forestofglory

After the last media roundup I resolved to be better at keeping notes, and try not to have such big gaps between roundups. So I've been watching various things and even reading a little and I have enough to make post. So here you go:

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker— So I ended up deciding not to finish this book, after reading about ⅔ but I want to talk about it anyway. This YA novel is a mix of cool worldbuilding and things that make me go “argh, it doesn’t work like that!” It’s set in an alternative Tang China where someone invented a way to live forever a 100 years ago. Fortunately/unfortunately I now know a lot more than the average anglophone SFF reader about Tang China and have lots of opinions about it. So the gold coins and one piece garments for women were rather grating. For a while the cool bits outweighed the annoying bits, but as the book went on it started to feel more and more “standard YA” and I eventually got frustrated and quit

The Truth Season 2— I can’t explain why I’m finding this Chinese reality show so compelling, but I’m lowkey obsessed with it! The premise is that a bunch of actors are playing a series of very elaborate murder mystery dinner party type games. I already was a fan of about half of the cast before I started watching this and the rest have all grown on me. They have many fun costumes – especially in the episodes set in 1924, and the cyberpunk episodes. I confess that I don’t always follow the mysteries completely, but I enjoy watching them trying to figure things out and how twisty the mysteries generally are.

( Rival Magic,Fighting for Love, My Journey to You, and Imperial Coroner )

I read several short things, so I have more media to talk about sooner than expected!

Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City by Katie J Wells, Kafui Ablode Attoh, and Declan Cullen—For my urban planning book club! This gave me lots to think about in terms of urban governance and the gig economy. It was fun to talk about with the rest of the book club, most of whom live in or have lived in DC, about this book!

Tales from Tang Dynasty China: Selections from the Taiping Guangji ed Alexei Ditter, Jessey Choo, and Sarah Allen—I’ve been working on translating a story from Taiping Guangji with my tutor. It’s really interesting and also difficult. One of the things that makes it difficult is that neither of us has much context, so I thought it might be helpful to read some translations of other stories from the same collection. This seemed like a good place to start given that I’ve recently enjoyed books by Jessey Choo and Sarah Allen

This is pretty short, only 22 stories, many of which are less than a page long, but it's a fun selection and I appreciate all the notes giving context. It’s very handy that the explain which characters are historical figures and what’s known about them other than the story.

Imperial Coroner eps 1-8—This is the latest show my group watched picked! It’s another show featuring an extraordinary young woman succeeding in a traditionally masculine job, a favorite troupe of mine! This had been on my radar but I was hesitant because of the law enforcement angle, but that feels pretty minimal. It’s a fun show! Someone made tea using a sword!

( Inscribing Death, Ancient Detective, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water,Into the Riverlands )

Here are some thoughts on media I read and watched recently:

Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson—I was excited to try this graphic novel by the team from Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! This darker and less fun than Squirrel Girl – its set in a post apocalyptic world, and it is a lot less about friendship. I still enjoyed it but I think it would have been better not to start reading it right before bed.

Our Song Season 1 episodes 1-8—I consider myself to be very unmusical so I was surprised by how much I love this Chinese singing contest! It’s set up so that older singers and younger singers pair and compete as pairs. I really enjoy the mentorship element, some of the pairs are so cute together! I’m also finding myself enjoying the music a bunch. This is a good thing to watch in small chunks which is for taking hand brakes. (Though its too intense to watch while I’m trying to write) Sadly for me the episodes after this have vanished from youtube so I hope i’ll be able to track down another source for them.

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 1 by Sakaomi Yuzaki, trans Caleb Cook— This is an f/f manga about a woman who loves to cook but doesn’t have a big enough appetite for all the things she wants to cook teaming up with her neighbor who has a very big appetite. This was cute with a little bit of very pointed social commentary, but a bit less of the characters talking about how go the food was than in some other food focused manga I’ve read and I missed that aspect.

( Read more... )

I haven't done one of these in a bit. Have some thoughts on media that I've read or watched since last time:

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold—I’ve been very inconsistent about actually rereading stuff for the Vorkosigan reread along I’m doing with some friends. But I read this one and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The bad things about it loomed much larger than the good in my memory of the book. And the bad things are still there! The homophobia Ethan deals with is even worse than I remembered! But I still love the station worldbuilding(newts!) and I forgot how much fun Bujold’s adventures can be.

Transgressive Typologies: Constructions of Gender and Power in Early Tang China by Rebecca Doran—The title of this book is a bit misleading. It’s focus on five historical women power holders (Wu Zhao, the Taiping and Anle princesses, Empress Wei, and Shangguan Wan’er) and how they have been prorated over time, with a focus on how history has worked to make their power seem particularly against the order of things. I was a expecting something a bit more broadly focused on women’s roles in the early Tang, but I still found this really interesting

( Chang Ge Xing, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Witch King, Tigers, Rice, Silk, and Silt )

Here's some thoughts on media I've read or watched recently:

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer—I loved Braiding Sweetgrass so I was excited to learn that the author had an earlier book about moss. This was really lovely! Kimmerer’s prose is gorgeous. I enjoyed learning a bit about moss life cycles and I really liked the descriptions doing "muddy boots biology"

The Long Ballad (长歌行) episodes 17-35 — I got really into this and started watching ahead of my group watch. The show is very loosely based on early Tang dynasty history, and many of the characters are inspired by read historical figures. But they main character is not based on anyone. There are adventures and found family and mentorship, and the main romance is very cute. I love basically all the characters! There's lots of schemes and tactics and I'm finding it very fun. The show is also really nationalist and racist in its portrayal of central Asians. There's a lot of downplaying the harshness of the Tang imperialism while playing up the violent stereotypes about central Asian nomads. Despite this I've gotten very sucked in and have been watching multiple episodes a day

( Early Tang China and the World, 618–750 CE; A Spoonful of Time; The Girl and the Ghost; The Mountains of Mourning; and 铜钱龛世 Copper Coins )

I’ve been mostly reading fanfic and barely watching anything recently so it’s been a while since I posted a media round up. However I recently sat down and wrote myself a list of books that I want to read before WisCon and then actually read a couple of them. So now I have some media thoughts to share.

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai—This is a romance novel where the main characters are a Chinese transcendent (仙) and a French half elf. Though knowing only that about the book I was surprised at how much action there was. I guess this could be classified as paranormal, it's set in our world but with secret magical beings. This was fun! I liked both the main characters, and how they had complex connections with the people around them. I did wish that the bigger picture worldbuilding was more filled out. What does the organization they both work for actually do? Why is magic a secret? What is the emotional impact of being long lived enough to have lived through the 20th century with all its violence? But these things weren't the focus of the story, and I did enjoy the story very much.

Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver— This story is set in London in the 1920s and about Julia who was recently expelled from boarding school, and Simon her mother's new Jewish student. This novella was unsettling to read. It's very much the kind of book that throws the reader into the middle of things without explaining anything, and normally I like that, but here I never quite got my bearings. Additionally it's a story full of dark secrets, and I was never sure what the protagonist knew and what was a surprise to her. So it made me feel off balance and like I was missing key information. (Content note: child death and child sexual abuse that take place well before when this story is set)

Divine, Demonic, and Disordered: Women Without Men in Song Dynasty China by Hsiao-Wen Cheng—I loved this! It was so interesting and full of historical stories about possession and daoist transcendents. It really added to my understanding of spirits and cultivation. Plus there was a lot of interesting stuff about gender and sexuality in here. (Content note: pregnancy, body horror)

New Life Begins (2022), ep 28-30 — It might be time to admit that this is working for me anymore. I keep thinking I want to watch more but not actually watching any. I really like the women and their relationships in this show, but I feel neutral about or dislike all the male characters. Which would be fine if they men where a little bit easier to ignore, but they are often the focus of the show.

spoilers

It really didn’t help that the ML has been torturing people for information and the show has shown this in positive light

Green Year Dragonfly by Kaye Bellot—I enjoyed this epistory fantasy story about a runaway house. It was cute and fun. There where a lot of different letter writers and they all had distinct voices

Noodles Rhapsody (2022), ep 1-2— This a documentary about noodles and culture in China, its got 12 20 min episodes. I’m enjoying learning a little bit about different kinds of noodles and different cities in China

New Life Begins (2022), ep 7-21 — I’m still really enjoying this for the gentle plot, strong female friendships and excellent material culture. Though the plot line about teaching the nomads to farm really ticked me off, at least it was short.

Cupid Calling by Viano Oniomoh— I don't remember who recced this to me, but I was interested because it's an m/m romance that takes place on a reality show, and I love reality show AUs. This was fun and cute. It didn't hit all the same buttons that reality show fic does for me but it hit a lot of them.

The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit by Thomas J. Sugrue— Read for Urban planning book club. I had read this in grad school about ten years ago, and the last couple of books we read had talked about mid 20th century US cities without talking enough about race. So I wanted to reread this book which is a very fine grained depiction of racism in postwar Detroit. (Content note quotes sources that use racial slurs)

Anne of West Philly words by Ivy Noelle Weir art by Myisha Haynes— A graphic novel retelling of Anne of Green Gables set in modern day West Philadelphia. I thought this was well done. I liked how it updated Anne's way of speaking. Some of the situations from the book felt like they didn't quite fit in a contemporary story but most of them worked well.

Witches of Brooklyn Series by Sophie Escabasse—
This is a series of three (so far) middle grade graphic novels about a girl whose mother died so she goes to live with her eccentric aunts, who turn out to be witches and teach her magic. I normally don't read dead mom books, and I'm not sure why I kept reading these. They were fun but not standouts. I did really like the aunts though.

The Sprite and the Gardener by Rii Abrego and Joe Whitt— A charming but short graphic novel about a sprite and the girl who she helps with her garden. The art was lovely but this went by super fast.

2022 was a year where I struggled to focus on reading and watching things. The pandemic and my own health issues both contributed. Even though tendentious is physical ailment, I found dealing with it very stressful and that affected my ability to focus

I'm going to discuss first the books I read and then the shows I watched.

( Books )
( Shows )

My main goal going forward is to enjoy media when I have the time and energy to do so. I hope I'm more able to focus in the coming year.

Whatever you choose to read and watch in 2023 I hope it brings you joy

I was going to post this as part of a Media Round Up, but it just keep getting longer and longer so I decided to make it post on it's own.

My (mostly) doungha group watch recently started a new show and while we were figuring out what to watch I asked for recs. This was one of the shows that was recced that we didn't end up watching this time. But it sounded really good so I decided to watch it anyway. I’ve been having trouble focusing on 45 minute episodes so it was nice to have something with 15-20 min episodes. Even so it took me three weeks to watch all 12 episodes.

White Cat Legend is a historical dounghua set in Tang Luoyang. It features a cat demon who becomes a magistrate and various people who work for him. I enjoy the cityscapes and the small scale mysteries so much. The festival scenes are also amazing! There are some good fight scenes too. I didn't fully understand the larger plot though

This is full of what I'm coming to recognize as typical c-ent racism against central Asian people. A bunch of bad guys are coded as central Asian, and the non Han dude who is part of the main team is exoticized, as is the central Asian woman general.

Also I don't feel like I fully understand what is going on with Wu Zetian in this but I'm uncomfortable with how child-like she is here. The show clearly takes a negative view of her, as scheming despot, so its confusing that she’s shown as not understanding what’s going on.

This also ends in a terrible spot! A cliffhanger and so many things unexplained! I hope they get another season.

Overall this was fun and very pretty, but had a lot of flaws. I’m glad I watched it because the depictions of Luoyang were great and I enjoyed the characters and their relationships.


(CW gore, cartoon violence, off screen cruel and unusual punishment, war flashbacks)

Since I last posted a media round up I've read several novels which is nice because my ability to read novels has not been great in pandemic times. I just started reading a very long fic and things have been very busy so who knows when my novel reading brain will return again? Here are some thoughts on recent media.

Chinese Architecture and Metaphor: Song Culture in the Yingzao Fashi Building Manual by Jiren Feng— This book is super detailed, and I sometimes couldn’t understand why all the details mattered. However it was about a very interesting topic and I’ve come out of it with new appreciation of architectural brackets. I also liked that this book included the original literary Chinese as well as a translation when quoting historical documents. It was good pratice!

Who Rules the World eps 39-40 — Wow they packed a lot of plot into these last two episodes! I’ve got mixed feelings about the ending but I’m glad I watched this drama.

My Fair Princess ep1-4 — This has several English titles, but I’m going with this one because that’s what Viki, where I’m watching it, uses. This an cdrama from 1998 which focuses on two women, one who was raised well off and the other a bit of a street rat. It’s fun watching something a bit older, and really like the focus on the relationship between the two women.

( Read more... )