I realized I’ve been slacking a bit on media diets, the last one was Q3 2025! I forgot to make a Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 posts, so I’m going to be a little flexible and let this cover anything from the last 9 months that I can remember.
Movies
Tunnel Vision: An Unauthorized BART Ride
I had already seen Tunnel Vision on YouTube sometime last year or the year before, but the Roxie Theater had a free showing for members this year so I got to see it on the big screen.
It’s still a really informative movie, I love the selection of interviewers and topics. That said, there was something about the listening to the train sounds while watching the train tracks smoothly glide across such a large screen, that I did doze off a bit during this showing.
The director Vincent Woo answered a few questions at a brief Q&A after which was great, appearently he gets requests from kids who want access to the original footage so they can model the BART stations in Roblox.
The Devil Wears Prada
I had never seen the 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada in its entirety. I’d seen the first 15 minutes or so on streaming once and never really got hooked, so I let it be. In May, my friend Alex sat me down and had me watch ahead of the sequel.
Overall, I found it okay! I think it was intentionally created this way, but the characters felt kind of flat and muted to me, it didn’t really hook me.
The Devil Wears Prada 2
I wish we as a society were okay letting movies be one-offs and not forcing sequels 20 years later. That said, The Devil Wears Prada 2 felt like it was a good way to bridge the previous movie to the world as it is 20 years later. It’s a different world for print media especially, and I liked the “we can’t say that anymore” bits that acknowledged how conversations about people and bodies have moved forwards as well.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Since it didn’t have to do as much initial explaining as its predecessor did, the [Mario Galaxy Movie][https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28650488] was able to just jump right in and get going with the main adventure. I never actually played Super Mario Galaxy for Wii, so some of the Rosalina/Lunas part of the story was a little less familiar to me, but was easy to follow. I honestly had low expectations for this movie and it handily beat them, and raised my expectations for the inevitable sequel. I also loved the (mini spoiler!) Star Fox cameo.
Afterwards I went and found some videos of the Super Mario Galaxy for Wii, and realized that the plot with kidnapping the princess by lifting the castle was basically taken beat-for-beat from the game, which I like, I didn’t expect the game to have that much depth.
TV
Heated Rivalry
Arguably the hottest show of last fall, Heated Rivalry was really enjoyable. I loved the Scott/Kip subplot from Episode 3 so much! I have rewatched each episode probably two or three times at least.
Enjoying this show based on a romance novel encouraged me to find some romance novels to read, stasrting with Breakout Year.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
I watched Starfleet Academy with my parents. In general, I like it! I love that Tig Notaro continued her role from Star Trek: Discovery, I love that there was a follow-up to Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine.
I like that it’s continuing to worldbuild after the Burn, but I had to suspend some disbelief that somehow a debate about where to locate Starfleet HQ was going to take place in front of academy students.
I like the Discovery references, but I find it annoying that every time there’s a problem (probably every other episode), they have to drop a one-line explainer for why Discovery can’t spore jump in and assist. I hope that we actually get a Discovery ship cameo at some point, otherwise it’s just such a tease!
It’s a bummer we’ll only get two seasons, but I am looking forward to the next one.
Hacks (Season 5)
Hacks has been a really fun show for all five seasons. I think there were a few moments in season 1 or 2 that made me cringe a little bit, but overall it’s a such a funny watch.
Season 5 put a really nice bow on the whole thing, the will-she-or-won’t-she plot from the finale was an emotional rollercoaster with a really solid ending. I also like that the last season had a kiss between Deborah and Ava that was arguably probably some fanfic fan server, but also fit into the tone of the show and was woven into the season’s arc cleanly.
Books
Breakout Year
After watching and discussing Heated Rivalry, somehow KD Casey’s Breakout Year ended up on my to-read list. I think it was a reply somewhere on BlueSky, but I can’t seem to find the exact post. The elevator pitch: gay Jewish baseball romance novel. I wasn’t in it for the baseball, I was in it for the rest of it.
Anyways, I read through this book very quickly, I enjoyed it a lot. I read lots of longform articles but I often struggle to finish books, and reading something I liked this much was a good reminder that yes, I can read! I am literate! I just need to find things that hook me. Thank you KD Casey for writing this novel.
I liked the structure of the book, framing each section clearly from the perspective of one of the leads or the other. I loved the Author’s Note at the end of the book, where the author explained a bunch of the different choices they made, about which parts of Jewish culture each of the leads represented, and highlighting some of the differences. I think I sort of picked up on some of that while reading, but I liked that the note highlighted how thoughtful and planned out those parts were.
Game Changer
Continuing with romance novels, I traded Breakout Year to my friend Hannah for the first two Heated Rivalry books. So far I’ve finished the first one, Game Changer.
This book focuses on Scott and Kip, who were easily my favorite part of Heated Rivalry. Reading the book after having seen the show, it was interesting to see what artistic liberties the show took in compressing the entire book down to basically a single episode. I liked it, but its narrator shifts were a little looser than Breakout Year’s, I was spoiled a bit by Breakout Year’s clearer structure.
I’ve started on the second book and am sure I’ll report back on it by my next Media Diet post eventually.
Music
Dancing on the Wall by MUNA
I discovered MUNA just after they released their third, self-titled album, and missed them touring to promote it. I knew I would not want to miss their next tour. They released their next album, Dancing on the Wall this year, I loved the singles they previewed, and got tickets to their album release show in LA in May.
I love love love “wannabeher”, “Girl’s Girl” and “Big Stick” and already have tickets to see them again when they go on tour this October. I had the album on loop for an entire week, maybe two after it was released.
Porcelain by Peach PRC
Peach PRC has also been one of my favorite artists for the past few years. I found her music by seeing “God is a Freak” as a frequent audio on TikTok, and even though I’ve been off TikTok for years, have continued to listen to her music. I saw her in concert here in San Francisco last fall, and really enjoyed it.
This album had more slower songs than I expected, but I still found a lot to enjoy with “Back to You”, “Oasis” and “Celebrity Crush”, and have listened to it many times already.