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Books
A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury - this book has an afterward that basically said 'The information in this book has been provided for educational purposes only, and not to aid in the commission of any murders you may be planning', and, like...thanks, book?
So, every chapter in this describes a different poison, its effect on the human body, and a case connected to it. I don't know if my favourite was the man who accidentally topped himself by keeping strychnine by his table in an unmarked bottle next to the bottle of quinine he used as a sleep aid, or the nursing home resident who unsuccessfully tried to manufacture ricin to slip into her fellow residents teacups.
I spent a cheerful week reading a chapter every night before bed. Weird fuckin' dreams that week, though.
Films
The Eternals - I'd been meaning to get around to watching this since it came to streaming in, I think, late January and I kept just...not. It was fine. The casting is a bit weird. Gemma Chan is trying her best, the Game of Thrones boys will never get out from under being the Game of Thrones boys, and it feels like Angelina Jolie accidentally wandered onto the set, hung around for a while in the back of shot looking like Angelina Jolie, before wandering off again.
Death on the Nile - Wow, this film that got fucked hard by by having cast almost exclusively actors who tumbled from pedestals of varying heights during its two year delay.
Still, it was very pretty to look at.
Telly
The Dropout S1 - My dad has always been a pretty right wing guy - and I think he thinks I'm a communist? - and since he's retired it's become ever harder for us to find things other than, like, football and the weather to talk about that isn't going to end in a row. One of the few areas where our interests do overlap is that he's interested in business news and I'm interested in horrifying tales of corporate malfeasance, so of course I'd been keeping him up to date with the Elizabeth Holmes trial, and I suggested we watch the show together.
We both really enjoyed it. Despite having listened to the podcast of the same name, and read Carreyrou's book and knowing beat for beat the story I still found it gripping. The casting top to bottom was amazing.
Moon Knight S1 - You have to have the charisma of an Oscar Isaac to make Steven's British accent anything other than nails on a chalkboard...oh, wait. A good, fun time.
Star Trek: Picard S2 - I proper loved this, and it feels like I'm the only person who did, so I've been trying to figure out why I had such a different reaction to it from most viewers.
Things I agree sucked about Picard S2
-The pacing was in-fucking-explicable, and it could really have benefited from being 2-4 episodes shorter.
-The actual Picard stuff was the weakest part of the season. It was a not great portrayal of mental illness and a borderline irresponsible portrayal of suicide. Young Picard was written as a good five years younger than the child actor playing him which made the whole thing feel off and weird. And, I hate to say this, but Sir Patrick Stewart was quite often the weakest part of any given episode.
Things I freakin' loved about Picard S2
-Q. I was leery of watching this season because the advertising leaned so heavily on Q, and I freakin' hate Q. He bugs me so much that I automatically skip his episodes on TNG rewatches. But they used him sparingly enough here that he really worked, and even as someone who cares not a jot for the Picard/Q relationship that hug at the end got me in my cold unfeeling heart.
-Young Guinan. I am an advocate of recasting younger versions of legacy characters (can't sleep deadeyed CGI Luke Skywalker will kill me - though it appears that the actual Star Wars people have taken the exact opposite lesson) and even if I wasn't that was some A+ casting.
-The Borg. The show managed to achieve something I no longer thought possible and make the Borg menacing again - excellent casting of the Borg Queen there.
-Allison Pill was the surprise MVP of the season. Everything about her story with the Borg Queen was brilliant. And, weirdly, because the mental health part of Picard's story wasn't particularly well done, the handling of Agnes's depression and suicidal ideation really hit me where it hurt.
-Raffi and Seven don't have much to do, but I ended up really enjoying watching them lurch from side mission to side mission working out their relationship issues. I also enjoyed that the show, when called upon to invent an established relationship dynamic for two women in their fifties skipped straight past the kind of hackneyed 'space moms' to land on passive aggressive, uncommunicative idiots.
In conclusion, Picard season two, really good if you can ignore the fact that the actual Picard stuff kind of blows.
Video Games
Elden Ring, still. Haven't the faintest idea of what's happening of course, but I have managed to cheese, overlevel and spellcast my way past nine main story bosses. Is this a waste of my life? Maybe. Am I having fun? Heck, yeah.
I also, after the better part of two years, finished Critical Role campaign 2 while banging my head against various bosses - Astel, Naturalborn of the Void was a particular bastard - and, like, that podcast got me through some of the toughest parts of lockdown, so it feels churlish to complain that the ending felt rushed and disconnected, but it did leave a slightly sour note. The whole time I was listing to CR2 I'd been planning to go back and listen to campaign one, but the animated show put paid to that when i realised that there were at least two, and quite possibly three characters who were only going to get on my tits. I think instead I'll slowly catch up on campaign three and try to keep up in more or less real time.
A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury - this book has an afterward that basically said 'The information in this book has been provided for educational purposes only, and not to aid in the commission of any murders you may be planning', and, like...thanks, book?
So, every chapter in this describes a different poison, its effect on the human body, and a case connected to it. I don't know if my favourite was the man who accidentally topped himself by keeping strychnine by his table in an unmarked bottle next to the bottle of quinine he used as a sleep aid, or the nursing home resident who unsuccessfully tried to manufacture ricin to slip into her fellow residents teacups.
I spent a cheerful week reading a chapter every night before bed. Weird fuckin' dreams that week, though.
Films
The Eternals - I'd been meaning to get around to watching this since it came to streaming in, I think, late January and I kept just...not. It was fine. The casting is a bit weird. Gemma Chan is trying her best, the Game of Thrones boys will never get out from under being the Game of Thrones boys, and it feels like Angelina Jolie accidentally wandered onto the set, hung around for a while in the back of shot looking like Angelina Jolie, before wandering off again.
Death on the Nile - Wow, this film that got fucked hard by by having cast almost exclusively actors who tumbled from pedestals of varying heights during its two year delay.
Still, it was very pretty to look at.
Telly
The Dropout S1 - My dad has always been a pretty right wing guy - and I think he thinks I'm a communist? - and since he's retired it's become ever harder for us to find things other than, like, football and the weather to talk about that isn't going to end in a row. One of the few areas where our interests do overlap is that he's interested in business news and I'm interested in horrifying tales of corporate malfeasance, so of course I'd been keeping him up to date with the Elizabeth Holmes trial, and I suggested we watch the show together.
We both really enjoyed it. Despite having listened to the podcast of the same name, and read Carreyrou's book and knowing beat for beat the story I still found it gripping. The casting top to bottom was amazing.
Moon Knight S1 - You have to have the charisma of an Oscar Isaac to make Steven's British accent anything other than nails on a chalkboard...oh, wait. A good, fun time.
Star Trek: Picard S2 - I proper loved this, and it feels like I'm the only person who did, so I've been trying to figure out why I had such a different reaction to it from most viewers.
Things I agree sucked about Picard S2
-The pacing was in-fucking-explicable, and it could really have benefited from being 2-4 episodes shorter.
-The actual Picard stuff was the weakest part of the season. It was a not great portrayal of mental illness and a borderline irresponsible portrayal of suicide. Young Picard was written as a good five years younger than the child actor playing him which made the whole thing feel off and weird. And, I hate to say this, but Sir Patrick Stewart was quite often the weakest part of any given episode.
Things I freakin' loved about Picard S2
-Q. I was leery of watching this season because the advertising leaned so heavily on Q, and I freakin' hate Q. He bugs me so much that I automatically skip his episodes on TNG rewatches. But they used him sparingly enough here that he really worked, and even as someone who cares not a jot for the Picard/Q relationship that hug at the end got me in my cold unfeeling heart.
-Young Guinan. I am an advocate of recasting younger versions of legacy characters (can't sleep deadeyed CGI Luke Skywalker will kill me - though it appears that the actual Star Wars people have taken the exact opposite lesson) and even if I wasn't that was some A+ casting.
-The Borg. The show managed to achieve something I no longer thought possible and make the Borg menacing again - excellent casting of the Borg Queen there.
-Allison Pill was the surprise MVP of the season. Everything about her story with the Borg Queen was brilliant. And, weirdly, because the mental health part of Picard's story wasn't particularly well done, the handling of Agnes's depression and suicidal ideation really hit me where it hurt.
-Raffi and Seven don't have much to do, but I ended up really enjoying watching them lurch from side mission to side mission working out their relationship issues. I also enjoyed that the show, when called upon to invent an established relationship dynamic for two women in their fifties skipped straight past the kind of hackneyed 'space moms' to land on passive aggressive, uncommunicative idiots.
In conclusion, Picard season two, really good if you can ignore the fact that the actual Picard stuff kind of blows.
Video Games
Elden Ring, still. Haven't the faintest idea of what's happening of course, but I have managed to cheese, overlevel and spellcast my way past nine main story bosses. Is this a waste of my life? Maybe. Am I having fun? Heck, yeah.
I also, after the better part of two years, finished Critical Role campaign 2 while banging my head against various bosses - Astel, Naturalborn of the Void was a particular bastard - and, like, that podcast got me through some of the toughest parts of lockdown, so it feels churlish to complain that the ending felt rushed and disconnected, but it did leave a slightly sour note. The whole time I was listing to CR2 I'd been planning to go back and listen to campaign one, but the animated show put paid to that when i realised that there were at least two, and quite possibly three characters who were only going to get on my tits. I think instead I'll slowly catch up on campaign three and try to keep up in more or less real time.