otherwise getting physical with them. Laughing too loud.

FAVOURITES.

WEATHER: A warm seventy-five degrees. Alternately, nighttime and storming. She loves a moody sky, smeared with dark blues and grays.

COLOUR: She doesn’t really have a favorite, but blue’s a good one. Purple, too.

MUSIC: Classic rock. Give her some Nirvana and she’s good to go.

MOVIES: The movies from her childhood. Other than that, she doesn’t really watch TV.

SPORT: Give her MMA and she’ll go hog-wild. She’s also partial to Basketball (go Golden State).

BEVERAGE: Despite her name, she rarely enjoys a whiskey. Instead, she’ll opt for a simple Belgian beer or a Cabernet.

FOOD: Mac and cheese. That is all.

ANIMAL: Dogs. She wants one of those fucking Labradoodle things in spite of herself.

FAMILY.

FATHER: Virgil Joe Crowder / Seventy-eight / Infamous Dertosa crime lord (currently imprisoned with over a dozen life sentences).

MOTHER: Aisha Dawit / Sixty / Housewife.  

SIBLING(S): Julius Beau Crowder / Forty-three / who the hell knows? Not Nia.

CHLDREN: N/A.

PET(S): N/A.

FAMILY’S FINANCIAL STATUS: Wealthy and then, just as swiftly, impoverished.

EXTRA.

ZODIAC SIGN: Pisces.

MBTI: ESTP.

ENNEAGRAM: The Achiever.

TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine.

MORAL ALIGNMENT: True neutral.

PRIMARY VICE: Greed.

PRIMARY VIRTUE: Diligence.

ELEMENT: Fire.

[dweemeister]

Tom Thumb (1958)

George Pal is one of many European filmmakers who emigrated to the United States due to Nazism’s rise. Pal, along with his contemporaries, enriched American cinema. But where some of the most well-known figures of this European exodus were actors, directors, and writers, Pal – a Hungarian born György Pál Marczincsak – was an animator. Pal was not just some character artist or inbetweener working for Disney or Terrytoons or Warner Bros., but a self-employed director with his own line of stop-motion animated short films. He dubbed them Puppetoons – a series more popular in Europe than stateside – and Pal became one of the most honored animators of his time. His musical adaptation of Tom Thumb, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), would be the first time Pal acted as his own director and producer (Pal had just departed his longtime studio home of Paramount Pictures, seeking to make films with less corporate input). It is not a great directorial debut, but it is a testing ground of an individual with an unabashed love of the fantastical.

A lumberjack named Jonathan (Bernard Miles) is stopped from chopping down a tree by the Forest Queen (June Thorburn). Jonathan accedes to her request, only after being told a number of birds reside in the tree. As thanks for his compliance, the Forest Queen grants Jonathan and his wife, Anne (Jessie Matthews) three wishes. Jonathan and Anne waste their wishes, look forlornly at the child’s room for the child they never had, and Anne laments-wishes for a child – “even if he was no bigger than my thumb.” The day after, Tom (Russ Tamblyn) appears at the door, the size of a human’s thumb, and addresses the couple as his parents. The new parents take Tom in and raise him like their own son. But sinister machinations by scoundrels Ivan (Terry-Thomas) and Antony (Peter Sellers) are afoot in this vaguely European small town where lederhosen and Tyrolean hats are commonplace, and Tom, as one might imagine, becomes unwittingly involved in the villains’ schemes.

Tom Thumb is a live-action/stop-motion animation hybrid. For those familiar with live-action/animation hybrids, films like Mary Poppins (1964) or Pete’s Dragon (1977) come to mind. Films released by Disney set our expectations for movies like these, and this might be a little unfair to Tom Thumb – which confines its use of stop-motion animation to Tom’s bedroom and nowhere else. The introduction of the stop-motion effects are first seen in “Tom Thumb’s Tune”, recalling the handiwork seen in Pal’s Puppetoons. One wishes that more stop-motion animation could have been used, but a first-time director with MGM combined with hefty production design decisions and costs probably prevented Pal from exploring this smaller world as deeply as he could and should have.

As Tom is prancing across his bed/crib and elsewhere across the room, Pal mixes in human performers in costume with his animated characters. Here, Pal and art director Elliot Scott (1984′s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1989′s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) decided that the set for Tom’s bedroom be scaled to one inch to one foot. So those oversized pencils, blocks, and other assorted playthings were all constructed for these scenes – imagine Arrietty (2010, Japan) if it was a live-action film and no CGI used – as well as miniatures used throughout (Bernard Miles and Jessie Matthews, among others, were filmed talking to a six-inch version of Russ Tamblyn; Tamblyn filmed his scenes alone). One of the benches Tamblyn, as Tom, dances on was thirty-five feet high and ninety feet long. To achieve the proper effects of shrinking Tamblyn to a half-foot included either the unconvincing use of green screen or, in collaboration with cinematographer Georges Périnal (1930′s Under the Roofs of Paris, 1948′s The Fallen Idol) and visual effects wizard Tom Howard (1968′s 2001: A Space Odyssey), the camera would be placed as far as ninety feet away from the action – either by moving it to the back walls of the soundstage or carving holes in the soundstage roof to shoot at the angles required for convincing proportionality.

Clocking in at just over a half-hour, Tom Thumb overextends the initial live-action sequence. Tamblyn, a trained dancer, is allowed several minutes after “Tom Thumb’s Tune” to dance to anachronistic music (big band jazz makes no sense in a setting that establishes itself as nineteenth century fictionalized and idealized Europe). Though musicals might be a personal favorite genre and I can appreciate some of the most complicated and lengthy dances sequences in cinematic history, something about Tom Thumb’s decision to add an ambitious dance sequence immediately after the conclusion of the title character’s song obliterates any sense of pacing that it had established in the opening minutes. Some of the banter between the dimwitted partners-in-crime Ivan and Antony will be funnier to children – making Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers’ buffoonish characters as dangerous as they are hilarious. A romantic subplot between the Forest Queen and a character named Woody (Alan Young) is awkwardly introduced, serving the film for no apparent purpose other than to introduce some chaste kissing in a musical. Because, you know, there is an unwritten rule in pre-1960s American movie musicals that romance must be in the air.

Tom Thumb is based on an English folktale of the same name. Hungarian writer Ladislas Fodor contributed with a screenplay that feels like it was pieced together just for a quick paycheck. Overcomplicating folk tales and fairy tales usually results in dramatic bloat, but Tom Thumb is bloated even though it has not been overcomplicated. It is not a long film, yet scenes overstay their welcome and Pal’s movie feels than it should be. Regarding its status as a live-action/animated hybrid, it is easy to reconceptualize Pal’s version as hand-drawn animation from Disney or a feature composed entirely of stop-motion puppetry – several such films had already been produced and released in Europe; 1954′s Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy from RKO was the first entirely stop-motion feature from an American studio. But foremost, Pal wanted to display his and Russ Tamblyn’s talents, and that has informed how this film has been constructed and organized.

A large musical team including Douglas Gamley, Ken Jones, Peggy Lee, Fred Spielman, and Kermit Goell offer a beautiful musical score, even if the handful of songs are disappointing. “Tom Thumb’s Tune”, with music and lyrics by Peggy Lee, has the catchiest motif in the film, but squanders it with too many la-dee-dah-dee-dahs and doo-dee-doo-dee-doohs in its lyrics. “The Yawning Man” is the second-most interesting song in the soundtrack, employed primarily as comical relief as the Chinese doll Con-Fu-Shon (voiced by Dal McKennon frequent gibberish Chinese; interesting puppetry does not excuse a heavily stereotyped, forgettable character meant to introduce Tom to his new life and reassure him) tries to help Tom sleep. You may just yawn along to the Yawning Man yawn-singing his own song – if so, Fred Spielman (as composer) and Kermit Goell (as lyricist) did their jobs.

Tom Thumb is an ideal young children’s film, as I might imagine adults not versed in 1950s musicals to find the film monotonous, insufferable. Character motivations are not explained properly and almost everyone in the principal cast seem too innocent and too single-minded for their own good – Tom’s parents, however, are concerned caring parents in the few scenes we see of them (even if they drop off in the second half of the film).

Perhaps my biases towards movie musicals are showing because I found Tom Thumb charming, despite its numerous faults. Today, George Pal is best remembered for directing The Time Machine (1960) and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), as well as producing several 1950s science-fiction films. But the Puppetoons short films are where his film career began, allowing him to branch out into formative science-fiction cinema – a budding genre not taken seriously then – and integrating his stop-motion puppetry knowhow into live-action films. Of the feature films he directed, Tom Thumb is the most like a Puppetoon short. For those who are interested in the story of animation in cinema, that is reason enough to seek out Tom Thumb. The film, like George Pal’s earlier career, is a neglected chapter in a wondrous story.

My rating: 6.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

NOTE: This is the 600th full-length Movie Odyssey write-up I have published on tumblr.

[24339695-blog]

MED 1444 Animation                    “A Bad Habit”

Intro 

In this project I’ll be working in a group to create a piece of pixilation animation, under the theme of “A Bad Habit”. My aim is to develop my pace, timing and control through animation by creating a short narrative in keeping with the theme. I will also be demonstrating my knowledge of The Twelve Principles of Animation by employing an examining at leas three of The Principles. 

Planning/ Story Boarding 

After we got into our group, we decided to talk about what we wanted the piece to be like and lay some ground rules for the animation. We all agreed that we should keep it simple e.g. story, set and characters. This was because we realised, we had a limited time scheduled where we could all meet to shoot the animation. We also agreed that we should choose one bad habit and make the story based on that alone. This was again to make sure it wouldn’t get to complicated. It also means the story and themes will be easy to follow in the twenty too thirty seconds we have to present them.                                           We then went onto making a mind map to explore different bad habits that we could potentially use in our animation. Once we had a few ideas written down we started coming up with story board ideas. At first this was a challenge as there where so many potential ideas it was overwhelming, so it was hard to get the ball rolling. Until Judy came up with the idea of drawing a table onto the wipe board and drawing a stick figure into the centre of the first box, she then asked what should the stick figure do? This then helped take the pressure away and I came up with the first idea of a guy leaning on his chair, until he starts falling. But the twist is he doesn’t stop falling until he lands back on his chair again. At the time I didn’t realise it but there was a miss communication and Judy thought I meant the chair with the person on it will rotate then go back down. When I really meant the person would fall into a different dimension then fall onto the chair.  

Falling of Chair Story Board 

This was mainly a joke idea but we all agreed that T-Posing was a especially bad habit so Judy made a story board of someone T-Posing away, then no one has to deal with it anymore.

T-Pose Away Story Board

I then came up with the idea of interrupting speech bubbles, this came from reading and writing comics and noticing that in comics when someone’s interrupting, their speech bubble overlaps the others in the conversation as a physical representation, so it’s clearer to the audience whats going on. I thought this visual gag would also work well with pixilation because it’s hard to add dialogue normally. We also agreed that this would work well with staging (one of the principles of animation), as we could experiment with people crossing over each other and use layers to creating an interesting visual effect. Although we realised that this could be difficult to pull of as we needed more people, props and space to pull of well. 

Interrupting Speech Bubble Story Board

Sophia then came up with the idea of the human pencil sharpener. In this a guy puts a pencil in their mouth then it comes out sharper, they then put it back in and they choke and die. Judy then had an idea for an alternative ending where instead of dying they spit out the now tiny pencil and it’s very sharp. As both of these sounded funny on their own I realised they where even better together. So we agreed the person will choke die and then spit out a tiny pencil covered in blood but still pointy. We all agreed this was the best idea to go with because it had a simple but entertaining narrative that fitted the theme well as it’s a bad habit to chew your pencil, it also uses the pixilation technique well as the pencil goes further down the persons thought we will use one of the techniques we’ve learned about and use replacement pencils. Over all it had a strong enough premise to make a short narrative but wasn’t too complicated that we wouldn’t be able to pull it of in the short time making it and the short time limit for the animation its self. Another bonus was that because it’s all about the person and the pencil set didn’t matter so we could do it any where. Which saved us having to book a room or sectioning an area of outside to shoot. We agreed the easiest place to it was in my halls kitchen as it was a simple clear environment that wouldn’t distract from whats going on in the shot. 

The Human Pencil Sharper 

Here’s a more detailed story board of my chair idea to put emphasis of what I was originally thinking. I like the imagination and ambitiousness of this idea but in the end I don’t think it would have fitted with in the time limit and would have been a lot more complicated to pull of properly. It would have also needed a lot more preparation and we just didn’t have the time where all three of could do all that. 

Falling of Chair Two Story Board

Shooting Day

Overall the day of shooting went pretty smoothly, we got the set up almost instantly and we all roughly knew what we where doing as it was a simple concept. Before the others got there I had already come up with the idea for the set up, so when we started with the camera there where only a few adjustments that needed to be made. As the corner of the room was more in the shot then I originally thought it was, but it didn’t take too long to clear out and roll the blinds down. We then later ran into some trouble with the camera its self as it wasn’t focusing properly when we needed it to and the batteries weren't charged. Although this was frustrating at first we worked together to come with solutions for both of them. So a spare battery and a constant adjustments of the camera lens later we where on our way to making our pixilation. To do all the close ups I had to move the tripod physically closer then move it back into the right place by comparing it to the earlier footage, there was probably a better way of doing this but it worked at the time and we where in a bit of a rush. Sadly we didn’t have anything to use as blood for the end but I don’t think that mattered really. 

Editing 

Unlike the shooting of the animation actually editing it all together was an uphill battle. Neither one of us knew how to use the editing software so it was a challenge to get started. Judy did the main bulk of editing on the project and as she had the most experience with editing and cameras in general. As Judy was doing this Sophia started looking for sound effects for the pencil sharpener. It was a challenge to work with the unfamiliar software but once Judy Knew what she was doing things started to look up. We didn’t have time do finish it all in lesson so we met up after and did the final touch ups like editing the lengths of frames and adding more sound effects. 

Evaluation

Over all I think this project went smoothly. The finished project was nothing substantial but that’s not what we were setting out to do. The Human Pencil Sharpener is a well-paced and controlled animation with a recognisable narrative and great comic timing for its length. We managed to incorporate effective staging by shooting at an appealing angle and keeping the background simple. We were also able to play anticipation with Judy’s body language building up each time, she put the pencil in her mouth.

If we did it again there are a few things I would have done differently though. One of them being in the planning and story boarding stage I think I could have been a lot clearer when explaining my ideas to save the moments of miscommunication, I also think we could have made more frames in the story board so we would have a better idea of what each of the animations would have been like.                                                                                                    We should have also spent more time preparing before going into taking the pictures for example; putting marks on the ground where the tripod was, taking through the movements more before taking the pictures and sourcing the fake blood and long pencil sharpening. These little details would have made the piece more professional looking and would have made the shooting a lot smoother.

But putting all that aside, we created a visually pleasing and comedic animation that followed the guidelines set for us and does its job at presenting “A Bad Habit”

[kuriquinn]

Can’t just bite my tongue here...

Anonymous said: not wanting to lose Sakura as a friend over keeping her as an assistant. So if they’re really close friends are they gonna be okay with being sexed up by the same guy? It felt kind of contradictory (even if it was before they knew each other) and that there would be this creepy kind of dynamic between them. I don’t think Sasuke’s love for Sakura is gonna make her feel any better knowing that she’s being put in the same sex positions her best friend was fucked in by this guy. I’m pretty sure I’m overthinking this whole thing and being incredibly rude. But that just hit me when I finished your latest chapter. I mean Ino is sassy and she’ll no doubt make harmless jokes about their past relationship when Sasuke+Sakura get together. But unlike the manga Sasuke didn’t even glance at Ino or even talked to her so it’s not like he had to prove he loved Sakura more than Ino. I guess since it’s an AU it’s okay? It made me want Sakura not to end up with Sasuke in your fic. That’s just my opinion & initial reaction to that tiny little detail. You honestly don’t need to change a thing or even have to acknowledged these messages if they make you uncomfortable/don’t feel like it. It’s your fic & if you feel like SasuIno having sex was the best way for Sakura to see he loves her more it’s okay. I love Sakura’s strength/take-no-shit attitude so I was worried of that cliche of Ino getting to marry her love/still get sex with Sasuke and Sakura got sloppy seconds. Anon, I can’t seem to decide if you are more upset about the fact that in this story Sasuke didn’t wait for Sakura (who he didn’t even know existed), or the fact that Ino got there first.

There is…so much about this way of thinking that troubles me that I have to respond in full. Not just with regards to the anime, but some of the rather outdated ideas about the way people (and especially women) interact with one another.

First of all, why do you assume that Ino letting Sakura go had anything to do with a man in her life? If there’s anything I learned from life experience, it’s not to go into business or work with your friends or family – there is far too much opportunity for betrayal or for the business part of a relationship to impact the personal relationship. Ino decided she wanted a friend instead of an employee – it’s hard to be friends with your boss unless you are REALLY good with compartmentalizing two different parts of your life – so she arranged to help her find another job. This way, she can keep her friend and not have to worry about an unfair power dynamic (boss vs employee) hanging over their heads. Which, personally, I think speaks to her character, because in my experience again, women bosses tend to be ambitious assholes. Here, we have Ino, who is ambitious, but also a good person.

Second of all, this idea of “having to be okay” with knowing a friend slept with a person you’re interested in is juvenile and archaic. It’s like that ridiculous “girl code/guy code” you see in high school, as if rubbing one’s genitals against another person’s somehow establishes possession or something. It’s troubling to think that this is an idea we have as a society, that a person is a person until you find out they slept with someone else while they weren’t with you (and didn’t even know you). As if they are somehow devalued for having fucked someone else before you or having the gall to exist before meeting their One True Love.

(It’s a trope I hate seeing in fiction – and which is almost always exhibited by a woman. Ex.: man and woman are in a relationship, man’s ex comes into town, woman spends the entire episode bitching, complaining and being insecure about said ex who was in man’s life long before current woman and has nothing to do with him anymore. Cue jealousy and ruining of the trust in the relationship. It’s tired and it’s inaccurate and you will never see me write this horrible trope into my work.)

In this fic, I hadn’t thought too much about Sasuke and Ino’s relationship beyond it having existed. It was a casual thing, just a throwaway comment, but if you want the low-down, here you go. Sasuke and Ino probably dated briefly in university. It was probably casual. Honestly, I hadn’t even considered having them do the full deed until you brought it up (just because she’s seen him naked does not automatically mean they had sex), but sure, they slept together. Ino would have wanted to, Sasuke would consider it to be part of what being in a relationship entailed. I’m sure they had some kind of feeling toward one another as they are still good friends, but then they broke up. Simple. There are no lingering feelings there, its been ten years, and Ino is now happily married.

I’m mostly flabbergasted by this idea you think Sakura is so shallow and insecure that the idea of Sasuke having been with someone before her would impact how she would feel about him now or in the future. People do not exist in a vacuum, simply waiting patiently to have sex with their soul mates. Casual sex is a thing – in our society, it’s rare for two people in their late twenties to early thirties to be virgins. Not everyone waits around for “the one”. And most people who have had sex with partners that had previous relationships, their concern isn’t “oh, am I going to be put in the same sex position as his/her ex”, it’s “I’d like to know how many previous partners you’ve had so that I know if we to worry about STDs”.

(And don’t even get me started on the bedhopping that happens in popular series these days (Vampire Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy…) Everyone sleeps with everyone, and for the most part they remain friends. I mean, it’s not the most perfect analogy, but it clearly does happen. )

I’m pretty sure that STDs would be Sakura’s primary concern, considering she is medially minded. If a person’s health and safety isn’t their first thought, then that person is not mature enough to be having sex.

This story is an AU. Certain elements will be the same, but others won’t be. The characters adapt to the world they are a part of, and in the real world, someone of Sasuke’s age, even in Japan, is unlikely to be a complete virgin. Hence, I gave him a past relationship. In the anime, Sasuke has consistently interacted with three women in the anime – Sakura, Ino and Karin. I chose Ino to be Sasuke’s past relationship because he had a connection to her in the anime – that being that they were both from Konoha and classmates from childhood and her feelings for him were a good-natured crush in the anime. And there was no fucking way I was having his past relationship be with Karin, because even though I’ve learned to like her thanks to Gaiden, she was a creep in the anime and I can’t see a universe where he would ever, EVER sleep with her.

None of this story has anything to do with Sasuke “proving” he loves Sakura more than Ino. I hate how so many fans these days are obsessed with absolute, concrete proof that their OTPs (even ones who are already canon) have to constantly prove their feelings, and gods forbid they even touch someone else who is not their One True Love before they meet. It’s like, are they supposed to do nothing else in their life but hold hands, eat together and have sex?

And…once more, Ino is MARRIED. As in, fully committed to her husband. Sai. Which is mentioned in the fic. Why the heck would she still be having sex with Sasuke? Ino isn’t a cheater and I’m insulted on her behalf. Pretty sure I never gave any indication in my story that they are still seeing each other. And as for Sasuke being “sloppy seconds”? That is a completely degrading way to refer to any individual, man or woman, fictional or not, just because they happened to have dated / had sex with someone else before. Calling someone sloppy seconds is like saying that anyone who had a previous relationship immediately has less value in their current relationship because “someone else go their first”. It’s exactly that kind of possessive, territorial bullshit that leads to absurd ideas like purity laws and virginity tests.  

Anyhow…my rant is now over. Sorry, Anon, but I had to address all of this, limited ways of thinking don’t do justice to the characters – or actual existing men and women. And if someone doesn’t say something, those outdated ideas will continue.

And if you still don’t want Sakura to end up with Sasuke in this fic because he’ll be “sloppy seconds”…well, you don’t have to finish reading it.

[my-hydeaway]

Our Childhood

The best times of my life, let me share them with you. Approx 2k words

Remember the time you stood in a row of students and there was this boy beside you who could not stop crying? First day in kindergarten school and you were being looked up to as many by the brave and ambitious one, other parents in total envy of how their child is not as confident as you are while your parents stood meters away from the line of children and gave the proudest smile. Back to the crying boy beside you. His name was Minho. You never noticed it back then but he has the cutest round cheeks in the history of round cheeks. Up till today, he has not noticed how you managed to make a copy of his Polaroid childhood photo and keep it hidden in your wallet to be taken out at any time of the day for an adoring session. "Hey there! Don't cry!" You whispered to Minho, trying not to get caught by the harmless teacher.

"I wanna go home!" Minho continued to sob gently, eyes swollen and nose soggy with liquid. 

"But we can play together soon!" Convincing him in the most sincere of ways, somehow he managed to calm down at the moment the word 'play' was said. 

And that was probably the only thing you ever bragged about to Minho even after decades have passed, you wanted him to never forget how you took care of him on the first day of school, a complete stranger to you. He would always give the same shrug and warned you to never do that to a grown man crying on the street unless it happened to be himself. One of your favourite songs till date is the melodic harmony of xylophones and piano keys that gently carried the notes of the legendary Canon in D floating throughout the entire school. This meant that it was break time and before you knew it, Minho and you were out in the playground having a blast in the sandpit. He promised to built you a sandcastle, but wrestled so much with the idea he could barely get a bucket of sand to stand. Never did he knew, twenty years down the road he would have been trapped under the sand itself and embarrassed by his four buddies and childhood friend that he had to slur a cocktail mixture of vulgarities to be released from his sand prison. The years of classes involving nap time, break time and shower time soon passed as quickly as the seasons changed. The friendship between Minho and you remained concrete strong and the both of you made a pact to get into the same primary school by telepathy and dancing around a plate of animal crackers. The both of you continued this ritual every single time when it was required to choose a new school and it would always work. It was after much confrontation with your mother years later that you found out how your parents worked closely with Minho's parents to try and get the both of you into similar schools. You have stopped touching animal crackers completely ever since that hideous truth was revealed. Primary school was a lot more crazy and fun. Minho would come over to your place after school ends and the both of you would binge watch cartoon series and snack on chocolate waffles. It was also the time where Minho seemed to put on most of his weight. If you thought you had seen the chubbiest of his cheeks during kindergarten, the sight of how he managed to stuff thirty Maltesers into his mouth and the heavenly sound of biting and crunching into it all at once, chubbiest would be too mild of a word to call his cheeks by. There was this time another male student snatched your toy Pokemon and you were almost brimming with tears. No fear because Minho came to your rescue as he chased the toy thief around the playground as you watched Minho slowly ran out of speed as well as breath. Of course your toy Pokemon was returned to you unscathed but it seemed like a part of Minho's soul left his body as he laid on the floor panting crazily. "R-running.. is not my best forte.." He huffed and puffed, almost ready to blow the straw house down. "I can see that! But thanks for trying." You chuckled at his cheeks as you watched them jiggle when he exhaled deeply before extending a hand to help him out and brushing off the dirt that got onto the back of his uniform. You loved all of these innocent and child-like times. But what you loved even more, was when puberty began to hit Minho. For you, puberty hit way earlier than it did for Minho. Horrifying him at the way you squeeze the pus out of your inflamed pimples until there was a time where he refused to step into your house. When puberty finally dawned upon Minho, it hit him like a truck. "Why do you keep staring at me recently?" Minho asked nonchalantly as he balances his pen on his Cupid's bow, puckering his lips together while figuring out a way to solve his algebraic homework. "Do I do that?" You hid your tone, answering with absolutely nonchalance as well while you eyed at his broad shoulders. "Speaking of which, did you lose weight?" You sat up from his bed and closed the algebra book in front of you. It took you long enough to realise how his jawline emerged under all the baby fat that claimed the throne on his cheeks, broad shoulders that spanned out almost like the wings of a plane and the deep voice that dripped with honey each time he hummed his favourite song. It was no wonder you felt the deathly stares of other female species as you walk down the market with Minho, munching on spiral potatoes and chocolate sundaes. "Are you saying I'm fat?" Minho quickly turned around from his spinning chair and glared into your eyes. Things were just going so great in life. Not till his high school sweetheart crushed his heart into a million pieces and walked away without even looking back. Minho would always come to you and shared about all the romantic events he planned for her. On Valentine's Day, he stuffed petals of different kinds of flowers that belonged to the nearby garden into a transparent balloon and filled it up with helium. The way the petals did a little jump with every stride he took along with the floating balloon that glided through the air was absolutely stunning and you knew that she was one lucky girl. Sadly, she could not hold his hand for long and eventually decided to trample on his fragile heart. It was such a bad month for you because he hardly turned up for school. You had no one to walk with to school and no one to entertain your boredom doodle attacks during integration class. It got so bad that Minho did not even want to see anyone when you visited with some friends. It left you with your one last resort, one that could potentially break your legs if it went horribly wrong. It would be all worth it to make your best bud smile again. You climbed up the pipeline to his windowsill and tapped furiously on the window almost pleading to be saved from the jarring height. Because of this incident, Minho would always snicker whenever you stood near any kinds of window. Which is great, surely, because now there's at least two things you hate in the world so much - animal crackers and windows. After going through a dozen comfort movies, three tubs of ice-cream and two boxes of tissue paper, Minho returned to school the next day and normalcy was restored. Most first love almost never work out anyway and Minho recovered from his slowly but surely. Years of chasing dreams and painful rejections, the cruel world that seemed nothing like how you viewed it when you were in kindergarten. In fact, it made you wonder if the other children were crying over how the future will come too soon. In fact, it made you feel small and childish to be someone that brave. You were struggling through first year of university while Minho continued to chase his dreams. "You should have come to university with me." You pouted as you walked straight into the dormitory without even looking at Minho who stood at the door to welcome you in. "But I like it here." Minho was glowing, although he looked exhausted from all the training, he was in total glee and happy to see you after a whole month of confinement. "But learning is not the same without you anymore." Making your way to the fridge, you were so familiar with the house that wasn't yours, you could probably find the pots and pans with blindfolds on. "Ah come on, you're smart. I'll only be there to distract you." Minho dragged his feet, following you from behind, carefully examining your body to see if you have lost weight from the intense medical school. "Maybe we should have danced around the animal crackers." As if the can of beer you opened was not bitter enough, the thought of animal crackers made you cringe even more. "You? Trainee at YG? You've got to me kidding me!" The man wearing a black beanie matched with the largest rimmed spectacles teased you. It was getting incredibly difficult to spend time with Minho now. You had to go to school and had assignments almost every single day. On the other hand, Minho had to practice and train everyday in the company that he rarely saw the sun just as much as he used to when he was younger and more carefree. But I guess that's what being responsible adults are, even still, there are times where you would want to close all your books and head down with ice-cream and donuts to find Minho's great companion. "Just come down for a second, it'll only take a second I promise!" Minho pleaded through the phone, something that you cannot resist. "Okay okay, just for a bit alright, I have an assignment due tomorrow." You replied, finally feeling some excitement in your life after such a long time. Excitement turned to astonishment followed by a feeling that you have never felt in your life before. "Did you just end practice?" Hiding both your hands into the pockets of your hoodie from the late night breeze as you strutted towards Minho who waited at the empty park. Instead of replying, he whipped out a tub of ice-cream and sat you down on the park bench. The night was filled with ecstatic conversations and catching up with one another that felt all so familiar to you. It was as if time has rewind and gone back to the times where the both of you were kids again. The late night passed and the empty park was starting to show signs of life apart from the presence that Minho and you provided for the past four hours. Light slowly started to touch every part of the area, the morning dew that formed on the awaken leaves and elderly women coming out for a brisk stroll. "Oh my gosh, my assignment!" You shrieked after looking at the time on your phone before jumping up and getting ready to take off. "Before you go!" Minho stood up, got closer to your face and left a peck on your forehead. "You know that I'm always cheering for you right?" He smiled. 

(to be continued..)