This is going to be an art/anime-related rant post. Don't worry; I'm not attacking anyone.
Reasons why I'm frustrated:
1. I may have bought the fabric for my vest, but I don't know what to do now. Apparently, I need a pattern. I don't know how to choose the right one. Guess another trip to the fabric store is in order. I just hope I don't make a fool of myself. Or have to buy lessons on how to execute the pattern. 'Cause money's tight.
2. The pressure sensitivity isn't working on my Bamboo tablet. I just contacted Wacom for help about that, but in the mean time, I CAN'T DRAW THE STUFF I JUST STARTED. I was going to make some surprise gifts for people. And do livestreams. My complimentary premium thing on Join Me is gonna run out, and I wanted to take advantage of it. *Cries.*
3. Although I finished drawing 28 characters from three series for the Sketch Marathon, I don't know what series to go through next. Also, I was going to make the cover page digitally, but I can't (see #2 above).
4. Not only has the anime adaption of The Seven Deadly Sins concluded without my watching a singe episode, THERE HASN'T BEEN AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF IT BEING LICENSED. Don't tell me the US companies have been competing for it for half a year. And if Netflix really DID get it, why haven't they said anything? (Note: If you've seen Knights of Sidonia, how long did it take for Netflix to say, "Ha-ha we've got exclusive rights." I know Netflix likes to sit on series until they finish and then post them, but was the announcement made prior to that?)
5. I can't log in to Hulu. This has been going on for a while now. A few days ago, I contacted Hulu for help. They replied instantly saying, "We can't locate your Hulu Plus account." Well, that's because I DON'T HAVE ONE. It's just a regular account. I told them that (without caps lock abuse), and I haven't heard back since. Thanks a bunch, Hulu. Now I can't watch series for "mature audiences" because without my account, I have no "proof" that I'm an adult. (Just for the record, I'm not That Guy. I'm not into X-rated material, but I will watch the occasional not-meant-for-kids thing. And by Hulu's standards, stuff like Attack on Titan is for "mature audiences".) Edit: I actually fixed this one on my own, just now. I reset my password and everything worked fine.
OK, now I feel a little better after having gotten that off my chest. Just needed to vent a bit.
I have eight black wristbands that I use for my cosplay. Or rather, I HAD eight black wristbands. Somehow I lost one.
I have no idea when. It could be hiding in my apartment. It could be at one of two offices that I went to yesterday. It could be at a huge shopping mall nearly that's nearly a two-hour drive away from me.
And how did it come off? I didn't feel it come off. I would have felt it if it broke and it's not wide enough to just fall off my wrist. Maybe it got pushed off when I took off my coat.
I called all the places where it could have been. I got no affirmative answers. And now I'm all bummed because if it's gone for good, I'd have to order another one off of eBay, and the place where I ordered them from is currently out. So now I can't do my extremely subtle cosplay.
All this fretting over a possession... I really am Greed.
I'm kind of irritated for a few reasons which I shall list below. Don't worry; they're all otaku-related, making things a bit more interesting.
Reason One
I have artist's block AND writer's block. Yesterday, I came on theO to find FUNi's amazing art of my OCs. It filled me up with so much creative energy that I wanted to do something productive right then and there. But I couldn't. I had to go to work.
After a messed up day at my new job, I came home drained. I haven't wanted to create anything since. Not fan art. Not original art. Not those requests that I owe people. Not my stories. Not even that long overdue ACen thing that I sated a month ago.
I have a tiny backlog of drawings, but they're kind of spoilerific for one of the stories I'm writing. Not sure if I wanna post those.
Speaking of my stories, I'm really out of practice writing them. I've even reached a dead end in Survival Instincts, and with my beta maybe-resigning, I don't know if I'll ever get anywhere with it. I have a clearer vision for my other stories, but I don't feel like writing either of them.
I'm forcing myself to work on the Challenge prizes. I don't believe that my art is at its best when it's forced, but I'm trying to do it anyway.
Reason Two
ART THIEVES ARE TAKING OVER THEO! I'd rant on and on about how bad of an effect this is having on theO's community, but you probably know all the reasons why art theft is bad already.
Reason Three
I wrote a long post about the fairly new (at least to the US) manga, The Seven Deadly Sins a few weeks ago. In the last paragraph I mentioned my excitement for the anime premiere.
Well, I waited for Crunchyroll to pick it up. And I waited. And waited. And on the date of the premiere, I was still waiting. Heck, the second episode aired earlier today and I'm STILL waiting for a simulcast.
Rumor has it that Netflix snapped up the series. Too bad for me because (a) Netflix ain't free and (b) Netflix ain't simulcastin'. Then again, this isn't a solid fact (though people are treating it as such). But if it IS true, then I won't be able to see the series until after it's aired in its entirety.
I am stressing over this WAAAAAAAY too much, but knowing that I'm making a big deal over an anime isn't helping me any.
Reason Four
I have to watch, like, 60 episodes of anime this week. While that in and of itself isn't a bad thing, I don't know when I'm going to find the time.
I checked four DVDs out of the library, and I got a notice that one of them had come in. I wasn't able to get to the library until a few days later, and when I picked up the DVD, I saw that two more had come in just then. I kind of hoped that I wouldn't have to check all three out at the same time, but that's exactly what happened. I'll have them for two weeks, but week one is almost over. I don't know if I can renew any of them.
Well, I know what I'll be doing on my day off tomorrow.
...art thieves get promoted. Seriously.
Without naming names, I was going to make a comment about that in the October Promotions announcement, but that would just cause an uproar and I'd probably get banned. How ironic. I'd be banned instead of a shameless thief.
I know this person is a thief. I've reported them with proof. Did they get banned? No. Did the stolen artwork get taken down? No. And it's been, like, a month or two since I reported them.
I know theO is lacking in the activity department nowadays, but that doesn't mean the higher ups should be so passive. I know of at least three thieves at large here. Yeah, three is a small number, but it's still three too many. Admins, please nip this in the bud before art theft becomes out of control.
Let me tell you a horror story summed up in one word: tokyopop.com (which I shall refer to as TP). For those of you who aren't familiar with the manga publishing company that doesn't actually publish manga anymore, they had a site that was trying to be a DeviantART/MySpace hybrid (do you guys even remember MySpace?). Instead of being a fun place for aspiring manga artists and fans of Japanese culture, it became a bug-littered haven for art theft and porn.
There were no regulations. If you found 258 identical instances of official "Naruto" artwork posted by 258 different people claiming it as their own (or not their own), none of them would be taken down unless the original artist contacted TP personally. You can see how impossible that situation would be. Flagging the stolen artwork would be a lost cause.
Flagging was solely reserved for notifying the powers that be about inappropriate content. The system was highly inefficient, and items had to be flagged multiple times before the TP staff would do anything about it. Eventually a team of users, (no, not administrators, users) created a list of posted porn that needed to be flagged as adult content. Eventually, the task became so overwhelming that the leader of this group publicly announced her retirement from both group and site.
Then there was banning. If you were an art thief, you were practically immune to banning, despite your warped morals ("I didn't draw this. All credit goes to whoever did."). If you were a porn troll, you wouldn't be banned unless it was live human porn, as opposed to anime porn. The anime porn would only be hidden as "adult content". If you were a bully, you wouldn't be banned. You'd be *given a cookie* for your insightful comments. However, if you were to publicly criticize the TP staff for their apathy in the hopes that after your 73rd blog post about how the site isn't working, they'd finally change their ways, you'd get banned. You'd be a martyr, but banned nonetheless.
I've seen it happen. I saw it with my own eyes. You probably wouldn't believe me, though. After all, TP shut down all user-related content to their site some years back, so you'll have to take my word for it.
I came to theO with the belief that it would never be like TP. While this has mostly held true, I fear the day when art theft becomes out-of-control. Art thieves want praise and attention for doing as little as possible. It's appalling that even the administrators are giving it to them.
I'm not bullying or exposing any specific thieves publicly. Heck, I'm not even doing it privately. It's just that the higher-ups aren't enforcing discipline on them when they should. How many more times must I quietly report the same three art thieves over and over (with proof, of course) before they and their stolen art are removed from an otherwise decent, friendly site?
I don't want to be banned for speaking out. I'd rather be a proud Otakuite than a martyr. But what will it take for the higher-ups to notice that we have a genuine problem?
Thank you for reading. If you have some position of power in theO and have taken the time to read this, thank you twice over. Believe me, I would love to talk to you about making theotaku.com a better place.
