The Art Portal is, in my opinion, one of the finest additions to NG in ages. It has become one of the most concentrated centrals of great artwork I've found on the web. Yes, there is shit. There will ALWAYS be shit. However, there is far less shit in the Art Portal than we've had in the Flash Portal recently. I'm finding my time is often spent perusing various artists illustrations, rather than watching any cartoons. These days I'm only watching the toons I get linked to or the ones by authors I know I like. It's terrible, because I'm likely missing some wonderful things, but I just can't stand to watch another godawful attempt to parody Twilight by having Edward fart. I'll snap and murder the people I love.

I want to see an overhaul of the Flash Portal involving a much more intense pass-or-fail system to weed out the trash. I know people love some of the work I hate, but there is so much more to offer out there than simply rehashing the old ideas that were once funny, and I think if the sysem by which we judge the submissions was forced into a more rigorous format, we'd all take a much closer look at what we're watching and begin to notice everything in new ways that could cause, not a revolution, but certainly a more vibrant and varied body of work to be displayed here.

I'm not asking for parodies, sprite movies and all the other things I hate to be cast away. I couldn't expect it to happen; they're integral to NewGrounds' identity and existence and to cut them out would be to sever the legs upon which NG stands. I do think we can reduce the amount of second-rate and half-hearted attempts to cash in on those forms' popularity, though. This isn't a proposition to change what NewGrounds is, it's not my place to ask for something like that. This is merely a request for a more analytical set of standers whereby work submitted will ultimately be required to be just a little more thoughtful, a little more carefully crafted, and hopefully a little more appealing to everyone, regardless of their tastes in conetent.

I know this sounds like some sort of pretentious attempt to tell people how to tell stories, but I don't mean it to be. What I simply want is for authors to try and think and feel their way through a narrative, to be concerned with storytelling more than story, and to present ideas that are worth something to people, not a fanbase.

Please ignore this if you're of the mind that I'm a dying breed personified. I grew up in the world of cartoons and movies in a way many people did not, and experience them differently than most. My feelings are not those of the mass, and I know this.