lee's thoughts!

My Time on PopJam

PopJam was an art-sharing, children's social media created by the company Super Awesome. On the app, you could share your art, join communities, join daily art challenges and mess around with filters and stickers. I had first joined PopJam at around the age of 8/9 and continued until the website finally shut down in March 2023. The app was a core part of my art journey, and I've made so many good memories on it.

My first account was made during the early days of PopJam. I had first heard of it through YouTube sponsors from LavenderTowne and Maqaroon. My first account was called Sweetz_Cake, after the first OC I had ever made. All my friends had joined the app, and I spent a lot of my time doing the daily challenge, aka the DC. At the time, the art program on PopJam was very rudimentary; there was a select amount of colours and brush sizes, and no layers or opacity. There were ways to get around the limits though, you could use the gradient stickers to shade. I stopped posting after a few months, because it was frustrating, and I wanted to grow my followers organically. PopJam had a feature called 'shake' where you could shake your device and do a follow for follow with other people. At this point, my irl friends had also left PopJam. All the posts from this account for some reason disappeared.

My next account was made maybe a year later? I don't even remember the username, all I know is that it had something to do with watermelons. I don't even like watermelons!! I remember trying really hard to earn a PJ star, which was a staff-nominated badge you could get. GOD I WANTED ONE SOOOOOO BAD!!! This account definitely didn't last long though, and I lost interest very quickly. This was a forgettable period in my life.

My final major account was leethelion1212. I started posting around the ages of 11/10, but only really got into it at 12. I posted the usual, DCs, random drawings, and also played the Candy Crush clone on it. I joined a YCH (your character here - a bunch of blank bases that you can ask to be drawn onto), and made my first internet friend! I learned how to import art from other apps which changed EVERYTHING. I used IbisPaint X on my mam's dinky phone to do Gacha edits and my first digital art. I also used MediBang Paint for a bit.

My first actual piece of digital art was this OC I had called Jordan. I used to sketch traditionally and then colour it digitally. I remember someone accusing me of stealing this piece of art and we had a huge public argument underneath the post. Aahh… good times. Another fun moment was when we all agreed to prank the staff members. I don't remember what the prank actually was but I was talking with the staff and that it was a good day.

My rise to fame happened when I redrew my gjinka (humanised thing, usually an animal) of PopJam. I suddenly blew up and it was SO SURREAL! People started rejamming my work, which was a big deal because you could only repost once every 6 hours! I don't remember the username (soz it is a common occurrence) but this one famous brother and sister duo BOTH reposted my art!! I was finally famous! (kind of) and now was averaging 90 likes which was like a million likes in PJ standards. The brother of the duo got into some hot water and eventually got cancelled and banned. It was weird because people were tagging me in their call out posts asking "how would leethelion1212 feel about your actions??" like I was his grandma or something. He had gotten cancelled for lying about being 13 and making fun of orphans, YIKERS!

I was still on the DC grind, and it was much easier now because there was a colour wheel, adjustable brush sizes, and opacity. My Amazon Kindle could not handle the sheer amount of strokes on the canvas and would crash.. a lot. I made a bunch of new friends who had gotten PJ stars, and I was even getting nominated for them!!

One of the proudest moments of my life (seriously) was when my art got posted on to the PJgallery account. I SCREAMED!! The post was fanart of a friend of mines and it was so crazy guys. I had finally reached 1000 followers, resulting in a silver star next to my username. Soo I decided to do a DTIY (draw this in your style). Now this is not my proudest moment.. but a lot of people joined. However, summer break was over and I was now in a completely new school and in a whole new area of my life, and slowly forgot about PopJam. I never gave the prizes and I AM SO SORRY GUYS IF ANY OF YE ARE READING I APOLOGISE SO BADDD D: . Then I got the announcement the app was shutting down, made one last post, and that was it.

PopJam was a fairly small app. In its few years of being a thing, there was only a little over 100,000 posts made on it. Even before I left, most of my friends had moved to Instagram, or had gone completely radio silent. As the popularity of the app declined, and the top users grew out of it, the app finally decided to shut down. R.I.P PopJam, you were a real one 💯💯💯

A Non-Gamer's Review of Horizon Zero Dawn

Hello!! The following blog post will have spoilers for Horizon Zero Dawn, plus the DLC The Frozen Wilds. As well as that, I am no gamer, so if you are expecting an ACTUAL game review, maybe check out IGN? I have played this game once before,. but I played it after the second game, so I was super confused. On to the review!

If you are not in the know, Horizon Zero Dawn (HZD) is set in a post-apocalyptic world, way into the future, where humans hunt down killer machines. The main character is Aloy of the Nora Tribe, who was outcasted at birth for being born without a mother. The story focuses on Aloy's journey to find her 'mother', and what killed the old society. The DLC is about Aloy exploring the Banuk lands and finding a reason for this daemonic plague affecting the machines. Firstly, I'll talk about the gameplay because I have the least to say about it.

For a non-gamer, I found that the fighting mechanics in the game were easy to learn and fun to play. I really like the fact you have to tear off different parts of the machines because it allows for you to strategize your fights. As someone who liked to play stealthily (and is a huge wuss), this made fighting huge machines less daunting and more engaging. Another thing I like is the elemental arrow types. You can shoot canisters on the back of some of the machines, which causes these huge explosions. It is quite satisfying to watch a chain reaction of machines die. However, killing the human characters isn't that rewarding since there's no parts to tear off or whatever. I mean, you can do a headshot but that is quite boring so usually you just mash the R1 button when a gang shows up. I never used the traps, tripcaster, or ropecaster because I felt that it wasn't as enjoyable as shooting things off. I am a blast sling and all the other bows warrior 4 LYFEEEE. Armour wise I used the Nora Warrior one for the majority of the game until I got the Shieldweaver set. After that point, fighting was slightly worse since there was no risk of just dying. I maxxed out the skill chart so I don't have much to say about it. It was meh, the worst being the double and triple shot bow. The quests in this game are quite engaging, however many side quests and errands become draining. Majority follow the formula of "go to this point, kill a machine, get a part, bring it back" and most of these side quest/ errand characters do not have a great enough story for me to care about them. They become really lacklustre at some point. My favourite parts of the game were the cauldrons, tall necks, and finding all the collectables. I wish there was more of a reward from getting each group of collectables or datapoints. For example, Sekuli from The Frozen Wilds, paints a huge mural of Aloy once you give her all the pigments she needs. Comparing this to the metal flowers or mugs of the main game, which you just trade for modifications from a merchant, doesn't give you anything for collecting stuff. I'll talk about The Frozen Wilds separately. Now onto shit I actually care about!!!

The story is definitely the strongest part of this game. ANOTHER WARNING FOR SPOILERS! The story of Zero Dawn itself is very interesting, but I didn't really care about the story of the different tribes. All of them have lowkey evil histories and as I said before, the side characters aren't as intriguing. Side note: the fact that Elisabet Sobeck and Ted Faro are gen alphas is so funny. Like Lis is probably watching YouTube shorts right now and Ted is listening to phonk remixes. The world datapoints add so much to the lore. Learning about people going back to Singapore and New Zealand, countries consumed by the ocean, through holo technology reminded me very much of how there is a digital recreation of Tuvalu. Reading the chatrooms and letters during the Enduring was so upsetting. These poor people fighting for literally nothing. The part where you finally learn about Zero Dawn gave me chills, it was brilliantly done. The story is well crafted and you can tell their was a lot of thought put into the backstory. I love Aloy as a character. She is unabashedly herself, and all of her dialogue choices suit her personality very well. She is so cool and I hope the development of her character is good in Forbidden West. Learning about her backstory was awesome, the way she was solely born to save the world? Other characters I liked were Erend, he's just quite lovely IDKKK. I also liked Petra. I want someone like her in my life. The story of the evil ass Carja was alright. Though at some point it just sounded like slop. The story was a 8.5/10 in my humble opinion

I want to talk about my favourite part of this game now: the VISUALS!! Every part of this world is beautiful. I love the contrast of the warm oranges and rust colours compared to artificial glow of the machines. Each of the tribes have such a distinct style. My favourite tribe design has to be the Oseram. Their outfits reflect their love for tinkering and the forge. I also love the bright colours of the Banuk, with patterns being their main thing. Their outfits reflect their beliefs and culture. It is so masterfully done. I also love the differences in all of the settlements. Like how the Nora lands are more rudimentary like their beliefs, or how Meridian has so much metal work to show their connection to the Oseram. I love how places like the Claim are filled with blacksmiths. IT IS SO COOL. The cauldrons and ruins usually have a dark purple colour scheme and I love how different Aloy looks with her traditional gear compared to the sleek and modern look. Cauldrons are filled with these veiny looking pipes, which I think conveys the weird technological yet biological way these machines are made. Ruins and bunkers make me quite sad, seeing things that were once used be abandoned. I like how some are so dark and purple, but every so often you see moss and light coming from a hole in the ceiling. HZD really shows how the earth will always grow herself back. The old dead machines scattered around the world that were once used for war is so haunting. Places like Devil's Grief being entire cities makes me quite sad. Peoples home just gone like that. HZD is surprisingly scary. You can feel the grief everywhere, and when you're walking around in the darkness, it feels like it truly is the end of the world. The machine designs are just chefs kiss! I love how each machine has a biological purpose to help the earth or Hephaestus, it shows the amount of care put into the world. My favourite machine is the Tall Neck. It is so organic up until it's head, which is a flat disc. I think it blends in the most and I also just like the little Tall Neck activities. I also really like the horus design, which I think you fight in the Burning Shores DLC? It reminds me of Chinese Dragons, but from up above on the map view, it looks like a centipede or some sort of bug. The small details like the Shell Walker's cargo having a cauldron logo really adds to the realism. Now I don't really like the look of the frost effect on machines, it just looks a bit stupid. And I also think some of the characters, especially Aloy, give off the uncanny valley effect when they do a strong emote. That isn't the developers fault though.

My last point will be about the DLC, the Frozen Wilds. I really like the look of the Banuk, especially the ones with the wires in their skin. I would recommend getting the DLC, as the main story really adds to the world of Horizon. We learn about a new AI called CYAN and about Hephaestus. There's so much lore to unpack, and also it is all about the Yellowstone National Park, which I cannot believe is real!! Now I thought that there was barely any good quests in this DLC. After you finish the main one, there's a couple of fetch quests and that is it. Quite underwhelming in my opinion. I also didn't really care about the characters in this place. They weren't bad but they weren't amazing either. There is five machines added, one being like the corrupted, called the daemonic. I felt that the daemonic effect on the machines could have been stronger. Half of the time I couldn't even tell I was fighting these type of machines. The Scorcher is a cool machine, though I basically one shotted it when I first saw one. The hardest machine is definitely the Fireclaw. The locations it spawns are so small and because of its attacks, you end up getting cornered so often! I wish there was a whole other machine included in the DLC. I don't like the designs of the Watchtowers, but they gave a great challenge of trying to fight off machines and override it at the same time before getting hit. Although with the Shieldweaver armour set, you won't actually die. I liked the sweet story of the riot grrl band, super cute. It's difficult to navigate the lands using a mount since it keeps on getting stuck on the narrow paths. I really loved the collectables in this DLC. I liked seeing all the animals and collecting the pigments. However, I wish there was more uses for bluegleam. There is so much of it in the area, yet you barely need a quarter of it. Not to mention that each quest also gives you some. There could have been more weapons or something. The Frozen Wilds was okay at best. I hope Burning Shores is better.

Overall, HZD is an 7.5/10 game. For a non-gamer, this game can get a bit grindy and dragged out from some of the quests. The story is the highlight of this game. It is captivating and I can't wait to see the adventures that Aloy takes in the Forbidden West, which I am replaying to review. Only get the DLC if you are looking for a challenge and really love the series. OK peace ladssss.

TEOFTFW vs. WAYNE

If you have ever watched either of these shows and gone to look for similar ones, you have definitely been recommended one of them. The End of the F***king World (TEOTFW) and WAYNE are both shows that follow a very weird and off-putting boy, running away with a girl who has a bit of a temper. And a bunch of murder and crimes commence. A bunch. But which one should you watch? Well, I have decided to write a non-biased review on the first episode of each show so you can make this very important decision. Although you could just watch both like I have, time is precious, and why start a show only to be let down? I'll start off with TEOTFW first because that was the show I watched first. Minor spoilers perhaps of each show?.

TEOTFW is the show I reply with if you were to ask for my favourite show. Now you may be asking, "Lee, I thought this was an unbiased review of each?", and to that I say, YES! I just have a nostalgic view of this show guyssss. The weird and off-putting boy is James, who tells us he thinks he is a psychopath. From what we see in this episode, James can come off as emotionless and antisocial. He kills pets which is a big nono for me, but I guess it adds to his diagnosis as a psychopath. We then move onto the girl who has a bit of a temper, Alyssa. Alyssa seems trapped. She hates her step-dad, hates the people around her, and is very much annoyed at her mam. She finds freedom in just zoning out and is not afraid to stand her ground against people. The whole premise of the show is that James would like someone to kill, I guess to fully confirm that he is a psychopath, and he chooses Alyssa, someone who just wants to run away. In the first episode, James and Alyssa are only at the beginning of running away. No real crimes are committed... just yet. Other than James punching his dad in the face and then stealing his car. James and Alyssa are both quite monotone in their speech. They're very blunt when talking to each other, which can make their dialogue seem unnatural. We get glimpses into Alyssa's homelife, and it's very obvious as to why she acts like this, but James not so much. This gives us a reason to keep watching, as well as the fact on where are they going to go. About the show itself, it has two seasons, comprised of 8 episodes each. Each episode is less than 30 minutes and you can watch it on Netflix. I think the show would've worked really well as just a one season show. There's a bunch of mixed feelings on the second season as it introduces a new main character, but I think it wraps up the story of James and Alyssa in a neat little bow. I would watch but I don't think it captures the same kind of awkward essence the first season was filled with. The story was just not as compelling, still good though. TEOTFW is actually based off of a graphic novel/comic of the same name. As someone who has read it, it nothing like the show and I wouldn't recommend even if you were a super fan. The art style looks liked fucked up Peanuts which is not my cup of tea, and the story is a bit crude. It's also set in America so when reading their lines, it didn't suit the British versions of them in the show. To me, TEOTFW could be compiled into a movie. It just looks nice.

I learned about WAYNE through a TikTok about shows you could watch on YouTube. You can find it officially posted there and by someone else, and it is also on Amazon Prime I think? Like the name suggests, the weird and off-putting boy in this show is Wayne McCullagh, who has a big fat crush on a hot-tempered girl named Del (short for Delilah!). Wayne is weird yes, but he has a heart of gold and really cares for justice. Del is a cunning, and she knows how to get her way. In this episode we focus on Wayne's life, and about his dad who's dying from cancer. The premise of this show is that Wayne wants Del BAD! as well as this car his mother stole from his dad before leaving him. His dad's final wish was to get that car, and so Wayne brings Del along as the drive all the way to Florida from Massachusetts to get this car. Wayne is very off as a boy. Although he does have a friend, and his principal seems to really care for him. We don't learn much about Del in this episode so I won't say much. We can see that her dad and her brothers don't treat her the best and that she's saving up cash for something. She also thinks Wayne is weird which I find a bit funny. All the characters have these thick ass accents which I don't know if they are doing very well but it makes it a bit difficult to understand. WAYNE is a very dingy show, always grey somewhere. It also is meant to be more comedic. The episode ends with Wayne and Del riding away on the motor bike, and a glimpse at the new owners of the car. I think if you watch this episode, you will definitely want to watch more. The show itself is gruesome!! With a bunch of blood like every episode. But it is also funny and heart felt. There is 10 episodes, in which each episode is around 50 minutes? The show has many different POVs you watch through out. There is the cops, the principal and friend, Wayne and Del, and Del's family. Most POVs are meant to be funny, and lighten up the mood after all the gore. Wayne beats bunch of guys with rocks, burns his house with his dead dad inside it, and bites off Del's father's nose all in the span of ONE. EPISODE. I loved it though!!! The saddest part of this show is that it will probably never get a season two. The end was such a perfect cliffhanger and Wayne having Del's necklace in his mouth is engraved into my mind. I'd recommend to watch this show with subtitles and probably not watch it if you are eating something.

So which one should you watch? Both of these shows are amazing in my opinion. The acting and cinematography are great, and they have awesome soundtracks and story. These shows even have similar scenes, like the main couple being in a diner, and the girl pissing the waiter off. If you are into more serious TV, watch TEOTFW. The show focuses more on emotions and mental health. We get every side of the story and it is very well done. It also has a second season which completes the entire story. TEOTFW has very 2019 kind of indie vibes. The show is much more aesthetic and leaves a lot for you to think about. Comparing this to WAYNE, if you want to watch a show that only focuses on the narrative, watch TEOFTW. WAYNE is a much more funny show, with tons and tons of violence. It has its sweet moments, but the majority of it is watching Wayne commit so so so many crimes. The characters in WAYNE are much more developed, and I think you really feel for everyone in this story. This show is very teen boy coded. Also Mark McKenna is such a cutie. He plays Wayne and is in a relationship with Ciara Bravo, who plays Del, in real life!! Since WAYNE has no season two, you should probably not watch it to save yourself from the heartbreak of finishing the show. Both of these shows are 10/10s in my book. I LOVE THEMMMEMS ARARGERHFAJBJBSFSBUH.

August Recap

Hello, I would like to a monthly recap on all of the stuff I've seen this month, and anything else note-worthy. Yes I am a week late sorry school started! There is a post I read somewhere, which I cannot remember the name of at all , but it was talking about how there is so much good music you have yet to hear. That made me feel like I should be more intentional with discovering new things, and I hope to try doing this every month. For August, I focused on books, albums, songs, and movies.

I am going to start off with the miscellaneous new things I tried or did category. First, I finished the game Horizon: Zero Dawn plus it's DLC. I have a full non-gamer's review of this game, but a short summary would be that I really enjoyed the story aspect of the game. I also liked getting the collectibles and sometimes the fighting was fun too. I was kind of disappointed in the DLC, and if I knew what it was about beforehand I wouldn't have gotten it. I am currently playing through the second game Forbidden West. I finished both the main story of game and it's DLC, and now am completing the hundred other tasks this game has. It is super fun so far, and I have a LOT to say about it so stay tuned!! (no one reads your blog bro). My second misc. thing is not a piece of media actually, it is the Nala's vanilla cloud baby oil. A bit of backstory, I've been getting really into like shower or fragrance TikTok because I am so afraid I stink with my undiagnosed hyperhidrosis. However since I live in Ireland there's no real options here, why does the US get all the good stuff? So I've been testing out this oil and I love it! It's a very fruity vanilla, almost smells like ice-cream. It makes your skin so soft and it smells so good with a coconut body lotion underneath. I have really dry skin so this stuff does wonders. It's a bit pricey, but with the Boots advantage card it is a little less I think? If you want to smell more like a dessert, I'd use this oil but if you want to smell like a pure vanilla then NO. Okay now the actual shtuff!!

The book I read this month is "On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong. It was a beautifully written novel, with such simple yet effective writing. The book is letter written by a son to his illiterate mother about all the things he never told her. I thought that the book was super engaging. Piecing together the story was rewarding, and for this being Vuong's debut novel, I think he should be very proud of this. I found it kind of relatable about the immigrant parts (although I am first gen). Now I do wish the novel would have focused more on the narrative, as some parts are really vague. Nevertheless, the way Vuong uses words is just WOW! It's like he paints with his words and every so often I would look up from the book and just be in awe of what I just read. Now here is a list of my favourite quotes.

"I touch the world not as myself but as an echo of who I was."
"Ma, you once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were a god, you'd know it's a flood."
"How can you forget anything about the day you first found yourself beautiful?"
"Trevor with the scar like a comma on his neck, syntax of what next what next what next."
"Because he tasted like the river and maybe you were one wing away from sinking."
"A comma forced to be a period."
"They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it."
"In Vietnamese, the word for missing someone and remembering them is the same: nhớ. Sometimes, when you ask me over the phone, Con nhớ mẹ không? I flinch, thinking you meant, Do you remember me? I miss you more than I remember you."

I listened to two albums this month. Now I want to keep this section brief because I plan on making a page entirely for album reviews and will add these to it. I listened to Tourist History by Two-Door Cinema Club and A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by Panic! At The Disco, very different vibes!! Out of the two, AFYCSO was my favourite by a VERY small margin (by 2 points lol). However including the bonus songs Kid and Costume Party from Tourist History make the album a 90/100! My favourite songs were What You Know, Eat That Up, It's Good For You, and It's Better If You Do. BANGERS BANGERS BANGERS! Speaking of bangers..

SONGS I HAVE DISCOVERED THIS MONTH! I found out about this song through Instagram, though a @brujo_ari post (I love love love his art go check it out) and I love it. I should probably check out this band. This song is so warm and cuddly, very teenage girl coded. I think Juno from the movie Juno gives off this vibe. It's childish in a way. I love the singers voice and the melody is sounds like the opening for a TV show. Next is Disco 2000 by the band Pulp. This song I discovered through a YouTube short... SIDE TANGENT why are shorts so weird?? Nothing about them seems natural but maybe it is because I'm on laptop. But anyways, the short was about best British rock songs or something of the 90s. I don't know if the short was correct putting this up, but it is a pretty awesome song. I am not the biggest fan of the guys voice but whatever. However this song has a pretty cute story and the music video is so cool. This is a banging tune and has that kind of disco vibe to it. The last two are from the Discover Weekly playlist Spotify gives you. Purple by She's Green is a dreamy, shoe gaze type song. The singer has a beautiful voice and this song would definitely play over a scene of someone getting over a break up or something in a movie. A good song if you like imagining things inside of your head a lot. The final song is Girl by the indie band Sobs. This song is very much bedroom pop and cuteness and bubblegum. If you like Clairo you will like this song. This one is just a fun one and the instrumental is so peppery it makes me happy. My last category of things is movies!

I watched two movies this month and they were both superhero movies. I watched the first Spider Man movie (2002) and adored it! I want to watch all of the Spider Man movies again because I watched them all out of order with random friends. Tobey Maguire is such a cutie. He really gives off awkward nerdy teen guy. I loved Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. I think she does a great job at the character and she is so darn beautiful. I really liked this movie. I will note though I enjoy most every movie ever. The only movies I can think of I didn't really like are Barbie and the Minecraft Movie. Maybe I'll write about them at some point. The next movie I watched was the new Superman AND I FREAKING LOVED IT ARGH!!! David Corenswet is sososo handsome and cute omg. I loved Clark Kent he is such a cutie and that scene with Lois and Clark in the kitchen made me scream AHHHHHH!!!!. Anywho, the movie was so cool I loved when Superman saved the squirrel and also the world and everything and KRYPTO OMY GURSHHH what an adorable little dog!!. I loved the message of this movie and freak the Boravian Government!! I can't wait for the Supergirl movie I WILL be watching!

And that is it for my August. See you next month!