mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-03-18 09:44 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-03-18 09:44 pm
Entry tags:
What I've read/played/watched lately:
I keep saying I want to do a sort of media roundup of stuff I've watched/read/played recently, and then I get too tired to do it by the time I'm home. But today I had a very weirdly productive day at work, and was the only one in the center so I got a head start on it.
This got way longer than I thought it would. (If I manage to do this as a regular thing, it probably wouldn't cover two weeks at a time, but that's what this is.)
What I've Been Reading:
- Incryptid short stories by Seanan McGuire: Jonathan Healy and Francis Brown
--No Place Like Home (Fran is introduced to Jonathan's family)
--Married in Green (Jonathan and Fran are getting married, even with some not-so-great omens)
--Sweet Poison Wine (the prohibition-era Chicago gorgon community's smuggled wine goes missing, which could be A Problem.)
--The First Fall (after the murder of their three-year-old son, Jonathan and Fran want answers)
--Loch and Key (a fishing trip to a pleisiosaur-inhabited lake, unfortunately interrupted by probable-poachers)
--We Both Go Down Together (the children of the finfolk of Gentling, Maine begin to go missing, and Jonathan and Fran are called on to help)
--Oh Pretty Bird (the woman responsible for Daniel's murder has been found)
--Bury Me in Satin (Jonathan and Fran discover they've been leaving their daughter Alice with a ghost for a babysitter)
--Snakes and Ladders (Halloween night, and a would-be cult who plan to sacrifice a child... maybe unfortunately, they grab Alice)
--Broken Paper Hearts (not everyone makes it)
These are short stories devoted to ancestors of the family that stars in the Incryptid series. These characters, Jonathan Healy and Francis Healy, are the great grandparents of most of the "current" generation of the family.
I do not have the first or the fourth stories ("The Flower of Arizona" and "Stingers and Strangers"), because those are only available in print anthologies that I do not own.
Taylor and I read "One Hell of a Ride" last time we got together. We ran out of time this time around before the last of the Jonathan/Fran stories - "The Star of New Mexico", so that one will happen next time.
I've been having a lot of fun reading these. I like that they serve a bit as period pieces, while also still being about the cryptozoology family dealing with urban fantasy plots. This part of the family saga is set in the 30s and 40s, and it's fun to see the historical setting of the time. My favorites out of this bit have been "Sweet Poison Wine" (which utilizes prohibition-era Chicago as the setting), "Oh Pretty Bird" (which is about the family's second encounter with [and the naming of] the cuckoos, who get Complicated in the series proper), and "Snakes and Ladders" (about an attempted cult ritual on Halloween. The... punchline? reveal? for poor Naga is really quite excellent, and I love him.)
"The First Fall" and "Broken Paper Hearts" are pretty resolutely Downers, but I've enjoyed them anyway. With an ongoing series like Incryptid, or any other similar urban fantasy series, there's kind of a tension (or maybe loss of tension) regarding the genre conventions of protagonist survival and the "will they survive this" stakes. It's a genre where I imagine an author risks losing a lot of audience goodwill and investment if they kill off a main character. Characters DIE, absolutely, including ones we like, but usually not the actual mains; and for Incryptid, where characters take turns as narrators, they all have a bit of plot armor. (That doesn't mean Seanan couldn't decide to off someone at some point, should the series continue! We get reminded pretty often that most of the characters are well aware they aren't destined to live long lives, doing what they do. And it's not like she hasn't killed main characters ever...Newsflesh, my beloved.) BUT, the free short stories, not beholden to a publisher who wants to keep the series going, lets those stakes be higher. Characters DON'T have invulnerable plot armor, and as much as that hurts, it kind of retroactively makes the rest of the series' stakes feel more real. (Though the short stories aren't required reading for the main books to work.)
-"The Diary of the Rose" by Ursula K le Guin
Taylor is reading some collections of Ursula K le Guin short stories, and they really loved this one. I see why - it's very impressive how MUCH is fit into a 20-something page story. I really like the style of worldbuilding it includes... the slow, matter-of-fact statements that don't feel at all like exposition, but reveal that oh hey, this is definitely a dystopia. (The reveal of a dystopian setting reminded me of Within the Wires, for a more modern example.) It also explores themes about authoritarianism, how fucked up the medical industry can be, the weaponization of mental health as a tool of control. There's a sad theme of maybe futility in the protagonist's last interaction with her patient, the idea that intent and understanding and knowing that you're right... ultimately may not matter. How even when you lean on honesty vs. lies, you may choose a kind lie in the end. But there's also a potential hope in what the protagonist may now be able to go on to do. (Or is there, if her diary has been found?) It was a thought-provoking story, for sure, and suited my tastes very well.
- Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
I'm enjoying this book, though my progress is slow. (I only usually have about 15 minutes or so to read while I eat breakfast before work. But it's better than nothing.)
I mostly don't read a lot of YA (I'm not really the target audience anymore, and at least some of the tropes and formulae have worn very thin for me.) This is definitely YA, but it's still working pretty well for me. The main plot is that there's a village, protected from any suffering/illness/hunger/tragedy... in exchange for sacrificing the best of their sons to the devil in the forest every seven years. These young men may survive, but rarely do. After, they become "saints", and it's considered the highest honor to be one of the sacrificed, to buy seven more years of protection for the town. Unfortunately, only three years after the last saint survived, the blessings have failed, and another sacrifice is called for.
We've got three mains: Mairwen, a descendant of the woman who first made the bargain with the devil. Rhun, who everyone knows will be the next saint, because he's the best. And Arthur, their prickly friend(ish) who wants to be the next saint only to prove himself. I guess it's a love-triangle, but it's mutual from and towards all three, so I'm down with that, and rooting for a poly endship.
I want to see what shakes out with Arthur's gender angst. I want to find out what winds up happening with the blessing/curse.
I actually like how everyone is... pretty down with the whole "sacrifice a kid every seven years" thing. People are sad about losing someone, but with a few exceptions (Arthur's mother, Mairwen and Arthur regarding Rhun) everyone just kind of... accepts it as fair, if bittersweet.
What I've Been Playing:
- Pokemon Sun
Nothing super exciting to say. I've played it before, and it's fun and cute. :) I want to play more, I just keep running out of time before I get sleepy. I'm still on the first island, but with the exception of evolutions/ones unavailable in this version, and one pokemon with a 1% encounter rate at this point (which I hunted for for a while, but gave up on), my pokedex is complete.
- Deltarune Chapter 2
Watched Taylor play. It's fairly quick, maybe 6 hours or so. I don't... really remember the first chapter super well, and maybe should have read a summary or something, but it's fine. Chapter 2 is about what I'd expected, with the fun 2-D throwback style, and quirky silly characters and dialogue. The monster designs are still really fun, and some of the terrible puns are just fantastic. We did a "good" mercy-only run.
We did watch a "bad" playthrough as well, where you have Noelle kill all the enemies you face while she's in your party, and that... does get pretty dark, ha. It really makes you lean heavily on like... ignoring what the character wants, and gives you lots of opportunities to change your mind, so you have to commit to being an asshole. Also, her line about "of course they don't want to hurt me... they just want me to be stronger. That's good... right?" hurts.
It's also interesting that the bad route skips the original final boss, because this time you get to explain the whole "so... maybe wiping out a lot of people and condemning the rest to eternal darkness is... bad actually?" thing prior to the fight. (In the good ending it comes after, and she pretty much says "oh, didn't know that was what would happen. My bad.")
But the Secret Bad Boss, who is also the secret hidden boss in any playthrough, was fun. I genuinely appreciate how much like genuine spam ads Spamton's dialogue is.
Though what's with all the angel imagery and references? What's with the random throwaway dialogue about your character being into the occult? KRIS WHY DO YOU HAVE A KNIFE STOP THAT. I'm sure ripping your soul out and setting it aside so you can go do Bad Things is fine. It's fine.
What I've Been Watching:
- first half of Firefly
Making me feel old all over again, ouch, Firefly is 20 years old. We watched about half of it, and... I do still quite enjoy it. Fuck Joss Whedon and his garbage bullshit, but what I do with my already-owned DVDs has no impact on him, so...
I haven't watched the series in probably 10 years+, but I still like the things I did before. (Part of me was a little afraid that watching it again would... tarnish my memory of enjoying it? Like I'd discover it really wasn't very good, so I'm glad that wasn't the case, at least for me.) There are a few things that haven't aged well. The effects among them, ha. Not quite old-Who bubble wrap monsters, but rough CGI. But some of the interactions between Mal and Inara are cringier now than they seemed at the time, though really not to a degree that I hate. There's common critique of the series that I do understand, but I think most of it falls under the... fair critique category. It's imperfect, as all media will be. It's fair to point out ways in which it could have/should have done better (at the time and in retrospect), while also having it still be good in other ways.
And a thing I'm sure I knew but forgot: LOL at little-kid-Simon being Zac Effron's first TV role.
I hope to watch the second half at some point soon, though I don't think Alex was terribly into it. :P
- Last Night in Soho
One of the things I asked for for my birthday was this, and my mom got it for me. Taylor and I watched it, and I still really enjoyed it on a rewatch. I love the practical effects (especially the dance sequence toward the beginning!). Taylor called the twist earlier than I did, but still enjoyed it, despite that. Seemed to be a love it or hate it movie, but I really liked it.
- Hideout
A group of would-be thieves runs away after a robbery-gone-wrong, and decide to hide in the home of a young woman and her grandmother. But... something is weird about the house, and maybe about the granddaughter as well. Apparently the film was on a ridiculously tight schedule due to Covid (11 days to shoot, total), and everyone had to isolate together in the house where the bulk of the filming happened... but really, it was pretty good. The acting was solid, and there were a couple really good offputting moments. There was a good creepy dream sequence, but my favorite "wait, something isn't right..." moments is where the worst asshole of the bunch starts looking around the house and discovers that all the cabinets and drawers and the fridge are completely empty. It was just a good way to show "huh... I think this is not a normal house with normal people in it, actually".
If I had a nickel for every horror movie I'd watched recently where someone with ill-intent goes to an isolated house in the country, only to have their murderous plans turned around on them by a deceptively-innocent-seeming local who may actually be an incarnation of the devil himself (and an older human who knows their secret)... I'd have two nickels, but it's weird it's happened twice.
[The other one was A House on the Bayou, which was also pretty averagey, but the kid who played Isaac (the maybe-devil) killed it in the role, imo.]
- The Dropout
We had previously watched the 20/20 episode about Elizabeth Holmes and the show being in production, and I think that made me appreciate it more. They'd showed comparative footage of actual interviews with Elizabeth, compared to the shots of Amanda Seyfried in the role, and knowing how closely she was playing it probably gave me better appreciation for it. Idk, this style of ... mmm, kind of biopic, kind of dramatization-as-documentary thing isn't my fave (felt similarly about Inventing Anna), but it's all right. The real event and ongoing saga was an interesting, one that I feel like I was very unaware of when it was going on, somehow.
- The Batman
But one of the early showings for the day was surprisingly uncrowded. (I'm not quite willing to buy four seats just so we don't have to sit next to anyone, but I also only want to go if we aren't going to sit next to anyone, lol. So I assumed we'd have to wait for a while to go see it.)
But I thought it was really good! It had just the right kind of noir tone for me, getting that "gritty realism" feel without losing out on the comic book feeling of it either. I feel like anything I can say about it probably has been said by other people better. But I am SO GLAD they didn't try to do another origin story - I like that we're coming into the story two years into Batman doing his thing. There's enough feeling of history between him and other characters to buy the idea that there HAS been stuff happening up until now, we're just joining up at this point. I like that he takes hits and has stuff that doesn't work out as it should have. There's a point where he has to escape a chase by jumping off a building, and he has a bat-gadget for that... but I got a very visceral sense of "fuck, I hope this works" from him in the moment (and it kinda does, kinda doesn't) and I appreciated that.
The casting was great, from Robert Pattenson through pretty much all the other main and side characters. A+ to Paul Dano for absolutely looking like he has a manifesto hidden somewhere.
The movie was three hours but didn't feel that long, and I personally wouldn't have cut any of it for time, which was nice.
Waaaay longer than I meant. If I keep doing this, I have to trim it down, haha.
This got way longer than I thought it would. (If I manage to do this as a regular thing, it probably wouldn't cover two weeks at a time, but that's what this is.)
What I've Been Reading:
- Incryptid short stories by Seanan McGuire: Jonathan Healy and Francis Brown
--No Place Like Home (Fran is introduced to Jonathan's family)
--Married in Green (Jonathan and Fran are getting married, even with some not-so-great omens)
--Sweet Poison Wine (the prohibition-era Chicago gorgon community's smuggled wine goes missing, which could be A Problem.)
--The First Fall (after the murder of their three-year-old son, Jonathan and Fran want answers)
--Loch and Key (a fishing trip to a pleisiosaur-inhabited lake, unfortunately interrupted by probable-poachers)
--We Both Go Down Together (the children of the finfolk of Gentling, Maine begin to go missing, and Jonathan and Fran are called on to help)
--Oh Pretty Bird (the woman responsible for Daniel's murder has been found)
--Bury Me in Satin (Jonathan and Fran discover they've been leaving their daughter Alice with a ghost for a babysitter)
--Snakes and Ladders (Halloween night, and a would-be cult who plan to sacrifice a child... maybe unfortunately, they grab Alice)
--Broken Paper Hearts (not everyone makes it)
These are short stories devoted to ancestors of the family that stars in the Incryptid series. These characters, Jonathan Healy and Francis Healy, are the great grandparents of most of the "current" generation of the family.
I do not have the first or the fourth stories ("The Flower of Arizona" and "Stingers and Strangers"), because those are only available in print anthologies that I do not own.
Taylor and I read "One Hell of a Ride" last time we got together. We ran out of time this time around before the last of the Jonathan/Fran stories - "The Star of New Mexico", so that one will happen next time.
I've been having a lot of fun reading these. I like that they serve a bit as period pieces, while also still being about the cryptozoology family dealing with urban fantasy plots. This part of the family saga is set in the 30s and 40s, and it's fun to see the historical setting of the time. My favorites out of this bit have been "Sweet Poison Wine" (which utilizes prohibition-era Chicago as the setting), "Oh Pretty Bird" (which is about the family's second encounter with [and the naming of] the cuckoos, who get Complicated in the series proper), and "Snakes and Ladders" (about an attempted cult ritual on Halloween. The... punchline? reveal? for poor Naga is really quite excellent, and I love him.)
"The First Fall" and "Broken Paper Hearts" are pretty resolutely Downers, but I've enjoyed them anyway. With an ongoing series like Incryptid, or any other similar urban fantasy series, there's kind of a tension (or maybe loss of tension) regarding the genre conventions of protagonist survival and the "will they survive this" stakes. It's a genre where I imagine an author risks losing a lot of audience goodwill and investment if they kill off a main character. Characters DIE, absolutely, including ones we like, but usually not the actual mains; and for Incryptid, where characters take turns as narrators, they all have a bit of plot armor. (That doesn't mean Seanan couldn't decide to off someone at some point, should the series continue! We get reminded pretty often that most of the characters are well aware they aren't destined to live long lives, doing what they do. And it's not like she hasn't killed main characters ever...
-"The Diary of the Rose" by Ursula K le Guin
Taylor is reading some collections of Ursula K le Guin short stories, and they really loved this one. I see why - it's very impressive how MUCH is fit into a 20-something page story. I really like the style of worldbuilding it includes... the slow, matter-of-fact statements that don't feel at all like exposition, but reveal that oh hey, this is definitely a dystopia. (The reveal of a dystopian setting reminded me of Within the Wires, for a more modern example.) It also explores themes about authoritarianism, how fucked up the medical industry can be, the weaponization of mental health as a tool of control. There's a sad theme of maybe futility in the protagonist's last interaction with her patient, the idea that intent and understanding and knowing that you're right... ultimately may not matter. How even when you lean on honesty vs. lies, you may choose a kind lie in the end. But there's also a potential hope in what the protagonist may now be able to go on to do. (Or is there, if her diary has been found?) It was a thought-provoking story, for sure, and suited my tastes very well.
- Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
I'm enjoying this book, though my progress is slow. (I only usually have about 15 minutes or so to read while I eat breakfast before work. But it's better than nothing.)
I mostly don't read a lot of YA (I'm not really the target audience anymore, and at least some of the tropes and formulae have worn very thin for me.) This is definitely YA, but it's still working pretty well for me. The main plot is that there's a village, protected from any suffering/illness/hunger/tragedy... in exchange for sacrificing the best of their sons to the devil in the forest every seven years. These young men may survive, but rarely do. After, they become "saints", and it's considered the highest honor to be one of the sacrificed, to buy seven more years of protection for the town. Unfortunately, only three years after the last saint survived, the blessings have failed, and another sacrifice is called for.
We've got three mains: Mairwen, a descendant of the woman who first made the bargain with the devil. Rhun, who everyone knows will be the next saint, because he's the best. And Arthur, their prickly friend(ish) who wants to be the next saint only to prove himself. I guess it's a love-triangle, but it's mutual from and towards all three, so I'm down with that, and rooting for a poly endship.
I want to see what shakes out with Arthur's gender angst. I want to find out what winds up happening with the blessing/curse.
I actually like how everyone is... pretty down with the whole "sacrifice a kid every seven years" thing. People are sad about losing someone, but with a few exceptions (Arthur's mother, Mairwen and Arthur regarding Rhun) everyone just kind of... accepts it as fair, if bittersweet.
What I've Been Playing:
- Pokemon Sun
Nothing super exciting to say. I've played it before, and it's fun and cute. :) I want to play more, I just keep running out of time before I get sleepy. I'm still on the first island, but with the exception of evolutions/ones unavailable in this version, and one pokemon with a 1% encounter rate at this point (which I hunted for for a while, but gave up on), my pokedex is complete.
- Deltarune Chapter 2
Watched Taylor play. It's fairly quick, maybe 6 hours or so. I don't... really remember the first chapter super well, and maybe should have read a summary or something, but it's fine. Chapter 2 is about what I'd expected, with the fun 2-D throwback style, and quirky silly characters and dialogue. The monster designs are still really fun, and some of the terrible puns are just fantastic. We did a "good" mercy-only run.
We did watch a "bad" playthrough as well, where you have Noelle kill all the enemies you face while she's in your party, and that... does get pretty dark, ha. It really makes you lean heavily on like... ignoring what the character wants, and gives you lots of opportunities to change your mind, so you have to commit to being an asshole. Also, her line about "of course they don't want to hurt me... they just want me to be stronger. That's good... right?" hurts.
It's also interesting that the bad route skips the original final boss, because this time you get to explain the whole "so... maybe wiping out a lot of people and condemning the rest to eternal darkness is... bad actually?" thing prior to the fight. (In the good ending it comes after, and she pretty much says "oh, didn't know that was what would happen. My bad.")
But the Secret Bad Boss, who is also the secret hidden boss in any playthrough, was fun. I genuinely appreciate how much like genuine spam ads Spamton's dialogue is.
Though what's with all the angel imagery and references? What's with the random throwaway dialogue about your character being into the occult? KRIS WHY DO YOU HAVE A KNIFE STOP THAT. I'm sure ripping your soul out and setting it aside so you can go do Bad Things is fine. It's fine.
What I've Been Watching:
- first half of Firefly
Making me feel old all over again, ouch, Firefly is 20 years old. We watched about half of it, and... I do still quite enjoy it. Fuck Joss Whedon and his garbage bullshit, but what I do with my already-owned DVDs has no impact on him, so...
I haven't watched the series in probably 10 years+, but I still like the things I did before. (Part of me was a little afraid that watching it again would... tarnish my memory of enjoying it? Like I'd discover it really wasn't very good, so I'm glad that wasn't the case, at least for me.) There are a few things that haven't aged well. The effects among them, ha. Not quite old-Who bubble wrap monsters, but rough CGI. But some of the interactions between Mal and Inara are cringier now than they seemed at the time, though really not to a degree that I hate. There's common critique of the series that I do understand, but I think most of it falls under the... fair critique category. It's imperfect, as all media will be. It's fair to point out ways in which it could have/should have done better (at the time and in retrospect), while also having it still be good in other ways.
And a thing I'm sure I knew but forgot: LOL at little-kid-Simon being Zac Effron's first TV role.
I hope to watch the second half at some point soon, though I don't think Alex was terribly into it. :P
- Last Night in Soho
One of the things I asked for for my birthday was this, and my mom got it for me. Taylor and I watched it, and I still really enjoyed it on a rewatch. I love the practical effects (especially the dance sequence toward the beginning!). Taylor called the twist earlier than I did, but still enjoyed it, despite that. Seemed to be a love it or hate it movie, but I really liked it.
- Hideout
A group of would-be thieves runs away after a robbery-gone-wrong, and decide to hide in the home of a young woman and her grandmother. But... something is weird about the house, and maybe about the granddaughter as well. Apparently the film was on a ridiculously tight schedule due to Covid (11 days to shoot, total), and everyone had to isolate together in the house where the bulk of the filming happened... but really, it was pretty good. The acting was solid, and there were a couple really good offputting moments. There was a good creepy dream sequence, but my favorite "wait, something isn't right..." moments is where the worst asshole of the bunch starts looking around the house and discovers that all the cabinets and drawers and the fridge are completely empty. It was just a good way to show "huh... I think this is not a normal house with normal people in it, actually".
If I had a nickel for every horror movie I'd watched recently where someone with ill-intent goes to an isolated house in the country, only to have their murderous plans turned around on them by a deceptively-innocent-seeming local who may actually be an incarnation of the devil himself (and an older human who knows their secret)... I'd have two nickels, but it's weird it's happened twice.
[The other one was A House on the Bayou, which was also pretty averagey, but the kid who played Isaac (the maybe-devil) killed it in the role, imo.]
- The Dropout
We had previously watched the 20/20 episode about Elizabeth Holmes and the show being in production, and I think that made me appreciate it more. They'd showed comparative footage of actual interviews with Elizabeth, compared to the shots of Amanda Seyfried in the role, and knowing how closely she was playing it probably gave me better appreciation for it. Idk, this style of ... mmm, kind of biopic, kind of dramatization-as-documentary thing isn't my fave (felt similarly about Inventing Anna), but it's all right. The real event and ongoing saga was an interesting, one that I feel like I was very unaware of when it was going on, somehow.
- The Batman
But one of the early showings for the day was surprisingly uncrowded. (I'm not quite willing to buy four seats just so we don't have to sit next to anyone, but I also only want to go if we aren't going to sit next to anyone, lol. So I assumed we'd have to wait for a while to go see it.)
But I thought it was really good! It had just the right kind of noir tone for me, getting that "gritty realism" feel without losing out on the comic book feeling of it either. I feel like anything I can say about it probably has been said by other people better. But I am SO GLAD they didn't try to do another origin story - I like that we're coming into the story two years into Batman doing his thing. There's enough feeling of history between him and other characters to buy the idea that there HAS been stuff happening up until now, we're just joining up at this point. I like that he takes hits and has stuff that doesn't work out as it should have. There's a point where he has to escape a chase by jumping off a building, and he has a bat-gadget for that... but I got a very visceral sense of "fuck, I hope this works" from him in the moment (and it kinda does, kinda doesn't) and I appreciated that.
The casting was great, from Robert Pattenson through pretty much all the other main and side characters. A+ to Paul Dano for absolutely looking like he has a manifesto hidden somewhere.
The movie was three hours but didn't feel that long, and I personally wouldn't have cut any of it for time, which was nice.
Waaaay longer than I meant. If I keep doing this, I have to trim it down, haha.