This will be more like a stereotypical blog entry, since I wanted to reflect about this January in a personal level, not diving too deep into the media I have been consuming avidly. Itâs more like an inventory.
I was able to establish sort of a reading routine lately, so I FINALLY finished âThe Surface Breaksâ (oof), by Louise OâNeill, and managed to continue âThe Turn of the Screwâ (Henry James), Jorge Amadoâs âDona Flor e seus Dois Maridosâ (Dona Flor and her two husbands), and Tachibana Yukaâs âSeijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desuâ (èć„łăźéćăŻäžèœă§ă The Saintâs Magic Power is Omnipotent) .
But I think the brightest star of this monthâs reading spree was âThe Great God Panâ, by Arthur Machen (the Brazilian edition was published in 2024 by DarkSide, translated by Andrio dos Santos). I started and finished it this month, and itâs just SO GOOD! Itâs crazy to me how it never got a movie adaptation. In the hands of a Del Toro or a Flanagan, or even Eggers, it could be amazing.
Itâs a Victorian mystery slash (cosmic) horror novella about an enigmatic woman and a series of dying (not so gentle) gentlemen. I think itâs best if read without knowing a lot about the narrative, thatâs why Iâm keeping it as vague as possible, but it was a big influence to Lovecraft (and many other authors), and its publication was apparently scandalous to Victorian audiences (mainly due to implied sexual content). If youâre into the occultâand seeking a good suspenseful narrativeâ, I highly recommend it.
So, Iâm a real couch potato, but Iâve been trying to keep my legs somewhat active and my weight under control, therefore I linked this book-reading routine to a stationary bike in order to kill two birds with one stone and all. Meaning I limit my reading time to the bicycle time and vice-versa to make sure Iâll have something to read while exercising, and to make sure Iâll be exercising while readingâŠ
Anyways, I had to restrain myself in order not to keep reading âThe Great God Panâ after stationary bike hours. It didnât feel like a chore (letâs be honest: not all books are made equal, and some of them require willpower to get to the ending; the biking-reading routine helps me in those cases too, because I have to read something to keep going âcause only god knows how I hate exercising ugh), and I was curious about the developments. The Brazilian edition also had these interesting complementary essays about Pan, the deity, and his representations across the arts.
I struggled before to keep this habit going because reading feels like a bigger commitment than mindlessly scrolling through my socialsânot to mention itâs a big part of my job⊠But itâs also more rewarding, so thereâs that. (On that note, Iâm also limiting screen time on social media to force me to resort to other activities⊠including writing in this God-forsaken page.)
---
This month I also went to the movies to see HIM. The phenomenon, the angel of some other celestial sphere, the appetite: DracuâŠer, Nosferatu. Iâm still gathering my thoughts about it. And by gathering my thoughts I mean violently hiperfocusing on the story, the adaptations, the trivia, the memes! Did you know, for instance, that Bill SkarsgĂ„rd wore a prosthetic penis? And that Eggers framed it and gave it to Nicholas Hoult after filming wrapped or something like that? Yes, thatâs crucial info⊠says my brain. Incidentally, I decided Count Orlokâs Prosthetic Cock is the name of my punk band now.
Iâd like to keep my ideas marinating before actually reaching a verdict and writing a full review, so I might expand on some of these stories later.
---
Finally, I was able to start and finish a game in my Switch library: Witchy Life Story. Itâs short, not too complex, focused on the visual narrative rather than the mechanics⊠which is kind of a bummer, since I liked the idea of cultivating a garden and working on potions and spells to help the people in a village. This game was no Potion Permit, though. The graphics are super cute, the music is soothing, and I enjoyed some parts of the narrative, but the characters are generally kind of⊠off-putting? Including the player character, whoâs a little bratty. I think itâs not something aimed at my age bracket (a.k.a.: old). One of the gameâs pros, though, was its inclusivity: youâre able to choose your own pronouns (thereâs a lot of mixed possibilities) and appearance⊠although it doesnât do much, since the story is quite linear and fixed. However, I donât regret getting the game; it was enough to keep me entertained for some days (apparently you can finish it in about 4 hours, but thereâs no need to rush).
Now Iâm hooked on Spirittea, a game where you manage a bathhouse for spiritsâclearly inspired by Spirited Away, both thematically and aesthetically. It definitely has A LOT to explore and solve, but the core mechanics is management with a tint of puzzle. Thereâs also a narrative aspect, because you have to befriend the locals of your town in order to unlock events, spirits, maps, recipes etc. And, boy, are there a lot of villagers and places and schedules to keep track of⊠Sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming. However, the events donât seem time-sensitive. I mean, there are seasons, but I guess we donât have to rush in order to complete everything. Some days I just focus on managing the bathhouse and thatâs all. One of the most interesting aspects is that you can raise your relationship gauges by playing mini games with the villagers. So far, I think Iâve only played games with talking or gift-giving as relationship mechanics. I love its retro aesthetic, and the music kind of reminded me of Persona 3 soundtrack for some reason.
Anyway, itâs been fun, even if a bit time-consuming. (Because itâs fun and I want to keep playing itâŠ)
---
January has been quite a rainy month here (itâs Summer after all), and Iâve been a little gloomy lately due to the global fuckery going on (especially on the US), but Iâm glad I was able to enjoy all these media, looking back now.
Not only that, I managed to journal and write a bunch of things, paint some small watercolors (after a long time) and resume a miniature I was assembling previously.
I think keeping track of the things you do/watch/play/listen to/play helps, because when there are no receipts you tend to think nothing was done or accomplished, and that is so untrue!
My message for the year ahead? Keep enjoying the art you all enjoy, find new interesting things to love, take up hobbies, connect with the people that make you safe, comfortable and happy, block the haters, make the nazis lives miserable, and stop using AI, for fuckâs sake!
âikr i only use it for-â whatever you use chatgpt for is also embarrassing. you do not need the plagiarism machine that lies and evaporates water for anything actually
Once upon a time an octopus appeared right in front of an old woman who was doing her laundry at the beach. Although it did not tell her to cut a leg off, it stuck a big one out toward her. She cut it off promptly and took it home happy to eat it.
When she was doing her wash again the next day, the same octopus came out and let her cut off another leg. This went on for seven days.
On the eighth day, the old woman set out intending to be sure to get the head, too.
The octopus stuck out its last leg and waited. When the old woman started to cut it off, the octopus suddenly danced up to her and wound its remaining leg around her neck and dragged her to the bottom of the sea.
Nagasaki, Minami takaki-gun
(Japanese folktale compiled by Kunio Yanagita, translated by Fanny Hagin Mayer in The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale)
This is one of my favorite Japanese folktales, and I thought it would be appropriate to post it during Halloween. I actually translated it from Japanese to Portuguese in my Brazilian page: here.
Fortunately, I was able to find (and download!) the scanned Japanese original work via Japanâs National Diet Library, here: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1124179/1/95.
Screenshot of the tale, which can be found on page 94 in the pdf (page 160 of the book).
Unfortunately, the scan quality is not very high, which makes it difficult to me to recognize every single letter (a difficulty aggravated due to the use of obsolete ideograms).
Still, I thought it would be nice to bring a transcription of the Japanese text. Just keep in mind that some kanji might be wrong (and feel free to indicate the correct ones, in case you spot them).
Sure you could argue some matters should only be discussed privately. But I think thereâs a lot of cowardice among so-called nice men (especially the ones of the cishet kind) when it comes to talking to women on social media.
I took a huge dislike to DMs recently.
Private messaging is needed for some things, sure, but if you can only talk to a woman via DMs, fearing other people will judge you a simp, or something like that, youâre actually a wimp.
Iâm tired of openly commenting on stuff, and then having men send me a heartfelt âI agreeâ or âyour point of view is interestingâ. Then why canât you point that in a like or in a public comment? Why should your support be private?
âOh, but nowadays women interpret everything as harassment or creepiness! We canât comment on anything!â
Look, if you know what youâre saying could be interpreted as harassment, then youâre probably right not to leave that ânice pair of titsâ in a womanâs message box (publicly or privately) anyway. But you can make a normal remark, right? Mirror other respectful comments you see. I promise your manhood wonât shrink. You wonât be emasculated by having a simple conversation with a woman or byâHeaven forbid!âagreeing with her or acknowledging she worded a concern of yours like no one you ever saw.
Also, PLEASE bear in mind: not every human interaction is (or should be) sexual by nature. If thatâs what you fear, do know that we donât take every compliment as a declaration of love or sexual attraction, and people who do that are sorely misguided.
And if a manâs intention is indeed to be perceived as a potential partner just for his private, quiet support, well⊠at least in my case, I think itâs too little. It shows me you wonât ever love me wholeheartedly on main, which is a hard pass.
areudirty
blakekathryn
kianamaiart
