First BD of 2026!
I’ve reset my reading challenge to 100 books and joined a friend’s bookclub. I’m hoping that the latter will help me branch out of my comfort zone both in reading selection and social circle.
The new T. Kingfisher novel Snake-Eater was disappointing. The MC was insecure (from years of emotional abuse from her BF) and the trauma manifested as her obsessively second guessing herself and running lines before saying them out loud. It’s tedious to read from her perspective. She runs away from her BF and high tech society to settle in a very small “homestead” town in the desert. The townies are kind and welcoming. The small gods less so. Overall just didn’t do it for me.
Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe was interesting. It’s about two snakes who become immortal humans but have very different takes on how to live a fulfilling human/snake hybrid life. It explores themes of sisterhood, womanhood, queerness, capitalism, government’s place in enforcing social norms specifically in Singapore, otherness…the list goes on. I recommend it.
I read six short stories that make up The Time Traveler’s Passport. The first one is written by John Scalzi and is the best of the lot.
I didn’t watch anything last month other than a couple of episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon S2.
Has anyone heard of this anime series? I saw game footage yesterday and think it looks random and awesome.
I’ve been listening to the KPop Demon Hunters album on loop since October. Here’s my list from best to meh:
- What it Sounds Like
- Free
- Your Idol
- Golden
- How It’s Done
- Soda Pop
- Takedown
- Strategy
What media have you been consuming lately? In the immortal words of Rufi-OooOo “Yo Stacey! Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me baby!”
I binged Heated Rivalry and really liked it! Great plots and characters, good pacing. Loved the B plot characters.
I had to remind myself repeatedly that this actually is a romance and not a drama or whatever and that it’s going to follow romance genre rules because I kept expecting bad things to happen from the Russian mafia to mess things up.
…so…I guess I’ve caught a few bits & pieces lately that I meant to mention?
…wake up dead man (knives out #3)…not my favourite perhaps but a good instalment of that offbeat franchise
…also…variously…guns up…better than I figured it would be going in but could have stood to get to the good bit quicker…freelance…been about since ’23 & cena has done other stuff in that ballpark but fun…the “new” red sonja…doesn’t stick the landing for all the stuff it tried to do but pretty solid above expectations grade for most of it…maybe not for some of the line readings…& a few other bits…deep cover…deeply silly but diverting nonsense with improv+plot armor for the win…trap house…which plays a bit against type in places to be a bit more solid an effort in places than seemed likely…& relay…which is actually a pretty good film even if you see at least one spoiler-grade reveal early doors?
Watched Fallout episodes 1 and 2 on Prime. A bit slower than the first season, but that’s fine. The Ghoul is very cynical and I relate to him more than the younger characters. I’m not saying that I’d be as blood thirsty, but I understand him better than his more nice/naive companion, Lucy.
I will say that Lucy’s daddy is quite turning out to be quite psychopath/corporate ghoul. I would probably prefer the Ghoul over any Vault-Tec manager because at least they’re open.
I told my friend that this year I didn’t want to see a movie that made me cry because the last few times we went to the movies when he visited I ended up having to wipe (manly, kidding) tears as the story really hit home.
Saw the House Maid… in a theater no less, with my friend who visited just after Xmas. It’s not a bad movie, but I had flickers of PTSD watching Amanda Seyfried’s character mania moments as she acted a bit like Cokehead Narcissist after a bad night of snorting rails or gaslighting me. The crazy text conversations and all caps screeaming… /shudders/
I sort of get Sydney’s physical appeal, but she’s not a good actress. I find her believable like Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist (not really.)
It’s not a jaw dropper like LA Confidential or The Rear Window. It’s okay and no I didn’t cry.
I feel like she’s got a short career because as soon as she ages a little bit, there is nothing left to get her roles.
Still watching Silent Witness. Still doing autopsies, like 3-5 per night. Great for after-dinner viewing.
Also, I’m re-reading Le Morte d’Arthur by Mallory. One of my students is a well-known Arthurian scholar, so I’m getting all sorts of insights from him.
…damn…you know some cool people
…I know someone who gets carried away about gene wolfe & the whole wizard knight thing & it’s maybe a bit like all the was-shakespeare-really-shakespeare stuff…you can have a lot of fun with a once & future king & a sword in a stone…or give le fey the “wicked” ret-con redemption arc & play it paradise lost…but actual people that can talk about that guy in a context they can also tell you about are rarer than generally wolfe fans
…& I say that having been around long enough to know people who think that guy plays second fiddle to jack vance (no relation) of the dying earth & the demon princes & whatnot…so…the envy is real?
…also…it does seem like a cool anime thing…don’t know about any game stuff but a bunch called bone studios apparently did a season with another commissioned…but the manga is up to 17 volumes for a run from somewhere in ’22 through last november…so there seems to be ample material to…uhh…mine…if that’s not too close to being a pun?
…there’s enough installments to make an 18th volume but I don’t know how they plan to break those up…& I think it’s still going…either way the english language version of those seems to top out at volume 8 so I’m not likely to see the end of it any time soon?
I recently read “Rabbit Moon” by Jennifer Haigh. I’m normally a painfully slow reader, but I plowed through that book in less than a week. Absolutely brutal story. 10/10, go buy it.