Sunday, September 1, 2013

What-What?! The Week of September 1st

I had to get a tuberculosis (TB) skin test this week – for my new job with the local YMCA.  Oddly, I’ve gotten them before, and I don’t remember them hurting as much as this one did.  It was also on my left arm (my dominant one) and very annoying.  I had a terrible time finding a place that could do the test, because apparently there’s been a shortage that was just alleviated in May, and medical facilities are still catching up to get stock of the TB testing fluid.

The other exciting thing that happened is that my daughter (almost 6) has started reading a lot more; yesterday when we went to the grocery store, she was reading me streetsigns and my grocery list.  The husband and I have started homeschooling her as well, which has been quite fun.

Cooking: Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Scones

I woke up the other day with these scones in my head, and just had to make them.  These are mildly sweet, and just perfect toasted, with a pat of butter.
  • 3 cups Flour
  • 3/4 cup Brown sugar (up to 1 cup if you like yours a bit sweeter)
  • 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon Baking powder
  • 1 stick Butter
  • 1 cup Milk
Set oven to 400 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry cutter, two butter knives, or your fingers.  Stir in milk until a dough forms, then roll onto ungreased cookie sheet, and cut into desired shapes (I do triangles or squares for simplicity).  Bake for 30 minutes, until lightly browned.  Enjoy!


This is one of those interesting things about my generation, which I have actually had personal problems with.  Millenials use phones aplenty – but not for talking on.  They will e-mail, text, or otherwise send a message before physically calling someone and talking with them on the phone.  One interview I had specifically brought up in talking on the phone as a requirement.  My interviewer (the owner of the company) said that he needed someone who was willing and able to talk on the phone; no texting or e-mail.  There have been times that I’ve needed to set up an appointment for an interview, and the company opts to do this through e-mail.  Like the article discusses, this takes three times as long because it’s much more difficult to have that conversation in little bits (“Can you do this date?  What about that time?”), rather than all at once over the phone.  The other problem I’ve had with people my age is when they send several texts when an e-mail or a phone call would be more efficient.  If it hits the third text just asking a question, then a call or e-mail would be better.  When that’s happened, I’ve called or e-mailed my reply – because it was a complicated question with a complicated answer.


Movie Review: The Gamers: Hands of Fate via watchthegamers.com
*POSSIBLE MILD SPOILERS*


After four tries, I was finally able to download my copy of Hands of Fate!  The husband and I watched half of it the other day, and so far, it was brilliant.  Cass makes for an excellent protagonist, and honestly after his jerkish actions in the other film, it was kind of nice to watch him take some of it.  The actress who plays the love interest was entertaining, if a bit bothersome; I get that she was suppose to be somewhat abrupt and hostile at first, but sometimes it felt like she was overacting.  The other thing that bothered me is quite insignificant – the makeup was sometimes poorly blended down actors’ necks, which looks funny.  Mind you, this is also a problem I’ve seen in big Hollywood films as well, though not quite to the same extent.  The scenes that occur in Countermay (the fantasy universe) were well done and sometimes quite surreal, what with the being an illustration on a card.  I totally identified with the characters' plight of having real life get in the way of gaming.  Especially in the past few years, that has basically been my life.  Overall, a heartily recommend it, though I would suggest watching the other film for a bit of background first.
Oh!  You can actually see my husband and me in the credits under Kickstarter contributers; we're in there as Thorn Blackhammer and Kanoth the Mighty and Illustrious -- Because if we're going to do something geeky, we're going to go all the way! :D
'Til next week!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

What-What?! Week of August 25th

This week has been kind of a rollercoaster – been quite busy, indeed.  We visited my parent’s place and played some Battletech, and my ‘mech was exploded a lot.  My sister took my eldest to the Ringling Brothers Circus in San Jose, which she thoroughly enjoyed; her favorite part was the tigers.  I’m happy that my sister got to take her; I have many fond memories of doing activities with my aunt growing up, and it would really please me if my kids have close relationships to their aunts and uncles.

I was planning on reviewing the new Gamers movie that I talked about last week, but unfortunately my internet is frequently subpar.  The husband and I watched the first ten minutes before the internet died, and that was that.  The downloadable version is available now for contributors (us), and I’ll be downloading that today or this evening.  Next week, look for a full review!

Literature:  Jake and the Neverland… Fanfic?
While looking up source images for my Jake and the Neverland Pirates illustrations last week, I found Jake and the Neverland fanfic.  What is fanfic?  It’s short for fan fiction, where fans write fictional pieces based on characters and settings that they are fans of.  Sometimes, this goes big; for example, 50 Shades of Grey started out life as Twilight fan fiction.  The vast majority of fanfic is, in my opinion, not well written, with a tendency towards fan service and other such ridiculousness.  50 Shades, despite being a best seller and all, is no better than the lot; from the excerpts I’ve read, the language is unnecessarily ambiguous and repetitive.  Some of the relationships are concerning.  In any case, I was momentarily horrified and surprised when I found the above image and accompanying story of Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Movie Review:  Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers (available on Netflix)

My kids love Lego, and when they saw this recommended on Netflix, they begged and pleaded.  Having had seen many awful children’s shows and films, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  It has a bit of everything in it, especially if you grew up in the 80s or early 90s: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, James Bond, some Lord of the Rings-fantasy, and one scene that’s straight out of DuckTales the Movie: Tale of the Lost Lamp.  This film is very cliché, but at the same time, it’s still entertaining.  Clutch Powers is a nice break from saccharine sweet princesses and talking animals, but I can’t say that I’d watch it if I didn’t have kids.


Speaking of Indiana Jones... I accidently stumbled on this through an e-mail that Amazon had sent with a selection of adventuring and exploring books – this led me to a book by the same author, published as an expanded, and by some accounts, bloated version of this essay.  The essay itself covers Percy Fawcett’s obsession with a city that he simply called “Z” – evidence of a lost civilization deep in the Amazon basin.  Fawcett was last seen in 1925, when he left on an expedition to find the city with his son and a friend.   The author follows Fawcett’s steps through the rainforest, talking with native people, locals, and an archeologist along the way.  It’s 21 pages, so kind of a long read, but I highly recommend it.  There is also a film in the works, which is slated to star Brad Pitt; let's hope it comes out a bit better than World War Z, hm?

‘til next week!
(images via fanpop.com, videostore-cdn.eu.playstation.com, flickr.com)