marionette ꫂ᭪ medialog

metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty

type: game

stars: ★★★★★

date: september 2026

You may have heard this game being glazed as one of the best video games of all time. I'm here to inform you that those reviews are, fortunately, correct. Metal Gear Solid 2 is an amazing experience, and it's not just because it has a pretty boy as the protagonist. The game has so many twists and turns that it's almost umineko-esque in its complexity, so please, don't spoil it for yourself before playing, and the fact that it was written in 1999 is genuinely insane with how relevant the discussions of AI and internet censorship are to our modern day world. Raiden is a relatively mundane protagonist and certainly not as compelling as the iconic Solid Snake, but it doesn't affect the experience one bit, since he's a stand-in for the player. The supporting cast was great, and the female characters felt much more well written than the ones in MGS1 and MGS3 (yes, obviously excluding the boss). It turns into a horror game at some points. Gameplay is much better than MGS1 with the addition of aimed shooting, though it seemed a bit too easy at times, I rarely died except to those fuck ass metal gear rays towards the end. The mission where you escort Emma was not nearly as unbearable as some reviews acted like it was once you had the path down. But the main draw of this game is its story, and for good reason. "You lack the qualifications to exercise free will." Play this game. Also, bonus points for being the first video game to use the word 'bisexual'!

metal gear solid 1

type: game

stars: ★★★★☆

date: august 2026

A brilliant game just like all the others in the series, but this one is starting to show its age in comparasion. Coming from the cold war era MGS3 to this was quite jarring, but not necessarily bad. I actually don't have any issue with the graphics, for the time they're really impressive and I think the low poly models are a bit endearing, but the gameplay... well. it takes some getting used to. Since I was playing with the original ps1 version on an emulator, there was no first person aiming outside of sniping which made it difficult to dispatch enemies, and it feels like Snake had way less health and was much more squishy than in the later games, even on the same difficulty setting. The story was great, it's not a transgressive masterpiece like the second game in the series, but Liquid was a really fun character and it's a great introduction to Snake as a protagonist. However, the female cast was... not ideal. I love Sniper Wolf and her accent, but her character basically just served to die so Otacon got character development, and Meryl was... uh, you can definitely see how this game was made in the 90s. And they implied she was raped for pretty much no reason and then never addressed it. Naomi was good, I liked her, but compared to how fleshed out Otacon, Snake, Grey Fox, Liquid and Ocelot are in this game, it's a bit telling that there's only one female character that I would say was afforded the same development as them. Like I said, a good game, but definitely showing its age in more ways than one.

metal gear solid 3: snake eater

type: game

stars: ★★★★★

date: august 2026

It's Metal Gear Solid 3, what can I say? This was my introduction to the series, and damn, was it a good one. Gameplay was great, though it took me a bit to get used to the controls on the 3ds (BTW the 3d on the 3ds version of the game looks AMAZING), and the world felt really open despite being divided up into sections. The cure system was my favorite part for some reason, it was just so satisfying to hear those little sound effects when I properly bandaged up a wound. Combat was pretty fun although I nearly smashed my 3ds trying to defeat Volgin that first time. And the story? Well, it's fucking METAL GEAR SOLID 3, obviously the story is great. Compared to the other MGS games it's more fun and campy and feels like a real action movie rather than a parody of one, but that's not inherently a bad thing, and I did sob my eyes out when... you know. Ocelot, Eva, Volgin, the Boss and even Snake all contributed to making this world feel really lively, the character writing was excellent. My only complaint about the story is that it wasn't always presented in a particularly understandable manner, I still left feeling confused about some things, but this is not the last game in Big Boss' saga and questions can always be answered.

mossflower

type: book

stars: ★★★★★

date: october 2025

ok, i'm incredibly biased because the redwall series was my childhood, but it's peak, I don't know what else to tell you. Mossflower doesn't actually take place in Redwall as it's a prequel, so it makes a great introduction to the series and Jacques' writing style. Redwall is REALLY good at making their animal characters feel human AND like forest animals at the same time. the plot is great, the prose is incredibly vivid and you feel like you're inside the book, which is important for any type of fantasy. the story's simplicity is reminiscent of classic high fantasy like lord of the rings, but a bit more cozier.

the travelling cat chronicles

type: book

stars: ★★★☆☆

date: october 2025

a sweet, relatively short story about a stray cat who is saved from a car accident, and then adopted by a man who is dying from cancer. the narration from the perspective of the cat is very well written, and he isn't anthropomorphized too much. we learn a lot about his owner's life and childhood, but it's shown through conversations and meetings with his friends who seek to adopt the cat, and it feels like a realistic childhood instead of a generic sad backstory. the book is short and simple, but that doesn't make it bad, and the ending is quite emotional.

the forgotten beasts of eld

type: book

stars: ★★★★★

date: october 2025

high fantasy is easy to write - good high fantasy isn't. the forgotten beasts of eld is a fairy tale that follows the life of a female wizard who keeps magical beasts, and her relationship with the world of men. the prose is absolutely beautiful, and despite using sophisticated vocabulary, it's somehow easy to understand and immerse yourself within the setting. at the same time as being an immersive high fantasy experience, the book is about love and revenge and hatred and motherhood... and many other things, without taking on an overly preachy tone typically of fairytales. there's barely any proper worldbuilding and yet it manages to have a more compelling story than stories that insist upon explaining every facet of the world. relationships jump from being strangers to getting engaged, but in a way that makes sense. i genuinely believe everyone should read this book, and it is worthy of being considered a classic.

towards zero

type: book

stars: ★★★★☆

date: august 2025

one of the best agatha christie novels, with a very interesting twist, but the blurb on the back kinda spoils it if you know what to look for (you'll be able to deduce the murderer once they supposedly find them). all of the characters are interesting, and at one point in the book i suspected nearly all of them. however, it does lean more into a detective story type of narrative, which i don't particularly enjoy (unless it's a certain detective). the less you know about this book, the more you will enjoy it, so i won't spoil it too much.

the meaning of mary magdalene

type: book

stars: ★★★★☆

date: august 2025

i am not religious. i've read parts of the bible when bored in hotel rooms, but i've always gravitated more towards the old testament, because i don't like how jesus's words are told through secondhand sources in the new testament. it's annoying. i'm a historian. use direct sources! so, i was a bit confused while reading this very religious book by a priest, and it didn't help that i was in alaska, with no internet access, surrounded by my buddhist relatives, trying to figure out what the heck the "pascal mystery" was. (i still don't understand it after googling it). however, even without much religious knowledge, i was able to follow the argument that mrs. borgeault was making, because she is an incredibly talented scholar who is unafraid of speaking her opinion, even when it goes against the views of traditional christianity. this is not necessarily an autobiography of mary magdalene, but moreso the argument that christianity, and humanity as a whole, needs to start discovering how to love again, and she argues this with tact and beauty. an excellent read, but probably not recommended until you read the bible first (and the noncanonical gospels).

the tea girl of hummingbird lane

type: book

stars: ★★★★★

date: august 2025

where do i start with this book? "the tea girl of hummingbird lane" is essentially about the love between a mother and a child, and the concept of coincidences. it has a very compelling story that i wasn't able to put down at all, and an extremely well researched portrayal of a rarely talked about ethnic group in china, the akha people. historical fiction books should teach the reader about real events in history. good historical fiction will make you realize that people in other countries who were just statistics in your history class, are humans, despite how long ago they lived. the narrator feels incredibly human, with her own flaws and desires, but we also see the humanity of the people around her - her lover, her mother, and the other people of her village. i couldn't put this book down, and i heavily recommend you read it, as long as you're alright with learning a lot about tea.

the village of eight graves

type: book

stars: ★★★☆☆

date: august 2025

when i picked this book up at the library along with "towards zero", the librarian mentioned that he was like japan's version of agatha christie. i don't think that's entirely true - the only similarity is the complexity of their murder mysteries. this book takes a very dark turn with themes like rape and child abuse, while agatha christie's books, although being about literal murder, are often oddly lighthearted, which gives her books a much more unique feel and defines the classic "murder mystery". village of eight graves, on the other hand, although technically being a murder mystery, honestly seems more like a horror. that being said, it's an entertaining read with an eerie atmosphere that reminds me of old horror video games like silent hill and project zero, which is an impressive feat for a book to pull off. i honestly felt like i was tatsuya trapped in the underground caves. it's a great read that's surprisingly well translated (japanese translations often leave a bit to be destired) and i'll definitely be putting some more of his books on my tbr for the spooky season. an excellent introduction to mr. yokomizo's books.

ender's game

type: movie

stars: ★☆☆☆☆

date: august 2025

this might be the worst movie i have ever watched. it seems like it should be a good movie, and that's what is so awful about it. there's so much potential and it was executed horribly. one of those movies that should've stayed as a book, i think...

joan he - the ones we're meant to find

type: book

stars: ★★★★☆

date: august 2025

This is a very depressing book with robot sex. It's not a YA book, despite the age of the protagonists, and would definitely benefit from a reread after the twist is revealed. Unfortunately, I have to return it to the library, but may revisit it sometime. The first half of the book isn't necessarily bad, but confusing. The second half is very good. The themes probably hit too close to home - it leans more in the direction of hard sci fi/post apocalypse, and the overall vibe reminds me of the book "How High We Go in the Dark". There is no heavy worldbuilding, and that deliberately confusing aspect is, I think, the author's intention.

superman (2025)

type: movie

stars: ★★★★☆

year: july 2025

just a good movie. it's not anything particularly thought-provoking or artistic, it's just a superhero movie with positive messages. absolutely mogged "the batman". and i love you batman so i'm sorry about that.