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Some headcanons about PT and film they enjoy:

Joker: Sundance type, documentary—esp. nature or space ones, soft spot for classic Hong Kong movies because his parents watch them.

Morgana: Detective Columbo, old 007 movies (pre Daniel Craig), most action movies

Ryuji: Fast and Furious, anything fast-paced and popular but can also stand romance. Would watch stupid rom-coms with his mom if she asks. Only person in PT who can stand Oscar movies. More of a Marvel man than DC. One Piece, Tokyo Revengers

Ann: Like Ryuji, fast-paced action films, 007, Jessica Chastain, action movies with hot female protagonist. Would watch romance with Shiho.

Yusuke: A24, Dario Argento, Akira Kurosawa, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, would’ve watched Lars Von Trier if only his films weren’t all rated R, shares some passion for practical effects with Guillermo Del Toro, kaiju stuff, would probably like John Wick

Makoto: Kamen Rider movie, Sylvanian Families

Futaba: classic tokusatsu, Fate series movies (except Heaven’s Feel), most anime movies, Doraemon, kaiju stuff, American animation, yes she can stand Disney

Haru: Studio Ghibli, British romance movies, John Wick

Kasumi: Japanese romance and drama, Disney

Akechi: Claims to absolutely hate romance but watches Wong Kar Wai films because his mom used to like them, anti Batman (Christopher Nolan or not), soft spot for Featherman but doesn’t keep up with all tokusatsu, probably empathizes with Lars von Trier protagonists, Hirokazu Koreeda films trigger him.

Now, I must admit that some of the choices are heavily influenced by my taste.

Hmm I think Joker probably didn't go to a theater but watched it on streaming alone lol

I think he'd appreciate seeing Michelle Yeoh because he'd recognize her from some older classics that his parents would have watched.

He's more of a documentary person than a fiction person in my mind, so I don't think he'd have had too emotional of a moment during the movie though he'd appreciate the craft. In my mind, his favorite films would be documentary films like The Silence of Others or nature/space documentaries though he isn't picky and would enjoy watching any genre with his friends.

Something I wrote some time ago.

Witch of Mercury honest thoughts (you know it’s about to be spicy so cautions for the faint hearted)

Hahaha I never imagined I'd be drawing shuake comics about... taxes either lol

It would be funny if they compete over tax refunds. But in my mind, both of them look like they'd be freelancers of some sort. Would they ever get tax refunds? In my personal experience, it's harder for freelancers and business owners to get tax refunds. You're more likely to owe taxes than the other way around. Or maybe it's time for me to hire someone to help me with my taxes :(

Anyway, thanks for showing love for my comics :D

Short shuake crack about… taxes.

Happy tax season guys. :P This is where my humor sense is lol

For context, if you’re doing taxes with someone, you’ve gone all the way. There’s flirting, dating, marriage, everything else in between, and then there’s doing taxes together. It’s a whole another level of relationship.

I’m still alive…

Trying to work on a self-indulgent shuake comic while juggling life stuff.

I made a doodle insta where I want to talk about Tolkien and shuake and whatever that interests me and super quick doodles (so basically Twitter except my Twitter account is dead and I have no wish to revive it) though the most likely scenario is that it would be left desolate like all my other social media accounts.

It’s open for now but I might private it later on.

Also if anyone’s interested, here’s my main insta account:

I’m dealing with some unexpected curveballs in life. So probably not as many comics as before for a while :(

Here’s my little loot though.

Not trying to nuke this place, just looking for some place where I can post rough sketches and shittalk

Yes! I do feel like the recent surge of stupid genAI models is partly due to the fact that we're reaching the end of Q1 for this year. This is usually the time when companies whip up bs (the recent video generators, game generators, etc.) to beg investors to pour in more money for them.

The AI community is def culty. I feel like a lot of tech spaces can get culty but are not called out as much because it consists mostly of men. NFTs and crypto, for example, were reasonably called out as MLMs for young men. I've seen some interviews on Youtube where these really young guys fresh out of college talked about how they actually went into debt by joining various crypto/nft discord communities and pouring in their money.

I'd better check out that podcast if I can haha

Thanks for the recommendation.

I also found this article from Rollingstone earlier this year interesting. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-companies-advocates-cult-1234954528/

One thing that struck me as interesting recently is the almost unreasonable trust people have for ChatGPT.

Recently, I ran across a Youtube video where the creator was talking about how she asked ChatGPT this and that and how convenient it was. This was strange to me as a simple Google search is able to do the same thing.

For example, this is what I get when I search a question "Is Rigel hotter than Betelgeuse?" Google tells me that indeed Rigel is hotter than Betelgeuse. It also tells me that the info comes from the New Mexico State University website which I'd say is pretty trustworthy. So I don't see how using ChatGPT to ask such questions is easier or faster.

But there is a difference--that difference being that with ChatGPT, you're being "told" the information. Basically, you feel more catered to. When you use Google search, you feel like you're foraging for information. When you use ChatGPT, you feel like you have an assistant. There is a feeling of having something mysteriously intelligent answering your question for you.

I've also seen people who post delighted screenshots of ChatGPT telling them something they wanted to hear whether it's a snarky remark about their ex-boyfriend or a smart-ish commentary on sexism. People are free to find enjoyment in anything as long as it doesn't hurt other people, but what I found so interesting was how happy these people were that it was ChatGPT that told them this or that. It's one thing to feel happy and encouraged by a specific engineer you admire saying that she wishes for a future where more women enter STEM, but why does it matter if a machine-learning algorithm spews out a sentence--probably synthesized from millions of words it scraped from people who said something similar--that you like? How is it more meaningful than, say, a fortune you randomly drew?

Here's fortune that I drew. It's from Kanda Shrine if I remember correctly. It says I'm very lucky moneywise. My friend made fun of me saying that the fortune was correct because I didn't find any merch I wanted on that day which meant I spent much less than I planned to. Anyway, ChatGPT saying whatever means no more to me than a random fortune I can buy from a shrine. I'd even say it means less than a fortune from a shrine since a shrine at least has some cultural significance. Also, it might mean something for spiritual people (Perhaps ChatGPT fans are techno-spiritual?)

My conclusion is that we shouldn't let techbros fool us into thinking that these algorithmic tools are intelligent in any capacity. The language surrounding these tools treat them as though they're independent, intelligent entities which they're not. I know a lot of my followers--you Tolkien fans--are passionate about language, so you'd know what I'm talking about. Language is a powerful tool. Right now, it's being used to mask the theft and lies of these tech capitalists. But we shouldn't let ourselves be fooled.