Media roundup Sept - Nov

[superborb]

Our Times 我的少女时代 (2015): Distinct nostalgia for the era of 00s high school rom com Taiwanese dramas, with the bad boy bullying (though v light by those standards) and rom com style. The new director storyline isn't fun for me, but it did bring some needed tension, bc otherwise it's pretty light high school rom com at the core. Nice if you're in the mood for that! The continuity to the adult selves is a bit... okay picking the big stars of 00s to play the adult selves works with the whole 00s nostalgia thing, but the ending was extra rom com-y.

Cape No 7 海角七號 (2008): Another Taiwanese rom com, with a main plot of "assemble a band from random people" and a side of "jobs for locals in a resort town". I had trouble following at first, bc the cuts are so sudden? But I did enjoy the mix of languages, and how ordinary the people were. I found the male lead to be irritating in his bad temper (esp when he seemingly injures someone for no reason???), but the side characters made up for it a bit in their more ordinary earnestness. The ending concert was p cute (VERY rom com, and also brings in the symbolic ~local music~). I thought it was fine, but I'm not really sure why it's the highest grossing Taiwanese film ever.

Red Cliff 赤壁 (2008-9): A two part war film based on the Battle of the Red Cliffs via Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In general, the first part was worth watching because the introduction of all the characters as distinct and identifiable was fun (enjoyed Guan Yu's introduction specifically as everyone was afraid of him even though he was alone, unarmed, and vastly outnumbered) -- they all get some supernatural 'main character' type powers which was more enjoyable than just war scenes, even if they're sometimes egregiously OP seeming. The first part also had decent pacing and did a lot of 'show' to indicate what was happening, even if the battle scenes were a bit much... But the second part was more of a recitation of events and nearly all (boring, not character advancing) battle scenes. Not even unrealistic weapons/tactics could rescue it. Overall, production value is high, but IDK that I'd really recommend it...

The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson: Fantasy journey type, as the protag goes on a quest with three others to restore her home valley's protective magic. From chestnut_pod's rec. Enjoyed it overall! A soothing rhythm to the journey as things keep happening to the travelers. I didn't find the magic or fantasy culture especially compelling, so I think The Kin is still my favorite Dickinson overall.

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, by C. M. Waggoner (DNF): Hijinks in a Victorian-ish setting as a group of female wizards are tasked with protecting a woman prior to her wedding. This was indeed a fun romp with fun characters... Too fun for middle of the night reading maybe? I just hit a wall at the halfway point when the protag has doubled down on A Bad Decision, and the light hearted tone conflicted with my expectations on Consequences.

Comments

[halfcactus]

I typically only watch Red Cliff 2 for the arrows scene and Tony Leung’s comedically emotional tangyuan scene hahaha.

[superborb]

The tangyuan scene... is pretty memorable to be sure haha

[(Anonymous)]

A review from direct 2008 that helps put Cape No 7 in the context of the late 2000’s Taiwanese box office.

https://www.international.ucla.edu/ccs/article/99915

[superborb]

Thanks!

[nnozomi]

Peter Dickinson is one of my favorite writers, but curiously enough only his mysteries; of his fantasies that I've read, I've found them competent but not gripping? Tell me what you like about _The Kin._

[superborb]

Oh interesting, I should check out one of his mysteries... Not usually my genre though -- what's your favorite of them?

I think I liked the culture and culture colliding parts of The Kin! Imagining what prehistoric cultures would be like was fascinating to me. Also I read it as a teen and it was one of the first books I read targeting adults that I enjoyed, so that probably colors my view on it...

[nnozomi]

I think I liked the culture and culture colliding parts of The Kin!
Oh yeah, that sounds neat! Dickinson is good at world-building in that way, and I think also good at books that stand up for both teenagers/younger teens and adults in their way.

I feel like I'm going to write an essay if I get into the mysteries I enjoy--I should just write up a Peter Dickinson post in my own journal, really--but, let's see, I think some of my favorites are Play Dead, about a fiftyish grandmother who is bored stiff in her post-divorce rut and gets involved in a murder at the local playground, Some Deaths Before Dying, in which an almost totally paralyzed old lady solves a murder/family tragedy from many years ago with the help of her nurse and a young lawyer and the photographs she's taken all her life, Shadow of a Hero--not a mystery, kind of YA, the heroine is thirteen and is going back to her family's Eastern European country of origin just as the Iron Curtain collapses, and The Seventh Raven, also not a mystery, kind of a thriller set during a hostage crisis at a children's opera rehearsal. These are so hard to summarize in a way that does them justice lol :) but I do like that a lot of his protagonists are women and girls, and I like the way personal needs and relationships get mixed in with sociopolitical happenings, sometimes in imaginary but plausible countries. aagh, I wrote an essay after all...

[superborb]

Oh wow, I guess you can't say Dickinson doesn't have range! I will have to check them out!

[chestnut_pod]

I just read the Dalemark books for the first time, and was struck by how much The Ropemaker felt like the third of those, specifically -- The Spellcoats. The specifics of the journey, the distant narration, and the particular flavor of the worldbuilding all seemed to echo. Definitely liked DWJ's take better, but it was interesting to compare the two.

[superborb]

Oh interesting! I haven't read that one yet, I'll bump it up the list...