January Round-Up: Blog Design, Settlers of Catan, & Joss Whedon

My Secret Santa gifts // Words for 2015 // Harley Quinn taking over my globe

This is an oddly short list of stuff I did this month, considering I had a lot of free time on my hands what with being unemployed. Yup, at the beginning of the month the bakery that I worked at closed unexpectedly. So, this is what I did this month in between looking for jobs, sending out résumés, feeling the heartbreak of having exciting employment opportunities fall apart, and dealing with the bullshit my former employer is putting me through. 

Movies Watched

The Trip to Italy

This is a sequel to The Trip, both starring Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden. It's not for everyone, as it's not an action-filled plot. It's mostly the two of them battling Michael Caine impressions over dinner. I find the two of them hilarious, but the overall feel of the movie is a bit melancholy as they deal with their family lives.

In Your Eyes

I'm so glad I finally watched this movie. I have trouble getting through an entire movie without wanting to check my phone or get up for a break, but this movie kept my attention 100%. Two people discover they can hear, see, & feel each other's actions through a mysterious telepathic connection. It's amazing to see how they get to know each other, talk about past experiences that they were also connected, and change each other's lives without ever meeting. Highly recommend.

Rewatched: The Book of Life, Notting Hill, Love and Other Disasters, Legally Blonde, Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring, Serenity, Much Ado About Nothing

TV Watched

Lost Tales of the Brothers Grimm - I wrote about my obsession with this strange puppet show here. I watch it every year around Christmastime because the first time I saw it was on New Year's Eve, and several years later when I finally got it on DVD, it was around Christmastime, so it's become an annual thing. It's so weird and hilarious.

Firefly - My annual viewing of Firefly (and Serenity) happens in January.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl - After watching Inara in Firefly, it reminded me how much I love this show about a "companion".

Misfits - One of the best British shows I've discovered yet. I meant this to be my "background watching" but I ended up just watching every episode because it's so damn good!

Friends - This show is always my "background" TV show this time of year, but I do end up just watching it a lot. It's really the only live-in-front-of-a-studio-audience sit-com that I can stand.

Web Series Watched

Co-Optitude & TableTop - I rewatched both these Geek & Sundry shows as "background" TV. 

Kiriosity - Kiri Callaghan has been making these videos on Geek & Sundry for a while, but I just decided to check them all out. She dives into some currently relevant topics, usually science.

LARPs - A new show on Geek & Sundry. I've never LARP'd but Felicia Day and Geek & Sundry create great web series about geeky stuff that I enjoy even if I'm not into that particular geeky world.

Music Played

Charli XCX - Sucker
Violents - Blush (Learn about the project here.)

Games Played

Settlers of Catan - One of my friends got this game for Christmas and we were all really excited to play it for the first time. It was really fun. (And I won, of course.) We love it so much we've been brainstorming our own versions of the game ie "Gangsters of Catan". Are you intrigued?

Yahtzee - Nothing like a ladies' Yahtzee and wine night to cheer you up when you're unemployed and lonely.

Fun Had

As you can see, I gave my blog a long-overdue redesign. Well, the basic structure is the same but I created a background, header, and side navigation all by myself. Yup, I'm gonna keep bragging about it because I had never made anything in Illustrator before and had to 'learn as you go' it. I'm really happy with the design and proud that I made it all from scratch. 

Along with the black, white & gold blog design, I made this square logo for myself, with my YouTube channel in mind. (I also ordered square business cards with this logo on one side and my basic info on the other. I'm pretty excited to see them!)

And speaking of my YouTube channel, I've been spending this month working on my new video ideas. I have four new shows I'm starting soon. I won't get too ahead of myself and tell you all about them as things can still change, but I've already shot video for the intros and I'm shooting a first episode this week which will be up in time for Valentine's Day. Spoiler: It involves champagne.