superborb

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.