Hilda, Season 03

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A Thing I’ve Watched 07/24: Hilda, Season 03

This season is a continuation of S01/02 and the movie in that setting, characters and places stay the same, and a stand-alone-thing in that a completely new story arc plays out. I do not want to get into spoilers, but as with the other seasons this was A Delight to watch, and if you’re in the mood for some mostly-lighthearted scandinav-ish modern day fantasy story, go and watch all of it <3

The poster for Season 3 of Hilda. It is split in three parts by what I can only describe as a normal distribution curve along the background: on the left, it is darkest night, and Hilda's great-aunt Astrid stands with her Pooka-neighbour in front of her house in Tofoten, a half-timbered building with a tower. Above them a totem hangs from a tree. On the right, it is bright day, and our protagonists are shown riding a herd of Woffs. The middle part, which also includes the foreground, is moon-lit, with the shattered moon hanging in the upper part, covered by the caption "Hilda - the final season". Below that, twig is standing on the plot-relevant mound, howling at the moon. In front of the mound, the kids stand together: with a wand on the left Frida, with a shovel on the right David, both looking agressive, and with a totem in the mittle Hilda, looking curious. Tontu hides behind David's leg, and Alfur stands beneath Frida. The group is standing in a circle of totems that is keeping out a bunch of tentacled mushrooms.

Red Side Story, by Jasper Fforde

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A Thing I’ve Read 06/24: Red Side Story, by Jasper Fforde

The cover of Red Side Story, by Jasper Fforde. The solid-colour cover picture is split by a horizon line roughly in the middle. The lower part, in solid red, holds in bold white letters the title, with a snail sitting at the last letter. Below it, the outline of a white spoon. The only thing breaking the horizon is a tree in the backgound, with a green trunk and the white outline of the crown. On the upper part, a big yellow half-circle sun carries the name of the author, from it radiate several parted white fields and two blue ones. A few outlined white clouds and a swan fill the sky above it. Many but not all of the white outlines carry numbers akin to a paint-by-numbers canvas.

The long-awaited sequel to Shades of Grey gives us further insight in Chromatic society, tradition and politics, as well as into the background of the whole world.
Where the first book gently snowed it’s weirdness on the mountaintops, the second one turns all of it into a landslide – and as with every proper landslide it’s a nice, far away spectacle until it suddenly slams into you.

As with the first book, I cannot recommend this highly enough. And I really want to read more of Fforde’s stuff. And apropos more: third book WHEN?

Blue Eye Samurai

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A Thing I’ve Watched 06/24: Blue Eye Samurai

A very much adult animation piece about a mixed-race japanese outcast on a quest for revenge against the four white men who were in Japan around the time of their birth.
It is stunningly beautiful and well told, but at least for me not at all binge-able: I needed a bit after every episode to let it sink in before going to the next. It is also bloody, brutal, and occasionally explicit, which might be related to the previous statement.

And while I have gushed about it before, I will do so again: E05, The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride, is a marvel, weaving several narrative strands including a bunraku-play together to form what is easily my favourite episode of the season.

I am very much looking forward to Season 02 of this.

The poster for Blue Eye Samurai. It depicts the protagonist, Mizu, a japanese person with blue eyes, a katana in hands, in a wide stance at the end of a swing. The blade draws a splatter of blood, and all around Mizu the drops integrate themselves with red blooming twigs of (what I assume to be) cherry trees. On the twigs several miniature-Mizus are engaged in fighting scenes with another minature characters. In the lower background Mizu faces an opponent across a chasm, with a group of armed dark figures with antlered helmets surrounding the cliff. Further in the background a pagoda with several outlined figures can be seen. Mizu's upper body is superimposed with three of the other primary characters: Princess Akemi in the front, Taigen to the left, and Abijah Fowler to the right.

A City on Mars, by Kelly&Zach Weinersmith

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A Thing I’ve Read 05/24: A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?, by Kelly&Zach Weinersmith

The cover of A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?, by Kelly&Zach Weinersmith. On the top half, in front of a starry background, the authors, title and subtitle. Below that, a martian landscape with a large, domed crater in the backgound and in the foreground a small exit with a vehicle and a human on the left and a bunch of solar arrays on the right. Below the surface, a cut-out view from an underground settlement with a central shaft going up the crater from the backgound and a smaller utility shaft going to a close-to-the-surface nuclear reactor. The settlement goes over multiple stories with small-town, medium-density vibes: agriculture on the top floor, below that an industrial floor including two silos and a cricket ranch, below that a living-quarters street with apartement-buildings, another layer of agriculture and a commercial floor, including an underground recreational lake and a Walmars (sic).

This is a book about space settlement, but it’s a very different book about space settlement than usual. The Weinersmiths go into the State of the Art on human factors (physiology, reproduction, sanity), possible locations, technology (closed loop life support, “how to actually build a space habitat”), and the insanely complex topic of space law to come to the conclusion that “mayyyybe not right now, a lot of further studies needed”. Which is admittedly not what One wants to hear, but still sadly is what it is, and the authors make a good case for why we’re Just Not There Yet, any maybe never will.

Bathtubs over Broadway

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A Thing I’ve Watched 04/24: Bathtubs over Broadway

This one came to my attention through the 20kHz-episode linked below about the same topic, which is Industrial Musicals.

Apparently, in the 60s and 70s companies put up full-scale, Broadway-production-values musicals about the company, the products, and/or management/sales-strategies for their employees. And it’s as wild as it sounds.

The poster for Bathtubs over Broadway: On the bottom Steve Young, wearing a white shirt, black fly and a very sparkling jacket as well as ZOOM-goggles (the letters), raising his arms above his head with a... probably exstatic expression? Over his arms the title, Bathtubs over Broadway, with faux lightbulbs painted in, and over that praise for the movie.

Podcast Episode: https://www.20k.org/episodes/industrialmusicals

Dune 2

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A Thing I’ve Watched 03/24: Dune 2

The poster for Dune 2: Paul Atreides and Chani, both clad in Fremen stillsuits and Paul wearing a cape, standing in front of the Arakeen sun. Both carry knifes: Chani keeping it lowered, Paul raising it above his head.

This was… A Lot of a movie. A Ride. A proper maximalist approach to the visuals.

The sands of Arrakis were already great in the first part, and the utter yuck of Giedi Prime provided a very nice contrast.

Marvellous experience, and should be watched on the biggest screen possible.

Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde

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A Thing I’ve (re-)Read, 04/24: Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde

(Not to be confused with That Other Atrocity.)

After… four years? of delay the sequel is finally out, so I decided to re-read this first. Which was a good idea, because I only remembered the broadest strokes of the story. It is, however, every last bit as good as I remembered, this story in Wales after the Something That Happened which regular Technological Leapbacks and a society organized by Colour Perception.

The cover of Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde. Essentially the title in big blocky 3D letters with goops of various colours on them and a bunch of doodads placed around.

Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds

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A Thing I’ve Read 03/24: Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds

Yet another great Space Opera from one of my all-time favourite authors, this book is one hell of a ride with something I can only call a plot-rollercoaster at the end.

If SciFi is your thing, go read this. Then go read everything else by Reynolds. Seriously.

The cover of Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds. In front of a black background, a torch-ship is shown with the engine away from the viewer, descending on a moon, the surface of which is peeling away in puzzle-piece chunks, revealing some kind of technological structure underneath.

Hazbin Hotel

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A Thing I’ve Watched 03/24: Hazbin Hotel

The poster for Hazbin Hotel. It features Charly Morningstar, main character and Princess of Hell, Alastor, the most glorious Radio Demon, and Vaggie, friend and protector of Charly. In the background the Hazbin Hotel and I think the Embassy of Heaven?

The Thing is finally out, after the pilot 5 years ago and two seasons Helluva Boss, and it is… great. Expectations met and exceeded.

An amazing season.