Love Victor season 2

Ted Lasso

Loki

Feel Good season 2

Love Victor season 2

Ted Lasso

Loki

Feel Good season 2

Read my whole full review on my medium page here. 

Read my whole full review on my medium page here. 

I should probably work on my title game huh?

Summer is finally here man! I have spent a lot of time outside on the porch, reading, chilling, thinking, working. Life huh? Nothing beats summer.

Okay so tomorrow the Euros 2021 starts (well it would have been last year but we all know how that global disease ruins everything for everyone so it was pushed to this year) and it's something about the competition to the backdrop of summer that just makes me feel giddy as hell! It's so much fun that's what I love about it. This year I'm also betting, that's fun, not like seriously because don't play with money kids that's bad. Just with some friends for fun by using an excel sheet and including some impossible questions like how many goals will be scored in the whole tournament etc. It's going to be so fun, well probably. I do look forward to that a lot and there's nothing brining together a country quite like football. 

Some Loki thoughts

So I saw the first episode yesterday and I must say I looooveee this. I read some spoilerfree reviews that said that the first episode was dragging a little bit and mostly focused on worldbuilding and maybe they have a point in saying that but I must say just being able to inhabit this world with Loki as the driving narrative force was amazing and made up for all it was lacking. It might have been a little bit clunky, the humour not always working 100%, but Loki uses humour as a deflecting tactic to avoid conversations and having to deal with what's simmering underneath so I don't mind it as much. Hiddles is on form as Loki and his scenes with Owen Wilson are a joy to watch. That relationship is interesting, a little bit of a push and pull going on there and not knowing which one of them to trust. That's a great way to introduce their relationship and how it might or might now grow as the season progresses. 

Though the pain in this first episode I really wasn't expecting, damnit. It hurt me! A lot! I loved it, because I love angst eheh, angst leads to growth. I feel these smaller shows for Disney have really tapped into that which was kind of missing from the big films, trauma, pain, tears and growth. All the good stuff. There really isn't anyone quite like Loki in the mcu, and I'm so happy he's gotten his own show to lead and I have no clue where this is going but I feel it's just going to be absolutely great. Especially if they actually include Loki's canonically queerness into the show, that would be absolutely incredible! 

I've seen the first episode of Feel Good too and I haven't really had the time to binge it but the first episode was really solid. Mae Martin is just so good and I love the mixture of humour that's awkward as hell at times but also how it talks about some really serious issues too and how trauma and healing isn't linear and not having your shit together at 30 man, relatable, that's probably going to be me at that age...

I'm excited for Friday, Love Victor! I also just found out that Duncan Lawrence has written a song for it! Ah that's super exciting.

OH, also Shadow and Bone has gotten reviewed for a season 2!!!!!!! More crows in my life, YES!

Yes, let's just make one of those posts with lots of smaller posts lumped in together, because ah why not? Honestly I've watched some films that could probably do with some reviews, but it got too much for me and my brain and the want to blog just disappeared completely, and I'm trying to be consistent in this creative thing I try to have going, so had to reassess it a little bit and think of how to not leave this space empty for the next coming months. Writing, who would have thought it to be this hard huh?

Okay, so Love Victor, let's start there, because *aahhhh I am so excited* 

So the trailer released the other week and let me tell you I have been waiting for the release as well as the show airing for what feels like forever now. And it didn't disappoint, the tears streamed down my face, because why wouldn't they basically, I laughed, I got excited, I chuckled, I felt emotions like a normal human being in moderate amount, maybe? Probably not, if you didn't know this, I feel things excessively sometimes. But yes I think this was definitely one of my favourite shows of last year, because it was cute as hell! And sweet and the gays got a rom com finally. It ticked a lot of boxes that as a queer person myself, have been waiting ages on. It's super charming, it has a big heart, but it's also very serious and deals with some very honest and scary stuff many of us go through. While Victor is so good, the actor is great, he is joined by a supporting cast where you don't dislike anyone and it adds to the sweetness of it all. I'm ready to go back to Creakwood, for some more drama, teen angst, heartbreak and happiness. 11th of June, please come quick!

Basically I am in a long and lasting reading slump, sighs... I can't unfortunately with anything right now. Books no, words nah. Well words YES, but when written on paper, eehhh nope. So that's boring, mostly for myself because I want to be reading, I just haven't gotten then attention span right now, which sucks so much.

I've listened a lot to Olivia Rodrigo's new album and ah the angsty teenager in me is rejoicing. I feel it's an album that fits me as much today as it did ay 17. Honestly, good for her for writing such a catchy and cool album. 

Let's all talk about the 911 season finale that aired this week. Wheesh, that was an emotional ride for sure. Buck, goddamnit, that character is honestly one of the best written characters in tv history, well at least one of them. This episode broke me a little bit, because his reaction to .... well ok SPOILERS look away. His emotional reaction to Eddie getting shot, and the aftermath of it, and how he had to deal with it, and spend time with Christopher, well it was all a lot for my lil heart that feels stuff in moderate size to handle. We can maybe have a talk here on this blog about queer baiting because it has got accused of it, and while I hate goddamn queerbaiting I actually am not sure Buck and Eddie, or Buddie is a case of that. I do think that showcasing a male friendship like this, where one is a father and is actually a good one, is important too. There are few instances on television and film where men get to be just friends, because there is always that very obvious boundary present between them, so that they don't fall into the category of 'being too gay'. I think with a show that has all kinds of representation, making Buddie just friends is also kind of revolutionary. That said, would they ever take the step of making them canonically queer or a couple, I would be cheering the loudest! And in fic verse there are no rules, I will read them there any time. 

Let's talk about these babes being the actual winners of Eurovision. Yep let's talk about it. 

I mean YEP YEP YEP. This image is my favourite image of all times. I wish I could channel this every goddamn day, tho I do think this is definitely some type of alter ego of mine, or at least a parallel version of me hanging out somewhere in the world looking like this. The vibes are just EXCELLENT. They are so cool and all so gender no conformative which is GREAT and INSPIRING and yep I love everything about this. Also the song is a banger. Eurovision was a fun mess this year, like it was super tense and there was a bunch of songs that were very good so when the 12s came through they were flying off in all kinds of different directions. I have missed the Eurovision bubble, it's truly something else and this is silly, but maaan it does unite people. I might be a little bit of a romantic over that but yes it is beautiful. The real drama started happening when the people's vote came through and while Italy was seen to be a favourite, I really did doubt whether they would pull through in the end. They did and it was glorious. I also loved that Ukraine and Iceland proved to be a winning concept, which is cool weirdness that you own by looking amazing. My favourite thing is that the top 3 spots were dominated by retro queer (Italy), altar boy gay (Switzerland) and hipster lesbian (France) ahah. Basically the vibes this year were unbeatable. I was sad not to see Duncan Lawrence perform live because Arcade is an incredible song and that Iceland didn't either. Corona, sighs.... never will be rid of you. 

It feels great to welcome Angelina Jolie back to my screen this year. I am super hyped to see her in The Eternals later this year if it will premiere at all (cinemas please open up, pandemic fuck off) and the whole cast for that film has made me super hype for sure.

Angelina can do it all, I am convinced of this but it's cool to see her in a role like this, rowdy, dirty, cool, swearing and swinging an axe with swag. Tyler Sheridan the director, ahh I remember him back from his days on Sons of Anarchy, has had a fairly solid track record when it comes to the films he has written and directed the last few years. I haven't seen Hell or High water and while I am less of a fan than probably most of the first Sicario film I do think it is a stunning one. Wind River is the first film he directed and I thought it was pretty good, chilling and uncomfortable but a solid film for it to be the first time behind the camera and I love how he incorporated the landscape of it and made it into its own character of the film. I'm less of a fan of violence against women and the murder that takes place but I am willing to overlook it because the film isn't just your standard cardboard cut out of raped and murdered woman. (Though I think there is an important debate to be had today about the violence shown towards women on screen in films and tv shows). 

When it comes to Those who wish me dead I had kind of expected more for some reason. It's not a bad film by any shot of the imagination, it's solid. I guess I had kind of just expected to adore Jolie's character in it more. It's interesting because no character is bad in this, but I feel the focus of the characters shift away at times and they do feel a little thin. Or maybe not even thin, just that they could have done with more screentime overall to expand on them more. Ethan and Allison played by Jon Bernthnal and Medina Senghore are great which I really did not expect. Especially not that Allison would be the absolute best one, I love that it came out of nowhere and I do love a badass woman with a rifle taking down dicks and assholes left and right. Finn Little who plays Connor is very good as well and I did really like how he played off Jolie's character. There are some tense scenes but I did find that nothing was that unexpected in it and I just didn't watch it for the spectacle, which means I would have appreciated the film some more if all characters hadn't been so isolated and had shared some more scenes together. 

I am giving it a solid 3 stars, which is a recommendation after all. 

★★★

Ok so this was supposed to be two posts obviously, because my plan was not to start with season 3 last Friday and finish this Monday..... but ah well it was incredibly compelling and I couldn't stop so here we are. I've seen most of season 4 as about now too but it's a much shorter season so I wasn't expecting it to take that long either. 

Season 2 and 3 run by so fast that I am making it into one post because so much has bled together that I'm struggling to keep track of what happened where in the two. Ok there will be spoilers ahead because I really can't talk about this show without those, also this show is over ten years old, if you haven't seen it, well there is nothing to be done about that, other than run to your computer and do such. 

Okay so season 2 I really liked, it felt tighter, the stakes higher and a lot of the things that happened that was not connected to the main plot, aka the filler episodes didn't detract too much from everything else that was going on. The characters do some growing here and I feel they actually start to like each other like friends which was definitely something that I was missing from the first season. Some of the flashbacks are a bit messy though. In season 1 it was all about getting to know the characters a bit more and find out who they were outside of the island, so that was fine. But in both of season 2 and 3 those episodes are supposed to be connected to what the character goes through in the episode and that is definitely not always executed the best. That said there are some great character moments and season 2 introduces one of the woooooorst villains I have ever experienced. He is so creepy and weird and grows to be a real goddamn twat and I have never experienced such satisfaction as I do when he gets slapped or hit, yep that's dark but man he does my head in. 

Also yes Shannon died in season 2, that broke my heart!!!! I had a feeling she was not going to make it all the way to season 6 but she died so unexpectedly and that was so goddamn sad...They really just continue putting Sayid through heartbreak, why?? I love him and he needs a break. He continues to be my fave, ah I love that man a lot. It also makes me laugh that Lost really is a show where Jack says 'let's trust the sketchy people' and Sayid says 'no they are lying', he's been proven right more times than he has not and being suspicious of everyone in this show is what keeps you alive, both as a character but also as a viewer hahaha. In season 2 they introduce the survivors of the tail section that crashed on the other side of the island and it gave the show a bit of fresh air that 1 lacked by introducing new characters and a new set of issues. Though, it's a shame that all of them apart from Bernard is now dead ahaha. 

We get to know Dessy, he's a sweetheart and a weirdo and he and Penny are probably my favourite couple. When we meet him he's a weirdo but then as the season progress that is stripped back and the character that we met in season 2 is a different man in season 3, but much else do than all the other characters. 

Also I've lost track of it now so I will be mixing season 2 and 3 because I can't completely remember where everything fits ahah.

Ok Charlie was a dick in season 2, he's been a bit of a prick for a while now but season 2 he evolved to a dick full time, but then it got better again and him dying was honestly pretty sad. So good job writers, it did get to me a little. 

For Lost to be a show about a mystery island it's also a lot about dads being horrible and about the characters killing them, there are not a lot of good dads, except for Jin. 

What I admire about this show is that it starts off in one place and grows into being something completely different. Season 1 is about survival, that plot is pretty straightforward and it's probably why I like it the least, but 2, 3 and 4 are all so completely different and it's still not really clear to me what the island really is but then again I don't expect it to be revealed at any point either. The plot twist season 3 ended on, I'm not sure. Like it's HUGE of course, but I found I wasn't that interested in it for some reason. I don't know why that is, maybe because we've spent such a long time wanting to get off the island only for when it does happen it's all shit. Season 3 was fascinating with The Others, more about Ben who is still the biggest twat ever and Juliet who is a sneaky sweetheart. I must say though that being almost done with 4 already, that one feels distinctly different to the other 2, it's shorter which means it's tighter, almost all episodes have tension and stakes in them and stuff happens and things move forward constantly. But it raises a lot of questions too that makes me confused and the flash forwards haven't interested me as much until now, the last 4 episodes really.

Okay that was some talk about season 4 which I hadn't planned, but everything bleeds together and I am gonna put a stop to it here so I can run away and finish season 4 asap. 

Yes I don't think anyone has escaped the fact that I embarked onto a reading venture where I decided to read all the Grisha books before the show aired because I wanted to understand the hype over them. I talk about it here and here are my reviews of the duology. I reviewed the books in more detail on my instagram if you want to read those there .

Anyways, last Friday the show dropped and I was ready to hit the play button the first thing I did in the morning. Sadly my reality isn't that I can drop everything I know and binge tv, something I only ever really want to do when I am extremely into something, which isn't often. I watched 6 episodes on Friday and the last two on Saturday and it was an extremely enjoyable ride I must say. 

Now if you're not familiar with the show or the books here is a little summary I copied off imdb because I am too lazy to write one up myself.

"Dark forces conspire against orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov when she unleashes an extraordinary power that could change the fate of her war-torn world."

Now admittedly the show is quite different to the books. Particularly Alina's trilogy becomes much better, much more enjoyable and much more in tune with the times we live in, while The Crows dulogy become a totally different thing. That's what the hardest thing to wrap my head around is, that the books and the characters from the duology are very different here than what I imaged them and how they were portrayed in the book. We must start off with Kaz, also if you want to read furthere there will be SPOILERS so don't read any further now if you don't want them. Ok, so Kaz is admittedly one of the most difficult characters ever to adapt onto the screen especially when it had be done this way. This kind of works as a prequel to The Crows in the books as they have been made to fit into Alina's books and what happens in them here on screen. Kaz isn't the bastard of the barrel we know him as in Six of Crows, notorious gang leader, ruthless and uncompromisingly cold in his approach to everything. In Shadow and Bone he is softer much less put together and less in control of everything and not ten steps ahead of everyone like he is in the books. His relationship is very different with both Inej and Jesper and because of that it changes the whole dynamic for all three of them. I don't dislike this, but I've had to sit with it for a while that Show Kaz and Books Kaz are two very different people and get on board with that and move on. I think Freddy Carter is AMAZINGLY cast as Kaz Brekker, the way he looks is very much spot on how I imagined Kaz looking in the books, it is incredible. It is very funny to me though that The Crows really didn't manage to achieve anything on their little quest, other than look cool as hell and fail, that has made me laugh a lot.

I think that Jesper is the absolute highlight of this show though. Kit Young plays him magnificently and seeing Jesper come to life this way is glorious. I can even say that he is even cooler in the show than what he is in the books and I did absolutely love him in the books. He is comedic genius, super badass, queer, cool, funny and he has great chemistry with anyone that is on screen with him and I loved every second we got to see him. The little hints and teases about him being a fabrikator are also laid out throughout the show and I don't think you will pick up on it without knowing, or you will suspect something if you really loved the show and became obsessed with it, then every time he and Ivan clash you'll know something is up.

Inej was super awesome too. I do feel her arc is much darker in the duology books and I do hope going forward that we might explore that some more. It took me a while to take to her pov in the books but once I did I loved spending time with her calm, wise and beautiful inner voice and her suli wisdom she offered up both to the characters in the world and us readers. Her relationship to her religion and how it ties into Alina is beautiful and I loved how they approached it for the show.

The crows are all great, it's just a very different story than what I expected/wanted it to be. But it is in no terms a bad one.

Ok, so onto Alina' arc and the Shadow and Bone storyline. I'm not he biggest fan of these 3 books. They are fine, they have some cool moments but they are very much your standard YA chosen one fantasy story and it's not my favorite thing. Show-wise it definitely gets better. I absolutely loved Jesse Me Li as Alina, she is so warm and sweet and charming it very much works. People have hated Mal in the books, even I couldn't escape that when I was reading them a while back, and that was a long time after everyone else. I never did dislike him to be fair, I actually quite like him and his arc in the third and last book and I feel Archie Renaux played him super charmingly and compellingly as well. I definitely believed in his and Alina's friendship on screen and he came across as a genuinely good guy. 

Some scenes just like the books are very rushed here too, some relationship scenes and some building or establishing scenes as well. I feel it could have done with one more episode where Alina spent time in the Little Palace, working on her powers, getting to know the people around her and establishing the character more. David and Genya's relationship feels very rushed, I never got the sense like I did in the books, the pressure Alina feels to perform and be able to use her powers and understanding the life around her, that did disappear a bit in the show and that's a shame. I also think the world and the politics might be super confusing because the show does not have a map and it makes it hard to follow if you don't already have previous knowledge from the books.

Ok we have to talk some about Ben Barnes as the Darkling🤤 hahah the emoji sums up what I feel about him. I disliked the Darkling a lot in the books, he is problematic as hell and super toxic and creepy and it set off all the alarms bells in my head. In the second book he is the absolute worst. Now Ben Barnes is one gorgeous man, with his wavy hair, sexy voice and beautiful eyes and all that definitely helps the case of the Darkling in the show. I think they have added some more layers to him, stripped away some things that were just inherently creepy about him and given him a backstory so that you can at least understand some more where he is coming from. Now, I will never want Alina to be with this man but they show at least did a good job of changing some of the more problematic aspects of him and it makes the show a little bit better too. 

It's been compared to Game of Thrones which is just ridiculous, they are two very different shows for sure. But it's been a while since there was a lavish, stylish and beautiful fantasy world on our screens so the comparisons come natural to many I guess. I think this definitely have some things that are actually way better than GOT because GOT is also problematic as fuck.

Oh I haven't even mentioned Nina and Matthias! AH. Ok I loved them in the books, they are the superior enemies to friends to lovers couple and they gave me all the feels in the show. Their love story is definitely the most compelling one to watch out of everyone's, and the actors had some insanely good chemistry between one another and it was lovely to watch it play out.

I hope this show gets a season 2, I want to come back to this world and watch some of my favourite characters grow some more in the screen format.

Some other really good things about this show:

❂ The normalisation of queer relationships and characters that are just there existing. Ah it makes my little heart happy. 

❂ Non english fantasy world because we have seen enough of that for a life time

❂ Diverse and nuanced characters with trauma across the spectrum. It feels very representative for the time we are in now

Ok there are more, but basically just watch this show so we can get to a season 2 where Wylan and Nikolaj can show up. That is what I want!

 

It seems somehow that 2021 tv show watching year has turned into me watching old shows that everyone saw years before me. First Line of Duty which is an ongoing show to be fair and now Lost. Hey, who would have thought huh?

(season 3 of Line of Duty shall commence soon, which when writing this makes me realise I never blogged about season 2, damnit. *adds it onto the to do list)

But anyway, back to Lost. I have a friend who has been on my ass about this show. It's like her favourite show of all time or something so she has talked about it a lot during the years we have known each other. She is also the kind of person that watched it back in the day when it aired while I was out being a little shit playing hide and seek and Sims, going to bed before 10 and so on. 5 years age different doesn't matter when you hit 25, but when you are 5 and your friend is 10, then well, the steps between feel massive. Anyway, this is kind of unimportant to the show so, let's get back on track.

The show has sentimental value to her, she loves it, still to this day while there is definitely a distance for me because I have seen so much tv that is ya know better than this...? Better is objective, but I definitely come from it from a different angle than what she does.

But I definitely had no excuses when Disney+ got Stars Play added onto their services which had all seasons of Lost on it so I started with a mutual friend to my other friend who has been on my ass. We decided on 3 eps a week which I kept to for a while actually until I decided to read so much I kind of suffered from burn out and had to put a pin in it (still haven't read in a while now...) But yes for a while all was swell and then I got distracted, but last week I came back to it and finished season 1 and now going pretty solidly into season 2.

So about Lost then. If you were to ask me to recap it would go something like this. *clears throat*

'Ok, so a bunch of strangers on a plane crashes on a deserted island full of strange things and mystery. Some people die, they fight a lot and weird shit keeps happening.'

Yep, about sums season 1 up. Basically I have no clue what in the living hell is going on. My genuine first thought was that they were in purgatory getting punished for something. But now I've been told this is a sci fi show so now all bets are off. Literally anything could happen and I will have no clue what that is. I'm just here to be strapped in for the ride I guess. Season 2 widens that because even stranger things keep happening, there is a button that has to be pressed every 108 minute, the strangers all actually seem to be connected somehow and the Others are batshit crazy. Who even are the Others really? They are obsessed with kids and they kill violently, that's about all I know. 

But yes season 1 then. I found it to be slow actually, it was dragging for a loooong time man. It only really got good towards the last 5 episodes and it's been living on that momentum since then because it's still good. The first two episodes of season 1 according to IMDB has a rating of 9.2 while the last two of the season has 9.3. I would agree with that, the first two were pretty solid because everything was chaotic and crazy but then the excitement simmered down as the show progressed. 

I liked episode 6 that was about Sun and episode 9 which was about Sayid. The issue with this show is sometimes there are too many characters and they have to give them less interesting things to do. Obviously they can't all be in danger all the time, sometimes they do have to be able to play some golf, grow some plants and go swimming. Of course, but sometimes it gets a bit boring because it feels very much removed from the plot and it loses my interest. 

I love Sayid though, he is my favourite. I liked him when I started out, now I love him. What a sweet romantic little baby he is. Him and Shannon hanging out is my favourite thing to come out of season 1 and it makes me emotional watching them. Jin starts out as an asshole, ugh and I wasn't very interested in him to begin with. But towards the end he felt like a much more integral character to everyone else and that I did like. And thank the heavens he's becoming one of the most likeable dudes in the crew as well. I think that what I am actually missing is them all feeling more like family and friends. But they can just be such asses to each other and I'm not a fan of that. Jack is a bit boring but I feel it's starting to even out now in season 2 as it feels less like a show just about him and more like an ensemble show now. Kate I have mixed feelings about, she can be a sneak and a lie and she is extremely selfish. On the other hand I do love it when she is genuine and supportive of the people around her, then she is a sweetheart. Sawyer is a dick and most of the time he is annoying, but I'm hoping he will grow less selfish and more caring in season 2, then I could consider actually liking him. Shannon is a sweetie, I love her as well, same with Sun. The rest I basically have mediocre feelings about.

But I am excited to continue, the one spoiler I actually know going forward, thanks Empire podcast for spoiling me, is that the other survivors will come into play and I feel that might add another exciting layer and dynamic to the other Losties. 

I am as surprised as most, but yes I did watch a tv show, a whole season even in less than a week. This season only had 5 episodes though so it didn't take long and when I watch things with other people I really can't find excuses not to continue, which is my biggest issue to date, the motivation to keep watching literally anything. 

But this I did watch and liked it I did. I wasn't mesmerised like I expected to be because people have been praising this show to the skies recently. Also everyone is watching it too at the moment because the latest season is now airing so it's a little bit of a perfect time to join the train too. But amazing it wasn't, good sure and I hope it keeps getting better. I want them to go after really bad corrupt cops because this season, while interesting and containing some really good acting, I felt the case was in a way just building towards something bigger for the future seasons. But I do appreciate a show that starts in one direction and then ends up in a completely different one. This did that for sure and I like the characters. It took a while to get more of Steve, the three first episodes he was literally walking around, sitting down for interrogations and looking things up on his computer, but it got better after a while and the man had some action. 

I also want the line the show is famous for from Hastings 'my job is to catch some bent coppers', that hasn't been shouted yet, I'm still waiting man. 

Anyway, a friend told me season 2 is the best and the tensest, and it's that tenseness, edge of the seat kind of feeling I want out of this. There is a scene in this that gave me that feeling, but apart from that I wasn't super surprised about the curveballs they threw at me, so I am hoping for more. I don't tend to review shows like this, but because it's supposedly going to get better I feel a;

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 are in order and then as we go along those stars will hopefully become more.

My job now is to convince my mother to watch the rest, she's the kind of person only to watch one season and then stop which makes absolutely no sense to me. If you commit, you commit 100%, nothing less.

So I shall go do that right about now while I on the inside jump up and down about 911 Lone Star coming back late tonight and that Shadow and Bone starts on Friday, a good week ahead. 

This is a film about horrible people being horrible to nice people and taking advantage of a broken system. This could easily not be my jam, it totally is somehow.

Marla Grayson, a crooked, sneaky badass legal guardian who drains the savings of her elderly wards by forcing them into retirement homes and taking advantage of the vulnerable suddenly meets her match when the woman she tries to swindle turns out to be more than she first appears.

Yep, as the synopsis says, it's a film about terrible people. It's absolutely a film about elderly abuse and how smart and nasty people work a broken system to their benefit and screw people over left and right. 

It'e definitely all that, while it is also a film about female empowerment because there is something about Marla (Rosmund Pike) that is absolutely revolutionary in the way she is portrayed. And I don't always want to talk about feminist films and all that because I think it's up to each and everyone themselves to decide what they think is empowering to them and not up to me or anyone else to point fingers and be like 'that one is just a mother, she isn't a feminist' that is bullshit. I love Marla, I love this film, while I know it's terrible I do also think the film very obviously points fingers at the broken system in America that allows for this to happen and how in a late state capitalist society a lot of people are assholes and only care about themselves, money and how they can get ahead. 

There is a scene in Marla's office with Dean the asshole lawyer that is just outstanding in terms of acting but also just shows what a boss ass bitch Marla actually is. She doesn't back down, EVER, and I love watching it. I love watching a woman be unafraid in a world where there is a lot to be afraid of. Marla refuses to give in to anyone, I can't help but admire it.

All that, it's not to say that the film doesn't take a standpoint, I feel it does which is probably a good thing even though the ending is a little bit unfortunate because to me it ended up being a little bit tropey, and not in a good way. It's a satire though for most part of its runtime, a dark comedy which makes the tone of the film work perfectly for what it was going for and I was definitely rooting for Marla throughout the film, putting bad guys against even more bad guys is very effective when it is done this way.

And yes Marla has some nasty qualities, at the same time, women get judged all the harsher than men, and there are countless films where men are adored for this kind of behaviour, yes I am looking at you Wolf of Wallstreet (I can't stand the film and some argue it also takes a clear standpoint and judges Jordan Belford, does it though?) but I do think Marla has some fascinating qualities in her arsenal. I do admire how the film doesn't feel overtly sexual in regards to Marla. Like yes obviously she is hot af and her suits are complimentary of her body, but she gets by because she is the smartest woman in the room and most men cannot stand it. I love that it's what pisses the men off the most, that she is so untouchable, that even death threats don't dismay her. I need some of that gusto. 

Also, the fact that she is a lesbian, well she is most likely a lesbian, and her girlfriend in this played by Eiza Gonzales is just RIDICULOUS! Like my god she is attractive, it is UNFAIR. I mean I'm not complaining, I was just a little blown away by it. Their relationship is made no big deal in this film, yes that is refreshing for sure and it's just a part of the plot, beautiful and gives the film a lot of heart, because Fran brings out a different side to Marla. She's still raw and ambitious and want money, but she becomes softer with Fran, and everyone who knows me knows I love soft badass queers that take what they want. It's absolutely my jam.

I feel this is a film I will definitely go back to and rewatch again, because come on now, sometimes it's nice to root for a bad guy, especially when they are as nicely dressed as Marla is.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

For stars in for I care a lot.

2021 has for sure been a terrible film year, my god, look at this little list. By this point I am usually up at at least 20... sad indeed. Ah well, I miss the cinemas, it's where I go to see all new films. There are so many new films too that I haven't seen because of streaming rights and none of them being on any that I use... well well.

Race
To all the boys, always and forever
Moxie

 I briefly mentioned that I'm doing a reading marathon of Shadow and Bone trilogy + the duology books called Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom before the netflix adaption tv shows comes out at some point during mid April. Yep I know, I don't totally know what I have chosen to embark on and so on, but I've already finished the first trilogy book and read about 1/3 of the second. I'm doing pretty well for myself basically.

Surrounded by enemies, the once great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feasts on human flesh. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything in her life but when her regiment is attacked on the fold and her best friend brutally injured she reveals a dormant power that saves his life, making her realise that the power could be the key to setting her war raged country free. 

⭐⭐⭐  

This is the first fantasy book that I have read in 10+ years or so and yep I have been away from this genre for a long time now. On the plus side I am doing well on my promise to read more fantasy this year and when I've finished this reading marathon I will have read 5 fantasy books, not bad for a gal who don't venture into made up worlds no more. 

So, while this book is so abundantly YA at times it's almost a little grating, I did still find myself getting drawn into the world of Ravka, the magic and the politics reigning inside of it. It's definitely the best part of the first book and I really did wish it spent much more time on that part of it and less on Alina's relationship with Mal or the Darkling because those are just way less interesting. 

But one can't have everything in this world so I had to make due with this.

Once I started to get the hang of everything, the map, the eastern European/Russian inspired cities and the goddamn Grisha orders and groups it was actually a really easy and quick book to get through. I admire that despite the characters sometimes feeling a little paper thin or not fleshed out enough, particularly in relation to each other, the story is very easy to get drawn into and I do enjoy spending time with it.

That's the strongest part of the book, the world. I am actually deeply fascinated by it and the magic. I want to know more about the magic.

Spoilers/Speculation:

✪ My issue with Alina as a main character is that I feel deeply disconnected to her, it's very annoying and I find that the main characters of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse in the trilogy at least toe the line of having to please everyone and be perfect all the time. It's annoying because it barely gives the characters any depth and makes it hard to know them. It's particularly problematic following Alina as a main character for three books and feeling that she is so fragmented. 

✪ Because of this divide between main characters and side characters, the side characters become way more fascinating and interesting to read about. The first one had some good ones, I feel the second one has even better ones and I am very pleased to be following their journey alongside Alina's.

✪ I don't want to spend my time hating on the Darkling. I could probably write an essay about how problematic he is. God. But he is trash and I wish him a quick death. I can't believe I'm going to have to read about him for two more books....

✪ For the second and third book I am hoping for more war and politics, it's what I was missing from the first one, because a big part of that book was spent on things I really didn't care about. So, please war and politics that is nuanced, please. 

✪ I'm mostly excited about reading the duolgy books, I've heard good things and yes I am excited. So I'm going to stop blogging now and run off to read some more so I can finally join the hype about the found family of criminals doing sneaky shit!

 

Set during a summer in New York at a prestigious art school, Felix Love, transgender, black and queer tries to navigate his teenage years. Then an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages and dead names him, and so, Felix comes up with a plan for revenge.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

This is a messy, fierce, heartfelt, sad, funny and such a goddamn important book it's making me a little giddy I was finally able to read it. This book man, it's going to be so life changing for so many queer, and particularly transgender kids out there, wow, it's just beautiful and it does make me almost tear up thinking about it. Some will have waited all their lives for this, not just kids and teenagers. Representation truly truly matters.

There was so much in this book that I related to for sure, the conversations that were so important in it, and doubting oneself's identity, damn, I've been there myself, hell sometimes I am even there today. It can be so hard, I know...

But apart from feeling like I recognised myself in these kids, it was mostly just the possibility this book gave me, to hang out with this bunch of awesome, cool, queer kids in summery New York that just made me so goddamn excited about life. Ghaaa I want to live in the social world again, go to parties, to dance until I can't anymore, to laugh with friends, to scream at the top of my lungs at Pride. I want life to be beautiful again.

I definitely wasn't a fan of everything going on in this book, but I don't want to spoil anyone, so I won't say what those things were. And even if there were things that I didn't like it didn't diminish my reading experience at all so it didn't even matter that much. It's still one of those books that I will think about a long time after, cherish and want to buy my own actual copy of, because the cover is gorgeous and there are certain things in it that I would love to be able to highlight. There is just so much to love in a book that has so much heart in it, but not just that, it's easy to read and very educational too, it's why it will be a book I will recommend to everyone while also crossing all my fingers and toes that netflix will pick it up and make it into a tv show. It would be so good for it!

I loved Ezra in this, I LOVED him so much aaaahhh. And Leah, she was awesome and of course beautiful brave Felix. I loved reading your story. Thank you. 

Now my reading marathon of Shadow and Bone series + duology beings so I can read all 5 books before the show airs on netflix in April. God, will I make it? I hope so!

I have to admit, I've been in a little bit of a reading slump in February. I mean to be honest, February is the most hateful month of the year, lol, yes my birthday is tomorrow and ageing is depressing as hell and I'm trying not to let it get to me that turning 25 in a pandemic sucks. 

Anyways, back to reading. The year started off well, I read three books in January and then chose to read Bonds of Brass and that derailed me completely... and now it's just lying in my ebooks unfinished, giving me anxiety. But I read this at least, even though it's taken like four weeks which can be pretty good for me but also terrible because I do still posses the ability to finish reading books in a week. I just rarely do that these days, I'm easily a distracted person, there is soooo much stuff on the internet ya know?

Okay, back to Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. I've had this book for ages, and it's been in my bookcase for years just lying there gathering dust, which yes is admittedly depressing but I'm busy with other stuff sometimes that I forget, mainly being a mess, but I did get to it finally and my goal this year is to buy less new books and read the ones I have left neglected in my shelves here at home. 

This is an essay collection about Gay's life, her thoughts about race, feminism, rape culture and even pop culture.

I was a little apprehensive about this film, just because I absolutely love the first film and the second one kind of let me down because it just wasn't very good. I wanted this to be good, I wanted Lara Jean to get to end her story on a high and go on into the ether of films to be seen by future young people that have their flights get cancelled and have to spend a night alone in a hotel room, not sure when they will get home, feeling lost and alone. Okay, that was what happened to me and why I love the first film because it reminds me of comfort and it made me laugh when I was very sad. But for the ones not being unlucky with flying, I hope they'll find these movies and get lost in them and enjoy the beauty and silliness of high school romance. 

Anyway,

this film lived up to my expectations for sure. I got all the fuzzy excited feelings, I cried, I laughed I rolled my eyes and my heart tugged painfully in my chest at the more serious but soft moments this one contained. It really was a worthy ending for Lara Jean, and for Peter and for Lara Jean and Peter together. Lana Condor and  Noah Centineo really has amazing chemistry together and it's so easy to get lost in their loving stares and cute kisses and tickles. It surprised me that they gave Peter even more depth by straying a little from the main story to focus some more on him and his issues but even so it's definitely still very much Lara Jean's story. I loved how this one focused on friendship a lot and sisterhood, beautiful messages which also gives a lot more room for the side characters to grow too. I particularly enjoy Chris and Trevor's relationship and the whole jock goes for 'less popular girl' trope is just a winner. 

But this one also focuses a lot on Lara Jean and her journey to try and find out who she is without Peter, which can definitely be scary and is a real solid fear many of us who go into relationships do have, and that definitely made the whole film feel much more serious than the previous ones, as well as rooting the fairytale romance in reality. I loved the dreams she had of the future and how those changed the more she figured out what she actually wanted. Knowing that can be so hard sometimes. 

As always, it gets a little angsty, but it has some real beautiful moments throughout and the whole film just has so much goddamn heart that it's hard not to be swept away. The ending might be obvious, I find that it didn't matter anyway, I just wanted to inhabit this very aesthetically, instagram feed pleasing world for a little longer and watch two young people love each other throughout their obstacles. Sometimes that's all you need.

I listened to the Pilot TV podcast when this show came out in December. It's run by Empire Film magazine and it's a goofy little podcast that I enjoy having as company while I am on my many daily dog walks in the woods. They weren't totally on board with this show, not because it doesn't look nice, because it does. Amazon has given them a fairly high budget I think, but because they weren't really the target audience for the show, which is fair. Even I am probably too old for this show now. It's a hard one to realise but 17 year old's issues are not totally relatable to me these days.

But I did quite enjoy this show to be honest and I must say that seeing a show completed dedicated to its main cast that are all girls is highly unusual. So yes that premise really did hook me in. And then there is  a plane accident and all girls end up stranded on a deserted island, forced to fight for their lives to survive. Yes please I am all for that.

For a further read, there shall be spoilers. 

↓↓

I really did like that set up actually, and episode 1 ends with questions because obviously there is something else going on. As the story progresses it becomes a little clearer but even now at the end I keep thinking 'wait what was the point of the experiment they were doing'. And yeah I hated the whole 'feminist, we don't need men to survive bs' that they were preaching. Like yes obviously men suck most of the time hehe, but it was just soooo unnecessary, like I didn't need that part of the show, like at all. I would have liked this all a hell of a lot more if it was just these teenagers stranded on an island for 20 days forced to survive and then they would get to go home. The whole island experience is just sooo traumatic and uncomfortable and all I could think at time was god these peeps need some sunscreen and a shower (kudos to the makeup department), and you know also, get to go home to their parents and civilisation.

But adding the whole experiment in just felt annoying and tiring and so cruel, and I didn't want that at all. The time the show spent away from the island and on the people running the whole show was boring, I took up my phone and doom scrolled on twitter through those scenes.

But okay, 8 girls on an island, all of them very different from each other, all of them carrying issues and traumas from their own lives. Yeah, it's pretty fascinating. Like okay, they were kind of dabbling in clichés, the angry girl, the bookish girl, the very sexual promiscuous girl, the nerd, the sport fanatic, but I do feel it was a little bit more nuanced than that when you got their backstories and how they were all bouncing off each other and dealing with everything that was happening, that I didn't care that much that they kind of went 'you get a trauma, and you get a trauma' as well as the stereotypes.

My only maybe real issue with the show was Leah's character. Nothing against her, the actor was killing it for sure, just her issues or trauma were the least relatable thing ever. And I'm not trying to diminish her suffering, but she fell in love with a man that was way older than her, lied about her age and then became depressed and obsessed with him. I was like nope, not my jam. Then on the island she goes kind of insane, which poses the question of whether it's the extreme conditions that triggered her kind of psychosis and paranoia or if she actually had a precious untreated disorder like bipolar or borderline disorder or something, which obviously makes her whole life before the island much more complicated. That thing isn't answered of course, and all the time spent on her past was just ugh to me. 

But I liked all of the characters to be fair, I do love it when a show manages to do that, where you're like yep most of these people are pretty dope and I feel for them all. Also I like when there is queer representation as you all probably know and Shelby and Toni were sweet.

There is a lot going on in this show but for a 10 episode run it was worth my time as I am in constant need of shows that shut my brain off, this did the trick, thank you!