june media

[latespring]

Wow what a month??? Seriously this feels like at least three months in one. Happy pride?

Walked in graduation (though I have one quarter left of college), moved back home, still working on my thesis, and went to the east coast to see friends and skz! Started a new internship! I feel pulled in six directions at once, but hopefully this will all settle down a little when I submit my thesis.

Movies

Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018) ★★★☆☆
I'm going to be honest, I think I just wasn't the audience for this movie, and I did not watch it in ideal circumstances. It's a movie that's kinda about a man recalling a long lost love of his, but also kinda about memory and dreams?

I watched it during finals week in chunks, and always when I was about to fall asleep. I have a Zenith portable dvd player that I watched this on, so the screen was pretty small too. Not ideal circumstances for appreciating the movie, which I regret! I think maybe in different circumstances I would have liked this more.

Overall, the whole thing felt like a dream, which is probably what the movie director intended, but without being invested in the plot, I didn't appreciate it enough.

Weathering With You (2019) ★★★★☆
This was super cute! I loved the water motifs and the magic of it all.

The premise is a boy from an island town moves into the city, and then meets a girl who can make it stop raining. It's just done really well! I also loved the ending a lot. Watched it with my friends!!!

Books

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe ★★★★☆

• why I read it: The library was giving away free copies and so I grabbed one! Friends if you'd like my copy lmk and I'll send it to you.


• thoughts: Memoir from someone who's genderqueer and on the ace spectrum! I thought it did a really good job conveying eir story. Kinda in line with Fun Home if you've ever read that.

Network Effect by Martha Wells ★★★★☆

• why I read it: Next in the series! Honestly read this because a friend recced a fic I wanted to read.


• thoughts: Murderbot remains delightful! I think its relationship with ART is just, endlessly funny. (mild spoilers) ART going essentially "I will kill everyone in this room and then everyone in the next room and then I will keep finding rooms if murderbot is hurt" is good and I support it.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells ★★★★☆

• why I read it: Same as above!


• thoughts: Murderbot takes on a murder mystery! I liked this one for the backstory that was missing in Network Effect. It's set chronologically before Network Effect and I think it should be read before it as well, even though it was released afterward, the progression works better than the current reading order.
  
  Great book, super fun, I read it in like a day or two.

Soft Science by Franny Choi ★★★★☆

• why I read it: a rec from a friend, maybe one of my twitter mutuals?


• thoughts: This is a book of poems, on queer, Asian American femininity, and also on technology and social media and and and--
  
  This was great! I really enjoy Choi's way with words, and I think I'll reread the book again later, it's a book that really makes you sit with it. I had to read this in chunks. The book has a lot of cool pop culture references and is just really thoughtful, often in ways that make you do a double take.

Umbrella Academy Vol. 1 by Gerard Way, Illustrated by Gabriel Bá ★★★★☆

• why I read it: I watched the first half of ep 1 of Umbrella Academy and decided I really wanted to read the comics beforehand.


• thoughts: This was fun! I haven't read practically any comics before, so this as my first series has been enjoyable. I've been taking notes on how it does pacing actually--I think this volume does a great job with hooking you with just enough information to go on before moving on.
  
  On a story note, I think this left a lot of threads up for grabs in later volumes! It feels kind of short but that's probably because this story was being told via comics.

TV

Ya Boy Kongming
Historic Chinese strategist is transmitigated to the present day and becomes friends with an indie pop singer, and thus begins his quest to catapult her to fame via applying tactics to social media. Yes, I'm not joking!

It's so cute! I love the theme of music as a communicator too, so that was nice. It's just a fun anime. The concept is so wacky, and the series leans into it in the best way.


Additionally I watched some episodes of Our Flag Means Death, and Tokyo Revengers with a friend, but I haven't finished either of them. Also have continued watching Yowamushi Pedal. Not much to say about them!

MISC

Soooo much stuff in here this month.

Some MCR liveshows

• MCR live MK night 3 (2022)


• MCR live 2002-09-14, Electric Factory, Philadelphia


• MCR live 2002-07-05, American Legion, Cresskill

More Misc. MCR content

• My Chemical Romance: 'We Are More Mature, More Confident On New Record'
  Interview with Ray Toro about The Black Parade. Super fun to hear him talk about music!!!


• Guitar Lessons!!! These were my favorite to watch. Na Na Na, Bulletproof Heart, Planetary (Go!)


• Limited Edition The Black Parade liner notes


• Mikey Way interview re: his Squire Bass


• Frank Iero breaks down MCR guitar parts


• Short Frank interview


• Life on the Murder Scene
  This is objectively the funniest editing of something I've seen all month.


• Radiotakeover Interview 2004

  rto: yeah, you guys challenge each other, right? how do you do that?
  gerard: well, some nights it's physical violence, and some nights it's challenging each other to be better musicians.



• Ernie Ball: String Theory with Frank Iero <3


• My Chemical Fancast. I listened up through ep 23 in June! That's ~the end of Danger Days.


• Crossed Out by Haze
  I'm not done with this so thoughts later, but this section made me cackle.
  

  “Frank,” Gerard said, his voice low and quiet. He looked very pale. “Are you in the Mob?”
  
  It took a second for Frank to process it, but once he did, his jaw dropped and he gaped at Gerard in amazement. “Am I in the - “ Frank started to repeat, incredulous, but got waylaid by a giant laugh that burst out of him and startled Gerard. He broke down in helpless giggles of mirth compounded by the look of utter confusion on Gerard’s face, and they got worse every time he looked back up at Gerard’s increasingly furrowed brow. “The Mob?”
  
  “Well, there was your neck yesterday,” Gerard said, impatient, but he had traces of a smile fighting at the corners of his mouth, and the harder Frank laughed the more Gerard seemed to be losing until finally he broke into a sheepish grin. “Well, what am I supposed to think? You get seriously injured two days in a row and you don’t want any police or medical intervention? It’s not impossible, come on.”
  
  “Is it because I’m Italian?” Frank gasped, wiping at his eyes with the back of the hand not holding the towel. “Are you fuckin’ stereotyping me? The Mob,” he said again, almost wailing, and now Gerard was laughing with him, and they giggled together for a minute until Frank coughed and caught his breath back. “No. No, I am not in the Mob. I just have a certain proclivity for getting myself injured.”




helping your friends who sometimes wanna die maybe not die
Short little booklet on suicide prevention with a focus on community and support rather than institutions. Not a be all end all resource, but a good extra perspective.

Against Access by John Lee Clark
Interesting essay on accessibility, esp relevant when writing image descriptions, but also broadly! I thought I linked this last month but I couldn't find it, so it's here again.

Hurt People Hurt People by Hermia Swann


This does not mean you have to know your boundaries perfectly all the time or ahead of time: often, we have no idea a boundary was there until someone trips over it. Expect to trip over your partners’ and friends’ boundaries. If you suspect you have tripped, ask about it, with love, with genuine openness to the reality that you may have caused harm. If you have, it does not mean you are a monster, and it is your job to remember that you are not a monster so that the person you have harmed doesn’t have to convince you, instead of receiving what they need.



march by ryebreadgf
Maybe this should be in poetry? Beautiful beautiful. I've been thinking about this a lot this month.

Friday Open Thread (with Nuthatches) by Amal El-Mohtar
Self contained little reflection! Good breath of air.

Please Come And Be Fat by S. Bear Bergman
Good little piece on fatness and transness and the intersections therein of representation.

[K-pop] Rollin’ on the resurge: how 2017’s cult flop kpop bop became 2021’s surprise viral hit
Reddit post that let me know about Brave Girls! I find myself looking for this often enough that I wanted to stick the link somewhere.




In Progress


Still listening to my chemical fancast, still waiting for some books to come back in. I need to finish spy x family!




Poetry


Essay on Synonyms for Tender and a Confession by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Poem a Day
Hinemoana by essa may ranapiri

Rest House by Brandon Shimoda
When I rode the subway afterwards
I looked closely maybe longingly
at the people around me

and thought, one second separates us
from breathing in
each other’s skin

Caught Sight by Claire Meuschke

Of a Certain Friendship by Elsa Gidlow

from “When the Rooster Announces the Dawn of Another Day” by Alain Mabanckou, translated by Nancy Naomi Carlson

Klangfarbenmelodie by manuel arturo abreu

from “Pink Waves” by Sawako Nakayasu

Love Poem with Bighead by Kaveh Akbar

[Country people enjoy dogs...] by Manal Kara

The Pool by Bryher

Dunbar by Anne Spencer





Music


SCROBBLES: 2,274 ▼

SCROBBLES PER DAY: 75 ▼

Listened to less music this month! I spent a lot of time outside or with friends or doing things, which brought me joy!

MCR is still at the top of my rotations. Finally stopped rotating The Black Parade as much, and Danger Days and Bullets took its place. Also been listening to the solo projects the mcr members did after they broke up, they're all interesting. Electric Century in particular reminded me of my 2017 The Killers Battle Born obsession. I was a little bit surprised at Ray's solo album, but on second thought it does fit him. Really slick production--almost makes you slide off it, a record with all the ends tucked in. There's nothing to stick to, except his voice, which is really good, especially here. I think I'm going to loop through some more of Frank's music in July? And of course you can see below what I thought about Hesitant Alien (loved it).

Other artists on this list… happy pride! Some people who were almost in my top ten this month were Laura Jane Grace and Halsey (went to see her in concert!!!! Wow? Wow. Might make a post about that later.). Jessica Curry writes really good soundtrack music to study to. A lot of the songs in here are just off my June playlist.

Also finished up my emo fest listen through! Final playlist here for anyone interested. This explains why patd is in my scrobbles this month but does not explain the obsession I have with fob's Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet.

Thoughts on the Florence album: I think I really needed the extra time to sit with it! It doesn't have a lot of the immediate impact that her others did, but there's some really solid songs in there.

Also has anyone seen that super group thing spotify put together and if so what was your group!!! Personally I said a group with Rina Sawayama, Mitski, and Vienna Teng would Actually Kill Me. Gerard can be in there if he wants.

Final thoughts: NEW NOVA TWINS! NEW MIYAVI! Great times all around.

Artists:

1. My Chemical Romance - 415
2. Gerard Way - 160
3. Florence + the Machine - 143
4. PVRIS - 129
5. Mitski - 103
6. Rina Sawayama - 89
7. Panic! at the Disco - 83
8. Kelsey Lu - 78
9. Jessica Curry - 54
10. Kehlani - 50

Albums:

1. Hesitant Alien by Gerard Way - 138
2. Use Me (Deluxe) by PVRIS - 93
3. Dance Fever by Florence + the Machine - 90
4. Laurel Hell by Mitski - 88
5. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love by My Chemical Romance - 81
6. Blood by Kelsey Lu - 74
7. SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama - 64
8. Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by My Chemical Romance - 60
9. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (Original Soundtrack) by Jessica Curry - 54
10. Number One by My Chemical Romance - 52

Songs:

1. DESTROYA by My Chemical Romance - 44
2. Boy Division by My Chemical Romance - 37
3. The Foundations of Decay by My Chemical Romance - 36
4. Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet by Fall Out Boy - 34
5. How It's Going to Be by Gerard Way - 32
6. Dead Weight by PVRIS - 31
7. Due West by Kelsey Lu - 28
8. Daffodil by Florence + the Machine - 23
9. Kingslayer (feat. BABYMETAL) by Bring Me the Horizon - 21
10. Emily - Rough Mix by My Chemical Romance - 18

Comments

[poppyseedheart]

this made my heart SO FULL. i ended up reading the zine on suicide prevention (as someone working in the mental health field it was such a breath of fresh air and really made me think abt my values vs systems i uphold) and the article on access (fantastic), as well as some random poems as i always do. i love these wrap-ups bc they feel like such a window into how you engage with the world in general which i admire so much! you have such a spark of curiosity and joy that i delight in. thank you as ever for sharing!!

[latespring]

oh I'm so glad <333333 part of the reason I write these up is to share the things I'm reading and maybe talk about them with other people, so I'm so happy to hear it can offer you something