My October Wrapup: Hooptober X and me dipping my toes back into Television.

Hey Whores, It's me back again and hopefully I will get my wrapup out in the next couple days and not like last month which came out. I'm not even going to check like the 21st or some shit?

I've been down with a bad cold so I'm going to try my best to take this a little bit at a time and not wear myself out too much. 

Defining a month can be differcult because this month mostly felt like I was working constantly. I quit from one of my jobs. I'm not going to name names but the pay was insulting, the work menial, and the hours sparse. It was not worth my time as a cook and it was a long time coming. 

Ultimately, financial I am in a good place now. I make good money, I have steady hours, and I really can't fuck it up. If all I truly wanted was stability then baby I got it. 

It becomes a measure of reflection, or comparision. Were I was then vs. Were I am now. 

When I left Centennial it was for a variety of reasons. I felt like I was stuck in dishpit, that I was wasting my talent that I had yet to prove myself as a cook. and now....

It really is different, the pay is ALOT better, I've proven myself as a cook and I do catering work on the side. I have an outlet for my food. Now it's trying to find someplace that I will land safely moving forward. Ultimately I'm waiting for a good opportunity. 

I spent a rather lovely evening with friends before halloween. We smoked a joint. watched a rather odd thriller that neither or us agree on the plot or whether or not it made sense and had an alright time. 

At one point I lamented to my friend that I wish that I could find a friend group to hang out with and she said what do you think we did last night and oh? yeah? thats sort of what happens isn't it. 

Being in my mid 20s is a constant feeling that I don't yet have my life together, that I am at loggerheads both wasting my time on frivoulous merriments and at the same time, wasting my precious youth in a desperite bid to "grow up" and "Become an Adult". I see the ways that I have grown, professional, personnally, socially. But at the same time, comparision, the well-known thief of joy, shows me people who seem much more stable and content then I. 

Anyway Diary time over bitches. Lets talk about movies and shit. 

Hooptober X

Hooptober for the bad bitches that don't know is a yearly horror movie challenge created by Letterboxd user Cinemonster. Those who understand Roman Numerals have correctly guessed that this year is the 10th one in existence. It is also the first time I have actually done the challenge as I was just not too deep into the LETTERBOXD CULT when I first started using the app. I'm teasing but also daddy needs to spend more time out of the house. It's giving my mother sending me 75 farmville notifications a day energy. 

Heres the vibe, 31 movies, 45 days, a list of vague prompts and at least one of them has to be a film by one Tobe Hooper, (hence the name). 

Here is just a stream-of-conciousness of the best and worst films I watched starting from the top. 

First off is Les Vampires: The Arch-criminals of Paris, which is a 7 hour, (yes you read that correctly) 'film', which does not have, despite the fact it's on several lesbian vampire lists, Lesbians or Vampires. There is maybe some lesbian coding with Verma Ip but its pretty low-key giving the era. Salome (1922) this is not. Its still a pretty solid and fun crime drama but the length is felt obviously. 

I watched a film from every decade from 1910 to 2020 and so the 19th century is a mixed bag. Frankenstein (1931) was interesting but I had a hard time getting into Universal Films, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) was incredible dull and Diabolique (1955) rounds out the vaguely queer early flims by being amazing and super fucking sapphic. Its like a lesbian Hitchcock film please watch it. Nosferatu (1979) and The Living Dead Girl (1982), are both incredible delightful gothic thrillers with very different vibes despite there temporal proximity. 

Ok theres 31 films have to go faster. 

I watched Titanic (1997) and Snowpiercer (2013), both fantastic movies that I should have watched a lot earlier then I did.

Also on the cult classic list is Tremors, a 90s horror comedy that is amazing and kinda homoerotic. 

I also was required to watch films from a few horror greats which involved Hi, Mom! (1970), a bizarre non-horror comedy from De Palma that reads almost like a Morrisey or Godard film, Gothic (1986), Ken Russel's Bisexual Acid Trip about the night that inspired Frankenstein, and The Lodger (1927) one of Hitchcock's few Silent Films and another addition to my First Gay Kiss canon. This also required me to rewatch V/H/S: Viral (2014) which was still trash but at least as a writer I have grown enough to promptly describe. 

What follows is a variety of different films namely anthologys from Amicus, AIP, and Hammer Horror, 2000s horror ala Clive Barker and some truly odd picks 

In terms of lousy films and dissapointments comes Dario Argento's Dracula (2012), The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1984), The Zodiac Killer (1971), Petey Wheatshaw (1977), and Witchfinder General (1968), which I all found to be rather dull and for top billing in my UGHTH Meter is 2023's The Pope's Exorcist. OK, the film is fine its just a horrible generic exorcism film that like the similarly derided Prey for the Devil (2022) suffers from trying to girlboss the Catholic church. Just read my Letterboxd review on it I'm not repeating it here. 

Overall it's hard to know what I thought about the Challenge ultimately I watched a lot of films that I would not have immediately chosen and I always like challenges because it really grows you as a person forcing you outside of your comfort zone. I don't feel that I was in a particular receptive mood for the challenge but I did my best and I did get to see some bomb ass movies as a result. This shit got me to sit through all three hours of Titanic and it what beautiful and I did cry. SOOOOOOOO. November is going to be a decompressive month if I can get over this fucking cold. (I hate it hiiii). 

Lets move on to the tv shows I watched on top of this bullshit. 

TV SHOWS

The End of the Fucking World. (2017)

Started on a Whim I may or may not have finished this entire show in two settings. The settings being a season each. 

ok Plot Time. 

TEOTFW is a dark comedy based on a series of graphic novels that focuses on two teenagers. A young belligerant woman and the object of her affection a shy boy, who just so happens to be a budding psychopath who plans on taking his first life. 

Ultimately the story is less gruesome then it sounds. It's a crime comedy somewhat in the realm of Thelma and Louise (1991) but what drives the comedy is its awkwardness, the ways that society abides to these strict little rules and the befuddlement that follows when you refuse to go with the flow and follow them. 

It's also about broken people. Toxic Relationships, Daddy Issues, and a whole fuck ton of drama and it manages to work so very very well with the irreverant tone that permeates the dialogue. 

It's an absolutely amazing Teen? Comedy and I loved every single minute of it. 

Bad Vegan (2022)

This is the sort of thing I put on while I'm cleaning my room and honestly I have so little to fucking say about it. 

First off, if you care about plot heres the skinny. Local hottie, Sarma Melngailis, opens up a brand spanking new raw vegan restaurant in New York that becomes mad popular with rich people. Vegan Chick meets some dude named Anthony, (ew gross). They then proceed to get married, have him *supposedly* brainwash her into believing things like that he'll make her dog immortal, emotionally manupulate her into giving him millions of dollars for reasons, and then ultimately going on the lam with the money as her husband blows thousands of dollars gambling. 

The documentary pretends to ask deep questions, like "How does somebody get caught up in shit like this" but really they spend there time lolli-gagging as Sarma, the definition of an unrealable narrator, blinks doed eyed as she passes on blame for her own culpancy in her actions. Do I deny that Anthony is a piece of shit absoltuley not, do I believe that she had no say or agency in this scenario, oh come on. 

It's fine enough for a bit of noise but the Netflix Docs I have seen so far have been an insult to the documentary form, bloated, incurious and deeply annoying. 

Voir (2021)

Voir, (supposedly from the French 'to see'), is a series of video essays about films. Oh you mean like my exact shit thats crazy. 

I don't have too much to say about this. It's incredible well produced and if your the kind of person that likes to read peoples thoughts on movies then your in luck because this is exactly what this is. 

I liked it. 

Video Games

Life Is Strange

Since I have been taking such a long time to finish my wrapup articles I have since completed playing Life is Strange. Instead of breaking it up into two parts how about I just give you the skinny right now. 

So just know this. Life is Strange is one, a beautiful slice-of-life coming of age story about a teenage girl, and definetly not a lesbians, reuniting with her best friend in high school. It is ALSO a fucked up story involving date rape drugs, a murder basement, various car accidents, and a tornado. The tornado is mostly unrelated to the rest of the situration. 

A lot of critics complain, *please wait while I aggregate the Straw Man*, waaaah waaah the ending sucks all of your choices are pointless and it ends with a dumb little sophie choice that eradicates all the worldbuilding. Well first, that sounds like a YOU problem. let me try to explain. 

As Victoria says at a pivotal moment of the game, "I'm just a teenage girl in high school", the things that she does every day, opening a window, getting waffles at the diner, writing wash me in the dirty window of a car are not going to change much in the grand scheme of things. In the same manner the daily little fights and compliments you give people add up slowly. Yes your decisions matter but the butterfly effect takes time and this game is one of teaching you disempowerment. 

The game takes the general premise that you can control time and shows you all the different ways that you are still simply one person. For me when I see characters respond the same way to different prompts or watch siturations get slowly resolved despite my imput I see that as a feature not a bug. I see that as a narrative showing me how limiting this power is. That you can be both strong and weak. 

The ending does not spring up on you, the nightmare segment for how much people feel one way or another about is a culimination of everything you went through. You see all the people that will die from your actions and you see what you will have to sacrifice to save them. Its an emotional hard choice but its in a game of hard choices. It's a game that makes you feel invincible and then pulls the rug out from under you. Hoping that you made the right split second discision hours ago, that you paid enough attention to your surroundings because while you can change your immediate decisions you don't know what the future brings or whether or not your doing right. Hindsight is always 20/20. 

What I like about this game mechanically is that the way I feel PLAYING it is the same feeling I have CONSUMING it; That the gameplay and narrative are intertwined. 

This games accolades are completly deserved and I loved playing this. If you for some reasons have never heard of this indie darling I would suggest downloading the first episode. It's free. 

Play the first 15-20 minutes of it from the start of the episode to when you decide whether or not to tell the principle. If in that time you don't feel some emotion, some connection to the work that's OK, but if it does speak to you know that there is an emotive, albiet differcult adventure ahead. 

I hear the sequels are in fact terrible I will play all of them because I am a messy bitch. 

5/5

Cookie Clicker

Invented by someone called Ortell Dashnet, (what I assume to be there Legal Chrisitian name), Cookie Clicker is one of the hallmarks of the idle/incremental genre. It was here to start it and you can still play it you can in fact play most of the games from the era and this month has involved me doing so. Candy Box II, (which I did not finish cause it is rather esoteric), a dark room, (amazing), Crank (which involves a bit more hands on gameplay and the tab open so i come back soon), and Universal Paperclips which was very fun but I got soft locked at a certain point. Big sad. Also shout out to Asbury Pines, an idle murder mystery game currently in development. If you like Dark then you'll like this game. 

I don't have much to say about this game. Ultimately the mechanics are subtle but polished and it's a game where you click buttons and numbers go up. I like that because I have seratonin issues. So just know that yeah bitches be clicking and I am bitches. 

I hope this has been a mildly entertaining recap of all the stuff I watched this month and if not well I'm going through a good amount of enniu/works to much so I will be watching a fuck ton of TV to cope. K> BYEEEEEE>