Media Diet Mar-Apr
Apr. 29th, 2023 15:03![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superborbThe Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson: Accounting (and general) genius from an annexed island joins the empire to subvert it from the inside. Compelling prose and storyline, but felt somewhat flat in terms of character and world building. Although it tried, I didn't get as many empire feelings as expected, which led to it feeling lighter than the summary would suggest. (Though there's plenty of death, torture, and rigid sexual mores which lead to death and torture.) Overall enjoyable read, but not meaty enough for me to want to go find the sequel immediately.
Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu (DNF): This history about the modernization of the Chinese language may have interesting points to make, but 10% of the way through, it's obvious that historical accuracy was easily sacrificed for sweeping pronouncements. "The monarchy in China finally came to an end after two millennia [...] The Revolution of 1911 was China's first real political revolution." I think the author specializes in modern China, but this is excessively facile even for pop-history. (chestnut_pod and nozomi both had more positive things to say than I did, here and here, so this may be a Me thing.)
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge: Victorian-era young woman who would like to be a scientist like her famous scientist father moves with her family to small island; father is escaping scandal and gets murdered; she discovers a tree that eats lies and delivers truths in return and uses it to pursue justice. If I were nitpicking, it sometimes verges on 'look at the interesting facts I learned about!' It's just an excellently told story: the mystery behind the murder adds drama, the characters are distinct and have their own motivations, and the ending felt satisfying.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi: Levi was a Jewish Italian chemist and survivor of Auschwitz, and the book is mostly autobiographical, some fictional, short stories themed around elements of the periodic table. I found that as promised, he did an excellent job of conveying the puzzle solving and drama of chemistry; however, I'd categorize this as primarily autobiographical and not a 'science book'. I found the author's experiences interesting, his character sketches so-so, and his sense of storytelling excellent.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong: A collection of autobiographical stories, cultural criticism, and history centered around the idea of "minor feelings" when reality and American lies about race conflict. I found the memoir pieces interesting, as the author had fascinating friends and generally life experiences different from ones I've read about before. However, I didn't find the general Asian American history / theory especially innovative; I might even agree with the majority of it, but I don't find arguments like, "In reacting against the market economy, we have internalized market logic where culture is hoarded as if it's a product that will depreciate in value if shared with others [...] The soul of innovation thrives on cross-cultural inspiration. If we are restricted to our lanes, culture will die." to be new and exciting thoughts or so well phrased as to bring new insight. Some of her perspectives (e.g. on self-hatred) are also ones I associate with a generation older than mine, which I think contributes to this feeling of, I've read this before. Also, I absolutely detest when authors invoke statistics with no citation or methodology: this does not defend your point! Overall, I did enjoy the memoir, but found it to be pretty basic on Asian American history and issues.
Prune (game): I was looking for puzzle games without 3D spatial requirements. (Def welcoming recs!) This was meditative, with pretty resulting trees, but very easy and a little fiddly.
Arrival (2016) (DNF): The movie adaptation of "Story of your Life"; this was my second attempt to watch it. But once again, I was stymied by the first half hour being SO bad (visually murky darkness, clunky dialog, awkward pseudo science) that I couldn't continue. I mention it because I know it was popular when it came out, but it is impossible to DW search from the generic title. Does anyone have opinions on if it get more interesting? (I was already informed that the ending Misses The Point of the short story.)
Emma. (2020): The relatively recent adaptation of Emma. Fun and fills the brief. This Mr. Knightly portrayal does seem to minimize the more paternal characteristics of their relationship. Would definitely recommend for what it is.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019): A painter is commissioned to paint a young woman in preparation for her marriage. TBH, felt pretentious or the movie version of ~literature~. Also, the lighting felt fake -- all this candlelight/firelight and yet the lighting is so smooth? OTOH, the interactions of the three women (the third is the maid) are excellent and the open portrayal of abortion worthwhile.
Love Like the Galaxy (星汉灿烂•月升沧海) (DNF): Period drama with an ill-mannered, insecure, forthright female lead and a cold, military male lead. Recced byskygiants, in a review I found much more entertaining than the drama ahaha. I gave up when I realized that I was just watching to see if I was right about which of the mean girls would get redemption arcs and which were going to be evil. The schemes were just so-- petty and short sighted? Isn't part of the fun supposed to be long term, satisfying schemes, while none of the characters here seemed to have more brain cells than the 'get my maid to break pottery and push her into it' level. I guess there is the longer military plot, but /that/ was very 'we have to go to war to resolve the chaos', 'our country's soldiers would NEVER perform atrocities and are totally honorable'. And everyone who's a bad guy is comically evil, while the male lead casually tortures and kills people for revenge and that's totally fine. It's standard, I suppose, but usually at least the politics are entertainingly complex and this was not. Like, 'all the girls like these two boys, both of whom love female lead' is a fine premise, but all characterization is bent in service of emotional beats that simply did not hit for me. (Also, the sound mixing was awful and Wu Lei does not bring enough charisma to even out a cold character. At least he's hot.)
Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu (DNF): This history about the modernization of the Chinese language may have interesting points to make, but 10% of the way through, it's obvious that historical accuracy was easily sacrificed for sweeping pronouncements. "The monarchy in China finally came to an end after two millennia [...] The Revolution of 1911 was China's first real political revolution." I think the author specializes in modern China, but this is excessively facile even for pop-history. (
chestnut_pod and nozomi both had more positive things to say than I did, here and here, so this may be a Me thing.)The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge: Victorian-era young woman who would like to be a scientist like her famous scientist father moves with her family to small island; father is escaping scandal and gets murdered; she discovers a tree that eats lies and delivers truths in return and uses it to pursue justice. If I were nitpicking, it sometimes verges on 'look at the interesting facts I learned about!' It's just an excellently told story: the mystery behind the murder adds drama, the characters are distinct and have their own motivations, and the ending felt satisfying.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi: Levi was a Jewish Italian chemist and survivor of Auschwitz, and the book is mostly autobiographical, some fictional, short stories themed around elements of the periodic table. I found that as promised, he did an excellent job of conveying the puzzle solving and drama of chemistry; however, I'd categorize this as primarily autobiographical and not a 'science book'. I found the author's experiences interesting, his character sketches so-so, and his sense of storytelling excellent.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong: A collection of autobiographical stories, cultural criticism, and history centered around the idea of "minor feelings" when reality and American lies about race conflict. I found the memoir pieces interesting, as the author had fascinating friends and generally life experiences different from ones I've read about before. However, I didn't find the general Asian American history / theory especially innovative; I might even agree with the majority of it, but I don't find arguments like, "In reacting against the market economy, we have internalized market logic where culture is hoarded as if it's a product that will depreciate in value if shared with others [...] The soul of innovation thrives on cross-cultural inspiration. If we are restricted to our lanes, culture will die." to be new and exciting thoughts or so well phrased as to bring new insight. Some of her perspectives (e.g. on self-hatred) are also ones I associate with a generation older than mine, which I think contributes to this feeling of, I've read this before. Also, I absolutely detest when authors invoke statistics with no citation or methodology: this does not defend your point! Overall, I did enjoy the memoir, but found it to be pretty basic on Asian American history and issues.
Prune (game): I was looking for puzzle games without 3D spatial requirements. (Def welcoming recs!) This was meditative, with pretty resulting trees, but very easy and a little fiddly.
Arrival (2016) (DNF): The movie adaptation of "Story of your Life"; this was my second attempt to watch it. But once again, I was stymied by the first half hour being SO bad (visually murky darkness, clunky dialog, awkward pseudo science) that I couldn't continue. I mention it because I know it was popular when it came out, but it is impossible to DW search from the generic title. Does anyone have opinions on if it get more interesting? (I was already informed that the ending Misses The Point of the short story.)
Emma. (2020): The relatively recent adaptation of Emma. Fun and fills the brief. This Mr. Knightly portrayal does seem to minimize the more paternal characteristics of their relationship. Would definitely recommend for what it is.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019): A painter is commissioned to paint a young woman in preparation for her marriage. TBH, felt pretentious or the movie version of ~literature~. Also, the lighting felt fake -- all this candlelight/firelight and yet the lighting is so smooth? OTOH, the interactions of the three women (the third is the maid) are excellent and the open portrayal of abortion worthwhile.
Love Like the Galaxy (星汉灿烂•月升沧海) (DNF): Period drama with an ill-mannered, insecure, forthright female lead and a cold, military male lead. Recced by
skygiants, in a review I found much more entertaining than the drama ahaha. I gave up when I realized that I was just watching to see if I was right about which of the mean girls would get redemption arcs and which were going to be evil. The schemes were just so-- petty and short sighted? Isn't part of the fun supposed to be long term, satisfying schemes, while none of the characters here seemed to have more brain cells than the 'get my maid to break pottery and push her into it' level. I guess there is the longer military plot, but /that/ was very 'we have to go to war to resolve the chaos', 'our country's soldiers would NEVER perform atrocities and are totally honorable'. And everyone who's a bad guy is comically evil, while the male lead casually tortures and kills people for revenge and that's totally fine. It's standard, I suppose, but usually at least the politics are entertainingly complex and this was not. Like, 'all the girls like these two boys, both of whom love female lead' is a fine premise, but all characterization is bent in service of emotional beats that simply did not hit for me. (Also, the sound mixing was awful and Wu Lei does not bring enough charisma to even out a cold character. At least he's hot.)
