Watching, Playing, Reading #9

It's back!  The semi-monthly-ish post series which I haven't written since December.  Yes that's right, December.

Needless to say I've been watching, playing, and reading a lot since December.  And I'm definitely not going to remember all of it.  So let's get started!

Watching:

Netflix:

TV series:

Goosebumps:  I never actually watched this show as a kid, but I love it now.  It's the perfect amount of cheesy and predictable, but I'm often very wrong about what I think is going to happen.

The Wonder Years:  I had seen a handful of episodes of this show growing up and I liked it, so Jordan and I worked our way through the whole series.  It was good and worth the watch.  I like how the ending didn't ruin the whole show by being too happily ever after.

Third Rock from the Sun:  This show is goofy and ridiculous.  It is a great show to have on in the background for white noise and there isn't really a lot of plot to follow.  For those of you who don't know, it's about four aliens posing as a human family in order to learn about Earthlings.

Twin Peaks:  I've been hearing about this show for ages, so I finally started watching.  It is way to slow for Jordan so I haven't quite finished it yet.  I like the colorful characters but I have trouble telling some of the main characters apart, so sometimes I get confused.

Red vs. Blue:  This is a silly Youtube series that is now on Netflix.  It's Halo gameplay with hilarious dubbing.

Bob's Burgers:  This series is amazing and I cannot wait for more episodes.  We are constantly quoting lines from it, especially "But do you season?!" and when we get a dog in the future we are going to name it KuchiKopi.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt:  This show was amazing!  We powered through all of it in two days.  There are so many funny lines and it's just great.  If you haven't watched it you definitely should.

Taboo:  This show is super interesting.  Each episode focuses on different things that Americans might consider taboo and how they are handled by other cultures.

Movies:

House of Last Things: This movie was weird and confusing, but I kind of loved it.  I don't even know how to describe it without spoilers.

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart:  This movie reminded me of Hugo if it had made less sense.  It was visually breathtaking and the story was incredibly sweet with great characters.  Definitely worth a watch.

Stand By Me:  This movie is a classic for a reason.  It's a coming-of-age story about four childhood friends going to find a dead body, and so much more.

The Babadook:  This movie scared me a lot at first but then I found out that the villain is really silly looking.  I think the Babadook is supposed to be a metaphor for her grief over the loss of her husband and how she has to come to terms with the fact that she'll always miss him but life goes on.

The Imposter:  This movie is based on the true story of an adult who pretended to be a teenager and was placed into various homes under so many identities as their missing child.  It's really insane that this actually happened and he got away with it so many times.

Hercules:  We hadn't seen this movie in years and we watched it during a Saturday of lazy cartoon movie watching.  It did not disappoint.

Pontypool: A zombie movie I hadn't seen yet!  Well now I have.  It's a very interesting treatment of a zombie situation where nothing really happens, but the creepy part is the anticipation.

The Big Lebowski:  I hadn't seen this movie so I finally watched it so I would get the references.  I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.

Fight Club:  I was surprised how good this movie was!  I always thought it was just an action beat-em-up type of movie but I was so wrong.

Besides that we watched a bunch of Tim Burton movies that we got on Amazon, as well as a Studio Ghibli box set, also from Amazon.

Image via

Playing:

So many video games!

I went to see my parents for a weekend while my brother was home on leave and I played the Wii while I was there.  I played this game called Death Jr. which was super fun.  I had never heard of it before.  It's nice and dark and creepy but still pretty lighthearted and fun.

I had purchased a Humble Bundle last year because it had Fez and then I found out that my computer can't handle the 3D environments so I couldn't play it.  Well Jordan bought Fez for me on Xbox and it's everything I wanted and more.  There are so many worlds to explore that I sometimes get lost, but it's still really fun.

Besides that I got a Game Boy Advance SP off of eBay just so I could get Gex Enter the Gecko from a store on The Ave called Pink Gorilla and experience the nostalgia.  Since it was the store's anniversary they had a buy 3 get 1 free sale on video games, so I also got Tak and the Power of Juju, Spyro Orange, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, because I love the show (but it turns out that I kind of hate the game; oh well it was free).

And once again I have become somewhat addicted to Candy Crush Saga.

Reading:

Icebound by Dean Koontz, The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr., Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred by Donald Tyson, Winter Moon by Dean Koontz, Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen by Arin Andrews

I have branched out a lot in my reading selections this year.  These books were all really good except for The Harbinger, which I picked up at a thrift store for next to nothing.

Do you have any Netflix recommendations for me?  I'm always looking for new things to watch.

Friday Fashion: A Quick DIY Fix for Broken Zipper Handles

This morning I was running late for work and when I put on my boots the zipper handle broke on one of them!  I didn't have any time to do anything about it, so I just zipped it up as far as I could and went to work.  When I was at work I got an idea.  I have some earrings that I bought a few years ago and can't wear because my ears are allergic to them.  I thought they would be big enough to make great zipper handles and they match my boots.  Then when I got home I tried it out and they work great.  It's pretty easy to do this.  It is very important that you have sharp wire cutters to cut off the zipper handles (or whatever is left of them).  You also need pliers, charms or earrings to use as zipper handles, and two jump rings.

First you need to cut off the remaining zipper handles and throw them away.  Then take your earrings or charms and attach them to the zipper, where the handle was, with the jump rings.  Make sure you open and close the jump rings correctly, using this method.  If you are using earrings you need to remove the earring hooks before you can attach them to your boots.  You can either cut off the hooks at the loop at the bottom or twist open the same loop and remove the hooks that way.

This will work for any item with a zipper, not just boots.  I have used this technique to replace a zipper handle on a purse too.  It's helpful if you don't know how to sew on a new zipper, or just don't want to.  And this way you can keep using those items instead of having to throw them away and buy new ones.  You can also use this technique to customize items with zippers, even if the zippers didn't break.  Just cut off the zipper and then attach your own earring or charm in its place.

Dream Art: Crystals at the Lake

I had a dream recently that I went to a lake near my hometown and discovered all of these amazing crystal formations growing along the edge of it against some sort of concrete wall.  I was in this tiny raft, so small I could barely fit in it while kneeling, and going along the edge of the wall picking up jars full of the crystals to use in my jewelry.  There was this huge piece of titanium quartz that I thought would be an amazing photo prop.  And then as I went back the raft started sinking and I barely made it to shore before it sank.  Then I woke up and I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t just find this amazing supply of free crystals, but the dream was so nice that I tried to capture the feel of it with Photoshop.

I'm pretty sure I had this dream as a result of browsing Etsy for supplies and then Pinterest for jewelry ideas for about two hours right before going to bed.  I usually have really bizarre dreams or bad dreams so I could definitely use a nice pretty dream like this every once in a while.  And once I was fully awake I found it kind of great that this is like Camp Crystal Lake but in a literal sense and without any murdering.

I've always been able to remember the majority of my dreams really vividly.  Lately this has reached a whole new level where I'll be dreaming and then remember something that had "happened" related to what was happening in the dream at that point.  And then when I wake up the things I remember are always things that happened in previous dreams and my brain is trying to connect them somehow.

T Rex at Work

Yesterday work was super dead.  Not a single person entered the store during the first 3 hours of my shift, so I took silly pictures with a T Rex and put them on Instagram.  Because what else would I do?!

T Rex trying to ride a bike

T Rex trying to be a lap dog

T Rex trying to swim

T Rex trying to take a selfie

I was inspired by the book T Rex Trying, which I don't actually own...yet.

This awesome T Rex is a Fair Trade Federation certified product from Acacia Creations.  They only sell wholesale but they make really cool stuff!

Friday Fashion: Vintage Vibes

Vintage Vibes by jaythejedi featuring flat shoes

I'm currently wearing pajamas and wishing for this outfit I made on Polyvore.  The top and the cardigan are my favorite pieces, besides the hat.  I am seriously in love with cloche hats.  They just add that perfect vintage touch to any outfit.  I only own one right now but that will probably change before too long.  I just made a Pinterest board of hats and it's mostly cloches.  I'm smitten.

Do you like vintage fashion?  What's your favorite kind of vintage item?