We're All Fine Here, Thanks. How Are You? - The FanFic Social Thread

Just a small aside here, photography and drawing are two very different 'skill sets'. Yes, there is some overlap, but with drawing, as above people said, you really have to learn and know what the human body looks like and how it can move and how it looks in different positions, and clothing can mask that complexity. You don't need to know that complexity with photography, since the subject will always be in front of you. It's not exactly fair to compare the two artforms.

But, I remember being 13. I swore like a trucker, HOWEVER, never around extended family. I'd probably would have been weird about drawing nudes myself for other people to see at that age.

Also. Basically, I got invited to go to a conference in Saint Louis at the end of December. I'm not sure if I'm going to go or not. The content of the conference does interest me, plus the group that went last year managed to fund-raised A LOT for it and managed to get the whole trip covered. But I don't currently have a passport. So, I gotta confirm if I'm going or not, but even if I mail out my passport stuff tomorrow, I won't know for sure if I'll have a passport for the trip, which would kinda suck if I paid, only not to have a passport in time. Plus I'd be flying out December 27th, and missing like 2 days with my sister (that I'll be paying for).

 

Can you get a rush on the passport? I had to do that when I went on my first out of country trip because it was kinda last minute. After paying the $60 for the rush, I got it in 3 weeks I think, but I don't know anything about how Canada does their passport stuff.

 

Do you have an old passport? I think the US will let you in if you have an expired passport as long as it isn't TOO expired.

Stupid terrorists...going from the US to Canada and vice-versa used to be only slightly more problematic than driving to Minnesota.

 

Photography is difficult in different ways, I think. As a hobbyist photographer and as a past model, photographers have to think of more of the technical side of things, like lighting and snoots or angles and aperture. But they have the advantage of seeing things in front of them.

Artists have to create what's in front of them, so it's more difficult in that way. But they don't have to worry about the camera and lighting, nor about how things will react to the camera.

Both have to worry about composition and colour, amongst many other things. I just think both are difficult in their own right.

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The trip sounds great, but boo if you lose the two days, Bri.

 

I do have an expired passport, but it's an youth passport that expired in March 2014, so I'm not going to risk it.

Rush passports are only available in certain cities here in Canada (so basically, not here). But it usually only takes around a month anyways. I could pull it off, as long as it isn't rejected. And I seem to have really bad luck with passport rejections (my first passport was rejected like a month before my band trip to Seattle... because we didn't include my custody papers, even though we included my father's death certificate - but I did manage to get that passport in time, however that was back when you could just use your birth certificate to drive over the boarder).

 

This is where I take the ability to laugh at USA and I'm not even the stereotyped European pervert, just a person who happens to be from Europe and who's had enough of both religious approach that bodies are a shame (umm, we are Christians and we don't have that?!) and the frustrated guy approach that all women should be readily available to him and his pals. The latter caused me quite a lot of stress some two months ago and what happened next caused a bunch of folks to end up on my poodoo list. I don't plan to forgive any of them, unless they apologise to me and ask me to provide them actual credible reading material about things they don't know, because I'm far more liberal than they'll ever be.

So, yeah...

I drew male anatomy at seven or so and nobody cared. I had these comics involving a boy obsessed with bathing and his stuff would get stuck in the drain for no apparent reason and the comic would revolve around him trying to get un-stuck. My friend's mom thought those were hilarious. In her daughter's comic, the boy was only obsessed with Nivea hand cream. I guess women were not interesting to us because, well, we could see our own bodies in the bath or shower.

Then, there is the original, German edition BRAVO magazine. Should be for teens, but I'm pretty sure we read it from age eleven on, as anything smuggled from the European Union was an attraction in then Federate Republic of Yugoslavia under heavy economic sanctions, struck by poverty. They had really explicit advice columns for teens in every issue - you'd get a close-up of a girl's mons pubis and the model showing you how to trim excessive hair with small scissors. Or they'd pay a boy and a girl to pose naked and answer a bunch of personal questions for some money, essentially no more than 50€ by today's values. There were also pictures of recommended sex positions for first-timers, how to do foreplay and heavy petting and so on. Sure, sexual minorities were not properly represented back in the days, but I'm pretty sure they would be now. This was for educational purposes and while I bet some people utilised it for completely different things and that it probably would not work in 2015, with internet, doxxing and other absolutely unforgivable stuff, people could see normal bodies, like their own, be aware of how hard relationships are, that almost all early ones fail, that the menarche can cause a lot of mess etc.

Speaking of photography, a friend in UK studies it at the uni and nudes are incredibly popular, a lot of professors would grade you higher for nudes of your own self and it's kinda ridiculous, because sure, not all nude art has a meaning. Some people are just too ambitious and/or exhibitionists. Some are looking for an excuse to shock, or maybe they have the mental set of a seven-year-old who thinks male bits stuck in bath tub drains are anatomically possible and funny. E.g. the lecturer who takes "artistic" photos of himself peeing has got to have a problem.

 

I started reading Heavy Metal (adult fantasy magazine) around my niece's age. Is there sex in it? Sometimes, yes. Boobs? Boobs aplenty. My folks were okay with it, as the magazine has some really great artwork in it. Then again, I've been exposed to art books with nudes in from a pretty early age. And in terms of art nudes, my niece and nephews have seen a few in my art books (they know which books and what pages and zero in on the boobies and butts like a laser), and while their folks wouldn't want them to own such books (yet), they're not upset that the kids had gotten into my books.

So, while my niece didn't grow up in the same environment as I; she also didn't grow up in an uptight household. She's not very shy (at all) around adults and will mouth off to her folks and has shoved her mom around. But, she's also very obstinate, and has a very puritanical mindset for some unknown reason. If she reads something and is enjoying it, the very moment a character cusses, the book suddenly sucks. Watching a movie that she likes and a character says "ass"? The movie is suddenly stupid and sucks. Someone says "damn" in a comic? The comic sucks. The most mild of swearing and it's RUINED 4EVAR.

Throw a butt or a boob or even a bra and it's RUINED 5EVA and hate for a million years.

 

You should bookmark this conversation and show it to her in one to three years to remind her how she was back then then a.k.a. now. Her reaction will be interesting.

EDIT: it sounds like she would have some real problem with many mangas and European comics.

 

TrakNar Your experience with the Jehovah's Witnesses amuses me. I am a born and raised Witness and went door-to-door in my adolescent and teenage years. I can tell you that we get use to strange, weird, and genuinely creepy. Comes with the territory when you knock on every door in your neighborhood, town, city, or county.

Back to the matter at hand, my brother, raised in the same house, is also an artist. While he is uncomfortable with nudes, he understands their use.

I think she just needs some time to mature, everyone does it at their own pace. I've gone through bouts of hyper-consciousness, times when even small things would prick my conscience, eventually I found a balance.

Just my two cents I'll go back to lurking in the corner now.

 

Yeah, eventually, she'll mature and mellow out. At the moment, though, it's driving her folks nuts because she berates friends and family members over liking certain things.

 

The girl needs a swear jar. Every time she berates someone ELSE for swearing, a quarter goes in.

In some exciting news. Justin Trudeau got signed in as PM today (and Stephen Harper got a big old "kriff you" from the Public Servants Union on his way out). Trudeau announced his cabinet, which EVERYONE is praising him for. He has regional, racial AND gender representation. 50% of the cabinet is female! But everyone in their position is more than qualified for the ministry they were appointed head of.

In not so exciting news, I went down to submit my passport forms (nearly got hit by some woman driving and texting), and the dumb person I got as my guarantor forgot one line, so they were invalid (would it surprise anyone if I said it was bridezilla?). So, I was like screw it. I redid my forms, got a new photo, and I'm going to get my roommate to sign them all. If I cant get them in tomorrow, I'm just going to forget about the trip.

Edit: I also got my sister's tickets for her plane trip home. Hurah for SOMETHING getting done today.

 

As the rare American who always tries to stay abreast with Canadian politics, I hope Trudeau does well and that he doesn't collapse under the weight of expectations.

Can't you just renew your passport online? Even us 'paranoid' Americans can do that! Unless your under 16...then you have to renew in person. Which I have to do, 'cause I need to renew my son's passport so that we can go to Niagara Falls in March.

Is Heavy Metal still in publication? Some of the art in it was really quite good.

 

I hope Trudeau does well too, even after his honeymoon phase.

No, renewals have to be done by mail. This isn't a renewal anyways since my last passport was a child passport and you can't 'upgrade' it to an adult one. I have to do the application all over again.

 

Last I checked, it's still being published and I got a few issues at least a couple years ago.

 

Didn't I tell you all a few weeks back that BB-8 is Artoo's illegitimate daughter? Well, here you go. It was on the meme thread this morning

Spoiler

 

I laughed. I laughed more than I should have.

 

Maybe I'm just jaded, or else the meme wasn't raunchy enough to tickle my sense of humor, but the meme isn't really funny. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I'm like "meh, whatever."

 

It made me smile.

Also, BB-8 is so adorable.

 

Ugh. So, my sister wants to do something with a photo of the 4 of us siblings and has tasked me with finding and scanning a pic of the 4 of us. She wants to make it into a blanket for our mom for Christmas. The only problem is that there are VERY few pics of the 4 of us together. I've gone back to like 2009 of the photos I have on my hard drive and I've found all of 4 photos of the 4 of us. And in EVERY SINGLE ONE SOMEONE (or some of us) is making some rude gesture or funny face. For some reason, we take great pair shots, but we can't do a group photo. I'm going to have to go into like baby pictures to find something.

 

That comic gave me a chuckle.

And I've been drawing PokeFusions all night.

 

I loved the BB-8 comic, made me laugh and that was my second time seeing it.

Did you guys see the new character posters for TFA that came out yesterday? They were all great, but the Han and Leia ones really made me (more) excited. We're getting so close!

 

Those posters got me so excited. I (finally) got my exam schedule yesterday evening. My last exam is December 16th in the morning. So I am free to get HYPED on the 17th and cry all day on the 18th.

Also, today is the day I give my lecture in my Gender and Identity class. Wish me luck. I'm wearing my storm trooper leggings for courage.

 

Good luck!

Awesome that your exams don't interfere!!

 

I had a little chuckle. BB-8 is a cutie.

 

Damn it, one of my favorite wrestlers completely tore his knee up during a match and will miss 6-9 months...