December 2022 Patron Newsletter and Staff Recommendations

That's a wrap on 2022! Good on you for making it through, and thanks for spending some of it with us. 

Heading into 2023, we've got one exciting announcement: we're using out YouTube page! In the coming weeks you can head there if you'd like to use YouTube to listen to Chatty AF. As for whether we'll try dipping our toes into video essays? Well...not right this second, anyway.

Here's to a brighter 2023!

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December Recommendations

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Format: Book

Picked by: Alex

What’s it about? March, 2020: having been unceremoniously laid off by his tech-bro boss, Jamie is scraping by working for a food delivery app in pandemic-ridden New York. He crosses paths with an old college classmate who offers him a different, more financially-sound gig… with the caveats that it’s top secret, requires travel, and involves “working with large animals”. With no better options, Jamie accepts, and finds himself shifting to an alternate dimension full of giant, radioactive monsters, in the employ of the Kaiju Preservation Society.

Content warnings: global pandemic, the anxieties of financial instability, brief allusions to transphobic families, supernatural body horror

Why we like it: By his own admission, Scalzi wrote KPS as a goofy, comfort food book meant to bring relief and joy during a difficult time. It absolutely achieves that effect. This is a fun, quippy sci-fi adventure with a casually diverse and queer cast and a smarmy, greedy tech-bro as the villain. Also, giant radioactive dinosaur-like creatures! You’ve gotta love a creature.

The worldbuilding (and kaiju-building) wears its Godzilla and JP monster movie inspiration on its sleeve while also bringing some inventive sci-fi concepts to the table. There’s also something light-novel-ish about the quick pace and the way the narration favors dialogue over description, which, while not quite to my personal tastes, does make this a very breezy read. If you want some silly, warm-hearted sci-fi that responds quite directly to the weirdness of the past few years, consider giving these beasties a try.

Ringing Bell

Format: Anime (Sub and English Dub)

Picked by: Vrai

What’s it about? Baby lamb Chirin lives a joyous life with his mother and their herd; when the wicked wolf Woe attacks their pasture and kills his mother, Chirin vows to become a wolf himself to get revenge.

Content warnings: animal death, flashing lights

Why we like it:  Ringing Bell has a rather old-fashioned cuteness, courtesy of its roots as a SANRIO production, which has no doubt caused people to skim over it. Which is a shame, because for a film that’s 45 years old, it still packs a punch right up there with Watership Down. I want very much to know whether there was a similar generation of childhood trauma attached to it.

Alright, it’s more restrained than that, but this is a beautifully melancholy watch that showcases a surprisingly emotionally mature tone while still being a children’s film. Plenty of anime since 1978 have done stories about how the pursuit of revenge destroys the seeker but Ringing Bell does it with quiet restraint in a tight 47 minutes. It’s a quiet viewing experience that’s more about sinking into the mood than dazzling action, but for anyone with an interest in older titles it’s well worth experiencing.