favorite media round up (march 2022)

[paglambing]

let me start by saying i have been super into podcasts lately so this whole post would be like 50% podcasts and 50% everything else i am genuinely sorry in advance i am a #gemini i love words and i love people who can talk for at least 15 minutes straight

✱ podcasts

1. kaleidotrope
this is SUPER CUTE i kept screaming because i kept getting kilig like it’s such a fun feel-good audio drama and the thing is it’s rare to come across feel-good fiction podcasts because most of them are crime, horror, thriller, and other adjacent genres, which i’m admittedly not a big fan of because i get creeped out easily so this was a breath of fresh air

also! speaking of tropes the tropes are literally Miscommunication and Opposites Attract, it’s like something straight out of a fanfic in a good way you bet i gobbled that up i love when things are like fanfics they tickle my little romcom bone :,) also i think harrison is non-binary but that might just be me

the thing about kaleidotrope is that it’s super (super!) easy to binge so i had to pace myself because i wanted to savor how cute the podcast is. the plot is simple and the subplots tie into the main plot very well. it’s just a few episodes so expect a very very fast burn... i wish there was season 2 of this because i want to know what harrison and drew get up to after getting together... they’re literally sunshine and sunshine protector

(misc comment that i need to get out of my system: i wish girl scout cookies were a thing here where i live... they sound so yummy??? especially samoas Like please give me one...)

overall i 100% recommend this! it’s on youtube, not spotify (sadly) but the cover(?) art is pretty so i don’t mind having to view it through youtube


2. start with this
i’m not kidding when i say this helped me pick myself up from my writing slump. i think their discussions (not so much as advice but more of a retelling and consolidation of experiences) helped me change how i view myself as a fic writer and how i view writing as a whole. i have a very, very bad case of ugly perfectionism that whacks me with a stick and i just. do not want to deal with that anymore because it gets crazy tiring like! i am so tired of it! but i do want to work past that to the point that there is no stick and i have a healthy relationship with writing and i think this podcast has been a springboard to help me achieve that (as you can see from the drabbles/experiments i’ve been posting recently) also like the ending segment is literally so funny i enjoy it a lot


3. vent city
i don’t know shit about skateboarding but i really like listening to this... i can’t say much since i don’t get most of the stuff they reference but i find it nice to listen to things i don’t particularly know a lot about. the podcast title speaks for itself—they vent about what goes on in the world of skating and even list what skating-related things they want to put in the hypothetical funeral pyre, but aside from those rants, they also talk about the politics and gender issues that are tied into skating. there’s a segment where they interview a prominent figure of the skating community about their success and what role skateboarding plays in their lives; my favorite interview so far is the one with filmmaker and academy award nominee bing liu because it’s just. so full of love and vulnerability and care and i eat that shit up on a daily basis


4. welcome to night vale
fun fact: i started this back when the podcast had like 60-ish episodes and got so creeped out after like 5 episodes i never touched it again. that was back when me and my ipod nano were attached at the hip (and then we had to break up because we were required to use an ipad throughout high school) so wtnv brings back a lot of memories from when i was thirteen-ish LOL

i didn’t think i’d be listening to the podcast again, but because i started listening to swt which is hosted by the creators of wtnv And i managed to brave 2 consecutive episodes of the magnus archives a few months back, i was like. well what’s the worst that could happen. and the answer, thankfully, is nothing! i actually really like wtnv this time around, i don’t think it’s scary, just weird and sometimes creepy. i like that it’s weird and creepy, which are things i don’t tend to seek out, so listening to this was honestly a nice change of scenery in a way. i listen to it when i want background noise while showering or washing to making food or to just turn my brain off. everyone say thank you cecil baldwin’s perfect perfect voice


5. TED radio hour & how to be a better human
i can’t remember how i came across their podcasts but i vaguely remember listening to another podcast and seeing their work, play, rest miniseries in the You might like this section and i have never clicked on anything so fast in my life. unfortunately i have a track record of dropping npr podcasts because it’s too american for me but TED radio hour has a diverse range of topics that i could look past the americanism and somehow put it into the context of where i live and i think that’s what i like about their content. it makes me think and i’m a thinker i like to think

also, how to be a better human—yes i like self-help stuff but only if they’re packaged as a podcast that isn’t outwardly self-help but more of a discussion of sociopolitical systems and scientific studies and how we can be human given those information AM I MAKING SENSE i hope i am

anyway the bottomline here is. TED makes good videos AND good podcasts

✱ top 5 songs
i would like to preface this by saying that my spotify usage has drastically decreased ever since i stopped having spotify premium because my student discount expired haha...

1. yugto - any name’s okay (17 scrobbles)
2. i want u baby - stayc (16 scrobbles)
3. strange - celeste (15 scrobbles)
4. darari - treasure (14 scrobbles)
5. run2u - stayc (13 scrobbles)

i am so so so obsessed with strange by celeste. i am smearing my guts on the wall for this song as we speak

✱ book(s)

• priestdaddy by patricia lockwood

this book hit me where it hurts with the religious stuff even though i don’t have a priest for a dad (for some reason it seems customary for families here to Know a priest, to have like a “family priest” or something) but the whole growing up in such a Catholic environment was something that still resonated with me a lot. i cannot escape from my religious upbringing, even while studying in a state university that was non-sectarian, and that really crumpled my perception of faith and religion and spirituality into something mangled and uncomfortable. i’m still figuring out what spirituality and faith mean to me; i am sometimes gifted religious items and i never know what to do with them. the biggest chunk of my detachment with Catholicism is the homophobia and transphobia present in a country neck-deep in it that it continues to blur the lines between church and state. i don’t know how to just be. i don’t know how to come to terms with the fact that given the state of our country, i’ll only be tolerated at best.

PERSONAL STUFF ASIDE, the writing is SO GOOD, it’s so funny and flowery and i really enjoyed reading it. my problem with it is it can get very non-linear and flowery with the storytelling that i don’t know what part of the story we’re in, if it’s still a flashback or if it’s in the present so it becomes difficult to arrive at the message the author is trying to convey. other than that, though, i wish i had patricia lockwood’s witty wacky brain because some lines are just so good (“When they burst in shouting, ‘WE KNOW WHAT YOU’VE BEEN DOING!’ I thought, ‘Oh my god, the feds know I’ve been trying to learn the chord progression to “American Pie” for months now.’”)

+ i’m also currently reading my broken language by quiara alegria hudes! honestly it took me such a long time to choose another book to read because (in case you haven’t seen my tweet) i made the mistake of starting with priestdaddy so now every book i start to read seems to pale in comparison. hudes’ memoir, however, speaks to me in a way that the culture of latino or hispanic families seem to echo that of filipino families (which is true, because, well #colonization but that’s another topic for another post) so i was like okay let me give this a chance (and upon googling i found out she wrote in the heights ?!>@>!??;? why did i not know this)

✱ movies & shows

• formula 1: drive to survive (season 4)

couldn’t find it in me to finish this... aside from some good episodes like ocon’s win at hungary and the mclaren 1-2 at monza, everything else was centered on the rivalry between mercedes and red bull which i’m getting sick of 😭 like i’m seriously so sick of it i’m sorry it’s not lewis or max’s fault it’s how fans treat the rivalry it’s gotten too much for me... i would’ve loved to see seb winning in baku and checo podium in mexico ;_; also lando telling his race engineer “shut up” during sochi would’ve been so fun to add since netflix loves upping the f1 drama anyway lol

(i also wish we saw kimi but he probably didn’t want to take part in filming to have a quiet retirement and i completely respect that. i miss you kimi)

• lady bird (2017)

there’s something about me consuming content with catholic characters/catholicism as an overarching subject this past month... you are so right i need professional help.

anyway, i loved this when i first watched it back in 2020 and i still love it now. lady bird showcases the troubles of growing up and being in high school in such an awkward and honest way that it makes it both funny and vulnerable, and well, isn’t the whole growing-into-yourself thing exactly like that?

(my favorite line is definitely “i was on top! who the fuck is on top their first time?” because who IS on top their first time?)

one exchange that hit me during this rewatch (that didn’t stick with me when i first watched it) was when sister sarah said lady bird writes about sacramento so carefully and full of love in her essay and lady bird says, “sure. i guess i pay attention.” and sister sarah goes “don’t you think they are maybe the same thing? love and attention?” and it reminded me of a mary oliver quote that goes like attention is the beginning of devotion. it made me feel so unbelievably tender like God yeah attention is the beginning of devotion how do i turn this into Love Is A Religion imagery

also i always ALWAYS cry at the end of lady bird i don’t think i’ll ever not get affected by the last 15-ish minutes of the movie it’s bad for me i cry so easily with family stuff in media

• tidying up with marie kondo (2019)

idc what other people say this show is SELF CARE. but also i started this earlier today so i’ll write a proper blurb about it for my april media round-up! i am so excited to watch this woman spark joy


that's it for this month's media round up! next month, hopefully more books & shows and a dent in most of my wips... fingers crossed (melting face emoji)

Comments

[moriendum]

well, Hello There Fellow Gemini.. i'm glad i don't need to preface this with "sorry if it's too long" because you get it.

i was reading the whole section about priestdaddy and nodding along like "yes, i know how that is.. yes, exactly... omg same..." to the point where i got to thinking ?? this is so specifically relatable? but then later you mention latino and filipino families having similarities and AH. yeah, totally, that makes sense. the religion thing, the catholicism thing... all part of my childhood too, just to a lesser extent, but the culture itself - yeah, very relatable.

AND JEJDHEJKDKDK PLEASE THE LAST 15MINS OF LADY BIRD i watched that movie once and NEVER watched the last 10mins because i just. started bawling. couldn't handle it. cried like a baby. amazing. thank you for writing the most relatable post in the history of posts. and i had forgotten the line about love and attention being the same thing but now i'm... oh. ok. wow.

it's awesome to hear the "start with this" podcast has been helping you and your relationship with writing. it really is! because i know (from experience and from hearing other writers talking about it) how... exhausting and frustrating writing can be sometimes. like, it seems unavoidable to feel some sort of way about our own writing, but if we can work on it!! if we can make it manageable!! that's already great. so i hope you can continue to find that balance :D for your benefit and for ours because then we'll get to read your stuff too ksjdjhekdkf <3

[paglambing]

geminis have to stick together no one else gets our shit but us (hugging emoji) (i also love long comments in general you're good)

and right... catholicism is a strange strange culture to grow up in & i'm glad i'm not the only one who experiences the nuances of being queer and (a non-practicing) catholic because god it's a LOT

PLEASE i thought i wasn't gonna cry this time around since i've watched it before but i think the more you watch it the less immune you get... AND RIGHT. RIGHT? when you love something, you give your undivided attention to it and that's a crazy thing to realize

AH thank you so much sess that means so so much to me ;_; you've already helped me so much with my writing journey and i'm forever grateful for that <3 i hope i stop getting the ick with my writing because there's so much i want to share

(sorry i had to repost this comment omg i wasn't sure if i replied to your comment or made an entirely different comment, dw is confusing sometimes 😭)