Book Review: Non-Fiction and personal history

Until The Final Hour by Traudl Junge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm literally in tears as I finish reading this.
An intense thing to live through, and to be so close to the man that started it all and not really know what was going on. Six little lives, stolen for prejudice and never given a choice either.
Such evil visited on all people by one man's belief, is shocking.
We are warned at the start that the manuscript was written and edited at two different times, and its plain to see when the younger, more trusting Traudl wrote and when the older one edited in. Hindsight is a blessed thing, but many older people were also taken in by Hitler. It is interesting to read how one felt in his presence and the outlook that they were given to instil such loyalty. Though there are signs there of the bigger picture (some blaring neon signs too), it's easy to see how young ambition may have overlooked these signs in excitement. It must have seemed a great honour and it is hard to see things that are not happening to us or ours directly. Though a few of her associates went missing, if you are too wrapped up with an organisation it's hard to say what the people who leave are up to or, in this case, have been taken.
I hope we have learned from our mistakes but reading this from an insiders point of view, makes me think about my own awareness of other peoples situations in our own times, and that this could very easily happen again.

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KickStarter: Geeky Sprinkles

 My Geeky Hostess : Geeky Sprinkles arrived today, I was totally surprised to get them this soon, but they are finally here and they look totally amazing!!

I backed at the level:

Pledge $26 or more

581 backers

FULL SET OF GEEKY SPRINKLES: 1 bottle of each of the Geeky Sprinkle shapes: Lightning Bolt, Steampunk, and Police Box (3 bottles total). You will also receive the Kickstarter-exclusive set of recipe cards by geeky bakers. Free shipping in the US.

There were some stretch goals and I ended up with a free bottle added to my order.

There were meeple designs added later but how could I select anything but an extra bottle of police box sprinkles.

I can't wait to try out some of the recipes, create my own and use these cool sprinkles.

Get your own here

Loot Crate Unboxing for Feb : and I met the TMNT!!

 February's Crate was themed "Play" and I had really high hopes for this one.

We knew there was going to be a Kidrobot DIY figure and a popular card game exclusive set.

As well as a story (novel) and a new take on an ancient game (which turned out to be Rock,Paper, Scissors dice).

I was a little disappointed that the dice were not Rock Paper, scissors, lizard, spock, but they are still pretty cool. And the box opens up to be a board game with the pieces in the magazine to pop out and play.

I'll admit I was hoping the exclusive expansion pack was going to be Cards Against Humanity, and was disappointed to find Super Fight cards instead. I've heard of the game but never played it. I guess they are still kind cool though.  

 The D.I.Y kidrobot thing was this D.I.Y munny, which is actually pretty cool. I have done one of these before so am looking forward to doing something fun with this one.

 I go the pink Ant Hesxbug, which is kinda cool but I don't have kids or pets at the moment so will probably sit in it's box for ages.

 The book is pretty sweet. Just about all of the book clubs I'm in have read this now, and I still hadn't bought it, so its cool to be given the book and I'm actually pretty keen to read this one.

 The munny is about half the size of the other one I did.

Also in the box was a pac man game console posted, but I've not taken it out of the plastic.

So this one wasn't my favourite lootcrate but I think maybe that was due to some pretty big expectations. All in all it wasn't horrible.

Next months crate is "Covert"

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There was a toy fair on this week near my work, and on the way home we walked past a Nickelodeon off-site event where there were a bunch of characters walking around, including Sponge Bob and Dora.

Finally we decided to just take a photo for Shits and giggles with one of the characters, and who better than two of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  

 Mikey and Raph were back at the entrance to the event but further out we met Don and Leo

I figured, why not, lets just get some photos.

RANDOM POST: Japanese snack food taste test.

 I picked these up from my local Daiso store at 10 for AU$2.80.

Umaibo Corn Snack

They had 7 different flavours so some are doubled up, though they don't all have the English flavour on them so I'm not sure what all of them are now.

I'm just going to taste test 4 of them for now, so here goes.

 The first one is Salami - The texture is like cheezles or cheese and bacon balls.

This one tastes like cheese with more of an after taste of salami

 The cheese one is very cheesy, and tastes very artificial cheese flavour.

 This one is the pizza one and has a strong tomato and slight olive taste going on.

Not too bad.

The packet is Red, White and Green to represent the Italian flag.

This one looked so bad when I opened it and saw all the black.

Takoyaki flavour which is a type of Octopus ball.

This one has a slight seafood taste to it but it was hard to pick out the octopus flavour.

All up they were rather nice. not unlike cheese and bacon balls. and at only 28c each they were worth trying. I'll leave the rest to try another day though. 

Jupiter Ascending, Al Star Comics Opening and Other Stuff

 Monday 16th Feb I took my cousin to see the preview screening of Jupiter Ascending.

We were some of the first people in Australia to see it.

We hadn't caught up in ages, so it was nice to do something, and it was a pretty good night despite being pretty tired after work.

 I printed off our tickets and we got scanned in, there was a pair of 3D glasses and a box of popcorn on our seats as we picked out a good spot to watch the movie from.

 It was a pretty movie that didn't take itself too seriously and we both actually laughed out loud at the in movie joke with Sean Bean.

 I got my secret santa gift as well, which turned out to be a pretty cool book about Heavy Metal Movies - so much love.

You might think it is a bit late to still be getting Christmas presents, but I still don't have either of my gifts from my siblings as yet.

 Friday night was the big re-opening of my local comic book store, All Star Comics.

They had been closed for a week, which isn't a big deal but since my job now pays me monthly, I did miss my normal pick up weekend the previous week.

 The store is super mega big now, which is totally amazaballs!

Though it had very new smell to it too.

I did get to pick up my month-and-a-bit pull list:

 I sold some lootcrate items at an online garage sale and made some extra cash, and actually got enough to FINALLY get this guy!

 He actually arrived on Tuesday but I couldn't get to the post office to pick him up until this morning.

Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols.

I've now completed my one and only Pop! Rocks collection

 YAY!

It is a little strange though that Steve Jones is a bobble head and neither of the others are, but oh well.

I also used the money I got for my birthday to go towards the purchase of my first DC Bombshells Statue.

 She also arrived Tuesday but I had to wait until this morning to pick her up.

POISON IVY

Some assembly required.

 She is absolutely freaking amazing and I adore her.

I picked up the variant cover a few weeks ago now, with her Bombshell on it as well.

I'll be picking up the Batwoman statue as well when she comes out in September.



Book Review: Fear and Loathing

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a crazy drug fuelled ride. Two serious drug abusers burn through Vegas testing their luck with life. Completely crazy, with some interesting points to ponder woven in.
Certainly not for everyone, but if you enjoyed (not sure "enjoyed" is the right word) the ride of trainspotting then give this one a go.

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Fashion Post: Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibit.

 Last month I went for an exploring with a walking card, to see some public art.

During the walk I stumbled across this exhibit of Jean Paul Gaultier fashion, and decided to go check it out. It cost around $23 I think to go in, but it was huge.

First room:

 

 I just love this stripe dress.

 There were faces projected onto the dummy's and sound track of voices talking to the people that came into the exhibit. Kinda like Donna Noble in the Doctor Who episode of Silence in the Library.

 The second room was filled with black curtains and red lights and each mannequin was in a display box like the red light district of Amsterdam.

 The next room was filled with graffiti's walls and punk fashion

 There was the most beautiful long denim jacket

 The next room had an array of more ornate designs

 Madonna's corset