January Media Digest
- vsandoval04
- Jan 31, 2025
- 9 min read
A month of media consumption.
One thing about me is I love ranking and reviewing things, so I am starting this special monthly blog post called Monthly Media Digest! At the end of every month, I will share my list of media consumption, including TV shows, movies, music, books, and games. And maybe, if they are significant enough, social media posts (keep reading to find out).
I will add a spoiler warning next to the titles of the stuff I reviewed in too much detail, so watch out for that.
Without further ado, here is a compilation of all the media I consumed this month.
TV Shows I watched
Spoiler-Free Reviews (First Time Watch):
Love Next Door:
I am so in my K-drama era again. There is a specific K-drama plot that will just get me every time and it is old friends/childhood friends to lovers. This show had just the right amount of episodes and it had just the right amount of chemistry, subplots and character development. From episode 1 to episode 16, not only the two protagonists but every character shows some growth and leaves behind something to reflect on. I cried, I laughed and giggled, and I really enjoyed this show. I recommend it for a nightly watch to unwind and cry a little bit.
Themes: Romance, K-Drama, Childhood friends to lovers, Family drama
Rating: 9/10.
Game of Thrones S1
I am aware that I am so late to this jump on this boat but I don’t care. My dad kind of gaslighted me into starting the show but I finally watched the first season and now I get the hype or whatever. Overall a very good first season for such a complex and long show. I really enjoyed the character introductions and the pace of this season and I really hope that some of the injustices get avenged sooner than the end of the show.
Themes: Action, Fantasy, Drama, Medieval, HBO banger
Rating: 8.5/10
Spoiler-filled reviews (Continuing seasons) (Please skip if you haven’t watched):
Sex Lives Of College Girls S3
There was so much wrong with this season I don’t even know where to begin. The main problem is Mindy Kaling’s insistence on ruining her girl characters by stripping them of any logical romantic connection and making them make horrible decisions. Sadly, this season took away my favorite character (Leighton, a.k.a. Renee Rapp) and made my second favorite character do very dislikeable things (Whitney). And to top it off, the plot was as convoluted as ever and in every new episode we seemed to forget the topics from the last episode (i.e. ignoring the Whitney therapy plot for like four episodes to focus on her cheating on Isaiah and getting back together with Canaan for some reason).
That being said, I did cry on the last episode because it very much felt like a series finale and I am deeply saddened that these characters that I’ve grown fond of did not get the endings they deserved. Except maybe Bela, who I loved this season and who seemed to have the most growth out of everyone in the show.
And I’m not bringing up Kacey or Kimberly because their plotlines this season bored me so much and every time they showed up I just wanted them off my screen, so sorry.
Overall, probably their worst season, but I’m still sad the show is over.
Themes: Teen Drama, Raunchy Comedy, Romance, Sitcom vibes
Rating: 4.5/10
XO, Kitty S2:
Oh my God, what a messy (but good) season.
XO Kitty’s main flaws during the first season seemed to be that the show didn’t know where it fell between turning into a K-drama or copying TATBILB, and this season really found the almost perfect middle point. From the crazier K drama plot with a whole antagonist and the references to the things that made the To All The Boys movies so remarkable (i.e. the Peter song!!), season 2 felt a lot more established and fun. I really enjoyed the subplots that developed characters like Dae and Q, as well as the plotline that gave a lot more focus to Kitty’s search for her mom’s past than last season. My biggest complaint is how crazy of a slow burn the main relationship has been. To a certain point, I’m glad it is a slow burn and there’s so much angst and intense moments, but there’s no way we’ve gone through seasons now and they haven’t even kissed.
Overall, this had way better writing than the first season and I’m looking forward to it being renewed for a third.
Themes: Teen Drama, Romance, K-Drama (?), TATBILB universe
Rating: 7/10
Movies I watched
Everest (2015)
After developing a hyperfixation on Mount Everest for about a week over winter break, it was awesome to watch this movie. It is based on the 1996 disaster in Everest that led to the death of eight climbers caught in a blizzard. Since I had already watched three hour-long videos I considered myself somewhat an expert on this and I thought the movie did a great job in its retelling. It is a very sad story and a very sad movie. In terms of plot, I do wish we had seen more of some of the characters that have the most discourse around them in real life, such as Anatoli, who a lot of people blame for some of the deaths, or journalists John Krakauer and Sandy Hill Pittman. But nonetheless, the story is very well told and the views and cinematography of Everest are incredible.
Themes: Drama, History, Based on a true story, Jake Gyllenhaal
Rating: 7/10
Letterboxd rating: 3 stars
Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) - SPOILERS
First things first, I am really shocked no one spoiled this movie for me even though it took me almost six months to watch it.
I enjoyed this in the way I enjoyed Thor: Love and Thunder, which is to say I turned off my critical movie-watching brain and just laughed and giggled.
There is not much to the plot of this movie, since the story centers around the same “Whaat? There’s a multiverse and we need to save our unique universe so now we get to merge universes with other superhero universes?” Which in reality just means the MCU got the rights to more Marvel Comics intellectual property. I understand why that is upsetting because I am also sick of the same TVA plots that lead to nothing in almost every MCU movie/show for the past five years. However, I do want to give some credit to how fun this movie actually was.
If you ignore the fanboy anger you may feel from seeing IP oversaturation camouflaged by Deadpool’s ability to break the fourth wall, the silliness of this movie is actually kind of endearing. I really like Hugh Jackman as an actor and his Wolverine in this movie was a fun buffer to Deadpool’s insufferable ranting. Matthew McFayden is also hilarious in this, Emma Corrin does an antagonist as great as she can with such a bad script, the dog was hilarious and the Chris Evans cameo that had everyone confused was a really funny scene that I was happy to not have been spoiled. Also, the movie has great music and it uses it very well in some scenes (cue Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” in its full gospel choir beauty).
Sadly, aside from the general issues with the story, the worst part of this movie is its main character. Despite being a former Ryan Reynolds defender, he has only grown more and more dislikeable as an actor, a writer and a public figure. Deadpool and Wolverine is the unfortunate result of his huge ego and self-importance, showing he just does whatever he wants with Deadpool’s character and storyline and cannot move on from the same boring sense of humor of a seventh grader. The first couple of jokes may have landed, but the rest fell flat. His self-important fourth-wall-breaking dialogue was insufferable. And I couldn't care less about his character arc in this movie, because it felt disingenuous and lacked any type of depth. Deadpool was a bad character in this movie and was obviously outshined by all his co-stars who probably would have done a better job at directing this movie than Ryan Reynolds.
I liked the Marvel Comics cameos, I liked the giggles this movie brought me, but the more I think about it, it’s really sad that they gave such a good character to such a bland actor and writer.
Themes: Superhero, Marvel Comics, Hugh Jackman’s abs
Rating: 4.5/10
Letterboxd rating: 2.5 stars
Sonic 1, 2 and 3
This is a really funny addition to the list but my brother loves Sonic, so we had a Sonic movie marathon to say goodbye to winter break.
They were surprisingly good movies! The first one was definitely a safer pilot to the franchise but Sonic 2 built on it and gave us great new characters (I love Knuckles and Tails so much) and Sonic 3 was the perfect bow to wrap the whole thing up.
The third movie specifically had a lot of really good storytelling and some hilarious subplots, with Jim Carrey taking the spotlight as both the most insane version of Eggman and also Eggman’s grandfather. Keanu Reeves did some really good voice acting and the Sonic and Shadow scenes were genuinely fun and engaging. My biggest complaint about the movies is the part of the plot that has to do with the human friends because I don't think it is needed in terms of story arcs. But I understand that it was important to develop Sonic’s character to a more mature version of himself. Overall, a hilarious trilogy and a great video game adaptation.
Themes: Video game adaptation, Animation/Live action mix, Jim Carrey’s descent into madness
Sonic 1 rating: 6/10; Letterboxd: 3 stars
Sonic 2 rating: 7.5/10; Letterboxd: 3.5 stars
Sonic 3 rating: 9/10; Letterboxd: 4.5 stars
Emilia Perez
I will not go on too long about this because I have been outspoken enough about how bad this movie is. The story is unfocused and nonsensical, the themes get lost amid really bad whisper singing and despite being set in Mexico and discussing Mexican culture and political issues, none of the main cast or crew are Mexican. Also, the people who this movie is supposed to represent hate it, being that theaters in Mexico had to deal with thousands of people asking for refunds and LGBTQ+ media and figures have called it an insult and poor representation.
Long story short, it is not worth a watch and it is certainly not worth any awards.
Themes: Drama, Crime, Musical?
Rating: 3/10
Letterboxd rating: 2 stars
**P.S. If you want to read my movie rants and commentary, follow me on Letterboxd @sandovale.
Music I listened to
DeBí TiRAR MáS FOToS
I cried a lot to this album and it’s a little hard to explain how I feel about it.
Bad Bunny did a really good job at striking a specific heart string that resonated with a lot of Latin American people. He managed to package what an afternoon with your grandparents, your tías dancing at a party while you sleep in a chair and your mom’s hugs felt like back when you were young. Anyone who had a childhood in Latin America can find a certain piece of their heritage in this album. Anyone who has felt the pain of losing that piece of heritage can also really resonate with its themes. This album came at a time that has been very painful to many Latin American countries, such as Venezuela, so it felt very close to home to a lot of people dealing with the themes of the songs.
Most importantly, the album did an amazing job of bringing Puerto Rico to every corner of the world with rhythms of salsa and folklore that no one else could have mixed as well with dembow and reggaeton. A beautiful homage to PR and Latin American culture spread with immigration across the globe. Overall, a really good album that has me on my feelings every time I listen too hard to the lyrics or see a TikTok to “DtMF” about family or heritage.
Ranked:
NUEVAYoL
DtMF
BAILE INoLVIDABLE
CAFé CON RON
WELTiTA
LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii
EoO
TURiSTA
PIToRRO DE COCO
El CLúB
BOKeTE
LA MuDANZA
PERFuMITO NUEVO
VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR
KLOuFRENS
VeLDÁ
KETU TeCRÉ
Rating: 8.5/10
Social Media Post of the Month
TikTok’s “Ask an Axolotl” song by Doctor Waffle
January was a really rough month, and it felt like it lasted years. I know many others also feel as drained and overwhelmed as I do with things such as sticking to our New Year's goals, finishing up projects (and graduating) and the supersaturated state of political news these days. What I needed the most throughout this month was taking deep breaths and finding joy in the little things in life, and that’s exactly what the axolotl song was for me.
Despite the video coming pretty late in the month, after the whole TikTok ban scare, the user @DoctorWaffle shared an original song last week that brought many users joy and has gotten stuck in a lot of people’s heads. The song tells the tale of a small axolotl figurine walking around a miniature house and wondering whether he should be there, with a guest star penguin that seems to scare him off but ends up turning out to be a friend.
All of Doctor Waffle’s videos have the same vibe: a sweet, short song about animal figurines that tell a story about love, friendship or acceptance (except maybe their Drippo the hippo rap which is just a banger.) I think the Axolotl song has gone viral because of its softness and kindness, amid the chaos that we’ve lived in the entire month, and because the beat is very catchy. All in all, my favorite social media post of the month and a very happy ending to this blog post.
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