Media Unstacked: 2025Q2
what I've been reading, watching, and listening to
Can you believe it? We’re actually halfway through the year—crazy, I know! But what that means is that I get to share with you what I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to for the last quarter.
A new hobby
Before I get into the actual media I’ve consumed, I wanted to share a newfound hobby of mine—I’ve been getting more into board and card games! It has long been a dream of mine to host game sessions with friends, and my boyfriend and I were able to do just that when we hosted a get-together for the Talk Bookish to Me book club members from the Metro Manila south. We played Cards vs Gravity which was a crowd favorite—think Jenga but with cards!—and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza which everyone also enjoyed because it was easy to learn and fun to play with a big group.
The board game that really got me hooked recently though is Unmatched. It’s a tabletop game where you can play different characters with varying strengths and weaknesses that are demonstrated through the different components of the game. Each character has a cool miniature and a deck of cards which you can play against any other character. The characters come from a wide array of stories from Marvel superheroes to Shakespearean characters to mythological creatures. I myself got the Cobble & Fog set which features characters from classic literature. It’s such an easy game to learn and yet playing the game itself is so much fun because it requires strategy and presence of mind.
On shows
Still not diving into actual media here—I don’t really know what else to call this type of blog post other than “Media Unstacked”—but on to some shows I’ve seen!
My boyfriend and I got to see GMG Productions’ iteration of Come From Away featuring a local cast. Come From Away is a musical about the passengers of the planes that were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland where the American airspace was closed due to the 9-11 attacks. It’s a story of how this town welcomed seven thousand strangers from different parts of the world and how these stranded passengers found a home in this community. It was heartfelt and the music was solid, although I was a little disappointed by the vocal performance of the actress playing Captain Beverly Bass. Still, I was happy my boyfriend and I got to experience watching our first musical together.
We also recently went to the Euro Xtreme Circus in Biñan, Laguna—an animal-free circus featuring trapeze artists, dancers, and motorcycle riders. I will admit most of the show was rather dull because of filler dancing performances and a clown that just wasn’t funny, but the actual stunt acts were very entertaining to watch.
On movies
Aside from making progress on my Oscars Project for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004, I also got to watch the box office hit Sinners directed by Ryan Coogler. I watched it on a whim on release day because of the overwhelming praise it received right out of the gate, and I was absolutely blown away. It’s a horror, a Western, and a musical all rolled into one! If you’ve heard of Sinners, you’ve likely heard of That One Scene. It was transcendent, surreal, and nothing short of a spiritual experience. I am rooting for it to win Best Picture next year.
I also watched this year’s Best Documentary Feature No Other Land, which exposes the gross occupation and destruction of the West Bank village Masafer Yatta at the hands of the Israeli Occupation Forces. It was already a harrowing watch, but what made me feel worse is my awareness that what was shown in this documentary isn’t even the worst of the atrocities that Israel continues to commit in Palestine.
I also watched Kip Oebanda’s Liway, a film about a mother raising her son in prison during the Marcos dictatorship and how she tries to protect him from the harsh truth of their circumstances. This was another sad yet hopeful story, which reminded me a lot of A Beautiful Life (1997) although this one hit closer to home, being set in the Philippines.
I also got to watch the new live-action How to Train Your Dragon! While I do think some of the dialogue didn’t translate well from the original animation, for the most part, this was a pretty solid reimagining! The score is as strong as ever, the locations and visual effects were stunning, and the story remains true to the heart of the original.
On TV series
Black Mirror is so back with its incredible seventh season! I must say, despite the episodes being a hit-or-miss as usual, I have gained a deeper appreciation for the series as a whole. The quality and diversity of stories are strong, and the commentary remains relevant. Sue me, but my favorite episode this season is the one that most people didn’t seem to enjoy: Bête Noire. I loved how over-the-top it was, and the premise was so strong that it kept me intrigued all throughout.
After reading Shari Franke’s book The House of My Mother, I watched the related documentary Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke, which is about a mom vlogger who became so pre-occupied with her family’s perfect image that she became obsessive, abusive, and downright evil. The story is absolutely wild and incredibly sad for the children involved, but I appreciated how it showcased the dangers of family vlogging, especially when young children are involved and placed in full view of the public eye.
I was sorely disappointed by The Spiderwick Chronicles TV series adaptation. It is based on one of my favorite childhood series and this adaptation just completely butchered it! Imagine having a story that revolves around magical creatures surrounding a mysterious house and you barely show any magical creatures! You could tell this series barely had a budget, but the writing itself is so bad that I can’t even see how this was greenlit at all. If you love Spiderwick as much as I do, you’d be better off watching the 2008 film adaptation.
With the new Superman movie just around the corner, I also finished the Netflix limited series Hollywood in which the new Superman actor David Corenswet stars. It’s about a group of aspiring actors, writers, and filmmakers trying to make it in Hollywood while having to deal with racism, classism, and homophobia. It was an okay show, but I did find intriguing the artistic license it took to reimagine the lives of real actors during Hollywood’s Golden Age, such as Rock Hudson, Anna May Wong, and Hattie McDaniel.
I also watched the first two seasons of Sparks Camp for Pride month. It’s a Filipino queer dating reality show hosted by none other than Miss Mela Habijan, the first ever Miss Trans Global. I have so many criticisms of the show in terms of its casting and approach but more especially on the behavior of a few cast members, but overall, I’m really glad a show like this exists to spark conversations and combat stigma surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community. To be completely honest, as much as I enjoy watching the campers, Mother Mela simply outshines them all that I just watch the show for her. I’m looking forward to see how the third season will be different.
On music
A new favorite song of mine has to be “look up” by Joy Oladokun. Like many of her songs, this one is just so hopeful and uplifting. I’ve found myself listening to it whenever I’m having a bad day.
I’ve also recently decided to listen to Sufjan Stevens’ entire album discography. I fell in love with his Javelin album last year and couldn’t get enough of it that I wanted to listen to his other works. So far, I’ve listened to Michigan and Seven Swans, and have found banger after banger.
Dare I forget to mention K-Pop Demon Hunters? I think not! Even though I thought the movie was just okay, I simply cannot get this soundtrack out of my head! Since watching the movie, I’d find myself randomly wanting to listen to particular songs for no rhyme or reason. One day I’d be feeling “Golden” and the next I’d be blasting “How It’s Done”. I love how the songs themselves are a tribute to various K-Pop groups and fandoms, being filled with references, both lyrical and musical, to many popular songs.
On books
Josue Mapagdalita’s Mula Sa Kilometer Zero took us exactly there—to Kilometer Zero! My boyfriend and I joined Talk Bookish to Me’s tour for this book and we thought, “Why don’t we actually go to Kilometer Zero?” Reason: because it’s iconic, and we love to do iconic shit. This book is a flash fiction collection that explored different stories at different kilometer markers away from the Kilometer Zero marker in Manila. While on the surface most of them feel like angsty love stories, to me it felt like an exploration of how different kinds of distance influence our relationships, whether that is physical distance, temporal distance, or distance of feeling.
After finishing Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run, I was excited to explore more of his comics, so I picked up Superman: Son of Kal-El. It follows Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s son Jon Kent as he navigates what kind of superhero the modern world needs him to be. Not gonna lie, I was mainly interested in reading this when I found out he is also bisexual. This was a run that was heavily criticized because of its focus on Jon’s identity, and honestly, having read the comics, my conviction that right-wing folks and homophobes have zero reading comprehension has deepened because it was barely even there at all. Anyway, I loved this short run and am looking forward to reading more from Tom Taylor.
I attended the book launch for the first volume of Plot Twist: Navigating and Surviving Life’s Unexpected Turns edited by Claire Betita de Guzman. Several of my friends in the book community were contributors to this non-fiction anthology, and I was very happy to support them. With the support and participation of at least four local book clubs, it was probably the best book event I’ve attended so far. It really felt like a coming together of local bookworms and a celebration of our potential to be writers as well.
Suzanne Collins has fully won me over with her new Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping. This is the story of Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games, and when I tell you this is my favorite novel in the series, you better believe it. There is so much to respect about the original trilogy and while this book does rely heavily on the nostalgia for it, none of the other books have quite captured me emotionally like this one did. While it’s not as thematically strong as the originals, I loved the writing and the character work so much more here. Haymitch has officially become my favorite Hunger Games character.
I get the Ronaldo Vivo, Jr. hype now, having read his second Dreamland trilogy book, Ang Bangin sa Ilalim ng Ating mga Paa. This crime thriller follows a father in search of his missing daughter and it’s not one to miss! Between the edge-of-your-seat mystery, the gritty writing style, and the biting social commentary, this is a masterpiece that deserves to be studied in schools. I really hope this gets a film adaptation in the future.
Finally, Ricky Lee’s Kalahating Bahaghari is currently positioned as my favorite read of the year, and I highly doubt anything will top it. This is my first read from the beloved National Artist and it absolutely blew me away! This book is a multi-generational saga following a family where several members identify as LGBTQIA+. It’s an exploration of the lives and treatment of queer people during the time of Martial Law contrasted with how it is now. More than anything else, this felt like such a heartfelt love letter to the Filipino LGBTQIA+ community—one that acknowledges our struggles both historical and current, that criticizes how the new generation takes hard-won freedoms for granted, and that celebrates the triumphs of coming into one’s true identity. You truly could not have asked for a better novel from Ricky Lee!
What have you been watching, listening to, and reading? Any favorites and disappointments? Let’s talk!