august media round-up
Sep. 4th, 2021 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lackingdaze
going to lump in some of the media i finished recently in the early days of september just because i don't know where i'll be physically/mentally by the end of next month
MOVIES
i went from not really watching any movies last month to watching quite a few more movies, so i'm really happy about that! for some reason it's just so much easier for me to start tv shows than to start movies even though tv shows are longer? but i think it's because with movies i feel like i have to sit down and make mental space for them, whereas i'm prone to mindlessly watching tv anywhere/while doing random tasks...anyways.
us and them (2018)
shakti recommended this movie to me! i saw it on netflix a few months back and was meaning to watch it. honestly i prov would have been way more into the movie if i wasn't inhaling acetone and ruining my nail bed trying to scrub off my gel nails while watching it ši did like it though! i love watching relationships build and fall apart <3 also this might have been a side effect of the nail scrubbing but i thought the movie ran a little long towards the end
the suicide squad (2021)
imagine spontaneously deciding to watch this in a drive-in theater without having watched the trailer/knowing what it was about. ok now imagine having a fear of rats. yup now you understand how i felt during this entire movie. i did have a lot of fun watching this with my friend though because we made stupid commentary the entire way through
the green knight (2021)
um ANY ONE ELSE A GAWAIN / THE GREEN KNIGHT SHIPPER? i also spontaneously went to watch this one and it was like. yes you're just sitting the theater for 2 hrs watching dev patel wander the screen. BUT I HAD A BLAST FOR SOME REASON? i think the director is homophobic for eclipsing the actual ~gayness of the source material~ but also i found out about said gayness of the source material from googling wiki entries on the way home from the theater so. [insert long-winded nonsense spiel about the politics of translation]
black widow (2021)
this is a marvel movie. but it's a marvel movie with florence pugh in a body suit.
his (2020)
gleaned this from kaia's movie recommendations AND I REALLY LIKED IT <3 spent the movie being like wow this guy does look like jaehyun. wow this guy can't act (also like jaehyun). i haven't watched the series so ig i don't have a full-scope understanding of the context but i think it was still a good standalone work and i love quiet countryside settings
goodbye mother (2019)
from my letterboxed review: this is a hallmark gay movie. but it's a /vietnamese/ hallmark gay movie and also the first one i've seen, which endears it to me. even though i think the writing was underdeveloped at points, i was really fond of the way it captured rural vietnam (with the exception of the stock cicada sfx which was just grating). the grandma is this made me so TAT SO TRUE ALLY QUEEN!
words bubble up like soda pop (2021)
well i think we all watched this one but i shed actual tears during the ending and i'm Person Who Never Cries so idk!
shirkers (2018)
amazing. life-changing. never been done before. spectacular. obsessed with it. will be taking copious inspo from this movie for years to come. (no but this was one of the best two hours of my life that i experienced in a while and then immediately after finishing it i got an internship offer that i've been wanting for the past year so it was just an all-around Top Ten Moment)
also i started using letterboxd, if anyone wants to be friends on there <3
TV SHOWS
finished:
nevertheless (2021): a trainwreck k-drama but i did watch all of it and yes some of the episodes i watched more than once. don't inbox. i think the finale was both predictable and also incredibly unsatisfying but what did i expect from a drama about a male manipulator with an inkbox butterly tattoo. praying song kang's next drama is a THRILLER or something more bearable but at least we got a cute little sam kim ost out of this
light on me (2021): yes i did watch all of this [2]. yes it's bad [2]. BUT ALSO ANY NOH SHINWOO FANS HERE? idk this is just your typical mediocre bad bl with an ACE ost and 3.5/5 of the main cast Cannot Act To Save Their Life but. um. at least it gets kind of better towards the end? the behind the scenes vids are also really fun and actually more entertaining than the drama ;-;
bad genius the series (2020): how to unpack all my feelings about this show. ok i started watching it because shakti was like "have u watched bad genius :)" and i've actually seen the movie twice! but i can say with total confidence that i like the series far more than i like the movie just because i think the series has more space to develop characters and i care more about them than i care about the "heists". i kept my expectations pretty moderate going into this, and was surprised by how good and complicated the writing was for the charactersāespecially grace and pat! also you prob already know but i'm literally just a BANKLYNN shipper / jaonaay + junĆ© tinhatter like yes i'm crazy but i'm free. i think everyone should just read shakti's bad genius post actually bc she explains the dynamics perfectly and also compares them to MINIZ
the rational life (2021): why did i watch all 35 episodes of this dylan wang drama in the span of 4 days. this was a rough month....also after i watched this entire thing i found out that there is a victoria song drama with the same plot (find yourself) except the rational life is worse because it's about being a girlboss in a car company
ongoing
- hometown cha cha cha: this is my new "nevertheless" and so far it's a little more bearable
- street woman fighter: found out taeyong was judging on this and like ? :D neos do anything these days. ummm aside from this being like a shitty mnet show with a really questionable panel and edited drama the dancers on here are really legit and the battles are entertaining! also it's cool to see a dance show that's specifically about women dance crews bc most of the dance crew shows i know like abdc [person who is incredibly out of touch with the dance world] are heavily men-dominated
- hospital playlist: when will i finish this show. better yet when will this show stop airing.
K-POP CONTENT
girls planet 999: i don't think i care all that much who makes it into the group but the performances are fun and also i can't be the only KIM CHAEHYUN FAN <3 does she remind any one else of jungwon [is delusional] but also it's the both being ex-sm trainees, similar quiet competence and maturity, squishy faces....except she's under kang daniel's old flop ent.
the cix million dollar kids: so i got into cix <3 fun fact i used to be w1 stan but i never really cared for baejin and find him infinitely more likeable in cix. and we all know i have a type so yes bx is my favorite.....yes it's because he's a loser and is obsessed with yonghee for some reason. but i actually like all the cix members and found their show really entertaining + got my friend into cix and idk! i'm loving it here i guess
READING
this was a bad reading month for me in that i got a bunch of books from libbby and instead of bingeing them i just didn't read them. i dnf-ed bestiary bc um i am not one for extended metaphors about bodily fluids but i think i might pick it up some time down the line when i'm ready to handle it.
new waves by kevin nguyen
i was pretty disappointed in this book bc i thought it would be a heist/thriller based off the blurb but it's really just a "why i left new york"/"why i left the tech industry" story disguised as a rumination on grief, race, and the internet. ok that makes it sound better than it was
this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone
perfect purple prose sapphic romance. it's just about vibes and not knowing what is going on at all times but still vibing with it anyways and also the 25 lives tropes. I LOVE EPISTOLARIES! and find it impressive that the two writers' styles mesh so well.
a pho love story by loan le
funny story the reason i know about this book bc my housemate was on subtle asian traits a few months ago and told me about it?? and um it sure is ya romance but i am happy to see more diversification in #representation or whatever bc the current landscape of vietnamese american literature is pretty bleak and this is not
sour heart by jenny zhang
I FINALLY FINISHED THIS! i don't think my feelings changed from the last media round-up ā i loved this collection and it not only Changed Me As A Person but i was really inspired by zhang's prose style and want to incorporate stream-of-conscious-esque sentences in my own writing.
milk fed by melissa broder
picked this up purely for the carmen maria machado byline (btw she gives sooo many bylines :D?? ok prolific queen) and i read it in a day! aside from the fact that it's pretty disturbing and sad (seems to be a theme with everything i read), i really liked broder's style. also realized that people will say just about ANYTHING on storygraph bc someone was like "this is trash writing" :D?? humor is hard to pull off and i found myself laughing more often than not while reading the first half of this. the second half is a mess.
if you care to read them, i leave more in-depth reviews on storygraph!
my libby shelf is currently empty as i'm waiting on like 8 holds so i might get back into reading fics because there are so many fics that i've marked for later but just...haven't gotten to....
MUSIC
total scrobbles: 3,876
avg scrobbles per day: 42
top artists:
1. cix (114)
2. tbz (60)
3. txt (53)
4. muna (38)
5. a.c.e. (31)
top tracks:
1. muna ā stayaway (now, now remix) (27)
2. cix ā cinema (26)
3. the kid laroi ā stay (ft. justin bieber) (24)
4. a.c.e. ā down (ft. grey) (23)
5. tbz ā merry bad ending (20)
top albums (excluding singles)
1. 'ok' prologue: be ok ā cix (82)
2. blonde ā frank ocean (29)
3. sour ā olivia rodrigo (27)
4. hello ā cix (26)
5. thrill-ing ā tbz (25)
i really just mindlessly listen to music. i'm also surprised blonde made it to this list but i think i was listening to it while sleeping the day i had a migraine....
OTHER THOUGHTS
um i finished [redacted] and it was horrible but i don't care. i want to get some more wips done before i have to go back to school and maybe stop writing fic for the rest of the year.... i don't think it's so much that i'm tired of writing (actually i'm itching to write) but i don't really have any ideas. i'm picky these days with projects because i don't like pursuing random wips/it takes me a long time to formulate thoughts about ~dynamics~ which i care more about than plot in fanfiction, which might sound stupid bc it's not that serious but idk i think i have more fun that way....and for enhypen, i've pretty much written out all my feelings about them with 3 fics + 1.5 theses so i'm like ?? plus more people are writing enha fics so i don't feel particularly compelled to aggregate content or whatever... and i don't want to be part of "ficdom" anymore and have a public/more synchronous account because i don't care if people are reading what i write...which is my twt is Like That now.
overall, i think i've had a pretty chill and solitary month. downside of being the only one at home is that i'm lonely and have to solicit the company of my little brother who actually has a social life to go get pity boba but the upside is that my wallet is healing bc i step outside once a week ššæ i'm a little scared for what september holds in terms of work load and socialization but also excited to go back to campus??
no subject
Date: 2021-09-05 02:12 pm (UTC)btw i felt the same about us and them... also ur tss thoughts are KILLING MEEEE i can imagine your fear too palpably i'm so sorry š also i STILL haven't seen the green knight and had no one to see it in theaters with so i guess i'll just stream it at some point this month š
also your his thoughts are literally my thoughts. how IS off-brand jaehyun going to get out-acted by a SIX YEAR OLD?????? it's so embarrassing to me but the miniseries has zero correlation with the movie and shun is basically an entire different person so seriously don't worry about watching it i think you've already gotten the ideal experience ā¤ļø however i do think the series is actually super cute ;; so i recommend watching it if you ever want a very lowkey/chill/short bl to burn through!!! it's under 2 hours and i swear it's better than all the movie-length korean bls i've talked about :smiling_face_with_tear:
and "amazing. life-changing. never been done before. spectacular. obsessed with it." no no literally So True. SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!! like i don't think any movie has made me FEEL so much on just a very raw pure visceral level in a while and it didn't even have that much "shock value" but it was just so real in this very simple and gutpunch way ;; anyway you just get it T__T and ofc congrats on INTERNSHIP!
NOH SHINWOO FAN REPORTING BTW āāā i made an ACTUAL NOISE after the end of the first episode because of this:
and i'm glad most people (read: you and shakti) like the bg tv series more than the movie i will maybe SLIGHTLY raise my expectations! the power of JAONAAYJUNE I SEE??? also i'm glad someone is watching hometown cha cha cha because i'm holding out on baekseung getting epex like 5-10 new fans through it <3 maybe even 15. who knows... also [2] i saw a lineup edit with CHAEHYUN in it because shakti sent her pic like doesn't she have jungwon vibes so umm š do i even need to say it. YOU PEOPLE ARE SO PREDICTABLE!!! i can't believe she's under reformed mmo though that's so sad how can we get her out of there T____T
and ofc i'm so glad you liked CIXMDK!! AND TIME WAR!!!! and your literacy continues to impress me and one day i will join everyone in using storygraph :') also another thing that continuously impresses me is your consistency in listening to STAWAWAY NOW NOW REMIX... never change <3
ok sorry for stupidest comment ever but thank you for another great post this was super fun to read :D you've worked hard with [redacted] and honestly i'm sure it's great i have so much faith in you! i've also become just like > badly wants to finish a wip before school and then never write again for the year so i hope you can find something that interests you š good luck with balancing everything at school and have fun on campus!
no subject
Date: 2021-09-05 05:06 pm (UTC)Did u watch SWEET HOME??? U prob did but he was 8980394x more bearable in that lmfaoo [girl who is still finishing nevertheless RIP] also Iām still finishing bgts LOL BUT yes we are all banklynn jaonaayjune hetshippers and its serious <3
Also WHY DO ACE HAVE SUCH GOOD MUSIC???? We already talked about DOWN (Iām not the type to catch feelings something about you got me stuck and Iām sinking- ) but also I didnāt know they did a light on me ost JFKSDJKFLS truly so iconic of them. Ur top tracks are all amazing btw <33 generic pop music can be so good!!
Finally congrats on ur internship!!!!! And I hope September/school goes well for you <3333
[lol just scrolled down and read kaiaās comment and we basically said the same things ITS FINEā¦]
no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 11:33 am (UTC)- YESSS so glad that youāre joining the movie wave <3 also i feel like i treat movies the same way as tv i.e. i will stop and start even tho i do try to finish a movie within 2 daysā¦. ur tv watching is so iconic btw
- JHSKJG OKAY SORRY BUT WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SHIP GAWAIN WITH THE GREEN KNIGHT [person who hates monsterfucking] the green knight is so fugly and gawain is hot how dare u hatecrime him like this. just kidding. but yea i think gawainās bisexuality is iconic
- also now i want to watch goodbye mother omgā¦
- so glad we all collectively watched soda pop + us and them + shirkers even if i donāt really Get shirkers as much T___T
- YOUR NEVERTHELESS WATCHING!!!!!!! well iām glad itās over with and now u can preoccupy urself with other brainrot. btw let me know when you spot BAEKSEUNG in hometown cha cha cha <3. also it will never cease to amaze me that you watched the rational life and didnāt immediately find comparisons to find yourself online bcs the premises seem really similar To Me and find yourself was pretty popular? btw is anyone else a song weilong fanā¦ just meā¦? ok
- also thank you sooo much for watching bad genius the series and joining me in my crazed banklynn brainrotā¦. THEYāRE SO SERIOUS AND PERFECT <3333
- also yes kim chaehyun has the same eyes as jungwon itās crazy
- UMM YOUR READINGā¦ well i think this is where our tastes donāt overlap <3 iām glad u enjoyed vietnamese ya tho cuz like every indian ya novel iāve found has been SO TERRIBLE KJHKDSJAHGJKHASKJG your storygraph reviews are so fun to read though [guy who likes reading reviews of random shit]
- looking at ur lastfm stats like hemm how did u get 3876 scrobbles and 42 scrobbles per dayā¦ mafematicsā¦ maybe thats ur total scrobbles tho. also your top tracks are literally MY top tracks except for merry bad ending <3 iām obsessed with you
- ALSO CONGRATS ON FINISHING FICMIX!!!!!! i truly canāt wait to read it and iām so excited about your venture into CRAVITY FICDOM <3333 also i totally get you on having a solitary month ahh so glad weāre chilling with the quarter system together T__T i totally understand disconnecting from fandom and i feel like all of us (read: our dw friends) have been taking a step back lately. super excited to meet you in like.. wait shit literally TEN DAYS??? JKDHASKJHGJKHSAJGHJAKSHGJDSA