the trailers for the new Minion movie states that minions will flock to the biggest baddest villain available and this has made me very uncomfortable to think about in the context of world history

there is no way to deny within canon that minions took part in crucifying Jesus Christ

yeah it’s a beautiful day but where is zevran

Artists shitting on themselves for having fun with their art, for drawing fanart, for being self indulgent, infusing everything they ever do with this air of apology, as if they are constantly apologising for their own work unless it reaches their own arbitrary standard of “Real” Art is so incredibly damaging. It’s just ‘I hate myself and my art’ dressed up in a way that isn’t clearly identifiable at, packaged neatly as an attitude we should aspire for.

I am a big advocate for positivity, encouragement, and confidence when it comes to making art; I think you should love doing art, that you should infuse everything you do with a sense of joy, honesty, and the desire to connect with others. I am especially passionate about inspiring and fostering these things in young artists. I like taking in advice from all kinds of sources in order to inform my attitudes towards my own art & the culture that my art exists in - including unlikely sources like my favourite bands.

Fall Out Boy are incredibly unapologetic about their music. They don’t take themselves so seriously (but take their work seriously), they speak positively about their peers & their influences. Patrick Stump has said a lot of things I would categorise as ‘the best thing’ but probably one of the best is his stance on ‘guilty pleasures‘:

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. If you like it, like it. I think guilt implies fear of reproach from elitists and that’s just silly to me. Don’t you agree? (x)

Yes, I agree. I think the art community is just driven by this fear of reproach, which manifests as this coy “self-aware” self-loathing for the things we love. 

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie talks about owning guilty pleasures. The self-awareness and humility he has about his band/music is just so endearing and earnest and funny. My favourite part is:

You know, I think a lot of times … given the music that we play and the kind of the culture we’ve come up in, people assume we don’t a) have a sense of humour about ourselves or anything else which is absolutely not true and b) that we are going to shun certain things because we don’t think they’re cool to like. 

I’ve always had a lingering self-consciousness when it comes to my own art, that I have always had to categorise it as a guilty pleasure, that everything that inspires my own art and what I find appealing is just a guilty pleasure. I have always felt like I have had to justify or defend my art in some way, and as the years have gone on I’ve just given up, regulating my own art as the butt of somebody else’s joke, I suppose. Some years ago (but not that long ago), I had the unpleasant experience of being made to feel so small & insignificant by artists who obviously placed value only in the narrow scope of their own craft and their own meaning of what it is to be a meaningful, influential artist and to make meaningful, influential art, of which clearly I did not fit in. 

But I’m really sick of this culture, and it was a delight to know that two large, successful bands basically told me that guilty pleasures don’t exist and there is value in almost everything. I find a lot of artists seem to think certain styles/subject matter are not ‘real’ or ‘serious’ enough to be taken legitimately or with any merit and it is such a damaging attitude to have. Like … do you ever have fun, ever? Is it a lot of fun shitting on yourself and your peers for things you enjoy but just don’t find highbrow enough for your tastes or your ~brand~? Perhaps my art is not meaningful, but at least I don’t have this undercurrent of self loathing because of the things I like, or this desperation to maintain a highbrow persona.

I feel like CONNECTING with other people as an artist is more important than maintaining some kind of elfin otherworldly persona where nobody can imagine you laughing or breaking out of a monotone. I just think this kind of persona perpetuates a lot of self-hate in peers/other artists, that it contributes to this constant masking of enjoyment, this constant self-consciousness and shame.

It’s kind of miserable seeing people apologise for what they’re passionate about, especially things that inspire them or inform their art and I wish this kind of attitude wasn’t so widespread. It isn’t healthy, it doesn’t foster a sense of depth in your work - it is just sad & heartbreaking. 

Morrigan: It’s an Eluvian. The ancient elves used it to-

Lavellan: