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dreams
6 min read
you know that pillow invention tha records dreams, I never wanted it more than right now.
I just had a dream, where a woman on an island, and someone I think was me, got tired of doing nothing, and went on adventure with all of her characters. she and her best friend sailed over horrible waters in a pirate ship, run by captain crunch, and his father, captain hooks (who had no hands, just two hooks) which was awesome on it's own. they faught other pirates over the high seas, selling far away from the tiny island that had been their home, and captain hooks did some AMAZING things with his ship, especially sense he had no hands. he sailed OVER a tidal wave!
I just had a dream, where a woman on an island, and someone I think was me, got tired of doing nothing, and went on adventure with all of her characters. she and her best friend sailed over horrible waters in a pirate ship, run by captain crunch, and his father, captain hooks (who had no hands, just two hooks) which was awesome on it's own. they faught other pirates over the high seas, selling far away from the tiny island that had been their home, and captain hooks did some AMAZING things with his ship, especially sense he had no hands. he sailed OVER a tidal wave!
but they sailed to this island with a crystal palace on it, where the pirates said goodbye, and the ship turned to crystal by some sort of magical field. there was a puzzle to get inside, which her friend solved, and after that the cyrstal palace was an evil underground base, run by some military. thery where experimenting on their soldiers, giving them super powers, mostly pysquice. the friends where running from the soldiers, and they somehow got into the testing chambers.... which was awesome.
cuase they went through this machine that let tem teleport, giving them some of the powers, and they used that to skip to the last chamber which was #9,998,971
inside that chamber was this large security program, which lazers, and energy fields. the girl did a whole bunch of acrobatics to get through them, the boy teleported most of it, but after that was the mainframe computer, which they used to find the location of this boy named 'Jordan' who was being held somewher ein the base. they tried to teleport there, but they ended up in this room where everything was stored in a 2-D world, like an old video game, to save physical space. the where spotted by this younger soldier and the girl offered him a chance to run, but he didn't, and she knocked him off the railing. he disaapeared into coins, like a video game, andthey ran off. afterh the 2-d chamberswas a room with mirrors, the first one cracked badly, but instead of a reflection, the mirrors all showed a sleeping black teenager, about the age of the woman.
the boy realized that it was the perfect prison; they trapped him in a mirror. the only way to free him was to break the mirror, but if they did that they could shatter Jordan into a millon pieces as well.
at that exact moments the soldiers started slamming at the doors. the boy got an idea to pull Jordan out of the mirror throug the crack, but he needed time. so while the girl kicked some serious gaurd bad guy butt, the boy pulled Jordan out of the mirror. there was a bright flash, and energy explosion, and the boy and girl teleported. they went to this control room, with lots of technical screens and monitors and stuff, they found the progress of Jordan's extraction, but then the government or whatever people, started uploading stuff to try and destroy Jordan. the boy had an idea,l and started to boot up EVERY program in the base, which overload the system, locking it all up. then he moved the progress of Jordan's extraction to another system buss, which let it run independantly.
inside that chamber was this large security program, which lazers, and energy fields. the girl did a whole bunch of acrobatics to get through them, the boy teleported most of it, but after that was the mainframe computer, which they used to find the location of this boy named 'Jordan' who was being held somewher ein the base. they tried to teleport there, but they ended up in this room where everything was stored in a 2-D world, like an old video game, to save physical space. the where spotted by this younger soldier and the girl offered him a chance to run, but he didn't, and she knocked him off the railing. he disaapeared into coins, like a video game, andthey ran off. afterh the 2-d chamberswas a room with mirrors, the first one cracked badly, but instead of a reflection, the mirrors all showed a sleeping black teenager, about the age of the woman.
the boy realized that it was the perfect prison; they trapped him in a mirror. the only way to free him was to break the mirror, but if they did that they could shatter Jordan into a millon pieces as well.
at that exact moments the soldiers started slamming at the doors. the boy got an idea to pull Jordan out of the mirror throug the crack, but he needed time. so while the girl kicked some serious gaurd bad guy butt, the boy pulled Jordan out of the mirror. there was a bright flash, and energy explosion, and the boy and girl teleported. they went to this control room, with lots of technical screens and monitors and stuff, they found the progress of Jordan's extraction, but then the government or whatever people, started uploading stuff to try and destroy Jordan. the boy had an idea,l and started to boot up EVERY program in the base, which overload the system, locking it all up. then he moved the progress of Jordan's extraction to another system buss, which let it run independantly.
then they teleported to the main room, which was empty now because the gaurds where lookin gfor them everywhere else. the boy asked... Jordan.... who is he?' and the girl's backstory is revealed.
she lived in a land of ice and snow, where the weather was always cold, and the people where never run. it was an awful place, but ever sense she was a little girl, Jordan had made her smile, they played together on the frozen lakes.
the girl kept asking where was Jordan, the boy finally guessed that he would appear not in the base, but where he had been captured first.... wherever was 'home'.
so they teleported there, and at first, something seems wrong, because even though the girl is moving aroudn happily, the boy looks a little confused. 'maybe it didn't work' he asks.
but the girl insists that they are in her home land. the boy closes his eyes, hard, and when he opens them, they are in this beautiful frozen forest, the trees piled with perfecly white snow, the lake they stand on frozen solid, and a beautiful white moon hanging in the pitch black sky.
the boy is silant as the girl wonders around happily, until finally, jordan steps out from the distance. the girl runs to him and hugs him, smiling, ant the two starts talking, till suddenly she gasps and says:
'grandfather?' like she's asking.
Jordan says nothing, as the two continue to embrace, the boy walks away, and suddenly all of this beautiful scenery melts away into nothing, leaving behind this large empty warehouse. allong the sides are all the soldiers that the girl beat up, and the lead woman who was in charge of everything. teh boy walks up to her, sniffling nad chocking back ktears and says: "we won the game.... but I guess no one ever wins the war."
and he looks back at the girl, hugging a manthat is similar to Jordan, but not him..
the entire adventure had been her imagiantion.
the woman asks the boy 'was it all worth it?'
she lived in a land of ice and snow, where the weather was always cold, and the people where never run. it was an awful place, but ever sense she was a little girl, Jordan had made her smile, they played together on the frozen lakes.
the girl kept asking where was Jordan, the boy finally guessed that he would appear not in the base, but where he had been captured first.... wherever was 'home'.
so they teleported there, and at first, something seems wrong, because even though the girl is moving aroudn happily, the boy looks a little confused. 'maybe it didn't work' he asks.
but the girl insists that they are in her home land. the boy closes his eyes, hard, and when he opens them, they are in this beautiful frozen forest, the trees piled with perfecly white snow, the lake they stand on frozen solid, and a beautiful white moon hanging in the pitch black sky.
the boy is silant as the girl wonders around happily, until finally, jordan steps out from the distance. the girl runs to him and hugs him, smiling, ant the two starts talking, till suddenly she gasps and says:
'grandfather?' like she's asking.
Jordan says nothing, as the two continue to embrace, the boy walks away, and suddenly all of this beautiful scenery melts away into nothing, leaving behind this large empty warehouse. allong the sides are all the soldiers that the girl beat up, and the lead woman who was in charge of everything. teh boy walks up to her, sniffling nad chocking back ktears and says: "we won the game.... but I guess no one ever wins the war."
and he looks back at the girl, hugging a manthat is similar to Jordan, but not him..
the entire adventure had been her imagiantion.
the woman asks the boy 'was it all worth it?'
the boys responds 'we gave her a chance to say goodbye, that's whats important.'
the girl, still hugging Jordan, sniffles and cries for what feels like hours, before she finally says goodbye, not even iding her tears, and then everything melts away fro her as well and she passes out. the boy catches her and takes her home.
the last scene is them both being home on the island again, her laying in bed while the sunsets outside.
the most..... amazing dream.... ever.
(Pardon spelling, this was written the second I got up so I wouldn't lose any of it.)
the girl, still hugging Jordan, sniffles and cries for what feels like hours, before she finally says goodbye, not even iding her tears, and then everything melts away fro her as well and she passes out. the boy catches her and takes her home.
the last scene is them both being home on the island again, her laying in bed while the sunsets outside.
the most..... amazing dream.... ever.
(Pardon spelling, this was written the second I got up so I wouldn't lose any of it.)
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A friend of a friend....
3 min read
okay, so before I start, let me explain that I am very, very, very tired, and probably very, very aggravated, but if there's one thing that I've learned from working at a factory the past two weeks to stay with my beloved 
it's that I do my best thinking when I'm tired, and to always trust my instincts, so here goes:
it's that I do my best thinking when I'm tired, and to always trust my instincts, so here goes:my Friend has this Friend, whom I want to like.... she's educated, ambitious, morally sound, and the perfect kind of crazy... so how come half the time I see her, I want to rip her head off?
is it that I feel threatened by her superior strength and intellect, or that she sometimes steals Kayla from me when I feel like I need her? is it because our first outing lead to one of the most infuriating nights of my life?
does she destroy my self conscious every time we meet? am I jealous? Angry? Threatened? Stupid? I just don't know....
does she destroy my self conscious every time we meet? am I jealous? Angry? Threatened? Stupid? I just don't know....
for the sake of everyone's conscious and privacy, i won't use names, but a couple people who read this will know who I"m talking about, and for that I"m sorry, but I just had to get this down.
anyway, back the venting. This Friend of a Friend brought a little black book, titled fifty shades of bondage and submission. that's fine, I love experimenting, I really do (actually I love it.).... but then she and Kayla teamed up against me, and suddenly I'm not even allowed to look at this damn thing except specific sections, like a damn kid. and for those of you thinking this, no, this wasn't part of some sexy denial game, I have no idea why they wouldn't let me look, but what really pissed me off is one of those stupid 'learn about yourself quizzes' that apparently made it clear that I'm a submissive.
okay... my sexual orientation and practice are rooted in a lot of pain and self reflection, so for someone to just try and some all it up without even knowing ANYTHING about why I am what I am really, really, REALLY pisses me the fuck off.
atop of that, she's a virgin, sworn to celibacy. that's fine, more power to her and her choices, but she has no frame of reference to comment on sex until she actually experiences it.
okay... my sexual orientation and practice are rooted in a lot of pain and self reflection, so for someone to just try and some all it up without even knowing ANYTHING about why I am what I am really, really, REALLY pisses me the fuck off.
atop of that, she's a virgin, sworn to celibacy. that's fine, more power to her and her choices, but she has no frame of reference to comment on sex until she actually experiences it.
she would be equally pissed if I started talking about parts of the bible that I'm not properly equpired to comment about, so what gives her the right to comment on our sex life? yeah, I get it their friend, their going to share secrets, but you know what?
I'm more of a personal person. I don't kiss and tell (not often) not because I'm being noble, but because I simply don't feel like sharing that kind of information freely.
well, that's my rant for the night.... hope you all enjoyed it, I'm going to try and clam down before I do something I'll regret...
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Video Games on the Big screen!
2 min read
Okay, so I can't be the only one who had this dream right? Video Games… on the big screen. I don't know if it's my male brain that says to me 'go as big as you can, you ungrateful bastard!' my obsession with movies AND video games coming together, or some sort of nostalgia for the amazing arcades that used to be built into video games, but it's been on my bucket list to play a popular console video game, on the big silver screen; sitting, in those red plus chairs, drinking a big ass cherry coke.
I can now say I have done this.
Last night, on the second of June 2013, at aproxmantly 9:00, eastern standard time, The Rocky Top 10 theature opened it's doors to a surprisingly small crowd of ten people, and let them play video games on the big screen. The man responsible for this, is a genius.
I'm sorry this post isn't as intelligent as what I normally try to put out, but oh my god I'm still freaking out about it. If things go according to plan this could be happening in every movie theature in the US. Think of it people? You go down to your favorite movie theature, pay five bucks entry fee, grab your popcorn bag the size of a toddlers body and your cherry coke, and play Batman, or Call of Duty, or whatever you're into on some of the biggest screens in the world.
PEOPLE! We need to make this a THING!
Donate what you can to silver screens entertainment. This cause is WORTH IT people.
Thank you.
I can now say I have done this.
Last night, on the second of June 2013, at aproxmantly 9:00, eastern standard time, The Rocky Top 10 theature opened it's doors to a surprisingly small crowd of ten people, and let them play video games on the big screen. The man responsible for this, is a genius.
I'm sorry this post isn't as intelligent as what I normally try to put out, but oh my god I'm still freaking out about it. If things go according to plan this could be happening in every movie theature in the US. Think of it people? You go down to your favorite movie theature, pay five bucks entry fee, grab your popcorn bag the size of a toddlers body and your cherry coke, and play Batman, or Call of Duty, or whatever you're into on some of the biggest screens in the world.
PEOPLE! We need to make this a THING!
Donate what you can to silver screens entertainment. This cause is WORTH IT people.
Thank you.
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Inspiration
15 min read
Inspirations, we all have them. people or things or ideas that changed or even inspired the way we look at things in the world. they reflect themselves not just in our opinions, but for us artists (weather you consider yourself a good one or not) they reflect in our art. and sense I haven't posted a journal in a while, I thought I would share mine with you (what little of 'you' there are).
this is my Top Ten count down of artistic inspirations.
please keep in mind that this is not a list of top ten most inspiring artists in history, or I would have done a lot more factual research instead of personal analysis. it's a self reflection of my values and history, and who have directly or indirectly inspired themselves into my works and thinking.
10) George Lucas.
A bit of a conspiracy to put him on the list now, considering his modern projects, but I still owe it to myself to put him on. recently he's become known as a corporate sell out, pumping out tired or stupid plot ideas into money making devices of movies, but when starting out that was different. he was hardly more then a film student, doing his best to create what he thought was entertainment; the most notable of course being the original Star Wars, which I love. many true fans, new or old, might now that Lucas fought tooth and claw to keep his creative right for those movies, going back and fourth with executives. he faced a lot of hardship, trials, and a good deal of errors and fall backs to create what I consider two and a half masterpieces. I admire his determination for keeping those rights, and fighting so hard to protect his masterpiece. that being said... he sold out.
plain and simple, he turned into what he fought so hard against, ironic sense that's the story of his most famous character, Darth Vader. his prequel movies not just sucked, but insulted fans, his latest TV show is horrible and dry, and even some of his games have gone down hill, but the final nail was his recent sell out to Disney. he flat out gave up, and cut his losses. that really did a number on my respect for him. I like Disney okay, but it's the major corporeal monster, buying everything it can get its hands on to make it even more monstrous amounts of money. so the idea that they bought out George Lucas is scary, and a little heart breaking.
for these reasons, and his constant re-edits, he's fallen to the bottom of the list by default. I still love the original Star Wars trilogy, Battle Front II is still one of my favorite video games, and I even have a couple guilty pleasures from his works (Revenge of the Sith and Force Unleashed), and the fact that he DID fight so hard for his creative right in his younger years is still inspiring, but he did eventually sell out.
.... Howard The Duck doesn't help either.
9) Lauren Faust and her Dream Team
Is this merely a Brony indulgence? or is this collection of great animators, voice actors, story writers, and song compostiers a legit inspiration? a bit of both. yes, I am a Brony. yes, I enjoy the fact that I challenge gender stereotypes.
that being said, take a look at the team behind the show. My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic has a genuinely brilliant creator, with husband (who inspires her and vice versa) who created the powerpuff girls. it has story writers from My Life as a Teenage Robot, Animators and characters writers from Fosters Home, my personal favorite voice actress Tara Strong, and the songs... i don't know who works on them, but they range from toe tapping catchy to masterpieces. (take a look at 'super cider squeezy 6000).
now, this team did one more very inspiring thing; reached out to their fans. when the brony phenomenon hit like wild fire, Lauren and her team not only welcomed the unusual fan base, but embraced it and reached out to them; giving them shout outs in a couple of promotional songs and adverts, and even making our favorite head cannon character a cannon character (Love to Derpy) that was a bold, and greatly respect move, and would be higher on the list if I had been introduced to the brony craze earlier.... sense I wasn't, this pony fascination is likely only temporary and will run it's course eventually. so though the acts and styles are, in themselves, very inspiring and I hope to take from their art of saying more with less (their simple base designs allow for a variety of hilarious faces) it's sadly only a temporary one.
8) Jhonen Vasquez
unlike the last number, this one is not as bias as you might think. like most, I was introduced to this artists by the show Invader Zim, a controversial kids show with disturbing imagery, gross humor, destructive designs, and ugly character faces. of course, we loved it, and I still love it. but what's really inspiring is his work of Johnny the Homicidal Manic, filled with clever dialogue, fourth wall jokes and concepts, and political observation that are actually really though provoking and continue to intrigue me to this day. atop of that, his style really is interesting and unique, and for a while was a MAJOR obsession with me. I still like to barrow from his sharp angled style from time to time, and his mechanical designs still intrigue me (even if I haven't quite mastered it yet).
now Jhonen would be higher on the list except... he's a bit of an ass. unlike the Laura Faust team which embraces its fan base, Jhonen sort of shuns it, and even ridiculous it a lot. now this is all very funny in his writing, if you can laugh at your self a bit that is, but in person it's less then charismic. so, good style, thought provoking dialogue, but coming from a jerk.
7) Creators of Teen Titans (the TV show)
I LOVE this show. though I haven't done as much research on them as I have the Laura Faust team, I do know that they worked on more serious shows, like Batman beyond (which I also love), and more comedic shows like Ben 10 (whose horse has been THUNDEROUSLY beaten to death with it's constant spin offs). but their is no greater mix of these two styles, tragic and comedic, then in teen titans. the team was given full ruling over the show, and they took advantage of it in almost every episode! (the last season pardoned from this rule) some episodes could be dark, some could be funny, and the animations varies so often it's hard to list how many times the characters change shape (and no, not just beast boy. but his transformations deserve an honorable mention, if little more). not only that, but the character we're brilliantly written and betrayed, the villains were great (though limited in number), and the show actually took a lot of subtlety with it's characters; for all it's craziness and variety of styles, it took it's audience seriously, and was never so far over the top that it insulted their intelligence (for prime examples of this, please look at any episode of Adventure Time.... which I HATE). the action was good, the characters were great, the stories variety from hilarious to AMAZING, and the styles are very useful for me when I draw hands or feet.
and influence style, and a mature look at characters with a clever mix of comedy and tragedy. well worth the placement on the list.
6) Pixar
yeah, you probably should have seen this coming. Pixar studious, some of the best animators, creating some of the greatest children's and family movies of our generation. not really much to say here, only that my interest in film and animation was inspired by toy story, a child hood obsession and one of the many things I could watch over and over again without getting tired of. now it would be one thing if they had just given me that, but they didn't; they also gave me movies like Toy story 2 and 3, Up, Ratatouille, the Incredible, and Wall-E. I love each one of these movies, and took something different from each one that I still try to use in my art style and character design.... and no, I'm one of those people who does not like Cars... not just the sequel, I find the original cars to be phenomenally overrated as well.
5) Steven Spielberg
do I even need to say anything about this one? I love this mans' imagination, I love E.T., Jurassic Park, Poultgiest, Back to the Future, and Lincoln. he's a brilliant film director, and when complimenting other great film directors, you often compare them to Steven Spielberg. the man has a perfect understanding of imagination, timing, characters, humor, and drama. he also knows how to be friendly with his actors and crew, and yet still get exactly what he wants out of them. that's true people skills, which is important in his line of work. his movies continue to entertain me, and in the cases of imagination and comedy, inspire me.
4) J. K. Rowling
you know what this woman is? she's the physical embodiment of a Phoenix. for those who don't know, J.K. Rowling was near poverty, but still had a brilliant mind of literature. rising from the ashes of her financial situation, J.K. Rowling went on to write what is now THE book series. next to lord of the rings, it's one of the mostly read fiction book in the U.S. todate. that's quite an acomplishment, but I owe her more then that. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was the first real book I ever read cover to cover. it inspired my love of the surreal world of magic and fiction, as well as my LOVE for the written word over all. without her stories, I might not be the person I am today.
her books fallowed me all through my life, from childhood to late teens, and helped me meet many, many friends. I owe a lot to this woman's literature talent. (and do NOT get me started on this bull shit comparison between her work and that piece of modern tween ass fuck fiction Twilight or I will HURT, you.... Badly). she's also a real talent with understanding the growing ideas of a maturing boy, and giving me a charismatic character to grow up with helped me a lot through the years.
oh, and before anyone starts, I know that Steven King had a same history, rising from near poverty, but he didn't have as big of an influence on me.... so, sorry SK.
3) Tim Burton
there are very few people who have had more influence over my style and interest then this man. I love him and (most) of his work SEVERELY! in case any of you were born under a rock and raised in a cave, allow me to explain Tim Burton's gimmick; he takes things that are often dark, morbid, and stereotypical scary and makes them enjoyable in some way. no where is this more clear, then his greatest masterpiece.... Nightmare Before Christmas, which I can't even began to describe how much influced my art and taste.
taking dark things and making them the good guy, while keeping their core idea of 'horror' or 'tragedy' is still a core value of my characters and art styles, and directly helped create my longest running OC, Stitches. (who'd I'd rant about now but it would take up a journal all it's own).
another one of his works I enjoy immensely is Sweeney Todd. musically amazing, inventing set design, mostly based around the ideas of a 'stage', and perfect casting. Johnny Depp has an amazing voice, and though at times he seems a little droll in the film, when he needs to sell it... my GOD does he sell it (I only wish I had seen it before I had seen Pirate of the Caribbean, so I didn't see Jack Sparrow talking about cutting people's necks from time to time)
but I'm getting off track; all i really need to say is that I quickly recognized Tim Burton's ideals as far as characters and ideals for stories.
2) Dr.Seuss
now all of the advencments in the world wouldn't mean anything, if they didn't have something to start off with.... that's where Dr.Seuss comes in; in my early, early years ( from ages two to six) I had a copy of Green Eggs and Ham, and Cat in the Hat.... and I would watch them over and over again. I would sit in front of the telivision, playing Cat in the Hat on the VHS player, and when the tape ran out, I would rewind it, and watch it over again; I would then repeat this process ten times a day.
Dr.Seuss inspired my imagination, and helped me on my reading and my writing. it was my child hood obsession, even before Toy Story. I got my imagination from his stories, and I hold them very dear to me to this day.
he inspired me to be inspired... and there is only one person in my entire life that has even been more inspirational than that.
1) Rose Lopez
okay.... anyone who really knows me will know why this woman's name is on her... for those of you that don't, I have to warn you it's not the happiest story, and I have to tell at least most of it for you to understand why she is so inspirational. Rose Lopez, going by the name SkyFang, was one of the very first people I met here on DA. our writing styles quickly fell in sync and we became frequent RP's. rose was a Lesbian, strong and proud, and so most of our RP (by most I mean 'all') were F/F and to this day, most if not all of my favorite shipping's are F/F. we RPed a lot of.... explicit, things. we enjoyed the life styles and ideas we created in our fantasy worlds, but we were never romantically involved. I did however quickly fall in love with her, but I had far to much respect for her to throw something like that in her face.
why? because she was constantly undergoing emotional war with good and bad relationships. she had been sold into the slave market, abused for I don't know how long, before she was finally rescued. she had found a wealthy family, good friends, but relationships never really seemed to work for her. didn't matter, it all only made her stronger and smarter, and I tried to be another steady thing in her life though, and ironically, she ended up doing just that for me. she was someone I could always talk to, someone who could help me make sense of things in my life, helped guide me through some hard times of my own.
three years ago, she planned to get married to a woman named Jay, and she named me her best man. I was so happy for them, and would have been the proudest person on the planet to be there for them.
Fate, it seems, has a sick sense of Irony.
Rose lost her life a few months after her engagement. her death was, and remains to this day, the most tragic thing that has ever happened in my life, and not a day hardly goes by that I don't miss her.... but Rose was a strong, brave, and clever woman. she never told us she was sick because she did not want to be treated any different. she also wrote letters, personal letters to all her friends, before her death. in mine she told me that if she was going to end up with any boy, it would have been me.
she was always the smart one.
all this has taught me something about tragedy, and the fragile nature of the human body, and the enduring spirit of the human soul. she also taught me to make every one of my characters. thanks to her, I always bit a bit of myself in every character I write, and it makes each and everyone one of them that much more real. even in death, Rose is the most inspirational woman I have ever had the honor of knowing. even to this day I feel her presence; watching over me, inspiring me, guiding me.... and I hope, with all my heart, that she's proud of me.
this is my Top Ten count down of artistic inspirations.
please keep in mind that this is not a list of top ten most inspiring artists in history, or I would have done a lot more factual research instead of personal analysis. it's a self reflection of my values and history, and who have directly or indirectly inspired themselves into my works and thinking.
10) George Lucas.
A bit of a conspiracy to put him on the list now, considering his modern projects, but I still owe it to myself to put him on. recently he's become known as a corporate sell out, pumping out tired or stupid plot ideas into money making devices of movies, but when starting out that was different. he was hardly more then a film student, doing his best to create what he thought was entertainment; the most notable of course being the original Star Wars, which I love. many true fans, new or old, might now that Lucas fought tooth and claw to keep his creative right for those movies, going back and fourth with executives. he faced a lot of hardship, trials, and a good deal of errors and fall backs to create what I consider two and a half masterpieces. I admire his determination for keeping those rights, and fighting so hard to protect his masterpiece. that being said... he sold out.
plain and simple, he turned into what he fought so hard against, ironic sense that's the story of his most famous character, Darth Vader. his prequel movies not just sucked, but insulted fans, his latest TV show is horrible and dry, and even some of his games have gone down hill, but the final nail was his recent sell out to Disney. he flat out gave up, and cut his losses. that really did a number on my respect for him. I like Disney okay, but it's the major corporeal monster, buying everything it can get its hands on to make it even more monstrous amounts of money. so the idea that they bought out George Lucas is scary, and a little heart breaking.
for these reasons, and his constant re-edits, he's fallen to the bottom of the list by default. I still love the original Star Wars trilogy, Battle Front II is still one of my favorite video games, and I even have a couple guilty pleasures from his works (Revenge of the Sith and Force Unleashed), and the fact that he DID fight so hard for his creative right in his younger years is still inspiring, but he did eventually sell out.
.... Howard The Duck doesn't help either.
9) Lauren Faust and her Dream Team
Is this merely a Brony indulgence? or is this collection of great animators, voice actors, story writers, and song compostiers a legit inspiration? a bit of both. yes, I am a Brony. yes, I enjoy the fact that I challenge gender stereotypes.
that being said, take a look at the team behind the show. My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic has a genuinely brilliant creator, with husband (who inspires her and vice versa) who created the powerpuff girls. it has story writers from My Life as a Teenage Robot, Animators and characters writers from Fosters Home, my personal favorite voice actress Tara Strong, and the songs... i don't know who works on them, but they range from toe tapping catchy to masterpieces. (take a look at 'super cider squeezy 6000).
now, this team did one more very inspiring thing; reached out to their fans. when the brony phenomenon hit like wild fire, Lauren and her team not only welcomed the unusual fan base, but embraced it and reached out to them; giving them shout outs in a couple of promotional songs and adverts, and even making our favorite head cannon character a cannon character (Love to Derpy) that was a bold, and greatly respect move, and would be higher on the list if I had been introduced to the brony craze earlier.... sense I wasn't, this pony fascination is likely only temporary and will run it's course eventually. so though the acts and styles are, in themselves, very inspiring and I hope to take from their art of saying more with less (their simple base designs allow for a variety of hilarious faces) it's sadly only a temporary one.
8) Jhonen Vasquez
unlike the last number, this one is not as bias as you might think. like most, I was introduced to this artists by the show Invader Zim, a controversial kids show with disturbing imagery, gross humor, destructive designs, and ugly character faces. of course, we loved it, and I still love it. but what's really inspiring is his work of Johnny the Homicidal Manic, filled with clever dialogue, fourth wall jokes and concepts, and political observation that are actually really though provoking and continue to intrigue me to this day. atop of that, his style really is interesting and unique, and for a while was a MAJOR obsession with me. I still like to barrow from his sharp angled style from time to time, and his mechanical designs still intrigue me (even if I haven't quite mastered it yet).
now Jhonen would be higher on the list except... he's a bit of an ass. unlike the Laura Faust team which embraces its fan base, Jhonen sort of shuns it, and even ridiculous it a lot. now this is all very funny in his writing, if you can laugh at your self a bit that is, but in person it's less then charismic. so, good style, thought provoking dialogue, but coming from a jerk.
7) Creators of Teen Titans (the TV show)
I LOVE this show. though I haven't done as much research on them as I have the Laura Faust team, I do know that they worked on more serious shows, like Batman beyond (which I also love), and more comedic shows like Ben 10 (whose horse has been THUNDEROUSLY beaten to death with it's constant spin offs). but their is no greater mix of these two styles, tragic and comedic, then in teen titans. the team was given full ruling over the show, and they took advantage of it in almost every episode! (the last season pardoned from this rule) some episodes could be dark, some could be funny, and the animations varies so often it's hard to list how many times the characters change shape (and no, not just beast boy. but his transformations deserve an honorable mention, if little more). not only that, but the character we're brilliantly written and betrayed, the villains were great (though limited in number), and the show actually took a lot of subtlety with it's characters; for all it's craziness and variety of styles, it took it's audience seriously, and was never so far over the top that it insulted their intelligence (for prime examples of this, please look at any episode of Adventure Time.... which I HATE). the action was good, the characters were great, the stories variety from hilarious to AMAZING, and the styles are very useful for me when I draw hands or feet.
and influence style, and a mature look at characters with a clever mix of comedy and tragedy. well worth the placement on the list.
6) Pixar
yeah, you probably should have seen this coming. Pixar studious, some of the best animators, creating some of the greatest children's and family movies of our generation. not really much to say here, only that my interest in film and animation was inspired by toy story, a child hood obsession and one of the many things I could watch over and over again without getting tired of. now it would be one thing if they had just given me that, but they didn't; they also gave me movies like Toy story 2 and 3, Up, Ratatouille, the Incredible, and Wall-E. I love each one of these movies, and took something different from each one that I still try to use in my art style and character design.... and no, I'm one of those people who does not like Cars... not just the sequel, I find the original cars to be phenomenally overrated as well.
5) Steven Spielberg
do I even need to say anything about this one? I love this mans' imagination, I love E.T., Jurassic Park, Poultgiest, Back to the Future, and Lincoln. he's a brilliant film director, and when complimenting other great film directors, you often compare them to Steven Spielberg. the man has a perfect understanding of imagination, timing, characters, humor, and drama. he also knows how to be friendly with his actors and crew, and yet still get exactly what he wants out of them. that's true people skills, which is important in his line of work. his movies continue to entertain me, and in the cases of imagination and comedy, inspire me.
4) J. K. Rowling
you know what this woman is? she's the physical embodiment of a Phoenix. for those who don't know, J.K. Rowling was near poverty, but still had a brilliant mind of literature. rising from the ashes of her financial situation, J.K. Rowling went on to write what is now THE book series. next to lord of the rings, it's one of the mostly read fiction book in the U.S. todate. that's quite an acomplishment, but I owe her more then that. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was the first real book I ever read cover to cover. it inspired my love of the surreal world of magic and fiction, as well as my LOVE for the written word over all. without her stories, I might not be the person I am today.
her books fallowed me all through my life, from childhood to late teens, and helped me meet many, many friends. I owe a lot to this woman's literature talent. (and do NOT get me started on this bull shit comparison between her work and that piece of modern tween ass fuck fiction Twilight or I will HURT, you.... Badly). she's also a real talent with understanding the growing ideas of a maturing boy, and giving me a charismatic character to grow up with helped me a lot through the years.
oh, and before anyone starts, I know that Steven King had a same history, rising from near poverty, but he didn't have as big of an influence on me.... so, sorry SK.
3) Tim Burton
there are very few people who have had more influence over my style and interest then this man. I love him and (most) of his work SEVERELY! in case any of you were born under a rock and raised in a cave, allow me to explain Tim Burton's gimmick; he takes things that are often dark, morbid, and stereotypical scary and makes them enjoyable in some way. no where is this more clear, then his greatest masterpiece.... Nightmare Before Christmas, which I can't even began to describe how much influced my art and taste.
taking dark things and making them the good guy, while keeping their core idea of 'horror' or 'tragedy' is still a core value of my characters and art styles, and directly helped create my longest running OC, Stitches. (who'd I'd rant about now but it would take up a journal all it's own).
another one of his works I enjoy immensely is Sweeney Todd. musically amazing, inventing set design, mostly based around the ideas of a 'stage', and perfect casting. Johnny Depp has an amazing voice, and though at times he seems a little droll in the film, when he needs to sell it... my GOD does he sell it (I only wish I had seen it before I had seen Pirate of the Caribbean, so I didn't see Jack Sparrow talking about cutting people's necks from time to time)
but I'm getting off track; all i really need to say is that I quickly recognized Tim Burton's ideals as far as characters and ideals for stories.
2) Dr.Seuss
now all of the advencments in the world wouldn't mean anything, if they didn't have something to start off with.... that's where Dr.Seuss comes in; in my early, early years ( from ages two to six) I had a copy of Green Eggs and Ham, and Cat in the Hat.... and I would watch them over and over again. I would sit in front of the telivision, playing Cat in the Hat on the VHS player, and when the tape ran out, I would rewind it, and watch it over again; I would then repeat this process ten times a day.
Dr.Seuss inspired my imagination, and helped me on my reading and my writing. it was my child hood obsession, even before Toy Story. I got my imagination from his stories, and I hold them very dear to me to this day.
he inspired me to be inspired... and there is only one person in my entire life that has even been more inspirational than that.
1) Rose Lopez
okay.... anyone who really knows me will know why this woman's name is on her... for those of you that don't, I have to warn you it's not the happiest story, and I have to tell at least most of it for you to understand why she is so inspirational. Rose Lopez, going by the name SkyFang, was one of the very first people I met here on DA. our writing styles quickly fell in sync and we became frequent RP's. rose was a Lesbian, strong and proud, and so most of our RP (by most I mean 'all') were F/F and to this day, most if not all of my favorite shipping's are F/F. we RPed a lot of.... explicit, things. we enjoyed the life styles and ideas we created in our fantasy worlds, but we were never romantically involved. I did however quickly fall in love with her, but I had far to much respect for her to throw something like that in her face.
why? because she was constantly undergoing emotional war with good and bad relationships. she had been sold into the slave market, abused for I don't know how long, before she was finally rescued. she had found a wealthy family, good friends, but relationships never really seemed to work for her. didn't matter, it all only made her stronger and smarter, and I tried to be another steady thing in her life though, and ironically, she ended up doing just that for me. she was someone I could always talk to, someone who could help me make sense of things in my life, helped guide me through some hard times of my own.
three years ago, she planned to get married to a woman named Jay, and she named me her best man. I was so happy for them, and would have been the proudest person on the planet to be there for them.
Fate, it seems, has a sick sense of Irony.
Rose lost her life a few months after her engagement. her death was, and remains to this day, the most tragic thing that has ever happened in my life, and not a day hardly goes by that I don't miss her.... but Rose was a strong, brave, and clever woman. she never told us she was sick because she did not want to be treated any different. she also wrote letters, personal letters to all her friends, before her death. in mine she told me that if she was going to end up with any boy, it would have been me.
she was always the smart one.
all this has taught me something about tragedy, and the fragile nature of the human body, and the enduring spirit of the human soul. she also taught me to make every one of my characters. thanks to her, I always bit a bit of myself in every character I write, and it makes each and everyone one of them that much more real. even in death, Rose is the most inspirational woman I have ever had the honor of knowing. even to this day I feel her presence; watching over me, inspiring me, guiding me.... and I hope, with all my heart, that she's proud of me.
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