Favorite Animated Movie:
Elio, The Bad Guys 2, Goat, and Hoppers would've been possibilities of it weren't for the long gap between ceremonies. I thought Forgotten Island would be nominated given how that film just came out, but I guess it got disqualified since nobody's seen it.
Favorite Cartoon:
I'm taking a 3D animation/modeling class at a community college where we're learning Maya, my teacher told me today that I didn't have my project (models of chess pieces) organized correctly. When she says that to me & other students, I'm always confused since I have ADHD & struggle with following verbal instructions. I uploaded my scene (with all of my models) & my reference images, yet she's saying I don't have everything. Long story short, she's saying "If you don't do it in this oddly-specific way, you'll fail". I'm only 6 classes away (including the 3 I'm taking right now) from getting my associate's degree, and failing or withdrawing from the class would mean that I have to wait another year to take the class again, taking longer. I'm not saying I don't want to do hard things or go beyond my comfort zone, I'm just lost & need advice that isn't all doom & gloom. I'm also worried about what people tell me about creative careers in the sense that they're financially unstable, competitive, and that they're threatened by AI. The truth is, I wouldn't feel happier in any other full-time job. All this discouragement won't magically want to make be be an engineer or accountant. For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a professional artist & I don't want to give up all because others all saying my ambitions are "childish" or "unhealthy".
*As you can see, I was born in 2006*
Also, you might notice that most of the films featured here are animated. Don't judge me for that as I like animation more than live action, and I'll keep updating this list as I watch more movies.
There are several that come to mind, but there are a couple movies I saw for the 1st time recently that made me feel the spirit. (Warning, I will be posting a few spoilers)
One of them is a recent Oscar-nominated French animated film, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. You've probably never heard of it, but I'd highly recommend it as not only it feels like something Studio Ghibli would make, but it also has a surprisingly great & emotionally profound message about mortality & life, as it's about a toddler who thinks she's God. It sounds cute (which it is as she's discovering the world around her throughout the story >!through everyday things things like water, rain, koi fish, and white chocolate!<), but you'll know what I'm talking about if you sit down to watch it.
The other is more mainstream & is one you might've heard of. Which in this case, is The Fault in Our Stars, that came out 12 years ago & is based on the book of the same name. It does have some things that go against our values>!like depictions of smoking as well as a a sex scene (Don't worry, it's not shown explicitly as the film is rated PG-13)!<, the two main characters (with cancer) do fall in love in a church support group. On top of that, there are thought-provoking existential themes of infinite love, human suffering, and grief. >!(As noted when one of the two main characters dies in the 3rd act)!<
I'm not exactly sure, but I'll just pick a random one & say Noah's Ark & make the animation resemble an oil painting like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Wild Robot, and Forgotten Island. (Specifically using The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci as an example of what I'd want a hypothetical new Biblical DreamWorks film to look like)
A couple come to mind for me: The Killers & Owl City; known for Mr. Brightside & Fireflies respectively even though they both have better singles. (My favorite Killers song is Spaceman, and my favorite Owl City song is Alligator Sky)
Credit: u/GonzVoiceActor on YouTube
I read a lot about privileged or ADHDers that are just good at hyperfocusing in STEM subjects and/or working six-figure white collar jobs. There are many people with ADHD that I know who don't have this luxury. They either drop out of college because they struggle with subjects like math or reading, or do get college degrees, but still end up as fry cooks, cashiers, or janitors.
This isn't the case for me since I'm still in college (not saying my age due to personal reasons), and despite having ADHD myself, I do enjoy my digital art major (specifically taking classes in animation & graphic design). But I'm worried about my future since not only are these jobs very competitive & financially unstable (especially now), and I feel they won't even hire me after I graduate even if I have marketable skills. It doesn't even help that my family is telling me to find a part-time minimum wage fast food or retail job instead of an internship related to my field.
It also gives me flashbacks to high school when I'd meet with a guidance counselor who'd steer me (and other IEP students) away from creative or STEM careers because they didn't assess everyone individually to see what callings would be right for them. Instead, they just put us all in this employment training class that's the equivalent of working in customer service.
Why can’t there be a scholarship for people with learning disabilities to help them graduate and get a good paying job even if they struggle a lot at certain subjects? Or at least better opportunities besides working at a store or restaurant where we get burnt out working long hours for little pay.
I wish there was a website that could give us job reviews from a similar perspective so we don’t end up at a job we hate or is get gatekept from jobs due to not having a degree and/or connections.
I'm going to community college right now & majoring in animation. Last week, I started a course on Maya & I'm kinda nervous. My professor said she'd be a little lenient since since almost all the students in the class (including me) are inexperienced with 3D, but at the same time she's expecting professional-level work from STUDENTS.
We're going to be learning things like modeling, lighting, texturing, and simple animations. I have a surface-level understanding of 3D, but I can already see myself getting stuck in "tutorial jail" where I'd feel productive watching YouTube tutorials, but I get lost somewhere in the process. I've done well in all of my other art/animation classes (Adobe Animate, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) because those programs, while they're not necessarily easy to learn, I got the hang of them pretty quickly (probably because they were intro classes, but IDK). Maya on the other hand, is complicated & I know I won't master it in a short amount of time & be ready to work for a studio like Pixar.
I know I shouldn't worry too much because I'm there to learn, but what worries me is that people have told me that the industry is much less forgiving than school is. It's not that I don't want to work hard or challenge myself, I just want to get better without overwhelming myself. After all, we don't learn anything without getting it wrong.
Taking a class on 3D animation in college & Maya is the program we're using. I'm just barely getting started, but I decided to have some fun by making a couple things using simple shapes!
I apologize if they're a little distorted, but that's because I used the Stylize - Oil Painting feature on Photoshop since I didn't want to go for anything realistic. At least they're better than AI & the minimalist posters we already have.
I'm going to community college right now & majoring in animation. I just started a course on Maya & I'm kinda nervous. My professor said she be a little lenient since since almost all the students in the class (including me) are inexperienced with 3D. We're going to be learning things like modeling, lighting, texturing, and simple animations. I have a surface-level understanding of 3D, but I can already see myself getting stuck in "tutorial jail" where I'd feel productive watching YouTube tutorials, but I get lost somewhere in the process. I've done well in all of my other art/animation classes (Adobe Animate, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) because those programs, while they're not necessarily easy to learn, I got the hang of them pretty quickly (probably because they were intro classes, but IDK). Maya on the other hand, is complicated & I know I won't master it in a short amount of time & be ready to work for a studio like Pixar. I shouldn't worry too much because I'm there to learn, but what worries me is that people have told me that the industry is much less forgiving than school is. It's not that I don't want to work hard or challenge myself, I just want to get better without overwhelming myself.
I know d4vd has been rumored to be making songs for it for a while, but other than that, we haven't heard much. Personally, it'd be cool if there was at least original song by The Weeknd, Eminem, SZA, and/or Kid Cudi.
Synopsis: Teenager with cosmic superpowers faces his greatest challenge yet as he has to balance everyday responsibilities with saving the world
This might sound like a generic superhero plot, but it's a story based on my own traumatic personal life with appearing socially-awkward, having behavior/focus issues, losing my mother, and aspiring to be a professional artist. The narrative itself, I'm pulling elements from the Sam Rami Spider-Man films (for the relatability aspect & street-level crime) & the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy (due to the fact that it has sci-fi elements & that the main character listens to classic rock music. For the art direction it'd do something similar to the soon-to-be Spider-Verse trilogy & TMNT Mutant Mayhem with making 3D animation look like a living comic book.
The movie would with our main character, 6-year-old Ryan Richards who goes to this museum with his parents (consisting of his workaholic father & terminally ill mother with cancer). Ryan sees this mysterious space rock on display. Since he doesn't know any better, he touches it unaware of the consequences. He glows, and then passes out.
He gets taken to the hospital. They run tests on him & find out the comet he touched gave him superpowers. Ryan is excited about that, but his excitement is short-lived as his mother is also in the hospital. The doctors tell him & his father she doesn't have much longer to live & she dies not long after.
10 years later, Ryan's 16 years old living in New York City where he's studying in high school, working at a pizza restaurant, and has a stepmother and 7-year-old stepsister, Rachel, and of course protecting NYC as Comet Kid. And since he's a superhero himself, he's grown to become passionate about superheroes & would find himself drawing them a lot. He dreams of writing comic books & directing superhero movies.
Despite Ryan's ambitions, his parents & teachers are worried because they want him to have a reliable future. They have this conversation when they meet with a school counselor, as they talk about how his grades are bad & how he won't go to college if he doesn't take his education seriously.
Ryan then leaves the meeting early to save a bus from falling off the Brooklyn Bridge. Then Ryan shows us how he's bad at balancing his responsibilities. He goes to work, but gets fired because he was stopping a bank robbery making him late delivering pizzas. Another night, Ryan's parents go out for a date, leaving him home with his Rachel. Instead, he goes around town getting cats out of trees. When his parents get home, they notice he wasn't watching his sister & scold him for being "irresponsible" due to that, failing school, and getting fired from his job.
Meanwhile, the villain of the story, an alien named Dr. Big Brains has this plan to scan the brains of all 8 billion people on Planet Earth, bait them with the things they love most, and make them his slaves. He sends robots to Earth to spy on the humans to see what they can't give up.
The robots report back to Dr. Big Brains, and proceeds with his plan to lure the entire human race onto his mothership... Except for Comet Kid who was strong enough to resist his temptation. He asks him why wanted to do this in the 1st place. It's because he had a similar backstory on his home planet: Lonely, misunderstood, and parents who broke his heart. Comet Kid briefly shows some sympathy for Dr. Big Brains, but he realizes he's doing this for evil & the 2 fight.
The movie ends with Comet Kid up defeating Dr. Big Brains. He also destroys his mothership, freeing everyone who got captured. Ryan then makes a new friend, Greg Gasker, who also happens to be a nerd & an artist like he his.
The movie ends with the 2 collaborating on a comic about Comet Kid.
However, there would be a post-credits scene of Ryan finding out that someone else was also got superpowers from a similar comet. That person in particular, lives in Japan, is the same age as him, and is named Charlie Chen, AKA Galactic Girl. (And yes, this would be teasing up a sequel)
*This is satire, BTW*
I'll admit, I used to be 1 of those people who'd get all butthurt when people tell me not to watch the same movies over & over, but this year, I've started to branch out & watch more live action movies. And believe it or not, I saw more of those in theaters than animated films & found them all great: Project Hail Mary, Michael (granted that film is divisive, but I enjoyed it & does what it's trying to accomplish), Disclosure Day, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and The End of Oak Street. I haven't seen some of the films everyone has been raving about like Backrooms, Obsession, or The Odyssey, but I've heard great things about them. And while the movies I did see are all classified as mainstream blockbusters, but they're a fine balance between original & franchise flicks as 2 of them had the upper edge of the most globally recognized pop music artist & superhero respectively (on top of them both being relatable stories with passionate people working on them), one is a book adaptation that 90% of people who watched it don't know it's based on a book, and the other 2 are original sci-fi flicks. And when I have conversations with my IRL friends about movies we've seen recently, they'll say I have good taste if I bring up 1 of those.
I get why people like the new Toy Story & Minions movies, but all they are is just corporate IP maintenance 1st, and actual films 2nd. Those 5 films I saw & brought up, are the other way around. There's nothing wrong with liking films made for kids, made to sell toys, or both in this case. But if you're weird about it & make your taste in "cinema" your whole personality, then you should either touch grass & clear your head from the internet, or watch more movies if others are exposed to your taste.