#12: Bumper content digest
What I've been reading, watching, listening to, and thinking over the past two months.
Hellooooo, I am back!
I said in my last post that you would probably not hear from me for a while because the latest Legend of Zelda game came out and I was right; I’ve spent close to 200 hours on it so far, and I’ll keep on going till I 100% the game. It’s the completionist in me.
That being said, since you already know where I’ve been and that I’ve spent a lot of time on the game, I won’t mention it in today’s digest — I’ll be writing a separate, in-depth review on it if you’re interested, so stay tuned ;)
What I will mention, though, is that somehow, in the two months since the game came out, I’ve still found time to consume content. You’ll see a lot of the following is easy-listening/watching because aside from playing the game and settling into another new job, I didn’t want to spend my remaining leisure time doing anything too demanding of my brain.
Quick note: I’ve left out my regular podcasts (Shameless, After Work Drinks, and the Toni and Ryan podcast) because I feel like I’ve mentioned them so many times already. I do still listen to all these podcasts and would recommend if you haven’t checked them out already.
So, here we go - here are my favourite pieces of content I consumed in the last two months.
I’ve been reading:
Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton
I really don’t know what’s gotten into me but I’ve read almost exclusively memoirs this year. I think it’s because I consume memoirs through their audiobook versions and since I like to always have something playing in my ears while I’m doing something else, I get through memoirs faster than I would with a physical book of another genre.
Anyway, I bought this memoir because growing up, Paris Hilton was my version of Kim Kardashian. I saw her in all the gossip magazines I read as a preteen and always loved her style. I wanted her pink outfits and tiny chihuahuas and her long, gorgeous blonde hair.
A couple of other reasons were 1) because I’d seen great reviews for it and 2) as I grew up watching Paris’ life play out in the media, I’d always had a personal understanding that her Paris ‘character’ wasn’t fully serious - meaning, I’d always assumed she was smarter than her image and what people thought of her, and that she had a whole other side of her that she kept private. It made me sad to hear general discourse about her where people dismissed her as a stupid bimbo, but I also didn’t know enough about her to bite back at those people beyond the obvious reminder that everyone is more complex than you think.
So, when I saw that Paris Hilton had released a memoir, I was very interested to read about her story in her own words. Hearing her read it via the audiobook added another layer of intimacy to a memoir that was more vulnerable than I expected. Of all the memoirs I’ve read this year, this one felt the most authentic - when I listened to Paris reading the memoir, it felt more like a conversation than a book in audio form.
If you, too, have a fascination with the seemingly glittery lives of celebrities who have larger-than-life personas, I would 100% recommend Paris.
Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang
I first heard about this book on the Shameless podcast - it’s their July book club read, and Zara, Michelle and Annabelle have all said they’ve already finished it (and it’s the start of the month!). With such glowing reviews, I had to pick it up (or rather, I asked my boyfriend to pick it up because it was out of stock everywhere I looked, and he snagged the very last copy from our local Dymocks).
This is one of two books I’m currently reading and so far I’m finding it more difficult than I expected - I think going into it knowing it was rated highly by so many people whose tastes I trust set the bar pretty high. What I’m struggling with is that I find the main character so annoying - she’s whiny and a bad friend. I did see someone commenting on goodreads that that’s the whole point, that you’re meant to think that way of her and the whole book is meant to be a bit of a parody - and don’t get me wrong, the writing style is easy to consume and it makes it easier to keep reading (which I will), but the first 100 pages has definitely been a bit of a slog.
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
This is the second book I’m currently reading, and I feel like I owe an apology to Min Jin Lee. I own a copy of Pachinko, another one of her books that is widely renowned, but I still haven’t read it yet because I keep getting distracted by memoirs and video games.
(Side note: All of her books have such beautiful covers, I can’t get over it - see below. Whoever is designing these covers needs a raise)
Anyway, I’m about 100 pages into Free Food for Millionaires and I’m really enjoying it. The characters are intriguing and I’m not quite sure where the story is going yet but it’s compelling so far, which is the perfect sweet spot. I’m also enjoying reading more literature from the Asian diaspora; I can identify with their narratives more closely - something I could rarely do with the novels I read while I was growing up.
“The best and worst clothes I packed for my European summer holiday” by Maggie Zhou
I’m heading to Europe for the very first time in September - and as the departure date nears, I’m realising I don’t know where the fuck to even start with packing. At the best of times (i.e. with lots of prep time and prior knowledge of the area I’m travelling to), I’m not a great packer - I either bring too much, forget something essential, or completely misjudge the vibe of the places I’m going to (heeled patent boots to the beach was not my finest moment).
I came across this article by Maggie when she shared it on her Instagram story - and boy, am I glad she did. It got me to finally start thinking about what, practically, I need for the activities I will be doing - plus, it also dished out some handy pieces of info to consider, like bringing comfy shorts for long treks to avoid chafing.
I’ve been watching:
My boyfriend and I eat dinner together every night, and often it will be at home. Our ritual is that we will watch a few episodes while we eat, and since he prefers to have only one show going at a time, we burn through the one fairly quickly and move onto the next. In the past two months, we’ve watched:
Attack on Titan (via Crunchyroll)
I mentioned this in one of my previous content digests but in case you missed it or you don’t know what AoT is - it’s one of the most popular animes out there. The premise is that the characters live within these walled communities; the walls protect them from these giant, human-eating beings called Titans. As the show progresses, you learn more about the Titans, where they came from, and how everyone came to live within the walls.
It’s a super well-written, gripping, and gory anime that has over 80 episodes, which we finally finished last month. For those of you who’ve never watched anime before (like my boyfriend), this is a good place to start, especially if you like shows like Game of Thrones. Just beware: like GoT, it’s very brutal in its portrayal of death and I would highly recommend you not get attached to any characters.
The show isn’t finished yet (the finale is slated to come out later this year), so if you haven’t started it yet but want to, you have time to catch up!
Queer Eye season 7 (via Netflix)
I’m sure everyone on Earth has heard of Queer Eye and for good reason - you can switch it on at any time or at any point of any season and just know you’re going to feel good while watching it. I’ve seen and enjoyed every season so far - and this one is no exception. Bonus points to this season for having my favourite episode ever, which goes to episode 6, Ms. Mary Quite Contrary. I sobbed SO much watching Mary share her story and rebuild her self-worth after being incarcerated for so long in prison.
Jury Duty (via Prime Video)
You may have seen this show all over social media, with its meme-able moments and characters. What pushed us to watch it was its premise - a fake case and fake jury where everyone is a paid actor except for one guy, Ronald Gladden. Watching how Ronald navigated the happenings that to him were comical and outlandish but that the rest of the cast had actually rehearsed, was hilarious and a surprisingly heartwarming exercise that proves nice people do still exist.
Fun fact: this show was created by Gene Stupnisky and Lee Eisenberg, who are producers from The Office and wrote the film Good Boys, which is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. If you like either or both of those, Jury Duty will be right up your alley.
There were also a few shows I watched on my own, including:
And Just Like That season 2 (via Binge)
This show is magic. Sure, it owes a lot to the long-running, well-loved Sex and the City - but where SATC opened the door for them, AJLT made tea for its guests and showed them why they should stay. It’s the very definition of a guilty pleasure - you feel like you shouldn’t like it but you really, really do.
The first season had novelty on its side, and the second season builds on it with the same deranged brand of humour (the penis slurping scene with Harry Goldenblatt has been burned into my brain for the rest of time) and continuations of storylines that I wasn’t sure they’d pick up again.
I’ve seen discourse online where people criticise AJLT for trying to correct the wrongs of SATC - they’ve written in more racially and sexually diverse characters across the board and opened up discussion on topics they would never have touched on twenty years ago on TV. But while watching the show, I couldn’t help but think: is it so bad that they’re doing that? Sure, it’s obvious as fuck and some of it doesn’t really land, but I think it would be worse if they didn’t try at all.
I love that this season we get to see more of Charlotte! Kristin Davis is so much fun to watch and I love seeing Harry more, too.
Black Mirror S06 E01: Joan is Awful (via Netflix)
I’ve only gotten around to watching this first episode of the new season of Black Mirror - and let me tell you, they started pretty strong. This episode stars Annie Murphy (Alexis from Schitt’s Creek, if you partake), Salma Hayek and a host of other talented actors - I won’t spoil it for you, but the story feels eerie but timely in a world where instant gratification is expected and AI is developing at a rate faster than we can comprehend.
After that episode, let’s just say I’ll be reading terms and conditions more closely than before…
Kardashians season 3 (via Disney+)
I’m not a Kardashian hater, but I’m also not a superfan. I never watched the earlier seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, just a few of the last episodes and all of the new seasons on Disney+, and from what I’ve watched, I’ve largely enjoyed it.
This latest season, however… it’s just not doing it for me. When I was considering what to write about this season, I thought back to what I have enjoyed from the episodes I’ve watched, and I think what season 3 lacks is more candour and focus on the family unit as a whole.
I’m aware, of course, that the whole thing is very curated. I’m aware we only see what they want us to see. But with season 3, it almost feels like what they’ve decided they want us to see is gimmicky - Kendall and Kylie doing random things like learning how to drive “stick” and ride horses, Kim coyly texting potential new love interests and revealing nothing, bland conversations between Kourtney and Travis; it reads to me as caricatures of family member stereotypes, like “what it means to be sisters”, “what it means to be a single woman” and “what a married couple looks like”. Even the “fight” between Kim and Kourtney over Dlce and Gbbana feels like an overly manufactured affair that sits nicely at the crossroads of commercial interest (I bet ET and People love being able to tag @ D&G in their posts for more clicks) and family drama.
The most authentic thing about what I’ve seen in the season so far is Khloe’s biopsy and potential cancer scare. Showing her scar on camera and explaining what exactly she needed to do to be put in the clear was probably the closest we got to actually seeing what is going on in their lives.
I have seen in the previews for the next couple of episodes that Kim is going to be talking about the toll Kanye has taken on her life, and I’m looking forward to hearing her feelings on that - not because it makes for good gossip fodder but because if they’ve signed up to do a show about their lives, then I want to see what they actually think and feel as humans, not just as caricatures of family member types on TV.
I’ve been listening to:
Scamanda (Lionsgate podcast on Spotify)
This absolutely insane podcast is another rec I took from the Shameless podcast. It tells the true story of Amanda, an American woman who faked having cancer and scammed people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. I started listening to it right in the middle of the series, so I had a few weekly releases to look forward to once I caught up, and holy shit, it was juicy.
It was blood-boiling and also endlessly fascinating to hear the many things Amanda did and told people to continue her scam. I learned a lot about how little shame some people feel as well as how generous strangers can be.
The most significant thing to me was that investigative journalist, Nancy Muscatello, pointed out that this case is the first of its kind - probably because you’d have to be pretty fucking callous to not only pretend you have cancer, but accept money from people - given to you to help you through your sickness - for your own benefit.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
I have been a Taylor Swift fan (Swiftie, if you will) for a long time. I’ve seen her twice in concert when she came to Australia for Fearless and Speak Now - and since then, have missed out on tickets to all the subsequent Australian tours.
So when she first announced that she would be touring Australia in Feb for her Eras Tour, I was sweating thinking about the sheer demand. When presale day came around, I spent twelve hours on several devices and still came up with zero tickets.
Luckily, I managed to score two tickets for me and my brother in general sale - mere days before Taylor dropped her re-recorded version of Speak Now.
Speak Now is in my top three Taylor Swift albums, largely because of the nostalgia around it. This album was the first one of hers that I remember waiting for the release of, and I remember being in such awe that she wrote all of the songs entirely on her own. It’s also special to me because the last time I saw her in concert, she was touring for this album.
When Speak Now TV came out, I was at work and my brother was on a road trip, but we both synced up and listened at the same time, reacting with each other live via Instagram DM. Listening to her re-recorded versions in her more mature voice and sharing that experience with my brother made me realise that there’s one more reason this album is so special to me: the songs remind me of how far I’ve come; and I would have loved to tell twelve year old me that life gets so much better and that one day, we’d be listening to these songs from a place of love.
Do It Like That by TXT x Jonas Brothers
Speaking of nostalgia, when I was growing up, I looooved the Jonas Brothers. Nick Jonas was my dream man. And now, as a huge kpop fan of many years, I also love TXT (aka Tomorrow x Together), a 5-member, absolute powerhouse of talent.
So to see that these two boy groups who I adore have collabed was insane - like, I almost dropped my phone when I first saw the Reel of all 8 of them in the recording studio together.
When I first got into kpop, it would be unfathomable to think that the genre would be on the Jonas Brothers’ radar, and now not only is it on their radar, but they’ve created a banger with a kpop group that is so perfectly matched to their style. Give it a listen!
The Good Witch by Maisie Peters
Another badass girlie touring Australia next year is Maisie Peters, an English artist my brother introduced me to. We recently scored tickets to her show next year and to prepare for it, I listened to her new album, The Good Witch, back to front - and since then, I’ve never really stopped. It’s on constant loop - my faves are Lost the Breakup, Wendy, BSC and The Band And I (Long Live vibes, if you’re a Swiftie).
Phew, I think that’s it! I’ve been writing for about 3 hours now and can’t think of any more content pieces of note, so I’ll cap it here.
Keep your eyes peeled for that Tears of the Kingdom game review and I’ll see you next week for another content digest!