(//_-) ← emo bang

Just So You Aren't Caught Unawares...

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 05:17:45 GMT

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth is coming up! If you don't know what that is, it's basically 3 weeks of making Dreamwidth-only content to create more activity and love for the site. If possible, it's encouraged to link to Dreamwidth posts/communities/etc. on other sites to make people more interested in the place :] But you don't have to do that, or really anything if you don't want to, obviously. It runs from April 25th to May 15th. You can see what other people plan on doing @3weeks4dreamwidth.

As for me, among other things, I plan on encouraging more activity in my communities. So if you like visual kei or Japanese rock music or really edgy aesthetics or your demon hand that thirsts for blood, you should join vkotd if you haven't already. I'm going to be holding a new challenge soon :3 And by the end of it you may be... rewarded. Or not. Depends.

Also I made joseimuke on impulse the other day, which is completely unasked for and blank, but if you like shoujo and josei animanga or otome games or a little BL or some yuri or those phone games where the cast is 99% bishounen/seinen or etc. feel free to join early and see what I'm cooking. Everything you see there right now is very provisional.

Join my comms 🙏🏾 Make your friends join my comms 🙏🏾 Make your friends' friends join my comms 🙏🏾 Or don't, it's all good. I just want more activity on Dreamwidth -- so if you want to start a community, you should! Now's a pretty good time to start making one. Anyone else got plans for 3w4dw?

comments

Classical Chinese for the Layperson

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 04:42:32 GMT

Having a fun time with this website on classical Chinese for people who are studying it or are just really nosy. I'm glad to say I'm the latter and I'm having a blast ^o^ I really love using the little Chinese I know, plus sometimes the Japanese, plus obviously my English knowledge to read the translation and reverse-engineer how classical Chinese grammar probably works. Hope you enjoy the site too!!

comments

twas a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:48:13 GMT

Title: Fight Club (1999)
Type: Movie
Poor Summary: Me when I start an underground boxing ring and become a terrorist because I'm bored
Why Did I Watch This??: Because everyone else has 🙂‍↕️ It's part of my journey to become a real human.
Strongest Aspect: Probably not actually the strongest, but I thought the CGI looked really cool.
Favorite Part: Not sure I have one... I just liked the entire movie. The twist reveal?
Least Favorite Part: None, but I suspect that during some rewatches I'll skip the first part of the movie, all the way up to when our protagonist meets Tyler.
Blahblah: These are the most intricate rituals which allow one to touch the skin of other men ever constructed.

Brad Pitt at the end of the movie looks like white Michael B. Jordan. Someone please agree with me.

Anyways, I see now why you might want to avoid a guy who says this is his favorite movie 😭 I would gladly rewatch it though; shit was crazy. And I want to read the book because I'm so curious how some of the things in the movie would work in writing.

comments

Haters Will Say "Dude, It's Already the End of March"

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 07:29:46 GMT

But I'm doing my February summary anyways! I've gone 2 weeks without posting, which is unusual for me and I don't like it. (>posts too often >feels bad >posts too little >also feels bad >???) I fell behind on my reading page and I didn't want to keep posting while not keeping up with everyone else. I didn't want anyone to think I was ignoring them because I secretly hate them or something. I also read all the replies in my inbox and didn't reply to them sooner because...? I don't even know. I do tend to not reply to things immediately because I don't want to seem weird by responding too fast, but after 24 hours I don't really have an excuse.

So I've decided I should post whenever I want to and not worry about other people thinking I hate them. (We're not 16 anymore, if you feel unloved just say something or go distract yourself.) I should reply to things as soon as I read them and have thoughts on the matter, and I added everyone's feeds to my RSS reader so I can't miss anything. If I have access to your locked posts then I added you to my bookmarks to remember to check in on those too. So there, so no more radio silence from me unless I'm actually going through it.
( What I Did )
( What I'm Going to Do These Last 10 Days of March (lol) )
Oh yeah, and I meant to say this way back at the end of the Snowflake Challenge: If we've spoken before, feel free to ask for access. Good for if you want more entries on your reading page, bad for if you hate things written with less-than-perfect grammar and which give you no valuable knowledge whatsoever.

comments

Sometimes Things Are Highly Rated Because They Are Good

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 10:22:42 GMT

Title: Malcolm X (1992)
Type: 🎥
Genre: Biopic, History, Drama
Poor Summary: You know who Malcolm X is. If you don't, then basicallyyy he's a USian Civil Rights leader who preached black pride, self-defense, economic independence, conversion to Islam, etc. (along with other more insane things due to the nature of The Nation of Islam.) He used to be against segregation because he didn't think black people could ever get along with their enemies, but after performing the Hajj and feeling the unity of Muslims of all colors he changed his mind on calling all white people devils and his anti-integration stance. Unfortunately, he was assassinated not even a full year later in front of an audience which included his wife and daughters.

Why Did I Watch This??: I need to watch more Black movies, and this one had high ratings + I like history and was interested in the subject matter. I probably should've watched it last month though ^_^; I probably should've tried to watch like 5 Black movies last month, but the idea never came to mind. But hey! I can do that any month I like. Black history is always relevant.
Strongest Aspect: I'm not a movie guy, so don't expect big words from me. #1 is the colors. #2 is Malcolm's own words.
Favorite Part: Nelson Mandela at the end delivering part of a speech by Mr. X, and the cut to footage of Malcolm X finishing it. Did you know the cut was because Mandela just got out of jail and he didn't want to get in trouble with South Africa's government by saying anything that could be seen as encouraging violence? He didn't want that soundbite to be out there. So Spike Lee "got" Malcolm to say "... by any means necessary" himself.
Least Favorite Part: I don't have one. Whole movie was good, and that shit was 3.5 hours long LMAO. If I'm being held at gunpoint to give an answer, I guess the pilgrimage part didn't particularly excite me, but I think that's a skill issue on my part and not reflective of that... "arc" ? ???
( yap follows )

comments

The Legend of Luoxiaohei: Sword Art Online

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 19:14:52 GMT

The @ in the corner is of the YouTube channel I watched this on.
Title: The Legend of Luoxiaohei: The Gate of All Living Beings / 罗小黑战记众生之门 / Luo Xiaohei Zhan Ji: Zhongsheng Zhi Men
Year: 2021, 2 years after the first movie and a decade after the first season.
Type: ONA (thank you bilibili)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural
Poor Summary: In the first season, Luo Xiaobai (Little White) finds a black cat and brings it home, naming it Xiaohei (Little Black). Unbeknowst to her, the strange cat is actually a spirit/elf/demon/depends on the translation who is on an important mission!! If he successfully completes it, he can become an Executor (less violent than it sounds. I guess it's kind of like Spirit World Special Ops?) and work alongside with his absurdly overpowered master. Lots of shots displaying the beauty of nature and everyday life interspersed by breathtakingly fast action scenes follow. This season is about his final mission, in which he and the friends he's made along the way have to >_> enter a VR game >_> which is popular among both humans and spirits >_> and he has to like do missions in it or something IDK I don't remember his exact mission because I hate when cartoons or comics are video games. #LetGamesBeGames

Why Did I Watch This??: Loved the movies so much I decided I have to have the full scoop on this little cat, so I intend to check out all the other media from the same series too.
Strongest Aspect: Just like the movies and first season, the animation is great and the art style is too cute <3 I really really love the art of this series.
Favorite Part: Definitely the last episode or 3, because the entire concept of the season had me worried it was gonna be bad and it WAS kinda of me~h until we finally got some major asskicking involved, as well as the master-father finally showing his face(!! the show had been avoiding showing him like he's some kind of final boss, even if I know full well what he's like from the movie) and having a very very very sweet moment with his student-son who lowkey has separation anxiety at his big age.
Least Favorite Part: How often Shanxin had to infodump about how the world works 😭 Even the show itself acknowledged it was all boring at some point. At least they're aware?
( yap follows )

comments

フライデーファイブの時間

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 01:38:15 GMT

No he escrito en español hace un tiempo así que voy a escribir un media en español y un media en japonés. Original aquí.

1. 今週は何が嬉しくしましたか？
ニューカニーは４周年イベントを行われてる。それに、（お金が恥ずかしいくらいかかったけど、）新しいエドモンドカードを取った。いっぱいエドくんを見ることができてよかった。

2. ¿Qué te puso triste?
Ummmmmm Quise trabajar para la biblioteca pero hizo la aplicación incorrectamente y tal vez sea demasiado tarde para corregirlo. Deseo que conseguar el trabajo de todos modos pero... Ughhh Por favor Dios no quiero trabajar en ventas otra vez porfaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

3.今週は何が憤ろしくしましたか？
特に何も～

4. ¿Que esperas con ansias dentro de la semana que viene?
*buscar en mi bujo* Progeso en mi videojuego que estoy haciendo, aprender mas bailes, mirar las películas, conseguir un auto finalmente (pero no voy a tenerlo hasta dos semanas pasan).... Eso es todo.

5. 来週はたのしみにしていないことがありますか？
とくになーにもっ。全部うまくいっていていい気分があるよ✰

comments

Did Somebody Ask For 35 Song Reccs? (crickets)

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 02:02:36 GMT

In January my musical focus was popular songs in Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin (although other Chinese languages may have snuck in), and in February my musical focus was songs in those languages from genres I like specifically. I discovered so many songs that I didn't even know which to DM to my usual music buddy -- and sending all of them would only result in threats on my life. But then I remembered I have a blog. So now I get to put on not just her, but all of you. Welcome to my twisted playlist.

Probably unnecessary to say, but I feel like apologizing anyways: None of these songs are very niche or underground, and maybe some of you have known some of these songs or artists for a looooooong time. I'm aware that I'm not sharing anything particularly wild. I just wanted to cast a wide net and see what artists I should already know but don't, and later I can dig deeper. Especially for the Spanish and Mandarin/Chinese music scene. (I think I have "rare Japanese music" covered, but still I could listen to more popular songs too.)

R&B ft. 2 Hip Hop Songs

I'll be there by Tina ❤ Girl's Night by Crystal Kay ❤ Di Da Di by CoCo Lee ❤ Yǒngbào by FeiFei Ou-Yang ❤ I'm Sorry by John-Hoon ❤ Love, Day After Tomorrow by Mai Kuraki ❤ Hi no Ataru Basho by MISIA ❤ 1977 by Ana Tijoux ❤ miss you by m-flo

⮩ Yongbao sounds so good but every time I look at the album art I go "damn that's crazy" TT

Rock

Lamento Boliviano by Enanitos Verdes ⯍ Los Imanes by Odisseo ⯍ Francés Limón by Enanitos Verdes ⯍ Amárrame by Mon Laferte & Juanes ⯍ De Música Ligera by Soda Stereo ⯍ My Dear by L'arc~en~Ciel ⯍ Me Gustas Tu by Manu Chao ⯍ Robinson by SPITZ ⯍ Swallowtail Butterfly～Ai no Uta～ by YEN TOWN BAND

⮩ The singer in Frances Limon sings like he is gently holding my face. I really like singing this song too <3

Pop and Electronic

Super Star by S.H.E. ✿ A.I.N.Y. by G.E.M. ✿ To My Love - Tainy Remix by Bomba Estéreo & Tainy ✿ Roman Hikou by Kome Kome Club ✿ Kimi ga Iru Dake de by Kome Kome Club ✿ Traición by Miranda! ✿ Tèwù J by Jolin Tsai ✿ Ai Ni by Cyndi Wang ✿ Xué Māo Jiào by Xiao Panpan & Xiao Fengfeng ✿ Jì Míng Yuè by SING Nǚ Tuán ✿ White Love by SPEED ✿ Momoiro Kataomoi by Aya Matsuura ✿ Chokotto Love by Petitmoni ✿ Ren'ai Revolution 21 by Momokawa Tomomi & 9LoveJ Executive ✿ Kaze no Tadoritsuku Basho by AYANO & Key ✿ Bravely You by Lia & Key ✿ Hellokittybalahcurryhellokittyoishii by babyMINT

⮩ This is too many pop songs. Please take my alt card away.
⮩ Ai Ni is a cover of this, which I heard first years ago and is probably the original unless there's a secret older version. Two cakes!
⮩ Ji Ming Yue has an equally as good English version.
⮩ White Love by SPEED is a crazy combination of words, but they mean snow. It's a winter love song. And the group's name is just very #Y2K in a way.
⮩ Someone posted Momoiro Kataomoi's MV once, and I watched a little bit of it and thought "hmmmm. Cute, but not the best." That was clearly the thought process of a complete fool, because the song is great and I dunno what I was on the first time I heard it. I love the little wind-up into the chorus.
⮩ Ren'ai Revolution 21 is a mix of a Morning Musume song, which I still have not heard.
⮩ Hellokittybalahcurryhellokittyoishii is super catchy in a way that's really obvious, so I'm mad that it worked. Whether I actually like it or not doesn't matter when I can't stop saying Hellokittybalahcurryhellokittyoishii. babyMINT makes some really interesting-sounding songs, so if you have time to waste you should listen to 2023 : BBMeme ODYSSEY or another one of their popular songs.

comments

Another Good Anti-AI Argument By Someone Who Uses Their Brain

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:30:42 GMT

LLM Slop Will Make Us Antisocial - Ruminations on IFComp 2025

Many LLM users are indeed not interested in playing others' work; all they want is people to play theirs, with no compensation or gratitude.

I'm surprised this is my first time seeing it brought up since it seems so obvious now that I've read about it. Even beyond the environmental or economic damage, people who make AI art flood communities they don't even really care about with crap, and then they don't even want to hear anything about it but praise.

Kastel's blog post is well written and thought out as usual; you should add Mimidoshima to your RSS reader if you haven't!

comments

Snowflake Challenge #15

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:22:58 GMT

Challenge #15: How Did the Fandom Snowflake Challenge Go?
I liked having a reason to talk about the things I like prompted. I met some cool people, and even became mutuals with at least one, so that's great and the Snowflake Challenge wasn't a complete bust. All in all I think it went well for me! And I'm really glad this challenge has been held annually for so long.

This is a personal skill issue, but making such long posts so often made me feel annoying. (The length of the posts is a choice but I'm talkative when given the chance to be, so...) I might not participate next year, or I will only via commenting, but that doesn't mean I think it's bad.

One thing: I know it didn't do well in the polls, but I think having Grant a Wish as a challenge is a good idea and it should stay. People should not only ask for things, but give too. And I'm not just saying that out of greed, because I didn't have any of mine granted. SPEAKING OF, I didn't write about it but I did grant at least 3 wishes, so please include in the record that I completed Challenge #11 too ☝🏾

Thanks to the mods, volunteers, and my subscribers for sticking around! ❄️

comments

But when is the release date!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:33:36 GMT

From Twitter @/SugoiLITE

@/SugoiLITE
Kyoko Hikawa's 90s Shoujo Fantasy Manga "FROM FAR AWAY" (Kanata Kara) will be receiving an ANIME ADAPTATION

There is hope for ANYTHING. NEVER kill yourself. I don't have an icon for how ecstatic I am so I chose violence instead. NEVER KILL YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit from 2 hours later: Oh, there's no release date because it's from a leak account. So it may or may not be real, but they said it with such confidence... 50% chance of peak dropping soon.

comments

New Elyusion Who Dis

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:09:44 GMT

Another one of these lol. But for January!

What I Did

Not Related To ~~Media Consumption~~ Enjoying the Arts 🍷

On New Year's Eve I saw cows up close for the first time and fed them (their tongues are very rough!), and on New Year's itself I shot a gun for the first time. Multiple guns, actually -- a pistol, shotgun, and rifle. Into the sky. As one does. You'll never believe it -- I spent the night in Texas on my mom's boyfriend's ranch. I wanted to share food with all the cows, but three greedy fucks were all in the way of the others cows 💢 Just selfish.

Not really something I did, but something that happened -- it snowed, which turned into ice, so for almost a week we couldn't really go anywhere. The power never went out though! I was surprised about that. I would probably be even more amazed if it weren't for the fact that it already had snowed in the (southern) state I was in before twice in the decade+ I lived there. Climate change is taking the joy of rare snow away from me smh

I did get to work on my resolution to learn how to dance, but I haven't gotten around to recording myself yet. I really should eventually, for growth-measurement purposes... And I participated in snowflake_challenge! Besides the final challenge, I've done every challenge I wanted to this time around. I'll do the final one another day :)

I made a community! vkotd Post in it if you can, or only sub to it if you're interested.

I got shoulder-length medium twists, and I feel so fly that I started taking care of my skin and using makeup xD Makeup looks like it can get expensive, so I'm going to avoid following anyone on socials who shows off a lot of products and things like that so I don't tempt myself into evil, but I feel better about myself. Maybe a bad thing to say about something that covers up my natural skin, so I feel kiiiiiiiiiiiiiinda bad... reeeeeeeeeeeeally deep inside. It's mostly covered up by the happy though LOL

Enjoying the Arts 🍷🕯️🌹🫦

TV/ONA/OVA

I finished Sailor Moon Classic, which I watched half of many years ago. I think it's fun, way better than the manga before since girls besides Usagi get attention. Never made me feel as Hype as Naruto did... but I guess because the fights against the villains are pretty lame. Like someone else said, they just run away until there's an opening to do their magicks. This is why Pretty Cure sweeps. Also, I feel like a complete asshole for this, but I like all the other girls more than Usagi. She's kind of........................... annoying 😭 I guess it's just due to the nature of anime and exaggerating personalities. Well, I'm sure it only gets better from here.

I watched the first two Thunderbolt Fantasy seasons and movies with a friend. Well, the second movie I watched yesterday, but I'm grouping it with the things I watched it January. I think I have the same reaction as everyone else -- Curiosity about how a puppet TV show works, and then amazed that the plot and characters are pretty darn good too. I want to watch the show it's a spinoff of, but I guess it's probably inaccessible if you don't know Chinese u_u So I'll have to put a pin in that for about 3 years or so.

But you know what ISN'T inaccessible even if you don't know Chinese? That's right baby, The Legend of Luo Xiaohei. I watched the first season. I tried to watch this years ago after watching the movie, but I was put off by not knowing how it relates to the movie. I thought maybe it was some stupid boring comedy AU or something, and the movie took the protag of the show and made something more serious. Not exactly! I've been describing the show in my head as "iyashikei if it was epic" -- it's slow-paced and calm, almost slice-of-lifey, but it's also an urban fantasy that has fast-paced action scenes when needed. It has a plot, but it takes its time for you to get to know the characters and world. I like it more than I thought it would, considering it doesn't have any of the movie characters I know and love besides Hei. I think you should watch it. You should watch the movies too. The comic? Also probably great. Please get into The Legend of Hei -- and remember who put you on. I'll watch the season season after I finish Sailor Moon R.

Also watched the 3-episode OVA Gensei Shugoshin P-hyoro Ikka(/Modern-Day Guardians, the Piihyoro Clan?). I expected something more serious than what I got, and it was best enjoyed on 2x speed. Not the worst thing ever though. It's about sibling exorcists who have to handle ghost and possession cases. Sometimes they're hired, sometimes one sibling finds themself in a Situation. I had a feeling something deeper was happening or was going to happen too, but the OVA ends before it to entice you to buy the manga. The manga was probably fun to read while subscribed to Princess Magazine, but I definitely wouldn't pay money for the OVA. I'll have to keep in mind to read this one day, since the manga isn't on Anilist and thus I cannot put it in the Planning list.

Movies

Swing Girls!! A comedy movie even a guy like me can enjoy. And despite it being about a guy teaching a bunch of bum girls how to swang, there's no romance either. Cute and feel-good with musical performances aplenty (and I'm big fan of music, personally), this is also something I feel the urge to force others to watch. And, did you know? None of the actresses knew how to play their instruments before having to work in the movie either. So in case you're like me and thinking "no way could they get so good so quickly in real life" ... yes. Yes they could.

I expected something VERY different from 2001: A Space Odyssey from what I got 😭 Since it's so popular and people still mention it I figured it was an action-adventure movie or something like that... Instead it's just. Weird. With very pretty visuals! But quiet and odd. I'm not smart enough to say anything about it, positive or negative. But I guess it's good I know what exactly it is now!

I really thought I'd love Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but I just thought it was fine. I dunno. I think animation has raised my bar for fight scenes inhumanly high. Maybe this is implied in the movie, but I find it hard to believe it's possible to be free at all as a woman married to a man in that time unless you make him swear he won't keep you in chains, which Jiaolong/Jen (? Why did they change her name to Jen? Jiaolong isn't hard to read or say.) never made whatshisface do, I think. I think the flashback to how their romance developed was fun though, probably the only part of the movie where I never paused to do something else. Funny time to choose to have sex, but I suppose these things do happen.

As a (very old) Gen Z-er with a fried brain, at some point I had to swallow my pride and change the playback speed to 2x. But besides the old-school pacing, I Am Cuba was a great movie! Too great! I actually recommend NOT watching this right now what with the real things going on with Cuba, because it will make you miserable! :D Or, maybe you SHOULD watch it so that you too will want to fight to protect what those people sacrificed all they had for. #DeathToAmerica

Exactly One Book

Not something I finished, but I spent a solid chunk of the month reading Yona of the Dawn along with a shoujo server on Discord. I've tried to read or watch this MULTIPLE times in the past, but I'd always lose interest. I decided this year would be the year I force myself to read it and see why it's so beloved... or at least figure out why it repeatedly put me off 🗿 It's literally adventure shoujo, I shouldn't want for much else. AND YET... I think the main problem is the art style isn't my taste, although objectively it is good and Kusanagi is good at drawing. Because of this, I don't think the heartthrob Hak is hot, and I actually dislike him because I think he's not hot enough to justify the things he does or says. I like assholes, but not when it comes to romance or sex, so when he says the typical "I can't help myself cuz I'm a guy yknow" stuff I want to beat him to a pulp. (If the character is hot I roll my eyes when they say those things.) I do like Suwon and want to see more Suwon. Mr. Dragon Hand too. And Yona herself! But Hak needs to pay with blood, sorry. So bascially, after being semi-forced to keep going, I do like YOTD now!! But I don't like the love interest. Common Chris L. Suwon should've installed himself as communist dictator (or Yona should in the end) 💯 Tae-jun is really funny and we should imprison him in a bottle forever

I finished this a few days ago so I won't vent about it yet; I'll leave it for a separate entry or February summary, but the main thing I spent all month reading was Kamisama Kiss. Tomoe was letting Akuraoh hit jsyk (or the other way around sometimes)

Music & Games

I beat Sakura Wars. The ending was corny as hell. The ending animation I got for successfully romancing Kanna was cutefunny, and I did like the SRPG sections. I said this before, but the presentation is great. I love the art style! So there's lots of things about this game to like, but I didn't end up hitting the like button on Backloggd because... I dunno 💀 Maybe I'm too haunted by them pressuring me to be a lolicon that one chapter. And this is typical in dating sims, but I wish the girls felt a little more human and a little less like comfortable tropes. I liked it enough to want to play another Sakura Wars though -- it was only the first game after all, maybe in the second or third one they'll nail it.

Every month I had an idea/prompt/idk of what kind of new music to listen to all month, and January's was "Latin, Japanese, and Chinese music from genres I like". Compare with December's "Latin, Japanese, and Chinese music popular among speakers of those languages". I found SO much music in January I intended to make a separate entry dedicated to it, but in sort, we should find and eat the people on Spotify making all the Chinese playlists a bunch of slow ballads. For China week I felt like I was in ballad hell until I found a playlist with faster music towards the end 😭

What I Will Do in February

TV: Thunderbolt Fantasy with friend, Sailor Moon R alone

Film: The Dark Knight, Kamikaze Girls, Y Tú Mama También, A Touch of Zen. I try to choose 1. A movie important to a group I belong to (this month being U.S. Americans), 2. A movie with original Japanese audio, 3. A movie with original Spanish audio, and 4. A movie with original Mandarin audio.

Lit: I finished Kamisama Kiss, sooo Yona of the Dawn, Vampire Knight, and Deborah ga Rival if I catch up with the reading groups reading the first two.

Games: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and if I beat that before the month is up I'm going to finally plug in my SNES mini and complete Final Fantasy VI.

Whatever: I want to finish the dress-up game by the character's birthday on the 20th (<- wont happen), I should update both my personal and fan sites, of course I'll continue dancing in secret where none of you can see, aaaaaaand this month's music theme is "unfamiliar songs by familiar artists" (songs I haven't heard yet by artists who have songs I really love).

Have a good February! Or else.

comments

2025 In Review

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:06:52 GMT

One month later...

Album of the Year

CAKERA (翔~カケラ~裸) - LAPUTA
I wanted a music category because I love music, but I don't listen to (new) albums much. Need to change that. Anyways, Cakera won out since it's the album with the most amount of songs I like and listened to this year (Jesus, Virgin Cry, Refrain Limit/Drug Habit...), but hopefully in 2026 I can find a new no-skip album that's not B'Day or Thriller or Aku no Hana. The only runner-up for this category is Koi no Yokan by Deftones.

Game of the Year

RHYTHM TENGOKU (and Gold)
To be honest, no game I played this year left me a different person. So let's pretend Rhythm Heaven GBA + DS are one game so that I can give them both first place. I <3 rhythm games. I think I should try playing more of them rather than JRPGs.

Runner-ups

Grandia, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy IV DS. All great, but they don't have rhythm games, so... I also didn't play a lot of games this year because for the entire first half I was struggling to make myself finish Harukanaru Toki no Naka de. I would've put Where Winds Meet as the winner if I could actually play it orz

Show of the Year

BREAKING BAD
Pretty tough competition, but Breaking Bad wins because I was so hooked I was watching it in bed and in the school library and shit. Normally during in-between time (like between wake and sleep, or between classes) I read stuff or play on my (3)DS(i) while listening to music, not watch things. It's also a popular show, so now I understand jokes I didn't understand before and have full context and everything, so that's awesome. Will I ever watch Better Call Saul? Find out next time...!

Runner-ups

PLURIBUS!!! But special mention to The Legend of the Galactic Heroes as well.

Movie of the Year

THE LEGEND OF HEI II
Beautiful animation, great fights, Nezha, good found family, blatant lesbian bait, tanking (U.S.?) missile strikes in slides, an airplane crash, this movie truly has it all. It's just as good if not better than the first movie :3 I love everyone so much. If anything ever happens to Xiaohei I will blow up at least 2 major cities.

Runner-ups

Set It Off, the Mononoke movies, and Ne Zha 2. This almost went to Set It Off until I remembered I watched Hei this year. Ne Zha 2 I think was good, but I so viscerally remember the vomit jokes more than the actually moving scenes... But I also think it's really funny how many times Nezha is called ugly throughout the film and this is resolved not by everyone deciding it's vain to care or by him developing self-love, but simply by him gaining a form that is beautiful. #China

Book of the Year

THE COLOR PURPLE
I feel like this one needs no explanation.

Runner-ups

How Do We Relationship (complicated yuri), Princess Jellyfish (just plain fun), Bongchan Story (porn with plot), obligatory Basara (adventure shoujo sweep). Didn't read much because most of the year I was focused on forcing myself to read Elric of Melniboné. Coulda spent that time reading Lenin or something...

Various Wrapped™s

Last.fm says my top five artists were BUCK∞TICK, Deftones, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson, while my top fives songs were Ice Cream, Jesus, It Never Rains (In Southern California), Meteor, and DARLIN'. You should believe Last.fm; Spotify be lying for reasons we don't understand yet (and also Last.fm includes songs I listen to that aren't on Spotify).

Didn't use my Switch that much last year lol. My 3DS' activity log says I spent 148 hours and 56 minutes playing last year. 61 of those hours were on the PlayStation emulator, which was definitely 60% Suikoden, 30% Haruka, and 10% other random bs.
( Read more... )

comments

I Want to Try It Too

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 05:58:04 GMT

The "3 Things Make a Post" thing. For posting. Yea. <3

I feel bad making posts when I haven't checked my reading page nor cleared my inbox, but I have a policy of not reading my reading page until I'm done with everything else I need to do on here. Which is just writing that last Snowflake Challenge post...

1. Yesterday I found this post by the studio that handles the Luoxiaohei series. So much cute art!! Found the account for Luoxiaohei itself too and even more art. But there's probably so much more hiding from me that I can't see because I don't have a Weibo account :( I don't really want to make one because it requires giving out your phone number and I hate doing that, but maybe it's a small price to pay for Hei? It's so tempting now.

💡 Wait.

Holy shittttttttttttttt.

Well, that pretty much takes care of that for now xD There's definitely more on the Weibo, but this will do for now. After I write this I'm changing my phone wallpapers. (End of an era... Goodbye Felix.)
( kamisama kiss + stuff ive been working on )

comments

Random Song Post

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 18:45:09 GMT

Sharing this because 1. I randomly remembered it, and 2. I think it looks nice, so I will put in on my website where I put things that are nice. (Sounds nice too; not the kind of music I usually listen to but it's definitely a song from 9 years ago. Nostalgic!)

Unrelated, but since I'm here and I'm thinking about it

^How my 2025 #ChineseSummer went

comments

Challenge #14

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 02:04:10 GMT

Challenge #14: Promo/Rec List
1. Read my Angelique primer *cracks whip*
2. Maybe consider reading whatever this is, although I will be cleaning it up and putting it on a shrine page later.
3. If you're super bored, my response to challenge #9 ended up being a rec list of new canons to get into as well, in a way.

I had planned on doing this on From Far Away if I had my volumes on me by the time this challenge came around, but I still haven't gotten my book collection back. So it looks like I'm defending a ship. If you like Fire Emblem: Three Houses.... hiiiiiiiiii ♡ My name is Chris and I think FeliBern is great.
( Read more... )

comments

Snowflake Challenge #10

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:16:52 GMT

Challenge #10: Big Mood (Board)

じゃじゃーん！
Angelique is very much a pink game, but the moodboard is blue (and green. 青い?) because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it ended up that way somehow. Rosalia representation I guess! I hope it gives a good impression of the games :)

Explanation

I was specifically thinking of the first game. There are pretty space pics because it's about becoming Queen of the Cosmos, hearts because it's a dating sim unless you have other priorities, Cupid because the act of saving your game is represented by an angel baby recording what's happened for you, columns because of the borrowed Greco-Roman aesthetics popular in shoujo manga at the time, a white feather because the people of your continent see you as an angel (guy who can't shut up voice: in fact, the child you first meet and acts as your oracle says that [y/n, the default being Angelique] in their language means "angel," so he calls you Angel/Tenshi-sama ^__^), and the lake and park because those are 2 of the 3 possible date locations in that game. The third is your bedroom (sounds crazier than it is), but I could find no pictures that look like the player's room.

Credits

The middle image was drawn by Yura Kairi (who is the character designer and usual illustrator for the original games) and depicts Angelique herself. The full image is super cute, iirc the bottom third is my header on Discord (but I don't have Nitro right now soooooo I can't be sure). Our beloved rival Rosalia is the girl floating next to Angelique, by the way.

All the other pictures I got from Unsplash: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, and x.

This whole thing was made using CollaGen. Let me know what you use to make moodboards? I've actually never made one before today.

comments

Snowflake Challenge #9

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:31:27 GMT

Challenge #9: Favorite Tropes

Skipping #7 because both bragging and blatantly seeking compliments are go against moral code, and skipping #8 because if I even have a process, it clearly sucks TT I haven't completed anything in 87 years. So, my favorite tropes! Every time this question comes around I have to look up my favorite canons on TV Tropes and try to figure out why I like them.

This time I'm going with Defrosting Ice King. I like Ice Queens too, but due to what I like to read/watch my examples are mooostly M/F with the F as the main character, although there's platonic examples too. This is a really popular trope and I feel somewhat ashamed to be using it for this challenge, but I suppose I'm not so above it all. Even I feel moe when I see a gap </3 (Translation: Even I feel deep affection when I see someone do something very different from my initial impression of them.) But I like it best when it's an over-time thing! Finding out someone serious has a plushie collection at home has nothing on seeing someone serious cry over another person they swore they'd never give a hoot about later. Also the idea of someone caring about another so much that they stick with them even though they're cold or kind of mean, thus allowing them to open up, makes me :)

I like pictures, so you're getting pictures.

Exhibit A: Kamisama Kiss

- 25 or so episodes later (and do note the apron) -

(^just to be clear, he is removing the mushrooms here)

Rather than just being "cold," Tomoe is very decidedly an Ice King of the Jerkass variety. I'm not looking up how TV Tropes defines Jerkass though. I just know he is mean and rude and arrogant, which makes him seem awful to new people probably but it's in a comedic way I swear. Not a good person. Great househusband! 10/10, would tell him off again.

Exhibit B: The Legend of Hei

The subtitles were soft and the thing I was using to screenshot doesn't catch such subs, so I'm putting them under the images.

Wuxian (blue guy): "Saved me the trouble of finding you."
- ONE HOUR LATER -

Hei: "Can... Can I go with you?"

Wuxian: "Of course."

Wuxian: "You sure you want to wander with me? Don't you want a home?"

Hei: "Nuh-uh. I wanna be with you."

Wuxian: "Alright."

TV Tropes says Wuxian is the Ice Queen, but I don't buy that. Even if one may assume from the beginning he's just an agent/assassin and it's later proven he's pretty chill and deadpan-comedic, it's not that Hei changed him through the power of love. It's just that there's more to him than being good at his job. On the other hand, Hei is cold and tries to escape Wuxian many times but eventually ends up sobbing at the thought of being apart from him, and that's all because of Wuxian's kindness. Hei's like a widdle Ice Prince.

And look! I've got some "Not So Above It All" too!

"We also accept mobile payment."

"This is my jade pendant. Keep the change."

"DINE-AND-DASHERS!!"

Wuxian is kind of the king of that trope. To me.

Exhibit C: From Far Away

In case you don't know, Japanese comics are read from top to bottom (like English comics) and right to left (not like English comics).
My favoritest meetembarassing ever btw:

- You'll never guess what happens 6 volumes later -

Saved my favorite couple for last :33333333 I judge all love confessions by comparing it by the urgency in this one, I really do. And I like that Izark is kind and caring throughout, but still rather distant until the confession. Mean guys are funny, but nice guys are like french fries for the soul. (French fries are chicken soup to me.)

Izark has some Not So Above It All moments, but I imagined trying to find the page where he draws on the face of someone who lost a fight and sighed really deeply. Not, not today.

There's lots more examples I like, like Reika in Aim for the Ace, Michel from The House in Fata Morgana, Edmond from NU: Carnival, Sesshomaru of Inuyasha fame, Clavis (maybe Julious and possibly Lumiale too?) from Angelique, whom I really wish I could have included because he is SO funny but I can't do an entire Angelique run before the next challenge gets posted, Seung-gyu from Bad Boss in a 4D chess kind of way because Young-jo didn't even know she was defrosting an Ice King as he was Nice Guy-faking, probably Felix from Fire Emblem, and Utena has some crazy Defrosting the Ice Witch going on.

This trope has a lot in common with tsunderes, so why not just say I like tsunderes? It's technically true, many characters I like can be described as such, but I associate the word "tsundere" too much with girls who are unnecessarily abusive, not even in a hot way, so I'm not a fan of it. A tsundere done well is fun though. Kuuderes too!

If you have any ACG reccs with non-babyish art styles -- YMMV but compare Yamamori Mika's art with Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, which is the first example I could think of LOL -- let me know :] It can be any gender combination or any kind of love.
If the guy doesn't have long hair I don't care

comments

Snowflake Challenge #6

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 19:04:40 GMT

Challenge #6: Top 10 Challenge

I finally finished going through my reading page, which means I can continue this without guilty B) Now presenting, without further ado:

Top 10 Photographed Fashion Game Fits
To qualify:
1. It must be an outfit I put on my player character, not something coordinated for an NPC or another player.
2. It must be from a pre-existing screenshot. I cannot open the game, make new outfits, and take new pictures. Or else I would play all day and never have the time to make this post.

All fits are from Style Savvy: Styling Star (worse graphics), Fashion Dreamer (better graphics), and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (chibi/toy-like graphics). No Splatoon fits because I lost them all during The Purge. So it goes.

( Let's go. )

comments

Snowflake Challenge #5

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 21:23:36 GMT

Challenge #5: A Wishlist

Finally, a challenge I pre-wrote my answer for last month!
>checks the file
>literally a shopping list of physical items I want like it's Christmas and you all are my parents
........... Okay. Maybe past me was very sleepy when he wrote that. Looks like I'm doing this from scratch.

1. More public activity on Dreamwidth, particularly in communities. I feel like due to the nature of the web now DW attracts those who want to be private + lurkers, which is fine and I'm glad there's a site for them, but we need more people with a poster's heart (as opposed to a diarist's heart). All love to my fellow diarists, no hate, journaling is awesome and good for your health; I'm just noting something.

2. Avatar templates. Like these? Also some here. I like making avatars for my own specific and niche needs, but I don't have the (confidence in my) design skills to make my own borders, so I like using ones others' have made to give mine a nice flourish. You don't have to make anything new; anything you scrounge up would be great.

3. I am once again asking for illustrated pornography of my faves.

4. And more visual content of them in general ( ᵔ ⩊ ᵔ ) illusts and comics and such.

The ones who don't get fanart so often are Clavis (Angelique), Michel (FataMoru), Shannan (Fire Emblem), and Jeritza (Fire Emblem). The situation is dire. Help me. The ones who DO get fanart pretty often but idc I need more are Felix (Fire Emblem), Cirrus (Obscura), Testament (Guilty Gear), aaaaaand Edmond (NU: Carnival, and me asking for porn of him is the type of greed they talked about in the Bible but idcccccccccc)

And I'll include one thing from my drafted wishlist. If anyone knows who I need to shank to get this dress or where to find something like it, let me know ☆

comments

少し早めにやってるけどね

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 07:22:33 GMT

書こう！質問はここから盗った

1. Did you get an allowance as a kid, and if so, how much was it?
全然もらったから、いつもそれを考えたら怒ってきたｗ

2. How old were you when you had your first job, and what was it?
二十歳…かも。ゲームストップに勤めていた。今にもいつか閉店するのを願う。

3. Which do you do better: save money or spend money?
どっちも下手だけどTT　滅多にお金を使うけど、使うときには大きい量を使う。

4. Are people more likely to borrow money from you, or are you more likely to borrow from them?
私から借りるの方が普段。（－＿－家族がいるのが高いだから、可能性があるなら避けるの方がいいよ（冗談（かも））

5. What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought?
このうるさくてストレージのなくて死んでいくくそパソコン

comments

Snowflake Challenge #4

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 05:19:18 GMT

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

So, I skipped the last challenge because I couldn't come up with anything to say to any fandom or the concept of fandom in general (possibly because I was very eepy. But anyways), and I didn't have it in me to publicly write a love letter to a fictional character. This challenge made me truly realize that "fandom" for me right now is just me, the voices in my head, and sometimes ghosts from fandom past when I'm looking at abandoned sites and stuff. The few sites I use don't have the feeds tailored to show the fictional things I like, partly because the fandoms are small/dead and partly because I wanted to curb my socmed addiction by not making my feed too fun. So I hope it's okay to go a bit off-script and instead link three sites I like, not ones I've actually been on recently:

http://femicom.org/ is a site dedicated to games aimed at girls (＠＾◡＾) Worldwide joseimuke... It's really cutely designed, and I like looking at all the pictures and games I've never heard of before! I've never submitted a memory before since I played 0 girl games as a child, but if you have any you should try submitting something and see if they'll still put it on the site. I like reading what memories exist too.

https://popnmusicdatabase.neocities.org/ I love Pop'n Music!! What little I've gotten to play, at least. This site has a wonderful design just like the colorful games it's dedicated too, and has lots and lots of info. I still haven't gotten through it all. Please God let me one day live by a place with a Pop'n booth please I don't wanna have to play on emulated console anymore please please please

https://nar-nar.neocities.org/ I have mentioned Navarre Fire Emblem twice (x, x) on my humble blog. I'm rather fond of him and his look, but maybe more than that I appreciate the concept of Navarre. Thank you IntSys for coming up with Navarres. So, I really love this fansite filled with images of him and promises of more to come in the future. I love sites that are filled with pictures. I love pictures. This is why I prefer fanart and doujins and such over fanfic. Yayyy stimulation for my eyes yayyyy ⸜(*^ᗜ^*)⸝ ⸜(*^ᗜ^*)⸝ ⸜(*^ᗜ^*)⸝ わーいわーい

comments

Decemberererererer

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 02:45:34 GMT

Typing this while wearing one of those coats that make me look like the Michelin Man. I'm gonna make a different post for all of 2025 and my plans for 2026. As you can see, I'm running out of entry title ideas.

What I Did

( mucho texto )

What I'm Doing

The Snowflake Challenge :P

Nailing A1 Spanish and N5 (pretty much the same as A1) Japanese. Just making sure I have everything down, you know? For the record, going by the practice exams on the JLPT site, I could pass the N3 one with ease and the N2 one with a struggle. (In non-JLPT terms, I'm approaching C1 steadily. In non-overly-concerned-with-language-rubrics terms, I'm approaching an advanced level of Japanese.) My Spanish, however, is stuck in B2/"usually knows what someone is talking about, at least"-level right now.

I'm probably going to spend all month trying to finish Kamisama Kiss. God I wish I read Japanese as fast as I read English.

I'm playing Sakura Taisen, which I am really enjoying so far.

Last month I listened to songs popular in Japan, China, and Mexico. So, I know what people there generally like. This month is dedicated to listening to Japanese, Chinese (any kind), and Spanish music specifically from genres I know I like. If you have Chinese music reccs please let me know -- I'm looking for songs, albums, or an artist who isn't always making slow acoustic songs. China (and other places in the Sinosphere; I can't hear the language differences) has so much slow acoustic music. An artist will look so edgy but the song will still be slow acoustic music. Somebody please save me. (For your reference.)

What I Will Do

The movies for this month are: Swing Girls, Soy Cuba, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'm going to watch Swing Girls right after I post this entry, actually.

I need to continue my fan translation, but the storage in my laptop is so low that Photoshop has been rendered nonfunctional. So. Uh. I'll at least try to translate more chapters even if I can't edit them onto the pages this month...

Not giving details, but if I don't drop a game this month or the next please PLEASE jump me.

I'm supposed to start dancing and voice training this month, so we'll see how that goes.

If I beat Sakura Taisen this month, next in line is Love Curse: Find Your Soulmate, and then Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Usually I play one PC game and one handheld game at the same time, but right now my before-sleep activity is reading Kamisama Kiss, so no bedtime handheld gaming for me. (<- person who brings laptop to bed to play more Sakura Taisen)

comments

Snowflake Challenge #2

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 06:43:19 GMT

Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom

There's too many photos I wanted to share, so I made the quickest collages in the west using CollaGen, Background Tiles (first thing my browser gave me when I typed in "tile background"), and a dream.

Content warning for animal/pet death

This is my dog, Dogie. Pronounced DOUGH-gee. My family could never agree on how to spell his name, and no conceivable spelling is perfect in my opinion, but I settled on Dogie.

Dougie is a dance move. Stop spelling his name as Dougie. He is not Dug-ee. @/my sister

No clue what breed he is. Someone came to our door asking if we wanted a dog, and we did want a dog, so we gave the guy (he looked ~17) money and he gave us a dog and we never met again.

Had Dogie for almost 9 years, the longest I've ever had a pet, before he died 2.5 years ago in circumstances I still haven't explained online yet. (That's for another post.) He lowkey had no redeeming qualities besides "would sit in your lap as soon as it forms" and "didn't attack toddlers on sight," but I wuv him anyways! And he's still my dog. When I'm asked if I have pets I include him. Yes, I have a dog 🙄 Yes, he is bones 🙄 God forbid a dog be dead!! Actual menace; pour one out for him tonight.

Kimmy, short for Chimera, was never actually "my" pet. She was my roommate's pet, and she let me watch her when she didn't feel like it -- which was basically all the time. Functionally my pet. Kimmy's not even her "real" name, I think my roommate called her Leo, but I didn't really care 😭

She was so cute!! I took no less than 20 pictures of her a day, I'm sure. She loved to sleep on/near me and knead my tummy, which was awesome, but she also loved to jump on my desk and knock the fandom keychains off my corkboard, which wasn't so awesome. But it's okay, she's cute so we forgive her even if she never asked for forgiveness and definitely feels no remorse.

Long story short, my roommate dumped my clean laundry on the porch and I left that apartment, so no more Kimmy. I hope she kept her, but I have little faith in that woman. So Kimmy kind of isn't currently my pet and shouldn't be included in this post. But I like her. More people should know about her. Look at her.

As for an actual living creature that lives with me as we speak--

This is Luna (despite clearly looking more like a Sol). This is who kept my mom company before I moved in with her. She's a funny-looking Cocker Spaniel, but the sweetest thing around. I've been feeling like a liar for never writing about walking her, like "how will future beings know about the daily life of some random person they found on a hard drive somewhere if I don't include the dog-walking??" so here's me finally saying this -- I walk her every afternoon/evening, unless it's below freezing or I'm sick.

She's not allowed in the bedrooms, so right now as I type this she's laying at the entrance to my room staring at me. Do you think she knows I'm talking about her?

comments

🗞️ Some Things

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 03:37:25 GMT

You can watch Castlevania: Awakening Under Moonlight for $15.20 with English, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Tagalog subs here, although you need to use Microsoft Edge or Safari. I hope that if this does well they offer more Takarazuka performances on demand, because yes I am aware of other means of watching them, but I do like when things are easier to show others.

Click the banner to join us and make some new friends!
I like seeing useful communities revived, so please participate in this friendzy and join this community if you're interested :3

You've probably already heard of this, but for the sake of not missing any bases: Snowflake Challenge is now on. If you want to meet new people or you want to revive a dead blog, this is a good way of doing it. You just need to be into fandom. The link to the community is the image.

And last but not least, I'm officially opening up my community for posting. Please feel free to share a song or two. I'll be advertising it in various promo comms slowly over the next few weeks. At some point I'll start holding events (which are just me giving a theme and hoping people posting songs that fit it). Please don't flop 🙏🏾 But please don't be successful in an annoying way either 🙏🏾

comments

(//_-) ← emo bang

Just So You Aren't Caught Unawares...

Classical Chinese for the Layperson

twas a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual

Haters Will Say "Dude, It's Already the End of March"

Sometimes Things Are Highly Rated Because They Are Good

The Legend of Luoxiaohei: Sword Art Online

フライデーファイブの時間

Did Somebody Ask For 35 Song Reccs? (*crickets*)

R&B ft. 2 Hip Hop Songs

Rock

Pop and Electronic

Another Good Anti-AI Argument By Someone Who Uses Their Brain

Snowflake Challenge #15

But when is the release date!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?

New Elyusion Who Dis

What I Did

What I Will Do in February

2025 In Review

Album of the Year

Game of the Year

Show of the Year

Movie of the Year

Book of the Year

Various Wrapped™s

I Want to Try It Too

Random Song Post

Challenge #14

Snowflake Challenge #10

Snowflake Challenge #9

Snowflake Challenge #6

Snowflake Challenge #5

少し早めにやってるけどね

Snowflake Challenge #4

Decemberererererer

What I Did

What I'm Doing

What I Will Do

Snowflake Challenge #2

🗞️ Some Things

Did Somebody Ask For 35 Song Reccs? (crickets)