Author Archives: Bizarre Brunette

Ain’t Slayed Nobody – Call of Cthulhu Podcast

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by

I go through phases when I listen to podcasts. Sometimes, I listen to podcasts daily, or I go months without listening to a single episode. I’m in a phase where I haven’t been listening to podcasts as frequently as I used to. When I drove home from Kansas City, I found myself getting bored by listening to the same playlist. Instead of listening to music, I decided to get caught up on one of the most entertaining role-playing podcasts, Ain’t Slayed Nobody. Ain’t Slayed Nobody kept me on the edge of my seat while I drove through Iowa, which is quite the achievement. I actually got to the point in my drive where I didn’t want to get home because of this podcast.

Ain’t Slayed Nobody is a Call of Cthulhu podcast. Ain’t Slayed Nobody takes place in the Wild West in the 1800s. There are five characters within this game: Sheriff Ellie Bishop (played by Alex McDaniel), Outlaw Lance Kilkenny (played by Jay Arnold), Priest Father Flint Westwater (played by Brandon Wainerdi), Miner Jeremiah Fensworth (played by Wes Davis), and Nomadic Drifter Johnny Rhodes (played by Chuck Lawrence). The centered story arc is solving the murder of Ellie’s father. As the investigation continues, the group stumbles upon several bizarre incidents that test their sanity.

Ain’t Slayed Nobody does a brilliant job at storytelling. Immediately after listening to the first episode, I was hooked. The episodes often end on cliffhangers, and I’m left waiting for the next episode to air. As I listen to each episode, I feel like I’m in the Wild West with the characters as they learn more about each other. Eventually, Ellie does realize what happened to her father, which leads to a shocking twist I didn’t see coming.

With the characters, it’s tough for me to pick a favorite. Jay’s Irish accent attached to Lance is so well done. Jeremiah is another fan favorite with his one-liners, including “I’m going to turn his femur into mist”. Wes attaches an accent to Jeremiah as well, which helps solidify his character. I’m listening to the season finale of Ain’t Slayed Nobody, and it’s clear there are major character deaths. Out of all the roleplaying podcasts I have listened to, Ain’t Slayed Nobody feels like there are actual stakes. These characters could become insane, die a painful death, or have another horrific event happen to them.

Listening to a role-playing podcast, the keeper or the dungeon master can make or break a podcast. For Aint Slayed Nobody, cuppycup is the keeper, and he does a great job narrating the podcast. He doesn’t talk too quickly, so I never felt unable to follow the story.

Ain’t Slayed Nobody made driving through Iowa fun, which is not something I thought I would say. The last episode in the first arc is releasing on Tuesday, August 31st, and I have never been more excited for a podcast episode to air.

Planet Comicon Haul

Posted in Life Lately by

For Planet Comicon, I set a budget. I knew if I didn’t set a budget for myself, I would overspend. Before the convention, I pulled out $100 in cash and told myself that I would only spend this much unless I saw anything I had to have. While roaming around the con, I made notes on anything I wanted to revisit. This allowed me to stick to my budget and purchase merch I was satisfied with. I wanted to share my haul from the con.

Image is the graphic novel, Plume. It's a Wild West aesthetic with four characters shown on the cover. There are two women, one man with bright white hair and a cowboy.

Plume by K. Lynn Smith Volume #1

This was my first purchase of the con. I’m a big fan of K. Lynn Smith and her work in comics. I helped back For Goodness Sake on Kickstarter, which is a series I adored. Smith is mostly recognized for her webcomic, Plume, which exploded in popularity. At Smith’s booth, she had the omnibus of Plume along with each printed volume. I decided to purchase the first volume to see if Plume is a series I would be interested in.

Image is a photo of two card games - Unstable Unicorns and Llamas Unleashed. Unstable Unicorns is a black box and the A is a unicorn horn. At the top right of the box it says NSFW. Llamas unleashed shows a llama as it kicks the font of the game.

Unstable Unicorns & Llamas Unleashed

My final purchase was at TeeTurtle’s booth. I had been eyeing purchasing my copy of Unstable Unicorns after playing it at a game night with friends. Unstable Unicorns is a game that’s perfect to bring to a brewery because it doesn’t take up much space and it’s easy to teach to friends. I bought the NSFW edition. Along with Unstable Unicorns, I also bought Llamas Unleashed. I have no idea what the game is about. I saw it and wanted it because who doesn’t want a game featuring Llamas?

Attending Planet Comicon meant a lot to me. In addition to being able to go to a con post-2020, it was nice to be able to support smaller businesses and creators.

Codenames Meets Clue in Mysterium

Posted in Gaming by
Image is a photo that I took of my copy of the board game, Mysterium. The board game shows an old car driving up to a mansion. The mansion is straight off to the distance. There appears to be fog going on the road. On both sides of the road are several buildings.

As someone who collects board games, it’s normal for me to have an unwrapped board game waiting to be played. My brother gave me Mysterium two years ago as a birthday present, and until last weekend, I never opened it. I was determined to finally open this game, especially because it’s going to be Fall / Halloween season soon. Mysterium is one of my favorite games I have ever played, and as someone who’s a big fan of Clue, Mysterium adds a supernatural element to the classic game.

Image is a photo of a character from the game. She's wearing a red cloak, almost like Red Riding Hood. Her coat is lined with black fur on the edges and she's wearing a white blouse underneath. She's holding a necklace with a green crystal on it.

Mysterium is a collaborative game, meaning all players will win or lose. Mysterium is set in the 1920s, with the characters playing as psychics performing a seance. One of the characters will play as the ghost who will display visions to relay to the psychics who killed him at this mansion twenty years before. The objective of the game is for the psychics to guess correctly what the ghost is trying to say in seven in-game hours. The ghost wants the psychics to guess correctly, so the murder can be solved. If the psychics don’t guess correctly within the seven in-game hours, everyone loses as their spiritual connection to the ghost is severed.

Image is a card from the game. There are several homes and it's dark out. There are yellow lights on in the homes. There are shadowy, ghost, soldiers walking on the road.

This is where the inspiration for Codenames comes in. The ghost has vision cards that the ghost will play in front of psychics to try and get the psychics to guess the correct person, location, or object. In all the games our group played, I was always in the psychic role. The toughest part is trying to put the pictures together to then make a correct guess. Both roles, whether they be the psychic or the ghost, are challenging for different reasons.

One of the major highlights of playing Mysterium is the art. The art on the vision cards was ethereal and mysterious. Each card fits into the setting of the game. The vision cards had so many artistic details to them that I wasn’t sure what was important on the card. Another highlight was the level of detail in the components of the game. On the front page of the rules, each psychic character has their own back story, which I loved. I changed characters throughout our playthroughs to have someone different to play as.

In our three total games, our group only won one game. In Mysterium, there are three different difficulties. Our group played on easy, and that still was tough. I like playing tougher, collaborative board games because when our group wins on a greater difficulty, it’s so satisfying. In future gameplay, I want to try playing on the medium or the hard difficulty.

Mysterium was a blast to play! Everyone in our group had a fun time learning the game, setting it up, and making the guesses. Being a fan of both Codenames and Clue, I felt Mysterium embodied both.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Posted in Reading/Books by
Image is a book cover for the book The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It shows a huge red brick house on the edge of a cliff. There's a red double decker bus parked outside.

Every booktuber I follow raved about The House in the Cerulean Sea. My local bookstore had this book on display as one of the best books released in 2020. I purposefully planned to read this in the summer because of the gorgeous cover, along with the lighthearted premise. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a fantasy novel about love, happiness, and fighting against prejudice.

CW for discussions of genocide against indigenous people.

Before I write my review, I want to mention one more thing. T.J. Klune, the author of the book, based this book on the “60s Scoop”. The “60’s Scoop” is a real-life genocide where children were kidnapped and mistreated. There has been discussion about this and whether Klune is profiting from a horrific event. I didn’t know this before reading The House in the Cerulean Sea. If you would like to read more, I suggest starting here: https://www.reddit.com/r/romancelandi… 

Linus Baker lives an ordinary life without much excitement. Linus works as a caseworker, visiting various orphanages along with writing reports about what he sees. Linus is sent away to spend a month on a rather unusual assignment. At this orphanage, he discovers the “anti-Christ” lives there with other magical children. Linus’s goal is to write weekly reports, get to know the children, and decide if this orphanage should be shut down.

The character development in this book was heartwarming and emotional. Linus was somewhat unlikable and scared to break away from his mundane life. Towards the end of the book, he starts to defend himself and realizes that he has the control to decide what will make him happy. Linus develops a deep relationship with Arthur, who cares for the children at the orphanage. Each of the children has their own background and personality. In stories like these, it’s easy to have some characters blend into the background, but that wasn’t the case here.

When reading fantasy, I want to feel like I’m in this world. TJ Klune’s writing made me feel this way. I could close my eyes and picture the seaside town, the color of the water, and the little cottage where Linus stays.

The messaging throughout this book was lovely. There were various themes subtly presented throughout the book. One example was how children are taught hatred; they aren’t born with it. Another message in this book was self-love. Linus has a lot of insecurity about his weight. All of the characters reinforce the fact that Linus doesn’t have to change, and he’s fine exactly the way he is. I also loved the fact that this book confronted how a society can be destroyed when we let preconceived notions get the better of us. This book has such great messages, and it helped to read this slowly, so I wouldn’t miss it all.

The House in the Cerulean Sea was such a lovely book. It was a feel-good fantasy I was really invested in. The House in the Cerulean Sea lives up to the hype and might be my favorite book I’ve read this year.

Attending My First Convention Post-2020

Posted in Life Lately by

Last weekend, I drove to Kansas City, MO, to attend Planet Comicon. This was my first convention since COVID. Before the pandemic, I attended C2E2 in February, right before lockdown began. This trip was spontaneous as I only planned it a couple of weeks prior. While I understand the pandemic isn’t over, I felt this was worth the risk. I was vaccinated, wore a mask the entire time, and tried to limit the time I was near people. I felt Planet Comicon did the best they could, and I was grateful that this con was able to run. If there’s anything I missed in 2020, it was conventions.

Image is a photo of a Predator model with his hands tied to a post. Behind him, there's a background of a jungle with fake trees and skulls with bones hanging off to the right.

Planet Comicon required masks. I didn’t see anyone take off their mask or wear it down to their chin. It seemed everyone took the mask requirement seriously. The only other improvement I could see was that Planet Comicon could have required vaccinations. I brought my vaccination card in case someone wanted to see it. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect everyone, including the immunocompromised. I know Lollapalooza required vaccinations or a negative COVID-19 test, and I wish PlanetComicon did this too.

Image is a photo of me smiling. The background image is of Tattoine from Star Wars. In front of me is a LEGO Grogu from The Mandalorian.

My favorite part of Planet Comicon was the photo ops! There was a display of Predator, a LEGO Baby Yoda, and the Ghostbusters were there with the Ecto-1. There were cars from Supernatural; however, I had to pay extra for that, and I’m not a big fan of the show. I had a fun time running around and taking endless masked selfies. I will say, I found myself taking fewer pictures of cosplayers. I think the pandemic had something to do with that. With the masks, it’s more difficult to go to someone or get their attention. I had more than enough fun hanging out by myself and doing what I wanted to do.

I would say the only disappointment was the lack of panels. I like attending panels because they allow me to sit down and relax. I walked 17,500 steps on Friday! I did sit in on the Star Wars Costuming panel about putting together Star Wars cosplays, but nothing else in the programming caught my eye. After spending my cash, I ended up leaving early because I didn’t see anything else worth staying for.

Image is a photo of me, wearing a black mask. The mask covers my nose and my mouth. Behind me, is the Planet Comicon logo with the blue Saturn like planet on a black background

Reflecting on Planet Comicon, I’m thrilled that this was able to happen. I felt hopeful for the future of conventions. I felt so happy waiting in line and walking around the show floor. Conventions are my happy place, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

Pray Away (2021)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by
Image is a movie poster for the documentary film, Pray Away. It shows a person's face and over their mouth is the shape of a cross. It's a newspaper and in the center of it, it says Exodus in bold, black letters.

In one of my recent posts, I wrote about having a free weekend and being able to unwind. Over the weekend, I devoted some time to watching whatever I wanted on Netflix. One documentary I had my eye on for a while was Pray Away, a documentary detailing the rise of conversion therapy and why it’s so psychologically damaging. For those who are unfamiliar, conversion therapy is a form of “therapy” (I put therapy in quotes because I wouldn’t call this therapy) surrounding the idea that someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation can be cured and converted back into being straight. Pray Away was a heartbreaking documentary, but one I would highly recommend watching.

Pray Away interweaves the stories of survivors of conversion therapy along with several prominent conversion therapy activists. As the history of conversion therapy unfolds, it seems that what was being sold to the public was completely false. John Paulk was a major voice in conversion therapy as he was a former gay man who was now married to a woman. His wife, Anne, also went through conversion therapy, and that’s how John and Anne met. John mentions in the documentary that he “ached to be loved by a man”. Hearing him tell his story about how he was selling something he didn’t believe in made me feel for him. Today, John has divorced his wife and is now openly gay.

Another story that the documentary focused on was Julie Rodgers. Julie came out to her family at a young age and was taken to conversion therapy. She was there for many years and was encouraged to speak at various religious conferences. During conversion therapy, she was coerced into telling a deeply personal story in front of many people. Julie eventually was able to get out and has just married her lovely wife. This story showed clips of her wedding and how she was able to get married in a church. I will admit, I sometimes have a negative bias towards religion; however, seeing Julie reclaim her religion for herself was so endearing to me.

I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to not be able to love the person you’re meant to be with. As I spent time writing my vows this week, it made me think back to the lives shown in Pray Away. While many who survived conversion therapy went on to live long and authentic lives, so many didn’t because of the psychological damage of conversion therapy. Suicide was prevalent amongst conversion therapy, and I’m glad to see strides being taken to ban this altogether.

Pray Away was a well-made, engaging, and thoughtful documentary. This documentary did take an emotional toll, so I would only recommend it if you’re in the mood for something a bit more emotional. Pray Away can be watched on Netflix.

The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif

Posted in Reading/Books by
This is an image of a book cover for The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sharif. The book cover is a mix of dark blue, light blue and orange. There's a figure of a woman running, but she's looking behind her.

As mentioned in one of my recent posts, I was able to use my free weekend to finish The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif. This is the second in the Athena Protocol series. I read The Athena Protocol last year, and I loved it. I had high hopes for the sequel. The Shadow Mission was another fast-paced outing; however, there was one scene in particular that didn’t sit right with me. I will discuss this scene in detail later in this post.

After Athena’s mission in Belgrade, Jessie Archer is debriefed for her next mission. The Athena team is tasked to take on a far-right group known as Family First, who feel women shouldn’t be educated and belong in the home. After a terrorist attack at an all-girls school, Jessie is thrown into the investigation and connects with Riya, a detective who is also investigating the bombing. Together, they uncover another terrorist plot at a different all-girls boarding school. Can they stop it in time?

Originally, when reading The Athena Protocol, I wasn’t a big fan of Jessie. However, I felt Jessie had grown quite a bit since the first book. She seemed more mature in this book and aware of the consequences of her actions. I found myself growing attached to her story and why she is the way she is. Caitlin and Hala, Jessie’s fellow Athena agents, are still a big part of this book as well.

While Jessie grew on me as a character, I found a certain scene in this book that made me uneasy.

CW: Outing of an LGBTQIA+ character *read at your own risk*

There’s a scene where Jessie and Hala follow this politician whom they think has affiliations with Family First. As they approach, they recognize that this politician is having an affair with a man. To gain intelligence, Jessie blackmails the politician into helping them by threatening to release photographs to the media. Jessie isn’t straight, so I’m surprised Jessie doesn’t see this as being hypocritical. Additionally, this scene takes place in India, which, in some ways, isn’t as progressive as other countries on LGBTQIA+ rights. This politician isn’t a good person; however, this crossed the line for me. I felt this scene left me with an icky taste in my mouth. I wish Sarif hadn’t written this scene in the book to begin with.

With this being said, I did enjoy reading The Shadow Mission. When I wrote my original review on Goodreads, I ended up only rating this four stars. With the scene I discussed above, it felt out of place enough for me not to give this a full five-star rating. Overall, I’m still excited that this series exists, and I can’t wait for the third book.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by
Image is for a movie poster for The Suicide Squad. It shows six people, three are holding guns, one is a holding a rocket launcher. The two at the bottom of the poster - one is holding what looks to be a flashlight, the other is shooting polka dots out of his wrists. At the very bottom, there's an explosion of fire and a shark walking towards the viewer.

The last movie I saw in theaters before the pandemic was Birds of Prey. It seems fitting that the first movie I see in theaters is The Suicide Squad. My fiancé was all about watching this on HBO Max, but I missed going to a movie. I convinced him to see this last Friday and get out of the apartment. The Suicide Squad rocked, and it’s probably one of my favorite movies DC has ever made.

The Suicide Squad is a ragtag team of supervillains sent out on literal suicide missions for the US government. Led by Amanda Waller (played wonderfully by Viola Davis), Waller puts chips in their necks. Any deserter gets their head blown off, which is featured quite gruesomely in the first half of the film. The squad is sent to Corto Maltese to investigate Jotunheim, where something of alien origin is supposedly housed. Their mission is to find what’s there and destroy it, so Corto Maltese doesn’t have access to it.

This movie is downright ridiculous. Harley (played by Margot Robbie) is flirtatious and fun to see on screen. Robbie did a great job and seems to genuinely enjoy playing Harley. While Harley is the one to watch, it feels like each of the main Suicide Squad members gets their time to shine. Ratcatcher 2 (played by Daniela Melchior) is one to keep tabs on. While controlling rats may seem like a silly power, she plays an important role later in the film. I found myself drawn to her when I didn’t think I would be. If you think controlling rats is silly, wait until you see Polka Dot Man. Yes, James Gunn, the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, brought Polka Dot Man into this movie. Polka Dot Man (played by David Dastmalchian) serves a purpose here. There are several hilarious scenes with Polka Dot Man that I won’t spoil.

John Cena plays Peacemaker, who is obsessed with peace and will kill for it. Hypocritical much? Rick Flagg (played by Joel Kinnaman) has a bigger role in this film than in Suicide Squad. He works as the leader and helps bring the team together to rely on each other, so they can all survive. As a fan of the Harley Quinn animated series, I was elated to see King Shark. King Shark is the MVP of this movie. He tears through enemies and gets to feast on flesh as he does so.

James Gunn does a marvelous job at balancing all these characters. Several story lines are going on simultaneously until everything converges at Jotunheim. This easily could have been a mess, but Gunn adds in various hints to keep the watcher aware of where everyone is. There’s jumping around at certain times, but it doesn’t feel out of place. The Suicide Squad can be a lot to handle, and James Gunn was the perfect director to make this film.

Without spoiling, there’s a certain character death that completely shocked me. I was fully expecting this to be a joke, and the character would get up and walk around, but no. This character was DEAD. This threw me for a loop.

Both my fiancé and I were blown away by how good this film is. As many know, DC’s films are a hit or a miss. There’s no in-between. I’m happy to say that this is worth watching. I’m excited to re-watch this on HBO Max. Let me know in the comments who your favorite character is from The Suicide Squad.

Taking Time to Unwind

Posted in Life Lately by
Image is a photo of me smiling at the camera. She's holding in her left hand a pair of paper glasses that are held up to her eyes.
One of my weekend plans was to go to my friend’s Harry Potter-themed Bachelorette party! It was at my friend’s cabin.

This past weekend, I had no plans. This was the first weekend when I could do what I wanted whenever I wanted. Planning a wedding has made my weekends more unavailable, much to the surprise of no one. It’s gotten to the point where I started to feel mentally drained. I would get out of work, eat dinner, work out, and then spend an hour or two browsing Instagram. It felt like I didn’t have the energy to read, play Animal Crossing, or watch Critical Role. This weekend helped lift my spirits emotionally, mentally, and physically.

One thing I did this weekend was finish a book I was reading. I read The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif. This is the second book in the Athena Protocol series. It was amazing to spend my day reading without interruption. It allowed me to fully commit and become enamored with the characters, the setting, and the action scenes. I went through a reading slump recently, but now this weekend has allowed me to get back into my books. My TBR pile is slowly shrinking.

Besides reading, I watched a couple of movies. On Friday, I saw The Suicide Squad, which rocked. It was the first movie I saw in theaters after the pandemic. I’m going to write my review shortly. I also watched a recently released documentary on Netflix called Pray Away. Pray Away is about gay conversion therapy and the history behind it. It also features a couple of stories from the survivors. One of the stories brought me to tears. It’s an emotional documentary, and I would highly recommend it.

Finally, I installed some new video games to play. On my PS4, I bought Far Cry 5. For PC, I installed Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water’s Edge and Death and Taxes. I wanted something else to play besides Animal Crossing.

This is a reminder to check in with yourself. I needed a break from all the plans I have upcoming. I feel so much better and more equipped to launch into my plans. From now until our wedding on October 2nd, I don’t have any more free weekends. Wish me luck!

Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion

Posted in Gaming by

I’m on a Nancy Drew video game streak! I played this game right after playing through Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes. I was looking for a creepier game with more jump scares. I still haven’t found a Nancy Drew game that’s scarier than Ghost of Thornton Hall. Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion wasn’t one of my favorite games, as I found the gameplay convoluted at times.

In this adventure, Nancy Drew is asked to come to a mansion outside the San Francisco area. As she’s staying at the mansion, she interviews Rose Green, who plans on turning the mansion into a bed and breakfast. The mansion has been plagued by several accidents, which worries Rose. Rose has asked Nancy to help investigate as she’s on the verge of abandoning her efforts. Nancy is always willing to help, and she begins exploring the mansion to uncover what’s going on.

In this game, Nancy has to rely on time. Each suspect she can interview is only available at the mansion for a certain time. This allows Nancy a limited window to interview or explore certain areas. Once I memorized the schedule, this didn’t become an issue. I did mention how the gameplay was a bit convoluted. Some of the next steps in the game didn’t unlock until I talked to everyone. For example, I was told to find this man’s briefcase, and I couldn’t find it in the room. It wasn’t until I had a dialogue with one of the other characters that, when I re-entered the room, the man’s briefcase was there to unlock. Without the help of a walkthrough, I would have been stuck.

I was hoping for more jump scares in this one. There was a ghostly figure wandering around the mansion and creaks as Nancy ascended the stairs, but that was about it. There also weren’t any mini-games either. The mini-games are fun, and I find they often make a Nancy Drew game memorable. I felt this game was a bit boring to play at times.

Overall, I’m glad I played this, as my goal is to complete all the Nancy Drew games; however, this one wasn’t the best. It was a bit boring, and the gameplay left me feeling stuck at times, where I felt I needed to use a walkthrough to get through the game. The next Nancy Drew game on my list is Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water’s Edge.