For Easter, I go to my husband’s family outside of Milwaukee. One of our traditions is to go see the Peeps Exhibit at the RAM (Racine Art Museum). The first year we went, my husband thought it wouldn’t be that great, but he was pleasantly surprised. This will probably be a tradition for us as each year brings new art submissions. I wanted to share a few photos from this year’s Peeps submissions.
After completing the exhibit, you can vote for your favorite submission. The winner wins the “Golden Peep.” I voted for the Prince-inspired art while my brother-in-law voted for the Godzilla-like dragon. This exhibit is always a blast, and I can’t wait to go again next year.
May 4th 2022, is almost a month out. Every May, I like to devote the entire month to Star Wars as a way to celebrate May 4th. I only watch Star Wars content, play Star Wars video games, and read Star Wars books and comics. I haven’t fully planned out this year’s Star Wars game plan, although I still wanted to share some Star Wars media or content that I’m most hyped about.
Obi-Wan Kenobi – May 27th 2022
As a big fan of the prequels, I’m absolutely pumped for this to drop on Disney+. This series will reunite Hayden Christiansen and Ewan McGregor as the opposite ends of the force. I watched this trailer and shivered because it brought back memories of the prequels. I’m ecstatic!
Star Wars Andor – Release Date Unknown
Rogue One is another Star Wars film that I adore. It shows the tragedy of war, sacrifice, and fighting for the greater good. Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) is a character who has suffered, and I think there’s more to him that’s worth revealing. I’m excited for this series to premiere. This is a series that has been a long time coming.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
I decided last minute that I was going to play this game. I wish I had pre-ordered it. The Deluxe copy was sold out everywhere, so I had to settle on the standard copy, which included the game only. I played LEGO Star Wars last year on my PC, and I ended up not finishing it as I don’t have a gaming computer, so I felt the game lagged at times. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga includes the new Star Wars films, but also makes this game more open-world. There are a ton of missions, collectibles, and characters to unlock. I was going to wait until May to play this, but I couldn’t resist playing it now.
I’m looking forward to next month! In a week or two, I plan on scouring through my Goodreads TBR for Star Wars books I still have left to read, along with taking a trip to my local comic book store for Star Wars comics. May the 4th be with you!
Xbox Game Pass is so worth the money. I mentioned Xbox Game Pass before, and I will keep reiterating how much I love it. There are so many games to choose from, and I like being able to try a game to see if I like it. During the week, I like playing relaxing games such as Animal Crossing or visual novel games like Coffee Talk. I don’t want to have to concentrate on something, as work at times leaves me feeling drained. One game I decided to try was Donut Country.
Donut Countryis a puzzle physics game in which players play as a sinkhole that will suck up various buildings, animals, and people in this town. The story follows Mira, who, along with her raccoon friend, BK, works at the local donut shop. BK started doing donut deliveries to save for a remote-controlled helicopter. Mira learns that instead of donut deliveries, sinkholes have been dispatched and are sinking various residents. BK realizes that something is amiss as he doesn’t want to sink the town; he only wants his helicopter. How will Mira and BK revert the town to the way it was before the sinkholes?
The gameplay in Donut Country is where the game thrives. I had a lot of fun maneuvering this sinkhole around. Since some of the objects are larger, the sinkhole has to be appropriately placed to complete a level and capture the objects. Some levels have a puzzle component where certain levers have to be pulled, and objects are catapulted out of the sinkhole to complete the level. I liked the puzzle aspect of the game as I think it added a layer of complexity to the levels. Besides the puzzle aspect, I liked the graphics. They were cute, colorful, and had their own memorable art style. The town takes inspiration from LA. The boss level is similar to the Griffith Observatory which I have been to before! I thought it was a nice touch to see where the game draws its inspiration from.
The only downside I can think of to the game is the story. The story at times felt a bit convoluted. I’m still not sure where the sinkholes came from. It’s revealed who summons the sinkholes, but I’m not following how they randomly popped up. I think the point of the game is to be unrealistic, so I think it’s worth suspending some disbelief while playing Donut Country.
Donut Country was an entertaining and relaxing game to play. I probably wouldn’t have played this game had it not been on Xbox Game Pass. Donut Country is available on Xbox Game Pass.
In the last post of my Virginia/Carolinas road trip, I’m going to focus on Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. Charleston was our main destination and where we spent the majority of our trip. Savannah was our last stop since Savannah is only a two-hour drive from Charleston. This part of the US is stunning. Both cities strike the perfect balance, featuring Southern charm rich with history.
Downtown Charleston – an beautiful park area.
Our first day in Charleston was spent walking around downtown. Charleston has so many parks. Each park seems to have a historic statue, and the hanging moss trees are often seen in the South. I could have easily brought my book and read for hours in a park. One of the tourist areas, called The Battery, is a seawall that lines the coast. Without The Battery, Charleston would be underwater, as the city is below sea level. Strolling along The Battery is the best way to see all the architecture. The houses are colorful and historically restored. My favorite part about Charleston was staying downtown, walking the parks, and eating a lot of great food.
The Battery.
Charleston is a historic city in the US. One of the historical sites my husband and I toured was Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was attacked, which led to the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. It was a thirty-minute ferry ride, and we only had an hour on the Fort. It felt rushed as there was so much reading. I felt I had to skim a lot of it. There’s also Fort Moultrie, which played a big part in the Revolutionary War. I love going to a museum while on vacation, and Charleston has plenty.
Fort Sumter
After spending three days in Charleston, we drove to Savannah. Savannah is a city right along the river. Savannah is a city that has the best shopping. There were several blocks of shops with red brick sidewalks and a Gazebo in the center. There was music playing, restaurants lined the sidewalks, and various tourist activities. The first thing I wanted to do was visit the Prohibition Museum. The Prohibition Museum is downtown, and it’s one of the few museums in the US solely devoted to Prohibition.
Display of a protest against alcohol: “Bread not Beer.” “Liquor is a Curse.”
Part of the significance of the Prohibition Museum being in Savannah was that Savannah was one of the last Georgia cities resisting Prohibition. The museum featured several displays, old articles, and a video on how to make Moonshine. Included in our museum tickets was a cocktail at the Speakeasy located inside. We felt so bad because there was a huge line with only one bartender. He was awesome, and I was able to Venmo a tip. I had a Gin cocktail which was so strong! I didn’t mind because I like Gin. My husband had a Gin cocktail with champagne, so it tasted sweeter.
After the Prohibition museum, my husband and I stopped at a brewery, along with visiting a comic book store called Nerdheim. I spent about $150 on comics, and I have no shame. After comic book shopping, we strolled along the Savannah riverfront, stopping for a beer or two. Finally, we ended our day by grabbing dinner before going to bed early to begin our drive back home.
This was an amazing road trip. Driving through the Virginias and the Carolinas was one of the most scenic road trips I have ever taken. Both my husband and I want to go back to visit Charleston, West Virginia, Asheville, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, as we felt we could have spent more time there. For future trips, I mentioned a potential Arizona Memorial Weekend trip; however, I decided against this. My husband wants to start house hunting soon, and I want to save for a trip to Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con in August.
Have you traveled anywhere recently? Let me know in the comments below.
My favorite souvenirs I buy on vacation are postcards and books. Postcards are inexpensive, and I like to tape them into my travel journal. It reminds me of the trip and the places I visited. Besides postcards, I like to buy books. This could be at a local bookstore or at a museum. During my road trip, I bought a few books, so I wanted to share what I bought.
The Mothman Prophecies by John A. Keel
The Mothman Prophecies is a non-fiction book in which author John Keel investigates strange sightings. In 1966 and 1967, there were apparent sightings of a winged creature nicknamed Mothman. Keel writes about various supernatural theories and phenomena as to what could have contributed to the sightings.
I knew Mothman existed, but I didn’t know much else. I’m looking forward to reading this, as I think supernatural sightings are fascinating to me.
March Volume #1 by John Lewis
March by John Lewis is a graphic novel re-telling of U.S. Congressman John Lewis’s story of participating in the Civil Rights movement.
I’m happy to see more non-fiction graphic novels being published. It’s a great medium for those who aren’t big readers or are intimidated by longer books.
Last Call by Daniel O’Krent
Last Call is a non-fiction book detailing the Prohibition era in the US. Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933 before being repealed. Is it sad to say that I didn’t realize Prohibition lasted so long? My US history is a bit rusty, and I truly thought that it was only a year or two. Clearly, my knowledge of Prohibition isn’t high, so I’m excited to learn more about this time in history.
I’m growing more fond of reading non-fiction. I’m not sure when I will get around to tackling my growing non-fiction TBR. I’m thinking that sometime this summer, I will start fitting these books into my reading schedule.
I haven’t played board games in such a long time! I used to play board games regularly, whether with friends or family. Thankfully, I was able to join a family board game night last weekend. As we discussed what we should play, it was decided to give Doctor Who Fluxx a shot. I have never played a Fluxx game before trying out Doctor Who Fluxx. Doctor Who Fluxx was easy to learn and quick to play.
To win a game of Fluxx, a player must meet the goal. Different goal cards can be drawn and played, and sometimes the goal changes. Besides goal cards, there are rule cards that change the rules of that particular round. This can include increasing or decreasing maximum hand size, altering the number of cards drawn per turn, and changing the number of cards that can be played on one turn. There are keeper cards that are played in front of the table, along with action cards, which allow for shenanigans to occur.
Since this was Doctor Who Fluxx, the cards are characters and themes from Doctor Who. The keeper cards could be the various doctors or companions. My personal favorite was the Ponds, as I ended up winning one round by having a Tardis and the Ponds as keepers on my board. As I was playing through Doctor Who Fluxx, it reminded me that I’m due for a Doctor Who re-watch soon.
Doctor Who Fluxx is the perfect brewery or picnic table game. It’s easy to teach someone else how to play; it’s quick, and it doesn’t take up the whole table. I’m tempted to order my copy to have on hand. Doctor Who Fluxx can be purchased at your local game store or anywhere where games are sold.
Last week, I talked about West Virginia, primarily focused on the Mothman statue. I’m still in awe of how beautiful West Virginia was. For my second recap post about our road trip, I’m going to focus on Virginia and Asheville, North Carolina.
Barter Theatre
Starting in Charleston, West Virginia, my husband and I began our drive the following day. When I reviewed our route, I found a small town in Virginia that I wanted to stop in. Abingdon, Virginia, is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western Virginia. I looked at pictures online, and it looked stunning. Abingdon was on the way to Asheville, North Carolina, and I knew we needed to make a few stops along the way to keep the drive from feeling long.
As we drove through Abingdon, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I needed my sunglasses because I couldn’t escape the sun. It was the best feeling. As we pulled into Abingdon, I was amazed. One of the highlights of Abingdon is the Barter Theatre. It’s a historic theatre that’s been historically preserved. There are classic plays and various festivals throughout the year. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see a play, so we could only walk around and take pictures. There’s a small park right across the street from the theatre that we walked through. After stopping for lunch, we got back into the car to head to Asheville.
The picture doesn’t do North Carolina justice. It was beautiful and had lots of mountains and hills.
Asheville is in the western half of North Carolina. Asheville is known for being in the mountains and for being an artsy town. As I was looking online at what we had time to do, I saw numerous art museums, galleries, and hiking trails. As we approached Asheville, it was busy! People were walking everywhere. We thought that there was some event happening the day we stopped in Asheville. We ended up settling on an outdoor brewery where we had a pint and could enjoy the sun.
Asheville was another city we stopped in, where we wouldn’t hesitate to come back. It’s one of the negative parts of a road trip, as we weren’t able to spend as much time as we wanted in some of the cities we stopped in. On a positive note, I know that if I were able to make it back to Asheville, I know I would love it.
After Asheville, it was another few hours of driving time before we made it to Charleston, South Carolina. In next week’s post, I’m going to finish up my road trip blog post series with a detailed rundown of Charleston and Savannah, GA.
CW: violence against LGBTQIA+ folks, graphic violence, mistreatment of women
While on vacation, I make it a point to finish at least one book. I’m the type of person on vacation who enjoys downtime. If a vacation feels jam-packed, I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. The book I chose to read was Razorblade Tears by S.A. Crosby. I heard about Razorblade Tears as it was one of the books included in the Book of the Month book box. While I’m glad I read Razorblade Tears, I’m having a hard time giving this book a rating.
Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee Jenkins are grieving. Their sons, Isiah and Derek, were brutally murdered. The police don’t seem to care, or in Ike and Buddy Lee’s eyes, they aren’t doing enough. Ike and Buddy Lee want to redeem themselves since they didn’t accept Isiah and Derek’s relationship and marriage. Their quest leads to corruption and a big reveal of irony in the South.
Razorblade Tears is a tough book to read in part because Ike and Buddy Lee are homophobic, and this book centers around their journey for revenge and acceptance. It’s difficult to see this through their eyes. While Ike and Buddy Lee were born and raised in the South, I find it difficult that they couldn’t look past their bias and accept their sons. I didn’t realize Ike and Buddy Lee would be as homophobic as this book points out. I went into this thinking that Ike and Buddy Lee had relationships with their sons, when clearly that wasn’t the case.
Despite the emotionally heavy content of the book, I think there’s a lot of interesting dialogue between Ike and Buddy Lee. Buddy Lee is a poor white man who lives in a beat-up trailer. He makes comments to Ike about how he wishes he could trade places with him. Ike is a working-class black man who points out to Buddy Lee that he is able to exist in the world differently because of the color of his skin. It’s a pull of race and class privilege and how this can impact relationships or political opinions.
Per the content warning, there is a lot of graphic violence. As mentioned, this book is centered around Isiah and Derek’s deaths. In my opinion, I think the author went into WAY too much detail about their deaths. I don’t see why that was needed. Women are also mistreated by several male characters.
While this was an emotional read, I’m glad I read this. I would heed the content warnings, as this book is tough to get through. I’m going to leave this book unrated, which is a first for me.
My husband and I got back from our road trip yesterday. It was such a fun and much-needed vacation. Similar to my other vacation posts, I’m splitting this up into three entries: West Virginia, Virginia & North Carolina, and South Carolina & Savannah, GA. This way, I don’t end up writing one long post. In this first post, I’m going to write about West Virginia and seeing Mothman.
We began our trip from Madison, Wisconsin, as my husband’s twin brother lives there. It was a nine-hour drive from Madison to Charleston, West Virginia. For the most part, driving through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio is flat and boring. Once we reached the Wayne National Forest in the Southeastern part of Ohio, it turned into a beautiful drive. The trees were so green, and there were hills we drove through.
Throughout our drive through the Wayne National Forest, I saw a sign for the Mothman statue in West Virginia. One of my favorite parts about driving is seeing the tourist things along the way. I knew we had to stop in West Virginia to take a selfie with Mothman. From what I know, Mothman is an urban legend stemming from sightings and events from the 1960s in West Virginia. I bought a non-fiction book about this at a bookstore to learn more. As we arrived, we were too late to go through the Mothman museum, so we took a picture by the statue instead.
After another hour of driving, we reached Charleston, West Virginia. Charleston is the capital of West Virginia, and both my husband and I were surprised at how small the city was, especially since it’s the capital. Charleston was surrounded by the river and rock formations on either side. Before this trip, I thought West Virginia was more of a “flyover” state; however, I was blown away by how beautiful the city was.
After settling into our hotel, we drove to 1010 Bridge for dinner. It was located on a hill overlooking Charleston. This came from a recommendation from a coworker to eat here. It was easily one of the best restaurants we went to throughout our whole trip. My husband and I both ordered the Beef Tip Bolognese. It was tasty! My husband and I joked that we would visit Charleston solely to go back to 1010 Bridge.
West Virginia was such a surprise! I wasn’t expecting much, and I was surprised at how pretty Charleston and West Virginia were. Charleston is on a list of cities my husband and I would love to come back to.
At my local comic book store, I have started looking through the white long boxes where older comics are kept. The issues can vary from comic runs from last year or ten years ago. I wanted to poke around and see if I could find anything interesting. As it turns out, I did find a few issues that were worth purchasing. I wanted to share what I found.
Vigilante #1 – 2009 Marv Wolfman, Rick Leonardi, and John Stanisci
I became a fan of Vigilante due to the Peacemaker TV series. In the show, Vigilante is played by Freddie Stroma. Vigilante, in the show, is a psychopath with a dark sense of humor. In the comic, Vigilante reminds me of Red Hood (aka Jason Todd/2nd Robin). Vigilante is investigating a few murders with mob connections and ends up being purposefully captured by police, so he can interview prisoners. This was an entertaining issue; unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the complete series, so it serves as more of a collectible than a complete story.
Birds of Prey Manhunt #1 – #4 – 1996 Chuck Dixon, Matt Haley, and Wade Von Grawbadger
Birds of Prey is one of my favorite superhero teams. Led by Oracle (formerly Barbara Gordon), she works with Black Canary as they challenge the crime syndicate. In this run, Huntress and Catwoman get involved much to Oracle’s chagrin. It’s interesting how comics have evolved since 1996. There were certain images of the characters where I thought, “A man definitely drew this.” An example is Black Canary, and she’s standing in a really awkward position, but her hip is out, so it shows off her body at a better angle. This didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading Birds of Prey; it made me laugh and realize how, in some ways, comics have become more evolved. I’m happy that I found this complete series.
I have had good luck with finding vintage issues. I hope to look through comics in the white long boxes every time I stop by my local comic book store. It’s relaxing to simply sift through comics, as I never know what I will find.
Bizarre Brunette 