january 2025 media round-up
Feb. 1st, 2025 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunkisser
total movies watched: 10
10 new, 0 rewatch
I can't believe I made it through all of film school without a letterboxd but a minor crisis during my corporate specialization led me to making one... anyway I do have it now and I can't say I hate it... I do lov leaving my silly little reviews on letterboxd now... sorry to my classmates for being so stubborn...
anyway I will not delve into emilia pérez because it will en in violence. looking back at my rating I think I was way too generous but at the time I did think the concept and story were quite interesting... too bad about literally everything fucking else... anyway rest assured I have made it my life's mission to shade it every chance I get. hence why I gave johanne sacreblu her flowers <3 not only for the parody and vengeance aspect of it though, I genuinely think it's art and a great piece of homemade cinema and political and even artistic commentary.. they ate I fear
sorry to miss ali wong as well T-T I watched her special bc it won a golden globe and I do think she's one of the funniest people to walk this earth, I just wasn't this particular show's intended audience unfortunately
moving un, my underrated fave a real pain <3 honestly insanely good musical background, beautiful cinematography, incredibly raw and touching performances paired with an incredible script. it's a story that's right up my lane, in which nothing happens and everything happens at the same time and the detailing in the script and the acting just made it so that everything is shown to you so clearly while the characters only tell you so much, it's so perfect in that sense and in the portrayal of the average white male range of emotion while being so profound at the same time. I was so shocked when I learn jesse eisenberg wrote this himself, that man is lowkey a genius and I'm really hoping he bags at least one award for this script specifically. the movie just gave everything it needed to give and did not overstep in it's subtlety or simplicity. beautiful and I hope kieran culkin gets his flowers this awards season for this incredible performance as well
moving on to the brutalist, a new fave. the maintenance guy outside our screening room was judging us so hard because we were watching such a long movie, little did he know he was talking to a group of film students T-T I was so gagged by the end of this, my friends and I left the theatre in absolute silence and we couldn't say anything but wow for like the first twenty minutes after we were out. it was just crazy. like I was expecting a good movie but it still exceeded my expectations. the way they used the music to create a certain eerieness in otherwise seemingly normal scenes, how everything came together in the second half, the cinematography, the complete deconstruction and derealization of the american dream, how they interposed certain dialogues with contrasting images, the way the aspect ratio changed throughout the movie !!! it all came together to make such a coherent, raw and totally shocking movie even when you expect what's gonna happen next. all the actors absolutely ate, adrien brody devoured and so did felicity jones!!! that woman is a total underrated gem this award season. hated joe alwyn even more than swifties did when he broke up w taylor lol. tbh I'm still gagged like I can't finish forming coherent sentences around this movie, but it was deeply moving and the discourse around immigration and belonging and foreignness just hit really close to home. I was truly rooting for conclave above all else but now that I've seen the brutalist I need to give my faves a deeper thought, they're both just too insane
another fave I can't really form any thoughts around is look back. it was just too crazy. I lowkey expected it, coming from the author of fuckass chainsaw man, but it still broke me in ways I didn't even know I could be broken. raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by lesbians
total shows watched: 6
not even I can believe I watched this much tv omg...
starting with arcane s2 well.. um.. artistically and in every single one of its technical aspects this show was insane, from the absolutely incredible animation and mixed media that they incorporated into the second season to the crazy editing to the way they played more with perspective, timeline and camera angles this season was an absolute masterpiece except the storytelling really wasn't there to round it out. they made all these amazing artistic and technical choices just to have it fall flat because of a poor script and flimsy attempts at dodging any further world-building which just ended up making everything confusing and seemingly pointless, especially turning points in relationships like jayce/viktor/mel and mel and her mother and just mostly everyone that wasn't cait and vi. if something consoles me about the ending of this show is that
then I started when the phone rings because my mom wanted to watch a kdrama and I'll admit some parts of the story captivated me at first, like the leads have undeniable chemistry and some of the most suspenseful parts were good as fuck but towards the end they really tried to squeeze in too much drama without letting the story take its course and it totally fucked up their relationship, the growth each character had gone through and just the plot in general.
after all that we started the trunk thinking it would be everything that wtpr wasn't but this shit was so ass. the problem with these kdrama writers is that they have amazing premises and incredible set-ups and then they get scared to get down and dirty with it so they try to make the romances seem pure and innocent when that's not what you set the story up for!!! and then at the end they scramble to make everything dramatic again in an effort to gag the viewer last minute like if you had just done what you were supposed to from the beginning it wouldn't have to end like this!!! girl the first three episodes of this were so good even if I had a bit of issue with the pacing/handling of the overlapping timelines but it was creepy it was toxic it was sexy!!!! then they tried to uwu-ify the romance in the middle and then they backtracked at the end just whyyyyyyyy T-T it makes me so irrationally angry but I just hate wasted potential for a good fucking story ugh not to mention gong yoo’s wasted babygirlisms like they could've maximized it so much and it would've given the story so much extra pizzaz. anyway this had an ass ending too. boooooo tomato tomato someone teach these k drama writers how to put the sauce in these things again
then I watched squid game s2 and for a second season tbh it could've been worse..I'm kinda glad they split it in two instead of trying to cram everything into less episodes than the first one (<-- guy who is traumatized from arcane). tbh I find it a little hard to really discern the motivations behind youngil’s actions knowing he's the masked man, like I get it from a logical point of view but emotionally I Would like to know a bit more about him in order to really immerse myself in this. hyunju the absolute queen diva slayful mother that you are no other character can ever come close to you, you're everything
then I watched senna and actually this show was so good. the musical background kinda drove me mad sometimes because some choices were so poor that they truly took me out of the moment. and I know shooting races was really hard but I wish some of them would've been done a bit more creatively. I wasn't crazy about kaya scodelario’s character either tbh, she was the only fictional character and you could tell because her character just seemed kinda empty. I get why they wanted to add her, narratively, but I feel like her purpose could've been fulfilled by just following multiple povs and calling it a day, more in the style of the crown. I know it seems like I'm complaining a lot for a show that I supposedly loved but I really did, those are all details compared to the larger scale of the story and how much I loved it and how much it manages to suck you in emotionally. even if you know the story, which I mostly did, the acting, the production, the writing, everything manages to lure you in and keep you at the edge of your seat with how much tension and dramatic edge they manage to create. I was totally addicted to the show, I watched almost all of it with my mom on the same day and it was extra fun too because my mom actually watched and lived through those races so she had so much reference to go off of. the ending left me deeply saddened eve though I knew exactly what happened but it was just so unfair and unjust. at the end of the day I do love racing though and it was just so exciting and adrenaline inducing to see it all through senna's eyes. one more nitpick, though I think it might've been a little heavy bordering on grotesque, but I would've loved if they had included senna’s last words somehow. they're so famous and so moving, I think it would've been a nice touch and I do feel like they brushed over his death a little though I understand it was probably to show that he's more than that but idk personally I would've loved it if they had given a fuller picture to the whole thing. either way this was all really beautifully shot, produced, orchestrated, everything. I felt it all and really aside from those few nitpicks I loved this. even the casting!!!!! it was insane how was everyone so accurate and so good!!!!
after it was done we also watched the making of and you can tell how much everyone put into it, personally and professionally, and the crazy unbridled passion from every single person working on this project no matter how small their role was is absolutely crazy. the production scale was even larger than I could ever imagine and for some things like the racing tracks they really made miracles out of a stretch of asphalt and a dream, which is insanely admirable. some of the testimonies even made me cry, you could see how important it was for them to tell this story and how important senna was to everyone involved. seriously what a beautiful project.
then I watched fire force s1 and I was a little icked at first with all the sexual stuff, I talk more in depth about it in my anime post, and the pacing was a little too fast for my liking, but I found myself hooked by the story anyway because it truly is really good and interesting and I have a really weak spot for firefighters like I truly do love those guys. I actually started watching this thinking it would be a regular old firefighting show and oh how wrong I was. anyway I really love the found family aspect of it all and I think shinra’s connection with sho
I won't lie, this barely even counts and I forgot about it but I read basketball season by donna tart because I randomly found a workbook from highschool that I never returned to the library T-T but I browsed through it and saw this donna tart essay and got so curious that I read it and it was so good! I'm totally in love with her writing style. I read the goldfinch around the age when I would've read that essay if we'd covered it when I was taking that class, so I was around 18 years old and what I love about her is that her storytelling and attention to detail is so accessible to teens. you can really enjoy her around that age, which I'm very glad I did and it's just so nostalgic but with an almost horrific tone to it, she doesn't reminisce her teenage years through rose colored glasses which is very relatable and very much comedic in a realistic way. love her and I loved reading that when I'm about to graduate from university and can definitely look at highschool way differently.
455 scrobbles, 14 daily avg
59 artists | 83 albums | 266 tracks
TOP ARTISTS:
1. GOT7 (73)
2. bad bunny (58)
3. sza (42)
4. arcane (48)
5. jorge rivera-herrans (23)
6. stray kids (22)
1. GOT7 (73)
2. bad bunny (58)
3. sza (42)
4. arcane (48)
5. jorge rivera-herrans (23)
6. stray kids (22)
TOP ALBUMS:
1. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by bad bunny (58)
2. hamilton (original broadway cast recording) by lin-manuel miranda (57)
3. winter heptagon by got7 (54)
4. sos deluxe: lana by sza (42)
5. arcane league of legends: season 2 (soundtrack from the animated series) by arcane (38)
6. dreamscape by nct dream (18)
1. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by bad bunny (58)
2. hamilton (original broadway cast recording) by lin-manuel miranda (57)
3. winter heptagon by got7 (54)
4. sos deluxe: lana by sza (42)
5. arcane league of legends: season 2 (soundtrack from the animated series) by arcane (38)
6. dreamscape by nct dream (18)
TOP TRACKS:
1. the line (from the series arcane league of legends) by twenty one pilots (18)
2. pyhton by got7 (12)
3. out the door by got7 (10)
4. come play (from the series arcane league of legends) by stray kids (10)
5. PERFuMITO NUEVO by bad bunny (8)
6. LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii by bad bunny (7)
1. the line (from the series arcane league of legends) by twenty one pilots (18)
2. pyhton by got7 (12)
3. out the door by got7 (10)
4. come play (from the series arcane league of legends) by stray kids (10)
5. PERFuMITO NUEVO by bad bunny (8)
6. LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii by bad bunny (7)
this is lowkey so embarrassing.. indeed I ended up listening to hamilton all the way through more than once in the year of our lord 2025.. idk how that happened either
somehow that led me to listening to epic: the musical for the first time ever and it was actually really good!! I do need another listen through to really detail each song but over all it was great, I loved the music style and some of the lyrics stood out to me as really clever and witty. supposedly they're making a movie? I do hope it's true! I'd love to see this actually come through ksjdh
we won't talk about the line, we already know why I was so obsessed with that song.. it saw many late night tears..
I would however like to thank bad bunny and got7 for saving my january <3 I already knew got7 was gonna be good but pyhton truly surpassed my expectations and the album as a whole was so solid, it felt like it had that uniquely got7 sound and style and I absolutely loved every single song on it <3 my blood was green before nct and it was because I was an AGHASE <3 and this comeback just proved I'll be one until I die bitch
bad bunny's album was such a surprise too. the creative direction and experimentation was certainly neo lol which means I absolutely loved it <3 it was very unexpected after his last album but very much welcome!! from the genre mixing to the way each collab influenced each track to the lyricsm!!! talk to me about lo que le pasó a hawaii!! that track spoke to me so deeply, especially because I can connect it to my own country as well and I feel like it's the same for most of latam, it was so special in that way and the way the track is constructed around the lyrics really makes it so it's nothing short of a masterpiece. he's garnered a bit of a bad rep here but nothing could ever make me hate u benito!!
I would like to give doctor! doctor! by zb1 a special mention too.. they didn't make it to my top6 because as soon as I heard got7 and comeback in the same sentence my brain ceased all function and went on green and white lockdown but it was truly such a good song that perfectly exploited all their vocal and rap abilities and made for such a chill banger. not to mention the junji ito and jung kyungho collabs?! I hope the rest of their comeback is this good wakeone please put your whole pussy into this one
I swear it's been a month... tbh I think there have been januarys more harrowing but god if this one wasn't fucking infinite... at least the last two-ish weeks have been fun...
for one, I got to watch my friend defend his thesis!! he's graduating form the audiovisuals dept. so his thesis was a horror short film and it was insane.. I read the script and I still got scared. the visuals, the music and the camerawork were all so on point, both his and all the other 3 shorts we got to watch defend that day were crazy professional, with insane quality in both visuals and storytelling <3 oh how I love getting to watch local talent flourish <3 def a highlight of the month for me!
in other news, I decided to make good use of my physical planner and set monthly goals for myself, which I think might prove to be more sustainable than yearly goals? since I can control them at a smaller scale and make them, obviously, smaller and more tailored to what I need in my life at 4 or so week intervals.. we'll see.. I'll be dedicating this section to tracking those as well as some other irl happenings.
anyway, my january goals were:
☐ get an internship
idk what I was thinking at the beginning of the month but it sure was ambitious T-T I didn't achieve this but I did advance in the interviewing process for one! I feel like I totally blew it immediately after but I haven't gotten an answer to an email I sent as part of the application process this thursday so I guess we'll see..?
☑ watch more shows and movies
a clear check! I wanted to focus on watching whatever I wanted and destressing from an almost hellish (although very rewarding) semester and I did just that! [pats brain] this baby got unlimited and unsupervised screen time
☑ be satisfied with the way I ended the semester
as aforementioned, it was both hellish and rewarding and it wasn't with a lack of headaches and disproportionate amounts of anger and hatred in my heart but I am quite satisfied with my grades and the overall end result, I feel like the past few semesters my grades have truly reflected the amount of work I've put into my classes so I'm very satisfied with that :) only one semester left anyhow...
☑ write, even if it's just a few words
I thought I might have to cheat here and say I did accomplish this via dreamwidth rambling (which still does count anyway) but something in my brain turned on january 31st at 11 p.m. and I wrote a little bit of fic as well!! so technically this was accomplished as originally intended. I have a few low effort, low expectation projects flitting around my head and those few words I wrote really did help me sort everything in my mind a little, so let's see where it takes us!
final thoughts: it could've been worse and I'm feeling optimistic, so I'll take my wins where I can get them. I have a feeling february might look up a little, so let's hope I'm right. it'll definitely be shorter, so that's a start!
