Author Archives: Bizarre Brunette

Science Fiction Board Games I Love

Posted in Gaming by

I decided to participate in another Seriously Geeky Sunday theme. If you missed my previous Seriously Geeky Sunday post, this was created by Heather at Just Geeking By. Every Sunday, Heather comes up with a theme. The first theme I participated in was centered around comic books; today’s theme is Science Fiction. This prompt had no questions; instead, it allowed for freedom in what to write. I decided to create a list of science fiction-themed board games that I love to play.

Cultists & Cthulhu

Image is a photo of a card game on a table. The game is Cultists and Cthulhu. There are two different colored decks - purple and green along with a few green six sided dice.
Photo taken by me.

Cultists & Cthulhu is an easy game to teach people how to play. I like this game because of my love for all things Cthulhu, and the dice rolling puts players on the same level. Some board or card games give an advantage to those who have played the game before due to knowing the game’s overall strategy. Cultists & Cthulhu with the added dice component makes for a different game every time.

Star Trek Ascendancy

Image is a photo of a board game. There are circles with various game pieces on them. Connecting each circle is a white line that looks like space travel. There is a maze of circles, game pieces, and white light connecting everything together.
Photo taken by me.

Playing Star Trek Ascendancy makes me want to become a Star Trek fan. This game is a bit more complex as there’s a lot more to keep track of. I liked being able to develop my faction and travel around space, attacking other players. Since this game takes more time to play, I would recommend devoting a whole day to learning the rules and seeing who wins in intergalactic domination.

Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks

Image shows a game card for the game, Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks. It shows the eleventh doctor and Clara. There are three spots for companion cards. There's a figurine off to the right of the eleventh doctor.
Photo taken by me.

Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks is cooperative, meaning the players work together to achieve a common goal. Cooperative board games are some of my favorite types of games to play, especially if I’m not in the mood for something competitive. This game can be challenging with relying on dice to pass certain challenges. I always play as the tenth or eleventh doctor; however, expansions have come out that feature other doctors. This is always a blast to play.

Pandemic

Image is a board for the game Pandemic. It shows a map of Earth with all the continents. Some major cities are labeled as different colors and some cities are connected.
Photo taken by me.

I haven’t been able to play Pandemic for a bit because it felt too real. I like Pandemic because it’s also cooperative. It’s easy to learn, and there are ways to make the game more difficult. I like how Pandemic is somewhat educational, teaching the geography of major global cities and the various roles individuals play in trying to stop a pandemic. This may not be considered science fiction, but oh well, I already included this game on my list.

This turned into a longer post than I had expected! Let me know what science fiction board games you are playing in the comments, as I’m always looking for recommendations! Another shout-out to Heather for putting on Seriously Geeky Sundays. It’s nice to have a prompt, so I don’t have to brainstorm what to write.

I,Tonya (2017)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by
Image is a poster for the movie I,Tonya. It shows a woman looking forward, she's in a figure skating outfit and she's holding her skates in her left hand.

I started figure skating when I was six. My aunt was a competitive skater who became an instructor. Figure skating became a big part of my childhood, and while competition appealed to me, I wasn’t devoted enough to make it my life. The biggest scandal to hit figure skating was the attack against Nancy Kerrigan and how much Tonya Harding knew about the attack beforehand. I had I, Tonya on my watchlist for a while, and last weekend I decided to finally watch it. I, Tonya is an intriguing biopic about Tonya Harding’s life while also bringing up various themes such as classism in skating.

Tonya Harding (played by Margot Robbie) was thrown into lessons at a young age by her mother, LaVona Golden (played by Allison Janney). LaVona is shown early on to be both physically and mentally abusive on multiple occasions, while LaVona only admits to hitting Tonya once. Tonya’s father moves out, and Tonya is struggling to live under her mother’s roof. She meets Jeff Gillooly (played by Sebastian Stan), who provides enough charm and wit to boost Tonya’s self-confidence. As Tonya moves out with Jeff, she soon finds that he is also abusive. Tonya, still trying to skate, is suffering from poor scores due to the judges’ thinking of her as “white trash” and not the best representative for competitive figure skating. As Tonya’s relationship with Jeff is explored, it’s shown how a simple death threat idea somehow escalated into the infamous knee blow with Nancy screaming “why why why”.

The acting in this was phenomenal. Allison Janney won a well-deserved Oscar for her performance in this. Each actor was invested in the role they were portraying. I didn’t know much about Tonya before this movie, but now I feel like I have more empathy for her.

While this film does offer a lens of sympathy for Tonya, it exposes Tonya’s flaws as well. Tonya states several times, “It’s not my fault”. While Tonya grew up poor in an abusive environment, it also seems she blames everyone for her problems. It’s the judge’s fault she scores the way she does, and it’s Jeff’s fault for planning the death threat; however, Tonya seemed on board with the death threat if it meant succeeding in skating. This film could have been on Tonya’s side for everything, but I like the way this film provided a sense of balance. It lets the viewer know how rough Tonya’s upbringing was, but also reflects on how this upbringing made Tonya a flawed human being.

Another interesting aspect of the film was the idea of classism. Tonya was poor, and her mother had to sew her costumes for her competitions. Figure skating and hockey are two of the most expensive sports to play. There are figure skates, costumes, ice shows, lessons, the accessories for skating, etc. I did look into this, and while Nancy’s father struggled to pay for lessons, she also had private lessons at a young age. Additionally, once a figure skater becomes competitive, it’s all about the marketing deals. I remember Michelle Kwan was advertised on everything! Tonya was looked at as an outsider with a rough family background. I wonder if Tonya grew up rich, would her story be different?

I, Tonya was everything I wanted from a biopic. It discusses Tonya’s life, makes an interesting commentary on various societal themes, and has incredible acting from start to finish.

My First Time Axe Throwing

Posted in Life Lately by

I took a week off from writing to catch up on my comic backlog, plan my wedding, and learning to throw an axe. It was my fiancé’s birthday last weekend, and he requested we book a reservation for axe-throwing. The Burrow is where we booked our reservation. Besides axe-throwing, they have a full indoor mini-golf course and an arcade. There’s also a restaurant and a bar with beers on tap. I was surprised that they let us order beers while we threw axes. Throwing an axe was intimidating at first, but I would gladly go again.

There are four axe-throwing lanes, with one lane being able to accommodate a bigger group. The instructor was friendly and gave us a quick rundown on how to throw an axe correctly. There’s way more involved than you would think. It’s your abdominal muscles holding you in a good posture, the upper body strength to hold the axe, and power as you throw the axe with enough force to hit the wooden board.

Image is a photo of me and my husband at The Burrow. Behind us is the axe throwing board. My husband is holding an axe.

My fiancé picked up on axe-throwing quickly. The instructor started telling my fiancé about the axe-throwing leagues they have during the summer. It took me way longer to figure out how to throw an axe. I was nervous when I first started. I have seen numerous axe-throwing videos where someone would throw an axe, and it would rebound backward. The instructor started going into their safety measures and how they built their lanes, which made it a safe experience. Once I felt comfortable, I started sticking the axe into the board. I got one bullseye!

I would happily make another reservation at The Burrow. My fiancé and I had a thirty-minute reservation, which I thought was plenty of time for two people. For a group of four or more, I would say an hour would be needed, so everyone has the time to throw. For those not in Minnesota, I would recommend researching axe-throwing places and their safety measures. Throwing an axe was a fun date night for both me and my fiancé.

Favorite Heroines Growing Up

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by

For my brother’s birthday, I went over to my mom’s house. We had steak, had family dinner debates, and played a board game. During our dinner discussion, we talked about movies we would always watch growing up. This led to a discussion about strong female characters in the early ’00s. I wanted to create a list of my favorite heroines / kickass women in various forms of media.

Elektra

Image is a movie poster for the movie, Elektra with Jennifer Garner. It shows a woman in a red corset top holding two sai swords.

Elektra is a widely criticized movie and was considered a box office bomb. It’s not comic-book accurate by any means; however, I loved this movie. I always requested watching Elektra. I liked her katana’s, and I would play pretend in our backyard pretending to be Elektra. This is a movie I will always be fond of, despite its flaws.

Hermione

While I have been trying to distance myself from Harry Potter, I can’t make a list like this and leave out Hermione.

Padme

This was when I learned female characters could be written so poorly. I cannot believe George Lucas wrote in a script that she “lost the will to live”. Give me a break. I like the fan theory where Palpatine drew upon her life force to save Anakin. I know it’s not canon, but it gives her death way more clarity.

Evelyn (Evy) Carnahan

How can you not love Evy? Evy is first featured in The Mummy as a librarian who’s a bit clumsy. She is intelligent, capable, and helps Rick (played by Brendan Fraser) escape from the tomb. In The Mummy Returns, Evy is the same, except it’s clear Rick has taught her how to defend herself. She’s featured in more action sequences in the second film, which I was a huge fan of. Both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns are movies I would credit as to why action movies are often my favorite genre of movies to watch.

Martha Jones

I’m cheating with this pick since I started watching Doctor Who as an adult. Although I think I would have liked Martha still, even if I had seen Doctor Who when I was a kid. Martha Jones is the most underrated companion. I find a lot of people don’t like Martha because of her obvious crush on the Doctor. This isn’t the fault of Martha, but the writers on Doctor Who during her era. Martha calls out racism in one particular episode where she lists off the bones of the hand when a woman doesn’t believe she’s capable of being a medical doctor. Martha is easily one of the best companions of Tennant’s era.

Let me know which female heroines you loved growing up in the comments below!

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Posted in Reading/Books by

CW: Abuse / Specifically Abuse of a Young Girl

**I won’t discuss this in my recap of the book, but if you choose to read this book, the content warning is needed**

Last month, I primarily read mysteries and thrillers. I found a used copy of Then She Was Gone at my local bookstore. I have heard raving reviews for Lisa Jewell’s books, so I figured I’d give this a shot. This was such a fast-paced, dark thriller to read.

Laurel Mack has been without her daughter, Ellie, for almost a decade since her disappearance. The grief of losing her daughter and not knowing what happened to her has kept Laurel from moving on. As Laurel goes about her routine, she meets a man in a cafe with whom she begins a relationship. She meets his daughter, Poppy, who is identical to Ellie. This leads Laurel into a harrowing investigation of Ellie and what happened to her all those years ago.

I loved Laurel as a character. She starts to see the cracks in her relationship early on. Instead of being consumed by this new romance, she continues to investigate Ellie’s disappearance and whether someone Ellie knew could have played a role in her vanishing. Laurel is intelligent, kind, and imperfect, and was a character I enjoyed reading about. The way she handled her grief seemed realistic, especially with putting her other daughter, Hanna, on a pedestal to replace Ellie. Laurel has her flaws, but she’s also a genuinely good person.

This isn’t the type of thriller where there’s a plot twist towards the end of the book. It’s revealed early on what happened to Ellie through flashbacks. The reason Then She Was Gone was so engaging was the tension of seeing the full story and how Laurel was going to uncover what happened. I tend to prefer thrillers where there is a plot twist at the end; however, the way Jewell wrote the book felt more like a countdown to when Laurel would figure out the truth.

Then She Was Gone was a well-written thriller about a mother desperate for answers and how Ellie’s disappearance has put a dark cloud over the Mack family. This was one of the darkest thrillers I have read. With the content warning, I can fully understand why some readers would avoid this book. However, Then She Was Gone is well worth the read.

Seriously Geeky Sundays – Comics

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Every Sunday, Heather at Just Geeking By creates a blog prompt with various themed questions. I pre-schedule my posts, so I always end up missing out on participating. My writing routine has been a bit off-kilter, which allowed me to participate in this entry. This Sunday’s theme is comics.

Image is a photo of me in a Wonder Womans Viking inspired cosplay. I'm holding a huge stack of comics in my hands.

What was my first comic book?

My first comic book wasn’t a comic book, but a comic strip. My dad used to get the newspaper, and I would read the comic pages once he was done reading them. I always read Garfield, Dennis the Menace, and The Peanuts. From there, I started reading Calvin & Hobbes. I still have a couple of Calvin & Hobbes books on my shelf. I credit them for building interest in comics at a young age.

Which comic did you read recently?

Image is a graphic novel cover for Space Battle Lunchtime. The cover has a woman on it wearing a chef uniform. She has glasses and is holding a tray of desserts. Behind her are several aliens cooking.

The last graphic novel I read was Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess. For single issues, I’m reading all of Marvel’s King in Black crossover, along with DC’s Future State Yara Flor and Wonder Woman.

Which Comic Series Would I Recommend to Someone Just Starting to Read Comics?

This is the beauty of comics: there’s something for everyone. Before I would recommend anything, I’d ask basic questions about their interests or what they liked to read. From there, I could specify a comic recommendation that I think they would like. For general recommendations, Snotgirl, Saga, and Paper Girls are generally well-regarded comic series to start with. I think it’s important to start with graphic novels and then start picking up single issues. It helps to have a full story first, versus coming into the middle of a story.

Comic Series on My TBR?

My comic TBR is divided between single issues and graphic novels. Since starting a pull list earlier this year, I seem to never be able to catch up on my TBR. In my single issues stack, I have Marvel’s King in Black, DC’s Future State, Critical Role Vox Machina Series III issue #2, Witchblood Issue #1 and #2, and so much more. In my graphic novels stack, I have the first volume of Dredd, Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill, and a few other Oni Press titles I’m not remembering.

My Favorite Books / Series

I love Sex Criminals by Chip Zdarsky and Matt Fraction. Based on the title, there’s a lot of sex scenes, nudity, and shenanigans. Additionally, Nailbiter is one of my favorite horror comics. I’m also enjoying Paper Girls. There are many series I love, but those stick out to me the most.

Favorite Comic Artists/Writers, etc.

I like artists who have their own unique styles. I could look at any comic in my local comic book store and know that the comic was illustrated by that person. Some of these include Jen Bartel, Liana Kangas, and K Lynn Smith. For writers, I like Jed MacKay, Chip Zdarsky, and Matt Fraction.

Seriously Geeky Sundays are hosted by Heather at Just Geeking By. You can find this Sunday’s questions here

May the 4th Be With You – 2021 Plan

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches, Gaming, Reading/Books by

It’s almost May, which means May the 4th is rapidly approaching. Every May, I devote my entire month to all things Star Wars. Last year, I re-watched all the movies and read a few Star Wars books. This year, I wanted to share my May the 4th plan and hold myself accountable throughout the month. I genuinely look forward to May to dive into all things Star Wars.

Books and Comics

The first book I plan on reading is Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed. I received this book for free at Del Rey’s booth at C2E2. I was planning on reading this book last year, but the book was longer than I had anticipated. I’m going to start reading Alphabet Squadron this week, leading into May, to give myself a greater chance of finishing the book in May.

To prepare for May the 4th, I bought books from my local bookstore, Cream and Amber. I purchased Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston. This is the first book in a Padme book series. This has been on my TBR for a while, so I’m excited to finally read it. Padme is one of the most fearless characters in the Star Wars franchise. I hope this book lives up to my expectations.

As far as comics, I bought The Rise of Kylo Ren, Lando Double or Nothing, Star Wars Adventures Vol #1 Heroes of the Galaxy, and Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Captain Phasma. My goal is to read all of these along with Alphabet Squadron and Queen’s Shadow.

Movies & TV

Instead of re-watching the films, I’m going to watch The Clone Wars. I’m halfway through season #1 and I started to lose interest. Everyone I talk to who has watched The Clone Wars cannot stop raving about it and I don’t want to be missing out. I don’t think I will finish all the seasons in a month, but I hope to at least get through most of the show and get the motivation to finish the whole show.

Gaming

Last year, I put so many hours into Star Wars Battlefront II, and it was a blast. I decided to try out Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m not sure if my laptop will be able to run the game, so as a backup, I found LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Steam as well. Another option I have is to finish playing Jedi Fallen Order, which I still have not completed the main campaign.

I am going to have a jam-packed Star Wars-themed month, and I’m thrilled! I would love any Star Wars-themed reading suggestions or podcasts; feel free to add those in the comments below.

Wedding Winery Trip

Posted in Life Lately by

In less than six months, I will be getting married! These months will fly by, and I still have a lot of planning to do. This past Saturday, my friends and I drove down to the winery to see the venue. It was such a fun time, and I consistently think about how fortunate I am that I have the best of friends.

Leading into the day, my fiancé dropped me off at my friend’s apartment. As we walked by her apartment, I saw that my friends had rented a luxurious SUV! They rented the car, so we could all have a couple of glasses of wine and no one had to worry about driving home. My friends brought two bottles of champagne for us all to share as we drove up to the winery. It made the day feel so special.

If I haven’t mentioned this before, I’m getting married at Four Daughters Winery in Spring Valley, MN, which is south of Rochester. It’s located on the border of Minnesota on the southeastern side of the state near Wisconsin. My fiancé and I chose the venue because everything was on-site, there was plenty of parking, and it’s a gorgeous place. They have held many weddings at the venue before, and it will be nice not to have to worry about doing all the setup myself.

Image is a photo of me and my friends. We are in their wine room with barrels behind us. I'm showing my hand with the ring and my friends are looking at it.

Of course, we ended up taking pictures as we always do for any girls’ day extravaganza. The pictures give a hint of how beautiful this venue truly is. The room where we had our wine is the room where we will be having dinner for our wedding. I love how rustic the barrels feel in the space. We are getting married in the Fall, and I think the barrels add to the feeling I’m going for.

Image is a photo of me and my friends smiling at the camera.

Planning a wedding makes me truly thankful for my friends. They have gone above and beyond for me and making this feel like a once-in-a-lifetime moment in my life. I know they have something up their sleeve for my bachelorette party and I’m excited to see what they have planned. I love my friends, I wouldn’t be who I am today without them.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill

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I’m back with another Nancy Drew game review. I still have four other Nancy Drew games I purchased that I haven’t played through yet. I tend to play each Nancy Drew game on Sundays because I usually have a couple of hours I can spend playing the game before I go to bed. Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill is the first installment of the franchise. While Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill was released in 1998, the game was remastered in 2010 and released on Steam. This was another fun outing, but it’s a bit clunky as the Nancy Drew video game formula hasn’t been established yet.

Image is a photo of a football player talking to Nancy. There are dialogue options below in which you can pick what you say back. To the left of the player, there's a football poster. The walls look like a football locker room.
Screenshot taken by me.

Nancy Drew visits her Aunt Eloise in Florida. Her aunt is the librarian at a high school, and Nancy is looped into investigating the murder of one of the high school students, Jake Rogers. Since Nancy is in high school, it’s assumed she can get information from the students. Nancy is introduced to the staff, several students, and works with an undercover detective to gather evidence as to who murdered Jake. From Nancy’s investigations, it seems every person Nancy interacts with would have a reason to want Jake dead. Who killed Jake, and will Nancy be able to solve the mystery without putting herself in danger?

Image is a screenshot of the game looking at a high school hallway. There are green lockers off to the left and it appears the hallway continues and goes off to the right.
Screenshot taken by me.

The answer to the above question is no. There are several instances in this game where Nancy can die if she doesn’t solve the puzzle in time. This includes being trapped in a boiler room and accidentally setting off a gas explosion in a diner. Neither puzzle was tough to solve, and while I died at least once, I was able to figure out the puzzle quickly. There is one broad puzzle that encompasses the entire game, which involves searching for periodic elements Jake has hidden on student boards. The puzzles were fun to solve, and it helps to have a notebook handy while playing through the game.

I will say, this game has a twist that I didn’t see coming. There’s a videotape Nancy discovers that illustrates who could have been involved with Jake’s murder. I had my mouth open for a little bit because it genuinely came out of left field. This bad guy suddenly appears behind Nancy, which gave me a bit of a scare.

Although this was a fun game, I wouldn’t start with Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill first. While it’s the first game released in chronological order, it’s a bit clunky, and the graphics, while remastered, are still not the greatest. I would recommend trying Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel or Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall first before starting this game. I think I liked this game more because I had played other Nancy Drew games first.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill was worth playing through. Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill can be purchased and downloaded on Steam.

Fangirl Revisited – 6 Years Later

Posted in Reading/Books by

When I was in college, I went through a reading slump. With all of the studying and textbook reading I had to do, the last thing I wanted to do was read for fun. I pulled myself out of my reading slump thanks to friends and rediscovering what I liked to read. One of the books I credit for pulling me out of this was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Fangirl had been on my list to re-read for a while, and it seemed like every time I wanted to start the book, something would get in my way. Since this is a re-read post, I won’t be covering the plot of Fangirl; however, you can read my original review here: https://bizarrebrunette.com/2015/04/03/fangirl-review/

Fangirl will always be a five-star book for me; however, I had a couple of critiques this time around with this book. I think Fangirl is a bit too long. The first half of the book tells the reader about Cath’s routine at college. She locates her classes, she’s writing a fiction story in the library, and she’s too afraid to go to the dining hall. I found this part of the book to be boring to read. There could have been sections taken out without the book’s plot suffering. Fangirl is 433 pages, and it felt long to read. The second half of Fangirl does pick up, but the first half took me a long time to finish.

When I read Fangirl, I loved Cath as a character. I felt like I identified with her being introverted and her love of fandom. This time, I started to notice how judgmental Cath is. She makes negative comments about how much Wren likes to party. Now, Wren was a bit out of control in some ways, but it felt to Cath that if Wren was living her life differently from her, it was wrong. Additionally, Cath seems to have a pretentious attitude because of her scholarship. This can be seen in her relationship with Levi, who struggles academically and finds it challenging to read a physical book. I think Cath grows up a bit towards the end of the book, but I was surprised at how some of her statements made me resent her.

Finally, I noticed Rainbow Rowell makes some weird comments about race in her books. There are examples from both Cath and Wren regarding how they comment on race. Wren comments later in the book that she doesn’t realize a certain race lives on one part of campus. I’m not sure if Rowell wants to hammer into readers how Cath and Wren grew up in a diverse area, but the statements come off more cringey than anything else. There has been some controversy surrounding Rainbow Rowell and how she writes characters from a different race, specifically in her book Eleanor and Park. It’s interesting reading Fangirl and noticing some of these comments, even though this controversy is with a different book.

Fangirl will always have a special place in my heart. I read this book at a time when I was struggling at the time. Reading about Cath helped me accept myself for who I am. I can understand why other readers rated this lower than I did. I’d love to hear any additional thoughts regarding Fangirl. Let me know in the comments section below.