Greetings Boxtownies!

We are now entering the FINAL 26 HOURS OF THE BOXTOWN CAMPAIGN!

We have a LOT of ground to cover in these last 27 hours in our quest to fully crowdfund an independent film noir animated comedy for Youtube starring the voice talents of Alex Hirsch and Tara Strong.

This project from the start has been an extremely personal one to me. I created Detective Tim Standing and Bill the Orphan (or the characters that became them) in order to escape the bleak world of high school. Now, I guess we’re attempting to escape the often-bleak world we live in together with some hilarious, TV-quality animation.

If you’ve already contributed, thanks SO much for your support! If any heroes out there want to increase their contributions or double dip, now would be BEST POSSIBLE TIME FOR THAT!

It’s time to scream #BackBoxtown on twitter and share the link to the high heavens! Don’t forget to include the link to this crowdfunding campaign! Here are some handy infographics we’ve created for folks to share:

Let’s make Boxtown good.

It’s upsetting that she overworks her crew so much that some are falling out of love with their passion…animation. Erin didn’t get fired either, they QUIT so it must’ve been a horrible experience.

The truth always comes to light and I wouldn’t be surprised if more crew members spoke up. I can smell a huge scandal in the near future, and I don’t think we’ll be talking about these projects for much longer. I just want people to SEE this, this kind of stuff always get swept under the rug.

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Maybe I’ll get back to working on indie projects one day, but Spindlehorse was just such a toxic experience I’m not sure that will be any time soon. I struggle even to draw things for myself. It’s gonna be a while before I’m ready to try and monetize something I’m passionate about by selling my creative labor to others.

It’s not to just that Viv demanded unreasonably tight deadlines (when she even gave us deadlines) but she also demanded our loyalty as employees. We weren’t allowed to speak positively about other shows. Especially not other indie projects. We weren’t really allowed to work on other indie projects either. It was frowned on.

I remember one time Viv got us all on a Discord group call and streamed a crossover episode of Villainous and another CNN show. She encouraged everyone to make fun of it and tear apart every little flaw. She would also speak poorly of other creators, indie or otherwise. I distinctly remember her mentioning that it was *supposedly* utter hell to work with Dana Terrace of The Owl House.

It was just deeply toxic all around. Not just the way the animation and design work was done—that being highly disorganized and unprofessional—but also the culture. When I first joined the studio it felt like Viv treated me as an equal, and I’m sure it felt that way for a lot of us. But gradually a hierarchy came into place. Viv had her favorites (the people who flattered her and rarely if ever showed interest in anything that wasn’t Hazbin or Helluvaboss) and her “executives” of sorts. Her close friends and favorites.

There’s Sam Miller. Who I believe is (or at least was) listed in credits as Background Design Lead or something to that affect, and is essentially Viv’s gal Friday. She was very often considered the de facto leader in Viv’s absence. She was pretty nice in the beginning but as time went on she became more and more rude and abusive towards the artists. It was actually an interaction with Sam Miller that finally caused me to quit. Viv had made herself pretty untouchable and we were meant to go through Sam (at least for background artists) if we had a question for Viv.

I’m not going to go into detail on that last interaction here but it was Sam’s treatment that affected most of us who had issues on that project. We barely interacted with Viv any more.

As far as we were aware, she was spending more and more time rubbing elbows with the increasingly expensive voice talent. That’s likely where most of the budget goes. Merchandising and paying for name brand voice talent like Norman Reedus. Viv herself insisted she had wanted the role of Fizzaroli to go to Wierd Al, but Yankovich’s agent rejected the offer on his behalf. I can’t imagine he comes cheap.

From what I figure, once the first episode of Helluva went live and Viv insisted on uploading a new episode every 1 to 2 months, things got progressively worse. She had little to no sympathy for those of us who needed day jobs to support ourselves. She wanted us to have the turnout of a brick and mortar studio with none of the organization, professionalism, or employee benefits.

I was working between 30 and 40 hour weeks at Starbucks because I had bills/loans to pay. I once pulled an all-nighter to try and meet a deadline which was only given out *when I asked for one* and which turned out to be less than a week away. I stayed up all night to meet the deadline and then went immediately to my 8hr shift at Starbucks. The lack of appreciation was so crushing.

That’s how I’d describe working for Viv: “Crushing”

I looked up to her. That’s why I applied to the show. I was one of the people who defended her when people tried to call her toxic. And then the reality of it was that Viv uses the people who admire her to her advantage. It’s why she hires fans. She knows we’re desperate for her approval so she knows she can get away with pretty much whatever she wants. After I left Spindlehorse I tried salvaging my career but I was just too exhausted. I’m still feeling that burnout and at times it can feel like I might never get my art back. I know I will, but as someone who struggled with mental illness even before working on Helluva, it just kind of wrecked me to have finally “made it” with my animation career only for it to abruptly blow up in my face because if someone I had looked up to.

I know I’m not the only one who left feeling this way. Another friend of mine struggled to get work after leaving Spindle because Viv allegedly threatened other creators not to hire her artists. I can’t verify this myself, so you’re just gonna have to decide for yourself if you believe that one. Personally, I do. While speaking about Viv with the producer of other indie works (and who now works for Bento Box) describing a time she met Viv at a convention. As she recalls it, Viv seemed to find the idea of investing in her artists and their careers pointless and laughable.

Hope people enjoyed Any Sport in a Storm! I had a ton of fun boarding on this episode. Our team joked around about casual clothes for Hunter, landing on Aloha shirts for some reason lol… and I remember having a lot of fun imagining a scenario with @cat-harman92 about this sad boi being swept into the arms of buff Willow. So I combined the two. The Aloha shirt is NOT condoned by Dana XD I remember a resounding “no” haha anyway, take my Winter art. (I don’t care that that ship name makes it hard in tags, it’s pretty and that’s the name our team liked for our delusion and wishful thinking XD)

Throughout the early pandemic, the CDC and WHO insisted that COVID was spread through droplets, not through aerosols, insisting that to be considered 'airborne' it had to travel on particles 5 microns or smaller. Anything larger was a 'droplet', which would fall quickly and stick to surfaces, explaining the emphasis on social distancing and surface sanitation.

Aerosol scientist and infectious disease researcher Lindsey Marr, along with others such as atmospheric physicist Lidia Morawska, argued that made no sense. Depending on temperature, humidity, ventilation, etc much larger could easily travel large distances through the air. They presented evidence like choir practice superspreader events, which droplets couldn't explain. The WHO shut them down, insisting on the 5-micron fulcrum.

Marr wanted to find out where everyone was getting the 5 micron number, because everything quoted it like fact. She communicated with Hong Kong indoor-air researcher Yuguo Li who had come to similar conclusions. With the help of grad student Katie Randall's forensic approach to research, they eventually tracked down where the number came from:

Tuberculosis.

In experiments from the 40's and 50's, only guinea pigs who had been exposed to aerosolized TB particles 5 microns or smaller contracted the disease. The problem is, tuberculosis is SUPER PICKY. If It doesn't get all the way through your respiratory system into your lungs, it doesn't cause an infection.

The 5-micron limit has been applied to every disease since, but no other respiratory infection is that picky. If enough viral particles of COVID, or the flu, or the common cold lands anywhere in your respiratory system it can get a foothold.

So here’s what we know about what ACTUALLY protects people from COVID. Basic definition of terms: an aerosol is a gas/vapor. It’s the air from your lungs. Physically it acts like steam or smoke.

Not significantly helpful:

I’m not telling you this to say, like, “don’t do these things”, but so you know that doing these things does not make you safe. You need to do the things in the second list.

1) 6 feet. I’m sorry. I know this has been your guiding life principle for the last year. The WHO and CDC lied to you. This is not a conspiracy anti-mask dumbass thing. They actually did. That’s the biggest thing about aerosols vs droplets: droplets stop at six feet. Aerosols DO NOT. You can be all the way on the other side of a church service or a wedding or a whatever and get COVID. That’s how superspreader events happen. (You know how everyone’s het up about the CDC saying vaccinated people don’t have to be six feet apart? It’s... not actually about the vaccination. They just know now that 6 feet didn’t help significantly in the first place.)

2) Sanitizing objects. It’s not very specifically mentioned in this particular article, but was part of what they said back in July: “fomites” - contaminated objects - are just... not a factor in COVID at all. All that Lysoling of chairs and shit is pointless. Probably don’t watch someone cough on a counter and then immediately lick it, but we’ve known for more than a year that tables, chairs, railings, etc cannot pass COVID.

3) Handwashing. Please... please do wash your hands, there are many other things you transmit/get from your hands. COVID is however not one of them. Hands fall under the category of “fomites”. Again, don’t put your hand right into your mouth seconds after someone coughs on it, but since COVID is actually passing through air there’s like... not much air that sticks on your hand??? The amount of virus that sticks to your hand is not enough to give you COVID. Also COVID infects you through your lungs not your skin.

4) Bad masks. While wearing a mask is good, many (most!) sorts of masks actually make the problem worse. Your goal isn’t to block droplets from shooting forward, it’s to stop aerosol - gas - from getting, well, anywhere. An ill-fitting mask that has a gap between the mask and your cheeks will cause aerosol to blow backwards at people behind you. A mask that doesn’t have wire at the top will blow the aerosol upwards where it can settle back down all over the room. A bandana, or a mask not covering your nose, or a face shield, or a mask with a valve or a hole, will do absolutely fuck-all.

Things that do help:

In summary, the NUMBER ONE THING - the factor that controls like 95% of risk - that we now know matters (as of a year ago, fuck you, WHO) is air flow/ventilation.

1) Being outdoors. This the single best way to avoid COVID. Being in an outdoor area with free airflow is the best thing you can do by miles, I cannot emphasize this enough. This is why protests weren’t superspreader events. An outdoor area with restricted airflow (like between buildings) is not as good but is still infinitely safer than being six feet away from someone with masks indoors.

2) Proper air circulation. If you have to be inside and have any control over the building, open the doors and windows. Put fans blowing air outside. Turn on the bathroom and stove exhaust fans. If nothing else stand near the door.

3) Air filtration. Get. a. HEPA. cleaner. These filter virus out of the air. A properly used HEPA cleaner cuts indoor virus risk to almost as low as being outdoors.

4) Air filtration part 2. If you have full control over a building, revamp the HVAC system. You need a system that recirculates large amounts of air continuously and filters it to medical standards. If it’s just your home, make sure your HVAC system has a good filter on it. Pressure businesses and airlines to update their air filtration.

5) Good masks. Remember: the mask has to stop air. Not droplets. If air can get in or out anywhere around your mask, the mask is NOT HELPING. Your mask needs to have a wire at the top to stop gaps around your nose and to fit smoothly against your cheeks. If the mask isn’t layered enough to filter air it is also not helping.

6) Get. Fucking. Vaccinated. We didn’t know at first but we do know now that the COVID vaccine is incredibly effective. Like, way more than most vaccines. (Get all your vaccines. But they all do leave some risk of both getting and transmitting the disease, which is one of the reasons we need herd immunity. The COVID vaccine has a way lower lingering risk.) It keeps you safe and it keeps everyone else safe.

In even more terrifying internet news, long story short, there’s a big committee happening in the US Copyright Office to try and talk about whether they should expand Content ID to the entire internet, and they’re asking for public input.

So, tell them how much automated Content-ID-type systems suck and how Copyright enforcement needs to be relaxed not tightened.

Here’s the EFF Overview on this and why it’s so important, here’s the rules/guidelines for submitting your form (Pay special attention to the Statement of Interest Questions, because it’s those they’re asking about), and here is the form itself.

Furthermore, one of the hard requirements for a Lego brick is that it must be compatible with any other Lego brick. If I buy a set today and pull a set from the 1980s? Those bricks would fit together perfectly. This requires a huge amount of precision engineering and controls on manufacturing quality. (I can’t remember the source, but I’ve at least heard that once the brick molds wear to a certain point, they’re pulled from the line and either melted down or turned into construction material for Lego HQ. Point being, no one is getting their hands on a worn Lego mold)

Recycled and non-petroleum plastics are different from other plastic. The chemistry is different. The timing and process to use them is different. This has been a reason why more companies haven’t moved to them, because there’s a drop in quality for material (so they claim).

What Lego just did is completely obliterate that argument. The corporation with some of the strictest quality control requirements for plastic just kicked the basic foundation of the “bad quality” argument out from under it, because if they feel confident enough to guarantee the same experience as using a brick from over 40 years ago, if they are confident enough that they can meet their own metrics at a huge industrial scale….

We prey at night, we stalk at night, we’re the BATTs!

I’m the giant BATT that makes all of the rules~

Let’s see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into!