We haven’t posted anything new here in over a month. We’re not happy about it either.
We’ve just been sidelined by the usual real world jackassery, then in addition to that we’re now coming into the holiday season, which is a notoriously bad time to try to do anything creative. We do have some new stuff planned, but we more than likely won’t be posting any of it until after January. If something quick and spontaneous comes up we can probably post that, but the more detailed stuff requires time and attention, which we just don’t have right now in the midst of all of this holiday havoc.
Just to give you guys a little taste of what’s to come, here’s a quick preview of some of what we have in the works:
We’re planning to do 2 “Why We Like…” posts: one for Dreamworks’ Trolls…
And one for WB’s Jellystone! (I’ve been wanting to do an updated, more detailed post about this show after that Peeks, now that we’ve actually seen it.)
Both of which likely won’t be ready until after January.
Speaking of Jellystone!, we’re also planning to do a What The Funny for J!; of course a miniseries requires even more time and research, so that probably won’t be ready to post until spring. The earliest I would expect to see this one is late February or early March. (If I want to be super-duper optimistic, maybe late January at the very earliest, but more likely the latter.) The good news is that both of us will be working on this one together, so we should get it done in half the time of past miniseries, and the gaps between the individual entries shouldn’t be as long this time. (And no, we haven’t forgotten about the Regular Show What The Funny or the Animal Jam Pop Dream; we do plan on resuming those miniseries, but we have to be into them in order for them to be good, and neither of us are feeling those right now; the spark for those just isn’t there at the moment.) Also, the miniseries from this point forward will no longer be numbered; when Pop Dream and What The Funny were originally conceived, they were each just going to be one-and-done; when we started doing more and they became semi-recurring segments, we no longer felt it was necessary to number them; we didn’t be doing Pop Dream #35 or What The Funny #46, so from now on the miniseries won’t be numbered. We originally planned to stop numbering them after #10 because we didn’t think either segment would get up to 10, but in the case of each, entry #10 coincided with miniseries we were doing at the time and each still had more entries to go, so we kept the numbering at least until those were complete.
We’re also planning to make more detailed dives into the Cartoonito show Bugs Bunny Builders…
And the new WB produced brawler, Multiversus…
But of course we can’t do that until after either of them debut, which won’t be until 2022.
We’re also planning to do an opinion piece on Mickey Mouse; we’re going to make the case that Disney should start treating him as a character again and not just a corporate mascot…
Again, we expect this one won’t be ready to post until after the holidays. Once more we’re thinking January at the earliest.
So yeah, there is more stuff coming to this site, as soon as we don’t have these pesky holiday preparations and commitments to distract us. In the meantime, we still make the occasional Tumblr post from time to time, and we’ve recently returned (after a self-imposed 5-year sabbatical) to the Anime Superhero Forums; not posting as frequently as before (this is by choice) but we’re there again.
Story time: Years ago Jason had considered starting a second blog called The Mash-Up. It would’ve been a more abstract, less rigidly structured and more freeform blog focusing on whatever was going through our minds at the time. I dismissed the idea because I felt it was unnecessary, that there was no need, that nothing could be better than what we were doing on Twinsanity at the time.
I was wrong.
Before I go any further, I just to assure you all that Twinsanity 2.0 is still our long term goal for this site. We haven’t thrown in the towel on that, nor have we given up the dream. The Razzle Dazzle Show and webtoons are still this site’s future, that hasn’t changed, but Twinsanity 2.0 has proven to be such a huge undertaking that we’ve had to move the goal posts back a bit. The process and preparation for the videos and webtoons is taking a little longer than we anticipated, and I don’t want to do nothing in the meantime. For a long time, I just wasn’t inspired to do anything, but in recent weeks and months I’ve seen things, shows, ideas and concepts that I’d like to express my thoughts and opinions on, and I’d rather not have to wait until Twinsanity 2.0 is ready to roll to get them out there; you’ve got to strike while the iron is hot and all that. Long story short, I/we may be putting up some new blog posts in the upcoming weeks and months. These will not be Twinsanity 2.0, nor will they be made instead of Twinsanity 2.0; just something to tide you (and us) over until Twinsanity 2.0 is ready to roll.
However, these new posts come with a slew of caveats; it’s not going to be a continuation of what we’ve been doing up to the point where we left off. Real life, my current schedule and energy levels just won’t allow that, plus I just plain don’t want to work at that pace or continue the kinds of posts we were making then. Going back to what I said at the top, this new slew of posts will follow a different formula: they’ll be done in the Mash-Up format.
“What does that entail?” I’m pretending to hear you ask. I’ll tell you:
For one thing, the pace of the output will be greatly reduced and much more relaxed. I used to make lists of everything that I was planning to do per month. Those days are over. One of the reasons I got out of blogging was that it was starting feel like a job, I was working myself to death trying to put out content. No longer. Starting now I’m only going to pour my attention in a single post at a time, and once that’s done, I’ll move on to something else. I’m only going to make a post when I have something to post, and I’m only going to put something up when I have something worth posting. It doesn’t matter if I only make 2 posts in 6 months as long as those 2 posts are good and entertaining. Quality over quantity. I don’t want to be a posting machine; those days are over.
The upcoming posts will also follow a much looser structure than before. It’s not going to be like before when I would tell myself “I have to do a new Talkin’ Nerdy or TV Special Showdown because I haven’t done one in a while”. I don’t wish to be beholden to all of these fancy categories we created; if something fits into one of the little boxed we’ve created, then I’ll check off said box, but that’s no longer a requirement for a post. It’s a pretty simple formula, really:
I’m going to post what I want to post.
I’m no longer going to feel compelled to make a Retro Bin or a Cartoon Couch or a Talkin’ Nerdy or a Beyond the Background just to fulfill some imaginary quota. I’m going to post whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. (Sidebar: I won’t be continuing the Animal Jam Pop Dream right now; I’m just not feeling it at the moment. I may get back to it one day, but right now it’s just not on my mind. It’s way too much work to be making something you’re not even into. End sidebar.)
Third, expect less snark posts and more general geeking out on stuff we like, and definitely less review-type stuff. I never wanted to a reviewer; that’s just not where I’m at. I don’t want to be known for snark. I like cartoons. I like to make jokes. I like to have fun. The blog posts were starting to not be fun for me, that’s why I stopped, so these new ones are going to be of a more lighthearted nature. I don’t care if it’s something only I know or care about; if it makes my happy or I’m really interested in it, then I’ll make a post about it. I also plan to reduce the amount of fact-checking and research, because that also became a drag for me. Of course I’m not going to post something that’s just plain factually wrong (like saying that Wally Gator was a champion surfer and railroad tycoon who married Jennifer Lopez), I’m still going to keep my facts straight, but I’d much rather joke around and have fun than write up an essay.
Finally, there’s no minimum requirement for the length of these new posts; they’re going to be as long or as short as they need to be. A post can be a lengthy bombastic diatribe or it can be a quick bite no longer than a couple of sentences. We don’t need to be anchored to one specific structure; I likes muh freedom!
So keep an eye out for some new stuff coming soon. You’ll see the new posts, whenever they happen.
Well, the year 2019 is winding to a close and the year 2020 looms over the horizon, so as always, we’re going to our Year In Review and inform you about what to expect here at Twinsanity in the following year.
As you’ll recall, back in August we mentioned that we were beginning the process of transforming Twinsanity from a blog to a full blown website with video content. That’s still our main goal that we’re working towards doing. One main reason for this is because we want to be seen on camera. Our type of entertainment is largely a visual medium and we feel that videos are the best way to gain viewership, as many people would rather look at a video than read. Well, thankfully, those plans haven’t been scrapped; we’re still in the process of producing videos. We just have to get some more up to date equipment and so forth. However, while that’s still our main goal, we’re not content with just doing nothing creatively until we’re ready to make the jump to videos. Therefore, one of our goals for 2020 is to write at least 1 regular size blog post and 1 micro blog post (which you can find on our Tumblr account – twinsanitycomedy.tumblr.com in case you forgot) each month.
So we will indeed start putting blog posts here again come next year (albeit in a slightly smaller quantity), at least until we’re fully ready to start video production.
And yes, I will most certainly try to continue with the What The Funny mini series for Regular Show that I started back in June. I was hoping that I’d be able to do that one as a video series, but that will have to wait, at least for now. I don’t know what the next series that we’ll be doing for WTF after that one yet.
Similarly, Damon will be continuing his Pop Dream mini series for Animal Jam. As always, the mini series individual parts won’t be posted in a row, as we prefer to space them out. Hopefully, we’ll be able to finish them both by the end of next year.
Aside from that, there are no major changes in the planning. I’d like to write more Toon Adjacent segments, as I enjoy doing those, but there aren’t a great deal many of those yet. To myself, the Toon Adjacent segments are split into two subdivisions: Cool-lectibles, where we talk about toys and other merchandising based on cartoons, and Sweet Spots, where we talk about theme park and tourist attractions. I wanted to call the later Theme Snark, but that name’s already being used by YouTuber Charlie Callahan. In any case, I hope that we’ll be able to write more Toon Adjacent segments in 2020. We’re working for one for Warner Brothers World in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It’s about 50% written as of today.
Cartoon Country and Brain Candy (formerly Highly Opinionated) will continue as they have been. I have to admit that CC is one of my favorite segments to work on, and Brain Candy seems to be working out well, so there’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken. Pretty much all of the segments will eventually make the jump from blog to video. I know that we haven’t written a Talkin’ Nerdy or Beyond the Background segment in a while, but we write these things as we’re inspired to do them.
We also hope to write more TV Special Showdown segments, as those are enjoyable to do. Same deal with The Retro Bin and especially The Cartoon Couch.
“One more thing…”
Since we joined Tumblr, we’ve been seeing some cool comics and cartoons posted there, which has re-ignited that itch to start drawing regularly again and to start posting our cartoons online; we may start doing that as soon as we learn how. (I know earlier we considered possibly starting a second blog devoted to fiction, but I think since then we agree that we’d rather do comic strips, since that gives us an excuse to draw, something we each want to get back into anyway.) We’ll either post them here after this blog gets remade into a video site, or we could just put them on our Tumblr account, or possibly both. (Which is another incentive to do comics as opposed to fiction; we wouldn’t need to create a separate blog for comics. The ‘fiction’ we were planning to do was just going to be short skits and vignettes anyway.)
Overall, there’s not a whole lot of new stuff to report. We plan to just keep doing what we’ve been doing until we’re finally able to start uploading video content. When that happens, this site will get a revamp with a new look and theme, so keep reading and watch out for updates which will be seen as we report them. We’ll see you next year!
OK, we haven’t done this in a while, but it’s high time to address the elephant in the room.
“Word!”
Lately there’s been very little going on here and a lot going on behind the scenes, and it’s time to address that, and what shape Twinsanity is going to be taking in the months to come.
As you may have noticed, neither of us have put up any blog posts in July, and this is the first one either of us have done in August. After returning from a self-imposed vacation early in the year, I thought I could resume blogging until we were ready to start video production (this past week we began comparing prices for green screens and back lights, and I we have to upgrade from the ‘starter’ camera we have to a more high-end one, just to keep you guys abreast of where we are on that), but no, I find that the longer I stay away from blogging, the harder it is to get back into it. I never want production here to lapse (Jason and I usually try to put up at least 1 post a month) but at the same time, the desire to move on to a different medium is just getting too hard to ignore. Not only do I no longer possess the desire to blog as of late, but I don’t even think in terms of blog posts anymore. I can’t force myself to do something that I really don’t want to do; when your enthusiasm isn’t there, your work reflects it, and I just have to face facts and be honest with not just you guys, but with myself: I don’t want to blog anymore. The spark just isn’t there.
This is not the end of Twinsanity, not by a long shot, but Twinsanity’s days of being a blog are indeed numbered. I can’t even pretend to want to continue making stuff in the blog format anymore. We started Twinsanity back in 2010, so we’ve been at this for nearly a decade. I still want to express myself creatively and share my ideas and opinions with others online, but I can’t do it this way anymore. After 9 years, I really feel like I’ve done all I can do on a blog; the blog format just doesn’t accommodate my visions and ideas anymore.
Jason and I have discussed this numerous times, and we agree that one of our biggest regrets this year was starting the Regular Show What the Funny and the Animal Jam Pop Dream, and it’s not because they’re bad, but we like to finish what we start and there are/were 6 entries planned for each of them. Right now I can’t imagine doing 1 more full-blown blog entry, let alone 5. We want to continue doing both of these miniseries, just not in blog form.
After our second or third year, we’ve wanted Twinsanity to be a visual experience, and now our desires have gotten too big for mere text with still pictures. I want to do stuff like this:
Or this:
Or this:
Or even this:
…And I just can’t do things like this on a blog. The format has become too confining and too limited.
The other reason we really want to move on from blogging is…
We want to be SEEN! From the get-go, Twinsanity has been manned by 2 people. It’s always been the 2 of us, Jason and myself. That’s why this site is called Twinsanity. From the day we first began posting stuff online, people have always suspected that we’re just one person; if they see us on-screen together, that’ll squash that notion once and for all. Going back to above videos I cited, Jason and I want to appear on screen together, we want to interact with one another, trade jokes, barbs, perform skits, etc., kind of like the Hudson Brothers (or the Lucas Brothers or the Sklar Brothers if you need a more modern reference), and again that just isn’t possible on a blog. On a blog it’s just the blogger talking to the readers. You can’t bounce lines and jokes off of another person on a blog. And as egotistical as it may sound, I want people to see me. I have a personality and a style that I’d like to share, and that just can’t be expressed with text on a page. I’m tired of being a faceless entity.
Finally, my desire to move to a more visual medium goes back to something we tried years ago. Back when we were still on Blogger, we had considered doing a fiction blog, but at the time we had nothing but the desire to do it. I have from time to time made some attempts at original fiction here, stuff like ‘Superhero City: A Visitor’s Guide’, ‘Hero: 108: Fast Forward’ and the Cyber City Nerdvanas, and they can be seen as first attempts, but again, that’s something like, but not exactly like what I want to do on that front; I’d like to make original cartoons and artwork. In addition to writing, I also like to draw, though I’ve never posted any of my drawings online. As of right now, I don’t quite know how to post original artwork online or make digital drawings or art, but I’d like to learn. I no longer wish to just post random images on to the screen and force people to use their imaginations as to what they’re supposed to be looking at; I want to display my own artwork. At least now unlike before I have some ideas of what kind of stories and cartoons I could post. Over the past 2 years or so, Jason and I have been toying around with an idea for a cartoon show that’s been steadily growing over the past several months. I won’t go into huge detail, but the basic premise of the show is that it’s about these young twins who live with their family and their exotic talking pets on a tropical resort island in a fully automated mansion (did I mention that the family is crazy rich?), and adjacent to the mansion is this vast, savage untamed jungle land similar to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, only with Beastly Kingdom in it (’cause there are creatures like dinosaurs, dragons, unicorns, pegasi and sea monsters in it as well) that the kids sometimes play, explore and frolic in. Think The Loud House meets Lilo & Stitch meets Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse meets Johnny Test meets those early ’00’s Danimals ads meets Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs, if that makes any sense (and I know it doesn’t). If we do indeed opt to actually make a fiction blog/site, it’ll be its’ own separate site, as we don’t want this one to get too cluttered.
Long story short: don’t expect another full-blown blog post with a ton of embedded images and clips from either of us anytime soon; I don’t want to neglect this site, but I can’t continue doing what I’ve been doing, at least not this way, the spark just isn’t there. I’ll try to keep you guys up to date on our progress, most likely via micro-blogs on Tumblr and site updates here (I’m not a social media person; I got tired of the endless bric-a-brac on message boards and I don’t go anywhere near Twitter or Facebook for a number of reasons, the least of which being how toxic the atmosphere is on those sites), but I can’t just go back to making blog posts, not even as we begin the process of overhauling things here. Not only do I just not want to continue the blog format, but while we have a lot of things planned, they either don’t accommodate the blogging format or we simply don’t wish to waste our best material on blog posts. As I said, we’ll keep you posted on what happens as it happens; you’ll know we’re ready to roll when you come here and notice Twinsanity sporting a new look and a new theme; we’ll be upgrading the site once the new format and new material are presentable. The blog posts we’ve already made will be archived for those who want to revisit them.
I know how annoying this roller coaster trip has been, but I assure you, it’s going to be worth it; when Twinsanity returns in its’ new format, it will be bigger and better than it’s ever been.
TWINSANITY! 
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