Watching: Kingdom
I was late to this one, but I couldn’t recommend it more enthusiastically. Kingdom is a Korean zombie
series, and it might be the most clever depiction of zombies I’ve seen. Not just for the creature design, but
for the political intrigue laced through it. Think Game of Thrones or Shogun, with genuinely dynamic
characters caught up in court politics, except the plague at the gates is a lot more literal. Some of the best
zombie set pieces I’ve ever watched are in this show.
Playing: Mortal Shell 2
My Souls-like fix this month came from Mortal Shell 2, a dark fantasy with incredible character and
environmental design, and some genuinely clever level design with puzzles that made me stop and think.
It’s on the harder side, so if you’re someone who gets frustrated easily, it might not be for you. But for my
money, it might be the finest Souls game I’ve played since Elden Ring.
Watching: The End of Oak Street / Mother Mary
The movie I caught this month was The End of Oak Street, the one where a family gets pulled into a time-
slip with dinosaurs. On the positive side, it was better than the most recent Jurassic Park entries I’ve
seen. But ultimately it landed pretty mid for me. Ewan McGregor seemed to mail it in, though Anne
Hathaway, continuing her run from The Odyssey, put in real work.
That sent me chasing another Hathaway performance, so I also watched Mother Mary this month. Her
acting was great, but the plot leaned way too pretentious for its own good, almost laughably so, and I had
a hard time slogging my way to the end.
Reading: Drome / Breakfast of Champions
On the page, I picked up Drome, a graphic novel by Jesse Lonergan, painstakingly drawn and written,
and a genuine example of what can be done graphically to show instead of tell. High marks.
And I found my way back to Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, which I revisit every decade or so.
It still astonishes me how well it works as social satire. Some of Vonnegut’s funniest and best writing.