May 2024 was one of those months that by the end of it I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. I did get a lot done this month, though, so enjoy this month’s wrap-up!

As mentioned in last month’s wrap-up, I had a sinus infection and I eventually was able to get antibiotics. Normally I just talk to the nurse practitioner, however, the secretary somehow managed to mishear me when I explained I had pressure in my sinuses and listed “a swollen face” as a symptom. So I got a call from a GP instead, and it was one I did not want to talk to. I don’t want to go into too much detail here on a public blog, but let’s just say it was an extremely awkward situation that I shouldn’t have been put in.

I did at least get the antibiotics easily enough. The problem was that I was taking them while PMT hit, and it was a nasty one. The combination of the sinus infection clearing up, antibiotic side effects, and pain flare-ups was bad enough. Then of course my body had to throw in something else; a costochondritis flare-up! Inflamed ribs are nasty. I’m already on strong meds, so the only pain relief available to me is heat packs. I was using them for days and while I struggled through my pain levels were at the point that things were a bit murky.

Things got so bad that I asked for help with the alt text descriptions for my monthly disabled book posts for May, June and July. I’m very lucky to have a supportive community and friends who were happy to help out, and that took a lot of weight off my mind.

In May I posted Disabled and Neurodivergent Books out in May 2024 and then had a lot of updates to make to GeekDis, changing it over to its new name repDISND. I talk more about the name change and my five-year plan for repDISND in the announcement post.

repDISND is the same event as GeekDis, just with a new name. repDISND (pronounced rep-dis-en-dee) is a collaborative event for members of the disabled and neurodivergent community to talk about disabled and neurodivergent representation. That’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? In short, using whatever medium you prefer (blogging, social media, YouTube, etc.) you’re invited to join us to talk about disabled and neurodivergent representation every July.

This July is the fourth year the event has been held, and you can find more out about repDISND, as well as see content from previous events at the repDISND information hub.

As mentioned in April’s update, we were working on the Yo-Kai Watch event, and that took up a large part of the start of May. We collected all the weapons, pets and mounts easily, although it was time-consuming. There have been a lot of events in Final Fantasy XIV recently, many of which have overlapped. Just as we finished with the Yo-Kai event, the next Moogle Treasure Trove event; the one that involves doing dungeons, raids and specific tasks to earn tokens. These tokens can then be used to buy selected rare items that aren’t easy to get. If this sounds familiar, it’s because I talked about it in January’s Wrap-Up.

We’ve only been doing the challenges so far, rather than grinding the tokens, and once again I have most of what I wanted from the vendor. The hardest challenge this time is The Palace of the Dead, which is described as “an ever-changing dungeon whose architecture is never quite the same each time players enter to explore its depths”. Chris and I were already working our way through it slowly, this just sped it up. He had done some of it before, I had done none of it. We’ve been doing it a bit at a time because while it is fun, it’s also terrifying, and you need to be paying attention. It’s not something I’m always able to give my full attention to, especially this month.

Chris still has a lot of jobs/classes to level to 90 before the new expansion comes out, and we’ve been doing that in various ways. One way is FATEs, short events in each zone. In Shadowbringers and Endwalker there is a shared FATEs tracker and in each zone, you need to complete a different amount of FATEs to unlock special items. The final rank (three) requires sixty FATEs, and once you’ve completed that rank in all zones for that expansion, it unlocks a new vendor in a city.

In other words, it’s something we need to do anyway, so we might as well do it while levelling jobs. We’re done with one zone so far, Lakeland, and had started Il Mheg but took a break because I didn’t have a job at the right level. We popped to another zone, Kholusia, that had lower-level FATEs to get that job up to the level I needed to continue in Il Mheg. We’ve been busy doing other things and just haven’t been back yet.

As of the end of May 2024, I had levelled up the following jobs in FFXIV:

• Paladin from 67 to 73.
• Warrior from 65 to 73.
• Gunbreaker from 87 to 90.
• Astrologian from 76 to 80.
• Machinist from 82 to 90.
• Red Mage from 84 to 89.

I got a lot watched in May 2024! I grabbed a free trial for Paramount+ on Prime and caught up on some TV shows and movies I’d been wanting to watch. Movie-wise, it was the Mission Impossible movies that I wanted to watch on the channel, and I caught up with the series by watching MI: Fallout and MI: Dead Reckoning Part One.

Full disclosure, I’m not a Cruise fan. I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a movie because it starred him, and I have kept up with this franchise because of his co-stars and their characters. Not only are the actors much more talented in my opinion, but their characters are brilliant. I remember watching the original Mission Impossible movie and being wowed by it. It was one of those movies that stood out from everything else and did something truly special. Since then, the entire franchise has felt like it’s been about lining Cruise’s pockets and letting him get his thrills with whatever stunt he decides to do next rather than making a decent movie.

While I enjoyed MI: Fallout, I was very disappointed by Henry Cavill’s performance. He is a fantastic actor, and I felt like his character was written to feel very cartoony, with some of the worst dialogue I’ve seen in a non-comedy movie. I can’t help feeling that it was done so that he didn’t overshadow Cruise. I already knew the big spoiler of this movie which probably didn’t help make me think much of it.

In comparison, I felt that MI: Dead Reckoning Part One was a much better movie overall and returned to the roots of the franchise, focusing on a story that was unique and shocking rather than just relying on lots of action to get the job done. It helped that it had three amazing women in it that I love to see in action; Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Hayley Atwell. This is only the first time I’ve seen Pom Klementieff outside the Marvel franchise, which is why I’ve not included her there. Her character was very interesting, and she was quite scary (as intended)!

In May, I also renewed our Disney+ subscription as some of my regular shows were returning (more about these in a bit) and I finally got caught up on some movies that I’ve been meaning to watch for a long time.

Dark Phoenix – Originally I’d been looking forward to this one a lot because while I don’t know much about the Marvel universe, I know some things from watching the X-Men animated series. I remember The Phoenix storyline quite vividly, but then I heard a lot of bad things about this movie and a few other things delayed me watching it. I decided it was time to just watch it, and while I enjoyed some parts, I was disappointed by it. If you’ve not watched the movie then please do not click the spoiler tag because I am going to be discussing major spoilers:

View Spoiler »I felt that they left most of what made The Phoenix what it is out of the movie because they didn’t want to confuse the audience, and I hate it when they do that. If people can’t understand a fictional storyline, then they need to look them up or work to learn them. But of course, the entertainment industry cares more about making money.

Raven/Mystique dies at one point, and her death is used to infuriate Magneto, causing him to attack Jean. The problem is that one of Mystique’s powers is regeneration, and she could have easily survived that wound.

Then there’s Charles’ personality the entire time. I don’t know how canon his personality and actions were in the movie as I’ve not read the comics, but it felt like James McAvoy was playing a completely different character to the previous movies.

On the positive side, as usual, Michael Fassbender was wonderful as Magneto and there’s a scene where Nightcrawler lets go, and it’s terrifyingly beautiful. They did at least show just how powerful Jean as the Phoenix is, and the fight scene where she takes on Magneto is scary as hell. Fassbender’s performance as the “all-powerful” Magneto realises that he is as powerless as a kitten against a girl in her twenties is worth watching. « Hide Spoiler

Inside Out – I kept seeing the trailer for Inside Out 2, so I decided to watch the first movie and then the second… not realising the trailer wasn’t for a release on Disney+ and it was for the Cinema release on 14th June /facepalm. So while I thoroughly enjoyed the movie I was left wanting more, to the point that I watched the short Riley’s First Date? which I highly recommend as it’s hilarious. I’m at the age where I understand and agree with the mom’s emotions, probably more than the main character, Riley’s, and the short has some great mom moments.

One of the Disney franchises I have seen on Disney+ for a while and wondered about is Descendants. I grew up on Disney, however, I’m in my late 30s and it was clear that this was a franchise aimed at young teens. I wasn’t sure if it would be something I could stand. High School Musical, for example, is not something I’m willing to try. But a movie about the descendants of fairytale heroes and villains? Yes, please.

So in May, I tried the first movie and very quickly fell completely in love with the franchise, devouring the first movie, its sequels Descendants 2, Descendants 3 and the animated movie Descendants: The Royal Wedding. I also watched the short Under the Sea: A Descendants Story set between movies two and three. They are like the ‘live’ Disney movies with songs that have a modern twist, and the costumes and choreography are amazing. They have a very young adult novel feel, and that’s because they are based on a young adult series called The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz.

The next movie in the franchise isn’t out until next month, and after several Disney-esque movies, I was feeling in a very Disney mood. I decided it was time to watch the new The Little Mermaid movie. My thoughts are under the spoiler tag!

View Spoiler »When I was a kid I went through a ‘The Little Mermaid‘ phase. There was a The Little Mermaid TV show in the early 90s and I loved it, especially the music from it. I remember I had a cassette tape of music from the movie and the TV show and there were two songs called ‘In Harmony‘ and ‘The Edge of the Edge of the Sea‘ from the show that I particularly liked. But as I got older I slipped out of this phase, my love for the music remaining while my interest in the story itself fell behind.

I’m saying all this because I went into this movie not being completely in love with it, unlike The Lion King. That meant that I was much more invested in how the new movie recreated the songs than anything else and I was quite disappointed. I had no complaints about Halle Bailey as an actor, but I feel some wrong decisions were made with the first song, Part of Your World. Bailey sings it to match the original, trying to match Jodi Benson’s style and it sounds so wrong. But later in the movie when she sings her own song she does a fantastic job. If she had been given the freedom to put her own spin on it I think it would have sounded a lot better.

Under the Sea was sung well by Daveed Diggs, but I felt that the director completely misunderstood the song. While the scenes during the song are visually spectacular they do not match the lines Sebastien is singing at all. The whole point of the song is Sebastien saying to Ariel ‘Look at all the amazing things under the water!’ and then he names them, pointing them out, the sounds accompanying the lyrics.

I don’t know what it is with Disney live movies and villains that can’t sing, but this is the second one. At least Melissa McCarthy did actually sing, unlike Scar in The Lion King. It wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing.

I was prepared for disappointment by the time we got to ‘Kiss the Girl’ and you can imagine my surprise when it was perfection, everything was spot on. This scene and Awkwafina’s performance as Scuttle were the highlights of the film for me. « Hide Spoiler

When I was looking for The Little Mermaid on Disney+ I came across The Little Mermaid Live! and almost watched that by accident. After being so disappointed by the new movie, especially the music, I decided to watch The Little Mermaid Live! It is the animated version but with musical numbers performed live and it was amazing! The performances were so much better than the live movie, and I don’t know if they asked some of the cast to be in the movie or not, but they would have done a much better job. Queen Latifah rocked the house as Ursula, and Shaggy was clearly having fun as Sebastien.

Auli’i Cravalho, the voice of Moana, was Ariel and she was, of course, phenomenal. As she’s already Moana they couldn’t have had her be the live version of Ariel too, sadly, but it was great seeing her in The Little Mermaid Live! But watching this directly after the live version did show me one thing; they stuck to the animated movie dialogue almost exactly.

After this, I watched Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration which followed the same principle, but with some extra special things thrown in as it was an anniversary celebration. H.E.R was the voice of Belle, Josh Groban was the Beast, Joshua Henry was Gaston, Martin Short was Lumiere, David Alan Grier was Cogsworth and Shania Twain was Mrs Potts. I highly recommend watching this if you loved Beauty and the Beast as it was a stunning performance. It did take me a moment to get used to Mrs Potts’ role being sung in an American accent rather than an English one (even a fake one) but Shania Twain did a great job.

Continuing my Disney movie binge, I watched Coco next. I’ve been meaning to watch this since I saw the trailer a long time ago and it was great! The Secret Society of Second Born Royals was my next choice and I really liked the world-building in this. Elodie Yung and Skylar Astin were brilliant as the adult cast, and I wish there was a sequel in the works.

My final movie of the month was Cruella, and I have to admit I’d been putting this off because I wasn’t sure what to expect. Other than the obvious animal cuteness of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, it’s never been one of my favourite movies and a movie about the villain who made fur from their coats sounded a bit… odd to me. With all that in mind, I adored Cruella. It is not at all what I expected, and was such a brilliant movie about the London fashion scene in the 1970s.

This has ended up being a huge section because I watched so much new stuff in May. As part of the Paramount+ trial, I was finally able to watch the new NCIS spin-off NCIS: Sydney. I enjoyed it a lot! I watch a lot of Australian and New Zealand TV shows and their humour and slang are very similar to British. The main cast is very different to other NCIS shows and I loved that.

What I didn’t like was seeing how many people complained about the main female lead, Mackey, because she doesn’t fit into the neat little happy female box. The reason for her attitude is explained in the show, and it’s completely plausible why she acts the way she does. Unlike the other female lead, Cooper, who I couldn’t stand as she is horribly rude to people constantly. Thankfully it has been renewed for a second season.

Another show I watched was the new Quantum Leap. I’ve not watched the original show, however, I liked the way that the new one linked to the old show and made it accessible for people like me who hadn’t seen it. I liked it a lot, but unfortunately, only one season was available to me. I’ll need to wait for the second season to become available.

The final show I watched was School Spirits, a show about high school students who die on school grounds and remain stuck there as ghosts. Somehow this show had completely passed me by, and I’m glad I spotted it on Prime because it is right up my alley. It is so good!

Other shows I watched in May 2024 were:

• Granite Harbour: Season 2 – Love this show, the second season was brilliant.
• Murder in Provence: Season 1 – Another one of those weird EU-based shows where all the characters are played by English actors, but it was watchable.
• Hightown: Season 1 – I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I like that it’s got a lot of queer characters, but I can’t relate to the addiction storylines at all.
• Death and Other Details: Season 1 – Absolutely brilliant, and I have no idea why it was cancelled after one season.
• Class of ’09 – I saw this mini-series described as a mix of Fringe and Person of Interest (but if the bad guys won in PoI), and that is pretty accurate. A very clever show.
• Doctor Who: Season 1 – I’m loving the new season!
• Tracker: Season 1 – I’ve been a fan of Justin Hartley since Smallville, but he’s been in shows that I don’t watch until now. I’ve been enjoying the premise of this show, the cast and the episodes a lot.
• The Equalizer: Season 4 – The new season arrived in the UK at last.

In May 2024 I read the following books:

• The Atrocity Engine (Custodians of the Cosmos, #1) by Tim Waggoner (DNF)
• Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes & Tea #1) by Rebecca Thorne
• Elusive (Scarlet Revolution, #2) by Genevieve Cogman
• Sunbringer (Fallen Gods #2) by Hannah Kaner
• Evocation (The Summoner’s Circle #1) by S.T. Gibson (DNF)
• The Council of Athyzia (The Athyziad #1) by D.H. Hoskins

The books I reviewed in May 2024 are:

[rcno-book-listing ids=”34724, 34718, 34989, 35063, 34553, 34525″ wc=250 readmore=”Read my review”]

Thanks for reading my May 2024 wrap-up!

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