@B0bduh

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When you write articles, do you look at other articles about the same subject to inform your writing, or do you avoid that in case it might influence your writing?

I'll frequently look at other articles for research purposes, but almost never just to seek other opinions until I've already written my own first draft. After that I'll sometimes investigate what approaches other people are taking, and possibly go back and temper some of my own thoughts based on any alternate theories or counterpoints I found compelling. But at this point, most of my idea foraging and stress-testing takes place on twitter, where many writers are constantly tossing off small takes on whatever they happen to be watching.
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Liked by: Aluido Eelz DIGITAL@MUGI Another Bystander

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Are you enjoying FMAB any better now that it's gotten out of the material from the first series?

So far, it's a little bit of yes and no. On the one hand, this base material is definitely more interesting - on the other hand, the pacing slowing down to a normal level is actually a little frustrating, since I'm still not very invested in the characters/story. But the story's currently building to what feels like a turning point, so I'm going to give it more time.
It's kinda stupid, I know. The last time I invested this many episodes in a show just because "it's a generally popular show" was Clannad, and that never really paid itself back. I'm hopeful this'll be the last time I watch something just because I feel like I'm supposed to, but I can't trust myself to hold to that. At least I feel like I'm learning more about what other people like in anime!
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Liked by: Eelz Sunshine Marmot Another Bystander

you looking forward to anything net season?

Love Live S2 is the only thing I'm already looking forward to, but there's some other stuff I have reason to suspect will be good. orange's source material has a strong reputation, and Amaama to Inazuma looks very charming in that Yotsuba/Barakamon way. Battery has a strong director, and may be something of a return to form for noitaminA. And Amanchu is allegedly a spiritual successor to Aria, which obviously has a stellar reputation as well. There's nothing that looks to be as strong as Conrevo, but it should be a reasonable season.
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Liked by: Sunshine Marmot

I'm a bit starved for a good love story; is there anything out there that conveys it's love story as good as Hyouka or should I just roll over and cry myself to sleep at this cruel world?

If you haven't seen Spice and Wolf or Toradora, I'd give them a look. Also Katanagatari.
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Liked by: Poyjo

Have you watched last ConRevo? havent seen you tweet about it, it was great imo

Not yet. I still need to catch up on that, JoJo, and Luluco.

Why do a large segment of fans treat fictional universes as if they're a living, breathing world (hence, fan theories and obsession with "canon")?

It's just a popular, immediate way of engaging with media. It's like how, when you first play a new videogame, the game initially can come off as a full, foreign experience, as opposed to a series of discreet gameplay systems. Or how a new song can sound like a fully composed whole before it resolves into a series of melodies and rhythms played on a set of instruments.
When it comes to narrative media, many people actually prefer to maintain that illusion of holism instead of engaging with craft. And in a busy story, that can manifest as acting like the world and characters of that story actually exist. Thus the actions of characters or narrative aren't critiqued on a craft level, because the story provides some in-universe explanation for them. Characters aren't collections of ideas, they're people, and so the viewer question often becomes "would I want to hang out with or date this person?" Authorial voice is absent - this is just how this world is.

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Liked by: Aluido Rose Bridges Sunshine Marmot Eelz Robert Hopper Another Bystander Colton King Pablo Romero

Do you usually write articles in chunks or in one sitting?

One sitting per draft, generally. Though for longer articles, that's after having gathered my various thoughts/created an outline previously.

Bob, you enlighten me to that novel RP1 (which feels awfully similar in feeling to those RPG-ish LN) and I see it won a libertarian SF award. This got me thinking... Would many LN writers be libertarian if they know about what the ideology is?

Definitely. A major part of the appeal of many "trapped in an RPG" stories is that this is a world where things are "fair," and the clearly talented protagonist/reader isn't held down by the arbitrary tethers/evaluations of society. I actually wrote a pretty lengthy breakdown of the second episode of Mahouka, which discusses how the show is essentially a libertarian fantasy:
http://wrongeverytime.com/2014/04/15/mahouka-koukou-no-rettousei-episode-2/
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Liked by: Alejandro Colon Sunshine Marmot Another Bystander

Hey bob, if you could improve the movie Harmony, how would you do it?

I'd replace it with a different, better movie. There's essentially no element of the movie as it currently exists that is worth salvaging.

Since you didn't mention it in your notes or review I have to ask if you caught how Valkanna told Mitsumune Hyoketsu no JACK attacked. This show man.

Haha yep. So many little jokes everywhere. I would really love to see how Mizushima and Okada's meetings go, and how they actually come up with this stuff.
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Liked by: Sunshine Marmot

Mayoiga better be in your top 10 of 2016 list

It seems reasonably likely, depending on how the last few episodes play out. My current top shows of the year are probably Conrevo and Rakugo followed by that, Grimgar, and Diamond is Unbreakable.
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Liked by: Sunshine Marmot Colton King

I've been holding off on reading Koe no Katachi to watch the movie, but do you think it'll be able to adapt the whole story comfortably in a single film? I'm worried it might only go halfway.

It'll adapt the whole story. There's plenty of material that could be omitted or condensed, and Yamada is basically the best director at conveying emotional beats with efficiency and grace. I am not at all worried that the manga's story is an inappropriate size for a film adaptation.
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Liked by: GJ Corban

do you have a favorite Alpha Couple song?

Including Tallahassee seems like cheating, but it's definitely Game Shows Touch Our Lives followed by Old College Try. Both of those songs have made me cry more than a few times.
I've already used "Like a trashcan fire in a prison cell / Like the searchlights in the parking lots of hell / I will walk down to the end with you / If you will come all the way down with me" for an article, I'm sure I'll get to "People say friends don't destroy one another / What do they know about friends?" at some point.
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Liked by: Sunshine Marmot Colton King Robert Hopper

do you listen to music while you write?

Nope. I find basically any noise incredibly distracting to my work, and am likely to strangle anyone who's talking nearby while I'm trying to write.

Just finished Gunslinger Girl. Pretty amazing manga, but what did you think of Giacomo as a villain? Also curious what you thought about the climax/ending in general.

I actually still haven't read the last couple volumes. Every time a new volume would come out, I'd want to reread from the start, and reading Gunslinger Girl is a pretty big emotional weight. So I've kinda been stalling on doing my final, devastating read-through.

Senpai, i miss u, how long till you go back home? i know you deserved and needed some long vacations but i need you to criticize my cartoons :(. Come home soon <3

I'm pretty much posting the same articles I usually post over here, but don't worry! I'll be back stateside in one more week.

Thoughts on FMAB so far?

Watchable fantasy fare somewhat brought up by strong visual execution and somewhat brought down by consistently bad, overbearing comedy, as well as consistently assuming an emotional investment neither it nor the original ever earned. So far, my feelings on it are actually pretty similar to my feelings when I tried to continue Game of Thrones - I've realized "default fantasy story" just doesn't have much appeal for me anymore, but I think I'm somewhat an outlier in that perspective when it comes to fandom circles.
Most anime is pretty overtly bad when it comes to a couple categories (dialogue, visual execution, long-form storytelling, or something else), so it feels like when a show is a fantasy-action thing that just doesn't majorly screw up, it's pretty much destined to gain a large audience. But I've read plenty of fantasy already, and at this point, I'd rather be engaging with either more intimate human stories, more complex psychological narratives, more effectively composed propulsive entertainment, or more creative artsy stuff. Standard action-fantasy ain't my scene anymore, and FMA isn't so strong in any category outside of its animation highlights that I can like it purely because it does its thing really well.
That said, I've heard the show gets a lot better once it gets out of repeating the '03 material, so I'm hanging on until I get into some of that. There are plenty of shows I like mostly because they're really good at what they do, even if what they do isn't one of my traditional preferred genres. Hopefully my feelings change!

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