A Chasing After Wind

 Succession is eating my brain so that is what I have been watching. I'm looking forward to Daredevil: Born Again when I will watch soon.

I'm reading a fun YA novel based on Hindu mythology called Aru Shah and the End of Time. It's about a girl who lights a lamp she has been told is cursed to impress her peers and ends up having to save the world.

I've been listening to Dan Snow's history podcast, which is little bites of all kinds of history. The current episode I am listening to is on Founding Father Samuel Adams.

I got a book from the library yesterday: Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb. I found it on the shelf. It had fallen out of my library's catalog and the librarian had to manually re-add it. I haven't gotten very far yet, so I don't have much to say, but I very much approve of a book focused on beavers.

I'm reading the latest of the Sierra Club's magazine. I send them money, they send my magazines. Also they sent me some really nice bags once. They send me a wall calendar, but not until late January, so I have no use for it.

I'm re-watching All About Agatha. Really love it. In some ways I love it more than Wandavision, which struck me as both really creative but also true to how Wanda has been portrayed in the comics over the years. Honestly I don't have a lot of memories of Agatha from comic reading days. I definitely encountered her, mentoring Wanda and so forth, but I don't remember a lot.

Well, that was a horrendous week. Not only politically but also with work and family stuff.

So, the media I have been consuming:

I'm reading a biography of Thomas Edison: Edison by Edmund Morris. It's an interesting book because it is written backwards: Each section details a decade of Edison's life, and Morris starts with the final decade and works his way back. The verdict's out on whether this will be too confusing, but I do appreciate the fact that the top of the page displays the current year. I wish more history books did that.

I'm watching and enjoying Agatha All Along. I may have more thoughts once it ends.

The podcast I listen to, You're Wrong About, has an episode on Elizabeth Báthory. It's a historical episode and I am really enjoying it.

 I am reading The Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill by Biloine W. Young with Eileen R. McCormack. Who was Louis W. Hill, you ask? The (second) son and heir of James J. Hill. Who was James J. Hill? A wealthy local railroad director (local to me = Minnesota). Louis W. Hill was also heavily involved in the creation of Glacier National Park.

Yesterday I played the board game Eldritch Horror with friends. It is a complex cooperative game based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. We actually won, which almost never happens.

I'm still playing Sims 4. I even bought a baby name book so I could quickly get names for new Sims.

I'm also still watching Death Note. SPOILERS SPOILERS ( Death Note SPOILERS )

 I'm watching Attack of the Clones, which I am actually enjoying more than The Phantom Menace. Less Jar Jar Binks, for one, but also I more invested in Anakin's character now that he is no longer a child.

I developed a craving for The Sims (I played Sims 1 & 2 as child/teenager), and was happy to discover Sims 4 is available for free. I had some trouble getting it installed, but with help from a friend it is installed and I am now re-familiarizing myself with the gameplay and familiarizing myself with the changes that came with Sims 4.

I'm reading The Throme of The Erril of Sherril, by Patricia McKillip. I love McKillip but I wouldn't recommend this. It's a cute fun little quest story, that's all.

 Just got through an unpleasant move and getting settled in my new apartment!

I'm reading Paper Love by Sarah Wildman. This is a nonfiction book about a woman whose grandfather escaped the holocaust, and after his death found out he'd left behind a girlfriend who may or may not have survived. This kind of personal family history is one of my favorite types of history.

I'm re-reading Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy (called Riddle of Stars in the printing I own). Out loud. Because it is the kind of book I just love to read out loud.

I watched the X-Men '97, and started the animated series it is a sequel to. I'm in the first episode of the animated series and not impressed yet. I do like the decision to make Jubilee our viewpoint character, but I thought the sentinel running around destroying everything was over the top. I'm hoping I'll enjoy the series more as it finds its feet.

 I'm reading a booked about the creation of India and Pakistan, Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition, by Nisid Hajari. I read a lot of history books and most of them are pretty depressing, but this one I'm having a particular hard time for some reason. It deals with the different religious groups in what is now India and Pakistan in the aftermath of India being a British colony, and the violence that occurred between them.

I finally finished Fullmetal Alchemist and for graphic novels am now reading Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther. It was a present from my parents but for some reason they gave me the second volume. I did ask specifically for Priest's writing, but I think the first volume also has him as the writer. Anyway there is a lot of characters and a lot going on. I am somewhat enjoying it but probably won't seek out more when I am done with this volume.

The podcast I listen to, You're Wrong About, is doing a reading and discussion of a book called Michelle Remembers. The book is out of print, but it set off the Satanic panic in the 1980s. It tells of a woman who recovered memories in therapy of what she and the therapist concluded was child abuse by a Satanic cult. Of course it has been completely discredited, which may be why it is now out of print.

I'm watching The Midnight Club, a Mike Flanagan Netflix show that I somehow missed. I'm very intrigued by the story-within-a-story format.

Of course I'm listening to the new Taylor Swift album, The Tortured Poets Department. On a song-by-song basis I really like it, but as an album - well, that's a lot of tortured poets songs. It's a double album, so we are talking 31 songs here.

 I finished the live action AtLA - I liked it a lot, and hope it does well enough to continue the story. I have to admit it doesn't stick with me as much as the original did, but I never expected it to be as good as the original.

I am now watching Marvel's Echo. I am definitely enjoying it. It's a little darker than some Marvel stuff since Maya Lopez is more anti-hero than hero, at least at this point. Alaqua Cox does a good job although I don't think she's been in any other TV shows or movies - not many roles out there for a Native American woman who is deaf and an amputee (I don't think Echo was an amputee in the comics, but in movie world she is).

I just started reading A History of the Hmong, by Thomas S. Vang. This is a book that came out in 2008.

 It turns out Spider-Man: No Way Home isn't on DisneyPlus at this time. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to wait and see if it shows up, or try to find it some other way. In the meantime, I'm finally watching The Queen's Gambit, which is more intense than I expected it to be.

I'm back to making my way through Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, and I'm still working on the Fullmetal Alchemist manga.

The podcast I listen to, You're Wrong About, is addressing the murder of Kitty Genovese. This is the first time I've ever gotten any sense of who Genovese was as a person - I didn't even know she was a lesbian. One thing that bothered me about how her story was used in Watchmen was that I felt like Alan Moore really had no idea how she would feel about the dress her fictional counterpart rejected. It's not that I'm opposed to the fictionalization of real people - but I guess I feel differently when it is someone who is famous only for being murdered. 

I've been listening to Tori Amos - I really like some of her stuff.

 I'm watching We Own This City. It's a miniseries about an investigation into corrupt police in Baltimore. It's an heir to The Wire: Some of the same people behind and on screen, some similar themes.

I'm almost done with Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten War. Until reading this book, I was not aware that Korean War POWs had a bad reputation. According to so-called experts, they weren't as tough as POWs in other wars, due to being pampered and possibly domineering mothers. You can imagine how thrilled the survivors of harsh POW experiences were to hear that.