Haemotoxic Jupiter

      As with most people, what I found cool when I was a kid was highly influenced by what my older cousins were into. As such, I had one cousin who was really into emo and nu metal bands. One summer vacation, when our families got to gather together, she brought her CD of Korn's See You on the Other Side with her. In its original jewel case, WITH the booklet still inside. I got to flip through that booklet, and I thought the album art was the coolest shit ever. Painted by David Stoupakis, the art tells a dark fairy tale that seems like a messed up version of Alice in Wonderland. The white rabbit with the clock being the most obvious piece of inspiration. It would have been one of my first introductions to this type of creepy-cute aesthetic, and dark fantasy. Later, I'd watch Coraline when that came out.  It would take years for me to learn about American McGee's Alice, a series whose art style I hold in high regard, which this album art reminds m...

    The costumes of the titular characters in Batman & Robin (1997) have been widely criticized for the inclusion of nipples on the character's chests.     When you wear a piece of clothing, it's not going to wrap around your body so perfectly that it reveals your abs. Your muscles are not going to be so discernible through the costume, as if it was naked skin.     Some superhero films tend to have exaggerated depictions of the heroes' bodies, with sculpted muscles on the costumes, or fake muscle padding underneath.     The bat-nipples are  the logical end-point of this design choice. If the muscles are impossibly discernible through the costume, so should the nipples be.