media update: October

Asterisks denote something I particularly enjoyed or found especially worthy of my time; double asterisks are reserved for the creme de la creme.  As always, your mileage may vary.


FICTION

1. Full Throttle by Joe Hill:  A collection of short stories, including a couple cowritten with Joe's dad, Stephen King.  (Who, in my opinion, Joe is besting these days.)

2. Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allen Carr:  After his mother dies by suicide, 17-year-old Riggle moves in with his uncle, but when his uncle goes missing, Riggle has to find him before the rent is due.

2019 total so far: 57


NONFICTION

1. Toil & Trouble by Augusten Burroughs: A memoir about the author's discovery that he's a witch, among other things.

2. Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was A Girl by Jeannie Vanasco:  The author was sexually assaulted by a friend when she was a teenager, and later on, she decided to get in touch with him and find out why he did it and if it still haunts him too.

3. Catch and Kill* by Ronan Farrow:  When Ronan Farrow began investigating claims of sexual assault against Hollywood bigwig Harvey Weinstein, he didn't expect the huge can of worms he was about to open.  Riveting and enraging, and occasionally even funny (at one point, discussing a seemingly benign Gwen Stefani interview he had to scrap on orders from her publicist, he says "I felt neither hella good nor hella bad").

4. How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones:  A memoir about coming of age as a gay black man in the south.

2019 total so far:  23


MANGA/GRAPHIC NOVELS

1. Food Wars!* vol. 32 by Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

2. Our Dreams at Dusk* vol. 3 by Yuhki Kamatani

3. Ao Haru Ride vol. 7 by Io Sakisaka

4. Avatar: The Last Airbender - Imbalance Pt. 3 by Faith Erin Hicks and Peter Wartman

5. Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Stories (anthology)

6. The Promised Neverland vol. 12 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu

7. Avatar: The Last Airbender - Team Avatar Tales (anthology)

2019 total so far:  42 volumes of manga and 25 graphic novels


MOVIES

1. Rocketman*:  A musical biopic about Elton John and his rise to fame.  Superior to Bohemian Rhapsody in every way but the songs.  (Nothing against the songs in this, I just prefer Queen's music.)

2. X-Men: Dark Phoenix:  After Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is hit by a solar flare, she becomes even more powerful, and alien forces wish to use her for bad things.  A commercial and critical failure that didn't really deserve to flop; it's obviously not in the same league as most Marvel movies, but it certainly wasn't awful.

3. Midsommar:  After a devastating tragedy, Dani (Florence Pugh) tags along with her boyfriend and his friends to visit a secluded Swedish village for a festival, but the 24-hour sunshine and pretty flower crowns hide a sinister secret.  Not as scary as Ari Aster's previous movie, Hereditary, but it's still plenty emotionally distressing and much gorier, so view with caution.

4. Anna:  A supermodel becomes an elite KGB assassin in this dumb but surprisingly entertaining thriller.

5. The Art of Self-Defense*:  After being mugged by a gang of motorcycle thugs, Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) decides to take karate classes in this extremely unpredictable and very dark comedy.

6. Satanic:  Chloe (Sarah Hyland) and her friends go on a road trip to Los Angeles that turns into a literal vacation from hell. It's not particularly scary or good, but it had a few decent bits of dialogue that kept me watching.

2019 total so far: 77