Welcome to Taste Machine, a monthly new-to-me media digest! If you’re just joining us, I’ll be sending out a newsletter at the beginning of each month talking about my favorite books, music, movies, TV, video games, comics, and more that I’m experiencing for the first time in 2023.
Last month, I said that this newsletter would come out on the first Thursday of every month. While I’m still aiming for that, sometimes it might come out up to a week later, and this is one of those times.
February was been a very busy month for me. I’ve also been really physically exhausted, and I’ll probably continue to be until I get my new mobility aids in a month or two. Other, more professionally-oriented writing projects have taken up a lot of my time and energy. In a good way, that is. I try to stay sustainably busy most of the time. I’ll talk more about those other projects when and if there’s something to announce. For now, though, let’s jump into things!
Books: We all have those books we’ve never read that sit on our shelves collecting dust, right? Well, I managed to dust this book off, and it turns out I like it a whole lot…
Wandering Stars by Sholem Aleichem—tr. Aliza Shevrin (2009)
Sholem Aleichem could easily be called the Mark Twain of Yiddish literature. Both of them wrote satirical novels in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, had punny pen names,1 gorgeous mustaches, and created characters that have withstood the test of time as cultural icons. Tevye, the Dairyman is best known as the main character of Fiddler on the Roof, but appears in several of Aleichem's plays, novels, and short stories. Tevye, however, is nowhere to be found in Wandering Stars.
Wandering Stars is the story of two star-crossed young lovers, Raizel, a cantor’s daughter, and Leibel, a merchant’s son, who get swept up in the world of Yiddish theater. From the traveling circuses of Eastern Europe to the lighted stages of New York City, these characters and the families around them grow together and apart, fight, make up, change their names, and most importantly, perform!
Serialized in a Warsaw Yiddish newspaper between 1909 and 1911, the plot of Wandering Stars unfolds in short, easily digestible chapters. Some are in the form of letters between two characters while others are structured more like the script of a play. Layers of conflict around race, class, language, and religious identity are wrapped up in bawdy, old-world humor and a heymishe (earnest and down-to-earth) sensibility.
If you’re Jewish, this is a book that will make you absolutely kvell! If you’re not Jewish, well, it has a glossary in the back, if that helps. Aliza Shevrin’s translation is crackling with life, striking a perfect balance between preserving the book’s Yiddishkeit2 and making it accessible to a broader, English-speaking audience a hundred years removed from the book’s original release.
In her translator’s note, she recounts finding the phrase, “Ladies and Gentlemen,” transliterated entirely into Yiddish letters and wondering exactly how to convey that in English. It’s worth reading just to see how she does it!
Movies: I’d been trying to track this next movie down for years! I was so excited when I finally found it that I made a joyful little noise that I didn’t know my mouth could make…
Desert Hearts (1985)—dir. Donna Deitch
Desert Hearts is a bonafide lesbian classic! Why it doesn’t get more attention in conversations about great queer films is beyond me. Adapted from Jane Rule’s 1964 novel, Desert of the Heart, our story begins in 1959, when English professor Vivian Bell comes to Reno, Nevada to finalize her divorce paperwork. While staying on a ranch, she meets Cay, the step-daughter of the ranch’s owner, who works at a nearby casino. The two become friends and slowly realize their attraction to each other. Cay is about as out and proud as a person could be in Nevada in the ‘50s, while Vivian is shy, reserved, and in the closet. This might read as a little bit cliché by today’s standards, but the original novel took romance between two women seriously at a time when most lesbian representation was relegated to pulp novels.
The film itself is gorgeously shot, with its color composition really shining in the natural vistas at sunrise and sunset, and the costuming and set design. Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau play Vivian and Cay, respectively. The chemistry between them is electric, making this movie just as sexy as it is sweet. Neither of them are acting anymore, but Helen Shaver has been a working TV director since the late ‘90s.
The period soundtrack is fabulous! If you’re a fan of Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, and Buddy Holly, you’ll have a good time watching this. If you’re not into that kind of music, this move might do something to change that.
Music: My roommate recommended that I listen to this at full volume, stoned out of my gourd on a rainy day. That’s exactly what I did…
Yes—Relayer (1974)
Growing up a punk, I always had a sort of sneering resentment for prog rock. It’s only been in the last several years that I’ve started to grow out of that in earnest. Even when I was younger, I loved Hawkwind and Syd Barrett, but those were more the exception than the rule. I steered clear of bands like Yes because long, flutey compositions just didn’t interest me at all. When you find out that all of your punk and hardcore heroes who talked shit on prog rock had a bunch of albums from these bands in their collections, things start to sound a little different.
Relayer opens with the mind-melting melody of “Gates of Delirium,” which is the album’s standout track. The whole album has only three tracks, “Gates,” which runs for over twenty minutes, “Sound Chaser,” and “To Be Over.” This is the first time I’ve listened to a Yes album from start to finish, and I’m definitely a fan now. Maybe I’ve gone soft in my old age, or maybe I’m just more open to piccolos, mellotrons, and electric sitars in my rock and roll.
TV: I like the mushroom zombie show and the Baby Yoda show as much as the next person, but this next show resonates with me on a different level. Besides, Pedro Pascal was on an episode of this show in the season before this one…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer—Season 5 (2000)
When it comes to long-running shows like Buffy, I’m pretty sensitive about spoilers. I’ll do my best to make this section accessible enough so that people who’ve never seen the show can get a sense of what I like about it.
Season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the most surreal and unsettling season of the show I’ve seen so far. I started watching Buffy in September of 2021, got through the first three seasons, then took a long break before coming back for season four. Five is hands down my favorite season right now. It was worth the wait, and sitting through the very hit or miss season four.
If you’ve never seen the show, Buffy Summers, a young woman in her teens and twenties, is chosen as the Vampire Slayer, and must protect the town of Sunnydale, California from vampires, demons, and monsters.
Okay, now that you’re all caught up, there is so much to love here! This season does a lot to disrupt the show’s status quo. The high femme hell goddess, Glory, is a compelling, terrifying, and strangely alluring villain. Of course an entity older than time itself would take the form of a spoiled valley girl to unmake existence as we know it.
Michelle Trachtenberg’s performance as Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn is the anchor that holds this season together. The way she balances the anxieties and doubts of a fourteen year old girl with the suggestion that there could be something more going on is fantastic. Having been a younger sister in a less than pleasant situation, I know what it’s like to feel alienated and deal with the constantly shifting dynamic of having a parentified older sister. Dawn’s humanity, her intense, palpable emotions are everything to this season.
I started season six a little while ago, and let’s just say I’m excited by what I’ve seen!
Video Games: I didn’t actually finish any video games this month, but I had this big idea for a double feature, and I’m still gonna roll with it…
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (1998)—Game Boy Color & The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (2019)—Nintendo Switch
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has had three releases to date. The first in 1993 for the original Game Boy, then a colorized and updated re-release, Link’s Awakening DX for the Game Boy Color in 1998, then a full-scale remake for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
Nintendo added Game Boy games to their Nintendo Switch Online service in February. Games like Link’s Awakening DX are free to stream with a Nintendo Switch Online account, and I got the remake for myself when it was on sale a while ago, so I decided to play the two of them side by side. I got about halfway through each one before it was time to buckle down and start writing. I tried to keep both versions evenly paced with each other, completing a dungeon in one and then moving over to the other.
Link’s Awakening sees the hero of Hyrule washed up on the shores of Koholint Island, a strange, but charming place in the middle of the sea. Link must collect the eight instruments to wake the Wind Fish and return home to Hyrule. The dreamlike quirkiness of this game lends itself well to both the 8-bit style of the original and the plasticky toy diorama aesthetic of the remake.
The gameplay is classic 2D Zelda, hacking, slashing, finding useful items, and solving puzzles. The Game Boy version only has two face buttons to work with, A and B, so you have to cycle your sword, shield, and all of the other items you find along the way through those two buttons. The remake keeps your sword, shield, and a few other items equipped at all times, while letting you cycle through the rest of the items with the X and Y buttons. The remake’s controls are smoother and more intuitive than the originals, but the Nintendo Switch Online rewind feature is a built-in accessibility feature if you have trouble with reaction time like I do. Sliding back a frame or two can help you make a difficult jump, avoid hits from enemies, and time your hits just right.
The soundtrack written by Kazumi Totaka, Minako Hamano, and Kozue Ichikawa is fabulous in all versions, ranging from cozy beachside town themes to tense, gripping boss battle tracks. It uses Koji Kondo’s iconic overworld theme to great effect, but offers its own distinct touches to form a sonic identity that sets it apart from every other game in the Zelda franchise. Ryo Nagamatsu’s arrangements in the Switch version realize the orchestral aspirations of the original score. At the end of each dungeon, you acquire a different instrument, and a little riff of each instrument plays, which adds a small flourish to that feeling of success.
This game is absolutely wonderful, no matter how you slice it. I definitely plan on coming back and finishing both the Game Boy Color and Switch versions. If you’ve ever been curious about the Legend of Zelda, but aren’t sure where to start, this might serve as a nice entry point.
Comics: Alright, stay with me, what time is it? Go, go…
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #105 (2023)—Written by Melissa Flores, Illustrated by Simona Di Gianfelice & Raúl Angulo, Cover Art by Taurin Clarke
The Boom! Studios Power Rangers comics started in 2016 with Gen Z reboot of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, and Tommy were reimagined as teenagers with attitude in a world of smartphones, social media, and of course, giant monsters. This team is so much more fleshed out and complex than their TV show counterparts, who sometimes blurred the line between archetype and stereotype. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a lifelong Power Rangers fan, and the first three seasons of the show will always have a place in my heart, but the comic universe has taken its fair share of risks with the source material, and most of them have paid off.
Trying to catch non-fans, or even casual fans of the original show up on the ways these comics have diverged from and expanded upon the source material would take a book-length essay and/or an intricate web of wiki pages. In short, we’re at a point where Rita Repulsa is coming back into the picture after a long absence and things are really getting weird!
It’s still pretty early in Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice’s run, which started with issue #101. I love that this issue challenges Pink Ranger Kimberly and former Yellow Ranger Trini, who’s now a Red Ranger in command of her own team, in parallel ways. Their stories converge on a climactic fight scene toward the end. I can’t wait for #106!
Tasty Selection: I watched a lot of TV this past month for some reason, and I couldn’t pick just one show, so I decided to dedicate Tasty Selection to…
Yuri!! On Ice!—Season 1 (2016)
Yuri!! On Ice! is a twelve episode TV anime that follows twenty-three year old Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki as he decides that the upcoming competitive season will be his last. At the start of the series, Yuri places dead last at the Figure Skating Grand Prix. Embarrassed, he goes home to Japan. After sulking for a while, he performs a routine originally done by his idol and first place competitor, Victor Nikiforov. His friends record his performance and upload it to the internet, catching the attention of none other than Victor Nikiforov. The next day, Victor shows up on Yuri’s doorstep demanding that he become Yuri’s new coach. Yuri accepts, and the two fall in love over the course of the series.
The costuming, animation, and choreography are absolutely stellar! This series knows how to build tension leading up to a performance, pay it off, and leave room for sweet little character moments. The supporting cast of friendly rivals from all over the world are fierce competitors in their own right and adorable away from the ice. I love these gay figure skater boys, and I hope you will too.
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Thank you so much for reading! I hope you stick around for the rest of the year and we can find new things we like together. If you found something new you liked, let me know! Feel free to recommend me stuff, too! I’ll see you next month. <3
Beep boop,
Tyler
The phrase, “Sholem aleichem,” translates to, “peace be with you,” and is used as an everyday greeting. Its translation might make it sound more pious than it’s meant to be. Imagine an English-speaking author named “Hi, How Are You.”
Lit. “Jewishness,” used more to refer to cultural sensibilities than religious ones.