April 19, 2025

Week 1 | 04.19.25

» On watching my first ever Batman movie:

• My friends love to clown me for apparently knowing nothing about Bruce Wayne (which, why must a girl know about Bruce Wayne) but this week I took my first step towards remedying this and watched The Batman (2022) staring Robert Pattinson. Was this the best Batman movie to start with? Probably not. Do I usually make good and well considered movie watching choices? No. Do I wish I had started with the Nolan movies? … Yes.

• I have developed a recent fondness for Robert Pattinson after watching Mickey 17 (in which he was amazing) and I had hoped maybe this would transfer over into a fondness for The Batman. I cannot say that it did.

• Things I learned from watching The Batman (2022) dir. Matt Reeves:

  • Bruce Wayne probably spends a lot of money at Hot Topic.

  • He has good detective skills! I love a detective, so this was exciting for me.

  • El*n WISHES his cars were even one millionth as cool as the Batmobile.

  • The supporting cast was STACKED and was quite good. Paul Dano was probably the highlight performance for me.

• Questions I still have:

  • Does Bruce Wayne have a personality?

  • Does he know what shampoo is?

  • When does he start adopting kids or whatever?

  • Can the sun please come out in Gotham for like one freaking second so I can see something in this movie?

  • Do we think Carmine Falcone is also called “Carmy” as a nickname? Do we think “The Bear” could succeed as a restaurant in Gotham? (I think so, actually.)

» My recent struggles with Fantasy:

• Last year I experienced the once in a lifetime joy of reading Robin Hobb’s 17 book “Realm of the Elderlings” series, an epic fantasy spanning the full life of our main character Fitz. It encompass his struggles, joys, friendships, loves, losses and uses cyclical narratives in the most beautiful and soul crushing way. GRRM who??? I only know Robin Hobb. Unfortunately, I fear it’s now ruined my ability to read any other Fantasy books. I know nothing will live up to this series for me, and yet I keep going into new books hoping for even a sliver of the feeling I was gifted by Ms. Robin Hobb. Despite it historically being one of my favorite genres, I think I have to step away from Fantasy for a while until I can lower my own expectations.

• Books I’ve DNF-ed since reading Realm of the Elderlings:

  • Blood over Bright Haven by ML Wang

  • Paladin’s Grace by T Kingfisher

  • The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless

  • The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

  • A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske

• My apologies to at least some of these authors. Take it up with Robin Hobb. (But also some of these books actually were just kind of bad.)

» Tiktoks keeping me going on the walking pad:

• Sensory fruits set to 2000’s club music

• Any remix featuring either Judas by Lady Gaga or the new Lorde song clip

• Unexpected edit combos - ie. Despicable Me x Charli XCX. Pride & Prejudice 2005 x Challengers OST.

• Families learning Mamma Mia choreography

» Brief Q & A:

Q: Will this actually be weekly?

A: That’s the dream! Whether or not it becomes the reality is still to be determined.

Q: Can I share this with people who are not chronically online/in fandom?

A: Yes. In fact, please do.

Q: Why are you doing this?

A: Multiple people lately have asked me about my dream job, and it really would be just to yap about media I’m consuming. Also someone on line was like, “the job market is so bad, I’m pursuing my dreams,” so why not! Also this gives me the happy delusion that people might want to consume my thoughts the way I consume my favorite podcasts and newsletters.

» A Question to Ponder this week:

• What little spring drink should we all be drinking right now? (Please leave a comment!) Subscribe

Until next week,

<3 Brenna