Photo: “Animator Desk Belonging to Frank Thomas”. Taken at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (by me). Los Angeles, California. (October 2021).
The mid-twentieth century animator studio has always held an aura of mystery to any mind that has ever wondered how hand-illustrated animation is created. Anyone who has drawn ...

The Drawing Board
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, April 24, 2023Writing Overpowered Characters
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 22, 2023
One of the most frequent ways to make characters stand out in fiction or myth is to give them a staggering, amazingly powerful ability. Something that mere talent doesn't give you. Something miraculous, larger than the largest life, unique and insurmountable:
Like a dude that can part an entire ...
Creator Feuds and Hidden Messages
Banes at 12:00AM, April 20, 2023
Jon Favreau played Maz Kanada. Or Pablo Hidalgo. Or something like that
There are Easter Eggs hidden in media that might be spottable by viewers/readers, and others that the audience would never know unless they got the inside scoop from somewhere.
It's one reason I like commentaries and ...
On Cruelty
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 15, 2023
So for us Orthodox Christians it's Good Friday today and it'll be Resurrection Day (Good Saturday) by the time you're reading this. In the neighborhood where I live, a new (boisterous and with many members) family has moved in, who brought a live rooster a few days ...
Fake Media - Not the Kind You're Thinking
Banes at 12:00AM, April 13, 2023
my webcomic, Typical Strange, uses many fake films in its video store setting
A few years ago I spotted a book in the second hand store - one I'd read as a kid. I bought it and reread it. It was definitely more suited to the younger me - it was ...
Before You Save That Cat, all Willy Nilly...
Banes at 12:00AM, April 6, 2023
Since I first read it, the book “Save The Cat!” has been incredibly useful to me as far as thinking about stories, outlining them, and finishing them. It's a fun way to approach structure, and applies to a LOT of mainstream stories.
It's become an essential textbook in ...
Poetry Time 26: Intervals
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, April 2, 2023
Frozen ripples cracking in the glade
Blades so fine in between
Solemn metals clashing in the field
Yields of time in between
Broken rattles gatling in the cold
Molds to mind in between
NaaN (Now, always and Never)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Uses Genre Tropes Against You
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, April 1, 2023
Recently I have been revisiting a sitcom that I used to love but, funnily enough, never finished. The last season of the show dropped during a hectic period of my life and by the time I had, well time, to watch it, I had lost the plot. But thanks to ...
Character Analysis: TK from Typical Strange
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 25, 2023
Ok so here we are! Let’s get down into the weeds with Typical Strange’s TK!
…did that come out wrong? I’m sure TK would have a thing or two to say.
So, first things first. Typical Strange is the lovely creation of Banes. It’s a comedy ...