#i've almost never done a full sweep design on anything and i've worked on some tiny ass shows bc its just too much work

[sanstropfremir]

I'm really enjoying reading through your blog, and of course it has to do a lot with the fact that I also love to bits everything Taemin puts out. Unfortunately tumblr makes it really annoying to try and get to older posts, so sorry if you've already spoken about any of this T-T

A big part of why I love Taemin's solo work so much is his unique style, which shines through both technique and performance.

Taemin has many times spoke about how he's heavily involved in everything concerning his work: styling, picking out the samples, lyrics, themes, choreo, you name it he took care of it at some point. "The taemin genre" couldn't have emerged simply out of him being an above average dancer, his signature is on everything.

But surely, very often he can't do much more than express his opinion on something, and a lot of the end product is still created by other people? It would be silly to expect him to dance, sing, produce, write lyrics, style all at once, right? Or would it?

I very, very often hear people take pride in the fact that their fav is an "all-rounder", that presumably does most of the "creating" purely by themselves, or at least can shine all alone, even without the support of a group. But does that imply that artists that only do the performing part are somehow less "authentic", or worthy of praise? Or that idols comfortable in their position as a team player aren't talented or into what they do? To call yourself a master you probably have to spend a decade on just one skill, so why expect teens and young adults to be Da Vincis?

Now, of course it's still amazing when an idol puts in the work and branches out. Taemin's vocal improvement undoubtedly gave him more creative opportunities and made his stages that much more impactful.

But even just being an idol and maintaining an attractive appearance (for criteria as harsh as it is in k-pop) would easily count as a full-time job, so I would go as far as to say that this expectation of total creative control is a little delusional.

haha it was really funny watching you go through everything! yea tumblr is really bad about that, but if you go to my blog on desktop/not the mobile version you should be able to page back through ALL my asks, which are all tagged by 'answers'. there are like probably around a thousand of those now tho.

i have kind of talked about this before, but i'm very happy to talk about it again, because i always think it's worthwhile to clarify what the actual process is like for creating a collaborative work.

you are right, taemin and every other idol who says they're 'involved' in the process in some way is most likely just picking options and expression opinions about things that designers and stylists have already curated for them. it is physically impossible for a single person to do EVERYTHING involved in something like creating a kpop cb, because there are just too many tasks. and if one person DID try to do it all on their own, it would take probably 100x as long to finish. let me use styling as an example: lots of idols have professed to have input on styling choices, but this can range anywhere from bringing in moodboards and having discussions about what styling they're interested in at design meetings, to just picking which thing they like best from a selection of clothes already provided by the designer. in NO fucking world is an idol:

taking measurements

shopping for fabric

shopping for clothing

sewing and altering clothing

doing the budgeting

labelling and collating all the pieces together

taking fitting notes

these are all extremely specialized skills that 1) take TIME to learn how to do and how to do well, and 2) just take TIME to DO. you want to know what i spend probably 40% of the total production time of a show doing when i costume design? fucking SHOPPING. an idol may contribute ideas to a design and make executive choices, but in NO way are they solely responsible for everything about styling. the only idol that i would believe to have a heavier hand than most in this regard is kibum, who does actually have a good knowledge of fashion and fabric and i could see him going shopping with a designer. but if you think that man is sewing anything? cmon.

and this is just for ONE aspect of a cb. you think an idol is also painting the set? shopping for props? setting up the lighting? most idols that are known for dancing aren't even choreographing their own work, INCLUDING taemin. it is absolutely and unquestionably delusional to say that an idol has total creative control over something. this whole idea doesn't originate in kpop (it's auteur theory's fault), but kpop does suffer from an acute version of it, because there's a general collective concensus that devalues the creative work of the labourer. basically, people will only classify you as a "true artist" if you're the one who comes up with the ideas, because ideas and concepts are given more importance and weight. it's a type of because 'being in charge'/'at the top of the food chain that's been perpetuated by capitalism and western postmordern art theory that intentionally places value of conceptual skills higher than those of craftspeople. no type of person is a ''true artist'' and most art takes many people with many different skills in order to create. i find it unintentionally very funny that you use da vinci as an example of an 'allrounder' (or 'renaissance man' as they used to be called) because he, like every other famous painter from the era, used apprentices to help paint his paintings!!!!! he was even an apprentice himself for verrocchio!! da vinci's legacy would not have been possible without all the other people who helped him create the work that he did!

what is the real kicker about this whole mess is that downplays the beauty of the fact that art is made collaboratively. an 'ideas' person cannot realize those ideas without a craftsperson there to help them. everyone who takes part in creating something is important, and it's fucked to only acknowledge specific people in that process.

#like i dont think people realize that even like big contemporary artists have studios w ppl doing fabrication for them #that's VERY common #but none of them will actively recognize it because it takes the perceived value of their monolith artist brand away #i've almost never done a full sweep design on anything and i've worked on some tiny ass shows bc its just too much work #like when i say its impossible i fucking mean it #kpop questions #im not going to get into more of an anticapitalist rant than i already did but its literally capitalism's fault #craftspeople were literally some of the first unions btw #text #answers #like it's very fine that someone just does performing. thats ok. performing is its own set of skills #you dont have to expect or gas up idols for doing other stuff like there are literally other people whose jobs those are!!!!!!!!!!!! #auteur theory and capitalism ruined fucking everything fr #dont even get me started on the authenticity stuff again god knows i hate that shit

[traskomancer]

RPG a Day 26-31

Day 26: Favorite character sheet

There are character sheets that are well laid out and character sheets that have a fun aesthetic, but honestly I find myself making custom ones for any character I expect to be playing for an extended period of time. Big props to any game where you can just jot everything you need down on an index card. I've played (and hacked) OSR systems where you could fit a whole adventuring party one on sheet of paper..

Day 27: Game I'd like a new edition of

I feel like Unknown Armies thrives on being contemporary, and while I don't think it's needed yet, a new edition in 5-10 years would be great. I feel like Mutants & Masterminds could use a new edition just to clean things up a bit for new players; it doesn't need any big sweeping changes though, IMO. I've heard rumors it's going to happen soon, too.

Day 28: Scariest game I've played

There are different kinds of scary, and honestly I think it's more dependent on the scenario and GM/player delivery than anything else. I've played quite a bit of Call of Ctlhulhu but almost never found it scary. Alien tends to get more squicky than properly scary. Then there's "real world" scary, AKA soulcrushing reminders of the horrors of real life, which I've seen done in a variety of games, from Paranoia to Unknown Armies to D&D 5e.

I tend to enjoy spooky atmospheres and unsettling mysteries, which are things CoC does deliver on, but I make a distinction between that and properly scary.

Day 29: Most memorable encounter

Well, I had one stolen away from me when my college group got to the final boss of Tomb of Annihilation right when the pandemic hit, only to have a mediocre attempt at running it over roll20 (which also took a lot of work...)

But for a positively memorable encounter (as a player), I'd go with the intraparty showdown from the apocalyptic Gardens of Ynn one-shot that ensued when my character decided to break quarantine (I already mentioned how that went).

I also got to run some very tactically satisfying boss fights in my last full-length D&D 5e campaign, where I pitted the players against a sequence of giant ur-elementals (the phoenix, the zaratan, etc.) I feel like I designed those well.

Day 30: Obscure RPG I've played

I think Ecryme probably takes the cake, seeing as it's French language only and pretty old. Granted, I played a demo of a coming new English edition, but I still feel it's pretty obscure. It's a cool game, set in a world where the whole planet is covered in a layer of highly corrosive acid that society has had to evolve around.

Day 31: Favorite RPG of all time

I'm surprising 0 people when I say Unknown Armies, after how much I've mentioned it during these prompts. It's not perfect, but it has so many cool ideas. It's weird as fuck in a way that really speaks to me. I also think the mechanics (3e especially) are really suited to narrative play.

#rpgaday2023 #ttrpg #unknown armies #mutants and masterminds #call of cthulhu #Alien rpg #paranoia #dnd #gardens of ynn #ecryme