#existential rambling

techbro types who want to generate bullshit as a get rich quick scheme will saturate the market and nobody will want their worthless shit, they'll get bored and move onto the next get-rich-quick trend. remember nfts? lol

people who got into a/i because they thought it was a legit way to make art will get bored of it because it won't challenge them to do anything & it will not be gratifying in the long term - those types will either: 1.) quit or 2.) start making actual art

people who buy art will get sick of looking at a/i generated shit that essentially all looks the same. real artists making real art will get more interest again because it will seem new and exciting.

same thing with films & stuff too. i definitely think that various actors & creators guilds & other creative industry unions should do everything they can to protect their art & craft against being outsourced to a/i, but i do think that people who watch films will get sick of a/i in films the same way people got weary of CGI overuse in films. a/i in film might not go away completely, but audiences will absolutely be drawn to films that don't use a/i.

i think the basic gist of what i'm trying to say is that human beings need actual art, and the vast majority of people don't fully, actively realize how interwoven art is to literally everything in their lives. on some level they must know, because when it's missing, they miss it. they seek it out. art in general is important to the fabric of society: storytelling, entertainment, community, emotional fulfillment, etc. and people want something real, tangible. they want something created by humans.

****this is why, i'm guessing, that fan art & fan fiction are so popular. most people who create those sort of works are doing them for the actual love of what they're making. and then those works create community. humans have been sitting in groups to tell each other stories and to express themselves visually & dance together with music forever. for literally ever. all of human history. literally all. art is the fucking foundation of society, civilization, human evolution. to make art & to experience art, to some degree, on some level(s). non-negotiable. essential as food and water. i'm dead serious.

a couple of examples of similar times that tech threatened to make the "real thing" obsolete, but failed to do so:

e-readers were supposedly going to make print books obsolete -- they didn't.

streaming music services helped usher in a renewed desire for physical media again.

for awhile, both of those things did kill a lot of brick & mortar music/book stores, but there has been a bit of a resurgence and lots of small businesses.

and no, things will never go back to the way they were, but things would have changed regardless, capitalism being what it is.

it would be nice tho, wouldn't it, if digital tech presented augmentations to our need to have art in our lives constantly, instead of threatening to replace them completely?

i'm just going on pure vibes here & from what i know about art & being an artist for 35+ yrs, some tech & aesthetics philosophy, and from having worked in retail books & music/dvd sales many moons ago. so i could be completely full of shit here.

but i do have some hope that things re: a/i will get better for people -- for real, working artists & authors & musicians & performers & creators. humans need art the way they need food and water. this has always been true for the entirety of human existence.

i'm just sort of in my thoughts & feelings about art tonight and felt like rambling about it.

Hey there,

I haven’t touched this blog for years but it’s really been haunting me haha. I don’t think this blog experiences much activity and I generally don’t have an online presence, so there probably isn’t any need to make a post like this. I guess it’s mostly for my own sake and to put to rest some concerns I’ve had about the content I put out on the site. 

When I look back and really think about the ship discourse and content I created (i.e the moontoffee debacle), it kind of makes me feel embarrassed. I’d always been very mindful of the fact that younger people checked the tags, and I never wanted to make anything M rated for the community, especially as I was 21 at the time the blog was made. I liked being able to keep my content accessible to the demographic star vs was aimed at. I still feel uncomfortable with the moontoffee art that I made, though, despite me shipping them more platonically as friends rather than potential romantic partners. Before the canon backstories of these characters were established, I was enamored with the idea of two characters who were once close friends being forced apart by political ideology and their cultural environments. The moment the trailer for Battle for Mewni came out, my interest in the ship dropped. First, it was because it was shown in the trailer that Toffee was responsible for Moon’s mother’s death, and that he had no prior involvement in the butterfly family’s history. Then the episodes aired and it was established Moon was 14 when she first met Toffee. That was definitely the nail in the coffin and the reason I feel really uncomfortable when I think about the art I made on the blog. I never saw the two as being anything other than platonic but the ship leaves a bad taste in my mouth now for obvious reasons. 

Over the past couple of years, I’ve often considered deleting the blog completely without a word, but I certainly don’t want to run away from the content I put on out in the tag. I’d like to address it rather than pretend it never happened. All this to explain why the art on my blog might be taken off. I struggle with the question of whether or not my content should stay posted. I think for now, I’ll ruminate on it, but I may remove the moontoffee content later on.

Star vs still has a place in my heart, and it was the first time I’d ever gotten deeply involved with an online community. I hate the idea that I made problematic material for the show and didn’t address it sooner. I’m really sorry about that. 

I don’t know if anyone will read this, but I feel better knowing I’ve addressed it. Of course, no one has to feel the need to forgive me, but I’m glad I’ve expressed my feelings regardless. 

i am

very tired

Ahhhhhh I’m afraid so- I always wanted to finish it but now that I have other commitments I’ve needed to push it to the back burner. 

whoaaaa heyyyy im back with a late update 

oh man this is a long one! But I had a lot of ground I wanted to cover before things pick up in the next one- anyways, here’s part 5 for anyone that’s interested!

Hey guys! Part four of my webcomic up if you guys are interested!