#mini review

[bookcub]

I'm really glad I waited to read The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin because it really is so worth the time and energy this book takes. it is so beautiful and carefully crafted and I am so excited to read the rest of the series. I was worried it wouldn't hit me the way it did everyone else but I am so glad I was wrong. It is also worth going in blind (except maybe some trigger warnings) but such a fully captivating and wise novel. if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend picking it up!

[cloudedbykatana]

Tiny little pirate man is complete, The RG Crossbone Gundam. This kit was Sick as hell, looks fucking fantastic. The build was quite fun (except for the parts where I was terrified of losing one of the tiny microscopic pieces) Really glad to finally worked up the courage to build him, as he'd been in my backlog for a little under a year.

Also OH MY GOD HE'S SO TINY

[bookishlyvintage]

Omen of Ice by Jus Accardo (owlcrate edition)

[edgeyberzerker]

Cleared Persona 2: Innocent Sin Today

What a masterpiece! I totally understand why it’s loved by the many that have played it. It’s my second favourite Persona game now (P3 will always be my first love)

I’ll eventually try Eternal Punishment on stream at some point. Really want to know what happens next.

I made Jun and Tatsuya my canon couple btw

[literatureaesthetic]

mini reviews / 2023 sapphic contemporary releases

— the adult by bronwyn fischer

'the adult' is a "sad girl", coming-of-age novel following natalie as she moves to university. she develops a relationship with an older woman. it's primarily about this toxic relationship and the power disparity between the two, all while natalie is navigating stepping into the world for the first time

it was gentle, tender, and intimate. with a soft but vivid style of writing, fischer depicts the all-consuming power of first loves and heartbreaks. she captures post-adolescent confusion and the clumsy awkwardness of entering adulthood perfectly

— big swiss by jen beagin

the only way i know how to describe this book is eccentric—odd but full of charm. in ‘big swiss’, beagin completely deviates from the blueprint for trauma plots. rather than a burdening and bleak look into female trauma, this book is a wry, witty, and sexy dark comedy that delves into queer desire, therapy and medical biases, and coping with formative wounds

beagin presents us with two women who function as opposite models for processing trauma. our protagonist, greta, struggles with a tragic childhood incident. the love interest, flavia (aka big swiss), was brutally assaulted by a man. where big swiss maintains a pedantic approach to life and refuses to play the victim, greta allows her past trauma to shape the present, causing her to live a life void of comfort. these two opposing perspectives clash, creating a seductive and confronting whirlwind of a novel that borders on the absurd. it won't be for everyone, but it was definitely for me!!

[luminouscrow]

[ 16 july, 2023 ]

i loved the way the sunshine hit the pages and the way the lemon tree added to the lovely summer feeling of the photo 🥰

book pictures is “the loudness of unsaid things”, but i actually didn’t finish it. i didn’t love the way mental health was written, and that’s the premise of the whole book, so… 😅

[trivorowo]

Ok so I was gonna do a full scale review retrospective of all three zero escape games to collate my thoughts, but it kept getting too long so here's the rundown of all three-

999: a cult classic for a reason. A solid 9/10 in all regards.

Virtue's last reward: a slow start, but expands the world significantly and gives twist after twist, leaving you wanting more. 8/10

Zero time dilemma: took that setup from VLR, and suplexes it behind the garden shed with a snail watching. Objectively speaking by itself, it's a 5-6/10 if I'm generous, but for finale to the trilogy, and also being probably accidentally the funniest, it's a 8/10 as well.

[littleminxofspades]

Caved and got AC Mirage. Honestly? Genuinely haven’t enjoyed a new AC title this much in a long time. I can see elements from all the AC games I’ve played (which is AC1 through to Unity, then Origins). So far the story is decent and Basim is a compelling protagonist without being an Ezio clone. I like the eagle in this one too, which I didn’t like in Origins. But I’m mainly just happy that it actually feels like an AC game again. I hope it continues to hold up!

[king-of-men]

Just read "Best SF 15" by Hartwell and Cramer; it's oddly uneven for a "best of" anthology, but I think I figured out the problem. All the bad stories have the same kind of badness: They're "vibe stories", mood pieces, vignettes, without plot, character, or point. The stories with an actual goddamn plot are genuinely good! And I suppose the vibes pieces are pretty good at having vibes, and sure, the vibes are vaguely future-inflected rather than past-inflected (even the time-travel one!), it's just that this is not what science fiction is or should be. As so often happens, trying to be "serious" and get accepted at the Big Kids Table is the death of Actual Goodness in science fiction.

[franticvampirereads]

This was so good! It’s got so much style and fashion and this volume had a slightly seeder, more sinister vibe to it that I absolutely loved. I also really liked the En and Ichii started to actually talk about their feelings for each other instead of using sex as a distraction. I also liked that we got to see more of what’s been going on on the background since En was turned. And the cliffhanger ending??! I’m not okay after that. I need the next volume asap! Fangs vol 2 is getting five stars from me. And I can’t wait for the next volume!

[thewebcomicsreview]

Mini Reivew: Clown Corps ⭐

What is it: Convicted burglar Mary McBell is sentenced to join a school of elite super-powered warriors for justice in what would be a standard Naruto/My Hero Academia-type battle shounen except for the bit where they’re all clowns.

The Good: This comic has some great jokes, and is really clever at using its comic format in interesting ways.

The fight scenes are also pretty good for a comic this focused on comedy.

The Bad: There’s a lot of self-aware meta humor, so if that’s not your thing then this isn’t the comic for you. The comic is so absurd and meta it can be difficult to get invested in the plot beats it wants you to take seriously.

You should read it if: You liked Paranatural, “Battle School” shounen, and/or clever format jokes.

See all mini-reviews here

[toonstarterz]

I watched Megamind for the first time.

Holy fuck this movie predicted incels. Subversive in all the right ways, tightly written, and surprisingly morally complex. Suffers from Celebrity Voice Syndrome and the animation is clearly 2010s, but still way ahead of its time.

[cloudedbykatana]

OMG Space oomfie! Finished the Full Mechanics Aerial, absolutely amazing build, it 100% stands up to all the great things I've heard about her. Beautiful kit, beautiful articulation. Sadly the one I bought was missing decals for some reason, but as someone kindly recommended, I'll just get the Waterslides, I need some practice with them anyway before I start putting slides on some of my PBandai kits.

[bookishlyvintage]

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett [thoughts]

[stuckasmain]

Moulin Rouge - movie thoughts and comparison

I mentioned this in my last post but later in the week after seeing the show, we watched the movie. There’s a lot to be said and my feelings are complicated (just as they are the for stage version). It has a lot of elements I love and a lot of issues at the same time so let’s just get into it.

It has the movie advantage. Big budget flash - pardon the pun- spectacular. The huge cast plays to its advantage and its detriment. We get a wide array of weird, wild and wonderful. Body type, ethnicity, etc. You get a well rounded image of what the district is like. At the same time it sort of takes away in that- the focus is on no one. A lot more  bohemian friends (the musical knocks it to the main three and helps develop that friendship a tad more), more people working at the rouge in general and we get less of a look at they’re relationships to each other etc. It’s? I love there’s more , realistically there would be, but it also takes away from everyone at the same time, if that makes sense.

The editing is everything. It’s the silly, whimsical and funny sort of deal. There’s fast forwards/speeding characters up, random explosions of sparkles etc. My favorite things are everyone tossing their hats into the air and they literally go through the roof, the gun hutting the Eiffel tower, Zidler moon. The musical does a similar effect in the opening number(s) with the confusion and whimsy it hits up with.

Period costuming! For the most part! While I can appreciate and understand the musical going the more bedazzled and more 80s route for the clothes… something about it being a jukebox musical and running around and talking in a more modern fashion while dressing completely like it’s 1899 is so good. Something about Christian wearing white tie- looking incredibly awkward in it might I add- and going 🥺 across the room is everything. More of this! Period dramas- period anything! Take note!

Props for featuring the actual can can

One of my leading criticisms however, as much as I am a complete sucker for a montage scene I feel like there’s too many and it starts to muddy what exactly is happening. There’s context lost that the musical later fills in. Here however “she’s dying” *two month montage of her very much doing the opposite* I know it’s to reveal the illness but still. Montage + to many characters = loss of context/gravity

The duke is great. I love a “oblivious man child who gets violent when he doesn’t get what he wants” however he’s also not really a active threat until the last chunk. They keep putting him off and his threats off until it becomes real in the last act— he’s funny but I think i prefer to musicals take of having him more outright villainous and actually taking Satine away for huge chunks of time. Making a good reason for jealousy and fear of her mistreatment.

john leguizamo. I don’t actively seek out movies he’s in but he’s a treat whenever he does appear. That being said the difference between the two Lautrec’s is wild lmao. Similar but the musical has him WAY more focused on his own pining.

Ewan McGregor Christian 💕

I also mentioned this in the last post but I think the play in the movie is weaker however Satines death is stronger as it knows to do the grand celebration before, thus making it hit all the more harder by it simply ending.

[aggressive-p0tat0]

Binged all of Scott Pilgrim today. Loved it for the most part. Some parts not so much. Idk I was a tad disappointed it wasn't a remake but it was also neat and I genuinely saw none of the twists coming (except for who made the barrier). Fuck Wallace, also lol. Kim and Lucas got me shipping after a four sentence interaction. Like that they were able to redeem most exes but knew not to bite off more than they could chew. Also loved Knives and Stephen's big brother-little sister relationship. And just Young Neil’s dumb ass.

8/10, needs more Brie Larson.