Irregularly scheduled media dump
Jul. 16th, 2021 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lucymonsterBooks
First and most importantly,osprey_archer has released a new book, Enemies to Lovers! It's f/f, fandom-savvy, full of all our favourite tropes, and the very next thing on my reading list once I get through my current crunch. I've unreservedly loved all of osprey's writing that I've read to date, so I already know it's going to be good.
Also new on the to-read pile is Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather, which has promised me nuns on a mercy mission in space. Ever since I read and loved The Book of Strange New Things, I've been poised to find the idea of interstellar Christian outreach appealing, so I'm looking forward to giving it a try.
I do have one book that I've managed to finish recently - about the admittedly niche topic of housewives' duties in 1880s Australia - but I enjoyed it so much that I'm saving it for a post of its own.
Video games
I'm most of the way through Horizon Zero Dawn, and enjoying it hugely. It's an AIs-gone-rogue apocalypse story told through the eyes of a girl, Aloy, living generations later in the aftermath; her personal quest to uncover her own origin story intersects with a much bigger push to learn what happened to humanity's ill-fated ancestors and prevent long-lost history repeating itself. The worldbuilding is super impressive: at the start you're given this sort of reverse-cyberpunk setting, where Aloy's small, insular tribe is living a rough hunter-gatherer lifestyle using broken bits and pieces of salvage from a clearly much more technologically advanced society. Their religion is built around a sealed 21st century bunker with a computer-operated, LED-lit blast door behind which they believe the Goddess lives; all other similar sites are forbidden places, and an elaborate system of superstitions has grown up around technology in general due to the tribe's fear of provoking the gods to unleash Metal Devils on them like they did to the Old Ones. The terrain is strewn with the wreckage of tanks and futuristic war machines that paint a clear apocalyptic picture to the viewer but make very little sense to the characters. You can collect stray items like 'ancient chimes' (car keys) and 'ancient vessels' (ugly mass-produced mugs with corporate logos on them - at least one in-game merchant has devoted his life to studying the possible ritual uses of these rare artefacts, and will pay you a handsome price for your finds).
As the game progresses, Aloy's able to piece together the full story of the apocalypse through the surviving digital records that she finds while delving in her tribe's forbidden places. I don't want to give too much of it away in case anyone else here is interested in playing it, because this game is a rare case where I haven't wanted spoilers: despite knowing from the start that the Old Ones' story will end in tragedy, the suspense of not knowing exactly how or why they died is exquisite, and the gradual reveals have had me sobbing my heart out through multiple cut scenes. Watching the fall of my own civilisation through a heavily clouded historical lens, knowing that all these ancient people (who, timeline-wise, could include my children or grandchildren) are doomed, seeing their desperate efforts to prevent the total extinction of the human species even though they themselves never survived to find out if it worked ... it's intense.
I also really like the gameplay, though it took some getting used to. Combat never lets you forget that you're a squishy, under-resourced human fighting giant metal machines; you're forced to get clever about laying booby traps, exploiting small weaknesses, and switching up your gear depending on what kind of robot you're fighting. If I have any complaint, it's that the game does take a while to really hit its stride; the setup at the start really does feel like setup, and the game mechanic tutorials are so boring that I skipped most of them and then had to learn very fast on the fly when facing actual enemies. But it was so worth pushing through that first hour or two of ambivalence to get to the good stuff. I hardly know how I'm going to concentrate on my work today, knowing that the last few pieces of main quest are waiting for me.
Music
First, the good: YouTube has been an unusually source of good recommendations lately! It introduced me to Wagakki Band, who did a gorgeous live cover of Bring Me to Life with Amy Lee. I'm in love with the three-way fusion - 2000s nu-metal, Western orchestral, traditional Japanese - and I've since been listening to a lot more of their stuff, though the Bring Me to Life cover can't help but be my favourite.
I also really love this cover of Kiss from a Rose that the algorithm spontaneously but accurately decided I would enjoy. I know I spend most of my time on this blog gushing about obscure death metal, but I'd hate to give the impression that I'm any kind of Serious Metalhead - hits are hits for a reason, my cheer-up playlist is like 90% Bon Jovi, and Seal fucking knows how it's done. So metal covers of shmoopy classic pop songs? Be still, my heart. <3
Then there's the meh: the new Darkthrone and At the Gates albums, and the new Iron Maiden single, aren't quite scratching any particular itch for me at the moment. I want to be excited about them, but after duty-listening to each of them once (Darkthrone twice, just to be safe), I haven't been back. There's nothing actually wrong with any of the music. It just isn't hooking me.
Movies and TV
Between Loki and Black Widow, most of my recent time in front of the telly has belonged to the MCU. I feel like I should have more to say, but tbh I don't, except that I liked both but loved neither. I think maybe I'm just burnt out on the whole MCU schtick at the moment. My reaction to each new sinister world-controlling shadow conspiracy they introduce has faded from 'ooooh, what's next' to 'oh, another one'. But even if the new instalments are no longer winning my heart, they're always fun and flashy and a pleasant way to kill a couple of hours. Yelena was a particular treat, and I hope we get to see plenty more of her.
First and most importantly,
osprey_archer has released a new book, Enemies to Lovers! It's f/f, fandom-savvy, full of all our favourite tropes, and the very next thing on my reading list once I get through my current crunch. I've unreservedly loved all of osprey's writing that I've read to date, so I already know it's going to be good.Also new on the to-read pile is Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather, which has promised me nuns on a mercy mission in space. Ever since I read and loved The Book of Strange New Things, I've been poised to find the idea of interstellar Christian outreach appealing, so I'm looking forward to giving it a try.
I do have one book that I've managed to finish recently - about the admittedly niche topic of housewives' duties in 1880s Australia - but I enjoyed it so much that I'm saving it for a post of its own.
Video games
I'm most of the way through Horizon Zero Dawn, and enjoying it hugely. It's an AIs-gone-rogue apocalypse story told through the eyes of a girl, Aloy, living generations later in the aftermath; her personal quest to uncover her own origin story intersects with a much bigger push to learn what happened to humanity's ill-fated ancestors and prevent long-lost history repeating itself. The worldbuilding is super impressive: at the start you're given this sort of reverse-cyberpunk setting, where Aloy's small, insular tribe is living a rough hunter-gatherer lifestyle using broken bits and pieces of salvage from a clearly much more technologically advanced society. Their religion is built around a sealed 21st century bunker with a computer-operated, LED-lit blast door behind which they believe the Goddess lives; all other similar sites are forbidden places, and an elaborate system of superstitions has grown up around technology in general due to the tribe's fear of provoking the gods to unleash Metal Devils on them like they did to the Old Ones. The terrain is strewn with the wreckage of tanks and futuristic war machines that paint a clear apocalyptic picture to the viewer but make very little sense to the characters. You can collect stray items like 'ancient chimes' (car keys) and 'ancient vessels' (ugly mass-produced mugs with corporate logos on them - at least one in-game merchant has devoted his life to studying the possible ritual uses of these rare artefacts, and will pay you a handsome price for your finds).
As the game progresses, Aloy's able to piece together the full story of the apocalypse through the surviving digital records that she finds while delving in her tribe's forbidden places. I don't want to give too much of it away in case anyone else here is interested in playing it, because this game is a rare case where I haven't wanted spoilers: despite knowing from the start that the Old Ones' story will end in tragedy, the suspense of not knowing exactly how or why they died is exquisite, and the gradual reveals have had me sobbing my heart out through multiple cut scenes. Watching the fall of my own civilisation through a heavily clouded historical lens, knowing that all these ancient people (who, timeline-wise, could include my children or grandchildren) are doomed, seeing their desperate efforts to prevent the total extinction of the human species even though they themselves never survived to find out if it worked ... it's intense.
I also really like the gameplay, though it took some getting used to. Combat never lets you forget that you're a squishy, under-resourced human fighting giant metal machines; you're forced to get clever about laying booby traps, exploiting small weaknesses, and switching up your gear depending on what kind of robot you're fighting. If I have any complaint, it's that the game does take a while to really hit its stride; the setup at the start really does feel like setup, and the game mechanic tutorials are so boring that I skipped most of them and then had to learn very fast on the fly when facing actual enemies. But it was so worth pushing through that first hour or two of ambivalence to get to the good stuff. I hardly know how I'm going to concentrate on my work today, knowing that the last few pieces of main quest are waiting for me.
Music
First, the good: YouTube has been an unusually source of good recommendations lately! It introduced me to Wagakki Band, who did a gorgeous live cover of Bring Me to Life with Amy Lee. I'm in love with the three-way fusion - 2000s nu-metal, Western orchestral, traditional Japanese - and I've since been listening to a lot more of their stuff, though the Bring Me to Life cover can't help but be my favourite.
I also really love this cover of Kiss from a Rose that the algorithm spontaneously but accurately decided I would enjoy. I know I spend most of my time on this blog gushing about obscure death metal, but I'd hate to give the impression that I'm any kind of Serious Metalhead - hits are hits for a reason, my cheer-up playlist is like 90% Bon Jovi, and Seal fucking knows how it's done. So metal covers of shmoopy classic pop songs? Be still, my heart. <3
Then there's the meh: the new Darkthrone and At the Gates albums, and the new Iron Maiden single, aren't quite scratching any particular itch for me at the moment. I want to be excited about them, but after duty-listening to each of them once (Darkthrone twice, just to be safe), I haven't been back. There's nothing actually wrong with any of the music. It just isn't hooking me.
Movies and TV
Between Loki and Black Widow, most of my recent time in front of the telly has belonged to the MCU. I feel like I should have more to say, but tbh I don't, except that I liked both but loved neither. I think maybe I'm just burnt out on the whole MCU schtick at the moment. My reaction to each new sinister world-controlling shadow conspiracy they introduce has faded from 'ooooh, what's next' to 'oh, another one'. But even if the new instalments are no longer winning my heart, they're always fun and flashy and a pleasant way to kill a couple of hours. Yelena was a particular treat, and I hope we get to see plenty more of her.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-16 01:37 am (UTC)I've been feeling pretty burnt out on the MCU, too, especially the whole "oh, God, not ANOTHER sinister world-controlling shadow conspiracy" thing. They can't ALL be world-controlling conspiracies, Marvel. Give us a conspiracy that just controls Nova Scotia and maybe I'll buy it.
(I say this, but I keep going back, like an addict who keeps using long after the high is gone.)
I did love Yelena, though. Trying to decide if I am strong enough to watch Midsommar for Florence Pugh even though I'm generally a baby about scary movies.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 07:02 am (UTC)ā¦Iām sorry, I will say something more useful later, but right now Iām 30% into Enemies to Lovers and dead ten times over already. ššššš
no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-16 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-23 07:13 am (UTC)Also, I highly recommend vendettaday's marvellous Star Wars/Sisters crossover fic Across Other Worlds from Little Black Dress 2021 once you've read it!
no subject
Date: 2021-08-23 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-04 09:15 am (UTC)I hope you enjoy, both the novella and the fic!