Consumption Log Archive: 2023

Return to more recent consumption/s.

February 2023

Borgen, season three—On the whole, my favourite season out of the three. The series conveys the complexity of politics and personal ambition in a way that is completely gripping. Sidse Babett Knudsen is incredible. 🙆
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind—I am conflicted about this. On the one hand, it is more Jojo, and has given birth to one of my favourite memes from the series. On the other hand, though, the pacing and overall story was a little off. It’s no Diamond Is Unbreakable. 🤷
Rest, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang—This book advocates for conscious and intentional rest, an argument I completely support. It was a pity, then, that the structure of the book felt tedious and the book relied far too heavily on the weight of anecdotes of famous people. 🙅
Borgen, season four (aka Power & Glory)—look, more Borgen was a good thing, and I liked the pacing of having a whole season (albeit a shorter season) focus on the one issue. But the show was the lesser for being shot in that bland high-def netflix look. 🙆
Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez—a little longer than it needed to be, but well written and a beautiful plea for justice for Puerto Rico. The ending felt a little neat. 🤷
Joyful, Ingrid Fetell Lee—joy is an essential but often lacking part of our lives. This book advocates for making time and space for joy and provides a thoughtful exploration of the concept. 🙆
Spy x Family, part two of season one—still charming. hard to tell whether or not I’m just a bit more used to its charm or it was just not quite as lovely as the first part. Easy, cheerful watching. 🙆
An Island, Karen Jennings—a free floating and ambiguous structure can be a wonderful thing but here it comes off as confusing. I wonder if it might have been stronger if it had leant into the dream like quality of parts of the book.🤷
Like Someone in Love, Abbas Kiarostami—the second film I’ve seen by Kiarostami and I admire his approach to film making that is both subtle (in narrative and dialogue) and direct (in cinematography). 🙆
Midsomer Murders, season one—a bizarrely enthralling fever dream. I put it on expecting it to be conducive to a weekend nap and instead was utterly hooked. Dated, camp, wonderful. 🙆
How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis—revelatory. Helped me realise I had internalised some very unhelpful views about cleaning and the value of a clean house. Valuable for anyone to read. 🙆
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, season one—warm, comforting and delightful from start to finish. Directed by the incredibly talented Kore-eda, it made me pine for Kyoto. 🙆
Midsomer Murders, seasons two and three—I am utterly addicted by this point. A regrettable content warning: there are some homophobic slurs, so do watch out. 🙆
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ryan Coogler—an incredible cast brought down by an often clumsy script, terrible CGI and the need to constantly shoehorn in references to other marvel IPs. A reminder that cinema is lesser for the death of Chadwick Boseman. 🤷
The Book of Goose, Yiyun Li—you often hear about books that authors are sad that they themselves didn’t get to write. Well so it was with me and this beautifully crafted book by a master of the genre. 🙆
Black Pepper Beef Stew, Bon Appetit—oddly lifeless. I think in my head I was expecting as something as tremendous as Ottolenghi’s black pepper tofu and it certainly wasn’t. The stew had a wan, lifeless quality. 🙅
Laziness Does Not Exist, Devon Price—this book succeeds where, sadly, Rest failed, by arguing that we need rest for its own sake, rather than just to make us better workers. 🙆
Spicy tomato and salami pasta, Good Food—easy, delicious. I never would have thought of adding orange juice and zest to a pasta sauce but golly it works. 🙆
Tár, Todd Field—an instant favourite. Blanchett was stunning in this provocative, thoughtful film. I thought the exploration of power, gender, creativity in a deliberately ambiguous world was perfect. 🙆
2 a.m. in Little America, Ken Kalfus—A confusing, meandering book that is a little too interested in confusing the reader for my liking. 🙅
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, Nihon Falcom—sadly one of the weakest games in the Trails franchise alas. I took a six month break and then finished it with gritted teeth so I could move on to the next. 🙅
Berbere-spiced chicken, carrots and chickpeas, The Guardian—flavours on point, as you would expect from Ottolenghi, but the cooking times were off. Both chicken and carrots needed substantially longer. Will make again but with adjustments. 🤷
Copenhagen Cowboy, NRW—some truly incredible shots and work with lighting. But far too meandering and cryptic. 🤷

March 2023

The Consultant, season one—this show doesn’t know what it wants to be and it shows. Only Christoph Waltz elevates this from unwatchable. 🤷
Katla, season one—striking visuals but I was eventually worn down by how bleak and unreal this world felt. Narratively uneven. 🙅
Everything Everywhere All at Once, the Daniels—a rewatch of this tremendous film only reinforced, to me, its incredible value and merits. 🙆
Scallion oil noodles, The Woks of Life—it is impossible, for me at least, to watch EEAO and now want to devour a bowl of these. This recipe was delicious indeed, although julienne scallions is its own hell. 🙆
The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty—a debut novel to blow one’s socks off. Dripping with heart and narrative purpose, I had a wonderful time with this. 🙆
Lagom, Linnea Dunne—a largely substance-light book, occasionally featuring illegible pages of black text on dark grey backgrounds. Still, I learnt about fredagsmys and lördagsgodis and so it wasn’t all bad, I suppose. 🙅
I May Destroy You, season one—I watched this and was blown away yet again by how talented and smart Michaela Coel is. Highly recommended: witty, smart, frightening. 🙆
Bomb Shelter, Mary Laura Philpott—some beautiful essays, but I think I was after a little more diverse thoughts than what is presented. One to pick up and read an essay but not necessarily to read through cover to cover. At its best, tremendous writing. 🤷
Simplicity at Home, Yumiko Sekine—a beautiful book, but I think I was mislead as to the concept. I was expecting something substantial and instead got a very nice lifestyle blog/catalogue for Fog Linen. 🤷
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Mark Manson—I tried, I really did, to ignore the dude-bro authorial voice, but in the end it was too much: his privilege and centre-right railing against woke culture was off-putting. Other books cover similar content in more thoughtful and less self-aggrandising ways. 🙅
Dinner in One, Melissa Clark—I have cooked a few things from this book and so far they all have delighted. As I write this I have a wonderful baked pasta dish cooling on the stove. Easy meals with big pay offs in flavour. 🙆
Cities Skylines, Colossal Order—I got back into playing this. Oh no! The best city builder out there, and one made better through amazing mods and assets from a committed community. I fire this up and all of a sudden hours have disappeared. 🙆
Verde Beach, City Planner Plays—this series, from an actual city planner, shows the incredible depth and design possibilities of Cities Skylines. While he has a few ongoing series, I am constantly amazed by the evolving city of Verde Beach, done entirely without mods. 🙆
Japanese Interiors, Mihoko Iida—fun escapism into some stunning Japanese homes. I often wonder what it must be like to live in spaces like these. Then I remember the concept of hedonic adaption. 🙆
Tired as Fuck, Caroline Dooner—parts of this book lit my soul on fire with their relevancy and impact. Others, such as the parts more about the author’s life, felt harder to relate to. Dooner’s world is a privileged one and although she acknowledges this, the memoir sections are, nonetheless, a little hard to swallow at times. 🤷
Babel, R.F. Kuang—a tremendous fun read. Felt a little like Phillip Pullman but with better representation. Kuang is a fun, skilled writer. 🙆
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures: Stone Ocean—another tough one to rate. Certainly more enjoyable than the slog that was Golden Wind, yet the ending left me sceptical about Araki’s ability to craft satisfying long-term narratives. 🤷
The Great British Bake Off, season 13—a fun ride with such a great crew of bakers. And made even better by knowing it was to be Matt Lucas’ last season hosting. Goodbye and good riddance! 🤷
Tehran, season one—I have a real soft-spot for spy dramas. This one took too long to find its feet and felt a little rushes and confused. The next season has, apparently, Glenn Close, which alone might be sufficient reason to watch. 🤷

April 2023

Below Deck, season ten—an interesting season to see how one or two personalities can bring down—or elevate—an entire workplace/social group. One of the appeals of this show is how predictable it is, and in this it continues not to disappoint.🙆
Fish-Fragrant Eggplant, Omnivore’s Cookbook—one of Melbourne’s iconic restaurants is the imitable Dainty Sichuan and one of their signature dishes is fish-fragrant eggplant. It is the thing of dreams. While this recipe loses out on the texture (the D.S. version is deep fried and hence shatteringly crisp) it perhaps even surpasses in flavour. 🙆
Apple Music Classical—this app is a sublime way to engage with Apple Music’s incredible catalogue of classical music. I also appreciate something that is designed to do one thing well, unlike the sad abomination that is the regular Apple Music app. 🙆
Dinosaurs, Lydia Millet—a beautiful book which beguiles with a slow, deliberate thoughtfulness. An easy recommendation. 🙆
Hot Cross Buns, Cobb Lane—a bun that strikes the right balance on all fronts; light but not insubstantial, spicy but not heady, fruity but not overdone. You feel the quality and love that goes into these. 🙆
Poker Face, season one—one of my favourite things from the year so far. Lyonne is just perfect as is Johnson’s direction. Plus I’m a sucker for all the fun cameos. 🙆
Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin—bloody, violent post-apocalyptic fare where the zombies have been replaced with TERFs (but also there are still zombies because of course.) A depressing book in that it really focuses on the lack of rights and respect for trans people (trans rights will always be human rights). Not totally my thing but important. 🤷
Killing Eve, seasons one and two—tremendous fun. Psychopaths really make for the best characters. Incredible work by Oh, Comer and Shaw. 🙆
Future Tense, Dr Tracy Dennis-Tiwary—while I can quibble with some of Dennis-Tiwary’s views on anxiety, especially her clear disdain for medication, the book presents a compelling argument that anxiety should be accepted as an essential part of our lives. 🙆
Cat Snack Bar, iOS(and other platforms I assume)—this was idiotic and I regret spending time on it. Most idle games eventually make me feel this way but this one made me feel it incredibly quickly. 🙅
Banjo and Kazooie, XBLA—playing this for the first time in 2023 was a frustrating experience. Game design has come a long way. Yet the charm of the game still is appreciable. 🤷
Getting COVID-19 for the second time—a sad and exhausting experience. 🙅
Financial Times—I’ve been reading more of the venerable FT through a subscription we have at work and while I disagree with many of their stances on things, I admire their analysis and data viz work. 🙆

May 2023

Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley—a depressing, necessary book about violence and exploitation of black Americans by the Oakland Police Department and (white) society in general. Reading this and Manhunter in succession broke me for a period of time. 🙆
Killing Eve, season three—some of the magic is certainly lost and half the season feels aimless. Still, strong performances from the three leads save it from being unwatchable. 🤷
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode INTERmission, Square Enix—a friend gave me some good advice for surviving these remakes. Ignore the story and focus on the pretty graphics and great music (further of which, see below). 🤷
The Runaround Suite, Sekito Tsuyoshi and Suzuki Mitsuto—Of all the music on the soundtrack of the above, the six part The Runaround suite is a real joy. So few games have any jazz soundtracks and the dynamism and verve of this suite made me smile for start to finish. 🙆
Curry mayo for hot chips—mix some mayo (Kewpie ideally or one of those generic whole-egg mayos) with some curry powder and some lemon juice. Use a dip for hot chips and enjoy. 🙆
Tasting History, Max Miller—this youtube channel continues to delight me. With a focus on foods of history, Miller manages the rare trick of being informed without being lecture-y, of being excited without being a bit much. 🙆
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers—I asked a friend for a recommendation for a healing-feeling book following two tough pieces of fiction. This, their suggestion, was warming, affirming and lovely. 🙆
Killing Eve, season four—very not good. At this point the show is a sad shadow of its former self. Avoid. 🙅
Sovereign Citizens: Pseudolaw & Disorder, münecat—a new essay/exploration from one of my favourite authors on youtube (authors? artists? … creator?) into the bonkers world of ‘SoCits’. Watch, laugh, cry. Highly recommended. 🙆
Atelier, season one—a light, fun Japanese drama about a haute-couture lingerie maker in Ginza. I enjoyed it—good for practicing my Japanese—but found the ending so disappointing I am downgrading its rating. 🤷
Black Night, season one—a Korean sci-fi drama that suffers terribly through the old challenge of having to condense a lot of source material into a very limited run. It has some neat ideas but they feel poorly developed and uncompelling.🤷
Bright-sided, Barbara Ehrenreich—an insightful rebuttal of the American (global? desire to be positive at any costs. Reading this felt revelatory as I hadn’t quite realised the extent to which I had absorbed a rather toxic and harmful mentality. 🙆
The Innocents, Eskil Vogt—a chilling movie about the sometimes terrible otherworldliness of children. I watch this feeling increasingly disturbed and uneasy. A film that sticks with one. 🙆
Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook—an absolutely masterful film. Every detail, shot, moment is considered, excellent, and confident. A compelling character piece that rewards close attention. 🙆
Succession, season four—I thought the first few episodes of the final season were just okay, but the back half was incredible, with each episode besting the previous. The finale was a masterpiece of acting, writing and directing. 🙆
Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund—a disconnected film that would have been better served through being shorter and more restrained. 🤷
Beef, season one—captivating, stressful, awkward, genius television. I feel unusually spoiled by television this year. I loved the layered details in this show and the incredible title cards. Plus I want Amy’s house (as, of course, one is intended to)🙆

June 2023

leTAO Sundae—some of their wonderful ice-cream, a slice of their transcendent cheesecake—all for me. Hokkaido milk is delicious. 🙆
Girlboss, season one—wow! what a terrible show! I watched it all because I could not quite believe it existed. I don’t know what it was trying to achieve or accomplish but it failed nonetheless. 🙅
The Violin Conspiracy, Brendan Slocumb—a searing look at the racism of the classical music world, especially towards Black people. It was a heavy read and let down by its ending. 🤷
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo—All white people could read this book, about the inescapable nature of racism and the enduring harm and damage of white fragility. A must read. 🙆
Good Mourning, Imogen Carn and Sally Douglas—a light and breezy book about dealing with grief. I found this helpful but I don’t think it will be new to anyone who is interested in their mental health. 🤷
Living, Oliver Hermanus—a beautiful film with Bill Nighy giving potentially the performance of a life time. Quiet and gentle. 🙆
Double cheese burger, Smithburg—one of the finer burgers available for a decent price. I like to add a few slices of beetroot at home because the slow decline of beetroot on burgers makes me sad. 🙆
Maid, season one—a harrowing, excellent watch. I think rarely has trauma and domestic violence been portrayed with such nuance and subtlety. And possible the best child actor in recent memory. 🙆
The Art of Insubordination, Todd Kashdan—before my recent non-fiction craze, I had always thought that the books would essentially just be a compelling blog post spun out into novel length. Mostly this has not been the case, but this book came close. I found the book a little slight, which could easily be interpreted as accessible and breezy. I also think Kashdan didn’t really meaningfully address to issue of privilege in relation to rebellion and how it is easier for others. Still, I by and large thought it was interesting enough. 🙆
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Joaquim Dos Santos et al—the first movie is an incredible favourite of mine and this just expands on everything that made the first so special. I don’t think it is better, per se, but there is more of it, which is impressive. 🙆
Black Mirror, season 6—a rare trick where each episode is a little more disappointing than the one preceding it. I didn’t finish it but was so disappointed by it (and, honestly, in myself for giving the franchise another chance) that I had to put it on blast here. The first episode—Joan is Awful—isn’t terrible, but why bother. 🙅
A video where I talk about the Hurstbridge line for 40 minutes!, Taitset—the greatest enduring thing about the internet is finding passionate people talking about their passions. I didn’t think I needed to watch a 40 minute video about a Melbourne train line but, goodness, I’m glad I did. And I think you might be too. 🙆
Easy Bake Battle, season 1—A fun snack-grade cooking competition hosted by the completely charming Antoni Porowski. Some questionable judging choices though! 🙆
The Gospel of Wellness, Rina Raphael—a really thought-provoking and balanced analysis and critique of the modern concept/industry of wellness. Also, a concise summary of the myriad of issues facing individuals in modern life. 🙆
Tonkatsu set, Moon-Mart—hands down the best tonkatsu I’ve eaten outside of Japan (and better than some I’ve had in Japan) in a charming little place. Lovely staff, too. 🙆
Reclaim, Ahona Guha—This book is required reading for everyone, given that trauma either touches us directly or those who we are close too. Providing a helpful and balanced look, I felt I was given a valuable insight into the question of trauma. 🙆
Silo, season one—I was mostly intrigued by this sci-fi series. It did, on occasion, require a little too much suspension of disbelief, but the questions it raise about control, society and our past are fascinating. 🙆

July 2023

Are You Thinking Clearly, Miriam Frankel & Matt Warren—a book that felt like a collection of newspaper columns rather than a cohesive book. I think I would have preferred a more thematic and in-depth approach. 🙅
Sea of Tranquillity, Emily St. John Mandel—few authors create novels as satisfyingly elegant and complex as Mandel. Beautiful literature. 🙆
Sacred Balance, David Suzuki—a vital reminder of the interconnectedness of life, and how humanity’s greed and exceptionalism threatens our survival. Everyone should read this and consider our collective future. 🙆
Call Me Chihiro, Imaizumi Rikiya—a stunning, quiet movie. An ex sex worker navigates her life and finding her people. Beautiful, striking photography. Special. 🙆
The Origins of You, Vienna Pharaon—a useful introductory book on identifying and healing from the scars of childhood. I often found myself wishing this was more evidence-based. It occasionally felt a little vague. And I have to be curious about the preponderance of books in this space written by white cishet women. 🤷
Queer Eye, season one—light, easy entertainment with a quite troubling underlying mentality that serious problems can solved with some earnest aphorisms delivered by cute guys. 🤷
Big Swiss, Jen Beagin—a smart, witty and utterly captivating novel about our secrets, desire, social commentary and bees. 🙆
The Doors of Joy, Daniel Odier—A crystal clear reflection on how we can have a relationship with joy. The included meditation prompts were quite useful and engaging. 🙆
Is it Cake, season two—I abandoned this when I got tired of the contestants constantly adulterating the non-cake decoys. It took the focus off away from cake-based ingenuity. 🙅
Life Is Hard, Kieran Setiya—I had to race through this quickly to return it to the library. In the end, as a result, not much stuck with me other than a general sense of agreeing with and enjoying the content. 🤷
Queer Eye, season two—I largely have the same thoughts as over the first season. AN episode with a trans-man I thought bought out both the best and the worst of the format. 🤷
The Witcher, season three, part one—a very engaging part one, let down only by the last episode in the batch that suffered from clumsy execution. 🙆
The Good-Enough Life, Avram Alpert—A thoughtful if not occasionally too dense argument for giving up our pursuit of greatness and instead focussing on a more equitable, kinder and humane ‘good-enough’. 🙆
Diablo IV, Blizzard—I had a fair bit of fun with this. It refines the action-RPG format and I am curious to see how it spurns on further innovation in the genre (especially from freeware rival Path of Exile). I found the writing and story pretty average, though. 🤷
The Imagination Muscle, Albert Read—a rather odd book that casts its light so broadly as to provide illumination on no one thing in particular. While interesting it does not live up to its premise. 🤷
Barbie, Greta Gerwig—an incredibly, joyous, fun movie. It just sparkles with energy while still also managing to say something. Honestly, a triumph and I want to see it again. Hi, Barbie! 🙆
Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton—A smart novel that takes its time to set out its world and characters only to race through its ending at an explosive pace. A fine read. 🤷
Deadloch, Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney—one of my favourite TV shows of the year (up there with Succession). The writing is smart, crass, and Australian in a way that does not give me the usual cultural cringe. Plus, there’s a greyhound! A must watch. 🙆
Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown—There where parts of this book that were interesting, but on the whole Brown quotes herself and her previous books far too often at the expense of creating something new. I was left with an empty feeling. 🙅
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, who cares—this was a lazy, boring, nothing of a movie that represents the worst trends in modern cinema. It refused, at every turn, to do anything imaginative, and its overall narrative is lacking and thoughtless. It feels like a movie created by a heartless uncaring AI. 🙅🙅

August 2023

Awe, Dacher Ketlner—A helpful exploration of awe and a useful reminder to seek awe in our everyday lives. Some parts felt a little slight, but ultimately I think this book was valuable. 🙆
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers—the second book in the thoroughly delightful Monk & Robot series expands and deepens the story and world. This is a warm hug of a book. 🙆
Queer Eye, season three—the predictability of this show continues to alternatively soothe and frustrate. There where a few special moments that keep me coming back for more, but I couldn’t, in good faith, recommend this. 🤷
Below Deck Sailing Yacht, season two—it took me six months to finish watching this season. The crew was pretty charmless. My affection for the Below Deck franchise was slightly tarnished through this clumsy season. 🙅
Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Monolith Soft—I spent something like 280 hours with this expansive, beautiful game. The vast web of characters and their evolving relationships and struggles where quite incredible. I had quibbles with some of the gameplay decisions, but, on the whole, enjoyed my time with the game so much. 🙆
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 original soundtrack, Mitsuda Yasunori et al—one of the joys of JRPGs in general, and this game in particular, are the soundtracks. XC3’s soundtrack was often hauntingly beautiful and very well done. 🙆
Perfect Days, Wim Wenders—I was this stunning movie as part of MIFF and loved every moment of it. Centred in the quiet beauty of everyday life, Yakusho Kōji delivers a nuanced, powerful and affecting performance. Definitely see this. 🙆
Like Father, Like Son—Kore-eda Hirokazu—Kore-eda is one of my favourite directors so I had high expectations going into this. And, alas, did not find it as captivating as his other films. The story felt trapped by its own inevitability and Fukuyama‘s performance felt off. Still, it was a Kore-eda film, and was still beautiful at times. 🤷
The Bear, season two—I cannot believe what a wonderful year for television it has been so far. The Bear treats its characters with grace and convincingly explains the appeal to fine dining. Very special. 🙆
How to be You, Skye Cleary—My first exposure to the exceptional mind that is Beauvoir’s (and equally, it must be said, Cleary’s). I found this the perfect starting point to understanding Beauvoir, even if I think the title was not quite reflective of the focus of the book itself. 🙆
Àma Gloria, Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq—an emotional, slow movie. I was a little uncomfortable with the style of cinematography that pushed the camera right into the actors faces for the duration of the movie. 🤷
The Guest, Emma Cline—one of those books that wraps its hooks around your brain and refuses to let go. A dark look at sheltered, privileged community and the desire to belong and be safe. 🙆
The Days, season one—a brilliant, tense drama about the Fukushima nuclear incident. Superbly acted with only a few odd directorial chices (a few plot lines that are seemingly forgotten). Compelling and quite balanced in the overall question of nuclear power. 🙆
Monster, Kore-eda Hirokazu —I was blown away by this. One of those films that changes you and will linger forever and ever. One of Kore-eda’s best, and my pick of MIFF 2023. And the haunting score by the sadly departed Sakamoto Ryūichi, to whom the movie is dedicated, was powerful and beautiful. 🙆
Final Fantasy XVI, Naoki Yoshida et al—an oddly paced experience with a hollow, disappointing story. Only the visual splendour and score elevate this from being unplayable, but I wouldn’t suggest anyone spends time with the title (even if you are a fan of the franchise as I am). 🙅
Sleep, Jason Yu—this striking movie is the director’s debut, which instantly marks him as someone to watch. With knockout performances by its leads, I had a wonderful time with this. 🙆
Venba, Shahrin Khan—Wikipedia describes this as a “narrative cooking video game” which is now my favourite new genre. Novel and beautiful, this is a special experience. 🙆
The Cashless Revolution, Martin Chorzempa—interesting analysis but let down by a sense of redundancy. Also not including any charts or a timeline was a real missed opportunity. 🤷
Chicory, Greg Lobanov—this was such a beautiful experience. I think it might be one of my new go to game recommendations. Utterly charming, creative, and with a superb score by Lena Raine. 🙆
Hanging Out, Sheila Liming—not at all what I was expecting, but Liming’s writing is strong and beautiful. If you feel like a bunch of literary analysis mixed with some quasi-autobiographical musings, this is for you. Otherwise, keep looking. 🤷
The Secret Life of You, Kerri Sackville—Disappointing and slight. The book takes quite a superficial pop approach that feels a little hollow. At times the bones of a better book are there, though. 🤷
Any of the citrus sorbetti, Pidapipó—long my favourite gelateria in Melbourne, their winter citrus sorbetti have been blowing my socks clean off my feet. Of course, their gelati are also quite exceptional. I feel very luck to live in Melbourne sometimes, you know. 🙆
Norco, Geography of Robots—I admire this game much more than I loved it. It takes risks, has an amazing aesthetic, and excellent writing. The story did not resonate with me as much as I hoped, but that does not detract from the quality of the work itself. 🙆

September 2023

Paranormasight, xeen inc—I enjoyed every minute of this lightly-spoopy visual novel about a series of curses in a part of Tokyo. The game had a tremendous narrative, sense of place, and style. A surprise delight. 🙆
Spin Dictators, Daniel Treisman and Sergei Guriev—quite academic and dense, and uneven in which topics get a lot of attention and which are glossed over, but nonetheless a thoughtful analysis of modern tyranny and oppression. 🤷
The Will To Change, bell hooks—one of the most important books I’ve read, potentially ever. A powerful and inspiring challenge for everyone no matter where they sit on the gender spectrum to challenge and address the patriarchy. Urgent and necessary. 🙆
The Big Con, Rosie Collington, Mariana Mazzucato—an important and eye-opening book as to the evil of the modern consultancy industry, and how their sticky fingers poke into almost every hole. These people get away with their nonsense because they are not household names, and thus operate in shadowy obscurity. Well written, too. 🙆
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season two—this was often really fun and isn’t afraid to do fun things with the format. I do think the writing was often pretty lack-lustre giving the actors very little to do. 🙆
Abbot Elementary, season two—a show with sparkling writing, incredible performances, and a real sense of humour. More shows where teachers are the heroes; More shows written by and starring BIPOC folk. 🙆
Foundation, season two—an absorbing, clever sci-fi that is happy to lean into being quite grandiose and epic. Let down a little by the last episode, it was nonetheless a fun season.
Disconnect, Jordan Guiao—while timely, this book was far too surface level than I had hoped, and as such I didn’t get much out of it at all. 🙅
Shy and Mighty, Nadia Finer—really as above. Rather slight. 🙅
Authentic-ish Pad Thai, Brian Lagerstrom—a really great at home recipe for pad thai. The real star of the show is the pickled dried radish that adds such wonderful depth. 🙆
The Comfort Book, Matt Haig—hot chocolate in a book. I want to joke and say something like ‘well done on Haig in getting this book idea picked up and published’ but the sincerity of this book makes it harder to dismiss so cynically. 🤷
Starfield, Bethesda—a mediocre diversion. This game feels like it belongs to game development 5-10 years ago and suffers terribly from trying to do so much it does noting especially well. And yet, and yet, somehow I spent over 100 hours with this… 🤷
Saving Time, Jenny Odell—such a thought provoking book and on a topic so foundational to life. Very light on didactic elements, more space for musing. 🙆

October 2023

Love and Autism, Kay Kerr—a beautiful look at neurodivergent experiences. Empathetic and beautiful. 🙆
Nothing, Roy Sorensen—so dense that I think most people will experience this book how I did, with an increasing sense of eyes glazing over because of the complexity and depth of the material. Sorensen is a fun, witty writer, nonetheless. 🤷
We Need to Talk About Inflation, Stephen King—I do not think this transformed my knowledge of inflation, but it did certainly expand it and add a lot of historical context. Perhaps, ultimately, more than I was hoping for. 🤷
Invasion, series one—what an odd show! On one hand, amazing cinematography and music and some genuinely intriguing ideas about aliens. On the other hand, the show is seemingly written and directed by ChatGPT and is often the most baffling thing ever. 🤷
Painkiller, season one—an enraging portrait of how modern capitalism enables (encourages? forces?) so much greed, death, destruction and loss. There can be no justice until the Sackler family is squeezed of every last cent. 🙆
Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster, Square Enix—someone once told me that FFVI was their favourite in the franchise. I cannot agree, but it is a lovely experience and quite special, too. It was so almost there, you can really feel them getting closer to the Final Fantasy experience with each game. 🙆
the Maria and Draco opera, Uematsu Nobuo —you can feel the fun and passion of Uematsu in this genuinely beautiful opera from FFVI. The linked version is stitched together with footage from the game, which is quite nice, too. 🙆
The new Rulebook, Chris Cheers—a lot to like about this book! Cheers echoes many sensible points I’ve read since starting this log. It is such a quick, breezy book that I think could have been something truly special with a little more depth. 🤷
Invasion, season two—a baffling show that fails to reward the viewer. It’s like a trust exercise where someone punches you in the gut for 30 minutes. 🙅
Cyperpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red—they made a game that was already so much into even more. I played through pretty much the entire story again and the new content, and think their’s a lot of fun to be had, if you’re willing to overlook or ignore the many downsides of the experince. Conceptually, I question the ongoing necessity of creating games that cost almost half a billion dollars. 🤷
Taskmaster, seasons ten and eleven—this silly, wonderful show is an utter delight. I think some of the legacy bits of the formula (like the starting game where contestants bring in an item from home, or the relationship between the Taskmaster and his assistant) could be retired, but the underlying premise is evergreen. 🙆

November 2023

Free and Equal, Daniel Chandler—this book sets out a path to a better, fairer and freer world, in a way that feels tantalisingly achievable. It is dense, but it needs to be to give both justice to the ideas and also set out a practical path towards progress. A modern classic. 🙆
A Full English Breakfast—once a year my body will wake me with a certain feeling. A feeling that it is time to partake in the hedonistic ritual that is the full English breakfast. Ignore the nags and make it to suit your own tastes and be prepared not to want to eat for the rest of the weekend. 🙆
The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson—firstly the author has links to a conservative, anti-queer religion, so I find him hard to stomach on that ground. Secondly, the pacing of this colossal book is abysmally slow and I think contemptuous of the reader as a result. I stuck with it only because of the many recommendations from trusted sources. When I finally finished I was elated to be free. 🙅
The Fall of the House of Usher, season one—wonderful performances and brilliant creepy moments rather let down by Flanagan’s commitment to telling as opposed to showing. I think this show suffered by its proximity to both Succession and Netflix’s own Painkiller (see October 2023) on the thematic level, and to Poe’s own works on the tone level. 🤷
The Devil’s Plan, season one—a brilliant, absorbing show that feels like a cross between Squid Games, Terrace House and Taskmaster. An unexpected enthralling delight. I hope there’s more. Park Kyung-rim and Boo Seung-kwan were both especially charming. 🙆
It’s OK to be Angry About Capitalism, Bernie Sanders—in another case of wrong time, right place (see Usher) above, this book suffered, for me, by being read after the quite frankly brilliant Free and Equal. Too much of this book was about Bernie’s campaign or life, and the rest felt oddly passionless and lacking urgency. Still, a comprehensive and vivid argument for ways at which the sinking ship that is the US could be salvaged. 🤷
Taskmaster, season 12—mostly a fun season, although Alan Davies was such an unenthusiastic part of the show that I found myself wishing that another comedian would just take his spot on the show. 🙆
Yellowface, R.F Kuang—R.F. Kuang sets out to destroy the publishing industry, white people, and our general sense of self-absorption. And succeeds, masterfully. 🙆
Taskmaster, season 13—well if I thought Alan was bad, Ardal O’Hanlon was a thousand times more unwatachably dull. Bridget Christie was frequently deranged. But Sophie Duker, Judie Love and Chris Ramsey added a real dose of delight. 🙆
Taskmaster, season 14—one of my favourite seasons! Almost flawless casting but for John Kearns who was sublimely irritating in a wet rag, useless way. The rest of the cast was golden, but special shout outs to Sarah’s honk and Munya’s well, being 100% Munya. 🙆
Fire in the Booth, Unknown P—totally in love with Munya Chawawa’s Unknown P posh drill rapper character. 🙆
So You Want to Talk About Race, Ileoma Oluo—powerful and moving writing from Oluo. Necessary reading for all white people trying to understand and talk about race. 🙆
Lord Jim at Home, Dinah Brooke—a tragic masterpiece about trauma and repression and just letting it all go. 🙆
Taskmaster, season 15—a rare season where all the contestants shine brilliantly. Special delight at Jenny Eclair who is one of the best people ever, based solely of her joyous engagement with the tasks and show itself. 🙆
Taskmaster, season 16—Julian Cleary was just so delightful. Up and down so far as tasks go, but when they’re good, they’re really good. 🙆
Good material, Dolly Alderton—real sparkling writing but a plot that is perhaps very well trodden. 🤷

December 2023

Spirited Away, Miyazaki Hayao—completely transfixing; a triumph of cinema, of animation and of story telling. A very good film, what else does one need to say? 🙆
Cobb Lane’s Mince Pie—although they appear earlier and earlier each year (seemingly that is) my personal rule is no mince pies before the first of December. But, golly, once I start, there is no stopping me. Yet again, Cobb Lane’s are my favourite in Melbourne: thin crispy pastry is combined with perfectly moist, orange-inflected fruit. I normally shy away from MPs with sugar on the top, but the use of large sugar crystals adds something that an insipid sprinkle of icing sugar does not. 🙆
Taskmaster, seasons one to ~~four~~ six—after finishing all the available Taskmaster, I decided to go back to the start and rewatch where it all begun. It has been fun seeing how right the show was even from the first few episodes of season one; and at the same time, watching the tweaks to the tasks and format have been fun to see, too. Earlier today I heard the first mention of Alex’s “all the information is on the task,” a delightful pseudo catchphrase of the series. 🙆
Fish-fragrant eggplant, Old Beijing—Fish-fragrant eggplant (魚香茄子) is one of my all time favourite dishes to eat. And previously the king of this dish, at least here in Melbourne, was from South Yarra institution Dainty Sichuan. But the version from newish restaurant Old Beijing may just be the new champion. A note of caution though: the Peking duck here is pretty average, so feel free to skip. 🙆
The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki Hayao—a visual triumph—the opening scene will be forever etched on my memory—yet narratively uneven and inconsistent. And a mite too long. I found myself drifting off to sleep during the middle sequences, something I very rarely do (especially at the cinema!) 🤷
The Vaster Wilds, Lauren Groff—I see the purpose of the many digressions to the main character’s past experiences, but to my mind, these just broke the momentum of the book and took me out of the moment. 🤷
Military Prosecutor Doberman, season one—this broke my long kdrama drought, and I’m so happy it did: an excellent cast, topped off with excellent baddie Oh Yeon-soo as the evil glass-ceiling breaking general. I think this show gave me a lot of context around how the military in Korea works which I found fascinating, on top of a really solid legal/crime drama (although with the proviso that it’s a tv show and not a factual documentary). Plus it features the cutest doggo ever, a puppy doberman that is just so sweet. 🙆
How to be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi—A haunting, painful and deeply necessary look at racism—Kendi’s concept of antiracist is a compelling and powerful framework and approach for responding to racism, as is his conclusion that self interested rather than hate motivates much of racist behaviour. The book is peppered with personal anecdotes which are welcome, although I think his academic tone makes the book a bit of a slog at times. 🙆
Coral Island, Stairway Games—this feels like a one-to-one recreation of cult favourite Stardew Valley in a 3D engine. Despite its 1.0 version designation, it’s pretty buggy and quite rough around the edges. In hindsight, I wish I had of played this in a year’s time, with the benefit of additional development work. The art is rather pretty though and everyone on the island is quite hot, so that’s something, I suppose. 🤷
The Cure for Wellness, Gore Verbinski—a slow, plodding movie only saved by some exquisite photography of the alps. It had real potential but the end result was a real dreadful mess. 🙅
Slow Horses, season three—perhaps not as exciting as the earlier seasons, but nonetheless a tight, suspenseful, exciting spy adventure. Gary Oldman and Kristen Scott Thomas are perfect in their respective roles. And it leaves you wanting more thanks to its six episode run length. 🙆
Midsomer Murders, season six—the thing I always forget about Midsomer is that it’s less a television show and more a collection of movies, really, that explore this intriguing fantasy of Englishness and country life. And the cinematic quality of the show continues to improve each season, with this season featuring some big budget special effects and camera work. Yet at its heart it remains profoundly true to itself. 🙆
Mystery Maniacs (nee Midsomer Maniacs)—a real joy of the modern age is the watch along podcast. This, hosted by a delightful Canadian couple, has become part of my routine: watch a Midsomer episode and then devour the matching podcast episode. 🙆
Having a fridge filled with nice seasonal things in larger than usual formats—a quiet comfort of December is having giant formats of things in the fridge to enable joyful feasting and snacking. I have a big ol’ Meatsmith ham on to go, a few large pieces of excellent cheese from my friend’s shop, Superette, and a giant box of nice cherries. The abundance brings a real sense of feasting and joy. 🙆