I was supposed to write the last post on my ‘toxic’ character design series, but I've been deep cleaning the house all day and I'm exhausted. My brain refuses to think so that post will need to wait till next time. Instead, I'd like to talk about ...

How it all began
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 25, 2023Tough Love vs. Abuse
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 18, 2023
Tough love is so cool, eh? It's going to magic the “whining” right out of you, won't it? You just need to stick out through the harshness, and then when you reap the benefits, you'll realize your tough loving benefactor had the right idea. You'll be ...
Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 11, 2023
So last time, in Part 1 of this discussion of …sunnier villains or antagonists, we had left off talking about how toxic positivity is all about the toxic person's comfort. And that this need to impose a certain behavior, dogma, and/or approach to reality in their environment leads ...
Character trait: Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 1)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 28, 2023
Usually, antagonists or villains are emo and gloomy, angry and aggressive, suave and sly, or any combination of that. They are not generally associated with positive traits in their personality, or at least positively-associated traits.
And that's a shame, because real life sure does have a lot of variety ...
The AI Problem
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 21, 2023
The advent of AI has started to finally come into the field of art and expression. No longer is it there only to help us with the menial tasks, the repetitive stuff, the uninspired stuff so we, humans, can be freed up to engage in the intuitive expression of any ...
What you really, really want
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, Dec. 11, 2022
This is gonna be yet another rambling kind of post and a long one at that–so be warned. In the recent month I’ve been doing some soul searching that ties into this personal Christmas shopping spree of sorts that I’ve had recently. To be more specific, I ...
Your politics vs. Your characters' politics
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 10, 2022
Okay, this is a semi-rant and train of thought post, because I've had a couple whiskey and I'm Having Thoughts About Things. You have been warned.
There was one thing that always bothered me in villains that monologue in movies (I also see it in how social media ...
Pretentious?
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, Nov. 20, 2022
This is an article I’m writing after midnight while being drunk on mixed drinks of brännvin and julmust. It’s November. I need booze to cope with the Scandinavian winter gloom that hits your soul like a hammer this time of the year (It’s a thing up here ...
Horror and Technology
Banes at 12:00AM, Oct. 27, 2022
I watched and enjoyed this year's horror movie “Barbarian” awhile back. It starts off as the first AirBnB horror movie - or the first one I've seen, anyway.
It occurred to me that back when cell phones grew into common usage I wondered how horror fiction would deal with ...
The Visuals of Fear
Banes at 12:00AM, Oct. 20, 2022
A creepy pov shot works very well if the camera is looking through a window, or trees, or some other barrier. So we the audience seem to be hiding from the characters on screen.
THE VISUALS OF FEAR
When the director Rob Reiner was going to direct the movie based ...