Wow, it's been a while since I wrote! Right now we're at that point in the school year where work is piling up faster than I can finish it - not a good feeling ＞﹏＜
Hopefully spilling my thoughts into the world will make me feel better. Right now pole dance, art, video games and vtubers are all that's keeping me going. I mean, at least I have hobbies, right?
Recently, instead of watching a widely-known anime that's been on my watch list for years like Cowboy Bebop or something, I decided to watch Natsume's Book of Friends. I've torn through the first season already and am currently going through the second. I've realised that although taking notice of popular shows is important (they're usually at least good and almost always have cultural impact), sometimes it's good to watch something that's lesser known but closer to what you'd like.
I mean, I say that but I basically never watch slice of life anime! Somehow this has become the exception. The main character is in mortal danger most episodes so it's ok 👍. I'm keeping up with Chainsaw Man and Spy x Family as well. There seem to be some other little gems this season but I haven't been paying attention. Sometimes you have to give love to older anime too! I'm also planning on watching all the movies referenced in the Chainsaw Man opening.
I want to get better with horror, so I've tried playing Resident Evil 4. It was a lot funnier than I was expecting, and I find the main character so cute. I don't think it's trying to be particularly scary, so I'll have to step it up for my next game once I finish it. I'm stuck on a boss fight right now though, so it'll have to wait for after I can be bothered to look up a guide.
The HoloTempus boys still have a stranglehold on me. When will this end... I think someday I'd love to do a genderbend Altare pole dance cosplay. I'm the perfect height for it and everything! I just have to, yknow, learn how to cosplay first.
Also... I wonder if this is at all interesting, but I've been having a lot of thoughts on AI art recently. I guess I'm in a unique position of someone who loves drawing and making art, but also someone who is studying AI at school. I understand the feeling of artists who feel threatened by it, but I see it as more of a tool or something to make shitposts with, or just something interesting to play around with. I don't think talking about whether it's "real art" is really helpful, since you're going to find real art in there somewhere eventually. I mostly think about the artists whose work is being used in these databases that the models are being trained on. I don't really mind if my work is in there since I never get that attached to it, but you should always have the option to opt out, right? I'm sure many artists don't even know that their work is being used for training. In that case, isn't it always wrong to use these models for commercial purposes, or to claim you made it yourself? If you want the style of a particular artist, you could just commission them, surely... Or maybe artists could make their own models based off their own art, and let people pay for the privilege of using them. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em...?
Anyway, please don't take any of these thoughts too seriously! I very much consider myself an amateur in both art and AI. Bye bye for now!