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FAQ YOU!!!
9 years ago
Between FA, DA, my inbox, and the antenna on my tinfoil hat, I have received butt many questions and I shall proceed with launch in 3… 2… 1… *extremely uneventful and anticlimactic sputtering* That should satisfy your koala. I anticipate cheese. Thank you.
Q: Why derpy frog?
A: He just kinda became a "thing" in the same way internet "things" sometimes do. He debuted in this piece: http://bjpentecost.deviantart.com/a.....-dis-175295740 and for some reason, people just latched onto him. Ever since then, he's appeared in nearly all my pieces. In fact, people get angry with me if I don't include him. XD
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Q: Do you need hugs?
A: Not at the moment but I will take one mmeeeeeellion dollars, pleez.
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Q: How is your username PRONOUNCED?!?
A: SES-quip-ed-AIL-ean. The alternative pronunciation, VAIR-is-sim-ill-eh-TOOD-in-us, is equally acceptable. You may also call me silver one, I suppose, if you like, though, I don't know why you would when you could call me sesquipedalian or verisimilitudinous instead.
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Q: What is that thing? Why do you bother hiding it with clothes?
A: I could tell you, but then I'd have to dunk you upside-down into a vat of chocolate and toss you in the sexy-sexy pit. That could be a wonderful experience or the most terrifying ordeal of your life depending on your proclivities. I will give you one item of your choosing with which to defend yourself. Liberal interpretation of the word "defend" may be applicable.
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Q: I want the interpretive dance version.
A: "I can't," Silverone sighed, staring over the balcony as if the secrets to life itself dwelled there in the shadowy teal and burgundy foliage far below. A couple of drunken party-goers giggled across the courtyard, running this way and that.
"Why not?" the questioner asked, quirking a wry brow at the couple. The woman cackled and flapped around a corner like a chicken being chased by a fox and the man growled after her.
"Last time… I…" Siverone paused long in silence. "People died." The Grecian pillar to her left abruptly became much more interesting. She turned away from him to examine the faint craquelure and exposed nibbles of grit beneath the pearlescent skin. A vainglory beetle shimmied up the fluting, its mirrorshine wings reflecting flashes of sunset and splashes of encroaching night sky. She envied it for its obliviousness. Apparently, it had some very important beetle business to attend or perhaps took offence at her closeness and flew off in a noisy flutter.
The questioner stared in stunned silence, scrabbling for clarity but the cacophony of squealing party favors and drunken cheering knocked down any thoughts that climbed too high. After a long bought of gathering his piecemeal thoughts, he finally managed to blurt a single word; "what!?"
"You heard me," she answered more curtly than intended.
"I don't understand." A whispering breeze teased a skirt of wind chimes overhead. The silver and crystal sang pretty lies but he felt the year necrosing around him, deep in his bones, like creeping tendrils of arthritis. Twenty-sixteen could not be done with soon enough for his liking. The whole year had been one long farcical cavalcade of misery and regret from start to finish. Though there were only a few hours left of it, he feared what malevolence twenty-sixteen could get up to even in that short span of time. The year had pulled no punches.
"You don't need to understand," she warned. "All you need to know is that I can't; not unless you want twenty-seventeen to be even worse than twenty-sixteen."
The questioner jerked back as if she had thrown a bucket of ice water in his face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said." Her voice was cold and sharp as the sighing shing of a leyic blade being drawn from its sheath.
A-are you saying… all of this… this entire year…"
"Is my fault?" She turned away again, unable to meet his eyes. "How was I supposed to know it would come to this?"
He shook his head, his face melting into an expression of abject dismay. "David Bowie? Harambe? Prince? Carrie Fisher?" His eyes darted about frantically, his mind flashing with imagery of all the mayhem and heartache the year had wrought. "TRUMP!?"
The telltale pop of a champagne cork preceded shattering glass followed by a wave of uproarious cheering, laughter, and applause.
Silverone nodded.
The questioner stared horror-stricken, shaking his head. "Y-you have to fix it! You have to reverse it!"
"And risk making it worse!?" she spat. "No. I wouldn't dare. Honestly, I don't think there's anything left to do but let it burn. Maybe we can build something better out of the ashes."
"But…" Something inside exploded and a fire erupted to boisterous cheering.
"But nothing. My power was clearly not meant to be used this way."
"Then, pray tell, how was it meant to be used?" he demanded.
"You don't want to know."
"Yes, I really do," he pressed, leaning in close. "You owe me that much."
Silverone sighed. "Alright. You asked for it." She leapt up to the banister with all the grace of a unicorn. Amethyst, pearl, and blue topaz silks flowed about her, billowing as if caught in an ethyreal gust. She held out her arms to the setting sun and breathed deeply of its fading golden rays. The coin belt around her ample hips began to jingle. The bracelets, baubles, and beaded strings tingled like wind chimes and bells, glistening with stars of trapped light. Her silks shimmied with her movements like rippling water.
From the foothills to the desert, from the snowfields to the city, from the riverlands to the plateaus to the mountain peaks and forests, every male stopped as if frozen in time. Mid conversation, working the fields, eating, gardening, walking, reading, sleeping, painting, mid coitus- their heads turned east. Their legs moved of their own accord, dragging them forth in a stampede that rolled across the land like a tidal wave.
"NO! GOD! PLEASE STOP!" the questioner cried out but it was too late for he was too a boy and thus compelled, same as all the others, to Silverone's yard. He flung himself over the balcony, unable to resist the siren call.
"IT'S BETTER THAN YOURS!" a man shouted at his very confused wife then scrambled through the mansion out into the yard with all the others congregating there.
"DAMN RIGHT!" Silverone bellowed in a tremulous voice with all the might and fury of an erupting volcano. And she shook her milk all night long, until the curtains closed on twenty-sixteen.
I am a fucking idiot. Why do you people put up with me? I wouldn't. Jesus Christ.
~
Q: Was twenty-sixteen really that bad?
A: Aside from the election of a walking 4chan meme to the most powerful political position on the planet, eh. I think it's more that the age has come for many where death is becoming uncomfortably real. We make jokes and laugh about it, threatening to form protective circles around Betty White and Sir Ian McKellan which is answered with "don't give 2016 any ideas" but the truth is, we're starting to realize that maybe there is no magical mystical beardy father figure in the sky promising an eternity of perfect bliss. Maybe the singularity isn't going to happen and Ray Kurzweil isn't going to descend in a cloud of nanoparticles to bring us to the transhumanist promised lands. Maybe we're not going to reincarnate as someone rich and powerful and impossibly awesome or whatever else.
We're starting to realize that just like our heroes, just like the people we loved and admired and looked up to throughout so much of our childhoods, we are going to stop existing and the universe will go on without us until its heat death or obliteration by vacuum decay at which point the transcendent beings will end the simulation and humanity will be relegated to a footnote of a footnote of a footnote in some unimportant footnote of a footnote of a footnote. Maybe we'll get an honorable mention for having almost become a class one civilization before we blew ourselves up and fulfilled the more dour predictions of the Fermi paradox.
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Q: Got a favorite aircraft?
A: Serenity! :D But now for my real answer… I don't really tend to care too much about vehicles except in their capacity to provide interesting set pieces or plot devices. Being stranded in a spaceship or on a ship at sea, murder mystery on a train, Snowpiercer, Speed- the ideas are infinitely more interesting to me than the vehicles themselves. The only exception to this might be motorcycles. They can be sexy, cool, badass, intimidating, or even terrifying. They're very versatile and there's something more personable about them than other vehicles. I can't really explain why I feel that way. Perhaps it's because you can actually see the people riding on them and in a way, they're almost as much a character-revealing accessory as a vehicle.
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Q: After the recent disappointing Assassin's Creed movie, do you think it is possible to make a really great videogame movie that competes with other great non-videogame related movies?
A: I think it is perfectly possible to make a great videogame movie. I believe this hasn't happened yet because the following criteria have not been met:
- It would require a great director.
- Who is good at telling stories.
- And isn't afraid to tell a story beyond what we've seen in the videogames.
- Has an intimate knowledge of the material.
- And who not only *knows* the material but understands *the spirit of the material.*
- It would have to be acted out by great actors.
- Who have at least some knowledge of the source material.
- And of course, it would require other things that go into great movies such as good editing, seamless effects, soundtrack etc.
These things simply have not crossed paths yet (imo).
Let's take the Assassin's creed verse for example. We tell the story of an assassin not yet explored in the game series. Her name is Hannah. She is a young 13yo girl; bright, curious, as adventurous as she's allowed to be which is not very. She is normal in just about every way... until the day her mother and father are found brutally murdered in their bedroom. The estate is suddenly overrun by fighting men. Everything is on fire. She's terrified. She doesn't know what to do. A hooded woman in white appears and holds out her hand, changing Hannah's life forever.
The story revolves around this hooded woman teaching Hannah how to be an assassin and more importantly, how to be a *woman* assassin. Fact is, nearly all men are stronger than nearly all women. Your average guy is stronger than literally 99.9% of women. Nearly all of Hannah's opponents are going to be bigger than her and at least twice as strong as her, probably more so since they aren't going to be average men. Thus, if a woman is going to be an assassin, it's going to be very different from how men do it. I think it would be very interesting to explore that idea.
Her assassin's garb could turn inside out to look like peasantwear or a noble woman's garb or a courtesan's dress. Perhaps she could have different outfits for different assignments. She could have wigs and a makeup kit on hand to do a quick contour job and make herself look like someone else (dunno how feasible that is, just spitballing ideas). She would have to learn how to fight against opponents who are bigger and literally more than twice as strong as she is by using their weight and momentum against them, by being smart, cunning, resourceful, and flexible. Perhaps she develops her own code that she will not kill anyone, not even an aggressor, unless the person is on her list of targets. I could go on all day and this is just ONE idea I pulled out of my arse on the fly without even putting much thought into it. I could come up with Assassin's Creed story possibilities in my sleep.
Here's where this idea would go wrong- shitty director with dollar signs in his eyes sees a way to pander to women and get easy money with minimal work. He scrabbles together a few shitty actors and maybe a decent one or two but most of the budget is going towards garish, second rate CGI effects anyway so one or two is the best he can do. He tells this story with sloppy, unsubtle, shoehorned in lesbian overtones. Get the male butts in the seats too! Two birds, one stone. Shoehorn in a male love interest for drama's sake because reasons and why not?
What we end up with is a crappy telling of what could have been a great story acted out by actors whose only motivation is "erotica" which pisses off both men and women because both groups know they're being shamelessly pandered to and don't appreciate the tactless, patronizing tone or sloppy exploitive manner in which the subjects were handled. Somehow, the movie still makes A LOT of money despite being universally panned so an equally crappy sequel is inevitable.
There is, IMO, not a single damn thing stopping a truly great videogame movie from happening except that the aforementioned requirements have yet to cross paths.
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Q: What do you want to get for Christmas?
A: Material things don't do much for me unless they facilitate my creative process in some way which is problematic because my creative process involves some pretty expensive stuff and I don't know any benevolent loaded millionaires. :p If I knew any, I'd ask for a supercomputer with Photoshop Creative Cloud, Zbrush, Vray, Maya, Vue, and a personal renderfarm but that's not going to happen. So I usually ask for videogames, books, and pajama pants because my closet eats pajama pants for some reason. I swear, one day, the damn thing is just going to explode and every pair of pajama pants I have ever owned is going to come spewing out in a big, watery belch, leaving a pajama pants-strewn hole in the north wall of my room.
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Q: What.... is your favourite colour? -no wait, I think we can all guess that one…
A: I bet you can't either. Go ahead, try. I guarantee not a single one of you knows it.
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Q: Beside PS and digital painting, what is your favourite software/medium?
A: Absolutely, one-hundred percent, hands down, no contest, ZBRUSH. I worship at the altar of Zbrush. Pixologic is my god. I. Fucking. LOVE Zbrush. I wish all creative developers were as innovative and facilitative as Pixologic. I swear to every possibly existing god, every time I think they can't possibly make this program any better, they go and make the program better. Gggaaawwwddd I love the Zmodeler tools.
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Q: Who or what are you? and if so, how many?
A: I am become Tacobell, destroyer of toilets. *arises in a cloud of guacamole, pico de gallo, and three-cheese blend*
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Q: Vaccum decay? guh ya made me google that!
A: Interesting stuff. Learned about it from Kurzgeskjnaksjnfkjbtn. I'm not even going to try. Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt/videos (Edit: Oh, hey, look, there it is right there in the link. Hodor.)
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Q: what does one have to do to win your heart?
A: The following requirements must be met:
1.) Must be roughly 9.4697e-5 miles tall.
2.) Must weigh approximately 0.000223214 imperial tons.
3.) Must generally fall somewhere between 2.628e+15 nanoseconds and 3.154e+16 nanoseconds old.
4.) Must be a member of the species, F. catus.
In all seriousness, I need someone who is intelligent, creative, has a sense of humor, is compassionate, empathetic, and shares my love of fantasy, science, RPing, and long thoughtful conversations. Must also like fluffy women because try though I may, I am, have always been, and probably always will be pretty damn fluffy. None of that is negotiable but most everything else is just different flavored cake icing.
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Q: Miss Pantycoast, are the rumors about you and the sentient potato, true? The internet demands answers.
A: Firstly, I'll have you know that it's PantyCOATS, you ignoble sea marmot! Secondly, how dare you!? I am a sentient TOMATO. There is a HUGE difference. I mean really, people, come on. This is 2016… for the moment anyway.
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Q: What's your favorite part when working on a new project?
A: In almost every painting I've ever done, there's a point I reach where it's all a smooth downhill slide to the finish line and I can focus on the fun stuff like detailing. That's my favorite part. I love getting wrapped up in detailing, especially jewelry and attire.
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Q: What kinds of things helped inspire your fantasy world?
A: Whooo! That would be a very long list to fully flesh out so I'll TL;DR it: The Last Unicorn, The Lion King, the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series, and Disney movies in general had a HUGE impact on my artistic development. Recently, however, I am becoming increasingly inspired by, of all things, chemistry, which I absolutely HATED in high school and barely even passed. I've become weirdly fanatical about it lately. It hasn't shown up in my artwork but it will soon… eh… rather someday when I manage to claw my way out from under commission mountain.
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Q: Can I have a cookie?
A: Not unless you fandango your homework first and you'd better do a good rumcake impression or you're not getting any at all. I swear, I will absolutely revoke your electronegativity without hesitation. I might even go so far as to fluorinate your ass. You don't want that. Trust me.
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Q: Why isn't the world octagonal?
A: Little known fact- the world actually was effectively octagonal at one point. In its very early formation, after the collision with the asteroidal body which we now know as Mars, Earth took on a roughly octagonal form. Due to the prevalence of carbon and its strong tendency to form tightly-knit hexagonal substrates with silicate minerals and ionic hydrogen (specifically in conditions of high pressure and heat), enormous spans of flat surfaces began to propagate from the concretion process. The very same polar covalent functions that are hypothesized to have instigated abiogenesis spurred on carbonosilicate substrate propagation so perfectly, the effect seemed almost procedurally generated, something that is considered mathematically sound evidence for the "Simulation Hypothesis."
As the concretion process slowed down, Earth was left, for a brief (relatively, in cosmic terms) period of time, with large octagonal facets, each spanning thousands of kilometers. Eventually, gravity, van der waals, and the strong nuclear forces colluded in crunching it all down to the lovely Earthen shape we know and love today- an oblate spheroidal pear.
Source: B. Taurus Egesta.
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Q: Are you good at interpretive dance?
A: We've been over this. I can't. Not unless you want 2017 to be even more catastrophic than 2016. At this rate, there would be nothing left of Earth but a giant smoldering anus floating in space come 2018.
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Q: Can I have 2 cookies?
A: Get out of here with this Oliver Twist bullshit. Have you fandangoed your damn homework yet? Because if not, your ass is getting fluorinated. You've been warned.
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Q: Is art your full time job? If so, when did you decide your work was professional enough to do so?
A: Yes. I started taking it seriously a few years ago. I realized that I can write my own ticket, set my own schedule, and be my own boss. I'll probably never be rich but I can work from home in my pajamas so there's that.
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Q: If you had to start all over again and you wanted to get to where you are now, what would you do differently?
A: It's tough to say. I almost think the obsessive "art is life" and "art = self-esteem" phase I went through in my late teen/early adult years was unnecessary but I'm not sure it was. I don't have enough perspective. I don't know many other artists on a personal level so I don't know what their experiences are. Maybe if I had grown up emotionally healthy and happy, I wouldn't be as good as I am today. Or maybe I would have. Maybe all the suffering and obsessing and approval-seeking has ultimately made no difference in my artistic progress.
Otherwise, I can't think of too many other things I'd do differently aside from obvious things like practice more, study more, more perspective work, more pose work, etc etc.
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Q: how much of the finished picture is in your head when you start creating?
A: Sometimes all of it, sometimes none of it, sometimes some of it. Depends on what I'm doing. If I'm doing a commission, I need to have a strong mental image to work by. If I'm doing something for myself that's unimportant, then I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the brainfart-powered journey.
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Q: What is the hardest part of the process for you?
A: Getting started. That's always the hardest, most tedious, difficult, brain-straining part for me. This is actually one of the reasons I love incorporating Zbrush into my paintings. Zbrush allows me to free-flow, spitball, and rapid-prototype ideas without having to commit upfront. I can experiment with poses, perspective, and props.
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Q: First furry gal-crush? First furry guy-crush?
A: I think this is probably cheating but the answers to both of these questions are two of my characters.
First furry boy crush: http://bjpentecost.deviantart.com/a.....ge-1-521632846
First furry girl crush: http://bjpentecost.deviantart.com/a.....e-AU-438547712 This one is technically a guy but I have a female version of him and I am ass over teakettle in love with her.
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Q: Venison or bison?
A: Wildebeest.
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Q: Can I have 3 cookies?
A: Do you want a fluoroantimonic acid enema? Because that's how you get a fluoroantimonic acid enema. Now fandango your damn homework. I won't tell you again. Jesus. You fucking people.
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Q: Which word do you use sarcastically: Shagging, yiffing, swiving, plowing, or other?
A: Forking.
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Q: Vampires or werewolves? Vampires on werewolves or werewolves on vampires?
A: Why draw arbitrary lines in the sand when we can just open the doors and let everyone in? Gargoyles, satyrs, merfolk, centaurs, demons- I'm a free love kinda gal, though, I draw the line at Deep Ones. No tentacles allowed. I mean, I'm totally okay with other people being into that but it's not my thing.
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Q: Is competitive ass-dragging a thing? Would taurs have competitive ass-dragging races?
A: So far as I know, it is actually a thing, but you have to get elected first and unfortunately, I think the competition is over for now. IIRC, we'll get another one in 2018, assuming we haven't blown ourselves up by then.
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Q: SQUIRREL!
A: *brandishes cone of shame*
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Q: Leeks or onions?
A: Ya know, I've never actually had leeks so I'm going to have to go with onions. I LOVE red onions and I'll put them on just about everything except, strangely, pizza. I don't like onions on pizza and I have no idea why since I like just about everything else on pizza. Parmesan/garlic white sauce? Hell yes. Banana peppers? Mmmhmm. Feta? Oh yeah. Spinach? Muchly. Mushrooms? Give it to me, babay! Garlic? Yes, please. Pepperoni? Absolutely. Jalapenos? If I'm feelin extra spicy, sure. Bacon? Damn straight. Ham? Okay. Sausage? Maybe. All of these things at once? Sure, why not? Onions? WELL THAT'S JUST UNREASONABLE!
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Q: If Trump is Putin's pet carrot and Putin's secretly in the closet, does that mean Putin's a power bottom?
A: I don't know that your conclusion is necessarily tenable based on the premise. I'm not saying you're wrong. You might very well be right but there's not enough evidence to come to that conclusion. However, if Trump really is Putin's pet carrot and Putin is secretly in the closet, I think it is fair to say that carrot will soon be getting some serious comeuppance. (Is there a medal for pulling off a triple entendre?)
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Q: Which combination of genders and personalities do you prefer to be FAQed by?
A: I am happy to be FAQed by any gender really. When it comes to FAQing and related activities, I'm really more interested in the aforementioned "things necessary to capture my heart."
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Q: How have you been? You haven't posted any real general life posts for a while.
A: Eh. Been better, been worse. I haven't really posted much about myself recently because I'm always afraid it's going to somehow start a flamewar. I once made a post about what the weather was like in WA and the comments erupted into a flame war between people who could not reconcile that WA is a big state and has different weather systems along the cost and eastern border. Jinkies Christ, people will fight over anything.
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Q: Did you end up getting fallout 4, if so did you enjoy it? Were there any other rpg games that surpassed it this cycle?
A: Alas, no, I have not. I probably will at some point, though, I have heard some unfavorable reviews and that makes me unsure whether I want to spend the money or not. The Witcher 3, despite some obnoxious flaws, was A LOT of fun. I really quite enjoyed it… even if Geralt was a bit of a Marty Stu.
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Q: Since I am relatively young I don't have a real memory of other political phases, have there other transitions or phases that have looked as bad as this upcoming one?
A: Not ever in the history of my entire 33 years on this planet have I ever seen anything as ridiculous as this past election cycle, at least not in America. I am absolutely shocked by how many people genuinely seem to think Trump being elected is a good thing and the rationalizations are so far beyond absurd, it makes me wonder if some of these people aren't legitimately insane. "Liberals told me that I have to not be a cunt and I didn't like that so I voted for the walking 4chan meme with no political experience and a long history of corrupt, exploitive, sociopathic, unethical business practices." The fuck? I mean, I don't like Hillary either but for Flying Spaghetti Monster's sake, people…
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Q: When will you be leaving Florida? I fear that the continual heat and humidity has had a corrosive presence, as recorded by this website
A: As soon as I can afford to. I hate literally almost everything about this state. The ONLY reasons I am staying here is because I can't afford to leave at the moment and because it has a low cost of living. Otherwise, I would be out of here.
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Q: will there ever be another installment of the episodes of your puntastic gift and or your pants?
A: Yes, though, I don't know if anything will ever beat "tightlipped and forthcoming" or "Jesus Christ, quit being such a martyr." *facepalms* I don't know why people tolerate my existence sometimes. If I weren't me, I'd probably kill me in my sleep.
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Q: Did you ever end up using the answers to the earth-sci chem questions?
A: Yes. And it will be making its way into my art… eventually… after I manage to dig my way out from under commission mountain.
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Q: It seems like your eyes have finally become stable, is that the case?
A: Yes and no. I now know (or think I know) the cause (or indirect cause) of my eye problems and I can sometimes head it off by engaging my liver and kidneys in combat which I typically win with heaping mounds of Excedrin Migraine and Advil. However, there are still days where I feel like I'm getting double-dicked in both eye sockets without lube and there's nothing I can do but lay in bed like a beached squid until the meds kick in.
~
Q: Any pieces of media that you've encountered over the last year or so that seems to really stick with you?
A: "Fenton! FENTON! FENNNTON! Jesos Chroist. FENTONNNN!" Apparently that's old but I completely missed it. So glad I found it this year. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at anything ever and I'm not even sure why. I mean, was it really that funny? Yes. The answer to that is yes.
In all seriousness though, there were actually a few things that did stick with me but most of them were not good and I'm not sure I want to ruin everyone's mood by sharing. 2016 was actually kind of a beyotch.
~
Q: What systems and rulesets do you run with your rpg games? Do you make use of pre generated worlds, or has your group developed its own?
A: I've only run a few official games (Cthulhu and Rifts) but I do also run my own Bobbie Jeanoverse RPs using my own system which is kind of a bastardization of whatever I feel works well from other systems. I draw up character stats and have my players use the DnD dice roller ap. I also run other RPs that are purely story based and don't really require a system. The players decide whether they succeed or fail for themselves.
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Q: You've been surprisingly well versed in scientific theory for your profession, has there been any papers or fields that has caught your eye over the past year or so?
A: I could write a mile-long list but here are a few notable scientific discoveries/advances/papers/etc that have caught my eye:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rele.....-scs052616.php
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas.....0609142426.htm
https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/media.....ther-movements
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-.....30?pfmredir=sm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linea.....tylenic_carbon
We are also apparently developing bionic eyes that restore eyesight to the blind, CRISPR advances that may cure fatal genetic illnesses, and an EM-drive that doesn't in fact defy physics and actually works… fancy that.
~
Q: Have you ever tried dark souls or its sequels? It isn't an RPG for talking but the worlds and lore are amazing.
A: Alas, nope. I'm not sure I want to either. I've heard it is amazing but I've also heard it is the among the most frustrating game series of all time.
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Q: Lastly, have you tried balancing out the coffee with some tea?
A: I wonder what they would taste like together. >8} I must try this. FOR SCIENCE!
~
"And that's that," Silverone said, to the sea of gaping, horror-stricken faces.
A long, uncomfortable silence persisted, pocked by the occasional cough or shuffling of feet. When it became clear no one would dare break the seemingly universal agreement not to intrude upon the burgeoning silence, she shrank back with a sigh. After all, the performance had been quite trying for anyone bearing the slightest shred of empathy or decency and gods help anyone possessing even a modicum of logic or rationality.
As she prepared to exit stage left, a diminutive, elderly gentleman at the very back of the room stood up. He was but a silhouette amidst the shadows. Those around him cringed away as if he might infect them with whatever madness compelled him to stand. "Beg pardon, miss, but," he paused, "well, does this, this… atrocity have a name?"
Silverone's face contorted into a bloody rictus and her arms spread wide as if to embrace the people, every single one of whom were waiting for a proprietous moment to dash for the exits. A few had already left their seats and scurried down the aisles.
"I call it, The Aristocrats." The doors slammed shut with the sound of a guillotine crashing down and the lights went out.
Q: Why derpy frog?
A: He just kinda became a "thing" in the same way internet "things" sometimes do. He debuted in this piece: http://bjpentecost.deviantart.com/a.....-dis-175295740 and for some reason, people just latched onto him. Ever since then, he's appeared in nearly all my pieces. In fact, people get angry with me if I don't include him. XD
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Q: Do you need hugs?
A: Not at the moment but I will take one mmeeeeeellion dollars, pleez.
~
Q: How is your username PRONOUNCED?!?
A: SES-quip-ed-AIL-ean. The alternative pronunciation, VAIR-is-sim-ill-eh-TOOD-in-us, is equally acceptable. You may also call me silver one, I suppose, if you like, though, I don't know why you would when you could call me sesquipedalian or verisimilitudinous instead.
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Q: What is that thing? Why do you bother hiding it with clothes?
A: I could tell you, but then I'd have to dunk you upside-down into a vat of chocolate and toss you in the sexy-sexy pit. That could be a wonderful experience or the most terrifying ordeal of your life depending on your proclivities. I will give you one item of your choosing with which to defend yourself. Liberal interpretation of the word "defend" may be applicable.
~
Q: I want the interpretive dance version.
A: "I can't," Silverone sighed, staring over the balcony as if the secrets to life itself dwelled there in the shadowy teal and burgundy foliage far below. A couple of drunken party-goers giggled across the courtyard, running this way and that.
"Why not?" the questioner asked, quirking a wry brow at the couple. The woman cackled and flapped around a corner like a chicken being chased by a fox and the man growled after her.
"Last time… I…" Siverone paused long in silence. "People died." The Grecian pillar to her left abruptly became much more interesting. She turned away from him to examine the faint craquelure and exposed nibbles of grit beneath the pearlescent skin. A vainglory beetle shimmied up the fluting, its mirrorshine wings reflecting flashes of sunset and splashes of encroaching night sky. She envied it for its obliviousness. Apparently, it had some very important beetle business to attend or perhaps took offence at her closeness and flew off in a noisy flutter.
The questioner stared in stunned silence, scrabbling for clarity but the cacophony of squealing party favors and drunken cheering knocked down any thoughts that climbed too high. After a long bought of gathering his piecemeal thoughts, he finally managed to blurt a single word; "what!?"
"You heard me," she answered more curtly than intended.
"I don't understand." A whispering breeze teased a skirt of wind chimes overhead. The silver and crystal sang pretty lies but he felt the year necrosing around him, deep in his bones, like creeping tendrils of arthritis. Twenty-sixteen could not be done with soon enough for his liking. The whole year had been one long farcical cavalcade of misery and regret from start to finish. Though there were only a few hours left of it, he feared what malevolence twenty-sixteen could get up to even in that short span of time. The year had pulled no punches.
"You don't need to understand," she warned. "All you need to know is that I can't; not unless you want twenty-seventeen to be even worse than twenty-sixteen."
The questioner jerked back as if she had thrown a bucket of ice water in his face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said." Her voice was cold and sharp as the sighing shing of a leyic blade being drawn from its sheath.
A-are you saying… all of this… this entire year…"
"Is my fault?" She turned away again, unable to meet his eyes. "How was I supposed to know it would come to this?"
He shook his head, his face melting into an expression of abject dismay. "David Bowie? Harambe? Prince? Carrie Fisher?" His eyes darted about frantically, his mind flashing with imagery of all the mayhem and heartache the year had wrought. "TRUMP!?"
The telltale pop of a champagne cork preceded shattering glass followed by a wave of uproarious cheering, laughter, and applause.
Silverone nodded.
The questioner stared horror-stricken, shaking his head. "Y-you have to fix it! You have to reverse it!"
"And risk making it worse!?" she spat. "No. I wouldn't dare. Honestly, I don't think there's anything left to do but let it burn. Maybe we can build something better out of the ashes."
"But…" Something inside exploded and a fire erupted to boisterous cheering.
"But nothing. My power was clearly not meant to be used this way."
"Then, pray tell, how was it meant to be used?" he demanded.
"You don't want to know."
"Yes, I really do," he pressed, leaning in close. "You owe me that much."
Silverone sighed. "Alright. You asked for it." She leapt up to the banister with all the grace of a unicorn. Amethyst, pearl, and blue topaz silks flowed about her, billowing as if caught in an ethyreal gust. She held out her arms to the setting sun and breathed deeply of its fading golden rays. The coin belt around her ample hips began to jingle. The bracelets, baubles, and beaded strings tingled like wind chimes and bells, glistening with stars of trapped light. Her silks shimmied with her movements like rippling water.
From the foothills to the desert, from the snowfields to the city, from the riverlands to the plateaus to the mountain peaks and forests, every male stopped as if frozen in time. Mid conversation, working the fields, eating, gardening, walking, reading, sleeping, painting, mid coitus- their heads turned east. Their legs moved of their own accord, dragging them forth in a stampede that rolled across the land like a tidal wave.
"NO! GOD! PLEASE STOP!" the questioner cried out but it was too late for he was too a boy and thus compelled, same as all the others, to Silverone's yard. He flung himself over the balcony, unable to resist the siren call.
"IT'S BETTER THAN YOURS!" a man shouted at his very confused wife then scrambled through the mansion out into the yard with all the others congregating there.
"DAMN RIGHT!" Silverone bellowed in a tremulous voice with all the might and fury of an erupting volcano. And she shook her milk all night long, until the curtains closed on twenty-sixteen.
I am a fucking idiot. Why do you people put up with me? I wouldn't. Jesus Christ.
~
Q: Was twenty-sixteen really that bad?
A: Aside from the election of a walking 4chan meme to the most powerful political position on the planet, eh. I think it's more that the age has come for many where death is becoming uncomfortably real. We make jokes and laugh about it, threatening to form protective circles around Betty White and Sir Ian McKellan which is answered with "don't give 2016 any ideas" but the truth is, we're starting to realize that maybe there is no magical mystical beardy father figure in the sky promising an eternity of perfect bliss. Maybe the singularity isn't going to happen and Ray Kurzweil isn't going to descend in a cloud of nanoparticles to bring us to the transhumanist promised lands. Maybe we're not going to reincarnate as someone rich and powerful and impossibly awesome or whatever else.
We're starting to realize that just like our heroes, just like the people we loved and admired and looked up to throughout so much of our childhoods, we are going to stop existing and the universe will go on without us until its heat death or obliteration by vacuum decay at which point the transcendent beings will end the simulation and humanity will be relegated to a footnote of a footnote of a footnote in some unimportant footnote of a footnote of a footnote. Maybe we'll get an honorable mention for having almost become a class one civilization before we blew ourselves up and fulfilled the more dour predictions of the Fermi paradox.
~
Q: Got a favorite aircraft?
A: Serenity! :D But now for my real answer… I don't really tend to care too much about vehicles except in their capacity to provide interesting set pieces or plot devices. Being stranded in a spaceship or on a ship at sea, murder mystery on a train, Snowpiercer, Speed- the ideas are infinitely more interesting to me than the vehicles themselves. The only exception to this might be motorcycles. They can be sexy, cool, badass, intimidating, or even terrifying. They're very versatile and there's something more personable about them than other vehicles. I can't really explain why I feel that way. Perhaps it's because you can actually see the people riding on them and in a way, they're almost as much a character-revealing accessory as a vehicle.
~
Q: After the recent disappointing Assassin's Creed movie, do you think it is possible to make a really great videogame movie that competes with other great non-videogame related movies?
A: I think it is perfectly possible to make a great videogame movie. I believe this hasn't happened yet because the following criteria have not been met:
- It would require a great director.
- Who is good at telling stories.
- And isn't afraid to tell a story beyond what we've seen in the videogames.
- Has an intimate knowledge of the material.
- And who not only *knows* the material but understands *the spirit of the material.*
- It would have to be acted out by great actors.
- Who have at least some knowledge of the source material.
- And of course, it would require other things that go into great movies such as good editing, seamless effects, soundtrack etc.
These things simply have not crossed paths yet (imo).
Let's take the Assassin's creed verse for example. We tell the story of an assassin not yet explored in the game series. Her name is Hannah. She is a young 13yo girl; bright, curious, as adventurous as she's allowed to be which is not very. She is normal in just about every way... until the day her mother and father are found brutally murdered in their bedroom. The estate is suddenly overrun by fighting men. Everything is on fire. She's terrified. She doesn't know what to do. A hooded woman in white appears and holds out her hand, changing Hannah's life forever.
The story revolves around this hooded woman teaching Hannah how to be an assassin and more importantly, how to be a *woman* assassin. Fact is, nearly all men are stronger than nearly all women. Your average guy is stronger than literally 99.9% of women. Nearly all of Hannah's opponents are going to be bigger than her and at least twice as strong as her, probably more so since they aren't going to be average men. Thus, if a woman is going to be an assassin, it's going to be very different from how men do it. I think it would be very interesting to explore that idea.
Her assassin's garb could turn inside out to look like peasantwear or a noble woman's garb or a courtesan's dress. Perhaps she could have different outfits for different assignments. She could have wigs and a makeup kit on hand to do a quick contour job and make herself look like someone else (dunno how feasible that is, just spitballing ideas). She would have to learn how to fight against opponents who are bigger and literally more than twice as strong as she is by using their weight and momentum against them, by being smart, cunning, resourceful, and flexible. Perhaps she develops her own code that she will not kill anyone, not even an aggressor, unless the person is on her list of targets. I could go on all day and this is just ONE idea I pulled out of my arse on the fly without even putting much thought into it. I could come up with Assassin's Creed story possibilities in my sleep.
Here's where this idea would go wrong- shitty director with dollar signs in his eyes sees a way to pander to women and get easy money with minimal work. He scrabbles together a few shitty actors and maybe a decent one or two but most of the budget is going towards garish, second rate CGI effects anyway so one or two is the best he can do. He tells this story with sloppy, unsubtle, shoehorned in lesbian overtones. Get the male butts in the seats too! Two birds, one stone. Shoehorn in a male love interest for drama's sake because reasons and why not?
What we end up with is a crappy telling of what could have been a great story acted out by actors whose only motivation is "erotica" which pisses off both men and women because both groups know they're being shamelessly pandered to and don't appreciate the tactless, patronizing tone or sloppy exploitive manner in which the subjects were handled. Somehow, the movie still makes A LOT of money despite being universally panned so an equally crappy sequel is inevitable.
There is, IMO, not a single damn thing stopping a truly great videogame movie from happening except that the aforementioned requirements have yet to cross paths.
~
Q: What do you want to get for Christmas?
A: Material things don't do much for me unless they facilitate my creative process in some way which is problematic because my creative process involves some pretty expensive stuff and I don't know any benevolent loaded millionaires. :p If I knew any, I'd ask for a supercomputer with Photoshop Creative Cloud, Zbrush, Vray, Maya, Vue, and a personal renderfarm but that's not going to happen. So I usually ask for videogames, books, and pajama pants because my closet eats pajama pants for some reason. I swear, one day, the damn thing is just going to explode and every pair of pajama pants I have ever owned is going to come spewing out in a big, watery belch, leaving a pajama pants-strewn hole in the north wall of my room.
~
Q: What.... is your favourite colour? -no wait, I think we can all guess that one…
A: I bet you can't either. Go ahead, try. I guarantee not a single one of you knows it.
~
Q: Beside PS and digital painting, what is your favourite software/medium?
A: Absolutely, one-hundred percent, hands down, no contest, ZBRUSH. I worship at the altar of Zbrush. Pixologic is my god. I. Fucking. LOVE Zbrush. I wish all creative developers were as innovative and facilitative as Pixologic. I swear to every possibly existing god, every time I think they can't possibly make this program any better, they go and make the program better. Gggaaawwwddd I love the Zmodeler tools.
~
Q: Who or what are you? and if so, how many?
A: I am become Tacobell, destroyer of toilets. *arises in a cloud of guacamole, pico de gallo, and three-cheese blend*
~
Q: Vaccum decay? guh ya made me google that!
A: Interesting stuff. Learned about it from Kurzgeskjnaksjnfkjbtn. I'm not even going to try. Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt/videos (Edit: Oh, hey, look, there it is right there in the link. Hodor.)
~
Q: what does one have to do to win your heart?
A: The following requirements must be met:
1.) Must be roughly 9.4697e-5 miles tall.
2.) Must weigh approximately 0.000223214 imperial tons.
3.) Must generally fall somewhere between 2.628e+15 nanoseconds and 3.154e+16 nanoseconds old.
4.) Must be a member of the species, F. catus.
In all seriousness, I need someone who is intelligent, creative, has a sense of humor, is compassionate, empathetic, and shares my love of fantasy, science, RPing, and long thoughtful conversations. Must also like fluffy women because try though I may, I am, have always been, and probably always will be pretty damn fluffy. None of that is negotiable but most everything else is just different flavored cake icing.
~
Q: Miss Pantycoast, are the rumors about you and the sentient potato, true? The internet demands answers.
A: Firstly, I'll have you know that it's PantyCOATS, you ignoble sea marmot! Secondly, how dare you!? I am a sentient TOMATO. There is a HUGE difference. I mean really, people, come on. This is 2016… for the moment anyway.
~
Q: What's your favorite part when working on a new project?
A: In almost every painting I've ever done, there's a point I reach where it's all a smooth downhill slide to the finish line and I can focus on the fun stuff like detailing. That's my favorite part. I love getting wrapped up in detailing, especially jewelry and attire.
~
Q: What kinds of things helped inspire your fantasy world?
A: Whooo! That would be a very long list to fully flesh out so I'll TL;DR it: The Last Unicorn, The Lion King, the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series, and Disney movies in general had a HUGE impact on my artistic development. Recently, however, I am becoming increasingly inspired by, of all things, chemistry, which I absolutely HATED in high school and barely even passed. I've become weirdly fanatical about it lately. It hasn't shown up in my artwork but it will soon… eh… rather someday when I manage to claw my way out from under commission mountain.
~
Q: Can I have a cookie?
A: Not unless you fandango your homework first and you'd better do a good rumcake impression or you're not getting any at all. I swear, I will absolutely revoke your electronegativity without hesitation. I might even go so far as to fluorinate your ass. You don't want that. Trust me.
~
Q: Why isn't the world octagonal?
A: Little known fact- the world actually was effectively octagonal at one point. In its very early formation, after the collision with the asteroidal body which we now know as Mars, Earth took on a roughly octagonal form. Due to the prevalence of carbon and its strong tendency to form tightly-knit hexagonal substrates with silicate minerals and ionic hydrogen (specifically in conditions of high pressure and heat), enormous spans of flat surfaces began to propagate from the concretion process. The very same polar covalent functions that are hypothesized to have instigated abiogenesis spurred on carbonosilicate substrate propagation so perfectly, the effect seemed almost procedurally generated, something that is considered mathematically sound evidence for the "Simulation Hypothesis."
As the concretion process slowed down, Earth was left, for a brief (relatively, in cosmic terms) period of time, with large octagonal facets, each spanning thousands of kilometers. Eventually, gravity, van der waals, and the strong nuclear forces colluded in crunching it all down to the lovely Earthen shape we know and love today- an oblate spheroidal pear.
Source: B. Taurus Egesta.
~
Q: Are you good at interpretive dance?
A: We've been over this. I can't. Not unless you want 2017 to be even more catastrophic than 2016. At this rate, there would be nothing left of Earth but a giant smoldering anus floating in space come 2018.
~
Q: Can I have 2 cookies?
A: Get out of here with this Oliver Twist bullshit. Have you fandangoed your damn homework yet? Because if not, your ass is getting fluorinated. You've been warned.
~
Q: Is art your full time job? If so, when did you decide your work was professional enough to do so?
A: Yes. I started taking it seriously a few years ago. I realized that I can write my own ticket, set my own schedule, and be my own boss. I'll probably never be rich but I can work from home in my pajamas so there's that.
~
Q: If you had to start all over again and you wanted to get to where you are now, what would you do differently?
A: It's tough to say. I almost think the obsessive "art is life" and "art = self-esteem" phase I went through in my late teen/early adult years was unnecessary but I'm not sure it was. I don't have enough perspective. I don't know many other artists on a personal level so I don't know what their experiences are. Maybe if I had grown up emotionally healthy and happy, I wouldn't be as good as I am today. Or maybe I would have. Maybe all the suffering and obsessing and approval-seeking has ultimately made no difference in my artistic progress.
Otherwise, I can't think of too many other things I'd do differently aside from obvious things like practice more, study more, more perspective work, more pose work, etc etc.
~
Q: how much of the finished picture is in your head when you start creating?
A: Sometimes all of it, sometimes none of it, sometimes some of it. Depends on what I'm doing. If I'm doing a commission, I need to have a strong mental image to work by. If I'm doing something for myself that's unimportant, then I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the brainfart-powered journey.
~
Q: What is the hardest part of the process for you?
A: Getting started. That's always the hardest, most tedious, difficult, brain-straining part for me. This is actually one of the reasons I love incorporating Zbrush into my paintings. Zbrush allows me to free-flow, spitball, and rapid-prototype ideas without having to commit upfront. I can experiment with poses, perspective, and props.
~
Q: First furry gal-crush? First furry guy-crush?
A: I think this is probably cheating but the answers to both of these questions are two of my characters.
First furry boy crush: http://bjpentecost.deviantart.com/a.....ge-1-521632846
First furry girl crush: http://bjpentecost.deviantart.com/a.....e-AU-438547712 This one is technically a guy but I have a female version of him and I am ass over teakettle in love with her.
~
Q: Venison or bison?
A: Wildebeest.
~
Q: Can I have 3 cookies?
A: Do you want a fluoroantimonic acid enema? Because that's how you get a fluoroantimonic acid enema. Now fandango your damn homework. I won't tell you again. Jesus. You fucking people.
~
Q: Which word do you use sarcastically: Shagging, yiffing, swiving, plowing, or other?
A: Forking.
~
Q: Vampires or werewolves? Vampires on werewolves or werewolves on vampires?
A: Why draw arbitrary lines in the sand when we can just open the doors and let everyone in? Gargoyles, satyrs, merfolk, centaurs, demons- I'm a free love kinda gal, though, I draw the line at Deep Ones. No tentacles allowed. I mean, I'm totally okay with other people being into that but it's not my thing.
~
Q: Is competitive ass-dragging a thing? Would taurs have competitive ass-dragging races?
A: So far as I know, it is actually a thing, but you have to get elected first and unfortunately, I think the competition is over for now. IIRC, we'll get another one in 2018, assuming we haven't blown ourselves up by then.
~
Q: SQUIRREL!
A: *brandishes cone of shame*
~
Q: Leeks or onions?
A: Ya know, I've never actually had leeks so I'm going to have to go with onions. I LOVE red onions and I'll put them on just about everything except, strangely, pizza. I don't like onions on pizza and I have no idea why since I like just about everything else on pizza. Parmesan/garlic white sauce? Hell yes. Banana peppers? Mmmhmm. Feta? Oh yeah. Spinach? Muchly. Mushrooms? Give it to me, babay! Garlic? Yes, please. Pepperoni? Absolutely. Jalapenos? If I'm feelin extra spicy, sure. Bacon? Damn straight. Ham? Okay. Sausage? Maybe. All of these things at once? Sure, why not? Onions? WELL THAT'S JUST UNREASONABLE!
~
Q: If Trump is Putin's pet carrot and Putin's secretly in the closet, does that mean Putin's a power bottom?
A: I don't know that your conclusion is necessarily tenable based on the premise. I'm not saying you're wrong. You might very well be right but there's not enough evidence to come to that conclusion. However, if Trump really is Putin's pet carrot and Putin is secretly in the closet, I think it is fair to say that carrot will soon be getting some serious comeuppance. (Is there a medal for pulling off a triple entendre?)
~
Q: Which combination of genders and personalities do you prefer to be FAQed by?
A: I am happy to be FAQed by any gender really. When it comes to FAQing and related activities, I'm really more interested in the aforementioned "things necessary to capture my heart."
~
Q: How have you been? You haven't posted any real general life posts for a while.
A: Eh. Been better, been worse. I haven't really posted much about myself recently because I'm always afraid it's going to somehow start a flamewar. I once made a post about what the weather was like in WA and the comments erupted into a flame war between people who could not reconcile that WA is a big state and has different weather systems along the cost and eastern border. Jinkies Christ, people will fight over anything.
~
Q: Did you end up getting fallout 4, if so did you enjoy it? Were there any other rpg games that surpassed it this cycle?
A: Alas, no, I have not. I probably will at some point, though, I have heard some unfavorable reviews and that makes me unsure whether I want to spend the money or not. The Witcher 3, despite some obnoxious flaws, was A LOT of fun. I really quite enjoyed it… even if Geralt was a bit of a Marty Stu.
~
Q: Since I am relatively young I don't have a real memory of other political phases, have there other transitions or phases that have looked as bad as this upcoming one?
A: Not ever in the history of my entire 33 years on this planet have I ever seen anything as ridiculous as this past election cycle, at least not in America. I am absolutely shocked by how many people genuinely seem to think Trump being elected is a good thing and the rationalizations are so far beyond absurd, it makes me wonder if some of these people aren't legitimately insane. "Liberals told me that I have to not be a cunt and I didn't like that so I voted for the walking 4chan meme with no political experience and a long history of corrupt, exploitive, sociopathic, unethical business practices." The fuck? I mean, I don't like Hillary either but for Flying Spaghetti Monster's sake, people…
~
Q: When will you be leaving Florida? I fear that the continual heat and humidity has had a corrosive presence, as recorded by this website
A: As soon as I can afford to. I hate literally almost everything about this state. The ONLY reasons I am staying here is because I can't afford to leave at the moment and because it has a low cost of living. Otherwise, I would be out of here.
~
Q: will there ever be another installment of the episodes of your puntastic gift and or your pants?
A: Yes, though, I don't know if anything will ever beat "tightlipped and forthcoming" or "Jesus Christ, quit being such a martyr." *facepalms* I don't know why people tolerate my existence sometimes. If I weren't me, I'd probably kill me in my sleep.
~
Q: Did you ever end up using the answers to the earth-sci chem questions?
A: Yes. And it will be making its way into my art… eventually… after I manage to dig my way out from under commission mountain.
~
Q: It seems like your eyes have finally become stable, is that the case?
A: Yes and no. I now know (or think I know) the cause (or indirect cause) of my eye problems and I can sometimes head it off by engaging my liver and kidneys in combat which I typically win with heaping mounds of Excedrin Migraine and Advil. However, there are still days where I feel like I'm getting double-dicked in both eye sockets without lube and there's nothing I can do but lay in bed like a beached squid until the meds kick in.
~
Q: Any pieces of media that you've encountered over the last year or so that seems to really stick with you?
A: "Fenton! FENTON! FENNNTON! Jesos Chroist. FENTONNNN!" Apparently that's old but I completely missed it. So glad I found it this year. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at anything ever and I'm not even sure why. I mean, was it really that funny? Yes. The answer to that is yes.
In all seriousness though, there were actually a few things that did stick with me but most of them were not good and I'm not sure I want to ruin everyone's mood by sharing. 2016 was actually kind of a beyotch.
~
Q: What systems and rulesets do you run with your rpg games? Do you make use of pre generated worlds, or has your group developed its own?
A: I've only run a few official games (Cthulhu and Rifts) but I do also run my own Bobbie Jeanoverse RPs using my own system which is kind of a bastardization of whatever I feel works well from other systems. I draw up character stats and have my players use the DnD dice roller ap. I also run other RPs that are purely story based and don't really require a system. The players decide whether they succeed or fail for themselves.
~
Q: You've been surprisingly well versed in scientific theory for your profession, has there been any papers or fields that has caught your eye over the past year or so?
A: I could write a mile-long list but here are a few notable scientific discoveries/advances/papers/etc that have caught my eye:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rele.....-scs052616.php
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas.....0609142426.htm
https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/media.....ther-movements
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-.....30?pfmredir=sm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linea.....tylenic_carbon
We are also apparently developing bionic eyes that restore eyesight to the blind, CRISPR advances that may cure fatal genetic illnesses, and an EM-drive that doesn't in fact defy physics and actually works… fancy that.
~
Q: Have you ever tried dark souls or its sequels? It isn't an RPG for talking but the worlds and lore are amazing.
A: Alas, nope. I'm not sure I want to either. I've heard it is amazing but I've also heard it is the among the most frustrating game series of all time.
~
Q: Lastly, have you tried balancing out the coffee with some tea?
A: I wonder what they would taste like together. >8} I must try this. FOR SCIENCE!
~
"And that's that," Silverone said, to the sea of gaping, horror-stricken faces.
A long, uncomfortable silence persisted, pocked by the occasional cough or shuffling of feet. When it became clear no one would dare break the seemingly universal agreement not to intrude upon the burgeoning silence, she shrank back with a sigh. After all, the performance had been quite trying for anyone bearing the slightest shred of empathy or decency and gods help anyone possessing even a modicum of logic or rationality.
As she prepared to exit stage left, a diminutive, elderly gentleman at the very back of the room stood up. He was but a silhouette amidst the shadows. Those around him cringed away as if he might infect them with whatever madness compelled him to stand. "Beg pardon, miss, but," he paused, "well, does this, this… atrocity have a name?"
Silverone's face contorted into a bloody rictus and her arms spread wide as if to embrace the people, every single one of whom were waiting for a proprietous moment to dash for the exits. A few had already left their seats and scurried down the aisles.
"I call it, The Aristocrats." The doors slammed shut with the sound of a guillotine crashing down and the lights went out.
46 years, and ditto. However, the sages presaged this. As they do. Thyme goes well with chicken, too.
Hofstadter saw this trend in 1964, and wrote a book: "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life."
This "hail to the dumb!" streak is really upsetting, and not something I grew up with, being one of those immigrant foreign bodies. Why on earth would there be pressure on kids to FAIL at and in school? Back in Der Fatherland, being good at school is what you did, and your classmates were doing it with you. Getting good grades was a source of social kudos. Why the everlasting FUCK would we perpetuate a culture that disparages learning and critical thinking?
Every people deserve the leadership they have. That's a sobering thought.
In my opinion it's really quite simple. Learning and critical thinking breed ambition and ambition creates competition in the free market our society worships. Our free market is born of a secularization of Puritan work ethic worshiping hard work and the fruits it bears as the proper way to put their religion into action. Stripping away that Puritan morality unleashed a brutally effective Darwinist corporate culture that worships money and productivity as the only measure of a company to the point doing something that doesn't earn and isn't guaranteed to earn income is a violation of corporate ethics.
Uneducated customers unable to critically think part with their money more easily than others. Stupid people that disparage intelligence and ridicule critical thinking are more susceptible to advertising. There is no measure of a corporation other than the money it gets from shareholders and customers, so there's no ethical issue with destroying a culture to extract every penny from it.
A long time ago there was water everywhere. Old Man
Coyote looked around and said, "Hey, we need some land." It
was his gift from the Great Spirit that he could command all of
the animals, which were called the Without Fires Clan, so he
called four ducks to help him find land. He ordered each of the
ducks to dive under the water and find some mud. The first
three returned with nothing, but the fourth duck, because four
is the sacred number and that is the way things go in these sto-
ries, returned with some mud from the bottom.
"Swell," said Old Man Coyote. "Now I will make some
land." He made the mountains and the rivers, the prairies and
the deserts, the plants and the animals. Then he said, "Guess
I'll make some people now, so there will be someone to tell sto-
ries about me."
From the mud he made some tall and beautiful people.
Old Man Coyote liked them very much. "I will call them
Absarokee, which means 'Children of the Large-Beaked Bird.'
Someday some dumb white guys will come here and get the
translation all wrong and call them Crow. '
"What are they going to eat?" one of the ducks asked.
They have no feathers or fur. What will they cover them-
selves with?" asked a second duck.
"Yes," said a third duck. "They're pretty, but they won't be
able to stay out in the weather."
Old Man Coyote thought for a while about how much he
disliked ducks, then he took some more mud and made a
strange-looking animal with a thick coat and horns. "Here," he
said. "They can get everything they need from this animal. I'll
call it a buffalo. "
The fourth duck had been standing by watching all this
and smoking a cigarette. "It's a big animal. Your people won't
be able to catch it," he said, blowing a long stream of blue
smoke in Old Man Coyote's face.
"Okay, so here's another animal that they can ride so they
can catch the buffalo."
"And how will they catch that one?" asked the fourth.
"Look, duck, do I have to work out everything? I made the
world and these people and I've given them everything they
need, so just back off."
"But if they have everything they need, what will they do?
Just sit around telling stories about you?"
"That would be good."
"Boring," said the duck.
"I'll make them a bunch of enemies. They'll be hopelessly
outnumbered and have to fight all the time and do all kinds of
war rituals. How's that?"
"They'll get wiped out."
"No, I'll stay with them. The Children of the Large-Beaked
Bird will be my favorites, although some of their enemies can
tell stories about me too."
"But what if the buffalo animals all get killed?"
"Won't happen. There's too many of them."
"But what if they do?"
"Then I guess the people are fucked. I'm tired and dirty
and cold from standing in all that water. I'm going to invent
the sweat bath and warm up."
So Old Man Coyote built a sweat lodge out of willow
branches and buffalo skins. He heated the rocks in a fire and
put them in a pit in the middle of the sweat lodge, then he and
the ducks crawled inside and closed the door, making it com-
pletely dark inside.
"Hey, put out that cigarette!" Old Man Coyote said to the
fourth duck.
The duck threw the cigarette on the hot rocks and smoke
filled the lodge. "That smells pretty good," Old Man Coyote
said. "Let's throw some other stuff on the fire and see how it
goes." He threw on some cedar needles and they smelled pretty
good too, then he threw on some sweet grass and some sage.
"This stuff will be part of the sweat ceremony too. And some
water—we need some water so it will really get hot and miser-
able in here."
"And we can get truly purified and clean?" asked the third
duck.
"Right," said Old Man Coyote. "First I'll pour four dippers
of water on the rocks for the four directions."
"And the four ducks."
"Right," said Old Man Coyote. "Now I'll pour on seven
dippers for the seven stars of the Big Dipper. Then ten more be-
cause ten is a nice even number."
He handed each of the ducks a willow switch to beat their
backs with. "Here, wail on yourself with these."
"What for?" asked the second duck.
"Tenderize er... I mean it brings up the sweat and
purifies you."
Then, when the ducks were beating their backs with the
willow branches, Old Man Coyote said, "Okay, now I'm going
to pour a whole bunch of dippers on the rocks. I'm not even
going to count, but we are going to be really hot and really
clean and pure." Then he poured and poured until it was so hot
in the lodge that he could not stand it and he slipped out the
door, leaving the ducks inside.
Later, after he had plunged into the river to cool off, he ate
a big meal and laid down to rest. "That was plumb swell," he
said to himself "I think I'll give the sweat to my new people. It
can be their church and sacrament and they can think of me
whenever they go in. It is my gift to them. I guess no one really
needs to know about the ducks." Then Old Man Coyote picked
up a willow twig and picked a bit of duck meat from between
his teeth. "The sage gives them a nice flavor, though."
(From the book "Coyote Blue")
Q. Have you and Satan officially broken your engagement, or are you two just taking a little break to give yourselves time to think about things?
Would you believe me if I told you that I only consulted the thesaurus once in this whole thing?
But speaking of art, as we weren't, how are you with blobby refractive stuff like water and ice?
:P I swear. The only word I looked up was egesta.
>But speaking of art, as we weren't, how are you with blobby refractive stuff like water and ice?
It's difficult but I can pull it off. Why do you ask?
" Your question on the video game film was thoughtful, and mostly right, but for two missing pieces. The first piece, is that any good film, must come from a good script, and be shepparded froma good director. But or those two thing to happen, they have to be vetted by the Studio. After Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate" disaster, the studio were of the opinion that to allow one person, the director, to be responsible for such a large amount of other people's money, would be irresponsible. So Proucers took a more hands on approach, and the studio burdened the production with layers of studio oversight, to 'protect their investment'. The Larger the budget, the more constrained the film makers were, but the greater the return on investment, or so they thought.
"Around 2005, Blake Snyder published a book for screenwriting, entitled "Save the Cat!". Snyder took Syd Field's Screenplay structure, an applied stopwatch analysis to it, and several successful films, and broke down a screenplay to it's minimum pieces and alligned those pieces on a time line, down to the minute,as to what makes a 'satisfying story'. (Example: https://timstout.wordpress.com/stor.....rs-beat-sheet/) This has served to solidify the structure, into a formula, and basically made the screenplay a textural Sybian for the audience's emotion, perfectly slotting in to the studio's 'play not to lose' strategy. This is why big summer block busters all feel the same, regardless of leads, and or visual trappings. The endless script doctoring to fit, and the multiple writing credits have made film screenwriting less attractive.
This has forced a lot of formerly successful screenwriters into Cable Television, which has resulted in a rennaissance of TV scripted Drama. This , thus proves that 'The Story is the thing", not the formula. For a good game movie, you need a good script. (continued:)
I would have assumed the necessity of a good script was a given but I never would have guessed how deep that goes. Unfortunately, that link took me to a big page not found NOPE though. D:
https://timstout.wordpress.com/stor.....rs-beat-sheet/
try that.
And you give me a ton of food for thought in these FAWs which is why they are so chewy.
But it basically comes down to film is ultimately an art business, and as a business, they are all about maximizing share holder returns, which is why low budget pictures are made at a loss, and the tentpoles in the summer are so carefully cultivated as profitable, so that the losses for many films can be written off on taxes, and the one or two tentpole films finance the studios through the rest of the year.
Spielberg and Lucas did a set of lectures at the USC film School and warned that Hollywood was two bad summers away from insolvency, and a forcible adoption of a "different" busines model.
More later.
"IF you look at Game of Thrones, versus " A Song of Ice & Fire", The characters and narrative thread are broadly the same, but the casualty list, is different between the book and the cable show. A certain amount of discipline has been imposed on he books plotting due to running time, budget constraints, but also some flow. The spirit is there (especially in the early seasons), but there are differences, as well as a very concretized visual presentation. This I believe falls into your argument of 'the spirit' of the material. Certain changes will need to be allowed for the medium, However, in terms of 'spirit' we haveto come to the second element, and that is of presentation.
"To me the only video game movie that seemed to borrow from the video game medium was "Hardcore Henry", which was an outgrowth of a music video (example: https://youtu.be/Rgox84KE7iY ) This borrows the first person point of view of many games ( Previously seen in limited effect in other films like 84 Charlie Mopic, and the awful Doom Movie). I believe we are on the cusp of a change in display technologies for movies, and may see the end of the proscenium arch as the defining window onto another world. I am not sure that VR is going to be the future, but it may be that a 'good' Video Game movie will be more like watching a play through , except the player can act more, and interact more with the environment, party members, and NPC's, than they can in the game, and the presentation will probably still follow a three act structure, mostly, unless it's a luscious, long form cable TV like structure.
A friend stated that there are some movies that are terrible homages, but would be decent movies if they were divorced from the source materials. It may be that some concepts don't translate well between mediums all that well.
(More later)
Yes please! This is fascinating. I feel like I'm sitting in on a really interesting lecture. ^__^ You come at this from a really unique perspective, one I'm not accustomed to hearing.
>Spielberg and Lucas did a set of lectures at the USC film School and warned that Hollywood was two bad summers away from insolvency, and a forcible adoption of a "different" busines model.
Do you know when he said this? I'm curious to know if this is actually close to happening because I swear it feels like it. The number of big budget flops seems to be growing every year.
>A friend stated that there are some movies that are terrible homages, but would be decent movies if they were divorced from the source materials. It may be that some concepts don't translate well between mediums all that well.
This is almost assuredly possible, maybe even likely. People forget that there is actually a lot more to games than the stuff we see up front. A surprising amount of story and character can be revealed through game mechanics alone, something that I don't really think can translate to a movie so easily.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne.....on-film-567604
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/4.....sive-implosion
Then they become old men yelling at clouds, when it comes to video games
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/4.....hakespeare-usc
Most of what they have discussed is coming about, if what I saw over Christmas vacation comes to pass, in terms of home based display of movies.
My friend's discussion was actually about the film "Total Recall", and it's remake. Against the original;s huge, scope and over the top visuals and relentless direction by Paul Verhoven, the remake suffered, and looked small, though if it had not be called a Total Recall remake, it would have been a competent, mid level thriller.
(More later)
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/4.....sive-implosion
So now you know
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne.....busters-961197
Personally, I'm not as concerned with what people watch or how they choose to watch it but with our collective deviance from the formulae that have worked so well for so long- beginning > middle > end story structure, individual character arcs that converge to meaningful interactions, and plot BEFORE aesthetics. Now, movies have become the cinematographical equivalent of clickbait.
You won't believe what explodes/dies/sex scene/titties next! Now, dialoging your way out of having to write complex character development inside a tight, well-planned story structure is perfectly acceptable which creates movies that are essentially giant exposition dumps. Now, we don't worry if there are gaping plot holes because we got to see (actress name)'s titties! Whatever gets butts in the seats and ensures money for the investors. That's what really matters- not artistry, not storytelling, not conveying a message- money.
This creates a culture of clickbait trailers- reel em in with cleverly chosen, out-of-context shots and soundbites then reap big money on a movie that will be universally panned because it was terrible.
Maybe I'm suffering from "back in my day" syndrome but I remember a time when movies at least tried to be movies instead of clickbait with a runtime.
The same forces that removed art from society, and made it a plaything of arch, simpering, professional critics, purveying "emperor's clothing" to rich, isolated patrons looking for visual virtue signalling, have forced any broadly accepted beauty, and wide reaching visual presentation into purely commercial realms. When the last representational painter won the last high honors (Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, look him up, he shares a lot of your aesthetics, though h enjoys bright Mediterranean sunlight, rather than gloomy forests) passed away, all subsequent honors went to Impressionists, and other "-ists", while at the same time of his death, a pair of artists who had studied similar techniques to the previous generation, switched gears, and decided to work commercially, and the early part of the 20th Century blossomed with incredible beauty in the pages of magazines and shop posters.* Look up Maxfield Parish, and J.C. Leyendecker to see what commercialism hath wrought. That beauty, demanded a certain competence in art in all commercial sectors (and being a commercial illustrator was a respectable, middle class profession), and the quality was fairly high, if banal, until the mid 1950's, when printing technology allowed color Photography to become supreme, and an echo of that, now distant, elitist, minimalism of "modern Art" echoed through the ad boardrooms as graphic accents, rather than illustrations any more.
What that has done to film happened a little more slowly, but you can see the split between the films that are purposefully difficult, militantly non-mainstream, or aesthetically non-standard, marketed to a niche audience, and the broadly based films, due to the studio's business model, have now become too broad, to the point of near illiteracy, so as to appeal to international audiences. They have lost the story. (And thuse we3 see the story flee towards Cable TV, where it set up house, raised up a family of three young dragons, and held out through the winter cozy and warm in the static glow of their fireplace).
As for the trailers. Trailers have always been a way of generating interest. The problem is, recent trailers have given away too much of the plot of the movies they are advertising, removing any mystery on the movie. Two Examples of how trailers should be done (IMO) are below. The first one is for the 1997 Movie "Starship Troopers" Directed by Paul Verhoven. Having read the book, I was disappointed in not seeing the troopers in powered armored suits, but how the trailer was cut, and the pacing of the visuals, and the music, served to get me and my friends cheering the trailer in the seats, and VERY pumped to go see the film when it came out months later. The movie was IMO, not up to the hype of the trailer, but it did not spoil the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07I_KER5fE
The Second Trailer was for an action thriller, called "Executive Decision", directed by Stuart Baird, and starring then then, top Box office draw of Steven Segal, and Kurt Russel and the trailer shows a fairly conventionally cut trailer for a n action film, that describes the scenario, and sets up the stakes and the situation, but doesn't give away the plot. It also doesn't give away a brain melting surprise that entireloy floored me in the theater at the time, and changed the whole feeling of the movie. I won't describe the surprise here, as it's delicious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKcWzyN5f4E
You dangle these wonderful brain morsels out here. It's like what Livejournal used to be, when people were on it.
*Ecole de Beaux Arts attracted artists from all over Europe and North America, to learn representational art, and decorative arts, so that if they had some talent, they could make a respectable living is artists, in France or any other country that recognized the quality of a Beaux Arts education. Tellingly, a few of the Impressionists failed from the school, or did not pass the entrance exam.
Oh, absolutely not. I've done animation. I know how much work that is.
> They have lost the supremacy of the story
Ya know, I was about to write a whole big thing about this but my instincts told me to keep reading what you wrote and as I suspected, we agree. Back when I was in school for animation, the teachers hammed this harder than anything else. You get your story down pat. It needs to be tight. Beginning, middle, end. Seven sentence story structure. Plot, narrative, dialog. If you put pretty effects on a terrible story, you're just polishing an extremely expensive turd.
>When the last representational painter won the last high honors... pages of magazines and shop posters.*
If I remember correctly from art history (and there's a good chance I don't because that was a decade ago), you're referring to the Norman Rockwell era, yes? Or was this prior to that? I'm kinda thinking it might have been a bit prior but I can't think of any relevant artists from that era. Believe it or not, art history mostly bored the snot out of me. XD I LOVED Romantic, Baroque, Realist art and such- Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian. Also really interested in the Greco-roman/Etruscan era stuff. Started losing interest around the impressionist era, though, there were a few I could tolerate- Manet and Renoir being the two big names that come to mind. Never liked Monet, Gauguin, or Cezanne. The whole Dada/cubism movement actually made me furiously, irrationally angry. XD
>They have lost the story. (And thuse we3 see the story flee towards Cable TV, where it set up house, raised up a family of three young dragons, and held out through the winter cozy and warm in the static glow of their fireplace).
I love this analogy. It is so apt. :P
>Two Examples of how trailers should be done (IMO) are below.
Yes.
I always love reading your thoughts.
This was before Rockwell, around c. 1899- 1905. J.C. Leyendecker was the main artist of the Saturday Evening Post, Before Rockwell replaced him.* Leyendecker is known for a very smooth, stylized elegance, and environments of crisp clarity. A major influence on Leyendecker was Alphonse Mucha, however, unlike Mucha, he acoided drawing the female nude.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/art.....american-male/ (Hyperbolic and agenda pushing survey of his work, but the author has a point).
Maxfield Parish, was another commercial artist who was known for the beauty of his environments, and his jewel toned skies.
http://artpassions.net/parrish/parrish.html
Rockwell came later, and was for a while mentored by Leyendecker, and out of respect, stopped soing Saturday Evening Post covers at one less that Leyendecker did. Rockwell was still active when I was in school, and the boyscouts, so he was ubiquitous when I was young
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell
There is a theory that some, not all, but some of the Impressionists painted that way, because their eyesight was poor. If you look at many of the paintings, their reproduction of the colors in their environment was as accurate as can be, but the brush strokes show little to no edge definition. Claude Monet is particularly illustrative of this. His water lillies series show very harmonious color and grading effects, but the detail blurs over time.
However, that's not all of it, so we get back to Story. You have probably heard the story about a theatrical performance so Avant Garde, that it caused the audience to riot? It's common enough to be a standard French Trope occurring on either side of the First World War. Before the First world War, such things were a joke, something shocking to bourgeoisie sensibilities, and after the war it became serious, and a tool for separating the elite intelligentsia, and their tastes from the undeserving middle classes and their petty concerns over Job, family and safety. This rebellion against the Old Order, and a desire to start from Year Zero hits different societies at different times, (Revolutionary France, Soviet Russia, Cambodia, Cuba, ect.) and we see it today with ISIS Caliphate, but in France it repeated as a joke, but a joke that conferred respectability upon it's perpetrator.
The whole thing quite possibly started with Alfred Jarry, who while in school, collaborated on a scatological puppet play with a few of his fellow students, mocking a particularly unloved teacher, a Pole, who taught physics. The show became more insulting and elaborate as schoolboy pranks, at all Boys schools do, and it developed a huge mythology and a series of marionettes. However after graduation, the other participants got on with their lives, all except for Jarry. After his spectacularly unsuccessful compulsory Military Service, he tried his hand as being a playwright. A couple of "interesting plays" and some minor controversy, he and a theater owner conspire to put his magnum opus, a detailed rewrite, and rework of his school project, now called Ubu Roi (King Ubu). It was put on for one night only and after the first line "Merdre" (Intentionally mispelled "shit" in French), the audience erupted in a riot, half supportive avant Gardists, the other half Traditionalists, and the play were never performed again. still, because of this "Shock the Mundanes!" event, he became a darling of the Paris Salon set until he death a few short years later, in 1907. His trajectory inspired Marcel Duchamp, who was even more of a huckster than Jarry, and the whole "Shock the Bourgeoisie" to gain instant respectability.
After the First World War, as a reaction to the perceived scientific, and logical nihilism of the recent conflict, the elite fractured into Mysticism (The occult boomlet in the 20's and 30's), Nonsense (Dada), and Revolution. The mainstream tired of the war, resumed their quest for safety, family, and prosperity, and in doing so, having developed a reading habit during the war, continued to do so. For Music, and the visual arts we know the result. It became intentionally difficult and anti-commercial. Futurism beginning in 1909 had a major influence on art and Music in Italy, and pre-revolution Russia, and from it was spawned Modernism with practitioners like Arnold Schoenberg, making music as irritating to the ear as the Elite visual arts were becoming to the eye. A professed preference for the obscure and the difficult, became a marker for the elite to be able to recognize and filter each other's social circles, and became a market susceptable to the cartel of professional art critics who searched for movements and artists that they could mine for status and power, by selling thier "Discoveries" to those who were looiing for a new set of emperor's clothes.
The best reaction I have seen about Modern art was the British Academic "Lindybeige"s rant about Modern art here, as he mirror's your reaction to the modern art movement to a T:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN9iJCZ5Il8
Effort, Skill and an attempt to please, is considered Kitsch, these days, or commercial, and "Not Art".
I bring this up in contrast with what hath Jarry wrought? Nearly nothing. The other art forms have been poisoned, and then flaked off the public consciousness like an old scab. irrelevant to the lives of people that buy calendars of landscapes, and flowers and Pets for their kitchen, and listen to Pop radio while they cook. There is still a thirst for beauty and engagement in the public, but it's not the fine arts that deal with it any more, without being dismissed as "kitsch". However story is so important to people, cause --> effect --->resolution, Narrative, what have you, that Jarry's deviation of it with Ubu Roi, became a historical foot note, and a fetish object of dedicated absurdists. His "Pee Pee Poo Poo humor and Guignol activities leading to no consequence, again the stuff of schoolboy humor, had such a limited effect, that it became code, or cover for artists in communist regimes to make meaningless art to avoid the deadly scrutiny of the authorities. There are in literary circles, efforts to remove the primacy of plot, leading to books about characters and meandering introspection about depressive lives that resolve nothing, as seen as profound, but even those dreary tomes, still generally will have a beginning, middle, and end. However plot heavy genres, not prone or welcoming to deep introspection, like crime thrillers, Westerns, Science Fiction, and Fantasy, are dismissed as (say the word) kitsch, but the literary gate keepers. However these efforts have happened so late, that even commercial interests have been sidestepped by people writing $2.99 offerings from Kindle, some of which are good! people crave story.
Much like the Kindle has democratized writing, and made institutional gate keepers irrelevant, the same may happen with film, as the costs of the appearance of changing reality enough in front of the lens are dropping each year by half thanks to Moore's Law, at some point those elaborate "fan films, popping up on YouTube, may at some point become original properties, parleyed into better distribution and marketing deals, much as "The Martian", became a hit in book circles. Concerns about political correctness, and representation will become meaningless when people make their own films (and promplty ignore films outside of their area of interest, unless it gets REALLY good word of mouth). It may be, that now, theater based Film events are on their way out, and Netflix has shwon the way with their subscription being a ticket to any folm made by their studio, for $6.99 a month, and an internet connection. That being sdaid, Film is a difficult, and collaborative art, but it's not as "expensive" as it once was.
On another subject. I was tickled pink you played AD&D. I did too, for ages. plus a lot of other table top games. ROll20.net was a gfreat way to start that up that habit again. XD.
Scott
Ahhh, yes, I'm very familiar. I didn't realize he was so recent. He was actually an enormous inspiration to me in my earlier years. I have even had people occasionally point out they can see influences of Parrish in my work, particularly in my frequent usage of a certain notable color. ^___^
>>>Leyendecker did. Rockwell was still active when I was in school, and the boyscouts, so he was ubiquitous when I was young
Holy moly! I didn't realize he was quite that recent either! Jinkies.
>>>There is a theory that some, not all, but some of the Impressionists painted that way, because their eyesight was poor.
That is really interesting. I've never heard that before.
>>>The best reaction I have seen about Modern art was the British Academic "Lindybeige"s rant about Modern art here, as he mirror's your reaction to the modern art movement to a T:
That pretty much perfectly sums up how I feel. I CANNOT abide laziness in art. It irritates me. It infuriates me when someone tries to pass off their laziness like some sort of creative genius. Insulting is the perfect description of how this kind of art makes me feel.
>>>that it became code, or cover for artists in communist regimes to make meaningless art to avoid the deadly scrutiny of the authorities.
Now that is REALLY interesting. Never heard of this before either.
>>>people crave story.
Yes! And that is why I would like to get into telling stories through graphic novel. That won't be easy though because I focused so much on realism. I'm finding that now, in order to be able to stylize and compose art in a graphic novel format, I have to go back and relearn a WHOLE BUNCH of things I'm not quite adept at as they were never terribly important to my artistic goals.
>>>Much like the Kindle has democratized writing, and made institutional gate keepers irrelevant,
That's a really clever way of putting it.
>>>On another subject. I was tickled pink you played AD&D. I did too, for ages. plus a lot of other table top games. ROll20.net was a gfreat way to start that up that habit again. XD.
:D Yis. I've played DnD, Rifts, Cthulhu, and I'm happy to free-form RP for at least an hour every day when I can and have the time. It's a lot of fun.
>That is really interesting. I've never heard that before.
For your perusal, from The NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/s.....ce/04impr.html
and because you love science, here's the scientific paper
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar.....es/PMC2646426/
>That pretty much perfectly sums up how I feel. I CANNOT abide laziness in art. It irritates me. It infuriates me when someone tries to pass off their laziness like some sort of creative genius. Insulting is the perfect description of how this kind of art makes me feel.
I guess for me it's not so much laziness that sets me off, but a lack of good fundamentals. Having been one of the chief art snob admin of the old furry site "yerf". I suppose laziness would factor in a refusal to study the basics, but militant primitivism gets my goat as well. I need to see the craft and skill displayed. Many of the moderns were enchanted by the emotional impact of abstract composition, when following a strict formalism. Abstract, yes, but you can see the thinking and the goal, and often a good surface on what they tried to do, but so much general laziness, and hucksterism can be hidden in the recesses. The more the Catalog speaks of a pieces importance in Philosophical terms, the greater the chance it's bullshit covering an artistic prank or lazy exercise. A god joke needs no explanation. A bad joke, however...
>>>that it became code, or cover for artists in communist regimes to make meaningless art to avoid the deadly scrutiny of the authorities.
>Now that is REALLY interesting. Never heard of this before either.
It's strongly hinted at in the Wikipedia article. on Jarry's Pseudo Scientific satire 'Pataphysics. Excerpts:
"Pataphysics "the science of the particular", does not, therefore, study the rules governing the general recurrence of a periodic incident (the expected case) so much as study the games governing the special occurrence of a sporadic accident (the excepted case). … Jarry performs humorously on behalf of literature what Nietzsche performs seriously on behalf of philosophy. Both thinkers in effect attempt to dream up a "gay science", whose joie de vivre thrives wherever the tyranny of truth has increased our esteem for the lie and wherever the tyranny of reason has increased our esteem for the mad.
and
During the Communist Era, a small group of 'pataphysicists in Czechoslovakia started a journal called PAKO, or Pataphysical Collegium.[26] Alfred Jarry's plays had a lasting impression on the country's underground philosophical scene.
Full article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Pataphysics
Now the reason why Jarry popped up here, is that I tried to dredge through my memory of anything that I had run accross where there was a story that made no sense intentionally the way that abstract Art tried to. Back in the 70's I am my friends, all budding film makers and animators would go to the Animation Celebration, and other such animation collections that would pass through art and rep theaters in college towns through the 70's and early 80's in the days before cable. In one of these collections was a pancil test of a film in progress called "Ubu". I asked around later, and was told that "Oh, that's a famous French Play. But I could not understand how it was famous when the film made no sense and actions seemed to have no consequences, but apparently that was the point (Woosh, over my high school Freshman head). Apparently the film was completed, and in color.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8i_QGdR8FU
..yep.. that was the same film I saw back in the 70's except now in color. But that was the ONLY thing I could remember about it was how pointless it was, and looking at it now, it really displays that 1970's punk sensibility.
>Yes! And that is why I would like to get into telling stories through graphic novel. That won't be easy though because I focused so much on realism. I'm finding that now, in order to be able to stylize and compose art in a graphic novel format, I have to go back and relearn a WHOLE BUNCH of things I'm not quite adept at as they were never terribly important to my artistic goals.
Well I am completely inept at story, which is why I only did comics when I hooked up with writers, but I used to do it professionally, so has
d to adapt, and believe it or not, 2D animation training helped my comics immensely as not only did I get cinema visual language to help the story, but it forced me to ruthlessly economize and abstract to cut down the time needed for art.
What I suggest you do is set yourself some hard limits, in terms of time, and medium. Right now you can do Romance Novel covers as easily as slipping in the bathtub. You will either crack your skull, or Fabio is going to end uo embracing your tiger stripped beauty before a sky of Twilight bathed cumulus clouds and seagulls and gold foil title block writingwill appear on your art table. No, what I think you may need to explore is attack the graphic novel with some harsh limitations such as only doing it as bacl and white, or Only using brushes of a fixed size, and limited layers, or in someway to abstract it enough that you can't get lost in details and you can finish an entire 10 x 15 page in a day, because that is what it takes to do graphic novels, until you get a fat contract and can take your time to do is with fillagree and feathers like you really want to.
I am thinking off the cuff of doodling some of our Pathfinder (basically D&D) Campaign adventures for the amusement of my fellow players, and as such adopt a style similar to bad web comics, just so i can bang them out in l3ss than a half hour per strip.You will have to streamline the process some where and put it all into a single mental basket calle "Graphic Novel" or "Web Comic" that you reach into and work on in that mindset, while leaving Fabio and his telepathic Pegasus in the Full production Art basket. See? I had to abstract even firther to do 2D animation, but in doing so I realized that going that far made 2D less attractive and I( dropped my goal of wanting to be a Disney Animator in college, and shifted to computers, because in computers I could still animatio, but I didn't have to produce 15,000 slightly different drawings.
I think you can do it, because you can write,and you sweat the story, and even your throw away stuff has a lot fo depth to it, So I think you just need to figure out a way to pare things down to an attractive, yet simple graphic style to get his to work. See what you can do in traditional medial rather than digital, if you want a real change. Watercolor brushes and India ink, or even Ballpoint Pen and Sharpie? change the media, so it prevents you from achieving Photorealism, so you skip it, and attack it from the story and pacing angle as the goal. Does that make sense?
Back int he Day I used D&D campaigns as motivation to draw. Might as well do it again these days.
Off to Further COnfusion.
Scott
A: I am become Tacobell, destroyer of toilets. *arises in a cloud of guacamole, pico de gallo, and three-cheese blend*
Damnit...I was at work when I read that.