Media Roundup: Bees, Goats, Ect.

[forestofglory]

It's been a while since I did one of these posts. I'm just not consuming new media very much right now, but here are some things I did watch or read recently.

Jupiter Ascending — so I was reminded of this because someone on twitter linked to fic that is fusion with this. And when I mentioned I’d never seen it people thought I’d enjoy it. It was on Netflix, and it seemed like a good thing to do while I was avoiding the hottest part of the house. It was fun! Lots of amazing over the top sets and costumes. Some of the action scenes were a bit visually dark and hard to follow but I mostly enjoyed them. I really enjoyed the bees but I was expecting more of them, and why are they not in space? This definitely is not a movie where I want to think too hard about the plot but I’m glad I finally got around to watching this.

Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality by James Kwak — A book about how a simplistic understanding of economics has impacted US politics.This was ok but I wanted it to be a little bit more in depth. For example going more into the research about how income inequality is bad. And even though this book is only a few years old there were places that felt slightly outdated. Since this book addressed inequality in the US I expected it to mention race but it never did and that felt like a major oversight.

“Loosestrife” by Marissa Lingen— I really enjoyed this story featuring intelligent genetically engineered goats!

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells— I reread the 1st four novelas in this series and then read Network Effects the new novel that just came out. These are actually kind of more violent than I really wanted just now. I had remembered all the delightful bits of murderbot enjoying its media more than people and had forgotten quite how brutal the violence in these books is.

Star Trek: Voyager — we are now about halfway through season 7! Still enjoying this very much. I wanted to shout out to “Muse” -- I really enjoyed the ancient greek style play retelling of Voyager in that episode. I’m a bit sad that its almost over but also a bit excited to watch something new. Our next show will be Picard, and then maybe another Chinese drama?

Comments

[riventhorn]

I enjoyed Jupiter Ascending a lot too. I mean, space wolf with wings. And bees. I also love the femdom vibes with Jupiter and Caine.

[auroracloud]

I had remembered all the delightful bits of murderbot enjoying its media more than people and had forgotten quite how brutal the violence in these books is.


I had this experience lately as well... I've generally had trouble reading during the pandemic until recently - now I've been able to read more for the past 3 weeks or so, though still not as much as before. But anyway, at one point I figured I'd try to reread something, and figured I wanted to continue rereading Murderbot because the novel is coming out, so I reread Artificial Condition, but it was kind of hard going because, well, there was a lot of murdering going on. And I've been a bit reluctant to go on to the next one because I remember that one being even more murdery, or at least a lot more depressing. I really like these books, but if I was bad at reading violence before, now my tolerance levels have become abysmally low. (I have a feeling I won't be rereading Machineries of Empire quite yet...)

Intelligent genetically engineered goats sound like just my thing, though, so I'll have to see if I can make myself read a short story! I'm a bit bad at reading them, a lot of the time.

I haven't seen Jupiter Ascending, maybe at some point I should check it out! These days I'm terrible at watching movies, so my nerd cred is very patchy.

[forestofglory]

You'd think that since short stories are you know short they'd be easy to read, but somehow that's not always the case. But “Loosestrife” doesn't have any violence and does have cute goats!

Jupiter Ascending was fun, there is some cinematic violence though. I rarely watch things when they first come out, but the nice thing about watching something latter is lots of other people have already seen it!

[dancing_serpent]

I watched Jupiter Ascending at the theatre and liked it a lot! I'm still sad it performed so badly that we won't get part two (and three).

[forestofglory]

Yeah, I would watch another one!

[lunabee34]

I have got to rewatch Jupiter Ascending. I watched most of it and somehow managed to miss the ending. LOL

[merit]

I recently reread the novellas as well and yes, a good 50% is usually 'action' scenes. Always interesting what fandom focuses on.

[forestofglory]

I guess Murderbot as character is more distinctive than all the "action" but I was still a bit taken aback.

[mrissa]

Thank you!

[forestofglory]

You are welcome! It was really fun story!

[alchimie]

Yes, I keep putting off starting my Murderbot reread because I am not in the mood for action sequences and lots of violence, even though I so love the characters and Murderbot's whole endealment.

[pseudo_tsuga]

I rewatched Jupiter Ascending with friends recently; I love how it 100% commits to every wild plot idea with no irony whatsoever. Bees detect royalty! Canine guy with fancy rollerblades and wings! SEAN BEAN DOESN'T DIE!!!!