I used to believe that gaming meant only using a console, handheld, or using a PC. This summer, when I stayed in Winona, I discovered a cute little gaming store called River Quest.
My roommate got a job working there, so I was in the store at least once a week or every other week. I got to know the owner, who is one of the coolest guys in the Winona area. I was opened up to a world of a different type of gaming.
I’m creating a Bucket List of Board Games that I haven’t played yet, but I intend to. I will sticky this to the front page of the Gaming Section and I plan to update it as I play new games. Also, I hope to post a review on some of these board games especially the ones with the strikeout through the name. In the meantime, enjoy my bucket list! Also, feel free to comment with various board games that I can add to the list.
Superhero fatigue has been talked about a lot recently. There seems to be no shortage of superhero TV shows, movies, etc. With that being said, there are shows or movies that take on the superhero genre in a new way. I had The Umbrella Academy on my radar for a while. The recent announcement of Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly joining the cast in season #4, it piqued my interest in watching The Umbrella Academy from the beginning. The Umbrella Academy is addictive, eccentric, and offers a fresh take on the superhero genre.
The Umbrella Academy begins on October 1st 1989 where 43 women around the world give birth despite never showing any signs of being pregnant. Rich and egotistical Sir Reginald Hargreeves adopts seven of these children who start displaying extraordinary powers. Reginald trains these children to be superheroes and announces them to the world as The Umbrella Academy. Flash forward to present day, Reginald has passed away and the heroes feel that something bad must have happened to him.
Each child within the Umbrella Academy has a number assigned to them besides their first name. Starting in chronological order, there’s Luther Hargreeves aka. Number One (played by Tom Hopper) who shows signs of extraordinary strength. Diego Hargreeves aka. Number Two (played by David Castañeda) who can telekinetically move projectile objects to a specific target. Allison Hargreeves aka. Number Three (played by Emmy Raver-Lampman) who can control minds by saying “I heard a rumor”. Klaus Hargreeves aka. Number Four (played by Robert Sheehan) who can see and communicate with the dead. Five Hargreeves (played by Aiden Gallagher) who can transport through time. Ben Hargreeves (played by Justin H. Min) who can summon horrors from his body. Ben is deceased and only Klaus can see him when season #1 begins. Finally, there’s Viktor Hargreeves (played by Elliot Page) who has been told his own life that he’s ordinary and has no powers. When season #1 begins, Five transports back to The Umbrella Academy from the future and lets everyone know that in a few days, an apocalpyse is going to happen which will kill everyone on Earth. The members of the Umbrella Academy initially don’t believe what Five is telling them. However, they do eventually believe Five and agree to help figure out what causes the apocalypse.
One thing that I enjoy about The Umbrella Academy is how realistic it is. Each of the members of the Academy struggle with their powers and the negative connotations that come with them. Klaus is a drug addict who numbs himself, so he doesn’t have to see the dead. I think of how traumatizing that must be for him as he finds solace in being high to escape what he’s capable of. Ben tries to bring out the good in Klaus which helps aid in Klaus’s character development. Luther sees himself as the leader, but doesn’t garner respect from the other Academy members. Allison uses her power on her daughter to try and prevent a toddler meltdown, but is discovered by her husband. Her husband is granted sole custody of her daughter. Five is trapped in a young body despite having the knowledge of the future. Finally, Viktor was told he wasn’t good enough and constantly feels overshadowed by the others. It shows that each of these characters are good people, but are contemplating how their powers have shaped their lives.
For ensemble shows like these, it’s crucial that these characters have chemistry with each other. I think that’s what makes the first season so fun to watch. Each member of the Academy has a unique partnership with each other. For example, Diego and Klaus butt heads a lot because of their differing personalities. By the end of season #1, Diego starts to admire Klaus and sticks up for Klaus during a group meeting when he’s being interrupted by someone else. Luther and Allison have this “will they” or “won’t they” romance to them because of the crush they had when they were kids. Viktor is easily seen as the outsider, yet Allison tries her best to be the sister that he needs. In only ten episodes, I feel invested in these characters and what might happen to them.
I watched half of season #1 in one day because I felt compelled to watch each episode back to back. I’m on season #2 now which transports the Umbrella Academy to the 1960’s before JFK’s assassination. I like the combination of the sci-fi elements of the show with the real world history unfolding in season #2.
The Umbrella Academy is one of my new favorite shows. It feels different to other superhero content out there and is entertaining throughout. The first three seasons of The Umbrella Academy can be streamed on Netflix.
Two weeks ago, I visited a close friend of mine who lives a few hours away. She lives in a smaller town outside of the Twin Cities. As we were planning on what to do for the weekend, she let me know that there was a small business event where small businesses in the area were offering discounts throughout the day. I thought that could be fun as I like window shopping. I ended up with a small haul of sorts, so I figured I’d share everything that I found.
The Call of Cthulhu Purse
This is probably my favorite purchase of the day. We were at a bookstore and my friend spotted these purses based off of book covers. This purse shows the cover of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s infamous stories, The Call of Cthulhu. This purse is cross-body which is an absolute must for me. It’s also surprisingly bigger than I expected and can fit my phone, wallet, keys, and chapstick comfortably. I always like showing off elements of geekdom in the things that I wear, so this purse fits well into my closet.
Titans Hunt Issues #1-8
After purchasing the Call of Cthulhu purse, we went to the second bookstore of the day. This bookstore has more of a vintage feel to it. There are records and CDs for sale along with comics towards the back of the store. There are these white long boxes, but instead of having single-issue comics, there are comic bundles with a complete story. I found this Teen Titans series for relatively cheap. I can’t wait to start reading the series.
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
It should come as no surprise that Wonder Woman is one of my favorite comic book heroes. I have cosplayed as her several times with various differences between each cosplay. I found this book and it was a must-buy for me. It’s a non-fiction book explaining Wonder Woman’s history throughout the years. I plan on reading this book this month in between all the events I have in March.
I’m happy with my purchases! I have a new purse to carry around and new things to read. This was a successful shopping trip!
The Batman Rocksteady games are some of my favorite video games of all time. Rocksteady made playing Batman fun and I loved being able to run around and solve all of the riddles that were scattered throughout the game. When it was announced that Rocksteady would be releasing a new game titled Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, I was all in. There is no video game studio more equipped to make a Suicide Squad game than Rocksteady. That is until a few weeks ago when gameplay for Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League was released and it doesn’t look very good. I wanted to talk about the gameplay and general first impression thoughts of the game.
My first initial thought when watching the gameplay was how this feels more like Fortnite than Batman Arkham Asylum to me. I don’t mind Fortnite as a game, but it’s not what I was anticipating Suicide Squad to be like. Another thing that I found odd was that the characters all seemed to have jetpacks to fly around the map. I will say it seems like Harley is using a grapple gun versus a jet pack, but still, it doesn’t feel true to her character. This could easily be explained in the story as they could have received that type of tech from Amanda Waller, although, it still doesn’t feel true to their comic book characters.
On a positive note, I do like that I could change between each character at any time. When I played through Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, I could only play as Peter Quill, so I like being able to switch between each character within the Suicide Squad. I know for a fact that I will be playing as Harley and King Shark the most.
The negative reaction was quick. In rewatching the gameplay video, I scrolled through comments and overwhelmingly, gamers are disappointed. It was recently announced that Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League was getting delayed due to the opinions of gamers online. I feel for Rocksteady. They set the bar so high that anything else they release will be heavily watched and critiqued. Gamers are a very opinionated group that only wants to see the Suicide Squad get the same love that Batman did in his games.
No matter what, I will be purchasing and playing Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League. This game has been something that I have been looking forward to for a while. I’m trying to keep reasonable expectations as it’s clear that this will be a different direction than the previous games. I hope that this delay will only improve the game and make it better than it is today.
The first thing I heard about Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania was the film was getting negative reviews. There’s been a lot of discussions online about superhero movie fatigue which I feel contributed to the reviews that this movie received. I went to see Ant-Man last weekend and I liked it a lot. I felt that Ant-Man had a lot of build-ups considering that Kang the Conquerer (played by Jonathan Majors) will be the next Marvel villain to become front and center.
Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) is enjoying his fame from battling Thanos. He’s written a book that he obnoxiously listens to in his car much to his daughter, Cassie’s chagrin. Cassie (played by Kathryn Newton) chastises her father for seemingly not caring about real-world events especially since he’s an official Avenger. Cassie shows Scott, Hope van Dyne ( played by Evangeline Lilly), Janet van Dyne (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), and Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) how she invented a device to communicate into the Quantum Realm. Janet panics and shuts off the device, but not before they all get sucked into the Quantum Realm. Scott and Cassie are separated from Hope, Janet, and Hank. Despite their separation, they are told stories of “The Conqueror” an individual who has overtaken numerous worlds in the Quantum Realm. Cassie is determined to help even though Scott is reluctant. They realize that “The Conqueror” needs to be stopped as his existence is a threat to the multiverse.
I liked that Ant-Man and The WaspQuantumania tied the other Ant-Man films together. First, there’s the reveal of M.O.D.O.K M.O.D.O.K was created by “The Conqueror” who is revealed to be Darren Cross (played by Corey Stoll) from the first Ant-Man movie. I know this isn’t comic book accurate, but I liked this reveal. It tied up loose ends and helped connect the movies together. Also, I liked how Cassie and M.O.D.O.K faced off considering that Darren went after her when she was younger and now she’s able to defend herself.
I liked Kang as a villain. His motives are simple, he wants revenge for being exiled. He feels it’s his duty to protect the multiverse by killing millions of people. Jonathan Majors knocks it out of the park. He’s someone who’s physically capable of holding his own in a fight and he has the tech to be a fierce opponent. I do think there’s much more potential to make Kang more lethal in future installments. This is for sure hinted at in the post-credit scene which by the way, I love the tie into the second season of Loki. I wasn’t expecting that, so I was happy to see that connection.
While Ant-Man was getting negative reviews, I personally liked the movie! It was fun, it tied in the other Ant-Man movies, and it was easy to follow. I’m looking forward to the other Marvel films that will be released this year and seeing Kang the Conquerer pop up throughout the franchise.
I wanted to start this post by telling a story. Writing my blog is a hobby of mine and it’s something that I’m proud of. I decided to be brave and share a blog post I wrote on LinkedIn. Within twenty minutes, I had someone comment on the blog post that I shared. They had written “Too Pornish” in the comments. This was someone with who I wasn’t previously connected, so I had no idea who this person was. I immediately felt a flush of embarrassment and deleted the post linking back to my blog. I didn’t think much of it, but then I tried to access my blog through work to gather some pictures for an “About Me” presentation. My work had blocked my website because it was deemed as an adult site. I laughed and it clicked why that person commented “Too Pornish”. It made me think, is my blog name too sexual?
When I told my friend that I was thinking about starting a blog, she helped me come up with the name. The first name I picked was “The Geeky Iceskater” The name didn’t feel right to me, but I wanted to start writing as soon as possible. My friend helped me figure out some other blog name contenders and she came up with Bizarre Brunette. It clicked and I knew immediately that was the blog name I wanted. It’s funny how Bizarre and Brunette on their own aren’t sexual words, yet when they are put together, it becomes “Pornish” as this one man described. It makes me slightly uncomfortable how something that was a hobby of mine has suddenly become sexualized which was never my intention, to begin with.
I mentioned earlier how I liked that Bizarre Brunette was feminine. The reason why this matters is because of the harassment I have faced both in person and online over my hobbies. I have been made to feel unwelcome at comic book stores even though I love reading comics. When I started playing video games, I was told that I was doing it to get attention from men even though gaming helped me destress after a long day. I was harassed online because I chose a Gamertag that was more feminine. I have had people question if I’m truly a fan of something if I wear a pop culture t-shirt. It’s been draining to be made to feel like I don’t belong.
As a side note, I’m a cis, white woman, so the amount of harassment I have faced is substantially less than other women. There’s still some work that needs to happen so that all women can feel welcome in comics, video games, and geek culture in general.
I was mulling this around, but I don’t see myself ever changing my blog name. If I ever do a rebranding, it could potentially happen in the future, but I have no plans right now. I’m going to continue writing about the topics that I’m passionate about because I want women to feel more welcome in these spaces. Unfortunately for the random guy on LinkedIn, Bizarre Brunette will continue to exist even though it might be too Pornish.
February is over which means that my Romance Reading month has concluded. I had four books and one romance graphic novel on my TBR. I ended up reading the graphic novel plus two of the books. It wasn’t a bad reading month, but I was expecting to do better. Some of the books I was reading took a little bit longer and I was out of town for one weekend in February which didn’t help. Here is everything I read last month.
All The Feels – Finished
All The Feels was a little bit of a letdown. Lauren was a character that I was looking forward to reading about, but she was kind of boring. She’s an ER therapist, yet there’s nothing else memorable about her. She doesn’t have any hobbies or interests outside of her job. I find it hard to believe there wasn’t something that could have been added to make her character more interesting. In contrast to Spoiler Alert, the first book in the series, April was a geologist who was so cool to read about! Besides Lauren, I liked everything else in the book. I rated All The Feels three stars on Goodreads.
Well Played – Finished
Well Played is one of the lowest-rated books in the Well Met book series. Part of the reason for this is because of the “catfishing” that’s centered on romance. Stacey reached out to an old fling and later finds out that she was talking to his cousin and not to him. I didn’t personally have a problem with this because Daniel, the man Stacey was actually communicating with, was apologetic and realized that what he did was wrong. I think what was more concerning to me was what their “fight” was about. Once that happened, I felt more animosity toward Stacey and Daniel as a couple.
I liked Well Played because I love the Renaissance Fest being the backdrop for the story. I think I will avoid catfishing in romance books going forward. I rated Well Played four stars on Goodreads.
The Love Con – Currently Reading
I’m currently reading The Love Con as I wasn’t able to finish it by the end of February. I’m loving it so far. It’s basically a “friends to lovers” romance with the backdrop of a Project Runway Cosplay reality TV show. I’m planning on finishing The Love Con sometime this month.
Book Lovers – Didn’t Read
I didn’t get a chance to read Book Lovers which is completely fine by me. This book would be perfect to read in the summer.
Lore Olympus Vol #1 – Finished
Lore Olympus is so good. I love that there are physical trade paperbacks now and I think I prefer reading Lore Olympus this way versus on an app. I rated Lore Olympus five stars on Goodreads.
As far as what’s next, I plan on finishing The Love Con by the end of the month. March will be a much busier month for me since I will be attending two conventions out of state. I’m not sure how much reading I will get done, but it’s a nice break to be able to read whatever I’m in the mood for versus doing a full reading challenge. My next reading challenge will be Star Wars books in May which I always look forward to.
I love making lists. It keeps me organized and I feel accomplished when I cross things off. One of my lists includes movies that I haven’t seen. This includes whole franchises or stand-alone films. One franchise that’s been on my list for a while is the Underworld franchise starring Kate Beckinsale. I know the Underworld series was about Vampires and Lycans, but that’s it. Watching Underworld for the first time, this movie has held up since it was released twenty years ago.
Underworld focuses on Selene (played by Kate Beckinsale) who leads a team to take down the Lycans as she is led to believe that the Lycans are evil and killed her family. As Selene is tracking a group of Lycans, she’s surprised to see that they are targeting a human which is unheard of. Selene feels that’s suspicious enough, so she finds Michael (played by Scott Speedman), the human that Selene feels is being targeted. Selene is correct as Michael was attacked by Lucian (played by Michael Sheen). Selene is too late and sees Michael has been bitten by Lucian. Selene is aware something is going on, but she’s gaslit by her clan who tells her there is nothing to fear. Selene turns her back on the clan to try to save Michael along with uncovering why he’s being targeted, to begin with.
The first thing I noticed about watching Underworld for the first time is how awesome Selene is. She’s a female protagonist who is not dressed provocatively and she can hold her own throughout the movie. It’s obvious that Selene is stunning because she’s a Vampire who doesn’t age, but they don’t dress her in a campy outfit, she wears all leather and black and her look is functional. I think that’s interesting considering the time frame in which Underworld was originally released.
Besides Seline, I think the cast in Underworld helps make this a more memorable supernatural action film. Michael Sheen as Lucian was a perfect casting choice. Lucian has this sort of goth, animalistic look to him. Lucian is the type of villain who isn’t physical, but more manipulative as he plays both sides of this war. Bill Nighy plays Viktor, one of Selene’s mentors as she became a vampire. Viktor is a character that is cold-hearted, yet he has a soft spot for Selene which is proven throughout the film.
It was fun to watch Underworld for the first time. I’m glad that I could cross another film off my list.
I’m excited to say that I will be attending Gen Conin 2023! For those who are unfamiliar, Gen Con is the largest gaming convention in the US. There are so many different gaming events occurring along with the biggest vendor hall that I have ever seen. There’s so much going on at Gen Con that I find that there is something for everyone. I have been to Gen Con once and I always had it on my radar to go back. I may end up writing a few posts here and there as Gen Con gets closer. To start, I wanted to share the journey of attending Gen Con and why this con means so much to me despite only attending for one year.
In 2019, a few of my friends approached me about Gen Con as they felt that I would really like the convention. Gen Con takes place in Indianapolis which is only a nine-hour drive for me. I didn’t want to drive all that way myself, so I invited my brother to come with me. It was comforting having him to talk to and it made it more pleasant to be able to experience this with someone else for the first time. When I first arrived at Gen Con on Thursday, I was amazed. There were food trucks that lined the entrance of the convention which is pretty smart considering gamers need to eat. I was in line waiting to get into the vendor hall on the first day and the crowd behind us was one of the largest crowds I have ever been a part of. Another amazing part was how much there was to experience. Gen Con was hosting a brewery tour, a 5k, and other non-gaming events. I have never heard of a convention having that many events occurring simultaneously.
Immediately after getting home from Gen Con, I knew that I wanted to go back. Me and my friends were planning on attending Gen Con in 2020 which obviously did not happen. Our group kept in touch throughout the years of the pandemic. Both 2021 and 2022 were a miss as the pandemic was still around and there’s no denying that there would be a crowd. When I reached out to my friends this year, they were adamant that they wanted to return to Gen Con. All of our passes have been bought and our hotel room has been booked. It will be nice to stay at a hotel on site for parking and be able to walk to and from the convention at any time.
I cannot wait for Gen Con and I’m so happy to be going back. I know my brother is looking forward to it too and it’s been great to be able to spend time with my brother as well.
On Thursdays, I’m still playing Curse of Strahd at Badwolf Adventure Studios. Our game was a semi-weekly game, however, the players voted on making sessions on a weekly cadence instead. This is the longest campaign I have ever been a part of and I have grown attached to Levinia, a half-elf Blood Hunter. She’s a level #10 which is also the highest I have ever leveled up a character. Besides offering sessions, Bad Wolf also allows for character commissions. I asked for a commission of Levinia because even if she were to die, I won’t ever forget her. The commission was completed in January and I’m pleased with how it turned out.
I’m in awe! Levinia looks so good! I felt that this image captured her character. In addition to having a digital copy of the art, Badwolf framed it for me too. I haven’t hung it up yet as I’m figuring out where I want to hang it in my house.
I cannot say enough positive comments about Badwolf Adventure Studios. I always look forward to our sessions and it’s helped me destress throughout the week.
I remember watching a trailer for Bullet Train last year and thought it seemed like a fun movie. It’s tough to tell with action movies because as much as I love them, they tend to follow the same premise. Bullet Train was getting rave reviews, so maybe there was something unique about the movie that made it stand out. Bullet Train was such a fun twist on an action movie. If Knives Out was an action film, that’s how I would describe Bullet Train.
Bullet Train begins with Ladybug (played by Brad Pitt) being sent out on a last-minute job to pick up a briefcase on a train. As Ladybug searches for the briefcase, the film introduces us to “brothers” Lemon (played by Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who are also looking for the briefcase while also protecting “The White Death’s” son who was kidnapped earlier. If that wasn’t enough to keep track of, “The Father” (played by Andrew Koji) is searching the train for the person who pushed his son off a building. “The Father” is knocked out by “The Prince (played by Joey King) who reveals herself as luring “The Father” to the train to help kill “The White Death”, but it’s not revealed why “The Prince” wants the “White Death” dead until later. As the characters fight each other over the briefcase, they realize that details were left out as to why they were asked to be on the train.
As far as the characters, it’s clear that Lemon and Tangerine stole the show. They were hilarious and they had great chemistry together. I would watch a “buddy cop” type film starring Lemon and Tangerine. Lemon talks about his love of the Thomas the Tank Engine TV show and how he would group people as one of the trains on the show. This carried throughout the whole movie with everyone referring to the “double agent” as Diesel, a train on the show. As a side note, there are rumors that Aaron-Taylor Johnson is being auditioned as the next James Bond and after watching Bullet Train, I can see it. Lemon and Tangerine are the best part of this movie.
The reason I would describe Bullet Train as being a “Knives Out” action film is how much mystery there is and how it’s revealed towards the end. There are moments that happen earlier in the film that feels innocuous but then is revealed as being important later on. An example of this is when Ladybug punches a stuffed cat and walks away. The stuffed cat was really an assassin in disguise that Ladybug has to fight later on. The way everything is revealed and tied up at the end is satisfying.
Bullet Train was one of the more memorable action films that I have seen recently. I’m still waiting on a Lemon / Tangerine team-up movie. Hollywood should make that happen.