As you may or may not recall, I have a tradition of always watching Gremlins when I get sick. I don't know why I do this; I just do. Well, a while ago when I was sick, I decided to watch the second Gremlins movie as well, which I had never seen before. And then I didn't review it for a very long time. But now I will review it for you.
I was pleasantly surprised with Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It was every bit as good as the first movie. In this film, Billy and Kate have moved to New York. Billy works in a big important media building, and he has Gizmo at work with him one day (for reasons I can't remember). Gizmo gets wet and soon the entire building is crawling with gremlins. Gizmo and Billy and Kate have to fight to keep the gremlins from escaping into the city and taking it over. Meanwhile, the media moguls in the building are fighting to keep the public from knowing about the gremlins. There are some zany scenes, as well as some intense action and quick thinking, everything you would expect from Gremlins. All in all, I enjoyed the movie a lot and I give it 4 out of 5 stars. And I won't give away the ending.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go re-make my business cards for my new Etsy shop. I accidentally made them in 72 dpi instead of 300 dpi, so they printed all pixelated. And in other exciting news, I have a Facebook page for my Etsy shop now! If you want to like it, click here. My mom is the only one who likes it right now, because I'm trying to get the shop stocked before I go too public.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Goodwill Haul
G took me to Goodwill today to look for a dresser and a jigsaw puzzle. We didn't find a dresser but I did manage to find 11 spools of ribbon and 1 of lace that will be awesome for jewelry making and were 1 dollar each for a bag of 3 or 4, a shower caddy which I really need since my roommates take up all the shower space with their stuff and I'm left carrying my stuff into the bathroom with me every time I shower then back to my room when I'm done, and two jigsaw puzzles that may or may not have all the pieces still, all for $10. I also found a second purse for 13 bucks. I needed another one for when it rains so my stuff won't get soaked like it would in the super cute fabric one. This one is a sort of mustard yellow color only with a little more brown in it than yellow and in really good shape, with lots of pockets and plenty of room for all of my stuff. There was also some really weird stuff at Goodwill. One thing that I would have definitely purchased and then mailed to thrift store pen pal Woody if I had more money, was what I can only assume was a torch holder. It was designed to be mounted on a wall and had a bowl on the bottom part to place a torch in then a chain higher up with a handcuff type support to hold the torch. It was pretty cool looking to be honest, but I don't live in a castle, so it might be a bit extravagant.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Throw Up Your Rocksmith
...If you're feeling it when I drop this.
I couldn't resist the pun and I like the song, plus I hadn't embedded a video on here in a while, so there you go.
I started learning to play guitar what seems like a lifetime ago, and I would still classify myself as a beginner. It was actually more like 5 or 6 years ago. My brother taught himself how to play and he caught onto it really quickly. Then he tried to teach me how to play. I learned a few chords and how to read guitar tabs, but that was about it. His teaching style doesn't really work out for me, and he would get frustrated when I didn't catch onto something right away that was really basic for him. But I kept trying. I got my first guitar on my 16th birthday, an acoustic-electric Esteban guitar that my ordered off TV. But I loved it and played it acoustically more often than plugging it into the amp, because my mom didn't like the noise when it was plugged in. This was an added challenge because the songs I was learning to play from my brother were meant to be played electrically, since they were hard rock and metal songs. I learned to play some Metallica but I was too invested in school to ever devote enough time to practicing. Fast forward to before I leave for freshman year of college. I went to a yard sale that summer and that's when I found my electric. Despite the spot where the paint is chipping, it was beautiful. It had pearl insets on the fretboard and I knew right then that I had to have it. The guy who was having the yard sale was so nice. He had about 6 guitars and he was downsizing. He sold me the guitar and threw in a free stand, amp, and gig bag all for just $125. I was more determined than ever to learn how to play well. And I did practice for a while. But then I met people who hacky sacked after the first month, and we formed a club. And I was way more devoted to hacky sacking than I was to guitar playing. I would hacky sack with the club for an hour or two three times a week when we met up, and then I would practice hacky sacking by myself to make a total of about 4 hours every single day. And it worked. I got way better at hacky sacking. And the added benefit was that all the exercise made my asthma problems practically non-existent from getting used to a lot of exercise. And then I stopped being able to walk. And I couldn't hack sack then or even go to class for a while. I really wanted to play my guitar during that time, but it was all I could do to get into my high bed, let alone carry anything up there. Because I lived in a dorm room, and that was the only place to practice, on my bed. These were the smallest dorm rooms you can imagine. And after that, I never really got back into guitar playing, but I did get back into hacky sacking just as soon as my legs started working again. Fast forward to now, well two or three months ago, when I first heard of Rocksmith, a game like Guitar Hero but where you plug in your actual guitar and learn to play it. I wanted that game from the minute I heard of it. And guess what? G got me that game for Christmas and I am slowly becoming a rockstar, very slowly, because after not playing for almost a year, it's pretty much like starting all over again. Unlike my flute, which I can pick up after not playing it for a long time and after about 5 minutes, I'm back playing all my favorite songs, like Legend of Zelda music and classic rock. If you didn't know, I also play keyboard (like piano) but I'm even more of a beginner at that than at guitar. And my instruments all have names, except for my first guitar. My flute is named Annabelle, after a song my roommate freshman year played beautifully, and my keyboard and electric guitar are named Sally and Jack, respectively, after Jack Skellington and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, because that movie is awesome. So I said all that to say that I really love the Rocksmith game and before you know it, I should be pretty good at guitar.
I couldn't resist the pun and I like the song, plus I hadn't embedded a video on here in a while, so there you go.
I started learning to play guitar what seems like a lifetime ago, and I would still classify myself as a beginner. It was actually more like 5 or 6 years ago. My brother taught himself how to play and he caught onto it really quickly. Then he tried to teach me how to play. I learned a few chords and how to read guitar tabs, but that was about it. His teaching style doesn't really work out for me, and he would get frustrated when I didn't catch onto something right away that was really basic for him. But I kept trying. I got my first guitar on my 16th birthday, an acoustic-electric Esteban guitar that my ordered off TV. But I loved it and played it acoustically more often than plugging it into the amp, because my mom didn't like the noise when it was plugged in. This was an added challenge because the songs I was learning to play from my brother were meant to be played electrically, since they were hard rock and metal songs. I learned to play some Metallica but I was too invested in school to ever devote enough time to practicing. Fast forward to before I leave for freshman year of college. I went to a yard sale that summer and that's when I found my electric. Despite the spot where the paint is chipping, it was beautiful. It had pearl insets on the fretboard and I knew right then that I had to have it. The guy who was having the yard sale was so nice. He had about 6 guitars and he was downsizing. He sold me the guitar and threw in a free stand, amp, and gig bag all for just $125. I was more determined than ever to learn how to play well. And I did practice for a while. But then I met people who hacky sacked after the first month, and we formed a club. And I was way more devoted to hacky sacking than I was to guitar playing. I would hacky sack with the club for an hour or two three times a week when we met up, and then I would practice hacky sacking by myself to make a total of about 4 hours every single day. And it worked. I got way better at hacky sacking. And the added benefit was that all the exercise made my asthma problems practically non-existent from getting used to a lot of exercise. And then I stopped being able to walk. And I couldn't hack sack then or even go to class for a while. I really wanted to play my guitar during that time, but it was all I could do to get into my high bed, let alone carry anything up there. Because I lived in a dorm room, and that was the only place to practice, on my bed. These were the smallest dorm rooms you can imagine. And after that, I never really got back into guitar playing, but I did get back into hacky sacking just as soon as my legs started working again. Fast forward to now, well two or three months ago, when I first heard of Rocksmith, a game like Guitar Hero but where you plug in your actual guitar and learn to play it. I wanted that game from the minute I heard of it. And guess what? G got me that game for Christmas and I am slowly becoming a rockstar, very slowly, because after not playing for almost a year, it's pretty much like starting all over again. Unlike my flute, which I can pick up after not playing it for a long time and after about 5 minutes, I'm back playing all my favorite songs, like Legend of Zelda music and classic rock. If you didn't know, I also play keyboard (like piano) but I'm even more of a beginner at that than at guitar. And my instruments all have names, except for my first guitar. My flute is named Annabelle, after a song my roommate freshman year played beautifully, and my keyboard and electric guitar are named Sally and Jack, respectively, after Jack Skellington and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, because that movie is awesome. So I said all that to say that I really love the Rocksmith game and before you know it, I should be pretty good at guitar.
 |
| Jack and my amp, in my old room at my parent's house |
Friday, January 6, 2012
Friday Fashion: New Year's Resolution Style
Remember my bucket list? Well some of those are actually things I would like to acclompish this year, New Year's Resolutions perhaps (I don't really like to call things that, because then I fail at them). The thing that I am really working on right now is learning how to walk in heels. I didn't tell you guys this but I am going to be a bridesmaid for the wedding of the girl who was my best friend when we were in high school. So I would like to learn to walk in heels by then, which would be September. Ideally, I would like to learn to walk in heels way before then because I really like my heels. Of course my feet don't like them, because they're not used to wearing them. But I've been wearing them all day until my feet hurt when I'm at home, and so far I'm doing alright. A few stumbles here and there, but not much worse than when I walk around barefoot. So here is me wearing my "New Year's Resolution" heels. And bear with me, because my automatic shutter release hasn't arrived yet.
Shirt and lacey tanktop under the shirt are from Goodwill. Jeans and heels are from Crossroads Trading Co. And I'm starting out wearing socks with them so I don't get blisters and other fun stuff besides them just hurting my feet. And just so you know, these pictures make the heels look shorter than they actually are. They're 4 inches. It's basically the equivalent of teaching someone to swim by throwing them into the deep end, only without the possibility of drowning.
In other news, the "u" key on my laptop keyboard is being slightly harder to push lately, and it's been driving my OCD crazy.
And, in more exciting news, I got some pretty much free belts on eBay. I earned about $4 in eBay bucks from my Christmas shopping, and I found three skinny "leather" belts for 99 cents each, with free shipping, which I snapped up. There's one yellow, one red, and one orange. I love it when I get stuff for free, or nearly free. They're basically letting me spend the same money twice.
Shirt and lacey tanktop under the shirt are from Goodwill. Jeans and heels are from Crossroads Trading Co. And I'm starting out wearing socks with them so I don't get blisters and other fun stuff besides them just hurting my feet. And just so you know, these pictures make the heels look shorter than they actually are. They're 4 inches. It's basically the equivalent of teaching someone to swim by throwing them into the deep end, only without the possibility of drowning.
In other news, the "u" key on my laptop keyboard is being slightly harder to push lately, and it's been driving my OCD crazy.
And, in more exciting news, I got some pretty much free belts on eBay. I earned about $4 in eBay bucks from my Christmas shopping, and I found three skinny "leather" belts for 99 cents each, with free shipping, which I snapped up. There's one yellow, one red, and one orange. I love it when I get stuff for free, or nearly free. They're basically letting me spend the same money twice.
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