Culture Consumption: December 2024

Books

It’s been a poetry focused month for me, and I’m kicking it off with Cloud Missives by by Kenzie Allen, which made my list of favorite reads for the year. This gorgeous debut poetry collection “asks what one can reimagine of Indigenous personhood in the wake of colonialism, what healing might look like when loving the world around you.” Allen’s poetry is intimacy, intellect, spirit, and compassion.

The Quiet Ways I Destroy You by Jessica McHugh is one of the best collections of blackout poetry that I’ve read in a while. Created from the pages of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, each poem represents a mixed media art piece, incorporating a variety of materials that reflect the meaning behind the text. These poems are dark and beautiful, evoking female power, rage, and passion. I can’t wait to read more work from McHugh.

Grating Darling, Full of Dirt by Erin Dorning is a collection of found poems drawn from the pages of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. This is a compact little book that is nevertheless compelling in it imagery, exploring feelings of grime, grit, and despair.

I started reading The Source of Self Regard, a compilation of essays and other writings by Toni Morrison, shortly after her death in 2019. My intention at the time was to read through this collection and then read and reread the whole of her fiction. However, when I sat down with these words, I found I could not bring myself to rush. I needed to absorb each piece of writing at my own glacial pace, delving into an essay at a time here and there between my other reading. Now, after five years, I have finished this beautiful, powerful, and moving book.

Throughout this collection, Morrison thinks critically about literature, race, culture, and society, as well as expounding on her personal writing process and philosophy. Her novels, Beloved and Paradise, are among my all-time favorite reads, and I enjoyed exploring her perspectives on this stories (which just makes me want to read them all over again). In particular, Morrison discussed her interest in memory over history, because she “could not, should not, trust recorded history” to provide the “cultural specificity” that she desired. I could write more — much more — of her thoughts on this, but honestly, you should just read the lush, thoughtful essays for yourself.

Books Finished This Month:

1. Grating, Darling, Full of Dirt by Erin Dorney

2. The Quiet Ways I Destroy You by Jessica McHugh

3. The Source of Self Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches and Meditations by Toni Morrison

4. Procedural Storytelling in Game Design, edited by Tanya X. Short and Tarn Adams

5. Cloud Missives by Kenzie Allen

Total Books for the Year: 39

Still in Progress at the End of the Month:

Blackouts by Justin Torres, Even Greater Mistakes: Stories by Charlie Jane Anders, Wandering Games by Melissa Kagen, and The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel

Short Stories & Poetry

A selection of works I recently read in journals and online publications, with a few lines from the text shared here.

Poetry: “The Man-Moth” by Elizabeth Bishop (Poetry Foundation):

Poetry: “The Dogs Don’t Forgive Us" by Sophie Fink (Strange Horizons):

The Writing Excuses Podcast has been doing a series of close readings over the past year, and I’m behind on my readings (so I’m behind on the podcast). Anyway, I read the following three stories — all written by C.L. Clarke and published in Uncanny Magazine — in preparation for that close reading segment on the podcast.

• “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home“ – “We both look down. Then the ship bucks again, properly, like an unbroken horse, and I’m airborne, Iouni looking at me with her mouth in a round “O” of surprise.“

• “The Cook” – “The first time I see her, it’s just a glimpse. I’m standing in the inn’s common room and the other warriors straddle chairs and call for ale. While some reach for a serving wench or boy, cheeks to pinch, a life to grasp—my stomach growls a monster’s growl. I should be slain; the growl is that fierce.”

• “You Perfect, Broken Thing” – “When I leave the kill floor, my legs are wasted. I shuffle to the women’s locker room. I can’t stand anymore, but I know if I sit, I’ll never get back up. At least, not for another hour.“

Movies

I only watched one new-to-me movie this month — Fred Claus — and I don’t have much to say about it. It’s my mom’s favorite Christmas movie and is based on the idea that Santa Claus has an ignored older brother, named Fred (played by Vince Vaughn). The movie leans heavily on Vaughn’s particular style of humor, which is not my personal cup of tea. But it does have enough sweet moments that I now understand better why my mom loves it so much.

Television

It took me way to long to watch the last few episodes of Shogun. The first few episodes were excellent and the final episodes leading up to the conclusion were even better. The ways in which the cultural clashes and political intrigue plays out is thrilling — and it is so powerful, in the end, because of how human each and every character is. Every single one of person is a swarm of complexities and has their own clear goals and desires, and the relationships are so interesting. I’m already wanting to watch it over again.

I put on Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal mostly as some background noise while I was doing some basic data-entry-type work. I assumed this would be a highly sensationalized show, the way many paranormal shows are — but it was surprisingly well balanced. Each episode explores a criminal case in which some element of the paranormal plays a part. The show mostly focuses on witness interviews, police reports, and other data, bringing experts to provide alternative perspectives.

The first episode, “Web of the Lizard People,” was particularly interesting. It examines a deadly explosion that took place in Nashville on Christmas Day in 2020. The perpetrator of the explosion believed that lizard people had taken over and were secretly controlling society. The episode looks into this decades-long belief in lizard people, how it came about, and how certain people make an income off of perpetuating the belief. It’s a fascinating look at how the internet can spread and maintain conspiracy theories.

At this point, I’m interested in rewatching some of the episodes I’ve already watched, so that I can pay more attention. And I’ll definitely watch through to the end of this season at the least.

Games

Chants of Sennaar (Rundisc) is a puzzle adventure game, which I was introduced to and played a demo for at GDC 2024. What drew me in was the unique vibrant art style, combined by the unique puzzle mechanic, in which the player must translate and attempt to understand the languages they encounter through murals, writing, and conversations with NPCs.

What I didn’t realize until I started playing the full game, is that Sennaar is based on the Tower of Babel story, in which mankind attempted to build a tower to reach god and was punished by having the language divided, separating the people into different tribes in conflict. As the player progresses through the game, they ascend the tower and encounter different regions with distinctly different tribes, each with their own language including specific grammar structure.

The puzzles were fascinating, and even when they were a bit obscure, I was happy to work through them to learn more about this fascinating world and its communities. The only major downside was that I encountered a glitch, in which several language symbols didn’t “lock in” their meaning; this meant that I couldn’t get the best ending despite completing everything else. But that’s a small quibble in an excellent game.

I completed Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games), a farming management game set in the afterlife. Charon has decided to retire and so tasks Stella, the player character, with ferrying the souls of the dead through the Everdoor to the afterlife. In order to do this, Stella travels on her ferry and gathers up the souls. The player speaks with each soul, learning about their past and working to satisfying their needs, ranging from building a specific home for them, providing satisfying food, and achieving specific objectives. In order to provide these things, the player has to expand their boat, build specific structures and stations, including fishing, farming, a kitchen, spinning thread, smelting, and other buildings required to create the specific items required.

Spiritfarer is a lovely game, with a sweet narrative about showing compassion to folks as they face the joys and wounds of their previous life. However, I think my experience of this game has revealed that farming management games are not quite what I’m interested in. In the last ten hours of the game, I found myself getting annoyed by all the various tasks required to progress when all I wanted to do was continue the narrative.

My frustrations are definitely on me. Those who love cozy farming management games will likely love Spiritfarer.

Yes, I am still continuing with Balatro (LocalThunk) — and yes, every time I jump into the game, it steals my life for an hour or few. Though, I have slowed down a little bit. I have opened all the decks and now I’m basically trying to beat all the challenges and get all the collectibles.

That's it for me! What are you reading? Watching? Loving right now?