Week #22 - Nov 27 to Dec 03

2024-12-03

• 🤒 I got sick the day before I had a day off. The day before Black Friday. I don't really buy anything on Black Friday (and I didn't buy anything this year), but I like walking around the mall with family. I usually don't like shopping in malls, it's very stressful. But I like spending the time in a mall. Weird, I know. Sadly, couldn't do it this year. I spent it mostly sleeping.
• 🎮 My friend Joel recommended the game "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist" to me and I spent a lot of my weekend napping off my cold, and lying in bed playing that game. It's right up my alley. It's a life simulator of, you guessed it, a teen living on a new planet. It's very narrative driven, and has pretty art. I'm already itching to play some more (I already finished two playthroughs) but I gotta lock in on school for the rest of the week.
• 🗯️ While sick, I also read a shit ton of manga. What stands out to me right now is Koi no Kiseki. It's not a good manga whatsoever. It's like a very over the top soap opera with no sense of realism at all, but it is so ridiculous that I couldn't stop reading. The art is also not that great, with very 90s sensibilities. A little more seriously, I liked Anata ga Shite Kurenakute mo. Some people may not, it's a very controversial manga that involves cheating. Again, it was like a train wreck I couldn't tear my eyes away from. Something a little more my style was Hana to Hoho. It's a cute manga about a girl whose dad was part of a band. Not a popular band, just an indie one, and they are no longer active. She meets a classmate. He's a fan of her dad's band and she begins to become close to him. No dramatics, it's very peaceful and calm and not overly sweet.
• 📚 I just finished reading the novella Daisy Miller by Henry James, and I really enjoyed it, despite it being incredibly predictable (I've read too many American Modernist novels). I just never tired of the "queer (as in strange) American girl in Europe who dangerously flirts on the edge of improper" trope. And James is more than a proficient author, so he manages to make it interesting. Right now I'm reading both Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. I'm a big fan of Zauner's music and I've read her "Crying in H Mart" essay in The New Yorker too many times to count and this book has been sitting on my shelf for at least a year so I decided to read it. I'm enjoying both books so far!
• 💔 It was a bad music news week last week. NewJeans left their company and are now in limbo. Several K-pop groups disbanded. Bob Bryar, the former drummer of My Chemical Romance, passed away. It's been rough.
• 💿 In light of Kendrick Lamar's GNX dropping last week, I decided to re-listen to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers again, because I don't think I gave it a decent shot. I think I like this release more. Mr. Morale felt a little more introspective whereas GNX is a little more boastful and loud (but still has its introspective moments).
• 📊 My top artists from last week were, from most listened to to least: My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Criminal Instinct, Petrol Girls, Relient K, Luna Li, Saosin, and The Voidz. Ever since the news about Bob, I've been listening to The Black Parade a lot. As for the other artists, I've been listening to some of their albums slowly but surely. I looove the Petrol Girls, some solid feminist punk. Luna Li is a guitarist and her music is very whimsical. Not really my style, I like something with more edge to it, but it's pleasant nevertheless.