superborb

Thank you to whoever gifted me DW paid time!

Ne Zha (2019): Animated adaptation of Ne Zha, part one of the series of which Ne Zha 2 was a runaway blockbuster. Core story is pretty uncomplicated, with some cute moments (e.g. the magical artifact is combo lock protected). It definitely has an intended child audience...

Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds, by Thomas Halliday: Each chapter is a snapshot of the ecology of a specific time in Earth's history. It's definitely pop sci, but I appreciated the approach to describing the whole ecosystem and I felt like I had a much better grasp of the timeline of when things lived together. However, minimal citation for further reading and some claims therefore felt difficult to judge. The prose is a bit purple, and there was egregiously incorrect chemistry at one point. Overall, I would rec it if the topic is at all interesting -- it was a good execution.

Prophet, by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blache: Mysterious objects of nostalgia start appearing and our two protagonists must work together etc etc. The protags have the quippy odd couple balance of fic, so I was unsurprised to see AO3 in the acknowledgements. Although the cast is very small, they were interesting characters that made me care about them. Overall, a fun read; not sure the ideas will stick with me, but some of the images might.

The Sleeping Soldier, by Aster Glenn Gray: Gay romance in which a civil war soldier wakes up a century later. I think this might have been over hyped to me all over my DW list. The dialog read kind of modern and inconsistent, and overall it was fine but underwhelming, only a light read.

The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera: Fantasy novel coming of age type -- descriptions of the book are all very vague for a reason, and honestly it felt like a vibes book instead of properly thought out worldbuilding. It was a very compulsive read, but the overall effect was quite light. I guess part of the vagueness is explained in universe but.... Some interesting ideas but not more than a collection of ideas.

The Golem of Brooklyn: by Adam Mansbach: An art teacher accidentally brings The Golem to life and hijinks ensue. What a book!! Irreverent and funny, but also tackling serious issues (unsubtly). I think my only serious complaint is probably white supremacists are already deeply afraid people at their core, so as framed, the final argument of the book is weakened. Definitely a rec!

All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor: Children's book about a Jewish family with five girls in 1912 NYC. Pretty cute! Period typical of course in attitudes, but I enjoyed it.

True Pretenses, by Rose Lerner: Regency romance between the most older sister heiress and the most older brother con artist. Just enough meat to be interesting, though the older sibling feels are... perhaps laid on too thickly. There's an alternate universe Helena that never got into fandom and is super into this kind of book, but sadly this is not that universe, and I found it fine but not compelling.

Good Man Friday, by Barbara Hambly: A book out of the middle of a mystery series set in the free black community of 1830s New Orleans (though this one's mostly in Washington DC). Highly acclaimed in the DW list, but I thought it was... fine? Pretty much what I'd expect from a long running mystery series, lots of interesting characters. The setting was quite difficult to read about, which of course one would not want to be otherwise. I am rarely in the mood for long running mystery series, but could see myself reaching for another if that happened.

The Dark Queens, by Shelley Puhak: History of Merovingian Queens Brunhild and Fredegund, who ruled during the 500s. A little more serious than merely pop history (there are plenty of citations), but also adds flavor and speculation around the sources that survived. The litany of events gets a little tedious pacing wise, but certainly there were plenty of dramatic events to liven it up. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a reading experience, but I did learn a lot about Frankish history.

The Old Woman with the Knife, by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim: Aging assassin faces a threat as she nears the end of her career. Very compelling read! It has a distance in the prose that I associate with translated Korean, but not in a dissatisfying way. It's pretty overt social commentary, about aging, sexism, etc etc. Would recommend.

Who knows if I'll have enough for a roundup at the end of July, but there's enough here!

( Books: Burning Roses, Ocean's Echo, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, Counterfeit )

( Other: TWICE Ready To Be concert, Old Fashion Cupcake, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse )

Whale Weekly (the Moby Dick version of Dracula Daily) (DNF) was simply not as amenable to this format for me; each day was too much day to fit in an email sized reading experience.

All the Horses of Iceland, by Sarah Tolmie: in the 9th century, an Icelandic man travels to Mongolia, bringing back horses and experiencing the mixing of cultures on the trade route. From sophia_sol's rec! This was a short, fast read, and I enjoyed the varying customs, religions, and languages encountered along the way. IMO the method of storytelling held the world at a distance, making it feel less embedded in its world than I would have preferred. The is-it-or-isn't-it magic ends up feeling more meaty, though Watsonianly, the main character is here to trade and bring his goods safely home. Overall, the theme of the trader, negotiating different cultures and how their own experiences shape their abilities, is very compelling.
CW: slavery, sexual slavery, discussion of killing disabled infants and elderly people

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton (DNF): A thirty-something Japanese woman takes a chain of temp jobs. I picked this up because it was meitachi 's favorite of 2022, but although I enjoyed the first half, it was a little too 'nothing happens' for my current mood. The jobs and the characters are all pretty interesting though, so I might pick it back up in the future.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo: after I watched the drama adaptation, people recommended the book! The book does definitely avoid the issues I had with the drama, giving the female protagonist much more to do (and it helps that it's from her PoV), and avoided egregious contrivance and mistakes by the protagonists. I definitely enjoyed the second half of the book, when the action gets going -- they cut one of the antagonists in the drama, and I enjoyed her storyline. However, there were two huge issues with the book: first, it falls into that heavily overexplaining style that I absolutely detest, and it wasn't even done with a deft hand, just clunky explanation shoved in, sometimes of a too modern perspective. Second, it needs editorial polish; it kept repeating already established points, sometimes mildly contradicting itself. Both these issues would be resolvable with a good editor, so it's a shame they detract from the otherwise interesting book.

瑯琊榜 by 海宴 (the Nirvana in Fire book): I'm proud of book club for finishing the book! It took just under a year in the end. The book and the drama largely follow the same plot beats, with some secondary character changes / emphasis changed, and I think overall the drama works better; the chance to do revisions polished the storytelling and (mostly) let the secondary characters develop more. The iconic Helena comment from the book club was probably: "He was riding a gray horse" -> THANKS TO SHIJING TRAINING I KNOW THIS IS ACTUALLY A GRAYISH BAY HORSE WITH BLACK HAIR. thank you, i will now exit with the 5839 horse color words i know, and the most heartbreaking point: i wonder if mcs, growing up on tales from his mom about her favorite sister, was primed to expect more from liyang than prince jing did. Reading the Chinese text along with the fan translation, though they sometimes differed because of untracked revisions, was a mostly useful experience; it was kind of required in our joint Eng-Chn reading club anyway. Overall, while I had a good time, I'd recommend the drama over the book.

Cherry Magic the Movie: a sequel to the Cherry Magic drama, picking up where it leaves off. They're soooooo awkward, but again the second-hand embarrassment doesn't hit for me because they're so earnest. The conflicts seems human and understandable. Great costuming, the suits really fit the characters! The only exception was the wedding suits -- matching tan suits against a tan building??? Anyway, if you liked the drama, you'll like the movie, but it's definitely a particular low-intensity slice-of-life BL taste.

Hidden Blade (无名) (2023): WWII era spy movie. The leads are, of course, handsome and 30s/40s era Shanghai leads to excellent costumes. The Shanghainese is decent enough, much better than the usual level. However, the story is too predictable, the main fight scene doesn't bring the plot forward (a cardinal sin), and though one may complain that none of the women are well developed, tbh none of the men are either. The propaganda level is lower than it could have been, but that's not saying much; and from that, all characterization and reveals are as expected. (Much confusion is generated by time jump / cut choices, and this attempts to complicate the otherwise straightforward plot.) But it's the sort of movie that you'd know you'd be interested in from just the premise (or the actors involved).

I have been in Graeber purgatory for the last three months and I am STILL NOT DONE with Dawn of Everything, so uh. Some mostly non-book media! (I... am mostly enjoying it, but it's just very difficult to read through in one sitting, which makes my progress slow.)

Make, Sew and Mend, by Bernadette Banner: An overview of hand-sewing techniques. From sophia_sol's rec. It was well laid out in terms of the order of covered topics and mostly clear, though it was occasionally excessively wordy. There were a few times when I had to reread a sentence a dozen or so times before I understood what was happening and afterwords felt like it could have been expressed with more clarity. On the one hand, I'm not an experienced sewer so it makes sense that I would be confused sometimes; on the other, surely that is most of the intended audience, as the techniques covered are not particularly fancy. I did learn how to properly anchor my thread! And corrected a few other things that home ec misled me on.

8UPPERS: In conjunction with their album promotion, Kanjani8 released this movie, where they are gangsters who have suddenly acquired a baby. I guess a lot of background was supposed to be revealed in teasers in advance, but the plot still made sense without it. Not that the plot is that complicated or deep, but it is coherent! Mainly, they cast a cute baby and there are lots of found family scenes.

As We Like It (2021): An all-female cast retelling of As You Like It, set in a neighborhood of Taipei where internet is banned. It opens with many gay and lesbian couples as background, but an 'I'm not gay' freakout is what keeps Orlando and Rosalind-as-a-boy apart? And the het couple being able to have a baby is why they're superior? There are briefly mentioned gay couples, but it does come across as being far more comfortable with lesbians (or the playacting of a lesbian relationship) than with gay people. It tries to conclude with a 'gender doesn't matter' message at the end, but... all the main couples are het, though played by women, and the closest they get to queerness is the slight gender bending of Rosalind-as-a-boy. It was a fun romp, just not as queer as it seemed it'd be.

Luca (2021): Summer adventure coming of age movie set in Italy, where a sea monster child explores the human world for the first time. (I got the rec from someone on DW, but I can't seem to turn it up in search, as searching "Luca" also turns up hits for "Lucas"...) Fun, easy story to watch. I didn't love the animation style, but so it goes. I really like that Disney+ movies are available dubbed in lots of languages, and they're often pretty ideal for language learners in terms of speed etc.

Debrief (RP): Alternate Cold War with ghosts, one hour, two player game. From skygiants' rec. This was the first time I did an RP and I am not sure I'm very good at it! I played with bf, and we were much more inclined to negotiate openly and also not add character quirks that would make it more difficult to succeed lol. It was fun! Being time limited makes it an easier introduction too. If you play, warnings for upper class white men in mid 19c Britain attitudes and histories.

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.

I considered doing a year-end wrap up, but realized that I didn't track all the stuff I consumed at the beginning of the year and my memory is therefore too bad to do that. Maybe next year, if I keep up the media diet posts?




( Books: A Man Called Ove, The Ghosts of Birds, A Marvellous Light )

( Movies: The Wandering Earth, Cats (2019), Fantastic Fungi (2019) (DNF) )

( Other visual: Love, Death + Robots, A Man Who Defies the World of BL, Nodame Cantabile, Mr Queen (DNF), Johnny's Countdown )