I fully intended to update this sooner, but February, as it turns out, was a busy, busy month! A lot happened, and I’m going to be hard-pressed to remember it all, so I’m giving myself license to come back and edit this post if more memories surface. I suppose this is all the more reason why I should be updating my journal on a slightly more regular basis, hm? Possibly. Probably. Yes, most likely.
The first big event was Iron Lung.
First, a link the above art, by @sokodraws on Bluesky.
Now, with that done:
I have not had a reaction to a movie in that way in a very, very, very long time, if ever, I’ve gotta say. I knew it was going to be fun, because hell, I’ve loved Markiplier and his various shenanigans for well over a decade now. I stood in line for three hours to meet the man once. I was going to see this movie. I was going to like this movie, even if just on principal, even if it was just because I got to point at the screen and say to myself “I know that dork. I have empirical evidence that he’s a very good dude, he’s come a hell of a long way from being the unknown baby Youtuber who annoyed me least while playing SCP Containment Breach back in the day, and now he’s on the big, silver screen, which is very, very cool just in and of itself.”
But no! No, it was a lot more than that. He made a weird little horror flick that got its little claws into every crevice of my brain, somehow. After the first time we watched it – which we did as a goofy, overblown overnight trip to Surrey to see just because it had been the first nearby Canadian theatre we had as an option and I did not want to miss my chance – I got downright irritated by the reviews that called it boring. Boring? Boring?! It was TENSE. It was INTERESTING. It had LAYERS and NUANCE. It was like a puzzle game made into a two hour film and the things I missed the first time were going to keep me up at night.
I kept thinking, through my irritation, about screenwriting class all those years ago, and the advice that made me want to melt into the floor because it was so true and yet so despicable: that with film and television, you have to beat the audience over the head with a 2 x 4. No subtlety. No vagueness. The villain must kick a puppy so you know he’s the villain. It has to be writ plain and writ large. That’s what the reviewers (those who weren’t just bad faith shitting on the little guy because little guy) were expecting, and that’s what confused the living hell out of them when they didn’t get. Bold and obvious is what big, successful movies do, because audiences could be either dumb or smart, the net must be cast widely, and big studios are scared of shareholders and risk.
But someone like Mark, who’s not in it for the money (he is, after all, a man who owns FIIIIIVE ovens*), but rather in it for the love of the game – he doesn’t have to follow those rules. Because he just wanted to Make A Thing and he could use his own money and his own influence, he didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to write what he wrote, craft what he crafted, and to get bodily thrown around and dunked in so much fake blood that he put himself in the hospital. He didn’t have to care what anyone thought or expected. And so this is where we get broken conventions and a weird little movie that I went back three goddamn times to see because every time I’d walk out and think “Fuck, I missed something. I want to rewind that again.”
I’m in love with it. I hope we get more brave little bizarre movies like it. I hope we scare audiences into wondering if they actually need to bring their thinky brain and their observational skills to a movie if they want to keep up. I feel like I witnessed something really, really cool, and I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.
I will get it on blu-ray when that becomes a thing. Guaranteed.
* Someone in the Surrey theatre quoted that particular memorable phrase and I knew instantly that I was among my kind
Tsukino-con also happened!
It was actually pretty short – just a one day affair for me – but with three trips to the movie theatre and Tim having a Viktor Arcane costume and one-man rock-opera* to perfect in between, it felt like a bit of a chaotic sprint. I didn’t wear a costume, I only went for a couple of hours, but it still somehow left me crispy-fried and that was most likely because my guy burned out my batteries just by being so goddamn energetic on stage at the lip sync competition. He required an INTERMISSION before he started just for set up. There were SEVEN PROPS. There was an ACTION ROLL. He tied as a finalist and flirted with me during the tie-breaker. He won second place! Everyone agreed it was so close that that doesn’t even matter!
And then I spent too much money in the dealer’s hall.
* There’s a video of the lip sync as well, but it’s unlisted on Tim’s channel. Y’gotta ask me on my cell phone for the link and if you don’t have my number then nuts to you.
VancouFur
Too many freakin’ conventions! They should space these suckers out!
Legitimately, if there were one more week between Tsukino-con and VancouFur, it would probably be ideal. I definitely felt the stress of getting ready to leave home for a few days, and even though VancouFur was busy, I don’t have a ton to say about it? I was broke going into it, even more broke coming out of it. Some of the usual events were fun – Dance Competition, Floor Wars, and the Fursuit Parade, mostly. There was a traditional lion dance at the dance competition, and that was very cool.
But I’ll admit, it was only kind of an okay time, at least on my end. Tim was kind of the focus because he was both volunteering as media and participating in the dance competition (which I do not yet have a video of; he does, but he hasn’t put it up anywhere as of yet) and I got swept along to help him out with both the preliminaries and the competition itself. I’m not sure I’d do that again? I don’t handle stress well and it was a lot of (artificial, self-imposed) stress that took away some of my enjoyment.
He did great, as usual. Didn’t win, but he had fun, got to connect with friends he’s made. All that. Because I was helping him, I was also part of that, but not necessarily in a way I like. I hate to be complaining, but then again, this is my journal, full of my thoughts. And my thoughts are that I have got to shake the label I’ve acquired as “Tim’s wife”. Just… TimsWife. Noooo, no, no. I don’t like that, I’ve learned. I am my own person with a name and I do stuff too, damnnit, but… it’s tough to figure out how to make that recognition happen when all my hobbies are so impersonal compared to Tim’s theatrics. I don’t care much in the cosplay scene. He can dominate that all he likes. Furries, though? I was a furry before he was alive. I had a webcomic for ten years. I feel like I’ve got a stake there. I feel like I should stand on some of my own merits, at least. But it’s tough. I’m not good at standing out. I do not want to be just his shadow here, though.
I didn’t get to wear Bently for more than a couple of hours on one day, and I really wanted to wear him more, but we got some good photos while the opportunity presented itself.
Tim did agree that maybe he took on too much this time. He said that in 2027 he might skip competing in the dance and try for it at Howloween instead, just so that he and I can have more time together and I don’t get left out as much. Jaye found art panels that I missed, and I’d love to try some of those next time. It might help. And in the meanwhile, I did have fun. But as I’ve just gotten back and I keep shying away from talking about it, I realize I just had a lot I wanted to do that didn’t fit and that it was kind of a bummer. Next time.
Creative Shenanigans
There are some of these as well from the last month! I got a little doodad called a BYOK that I’ve been loving very much as a daily driver writing tool. It reminds me very much of my old Handspring and it’s been spectacular at getting really quick sketches of scenes down that I can clean up later on a big screen. It’s my writing sketchbook, basically, and while it’s not perfect, it’s also a new indie-tech design so over time and with further firmware updates, I’m fully expecting that it’ll become a little pocket powerhouse of a gizmo.
I also did start drawing again. There was a bit of an idle plan at one point in regards to challenging myself this year with various art subjects that I don’t usually do, but I feel like trying to write is a big enough challenge for 2026 so I’ve just gone back to character art and whatever whims I feel like, I have some WIPs I can show for now. One or two might have been posted as earlier iterations (Orvin & Elliot I think?), a couple are practically finished, and the first portrait of Chana is done. I’m just not posting it to social media until I feel like it. Those of you who check my website get a treat.
There’s also Heinrich as a furry and he’s nude, so avert thine eyes if you’re not okay with a large, skinny, naked fuzzy dude. I went and got inspired by the con and now I’ve got fur markings to map out.
Finally, I leave you with music that I’ve been listening to a lot in the last week or so. Iron & Wine came out with a new album that feels so old that it transported me back to the backseat of a car in the early 90’s, and I am kind of marvelling at this band’s power. I especially enjoyed this song: Robin’s Egg.
For you!