december media

[latespring]

I've been writing end of year posts (almost done! just need to write up favorite albums of 2023), and so this has been by the wayside, but here we are!

I've already been extremely sappy in other places, so I'll let this stand on its own.

If you're interested, I'm starting a book club over on this comm!

Movies

The Boy and the Heron (2023)★★★★☆
This is the latest Miyazaki movie. It's certainly weird?? I saw the subbed version, but I do want to see the dub at some point for the Robert Pattinson of it all. I liked it overall, and me and the friend I saw it with had a fun time discussing what it might mean on the way out of the theater.


NCT NATION: To The World (2023) ★★★★☆
I was kind of late to this and I missed the first couple songs, that was a shame! I would have loved to see Black on Black. This was overall well filmed and edited, I just think they should have kept more of the setlist, the amount they cut was disappointing.


Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023) ★★★★★
This was stunning, you can really see Beyonce's artistic vision shine through in every aspect of the movie, and the concert footage was so fun! Her outfits were also gorgeous.

Books

At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard

• why I read it: A friend of mine basically bribed me into reading this by writing a fic that I could only read if I finished it lollll.


• thoughts: This is certainly better than the first book in the series. It's very very long, but I thought it was a rewarding read. A lot of the issues I had with the first book (thoughts here) were neatly sidestepped in this book, by dint of it focusing mostly on Cliopher's relationship with the emperor. On the whole this was more well characterized and flowed better. I enjoyed that the main focus was on life partners, and also the fantastical elements of Cliopher's travel.
  
  While this book still has elements I disagreed with, and was on the whole extremely long, I did enjoy this one much more than book one.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

• why I read it: I read part of this at work and picked it up to finish later.


• thoughts: This is kind of bland, as a story. It's a spin on Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of a fae who's guarding the princess in the tower.
  
  The parts I liked best were Toadling's time in the fairy land, but there wasn't nearly enough of that. I just think this story should have been weirder, or bitterer, or full of more grief. Instead it was just kind of, a story you can read.

I Want to Be a Wall, Vol. 2 by Shirono Honami

• why I read it: This is the second volume of the series, and I liked the first!


• thoughts: This was very cute! I liked this more than volume one, in this one the characters start to feel like they're more fully developed, and you get some key backstory on how they met. (Thoughts on vol 1 here.)

The Chancellor and the Citadel by Maria Capelle Frantz

• why I read it: I asked for recommendations from the library and this was one of the ones I got recced.


• thoughts: This is a graphic novel about a post-apocalyptic world, and the city that's protected by "The Chancellor". It's not heavy on backstory, just kind of throws you in there. It kind of feels like book two of a series? I liked it overall, I thought it was sweet, but it could have used some more fleshing out.

A Cruelty Special to Our Species: Poems by Emily Jungmin Yoon

• why I read it: I can't remember why I picked this one up.


• thoughts: This is a book of poetry Yoon wrote about Korean "comfort women", partially fictionalized, partially from testimonies. This is really well written, one of the best books of poetry I read last year. It's very heavy (cws for sexual violence, body horror, war, abortion) but worth a read if you're at all interested.

Parasocial by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson (Artist)

• why I read it: The concept of this graphic novel appealed to me, as it's something I think about fairly often!


• thoughts: This is a graphic novel that deals with a failing actor being kidnapped by one of his megafans. The back of the novel pitches it as kind of a "who's really the villain in this situation" but I didn't find there to be much ambiguity in it at all.
  
  The story is very straightforward, and there's pretty much no surprise in the telling of it. I thought there would be more meditation on the fan-artist relationship but everything was very flat. I think they were partially limited by how much space they had to tell the story, but that doesn't change the lack of detail.
  
  The art on the other hand was very good! I thought the artist did a great job with it, and there were several surprising style shifts, and general palette choices that made for very effective storytelling. Read it for the art, if you're at all interested.

Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman

• why I read it: I was curious about the graphic novel, since I've heard so much about it.


• thoughts: This was cute, and that's about all it was. The target audience is younger than I am, so it makes sense! I won't be picking up the second volume though.

TV

I don't think I watched any TV in December!

MISC

Yeah it's been a month I have no idea what I was reading.

In Progress

It's nearly the end of the next month so I'll skip this except to say that I'm Still working on Harrow the Ninth, rip.

Poetry

I didn't like the poems this month as much as I have in previous months, ah well.

Learning by Brian Blanchfield

(Re)location by Kinsale Drake

The Land of Nod by Lisa Sewell

suffering succotash by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs

[A rose has thorns as well as honey,] by Christina Rossetti

Habitable Nebula by Timothy Donnelly

Music

SCROBBLES: 2,998

SCROBBLES PER DAY: 96

My top songs for the month is so deeply funny. Hello have you heard the new Ateez album!

Love Me Forever is an evergreen album, also.

Artists:

1. ATEEZ - 609
2. Vienna Teng - 158
3. Paramore - 153
4. MUNA - 133
5. Hozier - 124
6. Pinkshift - 119
7. TAEMIN - 108
8. THE BOYZ - 82
9. Stray Kids - 64
10. SEVENTEEN - 60

Albums:

1. THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL by ATEEZ - 417
2. Dreaming Through The Noise by Vienna Teng - 151
3. Unreal Unearth by Hozier - 105
4. Love Me Forever by Pinkshift - 76
5. MUNA by MUNA - 72
6. Never Gonna Dance Again : ACT 1 - The 3rd Album by TAEMIN - 68
7. brand new eyes by Paramore - 63
8. THE WORLD EP.2 : OUTLAW by ATEEZ - 61
9. About U by MUNA - 35
10. This Is Why by Paramore - 33

Songs:

1. Silver Light by ATEEZ - 63
2. Crazy Form by ATEEZ - 48
3. WE KNOW by ATEEZ - 43
4. Emergency by ATEEZ - 42
5. Crescent Part 2 by ATEEZ - 35
6. ARRIBA by ATEEZ - 32
7. MATZ (HONGJOONG, SEONGHWA) by ATEEZ - 31
8. Dreamy Day by ATEEZ - 30
9. Everything (JONGHO) by ATEEZ - 27
10. IT's You (YEOSANG, SAN, WOOYOUNG) by ATEEZ - 25