It's not often that I inwardly cheer at the sight of a fictional kiss. The 2014 film Maleficent had one of those rare exceptions.

Those who know me have heard me complain before about how romance - particularly romance between a male and female - seems to be a nearly mandatory ingredient for a happy ending as far as some writers are concerned.

The couple doesn't have to fit well. They don't need to have known each other long, or to have interacted with a way that justifies the swift development of their bond.

They just have to be male, female, and prominent figures in the same story, and there's an excessively high chance that they'll end up together, even if the story doesn't justify it.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no problem with romance in a story if it's written well.

It's the "if they're male and female, they MUST get together regardless of compatibility, whether or not the romantic subplot is even remotely relevant or necessary, as an obligatory part of a happy ending" thing that bugs me.

This trope seems to be part of a larger societal trend.

Romance is treated as necessary.

Relationships are expected to develop quickly.

And people place so much emphasis on one kind of love that they devalue the others.

How many times have you heard people bemoaning the existence of the dreaded "friendzone"? Yes, being in unrequited love sucks, but comparing an offer of friendship to an offer of a dead dog is pretty gross.

This trend is demonstrated by an argument I recently saw below a YouTube video about Madoka Magica.

I won't name the characters to protect you from spoilers, but suffice it to say, one of them had gone to extreme lengths to ensure another's happiness, and it triggered a debate about whether or not the character in question had romantic feelings for the girl she was protecting.

Some of the commenters made a good point: "If the characters were opposite sexes, a lot of people in our heteronormative society would assume that the protector's feelings were romantic."

I certainly couldn't argue with that.

At the same time, I couldn't help but wonder how much the truth of that statement depended not just on heteronormativity, but on the mindset I mentioned above: that romance is assumed to be the default outcome of close relationships, to the point of devaluing non-romantic bonds.

Some of the commenters scoffed at the idea that a bond so powerful could be anything but romantic. But what does that say to or about asexual and aromantic people?

Does that mean people who can't feel romantic or sexual attraction can't be just as devoted and passionate as people who can?

What about family members? Comrades in arms? Close friends? Nakama?

Can NO other bond besides romance drive a person to go to whatever lengths are necessary to protect a person they love?

That seems to be the assumption.

That's why I found the relationship in Maleficent so refreshing.

The princess is comatose. They've brought in the prince. The three fairies pressure the young man, who has met the princess all of one time, to revive her with true love's kiss.

And, to my great relief... it didn't work.

That's not to say that love at first sight doesn't exist, or that unconditional love for all people regardless of how well you know them wouldn't have been an acceptable explanation for the kiss working. And I certainly don't have a problem with the idea of Aurora and Phillip getting to know each other at a more reasonable pace afterward.

But the expectation that romantic love will blossom after the very first meeting, JUST because they're a male and female of attractive appearance and approximately equal age, is a tired and inaccurate trope that I was happy to see subverted.

And then, to my even greater joy, when Maleficent kissed Aurora on the forehead, the dormant girl stirred.

Now there's a fictional kiss I can cheer for. Because nonsexual friendship and platonic love are just as valid and valuable as romance, and it's high time that more stories - and people in real life - acknowledged that.

Do you think romance has been made too obligatory, at the expense of good storytelling and non-romantic relationships?

Do you have any thoughts to add, or did you notice something I missed?

I'd love to see your thoughts in the comments!

I FINALLY FRIKKIN' FIGURED IT OUT. *Takes a deep breath, and disengages capslock.*

There was something about me that bothered me for years. Something I had tried to surmount, with only inadequate fragments of success - until this week.

That something was my infuriating inability to record a good-sounding song.

This was especially frustrating when it came to songs like the topic of today's blog post. Decretum is a beautiful instrumental by Yuki Kajiura, for the amazing and heart-wrenching anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

I wanted to give words to Sayaka's poignant journey, so I sat down one day to write down lyrics that captured her desires, hopes and mistakes.

But the first several times I went to record my beautiful lyrics, darned if I could get my voice to cooperate. Notes that had sounded good as they vibrated through my jaw came out flat, dull and grainy when I played them on the computer.

It happened every single time I tried to record a song. And it bothered me for ages.

Why?! Why did my voice sound right when I sang, but not when I recorded it?

Then, one day, the penny finally dropped. I'll pause for a moment to let you enjoy the results (that's why you're here, right?) before elaborating.
​

So, what was this fallen penny of which I speak? There were a few of them, mostly in the form of questions I hadn't thought to ask myself before. Questions like...

​What if I just couldn't sing while listening to music?

What if my reflex not to talk over things and people was causing me to instinctively mute myself?

What if my untrained control over my voice required more concentration than I could give it while half of my focus was on the music?

What if my computer's sound system just plain couldn't handle playing audio and recording it at the same time?

And what if I tried recording the vocals while the music WASN'T playing?

Obviously, the timing of the lyrics could become an issue, but at that point, it was worth a shot.

So I plugged in my headset, activated my sound recorder, and went for it. I sang my heart out. I focused on hitting the right notes, and expressing the emotion of the song, instead of on matching the timing of the instrumentals.

Then, with high hopes, I saved the recording and hit "play"... 

And discovered that, while my voice will probably never be as good as KiyumiArashi's, and my microphone definitely leaves something to be desired, the sound quality was better than anything I'd ever recorded before.

For the first time ever, I could record a lyrical adaptation, and sincerely enjoy the results.

Unfortunately, as predicted, the timing was a bit off... so I decided to try another tactic.

This time, instead of playing the instrumentals on the computer, I played Decretum on my iPod while I recorded the song, and cranked the volume up high enough that I wouldn't reflexively sing softly in order to be able to hear the notes.

Sure enough, it worked - I got the timing right this time, AND the computer recorded the audio properly. Needless to say, I was pretty freaking happy, and I hope you enjoy the fruits of my little revelation.

Over a year ago, I made one of the best music videos I've ever created. Magia is an awesome song, from the best anime I've ever watched, and it fit remarkably well with my favorite fictional character from my favorite sci-fi show.

Needless to say, I was excited when it was complete. I uploaded it to YouTube, painstakingly added captions to translate the Japanese lyrics, and grinned as I hit "Publish"...

Only to watch in horror as Sony instantly blocked the video worldwide.

Can you guess who is NOT among my favorite companies?

Disappointed, I moved on to other projects, fitting video clips to music from less territorial companies. For over a year, my Magia video sat neglected in my computer, inaccessible to anyone but me.

Then, it finally occurred to me: there are several altered versions of Magia sitting unmolested on YouTube, so why not make my own?

It was worth a shot.

A few minutes in Audacity, and a few more in Movie Maker, and voila - a slightly higher-pitched version of my video was ready to be uploaded.

Then came the real test: would Sony allow a video that included a pitch-adjusted version of their carefully guarded song?

I uploaded it and added the captions again, silently praying that my work wouldn't once again be wasted, and wishing that I could know one way or the other before I went to the trouble of adding captions.

I could have just published it caption-free, I guess, but I'd hate for my subscribers' first impression of the video to be a fruitless battle with the caption button.

I published the video, held my breath, and...

SUCCESS!

Magia is published, and as far as I can tell, it hasn't been blocked anywhere! :D

I can't wait to hear what you think of it. This is one of my favorite creations, and I'm happy to finally be able to share it with you.
​

It's been said that perfection is the enemy of progress.

But 'good enough' can be just as dangerous. No artist ever took pride in what they created, and no audience ever loved it, because it was 'good enough'.

A while ago, I created a Farscape music video set to the Within Temptation song "Shot in the Dark". If you haven't already seen it, you can watch it here:

Would I say it's 'good enough'? Actually, most of it was more than that. It was great. But there were a couple parts where I wasn't completely satisfied with the clips I chose, and I felt that they muted the energy I was trying to build.

But I thought they were 'good enough'. So I let them be... only to realize later that there were other, far more fitting clips I had somehow forgotten about, which would have captured the mood I was trying to create far better.

And now those bits of the video bother me a little every time I watch it. I'm thinking about tweaking and reuploading it - it's a pity I can't do that without redoing everything I've done with it on YouTube and losing all my views.

For the moment, instead, I'm focusing on learning from that mistake, and applying that learning to everything I create from this point forward. Don't wait for perfection, but don't settle for something that doesn't feel right just because it's 'good enough'.

In my latest video, I encountered the same test. I was creating a Scorpius, John and Aeryn video set to Kalafina's "Magia", and with a song that awesome, there was NO way I was going to settle for something I wasn't satisfied with.

But, once again, some of the clips just didn't sit right. So this time, I looked over them, determined which clips were bothering me, and replaced them with ones that created the tone and energy I was going for instead of draining it.

I absolutely love the result.

​Because of this experience, I've decided that this dedication to quality, and the knowledge that "good enough never is", will carry through into my future videos and all my writing.