maybe just one more dance

i used lots of words.

2009-11-08T22:48:52Z

Finished KH: 358/2 Days.

→ By the time I got to the end, I was kind of underwhelmed. Sad, but underwhelmed.

→ I found the interaction between Axel and Xion to be much more interesting than the interaction between Roxas and Xion / Roxas and Axel, only because there seemed to be something going on there that Roxas wasn't privy to. I don't 'ship them, but I won't deny that their rapport was kind of fascinating.

There's this one line towards the end, when Axel is clearly at the end of his rope: "You keep running... and I'll keep bringing you back!" or something to that degree. Axel's being jerked around by his need to follow orders and his inability to say no to Xion, like an older sibling or a parent who's desperately trying to instill discipline in a ward that'll have none of it. She runs off, he brings her back. She runs off, he brings her back. At one point, he lets her go, only to chase her and bring her back. In his mind, he's trying to be the rational adult figure, but he's reached his limit. He's not Riku; he can't run around for a year fighting everything with some noble notion to protect his friends while they sleep/continue on with their lives without him.

In a way, this brings a new light to his somewhat erratic actions in KH2 -- knowing everything he went through just days before, and especially how badly he and Roxas parted, makes everything make a bit more sense.

With Xion, well, her actions bell clearly through Axel's response to her actions. She's made by the Organisation as a Replica -- when she fails in her mission, she loses all sense of purpose. She becomes a mirror of Roxas, picking up what he's willing to give off. She's molded by the people around her, but nothing is ever good enough. She's just one person, a Replica failsafe. She finds solace in Roxas and Axel, but even that can't last. Finally, she turns to Riku; the Sora and Kairi in her coming out? I can't think of anyone else they'd rather run to in a crisis.

Roxas is Sora, so he'd have to inherit a good deal of Sora's inherent noble traits, even if it's easier for him to flesh out his more touchy, prickly side while in the Organisation. Axel and Xion may look to him to set a good example, but they'll never be him. That's why Axel chases after Roxas with such fervor in KH2, that's why Xion sets out to die at the hands of Roxas on Day 357 (that's how I interpreted her desire to fight Roxas, anyway). Before that, though, there's a great deal of messiness, frustration, and aggression that Xion and Axel fling at one another -- through fighting, then making up, then fighting again. Roxas remains untouchable, so when they lash out, they lash out at one another. Especially Xion, who faces most of what comes her way with a mixture of resignation and sadness; not much of a fighting spirit. Her desperate, selfish actions provoke Axel in the worst way, and he's not one for keeping his frustration/anger/hurt inward.

Wow, that... turned into an essay.

Anyway, yeah. That's what I read into them, anyway. Hence my interest!

→ Zexion had this amazing line in the beginning: "You don't have to do [it], just like I don't have to respect you." That one line managed to make my jaw drop with sheer ballsiness... and then he got killed off. Sadface. Larxene was pretty entertaining, too. I wish I had actually gotten to fight with Demyx more, rather than him just avoiding doing any real work.

→ The choice of worlds was a bit disappointing, especially since the storylines for the worlds were so... odd. I don't even think the Neverland storyline was wrapped up. I did like going to Halloweentown, though. ♥

→ The Organisation robes have got to be stifling in hot weather. I was hoping we'd see the characters wear something a little less awkward, at least when sleeping, but that may be too much for game mechanics to handle. I mean, Minato Arisato slept in his school uniform and headphones! (...I now want to write fic where Axel, Xion, and Roxas are stuck on laundry duty and have to take eighty smelly robes to the Twilight Town laundromat.)

→ I wish the KH games had New Game Plus.

→ I want an Organisation moogle for myself. He was so cute!

→ What did you guys think?

i'm a good little poor girl.

2009-11-06T01:19:18Z

I am now the proud owner of a Sony PSP!

Also... SMT: Persona: Revelations!

I can't play it yet because the PSP needs to charge up before it'll allow me to download the newest PSP software, but I'm still really excited.

Game recommendations, please! :D

tee hee!

2009-11-03T22:46:53Z

I haven't done this in a while! Stolen from fairandbright.

→ Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
→ Have your f-list guess your favorite character/member from each item.
→ When someone guesses correctly, strike through the item and put the name of your favorite character next to it.

★ ~~Persona 3~~ Ryoji Mochizuki, figured out by bouncywild and valorously.
★ ~~Persona 4~~ Kanji Tatsumi, figured out by lassarina.
★ Legend of Zelda
★ Final Fantasy VII
★ ~~Final Fantasy VIII~~ Laguna Loire, figured out by night_is_fallen.
★ ~~Final Fantasy X~~ Tidus, figured out by night_is_fallen.
★ ~~Final Fantasy XII~~ Larsa, figured out by night_is_fallen.
★ Gurren Lagann
★ ~~Code Geass~~ Gino, figured out by valorously.
★ ~~Ouran High School Host Club~~ Kyoya, figured out by valorously and bouncywild.
★ Death Note
★ Red vs. Blue
★ Pushing Daisies
★ Battlestar Galactica
★ Heroes
★ House
★ ~~Supernatural~~ Castiel, figured out by bouncywild and valorously.
★ ~~Doctor Who~~ Martha Jones, guessed by fairandbright.

HAHAHAHA.

2009-10-30T23:49:09Z

Dear Coldplay's Viva la Vida,

Please tell me why I crack up in hysterical laughter every single time you come up on the radio?

Is it because the Code Geass fandom one day collectively decided this song was their warcry? Was it because of the sheer amount of fanvids that popped up one day? Was it because this song really is just that funny? Was it because of valorously encouraging my weirdness? I'd really appreciate some sort of clarity in this matter.

Yours with laughter,

Jessica.

p.s. I USED TO ENJOY THIS SONG, DAMMIT.

hi howdy hello

2009-10-28T21:09:52Z

APPARENTLY I am doing NaNo this year.

By "apparently", I mean irishais waved a ~~dog biscuit~~ bookmark in front of my face and I leapt for it. I'm going to try my damndest, since I've already got a few pages of worldbuilding/character notes to go off of. XD

Friend me! I'm churched.

blah.

2009-10-09T02:06:17Z

Things to do tomorrow:
→ ~~Finish C.C. app, and create account for her.~~
→ Start and finish Larsa app, create an account for him.
→ Write Squall writing Squall/Tseng fanfic.
→ Clean desk.
→ ~~Haul ass at work. I slacked off majorly today.~~
→ ~~Contemplate writing.~~
→ ~~Figure out movie times for me and K.~~

Things to do this weekend:
→ Sleep.
→ Be showered with presents!

In other news, I am now twenty-one. Does that make me old? I feel like it does.

yaaaaawn.

2009-10-05T01:18:14Z

I ♥ ICONS.
</td> </td> </td> </td> </td> </td>

default	oldest	newest

saddest	happiest	angriest

cutest	sexiest	funniest

fave ship	fave fandom	fave animated

best quote	best textless	best stolen idea

use the most	favorite	bonus!8

How many icons do you have? Sixty-four.
Out of how many available icon spaces? 115. I keep meaning to fill up, but none are ever pretty enough!
If you could buy space for more, would you? Nah. I'm good as is.
Do your icons make a statement? Does your face make a statement?
What fandom do you have the most icons of? Persona 3/4, I think.
And the second most? Either Code Geass or Gurren Lagann.
What ship do you have the most icons of? Lelouch/C.C., with.. two whole icons. Yeah. I'm recalcitrant when it comes to revealing my 'ships.
Are your icons made mostly by other people? Yes. I'm lazy.
Do you make icons? No.
Are they any good? Your face.
Animated icons are... Like milk and cookies without a napkin.

DO ME.
This version of the coding can be found here.
(Minor edits were made including the insertion of an LJ cut-with-text by default.
Code was adapted from here.)

memelicious.

2009-09-26T19:32:08Z

I stole this from kay_willow.

NAME A FANDOM AND I'LL TELL YOU MY:
- OTP.
- Runner-up.
- Honorable mention(s).
- Crack pairing(s).
- Ship everyone else seems to like, but I don't.

I figure my fandoms are obvious, but if you're not sure if something is a fandom of mine, feel free to ask!

failure is not a choice.

2009-09-20T22:16:01Z

A writing meme, stolen from ypaladinofchaos. It's minimal work involved, so I'm... almost sure I can deliver this time! Maybe!

Give me a character/pairing and a prompt (prompt necessary), and I'll write you a one line story.

also, gero.

2009-08-25T18:17:49Z

There's gratuitous singing! And the Triforce has feet! WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE.

EDIT: Its sequel is even better. Ganon's outfit keeps changing and I cracked up when Majora just kind of shrugged and left through the wall.

i r confuzzled.

2009-08-23T01:55:29Z

Question!

How do people list interests that are more than four words? I've seen it on other people's profiles, but LJ keeps cockblocking me.

i call green.

2009-08-11T03:10:57Z

Huge headache. Huge, frelling headache.

Uh. Am about a little more than halfway through Naamah's Kiss. I just started chapter fifty-two. I may be a bit in love with Jehanne, and damn her to hell for it.

Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon arrived today. So far, it's incredibly fun - the whole mystery aspect is a lot less tedious than it was in P4 (sidenote, why do I always end up bashing P4? I love P4), and I'm really enjoying the general atmosphere of the Taisho era. The game was supposed to come with a Raiho plushie, but they apparently ran out. I sulked like a second grader - astrangerenters and zero_damage can attest to that!

Almost done the first season of Battlestar Galactica. (Apparently, this is going to be a fandom review-centric entry.) I spent most of it gushing over Laura Roslin's general awesomeness and was promptly brought back down when she started to be all, "blah blah I'M THE PROPHECISED RULER blah blah KARA GO TO CAPRICA AND GET THIS ARTIFACT blah." Maybe my atheism is clouding my ability to focus on the show's version of spirituality or whatever - hopefully that won't bother me too much, because I really do like it. The actors are all very good at getting the viewer to feel what they feel. Gaius Baltar cracks me up, as does Gaeta's fanboyish tendencies towards him. Ah, Gaeta. I love you for your voice alone.

Man, my head hurts. This might be a good time to take some advil.

i love this icon so, so much.

2009-08-10T01:10:20Z

The world is coming to an end!

i'll apparently never be done with grade eleven english.

2009-08-07T23:38:48Z

"Soon, the poisonous flowers will bloom - one in your garden, and three in the garden opposite yours."

What. Does that. Mean.

Twitter is to blame for bringing it back to the forefront of my mine but I never really could figure out what was supposed to be gleaned from that even when it was said the first time. The closest I could get was that it was a bit of a play on words: flowers referred to the Kirijo group (since "Kiri" means the same as Paulownia, which is a flower) and poisonous meant, well, just that - a poisonous influence. Based on that, I always assumed that the three and one meant, respectively, Strega and Ikutsuki.

However, that doesn't really make sense with the rest of the riddle. There wasn't really much "blooming" in terms of Strega; it was pretty obvious from the beginning that they were bad news bears. With the other, I guess a case could be made that his "poison bloomed", if it's absolutely necessary to be florid about it, but that's a rather unsatisfying answer.

The other option I came up with is that "poisonous flowers will bloom" just means "someone will die". Too bad there are more than four deaths in game (even the ones that aren't outright legitimised).

I've already theorised at length to one unsuspecting victim on my f-list. Anyone else got a theory?

i like buttons!

2009-08-03T03:11:09Z

I wish the actual books had been a bit more like this. I think this might, dare I say it, actually be better than the Zombies vs. Plants music video.

too bad about the penguins.

2009-07-01T15:13:27Z

Happy Canada Day!

The most boring, yet appropriately chilled out, country in the world is celebrating its birthday today! With fireworks that will probably be only red and white. \o/ (I learned that from zero_damage. Charming, isn't it?)

yawn, yo.

2009-06-15T04:50:44Z

Finally finished all of Death Note!

My feelings on Light Yagami aren't much of a secret - he's a complete and utter tool, and I was very happy to see him finally get what he deserved. I couldn't really understand why Misa and Kiyomi threw themselves at him so utterly - actually, I can. Misa's a silly girl and Kiyomi has all the personality of a plant, making them both easy bait for smarmy megalomaniacs.

Aside from that, the largest point of contention for me was the death of L. L managed to secure himself a spot on my "ten favourite fictional characters of all time" list, to the point where I actually own an L plushie. Naturally, after he died I pretty much had a, "screw you guys, I'm going home!" moment... for about three weeks. General curiosity and interest in how the whole time skip thing would work had me go back. And, I will say, I didn't hate his replacements.

Mello, I liked instantly, because while Near seemed to be just a carbon copy of L with ezChange stamped on his head, Mello was actually different - as well as quite interesting, because there was more to him than just being a vessel for his omg!vast intellect. I didn't really warm up to Near until I read that were it not for him being chosen as L's successor and having his future guaranteed, he probably would have starved to death by now. The whole thing about his inability to function by himself redeemed him a bit, because it didn't seem like Near had any faults before that - he was just L without actually being L, which seemed more of an insult than anything. Still, it was much better than it could have been, considering my favourite character got killed off halfway and I was able to watch to the end, and not utterly hate his replacements*.

What was actually a bigger issue was that the Kira taskforce was made up of people who were almost completely interchangeable. Aside from Matsuda and Yagami Sr., I had a tendency to forget what the men on the taskforce looked like seconds after they were out of the shot, something I thought would ever only happen to the actor who played Jason on Gilmore Girls before he grew the beard**. One thing I liked, though, was how badly they all aged... with the exception of Matsuda, who was far prettier than any idiot detective should be. Even after finishing the series, I only know the names of Matsuda and Aizawa, and the latter is due to having rocked the 'fro earlier on.

Also, maybe this is just me, but all the female characters were so... boring. Well, no, that's not true. Misa certainly wasn't boring but honey, if you're living together as a couple but sleeping in separate rooms? There's something very wrong. Kiyomi, as I previously said, had all the personality of a particularly decorative piece of wallpaper and was rather odd looking beside. If you're going to draw attention to a girl having a womanly build, maybe don't try to convince people that she's 5'4" and one-hundred and ten pounds. Also, having her lipstick match her hair colour was entirely unnecessary. BUT I DIGRESS. I guess the thing that made me actually sit up and take notice was Rem. All the other Shinigami were interesting and fun to watch, which of course I mean, all the other male Shinigami were interesting and fun to watch. Rem was, well, boring. I'm trying to not draw a parallel being gender and likability, but it seems the show itself is determined to draw it for me.

Maybe if I pretend Mello was a girl! I can live with that***.

Another thing that popped out at me! I've seen a lot of people compare Light Yagami with Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass, but I always thought that Ryuk and C.C. (well, C.C. sans character development... or whatever the hell happened to her - seriously, Sunrise, WTF?) were more similar. They were both observers who existed for the purely technical reason of not having the protagonist talk to himself about his plans all the time, and they both facilitated many unpleasant events because they could. The fascinating difference comes from C.C.'s appearance - "she looks like a cute girl, so she could never be a monster!" Snorfle. (I do realise that there's a lot more to C.C. than just having the same role in the story as Ryuk, but that should be reserved for the CG entry... if I even do one.)

On the whole, I give it a 8/10. If only just for the hilarity. Yes, Light, you eat that potato chip. EAT IT, YOU ANOREXIC.

*At Anime North, I spent a bit of time with someone who was clearly an L fangirl, and who fervently insisted that she hated both Mello and Near just because they replaced L. (devlinnreiko knows who I'm talking about!) I expected I'd go the same way... but I also expected I'd end up 'shipping Zuko/Katara before I actually sat down and watched Avatar, and, well... HAHAHA NO. So, clearly I shouldn't even try to anticipate my own reactions.

**Even though he's neither tall nor particularly skinny, he would be the perfect Moist von Lipwig. I try to picture his beardless face in my head and I just can't. It takes talent to be that forgettable - hell, I can't even remember the dude's name! ...Chris Eigeman, I think.

***More like, I will force myself to live with that. I don't know if I would like Mello less if dude was a chick, but I'm not eager to find out. In fact, I've been kind of worried that my tendency to vastly prefer male characters in fiction and fascination with victimising Chidori in my writing means I am very, very misogynistic. Unfortunately, it's not something I can deal with just by saying, "You're a chick, you can't a misogynist." I do, however, have a burning hatred of Twilight for romanticising an abusive relationship, which I like to think counts for something.

Aside from that, have starting playing Kingdom Hearts again. Got through Agrabah, finally. Jafar was amusingly easily. Went on to Monstro, left too soon, didn't finish the entire thing. Now at the near end of Atlantica. I'll admit, I figured Atlantica would just be incredibly frustrating musical mini-games with Ariel and her twenty-eight and a half sisters. I didn't expect Ursula to try and eat Sora. I got close to beating her in a second try of fighting her head, but I guess I stopped paying attention to Sora's life gauge, because she said something like, "I'll show you blah," and then Sora was basically the Kingdom Hearts equivalent of fried fish. I was flabbergasted, and that's when I decided to quit for the day.

Now I'm sleepy. Again.

♥ to anyone who read through my blather.

lemming, me.

2009-05-17T16:57:30Z

I now have a dreamwidth (thanks, zero_damage!). I hadn't really intended on it, but it looked so pretty.

Add me (if I haven't added you) - I'm corollary.

why is there no mood for "warm"? it's how i feel after i have a cup of tea.

2009-05-13T15:07:43Z

Dear New Scientist: I love your magazine, I do. However, since the price to my renew my subscription went from a somewhat modest seventy-four dollars to $182, please assume that you are never getting any money from me ever again. Now stop sending me mail!

Also, while your magazine is usually witty, the letter you sent me is just pretentious. Go away.

In other news, failing at writing again. By failing, I mean that I am pretty much ignoring the requests I promised various people at talesfortreble and got at least two half finished promised drabbles saved... all of it to be not touched at all while I write a) Paper Mario ficlets and b) about Natsuki Moriyama from P3. The first one is well and good, just an itch I had to scratch, and likely never to see the light of day. (By day, I mean it won't be posted.) The second one begs the question, "why?" I liked her well enough, I thought her character development was well done and that she was one of the three girls in Gekkoukan who shortened their skirt (it likely says a lot about my high school that every frelling girl did so. Literally. Even me, when I could be arsed to wear one). But as for what she had to say... no. I have my P3 voices - when did she become one?

The thing is, I likely could take out half of what I've written, do a find+replace where I substitute in Saki for Natsuki, and it could probably hold up just as well. That wouldn't be fair to either girl, though - and the part of me that loves Saki for no apparent reason would protest.

This is the reason I spent about a half-hour on Google yesterday. There are no pictures of Natsuki on the internet, if Google is to be believed. There is however, one on DevArt. It's not coloured.

Today, however, I intend to do a massive house cleaning. Wish me luck!

How are you, f-list?

ETA: Neil Gaiman has made me feel better about the writing thing.

"Some writers need a while to charge their batteries, and then write their books very rapidly. Some writers write a page or so every day, rain or shine. Some writers run out of steam, and need to do whatever it is they happen to do until they're ready to write again. [...] Sometimes it happens like that. You don't choose what will work. You simply do the best you can each time. And you try to do what you can to increase the likelihood that good art will be created."

I only consider myself a writer in that I like to write, and I'm not terrible at it. A while ago, I pretty much realised I would not make it as a published writer because I'm just not good enough, which I'm actually okay with. Maybe someday when I'm in my fifties or sixties and retired, I can sit down and pound out that novel because why not? But for now, I'm happy to focus on fic.

Still, knowing that it's not just me, that it is actually part of the creative process to just be a bucket of fail once in a while... it helps. ♥

early night thoughts ahoy. also, ow.

2009-05-10T02:31:55Z

Among other things*, I have spent the past two days watching a walkthrough of Donkey Kong Country for the SNES.

My consensus? This game is weird.

After about thirty-eight or so levels of rolling on metal barrels, watching DK sulk whenever Diddy wins a prize, blowing holes in stone cliffs and finding bananas, and being dollowed around by parrots carrying lamps, you end up fighting King K. Rool. Basically, you wait for him to throw his crown at you, and then jump on his head. After about five or so instances, he lies down and you are treated to the Kredits, which are about five lines, attribute game making to guys like Kritter and Krump, and ends with "the end...?" Naturally, it is not the end, and King K. Rool rises on the third day to throw his crown at you some more. Rinse and repeat, and he actually does die this time.

Five seconds later, you are back at Cranky's cabin, and he quickly congratulates you on a job well done... all the while still beating you with his cane, like the senile German grandmother to Yoda he is. I guess the animators were too lazy to put in different animation. In the game I watched, Diddy did pretty much all the work because he was smaller and more agile, so where's his affectionate beating, huh?

Also, there is shark named Enguarde and a froggie named Winky.

*These other things include lying in bed and watching bad Disney shows, speeding through Gilmore Girls and Spaced, typing very poorly, spitting up blood into the toilet in the belief that I'm about to throw up, and vaguely resembling Fred Flinstone in the jawline. I never realised how much I appreciated how sunken in my face actually was until I could no longer see my entire cheekbones. Woe.

summoning.

2009-05-07T04:29:12Z

Twenty-eight minutes into the morning and I already really want a hot cup of tea.

What does this say about me?

did you know there's a zombie on your lawn?

2009-05-05T02:28:19Z

Since nothing I could say would ever top this, I'm not going to bother. Just watch and be amazed.

help, please!

2009-05-03T17:53:30Z

Does anyone know where I can download a free version of Photoshop? I don't mean a thirty day trial, either. Preferably CS3 but I'd take what I could get!

god, i'm tired.

2009-05-03T03:59:48Z

Went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine tonight. It wasn't bad - it was certainly better than X-Men: The Last Stand, which was shit, but it definitely got a great deal of the canon completely wrong. Thankfully, I'm not invested enough in the canon to get too upset about it. The big reveal of [spoiler] at the end of the movie was a bit creepy, as the de-aged actor kind of resembled a baby pterodactyl. Those who've seen it should know who I'm talking about, and those who haven't... will be saved from a spoiler? Not that it adds anything to the actual plot anyway.

Also, there is a scene at the end of the credits which is just... weird. I managed to be spoiled to Logan's location even before the credits ended (there would only be one reason to have a song titled Something Shinjuku, when most of the movie takes place in North America) and well, I guess they are paying a bit of attention to the canon, as Logan does spend some time in Japan.

Hold on a sec.

EMMA FROST DOES NOT HAVE A SISTER NAMED KAYLA.

This managed to piss me off more than the weird James Howlett is Victor Creed's brother thing!

Okay, I'm good now.

Due to my reluctance to walk into my mother and her new boyfriend having intimate relations on the living room couch, I forced devlinnreiko and Ally into a nearly hour-long detour at Timmy's, which culminated in me nearly spitting all my hot chocolate over the table due to a laughing fit.

Also, I finally got to watch more Code Geass due to breaking down and finding some subs to stream... only to have the subbing promptly stop at episode twenty-four. I'm already predisposed to the dubs, not just because of the convenience but because of all the fun Persona crossover (seriously, it borders on incestuous), even if the dubs crap out on the closing credits. I have to sit on my hands for the next three months, waiting for Adult Swim to air the last ten episodes of the dub (which I can't even watch on TV - lame!) while all subs are lost to me? Go bite yourself, watchanimeon.com! Advertising subbed anime without subs is just cruel.

I'll get over it. As far as Death Note, which I am five episodes in... Light Yagami is a tool. He's one step above douche because he's not a jerk in the traditionally mean sense, he's just... a giant tool. I want to smack his smug face.

How was your Saturday, f-list?

the calendars changed today.

2009-05-02T02:21:25Z

Happy May, f-list!

As the date of wisdom teeth removal nears, I'm dreading it more and more. If there's one thing I hate, it's having to hand over control of my own body. Granted, anaesthesia is a minor example of that, but still... nightmare fuel. Do not want.