September Updates

Hi everyone!

How have you been? I’m settling in well to my new job and am really enjoying having more time and energy than I did. I also feel like I’m learning a lot from it which is a great feeling.

It’s been a pretty productive month, even though an ear infection knocked me out for the best part of a week. Without that I could’ve made more progress, but I’m just over halfway through episode 6 of Umineko. This has probably been the most interesting one on a re-read, and my video ideas are definitely starting to come together. There’s always a period in the early stages of making a video where I feel anxious about whether I have enough/something worthwhile to say on a series which always ends up being proven wrong, and I’ve definitely passed that hill now. I’m really excited to get to writing when it comes around.

Another fun note is that I’ve started submitting poetry to competitions for the first time since I was a kid. Poetry was possibly my entry into writing and it’s so nice to have my interest in it rekindled.

Otherwise, I have a few things I’ve seen/read/listened to over the past few months that I didn’t recap in my last updates post:

Sweetdark by Savannah Brown

This one was actually from July, but I completely forgot about it. I’m in the process of reading Savannah Brown’s three poetry collections, of which this is the second. At this point, I actually remember very little about it. I do think it’s a marked improvement from her first, Graffiti, but the poems still feel a bit unmoored and opaque. I’m very curious to now get to her most recent collection, however.

The Bear

I kind of spontaneously watched the first season of The Bear last month. I’d heard it mentioned a lot in relation to Boiling Point, which I loved, so kind of unfairly expected it to be similar, which it wasn’t at all. For the few who don’t know, The Bear is a drama following a Michelin star chef in Chicago who takes over his brother’s neighbourhood sandwich shop after his death by suicide.

What I didn’t realise about The Bear was how funny it was. It’s also incredibly tense, with some powerful acting. I wasn’t entirely sure what I thought of it at first, but it ended up becoming my gym show, and made me look forward to going every time. (I fell off going to the gym after my ear infection and am now stuck in the middle of the second season.) It’s not one for if you’re looking for something chill to watch, but is definitely entertaining.

When Marnie Was There

I watched the 2014 Ghibli film When Marnie Was There (dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashi) for the first time with my friend this month. Hiromasa’s directorial debut was Arrietty, which I wasn’t a huge fan of, so I wasn’t sure what I’d think of Marnie, but I definitely enjoyed it more. Based on a British novel, the main character, Anna, moves temporarily to the countryside to ease her asthma and strikes up a relationship with Marnie.

I was spoiled on surprisingly little about the film which definitely helped my enjoyment. It has a serene and dreamy atmosphere Ghibli fans will enjoy, but definitely with its own flavour and twists. It won’t be rising to the top of my Ghibli rankings, but I enjoyed it, and am curious to watch the director’s other works too.

Outside Mental Health by Will Hall

Finally, I read a collection of essays and other short pieces called Outside Mental Health, compiled by Will Hall. I bought this and a few other books after starting my new job in mental health, and I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s definitely the best book I’ve read so far this year.

The book has over 60 contributors from mental health professionals, people who have experienced mental illness themselves (often one and the same) and others, from various countries. I preferred some pieces of writing over others but there were many brilliant, well-researched, emotive and insightful essays that really affirmed a lot of my feelings about mental health care and the direction it needs to move in in the UK. I highly recommend it, especially for those who enjoyed my horror in Higurashi and Shion videos.

Finally, some YouTube channels:

2ndgenbias makes great, highly edited videos on K-pop which are great fun to watch

Rosianna Halse Rojas is a vlogger I’ve been subscribed to for something like a decade, who doesn’t post often but makes really lovely videos, including this recent one on her love for The Killers

Finally, wholeheartedly, clahrah. Is possibly my favourite vlogger, and has made a comeback after years of not uploading!

That’s all for this month, speak soon!