N°3 - 03/05/2026

What has happened this last week? Well, not much actually.

I guess this week has been what you could call exceptionally ordinary. Aside from the handful of tests I took at university this week (none of which were particularly concerning) I guess the most interesting news continues to be my recent watches. Precisely today, I finished watching a Chilean television series by the name of "Los 80s" (The 80s), a series I have watched a dozen times before, but one I never seem to get tired of.

Following a "common" middle-class Chilean family trying their best to navigate the troublesome decade of the 80s under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, I sincerely believe it to be one of the greatest works to come out of Chile, and why not, maybe all of South America. Truly a great depiction of the era.

Totally recommended, though I'm not sure where you guys would be able to watch it.

In other news, tomorrow is May 4th, which some may know as Star Wars Day, but I remember as Shinichi Kudo's birthday. Have you guys ever watched Detective Conan/Case Closed? I have, plenty of times. Actually, it is my favorite anime of all time; it has been since a very early age. With more than a thousand episodes and close to 30 movies, this seemingly endless franchise never ceases to amaze me, and every year on May 4th I feel obligated to tune in to its first ever feature film, "Detective Conan: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper", a movie that, rather fittingly, revolves around its main character's (Shinichi Kudo) birthday.

Detective Conan, as you may have already deduced by its name, is indeed a detective series, most of the time at least. As a child I was fascinated by it, and you could say that the series is at fault for my obsession with everything mystery. For instance, my fascination with Sherlock Holmes is such that I've not only read everything Doyle has to offer, but also many non-canon works about the character. One cannot forget the works of Poe, Christie, Chandler, and Edogawa Ranpo, all of whom I've enjoyed profusely, and even detective series like Columbo, which is fascinating. Detective Conan also introduced young me to the Gentleman Thief archetype, so naturally a lot of Arsène Lupin and Lupin the 3rd have crossed my hands.

What is your favorite book genre? Got any mystery recommendations? I'd seriously like to know.

N°2 - 03/05/2026

Today is May 3rd, which means this will be the first review of the month. To be honest, I had originally intended this entry to feature an extensive review of the renowned 1999 HBO television series "The Sopranos", which I started on the 9th of April and finished on the 27th of said month (meaning, the week before this entry), but I haven't had much time nor motivation, so here's a simpler review.

To be quite frank, this was indeed one of the greatest television series I've ever seen, and there isn't much that can be debated when it comes to its status as one of the greatest series of all time. But leaving that aside, there were plenty of things that genuinely surprised me in the best of ways. To start, its argument is surprisingly deep on an emotional level. It doesn't support itself on action sequences and unbreakable characters, but on flawed humans with complex emotions and feelings, trying to navigate their unorthodox realities (something that is well established by the end of the first episode). Tony's anxiety, A.J.'s depression, Chris's addiction, and even Vito's sexuality, they all serve to introduce previously untouched or ignored topics into an extremely hostile world where these matters would be hidden and seen as shameful. And not without reason either, as these are all factors that, sooner than later, end up causing our characters a lot of trouble, if not death.

Another aspect that took me by surprise is the amount of profoundly experimental work that some episodes feature. I find it truly remarkable the way director David Chase manages to lure crowds with the already well-established (and some may say even overexploited) gangster epic, and force them to consume a familiar yet distinct piece of work that mixes emotional encounters with action and humour. The dream sequences, in particular, stand out as some of the most surreal and psychologically rich moments of the series, but the parallel world Tony's mind formulates while comatose works as a perfect summary of the mobster's mind.

There were also plenty of difficult relationships (not necessarily of the romantic kind) that got my attention. For instance, Tony has a thoroughly complex relationship with his mother, one of the main plot points across the first half of the series. After all, she is one of the main causes of his stress, a danger and a nuisance, but also someone whom he yearns for: he desperately wants her approval, her attention, her love. He loves her, or wants to love her (maybe because that would mean she loves him back), but he's sick of her. And, maybe in an effort to maintain at least one positive paternal figure, he blames her for all the problems he lived through as a child, defending his abusive father, whom he always admired, effectively freeing him from his faults and glorifying him.

We also have A.J., Tony's son, who, opposite to his sister, is a rather sensitive boy who struggles socially and academically, and often finds himself labeled a disappointment by his own father. Throughout the series, we see him troubled by all sorts of matters: sports, girlfriends, grades, behavior, depression, and even the meaning of life itself. After a particularly difficult period, Tony finds himself admitting that he hates his son, his biggest failure, but does he? Tony once mentions in passing that he sees himself in A.J., and that is definitely true. Tony projects his passions, his childhood convictions and ambitions onto his son, and finds himself not only disappointed but also enraged whenever A.J. fails to meet his expectations. For instance, Tony is adamant about A.J. protecting his American football career. He is seen happiest when A.J. is performing well, and angriest when he jeopardizes it. But A.J. clearly has no interest in football; it is Tony who dreamed of becoming a football star, who is haunted by dreams of his coach telling him he will never make it, who stops talking to his own uncle after being reminded of his failure. Tony doesn't hate his son, he hates himself, his failures, his faults, the "putrid genes" he passed down to his son. It is rather touching to watch and one of the most interesting developments addressed.

Another difficult relationship Tony confronts is the one he shares with his guilt. Tony rarely feels guilt, visually at least. He has killed plenty, lied for a couple of lifetimes, cheated his way out of all sorts of situations, and sinned enough to secure a first-class ticket to hell. But despite all that, after killing his best friend Pussy, who was not only a traitor but also a rat, he is consumed by a profound guilt that haunts him to the very end of the series. Hallucinations, memories, dreams, it continues to come back to him. Tony is paranoid, distrustful even of those he loves the most.

Pussy was the start, but everyone follows not long after. Anyone who seems to jeopardize either of his families, anything that threatens him and his position, it all has to go, now. At some point, the paranoia and the fear of being threatened end up with him killing Christopher, his protégé, whom he loved as a son. And as he did with his father, and as he did with his son, he looks for excuses to tell his own conscience, desperate to save himself from being blamed.

When he and Christopher get involved in a car accident, he looks around and sees the baby seat of Chris's son impaled by a tree branch, as if to tell himself, "Look at what Christopher is capable of doing to others, to his own child, to you. You cannot trust this guy." But provided he proceeds to kill the baby's father, it is clear his interest is not in the child but, once again, in himself.

The end of the series is a genius play on Tony's decaying state. I think we all agree that the thing great series struggle with the most is closure, but The Sopranos is not the case. After a bunch of ups and downs, Tony is once again with his family, all of them, reunited, smiling and laughing together. But his eye keeps drifting, and then the restaurant's door opens, and his eyes dart to the door before the screen turns black and you are enveloped by a profound and painful silence. The end.

The end? Nothing happens, just silence. Is that supposed to be the end of the great epic of the legendary mobster Tony Soprano? Well, yes. Tony condemned himself from the very beginning, condemned himself to a life of fear and paranoia. And not unjustifiably so, for that is what his life entails. He knows, for he himself has killed and betrayed before.

And he knows that even in the happiest, most mundane of moments, it can all come to an end in a single second, suddenly, just like that.

N°1 — 26/04/2026

When I first decided to make a blog, the very first thing that crossed my mind was, "No way in hell I'll find enough interesting things to talk about," which definitely proved true when I finally got around to write this entry, but whatever, here is my weekly rant.

This past Monday (04/20), Netflix announced the main cast of the Gundam live-action movie they'd been working on for a while. Amongst the 11 actors Netflix announced, the most famous names include Jason Isaacs, Sydney Sweeney, and Noah Centineo. And what can I say? Am I excited? No, not at all, but I am extremely curious about it.

Like, will this be UC or another universe? What sort of approach will this take? Is it more mature-oriented? Will it play into the war, explosions, and guns theme, or will it respect Tomino's anti-war message? Most importantly, what sort of character is Sydney Sweeney playing? Just imagine her being some sort of Char-esque character, that would honestly be hilarious. I don't know much about the girl, and appearances can certainly be deceiving, so I'm not going to assume she isn't the Gundam type, but since I saw someone drawing comparisons with the One Piece live-action cast and how they talk about the anime, I simply cannot stop thinking about Sweeney (and Centineo too, for that matter) talking about Gundam in the way the OPLA actors do. It's just a very off-putting thought.

Speaking of OPLA, despite being up to date with One Piece, I haven't felt particularly inclined to watch the series, even when I have free time. But I have seen bits of it here and there, and I must say, it doesn't seem too good.

The opinions on the series are pretty divided, with some treating it as the next big thing and some speaking of it as the worst thing ever done. But believe me, no matter how bad you think it may be, it surely cannot be worse than G-Saviour (1999), dir. Graeme Campbell, a joint US-Japan production that tried to adapt the Gundam universe into a live-action format [Watch for free on YouTube HERE]. It didn't go very well, but it isn't as horrible as some Gundam fans will have you believe, especially when you take into consideration its limited budget.

The thing is, budget won't be a problem this time around, it seems (look at the OPLA budget, for reference), so one can only wonder what will come out of this. I do not trust this to be good, but I won't act like a purist and say this is the worst thing that has ever happened to Gundam, at least not without seeing it first.

On other news, yesterday it was Yutaka Ozaki 34th death anniversary, so look forward to tomorrow's music entry on him, and also, I'm thinking of writing a review for The Sopranos (which I'm finishing Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest) for next Sunday's entry, but only if uni gives me enough room to breathe amongst so many exams, so think about checking in on that.