hocus pocus 2 recaptures the magic

“i’m a witch, i know things.”

alright i’m going to start by trying to talk  about the elephant that was conjured in the middle of the room with some degree of nuance so we can move on to talking about the really terrific movie i just saw that i’m pretty fucking excited about. but yeah i expect i’m not going to be the one breaking this particular news to you, and if i am i’m sorry, but yes bette midler tweeted something kinda terfy and when our community understandably expressed hurt & frustration she issued a non-apology apology. my take on the whole thing is that we’re not so much dealing with a venomous politically savvy terf like j.k. rowling but more just like a clueless, somewhat out of touch old lady who’s doing her best, so i’m somewhat willing to give her a “forgive her, mother, for she knows not what she does” on this one. ymmv, there may be stuff i’m missing, etc etc.

universal’s halloween horror nights 31 (2022)

we made our triumphant return to halloween horror nights! honestly i’m pretty sure we’re gonna try to do this basically every year if we can.

2021 in review

personally, i had a pretty great year this year. my boyfriend moved in with my fiancx & i, i got to see my other partners... not as much as i’d like, but a non-zero amount, i got meds for my adhd which helped me get back into reading as a hobby (hence the list of favorite first reads included here), and i made even more progress with my transition!

obviously the ongoing pandemic and rapidly deteriorating political situation in my capitalist hellscape of a country was a dark specter hanging over everything, but i still have a lot to be thankful for this year, and i’m going to keep holding on to the things and people i love. i will never stop fighting for them.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

movies

1. the matrix resurrections s-rank

2. my little pony: a new generation s-rank

3. aquaman a-rank

4. muppets haunted mansion a-rank

5. halloweentown a-rank

6. no time to die a-rank

7. dune (2021) a-rank

8. candyman (2021)

this is just an incredibly good horror movie. i’m genuinely kind of at a loss for what to even say about it. it has one of the best endings of any horror movie ever. it’s so fucking cathartic. a-rank

9. godzilla vs. kong (2021) a-rank

10. ghostbusters: afterlife a-rank

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

books

1. wild magic

by tamora pierce

oh my goddess.

tamora pierce has always been one of those authors who whenever her name came up i felt a vague tugging like i was missing out on something that would be a Really, Really Big Deal to me, so to have that confirmed in such an immediate, overpowering way upon reading my first book by her is stirring feelings i don’t quite have words for.

i have always wanted more fantasy (especially magic-focused fantasy) in my library, but the few times i’ve tried to get into fantasy i’ve been recommended epics with thick plots and paper-thin characters, and like... there’s a REASON i think lord of the rings makes much better movies than it does books, y’all! so to have something THIS exactly what i’m looking for fall into my lap is really something else.

spooky movie season mini-reviews

little witch academia (2013) &
little witch academia: the enchanted parade

i kinda loved both of these but what finally clicked for me with the second one is that i hate akko as a protagonist. i love literally everyone else, including diana who i’m not supposed to like because she’s bullying the protagonist but like... she is better than her!! she’s brave, she’s constantly saving people from their own fuckups... yeah her elitism sucks, but with some guidance she can grow out of that! and she’s also the only character in this who points out what i immediately thought of the parade, which is that it’s just weird and degrading to throw a parade celebrating the organized mass torture and murder of witches???

akko, on the other hand, is completely selfish and just bulldozes over her friends’ feelings and then does literally nothing to fix it and just waits for them to come back to her which they do???? and i just want to know what i’m supposed to think about any of this.

but like... these still own!!! all the magic action sequences, especially at the parade in the second one, rule. and again i love literally all the other characters i didn’t even get around to gushing about amanda or any of her crew!! i just... hate the protagonist, and she gets rewarded for awful behavior and just... oh gosh oh no she’s just literally harry potter isn’t she.

please tell me she gets better in the series please i’m begging you. b-rank

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

halloweentown

this has been on my “i absolutely need to watch this” list for basically ever, but i kept putting it off. largely because i was terrified that i missed the boat by not seeing it as a kid, and it would be one of those nostalgic faves where you watch it too late and you’re like “yeah sorry i don’t get it.”

which would be depressing as heck because the movie is about a town where it’s HECKING ALWAYS HALLOWEEN, ARE YOU KIDDING? THAT IS THE RADDEST THING EVER!!! but of course i ended up liking it, because it’s about a town where IT’S HECKING ALWAYS HALLOWEEN, ARE YOU KIDDING? THAT IS THE RADDEST THING EVER!!!