misericordiae

I couldn't figure out how to describe the vibe I was getting, but you put it into words very neatly.

Oh absolutely. Adore was actually the album that got me into them.

I agree with both of you. I'm very fond of everything by them up through the American Gothic EP, but Mellon Collie is still kinda the peak.

Not plot holes, although there may be some of those that I didn't notice. It's more to do with the pacing of the investigation (trying to be vague so it doesn't ruin anything for you).

EDIT: Couldn't get spoiler tags to work, so removed that part.

I enjoyed it well enough, although I actually think season 2 is better. If you're a regular whodunnit watcher, you might be mildly disgruntled at a couple of aspects in season 1, but it's still a fairly compelling watch imo.

I mean, it's subjective, right? So far, yes, I'm enjoying it more than Glass Onion, but I'm sure there are people who loved Glass Onion that won't like Death and Other Details. Besides, it's hard to judge a whole season from just two episodes. Maybe as the season goes on, the plot twists will become ridiculous, or maybe the resolution will be mindblowing. Dunno yet.

For me, it's in the "fine" category so far: nothing I'd jump to recommend to others, but engaging enough to likely watch the whole season. It's fairly light and fluffy, but I don't find it as charming as I think it's trying to be. (For comparison, I thought Knives Out was also fine, but didn't really care for Glass Onion.)

Link works for me, but here's the original article. Movie is called The Day the Crown Cried.

Suits. Started out as a fluffy case-of-the-week show, devolved into a melodrama with characters that completely lost their original charms.

I saw the movie first, then read the book after hearing it was different/maybe better, since aside from the bear, I found the movie fairly whelming. I ended up really enjoying the book, particularly the dream-like style. Authority, however, I found... really slow. I was intrigued by the premise, and the reveals were interesting, but the pacing was just glacial, imo, and it did away with what I'd liked about Annihilation. I did start Acceptance afterward, but was sort of over it at that point, and never finished it.

Despite the first book winning the 2021 SPSFC (admittedly, a much less well-known competition than the SPFBO), I almost never see the Primaterre series by S.A. Tholin mentioned. They are doorstoppers, but very well paced, imo: I inhaled the first two books. If you like space opera that manages to avoid a lot of plot tropes, give the series a try!

(Sidenote: if you're put off by the "cosmic horror" label on the first book, I recall there being a couple of mildly gory scenes, but it's mostly in the realm of "unfathomably alien" rather than trying to scare.)

Deftones - Cherry Waves