All art is at once surface and symbol

You ever have those songs that you've listened to for years, then when you go revisit them, you think, "O SNAP IT'S SO-AND-SO'S THEME SONG"? 'Cause I got that moment when I checked out Meryl Streep's take on "Stay With Me" from Into the Woods.

The main villain of the novel I'm working on is a nutcracker named Dr. Medlock. He's kidnapped one of the main characters, Raggedy Ann, and is holding her hostage while using her candy heart for an experiment he's working on. Said experiment is him trying to bring his lost daughter back to life; a ballerina doll named Clara that he took under his care until the day she disappeared in a fire reminiscent of the one from "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." Basically, he parallels Johnny Gruelle (creator of Raggedy Ann & Andy) and his grief over losing his daughter Marcella... except Dr. Medlock is a hell of a lot more psychotic and abusive. In spite of the verbal beatings, manipulation and punishment he administers, he develops a bizarre attachment to Ann as though she were Clara herself...

Mike = Utena
Phone Guy = Anthy
Freddy = Touga
Toy Freddy = Ruka
Bonnie = Miki
Toy Bonnie = Kozue
Chica = Juri
Toy Chica = Wakaba
Mangle = Shiori
Foxy = Saionji
Balloon Boy = Nanami
Jeremy = Mikage
Fritz = Mamiya
Golden Freddy/Purple Guy/Puppet = Akio/Dios

I tried. D:

So here's a scenario I've thought up for a human AU, mainly involving Mangle:

All her life, Mangle had been bullied. She was never exactly pretty, and a lot of the teasing came from all the acne she had, leading to kids calling her "Pizza Face." Then one day, to put the final nail in the coffin, she barely survived a freak car accident.

With all her limbs broken, she would be wheel-chair-bound for the rest of her life. Teasing was rarer (Good News: No one called her Pizza Face anymore. Bad News: Now they called her Mangle), but now everyone would avoid her or shake their heads with pity. Her only consolation was her makeup kit, where she would sit in front of the bathroom for hours "drawing" and "painting" her face. It didn't make her less ugly (in fact, most people found her even more terrifying with makeup), but it was something she liked to do and it calmed her.

One day, after she was transferred to a "disabled" class, she met a boy with a hook for a hand playing with blocks. He was known as "Foxy," a messy redhead who caused all sorts of trouble and gave the teachers a lot of grief, such as sneaking behind other kids and scaring them or running down the halls. Mangle looks at the blocks longingly, when Foxy sees her. He's intimidated by her at first, but he shakes it off and invites her to play pirates with him and join "his crew." Mangle crawls out of her wheel-chair and they play together for hours. They become close friends, and Mangle chases Foxy by wheeling after him in the hall, much to the distress of the adults.

Eventually, Foxy introduces Mangle to his other friends: Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica. While resembling little angels who always received good grades, they're just as much mischief makers as Foxy is. The five of them have a lot of fun causing mayhem at school; while Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica were subtle, Foxy and Mangle were wilder and often sent to detention. This meant that Foxy and Mangle didn't get to see the other three as often, and sometimes, they felt a little left out. Eventually, even Foxy started to avoid Mangle, hoarding things she couldn't see and making excuses that he was busy. She wonders if maybe he wasn't her friend after all…

One day, Mangle wheels her way home after an average, boring day. She opens the door:

"SURPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!"
"Happy Birthday!" Foxy popped up from the side and winked.

While she had been away, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy had set up a surprise party for their new friend. All this time, Foxy had been squirreling away gifts for her, and wanted to keep them a secret. They spend the rest of the day laughing, eating cake and pizza and ice cream, and playing games.

And that was how Mangle met her new best friends.

I like how the Cinema Snob does episodes of movies involving cannibalism, necrophilia, talking vaginas, coprophagia, pedophilia, bestiality, Nazisploitation, and E.T. porn without anyone batting an eye, but the second he does m/m gay porn like "Gayracula" or "Drive," the commentors immediately start questioning his sexuality. Lesbians are okay, and aliens are fine (as long as they're female), but gay men? "You can be a cannibalistic serial killer who fucks dogs and children, but if you're gay, god that makes me so uncomfortable!" It'd be just like the Snob to post another gay porn episode just to spite them. :D

Speaking of which, I got to thinking after watching his review of "Mommie Dearest." You ever been recommended a movie or book for its camp value and over-the-top hilarity, only to see it for yourself and be genuinely terrified and uncomfortable? I felt the same thing about V.C. Andrews' "Flowers in the Attic" and "My Sweet Audrina" that Brad did for "Mommie Dearest"; I expected something corny, trashy, and silly, but I ended up being creeped out and not finding any laughs at all. Albeit, FitA and MSA aren't great to begin with, but still. I had to stop reading both books because they were disturbing in ways I didn't like at all.

I guess I had a similar reaction to "Twilight" and "50 Shades" too. To this day, I never got past the first chapter of "Twilight" because I'd immediately get bored and pissed off at Bella whining that she got a fucking car from her dad. Though with "Twilight," I did manage to get a little bit of hilarity from the movie; I just needed a better audience (and Rifftrax) to watch it with. (I saw "Twilight" with my Mom and I wasn't allowed to make snarky commentary, which led to a dull, dull watch. I still laughed out loud at the SKIN OF A KILLER!!!1!1 scene though) But "50 Shades"... when it wasn't boring me to death, it frightened me and made me angrier than a bull at a firetruck. The only other book I can think of that incites this much rage from me is "Wuthering Heights." Just... ugh.

What do you think, guys? Have you ever been recommended something that's supposed to be trashy and So-Bad-It's-Funny, only to make you legitimately uncomfortable?

I'm worried about the Biology final, I still have one more essay for English, and my sleep is out of whack again. What to do? Play "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity" nonstop! Well, almost nonstop, but you get the point. Which means it's time for a review!

( Pros and Cons and Spoilers! )

Considering Gates to Infinity came out a year after "The Dark Knight Rises," and cynical superheroes wondering if the world is even worth saving have become an "official" thing in our current pop culture, it sure brings to light the themes in the game, doesn't it? The whole game is about fighting against nihilism and apathy, and rooting for values that nowadays we take for granted or have even become "dismissive" of, like kindness, hope and trust. The game emphasizes that you're not an idiot for being compassionate, even if you've been kicked down and betrayed time and time again. You're not a wimp for believing in doing the right thing, and it takes strength to keep hoping even when fate is against you.

In other Pokemon news, I'm not surprised about the Hoenn remakes. I knew it would happen sooner or later, but it's nice to have it confirmed. :o Coincidentally, I started a game on a Ruby romhack called "Pokemon Snakewood." I haven't gotten past Petalburg Woods yet though, since I got occupied with Mystery Dungeon. Whoops.

My friend Aspen got a 2DS! Now I can send him goodies for both Animal Crossing and Pokemon! :3

I miss holding hedgies already. ;; There were two of them at the exotic petting place. One was energetic and the other kept curling up into a ball and hissing. I think the energetic one was feeling stressful after a few hours, so he was sensitive and hissed sometimes too. But I held him a lot, so I think he got used to me a bit. :3 He even pooed and completely missed me! XD

Alas, hedgehog kisses actually mean the hedgie is taste-testing your fingers, so I got chomped. But the bite mark looked like a smilie face! And it healed quickly. :3 Some people were afraid of holding the hedgies 'cause they didn't want to get stabbed. XD But I got to hold the energetic hedgie a lot and he even relaxed in my arms a few times. I managed to stroke his quills a bit when he was calm, and rubbed his belly a bit. Obviously I couldn't flip him over, but I got to feel his belly anyway. :3

I'm tired as hell and ten trillion things happened, including my friends getting two new ferrets: Cooper (after Sly Cooper) and Korra, respectively. I introduced Ryu to my friends and they absolutely love him. ;; I started a fic for Porn Battle, but I didn't save it so I ended up losing it. Fuck. Oh well, I only got as far as 108/9 words anyway.



Have some AC screenshots and QR Codes:

( Who are you, stranger with the red rose in your hand? )

( Mary goes to town. )



MY GOD STATIC WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.

Hilariously, Sydney doesn't care.

( Princess Anna of Arendelle visits Magicant, homoeroticism stirs between squirrels, and I earn Marshal and Static's photographs! :D )

( Ready! TO DIE )

There's a reason I'm cosplaying Princess Nehema too. It has to do with a new Animal Crossing screencap series I'm starting...

Hint: It has to do with Dream Addresses.
Hint 2: It has less to do with Valentine's Day and more with Halloween.

Coming this February: Puri's Creepy Crossings

areyougame

God, I would've made Mario/Kirby/Pokemon/Yume Nikki/Mother 1+2+3/Harvest Moon/Super Smash Bros/Ib/OFF/etc. prompts in a heartbeat. ;; Oh well. Still a lot of prompts I got my eye on. :3 Like the Kid Icarus ones... go figure, I still haven't played Uprising and I even own the damn game. Until Pokemon Bank comes out and Smogon uploads movesets for Gen VI, I don't have much to do in Pokemon except breeding and grinding. I have until the 30th to make claims... hm... *dundundun*

Again, sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been working my ass off in college (hence I gotta miss out on Poke Exchange. Sorry! ;;), and I gotta work on yet another paper. I got an A- for my Composition II assignment, and I'm not about to let my good record slip! :o

Next month promises to be full of fandomy goodness (including Yuletide!) to make up for my lack of productivity this year. Oh boy oh boy oh boy~

But then again, I didn't expect it to be. Let's see what we've got here!

Who's sexier?
The fans pick: Holli Wood

Holli Wood: 67%
Jessica Rabbit: 33%

*feigns drinking and collapsing her head on the counter*

Good thing this one poll is the minority. Most people love Jessica and have never heard of Holli, and it should stay that way. :P

I think i know nowwhy so many people don´t like Titanic : The animated Movie.. I mean, not just because of the story and such... Since i´m doing a comparison between both versions ( cut and uncut) i noticed maaaaany animation errors... i might do a indepth article about it, to show how many things are just poorly done and how it would have been possible to make it a better movie ( yes, there wold be ways for that!)
But i´m really happy that the other titanic movies are now higher on your list then this one.

Yeah, it just occurred to me that the story is bad and the animation sucks (and traced), but the fact that it's BLATANTLY OFFENSIVE BY DISMISSING TITANIC AS A LEGEND INSTEAD OF A REAL LIFE TRAGEDY doesn't come to mind. Not at all.

My Top 20 Saddest Childhood Animated Movie Moments... and Nice Guyism!

( Way to shame Esmeralda for not returning a man's crush, asshole. )

If he thinks Disney!Esmeralda is bad, hoo boy. Book!Esmeralda will drive him up the Chrysler building.

From the same person who hates Esmeralda, I find his reasons of why WALL-E is on his 10 Worst Animated Films list to be... rather flawed.

( Haters Gonna Hate! :D )

At first, I thought this was written by a 13-year-old. Turns out he's 18. *feigns drinking and collapsing her head on the counter... again*

This article is making me think about certain story-telling elements.

I don't necessarily agree with everything, but it does bring up some interesting points. Like how the "fantasy" elements in fantasy novels are usually depicted as "ZOMG-SOOOOO-MUCH BETTER!!11!1" than the real world, aka "boring ol' reality." The Hero's Journey has lately become a tale of leaving the "banal" world behind and embracing the supernatural. The author argues that this is the hero's way of "refusing to grow up."

Where I disagree is that while a Hero's Journey doesn't always have a "return," it doesn't mean that they're bashing reality. Take two of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales, "Thumbelina" and "The Little Mermaid." Thumbelina doesn't go back to her mom, and the mermaid doesn't go back to sea. But they're still bildungsromans in that they're newly formed "adults" trying to find their place in the world, with varying degrees of success. Thumbelina (and Disney's Ariel) make it, but the original mermaid wasn't so lucky. Their journeys are about finding a place they can return to.

That said, there's the treatment of adults, teens, and children in stories, and why I feel so alienated from a lot of YA and children's books lately.

There's this pervading feeling I'm getting that adults = bad, children = good. I know, I know, Adults Are Useless has been around since the beginning of time, but bear with me here. There's a lot of conflicting messages in society that vary from "Jesus, grow up." and "Childhood is the most magical age! I wish I were a kid again!" Hell, I've indulged a lot in the latter thinking. As a kid, I went back and forth between wanting to grow up or staying young forever. I'm almost 25 and I feel like I act younger than my age, and I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. I'm uncertain of who I am and I don't know everything like an adult "should." So when I read a YA or children's book that says, "Ugh, adults are stiff and unimaginative scum who are too old to understand anything, children are pure and awesome and know things older people can't possibly conceive!" I feel like a bunch of kids are frowning and pushing me off their sandbox saying, "Go away, you're grown up. We don't want you here anymore."

I'm not sure if I got the impression that adults were evil as a kid. When I was reading Dahl's books, the mean adults were punished because they were assholes, not necessarily because they were adults. You still had adults like Miss Honey and the Narrator's Grandmother from "The Witches" to look up, and I'm certain the bugs in "James and the Giant Peach" were grown-ups who adopted James. In Narnia, the adults weren't oblivious so much that I got to share a secret that only the Pevensies and I know. (That said, Lewis's dismissal of Susan in the last book pissed me off. How dare she try to build a life outside of Narnia, especially after the tragedy that befell her family!) In fact, through life, I got the impression that adults and children were capable of both good and evil.

I think that's part of why I love Lord of the Flies so much. Golding had the guts to say that not only can kids be bullies, they can be downright sadistic due to their undeveloped empathy. From what I learned in psychology, children have a "ME ME ME" mindset that makes it hard for them to understand complex emotions or see themselves in "another person's shoes." They're extremely literal. I still haven't finished reading Peter Pan, but I get a creepy vibe from Book!Peter because of his inability to grow up. To quote a review of the book: "Barrie loves the Child, but he does not hide its foolishness, its selfishness, its ignorance. The Child in this is almost pre-moral. They have some understanding of villainy, but do not grasp the virtue of a hero. Barrie deems a key attribute to being a child as being heartless." Hell, Battle Royale is engaging for me because it's about a bunch of high schoolers and the various "adult" choices they have to make against a violent dystopia.

While working on my novel, I found myself dealing a lot with the subject of childhood, nostalgia and growing up. In a way, a child who stops playing with a toy is an allegory for a toy beginning "adulthood." Eventually, you will be outgrown, and stop being played with. There's absolutely no stopping this, and that's okay. Now you have the freedom to learn, explore and grow, and that journey is never-ending. It's not easy, but life has its balance of ups and downs, and all of them worth experiencing. The book is about Ann & Andy's life after Marcella, and what happens to them. Maybe the novel is my way of helping myself adjust to adulthood and finally discover my place in the world. Hm.

DON'T MIND ME, JUST BABBLING.