shinyhappybaubles

[shinyhappybaubles]

read

the lost metal (brandon sanderson, 2022): in the final book of mistborn era 2, wax and his companions face the greatest risk to elendel yet. in the face of simmering tensions with the outer cities and the growing pressure from the south continent, marasi and wayne uncover a plot to destroy the city, a plot so dastardly that wax is asked by god to put in his proverbial spurs after 6 years of senatoring to face his final foe: his sister, powered by an extraterrestrial god. meanwhile steris comes into her own, marasi must decide what sort of a servant of the people she wants to be ft. fucking kelsier, oh and also wayne is having an existential crisis. nbd.

I enjoyed this a lot! in some ways felt like a run on wind and truth thematically, but the wax and wayne books have always been more fun romps in steampunk mistborn than anything else. I like that the big cosmere scope stuff was largely held off til this book, and even here was much more sedate than, say, stormlight. wax and wayne I grew to like a lot over the course of these books, and I really enjoyed marasi going through the ghostblood orientation and coming to her own choices and goals. steris still remains my favorite: even if she's kind of sidelined compared to the other three here by virtue of staying behind to take up wax's senator seat, her role is quietly the most impactful.

still, this series made me realize one of my frustrations with sanderson is how much he relies on the upper crust in almost all his books. vin is one of the few exceptions, along with kaladin, but vin has noble heritage and marries the ruler. most of the other books --and in stormlight, most of the other major POVs--are all noble. makes me feel a little...not bad or weird, just highlights some of sanderson's unstated politics, I think. really hope the next books can unpack that some.

laura dean keeps breaking up with me (mariko tamaki and rosemary valero-o'connell, 2019): freddy riley is going through high school, and her girlfriend keeps breaking up with her. over and over and over. freddy keep breaking her own heart, and her friends really want her to notice, but will she? can she?

an uncommonly real take on high school love, relationships, and the messy ways love isn't ever a simple yes or no. really liked this, it's been sitting on my shelf for too long

berserk (vol. 1-3): turns out hoopla has all 41 volumes of berserk so that is going to be the next 2 months of my hoopla reading.

watched

severance (apple tv+, 2022-): this season has been astonishing. it's not as cohesive as season 1, but that is actually not a bad thing. the showrunners have talked about this being a "teenager" season: first loves, first self-actualizations.

also getting dichen lachman on my screen for a showstopper of an episode was just everything I could have dreamed. give her the lead character role next season, I dare you dan.

ncaa basketball tournament: fuck basketball forever I am sad

[shinyhappybaubles]

watched

taxi driver (dir. martin scorcese, 1976): gorgeously shot, misanthropic, bleak as hell. I went into this ready for it to be the progenitor of a ton of those anti-hero/anti-villain pieces where a person gets mad or is mad or becomes mad, goes after everyone who's hurt him (because it's so rarely a woman).

instead, I got a treatise on the way masculine listlessness when combined with a need to Do Something, can lead to violence. travis bickle is a loner, an insomniac, probably a vietnam vet, and desperate to have a purpose in life, to achieve something. he takes up driving a taxi to help with the insomnia, but all that gives him is almost a form of sleepwalking, driving through new york and unable to figure out how to relate to the people around him. when he does finally make a connection with a woman he likes, she turns him down (my dude, a porno? really?? for a woman working on a political campaign???) and he proceeds to stalk her and then plan to murder her boss. when that goes sideways, he tries the first thing that comes to his mind to save someone. "I'm god's lonely man" indeed.

also this movie is beautiful. just the most gorgeous lighting, and the ugliest new york city has ever looked.

severance: continues to be the best thing on my screen ever week. honestly, the worst thing for episode 2.08 is that it followed the banger that was 2.07. if the episode order was flipped I would have lost my shit, but unfortunately, dichen lachman putting everyone else to shame for an hour won out over the frozen burnt-out hellscape that is harmony cobel's backstory.

read

no longer human, osamu dazai (1939, trans. 1958): the longer I sit with this book, the better it is. on the one hand, an extremely personal take on a misanthropic, depressed young man in 1930s japan, one who sees himself as unable to interact with humanity on personal and social levels, who feels that he's fallen so far from anything that he can't possibly be happy.

on the other hand, the prologue and epilogue (and dazai's own style of writing) present this man as more nuanced than his own perspective--"an angel," in the last words of the book by one of the many (many) women he had used and abandoned, left to nothing by his father and alone, insecure, and terrified by a world that he struggles to connect to, let alone find himself in.

would make a fascinating double feature read with the tatami galaxy. but speaking of double feature, for wet man territory...

neuromancer (william gibson, 1986): something I didn't know til I read this book: it's a heist book! heist is recruited by molly millions, the woman with razors in her fingertips, for a job: hack into one of the most high-security places and steal something. what's that something? dunno. but case had his hacking burned out of him after a job gone bad, and she--and her boss--are offering to give it back to him. if he does the job. and since his girl was just murdered after stealing from him, what does he have to lose?

damn but gibson can write a book. why have I never read this? every sentence feels like it was emblazoned on my brainstem at some point, from the opening line to the last. maybe it's the cultural osmosis (the matrix! ice! cyber ninjas! console cowboys!) but honestly, I think it's just gibson's ability to craft a series of words that feel like television static, or the internet when you were 13, or electricity jacked into your nerves.

case isn't exactly the sort of person I'd want to spend time with, but he's a compelling wet cat of a man. also he knows molly millions, who is just the coolest. why have we never had a molly millions like this except here in neuromancer? come on cyberpunk.

the lost metal (brando sando): still making my way through this one. fascinating how it is so firmly set post-stormlight 5, and definitely edging a wee bit too close to the intergalactic crossover territory, but with the fun bonus of being marasi (no clue what's going on, doing it anyways) or wax (even less clue what's going on, god's favorite knife) that mostly works. would love to meet someone who just read straight through the 2 mistborn series without any other cosmere knowledge, with the kelsier thing in the middle for flavor.

played

hades 2 (supergiant games): get FUCKED final boss. also eris and prometheus keep fucking me up, and also that final boss's minibosses are the woooooooooorst. supergiant, when I say that transistor is my favorite, I don't mean the giant skyscraper snake. but hey, I keep beating up grandpa at 16 nightmare, so go me I guess

[shinyhappybaubles]

watched

inland empire, david lynch (2006): "strange what love does. so strange. in the future you will be dreaming, in a kind of sleep. when you open your eyes, someone familiar will be there."

I had a few thoughts while watching this 3 hour dream that david lynch somehow put to film, starring a captivating and jaw-dropping performance by laura dern. thought one: a steady stream-of-consciousness attempt to figure out what tf was going on that eventually petered off into dream logic, ft. the hells of hollywood and women's autonomy when trapped in a story that they thought was theirs but is a cage, and a dream, and somehow still full of hope in the midst of terror.

thought two: a separate, equally steady stream of "oh THAT'S where [insert other media] got that idea." for example, immortality is a great game with a different goal, but it (and also alan wake 2, especially those hotel levels) have a lot that's cribbed off of the vibe of this movie in particular.

thought three: david lynch shot this on a commercial level camcorder??? a nicer version of the camcorders I was inventorying this week????? david lynch no one does it like you

severance season 2: [internal screaming]

read

the bands of mourning: I didn't have homework due last week, so I read a bunch of this. it's very fun! not as good as the last book, unfortunately, but still a blast to get through. steris remains a top ten sanderson character, she's great.

played

hades 2: new warsong update good, I did beat typhon on my first try but that's because I keep getting got by prometheus and his memory game. dammit prometheus.

[shinyhappybaubles]

making my way through February at what feels like a hyperspeed crawl. homework is not exactly kicking my ass but it's giving me brain fuzz.

read

shadows of self, brandon sanderson (2015): a MASSIVE improvement over alloy of law in every respect, from the character work to the plot. even the returning mistborn characters don't feel crammed in, even tensoon (the soonie plushies made me giggle, I wish vin knew about those. or jelsier. kelsier has gotta know right). also the ending, with lessie and bleeder and wax, was downright cruel. I was pleasantly surprised at the first layer of cruelty, and then brando sando somehow made it even worse. delightfully terrible, I loved it. very excited to start bands of mourning.

watched

severance (apple tv+, 2022-): ohhhhh myyyyyy goooooooddddddddddddd irving!!!!!!!! mark what are you doooiiiiiinnngggg. and poor dylan, so clearly torn between the friends he loves and the family he desperately wants to know better. also this show is so fucking funny. ms huang on the electric music machine. "the world's tallest waterfall." I love this show and it's going to kill me.

smile (dir. parker finn, 2022): sure this movie is a jumpscare factory, but it's a very well-made one. absolutely nothing surprising happens in this movie, but it's impeccably made and the sound design is great. the last ~30min weren't nearly as effective as the first hour, but it's extremely well-done for what it is. also top-tier ending credits song choice, made me laugh.

sjubb: my team! won!! TWO TOP 20 MATCHUPS!!!

kendrick lamar's superbowl lix halftime show: impeccable commercial artistry, a direct call to action over the role of black lives in art and culture, and the capstone on the death of drake

listened

the silt verses (jon ware and muna hussen, 2021-2024): the gods are real. they are worshipped. they are hungry. for carpenter and faulkner, an experienced pilgrim and a first time acolyte, their trip to explore the blessings of the two-headed Trawler Man takes them through strange lands, stranger practices, and so many crustaceans. the river rises, and it drowns many.

what a show. definitely a top 10 for the year. possibly one of my favorite narrative podcasts ever? the combination of stellar voicework, excellent scripting, and some of the best audio design in podcasting. the world is strange but all-too-familiar, with outsiders and capitalism and the apathy of the comfortable, reskinned through the gods worshipped across two nations that are simply two sides of the same river. it's a tragedy, but what a journey. going to relisten at least twice.

[shinyhappybaubles]

january continues apace, and schoolwork is suffering

read

the last command, timothy zahn (1993): crawling my way through this because I keep spending evenings doing homework and then playing genshin. it's good star wars! mara jada you unending dweeb of an ex-imperial, I love you.

watch

girls band cry (toei 2024): I find this show charming? also the music is good and the girls are messy and complicated in ways that cute anime girls usually aren't. also I love that the lead guitar player is 20 and has done the high school pop star thing and left. it's not going to rewrite my brain or anything like bocchi did, but I'm having fun in it.

listen

"how to let go" (sigrid, 2022): kind of a knock off aurora? not terrible, but absolutely within the genre. my favorite song of hers is still not on an album and I am sad. favorite song: "burning bridges"

"metaphorical music" (nujades 2003): how have I not spent half my life listening to nujades? I love the samurai champloo ost, and this? this is the good shit. jazz and funk and hip hop and soul, all rolled up together. also shing02 is here? and fat jon is on this thing?? favorite track: "F.I.L.O"

play

genshin: "history becomes legend, legend becomes tale--that's how legends live on. forgetting is also part of the story. the more you cling to the idea of tradition, the more you only selectively remember the story you desire and eventually become lost in the maze of tales."

I really like this game, it's eating all my brainpower

[shinyhappybaubles]

time for week...two! also three, because tumblr was being stupid on my phone.

read

legends and lattes (travis baldree 2022): when orc adventurer viv decides she's done with the adventuring life, she settles down and starts...a coffee shop. in a fantasy city where no one knows what coffee is. but with her new coworkers, her own determination, and a little maybe-magic luck, she has a pretty good start.

I get that this is the "cozy fantasy" genre definer, or at least the one that got popular recently. it's very cute! comfort food. nothing mind-blowing but very competent. probably a 3.5* if goodreads let me do halvsies.

watch

girls band cry (toei animation 2024) and zenshu (mappa 2025): putting them together because I checked out the premieres for both of these on a very cold thursday evening in lieu of my usual genshin hours. I think I like gbc more than zenshu, and not just for the dissonance of watching an overworked animator isekai herself in an anime produced by mappa of all studios. gbc seems like a bocchi that's about the drunk bassist rather than bocchi and her friends, mostly for worse? but it's charming, and I really like the 3D rotoscope style. might keep watching?

severance (apple tv+ 2025): we're so back baybee, my heartrate won't come down, how is this show so stressful

blue velvet (dir. david lynch, 1986): laura dern enters from the dark, romantic music swells

play

genshin impact: more natlan! featuring the new world quest with a dragon. oddly enough, the most straightforward "and then 1000s of years ago the dragons and the humans did something fucked up" in genshin so far.

I also finished 5.3 and gosh I love the captain. what a way to go out. also mavuika is a bamf.

listen

"the human fear," franz ferdinand (2025): didn't expect more franz in 2025, but it's a pleasant way to start the year! nothing that's going to blow me out of the water here, but it's comfort food. favorite track: "night or day"

"american patchwork quartet," american patchwork quartet (2024): taking american standards and playing them deliberately to encompass as much of the american experience--black, indian, japanese, all that jazz--is something beautiful. I love shenandoah, but favorite track: "wayfaring stranger"

[shinyhappybaubles]

okay. 2025. new year, new/old blog, doing my level best to remember to write up my weekly "what tf did I do" lists.

read

wind and truth, brandon sanderson (2024): 10 days until a contest of champions between the god of hate and dalinar kholin, the king of urithiru, decides the fate of the planet of roshar, a land torn by storms and war. 10 days to hold out and establish the boundaries of the nations of the world. 10 days to determine why honor is dead. 10 days until the end of the world.

the first half of the stormlight books went out with a bang, where the breather chapters were the buddy comedy of kaladin "baseline emotion is grumpy/depressed" stormblessed on a 10 day all expenses paid murder road trip with szeth-son-son-vallano. it's 1300p of stress but also felt strangely cathartic? kaladin and shallan, long the pov characters for personal suffering, have largely worked through their myriad sufferings prior to WaT, and so get to spend this book employing what they've learned and growing beyond their suffering--my emotional support bridgeboy in particular has some of my favorite stuff in this book. adolin kholin continues to be the very best, grappling with his own issues, and has my other favorite stuff, particularly about his relationship to dalinar and to oaths more generally. sigzil made me increasingly terrified and then deeply sad (thanks the sunlet man!). tbh we could've gotten more renarin and rlain, whose stories feel like they're only starting, and WAY more navani, especially after the tour de force that was her time in rhythm of war, but there's already so much book in this book. qualms aside, a great way to start 2025 with a book that I loved from start to finish.

listened

the silt verses (jon ware and muna hussen, 2021-2024): making my way through season 3, and this show is so good. it's got crabs, parental neglect in all forms, shrimp, the ceaseless fatalism of trying to carve out some good in the face of systematic devastation of personal and collective power, shrimp and crab angels, sister carpenter having the Worst Time--

smile, brian wilson (2004): the songwriter for the beach boys put out his masterwork in 2004, and it's all catchy songs from start to finish. kind of timeless americana pop, in a way that is fully atypical for 2004. favorite song: "good vibrations" (what a good fuckin song)

played

mouthwashing (wrong organ, 2024): the crew of the tulpar is stranded in space after a routine year-long cargo haul goes wrong. the five crew members struggle to survive as the captain is incapacitated, medication and food runs out, and the vid screens all show a sickly orange sunset. this is going to hurt.

my annual tradition is to play a horror game or two during new year's, and this year, I chose 2024's viral hit. but I dunno, this one's really overhyped. I appreciate the graphics and the audio, and the times we play as captain curly (particularly the endless hallway section) are nifty. jimmy is a piece of shit as a protagonist, what with the whole game as an exercise in self-inflicted misery of one man to avoid responsibility, but one that doesn't dive super deep past the horrors of human suffering. I kept thinking about I have no mouth and I must scream, game and story, which it seems to be in the same vein of. maybe it would have stuck harder if we'd gotten out of jimmy's awful head and seen more from anya or swansea's pov, especially anya's...

clickholding (strange scaffold, 2024): the man in the corner of the hotel room asks you to click. he watches. he says too much, or maybe not enough. click. click. clickclickclick.

what a weird little game (affectionate). oddly enough, works in spaces of self-inflicted suffering and obsession that strike a few chords in similarity to mouthwashing. but its increased simplicity (just one room, just clicking away) and 40-50min runtime made for a much cleaner experience that I actually spent more time mulling over afterwards.

genshin impact (hoyoverse, 2021-): crawling my way through natlan because there are so many hidden caves and so many dino children and I love that the LLAMAS HAVE HATS

[shinyhappybaubles]

Ribollita - Tuscan vegetable Soup

https://www.insidetherustickitchen.com/ribollita-tuscan-vegetable-soup/

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[shinyhappybaubles]

Tuscan Chicken Pasta

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