Comic Book Haul

I bought some comic books yesterday.  I wanted to get something small for my 7 and 8 year cousin for Christmas but don't have much money, so I thought comic books would be good.  I bought all of these for them, except for Hoax Hunters, but then I read through them after I got home to make sure they would be appropriate and I'll actually be keeping two of them.  Princeless was hilarious but did talk about killing, which isn't exactly child appropriate and Wonderland #2 was great except at one point Mary Ann says "Bloody Hell!" and that's not a phrase the girls need in their vocabulary at this age.  I really enjoyed all of these comics and want to read more of all of them.  Road to Oz surprised me.  It's a completely different story from The Wizard of Oz, which I like.  Also Dorothy is an awful child.  I really adore the art style in both Oz and Wonderland.  Princeless made me laugh out loud multiple times.

I'm really excited about all of these comics and I hope that the girls like the ones I give them.  I think they will because one is a voracious reader and the other has a short attention span but will read books with pictures.  I'm a little disappointed that Princeless wasn't appropriate though because they love princess stories and their mom and I both love stories with strong female characters.

Etsy Love: Alice in Wonderland Edition

I made some Alice in Wonderland inspired jewelry for my own Etsy shop recently.  I have really loved Alice in Wonderland for years and years so I think that it's about time for me to share some wonderful Alice in Wonderland themed Etsy products.

What little girl wouldn't love to have this pretty dress to play dress-up in?!

This is such a cute greeting card!

I love this necklace. The setting is the perfect style for Alice in Wonderland.

These are really cool and I kind of want them but have no use for them or space to put them.

You can see the rest of the items in the treasury I made on Etsy.

Movie Reviews

I have watched a lot of movies since my last movie review post on here.  This isn't even all of them.

The Good:

Resident Evil: Retribution

Rented this one from Redbox.  I had been checking the Redbox website every single day waiting for it to be at my Redbox location.  It was finally there and I had to rent it immediately.  I loved it so much.  I don't think it's a secret that I'm a pretty big fan of Resident Evil movies.  They're some of my favorite zombie movies.  This one was no exception.  There were some new fighting techniques, lots of action, some backstory, and some heartwarming moments, plus a really cool car chase scene.  Although the one thing that I couldn't get past is that some of them were so skimpily dressed while others were bundled in parkas in the frozen Arctic.  I'm not sure how nobody froze to death.  Other than that, I loved this movie. 4.5 stars out of 5.

God Bless America

I watched this one on Netflix.  It was amazing!  Granted, it may not be the best movie to watch with all the shootings going on lately, but I thought that it was a really great commentary on the way news is reported and the assumptions people make about shooters.  The acting was really good, and the ending was realistic.  I can't really talk about the plot without accidentally giving things away, so I'll just leave it at that.  5 stars out of 5

Hugo

I watched this one on Netflix too.  From the first time I saw the trailer, I knew I wanted to watch this movie, and I was not disappointed.  The setting of the train station seems magical.  The way that people dress is sort of steampunk-ish and the entire movie is beautifully artistic.  The plot is truly unique (as far as I can tell. I definitely haven't seen every movie ever, but I haven't seen any movies like this before) and the cast is fantastic.  I really loved this movie and highly recommend it to everyone.  5 stars out of 5

Aaah! Zombies!!! (AKA Wasting Away)

I obviously love zombie movies.  I found this one on Hulu Plus and I loved it.  It's made to be like a cheesy B-movie.  The difference is that it's a zombie movie from the perspective of the zombies.  To the zombies, everyone else is just moving extra fast and the zombies themselves can get hurt without dying, so they think that they're superheroes and everyone else is zombies.  It's really unique and cheesy and funny.  I recommend it to everyone who likes zombie movies or B-movies.  4.5 stars out of 5

The Bad:

Book of Caleb

BOOOOORRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!  I watched this movie on Netflix.  I managed to watch the whole movie but it was never anything other than boring.  I hated it.  Have I ever given a movie 0 stars before? I don't know, but this one gets it.  0 stars out of 5.  Lots of people love this movie, but not me.  If you're interested, IMDB summarizes it as "A comfortable underachiever and serial prankster, in the midst of their quarter life crisis, reunite against childhood enemies in a contemporary suburban epic."

The Meh:

Alice Through the Looking Glass

I found this one on Hulu Plus and I have to watch every single Alice in Wonderland movie ever, so I watched it.  It's mostly true to the book.  The costumes are amazing.  They were my favorite part of the movie.  This movie was pretty well done, but sort of boring.  I feel like there was more that they could have done, but didn't.  I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Movie Review: Phoebe in Wonderland

I've had this movie sitting in my Instant Queue on Netflix for a while now.  I've started this crazy thing where I'm actually watching the movies in my Instant Queue instead of just constantly adding more.  I know, I'm so insane.  But anyway, I chose this movie because I love the cover art and because it sounded Alice in Wonderland-related.

This movie is about a little girl who seems to act out all the time.  She mouths off in class and yells out at ballets.  She also seems to have very severe OCD.  She has to wash her hands a certain number of times, so much that it makes her skin raw and bloody.  She also has to touch all the square pavers in the yard in a certain order, and if she gets interrupted, she must start over.  She decides to sign up for the school play/musical, which is a production of Alice in Wonderland.  She lands the lead role, because she's the only one who tries out for it who can actually act (which is ironic, since all the kids in the movie are real-life actors).  The only place she doesn't act out is in her drama class and her drama teacher is a wonderful mentor for Phoebe.  Phoebe's mother is worried by what is going on with her daughter.  Her mother is writing her dissertation on Alice in Wonderland, and sometimes Phoebe says things like she's talking with the Red Queen.  When asked if that is her imaginary friend, she insists that she is real.  Many Alice in Wonderland characters talk with Phoebe and at first they seem very helpful.  The parts with the Alice in Wonderland characters are very well done and extremely artistic.  I don't want to give away the ending, because I really did love this movie and think that everyone should watch it, especially kids, so they aren't so quick to label someone as the "weirdo".

I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.  The acting, mostly by children, was superb.  The storyline was interesting and the plot moved along nicely.  I also loved how artistic it all was.  I would definitely watch this movie again, and I would strongly recommend it to everyone.

A Shop Update of Sorts Plus Behind the Scenes

I'm not sure if you remember, but my roommate took all my jewelry to SakuraCon this weekend to try to sell some of it for me.  I made a whole bunch of new stuff for it, and I'll list everything that doesn't sell in my Etsy shop afterward.  Here are some of the things that I made, which may or not be appearing in my shop soon.

I love how this one turned out when I was just trying to use up chain odds and ends.
I took forever lining the chain bits up by length.

This guy was originally attached to a pin that I got from eBay.

I love the look of the wire-wrapped coral.
I wish I had more coral, but I only have one or two pieces left.

chain on this one courtesy of G

This one started out as a pin from eBay too.

These rhinestones gave me so much trouble!

This poor little bee has a missing leg, so he's half off.

This coral is from a bag of souvenir shells and coral from the beach that
I got when I was about 12 years old.  Some of the shells may be appearing
in my jewelry soon, no promises though.

This awesome guy was going to have a coral charm attached,
but I couldn't figure out a way to do it without overpowering him

It opens!

subtly Alice in Wonderland themed; I'm getting some new charms
soon that are more overtly Alice in Wonderland-esque

And there's even more than that.  I guess that you could call this my Spring line.

Update: The octopus locket has been sold.

Happy Halloween!

I am going to a Halloween dance tonight, and my legs still don't work, but I'm going anyway because I'm cool like that. I'm going to be Alice in Wonderland. I'm really excited because I was never allowed to dress up or go trick-or-treating so this is my first Halloween where I'm actually doing something fun.  I didn't actually buy a costume though; I'm wearing stuff I already have. That's all I have to say. Bye.