In My Gif Era - Journey to Fearless

↪ The Best Day

i don't know who i'm gonna talk to now at school

but i know i'm laughing on the car ride home with you

don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay

but i know i had the best day with you today

UGH THE WAY I WANNA MAKE SO MANY REFERENCES TO POLYBIUS IN THE CABINET MAN AU SOOOOO BAD I'M GONNA BE REVISING MY ROUGH OUTLINE CUZ I'M LOSING MY MIND

If anyone relates to this even just a little bit, then I'm so sorry.

btw if anyone is watching the cold war documentary on ntflx? dont bother. lamo this is the dumbest doc i have seen in a while. it leaves out too much stuff, it presents things as true that are blatantly false if you give more information, and it states 'theories' as facts. some facts it just plain gets hilariously wrong. there is an agenda in this documentary that it isnt stating outright, that i am highly suspicious of, and i would be curious to know who is funding it.

Yknow looking at our current issues with climate change is fascinating from the POV of someone with an interest and possible career plan in volcanoes.

Like, first and foremost, you have to understand how devastating a change in global temperatures is. This disrupts entire ecosystems, and the larger the change, the more disruption, and the more species just cannot survive. Alongside pollutants, its really not an exaggeration to say we are causing an ongoing mass extinction. Maybe not on the level of the previous five, yet, but left unchecked, it could very well reach that level.

But here's the flipside: life on Earth can, and probably will, recover. Life on earth has weathered disasters the likes of which we can barely fathom. It isn't hopeless. Things will be hard, things will change, especially if we don't change, but we are not automatically doomed.

This isn't to say we shouldn't change what we're doing; we absolutely should. Carbon emissions and pollution should be reduced, and should have been reduced decades ago. Just that its easy to get wrapped up in doom and gloom in regards to climate change, and that you shouldn't give into despair.

Gritting my teeth and screaming into a pillow because I'd want to start the process of getting my own dog already!!! But I can't yet!!!! And it's such a pain to have to wait!!!!

do people even realize that every costume in the original lord of the rings was handmade

just watched kier-la janisse's 3 hour documentary epic about folk horror as a mode of interpretation and understanding of vastly different styles and eras of genre cinema and despite everything the fact remains that most "horror" "fans" and creators are cowards who firmly stick to their guns regarding their ingrained assumptions and prejudices about cultures/beings/identities that are seen as the other, continuing to proliferate these damaging harmful narratives without questioning which parties may benefit from a version of the story being told from this particular point of view. what ends does the instilling of fear, the most powerful, potent, galvanising in some cases emotion, serve for an audience? (obviously this is the case with any other genre and in actuality just a far wider problem sort of inevitable in a regime that instructs which ideas are to be spread to the masses) but again, it's vital to consider this issue specifically within the realm of horror, since nothing inspires scapegoating, hatred and self-righteous violence quite like blind fear of a phenomenon that the required effort has not been put into comprehending

a while ago you said you hated the movie the eternals so I was wondering what you didn’t like about it? just bc I’m vindictive about marvel lol

god they just literally didnt do even a single thing right.

the acting was really bad from just about everyone (except maybe kumail nanjiani who was the only person who decided he would try to play an actual character), like everyone was just phoning it in. im going to chalk it up to bad directing because people also seemed like they had no idea what they were supposed to be doing on set, plus some of these people are decorated actors that have proven they were good at their job in other movies.

it could also be because the writing was just a mess on every level. like, how good could the acting be when no characters were given any solid motivations or personality traits (any motivations or traits that they DID bother to put in the movie were either told with 0 evidence, or just changed whenever it suited a plot twist to try and create some tepid and meaningless conflict within the team). the lore was tedious and nonsensical, there were no stakes because absolutely nothing felt earned or consequential at all, the overall goal of the plot changed like 8 different times as well as constantly being interrupted by flashbacks with no rhyme or reason as to when we would see a flashback or what we would flash back to, which led to a pacing nightmare.

and the tone was too dour and serious to be able to ignore any of this for the camp or fun either!! because there was absolutely no fun!!!!! it's like they wanted to make a Prestige Drama out of a movie that's 75% exposition dumps and half-assed sci fi lore and 0% actual character moments that make dramas work.

ok im typing too much so let's just rapid fire the rest: the color pallet was atrocious, just concrete and mud. the costumes looked like absolute garbage, cheaply made and extremely bland even just on a design level (i'm talking specifically about the hero uniforms here. the civilian clothes for every character were also boring and pointless, though). the effects were literally laughably bad, the object designs (like for the spaceship and other alien stuff, i'm not sure what to call this category) were ridiculous and never fully came together into something interesting or otherworldly. the score was trash and the needledrops were distracting. the diversity was shallow and insulting, you can't just constantly brag about diversity when you couldn't be bothered write those diverse characters to be actual, yknow, characters.

anyway if you want a well-made superhero movie about ancient heroes who have a deep love for humanity, that has diverse characters who are actually fleshed out and treated like characters instead of an Inclusivity Checklist, that has serious moments with emotional impact but is also capable of being fun, that has clear intra-team conflicts and morally grey characters that you can actually understand, that doesn't look like total garbage, then literally just watch The Old Guard. just watch The Old Guard im literally begging you. if you liked eternals just watch The Old Guard and see what it looks like when a movie actually does what eternals pretends it's doing.

Netflix’s Cheer season 2 really suffered from its success in the last episode. Watching season 1, I was so hyped about the performance because I’d never really seen it in full until they performed at Daytona; and I only got to see it in full because the show wasn’t allowed to bring in its own cameras. All the footage was audience cell phones and official camera angles.

There weren’t incessant close-ups and slowed down footage over music that didn’t match up. I just finished watching the Daytona performances for season 2 and STILL feel like I was never allowed to see the whole routine at once

✨ I just had this horrible idea for a dystopian novel ✨

Instead of paying people livable wages, the government launched a series of programs attempting to cut down on the number of homeless people. We all love it when people have places to live, right? Yeah! Which is why so many people got brainwashed into believing that preventing homelessness is better than actually assisting the currently homeless.

One of the new policies was to stop citizens from becoming "starving artists". The government drastically cut down the number of self-employed, freelance, and art-type jobs from existence. Jobs where the work is sparse, competition is fierce, and the market is extremely volatile: music, art, content creators and freelance jobs were at the top of the list, along with various jobs that don't earn W2's. These included actor, filmmaker, musician, painter, photographer, author, consultant, dancer, as well as several more professions, which (for the sake of simplicity) I will condense into one job: the artist. If you were paid above a certain threshold then you were deemed important enough to continue to create content, considered to be "essential".

Because the government had reduced the number of available jobs, this only further strengthened the "starving artist" stereotype. People could still do these things for fun, they just wouldn't be paid. Neither paying tips nor giving donations were allowed (or aloud... get it? Because buskers are often musicians? Sorry not sorry). Everyone employed as an artist had to find entirely new jobs or do things as hobbyists, not professionals. For me in my own personal bubble as a hobbyist, I'd be out around 600 bucks per year. That's less than my paycheck every two weeks for my full-time office job.

But then the government felt bad for making the homelessness problem worse. So they said people could do artist work for money ONLY IF they were also full-time or part-time employed in another non-artist profession.

me watching actual Egyptians put up a fight over the Netflix Cleopatra documentary

prompt: reader is hired as a live in house cleaner because ghost is always away and he only comes back on leave and he insists she stay in the guest room. Over time he increasingly acts like she’s his live in girlfriend or something. Very confusing for reader lmao.

-

The job comes at the exact right time. 

The way you stumble onto your new job is a bit dicey, if you’re being honest. You’ve been meaning to get out of the waitressing life for a while—the tips are shit and the number of times that you’ve had your backside pinched has slowly but steadily climbed into the double digits. You just haven’t had direction; somewhere to go. 

Your savior comes in the form of a six foot plus soldier. Oh, he doesn’t tell you that, but his body language speaks for itself. 

At first, even the sight of him makes your belly clench and palms sweat like when you watch rock climbing documentaries or parkour videos online (all moist and clammy and you have to wipe them on your jeans before shaking his hand). He’s a one-time customer at your little roadside diner that gradually becomes a repeat offender. 

He comes at odd times, sometimes disappearing for a month or two before he’s back to sitting in the booth at the back of the diner with his back against the wall. You smile shakily when you pour him coffee after coffee. He never eats. Always sits in the same booth, dressed in the same black hoodie that does nothing to hide the sheer size of him and a black surgical mask that he never removes. He has a sixth sense for when you’re watching him from behind the counter, waiting for him to take a sip.

You never do catch a glimpse of his face. Not completely anyway. You know him only by the faint smell of gunpowder and metal that clings to him like a second skin, and the feeling of his calloused hand against yours. 

Like ice slowly chipping off a glacier that one day cracks, a huge chunk splintering off and crashing into the sea, you know nothing about him until you’re suddenly in his house. Simon, he tells you, and the sound of his name awakens something in you. He needs a housekeeper and you need a reason to leave. 

You quit the diner; barely even put in a week’s notice. 

The day you drive up the long beaten road up to his property, a cabin deep in the English countryside, clear blue skies follow you. Clouds crisp, delicate even. Simon takes you through the house, showing you to the guest room where you’ll be staying while he’s away. He never directly confirms your suspicions, but the faint tightness around his eyes when he mentions his job tells you all you need to know. No wonder he needs someone to keep the house in order. Never around to do it himself.

Then he’s gone, swift as a ghost. You wake up in the guest room to a hastily scrawled note on your bedside table and a faint feeling of loss. 

You scrub tiles and dust the top bit of the fan that everyone always misses; you mow the lawn, clean the gutters, and sit under the shade of a poplar tree with a glass of lemonade in the early evenings. If you look up into the tree, you’ll see spiders and squirrel nests. It’s almost therapeutic. 

Weeks pass at a time. Simon reemerges like clear skies between periods of rain. Sometimes even before you wake up, you can feel the change like lighting sizzling in the air, crackling hot under your fingertips and then stumbling into the kitchen to find him leaning against the counter, coffee already brewing. You blush into an apology that he waves off.

Good soldier. Better boss. 

You fall into a routine, something of a cadence that is only interrupted by Simon’s hands on your hips when he moves you out of the way to grab a mug from the top shelf. His finger brushing over the curve of your cheekbone to wipe away flour smudged on your cheek. Then he’s gone again, passing through like a ghost. 

Perhaps he’s a more tactile man than you originally assumed. Something about the way he held himself in those first few weeks in the diner suggested otherwise, the way he seemed to radiate a latent hostility. Do not get close. You read this in the general slope of his eyebrows and the scars across his muscled forearms up until he reaches out to touch you, growing more and more comfortable with you around.

“You alright, love?” said into your ear on a warm night when Simon materializes onto the couch beside you, practically out of thin air. Your heart almost bursts in your chest. 

When you turn, he’s as beautiful as ever, honey burnt eyes staring out from behind a balaclava this time. Still dresses in his standard issue tactical pants, the faint smear of grime and gore around the ankles. There’s a lump in your throat when you smile. 

He smells richer now. Deeper, like the forest floor. Like crawling through mud and spider webs and a thick, cloying miasma of desperation. 

“Sorry—I didn’t know you’d be back,” you apologize, going to rise up to your feet. It feels wrong to commandeer his house when he’s on leave, even though you live here too.

A heavy hand on your shoulder pulls you down, settling you to his side. “Off your feet now—there you go, atta girl. No sense getting up; show’s not even done.” 

He angles you back to face the TV and tugs you into his lap almost effortlessly. You do not look back, even when you feel him slip the balaclava off, hot breath fanning over your neck. Not even when fingers play over the thin line of skin where your shirt rides up. You blink like your eyes are gummy and try not to shudder when his thumb dips underneath your shirt.

Alfred's new ward making sure everyone is having great day during their day off from crime whether they want to or not.

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Damian knew from day one of meeting alfred's new ward that he was going to be trouble..

He may have been stalking the kid doing alfred's work while alfred sat down in a comfy couch with a plate of fresh jasmine tea, his prescription medince bottle at ready and a raspberry strudel to nibble on.

He ain't going to replace his favorite Butler, not now, not ever. So Damian got Tim and Dick to help sabotage this heathen from taking over...Not knowing this kid was expecting their over the top sabotages. They tried scaring him with Titus but the little traitor lay there on his back getting belly rubs like it was heaven itself.

Changing the plumbing in his shower to freezing cold, but he walk out there refreshed. Tim trying to look of anything to blackmail him only for the batcomputer to go off the frizz with a virus.

Alfred did make sure to have his work sort out alphabetical because he is the Glue that keep these Wayne Manor going and everyone living in it not because caveman style creatures of the night.

Danny made sure Bruce didn't escape to his batcave on his supposed day off after 96 hours without sleep and spite driven nature, and don't even come with Justice never sleep excuses is going to run by him. He got Alfred's speical Bruce's tranquilizer gun at ready and he is not hesitating to shot you Bruce.

He does kept Tim from overdoing with the coffee addiction, giving him a better offer of coffee as long as he goes to sleep. Dick will still talk about Saturday night when Tim tries to sneak out to do some more investigating in the batcave only to see Danny dragged a unconscious Tim back to his room, a two tranquilizers to the back and one of his arm, though he didn't mention the Danny's glowing cat light green eyes that shine in the dark.

Danny's funny puns neon ghost stickers made dick's days, every morning as he goes to get his lunch, and he really want to know where he get them from.

Danny did actually helped a lot with the Wayne Manor as it never been cleaner before, Jason visited one time even mentioned that the chandelier never feel so clean to hang on from, not a speck of dust on it.

Damian getting a new animals book/documentaries, a new knifes for the collection or art supplies that match his demands in a way that keep his stabby nature at sate and bay for now.

Barb, Cass and Duke are amused by the fact that Bruce, Tim and Damian are having a little mid crisis that danny making them have day off on certain days such as holidays.

All this free time actually had alfred's going back to old hobbies that were nearly long forgotten such as conversations with old dear friends, practicing his old shooting skills, and having well deserved rest. Once his arm was healed, he stil did his duty along side with Danny as it was much quicker to do together as two people at hand.

What they will probably find out later on in the future that danny is actually Bruce's great grand uncle from his older sister side, and that he had disappeared when he was 20 years old in a old spooky town that vanished and still on today uneXplained series after his great grandmother moved to gotham. (But that another story for next post)

most of the queer 'community' that expresses itself online is so stagnant and cruel and self obsessive that I really don't think I want it at all at this point. I want to live in the world among people, not in this capsule prison of warring microidentities where every single day is a new argument about who has it worst or another person prevailing on the struggles of complete strangers to excuse their own rancid behaviour in the name of shared victimhood. this shit sucks, I want to go watch a documentary on a projector and play cards and swap clothes with someone.

ROTTEN: Behind The Foodfight

Holy chips! It's an exciting time to be a Foodfight! fan, because ROTTEN: Behind The Foodfight is finally out! This really is THE definitive documentary on the insanity behind the movie, and it finally answers the question of just what was going on behind the scenes during production. Since I helped out with research (and I even get a short line of dialogue at 45:19) I've already seen everything that was shown off, but had to keep quiet until all the interviews were conducted and the documentary was finished. But now it's out and everything has been made public, the cat's out of the bag (the Fat Cat Burglar?) and I can talk about all the production material that's been shared.

Before I get into any of that though, I'd highly recommend you watch the documentary for yourself. It's insanely well researched and put together, and having worked together with Ziggy Cashmere (the documentary's creator) I know how hard he dedicated himself towards making this all possible. If it weren't for him, the most interesting Foodfight! discovery would've been finding the novelization, and we would have never gotten any real insight into how this movie came to be. It's also a documentary that really speaks for itself- I don't want to say too much about what it reveals since it's all expressed far better through its narrative and the interviews with people who actually worked on the project. My favorite is the interview with texture artist Mona Weiss- she tells such horrifying stories about how she was treated by Larry and other crewmembers, yet does it all with a sense of humor that makes it clear she's enjoying getting to talk about her crazy experiences. It's clear Foodfight! was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, and there's nobody to blame for that but Larry Kasanoff himself. The movie was rotten from the top down and despite the countless talented animators and artists working on it, nothing could fix the fact that it was fundamentally mismanaged in the worst way possible. I think the quote from producer George Johnsen summarizes it best: "Foodfight! was a good idea that unfortunately lost its way during production. The technology, the art, and the direction were not in sync. Many very talented people gave their all to make the picture, but more understanding of process from the top was needed for it to succeed."

But if you saw the documentary, you already know all that, right? So instead, let's talk about the behind-the-scenes material that's finally been shared! You can find everything I'll talking about HERE on archive.org-

It's worth following the link and checking it out for yourself- there's so much it'd impossible to discuss everything. Artwork, storyboards, bloopers, models, a nude render of Lady X, an interview with Larry Kasanoff, the list goes on and it's still being updated! Despite the documentary already being out, people who worked on the movie are continuing to share new material! It's pretty incredible- for the past year I've ran this blog all I've really had to discuss are two tie-in books, and now there's so much Foodfight! material I can't even keep up with it.

I mean LOOK at all this, isn't it fantastic? The character art by Jim George showing off just how much better these designs originally were, the countless environments showing off just how stunning Marketropolis could've looked as well as the strength of the core idea "what if a supermarket came to life at night", and insanely detailed storyboards for a 7-minute pitch reel that was used to sell the movie to investors. Normally, I'd be ALL OVER this because it's all just incredible, but there's something far, FAR more fascinating than any of it.

There are even multiple drafts of the script (one from 2005 and one from 2007 respectively) and normally I'd be insanely fascinated by those too, making extremely detailed posts explaining the differences between the drafts and how they compare to the novelization, but there's something else that was found that blows ALL of this out of the water and is easily one of the most monumental lost media discoveries of ALL TIME.

That's right, a rough cut of the ENTIRE movie from 2005 has been found, containing nearly ALL the completed animation from earlier on in production. I mean, that's mindblowing right? We first got sent this around a month ago, a little while before the documentary came out, and I literally stopped everything I was doing at work to just sit and watch this. This is the closest we're ever going to get to the "original" version of Foodfight! after all- only 7 minutes of footage was ever actually made before they switched to mocap, made solely for the aforementioned pitch reel, and this workprint contains practically all of it! On top of that there are some great storyboards in here, as well as some truly hilarious ones cobbled together from 3D renders, and the plot is far better than what we ended up with, a lot of the more inappropriate jokes being absent. This rough cut is actually pretty similar to the novelization in that regard, and it also contains scenes that we'd previously only read about in there.

For example, in the novelization there's a snowmobile chase through the mountains, with Brand X soldiers on snowmobiles and a heavy avalanche close behind. This scene was completely left out of the movie itself, but in this workprint it's here! ALL the previously novelization-exclusive scenes are included, and this rough cut is seemingly based on an even earlier draft of the script than that- here Brand X are still defeated by a flood, whereas by the time of the novelization it'd been changed to a lightning storm. There are SO many exciting differences in this workprint, the snippets of original animation we get to see are SO good, and it's SO much better than the movie itself that I think it by far deserves the crown as the DEFINITIVE version of Foodfight! There's so much in it I want to discuss, that there's no way I can fit it all into this one post...so stay tuned, because in the next few days I'll be doing a FULL analysis of the 2005 workprint, pointing out all the extra brand mascots not in the finished film, and generally just gushing about how amazing it is.

I mean, this is it. Just take it all in for a second- the original footage was considered lost media for over a decade, and now it's practically been found in its entirety, embedded in an early cut of the whole movie...isn't that just phenomenal? All the mysteries have been unraveled, all the questions have been answered, and now we can relax, take a deep breath, and watch Foodfight!...the REAL Foodfight! Make sure to enjoy it, and join me next time for my analysis!