Uncategorized
https://www.themarysue.com/things-we-saw-today-avatar-airbender-backstory-video/
In the above video, YouTuber Just Write offers a lovely look at yet another reason we love the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series. It points out how both Aang and Zuko’s backstories help drive the drama of the plot and allow for long, satisfying character arcs.
- I don’t know why The New York Times keeps writing these “let’s frame Nazis nicely” pieces, but they have bafflingly published another one. Please stop normalizing Nazis.
- Obviously, Puerto Rico needs federal intervention in order to fully recover, and capitalism is not the end-all answer, but Brands of Puerto Rico does give you a small way to make a difference. The site allows you to buy from Puerto Rican businesses for your holiday shopping, or hire Puerto Rican programmers, copywriters, accountants, and other professionals for your business needs.
- Joe Manganiello posted a photo of himself dressed as Deathstroke/Slade Wilson. (via AV Club)
— Joe Manganiello (@JoeManganiello) November 25, 2017
- Joshua Dunlop’s “Pokémon Zoology” series imagines what the cutesy animated creatures might look like if they actually existed, and it’s super cool. (via Nerdist)
Loads of new A3 Posters available on my Etsy page! Grab them while stocks last! https://t.co/Oai4PKEnt9#Pokemon #Pokemonzoology #Etsy #A3 pic.twitter.com/FBNpZxo006
— Joshua Dunlop (@JRRDunlop) August 24, 2017
What’d you see today, TMSers?
(Featured image via)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Some selfish opportunist recently leaked a video of Malia Obama smoking on Instagram, thereby officially getting themselves uninvited from every future party at Harvard, and of course the conservative and tabloid mediaverse soon picked it up. This came just days after garbage outlets like The Daily Mail tried to hunt down the identity of a dude she made out with at the Harvard-Yale game, and I worry that this is just the start of an exploitative cottage industry focusing on her very normal college student life.
So let’s say it right now: STOP. If you go to school with her, stop leaking these videos. If you are tempted to click on these stories, don’t. If you come up with a “funny” tweet to make about these pictures, don’t post it. If you are offered this material for publication, write an article about tax policy instead. Honestly, I hate drawing attention to these stories at all, which is why I’m not linking to any of the articles, but I feel like it’s also important to speak out against this repulsive “reporting” and all the chatter it engenders. Let the girl live and find something else to talk about.
Luckily, both Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump took to Twitter to defend Malia’s privacy. This is one of the few sincere and decent tweets I’ve ever seen from Ivanka, but it’s also an indicator of how repugnant these stories are. I mean, when even Ivanka Trump doesn’t want to stoop to be complicit in your behavior, you need to a take a serious look at yourself.
Malia Obama’s private life, as a young woman, a college student, a private citizen, should not be your clickbait. Be better.
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) November 24, 2017
Malia Obama should be allowed the same privacy as her school aged peers. She is a young adult and private citizen, and should be OFF limits.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 24, 2017
And yes, it goes without saying that other first children who are not actively involved in public life should also be protected from this brand of coverage. It was disgusting when the media followed the Bush twins to parties; it was gross when they made fun of Chelsea Clinton. And it’s still repulsive today. Nobody wants to read your ignorant speculation about whether Barron Trump is neurotypical, or your comments about his physical appearance; the kid already has to grow up with Donald Nightmare Trump as a father, so please show a little compassion and decency. (Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka are all grown-up adults with high-profile positions who put themselves in the spotlight to give speeches and media interviews, so they’re therefore totally fair game. Same with Chelsea Clinton.)
Malia Obama deserves to live her life in privacy, with room for all the fun, mistakes, and messiness that college is supposed to bring. She had to be impossibly poised and perfect when her father was in the White House, a gig she did not sign up for, and a gig that no teenager should have to deal with. And yet she still represented the U.S. with far more grace and dignity than about 65% of the current administration and Congress. So please let her enjoy finally having time for herself.
(Via The Chicago Tribune)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens was in production, much was made of the movie’s commitment to honor the feel of the originals by using practical effects and puppetry when possible. There was still plenty of CGI, but the added touch of actually building something like BB-8 went a long way towards generating the right feel for the movie. The Last Jedi is set to do the same thing with some new additions, and it’s not the only movie showing off some impressive visual effects.
But here, first check out this video that details how the “vulptex,” the “crystal fox” from the Last Jedi trailer, came to life:
Of course, not every scene with the vulptex (Vulptexes? Are we doing same-word plural for this one, or what?) is practical to do with puppetry, and they digitized the physical models to make those happen, but did you catch the animatronic movements? Here, this is what I’m talking about:
How in the Hell? And how dare they call the CGI scan the “perfect version”? (OK, OK, that’s probably not what they meant, but still.) I just want to pet it and play with it and snuggle with its probably-too-pokey self forever. It’s better than porgs (fight me), and it’s a physical things that exists in the world. That’s amazing, and totally worth the extra effort on top of just doing a CGI creature. There’s definitely a place for both technologies in modern movies, and I only wish more of them would make room for them.
Which brings me to the Jurassic World sequel. Jurassic Park was a visual effects spectacle for its time that still holds up relatively well today (much like Star Wars), especially in how it blended CGI with animatronic dinosaurs. Today, debate is raging in a Twitter thread of new Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom footage posted by Colin Trevorrow, in which Chris Pratt lets a baby velociraptor snuggle his finger. Take a look:
From our Jurassic family to yours. @FilmBayona @PrattPrattPratt @BryceDHoward @LeDoctor #FALLENKINGDOM pic.twitter.com/KiR3et9Vx1
— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) November 22, 2017
There’s a lot of talk about how it could easily pass for animatronics, as well as speculation that its some blending of animatronics and CGI. Or maybe it’s entirely CGI, which would be pretty impressive on its own when people are having trouble telling the difference (although, admittedly, Twitter video compression would probably cover some CGI flaws).
It’s great to see both of these franchises continuing to push movie magic forward. We all need a bit of wonder in our lives right now.
(images: Disney/Lucasfilm, Universal Pictures)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—