[MOVIE] BACKROOMS (2026)

I was always fascinated by this concept since the day I first saw it. What do you mean silent endless corridors with no doors and no windows, only yellow wallpaper and fluorescent light. It's insane how a small post on 4chan where anyone first saw this concept originated such a huge phenomenon. Ending up inspiring so many videos and games. And now they even made a movie.

I am genuinely surprised that Kane Parsons (a.k.a. Kane Pixels on YT) directed the movie so well. Hey, he got a lot of practice. Maybe more than most of people. After all the guy is respnsible for creating most of the lore that is so canon nowadays when it comes to backrooms (some organization researching Backrooms, famously known yellow protective suits, unknown entity strolling the rooms etc.).

Who would do a better job than the guy himself. And I think he did.

I had no idea what to expect from the storyline, well, except they find the rooms and explore them, with Parsons' vision of the Backrooms. But who are these people.

I always considered backrooms an open world where you get an anchor (like the lore core elements) and you can apply a lot of different stories or situations on top of it. This is why I was on board for any story.

I had no idea I will end up feeling so existential by the end of it.

So yeah, let's start from the beginning. The movie starts from an incident where a researcher gets separated from his group and attempting to call for help he is eventually chased by unknown entity. So the incident is also witnessed by members of Async (not really a question, but they seem to have managed to install some of the surveillance cameras around)

After watching the movie I finally realized what this pirate was all about.

Then we switch to Clark, a struggling owner of a furniture shop, he was kicked out by his wife (which we learn from his therapy sessions) and even ends up spending his nights inside the shop with never-ending problem of flickering lights. Where during another check of electric box he sees something in the wall, a sliver of light passing at a certain angle. After moving closer he realized his hand passes through and behind the wall are endless yellow corridors.

He tried to share it with his therapist Mary, but she was a bit unbelieving by the concept. It had a great quote how it is hard to describe as if you try to describe a dog to a person who had never seen one. The person might get some things rights, but it still won't be complete, because the devil is in details.

Trying to prove himself he asks for his assistant and her bf to borrow a camera and follow him to film the backrooms. They meet with an accident.

Worried for Clark, Mary comes to his shop and finds that the basement floor still has the lights on and taped entrance. She passes through it and with caution explores the place.

Already saying so much is a spoiler itself, but it's just the framework, barely scartching the surface. Especially because how it was filmed. Especially because what was said.

Before going into spoilers there are three aspects that can be mentioned without problems:

• Camera work was great. At many times the tension I felt was because of the camera work. And by that I mean just static atmospheric shots and also panicky runs. I liked those a lot, since you could see a lot of what was going around. Well, most of it is thanks to the set design and I applaude them for creating real background where possible. This is how the reality blended in and you could believe those rooms existed.
• Sound design. Excuse me, but it was awesome. Very simple and good. Atmospheric.
• Horror / tension. Well, I can admit I had few jumpscare moments ngl. Most of the time I enjoyed the atmosphere. Especially liked panicky runs, they gave me anxiety. The pirate part, honestly it felt goofy and scary at the same time. It made me think of Poppy Playtime, when you know it's animatronics mainly but it's also scary.
• I think the ending mostly opened the door for more and the movie managed to tell a story.

SPOILERS:

I think the story was a success. With what Parsons imagined backrooms to be it worked for his story. This is the appeal of Backrooms, you can apply your own vision.

So you mean to tell me that you really can't explain what backrooms really is, but you know what it does. Especially the memory part, oh those glorious shots. It was so amazing to see the room being replicated and slowly assimilating with backrooms, where furniture is slowly sinking in before it's going to disappear and it will become another empty room.

Yes, the more it tries to remember, the harder it gets. Even people. It's interesting to see that it replicates people, this part will make you wonder if Mary eventually got out of there. Despite the final shot of showing a woman in identical room as we last see her in with a replicated face as a result of many attempts to remember her. 

Except for the pirate ahaha no really, that shit is goofy af, until you see it kill someone and create some bloody puddles. But it's interesting too and easy to explain, I guess, after all Clark is the agressive one and the crazier one too. He was so engrossed by the backrooms.

Maybe the fact that he liked this place more is also part of the trick. After all Clark did struggle with his shop, he failed as an architect, he got into a fight with his wife and was kicked out of the house. The reinaction of his dialogue with his wife easily showed that he had problmes not only with alcohol but had anger issues as well. The backrooms fascinated him, making him even lose his sleep while he tried to explore it. he finally found place of belonging.

The next step was the session with Mary and trying to make her believe. This is why he asked the assistant and her boyfriend to grab the camera and film it. Honestly, girl was on point when said they should leave, at least they would have been alive.

I really liked the sequence after Bobby is dragged down, so much panic and running, with the camera it really feels like people tumbled down, while a lot can be seen in the background after Clark panics and runs away. It really added to the atmosphere that these places were unfinished, had a lot of stuff almost like garbage lying around. That glorious shot where Cark leaves the camera on a table while someone unknown picks it up. I know it looked predictable, but oh so good.

Next comes the Mary's part. Since she tried to find Clark she also found the taped "door" on the wall. Unlike Clark she was really cautious while going around. Alas, the only person she shouldn't have trusted appeared, Clark himself.

The conflict arises. Since Clark is someone who finds this place so welcoming (well, at least someone can work out their existential crisis), while Mary just wants to go outside. And Mary won't stop him to stay. Well, all before the pirate Clark came in and Clark original truly became a story.

In her escape Mary is saved by unknown organization. She is brought out (we see the infamous entry to backrooms, nice homage to og series) and has a short conversation with a researcher (who actually saw through surveillance what Clark did) and he explains to Mary that they are Async, they'd like to know her experience in the Backrooms and how she got in, also told her what they know Backrooms can do, not really what it actually is, because it's hard to explain.

Mary asks if they will let her go and the man answers that it is not in his position to decide.

And then comes a sequence of nice shots that show Clark's shop, Mary's house even poles with missing posters for Clark's assistant and her boyfriend. Everything slowly assimilating into Backrooms. Including final shot of showing a replicated Mary inside the last room we saw her in.

So did Mary go out? Unanswered. But I want to believe she did. Despite her own childhood trauma and her going through so much, she hits you as a strong personality and she really wanted and fought to get out. And backrooms creates a copy, not really erases a person. Right? :)

To me it opens the door to new material and new stories to come.

RATE: 9/10.

[SHORT REVIEWS] #33

BOOKS

CHN

美丽怪物 by 蜀七 *JJ

(mtl: Beautiful monster)

Synopsis: Jun Ming became a monster. He feeds on malice, luck, desires, he incites those and feeds on them.

As a parasitic vine entered his body his fate also changed.

A lot of trigger warnings like: violence, school bullying (a lot of gross details) also attempted r*, emotional manipulation etc.

This is really drama, the type where author feeds you a bucket of glass from the first page. Maybe I'm this sentimental right now, but the very first chapter made me so depressed. I know that if you think about the situation then probably the MC could have acted differently, but the whole bullying process is truly so depressing.

Author has some simple but great way of describing things and my imagination ran wild along with it, not all stories are capable of making me had such vivid imagery.

But I also would like to note that author may have never intended to say these things and it's just my imagination, after all it's a supernatural story, yet at the same time when you read how MC feels the relief and how he feels better it made me think of how he previously mentioned that he liked to imagine himself in a totally different place while he was being bullied and it made me think "what if it's just his final fantasy". Considering the vine did enter his body you may start doubt which part of JunMing left.

The only really sad part is that the story is not finished. It's beautifully written, I was truly captivated by it, but unfortunately still has status of being published, yet the last update was in Jan. It's such a pity.

[BL] 假少爷他觉醒了[重生] by 甘洄*JJ

(mtl: The fake young master has awakened)

Synopsis: Story about Li An who returns back to the pivotal moment of his life and slowly lays down trap by trap for the family that screwed him over so much.  He wants to pay back for all the unwaranted suffering. It's very melodramatic but at the same time author really does a good job about emotional part. I've read this author's works previously and I have only positive things to say about stories I've read. Despite the fact that it's such a cliche setting and honestly tired troped of fake / true young masters, but I enjoy when it's done right. This reading experience was no exception. So if anyone likes the combo of things like revenge / rebirth stories, cunning protagonist, melodrama, they might enjoy this one too.

You can see the review here. I go into more details, since I finished the story while creating this short reviews post ahaha

[BL] 人！咪家死人了，你管不管 by 茶香茉莉 *JJ

(Report! Mimi Is Here to File a Case)

Synopsis: Lin Jiangyue returns back, but something goes wrong and he retains the ability to understand and communicate with animals. Because of the murder case next door his ability gets eventually exposed and he, as a special consultant, joins police on solving many cases.

I wish I could say positive things about it. Those who like shallow, flufy stories might like it. But to me it ended up a boring shallow story that followed the establised routine.

My main complaint was how shallow everything is. The characters themselves, including animals. Everyone is pretty one-dimensional person that lacks any depth. Animals could have played the role, but it's pretty basic and not so interesting. The knowledge on animals is also the wiki-level. The cases are following the same path, something happens, they find animal witnesses, thanks to leads collect evidence and voila~. And the routine repeats. The significance of animals in these cases is present, but at the same time it's not. Maybe because it is like a copy-paste scene after copy-paste dialogue.

And I feel it's a pity and a wasted potential.

Also NU should have included tw of animal a*use.

[BG] 闪婚而已[先孕后爱] by 朵慕 *JJ

(mtl: A whirlwind marriage)

Synopsis: Jiang Zhi did not expect that a wild drunk night will lead to a marriage to one of the most prominent bachelors of their city. 

Cloying meh.

I can honestly say that I didn't finish it, though the story is very short (excluding extras), it is sweet and easy, but also FMC is too infantilized. I usually don't care if someone can act coquettish, but here the MMC calls her a little girl or little kitten, she is of course 165cm tall, very standard, acts like a small animal sometimes, throws tantrums, which should have been described as the pregnancy symptoms, since the hormonal changes are wild, but by the time I dnf'd it I haven't seen the story present it that way. Even the struggle to make her more independent from Bo Shiyu (MMC) she is said to not want everyone at work to know she became the boss lady. Actually understandable, but honestly it is kind of silly not to use resources that are laid out to you. She says many times that they come from different social circles, yeah obviously, but then asks when she is going to become stronger? But girl, you can't compare to your husband's family no matter how you try if you measure by social status and achievements. I wish in these stories we could get a picture of a woman who slowly wants to get better, but doesn't emphasize the difference so much. Just to make the FMC feel better, since it's a fantasy of author's mind, of course her husband is the only one who always bends his head and bows first. Otherwise what would you expect. mutual respect? Dream on. 

Another point that really stuck to me is how she told him that if he finds anyone he likes they can get a divorce. Which doesn't look good to me. It just once again provides proof of how little people think of marriage. She just told the man he is going to be a father, he, with all his money and power, accepts it and asks her to get married, even if she thinks it's for the baby, but the next thing she says is about divorce. Girl thinks she did a good job. I think not.

Anyway, the plot of this story is too simplistic. The emotional part even more so 9god, protect me from all these stories where they say marriage first love later when MMCs basically have an eye for FMC from the very beginning but they don't explain why they feel that way). Story starts from the night itself when she is so drunk she doesn't recognize the way. Bo Shiyu meets her ad thinks she's one of "those", but since the dinner arrived on its' own two feet he is okay with it. Sounds bad, yeah it is. So they have this one-night stand, seeing the MMC physique Jiang Zhi thinks she did not lose. She treats it as an accident and takes it well, which was pretty impressive. But then time passes and her sudden interaction with Bo Shiyu grow, before she refuses his proposal of dating. Then in a while she realizes she's pregnant and Bo Shiyu takes responsibility. Here dynamic changes even more, since he is acting like a nagging nanny that always chases after a naughty child. But she doesn't help think of her better since she walks straight into obvious troubles. At least one time she was not aware she was pregnant. But the second time... honestly, it only takes a second to call the man and say - my friend is in danger, can you help me? In this case we can slowly progress the slowly growing feeling so she can feel his protection, but author decided for some reason to go for "hero saves the beauty" and coincidentally when FMC walks out right after she was brought home and went to a bad where her friend was held against her will, since she was scammed, for some reason MMC did not drive off immediately and of course he followed, somehow finding his way, then seeing her walk in and following of course, but imagine he did not appear. Honestly, it looked silly..

Also another problem is how "troubles" appear out of nowhere, or they are not troubles at all if you think about it. So Jiang Zhi is not some orphaned girl, picked up, she was lost long ago so the story follows "my mother adopted a girl and poured all her love into her before I returned" kind of script. She returned to Jiang family and no one welcomed her, since she grew up a wild girl. But honestly, you may not live with them, she is an adult, can move out etc. Even if the family wants to cause trouble, they're not powerful enough, you can cause them trouble too. Why in each and every story we don't hear anything about social media. She acted as if the sky was falling with this family. When they call why do you answer? I wanted to ask her time and time again. You just say - go fuck yourself. You're independent, live away from home and don't care about them. Don't bring blood relationship, it is just too cheap. The problem with her family is that they've failed in business and wanted to marry her off of course, as if it's a forced buy and sell, how about the police. Then the adpted girl said - what if the family will make you leave the city, since you will never find a job? Oh really? What a big threat from a family who are nothing themselves. 

Too much silly is too much.

US

If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle

I'm adding this book to TBR because it attracted me by the cover and premise. I love stuff like, I'm a basic bitch.

I decided not to add too many books this time around, with time I'm filtering with what still hangs and waits its' turn and which is not attractive to me anymore. Pretty easy thing to do when you organize your TBR digitally haha

The only good news since last time is that Beatrice Hyde-Clare series will get a new book released in December this year.

MOVIES

HOT FUZZ (2007)

What can I do. I really had never watched this movie before, even if I'm sure a ton of people saw it, at least that memable scene from it.

Very fun watch, I think they filmed it well, it has a good amount of crazy in it and this is why it is so entertaining. Made me want to read more about small-town mysteries.

Not much else to say except that it was really entertaining.

Gentlemen prefer blondes (1953)

Well, you have no idea how many times I started watching this movie and then was interrupted. But finally it happened.

And I have nothing much to say about the story, but I think it's worth watching for the female friendship.

Dorothy is such a great character, always snappy and sharp, honestly you can envy her wittiness. But she is also a fierce friend. So the two are the best combo who always have each other's back.

I'm pretty sure many have watched this movie not only because of Monroe, but because it has the most popular music number "Diamonds are the girl's best friend", which was referenced so many times in pop culture. Or if they never watched the movie they surely know the song and the part.

Anyway, it was a great watch. Gorgeous, gorgeous women.

UPDATE (30/07)

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

I didn't want to create a separate post, but I watched this today. I was here for Emma Thompson, I never even intended to watch this movie.

For me the movie about animals is not new. Who remembers Babe about a small piglet. Or there was one about two dogs and a cat I think finding their way home, just like 101 Dalmatians. Yeah, so many movies about spiritual animals (even more in animation), but not in proximity to humans, to the point of such interaction. 

Then comes a movie about sheep. They live with their shepherd George Hardy who loves to read his sheep murder mysteries, not knowing they understand him. And one morning George is found dead. There is a motive - his inheritance. And there are suspects. The movie doesn't really try to make the viewer suspect anyone except George's daughter, since the sheep themselves are so fixated on her.

The movie lays out a lot of basic truths that the sheep explore for themselves.

Surely the sheep are also the star of the show, otherwise who would solve the case if not them, you mean that foolish officer? Tbh it felt kinda off. He is actually not that stupid too, just never had the chance to do it I guess, he eventually picks up on clues and almost evolves by the end of the movie. At least he was the most prominent character. Funnily another character I still liked was played Emma Thompson, I really wanted to see her and I got what I came for. She is amazing.

And from the sheep flock I'd pick Sebastian, because he was so snarly and actually had a point.

For one time it's an okay watch, especially because it has almost cozy feeling to it.

I read the reviews with spoilers under the book and I must say it's insane how they reshaped the story, a lot of it was changed I suppose. And I'm not mad. The book also has a pretty low rating for goodreads

I try to update the previous posts if I finished or dnf'd something, but most of all, nothing major happened. I wait for stories that are upcoming (if we talk western books), I want to finish one book before switching to others. I mostly spent time with Chinese stories because the process got dragged and I switch to easy read / exploration. I actually talk about All Hail Chaos I was waiting for so long, but I admit I drag through it. The reason for is plot barely moving anywhere and there are too many flowery descriptions which are mostly unnecessary (a lot of stuff I could forget in the book one, but not really wanting to see it here, cringy stuff counted in). Good thing I enjoyed these stories I found meanwhile. I really want to read this book and I'm not saying it's bad (at least at this point haha), but it just manages to drag. This is the reason I don't want to switch to any other novel for now. This is such a crazy difference when I was reading the first book, which I finished in few days.

I added few things I want to watch when it comes to anime, I want to watch Planetes, which I think I tried to start but something felt off for me back then, but as I watched it now I felt nothing wrong, like why was I like that back then.

I re-watched Howl's moving castle for who knows which time after my Katsuhiro Otomu maraphon. This anime is legendary to me.

I struggled a bit more through Jujutsu Kaisen season three or Culling Game (it's beginning). And I can not stress enough that this anime lost the plot for me, where we started and where we are now is too much. Also too much of it is explanation and no plot that moves forwards. I couldn't care less and honestly got so bored. 

I also want to watch Texhnolyze, I think I atempted it once long ago, wrong time it was. Not saying you need to be an adult or something, just was not the right mood for it. And then it was forgotten for so long.

Which leads me to the idea of including Last Exile in this list. I already have all three waiting for me.

[MOVIE] How to murder your wife (1965)

A black comedy about a successful cartoonist, who has been living a perfect life of a single man, but got married while drunk and everything begins to change.

Actually a pretty harmless movie if you think about it. A cartoonist Stanley Ford who built his successful career is now facing a sudden marriage that happened during bachelor party when he was completely drunk, but the eyes of a woman who suddenly appeared out of a fake cake caught his attention and passion was burning. With realization that he is now married to a woman who can't even speak English the entire world felt like it came crashing down. But despite the idea of sending his wife away or separate did not happen when he was caught in a whirlwind of action and in just a short period of time he found himself bound to this woman. Many might think the movie places women in a vurnelable position and there is a segment like that, especially at the very end, but on the other hand it fully describes the power women hold over their husbands too. In their daily life or when it comes to emotions too. After all even the main character despite his irritability over the changes that happened at 37 cannot shake off the loneliness when his wife leaves him. But I do think the movie also shows how remarkable the female character is. To me she is passionate (although some might say it's an Italian cliche) and also she tries to surround Stanley with love. She learns the language, although not in a conventional way. Cooks for him, thus he gains weight that he cared about all these years. It might seem that her world revolves around him, I won't deny that. But she's not entirely bound to the kitchen, if you know what I mean. They have a social life, they party. Pretty much everyday life of a couple.

SPOILERS

The plot is pretty simple if you explain it, because Stanley always does the things himself, so on top of that he can re-create his cartoons, when he think of murdering his wife he also draws it as a cartoon. He plans and visits people, but everything is reflected on pages. And even proceeds to truly put drugs in his wife's glass during a party. But when it comes to disposure of the body, he does it with a mannequin. Of course everything is reflected on the comic pages. So when his wife wakes up and realizes what happened she leaves him. But with Mrs Ford gone now Stanley faces real charges of her murder.

I don't know about others but I found the scene at the end particularly funny, when Stanley defended himself and all the men celebrated but then they showed the unimpressed women and I laughed because I thought - oh boy, you touched this hornets nest, be prepared to get your heads chewed off when you get home. laugh while it lasts.

Also they invited Virna Lisi to play Mrs Ford and what a gorgeous woman she is. 

Fun watch, what can I say, a fun watch.

RATE: 7,5/10.

[SHORT REVIEWS] #32 (bit ranty)

WE START FROM 

ANIMATION

DNF (Dungeon & Fighter)

BIIIITCCHHHH LOOK AT THIS, JUST LOOK AT THIS

YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME. THIS LOOKS AMAZING. Surely can as well be a complete flop, but visually i wanna see it. This is a Chinese animation based on a game.

Koori no Jouheki / 氷の城壁 (2026)

Stylistically it looks exactly like Seihantai na kimi to boku. I can only bet on same author but I can't look up the info because mangaupdates has been down for forever now. I don't have any other reliable site for manga database type.

I saw the first episode and it tell a story of high school girl who was bullied before, especially because she is so petite compared to others. Although it looks like Seihantai the vibes are so different. Hurts to see a young girl being harassed by men around her and even if she says 'no' no one listens or jokes that she takes it too seriously.

Also, Seihantai has started airing and it's just as cute as ever~

UPDATE: I finished this anime. It was darker and gloomier in its' overall tone, even if it tried to use many cute moments to balance. But in general eventually it went in a direction  I didn't want to see, although it's pretty common and cliche. While we started from exploring the lives of the FMC and how she lived, it also gave a nice overview of others, even their own interpretation on certain events which was a nice move. But when it came to relationships it's where things got downhill for me. Because I don't give a damn about teenage relationship angst in school romance genre. Why I watch Seihantai is because they do not do it. Here I absolutely disliked the "misunderstanding" which exists solely to stumble people on their way to happiness and be exploited by newly appeared character a 1st year who had her eyes on Minato (MMC) and who basically undermines their relationship, while also maliciously approached Koyun (FMC). Then half-way through we know that Yota is in love with Miki, friends of main characters. But the problem is Miki likes Yota but so far not as a romantic interest. Kinda okay development, although again want to ephasize that it's angsty. On the other hand 1st year appears as a villanous female supporting character who makes the main couple stumble but progress at the same time. Because of her FMC is now hyperaware of Minato, while Minato is in a dilemma about Koyun looking as if she's in love with Yota. Btw his misunderstanding is the most valid out of all.

And the season ends with that. We moved away from emotional inner world of main characters and moved towards love~ But honestly I can't care less. I don't really plan to watch the second season in case theyr elease a new one.

Release that start in July.

THE GHOST IN THE SHELL (2026)

It's the closest in design of characters to original manga by Shirow Masamune. It's fantastic what this franchise became. Like any other it did not escape reboots etc. I tried to watch the Alternative Architecture one and I must say... it felt like they tried to tell a different story completely, while I was watching and getting bored I had a deep feeling that all the Sector 9 people did not meet like this at all.

I wish they would leave it alone one day, but I can't escape the appeal of trying the new releases, even if I know the chances of liking it will be small.

Just watch the original movie and also the first two seasons of anime and it'll be everything you need. With good story and good music. And major Kusanagi who looks like a woman and not a midget.

UPDATE: IT LOOKS AWESOME. It has absolutely different feel, even if the story and characters follow some of the storylines previously used, but the animation / character design make it look different, it's looks like classic 80's anime with animation being very high quality and the tone of the story also is goofier because of it, but it doesn't seem weird. The overall look is more colorful and fun so the goofiness doesn't seem weird.

UPDATE 2: They really went all out. Characers and the mood overall feel very different. We'll see how it goes.

Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku / 少女革命ウテナ アドゥレセンス黙示録

Something in me asked me to rewatch the Utena movie. I don't remember what triggered the idea.

This is the anime when anime is so anime.

When 'anime' becomes a verb.

This movie is totaly bizarre in what visuals it uses to convey the story. Some things are hard to accept, because it's the type of - are you trying to convey something through symbolism or are ou goofing around? It was always crazy to me how different the movie and series are. Because despite some silly parts of anime, it is mostly a normal anime and lacks the same crazy visuals (as far as I remember).

I will make a separate post about it because I want to include some juicy screenshots. After all despite the crazy story and what you see the quality of it is still amazing.

Also the passionate sapphic on-screen kiss.

Tenshi no Tamago / 天使のたまご

I think this is another example of anime that animes hard. Not going to create a separate post, though again visuals are amazing. But in a different way.

Who would have thought that this is directed by Mamoru Oshii. Yes, the one and only director of Ghost in the Shell.

Actually Angel's Egg may be a bit hypnotic, with the use of many silent long shots and almost silent movie when dialogue comes later in the movie.

Although if you want to joke about it when you start watching the first thought I had - girl, you dehydrated.

But again, this is what you want to show people when you mean when sometimes anime goes into philosophy and symbolism.

I also re-watched

Steamboy / スチームボーイ

Katsuhiro Ootomo is amazing to me. I can see how much work was put into this as it looks amazing, at least visually it makes me drool.

Story-wise it's a simple story of inventions, the different path the invention takes depending on scientist's goal. Scientific ambitions and their application in the world.

Many might not find the main charactr Ray appealing, though to me he is just a kid who is almost led by the nose by adults. Which is mortifying to think about. He believes what his grandfather says before he meets the father who obviously suffered from injuries, but he still complies with what his father says not really understanding the scope of invention or the direction of application before realizing that both sides want to achieve dominance and not for any good reason.

There is also Scarlett, a spoilt rich lady who absolutely has no preservation skills, too snob about her own position and also, I bet everyone hated her when she hit her own dog. She is honestly not likable, but also in a way the result of such upbringing and a kid who has no real grasp on things.

Otherwise I will try few from the summer season, but will see which one sticks and which not.

BOOKS

CHN

I still wait for three BL novels to be completed, that I mentioned previously in short reviews, those are my most anticipated.

These are trash finds, with.. mostly trashy stories. Most of them are garbage though. And mind you, I repeat this time and time again. Some trashy stories are entertaining, they may be poorly written and the plots are cliche, but there is something about them, some silliness and absolute madness that is entertaining, but others are simply bad. So these are mostly simply bad.

BUT WE WILL STRART FROM A GOOD FIND :D Which came as a big surprise. Considering this came from Qidian. I'm prejudiced, I know.

[BG] 女战神的黑包群 by 二谦 *Qidian

(mtl: Goddess of War's black envelope group)

Have you heard of red envelopes? Never heard of it outside of China where they give it as a form of good luck, especially on holidays like New Year. And red always bore auspicious meaning for them. I remember playing Time Princess where they also had a red envelope event and you grab envelopes which basically copies what they also used to do. So why back envelope. This is totally not auspicious to me, because of the content of those worlds. It's kinda risky too. But the idea of what is described is you are included in this group and from time to time black envelopes are distributed (by other users too), when you grab it you see a prompt with world title, like Innocent heiress, for example, then you're transported to this world and have minimum information and have to navigate on your own, meeting people with prompt on top of their heads meaning they are key figures in this script, from main characters to side characters. When FMC guesses correctly the prompt changes from something to 'reborn', for example. Like for example in the first arc she saw a girl with 'chaotic data' which later changed to 'reborn'. If you achieve success in doing your task the rewards will follow, some of them are pretty neet, although mainly FMC relies on her super mental strength, physical strength, her intellect and AI smart brain. As far as I could understand, when reaching certain level of task success she can distribute black envelopes herself, while doing so she prompted what she wanted to guess, I suppose. Because her brother is in a coma and she is doing this mostly for him, she heard of some miracle medicine and wanted to try it, but they don't have it, so she thought she might get it through this black envelop group.

This transmigration novel came as a surprise. It's not bad actually. Also / although it is fucking long (3k chapters), which I don't mind because I found the stories interesting so far. Also because of FMC's character it creates a lot of humorous moments.

Dong Shu, FMC is an Interstellar goddes of war, she is 3S type that suddenly had a balck envelope group added to her smart brain, she can travel to worlds and even get rewards, her main idea is that she might get something useful out of it to help her brother who is still in a coma.

Outwardly she is pretty intense, powerful and aloof. Quite cold-hearted too, since she's been through it all. But she also can have a moment of soft-heartedness (I assume some of it will be the result of different environment of worlds, periods she travels to). Her character portrayal is pretty direct, since she is a hardened individual she may not posses so many emotions towards others. But it doesn't mean she is like an ice queen, she has a touch of dark humor to her, likes to tease people sometimes.

When she travels she has her mental power with her as well as smart brain. First helps her a lot, while second may not be as helpful but still follows along.

The idea is also about her not having a clue about these worlds and trying to figure out what was the original wish of those people whose bodies she uses.

She may sound pretty overpowered, but the stories are still interesting. For example, I liked the approach in a story about the general. She landed as an orphan and knew that the main wish was to not let a general protecting the border perish in a court intrigue. Her idea is simple. She travels to border and startes meeting some key figures. One of them is supposedly a protagonist of this story a traversing girl who used the knowledge of future to conquer land. But because her tactics were too plundering it basically enriched only her, but left people devastated. I liked the approach of showing that not all traversers are acting for the good and that their actions may result in tragedy.

Although the story isn't without a flaw it's still interesting to follow. I'm already 170 chapters in and I think do far it is good enough.

What I liked that it retains individuality. I'm also surprised because I found it on Qidian, which is notorious to me for bad writing.

The only thing that sticks out to me is of course lack of editing, when the same thought or notion is reiterated several times, which may get you tired a bit.

Note: Although the author claims it's NoCP story and only first arc had a couple that lived their entire life. Later indeed FMC does not live in these worlds for long, which is explained. But it doesn't mean that others don't fall for her. She lives a glorious short life and she leaves mostly at a crucial time when she is the most needed. But otherwise the bodies she occupies would be dead anyway.

Note 2: I plan to have a separate post whenever I finish this or stop reading for some reason.

[BG] 恣爷的心尖宠又飒又野 by 林木十一 *Qidian

(mtl: Prince's beloved is both charming and wild)

I basically stopped around chapter 471. Chapters are short, but I still think the story drags quite a bit.

The story itself is about reborn FMC Lu Qingqiao, she fell a victim to her own relatives in her previous life, even if she treated them with utmost care it seems it wasn't enough to feed the greed. 

Lu Qingqiao is a famous throughout her city female CEO that inherited the mantle from her brother who is now in a coma, her parents unfortunately perished in a car accident. She became successful and took care of the second family, especially her cousin, but it's this cousin who schemed against her the most. FMC felt she was stupid to believe her and taking care of her in entertainment industry.

The first half is mainly about FMC who takes control of the situation even before she was schemed against. Using her knowledge she fights both sides. Her family actually takes a lot of time and it doesn't look like a good story because the narrative always changes as if FMC's cousin gained another wave of support, even if she was exposed doing some really nasty shit, but it always felt like their network is too short-lived. So the situation with FMC dealing with these scoundrels escalated and dragged for quite a bit.

Overall portrayal of FMC was quite good, she is a cool type of older sister, accomplished and unrestrained.

On the other hand is MMC Qin Zi, he is a heir to the infamous Qin family which has a lot of going on. He was living almost incognito when he was taken by FMC, because she remembered him from previous life and wanted to repay him, she believed he was a poor student and others also felt like that for the longest time. Even the several encounters when they almost came face to face, which got tired quite soon, made you think they're going to find things soon, but no, it took a while.

Another point is the basic over the top habit when authors write some out of ordinary stuff that should sound.. I don't know cool? Like, for example, when FMC connects to a famous genius doctor she allows him to take her brother away in hope of recovering from a coma. I have no idea why she said she was sent some gruesome photos of her brother, like what that doctor did to him, but tbh it wasn't that long before this bro not only woke up but also stood up. Rehab is a long and tedious process, everyone knows that. There's a lot of stuff like that, which is basically a big delusion.

[BG] 快穿之绿茶靠边站 by 洛轻辰 *Qidian

(mtl: The green tea should step aside)

TRASH. I just dropped this one pretty quickly.

FMC transimgrates into some secondary characters and her goal is basically exposing the green tea female protags that are described as nothing special, but they're acting both pitiful and try to be strong and basically they're "not like everybody else". Like for example the first arc describes some palace maid figure that attracted FMC's brother, the Emperor, but later she jumped into a river and disappeared, since FMC knew where to search for her she arrived. The woman is not a imple one, she used what she learned in the palace to earn money, basically selling recipes of palace Imperisal Kitchen to a restaurant. later she is all "oh, I'm such a pitiful little creature" while she sedued men left and right, even sleeping with them. So she is tossed around like that.

The way FMC exposed it I don't remember but I do remember I thought it made no sense and was rudimentary.

A complete waste fo time. Good thing I didn't spend much time reading.

[BG] 快穿好孕：绝嗣反派掐腰吻娇娇 by 叶若轩 *Qidian

(mtl: Pregnancy system - the villain who had no heirs now spoils his darling)

I am so free-wheeling with that mtl and title all-together, because this is the essence of the story in a sense.

Basically, I wanted some sweet novel and I don't discriminate against such novels, although most of the time where there is a task it always feels like fake love, because it's all a task and does not involve feelings that can be called truly pure.

Same here. Also such a mediocre story and plots. It feels like FMC is taking out a conflict out of her ass every few minutes so the reader will feel it's not an empty story, but it is.

I find plots like from the first arc truly ridiculous, worthy of a vertical drama. In first arc she plays a supporting role, her fiance is called again by a green tea girl when he leaves the wedding with no regard for his fiancee. Later on even thinks she should wait for him, forgive him and accept how things are. That it's already such a big consession that he makes her his legal wife, while his mistress can only be his mistress.

FMC instead hooks up with the villain of course, but honestly the way villains in these stories feel for FMC is so cheap, like that type of instant love and "she's not like other girls" rhetoric repeated so many times.

Also this has too few arcs and the last one dragged for so long for no apparent reason. I just feel sorry for my time, but I had such a cheap mood and something of this level was quite fitting, now I can rant about it. It just proves my initial impression of Qidian that I got years prior, out of many stories most of them will be like a cheap script for a vertical drama.

Second to last from the trash pile, this is not the worst of it all, just wait, the last one is a true gem of 'I'd break author's hands'.

[BG] 好孕快穿：娇软狐狸在位面被团宠 by 福禄果 *Qidian

(mtl: QT: The soft and delicate pampered fox)

Another waste of time. 

FMC is a fox from a transmigration bureau. You know what I hate about this one? Everything.

FMC does nothing and is said to have completed many worlds, it's just because of her nature that she couldn't have accepted the failure, now she is transferred to childbearing system. I can't help it, what Qidian recommends is what I see, usually it's always like that, based on what you read.

So FMC can't do shit. She even cooks thanks to the system by spending points (did not get how the system works, since she is asked to spend affection points?), she has no other talent except she thinks highly of herself and can seduce any man because she's a vixen. The girl is pretty proud about herself.

The arcs / worlds / plots are a shame to ever exist. I'm sure if the text had the self-delete option it'd opt for that. It's hard to watch how nonsense it is. Her male protagonists fall for her instantly almost. At least she attarcts her targets a lot. Then comes some nonsense script that is absolutely chopped as if they're basic notes left by author. Even if a cat was randomly smashing on a keyboard I'm sure it'd do a better job. 

I haven't seen such a self-absorbed FMC in a while. She really thinks she is a present to wish for. She can't do shit herself. Spends most of her points on pointless stuff, mainly beauty, otherwise how can you conquer a man without a face?

Another worst part is that after each task she returns and we hear about some dude that is like a head manager of her division. But at the end when she meets him he actually confesses to her and says some bizarre stull like he sent her to this branch so she can live several lives where she is pampered and loved. I honestly was skipping like crazy by that point not even paying attention if he was with her in those worlds or otherwise it's going to be fucked up anyway.

Fuck this author they can go to hell for their sins in writing.

[BG] 老婆是隐形大佬 by 苏家紫七 *Qidian

(mtl: My wife is a hidden boss)

I haven't met a pile of text, I can't call it a story, that would make me this mad, it's been a while.

This is so bad.

Why am I even mad though?

The thing is about the FMC. Author claims that FMC will et beter at communicating and she is having issues at first, but honestly FMC makes you think like she is soulless robot and a progrm that should be super smart, but she only does the commands others ask her to do.

And the most infuriating to me is how everyone praises her for being a sensible girl and a good child and may feel sorry for her, then pat her on her head. She is aloof but is kind inside and they find it endearing and cute. BUT TO ME THEY TREAT HER LIKE A DOG. Here, let me pat you on the head, because you're sensible. While FMC is non-existent at the beginning of the story. No worries, I saw the ending, which did not impress me and it was horrible, but also because FMC felt like a different person, opened and romantic.

I can understand the fact author wants her to change, but at the begining she feels like a girl who is so naive in her head, has no personal thoughts of her own, acts according to commands, is happy with bare minimum, does know nothing about life, should be super intelligent and dense at the same time.

Honestly, what the fuck is wrong with this author.

The story also makes you cringe and feel like all the moisture will be squeezed out of your face because how scrunched up you want to be.

This world should have more martial arts, above normal human level. And of course FMC is super-duper above anyone else. Of course she is too naive about the outside world to know these things and has no idea how strong she is.

It's not the end, she is also profecient in calligraphy, because of course in the small village she resides several prominent figures live a quiet life, one of whom is a character who is close to a shrew but is actually a famous painter. She taught FMC everything. But FMC never used this skill for gain because of course she is a sensible girl and listens to her master who says - we do not gain from things that did not come out of our sect, so instead of earning a good buck and never know hardships of course she never uses the chance.

But wait, it's not the end, she also was taught by some master a way of woodworking that is so rare and it's also worth a lot, but she usually just gives things she did herself away, while others marvel that these things may be left as inheritance for future generations.

So you never know if the girl is aware or not, but she lives by the rules.

So much so that when she first arrived her master told her - it's good to get even 60 points on your test and you can guess what this genius girl did - she went on and left part of the test blank just because she was told to.

This put her in a predicament that everyone thought she was a country bumpkin and stupid.

Author wanted to show growth without ever showing the inner world of FMC herself, we only hear any other character babbling, by the end we should conclde how cool the FMC is and she's a secret boss with many talents.

Bt FMC problem stemms from the story of her family, her parents died and she was sent to a village many kilometers away, also there is a rumor about her being a jinx that was never dispelled. So when she returns most of her family treats her as unwelcome... I mean.. duh. Her grandpa is the one responsible for the situation and it may be connected to the awesomeness of FMC, being a Guardian, the top position of a martial artist. But otherwise she grew up away with no strings attached and she was basically swindled of her inheritance left by her parents she probably doesn't really remember or cares about, just because others said sign the papers and she signed and relegated her rights. I don't know it just felt like such a heartless move, author at first never mentioned anything from her family and parents. Even taking her back because of a college exam fel like such a big hassle, making the girl go through so much. The idea that is told but not expressed is that she should be blaming herself as if she believes that she is indeed a jinx who caused her parents to die, this is why she stays away from others most of the time.

And I can't blame such a character, I can only blame the author for creating her like that. 

UPDATE:

I thought we're over with three books, but imagine my surprise when I saw this! Exected date of publication Feb '27. I am so hyped. I'm so happy for Patrice for securing another book deal.

MOVIES

When it comes to movies I was re-watching after several disappointments. And also there is so much going on around new releases but it's all controversy instead of praise and admiration from viewers, which is not a good sign. So I have no big expectations for movies that are released during this period or will be released later this year.

CUBE (1997)

Cube is not a movie I'd re-watch, I just stumbled upon it and thought okay I'll rewatch it. But honestly it's a good one. For such a minimal set and cast this movie has such a great concept and also execution.

Most of all I love that ball-crushing ending, which is on another level of ironic.

And most importantly this movie is unique, so any attempt at replicating it would be just a copy. I never saw the continuation to the series, which is unfortunate attempt at milking this movie, I also never paid attention to a release in 2021, I had no idea it existed before I searched for the poster.

Final Destination 2

Don't you think this movie is goofy? I find it goofy. I know it's quite gruesome and gory at times, but also it is goofy af. The way things stop working or something happens stopped being subtle. Although the first movie lacked in being subtle, but this time everything is too obvious. All the short-circuited outlets or locked doors, spilt liquids. Nothing is safe in this universe. It's interesting how in one scene they are in a flat that has ceiling installation ffs.

Also this movie doesn't shut up for a single second, it doesn't take a break, no-no-no, there is something going on almost all the time.

I find the scene in the elevator the funniest, I'm so sorry for saying this, but the way they tried to untie.. hair? It feels like it wasn't that tangled, but everyone was in a max panic mode making it feel like such unsolvable situation. The whole movie was done withthe same amount of panic.

Back to the Future 1, 2

Do you love these movies? I do. Good, old-school and fun. There is something about movies of those times that were experimenting on new concepts, were bold in their ideas, did not cower from being a bit silly-looking. But most importantly, they were good-natured. Right now things are often too serious. And I'm not saying it's bad, some movies would not fit for being a silly-type film. It's just the majority of movies right now are like that. Even if you see a man in a tracksuit and red hotpants everything should be serious (I'm talking about stuff like Superman, yeah, I can't help it, I'm not against humans with abilities, it's just the costuming that gets to me every time). Even the live adaptations throughout the years that no one needed still have to drag down the wonders of animation to realism no one asked for. And if anything flops it's always blamed on public nowadays too...

A lot of cinema feels stale unfortunately, from casting to acting to scripts and dialogues. Whenever something appears that stands out feels like a breath of fresh air. This is why I can't help but re-watch old stuff and be unapologetic about it. 

I know I'm lamenting too much. I just feel sorry. 

For 1985 these movies look amazing actually. Although the locations and sets look pretty simple, but the way they overlap in all three movies, especially with ever-changing timelines and several main participants, I think it is fantastic. I'm sorry but the way movie 2 re-creates the scene from 50's timeline but from a different angle is such a move. To me it looked amazing. 

I especially always appreciated how it played on how the fate of people will change depending on their decisions and intervention.