media roundup - july 2022
Aug. 1st, 2022 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seasignalslong time no roundup! i don't remember how to format dw posts anymore!
reading
where the wild ladies are by aoka matsuda, trans. polly barton - i don't have a word to describe this other than delightful! there's something incredibly fun about matsuda's prose style, which shifts from conversational to elevated really cleanly. i can't speak to it personally, but i saw a lot of praise for the translation making a lot of smart choices, and it definitely reads gorgeously even if i don't know enough to be able to pick out what barton is doing that works so well. the story concepts are all fun and surprising, and they're all exactly the length they need to be. i wasn't familiar with most of the youkai and ghosts in the stories, even though i've read a fair bit about youkai before, so it was educational too!
the dangers of smoking in bed by mariana enriquez - i... kind of overlooked how much of this would be straight-up horror :o not that i dislike horror at all, i just got slo-mo jumpscared due to my own failure to read summaries. anyway, this was another great short story collection; genuinely unsettling in all the right ways. i think my favorite story was angelita unearthed, which unfortunately was the first one so nothing surpassed that initial high, but they were all very very good.
one hundred shadows by hwang jungeun, trans. jung yewon - the hits do not stop. i'm not sure what to say about this book except that it's very, very good... it's just beautiful and delicate, with so many moments of warmth and gentleness in between the sadness. one of the reviews on the back calls it "experimental fiction," but it felt much more human and immediate than a lot of books i would associate with that label (this is extremely my own subjective opinion lol).
watching
severance s1e1-4 - thiiis was so good. i'm not sure why i haven't watched the rest of the season yet except that i've been putting off everything i actually want to do lately (this is a weird place to insert an apology about not commenting on any fic lately but i promise i have everything bookmarked to read later...). um anyway... i actually picked up this show because i saw someone compare it to portal, the video game series, and i actually think that's very apt! (probably the stanley parable comparisons even more so, but i haven't played that one.) i love corporate sci-fi horror comedy. which is a niche not a lot of people are filling. i'm sure i'll have a lot more to say when i finish the season, but it's really intriguing so far.
better call saul s6 uhhh i'm just going to lump the whole season here even though the first half came out before july because i never talked about NACHO - NACHO.... my blorbo from my show. i feel a bit affectionately eyerolly about some of the posts i've seen about his death, but an emphasis on affectionate because i also felt completely ridiculous about it. he IS a ghost, he IS haunting all of breaking bad, he did not "redeem" himself but he did make the noblest choice available to him. (i don't think he's The Guy, but i also have no idea who The Guy is. why have the writers managed to write callbacks for every little thing but never addressed one of the show's biggest memes which is also one of its biggest mysteries.) um. i love all nachos and non-nachos equally and i do like the rest of the season... unhinged lalo time... canon gay gus... LALOWARD HAUNTING THE SUPERLAB... yo mr. white do you ever feel like there are some gay ghosts in here... also the main characters in their main plot. this season has felt even more like 2+ shows jammed together than the previous ones, which isn't helped by the mid-season break and then the in-universe time jump happening midway through the second half! there's a lot going on! i'm not convinced it's all coming together at this point, but i'm on board for the ride.
has jisun finished brba yet is she onto better call saul. can she please do a menpa again so i can ask her.
listening
i don't usually talk about podcasts here but i'm shifting into fatt mode.
friends at the table - i initially typoed that as FIENDS, which is probably accurate because i re-listened to the september arc of counter/weight, which is an evil arc. i was in the middle of a full season re-listen at some point and then forgot about it, but picked up approximately where i think i left off because COUNTER/WEIGHT PREQUEL MINI ARC??? christmas for sea... please prepare for me being obnoxious when it comes out. i also listened to the bluff city boardwalk arc that got rereleased to the main feed, even though i already listened on patreon, and it's just as good the second time. i'm not sure any arc of any season has gone that holistically off the rails. you know what i haven't listened to yet? literally any of road to palisade.
reading
where the wild ladies are by aoka matsuda, trans. polly barton - i don't have a word to describe this other than delightful! there's something incredibly fun about matsuda's prose style, which shifts from conversational to elevated really cleanly. i can't speak to it personally, but i saw a lot of praise for the translation making a lot of smart choices, and it definitely reads gorgeously even if i don't know enough to be able to pick out what barton is doing that works so well. the story concepts are all fun and surprising, and they're all exactly the length they need to be. i wasn't familiar with most of the youkai and ghosts in the stories, even though i've read a fair bit about youkai before, so it was educational too!
the dangers of smoking in bed by mariana enriquez - i... kind of overlooked how much of this would be straight-up horror :o not that i dislike horror at all, i just got slo-mo jumpscared due to my own failure to read summaries. anyway, this was another great short story collection; genuinely unsettling in all the right ways. i think my favorite story was angelita unearthed, which unfortunately was the first one so nothing surpassed that initial high, but they were all very very good.
one hundred shadows by hwang jungeun, trans. jung yewon - the hits do not stop. i'm not sure what to say about this book except that it's very, very good... it's just beautiful and delicate, with so many moments of warmth and gentleness in between the sadness. one of the reviews on the back calls it "experimental fiction," but it felt much more human and immediate than a lot of books i would associate with that label (this is extremely my own subjective opinion lol).
watching
severance s1e1-4 - thiiis was so good. i'm not sure why i haven't watched the rest of the season yet except that i've been putting off everything i actually want to do lately (this is a weird place to insert an apology about not commenting on any fic lately but i promise i have everything bookmarked to read later...). um anyway... i actually picked up this show because i saw someone compare it to portal, the video game series, and i actually think that's very apt! (probably the stanley parable comparisons even more so, but i haven't played that one.) i love corporate sci-fi horror comedy. which is a niche not a lot of people are filling. i'm sure i'll have a lot more to say when i finish the season, but it's really intriguing so far.
better call saul s6 uhhh i'm just going to lump the whole season here even though the first half came out before july because i never talked about NACHO - NACHO.... my blorbo from my show. i feel a bit affectionately eyerolly about some of the posts i've seen about his death, but an emphasis on affectionate because i also felt completely ridiculous about it. he IS a ghost, he IS haunting all of breaking bad, he did not "redeem" himself but he did make the noblest choice available to him. (i don't think he's The Guy, but i also have no idea who The Guy is. why have the writers managed to write callbacks for every little thing but never addressed one of the show's biggest memes which is also one of its biggest mysteries.) um. i love all nachos and non-nachos equally and i do like the rest of the season... unhinged lalo time... canon gay gus... LALOWARD HAUNTING THE SUPERLAB... yo mr. white do you ever feel like there are some gay ghosts in here... also the main characters in their main plot. this season has felt even more like 2+ shows jammed together than the previous ones, which isn't helped by the mid-season break and then the in-universe time jump happening midway through the second half! there's a lot going on! i'm not convinced it's all coming together at this point, but i'm on board for the ride.
has jisun finished brba yet is she onto better call saul. can she please do a menpa again so i can ask her.
listening
i don't usually talk about podcasts here but i'm shifting into fatt mode.
friends at the table - i initially typoed that as FIENDS, which is probably accurate because i re-listened to the september arc of counter/weight, which is an evil arc. i was in the middle of a full season re-listen at some point and then forgot about it, but picked up approximately where i think i left off because COUNTER/WEIGHT PREQUEL MINI ARC??? christmas for sea... please prepare for me being obnoxious when it comes out. i also listened to the bluff city boardwalk arc that got rereleased to the main feed, even though i already listened on patreon, and it's just as good the second time. i'm not sure any arc of any season has gone that holistically off the rails. you know what i haven't listened to yet? literally any of road to palisade.
