absolute nonsense

TV Shows / Movies:

Zero Stars - Series 1 (2026) If there's one thing I love, it's to watch comedians Hang Out and Be Friends. This show is basically just Sara Pascoe and Roisin Conaty being silly in various places around the world, with the premise of checking out tourist attractions that have previously been given 1-star reviews online. The bulk of the fun is just watching them playing off one another.

Smoke (2025) Taron Egerton-led drama about an arson detective, based on a true story apparently. Very intriguing, nail-bitingly tense at times, goes completely mad in the last episode but I can't even complain (I am trying hard to be very spoiler-free in this description). That last shot of Taron's character was just. wot? I mean I get it but also. what a twist lol. Anyway immediately after I finished this show I had to autopsy a charred up body. Spooky.

The Way Out - Series 1 (2026) See above. This was the epitome of watching comedians dicking about with each other and having fun, this time in an escape room format. The cast absolutely makes this - Nish Kumar and Ed Gamble as team captains, with Amy Annette and David O'Doherty(!), Lou Sanders and Chloe Petts on their respective teams. 100% bangers, especially knowing how good friends (and in Nish and Amy's case, long-term partners) they are with each other, plus the fact that Gamble and Petts are insanely competitive and do escape rooms together for fun. Praying this gets renewed for another series.

September 5 (2024) Dramatization of the 1972 Munich Olympics where Israeli athletes were taken hostage, told from the point of view of an American sports TV crew who were broadcasting live from the event. From a journalistic and technical point of view, this was absolutely fascinating - everything from the little roles of everyone in the studio, the technology of live broadcast at the time, the total unprecedentedness of the entire thing ("Can we show someone being shot on live television?") But good lord the optics of this was. not good lol (I had to triple check that the film was actually released in 2024). Very much simplifies the underlying political conflict that led to the events in the first place, not to mention the dehumanization involved (which I guess may be the point because... that's what breaking news has done to us, hasn't it? the unrelenting news cycle reducing everything to headlines and coverage..) Anyway, an interesting watch for sure.

The Sheep Detectives (2026) I cried wayyyyyy too much at a movie about CGI sheep. Fun little family-friendly cozy crime thing with a cast list that retrospectively made me go 'what?'

Late Shift (2025) The stress of what I assume watching Uncut Gems is like, but taking place in a single late shift of a nurse on a surgical ward. Can attest that I think this very truthfully depicts a busy healthcare worker on shift; the rising tension and unrelenting anxiety building up over a course of a night while you pray that everyone just makes it through alive in time for next shift's handover. God I'm glad I don't work nights anymore (but lol and lmao if this isn't just what everyday is like on the wards now, with critical manpower shortages)

Radio Shows / Podcasts:

Comedy Club Extra: Comedy Catalysts - Series 1 & 2 (2019) Harriet Kemsley talks to various comedians about one person who inspired them in their career. I'm mainly amused that Josie Long chose David O'Doherty.

(new toy... a Xiaomi portable photo printer :0 perfect for silly little stickers for my journal asdfsadfsd)

Books:

A Particular Nasty Case - Adam Kay

A/S/L - Jeanne Thornton

All This Could Be Different - Sarah Thankam Mathews

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality - Sherronda J. Brown

Not that I needed an excuse, but pride month book picks were all queer-themed. A Particularly Nasty Case was very Adam Kay, the joke count is almost obscene but it was a light murder mystery that also picked at hospital bureaucracies and imperfect doctors.

A/S/L felt... liminal? It's about three (trans) teens who met on IRC (nostalgic! i have never used this btw. I was an ICQ/MSN/AOL generation kid) who form a game company and how their lives split and merge again across the years. It's funny to think about how every decision made as a teen feels so ambitious and life-altering, and how much the online friendships of our youths affect us personally. This book made me miss the old internet. I want to stay up late on a school night to watch shit with my friends, and I want to code stupid webpages again.

I read All This Could Be Different whilst on vacation and enjoyed the ride (despite my usual low tolerance for unlikable protagonists LOL). It's a book of contradictions - being societally aware vs needing to comply to capitalist ideals to make a living; being your best queer self vs the need for filial piety in an asian family. I liked the descriptions of food (these people sure dine out a lot) and the unapologetic use of hindi without condescending the reader.

I'll be honest, I've been reading Refusing Compulsary Sexuality for AGES and it has been slow-going because I found it a very densely academic text, not to mention depressing in many places. Related recommendation would be for Angela Chen's Ace.

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Not much to update life-wise other than work work work. I have a conference-adjacent vacation in a couple of weeks which I am looking forward to a lot (get to hang out with all my work besties in one place!)