Animation is Life

The ramblings of someone who thinks he animates, but mostly watches Netflix.

  • HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND THIS STUFF?
    I Am Nobody

    The other day, I opened up Netflix and this popped up on my main page, even though it’s from last year. I scrolled down and checked under new releases. Nope. It was not in there. Now, I have been actively searching for cool Chinese shows to watch for quite some time. Aside from the wuxia, wire fu shows out there, most Chinese dramas are just straight romance, which I am not really into. I want to find something with those elements of action, supernatural or sci-fi. I Am Nobody, a show about super powered individuals, seems to be exactly what I am looking for, so how was I supposed to find it?

    It used to be that on a show’s main page, you could click on anything and get results. For example, in the cast and crew section, if you clicked on an actor or director’s name, you would get a page showing all the content they are involved in. If you clicked on a genre, like Korean Drama, sci-fi, or martial arts, you would get a page showing all that stuff. This feature hasn’t worked in, at least, 2 years. I really wish they kept that. Otherwise, how are we supposed to find the stuff we really want to watch?

  • SOME THOUGHTS ON HEAT
    Procreate Dreams custom brush

    I was watching the Studio Trigger YouTube channel the other day, and I noticed that quite a few of the artists there use the iPad and Procreate. One of them is Yoh Yoshinari, who directed Little Witch Academy and did the character designs on Cyberpunk Edgerunners. It occurred to me that he doesn’t use any custom brushes, just relying on those which come with Procreate. This led me to the question, what if my own custom brushes are resource heavy, taxing the CPU, and this causes my iPad to get hot?

    Naturally, I did some testing, using the default brushes Yoshinari-San favors, and I think I noticed a difference, but I can’t be sure. Also there are other factors that come into play, such as the time of day, the temperature outside, and whatever might be running in the background. (like my music) On top of that, I felt like his brush choices were just plain harder to use. Sure, this is probably because I’m not used to them, but also because I made my custom brushes for a reason. I made them to be exactly what I need. More testing is warranted, because these heat issues can lead to other problems.

    My old laptop

    In the past, if my iPad got too hot, I could shut it off, for a while, and jump on my laptop. I could write something on this site, go through my art reference library for inspiration, or watch drawing videos on YouTube. Now, with my laptop gone, if I think to write on this site, I’d be writing on the same iPad that just overheated. I suppose one could argue that it could still cool off while writing plain text, rather than drawing high resolution images, but the sad reality is that now, when the iPad gets too hot, I have nothing to use. Over time, I realize just how much I miss that laptop. I may have to think about getting a cheaper Macbook Air just to have something.

  • HAS SOMETHING CHANGED AT NETFLIX?
    The King: Eternal Monarch

    I’ve written before about how Netflix’ video quality, on the iPadOS app, while not bad, is nowhere near the level of Apple TV+, HBO Max, or Disney+. The file sizes told the story, with a normal movie, of around 2 hours, coming in at around 2GB on Netflix, while being closer to 7GB on those other services. This is not to say I couldn’t see it with my eyes though. On Netflix, dark scenes, or those sporting a lot of trees or particles, would show very noticeable compression artifacts. Now I’m starting to think that either something has changed, or I’ve just been doing it wrong.

    The other day, while watching The King: Eternal Monarch, connected to a WIFI network, I thought to myself, “This doesn’t look as good as I remember the episodes I watched earlier looking.” Sure enough, the next time I sat down to watch the show, this time on the iPad’s cellular network, which can be as much as 3X faster, it was crystal clear, and as beautiful as I remembered. When I checked the amount of data being used, I found something startling. The episode I watched on WIFI came in at about 857MB. The episode I watched on cellular was more along the lines of 2.6GB! This went against everything I knew about how this stuff works.

    The King Lee Gon

    For as long as I’ve been using tablets, or any mobile device really, they have always prioritized WIFI connections over cellular. In the early days of this iPad, you couldn’t download apps, backup the system or update the OS unless you were connected to a WIFI network. This never made sense to me in Asia, since everywhere I’ve been, cellular networks tend to be faster and more powerful than WIFI. Most people don’t have personal computers here. They live on their phones. I’ve seen people do Power Point presentations, shoot and edit complete videos, and even write and design magazine type documents, all on their phones. Of course, they also watch shows on their phones. This is probably why you see so many phones with large screens, with no borders, here. (I can’t imagine wanting to carry that around.)

    Well, things have certainly changed for this iPad. I’m not sure since when, but these days, I can download apps, OS updates and do just about anything I want over cellular networks. I might get a warning about cellular data usage, but it doesn’t stop the user from doing it. Still, just like tablets have always seemed to prefer WIFI networks over cellular, I was certain that the streaming apps preferred the same. When watching a show on cellular, it would buffer a lot more at “potato quality,” sometimes as much as a full minute, before it would clear up and look good. WIFI usually cleared up instantly. This is why I used to download shows in advance.

    Castlevania Nocturne

    Now, at least on Netflix it seems, the tables have turned. Recently, while watching Castlevania Nocturne, an episode came in at 1.2GB. This is a 28 minute cartoon episode! Stuff like this was usually in the 300MB per episode range. While these numbers are amazing, it’s still not quite up there with Apple, or those other platforms, where a normal TV show episode of, say, Stargate Universe is 3.6GB. Regardless, this is far better than I ever gave Netflix credit for. What I want to know now is did Netflix change their app? Is this some change to the iPad OS? Or was it always like this, and I just never gave it a chance because I just assumed WIFI was better? I’m not sure if there’s a way to figure that out, but I am extremely happy with the current Netflix video quality either way.

    Castlevania Nocturne villain
  • WHAT SHOWS ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE
    The King: Eternal Monarch

    I’m currently watching The King: Eternal Monarch, on Netflix, about a parallel universe where the Korean monarchy never fell. The King, of course, finds his way into our universe. I feel like this is what TV shows are supposed to look like, full screen, full color, bright reds, deep greens, and just an overall beautiful picture. This show is, however, from 2020.

    I’ve written before about how so many modern shows are super widescreen, “cinemascope,” 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and color graded so dark you can barely see anything. (ahem… 1899) It’s gotten to the point where I just don’t want to look at that anymore. I completely understand this for big movies, which are meant to be seen in the cinema, but streaming television series are still television series. They are going to be viewed on a TV. Not everyone has a decked out home theatre with a 100” OLED screen boasting 1200 nits of brightness. (My iPad maxes out at 1600 nits but still.)

    I’ve actually purged my Netflix watch list of so many of these super wide, super dark shows. Most of them, as far Korean dramas are concerned, came out in the last 2 or 3 years. It seems only China is still making full screen, full color dramas these days. That’s probably because Netflix, Disney and Apple have no foothold there. I realize that when I sit down to watch something, I really want to see a great picture. That’s inpiring, and makes me want to make stuff. When 2/3 of the screen is black bars, it’s more frustrating than inspiring.

    Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

    This is probably just a phase. It’s happened before. I’ll watch full screen, full color shows for a while, get over it, and then enjoy some super widescreen content until I get tired of it again. Usually it’s a show like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, something that I can’t pass up, that brings me back to watching widescreen content. It should noted, though, that while very wide, that show was not dark.

  • EARLY THOR RAGNAROK?
    The Incredible Hulk Returns

    I finally finished the 1977 series The Incredible Hulk, but I had completely forgotten that ten years later, the show was revived with a few TV movies to conclude the unfinished story. The first of those was The Incredible Hulk Returns, which features, I believe, the first live action appearance of Marvel’s Thor. Similar to the Disney film Thor Ragnarok, the Hulk and Thor fight each other at first, and then team up to take out the bad guys.

    Lou Ferrigno, who plays the Hulk, is much larger, in this film, than he ever was in the series. I seem to remember reading, back then, that he had reached a massive 320 pounds for this show. Of course, this TV movie can’t hold a candle to a huge budget Disney film, but it is fun in its own way. Next up is The Trial of The Incredible Hulk.

    Don Blake, Thor and Banner
  • CERTAIN I MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE
    The Brothers Sun

    I was planning to get around to watching The Brothers Sun, on Netflix, eventually. It wasn’t releasing an episode per week, like Apple or Disney+ is known for. They were all there. The trailer looked intriguing, the same as, say, Beef, but it just wasn’t super high on my list of priorities. Now, just two months after the show came out, I find that the series has been cancelled. From what I read, like comments from fans etc., it doesn’t have an ending either. Fans have complained that they invested 8 hours into this show, and now there will never be more, and the story will never be finished. They ask, why bother watching new shows on Netflix?

    I don’t often watch new shows on Netflix. Sure, something like Avatar: The Last Airbender couldn’t be passed up, but most things I can wait, or miss entirely without much concern, I am certain I made the right choice in sticking to older shows, which are done, and which will be full screen, full color, and look great. Too many of these modern shows are super widescreen and so dark you can barely see anything. I am so sick of 2.35:1 “Cinemascope” content for television, that I won’t even watch the trailer for such a show. I don’t have an awesome home theater, and even if I did, I don’t want to watch something with massive black bars on my TV.

    Michele Yeoh in The Brothers Sun

    I missed a lot of great older shows over the last 16 years, while traveling and being busy. There is plenty of content out there for me to watch. On top of that, I love Korean, Chinese and Japanese dramas. They tend to make shows that are a set number of episodes and they’re done. That is, of course, not counting the shows made by Netflix, which they are already trying to turn into Americanized content. I basically don’t need to jump on every new release that comes out. I can wait to see if a show is going to survive, or go the way of The Brother’s Sun, before I invest my time in it.

    I am almost finished with the 1977 series The Incredible Hulk. After that, I will likely return to Netflix to watch The King: Eternal Monarch, a slightly older (I think 2020) Korean drama that I know is full screen and boasts beautiful colors. After that, I might watch the live action Mob Psycho 100.

  • NEVER UPDATE IF YOU DON’T HAVE TO
    Skype Logo

    I got an email from the company behind one of the mail clients I use, saying I was on an old version, which would no longer be supported. They recommended I update. While in the Play Store, I figured I may as well update some other apps. One of them was Skype. That was a mistake.

    Updating Skype logged me out of my account. I haven’t had to login to Skype in years. I couldn’t even remember my information. Eventually, it came back to me, but, lo and behold, now they are requiring account verification, and, of course, the information I need for that is on my old, dead laptop. I was locked out for about a day.

    Later, I figured out a way to get back in through the Microsoft Outlook website. I remembered they bought Skype a long time ago. Even though I can open Skype again, I can’t do anything useful, like add funds to my Skype-to-phone service, for 30 days. This is supposedly to protect from someone else taking over a user’s account. I swear, one day I’m gonna stop using all this stuff, draw with pencil and paper, and call it a day.

    If you have an app that works, and does everything you want, don’t update it until it breaks.

  • PROBLEMS IN DREAM LAND
    Procreate Dreams

    In getting more serious about exploring Procreate Dreams, the recently released animation tool from the makers of Procreate, I very quickly noticed the absence of some tools that I have come to rely on, quite heavily, in that original illustration software. At the top of that list would be the lasso select/transform tool, and the liquify brush. Since this is a new program, with a new purpose, I just figured they were placed differently, and I just had to find them. I couldn’t.

    I decided to strike out on the internet in search of the fate of these tools, and I found many sites, and comment sections, with complaints from users about the lack of these tools. I began to realize they really weren’t in there. I also found something else, though, especially in YouTube videos from traditional, pencil and paper animators who are now using Dreams. They don’t seem to need these tools, or care that they are absent.

    This makes sense to me. If you’re working with pencil and paper, and you make a mistake, you erase it and redraw it. You can’t lasso select an eye and move it up to the right position, or use a liquify (warping) brush to squash and skew things to where you want them. It makes me wonder if my over reliance on such tools is the reason I can’t draw as well as I would like. None of my favorite artists, that I follow, seem to have this problem.

    Anyway, Procreate Dreams was just released in late November last year. I suspect there will be many updates, in the coming months, and tools like these will eventually appear. Until then, I will try to think like a pencil and paper animator, and make the best of the Dreams I have.

  • CAN NETFLIX DO ANYTHING RIGHT?
    Avatar: The Last Airbender

    The Netflix, live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is finally out, and I have to say it is not what I expected. First off, let me state that the show is absolutely beautiful to look at. It has some of the best visual FX I have seen, in a series, in recent memory. The fight choreography was really impressive, and went a lot further than I ever expected. Of course, seeing bending in live action was like a dream. (Even the horrible movie version got that right though) Unfortunately, the incredible visual aspects are about all this show has going for it.

    The rest? It reminds me of the Netflix, live action Cowboy Bebop. They had a property, an incredible IP, with a solid story, handed to them on a silver platter, and they didn’t know what they had, or what to do with it. I guess they thought they could mix and mash it up, change things around, combine things, and do it their own way and it would still work. Well… it didn’t.

    While I applaud them for their mostly Asian cast, many of them were novice actors, and the lack of experience showed. It looks like they prioritized the look and sound of the character matching the original cartoon over acting ability. Don’t get me wrong, finding someone who has the look and sound, and who can do amazing martial arts moves, could not have been easy. I don’t know how they could have done better, but it does detract from the show a bit.

    I will almost certainly watch this again soon, even if just for the amazing visuals. I still say it is worth a watch. Unfortunately, some cartoons should probably just stay cartoons.

  • WARRIOR HAS ARRIVED!
    Warrior on Netflix

    Warrior has arrived on Netflix. Even though I just watched it late last year, I’m inclined to watch it again. Actually, I think all fans should watch this, and give this show some great viewership numbers on Netflix. That’s the only way we get a season 4.