log: a lot
The Other Wind - Ursula Le Guin
A nice end to Earthsea. This book feels like closing your eyes.
As for how I feel about each installment of Earthsea now, I think Wizard and Atuan are perfect stories. I remember The Farthest Shore as being a bit more standard and less inventive than the other books, but it was by no means bad and it was a good look at Ged in his prime through someone else's eyes. Ged is a great character, Tenar is one of the greatest characters of all time. Tehanu (1990) is a formidable work even though I'm still not completely sure how to feel about it.
Big Trouble in Little China - John Carpenter
Californians can do all that shit. Funny.
Escape From New York - John Carpenter
SNAAAAAAAKE
Enjoyable, but I think Carpenter's other works are more entertaining.
Ultraman - Tsuburaya Productions
Have you become so fond of humans, Ultraman!?
Ultraman (1966) really is Just That Good. There is a massive amount of sincerity and care put into each episode, and it's the perfect blend of strange and thoughtful.
If you compare it to Star Trek TOS and Rider 1971, Ultraman wins out in the technical department and in just having consistent quality and interesting approaches throughout. Even in the later episodes, where they end up retreading some ground conceptually, Ultraman still manages to play around with the formula and put in new aspects to make it fresh. I try not to compare Ultraman and Kamen Rider too much because they have very different aims and circumstances and the conversations that surround that topic are tiring, but... what I was most surprised by was that the last set of episodes actually called back to the early ones, 'cause, um... in Showa Rider things are forgotten instantly.
The SSSP are real lovable even while being simple. Ide, they could never make us hate your soulful nature. The philosophy of kindness and faith in humanity is always present.
Akio Jissoji was crazy.
All Systems Red - Martha Wells, Artificial Condition - Martha Wells
That's why I left you, Dr. Mensah, my favorite human.
I think Murderbot does veer into being corny, but I was surprised that it wasn't as bad as what I was expecting, based on the TV hobby. It's cute enough.
The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
I read the first third of this book a while ago and didn't get back around to it now. It's a fun episode outside of Ankh-Morpork where Vimes gets chased by werewolves in the nude. Sybil gets a bit more to do beyond just carrying the label of being Vimes' wife and she's full of charisma.
This Is Amiko, Do You Copy? - Natsuko Imamura
The tragedy was poignant, but I felt put off by how Amiko doesn't win much in the end. That's the point, I guess, but it's painful. The nonlinear narrative was effective.