Dune: Part One…Let’s Talk About It!

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

---

Edit: This was a scheduled post and I didn’t get a chance to/was too lazy to edit it before it was announced that DUNE: PART TWO IS OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED!!!!! I choose to believe the IMAX ticket I purchased 6 hours before the announcement was made was the straw that broke the camel’s back because ✨narcissism✨.  I guess we have to wait another 2 years, but I just know that it’s gonna be worth it. 

It feels very weird reviewing something I’ve been waiting so long for. Ever since it was announced that Denis Villeneuve would be directing Dune in 2017, I’ve been not-so-patiently awaiting its release.

I’ve seen Dune: Part One 3 times as of right now. In a perfect world, I’d probably watch it at least 10 times in theatres, but alas, because of time constraints and the sea of red that is my bank account, I cannot. Maybe this is me being impulsive (which is very likely), but if I were to win the lottery right this second, I would hand all the money to Warner Brothers, or Legendary Entertainment, whichever billion-dollar company has the power to greenlight Part Two. I realize this would be very stupid and selfish, but, as you can probably tell, I loved this movie and need a sequel (or else I might do something stupid like, I dunno, activate my shield in sandworm territory).

Essential Reading/Viewing if You Like Vampires

It’s October, so you know what that means…IT’S SPOOKY SEASON B*CTHES!!! To procrastinate doing school work celebrate, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of some of my favourite vampire-related media. Vampires are my favourite mythical/folkloric beings; they used to terrify me as a child, and they still do now, but I can’t help but be fascinated by them. I think that because of the surge of paranormal YA fiction in the 2010s they’ve sort of developed a bad rap, but the lore surrounding vampires is so much more than sparkly skin and pent-up teenage angst. Hopefully I can convince you so with some of these recommendations.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

The American poet John Shade is dead. His last poem, ‘Pale Fire’, is put into a book, together with a preface, a lengthy commentary and notes by Shade’s editor, Charles Kinbote. Known on campus as the ‘Great Beaver’, Kinbote is haughty, inquisitive, intolerant, but is he also mad, bad – and even dangerous? As his wildly eccentric annotations slide into the personal and the fantastical, Kinbote reveals perhaps more than he should be.

Nabokov’s darkly witty, richly inventive masterpiece is a suspenseful whodunit, a story of one-upmanship and dubious penmanship, and a glorious literary conundrum.

---

Read from August 9, 2021 – August 24, 2021

Apparently it’s Kinbote’s world and we’re all just living in it. Seriously, this man is batsh*t crazy, but I’m totally here for it. I only wish I believed in myself as much as this dude believes in his delusions.

Ranking All the Denis Villeneuve Movies I’ve Seen

This will be a bit of a departure from what I usually write about, but I’ve wanted to make this post for a while now. I had a fun time ranking Grady Hendrix’s books and have been in a bit of a reading slump, so I thought now would be the perfect time to write this list.

I’m not really a movie person, if I have free time I’ll usually use it to read (duh), but I’m a huge fan of Denis Villeneuve. I don’t usually pay too much attention to directors, but Denis has an inimitable style of filmmaking. I had seen a number of his movies and loved them, not knowing he directed all of them, and when I found out, I whacked myself on the head for not realizing it sooner. This man oozes artistic integrity, and he absolutely crushes whatever genre he tackles. I love watching his interviews (so much so that “deeply” has permanently entered my vernacular), and I find his approach to cinema so genuine and refreshing. It’s been agony waiting for Dune to come out, I think I’ve contributed to at least half the view count on both trailers. I’m planning on watching it in a theatre at least 3 times because I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it if Dune: Part 2 doesn’t get made. But, I digress. Without further ado, here is my personal ranking of all of Denis’ films.

Ranking All of Grady Hendrix’s (Fiction) Books

In terms of authors who are not yet deceased, Grady Hendrix has to be my favourite (and that’s not just because he’s the only author I’m friends with on Goodreads). He’s one of my auto-buy authors, meaning I will gladly throw my money at anything he comes out with. He’s pretty much the only male writer I trust with female MCs, and I love how unpredictable and fun his stories and concepts are. I really enjoy listening to his interviews and reading his annotations for his books on Goodreads because I find his perspectives on writing, and specifically horror, so fascinating. Also, it was one of his books that inspired me to start this blog a year ago, so I guess what I’m saying is he’s on my literary Mount Rushmore. Ranking his books was not an easy task because I genuinely enjoyed every single one of them, but I’ll give it a shot!

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen’s most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne’s family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?

Jane Austen once compared her writing to painting on a little bit of ivory, 2 inches square. Readers of Persuasion will discover that neither her skill for delicate, ironic observations on social custom, love, and marriage nor her ability to apply a sharp focus lens to English manners and morals has deserted her in her final finished work.

---

Read from July 10, 2021 – July 13, 2021

This is only the second Jane Austen novel that I’ve read, the other being Pride and Prejudice. Nobody asked, nor does anyone care, but before getting into the review, here are some of my takes on how the two compare:

Persuasion > Pride and Prejudice
Anne Elliot > Elizabeth Bennet
Captain Wentworth < Mr. Darcy

2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey #1) by Arthur C. Clarke

On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.

So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system.

But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong…

One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end.

---

Read from July 8, 2021 – July 9, 2021

I’ve been meaning to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey for a long time now, however, I’m someone who generally prefers to read the book first. By the transitive property, I guess this means I’ve been meaning to read 2001: A Space Odyssey for a long time now, too. But, I’ve finally finished reading it, which means I can finally watch the cinematic version…except I can’t because I feel compelled to discuss the novel first. This book tested my conceptual limits, which I appreciate (although it hurt my brain). It’s a book that doesn’t end when you turn the last page, its subject matter occupies your thoughts as you go about your day and implores you to consider some of life’s biggest, yet unanswerable (at least for now), questions. 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise, I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead…

---

Read from June 12, 2021 – June 14, 2021

What do you get when you mix a budding psychopath, her agoraphobic sister, and their very confused uncle? A Shirley Jackson book, of course! And a damn good one at that.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

---

Read from June 8, 2021 – June 9, 2021

This book right here is a f*cking masterpiece, gothic fiction at its finest. Shirley, I am terribly sorry it took me so long to read this, I hope you’re not rolling over in your grave. I was a fool, but I am now enlightened and will probably proceed to read everything you have published within the next few weeks as penance.

The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk

A father’s decades-long search for his missing daughter.
A young woman about to engineer the perfect scream.
The most dangerous secret Hollywood has ever kept.

Gates Foster lost his daughter, Lucy, seventeen years ago. He’s never stopped searching. Suddenly, a shocking new development provides Foster with his first major lead in over a decade, and he may finally be on the verge of discovering the awful truth.

Meanwhile, Mitzi Ives has carved out a space among the Foley artists creating the immersive sounds giving Hollywood films their authenticity. Using the same secret techniques as her father before her, she’s become an industry-leading expert in the sound of violence and horror, creating screams so bone-chilling, they may as well be real.

Soon Foster and Ives find themselves on a collision course that threatens to expose the violence hidden beneath Hollywood’s glamorous façade. A grim and disturbing reflection on the commodification of suffering and the dangerous power of art, THE INVENTION OF SOUND is Chuck Palahniuk at the peak of his literary powers—his most suspenseful, most daring, and most genre-defying work yet.

---

Read from June 6, 2021 – June 7, 2021

Chuck Palahniuk is probably most famous for Fight Club. I have never read that book because the plot has been spoiled for me, but I did want to read something by him. After looking through his works, this one intrigued me the most. I expected a gory, exciting thriller. HA, was I wrong!! This book had zero gore, zero excitement, and zero thrills. I think this book actually lowered my heart rate. It’s such a shame, this premise had so much potential. But the thing with potential is you have to do something with it. What Chuck did here was take all this potential and fire it off into the sun, instead releasing this steaming pile of sh*t into the universe.