Below are posts associated with the “❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤” rating.
📚 bookblog: Reminding Myself That Despite What that Sign on the Highway Says, Hell Isn't Real (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I’m still struggling a bit more with these story arcs than I did with earlier ones, but I can’t put my finger on why, and I don’t think it’s because they’re any less good.
It is also very interesting to be reading these books at a time where I’m digitizing journals from my college years, worrying a lot about grades and relationships.
📚 bookblog: My Peer Group's Smoochy Chart is Basically Now an Ouroboros (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Still good, but I’m still ready to wrap up this reread and turn my attention to some other things.
📚 bookblog: Her Hugs Are Traps (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
This review is slightly more negative, and I don’t know if that’s because I’m ready to move on to something else to read, because I don’t like all of the subplots in this part of the story, or something else. It’s still good, though!
🎙️ radioblog: In Memory Alone (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
This last story in the series wasn’t quite as good as the others, but I’m just happy that they made interesting use of the Silents.
📺 tvblog: The Night Manager Season 1 (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Took me a while to watch this. It’s not bad, and I liked it more than my spouse did, but I really want to read the source material now to see how it holds up.
📚 bookblog: La boutique des émotions (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Ce n’est pas souvent qu’on tombe sur un livre en français en visitant la bibliothèque ici au Kentucky, et j’ai donc du emprunter celui-ci. On l’a lu ensemble en famille. C’est une jolie idée avec du joli art.
📺 tvblog: Un village français Saison 3 (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Cette série continue à m’engager—et à me faire réfléchir. Il faut quand-même que je me rappelle que c’est un drame et non un documentaire, car j’ai tendance à trouver les détails historiques plus intéressants que les conflits interpersonnels.
📚 bookblog: How to Fall Forever (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this series, but I like it so far! Interesting playing with hubris, imaginative story and art, and compelling characters (even if I have trouble remembering who’s who, but that’s my fault).
My one annoyance is that there are a lot of two-page splashes that do not work well for reading PDFs on my phone. I get that that’s on me, but it’s still a pain.
📚 bookblog: More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Cory Doctorow’s end of year recap of books he reviewed always puts a few titles on my list, and this was one of them. The history of energy is not inherently the most interesting topic ever, but once I got past the fact that I was reading in translation (which only bugs me with French, since I can read that pretty well) and trying to figure out how the translation was done (worried about AI, to be honest), I really enjoyed this book.
📺 tvblog: The Muppet Show (2026 special) (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I didn’t grow up watching The Muppet Show, so I can’t say how it compares to the original, but it was a fun way to spend a “freak ice storm, school is cancelled” afternoon with kiddo. In fact, kiddo wants to start watching the original stuff, so maybe we’ll be comparing with the original after all!
🎙️ radioblog: The Top of the Tree (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
This story was more interesting, with some additional voice acting to make it feel more like a play than an audiobook. It was also bonkers science fiction in a very Doctor Who way that worked for me.
📚 bookblog: The Martian (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
For about the first half of this book, I was convinced that it was better than the movie and that I had gravely sinned by not rereading it in the past decade.
I am glad that I reread it, but after finishing it, I’m a bit more reserved in my judgment. I can see the seams in the book, there are some comments that feel stuck in the early 2010s, and the scenes that the movie skipped aren’t as interesting as the beginning and end of the book.
🎙️ radioblog: The Carrionite Curse (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I shouldn’t like this! It took a trip to YouTube to remember who the Carrionites even were, and there are so many Doctor-Who-dumb, audio-play-dumb, and just generally dumb elements to this play. Yet, it somehow came together into something that I enjoyed listening to during a stressful week.
🎙️ radioblog: Empire of the Racnoss (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
The Racnoss struck me as dumb in their first appearance, and this play hasn’t done much to disabuse me of that impression. That said, this played enough with interesting Doctor Who themes of peace and conflict that it won me over anyway.
📚 bookblog: Tooth and Claw (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Interesting art, and some interesting ideas (like a foulmouthed human being transported to a land of animal wizards). I think there’s something here, even if I’m not totally hooked.
📚 bookblog: La nouvelle sorcière (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Ce tome n’est pas moins mignon que les précédents, et il y a des cases qui nous ont bien fait rire ! Pourtant, alors que les trois premiers tomes ont été une seule trilogie bien conçue, ce tome ressemble plutôt aux suites qui arrivent après un succès médiatique, qui sont peut-être bons mais qui n’ont pas forcément la même qualité ou plan organisateur.
📚 bookblog: Autonomous (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
The beginning of this book felt like a bit of a slog, which felt tragic because I knew the book had all the elements I like in sci-fi! It eventually won me over, though, and I’m glad I stuck with it.
📚 bookblog: Superman: Red Son (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I’ve read this too many times in the past two decades for it to feel as innovative and interesting as it once did, but it remains good!
📺 tvblog: Un village français Saison 2 (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
On commence à voir pourquoi Andor s’est inspiré de cette série ! Au bout de douze épisodes, je commence à mieux connaître les personnages et à choisir des préférés parmi eux. En avant !
📚 bookblog: France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
As soon as I saw this in a bookstore, I knew I’d need to read it, and I was happy to find an audiobook through hoopla (even if ew, hoopla). The details of the trial itself weren’t always easy to follow, but it was fascinating to learn more about a historical figure I was only loosely familiar with—and the final part of the book tracing Pétain’s continued significance was especially interesting.
🎙️ radioblog: Theatre of War (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Sylvester McCoy is delightful, and I’m glad I got to experience a story with his Doctor and Sophie Aldred’s Ace. It’s goofy in the way that most expanded universe material is, but there’s enough there to be interesting, and I enjoyed the listen.
📺 tvblog: Un village français Saison 1 (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Ça fait des années que j’ai envie de regarder cette série, et apprendre qu’elle a inspiré Andor ne fait que renforcer cette intention.
Je la trouve intéressante, et j’en apprends beaucoup. En fait, je dois avouer que c’est grâce à un livre que j’écoute au sujet du Maréchal Pétain que j’ai enfin décider de commencer la série. Je risque de ne pas finir le livre, mais pour la série, je crois que je vais continuer jusqu’à la fin.
📚 bookblog: Where the Axe is Buried (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Lots to love in this book, and I am tempted to give it full marks. It’s just clunky enough in its plot to dock it a few points, but the ideas in the book are powerful, and its message of hope is great. It also rewards the reader for knowing a bit about geopolitics, which I’m a sucker for.
📺 tvblog: Au service de la France Saison 2 (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
Je me souvenais de ne pas aimer cette saison aussi bien que la première. Si ça reste vrai (je n’aime pas trop ce qu’on fait avec André, ce qui me semble trop compliqué), il y a des moments marrants qui ont lieu dans cette saison, et je suis triste de savoir que même la plus compliquée des histoires ne trouveront pas de résolution dans une troisième saison.
🎙️ radioblog: How to Make a Killing in Time Travel (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
There was some passing around of the idiot ball in this story, and it felt surprisingly dark for a Doctor Who story, but I appreciated the layers of disaster piling up, and the villain was compelling in a pathetic way (in multiple senses of the word). I don’t know the Eighth Doctor well, so it’s interesting to get to know him here.