(Late) February Updates

Good evening!

Apologies for the ridiculously late post, it's been a busy few weeks x_x How are you all? Honestly the past few months have been pretty challenging for me but I've been keeping busy and am looking forward to longer and brighter days!

In terms of the video, I managed to record the audio (always a harrowing affair for a video this long) and am into the editing process now. It's coming along slowly but surely. I'm still not sure exactly how long it will be, but it's looking closer to an hour. It's nice and fun to be doing something a bit different and new for the channel and I hope people will enjoy it!

There's not much more to say, so I'll get onto what else I was doing in February:

I went to see American Fiction after being invited with some friends -- a film about a Black author who notices (what he deems to be) lower-brow books about the African-American experience are much more successful than his own and writes a parody manuscript to mock publishers who opt to promote this kind of writing, only to find himself with an accidental hit of his own.

The film wasn't on my radar beforehand but I was curious about it. It fell somewhat flat for me. It's a comedy, but I didn't find it very funny, and its messaging felt a bit muddled.  There were points where the film felt like it was focusing its spotlight on the male lead -- a wealthy man casting judgement on, amongst others, a Black female author who opts to write about poor Black characters he states pander to stereotypes, but whose experiences are nonetheless very real for many. There are others where it feels like the focus is the white upper-echelons of creative industries who choose which voices and experiences are raised up and suppressed -- any, by extension, the white audience. There was also a lot of tonal whiplash -- jarring jumps from comedy to at times harrowing scenes concerning the family drama element of the film. I left the cinema with lots of thoughts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was also a Q&A with some of the cast and crew after the film which I really enjoyed.

I also read Black Car Burning by Helen Mort after reading one of her poems in a collection and enjoying it. It's a novel set in Sheffield, following four characters -- a community support police officer, her spiralling rock climber girlfriend, the climbing gear shop worker who becomes fixated on said girlfriend, and a retired police officer haunted by the Hillsborough disaster.

The novel's synopsis immediately jumped out at me, and it was interesting to read a story so clearly written by a poet, particularly in how it made Sheffield (both figuratively and literally) such a present character in the story. The novel largely foregoes typical twists and turns and progresses in an understated, almost hazy way that reflects the fog each of the characters is in. Even after certain revelations, it retains this distinct feeling that sets it apart from most other things I've read. I didn't strongly like or dislike it, but it was an interesting read.

I was looking for a way to kill time while out and about the other day and mused on the fact that I don't really have any go-to phone games. This is how I've become a Project Sekai addict in 2024. I genuinely have no idea why I didn't get Project Sekai when it came out or any time since, but here we are. I've sunken a concerning amount of time into the game over the last few weeks. I don't have a clear favourite group -- Nightcord probably have my favourite concept and music, and I also like VBS' music a lot, but MORE MORE JUMP! might have had my favourite story. My favourite characters are Mizuki, Nene, and Haruka. All in all, it makes me really happy that ProSeka exists in 2024 and how it's revitalised the VOCALOID community!

Finally, I want to shout out the channel Love Yourself 4830 -- run by a father who lost his teenage daughter to suicide just last year. His 'Gaming with Grief' series has blown up, but I particularly appreciate his shorter videos of walks through the forests and other landscapes near his home where he talks about whichever particular aspect of grief he's struggling with or drawn to discuss that day. They're like poetic little diary entries, and they're both beautiful and profound.

I hope you're all well, speak soon!