It’s been a while since the last time I reviewed some of my media diet, so I thought I’d do that this week. Let’s take a look at some of what I’ve consumed lately.

Reading

I have a lot more abandoned books than finished ones. I’m only including books I actually finished.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
★★★★½

This novel is about two friends, Sam and Sadie, who launch a video game company together, and how their relationship changes over the years. It does a remarkable balancing act of being universally relatable in how it describes certain phases of life and the relationships we have along the way, while still being specifically about these few people and their unique situation. I related to all the characters differently, and it made me reflect on my own life and relationships in a way I can't remember any other book doing in a very long time.

I was reminded at times of the relationship between Claire, Russell, and Olivier on the TV show Six Feet Under (there is an Olivier-like mentor character in this book), so if that kind of story appeals to you but with a video game twist, give this one a try.

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby
★★★★

This is a disturbing serial killer mystery with Silence of the Lambs vibes but without Hannibal Lecter, and with racial tension. It gave me a literal nightmare. But it was also quite gripping. A page-turner, as they say.

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
★★★★½

This novel set in 1974 Boston is about a mother’s search for her missing teenage daughter. I had never read a Dennis Lehane book before, and this made me want to read more.

I actually listened to this one as an audiobook, and the woman narrating, Robin Miles, was absolutely phenomenal. She embodied the characters. It wasn’t just a book reading, it was a true performance.

When I looked her up, I was surprised-not-surprised to find a New Yorker profile of her. It turns out she’s “one of the country’s most celebrated narrators.”

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
★★★★★

Oof. This one was both tough to read and impossible to put down. It’s a memoir of a young woman describing the abuse-disguised-as-love relationship she had with her mother who pushed her to become a child star. I had never heard of Jennette McCurdy and was only vaguely aware of the TV show she was on, iCarly. But I saw the book mentioned in a few places and thought I’d give it a try.

Some moments were truly jaw-dropping, like when McCurdy is stressing out that her body is changing during puberty and she’s becoming too womanly to play the young-girl roles she’d been getting so regularly. Her mom explains that she shouldn’t worry because there’s a solution to that: calorie restriction! And then her mom teaches her to be anorexic. It’s chilling.

McCurdy writes with remarkable self-aware clarity considering all that she’d been through.

She never wanted to be an actor but just wanted to please her mom. Now after reading the book, every time I see a child actor, I wonder what they’re going through.

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood: A Novel by Quentin Tarantino
★★★½

I finally saw the movie and afterwards I was intrigued to read the novelization that Tarantino himself wrote.

In many ways, it was better than the movie. While the movie assumes certain knowledge of Hollywood history, the novel takes its time to explain things. For example, we learn all about Charles Manson and his musical aspirations, which is not at all explained in the movie, where Manson just appears as a character with no background.

But on the other hand, he spends a long time giving back story to things like characters on a TV show that the main character is on, and those passages feel like they go on forever unnecessarily. Great, I’m glad you fleshed out those characters in your head, but do I really need to hear about it?

The shocking ending of the movie is revealed as an almost off-hand aside just about a quarter of the way through the novel, which I found pretty effective because then it left me reading the rest of the book wondering how it would end differently.

Tarantino is much better at dialogue than he is at prose, which often felt a bit clunky. I didn’t love the book, but it was a worthwhile companion to the movie.

This was another one that I listened to as an audiobook, read by Jennifer Jason Leigh. At first her droll delivery sounded like she was a bit uninterested in the story, but over time it grew on me. It seemed like she was getting more into the book as she read, but perhaps it was me getting more used to her narration.

Michael Ian Black’s Newsletter

Not a book, but I recently came across comedian Michael Ian Black’s newsletter, which he’s been writing for about a year, and it’s pretty interesting. He shares his thoughts on religion, politics, and his life in general and he actually has things to say that aren’t just the same commentary I find elsewhere, distilled through his particular life experience. Reading his perspectives reminds me that we don’t really know the celebrities we see on screens.

Watching

This is a subset of what I’ve watched lately. For the full list, you can follow me on Letterboxd!

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
★★★★

I gave my impressions of the novelization above, which I read after finally seeing the movie. I thought the movie was a better time investment, although it was a bit self-indulgent. It required a pre-requisite fondness and familiarity with old Hollywood, and a familiarity with the Manson family story, as there was no explaining or hand-holding here. It was as though Tarantino said, “This movie isn’t for everyone, it’s just for me and people like me.” I guess I’m enough like Tarantino in just the right ways that this movie was for me, too.

Big Eyes
★★★½

I was already familiar with the story of Margaret Keane, a popular kitschy artist in the 60s whose husband claimed he was actually the one making her paintings, so there weren’t any real narrative surprises for me. The movie was serviceable, and director Tim Burton was fairly restrained. It felt a bit shallow, but I still liked it overall. And it sparked some good conversation with the kids about whether/when it’s okay for an artist to sell out.

Tremors
★★★

After watching Dune: Part Two, we were all still in a sandworm mood, so this was my movie night pick. The kids enjoyed it. It was fun to watch again, with its pre-CGI special effects, but not a masterpiece.

Thunderstruck ★
Uncle Drew ★★
The Sixth Man ½

These are three terrible basketball movies, so I’m lumping them all together. My family takes turns picking movie for movie night, and my son likes basketball but doesn’t have a lot of movie knowledge, so when it’s his turn he just Googles basketball movies. That’s how we ended up watching Thunderstruck, in which a high school basketball player switches bodies with Kevin Durant; Uncle Drew, in which Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O’Neil and other NBA stars play geriatric basketball players under really bad old age makeup; and The Sixth Man, in which Kadeem Hardison plays a ghost who helps his brother Marlon Wayans become a college basketball star. They are all awful.

We also recently watched the original Air Bud, which was slightly better than these. I give it ★★½.

Our son doesn’t take suggestions from mom and dad very well, so we haven’t convinced him to try Hoop Dreams or Hoosiers. But does anyone have any good basketball movie comedy suggestions? He might be slightly too young for Teen Wolf.

Poor Things ★★★★
Anatomy of a Fall ★★★★
The Abyss (new restoration) ★★★★½

So much has been said about those lately that I don’t have anything significant to add beyond my ratings. All good movies.

Shōgun (TV)
★★★★½

I’m thoroughly immersed in this world, even though I’m honestly only following about 80% of it. I think this will hold up well for a rewatch. I’m curious also to watch the 1980 adaptation for comparison.

Playing

Delta Game Emulator on iOS
★★★★★

I’ve enjoyed playing old video games on desktop emulators for as long as that’s been possible. Then about a year ago, I bought a retro gaming handheld console from a company called Anbernic that puts all those old games in your pocket. It’s essentially a cheap computer with built-in controllers and just enough power for emulation of old game systems. For about $100 I suddenly had an entire old arcade, MS-DOS and Apple II games, and every system from the Atari 2600 to the original PlayStation at my fingertips. The perfect thing for plane rides or kicking back in bed, or in the waiting room at the dentist. And it is indeed a whole lot of fun. But it’s still yet-another-device to have with me, and I don’t always anticipate when I’ll suddenly be somewhere waiting with time to kill.

Since I always have my phone with me, I had considered loading emulators on my iPhone before, but the process has never been simple since they were never allowed on the App Store so you had to jump through a bunch of hoops. But that has recently changed. Apple is now allowing emulators, and the most popular emulator app, Delta, is officially available, supporting Nintendo’s TV and handheld systems from the original NES through the DS.

Delta supports external Bluetooth controllers, which is fun if you want to connect your phone to the TV so it can act like an old game console. But for on-the-go gaming I find the on-screen controls are surprisingly usable for most games.

The game I’m making my way through now is the Game Boy Advance platformer Metroid: Fusion, which I have played many times both on the real hardware and in emulation, but never finished. I’m further than I’ve gotten before, so maybe I’ll get to the end this time.

Jedi: Fallen Order
★★★★

I’ve written before about Whisky, a tool that lets you play Windows games on a Mac. Some games have some glitches, but others, like Jedi: Fallen Order, work pretty much perfectly. It’s kind of amazing how well Whisky works, and opens up a huge library of games for Mac users that wasn’t previously available.

I’m mostly a casual gamer, and it’s been a long time since I’ve played these big-world games, but even just playing for an hour or two a week, I’m thoroughly enjoying Fallen Order, which I got cheap during a sale on Steam. It’s just the right level of difficulty, has a simple story that fits nicely in the Star Wars universe, and if I go a week or two without playing, it only takes me a second to remember where I am, and what the controls do.

That’s a problem I have with some other games where if I can’t play for a couple weeks then when I come back to it I no longer remember what I’m supposed to be doing or how.

Jedi: Fallen Order is 90% off right now on Steam so you can get it for just $3.99 USD!

Polymines
★★★½

Polymines is a clever new logic puzzle game that combines elements of Minecraft and Picross. It’s available for several platforms, and I made the mistake of buying the original and sequel together for iOS but really I should have bought them separately for Desktop. The small form factor is fine for the earlier levels, but once the boards get bigger, it gets pretty tedious playing on a phone.

I really like the gameplay. It’s mentally rewarding in a similar way as completing a sudoku puzzle. But I think some of the presentation could probably be rethought. Sometimes it seems like the gameplay mechanics get in its own way.

I’m sure there’s more stuff I’ve consumed lately that isn’t on this list, but to include everything, either I need to do posts like this more often or make this list too long to reasonably read. So it’s a somewhat curated selection.

What about you? What have you been watching, reading, or playing lately? Let me know!

Until then, thanks for reading. See you next time.

David

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