Most Certainly No Makovsky Here

   Today was the last day of Comic Book Workshop for the semester, like how yesterday was the same thing for Animation Workshop, except that also involved pizza for free and the CBW is having its pizza day next week, and paid for by donations. So, yeah, I guess there is still one last week of CBW for the semester.

   To send us off, this week we discussed the notion of morality, in the industry and the medium. How do we create and/or consume comics that are a force for good in the world? And what does that even mean? How can we tell whether a work is moral or immoral?

1. The kneejerk "big three," sex, violence, and language, of course, but does the willingness of a work to depict immorality make that work itself immoral? The Bible's got all three, in spades, and that book is, is the Bible, so... could that really be it? Orson Scott Card wrote that there are three ways that evil can be depicted: 
1. depicted, or whatever the word was, which is a good thing (ignoring the problem makes it worse,) 
2. endorsed, or whatever, which is a neutral thing (villains can talk about how great it is to be evil and we can despise them for it, or the hero can do the same which is beyond the pale,) and
3. whatever the third one was, glorified or something, which would be a bad thing. I brought my notebook this evening, but neglected to bring any writing instrument.
2. John Gardner's theory, from his book-length essay "On Moral Fiction," breaks down every story, based on its outlook and ultimate message, into three possible outcomes, of which only one is moral. A work can either tell lies or tell the truth, about the world, and it breaks down as follows:
1. life is easy (lie! immoral!); or
2. life is hard, and thus not worth living (lie! immoral!);
3. life is hard but it's worth living (truth! only moral option!).
3. Joseph Campbell also had ideas about morality, and how good stories are for our lives, and how a "moral" story is one that helps one advance in one's life journey. But I don't even come close to remember the exact wording, because this is Joseph Campbell's writing we're talking about here, and I didn't have a pencil like I said...
1. I think there was something about navels in there, though. And... a river? or ribbon? of... cream? Does that make any sense?
2. Dang though but it was poetical.

   So that's that.

   Pic absolutely unrelated:

"The Dancing Crane" by Aleksandr Makovsky, oil on canvas, 1897.

Most Certainly No Mickey Here

   Today was the last day of animation workshop for the semester.

   Madeleine ordered two pizzas, and we (the three of us who were there) watched Sinbad, which, sure, tanked Dreamworks' traditional animation program, but it's still animated. And it wasn't as terrible as any of remembered it being. Eris's animation is friggin' awesome. Everyone else's is friggin' passable. We managed to get through both pizzas.

   Also. There was also this evening, at 6:00 (with the workshop being at 7:00,) a meeting to plan the first ever workshop showcase, which is being held Thursday. Animation Workshop's got 10 minutes; Comic Book Workshop's got 10 minutes.

   That's all I have to report. You can use the time saved from this post to read through a EULA.

Green n' Stuff

   I've been noticing this one really weird shade hue?, of green, popping up a lot lately. Like, all over the place. I looked it up on Wikipedia just now, to find out its name, and turns out the color that's been cropping up everywhere is called... "green."

   ...thought I was onto something there...

   Alright, figure I'd make the post short today, that way you can spend less time here and more time, like, getting through Tolstoy, or Balzac, or Proust, or whomever it is you read it would take a while to get through. Seriously I was in the library today, and it was full of books. Like, entire shelves full of 'em. There's a lot of stuff in the world, and, my gift to you is to tell you, go and use the time you're not spending reading this blog, doing other things. Maybe you can spend the extra time today learning German, or Python, or something.

   But it turns out that this guy played the role of "Guard Wolf" in Zootopia?

   Friggin' Zach King...

Zootopia Stuff: Bearbear Magic User, Etc

   Parodies in Zootopia are kind of weird, and I could go on this whole long thing about... apparently in this world only the Disney-equivalent company comes out with films, or at least only Disney-equivalent films exist, through whatever studio produced?

   Aside from films, there's the native Zoo-niverse brands, with no human counterpart (as far as I can tell... I would love to see what the heck Bearbear Magic User corresponds to, if it's not unique... if it isn't it's probably something really obvious and I'm gonna be so embarrassed...)

   The brands that do have 1-to-1 human counterparts, Zoogle and Zuber and Targoat, those are not only parodies featured in the movie but, actual Disney advertising partners... which means that not only is Zoogle Photos a bland name product, it's also product placement. It's, both.

   Which is all like, whaaaaaat? In a good way, of course. It's really bad. And sick. In the, good, meaning of those words...

Zootopia Stuff: Calendar Theory

   Zootopia takes place entirely, based on the calendars in the background throughout the film, seemingly within one month, one beginning with a weekend, and one possessing 30 days so we know Assistant Mayor Bellwether's desk calendar is off (and not even flipped open to an Aries month, so I've got no idea what's up with that?)

   If it's not May like her little sheep flip calendar says (though, May, wasn't that Bellwether's first name? that could be it?) if it's not May we can at least pinpoint it thus: the film takes place sometime after Wrangled, Pig Hero 6, Wreck-It Rhino, and the first Floatzen movie have come out, but before Floatzen II, Meowna, or Giraffic have been released. The most recent film in our world, Big Hero 6, released 7 November 2014, so it definitely takes place some time after that.

   Star Trunk is in theaters, though, which problematizes things a bit, because in our world Star Trek: Into Darkness was already well on DVD by November 2014 and Star Trek Beyond gets released 22 July 2016. The next 30-day month beginning with a weekend after that is April 2017 (Zootopian calendars thus beginning on Monday under this theory,) or September 2017 with the first day being Sunday as usual, but Beyond's going to be well out on DVD by either of those points, and after that Moana's going to be out and so it has to be between that...

   Here's what I think, though. I think that Star Trunk isn't a Star Trek thing at all, rather Star Wars. And specifically, Episode 7, which, although out on DVD the first of April, is still playing in several local cinemas in real life, and I don't think it's too much a stretch to say that maybe (especially with 3D showings, one of which Paramount 5 has) it'll still be playing throughout next month. April, 2016. 30 days, first two days Friday and Saturday. Excellent.

   Indeed, looking at the original concept art-- it's not May, and I had it right. What the heck happened?

  Still just a theory, though; concept art is just concept art. I can think of one thing that would offer up a definite confirmation. There's a glimpse of a newspaper much closer up in the movie, which Judy uses to wrap up a dozen carrots, probably with a date on top which would pin down the exact timeframe of the film. (Looking very, very closely at the newsprint on the poster, it's a bunch of Lorem Ipsum, which was disappointing.) The newspaper wrapping goes by too fast to read anything on the paper without pausing-- pawsing!--, though, and we can't pause-- paws!--, because so far we can only see it in theaters... theaters! Legally, at least.

   Though how wild would it be to watch the "Duke of Bootleg" scene on a bootleg DVD? That'd be, pretty strange, right? It'd be, like, double meta, maybe even triple if, what the heck DVD is that in the upper lefthand corner?, looks like some kind of, Zootopia parody of, itself...

   I'm gonna, go get a drink of water, and lie down for a bit...

Pro Portfolio Tips and Some Filmmaking Behind-the-Scenes. Also Fries.

   Had that interview today. Auxiliary Services' graphic design department here look for new fresh designers, because people keep on graduating and so they want people who'll be able to stay around for a while, which is why they harvest from starting-level classes. We'll see how I did... (hey, though, one thing I know I did well with, I had that big test yesterday, and I'm pretty darn sure I got a 100% on it.) 

   The interview, it was basically a portfolio review-- I learned a lot on how those look, which is good, because there's that BFA thing eventually and it's never too early to start prepping for that. Some protips I learned from the review:

• I didn't have that many designs that utilized typography- I tried to put a few in, but I just don't have that many. Typography is muy importante- graphic design is called "graphic design," but 99%, fundamentally, it means typography.
• When showing your portfolio, "why is king," so explain why you did what you did, especially the process of everything-- knowing the process, the story behind the piece, opens your eyes to it in a new way (Which I have heard before.)
• My design style is highly reminiscent of printmaking. I should take a printmaking course. Because it'd be awesome and apparently I'd be good at it. (Printmaking class has two prerequisites, and I am taking both next semester, so I'll be able to take it within two semesters, so hey.)
• Post up on Behance a bunch (Behance is this website Adobe does where you can share your Photoshop/Illustrator/whatever project.) Knowing you're going to make your designs public give you that extra push to make them extra good and not embarrassing.
• By the advanced period of achieving a graphic design degree, basically everyone in the program with you has a job on campus designing at one place or another.
• Use each piece in your portfolio to show: hey, I know how to establish visual hierarchy, and all that.
• Value is also something to keep an eye on. Like, the screenshot of your web design in your portfolio, you could stand to push the value up in here, dark against dark in these sidebars over here is a little hard to read.

   Well, thank you. Fixed!

• It's good to start in web design so early, though, because if you're used only to designing on a page and then you get into web design, there's just so much space you don't know what to do with.

   That's good stuff. Even if I don't get a, callback or whatever, that was really instructive information, so the experience was 100% worth it.

   So anyway, meanwhile. Today, our apartment got taken over by a student film crew (though, I don't think any of them are actually film students) shooting a short film.

Reviewing the footage at the end of the shoot. Also fries.

   There's spray stuff that comes in a can, which you can mist the air with and create a really smoky foggy atmospheric effect that looks pretty cool. And apparently that is a thing that people do? I've always thought it was a good idea, ever since seeing that live student production of Les Miserables that got really smoky during the barricade sequence in Act II and looked super dramatic and diffused the light in a cool way. I'm not the only one who thought that that's really awesome, apparently, and not only do people do that to their films, but there's a whole industry revolving around putting that effect into spray cans.

   So, yeah, there was sooo much smoke(-type stuff.) Which still hasn't entirely dissipated.

Why Was Never a Question in the First Place

   I'm mostly compiling my portfolio right now, for tomorrow's interview for that job. I don't really have time to post much, but here, have a portfolio piece of mine to make it up to you:

   Honestly have no idea how impressive my portfolio is, whether it's any good or not... I hope to add a lot more stuff to it within the next one or two years, to have a robust impressive portfolio, in time to submit an application to upgrade the degree I'm seeking from a Bachelor of Arts degree to a Bachelor of Fine Arts... a portfolio is required for that, of course, and, well, I continue to work on it.

   If that single piece still wasn't enough of a post, I've also got this:

   and if you were interested in that, you can read more in the article on Engadget's website here: http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/04/fur-technology-makes-zootopias-bunnies-believable/

   Just super cool stuff.

Intimations on the Concept of Canonical Explorations of the Wider Zoo-niverse

   I've got a test in the morning, and though I feel like 99% prepared for it, well, 99% was the score I got on last test, when I felt 100% prepared, which would mean that I don't have time to crunch numbers right now, I thought I was studying. Right. So I'll just make this post brief, fleshing it out more fully with previously written Zootopia-based-writing-marathon material. It concerns the idea of, not even just a sequel, man, but further spin-offs as well- it's already been called the Zoo-niverse. If all the reptiles and birds are on some other continent, there could potentially be entirely non-Zootopia related adventures set in the same world...

   Everyone loved Frozen, except for, like, a lot of people. Fewer people dislike Zootopia, and, actually, heck, even those negative reviews said the movie was great for adults as long as you didn't let your kids think about the message too hard (more or less, is what it was.) Frozen being a bona fide cultural phenomenon, but appealing most to preteen and teenage girls, delving into the stats behind the ratings on IMDB, that's shaping up to be the case with Zootopia as well. It scores the best in the demographic of females under the age of 18. More likely to give it a full score of 10 of 10 than any other demographic, by a margin of I don't have time to crunch numbers right now, I thought I was studying.

   They're making a sequel to that, somewhere down the pipes, and that one doesn't even have a 99% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes or an IMDB star rating tied with Citizen Kane. (It hardly feels real to me. It doesn't even feel fake, or surreal. It just feels... nonexistent. The whole movie. It's like I'm writing about some fever dream, is how it feels. Is this how it feels when dreams come true?)

   But I'm not that interested in the idea of a sequel. Oh, it'd be great, I'm sure. Like I said, the world building's expansive enough for it. I think that it's expansive enough even for spinoff television series, though, which would be far more exciting, or has the potential to be. It's totally going to be traditionally animated instead of done in a computer, for one, because there's no CG television series based off a movie with as impressive visuals as the original film and dang were the visuals in Zootopia impressive.

   Well, there was the How to Train Your Dragon television series. I've got no idea how they did that.

   So, yeah, it could be CG. But there's something about the alternative that I find appealing. The art styles of the graphically bolder tie-in books were all completely charming, and I think that maybe they could ape something like that (much harder to goof it up, for one.) So it's going to be hand-drawn, or at least Flash animated, in sort of a flat and stylized but still very smooth style, like some of that art is, and, and, as long as we're dreaming, the creative team on it are going to put thought and care into each episode, and it's going to be as good as or even better than Steven Universe or Adventure Time or Friendship is Magic.

   Holy crap, I just made a mental connection between Twilight Sparkle's becoming a princess when she used to be a realistic role model, and the arguments of those two critics who didn't like the movie, how imperfect an allegory animal species prejudice is, how saying e.g. sloths are slow would seem to undermine the moral message of the movie. There's, such a connection there, between those modes of criticism.

   With "just" making that connection meaning, back on Friday when I wrote that. Right now, though, I thought I was studying.

Living in Wild Times

   I went to bed 1:00 last night. I woke up at 8:00 today, for my 8:00 class. Made it there before any lesson-ing started, but not early enough to be able to be counted present. I've got class 7:45 tomorrow, in  a building far further away on campus... I think I'll make this quick.

   Madeleine (the one who, runs Animation Workshop) got into Animation Workshop about 15 minutes late, on a day where people actually showed up which they never do. I think it was this girl touring campus, interested in animation, who'd dragged along her whole family, or something like that... Without a teacher there, I just, took charge of everything, temporarily, going over Frank and Ollie's 12 Principles of Animation. Which we hadn't even officially finished covering in normal class, we still needed to do solidity and appeal, but I just ran through all of them (which isn't that tough when you've got a copy of The Illusion of Life on the table in front of you... nevertheless.)

   Even when Madeleine finally walked in a little over halfway through the 12 principles, she sat down and listened and occasionally commented, but, just like, a normal person being taught, and was apparently blown away. Or at least impressed enough that, see apparently she's not hosting the workshop next semester, but is sending me the required paperwork to become, myself, manager of the workshop.

   Well.

   Or, co-manager, if there's someone else to manage with me. Either way, we'll see where that takes us. Also seeing where it takes us: I'm, looking into, a job opening on campus, a graphic design job with application extended to all the graphic design students, who were in graphic design class, today. About, graphic design.

   Okay, so! Wild Times. Depending on how canonical you view tie-in spin-off books to be, finally getting my hands on a copy of Stinky Cheese Files it would appear that Wild Times is still a thing. As much was mentioned in the Official Zootopia Handbook, but this is confirmation of that, and in an environment where we get to see the tension that continues to underlie its existence. It gets mentioned a few times, even visited once or twice (it's apparently a favorite haunt of Duke Weaselton's,) and so we can definitely get a feel of the character of the place. Even in this iteration, it feels very much like the same place-- although by no means restricted to preds only anymore, of course, the release it offers to animals is still kind of, morally ambiguous...

   See, the first thing that happens in The Stinky Cheese Files, the very first thing, is a teenage driver being taken into the ZPD after wrapping his car around a tree, as a direct result of having gone to Wild Times. There's apparently this new wind tunnel attraction there, see, and it's inspiring any mammal who goes into it (and who likes getting their face to be blown into,) to lean out of the car window the next time they go out for a drive...

   Direct thematic confrontation. It's just marvelous.

Bias, Hypocrisy and Mixed Messages in Zootopia: An Exploration Through Canonical and Deuterocanonical World Elements

   Well, first off, let me start with Vi Hart's annual rant on why pi sucks and is overrated. Even on this, the roundest of pi days.

   It's settled. If I ever open up a pizzeria, I'm going to call it the Tau, and all the pizza it serves is going to be double-decker, two pie stacked on top of each other...

   Zootopia. The negative reviews. I've read, all two of them. And they've got good points, which is terrible, and I guess is why I haven't responded to the objections raised till now (though a lot of what I've got to say below in regards to that, I'd originally written for the one-week retrospective on Friday-- which, being basically a dump of every thought I've had on the matter, spiraled ridiculously out of control, so I trimmed it down a lot, and there's a lot more where this came from. (In other words, I won't be short on blog post material any time soon...))

   Most of the criticism (I think, yeah, 100%) boils down to how problematic it is to have jokes about wolves liking to howl and sloths being slow and yaks being nudists, all in a movie with a lesson against prejudice and bias (oh, those yaks, always so naked all the time...!) Also, Gazelle is sexy, and that's just weird. Ignoring that second point, and focusing on the criticism of some apparent mixed moral message of the film: some have accused this brand of criticism as completely missing the point, reading meaning into things where there is no meaning meant-- which yeah is decently fair, but  I think this is an interesting and ("crunchy" is a really good adjective) crunchy enough case to tackle on its own merits, treating the argument with the validity it does have.

   I mentioned before, in the second of the Fridge Logic posts, regarding the theme of truth to self-identity, and whether it's possible to take that too far (the answer, of course, being yes-- which, makes the theme all the crunchier (see?), introducing grey areas into the mere act of living out your life. It's a perennial favorite furry theme, even on a higher meta-level, because it ties into the idea of the acceptability of being "furry" in the fuuuuurst place.)

   So. Self-identity, self-expression? Self-...location, let's call it. Skunk Pride Parades are mentioned a couple of times throughout the tie-in books, some case that Nick and Judy have to peacekeep at when they first become partners. The film ending instead with the delightful gag reveal of the mysterious speed demon, however, any mention of Skunk Pride appears to have been excised from the movie. Which points straight to our faces, a very interesting question: does the notion of Skunk Pride add to the message, or detract from it?

   First off: is there even a message in this world? Lessons can be applied to our world, parallels between their life experiences and ours, of course, but there's no "moral" intrinsic to the canon, so, maybe not. It's not like they turn straight to the camera at the end and... "we all have limitations, we all make mistakes, which means, hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common," right.

   But then... that makes part of the moral of the film about how life is more messy than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Like how Rosebud being 75-YEAR-OLD-SPOILER at the end of Citizen Kane is still ultimately worthless knowledge, because of how Jerry himself concludes it to be just a missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle, and even such an important significant word can't explain a man's life. Skunk Pride is totally a thing that would happen in a furry world, but it has no real-world analogy. It's just, a thing. Like the stereotypes that are reinforced or broken throughout the film, they're all just, things. Sloths are slow. Skunks are smelly. Rabbits breed, lots. Camels have goshdarn humps! They're all just, things. Neither positive or negative. Just things.

   Still, the idea of prejudice... pre-judice, judging something prior to having all the applicable facts... is a major theme, and could never be knocked out of the window entirely (I tried to "smurf" the word "defenestrate" once, and it didn't go over so well.) There are still stereotypes. There is still bias. Bunnies are cute-- positive stereotype, but how condescending! (Judy's cuteness was something of a cloying factor to, well this probably says a lot, but, the same reviewer who thought that sexy anthro animals was weird.) If you're a flabby doughnut-loving cop, and acknowledge the fact, are you still a stereotype? even if you yourself sometimes stereotype others? even if there's more to you than your own stereotypes? even if the stuff "more to you" is just an obsession with said sexy anthro Gazelle? These are great questions.

   Stereotyping is not necessarily bias, though that matter does come in a lot. Foxes are sly and mischievous-- negative stereotype, and prevalent. There's a whole goshdarn brand in this world named Fox Away! And nobody has a problem with it. It's just, casually in there, like this is the Deep American South in the mid-20th century and we're, lynching watermelon or something just so casually blatantly racist like that. Foxes aren't to be trusted, it's a stereotype everyone already believes in, even Bonnie, usually the one to call Stu out on his speciesism.

   There's no need to expose any foxes to Midnicampum holicithias, make everyone fear those, because they already do...

   Getting back to the overall idea of identity management. The Art of Zootopia book really is as glorious as it is gorgeous... although they really honed the film thematically down to the sharpest edge of what it is and isn't, there's a lot going on in the realms unexplored by the final product (what I wouldn't give to get my hands on the scripts or even specs for some of the early drafts of the story...) At one point, not long after learning the real-world statistic how prey really do outnumber predators 10-to-1, the development team ran with this idea to the extreme that preds were a minority, untrusted and kept in check with tracking collars. Which is delicious to think about, and I could do a whole post on the thematic underlay of that, and whether that's justified, whether it adds or detracts like the Skunk Pride stuff would or wouldn't, but for now I'm just going to tie that back into self-location.

   At one point, over the many-storied course of deciding Nick's role in the story, he operated this amusement park called Wild Times. Although its own appearances and role in the story had their ups and downs as well, what remained consistent was its role in the world of Zootopia: Wild Times was for CHOMPERS ONLY, like the sign says-- in other words, it was a predator-specific theme park, where preds could be themselves, hang up their collars and vent their predatory nature in a world 90% prey.

   This is the most direct conflict we've seen of the two ideals, at least to me. The best head-on collision of the dark side of self-location and the light. You can tell if a conflict is good, if it leaves you feeling directly conflicted, and I'm conflicted, because I can't tell which side represents which. On the one hand, it's an exercise of release and freedom in a world that treats preds as second-class citizens and forces them to be something they're not. On the other, well, frankly it's shudder-inducing to think what sort of activities such an amusement park could offer, to be indulged or over-indulged in, that can genuinely provide such an escape from such a world. Is such a valve safe? Is any valve safe? If a behavior is proscribed so strongly, even a negative behavior, if it ever does reveal itself it's generally going to be in far stronger a form than what would have happened had the behavior never been repressed at all...

   The sheer existence of the conflict means that there won't be easy answers to this; I can imagine arguments for and against, either side, and... funny thing, the distillation of those arguments seem to come from two opposite ideals, both alike in dignity, both rooted in Jungian, cognitive function, stuff. In Meyers-Briggsian terms, the entire conflict is one between the Judging attitudes, Thinking and Feeling; in Scott McCloud's terms, it's a conflict between the Formalist and Iconoclast schools. It's slipping rapidly away from me, sorry about that, back on focus.

   Just from that, the ease of, slippage, though, we can readily see (I think) how perfectly the collision is set up to slip: this conflict, self-location, identity management, is this idea at the root of furrydom, in both meanings of the word-- anthropomorphism of animals, and fanship of that-- and (particularly with that first definition) it resonates up the branches of Zootopia, which causes that film to have a vibration even greater against the word's second definition, even if we couldn't articulate why.

   Coming back to the questions raised that the critics found problematic: "anyone can be anything," but "a leopard can't change his spots," cancelling each other out: I don't think that ever was the message in the first place, that the outward message trumps the hidden underbelly. I don't think it was even intended to. I can't speak as a writer of the film, or anything, but from my perspective: yes, they do seem to contradict. But, yes, they say that right in the movie. And they don't seem to contradict, they do, on profound levels, but all coming back to that central conflict, at the root of the tree. Foxes can't grow up to be elephants! Should they stop trying? I don't know.

   And that's, I guess, the beauty of it.

   Well, I guess it's, about time to wrap it up... if anyone out there has any additional thoughts, I would be glad to hear them.

Fandomonium!: Animal Farm

   Fandomonium[!] yesterday, I'd been going to write about this in the post but it's just an unwieldy tangent. Which is more of a postscript anyway. All takes place, at the end and afterward.

   I was the last in line, for the cosplay contest queue up to the stage, which gave me so many more photo ops when I didn't have to stay in character... maybe I should have gone as Peter Parker? Like the swordwielder said to me as a group of us sat outside the Little Theater waiting to get in before Fandomonium[!] officially began, "good costume, bad character choice." Seeing as how I only had black duct tape, the Gorilla stuff, (ZOOTOPIA FRIDGE LOGIC: forget humans, heck, there aren't any primates in the world of Zootopia!), yeah it would have been easier to just cut a spider out of that, than just having the S over this '90s era, Dark Age of Comic Books-style black void like I did (not having any decent yellow markers.))

   I was the last in line, and the dude in front of me, the guy who'd cosplayed as Big Brother. Just wearing a suit, with a printout of this big long riddle taped to it explaining his plan and asking, "Sympathy for the Devil"-style, if you could guess his identity. Which was, Big Brother. Totally Big Brother.

   (Apparently I, wearing a suit as well, got mixed up with him on (at least) one occasion ("I thought you were over there..."))

Here he's reading out the riddle for everyone.
Also, watching you through the screen. Right now.

   And... backstory, here, on what went down before Fandomonium started, before I continue on about the end: being part of the Comic Book Workshop, helping set up beforehand, except not setting up at all because there was nothing for me to set up, I was asked to leave. So I did, and went back to the apartment, and, everything coming out for the better, that Art of Zootopia book I'd pre-ordered had arrived for me, which I wouldn't even had known for three and a half, maybe four more hours had I stuck around from setup to end. It wasn't slotted to arrive till tomorrow, but it came yesterday, and I do believe it understands my darkest fears and wildest dreams even more than bread does.

   So I saw an opportunity. I grabbed the mail package, unopened, my clipboard (working on, designs for Intro to Graphic Design class,) and shoved my bookbag full to bursting of my obsessive collection of other Zootopia merchandise, taking that all back to the MC Little Theater, Fandomonium[!]'s venue. (There was a Harry Potter booth being set up, why the heck not?) Only I'm not entirely certain what it takes to get a booth, especially one at the last minute, and, that probably not being possible, well I just abandoned my hopes and dreams, and I settled. I settled hard.

   But I still had the Art of Zootopia book with me, so (in between coming up with sick new designs for a poster advertising a fictional Saul Bass exhibit at the SFMOMA) I unboxed her, and smelled her new smell, and flipped her open, and squeed over her. If only there were someone around to gush about this to...

   Backstory over.

   There were, at the con, a couple of lady-furries who, I don't think arrived together, but saw each other's fake tails, became besties, and hung out from then on. Is the story that it looked like, just their body language looking from a distance, the way they talked with each other near the beginning when they both got in, and how that rapport evolved over time? Maybe they already knew each other, I don't know, but there aren't many opportunities around BYU-I (or, like, anywhere else for that matter) to let any freak fur fly, so... I don't know, that was the narrative I'd assumed, and never thought to question it up till this point...

   Looking through my meticulous documentation of the event, they first meet sometime between 3:35:44 and 3:37:54, and are never seen separate after that (except where the edge of the photo or something in the foreground cuts one or the other off, but, you know.) So I had it right. Thank you, meticulous documentation of the event!

Pictured: the moment of meeting.
Also Mica in the background, who. although not a cosplayer or public figure, is currently borrowing my Squirrel Girl TPB. So I guess it's okay to have them randomly in the photo?

   And so, after the con was over, they continued to chill, outside of the doors of the Little Theater, and chatting with, Big Brother of all people. I could hang nearby. I could bring over my Art of Zootopia book, to someone who'd appreciate it. I could gush. Though one of them hasn't seen it yet...

   I flitted in and out, oscillating between continuing my design homework and using the water fountain nearby to where they were hanging out. I eventually resettled down to the area of the MC Crossroads next to the stairs to continue my idea sketches, and at the nearby area outside the food court I had one of them take the photo of me as Clark Kent. Such a costume is not very assistive to selfies, and I needed documentation of what I looked like too. And then I had to go. I'd been planning on going up to Idaho Falls at 5:00 to shop at Hastings again, it was so great the first time.

   My ride was sick, though, so, standing outside of the apartments and texting her and wondering if they were still back at the Crossroads where I'd left them last, who should be walking right on by but, those guys. Being unsure whether it would be weirder to join them again or not to, I made the choice that was the most interesting, and we ambled around, loitering at random intervals and hopping over low stone walls (just as amazing as it sounds, with a big fluffy tail that stretches all the way to the ground. Oh yes I've got photos. Of course I've got photos.)

   I didn't catch anyone's names, though I do know where everyone lives since there was this big long meander-and-chat wandering all around until 5:45 (with the event having gotten out at 4:00,) when we went our separate ways to our respective apartments which it turns out are all pretty close to one anothers'. Except for Big Brother's. He was also part of the group.

   Which I am calling, Animal Farm. Because of course.

The crowd I run with now, Ma.

Con Report: Fandomonium I

   Fandomonium! was today. Although not spelled with an exclamation mark, I feel like it should be. (I'll take it up with Toben and Alaire...)

   BYU-I, Fandomonium[!], sort of a mini Comic-Con, except for free, and from 1:00-4:00, and although there's been Fan Faire and Anime Con here in the past, this is the first of the Fandomonium[!]s, (or Fandomonia[!] I suppose,) being a spiritual successor/combination of both.

   I took almost 400 photos of the event, and wanted to share with you, the best of the best. Top 1-ish%, here. There are loads of others I like, and even more that I like in spite of being blurry as heck, but I don't want to post a recognizable non-public face without permission (i.e., people from panels and booths are okay to post photographs of.) Which is most of them. Also I don't want to post up the blurry ones. 

   So cream of the crop it is then. Though you miss out on some of the cosplays.

   The event in question was 3 hours of nirvana. There were panels (3 different ones!), and video games (3 different consoles!) and also, a performance by the excellent Apollo A Cappella (like their Facebook page!)

   They performed the famous John Williams tribute medley. Jimmy, who is in it and sings tenor, plays the part of Luke: "I waaaas gonna go to Tosche/ statiiiiion for power converters..."

   There were also artist's booths (the videographer in the above photograph was such an artist.) Though you can't sell anything, this still being a school event, you can still give stuff away! I've got a tiny little Discord now hanging from my camera strap, from booth of said videographer.

   Cosplay was encouraged. I've never really cosplayed before, but I had to do something. Using duct tape and markers, and a blue t-shirt, and a white button up and all that-- not to mention the hair gel-- I Clark Kent'd myself. And, hey, am now officially an also-ran. (There was a, contest, for best costume there... yeah. Winners announced, also by Jimmy, but chosen by the attendees through secret ballot.)

   Spider-Man here came in third place in the cosplay contest ("hey everyone,") and won a random keychain deal of one of the characters from Attack on Titan. Pretend I know which one!

   Masks technically aren't allowed, this still being a school event, but I think Spider-Man gets a by. Because, Spider-Man.

Zootopia: One Week In (Observations Over One Viewing Per Day)

   It's been a week since Zootopia came out. It's still number one at the box office. And I have, on average, now seen it one time per day, each day it's been out, Friday to Friday. (Is this the seventh day it's been out, or the eighth? If we count the first day as being the first day, then... Yes, this is the eighth. But if we say of the first day, that it hasn't yet been out a day, then that makes that day zero, so this is day seven... so, I guess, here you can stick the Thursday late-night premiere on, making it an even day eight and balancing out the one-viewing-per-day average.)

   Friday to Friday, then, I've seen Zootopia eight times, so far. Eight! Is that obsessive? I don't know-- I'd only really intended to see it once this evening, but there was this power surge during the climax of the 5:05 3D showing, the picture cutting out as Nick and Judy ducked behind the pillar to dress Judy's leg injury, the audio continuing to play for a while until it too cut out right almost immediately after "it's called a hustle, sweetheart. Boom." I'm counting that a full viewing, because, yeah that's basically a full viewing, that was the climax right there.

   The screening did cut out, though, with the power surge, and so they allowed us refunds, or tickets swapped for another showing. I chose a partial refund to catch the next 2D showing, 7:50 screen 6. Partial refund still counts as a ticket swap, though, so my 3D ticket got torn up and tossed in the trash. I did manage to find another ticket for the same screening (for the scrapbook y'understand,) in the theater before anyone else arrived for the 7:50 (which turned out to be packed.) This ticket was for ridiculously cheap, having been purchased on some kind of pass; my original ticket for that screening was, even with my student discount, the single most expensive movie ticket I've even purchased.

   But, like I said, I got that refunded. That viewing now having technically been for free, the champ is Avatar, once again.

   The power surge had messed up all of the screens, the screen for theater 6 taking them longest to reboot, and they only managed to get it up a little after the showing was slotted to begin, so we didn't even have to sit through the apotheosis of Scrat or anything, skipped straight over the trailers and just started the movie for us.

   It's great sitting in with different audiences for the film. Sometimes "let it go" gets a big laugh, other times it doesn't. Sometimes people get the (actually surprisingly elaborate) Breaking Bad reference, other times they don't. What I've noticed to always get a response, throughout eight separate screenings, are these:

• When the male sheep child remarks "that looks bad" regarding 9-year-old Judy's facial wound at the claws of young Gideon Grey, at least one person always cracks, "that looks baa-aa-ad." If the audience is substantial enough, of course. Wednesday 11:55 2D viewing, I was the only one in the theater, so, well even when I say "always gets a response" by necessity that means when the audience is substantial enough.
• So, anyway, when the train pulls up to the Bunnyburrow station and the critters of various sizes meander off, there are always whispers of, "so cute!"
• Judy getting Gary to start that howl. Full stop, one of the biggest laughs every single time, for some reason.
• One thing I've noticed is, Gideon Grey's line about "talking in tongues" always also gets a huge laugh?

   Having seen the sloth trailer so many times, (although yeah kind of expanded and altered here and there in the movie,) it was great at first, but went away; but both times this evening, I thought it was a riot, for some reason, somehow. I had to let myself get caught up in the surprise again, difficult even with that emotional amnesia-whatever-it-is I've apparently got, but yeah it was possible. Sloths! At the DMV! Daaang, isn't that classic! How true that is!

   Eight viewings in, and I'm still learning things. Like how the visuals are so redundant to the audio, which the image cutting out during the climax of the 5:05 viewing only served to confirm. "Claw marks," "Claw marks, big ones," "a tiny otter did that?" Mostly just the scenes that had to deal with claw marks, actually, yeah. Like we can't tell what they are ourselves? "It's NIGHT!?," one that always struck me as egregious but which makes sense now in this context.

   Eight viewings in, one per day, just like my original conception of watching the apparently far less rewatchable Lion King once a day for a year and blogging about it. I'm doing that, right now, with Zootopia. So far. That was the dream with Lion King, and though of course I'm not going to keep this average-viewing-per-day trend up, watching one Zootopia per day, it's possible, just like the old dream. Which means... I don't know what that means. What does that mean?

   "What does that mean?" Benjamin Clawhauser. One of the lines that never stops being funny (actually, most of his stuff is like that-- "I gotta go sit down.") The excessive bleeding gag always cracks me up too, eight viewings in, and still terribly rewatchable, but other than that, like with the sloths, the humor, it...

   It's weird. Fantastic Mr Fox has tremendous rewatchability, with none of the humor ever growing stale. The funny things in that movie are just, always funny, somehow. Zootopia, a lot of the jokes are, well perhaps I'd watched the sloth trailer too extensively which explains that bit, but other than that: Judy's got 275 brothers and sisters; Mr Big's being a shrew, the smallest of the mammals; "I may be just a dumb bunny, but we are good at multiplying." All of these, boom, funny. The first time. Once you already know the joke, it's kind of... well, it's never that funny after that. It's reveal-based humor. Pretty quotable, but bound to get stale.

   I can allow myself to forget the emotions of previous viewings, great. But I'm still not sure if that means the movie would be able to stand up to such repeated viewings...

   I do have high hopes for the inevitable (?) sequel, however, and think that it could be even better than the first one. We already are acclimatized to this world, and are freer to explore it than the sometimes superficial explorations we could afford within the 108 minutes of the first movie. Foundations could be deeper. Humor could be deeper. And... holy crap, so there's this Zootopia movie Disney's coming out with, about this bunny cop who has to team up with this scam artist fox...?

   Huh. All this time into it, and that still happens to me.

Gallos Humor

   Faith in humanity: restored! Though I'm not sure where my faith in humanity went in the first place-- it may have something to do with the fact that I discovered how terrible I am at drawing sans reference, at the same time that a really weird cold front came down, so I just felt really out of it for a bit there? And that somehow wrecked my faith in the potential of the human race for excellence? But this (likewise somehow) restored it!

   So I took the shuttle impetuously on up to Walmart, like I do sometimes instead of walking impetuously up there. The bus track is on a 45-minute loop, making stops at strategic locations, and chilling for a bit in front of the store before it's scheduled to leave again. I never buy anything (unless there are kickin' new Zootopia books I can't find anywhere else of course) and so either I can loiter for 45 minutes for the shuttle to come around again, or just leave on the same shuttle after having done no shopping. This time I loitered.

   The new Walmart here, I keep forgetting, has only one shelf for books- on the reverse side is the single shelf for CDs, and an aisle or two of DVDs. Seasonal displays up, like life-size Star Wars: the Force Awakens cardboard cutouts (because Star Wars is a season now) but also a lot of low-budget Easter movies for kids. And you know what Easter movies for kids means...

   That's right. It's egg pun time. Specifically, for some reason, "egg pun + the word 'adventure'" time. Every. single. time. I'm... I'm not sure how that's possible. But there's only one egg pun in the entire list of egg puns that isn't followed by the word "adventure," in the whole list of movies whose titles or BOBs had an egg pun somewhere, and those being multitudinous (BOB = back of the box.) Each egg pun had to do with an adventure! Each one!

   There's probably a biological component? Something in the eggs' DNA? Eggs being nothing but DNA, this makes sense, I guess. The Baby Looney Tunes' Eggs[picture of an egg instead of a hyphen]traordinary Adventure (Premiere Movie) actually doesn't have any punnage at all on the BOB, which is remarkably rare. We'll be looking at a few repeat offenders down below. 

   So, first (or second?) yeah let's say, second, off, or first not counting the pun-less Baby Looney Tunes thing, first off: 

   Barney Egg-cellent Adventure. Egg? Check. Adventure? Check. Alright, moving on to the BOB:

click to enlarge

   Okay, so, aside from the Barney-isms, which we won't be counting, there's, basket pun, check, second egg pun using a different word this time, check, and invocations of the whole family, check. And the word, "adventures." Check, I guess. Rating: are... are we rating these? Using what scale? 

   Fine, I give it, a full seven, on the Kinsey scale. It's Barney, come on, you always suspected... 

   Poor joke? Poor joke? I'm sorry. I give it, I don't know, four eggs, short of a dozen?

   Next up: Eggy!

   Which name isn't actually a pun. It's just, Eggy. That's, the character's name. The tagline of the film is, "the hunt is on to crack the case," so there's your pun for you right there. This one's from Italy, and, well I'm not sure what its name was originally, actually, but there's talk in the production credits on the BOB of, "Pet Pals," so that might be it? And, sorry, the glare was just really bad in there, I couldn't get a decent shot of this one's title, apparently.

click to enlarge

   Alright, so, first of all: egg-citing, check, adventure, check, points for style for the grammatically incorrect but punny "lays" instead of "lies." That was just, I flipped my lid when I realized that they knew what they were doing.

   Second off: "eggs in one basket" pun, check. Unironic use of the phrase "furry friends," additional awesomeness points. The word "adventure" again, but this time without a pun when using the word "exciting?" All twelve, all twelve eggs, good sir.

   Okay, what the heck is next?

click to enlarge

   D-Dora's, Easter Adventure, alright... This was from a two-pack Dora DVD set, so I've got nothing but the BOB for this one. So, alright, anyway: egg-citing Easter Adventure, pretty chill, pretty chill, and... eh what's this, the Hip-Hop Bunny? Friiiig that's the coolest thing I've heard all day, and with only one pun (egg-based, and followed by the word "adventure!') I'm giving you also, a full dozen eggs. And why the heck not, make that a baker's dozen, I'm feeling generous. Alright, alright, what's next?

    Little Rooster's EGG-CELLENT Adventure, yeah, alright, see, whaddai tell you. I've actually heard of this one, it's like the highest grossing animated film of all time in Mexico, or something. And, though it's a kids' movie, it's a Mexican kids' movie, which means that the original Spanish language version is PG-13 in the states. Which is just, awesome (we got any El Arca fen in the house?)... That's right, the title under the English title, so lovingly and appropriately rendered in all-cap Comic Sans: Un Gallo con Mucho Huevos, a Rooster with a Lotta Bal-- um, Eggs. A lot of eggs. That, that receiving a PG-13 for suggestive content and sexual references? Who'd'a thunk it.

   But those words don't mean all that they do in English! So, we get egg puns. Egg-cellent, check, adventure, check, testicular double-entendre only in Spanish original title, check, moving onto the BOB now:

click to enlarge

   Okay, this, this is the one where the egg pun wasn't followed up almost immediately or at all with the word "adventure." But I'm going to give this one to them, because, "cracking up" pun, check, and then instead of the word "adventure" being anywhere here (it's in the title already anyway) the exact same pun from before is repeated. And that pun involving an invocation of the whole family? Tubular. Totally, totally tubular.

   Ranking: low hanging fruit. You can work out the egg count for yourself... And I'm going to stop myself right there...

   This next one's from China:

   Okay, so, Hatched. Sean Astin, Jeff Foxworthy, and exactly zero other voice actors apparently, throughout the whole film. Usually I crop my photos to just the title of the movie on the DVD cover, but I had to include the whole cover here because, glare strikes again, which I only realized when I got home and began looking through all the photos I'd taken. There's a sooouper alluring anthropomorphic lady chicken-thing right there where the lighting glare exactly is, if you can believe it, and it's just such a perfect censorship that I had to use this one. Dove approved all ages, yeah, I can imagine the things that that avian lady did to get the dove to go along with that...

   (I'm sorry. It's just-- the egg puns, in Spanish. They've corrupted me...)

click to enlarge

   Okay, so, BOB time. First of all, just glancing over the plot and everything, let's see, animal neighbors, an outer space alien named Magic, rescue mission, baby chicks in planes... yep, yep, it's a fairly standard Chinese children's movie plot, alright (I'm not kidding; you seen any Chinese kids' films?) And, scanning through it for puns now, we... oh. my. my oh my.

   Egg rating: you broke them. All the eggs, they're broken now.

   So, yehhh. Like I said, faith in humanity, restored!

   Also, there was We're Back! a Dinosaur's Story on DVD for a steal of $5. If there's one movie I've been meaning to rewatch lately, uuuummmm not counting Zootopia, it's We're Back!. Only my card was in my right breast pocket, in my double-breasted shirt, and I couldn't find it, and the shuttle was to be leaving in 30 seconds, so I was all, man I don't need this, I could just double check at the library I guess to see if it's there this time. And within 30 seconds of the bus pulling away, I found my card. So. Oh well. I got an Amazon Digital Music promotional credit my order of the Zootopia soundtrack, which arrived today, so I guess I can spend that dollar on Roll Back the Rock (to the End of Dawn), which is the only real reason I want to see We're Back! again...

A Contract with God

   The eighth chapter of Moroni in the Book of Mormon is an insertion of a letter that, the titular Mormon, wrote to his, titular son Moroni, railing against the baptism of infants. New World (i.e. Mesoamerican/Nephite) Christianity seems to have been going through a lot of the same questions as Christianity in the Old World at the time, interestingly, and I wonder how we'd have this doctrine if it weren't for Mormon's complaints against the practice. He lays it out pretty simply, and logically, but there's no logic he used specific to Mormonism whereby he draws his conclusions, just being commanded by God to speak so boldly (Moroni 8:21.)

   Last I checked, on TV Tropes's page for the Book of Mormon, book, in regard to Moroni 8 says, "Some Anvils Need to be Dropped," and, it's hard to disagree with that tropic assessment. (Dropping an anvil on one's head = metaphor for hammering the moral of the story into one's face. Usually just corny or obnoxious, but, well, some anvils...) If they went the wrong way in the Old World, and started twitching in that direction in the New, then we very well in the Latter Days may have needed some clearing up on that, actually, if it weren't for this epistle...

   James 2:26, Faith without works is dead, which is one that Mormons love to pull out to justify why we love works so goshdarn much, but works can also be dead-- that's the language that Mormon uses in verse 23-- it's "...mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works." Baptism is a covenant, a contract with God, and it requires... the ability to make contracts. Cognizance. Even if not 100% of everything that's going to be required, at least a realization that something's going to be required for salvation and blessings to flow. We renew our contract through weekly communal sacrament (communal means related to the communion, right? pretty sure?) and in so doing, we're supposed to remember the covenant made.

   (It's, Putting It All Together #3 time in my Book of Mormon class, and I'm kind of glad, because not only can I talk about this topic I didn't realize that I've got so much to say about, also I don't have to think of anything else to write about today. Zootopia. I'd be writing about, Zootopia.)

   I didn't even mean to talk so much specifically about Moroni 8, just, I noticed this while studying, but the timeline and process of Old World and New World Christianity, how they were both experiencing some of the exact same schism, um, ing. But baptism has always been kind of fascinating to me, like how as a covenant this thing, going under the water and coming back out, it's absolutely necessary in order to make it through the Gate. That's the gate of Paradise, of course, but to expand that idea, the whole process, the whole path, baptism is the gate: 2 Nephi 31:17-18:

"Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.  

"And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive." 

   Whoa. Baptism, is, the gate, and it isn't baptism itself that cleanses from sin, but the Holy Ghost. Baptism is the gate, but, Acts 19:1-5, it needs to be under the proper authority. Robert D Hales, in the October 2000 General Conference, delivered an address about baptism being a covenant that separates us from the world, while giving us added responsibility toward the world. "Jesus taught, 'My kingdom is not of this world' (John 18:36). These words led me to ponder more concerning His kingdom. I concluded that when we are baptized by immersion by one with the proper priesthood authority and choose to follow our Savior, we then are in His kingdom and of His kingdom... At baptism we make a covenant with our Heavenly Father that we are willing to come into His kingdom and keep His commandments from that time forward, even though we still live in the world." (Find full address here; it has a lot more specifically about responsibilities and recognizing the importance of the covenant.)

   This is what I find so fascinating about the topic, how the knowledge of the proper promises and mode of baptism fundamentally changes our Church organization and lifestyle, building it around this-- baptism needs proper authority, right, and so it's not enough just to believe and be baptised you have to be baptised right, by the right authority, and so there's a fundamental need of the Church to spread out as wide as possible and bring conversion, not because we think our church is more fun or because we need converts for their money or anything, even if you're already a Christian you need the right baptism, and it spirals out from there, and it's the reason why we do family history work, and just so much is connected to this one idea, of "one Lord one faith one baptism" as in Ephesians 4:5. Like I said, kind of fascinating?

   (A cool thing about this particular Putting It All Together assignment is that we can choose to do it on any of the lessons we've discussed in class hereto, instead of having to do it on a lesson learned between this and the last PIATs. And so I chose this topic.)

   Most of Lesson 9, The Doctrine of Christ: Baptism and the Sacrament, revolved around that second thing, the sacrament, the renewal of the covenant. Which covenant is the taking upon oneself the name of Christ, so the sacrament is a sort of, re-Christianization. That... could be, a topic for another day?

The World Is Very Strange, and Wonderful, and I Weigh the Same as Seven Apples

   Apparently, if you Google too many suspicious phrases in a row, then Google thinks that you might be a robot, and asks you to read a CAPTCHA for it. I guess it makes sense, but it's kind of condescending, if you're the type to, Google a lot of suspicious phrases in a row...

   GOOGLE: "I weigh as much as a carrot?" You serious you want to Google that, bro? Here, spell the word, "spoldene." You know, just to be sure.
   ME: Okay.

The astute reader may note that the CAPTCHA above is not in fact "spoldene," which means that this thing happened to me more than once. Wee.

   I'm as tall as a carrot, that's it. No wonder I didn't get any (pertinent) hits. Of course I got hits unrelated to what I was searching for... There sure are a lot of really really specific websites out there... The World Carrot Museum; they're also on Twitter. That's actually kind of good to know...

   Ahem.

   Meanwhile, seriously who the heck weighs as much as seven apples? It just boggles the imagination... (Couldn't get any hits for that, either, though I swear I've heard that out there somewhere... well, it'll get a hit now, at least.)

Memento, My Brain and Zootopia: I am Making None of This Up

   You know Leonard Shelby, Guy Pearce's character in Christopher Nolan's Memento? I think that, it must be that, I've got what he's got-- not with, actual physical memories, but with emotions. Emotional memories. Which is kind of great walking down the street, and suddenly realizing, hey! I'm walking down the street, where am I, how did these buildings get here, golly what an interesting place. It makes it tough to get bored. Is a positive. I guess.

   Anterograde, amnesia, that's the term. I was thinking, anteretrograde amnesia, which, in case you didn't notice, makes absolutely no sense. Anterograde. Loss of memory from after a specific trauma or event... so, no, it's not that, just the idea of, being caught up in a foot chase and realizing, oh, hey, I'm in a foot chase! I must chasing this guy... no, wait, he's chasing me... How, even though I'd be able to remember the start of the chase and the context that surrounds it, that's still totally something that I would do.

   Looking into amnesia now, maaaan even if this emotional whatever were a thing, there'd be no way of proving it. I'm not even sure what effect a diagnosis would have... it's not like it's a, disfunction or anything... It's about the romantic notion of the thing, more than any specific science. The pop culture, of the thing. The foot chase, how it could happen to me.

   So even now, when I look at, Zootopia, I go through this sort of miniature process, Zootopia what's one of those, oh that, yeah that's coming out, no wait it's already out, no wait it's already out and I've seen it. The first steps of realization all within maybe .5 seconds, with a good one or two seconds for that last one to sink in. Sink in, but never, feel, real.

   Occasionally there's a, wait a minute, Zootopia, something's funny about that, oh I know what it must be, didn't you mean Zootropolis?

   Yep. Looking at that word, right now, "zootopia," it just feels kind of foreign. Like some, alien, thing, which I've got no idea what it is. But, turns out it's this thing Disney's doing, about this fox con artist and this bunny rookie cop, and they're all like, "hey there's this mystery we've got to team up to solve," and, then, and then, well now, wait a minute, animals can't talk! What the &#@!, Disney!? You trying to pull a fast one on m--... oh. Never mind. Proceed.

   I, guess it's better than my heart giving out from the sheer excitement that, this is a thing that I'm not making up at all. I am very excited for it, and I sincerely look forward to seeing-- no, wait... I already have... isn't that interesting...

   Yes. Whatever it is that I've got, I've definitely got it.

   Also, while we're on the topic I seriously think that I have bouts of selective mutism. And random mild anxiety attacks. But the attacks are, whatevs, and, even with something more crippling like the mutism, I really question what a formal diagnosis is going to be able to do...

Zootopia Fridge Logic: Spoilers, Man

   We put our hopes and dreams into your hands, Walt, and you didn't let us down. We looked forward to it, and it's here, and though usually when that happens we are suddenly rendered purposeless, not so here: we still have something to look forward to, in, seeing it again I guess. Which I do do. (No Art 125 class Wednesday night, so I can totally catch the, man just whichever, viewing in there before CBW at 7:00, even if my Monday and Tuesday nights are crammed of mondo homework.)

   It sucks how good this movie is. How fresh is it as a tomato, 99, 100%? Going in to see Force Awakens, I didn't let myself get swept away until about 2/3rds of the way through it. Going into see Zootopia... I don't even remember having concerns, whether the film would be of quality, it assuaged any potential fears so quickly. I would've loved to go in and admire all the animation, and the rendering, and the background detail, but even throughout however-many-viewings I got swept up by the plot too easily, all of those elements focusing to serve the story.

   It, just, suuucks, how good this movie is. "Oh, it must be so horrible for you, bro," and, quick before it gets old!, is it horrible for me? Well... No, no it is not.

   It... that's actually pretty funny, if you've seen it, yet.

OH JUST GO SEE THE MOVIE ALREADY (SPOILERS START HERE.)
   Alright, so. I promised you some spoilers. And some, potentially film-enjoyment-destroying fridge logic. Don't worry, I work it all out by the end; let's dive into it.

   As I was, none-too-vaguely explaining yesterday, the wolves were with the mayor, covering up the savage predators in an attempt to avoid the precise problem that pops up later on when the lid is blown off the cover-up. Wolves wouldn't be a part of a conspiracy stacked against predators; it was the rams who were going around night-howler-ing people, working under... the other, mayor.

   "Howls" are still a thing, which is totally morally acceptable, though sociologically stereotypical. How much of "being true to yourself" is too much, an excellent theme, though not really explored all that much here... though it is in a sense throughlined directly into the main theme as part of Nick's tragic, preprogrammed backstory-- if people are only going to see what they want, why act any different, easily leads to, if you're acting the way people expect you to, they've got a reason to expect that behavior of you. Being a predator certainly ties into that, but I'm not sure if, predatory behavior qualifies as, "being true to yourself," if you've never eaten a fellow sophont before?

   So, the wolves make sense. The scene at Cliffside Asylum is, copacetic logically. The circumstances surrounding the scene, though, the stuff they don't show... the writers, of the eight people credited as having a hand here, at least one of them had to have noticed this, so it's not like these questions don't have answers. Have your plot offscreen, if something's illogical, it's not like folks'll notice, right?

   These are the hinky bits:

• Why don't Judy and Nick get backup in heading into Cliffside Asylum in the first place? Would Bogo really let them do that? Or do they just not tell anyone yet?
• They had videographic evidence of what happened to Manchas; was getting the Assistant Mayor to show it to them somehow inadmissible?
•  Let's say yes... but you don't need a search warrant if you have permission to search something. 
• I could do a whole bit about search warrants and their applications in the film and in real life, but, I don't know the legal system of the city of Zootopia or whatever-the-heck greater governing body; it's probably all 100% sanitary.
• How do Nick and Judy get up to the asylum in the first place? Whatever it was, if they parked they'd need to do so somewhere where their vehicle wouldn't be found. As it is, in the film, they just sort of offscreen teleport, one scene they're looking at the video of the place and the next they're there. What was their ride up there? They leave the place with Bogo I'm pretty sure (Judy reading Lionheart his rights on-scene meaning, she's going to start questioning him on the ride back?) so...
•  Did they walk all the way? 
• Take some obscure gondola that doesn't show up on the traffic cameras? 
• Did they take the meter maid cart? Probably, but that's just, a really inefficient mode of transportation.
• Did they get a ride up in Finnick's van? 
• (Sidenote: Finnick is never namedropped in the movie; maybe his name is a pun off of Nick's.)
• Why are the mayor and Dr Badger (the, doctor who's a badger,) why were they still there when the police arrive, after Judy calls in all the missing mammals?
• The ZPD didn't really arrive to the asylum that quickly, did they?
• The mayor and Dr Badger the badger doctor skedaddled right after discovering they weren't alone; did they maybe, hunker down somewhere? Was their skedaddle to a hunker?

   Or, going through all the possibilities I realize, alright, this would tie up everything, and is very probably it: they do tell Bogo they're heading up to Cliffside Asylum, with or without sharing their reasons why, without some more high-profile ZPD member(s) going up in their stead because they're working their own cases, and Nick and Judy are the only ones who know of any "night howlers" or any conspiracy at all, so nobody knows how big the case is, but the department still know where they're headed. So the whole thing's copacetic.

   It explains how the ZPD arrive on scene so quickly, because they know exactly where to go, and apparently the precinct office is a pretty short drive to the Rainforest District (as we saw with the arrival time after the scene with Mr Manchas.) The ride that Nick and Judy took up, I don't know, I guess I'm just going to have to pay more attention to the departure scene, but, yeah dude it just might have been the joke-mobile. Or maybe they got a real cop car; that'd be cool-- I don't think we see the joke-mobile past... shoot, I think we see it last outside of the Tundratown Limo-Service place.

   Let's see... they're there, and then the deal with Mr Big, and then... they just sort of, walk up to Manchas's door, more offscreen teleportation, I guess. They take the gondola away from there, so... yeah, dude, the joke-mobile's still totally back outside the limo place.

   So, alright. From now on!: "Fridge Logic" means logic that somehow deals with forgetting that you parked all the way back in Tundratown.