Crows, Aliens, and Vampires: Reads and Watches
Getting started on fall-ish media early!
Hi, I know summer is just about over and we’re in September now, but it’s still over 80F here so I will be basking in the heat as long as I can. Check out this weird book about a crow named Shit Turd and my experiences watching Aliens & Vampires below.
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
Shit Turd, ST for short, isn’t like other crows. He’s a cool crow that can speak English, train dogs, and thinks he’s a MoFo (I’ll let you guess what that’s short for, but here it also means human). One day, ST’s MoFo, Big Jim loses an eyeball and suddenly things are never the same. Meaning, humans are zombies now and animals have come to rule the world.
You know, I consume a fair amount of apocalyptic media and rarely do I think about the animals. I mean, I think about my own dog and what I might do should zombies suddenly take over, and god knows I still shed a tear for that dog in I Am Legend, but truly my thoughts are pretty low when I think about what would happen to all the animals should humankind be wiped out. This is probably because one, I would be dead therefore no thoughts needed, and two, we probably deserved it and good for the animals for sticking it out with us this long. But that’s a little about what makes this kind of a fun book! Imagining a kooky wonky world run by animals, dealing with predators and zombies.
It’s a silly time, and sometimes somber. My number one complaint about books is usually that they tend to be too long, I felt that a bit here too. I thought ST was a funny narrator, some of the humor is a little too base for me, but I can roll with it. Buxton actually befriended a couple crows, which I think allowed her execution of ST to be quite good. She’s clearly an animal lover and has a great sense of humor. I probably won’t pick up the sequel, but I had a good time with this one.
Also, Dennis. Read this book for the best little good boy basset hound you’ll ever meet. No one deserves dogs, not even other animals!!
Alien & Aliens
I finally got around to watching Alien and its sequel, the aptly named Aliens. And unlike some movies from decades past, I get the hype with this. It’s a well done film in suspense! I was not crying from being scared, but I was holding my breath for probably too long. Ripley, our lead woman, is incredible. I would like to have been at least one half as cool looking as Ripley in her high tops and uniform.
Overall, I had a good time. There was great suspense. I love Jonsey and that we got to see him make it. I love when Ripley is running through the ship yelling You Bitch at the spaceship AI voice--god how relatable. I only want more story--which I had hoped for in Aliens. There’s clearly this slight undercurrent of corporate conspiracy and I want more of that. I need more evil motivation from sinister corporate stooges.
I also don’t have much to say on Aliens because it is literally the same story but with Aliens, plural. Same thing. Not creative, but whatever, I still had a good time with it. Last complaint on Aliens, why did they mess with Ripley’s hair? Was it the time period? It was a mistake, whatever the reason!
Interview with the Vampire || Season 1
Netflix brought in a whole slew of AMC shows, and it just so happened that I had been on the cusp of getting a subscription to AMC before they did this because I wanted to see this exact show!
Ok, I will also say, I have not read the book or any of Anne Rice’s work. Just haven’t made it over there. From what I read on the reddits, this interpretation is slightly controversial, but also some people are just really racist. Anyway, I actually supremely enjoyed this. I had actually no knowledge that this would be a story about two male vampires falling in love with each other living in New Orleans and then they also make a child vampire to fix their marriage??? Like it’s so messy. I fucking love it.
Our lead, who you may recognize as Grey Worm from GoT, Louis de Pointe du Lac meets the illustrious and dangerous Lestat de Lioncourt and falls in love. Unfortunately, their love is riddled with a lot of problems and quickly disintegrates. It’s tumultuous and abusive. But I think it does an abusive relationship in such a real way (despite being vampires). As the audience we go through the emotions of well, maybe he’s not that bad, no he’s bad, oh actually, ok no this has to stop (a real portrait of my stream of consciousness). It’s good. It’s sexy. And I absolutely love Claudia! She’s my favorite character and evolves so much. I was devastated to see that she was recast for S2.
Occasionally, it’s frustrating, and sometimes a bit corny. I think at times the first episode felt a bit like watching twilight where you learn the ropes of being a vampire. Coffins will always be a bit extra in my opinion, but I get it. Still, I feel like there is a bit of an understanding of what you’re going to get when you watch a historical romance about vampires.
Right now, S1 is on Netflix, but I would watch S2 should it be added later on. Another fun, low stakes show, and perfect to start up with spooky season around the corner.
