(Poem)

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 There will come soft rains

 

(War Time)

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, 

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night, 

And wild plum trees in tremulous white, 

Robins will wear their feathery fire

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; 

And no one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done. 

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree

If mankind perished utterly; 

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, 

Would scarcely know that we were gone. 

— Sara Teasdale. 1912.

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Film Diary.

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Movies I’ve seen as of March 2021 (that did not get a longer review for one or another reason), with my comments on them.

 

IN ENGLISH: 

- To all the boys I’ve ever loved. (2018. Dir. Susan Johnson. Based on the book by Jenny Han).

Fairly charming romance (with bits of comedy) about and for teenagers. Certainly a better YA romance than other popular but shall we say Problematic movies like “Twilight” and “The kissing booth”. 

- The Poison Rose. (2019. Dirs. George Gallo & Francesco Cinquemani. Based on the book by Richard Salvatore).

Fairly underrated Noir story with all the traditional ingredients and trappings of the genre. 

- A Family Man. (2016. Dir. Mark Williams). 

The textbook definition of “Glurge”: A story that intends to be inspiring and uplifting and instead is such a melodramatic, preachy, moralistic mess it becomes unintentionally hilarious. Really not recommended. 

- Official Secrets. (UK. 2019. Dir. Gavin Hood. Based on “The spy who tried to stop a war”, by Marcia & Thomas Mitchell). 

Surprisingly good drama about a real-life case, helped by a smart script and effective direction. Okay performances. 

- Inside Job. (2010. Dir. Charles Ferguson)

Good documentary about the late 2000’s financial crisis and the massive corruption that lead to it. Worth a look. 

- The Dig. (UK. 2021. Dir. Simon Stone. Based on the book by John Preston).  

Good drama loosely based on a real-life archaeological dig. More interesting for the subtext than the main story, which is rather suitable for a tale about digging. 

- The last face. (2016. Dir. Sean Penn)

Take the above definition of “Glurge” and then add a level of misery exploitation that would make Mel Gibson proud. Then you get this borderline vomit-inducing disaster of a movie. So yeah, not recommended. 

- I care a lot. (2020. Dir. J Blakeson). 

A prestige movie that can’t quite decide if it’s a black comedy, a thriller, or a parody of both. Entertaing most of the way thanks to good performances, but on the whole surprisingly underwhelming. 

OTHER LANGUAGES:

- El desconocido. (Spain. 2015. Dir. Dani de la Torre)

Tense thriller with the well-worn premise of a man in  a car who must keep driving or else. Predictable, but effective and entertaining. 

- Was wir wollten. (Austria. 2020. Dir. Ulrike Kofler. Based on a short story by Peter Stamm) 

Fairly subtle drama that is helped by a uniquely European perspective: This is probably the only tale about a childless couple that ends with the message “Actually, THANK GOD we can’t have children, they just screw everything up!!”. So yeah, recommended if only for that. 

- El agente topo. (Chile. 2020. Dir. Maite Alberdi)

Peculiar yet undeniably delightful mix of documentary and mystery drama —or rather, a film that seems to be a meta-comedy only to become a ponderous drama. Powerful and thought-provoking. 

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TV diary.

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Assorted tv shows (and one game) I recently finished or am currently watching, and my thoughts on them: 

As of March 2021, finished: 

LIVE-ACTION

- Riverdale. 4 seasons. 

- The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. 3 seasons. 

Riverdale is still going strong for me, unafraid to be silly and bonkers despite the ‘teen dramedy’ trappings. Sabrina, meanwhile, I found underwhelming all in all. There was stuff to like, but man alive: This show is what happens when you take your dark adaptation way too seriously. 

- Tiny Pretty Things. 

- Crime Scene: The vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.

At some point YA thrillers became all the rage and now are sort of giving the last death rattles. The first quickly degenerates into a soap opera that desperately wants to be a mystery and the second is the kind of rage-bait exploitainment docu-series that are increasingly becoming Netflix’s bread and butter. 

- Warrior Nun. 1 season.

- The Umbrella Academy. 2 seasons. 

And with these I conclude that live-action superhero shows are just not for me, not at present. Both adapted from the kind of Indie Superhero comic that swears up and down it’s not Superhero, or not just that —they mostly deliver what they promised and if that is what you are looking for then by all means give them a try. The first is a religious-themed story with a teensy bit of variety thrown in and the second is essentially a super-dysfunctional  super-family run through the winger. 

No, the issue is simply that right now this genre is just… not working for me. Be it Marvel, be it DC, be whatever, right now the genre feels to me like it only works in movies or in animated shows. Oh, well. 

Still kinda interested in the upcoming live action Powerpuff Girls one, if only to see exactly what they try to do. 

Sure, it will most likely be a fiasco like the live-action Winx thing, but who knows!

ANIMATED

- DC Superhero Girls (Netflix).

- Legend of Korra, Volumes 1-2. 

Animated superhero shows, however, are still working for me, to different degrees. DC Superhero Girls (the Lauren Faust version —there is a previous one that I have not seen) is possibly the best of the DC-derived cartoons of the last six or so years —mainly for not being afraid to take risks but also remembering to be, you know, FUN. 

Korra meanwhile is one of those cult shows that have not aged as well as the fans wish to believe, but it is still quite charming and worth a look. Plus, like the original Avatar, it gets better and better as it advances. 

And currently watching: 

ALL-AGES ANIMATION

- Tropical Rouge PreCure. 

- Ducktales, season 3. 

One just starting and one just ending. The first is the latest entry in the long-running magical girl franchise —for younger viewers, and so far much better than the last entry, “Healin’ Good”. Ducktales meanwhile was one of the best remakes of the 2010’s, very much worth a look. 

GENERAL ANIMATION

- Magical Girl Site. 

An adaptation that actually improves the original. Unfortunately the original manga really does not hold up and in hindsight was just —pretty bad. But the resulting anime is still a fairly exciting affair, and more or less the last hurrah for Dark Magical Girl series. Starting with Madoka Magica and its myriad imitators (Daybreak Illusion. Magical Girl Raising Project. To a slightly different degree Yuki Yuuna is a Hero and its prequels and sequels. Also stories adjacent to other sub-genres such as  Kill la kill and the Wixoss franchise), and fittingly ended with a Madoka Magica spin-off, Magia Record. Nowadays the interest seems to be towards more experimental affairs, such as Wonder Egg Priority (what a title). 

Anyway, Site is a fairly entertaining affair that while difficult to stomach at times and eye-rolling at others, nevertheless has enough thrilling action and intriguing ideas to keep one interested. 

- Onyx Equinox. 

Terrific Mesoamerican-themed fantasy series that’s best described as a MUCH gorier Avatar / Legend of Korra. It’s a kind of cartoon I wish I had seen as a teenager. 

- My next life as a villainess. 

Intriguing take on both Romance VNs and related tropes and genres —what happens when an unlucky protagonists reincarnates not as the generic protagonist, but as the villain? Entertaining all the way. 

- Housamo: Tokyo Afterschool Summoners. Chapters 1-6, plus 4 Events.

Gay furry app game that I’ve had a very strange relationship with over the years —from curiosity to repulsion, to renewed interest to, at current, genuine appreciation for it. 

The writing is uneven as hell but goddamn it has its moments. 

LIVE-ACTION

- Pose, season 2. 

Simply one of the best tv shows and indeed one of the best Queer / LGBT shows you’ll ever see. Also the perfect antidote to the currently-ending wave of 80’s nostalgia, being a show that slams you into the uglier side of the decade and then makes you find the genuine beauty behind it. Not to be missed. 

- The Sinner, season 3. 

Okay, so this is the thriller drama that I basically put on when I need to kill about an hour. So… it does the job, I guess? 

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Novel.

 Been writing a novel for a while, if you'd like to check it out: 

Such terrible hatred, in Spanish and English. 

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My lesbian experience with loneliness

- My lesbian experience with loneliness. Nagata Kabi. Twenty-eight-years-old Nagata. College drop-out. Subsisting on temporary jobs while trying to break into professional manga publishing. Wrestling with a profoundly-set depression. Only barely starting to come out of the closet. About to lose her virginity to a call-girl. And completely unknown to her, about to take the world by storm…

Phenomenal autobiographical comic. And, without intending to be so, part of a recent wave of gay manga that break away from the conventional, often troublesome established genres (Yaoi and Yuuri, Boy’s Love…) to present instead frank, candid, sincere portrayals of queer life in Japan. In this case, the comic is so frank it does not shy away from the ugliest parts of depression —actually, for casual readers, I should mention a certain TRIGGER WARNING —for depiction of self-harm and suicidal thoughts. 

But this is not a story that wallows in misery. Rather, it’s a tale of finding hope through breaking the barriers that others have imposed on us for so long we’ve come to think they are normal. As she embraces her true personality, Nagata comes face-to-face with several universal truths. The profound lack of sex education that gay people face everywhere in the world to this very date, for example —and this, without trying at all to be universal. She presents her own experiences as-is, and in this way hits on universal themes that resonate with readers from all walks of life. 

Very much recommended. 

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Two boys kissing

- Two boys kissing. David Levithan. Craig and Harry were boyfriends; then they became best friends, which one of them believes is better and the other does not. Right now they are getting ready for an amazing project: Kissing for thirty-two hours, twelve minutes and ten seconds in their schoolyard, to set a new world record. Tariq is setting up the video feed for their kiss —he knows this idea started when he himself was gay-bashed not that long ago. Peter and Neil are watching the kiss in live stream, even as they deal with their own relationship problems. Avery and Ryan have only just met and hear about the kiss on the radio, even as they struggle with how much of themselves they should reveal. Cooper is not aware of the kiss; he’s too busy flirting endlessly online, unaware of the major crisis heading his way. And watching over all these ‘baby gays’ is the collective consciousness of their elders —the gay generation that was almost entirely lost to AIDS…

A remarkable and sweet YA novel; once again, it’s the kind of book I wish I myself had read as a teenager. The choral narrator is a very effective touch. The characters are a touch schematic (though I did like one of them casually being revealed to be Trans), and the narration now and then gets inappropriately moralizing (such as when it tries to posit that platonic affection is always better than a purely sexual relationship or that progress is always a direct line —i.e., that all times past were at least al little worse and therefore all times to come will automatically be better). In these moments the author seems a bit too overly aware that he’s writing for teenagers. But the book overcomes these flaws when it focuses more on the characters’ sentimental journeys. And at the best moments, the narration is almost poetic in its descriptions. 

Overall, quite recommended. 

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Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe

- Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. 

In the summer of 1987, Aristotle Mendoza, aka Ari, is dealing with his tense family situation and the perspective of another lonely, bitter summer. But in the first day he meets free-spirited Dante Quintana. And so begins an intense friendship that across a year will take both boys on a journey of self-discovery. Of sorting out their complex feelings about their Mexican-American heritage, about their parents, the society they live in —and their blooming love for each other. 

Terrific YA gay romance set in 80’s El Paso, Texas. Peopled with unforgettable characters and told in a deceivingly sparse prose that perfectly captures the thought processes of teenagers then and now, this is the kind of book that we adult readers wish we could have read when we were ourselves teenagers. And that contemporary kids, one hopes, will get plenty out of. 

Quite recommended. 

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