Culture Consumption: February 2025

Books

Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self Defense Mechanism is a powerful collection of short stories by Andrea Kriz, delving into how technology changes our relationship the people around us and our own identities.

Several of the opening stories focus on the idea of identity in virtual spaces. In the titular story, “Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self Defense Mechanism,” the main character discovers that a friend has portrayed intimate details of their relationship in their highly popular video game. In “There Are No Hot Topics on Whukai,” Esko reluctantly takes job pretending to be the best friend of a fan fiction author, who writes questionable portrayals of Whukian history and culture.

An extension of this exploration of virtual spaces includes the role of artificial intelligences as individual entities. In “Communist Computer Rap God,” Fabien accidentally created an AI that takes on a life of its own and begins to supersede his own online presence. In “AIs Who Make AIs Make the Best AIs!” Joe attempts to support a community of AI devices in defining their own identities, so that they can make new, better versions of themselves (with an ending that is absolutely delightful).

Meanwhile, later stories in the collection shift toward magic and time travel to present stories revolution against violent power structures and finding meaning and purpose in the wake of revolution. Though this is a slim volume of short stories, it’s a powerhouse of a collection, with many impactful narratives.

I’ve had Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies and Pretties on my bookshelf for over a decade. With the release of the recent movie (which I heard is not good), I decided it was time to finally pick it up these books and give them a read. The series fits neatly into the genre of YA post-apocalyptic dystopian novels released in the 2000s, alongside titles such as The Hunger Games and Divergent (though those both came later).

As with other books of the era, the series presents a specifically stratified society to explore present day social concerns. In this case, young people grow up as "uglies" and then, when they are sixteen, go through a procedure involving intensive plastic surgery to turn them into a "pretty," allowing them to live it up in New Pretty Town. The concept is based on the idea that, if everyone is the same, there is no conflict, but in reality it’s way of controlling the populace.

In Uglies, Tally is excited to become a pretty, so she can join her friend Petris and enjoy the celebrations in New Pretty Town. But then, she meets Shay, a young woman of the same age, who invites Tally to run away into the wilds and escape the transition. Shay unintentionally forces Tally to face the world in which she lives and learn its disturbing secrets. The more Tally learns about society, the more conflicted she feels about becoming a pretty.

Pretties is another solid entry in the series. Tally has become a "pretty" and is just as pretty-headed, with no care except for parties and entertainment and cliques, like all the other pretties. But she can't quite seem to shake her past memories, which keep making it difficult to relax into the bliss of being pretty. Again, she begins to break through the control and see the truth behind the shining surface of the world, leading her to rebel.

Both novels are fun, quick reads set in an interesting world. So, I plan to continue with the third book in the trilogy, Specials.

Books Finished This Month:

1. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

2. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

3. Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self Defense Mechanism by Andrea Kriz

4. Trial by Moonlight: A Rise of the Summer God Adventure by Summer H. Hanford

Total Books for the Year: 8

Still in Progress at the End of the Month:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo, Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito, 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.

11 Poems by Maria Geisbrecht (Only Poems), as well as an interview with the poet about her work.

“Mameen” by David White (Poeticous):

Movies

Heart Eyes is a romantic comedy combined with a gory slasher, which makes for a wildly fun horror movie. Ally (Olivia Holt) is facing troubles at her marketing job and is expected to work with Jay (Mason Gooding) to solve the issues with her campaign. When they go out for a work dinner on Valentine’s Day, the pair are mistaken for an actual couple and are suddenly hunted by the Heart Eyes killer.

The movie is a great blend of horror and comedy. The deaths are violent, bloody, and mean, with the killer offing people in terrible ways. The side characters are comedically callous, making the world feel inherently cold. By contrast, the two leads are charming and they play off each other well, making the budding romance between them believable. It’s a good time.

Woman of the Hour is Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut. The movie follows the true story of a woman who participates in The Dating Game game show and is unknowingly matched with Rodney Alcala, a serial killer who was captured in 1979, shortly after being on air. Kendrick’s version of the events plays around with the actual history a bit to explore the various ways women are ignored or over looked. Sheryl (Anna Kendrick) keeps facing inappropriate suggestions in her attempts to build an acting career, finally accepting a role on The Dating Game as a last resort. Laura (Nicolette Robinson), seeing Rodney on the show, attempts to go to the police, telling them that this man likely killed her friend, but is ignored and mocked. Meanwhile, there are the women who are attacked by Rodney, who are erased from this world, with only one survivor (Autumn Best) being able to escape by convincing him that she’s on his side. It’s a really strong thriller, and I hope Kendrick gets more opportunities to direct.

New-to-Me Movies Watched Last Month:

1. The Story of The Oregon Trail (2024)

2. Enter the Battlefield: Life on the Magic - The Gathering Pro Tour (2016)

3. Woman of the Hour (2023)

4. Army of the Dead (2021)

5. The Lost City (2022)

6. Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

7. The House in Between (2020)

8. Cropsey (2009)

9. Heart Eyes (2025)

Television

American Primeval is a Netflix mini-series set in the expansion and colonization of the American West. The show opens with Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin) and her son (Preston Mota) fleeing westward in the hopes of finding her husband, who left years earlier in the search of gold. As they make their journey, they become wrapped up in the political conflicts and violence of the region — and are saved by a reclusive man (Taylor Kitsch) who knows how to survive in the wilds.

Set in Utah, the narrative centers on the conflict between different factions, including the Mormons, led by Brigham Young (Kim Coates), the U.S. Military, and Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham), who runs Fort Bridger — with the Shoshone people fighting for their own right to exist and often ending up as scapegoats for the actions of other powers. The political push and pull between these different communities is fascinating to watch, though it’s important to note that these portrayals are only an approximation of the actual history and have been altered to support the drama. The acting is fantastic, along with the costume, set design, and cinematography.

Sasquatch is a 2021 documentary series, in which investigative journalist David Holthouse attempts to return to a story he overheard about three men being torn apart by bigfoot. Still haunted by the story twenty-five years later, Holthouse attempts to uncover the truth behind this vague story. The documentary delves into the sasquatch lore that spread around in Mendocino County, California, and local investigations into the mythical creature. But the docu-series quickly veers away from stories of the cryptid and refocuses on the culture and crime world of pot growing in Mendocino County and the surrounding areas. Many of these pot growers are territorial and certain growers, who sell pot on the black market, have been known to use violence and murder to protect their source of income.

Games

I’ve heard from several folks that Act 1 and 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) is really just the beginning of the game, with Act 3 being the largest section of gameplay. And yeah, they were right.

Act 2 involves traveling to a land cursed by darkness, and the player can either fight against the forces controlling that darkness or side with them. I really enjoyed this section of the game. It had some fascinating side quests and a great epic battle to defeat a seemingly immortal being. Completing this section felt like a climatic point in the story — but it’s really just the start of a new storyline, leading the player to Baldur’s Gate.

Arriving in the city of Baldur’s Gate was an overwhelming experience. In addition to the main quest, several of the companion characters’s storylines culminate in the city. In addition, there are so many people to interact with and so many potential new quests to follow that I was quickly starting to burn out. By this point, I had already played over 100 hours of the game — and I didn’t think I could handle about 30, 40, or more hours at this stage. So, I have decided to take a (hopefully short) break and play some other games.

After talking to some other players, I discovered that I was not alone in this feeling. A number of folks also took a break at this same point, which makes me feel better about my choice to do so.

Schim (developed by Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman) is a game I first learned about and played a demo of at GDC 2024. I was drawn to the game thanks to its unique, vibrant art style combined with a fun gameplay concept. The player is a tiny shadow creature that can jump from shadow to shadow. At first, it is attached to a young boy, who we see grow into adulthood — then, suddenly the connection between shadow and boy is severed. The rest of the game involves moving through world, jumping through the shadows of object and people, to get back to their person.

The act of jumping between the shadows is such a fun and clever form of platforming. Once inside a new shadow, the creature can interact with the object (such rattling a fence, causing a street light to buzz, or spitting garbage out of a garbage can), which is delightfully satisfying. At around five hours to complete, Schim was exactly what I needed, providing a cool story experience and fun gameplay.

Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games) is a comfort game for me. I have played the game (and its sequel) all the way through at least twice, and it’s a game I can turn to for joy of playing it all over again when I’m experiencing stress. As I was just starting to get overwhelmed with Baldur’s Gate 3, I happened to be watching some documentaries on Horizon and found myself wanting to return to that world. So, that’s what I’m doing.

I upgraded to the Remastered version of the game, which seems to mainly put an extra layer of polish on an already gorgeous game. PS5 would have allowed me to bring over my former saves from PS4 (allowing me to go in with New Game+), but I opted to just play from scratch.

I’m currently playing Horizon on “Hard” mode and am progressing at a solid pace. Particularly big machines can easily destroy me, if I’m not careful, and I always seem to be running out of certain resources. But I feel like I’m improving as a player. I’m figuring out how to approach challenging fights by implementing better strategies and using specific combinations of armor and weapons. In fact, some of the fights seem to go so smoothly that I’ve considered increasing the difficulty to “Very Hard,” but I think I’ll hold off on that for a New Game+ mode in the future.

As always, Aloy’s story is moves me. Her journey from being an outcast and wanting to know the truth about her parentage to developing a deeper understanding of the world and the ancient past is just so powerful. I also love so many of the side characters (like Varl, Erend, and Petra) and quests. I just love this bright, verdant world and its various tribal cultures so much.

I absolutely loved the first two Monument Valley games, so I was excited to finally be able to play Monument Valley 3 (Ustwo Games). The story brings in new characters, presenting a community beset by a sudden flood, with the player required to find the geometries to rescue villagers and heal the village. The purpose of this storyline is to draw attention to all the communities around the world facing terrible flooding caused by climate change.

From a gameplay perspective, Monument Valley 3 switches from a horizontal to a vertical format designed for playing on your phone. Other than that change, the game features the same beautiful artwork style and mind-bending puzzles that play with Escher-style optical illusions. With this new game, Ustwo also includes some fascinating new level and art designs — for example, one level involved a kind of sketching on paper aspect that felt fresh.

However, the puzzles and overall game felt all too brief. I kept expecting the puzzles to grow in length and difficulty — as they had in previous games — but nothing quite seemed to manifest in that direction. It seems that part of the reason for this is that the game incorporates a “live service” element, with additional seasons coming in the future. Although, there seem to be no fees attached to these additional seasons, I do find this aspect a bit annoying. The previous games were tight, satisfying experiences, which gets lost in this new format.

I’m continuing with Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, and I’ve inched my way every slightly higher, but am stuck at this new point. But just knowing that I could get to this new point has be excited to continue trying the climb.

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