took me a while to read because i was consuming in parts on my commute to work but wow what an absorbing read. a lot of the time we think about how men treat women under this patriarchy but this book really put a spotlight too on how women treat each other. especially the grappling of feelings within oneself; knowing my own value as a woman is more than just my looks and what I can do for men, but also sometimes the want to acquiesce to that subservience. was really intrigued by how absorbed rika got with kajimana, and kajimana’s conflict between her words (“I hate the clammy nature of women”) and her actions (clinging to women). more quotes i’d highlighted on my kindle: “the changes to her body hadn’t caused them any trouble, and yet people’s reactions were critical, even fearful.” —> as someone who has been on the end people’s comments about my body since i was a child, it struck me to how briefly this FEAR was summarised in this novel. why are you fearful of my body!! why do you fear for me going into this world not skinny? “sometimes the worry she had - that this period of her life when she was at her most beautiful would be all used up by the girls around before she was discovered as a woman - would grow so intense that she wanted to curl up into a ball.” —> again, really captured the conflict between knowing your worth is not tied to men’s approval of your looks, but also wanting that approval.

how is this better but also worse at the same time also so apt that troye sivan is on the soundtrack because the moment nick showed up onscreen i kept thinking he looked like an extra from a troye sivan mv

“we all make mistakes, honey, but this?” LMAO EXACTLY like sorry i would never let this happen to me but sure, why not, it was entertaining!! miles was so hot but unbearable, and it was crazy that they made it seem like it was his POLYAMORY RELATIONSHIP that was the last straw when he’s just a condescending know-it-all in actuality lol

good boy mid movie

not that the first in the trilogy was Cinema or anything but it was actually pretty entertaining, and i thought it was doing a good job setting itself apart from other wattpad story adaptations. this one (and the previous one too tbh) however was painful to watch… it’s like they dialed up the corny cliche wattpad levels up to 1000. and now everyone around them is just OKAY with this?? and actively trying to get them together??? i-?? good thing nicole wallace is beautiful.

huh everyone except their parents is way too normal about the fact that they are STEP SIBLINGS!!! i get that they all have their own backstories but even if i were a super villain with a super tragic back story i would still be like “yall are step siblings? and yall are fucking raw??? um that’s WEIRD” and YET this is still better than the kissing booth series like,, this is what the kissing booth wanted to be

yall this was actually not bad… ok but before yall get out the tomatoes, i was impressed that the leads had actual fleshed out backstories and traumas that informed their decisions in the present day- none of those past experiences explain the insta-love incest though. my biggest gripe is: why are writers so deathly allergic to making female leads in their smutty romances of age?? why must they be 17 on the cusp of 18??? dialogue like “tongue?” “put it in.” would’ve been a fun kind of cringe if not for the “you’re my stepsister and you’re 17.” “kiss me till i’m 18.” exchange that happens 5 minutes later that just makes me squeamish.

slamming my fists on the table because i have neither a rich pedro pascal nor a poor chris evans begging to be with a self-depreciative gal like me…. but fr copy-pasting my letterboxd review below: this was a lot more tedious than i thought it’d be i feel like i agree with the main points of the film—relationships (love and dating in particular) and its relation to a sense of self worth, how we size people up using these list of preconceived ideas of what we consider worthy, the idea of “deserving” love—but also i feel like I’ve had more spirited conversations about the same topics with my friends. i’m not saying the dialogue sucked, i just think dakota could not convince me to agree with things i already agree with. the girl cannot convince me that water is wet. the film is not bad… but anyway, perhaps this is a watch that i would’ve enjoyed a lot more with friends

um, you know what, sure, what the hell reminds me of having to review all the films for my previous work and just having to watch whatever

watched this in two parts because i started this on a red eye flight and absolutely passed tf out halfway. i thought it was… alright? i thought the best part was nasha’s monologue.

second watch, this time with friends and it seemed both more fun and less good at the same time?? not sure but it was of course still an enjoyable watch

Actually really cute?? although i wish her newfound friendship (?) with the tour guide and security guard helped her work out her relationship with her son- that part felt like it was left hanging a little bit.

not the best and most engaging documentary- i only watched because olay and kenniejd made a video about it and i thought there was no way this situation could actually be this wild?? well it is that wild and insane and the perpetrator grosses me out so much but the documentary just falls a little flat.

really fun!!! lots of little pay offs throughout the episodes although i felt like the penultimate reveal was a little bit underwhelming. the villain’s motive wasn’t as compelling as the other persons of interests’ motives BUT STILL a fun watch nonetheless.

first of all OHHHH the male actors’ performances in this was horrific!!! in the original i HATED the characters, but in this one i was laughing at them because umm yall sound ridiculous and cartoon villainesque. also it’s been a very hot minute since i watched the original but it’s one of my favourite dramas ever so i might be biased but i think this jpn version is so far removed from the original. the core points—wealth disparity leading to a more pronounced inequity in education, the questioning of an increasingly pressure cooker-like environment for test-taking children, parents’ role in aiding this rat race, the questioning of whether there is actual social mobility upwards—were totally lost in the weird pace and terrible dialogue of this version. i think the fact that they kept the title SKY Castle, with SKY referring to the top 3 universities in South Korea (Seoul, Korea, Yonsei) was also a bit of a dud. that reference is lost, even more so when the kids are aged down to be middle schoolers who aren’t even close to taking their uni entrance exams yet. on that note about middle schoolers- WTF AT HARUTO HAVING A CHILD WITH THE HOUSEKEEPER? his mum totally had a valid reason to be upset at this but we’re supposed to sympathise with the housekeeper because she told his mum not to pressure him to study so hard??? GIRL SHE ALSO COMMITTED STATUTORY RAPE!! we should be taking that a tad more seriously especially in a series about the welfare of children, don’t you think?? honestly i think this was a bit of a ham-fisted adaptation. the original is 1000x times better and adept at commenting on the social issues plaguing children today. this one just shouted at us “we are talking about isses x, y, and z!!” (like, the scene of the wives introducing izumi as a writer and listing her works 😭😭) without actually ever making the audience ponder the question, while the original showed more than told.

gorgeous and divine with an undercurrent of discomfort and then the beer garden scene is when everything becomes straight up scary. crazy how this is relevant in every era because people are more than willing to overlook fascist sentiments burgeoning right in front of them until it becomes a large, unmovable mass. “think you can still control them?”

really loved this but sorry i had to dock a point off on the account of there being so many—and i cannot emphasise this enough—HUGE, unwashed penises just swinging around. also loved that this film totally ignores whatever americentristic world building added in 28 weeks later, rightfully so!!!!

did this movie have to be 75 hours long????? also ms tsuchiya tao is out here acting her ass off while everyone else is just 🧍🏻🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♂️

u can really tell blake lively and ryan reynolds are married. i thought the funny moments were taken a bit too far sometimes, like they didn’t know when to move on, and like, u know sometimes u don’t need the movie to be chock full of hee hee ha ha wink wink moments too either. let’s focus on the story. that being said, it was gorgeous and enjoyable!!?

feels like a totally different story compared to the krn version!! not a complaint though, because i think i like the writing and pacing and character development of the jpn version much better. i hate to say it too but the acting and styling was a lot better! would definitely not mind watching this again all in one shot to fully digest misa’s coming into herself and reina shedding her own skin.