Random Thoughts

I read some books! And watched a movie! And then I... never posted about any of them! This entry has been in the works since July.

Book: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
I'd seen this recommended in a few places and, most importantly, my local library had. It reminded me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch books (no surprise, since she has a quote on the cover) without the gender aspects. I enjoyed it a lot, as demonstrated by the fact that I read it all in one day.
( Spoilery thoughts )

Movie: Captain Marvel (2019)
I also enjoyed this. It was fun and took some unexpected turns. I felt like it could have leaned in on the 90s nostalgia fan service even more, which seems like a weird thing to say about a movie. Didn't exactly punch me right in the feelings, but that's okay.
( Spoilery thoughts )

Book: Thornfruit, by Felicia Davin.
I enjoyed this, with reservations.
( Spoilery thoughts )

Book: The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited (graphic novel)
I recently put on the podcast for this to keep my brain distracted while I did some tidying up, and blasted all the way through to the end of this arc before I remembered I'd recently bought the graphic novel version and hadn't read it yet. For me, this is the absolute worst way to approach an adaptation, because it means I spend too much time thinking about the changes and not enough enjoying it.
( Spoilery thoughts )

Game: Gorogoa (iOS)
This game was very cool, not like anything I've ever played before. I enjoyed it, but it was a) very short, and b) I'm not really sure I understood what was happening in the story. Every time I got stuck I would come back later and realise it was I forgot to try pulling the top layer frame off a tile.

Book: Wayward Son, by Rainbow Rowell.
This is the sequel to Carry On, which I talked about here.
( Going to keep all of my reactions under a spoiler cut here. )

Everyone has been talking about this movie for ages, but I am very bad at going to the movies. I have ambivalent feelings about Spider-Man* but I love animation, so I finally pulled myself together and went out to see it in the cinema.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it!

( Thoughts follow, spoilers included )

* Which is awkward, because my most popular Marvel fic is about Spider-Man

Books
Daughter of Mystery (Alpennia #1) - Heather Rose Jones

Television
Agatha Christie's Poirot 5x08-10x03
Miss Marple (v. BBC, Joan Hickson) - an assortment of episodes, not in chronological order
Rosemary & Thyme 2x14 - this was randomly on TV, and I want to seek out more episodes because it was extremely silly but very cute. As I said on Twitter, I ship it on principle.

Movies
Thor: Ragnorok

Audio
The Adventure Zone 18-51, 58-60 - I got partway into the 2nd chapter of The Suffering Game and ( cut for spoilers, fictional injury )


I'm out of the habit of reading again, it seems. I'm looking forward to the new Murderbot novella coming out soon, and I have the second Alpennia novel to read.

Incidentally, is there a nice collective noun for this type of post? Content Consumption log?

Last night, A nominated me to choose a movie to watch, so I picked Gedo Senki | Tales from Earthsea, a DVD I bought about a decade ago and then never actually watched.

( Thoughts below the cut, with spoilers. )

At risk of sounding like a scene from The Castle, in this entry I'm going to talk about the movies I watched on the in-flight entertainment instead of the actual trip.

Mr Holmes (2015) - the 93-year-old Holmes movie starring Ian McKellen

( My thoughts )

Mistaken for Strangers (2014) - the documentary nominally about the National

( My thoughts )


I also watched a Fall Out Boy concert recording that turned out to be post-Folie a Deux, so presumably pre-hiatus and therefore from like 2009? It was a fun time but unexpectedly dated. (Patrick with his cute little hat and not saying anything on stage though ♥.)