January 2024 Media Recap

[tullycat]

I have a feeling I will stop keeping track of these after about 3 months but we'll see how it goes!



Books:

• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
  • Frankly I thought the first 60% of this was really boring. I didn’t feel like many of the characters were fleshed out and only really enjoyed the interactions between Amina and Raksh. There were too many things happening that had zero weight on the story that I wish had been delved into more; also the beginning premise/conflict of the book was solved at probably the 60% mark. I also didn’t feel like Amina went through any internal arc - all the changes she went through were external. Also as a reader, I really hate it when the narrative says “something bad happened, but we’re not going to tell you what yet. Just know it was bad” and I feel like this book did it a lot 😅 There were things I enjoyed, but I felt like it needed to be about 200 pages shorter and have the plot reworked.
• Poison Study by Maria Snyder
  • I read this hoping it would be the book I randomly remembered reading in middle or high school - it is not, but still a fairly enjoyable YA fantasy. I wasn’t sold on the romance and I don’t think I’ll continue the series, but it was good for what it was. If I had read it in middle school, I probably would have enjoyed it.
• The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
  • This book has a liminal, dreamlike quality that increases as the number of things disappearing increases. Don’t expect any explanations of how the world works; instead it draws parallels to themes such as authoritarianism, the slow slide into fascism, abuse, death, and grief. Felt similar to F451 and 1984 at times (also uh the Holocaust?). It was interesting and thought provoking but I don’t know if it will stay with me.
• What If? by Randall Munroe
  • This book requires some self selection to enjoy it - you do need to be somewhat of a nerd, or at least enjoy xkcd comics. That being said, it’s pretty fun. About 3/4 through I started to feel like I had heard enough, but all the questions are separate so you can start and stop whenever you want.

Watched:

• Saltburn (2023)
• Yellowjackets S1&2
• You Are What You Eat (2024, Netflix)
• Single All the Way (2021, Netflix)
• GBBO Season 11 (eps 1-2)
• Bepler eps 1-3
• The Truman Show (1998)
• Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) (in progress)
• LSF eps
• Firebird (2021)
• Merpeople (2023)
• One Piece live action (eps 1-4)

I don't think I realized how random my watching habits are until I started writing them down?? Uhh yeah best of these is Yellowjackets (obsessed) and One Piece.


Fic:

• Read 152,702 words
• Wrote 10312 words
• posted 3 fics: wooyoung/hongjoong, younghoon/hyunjae/(jacob), choose your own adventure with sangyeon (cowritten with Pop)

Music:
I signed up for last.fm with about 5 days left of January so this isn't a very exciting update. I have definitely been listening to Nmixx's newest album a lot lately, which is nice because it's the first time I've really vibed with their songs.

• Artists
  • Seventeen, 87 scrobbles
  • Ateez, 74 scrobbles
  • The Boyz, 67 scrobbles
  • N.Flying, 30 scrobbles
  • Nmixx, 25 scrobbles
• Tracks: 
  • God of Light Music, Seventeen, 6
  • Untouchable, ITZY, 5
  • Dash, Nmixx, 5
  • Manic, Viviz, 5
  • Eternal Sunshine, Ateez, 4

Scrobbling my music has made me more conscious of the songs Spotify is pushing on me...Untouchable is definitely pushed by Spotify (though I do enjoy it) but I'm debating turning off the autoplay feature.



 

Comments

[littlerhymes]

I feel like enough ppl were dissatisfied with last year's spotify unwrapped that there's a small last.fm resurgence lol. I am impressed by how many things you watched!

[tullycat]

This was a quiet watching month for me I think...And yeah there's no way TXT and Enhypen were in my top 5 artists unless Spotify pushed them so now I want to keep an eye on any monkey business 🤨

[latespring]

I've turned off autoplay and have not missed it!

also it's so great to read your thoughts on The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and The Memory Police I've been considering reading them at some point

I think NMIXX('s producers) is finally hitting their stride with the music style they're aiming for, this felt a lot more cohesive as a whole

[moriendum]

you liked yellowjackets!!! always fun to see more people get obsessed with the cannibal girls <3

and your description of the memory police got me curious, which is a good thing because this book is already on my tbr. god only knows when I'll read it but LOL one day!

[tullycat]

Sometimes I like autoplay (it's showing me that I like everglow!) but other times I'm like please retrain your algorithm lol.

FWIW I read the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi with friends and I was the only one that didn't care for it, it really might just be a me issue caring too much about structure 😭 there were enjoyable things about it!

I know Nmixx's whole concept was mashing songs together but if they wanted to pull it back like they did for Dash that would be great for me personally 😅

[tullycat]

I loved yellowjackets 😭 I devoured it (pun intended) and I need season 3!!!

I think the memory police is worth a read if you're curious! I definitely didn't dislike it.

[sleepypapercrowns]

I also expected so much more of Amina Al-Sirafi! I think for me the chapters were too self contained so they didn’t propel me through the story. The last third was so unexpected and felt like such a huge tonal and stakes shift that I did not fully vibe with either. Alas, I also thought this was a standalone which is on me lol.

I hope you have continued with One Piece!! I loved that a lot a lot.

[tullycat]

The first 2/3 and the last 1/3 were completely different....I admit I was more interested in the storyline of the last 1/3, but was too annoyed at the book already that I have no interest in continuing haha. I feel like this book should've been reworked and made into a prequel for whatever series is coming next??

Spoilers for my February update, but I lost access to the family netflix account, so no progress has been made on One Piece :(