This has been a good week for me as far as video games are concerned!

First, Adam brought home the collector’s edition of Assassin’s Creed 2, which included this beauty:

Next, I was happy to see my favorite pixelated characters on my new issue of Game Informer magazine:

This month’s issue of Game Informer is their 200th, and to commemorate the milestone they’ve released eight collectible covers featuring different classic games. You can view all of them here. Inside the magazine is a list of Game Informer’s top 200 games of all time, and while I’m sure some people will disagree with the choices, I personally think it’s a great list.

Finally, I spent most of today playing a fantastic Xbox Live Arcade game called Shadow Complex. It’s an action-adventure platformer with gameplay based on Super Metroid’s, which is one of my favorite games ever. The setting is a far cry from the alien world of Super Metroid, though, and so is the story. I’m not very far through the game yet, but from what I’ve gathered, the main character and his girlfriend got caught up in some sort of dangerous conspiracy when their hiking trip went awry. Now he’s trying to rescue her and get them both out of the crazy situation. I’ve found some real little gems in the Xbox Live Arcade — Braid, ‘Splosion Man, Castle Crashers — and Shadow Complex is definitely one of them.

Mirrored from Lyssness.net.

Starting this month, I'm participating in Very Bookish, an online book club. The biggest reason I decided to join is because one of this month's books is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, the first in a series called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which I've been wanting to read for a while. The club will give me an incentive to go out and buy the book, and I love having excuses to buy things! ;) I enjoy books of any genre, except maybe romance and chick lit, but I have to admit that I have a major soft spot for young adult and children's fantasy. I'm also a sucker for anything having to do with mythology, so this series seems perfect for me.

Another reason I decided to join the club is because you're given a choice of two different books to read each month, so if you can't find one of the books in time, then you can get the other one instead. I also like the variety of books the club has read in the past, and I like that it isn't limited to one genre. It's hard for me to read the same genre over and over again because I start to crave books like I crave food. I'll read a classic like Jane Eyre, and then I'll want something completely different, like Howl's Moving Castle or a Stephen King horror.

On a completely unrelated note, the other day Adam randomly bought me a super cute Tinker Bell Pez dispenser! I love getting unexpected little gifts like that. I've already eaten all of the Pez candies that came with it, and it's now sitting amongst my geeky action figure collection. :P

Look what arrived in the mail today!

It’s Swedish candy from Angelica! We exchanged candy from our home countries. I’ve already tried a bit of each and they’re all really good! It’s so neat to see the different packaging too, with everything written in Swedish. I made sure not to tear the wrappers any more than I had to because I plan on keeping them. I’m going to try to make the candy last as long as I can, but I’m sure that’s easier said than done!

The package included:

Non Stop: A smooth, creamy chocolate bar filled with little candy-coated chocolates. This is probably my favorite. The chocolate is to die for!

Kex: A chocolate-coated wafer. It reminds me of a Kit Kat, but I think the Kex has a better taste to it.

Bilar: Sour gummy candies shaped like cars. These are my second favorite, and Adam loves them as well.

Polka Grisar: Peppermint candies.

Nestle Smarties: Candy-coated chocolate pieces, similar to American M&M’s. Here in the United States, we also have a candy called Smarties, but they’re fruit-flavored instead of chocolate and they’re not made by Nestle.

Plopp: A caramel-filled chocolate bar.

I’ve already finished off the Kex, and Adam and I have been munching on the Bilar all day. I wish we had this candy in the States! The bad thing about getting candy from another country is that now I know what I’m missing. It will be sad when it’s all gone and I can’t just run out to the store for more.

Thanks, Angelica!

Mirrored from Lyssness.

I might start doing these “Current” posts once a month or so to highlight things I’m loving at the moment. Here are a few things I’m utterly addicted to or just really enjoying right now.

Website: listography. I’m a HUGE fan of lists. They help me keep my scattered brain in some semblance of order. I feel like I have so much stuff circling around in my mind sometimes — things to do, things I want/need, etc. — that if I don’t write it all down my head will explode. Listography is a dream find. I can now make all the lists I want, and keep them in all in one place for quick, easy access! And edit them without having to use an eraser! Happiness! Here’s my listography page: lyssness.

Games: Animal Crossing: Wild World and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on the Nintendo DS. The former is my ongoing, off and on addiction. I’ll play it obsessively for weeks, stop for a while, and then pick it back up and become addicted all over again. Sometimes I’d like to trade real life for Animal Crossing. Then I’d have cute talking animals for neighbors and would never have to work again!

Diabolical Box is the sequel to Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a puzzle game that I played nonstop until I finished it a couple of months ago. It has challenging puzzles, fun side quests, beautiful art, and a Sherlock Holmes-esque main character with a smooth English accent. What’s not to like?

Music: “Maybe” by Ingrid Michaelson, “All I Wanted” by Paramore, and “Notion” by Kings of Leon. Speaking of KoL, I liked “Use Somebody” until I started hearing it on the radio every five minutes. Now I’m kind of sick of it.

TV Show: Dexter. I’ve already mentioned it a few times, but I can’t help mentioning it again because I’m in love with it! It’s my favorite thing on TV right now, except maybe for The Office. Adam and I are about halfway through the second season and it’s even better than the first. Things are getting really good. Crazy and dramatic, but good!

Books: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson — perfect spooky reading for the upcoming holiday, and The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander — a great start to what seems like a great fantasy series.

Food/Drink: Autumn is all about pumpkins and apples! I have stuff to make a pumpkin pie and an apple cake. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I love the sight and the smell of pumpkins, but I’m actually not a huge fan of the taste. The pie will be more for Adam than me. Apples, on the other hand, are my favorite fruit. I love anything involving apples, and if it has cinnamon, even better!

Other: This macro, featuring two of my favorite funny bad guys:

Mirrored from Lyssness.

There has been a slight change of plans. Today was wet and rainy, which isn’t exactly the best hiking weather, and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. Luckily, a movie I’ve been anticipating for literally years arrived in the mail today: Trick ‘r Treat! There’s a long and frustrating story behind this little gem of a movie, but I won’t get into the details. All you need to know is that Warner Bros. treated it incredibly unfairly by delaying it for two years and then refusing to release it in theaters altogether, resulting in a very limited amount of theatrical showings in the US followed by a direct-to-DVD release on October 6th. Despite the fact that it hasn’t gotten the widespread recognition it deserves, it’s getting pretty amazing reviews.

Before popping the DVD in, I felt a little apprehensive. What if the movie I’ve been waiting nearly three years to see didn’t live up to my expectations? Then I thought about the trailers for it that I had watched, all the positive reviews of it I’d read, and the simple fact that it screams Halloween, and I knew it wasn’t going to disappoint. And oh, how it didn’t! It delivered more than I even expected. I LOVED it.

Written and directed by Michael Daugherty, Trick ‘r Treat consists of four interwoven stories that all take place on Halloween night, each involving distinct and unforgettable characters. There’s a high school principal with a dark secret, four college-aged girls headed to a wild party dressed in typical slutty Halloween costumes, five kids whose story revolves around a local Halloween legend, and a cranky, reclusive old man who shuns everything having to do with the holiday. Surrounding it all, and ever lurking in the background, is a creepy little trick-or-treater named Sam, who seems to be the embodied spirit of Halloween. His purpose is to make sure that the Halloween traditions are upheld and punish anyone who disrespects the holiday.

The dialogue is very well-written, there are a couple of unexpected twists, and the stories tie together beautifully, leading up to an ultimately satisfying ending. Sam is equal parts adorable and frightening, and absolutely iconic. No other villain in any horror movie has represented Halloween as perfectly as him. I’m so glad to finally see a character like that. I also loved Rhonda, the little witch girl. She was eccentric without being overdone and appeared to be connected to Halloween in some way, much like Sam. I noticed a few throwbacks to some classic horror movies as well, which just shows how much Daugherty appreciates the genre.

Overall, I really don’t have any complaints. Trick ‘r Treat is the best horror movie I’ve seen in a while and will definitely be a Halloween staple for me from now on. I only wish I had been able to enjoy the experience of seeing it on a theater screen. Unfortunately, though, until Hollywood realizes that horror doesn’t just mean gratuitous gorefests, Michael Daugherty and other writers like him won’t get to share the limelight with the over-milked Saw franchise.

Since Adam and I can’t go hiking tomorrow either, we’re going to see Zombieland instead, so expect another movie review soon. I’m really excited; it looks great!

Also, the teaser trailer for the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street makes it look surprisingly good.

Mirrored from Lyssness.

I made fried apples last night!



They were soooo good! Adam and I had them with corn on the cob and herb baked chicken. A perfect autumn dinner. :)

I've fallen in love with the TV show Dexter. Adam and I are almost finished watching the first season. We just have three more episodes to go, and it keeps getting better and better. I think it might be my all-time favorite show after The X-Files (because nothing will ever replace The X-Files). Well, and The Office. Speaking of, Jim and Pam = best and cutest TV couple ever.



Mine and Adam's TV schedule:
Monday - The Big Bang Theory
Wednesday - Glee
Thursday - The Office, Community, Survivor
Friday - The Soup
Every Night - Dexter (We watch it on Netflix's instant stream)

We're going hiking in the mountains on Tuesday. I can't wait to see all the trees decked out in their early autumn colors. :)

I'm so excited about this week! It's going to be filled with fun autumn and Halloween activities! I don't know how I'm going to find time to get all my school work done, though...

This is the time of year I like best: a slight chill in the air, leaves falling, the sun peeking lazily through branches, and the distinct smell of…autumn! I went outside today and just breathed it all in, and it was perfect.

I spent Saturday-Monday at my parents' house.

I’ve been living on my own for two years now and I consider home to be the apartment I share with Adam and our pets, but the house I grew up in still feels like home too. It’s kind of a paradox. It’s also kind of strange to see my old room. My parents haven’t done much with it since I moved out, so some parts of it seem frozen in time. The Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter posters I hung all over my walls are still there, my bed is still there, and the walls are still the same color pink that they’ve always been. My bulletin board is even exactly the same:

I drew my initials on it with markers years ago and covered it with comic strips, pictures of friends, a Jim Morrison postcard from the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, a Wilco concert ticket, a brochure from a miniature golfing course that served as the location of one of my first dates with Adam, a drawing of Jack Skellington, a lucky rabbit’s foot I’ve had since elementary school, and other random knick-knacks.

A few things have changed, though. My desk is no longer there. Instead, it’s been replaced with a smaller one. My parents have also moved the shelves that hold their towels and washcloths into my room, so now when I visit I have people coming into my room every now and then to grab a towel.

One thing I really miss about my old house is the land. My parents own about eight acres, including a small wooded area. I used to love taking walks with my dogs around the yard or sitting on the swing with a glass of lemonade and a book. I don’t have that luxury anymore, living in an apartment. If I want to take Jude for a walk, I have to drive to the park. We have a sidewalk and a small playground at our apartment complex, but there are always kids running wildly about and cars are constantly pulling in and out, and it’s just not the best place for a walk.

I tend to worry much less about things when I visit my parents. I see it as a mini vacation of sorts. I love my apartment, but sometimes I associate it with bills and cleaning and all of the struggles that come with being an adult. It’s a funny thing, growing up. I’m very happy to have a place of my own, but it’s comforting to know that the place I grew up in is still there whenever I need it.

Mirrored from Lyssness.

I have a new addiction: online trading card games. That link leads to my trading post, where I house all of my cards. You can learn more about online TCGs there too.

Participating in online TCGs makes me think about my experience with “real world” TCGs. It started when I was little, with Pokemon, of course. I watched the TV show every day after school and my love of it grew until I started collecting the cards. I would trade and play them with my cousins every now and then, but mostly I just liked having them. Side note: surprisingly enough, as much as I liked Pokemon and as big of a gamer as I was, I never played any of the Pokemon video games.

When I was in high school Adam taught me how to play Magic: The Gathering, but I didn’t really get into it. Then the World of Warcraft TCG came out, and oh man, I played that game religiously for a while. Those were the days when Adam and I had roommates, and we would all sit in a circle in the living room and play the WoW TCG. We were such nerds (and still are…).

Adam and I still have loads of WoW cards lying around the apartment. Maybe I’ll get him to play a game with me sometime soon.

I also have a new favorite TV show: Dexter. Adam and I watched the pilot episode the other night and were very impressed. It’s such a unique, interesting idea for a show. The main character, Dexter Morgan, is a serial killer who channels his murderous urges into killing bad people. By day he works in the forensic department of the Miami Police Department, but by night he methodically kills murderers and collects samples of their blood, leaving no traces behind.

The things that stuck out to me the most: how believable the plot and the character of Dexter are, how likable Dexter is despite the fact that he’s a serial killer, and how good the acting is, especially in the case of Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Jennifer Carpenter (Debra, Dexter’s foster sister). I found myself really liking Dexter and rooting for him every step of the way, but at times I wondered if that was okay since he’s, you know, a murderer. I love that, though! I love anything that makes me question myself, and that blurs the line between right and wrong. I’m really looking forward to watching more of this show!

Mirrored from Lyssness.

I really can count, I promise! I realized that in my last post I had numbered what should have been #5 as #6. *facepalm* I went back and corrected it. I think the reason it ended up that way is because I had originally planned on listing six books but in the end decided on five, and I forgot to go back and change the numbering.

Anyway, on to other things!

I finally finished my pets page, which I’d been planning on adding to the site for a while. I also added a quick stats page for those who don’t like to read long “about me” descriptions.

I’ve just spent a while exploring this website about fairy doors in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had no idea there was anything like that there! It’s such a cute and neat concept, and it makes me want to visit the city sometime. My favorite door is the one at the Google headquarters. Apparently fairies have their own search engine called “Giggle”! So cute!

I started doing some online window shopping for a fairy door of my own. I’d love to get one of these wooden ones, decorate it, and place it in my apartment to welcome the fairies into my home.

I’m getting ready to install Barrow Hill and play it. I love PC adventure games, especially scary ones, so I’m excited. I should be working on my History assignment, but I think I’ll procrastinate just a little longer…

Mirrored from Lyssness.

I was organizing my bookshelves today and I came across quite a few books that I’ve had since I was a kid. I started feeling nostalgic, so I decided to stack up some of my favorite childhood books and re-read them when I get the chance. Here are a few books that I loved when I was a kid and are now in my “read again” pile:

1. Julie series by Jean Craighead George

The Julie books are about a young girl named Julie (surprise, surprise ), or Miyax in her native Eskimo tongue, and the wolves she considers family.

When I was little, I loved wolves. I still do, actually, but I was more obsessive about them when I was younger. I had t-shirts with wolves on them, I would get notebooks with them on the covers for school, I collected wolf figurines, etc. I also read books about wolves whenever I could. My favorites by far were the Julie books. They’re a wolf lover’s dream because they give you the ability to get up close and personal, so to speak, with wolves and learn about them and their living patterns. Jean Craighead George spent a long time studying wolves and communicating with them, even caring for a few as pets, so most of the details in the books are accurate. Even if you’re not a fan of wolves, the series is still enjoyable. Julie is an interesting, relatable character with struggles, both everyday and not-so-everyday, to overcome.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from Lyssness.

My sister is an eighth grade Language Arts teacher and she recently read The Landlady, a short story by Roald Dahl, with her students. I remembered reading it when I was in eighth grade too and loving it. It's very creepy and nice to read around this time of year, when fall is just around the corner. I found it online and re-read it. It's as good and scary as I remembered, and I thought I'd share it in case any of you are interested in reading it as well:

The Landlady