media journal. this is a place to dump my scattered thoughts on books, comics, graphic novels, movies, and tv shows. most recent on top. here there be spoilers.

apr. – jun. 2025 | 📚 11 ∙ 📽️ 11 ∙ 📺 4

• 📽️ ↺ gladiator (2000) — i was, indeed, entertained. another film i haven't seen in at least 20 years, and i think it's still a good time. maximus is such a well done character, imo. pity everyone else is rather two-dimensional. russell crowe winning best actor for this but not for a beautiful mind the following year still baffles me (eta: oh, he punched a bafta producer during the awards season because of course he did. he really had the market cornered on hot but angry man for a long time, didn't he? jesus.). granted, i haven't seen the latter in just as long, but in my memory he is way better in that than in this. (it did win best picture so i'll be watching it at some point and can re-examine!) technically, there are some very 2000 choices—the random fuckin' slo-mo was so funny now—but ridley scott was still on his a-game here. anyway, i don't know if i really agree that this was the best film of 2000, but also it was a pretty weak year and the ones i would pick over this were total flops at the time and have only become more known due to being "cult classics" (e.g., american psycho, almost famous, so many others). of the nominees, maybe crouching tiger or traffic was better? i don't really remember either of those though... anyway, i looked up the sequel and lucius is turned into a gladiator and basically repeats the plot from this film? okay, whatever, i'm probably not watching that any time soon then. rewatched may 1, 2025
• 📺 ↺ friends, season four — like most network shows pre-streaming, this is where the show finally is really in its groove. just good ep after great ep after good ep. i had forgotten that this season starts with ross and rachel maybe getting back together to ross marrying emily at the end lmao. it must have been so rough for those ross/rachel fans, but thankfully for me i am a monica/chandler fan and this is it!! this is where it starts!! now i have six more glorious seasons of monica/chandler and their believable relationship to watch. anyway, this season has the iconic apartment swap/trivia game and oh boy, that episode is still so fun. just a fun time to watch this for the...i don't even know how many times i've seen this show. it aired constantly in syndication and is an easy leave-on-in-the-background show. looking forward to the next season: "tow everybody finds out" is coming! rewatched apr. 27, 2024 – apr. 27, 2025
• 📚 a registry of my passage upon the earth: stories, daniel mason — wonderful stories. all very different from each other but elegantly written about the human condition. i really like daniel mason's writing. what a wonderful discovery his work has been this year. read apr. 23 – 26, 2025
• 📽️ ↺ haywire (2011) — the only reason i rewatched this is a long story best summarized in my friend's letterboxd entry about star wars: episode iii and then looking at the cast list of this movie. (i cannot believe we have been having an ongoing conversation about this for like five months!!) this is a terrible movie where no one is even trying to act because gina carano cannot act at all but she sure does beat up dudes really well, so it's fine enough to have on while making a list of all the books i bought today during the indie bookstore crawl (did i need to buy that many? no. but i went to 10 stores to get that sweet 10% off at all 55 participating stores all year so the least i can do is buy a book or two at each place!). it is hilarious how everyone's line delivery is flat as hell to match the lead's. the cinematography is largely garbage! just terrible! i hope whatever the rest of the cast got in return for this giant favor of showing up in this movie was great! rewatched apr. 26, 2025
• 📽️ green and gold (2024) — i was looking at the movies page in the hoopla app and for some reason this was listed, and the title made me pause. then i read the description and they really did make a movie filmed in wisconsin in the area i grew up in about the family farming crisis of the early '90s and tied it to a memorable green bay packers season. like, i remember watching those games on my family farm as a seven-year-old! i especially remember that playoff loss to the cowboys (fuck the cowboys man). fuckin' wild to see basically my childhood on screen. and it was produced by culver's?! the movie itself was very hallmark and what i expected it to be. i noticed some reviews saying it's a stealth christian movie because the characters go to church and pray but like...those kind of people are christian?! why hide it?! it wasn't the focus of the movie, just a part of their lives and part of being in that community. bizarre reaction. also, what sort of degenerate-ass priest in wi runs service so late on a sunday that it interferes with a packers game?! clearly he's a stealth bears or cowboys fan! anyway, i want a butterburger now. i think i'll be hitting up a culver's soon! also: naming the pig "ditka" was just perfect. love it. go packers. (how apt i watched this while the nfl draft is happening in green bay lol) watched apr. 25, 2025
• 📽️ die abenteuer des prinzen achmed ‹ the adventures of prince achmed › (1926) — the first (surviving) animated film and it's directed by a woman! hell yeah! this was nice enough. i was mostly impressed by the technical aspect. it's essentially shadow puppets but with paper and on film. wild! given the time and that it's adapting a story from the arabian nights, it was also vaguely racist and misogynist at least 70% of the time, but, hey, that's 1926 for ya. watched apr. 25, 2025
• 📚 ↺ ♡ say uncle, kay ryan — i think what i appreciate about kay ryan's poems is that they seem so lighthearted and witty, but are actually deeply thoughtful and even insightful. this is my favorite collection of hers and it's a pleasure to reread it. reread apr. 24, 2025
• 📚 slaughterhouse-five, or the children's crusade, kurt vonnegut, ryan north, & albert monteys — a classic anti-war novel reimagined as a comic worked quite well. i had forgotten how random the trafamadorians are and the whole people zoo thing. so it goes, indeed. read apr. 18 – 23, 2025
• 📚 crosstalk, connie willis — the fmc sucked!! she was so dumb!! and annoyingly i've known people just like her in real life, but damn i didn't want to read a whole-ass book about how if they just stopped and listened to someone's complete sentence, so much hassle could be saved. honestly, all the adults in this book were insane. the nine-year-old was the most rational character. everyone was annoying and i guessed the ending twist with 200 pages to go because it was so obvious. so, whatever. read apr. 16 – 22, 2025
• 📚 the art of frugal hedonism, annie raiser-rowland & adam grubb — honestly i had forgotten to read a nonfiction book this month and there is no way i'm making it through the j.s. mill treatise i'm reading in a week, so i grabbed this audiobook off spotify (here's a frugal tip: get the most out of your subscriptions!). it was fine, but weirdly condescending. the advice is all obvious to me but i also grew up on a farm in a family that had to be frugal, so maybe this hits harder for those that don't have my background. the romanticizing of the 1950s was sure weird, though. i know the authors are aussie but to assert that people had better lives in the 1950s...yowza. they are clearly very white, and frankly this is a great example of the intersection of crunchy white folk with white supremacy and the crunchy-to-far-right pipeline. i'll probably avoid anything else by these authors in the future as a result. the audiobook itself was fine and i was pleased it was an aussie-accented reading (am i in the minority by liking the aussie accent? maybe!), though sometimes it sounded like the narrator was laughing at the text. anyway, i did manage to finish the poncho including the hour-plus it took to do that damn tubular bind off while listening to this, so that's a win! listened apr. 21 – 22, 2025
• 📽️ the battle of san pietro (1945) — i don't think i've ever seen one of these "documentaries" (propaganda) sponsored/produced by the u.s. war department during wwii. this was interesting in that it was very unflinching, which was probably john huston asserting himself a bit. ends on the typical american exceptionalism and the view of ourselves as the great liberators that has come to pervade the public view (via self-reinforcing propaganda) for the conflicts we've gotten involved in ever since wwii. i got a surprising amount out of this 38 minutes. watched apr. 20, 2025
• 📽️ jurassic park (1993) — i honestly just watched this so people will finally leave me alone about having never seen this in its entirety. dinosaurs weren't interesting to me as a kid, and they still aren't interesting to me as an adult. i might have enjoyed this more when i was kid, though. this was boring as hell as an adult: bunch of people making quips and every possible bad decision on offer while some poor kids are inexplicably dragged along for the ride and somehow aren't eaten. people talk about jeff goldblum in this movie a lot and all i saw was jeff goldblum acting the same way he's always acted in movies? just with his shirt off for a scene? he's funny with charisma, but that's kind of all he does in almost everything i've seen him in excepting the fly. laura dern's character was very '90s feminist with the one-liners, which was entertaining to see again—been awhile for me. anyway, it took me the entire duration of this movie to pick up all the neckline stitches and get the first round knitted on the poncho i'm making, which was humbling. one day i'll be good at picking up stitches, but that day is clearly not today! watched apr. 19, 2025
• 📽️ ↺ ♡ chicago (2002) — i'm a known musical hater, but this one actually works for me largely because the musical numbers are almost all in roxie's head (and make sense because she's obsessed with being a star) and the cast can actually sing and dance. the casting is outstanding for this film, honestly. each of the leads can sing/dance, and they have unique stage presences that play off of each other really well. the costumes and staging are top-notch. the direction is great. i don't usually agree with the best picture winners, but this one was definitely well and above the rest that were nominated in 2003. and, frankly, i don't think there's been a better musical adaptation since this one. it's fun! the songs are catchy! everyone looks fuckin' great! i can't believe it's been like 20 years since i last saw this! rewatched apr. 19, 2025
• 📽️ ↺ the artist (2011) — films that are love letters to hollywood are always nominated and usually win at least one oscar, truly. this film doesn't have a lot of plot going on and what plot exists is stretched way too thin across the runtime, but it does have jean dujardin and a dog being charming as hell together. an enjoyable, light watch for a weekend. rewatched apr. 19, 2025
• 📺 futurama, season nine (or twelve) — okay, so in a season with levar burton guesting and a whole episode about coffee where a character spent a not insignificant amount of time exclaiming that there was coffee in various places, there wasn't a single "there's coffee in that nebula!" even when they were in space talking with the prehistoric coffee aliens?! come on!!! the nerds writing this show disappointed me yet again! anyway, this season was better than the last few. it felt more like classic futurama and the jokes weren't as stale. although: still no robot devil! bring back the robot devil!! watched apr. 11 – 18, 2025
• 📽️ the quiet earth (1985) — love a good sci-fi movie that ponders the meaning of existence and then ends with a wtf. this was interesting, though clearly low budget. i have no idea if anything happening to the main character was real or not, either. anyway, a good watch while it rains. watched apr. 18, 2025
• 📚 猫暮らしのゲーマーさん ‹ cat + gamer › vol. 7, 灘谷航 ‹ wataru nadatani › — there's only one more volume of cute cats getting up to regular cat shenanigans at home while a new pet parent struggles to deal with all the cat shenanigans?! this volume was just like all the others: adorable and lighthearted! i can't believe i'll only get one more after this, wtf. read apr. 18, 2025
• 📽️ ↺ no country for old men (2007) — back to (re)watching oscar best picture winners. i hadn't seen this film since probably 2008, and it's still a relevant allegory for these times. that and javier bardem's mushroom hair is still a crime against javier bardem, but damn is it memorable. this also reminded me i've been meaning to read the book this is based on for *checks calendar* 18 years. i'll get to it. rewatched apr. 17, 2025
• 📚 funny story, emily henry — i'm sure people do it, but i have no idea how to not binge emily henry's books. they instantly pull me in. this one got me especially because i felt especially seen/called out by the fmc, goddamnit. i can tell emily henry grew up in the midwest because usually her characters all have one or more of the deep psychological issues you encounter in white people 'round these parts. i don't know that i cared that much about miles (he is exactly the kind of nice/kind but deeply traumatized by shit parents white guy i've seen around the midwest my whole life. my dudes, go to therapy!! at least miles went no contact; good for him!), but i'm here for daphne and ashleigh's friendship and daphne's journey. i'll probably forget about this one quickly though—one of the highlights was the reference to the characters in beach read lol. read apr. 12 – 13, 2025
• 📚 james, percival everett — huckleberry finn was one of my favorites growing up and it still is, so i was pretty excited to see what percival everett did with jim. in the original, jim is a person in his own right but in a limited way. here he is a full-fledged human, which is great. i also really liked that this book addresses that huck finn is likely a biracial character—for years i have believed that about the character. i could never explain why, but in memory he is always biracial and then the original story throws me for a loop when it's like, "he's white!" huh? it's maybe a little wish fullfillment-y at the end, but if you can't do that with a reimagining, where can you?! i enjoyed this quite a lot, and it was a fast-paced read just like the original while adding so much more context to the original. read apr. 8 – 13, 2025
• 📚 the road to roswell, connie willis — this was so silly and i enjoyed it a lot because of how silly it was. there's this sub-genre in sci-fi where the alien is just a poor wittle thing who needs some help and love and probably a hug or two and this is one of those books, which is hilarious when it's a ball of tentacles that rolls around like a tumbleweed. indy is adorable! indy can fix everything! indy just wants to be besties and ride around in an rv with a bunch of human friends! sure, why not? silly fun! read apr. 6 – 13, 2025
• 📽️ ↺ ♡ office space (1999) — every year, my work life becomes even more like office space and dilbert cartoons, i swear. this film does meander a bit in the back half, but it's still so accurate that i can't even a little dislike it. replace the memos with emails, for instance, and that is just as relevant today ("did you see the email?"). when peter asks the hypnotherapist if he could have basically the entire conceit of severance done to him...relatable. also, if you've ever dealt with the monstrosity that is the printer/fax/photocopier in an office, the scene in the field is so cathartic. anyway, 1999 was a great year for film. rewatched apr. 10, 2025
• 📺 futurama, season eight (or eleven) — a revival of a revival probably wasn't needed, yeah? of course they had a sense of humor about it in the first episode, but so many of the topics feel like, 3–5 years too late at this point. at least they let amy and kif appear as a couple again. the robot devil had one scene which is an absolute travesty, imo. anyway, it was fine. watched apr. 6 – 10, 2025
• 📚 horror movie, paul tremblay — this came in from the library while i was reading the deluge and i attempted to use it as my night reading instead, but it just wasn't interesting enough in comparison so it just sat for a while. the format is fun—it's an audiobook narration read by the protagonist, and it's sliced in with the original screenplay for the movie. but where it went? meh. it was pretty obvious to me, and it just wasn't an interesting ending. i read this specifically because i loved the short story "the last conversation" by this author. maybe i'll check out more short stories by him...this novel could have been a novella, honestly, and i think it would have been far better. read mar. 22 – apr. 6, 2025
• 📺 ↺ ♡ severance, season two — rewatching really is required with this show. there is so much more context around everything, and i'm also able to enjoy it more because i'm not waiting anxiously for gemma to finally get her episode. speaking of, her episode is still the best of the series so far, and catapulted her to the top of my character list. i want everything gemma next season. actually, what i really want is a team-up between gemma, outie irving, outie burt and fields, devon and ricken, and cobel to take down lumon. fuck lumon, man!! at this point i'm more invested in what happens outside than inside as it seems like inside is now on borrowed time (and their expressions in the last shot of the season show they know it!). anyway, great character development as usual, mostly strong writing, and a lot of unexpected laughs. this show is great, and i hope season three doesn't take three years. rewatched mar. 30 – apr. 6, 2025
• 📚 ♡ the deluge, stephen markley — storygraph has a descriptor ("mood") for books called "challenging" and, generally, i haven't often agreed with my fellow readers on the books that deserve that description. but this book? "challenging" fits it perfectly. it was so good and incredibly engrossing, but also so hard to read. i would read one chapter and then lie awake (don't read this in bed!!), or read a few chapters and just be down for the rest of the day. it's very well-written, and very incisive, and also disturbingly close to american reality as "speculative fiction." stephen markley really gets what makes us tick, and it's tough as hell to read nearly 900 pages chronicling how many ways we will shoot ourselves in the foot no matter our social class or any other identifiers only to finally kinda, sorta snap a half victory from the jaws of defeat. "american exceptionalism" is such a sickness that's embedded so deeply in every one of us (especially us white folk, but no one's immune...it seeps in, honestly) that it makes us act crazy more often than not, and sometimes about the most mundane shit. not that other countries came off any better in this, but it was mostly about america, americans, and our fucked up collective psychology even in the face of climate disaster and mass extinction. each character felt so real and lived in and at least half of them were kinda like people i've known irl here in the u.s. this was just such a remarkable book that i will almost certainly never read again. at least i'll be able to sleep better finally. (note to self: do not read his prior book while trying to fall asleep when it comes in from the library!!) read mar. 10 – apr. 4, 2025