#miyazaki is weird!!! it's fine.

[majorbaby]

the same people who will sing the praises of studio ghibli animation lost their minds over steven universe which is high-larious.

#i love studio ghibli but are we pretending 'the cat returns' isnt a furry movie?? #it was my fave btw until i saw 'whisper of the heart' #once you SEE all the weird shit in ~wholesome~ studio ghibli movies you cannot unsee it #miyazaki is weird!!! it's fine. #animation animation animation animation

[tau1tvec]

hey, maybe you have some advice..but how do you make your gameplay pictures so beautiful? The colours, your sims faces don't look awkward even if they aren't posed, the interior/setting always matches the vibe. Your game looks so so beautiful! Every time I'm playing for fun and take screenshots I feel good. But then I see all those posts on my dash and begin to feel bad about my own.. I want to make my game look magical too. You inspire me to play the game again, every one of your posts is so magical to me and also captures the beauty of gameplay itself. Sorry if this is too much/confusing

Okay, I’m gonna use this ask as an opportunity to be real with you, and anyone else who’s reading who also needs to hear this.

I know it’s common for everyone who’s asked this to be like, “oh no nonny, don’t do that, don’t compare your stuff to other ppl’s stuff, you’re fine the way you are,” and that’s all well meaning and sweet, but sadly this is the real world and society sucks. ✨

Despite how good it is to hear that what and how you do things shouldn’t matter, it doesn’t change the fact that social media doesn’t really care about that, and isn’t built around that mindset. In general, not comparing yourself or your work to others is incredibly difficult to do. Even I do it occasionally, impenetrable self-esteem isn’t a thing, it’s something that’s fragile and easily broken, sometimes without our ever even knowing until it’s too late. So I realized the best way to look at it, is to remove some of the negativity from it.

Controversial take, as a creative, comparing your work to others doesn’t always have to be a downer experience… it can be good, and enlightening even. The great thing about consuming media is that it can do so much for us, the appreciator, like bring us joy, bring us sadness, start a conversation, or stir inspiration, that last bit especially.

Lean into those inspirations, and no I don’t just mean other sims content. Rewatch your favorite old movies, replay your favorite old games, start a Pinterest board, go through some old family photos, create a Spotify playlist that transports you somewhere you’d rather be. Examine them, study them, focus on the colors, the lighting, the textures, there’s formulas in all kinds of media, even your mom’s old Polaroids, aim to create your own.

Learning is a never-ending journey. You can never learn enough about anything. There are so many tutorials on YouTube, and hell, even on here, if you feel like you’ve got somewhere you can improve, don’t be ashamed to do so, and change is good, bc the great thing about change is that you can do it again, and again, and that’s totally okay. Don’t be set in your ways when it comes to content creativity, it’s too beautiful a hobby for there to be any one way to be.

I think the one reason why I love Simblr so much over all other sims communities, is bc everyone here does things their own way, and everyone ( at least I hope ) appreciates each other for that. This adds variety to my dash, and makes it all the more enjoyable to look at. My game looks the way it does bc that’s how I see it in my head. I’m heavily influenced by Hayao Miyazaki, Guillermo del Torro, and old 90’s movies. I lean into the bright colors, I lean into the ideal big kitchen, I lean into the excessive neon lights, and I lean into the cringe dialogue, bc that’s what brings me joy, and that’s what brings me nostalgia.

The Sims itself brings me joy and nostalgia too, and that’s why first and foremost I enjoy playing it, lol, everything else… having a space online to share it with others who also enjoy playing it is just an added bonus.

Now as for the funky faces, there are mods out there that minimize the awkward grin, whether they still work idk tho.

You can also try putting a little more space between the bottom of your sim’s nose and their top lip, it might look weird in CAS, but this will help avoid a lot of the wonkiness from the over-exaggerated smiles in-game.

Learning to love sims for all their quirks, bad animations, and goofiness is also a good tip. 😆

#asks #anon #sorry this is long #help

[lookingforcactus]

Live action Yu Yu Hakusho liveblog: ep 1

This is so much fun. Nostalgia time. 13 year old me is LIVING

Warning for like whole ep 1 spoilers and all

Yusuke and Botan look great which I already knew going in from the gifset that informed me this show exists lol, but it's delightful, bc the characters in this show aren't necessarily the easiest to translate to live action

Botan is adorable. Her hair is adorable. And I'm delighted to see that Yusuke's hair is the Correct amount of Poufy

Plot twist: Kuwabara hot. He looks great actually. Translated nonliterally compared to Yusuke but v well. The actor is selling me on it too, fun casting

Kuwabara was always hard for me to watch in the original bc he set off my vicarious embarrassment soo hard. Glad they're less committed to making him the constant source of painful comedic relief here lol

KOENMA PACIFIER REVEAL I LOVE IT

Laughed out loud for real tbh

Idk if I'm a little disappointed he's not a baby but like live action would make that ridic hard to do in a lot of ways so I don't blame them at all. He's in his adult form which makes sense. Still damn glad they kept the pacifier it is RUINING his dignity and I love it

I also don't blame them for cutting the flying oar effects. A lil sad but the initial transition to Reikai looked great so they're forgiven

Yusuke. "No thanks." I knew it was coming and the delivery still made me laugh out loud. Just dropped it in there. Yusuke I love you please see a therapist

Fight scenes are v creative and p epic

Seriously they do a really good job of making Yusuke's fighting style as a human believable, fun to watch, and effective. He rly does come off as just kind of a natural fighting genius (with practice ofc)

Sakyo in ep 1? Weird but I'm not opposed. The wavy hair is kinda freaking me out though ngl. Smoothness was just such his THING in the show it's distracting

Really liked Yusuke's mom's introduction (not that it was flattering to her as a character) but I wish they'd done more with her in the rest of the ep. Her power hug at the end is great tho

Show's slowing down a bit but it's fine I'm still having fun, the nostalgia power will get me through basically whatever

NO PUU!!!! This is tragic but I Do understand this as an adaptation choice. Reluctantly. Tragic tho.

Bug under guy's face effect EPICALLY creepy

That said I keep watching the motion of him and the other demons in this ep and thinking about Hayao Miyazaki said about the disgusting cruelty of using effects technology to make the scary scary inhuman monsters just fucking. look and move like disabled ppl

Seriously I keep seeing flashes of the appearance and movements of people I know with developmental disabilities (particularly this one guy I know with cerebral palsy but also I've worked in care work for disabled adults and just kind of a lot of people in general) and. I hate this. Especially as a person who DOES have a (nonvisible) developmental disability myself. This is such a rising trend in horror/sff/fantasy tv/movies/video games and I hate everything about it. Hayao Miyazaki was right this kind of attitude and shit really is "an insult to life itself"

Anyway fight scene cool

I love Keiko btw. Her crying and blaming herself! Her face when Yusuke comes back! Also Yusuke "I'm not gonna die just bc you talked shit" pffft jackass (affectionate)

DEMON CREW CAMEO AT THE END

Kurama looks pretty good. Goki actually looks wayyyy better than he did in the anime imho, which I did not see coming.

Effects on Kurama and Hiei's fighting looks surprisingly great. They pulled off the rose whip way better than I thought they would, and did some great wirework with Hiei's speed and fighting style

That said....Hiei...oof. That hair was always gonna be a Challenge but I think their ambition here did uh. not play off rip. Hopefully it'll look better later on

#yu yu hakusho #netflix yu yu hakusho #yu yu hakusho spoilers #can't believe I'm typing that in 2k23 #anyway this is fun #me #liveblogging

[i-donthaveanygoodidea]

2, 12, 25 for the soft asks :)

Hi ! Thanks for the ask :)))

2. what’s your feel-good movie?

I rarely watch movies tbh so my current feel-good thing to watch is good omens (mostly season two), but if I have to answer a movie it's gonna be a Miyazaki movie (Howl's moving castle mostly, or spirited away or ponyo and if I continue like that I'm gonna list all his movies so you get it)

12. how are you?

Mostly fine, very tired, but fine

25. what’s the best personal gift someone could give you (playlist, homemade card, etc.)

Honestly I'm not picky, you just have to put your heart into it, my two favorite gifts I've ever got are a tiny teddy bear figurine holding an "I miss you" banner and a handmade t-shirt (each gift was from my two closest friends whom I love dearly) (I do have to say though that the example in the question of "a playlist" I find a bit weird mainly because I don't trust things over the internet, like I've recieved drawings, but like I can print them and keep them, and I feel like I can't keep something like a playlist, idk might just be me but something non physical that I can't keep forever is not necessarily what I want, unless it's time spent with a friend eating at a restaurant or something, you know ?)

#mango answers #thank you for the ask #i love seeing you in my asks :))

[aevyk-ing]

Rambling about the Ghibli movies I’ve seen Part 2

Read part 1 here.

11. Tales of Earthsea

This one was... weird? Just boring? I really liked the designs for the mosaics and the city, but the rest needed a lot of work. I was intrigued about the main character and found myself thinking how the books are probably better. I had some problems with the character designs and the story was all over the place. 

12. Only Yesterday

A little too long, dragging in the middle, but really cute. I loved the way it depicted the country life, the softness of the scenes in the past and the fantasy bits. I also have the feeling I should live somewhere else since I was little (I love nature and forests) and I’ve been remembering a lot of stuff (well, that’s a side effect of going to therapy, I guess). Anyway, I enjoyed the little story and the way some moments were animated and I wasn’t expecting to hear castanets in a Ghibli movie. 

13. Porco Rosso

Em... this one was pretty, but the story was weird. The scenery, music and flight scenes are really good. I was interested in the transformation part, but then it started saying things like: “Sorry only women are going to build the plane.” and then making a 17 years-old fell in love with a 36 years-old. Yikes. Just yikes. Then the ending is rushed. Started out good, ended up... meh.

14. When Marnie Was There

I really liked this one. The story got me hooked, I related a lot to the main character and everything was so beautiful (just look at that house!). It can be a little confusing sometimes, especially during the middle part, but once it starts explaining things... oh, boy. My only complain is that I only knew it was the story about two girls and, once Anna started blushing I started shipping them... SPOILER it didn’t end up well. 

15. The Wind Rises

So beautiful... and also sad. Miyazaki sure loves aeroplanes and that sort of stuff, huh? But I can’t complain: his flying sequences are always amazing. I also really liked the cinematography in this one, there’s a lot of interesting angles and uses of animation. It can also be funny sometimes (I still think that German guy ate a decorative plant) and I’m glad it didn’t dwell too much in the sad parts, even though I would have liked to see a little more after Nahoko leaves and before the dream sequence. Talking about dream sequences, that’s yet another thing Miyazaki excels at. BTW, I was ready for the sad ending, but still got me. 

16. The Cat Returns

Utterly bizarre at the beginning, took an interesting turn midway where it reminded me of morning cartoons. It’s a cute story, although I’d have preferred something a little deeper or more nuanced. But it’s nice. Not the best one but fine enough for spending some free time. And yes, I’m well aware this one was made for small kids (maybe it’s the only one so far). Also, didn’t like how they teased out that Haru and the Baron are in a relationship. I still ship him with the other cat statue from A Whisper of the Heart, thank you.

17. Grave of the Fireflies

There are some movies you can just watch once... but even though, you’re glad you watched them. This movie was a ride and I was getting ready mentally to watch it, thinking that I could never find the perfect moment. However, something happened that hurt my soul so I was at the right place. It was painful, with exquisite music, but it hurt a lot. Just like Life is Beautiful... I won’t be rewatching soon... but I’ll thank it for what it is.

18. The Boy and the Heron

Proof that we still need fairytales! Have to say it was strange to go from the last movie to the beginning of this one because SPOILERS, I immediately knew what was going on. I loved the take on trauma and mixing past and present in a fantasy world that also looked an awful lot like a limbo (thanks, Over the Garden Wall). Overall, while it reminded me of other stories, it had enough heart and stuff going on to keep you hooked. You can tell it’s the result of a lifetime telling stories and my only complain is the creepiness. It was the least thing I liked from Chihiro and while I get why it has to be done, it doesn’t make it less disturbing. 

19. Tale of Princess Kaguya

(disgruntled noises) I loved the first part. Cute animation, interesting style and adorable characters. I was having such a great time. Cut to the palace bit and the escape after the party and the story starts dragging on and totally changes genres. It went from fluffy and uplifting to depressing and sad. Why? Just why? If I had seen this movie when I was a kid, I would have never wanted to watch it again. Sigh. 

#ghibli #ramblings #me #personal #studio ghibli #tales of earthsea #only yesterday #porco rosso #when marnie was there #the wind rises #the car returns #grave of the fireflies #the boy and the heron #tale of princess kaguya

[olibheare]

hello!! do you have any series, animes/mangas, movies you reccommend? i really adore your tastes in things and im curious to know where you take those impeccable tastes from!!

Doing this quickly to avoid putting every single thing I like in here for you like a crazy person, most of them will be things I ran into when I was younger and still really like- I find that those have shaped my taste a lot as I got older. There aren't that many mangas because I just wasn't in an area that was good for finding new releases + I can't remember the dumb little shoujos I read online by now. But I will say that I'm fairly picky when it comes to media in terms of having competent writing and engaging characters. Also fair warning about some of the older shows- while I would rather be shot than watch 10 more seconds of a show with a panty shot there is nothing I can do about 2000s anime brand homophobia Ghibli (meaningful look at the camera) just in general. Though my favorite things about Miyazaki's films come more from his social commentary and cosmologies rather than just how pretty the films are (but they are VERY pretty). Working class rights Literally any 2000s pokemon movie I'm not kidding about this. The Lugia one IN PARTICULAR but seriously any of them I went crazy for pokemon Inuyasha (2000 anime) Dungeon Meshi (2014 manga. When this anime comes out I'm going to explode or something) Blue Giant (2013 manga. This is also becoming an anime so I hope there's enough viscera left for me to explode a second time) The Vision of Escaflowne (1996 anime + the movie too. It's silly and weird but still feels fine to watch) Last Exile (2003 anime) Stardust (2007 live-action film) The Last Unicorn (1982 animated film) DragonHeart (1996 live-action film) Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (2007 anime) X'amd: Lost Memories (2009 anime) Fruits Basket (2001 anime, the new one is really good though) Princess Jellyfish (2014 anime) Princess Tutu (2002 anime) Origin: Spirits of the past (2006 animated film) Secret of Kells (2010 animted film) Souleater, Naruto, Ouran Highschool Host club.... + my friend got a Shonen Jump magazine in 2011 when he traveled out of state and it had like. One chapter of something called Tegami Bachi. I was obsessed with the character designs and didn't know literally anything about the story. I still don't. sorry Tegami Bachi fandom your little boy in a hat transfixed me. This is worth mentioning because I used to trace pictures of him on the windows in my room This is an intensely truncated list but lmk if you end up watching even one. These dumb things made me so happy to be a kid

#media ask #anime and manga uhhh yeah #t

[shinader]

Cedric Miyazaki

Hello!!! I need to talk about My OCs. Before I start off, let me get into Why these characters are named this why.

First, the in-universe reason. Cedric Miyazaki I and his sister were named after characters from a foreign show their parents loved. His little sister got off easier being named Alice (or Arisu). Then, the son, Cedric Miyazaki II was simply named after his father.

Next, we have a meta reason. Due to how the story plays out, these two needed a name where it would be highly improbable to almost Impossible for two people to share a name. Not everyone is named Cedric Miyazaki.

And then, the meta-meta reason. Uh. Basically they started out as self-insert OCs. Then I essentially split them apart, made them father and son, and fleshed them out so they're fully characters beyond me. Everything just kinda worked out from there as I began to explain away not changing their name from my name. And tbf I do only go by Cedric online so it's not like I'm gonna get them confused with me anytime soon lol. But I also just call them Ceddy & Miyazaki respectively because it can be confusing and that's how I'm going to refer to each of them from now on.

Oh, and when I introduce my other OCs, they're all gonna have their unique posts. I just put these two together bc they have the same name hehe.

And for the sanity of those who don't wanna hear me yapping, everything else will be put below a read more!

Okay so first off I will have to redraw Miyazaki at some point. I don't think I got his whole bear vibe down yet. He needs to be bigger, hairier, and dilfier. Ceddy looks fine, though, he's a real cutie patootie. He's got a bit of a giraffe neck and I made his hair too long but hey you know. He's fine it's fine. As someone who doesn't draw much or well he's overall ballin actually!

Anyway, if anyone hasn't caught on from my whole blog and the design of these characters, they're OCs for the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series! Because of course I love all those characters so much I had to make up more characters to love!

Some basic info, Miyazaki is the Patriarch of the Miyazaki Family, a Tojo Clan Subsidiary. He's known as the Bear of Tojo due to his tattoo and his bear-like way of attack.

Ceddy is a host at a club called Club Sirius. He's not particularly well known but he's got his own little thing going on and he loves his job!

I've got a little story in the works for this, and in that story, Ceddy is the deuteragonist and Miyazaki is an antagonist turned ally. If anyone wants to read what I have going on just lmk perhaps I can post some of it. Or most of it. Or all of it lolol.

What I really wanted to get across with these two (and honestly, with all my OCs) is What makes a loving Family. The Yakuza/Like A Dragon series has big themes of Found Family and I wanted to expand upon that with my own characters. Ceddy & Miyazaki show off a healthy biological connection, one of the many ways a family can be formed. This will be in opposition with the protagonist's views in many ways.

It's also personal to me in a way, as I find their close relationship comforting and healing to write. Ceddy is autistic and not diagnosed. This is because he and no one around him are particularly educated in what autism Is exactly so they see his autistic behaviors and is just seen as "Weird." I love being able to write about a single allistic father who's able to care so much for his son, even if he isn't seen as "Normal" that's still his son and he'll do anything for him. It's the unconditional love every parent should have for their child(ren).

Beyond the family dynamics, they both have their own stories with Being Queer. I'll start with Miyazaki as he's older and has more knowledge of himself. Also I find his journey to be funnier.

Being raised in a very toxically masculine environment, compulsory heterosexuality hit this man HARD. It doesn't help that he has a high libido so to blow off steam he'd pick up women whenever he felt like and deal with it. He frequented bars and cabaret clubs and the like for that purpose. That is, until, he became the Patriarch of his own Family. He's got more power! So what does he do with it? Well, he'd get with men, of course! It's a power move!

But he only had a few months of fun with that before one of his previous one night stands left a baby at his doorstep and an angry letter. He took in that baby but didn't bother finding the mother because who in their right mind would leave their baby out in the cold like that??? No woman that Miyazaki would want raising his son! Caring for this child really puts everything into perspective for him, and he realizes he's kinda been a dirtbag to women. And men. But mostly women because he really only saw them as sex objects rather than their own people. He thought it was okay because all that sex he was having was 100% consensual but that mindset is not a good one to have! To an extent, he saw random men the same way. So eventually, Miyazaki gets a more healthy view on love and sex and also realizes that he is, in fact, a homosexual.

Ceddy's story isn't quite that complicated. He's overall fairly oblivious to romance and sex. But, he's had an amazing gay role model growing up so he's understood queer stuff since he was a small child. When he was in middle school or high school, he came out to his father (and his loving Aunt and Uncle, who I'll expand on in other posts) as Bi. And that's how he continues to identify.

Now, since this is 2011 Kamurocho (zero zombie style), none of these characters have quite the extensive knowledge of queer people that the average person here on Tumblr has. Maybe the younger ones have taken an "am I gay" quiz but they don't quite understand the full spectrum of gender and sexuality. So, I personally have assigned labels to characters that they don't identify as.

If that seems confusing, let me state it like this. Ceddy, if asked his orientation, would say he's Bisexual. However, he doesn't quite understand the difference between romantic and sexual attraction. If he understood such things, then he'd know he's Biromantic Asexual. He's never felt sexual attraction to anyone, and he generally doesn't think about it. If he does, he generally writes off that lack of attraction to not liking strangers/people who are mean to him. He really struggles with making and keeping friends due to his autism, which furthers his obliviousness to his own sexuality because he believes if there was someone nice to him that he gets a crush on, he'd for sure want to have sex!

And yes, I am aware that having a character that's so oblivious to sex he isn't aware of his own lack of sexuality may seem like a weird choice to (technically, it really depends on your personal definition of these things) be a sex worker. But that only leads into my next point about him.

Ceddy became a host for two big reasons. 1) He wanted a job so he could get money and live independently so his father wouldn't have to worry about him and 2) Hosts pretty much get paid by how well they can talk to people and he's aware his lack of social skills. Being a host would work to Ceddy's two goals, get money & learn how to socialize. He hasn't been a host for that long but he's learned that a lot of people like a lot of different things and it's so hard to keep track and also outside of work people aren't fond of him acting host-y as he comes of as disingenuous. At least he's getting paid...? He'd probably get paid more if he was able to pick up the hints his customers drop out on dates when they say they want to go to a hotel. (Oh, are you tired? I suppose this is a good time to part ways, see you later!)

Miyazaki is very proud of his son for getting a civilian job, no matter what it is. He'd be devastated if he ended up a criminal like himself. And Ceddy's quest for independence isn't necessary, Miyazaki would be more than happy to live with his son forever. In fact, he'd be worried for him every day if he moved out.

Uhhhh. Anyway. I've been yapping for hours now and this is a good place to stop here I think. Got important Themes across and whatnot. Will be doing this again at some point. Next will be. Hmm. The Protagonist will be a good one. His name is Takeshi Nakagawa and I love that fuckin guy to no end, as I do all my OCs<333

#bc i ced so #ced ocs #ced:ceddy #ced:miyazaki #original character

[6ad6ro]

"dark souls derangement syndrome" is when you think dark souls difficulty is the baseline for what difficulty actually is. if you don't think dark souls is hard, congrats. you have dsds. applies to soulslikes in general. when you think blasphemous is the same difficulty as castlevania sotn. when you claim tunic isn't any harder than a zelda game. then you have become out of touch with gaming history and the baseline difficulty that most games have.

think of "hard games" as "level of spiciness". many people like spice. some like INTENSE spice. some pride themselves on handling the spiciest food in the world. but do most claim that the spicy food isn't actually spicy? no. the few that do, you know they're just boasting. "for me, it isn't spicy" still isn't claiming that it objectively isn't spicy. but with souls? that's what the fanbase claims. "it doesn't need a mild version!" (no difficulty settings). "i don't want just anybody to be able to eat this!". (anti -accessibility). "maybe this restaurant just isn't FOR you" (elitism).

how can you not see that you have become deranged by this game? nobody watches "hot ones" and isn't 100% aware that they're watching people go through some difficult shit. you are in complete denial. lost in the poison swamp. and speaking of poison swamps, if you think miyazaki's obsession with em is "just a silly quirk" instead of the deep sadism that it is? then you absolutely have dark souls derangement syndrome. ftr it's completely fine that you like the bullshit hard game. i'm jealous that your life is so easy that artificial stress in your life is fun to you. but don't pretend this shit is normal. don't say "git gud" like the people who are askin for help are the weird ones. because it's you that's actin weird. because you have dsds.

#dark souls #dark souls derangement syndrome #dsds

[fizzingwizard]

What I both love and find majorly confusing about Lupin III is like

It's not dark and gritty (usually), but it's still an action-packed, adventurous, cheeky story about thrill-seeking criminals who are just fine with no return as long as there's high risk. You've got a daredevil who is also a genius, a gambling sharpshooter, a high roller femme fatale, and a samurai always looking for the next most extreme way to test his mettle. And there are car chases and explosions and vintage airplanes and machine guns and people with bombs literally in their hearts

and the backdrop will be like... a quaint village nestled in the French countryside? a valley in the Swiss Alps where Heidi might have lived? now and then they're rough and tumble in NYC or something but more often than not it's like "this place needs more flowers. let's all sit down and have dinner together family-style. i'm mad at you, not because you double-crossed me on a job, but because i'm feeling insecure and need reassurance that this is still my found family"

like. I know this show has gone through a bunch of revivals, each with a slightly different take and different audience in mind. So you end up with the story about crime?? that is for actions fans but also for children?? where women are often completely naked and there's lots of physical damage but no one generally gets too badly hurt?? and miyazaki had an influence so the pastoral vistas have kind of sort of become a Thing?? and characters are sometimes such stubborn loners yet other times so co-dependent that it's easier to believe that they're bickering siblings than a hardened gang of criminals??

my brain is so confused. is lupin iii "the fast and the furious" or is it "little rascals"? is it adventurecore or cottagecore? I don't know and I never know what to expect or what's right all I know is since I started getting to know this fandom outside of just Cagliostro I've discovered this weird vibe that is just sort of chill with how weird it is and I dig it. and i dont want it to change lol

#lupin iii

[vampiremilfs]

hiiii <3 big ask big answer is what i'm expecting would LOVE to know your top 5/faves across various media that are new(in release or just new to you) this year! so: shows, movies, games, books, songs/albums, new artists you've discovered etc

OMG AAAAA I LOVE THIS ASK

brief comment i wanted to make, but this was the year i finally took control of my mental health and went to go see someone about it so congratulations to me for finally breaking down the wall of "im fine" and allowing myself to admit that i could use some help. that aside, lets get into it! beware, possible spoilers

MOVIES

1. Nope (dir. Jordan Peele) - this movie surprised me so much and reflects a LOT of my views on performative/spectacle-like behavior in front of the Camera and the effects things like hollywood or social media could potentially have on people...not going to get into that but i just liked the movie alot okay

2. X (dir. Ti West) - love me some camp. love mia goth. i also really liked Pearl and cannot WAIT for MaXXXine, i am so ready

3. Cruel Intentions (dir. Roger Kumble) - i dont think 2022 was the first year i watched Cruel Intentions but everytime i watch it, it feels like something brand new...i am so compelled to read the book that its based on like seriously

4. Turning Red (dir. Domee Shi) - this is the only Disney movie that exists to me...the mother-daughter relationship portrayed here is just so personal

5. Kiki’s Delivery Service (dir. Hayao Miyazaki) - yeah im extremely late to watching this lol. i watched literally every other ghibli film growing up but somehow, in some way, skipped over Kiki. so i watched it over the summer as an adult and needless to say...yeah i missed out as a kid asjashd

6. American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron) - this is the funniest film ive seen this whole year. im not even kidding

TV SHOWS

1. Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul - never thought id enjoy a show about a middle-aged white male turning to meth production to make ends meet and becoming the most annoying character ever created, but here we are. loved it, and literally EVERYONE around walt deserved so much better (jesse, gus, johnny/saul, mike, skylar, marie, hank)

2. Ranma 1/2 - ive taken a break from watching new anime this year and started diving into older ones. i love ranma simply bc its a bit ahead of its time and is just so easy to digest. just a fun little show!!! a great way to take my mind off of shit

3. The Sandman - just found out recently that this was a DC comic so congrats to DC for successfully infiltrating my anti-superhero visual barrier LOL. anyways i am in dire NEED of the next season

4. You - PENN BADGLEY. thats all im going to say. im a huge fan of Gossip Girl (2007) and as soon as i saw him playing the lead character i RAN to watch the first season when it dropped. was not disappointed

5. The Witcher - ive never played the game lol but the show is so good...im not a fan of GoT (and therefore will never watch HotD) so this show p much fills the dark fantasy void for me

6. Bridgerton - im so glad i got over my weird distaste and finally gave this show a try...i see the hype, i see it!! and the show itself is so beautiful to look at, despite being historically innacurate or whatever

7. Gossip Girl (2007) - ive watched and rewatched this show a grand total of maybe like....20 times in my life total. rewatched it again this year. all six seasons. it never gets old despite being the most ridiculous insipid shit ever. im also currently watching the new version, and while i love the cast and maybe the soundtrack, it doesnt match up to the campy and fun vibe that the first one had. it takes itself way too seriously and the plot is almost nonexistent lol

but anyway, lets move on to music!! im skipping over books bc i have currently finished NONE from the book haul i had back in october.

MUSIC

just gonna list out a bunch of songs that have carried me thru the last half of this year :]

ass like that victoria monet / bang (my body) chase icon / meta angel fka twigs / wish i never kehlani / king for a day pierce the veil, kellin quinn / pass the nirvana pierce the veil / antagonist nova twins / gibson girl ethel cain / like a tattoo sade / the perfect pair beabadoobee / so it goes tamino / daybreak’s bell l’arc-en-ciel / colors flow / distant tevomxntana, cayo / grapefruit tove lo

sorry if this is extremely long. thanks for asking!!!!!! ❤️

[kittensartswriting]

15 Questions Tag

Thank you for tagging me @mariahwritesstuff!

I'll tag: @kiraofthewind @dotr-rose-love @aohendo @wildswrites

Feel free to ignore as always, but especially now because it's personal questions! Also if you want to answer but not every question, you can just skip those!

1. Are you named after anyone?

The first name is not after anyone but my two middle names are after my grandmothers.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Couple of weeks ago. I was in fever for more than a week and I had a deadline for the research plan of my thesis. It was very hard to focus on reading and writing academic texts while on fever, and in the evening of the deadline I was extremely tired. I had a little breakdown about it after writing one (1) sentence in two hours. (It was fine, I was allowed to return it late.)

3. Do you have kids?

Only if my cat child counts.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

I do, but at the same time I'm sometimes unable to detect it when someone else uses it, if they are not obvious enough about it lol.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Clothing and style I think. They are often the thing you can see even pretty far away, even before you're close enough to see their face. Clothing often tells at lest something about the person as it is a form of self-expression.

6. What's your eye color?

Blue.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. They can be really nice though my favorites are bittersweet endings, but while I like horror and it intrigues me, I'm also very easily scared and especially on movie format it's too effective on me :'D For me to be able to watch horror, it requires very specific movies in a very specific setting and a right state of mind. So if I have to choose broadly, it's happy endings.

8. Any special talents?

I'm not sure what is counted as special talent? I guess some of the adhd things could be counted as special talents? Like yes I know weird amount of facts and details about my current and past hyperfixations and I can focus intensely on something for multiple hours continuously.

9. Where were you born?

Helsinki.

10. What are your hobbies?

Writing, drawing, sewing, researching dress history, hicking and tennis.

11. Have you any pets?

As mentioned, I have a cat, Nausicaä (named after that Ghibli movie/manga (also by Miyazaki)), or more friendly Nasse. She's mixed and from a farm, but looks like a Russian Blue and we call her poor man's Russian Blue. She loves to sit on high places and very neatly on the edge of the thing and look down at people, which is why we also call her a gargoyle and talk about how she loves gargoyling. (If you've listened to TMA - we've also come to the conclusions that she's definitely an acolyte of The Eye.)

12. What sports do you play/have played?

Tennis, as mentioned, but in past I've played (European) football, gymnastics, basket ball and badminton. All the rest I only played for like couple of years, when I was preteen/teen, tennis is the only one I've played for a long time, though never competitively (so it's not like I'm super good at it).

13. How tall are you?

175 cm

14. Favorite subject in school?

I loved a lot of subjects, almost everything interested me except learning new languages (because I was very bad at them lol, it's the cocktail of dyslexia and adhd). If I'd had to choose though my favorites probably would be history and geography.

15. Dream job?

At the moment: architect, whose specialised on restoration of historical buildings and repairing/remodeling existing buildings.

#i know the rules say i should tag 15 people but like rules are for suckers and tagging people is always a little anxiety inducing #tagged #tag game

[separatist-apologist]

About how moving castle. I remember it adapted from a novel.And Howl Moving Castle is huge in the Animation or the anime fan. Basically everyone born from 1990 ish to 2000 (in my place , where i grow up) It was a very popular ghibli movie and in asia. Huge i think. And then Disney brought the license to have it dubbed in english.

To tell you how much Hayao Miyazaki valued his work, he send a Katana to Disney when they want to dubb Princess Mononoke. Disnye wanted to cut some part in Princess Mononoke but Hayao send the Katana and said 'no cut'. That is how much he value each animation, story and detail in his movie. Article said Disney producer wanted to softened down Princes Mononoke but Hayao wanted to keep this angsty and rage princess indentity.

Same goes Howl Moving Castle. He took his time to went to the original author of Howl Moving Caslte (she is english i think) and show her the movie before it was release to the public. You can tell this man is detailed when it come to handing his work.

Fun fact, Tolkien and Miyazaki both had experience live influence and affected heavily by war. Im sorry i dont remember exactly Tolkien if he was from WWI or WWII but i know Miyazaki experience tough live in WWII.

This movie play huge role in my life growing up in asia. And i feel when you say your experience reading disturbed when this famous work brought into Maas world.

I was sharing my thought on the Howl Moving Castle. I love LOTR too but was introduce to this masterpieces later in my life. And I love Aragorn the most. Tharanduil the second, hence my love for helion ig.

Yes, Tolkien fought in WW1, you're right about that and SO MUCH of what he experienced is interwoven in his stories.

When my (now 11) kid was a toddler and we met my now husband, he thought it was weird we didn't watch a lot television, and wanted to bond with her. So he introduced her to one of his favorite movies, Spirited Away. When I was growing up, we were like, POOR poor and I feel like everyone grew up watching movies and having experiences I didn't have until I was older and could go to my friend's house.

ANYWAY D still has this stuffed No Face plush she keeps on her bed. She tried to show it to baby P two months ago but P thought it was too scary (mr mb used to call D a haunted baby, she was such a spooky thing. An aside, since I guess today I'm being overly personal, but he worked nights for a while when we were dating and he'd set an alarm an hour early at 7pm each night to call and say hi and then read D a few pages from the Necronomicon (did I spell that right??) until she fell asleep. And now she checks out YA horror from the library).

I agree that it's jarring to see things you viscerally recognize put in another story, out of context but with enough imagery it's noticable. Like, clearly she loved it. I love it too. And I'm guessing it's fine since like, it happened and it's there, but it also pulls you out, and every time I see it I have to stop and like, reorient myself.

#shes hardly the only person to do it #and there are far more egregious examples #but it's still annoying

[akasha-game]

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

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

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

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

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

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

...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

or he's just some jerk i dunno

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

#indiegamedev #gamedev #indiedev #kim

[huggingtentacles]

Hi! For the Soulsborne Asks

5. What boss did you struggle on the most?

9. What are your three favourite weapons and why?

20. What are your thoughts on PvP?

29. What is your favourite Poison Swamp?

27. Are there any bosses you find overrated? 

I realise now I should of probably added more PvP focused things to the list :/

Hi, your list is fine, you also can send another ask later if something interests you.

5. When I say I struggled on Malenia for 11 hours, what I meant wasn't the time I've played the game in general while beating her. I've spent 11 hours IN HER BOSS ARENA. I didn't have guides or summons or even the mimic tear, I think I've seen her phase transition so many times I see it in my dreams sometimes. And I enjoyed every second of it. I don't know if that counts as "struggling" though I was enjoying myself a lot actually. If we mean struggling like *not having fun* I'd say my first hour on Maliketh was a slug. He didn't click for me for a little while.

9. Zweihander, Antspur Rapier, Stormhawk axe.

Zweihander is my old-reliable ever since I've started playing souls games. It's almost never bad.

Antspur Rapier is a Malenia-simping AIDS stick and I love it. It's really really strong and gives people all the diseases at once.

29. Lake of Rot, because it is truly the embodiment of Miyazaki's vision. It's literally the worst poison swamp they allowed him to make. He hid it deep in the ass of the world so the publisher wouldn't find out that he actually put it in the game before release. We were letting him get away with it and he took the opportunity. I love this man.

27. Godfrey for sure. I did not like him. Bitch failed the vibe check so hard. Don't get me wrong it's a cool fight but I just found him really cringe. His armour looks stupid. The way he talks is weird and I don't feel any character in him. I love how Marika just used him for her own goals. Slay queen.

#elden ring #malenia blade of miquella #elden ring pvp #invader talk #elden ring invasions #stab me malenia #malenia goddess of rot #malenia my beloved

[arecomicsevengood]

Jamie Kinroy, from 2021′s Spit Dog. This was originally released digitally by Shortbox, I only recently read a paper copy. As I don’t know much about the Scottish comics scene as it exists right now, I see a Frank Quitely influence in Kinroy’s stuff -- most of Spit Dog is in a more delicate, detailed fine-lined style than what you see here, and it’s for that reason that this more overtly cartoony stuff jumps out. I also felt a heavy Miyazaki Spirited Away influence in the story about a young kid getting a job in a weird place. Kinroy definitely seems like one to watch, a lot of talent here.

[sloshed-cinema]

The Bad Guys (2022)

We all know that there exists a vast Hollywood conspiracy to indoctrinate unsuspecting viewers into furrydom, releasing a new product every few years that gives one pause, makes one wonder “…but why are those tigers so sexy?” It’s becoming increasingly unsubtle. Sure the Disney Robin Hood was an awakening for some. But you could pass that off as a creative decision by the art department. If you’re naïve. Fast forward to Zootopia and we’ve got Shakira making her own fucking fursona (What hell it must be for commuters coming in from the train, weary and under-caffeinated, only to have a large video projection of a random pop star declaring “I’m Gazelle, welcome to Zootopia” every fucking morning.) and Nick Wilde a veritable stone cold fox. By this point, the jig is up. The Bad Guys opens on some weird vore fixation, there are jumpsuits aplenty, and Mr Wolf fucking looks down the barrel of the camera and asks to be handcuffed. There are going to be impressionable youths swarming like mind-controlled guinea pigs to their nearest furry convention. Society is doomed. But seriously. Move aside, Mr Snake. Mr Wolf is mine.

Sony Animation have really come out swinging in recent efforts. While not as flashy and diverse as Into the Spider-Verse, this is still slick and confident in its art direction. Animation feels very textured, the Looney-Toons slapstick packing some weight to it. A lot of the humans have a very Laputa: Castle in the Sky energy to them.  Police Chief Misty Luggins feels like a sister to the archetypal Miyazaki Large Adult Son, and the definitely not Eggman henchman of Marmalade has that Ghibli untrustworthy spindly quality. I’m a big sucker for teeth becoming sharp or sharp teeth becoming blocky to help the character emote, rendering the police chief predatory in her drive or Shark a big old softie goof. Mr Snake is ripe for both comedy (the vestigial arms on all of his disguises) and clever workarounds (of course cartoon logic dictates he can play the guitar). And Foxington and Wolf… well… I could melt in their gaze. All this comes together in a crisply realized fantasy LA ripe for fast action.

It’s just too bad that this is all in service of a story that’s boilerplate to a fault. The opening is perfection, introducing the characters, the tone, and the brand of comedy in a slick hat trick that knowingly doles out exposition. After this initial heist, it becomes a basic James Gunn type lovable rogues romp, and speed-run of it at that. We get all the beats, but the film doesn’t really allow anything to develop in a natural way. Stakes rarely match up with the payoff. After the most notorious criminals ever agree to reform and then botch their first attempts, it really only takes one video of Mr Wolf literally saving the cat for everyone’s perception to turn on a dime? Public opinion can be a fickle thing, but jeez… I’m not going to claim any credit for immediately calling the two identity twists, but the Foxington reveal was so blatantly telegraphed from second one that I’m not even sure it was supposed to be a twist. The typical start of third act low point and breakup of the group lasts all of five seconds before the inevitable reunion. I knew all of those beats were going to happen, and that’s fine, but it’s just that things weren’t paced out in a way to develop a satisfying narrative outside of the fun setpieces.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘guy(s)’.

Marmalade DEFINITELY doesn’t have ulterior motives.

The movie makes a reference to another film.

Can we as a society just collectively move onward from fart and butt jokes please?

Mr Wolf or Foxington make you think... unclean things...

BIG DRINK

The crater is mentioned.

A heist begins.

Repto-lupine homoeroticism.

#drinking games #the bad guys #comedy #animation #crime #pierre perifel #sam rockwell #awkwafina #zazie beetz #richard ayaode #marc maron #anthony ramos #craig robinson #lock the gates