I Finished Serial Experiments Lain Today. I Cried Quite A Bit

my video essay ideas lmk what yall think

the [abstract noun] [preposition] [noun]

how [noun] [verb] [preposition] [pronoun]

the [adverb of degree] [adjective] [noun] of all time

atp i hope it's clear that my stance is not that everyone needs to like and be okay with generative ai art, my stance is that i am not going to take your reasons for disliking generative ai art seriously if they are rooted in the idea that it's bad because it can't produce art with a soul. or that the very act of desiring an artistic output without putting in Enough Work To Deserve It is threatening the fabric of society.

It's an obscenely conservative way to think about art and i'm not going to give it any legitimacy at all. i don't believe in a human soul and i don't believe the value of art comes from the amount of toil it required. i think that, right now and for the rest of human existence there will be creatives who continue to use the tools at their disposal to express meaningful ideas into the world. i don't think the idea that one of those tools could theoretically be an AI image generator is that unreasonable.

most ai generated content is slop but plenty of stuff crafted by human hands is slop too. the way to separate good art from bad art is not by drawing hard lines about what is 'allowed' to count as art, or saying there is an irreplaceable quality to a work that it gets imbued with when created by an Ensouled Being. the way to separate good art from bad art is to earnestly engage with the things you see in the world around you to develop and refine your own tastes about what sort of things you find meaningful and valuable.

it's like such a bizarre simultaneous devaluing and sanctifying of art at the same time to me. like art is so important and special and species-defining and the people who make it possess some sort of unique spiritual quality that can not be artificially replicated. but also Art is somehow a fragile and narrow enough thing that it's at risk of being irreparably bastardized or eradicated because of a machine. i don't get it. i don't get it!

the met gala is tonight, and i know a lot of us are excited for it. and why not, it's a fun event! but while we're here, please spare some thought for the people of palestine as well. they don't have a platform nearly as big as the met gala does, but they need it more desperately and they need it urgently.

i don't know if any celebrity at the gala is going to mention palestine or speak out for them. but we don't need to wait for a celebrity to show support or tell us what to do. we have power too. every single one of us here has a voice, and the power to uplift others using that voice. we don't need one person to donate thousands. but even if a hundred people donated $5 each that's $500 put towards helping a family survive. and that means more to gazans than i can say.

if you can afford it, please donate to anyone from @gazavetters's spreadsheet (here). if you're uncertain or cannot choose, then please consider:

my friend ibrahim @aburakhiaibrahim (vet | paypal | gfm)

the isnad foundation @isnaddfoundation which provides gazan students with a safe space to study and continue their education (vet | chuffed)

my friend mahmoud @ma7moudgaza2 who is the founder of isnad (paypal | gfm)

if you cannot donate, please reblog so that the post can reach someone who can. thank you.

while its not really his canon design, i like to draw ash with eyes sometimes because i think he looks pretty :)

CONJURER OF IMAGES. LOVER OF TALES. USER OF ONLINE... i am VONI

he/it/she + 22 + commissions OPEN + ko-fi if u want to support me <3

art only blog: @voistly

other sites i use: bluesky + toyhouse (note: most info on here is outdated!)

no minors please.

⭐️ important tags + explanation of stories below

stories

📁 how to ascend the tower: somewhere in california, an ongoing drug crisis fuels the profits of angel conglomerate, a pharmaceutical company. in the aftermath of tragedy, angel conglomerate must recuperate their losses and face the blooming corporate rivalry with salucare.

xyrilverse

🥀 wombward: a sickness runs through the kingdom of celtrein, blighting the crops and poisoning the water supply. a pentinent group of soldiers are tasked with finding the source of this sickness, in which they must traverse the labyrinth for answers.

🏗️ watch the asphalt shift: in the face of economic crisis, montross has become a battleground for those seeking power. the lebub crime family, who once controlled the city, struggles to keep their place on top. as violence and hate runs through the city, a peculiar murder case widens the divide between the lebubs and their opponents.

📡 corps stratum: distance is no longer the barrier it once was. as people travel outwards in the galaxy, the demand for products follow. an interstellar delivery company fills in the void for shipping that product, but its employees and customers alike begin to question their overseers motives.

16th century bavarian miku

friend got me into a gacha game bc it released co-op. if i was not doing so poorly mentally i do not think i would be playing it as much as i have been

spite house

Butch 'Olympia' c. 1863 by Édouard Manet

I drew some creatures for an exhibition at beloved local queer bar the Bearded Tit, loosely based on my fellow bar-goers.