All art is at once surface and symbol

Catching up on Evangelion while playing Blue Kaizo is giving me weird dreams, and I'm not even at the darker episodes of Eva yet.

I had a dream AVGN was reviewing The Rescuers for the NES, except it doesn't really act like an NES game at all, let alone have much to do with The Rescuers. Basically, you play as Penny and run away aboard a ship. Each level you're in a storm and facing off against the sky, where the clouds form a variety of nightmare fuel monsters (which get creepier and stronger with each level) that threaten to drown you or throw you overboard. The entire soundtrack is Tori Amos music, with one song for each level. In fact, most of the review is gushing about how hardcore Tori is rather than the game itself. :P

I want a psychological horror game like that now. Where you're a runaway kid facing your demons at sea, I mean.

I miss The Rescuers. Particularly because I watched a video about how underrated Down Under is and I wholeheartedly agree. I'm sad we'll never have a third Rescuers movie... but at the same time, I'm glad both movies are relatively ignored by Disney and not subject to ~ * ~ The Disney Brand ~ * ~ and their other current garbage that sucks the soul and passion out of their movies. Heaven forbid they ever try to do a live-action remake (shudder). There's a reason animation exists as a medium; I never watched the Stuart Little movies because the live-action setting with a talking CGI mouse was too fucking weird for me. Modern Disney dunking on traditional animation aside, you just know they'd butcher Miss Bianca and Bernard's characters and turn the former into a Catty Girlboss TM. D: She's already feminist, leave her alone! (Oh wait, they are leaving her alone. Good. Let it stay that way)

Funny how dreams make me nostalgic for weird things. Hmm.

So, I think I have enough songs for a fanmix (we called 'em "FSTs" in the ol' days of Livejournal) so I'm checking out how 8tracks works to see if I can get one ready. Which leads me to a rant about something that annoys me about 8tracks.

The biggest problem I have with 8tracks is I can't see the tracklist. I have to listen to the entire fanmix first, and I'm only allowed a certain number of skips. What if there's an artist I don't like? I wouldn't know they're there until it's too late. Sometimes I want to look at what other songs people have for Frisk, Chara, etc. So that I, a fanmixer, don't end up using the same songs everyone and their mother already uses and associates with Frisk, Chara, etc.

I don't have time to listen to entire soundtracks. JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN TRACKLIST AND I'LL DECIDE IF I WANT TO LISTEN OR NOT. This is what I really miss from the FST days on Livejournal. YOU HAD A DAMN TRACKLIST. At least some 8tracks fanmixes are advertised on tumblr posts with a tracklist included, saving me a lot of time. Still, it's extremely frustrating.

"But Puri, the whole point of 8tracks is to discover new music! You can't do that if you have immediate access to tracklists!"

DON'T TELL ME HOW I SHOULD LISTEN TO MUSIC.

Sometimes, if I see artists I like on the fanmix? I may be encouraged to listen to the others. And I haven't heard every single song by my favorite artists, especially if they've got a HUGE library like say, Tori Amos or The Beatles. So finding songs that remind me of a character or pairing by an artist I like that got buried beneath Archive Panic is a cool thing. Ex. I hadn't registered "For Good" from the Wicked musical as a Friskriel song until someone pointed it out and sang a cover for it. Even if it's a song I already have, I could agree with the fanmixer's choices and I'd want to know what else they've got. Back when fst was still active, I used to comb the archive for FSTs that had at least one song by an artist I liked, such as Patrick Wolf or AniDiFranco or Bjork. That's how I got into their music, from little trickles that people would include on FSTs. Didn't matter if I didn't know the fandom. I'd look up, see they have a song by Garbage or Say Anything I hadn't heard yet, and pounce on it like a cat with a new ball of yarn or a laser pointer dot.

And this way, I have something to associate the song with to remember it by, as opposed to aimlessly wandering iTunes. Ex. I have this gorgeous male cover of "I Hope You Dance" (done by Ronan Keating) I got it off of some random shippy Iruka/Sakura FST or something. I wouldn't know anything about the fandom or pairing at all, but I'd go, "Oh hey, I got that song from a random Naruto FST! :D"

Hell, I can tell you the FST I was introduced to Patrick Wolf from. It was for Ken Ichijouji from the second season of Digimon. Looking through the tracklist, I saw "Magpie" along with a few sample lyrics. I thought, "Hey, that looks pretty" and downloaded it. I was blown away. Like, from the first note.

( Reaction .gifs? Oh yeah. Required. )

Where was I? Oh, right. I can't really do that anymore on 8tracks. I'm forced to go blind with the exceptions of a few artist names in the tags instead. THANKS 8TRACKS.

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...

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. You can't use the artist I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "My life, according to (artist name)."


Pick your Artist: Tori Amos

Describe yourself: Flying Dutchman
How do you feel: Wednesday
Describe where you currently live: Horses
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Black Dove (January)
Your favorite form of transportation: Sleeps With Butterflies
Your best friend: Muhammad My Friend
You and your best friends are: Devils & Gods
What's the weather like: Father Lucifer
Favorite time of day: Twinkle
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Upside Down
What is life to you: Yes, Anastasia
Your relationship: Take Me With You
Your fear: Blood Roses
What is the best advice you have to give: Mary
Thought for the Day: Girl Disappearing
How I would like to die: Carry
My soul's present condition: Girl
My motto: Pandora's Aquarium

Hey nightflightnightflight! Ninten came in the mail today. He's so cute! ;; I've set him up in my room so I can see his smiling face greeting me~ ♥ Thank you so much!

I saw a guy at the library who looked like Marius! Had the same hair style, though he was blond instead of brunette. He even had a vest! I think he was helping an 8-year-old boy with his homework or something. Aww. I would've loved to take a picture of him, though I don't want him to feel like I'm stalking him. Your looks just remind me of one of my novel characters, that's all! ;;

Other than that, I'm just feeling really blah. I want to play Animal Crossing: New Leaf with everyone else, but I don't have a 3DS yet. :( I could watch more Anime, but everytime I do, I'm always having trouble getting the damn TV to work, and then after that, figuring out which remote lets you move between DVD options. Ugh. That and my Mom and Dad watch TV all the time, so I could get kicked out at any moment. This goddamn sucks.

Why is it that I get fic ideas for Kink Bingo when I'm not in Kink Bingo, then as soon as I sign up for a round, my motivation dries up like a puddle in a desert? 'Cause I wanna do an "OFF" fic where Zacharie gives the Judge a bath (and maybe Valerie) for the washing/cleaning square. I've also been listening to a lot of Radiohead because it provides an OFFy atmosphere.

Back to sleep until tomorrow then.

(DW wouldn't let me crosspost this entry for some reason. Bleeeegh)