Better Than Folly
whistling in the dark
26 March 2024
Could You Repeat That? CCIV
We manage the darkness as we did in the arena, wrapped in each other's arms guarding against dangers that can descend at any moment. Nothing else happens, but our arrangement quickly becomes a subject of gossip on the train.
Cackle, Rachel Harrison
I wonder how much of a woman's life is spent this way. Enduring. Waiting for enjoyment or, fuck it, death.
Bronze Drum, Phong Nguyen
It was unlike even the most powerful memento mori, when the certainty of death comes upon us like a cloud obscuring the sun. Life became weighted with numinous meaning, and that meaning, to last the rest of her days, was revenge.
Advika and the Hollywood Wives, Kirthana Ramisetti
"When nothing else in the world is predictable, you can anticipate when each story beat will happen. If you know what kind of movie you're watching, like a rom-com, you can almost time it to the minute. I like that. Nothing else in the world feels more comfortable to me than knowing the rhythms of a movie."
Heroine Worship, Sarah Kuhn
I should have grabbed something with less potential baggage attached, but I didn't actually own any other rings. Rings got in the way of punching things.
09 March 2024
Oscars 2024 Nominations
As per usual, I have colored the names of films I watched before the nomination announcements on January 24 in green, and films I watched after the nominations in blue. Films I opted not to watch are
Also as per usual, I've re-ordered the films according to how I would rank them, and included clips that I felt were relevant. I opted to just not rank films that I didn't watch for whatever reason. And some of these categories were REALLY HARD, y'all. Just gorgeous stuff all around, I must say.
03 March 2024
The 2024 Tournament of Books is Nigh
In any case, out of the eighteen books on the shortlist, I read all but one of them. (I skipped one due to content ooginess.) Listed below you'll find them in the order I read them; I haven't ranked them at all. I'm not sure how I would this time around? Rather than commentary, I've given you two pull quotes from each of the books I read.
They're all worth a read, though YMMV depending on your mood.
01 January 2024
Media Consumed 2023
250 Books | Six Cities Visited | 48 Comics | Four Concerts and the Like | Five Conferences and Festivals | 107 Movies | Four Museums and Landmarks | Twelve Readings and Talks | 0 Sports Matches | Six Theatre Productions | 848 TV Episodes
LET'S. EFFIN. GO.
31 December 2023
Could You Repeat That? CCIII
Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman
Tess clasped a hand to her heart (she felt it beating even through Florian's jacket) and wished with all her might. Not for the classical piratical standbys--vengeance, fame, or fortune--but that she might shed the past like a skin and walk on with nothing, empty and new.
Snacking Cakes, Yossy Arefi
Okay, okay, raisin haters--you win.
Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, Charlie Jane Anders
Rachel never told Yiwei she loves him before. Maybe she should have picked a more romantic setting, like a moonlit beach, instead of a mutilation cave.
Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor
"Seeing is not the same as caring," the magician replied. "You're American; you should understand that more than anyone."
Saga, Volume One, Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, x2
27 December 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCVI (September & October 2023)
Showing Up | Bottoms | The In-Laws | A Haunting in Venice | The Creator | Dumb Money | Killers of the Flower Moon
26 December 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCV (August 2023)
Haunted Mansion (2023) | Spy Kids | Oppenheimer | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | How to Blow Up a Pipeline | Blue Beetle | The Last Voyage of the Demeter | Meg 2: The Trench | Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story | Golda
22 December 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCIV (July 2023)
July was a pretty busy month for me, between a conference and a family wedding, so I didn't see a TON. But among them were some good 'uns!
Past Lives | Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken | Joy Ride (2023) | Mission: Impossible--Dead Reckoning, Part One | Kung Fu Panda 2 | Kung Fu Panda 3
30 September 2023
Hugos 2023 Voting!
There's also the associated possibility of actually, like ATTENDING Worldcon, but that's an additional cost I haven't taken on as yet. (But if they have it in Seattle in the near future, as some have suggested....)
As the host of Worldcon this year is in China--Chengdu, specifically--there have been some interesting hurdles that I won't really grumble about. It's worth noting, however, that because of the location, there was a slightly different body of voters/nominators than before. (Worldcon, in my recollection, has most often been hosted in English-dominant locations.) Which is neato, in that there are many more folks of Chinese nationality (not just descent, mind you--in recent years, the diversity of nominees has been markedly increasing) nominated. Between that AND a short window for nominees to provide materials (I think a couple of the zine/podcast nominees specifically noted in their packets they only had eleven days), that also meant not everyone was able to get their materials translated in time.
Or: There were several nominees who were only able to share their materials in Chinese and not any translations in English. (And, to be fair, vice versa: Several of the nominees who shared things in English only added apology notes.) Some nominees could only share part of their materials in both languages; some folks who shared translations confessed they had to rely on AI/machine-translation in order to get it done before their deadline. In those cases, you could almost feel the absence of nuance. (In the case of one short story, that's almost the point--in the Astounding category, Maijia Lu's story "Left" is specifically about how the pictographic basis of Chinese language means some elements of physics can be expressed more wholly than in phonetic-based scripts like English.)
I find this interesting and not irritating, though YE GODS, can you imagine how I feel, having multiple stories and books in my possession that I cannot read? My heart, she is breaking. But also, this is a cool problem to have, no? From my perspective, anyway.
10 September 2023
Could You Repeat That? CCII
Shark fin soup was always about the different flavours and textures, in particular the addition of a small final splash of black vinegar before tucking in. It was essentially luxury hot and sour soup!
How to Walk Away, Katherine Center
And voila! An internal motivation! Doing something that would make my parents happy or give Ian job fulfillment might blur my newly drawn lines, but there was nothing blurry about getting the fuck out of here.
Cook Like a Local, Chris Shepherd
Little-known fact: Hang out in a dive bar in Houston around midnight, and you might see a couple walk in with tamales, either on a tray or in a warming bag. They'll pass from guest to guest, uttering "Tamales? Tamales?" until they get a taker who will trade them six bucks for a dozen....Nobody really knows where they come from, and it's probably not something the health department has signed off on, but it's part of the fabric of the city, as normal as a hot dog cart on a New York City corner.
Yours Truly, Abby Jimemez
First of all, if you think for one second that I can be flipped with cupcakes and handwritten apology letters, then you are absolutely correct.
The Nordic Baking Book, Magnus Nilsson
If you are interested in baking pine bark bread, the first step is to chop down a pine tree in early spring.
This is, by the way, normal procedure in Sweden. You are not given cake by your colleagues for your birthday, you instead give them cake. I think this is an expression of the collective Swedish passion for practical arrangement aimed at avoiding awkward situations. By bringing the cake yourself you always get your favourite cake on your birthday, and you collectively defuse any pressure for others to remember everyone's separate birthdays.
25 July 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCIII (May & June 2023)
The Hating Game | Big George Foreman | Love Again | The Green Knight | Five Easy Pieces | Fast X | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | You Hurt My Feelings | The Flash | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | The Little Mermaid (2023) | Elemental | Asteroid City | No Hard Feelings | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
05 June 2023
Could You Repeat That? CCI
All stories are recycled and all stories are unfair. Many get luck, and many get misery. Many are born to homes with books, many grow up in the swamps of war. In the end, all becomes dust. All stories conclude with a fade to black.
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, Alison Espach
"Tell me, exactly what you are thinking right now," Billy said. "Don't hesitate."
I was thinking that there was nothing better in this world than to discover someone who was weird in exactly the same way I was weird. To be weird and then loved for it.
"I'm thinking how strange it is that flies have to have sex in the air," I said.
Dinosaurs, Lydia Millet
In the dark, when nothing else was sure, the soaring tree sheltered you. Almost the only thing you had to see before you slept.
How you came not from a couple or a few but from infinity.
So you had no beginning. And you would never end.
The Violin Conspiracy, Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb
And finally--finally!--Tchaikovsky, of course. Let's be clear here: Ray may have looked like a Black American, but secretly--secretly!--he was Russian. Secretly he'd spent his life ladling borscht and nibbling pelmeni. Vodka, not blood, surged through his veins. He was melancholy because it was always winter in St. Petersburg, and jovial because Muscovites are a good-hearted people who love to laugh. He killed the Tchaikovsky. He left the Serenade melancoloique bawling its eyes out onstage. He bowed.
Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, RF Kuang
He had a sudden, very clear vision of the tower in ruins. He wanted it to shatter. He wanted it to, for once, feel the pain that had made possible its rarefied existence. 'I want it to crumble.'
Victoire's throat pulsed, and he knew she was thinking of Anthony, of gunshots, of the wreckage of the Old Library. 'I want it to burn.'
30 May 2023
Movie Moments XCII: Guardians of the Galaxy Edition (April/May 2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | Thor: Love and Thunder | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
01 May 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCI (April 2023)
Although I've got to confess: I did not diligently take notes on the miscellaneous films I watched this month, so it's mostly bullet-ish points to go along with the usual GIFs.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | A Thousand and One | Suzume | Air | Renfield | The Super Mario Bros. Movie | Chevalier | L'Avventura | Star Wars: Episode VI--Return of the Jedi | Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
31 March 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments XC (March 2023, Part Two)
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Creed III | 65 | Shazam! Fury of the Gods | John Wick: Chapter 4
12 March 2023
2023 Oscar Nominees
Movies I saw before the Oscar nominations announcement on January 24 are marked in green, and ones I saw after the announcements are marked in blue.
Movies of which I consider myself a conscientious objector are
I've re-ordered the films according to how I would rank them, and included clips and pics where I felt they were relevant. I opted to just not rank films that I didn't watch for whatever reason.
Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actress | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress | Best International Feature Film | Best Cinematography | Best Adapted Screenplay | Best Original Screenplay | Best Animated Feature | Best Visual Effects | Best Editing | Best Production Design | Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Best Costume Design | Best Sound | Best Documentary Feature | Best Documentary Short Subject | Best Live Action Short | Best Animated Short | Best Original Song | Best Original Score
11 March 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXIX (February + Partial March 2023)
Tár | Causeway | Aftersun | Marcel the Shell with Shoes On | Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania | Close | Empire of Light | Babylon | The Fabelmans | Puss in Boots: The Last Wish | Triangle of Sadness | The Sea Beast | Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
10 March 2023
The 2023 Tournament of Books
The key thing they emphasize: There's no actual standard for what makes a "good" book! None at all! These decisions are all subjective and according to taste! We all win because we get to read a bunch of interesting books, basically. (But there is an eventual winner.) If you go to this page, you can see links to alllll the past decisions and brackets in the sidebar.
You deny our brotherhood. Insisting as you do in your sly way that our genealogies and our socioeconomic standings have set us apart at birth in a manner not to be contravened. But I will tell you Squire that having read even a few dozen books in common is a force more binding than blood.
"The Passenger," Cormac McCarthy
Anyway, I've been keeping track of things for the past decade or so. Some years I manage to read everything! Some years I manage to start all the books, and then some of the novels languish on my shelves, partially completed, for years. Some years I just don't have the energy. Who can say what each year can bring? Last year, I managed all of them and was very proud of myself. This year, I thought, why not try that again?
Also, I've color-coded the various texts. Purple means I own/ed the book, green means I read it before the ToB shortlist was released, and blue means I read it after the shortlist came out. I'm not even going to indicate favorites here--the Tournament proper will churn out semi-finalists, etc, but as they state themselves, it's all quite arbitrary! (Except I DID indicate favorites. But not winners! That's...somewhat different, right?)
She did bring a book, but she wasn't reading it, just bullying the ink into sense. "It's pretty good," she says. "It would be brilliant if it weren't the literary equivalent of a shirtless mirror selfie, you know, like, if the author only flexed when he had to lift something."
"The Rabbit Hutch," Tess Gunty
04 March 2023
Could You Repeat That? CC
In case you're wondering: Not counting this post, I've read 2977 books since July 2002. (YMMV: I include cookbooks, books of poetry, graphic novels, plays, novellas, and novelettes. I also count re-reads, which I know some people do not.)
Anyway. On to the stuff!
31 January 2023
Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXVIII (January 2023)
Willow | Black Adam | Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery | Top Gun: Maverick | The Banshees of Inisherin | Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio | RRR | Elvis | Fire of Love | All Quiet on the Western Front | Shortcomings | Fancy Dance