media round-up

[sideways]

I've gotten so far behind my media round-ups that I think this is going to have to be a 'greatest hits of the interim' post or it's going to go on for far too long.

• I have a soft spot for cephalopods, so the premise of The Mountain in the Sea was instantly attention-grabbing: a scientist is hired to investigate the possibility that a population of wild octopuses have developed a level of consciousness and intelligence comparable to humans, and the consequences of this possibility slowly spiral outwards through adjacent plotlines. I ultimately enjoyed this book, as there were a lot of interesting ideas thrown around, and the writing style was refreshingly brisk. I don't think it rose to its full potential, though; the octopus were there and I loved every second of them, but in a way the story was less about the discovery of a new, non-human culture as it was a treatise on communication and social identity, explored through a series of near-future sci-fi thought concepts. The character voices in particular were pretty weak. This is the author's first published novel, though, and it will be interesting to see if he grows more adept at spinning a truly extrapolative story with more long-form writing experience.

• From the future to the past: We Have Always Lived in the Castle is my first Shirley Jackson outside of The Lottery, and whoo. Whoo. There really is just something about the greats and their ability to re-write your brain a little, isn't there? I find myself fascinated with the way Jackson works with absence; the story is as much, if not more so, about what isn't on the page as what is, and it leaves so much room for the reader to insert themselves into the experience. This book troubled me for days.

• Galavant is easy and fun. Apparently its creators claim it as a mix of Princess Bride and Monty Python, which are some rather large boots I don't quite think they fill, but I'm a sucker for musical comedy and the cast is very charming.

• I never dabbled in Critical Role, mostly because that is just a lot of time to give over to a single story good grief. Thank goodness for cliff-notes then! The Legend of Vox Machina promised well-animated fight scenes, which as usual is an easy sell for me. There really aren't many complaints I can make that aren't immediately explained away by the fact this is a fan-funded project based on a tabletop game that a bunch of friends played together for the lulz, and given that foundation I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the accompanying storytelling. Like, yes, it could use a pre-season to actually get to know everyone before we launch into major dramatics, but I know why it doesn't exist and I accept I'm not the priority audience. Maybe the pacing could be better; it does well enough. Maybe the quantity of crude jokes aren't to my taste; I guess they were to somebody's. The animation and soundtrack are both fantastic. I'm looking forward to season three.

• A couple of movie nights with weirderwest worked us through Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves and Alien, which were entertaining in, um... very different ways. D&D was very silly, but wow, loved the platonic life partnership at the centre. Alien was also sort of silly, but mostly in the sense of watching a pop culture tragedy and going noooo stop making all these inevitably terrible decisions!! Love that old school sci-fi aesthetic though, truly we've gotten more boring.

• A whimsical rewatching of the ever-classic Muppet Treasure Island ended with me starting to pick through a sampler of The Muppet Show itself. I keep thinking 'wow, why haven't they brought this back, it's such a simple but fun formula' and then I remember they did do that and it apparently sucked. Something something worst timeline.

• Like ten months after my parents showed me the first couple of episodes I've FINALLY finished Deadloch - the delay was less because I didn't want to continue and more because it's taken me this long for me to grudgingly sign up for Amazon Prime. The ratio of comedy to drama was weighted rather more in the latter's direction than I expected over the course of the show, but I ended up really invested in the mystery, and the character arcs were compelling as well. I think my only real whinge is I wish they'd folded Tammy and Miranda's B plot more snugly into the A; for a second in the final episode it looked like they would, and then they weirdly veered away from it? Let the girls be plot-critical! The actors were great, they deserve it.

• I've hit a bit of a wall with Baldur's Gate 3... Act III is definitely the roughest, aheh.

Comments

[sallymn]

The original Muppet Show just had a magic that couldn't really be replicated, even in the best of the movies (and the best of the movies were very very good!). I adored 0 still adore - it.

[sideways]

I did consider that perhaps it's just so wedded to its own era that replication was doomed to fail! Jim's gone, after all; and the guest stars capture a very particular kind of entertainment culture; and of course the novelty of the muppet cast themselves has shifted over the years.

Also the fact they tried to split up Kermit and Miss Piggy means it was never going to work u.u

[atamascolily]

The thing I didn't immediately realize about Shirley Jackson on first reading is that most of her stories (including "The Lottery" and We Have Always Lived in the Castle) are set in Vermont... and after spending some time in Vermont myself, it was startling to come back to her work and realize just how evocative they are of the landscape and culture. I think you could set these stories anywhere, but there is something about them as written that is tied to a particular place in a particular time that Jackson was observing and commenting on as an outsider herself, and once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.

My other Shirley Jackson-related whiplash: realizing that she was the author of "Charles", a humorous short story where nothing terrible happens that I had to read in middle school. Talk about range!

I also recommend The Haunting of Hill House, which also uses absence and negation to great effect, and has one of the eeriest and evocative openings of all time.

[sideways]

My copy of Castle came with a foreword I read after finishing the novel, and it definitely sounds like Jackson's own experiences with these places and the people who lived there are hugely informative in her books.

Hill House is the other one I have bookmarked for sure!

[alaterdate]

Of Shirley Jackson's work so far I've read We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Haunting of Hill House. They were both really good, but I liked the former more. I wrote a snippet of my thoughts about them in my post Assorted Reviews #5
I really like how you described it as "absence". Her work does leave you with a good but of puzzling it out for yourself that's highly enjoyable.

The Dungeons and Dragons movie was so fun. I saw it in theaters expecting to snipe it with my friend, but we both really enjoyed it and I watched it again just the other week. The platonic relationship was so refreshing.

I've been slowly making my way through BG3. So slowly, I got it on release day and I just got into Act 2. I think I'm just barely going into Moonrise Towers. It's fun, but at the same time the combat really bores me. The thing I enjoy the most is talking to NPCs. Exploring and fighting, not so much. I got very annoyed in this section because of the many fights with the cursed creatures.
Funnily enough tho... I did start a second save to play with when I get frustrated and lost with the first one lol. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the game when you finish up.

[sideways]

I honestly keep swinging between "Merricat is straight up the villain of this book" and "well, however, if xyz implies abc..." No complaints about the ending though, what a perfect horror prequel.

Oh no, not enjoying the combat is going to make it a slog! I like the exploration and conversation sections more as well, but the combat's fun enough.

[muladhara]

It took me three years to get through Vox Machina's arc in Crit Role (for reasons, first and foremost being that the episodes were so freaking long and my brain would eventually nope on the whole thing for a while). Also if crude jokes aren't your thing, it's probably a good job you're not interested in watching Crit Role as is - I had to stop watching in part because the one cast member and their love of crude shit just...turned me right off, tbh. I am glad you mostly enjoyed the animated show, though.

I've never seen the original Alien, but yelling "YOU IDIOTS!" at the screen was basically my experience of Prometheus.

[sideways]

Hmm, I wonder if I can guess which cast member :P Especially surreal to me as a TMNT 2003 fan, I must say.

Lulz, we're planning to watch Prometheus too at some point. I'll bring my megaphone and squishy tomatoes.

[muladhara]

I think they're a good voice actor, just...I don't like them as person (or this persona they choose to use if they're not that crude IRL). Also did not know they were in TMNT 2003!

:D

[cosmicjellyfish]

I've had The Mountain in the Sea on my to-read list for a bit now because so much of the premise sounds like it was written specifically for me, but you're not the first person I've heard make that criticism re: character voices. I will go in with tempered expectations!

Shirley Jackson! ♥ "Troubled for days" is about right. I feel like it's time for me to (re)visit Hill House...

The Alien aesthetic is so gooood. Honestly a big part of why it's so high up on my favourites list.

I'm still dragging my feet on the way to Act 3 (am spending most of my potential playtime yelling about the game on Tumblr instead). There are quite a few scenes I want to see for myself, but I fear the Legendary Jank.

[sideways]

Oh god belated response. I still enjoyed Mountain! It's just, yeah, the writer clearly prioritised making the specific arguments he wanted to make over designing a cast who were very strongly and, well, normatively impacted by their backgrounds, the way the best writers do. It's fine. It's a difficult thing to pull off.

The need for practical effects helped make Alien-era sci-fi as crunchy as it is, I think. Those were some amazing sets.

For all the jank there is still joy!