The Gamut of Reviews that Elif Runs
Updates on this blog, reviews on what I've seen, and throwing Kuroko no Basket under the bus
The Turkish Rug welcomes you. It’s been a while since I went back to this blog - though this time, it’s not because I forgot about it. The topics just didn’t stick with me, you see, and anyway... right. We’ll get to that.
You must be wondering about the title. I swear this time it’s not my quirkiness. It’s a nod to the sports manga that was popular before Free and Haikyuu both: Kuroko no Basket. Why yes, you may know it as Kuroko’s Basketball, but it had the name The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays and this was painted across endings and official merchandise for years. By all means, that’s the name the show wants to be known as. And I don’t… look, the blue-haired ghost-looking Kuroko wasn’t even playing the goddamn basketball. The basket itself I can get behind somewhat, but plays? Please. He was never playing it, actually. He was just passing to more talented players? As the assist? That was his thing? Okay… whatever. He’s the most boring character anyway. And maybe it’s a good thing that Kuroko no Basket isn’t talked about much anymore. Because that means you can now attribute the title to me, and I get to keep the best portrayal of high camp ever made in anime to myself. Win-win! I believe the last “old” sports anime that is still relevant in internet spheres is… Free. Did you know the newest movie is called The Final Stroke? I think Kyoto Animation is genius.
Speaking of such exciting updates, here’s one about this blog:
Since writing about Dark, I originally wanted to talk about racing and how racing series can make for fascinating narratives, based on a Youtube series I enjoyed watching… until the uploader changed his schedule and lost me forever. (Mario Kart Wii. I had a Mario Kart Wii phase, in 2021. It’s called coping.) Instead, I now spend my lunchtime watching other things, and this series never went through. And anyhow, I was more focused on the narrative end on things. I work on flash fiction with friends in a workshop every week, and on the other end, I work a fanfiction that, for some reason, didn’t get canned the moment I realized it was going nowhere (the moment was two weeks into what’s now three months of working on it). So this blog fell to the wayside, and I only have myself to blame.
At least, I can report on the fact that I submitted two to actual short story journals! I’m a writer now! The ones I don’t intend on submitting, I actually do want to share here - with artwork, that is. So it will take me a while until these are done and then some more until the works are publishable, but overall I think it would make for a good variety of this blog. Just like a real Turkish rug, housed in a variety of places, with a variety of stories. I have things I want to write about!
Below the sprites of Ghost Trick’s Sissel, you’ll find quick reviews on things I’ve recently read and seen. Not listened to, for now - though I would love to talk about Madonna’s Ray Of Light on this blog soon. And when it comes to writing, hopefully I’ll find a spot where I can do that as well. It’s all about the timing and the motivation.
The following list is ordered by a rough date of completion in descending order.
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K Jemisin
Good god. Stop what you’re doing and go read all three books right now. Just Fifth Season is enough, too, if you’re not in the mood for three books. But please, please do read them. I don’t even want to tell you the details of this amazing trilogy. Just go read it. It’s absolutely perfect.
She-Ra And the Princesses of Power: Season 1
This series follows soldier Adora as she realizes she’s actually fabled hero She-Ra who must save Etheria from falling into disarray by the Horde she’s grown up in with her childhood friend-now-turned-enemy Catra. So we watch her tap into her powers, find friends… you know the deal. I think it’s fine. It isn’t inventing anything new, but then again, I don’t think it needs to. I think Entrapta is the cutest, most adorable, most lovable side character I’ve seen in a while. She can move her hair like it’s a third pair of limbs, which makes her even more perfect to me. I also think the Adora-Catra relationship is electrifying and beautifully written thus far. I don’t think either element is currently enough to get me to be excited at the prospect for more seasons, but I will watch them anyway, because it’s fun to watch that at lunch, and books made me a completionist.
As a side note: the Turkish dub was very confused on the gender of Shadow Weaver, and therefore used a male voice actor for her in some episodes, and a female voice actor in others. It was funny! I laughed! We can confidently put this into the “accidentally non-binary” pile, which so far only features this. I’m hopeful it will feature more soon.
Mank (2020, dir. David Fincher)
I’ve been waiting for a new Fincher for months… five years back, that is, when I first got into films. I can’t overstate how much Fincher’s vision means to me, both creatively and personally: the surgical precision he has as a director, the meticulous craft of his work that, no matter who writes the screenplays, make all of his films uniquely his, is invaluable. The Social Network is still my favorite film, goddammit. Several of Fight Club’s scenes are ingrained in my mind, too, and if there’s a way to yank that film out of dudebros’ hands I will do that immediately. So this new Fincher here — Mank — follows the titular screenwriter Herman “Mank” Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he reflects on his life in 1930s Hollywood and writes the first draft to Citizen Kane. The way flashback and present alternate doesn’t alienate from the overall experience at all; in fact, it makes the most sense for Mank’s character arc, as we witness his glorious beginnings which lead to more devastating ends, both personally and professionally.
But what I was more excited about was what it had to say about films — not just nostalgia for past cinema like Martin Scorsese’s 2011 effort Hugo, but also a good amount of criticism in Hollywood’s corporate ways, as well as its correlation to politics. It’s hard not to see it as a meta-Fincher film, in this sense, as we’ve seen Fincher being blocked by executives from the very start of his career or as projects just didn’t take off since Gone Girl. Despite this, Amanda Seyfried’s fantastic portrayal of actress Marion Davies, and an absolutely stunning cinematography… I wasn’t blown away by Mank on first view. It’s a good film, I would consider it above average, but where past Fincher efforts run, this one, I thought, trotted along pacing-wise. It’s not in my top three Fincher films, but then again, The Social Network, Fight Club, and Gone Girl is a very, very high bar to crack. It looks like Fincher’s behind several projects these days, so I’m very excited to see more of Hollywood’s best perfectionist.
Super Mario 64 DS
I grew up with the Nintendo 64 variant of this game. This port had horrible controls. I also don’t know what the point of all these new characters were, as they added so little to the whole experience, or why I can only 100% complete the game if I chase enough silver bunnies (seriously?). Predictably, once he was available, I only ever played Luigi. I will say though, that some of these worlds did not hold up at all, while Wet-Dry World is still the best world of the Mario series I’ve come across thus far. An underwater world containing a barren, flooded, underworld city? It still gives me chills.
The Boyz’ “Be Your Own King” (dir. filmbyteam/Roh Sangyoon)
This year’s brand film of my favorite boyband The Boyz features what I believe is a sample of Sheck Wes’ vocals in Travis Scott’s 2018 song NO BYSTANDERS, though this simple, bare-bones trap beat behind gives me little incentive to even remotely bang my head — it’s barely okay as background music while the eleven members pose or dance in various costumes and backgrounds, being their own “king”, not by anyone else’s standards. Compared to last year’s Generation Z, this has a stronger feel of an advertisement: tellingly, there’s no voiceover talking about mental fortitude or weaknesses, and the Nike logo flashes quite prominently during Q’s “Make your own stage” section to the point where fans just went ahead and superimposed Just Do It. But it is stronger in visual presentation and budget than the Gen Z film, and I believe Haknyeon (“make your own romance”), Younghoon (“classic”), New (“stereotype”), and Juyeon (“character”) had the best sections. All the same, when you have sections reference Ghost in the Shell and the member acting it says his concept is “being underwater”, I wonder if the brand really works. After all, can you be your own king when you don’t even know what you’re doing?
Super Mario Galaxy
This Wii entry to Super Mario is extremely imaginative, sometimes frustrating, and very annoying when it comes to its camera movements. But I had a lot of fun throughout regardless. For a 100% completion, I would have to play every single star (except one) again — this time as Luigi. And as much as I love playing Luigi, I am not a person who would willingly play a game twice to complete a game. My pandemic coping strategies are still working for now, i.e, I’m not in the mood to complete it for now.
Castlevania: Seasons 1-3
Coming from a time when Christian faith seemed to play an important — and often positive — point for characters in movies, it’s a surprise to me to see a show criticize organized religion and Christianity in particular so blatantly. That, coupled with its copious amounts of gruesome moments (ooh! gore!), makes Castlevania very fascinating to me, but man this show has such a strong stop-and-go feel to it. Season 3 is pretty much a new build-up after two seasons that pretty much told their own complete story, which was already a play-by-play take on the three-act structure to begin with. Coming out of this the strongest is the character Isaac, who had a very satisfying arc - whereas for Alucard, season 3 practically meant more torture to a character who was already brooding and tortured from the start of the whole show. I am also, predictably, in love with gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss Lenore, another high point of season 3. Season 4 airs soon, and if I know anything on the three-act structure done right, I know it’ll be decent. I just pray (ha) Warren Ellis won’t ruin Isaac’s character arc…
That’s it for this roundup! Here’s hoping the next post comes sooner rather than later, but regardless, I hope this Ramadan and Taurus season treats you well and in good health. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to cover in the future! Have another The Boyz performance before you leave, because they’re good and this performance is fun.