One of Everything: January

Roundup time!

I said last month that I was going to start doing monthly roundups of the media I watch, read, and listen to. I tried doing something similar on Cohost, but I never used that platform and now it’s gone forever. This is also inspired by Alison Belcher’s list of physical media arranged by month. I like the idea of a media tasting menu, and I like making lists, but I want my column to stay a place for close reading one or two things as much as possible. (I know I published a list on there this month, just forget that.) People seem to like it when I publish lists of stuff I’m enjoying on Bluesky, and I like reading other people’s, so why not make it a little longer.

This is also inspired by the Discourse on Bluesky about game critics needing to consume things that aren’t games (I don’t know why I capitalized discourse there, the conversation was positive.) I believe my games writing has benefitted from the fact that I mostly read books until i was in my 20s and played like 3 games a year up until then. I’ve been reading for fun less since I started grad school, and now that that’s almost done (please, please) I want to read more fantasy and contemporary fiction. And more comics! I have so many comics from the Shortbox fair to read.

I’m trying to save money, so this is my year of using the library like crazy. Shoutout to my local librarian who hypes me up whenever I check out Witch Hat Atelier, by the way. I also want to try audiobooks; if you don’t know, the Libby app lets you get them for free through your library. I haven’t had the attention span for audiobooks in the past, but we’ll see.

I’m mostly hoping this will keep me accountable to myself to keep absorbing new things and keeping my free time. And making lists is fun, so. Let’s just start the list now.

Comic

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen

I’ll be honest, since the inauguration I haven’t had any energy after work to do anything mentally taxing (even playing a moderately complex RPG). Think playing Balatro while I watch Arcane in bed and check my phone every 10 minutes level of concentration. So this series has been the best thing to come into my life as it is right now. It takes the Witch characters from the main series and puts them in very low stakes situations that can only be solved through cooking. And then you get a recipe at the end. The best.

Game

9 Sols

I wrote a thread during the aforementioned Discourse where I said that there’s no point saying “this game is like this other game” to me. Well it turns out that’s not true, because what got me to pick up this game was hearing over and over, “it’s like Hollow Knight + Sekiro.” Let me add one thing to that statement: it’s more like Hollow Knight than it is like Sekiro, and that’s a good thing.

Hear me out: I thought I couldn’t do parry-based games because I’ve gotten stuck in Sekiro so many times. I could probably finish that game if I tried long enough, just like I could probably masticate a handful of gravel, but neither would be a pleasant experience. But a parry system in 3D and a parry system in 2D are two different things. If you want something that is about 25% harder than Hollow Knight, but with less platforming, this is it. The bosses are quite good and all feel like a dance. I was surprised by how capable the story is as well. Just a fun, slightly gory game with amazing combat. I got stuck often, but I was never frustrated.

Life After Magic

What if magical girls left their team, and kept living life? This short game is mostly conceptual, just giving you a couple weeks of reconnecting with your friends and a few scenarios with each one. That’s great because it lets the overarching scenario shine. Yes, it *is* a great metaphor for growing up and trying to make friends as an adult. It’s funny and moreover, it’s free.

Dorfromantik

I already played this in 2022 but I saw a screenshot of it when I was doomscrolling and it made me feel less ill to play it for a while.

Book

The Quiet Damage

I’m not sure I get the hype for this one. On the one hand, this book’s impact comes in sheer sadness, as it’s structured by following several families with at least one QAnon family member and how the conspiracy theory affected their lives. To make you feel the impact of their choices to leave (or stay) in the group, it has to use empathy.

On the other hand, I found it incredibly hard to do that. In some cases, it was harder than others: for example, a woman who campaigned for Bernie and then started sending her family YouTube videos about pizzagate and blood libel. There is a real impulse, from me, to say “that person is gullible and acting stupid.” That response isn’t generous, but I’m still thinking over whether it’s wrong.

However, I did think about something Cook says in the afterword, that neither of the Qanon believers she’s talking about was “interested in objective truth.” I thought a lot about that this past week. Lots of people dgaf about truth and care more about what feels true- what communication strategy can reach that kind of denial? I sure don’t know.

Show

It Happened on 5th Avenue

A black and white movie about a bunch of people who, through escalating hijinks, move into a millionaire’s house on 5th Avenue. I watch this movie every year with my parents. And whenever I watch it I’m reminded that it’s… kinda socialist? Its writers got investigated for being communist sympathizers when the movie came out. Obviously they weren’t actually communists, but the movie is proud to say that there’s nothing wrong with a bunch of strangers living in a rich guy’s house.

Not a perfect movie, but there’s a scene where the main character chains himself to a bed and calls the millionaire an octopus that I think about a lot.

Other

I went to the Met exhibit Siena: The Rise of Painting and saw Sienese art from the 14th century. A lot of it was panels from an old church that I’ve been inside about 8 years ago. It made me really want to go back to Italy and especially go to the south.

Favorite Thing I Wrote

Favorite thing I wrote: I only published one thing, my hater’s 2024 list at Unwinnable.

Favorite Thing I Read

My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge. What could yours be? by Laurel Schwulst.

That’s it! I’ll do this again in February. Thanks for reading.