Cartoons I just realized I could talk about cartoons for hours on end today if given the chance. Since abandoning comic collecting, they've become my staple medium for exploring art and storytelling. Instead of starting a whole crazy thread where I could ramble endlessly, I'll just briefly mention five shows. Pocoyo - I started watching this to expand my spanish vocab, but have transitioned to watching it for fun. I'm enjoying this show probably more than I really should. It's wonderfully minimalist and is able to be perpetually cheerful and optimistic without feeling artificially and overly saccharine. I've seen more early kids' tv shows than I'd like to admit and I can honestly say this is one of the few that isn't so childish that it makes me angry. Buddy Thunderstruck and Cupcake and Dino are two of the better Netflix Original Series and as far as slapstick cartoons are concerned, they're actually quite good. Of the two, C&D is much better, with more imaginative plots and better dialogue, but the characters of Buddy Thunderstruck have such a charm to them, I'm kind of sad the show only ever got one season. I finally started watching Avatar after putting it off for a decade. I've only gotten through the first ten episodes, but I can see why people like it. The characters are charming, the individual episodes are okay for the most part, and I'm curious to see where the overall arching story goes. That said, it's definitely a product of its time, where each season needs to be X number of episodes, so there's definite filler there. In contrast, The Dragon Prince is equally good and being a Netflix series, is much more concise and to the point. I'm actually pretty fond of this series and love that it explores themes such as family, duty, justice, etc. Hobbies Went to a sewing circle with Dala. Actually, I was the only one sewing, everyone else was either knitting or crocheting. It was a lot of fun though, filled with pleasant, simple conversations. I was originally worried that being the only guy, I'd feel out of place, but I fell into the pace of things pretty quickly. I'm looking forward to going again. That said, I've barely made any books this year and I'm feeling a bit guilty about that. I've made a ton of text blocks over the winter and I have a ton of supplies that need to get used up, but I haven't gone back to the craft room to work in quite a while. I really need to remedy that. Speaking of books, the other day my mother asked me about how to best go about repairing a book. It's nice that she wants to ask me for advice, but I know enough about making and repairing books to know that no one should really ask me to repair anything for them. That said, fortunately for her, it's just a bit of mild cover damage that can easily be fixed by a local book restorer. There won't be any need for anything drastic or expensive. Nature While I was outside letting my dog do its thing, a hummingbird flew about two feet in front of me and hovered there, looking at me, for about five seconds. I think that's the closest I've ever been to one and that brief moment will probably be the highlight of my day.
Have you read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon? The storyline centers around two young comic book makers. It's about a lot else, but I've never had literature describe such a visual activity so goddamned well. It's seriously one of my top ten favorite books ever. You might enjoy it.
I haven't yet but it's on my list, which is very real, but not tied to any time frame. Case in point, I'm just now watching Avatar. I've heard pretty much universally good things about it though, so it definitely strikes me as a "need to read."
Absolutely. So in the first ten episodes, there's three distinct filler episodes that I can think of. Aang and company visit the village with the lady warriors, Aang and company visit the village that is being haunted by an angry forest spirit, and Aang and company break the Earth Benders out of prison. They're all fun stories, with lessons to be learned, and create character development. But all three only marginally move the plot forward. So they're not filler in the sense that they're necessarily extrenuous or redundant, but they are filler in that the writers have to fill out an episode quota. The Dragon Prince, on the other hand, even with the filler episodes, almost seems to be rushing its plot forward. A good example in the other direction would be something like Samurai Jack, where there's an over arching plot in concept, but most episodes are just opportunities to tell individual stories that don't really hold any bearing on the story as a whole. For the record, I have zero problem with any three approaches as long as the pacing feels natural and all three series I just listed are done quite well.
Psst, I recommend The Rise of Kyoshi for a joy read. It came out the day of this Pubski. Halfway through and it's coming into its own after laying down the setting, plus a few very subtle hints of fan service/acknowledging the rest of the universe. kingmudsy and Gem shout out since y'all boop'd the hubwheel, might be interested.