Media diet, April

[superborb]

There were a couple media bits that I had A Thought on this month, but not Enough Thoughts for a full review, so I'll group them together here.

Recently, my thoughts have felt molasses-like, so slow. I think efforts to be more social drain the same energy as writing does, maybe that's why I've not been having more thoughts haha.

Nomadland (movie): I... feel like I'd enjoy the book more? At the time, my bf had just finished reading the book and wanted to watch it and he liked it /a lot/. It might be too artsy for me as a film though, I don't think I Appreciated (or really understood) The Choices enough. And it's trying to convey a sense of culture, but ... too slowly for my impatient brain. It's clearly a movie a lot of people love, so a media/audience mismatch I think.

Dark Lord of Derkholm (audiobook / book) + Year of the Griffin (book) by Diana Wynne Jones: I don't think I appreciated just HOW GOOD DWJ is at descriptions until the book was being read out loud? Truly excellent, though some of the choices in voices the narrator put on (esp for the women) were annoying enough that when combined with the severe time penalty of having to listen to an audiobook instead of reading, I ended up reading the book anyway.

They're very DWJ books: imaginative, creative, chockablock full of interesting characters... thoughtless fat shaming, egregious obligatory het pairings, and a crash landing of an ending. I'd read them again.

It was also really cool to be in chat with x_los and excaliburedpan, who've both like, written academically on DWJ, as I read it, so I could get a broader context for stuff like, oh this professor is inspired by Tolkien, who DWJ bullied into actually teaching classes sometimes. (It's obvious from the text that these characters are People, Actually, but it's different when you know: oh, this specific person.

Educated by Tara Westover (audiobook): I enjoyed listening to this as an audiobook, but once I wasn't obligated to be in a car, I haven't felt the need to finish it. The narrator has a great voice, with enough interest to not be soporific, but still soothing. Really shows why a professional voice actor is valuable (in comparison to the Because Internet audiobook). It's an interesting memoir, I just felt like the author hadn't introspected enough to really deeply analyze or draw connections in her story? She's young yet, which doesn't help. Still, if you like memoir, the ~1/3 I listened to was written with an engaging tone, full of interesting stories, and showed the complexity of emotion in an insular family. [CW: abuse]

Word of Honor: I've been watch partying this at the youtube pace, but I'm too scared to write a real review / don't want to harsh anyone's squee because it's a big fandom now, so I'll... not. I love A Xiang by far the most, but many, many death flags are being planted so I'm pretty sure she's not going to make it.

Comments

[lirazel]

. It's an interesting memoir, I just felt like the author hadn't introspected enough to really deeply analyze or draw connections in her story?

I agree. People really fawned over this one, but I think that was less about her writing/thoughts on her life and more about the actual facts of her life being so different than most people's experiences. I do wish she'd waited another decade or so to write it.

I love A Xiang by far the most, but many, many death flags are being planted so I'm pretty sure she's not going to make it.

I know, it's so upsetting! I love Wen Kexing too, but she might be my very favorite.

[superborb]

Yeah, it's not that it was bad or anything, just... you can see where more time would have tipped it to a higher level.

Why must she die?!?! What did she ever do wrong >:(

[lirazel]

Why must she die?!?! What did she ever do wrong >:(

SHE'S ADORABLE AND I LOVE HER.

[superborb]

I did not expect to love her so much, BUT I DO

[cortue]

I stopped watching WoH around episode 17 or 18, and I'd be interested to know the thoughts of someone who kept watching but maybe wasn't super into it. I've been consider if, once it's over, I want to just go back and skim to the parts I care about but some of the spoilers I've seen makes me think I won't like how they turn out.

[superborb]

Yeah, I think if I weren't watch partying, I might just read a synopsis and then skip to the scenes that seem the most interesting? I just don't feel super emotionally connected to it, but there are scenes (mostly with the charas I care about) that are really fun.

[brownbetty]

kinda my feeling, tbh. There's some bits where they clearly had to scramble to fit the story into the episodes they had budget for, and some bits, where, like. Maybe it's the shape of the genre, and everyone knew going in (except me, a naif!) but I didn't love the end.

[superborb]

I haven't reached the end, but I do have a shape of what I'm expecting from it in my head... we'll see!!

[rekishi]

re:Word of Honor. For many reasons I suspect I will end up liking the novel better than the show and I've only seen 2 episodes of the drama, heh.

[superborb]

Hah! Well, don't most people usually say they like the book versions of things more?

[rekishi]

Well, I think especially with the C-dramas, the stories can differ quite wildly? From a few promo pics I've seen, WoH tells a somewhat different story than the book (I really enjoyed the novel). So you get basically the original and... a canon divergent AU? XD

[superborb]

It's true, especially for WoH I've heard they're really different!

[rekishi]

The book isn't even all that objectionable, relatively speaking. It's not, idk, 2ha. Heck, MDZS is more racy as far as I know. I think they just needed/wanted to add another narrative strand for more tension.

Will keep everyone updated.
(You can totally harsh on my squee, I don't have much squee.)

[starshipfox]

Ah, I had similar experiences with those two DWJ books. Lots of fun stuff and lots of ridiculous stuff! I thought Derkholm was kind of a mess -- what tone was she writing in? Is it serious? Is it black comedy? -- but I enjoyed Griffin a lot.

[superborb]

Yeah, they were fun romps! I also liked Griffin more than Derkholm, but I can't tell if it's because the setting felt smaller which helped the tone.