All art is at once surface and symbol

Hey guys! Wanna know how infamously glitchy Sonic 2006 is? Here ya go!



I've been watching the LP of Sonic 2006 to pass the time when Jean wasn't reading Homestuck with me, and lately, I've been getting a strange sense of nostalgia from my time in Sonic fandom. Hell, after I talked to Sipp on Plurk, I felt inspired to make an RP account for E-102 Gamma from Sonic Adventure 1, and did it. I'll refine it and make icons for him later after I replay the game. Just... wow. I used to love Gamma. :o And I totally shipped him with Amy. I still do.

Aside from Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog fandom had a lot of "firsts" for me. My first serious crush on a fictional character (Shadow the Hedgehog, which I felt a lot of guilt for, mostly because I was scared of being a "rabid fangirl" and that I was gonna be labeled as a "furry", though I eventually stopped caring about the latter. :P Former, on the other hand... hoo boy), the first time I started receiving attention for my work in fandom (not BNF-status, but I've had a couple strangers who went up to me and said, "Hey, aren't you the one who wrote that one fic/that Sonadow essay at ship_manifesto?" and gave me warm, fuzzy feelings inside. Usually those fans and I became friends. ;;), and hell, even the first time I wrote smut... a looooooooong story which deserves its own entry. :P Gods, the first AMV I ever made was a Shadow the Hedgehog AMV using "Bliss" by Tori Amos. I think I lost it and never recovered it, which is kind of a shame, but then again, I made a couple other old Sonic AMVs too, haha. XD

It's kind of painful for me to look back on my years in Sonic fandom since I went from being a cheerful fangirl who did what she loved to being a paranoid worrywart who was concerned what people and older fans thought of her because she loved Shadow and Sonadow and felt "ostracized" because she enjoyed playing the newer (at the time) games as well as the classics. When I look back on them now, Sonic Heroes and the games after them are crappy. Yet even knowing games like Shadow the Hedgehog are horrendously and painfully cheesy and has all these flaws and tries way too hard to be hardcore ("Where's that DAMN 4th Chaos Emerald!? DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN WATCH ME SAY DAMN."), I get a sense of guilty pleasure from them due to the time I spent with friends in fandom. Under normal circumstances, I would've found a character like Silver stupid and annoying, and today I really wish he didn't have to be another hedgehog, but... ngggh. Fucking Narm Charm. gjdskgjdksg

My heart will always belong to Sonic Adventure 2 and the earlier games like Sonic CD and S3&K though. Fuck yes.

I don't get me started how much I whined about Sonic elitists. It's like I spent the last part of my active years of Sonic fandom feeling "persecuted" and miserable, and it shows in the last few Sonadow fics I written. To the point I think my friends were calling me out for it. When I think about it, the more I want to strangle my past self. I was so concerned with being a "good" Shadow and Sonadow fan, even in the eyes of people who didn't like them, and... gdhskjghdkjsgh. I even gotten into fights with a couple friends about this, and lost one of them because of it. I spent too much time worrying about what other people thought. You can see why this was painful for me to think about. I feel like Karkat from Homestuck with his self-loathing and how much he detests his past self for being so moronic, 'cause I'm feeling exactly the same way when I look at myself in my late years of Sonic fandom.

As my Sonic obsession waned into hiatus (a little before I got into Earthbound), I finally got around to watching SatAM despite feeling "poisoned" and what do you know, I loved it. I started to mellow down, thank god, and stuck around to spazz about the series for a while. Sonic/Sally became my favorite het pairing for Sonic, I shipped Bunnie/Rotor, and it was around the time the Sonic Kink Meme (kinkyclosetzone, which I helped name) opened. It's pretty much dead now, I think. XD The other day, my friend and I were talking about robot sex ("How does it work? Transformers fandom is divided over this."), and though she wasn't much familiar with the fandom, I linked her to my favorite Shadow/Omega fic (NSFW, despite wires and robotics) for referential purposes. (Her response: "Hee hee. Code-fondling.")

So yesterday, I decided to browse the kink meme to read old fills. I came across an old request of mine, which wanted Sonic/Griff from the "Warp Sonic" SatAM episode. I went on, expecting nobody answered that one ever, except... bam. A fill. Written two months after I left it. And... it's fucking incredible. (NSFW) I don't know how I never saw that fic in my LJ message box, but it's been about three years before I finally read this fic. Even though the writer will probably never know my thanks, I left it anyway. God, I wonder if I should've de-anon'd myself. But just... I'M FEELING SO MUCH EMOTION. WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU HAVE ALL MY LOVE IN THE WORLD. ;; I wonder if it's even someone I know, though I don't think I recognize the style. I can't help but feel guilty somehow. But still... anon, whoever you are. Thank you.

Reading that fic meant a lot to me, and I've been feeling sort of crummy lately. Namely about my creativity (or lack of it).

Sometimes, I wonder if ought to finish that humongous Sonadow fic I started that was going to be one of my fandom magnum opuses. Post-SA2, Shadow was caught in space and taken inside a hidden lab in the Mystic Ruins run entirely by a sentient supercomputer named P.A.N.D.O.R.A. PANDORA likes to build creepy advanced robots, including the Leviathan, and has experimented on an unconscious Shadow for three years. Shadow wakes up before he's "ready" and steals a Chaos Emerald one of the robots brought in and escaped. Sonic, having since moved on, is troubled why he still remembers a rival he barely knew. Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman wants to seek out PANDORA and claim the lost lab and the creations inside for his own. Shit goes down in Mystic Ruins and Sonic chases Dr. Eggman. The Leviathan is trying to hunt Shadow, and the two hedgehogs meet again... Cue "WTF!?" In short, Sonic and friends must stop Eggman while figuring out what the hell is up with the PANDORA business and its connection to Shadow. Sonic & Shadow begrudgingly work together, and end up more tangled in each another than they'd like to admit, playing right into PANDORA's logic-minded hand...

If I stopped to work on it, would I feel closure? Sometimes I wonder if I should save it as maybe a future original work, but the story is clearly written to be for the Sonic universe. To take out all the Sonic essence would be robbing it of its soul. I will never be able to unsee it as something that used to be "about Sonic." I'm like this with my other incomplete big fanfic projects I started too. Augh.

tl;dr: Puri was a self-pitying paranoid moron for her latter years in Sonic fandom, and is now wibbling over old crap and a lovely fic featuring a super obscure pairing someone left her in a time capsule. She then goes on to fret about her own fanfiction again. WHOO SELF-DEPRECATION

Damn blue hedgehogs giving me feelings.

From sonicstuff:

"Its sonic 1 but with omochao as your stalker. if you do the following he will annoy the hell out of you:

• Collecting Rings


• Item Monitors (doubly bad, as each individual item inside will also bring up a message)


• Invincibility Running Out


• Power Sneakers Running Out


• Extra Lives


• Destroying Badniks


• Bouncing on Springs


• Stepping on or Pushing Objects on Buttons


• Getting Hit


• Getting Killed


• Drowning


• Getting Game Over (will also eject you from the level and reset your saved Emerald Count)


• Getting Time Over (will also eject you from the level)


• Touching Lamp Posts


• Getting the Giant Ring (without a protection shield)


• Finishing the Act (without a protection shield)


• Finishing the Zone (without a protection shield)


• Hitting the Boss (without a protection shield)


• Defeating the Boss (without a protection shield)


• Getting in that Last Hit (without a protection shield)


• Collecting a Chaos Emerald


• Touching a GOAL Sign

Now heres where it gets worse. Each time you do any of the following above, the jingle (which is the 1-up theme) gets longer and longer until you can't take it anymore. The goal of this game is simple: Beat Sonic 1 without making the little bastard talk at all!

Already people are posting their perfect runs which i haven't been able to do yet.

If you are interested, hit up the Hack's wiki page and download it:
http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_OmoChao_Edition"

I finished Mauriiiiiiiiiiiiiice! And I immediately jumped on the chance to watch the movie too. I THINK IT'S TIME FOR A REVIEW.

"Set in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow him through public school and to Cambridge, and on into his father's firm, Hill and Hall, Stock Brokers. In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional young man in almost every way, "stepping into the niche that England had prepared for him": except that he is homosexual.

Written during 1913 and 1914, immediately after Howards End, and not published until 1971, Maurice was ahead of its time not only in its theme but in its affirmation that love between men can be happy."



( Oh boy! Indepth rambling, complete with spoilers! )

What do you know? The entire movie is up on YouTube! It gets slow-paced at times, it being a period film and all, and a little long (2 hours and 20 min) but if you've got plenty of spare time, check it out. :o I do warn you though, while it's a relatively tasteful film (kisses and men sharing a bed, nothing too scary), there are a rare couple scenes where there's male frontal nudity, so... not entirely SFW. ("Ahhh, just getting comfy after 70 minutes in the Edwardian life of uppity British people... HOLY DANGLING PENIS BATMAN")

Here's Part 1. You can easily find the rest of the movie on the sidebar. :3

I NEED THIS GAME IN MY LIFE. You fight an airplane inside an airplane. And later, a cyborg Babe Ruth. FUCK YEAH.

Jean and I watched the first two episodes of an Anime called No. 6~ ♥ Here's a synopsis:

"Sion is a bright teenager living a comfortable and promising life inside No. 6, one of this six remaining city-states created by The Babylon Treaty after the last great war devastated the world. On the rainy evening of his twelfth birthday, he meets a savvy adolescent who calls himself "Nezumi" (Rat) and is desperately trying to run away from the authorities. For helping a fugitive of the state, Sion is stripped of all his privileges. Four years later, they meet once again. For better or for worse, Sion is about to unravel the secrets guarded deep inside No. 6."

It's also the gayest, cutest thing ever. And there's a canon kiss in one of the original novels. :3 I hope they don't skimp this out for the Anime. Sion and Nezumi are so sweet together. ;; HAND-HOLDING. HAND-HOLDING EVERYWHERE. They even have a waltz! :3 Dystopia and adorable BL ftw.

Scary bees though. Ack. D: NOT THE BEES!!!

I downloaded all 12 episodes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica! I'M CATCHING UP WITH ANIME I WANT TO WATCH, WHOO. This show promises me a deconstruction of the Magical Girl along with lots of Nightmare Fuel and funky Yume Nikki-esque imagery. So far, it's delivering~ ♥

I also wanna download Princess Tutu and Toward the Terra. I heard good things about Tiger & Bunny and Simoun from a friend, and I wanna watch Utena so bad. ;; /Yes, being behind on practically everything that could possibly interest me in Anime is probably why I've been so depressed, ha.

My birthday's in 12 days. I'm so utterly shy when it comes to asking for gifts though. I don't want to seem too pushy or ask for too many expensive things. It makes me feel selfish, even if it's for birthday or Christmas. ^^;;; I'm asking for ponies from my IRL friends so my Fluttershy won't be lonely. Puri would love fanart for her birthday (Andy & Marius, waaaah), but since I haven't posted a whole lot of novel stuff on my journal or shown what a lot of my characters look like really (let alone Marius), I'm fine with just pictures of Raggedy Ann & Andy to keep nearby while I write. I'd be interested in how the artists on my flist interpret them. :o

Grimsley/Marshal, fic or art, would be nice too. If all else fails, anything involving my favorite Pokemon like Shaymin, Togekiss, or my Gen V favorites like Sigilyph, Lilligant, Bisharp, and Scraggy & Scrafty~ ♥

Title: I Can Tell Time By the Moon
Fandom: Raggedy Ann & Andy (except Andy's nowhere here. :P)
Prompt: Death
Medium: VID
Music: Michael Crawford - Please Wake Up
Length: 2:40
Format: .avi
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: A fanvid set to two Raggedy Ann cartoons, based on the real-life tragedy of Johnny Gruelle and his daughter Marcella.

( Lengthy explaination here. )

( The video itself! )
( Download link )

So um... stuff. My cousin's wedding was a success! It was fun and light-hearted, and not your traditional wedding either, according to my Mom and relatives. There was boogie-ing down the aisle and later everyone had a nice party and dinner at the recession. When it was time for the bouquet toss, Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" was playing as the signal. :o

House on the Rock was so worth it! Mom and my brother and I had to hurry so we could have the full tour before it closed, but what I got to see was wow. I'd totally go again to catch what I've missed! Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. :o There was a room where newspaper articles of major disasters like the Hindenburg Disaster and the sinking of the Titanic were hung on their own frames. It was kind of spooky, especially when you were surrounded by happy, lighthearted aircraft memorabilia. :o

( Tour of House on the Rock beneath the cut! Photos inside! :D )

Edit: And after spending an hour organizing my pictures, nearly my entire post got cut off. D: dhgkjsghkjdsghkjdgh I have more House on the Rock stuff though, nom. Apparently I'm lacking sleep because I don't know how the hell I suddenly lost half of everything. D:

This scene from Alice is even sadder than I remembered.



Don't mind me. I just wanted to update my journal with something other than "I feel miserable, so I'm going to shut up for a while" nonsense.

I completely forgotten Luigi walked shirtless in the desert in the Mario movie. Holy crap, there's even close-ups! In broad daylight!

Day 7. A song/artist that invariably sparks your creativity

I have entire playlists for my novels, different characters, shippings, FSTs, horror, smut scenes... I've got a song for everything~ ♥ And there's things like Dream Theater - Pull Me Under whose full 8:22 minutes get me pumped and going. 8)

Frou Frou and Imogen Heap? Prominent. Her music is like my Reading Rainbow~



See this famous AMV? That's what inspiration looks like.

One of my all-time favorite songs is Come Here Boy. It's one of those magical songs I can imagine some mystical being coming to my window to serenade me with as he takes my hand and dances with me in the starry sky. ;; It touches the little girl in me that's dreamed of adventure and love and fascinating worlds beyond the imagination, and no matter where I go, I can get there with that sort of music. ;; (I'm no stranger in your dreams...) Let Go is another favorite of mine, for different reasons. Just something to me to wear my cool sunglasses to and be all "Deal with it." 8)

The Walk and Glittering Cloud (Plague of Locusts) remind me of Braid, one of the two main characters of my incomplete NaNoWriMo '09 novel, Martryoshka (inspired by Eversion, Lovecraft, and Poe). Braid is a bizarre scarecrow-like being who actually came to existence as a "glitch" that appeared in the space between dimensions. He can move between worlds without his body/soul altering, and his wandering kinda urm... messed things up for him and everyone else, since he technically shouldn't exist. It sucks being Braid.

What kind of scene do I need to write? Fluffy? Maybe A New Kind of Love or Goodnight & Go. Depressing? The Dumbing Down of Love. Creepy? Psychobabble. Aha! fits in there somewhere.

( 30 Day Music Meme )

I feel tempted to start a new game on White, simply because I want to relive the entire experience again with a different team. Bu-But... I like imported a million Pokemon already. And I wouldn't be able to go to Liberty Island anymore. And I don't wanna lose my Lilligant and my DW!Espeon. Just... *baw* GIVE ME A SPARE B/W CARTRIDGE OR SOMETHING. Just not a rom 'cause then I wouldn't be able to import my Pokemon, I don't believe. :(

I'm breeding Larvestas so I can EV train a killer moth. I hatched the Ranger egg and got the Level 70 Volcarona. Now imagine having that thing from scratch. My god, we'll blot out the sun. I'll EV train the Gothita Carol gave me too, even though it's stuck with Frisk instead of Shadow Tag. :( This is why I need Dream World. But I'll be training the ones that don't need the DW abilities or require a bunch of ridiculous breeding. (That's for later. :P XD) Part of me wants to EV train Hoenn-mon like Swampert (I love Swampert. Emerald taught me this is my favorite Hoenn starter, hands down. Imagine that, other water starters are allowed to share Blastoise's throne after all! :o) and Breloom, but arrrrrrgh, there's no perfect experience and bonding for that than when the R/S remakes come out. D: *cries* WHAT TO DO I'M TORN.

Apparently my Darkrai and I are even bigger bros in Unova than we were in Sinnoh and Johto. Funky. :o Maybe it's 'cause I love the way Darkrai's sprite moves in B/W when I send him out in battle. Delicious. 8) Gotta love the animation for Dark Void too! Darkrai is probably my favorite Ubermon to use. I just love the strategy involved: Put mon to sleep with Dark Void. Bad Dreams starts sucking their health up. Use Nightmare to double the effect. Cackle as you smack them with Dark Pulse as your opponent literally faints with fear. Darkrai needs to hang with my Leech Seed team or something. I love slowly sapping my opponent's HP with each turn! XDDD

Wow, I rambled a lot about Pokemon. Back to the Music Meme!

Day 3. A song/artist that never fails to cheer you up

That's easy! Aqua and Toy Box. Two bouncy artists that always make me smile. I remember Aqua from a random CD I heard a couple times in my childhood. Feeling gloomy? All I gotta do is tune in to Happy Boys and Girls and Cartoon Heroes. As for Toy Box, they do stuff that sounds similar that's silly and fun. Stuff like Tarzan & Jane, The Sailor Song and The Wizard of Oz. :3

Also The Lonely Island. I'M ON A BOAT MUTHAFUCKA DON'T YOU EVER FORGET. Four Words: Dick in a Box. Fuck yes.

I adore adore adore adore Life is Like a Boat by Rie Fu. I didn't even know it was an ending song to Bleach at first. It was just seamless and beautiful (plus they're really good at singing English. :o) and whenever I was just feeling grumpy, it reminded me of the friends I've made and the gratitude I feel for them, and just the... growth of this song. (I want you to know who I really am // I never thought I'd feel this way about you // And if you ever need someone to come along // I will follow you and keep you strong) Makes me wibble in a good way. Indeed. ;D



...Shit. I almost forgot Weird Al Yankovic.

Enjoy the cheeriness while you can! Tomorrow, get ready to grab tissues. XD

( 30 Day Music Meme )