grace given

author: geoff "smoughtown" truscott
genre: nonfiction
year: 2025
status: ☑
rating:

it's been quite a few months since i finished this book, so my review won't be as in depth as i would normally like. that being said, i loved reading this. i'm a big lore hound, and i was immediately obsessed with the story and world of elden ring. however, i am just not enough of a Gamer™ to actually be able to beat it. it's been on my pc for years and i'm still in limgrave. and with a game like elden ring, where the story is told less through long, explanatory cutscenes and more through intricately crafted item descriptions, watching a streamer play it just wouldn't cut it. when i found out about this book, i immediately knew i had to have it.

dandadan (ダンダダン)

studio: science saru
genre: action/romcom/supernatural
year: 2024
status: ☐
rating:

popular girl and otaku boy. one believes in ghosts and thinks aliens are bullshit. the other believes in aliens and think ghosts are bullshit. unfortunately for them, they're both right.

mads and i watched the first season and absolutely adored it. the animation is gorgeous, it's well-written and fun, the dynamic between the two protagonists is the cutest thing i've ever seen, turbo granny is a revelation. i genuinely loved it. the only thing i'll say about it is that, although they're intended to be, a lot of the scenes involving the serpoians are very difficult to watch.

gensomaden saiyuki (幻想魔伝 最遊記, gensōmaden saiyūki)

studio: pierrot
genre: adventure/fantasy
year: 2000
status: ☐
rating:

oh boy, where do i even start with this? the saiyuki series has been a love of mine for literally more than twenty years. i started watching the first series, gensomaden, when i was maybe eight or nine. the story follows an unlikely party: an alcoholic, cigarette smoking priest named genjo sanzo, a quiet and sweet but troubled healer named cho hakkai, a lady-chasing gambler named sha gojyo, and an incredibly destructive and food mativated child named son goku as they journey west to stop the resurrection of a 500-year dead demon lord. it's based on the 400+ year old chinese legend xiyou ji, or journey to the west. obviously, this series takes an extraordinary amount of liberties with the source material.

the show starts out rough. it had an extremely limited budget and the first few episodes were more like animatics than actual anime. but my god, the writing is phenomenal. i haven't watched any of this since i was around twelve or thirteen, and recently mads and i decided to watch it together! they're really enjoying it, which i'm thrilled about. it's been really fun. :) we're about half-way through the first series (it's 50 episodes long) and i'm sooooo excited to get into the next series like reload and gunlock. i have to say, i lost track of the manga and i'm really not sure if they ever made it to the west. i guess we'll have to watch and find out.

my new boss is goofy (新しい上司はど天然, atarashii jōshi wa do tennen)

studio: a-1 pictures
genre: iyashikei/office comedy
year: 2023
status: ☑
rating:

ok, i'm a sucker for a cute anime. i can't help it. i love horror, i love the weird and obscure, but sometimes i just want to sit down and watch some goddamn fluff.

momose kentaro is a sweet little guy who suffered power harrassment (verbal/physical/emotional abuse) at his former job, and boy did it traumatize him. finally motivated to quit, he finds new work at an ad agency where his new boss, shirosaki yuusei, is a stoic bimbo that does nothing but love and support him. it's got a delightful cast of side characters, and over twelve episodes we watch momose slowly but surely heal from his trauma through friendship and a cute lil kitty.

that said, it is 150% queerbait, which is a little icky. there are multiple scenes where you think the characters might be about to confess their love, but it never happens, and they absolutely are riding on that. i'm trashy, though, and i ship them anyway.

i recommend it if you need a little pick me up, especially if you're someone who needs to get or has just gotten out of a shitty work situation.

longlegs

director: osgood perkins
genre: horror
year: 2023
status: ☑
rating:

another contentious horror film! let me start by saying this - it isn't a good movie. it isn't cohesive, the themes are either missing or bashing you over the head, and nic cage is... nic cage. that being said, it is very vibey. great imagery, great aesthetics. it's moody, it's dark, it's strange.

i love the horror genre, and i love weird religious horror. this should have been a 5-star movie for me, and it just fell short. the writing just felt kind of lazy and sloppy. it did make me a little anxious at points, and the face reveal did get me, i will say that. but with all the hype and the frankly excellent marketing it received, i wanted it to be better. it's a fun watch, but don't expect cinema.

phantom of the paradise

director: brian de palma
genre: rock musical/comedy/horror/satire
year: 1974
status: ☑
rating:

i'll be honest: i do not typically like musicals/rock operas. i love rocky horror picture show, but that's about it. that said, i did not have high expectations going into this one, but my friends really wanted mads and i to watch it, so we did. it was fun! the music was good, the plot was wild, the acting was all over the place but fun, the set and costume design were phenomenal. i'm genuinely thinking about how hard it would be to cosplay the phantom (even though i'm only 5'4" 😭)

i don't know that i'd recommend it to everybody, but it's a fun little romp with an ending scene straight out of a fever dream.

skinamarink

director: kyle edward ball
genre: horror
year: 2022
status: ☑
rating:

i'm gonna start this out by saying i know this was a contentious film. and for a lot of people, i totally understand why it was just two hours of staring at dark corners. for me, though, it was a terrifying experience.

as a kid, i was afraid of literally everything. every shadowy corner hid some demon that was going to kill me in the most nightmarish way possible. the dark itself seemed like a tangible presence that was waiting to close its jaws around me. waking up in the middle of the night, alone in the dark, was something i dreaded and something that happened pretty often. i would just lay awake, hoping i would fall asleep again quickly before i saw something horrific. if i had to pee, i would really seriously weigh the pros and cons of making my way down that dark hallway.

skinamarink perfectly captured that awful (and neurotic) childhood fear within the first five minutes. the static shots of everyday objects in the dark were so reminiscent of time spent awake at night, staring at the walls, terrified of nothing. i spent the rest of the movie white-knuckling my couch's arm rest. the worst part of it, i think, was the anticipation of knowing that something awful was going to happen to these poor children but not when.

i'm not going to delve into the theories about this film, its secret meaning or what metaphors it might have. i'm just going to say that, against my expectations, it has become one of my all-time favorite horror movies. i recommend it wholly, if you think it's the kind of movie for you. that said, if you're squeamish about bad things happening to kids, you absolutely need to avoid it. i've seen a LOT of horror movies in my lifetime and it was still pretty upsetting in that regard.