Hello, hello. I didn’t want to fall behind on this Weekly Wrap Up series because the idea of going through all 52 posts at the end of the year sounds so therapeutic. I have a bad memory and this series is mostly for me to establish a routine to sit down on a weekly basis and reflect on the days before.
Week 3 was pretty fun and it ended on a high note as well. My highlight for Week 3 was participating in a readathon and really relaxing in the weekend with a lot of good books and a lot of unfortunately trashy movies lol. It’s been the most successful reading weekend I’ve had in a long time. This weekend was the opposite of the weekend before lol. It’s currently Sunday night and I have yet to finish a book but I’m okay with that because I watched a good movie and started another one I know I’m going to love.
Things That I’m Grateful For:
- Movies that are fun enough to somewhat curb the anxiety
- My soft blankets that are fluffy and heavy enough to feel like a hug. They’ve been my friend during a couple of anxious days.
- Hanging out with old friends who gift you colorful handmade paintings that make your heart happy
- Candles that smell like laundry in the most comforting way that only dryer sheets and lint can get you feeling
- Being able to afford therapy for my sprained knee
What I’ve Watched
Air Force One
I’m a sucker for action movies and I’m also a huge fan of Harrison Ford so I put those two likes together and found myself this movie. Besides Harrison Ford, the cast list of this movie was quite glitsy. I mean a movie with Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman? Count me in lol. This movie follows the hijacking of Air Force One in attempts to kidnap the President, Harrison Ford, and his family. The entire movie was about Harrison Ford trying to take back control of the plane and rescue his family from the bad guys. My main gripe with this movie is a gripe that no action movie lover should ever have and that is that Harrison Ford should have died way earlier on in the movie. I don’t want to be the person who talks about how unrealistic an action movie is but the bad guys were just so bad at being bad guys lol. If someone took over a house and are holding people hostage on the top floor and you send your henchmen to mind the rest of the house, you’re not going to actively ignore the basement and act surprised every time someone happens to wander into the basement and not come back up.
London Has Fallen
I felt bad about complaining about “Air Force One” after watching this movie. The first movie in this series was actually enjoyable. This one though was um…interesting to say the least. First of all, this movie had that nasty highly saturated filter over the entire movie that made it really hard to see the screen. That lady’s white teeth and blonde hair should not have been as reflective as they were. Besides that, my problem with this movie is that it had potential. The opening was shocking and gripping to say the least but it was also the peak of the movie. Everything else that followed was far less of a movie than a video game. There were characters who served zero purpose to the “story” if you can even call it that. I love Gerard Butler and his character was smart about certain things but also so incredibly stupid about other things. Morgan Freeman is the real president of this movie, even when the President isn’t potentially getting murdered. Basically, a movie that started off with a literal bang and ended like a fizzled out whoopee cushion.
The Martian
This movie was a rewatch for me. I didn’t intend to watch the whole thing through but there’s just something so gripping about Mark Watney lol. You can’t just watch five minutes of him trying to science the shit out of his situation, you have to sit down and watch all two hours of it in one go. There’s just something therapeutic and healing about watching a guy being stranded on a whole planet by himself, trying to stay alive. It’s the perfect movie to watch when you’re feeling down in the dumps because if a man can grow potatoes out of his and his friend’s shit, then you can send that email you’ve been dreading to send the past week.
Glass Onion
This is definitely a new favorite movie of mine and I have a feeling it’s going to join my comfort movie list alongside “The Martian”. This movie definitely doesn’t have the same level of science or levity that “The Martian” did but I loved it nonetheless. It’s got an amazing cast of characters, a good twist, a charming lead detective, and a setting that’s escapist in all the ways. Personally, I do like this one more than “Knives Out”.
What I’ve Read
A Psalm for The Wild-Built
This is the most wholesome book ever that talks about humans always wanting more and not finding happiness and contentment with what they already have. I think it’s the perfect book to pick up when you’re feeling burnt out because then, you can follow alongside the main character of this book, the Tea Monk, as they also discover how to handle these feelings with the help of their somewhat unwanted companion, a robot named Moss cap.
Once There Were Wolves
On the theme of humanity and wilderness, I picked up this book as well and was not disappointed. It’s eerie, gripping, and full of that windy writing that I can’t seem to shake my love of. I read the author’s debut book, “Migrations” January last year and fell in love with her writing and themes. Until this author’s works, I never really read fiction that’s centered around the wilderness or environment and explored how devastating and beautiful we are to the world in a literary manner.
A Court of Mist and Fury
This is the second book of “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series and it’s my favorite so far. I absolutely love the character’s growth in this book and the exploration of new faerie courts. It was weirdly both comforting to read just as much as it was devastating to read. The world building and friendship group made it heart warming but the stellar writing on the affects of trauma and abusive relationships was heartbreaking.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries
goodreads link
I started this book this weekend but have just gotten over a third of the way in. This book follows our main character Emily as she wanders into a very cold and isolated environment to study a specific type of Faerie for the encyclopedia she’s trying to write. The writing is very descriptive and innovative in the way that it’s not necessarily a direct narration of the main character’s journey but diary entries. I’m taking my time with this book and really letting myself soak up all the cozy goodness from this book.