september media

[latespring]

This month I watched so many things! This has taken a little longer to write up, consequently lol. I've also been on vacation and mostly focused on reading more things instead of writing about the things I've already read.

I've started a handful of posts, a handful of stories. I'm now ten months late mail last year's holiday cards. And still the world keeps moving on! We'll see what next month brings.

Movies

Wonder Seven (1994) ★★★☆☆
This is a movie about a crew of orphan government agents who have a dream of opening a little restaurant but also commit crimes for the government to fund this. Michelle Yeoh plays a rival agent and gets into an enemies to lovers situation with the head of their little crew.

It's a fun time! I recommend it for Michelle Yeoh kicking ass. The plot is baffling in places (as it is in many of these movies) but I had a solid time watching it.


The Touch (2002) ★★★☆☆
The scheduling was soooo weird for this one I ended up sitting outside a starbucks streaming the movie because I was working late + couldn't drive home in time. It was fine. Michelle Yeoh's acrobat family is hiding a treasure from a monk that could promise ~~eternal life~~ or something. Her ex-boyfriend is also There and betrays his old boss to warn her his boss wants to steal the treasure. Michelle's brother + his girlfriend are kidnapped, and Michelle and her ex go on a quest to rescue them.

Props to this movie for having the absolute worst villain, I think I've hated him the most out of most of the villains I've watched recently. Michelle and her bf have good chemistry and I didn't hate the plot. It's annoying in places and the execution didn't really land for me (leaned into some weird elements that read as exoticism), but it's worth a watch for Michelle's puppy bf ex and of course, her. Also worth it to watch the villain drop into a lake of fire in the end. Hated him so much!


Sunshine (2007) ★★★☆☆
This is a sci-fi horror movie that's essentially a combination of the "moon's haunted" meme, and the idea that you have to blow up the sun. Chris Evans is in it for some reason? So is Michelle Yeoh, which is why I (re)watched it for Michelle Yeoh Watch. It's still like… fine.

There's some really good bits in the middle about kind of the Horrors of space and the fragility of life and the clashing personalities you'd have in space in a dangerous mission, but it's all kind of undercut by the weird ending and baffling character choices. Sometimes your characters do stupid things and that's fine, but I can still hate that. Also I am not a horror movie liker so I was not viewing it with the most sympathetic lens even if I Love space.


Easy Money (1987) ★★★☆☆
The TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS we went through trying to watch this one. My god. A friend eventually ILL'd it from like six states away and we streamed it.

It's not a bad movie once you get into it! Michelle Yeoh stars as a bored, rich heiress who goes around plotting heists because she can. I support women's wrongs!!! The character conflict between Michelle's "rich careless still moral playful heiress" and the main lead's "danger seeking jaded but still rule abiding heart of justice and gold detective" was great, I liked the scene where they're horse riding a lot, and she jumps before a train and he's like "you're going to get yourself killed if you don't think of the consequences" and she's like "we were playing a fun game why are you suddenly digging in your heels" a lot.

Minus points for a plot that feels like it's sweeping your knees out every other plot beat. I'd recommend watching it if you can, but like good luck finding it, this was impossible to locate.

Books

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

• why I read it: I kept seeing recommendations for this book and it was available from my library and so I picked it up.


• thoughts: Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
  
  To quote myself on goodreads: "this is like, aggressively mid. considering the premise, I expected it to get more depth, but instead it reads like a hallmark movie".
  
  It's just like, pure sugar. The concept: Nora Seed, at the end of a very long spiral, convinced she's wasted every opportunity she was ever given, kills herself. She's transported to a library between the space of life and death where she can see how every missed opportunity she had might have played out. It's an opening that sticks with you.
  
  And to be fair, this does delivery on the implied promise of that premise. It just doesn't do anything more than that. The message the book ends on feels very trite and flat, especially considering what you started out with. The sort of "take every day as you can and appreciate the little things you can do and love who you can" that I do appreciate myself but rolled my eyes at in this context. Idk. There weren't any interesting relationship dynamics to speak of, and I wasn't terribly invested in Nora either.
  
  There were a couple beats where the author could have dug into the potential implications of visiting other worlds and meeting other people who are life-hopping, and really dig into the idea of what it means to live a "satisfied" life, but this ultimately goes nowhere.

A Lesser Love by E. J. Koh

• why I read it: I think I saw a quote from this somewhere…? And wanted to read it.


• thoughts: This is a book of poetry. It reads pretty quick. I liked it; I'm not sure any of it really struck me except the opening poem (I'll transcribe it below). However I think overall it was a good read and pretty quick. There's some striking language in the middle, but nothing that really grabbed me by the throat.
  
  SHOWTIME
  Something I say beforehand:
  Jal butak hapnida
  
  This translates into, Please be kind to me
  but it suggests:
  
  Even if I shame myself,
  please be kind to me.
  
  In the mirror, it means:
  Even inside my greatcoat
  
  of conscience, drunk and white,
  please be kind to me.

The Secret History of Black Punk: Record Zero by Raeghan Buchanan

• why I read it: I was reshelving things at the library and saw this! Picked it up because I'd love to know more about punk history.


• thoughts: This was an informative zine written by Raeghan Buchanan about the roots of punk as a genre in Black culture and about various Black punk artists across history. It had a definite zine-sensibility in that the artists Buchanan was mentioning weren't always explained, and there were a lot of cut-and-paste additions to her striking art style. It was sometimes light on information but always with a striking visual.
  
  I thought she did a great job considering the huge timespan this first issue covered. I especially appreciated the amount of explanation she gave to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who contributed directly to the sound of punk music.

Witchy, Volume 2 by Ariel Slamet Ries

• why I read it: This is the second volume of Witchy (a graphic novel series) and I really liked the first one!


• thoughts: This is sooooo cute I really like it. Very reminiscent of like, ghibli films and ATLA and that kind of deeply emotional book about adult themes pitched towards teens. It always feels balanced between humor and hope and friendship and sorrow and conflict in a way that seems so easy but must have been hard as hell to pull off. Also the art is gorgeous. Highly recommend picking this one up!

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

• why I read it: I've seen a lot of Emily St. John Mandel books floating around the book spheres I'm in and wanted to check one out!


• thoughts: Mandel's writing is sooooooo gorgeous wow. This book is very like, vibes based--it spends a lot of time ruminating on images and gently tying plot threads together, and the action when it happens is pretty slow. I liked it!
  
  Going to read another one of her books and see if that hits harder for me; I really liked her writing style, but I wanted the book to be slightly more condensed. This was one of her earlier books so I'm interested to see if they change any in the future.

The Seep by Chana Porter

• why I read it: I think I saw this in the recommended list of something somewhere?


• thoughts: This is a really short little novella that pitches itself as exploring the aftermath of a "soft" alien invasion. It didn't really work for me. It was very clearly trying to make some sort of statement about gender or sexuality or something that I couldn't parse, in part because it seemed to backtrack on itself.
  
  It's been long enough since I read this that the details are kind of escaping me, but I don't recall being that struck by it when I finished.

I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee

• why I read it: I think I saw Pb talking about this one? Or someone on my timeline. And the pitch of a book about everyday despair made me pick it up.


• thoughts: I was kind of cold on this book for a while reading it--it doesn't really deliver on the summary of it (I don't recall Baek ever even mentioning tteokbokki in the entire book?). However, I warmed up to it by the end. The conversations Baek had with her therapist were really open and surprisingly vulnerable.
  
  I feel like there's something to be said about the weight that the book gives the therapist's words and the temptation to make them applicable to more people than just Baek, but overall the book sidesteps this neatly by making the book intensely personal. You're not as tempted to take the therapist's words as the word of god, just as a conversation between two people each trying to reach each other. I found it really touching, and contained some useful dialogue for helping me analyze the way I think about myself.

What I Mean When I Say I'm Autistic by Annie Kotowicz

• why I read it: I read the first chapter while I was shelving books at the library and wanted to read the rest.


• thoughts: This is a very straightforward little book about Kotowicz's experiences being autistic. I thought it was quite helpful for looking at myself. Additionally, I think Kotowicz is a really skilled communicator and the book reads really easily.

TV

I didn't watch anything this month!

MISC

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark 2.0 Broadway Recording
This is a bootleg of the short-lived Spider-Man musical. I watched it with a friend and could not stop laughing. This is camp, actually??? They spent 300000000000$ on the costumes budget????? And the songs are actually pretty good?

The musical closed early because apparently the actors kept getting launched off the wires and into the audience (extremely rip). I can believe it!!!! I would not recommend this if you're looking for something good but if you're looking for a laugh this was fun.


SM industry secrets told by KEY, a 16-year veteran of SM l SHINee KEY l Entertainment Story
This is a little program where Key and the host go around SM and ask people questions. I thought it was hilarious, Key is such a great media personality.


I learned SHINee's makeup. Sunggyu's Get Ready With Me 🎀GRWM🎀 | Makeup artist | SHINee | Workman2
Similar to the above, a little variety program with SHINee. Sungkyu does a program to learn about a certain job (in this case, makeup artist). (He did a previous episode as the Boyz's stylist, which was fun!)

This is very cute, he has a really good banter with SHINee, and I enjoyed seeing them rag on him.

In Progress

Translation State by Ann Leckie
(Update: I have finished this… thoughts to come next month…)

Poetry

As always, from poem-a-day! I think the key for me to get into some of these this month was definitely the section where the authors talk about the poems and sometimes explain them a little.

Places by Willyce Kim

Long Week Talking by Natalie Shapero

Ode to People Who Hate Me by Carmen Giménez

a moving grove by Iryna Shuvalova (Translated from the Ukrainian by Uilleam Blacker)

Tropical Town by Salomón de la Selva

Women of the 1980s by Maryam Ivette Parhizkar

us girls by S*an D. Henry Smith

Notes on Sentence Crossing by Wendy Xu

Some days of wine and pastry by Samiya Bashir

from “The World After Rain” by Canisia Lubrin

My Poem Asks to Be Read Right to Left by Catherine Chen

Planet Dread by Safiya Sinclair

Without Love by Kitty Tsui

Music

SCROBBLES: 1987

SCROBBLES PER DAY: 66

Not very many comments… this continued to be a very Ateez/Hozier month. I listened to a weird amount of the TRON soundtrack.

Artists:

1. ATEEZ - 260
2. Hozier - 177
3. Noah Kahan - 93
4. xikers - 60
5. Maggie Rogers - 51
6. Omoinotake - 42
7. Fall Out Boy - 41
8. Young K - 38
9. Jhariah - 37
10. Daft Punk - 36

Albums:

1. Unreal Unearth by Hozier - 144
2. THE WORLD EP.2 : OUTLAW by ATEEZ - 111
3. Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever) by Noah Kahan - 87
4. HOUSE OF TRICKY : Doorbell Ringing by xikers - 49
5. ZERO : FEVER EPILOGUE by ATEEZ - 39
6. Ammolite by Omoinotake - 38
7. Letters with notes by Young K - 37
8. TRON: Legacy by Daft Punk - 35
9. Surrender by Maggie Rogers - 33
10. RISK, RISK, RISK! by Jhariah - 32

Songs:

1. WONDERLAND (Symphony No.9 "From The Wonderland") by ATEEZ - 34
2. RISK, RISK, RISK! by Jhariah - 32
3. TRICKY HOUSE by xikers - 31
4. nothing but by Young K - 26
5. Shatter by Maggie Rogers - 25
6. Promise - Notation from Senor Juwon Park by ATEEZ - 24
7. This World by ATEEZ - 24
8. Don't Stop by ATEEZ - 23
9. THE BLACK CAT NERO by ATEEZ - 22
10. Dune by ATEEZ - 21

Comments

[poppyseedheart]

I have truly never heard a single good thing about The Midnight Library ;__; one of those books that in theory has an audience but it's not anyone I know lolol.

I recently read The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel and looooved it, if you're looking for another one by her!

[latespring]

it's truly so unfortunate T_T I follow a youtube book reviewer who is the only person I know who actually liked it lol, it's definitely not for me but I could see how it might potentially appeal to someone who needed to hear what it says

I have that checked out from the library rn (on your rec)! super excited to get to it--I read the first like ten pages and it's been fun

[tullycat]

Completely felt the same about midnight library. Incredibly mid. I'm glad you liked station eleven! her writing really is gorgeous.

[latespring]

I'm glad someone else had the same experience wrt to the midnight library even if I wish neither of us had read it lol. and yeah! her prose style is so pretty

[bookishdagger]

Station Eleven is truly sooooooo good….tbh it remains my favorite of her books (I think a lot of elements are just me-bait tbh) but I enjoyed The Glass Hotel + Sea of Tranquility as well

[latespring]

oooooh which elements do you think are you-bait?

and noted!! I have the glass hotel checked out right now so I think that'll be my next book from her, very excited for that

[bookishdagger]

hmmm well admittedly my memories are kind of hazy admittedly but i was really captivated by the whole 'traveling shakespeare troupe' thing, i also remember the ending really working for me thematically? and in general i'm really drawn to stories about like, how do we continue and rebuild when it seems like everything has fallen apart

[latespring]

oh yeah I love stories like that too! that's so interesting, ty for your thoughts!

[stoplight]

fascinated that you enjoyed station eleven so much because i thought it was terrible and trite and unengaging... only miranda's story was compelling to me. and i've truly never heard a good thing about the midnight library so i'm sorry you experienced that :/

[latespring]

ooooooh I'd love to know if there were any particular elements that struck you as trite or didn't land?

I think I really liked station eleven because it reads kind of like prose poetry to me: the meditation on images, the way Mandel leaves a lot of space in her writing for contemplation and turn of phrase, the way she shapes narratives around absences and small connections rather than immediate action. I wasn't really in love with any of the plot elements by themselves, or the characters, really--I agree, miranda was one of the most compelling (I think the way Mandel was writing made characterization a lower priority, which ymmv with!). I don't think the conclusion landed for me the way she wanted to either, despite me wanting it to. but despite all of that, there's part of me that's still floating in the fake snow and the light shining above Jeevan as Arthur died, you know? that's why I liked the book--it's the same reason I like poetry

also LMAO I'm also sorry I read the midnight library, I hope you never do

[stoplight]

it's been a while since i read station eleven so unfortunately my memory's really foggy! but all of the kind things you're saying about her writing are truly so surprising to me because i think one of my biggest gripes was that i thought her style was bland/boring/uninspiring? i might be confusing her plot (also bland/boring/uninspiring) or her characters (yet again, bland/boring/uninspiring save for miranda) for her style but i truly didn't enjoy any of those three elements very much. your note about her writing feeling like poetry is interesting, and you've definitely read more poetry than i have so im inclined to believe you! but i really would have to go back and reread to figure out what exactly about her style i disliked (ie specific phrasing, habits, etc) and um. well i don't exactly want to do that to myself...

[latespring]

that's so funny we came off with such different opinions, thank you for sharing your thoughts!! lol definitely spare yourself a reread though

[braintransplant]

there is a station eleven tv adaption if you are ever interested! i really loved it (though im biased because i also really loved the book), and i think the changes it makes to the story in its adaption to the screen are compelling to think about.

[latespring]

oooooooh noted! I'm not really a tv watcher but I liked the book a lot so if I get the chance I'll check it out