Simply Gorgeous: 'Cage' (2022)

Every now and then I trawl Youtube for animated shorts, and I've liked quite a few already. It's been a while since my last foray, and this was serendipity more than anything, most likely recommended to me because I've been checking out videos on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (which I absolutely adore, btw, and can't wait for the final installment of the trilogy to come out).

There's a lot to be said about animated shorts in that so much can be conveyed with nothing more than images and music in a handful of minutes. No dialogue needed. And this one caught my eye and my heart, and I can't say enough good things about it.

The cleanness and simplicity of the art style works perfectly with the complexity of the subject: obsessive, selfish love and the literal and metaphorical cages resulting from it. Compare the angel's cage with the demon's and how the demon's final scene shows the cage completely cut off versus the angel's cage, where a platform is still there to offer freedom. And sad though this might be, some of the most compelling stories are the most tragic, and this is one example. I'm so in love with this short, I'll put this up here for everyone to watch, enjoy, study, or even ponder -- and there's a surprising amount to ponder in my case. 

In other news, I'm roughly a third through The Dubious Commode, and as I've got tomorrow and Tuesday off (a long-delayed and desperately needed break from the day job), I'll be able to carve an even bigger chunk by the time I go back to work. I've been considering starting work on Voices in the Briars in conjunction with this one though it'll be more like chipping slowly away as I go since my attention should be on The Dubious Commode. Maybe a chapter per weekend while my current WiP will stay at a two-chapter-per-weekend schedule. 

I don't know yet. I'm still playing a wait-and-see game in this case as I'm constantly reminded about my purpose for scaling back on my publishing calendar to begin with. Clearly I'm still going against my resolution, but that scaled back thing is still a goal I have. 

I also managed to track down the original image I wanted to use for Compline, which makes me so abnormally happy, and I was able to play with it using different filters and stuff. I love the alternate cover I recently shared here, but the original image came the closest to the book's plot. Anyhoo... I'll post it soon as I'm still wibbling over the final version of it.