Let’s Rewind: October 2021

October was quite a month. Overall it was a good one, but it was filled with some high ups and some low downs, which has exhausted me. I haven’t been in the mood to do much, which is why this monthly wrap up post is so late.

Let’s Rewind is a monthly wrap up but instead of talking about only books, I include all types of other stuff, like articles… bookish news… commercials… random-ass links… movies… art… podcasts… cartoons… and whatever else happened to me in the month. You know, the usual stuff that people talk about in monthly wrap ups. So read on to see what I did and read this month. You might stumble upon something that interests you.

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Y’all, I love fall. I don’t like the cold weather, but I do love dressing for fall months, and I love the colors associate with it. I love the leaves turning and hearing the fallen ones crunch under my boots. I love the scents of fall — apples, cinnamon, pumpkin — and the outdoor activities that it brings — hay rides, corn mazes, haunted houses and fields, apple picking, — although I’ve only been to a few of these things. But it seems that I’ll always be stressed in the fall. I can’t remember a time when I rode out the entire season unstressed.

Despite the stresses of October, I also enjoyed the month at times. I made some major moves that I am very proud to get done because I’d started to think some of the stuff would never be possible. I also made some major changes after assessing certain things, which has been helping me manage the stressful things. (Lol, I’m so vague.) And I had a wonderful time hanging out with friends, some I hadn’t seen in months.

I also made it to another virtual literary event and saw an author I’m very interested in speak. That’s Mateo Askaripour who wrote Black Buck, a book I was sure I’d hate but ended up really liking. I can’t wait to see what he writes next. That’s how I felt after completing the book and that feeling has increased since attending the virtual literary event.

So despite it threatening to be a horrible month, October had some bright spots in it.

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Like I said, October was stressful, so I didn’t read much. I felt like I didn’t have any time to read, but when I think back on the month, I can’t remember what had consumed my time to prevent reading. Sure I watched a couple shows, but that didn’t happen so often, and typically when I’m not reading it’s because I’m playing too much Sims, but I didn’t play it in October. It was just a weird month, I guess.

I only completed one book — There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool. It’s the first novel in a YA fantasy trilogy that seems set in the classical age in the Mediterranean and is, so far, about how the actions of certain main characters will cause a prophecy to be fulfilled. I loved it and am looking forward to the next book.

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‘The Greatest Heist in History’: How Haiti Was Forced to Pay Reparations for Freedom (npr.org)

— The title says it all.

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AROUND THE BLOG-O-VERSE

Tales of a Haunted Comment Section – A Spooktacular Short Story! (theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com)

— I had to share this. If you haven’t yet read it, I encourage you to. It was perfect for the Halloween.

SOME STUFF I PUBBED

A Review
…I’ve got two.

— Comics Roundup #62: “DCeased” 
— “Cinnamon and Gunpowder” by Eli Brown

Any Reading Events?

— Magical Readathon | 2021 — The Novice Path Wrap-Up

What a Surprise! A Bookish List

— Top 5 Tuesday #65: Creepy Covers Coming 😱

Here’s a Book Tag

— Bookish Witch Tag

Of Course, a Book Haul

(Surprisingly, there were none in October.)

Don’t Forget the Wrap Up

— 2021 Reading Wrap Up: Third Quarter

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PODCASTS

I didn’t listen to any in October. I spent the month blasting music instead.

MOVIES & SHOWS

I watched a couple things. I didn’t include Supernatural and Sleepy Hollow below since those are ongoing for me, but I watched several episodes from both, maybe a bit too many.

Antlers

I liked this movie, but no one else I went with did. Then again, it is a monster horror movie and I love those. It’s set in a small town in Oregon and involves a wendigo. Apparently it’s based on a short story, which I was planning to read for Halloween but totally forgot to do (same with the horror story that inspired the Candyman movies, but I will get to them).

Eternals

I saw it and… didn’t really like it. 😩 It’s slow-paced and I typically don’t mind that, but I got a little bored watching this. Also, Sersi, who seems to be the protag, didn’t stand out much to me, and I think she got overshadowed by some of the other characters. From the posters and previews, I thought Angelina Jolie’s character was going to be the protag. Either her or Ikaris, who I think stole the spotlight in the show. I think Sersi spends too much time seeming indecisive in the show. I’m not really interested in another Eternals movie, but I’d probably go to the theater to see it simply because it’s Marvel.

Oh! Also loved Sprite.

Dune

I actually just saw this, so not in October, but I had to mention it now since it’s fresh on my mind. I’ve been seeing mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it. I was so intrigued by the story and characters that I ran straight to the bookstore and got myself a physical copy of Dune after finishing the movie. I loved the visuals as well and thought it was a beautifully made movie. There were several scenes that I’d love as a still made into a poster or something. I was confused about some things, but I assumed that things will be come clear in the other movies… because this will be a trilogy or series of movies, right? In the mean time, I’ve been peppering folks I know who’ve read the books with questions.

La Brea

This is a new TV show on… some channel I can’t remember. Anyway, it starts in present day but then a huge sinkhole opens up and the peeps who fell through end up in the same area but in a different time — prehistoric time. (It reminds me of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.) I think it’s an interesting way to present a time travel story, but… it doesn’t have my full attention and has already started (there are about 4 or 5 episodes so far) to annoy me. These days I get annoyed when characters do some really dumb shit to save loved ones when there’s a smarter, safer way to go about things. Or when characters are just extra selfless and extra motivated by love. I sound so evil saying that, but I’d like shows to focus on characters who don’t react that way but without portraying them as someone evil or as an antagonist, just to mix things up. The main characters in this show are so motivated by love and their family that it’s predictable, which is why I think it bores me. Also, I know it’s weird, but I hate that the main character’s wife, who fell through the sinkhole, is named Eve.

Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark

I don’t think I’ve watched a full Trevor Noah stand-up performance before, although I have seen bits here and there on YouTube. This one was okay. It didn’t leave much of an impression. Actually, it made me glad that I’ve seen other stuff by him that I know is better.

Dave Chappelle: The Closer

Chappelle! Maaan… lol. I like his performance and can see what he was going for here, but I understand the backlash too.

The Addams Family

This is the first animated version. It’s fun and I like most of it, but I’m not a fan of how it wraps up.

Really Love

I love watching romance movies around Christmas time, so I’ve been slowly watching more of them these days. This one was… okay, I guess. I didn’t really like it. I think the story needs more development. I love the shots of the setting because it’s set in DC and shows parts of DC I’ve never seen in movies, so the setting felt authentic to me, but the characters just didn’t work for me and the progress of the plot didn’t either. I was also bored, unfortunately. There didn’t seem to be much to the relationship in the first place, so it wasn’t jarring to me when they broke up. I didn’t feel anything.

Good Witch

I think I watched too much of Supernatural and Sleepy Hollow back to back, which wasn’t a good idea when I was feeling stressed and down since those are both dark supernatural movies where happy things hardly ever happen. So I think that’s why I’m now stuck on Good Witch. The supernatural in it is very minor, but it’s all happiness and sunshine in this show, which has helped lift my spirit.

The Holiday

I love this movie! 😭 I watched it like twice in October.

Letters to Juliet

This was sweet and I can’t believe I’d never watched the full movie before. It made me want to visit Italy. I enjoyed the story, but this also annoyed me because I’m now tired of the trope where the young female character works at a newspaper but never gets to write anything worthwhile until she goes off to do some random shit. I’m just tired of seeing it in movies.

Gladiator

Loved it. I can’t remember if I’ve ever watched the entire thing before, but it’s one of my fav movies.

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And that’s how October went.

How y’all doing?

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