tricksters and villains apply within

Eve at Twist in the Taile  has created the Orchestra book tag  that looks really fun, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Basically the idea is to assign books or characters to each instrument in an orchestra. Being both a book and music nerd, this seemed like fun. Conductor a character likely to mastermind an evil plan I think I have to agree with Kaz Brekker from the Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom duology . However, he IS a criminal mastermind, so I feel like he's a little bit too easy of an answer for my liking. I think given time and purpose, Atticus O'Sullivan from the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne is a good choice. He's good- ish but with the morals of someone that's always playing the long game. If he had to, he could plan one hell of an evil plan. Violin a popular book you enjoyed The Martian , man. Hands down one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. It's amazingly fun and funny and boy does it play with your emotions at ...

This video is about a year old now but boy is it pretty much a great description for having a chronic illness. I've been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia for about fifteen years now and while I have daily meds that (thankfully) haven't changed much since I first started with my rheumatologist like a decade ago. The only think that really  ebbs and flows regardless of pain is my energy levels. People tend to take a lot out of me, because I tend towards extrovert when I'm around people. Recovering can take a day or two and that depends on how many spoons I have on any given day. When you couple that with your just garden variety insomnia (which I've battled since I was a kid -- I get it from my father and his father, we're just night owls, period), getting restful, recuperative rest is pretty much not a thing that happens. I feel like this song is pretty much my go to anthem for those days. Like, long Mondays with a lot of work on the table and not enough hours of sleep a...

At work I tend to listen to a lot of podcasts, it's a good way to get through the day and really helpful for a few good laughs. Lately though, I've had a lot of trouble focusing both at work and at home with all the writing projects I want to be working on. I've switched back over to favoring music both in the car (instead of audiobooks like normal). Even then choosing something I want to listen to has been difficult also, mostly because I want stuff that's going to pump me up or at least make me feel good. Putting together the two schwarmerei playlists [ one , two ] earlier this month was actually really helpful, I had to think about the sort of music that was honestly going to be a good way to alter my mood for something good. Currently I've got all these projects I want to work on but can't seem to get myself to pick them up.  M ost  of the things in my life are pretty good at the moment. I finally got the promotion I've been waiting for and a nic...

My house has a bad Kickstarter habit that sort of have under control. Although sometimes we still go a little crazy on smaller projects, especially from repeat creators. This isn't that, this is a graphic novel I backed a WHILE ago. I'm not even sure how long ago, but I received all the fun stuff in the mail a few weeks ago and finally finished reading the comic this week. I'm bad about keeping up on comics, both physical and digital versions. These days I tend to prefer a graphic novel (in either physical or digital variety) because I like having a lot of story in my hands. And as much as I like superheroes, I'm not much for following the never-ending parade of storylines with recons and new beginnings and all the sort of things that come with it. I know some people do, but I prefer a nice tight story arc that's more reminiscent of novellas than a television series. Fangirl written by Tom Stillwell [Pencils & Ink by Jessica Lynn, Colors by Zac Atkinso...

I know I posted about this on tumblr yesterday, but I had to write a little more about it as a way to express my awe over this whole project. I've been following the updates on this project since the idea was first floated to the community. Tumblr fans had been mashing up Hamilton and Critical Role in art and gifs and photosets since Hamilton came out. But a project of this scope is just beyond everything else, and it could've worked out so differently. The work that it took to write these songs and make them fit both the story of Season 1 in addition to hitting the plot themes of Hamilton is mind boggling. Somehow they made it work and they made it work so incredibly well. I cried multiple times today listening to this whole thing. Seriously, if you're a fan of both Hamilton and Critical Role and you haven't listened to this yet, get on it. It's amazing. The Critter community is pretty fantastic as far as fandoms go. I feel like it's worth mentioning how ...

The Wednesday Club is Geek & Sundry's comic book show on Alpha, hosted by Queen of Comic Knowledge Amy Dallen, Goth Dad Taliesin Jaffe & Dr. Strange mega-fan Matt Key. Each week (on Wednesday) they meet for about two hours to talk about some comic book related topic. I'm not enough  of a comic fan that this was an immediate watch for me, despite my love for Amy's old G&S Vlog series about comics. However, last night's topic was the epic Bill Willingham series, Fables. Fables is a series I've loved for years. I started collecting the deluxe hardbacks when they came out because I love getting all the extra art and behind the scenes bits in them. So for the first time last night I tuned in to catch a live episode of The Wednesday Club in order to listen to their talk on Fables. I really, really enjoyed the chat although I knew going in that there was so little they could talk about without giving things away. And the three of them did a really good job ...

Drunk History is almost always a good time, but this video of Nichelle Nichols (as played by Raven Simone) time on Star Trek and her work with NASA is short, but awesome. It also includes the line from drunk narrator, Ashley Nicole Black, speaking as Martin Luther King Jr. (as played by Jaleel White), "No I'm Martin Luther King, I have no chill." Seriously everything about this is wonderful and funny. And because it's Drunk History, this exchange also happens: Ashley: So you know, they're filming Star Wars and it's great. Derek: Is that true? Ashley: Oh, my God. Also very good.  Ashley: So they're doing Star Trek. It's great. People love it.

I know I'm behind on this, but I just finished binging the first season of Supergirl. I've been a Superman fan since I was a little kid watching old black and white George Reeves' Superman reruns with my dad. I grew up with reruns of Helen Slater's Supergirl. I had a poster for Superman IX on my wall; I pretty much loved everything about Christopher Reeves' Superman -- still do. I loved Lois & Clark, but didn't like Smallville. Really, I've seen all the Superman stuff because I love him as a character so much. Sure, in the comics he was often a dick but he was also kind and friendly and humorous.  Supergirl, specifically the way Melissa Benoist plays her, reminds me a great deal of the Christopher Reeves movies. Reminds me of why I like Superman so much. They're not perfect people. They sure aren't perfect humans. Not perfect heroes. But they take joy in saving people and not as some god-complexed savior of mankind (although I'll admit Sup...

This theme of Whiskey Please isn't anything new, in fact, songs about your man and his liquor is pretty standard in both country and rock genres. And songs about your man being taken by someone else, well that's just a good 90% of all female-led lyrics (a rough guesstimate). Whissell's song here, Whiskey Please , gives those themes a little mashup in something that's a little reminiscent (to me) of Dolly Parton's, Jolene . This isn't a song of complaining or even of anger. This is a song where a women is begging for her man back, begging for the alcohol to let him go. We know it doesn't work like that, but as someone who has some first hand alcoholics, I very much the understand the wish that it did. And it doesn't at all hurt that Whissell has this deep voice, something that reads as strained from tears or something more. I've been listening to a lot of her stuff lately and just really enjoying her voice and the sort of badassitude that comes a...

I've Got This Round by Mamrie Hart Recently I finished reading I've Got This Round  by Mamrie Hart, a popular YouTuber. This is her second book and in both her first one, You Deserve a Drink  and this one, she shares humorous personal stories about her life. In her first book many of her wacky adventures can be written off by her youth, or her drinking, or both. In the second, the stories all take place within the two years since her previous book. So she's older and more successful than before but her stories don't feel that different. She's still telling stories about wacky adventures that don't sound much like she's changed. But really this isn't a review for her book. (Or it kind of is, and it's kind of more.) I mean, if you like her or her humor, read it. She's an engaging writer and you'll find her new round of stories fun and on-brand. I just don't think it's for everyone, which I'm sure even she understands. Howe...

I really love the ladies edition of this mixtape theme that I put up last week. However, it left out a couple of songs that I really wanted to include somehow. So, I've got a dudes edition (male singers) that hopefully has the same kind of badass attitude that the ladies side had. And really, if you only listen to one song from this playlist? Make sure it's the last song. You can grab the ladies version of this theme I put up at my post  here . As a reminder these were put together as part of the February mixtape challenge put together by Eve @  Twist in the Taile  and Evi @  Adventuring Through Pages , The word for this month's challenge is  schwarmerei.  You can find the prompt post for this month  here . Tracklist : i. temperature   - machel montano; ii. do it  - tuxedo; iii.  happy  - c2c; iv. harder better faster stronger  - daft punk; v. champion  - fall out boy; vi. someone new  - hozier; vii. don't stop ...

My completely spoiler-free review. 1) IT'S AMAZING 2) See #1 I want to say that I hope this media trend continues wherein we have these Gen Xers and older Millennials making media for audiences, but especially younger audiences, saying we don't have to keep doing things the same way they've always been done just because that's the way they've always been done. We can change. We can leave the past where it belongs, in the past. We can look at our forefathers mistakes and we can do something different.

My hand has a stamp of Harry Truman's face on it. Such is my life after having attended a concert at one of the newer concert venues in Kansas City, The Truman. It's really a glorified warehouse, a big open concrete room with a bar in the front and a bar in the back and a stage that doesn't offer much line of sight unless you're standing in the front. Or, if like me and my concert pal, you find some bar stools and a cocktail table. From there, perched uncomfortably on metal stools, I could sort of make out the head and shoulders and the occasional peek of a drums and a guitar or two of the two bands we went to see Tuesday night: Night Beats, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Really, we went for BRMC. As one might expect if you're at all familiar with the band. They're a rock/rockabilly kind of band complete with heavy drums and the intermittent use of a harmonica. I was somehow, through the musical browsing I often do, introduced to BRMC by their song "Bea...

"Alternate Universe" is a strong poem. It speaks to the nature of emotional investments not just in relationships but in ourselves and the effects of misogyny on both. It's simple, it's funny, and Olivia's performance of it is awesome. I think my favorite line is this: "I have so much beautiful time." I found Olivia's poetry through this TedxABQ talk she did about finding each other in the details. Personally, I'm a big believer in small moments. Small moments where we give thanks, or love, or support or just memory to someone or something. She speaks there about a simple interaction between her and her best friend that she turned into a poem, and uses it to show the audience how she teaches others to write poems too. In this, she tells us it's about the details. We can tell stories about small things that are also about big things too. How a story or a poem about a bikini can also become a story about fat-shaming or body positivi...

Yesterday was Judy Blume's 80th birthday. Judy Blume's stories were the sort of human stories that we needed as kids, the stories that told us we weren't alone with our weird thoughts... or we were but maybe we weren't as weird as we thought we were. For those of us who grew up with the works of Judy Blume, I think we each have a book that hit us harder than others, one story that really spoke to us. For me, that was It's Not the End of the World . My parents were already divorced by the time I was old enough to read It's Not the End of the World , but that didn't make it any less profound to read for me. The way Karen thinks about being at her parents houses when they're separated, the way she deals with thoughts about her own future relationships, and what you feel like your house must look like to other people. For Judy's birthday, Amanda Palmer has written this really lovely tribute to the way stories change us, how reading books like the...

If you're not super into YouTube or music, you might not know about this great channel called Mahogany. Since 2010 the Mahogany channel has been putting together these great studio sessions for indie music creators. Their videos are beautifully shot, with amazing sound and they've introduced me to some really fantastic creators. Today they launched a new series: Covers. And it started with this really soft and amazing cover of the popular Lou Reed song, Walk on the Wild Side by Jordan Mackampa. This first video is shot in a really fantastic profile, half-silhouette and based on their teaser it looks like that might be the standard for these sessions, which is cool. It also looks like you'll be able to keep up with the Covers sessions on Spotify here , if that's your kind of thing. If you like Jordan's voice, check out a session he did with his original song, Open Arms, which has been one of my favorite finds from Mahogany for a long while. 

My friend Summer runs a poultry sanctuary, A Flock Between Pastures , where she's been caring for roosters, hens and peacocks for the last three years. She's also an artist, creating wonderful drawings and unique handcrafted pottery. Recently, she's collected her works from Inktober (last October) into a handcrafted a book full of awesome ink drawings and a collection of rituals, spells and practices to go along with them. From her shop description :  Completely handmade booklet of my Inktober 2017 project, Libro de Pequeñas Manchas de Tinta has 31 illustrations, plus background information on each. Also included in the booklet is a brief explanation of my thought process in making this booklet and putting the theme for Inktober 2017 together. Cover is card stock with embossed logo Interior pages of the booklet are all handmade Lokta paper from Nepal  Binding is waxed linen thread, hand bound Each copy is handmade, signed, and numbered . This book is for sale no...

I'm way behind. Bawse came out last year, and I just finished it yesterday. Though truthfully, I've been reading it about a chapter or two at a time since I got it on release day. This book is beautiful: thick demi-gloss pages, giant high quality pictures of Lilly at the start of every chapter, and bright, colorful graphics for pull quotes and end of chapter checklists. It's not exactly what I expected, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You know, by the look and feel of this book, it seems very much like it wants to be a coffee table book. It does make an impact. Through fifty chapters, Lilly outlines her values and ideas on achieving success in very clear, simple language. Given her YouTube audience, I'm not really in her demographic... but I am a regular viewer of her content because  I find her brand of positive and confident hustle inspiring. Which it's meant to be but not just for her audience but also for herself. And I'd be willing to be t...

INSTEP   Window down, chair back,  Feet on the dashboard.  A windowed reflection  Of curled toes  Superimposed on the road ahead.  While she sleeps  She must surely dance. Feet  Arch,  Point,  Curl  And turn. Shifting shadows In red taillights.  ( e.o )

I woke up this morning and for some reason was really, really missing a comedy pop culture video series that sadly ended pretty abruptly last December. Until recently, the Cracked website also had an active YouTube channel where every month for the last few years (since around 2011) they've produced a series called, After Hours . After several active years on YouTube the staff and producers for the Cracked website were fired, effectively ending the run of all their YouTube series in order to focus more fully on the website. Now I don't know what must've gone on behind closed doors over at Cracked, but I think cutting all their YouTube shows was a pretty fucking stupid idea. But, I'm probably biased. What I can say is that I really miss their brand of humor, their political statements and the stabs they took at analyzing and making light of pop culture. Specifically, After Hours. The After Hours series showed four friends sitting around a diner table debating pop c...

Inspired by the word for the february mixtape challenge as created by Eve @  Twist in the Taile  and Evi @ Adventuring Through Pages , I bring you a playlist for February. The word for this month's challenge is schwarmerei : n. You can find the prompt for this month here .  As I started putting songs together I was sort of inspired to only put songs on the list sung by ladies, and sort of my go-to songs for putting myself in a good mood. You can find the playlist on Spotify here . Track List: i . confident - demi lovato; ii . my lovin' (you're never gonna get it) - en vogue; iii . freak like me - halestorm; iv .  love myself - qveen herby; v . good as hell - lizzo; vi . what have you done for me lately  - janet jackson; vii . that's my girl - fifth harmony; viii . flawless  - beyoncé

In the D&D game I play in on Mondays, my druid has recently come into guardianship of a young red dragon wyrmling. Against the better judgement of part of my party I gave him a name that was NOT food related. This party is constantly at odds and rather than attempt to save the poor thing (while he was still an egg), they wanted to make him into a dragon egg omelet. Hilarity did not ensue. Anyhow, thanks to me, our party is +1 protective dragon. It's pretty great so far. Since our party is mostly in travel mode at the moment, escorting part of our npc group home, my druid has been spending her time teaching the little guy to forage, speak, fly and fight. I'm working on skills that she has, so she can better train him, so tonight I opted to teach him about Religion. She's a worshiper of Silvanus herself and thought this would be a good start. Our DM is never the best at spur-of-the-moment dialogue but the exchanges we've had as druid & dragon have been pretty ...

I love a good surprise movie. The Super Bowl was over by the time I saw the announcement for the new Cloverfield movie, so I finished what I was working on and hopped over to Netflix. Now, I never watched the first movie. I wanted to, but knew I wouldn't be able to handle the shaky-cam production. However, I saw 10 Cloverfield Lane at the theater and loved it. I'm a huge fan of horror movies -- especially ones that build really well, and ones that tease you about just how threatening the thing you think might be threatening really is. You're supposed to spend all of that movie wondering what the real threat is. Is it John Goodman's character or is he really a nice guy protecting our heroine from what's happening outside? Sure, it's not ideal, the situation, but how much can you trust about what's happening inside that bunker? I'm a sucker for that ambiguous villain.  The Cloverfield Paradox feeds on another one of my favorite horror g...

I don't have anything much to say about this video except that it's super cool. It's a dubstep medley of The Force Awakens, Duel of Fates and Imperial March done on a bagpipe, accompanied by a violin and a DJ on a launchpad. Also, this badass piper has the coolest horned dragon skull on her bagpipe and I love it.

So, I drove myself about three hours north early Friday afternoon for a concert. I got into Omaha right about dinner time, leaving me enough time to eat something before going to the show. Now, I'm familiar with the city a little bit, but not the part the show was in. So I drove there first, making sure I knew the area a little. Then I found a place nearby that looked worth trying out for dinner. Now I'll be really honest and say it took me longer than I'm proud of to find a place to eat dinner. Mostly because I couldn't settle on something but also because the conditions around the place for the show weren't ideal. It's really fucking cold outside and I didn't wear shoes for walking a long way, because I'd planned to just park and eat somewhere near the concert venue. So I drove around a little bit while making my decision. I had to have a good talk to myself during this little drive. A good, stern talking to. Because it's so, so, so easy to fal...

I'm giving today's post to share with you a cause near and dear to my heart, # INeedDiverseGames . I Need Diverse Games is a 501c3 non-profit organization advocating for diverse voices in gaming. The organization sponsors attendance at conventions with diverse panel tracks, promotes diverse creators and teaches about diversity and inclusion in gaming spaces. There's plenty of ways to support this effort, starting with either  Patreon or   Twitch.tv . You can also continue to support and share the work of creators with underrepresented or marginalized voices from the tumblr and twitter accounts for INDG which boost games and creators regularly. We get that everyone struggles with funds, but every little bit helps. There's just a few people involved with Tanya at the helm, and there's still plenty of work to be done. Right now, INDG needs help with both funding and content and you can read more about both  here on this post . If you're new to Patreon, you...

I've already written about how much I love the new Fall Out Boy album and specifically the song, "Champion". I don't want to spend a bunch of time talking about all the songs on the album that I am loving, especially since every time I listen to it all the way through I'm finding something new I like. Some of the songs didn't strike me at first but have definitely become more interesting and enjoyable upon repeated listening. However, more than any other songs on the album, even more than "Champion", I love the songs "Church" and "Heaven's Gate". I have a strong affinity for media that works with Christian mythologies and symbolism. Both songs heavily rely on Christian or church themes to talk about love. Plus, they're just pretty enjoyable pop songs, with catchy lyrics and melodies. I have a hard time getting either of them out of my head once I've started listening. But instead of going in-depth about the songs t...