What Originally Got You Into Music?

What originally got you into music?

I can thank my parents for that! My parents are major Deadheads, and when I was a kid, they were vendors, selling an original video game they had created called The Psychedelic Bus of Dead Knowledge. It was basically Jeopardy, but entirely consisting of Grateful Dead-related trivia. Because of this, I got to see over 70 music festivals by the time I was five years old.

I also have to thank them for feeding my desire to start playing music. At three years old, I begged my parents for piano lessons. I don’t think they actually believed that I would stick with it (especially since it’s usually the parents who make their kids take music lessons, join sports teams and the like), but they humored me and I started learning piano. Needless to say, I stuck with it and have since learned multiple other instruments, including guitar, bass, and harmonica, and have written several of my own songs!

(While we’re on the subject, I do really want to start recording some of my own music again soon, believe me. I’ve learned better recording and mixing techniques, so this will probably help with that.)

Tried my hand at writing satire. :D

I’m very sorry to hear that. At least you have us and your illusions to keep you company while you’re in there. I imagine it gives you time to think about your place in the universe

I've always been curious, when you're coined, can you speak to people in other coins? (e.g. can you speak to Rayla's parents?) I sure hope so, it must get lonely in there otherwise.

Let’s say that I can, because it’s a far happier illusion that way.

But these coins weren’t meant to encourage chatting. They were meant to preserve their contents for later use. Unfortunately, Viren yeeted me in here without a calendar or a deadline, so I have no idea how long I’ll be here.

It’s a good thing I’m used to meditation. I have plenty of happy illusions I can distract myself with, for as long as I need to. Moonshadows don’t break easily.

Are you looking forward to the new live action ATLA show?

Honestly… not really? Like, as much as I want to be excited that we’re getting new Avatar stuff, I’m not feeling very good about the quality of the new show.

On the one hand, it is good that Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino are back to work on the new show. On the other hand, they also worked on The Legend of Korra and the Avatar comics, neither of which I was a fan of. And the fact that this new show is going to be without the help of series director and head writer Aaron Ehasz, who came up with some of the show’s best ideas, also concerns me.

On the one hand, it’s great that they announced that they would be giving the new live-action adaptation a racially accurate cast of POC actors, as one thing that was criticized in M. Night Shyamalan’s much maligned adaptation was the whitewashing of many of the characters. On the other hand, let’s not forget that Shyamalan’s movie was inherently flawed. I mean, we aren’t seriously going to pretend that the earthbender prison scene would have been any better with a racially accurate cast, are we? No, there are more aspects of making a good show, like the quality of the writing.

And… okay, let’s be honest: How many times has there been a live-action adaptation of a popular animated property that was actually good? The only ones I can think of are Scooby-Doo (2002) and its sequel, Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed (2004). And even those have very mixed reception.

Moreover, rebooting it just feels unnecessary. What I’d prefer Bryke do at this point is abandon Avatar and work on some new projects. Stop beating a dead horse. Come up with new ideas, new characters, a new world. That’s what Aaron Ehasz has done with The Dragon Prince.

So I’m trying not to be too pessimistic about the new show, but I’m still not looking forward to it, no.

I don’t blame ya. They are adorable together.

Just don’t mess with their guard dog, though.

I see you were shipping Callum and Rayla before they even kissed. (Looking at you, sleeping bag scene!) Sooooo... how could you tell? XD

Oooh, that’s a good question! See, it’s not quite that I could tell. At least, not in the beginning. I just didn’t want to assume that they were or weren’t, y’know? So, I didn’t know, which is why things got a little awkward with the sleeping bags. In my defense, I gave them options! But…*glances over my shoulder quickly, smirking* between us, I do think they’re cute.

Happy (late) Halloween to all my followers! I wanted to draw something for the occasion, so here’s a picture of my characters dressed up in costume: Al is a skeleton, Sabrina is a mummy, and Reilly is Toph Beifong. (Is it too on-the-nose to draw the blind girl dressed as Toph? Eh, IDK.)

Apologies for not having this finished on time, BTW; my art tablet started crapping out on me as I was working on this. I hope it’s not dying. (This is also why I went with this more minimalist coloring style instead of my usual shading/coloring.)

I hope you enjoy it regardless!

Characters and art © me

And don’t forget to support me on Patreon!