superborb

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder, by Asako Yuzuki, trans. Polly Barton: A journalist gets a bit too involved in the worldview of a woman who has been jailed for allegedly killing her boyfriends, and who has garnered the hatred of the public for unapologetically prioritizing herself and being fat.
- The weight stuff was unexpectedly hard to read...
- The lesbian undertones were interestingly obscured by the protag's view, but also really pragmatically stated; in her world, going to a girl's school meant she was cast / cast herself as a prince character to the other girls.
- The food descriptions are quite good; I really wanted rice with butter and soy sauce after.
- Either journalistic standards in Japan must be very different or the protag must not be a very good journalist.
Didn't quite come together for me, the subtle commentary not quite refined enough -- like, it felt like it was trying to say stuff subtly, but did it really say anything in the end... I did like parts of it though, and it was a very distinct voice.

Interior Chinatown, by Charles Yu: Asian American studies 101. Not in a bad way necessarily, but not sure I came out if it having felt the content was new; however, the structure was very creative. I expected a little bit more oompf from the ending though. Still, a propulsive read.

The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker: Sequel to The Golem and the Jinni. Vibe is more of the same, and it doesn't really do a ton that was novel. None of the new characters were quite as good as the OGs. I enjoyed reading this, but it isn't a must read IMO.

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, by Henry Grabar: As the tin says. Some interesting case studies, nothing especially novel in the overarching argument, but ties it together. I didn't feel like the thesis was especially strong (seems that writing it during the pandemic should have changed said thesis more than it did).

In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden: A successful professional woman leaves her high status, respected position in London to join a cloistered Benedictine monastery. When Providence is part of the premise, it does Watsonionally explain a lot of "and then the protag was a great friend of someone random that solves their problem." I largely enjoyed this, the focus on living in community, the head hopping style as we learn about the nuns and their stories.

The Doors of Eden, by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A world much like our own is actually part of a series of parallel universes with different sentient creatures and a misfit group must save the world. I guess it being not actually our world might explain things like the UK having an SSN, but that was pretty weird. The cultures and worlds all had a sameyness and the characters, both human and non, felt quite thin. (It very definitely suffers from the 'whole world is just one culture!' trap.) It was a fine romp, but despite all the talk about Tchaikovsky having 'weird aliens,' I wasn't impressed.

Killingly, by Katharine Beutner: Based on the 1897 real-life disappearance of a Mount Holyoke student and telling a story of what might have happened and the people that might have been around her. [Rot13] V qba'g guvax n qbez sheanpr va 1897 jbhyq or ubg rabhtu gb perzngr n obql naq guvf vf npghnyyl rkgerzryl cybg pevgvpny? But otherwise what it says on the tin, though a bit thin and the ending is very pat. I liked the college students and their descriptions best, but otherwise, I would only recommend it to people who do like that kind of historical fiction.

https://368chickens.com/: I played across my phone and computer, so I dug into the code to check how many tries it took me -- 32 for the first win, then I think I got a method that worked. It does make me feel like a game theorist could come up with some interesting principles about winning based on the random chicken selector...

Jiang Ziya (2020) (DNF): Part two of the animated Ne Zha series. The fight scenes are pretty tedious, so I DNF'd in the end.

Ancient Detective (2020) (DNF): I don't think I'll ever come back to this, and I did follow the group watch until ep 16 / verdict was that it wasn't really worth finishing, so I guess I might as well boot this out of my drafts. It's a detective story, but in that boring way where it follows the standard detecting case solving storylines in terms of beats -- lots of talking over clues / people around to be witness, arguments about who is accused etc with everyone in the case standing around, then smaller discussions with a Watson. Finally, the killer admits to it after being confronted and explains his motivations, and the recap of how the crime happened is extremely lengthy. The medicine was bad (blowing on an open wound! Dry finger bones being attached to each other!) and the sound mixing was extremely bad. However, there were fun moments! The distinctive weapons were nice, and there were some genuinely funny scenes (the character that records all the happenings triggered some as that premise might suggest, and my notes say something about a sad poetry recitation being really funny, though it's been... over a year, so not funny enough for me to remember it that long afterwards).

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard (DNF): This was very much pop history, with minimal citation, and I didn't feel like it was scaffolding me enough for me to retain any of the info.

I have ALSO skimmed a number of sleep training books, but they are all useless.

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.

Cursed Bunny, by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur: A collection of short stories, recced by littlerhymes. I enjoyed most of these, but the longest one, Scars, went on a little too long... Most of them had fantastical elements, centering on those with little power in their world. I think my favorite one was The Embodiment, where taking birth control pills too long leads to pregnancy and then a vaguely comedic interlude as the woman must find a father for the baby.

Fiona and Jane, by Jean Chen Ho: Snippets of the lives of two Taiwanese American girls who grew up best friends in LA. I learned about this book from meitachi here. This was fine? There were a few moments of emotional clarity that were interesting, but as a whole I didn't find it especially compelling.

Goddess of Yesterday, by Caroline B. Cooney: Historical fiction around the Trojan war. This was recced by osprey_archer here. As promised, there were pieces where the protagonist's worldview was really alien -- her absolute conviction in how gods would punish certain things that didn't feel that serious to a modern reader while never questioning all the pirating, the importance of royal blood, etc. Pretty Mary Sue not-like-other-girls-y in a way that made more sense when I realized this came out in 2002. I enjoyed the beginning most, when the protagonist was experiencing culture shock at moving from a tiny island of few people to increasingly larger islands.
PS: How can there be so many kings left if they were constantly being killed and their entire villages wiped out... An endless supply of kings.
PPS: Cassandra purposefully prophesying something so it wouldn't be believed is a nice twist.

Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital by Elise Hu. An overview of the K-beauty industry, as told through the lens of the author's years as a reporter in Korea. From meitachi's rec. Interesting pieces -- the technological gaze was the big thing it really captured well, along with some fun small details (Thailand's Dengue fever rates going up when Korean hot pants became trendy!). However, I thought it was quite repetitive and could have been tightened significantly. It primarily cites journalist articles and substack like sources, along with a significant number of interviews. It did make me enjoy my girl groups that little bit less because it was harder to ignore certain things while reading a book highlighting them.

The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker: At the turn of the century, a golem and a jinni show up in NYC and learn to live among humans. excaliburedpan recommended this after I read When the Angels Left the Old Country. I really enjoyed this! I loved the characters, their complex backstories and flaws. Probably the plot was a bit simple, but it's really an exploration of the various immigrant enclaves of the era and character development with a sprinkle of magic on top. Really rec this if you missed it!

Snow Man i DO ME live DVD: I love the traditional BIG COATS here. So colorful. So fluffy. Also the dedication to color coding and high kicks. I especially enjoyed the fans trying to keep up with the pen light changing choreography ahaha. They look like they're having so much fun performing, which is really what makes watching a concert recording interesting.
I didn't watch their new year countdown show, but watched the parody Bass Bon complete with trash bag and dish glove costume + a full copy of the choreo, and it was so good; in the bottom corner they have the original for comparison.

Chang'an (2023): The story of the historical figures Gao Shi and Li Bai set against Tang poetry. Baby Du Fu is SO cute. It could definitely have used tightening and though they tried to make it more ~dramatic~, it is really a lot of talking and not much plot. The An Lushan rebellion is happening, but the Gao Shi - Li Bai relationship is the emotional core and doesn't change much over the course of the movie. The one scene of the Li Bai poem animated with them flying on the birds is the only big animation 'wow' scene, so if that's what you're here for, you can just watch the clip and skip the rest. Mainly I was impressed at how many of the poems I recognized, which I think is where a not-small amount of the pleasure of the movie is located.

When the Moonlight is Shining 月白之时 (2023): 34 min long GLish mini series with mermaids that is a commercial for the OPPO RENO 11 YUEGUANG BAOSHI. Also, direct and superficial criticism of the nuclear wastewater release situation. On one hand, it's a casual mini series (bf judged the sound effects so hard), but on the other, they got a shot of the betta fish kissing? and trained belugas? So it felt relatively high budget for a mini series. Cute enough anyway.

The latest of the wuxia cdramas, structured as a series of smaller mysteries leading up to the major mystery of the story behind a jianghu battle 10 years ago. The characters mostly were reasonably interesting and though they fit tropes, they at least committed to them. (Really enjoyed the one guy whose job was basically to be Siri.) The acting was pretty good too, which helps significantly, and the costuming and actors were all very pretty. I am a sucker for the "chasing the ONE TRUE RIVAL when they're reluctant to keep competing" dynamic (Hikago hit me at a formative age!!) so obviously I loved that shit. I also did love the main character's glib tongue and the villainess at first didn't get to chew enough scenery but by the end she gets to be fully dramatic. There were a lot of little moments that were great -- when they were blackmailing secrets out of each other, the main character's very close up captured ear twitches, and the interactions between the main trio.

However, the actual plot was uh, questionable; it distinctly suffers from not enough adaptation and the pacing is very clearly unchanged from a serial novel. Except they keep skipping bits so they can go through plot faster; the recent PRC dramas really have not figured out that 36-40 episode pacing at all. Generally the overall storyline and the character motivations make sense, but individual choices for storytelling and the excessive amounts of telling were tedious. The smaller mysteries are all very contrived, over explained, and generally not best practices for detective work (questioning all the suspects together...). The women really are defined in conjunction with men; even when they get to fight, it's not as much as the men, though the fight choreo is generally not great. (In particular, the mountain red storyline was really strange about the trapped girls and the resolution was unsatisfying.)

Spoilers for the major mystery:

The distinct version of PRC nationalism combined with the typical bright-line good guy vs bad guy split got me more than I would usually expect. There's some racism around foreign blood making you untrustworthy and SO many stereotypes, all at my lowest expectation levels, but that obsession with casting those who want to resurrect bygone countries as the worst possible villains, whoof. It didn't help that the big bad had the most boring motivation and just straightforwardly fell in that trope. The attempted subversion on Nanyin blood did NOT hit when it became all about the bloodline. Finally, I personally think that saving LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE except the emperor with the flower would have made more thematic sense; I don't care that emperors are only stand-ins for their empire!

Anyway, I... felt like this wasted what would otherwise have been a promising show with fun character interactions.

PS Using the rock version of the theme song for the final battle was INSPIRED. A++ excellent choice.

Haohao, the best singer in the capital, is incensed upon learning there is a new pipa player eclipsing her fame. Naturally, the first thing she does upon meeting said pipa player is to praise her beauty ('even I can't help falling in love upon seeing you') and play a duet with her.

Nominally based on the Yuan dynasty opera, set in the Song dynasty, this drama follows three women as they try to make a life in the capital. Zhao Panr was once a music entertainer, a legal status denoting the lowest social class, but now runs a successful small teahouse as a businesswoman. Sun Sanniang is a former butcher who dreams of her son passing the exams to become an official. Song Yinzhang is the best pipa player, which comes with the entertainer status that she desperately wants to escape.

[Spoilers ahead]
( Spoiler cut! )

A little early because I'll be traveling without my computer! (I'll check DW when I get back, since I haven't quite gotten the hang of mobile DW yet either...)

The Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozeki: The story of Benny Oh, as told partially by his book, partially by himself, primarily after the death of his father, when his mother starts hoarding things and he begins to hear objects. Although the somewhat chaotic and elaborate descriptions would seem to be not to my taste, the prose actually worked really smoothly and well for me? I think the internal structure and careful attention to rhythm pulled it off. I found the descriptions of his mother's hoarding extremely unsettling, which I don't think has happened to me before. It was very unmoored in time/location and none of the characters were that compelling to me, so although it was an engaging read, I found it somewhat unmemorable by being so incohesive.
(PS: Disneyland is not in Florida.)

Things We Lost in the Fire, by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell: A collection of short stories set in Argentina, primarily along the lines of magical realism / social commentary. From meitachi's rec. The book seems billed as macabre and dark, so I expected more unsettling feelings from this collection, but I think it fit more as 'ghost story' than 'horror' levels of dark. While the stories were interesting social commentary (mostly on gender and poverty, always with the undercurrent of the desaparecidos) and I read them like potato chips, I think they're a little bit unmemorable for me? A common problem with short stories I guess.

Strange Beasts of China, by Yan Ge, translated by Jeremy Tiang: A novelist who once studied cryptozoology learns about and tells the stories of a series of beasts, slowly coming to understand her own story in the process. Recced by excaliburedpan! The beasts are a rather straightforward metaphor for marginalized groups (as the author herself says); although I don't usually check goodreads, I was startled at the number of reviews that seemed to miss the point, is that normal? I enjoyed the imaginative beasts and their stories, the snarky relationship between the main character and her underclassman, and the slow reveal of the main character's backstory. I was not super impressed with the translation, which came across monotone, and I thought the social criticism was very unsubtle (though I guess maybe not, given the goodreads reviews...). Overall, I liked it a lot, as a book that tried to tell a complicated story about humans and beasts interacting and mixing.

Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger: In a world very similar to ours, but where some myths / magic are real, our protag has a family secret that allows her to raise dead animals; her cousin dies and comes to her in a dream to tell her he's been murdered. From sophia_sol's rec! It read more MG than YA to me, and in that light, it was perfectly cromulent. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions. However, it always felt weird that the world and its history were so similar to ours yet had these magics that should surely have affected things. If you're in the mood for MG, this would suit.

Ted Lasso S2: In season two, the show gets a chance to add more complex characterization and relationships, as the team tries to win their way back into the top level of English soccer, the Premier League. It remains mostly unstressful, except I kept getting VERY NERVOUS in all the Nate scenes because he was becoming more and more of an asshole. Two points annoyed me: the improper spotting and joking about someone having their neck crushed by weights is not actually funny??? And the TV psychology privacy practice of Sharon, the new team psychologist, discussing specific patients with her psychologist without anonymizing it. I remain very into the Ted/Trent dynamic, even if on screen interactions were sadly scarce. Overall, remains an entertaining and mostly light series, with enough humor to act as a hook, but not too much second hand embarrassment.

Go Ahead (以家人之名) (DNF): Three unrelated kids grow up together as family and support each other through family troubles. Given the presence of ZXC, this must have been a halfcactus rec, lol. They were very cute as children, and I really did love the two dads trying to parent them together! It was just a little overacted / contrived and I can't build up the motivation to keep going... I think those who like modern family centric dramas would like it (based on the episodes I've seen!), it's just ultimately not my favorite genre, you know?

Bad Buddy (DNF): Two boys from neighboring rival families have competed since they were young; when they became close at the end of secondary school, one is sent away. Now, they've both entered university in rival faculties. Livetweeted here! Everyone loved this so much, and indeed, the fast pace and tightly focused scenes were great! I just... find the friends hating each other thing very stressful and all the really cheesy romance scenes Too Much q_q. Not for me, but definitely if you like tropey BL, I'd recommend.

The Male Fairy Fox Of Liao Zhai 3 (男狐聊斋3): A fox demon (fairy?) can't ascend until he repays the life debt from being rescued by a human a thousand years ago. Recced by douqi! Livetweeted here. The plot and characters are pretty much standard, but it is quite overtly gay and the fighting is very swoopy, so it's a satisfying 1.5 h movie. (No Eng subs yet.)

CODA (2021): The only hearing child in a Deaf family needs to decide between staying to help her family fishing business or leaving for music college. Choosing singing as the plot device is rather loaded, and unsurprisingly led to some criticism of the movie. Overall though, it was pretty formulaic in plot, with enough well executed scenes and acting to make it worth watching if it's a genre you like.

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, by Rebecca Wragg Sykes: A rather long (though not as long as I thought as I was reading, the last 12% is an index) pop sci book summarizing the historical and current state of research on Neanderthals and speculating (pretty conservatively?) about the unknowns. (From narie's suggestion!) Scientifically, it did not dwell on the pieces I was more interested in (how were the reconstructions done etc), in favor of tons of detail about exact remains (reasonable, and even interesting when they reappeared in later chapters). I had complained about pop sci books not having enough detail; this attempts more successfully to be basic survey of the field than most, but lacks the citations and further readings that something for the scientific audience would have, and that I did miss. The flavor text in the beginning of each chapter were largely uninteresting, and the prose did sometimes become... purple. I'd only rec this if you were very interested in nonfiction or Neanderthals and also a fast reader. Favorite footnote, explaining how they knew the babies were breastfed: "Nitrogen in part tracks the place in the foodchain, and since babies are effectively eating their mother’s bodies, this makes them look like hyper-carnivores."

Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki: Speculative fiction combining deals with the devil, interstellar refugees, and violin prodigies. I was skeptical of the opening scenes, which were a bit jarring as they tried to combine those very different strands, but was quickly sucked in. I didn't overall think it quite worked all the bazillion elements it tried to sprinkle in into one whole story (food/location shout outs, wildly varying levels of description, anti-trans violence, in addition to the intrinsic everything about the premise). Also, I'm not usually a fan of the intrinsic genius trope. However, it had great momentum and I did compulsively read the whole thing in one shot, so I would rec if the premise seems fun.

Delicious Romance (爱很美味): Short drama about three 30 year old women navigating work drama and their love lives, hyper targeted to 30ish women. Very much 'it's the journey, not the destination,' and ends on an ambiguous note (setting up for a movie sequel). The more meta-ish pieces were very natural and fun-- e.g. they have the kid versions of the leads, who are very well cast, providing backstory and commentary and those scenes are nearly all very well done. Generally, when it's good, it's not afraid of being cynical or making sharp commentary, mostly about the pressures on women. It also presents a positive view of drag, even if the gay guy is a bit shoehorned in. I guess overall, maybe half of the show (early on, then again towards the middle-end) was engaging, but half was full of super cringey, unrealistic plot lines. Lots of choices for humor or how workplaces work being done for the effect, and then post justified or just left to drive the plot. (Allergies in show have no relationship to real life; spelling out of harassment/sexism so you get The Point; very rosy view of the work needed in a restaurant.) Ultimately, the major problem was that the show did not meet the expectations of the usual cdrama strength of interesting, compelling characters and relationships, which is core to a show like this. I'd only recommend this for people who are both really into this genre and have free time.

High on the Hog ep 1: Exploring African American cuisine, with a focus on history; the first episode is set in Benin. (From dolorosa_12's rec) I really liked one of the interviewees, Jessica Harris, who was very knowledgeable, but the show was somewhat superficial in focus, not going in depth on the history or food. For example, at one point they eat foods that are meant to be foods that predate the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but it involved both corn and chilis? I'm not sure if I missed something obvious, but it would seem that that would need some more words of explanation. There were some interesting scenes, I just need higher information content in my documentary style shows.

Passing (2021): In 1920s NYC (and shot in black and white!), a black middle class woman unexpectedly meets her childhood friend, who has married a white man and now passes as white. From silveredeye's rec! My little brother observed that this felt like English class, with all the ~symbolism~ etc etc, but I thought it was in a way that I enjoyed? I also totally called the foreshadowing of the [rot13] sybjrecbg snyyvat vaqvpngvat gung fbzrbar jnf tbvat gb snyy bhg bs n ohvyqvat naq vg jnf tbvat gb or nzovthbhf jung unq unccrarq, so perhaps I was just in the English class mode haha. It was rather heavy handed in the commentary on class (the childhood friend can cross class boundaries while the protag enforces her class boundaries) and also when they reiterated the characters' motivations to make sure you picked up those details. Anyway, I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it'll be something I come back to?

Monument Valley: A cute little puzzle mobile game, recced by halfcactus. I can't say it was really worth the $4 though, for maybe 2-3 hours of easy content? It comes with the base 10 levels, and a small Ida's Dream standalone. There's some more chapters and a sequel game to buy, but it was just rather boring and fiddly (the mobile controls on spinning were not great). Great art and music though.

This is one of the best movies I've watched in recent memory! (I... need to re-organize my tags so I have a separate cdrama and movie tag, don't I. Hmm.)

The premise: a novel has been published that describes the friendship of Li Ansheng and Lin Qiyue, bringing all those painful and happy memories of the past to the front of Ansheng's mind. Once upon a time, they were the best of friends. Yet despite their painful separation, in their hearts, the other was the only one who truly loved them.

I cried for most of the movie, and it felt earned. The relationship between Ansheng and Qiyue was so complicated and emotional, and both actresses were incredible. The movie did some good foreshadowing and repeated and reflected themes and imagery too. Using bras to represent freedom and womanhood, a bit of an easy reference perhaps, but done well.

I don't know how to say anything more without spoilers; I usually am quite lax with spoilers and reading spoilers, but I think this is worth watching unspoiled! Some ROT13 spoilers:

( Read more... )

ANYWAY it was so good and I'd highly rec it!