All art is at once surface and symbol

I just wrote an entire fucking review about the 1954 Animal Farm, shrank the BlueSky app, only to find it erased it all. GAAAAAAAAAAH! FINE we’ll take this to fucking Dreamwidth. Social media can’t fucking stop me from tl;dring and ranting about books and movies because it can’t be contained in 140 characters.

After getting psychic damage from the trailer of the upcoming Animal Farm "adaptation" coming 2026, I decided to hunker down and watch the original animated film in hopes of an antidote. I finished it feeling... underwhelmed.

( Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland )

Yeah, the movie just feels like a watered-down SparkNotes version of the book with a new happier ending tacked on so the audience doesn't have to feel traumatized and left to think. I like the animation and voice-acting, but that's about it. I don't have strong feelings about the movie overall. Like obviously, it's superior to the 2026 atrocity coming out and a thousand times more faithful to the source material, but that's a low bar. I know there's a 1999 version of Animal Farm done in the live-action "Babe" style, but I don't trust it to be any good or have interest in watching it. The world still isn't ready for an actual good adaptation of Animal Farm. :/ In the meantime, simply reread the book. Or if you want more Animal Farm stuff, listen to the Animals album by Pink Floyd. :D

My brain keeps being a bitch getting distracted by Internet when I ought to be writing, so...

Give me a LISA or Deltarune ship along with a kink, and I'll write a short smut snippet with them. :D

Just slept until 7 pm. Woke up feeling depressed. Hungry and there isn't much food in the house. For the first time, not having much motivation to draw pixels, which was what's been keeping me happy the past few days.

My family needs help. A housekeeper. But can we even afford one? My dad's in his 80s and he's gotten really tired lately--too tired for even getting groceries, and his memory is getting poorer. I know his time is running up and he's going to die someday. My brother is the only one with a job and is often busy. The sink is stacked with loads of disgusting dirty dishes, but the dishwasher doesn't work well. We have way too many fucking clothes, but our dryer isn't working either. I gave Lulubelle another flea bath and despite using the best preventive shampoo, the fleas just jump right back. Dad needs to vacuum his room which is likely where all the fleas still are, but again, he's exhausted. I feel like I'm the only one who's putting the most work taking care of all three dogs (who are supposed to be family pets, not just mine), but everything I do isn't enough to catch up with them. The house is a mess and we can't keep up.

The only person I know IRL is my bf Jax, and sometimes he helps by buying a few groceries himself, but I know he has his own family and work to take care of and I don't want to overburden him. I think Dad has one friend total who might direct us to help and resources? I just feel overburdened and helpless and scared and alone.

Been a while since I ranted about antis on this journal huh? HERE WE GO BABY

( TW: discussion of noncon and the antis' favorite subject pedophilia )

There's a Brad Armstrong plushie and I want it soooooo baaaaaad. ;;

It's only available until May 27th though, so there's no way I'll be able to afford him before the end of the month is over. :/ It DID get fully funded though, so I'm hoping it'll be permanently available after this? Dear god please, that'll put my mind so much at ease.

I saw a post about escapism on Twitter, and I was about to make a cynical post along the lines of "Media that preaches anti-escapism is grossly fucking out of touch, especially with how our world is right now" when lo and behold, my feed brought me art of Molly & Entei from the 3rd Pokemon movie.

Spell of the Unown/Lord of the Unown Tower is an interesting take on escapism because the story is specifically about a traumatized girl whose mother is away for whatever reason and her dad goes missing. Storytelling is not only her escape, it's also her way of processing grief. That pain, of course, manifests in physical form as crystals, which she uses to lash out against the world. Remember, she's a kid--she doesn't have the life experience or the maturity to have developed any healthy coping mechanisms. The Unown are all she has.

But I think the movie has a more complicated take on escapism than just "weh weh you can't turn to your silly fairy tales for comfort forever." If Ash and gang just gave her that finger-wagging nonsense, Molly would've shut them down immediately and everyone would be dead. Instead, everyone hears her out first. Brock and Misty battle with Molly and see her enthusiasm for Pokemon and adventure. Delia sees both sides of the situation; she knows Molly is lonely, but she also points out it's wrong to separate her from her son just to be her "mama."

tl;dr Ash and gang see where Molly's coming from, but warn her that staying in her crystal world would make her MORE alone, not less. She's terrified of being abandoned again--they promise her there's people out there who care about her, and the world is worth exploring and finding good in despite how harsh and cruel it could be. This is a lot of emotions for a kid to process, so Molly's breakdown is understandable and relatable as hell. Even Entei realizes his own existence is holding her back, and sacrifices himself so she could truly be free.

I think the movie emphasizes how important a support system is. If there's no one to provide empathy or compassion, then how else is a person going to cope with the horrors of the world? How can the higher-ups who caused their shitty situation in the first place have the gall to preach to them?

"Escapism is unhealthy uwuuuu~" Says the gaming companies who want you to indulge in their worlds, then slap you for caring about characters they told you to get invested in, then charge you for DLCs and quality of life updates while jailing you for playing mods, romhacks, and emulators. (Oh yeah, and firing all their workers regardless of how well the game sold just so CEOs and shareholders can make themselves look good and hog all the cash. It's not just the gaming industry either, streaming services like Netflix fucking love to cancel popular/successful shows out of greed. Why the fuck even work a job in this economy when you're going to get fired anyway? At this point, our government expects us to make a living by never spending anything ever again, not even groceries, because they're smug and assured there'll be replacements. Oops, ranting about capitalism again)

To get back on point, I'm looking forward to how Deltarune is going to tackle escapism. Toby Fox is one of the rare people I still trust when it comes to storytelling, so I expect there's going to be nuance. Please don't let me down, smol white doggo. ;;

I feel dirty defending Vivziepop, but geez, people talk about Stolas like he's on the same level as Christian Grey and Edward Cullen, and a lot of the conversation around him and Blitz is disgusting.

( Spoilers for Helluva Boss S2. )

I don't consider myself Stolas's biggest fan, but god. Congratulations Stolas hatedom, you got me defending him.

So the other day, I caught up on Helluva Boss. I have mixed feelings about Stolas and Stolitz, but it's too big and complicated to try to make a BlueSky thread out of, so Dreamwidth it is!

( Spoilers all the way up to the Season 2 finale )

As long as they don't mess up Millie/Moxxie and Asmodeus/Fizzarolli. Those are my favorite ships. ;;

Serenity Forge has been publishing more official LISA art for the anniversary coming up! Remind me to make icons of them later. (back to playing 400+ Stardew Valley mods, whoops)

A. Post a list of 20 fandoms.
B. Have your friends list guess your favorite character and pairing from each one.
C. When guessed, bold the line, include the character and pairing names, and write a sentence about why you like that character/pairing.

(Some have multiple faves, so if you guess either, you're good! Polyships can also be answers)


1. LISA: The Painful RPG Character still open for guessing. Ship guessed: BradTerry! Those two are so sweet together, and there's so many opportunities ripe for healing or tragedy. Especially in AUs where they can get a chance to be happy together. ;;
2. Pokemon (Ultra) Sun/Moon Lillie, Hau/Gladion. I love Lillie's character arc and I'm so proud of her for standing up to her abusive mom. ;; Hau/Gladion is wonderful because it shows Opposites Attract in all the best ways. Both Hau and Gladion grow and learn from each other~
3. Pokemon (Soul/Heart) Gold/Silver/Crystal Morty or Eusine, Morty/Eusine. Morty was one of my earliest crushes and he's just awesome for being a Ghost trainer while also having ambition and a heart of gold. Eusine is great because he's basically a personification of my autism and I find him endearing for it. Morty/Eusine have been long-time best friends who have always supported each other's dreams, which I find is a wonderful basis for a relationship~
4. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
5. Revolutionary Girl Utena Anthy, Utena/Anthy. I just love how angry and spiteful Anthy is towards the world, and that she still deserves love and compassion. The whole series has Utena and Anthy's relationship as the center of the story, and the way they learn to open up and trust each other despite all the backstabbings is waaaah. ;;
6. Puella Magi Madoka Magica Homura, Madoka/Homura. Homura works so fucking hard, and in the end, she's still human and prone to selfishness and mistakes. Madoka/Homura is both fluffy and messy in that they can build each other up while also tearing each other down. I really really really want the final movie to give them the happy ending they deserve. ;;
7. Undertale Asriel, Frisk/Chara/Asriel. Asriel is so sweet while also being the most human (ironically) character in the game, grieving and traumatized and doing lots of horrible things because of it. Frisk/Chara/Asriel is made up of characters who went through so so so so much and understand the unique horrors they went through, and now they get to start together again. ;;
8. Undertale Yellow
9. Deltarune Spamton, Spamton/Kris. Spamton is my horrible, creepy, hilarious, tragic crooked puppet salesman, and I'm forever fascinated by his rise and fall and surprising relatability. With Spamton/Kris, they're both in a weird fucked up situation only they could understand, which could either lead to the most dysfunctional dynamics in the world or solidarity which helps them heal. ;;
10. Super Mario Geno, Geno/Mallow. Geno is amazing and awesome and there's just something so cool about a kid's doll coming to life to save everybody, not to mention he's also the closest we get to an alien. Geno/Mallow is just pure sweetness, fluff, and innocence. ♥
11. Yume Nikki
12. Neon Genesis Evangelion Character still open for guessing. Ship guessed: KawoShin! Kaworu's episode left such an impact on me and I would've been so curious how their relationship would've evolved if Kaworu hadn't died. ;;
13. Mawaru Penguindrum Himari, Himari/Ringo. I like how despite being sweet and kindhearted, there's so much more to her under the surface and her awareness of how bad her situation is hits hard. Himari being the first to reach out to Ringo did a lot for me to hop on the ship and the rare times they interact on screen is adorable. ♥
14. Yuri Kuma Arashi Lulu, Ginko/Kureha/Lulu. See Episode 4. That is all. I was really rooting for the OT3 and it feels more right to me than just Ginko/Kureha and Lulu being a third-wheel/forgotten. ;;
15. Sarazanmai Toi, ReoMabu or Entoi. I was surprised how attached I grew to Toi--everything about his relationship with Chikai hits me in the feels. I'm torn between ReoMabu and Entoi, and I blame several people for the latter--I just like the Opposites Attract angle and how surprisingly well they work together (even when Enta's being an ass and hyper-focused on Kazuki, haha. XD) but at the same time, ReoMabu is just classic. They're adorable in their spinoff manga and the little bits of background information we learn from the light novels makes what happens to them in the anime even more tragic. ;; Not to mention the dance. THE DANCE
16. Cuphead
17. Fear & Hunger
18: Fear & Hunger 2: Termina
19. Earthbound Beginnings Lloyd, Teddy/Lloyd. Like Lillie, I'm in love with Lloyd's character arc and that he didn't need to become the strongest party member in order to find value. For Teddy/Lloyd, I find the contrasts between them fascinating and I love the respect that Teddy developed for Lloyd and how that became part of his arc, and waaaaah, I love it.
20. Earthbound Character still open for guessing. Ship guessed: JeffTony! Those two are angels and Tony's devotion to Jeff is just so goshdarn sweet. One of my most wholesome ships~ ♥