May the 4th – 2022 Plan Recap

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

Summer is in full swing, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I love the sun, the smell of sunscreen, and not needing a jacket every time I go outside. With the end of May, it comes my annual “May the 4th Be With You” recap. This month didn’t go exactly as I had planned, but I still think it was a great month, regardless.

Books and Comics

Unfortunately, I never received the rest of my Barnes & Noble order. I ended up missing Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray, Leia, Princess of Alderaan, and Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume #1. The only book that arrived was Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse. It’s unfortunate because I wanted to have a big reading month, and it didn’t work out.

Resistance Reborn takes place between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The book centers around recruiting former allies to fight for the Resistance on an action-packed mission. Poe, leader of the Black Squadron, is tasked with retrieving a Resistance prisoner list and breaking a prisoner out of a secure First Order facility.

Resistance Reborn was an enjoyable read. I will say there was a lot of story build-up. For some, this might be boring to read, but I liked the information and context. The last 100 pages are where the action intensified. I rated Resistance Reborn three and a half stars on Goodreads.

Regarding comics, I only finished Star Wars: Princess Leia Volume #1. I have the complete run of Star Wars: Poe Dameron to read, but I didn’t finish it in May like I thought I would. I’m looking forward to the coming months because I have fewer weekends booked solid like I did in May. I’m hoping for some free Saturday mornings to read comics.

Movies & TV

I’m sad to say that I didn’t finish The Clone Wars. I did watch The Clone Wars on my drive to and from Milwaukee, so that helped. I’m now on season #3. I’m determined to finally finish the show by the end of the year. I didn’t get to re-watch The Mandalorian or re-watch The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, or The Rise of Skywalker. I still feel accomplished for the month, and I’m invested in watching more Star Wars content by the end of the year.

Gaming

I did play through LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga; however, my game glitched!! I am on the last episode, The Rise of Skywalker, and I’m forever stuck in light speed traveling to the next level. I looked on Reddit, and apparently, if you accept a cargo side mission, the cargo doesn’t load at light speed, so you have to complete the cargo mission, and it should fix the glitch. The problem is that I have no idea what cargo mission I accepted. I would have to go back and go through every individual side mission to figure out which one I accepted. Plus, this isn’t a guaranteed fix. There were some comments where players did this, and it still didn’t fix the glitch.

I have invested so much time in this game, and I’m so sad that I can’t even finish the story. The only hope I have is if a patch is released that will fix my game save. I’m not willing to go through all the effort listed above and have it not work. I’m going to discontinue playing through the game, which is such a bummer.

Since I’m done playing through LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, I’m going to go back to Jedi: Fallen Order. I played through the game back in 2020, and I never finished it. I’m going to start over and devote the time to finishing the game.

Miscellaneous Star Wars Content

I’m adding a section for the “miscellaneous” Star Wars content that I listened to or discovered this month. Thanks to Anakin + His Angel, I discovered the YouTube channel, Always Believe. Always Believe is hosted by Ash and Bryan, who share their love of Star Wars, Disney, and Marvel. I love their channel! I’m genuinely excited to see when they release a new video, and I like listening to their videos while I do various chores or tasks throughout the day.

While I’m at work, I discovered two Star Wars podcasts to help me get through the day. The first is Force Toast Podcast. Force Toast is hosted by Alyce and Laura, and they are based in Chicago. They talk about Star Wars content and Star Wars trivia over a drink. The other Star Wars podcast I found was Star Wars STUFF. This is more of a Star Wars news podcast versus Force Toast being a casual Star Wars chat. Both podcasts I can see myself listening to throughout the coming months.

Overall, I think this was a successful Star Wars month despite some challenges I had. Let me know what Star Wars content you’re reading or loving in the comments down below.

31May2022

Frolicking in Fargo

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

For Memorial Weekend, I knew I wanted to go somewhere. Originally, I wanted to fly to Arizona, as there was a convention happening the same weekend. While that sounded fun, I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough time to see everything I wanted to in the few days I was there. Instead, I suggested to my husband to explore Fargo. Fargo is in North Dakota, right along the border of Minnesota. It’s only a 3 1/2 hour drive, so it’s easily doable in a day. While Fargo isn’t on the same level as Arizona, I still had a blast.

I’m not sure what I expected from Fargo. It’s easy to say that North Dakota is known as a boring state to live in or to drive through. Fargo was a nice city! The downtown area has several cute shops, restaurants, bars, and art murals. I wasn’t expecting Fargo to be as artsy a city, but there were murals everywhere. My favorite mural was a Mario wall that was on a side alley downtown.

Image is a photo of me standing in front of an art mural. The art mural is from the Mario games. There are the brown boxes and some boxes have the ? in the middle. I'm pointing a finger up at the box with a ? on it. — Gold Coins are not included.

Besides art murals, there were so many ice cream shops. I’m not usually an ice cream fan, although the ice cream shop we stopped in was cute. The Silver Lining Creamery was right in the heart of downtown. I was impressed with the number of ice cream options there were. I tried a vegan Oreo ice cream made from coconut milk. To be clear, I’m not vegan; I simply like trying plant-based foods. It was delicious! The one thing I would say is that the coconut flavor was prevalent, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t like coconut.

We ended our trip by stopping at a few breweries. The first brewery was DCR Brewing, located downtown, and then driving to the second brewery, Drekker Brewing Company. Drekker was packed! It was a gorgeous brewery with multiple levels and outdoor seating. It was a beautiful day throughout Fargo, so I could see why the brewery was so busy. My husband has seen Drekker at various beer festivals he has gone to, but hasn’t been able to sip their beer. It was a cool place! I would have loved to spend more time there, but we had a 3 1/2 hour drive home, and I didn’t want to get home too late.

Image is a photo of me and my husband taking a selfie. Behind us is an art mural that says "Greetings from Fargo"

Driving to Fargo was a fun day trip. I would say a day trip was the perfect amount of time. It got to a point where we were running out of things to do. As far as my next trip, I still have my eyes set on Seattle in August for Emerald City Comic-Con.

25May2022

The Avengers – Ten Years Later

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by Bizarre Brunette

Image is a promo image for the movie, The Avengers. It shows from left to right, The Hulk, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Captain America, and Thor. The background is a destroyed New York.

Do you ever have those moments where you think to yourself, “Has it really been that long”? One of those moments happened to me a week ago. I was watching a YouTube video where someone was saying that The Avengers came out ten years ago. I almost didn’t believe it. Sure enough, I looked it up, and The Avengers was released on May 4th, 2012. I can’t believe it’s been ten years since The Avengers was released in theaters.

Four years ago, I wrote a post on Bizarre Brunette about why The Avengers film means so much to me. I won’t repeat myself too much except to say that The Avengers was a major factor in why I started reading comics. It makes me think that I have been reading comics full-time for almost a decade, which is mind-boggling to me.

When I reminisce about my love for The Avengers, I think back to my freshman year of college. In my dorm room, I had two Hawkeye posters. I remember hanging them on my wall. This leads me into the line of thinking where it’s been ten years since my freshman year of college and my high school graduation. There’s been so much change in my life from 2012 to 2022.

Without getting too off-topic, I was thrown off by The Avengers being released ten years ago. Let me know in the comments if you have felt something similar, where you’re thrown by how long it’s been since either a movie, TV show, or something happened in your life that was rather significant.

22May2022

“Camping” at the North Shore

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

Minnesota is the US state known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Minnesota has such beautiful areas of the state, and one of those places is the North Shore. The North Shore is about 2 1/2 – 3 hours away from the Twin Cities, and it’s along Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes. For reference, the North Shore is the northeast tip of the state. Our friends like to visit the North Shore once a year, and this time I decided to come along.

Image is a photo taken off a cliff side. Thre are trees, but in the distance is Lake Superior. The lake is huge! and you can't see the other side.

You might be wondering why I’m putting quotations around “camping”. The reason is that a friend ended up getting a hotel room because we aren’t big campers. I have been camping a few times before, but it’s simply not for me. I like hiking, canoeing, and kayaking, but I prefer indoor plumbing. It worked out perfectly! My husband camped outside, which he loves; it’s simply not my preferred way to enjoy the outdoors.

Throughout the weekend, we drove through various small towns along Lake Superior. One town is called Grand Marais, and it’s about 30-40 miles from the Canadian border. My husband is a big fan of a brewery up there called Voyageur. Voyageur had an upstairs patio, and it was heavenly to sit, have a pint, and goof off with friends in the sun. The day before, we also stopped at another brewery on my list called Castle Danger. I have always drank Castle Danger beer, but I have never been to the brewery.

It was such a fun weekend! It goes to show that you can do so much exploring in the state or area you’re from. Our friends were talking about making this an annual trip, and I’m all for it. The North Shore is calling me to come back.

Image is a photo of me and my husband next to Lake Superior. My husband is wearing camping gear, while I'm bundled in my winter coat and a hoodie. We are smiling at the camera.

19May2022

Creating DnD Campaign Sheets – DnD Podcasts

Posted in Gaming by Bizarre Brunette

Image is a screenshot from a Google doc I created. The top of the Google Doc says "Critical Role - Favorite Quotes" and underneath it says "Vox Machina" — Screenshot taken by me from my Google Doc.

I love listening to Dungeons & Dragons or TTRPG podcasts. The frustrating part about them, however, is getting lost within the story. Each podcast has so much world-building that I find if I’m not paying attention to every second, I might miss something. Some podcasts may have a recap before each episode, while others have opted out of that altogether. I wanted to share what’s been working for me to keep everything straight in the podcasts I have been listening to.

I started this with Critical Role specifically. I started keeping a Google Doc per campaign where I write down my favorite moments, key NPCs (non-playable characters created by the Dungeon Master), and memorable bits from each episode. I started this Google Doc last year and kept up with it even when Critical Role began airing campaign #3. It’s been fun keeping a record of moments I don’t want to forget, and it’s helped me get into the world that’s being created. This document is now eleven pages long! This includes moments from campaigns #1 and #3, so I may end up breaking them apart into two separate documents.

If anyone else is a fan of roleplaying podcasts, I currently have a Google Doc created for both campaigns #2 and #3 from NADDPOD and campaign #1 and campaign #3 of Critical Role. I’m happy to share them if anyone is interested.

16May2022

Bizarre Brunette’s Past – Topics I Used to Write About

Posted in Uncategorized by Bizarre Brunette

One of the mini-projects that I’m working on is reviewing all my past posts on Bizarre Brunette. Now that I use Grammarly, I have been editing previous posts, along with making sure the images I used are covered under Fair Use. When I re-read some of my older posts, I realized that there were certain topics I wrote about in the past that I had gotten away from. I wanted to share what I used to write about and whether I plan on bringing this up in future posts.

Health & Fitness

Image is a photo of me at a fancy event. I'm wearing a dress and my makeup is done. I'm holding a fitbit versa, unopened. I look really excited that I won it.

I started writing Bizarre Brunette back in 2014. I was still in college at the time, so some of my posts were centered around health and fitness. I talked about my personal exercise journey, why I chose this major, and any personal health goals I had.

Once I found my niche with Bizarre Brunette, I got away from writing about exercise. At this time, I don’t have any plans to write about health and fitness. My health goals are personal to me and something I don’t want to share. Additionally, I think the health & wellness industry is over-saturated and I don’t want to contribute to that. There’s still a lot of misinformation and toxicity being promoted, and I’m not a fan of that. This is a topic I intend to leave in the past.

Fashion

Image is a photo of me smiling at the camera. I'm wearing a yellow tank top, black cardigan, and leggings with the Batman symbol on it.

I used to write “OOTD” or “Outfit of the Day” posts centered around geek fashion. One of my favorite posts I wrote was centered around my Batman leggings I had. Unfortunately, I had to throw them away because they had holes in them.

This is a topic I want to write more about. The one barrier I have is trying to take pictures of the outfits I’m wearing. I don’t want to force my husband into being my photographer. This might be something I do every now and then versus regularly. I’m passionate about fashion, especially incorporating my geeky interests into my sense of style.

Doctor Who

I started watching Doctor Who in 2015 and quickly became a Whovian. I was surprised at how many Doctor Who-centered posts I wrote. I haven’t watched Doctor Who in years due to developing other interests. I’m all for a Doctor Who re-watch. I would love to come up with an associated blog prompt to help keep me on track. This is something I need to think about, as it’s been on my radar to do a Doctor Who re-watch and write about it.

Going through my old blog posts has been an eye-opening experience. My writing has gotten a lot better over time, and I feel proud to see how much I have accomplished. I’m looking forward to what the future holds for Bizarre Brunette.

13May2022

Free Comic Book Day – 2022

Posted in Reading/Books by Bizarre Brunette

Last weekend was Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book Day is the first Saturday in May, when comic book stores have free comics to take home. I try to participate in Free Comic Book Day every year, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic or if I’m out of town for the weekend. I wanted to share my comic book stop along with my massive comic haul.

Image is a photo of a white table with nine stacks of comics, the first row has five stacks and the second row has four stacks.

The weather on Free Comic Book Day was gorgeous! It was sunny, 70 degrees, and a blowing breeze, which was a nice balance with the sun. I visited my local store, Hot Comics and Collectibles, at their Minneapolis location. Since it was nice out, the free comics were on tables outside to peruse. I took a few titles that caught my eye before wandering inside.

I won’t share every single comic I bought because it was a huge stack. Instead, I wanted to share the most exciting purchase of the day. After browsing through the recent comics selection, I meandered through the back issues. In most comic book stores, there are long white boxes of comics from storylines that are a couple of years old. Since I’m in my Star Wars May plan, I was only looking for Star Wars comics. As I picked through the Star Wars comics, I found a complete series of Star Wars: Poe Dameron in single issues! I was so happy! I am missing a few issues, but for the most part, it’s the complete series. I’m looking forward to reading this series this month.

Free Comic Book Day was a success! I have a huge stack of Star Wars comics to dig into, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Let me know what you picked up at Free Comic Book Day in the comments section below.

10May2022

Moon Knight (2022)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by Bizarre Brunette

I miss the days of watching the Netflix Marvel TV series, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage. Iron Fist wasn’t my favorite, but it still set up The Defenders. I liked that this series tackled adult themes and how it felt like a departure from the Marvel franchise. With Moon Knight releasing on Disney+, I was looking forward to seeing a darker show. Moon Knight is entertaining, and I hope that there will be a second season.

Moon Knight is as close as Marvel has come to re-creating Batman. Marc Specter is a mercenary who teams up with Raoul Bushman to work together on various jobs. Bushman gets greedy and kills a famed archeologist. Specter tries to stop him, but Bushman leaves him to die. As Specter dies, he’s left on the Khonshu statue, where Khonshu gives him a second chance. This leaves Marc with incredible powers, a god manipulating his every move, and balancing his multiple personalities with his DID diagnosis (dissociative identity disorder).

The show picks up with Steven Grant (played by Oscar Isaac), who is fascinated by Egyptian culture and works in a museum in London. Steven is one of Marc’s alters and is perceived as being the naive alter. Steven wakes up in another country holding a scarab with no memory of how he got there. As Steven flees, he runs into a ceremony being performed by Arthur Harrow (played by Ethan Hawke). Arthur worships the god, Ammit. Arthur’s goal is to summon Ammit and punish people before crimes are committed, while Khonshu is all about delivering justice after the fact. Khonshu warns Marc that if Ammit is summoned, this could lead to the deaths of a lot of people who may or may not deserve it. Marc teams up with his wife, Layla El-Faouly (played by May Calamawy), to stop Arthur before it’s too late.

Oscar does an excellent job of portraying Marc and Steven. Oscar mentions how he developed a separate accent for Steven, so it would feel different. I’m not sure if Oscar’s performance plays on the harmful stereotypes of DID. That’s not my lived experience, so I can’t speak to that. From my experience watching Moon Knight, I feel that Oscar truly becomes Marc and Moon Knight.

Besides Marc, I love Layla. In the comics, Marc marries Marlene, and Marlene’s father is the archeologist murdered by Bushman. I read that Layla was created to be a live-action version of Marlene from the comics. The show changed Marlene to Layla to add diversity to the show. If that’s true, I’m all for it. May Calamawy is a great choice, and I feel she truly embodies this woman who will protect Marc because she loves him, but also has the trauma of losing her father violently. May and Oscar have this slow-burning romance together, and I’m here for it.

I was a little worried about how Moon Knight would wrap up. It seemed the final episode had a lot of ground to cover. The final episode was well worth the wait, and it doesn’t feel rushed. Unfortunately, Marvel posted on Facebook the day the episode aired and spoiled part of this episode before I could watch it. Shame on me for not avoiding social media. I would highly recommend watching this show in one sitting to prevent being spoiled.

Moon Knight is probably one of my favorite Marvel TV series released to date, besides WandaVision. Moon Knight can be streamed on Disney+ with new episodes airing on Wednesdays.

7May2022

Blue Milk Beer – May the 4th

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

Image is a photo of a pint of beer. On the glass it says, Dangerous Man and it shows a man with a black beard. At the bottom of the glass it says "Milkshake IPA" The beer is bright blue and bubbly

May 4th is always a fun day. I love scrolling through social media and seeing everyone express their love for Star Wars. I knew I wanted to spend the day celebrating Star Wars, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do. I discovered that Dangerous Man Brewing Company brews a special Star Wars beer called “Blue Milk (Blue Razz Milkshake Ale)” along with playing the Star Wars films throughout the night. I convinced my husband to come with me, so I didn’t have to go by myself.

Dangerous Man Brewing Company is a brewery in Northeast Minneapolis. I have been to Dangerous Man once before, but it had been a while. As we arrived, I noticed there were several Star Wars banners hanging on the ceiling. I wasn’t surprised to see that the taproom was packed. The line, fortunately, was pretty short when we got there. I knew right away that I had to try the Blue Milk beer while my husband opted for a lager.

I’m open when it comes to beer. I don’t mind trying pilsners, lagers, fruity beers, and sour beers. I will admit that I was apprehensive as to whether I would like Blue Milk. I’m not a big fan of Blue Raspberry-flavored things; however, this had a mild flavor. It was smooth, fruity, and light. I let my husband try a sip, and even he thought it was pretty good. My husband hates fruity beer, so for him to say it’s not that bad is a big compliment.

Besides Blue Milk, Dangerous Man had special Star Wars-themed stickers to pass out. I took one as a souvenir. It lists Blue Milk with a few Stormtrooper helmets on some of the letters. Unfortunately, with the taproom being packed, we only stayed for one beer before leaving to go to another favorite brewery of ours nearby.

This was a relaxed way to celebrate May 4th. It sounds like Dangerous Man does this every year, and I would be open to making this a ritual. Let me know in the comments how you celebrated May the 4th!

4May2022

May the 4th Be With You – 2022 Plan

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

May the 4th be with you! May the 4th has a special place in my heart because I’m a big Star Wars fan and I look forward to this month every year. Every May, I dedicate the whole month to Star Wars. I wanted to share my official plan for this year as far as the books I want to read, the shows I want to watch, and the video games I want to play.

Books and Comics

I have three books on my list to read for the month of May. The first book is Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray. This book highlights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan before the events of The Phantom Menace. I have a soft spot for the prequels, so I like that more of the Canon Star Wars books are taking place during this era. The second book on my list is Leia, Princess of Alderaan (Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi) by Claudia Gray. This book focuses on Leia as a sixteen-year-old girl who begins her fight against the Empire. The final book on my list is Resistance Reborn: Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker by Rebecca Roanhorse. This book focuses on Rey, Finn, and Poe before the events of the final movie in the trilogy. This book has mixed reviews, so I’m going into reading this book with a mindset of wanting a fun adventure with the trio, versus this being the best book I have ever read.

As far as comics, I have three graphic novels on my list: Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol #1, Star Wars: The High Republic Volume #1, and Princess Leia Volume #1. I have a few comic book store trips planned this month, so I may pick up Star Wars comics as I see fit.

Movies & TV

My number one priority is to finish Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I typically only watch the show during May, but we shall see if this is the year where I finally finish it! Besides The Clone Wars, I want to re-watch The Mandalorian. There’s also The Book of Boba Fett and Bad Batch. My focus this month will be on the Star Wars TV side of things; however, I would consider doing a re-watch of Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. I did a movie re-watch a few years ago, and I don’t think I made it through those three. I know for a fact that I haven’t watched The Rise of Skywalker since I saw it in theaters, so I may add that to my list. There’s so much content and such limited time to watch it all.

Gaming

This should come as no surprise since I wrote about this recently, but I’m still going through LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. I’m at the end of episode III right now. My goal would be to complete all episodes by the end of the month, but that seems like a huge task. I do have Jedi: Fallen Order on my list to play as well; however, I don’t think I will have time to complete both games.

May the 4th be with you, and don’t forget that May 5th is “Revenge of the Fifth”!