Media diet, October-November
Nov. 27th, 2021 21:35![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superborbVisual media:
Venom (2018): Fun. Eddie (and Dora) appeared to have no brains, which I suppose is standard, and yet everyone in the watch party had to suffer through my extended complaints lol. (That was a whole tank of cooked lobsters?! Why don't the aliens have their own ships? WHY WOULD EDDIE CALL THE OFFICIAL LINE AND LEAVE A MESSAGE?) My favorite is Dan, of course.
Our Times (eps 1-6): This is a drama about the beginnings of the computer industry in China in the 1990s. It seems centered around the relationship between the two male leads: the more methodical and academic Pei Qinghua and the very proto-businessman Xiao Chuang (played by Wu Lei, in a great performance capturing how obnoxious the chara should be). I found this SO STRESSFUL (otther people found it stressful too, it wasn't just me), so the watchparty moved on to the Nodame Cantabile cdrama haha. I may go back if someone watches and tells me that it ends well.
Red Devil and Heroine Su: I find it fascinating that there are SO many Chinese f/f shorts and so few dramas (and that the reverse has happened for m/m). What is shaping the scene this way? I wouldn't normally include something this short, but despite tweeting on the topic already, I still wanted to include it in case DW friends had further thoughts.
Symphony's Romance (eps 1-15): The Nodame Cantabile cdrama adaptation. We DNF'd because it's as a whole not very well plotted / inconsistent. The first few eps were pretty fun, and even in ep 15 there were still fun scenes, but the weird cuts and overemphasis on the gazillion romance subplots over anything else got to be too much. I did livetweet under #symphonysborb.
Queen Sono: South African spy drama, wherein the titular main character is mostly sent to gather intelligence and causes chaos instead. The main plot is a private military company attempting to expand into the African continent, with a major subplot being Queen's quest to find out who really was behind the assassination of her freedom fighter mother. Flashy and kept my interest for the whole six episodes, but I'm not sure it stands alone as a show-- it obviously is setting up a season two, and it seems that some of the interesting things they meant to say about terrorism-as-revolution were not yet said. Alas, season two was cancelled, so we'll never know.
Written media (books):
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss: Generational ships traveling to a new planet, but make it Quaker. I did really appreciate how different this was from a lot of other scifi, in its preoccupation with the natural world and centering arriving at agreement on issues. No great men of history here! I especially loved the moment when someone who's spent all his life on a ship arrives on a planet for the first time, and how overwhelmed he is by the horizon; it felt very real to what someone might feel in that situation. However, I couldn't help but feel like everyone sounded the same. It's not that the characters were all the same; they had their own distinct feelings and motivations. But the way they thought, their internal voices just sounded very similar because there was so much introspection told through a universal narrator-voice. Also, the world was SO claustrophobic, but def meant on purpose. I suspect that people who would enjoy this already know they're the sort of person to enjoy it; it's very much what it says on the tin.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine: The sequel to A Memory Called Empire, but much more space opera-y -- focused on first contact with aliens from the deck of a warship. I loved A Memory Called Empire SO MUCH, and though this novel was solidly good, I just didn't love it to the same degree. It was more of a really well done space opera, and not saying as many new and interesting things about empire? Also possibly I was reading this at normal hours instead of at absurd hours of the morning so I was more alert? As a result, I feel like I didn't really have to work to keep track of all the politics and such; it tells you what seems like they should be plot twists from page 1 + foreshadowed so heavily that it was more a question of "how/when will X be figured out." It is also obvious that Martine had thought deeply about the politics, knew enough about the biology to pass, and did not really care very much about the physics. I'd definitely still recommend it if first contact or politics of empire are appealing! But like, the first book was more thought provoking for me.
Red Roulette by Desmond Shum: An autobiography primarily centered on the author's experiences in the upper echelons of power in China. He was an entrepreneur in that flourish of business of the late 2000s / early 2010s and in that time was deeply involved in developing a network with Party officials. I think it's very obvious that the author is biased (it's not corruption if I say it's not!!), but well, it's an autobiography, that's only to be expected. I found it to be a very engaging read, somewhat like a book length version of one of those confessional long form articles that I love; it was co-authored by John Pomfret, who is an established journalist and author, so that kind of tone seeps in. Vacillates between as voyeuristic as you'd expect ("He was especially proud of his ability to drink. We were all very precise regarding our capacity for alcohol and Li’s hovered around eight hundred milliliters, a tad less than a quart, and that’s of 106 proof Moutai." SCREAM), emotional insight into his experiences, and ends in a pious pro-democracy (capitalism?) stance. [CW: one extremely weird paragraph that describes a super antisemitic stereotype-- it's denounced, but doesn't appear to understand why.]
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: girl with baking magic finds dead body, gets involved in a small war to defend her city. Some good lines, esp related to the baking. Kind of twee, though I guess it's MG (?), and suffers from really inconsistent scope and tone. Basically confused about it wants to be and the end notes discussing how the author had to keep changing things to sell it show that :T. I kept expecting the evil barbarians / Good Guy General / plucky street kid to be subverted or SOMETHING interesting to happen there, but nah, the politics were a pretty thin veneer. Maybe I'm being too harsh since the intended audience is pretty young?
(Also, the ebook seems to have some problem where small paragraphs would be repeated or lines duplicated a few paragraphs later? Has anyone ever encountered that before?)
Written media (other):
Chaoyang Trap House: Written articles in the style of a podcast primarily on Chinese subcultures. I read through the entire backlog and I really wanted to like these articles, but they have the same issue as Sixthtone in the end: too superficial and not deep enough exploration. Chaoyang Trap House also is constrained by their structure when they report on subcultures they're not part of. Still, they're fast reads and usually interesting, so I've put them on my RSS feed.
The Ninety One Series: Jessica Doyle's 11 part essay series on idol pop, especially focused on Ninety One, a Kazakhstani pop (Qpop) group. I definitely found the analyses and background very interesting, even if I didn't agree with all of it. Relevant to previous discussions, Part 3 puts together the fan efforts in Kpop translation and the language politics of Qpop in a nice way. Anyway, this really feels like that sort of idol pop analysis I loved to read in the early 10s that seems to have mostly died off -- or moved places I can't find anymore.
Venom (2018): Fun. Eddie (and Dora) appeared to have no brains, which I suppose is standard, and yet everyone in the watch party had to suffer through my extended complaints lol. (That was a whole tank of cooked lobsters?! Why don't the aliens have their own ships? WHY WOULD EDDIE CALL THE OFFICIAL LINE AND LEAVE A MESSAGE?) My favorite is Dan, of course.
Our Times (eps 1-6): This is a drama about the beginnings of the computer industry in China in the 1990s. It seems centered around the relationship between the two male leads: the more methodical and academic Pei Qinghua and the very proto-businessman Xiao Chuang (played by Wu Lei, in a great performance capturing how obnoxious the chara should be). I found this SO STRESSFUL (otther people found it stressful too, it wasn't just me), so the watchparty moved on to the Nodame Cantabile cdrama haha. I may go back if someone watches and tells me that it ends well.
Red Devil and Heroine Su: I find it fascinating that there are SO many Chinese f/f shorts and so few dramas (and that the reverse has happened for m/m). What is shaping the scene this way? I wouldn't normally include something this short, but despite tweeting on the topic already, I still wanted to include it in case DW friends had further thoughts.
Symphony's Romance (eps 1-15): The Nodame Cantabile cdrama adaptation. We DNF'd because it's as a whole not very well plotted / inconsistent. The first few eps were pretty fun, and even in ep 15 there were still fun scenes, but the weird cuts and overemphasis on the gazillion romance subplots over anything else got to be too much. I did livetweet under #symphonysborb.
Queen Sono: South African spy drama, wherein the titular main character is mostly sent to gather intelligence and causes chaos instead. The main plot is a private military company attempting to expand into the African continent, with a major subplot being Queen's quest to find out who really was behind the assassination of her freedom fighter mother. Flashy and kept my interest for the whole six episodes, but I'm not sure it stands alone as a show-- it obviously is setting up a season two, and it seems that some of the interesting things they meant to say about terrorism-as-revolution were not yet said. Alas, season two was cancelled, so we'll never know.
Written media (books):
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss: Generational ships traveling to a new planet, but make it Quaker. I did really appreciate how different this was from a lot of other scifi, in its preoccupation with the natural world and centering arriving at agreement on issues. No great men of history here! I especially loved the moment when someone who's spent all his life on a ship arrives on a planet for the first time, and how overwhelmed he is by the horizon; it felt very real to what someone might feel in that situation. However, I couldn't help but feel like everyone sounded the same. It's not that the characters were all the same; they had their own distinct feelings and motivations. But the way they thought, their internal voices just sounded very similar because there was so much introspection told through a universal narrator-voice. Also, the world was SO claustrophobic, but def meant on purpose. I suspect that people who would enjoy this already know they're the sort of person to enjoy it; it's very much what it says on the tin.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine: The sequel to A Memory Called Empire, but much more space opera-y -- focused on first contact with aliens from the deck of a warship. I loved A Memory Called Empire SO MUCH, and though this novel was solidly good, I just didn't love it to the same degree. It was more of a really well done space opera, and not saying as many new and interesting things about empire? Also possibly I was reading this at normal hours instead of at absurd hours of the morning so I was more alert? As a result, I feel like I didn't really have to work to keep track of all the politics and such; it tells you what seems like they should be plot twists from page 1 + foreshadowed so heavily that it was more a question of "how/when will X be figured out." It is also obvious that Martine had thought deeply about the politics, knew enough about the biology to pass, and did not really care very much about the physics. I'd definitely still recommend it if first contact or politics of empire are appealing! But like, the first book was more thought provoking for me.
Red Roulette by Desmond Shum: An autobiography primarily centered on the author's experiences in the upper echelons of power in China. He was an entrepreneur in that flourish of business of the late 2000s / early 2010s and in that time was deeply involved in developing a network with Party officials. I think it's very obvious that the author is biased (it's not corruption if I say it's not!!), but well, it's an autobiography, that's only to be expected. I found it to be a very engaging read, somewhat like a book length version of one of those confessional long form articles that I love; it was co-authored by John Pomfret, who is an established journalist and author, so that kind of tone seeps in. Vacillates between as voyeuristic as you'd expect ("He was especially proud of his ability to drink. We were all very precise regarding our capacity for alcohol and Li’s hovered around eight hundred milliliters, a tad less than a quart, and that’s of 106 proof Moutai." SCREAM), emotional insight into his experiences, and ends in a pious pro-democracy (capitalism?) stance. [CW: one extremely weird paragraph that describes a super antisemitic stereotype-- it's denounced, but doesn't appear to understand why.]
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: girl with baking magic finds dead body, gets involved in a small war to defend her city. Some good lines, esp related to the baking. Kind of twee, though I guess it's MG (?), and suffers from really inconsistent scope and tone. Basically confused about it wants to be and the end notes discussing how the author had to keep changing things to sell it show that :T. I kept expecting the evil barbarians / Good Guy General / plucky street kid to be subverted or SOMETHING interesting to happen there, but nah, the politics were a pretty thin veneer. Maybe I'm being too harsh since the intended audience is pretty young?
(Also, the ebook seems to have some problem where small paragraphs would be repeated or lines duplicated a few paragraphs later? Has anyone ever encountered that before?)
Written media (other):
Chaoyang Trap House: Written articles in the style of a podcast primarily on Chinese subcultures. I read through the entire backlog and I really wanted to like these articles, but they have the same issue as Sixthtone in the end: too superficial and not deep enough exploration. Chaoyang Trap House also is constrained by their structure when they report on subcultures they're not part of. Still, they're fast reads and usually interesting, so I've put them on my RSS feed.
The Ninety One Series: Jessica Doyle's 11 part essay series on idol pop, especially focused on Ninety One, a Kazakhstani pop (Qpop) group. I definitely found the analyses and background very interesting, even if I didn't agree with all of it. Relevant to previous discussions, Part 3 puts together the fan efforts in Kpop translation and the language politics of Qpop in a nice way. Anyway, this really feels like that sort of idol pop analysis I loved to read in the early 10s that seems to have mostly died off -- or moved places I can't find anymore.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 08:02 (UTC)Yeah, I feel like the nature of the aliens was not that much of a puzzle to us as readers (although maybe not to the characters, who don't have a wealth of 20th-21st century SFF to read), so it was less a plot twist and more waiting for the characters to get there. I did like ADCP as much as AMCE, but I think I'm more easily impressed than you are. :D And Martine has me by the heartstrings with the general concept of Teixcalaan anyway.
T. Kingfisher tends to be kind of hit-or-miss for me. I remember I liked her Clocktaur War duology (Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine), but have been underwhelmed by some of her other books. I do admire her commitment to sad paladins though. She knows what she likes, and she *will* write about them.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 00:36 (UTC)This is my first T. Kingfisher! Maybe I'll give some of her others a shot then...
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 12:31 (UTC)There's also that angle where my first language has like a million speakers and I mostly do fandom in English-language American-leaning spaces. Which means that I, too, love a culture that's sort of eroding my own. So the Teixcalaan-Lsel tension just hits close enough to resonate, but not hard enough that it'd hurt too much. (I'm unreasonably annoyed by the fact that Halloween is a thing in my country, more than I am about any other holiday. We already have two perfectly good "visit neighbours, sing at them, get candy" holidays! Come back in November, kids! And then there's the economy of scale - that Lsel comic book in ADCP reminded me of how all SFF zines in my country are fanzines by Worldcon standards.) So I basically I may project way too hard on Mahit's love for Teixcalaan. :D
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 18:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 16:09 (UTC)Yeah, ADCP was just not the world-rocking experience of AMCE. I really enjoyed the boy emperor, actually -- I found him super compelling --was but the lady admiral (?) just… Leckie and some Machineries of Empire thrown in a blender, tbh; not much that was new or interesting there. That being said, if she wanted to write a million more installments focusing on the continuing adventures of Three Seagrass and Mahit, Disaster WLW, I'd be there with bells on.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 00:39 (UTC)I found the boy emperor a bit too much "Great Men", but he was an interesting character for sure! I kind of admit that I'd be so interested in what Martine could do with a whole new world to play with over more of this world specifically hahahaha.
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Date: 2021-11-29 20:51 (UTC)The couple of times I've tried T. Kingfisher, it hasn't worked for me, but everyone loves her (them? I don't know the pronouns) so much that I keep hoping I'll like something.
I am so excited to know that you read Jessica's Ninety One series!!! She'll be thrilled when I tell her! She and I have been talking about idol pop since 2011, so it was great fun to see her take on such a big project. Do you mind telling me where you stumbled upon it? I think she'd like to know. (Unless you've been friends with Jessica all along and I just didn't know it.)
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 21:18 (UTC)I guess T. Kingfisher is one that people find hit or miss? I'll probably try a few more before I go 'not for me' on all her works (wiki uses 'she'), but this one was a miss for me...
While I'm not completely sure, I have to think it was a rec from
no subject
Date: 2021-11-30 06:55 (UTC)I sort of knew about the Ninety One essay series but never got around to reading it, definitely going off to do that now! I feel like the only places I’ve seen idol pop analysis lately is maybe podcasts? And I am very much not a podcast person.
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Date: 2021-11-30 23:52 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-30 18:50 (UTC)I did love the T Kingfisher, but then I have been a fan of her since I was a teenager illicitly going to her deviantart during computer labs in high school math class. She isn't perfect and there are some things that bug me about her writing (see....every paladin she's ever written) but she's just so good at writing pragmatic protagonists who go "well, something needs doing and I guess it's gonna be me." Also her sense of humour works for me.
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Date: 2021-11-30 23:55 (UTC)The witty lines did make me laugh! I'll probably check out a few more of her books.
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Date: 2021-12-01 00:45 (UTC)My other favourite of her works, if you'd prefer just straightforward novels instead of a huge graphic novel, is The Raven and the Reindeer, an f/f retelling of the story of the Snow Queen. I love it a lot!
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Date: 2021-12-02 14:09 (UTC)