Happy Monday! This past month honestly I didn’t discover any new music whatsoever. I either listened to Christmas music or my Top 100 from spotify. So I figured what I’ll do this week instead is share some music from that list, from before I started doing my Music Monday posts! As per usual, I’ll list the genre they’re in so you can get an idea if they’d be for you or not, and then also the position on my top 100 list.
Gothic Rock (#5):
Power metal (#15):
Rock (#21):
Symphonic metal (#23):
Industrial Rock (#32):
And that’s it! I’m hoping I haven’t shared these specific songs before but I don’t 100% remember. If you listen to any of them, lemme know what you think!
It’s the first Monday of the month, so it’s Music Monday! And it’s December, so it’s getting a holiday spin! These are some of the Christmas songs I’ve been particularly hooked on this month:
This one makes me super nostalgic. The video clips make me all warm inside and make me wanna cry at the same time.
I’m a sucker for violin
I feel like it’s impossible to not include this one.
Eight O’Clock’s decaf has been a life saver – I can’t do a lot of caffeine anymore because reasons, and this is the best tasting decaf I’ve found. It’s lovely. Also, peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate. It’s. baller.
Media
I’ve been watching a lot of Dragon Ball recently. My husband has never seen it, so we’ve been making our way through the original series. At this point, we have under twenty episodes left, and then he’ll pick up Dragon Ball Z!
Nightwish’s live concerts are awesome. Above is their concert from Wacken in 2013. In addition to that one, I’ve been listening to their Wembly and Tampere concerts as well!
This ‘Epic Instrumental’ playlist has been great this past month. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I did Nanowrimo all month and this is one of the music playlists I had playing almost constantly. It’s just a good vibe for fantasy novels!
Miscellaneous
Finally, my Thanksgiving decorations! I think I did a particularly good job this year, especially considering I had 0 decorations to start with and had to find them all. Tell me what you think!
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And that’s it! These are my favorite things for the month! Tomorrow, Christmas movies to-be-watched!
Happy Monday! It’s the first Monday of the month, therefore it’s time for some music! I started this post series last month, so if you’re interested, go check out my first post about it.
Basically what I do every month is highlight some of my favorite songs I discovered during the previous month! Next month in December, I’m gonna make a themed post around Christmas music, but otherwise it’ll just be ‘stuff I found recently’.
I listen to all sorts of genres, but I tend to lean mostly towards metal and rock. So it’ll be a mixed bag every month.
This is what I found recently that I really liked!
Genre: Power metal
Genre: Power metal
Genre: Synthwave (and totally feels like it’s from the 80s)
Genre: Christian Rock
Genre: Symphonic Metal
So this week’s picks are moooostly metal, one synth and one Christian rock, which… I had no idea it was Christian rock specifically until I looked up the genre of the band. So that’s neat.
If you give any of the above a listen, lemme know what you think! If you’re a Nightwish fan, I recommend checking out The Dark Element track at the bottom here, as this is the band that Anette went to after leaving Nightwish. They have two albums out so far and I really like them. I feel like their tone fits her voice really well. Honestly reminds me of like ‘metal abba’. I dig it.
Happy Monday! Today I’m starting a new type of post on my blog. The first Monday of every month, I’ll go into the music I’ve been listening to recently, since the previous music Monday. Since this is the first one, I’ll just go into some stuff that I’ve discovered recently.
I listen to a variety of music from metal to rock to alternative to electronica and some other things in between. Most of what I like tends to be upbeat, but that’s not a hard rule. So if you’re interesting in that kind of music, give the links I give a listen:
Genre: Alternate/Indie Rock
Genre: Electronicore
Genre: Alternative Rock
Genre: Power Metal
So all of the above I’ve discovered within the past month. I figured sticking the genres on there will help you decided which if any you wanna listen to. If you decide to give any a listen, let me know what you think! Next month I will have more!
Today’s topic is songs that remind me of books! If you’d like to do T5W, you can find the list of topics here!
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5 – The Lay of Thrym by Tyr
This song I associate with Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series. I must have been listening to it or something when I originally read the first book, because now whenever I hear this, the characters pop in my head!
4 – Iron by Within Temptation
This song doesn’t remind me of a single book in particular, but it reminds me of the kind of book where the main protagonist has to overcome some obstacle and inevitably has one of those ‘don’t give up, never surrender’ moments.
3 – Don’t Stop by Innerpartysystem
This one and the remaining songs on this list will be technically cheating, because they are related to the book. This song – Don’t Stop by Innerpartysystem – is related to Death Note because it’s on this AMV I have linked. It’s pretty well edited too so I suggest checking it out
2 – Hollow by Submersed
Again technically cheating because I relate this song to Fullmetal Alchemistbecause of this AMV. it’s pretty great though!
1 – Hand of Sorrow by Within Temptation
I just learned the other day that this song was written about Fitz from Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy, so how could I not include it?!?! I’ve known this song for like a decade but it never clicked that it was about him until I saw it on the internet and now I feel like a ding dong for not seeing it earlier! It’s totally about him, man.
And that’s it! Lemme know if you listened to or liked any of these songs! Happy reading!
It’s a mix of classics and modern stuff and I rather dig it. Starts with my favorite TSO songs, then some Mariah Carey (because), some Pentatonix, some classics, and then it ends with Twisted Sister (who… made a surprisingly decent Christmas album, hwe hwe).
If you like Christmas music, give it a listen!
If you have any musical suggestions, throw them my way! : D
Hello! Today is part two of a three part series I’m going to do. Basically ‘monthly favorites’ but focusing on fall, because, as the title says, it’s the best time of the year. Fight me on it.
They are all Thanksgiving-related items, does this shock you. Does it.
The first item is the Gobblerito, a seasonal special of Mad Mex, which is a Pittsburgh-based restaurant (these… will all be from Pittsburgh-based things, come to think of it). But basically it’s a burrito as big as your head, filled with turkey, corn, black beans, stuffing, and then coated with turkey gravy and served with a bit of cranberry. Heaven on a plate, I’ve never been able to finish one in one sitting. (Photo credit of madmex.com)
The next right below it is the pilgrim sub, a seasonal special of Get Go, which is actually a gas station similar to a Sheetz or Wawa or whatever you have near you, owned by the local grocery store Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh. It’s turkey, cheese and cranberry all loaded up into stuffing bread, and it’s delicious. (Photo credit of GetGo’s twitter account)
The final picture is the coveted Smoked Turkey Waffle, available seasonally by Pig Iron Public House, which, you guessed it, as Pittsburgh based. The waffle itself is made of stuffing, and then on top there’s smoked turkey, gravy, and friend mashed potato-and-cranberry balls. It. Is. Delicious. (Photo credit to ME. I TOOK THE PICTURE)
There’s one more Thanksgiving item I haven’t gotten to yet, called the Gobble Gobble burger, sold by the Pittsburgh burger joint BRGR… if I get to it in the next month, I’ll mention it in the next faves post. 😛
Games
Just a flash game this month. I’ve been hooked on it: Blendoku, which I know is at least available on the android app store, maybe the apple one as well? Who knows.
It’s a game kinda like a mix between sudoku and a crossword puzzle, but instead of placing numbers of letters, you place colors in a way that they blend into each other well. It’s fun!
Television
Honestly, the two I mentioned last month, Food Wars and My Hero Academia are still up there. Otherwise:
Supernatural. Man, I’ve been watching this show from the beginning. It’s just started it’s final season – the 15th one – and it’s all comin’ together. Note, do not watch the above trailer unless you’re caught up or you don’t mind spoilers that you’ll have no context for until you actually watch the show. If you don’t mind the no-context spoilers, it gives a really good vibe about what the whole show is about. Honestly when I found it I watched it twice and let my feels be feels.
Queer Eye. This is a Netflix show that I picked up maybe two weeks ago… and have since binged all four seasons plus their four-episode Japan special. I’m obsessed. Everyone is so wholesome and kind and loving and wonderful and augh ❤ Season 5 is coming out soon and I’m pumped for it.
Music
Lately, I’ve been using a playlist on spotify for my Nanowrimo projects, called ‘Epic Instrumental’ where it’s just what it sounds like. This is it!
Also, this song’s been pretty good lately:
Other Stuff
JonTron. A youtuber that’s been around for ages. He does comedy videos, and while I’ve liked him for a while, one of his latest videos, the goop video above, cracked me up. So he’s a favorite this month.
My Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. I don’t get super festive for both of these holidays, despite the fact that I love them both, haha. On the left is my one candle – Caramel Pecan, and a box of leaves. On the right is my jackolantern this year.
And that’s it! One more of these posts mid-to-late next month, and that’ll be it. It’ll be back to the boring times this month.
Hello! Today is part one of a three part series I’m going to do. Basically ‘monthly favorites’ but focusing on fall, because, as the title says, it’s the best time of the year. Fight me on it.
So there will be one now, one in November, and one in December. Each will talk about the things I’m currently hooked on, fall-related and otherwise. So if this is the type of thing you think will float your boat, read on, homeslice.
Food
Starbucks’s Pumpkin Cream Cold Brews – I’ve been getting at least one of these a week, sometimes two or three. I’ve basically been getting nothing else from them for the last month or two. They’re so damn good.
Peanut butter banana bread – Made by moi. I had bananas that I forgot to eat and went ‘welp, bread it is’. I found a recipe online, which is here, and it turned out to be the bees knees. I’m definitely going to make this again.
Apricot wheat beer – from the brewery that opened up across the street from me. I won’t say which one because… that’d be doxxing myself, now wouldn’t it. But man, I never knew apricot could flow so seemlessly with beer.
Leinenkugel’s Vanilla Snowdrift Porter – Technically a winter beer, I look forward to this release every year. Man, it’s so gooood.
Wedding Cookie Table Cookies – So I learned a thing recently. Apparently, giant tables full of cookies at weddings isn’t a thing in most places. Where I live, it’s standard. You get married, you have food, you have a cake, and you have a giant eff-off table full of cookies. Like, your entire family makes you cookies for this table when you get hitched. Tiers and tiers of the stuff, enough that you bring take out boxes for all the guests, because they’ll eat 20 each and take 20 home on top of it. The cookie table is the star of the Pittsburgh wedding. The picture above is from the wedding of a friend I went to this past weekend. Hell, I got married two years ago with maybe 40 people, technically wasn’t even a wedding so much as a JP showing up and declaring us married, and we still had a sizeable cookie table.
For example, a quick google:
Personally I think they should be like… a global thing. Cookie tables, people. Make it happen.
Games
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm – I’ve been hooked on the Civilization series for almost a decade now, and this one – Gathering Storm – is the latest expansion released for Civ VI. To the already super-involved gameplay, it adds natural disasters, global warming, and everything like that. So now, on top of you dealing with all the other civilizations in your world, and competing in scientific discovery, warfare, culture and religion, now you have to deal with polar ice caps melting and tornadoes ripping through your capital. It’s. So. Awesome.
Television
My Hero Academia – Above is the season 1 trailer, but season 4 just started streaming on Crunchyroll two weeks ago and MAN WAS I READY FOR IT. My Hero Academia I think is one of the best anime to come out in a while, and if you haven’t picked it up yet, I really suggest doing so. It’s. Amazing. It follows a young man named Midoriya, living in a super-powered world, where most people have abilities called quirks. Because of this, ‘heroes’ have become a thing in society. Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but unfortunately he’s quirkless. This anime tells the story of how he becomes the greatest hero.
Demon Slayer – this one is a recent find for me. I’m only four or five episodes in so far but I am definitely hooked. It follows a young man named Tanjiro, who lives in a world of humans and demons alike, as he strives to save his sister after his family is slain and his sister turned into a demon. I really, really like this one – the visuals are gorgeous, the music is eerie, and weirdly there’s a bit of humor – it’s just perfect.
Music
Recently I’ve fallen into a uh.. rocky-poppy-indy-ish mood. Usually I’m all heavy metal. Who knows what’s goin on. This is what I’m currently hooked on. Definitely recommend giving them a listen:
Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves) by the Wombats
Hunter by Ken Ashcorp
Can’t Go to Hell by Sin Shake Sin
There are…. a lot more songs I’ve discovered this month, but those stand out as my faves. Give ’em a listen and lemme know what you think!
And that’s it! For the next two posts, if I come up with more categories, I’ll add’em in, but I figured this was a solid start. If you’d tried or like any of the above, lemme know! If my post inspires you to try them, lemme know that too!
This hobby blog is dedicated to movie nerdom, nostalgia, and the occasional escape. In the late 90s, I worked at Blockbuster Video, where they let me take home two free movies a day. I caught up on the classics and reviewed theatrical releases for Denver 'burbs newspapers and magazines. When time is free between teaching high school music and being a dad, movies are standard. Comments and dialogue encouraged!
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