#one thing about me is i heart multimedia art | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lanymme · 5 months

Text

On the eve of Lonetrail ending, I have some sad thoughts about preservation of media in this game.

The event is amazing. The effort and love put in to this story and all the little details is beyond me. I’m really glad that it’s gonna go straight into the Intermezzi so that anyone who picks up this game or missed the event gets to experience it.

But a big part of this event is going to be missing. The lobby, for one thing, is a huge part of the story’s lingering emotional power. The narrative touched my heart. It made me cry.

But what made me break down, what destroyed me, was finishing that final story segment and seeing this

Turn into this:

And just sitting there, full of pain and wonder and real, actual grief, reflecting on what had just happened as I sat there in the dark with my headphones on, totally immersed in the lonely and hopeful and Ad Astra, reframed by this new context into something that was also terribly and beautifully sad.

It didn’t fully comfort me. But it gave me the refuge to feel the things I needed to feel, drifting and alone.

Throughout the rest of the week, the little missions from the Investigation section helped me return to and slowly process my feelings, with little bits of additional story and context.

And each time I opened the event, that devastating splash of Kristen dunked me back into my emotions, to give them another go.

This is the only piece of art I’ve consumed that comes with its own aftercare and damn if I didn’t appreciate it.

I probably don’t need to explain this whole experience to you in detail, because y’all reading this have (hopefully) already played the event and experienced that for yourselves.

But people in the future playing this event are not gonna experience that aspect of this multimedia piece of art, because these parts of an event do not show up in the archive.

They won’t experience the guy saying “*A new age is upon us!*” getting replaced by the empty billows of space as Kristen’s pod drifts outside terra’s starpod.

You can probably find it, in recordings. But searching down something on the Internet to see what used to show up does not hit the same as getting greeted by the new intro and splash whenever you return to the event. You’ll be like “oh yeah I bet that was cool” and not “Oh, I’m not okay.” Or whatever your reaction to that piece of the art in its proper place would be.

I don’t really have much else to say on the matter.

I just think that’s sad.

#also the columbia guy talking when you finish an investigation!#whatever it is he’s saying lol #i got the second two recorded but not the first two #so if you have those hmu #arknights #lone trail #arknights meta

78 notes · View notes

antianakin · 2 months

Note

Hi! I hope you're having a great day or night :)

Theres a question I've been wanting to ask for a few days now so I might aswell ask you now.

What's your thoughts on the Clone Wars (2003) 2D Micro-Series and the Clone Wars Multimedia Project?

I heard some Star-Wars Fans say that they prefer the Multi-Media Project and Clone Wars 2003 over the 2008 Clone Wars and think that it fits better in the Prequel Trilogy Continuity than Clone Wars 2008, so I'm curious on what's your take?

So I only ever watched like half of the 2003 Clone Wars show, which I think is what you're calling the 2D Micro-Series that aired between AOTC and ROTS in very short like 2-3 minute installments, so my opinion of it is obviously somewhat limited since I never saw the entire thing. I was watching it on YouTube I think very shortly before it got put onto Disney+ and the last half ended up unavailable before I could go see it and I haven't gone back to finish it because I figure I've kind-of gotten the gist.

Which I guess tells you something of my opinion on it on its own.

I don't dislike it by any means, but I think that the 2003 Clone Wars show is, by its nature, VERY different from the 2008 show. It doesn't take itself even HALF as seriously as the 2008 show does, which means that the stakes are very low and I as the audience can give it a lot more leniency on a lot of things. I'm not EXPECTING these big epic storylines in the 2003 show because that just, quite simply, isn't what it's made for. The 2008 show on the other hand clearly WANTS to be taken seriously most of the time and definitely takes ITSELF more seriously, especially in later seasons where it definitely hits on some heavier topics. So as a viewer, especially an adult one, I tend to sort-of analyze it with the perspective that it's a show that does WANT to be taken seriously to some degree and it wants me to feel things more than a slight thrill at the cool visuals.

So I had some good fun watching some of those early 2003 episodes, like the Mace Windu one and the original Kit Fisto on Mon Cala episode, etc. It's a silly show with some silly little storylines in a fun 2D art style.

But, while there are a LOT of things I think the 2008 show did badly and missed the mark on, there's also a lot of things they ADDED to the worldbuilding that I really love and some genuinely emotional storylines that have stayed with me. In particular, the clones. I don't think anything truly gave the clones the real character and pathos that the 2008 show did, I LOVE the way they were written in 2008, I love how much they want the AUDIENCE to care about them and the nuances added to the characters in how they view themselves and the galaxy and their place in it, I love their relationships with the Jedi, and I love the addition of the chips in the sense that I really like the way it changes Order 66 into this additional tragedy for the clones and the way their fate parallels the Jedi's. They would always mean each other's doom, but it also meant that their people were intertwined from the beginning and this was actually something all of them really cared a lot about and genuinely loved and appreciated, which just makes Order 66 THAT MUCH MORE TRAGIC (and I'm an angst ho so I love that shit). And I am of the firm opinion that the Umbara arc is the best-written storyline in the entire show, hands down, I would rather have the Umbara arc even if it means having the rest of TCW along with it than not have the Umbara arc at all, that's how much I love it. It's heart-wrenching and difficult and visually stunning and complicated and one of the very few storylines that allows the clones to truly shine.

And I like that the 2008 show was able to give a little more depth to some of the Jedi side characters in a way the 2003 show just couldn't (I recognize comics often did more with these characters, but we're not talking about those right now lol). In particular I'm thinking of Shaak Ti and Aayla and Ki-Adi-Mundi and Mace and Luminara and Adi and Eeth and Kit. Barriss of course got treated better in 2003 than in 2008, sadly, but GENERALLY the Jedi characters who got even one or two episodes of focus in the 2008 show got treated kindly and given some additional personality that I found really nice and gave me more Jedi characters to love. In 2003, we get to see them do some action-y stuff that's fun, but from what I saw, they don't necessarily get given super distinct personalities.

So, I guess, TL;DR, the 2008 show is able to do a lot more things regarding the Jedi and clone characters who had up until then remained pretty sidelined that the 2003 show did not, but the more in-depth storylines of the 2008 show invite a deeper analysis of it sometimes that it doesn't always live up to for me while the 2003 show remains a fun, light-hearted, silly romp that can be enjoyed for what it is.

If there's more to the "Clone Wars Multimedia Project" just assume I don't know what it is and haven't seen it so I have no real opinions on it.

#star wars #the clone wars #tcw #2003 clone wars

14 notes · View notes

pumpkinblossoms · 1 year

Text

OK, in the spirit of positivity, here are my top reads of 2022!

A bit in the way of context: I am a librarian, I read a lot, and, for better or for worse, I live and breathe books/publishing buzz/ARCs/etc. The list below is purely based on my own fully biased opinions, though those biases have nothing to do with whether I had early access to a title, a connection to the publisher, etc. and everything to do with whether a book is sad, gory, or gay. And thanks @explosionshark for suggesting I write this up!

DEAD COLLECTIONS by Isaac Fellman: holy fuck was this book good. The whole “trans vampire falling in love and solving a quiet, sad mystery in the archive where he works” angle is catchy, but this is definitely not the fluffy or straightforward story some people are after. I really loved how vampirism is depicted as a life-ruining weakness rather than a cool and sexy superpower. I also really loved the multimedia aspect of including forum posts and TV scripts and listserv chains.

BABEL: AN ARCANE HISTORY by R.F. Kuang: I think some criticisms of this one, like that it’s slow and repetitive and a little didactic, are founded. However, I couldn’t care less. R.F. Kuang excels at unhurried school stories that slowly and brutally dismantle themselves over hundreds and hundreds of pages, and the formula she establishes in the excellent Poppy War trilogy is perfected here. This is what actual dark academia looks like–The Atlas Six could never.

KISS HER ONCE FOR ME by Alison Cochrun: I used to read a lot of contemporary romance, specifically f/f romance, but after being burned over and over and over and OVER by bad books I’m incredibly selective about what I read and recommend in this genre. I gave Alison Cochrun a ton of shit for her incredibly mediocre debut, The Charm Offensive, but I am totally willing to say that she’s improved, and this book–while still definitely goofy and even grating at times–was probably the best f/f romance out in 2022 from a major publisher other than Delilah Green (which I read in 2021 and therefore did not include in this list, but also whose sequel sucked so much it honestly made me like the first one less). Do me a favor and don’t even read the back copy because it doesn’t make any fucking sense and will turn you off the book.

THE PALLBEARERS CLUB by Paul Tremblay: hoooo boy. OK. So this one got dismal reviews from the Goodreads crowd, but I believe fully and genuinely in my heart that everybody is wrong about it and should feel bad about how wrong they are. The thing is, Paul’s books are slow and atmospheric (are you sensing a theme to what kind of books I tend to like best) and there are no easy answers or moments of triumph or anything you might be led to expect via publisher-created blurbs or taglines. And going into a book with one expectation and having that expectation remain unmet is one of the quickest and simplest ways to have a bad-faith negative reaction to said book, in my personal experience. Like, could this book have been scarier? Definitely. But I loved it regardless, and I loved that the physical format of the book–Art’s memoiry fiction draft, or fictiony memoir draft, depending on your perspective, plus his best friend Mercy’s commentary written in red in the margins–is the sort of embodied story that I love because it fucking sucks to read on a screen or an ereader. You’re tied to the format, either print or audio (which I hear was well done for this one, though I haven’t heard it myself), and that’s great to me.

THE THOUSAND EYES by A.K. Larkwood: In my opinion this duology is criminally, WOEFULLY underrated. Csorwe is a grumpy butch orc warrior and she spends most of her time getting herself and her terrible frenemies out of trouble and also falling in love with a powerful sorceress. This book is the second one and is gloriously angsty and everyone gets middle-aged and sad and yet they all still pine for one another across time and space. I cried. I’m not sorry. It’s GOOD.

AN ARCHIVE OF BRIGHTNESS by Kelsey Socha: ok, full disclosure, this is my wife’s book, but it came out in August and it’s a lovely group of interwoven weird little gay stories. I would’ve loved it even if I didn’t share a mortgage with the author, I promise. Like, people live in houses made of scorpion corpses. Come on.

Honorable mentions: I didn’t really feel like getting too much into YA here, but I really liked CONFESSIONS OF AN ALLEGED GOOD GIRL by Joya Goffney, which was a really honest and interesting exploration of purity culture and religion; HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART by Jake Maia Arlow, an interfaith winter holiday f/f romance (what a year for holiday romances, sheesh); and HELL FOLLOWED WITH US by Andrew Joseph White, a really gross and sad book that also manages to be incredibly, gleefully YA even as the protagonist morphs into a horrifying monster.

I also didn’t want to mention anything that hasn’t been released yet, so HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix and SOME DESPERATE GLORY by Emily Tesh are both out, even though both were SO GOOD and you should be foaming at the mouth to get your hands on them next year. And lastly, I didn’t think The Locked Tomb series needed any extra hype and if you haven’t picked it up yet it’s not like I’m going to convince you, so I didn’t bother saying anything about NONA THE NINTH although it was really very good.

And finally: I’m currently reading WHEN THE ANGELS LEFT THE OLD COUNTRY by Sacha Lamb which absolutely fucking rips so far, very much Good Omens meets Spinning Silver, but I haven’t finished it yet so it didn’t seem fair to count. I recommend it based on the first half, though!

PHEW ok that’s it! Send me your recs please!!

#books #the locked tomb #the unspoken name #grady hendrix #paul tremblay #horror #lgbtq books #romance novels #best books of the year

33 notes · View notes

sunshinemoonrx · 1 year

Text

Working on a little RPG

So I'm in the early stages of putting together an RPGMaker project inspired by classic sci-fi tokusatsu and anime, e.g.:

It stars these OCs of mine (art by @K_dot_o_ on twitter)--

Lyra, right, is an overeager space archaeologist and Vega, left, her henshin-hero bodyguard who at tries to affect a gruff exterior. They would both describe themselves as single, in the way people who are effectively all but married might.

The reason I want to make a little RPG specifically is their dynamic gave me a strong concept for some fun mechanics I wanted to try: Basically, Lyra acts as a sort of hybrid between a standard JRPG party member and say, the Pokemon trainer, while Vega is the tank who she steers around and applies buffs etc. to. As long as Vega isn't KO'd, she takes all damage for Lyra, who doesn't have much HP of her own but is the only one who can access the items menu and manipulate the course of the battle. Meanwhile, something like RPGMaker's TP system represents the tokusatsu elements--when Vega builds up to 100, she can transform into her hero-suit, gaining an additional HP bar on top of her own representing its armour.

I previously tried to write a prose story about 'em, thought I got too serious and dour with it and scrapped that version, but in the process of planning this I ended up writing a decent amount of this new, more light-hearted version as a pulpy prose story in turn, so I guess this might end up being a kinda multimedia deal depicting this sci-fi universe? I do obviously have more in mind than just two characters, but just leading with the central idea, and I'll make more posts about other aspects.

Anyway the problem I'm now encountering is I am, as are a lot of people, terrible at naming things, so I'm just trying really hard to come up with something to call the series that sounds big and brash and pulp space opera without sounding silly in the wrong way, y'know?

Anyway I'm not aiming for any particular level of clout of professionalism with this, I just work better when I've told other people I'm doing something, so...watch this space? Maybe?

#gamedev #rpg maker #oc #scififantasy #starhound

36 notes · View notes

ptbf2002 · 5 months

Text

Everyone Hate Warner Bros. Discovery

Oh my god, this company sucks. You know what this company has done?! Well, hear what i'm gonna tell you why the WarnerMedia And Discovery Merger Was One Of The Worst Mergers In The Media Industry Of The United States.

1. They removed and cancelled shows From HBO Max, like Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Close Enough, Elliott From Earth, The Fungies! Infinity Train, Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart, Mighty Magiswords, OK K-O, Let's Be Heroes, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Summer Camp Island, Tig n' Seek, Victor and Valentino, And Several Others. Like The What The Fuck! It Seems That Someone Doesn't Gives A Shit About Any Animation At All, Warner Bros Discovery Is Being So Not Fair To All Of Us! And all they care about is the stupid live action and reality shit. So Yeah, I Guess We Need A Marathon On Either Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim, Or Discovery Family.

2. They cancelled Scoob! Holiday Haunt, Batgirl, And Other Movies That Warner Bros Is Planning To Make. What The Fuck! I Just Waited For Those Movies To Come, But This Pile Of Shit Has Came And Ruined It. Despite the fact that they have cancelled Batgirl Just Because They Don't want to get criticized.

3: The Creators That Are Making Shows For Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim, HBO, And Several Others Have Been Fired Because Of That Shitty company that i'm talking about.

4: They replaced Boomerang with Cartoonito in Europe.

5: they are also merged HBO Max and Discovery Plus into Max, And removed some shows. Which Was Stupid.

6: They Have Shutted Down CNN Plus.

7: In 2024 it's been announced that NBC Universal will be merging with it. Are You Kidding Me?! That would be a questionable decision, As my big concern was that it would seriously damage the mass media industry in the United States. Why can't they separate both of the media companies. And Do you know what's worse?

THEY'VE SHUTTED DOWN CARTOON NETWORK STUDIOS HEADQUARTERS IN BURBANK CALIFORNIA IN AUGUST 1ST. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! GOD MOTHERFUCKING DAMMIT!!! this is complete bullshit 100%, thanks to that pile of shit! Cartoon Network Studios Has Moved To Warner Bros Animation Headquarters. But Good Thing That Cartoon Network Studios Is Alive. and yes, Discovery is completely killing Warner Bros, Cartoon Network, And DC Comics. It's Like A Living Shit With Their Actions. Whoever made this chaos should get fired some day. I Really Hope That Warner Bros Discovery Get Shutted Down For Good, And I Really Hope That WarnerMedia And Discovery Break Up Very Soon.

Original Template: https://www.deviantart.com/tagirovo/art/My-Characters-Hate-is-Who-983985997

SpongeBob SquarePants Belongs To Stephen Hillenburg, Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Carbunkle Cartoons, SEK Animation Studio, Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. United Plankton Pictures Inc. Joe Murray Productions Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. And Paramount Global

Oggy and the Cockroaches Belongs To Jean-Yves Raimbaud, Big Star Enterprise, Armada TMT, Digital Emation, Inc. Neon Pumpkin, DongWoo Animation Co. Ltd. Gaumont Multimedia, The Gaumont Film Company, Xilam Animation, France 3, France Télévisions S.A. CANAL+ Family, CANAL+ S.A. Groupe CANAL+ S.A. Vivendi SE, Gulli, Canal J, Metropole Télévision S.A. And Groupe M6

Hilda Belongs To Luke Pearson, Mercury Filmworks, Atomic Cartoons Inc. Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. Nobrow Press, Flying Eye Books, Silvergate Media Limited, Sony Pictures Television Kids, Sony Pictures Television Studios, Sony Pictures Television Inc. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Sony Entertainment, Inc. Sony Corporation of America, Sony Group Corporation, And Netflix, Inc.

The Simpsons Belongs To Matt Groening, Anivision, DR Movie, Film Roman, LLC Hanho Heung-Up Company, Klasky-Csupo, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Toon Boom Animation, Toonzone Entertainment, Wild Horse Animation Group, Gracie Films, 20th Television Animation, 20th Television, Disney Television Studios, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Entertainment, FOX Broadcasting Company, FOX Entertainment, FOX Corporation, And The Walt Disney Company

The Woody Woodpecker Show Belongs To Walter Lantz, Walter Lantz Productions, Universal Cartoon Studios, Universal Animation Studios LLC, Universal Television LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation

Animaniacs (2020 Reboot) Belongs To Tom Ruegger, Wellesley Wild, Steven Spielberg, Digital eMation, Inc. Saerom Animation, Inc. Snipple Animation Studios, Tiger Animation, Titmouse Animation, Inc. Tonic DNA Animation, Toon City Animation, Inc. Yowza! Animation, Giant Ant Animation, Studio Yotta, Birdo Studio, Flystudio, Screen Novelties, Amblin Television, Amblin Entertainment, Inc. Amblin Partners, LLC. Warner Bros. Animation Inc. Hulu, LLC. Disney Streaming, Disney Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Danger Mouse (2015 TV series) Belongs To Brian Cosgrove, Mark Hall, Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment, CHF Entertainment, FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment, Fremantle Limited, Boulder Media Limited, Boat Rocker Media Inc. CBBC Production, Windmill Lane Studios, CBBC, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide Ltd. BBC Studios Ltd. And British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Rocko's Modern Life Belongs To Joe Murray, Animal-Ya, Klasky-Csupo, Inc. Pacific Rim Productions, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Sunwoo Entertainment, Co., Ltd. Shanghai Rainbow Animation Tama Production, Wang Film Productions Company, Joe Murray Productions Inc. Games Animation Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. And Paramount Global

Pink Panther and Pals Belongs To Friz Freleng, Toon City Animation, Inc. DQ Entertainment Animation Studio, DQ Entertainment International Limited, Rubicon Studios, Rubicon Group Holding, MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. MGM Holdings, Inc. Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon.com, Inc. Cartoon Network, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Belongs To Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, DR Movie Co., Ltd. JM Animation Co., Ltd. MOI Animation, Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Paramount+ Nickelodeon Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Paramount Streaming And Paramount Global

The Legend of Korra Belongs To Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Studio Mir Co., Ltd. Pierrot Co., Ltd. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. And Paramount Global

Cleopatra in Space (TV series) Belongs To Doug Langdale, Fitzy Fitzmaurice, Titmouse, Inc. Inspidea Sdn. Bhd. Digitoonz Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Hulu, LLC. Disney Streaming, Disney Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation

Sonic Prime Belongs To Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara, Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle, Jam Filled Entertainment, Boat Rocker Media Inc. Flixzilla Aura, Sonic Team, SEGA of America, SEGA Corporation, SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc. Man of Action Entertainment, WildBrain Studios, WildBrain Ltd. Netflix Animation Studios, Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, LLC, And Netflix, Inc.

Star vs the Forces of Evil Belongs To Daron Nefcy, Mercury Filmworks Toon City Animation, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co, Ltd. Sugarcube Animation, Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Family Guy Belongs To Seth MacFarlane, Film Roman, LLC CNK International, Grimsaem Animation Co. Ltd., Seoul, Korea, Sunwoo Entertainment, Co., Ltd. Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Yeson Entertainment, Yearim Productions Co., Ltd Fuzzy Door Productions, 20th Television Animation, 20th Television, Disney Television Studios, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Entertainment, FOX Broadcasting Company, FOX Entertainment, FOX Corporation, And The Walt Disney Company

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Belongs To Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Andy Suriano, Ant Ward, Digitoonz Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Flying Bark Productions Pty. Ltd. Studio 100 N.V. Mirage Studios, Image Comics, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. And Paramount Global

Amphibia Belongs To Matt Braly, Saerom Animation, Inc. Sunmin Image Pictures Co., Ltd. Sugarcube Animation Studio, Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight Belongs To Mitch Watson, Peter Hastings, Technicolor Animation Productions, Mikros Animation, Dave Enterprises, Stellar Creative Labs, 88 Pictures, DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation And Netflix Inc.

Heroes of Goo Jit Zu (TV Series 2019) Belongs To Bang Zoom! Entertainment, Pixel Zoo, And Moose Toys

4 notes · View notes

noraqrosa · 2 months

Text

TL;DR: in this post, i wax on about the abandoned concept album/multimedia project Lifehouse by Pete Townshend/The Who in the context of algorithms and artworks

people on Twitter aren't understanding that this is an ad for a scifi novel. it sounds interesting, to a degree.

the first sentence reminds me of [The Who's] Pete Townshend's Lifehouse, still one of the most fascinating musical experiments i've ever read about.

i wish i knew about all that back when the Lifehouse Method website was a thing. for those unaware, it was a site created by Pete in conjunction with composer Lawrence Ball and software developer Dave Snowdon in which someone could input their personal data and generate "authentic musical 'portraits,'" pieces of music customized via algorithms that work based on whatever data you input. if you know anything about The Who, you'll probably recognize this as a facet of what would eventually become the album Who's Next, Lifehouse, a huge multimedia project involving a rock opera album, live performances with audience participation and complex tech on stage, a movie, who knows what else.

https://archive.is/8tYoM

i've always wished i could do one of these "musical portraits." i remember when I first heard about algorithmic (i refuse to call it AI because it isn't true AI) music generators, this was the first thing i thought of. back when they were in a rudimentary state, i played around with one for my own amusement (not for my own music, all that comes from my own head unfortunately for you), and while it was fascinating, it didn't go far enough in the direction i hoped. thinking of OpenAI's MuseNet, it takes a few notes worth of MIDI data & a style suggestion and then kinda randomly guesses what would be a good fit after those notes.

and y'know, it makes for some fun meme videos:

youtube

but you can also see it only goes so far, and still requires musical input. it isn't quite on the level of being usable for much. and it really isn't quite the same. it's using inputted data, but not, say, biometric or biographical data. it's musical parameters that are being input as the data.

i really want to one day see a true realization of Lifehouse. one of my wildest goals is to be the one to do that. admittedly, i feel like in the current artistic climate the art world might no longer be ready for it; people would see it, instantly think "AI ART EW," and back away. but in this case, i don't feel like that's a fair assessment of what the concept is. the idea was to find each person's unique signature melody via these musical portraits. it isn't meant for anything really beyond personal identification, when it comes down to it. it fascinates me from a musical standpoint, and as a person who holds a psychology degree. imagine what someone can learn about oneself via this process! would your musical portrait be different at different points in your life? what could you tell about your personality from a single melody, or about your life history, or your beliefs and values? how would all of that reflect in your music? what genre is your soul? could a musical portrait truly capture any of that? with sufficiently advanced tech, sure, but idk if we're there yet.

heck imagine the therapeutic implications! imagine this tech being used in an art/music therapy setting, in which you work with a therapist to input your data, get a melody, and then use that melody with whatever form of musical expression you prefer (e.g. if you prefer to play the piano, guitar, a DAW, etc). what would you and your therapist be able to learn about you?

i truly do believe that, when it comes down to it, everyone has their own musical identification, "a song in their heart" if you will. i wish to expose people's hearts to get that music out, so that people may hopefully understand themselves better.

we might actually be at the level of tech necessary to truly realize a project like Lifehouse, but the tech isn't being used in this way. our current tech relies on predictive algorithms that kinda mostly draw on established musical forms, tradition, and there are only so many notes in the musical alphabet and only so many combinations and permutations thereof. a true realization of this tech would work, say, maybe in a similar way to how Pokémon speedrunners essentially break the game and essentially reprogram it to do what they want via a series of unexpected inputs. arbitrary code execution is what that's called, and i bet a similar function might help greatly in creating a uniquely generated musical portrait. because, when it comes down to it, are we not all Glitch Pokémon who cannot be contained by the boundaries of our programming?

youtube

anyway that was a long ramble. feel free to gimme feedback like you're a guitar held up to an amp or feedback like an echo chamber, whichever you prefer. this post idk if it'll make both pro & anti AI people mad or not, but that's what happens when your position on a thing is more complicated than a simple binary.

currently homeless still, so please help me if you can:

My partner's donate links are here: https://linktr.ee/IzukuLeeYoung. that's the best place you can send us money to keep us in our current hotel room and off the street.

https://odiohi.me/pages/product-categories - if you wanna help me by buying my wares (including my music)

To support me directly:

https://ko-fi.com/NoraQRosa

https://cash.app/NoraQRosa

https://patreon.com/NoraQRosa

#artistic musings #essay #“AI art” really isn't true AI. when we finally realize that true AI actually lives and exists among us...#...you know we're gonna see them take offense to how we currently talk about AI and algorithms and be very upset #people don't care because they don't see AI as people but as new slaves.#they don't want artificial intelligence. they want custom-made servants.#we aren't at a point where we see true AI making art #we only currently see uncreatives abusing algorithms and then going “look i did this” when all they did was type out a few words.#at least Lifehouse was for a purpose and not for techbros to use and abuse!#it actually has a fascinating concept that i fear has been corrupted in this day and age. we need to fix that.#homeless plural trans queer artist in need of dire mutual aid #Youtube

2 notes · View notes

ritzcrackee · 1 year

Text

my current summer tbr! rambling under the cut

Free Fall

"When an influential lawyer is murdered miles above the earth's surface, Captain of Detectives Rick Harrison reluctantly accepts the case. Harrison quickly finds himself at the center of a deepening conspiracy. Why did the killer use a mining laser, an unwieldy weapon? What is the connection between the victim and the powerful anti-android lobby? And the toughest question Harrison never expected to ask: what defines humanity?"

tbh? not hyped for this one. i bought it in a state of rushed delirium and i'm 99% sure i'll get 20 pages in then never touch it again. we'll see though

Sharp Objects

"Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two pre- teen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story-and survive this homecoming."

i absolutely am extremely hyped for this book!! it looks like it's really similar to big little lies, which i really liked. v v excited

Snow in Summer

"Summer's life in the mountains of West Virginia is far from the fairy tale it once was. Not long ago she sang songs and danced with her mother and father, her cousin Nancy doted on her, and she had a new baby brother on the way. But the baby died soon after birth, taking their mother with him and turning Summer's life grim. Now things are getting even worse as her father falls under the spell of a woman who brings potions and magical mirrors into Summer's world. Stepmama puts on a pretty face, but Summer suspects she's up to no good-and is afraid she may be powerless to stop her."

i mostly got this to fill the neverafter shaped hole in my heart </3. and bcus i know i'm going to get tired of ya/adult books soon lmao

Afrofuturism

"In this hip, accessible primer to the music, literature, and art of Afrofutur sm, author Ytasha Womack introduces readers to the burgeoning community of artists creating Afrofuturist works, the innovators from the past, and the wide range of subjects they explore. From the sci-fi literature of Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, and N. K. Jemisin to the musical cosmos of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and the Black Eyed Peas' will Lam, to the visual and multimedia artists inspired by African Dogon myths and Egyp tian deities, the book's topics range from the "alien" experience of blacks in America to the "wake up" cry that peppers sci-fi literature, sermons. and activism. With a twofold aim to entertain and enlighten, Afrofuturists strive to break down racial, ethnic, and social limitations to empower and free individuals to be themselves."

i've already read like 50 pages of this and it's so interesting so far!! i keep having to switch between it and midnight sun bcus nonfiction fries my brain @_@ the author is great at keeping ur attention tho!

The Fault In Our Stars

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten."

let's go john green!! this is the first book of his i've planned on reading but i've had it reccomended to me a few times. hyped for a romance novel thats actually aimed at my age group lol

Lives of the Saints

ok the blurb for this one literally covers both side sof the sleeve?? and it truly tells you nothing BDJDJ. anyways the writing style reminded me of lemony snicket and it's only 150 pages? it seems fun but we'll see

Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do

"What are consensual crimes? A consensual crime is any activity currently illegal-that does not physically harm the person or property of another. The idea behind this book is simple: As an adult, you should be allowed to do with your person and property whatever you choose, as long as you don't physically harm the person or property of another."

this book is SO large. i mean 817 pages large. it seems like an interesting critique of the justice system, but tbh i just got it to look smart/hold up the clipboard my twilight books r balancing on.

Maus & Maus ||

"Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive."

i've been reading a pirated copy of this book and i'm so glad i found the physical copies!! i've already read maus but i read it a while back so i'll probably reread to prepare for the second one. straight up one of my favorite graphic novels so i'm extremely excited.

#books #eurgh

5 notes · View notes

akasha-game · 1 year

Text

Hey dudes, Kim here. I'm going to try to explain some of the shit that's been happening. Bear with me.

So, the instant I left Cloud Gate, I got a call on that weird watch I found in there.

On the other end was... someone who seemed to know a hell of a lot more about what's going on than me. She told me to take the station in Subirb to Unity City, so I did.

Then, the instant I left the station there, I got another call from someone who claimed to work with the other person.

Since he had my number in more ways than one, I was contractually obligated to listen to him.

He told me he's not telling me anything until I start playing detective for him. This is -- you guessed it -- complete bullshit! I don't know if these overgrown turkeys and housecats have realized this, but my friends and I just got Isekai'd here! We can't find missing people! We ARE missing people! What kind of alternate reality expects some jerks who just show up out of the blue to start saving this and fixing that left and ri--oh wait all of them

...

Alright, fine, I'll find the shit out of their asses. And when I'm done, Hayao Miyazaki is going to stomp on his hat, eat his heart out, and finally admit anime is working exactly as intended. Just you watch.

So, he gave me two usernames to search for using the blue app on my watch. One of them was "loveydovey", so I'm guessing she's some sort of literal pigeon lady. Good, that should really narrow things down.

Also, "loveydovey"? Really? What's next, "budgiewudgie"?

...For once, I'm mad that I'm right. Owlette is a good username though. B+.

Anyway, I'm complaining, but I guess I'm okay with finding her. I like pigeons, mostly because they can prank you without even trying, but also because of a little thing I like to call philosophy. Sure, they may seem like dumb little rats with wings to you, but to them you're driving a toilet. Remember that.

This guy here is being mean in a very punchable way, but his username is BALTHAZAR so he's clearly nothing less than a titan of scholarly wisdom concerning the multimedia arts. What's that? You like [thing]? What folly. For before those puerile words even fully escaped your lips, BALTHAZAR improvised a rigorously detailed two-hour rant about how [thing] is FLAMING HOT MOLTEN GARBAGE, along with a thirty-minute addendum on why you are a filthy peasant baby swaddled in an equally filthy burlap sack for liking it. Writhe in your own butt fluids, churl!

He also has a snarl name for every single modern creative work in existence armed and ready.

More like The Bowel House. More like Lamesaw Man. More like DOCTOR POO.

or he's just some jerk i dunno

So, there you have it. Find six people, find the rest of my friends, and get the hell out of here. Fairly straightforward. With Kim on the job, there's no way this could go wro--yeah we're screwed

#indiegamedev #gamedev #indiedev #kim

2 notes · View notes

quoteablebooks · 3 days

Text

Genre: Fiction, Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Content Warning: Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Confinement

Summary:

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean...

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

*Opinions*

Tl:dr - Absolutely delightful and compulsively readable rom-com

This is another social media influence and I needed a bit of a palate cleanser after a couple of fantasy novels back to back. I then proceeded to read this entire novel in two days and had a wonderful time with it. If you want a romance with a strong plot, this is not the book for you, but if you want a story that reads like a 90s sitcom romance, complete with scenes that feel as if they should have a laugh track in the background, I would recommend this novel highly. As I said above, it was extremely delightful.

As one might guess from the title My Roommate is a Vampire, the plot of this novel revolves around Cassie Greenburg responding to a too-good-to-be-true ad for a roommate on Craig’s list and moving in with a centuries-old vampire, though she is unaware of that at the time. Part of the charm of this novel is that the reader is well aware that Fredrick is a vampire, so watching Cassie navigate his interesting personality quirks is more endearing than the reader screaming at her to see all the signs. I also appreciate that Levine also had the big vampire reveal about 35% into the novel. After that, it is a series of rather comical scenes of Cassie attempting to teach Fredrick about the 100 years of etiquette that he missed while he was asleep. Again, the plot in this is very light and it is more watching Cassie and Fredrick dance around each other while denying what they feel for one another. The ending was highly ridiculous, but somehow fit the overall tone of the novel so it didn’t bother me too badly.

Cassie is a rather relatable character in a romance, which I appreciate. She is in her late 20s, early 30s creative that is cobbling together part-time jobs in an attempt to survive while working on her art. She takes public transportation, collects trash for her multimedia art, and lets her attraction to Fredrick cloud her judgment on a couple of occasions. While her bad past with a couple of other relationships is hinted at, whatever happened in those relationships is never elaborated on in this novel. I like how her story ended, but it was a little too butterflies and rainbows that I would usually enjoy. However, this whole book was just so lovely that it was the perfect ending.

We get to know very little about Fredrick other than the text messages and journal entries that are at the beginning of the chapters. He was a bit more of a caricature than an actual character except when he is being exceptionally sincere with Cassie. He is so interested in learning about her art and praising her for things that she doesn’t see in herself that it is swoon-worthy. Now, I heard rumors that this might have started as a Reylo fic, but truly I didn’t see it in the relationship. I did not picture Adam Driver when reading Fredrick’s description other than the focus on how large his hands are, which seems to be a physical attribute that Reylo writers seem to focus on. Well, that and how large his chest was, but that can be any male love interest.

The romance between the two of them was rather sweet, though not super deep. The first time they kissed and the makeout session in the bathroom had me kicking my feet in excitement. Again, as this is a lighter romance, the discussion of immortality and its complications were glossed over. Also, there is no lore given for vampires and only a vague mention of some of the rules around them. Still, there was something charming about Cassie’s unending patience and Fredricks's earnest love of her that I couldn’t stop reading. The way that Fredrick’s need for blood and the sex scenes were handled was also done well.

Overall, this is a fun and light read that is light on plot but still a compelling read. Levine hints in the novel that there might be a companion with Reginald and his human accountant, but I am not sure I care enough about Reginald to check it out. This is a 3.5 read rounded down to a 3 because while I really enjoyed it at the moment I read it, I doubt a lot of it will stick with me and this is probably not a story I would read again. Still, I highly recommend this if you like romances and enjoy a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

#jenna levine #My Roomate is a Vampire #book review #booklr #3.5 out of 5 stars

0 notes

aysen14 · 5 months

Text

My BLOG

Who are you?

Who exactly am I? So, my name is Aizen, and I don't have any nicknames. I am currently 20 years old and live in Atimonan, Quezon, a town full of lovely scenery and wonderful people. I enrolled in the Multimedia Arts course since it matched my interests well. Both of my parents are teachers, and I have a younger sibling named Azlee (he is a boy). I love photography, and it has now become my job, from which I am earning a good living. My clients are mainly from events like weddings, birthdays, corporate gatherings, christenings, etc. Additionally, I work as a freelancer at some studios in Quezon, particularly in Lucena. My photographic experience has been enjoyable, with one of the highlights being the opportunity to meet new photographer/videographer friends and fantastic clients. It can be challenging to wake up early in the morning when your call time for a shoot is too early, but you forget about it because you have this passion burning inside your heart. I started shooting pictures while I was in high school, specifically as a Grade 9 student, using my phone. The process when I first started is extremely memorable, and I am happy about it. I began with the things I already had because my parents couldn't afford a camera due to its expense. Now, I am proud to say that I have purchased one of the most expensive cameras on the market, the Nikon Z6 Mark 2. Now I won't have to struggle to borrow a camera from my classmates who despise lending cameras—LOL! Besides my interest in cameras, I have a girlfriend, a very lovely partner named Joyce Allyn M. Campomanes. She is also enrolled at STI Lucena, pursuing the BSBA course. I've known her since seventh grade at the same school we both attended, OLAA in Atimonan. We've been in a relationship for approximately 4 years, almost 5, and we're both delighted. You've read parts of my story. Let's move on to the next section, and I'll tell you more about it. Please start reading now.

Achievements/Highlights in life

One of my life achievements involves earning a consistent income from my freelancing work. I am delighted that my profession as a Freelance Photographer has enabled me to provide financial support for myself. Being an event photographer was unexpected since I didn't anticipate it evolving this way when I first started capturing things like toys, landscapes, textures, and so on, and sharing them on social media simply because I enjoyed it. Consequently, several of my friends and clients began liking my work, and it gradually became a passive source of income. Moving from referrals to having my own clients is a significant achievement for me. My first camera was a Canon 6D, a gift from my photographer friend, Alvaro Garcia, who owns Alvaro Garcia Photography in Lucena. He happens to be my cousin's classmate. My cousin is also in the same line of work, but he's a videographer. Alvaro Garcia decided to sell his Canon 6D camera, and my cousin suggested it to me, stating that it's an excellent choice, especially for novices like me at the time. To acquire this camera that he was selling, I needed to talk to my parents about purchasing it for me. However, there were others ahead of me, and my parents hadn’t allowed me to make the purchase. This made me upset with them. Little did I know, after a few days, they talked to me about it and said they would buy it for me. I was happy at that time. Many years have passed, and that camera, the Canon 6D, has earned me a lot of money. It enabled me to purchase not only my dream lenses but also my two dream camera bodies, the Canon R6 Mark 2, and the Nikon Z6 Mark 2. I am thankful that the money I used to acquire my current lenses and bodies came from my own hard work, not from my parents. Even though I am still a student, I can now provide for myself and purchase the things I want in life. I can pay my monthly bills and live independently with my own money, all thanks to my passion, hard work, and my lovely clients that trusted me with my style of photography.

How do you see yourself 5 years from now?

In the next five years of my life, I envision reaching new heights in my career as a photographer. I am determined to establish my very own studio, a creative space where I can not only hone my craft but also provide exceptional services as a recognized Photo and Video event supplier. Becoming a notable figure in the field is not just a goal but a testament to the dedication and passion I pour into every project. Beyond my role as an event photographer, I aspire to diversify my business ventures. I see myself delving into additional entrepreneurial pursuits, leveraging my skills and experience to create thriving enterprises. The success I achieve in these ventures will be a direct result of the hard work and perseverance I dedicate to my craft.

Importantly, I want my family to be an integral part of this journey. In the coming years, I envision involving them in my businesses, creating a collaborative and supportive environment. The satisfaction of sharing successes with my family is a key aspect of my vision. Their involvement not only strengthens our bonds but also contributes to the collective achievement of our goals. In my relationship with Joyce Allyn M. Campomanes, I see continued growth and mutual support. As my partner, I want her to be an essential part of the success I achieve. Together, we can navigate challenges, celebrate victories, and build a future filled with shared accomplishments. Our relationship will not only be a source of personal happiness but also a pillar of strength that enhances my overall well-being.

Ultimately, I am excited about the upcoming years and the opportunities they hold. I am committed to putting in the hard work necessary to turn these aspirations into reality, creating a fulfilling and successful life both professionally and personally.

0 notes

lenbryant · 1 year

Text

Letter from an art historian and author sent to the boneheads who fired the teacher in Tallahassee.

Dear Mr. Bishop and Mr. Mohler,

I am writing to express my dismay at the Tallahassee Classical School’s decision to remove the teaching of Michelangelo’s David from its curriculum.

Recently, I took my family to Italy. I asked my four children to report—of all the things they saw up and down the Italian peninsula—what made the biggest impression. All of them said it was seeing Michelangelo’s David in person.

That’s incredible when you think about it. Imagine that a 500-year-old sculpture has this effect on kids who see more images in a single day than most people in 1500 saw in their entire lives.

Why does the David leave such a lasting impression on our multimedia-overloaded younger generation? The answer is that the David is one of those singular masterpieces that changed the course of western civilization—collapsing biblical iconography, defense of civic pride, and classical aesthetics for the first time in history, in a single work of art.

Omitting the David from your classical curriculum displays a lack of understanding and appreciation for the meaning of this sculpture in the history of art. It is deeply troubling to me, both as a parent and educator.

The value of studying art history lies in part in helping students develop critical thinking skills that equip them to process the media-rich visual culture we live in today. These skills transfer to many other areas of their personal and professional lives.

The city fathers of Florence commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to create a monumental sculpture of the Old Testament hero David for a high buttress of their cathedral in 1501. But after they saw how groundbreaking the sculpture was, they decided instead to place it in front of the town hall, where its David-versus-Goliath defiance became a symbol of Florentine civic pride and virtue. The sculpture was so influential that it changed the history of western art.

As well as being a mom of four children, I am also a Yale-educated art historian, author, and specialist in Italian art. I would like to extend an invitation to my online course on the making of Michelangelo’s David to your community at no charge. The course delves deeper into the historical circumstances of the sculpture’s creation. Members of your school board, teachers, administrators, and parents may email me directly at [email protected] for free access to this course.

Your school mission states that it is “training the minds and improving the hearts of young people” and that it provides “instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.” There is no greater example of this vision in the history of art than in Michelangelo’s David.

I hope you will reconsider this decision in the spirit of offering students a balanced view of western art and civilization—one in which Michelangelo’s David plays a pivotal role—and one that embodies your school mission so perfectly.

Sincerely,

Laura Morelli, Ph.D.

Art Historian

USA Today bestselling author of The Giant and other books

#Michelangelo #David #art #maga republicans #maga #school censorship #maga me sick #Rhonda Santis #author #art history #art historian

0 notes

twinhood-2dot0 · 1 year

Text

The Love Of My Life, Video Games

Good morning Alex, I’ve talked about 2 of the things I’m most passionate about already, so today I’m gonna delve into the biggest one of them all, video games. Video games are my favourite form of art. It’s the perfect culmination of art, story, music and interactivity. You know what they say, “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but is oftentimes better than a master of one.” I live by this quote tbh.

My earliest memory of video games is when I was 7 or so, playing Plants Vs Zombies with my best friend. It sparked a lifelong obsession with video games. Now, the name is kinda silly, but this game revolutionised the Tower Defense genre. It’s extremely fun and addicting and has spawned several other sequels. Then I went on to discover Flash games. What are Flash games? Well, there used to be a thing made by Adobe, the Flash Player, which helped in displaying multimedia on a web browser. It was the standard for video games back then. It has been deprecated in favour of modern web technologies, but it has a special place in the hearts of internet kids.

Android Games

Back in the early 2010s, when mobile game developers had passion, business was booming. Classics like Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Clash of Clans, Temple Run were all made in this era.

I’m sure everyone and their grandparents and their great-grandparents know these games. All of them have sadly fallen into the microtransaction trap or died out (microtransactions, if you don’t know, is the practice of letting players buy in-game currencies or cosmetics, modern games have become more cash grabs than actual games with passion behind them). Nevertheless, they defined my childhood and were the gateway for me to actual games.

Pokemon

The premise of Pokemon is simple. Catch Pokemon (short for Pocket Monsters), make them fight other Pokemon (swear this is not slavery or dogfighting), make relationships, maybe save the world (as a 10 yo might I add, while surrounded by capable adults.) Funny story, I remember crying when I accidentally released my Grovyle thinking release meant releasing it as in having it walk alongside you like Pikachu, not as in bye bye release.

This is Grovyle. You can see why I cried.

Pokemon Red, Gold, and Emerald (yes, I know, ancient games, I’m not a grandma, I just didn’t have a console or know how to emulate consoles back then) were some of the first games I played on PC, because they were available online. Since then, I’ve played pretty much every Pokemon game released with a few exceptions because Pokemon releases two versions of the same game with minor differences (yes, emulated, I’m not buying a 10 year old end of life console that is resold with a huge markup and the original creators are making no money out of it, sue me (Okay, if you’re a Nintendo employee, I know you love suing people, so please don’t take me seriously. Please)). I think Pokemon was the beginning of my obsession with knowing literally everything about a franchise.

Minecraft

The first game I ever bought is Minecraft. I’ve loved watching Minecraft videos on YouTube and playing minecraft knockoffs for a long time before I bought it. My dad bought it for me as a reward for winning 4/8 chess games in the State Championship lol. It’s a sandbox game created by Hatsune Miku (actually, by Markus Persson, or Notch, but he turned out to be a transphobe so we just collectively retconned his existence). It’s a pretty simple game, it’s all about creativity. You can build pretty much everything, people have made actual computers in Minecraft, or, if you like Survival, there’s also a survival mode where the technical endpoint being killing the dragon in the aptly named The End dimension. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the endpoint as you can do whatever you want.

Undertale

Ah, my favourite game ever. This is the game that inspired me to become a game developer. Undertale is an RPG game created in its entirety by Toby Fox, you can see why that inspired 10 yo me. Also, I hate my 10 yo self, she watched HECKING YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF GAMEPLAY. I’ll never forgive her for not letting me experience the game by myself, I swore after this (and one other game I’ll talk about) to never even touch anything pertaining to any media I might potentially interact with ever in my life with a 10 foot pole. I don’t even watch trailers for DC movies, like what, what could the trailer possibly spoil that I haven’t read before in a comic??? I won’t talk much about Undertale as I want you to experience what I couldn’t, but it has a very emotional story that’s made grown adults cry, fun gameplay mechanics, easter eggs literally everywhere, leitmotifs in the music, awesome lore, a lesbian couple who are goals and 6 dogs.

Subnautica

Subnautica is the first PC game I bought. This is the other game I spoke about that made me avoid spoilers like the plague. I regret not being able to experience the terror that this game inflicts, although, it was still plenty scary, would have been scarier had I not known everything about every creature. Subnautica is an underwater exploration game set on a crater on planet 4546B. As someone who loves speculative biology, I was impressed by the thought put into every creature's biology.

The rest of my favourite games

I went on to buy, uh, um, exactly 3 other games, being um, the three Batman: Arkham games. These are very well made games with an awesome story and, pardon the cliche, make you feel like the Batman, addicting gameplay, (believe me, I have a collective 200 hours, and I’ve owned them for a year. Most of the other games I’ve played I’ve gotten on Epic Games for free, yes I’m such a cheapskate I get every game that goes free on Epic Games.

The Tomb Raider series is one famous for creating Lara Croft, probably the most influential female character in video games. I’ve only played the first two games of the Survivor Rebooted trilogy sadly, I wish sometime in the future I’ll get to play the Windows 95 era games.

Alien: Isolation is a game set between the first two movies in the Alien franchise. I watched the movies just so I could play the game, then because I’m a scaredy cat I only played until the alien appeared 💀. The game seems fun tho.

Surviving Mars is a “city” building simulation game. It’s set on Mars, obviously. It’s a very fun game, managing resources, keeping colonizers colonists alive. I suck tho so my colonists keep dying :P

Okay, Alex, that’s it from me this week, sorry it was a little rushed, I forgor 💀, I’ll see you on Thursday

#video games #games #gaming #dftba #nerdy #gamerlife #gamercommunity

0 notes

ruthiesrambles2 · 1 year

Note

Sage and chamomile!! 🥰

sage ⇢ what ‘medium’ of art (poetry, music, fiction, paintings, statues etc.) is the most touching to you? why do you think that is?

Oh that's a hard one. Poetry has most often moved me to extreme emotions, but music very much has the capacity to do that as well. I think I react more strongly to lyrics than to the music itself on most occasions but certainly not all!

And I've definitely sat and cried over paintings and statues.

A few years ago I watched an amateur aerial circus skills performer do a routine to The Seed by Aurora in front of a multimedia presentation about climate change and that moved me like nothing else ever has, to this day I get chills thinking about it and I think it fundamentally changed me as a person.

As to why these things are moving... I am fascinated by the way we can play with language, written spoken or sung, and by the interplay between text and life, the absence or presence of author blah blah blah it is just nice. The way humans share experiences and emotions is truly wonderful.

chamomile ⇢ what kind of things do you like receiving as gifts?

Anything where I can tell the gift giver has thought specifically about me. I'd rather someone bought me a box of teabags they think I haven't tried yet, than bought me a luxury I don't need. I'd rather read your favourite book with a post it note about what you love. I'd rather be invited to go camping with your family, or to see that obscure band you like, or to your childhood playground. I'm aware I sound like a pretentious twit but these things make my heart happy.

Mostly I like a cup of tea in bed.

#Cute questions thanks sweet pea

1 note · View note

lca-portfolio · 1 year

Text

Narrative Film on Paper: A research into the techniques of Virgil Widrich short films

Virgil Widrich is an Austrian filmmaker and multimedia artist, most well known for his numerous short films: Copyshop and Fast Film, in 2003 and 2001. He has produced feature length films as well as multimedia installations including tx-reverse and Light Matters in 2018. These two films, Copyshop and Fastfilm are distinctive in Widrich’s oeuvre due to their shared medium of creation, paper. In the contents of this essay I intend to focus on the intricacies of these two works in their capacity to communicate storyline and narrative, allowing the viewer to relate to the characters identity despite the morphed realities of the worlds in Widrich’s films. This identification is essential in Widrichs films and produces the potential for the surreal dreamlike environment to be related to by the viewer by merging elements of reality and fantasy.

(imdb,2)

In Virgil Widrichs filmmaking the language between person, object and technique are interchangeable. The technique of paper animation and the characters in the film talk to each other, in Copyshop the subject of the film is a man who works in a copy shop and wakes up to find copies of himself all around. The film technique of handmade animation with paper and its copies is what the character in the film is discovering as well as the audience. Moverover the subject and object of the film become the same thing, a man looks at something and that something is himself.

The viewer no longer sees the character or the story as a realistic or isolated land. He is brought down to reality into a physical piece of paper copied and broken down. This process shifts the outlook the viewer has to relating to the character of the film. The process of creation of this film is at the heart of its effect on the viewer. The film was shot digitally, these digital images were then all photocopied and then animated.

(imbd,4)

Fast Film furthermore feels as though a very familiar film with an element of it flipped on its head, we watch hundreds of different familiar films on paper turn into a fantastic chase sequence unlike any I have seen before. Widrich states “I always wanted to make an incredible chase sequence my whole life, but how can you do it? How can you finance it? The chase sequence is something I love about cinema and it is pure cinema, in no other art form do we have this.”(widrich, 3) And thus a chase sequence is created reusing hundreds of chase sequences made before this.

Watching Fast Film reimagined my understanding of identifying with characters in film, as it conceptually seems unimaginable for us to understand a storyline with so many changing faces and settings. However watching Fast Film was a refreshing interpretation of how we see faces on screen. There are several factors that make Fast Film understandable for us: the perspective of the different scenes are cut and manipulated to appear as the movement of one continuous person or object. The narrative of the film is familiar as well as all visual elements of the film, we see filmic archetypes that we instinctively understand and recognise: a chase scene, a man saving a woman, actors and characters we have seen before in these roles. Widrich states: “It doesn't really matter who you identify with, it's not really bound to the actor, it's bound to the looking of something so it doesn't matter if Cary Grant looks and you see what he sees or if buster keaton looks and you see what he sees. This was something I thought about it theory and I was not sure if it would work, if people would be able to read this film and I'm very surprised that it really really works.”(widrich,3).

(imbd,4)

(imdb,4)

Widrichs films have allowed me to explore the exact impact and difference in handmade animation with paper and in the way the viewer identifies with the film. How filmic techniques of handmade animation could produce a sense of identity differently to digital footage. It brings up the question arising from many aspects of the film industry with constant redevelopments in technology. What elements of the film process have changed in the switch from analogue to digital. Why is it that Widrich has made the meticulous work to make this film on paper. One of the animators from Fast Film, Carmen Volker states “the film's aesthetic style is created through human action only”.(Carmen Volker,5) “the idea behind fast film, just the aesthetic part of it, its looks, can’t be done on a computer. It would have been too obviously a digital look. The wobbling in the animation, the structure of the paper. Making all that turn out the way it did, so that it looks real, wouldn't be possible on a computer”(Micheal lang,5).

Medium informs our understanding. Different mediums and techniques have an effect on the viewer in all forms. Through this essay I wanted to find an answer to how to describe something so surreal as the effect of the techniques used inWidrich’s films. However, would simply watching Virgil Widrich films explain this sense, in a better way my written explanation would.

Copyshop: Written, directed, produced and edited by Virgil Widrich

A 2001, short film, 35 mm, 1:1,66, Dolby SR

Length: 12 min.

Fast Film: Writer, director, and editor: Virgil Widrich

A/Lux 2003, short film, 35 mm, 1:1,66, Dolby SRD

Length: 14 min.

Works Cited

1.“Copy Shop - Project.” Widrichfilm, https://www.widrichfilm.com/en/projekte/copy_shop. Accessed 16 Jan. 2022.

2.“Copy Shop (2001).” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182014/mediaindex/?ref_=tt_mv_close. Accessed 16 Jan. 2022.

3.Djapo, Adis. “KUHINJA: Virgil Widrich Interview.” YouTube, 13 Feb. 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EEQxlad8fA.

4.Widrich, Virgil. “Fast Film.” IMDb, 9 Nov. 2005, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0288006/.

5.---. “Making of Virgil Widrich’s ‘Fast Film.’” YouTube, 10 Oct. 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glwh30IyZ7Y.

6.zonezerophoto. “Interview with Virgil Widrich.” YouTube, 6 Mar. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcZjG0G5lPc.

#literature #research

0 notes