“We Heart Superman: The Cannabis Conundrum!” Written and directed by Troy Minkowsky. Featuring Mike Devine, Honzer Chen, Gina Robbins, Dan Miller, Lindsay LeClair, Melissa McCue, Christian Sterling, Michelle Webster, and Arturo Meneses. Sound and technical support by James Force. Original Music by Subpar Costar. Produced by Matt Rasmussen. Superman created by Joel Schuster and Jerry Seigel and property of DC Comics.
I’d like to say a quick hey there to DIY fans from BoingBoing.net and ProQuo.com who are discovering the blog by way of my junk mail blinds article.
Here are a couple more junk mail tips for you:
Pick up a traverse rod at your local hardware store and make verticle blinds with the same strips of junk mail. I now have one set of either in my bedroom.
Lampshades. Try to use compact fluorescent bulbs — they run cooler, and are better for the environment. (And contain only 1/100th the mercury of a household thermometer, so we’d best get over that please… Remember to recycle them, also at your neighborhood hardware store, too.)
Finally, I’ll be moving to either LA or San Franciso at the end of September, based largely on whether either produces a good bite on a job. Please contact me by any of the means on the main page if you happen to have any leads for me. Shukriya!
“We Heart Superman: Days of the Superpimp: Part II!” Written and directed by Troy Minkowsky. Featuring Mike Devine, Honzer Chen, Lindsay LeClair, Dan Miller, Melissa McCue, Tessa Parmenter, and Arturo Meneses. Sound and technical support by James Force. Original Music by Subpar Costar. Produced by Matt Rasmussen. Superman created by Joel Schuster and Jerry Seigel and property of DC Comics.
Carey Burtt’s sharp and funny short film has me thinking about cults again, and specifically Cult 2.0s. The “2.0” is an irritating neologism for an irritating fact: That new cults have learned from the excesses of old cults. They’ve seen that certain behaviors raise red flags, and they’ve learned that by tinkering around the edges they can gain the same rewards — control and wealth — without bringing the same organized backlash. Jim Jones is dead, but Reverend Moon is one of the most powerful men in America.
Necessary to understanding the Cult 2.0 is the rejection of the 70’s-style language of victimization. Cult 2.0 members are no more “victims” than smokers. Both are addicted, both are progressively harmed, both could stop at any time (but rarely do), and both chose to begin.
Traditional cult members tend to be of above average intelligence — as is vividly illustrated in the Jonestown Tape. At the outset they perceive at least some of the methods of psychological control, but they choose to believe that the positive aspects of the organization outweigh the negatives. They “cult into” these groups; they’re not tricked.
The following are the common attributes of the traditional cult. (Credit to the late Perry DeAngelis.)
Surrender to Authority
Leaders defeat autonomy
Environmental Control
Carefully control daily schedule
Leave no time to reconsider/criticize
Totalism
Us vs. Them Mentality
Make members feel needed/wanted
Loading the Language
Jargon
Common words given unique meanings
Demand for Purity
Purity defined by leadership
Any sacrifice allowed for purity
Moving beyond DeAngelis, I point out that this is a hierarchical list. The Surrender to Authority requires Environmental Control which supports Totalism which begets Loading the Language which supports the Demand for Purity. The Cult 2.0 merely accomplishes the above with soft power. It’s the paper difference between slavery and sharecropping.
In a Cult 2.0 they don’t control your life, but they sure always need you to do something or other for them, at all hours. They don’t tell you to stop talking to your friends and family, they just don’t give you the time. When your loved ones ask what you do now, it’s hard to explain it all without using that new terminology. Most people wouldn’t understand anyway, right? The Cult 2.0 doesn’t tell you to give them all your money, but if you paid for this training retreat and the next you’d sure start to make progress, and be able to help your local outlet move forward. You want to do better, don’t you? Keep that enthusiasm up. We’re changing the world. And it’s easy.
Cult 2.0s are the antibiotic-resistant germs of the cult world, reshuffling their features to deliver the same payload. Scientology’s Narcanon and “Free Personality Test” tent are easy to spot front groups, but the for-profit Dahn Yoga corporation (Dahn Hak) is a front for nothing but itself. Cult 2.0s don’t kill people; they just leave them broke, broken, ashamed, lonely, and knowing that nothing has been done to them that they haven’t done to themselves.
All I’ve seen are a few pages of Red Star with CGI used for hardcore mechanical illustration, but the Man says such things exist.
The first problem is character design.
In illustration, the basic unit is the line. Lines suggest shapes and masses, but they can be manipulated — always — to suit their own aesthetic purpose. Notice the difference between real hand-drawn animation and the stiffness of toon shaded CGI. Toon shading is cute, but it’s nostalgia. If you want to draw, learn to draw.
In illustration, lines are easy, shading is hard; in computer graphics, it’s exactly the opposite. Learn to light, and the software takes care of shading. Edges — lines — are a byproduct. Models are models. You don’t draw in 3D: you sculpt. You build.
The basic unit of CGI characters is the mass, and that’s where you need to go to get personality. Character design in CGI is more than trying to fudge an illustration to life in 3D. What’s on what, near what, across what? How does it fit together? Solve those questions or you’ll never get beyond flat, lifeless Poser-porn.
“We Heart Superman: Panic at the Pelvis!” Written and directed by Troy Minkowsky. Featuring Mike Devine, Lindsay LeClair, Dan Miller, Melissa McCue, Tessa Parmenter, and Arturo Meneses. Sound and technical support by James Force. Original Music by Subpar Costar. Produced by Matt Rasmussen. Superman created by Joel Schuster and Jerry Seigel and property of DC Comics.
“We Heart Superman: Crisis of the Pink Kryptonite!” Written and directed by Troy Minkowsky. Featuring Joe Tringali, Mike Devine, Lindsay LeClair, Dan Miller, Melissa McCue, Michelle Webster, and Arturo Meneses. Sound and technical support by James Force. Original Music by Subpar Costar and Matt Cohn. Produced by Matt Rasmussen. Superman created by Joel Schuster and Jerry Seigel and property of DC Comics.
