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timpac-capstone · 16 days

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Spring Update 2: Revised Animatic and Animation has Started.

After showing the initial animatic at a critique and to a couple of friends and professors, the common consensus was that it dragged on too long. This is the third version of the animatic, the second version had the montage scene replaced with a 3-hours-later card, and the golden tape scene was removed. From the critique a lot of people didn't get the golden tape scene, what I intended with it was that people would project their own worst memory into it instead of me trying to make it my worst memory, which is the marco polo game in the script. They also thought I should get rid of the montage scene which I personally liked but I tried it out just to see how things worked out. It still seemed a bit choppy and dragged on until I emailed the first draft to last semester's capstone professor and she had a lot of critiques about the basketball scene. That's when a lightbulb went off in my mind, "What if instead of trying to fix it I just remove it". And oh my god the animatic worked so much better and thank god because that scene had a lot of moving parts and complicated backgrounds that I didn't even know if it would be possible to animate at my skill level. Don't get me wrong it did hurt a little to delete a week's worth of work but that's how it is when producing an animation.

Highly recommend reading this book for your observational research during the fall semester. I was an idiot and started reading it in the spring so I barely got halfway through it before I had to start the actual animation process but what I did read was very useful. The main reason why I didn't read it beforehand was because I hate reading books, I feel that video tutorials are way more efficient and easy to understand than reading 400 pages but this book has a lot of pictures and the author's personality really shines through which makes it fun to read. However, you should be highlighting and writing notes on the side of the pages rather than just reading the pages. The more active you are in your research the more you will retain.

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Also as the page from the book suggests you should record/time actions you want to animate by performing them yourself. I was really struggling with the last scene where Dillon goes back to bed. By recording myself I was able to see so many small details of my arm and leg placement as I changed positions. I tried this a couple of times with my first attempt being very slow and in this version, I did it a lot faster.

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Similar to how my first animation test for the animatic was the walk cycle for Brain Cell 2, so was my Toon Boom Harmony test. I thought this would be the perfect thing to work on first cause this walk cycle requires a lot of different aspects of digital and traditional animation to make it happen and then once I know where everything is I can try and master it by working on the simpler cuts.

First, and probably simplest, is how do I even draw on this thing. I was having a lot of problems with Toon Boom in the beginning because it didn't like the size of my laptop's monitor so I checked out one of the monitors from the Fablab. I then set up my own animation station in the back of the bunker. This was a bit of an annoying aspect working with Toon Boom because if I had some downtime throughout the day, especially at the Fablab, I couldn't work on it because my screen wasn't acceptable and I needed space for the tablet. At the very least what this setup did for me, psychologically, I had a place where I could associate my stress with instead of keeping everything in my room. Until my other roommate let me borrow a monitor he wasn't using, then most of the animating I did at home cause I like having a place with sunlight.

From animating this one walk cycle I learned how to draw, color, make new frames for a layer, create symbols for the eyes and mouth which is useful for when characters are talking, how to insert spines/rigs into certain body parts or drawn pieces such as the legs so that I don't have to draw them frame by frame, how to rotate, resize, and move a drawing using pegs, and how to parent objects. Sometimes I would also get happy accidents such as the legs moving a bit before the body, this goes to a classic principle in animation which is anticipation. I was also really happy with how I was closely able to match the timing of the animation to the animatic, the bag still feels like it has a heavy weight to it.

I would also keep a notebook next to me and write down anything new I would learn so that I was more actively researching when clicking through Toon Boom tutorials on YouTube.

Once the walk cycle was finished and I was happy with how it looked I split up the animatic into 9 different scenes and then tried fully animating Scene 2 since that and Scene 6 is where that specific walk appears. However, that proved to be quite difficult because of how many different camera angles are in Scene 2, such as close-up shots of Bran Cell 1 on the couch, wide shots of Bran Cell 1 & 2, and then that one still with the door. There were simply too many moving parts to animate this on one file so then I thought "What if I split them even further to the cuts that make up each scene".

Now it's difficult to constitute what is considered the ending of a scene but I personally considered a scene done whenever there was a huge change in setting/background or if it felt like there was a new topic being discussed. So scene 1 is Dillon going to bed so we are in and rotating about his bedroom but once we enter inside his brain I call that scene 2 because the backgrounds are completely different for a good length of time. Then when Brain Cell 2 inserts the tape into the VHS player I called that scene 3 since they are not trying to figure out what the VHS tapes might be or how they work anymore but instead the focus is shifted toward the presentation memory even though they are still in the brain room and 2 cuts are in Dillon's bedroom. Some scenes like scene 5 flip back and forth between the brain room and the bedroom and quite honestly scene 6, which is the one where they drag in the new bag and ends when Cell 2 reaches in for another tape, could be argued to be a part of scene 5, especially since scene 3 has both the Brain room and Dillon's bedroom, but you really have to go off your personal feelings as to what will help you best in breaking down your animatic to simple parts.

Unlike scenes, cuts are very easy to define. A cut is whenever the camera angle of the scene is moved. If you think of it in a live-action sense if I wanted to get a different camera angle of my actors I would yell "CUT" and they would take a break while I set up my camera in a new position. Some scenes, like scenes 1 and 6, had only 2 cuts while scene 2 had 20 cuts, in total Bedtime had 80 cuts which includes stills and repeat shots. This made it a lot easier to work out the math as to how much time I had left to make the animation and which scenes and cuts required more priority if I wanted to make a good finished product. Scene 4, which is the montage scene, could be cut out completely if I really was stressed for time while scene 2, the dragging of the first VHS tapes bag, was not easily avoidable since that created the whole setup of the plot.

This can take up a lot of space on your hard drive and it can get annoying to transfer the assets/layers from one Toon Boom file to another so I would combine the cuts that had the exact same camera angles to make life a bit easier for me. I'm not 100% sure this is how people in the industry organize their files but to some degree, they definitely have to do it this way. Remember that you have several teams of people working on an animated project and the way people get paid, at least in Japan, is by the amount of cuts you do per episode.

Now that everything was nicely organized and I knew that my goal was to reach 80 cuts before the beginning of April I had a feasible plan of action. From February 28th to April 8th, I had to do at the very least 2 cuts a day in order to have the animation part done before the day of the exhibition. Obviously, I wasn't just going to do 2 cuts a day because I would be working up to the wire and that's not factoring in the time it takes to make the backgrounds and sounds for the animation so I definitely hoped that during spring break I could do at least 4 a day or get the harder cuts out of the way. If I wasn't able to complete 2 cuts then at the very least I had to start working on 2 cuts and then hopefully the next day I could do 3 or 4 to make up for lost time. Also, it's best to break this up into smaller pieces as well, so instead of "I need to finish 80 cuts as fast as possible" I would say to myself "I need to finish 14 cuts this week as fast as possible" which is why there is a number on the side with how many cuts I still had left to do. This way I can give myself some leisure time or work on other aspects of the capstone or school work and not stress myself out because I still have 43 cuts left. And if I got ahead of schedule by finishing my 14 cuts I felt more motivated to keep working at a steady pace.

Originally I was going to hire somebody to do the backgrounds for me but I ended up doing them myself in Toon Boom because I couldn't really find anybody cheap and even if I did I wouldn't know how to describe what type of backgrounds I wanted cause I needed to do some on my own regardless. I needed 27 backgrounds maximum, some were reusable so it was probably close to 20 but even then that would be way too expensive to make somebody else do for me so might as well do them all myself. That way they are all the same quality and I can save some money that can be allocated somewhere else such as voice actors. If you know some people who are good at digital painting and you have a good idea of what you want I would definitely suggest hiring someone to do the backgrounds. In the industry, everybody is a specialist in only one field, so one person does all the backgrounds while a different person makes the character designs and then a third person is the actual animator. But because Stevens' budget is so limiting for a project like this you have to really pick your battles.

Also highly recommend exporting your cuts as TIF Image Sequences and compositing them in After Effects, the one on the left is a TIF Sequence. When I export into a video format through Toon Boom the colors get a little bit whitewashed. This will however eat up a lot of your hard drive space especially since some cuts will need every layer to be its own separate image sequence. If it's just a still or a single stationary layer then just export it as one image and then extend it. If you're gonna go crazy with compositing in After Effects then you should definitely invest in an external hard drive to make life easier for yourself and it's just a good way to keep your capstone stuff out of harm's way, you never know what may happen to your laptop.

What I want you to take away from this specific post is that ORGANIZATION IS KEY TO A FINISHED ANIMATION. You cannot work on it every day for every second of the spring semester cause you'll get burned out like I did in April. If you can mathematically prove to yourself that you're in a good spot and can afford to give yourself breaks once in a while then your project will come out amazing. If you constantly keep yourself under stress then you'll start taking shortcuts where they don't need to be taken and your animation will suffer because of it.

#Youtube #animation #toon boom harmony #toon boom animation #organization #planning #animatic

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alexhon · 2 years

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Another one hehe

Hey there, here is another song that I made for my assignment. This song is built on the previous one. In terms of similarities, I would say the two songs share similar vibes, and this current song contains materials from the previous ones, and that’s about it. I try to not make it a A Small Ride 2.0. Even though I didn’t have much time to work on it, I still want it to be fresh and interesting, not just for the listeners, but also for myself.

I got the idea for the song from this picture in my head. It’s this one scene in every movie where one of the characters is sitting in a car, looking out of the window during the night time. It’s this really chill but a little bit sad feeling to it. And I added some story on top of that, having the character break up with his girlfriend, and now he’s in this emotional turmoil, and his way of dealing with it is to go out for a drive, hence the title.

When coming up with the structure of the song, I was thinking of having something similar to a pop song, because that’s what I’m into. And at the time, I was listening to Melody by Akihito Okano and Satoru Iguchi a lot, and thought it’d be cool to try making the song in that structure. It is just your typical verse -> chorus(x2) format, but at the second verse, instead of going straight to the chorus, you have this bridge kind of thing going on. At least I think it’s pretty cool.:) The way the structure fits with my artistic vision is that the verses are these lighter mental states and choruses being the heavier ones. The bridge is the bottom of all of these, and so I decided to use the strings for this part because I thought they really can bring out the dramatic effect.(I was cautious about using the strings because I feel like it’s really easy to go overboard with it, and I suspect I kinda did a little bit...)

Here is the trajectory I had in mind.

One of the biggest challenges in making this song is to keep it in time. The way I make my songs is by drawing notes on the piano scroll. I know I know, it’s not really ideal, but the sound quality using my phone to record is really bad imo, I don’t have a midi keyboard with me... I am sure there’s a better way to do this but due to my lack of knowledge of DAWs, this is the only way I can come up with haha...The challenge here is that the tempo of the verse(70 bpm) is not the same as the tempo of the grid(110bpm) that I’m working on instruments are the same, as they are the only ones that are available to me...I was drawing notes by pure intuition, and when I used the metronome, I realized I was in big trouble, and it caused my two days(I have other things going on for me) to get everything back on track(hehe). And I learnt that I should never rely on instinct, and should just use the damn metronome.

Another is time. Even though this is the ninth day after the deadline, I actually didn’t get much time to work on the track because of all the tests and exams in the past few weeks. But still, I really want to work on the song, and I just do it little by little with the time that I have got for these few weeks and I am glad that I finally get it done.

Talking about the more creative side of things, I have tried a couple of new things that I have learnt from my course. The first one is to write music not with music theory but with intuition, e.g. try to sing the bassline while listening to the melody(I did the same thing for the harmony as well), it’s really cool because sometimes you will get sounds you don’t expect, and it’s just a fun process to go through. The second one is to add textures to a sound, which is just a fancy way to say having two instruments play the same line. In the chorus, I added an electric piano playing the same melody to create sort of a spiritual feeling, and I think it does the job.

Also in the second verse, I tried to mess with the EQ of the melody a little bit, because I want it to be different from the first verse. It sounds like someone is drowning, which fits my vision of the character slowly getting sucked in by all the thoughts and emotions in his mind.

To conclude, I really do enjoy working on this song although I was really short on time. I definitely learnt a lot from this. I feel like the more I learn about music, trying to create it on my own, the more I realize the things I can work on when working on a track, for example, I always thought when working on harmony the only thing I need to think about is the quality of the chords, but now I also realize where you place the harmony can also affect the groove of the song. Even though I didn’t show that in this song, I will definitely bear this in mind in the future. It’s just these little things that make me appreciate music more.

Anyways, thanks for reading! Here’s the track.(And yes I don’t really to proofread haha)

https://soundcloud.com/alec-hulten/car-ride?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

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magscherer · 3 years

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god i love your art am PLEASE TIPS.ON MANAGING LIGHT AND COLOR YOU'RE SO GOOD AT IT

AHH I’M HONOURED, THANKS!!!! Honestly I’m still trying to understand how this works myself haha but I’ll try to compile ahead some coloring/lighting/shading tips that were REALLY helpful for me. Here we go!

1. Color wheel

Literally just. Paint a color wheel yourself, or print one, whatever - but always have it at hand so you get used to the color combinations! Color theory is basically just analyzing a color wheel so knowing your primary, secondary and tertiary colors always helps. Here’s basically how your wheel should look like:

2. Color combinations/harmonies

Take some time to check out what types of combinations you can make, and what colors go well with each hue. What are complimentary colors? Split complimentary? Analogous? That sort of stuff. It really helps when first picking out the colors for your composition, guiding the viewer’s eye and setting the mood! I recommend this video and this other one for a start (literally first ones that appear if you search for color theory lol, but they’re really helpful). Also, adobe color is really useful if you want to experiment with different palettes and combinations.

3. EXPERIMENT BEFORE JUMPING TO FINAL COLORS!

This was such a huge lifechanger for me lol, I used to just paint everything from the goal and boooy was I wrong. Now my usual line of action is sketch -> roughly paint over with greyscales -> add color using a Color blending mode layer. Here’s an example with a currently in progress piece for a zine (that’s why I blurred it haha) - basically the idea is to make some little color keys or thumbnails just to check out which one you vibe with the most.

4. Blending modes!! Your BFFs!!!!!!

Of course this only applies to you if you’re a digital artist, but MAN do blending modes help... These little guys literally save my life every single day. Typically, you just create another layer on top of your base color layer, clip it to the base, set it to the desired blending mode and start painting. Here’s a little bit about the ones that I use the most:

Multiply: shading. I usually paint on this one with a fully saturated and dark color.

Add (glow) and Lighten: lights. I like using medium to fully saturated light colors.

Overlay: make things a similar color to the base layer. I use it a lot on lineart.

Color: have something in greyscale you want to color? Use this one.

Honestly it’s just so much fun experimenting with blending modes, so don’t restrain yourself - go ahead and try them all! And remember to adjust the layer’s opacity if needed.

5. Light source and reflection

Where is the light coming from? Define that and you have basically all shadows defined. It’s important to remember that the surrounding’s lighting and colors sort of “reflect” on the object so it’s natural to have some lighting even on the supposedly darker side of the object. Picture it as yin and yang! Here’s a nice study: (source)

6. Shading distance and blur

Well this one might come out as obvious if you’re a keen observer but it’s helped me a lot to remeber that the closer the object, the more “concrete” the shadow it casts on the surface looks like. Thus, if you’re painting something that’s a bit more further away from the surface, its shadow tends to be more “blurry” and less dark. That’s also pictured in the study above, in which “umbra” is the most concrete, “penumbra” (which stretches a lot more and is, thus, further away) is lighter and more blurry, and “antumbrumbra” is the furthest.

7. Effects and overlay textures are also your friends!

Not really vibing with that contrast? No problem! Just make an adjustment layer to fix that up. I commonly use Tone Curve, Brightness/Contrast and Hue/Saturation/Luminosity - which are the names they appear as in Clip Studio Paint. These are available in other programs as well though, but maybe as effects and not as layers.

Overlay textures are also great to give your art that extra touch! Grab your favorite paper, oil paint, noise or WHATEVER texture you like, set it to Overlay (one of our dear blending modes) and lower its opacity (I go by around 30% or so). Ta-dah!

And that’s it for now!

Hope this is at least a bit helpful for you guys, and thanks for the ask~ Have fun coloring! 😎

#stuffcase #ref #help #coloring tips #tips #color and shading tips

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jjksblackgf · 4 years

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manuka honey

pairing — jeon jungkook x black female reader genre — smut word count — 1.6k summary — “He would then ask for a dance, and later he would take you to his room, so he could bend you over and make you moan his name” warning — explicit sexual content, masturbation (f & m receiving), light choking, nipple play, food play (be careful with it), cunnilingus, light overstimulation, multiple orgasms. There’s also social gathering, but I didn’t write this with miss rona in the picture, so you better social distance, and wear your masks, lovelies.

a/n — The series is over, omg 🤧 This was a challenge for me, since the focus is only one action of the whole sex experience, so I did tons of research on how to properly eat a pussy (helped yours truly on future pussy eating, too 👀) to be more creative, but there’s a bunch of good stuff I don’t know how to put into words, I’ll work on that. And the JK chapter is my absolute favorite, it was what gave me the idea of the whole series. But I said too much already, enjoy the last one <3

Today was a new day, and Jungkook was older and he felt wiser and more confident about himself.

He entered his kitchen to see the signs of his birthday party. Champagne glasses on a tray, a few dishes on the sink, his living room with had the golden balloons, the TV was still on, connected to the karaoke machine, and other remaining trash that you’d both clean together.

But he didn’t care about the mess just yet. He had a great night.

As Jungkook pour milk into a cereal bowl, he remembered the last time he was behind this kitchen counter. Even if slightly drunk, he had clear memories of the night before, a beautiful birthday party that you have been planning for a couple of months, just the perfect harmony between his sophisticated side and his playful side.

His apartment was full of his closest friends and his family members, taking turns in the different games you had planned, and the karaoke machine, all while dressed as to attend a gala event. There were even hired servers with various glasses of his favorite champagne.

Behind that same counter, he took it all in, smiling to himself as he saw his favorite people talking and having fun with each other, that’s all he wanted. It didn’t even have to be his birthday for him to be this happy.

He looked to his left and saw your body covered by the gold fabric of your dress. If you twisted just a little to the right, he would see your back almost uncovered, your melanated skin contrasting the golden spaghetti straps that were holding your dress together. At that moment he just wanted to rip those straps so the silk would fall to your ankles and your nipples would be exposed for his pleasure.

That was all hot and everything, but the way you were hosting the event was so graceful, so full of life, and you made everyone feel so welcome that he wanted to give you the world. He never felt so happy to have you in his life. You were the one who wanted to celebrate him the most, and you knew just the way to do it, without having to leave any part in the shadows.

He watched you closely that night, and at one point you were dancing with his brother in the middle of the living room, as Jimin and Taehyung sang a cheesy song. When you both locked eyes, he smiled your favorite smile, the one when his nose is about to scrunch but it’s not there yet, and the corners of his mouth make his eyes look smaller.

He would then ask for a dance, and later he would take you to his room, so he could bend you over and make you moan his name. He didn’t care if anyone listened to his grunts or your screams of pleasure, there were enough lough music and conversation to muffle that up, and as he chews his cereal he wishes he would go back to last night just to make you scream louder, he wanted people to know how good he made you feel.

He leaned on the counter after finishing his cereal and took a deep breath. He then listened to you wake up in his room, opening the door and walking through the hall.

“Good morning, birthday man” you said and hugged his side. He looped his arm against your hips and kissed your forehead, feeling through his stolen button-up shirt that you weren’t wearing any panties. Interesting.

He waisted no time placing you on top of the counter, moving your legs to hug his hips. He closed the space between your lips, gripping your waist to move you closer. His tongue slowly made its way towards yours, liking the taste of your toothpaste when they finally met.

Your hands went to hug his neck, one hand traveling through his hair to tug strongly. He moaned in your lips, holding you closer to his chest, wishing you could just be glued to his body. His hands went to grab your ass underneath his shirt as yours traveled through his naked chest, choosing to stay at his abs.

His lips separated from yours and you whined asking for more. He couldn’t say no to you, moving back to where he thought was his rightful place.

You bit his lower lip with a more sensual moan, your hands traveling down to meet the hem of his boxers. You both laughed when you grabbed his ass, but his grip only got tighter on yours.

His lips went to your neck, placing wet kisses in every inch he could reach, you hugged his neck again, this time slightly scratching his shoulders.

“Keep it there, baby” you whispered in his ear when he kissed your sweet spot.

He continued his kisses and sucking of the spot, practically making out with your neck when one of his hands released the grip from your ass and went to the side of your neck. Your hands were now back on his hips, one hand holding his boxer down and the other reached for his hard dick, earning a growl from his lips and a bite to your neck.

You licked the palm of your hand before placing it at the tip of his cock. He hissed at the touch and leaned back so he could look at you. “You’ll be the death of me, I swear” he said as he looked at the marks he left on you, leaving his hand in choking position.

You could now easily feel the pool between your legs forming as he lightly tightens the grip on your neck. You licked your lips as you moved your hand to massage the rest of his length.

You two were now playing a pressure game. He would grip your neck as tight as you’d grip his dick, both enjoying the changes along the way. You then used your other hand to cup and massage his balls.

“Fuck!” you started to pick up the pace, wanting to see his morning cum dripping down your hands.

“Baby, wait” he said and you stopped your movements. “You already did a lot for me in this week alone, let show you how much I appreciate you” Before you could protest, his lips were back on yours, and he started to unbutton the shirt, grazing his hand from your hips to cup your breasts.

You started to take the shirt on, but he stopped you, wanting you to leave them on. After massaging your tits, he moved some things around to lay you on the counter. He reached for your nipple with his mouth, cupping with perfectly. He switched between sucking and licking multiple times before reaching for a container of honey you liked to leave at his counter.

“What the hell are you doing?” You asked as he dripped the honey on your body

“Shh, just relax and enjoy the moment” he said with a big smile and moved the honey aside, not closing it as he planned to use it later.

He licked the honey he placed on your body that started on your belly and trailed to both your breasts. After he reached the last nipple, he stayed on it a bit longer, the suction making you tug his hair again. You arched your back and moaned his name at the moment he bit your nipple.

He then left your breasts and placed your feet at the counter, leaving your legs perfectly open. He dipped his thumb in the honey container and placed it back at your clit. He liked for you to have a lot of sensations, so he often switched between circling, moving it side to side, and up and down, if he had time he would write a few things on your clit, one letter at a time.

But he was really curious about the recipe he just created, wanting to taste the mixture of the honey with your arousal. So without warning, he leaned himself over you and licked your folds starting at your entrance. If wasn’t the taste he expected, he thought it would be sweeter than this, but the honey complimented you perfectly. Of course it would, it was you, for God’s sake!

You tugged his hair again, deep breaths and his name were leaving your lips. His salivating mouth lubricated your clit even more as he licked you up and down, opening your legs wider by your thighs.

You reached for one of your sticky breasts and massaged it as he continued his mouth work. He was switching techniques again but chose the one you always responded to the best. He decided to speed it up and saw your toes curling by his side. Looking into your eyes, he saw your expression as you came on his chin, and your walls clenched, deciding not to stop his speed and increase the pressure of his tongue on your sensitive bud.

You screamed his name after the third release of your knot and he only stopped because you tugged his hair out of your core, breathing heavily.

“Were you ever going to stop?” You asked trying to catch your breath, sitting up straight again.

“No, I knew that at one point you would ask for mercy” he laughed as you slapped his bare shoulder.

“Did you have to use my expensive honey?” you asked looking at the container left by your side

“Your pussy already tastes like a gourmet meal at a restaurant rated 3 Michelin stars, might as well season with something expensive” he said as you snort out a laugh

“Boy, you did NOT just say you seasoned me!”

#bts smut #bts pwp #bts fanfic #bts scenarios #bts x reader #bts ambw #jungkook ambw #jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook #kpop ambw #black kpop stans #black kpop fans #bts #bangtan

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pink-flame · 3 years

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Like You Could Love Me

So...the Angry Flower Squad was making me SO soft over gifs and @mamirugbee wanted porch fluff with kissing and I remembered that @thedeathdeelers and @missjoolee liked my idea of using this post as a Juke prompt and here we are. I wrote this from 12-2am so it’s quite possibly incoherent and I’m not checking for mistakes until tomorrow so take it for what it is, a late night labor of love. Enjoy! 💜

Julie hadn’t slept for almost 48 hours.

Her school was hosting a Los Feliz High After Dark event for the lower grades who didn’t get to attend prom. It was pitched as being just as exciting as the dance but in practice was known to be little more than a glorified sleepover in the school gym with PTA members for chaperones. Flynn had been determined that that year would be different, and had talked Julie into joining her on the planning committee.

The good news was that Flynn had a real flair for party planning and decorating when she was actually invested (see the difference between the dance they tried to forget and the way she had helped Julie’s dad throw together an epic garage party in less than 24 hours). So by the time Julie and Flynn and the other volunteers were done the gym was fully immersed in a carnival theme full of cute booths filled with potential activities and cute backgrounds to take pictures in front of. It was definitely an improvement over the year before which had been an under the sea theme which had consisted mostly of a few blue streamers and Mr. Weaver walking around in an inflatable Nemo costume.

The bad news was that it had taken a lot longer than they had anticipated and they hadn’t fallen into bed the night before the event until close to 2am. Julie hadn’t been able to sleep even after she slipped into bed next to Flynn and heard her best friend start making the small whistling noises that indicated she was out cold. Julie had been kept up with thoughts of what her bandmates were up to without her and if they had lingered a little longer on what Luke in particular was doing right then, well that wasn’t that surprising.

She loved Alex and Reggie but neither of them had attempted to hold her hand and remarked on their “interesting little relationship” or suddenly developed the ability to touch her and instinctively joined her in reaching out to gently cradle the other’s face.

No, Luke was different, not that she wanted to say that in front of him unless she was sure he felt the same overwhelming feelings she did Oddly enough she was much more concerned about the possibility that he didn’t than she was about the fact that he was still..well, a ghost. It wasn’t that she was unaware that his ghostly status could lead to heartache for her later on, of course she was. It just didn’t seem so important suddenly. After what had happened with her mom, what had almost happened with the guys only a couple of months ago...anything could happen at any time. Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed anyway so why deny herself happiness now if she could have it? If she could have it. Because that was still the question.

Because Luke obviously liked her but did he like her? That sounded so juvenile but to call it anything else...well, that was really scary. Evil ghosts and the looming possibility of their return had nothing on the insecurity that came with not knowing exactly how the boy you lo...liked felt about you.

So Julie didn’t get much sleep that night, Flynn’s alarm seeming to go off only moments after she finally drifted off. She had dragged through school that day, trying to match Flynn’s excitement for the night’s upcoming festivities though her own enthusiasm had quickly drained out of her altogether along with her energy. In the end it had been as fun a night as it could be with Julie spending most of it in a semi-exhausted haze. She and Flynn had played some of the games they had set up, and danced to the music they both agreed would have been better if it had been either DJ’d by Flynn or performed by Julie’s band, and when Carrie had sneered something about how tacky the theme was even that had been half hearted and without any real bite.

So it was a pretty good night all things considered and Julie was in a good mood despite her complete exhaustion by the time Flynn’s mom dropped her off early the next morning. Ok, so maybe part of her good mood was actually because of her exhausted state by that point as she found herself feeling giddy and her mind had gone sort of pleasantly fuzzy. That was her excuse for how she found herself half-skipping up the path towards her front door, singing to herself.

We create...perfect harmony

“Somebody had a good time.”

Julie’s head snapped up to take in the figure of the boy who leaned against the pillar of the porch in front of her, a small smile bordering on a smirk tugging at his lips.

Luke.

What was he doing there?

Was he waiting for her?

She had to play it cool.

She had to be normal.

She had to not give away all the feelings that had been swirling around inside of her for the last couple of months since they first gained the ability to touch each other whenever they wanted and promptly both became too awkward to touch each other at all.

She had to…

“I missed you,” She blurted.

One of Julie’s hands flew up to cover her mouth as she took the last few steps up onto the porch, trying and failing to ignore the way Luke’s eyes widened even as that vaguely infuriating smirk grew larger.

“I didn’t mean that,” She insisted once her hand had dropped back to her side. “I mean...I didn’t not mean it but...I just meant it would have been fun if you could have come. Any of you. All of you. Um...yeah.”

Luke let her dig herself deeper, waiting until her stream of words had come to a complete stop. When they finally dried up he pushed off of the pillar with one of his signature little bounces, letting his momentum carry him to within a step of where she stood awkwardly on the porch.

“Did someone spike the punch at this dance?” He asked her, amusement clear in his tone.

Julie shook her head a little too fiercely, indignant despite the fact that she couldn’t exactly blame him for suspecting that she was drunk.

She felt a little drunk.

Not that she knew what it was like to be drunk but she was pretty sure it was similar to this.

Not the point.

“It wasn’t a dance it was a school sanctioned slumber party,” She corrected, focusing all of her energy on not slurring her words or otherwise embarrassing herself. “And nobody spiked anything. And actually nobody drinks punch anymore. Just so you know.”

Luke held up both hands as though he were surrendering but that smirk of his was impossible to deny at this point, a fact that both made Julie incredibly irritated and simultaneously fighting the urge to lean up and kiss it right off his stupid face.

Ok, that was not helpful.

“Not a dance, no punch. Got it,” Luke said, his voice just soft enough to keep her annoyance more or less at bay.

“Why are you out here anyway?”

Julie hadn’t meant to ask that but it felt like any filter her brain generally had was long gone at this point.

Luke tilted his head slightly and reached up to scratch at the back of his neck.

“Oh, you know, just taking in the view.”

Julie frowned skeptically.

“Taking in the view?”

“Yeah,” Luke said, gesturing out at the plant filled yard. “Just communing with nature you know? Honestly, I forgot you were even out last night.”

“Oh.”

Julie dipped her head a little so she didn’t have to look directly at Luke as disappointment rushed through her. She was pretty sure she was too tired to keep the evidence of that emotion from being completely visible. She was so frustrated with herself for caring at all. He wasn’t her boyfriend after all. Why would be be waiting for her?

“Julie.”

She reluctantly raised her head to meet Luke’s gaze which was fixed insistently on her. His smirk had fallen away leaving behind a look at once more open and somehow harder to read at the same time.

“I’m kidding,” He told her as he took a half-step closer to her, so close that she had to tilt her head up further to maintain eye contact. “I was waiting for you.”

“Oh,” She said again, very aware that she seemed to have lost the ability to say anything else.

She reached deep down inside and mustered up the strength to pull out one further word.

“Why?”

His eyes somehow managed to soften even more and his voice was oddly breathy when he answered.

“Because I missed you too.”

And Julie knew that the most prudent thing to do was tuck that phrase away as something warm, and happy and precious to examine more closely when she had slept and had the mental prowess to actually determine what it meant for their interesting little relationship.

She knew that.

But she was exhausted not only from lack of sleep but from months spent questioning where they stood. She was happy to hear him say that he had missed her, of course she was. But she also found herself feeling strangely...angry.

How dare he look at her with those big soft eyes and stare at her like that if he wasn’t ever planning on actually putting her out of her misery by telling her how he felt or didn’t feel?

“I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that,” The words burst out of her without her permission.

Luke was clearly taken aback by her words, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,’ She hesitated, just enough awareness seeping back in to make her realize what a truly stupid thing she was about to say. “Like you could love me.”

She watched as a whole range of emotions rushed over his face too quickly for her to decipher exactly what all of them were.

“Julie…”

“Forget I said anything,” Julie interrupted, turning towards the front door with every intention to flee the situation. “I’m just really tired.”

“Julie!”

He said her name more forcefully that time and she froze. She didn’t turn back to face him though, the pounding in her chest and the heat spreading across her face giving her all the incentive she needed to keep her head facing away.

Luke wasn’t having any of that though.

He reached out to gently tug her back towards him, one hand settling on her cheek while the other rested on her waist.

If she hadn’t been blushing before she certainly was now.

“Do you not want me to look at you like that because...because you don’t feel the same?”

Luke’s voice shook a little as he gave voice to that question, his thumb seeming to stroke across her cheek without his permission.

Julie was reeling, everything feeling surreal and dreamlike anyway because of her lack of sleep but when combined with Luke’s gentle actions it felt more and more unreal. She couldn’t help but remember the last time he had touched her face, how they had clutched at each other thinking it was the only chance they would ever have. Now they had new chances every day and they had been wasting them.

Why had they been wasting them?

“Wait...feel the same as what? Feel the same as who?” She asked as her brain finally caught up with what he had actually said.

He visibly swallowed and she took some comfort in the fact that apparently he was nervous too.

“The same as I feel,” He paused. “About you. I...I love you, Julie. And if that makes you uncomfortable I never have to say it again, ok? But it’s how I feel and I just wanted to say it. Once or whatever.”

“But…” Julie felt a giggle rising up inside of her as exhaustion and the pure absurdity of the moment settled in. “But I love you too.”

Luke’s thumb froze on her face as his eyes lit up with something close to hope.

“You do?”

Julie nodded, the giggle finally bursting out of her only to be met with a grin from Luke so radiant she wished she could capture it in a photo to look at later.

“You love me,” Luke said again as though he needed to confirm beyond any shadow of doubt.

“I love you,” Julie repeated agreeably. “And you love me?”

Luke nodded, bouncing a little on his heels as he somehow managed to step even more into her space.

“I love you.”

“Well…” Julie sighed happily. “Well, that’s great then.”

Luke let out a bark of laughter that probably would have been loud enough to bring her dad to the porch if anyone but her had been able to hear it.

Before she had time to remark on how obnoxiously loud he could be he was crowding her back until she bumped into the pillar he had been leaning against when she got home. The moment her back made contact with its firm surface he was bringing his other hand up until he was cupping both of her cheeks. She barely had time to adjust to that very much welcome sensation before he was lowering his head and aligning his lips with hers, pressing them together in a chaste peck that was still enough to send her heart racing. He started to pull back as if to gauge her reaction but she was having none of that. She had been waiting for this for so long and as previously established she had absolutely none of her usual ability to deny herself what she wanted.

And what she wanted was her hands on Luke Patterson right then.

She reached up and latched one hand on the back of his neck and the other threaded deep into his hair giving it a little tug just because she could. She had been wanting to touch him so badly ever since that night in the garage when she’d almost lost him and she’d been wanting to touch his dumb, messy hair ever since “I’m Luke by the way”. So she did.

He let out a little pleased sound that was cut off when she stretched up to press her mouth back to his, this time with twice as much force and no intention of separating anytime soon. To his credit he took the hint pretty fast, his hands dropping from her face to wrap around her waist tugging her body to press against his as he moved his lips insistently against hers. And wow...that was something, the sensation of almost all of her pressed up against almost all of him.

He wasn’t warm, not exactly, but he wasn’t cold either like she had feared he would be. It was more like his body was mirroring back exactly her own temperature, leaving it hard to determine where one of them began and the other ended when her eyes were closed as they currently were.

Or maybe that was just them.

Maybe it was like that quote she always saw floating around online about souls being made of the same stuff.

When she was well rested and thinking rationally she had always rolled her eyes a bit at stuff like that but now...she was beginning to see the appeal.

Julie massaged absentmindedly at the back of his neck as she drew his lower lip into her mouth, the sound he made in response enough to have her pulling back with a giggle.

“Come back here,” He mumbled, his lips chasing hers even as she turned her face away leaving him to press soft, wet kisses to her cheek.

“Now you sound drunk,” She told him, turning back to face him and looping both arms around his shoulders. “My dad will be up soon and I have no idea how I’d explain...this...when he can’t even see you.”

Luke groaned as he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.

“You’re right.”

“I’m right,” Julie echoed.

It was true but that didn’t mean she was happy about it.

They stayed like that for another minute or so, just enjoying being this close to each other with nothing to hide. They might have stayed like that longer but Julie suddenly let out a yawn she couldn’t contain directly into Luke’s face.

Luke pulled back sharply but the soft smile that seemed to always be reserved just for her remained in place.

“You need to get some sleep,” He told her firmly.

She wanted to argue but all that came out was another yawn.

Ok, so there was no arguing with that.

“Goodnight,” She told him, suddenly feeling shy as she backed towards the front door wanting to keep him in her sight just a little longer.

Luke gestured around them to the soft light spilling around her yard.

“Good morning,” He corrected with a grin.

Never one to let him have the last word, certainly not when she was too tired to be embarrassed, Julie leapt forward to press one final lingering kiss on his lips, retreating before he could do more than return the pressure.

Julie backed towards the front door, the grin now firmly on her face and a rather dumbstruck one adorning his.

“Band practice later,” She reminded him. “Don’t be late.”

Then she slipped into the house and up to her bed, incredibly tired and pretty sure of exactly what she would be dreaming of.

#I blame the #angry flower squad #for this #and also my other friends who encourage me to see juke everywhere #you know you are #and I love you for it #feels so good to write dumb fluff honestly #Juke #Jatp #my fics #fanfiction

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letterboxd · 3 years

Photo

Blurring the Line.

As a new Space Jam film beams down to Earth, Kambole Campbell argues that a commitment to silliness and a sincere love for the medium is what it takes to make a great live-action/animation hybrid.

The live-action and animation hybrid movie is something of a dicey prospect. It’s tricky to create believable interaction between what’s real and what’s drawn, puppeteered or rendered—and blending the live and the animated has so far resulted in wild swings in quality. It is a highly specific and technically demanding niche, one with only a select few major hits, though plenty of cult oddities. So what makes a good live-action/animation hybrid?

To borrow words from Hayao Miyazaki, “live action is becoming part of that whole soup called animation”. Characters distinct from the humans they interact with, but rendered as though they were real creatures (or ghosts), are everywhere lately; in Paddington, in Scooby Doo, in David Lowery’s (wonderful) update of Pete’s Dragon.

The original ‘Pete’s Dragon’ (1977) alongside the 2016 remake.

Lowery’s dragon is realized with highly realistic lighting and visual-effects work. By comparison, the cartoon-like characters in the 1977 Pete’s Dragon—along with other films listed in Louise’s handy compendium of Disney’s live-action animation—are far more exaggerated. That said, there’s still the occasional holdout for the classical version of these crossovers: this year’s Tom and Jerry replicating the look of 2D through 3D/CGI animation, specifically harkens back to the shorts of the 1940s and ’50s.

One type of live-action/animation hybrid focuses on seamless immersion, the other is interested in exploring the seams themselves. Elf (2003) uses the aberration of stop-motion animals to represent the eponymous character as a fish out of water. Ninjababy, a Letterboxd favorite from this year’s SXSW Festival, employs an animated doodle as a representation of the protagonist’s state of mind while she processes her unplanned pregnancy.

Meanwhile, every Muppets film ever literally tears at the seams until we’re in stitches, but, for the sake of simplicity, puppets are not invited to this particular party. What we are concerned with here is the overlap between hand-drawn animation and live-action scenes (with honorable mentions of equally valid stop-motion work), and the ways in which these hybrids have moved from whimsical confections to nod-and-wink blockbusters across a century of cinema.

Betty Boop and Koko the clown in a 1938 instalment of the Fleischer brothers’ ‘Out of the Inkwell’ series.

Early crossovers often involve animators playing with their characters, in scenarios such as the inventive Out of the Inkwell series of shorts from Rotoscope inventor Max Fleischer and his director brother Dave. Things get even more interactive mid-century, when Gene Kelly holds hands with Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh.

The 1960s and ’70s deliver ever more delightful family fare involving human actors entering cartoon worlds, notably in the Robert Stevenson-directed Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Chuck Jones’ puntastic The Phantom Tollbooth.

Jerry and Gene dance off their worries in ‘Anchors Aweigh’ (1945).

Mary Poppins is one of the highest-rated live-action/animation hybrids on Letterboxd for good reason. Its sense of control in how it engages with its animated creations makes it—still!—an incredibly engaging watch. It is simply far less evil than the singin’, dancin’ glorification of slavery in Disney’s Song of the South (1946), and far more engaging than Victory Through Air Power (1943), a war-propaganda film about the benefits of long-range bombing in the fight against Hitler. The studio’s The Reluctant Dragon (1941) also serves a propagandistic function, as a behind-the-scenes studio tour made when the studio’s animators were striking.

By comparison, Mary Poppins’ excursions into the painted world—replicated in Rob Marshall’s belated, underrated 2018 sequel, Mary Poppins Returns—are full of magical whimsicality. “Films have added the gimmick of making animation and live characters interact countless times, but paradoxically none as pristine-looking as this creation,” writes Edgar in this review. “This is a visual landmark, a watershed… the effect of making everything float magically, to the detail of when a drawing should appear in front or the back of [Dick] Van Dyke is a creation beyond my comprehension.” (For Van Dyke, who played dual roles as Bert and Mr Dawes Senior, the experience sparked a lifelong love of animation and visual effects.)

Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and penguins, in ‘Mary Poppins’ (1964).

Generally speaking, and the Mary Poppins sequel aside, more contemporary efforts seek to subvert this feeling of harmony and control, instead embracing the chaos of two worlds colliding, the cartoons there to shock rather than sing. Henry Selick’s frequently nightmarish James and the Giant Peach (1996) leans into this crossover as something uncanny and macabre by combining live action with stop motion, as its young protagonist eats his way into another world, meeting mechanical sharks and man-eating rhinos. Sally Jane Black describes it as “riding the Burton-esque wave of mid-’90s mall goth trends and blending with the differently demonic Dahl story”.

Science-classroom staple Osmosis Jones (2001) finds that within the human body, the internal organs serve as cities full of drawn white-blood-cell cops. The late Stephen Hillenburg’s The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) turns its real-life humans into living cartoons themselves, particularly in a bonkers sequence featuring David Hasselhoff basically turning into a speedboat.

David Hasselhoff picks up speed in ‘The Spongebob Squarepants Movie’ (2004).

The absurdity behind the collision of the drawn and the real is never better embodied than in another of our highest-rated live/animated hybrids. Released in 1988, Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit shows off a deep understanding—narratively and aesthetically—of the material that it’s parodying, seeking out the impeccable craftsmanship of legends such as director of animation Richard Williams (1993’s The Thief and the Cobbler), and his close collaborator Roy Naisbitt. The forced perspectives of Naisbitt’s mind-bending layouts provide much of the rocket fuel driving the film’s madcap cartoon opening.

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Roger Rabbit utilizes the Disney stable of characters as well as the Looney Tunes cast to harken back to America’s golden age of animation. It continues a familiar scenario where the ’toons themselves are autonomous actors (as also seen in Friz Freleng’s 1940 short You Ought to Be in Pictures, in which Daffy Duck convinces Porky Pig to try his acting luck in the big studios).

Daffy Duck plots his rise up the acting ranks in ‘You Ought to Be in Pictures’ (1940).

Through this conceit, Zemeckis is able to celebrate the craft of animation, while pastiching both Chinatown, the noir genre, and the mercenary nature of the film industry (“the best part is… they work for peanuts!” a studio exec says of the cast of Fantasia). As Eddie Valiant, Bob Hoskins’ skepticism and disdain towards “toons” is a giant parody of Disney’s more traditional approach to matching humans and drawings.

Adult audiences are catered for with plenty of euphemistic humor and in-jokes about the history of the medium. It’s both hilarious (“they… dropped a piano on him,” one character solemnly notes of his son) and just the beginning of Hollywood toying with feature-length stories in which people co-exist with cartoons, rather than dipping in and out of fantasy sequences. It’s not just about how the cartoons appear on the screen, but how the human world reacts to them, and Zemeckis gets a lot of mileage out of applying ’toon lunacy to our world.

Bob Hoskins in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ (1988).

The groundbreaking optical effects and compositing are excellent (and Hoskins’ amazing performance should also be credited for holding all of it together), but what makes Roger Rabbit such a hit is that sense of controlled chaos and a clever tonal weaving of violence and noirish seediness (“I’m not bad… I’m just drawn that way”) through the cartoony feel. And it is simply very, very funny.

It could be said that, with Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis unlocked the formula for how to modernize the live-action and animation hybrid, by leaning into a winking parody of what came before. It worked so perfectly well that it helped kickstart the ‘Disney renaissance' era of animation. Roger Rabbit has influenced every well-known live-action/animation hybrid produced since, proving that there is success and fun to be had by completely upending Mary Poppins-esque quirks. Even Disney’s delightful 2007 rom-com Enchanted makes comedy out of the idea of cartoons crossing that boundary.

When a cartoon character meets real-world obstacles.

Even when done well, though, hybrids are not an automatic hit. Sitting at a 2.8-star average, Joe Dante’s stealthily great Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) is considered by the righteous to be the superior live-action/animated Looney Tunes hybrid, harkening back to the world of Chuck Jones and Frank Tashlin. SilentDawn states that the film deserves the nostalgic reverence reserved for Space Jam: “From gag to gag, set piece to set piece, Back in Action is utterly bonkers in its logic-free plotting and the constant manipulation of busy frames.”

With its Tinseltown parody, Back in Action pulls from the same bag of tricks as Roger Rabbit; here, the Looney Tunes characters are famous, self-entitled actors. Dante cranks the meta comedy up to eleven, opening the film with Matthew Lillard being accosted by Shaggy for his performance in the aforementioned Scooby Doo movie (and early on throwing in backhanded jokes about the practice of films like itself as one character yells, “I was brought in to leverage your synergy!”).

Daffy Duck with more non-stop banter in ‘Looney Tunes: Back in Action’ (2003).

Back in Action is even more technically complex than Roger Rabbit, seamlessly bringing Looney Tunes physics and visual language into the real world. Don’t forget that Dante had been here before, when he had Anthony banish Ethel into a cartoon-populated television show in his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Another key to this seamlessness is star Brendan Fraser, at the height of his powers here as “Brendan Fraser’s stunt double”.

Like Hoskins before him, Fraser brings a wholehearted commitment to playing the fed-up straight man amidst cartoon zaniness. Fraser also brought that dedication to Henry Selick's Monkeybone (2001), a Roger Rabbit-inspired sex comedy that deploys a combo of stop-motion animation and live acting in a premise amusingly close to that of 1992’s Cool World (but more on that cult anomaly shortly). A commercial flop, Back in Action was the last cinematic outing for the Looney Tunes for some time.

Nowadays, when we think of live-action animation, it’s hard not to jump straight to an image of Michael Jordan’s arm stretching to do a half-court dunk to save the Looney Tunes from slavery. There’s not a lot that can be fully rationalized about the 1996 box-office smash, Space Jam. It is a bewildering cartoon advert for Michael Jordan’s baseball career, dreamed up off the back of his basketball retirement, while also mashing together different American icons. Never forget that the soundtrack—one that, according to Benjamin, “makes you have to throw ass”—includes a song with B-Real, Coolio, Method Man and LL Cool J.

Michael Jordan and teammates in ‘Space Jam’ (1996).

Space Jam is a film inherently born to sell something, predicated on the existing success of a Nike commercial rather than any obvious passion for experimentation. But its pure strangeness, a growing nostalgia for the nineties, and meticulous compositing work from visual-effects supervisor Ed Jones and the film’s animation team (a number of whom also worked on both Roger Rabbit and Back in Action), have all kept it in the cultural memory.

The films is backwards, writes Jesse, in that it wants to distance itself from the very cartoons it leverages: “This really almost feels like a follow-up to Looney Tunes: Back in Action, rather than a predecessor, because it feels like someone watched the later movie, decided these Looney Tunes characters were a problem, and asked someone to make sure they were as secondary as possible.” That attempt to place all the agency in Jordan’s hands was a point of contention for Chuck Jones, the legendary Warner Bros cartoonist. He hated the film, stating that Bugs would never ask for help and would have dealt with the aliens in seven minutes.

Space Jam has its moments, however. Guy proclaims “there is nothing that Deadpool as a character will ever have to offer that isn’t done infinitely better by a good Bugs Bunny bit”. For some, its problems are a bit more straightforward, for others it’s a matter of safety in sport. But the overriding sentiments surrounding the film point to a sort of morbid fascination with the brazenness of its concept.

Holli Would (voiced by Kim Basinger) and Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) blur the lines in ‘Cool World’ (1992).

Existing in the same demented… space… as Space Jam, Paramount Pictures bought the idea for Cool World from Ralph Bakshi as it sought to have its own Roger Rabbit. While Brad Pitt described it as “Roger Rabbit on acid” ahead of release, Cool World itself looks like a nightmare version of Toontown. The film was universally panned at the time, caught awkwardly between being far too adult for children but too lacking in any real substance for adults (there’s something of a connective thread between Jessica Rabbit, Lola Bunny and Holli Would).

Ralph Bakshi’s risqué and calamitously horny formal experiment builds on the animator’s fascination with the relationship between the medium and the human body. Of course, he would go from the immensely detailed rotoscoping of Fire and Ice (1983) to clashing hand-drawn characters with real ones, something he had already touched upon in the seventies with Heavy Traffic and Coonskin, whose animated characters were drawn into real locations. But no one besides Bakshi quite knew what to do with the perverse concept of Brad Pitt as a noir detective trying to stop Gabriel Byrne’s cartoonist from having sex with a character that he drew—an animated Kim Basinger.

Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) attempts to cross over to Hollie Would in ‘Cool World’ (1992).

Cool World’s awkwardness can be attributed to stilted interactions between Byrne, Pitt and the animated world, as well as studio meddling. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr (who was on the film due to his father running Paramount) demanded that the film be reworked into something PG-rated, against Bakshi’s wishes (he envisioned an R-rated horror), and the script was rewritten in secret. It went badly, so much so that Bakshi eventually punched Mancuso Jr in the face.

While Cool World averages two stars on Letterboxd, there are some enthusiastic holdouts. There are the people impressed by the insanity of it all, those who just love them a horny toon, and then there is Andrew, a five-star Cool World fan: “On the surface, it’s a Lovecraftian horror with Betty Boop as the villain, featuring a more impressive cityscape than Blade Runner and Dick Tracy combined, and multidimensional effects that make In the Mouth of Madness look like trash. The true star, however, proves to be the condensed surplus of unrelated gags clogging the arteries of the screen—in every corner is some of the silliest cel animation that will likely ever be created.”

There are even those who enjoy its “clear response to Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, with David writing that “the film presents a similar concept through the lens of the darkly comic, perverted world of the underground cartoonists”, though also noting that without Bakshi’s original script, the film is “a series of half steps and never really commits like it could”. Cool World feels both completely deranged and strangely low-energy, caught between different ideas as to how best to mix the two mediums. But it did give us a David Bowie jam.

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ is in cinemas and on HBO Max now.

Craft is of course important, but generally speaking, maybe nowadays a commitment to silliness and a sincere love for the medium’s history is the thing that makes successful live-action/animation hybrids click. It’s an idea that doesn’t lend itself to being too cool, or even entirely palatable. The trick is to be as fully dotty as Mary Poppins, or steer into the gaucheness of the concept, à la Roger Rabbit and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

It’s quite a tightrope to walk between good meta-comedy and a parade of references to intellectual property. The winningest strategy is to weave the characters into the tapestry of the plot and let the gags grow from there, rather than hoping their very inclusion is its own reward. Wait, you said what is coming out this week?

Related content

Rootfish Jones’s list of cartoons people are horny for

The 100 Sequences that Shaped Animation: the companion list to the Vulture story

Jose Moreno’s list of every animated film made from 1888 to the present

Follow Kambole on Letterboxd

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bluesylveon2 · 3 years

Text

My My, I Could Never Let You Go

Summary: Sasha Zoe just wants her dad to walk her down the aisle. There is only one problem: she doesn’t know who her dad is! Sasha invites 3 men in hopes of finding out which one is her father. What could possibly go wrong?

Pairings: Levi x Hange, Sasha x Niccolo, and other background relationships

Disclaimer: This is a Levihan Mamma Mia au. This fanfic is inspired by Mamma Mia which is directed by Phyllida Loyd, written by Catherine Johnson, and uses music from the pop group ABBA. Attack on Titan is a manga/anime series written by Hajime Isayama and published by Kondasha

A/N: Sorry for the wait! Next chapter might take a while. I have finals starting next week and then I’ll be done soon! 😁 Now back to our regularly schedules programming...

***** - listen to Super Trooper here (go to 0;07) to get an idea of the scene.

Need to catch up? Catch up here!

Ch 9: Super Trooper

Sasha dances on top of the table to her heart's content. She dances along to the song Moblit plays while her friends, now in party clothes, were hyping her up below.

As the song ends (ironically, it was the same song the guys sang to her earlier. She is a big ABBA fan), Sasha lets herself go and falls back so her friends can catch her. She laughs with glee as her friends cheer for her performance.

Sasha's bachelorette party was held in the hotel's courtyard. There was some space for dancing and a bar to get drinks. Of course, no boys were allowed except for Moblit. Hange had approved for Moblit to be the DJ for the night. He only agreed to it just as long as Sasha's friends did not force him to become a male stripper.

Hange and her band were preparing behind the stained glasses French doors for their big performance. This performance was a callback to their old days when she and her girls used to perform together. They had even dressed the part!

Sasha's friends set her back down on the ground safely as Moblit taps his mic to get everyone's attention.

"Ladies and no gentlemen! Except for me, of course." Moblit gestures to himself before continuing.

"Presenting for one night and one night only-" he gestures to the French doors, so the girls can take their attention off of him.

"Because that's all we got breath for!" Nanaba yells from behind the door. Everyone laughs.

"The world's first girl power band," Rico yells out from behind the door with excitement to hype the crowd. Some smoke starts to appear behind the doors.

Sasha screams with excitement and shakes Mikasa, who was the closest to her.

"Hange and the Survey Corps!"

Moblit plays the piano as Hange, Rico, and Nanaba enter in their 70's-inspired outfits. It looks just like the ones they used to wear from the old pictures Sasha saw of her mom's room. Meanwhile, the bachelorette party squeal with excitement as Hange's band takes position. Hange was front and center, Nanaba was to her left, and Rico was to her right.

Hange taps the beat with one of her block-heeled boots on the stage. All three members of the Survey Corps raise their left arm to point up to the sky, look up at the night sky, and begin to sing the first line.

Super Trouper lights are gonna find me.

But I won't feel blue.

Sasha and her friends laugh at how ridiculous her mom and her aunts sounded without the accompaniment.

Like I always do

'Cause somewhere in the crowd, there's you

Hange looks away to glance at Sasha and gave her a quick wink.

Sasha looks at her mother expectantly and with amusement. There was an awkward silence as no music played, and Hange's band was still in position.

Hange, noticing the silence, looks away to look at Moblit. She motions for him to play the song.

Moblit, realizing his mistake, presses the button on the speaker to start the performance. The melody to Super Trooper begins to play. Sasha and her friend cheer as Hange get back to position, so the band can go to their signature pose.

*****

She raises her hand up and looks up at the sky. Rico turns around, so her back faced Hange. She leans back a bit and raises her microphone up to her lips to pretend she was singing. Nanaba copies Rico's position, except she faces the opposite direction; her back was facing Hange.

Hange brings her arm down as she sings. Rico and Nanaba face the crowd and move to stand next to Hange. All three of them begin to sway and move their arms to the beat.

Sasha and her friends laugh and clap along to the performance. Occasionally, Rico and Nanab would sing along to add harmony and more vocals.

The trio then raises their right arm to the sky and brings it back down to briefly touch their heads. Rico and Nanaba move to face Hange as they sing along. Hange would also turn to face her best friends one at a time to make it look as though she was singing to them. Eventually, the trio stands in front of one another, leans back slightly, and moves their left arm back while holding out the note before literally jumping into the refrain.

---

"Are you sure this is where Gelgar said Sasha's bachelorette party is going to be?" Erwin asks with a hint of uncertainty.

Mike laughs a bit, but it could have been drowned out by the music and the cheering nearby. Who knows if the guys would be able to hear each other the closer they got.

"Of course. Sasha is pretty famous on the island, so word gets around easily. Plus, she practically invited the whole island."

"Yeah. Sasha practically invited all the girls on the island." Levi adds with a hint of annoyance. He can hear the singing nearby and can recognize her voice anywhere. It reminded him of the times she used to sing to him. Hange's voice would help him fall asleep.

"Relax, Levi," Mike says reassuringly as they climb up the steps to the plaza. "Sasha would be happy to see her dads at her bachelorette party!"

They stop at the very top step and watch Hange's performance.

"Hey, look at them go! It seems her friends never lost their talent either, especially Nanaba!"

Levi looks at Mike and raises an eyebrow. "You know them?"

Mike laughs. "Of course I do. I met all three of them together," he says with amazement as he watches the performance.

"It seems as if Hange never lost her singing talent after all."

Levi glares at Erwin, who stood behind him. Erwin, noticing Levi's glare, chuckles now that his uncertainness is fading away. It was as if he could read Levi's mind.

It seems that Hange's singing has started to calm him down enough to laugh at how silly Levi looked.

"Sometimes Hange would sing while I played the guitar. This song is actually our song." Erwin says without breaking his gaze from Hange singing and smiles.

"It does bring me back." He adds with sincerity.

Levi's heart skips a beat as he heard Hange sing. It was a lot different from earlier when he heard it from a distance. It was in person this time. Levi can even see the big smile and the bright eyes Hange had as she sang. It reminded him of the times he would fall asleep on her lap as she sang to him and played with his hair.

Call him a lovestruck fool, but Levi always slept better every time Hange sang to him.

Heck, Levi could even say with 100% certainty that he was falling for her all over again.

---

Hange continues singing and dancing with her friends. She has not had this much fun in a long time, and she can tell from Sasha's face that she was enjoying it too. In fact, Hange was having too much fun to notice Levi, Erwin, and Mike approach the plaza.

She dances to the song's beat while adding some arm movements and stomped her boots to create an effect. Sasha and her friends cheer from below.

Like I always do.

Hange places her hand on her forehead and scans the crowd.

Cause somewhere in the crowd, there's you.

It was only for a brief second, but her light brown eyes met with Levi's steel gray ones.

Hange's eyes widen with shock and a little bit of hurt. He was not alone! Erwin and Mike were with him too!

Nevertheless, Hange steps forward to sing her solo while trying her best to look normal. She did not want to freak out on stage and have Sasha meet her dads. She glances over at Levi, praying it was a dream.

It was not. Levi was still there.

This time he was smiling.

Great. Just great.

Hange ends her solo with a silly dance to bring up her excitement and keep Sashas's attention solely on her. The crowd loved it! She steps back to join her band.

The Survey Corps sing the refrain while pointing towards the sky in front of them, bringing their arms down and repeating the process all over again. They stop in the middle of the refrain, and Hange glances over at Levi again.

They were still there!

She scoots close to Rico and subtle grabs her arm before doing the same with Nanaba and brought them close to her.

"Look, look, look, look," she says while pointing her head towards the men off to the side. She then spins around so Rico and Nanaba could see who she was looking at. The song continued to play in the background.

Oh no! Nanaba looks at the men in shock.

Why are they here at the party? Rico questions.

Rico briefly places her microphone away from her mouth. "Stay calm," she whispers loudly enough to get Hange to hear.

Nanaba imitates Rico after Rico goes back to performing. "Act normal," she whispers as well.

Both of them tried their best not to speak loud enough for both of their mics to pick up.

Meanwhile, Erwin was smiling at the performance, Mike was dancing a bit to the song, and Levi even was dancing a bit too. Just not as much as Mike.

Hange glances over at Moblit before getting back into position with the girls. Moblit, noticing the distressed look on Hange's face the entire time, turns to where she has been looking at this whole time. It did not take long for him to figure out who the three men dancing in the corner were. He had heard enough stories and helped comfort Hange when she was sobbing alone in her room to know who was who. It was a secret between the two, and Moblit was ready to take Hange's secret to his grave.

They stick their hand out to make a one and move their head in the 1 position on a clock before repeating the refrain. They move in a circle on the stage, stop to look at each other briefly, and place their hands in the center before moving it up together.

Hange made sure to step up in the front and give Sasha all of her attention as she sings the song's last note. Rico and Nanaba sang the rest in the background before giving their final pose.

Everyone in the audience cheers for the performance, even the guys who everyone could hear cheering loudly from the back.

"Excuse me!" Moblit's voice comes on from his spot next to the stage. Hange and her friends head back inside to get changed. "This is a bachelorette party except for me. Moblit. Thank you!" he finishes before changing the song.

"That's the asshole," Levi whispers to himself without thinking about it and glares at Moblit.

Erwin and Mike laugh at Levi. They can hear the jealousy in his voice. Levi wants what Moblit has: a life with Hange where he can watch Sasha grow up. No responsibilities or worries. Just peace.

Moblit, although he cannot hear him, feels a shiver go down his spine. He turns around to find a short, bored-looking guy glaring at him.

That must be Levi; he sweatdrops before returning to the music and praying that Levi stops glaring at him.

Levi tsks in annoyance and starts heading out. Mike and Erwin steer in a different direction towards the bar.

Sasha follows Levi out to wherever he went. Meanwhile, all the girls in Sasha's bridal party watch as Mike and Erwin head towards the bar area. They huddle up and put their heads together to create a plan.

"We need to do something before Mike and Erwin leave," Hanami panics.

"We need to think of something now," Mina adds.

Historia thinks long and hard for a solution. What is something crazy they could do without raising suspicion? Suddenly, an idea pops up in her head as she listens to the current song Moblit was playing. It was bound to work 100%.

She silently thanks Sasha's love of ABBA songs and for hosting many karaoke nights at the hotel. The girls could sing ABBA songs with their eyes closed.

She smirks and clears her voice. Everyone stops discussing to turn their full attention to Historia.

"Ladies. I have a perfect idea,"

---

"Why are they here?! Do they want to ruin Sasha's wedding?!" Hange yells out in frustration.

"I thought you were keen about this wedding," Nanaba asks in a calm tone.

Hange takes a deep breath to calm herself down. "I just don't want them to spoil it." she sighs.

"They have no right to show up like this. What have they done for Sasha? Huh?"

"Hange. They didn't know she existed." Nanaba reasons with her. They continue making their way back to Hange's room.

"Well, they didn't need to know. I did so well with Sasha all by myself, and I refuse to be muscled out by an ejaculation!"

---

Erwin and Mike were getting some drinks at the bar since Levi had mysteriously disappeared from them. They decided to stay for a bit until Levi comes back, but far away from the party. They could still hear the music, though.

Except the music was progressively getting louder, and it was not from the speakers. They can hear female voices heading in their direction.

Both men turn around to find all of Sasha's bridal party walking towards them while singing the song. The girls start running towards them the moment Erwin and Mike turn around. Different girls grab both men and start pulling them into the dance floor.

Mike was excited to be surrounded by so many girls. This was life for him. On the other hand, the feelings were not mutual for Erwin. He just wanted to get a drink! Now he is getting dragged onto the dancefloor! What a rollercoaster of a day.

Except the girls did not drag them onto the dancefloor. The girls push Erwin and Mike against a pole and surround them. They tie up the men's hands behind the pole and begin their second operation. The first operation was to locate the men and tie them up. They proceed with the second part, although Levi was absent. This part was a bit more intimate.

It was all a blur for Erein and Mike. They could not tell who exactly was feeling them up, running their hands across their chests, or even tell who was pushing up their clothes. Mike enjoyed all the attention he was receiving; Erwin was flustered and heating up.

This was definitely a strange day for everyone.

---

Sasha stops running when she finds Levi leaning against the wall, looking out at sea.

"Hi."

Levi notices Sasha's voice, leans back, and faces her. "Hey."

He clears his throat. "I think I should explain to Hange that I come in peace." he starts walking up to where Sahsa just entered from.

"Oh no." Sasha stops Levi by placing her hands out in front of him. "You should wait until she has a few drinks first, really."

Levi nods in agreement. "Good idea."

He looks around the place and thinks back on their interaction in the boat. The fact that he never came back or how Sasha was a prodigy with weapons. He chose to speak about the latter. The first topic can come up another time.

"That story about you being a natural at archery…." He trails off and looks at her dead in the eyes. Her eyes were obviously a different shade of brown, but it reminded him of Hange.

"Why don't you pursue it? You could even participate in events such as the Olympics?"

Sasha looks away nervously and raises her hands up before dropping down on her sides. She sighs.

"I have enough to do here."

"Is that really your dream? Running the villa with Hange?" Levi asks. He could recall when she first met Hange. She was a woman with huge dreams. All of it was driven by her curiosity and intelligence. Yet, it was not evident for Sasha's case.

Sasha shakes her hands out in front of her with frustration. Why wasn't Levi getting it? It was so obvious why she wanted to stay.

"She just can't do it by herself."

"But she has Moblit." Levi counters.

"She just can't. Please understand that."

Levi sighs. He was not getting through to her at all. Yet, Levi still thought back to Sasha's memory from earlier. He chuckles a bit.

"What's so funny?" Sasha asks with some curiosity. Ah, there it is. The Zoe curiosity lives on.

"You know, my uncle once taught me how to use a knife. Apparently, he worked in one of the intelligence agencies in Germany when he was young. He thought it was a necessary skill for me to have. Of course, I managed to excel in it, but my mom had a heart attack when she noticed me practicing it with my uncle. I always made sure to keep a pocket one if any situation goes south."

He walks to stand where he was initially. He turns around to face Sasha. "I even taught it to Hange before. I mean, she trusted a stranger pretty easily, but you never know if things ever go south. You have to be prepared."

He looks up at the sky and smiles at all the fond memories he had of Kalokairi.

"I always wanted to come back here…."

"What kept you from coming back?" Sasha interrupts him.

Levi looks at Sasha and gives her a sad smile. Her eyes soften up after seeing Levi becoming vulnerable in front of her.

"What has your mother said about me?"

"She never mentioned you," Sasha confesses. She watches for Levi's reaction but finds nothing.

Finally, he sighs. a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Sasha?"

"Why am I here?" He asks. He began to doubt his purpose here now that Hange wants nothing to do with him.

Sasha was ready to speak when the door from her mother's room opens suddenly, startling the two down below.

"I need some air!" they both hear Hange's voice cry out.

She immediately ran off and out of sight as if she was never there.

Levi looks up at Hange's room. His eyes linger at Hange's disappearing shadow. He felt a strange but somewhat familiar feeling in his chest.

He knew what he had to do, and he can't leave just yet.

---

Hange, Rico, and Nanaba all flop on Hange's bed in exhaustion. Nanaba was lying next to her, while Rico's boots were next to Hange's head.

"Somebody out there is out to get me. I bet it's my mother." Hange says while glaring at the roof as if it decided to bring Sasha's dads back into her life.

"Wasn't she a ray of sunshine?" Rico adds sarcastically.

Hange feels a sudden burst of determination. She needs to get them out now. She begins by attempting to untangle herself from her friends.

"Oh no, you don't!" Nanaba exclaims and pins Hange down.

"If you go in there guns loaded, there's gonna be questions," Rico says as she attempts to get up but fails. It's all because of the dang boots!

"Help me out of these boots!" she complains while lying on the bed. Hange and Nanaba make a move towards the end of the bed to help.

"All of your yoga made your feet bigger." Nanaba comments, and Rico groans in annoyance.

Suddenly, Nanaba gets serious and pulls on one of Rico's boots. "Listen up. The plan is to get all the guys drunk tonight-"

"Uh-huh," Hange says and pulls on the other boot with the same force as Nanaba.

"-and then tomorrow, Rico and I will keep them distracted."

Rico shoots up from the bed and raises her hand. "Dibs on Erwin!"

Nanaba rolls her eyes. "Of course, you would say that," she mumbles.

---

Erwin luckily manages to escape the crowd of girls by crawling under the table to escape. Sasha's bridal party had finally untied him and Mike from the poles and brought them somewhere else to dance. Erwin last saw Mike dancing on top of the table with some of the girls. He was having the time of his life.

Sasha ran back to the party just in time to see Erwin escaping from her friends.

"Hi," she sighs in relief.

"Hello," He greets back. He was still traumatized from earlier.

Sasha grabs Erwin's arm and seats Erwin at the barstool.

"You ok?" she asks as she sits down as well. Erwin's hair was a bit disheveled, his shirt was unbuttoned and untucked to reveal his chest, and he looked a bit flustered.

Erwin sighs instead. He reaches over to a nearby pitcher and pours himself a drink.

"I'm surprised Hange has a grown-up daughter." He confesses and briefly glances over at Sasha.

She leans one elbow against the bar and faces Erwin. "Do you have any children, Erwin?"

Erwin chuckles. "Well, I only have my dogs, Hiroshi and Romi. They are staying at a friend's house right now."

"I'd love to have a daughter. I'd spoil her rotten," he adds with a smile and takes a sip of his drink.

That caught Sasha off guard. She didn't expect Erwin to say that. She opens her mouth to speak but closes it instead. She imagined what life would be like if Erwin was her father. How he would spoil her, shower her with much love and attention.

Erwin notices Sasha's silence. He briefly turns around to look at the crowd before turning back to Sasha.

"Is your father here?"

"I don't know." She admits. Erwin looks at her with confusion. Surely her own father should be here for his own daughter's wedding, right?

"I don't know who my father is." she clarifies.

Erwin's eyes widen with shock. He opens his mouth to ask more questions, but one of Sasha's friends grabs her and brings her back to the dance floor. He could only watch as Sasha's figure disappears into the crowd.

---

Erwin sat with his hands covering his face. A few minutes had passed since Sasha left, and everything was beginning to come together. What if he was Sasha's father? He was too conflicted to notice the footsteps heading his way.

"Give me two tequila shots. One for me and one for this guy." he hears a female voice say. His head shoots up, ready to decline the offer but stops. Sitting down where Sasha last sat was a woman with long brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair was half up, half down, she wore a simple blouse and some shorts, and she also wore sandals on her feet.

She notices Erwin's stare and turns to him with a smile. Erwin looks away and blushes from embarrassment.

The woman laughs instead. She extends her hand out for him to shake.

"My name is Marie Fournier, and you are?"

Erwin extends his hand out to shake Marie's. "Erwin Smith."

The bartender comes back with the shots. Marie grabs her and holds it out in front of Erwin for a toast.

"Cheers." she smiles.

"Cheers," he says with a small smile. Erwin tries to hide his earlier conflict from Marie.

"So how do you know the Zoe's?" Erwin asks after the both of them drank the shot and set their glasses down on the bar."

"Well, we went to the same college and for the same major. I was more of an acquaintance with her, but we still kept in touch after I moved to Canada. I consider myself lucky that she invited me here since we weren't that close."

She looks at Erwin with a smile. Erwin was taken aback by it. There was a dormant but familiar feeling growing in his chest after seeing Marie smile at him.

"She is a nice person, though. I came here once before for vacation. She showed me around the island and even brought Sasha along too."

Erwin felt another feeling in his chest, and he slightly flinches in his seat. The shock and realization of what if Sasha was his daughter. It seems Marie does not notice any difference in Erwin.

"So how do you know Hange?"

Should he tell her the truth? Maybe a short and sweet version?

His eyes briefly glance over at the bartender walking by. He is going to need some more drinks first.

---

Hitch drags Sasha from the bar and pushes her to dance onto a table to dance with Mike.

"Hey!" Mike cheers once Sasha joins him on the fun. Both of them start dancing together.

"This is fantastic! How did your mom get money to buy this place?"

"She was left some money by an old lady she looked after before I was born," Sasha yells back with all the music and the dancing happening at the same time.

"Alexandra, that I'm named after."

He looks at her suspiciously. "My grandma Alexandra?"

"I guess?"

"I always heard she left her money to her family…" his voice trails off.

Suddenly, everything hit Mike like a tone of bricks. His grandmother, the hotel, Sasha…

He looks at Sasha, who was still dancing and smiling at him.

"How old are you?" he needed to know.

"I'm 20."

That was the final piece of the puzzle Mike was missing. He stops dancing and looks at her with shock and panic.

"Will you excuse me for a minute?" He looks around his surrounding with confusion, shock, and a bit of disappointment. It's not that he is disappointed at Sasha, but himself. What kind of dad (if he actually was) was he for missing out on 20 years of his daughter's life?

"I'm sorry," he says and leaves Sasha, who stands there with sadness flashing in her face. She was determined to get to Mike again. She runs off to chase after him.

---

"Mike!" Sasha calls after Mike, but he continues walking down the steps and towards the shore.

"Mike, wait! Why did your grandmother leave my mother money?" She asks as some tears began to fall down her face. Mike was running down the steps, and it was hard for Sasha to catch up.

"I don't know. What do you want from me?" He replies hastily without turning back and quickens his pace. Mike was too confused with everything that he decided to run away instead of confronting Sasha. Sasha can feel her heartbreaking even more now.

"Mike, please!" Mike stops moving. "All my life, there's been this huge unanswered question., and I don't want any more secrecy!" she cries out, and her voice begins to crack. She can feel tears now that began to blur her vision and some snot running down her nose.

Mike turns around to face Sasha ultimately after hearing her voice crack and the sadness in her voice. Although the only light source was moonlight, Mike could see the tears staining Sasha's face and her body shaking a bit. He felt guilty for making Sasha cry.

Sasha was ready to ask the age-old question. "Are you my father?"

"Yes. I think so." Mike says immediately. He has all the pieces to the puzzle, except he sounded unsure. He looks at Sasha's face. The same face that has Hange it in and him. He is not running away from his problems. He looks at her with determination and smiles.

"Yes," she says softly that it was almost hard to hear it.

Sasha smiles and laughs with pure joy. More tears were running down her face, but it was tears of joy and not sadness. She felt relief rush into her body because she has now found her father—the man standing in front of her, Mike Zacharias.

She smiles brightly at Mike. The smile Hange always had. "You know what comes next?"

"Oh, you're not telling me you have a twin sister, are you?" Mike asks lightheartedly.

Sasha shakes her head and laughs lightly. She steps closer to Mike.

"Will you give me away tomorrow?"

"Give you away?" Mike asks with a bit of perplex.

"No! Our secret until the wedding."

Mike laughs. He has been on many adventures all of his life, and now life presented him with a new one. He may have missed the first 20 years of Sasha's life, but he was not going to lose more. Especially with something as big as his daughter's own wedding.

Mike smiles and opens his arms out for a hug. Sasha immediately runs in and gives him the biggest hug she's ever given.

"Of course. I will do it for you." He whispers and plants a small kiss on the crown of her head. After all, giving Sasha away tomorrow is the least he could do for her.

Sasha smiles as she rests her head against Mike's chest (or more like her dad's chest). She felt a rush of emotions today from happiness, sadness, and fear. It did not matter to her now that Sasha found her dad and was not letting him go. She felt whole as the new father-daughter relationship began to form between the two. She finally has everything she could ever dream of.

Sasha was now experiencing another form of happiness. A form she was missing for 20 years.

Big father reveal!!!!! 🥳

Yeah I know Moblit is the only guy at the bacholrette party, but I needed him to do something lol

Marie is now here!

Erwin’s dogs names are the names of Levi and Hange’s Japanese VA’s

#levihan #levi x hange #levihan fanfiction #nicosasha #erwin x hange #mike x hange #mikenana #aruani #hitch x marlow #marco x mina #pokkopikku #snk #aot

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oversimplify-it · 3 years

Text

Story Process Tag by @herpixels

I was tagged by @dynastiasimss - Thank you so much for tagging me!! 😊💖💗 This will most definitely get a bit wordy because I’m terrible at explaining things concisely! 😂 Also, I’ll mostly be talking about my process for 2.B.A Grandmaster but I’ll touch on my process for Erin in San Myshuno too!

I’m also going to get tags out of the way up here so that no one has to scroll all the way through this ... absolute novel that is under the cut LMAO so I tag: @cyansimblr @x-simss @matchacake and any other simblrs who wanna do this!! and feel free to skip if you want!

1. Your writing process My writing process is very, very chaotic, and changes with the wind... Erin in San Myshuno doesn’t really have a process, I just play the game and then put in some dialogue based on the events. None of it is guided by my hand at all though! 2.B.A Grandmaster on the other hand is written in part based on what happens in game and in part by my own creative vision. Most of the time, I let stuff happen, and then fill in the blanks in between events. I go in game, play Sims as I normally would (skill build, take care of needs, go out to venues, etc.) and then watch what weird and interesting things happen. For example, Augusta’s meeting with Xavier in the beginning was completely the game’s doing! He was the only one to show up for the Welcome Wagon event, so I rolled with that. Scenes like Kaitlin’s meeting with Maverick and those sort of things are planned by me, as they’re necessary to create a more full narrative! It’s like collaborative storytelling, but my “partner” is a game that is weird and random and crazy. 😂 After stuff happens in game and I get screenshots, I then actually write for it. I chose to write novel style for the series because - as some of my long-term followers may remember - I had another story that was just screenshots with dialogue on them? And it was very hard, LOL, it didn’t suit my workflow very well and I ended up dropping it after a month or so. I wanted 2.B.A Grandmaster to be something I could post consistently, and so I opted for a style that I was more familiar and experienced with!

2. Scene building For the most part, I just work with what sims gives me, but as I mentioned above, some scenes I actually go to the trouble of setting up. For those, I still use the sims animations mostly (I’ve used poses about 3 times in 2.B.A Grandmaster so far) but I do usher my sims around the "set” as I see fit. I build a lot of my own lots and locations for 2.B.A GM because I tend to get a vision in my mind of what I want and refuse to settle for less. 😂 One such case is the scene where Maverick meets up with Octavia--

I made the alleyway we see here - it’s two entirely empty buildings sandwiched side by side on an otherwise empty lot in Oasis Springs. The only part I bothered to decorate was the alley itself because I knew I wasn’t going to use the rest of the area, but maybe we’ll revisit it sometime and I’ll finish the two buildings! I actually loved making this set and like how it turned out, LOL~

Then I just have whatever sims are involved in a scene interact with each other for ages until I feel like I have enough screenshots to make a scene. I usually have a vague idea of what’s going to be said in any given scene - especially the ones I actually planned out beforehand - but I get some excess screenshots to be safe. I try lots of different interactions and pause like every few frames to get interesting expressions and stuff, LOL. Lots of “Complain about Cold Weather” and “Give fake bad news” ...

3. CC/Pose making I don’t actually make my own CC for 2.B.A GM specifically (I’ve made a couple eyeshadows but I don’t use them super frequently) but there is a scene coming up in the future that I plan to make poses for. I have a very clear image in my mind that includes a lot of subtle expressions and very specific things that I doubt I could find poses for, so I’m gonna have to brave the terrifying landscape of blender in order to make it a reality. 😧

4. Getting in the zone I don’t have any sort of “ok, show time” ritual like some people do but I wish I did, because my motivation waxes and wanes so unpredictably. Some days I just don’t feel like doing anything, and other days I edit and write for 5 posts in a row! I am always listening to something though, usually music, every once in a blue moon a video with lots of talking. 5. Screenshot folder

UGH...

6. Captions I don’t do captions on 2.B.A GM posts, but for my city living gameplay I do! I keep them simple, because I don’t want to make it too much work for myself. Erin in San Myshuno’s style of editing is 100% based around ease, because I wanted something to post often that didn’t put too much of a strain on me. Verdana in white, typically 35-40 px, with a gradient border. Each sim we encounter has a different gradient color, usually based on their outfit or just the ~vibe~ I get from them. Erin’s gradient is Hot pink to ... gee, what would you call it. Sonic the Hedgehog Blue LMAO-- I chose that gradient because that’s the color of the overlay, which I’ll talk more about in the next section!

7. Editing My two ‘series’ - and I use that term loosely LMAO - have different editing processes, so I’ll try to summarize them both. Basically, for 2.B.A Grandmaster, I touch up the saturation and brightness depending on the scene. If it’s evening in the shots, I usually won’t touch brightness, and if it’s night, I might even lower it a bit for more accurate lighting! Once that’s done, I blur everything but relevant elements of a scene, usually the character we’re following or who is speaking. I have to select the character from the background manually which takes a bit, but other than that it’s very minimal.

My shots aren’t super glamorous, but I prefer simple screenshots and actually being able to keep up with a story schedule as opposed to what happened with my last story. 😬 As for Erin in San Myshuno, barring captions which I only do when I feel it’s necessary, it’s literally just an overlay on otherwise untouched screenshots. 😭 I would do more, but again, it’s supposed to be an easy downtime sort of series for me so~

This goes over top all screenshots on the “Add” setting at 20% opacity. It brightens things up and softens them, as well as making the colors slightly more harmonious! If anyone wants me to go more in depth on editing, or maybe captions, please let me know! I’m happy to talk about it if it’ll help anyone, and I know that a lot of tutorials cover how to do stuff in Photoshop, whereas I use FireAlpaca (which is 100% free btw! It’s more of an art program, but not bad for editing) 8. Throwback!

Oh boy, so this is one of my first posts on simblr. For starters, I didn’t know about camera mode at the time, so that’s the first thing I would change obviously LOL. 😬 The framing I did at the time was ... cute, but it makes the pictures feel kind of cramped and small in my opinion, so I did away with that for all of my later stories. Also, Amy and Gemma aren’t very well centered in this picture! Other than that, this isn’t actually terrible I don’t think, so aside from maybe blurring the background as I do on 2.B.A GM now, I wouldn’t change too much! Thankfully, I had observed other people’s stories before making my own on here for a little bit, so I wasn’t starting with absolutely no idea what to do, but I still think I’ve improved since I made these. 😊

This was a ton of fun!! If anyone has questions or wants more info on anything I covered in here, absolutely feel free to ask, and thank you so much if you actually read through all of this - I know I rambled for quite a while!! 🙏

#tag #extras: 2.B.A Grandmaster

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shortnfantastic · 4 years

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I’m sure you get this a lot, but how to you balance the colors so well? Mine are blended but it doesn’t work too well, and the only other option I know is harshly lined shadows. Also, keep up the amazing work!

Hi, thank you so much for the support. 💕💕 I actually must confess I don’t get a lot of color asks. I struggle a lot with coloring tbh. It’s not really my forte, so I recommend looking into color theory. There’s this really nice video that explains this in depth and I thought it was a really good tutorial. 😊

youtube

If watching the video is too much I can give you some tips that work for me but please be aware the guy in the video knows more than I do, and you’d benefit more by watching it.

This is gonna get a bit long...

It really helps me using complimentary colours and working with palettes. Also using colours next to each other in the colour wheel can create a very harmony filled look.

The author of the video called this using analogous colours. I didn’t know what that was called but I’ve been using that technique for a while haha. So I think it works for me.

I’m not sure what software you’re using, but seeing the colours of your piece together can really help you see if the art will have harmony when you color it. For me it’s still a bit of trial and error. But I try to limit my pictures to a few colours and if I use a lot of colours I try to make sure there’s not more than 2 dominants.

In the pic below I used a very saturated yellow for things I wanted to stand out like the blanket then that would guide the viewer to deceit, with a kind of desaturated red for Roman because in the first panel he is the secondary. The bg is very desaturated too so it doesn’t become too overwhelming.

In the second panel yellow is more dominant than red in amount, but also it’s more desaturated. Because in this one, Roman’s eyes are the main thing that will guide the viewer to the door. They are the most saturated and will draw more attention. Everything else is kinda pale.

Also to unify both characters, the shade of Dee’s hair is leaning more towards a red tone while Ro’s is leaning more towards orange/yellow. It’s just something that can make your characters feel more harmonic with each other... if you give them little details from the other characters without overwhelming their palette.

Purple is also complimentary to yellow but it is minimal comparing it to the amount of yellow and red. Green is complimentary to red but is almost non existent here as it is only used for the plush eye. If you want to use tons of colours just make sure you’re not using them in the same amount and saturation in your pic or things can get a bit too much.

I also try to practice the contrast and saturation on values by using a limited color palette. And this kind of helped to understand what parts of your drawing will draw the most attention by using the few colours you have.

When it comes to coloring shadows, I like to use browns, blues, purples, dark reds on a multiply layer set to 30% opacity. I almost never do harsh shadows, cuz I’m not confident enough yet tbh. But I also like the softer look that not overly harsh shadows give the pic. One thing I’m very sceptical with is the use of pure black tinted grays to color your shadows, if you’re not careful, pure grays can make your pic look dirty.

This is one of my first digital pieces. It has a lot of issues but we’re going to ignore everything that’s not color related for the time being. First of all what I can see here is that there’s too much clashing. Every single one is very saturated, even the background, to the point it’s just too overwhelming.

Some of the shadows in the face are gray and as you can see they end up looking like dirt. The shadows on the clothes and the skin of the arms are also not working.

Instead of using a darker shade of every color I had I should have chosen a single color set it to multiply in a low opacity and use that to color my shadows.

My shading technique is far from perfect. It’s a bit improvised... that’s something I’m still working on improving. But anyways, here I really quickly used different colours on low opacity on a multiply layer for the shadow. On the third one I also used the eraser tool on low opacity for get rid of the harsh edges on the shadow on the arm.

They’re not perfect but they already look a lot more like shadows and not dirt. So I’ll take that as an improvement. 👌

Anyways I’m so sorry this turned into a sort of never ending tutorial thing. I’m not an expert in coloring at all, and there are a lot of people both here on tumblr and other platforms that talk about this subject extensively and offer better tips and help. But I hope this helped in some way!

Try to have fun and experiment different things! See what works for you and what you like in your pics.

Ps: as a final unrelated note that is a kid version of Vlad Masters from Danny phantom. Which means it’s been more than 10 years and I still haven’t outgrown the trend of making children out of my faves. I think that says something but I’m not sure what.

#short answers #lovely people #coloring tips #tutorial thing #i guess #also old dp art #long post

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vlindervin7 · 4 years

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All I really have to say about this is that, considering the fact that I spend all my time thinking of both druck and the get down, it’s a miracle this didn’t happen sooner. You don’t need to have seen the get down to read this, but I would recommend watching this because it’s pure art. Enjoy

Read on ao3

David closes the door behind them. Matteo doesn’t immediately register what he’s seeing. David hadn’t exactly told him where they were going, just that he had something to show him. This isn’t what Matteo was expecting.

He feels David come to stand next to him, but he can’t take his eyes off what he’s seeing. It’s a room, empty save for the lone mattress in the corner, and a few pots of paint and spray cans scattered all over the floor. And on the walls, from floor to ceiling, there is colour. Matteo immediately recognizes David’s signature art style that he’s been getting increasingly familiar with over the last few months, and it never fails to take his breath away. There’s so much of it, everywhere and Matteo’s eyes don’t know where to stop, each time they find something to take in, they find something else that demands their attention. It’s more colourful, bigger, and louder than most of David’s other art, almost like a living, breathing thing. It’s overwhelming in the very best way.

David shifts next to him and it snaps Matteo back to earth and it occurs to him that he should probably say something. It’s a testament to how overwhelmed he is that all he can find to ask is: ‘What do you do when there’s no more space?’

He looks at David for the first time since they entered and oh, in all his awe he’d momentarily forgotten the most beautiful sight he’s still ever seen is standing right next to him. He’s heard some people say that art is always more interesting than the artist, but Matteo has everything he needs to prove that claim wrong right here.

David breathes out a small laugh, looking a bit relieved to have Matteo responding, even if he’s amused at the direction Matteo’s thoughts have gone. ‘I paint over it.’

‘But then it’s all gone?’

The thought almost hurts, that all the beautiful things he can’t get enough of right now, might one day be gone because David needs to start over, and that he’ll never be able to see the however many layers that exist under this one. But then again, Matteo’s never been good with change.

David shrugs. ‘Sometimes I take pictures, but it’s never really been about that. This is where I come to just feel. It’s not about making something aesthetically pleasing or whatever. I have my sketchbook and other projects for that. This is just where I let off steam.’

And Matteo can sort of see that. There’s no real harmony or continuation between the art on the walls, it’s a mix of colour and figures seemingly placed at random. With a jolt he suddenly recognizes his own face, and that’s a lot, the thought that David comes here to let his feelings do the talking where no one can hear, and he painted Matteo bursting with loud colours.

Matteo reaches out to touch the wall closest to him, a sun or a big flower or maybe a disfigured face. He doesn’t know, but it’s pretty.

‘I’ve never brought anyone here before’, David says, making Matteo turn around. ‘Not even Laura.’

His cheeks are that lovely red colour they are sometimes, and he looks nervous, unsteady on his feet and taking in Matteo’s movements.

Matteo realizes how precious this is, how big of an honour it is to be shown this, essentially David’s soul on display, which is why he really doesn’t know what to say. He’s scared to say something that will ruin this moment that feels so delicate, or worse say something that won’t accurately convey how much this means to him.

He pats his pockets and says a silent thanks to his past self for not returning the bright purple marker he’d borrowed from Mia. David looks at him in question when Matteo steps closer to one of the walls again, but he doesn’t stop him so Matteo keeps going. He finds an unmarked space in between swirls of blue, and in blocky letters, writes down ICH LIEBE DICH, before putting the marker away and turning to face David, self-conscious suddenly. He didn’t even ask. He hopes he hasn’t ruined his one chance to read the book of David’s heart, but no. When he catches David’s eye again, he’s beaming, so wide, and powerful enough to wake the butterflies that have been residing in Matteo’s belly permanently since a few months now. It really hasn’t been that long, no matter how much Matteo feels like he’s known David for years, and saying I love you still feels new, exciting although a familiar warmth has joined that feeling lately, making Matteo think that maybe this doesn’t have to wear an expiration date he hasn’t found yet.

David doesn’t answer, not that he has to, it’s written all over his face and the walls around him. Instead, he bends down to pick up a red spray can. He shake it while coming to stand next to Matteo, an all black apparition contrasting with his bright art, and looks at the wall a moment before spraying, with such ease and comfort that it makes something hot unspool in Matteo’s belly, a bright red heart around Matteo’s words. It’s the sort of cheesy thing David himself would scoff at in movies, but coming from him it feels like the most special gesture in the world.

Matteo feels like he’s going to catch on fire with all the love he’s feeling.

For a moment they just stare at each other, laughing giddily. It reminds Matteo of that first time they hung out, like being a little kid again.

David shakes himself out of it, and picks up a brush this time, before refilling his colour palette. Matteo watches him do it, wondering where this is going, but knowing he won’t mind if it’s not more than David doing his thing and letting Matteo watch, but when he’s done he turns back to Matteo and makes a sweeping gesture over the floor. ‘You’re free to use whatever you want.’

He feels warm at the permission, again feeling the weight of David letting Matteo free in the place that’s most his in the world. He doesn’t immediately take him up on the offer, though, distracted by the flecks of paints that have started appearing on David’s hands, his black shirt. He’d thrown his jacket and beanie in a corner when he entered the space and Matteo wonders if he’ll be careful with the state of his clothes or if he doesn’t care if they get dirty.

He’s still just watching as David applies the brush to one of the blank spaces left, as he smiles without turning around and says, ‘Are you just going to stare at me, ‘cause you might want to get comfortable if that’s the case.’

‘Shut up’, Matteo mumbles, but he’s smiling at the smug tone David’s using.

He doesn’t really know where to start, but he does want to try something. It’s always seemed fun to him to do graffiti, except the whole hiding from the cops thing sounded like too much of a hassle. This seems like something close to it, enough to be fun, even though he has very little artistic talent. It reminds him of doodling in David’s sketchbook, knowing it could never add up, but figuring it might make David smile later, the way he did when he watched him that first time.

In the end he picks up a few spray cans and goes to sit down on the other side of the room where almost the entire lower wall is still a bright white. He shakes one of the cans like he’s seen people do in movies, and David earlier, and tries to vaguely spray the shape of one of the aliens in David’s movie. It’s not as easy it always looks to be, the easy way David had sprayed the perfectly shaped heart earlier. It’s messy and Matteo has trouble enough creating clear shapes as is, the can that feels too big in his hands not making any of that easier. He also didn’t know the paint would drip that heavily when holding the can slightly wrong. He tries his best, but the alien still comes out looking more like a grey green blue coloured blob than anything else. If anything, he gains a deeper appreciation for David’s art.

The paint has dripped all over the floor and his arms and hands.

Even if it was harder than it looks, Matteo was right in thinking it would be fun. He’s gone too long being in the same room as David without having his attention, though, and that’s significantly less fun.

When he pushes himself up and turns around, David has his back turned to him like Matteo didn’t just catch him looking at him, silently laughing before turning away. He’s not even painting anything, just stands there in front of that half-painted forest view, innocently holding the palette in hand.

‘Something funny?’

David slowly turns around, pretentiously holding the palette up with an innocent look on his face. ‘You talking to me?’, he asks.

Matteo pretends to play along, hoping to catch him in the act. “What do you think of my alien?”, he asks, pretending to be genuine.

When David sets eyes on it, he laughs like he can’t help it. At Matteo’s raised eyebrows, he tries to hold it in, and holds up his hands, but he doesn’t entirely manage. ‘It’s… It’s very cute’, he says, morphing his face into a serious expression again.

‘I’ll show you cute’, Matteo exclaims, launching himself at his boyfriend and smearing the paint on his hands all over David’s black shirt, and in the process accidentally knocking the palette over too, so that, now, the front his shirt is stained in a mixture of at least ten different colours.

Some of it’s even gotten on his pants. David gets very quiet for a moment, looking down at his clothes like he’s contemplating getting angry. Suddenly Matteo gets nervous. It had seemed like a good idea in the moment, something close enough to their usual play fighting, but maybe wasting David’s paint and ruining his clothes is taking it a step too far. After all, just because Matteo won’t spend more than five euros on an article of clothing, doesn’t mean David won’t either.

The noise he makes when David grabs a large paint brush and smears it all over Matteo’s face, he decides to blame on the fact that he was worried his boyfriend would suddenly decide to break up with him, and not that he’s a big baby. Once he’s over the shock, he doesn’t hesitate to retaliate, though, and before he knows it, they’re both throwing smearing aiming paint at each other. Matteo’s laughing so hard he feels light, lighter than he’s maybe ever felt before, like every new drop of of paint that lands on his skin lifts him that much closer to unperturbed peace and he can feel it approaching, that happy state of mind where everything else becomes a blur and he’s able to simply give himself over to it and live in this moment with David forever.

After a while, they’re not really battling anymore, instead have joined forces. They’re still using each other as a canvas, but it feels like art this time. The closest Matteo will probably get to making art as he picks out colours to addorn David with, and David does the same to him.

The walls aren’t spared in their outburst, they’re being equally pelted.

At one point, Matteo needs to stop because David, as lost as Matteo is in all of this, is almost dancing in the way he’s still creating beautiful things on these walls, all the while bringing his hands through his hair and messing it up, drawing Matteo close to him just to touch, and smiling through it all, never ceasing to smile. Sometimes he closes his eyes like he wants to soak in the rays of his invisible happiness, but he never stops moving. Matteo hasn’t prayed in a long time, but moving through this room with David, makes him think this is what it’s supposed to feel like.

It makes sense now, what he’d said before, about coming here to feel because that’s what he’s doing. Matteo is this close to seeing the walls he holds around himself when he’s outside this room fall away, can see him come alive in a place in which he feels free. Freedom found in between these four walls. It should seem like a contradiction, but it’s not really. What both David and Matteo have in common, is that burning desire for a home, a place to simply exist as they are without the weight of the entire world’s gaze on their back, where they get to be part of something bigger without having to explain.

That’s this room.

There’s a moment David opens his arms wide like he’s standing in a sudden downpour and all Matteo sees is that bird he’d shown him when they’d just met, finally taking flight.

He’s so full of light it feels like it should be dangerous to look at him directly, something that’s too bright to be observed by the naked eye, and a few months ago Matteo would’ve looked away in fear of catching on fire and having the whole world see him burn, but he’s not anymore. He’s so in love it feels like diving headfirst off a cliff, but he’s not afraid. Let the world watch as he falls and then, right when they’re all holding their breath watching him pummel to his death, take flight and surpass them all.

They end up making out on the mattress, and Matteo loses his shirt but he can’t remember how it happened. All he can think of is David and his all-encompassing need to feel him against him. He shivers and is about to start whining when David gets up for a moment, but then he’s back, straddling him this time. He brings the tip of a paint brush to his shoulder and traces all over his collarbones and neck before reaching the other one. Then he picks out another colour and starts tracing figures on his stomach, arms, ribs, chest, waist. The paint is cold against his skin and it makes him shiver, but David is holding him down gently with one hand, and looking at him like he’s the best thing he’s ever seen, and really he’s mostly shivering with the weight of David on top of him and what it’s doing to his body. There’s nothing except David that could make him move right now.

When David is satisfied with his work, he puts the paintbrush aside and lets his eyes sit heavy on Matteo’s bare skin, flicking up and down to his face, from his stomach, looking so serious like Matteo’s the piece of art he’s been working on for years, his magnum opus.

Then, after Matteo is this close to making a sound because the undivided attention is on the verge of being too much, David bends over and then they’re kissing again. Less hurried, less frantic than before, but soft like the gentle music that plays at the end of an action-packed movie when the heroes finally find the peace they’ve been fighting for. That moment after an impossibly high note when the audience is silent for fear of breaking the magic, right before the star receives all the applause they deserve.

It doesn’t last as long this time, a mutual declaration of trust. David settles his head on Matteo’s shoulder and they just breathe in the wake of all the beautiful chaos the room has had to endure. The toxic smell of the paint hangs heavy in the air, but Matteo feels like he’s never properly breathed until this very moment.

When he deems it safe to speak, he says what’s been on his mind ever since he walked into the room. ‘There’s so much colour.’

Compared to David’s sketches and the art he posts online and the one he hangs on his wall, this room is so bright. Matteo wonders if it’s because David thinks he can’t afford to show his inner colours to the world for fear of having them tainted or if it’s something else.

David must understand why Matteo decides to comment on that because he makes a small humming noise Matteo feels more than hears, before slightly turning his head so his mouth is free. ‘I’ve been really happy lately.’

They fall asleep right there, until hours later when they’ll have to face the outside world again. For now, they don’t think of what’s to come, though, too busy living in their homemade dreamscape.

#druck #davenzi #the get down #bc i can #my writing

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montystarotchild · 3 years

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Aries

I want to start off by pointing out that your cards had a lot of Mars energy present. Which I recognize as a build up of energy within you. For many of you this energy is expressed through anger or rage. This full moon clarity is coming to you. You are being called to loosen your grip on life Aries. This may feel like free falling to you, unknown and scary but a very necessary part of the process. There is so much energy surrounding letting go of the past within this reading, ‘The Great Severing’, ‘releasing the past’, ‘Let God in’. Where God is anger cannot lie. And when I speak of God I mean your God, whoever that is for you. You are connecting with Source through your heart space and introducing more healing into your life. All of this connection and beautiful energy will soothe your anger and pain like a cooling balm. The things that pain you will almost have a numbing effect compared to the greatness of life. It’s time to breathe out Aries. The sacred union coming in is Spirit entering your heart and uplifting your spirit to a peaceful level. This is a turning point for you Aries, a karmic point of finally allowing Spirit to take over and allow you to gain independence in a completely different way. This is your life, a gift given. Use that Mars energy to enliven your passion for the Divine. Embrace this change and lean on Spirit when you feel low on the desire keep moving forward. There may also be some Gemini energy that can help you stay mutable in these healing times.

Taurus

Wow Taurus, this full moon is inviting you to surrender to the Divine and release the negativity. All of the thoughts that you have about yourself, if they aren’t building you up, it’s time to remove them. Nothing will come of putting yourself down before you’ve truly been able to begin something. For someone specific, if you’ve been wanting to express yourself through singing but have doubts this is your sign to go for it! Either way your voice is of importance at this time Taurus. You have a beautiful voice and it deserves to be heard. It’s time to shift your perspective and realize that you have and always will be enough. Just as you are. You have the also have the eleventh house, ‘I connect’. What do the connections in your life look like? This full moon may be revealing the ones that are healthy and thriving vs the ones that are draining and negative. Discernment on who is for you will be important while you are in this surrendering phase. Some of you may also be feeling as if you are at a fork in the road in regards to your career life and overall purpose. I’m feeling this energy between stagnancy in everyday routine and having so many options as the “next steps”, but choosing not to move instead. But I am seeing a breakthrough in this energy. You can connect to your sacred feminine in order to release and accept the Universe’s help in guidance. Be soft with yourself Taurus. Try not to push yourself beyond your own limitations. Also try not to think your way to a solution. This is all about allowing. Be of service to yourself so that you may spread that beautiful energy to your close mutuals. Pisces and Gemini energy may be important to you as well.

Gemini

In true Gemini nature I am seeing that you may have been struggling with certain oppositions in your life. I feel like Geminis are making decisions at all times in life. You have the gift of seeing the potential in all things which can also sometimes be difficult for you. This full moon is bringing clarity and harmony in opposition and you are able to see the bigger picture. No longer feeling pulled in two different directions you are able to direct your creative energy more directly and confidently. You are holding yourself accountable for going after all of the things you want creatively. This full moon is helping you understand more and more that your life is the canvas and your dreams are the tools needed to create a masterpiece. You are creating more from your heart space, nurturing yourself from the inside out. There may be changes that come up for you. So much so that it may leave you asking why and trying to rationalize your emotions. Listen to your intuition when it tells you that you don’t have to have a label for every emotion or over analyze them for “more clarity”. Your clarity is in the here and now. Move into your heart and feel your feelings. It’s time for you to receive the Divine’s message of safety. You are safe Gemini. This full moon you may be focusing more on the practice of meditation to connect with your heart space. This will strengthen your patience for and understanding of self. Also, focusing on the here and now can assist you in noticing the beauty that is all around you right now. Find comfort in this and know that what you focus on grows. Choose nurturing and peace this full moon.

Cancer

Wow Cancerians, this is going to be a very healing moon for you. You start the reading with releasing the past and ‘I’m sorry’. There are past pains that are being uprooted, observed and then healed. There is a breakthrough where someone will be righting past wrongs. You are slowing down and taking inventory of yourself and the innovations within you. Some changes, either in heart or mind, may appear sporadically and catch you by surprise. You may have had difficulties in the past allowing your light to continue to shine through tough circumstances, almost like turning yourself into a different person. This is an opportunity for healing if you allow the Divine to work through you. With the fifth house here, you are co-creating with Spirit in order to shine your authentic light through. The fifth house is also where you get to express your artistic vision and unique creativity. Where you can have fun through creative expression. Looking to see the 5H ruler and the planets gathered there can show you the best way to express yourself creatively (Gemini = writing, Aries = something physical like drumming etc.). This full moon is allowing you to release the chaos and conflict of everyday life and to find some tolerance and balance emotionally. I think it’s time to take on the mysterious nature of Scorpio and give yourself some Hermit time. Secluding yourself can limit your chaos and conflict intake and this full moon could be the perfect timing. We all go through cycles but this time you have to decide that you want to grow through these cycles. The Sun is shining on this reading Cancer, signifying self-confidence, growth and an abundance of creativity. I truly hope you enjoy this time!

Leo

Ok Leos, I see that you are doing a lot of inner child work this full moon. You may be facing abandonment wounds, the struggle of being silenced as a child and other heavy memories. But there is the strong message of you are not alone and to dive deep into these feelings. There is a new beginning opening up for you but as always you must first release. All of the things that you believe make you who you are may need some questioning. This full moon you are facing a rebirth. Your intuition is calling you to nurture yourself and make space for the joy that you are calling in. You know that you are in the process of planting new seeds but you have to check the soil that you are working with. You also know that no matter the condition, you are not irreparable. You are ending the never-ending stories that you tend to keep on repeat. You are tapping into your inner wisdom so much so that you know the narrative can always change, and look how far that has gotten you thus far! This is the time where the truth will not be spared. Not to yourself or others. This may look like more boundaries, limitations in accessing your energy and taking only the responsibilities that belong to you. You are eager for this rebirth and anything that stands in the way of that, even your own mind, can be cleared out in a healthy manner. Remember that an important part of this process is the gratitude for just how far you have come and gratitude for your inner knowing that greater is coming. Sing your song of gratitude to the sky Leos, the heavens are listening with proud ears. Again, you are not alone in this.

Virgo

This full moon is going to be very empowering for you Virgo. You are tapping into your inner wisdom much easier with the moon being in your sign. You even had the full moon card come out in your reading, talk about aligning lol. This full moon is calling you to honor yourself Virgo. All of the things that you’ve always said you wanted to do, what happened? Of course in the midst of COVID, we are in a different world but your dreams are still very real. Your repressed desires are being revealed in the light of this full moon, calling to you. But first you must take a look at what you have already been investing your time into. Like I said in one of the other readings, what you feed grows. You can be a very committed individual. But it may sometimes feel as if you find it difficult to commit to certain things. The only thing stopping you from taking off is you and I say this with the most love possible. I myself have held back from many opportunities, making any and every excuse. But it’s time for you to go the distance Virgo. There is a new beginning being introduced between February 27th and March 13th with the new moon in Pisces, your sister sign. During this time your energy is peaking and Spirit is asking you to step up and into what you really want to do. Listen to your heart. And if you begin to hear your mind instead, telling you that you must do it this way and if not it’s useless or pointless or if you feel yourself restricting remember that it’s ok to be daring sometimes. People have the audacity to do all kinds of things so why can’t you have the audacity to go after your own dreams? You are not alone in this. Scorpio energy may be important during this time or you could be channeling this energy for yourself in order to take charge emotionally.

Libra

Wow Libra, this full moon is allowing you to look at your deepest, darkest truths and to be able to honor them. If you have been feeling a sense of heaviness around you look to see where you may be carrying too much. Most times, when we are able to fully look at ourselves and evaluate our emotions and thought patterns, we can see that a lot of what we’re carrying isn’t even originally ours. Spending most of our time with family or significant others we can sometimes just adapt to what they believe is true. Especially if that means we can keep the peace. But I’m seeing that this may actually be causing the conflict that you were trying to avoid in the first place. And the only reason that this is important is because we are all supposed to be living in our authentic truth. When we don’t, no matter how hard we try, things still seem to feel inharmonious. But all of this has a purpose Libra. This severing that is happening within your life is a removal of the things that just don’t fit anymore. And you are recognizing that during this full moon. You know that it’s pointless to allow your fear to hold you back just because you know you have to face yourself on the way out. I can see that this is a big decision for you, a marking of events that sends you on a brand new trajectory. You have ‘Round and Round’ and the 6th house which is the house of routine and health. You may find yourself shifting your routine around to incorporate more of what you love to do throughout your days. You are in between energies right now so it’s most important that you focus on the journey and not so much the outcome of it all. Patience as you transform will be important as well. Some of you may be dealing with the inheritance of property or money during this full moon. Some of you may also be getting more into esotericism or occultism. You may also find more understanding of your shadow self here.

Scorpio

What a surrendering time for you Scorpios! Surrendering to joy, surrendering to the totality of life and surrendering to the acceptance that you are accountable for all of your gifts and talents. As you are in this space with the Divine you are gaining a new level of autonomy. Your perspective is so unique and pure. You can picture yourself within the world but also the bigger picture of it all. While others still look at this time within as imprisoning, you are looking at all of the sweetness of life, finding pleasure wherever you are personally interested in being. Your sensuality is oozing out of this reading Scorpio. You are feeling very much so in your natural element during this time even with the full moon being in Virgo, a very critical but nurturing moon. This energy is moving you into action. You are bringing your full energetic potential to all that you work hard towards. And when I say hard I mean going after the things you really want, not just working yourself into the ground. There’s a difference, there’s a balance. Your inner wisdom will be loud and clear at this time especially for you. Your discernment will aide you in knowing what isn’t for you. You are such a giving individual and not everyone is meant to bask in that energy for too long. Some people can get very comfortable with your gifts. But I am seeing that you are embracing this change naturally. As you are expressing your courage by sharing your gifts with mutuals, I can see your determination growing in order to maintain and grow these authentic connections. You will naturally know who to share with and how much to share. Do not second guess the knowledge that comes from within. It’s your voice of truth and will never steer you wrong.

Sagittarius

This full moon in Virgo is brining you a new level of self-awareness. While things may seem chaotic all around you, you will be able to feel grounded and at peace with who and where you are. You are a multifaceted being with a unique vision. There is a focus on all things tenth house related, so social status, structures, public image and achievements. I’m seeing two sides to this reading, on one end you are truly finding your step in times of relaxation but you are also going after you want in a healthy manner. This full moon is allowing you to tap into your emotions and find where you feel most safe within yourself. Again this is important because the rest of the reading points to dissonance within the relationships around you. That’s ok because it’s not everyone I’m seeing. There are relationships that you naturally relate to and with. Through it all it is important for you to focus on your breath. Breathing is necessary in order to balance your emotional being. If you feel yourself beginning to react to your surroundings, breathe. This will be a great time to lean into your creative urges. Feed yourself what you have been believing others can offer you. Allow yourself to shine in the privacy of your own company. An audience of 1, the only one who matters in that moment. I see with all of this creativity comes structure as well. You are growing your work ethic and becoming more meticulous with your decisions. You love what you do and you want to make sure you give things the attention that you feel it deserves. This will help ground your energy.

Capricorn

This full moon is brining you an inner awareness Capricorn. You are finding clarity in the relationships around you and understanding that there is nothing you can control outside of yourself. This full moon is exposing the karmic relationships within your life that were here solely to deliver a message. You are releasing the past and choosing to heal the parts of you that you may have neglected when in these karmic relationships. It’s important to point out that friendships, not matter how long, can also be karmic as well. There is communication coming in for you as well. You are gaining new information or a new level of knowledge in regards to manifesting. You are learning that everything present within your life now is based off of your prayers and manifestations come true. Now that could be either a good or neutral thing for you. You are learning also to tap into your artistry more, mastering the thing you love. You focusing on this thing you love even through your day to day brings you a very centering energy. You are able to ground yourself in this energy and find peace. As all of these things occur inwardly and intimately there is still chaos or conflict around you. From now until around March 21, you will be able to make beneficial decisions for your own sense of peace. Even outside of this timeframe, you will feel more called to take action against all that you feel is an obstacle to your joy and happiness. Because at this point you know that that is all there is to life. I’m seeing that you are over asking “why?” and moving more into faith. Just like with your dreams and manifestations, you realize that there is a method to living. There must be something that you are able to fully devote your energy to at this time. Nothing is nothing. And everything happens for a reason. I heard “your faith is feeding your fate”. There is a level of trust that I feel here for Spirit which I’m guessing is how you are going to feel at the end of all of this clearing out. This is a great release for you Capricorns, it’s brining in some much deserved energy and peace.

Aquarius

Like the true nature of an Air sign, your mind is getting a big refresh this full moon. You are finding a transformation in the way that you speak and think Aquarius. You may have been daydreaming recently about what it would feel like if you could show up as your authentic self in any situation. You could have felt inspired by someone else living and speaking in their truth that it triggered your inspiration for self. This full moon is allowing you to dive deeper into your gifts and to explore the lessons of life all around you. This may even come up as conflict or heated situations with close loved ones. There may be habits of codependency that are revealed to you just as you try to focus more on being your authentic self. You may find that people are dependent upon a person who doesn’t really exist, it is the idea of you. With this full moon though you are stepping into your true innovative energy, almost transforming before your own eyes. This is the person “you have always dreamed of becoming” but are realizing that it’s just you. You’ve been waiting on you this whole time. We all come here with a purpose and destiny, every decision you have made may not look like it but that’s how fate works. In the end it all makes sense. During this full moon look back at all that you have accomplished. If it helps try writing down some major or minor accomplishments that meant the most to you. Reflect on how it felt in that moment vs after when you received that accomplishment. I see that you will be in a cycle of breakthroughs and releasing between now and around the end of May with the next lunar eclipse. You will be receiving help from your spiritual team but it may not be the time where they look the most obvious. As you continue to align with your highest truth do not be afraid to be led by your intuition. This is especially for times when you have to make a decision but see no signs of help from Spirit. It’s within.

Pisces

This full moon is in Virgo and that is your sister sign within the astrological signs. You are being called to release this full moon and you will physically feel this pull. Your body will be sending you messages of the things that you are either still attached to or is still attached to you. This will be a very detoxifying time for you Pisces. There was a lot of earth energy within your reading, meaning that you will be very grounded in all of this energy. Ironically you started off with ‘the Sun’ and ‘You’ll survive this’. That’s a beautiful start to have! It’s ensuring that no matter what it looks like on the outside of your vessel, you are doing your best and there isn’t anything that you can’t survive. As you express yourself authentically there will be new beginnings and solutions to old issues that arise. I do see that as you progress spiritually you are still learning how to be human. You are finding your balance between the spiritual and the physical, growing your connection with Spirit but still aligning with what you achieve in the 3D. You are learning how to be in the world but not of it. There is a regeneration around all that you have thought that you wanted in the past. There is no judgement to this, we all evolve and our decisions change as we change. There may be resistance or struggle around this. You are learning that there is very little effort that is needed towards this regeneration because it is a natural occurrence. There is so much energy of releasing Pisces and that is such beautiful energy for you! This clearing out will not leave you empty or hollow. Gratitude will take it’s place. You are grateful for all of the nurturing that you now have available to yourself. You are grateful that you finally decided to clear out all that was keeping you stagnant and obsessed with conflict. You are using all of this beautiful energy for acts of service for others. There is also an air of mystery surrounding you during this time. You are sharing only what you want with others and gaining autonomy over your own privacy. Such beautiful energy to grow in Pisces, I believe in you loves. Oh and happy birthday to all the beautiful Pisces! 🎉

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kyotakumrau · 4 years

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ROCK AND READ 087 - interview with Kyo - part 3/3

(part 1 here & part 2 here)

－ At the moment the latest sukekiyo's album is your 3rd work 'INFINITUM'. I think you went beyond the common musical depth and scale. There's of course progressive feeling, electronic side, songs that express the subtle femininity. It feels like some changes happened in the band as you pulled away from so many different elements.

京 That's because the members are absolutely amazing. I really think so. As I just do the things I want, when there's something I want to try doing in a different way, somehow they get what we talk about and accept it fully.

－ When you presented them with the fact that you like 80s style cheap sound do you feel they responded like away?

京 Yeah. They will take each idea to crunch it and digest, and then come back with it.

－ I don't think you give them ideas the same way for all songs, so not only presenting it directly, sometimes tossing it deliberately slowly, from the right or left (kyotaku: like pitching a baseball), do you alternate it like this?

京 Of course, it's like that both ways. I'm also sometimes surprised when suddenly a totally unexpected songs comes. Like 'oh? something like this?' But when I try I'm able to find lyrics for it. And then it easily gets shape. This is how 'dorothy' was created. I got 'we got this far, let's do it'. Takumi, who wrote this song, submitted it because he thought it'd be fun, like a challenge. All members are having fun and pitching in various directions.

－ So each member is continuing to pitch ideas that stir others up?

京 Everyone is playing catch. If I got this kind of pass, I 'll respond with one like this. Ah, something like this came in so I'll go there next. The more we play catch and the passes continue the song becomes more and more sukekiyo like.

－ At any rate the speed of your working process is very fast, but it feels so healthy.

京 I think so too. We don't have release schedule decided so each of us just works on music when we want and have spare time. That's why it's not like studying in a preparation for the exam. It's wanting to study by yourself when there ain't no exam scheduled. Same for each of us, it's free. Have fun when you want to have fun, study when you want to study. In the end the most important part is that you managed to study. Not caring about exams at all (laughing). That's why even in the middle of DIR's tour I get new songs from sukekiyo members. Even if we don't have a release date decided.

－ Usually someone would think a person is busy during a tour and avoid sending songs to them (laughing).

京 Nope, it's totally fine with me. It makes me excited. Like 'eh? Sending it now? niiice!' Don’t you think that it's actually more fun this way? Having a feeling of jumping over [obstacles]. Like because it came at such time I need to reply soon. It's the best.

－ You're really enjoying this process. There are no other so called project bands that continue their activity for so long, but for sukekiyo 6 years have passed since your formation and all members musical appetites are just getting bigger.

京 Everyone is enjoying this, really.

－ Is there anything that you don't want to lose as sukekiyo, anything that you see as your foundation?

京 It's hard to say. It's nothing that can be explained with words. But there's something like that. Something like sukekiyo's line (as in boundary or perimeter), a feeling we should stay within that space. For our foundation, it will be the songs we created and the emotions and the atmosphere we obtained from our line. That's why it's something that happens naturally. There's nothing like 'let's choose feminine themes because it's sukekiyo', nothing easy to follow like that. sukekiyo members just understand what sukekiyo's line is. It's not clearly stated but everyone just can sense it.

－ Are you talking about that with other members?

京 We all discuss the sound, but not the big picture. Although we do talk about ideas like when we have a vague shape of a song we'd say 'I have an image like that for it'. Each member will chew on what I tell them, add their own color to it, and think how can we add it to the game.

－ What you're saying is just so very band-like. Well, I do get it we're talking about a band (laughing).

京 It's very band-like, everyone has a lot of freedom. I do understand how aggravating writing music while being chased by deadlines, having a release date set, can be. I want members to have freedom as much as possible when working, I only tell them let's release it sometime this year. That's why we write songs when a good idea comes to mind when each of us has time. From the creator's perspective that's the best way. sukekiyo writes with this kind of energy. And that's why we can perform even not completed songs live. Isn't it interesting this way?

－ Already with DIR EN GREY you would often all of a sudden change the melody or lyrics during the performance. Of course you also do that with sukekiyo, suddenly using new instruments at the shows, you have this ever evolving part.

京 It's something other members also enjoy (laughing). Like 'woah! Seriously?!' What do we have to do to get this etc. When we suddenly do it at the rehearsal there are obviously some things that don't work out. There are times when we just do minimum, but overall everyone is just having fun. And as a result songs are evolving. After recording there are times when you wish you have done some songs different way, because when you play them live they will start changing. To tell the truth I'd really love to record an album after shows and finishing a tour, but that's impossible, so we try to create an environment as close to that as possible, and at the shows it's like we are playing around [with songs] in a serious way. I think that's how it can be described best with words. With DIR it's the same. From my standpoint, I'm playing around in a super serious way. It can be said I don't treat it as work.

－ And that's how concerts became the place where you unveil your creations.

京 Yes.

－ Do they already feel like the place of creative work?

京 Yeah, they do. It's not about showing fans 'we've made this new song, please listen', it's just that it's fun for us, even playing still not completed songs.

－ From my side as well there's this excitement of waiting, how will this song sound today or how will the songs I know change.

京 Of course it's easier to achieve perfection playing concerts when you have everything planned and decided and you tour without changing the setlist at all. I understand that as a professional musician but I just don't find it appealing. Everyone feels different everyday, sometimes you feel good but sometimes you don't. I want to express it openly. I always want to show my true self. If something is anamorphic each time you look at it, that’s what I find appealing. Every concert you go to will be different. Of course that's true for most of bands, but I think that having this anamorphosis each time is what sukekiyo is about.

－ This volume of RR will be released on December 25th, just a few days after that the readers will be able to enjoy your show 'Sorera wo Izonsho to Yobu' in Shibuya. It's rare that you're playing a year end show.

京 I wanted to have a year end show [with sukekiyo] for some time but couldn't because of DIR's schedule. We decide DIR's first and then plan sukekiyo around that in available time. Even the not so happy us can do it for new year, trying that.

－ But we're talking about Shibuya with a bunch of noisy people shuffling at the crossing.

京 Yet wouldn't it be interesting to have people in black gather at such place, to darken it a bit? Isn't it okay to have dark/gloomy people as well? But because the concept is 'Kaihou no Gi・Unrestricted Ceremony' fans can scream and sing at the concert, go wild, anything goes. Well, it's a new year.

－ If you toss a word like 'new year' everything will seem to be okay. A nice way to put it (laughing). So there were no rules [for the show]?

京 Yeah, that's right. I thought it would be nice to have a day like that. And because we had a day like that it's also okay to have days when fans can't move next.

－ As it's a new year show, are you planning to perform some new songs?

京 We're planning on having the show divided into two parts, one song per one part. So two new songs. We will play them even if they are not completed yet. We've mostly decided on the songs, so we will definitely do it.

－ The harmony between the band members when you are performing live is strongly reflected in the song you perform there and then, right? I think you will get a crazy reaction from the people in the audience just exploding. Is it possible that the feel of the new song will change because of this?

京 Of course. Until now fans couldn't move or make any noise, so the only chemical reaction that occurred was from band members' sound and the atmosphere. With 'Kaihou no gi' we wanted to see what would come out if we recorded that, the influence from the fans' response and participation. I think it will definitely be different.

－ You also have a tour scheduled in February next year.

京 Putting it simply we felt we're not yet done with INFINITUM, so it's like an additional tour. I don't know how many and if we will include new songs, but to finish this phase we will do this extra album tour while adding some new flavor.

－ The first day of the tour is your birthday.

京 Yeah, but I don't care. But it seems important to fans.

－ Well, I care about that. Maybe you don't feel like celebrating other people's happy events (laughing), but I'd want to celebrate it somehow.

京 Ah... I'm kind of twisted, I'm the type to think that even if this year people will celebrate my birthday they probably won't next time. I live with a concept that nothing will last forever, the difference is only if it's a long or short time. I just say 'thank you' [when people wish me 'Happy Birthday'] while I keep thinking I'll be gone in few years anyway. I just say it honestly. Everyone must be thinking the same thing. They just don't want to show such ugly side because they are mature (laughing).

－ Stop being so gloomy (laughing). In the photo shoot today you have showed your bare legs, I didn't know you had so many tattoos on your legs.

京 It's not many. I'm filling up the space now, there's still long way to go.

－ You say it's not many, but you don't get tattoos to turn your own body into your own artwork.

京 Yeah, I just get them when I want new tattoos.

－ Is that also the part of you that wants more, that can't be satisfied?

京 It is. My hairstyle is also constantly changing. I get bored with my hair all the time.

－ The ideal style is not fixed, but do you sometimes tell yourself something like 'I'm not there yet'?

京 I don't have an ideal. Simply speaking, the best option is to just be born good looking. Doesn't everyone think that way? But it didn't happen for me (laughing). So I don't have an ideal look. I don't have this kind of optimistic thinking of holding on to an ideal that will not come true, like no matter what it's impossible, no way (laughing). It just gets irritating. People who believe that really have to try their best all the time. So I don't want to waste time on that. I wish I could afford to do that, but because I'm never satisfied I just can't.

－ What is it that you want the most at the moment?

京 Time. And a body that doesn't need sleep. At the moment I'm abstaining from sweets because of a kind of a resolution game that I randomly decided on with fans, I even forgo sweeteners. I'm angry at myself for picking my only pleasure (laughing). Can't even reduce stress like that.

－ But it's not like you can keep pushing restricting yourself staying indifferent. Even though you seem indifferent you're enjoying it, but at the same time you're frustrated.

京 Yeah, it's like that.

－ Musically, do you feel like you were saved by creating sukekiyo – another place to express yourself?

京 Of course. We have released quite a lot. Restraining me is just not possible.

#sukekiyo #京 #kyo #interview #rock and read #translation

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intjmd · 4 years

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Types of INTP

As many of you may have noticed, INTPs come in different flavors. Some of my closest friends are INTPs, and I have noticed some differences between them that I have not spotted in other types (ENFPs seem more homogeneous to me, I know a bunch and they have basically the same values, outlooks on life and even similar (or the same) interests). In consequence, I have decided to classify my beloved INTP to see if we can understand this better (or even arrive to the conclusion that some of my friends are mistyped). After thinking for a while, I have decided to keep it simple and describe only two different types or INTPs. I know it’s not enough, but I don’t have all the information that I would need to make an accurate description of other subtypes of INTPs (I think there might be at least another one). Feel free to comment, add or correct anything you may find here. Let’s go.

INTP 1 - AKA Chill INTP :

Looks/vibes:

This INTP looks like the most carefree person alive. Seriously. They are often cute and definitely have their style. Why do they say that INTP have a horrible fashion sense, then? Well, it’s just that their style is not the conventional style. They can be obsessed with certain parts of their bodies (e.g. perfect nails) and completely neglect others. Or they can aspire to look in a certain way (kawaii, really kawaii) that could look inappropriate in someone their age. They don’t care. They dress as they want, ignoring other wishes and advice. And sometimes it works out.

In general, they look rather sociable and happy. Try approaching them and you may be surprised. Sometimes, Chill looks even dreamy and you can tell they are fantasizing about having a dragon pet or whatever.

Habitat:

They dwell in their rooms and when they go out, they wish they were on their room. This type of INTP has watched more than 50 TV shows this last year, and probably reads a lot of fanfic. Their room is their sanctuary and is often filled with the interests of the owner, packed with action figures, tech, their clothes or maybe some painting that they did years ago and didn’t want to throw out.

Personality and interests:

Chill INTP is curious. He/She/That thing over there is an INTP after all. They remind me of an ENFP (Ne here) because the way they talk about about their passions and dreams. To put it bluntly: they can’t talk about a single topic for more than five minutes before changing the subject to something different. They do this with a bubbly/excited look and act like everything is possible for them (but then they are “too lazy” for achieving said dreams) (this has literally been said by two of them so it’s not an insult).

This Chill INTP loves series, fanfics, memes and the Internet as a concept. They have mastered every single shortcut of their computer and act like it’s part of their bodies.

Although Chill INTP looks approachable, they hate small talk and are very shy and private. Above all, they have trouble initiating conversations. If you befriend them, though, they will open up and flood you with an unending stream of ideas.

Academics: Chill is smarter than the average person, but also lazier than the average person. What’s worse, they know that they are smart and sometimes (only with their closest friends) can brag about it. While it’s true that they are bright and have no trouble understanding complex topics (actually the more abstract, the better), they lack motivation and often procrastinate. Sometimes, usually in hight school exams, they are able to successfully wing it and get good grades with almost zero effort. They will still whine a bit after getting an 8 in some subject that they didn’t even read, though. However, this “luck” (talent, actually, it’s raw intelligence plus a little bit of rhetorics and an innocent look) doesn’t last forever.

In the end, no matter how academically talented Chill may be, after missing a thousand classes and studying for maybe ten seconds, Chill fails. Hard. Usually for the first time in University. But it’s not that they can’t do it, it’s just that they don’t want to put in the effort right now. Maybe later.

Personal opinion:

This INTP is reaaaally fun to hang out with (I’m an INTJ, maybe we click because of that). They are witty, punny and can cheer you up with their innocence or random remarks. In addition, they get sarcasm (THANK YOU) and are not afraid of saying something regarded as “insensitive” if it’s true. This Chill INTP can be a bit stubborn, and will not change their behavior even if they admit it’s damaging them.

Overall, they are nice and don’t ask for much attention.

P.S: Chill INTP is NOT chill all the time. They can have breakdowns where all of their frustration gets out and they can cry in disappointment because the are not living up to their own standards. The agony disappears after a while, and they come back to their laptop and keep scrolling with a smile on their faces.

INTP 2 - AKA NERDY INTP:

Looks/vibes:

Nerdy INTP does not care at all about how they look. It’s a practical question, not a fashion contest, and they are going to pick anything as long as it covers the parts of their body that can’t be publicly shown. The plainer, the better, this way they can combine anything in their wardrobes.

Also, this INTP does not look “chill” at all. It’s more like a quiet fragile serenity that could explode anytime. There is a difference there. Chill INTP is very comfortable anywhere, even in the midst of a crowd, they just do their own thing and ignore everyone. Nerdy INTP is watching over you, analyzing your patterns and thinking, always thinking. This INTP is full of anxiety and is shyer than chill INTP. And when they are looking at a wall they are either thinking hard about the wall itself (colour, texture, design) or totally lost inside some theory inside their mind. The thing is that you know that they are questioning things.

Habitat:

Their rooms, but with zero clutter. It’s not minimalism, it’s a prison cell with the occasional coffee machine. They have a laptop, books and a bed, but that’s all. This INTP lives in his head, not on Earth. That’s why they don’t mind going outside, but they do this to think elsewhere, not to be elsewhere. Their heads are a mystery, I would describe them if I could.

Personality and interests:

Nerdy is not merely curious, Nerdy is utterly obsessed with knowledge and the truth. This means that they can research a single topic for like 40 hours nonstop and speak about it too, getting deeper and deeper and finding internal contradictions between the different sources until you (random listener) can no longer know anything. But they really understand it, and it just comes easy for them. They can keep their concentration forever and ever until their body stops working and they get into a random nap. Then they jump to the topic again.

Nerdy likes talking about different subjects. Unlike Chill, once Nerdy chooses ONE topic, he will remain in that area until nothing more can be said (which is approximately never) or until the other person changes the topic. Nerdy also strongly prefers one to one conversations, while Chill can manage up to four/five people at the same time.

In short, Nerdy seems much more focused and driven than Chill, but they are not natural achievers (#goalz #checklists) like an INTJ. Instead, they seek pure knowledge for the sake of it, to deepen their understanding of the world. They don’t need to change it, they just think that it’s interesting to dive into the most obscure and complex topics and master them. Their thirst is not for power but for wisdom.

Nerdy is as Internet addicted as Chill but it’s easier to find them looking for papers than watching Netflix on their own. They have three or four series that they love but they are usually complex (picture high fantasy) and the things they read are not the cliché YA novels in which Chill tends to indulge more.

Academics:

If Nerdy has chosen a career that sparks his interests, he will do great in his knowledge field. At least, Nerdy will spend hours and hours reading about this topic and becoming an expert. They will understand EVERYTHING and create a sort of “mind map” in their minds (just a map, then) with concepts and their connections. Nerdy is a bit lazy too, but their curiosity and intellect alone if directed towards the adequate career can take them to the top (or at least they are not whining at the bottom as sometimes Chill does).

Even if both Chill and Nerdy feel incompetent, Chill actually puts 3/10 effort and ends up getting a 5. Nerdy studies a lot (maybe not the most important things, they will probably get lost in the interesting bits) and try to do their best. Even if their results are great, they will feel as if they had failed because they are too perfectionistic.

To sum up, they work harder and get more results than Chill, but also set higher standards for themselves, which leads them to often overexert themselves and have higher levels of anxiety. This is why they do nOT look so chill.

Personal opinion:

For me, Nerdy feels like a caffeinated, stronger, sharper version of Chill. Maybe a little more hopeless and cynic, maybe more concerned with astrophysics than the newest One Piece episode. If Chill was fun, Nerdy is a hundred times funnier. However, Nerdy is also incapable of small talk (Chill knows how to, he just doesn’t want to do it and tries to avoid it) and has more trouble meeting new people. This INTP is only capable of speaking logically, and will destroy you incoherent arguments in seconds (yeah, every conversation feels like a debate). If you show any weakness, they will show no mercy. This side of them can bore or get tiresome for the more dictatorial (Nerdy will call out your bullshit, authority means nothing), harmony loving (debates are just debates, no feelings involved) (however, if you think that disagreeing equals hating each other, you are so fucked here) or happy-go-lucky (”Don’t think and be happy”) types.

If you are not ready to do some mental exercise, then leave alone Nerdy and go back to Instagram. If you go, try to chatter with Nerdy and then disregard all his ideas/hypothesis/arguments and it gets upset, you are a mere asshole. I actually love Nerdy INTP and think that his brain should be protected as World Heritage.

Things both (I think all INTP) subtypes have in common:

Curiosity about the most random things.

They hate small talk and initiating conversations.

They are so much fun for an INTJ.

They can be very insensitive when talking to other people (not a big bother for an NT)

All energy is redirected to their heads, their bodies are nOT fully operative.

They are always up for: COFFEEE, films or going to a new restaurant.

People love them and they don’t want to admit it.

They feel different but never complain about it (and never flaunt it as a virtue).

They have meltdowns and they saw them coming.

They love the Internet.

Kinky. Very specific kinks and you can’t kinkshame them. It’s better to join them.

They look innocent, like sweet cinnamon rolls but they are not.

P.S:

Maybe these two types are not well described and some of you think that Chill is just more well, relaxed Nerdy. Or that Nerdy has more willpower than Chill. I don’t know. I honestly think that both have different manifestations of the INTP functions and they are true INTP regardless of their differences. I also think that both are fun, smart and can become great friends.

P.S2:

@intp-the-thinker @intpmd this is for both of you, feel free to abort this unborn theory/hypothesis.

#intp #intptypes #intj

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worbiestuff · 3 years

Text

COVID-19 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

COVID-19, Coronavirus, is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered corona virus. It is spread or transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or exhales. These droplets are too heavy to hang in the air and quickly fall to the floor or surfaces. Some common symptoms include fever, dry cough, and tiredness, loss of smell and taste, headache and so on.

From a personal perspective on how COVID-19 affected me, I would say it did so in a lot of ways; education-wise, economically, physically, mentally etc.

The first confirmed COVID-19 case in Ghana was on the 12th of March, 2020. At the time, school hadn’t reopened but was in the process of doing so. Because of this, the president instructed that we were all supposed to vacate the school/hostel premises to our various homes, signifying all studies and academics to come to an end. We ended up studying online which brought so many pros and cons, which in the end the cons outweighed the pros. Bad internet restricted me from joining classes sometimes. I wasn’t understanding most stuff being taught because most of the courses were practical. Plus, I ended up missing some due dates for my assignments and had to beg or ask permission from some lecturers to finish them up because I had to balance house chores with school work because I was obviously home and couldn’t shun them because it’s my responsibility. Also, I had divided attention because of my siblings. I have a large family and it wasn’t helping me at all coupled with the online studies. In the middle of a class, I could be called to go on an errand or just have my little siblings running around for running arounds sake. It was one hell I had to go through.

COVID-19 also affected me economically. I manage my mom’s businesses for her sometimes and during the COVID-19 period everything was literally on me. My mom sells clothes. We weren’t having as much sales as we’d have if we weren’t on lockdown. Most people weren’t purchasing clothes because there were no new occasions. Weddings, funerals, parties and the rest had been halted too. I remember a friend mentioning to me that even if she bought clothes she had nowhere to take it to so she’d rather not buy, and this was really bad because there was not as much cash flow as there was without the pandemic and the lockdown.

My movement was also restricted because of the pandemic. We stayed home for almost a year. Months without stepping outside, no church services, parties, no visitations, etc. I was not allowed outside the main gate because of this and it got boring. I was just doing or following a particular pattern or routine every day for months; wake, house chores, eat, online class, sleep, and repeat. I got tired of the routine, I got tired of being online, I got tired of being stuck inside, and I got tired of everything at a point. It got so boring but there was nothing I could do about it. I wanted to stay alive.

My plans on travelling was tarnished. My family and I had plans on travelling during the Easter for the most famous festival of the year which was always held in Kwahu; “KWAHU OO KWAHU! This is like a ritual we always perform, going to my mom’s hometown for the festival, paragliding, hiking and having a lot of fun but this year we were restricted as the festival itself was even cancelled, prior to the president’s address to the nation. I mean we got really sad, especially my little siblings but we had to do our part, to help curb the pandemic in order to stay safe.

Despite the negative impacts it came with, I can never forget the good it did by bonding me with my friends and families. Even though my family is large, nobody really stays at home. My dad is a business man and is always travelling up and down because of the nature of his job. My mom on the other hand left home really early and came back really late, we could go a whole week without seeing her. My older siblings too hardly stayed home because they were working. Since the president announced the lockdown, we were all brought together. Our big family was back. I was seeing my dad more often, my mom and older siblings too. We would mostly gather around in the hall, watch movies or just discuss random stuff and it felt good. On the other hand I bonded well with my friends too because we were all online. Our old high school groups became more active, we were reminiscing on old times and laughing hard at old pictures. Though it was online and not physical, it felt good and real because I hadn’t spoken to some of them in years but we got bonded and more close because of the pandemic.

THE ARTIST WHO INSPIRED ME

EMMA HARDY

Based in London, Emma Hardy is well practiced in capturing the nuances of everyday life. Her images reflect an often unnoticed drama behind the scenes. Coming from a theatrical background and having worked as an actress herself before focusing on photography, Emma cites her fascination with people’s behaviour, the tensions, interactions and quirky humour, as a driving energy in her work.

Mainly self-taught Emma prefers to work with natural or available light, “I try not to impose much technique or too much of myself on my subjects.” As such, there’s a hallmark honesty to her work. Her images are infused with a believable sense of being, her portraits are intimate and unselfconscious. Tilda Swinton, Natalia Vodianova, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Stella McCartney have sat for her, among others.

Emma finds inspiration in the chaos and unexpected beauty of life, the less seen moments in between. For each commercial client she challenges herself to bring her sense of authenticity to a necessarily constructed commercial brief, “I photograph with my heart engaged, and however manufactured an instance in photography, the test is to bring soul into commerce”. Describing her aesthetic as raw but tender, Emma finds beauty in imperfection, and polish in the detail of everyday life. And through her lens, the most ordinary moments seem steeped in romance and intrigue, as if her subjects are characters in a movie playing in her head.

WORKS

WHAT APPEALED TO ME

MOODS

Emma Hardy likes capturing the everyday nuances of life or everyday moods of life. Her images are natural and sometimes unplanned. Working with people’s behavioral manners, interactions, attitudes, etc. She tries to make her work as natural as possible and puts her heart into what she photographs, as she stated herself in a commercial brief.

COLOUR

Emma Hardy likes to work with natural or available light.

THE PLAN/THOUGHT PROCESS FOR THE WORK

The initial plan of the whole work was to create something like differences, get a picture of my sister and I if possible or do a clone of myself since we already look alike and are twins. This idea was to put across a message that conveys tolerance and bonding even though we’re two different people with different personalities but still twins. Later the plan changed because of certain unforeseen circumstances. This time I aimed at creating the same differences but this time with a ball, to one part would be edited as if it were night time or dark, and the other would be left with the natural light, to show daytime. This was to signify that the sun gives the moon light, and even though they are two different bodies, the needed each other. Same applies with my sister and I, each one of us has our own sides, but we need each other to be around. The final plan after a few criticisms from my lecturer was to do the Chinese symbol yin and yang.

The principle of Yin and Yang is that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example, female-male, dark-light and old-young. The two opposites of Yin and Yang attract and complement each other and, as their symbol illustrates, each side has at its core an element of the other (represented by the small dots). Neither pole is superior to the other nor, as an increase in one brings a corresponding decrease in the other, a correct balance between the two poles must be reached in order to achieve harmony. Personally, I feel this symbol best describes us as twins because even though we are opposites we attract and complement each other. We have tiny traits in each other. And at the core of one another, we are represented by each other.

SKETCHES, PINTEREST INSPIRATION, MOODBOARD

FIRST DRAFT WORK

FINAL WORK

TITLE

FOUND THE GOOD INSIDE THE BAD.

I chose this title because the corona happening was a bad thing that hit us all, but even in that bad, there was a little good; me bonding with my family, especially my sister was the good.

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