Culture Consumption: December 2025

Last Culture Consumption of the year, and since the holiday afforded me quite a bit of free time, I was able to indulge in a lot of reading, games, and media.

Books

Through Immortal Shadows Singing by Mari Ness is a gorgeous novella in poems, which explores the Trojan War from the point of view of Helen of Troy. Seen primarily as an object of desire, with a face beautiful enough to “launch a thousand ships,” Helen is rarely granted her own agency. Ness rectifies that by providing her a space to tell her own tale in lyrical lines, reflecting Helens passions, fears, madness, and longing amidst a series of events over which she has little control. It’s such a lovely spin on the ancient tale.

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark envisions an alternate history in which the Klu Klux Klan is an organization of witches and demons that feed on the hate they invoke in the population. Maryse Boudreaux and her friends fight against this growing threat, hunting the creatures known as Klu Kluxes that serve the Klan. The novella is a thrilling historical adventure with a fascinating comic horror twist. I love the characters and this world, and would love to see more of it in the future.

The Present Day by Day is the second book in Meridel Newton’s Shelter Trilogy. Amaya Bly is the recently appointed leader of Osto, a community of survivors that have become a beacon of hope after the apocalypse. After a hard winter, Osto looks with hope towards spring and the opportunity to begin a new planting season. But a series of problems — an earthquake, dissent disunity among Osto residents, and the arrival of a new unknown community —  leave Amya questioning her abilities as a leader.

I love Newton’s story of the apocalypse, presenting a community that strives collaboration, negotiation, and compromise instead of violence as a solution to their problems. And though this could be described as a “comfy” tale, the author nevertheless is able to create a sense of tension that holds my attention through the entire story. I can’t wait for the next book.

Books Finished This Month:

1. Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

2. The Present Day by Day: The Shelter Trilogy II by Marídelo Newton

3. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

4. Through Immortal Shadows Singing by Mari Ness

Total Books for the Year: 47

Still in Progress:

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark, and Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.

Short Stories & Poetry

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

Poem: “Appetite” by Bob Hicok:

Poem: "The Ants" by Holly Lyn Walrath (Your Impossible Voice) —

Science Fiction: “The Shadow on the Nest" by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Uncanny Magazine) —

Movies

Guillermo del Toro's rendition of Frankenstein is everything I hoped it would be. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) evokes all the arrogance of a man who believes he can master the world and stop death, a man who lacks the patience and compassion to actually care for the creature once he's brought it to life. The Creature (Jacob Elordi) is at once empathetic and unsettling, and Elizabeth (Mia Goth) is ethereal and captivated by nature and the world. The costumes, set design, lighting, and cinematography presents a world that is moody, gothic, and beautiful. At the same time, the movie shows immense heart and feeling, making it one of my favorite adaptations of Mary Shelley's classic science fiction novel.

I really enjoyed 100 Nights of Hero as an original fairy tale. Set in a fantastical world with rigid gender roles, two men discuss women and wives over drinks. Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) is convinced that because his wife was unfaithful, women are incapable of being loyal. Jerome (Amir El-Masry) counters that his wife, Cherry (Maika Monroe), is pure and would never betray him. So, they make a bet: Jerome will leave and grant Manfred 100 nights to seduce his wife. If he succeeds then he wins the manor all the wealth and property that comes with it.

Aware of the precariousness of her situation (adultery means death), Cherry turns to her friend, confidant, and maid Hero (Emma Corrin), for support. Whenever she feels overwhelmed, Hero will tell her a story as a distraction.

It's rare to find a movie that captures the earnestness of fairy tales, but Julia Jackman's directorial debut does just that. It has a dreamlike quality in which time melts together, a sense of longing, and a belief in the power of stories to inspire.

New-to-Me Movies Watched Last Month:

1. Salem’s Lot (2024)

2. 100 Nights of Hero (2025)

3. Frankenstein (2025)

4. Zodiac (2007)

Television

Season two of Pantheon was utterly fantastic. After the existence of uploaded intelligence, or UIs (a human intelligence uploaded to exist in the cloud in a permanent, one-way transference), is revealed to the world, the world locks down the internet to prevent the UIs from spreading or doing damage to the embodied. At the same time, a political debate is ongoing as to whether the UIs are even real or a hoax, and various forces are working behind the scenes to achieve their own ends one way or another.

The ramifications of this technology are wide ranging, from the deeply personal aspects of trying to grieve the death of a loved one whose consciousness is not truly gone to how corporate greed and government organizations would try to twist its capabilities to its own ends. Season one is excellent, showing how the technology was set loose on the world, but season two is where the show really shines for me. I love how it grows ever more expansive, revealing the impact of this technology on a global scale.

In season two of Fallout, Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) are partnered up together, searching for her father to get him to answer some questions (especially about the Ghoul’s family) and make him face his many, many crimes. Meanwhile, Maximus (Aaron Moten) is back with the Brotherhood, a bit lost and following orders like a good soldiers, because he doesn’t know what else to do.

As with the first season, the storytelling is tightly constructed. It layers in scenes from multiple perspectives, builds mystery, and infuses everything with strong characterization and dark humor. It’s excellent, and I love it.

The final season of Stranger Things was solid. I love all of these characters and enjoyed seeing the team come together in the final fight against Vecna, risking it all to save the world. Not all of the scenes hit (a few too many heartfelt speeches for me), but there were some phenomenal exciting moments. And the ending felt satisfying.

Games

Cocoon (Geometric Interactive) is a puzzle platformer with some of the most satisfying and interesting puzzle mechanics I've ever seen. As a strange bug-like humanoid creature, the player is released from a cocoon and tasked with exploring and finding their way through alien worlds. The worlds are strangely biomechanical, making them feel unsettling and cohesive all at once, and the puzzles are fascinating and intuitive. In almost every instance, I could figure things out by bumbling around a bit, with the solutions being so satisfying I found myself getting emotional just through the sheer act of playing the game.

My only frustration came from the boss fights, since the gameplay felt disconnected from the beautiful wonder of the rest of the puzzles. Each boss fight just felt like an annoying obstacle holding me back from the delights of the rest of the game.

Consume Me (developed by Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, and Ken "coda" Snyder) is a coming-of-age memoir game about a young woman dealing with the daily stress of trying to be perfect and meet all your goals, when you don’t have enough time. At the heart of the stress is disordered eating and the attempt to loose weight in order to gain approval and acceptance from others.

What makes this game excellent is how much the gameplay — involving a series of mini-games — perfectly reflects the stress of each day, the feeling of not having enough time, of not completing tasks fast enough or good enough to achieve your dreams. The cute art style is also a great choice, giving it a youthful feel. Though the main character is a teenager, the style reminds me of Sanrio and similar adorable-style characters that I loved when I was a teen (alongside my love for alternative rock, horror movies, and so on). The game is fairly quick to complete was a delight.

Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios) is a puzzle platformer that relies on the kind of fixed perspective illusions are really only possible in a digital medium. The player picks up photographs and art and holds it up to the world. When released, the images become real in the game, building new platforms or rooms or bridges, thus allowing the player to progress. As the game progresses, additional methods of forced perspective are included and the puzzles become increasingly complex.

In the narrative, the player is roaming a simulation that contains the memories and records of four scientists who had been working on solutions to climate change. The aim is to find a technology that will heal the world, in which oxygen levels have reduced forcing all of humanity inside enclosed spaces. Much of this narrative is related through communications with a collaborator outside the simulation or through audio logs and notes left behind by the researchers.

While the story is solid, the main joy is the experience of the perspective shifting puzzles themselves. It’s a beautiful, delightful, mind-bending experience.

I finished up the main quest of The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment). As with the first game, I found the actual ending to be the least interesting part of the narrative (compared to the many quests and side quests that led up to it). But I enjoyed the final battle and seeing everything come together. I especially liked discovering how all my choices throughout the game affected the world, the factions, and my team of companion characters.

Fallout (Interplay Entertainment) was the game that made me fall in love with the dense narratives of RPGs and apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic storytelling. The opening cinematic and the song "Maybe" by The Ink Spots is burned into my brain. I remember watching it and getting full body chills, and the way the image pulls out to reveal the wind-swept wasteland continues to haunt me.

With the Fallout TV show being so great, I decided to return to the start of the franchise. Since I only have a Mac, I have to use a bit of a janky set up playing the game through a Windows emulator. The game window is tiny and has a watermark over it, but that in no way takes away from my enjoyment of the game.

From the outset, it’s clear that Fallout is old fashioned (not really a surprise, since it came out in 1997). The game dialog is fairly direct and doesn’t quite feel as in-depth as modern RPGs. The quests are interesting and fun, but the game doesn’t provide a detailed list of the quests or reminders of the next steps to take. Hints are sparse, so the player is forced to figure it out on their own — and it’s not always immediately intuitive. So, I’ve had to look up guides on how to complete quests on more than one occasion.

Nevertheless, I’m having a great time with it. I enjoy the turn-based combat (even if it’s sometimes a bit slow). And I love returning to this world. Some of the characters and quests I remember — especially my bestie Harold. Some I’m discovering all over again. And hey, maybe I’ll actually finish the game this time.

I also played two short demos this month.

Psychotic Bathtub, currently being developed by Natasha Sebben and her team, is a dark visual novel that explores mental health. The main character sits in their bathtub, and the player interacts with various inanimate objects to initiate conversations with them, dredging up the character's memories or emotional state. I love the illustrated art style, the sound design, and overall tone. When released in 2026, the final game is expected to provide additional interactions and endings.

Am I Nima? is a psychological horror game in development by Ho! Games. You play as Nima, who wakes with no memory and is trapped by her mother in the basement. Through dialog options and by making mental connections (by combining words to open new memory options), the player has to figure out what's happening and prevent Nima's mother from doing something terrible. The game is quite creepy and I'm looking forward to exploring it further (though no release date has been announced yet).

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