[Susan] Week in... Books, Films, Gaming and Plays!

[cirquedesgeeks]

"Week in..." is a regular post to let me discuss what I've been reading, watching or playing lately in fewer words than a full review. It's primarily here to be useful and let me talk about things that either I'm not planning to review, or won't be getting around to for a while.

Books

• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Autobiographical comic focusing on the author and her gay father.) (Reread)
  I feel awkward reviewing autobiographies, so in in brief: this is a good book. I tend to get lost in it, in how Bechdel occasionally goes over the same time period (an event, an age, a pile of books) and shows a completely different side of it than she'd already revealed, in the amount and effect of literature in and on her life. It makes a lot of sense, especially as she explicitly states that it's easier to think of her family in fictional terms (and as someone who does relate to things and people via books, I could see where she was coming from.). I really like the art style as well, in that it's simultaneously cartoony and detailed, and works really well with what she's saying. My copy is starting to give way at the binding though, which is sad and annoying. As an aside: this and Persepolis are two delicious autobiographical comic flavours that go well together; if you like one then I definitely recommend picking up the other.


• The Women Men Don't See by James Tiptree Jr. (Scifi story involving four people stranded by a plane crash.) and Clockwork Fairies by Cat Rambo (A Victorian man, his inventor fiancée and her art, and the strange man who appreciates her work.)
  I looked these up based on a Galactic Suburbia podcast and I'm going to talk about them together because a) that's how they're filed in my brain, and b) they're telling very similar stories. Namely: men seeing the women around them and yet completely failing to see anything about them. (They see but do not observe, if you will.) Both of these stories are interesting and manage to get their point across - Clockwork Fairies more subtley, and The Women Men Don't See probably better - although I have to say that I prefer Clockwork Fairies. Steampunk! A better idea of the main female character (which might have been the point of James Tiptree Jr's story!)! A point of view character who is so blind but doesn't leave me panicking about potential sexual assault at any point! In my opinion they work best in complement, so I am recommending reading them together.


• Sailor Moon Volume 7 and Volume 8 by Naoko Takeuchi (Girls with magical powers trying to save the world and follow their dreams.)
  These volumes are pretty good, although they have all of the same problems that other Sailor Moon stories have (the fightscenes are really rushed and hard to follow, the other sailors are glossed over in favour of more sparkly costumes - I say this as a fan of sparkly costumes - and Chibi-Usa's fluctating age) and a new one! Which is that serious moral quandries are raised... And then ignored. I did like the Outer Guardians, and the reveal about what Sailor Saturn does because that was unexpected, and I kinda liked the way their story was resolved. Basically: it continues the formula of the series, so if you like the previous volumes this will probably work for you and vice versa. It DOES have some flaws in my opinion though.


• Until Death Do Us Part Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Hiroshi Takashige and Double-S (A girl with pre-cognitive powers recruits a crime-fighting blind swordsman to be her bodyguard.)
  This has exactly what I ask for in a real-world setting manga, namely attractive men and women wearing suits and kicking ass with swords and guns. THe fight scenes are awesome and plentiful, the tech is suitably off the wall, there is world-building and implausible science, and Sierra is badass. There are some problematic points, but it's still good for what it is.


• Cake Decorating With the Kids by Jill Collins and Natalie Saville (Book of very fancy cake decorating ideas and a few recipes/techniques.)
  I like the ideas and layour of this book, it's very easy to follow! But it's giving me baker's anxiety. Am I supposed to have all of the kid to make a three-tiered cake just in my home? Because I really don't! (Also, I'm not sure how much interest some of these designs would hold for kids - I may ask my neices next time I see them.) I don't know if any of its proposed recipes are any good, I've not tried them yet, but I am definitely planning to because these look good!

Films

• X-Men: First Class
  I am honestly not sure about this film. On the one hand, I enjoy it! The two main characters work well together and I am happy to spend the film willing them to kiss. It's got funny bits and poignant bits and generally everyone's motivation is easy to follow, except for Schmidt because... Schmidt. On the other hand it is incredibly problematic in regards to race and women. It's... Disappointing.

Gaming
I am currently playing through Mass Effect for the first time (I know) while Lex plays through Mass Effect 3 for the third time. I am slowly, slowly becoming more competent! I'm playing a WoC Sentinel who drives like a loon and is probably a neutral-tending Paragon Shepard - namely she is nice to the people she likes, and isn't afraid to give as good as she gets. I... Quite like Mass Effect! It's not my genre, in both play style and story genre (I prefer turn-based fantasy RPGs), so there's been a bit of a learning curve. I'm actually enjoying it more than I enjoyed Dragonage Origins or Jade Empire, which I think is down to the fact that regardless of whether you're playing a Paragon, Renegade, or Neutral Shepard, she has some basic personality. This is something that's missing from the other Bioware games that I've played, and makes me appreciate it here all the more.
Achievement of the Week: Sentinel killing a Thresher Maw on foot with a pistol.
As for Mass Effect 3 (... Okay, I admit it up front: the Mass Effect franchise is kinda a spectator sport for me, because I have watched so many people play through ME2.) is a game that makes me weep. It periodically punches me in the emotions and I'm not even the one playing it. Also: I want to take James Vega out for a beer so we can bond over the Mako being awesome.

Plays

• The Lion King Stageshow THIS IS AS GOOD AS EVERYONE SAYS IT IS AND THEN SOME. It is incredible from start to finish. Some of the stuff they added I wasn't keen on (the cliché "I will make the protagonist's love interest into my queen!" served no purpose.), but the songs. The dancing. The costumes. The fact that some of the actors looked like they were having so much fun! I doubt that there are still tickets left the Manchester run that we went to, but if you get a chance go and see it!

And that's me done! What interesting things to up your week?