I was dead set on getting in an even earlier post this weekend, but plans changed. I was still dead set on writing a post, knowing I could still hop/visit throughout the week, though it isn’t exactly the ideal time frame, but then plans changed again. I suddenly had a reversal as I sat down to begin writing 30 min ago. Now with 45 min to go until midnight strikes in my region, I’ve decided to try to crush something out — quick like — and get some visiting in during the first part of this week.

My list of Thankful. Short and Sweet. Famous last words...

  1. Finally getting to the card shop to buy a few more boxes to organize and house my Magic Collection.
  2. A friend for offering me his spare boxes. I just got some, as mentioned above, because the likelihood of me seeing him any time soon are pretty slim. In the meantime, my cards are taking over my entire living room and demand immediate attention! I can always use more boxes, though!
  3. Kate and I began watching Sons of Anarchy. I had already seen the first two seasons, but was more than willing to start over again. It had been so long, anyways, that I had forgotten a handful of what happened. It’s been nice catching up and she seems to enjoy it. At least she seems to enjoy Jax… which she has called me once. Thankfully, not in bed… yet…
  4. Thankful for all the help and how supportive my girlfriend has been over the last couple of weeks. It should make November go a bit more smoothly, because I’m likely to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
  5. The Grey. Kate and I just watched this movie. I’d already seen it, but really like it. As it was mentioned last Tuesday (XV | TRAILER TUESDAY | XV), I have a soft spot for Liam Neeson. Great actor. The movie stirs up a lot of emotion in me and was pivotal in realizing some things needing to be addressed in one of my fiction pieces. The Grey speaks to me on both personal and creative levels.
  6. This weekend I attended a surprise birthday party with Kate. It was for one of her best friend’s parents who she has known since a child. It was a lot of fun, and Kate’s roommate was the one who made the cake for the party! She is an awesome baker! The cake was three layers and very artistic, with some very sweet personal touches made to the decorating. I’m not sure if Kate will be posting the picture of it or not, but I plan to on Wednesday. It was a work of art and simply delicious! A small cheat for the next three (don’t judge!):
  7. Double chocolate cake (the first layer).
  8. White chocolate almond cake (the second layer).
  9. Salted caramel chocolate cake (the third layer).
  10. Today Kate and I watched a friend perform in a family orchestral concert. They played four songs from various famous classical composers. It was great! I loved all of the chosen songs (one being a long-time favorite), but the one performer who stole the show was an 11 year old solo pianist. This little girl was going Kung-Fu on the piano and nothing but pure beauty was resulting from the blur of her fingertips. She was amazing. Words don’t do her justice. She is someone to be heard.

    In an embarrassing moment during the concert, however, was someone’s cell phone alarm going off for almost an entire minute. It was only later did we find out it was the conductor's phone. We also learned earlier that day he had accidentally broke someone’s cello. Talk about having a bad day. Despite those mishaps, he seemed very nice and was definitely enthusiastic and passionate about the music and the orchestra's work.

I will be making my rounds during the first part of this week, so I hope to see you all soon!

Feel free to leave your Thankful List in the comments below, if you aren’t participating directly with the blog hop!

Back a few weeks ago (XVII | 10 Things of Thankful | XVII) I mentioned being inspired by a picture a friend drew for me. It came at a moment when I was on the fence about continuing the blogging or going on a hiatus. Even this coming NaNoWriMo seemed threatened. I wanted to share the picture, though if you are friends on FB you’ve already seen it I’m sure. I love it, and I just need to look at it if ever feeling negative about my writing (or lack thereof). I miss him and his wife. They moved to England years ago, but hopefully someday there will be a reunion.

Now onto the darker side of things. Obsessions. I like to call them passions, but it’s pretty subjective…

Below is part of my Magic the Gathering Collection. The majority of the boxes on the bottom are five-row boxes. The rest (in the back) are 4-row and 3-row boxes, while some 2-row are on top of them all. Almost all of these are plump full of Magic cards. Some contain supplies (a variety of sleeves, deck boxes, life-counters, etc), but the bulk is just cards. The 5-row boxes can hold up to 7k Magic cards, so those alone 77k, including the 4 and 3-row (just in this picture) is easily pushing 100k+ cards. I will share some more pictures, and detail random factoids throughout.

Only part of my beautiful collection!
  1. My tiger blanket being used to hide my Crooks-Clawed love seat/couch. It’s usually in the bedroom and is what I use to lure all the Fair Maidens to the Chamber of Love.
  2. The “Iron” Throne.
  3. Crooks’s table, otherwise known as Crooks’ Domain or Casterly Crooks.
  4. Various playmats I’ve accrued from playing Magic the Gathering.
  5. The box I have used to carry all my decks in to Magic Nights and casual events with friends. We are talking since high school. It’s my thing.
  6. The box I carry the playmats in #4 in. The 3-row box below it is the only empty box in the picture.
  7. Cards being sorted.

There are even some more cards in the hutch...
  1. Lamp that almost started my place on fire months ago that I’ve been slowplaying throwing out.
  2. My trade binder that I finally added cards to. Took me years to buy a binder for the purpose of trading and then longer to put cards in it. I still haven’t made a trade, and I likely never will. Would rather sell, and even that hasn’t happened.
  3. Stacks of cards I plan to gift.
  4. Crooks Deodorizer.
  5. Crooks Fur Remover.
  6. A LEGO creation.
  7. Don’t be fooled, that single row box is full of Pokemon cards!

This is the rack I store most of my collection on, tucked away in its own little world...
  1. Sealed product I didn’t want to move into the living room for the sake of taking pictures. Less moving means less chance of damage.
  2. Sealed Booster Box of Planeshift. Shame it wasn’t one of the more popular sets.
  3. Mage Knight dungeon pieces I felt would work perfect for running a D&D campaign with. I had lofty ideas of starting up a game with friends/family long ago, but never came to fruition and I never tore the pieces down.

I have others that were acquired through buying collections back in the day...
  1. Close-up of a playmat I received for attending the Grand Prix Mpls in 2012. It’s a huge event and I went 6-3. One less loss and I would have made Day 2, and possibly even been in-the-money. Would you believe I was even slowplayed during the tournament?
  2. Close-up of a random playmat someone let me borrow at an FNM (Friday Night Magic) event. I love it since it’s labeled as being “foil”, which is the type of card I obsess about the most. He left before I was through and I never saw him afterwards at any other FNMs, so I hold on to it until next we meet!

Besides Magic, I have a few other obsessions… like:

Don't judge!
  1. Half of my 80+ unopened Xbox 360 games collection.
  2. The other half…
  3. Random trinkets.
  4. A row… stuffed… with stuffed animals and like-objects.
  5. Shirt I bought for my friend’s recent wedding.

So there you have it… Not so wordless, I apologize.

Do you have any passions obsessions?

Dear Mr. Watterson (11/15/13):

Not much to say except that I, like many, am one who fell in love with the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip when growing up. It was one of my favorites, alongside Garfield and The Far Side. I generally would save them for last to end my reading session on a good note, because even though I disliked a handful of comic strips, I couldn’t help but read them. I don’t even know why. This will probably have a limited release, and if I happen to hear of one near me I’d love to go see it.


Frozen (11/27/13):

The new film from Disney comes out this Thanksgiving. It looks pretty good, and I’d imagine children will love it. Magic, a giant moose, a talking snowman, what’s not to love? I like most Disney movies, but it’s been a long while since seeing one in theaters. I watched Tangled when released on Netflix and thought it was really good. The only one I skipped was The Princess and the Frog. That and a majority of sequels, as they haven’t really appealed to me. This one seems to have the makings for all those random holiday special renditions if wanting, or maybe that’s DreamWorks? Either way, this looks pretty good and once it hits RB/NF I’ll definitely watch it.

That Awkward Moment - RED-Band - (1/31/14):

Beware, it’s a Red-Band trailer, so make sure you have your big-boy/girl pants on! Nothing too drastic, though, just some swearing mostly… mostly. Zac Efron has been showing up everywhere. Maybe it’s like a number’s game? Eventually, one of these movies is going to land him some respect outside the Disney Zone? Maybe one already has and I’ve just never seen (or heard about) it. He is in Parkland, a movie I highlighted back in VIII | Trailer Tuesday | VIII, which seems to have come and gone (still interested in seeing it). His newest trailers are for movies of a more raunchy nature I’ve noticed (for example: Neighbors, highlighted in X | Trailer Tuesday | X). Maybe he is attempting a little harder to step outside of the cute, sweet “heartthrob”, though this does seem to be a “heartthrob” type role. Whatever the case, this is definitely not a theater-bound movie for me. Perhaps Netflix.

Non-Stop (2/28/14):

I love me some Liam Neeson, but fair warning, this trailer seems spoiler-heavy and in chronological order. I really hate when they do that. Hopefully I’m wrong, but maybe I won’t care? It’s Liam-fucken-Neeson! Sure, I haven’t seen Taken 2 — a bit… gun-shy... on how it would be — but I loved him recently in The Grey and just about every other movie he’s been in. He has great screen presence. I could listen to his voice all night long. George Clooney might start getting jealous. So, Liam Neeson on a plane, taking down bad guys, in a psychological action-thriller? Don’t mind if I do… don’t mind if I do. Just wish the trailer didn’t seem so spoiler-ridden.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (3/7/14):

As I love Liam Neeson’s acting, I love Wes Anderson’s writing/directing. I feel dirty for having not seen Moonrise Kingdom yet and it’s something I really should remedy. This movie looks just as good as many of his past films: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I noticed Wes Anderson, like some directors do, prefers to use the same actors in his films. Most notably — to me — Bill Murray, which I find awesome. You’ll find that many of the other actors are also featured in his past movies too, though. I’m excited for The Grand Budapest Hotel and really hope to see it once it’s released in theaters!

*     *     *

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (10/22/13):

I thought I would feature a trailer — with a special bonus Stan Lee voice-over — for a game released today. I’ve been a long time lover of LEGO, so when I was first introduced to the LEGO game series I was pretty ecstatic. I’ve played a good majority of the LEGO games, and while I haven’t unlocked all the achievements (XBox) and/or in-game material, I’ve enjoyed playing every one of them. It’s been a year since playing any, however, but I’ve bought the newer games over that period when they’ve gone on sale. They usually drop from 60$ to 20$ relatively fast. When I saw LEGO finally got their hands on the Marvel franchise I was psyched! Same goes for TMNT! I love the franchises they produce, most of them playing out the storylines of the movies they represent (with some humorous twists of their own thrown in). Definitely plan to pick this up when it’s on sale or reduced to its 20$ price tag. Now if they could only take Halo away from Mega Bloks…

Did any of the highlighted trailers interest you? Did you ever read Calvin & Hobbes? Any favorite Disney, Liam Neeson, and/or Wes Anderson film? Have you ever played any of the LEGO game franchises?

XX | 10 THINGS OF THANKFUL | XX


The 25th TToT is fast approaching. Sure it’s a month out. Sure it lands during NaNoWriMo in November. Sure I will be bogged down by that, holidays, and family engagements, but I am curious what the host (and co-hosts) have brewing for that milestone and if they haven’t thought it over, they better start now!

Muahahahaha!

This weekend should be a slow one, so I’m hoping to be able to actually participate in the hop. Not that past “lazy” weekends have been busy, but I’ve been preoccupied. And honestly, it’s been a struggle to just write a post. This means November will either be really encouraging and prove rejuvenating for my writing, or it will be incredibly disheartening and frustrating. I can’t wait to find out…

Sarcasm aside — as best I can — let’s start being more Thankful for the past week, shall we? It’s 6am and I’m still awake, so if I don’t write this up now I may not wake up before the entire weekend blog hop ends.

And that would be Bad News Bears.

  1. Kate found an organization hosting free training/classes associated with the arts (or that seems to be the main focus). They are available at a local county library, two days a week, and we attended our first last Saturday. That session was focused on copywriting, patents, and contracts. Can’t say I fully understand the copywriting bit, but I know a lot more than I had. My concerns were focused on using pictures, creating Memes, fiction, etc and featuring them on the blog.
  2. I’m glad we remembered to get signed up for tomorrow’s (today’s) class about financing, but unfortunately I believe we are canceling. I don’t think I’d wake up in time this morning, and she has a wedding to attend.
  3. I’m Thankful that work hasn’t been as stressful this week. I’d imagine through late Fall and Winter there will be the usual lull in move-ins/move-outs. .
  4. Whew, almost passed out there… I’m glad I’ll be getting this post in earlier than I have in months! If I can stay awake, that is…
  5. I started playing a new digital card game (Solforge) on Steam last week. It’s simplistic and pretty fun. It’s currently in the Beta stage — where it will remain for some time — and free to play. It will always be F2P, but there are the standard-issue microtransactions available if wanting.
  6. My brother joining in and playing the Beta with me. He probably likes it more than I do and has already spent money on microtransactions. Considering you can get every card in the game for free via daily awards, I don’t see the appeal (though, I never do) of dumping real money into it.
  7. Well, fuck me. I made it to number seven before passing out. Granted, I was lured into bed finally at 8:30am. I am Thankful I actually woke up before the weekend ended to continue my list, and attempt to participate in the blog hop!
  8. My Magic: The Gathering collection. Every once in a while I break out my collection and sift through it. I go in phases of actually playing the game and right now it’s at a very low-level priority. That doesn’t stop me from constantly looking up new cards/sets, prices, and information on rule changes/card bannings. It’s a hobby and a passion. Someday I will get on that Magic blog I’ve had sitting there for ages...
  9. My mad organization OCD skills. I’ve been going through my collection and separating cards by set/color/alphabetical order and then placed in boxes according to timeframe (ei: newest sets in front of older sets). My hope is to finally go through and remove a large portion of bulk and sell it off. I’ve been planning to buy/sell magic for close to 10 years, but you know… it’s me. I apparently mastered the art of Slowplay before I even knew what it was! I love organizing my collection so much that my brother even played me a youtube video last night featuring a skit with a character (who also loved doing the same) he felt represented me. I think I will share a video of another skit, with a character portraying my Slowplay skills (3:05 mark). I wouldn’t mind drinking and playing/reviewing board/card/video games. Just don’t rely on these two to accurately teach you how the game is played:
  10. NaNoWriMo. I’m getting increasingly psyched, while simultaneously becoming increasingly scared shitless, about this November. Not having a car will make write-ins a bit more difficult, which sucks in terms of meeting new people. I made quite a few new friends last year and an encore of that would be great. However, I’m more afraid of being able to write 50k words. I’ve barely been able to squeeze out a blog and my Trailer Tuesday blurbs have become a struggle. My hope is that, in the end, NaNoWriMo will kick off a string of blog entries I’ve skipped and create a surge in my fiction writing (which I’ve not done since about March). Time will tell...

Feel free to leave your Thankful List in the comments below, if you aren’t participating directly with the blog hop!

XIV | TRAILER TUESDAY | XIV


True Detective (Jan 2014):

This is an HBO Original series. I caught the trailer a few weeks back and thought it looked really good. The trailer itself is really well done, and the two main actors are sure to be solid in in their performance. While I’m a bigger fan of Woody Harrelson, the pairing of these two should offer some great moments. Having just wrapped up Breaking Bad, this is one I’d love to add to my viewing line-up! The trailer cites January 2014, so this is still a few months out, but I’m sure it will be worth the wait. With the possible taglines of “Darkness Becomes You” and/or “The World Needs Bad Men”, how could it not be?

Out of the Furnace (12/6/13):

I picked the second trailer for this movie, because I liked it better and it seemed slightly less spoiler-ridden. Looks like a great cast (again Harrelson is in the mix), but I’m mostly interested in seeing Christian Bale outside of his Batman role. I believe this is his first feature film since doing that trilogy. Whitaker seems to be making a comeback? I hadn’t seen him in much for a long time. His performance in Lee Daniels’ The Butler was excellent, so I’m excited to see him pick up better roles. I’d be very interested in seeing this in the theaters if getting the chance.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (12/25/13):

I’ve seen all of the currently released Jack Ryan films: The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears. I liked them all, but became most familiar with Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Jack Ryan, which is a character featured in a series of novels — which the movies share the names with — written by Tom Clancy. I just found out he passed away earlier this month. I always thought it was amazing how he had no military training (and supposedly never stepped foot inside a submarine) when writing The Hunt for Red October, which launched his career. I fear what his departure may mean, though, for this movie and following franchise. I believe he was working with this project, but I’ve read it’s only tie-in is the Jack Ryan character and that it isn’t based on any specific Tom Clancy novel. I won’t condemn the movie before seeing it (I like the cast), but I am torn if I will bother seeing it in theaters.

I, Frankenstein (1/24/14):

The first time watching the trailer I thought of Underworld, then I saw it was produced by the same people and that likely explained why. I like the darker tone/style of the Underworld movies, and it is present from what the trailer shows, but something makes me afraid I, Frankenstein will be… I want to say hokey, but that seems wrong. Silly? Gimmicky? Gah! I can’t think of the word. Maybe if it were rated R I’d take it a bit more seriously? Perhaps Van Helsing scarred me too deeply. This movie could surprise me, and be nothing close to the ridiculousness of Van Helsing, but I’m not paying top dollar to find out. Redbox/Netflix it is!

The Invisible Woman (2/7/14):

I don’t have a whole lot of interest in this movie. It looks like a decent period piece based on Charles Dickens. I believe Ralph Fiennes is the only actor I recognize from the cast, and I’m more curious of his directing chops. The only other movie he has directed, to my knowledge, is Coriolanus, which I believe is a modernization of Shakespeare’s play. I never got around to seeing it, though it looked interesting. Beyond that, however, there is no real draw for me here.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (5/1/15):

This is just a teaser trailer released over the Summer, but this movie isn't out until 2015. I loved The Avengers, and so it goes without saying I’m extremely excited for the sequel. I still have to catch up on Iron Man 3, and see the upcoming Thor and Captain America movies first, as they are all now apart of the same universe. Marvel seems to be doing it right, and perhaps DC will try to follow suit, but we’ll see how that goes. This sequel should be pretty intense — full of the same comedy, drama, and action mixture of the original. I can’t wait for an actual full-length trailer to be released. Perhaps next Summer?

Did any of the highlighted trailers interest you? Do you think you will check out True Detective? Do you have a favorite Jack Ryan movie adaptation and/or actor portrayal? Are you excited for The Avengers: Age of Ultron?

recent CHRONICLES

Featured In I, Jak
Hello, Friend
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Hello, Friend
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It’s been a long while. I briefly discuss some of this year’s shortcomings, and in doing so, find it’s just more of the same.

Then I attempt to give a more positive spin…

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Extra Life Game Day 2021
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Extra Life Game Day 2021
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Extra Life Game Day 2021 has arrived! It’s Year 8 for myself and I am looking forward to once again raise money for Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Team Cryton Crusaders is ready (kind of) for the annual fundraising event involving a 24-Hour Gaming Marathon! I kept last year’s fun, but likely impossible Milestone to reach!

Learn more about the challenge where my team and I play games and heal kids!

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recent ENTERTAINMENT

Featured
102 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 102
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102 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 102
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Welcome to Trailer Tuesday, a weekly Generation Jak blog series where a multitude of movie, video game, and sometimes even book trailers are highlighted for your viewing pleasure!

This week's Featured Trailers:
Jessica Jones Season 2 - Teaser Trailer | Ready Player One | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Alita: Battle Angel | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Teaser Trailer

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101 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 101
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101 | TRAILER TUESDAY | 101
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Welcome to Trailer Tuesday, a weekly Generation Jak blog series where a multitude of movie, video game, and sometimes even book trailers are highlighted for your viewing pleasure!

This week's Featured Trailers:
The Shape of Water | Wormwood | All the Money in the World | Avengers: Infinity War | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Trailer Teaser | Batman Ninja

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recent DREAMSCAPES

Featured
A to Z 2017 [FLASH FICTION]: REFLECTIONS
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A to Z 2017 [FLASH FICTION]: REFLECTIONS
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This year's A to Z Challenge is over, but how did I fare with another attempt at producing Flash Fiction and Poetry throughout it all? Did I run into the same complications as last year?

Join me as I reflect on the challenge and the thoughts about my continued participation on Dreams in the Shade of Ink.

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A to Z 2017: ZACHARIAH
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A to Z 2017: ZACHARIAH
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Dreams in the Shade of Ink is back with more Flash Fiction for the A to Z Challenge 2017! Last year my segments throughout April painted a puzzled tapestry of prose and I hope to provide some new, entertaining stories that you'll enjoy!

Come share in my inky dreams full of fiction, sprinkled with poetry!

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recent META

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A to Z 2017 [MAGIC MIXER]: REFLECTIONS
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A to Z 2017 [MAGIC MIXER]: REFLECTIONS
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The A to Z Challenge 2017 is over and it's time to reflect on how the event went! There were booster pack openings, there were storylines and mechanics to observe within the world of Magic: The Gathering!

Join me as I discuss the ups and downs of this year's Magic Mixer theme.

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A to Z 2017: ZENDIKAR
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A to Z 2017: ZENDIKAR
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This year for the A to Z Challenge 2017 Meta MTG presents the Magic Mixer! What's that mean? Your guess is as good as mine... What I do know, however, is that this year's theme is obviously still all about Magic: The Gathering!

Join me as I attempt to highlight a different Magic set each day of the challenge in different ways, from pack openings to discussions about a set's storyline and/or mechanics!

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