🎬 ~ One Battle After Another

rating: 10/10

paul thomas anderson, i was not familiar with your game. this movie is a comedy, satire, and action flick all rolled into one. leo dicaprio crashing out at the guy asking the code that he forgot about was just comedic gold. i loved benicio del toro’s performance in this. his character was so chill and honestly, nonchalant final boss. that man has reached nirvana state. and man, i LOVED willa. chase infiniti did a crazy good job portraying a strong deuteragonist and i loved the fact that she was so feisty and smart without being annoying ykwim? she needs an oscar nom for this. the camerawork, cinematography and score were also on point asf. lockjaw’s character made me so uncomfortable lmfao. the Christmas Adventurers were just a straight up parellel to wtv maga supporters and republicans have been up to these says. wish i could say the white supremacist shit was hyperbole but it really wasn’t. great tbh. deffo gonna be contending with Sinners during awards season ugh (i want Sinners to win so bad).

🎬 ~ I Saw The TV Glow

rating: 5/10

where were we going w this? what was that ending? i related to maddy’s monologue about time passing by so fast u didn’t even notice it, that years felt like seconds. “I was 19, then 20” and i was upset. i liked the thread about this niche tv show connecting these two teenagers, and the allegory of being another person trapped in a body that didn’t belong to you, but that aspect wasn’t explored as fully as it should’ve been. the childlike wonder and bisexual colors were gripping tho. but someone pls explain the ending. i do not understand it. it was like owen acknowledged something about his younger self, finding and accepting his heart by cutting his chest open? the movie stays in its silence too long tho.

📺 ~ Shadow and Bone (Season 1)

rating: 6/10

let me just say: this show was just so overwhelmingly netflix. that's derogatory. sure, it had its charm in bringing to life so many of the characters and don't get me wrong the casting as well was pretty much spot-on, it's the writing that ruined the thing. the pacing was off. the dialogue was so elementary—AND THAT WAS THE WORST PART: this show has NO nuance in it's words. people say cartoonish things and the script was just so teen-coded idk why. i was so bored in the second half that i just watched the finale in 2x speed and didn't give af. i get that they wanted to cram the Crows and the Grisha trilogy into one show, but damn they did not waste their time and put a knife into the Crows' story coz c'mon man Six of Crows was such an intricately crafted novel and that just... does not exist on the screen anymore. Alina was highkey pissing me off the entire show because she just kept losing her personality and having no agency in what she does for the most part. Mal was cool, Kaz was cool too, you could say the Darkling was evil right off the bat, Jesper ate (MY GOAT WITH A GOAT HAHAHA HE WAS SO ICONIC), Inej my glorious queen was cool too, NINA AND MATTHIAS AHHHHFHDJJSE. okay i'll stop now. 

📖 ~ Just A Bit Confusing

rating: 1/5

ass. steaming pile of shit. i hate ryan. ew. jamie deserved better. he should've been with luke. i liked tristan helping jamie out and being a brother to him, but i wished that they had a better conversation after finding out they were siblings fr. and the thing that pissed me off specifically was that luke was missing for TEN DAYS and when jamie found out he couldn't give less of a fuck and was too preoccupied by ryan's presence. some friend u are asshole. this book was booty bro. dog shit. everyone is stupid and thinks with their dicks.

📖 ~ Just A Bit Wrong

rating: 2/5

guys... is this... the BEST BOOK SO FAR!?!??? i loved the fact that i got emotionally attached to tristan like, WHY WAS HE ACTUALLY KINDA WELL-DEVELOPED AS A CHARACTER? I FELT ACTUALLY BAD FOR HIM WHEN SHIT HAPPENED. i wanna be friends w him idc if he roasts me all the time i'll roast him back. i was hoping that him and gabe would go on to have a better sibling relationship AND YEESSSSSS WE'RE GETTING THERE!!!! U CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER HAHAHAHAHA!!!! the spanking caught me off-guard but it was interesting tbh coz it factors into their character development as well. but did i still not like zach... yes. i liked him SOMETIMES. but blegh. i'm a hater of every ml in this series.

📖 ~ Just A Bit Obsessed

rating: 1/5

BAHAHAHAHHAA I HAD SM FUN READING THIS IN THE SAME WAY ONE ENJOYS A CHEAP CIGARETTE BCOZ YK IT'S TRASH BUT U DON'T WANT TO LET GO OF UR VICE. i finished this super quick tbh. like i started it at around 3am, read 50-ish percent, and ended it in the afternoon after waking up. some of the three-way stuff was fun to read coz the TENSIONNN but it wasn't that good tbh this book is like bare minimum ahh. i hated alex as a character. AGAIN with the hypermasculine dom top ml i hate it eww. but i actually liked chris. chris was cool. he wasn't as annoying as gabe and not wtv tf logan's bf was like.

📖 ~ Crooked Kingdom

rating: 3/5

let's be real: this book was a hot mess. i kinda felt like it'd be like that but i was disappointed to have been proven right. character-wise, i loved everyone's interactions and development. but the plot was so hodgepodge and didn't know what it was trying to do. matthias' death was so... blegh. i was literally deadpanning at my phone because it was so unbelievable and i was like "this is such a shitty death". there were no emotional beats to it. it was the reaction of the rest of the crows to his death that got me to tear up. the pacing of this book is fked up. a shame because the first book was so tightly paced. i really wish pekka rollins was dealt with but instead we got that useless ahh last chapter. kaz's growth was pretty crazy tho coz wow he has a HEART now. and this man would do literally anything for inej ohmygod he freed her from her contract, got her a boat, REUNITED HER WITH HER PARENTS!! LIKE DAMN BRUH. we love. also kaz accidentally calling jesper JORDIE killed me bruh jaw was gaping coz that was unhinged. kaz's "i'd crawl to you" fhdkxnkKKfhdjsk BOOMSHAKALAKA YES GAWDDDD. honestly i don't got much to say here. guess this is the review?

📖 ~ Six of Crows

rating: 5/5

bonkers fkin crazy. man. standing ovation bro. the heist novel to end all heist novels. my brain is so full. these guys are unhinged. they're TEENAGERS. this was so good man. i JUST finished it but i feel like it'd be better if i write this review tomorrow after i have processed this iconic mayhem of a book.

(since im so fkin bored at a wedding i might as well write the processed review for six of crows) i feel like there’s this thing where authors often thrive and write their best stories in an already established world. the grisha trilogy (even tho i haven’t read it) felt like leigh bardugo feeling her world out and tracking its limits; six of crows was the peak she reached in her craft and storytelling within the confines of this world because it feels so realised that it’s hard to find any faults within it. the flashbacks were so seamlessly intertwined and me personally, i was a BIG fan of nina and matthias' past lore sections and their dynamic in general. i think the character dynamics really sell this story because as abby mentioned, the characters are three-dimensional—they don't feel fictional, they are alive. and that's literally peak writing. i told her that reading this book made me feel the same as i did when i read Jade City and honestly, is there any bigger praise than that? i literally woke up in the morning and my first thought was "i need to wake up to read this book". this story gave me a reason to wake up lol. kaz and inej? u got me. i was SOLD. i predicted nina taking the jurda parem too (it was hype asf to me but poor her she gonna be suffering in the next book if she doesn't get better). and i am so invested in jesper and wylan's relationship bro UGH. btw lemme just say, these dumb fkin group of the stupidest yet smartest teenagers in all of ketterdam only survived that impossible heist because lady luck took pity on them and decided to be a little nice (i said a "little" nice for a reason. my girl inej done got snatched up after). i can't wait to see the finale of this duology bro. GOATED book deadass.

📺 ~ Daisy Jones & The Six

rating: 8.25/10

it's a cool period piece but it also kinda diminishes the book because it focuses too much on billy and daisy's romance instead of showing their restraint. i mean, i liked the first kiss and the bond they had when daisy overdosed but billy spirals a lot more and relapses in the show. the infidelity aspect is exaggerated a lot more here. but as a separate identity i think the show is pretty good overall. the songs are bangers (i loved Let Me Down Easy in particular). camila is very pretty and i was shocked that she died by the end. warren is the GOAT and i love him. eddie was... eh but portrayed pretty well. GRAHAM AND KAREN UGHH I LOVE THEM I WISH THEY ENDED UP TOGETHER BUT NOOO MISCOMMUNICATION. well at least they both got what they wanted in the end and are happy with their lives. riley keogh blew it out of the park with her performance as daisy. i get how it can be hard to portray characters who were written to be larger than life and prodigies but man it's like she was built to play daisy onscreen. her voice is magical and blends so well with sam claflin's, which btw, his voice is very good as well and they match and contrast so well vocally. chucky didn't die in this lol i remember he got drafted for vietnam or something in the book and was killed in action. and ig billy and daisy got their happy ending? which... wasn't the point but yayy happy for them.

📖 ~ Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

rating: 4.25/5

i think we really needed this extended epilogue of a book after the abrupt ending of the last one. and this book definitely measures up to its predecessor, dare i say, it surpasses it. this book is longer, it takes its time but doesn't occupy unnecessary space. it's such a beautiful ode to growing up and becoming an adult and dealing with the world around you with the people that you love. it captures life so well. this book is about maturing and the bonds we have with people we care about. ari's father's death was surprising, but the tone was already so foreboding from the start of that chapter (ari was having too good of a day lol) that i knew something awful was about to happen. cassandra was a welcome addition to the peanut gallery. her and ari had an ironclad, almost queerplatonic, friendship and i loved it. AND DANTE HAS A WHOLE BABY BROTHER NOW WOOOHOOO. i think this was a great coming of age book. 

📖 ~ The Last Graduate

rating: 1.25/5

girl. i hated reading this. this was literally such a chore to read that i skim-read the last 150 pages or so. i was so done with the unnecessary exposition. i like world-building as much as the next person but were those random facts serving the story? no. speaking of story, it made up for only maybe 30-40% of this book, because the rest was just el infodumping at every chance she gets. naomi novik u're a terrific writer but i did not sign up to read a 300 page dissertation on ur special interest i.e. the lore of this book series. i just need a 10-15 slide presentation girlie that's all i need coz this world doesn't warrant this much seriousness. n e ways, for the salad of the plot i got... it was actually pretty fine. my favourite part was the fkin patience-fortitude megamonster at the end oh boy u could feel el's terror. AND THE CLIFFHANGER!? ORION NOOOOOO. he was by far my favorite part of this book (and the last book). he's so... him. this eccentric weirdo. no swag no aura just immaculate vibes. i love him. el's insults for him are so creative lmfao. where else am i gonna see a girl refer to her boyfriend (that she won't admit is her bf) as a "cart-wheeling donkey"? her avoidant-attachment approach to him is hilarious. and he's a loser in love with her. orion is the only reason i'm reading this book series istg. and i think it's gonna be worse reading the final book in the trilogy coz he won't be around and i'll have to deal with more of el's exposition all alone. ughhhhhh. i did get that nostalgic-melancholic feeling as they were all leaving the scholomance at the end tho. i think i js never want to get out of a school coz i associate it with uhh safety and fun and learning and friends.

🎬 ~ It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley

rating: 8.75/10

did i know jack shit about Jeff Buckley before watching this documentary aside from a brief scroll of his wikipedia page that told me that he was a mega nusrat fateh ali fan and the bisexual girlies' spiritual obsession w him? no. well. wish he was around coz i loved his personality from what little we saw of him in this film. bro was lowkey daisy jones core ngl. really talented too. i listened to his album after watching the doc and have been obsessed with Mojo Pin and Hallelujah. his last voicemail to his mom >>>. no words. i think being remembered like this, decades after u're gone, and ur music still connecting to people who never lived in the same time u did—it's a great thing. i think i'd have liked knowing him back then (i say as if i wasn't born almost a decade after he died...). also i love the fact that this rando white boy just walked up to nusrat fateh ali and started belting his qawwali back at him lmfao.

📖 ~ Boyfriend Material

rating: 1/5

that's a very reluctant one star rating and only because i caught myself laughing a lot of times. otherwise? ZERO STARS. i literally started this book in APRIL and after hitting the 50% mark i was so bored but forced myself to slog through it and now i can finally wash my hands of it. i read the second half of this book while listening to classical music, that's how bored i was. luc is a mess of a character, and i hated that entire b-plot with the cancer-addled deadbeat father because the story was trying to farm for my sympathy and failing miserably at it. like why was sm time spent on trying to make luc reconnect with a guy who didn't give two shits about him?? and surprise surprise, TURNS OUT HE DID NOT EVEN HAVE CANCER. it was such a stupid waste of words. i don't really remember much of oliver and luc's dynamic anymore, only that there was the typical miscommunication and unnecessary self-sabotage trope involved, which i despise. this book's crime was that it was just too dry. sandpaper on my tongue dry. nothingburger ahh book istg. i don't wanna talk abt this ass book anymore. bye. wait no there was also this one instance of a muslim lesbian being named PRIYA. girl. do ur fucking research. no muslim ik had their MUSLIM parents name them priya.