The Man who Never was

後遺症ラジオ 1 [Kouishou Radio 1] by Masaaki Nakayama My rating: 4 of 5 stars PTSD Radio, a horror manga where the circumstances surrounding its publication is arguably more interesting than the story itself. Not to mean that the story itself is necessarily bad. It doesn’t so much as scare you, as it creeps you out, with its eerie atmosphere, mysterious happenings, and a narrative which unfolds in piecemeal. Oftentimes, stories which began in one chapter are left unfinished, until another segment is added to its plot somewhere down the line, leaving you with crumbs which you have to assemble and make sense of. Also, in line with the title, the chapters, and oftentimes themes of the story are notated with references to radio frequencies. As the older generations who used the old analog type radio are sure to remember, much like how stations at different frequencies go in and out of focus as you tune the device, just so we see every day glimpses of the insid

Remina by Junji Ito My rating: 4 of 5 stars Warning; Viewer discretion Advised. Story contains graphic content, body horror, cosmic horror, and other disturbing content. You know those old tales of cosmic horror, the Lovecraftian eldritch gods, whose merely psychic presence was enough to drive men insane; whose inevitable arrival would mean the end of all reality? Well, Junji Ito's Remina gives you of a good approximation as to what that might actually look like. When a mysterious new planet is discovered on the dark side of a wormhole, the scientist who discovered it, named it after his daughter. Soon after, as if drawn to their discovery, the planet, appearing as if it has a will of its own, begin racing across galactic distances, straight towards earth, consuming other celestial bodies in its path. Naturally, this causes mass hysteria, civil unrest and rioting amongst the earth's populace; largely directed towards the one convenient ta

Smashed by Junji Ito My rating: 4 of 5 stars Content Warning: Graphic violence, blood, gore, body horror; viewer discretion advised Comprised of an anthology of 13 stories, Smashed by the master himself, is a mixed coterie, which doesn't as often delve into the body horror and the macabre which has at this point become synonymous with Junji sensei. It's a bit all over the place, with each story delivering the minimum Ito quality of creepy horror, which leaves you disturbed. __________________________ List of Stories 1. Bloodsucking Darkness 2. Ghosts of Prime time 3. Roar 4. Earthbound 5. Death Row Doorbell 6. The mystery of the haunted house 7. The mystery of the haunted house: Soichi’s Version 8. Soichi’s Beloved Pet 9. In Mirror Valley 10. I don’t want to be a ghost 11. Library Vision 12. Splendid Shadow Song 13. Smashed __________________ Out of the collection, I liked the stories 'Earthbound', 'In Mirror Valley' as we

Batman: Detective Comics, Vol. 1: Gotham Nocturne: Overture by Ram V. My rating: 4 of 5 stars A good start for a new series. I've been out of the loop for the latest happenings in the Batman Mythology; and I here there were some major events. So, it's refreshing to see the old characters you know and love, presented in a new light, having to grip with the reality of their changing city. A major strength of the Batman mythos, I've always felt, was how the setting of Gotham, with its gothic architecture, dark crime ridden alleys, the coterie of villains, and the gamut of humanity running from good to bad to worse, offered up a wealth of stories, past and present to mine from. One of the best examples for this from recent publication is the brilliantly written Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls (While I write this, I realize that the Court of Owls was published nearly 12 years ago; Damn I'm getting old). I was looking forwards to what

Visappu Pranayam Unmadam | വിശപ്പ് പ്രണയം ഉന്മാദം by Muhammed Abbas My rating: 5 of 5 stars കുറിപ്പ്: മലയാളത്തിലുള്ള നിരൂപണത്തിനു കുറച്ചു കൂടി കാത്തിരിക്കുക There are people out there in this world, who live at the most deplorable existence; barely able to tide over day to day, with a half-full stomach, and a leaking roof over their heads. This is something you and I know, as well as see in mundane life. It might be during your daily commute to work, or while on a trip with family and friends, or just randomly when you’re on and about. In most cases we tend to give them our attention perhaps for a scant few moments, until which time, our minds, the brilliant attention seeker that it is, would’ve switched over to some other thing which caught our interest. Rarely do we sit and ponder deeply about what brought them to such states, what their daily lives and struggles are, what their dreams and aspirations are. While we might possess lofty aspiration

Coffee Can Investing: the low risk road to stupendous wealth by Saurabh Mukherjea My rating: 3 of 5 stars The central idea of the book can be summarized as follows (At least the way I understood it). Rather than trying to time the market, and bet on so-called 100x-1000x unicorn multibaggers, it is best to be invested in the stock market for the long haul. A simple but effective strategy, first coined by Robert G. Kirby is not meant for those who panic and sell out their entire portfolio during market fluctuations. His observations postulate, given a long enough time period, say 7-10 years, an investment portfolio consisting of stocks from good quality companies, market leaders and such, will be able to outperform the index, and in the process, net the holder a lucrative and relatively risk free return. This has since been proven through practical data, leading to the rise of the low expense, low volatility, passive index funds. Although it is to be n

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky My rating: 3 of 5 stars Not the most engaging of Dostoevsky's works. But it has a certain sobering, melancholic, romanticism about it. As someone who is prone to taking long contemplative walks, especially at the early hours past midnight, this spoke to me. The way that our female character is written, one is also left to ponder, who exactly was it that hurt Fyodor's heart in such a callous way, that now they have the misfortune of having their legacy living in infamy in the annals of literature. Our main character is clearly a stand in for the writer himself. Who somehow managed to be the first simp in recorded literature (I assume), to get friend zoned by the object of his affection, with the good ol 'It's not you, it's me', and 'you're like a brother to me; we can still be friends, right?', one two punch to the gut, that most cohorts would empathize with, to this day.

Dopamine Detox : A Short Guide to Remove Distractions and Get Your Brain to Do Hard Things by Thibaut Meurisse My rating: 3 of 5 stars To be honest, the reason I picked up this book, was because it was short, and was free on amazon. After reading the first quarter or so however, I liked the subject matter. In how it was able to put on page, the exact sort of issues a serial procrastinator such as myself runs into, whenever trying to accomplish any task without distractions. Some of the things mentioned in the book, describes me to T, as in to a terrifying degree. There was however a small section in the middle, where I began to suspect whether I was reading a thinly veiled promotional pamphlet for amazon's perfectly curated collections and innovate business model. Thankfully that passed. As you'd expect from the book of this length, the action points and observations are simple, and to the point. It presents a hypothesis (a call it as such, a