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Media report from my summer vacation
Jun. 17th, 2021 12:24 pmThe Dig - Netflix
Not a whole lot happens in this movie, but it's pleasant to watch, kind of relaxing and pretty, with good acting. It's the eve of WWII. A wealthy widower (Carey Mulligan) in the English countryside decides to hire someone to excavate some burial mounds on her property. She hires Basil Brown, a working-class autodidact. Ralph Fiennes completely disappears into this role. Brown does the excavation and eventually finds something amazing. About halfway through, some more characters are introduced as people come to the site to help dig and admire the findings. The film is largely about all these people and their relationships and emotions.
Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything
by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (audio read by Inés del Castillo)
This is a somewhat strange YA book about Sia, a teenage girl who lives in a border town. Her mom is missing and presumed dead, which is the central mystery of the story. The first part of this book is about relationships: Sia has a crush and then gets a boyfriend. Her best friend, Rose, is ignoring Sia because Rose has a crush on a girl; plus Rose disapproves of Sia's boyfriend. They passive-agressively fight and then actually argue and have a falling out, then repair their relationship, and all this felt very real and true. Sia is a confident kid and I liked getting to hear her tale.
Then the back half of the book involves alien encounters, secret government experiments, and super powers. It really felt like a different book; the first half was honestly better and the X-files stuff felt a bit under-developed.
There was also a very strange bit about how Sia apparently thinks she's not having sex because she's not doing PIV with her boyfriend. She's like "I can't believe I almost had sex with that guy and he lied to me!" I was like, wait what? I'm pretty sure I had to sit through a sex scene a few minutes ago! I'm told this is a common attitude in Christian teen communities but wow. Jarring and IMO irresponsible: her dad is like "use a condom" and talks about avoiding pregnancy. She's like, "I'm not having sex" which is patently untrue (but she thinks it is true). There is no discussion of STDs.
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
A teen book about a non-binary kid who gets kicked out of their parents' house and goes to live with their older sister. They meet some cool kids at school and do some art projects; they get a crush on a boy named Nathan. A quick read.
Graphic novels / Graphic memoirs:
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha. An emotional story about an immigrant experience.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine. Very funny, often embarrassing tales from the author's life.
Not a whole lot happens in this movie, but it's pleasant to watch, kind of relaxing and pretty, with good acting. It's the eve of WWII. A wealthy widower (Carey Mulligan) in the English countryside decides to hire someone to excavate some burial mounds on her property. She hires Basil Brown, a working-class autodidact. Ralph Fiennes completely disappears into this role. Brown does the excavation and eventually finds something amazing. About halfway through, some more characters are introduced as people come to the site to help dig and admire the findings. The film is largely about all these people and their relationships and emotions.
Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything
by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (audio read by Inés del Castillo)
This is a somewhat strange YA book about Sia, a teenage girl who lives in a border town. Her mom is missing and presumed dead, which is the central mystery of the story. The first part of this book is about relationships: Sia has a crush and then gets a boyfriend. Her best friend, Rose, is ignoring Sia because Rose has a crush on a girl; plus Rose disapproves of Sia's boyfriend. They passive-agressively fight and then actually argue and have a falling out, then repair their relationship, and all this felt very real and true. Sia is a confident kid and I liked getting to hear her tale.
Then the back half of the book involves alien encounters, secret government experiments, and super powers. It really felt like a different book; the first half was honestly better and the X-files stuff felt a bit under-developed.
There was also a very strange bit about how Sia apparently thinks she's not having sex because she's not doing PIV with her boyfriend. She's like "I can't believe I almost had sex with that guy and he lied to me!" I was like, wait what? I'm pretty sure I had to sit through a sex scene a few minutes ago! I'm told this is a common attitude in Christian teen communities but wow. Jarring and IMO irresponsible: her dad is like "use a condom" and talks about avoiding pregnancy. She's like, "I'm not having sex" which is patently untrue (but she thinks it is true). There is no discussion of STDs.
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
A teen book about a non-binary kid who gets kicked out of their parents' house and goes to live with their older sister. They meet some cool kids at school and do some art projects; they get a crush on a boy named Nathan. A quick read.
Graphic novels / Graphic memoirs:
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha. An emotional story about an immigrant experience.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine. Very funny, often embarrassing tales from the author's life.
