#goat life review

[kafiranablogs]

‘Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life’ movie review: Prithviraj’s performance drives a survival drama that borders on monotony

Prithviraj in ‘Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Unimaginable are the ways in which adversities can reshape a human being. The physical transformation is the most obvious of these. But, Blessy’s Aadujeevitham — based on the real-life story of a man who ends up living in slave-like conditions in a goat farm in the middle of a desert — deals with much more than…

[imjustcryinginthecorner]

“Arguing with the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review”, The Mountain Goats // Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

[krissiefox]

DIRT Documentary Film (Review)

The next Fayetteville Film festival work I was able to track down online is thankfully of a considerably more pleasant subject matter than the last one.

DIRT is an Arkansas PBS documentary about farms and especially about soil health. Running about an hour long it introduces you to several farm owners around the state of Arkansas, whom all share some of their knowledge and experience with the audience. You'll get to learn about all sorts of things including plant life, insects, farm equipment, the history of farming, and more!

As a vegetarian, works about farming can sometimes be uncomfortable for me, but thankfully the discussion of animal slaughter in this documentary is kept extremely minimal, only briefly coming up 2 or 3 times as I can recall. It's much more centered on soil and plant health than anything else, thankfully.

You can watch this documentary for free on Youtube here.

Surprisingly, even watching it on our Xbox One X, there were no ad interruptions during the video, either! So that was nice as Youtube is often quite obnoxious with this sort of thing.

[chancellorberrynewt]

Recently, while working on fixing my brain, I followed the suggestion of writing a letter to myself as a child, telling your younger self what you wish someone would have told you as a kid. (Read here: https://www.robertllynch.com/2023/07/26/note-to-self/ ) I realized what I needed to do, and told my daughter all the same things I told my younger self. We both cried. I think that's progress. Full uncensored version available on my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/robertllynch

[marywollstonecraftshelly]

the rattling thing in videotape by radiohead is really important because it sounds like the rattling alien thing in black pear tree by the mountain goats and kaki king. but in videotape its stronger and more sure. if the chattering alien thing in black pear tree is a question, if it's trying to communicate and to speak, then in videotape, it's there for the final time. it's here to collect you. it's like. black pear tree is a song about life and videotape is a song about death. someday i am going to walk out of here free. no matter what happens now, you shouldn't be afraid

[snowdropheart]

i am never going to shut up about how good poor things was

[plusanimablog]

Chapter 10: Wings Of The Wild Part 2

Shad bursts in the door of the shacky hospital, asking if someone got a fever. Some women named Donna, Carol and Molly got the fever and they need medicine. But alas! The road was destroyed in the storm...

So anyway, Husky is drowning! Somehow...despite being half fish. Hilariously, Nana and Senri were watching him, all of us under the logic that being half fish, Husky would be perfectly fine falling asleep underwater. What, fish can't breathe through their scales? What the hell are gills?

Nana hears something in the distance, that something being Cooro. But Shad still needs to get the medicine for the women and given he just shouted away the most reliable form of transportation he had...he now has to risk flying in the storm on his shitty kite.

When the group gathers around Cooro, they ask him what's wrong. Cooro is bummed that his new friend got mad at him for a reason he can't even understand. Being the caring dickheads they are, the group only gets interested at the sound of cheese in the story and demands to know where he got it from. He says the town and they head there to get out of the rain. It's there that they see Shad flying on his shitty kite.

Finding out that Shad is only doing it to save the women, Cooro is about to go off to help. Husky stops him to ask if Shad was the one who told him to fuck in the first place. Cooro responds in the affirmative and Husky lets him go, knowing it takes more than shooing Cooro away to get him to hate someone.

Shad is about to get slammed into a cliff by winds before Cooro saves him, helping him ride the draft. Shad, very much still an asshole, tells him to fuck off. At least this time, he's settled for the better excuse that he's not worth the trouble. Cooro has a good response to that:

He keeps helping him fly the drafts until they reach Shad's mom, who gets the medicine to the women. Cooro collapses outside and Shad finally thanks him for his help...

...While he's unconscious and unable to hear it.

Cooro wakes up in the stables (couldn't even give him your bed, asshole?!) and is greeted by Shad when he heads outside. The women mentioned with the fevers earlier? Those were his goats. They're as important as sisters to him.

(Family).

They then have cheese made from their milk while the chapter ends with the rest of the group cleaning the road, asking where the fuck is Cooro.

[morurui]

CHAOS THEORY SPOILER REVIEW

Cause I just finished it and I have thoughts!

Sooooo I honestly have mixed feelings about Chaos Theory if I’m going to be honest I feel like there are some things that worked in my opinion and some things that didn’t really work for me so I’ll be separating this review into three parts: Things I liked, Things I wasn’t a fan of, and General thoughts.

Things I liked:

-The animation was absolutely gorgeous, it was such a step up from Camp Cretaceous that it’s weird to think that they’re apart of the same series. The team behind it did an absolutely amazing job!

-The last two episodes. Oh my god were those last two episodes so good, they had me at the edge of my seat as well as episode 10 finally giving us interactions between the entirety of the nublar 5

-YASAMMY. I think yasammy was done so well this season. Their fight was so real, nobody was totally in the wrong, but they both weren’t communicating their feelings to each other well and they resolved it in the end. It was just perfect

-Yasmina Fadoula. She was written so well I loved how they didn’t just completely forget she has PTSD and anxiety and included that in her character arc for this season. I also loved how they used her to address how bad it is to infantilize those with mental disorders. (Yaz and I are anxiety twins 🧘‍♀️)

-Mateo. The GOAT. I am the number one Mateo fan, dont ever forget it. I love that man and I will stand by him, I was stressing for his life during episode 10.

-Microbang villain girl was such a menacing villain at the end and I honestly love her. It’s clear that while she is using the atrociraptors for evil deeds she does clearly care for them. I desperately need to know more about her…

-Kenji and Brooklynn’s new voice actors do such a good job with the characters and while I’ll miss Jenna and Ryan, their new voices were casted very well!

Things I wasn’t a big fan of:

-Now to address the elephant in the room…Darius being in love with Brooklynn. (I’m going to try to look at this through an objective pov, but since I don’t ship dinostar obviously there’ll be a slight bias)(nothing wrong if you do ship Dinostar I’m happy for you, but these are just my feelings) Im not a big fan of this. To me I’ve never really read Darius and Brooklynn as being romantic together and their friendship is something I truly cherished about JWCC. I do see why they probably decided to make the decision to have Darius be in love with Brooklynn, but to me it’s kind of upsetting in a way to have Darius’s extreme grief response not be just because they were best friends. It feels like the writers were saying “Well, he’s not experiencing this grief so hard because she was his best friend, but it’s actually because he loves her!”. We’ve seen loss be something Darius takes extremely hard (His dad’s death and Ben’s death) and so I don’t really see why they made it so he was in love with her to justify his response when it’s in character without it. Idk man…

-Brooklynn being alive….HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT. THIS IS NOT BECAUSE I HATE BROOKLYNN SHES ACTUALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS. But idk these fake out deaths are starting getting to wear me down. Even Bumpy had a fake out death 😭. I get why they kept her alive being as she is a beloved character, but I just think it would’ve been better for her to be a character that somewhat haunts the narrative. It adds more onto the mystery, not only that but it allows the nublar five to explore “Hey our friend was hiding things from us and we’ll never truly get answers, but we’re going to find out what lead to her death and put a stop to it”. Which was what the nublar five are on a path to, until Brooklynn inevitably shows back up and explains everything. Also why did they give her the 2017 Katy Perry haircut…

-Kenji and Darius’s dynamic. I loved how they used their dynamic at the beginning of the show with Kenji blaming Darius for Brooklynn’s death, but beyond that moment their dynamic felt off to me. It was not helped by the whole Darius being in love with Brooklynn thing, but it just felt like they toned down their brotherly bond in this show (ironic since this is the first time we see them call themselves brothers)

General thoughts

-Jesus Christ was Kenji this shows punching bag 😭. He literally does not get a break, it just keeps on coming, breaking up with his girlfriend because she’s not invested in their relationship anymore, living in a trailer with a failing rock climbing business, his girlfriend kept secrets from him all while working with his estranged dad behind his back, his dad trying to use him again and then dying saving him, AND his brother was in love with his ex girlfriend. All in the span of ten episodes. If I was him I would have a mental breakdown every single day.

-Do yall think Ben actually has a girlfriend? I’m like at a 70/40 split, because he only talks about her two times and the first time he brings her up she totally sounds fake. “She’s from…Europe” Why did you have to think so much Benjamin? Also he fully just said she’s from the continent of Europe rather than a specific country in Europe. Also also it’s implied he hasn’t had a phone on him for a while so how does a long distance relationship work if he doesn’t have any means to contact her??? And he doesn’t even have a picture of her in his van. That man is hiding something I need to know…

-Ben and Darius had like 30-40 minutes of screen time shared between them, which is weird because like most of the show was marketed with them being the main protags and they barely interact beyond episode 4. (Their dynamic was too strong for people to handle “do you talk to your mother with that mouth” broke the world)

-Bumpy having a baby is something I predicted and I’m happy I was right!

Anyway that’s really it, sorry this was pretty long and excuse any typos or grammatical errors, but these were just some of my thoughts!

[star-sparkler]

Question: What's August's relationship with Draxum like? What was his reaction to being told/shown that Donnie apparently has a kid now? Did he ever get to hold her when she was smol bean? Is he proud goat grandpa???

Question 2: And does August only exist in the Apocalypse-Future timeline, or does she exist in the normal timeline, too? If so, what's different? (cause I think I've only ever seen her in the bad future) Question 3: I know August has a softshell like Donnie- has she ever gotten injured in the shell, or given Donnie a heart attack by doing something dangerous that /almost/ hurt her in the shell? (or barely grazed her?)

August is bestest bean and she and Donnie are so cute and I wanna hold her and squish her lil face so baddd- 🥺

ok bai *skitters away*

August has a very good relationship with GrandBarry Draxum!! He was actually the second person Donnie told about August, primarily to get a second opinion on whether or not she was viable and what he should do to ensure she stayed safe and healthy as she grew / and the best way to go about it. Draxum was definitely taken aback when Donnie admitted he'd sort-of cloned himself but I don't think he fully registered the whole 'oh that makes me a grandpa' until much later. Early on he was just in alchemical scientist mentor review mode and focusing on what it meant for Donatello rather than anyone else. He likely saw a lot of himself in Purple. When August is born, GrandBarry (named by Mikey) is reluctant to hold her but cajoled into it (probably also by Mikey) and ends up falling in love from the moment he holds her and looks at that sweet little face. Great big 'well it's not a perfect clone but it's still somehow....perfect anyway? My creation made a creation? I'm proud? I'm connected to this new little being? This new little being is important to me? mY CREATION MADE A CREATION AND THIS IS THE CREATION OF MY CREATION??' feelings. Suffice to say, he's very proud. I think with time Barry gets better about showing affection to his weird family and is definitely one of those grandpas who are stern with their kids but incredibly soft with their grandkids. Bonus stuff I've yelled at some buddies in the past: Fnvdjkfj Barry looking at the August in the tube and then to Donnie who’s like 8I nervous finger tapping against his own thighs. “Soooooooo-“ “Well it certainly is a baby.” “Correct.” “My only question is HOW?” Okay actually Barry and Donnie would probably just dive into explanations and scientific mumbo jumbo. I think Barry would just take it at face value at first before like. After they’ve gone over everything he’s just. ‘I recognize I’m not exactly” grimace, eye roll, and finger quotes “~father of the year~, as Yoshi might say. But I feel I should remind you that you have an actual life in your hands with this. You realize the gravity of that, don’t you?” Donnie rubbing an arm and avoiding eye contact “I have thought, rationalized, and explored every possibility regarding this ad nauseam to myself and….yes.” “Yes, you realize?” “Yes, I realize.” “And you are going to do everything in your power to do better by this child than I or your father have done by you?” “….Yes.” Barry nods, there’s a beat to let it settle, and then he pats Donnie a little awkwardly but firmly on the shoulder. “Then permit me to offer you a congratulations, Donatello. You are a father now.” Draxum reluctantly holding August like: This is far from a successful clone but… Mikey: buuuuuUUuUuUT???? :3 Donnie: choose your next words wisely, Sheep Man. Leo: Very wisely. August: Draxum: August: [chirp] Draxum: [long suffering sigh. Slight blush] She is….an acceptable creation.

August's main timeline is the good future! It's what I normally post about for her unless otherwise stated. U3U The main difference between the AUs is the setting. Little shifts in character relationships that come from the adutlts living different lives in the good and bad timelines. In the bad, Donnie passes away when August is young, so she's raised by her family with Leo as the final guardian say on things but most of the day to day care by Mikey and April, depending on who's available. Bad Timeline August is more interested in tinkering / mechanical maintenance / inventing than in the good (a way to keep Donnie's memory close as well as a way to be helpful while young, as she's kept far from danger by her family. But you've got a curious, spirited, determined-to-prove-herself child genius locked in a bunker all her life so that's absolutely a recipe for August getting into dangerous shenanigans as she gets older. Everything in the bad timeline is movie canon compliant so she doesn't go back in time with Casey Jr. She's presumed dead, and inadvertently left behind in the bad timeline. But her story doesn't end bad. I'll tell that one another time tho. ;3c Good timeline August is most of what I've posted. She's a goody-two-shoes spitfire who carries more weight than she should, determined to make her family proud and carry on the Hamato legacy. In both universes she's deeply proud of her heritage and family and loves them more than she knows what to do with. But her goals are more becoming-the-next-Hamato-leader orientated in the good timeline. Bonus chart: https://star-sparkler.tumblr.com/post/735187057887051777/i-saw-a-post-before-of-you-saying-that-in-the

Oh yeah she's scared Donnie loooooads of times. August is a little monkey with her family, constantly climbing them and hanging off of them. Which is fine, because her family has quick reflexes and are invested in keeping the baby safe. But it's a nerve wracking thing to see your tiny daughter scaling your giant spiky eldest brother like a mountainous jungle gym. She's also keen to play rougher than she should and doesn't have much awareness of her own limits when she's small. So there's a lot of Donnie chasing tiny August around with her "Roughhousing Shell" and demanding she wear it while August does everything in her power to Not wear it / conveniently forget where she put it or lose it / hide from Papa when he gets the Roughhousing Shell out (she doesn't like how it feels on her sensitive soft shell. That's something she'll get better about with age / experience / Donnie adjusting it to be more August friendly though). Heehee thank you for the interest in Augie! ;v; <3

[storysims]

HORSE RANCH - GAMEPLAY REVIEW 🤠

Confession time, I actually dislike horses in real life! I have been known to dramatically call them 'vehicles of satan' when pressed, so I was a little concerned about this pack's appeal for me specifically.

But considering I never really wanted horses in the first place, I'm happy to say that I mostly enjoyed my time with the pack! Buckle in, this review turned out to be an especially long one.

I was provided with an early access copy of Horse Ranch to review via the EA Creator Network! Software was not final at the time of my gameplay.

(quick preface - if you see any extreme typos or letters in random places, no you don't! my bird has developed the habit of crashing her little body into my keyboard at high speeds for fun. 😂 catching the typos and fixing them has definitely become a challenge for me! thanks in advance for the patience!)

The easiest place to start both this review and gameplay is the ranch community board! Much like the boards in other packs, this object is scattered throughout the world and contains a wealth of information about new content and events. Important options on the board are also available elsewhere - for example, calling the animal exchange to purchase animals can be found on feeding troughs and horse competitions can be entered from the equestrian center in town. While there isn't a traditional new career included in the pack, ranching has proven to be a full time job. However, options like community jobs and competitions can earn your sim more than enough to keep the ranch running. I was able to easily earn §250 to over §1,000 a day with only my test sim and her horse, and that's not accounting for nectar making and mini sheep + goats!

I chose to start my ranch with a foal and sim fresh out of create-a-sim, but horses of all ages can be purchased from the aforementioned animal exchange! Foals, when compared to full grown horses, have a slightly limited set of interactions and skills. In my opinion, this didn't detract from the experience of having a foal whatsoever! My sim was still able to bottle feed her foal, teach her to eat hay from both the trough & patches of wild grass, and give her lots of loving attention. Of the four available horse skills, foals are only able to progress in the temperament skill! Temperament is a skill built by interacting with and caring for your horse. As their temperament increases, horses exhibit less "undesirable" behaviors, like bucking. Horses with a high temperament skill will have additional social interactions, such as your sim being able to come to them for comfort while in a sad mood. As all of the horse skills go up to level ten, I would highly recommend focusing on temperament with your foals. Foals with a high enough temperament skill even receive a bonus trait after aging up!

After aging up, horses gain access to their remaining three skills: agility, endurance, and jumping. Each of the skills work together to create a well rounded horse, especially for competitions.

Agility - affects how quickly and easily a horse can move. horses with high agility are better at using training barrels, completing certain community jobs, and competitions

Jumping - horses with high jumping skill love to reach for new heights! they are better at using training jumps, completing certain community jobs, and competitions

Endurance - all about how resilient a horse is! a horse with high endurance skill will become fatigued less often, and do better completing certain community jobs, and competitions

Once your sim is able to mount their horse and start riding, they'll begin building the horse riding skill. Don't expect a smooth ride - from a sim's visible discomfort in the saddle to being bucked off, an unexperienced rider will definitely face some difficulties. However, sims with a high enough riding skill will find they can no longer be bucked off horses! Sims are able to go for a ride with their horses at three different speeds - a relaxed, energetic, or intense ride. Much like sending your sim for a jog to build the fitness skill, going for a ride will build your horse's endurance! The more comfortable your sim becomes in the saddle, the faster they'll be able to direct their horse - both while riding for skill and traversing the world.

While the horse riding and endurance skills can be built virtually anywhere, training jumping and agility require two new objects - training barrels and jumps! These can be found dotted around the world or placed on your home lot. As your horse's skill progresses, so will the training options! Sims can add additional jumping rails, direct horses to train alone, or train intently with the horse themselves. Intense training is a great tool - it builds skill faster, but also tires your horse out at an increased rate!

With horse skills covered, it's time to compete! Normal competitions take place every day from 7am to 7pm at the rabbit hole equestrian center in the Historic Appaloosa neighborhood. You can compete in four different competitions - Barrel Racing, Endurance Racing, Show Jumping, and Western Pleasure. Each competition has four levels of entry - beginner, intermediate, expert, and master. As your horse rises through the different competition levels, different skills will be required for entry. An expert barrel race, for example, will require both agility and endurance. Sims aren't exempt from skill requirements either! They'll need to meet the required horse riding skill for each competition. Every Saturday in game, the Ultimate Horse Championship takes place at the equestrian center. This challenge will require both you and your horse to have maxed all the new horse related skills.

Placing at the Ultimate Horse Championship is a requirement for the aspiration, so any aspiring champions will want to make sure they're in the best possible position to win - especially since this is a once a week activity. Prior to competing in any competition, I found it especially helpful to initiate the 'encourage training' interaction with my horse. If all the horse's needs are met, they will become confident! Confident horses do better in competitions. After completing the Championship Rider aspiration, your sim will receive the Grand Champ Trainer trait. Sims with this trait are able to train horses faster, build more fun while riding, sell horses for a higher price, and give competition advice to new riders.

In addition to purchasing horses, your sim can also rescue a horse! Rescue horses come at a reduced cost (§250 vs §1000), but also tend to have more negative traits, like being aggressive or defiant. The game even goes as far as to warn you about the 'difficulties' of rescue horses before choosing one, but that absolutely shouldn't be a deterrent. Difficult traits and all, there were few differences in training up my rescue. He needed a bit more reassurance during training, but he became a champion regardless.

Two horses of the opposite sex are able to breed, provided their relationship is high enough! Much like with cats and dogs, sims will have the option to encourage the horses to interact and eventually breed. Horse pregnancy in game was astoundingly fast - just hours after breeding, a notification and a small baby bump confirmed the pregnancy! Pregnant horses cannot be ridden or compete in competitions.

Pregnant horses will labor for a handful of in game hours before a foal magically appears alongside them. Foals born in game have the ability to be born with unique traits, such as curious, playful, and hardy! Horse genetics matter! If one (or both?) of the parents have won competitions, foals can also inherit the Champion Genes trait. This trait allows for faster skill building and a higher sale value for the horse.

Let's talk about unicorns. While they do actually sparkle in game, unicorns are unfortunately not a new occult in this pack - they're just normal horses. A unicorn horn can be applied to any horse from the 'head' category and will remain on the horse through outfit changes - much like tattoos or skin details for sims. Foals can also be unicorns, albeit their horn is a bit different! Until they age up into an adult horse, their horn will be a tiny nub.

Mini goats and sheep are the real stars of the pack in my eyes! Not only are they incredibly cute, they provide help in the garden and help your sim earn money! Most importantly unlike the livestock in Cottage Living, the minis aren't tied to an object. Fill your pockets full of sheep or goats and take a community job. These little guys will host a goat yoga class or even a sheep sleep study! Sheep and goats also provide wool and milk, respectively. Without Cottage Living installed, these are instantly sold for simoleons. With a high enough relationship, your sim can ask for help in the garden - sheep eat weeds and goats eat bugs! (Full disclosure, I did have some issues with this in early access. Maybe my lot was too big, maybe they don't like planters! I've seen a sheep eat weeds though, so who knows?) Additionally, if your rancher is feeling a little sleepy during the day, find a fluffy friend and talk to them about counting sheep! You'll have a quick (and adorable) power nap!

Sims can now make nectar! This skill goes up to level five and even has an aspiration to match. While leveling up in the nectar skill is a slow process, it pays off! If your rancher has the time to make nectar, it's a great somewhat passive source of income. Nectar needs to age to become profitable, which means you won't be selling your freshly made nectar any time soon. Store your unopened nectar in the new storage rack to start aging! While the storage racks can be placed anywhere, nectar will age faster in a basement. In addition to increasing profits, aging nectar also enhances any benefits associated with it. Different types of nectar provide different perks, which are listed below!

Apple Nectar - helps sims feel inspired. if nectar is at least lightly aged, inspiration persists after nectar wears off

Grape Nectar - helps sims feel confident. if nectar is at least lightly aged, a confident feeling persists after nectar wears off

Strawberry Nectar - helps sims feel flirty. if the nectar is at least lightly aged, a flirty feeling persists after nectar wears off

Potato Nectar - helps sims feel especially happy, or the opposite if they overdo it. if nectar is at least lightly aged, the consequences of overdoing it are significantly reduced

Prairie Grass Nectar - helps sims feel happy and reduces tension. surprisingly filling! if nectar is at least lightly aged, tension and hunger reduction is stronger

Trash Nectar - helps sims feel happy while making them a bit smelly. animals seem to react quite positively. having nectar that is at least lightly aged will improve the smell

Energy Nectar - helps sims feel happy and staves off sleep for a short time. if nectar is at least lightly aged, sims get more energy and happy feeling persists after nectar wears off

Vitality Nectar - helps sims feel happy. extends vitality for the living by a little, and for the dead by a lot

Berry Nectar - helps sims feel happy. if nectar is at least lightly aged, happy feeling persists after nectar wears off

Fruit Nectar - helps sims feel happy. if nectar is at least lightly aged, happy feeling persists after nectar wears off

In addition to these, there's three additional nectar types that can be made with different packs installed. I was not able to make them, even after having access to all of the packs. They were unlisted in the nectar maker. In the interest of including a full list, the missing nectar types are:

Plasma Nectar (requires Vampires) - helps vampire sims feel happy and refreshed. non-vampires should avoid. if nectar is at least lightly aged, vampire refreshment greatly increases

Valerian Nectar (requires Realm of Magic) - helps sims feel happy, with a little something extra for spellcasters. if nectar is at least lightly aged, spellcaster effects increase significantly

Moonpetal Nectar (requires Werewolves) - helps sims feel happy. werewolves may enjoy an increased sense of calm. beware, any werewolf who drinks too much will surely struggle to maintain control...

I'll be the first to admit - it was a bit of a bummer seeing another single step aspiration, especially one where I viewed the §100,000 goal as completely unattainable. Spoiler alert, its not. I've never made more money in this game than I have selling nectar! By the time my early access period ended, I had made just shy of half a million simoleons. After completing the aspiration, your sim will be rewarded with the Nectar-Know-It-All trait. These sims have the ability to craft pre-aged nectar, a stronger bladder while drinking nectar, and their negative emotions have less influence on their current mood.

Nectar is plenty profitable when sold normally, but this man is completely responsible for my unreasonable amount of early access wealth. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the Mysterious Rancher will appear in New Appaloosa and offer to buy your nectar for above face value - he claims nectar is in high demand every time, even though I surely singlehandedly ruined the nectar economy. For comparisons sake, I took 6 bottles of nectar to the rancher. In my sim's inventory, those bottles would have sold for §15,834. The Mysterious Rancher, however, paid §19,795. All of my sims are about to be incredibly rich.

As I said before, ultimately I did really end up enjoying this pack! For me personally, enjoyment doesn't always mean I would recommend something. If you love horses, I truly think this pack will be a great experience for you! My personal opinion is that I found the gameplay extremely repetitive. I don't see myself playing with horses again any time soon, and you will absolutely never catch me entering the Ultimate Horse Competition again. Ultimately, while fun, this just isn't a pack that I would pay full price for.

[artoatsblog]

What your favorite Nick toon says about you but it's EVERY Nick toon

Doug- When you were asked what you wanted for Christmas, you said "plan white bread."

Rugrats- You're a "90's kid" who wants the modern cartoon enjoyers to get off your lawn.

Hey Arnold-Same as Rugrats, but 5 time worse.

Rugrats (2021)- You only said this one to piss off the above two.

Ren & Stimpy- You're a gay man and all you OCs are ugly men who you need to kiss each other or else you'll die (This isn't an insult, you're the strongest member of our society.)

Rocko's modern life- You relate to at least one character way more than you would like to admit to others.

CatDog- Weird furry.

The angry beavers- Weird furry with taste.

Aaahh!!! Real monsters- You like the idea of Tim Burton's movies but your too cool to actually enjoy them, also your probably non-binary.

Kablam- As a kid you wanted to make something with this exact energy and now, you're a youtuber.

Oh Yeah! Cartoons- same as Kablam but you really miss Cosmo's old voice.

The wild Thornberry's- You worship the ground Tim Curry's walks on SO BAD.

Rocket power- Honest 90's kid.

SpongeBob SquarePants seasons 1-4- You're annoying about seasons 5+.

SpongeBob SquarePants seasons 5+- You know better than me about those people being annoying about seasons 5+.

As told by ginger- You were going to say Hey Arnold, but you didn't want to be lumped in with certain other people.

Action league now- You made at least five short films that look exactly like this.

Chalkzone- Your playlist for working out has the theme song for this show looped for five hours and nothing else.

The fairly oddparents- Your trans, and you hate no other person more than Elmer Hartman.

Invader Zim- You were a vary emo kid/teenager in the late 2000's (same, no shade)

Jimmy Neutron- you're really glad that that you picked the show in "Jimmy Timmy power hour" that wasn't made by an asshole.

All grown up- Come on guys "As told by ginger" is right there.

Avatar: the last airbender- I don't want to hear the lore of the fantasy book you wrote.

Avatar: the legend of Korra- Same as atla but You also made a LOT of shipping fanfics.

My life as a teenage robot- Transfem.

The X's- You don't exist, if you're going to go into the comments and say this is your favorite Nicktoon, you're lying.

El Tigre- This is just the good version of Danny Phantom.

Danny Phantom- That was a Joke don't yell at me.

Mr. meaty- You want this odd but cool type of puppetry to come back (if you thought I was going to make fun of this one your wrong.)

Tak and the power of Juju- Your enjoyment of this show is based entirely on the fact that you liked the games.

Back at the barnyard- Shitposter.

Fanboy and Chum Chum- Shitposter but awesome.

Catscratch- Yeah, I think Wayne Knight's voice is hot too.

The mighty B- Gay.

The penguins of Madagascar- I don't have a joke for this one I just think you have impactable taste.

Planet Sheen- You always wanted Jimmy Neutron to have more "Rawr XD" swag.

T.U.F.F puppy- You ether are Jerry Trainor, or you have a Jerry Trainor stan account.

Kung fu panda: legends of awesomeness- You have a three-hour lore video on this franchise, and I hope it does well.

Winx club- You wanted to help them get free from Netflix.

Robot and Monster- It may just be me, but I think you might enjoy Dan vs.

Teenage mutant ninja turtles (2012)- You don't like rise of the tmnt.

Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles- You don't like tmnt (2012).

Sanjay and Craig- You used to freak other kids out with your scabs.

Monsters vs aliens- You can deny Coverton's rizz (sorry).

Breadwinners- Your about to go into every cartoon reviewers house with a shit ton of water balloons.

Harvey Beaks- In the middle/late 2000's you were more of a cartoon network kid, you loved Cowder.

Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket- Same as Harvey Beaks but with Flapjack instead of Cowder.

Bunsen is a beast- Your Elmer Hartman.

Welcome to the Wayne- You wrote at least one fanfic for the ending of this show.

The adventures of kid danger- We don't talk about this one.

Middle school Moguls- it's ok monster high is about to come to Nick for real.

The loud house- Your ether a sapphic girl or a straight guy with a DeviantArt account who needs to be punished.

The Casagrandes- Same as the loud house but with the added advantages, because if you have a DeviantArt account in this one you're more likely to have a normal relationship with your family.

It's pony- You don't hate the British as much as the rest of us.

Middlemost post- John trabbic III is such a bad ass name though, wait this show has Del the funky homosapien and Tony Hawk as guest stars, I might need to which this.

Star trek: prodigy- You really like Netflix original animated shows don't you.

Big Nate- You haven't read the books.

Monster high- You the perfect in-between of goth and prep.

Transformers: earthspark- Why does this show have better non-binary rep than most other shows...I mean they are called Transformers for a reason.

[mark-on-you]

The perfect review of the mountain goats as a band comes from a radio session where the interviewer says "and it's hard to discuss, uh, that song without, yknow, ending my life". It applies to every song.

[artist-issues]

I find your analysis on the Disney movie “Wish” movie rather interesting. The fact that there are actually a considerable amount of Christians working on Disney movies is actually really cool. I heard from people that the concept art for the movie was “better” than the movie itself and I was curious about your thoughts if its fine by you. I actually have no intention in watching the movie, but I am interested in the reviews. I personally find the idea of a villain couple really interesting and unique. Star having the ability to shape-shift into a humanoid would be interesting too, especially since the movie already has the goat for a marketable toy. Thank you for reading my ask!

Here is a screenshot of a YouTube video about the concept art:

I totally agree that basically anything would’ve been better than what we got. I think having Star be a character that Asha can actually talk to and have a human interaction with would’ve been great.

If they wanted to have a heroine who believed in everyone getting to have the chance to make their wishes come true for themselves, they needed to explain where that idea comes from. Having her realize that that’s what she believes, out loud, in preachy exposition during a two-minute interaction where she suddenly understands that King Magnifico doesn’t grant everybody’s wishes, (why all of a sudden? She’s lived her whole life in Rosas. She knows Wish Granting Ceremonies only happen once a month—didn’t she or anybody else ever think “hey why doesn’t he give them back if they’re not going to be granted this month?” But I digress) fell totally flat in the movie.

They should’ve given us a background for Asha, or at least hinted at how she came to be the bright, blandly-caring character they keep telling us over and over that she is.

They started to, with the mention of her dad. But it was super halfhearted and undercooked. Who was her dad? What was it about him that supposedly inspired her to care about everyone’s wishes getting granted? If it was the fact that she wished he would not die of illness, and it didn’t happen, and she doesn’t want anyone else to “feel grief” (which is an iffy message, but whatever) then show that to us. Show us evidence of how much her dad meant to her beyond her sketchbook drawings. Maybe he was an inventor and he lived by the philosophy of making life better for the people of Rosas. Maybe he came to Rosas when he was a child, because his family home had been destroyed, and they took him in and treated him so kindly that he spent the rest of his life trying to return the favor by creating new toys and tools that the people of Rosas could use to better their lives—and he taught his daughter to feel that same level of “care for the people” that he did before he died! Then, when she realizes Magnifico came from a similar background as her father and chooses to protect wishes instead of risking them destroyed, she would have an opposite role model in the memory of her father, who chose to work toward wishes even though he’d had his own destroyed at a young age.

But no. There’s none of that shown. Just a throwaway conversation, where the characters just outright say, “Your father was a philosopher always talking about the stars; he used to say the stars were there to guide us and make us believe in possibility!”

But if they had a Star character that shapeshifted into a human?

Suddenly, an alternative to Magnifico’s magic takes shape in the form of a person, with his own set of beliefs and a worldview that could directly inspire and change Asha’s.

It would have been better for her character development to have m than a mute icon to interact with. It would have been better for appeal, too. Instead of just…talking out loud and using exposition to outright say what’s going on in her head, like she’s Batman in an old comic strip narrating everything she thinks about, she could’ve had someone to converse with, argue with, be convinced by.

She starts the movie wanting everyone’s wish to come true, for no well-demonstrated, compelling, human reason. And then she ends the movie still wanting everyone’s wish to come true. There’s no well-done character arc. The only thing she learns from Star is that she has his same power if she really believes she can use it. (But like I said, she’s never shown doubting herself in any real way in the movie before meeting him, aside from nerves before an interview, if you can call that self-doubt.)

But if he’d been human? She could’ve been different. She could’ve started out the movie with the seeds of someone who can work toward her dream and take risks, but maybe tragedy from losing her father has made her pessimistic and she no longer “believes.” But then Star, he can come and wake back up those feelings. People are more inspired by a person who teaches them something through a human relationship (like Rapunzel teaching Flynn to want something more than a life of ease alone, or Jasmine teaching Aladdin that royalty can make you feel trapped too if you’re always having to pretend to be something you’re not) than they are by a pet-like, silent glowing ball with a “loving light.”

I wonder what their idea was. Maybe the Star she wishes on is the youngest star in the heavens. Maybe the “stars” are a community of watchers—they all chronicle human lives as stories, and when people need those stories most, the stars remind them and inspire them of why it’s good to dream and take risks. But Star? He’s young, and he naively believes that the stars should do more, fix every problem that mortals have, and so he breaks the rules and comes to earth to help Asha when she wishes on him.

Obviously there’s got to be some limit on his power, and some thematic indication that Star was wrong; you shouldn’t do all the work for people and give them whatever will make them happy in the moment. They need to work for it themselves. So maybe he was slowly getting weaker and losing his power the longer he was on Earth, but didn’t realize it or didn’t worry about it.

Anyway, he’s determined to help Asha with whatever she’s wishing for, but she (kind of like Tiana,) really just wished on him in a moment of vulnerability, and is usually pretty pessimistic. Maybe she almost-instantly gets in trouble with the King for Star’s appearance, and regrets wishing on him.

Either way, they have a difference in views; Star is a hopeful, bright guy who believes mortals can achieve anything they set their mind to if they try, and that’s why he believes in helping them—Asha is a pessimistic teen who’s faith got strangled by tragedy, but he starts inspiring her to keep trying anyway. Eventually Star and she, even though they become friends, reach a low point or failure in the adventure, and they have their big argument, and Asha starts to backtrack and go back into believing “there’s no point in wishing on stars—it’s crazy to think anything will get better; I’m not going to take any more risks, I’ll lose what little I have left.” and Star learns his lesson; yes, mortals can achieve their dreams, but there has to be a part of them that wants to work for it and has faith; he can’t do that part for them. He can’t just positivity-talk her into it.

And then maybe the King captures him and Asha has to take action again or lose him forever, and doing that teaches her that she’d rather try than live a life of no wishing, or whatever—

—Again, I’m not meaning to do rewrites here. I think the main point of the movie was flawed or too vague to begin with, but I DO think they could’ve made something that was at least interesting, even if the main point was problematic. And the concept art proves it, yeah. Thanks!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven, are you going to watch the upcoming new Disney movie "Wish"?

I've seen mixed reviews, but i'm lowkey excited since we get to see a new Disney villain, especially since Disney got really lame villains after all the old classic movies!

Have you seen the trailer for the movie? What are your thoughts so far?

I saw Wish with a friend recently! I'll give my thoughts on the trailers here (in case you don't want spoilers for the film itself) and put my full thoughts beneath the cut (if you're okay with spoilers).

Looks-wise, I think Disney was definitely trying to go for something more stylistic and painting-esque for this?? And while I commend the effort, it definitely doesn't look as interesting as Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish. The humor also definitely isn't for me, it feels very "quirky" and "so relatable" (Asha reminds me of Mirabel in that sense), and other times too juvenile (like the goat butt joke). I do like the idea of the villain passing as a good guy in-universe and actually being vain and selfish, especially since the marketing is making it clear who the bad guy is rather than making it a "twist" villain scenario. Not sure if I like Magnifico himself though??? All the ads with him in it feel like Disney is trying too hard to make people thirst for him. From just the trailers, Magnifico does seem interesting and like more of a return to the traditional "villain" rather than the protagonist having to deal with an existential dread or concept.

***Spoilers for Wish beneath the cut!***

Right off the bat, my first impression is the narrative is SO ham-fisted. Within the first 5 minutes alone we're establishing so much information and in such a clunky, unnatural way. Like... Asha says hi to her friends but then they robotically have a dialogue where they overtly call each other "friends" just so it's clear to the audience (when in reality no one talks like that). It's telling instead of showing, and this happens sooo many times early in the film.

Could not for the life of me remember the friends or their names. There were just too many of them when 1 or 2 would have been just fine to move the plot along and to help Asha. (Yes, I know they're a reference to the 7 Dwarves but it's STILL not necessary to have so many just for a reference.)

Bruh, the makeup in this movie is on point. Every time there was a close up of a character, I was staring at their eye makeup (especially Asha and the queen's).

Asha as a protagonist was... fine? She feels very close to Mirabel and at times Rapunzel in her character. I didn't dislike her by any means, but she didn't reinvent what it means to be a Disney protag. Her motivations also come off as… really “out of nowhere”. We’re told she “cares too much”, but she initially only wants to save the wishes of her mom and grandpa; she randomly decides she has to free ALL wishes midmovie and that was jarring. There could have been a smoother transition. Instead, it was abrupt and Asha didn’t change in any meaningful way. Even her “I want” song was vague (what exactly is “to have something more for us than this”?) and didn’t connect well with her character.

I do really like her design though! Her freckles, earrings, and how her hair moves are my favorite details.

Valentino was not as annoying as I thought he would be. Still didn't care for his sass and brand of humor, but at least he helped out a few times.

I called it, the film is trying so hard to make Magnifico "hot" 🤡 I don't get it but okay, Mouse. I see your effort.

Loved his fit!! Very cool cloak and diamond/star motifs everywhere! His lab and study was also fun to look at.

I quite liked the moments when the queen talked to her husband and tried to smooth things over with him. “I can fix him energy”— Their relationship seemed very genuine at the start of the movie.

NOT THE WISH NEPOTISM...

If they were going for “sympathetic” with Magnifico, it didn’t work. He gave this backstory about how he was traumatized before + left as the only survivor of a great tragedy and so now he wants to use his magic to prevent that from happening to anyone else. Thing is, we only ever know about this via his word and staring at a half-burnt tapestry. We never see the event on screen, nor what was left of the tapestry. I was expecting a twist where it’s revealed that he lied all this time about his backstory and rewrote history so he could more easily manipulate the people of the kingdom he founded and live out the fantasy of being worshipped as a “good guy”. That was such a missed opportunity!!

Something else I was thinking of (this was during “This is the Thanks I get” was??? Maybe Magnifico started off genuinely good but became worn down over time as people’s wishes grew more selfish and they became ungrateful for what they had?? Then he could have become bitter and disillusioned by the behavior of his people.

Another idea is maybe Magnifico was “villainous” only in Asha’s eyes, since they don’t agree on how to best handle granting wishes. This would be more of a clash of ideologies rather than the traditional Obvious Evil vs Obvious Good that Disney is so known for, but hey, it could be a neat evolution of their storytelling from classic fairy tale roots.

This is to say that there were so many more interesting directions they could have gone with Magnifico’s motives, character, and portrayal 😭 but the second half of the movie never commits to any of these, they just blame his complete insanity and turn to the dark side on Forbidden Magic which is such a cop-out.

The trailers gave away the twist that Magnifico was the villain. It wasn’t revealed until like the second song into the movie. Would’ve worked better as an on-the-spot reveal rather than part of the marketing, in my opinion.

When they showed the wishes, the TWST fan in my was shouting, "OMG IT'S WISH UPON A STAR, THE LIMITED TIME STORY EVENT FROM THE HIT DISNEY MOBILE GACHA GAME TWISTED WONDERLAND!!!"

As Wish is Disney's anniversary film for 100 years, there were tooons of easter eggs scattered throughout. (I had fun looking for them!) Some were visual (I saw Aurora's dress, Snow White’s well, Peter's Pan's costume, Ursula's green smokey hands, Asha's robes resembling those of the Fairy Godmother, etc.) or extended imagery/scenes (Asha recreates Mulan's dinner and “Reflection" scenes), others were more overt lines of dialogue (Magnifico says the "Mirror, Mirror" lines along with others, a deer named “Bambi”, Valentino mentions an animal metropolis in reference to Zootopia, etc.).

In theory, the wish magic sounds cool but has so much that isn't explained??? And yeah, it's magic so it technically doesn't have to be. However, there are things not explained even when it is important to the plot. For example, Magnifico crushes some wishes and seems to absorb their power for himself (including the wish of Asha's MOM, so you'd think this would be important)? The consequence of this is that the wish's owners... become sad??? Okay, what are the long-term effects??? Why isn’t this fully explored?? But then later in the film we see the same people whose wishes were crushed... regenerate their wish??? So what, he has to keep reaping them??? And why are the wishes only taken at 18 years old? What if a wish changes? Ironically, the townspeople of Rosas have a scene where they question the technicalities of this wish magic. Magnifico essentially tells them to shut up, and it kinda felt like Disney was telling us to not question their lore www

It was weird that they never fully explored the ramifications of going without your wish. You’d think they’d show us people without ambition or hope (which would incentivize Asha to return their wishes), but everyone seems blissfully happy without their wishes?? The only exception is Asha’s friend that betrays her (cannot for the life of me remember his name), and that’s namely because his asshole friends keep ragging on him for it.

I thought the movie was going to go in a “you can make your own wish come true!!” direction but NOPE, turns out it’s just magic. Felt like Disney unintentionally wrote a whole movie about "wishes not coming true unless some big powerful entity allows it to come true” (Asha literally becomes the fairy godmother of Rosas at the end, making her ultimately no different than Magnifico)… ie a metaphor for how Disney owns so many properties it practically owns our childhoods www

"The power of friendship saves the day" ending 🤣 It was very Paper Mario ending-esque...

A song saving the day though?? It’s giving the Illumination Lorax film…

I was right about the humor. Too "quirky" and/or juvenile for me.

Animation was alright? Nothing awful about it, it just didn't feel as detailed or as experimental as other films with a similar style.

Songs were mid, which checks out with the recent Disney music excluding We Don't Talk About Bruno--

Some of the lyrics however were awful. “I let you live here for free and I don’t even charge you rent” is redundant. “So I throw caution to every warning sign” means you’ll show more caution than usual, not that you’ll forego caution. The correct expression is “throw caution to the wind”. Etc, etc, etc.

There was a cute after credits scene where they reveal that Asha's 100 year old grandpa (same age as Disney omg) wrote the "When You Wish Upon a Star" theme, which was sweet since his wish was "wanting to make a mark".

THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE WAS STAR!! It was very cute (partly because it couldn't talk and just jingled and giggled, I was dreading another annoying mascot animal voice) and reminds me of my own pet… The way Star infused everything with glitter and formed unique shapes with the red twine was so fun 😭 I'M A STAR STAN, IT WAS ADORABLE AND KINDA BRATTY AND I'M LIVING FOR IT

Decent ideas, "meh" execution. Enchanted and Shrek did it better in terms of self-aware, fairy tale defying stories. It felt as though the movie was trying to deliver a profound message but got lost in the sauce of making as making Disney references possible and didn't fully commit to actually saying something meaningful. As a result, the film feels somewhat… hollow.

That one friend betraying Asha was the biggest surprise in the film but I still saw it coming 😂 I do get where he’s coming from though (being worried that his wish won’t ever come true) but it also felt like his conflict wasn’t resolved??? It might have gone better if the movie actually fully tried to push the “you can make your own wish come true” message (to reinvigorate the traitor to make his dreams a reality on his own) but they don’t 💦

Wish didn’t end up being “the wishing star’s origin story” because not once did anyone question where Star came from or why it was different from other stars (or what the significance of Magnifico blotting out the other stars was).

I think the people that would enjoy this movie are the people that are already highly invested in Disney and the nostalgia of it.

... Anyway, stan Star 🤩 (and the talking mushrooms 🍄)

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

Okay I literally never do this but episode 7 was so good I gotta do an episode review.

Spoilers ahead obviously

First things out of the way: FUCK FUCK WHY IS SHE HERE FUCK OH MY GOD JESUS CHRIST. When she slammed Mark into that crater I legit began hyperventilating (albeit very lightly). I was so not ready for her to show up and oh my god, the terror conveyed in Zazie's voice acting was legit. That fight scene absolutely kicked ass though, I got hyped as hell when Mark dropped that "no". Now that she's in the show I really hope she doesn't garner any fans because WOW they are gonna be in for a shock. And lastly FUCK YEAH ALLEN KICK HER ASS.

The breakup scene was fantastic. The episode focusing on so much of their relationship kinda made it clear something was gonna happen but when Mark changed up his schedule for her I was like "oh that's really nice" and then she showed up. As I said that was all fantastic, from Cecil's panicking to Amber's terror the presentation was great. Although now that they're broken up, I really hope they go somewhere else with Amber that isn't... that storyline.

REX IS THE GOAT. I love how he just tells Mark "pick a day and we'll cover for you". An absolute bro for sure, I'm loving his character arc. Can't wait for everyone to learn his origin and be like "oh shit" like after Eve's special. Speaking of which, do ya think we're gonna get a Rex-focused special about his origin like we did Eve?

Donald talking Rick down from the ledge and learning about himself in doing so was fantastic. We stan Donald. And man, am I glad they replaced Justin. Like, I know they had to after his actions came to light but also if I'm being honest I despised Rick's voice. Justin was good for silly characters but if I had to listen to him try to do the emotional segments I would've pulled a Rick (sanchez) and put my head in a lazer.

Still don't like Immortal's sad arc. Don't get me wrong, they're doing an awesome job with everything post Kate's "death" but the fact that we literally never saw anything more of their relationship than a shower fuck kinda makes it hard to feel anything when he talks about how sad he is.

Last but not least, OH SHIT OH FUCK IT'S HIM IT'S... *checks notes* Langstrom Sleazy...?

Look I'm sorry I like Angstrom and that end reveal was AWESOME and I am so scared and excited for what's definitely gonna be the plot of season 3 but also I can never remember his fucking name for the life of me and I have no idea why.

Anyway with Anissa here at least that means Thragg's not far behind. Hell we might see him next episode what with the whole prison thing.

[floatingbook]

We might never have spoken, we might never have seen each other, but odds are I carry the thought of you around with me every day. One of you shines in my mind whenever I get around to knitting. One of you kneels in the mulch by my side when I garden. One of you is in my heart whenever I come across a bunch of talkative goats. One of you haunts me in every piece of art that has a cat, and I get goosebumps if that cat is sitting under a night-sky. One of you, sort of weirdly, is brought to mind whenever I see a straw hat. I write most of my book review for one of you, even those I don’t post, even those that stay thoughts. One of you, wistfully, comes inevitably to my mind whenever I walk barefoot in the sand. A few of you grace my thoughts whenever I cut or stack wood. I can feel the eyes of some of you on my limbs whenever I break into a dance. Many more make me smile, in a shared wish of bravery, when I refuse to stand down from my convictions. What a mark you’ve left into my life. What a privilege.