this is the greatest movie ever made and i'm being 100% serious. i dived headfirst thinking it had a comedic premise. it, very obviously, did, because when a flock of sheep steps out to solve the murder of its shepherd, you're bound to giggle at some point. but it was much more emotional than it was funny. i cried four times, lost my appetite, and couldn't stop thinking about the what-ifs of the plot even hours later. i hold the winter lamb, now named george (YAY!), so close to my heart. my sweet boy. you did not deserve what you received. and god did your misery made me sob like a baby. sebastian might have been a ram, but he was fr a goat deep down. i couldn't breathe while watching what they did to him. especially towards the end. after all, sheep don't die. they turn into clouds. lily and mopple were adorable. they never let the movie get boring. their silly-looking faces made me snort throughout. the twins were the funniest addition to the whole thing. justice? no, just us. not a single thought behind those eyes. cloud, my diva, i'll give you hundreds of "the thing with no end" (a bangle, lmao). derry snatched all the spotlight every time he was on the screen. i remember laughing until my stomach hurt. last, but not the least... ELLIOT IS SO FINE. 10/10, easily. this movie rewired my perspective on many things and had me sniffling like a loser under my blanket.

how did you make me care about robots and show that they're human and how did i dissolve into tears like 4 times. the whole movie is art, but the first section of wall-e just going about his routine with his cockroach hal is maybe the greatest piece of digital filmmaking/animaiton i've seen yet. not a word is spoken bit you learn EVERYTHING — the world, who and what he is, how it all works and why — in such poetic yet heartbreaking terms. it's the peak of pixar's top-of-the-top storytelling brilliance. it's aesthetically beautiful, but it's pixar. come on. it's just an incredible movie, way ahead of its time. i initially watched it when i was like, nine, while i was bored out of my mind during my summer vacation. i just couldn't bring myself to rewatch it for fear of not seeing it as perfect as i remembered it, but when i did cave in... it got better and more beautiful. there's hardly any dialogue and yet it managed to make me sob MORE THAN THRICE. please do yourself a favour and watch it.

like missing someone i never even had. like basking near a seashore in the month of december. like a pall of mist against the window.

like the brink of a final goodbye. like taking a walk in the woods laced with fog. like a period after the word that should've paused with a comma.

like the olden allure of the architecture of lucknow. like buying bangles in the nexus of the nakkhas market. like walking around the alleyways of chowk during the season of ramadan.

like discovering your favourite artist in real time. like ascending to a whole other plane as the beats of a song penetrate through your flesh. like the feeling that makes you wonder if you'd ever be this young again.

no webtoon, and i mean NO webtoon in history will ever come close to this one, let alone surpass it. here, youth is painted as youth, laden with the vibrant palette of yellow, green, red... and friendship. it is a slice of life that tastes like the juiciest apple, combined with the blossoming romance of two endearingly awkward teenagers. i have probably read close to a thousand webtoons combined, but none of those can rival just how perfectly aslfua portrays the mundane, and how it makes you feel nostalgic over a time period you weren't even alive in. it inspired me to write my own work of fiction tailing the 90's era of south korea. it is on a break as of now, because the author is having health complications, and it's genuinely killing me. whenever it returns, i will be the first to spread the news everywhere, regardless of whether or not i am asked.

there are books, and then there are absolute masterpieces that change your entire perspective on life, on romance, on the mundane. the song of achilles falls in the latter category. madeline's prose kept me captured throughout every description, tedious or not. the sole book to have ever made me weep and sigh and chuckle and feel. never shall i forget what it truly felt like to read every word for the first time, and never shall a piece of work come into existence that can rival its allure. 5 stars aren't enough. i need to pluck 5 nebulous, celestial bodies from the heavens themselves and attach them to its front page. then, perhaps, i might be doing it justice.

like petrichor in a graveyard. like the tender, golden sand that glistens underneath the sun. like the curls and swoops of ink against a yellowed parchment.

cast: baek yi-jin by nam joo hyuk na hee-do by kim tae ri ko yurim by bona moon ji-ung by choi hyun-wook ji-seungwan by lee joo-myung i watched it in the summer of 2022, and i still remember vividly how i was at a loss for words while trying to write about it in my journal. it made me yearn for something i hadn't even lost back then — my youth. a story about friendships, dreams, love, and loss. its ending, however, did not feel like one, for it left us with a plethora of unanswered questions. i suppose the pain of it rendered the conclusion all the more beautiful. we often don’t get what we want — no matter how much we put our faith and efforts into it. it’s what makes life exciting and terrifying at the same time. every character is embedded into the nook and cranny of my brain, even four years later. every plot point is recorded by the scribes of my memory. thank you for making me cry like a baby.

like a cold, greige winter evening. like the warmth of a cup of coffee that seeps through the paws of your sweater. like sitting in an empty metro as it crosses a bridge.

like plummeting straight into the gulf of pure love. like a summer night on the beach. like the juiciest bite of indian mangoes.

like silently cherishing the person you know you cannot reach. like being positively sick with love. like a diwali night, holding sparklers and giggling together, your hand intertwined with theirs.

need a good cry? read seasons of blossom. need a tender romance? read seasons of blossom. need to relive your prime back in highschool through a piece of media? read seasons of blossom. need a life lesson? READ. SEASONS. OF. BLOSSOM. i wish i could say something more philosophical to make you want to read it, but there are no words to describe just how utterly beautiful seasons of blossom is, and how loving the ENTIRE CAST is. the entire story is divided into 4 arcs. the first one is bomi's flower (spring), which shows a fluffy romance between bomi, the popular girl, and jinyeong, the nerdy, gamer guy most people are fail to even notice. the second one is hamin's flower (summer), which touches much darker themes such as depression, suicide, and the pressure of never being enough. it involves an unfinished romance between hamin and somang, and spoiler alert, the last few chapters WILL make you want to die lol. the third arc is gaeul's flower (autumn), which is quite a generic, lovers to enemies to lovers kind of story between gaeul and subin. it is sort of a respite after all the mental weight the author makes you carry in the second arc. the fourth and final arc is dongchae's flower (winter), which introduces a brand new character in the story. her romance remains one-sided, and truthfully, empty, which will make perfect sense once you read through the whole thing. towards the end, the entire plot comes full circle and everything gets interconnected. like a wheel. it is a moment i wish to relive over a thousand times. one of the best written pieces ever.

the truth is, men make terrible pigs. when madeline miller was writing that line in the toasty warmth of her home, she probably wasn't aware that it was going to alter the entire brain chemistry of an eighteen-year-old reader who only enjoyed the romance genre when it came to literature. safe to say, she was the reason i began exploring and found a new set of tropes i grew to enjoy. anything she releases ends up joining the list of my absolute favourites in one way or another. her books disobey all laws of economics by somehow managing to provide us (me specifically) with increasing marginal utility. every chapter i read, every page i turn, makes me seek more - akin to a parched vagabond in search of a drop of water. the song of achilles already set that standard for me. circe, yet another work of hers revolving around greek mythology, was THE book for me for the longest time. not only does it have madeline's signature prose, it is also rich with a well-thought plot and absolute bangers for dialogues. it has an open ending, which might sound unappealing to most people, but i found it perfect. i never thought that someone who was but a minor character in the odyssey, could be moulded into a full-fledged lead with detailed backgrounds, life instances and mannerisms. but oh well, nothing is impossible for miss madeline. adding a long, long thread of my favourite quotes below.

like racing through the archways of roman cathedrals wearing your best dress. like the warm flush in your cheeks when they're just a little too close. like accidentally inhaling a scent that hurls you into the garden of your memories.

like being seventeen and absolutely crazy in love. like wanting to confess to your crush but not having the gall to take the first step. like sitting behind them in the class and watching them from afar.

watched this one as soon as it was released (for oscar isaac lmao) and it is safe to say that it turned out to be an immediate favourite... but surprisingly, not because of isaac. jacob elordi stole the show by a mile. i did not expect him to break out of his whole euphoria and the kissing booth persona, but he actually did, and delivered a WONDERFUL performance at that. i cannot believe i cried like a baby for a good half of the film. and good lord, guillermo del toro is one hell of a director. the artistic elements, the costumes, the backgrounds, the aesthetics... wow. the cinematography was top-notch. even a casual watcher like me was awed, i wonder what cinephiles thought of it. i wish all the novel adaptations could be covered such beauty. will definitely be rewatching it soon, and this time, for mia goth and jacob elordi <3 oscar as victor frankenstein really pissed me off but that just means he's an amazing actor lol.

welcome to cherry sinclair's happy house! 🍒 (un)fortunately for the poor side character, her decision to build a fortress amidst a terrible catastrophe attracted quite a lot of attention to little old her. the male leads are trapped in my house. not only is its plot not BORING (unlike a million others that involve scheming by the "the empire's strongest four houses", warfare and a bunch of political jargon), it is also filled with actual tension among the main cast. every character has a distinct personality, a manner of speaking, and a unique relationship established with the female lead. the story is set in an era of zombie apocalypse which makes the key conflict area of this manhwa all the more refreshing and worthy of reading. and frankly, how often do you see a leading lady take the initiative of throwing boulders from a clock tower to eradicate a giant pool of zombies underneath? the best part about it is that the romance between cherry and eden is not forced at all. it develops as the arcs change, and it's so very natural that you wouldn't even realise how deep their bond has grown... until you reach a panel where they're laying across from each other, talking about something as menial as the lack of food resources, and yet the moment feels so tender. THIS is how you write love that blooms properly. i am so mad that i am caught up with it. truly. it will probably take another year or two to finish, and the wait is enough to turn my hair white 🚬 here are my favourite panels :)

like entering through the doorway of youth, straight into your late teens. like a perfumed clearing in the season of spring. like the innocence of young love.