If you’ve come to us for recommendations, this is not your post — if you’ve come to us for advice, sit down for a nice chat as we complain (loudly) about what media you should avoid at all costs. 

According to some of us, at least.

Books

“Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown

Writer: Sam Szekely

Listen, in my defense, I saw “The DaVinci Code” movie once, like over a decade ago. In my memory it was essentially a European “National Treasure” but boy was I wrong! For context, “Angels and Demons” is the first book in a loose series that also includes “The DaVinci Code.” I went into this knowing nothing, thinking that a fun adventure book with secret codes and niche history would be fun. However, the first page smacks you with some of the most painful overly congratulatory self-insert-y prose I’ve read. Nevertheless, I powered through, trying to give it a shot; I’m personally willing to overlook some poor prose if the plot is fun enough. I was expecting fun. What I got was a weird Islamophobic, misogynistic, anti-science manifesto about the Illuminati. It would take so long to unpack everything wrong with this book but please take my word for it.

“Sonic Life” by Thurston Moore 

Writer: Julia Pellegrino

Although I truly didn’t DNF it, I wish I did, I just couldn’t let myself stop a book halfway through. It literally took me four months to get through this book, and it’s only about 500 pages. I just could not bring myself to consistently read it because of how much I was disliking it. This book is a memoir about growing up and starting a band called Sonic Youth. I thought I would absolutely love this book because I like Sonic Youth and I loved their segment in the book “Our Band Could be Your Life” written by Michael Azerrad. Thurston is a great guitarist and song writer, but when it comes to prose his writing is lacking in my opinion. I read books for a story, but most of this book was like: “I went to this venue to see these people play and it was crazy and then I left.” I wish I got more descriptions and imagery. Also, there would be times where he went very in-depth about guitar stuff that completely went over my head as a non-guitarist, and I know it’s his passion, but they were just not needed. He basically drew out unimportant guitar stuff, while rushing through good story parts.

“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury

Writer: Clara Commons

I had hoped to enjoy “Fahrenheit 451” as I feel like so many people liked it, but I COULD NOT force myself to finish it. The writing style made me feel like a train slowly and depressingly losing steam and the pace was so insanely slow I felt like I was going insane. It felt like every page showed the message the author wanted to send rather than letting the writing speak for itself. It’s like the author couldn’t even let his writing breathe. Montag is so incredibly boring, and the characters have no real value; it’s like a melodramatic puppet show. They’re all vehicles for the author’s ideas and are in no way realistic. The symbolism’s doing too much. It’s like the author wanted to be successful so much that he wrote a book that was jam-packed full of motifs and metaphors that an English teacher would take one look at it and drool. The book’s slow; it felt like a chore to read it. And I don’t like optional chores. One star. 

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey

Writer: Clara Commons

I didn’t quit this book because it was bad. I actually think the book is quite good. Or at least it was supposed to be. I quit “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” because I committed a sin. A really bad one. Bear with me! I just looked up a character to see what he looked like. I couldn’t imagine if this guy was 24 and a smokeshow or if he was 60+ and had drooping bones. I’m just a girl. AND THEN I RUINED IT. I literally demolished the entire plot twist for myself. Was this self sabotage? Apparently, yes. Once I knew what was coming, all the excitement and tension disappeared. Literally evaporated from thin air. Every scene started feeling like a crawl towards a conclusion I already emotionally processed without earning it. So sad! This is unfortunate, because I wanted to finish the book. It’s about important stuff. But knowing the ending? The plot twist? That really sucks. So yeah. DNF. Not because the book failed me, but because I did. Or maybe Google did. Moral of the story: never image-search a character mid-read unless you’re ready to ruin a good book for myself. 

Shows & Movies

“The Last of Us” (TV)

Writer: Greta Chiodini

(Contains Spoilers) I was so excited for “The Last of Us” season two to come out in spring of this year. I waited until the whole season was out, sat down with my partner ready to watch one of our favorite shows, and within the first two episodes turned it off and never revisited. Neither of us have played the game and all we had seen in trailers were new queer subplots and more action filled, father daughter duo adventure for Joel and Ellie. And then Joel dies, brutally in episode two. I honestly could have given it a second chance, but Pedro Pascal was my favorite part of this series, and after watching an episode of him and Ellie fighting and then having to watch Ellie see her only father figure be brutally murdered in front of her…I cried and then put on “Mean Girls” to feel better.

Games

The “Mini Crossword” from the New York Times

Writer: Tate Kraetzer

This isn’t a DNF in a traditional sense, but more so spiritually — in essence, if you will. This game was a daily part of my life for months; my dad and I raced each other each morning to be the best of our two person sample, compounding our Wordle and Connections scores to create a hierarchy. For which the Mini frequently won me the crown. Yes, this is about my pride, but it’s also about the principle. The Mini was supposed to be NYT’s offering to us mere plebians, like: “Sure, you can’t afford a subscription for the real thing, but maybe your tiny pea brain can afford a few brain cells for a pinch of the magic.” Instead, it’s the first of many lights blinking out on the NYT Games page. When the news came in, my dad and I spent a good few minutes listing what order we thought the other “free” games would get imprisoned behind a pay wall next. Putting this game behind the subscription fee doesn’t make me want to get a subscription, it just makes me want to stop playing the game.  

(Dis)Honorable Mentions

“‘American Gods’ by Neil Gaiman.” — Sam Szekely

“Any weird live-action remakes?? Guys please stop this. Make something original challenge impossible.” — Greta Chiodini

So, some of the PRISM team thought it best to provide some mini rants about the state of our media consumption last year. 

Some may vehemently disagree, even those within this blog post, but this is our PSA: Stay safe out there guys, you never know what horrors may bring you to DNF something next.