We've gone through hell and back. 2020 was a historical year for such a high volume of reasons, none of which I will get into here. The important part is; I consumed an absolute truckload of media with the amount of free time I had, and it's time once again to talk about it.
This is gonna be a very long post, so without further ado, let's get into it. But to set your expectations, I will forgo talking about the music I listened to in 2020, as it wasn't that much and I don't have anything significant to say about it.
MOVIES AND TELEVISION
For television, the two notable things I watched in 2020 were Adventure Time, and Breaking Bad.
Adventure Time is a cartoon that came out around my fifth grade year, and I instantly loved it. The adventures of Finn the human boy and Jake, his super stretchy dog, captivated me, made me laugh, and even brought the ever so elusive raw emotion out of me, even back when I was eleven.
I bought up to season 5 when I was in high school, and watched it all as soon as it came in the mail. However, I had never gotten my hands on any content that came later. That was, until my friend loaned me his Hulu.
Holy. Moly.
Adventure Time really ramped up in its last seasons, with the great miniseries Stakes and Islands. I think I liked Islands a little more, but Stakes was great development for Marceline with fun villains and jokes (what comes to mind for me is the Jake as a house joke). I have to admit, the ending of the series made me tear up a little.
And next of course is... well, Breaking Bad. And nothing else needs to be said about that.
The notable movies I watched this year were the Lord of the Rings extended editions, the first two Evil Dead movies, the new Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, and Lawrence of Arabia. Beyond that, I saw 1917, which ended up being one of my new favorite films.
MANGA
The sheer volume of manga I read this year has finally convinced me to make a distinction between Japanese Manga/Korean and/or Chinese Manhwa (even Manfra or OEL Manga) and Western comics and graphic novels (in how I document my media). I honestly do not read that many western comics. Not that I won't, but I find manga far more enchanting.
For continuing titles, we have... a lot. Demon Slayer, Berserk, Magus of the Library, Saint Young Men, Fire Force, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Witch Hat Atelier, Golden Kamuy, Dr. Stone, Vinland Saga, Rent-A-Girlfriend, Heaven's Design Team... must I go on?
Oh? Okay. I will.
Blue Exorcist, The Promised Neverland, Tokyo Ghoul, Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen -- and then the self-contained titles, like Inio Asano's Downfall, Junji Ito's Gyo, Tomie, Venus in the Blind Spot, and Remina, just to name a few.
Right off the bat, I want to start with the negative, and that's Tokyo Ghoul: Re. I managed to get my hands on the final volume, and finally finished the series. I have never been so disappointed by something in my life (kidding). Whereas the first series is a decent -- if flawed -- little action/horror with some more dramatic, personal elements, Tokyo Ghoul: Re fails at literally everything it tries to do. Senseless plot twists, character backstory only for them to die instantly afterward, nonsensical plot direction, ham-fisted end-of-story moral that did not have the proper setup, forgotten plot points, abandoned plot threads, all of it was just a complete mess.
And I hate to be the contrarian, but I must say, while Demon Slayer started strong I really think it's failed to live up to its own potential as of volume 19. It got stuck in a story loop of - demon attacks - characters get horrifically injured fighting it off - demon gets backstory - main character dies - main characters don't suffer lasting consequences for their absurd injuries - rinse repeat rinse repeat rinse repeat. Not to mention; a very important plot point, which it seems like most of the story was leading up to, suddenly just... got concluded. Out of the blue. And it's used to kick off the climax of the story? What?
Don't even get me started on My Hero Academia, either. I read 22 volumes of that series and all I can come away with is the knowledge that I truly wasted my time.
On the positive side though, Blue Exorcist has gotten to a point where I think it's earned a lot of my respect. When I started the series in high school (holy moly... SEVEN years ago...) I thought it had a generic premise, and didn't do much to shake things up. However, as of volume 25 (yesIknowthatcameoutthisyearshhhh) I have to say, the story has fallen into place. I look forward to every new volume, I'm invested in the characters, and I'm not afraid to say I think it's developed great storytelling.
Another series that blew me away was Chainsaw Man. The sheer nihilism -- meaningful emptiness, with a stark, existential tone -- really made it a solid contender for one of the better manga I read in 2020. I started with Viz's physical volumes, but I couldn't stand the wait, and switched to online reading. (I still love it enough to keep getting the volumes though). Tatsuki Fujimoto has a style that no one can really replicate. The art is always so rough, but complimentary to the dark, scathing ideas woven into the story; ideas like the meaninglessness of personal goals, the uncaring, brutal nature of our civilization, and what it means to know the good movies from the bad. And why, after all, we need both. (Manga readers will catch my drift).
Downfall by Inio Asano was a harrowing exploration of the brutality of a manga artist's life, but I also found it a bit pretentious. I've read a few of Asano's works since and I really think he gets caught up in the wind of his own sails, lost in a cycle of sadness that I honestly just can't relate to. I will read Oyasumi Pun Pun at some point, or at least make the attempt. But so far, I am unimpressed.
The Junji Ito works I read were Venus in the Blind Spot, Cat Diary, Hellstar Remina, Uzumaki, and Gyo. The most notable of them all I would have to say are Remina and Cat Diary. Uzumaki is a great read, don't get me wrong, but why is it so lauded when Remina has such a more effective premise? And in a lot less time, too!
There are numerous other things I read. I dropped Heaven's Design Team and Jujutsu Kaisen, as they weren't bad, but none of them appealed to me enough to keep my interest. I'll be continuing Fire Force (for the Soul Eater references), Golden Kamuy (for all the cikapasi, man!), Witch Hat Atelier (for the fantastic whimsy), and of course the titles I mentioned liking. This leads me to the final two titles I want to talk about:
Finally we have Magus of the Library, a manga that seems like it was practically made for me. Unfortunately there isn't a huge amount to say about it since there's only four volumes, but rest assured it's a fantastic new series that I'd recommend to anyone.
But what was my favorite title all year?
What do you think?
~... you hear a rumbling sound...~
If you don't fight, you can't win.
~... like many thousands of enormous feet, stomping on the ground...~
I keep moving forward.
~...coming straight for you...~
Until all my enemies are destroyed.
~...upon the wings of a bird, cast in mid-flight...~
Because I was born into this world.
~...fly free of this cage...~
BOOKS (Poetry, Novels, Non-Fiction)
I think I read more novels this year than any year in my life! They usually take me a while, which is why I didn't manage many other kinds of media, but that's okay -- because a lot of them are honestly new favorites. Whereas 2019 left me mostly underwhelmed in the way of literature, 2020 helped me discover a lot of new stories that I'll remember for years to come.
Unfortunately, I found Conference of the Birds disappointing. The Miss Peregrine series really grew on me -- I read the first one after seeing the movie, and liked it enough to continue -- book two was even better -- and by book three I'd fallen in love with the cast. Book four was honestly really good too, and I ate it up quickly despite its length. But the plot developments in book five were really... questionable? Almost as if too many plot threads were spun off the string for a second-to-last book. The protagonist's relationship with the primary female lead is a really underwhelming, unnecessary development (for reasons I can't really get into without spoiling). But I suppose we'll see where it goes from there.
I read a few other books before I want to talk about the great reads (and there are a lot). Warlock Homes and the Hellhound of the Baskervilles, by G.S. Denning, The Body, by Stephen King, From Here to Eternity, by Caitlin Doughty, Earthlings, by Sayaka Murata, The Shadow of Kyoshi, an Avatar: The Last Airbender spinoff prequel by F.C. Yee, The Hungry Cities Quartet (Mortal Engines, Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices, and A Darkling Plain) by Philip Reeve, and yes... I read Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes. I couldn't help it. With a growing FNAF section in the book store, and with strong memories of the games as they came out, I HAD to check it out, just to see what was inside. Well, now I know; and I don't need a single page further... ha ha.
These are all mostly decent reads, but the real juicy stuff -- the stuff that left an impact on me -- are as follows:
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, by Caitlin Doughty, was an eye-opening, harrowing memoir by one of my favorite YouTubers, Ask a Mortician. Death is a really uncomfortable topic in the western world, but this woman has embraced the cultural importance of death and death practices in her career, and wrote a really amazing little book about her journey in becoming a mortician and working at a crematorium. It's honestly one of my favorite books now, and I want to recommend it to everyone; she has a lot of important wisdom about death that I think many western people -- especially young people -- should really get their hands on and think about.
The Golem and the Jinni, by Hellene Wecker, is now also one of my favorite fantasy novels. It follows a newborn golem (clay being of Jewish myth) crafted to be a sickly man's wife -- and a reawakened Jinni (to say, an elemental demon from Arabic myth), both of which find themselves in 1890's New York City woven into the lives of others while discovering their own. Their story has surprising amount of plot threads and side characters, but I thought their journey into human-hood, and the scope of them as characters and how they interact, had some powerful depth. I honest to god loved every page of this book.
Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo, needs no introduction; it's one of the most popular YA Fantasy/Adventures this side of the bookstore shelf, and you know what? It's well deserved. It and its sequel, Crooked Kingdom, were fantastic reads in a setting I adored (and is scarily like my own!), with a cast I loved and will never forget, topped off with a fun, twisting plot. She somehow handled three YA romance subplots with enough tact and restraint to where I was begging for each of the characters to get together. Also, the blend of early 20th century war, fantasy counterpart cultures embroiled in political intrigue, and strong level of magic not only recalled to me my own novels and fictional world, but the worlds and stories that have affected me enough to where I've taken influence from them. I'm trying to push through her Grishaverse Trilogy as we speak (which for obvious reasons, I like a lot less) so I can get to more of Nina's story in King of Scars. This duology, however, deserve high praise.
I tried to read J.R.R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring once when I was in college, and it wasn't doing it for me. I don't think this is the story's fault. It's densely written, and very reliant on expository scenes, and that mixed with some brain-numbing school-year stress just made it a little too thick for me at the time. However I've since finished both it and The Two Towers, to which I think they are exemplary fantasy and it makes sense they're essentially the common ancestor of fantasy today.
But you may be thinking. Austin... what was the best book of the year?
Well, here's a picture.
Dune was, hands down, not only the best book I've read all year, but one of the best books I've read in my life so far. It is in no shortage of top ten lists, nor is it something that needs to be written about any further, as everyone and their mother knows about the book and its movie adaptation later this year. The narrative is filled with unique ideas drawn from history, religion, ecology and other forms of science, tied together and interwoven and jigsaw-puzzled all into a beautiful poetic epic that sets up an effective and powerful Greek tragedy. In space. With drugs and sandworms.
In 2020 I also read Dune Messiah, the sequel, and Children of Dune, the third book in the series. Frank Herbert says those three are essentially a complete trilogy with God Emperor of Dune as a bridge-book between it and the second trilogy, which he never finished. While Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were both not as good as Dune, I do commend the direction of the story and admire the idea of taking the protagonist and using him to show the problem with saviors, leaders, and power in general. Not because it corrupts, but as Herbert puts it, because it "attracts the corruptible." The story after Dune could have been handled a bit better in places, but I liked it all the way through and look forward to God Emperor when I'm done with my absolutely bonkers stash of manga for 2021.
So much praise! But was there a worst book of the year?
Yes. Yes there was.
I'm really punching up here, so I don't feel regret in saying that the fourth Dark Tower novel, Wizard and Glass, is a horrific shitshow. Over 800 pages of a nothing, nonsense, infuriating mess of a plot, with developments I couldn't give less of a shit about and awful awful awful characters. It took me three years off and on to finish this offensively bad volume in the series, and it has soured any interest I had in returning. There is no reason for Roland's backstory to be so long-winded, and even if there was, what we got is a spit in the face for readers expecting something a bit more interesting or nuanced.
I supposed it's bad manners or attempting to foster bad luck as an unpublished author such as myself in talking such mean shit about an existing story, but this man has made more money than I'll ever make in my life and I make no attempt to hide that I love many of his other works.
And I--
I --
...
...
Through dust...
~...~...~...~
...and snow...
...
I read many other books this year for research on my novel series. I wonder. One day when I'm published, will this blog exist? Will fans go searching back through the things I posted here? I suppose, in a hypothetical world where this happens, they'll be able to see some of my inspirations and the kind of stuff I was reading back when I wrote the books. I don't know what the future holds... but for now I can at least share some of the sources of research I've been drawing on for my fantasy novels, by sharing some titles I read for the project. These contain but are not limited to;
Nicomachean Ethics and On Man in the Universe by Artistotle, Artistotle's Way by Edith Hall, On Inequality by Harry Frankfurt, On Tyranny, How Fascism Works, Understanding War, Traveler's Guide to Ancient Egypt, and many many more that will appear in the image below.
I bring up this hypothetical (two paragraphs above) in attempt to make clear some of my intentions in my story before it's revealed to the public. I think a lot of stories are surrounded by speculation for a while about influences/themes and such when the author is quiet about what they are, and I don't know how open I'm gonna be at the time of publishing or if I will be at all, so I suppose to nosy fan can come down in here and see some of the things I wanted to imbue in my multi-book saga that may not be obvious at first. In the future I may have a more professional collection of these topics, but my hope is that if in some case I don't, this little hidden-away thing here will serve as a jumping off point for a reader that wants to know more in hoping to track down some of the story's ideas from where they appear in the real world. As such, here they are. Including, but not limited to;
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- Greek Philosophy (namely the writings/teachings of Plato, Diogenes, Aristotle, and Anaximander)
- Economic Strife/Equality and Inequality
- Fascism, Tyranny, Nationalism, and their implications of prejudice
- Faith, Religion, and the consequence/criticism of such ideas and how they apply to society
- Greek Mythology/Egyptian Mythology/Norse Mythology/Japanese Mythology/Chinese Mythology (and other assorted mythological influences like Hindu, Filipino, German, Irish, etc.)
- Urban Legends and Grimm's Fairy Tales
- War and its affect on the world, "justified" wars (or, in much more frequent cases, unjust wars), and military command, with much influence from WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and the War on Terror
- Early 20th century technology, social movements, wars, and their application to the Steampunk subgenre
- The Fantasy genre and its roots in mythology and pulp fiction
- Eastern Philosophies, namely Buddhist beliefs and Dialectical Monism
- The Gaia Hypothesis
- The Tarot, mainly the Major Arcana
- The Bible, especially the books of Exodus and Genesis
- Ancient Conspiracies, involving many that have to do with Egypt, Spiritualism, and Occultism
- The Arthurian Legend
- The sun and the moon (with myths, legends, and sciences involving them)
- Classic Dystopian Science Fiction (Fahrenheit 451/Brave New World/1984)
There's also a minor focus on pollution, as well as many themes of finding a place to belong, a reason to live, and many many others that I don't actually have time to get into. Maybe putting this right in the post is foolish or uncalled for, but fuck you, my blog my rules.
---
...
~~~...~~~...~~~
Under the sun...
~~~...~~~...~~~
...and moon...
...
...
Huh?
Whose memories are these?
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END COUNT:
• Books: 43
• Magazines: 2
• Graphic Novels: 177
• Movies: 36
• Albums: 4
•
Anime: 13
• Television: 14
TOTAL: 289
BEST BOOK: Dune
BEST MOVIE: 1917
BEST MANGA: Attack on Titan
BEST SHOW: Breaking Bad
I hope you all had as fun of a time reading this as I did writing it, and by that I mean your experience was actually enjoyable because writing this when I'm up to my neck in other projects was torture.
Until next time.
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