YA Book Club: Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal

May 22, 2021 Mary & Emily

Hello and welcome to Bellows, Pennsylvania.

Mary: Welcome and helloooooo! This time on YA Book Club we’re talking about Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal. The novel follows Priya, a young med school student who has to take a break from school after contracting Lyme disease. While staying with her parents, Priya makes several friends online via Tumblr, and they form a support group for people with chronic illnesses. Her best friend out of the group, Brigid, is reluctant to talk about her chronic illness. As Priya and Brigid grow closer, they learn more about each other and explore what it means to be chronically ill in a world that doesn’t really accomodate for that. From here on out, there will be spoilers!

Now, Pose: Aesthetics and Masculinity in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

May 20, 2021 Mary

I recently jumped into Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, an anime I’ve heard about for a long time but had never given a chance. I knew two things about it going in.

First, it’s an action show in the tradition of Shonen Jump manga. Most episodes feature elaborate fights and lots of screaming and naming of one’s attacks. Secondly, I knew that the internet deemed many of the characters of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure queer icons with audacious fashion taste. I had to watch it.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure does a few things very well, but it has a ways to go in a couple of areas. I’m going to break it down in this handy dandy list of things you need to know about, what else, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

BSG #54: The Twist is Misogyny / Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 / Interview w/ Ethel Rohan

May 17, 2021 The Squad

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

Fatshaming in Video Games is Boring

May 10, 2021 Mary

I felt really excited for Resident Evil 8, the follow up to Capcom’s 2017 Resident Evil 7. It’s the first time in a long time that a Resident Evil game has built on the story of its predecessor, and I was curious to see where the story could go. I was also extremely excited, like the rest of the world, to meet Lady Dimitrescu, the 9 foot tall vampire lady that every ad seemed to showcase. I even wrote about her for work. No regrets there.

Purrfect Date: Finally A Dating Sim for Cat Lovers

May 5, 2021 Emily

I am not what one would call a gamer. Or at least I don’t think so. I play video games from time to time, but they’re not the kinds of games that the gamer gatekeepers would call “real games.” More than anything, I enjoy a nice session of The Sims 4. Sometimes I hop on to Animal Crossing to dig up a few fossils, buy a new outfit, and do a little fishing. And yes, I love a good dating sim game. So when I, a cat lover, heard that there was a dating sim called Purrfect Date where you got to go on dates with cats? Yeah, I had to check it out.

I don’t know what you think when you hear “cat dating sim,” but I certainly had some ideas about how this was going to go. And well… I was wrong.

Othersode #53: Pizza is Satanic / The House of the Devil with Clay McLeod Chapman

May 3, 2021 The Squad

Poster-2018-The-House-of-the-Devil-Commercial-1500x2128.jpeg — Othersode #53: Pizza is Satanic / *The House of the Devil* with Clay McLeod Chapman

Light some candles and gather ‘round the pentagram, because things are getting satanic (panic!) on this episode. Author Clay McLeod Chapman joins us to talk about the 2009 film *House of the Devil*. We talk about the cultural context of the early 1980s, Greta Gerwig’s pizza performance, and the anxiety-making pacing of the film. Tangents include Cabbage Patch dolls and the forbidden television of our childhoods. Next, we chat with Clay about his new novel, *Whisper Down the Lane*, which was inspired by the McMartin Preschool trial of the 1908s. We all loved this book, so we kept the chat about it spoiler-free! He tells us about why he is drawn to this subject matter, as well as what’s coming up next for him and his writing. (Also, there’s a fantastic story about one of Clay’s readings in New York that you absolutely do not want to miss!) Read along with us for our next Bookpisode on *Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982* by Cho Nam-Joo (May 17th), and then take a detour with us for our third-ever Hatepisode (though some of us might not hate it?) on *Ready Player Two* by Ernest Cline on May 31st. Subscribe to Book Squad Goals on your favorite podcast app, and go read *Whisper Down the Lane* right away!

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

Susan's #PodSquad: You're Wrong About

May 1, 2021 Susan

I’m back on my bullshit, and that bullshit is talking about podcasts all the damn time. This time I’m here to talk about You’re Wrong About, which is a podcast I absolutely cannot stop listening to right now. Hosts Michael Hobbes (Maintenance Phase, HuffPost) and Sarah Marshall (journalist, currently working on a book about the Satanic Panic) delve into the stories behind the cultural phenomena, moral panics and public figures that we all think we know the stories of, but in fact, we’re wrong about. Here’s why you should check it out.

We Need to Talk About Sabriel

April 30, 2021 Mary

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I’m reading the Old Kingdom Chronicles, a series by Garth Nix. The series isn’t new by any means, but it’s new to me, and I’m having a lot of feelings about it. We need to talk about Sabriel, the first book in the series.

The Official BSG Guide to the 2021 Oscars

April 24, 2021 Kelli

For the first time since I started doing our annual “BSG’s Guide to the Oscars That You Probably Should Not Reference For Your Oscar Pool Because I Don’t Know What I’m Talking About,” I actually… don’t have that many complaints. At least not when it comes to the nominations. Were there oversights this year? Absolutely. Are there films nominated that I consider to be trash? No question. But considering the many disappointments and failures of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 nominations (and let’s not even get started on the wins), I am pleasantly surprised by this year’s selections.

This is a historic year in several different ways. For the first time ever, two women are nominated for best director AT THE SAME TIME. One of those women, Chloé Zhao, is the first woman of color to ever be nominated for best director. Steven Yeun and Riz Ahmed are also firsts in their categories — first Asian American person and first Muslim person to ever be nominated for best actor, respectively. Every acting category has at least one person of color (low bar, but still), and none of the nominees for best picture are as maddening or offensive as something like 2018’s Green Book.

Maybe these improvements have something to do with last summer’s BLM protests, which brought even more visibility to the ongoing systemic racism in our country, or this past year’s uptick in violent crimes against the AAPI population. Maybe sitting around inside for a full year has forced Academy members to do some introspection. Maybe not being able to see anything in a theater has an impact on our perception of award-worthy filmmaking. I’m sure it’s a combination of all of these factors, and I’m also sure that as much positive change as we’ve seen this year, the Academy is not done making stupid mistakes. After all, they're still extremely far behind where they should be in terms of representation within their organization, which continues to be reflected in their choices. I just hope that this year marks an actual turning point rather than a blip.

Anyway, let’s get on with the predictions!

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