Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

Now that final is over and done, I can finally focus on the holiday spirit. Yesterday, the holiday train rolled into Winona and it was a nice mood boost. The train was decorated with an assortment of lights and there was Christmas music being blasted. It was a nice needed holiday event to help engage me in the Christmas season.

Christmas is always a great time because I’m able to catch up with family members from both sides. I also do a lot of figure skating over break. For those who don’t know, I have been figure skating since I was 6. I took lessons for about 10 years or so. Learning to skate is like riding a bike, it’s something you don’t forget. Sure, I can’t do waltz jumps anymore, but I’m still steady on the ice. Every Christmas, my family gets together to go ice skating. It’s a fantastic tradition that I remember when I was little.

I read a lot of blog posts about people posting their Christmas lists and cool items that they want. Now that I’m older, I realize I never truly need anything for Christmas besides my family, friends, cups of coffee, an endless supply of books, and peace.

5Dec2015

Jessica Jones Discussion

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by Bizarre Brunette

When I posted my Winter Break Bucket List (see post below), I said I wanted to watch Jessica Jones. Well, I finished it much earlier than I expected. In between finals and studying for them, I carved out an hour to fit in an episode. This show is gritty, well-acted, and realistic.

What I loved:

David Tennant can seriously do no wrong. He’s fantastic and scary as Kilgrave. I have no idea how Kilgrave is in the comics, but Tennant really plays a scary villain. He’s violent and intimidating and there’s not much you can do to stop him. The show really analyzes how if mind control existed how our justice system would react. I thought that part of the show was realistic. David Tennant was a huge highlight of this series for me.

This show is incredibly dark, but it’s supposed to be. Hells Kitchen parallels Gotham City in the fact that it’s a dangerous place. Criminals run rampant and you have to look after yourself. Jessica is perfectly capable of doing this herself, but I like that the show has an accurate portrayal of living in Hell’s Kitchen.

A female superhero who doesn’t need a love interest is so great! Jessica has Luke Cage, but at the same time she doesn’t end up with anyone. She’s perfectly capable of fighting her own battles without a man by her side. It’s refreshing to see this in female superheroes. It’s hard to watch how women are shown on TV because most of the time there is a romantic element. With Jessica, that’s not really a big theme of this show and it’s great.

The show examines controversial topics. Rape especially is shown throughout the show but also how Jessica handles her PTSD. PTSD isn’t shown in pop culture all that much, but it’s great that we see Jessica, not at her optimum mental capacity. Kilgrave messed with her and it’s accurate seeing Jessica reacting the way she is. Sometimes Marvel productions don’t show this side of their characters. They’re expected to be okay and move on, but Jessica is showing an accurate side of what it’s like to be under someone’s control for so long.

This show was incredible and now I’m having a hard time moving on to another TV show. I can’t wait for the meet-up between Daredevil and Jessica in Hells Kitchen because Marvel is going to make it happen.

1Dec2015

Winter Break To Do List

Posted in Uncategorized by Bizarre Brunette

Winter Break is going to start sometime next week and I could really use the time off. School has gotten so stressful now since finals are next week. Part of my stress comes from group projects and I hate how my grade is dependent on other people. End of rant, but I cannot tell you how I can’t wait for a break.

Winter Break is around a month long and I know that I may get very bored. That’s why I came up with a list of books to read, shows to watch and gaming to be done so I can have a relaxing winter break minus the boredom. So here is my Winter Break Pop Culture To-Do List

See Star Wars!! I’m really excited about the movie especially because I was really young when the prequels came out so I couldn’t really join in on the excitement. I plan on buying tickets soon.
Catch up on all my TV shows (looking at The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl).
Jessica Jones! Also included: Agents of Shield, Scandal, Young Justice, and Agent Carter. I have a lot of work to do.
Gaming! I have Bullet Storm, Fallout 3, and Assassins Creed 2 that I can play. I’m also going to sell some 360 games to be redeemed for another game that I will actually play. Also, DS includes Kingdom Hearts, Animal Crossing, and more.
Go on a comic book store run. There are so many cool comic book stores in the Twin Cities area that I want to check out.
Design a new Magic the Gathering deck.
Organize! I have way too much stuff in my house and I’m planning on getting rid of a bunch of toys, CDs, and stuff that just adds clutter to my bedroom

Hopefully, this will keep me busy and not too bored over break. I’m also going to keep working out to maintain my muscle mass. With that being said, I want winter break to be here ASAP.

27Nov2015

Thanksgiving Positivity

Posted in Uncategorized by Bizarre Brunette

Thanksgiving is an important holiday in my household. It’s a time to catch up and relax while enjoying the classic Thanksgiving comfort food. I love seeing family members that I don’t get to see since I’m in Winona.

I just want to make a classic Thanksgiving post that lets me describe what I’m thankful for.

Let’s start with my mom and my brother.

I’m thankful for my mom because she has always supported me in everything I partake in. She’s the first I call about good news and the bad. Her excitement about the littlest things really adds cuteness to my life. She’s a huge reason why I want to stay in the Minnesota area because I can’t even imagine being really far from my family.

My brother is also someone I’m thankful for. My brother has ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) and because of that, he doesn’t understand certain social cues. I love my brother for who he is. He has helped me understand others who are diagnosed with ASD and he’s such an intelligent and nerdy person. Without these two individuals in my life, I feel like I would be lost.

Now my awesome friends

My friends mean so much to me. I’m thankful I have people I can text to hang out or get coffee. I have met so many wonderful people in college yet I’m still really good friends with people from high school. It’s amazing how good friends can add so much to your standard life. My friends are goofy, passionate, and overall lovable. I’m thankful to have these people in my life.

Books!!

My love for books starts in my childhood. From daily trips to the library and annual trips to the bookstore, books are a huge childhood memory for me. I recently reconnected with reading this year and I love purchasing and reading different series. This picture is my absolute favorite and I can easily spend an entire day reading a great book. With the approach of winter, I will catch up on my books before the end of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Here’s to a wonderful rest of the year and many more to come.

21Nov2015

The Walking Dead Review

Posted in Gaming by Bizarre Brunette

A gaming review is about to be posted on this page. It’s rare for me to find time to play video games. This is The Walking Dead game.

First, I have never been a fan of The Walking Dead TV show nor will I ever be a fan. I watched the first episode and watching a horse being eaten alive by a zombie really turned me away. I know that a lot of people absolutely love it, but I’m not a fan. That being said, the boyfriend played this and raved about how good it was. I found a copy of this at my house that my brother bought and I brought it back to school.

The game starts with the main character Lee sitting in the back of a police cruiser and being transported to the nearest prison facility. Being that there is a zombie apocalypse, shit hits the fan rather quickly. As Lee escapes his police cruiser, he finds a presumed empty house until he meets Clementine, an adorable 8-year-old girl waiting for the return of her parents. Lee takes Clementine under his wing as he meets different people and fights off numerous hordes of zombies.

This game is rather difficult as it relies on quick response choices to situations. I love this part of the game because it’s rather realistic and requires a lot of strategies. It’s definitely difficult to see how each character changes because of your response. I haven’t played a type of game like this in a while and it was really well done.

The graphics aren’t all that great for this game and I think that is a downfall. Sometimes the movement of the character is clunky and doesn’t flow well. The graphics are pretty meh.. but that shouldn’t stop you from playing this game.

The story is really entertaining and I constantly wanted to know what happened in each episode. The ending of the game is definitely heart-wrenching because favorite characters will meet an end. The actual last episode is really hard to watch, but the story is told wonderfully.

Seriously, even if The Walking Dead is not your thing, everyone will love this game. You can tell when a game is great when it attracts all gamers. I wish I could wipe my memory of the game and replay it so I could see my reaction again. If you haven’t played this older 360 game, it needs to appear on your backlog ASAP.

19Nov2015

Collect Experiences, Not Stuff

Posted in Uncategorized by Bizarre Brunette

Being only 21 years old, I feel like I have learned a lot about myself. Even though there’s so much left of my life to live and experience, there is one thing that still really rings true to me. It’s important to collect experiences, not stuff.

My savings account hasn’t been touched because I’m saving for rent for the summer and next year, but also for experiences as well. Sure, I could buy that cute shirt that’s sitting on my Pinterest board, or I can save that money for a museum ticket in another state. That $40 could even get me gas to just go on a road trip. There is so much of the United States and obviously the world that I haven’t explored yet.

I have so much stuff sitting around my house that hasn’t been touched. Old toys that haven’t been played with and movies that haven’t been opened. There is some “stuff” around my house that I could never get rid of. However, I don’t want to live in a place with clutter.

After graduation, I would really like to work and travel. Go on road trips because I’m young with people I care about. Collecting experiences will lead to true happiness instead of stuff that will sit and collect dust on a shelf.

16Nov2015

The Current: Gaming, Reading & Watching.

Posted in Gaming, Reading/Books by Bizarre Brunette

In between studying for finals, various projects and just balancing being a college student, I have found time to keep up with my television shows, read books & gaming. Here’s a short little blurb about what I have been doing in my free time.

Games: The Walking Dead

I will be the first to admit that I’m not a huge fan of The Walking Dead. I tried to watch the first episode, but then I couldn’t watch as the horse was torn apart by zombies. So when I first heard about this game, I didn’t actually play it because I figured I wouldn’t like it. I started it from a recommendation I received and I really enjoy it. The choices you have to make in the game are really tough. Since it also gives you a select amount of time to make the choice, you have to think fast. The choices you make real change the game. It also shows how many people who played the game made the same choice you did. This is an awesome game and I will post a review when I get through all the episodes.

TV: The Flash, Arrow, and Super Girl

Of course, this should be no surprise as this is all superhero TV series. I talked about the TV shows that I’m absolutely addicted to and some of these were discussed in that post.

Reading: Steelheart

This book is absolutely amazing and it’s so intense at some parts of the book. I’m about halfway through and I feel like I need to purchase the sequel so I can keep going in the series. This book reads exactly like a superhero comic to me and it really examines how if normal people were to receive superpowers they would happen. This kind of reminds me of a real-world, post-apocalyptic X-Men only without Charles Xavier and the good mutants. I can’t wait to finish this book and a review will go on the blog asap.

What are you reading, gaming, or watching lately?

5Nov2015

Smash Up is a super fun deck-building game

Posted in Gaming by Bizarre Brunette

I have gotten busier as the semester goes on with lots of projects and quizzes coming up. Nevertheless, I managed to find an hour of downtime before I work this evening. Since I have been annually going to RiverQuest, I have been able to try two new games: Smash Up and Red7. I also added them to my Board Game Bucket List that’s pinned to the front of my blog. Feel free to check it out and recommend to me some awesome tabletop games!

Smash Up is a game with decks of cards with a theme. To win the game, you earn 15 victory points. Minions are cards in your deck that allow you to rack up points to eventually earn victory points. Each deck has a particular theme that will impact the minions that are played. For example, the first time I ever played this game my first two decks were spies and kitties. So the minion cards in that deck were cute kittens riding on rainbows and spies that referenced the James Bond film series.

So it makes sense that I played with these decks first. Overall, the two decks didn’t work out that well, but it still left me with a good experience with this game.

Smash Up 6 — Grumpy Kitty Cats & Sean Connery Spies.. my favorite.

Smash Up 2 — 7 Victory Points earned in my first game

The next combination I worked with was the Princesses and Cthulhu. This combination actually worked out quite well and I would highly recommend it.

Smash Up 8 — Winning with 15 Victory Points

Generally, this game is really easy to learn and is a pretty quick game to play. I highly recommend it if you love board games/card games that are really easy and make fun of pop culture a bit. Each expansion is great too especially Cthulhu and the mythic cards which I won’t go too in-depth with this post. Smash Up is probably one of my all-time favorite board games I have ever played! Play it immediately when you can!

2Nov2015

Life Lately: Happy Halloween

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

I absolutely 100% love Halloween. I know many people who detest this holiday, but it’s my favorite. Of course, to have an awesome Halloween, you have to spend it with people who love the holiday as much as you do. This led me to go home and hang out with my family and one of my good friends for the entire weekend. Friday, I just stayed at home watching movies with my mom. Having a glass of wine and watching movies is a nice way to spend a night at home.

Saturday rolled around and I was already planning my Halloween night. I went down to my friend’s apartment. She’s currently attending the University of Minnesota and her apartment is essentially in the middle of everything. Dinkytown is right around the corner and we knew that’s where we wanted to be. After getting dinner at The Republic on Cedar Ave, we got changed into our costumes for Halloween. I ended up wearing this Spiderman corset that I borrowed for a second time from my friend. It was fun seeing everyone in costumes and having a great time after the Gopher game. I met some cool people including a guy dressed as someone from NASA, Chewbacca & Star Wars crew, and Step Brothers.

Overall it was a very fun adventure in a city I love. It was great to catch up with friends & family and it was necessary to relax this weekend. I will have to catch up on homework this entire week, but it was so worth it to have a much-needed break. Happy Belated Halloween everyone!

24Oct2015

Life Lately: Elementary Science Fun Night!

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

Astronomy Club is something I have been involved with on Winona State’s campus for two years. Astronomy is a fascinating science because there is so much about space that we don’t know. Is there life outside of our universe? I believe it and there’s even a fictional equation that depicts this outcome (Thanks Drake Equation). Anyway, one of the events the Astronomy Club participates in is Elementary Science Fun Night. The club combined with the geology and physics club goes to an elementary school and teaches little kids about science.

It’s one of my favorite events to participate in! I got the “Electric City” station that shows how Static Electricity works. The machine is called an Electrostatic generator. It works when you turn it on and turn up the speed of the conveyor belt. It generates energy that travels to me when I put my hands on the globe. My hair will come up from the energy. Kids absolutely loved it! They would come and touch my arm and get a shock. Then other kids would come and get shocked as well. Being shocked doesn’t necessarily hurt, it’s just a weird feeling.

Many physics professors help out with this event too and they always bring liquid nitrogen. Liquid Nitrogen can also be used to make ice cream which I ate a lot of. It’s always entertaining to put a bouncy ball in Liquid Nitrogen and then drop it on the floor so it shatters. Kids are astounded by this every time.

Teaching kids science is rewarding. Their laughter is contagious as they run around the gymnasium checking out all the experiments. It’s events like these that make me want to have children so I can bring them to the science museum or help them with their science projects. It also makes me miss being a biology major and taking science courses. Then I realize, Exercise Science is really where I’m meant to be. I had a fantastic Friday and my weekend will only get better.