Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by
Image is a movie poster. The poster is "Ant-Man & The Wasp Quantumania". It shows a man front and center being absored by this purple liquid. Below him are the heroes, there are five characters.

The first thing I heard about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was that the film was getting negative reviews. There’s been a lot of discussion online about superhero movie fatigue, which I feel contributed to the reviews this movie received. I went to see Ant-Man last weekend, and I liked it a lot. I felt that Ant-Man had a lot of build-up, considering that Kang the Conqueror (played by Jonathan Majors) will be the next Marvel villain to become front and center.

Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) is enjoying his fame from battling Thanos. He’s written a book that he obnoxiously listens to in his car, much to his daughter, Cassie’s, chagrin. Cassie (played by Kathryn Newton) chastises her father for seemingly not caring about real-world events, especially since he’s an official Avenger. Cassie shows Scott, Hope van Dyne (played by Evangeline Lilly), Janet van Dyne (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), and Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) how she invented a device to communicate in the Quantum Realm. Janet panics and shuts off the device, but not before they all get sucked into the Quantum Realm. Scott and Cassie are separated from Hope, Janet, and Hank. Despite their separation, they are told stories of “The Conqueror,” an individual who has overtaken numerous worlds in the Quantum Realm. Cassie is determined to help even though Scott is reluctant. They realize that The Conqueror needs to be stopped as his existence is a threat to the multiverse.

I liked that Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania tied the other Ant-Man films together. First, there’s the reveal of M.O.D.O.K. M.O.D.O.K. was created by The Conqueror, who is revealed to be Darren Cross (played by Corey Stoll) from the first Ant-Man movie. I know this isn’t comic-book accurate, but I liked this reveal. It tied up loose ends and helped connect the movies together. Also, I liked how Cassie and M.O.D.O.K faced off, considering that Darren went after her when she was younger, and now she’s able to defend herself.

I liked Kang as a villain. His motives are simple: he wants revenge for being exiled. He feels it’s his duty to protect the multiverse by killing millions of people. Jonathan Majors knocks it out of the park. He’s physically capable of holding his own in a fight, and he has the tech to be a fierce opponent. I think there’s much more potential to make Kang more lethal in future installments. This is hinted at in the post-credit scene, which, by the way, I love the tie into the second season of Loki. I wasn’t expecting that, so I was happy to see that connection.

While Ant-Man was getting negative reviews, I personally liked the movie! It was fun, it tied in with the other Ant-Man movies, and it was easy to follow. I’m looking forward to the other Marvel films that will be released this year and seeing Kang the Conqueror pop up throughout the franchise.

Is My Blog Name Too Sexual? – Bizarre Brunette

Posted in Life Lately by

I wanted to start this post by telling a story. Writing my blog is a hobby of mine, and it’s something that I’m proud of. I decided to be brave and share a blog post I wrote on LinkedIn. Within twenty minutes, I had someone comment on the blog post that I shared. They had written “Too Pornish” in the comments. This was someone with whom I wasn’t previously connected, so I had no idea who this person was. I immediately felt a flush of embarrassment and deleted the post linking back to my blog. I didn’t think much of it, but then I tried to access my blog through work to gather some pictures for an About Me presentation. My work had blocked my website because it was deemed an adult site. I laughed, and it clicked why that person commented “Too Pornish”. It made me think, is my blog name too sexual?

When I told my friend I was thinking about starting a blog, she helped me come up with the name. The first name I picked was “The Geeky Iceskater.” The name didn’t feel right to me, but I wanted to start writing as soon as possible. My friend helped me figure out some other blog name contenders, and she came up with Bizarre Brunette. It clicked, and I knew immediately that was the blog name I wanted. It’s funny how Bizarre and Brunette on their own aren’t sexual words, yet when they are put together, it becomes “Pornish” as this one man described. It makes me slightly uncomfortable how something that was a hobby of mine has suddenly become sexualized, which was never my intention, to begin with.

I mentioned earlier how I liked that Bizarre Brunette was feminine. The reason this matters is because of the harassment I have faced both in person and online over my hobbies. I have been made to feel unwelcome at comic book stores, even though I love reading comics. When I started playing video games, I was told that I was doing it to get attention from men, even though gaming helped me destress after a long day. I was harassed online because I chose a gamertag that was feminine. I have had people question if I’m truly a fan of something if I wear a pop culture t-shirt. It’s been draining to be made to feel like I don’t belong.

As a side note, I’m a cis, white woman, so the amount of harassment I have faced is substantially less than that of other women. There’s still work that needs to happen so that all women can feel welcome in comics, video games, and geek culture in general.

I was mulling this around, but I don’t see myself ever changing my blog name. If I ever do a rebranding, it could potentially happen in the future, but I have no plans right now. I’m going to continue writing about the topics that I’m passionate about because I want women to feel more welcome in these spaces. Unfortunately for the random guy on LinkedIn, Bizarre Brunette will continue to exist even though it might be Too Pornish.

Romance Reading Month Recap – 2023

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February is over, which means that my Romance Reading month has concluded. I had four books and one romance graphic novel on my TBR. I ended up reading the graphic novel plus two of the books. It wasn’t a bad reading month, but I was expecting to do better. Some of the books I was reading took a little bit longer, and I was out of town for one weekend in February, which didn’t help. Here is everything I read last month.

All The Feels by Olivia Dade – Finished

All The Feels was a little bit of a letdown. Lauren was a character I was looking forward to reading about, but she was kind of boring. She’s an ER therapist, yet there’s nothing else memorable about her. She doesn’t have any hobbies or interests outside of her job. I find it hard to believe there wasn’t something that could have been added to make her character more interesting. In contrast to Spoiler Alert, the first book in the series, April was a geologist who was so cool to read about! Besides Lauren, I liked everything else in the book. I rated All The Feels three stars on Goodreads.

Well Played by Jen DeLuca – Finished

Well Played is one of the lowest-rated books in the Well Met book series. Part of the reason for this is the catfishing trope in this book. Stacey reached out to an old fling and later found out that she was talking to his cousin. I didn’t personally have a problem with this because Daniel, the man Stacey was actually communicating with, was apologetic and realized that what he did was wrong. I think what was more concerning to me was what their fight was about. Once that happened, I felt more animosity toward Stacey and Daniel as a couple.

I liked Well Played because I love the Renaissance Fest being the backdrop for the story. I think I will avoid catfishing in romance books going forward. I rated Well Played four stars on Goodreads.

The Love Con by Seressia Glass – Currently Reading

I’m currently reading The Love Con, as I wasn’t able to finish it by the end of February. I’m loving it so far. It’s basically a “friends to lovers” romance with the backdrop of a Project Runway Cosplay reality TV show. I’m planning on finishing The Love Con sometime this month.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry – Didn’t Read

I didn’t get a chance to read Book Lovers, which is completely fine by me. This book would be perfect to read in the summer.

Lore Olympus Vol #1 by Rachel Smythe – Finished

Lore Olympus is so good. I love that there are physical trade paperbacks now, and I think I prefer reading Lore Olympus this way versus on an app. I rated Lore Olympus five stars on Goodreads.

As far as what’s next, I plan on finishing The Love Con by the end of the month. March will be a much busier month for me since I will be attending two conventions out of state. I’m not sure how much reading I will get done, but it’s a nice break to be able to read whatever I’m in the mood for versus doing a full reading challenge. My next reading challenge will be Star Wars books in May, which I always look forward to.

Underworld (2003)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by

I love making lists. It keeps me organized, and I feel accomplished when I cross things off. One of my lists includes movies that I haven’t seen. This includes whole franchises or stand-alone films. One franchise on my list for a while is the Underworld franchise starring Kate Beckinsale. I know the Underworld series was about Vampires and Lycans, but that’s it. Watching Underworld for the first time, this movie has held up since it was released twenty years ago.

Underworld focuses on Selene (played by Kate Beckinsale), who leads a team to take down the Lycans, as she is led to believe that the Lycans are evil and killed her family. As Selene is tracking a group of Lycans, she’s surprised to see that they are targeting a human, which is unheard of. Selene feels that’s suspicious enough, so she finds Michael (played by Scott Speedman), the human that Selene feels is being targeted. Selene is correct, as Michael was attacked by Lucian (played by Michael Sheen). Selene is too late and sees that Michael has been bitten by Lucian. Selene is aware that something is going on, but she’s gaslit by her clan, who tells her there is nothing to fear. Selene turns her back on the clan to try to save Michael, along with uncovering why he’s being targeted, to begin with.

The first thing I noticed about watching Underworld for the first time is how awesome Selene is. She’s a female protagonist who is not dressed provocatively, and she can hold her own throughout the movie. It’s obvious that Selene is stunning because she’s a Vampire who doesn’t age, but they don’t dress her in a campy outfit; she wears all leather and black, and her look is functional. I think that’s interesting considering the time frame in which Underworld was originally released.

Besides Seline, I think the cast in Underworld helps make this a more memorable supernatural action film. Michael Sheen as Lucian was a perfect casting choice. Lucian has this sort of goth, animalistic look to him. Lucian is the type of villain who isn’t physical, but more manipulative, as he plays both sides of this war. Bill Nighy plays Viktor, one of Selene’s mentors, as she becomes a vampire. Viktor is a cold-hearted character, yet he has a soft spot for Selene, which is proven throughout the film.

It was fun to watch Underworld for the first time. I’m glad that I could cross another film off my list.

Gen Con 2023 Here I Come

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I’m excited to say that I will be attending Gen Con in 2023! For those who are unfamiliar, Gen Con is the largest gaming convention in the US. There are so many different gaming events occurring, along with the biggest vendor hall I have ever seen. There’s so much going on at Gen Con that I find that there is something for everyone. I have been to Gen Con once, and I have always had it on my radar to go back. I may end up writing a few posts here and there as Gen Con gets closer. To start, I wanted to share the journey of attending Gen Con and why this con means so much to me despite only attending for one year.

Image is a crowd of people in a group huddled all the way back, We are all waiting for the vendor hall to open.
Photo taken by me at Gen Con in 2019

In 2019, a few of my friends approached me about going to Gen Con as they felt that I would like the convention. Gen Con takes place in Indianapolis, which is only a nine-hour drive for me. I didn’t want to drive all that way myself, so I invited my brother to come with me. It was comforting to have him to talk to during the drive, and it was great to be able to experience this with someone else for the first time. When I first arrived at Gen Con on Thursday, I was amazed. Food trucks were lining the entrance of the convention, which is pretty smart considering gamers need to eat. I was in line waiting to get into the vendor hall on the first day, and the crowd behind us was one of the largest crowds I have ever been a part of. Another amazing part was how much there was to experience. Gen Con was hosting a brewery tour, a 5k, and other non-gaming events. I have never heard of a convention having that many events occurring simultaneously.

Immediately after getting home from Gen Con, I knew that I wanted to go back. My friends and I were planning on attending Gen Con in 2020, which obviously did not happen. Our group kept in touch throughout the years of the pandemic. Both 2021 and 2022 were a miss as the pandemic was still around, and there’s no denying that there would be a crowd. When I reached out to my friends this year, they were adamant that they wanted to return to Gen Con. All of our passes have been bought, and our hotel room has been booked. It will be nice to stay at a hotel on-site for parking and be able to walk to and from the convention at any time.

I cannot wait for Gen Con, and I’m so happy to be going back. I know my brother is looking forward to it, too, and it’s been great to be able to spend time with my brother as well.

Meet Levinia – Commissioning Art of my Dungeons & Dragons Character

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On Thursdays, I’m still playing Curse of Strahd at Badwolf Adventure Studios. Our game was a bi-weekly game; however, we voted on making sessions happen weekly instead. This is the longest campaign I have ever been a part of, and I have grown attached to Levinia, my Half-Elf Blood Hunter. She’s a level ten, which is also the highest I have ever leveled up a character. Besides offering sessions, Badwolf also allows for character commissions. I asked for a commission of Levinia because even if she were to die, I won’t ever forget her. The commission was completed in January, and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Image is taken in a forest. It's dark and there's fog. In the center is a woman with black hair and white hisps through her hair. She's holding a rapier and is dressed in armor and a fur shawl. She looks menacing.
The photo belongs to me, but was commissioned by Badwolf Adventure Studios

I’m in awe! Levinia looks so good! I felt that this image captured her character. In addition to having a digital copy of the art, Badwolf framed it for me, too. I haven’t hung it up yet, as I’m figuring out where I want to hang it in my house.

I cannot say enough positive comments about Badwolf Adventure Studios. I always look forward to our sessions, and it’s helped me destress throughout the week.

Bullet Train (2022)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by
Image is a movie poster. The poster is split diagonally from top right to bottom left by a train. On the top left is Brad Pitt. The bottom left are a few characters in the film along with a stuffed cartoon cat.

I remember watching a trailer for Bullet Train last year and thought it seemed like a fun movie. It’s tough to tell with action movies because, as much as I love them, they tend to follow the same premise. Bullet Train was getting rave reviews, so maybe there was something unique about the movie that made it stand out. Bullet Train was such a fun twist on an action movie. If Knives Out was an action film, that’s how I would describe Bullet Train.

Bullet Train begins with Ladybug (played by Brad Pitt) being sent out on a last-minute job to pick up a briefcase on a train. As Ladybug searches for the briefcase, the film introduces us to “brothers” Lemon (played by Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who are also looking for the briefcase while also protecting “The White Death’s” son, who was kidnapped earlier. If that wasn’t enough to keep track of, “The Father” (played by Andrew Koji) is searching the train for the person who pushed his son off a building. “The Father” is knocked out by “The Prince (played by Joey King), who reveals herself as luring “The Father” to the train to help kill “The White Death”, but it’s not revealed why “The Prince” wants “White Death” dead until later. As the characters fight each other over the briefcase, they realize that details were left out as to why they were asked to be on the train.

As far as the characters, it’s clear that Lemon and Tangerine stole the show. They were hilarious, and they had great chemistry together. I would watch a “buddy cop” type film starring Lemon and Tangerine. Lemon talks about his love of the Thomas the Tank Engine TV show and how he would group people as one of the trains on the show. This carried throughout the whole movie, with everyone referring to the “double agent” as Diesel, a train on the show. As a side note, there are rumors that Aaron-Taylor Johnson is being auditioned as the next James Bond, and after watching Bullet Train, I can see it. Lemon and Tangerine are the best parts of this movie.

The reason I would describe Bullet Train as being a Knives Out action film is how much mystery there is and how it’s revealed towards the end. There are moments that happen earlier in the film that feel innocuous but are then revealed as being important later on. An example of this is when Ladybug punches a stuffed cat and walks away. The stuffed cat was really an assassin in disguise that Ladybug had to fight later on. The way everything is revealed and tied up at the end is satisfying.

Bullet Train was one of the more memorable action films that I have seen recently. I’m still waiting on a Lemon / Tangerine team-up movie. Hollywood should make that happen.

Harley Quinn Suicide Squad Cosplay – Status Update

Posted in Cosplay, Life Lately by

February is a pretty quiet month in my life. It’s still pretty chilly in Minnesota, so I find myself cuddled indoors. Since I have more free time, I tend to devote more time to my hobbies. I wrote about trying to get back into cosplay, so I figured I’d share an update on where I’m at. I’m currently working on Harley Quinn and having everything put together.

Image is a red dress hanging on a wall. The dress is red and has a lot of volume towards the bottom.

The first essential part of Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad is the red dress. I ordered the red dress from Amazon from a company called Rubie’s. Rubie’s is a costume shop that sells on Amazon, whether it’s a Halloween costume or costumes that can be used for cosplay. I have ordered many of Rubie’s costumes, and they are usually pretty decent. I ordered a medium in the Harley Quinn red dress, and it fits me perfectly! It’s a little loose-fitting, but I figured I could wear something underneath to help take up any extra space. The only thing I noticed when I tried on the dress is that the white layer underneath sometimes shows. I’m thinking I could buy a red tutu to wear underneath the dress to give the dress more volume.

Image of a blond wig with two braids down the back. One braid is black and the other is red

Besides the dress, the wig is another Harley Quinn essential. I bought this wig also from Amazon. The wig is comfortable to wear, but the two blonde parts of the wig are a little awkward. I might have to style the wig right before I wear it. Another thought I had was to tuck the ends of the blonde wig into the braid to make it more natural. The wig itself, I think, was worth the purchase as it seems like a good quality wig for the price. The only other thing that I have left to do is figure out the makeup. Harley Quinn’s makeup shouldn’t be too challenging, but I’m also not very makeup-savvy. I’m going to watch a few makeup tutorials to get some ideas for Harley’s look.

I’m excited to put everything together! It’s been fun making cosplay more of a priority instead of a last-minute project.

Set It Up (2018)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by
Image is a movie poster. It shows two women at the top and two men at the bottom. In the middle it says "Set it Up"

When it comes to sitting down and watching a movie, I tend to lean toward action or adventure films. After reading romance books in February, I found myself wanting to watch a rom-com. As I was scrolling through Hulu and Netflix, I found Set It Up starring Glenn Powell before his Top Gun: Maverick fame. I figured, why not watch it, because even if the movie wasn’t that great, it can still be fun to watch. Set It Up was cute and better than I was initially expecting it to be.

Harper Moore (played by Zoey Deutch) is an assistant to sports journalism editor Kirsten Stevens (played by Lucy Liu). Harper has always dreamed of writing sports articles that move people, but she hasn’t found the time to actually write. In the meantime, Charlie Young (played by Glenn Powell) is an assistant to venture capitalist Rick Otis (played by Taye Diggs). Charlie is hoping for a promotion, so he doesn’t have to be an assistant for too much longer. Both Harper and Charlie bond over the fact that they are constantly busy being assistants. They decide that if they tried to pair up Kirsten and Rick, maybe they would have more time to devote to themselves. Harper and Charlie work together to set Kirsten and Rick up while also falling in love with each other.

Set It Up falls into the trope of a “quirky girl falls in love with the hot guy” Harper is a sports fan, but the way she expresses herself, along with her personality, falls into the trope. She’s goofy and doesn’t take herself too seriously. Charlie is the “hot guy” who likes quirky Harper, and they fall in love. I can’t help it, but I love this trope in romance. For any fan of romance in general, I think everyone has that trope that they love, and this is one of them for me. Another theme in rom-com is the cast. The cast can either make or break a movie. I thought Zoey and Glenn had great chemistry together. I wasn’t expecting Pete Davidson to play Charlie’s best friend, so I thought that was a nice surprise.

Set It Up was a cute rom-com, and I’m glad I watched it.

Herding Llamas in Llamas Unleashed

Posted in Gaming by
Image features a game called Llamas Unleashed. Towards the bottom of the game, there's a card displayed. It says: Baby Alpaca featuring a baby cartoon Alpaca with a pacifier.

I’m always looking for simple board games to play in between my more complex games. I played Unstable Unicorns first, and I loved the art on the cards and how easy it is to teach other people the game. I purchased a copy of Llamas Unleashed as Unstable Games / TeeTurtle was tabling at a convention I went to. I had the game on my shelf for about a year and a half before finally being able to play it on a game night. Llamas Unleashed is so simple, cute, and filled with dad jokes.

Llamas Unleashed and Unstable Unicorns are essentially the same game. The goal of Llamas Unleashed is to have the most Llamas, Goats, Rams, or Alpacas in your stable while also sabotaging other players’ attempts to do this as well. Each turn, a player will draw a card, play a card, and then pass it to the next player. There are animal cards that can be placed in a stable, magical animal card where there are special powers associated. There are upgrade cards to help your stable, along with downgrade cards that can be played in another person’s stable. There’s a lot of variety in what can be done on each turn.

If you’re not a fan of dad jokes, you probably won’t enjoy this game. There are so many puns on all the cards. My uncle would laugh whenever he drew a new card because it was centered on some pun. I imagine what the writing table at Unstable Games would be like as they come up with the wording on the cards. That would be a fun business meeting to be a part of, I’m sure. As mentioned, this is a simple game. It’s easy for me to explain the rules and for my friends to pick up on the game quickly. This would be a fun game to bring to a brewery because there isn’t a lot of setup required, and it doesn’t take that long to play.

I would definitely play Llamas Unleashed again. The game is cute, easy to learn, and a relaxing game to play.