#actually have something to contribute to the conversation artistically

[un-pearable]

why are 99% of crochet animal patterns just vague blobs. cmon. i know we can do better as a community. have you seen the shit the national parks service put out? yeah, the NPS. there are grandmas on the frontlines of the most formally accurate critters this side of a 3D printer. we can do better than orb with two triangles sewn on. we can make a more accurate cat. that is NOT what a turtle looks like. step AWAY from the axolotl

#EVERYTHINGS TOO CHIBI CMON. WE CAN HAVE VARIETY. WE CAN HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF CHALLENGE #i’m not saying everything has to be photorealistic. but it feels love every new pattern i see is the same basic shapes recycled #because people are so desperate to have ~content~ that they don’t have time to technically develop their skills to a point where they #actually have something to contribute to the conversation artistically #text✨ #this is extremely petty. however : come ON. so much of the crochet content i see is extremely beginner basic stuff newbies are being tricked #into mass producing for ‘markets’ where they are very unlikely to sell #and then they burn out of the hobby within a few weeks. this is NOT sustainable. and extremely wasteful of time and resources #i hate you should sell culture it’s. extremely annoying #i try to only do stuff that is either a) at least nominally useful or b) a gift for someone . bc i so desperately do not want to burn out #on this hobby and i love it sm . i feel so bad for all the people i see getting conned by the you gotta sell attitude and just. ruining the #hobby for themselves. you gotta do it for you you gotta #on topic. also like cmon. stop chibifying animals that are culturally significant to other communities just for money

[cfiesler]

Elon Musk did not create an AI trained on your fanfiction.

Hi, AI ethicist + fanfiction expert here. (This is one of those times where I feel uniquely qualified to comment on something...)

I’m seeing this weird game of telephone about the Sudowrite AI that I think started out pretty accurate, but now has become “Elon Musk created an AI that is stealing your fanfiction” (which frankly gives him far too much credit). I can probably say more about this, but here are a few things that I want to clarify for folks, which can be boiled down to “Elon Musk has nothing to do with this” and “this is nothing new”: Elon Musk is not involved in any way with Sudowrite, as far as I can tell. Sudowrite does, however, use GPT-3, the widely-used large language model created by OpenAI, which Elon Musk co-founded. He resigned in 2018, citing a conflict of interest due to Tesla’s AI development. It wasn’t until after he left that OpenAI went from being a non-profit to a capped for-profit. Elon Musk doesn’t have anything to do with OpenAI currently (and in fact just cut off their access to Twitter data), though I can’t find anything that confirms whether or not he might have shares in the company. I would also be shocked if Elon actually contributed anything but money to the development of GPT-3.

Based on Sudowrite’s description on their FAQ, they are not collecting any training data themselves - they’re just using GPT-3 paired with their own proprietary narrative model.  And GPT-3 is trained on datasets like common crawl and webtext, which can simplistically be described as “scraping the whole internet.” Same as their DALL-E art generator. So it’s not surprising that AO3 would be in that dataset, along with everything else (e.g., Tumblr posts, blogs, news articles, all the words people write online) that doesn’t use technical means to prohibit scraping. 

OpenAI does make money now, including from companies like Sudowrite paying for access to GPT-3. And Sudowrite itself is a paid service. So yes, someone is profiting from its use (though OpenAI is capped at no more than 100% return on investment) and I think that the conversations about art (whether visual or text) being used to train these models without consent of the artist are important conversations to be having.

I think it’s possible that what OpenAI is doing is legal (i.e., not copyright infringement) for some of the same reasons that fanfiction is legal (or perhaps more accurately, for reasons that many for-profit remixes are found to be fair use), but I think whether it’s ETHICAL is a completely different question, and I’ve seen a huge amount of disagreement on this.

But the last thing I will say is that this is nothing new. GPT-3 has been around for years and it’s not even the first OpenAI product to have used content scraped from the web.

#sudowrite #openai #fanfiction #ao3 #fanfiction ai #gpt3

[myfandomrealitea]

I very vividly remember in 2020, being told by this one person who began controlling our fandom rp server, that we had to turn our rp blogs into places where we had to reblog every horrific thing happening during blm. and that he "better not catch us trying to rp". he also was against tagging it because then "white people would ignore it". i remember forcing myself to watch videos of police brutalizing black men and women, real people dying in the streets, and trying to convince myself that if I looked away, I was part of the problem. He'd also convinced me that I lucked out in getting my job, only because I was white, and that I was taking this job from a much more qualified black person. the only reason i got away from him is because I started feeling like i should kill myself, because one less whitey. and that was when i snapped to attention and did whatever i could to get out of there, even though it cost me my reputation being slandered by him.

it's been 4 years, and I'm doing my best to heal, but apparently he's still at it. pulling this same kind of controlling bs that I'm seeing echoed in some of those reblogs.

don't traumatize yourself for the sake of proving you're a good person.

Please feel free to name and shame. That kind of behavior is abusive, predatory and could very well drive someone to kill themselves as you almost did. Him continuing to have a platform and unchallenged reach is outright dangerous.

If you are ever in a situation like this, please, clock the early signs and leave. Your health and wellbeing are far more important than your forced activism. If someone is ever:

Making you feel guilty over something like not reblogging a post, being a certain ethnicity/gender/race/sexuality.

Accusing you of contributing to or being the core problem in a much, much broader issue.

Trying to manipulate you and others by "tattling" on you for not doing something or not doing enough.

Threatening you in order to pressure you into doing things.

Screenshot all of the conversations, block them, and leave.

Things like this are why I will always give call out posts which do not contain blatant and corroborating evidence the benefit of the doubt. Its all too easy for people to join in almost automatically on dogpiles against people being accused of something like being racist or being passive/dismissive about world events.

(E.g; in the 911 fandom literal Latino artists and authors were being harassed over being "racist" re; their depictions of Eddie Diaz only for the people dogpiling them to scramble to retract and apologise once they realized the person wasn't actually an Evil Terrible White Person.)

I'm so proud of you for having the courage to get yourself away from your abuser.

#myfandomrealitea #sephiroth speaks #fandom #proship #reality #proshipping #world issues #justice #social justice #tw: abuse #tw: emotional abuse #911 #eddie diaz mention #tw: racism mention #human rights

[siriuslydeadfr]

The thing about Luca is that. And I say this as a writer, I suppose, but also as a queer person, that he exudes a certain feeling of safety, and comfort. Like, to have him play something will mean he's going to give you his everything. No matter the character, you'll see a sincerity that isn't just the product of the script, or the demand of it, but also the mind of the actor.

To know that a person of his calibre is out there playing queer characters so effortlessly, and without a doubt in their mind, without any prejudice blinding his artistic choices and who he is as a person, it's obviously a ray of hope, but it is also, then, a kind of trust, even if it is just parasocial in many ways.

I know if it's Luca playing a certain queer character - regardless of what happens to them in the script, that is if the script is stupid and insincere to the queer perspective in certain ways - I'd still easily trust him to do justice to the queer experience, for how sincerely he plays everything.

The whole every-character-of-his having a underlying homoerotic quality to them is all fun and cool and great and beautiful, but also, it's so fucking refreshing

It's been decades of asking for the correct representation in media, it's been years and years of queerbaiting and, if not that, just general lack of care

I've been accustomed to just wanting some of my favourite characters to be gay. Just thinking and wishing and hoping that someone someday will let them reach the full scope of their personality, let them have the right sort of ending, see first the fabric of their person, and not just the thread of their sexuality, and maybe then write the script. There have been all sorts of emotions, and so to find now a person who is doing just that? It's pure beauty.

For a while now it's been changing, more and more shows and films are becoming inclusive and accepting and understanding of the queer gaze, and it's so beautiful that Luca contributes to it with his whole heart, and has been for a long while.

Many must remember how it used to get with artists and makers always denying or trying to tip toe around the obvious queerbait, or shying away from the conversations that involved that queer perspective, or outright rejecting the very idea- it happens still - but then you see the likes of Luca and Marwan being comfortable in each other's company and also about the love they shared on screen (especially, i think, it begs to say, with them being men), talking happily about their characters, making playlists for them, recommending poems for them

A lot many actors now are open to these conversations, a lot of them now talk about it with nuance and care, with just the right words, and though it's in no way any less a contribution to the conversation, or any less genuine, but again, there is something to be said about the ease Luca shows.

Again, as I said before.. it feels safe, with him.

In a lot of his interviews, he doesn't bat an eye before saying things like - I was lucky to have him as my husband. And he means it, you can tell that by the smile on his face. When people are focusing on the movies' objective and the friendships in it, he easily goes and says it's not only the friendship, but also the love.

In another of his interviews, there was once this question about Roberta, about if he knew what was demanded from him and how he prepared for a transsexual character. I remember it because I was almost sure I'll be hearing some generic answer like I studied trans people for this role and this that blah blah, something ignorant, basically. I was braced for it. But he just said. (And he was talking in english, and all that he was trying to say was conveyed more through his face and gestures, it was super cute actually) - I read the script, and I just felt something. I didn't think about playing a transsexual, but a woman, with a friend. It was important for me to show the love she had for him. So. I just played a woman helping out a friend :)

And I was like ?? wait that's? That's all? You're not going to go deep into the character's psyche and the great moral upstanding you must be feeling for doing a role like this? You're not going to talk about how you "prepared" for this role or how it was "different" for you?

I was so used to people doing that, his simple answer took me by surprise.

and that's what's so refreshing, so comforting.

There's no hesitation in him, no prejudice or preconceived notions or activism, even, compelling his choices and words.

It's just him, plain and simple.

He's committed to his art in a way that people rarely are. Especially in media, where even big companies and huge hollywood stars often fail you.

I wish more people in this world were like him. So gently open in his ways, so effortless in his understanding and acceptance that it becomes intrinsic to him.

He's one of the few people, I would say, who are an artist not just by work, but also by nature.

#luca marinelli #the old guard #le otto montagne #l'ultimo terrestre #writing #he's so?? sweet and beautiful #he's someone I want to sit and have a conversation with. the other person who i want to do this with is #andrew garfield

[thv-jk97]

Sharing my thoughts about the negative take from that H*BE stylist about LWA because I need to put them somewhere, so forgive me for this post. For context, the stylist said that the MV is using disabilities and those who face discrimination as inspirational material and that they’re “romanticizing disabilities”, and while I can genuinely understand what they were trying to advocate for, their take also completely ignores massive elements of the MV as a whole, whilst also making grand assumptions about the artists (Tae and IU) that they cannot possibly know.

Listen, everyone has the right to interpret any piece of content how they see it and they’re also entitled to feel how they feel and share their opinions, but it becomes problematic when they start making baseless assumptions along with the point they’re trying to make. Claiming that IU and Tae are rich cishets with no disabilities(implying that they are privileged and not discriminated against) is such a WILD assumption to make (let’s not forget that IU does actually have a hearing impairment).

I do think that there should be conversations about who should be able to tell what stories or portray what character, especially in huge projects in mainstream media, but there has to be room for flexibility. Are we going to require people to reveal everything single thing about themselves in order to prove that they can represent a specific demographic fairly? That’s a completely unreasonable expectation, and in some circumstances, it could literally be unsafe. And their assumptions do not contribute to a constructive dialogue about this topic at all.

Not only that, but their critique sort of implies that the MV equates having disabilities to being a victim, but that isn’t what I personally got from the MV. Their characters literally fight until the very end, in their blind and deaf/mute states, and are never actually shown as weak. And it’s just another assumption that the “love filter” takes away their disabilities, when in reality, IU still uses sign language even when Tae is looking at her through the camcorder – what is shown is a world where they don’t have their injuries anymore (injuries that were sustained in this dystopian world) and their lives are more than just fear and running. The concept of “love wins all” is that they made it to the very end of the world together and are ultimately taken out by the shittiness of this world that they’re living in – not by their disabilities.

The stylist also goes on to imply that the ambiguity of the MV is an issue because they end up wearing traditional hetero outfits (since when is sexuality linked to pieces of clothing?), and if it were meant to mean something to the queer community, they wouldn’t have included that. Which makes no sense because that’s the beauty of art – it’s meant to be interpreted however the viewer sees it, and so many people in the queer community did actually take comfort in the symbolism they interpreted from the MV.

To be honest, I can’t help but question the motive of their rant, because from where I’m standing, this person works for a billion dollar company that literally capitalizes on using the queer community for good sales (fanservice, etc)(mind you, this is only one of H*BE’s many offenses) so their issues with this metaphorical MV seem to be a bit selective (aka taking issue with things that don’t affect their livelihood). Also gonna add that they literally have posts supporting Zionists (who raised money specifically for the IDF), so it really seems like selective activism atp.

Tae and IU have both consistently shown that they are massive advocates of inclusivity and equality, so to be accused of exploiting minorities and their struggles is actually so upsetting. People can label it whatever they want, but IU’s decision to change the title of the song was not about “saving face”, it was showing empathy for a minority when she learned that they were bothered by the original title. And for this person to insinuate that Tae and IU are tone deaf and clueless to the strife of those who have been discriminated against is just plain disrespectful and such a projection based on their own personal interpretation and assumptions.

Anyway, sorry for this long-winded post. There’s never a day of peace and I am siiiiick of it.

#rambling thoughts #love wins all #mv discourse

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I feel like this conversation is a bit played out, but I’m curious: do you think JK’s banking on winning a Grammy and potentially getting out of his military service? I’ve tried to take their words for what they are and I know everyone’s said that they’re all going to the military, will be back in 2025, yadda yadda, whatever. I can’t understand why, if that’s the case, they’re banking so much on his solo career if he’s just going to disappear from the scene (physically) for almost 2 years. Do you get what I mean?

My thoughts are that they are actually hoping for a Grammy and subsequent deferment of mandatory service, but then again, nobody knows so I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out.

As this is only speculation and might as well not happen, let me bring my own contribution. I don't think this is about Jungkook and I'll explain why.

If you look at this entire issue from the perspective of the artist/idol, you'll realize soon that you're stuck, that you can't explain why he's doing this or that. But looking at it as a business deal will shine another light on it.

Yes, Jungkook is leaving to do his military service soon and everything he said up until now points to that so why are they investing so much into making him a "global pop star"? Because Hybe and Hybe America need to show that they can do that. That their strategy is one that works for future business. Why do you think they tried it first on the most versatile of the BTS members, the one that can do any song because he has the voice needed for that? This wouldn't have worked with Taehyung or Jimin. God, I'm so happy it didn't work with Jimin because it would have been horrible to see all that unfoulding. Besides, they had projects on their own and without making any contribution to the song writing, Tae's album was still something that matched his personality, it was him with the help of MHJ.

With Jungkook, the situation is different. I wouldn't know the details, but when they announced their hiatus, it looked like everyone was set on releasing an album, including JK. And then, most likely, life happened. Because you can't plan your state of mind. And when you're under a contract, you do need to listen to other people. I know army always uses the shares in Hybe argument, but the value allocated for the members is insignificant on a larger scale. Yes, they are rich and they can do what they want and sleep on a wlive, but I don't think for one second the company would have let Jungkook do nothing and be a couch potato.

So they found this opportunity. You also have to keep in mind that Hybe paid a lot of money for Scooter's company and then what happened to him? Most of his artists left? So where is this big opportunity for collaboration and projects and all that?

This is just business. That's it. They chose the idol capable of being a blank slate and stuck the concept of global pop star on him. Because that's what it is which is incredibly funny (not). Usually that accolade comes after some time, when the results can be seen over a prolonged period of time, but in this case, that was the starting point. As much as Bang wants to get rid of the k in kpop, they're still using a kpop strategy, that of making an album based on a concept or creating a specific image for an idol.

And now they are pushing it hard. They are investing a ton of money into this in a way that makes them look desperate and I think that in the industry at large, people see it. Not the fans because they either choose to turn a blind eye or their mind doesn't go that far. There are voices which have said a thing or two lately among army, but it's an insignificant minority. The company can rely on the fandom to buy all those 284836521 versions and remixes and they will eat it up. And voila, look at how Hybe produced a global pop star in less than half a year. Quick, open the catalog for some songs that sound mediocre enough for a top 40, make the singer record them asap, fast, done in less than one week. Quickly come up with some generic argument of how this is just to show the artist's vocal range (good job PR for that one, jesus) and then also openly admit that it was made for a Western market, aka US cause the world stops there.

Jungkook had the possibility to show more personality of his own when he was with a group of six other people than with his solo album, which is so ironic. But that is because it is not his album. He's merely a vessel through which Bang and Scooter can show investors that they can invent a global pop star and fast while their pockets grow bigger and bigger.

#m thoughts #hybe #jk #bang pd #kpop

[bengiyo]

Framboise (played by Kaji Masaki) is probably my favorite side character of 2022. In a year of great older queer men in genre, from Mork’s uncles Cheep and Dej in My Ride to Uncle Man in 21 Days Theory, I’m so glad we got Framboise as well. In Framboise we see a self-actualized gay man that literally lights up the room with his energy. He is what I aspire to be in a gay elder.

When Framboise first appears, it is in a burst of sunlight and flowers as he enters the convention floor. He’s excited to see other creators, and thrilled to be near another queer creator who he’s clearly admired for a long time. Framboise is determined to get Nekoyashiki to join them at the after party for other queer artists. Though he’s constantly rebuffed (and expresses his frustration vocally), he doesn’t give up on or abandon Nekoyashiki.

Framboise, like any sort of manga/anime character, has a clear and specific style. What I love so much about him is that he is more indicative of what so many gay men actually look like. We have facial hair. Some of us are chubby. We like for our clothes to fit well. So much of what I love about Framboise’s style is how it fits with his physicality.

His joy when he moves around is about being in the space with everyone. He’s not flashing his clothes to impress others; those are the clothes that make him feel most like himself. It’s such a joy to see a heavy-set character happy and comfortable in his skin in a BL, especially one that’s older.

Like many of us, Framboise thrives on queer community so much that he takes any offerings of kindness from Mamoru for the big deals that they are. He was so surprised in the middle of the series that he was overwhelmed with love and fell down. Like many of us, we can all appreciate the attention of an attractive younger man, and yet it mostly stops at play.

In the finale, we get to see Mamoru finally relax himself enough to be open to Framboise, and can finally receive directly the unconditional love of another queer person who cares about you. It’s big and it’s joyous and it is offered in behind the back hug that takes you off your feet.

Framboise isn’t happy for Mamoru because of specific success (exemplified by Takkun), he’s happy that Mamoru finally drew something he was happy with. As a queer elder, it’s such a joy to see a baby gay figure themself out and finally appear comfortable in their skin; conversely, Framboise displays how genuine appreciation for being seen earnestly. Mamoru knows that he’s appreciated.

As we reflect on the future of BL, I will be writing about Cheep, Dej, Man, and Framboise again, because this was the first year that queer elders really contributed to my enjoyment of the genre. I hope Framboise is the beginning of us seeing older queers having joyous lives in our dramas.

Special thanks to @liyazaki​ for creating these gifs for me so I could share my love of this character with you all.

#kabe koji #kabe koji nekoyashiki kun desires to be recognized #kabe sa doujin sakka no neko yashiki-kun wa shouninyokkyuu wo kojiraseteiruj #japanese bl #Sarge writes #Framboise #bl series #ql series #lgbtq #Ben writes #in praise of BL characters

[wisyhana]

These are some pages that I made as fanart for a fanfic i Really Love. It's something rare that I look back and actually kinda liking the result- 😂 I've been trying to improve my panels flow(?)/pacing And the Lettering- adding words in comics is pretty hard 🥺 if you had some insights, pls let me know ❤ or just give me what you think... Thank you so much!!

Hi! Thank you for waiting this long hahaha

First of all I love your Yugi, is so freaking adorable, big fan over here aaaaaa.

And okay we're gonna talk about comics. Oh boy. It's not a topic I dont like talking but it's something I get way too.... intense, even if I feel I don't have much to defend with. Anyway I'll try to not be so detailed and serious about it so I can bring a decent commentary!

Disclaimer that I have a lot of issues with the use of thought bubbles, but that's a me thing. Myself I try to avoid them so I can focus on a "show more, talk less" type of flow. So if I start talking about them it's because of that, not that you'r doing a bad thing or anything.

I like how you use the panels, by themselves and ignoring the dialogues, they work perfectly fine! I think my thing with the pacing is that I'd draw a 3-4 pages comics instead of 2 for this scene alone. It's a pain I know, but I think for this type of scenario adding a little more of time could help to appreciate some details, like Kaiba being notoriously angry, the moment he touches Yugi's forehead, etc. But this is also a very personal opinion because I'm a sucker for very sloooow interactions, so all this I'm saying is for the sake of a slower pacing. Sadly you gotta draw more or write less if you want to get that effect, also you can get in a situation where things end up vague and ugh, what a pain hjdfhjhds.

I have a serious problem with dialogue bubbles, I never know where to put them Dx. I always feel they're on the way or that they hinder the reading or that they look straight up ugly hahahaha. I think you use a good space for them! they're not in the way of the faces or important scenes, but I can see you needed to add arrows for the conversation to work. In my opinion the dialogue works perfectly without the arrows. We all know there are two people talking so having only the faces on the bubbles was enough to understand who was talking and what order follow.

Now, if you want to work on bubbles without using the faces to show who's talking and don't lose the order in the way, I could recommend something like this:

Sorry if it looks way too clumsy! But a thing we artist have to deal is how the order of the bubbles affects on the flow of the dialogue. Specially when we don't have a specific way to show how the person talks (for example japaneses have many ways to show character's expression so it's easier for them to identify it.) So we need to focus on the flow.

A wonderful person who talks TONS of this matter is the motherfucker Scott McCoud!

This is just an example of how dialogues can contribute to the time and spaces and how the order affects the reading. This is not the exact example for what I mean but Scott is a badass of the comic and the complexity of it.

Understanding Comics The invisible Art is a masterpiece, I blame him for making me doubt is I'm doing a good job or not.

Okay before I go way too into this, one last thing and this is personal opinion. I love white background but you gotta be very careful to not make it look like lazyness. You don't need to draw a full background but maybe adding some shading can help to make the illusion of space rather than having a blank space. Of course this is just my opinion.

Anyway, I really like how you work! my huge recommendation would be to simply take your time on it, I feel it shows a bit of impatience or nerviousness, but that's just my idea. So far you're going a good way on creating comics and I'd love to see more of them :3

Hope this helped you in some way! And as always don't forget to have fun drawing your beautiful bois!

this is me everytime I draw comic and find a inconsistency.

#ask #comic #scott mccloud

[danjaley]

Limits of the Poselist - Some Thoughts

A contribution to the conversation with @greenplumbboblover under this post.

I definitely see that the way it is, it's not possible to have large numbers of posepacks installed and still use the list. I avoid this by putting in only those I need (I explained my system here). It would definitely be cool to have more sorting and viewing features, but some limits came to my mind:

Entry Size

While thumbnails are limited to 60x60px, long descriptions can actually enlarge the poselist entries. There is a limit though: I actually put in more blind-text than is displayed here. The problem with this is that it sets the standard for ALL poselist entries. This makes the list even longer to scroll. I wouldn't mind so much if only the entry with the long description was enlarged. This is also my main concern with bigger thumbnails. What's shown here would be roughly the space needed for 100x100px.

Thumbnail Size

It is possible to put thumbnail images larger than 60x60px into a posepack, but the list will display them as 60x60 anyway. However, the images doesn't get "softened" in resizing, which creates very hard edges and makes especially faces harder to read for the viewer. If they aren't square, the list will also distort them.

(I tried to capture this, but taking screenshots and uploading them to tumblr took away a lot of quality anyway)

Here I replaced 1a with a full-resolution image, and left 1b at 60x60px. What looks crisper in the screenshot is actually rather crunchy in game. You can see how the pixels jumped around in the standing man's face.

I also replaced 2m (at the bottom) with a 100x100px image. This might be a good compromise resolution. Some creators have used this in the past and it is easier to view in S3pe, while still looking good in 60x60. However, it would make the entries larger (see above). A technical problem about larger thumbnails would also be that thousands of posepacks were already made with 60x60 thumbnails.

In the screenshot below, I inserted a full-resolution image for pose 4c. Again I apologize for rambling about something that can't really be captured, but the auto-resize does eat the facial features. By comparison, I always tried to put as much information as clearly as possible into 60x60px. It can be done, but is is a bit of an artistic challenge.

#text post #technical stuff

[princesslachimolala]

The Bangtan GC📱

2. Matching tattoos✒️

•••

Synopsis: you (yn 🦊) are in a members-only group chat with BTS💜

Pairings: platonic! ot7 x gn! reader

Warnings: mention of a tattoo needle

Authors note: gender neutral (gn) reader so read the honorific’s as they apply to you, short filler of what I imagine the conversation between bangtan was like when they decided to get matching tattoos with yn’s contribution… but I realised it was kinda pointless since they couldn’t get their 7 tattoo since this is part of the 8th member of bangtan series so… yeah. Hope you enjoy regardless 💖

•••

🐰: soooo I did a thing…

🐨: oh no, this’ll be good🙄

🐹: what did you do kook-ah??

🐻: the suspense 🥴

🐥: this better be good I was just peacefully building my Lego and now I’m anxious

🐱: I was sleeping and you all keep buzzing my phone

🐰: I got another tattoo!!

🐿: wow JK!! What did you get??

🐨: that’s hardly a surprise kook but if it makes you happy I’m happy👍🏻

🐥: where’s yn-ie, they’re usually the first to reply…

🦊: I’m with kook minie🫶🏻

🐰: yn noona/hyung came with me! But I have another surprise…

🐥: omg you got matching tattoos?? Yn-ie you said that we were gonna do that 🥹

🐹: my baby petal is tattooed???

🐻: last to know everything these days😔

🦊: everyone calm down I didn’t get a tattoo today

🦊: oppa/hyung… you know I already have a tattoo you said it was pretty 🥴 and we will one day minie 🫶🏻

🐿: what’s your other surprise jk?!

🐰: my tattoo artist likes to chat and he suggested a cool idea

🐻: which is??

🐰: don’t say no right away please

🐱: no promises kook-ah

🦊: here him out guys it’s a good idea!!

🐥: we’re listening kookie🫶🏻

🐰: so the concept of matching tattoos…

🐹: yes?🤨

🐰: how would you all feel if we got a matching tattoo together?

🐹: like a real tattoo? with a real needle?🤧

🐰: yeah…

🐥: sounds cool Kook! What would we get though?

🐻: I like it too!!

🐨: hmm could be cool i guess…

🐿: I dunno JK😅 I might be with hyung on this one

🐰: majority rules 🧑🏻‍⚖️ matching tattoos it is🙏🏻

🐹: yn agrees with you?!

🦊: I think it would be cute Jinnie oppa/hyung

🦊: what about you Yoongi oppa/hyung?

🐱: what the maknaes want the maknaes get… we all know this by now… there’s no point in arguing with them

🐰: on a real… I know tattoos aren’t for everyone and I don’t wanna force anyone into a tattoo they’ll regret so we don’t have to 😅

🐹: Ah kook-ah… you’re very hard to say no to🙄

🐿: hyung!! Don’t abandon me now!!

🐹: I’m a weak man Hobah

🐥: is that a yes hyung??

🐹: i guess so🤧

🐨: what would this tattoo be anyway??🤔

🐰: I was thinking something small… the number 8? Since there’s 8 of us?

🐱: that’s kinda cool

🐨: nice and simple jk👍🏻

🐱: Hobah?? You in?

🐿: I guess I’ll need to be😅

🦊: it’s okay oppa/hyung… we’ll all be together at the tattoo shop and the needles aren’t even that big or scary🫶🏻

🐻: I guess a small tattoo won’t take too long 🤔

🦊: we can hold hands too🫶🏻

🐻: I don’t need you to hold my hand yn-ie🙄

🦊: I was talking to Hobi oppa/hyung🙄

🐻: so what your saying is you don’t even wanna hold my hand?🙄

🦊: well you don’t wanna hold mine so what’s your point🙄

🐹: yah stop bickering or I’ll make everyone all hold hands🙏🏻

🐿: thanks yn-ie that might actually be helpful😅

🦊: nice to know I’m appreciated 🙏🏻

🐻: you can hold my foot then if it makes you feel better

🦊: why would that make me feel better 🥴

🐰: so will I say to my tattoo artist??

🐱: go ahead JK… we can all look at designs and decide what suits everyone best

🐨: kind of excited now

🦊: then we can get matching sparkle tattoos jiminie✨

🐥: ooh I like that!!

🐰: I want matching sparkle tattoos🥹

🐹: yah I want to match with baby petal too!

🦊: you can join in kookie!!

🦊: Jinnie we can get our own matching tattoo! What about about a flower petal design?

🐹: I love that baby petal, look at our private chat🙏🏻

��: keeping secrets in your private chat?

🐹: we’re discussing the design 🙏🏻

🐻: so this sparkle tattoo… can it be for the maknaes to match?

🦊: yes Tae Tae🙏🏻

🐻: thanks baby petal🥺

•••

A/n: I think the dynamics are becoming more obvious between yn and the other members… they have them all wrapped around their finger (especially Jin) and has a bit of a sibling rivalry with Tae lol, it’s all love tho🫶🏻

#bts army #bts x reader #bts fanfic #bangtan #bts #bts hobi #bts jeon jungkook #bts jimin #bts jin #bts namjoon #bts x gender neutral reader #bts yoongi #bts taehyung #bts suga #bts jungkook #bts v #bts jhope #bts x y/n #bts jk #bts ot7 #platonic #bts seokjin #bts rm

[kamenriderliveblog]

Guess what's ready for digital order! It's @ultra-zine!!!

Okay look I know that my very first post said that I wasn't a figure person. That has obviously changed and I have officially fallen into the SH Figuarts rabbit hole. I preordered Blazar plus I want to get Zero and all of Z's forms. Send help, lmao

Full disclosure: I did contribute something to this zine, which is one reason why I haven't done many liveblogs lately. (I'm still a little emotional about seeing something I've written in print.) I wrote Chill Out, It's Snow Problem, though that was before I saw the dub for Z. Watching that notably changed how I write Z's verbal tics.

I had a hard time with this story because my first draft was like 4500 words. I had to cut out a lot and that was a painful experience! Granted, for me editing is always a painful process, but I'm of the opinion that if it doesn't hurt in one way or another, I'm not editing enough. I'll probably toss up the longer version on AO3 eventually though. It actually really, really hurt to cut as much as I did and I want those parts to see the light of day in one way or another.

There were some scenes that I wanted to write but didn't even make it into the first draft. There was originally going to be a scene with Z taking control of Haruki's body with his permission and skating at an ice rink because my headcanon is that Z would be really good at it. Yes, that scene from episode 7 has been living rent-free in my head for way too long. I also thought Z skating in Haruki's body would be a fun scene for the artist (in this case the amazing @chacerider, though I didn't know that at the time) to use for the illustration if they wanted. Beliarok was going to appear too, but I couldn't think of a way to get him in there in a way that I was happy with.

Originally the story started in Haruki's apartment before going to STORAGE, which actually did make it into the first draft. I had to choose between scrapping that whole intro or paring down the emotional beats that came later. The choice was obvious. Oh yeah and I had Haruki nearly get hit by a truck in the first draft. Fun! Still had to cut it, though.

Haruki and Z being able to tell how the other is feeling or emotions bleeding from one to the other isn't exactly something that happens in canon, I know. It's pretty much me taking the idea of Haruki's emotional state having a big effect on Z in episode 12 and then dialing it up to 11. I like the idea of there being side effects (for lack of a better word) to merging, and I wanted to explore how the friendship between Z and Haruki might develop if there was a lot more unintentional emotional openness. I'll also fully admit that I stole some things from Geed. Leito and Zero's conversations when they're out and around regular people was the big one, and while Z does take control of Haruki's body in episode 7 for a second, I was really more thinking of Geed's early episodes and how Zero would take control of Leito's body basically whenever he felt he needed to.

If you made it to the end, thanks! The link to read my story on AO3 is below. If you didn't manage to grab a physical edition of the zine, you can get a digital version of it and the previous volumes here!

#not a liveblog #ultraman z #ultra zine

[anghraine]

I've complained before about the kneejerk "film/TV is a different medium, [literally any change from the original] had to be made in this adaptation's exact way because of the change in medium."

I find this irritating for many reasons—mostly because it seems a defensive and oversimplified attempt to silence criticism while denying that actual artistic choices go into deciding how to interpret and adapt a text.

Something else I was thinking about, though, is that frequently it's just wrong. Like, people will often leap to "but the medium!!" when anyone tries to talk about the lack of subtlety in a lot of the choices wrt characterization and atmosphere in the LOTR movies. But film and television are perfectly capable of nuanced characterization. They certainly can convey subtle menace—arguably more easily than prose alone, given that visuals and music can be used to great effect in crafting quieter tension.

This is apart from the question of whether this should be done, or should have been done in adapting scenes that were originally written as unsettling/uncertain rather than FLYING SKULLS!! or beating up Gollum or whatever. But film as a medium can absolutely be subtler than the LOTR movies, come on.

The idea that it can't seems a weird denial of the artistry of the medium and of the many artistic possibilities in adaptation. To me, this makes about as much sense as saying "the movies had to leave out most of Tolkien's songs because film is a silent medium." Whatever you think about including the songs ... uh, no, it's not?

The closest this comes to a valid response, IMO, is not that everything in an adaptation is reducible to its medium, but that X would be unusual or difficult for a particular genre. It's not that, say, film can't do scenes where an apparently normal or pleasant conversation has another layer of fear or danger and the very civility contributes to the tension. But you could argue that it's unusual or difficult in action-adventure films, yet that that's the most effective genre for LOTR as a story. Whether I agree or not, that wouldn't straight-up deny the capabilities of cinema as a medium.

#changes in medium aren't only about 'welp i guess we can't do [thing] now because it doesn't work in any other medium' #some things can actually benefit from the advantages and creative potential of other mediums! #imo the limitations of cinema as a medium is overwhelmingly bound up in /time/ #but that makes what an adaptation chooses to spend its time on not 'but the medium!!!' but all the more relevant #for discussion and scrutiny #(i got thinking about this because of the usual kneejerk response about how a halfway recognizable denethor wouldn't work on film #because the medium can't handle subtlety #and i'm just thinking ... since WHEN) #anghraine rants #adaptation #pj critical #long post #ish

[bloodiedbeloveds]

Rotating BDTA-John in my head, and it's leading me to ask... why does he paint? And why paint, rather than write or sing or something else?

this is a really good question! it prompted a long conversation, but we didn't come to an agreement, so here are various perspectives.

"Having left the education system as a form of rebellion, it seemed obvious to him that he must pursue an artistic career of some nature. I think he is a painter because he has isolated himself from the world in trying to hide his inhuman nature, and it is easiest for him to pursue a career path where he is not required to make many public appearances and where he is expected to be somewhat skittish and eccentric. As a musical performer, he would have much more difficulty hiding his wings."

“honestly he probably could have been a writer and it wouldn’t have changed much, to tell you the truth the others are giving all these sensible watsonian explanations but i’m 95% sure it’s because we like describing fictional works of visual art”

“shut up it absolutely would have changed things, him being an artist adds to the epistolary form by contributing even more implied content— in the same way that there’s all these interpersonal interactions which must take place but aren’t written down, the descriptions without the presence of the actual images add to the sense that we as readers are not getting the full story. this is especially blatant in we never really learn, with that image description”

“my take is that he has to be some sort of creative for this story to work, because so much of it is about perception & a lot of his Issues are about how he makes so much goddamn money by drawing his deepest traumas and people eat it up. but actually we started thinking about this because of the trends in modern poetry publishing. so that could’ve worked. so i think it’s mostly for the epistolary stuff”

“he could not be a singer because part of his tragic backstory is having loved to sing as a child but having that joy taken from him because he didn’t sound human enough. the simple childhood pleasure of singing a duet with yourself strangled by shame and self-hatred and despair”

“there's also a historical explanation for this— BDTA (the first fic, not the series as a whole) was written as a reaction to some AUs we had with a friend & to the subsequent acrimonious parting we had with them. it's actually kind of spiteful; we wanted to write something better and more interesting than they ever could have come up with. we've moved beyond that in writing the rest of the series, but john was a painter in the AUs with which BDTA is in conversation, so he's a painter now."

"okay this has no precedent, i'm just making this up, but it's super convincing + sad + creation is about constant reinterpretation, so bear with me. john, as a child, was very sad and fucked up and coped with his alienation from his peers + from childhood as a whole via a) reading too much and b) drawing too much. so by the time he's a teenager he's already fallen into the pattern he exhibits as an adult of drawing tortured eldritch characters as a form of emotional self-harm, and when he drops out of college + loses access to his previous viable career path art is both his only other major skill + something he can't stop doing even if he tries."

"honestly, this is making me interested in a take on BDTAverse where john is a fiction writer and alex is a freelance artist. (hey, you know what would be super fucked up? if The Photo hadn't been released, and alex drew for magazines and people kept asking him to draw john's suicide attempt)"

"anyway! i think he paints as a compulsive thing, because he has so few emotional outlets, and doing art about it has been pretty much the only way for him to manage his feelings for a lot of his life. (he learned, as a child, that there are correct emotions to have and if you don't have the right ones people will be mad at you, so talking about it has been out of the picture for a long time.) and once he doesn't have other career plans, well, he's going to be painting fucked up stuff anyway, might as well sell it"

#does this help? probably not! but we had fun writing it #asks #bdtaverse

[widowshill]

How do you think Dark Shadows would differ if made today? Would it still be the cult classic or is that kind of writing lost to us?

with the disclaimers that I don't think you can set out to make a cult classic, and also I only know as much about the entertainment industry as the next person, and also I don't really think the writing in Dark Shadows is that good, I do think it's an interesting question! I'll do my best.

To start: for me, the lion's share of the show's enduring appeal is in its earnestness, and part of that is the palpable shoestring budget. things like flubbed lines, camera man and mic shadows in the shot, and other genuine mistakes are part of what you watch the show for, they do not detract but add to the experience. this contributes a similar sense of watching live theatre (paired with most of the core cast being new york theatrically trained and bringing that acting style with them) because you know you're seeing something usually done in one take, where the mistakes bleed through, where who the actors are as people is alongside them on the stage. they flub, and recover, and this is part of the story: so too do the Collinses make vast mistakes, and go on. it is an imperfect world riddled with faults.

This is not something you're going to get in the current media landscape from one of the big networks like ABC; I find it almost impossible to imagine a daytime show being produced with the kind of natural errors Dark Shadows contains. To capture that same kind of poor theatre troup earnestness you would have better success as either a) actual serial theatre, b) a webseries / tiktok series / etc, c) a low-budget independent or college tv station, or d) a miniseries, possibly. If a major network took it on and purposefully put those mistakes in, it would not feel the same. I'm a bit bored of the constant insincerity/irony in a lot of 2020's media, and I think it would rapidly veer into that genre of work.

As far as being a daytime serial, specifically, I don't think the current media environment is exactly right: part of the reason they aired a gothic horror soap opera to begin with is it was part of the broader cultural conversation, next to television like Bewitched, The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeanie, The Munsters, The Twilight Zone, etc. American entertainment in the late 60's had a love affair with the occult (with witches, monsters, ghosts, the works) and this permeated broad aspects of arts and culture: The Haunted Mansion opened at Disneyland in 1969, Monster Mash was number 1 on the Billboard chart in 1962 (and #91 in '70, and #10 in '73). Pair that with prominent artists like John Zacherle's discography, Vincent Price's film credits, 70's gothic horror comedies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Phantom of the Paradise, and of course the wild popularity of gothic romance paperbacks in the 60's and 70's. This isn't everything, of course, but just to broad-strokes the landscape.

It's not that we don't have supernatural media today — horror is one of the highest performing movie genres, and there are shows like Ghosts and WWDITS, and Watcher Entertainment — but it's not quite the same explosion of culture (in my opinion). Making a gothic romance-horror-vampire serial would be more at home in the 2010's among the love affair with Twilight, True Blood, The Originals, the dominance of horror game Youtube, the height of Supernatural, Crimson Peak, What We Do In the Shadows 2014, etc. One imagines this is why the 2012 film adaption came out when it did; the cultural moment was conducive, overall. Most nighttime network television today (and I am generalizing) is dominated by legal, medical, and police drama; current soap-operas (especially General Hospital) reflect that, and there are only three soaps getting aired, period. Nothing is impossible: but a soap in the Dark Shadows vein (ha) getting green-lit today seems unlikely, vastly unlikely with the ebb in vampire fervor.

What I will say that works better in today's production moment for a potential series revival (revision?) is we're starting to see an embrace of practical set building / prop making / etc that was lost to us for a little while, especially among the horror genre. For example: Blumhouse's FNAF utilizing the Jim Henson creature shop, the beautiful set work on Haunted Mansion 2023, the use of practical effects in Beetlejuice 2. This is something that to me feels integral, for making Dark Shadows. You may disagree! But I don't think the heavy dependence on CGI did 2012 any favors. The magic inherent in the show (curses, ghosts, whatever you want to call it) is supported by movie magic and the invisible (or sometimes visible) artisanal hands crafting the world for us.

Moreover, with Bridgerton, especially (but also Emma, Little Women, The Gilded Age, The Great, etc) there's been a bit of a renaissance of lush period pieces. The current fascination with historical romances (and anachronism!) lends itself very well to a dive into 1795 or 1897. My best guess is that if we produced a revival right now, there'd be a very heavy focus on one of the alternate time periods (probably 1795), and they would lean on anachronism (and sex) very heavily, and the present year would be a very very minor presence, if they bothered with it at all – and maybe they wouldn't!

As for the writing, specifically? There's nothing that extraordinary about Dark Shadows' writing, to me, what is extraordinary is the characters and the actors' management of them (and Lela's direction) and what they are able to do with the script (aside from a few standout moments of memorable lines). There are brilliant television writers out there who could write a lovely gothic adaption. Some of our priorities in terms of storytelling are different: one thing you would have to acknowledge that the original show rarely dealt with and never performed well on is race. However a lot of the dominant concerns in the cultural landscape do reflect the issues at the forefront of the themes in the writing: especially women's bodily autonomy (Barnabas' hypnotism and forcing Josette's identity onto the nearest brunette/the inherent violation of biting and enthrallment, the way his victims are 90% of the time poor women, or sex workers, or the criminalized and otherwise vulnerable); women's economic position (Liz running the house and business, Victoria and Maggie's subject to endless horrors for a wage, Carolyn free to kick getting married down the road because she's economically secure) and the rigid dominance of the hetero-nuclear family structure as it is entwined with economics in America, and its subversions; and, especially, the way that the American houses (architectural, economic, genealogical) are built on the exploitation of those beneath them, often demanding the physical sacrifice of bodies and blood.

If I had my choice — and this is not what I think is probable, what is probable is a lean into the literal vampires and witches and sex associated in a modern-day setting — a current version of Dark Shadows would lean heavily into those themes, and take the reflection of the literal monsters (Barnabas, Angelique, Quentin, Laura, etc.) on the metaphorical monsters (Elizabeth, Roger, Burke, David, etc.) seriously. Preferably I'd want it set in the 1960's-70's again, because, like Collinsport, we seem to repeat the same sins over and over again, currently we are engaged with and reversing much of the progress that was made by social movements of that era, so in some senses we are returned to that time, culturally. Preferably I would emphasize the mystery? the permeation between the boundary of human and monstrosity? that dominated the early supernatural arcs with Laura and the beginning of Barnabas; and emphasize the terror, especially the terror of violence contained within the charming, and genteel, and refined, and beautiful. Above all I would not begin any first episode of anything with Barnabas, who should be first and foremost a reflection on the family so ready to accept him as like kind.

cult classic? I don't know. I think there's an appetite for earnestness; for long-form storytelling; for the quotidian — to learn about characters as they eat breakfast and bicker, as well as fight monsters. and theatre-trained enunciation that you can hear. I would hope, with sufficient intimacy training, the kissing and sex scenes would be a little better and not make me so very miserable.

#➤ answered. ┊ Collinsport 4099. #➤ ooc. ┊ she’s nauseous，she’s hysterical，and she’s exhausted.

[ryuichirou]

hhi what do you think about azurido (azul/riddle)? do you have any headcanons? have a nice day and btw you're a cool artist!

Hi Anon! I’m glad you like our stuff 🥰

We really enjoyed Azul’s and Riddle’s interactions in ch6, they are an interesting duo; I’ve talked about them a little bit in this reply, but I don’t have much to add, to be honest.

We don’t really ship-ship them, but I can give you a couple of headcanons, although it’s pretty obvious that I feel like they aren’t the best for each other. Which doesn’t mean that they’re a bad ship, of course, there are a lot of “they are bad for each other” ships that we love. But I feel like in order to have a continuous relationship, Azul needs someone more compliant and submissive, and Riddle needs someone more chill and less serious about himself. That being said, whatever they would have going on, it would to be interesting.

They consider each other attractive, at least in a “he is always doing his best to look good and I acknowledge that” way, and they also respect each other quite a lot, but it never occurred to them that there might be something between them pre-chapter 6. The whole STYX thing really made them reevaluate their relationship and perception of each other.

Their mutual respect and solidarity for each other’s ambitions would be the core of their relationship, they would talk a lot about how they are making each other better by being with someone who is also very into bettering himself and achieving perfection in any field; but at the same time they would have surprisingly deep conversations once in a blue moon, very rarely though. Other times, they would argue a lot about who is right about the pettiest little things, and since both of them are super stubborn, it gets ugly sometimes.

It’s impossible to be in a room with them when they watch any type of trivia-based game on TV, because it’s always a competition for them and they take it very seriously. Both are extremely sore losers, and they always want to prove to each other that they know more than the other does. While Riddle is usually the first one to yell out the answer, he is severely lacking in (pop) culture knowledge, so Azul gets plenty of chances to answer first and look extremely smugly at Riddle, while he gets either pouty or all red and furious.

Azul would actually manage to do the impossible: Riddle’s mom would like him a lot. Of course, he isn’t a lady, but he is such an upstanding and diligent young gentleman, surely a good influence on her son. Not to mention his pedigree, amazing grades and perfect work ethics. AND he controls his own diet! Riddle’s mother would even say that she wishes Azul was her son, to which Azul would laugh and say that they could arrange that (= Riddle and him could get married). Of course, none of this mean that Azul likes Riddle’s mother at all, but he is a master of sweet talking. Riddle is conflicted about this though: he is relieved, but he is a little bit terrified by how easy it was for Azul to win over his mother.

If they managed to get through the first year of their relationship and not split up, they would end up getting married pretty early. Riddle wouldn’t really want to rush it, but this is what feels “right”, and Azul has already decided that their alliance would be pretty profitable, plus they have Riddle’s mother’s blessing, so why not get married right after their graduation? They are definitely getting divorced at some point though lol

When it comes to sex, they are surprisingly passionate sometimes, especially right after they had a fight. Azul also makes it painfully obvious that he really enjoys seeing Riddle all red and vulnerable, which drives Riddle crazy and makes him mad, but that contributes to the hotness of their sex, so.  Azul can always complain afterwards and say “I can’t believe you bit me, Riddle-san”, as if he wasn’t the one to provoke the shit out of Riddle with his remarks about how cute, defenseless and a little pathetic he is when he lies beneath him.

#replies #headcanons #azurid

[valla-chan]

Something I can't stand:

The proliferation of grift culture and "venture capitalist" techbros using AI as a way to steal and resell other people's art has completely ruined the awe and appreciation we had of early AI experiments that didn't hurt anyone, and had inevitably kneecapped those type of projects' continued existence

What am I talking about..? Stuff like background removers, upscalers, vocal removers, frame interpolators, tools to make art seamlessly tile, fucked up nightmare distortion images, AI based vocaloids (made from paid and consenting voice actors), comedic deepfakes, singing faces (think Dame da ne)

The fun stuff, that is either too poor quality to pass for a human creation, or is merely a free tool designed to fill a very specific niche in one step of art creation, or doesn't function in the way we currently think of AI and is made by a closed group of people all being paid for their contributions (eg vocaloid, of which the AI voicebanks are created and used almost the exact same way as they always have, with manual tuning and songwriting, employed voice actors, and the AI part being used to blend phonemes rather than create something from scratch)

Unfortunately I think it was kinda inevitable that AI turned into what it is, because for a lot of high profile people, the grift never ends. We are finding out more and more that those fun, mostly harmless tools they gave us at the beginning as our introduction to AI are being swiftly deprecated and paywalled, because they always intended to fuck us over once it became viable to do so.

And I think, based on the conversations I've had, at first a lot of people didn't really have opinions towards their art going into the AI mush machine, because what it generated was silly and unmarketable. It was deformed rooms with dog faces and scrungly trees. It was a sloppy mess most people considered harmless. And that's how they eased their way into turning theft from artists into something profitable for them, to be sold back to people who want to be artists without the effort. Or maybe not even that. Some don't give a shit about art, and just know that other people like art enough to give the lowest seller lots of money, and use AI as a grifting tool to undercut artists for Lamborghini money.

And now that we know that the people who made our background removers, our image upscalers, our wacky gray goo karl-marx-getting-slimed-at-the-kids-choice-awards generators, our funny singing face tech, etc have taken those data sets that many initially didn't even think twice about, and turned them on us for profit with other tools, there is no way in hell anyone will ever trust a movement like this again.

They played us, and are now crying and wiping their eyes with money about how we feel betrayed and stolen from. Capitalism and grift culture has ensured that the only way that AI could go is towards a point of automating out the emotion, work, quality, and ownership of art itself.

Have you noticed that while these techbro AI image generators have surged in quality, background removers and upscalers have stagnated in quality upgrades? Silly tools like making faces sing have been abandoned in the dust. The actual TOOLS that can be justified— those made from controlled datasets of a specific variety that are designed to help actual artists— have fallen completely out of favor in exchange for a focus on a low effort, generalized art-replacement that can be sold to anyone lazy or conniving enough to buy into it. And maybe the worst part is they're being made by the same companies, sometimes even using the same datasets they hid in the initially harmless tools that we once trusted to remain as such.

It's been so sad seeing the future of hyperspecific tools to help artists turn into this ratrace towards art replacement. I watched many of our opinions shift over time as the culture and tech did. I wrote this because I had a brief recall of "the fun early days" and how people were generally okay with things like that, and how a fair amount of people still are with low-level machine learning tools that aid specific processes rather than replacing them. I don't really have a point to make here. We were once again fucked over by the people who promised to make our work and lives easier, and then raged at for hating them for using that sentiment to abandon those projects in favor of stealing from us on a wide scale.

#ai art is art theft #ai thoughts #ai tools vs ai art