I love weddings. With all the despair going on in the world, weddings are positive and light. My aunt got married last weekend and I couldn’t be happier. This ceremony was smaller which honestly, I think smaller weddings are more enjoyable. I felt that I could actually congratulate the bride and talk to people on a smaller scale. After the wedding, we went out to an intimate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was so fun to be able to celebrate their marriage.
I have been a big fan of Supermassive Games since I played Until Dawn in 2019. Supermassive Games is known for creating interactive, immersive, horror games that rely on significant decisions within each chapter. I like how the games are scary without it being unplayable. There are certain horror games that I cannot play because there are too many jump scares and I find that any game Supermassive Games creates, it’s the perfect line of scary without needing to cover my eyes all the time. The Quarry was a blast to play the week before Halloween.
The Quarry begins at Hackett’s Quarry, a summer camp in the woods. As the seven counselors are preparing to leave camp for the summer, Jacob (played by Zach Tinker) sabotages the truck, so he can have another shot with Emma (played by Halston Sage). The counselors are warned by Chris Hackett (played by David Arquette) to stay indoors for the night. Of course, the teens ignore Chris’s advice and throw a bonfire to celebrate the end of the summer. Besides Jacob and Emma, there’s Abigail (played by Ariel Winter) and Nick (played by Evan Evagora) who have this “will they” or “won’t they” attraction to each other. The other three counselors: Dylan Lenivy (played by Miles Robbins), Kaitlyn Ka (played by Brenda Song), and Ryan Erzahler (Justice Smith) initiate a group of truth or dare which helps progress the story by separating several of the camp counselors from each other. As the chapters progress, it’s clear that there’s something hunting the group of counselors and something sinister is happening at Hackett’s Quarry.
I loved the setting of The Quarry. Nothing feels more like a slasher film than having it take place at a summer camp. The campgrounds were huge and there were so many areas that were explored throughout the game. There’s a portion of the game where Emma is separated from the group and she’s running on top of this water tower overlooking the island with the camp. There are several scenes where Abigail was in the woods by herself and there were noises that could be heard no matter where she wandered to. Horror video games rely on the setting to create the ultimate gaming experience and The Quarry did just that.
As far as the characters, Abigail was my favorite. She was the artsy one of the group and I liked her and Nick’s romance. Out of all the characters, they were the two that I was trying my best not to kill. I also enjoyed playing Ryan as he becomes incredibly important in the later chapters. He’s one of the characters that get to the final showdown between the survivors and the killers. While I found a few favorite characters in The Quarry, it doesn’t really matter if the characters are likable or not. In any Supermassive game, if you like the characters, you’re more likely to want them to survive, but if you end up hating everyone, you end up having a fun time trying to find ways to kill them off. There’s something for everyone in this genre of games.
Another highlight of The Quarry is the amount of replayability. There are several trophies or achievements that are unlocked based on character choices or how many characters survive in the end. There’s one trophy where all the characters are killed and another where all the characters live. There’s a secret achievement where one female character survives and the rest do not. In my first playthrough, I ended up having four of the counselors who survived and killed three of them which is actually pretty good for me. In Until Dawn, I killed everyone in my first playthrough. Oops. I could see myself replaying The Quarry next year for Halloween and trying to unlock a new trophy and see a few cutscenes that I didn’t get to witness my first time through.
The Quarry was the perfect game to play leading into Halloween. I ended up turning off all the lights in the downstairs living room and turned up the volume while playing through the game. I am still a big fan of Supermassive Games and if anything, I feel more inspired to go back and buy their other games and play through those as well. The Quarry may be the best game I played in 2022.
My friend reached out to me and asked me if I watched Ms. Marvel yet. I told her I haven’t as I’m a bit behind in my Marvel Disney+ TV series. She encouraged me to watch it because she felt it was her all-time favorite Marvel show. I had this on my list to watch down the road, but since she set such high expectations, I started watching the show right away. I adored Ms. Marvel and honestly, it might be up there with WandaVision as being the top Marvel TV show that I have watched.
Ms. Marvel is centered around Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani) who is an average teenager growing up in Jersey City. She’s a big Avengers fangirl and she tries to convince her parents to let her go to AvengerCon, a comic book convention for fans of the Avengers. She brings along her friend Bruno (played by Matt Lintz) to AvengerCon, so she doesn’t have to go by herself. As Kamala enters the Captain Marvel Cosplay Contest, she slips on a family heirloom that grants her powers. She accidentally destroys portions of the convention and flees. With Bruno’s help, she starts to get a handle on her powers while also understanding her family’s history.
I loved Kamala! I’m biased because I did read Ms. Marvel comics before watching the show. Kamala’s fandom is front and center which is a big part of her backstory. It’s not often that I watch a show and see a character on TV going to a comic book convention without it being a thing to make fun of. Ms. Marvel also highlights Kamala finding out about her family and why she has the powers that she does. I thought this story developed in a really interesting way. I also like Kamala’s friends. Ms. Marvel wouldn’t have come to be without Bruno. He’s the science best friend who helps Kamala. There’s Nakia (played by Yasmeen Fletcher) who Kamala encourages to run for a position on the mosque board. The three of them each have different qualities to them that work well together.
Similar to She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel received online hate when it was released on Disney+. I genuinely do not understand the hatred for this series. I think if I had to guess, it would come down to the target audience. Ms. Marvel is aimed at a younger audience, it’s not gritty like Moon Knight was. Some of the hate could come from those who didn’t like Captain Marvel which is silly because Ms. Marvel is a different story entirely. While I understand that not everyone will like the same things, I do find it obnoxious whenever I see positive comments about Ms. Marvel and there are Facebook reactions with the laughing face.
Ms. Marvel was so good! I’m contemplating rewatching the series again because that’s how much I liked the show. Ms. Marvel is available to stream on Disney+ and The Marvels is set to air in 2023.
Halloween is over and done with. There’s so much build-up into Halloween that once it’s over, I feel a little sad afterward. While I didn’t have the biggest of Halloween plans, I still felt I had a decent spooky season. Two weeks ago, I went to visit my family for a family board game day. This was the same weekend where I played Hunt A Killer which I wrote about a few posts ago. One other game I brought to play was Betrayal at House on the Hill. Betrayal is one of my favorite board games because it’s supposed to be a scary game, it has elements of Dungeons & Dragons in it, and every time you play, there’s always a new scenario to experience. Speaking of which, I wanted to recap our game of Betrayal because it was unexpected, to say the least.
For those unfamiliar with Betrayal’s mechanics, Betrayal is a game where players start cooperative as they explore this house. Tiles are laid down as players explore new rooms. Throughout the game, players gather items and omens. For every omen gathered, there’s a “haunt” roll. If players roll less than the number of omen cards out in play, the haunt begins. This is where the name Betrayal comes into play. Eventually, once the haunt happens, one or two players end up betraying everyone else quickly turning it into a player-versus-player game.
In this game, my uncle was the betrayer, so it became three versus one. My uncle’s goal was to summon an Elder God and our goal was to either kill my uncle’s character or take his summoning book to the chasm or fireplace to burn it. If our characters died, or the ritual was completed, we lost the game. I thought we were going to lose for sure. My uncle’s stats were all increased and when the haunt started, I didn’t have any items which are valuable during the haunt. As we played through the game, it was clear that the Elder God was going to get summoned. At that point, my uncle’s character died and he got to control the Elder God.
As we were moving through the house, my brother ended up going in front of the Elder God to give me space to carry the book to the furnace. After the Elder God killed my brother’s character, this is when I knew there was one shot at winning. In Betrayal, there’s a mystic elevator that will take you to the upper floor, the ground floor, or the basement. A dice is rolled and depending on what I would roll, it would depend on where I got to go in the house. I needed to roll to allow my character to go to the basement because that’s where the chasm was. Thankfully, I rolled successfully, so the mystic elevator took me to the basement and I tossed the book down the chasm to win the game. If I didn’t roll for the basement, I easily would have been killed by the Elder God. I should add that my character was an 8-year-old girl and the imagery of an 8-year-old defeating an Elder God is awesome.
My uncle clearly had a blast playing Betrayal as it was his first time playing. For reference, the base game of Betrayal has 50 possible haunts. I think I have played Betrayal three or four times, so I know that I have so many haunts to experience. If I play Betrayal again in the future, I may write about the other haunt that I revealed. I might start making tabs of which haunts I haven’t played through so eventually, I can reveal them all.
I was scrolling through Facebook earlier this year and Bridgerton kept popping up on my feed. I would see video clips of the seasons along with cast interviews. There was so much hype around Bridgerton and it seemed like everyone loved this show. I was going through Netflix the other day looking for a new show to watch and guess what popped up. I’m not normally a fan of Victorian-era content, but I figured I’d watch one episode of Bridgerton to at least see what it’s all about. From watching that first episode, I was enthralled by the series. Bridgerton is so good and I cannot wait for season #3.
Bridgerton takes place in the 1800s and centers around various famous and rich families. Each season centers around one member of the family and finding love in the London social scene. In season #1, the story centers around Daphne Bridgerton (played by Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (played by Regé-Jean Page). In season #2, the story centers around Daphne’s older brother; Anthony (played by Jonathan Bailey), and Kate Sharma (played by Simone Ashley). In between all the romance and the balls, there’s a gossip column published by Lady Whistledown who repeats the gossip she hears in a pamphlet. This is where the Gossip Girl comparison comes in. The voice of Lady Whistledown is Julie Andrews who has the most lovely and soothing voice which adds to the mystery of Lady Whistledown and her identity.
While the romances are the main draw of the show, I personally find it more interesting to keep track of the side characters. There is Eloise Bridgerton (played by Claudia Jessie). Eloise is shortly coming of age, but she clearly pushes back on what is expected of her. She’s a voracious reader and wants someone to have an intellectual conversation with. She has no interest in holding down a household and I find that Eloise gets more character growth in the second season. Besides Eloise, there’s Penelope Featherington (played by Nicola Coughlan) Penelope is one of Eloise’s best friends and there’s a lot more to her than what is initially revealed. The third season of Bridgerton will focus on Penelope finding love. Throughout the series, Penelope was infatuated with Colin Bridgerton (played by Luke Newton) Anthony’s younger brother. I hope Penelope’s romance is with someone else because, towards the end of season #2, Colin makes some cruel comments about Penelope which she overhears. I can’t see the two of them romantically linked and Penelope deserves someone who authentically loves every part of her.
Speaking of the romances, I think I enjoyed watching season #2 more. While Daphne and Simon’s romance had a lot of chemistry, I liked how Kate challenged Anthony. It felt more like a tug of war between the two of them which was more satisfying when they finally linked together. Kate and Anthony were couple goals and I’m looking forward to Penelope’s season.
I did not think that I would like Bridgerton as much as I did. Bridgerton is available to stream on Netflix and season #3 hasn’t been given a release date thus far.
When my husband and I moved into our house, our friends gifted us board games as a housewarming present. One of the games that was gifted to us was a Hunt A Killer box. I had never heard of Hunt A Killer before receiving this as a present. Hunt A Killer are mystery games that center on a case that needs to be solved. Hunt A Killer can be purchased individually, or there’s a subscription box where a game is sent regularly. Our friend gave us the “Murder at the Motel” game. Hunt A Killer is an interesting premise that I would try to play again.
“Murder at the Motel” takes place unsurprisingly at a motel undergoing renovations. Julian Foard is found dead in one of the motel rooms in the mid-afternoon. Julian’s close confidante, Veronica Rodriguez, calls into a detective agency asking for assistance. The police think she had something to do with his death, but Veronica claims she’s innocent. Several guests are staying in the motel at the time of Julian’s death, including a family of three, a real estate agent, the motel owner, and a man who was seen frequently at the pool, intoxicated. The goal is to figure out three things: the means (how Julian was killed), the motive (who would have a reason for wanting Julian dead), and the timeline to figure out where everyone was when Julian was killed.
As we opened the box, there were several pieces of evidence along with a locked box with a four-digit combination. My group loves to chit-chat, so I think one of the challenging things right away was getting us all to focus on one thing at the same time, versus reviewing all the pieces of evidence separately. I like that Hunt A Killer can be played solo, as I could see buying this and spending a Friday night playing through it. I love the attention to detail within the box. There’s a detailed police report, crime scene photo, several receipts, and other pieces of evidence, along with Julian’s journal. It felt immersive even though it was only a game.
While the game said it would take an hour, it took us at least three hours. The biggest challenge was figuring out who was lying about their alibi, along with figuring out the combination to the locked box. At first, we were sure we wouldn’t need to use a hint, but eventually, it came to a point where we were sinking several hours into this and not getting anywhere. To be fair, “Murder at the Motel” is listed at medium difficulty, but I’m not exactly sure how that’s scaled. We ended up using a small hint, and to our amusement, the answer to the combination was right in front of us.
The biggest gripe I have with “Murder at the Motel” was the solution. My group thought we had it all figured out. However, when we opened the envelope containing the solution, we were wrong about everything. I still find myself thinking through all the pieces of evidence, and I’m not finding a direct link between who the killer was and what we reviewed. Clearly, something was missed, but at the same time, if I’m still stuck putting the pieces together, I’m not sure how clearly outlined the evidence was. Instead of feeling satisfied at the reveal, I was left feeling annoyed. I think this is more specific to the “Murder at the Motel” story, so that’s why I would be open to trying another Hunt A Killer box.
Hunt A Killer is a perfect game for anyone who’s a big True Crime aficionado or someone who likes puzzles or escape rooms. As mentioned, I wasn’t a big fan of the reveal of “Murder at the Motel”, but I do think the concept of this is fun. I don’t think I would sign up for a subscription, but I would consider ordering another story. If you played Hunt A Killer, let me know in the comments which one you tried!
My husband and I go see every DC film as soon as it’s released in theaters. I have always been a devoted DC fan, even though DC has had quite a few hiccups in creating its own cinematic universe. As far as Black Adam, I completely forgot that this movie was being released this year. For what it’s worth, Black Adam was an enjoyable film; however, I think it emphasizes one of DC’s greatest weaknesses in the way they make their films.
Black Adam opens in ancient times, when a civilization attempts to overthrow a tyrannical king. A boy leading the rebellion gets transported to a secretive place where he gains powers. In the present day, archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz (played by Sarah Shahi) leads a team to a mountain searching for the Crown of Sabbac. As her team is ambushed by a rival group, Adrianna whispers a phrase that coincidentally releases Black Adam (played by Dwayne Johnson). Black Adam has been imprisoned for a while and is worshipped by the city as a hero. Meanwhile, Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) calls in the Justice Society to stop Black Adam. Hawkman (played by Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (played by Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (played by Quintessa Swindell), and Atom Smasher (played by Noah Centineo) come together to capture Black Adam before he does too much damage.
The film itself was fun to watch. I felt myself coasting throughout the film and not getting bored in the slightest. I think Dwayne Johnson was perfectly cast as he fully embodies Black Adam. I loved seeing Amanda Waller / Viola Davis in this, as it helps build this cohesiveness that DC is missing. I was a huge fan of Doctor Fate, as I thought he brought reason to the group. It seemed like Cyclone and Atom Smasher had good chemistry together. Each character served a purpose in this team, and I liked watching them come together.
The one flaw in Black Adam and DC’s movies is juggling all these characters. I think DC, in a lot of ways, makes their films assuming people will know who these characters are. If I were to bring my friend to see this movie with me, she probably wouldn’t be able to fully invest in the story because there wasn’t any backstory given to the characters. It wasn’t discussed how Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher came to be. There were a few conversations in passing where Atom Smasher talks to his uncle, who used to have the suit, or how Cyclone was experimented on. I would have liked to see more backstories or flashback scenes of pivotal moments in their lives. Marvel, on the other hand, excels at this. They build these characters into their own solo movies, so fans start to connect with them. I don’t think the characters in Black Adam are on that level because they weren’t introduced in other live-action films. DC should make these movies that appeal to both fans of the comics and fans of superhero content who may not read comics regularly.
Black Adam was a fantastic film. I’m partial to Doctor Fate, as there’s a lot of comic book crossover between Doctor Fate and another favorite character of mine, Zatanna. If you see Black Adam, make sure you stay for the extra credit scene; you won’t want to miss it!
Overwatch 2 is finally out! It seems like there were several delays, which surprises me since I felt the first Overwatch game was immensely popular. As soon as the game was released, I downloaded it on my husband’s Xbox Series X. After playing a few games, I wanted to share what I think of the game, as it seems like there are some strong opinions about Overwatch 2.
To start off, I started playing Overwatch back in 2016 when my husband bought the game for me while we were in college. I played on and off throughout the years, picking up Overwatch again during the pandemic. I have always been drawn to D.Va, although I switched to Zarya in recent months, and now Zarya is my go-to character whenever I play. I have been looking forward to playing Overwatch 2 as I had high hopes for the game, along with seeing new maps and characters being added.
Playing Overwatch 2 doesn’t feel like that different of a game. I was surprised because when I logged into play, I noticed that there were several characters locked. I had to play a few rounds to unlock some of my favorite characters, and I’m not sure why that was needed. After some searching online, Blizzard locked some of the characters to help ease players into the game, without feeling overwhelmed. I was told by a friend of mine that this may be because my Blizzard account didn’t sync properly, so it’s having me start over by unlocking the characters. I’ll have to look into why that was the case to hopefully save me time. Overwatch does have a lot of characters to choose from, but I don’t see that as being an intimidating feature. I think it’s exposing players to various options and finding the character that best suits their play style.
As far as new characters, there were three new characters included upon release. I have only played Junker Queen so far, and I could see myself playing Junker Queen in future games. I guess I was picturing more new characters than just three on release.
In a general search of Overwatch 2, I’m seeing the common phrase “laziest sequel” being applied. I completely agree. For the length of time in releasing Overwatch 2, I’m surprised that it doesn’t feel any different from the first game. There was a lot of hype regarding Overwatch 2, and I can’t help but find myself let down, considering what my expectations were and the reality of what the game actually is. I will still play it because Overwatch is a comfort game for me, but I wish I had more.
I read The Killing Code by Ellie Marney a week or two ago, and I’m still thinking about this book. I am not usually drawn to historical fiction or romance, but the premise of this book drew me in. The Killing Code focuses on the women who helped break coded phrases and messages during WWII. Combining this premise with a murder mystery, I knew I had to bump this up to the top of my reading list. The Killing Code is a wonderfully written, historical thriller focusing on the women who helped the war effort.
Kit Sutherland is a code breaker working at Arlington Hall, helping to break codes from enemy lines. While Kit works for the war effort, she uncovers a string of murders that seem to be targeting girls who work for the government. Kit teams up with her supervisor, Moya Kershaw, Dottie Crawford, and Violet DuLac to review the evidence and find out who’s behind the murders.
I loved everything about this book! I loved the setting in Virginia and how they work in the same compound near Washington DC. I liked how, in each chapter of The Killing Code, there were quotes from actual codebreakers in the war. I thought it added to the aesthetic and setting of the book.
As far as the characters, I thought Kit’s backstory was really interesting, and I liked how it tied into the reveal of the killer. I can’t go into it in detail without spoiling the book. Kit and Moya develop a romantic relationship throughout the book, and I adored them together! They have very different personalities, but I thought they complemented each other. Dottie has personal attachments to the case as she knew one of the girls who was killed. Finally, there’s Violet, who faces racism throughout the book, along with contemplating whether she wants to submit her college application. Each of the characters had their own journey, which I thought helped define them and made them memorable.
Once I started The Killing Code, it didn’t take me long to finish the book. I looked forward to completing my day so I could get back to reading the book. While I think this book was written as a one-off, it would be interesting to see a sequel. It could focus on a different portion of history and on where everyone went after the war ended. The Killing Code was so good, and I will be on the lookout for Ellie Marney’s other books. I rated The Killing Code five stars on Goodreads.
It’s shocking, but I haven’t been to a single convention this year. I had plans on the weekends when the conventions were occurring, or I had to rethink my travel plans due to airfare price increases. In the past few years, I have found several out-of-state conventions that I love to attend. However, traveling for a convention has its downsides. I wanted to share my experience with traveling to conventions out of state, along with the pros and cons of both.
Indianapolis (Gen Con), Chicago (C2E2), and Kansas City (Planet Comic Con) are all cities I have visited because there was a convention that I was able to attend. I have been to Chicago and Kansas City many times, and yet I always find something new. It could be a new restaurant, brewery, or tourist attraction that I didn’t have time for on my prior trips.
Being able to combine my love of traveling with attending a convention has been a blast. I like being able to be a tourist while also taking a day off and cosplaying or browsing the artists who are tabling at the event. I still have Emerald City Comic Con on my list to visit, along with New York Comic Con.
I’m fortunate because I have friends and family in various parts of the US. However, that only goes so far. I need to decide how I’m getting to the convention (flying, driving, or taking a train). Once I figure out my method of transportation, I have to weigh the costs and the PTO I have to take off work. While I love road trips, I wouldn’t consider driving to Seattle, for example, because of how time-consuming that would be. It gets to the point of contemplating if I have money to travel, especially now that I’m a homeowner.
Traveling for a convention is time-consuming. It’s kind of nice to attend a convention within two to three hours of driving and be able to get home and relax. Waiting around at an airport or spending six hours in the car is a huge chunk of time out of my day.
In general, I think it’s worth it to travel for a convention if you like the city where the convention is held or the convention itself. I don’t think I would ever travel on a whim to a convention unless I researched the con beforehand. How far have you traveled for a convention? Let me know in the comments below.
Bizarre Brunette 