Sweet Shit Round Up
June/July 2021
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And we’re back! After taking a break last month this month’s round up is a super sized one with June and July all rolled into one. Get to scrolling to see the sweet shit that’s filled me summer thus far!
Books
The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings by Brigit Esselmont
- As someone just starting out in the tarot world I’ve been relying heavily on the interpretations of others to help me understand the meanings behind the cards. So when I discovered that my go to site, Biddy Tarot, actually published an in-depth book on the tarot card meanings, I knew I needed to grab it. Sure, I can find most of the same info on her website for free, but I like having the book in front of me to easily move between cards, highlight, and study so I can be better at interpreting the cards myself. There’s a lot of great info in the guide and so far I’ve found it well worth the price. If you’re just learning how to read tarot or even if you’re a long time reader, Brigit Esselmont’s book is an essential.
TV
- Based on Lauren Oliver’s book of the same name, Panic is a new series following a group of seniors in the summer following their high school graduation. Per tradition in their town, the graduating seniors have the chance to participate in a game called Panic that’s judged by mysterious, unknown judges and ends with a hefty cash prize for the winner. The previous year saw two deaths take place during Panic which creates a new secrecy around the game as the cops try to find and stop it before anyone else gets hurt. There’s intense situations, there’s betrayal, there’s a mystery to be solved. I really loved this show and the finale primed it for a second season that I’ve got my fingers crossed will come to fruition so if you wanna help a girl out go check out season one on Amazon Prime this weekend!
- With so many cooking and baking shows on tv nowadays, it’s important to find a good gimmick to draw in audiences and I think Crime Scene Kitchen did it. In this baking competition hosted by Joel McHale (why, I don’t know) 12 duos of bakers each get three minutes in a, you guessed it, crime scene kitchen littered with clues as to what was made there. The bakers have to do their best to find all the relevant clues and guess the correct dessert that was made then replicate it in their own kitchens. The ones who get the closest progress while the ones who fail miserably are sent packing. I really loved playing along with the bakers to see if I could put the clues together and guess the right dessert but I’m no professional and don’t have nearly the encyclopedia of baking knowledge as some of those folks….even with my vast baking show viewing. You can catch the entire first season up on Hulu now.
- This show is so weird. The basic premise of people going on blind dates in special effects make up to better find attraction through personality instead of looks is fun, it’s different. Some of the contestants are super annoying (as many are prone to be on dating shows) but that makes you all the more intrigued to see what they look like which is pretty much the only reason why you stay. We flew through the six episode season not so much cause we loved it but because it was easy background and we were just invested enough to need to see the face reveals. If you’re curious to see how dating in a full face of prosthetic make up goes or just really want to see a man in a beaver mask try to drink cocktails round the long ass beaver teeth, head to Netflix to check it out.
- The show that begs me to ask the question: if you can’t sew, do you really deserve to call yourself a designer? Like I get that they are technically two different skills but like, you’re coming on a design show where yes, you get a seamstress overnight, but what the hell are you doing all day if you can’t sew? But I digress. Amazon Prime took the former faces of Project Runway, Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, and gave them this new fashion show where it’s practically the same concept of designers designing and making garments and someone wins big in the end. But it’s on Prime! And the designers are already relatively established in fashion! And they get a million dollars! The first season had the designers traveling to Paris and Tokyo (obvs pre-pandemic) which was exciting and made things different than what I’m used to from Project Runway. Most importantly, Naomi Campbell is on the judge’s panel for season one and I loved her so much. She fought for and got emotional over the designers she believed in and she was a welcome addition. Season two is currently underway and has new episodes each Friday on Prime…sadly Naomi isn’t a part of this Covid edition season but it’s worth the watch anyway.
- A big shout out to Hulu for airing the current season of Love Island UK while it airs! While I think we might be like a week or so behind the live airing, the nightly ritual of throwing on the latest episode and reveling in the drama in the villa is a pure delight. And yes, I know CBS currently airs the U.S. version of Love Island but it’s not the same. I don’t feel like it has the same charm and it most definitely doesn’t have the same accents. So team UK I stay. If you’re into romance drama and pretty people, you can catch up on this season (and the six previous) on Hulu now!
Movies
- Movies with horribly evil teens might be the scariest of all the horror genres. You can’t fuck up an evil teen without looking like the bad guy because they’re still technically children and if you have no proof you just look like the piece of shit who attacked a teen for no reason. And that’s what I liked about Eden Lake. A group of terrible horrible teens in small town England harass and eventually hunt a young couple who’ve come to their area to camp for the weekend. I don’t want to give too much away but the movie is pretty gruesome and I promise you are gonna hate the main antagonist teen with every fiber in your being. As for a happy ending? Well, you’ll just have to watch and find out. You can check it out on Tubi!
- The buzz of the month surrounded Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy, three movies over three weeks all based on the R.L. Stine book series of the same name and I’d say that buzz was deserved. The trilogy follows the towns of Shadyside and Sunnyvale, sister neighborhoods where one is wealthy and has all the best things going for it (Sunnyvale) while the other is looked at as trash and full of criminals (Shadyside.) Shadyside is said to be cursed by a witch, a legend often blamed for all the bad things that happen there. But through the trilogy, set in 1994, 1978, and 1666 we discover that maybe the curse isn’t quite what it seems. Part 3 or 1666 was my personal favorite of all three. I liked the traveling back in time, I liked the way that all of the characters we had met in the previous installments returned to play the townsfolk of the past, and I liked coming back to the present day (1994) to put the curse to rest. While I didn’t like the main character of Deena for almost the entirety of the first installment, I found her too selfish and grating, I liked her a whole lot in the final film so I’ll chalk that up to a win for character development! You can watch the entire trilogy on Netflix now, then come let me know which was your favorite down in the comments!
- I still remember where I was when I found out about Anthony Bourdain’s death (Los Angeles, still on Pittsburgh time and up way too early) which is odd because I was never a big fan or anything. I didn’t have anything against him just didn’t tend to watch his shows or read his books. But after going to see Roadrunner, the documentary about Anthony Bourdain, I feel like I understand what drew people to him. He seemed like the kind of guy you can bump into at a bar, have a drink with, and end up spending hours sharing life stories. Seeing the rise and eventual fall of Bourdain through the lens of old video and interviews with friends and family, was really eye opening. You know how the story ends but that makes it all the more compelling to watch and understand how it got there. Whether you’re a Bourdain fan or not, this is a documentary that will run you through all of your emotions and I don’t think you should miss it.
Products and Games
- I hate massages. They hurt. I spend the whole time wailing and wiggling and there’s no way I need a stranger to be a part of that process. But Jonathan picked up this rechargeable massage gun this month and ya know what, it still fucking hurts. But it hurts in the privacy of my own home and with six different head attachments to help target the muscle that’s giving you trouble. I had tight calves last week but I used this sucker on them for five minutes on each leg and it made a world of difference. There’s currently (as of this writing) a coupon for 50% off the model we got and honestly that’s a steal for how much you’ll end up using this. Word of warning: do not let someone else use the gun on your calves! It will tickle and you will almost kick them in the face (by accident of course) so just take control of your own calf zone!
Art by Snowsupply
- The Zelda franchise has never really done much for me when it comes to gaming. That might have something to do with how boring I found watching it when others played as a kid and since I never got the controls I never found the excitement. But Jonathan LOVES Zelda so when the Breath of the Wild game and DLCs were on (a rare) sale in the Nintendo store he jumped on it. For the last month or so he’s been wandering Hyrule and I’ve been watching from the sidelines, and ya know what? Not that bad. Probably because BOTW is an open world game which means there’s more free roaming and picking and choosing of what you want to do which makes it much more entertaining to watch. My dude actually already beat it once and has been going for a more completionism run on the more difficult Master Mode and I’ve had a great time learning about the characters and seeing the personalities of even the often seen regular enemies around the world. There’s a ninja race called Yiga that do THE FUNNIEST little sneak dance when then see some bananas. I love it every time. BOTW has been out for four years so if you wanted to play it you probably have by now. BUT, with a sequel announced to be coming in 2022 now might be a good time to revisit Link’s latest adventure.
- If there was ever an instrument I’d be willing to struggle through learning as an adult it would be the piano. This year, Jonathan and I decided to get each other our anniversary gifts early and while I got him a bunch of art supplies to let him get back into painting, he got me my own keyboard to learn to play. We love a good creative activity in this house. Now, I can’t read music but I CAN follow Youtube tutorials which I have been doing regularly since the keyboard showed up earlier this month. I can play Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells. and the beginning notes of the best song in Undertale, Megalovania. My goal is to be decent at the Halloween theme by, well, halloween. If you have any tips on learning the keyboard/piano please send them my way!
- It’s hot. It’s so damn hot. We live in a space with limited air and two box fans were just not cutting it. So when we found this tower fan on sale at Costco we leapt on it. We actually only bought one originally but after a few weeks went back and grabbed a second so we could each have our own. There are four fan settings, it can rotate, it has a timer….it’s awesome. And it sits up much higher than a box fan so it actually hits us when we’re trying to sleep, arguably the most important time to have a fan running on you. If you’ve got a Costco membership I highly suggest heading to your local store and looking for this Omni Breeze fan but if not, Amazon has a wide selection to choose from that I’m sure are just as good.
- Sounds sexy, right? I know. A few months ago we watched a video of a girl and her boyfriend trying this contraption and Jonathan was about it. I was less about the idea…not for the gross factor but for the concern of sticking this camera and flimsy scooper thing in your ear. Safety first, ya’ll! But when I was looking for birthday gift ideas for J, I came back around to this and decided to try one out. It’s actually pretty cool, you download an app then you can view the camera right on your phone. The scoopy is there to gently scoop out any built up wax you may find while you’re in there but we were both clean on our use. The camera is really the selling point on this tool because it allows you to try to see in any small dark place you might need to like your mouth, your pet’s ears/mouth, down a drain, etc etc. The camera has a light and while it’s not the best camera, it’ll do the job when you’re in a pinch. So while I would NEVER recommend you shove something in your ear canal (you could damage your eardrum, yo) you’re a grown up and you’ll do whatever you want, right?
Miscellaneous
Wave Pool
- We did it, Joe. We made it to the wave pool. I made a post a couple of months ago about the things I couldn’t wait to do once I was vaccinated and going to the wave pool was a big one. Even though only half the pool was open due to lack of lifeguards (which I can’t blame the kids on not wanting to lifeguard) it was great to be able to go and wade in the water for a couple of hours. I didn’t even get sunburned because I was with babies who needed shade! It was the coolest!
How’s your summer been? What sweet shit has made your list for the last couple of months? I wanna hear all about it in the comments below!