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people are TOO online about it
Aug. 4th, 2025 08:40 pmtoday's finish was the long way to a small angry planet, by becky chambers. this one is sort of internet-nerd-sphere popular (i have friends who named their cats after characters from the book... and like, i met the cats first) so i figured why not check it out and i DEFINITELY get why it's populated the spheres that it has.
the book follows the crew of the wayfarer, a sort of... i don't know how to explain it, they're like road pavers/subway tunnelers but through the fabric of spacetime - weird physics bullshit as an alternative to faster than light travel. the main characters are mostly human, but in this universe, humans are one of several assorted aliens comprising a galactic consortium. this includes lizard people, a sort of bug species that made itself mostly extinct, hivemind sloths(?), one that was described as a mix of lobsters and centaurs, and most notably for the plot, a species that prides itself on total consensus and kills anyone who disagrees with the majority. the end goal for the crew is to make it to that last group's space and drill a spacetime tunnel there to facilitate societal transportation.
a lot of energy gets spent on worldbuilding (super interesting, actually, lots of classic cliches are there but also a few things like a totally deaf and mute species that communicates by changing the color of their skin that were more novel to me) and character development and relationships (the oddball punk mechanics were great, all the lizard characters were great although did the one lizard character have to hook up with the naive human bookkeeper because that was just a little unnecessary) but there was really no plot to speak of. it's a series of random challenges that has the crew bouncing around and meeting an ensemble of characters from around the galaxy, and then at the end of the book they arrive at their destination, there's a quick but major conflict, and then they escape mostly unscathed. and somehow there are two more books set in this universe, at least? idk. a lot of the character stuff was very "writing to appease the internet" (which sort of makes sense when you consider the book was crowdfunded) and it reads more like the novelization of a dnd campaign than a story that was always intended to be a book. despite all this, i did enjoy my experience reading it and may seek out the other books.
also this weekend i watched both the now you see me movies in 24 hours. i <3 heists. first movie: extremely good. still thinking about it. i love the fact that they cast four actors who are always typecast (well, idk about dave franco and isla fisher quite so much, but jesse eisenberg and woody harrelson i think are very known for the exact type of character they were playing in the movie) and i LOVE the whole "steal from the rich, give to the poor" angle. it's all very leverage. second movie? eh. i don't like the new character they added to replace henley and i don't like that the robin hood angle was abandoned in favor of personal vendettas from two characters from the first movie. third movie comes out in november and i very hope it's good.
people online are obsessed with found-familying this movie though. like i get that that's often what you get with heist crews like this (again, leverage) but part of the charm of these guys for me is that they're all dysfunctional and hate each other a little bit. everyone online makes dave franco a sad wet kitten and isla fisher the mom character. let them be fucked up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the book follows the crew of the wayfarer, a sort of... i don't know how to explain it, they're like road pavers/subway tunnelers but through the fabric of spacetime - weird physics bullshit as an alternative to faster than light travel. the main characters are mostly human, but in this universe, humans are one of several assorted aliens comprising a galactic consortium. this includes lizard people, a sort of bug species that made itself mostly extinct, hivemind sloths(?), one that was described as a mix of lobsters and centaurs, and most notably for the plot, a species that prides itself on total consensus and kills anyone who disagrees with the majority. the end goal for the crew is to make it to that last group's space and drill a spacetime tunnel there to facilitate societal transportation.
a lot of energy gets spent on worldbuilding (super interesting, actually, lots of classic cliches are there but also a few things like a totally deaf and mute species that communicates by changing the color of their skin that were more novel to me) and character development and relationships (the oddball punk mechanics were great, all the lizard characters were great although did the one lizard character have to hook up with the naive human bookkeeper because that was just a little unnecessary) but there was really no plot to speak of. it's a series of random challenges that has the crew bouncing around and meeting an ensemble of characters from around the galaxy, and then at the end of the book they arrive at their destination, there's a quick but major conflict, and then they escape mostly unscathed. and somehow there are two more books set in this universe, at least? idk. a lot of the character stuff was very "writing to appease the internet" (which sort of makes sense when you consider the book was crowdfunded) and it reads more like the novelization of a dnd campaign than a story that was always intended to be a book. despite all this, i did enjoy my experience reading it and may seek out the other books.
also this weekend i watched both the now you see me movies in 24 hours. i <3 heists. first movie: extremely good. still thinking about it. i love the fact that they cast four actors who are always typecast (well, idk about dave franco and isla fisher quite so much, but jesse eisenberg and woody harrelson i think are very known for the exact type of character they were playing in the movie) and i LOVE the whole "steal from the rich, give to the poor" angle. it's all very leverage. second movie? eh. i don't like the new character they added to replace henley and i don't like that the robin hood angle was abandoned in favor of personal vendettas from two characters from the first movie. third movie comes out in november and i very hope it's good.
people online are obsessed with found-familying this movie though. like i get that that's often what you get with heist crews like this (again, leverage) but part of the charm of these guys for me is that they're all dysfunctional and hate each other a little bit. everyone online makes dave franco a sad wet kitten and isla fisher the mom character. let them be fucked up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
