I think you missed the part where there is one right in front of you now. I'm the person who will call someone out for being too extreme, and yes, I was including SJW extremists in with "bigots and idiots" who also have the right to freedom of speech.

I'd also like to point out that there are probably countries that you haven't seen or been to, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist. That in and of itself would render your "I haven't seen them therefore they aren't real to me" argument kinda...moot?

It's also not exactly the place of someone from the outside to define a group. SJW is an umbrella term, and a lot of things fit into it. I'm not sure why that's so hard to wrap your head around. Like, wow, the difference between an SJW and an extreme SJW is that the extremist is extreme? Fancy that. Besides, isn't it the case that just about everybody loves to set up a strawman in the media? Especially these days, the loudest and most ridiculous of a group tend to get the most coverage because they're the most "interesting" [or profitable]. It happens all the time with feminism, too. Most people I know don't even identify with feminism because of the negative connotation.

But, I suppose to give you an example, an extreme SJW is the person who will get aggressive because somebody "misgendered" somebody, whereas in my case, I'm more concerned about the person being legally recognized as the gender they identify as and that they have a place to pee, so I'd only step in if it actually boiled over into harassment, and even then I would try to avoid fueling the fire and simply saying something more along the lines of "Look, you two probably aren't going to agree. Why not just walk away, then?"

For the record though, if the white male is dealing with a corrupt bank, that still could classify as an SJW issue, as could environmental protection.

Yeah, man. The lines here are crisp, and each one brings out something in the piece. I'm kind of reminded of Gungrave for some reason, or at the very least I'm getting that vibe. You've really got a handle on the art of stylizing.

Lately I've mostly been working on drawing from life to get down some fundamentals and hand-eye coordination. It's served me pretty well. I know if you guys hop on MR, you've probably seen these already, but I figure why not have a sketchdump here as well?











So that's just about the extent of what I've been doing this summer. Not great and still working on some things, but crits appreciated.

I think trying to compare seinen and shounen is like trying to compare realism with cubism. You can't really use the same set of standards between them, so you have to look at shounen as shounen and seinen as seinen. If you start trying to see what shounen lacks in comparison to seinen, then you probably will be sorely disappointed.

That said, I recognize that I'm just not the target audience for most shounen, so I don't typically watch very much of it. When I do watch it, I try to keep in mind that it's its own media and enjoy it for what it is rather than trying to fight what it isn't. That's probably why I can enjoy Queen's Blade...in dub, no less.

But, I totally feel you on the soundtracks. I don't necessarily save music beyond OPs and EDs except for video games, but some shounen do just absolutely kill it. The American OP for Marchen Awakens Romance for example is absolutely stellar. Yes, once in a blue moon, the American OPs can be better than the original. I can only think of that one example, though.

@Lumaria Not exactly like that, no, but I have bouts of depression that work more or less like sleep paralysis and I physically can't get up.

Welp, looks like I should be getting to work and posting things here again, since we seem to be alive now. College continues to kick my ass, so I don't have very much recent stuff to share. Might be a bit before I doodle something worth posting. I'll check my data, though.

As an English Major, I've been required to read a lot of books here lately, and too many short stories to count. Right now I'm working on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It's an interesting read, but it's so long. The world-building and characterization are amazing, though, and the juvenile nature of the conversations and games is a fantastic representation so far, although I only just got to chapter four.

Before that, we read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It's an interesting novel in that it can either be read as a novel of flashbacks or a collection of short stories. In either case, O'Brien takes the time to comment on the writing process within the pages of the stories, using himself as a character to explain things that never actually happened to him, but how memory helps draw imagination. The sole Veteran in our class was very proud of how the overall work was what it was without covering anything up. I, meanwhile, was reminded of some of my own pains and losses, because pain is something universal, and literature can be a way to call up things in the strangest of ways.

And then there are the two books we started out with: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle. I'm currently working on doing a compare and contrast paper regarding the language between the two and how each one is effective in its own right. Both were a little hard to read in their own ways, The Bluest Eye because of its subject matter, and The White Boy Shuffle because the entire second half of the book gets rather absurd.

I did say that I'd post about what I was reading at some point, so there you go. I'd recommend all of these depending on what criteria someone is looking for. Like, if you have a long flight to somewhere and want to be entertained, definitely opt for A Prayer for Owen Meany, because you'll probably reach your destination before you finish it, unless you're some kinda massive speedreader like a friend of mine who can go three to four lines at a time.

I think you may be missing my point. I'll be more frank.

I believe the things you're pointing out are only symptoms of a larger problem, and constantly trying to band-aid it isn't going to get Tara or anyone here anywhere. From what I understand, Tara hasn't ever really finished a project. Combining that with all that I see does show a lack of understanding of fundamentals, but the fact that it has happened over a span of years suggests that addressing him the same way will only continue the cycle.

That's why instead of worrying about the grammar or story altogether, I'm issuing a challenge: Finish the story. I don't care if the final product looks nothing at all like he'd hoped. Complete something, and from there I believe the creative process will forcibly teach him what y'all cannot seem to get through to him. At this point the only teacher will be experience.