The Pinterest Project M1: Glitter Striped Heart Sweatshirt

I have been so excited to start this project. If you have just found my blog and haven't read any other entries, The Pinterest Project is a year-long project that I started this year to tackle my ever-growing DIY board on Pinterest as well as finally indulge in a little bit of crafting, which I don't usually get the time to do. It's an ongoing joke for most of us who love Pinterest that many of the things we pin on the boards we don't end up actually doing, so I also wanted to try and kill that theory as it pertains to me. I've had Pinterest about as long as it's been around, and so far I think I've done maybe 3 things in total. lol Another ongoing joke is that the stuff on Pinterest is always so well-made, while any attempts to replicate it look like crap. I really hope that doesn't happen here. lol

Moving on, I chose this Glitter Striped Heart Sweatshirt from WobiSobi for this month's project. I chose this because firstly, the design is cute and I never would have imagined that it was as easy and affordable to make as it was. Secondly, I don't have many sweatshirts. I don't have any, now that I'm thinking about it. So this was also a practical decision with the colder weather. It was easy enough for me to do just starting out with this series of projects, so I said why not. 

Image from WobiSobi

You can click the link above if you want to check out the original project. I followed the instructions but added a few modifications of my own. Here's my finished sweatshirt:

Here's the sweatshirt, then the button cuffs and the button
closure on the shoulders.

As you can see, my finished product isn't just like the original project. I used a few less stripes in my heart and my heart is a bit smaller than the original. This is after a day's wear that it's shedding this bad so I strongly suggest a sealant or the loss of glitter will start removing the defined lines from the stripes. The first time that I did the project, I cut the collar a little too narrowly so I had to go back and widen it so that it would hang off the shoulder. The one-shouldered part of this sweater really makes a world of difference and it looked much better after I did that. Instead of using studs to close the seams like the original sweatshirt, I used red buttons. I cut off the cuff of the sleeves and rolled the arms up a little larger than the original project dictated although I might change that later, then I added a button to the top and bottom of each rolled-up cuff. The first day that I did the project didn't give me the end result that I wanted, so I gave it a little time and went back later, thickening the stripes on each layer of the heart and reinforcing the glitter so that the entire shape wasn't lost once the glitter began to shed. That made it much better and more prominent than when I initially finished, and now I'm quite pleased with it. It was extremely comfortable, it wears well either bare-shouldered or with a thin-strapped tank underneath, and keeping the original hem (I was going to cut it so it'd have a looser fit) kept me warm and looked better with my jeans than the way I was going to do it. My biggest complaint was that the glitter shed constantly. I'm going to have to go back and redo it at some point if I don't get a sealant.

Grade: C

I gave myself a C for this project, mainly because my heart didn't turn out the way it was supposed to and I had to make so many edits in order to be satisfied with it. The glitter didn't stay on too well until I sprayed some hairspray over it, but it would have stayed much better if I'd had a sealant specifically for that kind of stuff. It still shed glitter even after the hairspray got a lot of it to set, so when I wore it I left a trail of sparkles everywhere I went. lol

I recorded a video and wrote out the steps, but I didn't want to seem as if I was plagiarizing or anything, so I didn't upload it. Let me know if you'd prefer that I do that instead of just posting pictures of the end result in these next few projects to come.

And with that, the first month of the Pinterest Project comes to a close. I was really excited to do the project and while the coats of glitter were drying it looked like it was going to be the bomb dot com, the end result was definitely not what I'd expected. I was pretty disappointed in it at first, actually. lol I felt a little bit like a failure, since I'd picked this project due to its difficulty level and it still didn't turn out right at first. After I made my edits to the finished product, I was happier with it but meh. I still wish it had turned out a little better when I first did it.

Here's hoping I do better with next month's project! lol 

*On another note, I haven't been doing my job with the Instagram Photo Challenge, so I'll be starting fresh in February. I gave up on January on Day 6. LOL I'll be making a post about that in a couple of days, but I am going to resume my challenge starting in February.  

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Full Game Review: Dreamscapes: The Sandman

I just finished playing the PC puzzle game Dreamscapes: The Sandman, which is the first of a two-part game series. The first is about a girl named Laura, who spontaneously falls asleep during a recital and remains in a coma, where everyone gives up hope of her ever waking up. All except for an old doctor named Professor Sanders (the Colonel's grandson, perhaps? LOL Bad joke. I'm sorry.), who takes Laura into his chambers, where he tries everything he can to bring her out of her coma. The player comes in as a volunteer to help Sanders bring Laura out of the coma by entering her mind. While initially the focus of the game appears to be helping Laura wake up, it becomes evident that in order to do so, the player must discover and conquer the reason she fell into the coma in the first place. Puzzles and poor dialogue ensue as a larger story develops.

--The game is very interactive and has a number of locations per level that you can gather clues from. It isn't one of the games where most of the background is just scenery; just about everything in the scene is useful in some way. There were a few occasions on which you were able to move something and it ultimately did nothing other than to further the 'creepy' aspect of the game (i.e. moving lights, pushing the heavy hooks that hang down in garages, etc.) but for the most part, the environment was largely part of the game.

--There was an array of different puzzles and mini-games as you progressed throughout the story. I definitely did not get bored with the different types of games or feel like 'aw it's this kind of puzzle again?' unless I could tell that it was a type of game I wasn't good at. lol Many games with these puzzles as part of the story have similar set-ups so it's inevitable to come across certain types of games if you play this genre regularly, but while some games repeat a few of these games continuously throughout the story, this one does not.

--Each location that you unlock in the game is very different from the ones before and after it. In this game, there is an amusement park, a desert, and a haunted forest, just to name a few. While it may sound like these three locations have nothing to do with each other, in the end they do serve as a vehicle for the progression of the game and also provide for some variety so that you're not constantly searching and re-searching the same locations for different clues.

--Each puzzle involved was also a vehicle to your progression throughout this story. I find it confusing and sort of irritating when I come across games that have puzzles to help you get through the main storyline, then smaller puzzles on the side that don't have much of a purpose and don't help very much. It just seems like a waste of time to me. This game thankfully utilizes all of the puzzles.

--As with most pc games, when you start the game you get the option to either play in regular mode, with hints and tutorials throughout, or the expert level, with no hints or tutorials. I always play in regular mode because I'm a little too dense for the expert level on some of these things. lol In many of these games, you get a certain amount of hints and have to earn any extra amounts through the solving of future puzzles or one of the mini-games. In this game, you just have to wait until the hint button recharges, which doesn't take any longer than 7 seconds. You can use as many hints as you want throughout this game without repercussions, and you can skip some of the puzzles if necessary without any repercussions as well.

--The story ends, but on a cliffhanger for Part 2 of this game so if you liked Part 1 and what it had to offer, you'll be able to get to do it all over again when this story continues. The fact that a second part of the story is being created will explain why the end battle to this story is so anticlimactic.

--I liked the graphics in this game as well. Many of the locations revolve around some type of outdoor setting and I liked the attention that was paid to the little details in each location. I think the developers did a good job of making the scenery more realistic and catching those little bits in environments that we don't see every day.












--One of my biggest complaints with this game is the character narration and dialogue. Most of these games don't have Oscar-worthy plot, dialogue or narration. However, at least make the voices convincing. If you're in-game and find a frightened character, they shouldn't be smiling and their voices completely without fear. There should be some consistency with the narration and direction of the dialogue but instead it comes across as laughable. The villain's voice in this game pushes the normal campiness in these games to an over the top level, the voice overs are not always consistent with the subtitles and it isn't convincing at all.

--There isn't always a clear understanding of what to do in some of these locations. On some of the levels, there may be three places for you to explore and using a hint may point you in all of these directions, but the clues are sometimes very subtle and easy to miss; in many of these locations you have to build something in order to progress throughout the level, and the clues are scattered around the different areas. It's not always clear that you'll have to build something or what you may need, so it can sometimes become a lot of back and forth until you understand exactly what the goal is.

--If you don't understand what to do, you end up going through a lot of hints and those aren't always helpful because as I said above, a hint may point you in several directions at once if you're missing clues from all of those areas. It's confusing and if you haven't yet figured out which one to explore first, you waste a lot of hints...and time...trying to figure it out. The hints aren't always helpful if there are multiple things to do.

--You'll probably begin to piece things together at the beginning of the story if you're as suspicious as I am in these types of games, but if not then about halfway through you'll probably figure out who the villain is. It's rather predictable.

--There are these little eyeball looking bugs that you'll have to scout for in every scene. This is probably just a personal annoyance, but after awhile of looking through the different locations and trying to focus on the real point of the game, remembering to look for those bugs gets distracting. As far as I'm aware, other than unlocking a trophy when you find them all, they have no ultimate purpose so I don't see why they're there. It got annoying towards the end of the game. On another note though, the bugs are spying on you....I can't quite explain the comfort I felt when I found the last bug in a scene and knew I wasn't being watched anymore. Don't judge me.

Overall:

If you can overlook the cons (and none of them detract majorly from the game so I think you can), this is actually a pretty solid game. There is a lot of variety in the types of puzzles that you do, so you won't have to worry about the puzzles getting repetitive. There are also a lot of places to explore and after a level is completed, you won't have to revisit it. The attention to detail in the scenery and the graphics are also really nice to look at; they don't look cheap or poorly done. I like that as you're exploring what you think is the main point of the story, you realize that it goes a little deeper and you can continue to add on to that story as the game progresses. The concept of this being a hidden object game isn't done in the typical manner of getting scenes and 12 things to search for with the bonus object being something that helps you in the major storyline, but you do have to look for every object that you need and every object that you do find ends up being used to help you move forward in the story. I enjoyed this game.


Rating:

It's pretty good, but the cons keep me from rating it higher.


*Note: This game is much better if you're already a member of Club iWin. If you aren't, your gameplay will be incessantly interrupted every 5-7 minutes for ad breaks. It's extremely annoying. You've been warned.*

I hope you liked this review! I'm trying to learn how to make my reviews shorter while still being thorough and to the point. Let me know if you want me to include screenshots of gameplay in future posts. I've got a few more games to review this month that I've been checking out, I'll see if I can make them a little shorter.

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Subscription Box Series Month 1: Beauty Army

Welcome to my first post in the Subscription Box Series! For the first month in this project, I chose to go with the Beauty Army. I ordered the box back on the 27th of last month (I was in the process of cancelling my Birchbox so I figured I'd go on and pick my first box for the series while I was at it) and my confirmation email said that it would take around 10 business days to receive my box. I believe it shipped around New Year's and I received it on Monday.

One thing I really liked about this box was that I was allowed to select my 6 samples. After creating a beauty profile on the basics--my skin color, skin concerns, preferred makeup looks and the samples I would like to receive, I was taken to a page with 9 samples and asked to select up to 6. I wasn't crazy about the samples, but I believe I would have had to take another test to get different results. I wasn't trying to do all of that, so I just stuck with these 6. Here's what I chose:

I chose these because for me, these were the most practical. The other three were samples I'd never need and never use; these weren't exactly what I was expecting but at least I got to choose. Even though we're in the midst of winter, Texas (my city in particular, which I am close to believing is right on the tip of hell's balls) is still pretty sunny so I'm in need of another sunscreen; I've been out of my COOLA sample for months. I'm not in strong need of a face wash, but I don't mind trying out another one. I'm trying to be a little more fitness-friendly this year, so $25 of downloadable workouts seems feasible and I wonder how many workouts you can get for $25 these days. I don't do much right now other than walking a few times a week and the occasional game on Wii Sports, but my stamina sucks ass and I really want to improve it. I believe I've heard of English Laundry, but I want to try out a new fragrance. My current makeup remover wipes are A+, so this option was partially to see if there was anything better. Lastly, I picked the BH because it was the only real makeup product on the sample list and I've been wanting to try more of the California Collection anyway. I have the San Francisco palette, but the one I've really been wanting to try is the Malibu. Each one of these are things I haven't tried or heard of; I wish there had been a few more makeup options but I'm aight without them. So let's give 'em a whirl, shall we?

I ordered my box right in the midst of holiday madness, so it took me awhile longer to receive it than it probably would have had I ordered it at another time of the year. So this is what came in the box:

1. COTZ Sunscreen--Face for Natural Skin Tone SPF 40, $19.99
I was hot when I first saw this in the box. I could lose this in a clutch bag easy and in order to stretch it out, I have to use it very sparingly. I've never received a sample this small, so maybe I'm an asshole but that irritated the hell out of me. However, it's a wonderful product. It blends translucently just like it says, I love that it has a high SPF, and it feels like velvet on the skin. It smooths out the texture of my face, makes it feel a lot softer, and blends in really easily. At first when you're smoothing it out it feels a little like a dry mousse, but it still blends in really well. Despite the fact that the sample size is baby ant small, it's a great product. I would recommend still moisturizing your face before using this if you have dry skin though; I used it this morning without lotion underneath and I noticed that it showed the small dry patches on my cheeks so that's a no-go. Moisturize your face first for better results, especially if you have dry skin.

2. Menza Daily Face Wash, $40
First of all, this is a men's face wash. Why was a men's face wash in my recommended samples? Despite the benefits it boasted, it ended up being nothing special at all. It smelled like hospital soap, firstly. I know that usually face & body washes for men are typically cleaner in scent than face & body washes for women, but I know many men aren't trying to walk around smelling as sterile as a hospital lobby. It was off-putting for me. The instructions say to pour a small amount of the wash into your hands and rub into a thick lather before putting on your face, but no thick lather ever develops. I get more lather and bubbles out of my Dove bar than I did this wash. Not only was I disappointed to (finally) realize that this was a men's face wash, I was disappointed that it smelled too sterile, didn't really lather at all, and didn't make my face feel any different than a dollar store face wash.

3. $25 in iTrain downloadable workouts
I honestly think I might try to find a way to get more workouts on here after I go through my full $25. The workouts are structured in terms of the type of exercise you want to do as well as your exercise level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and even differ in workout times. I really like that there are options for someone who wants to dance for a few minutes and not put up too much of a sweat in the process. I always figured I was asking for too much. LOL All of the workouts that I've seen are under $9, a few that I've picked out are only 99 cents so that's great, and I've seen workouts listed that last for either 20 or 30 minutes. The options are pretty wide ranging and I think it would be easy for people to find something that will benefit them and their requirements for a good workout.

4. English Laundry No. 7 Fragrance, $90 for 3.4oz.
I feel like I've smelled this before. It reminds me a lot of the fragrance I got in last month's Birchbox. It has a strong fragrance, but it fades a little in intensity the longer you wear it. It's not really my go-to for preferred fragrance scents, but I like it. It's kind of tart but sweet and depending on how much you spray you can get about 2 good uses out of the sample. The top notes of the fragrance are listed as a combination of fruits like pear, melon and apricot with jasmine, and secondary floral and nutty notes. The base notes are sandalwood, vanilla and musk, which explains why it smells similar to last month's Birchbox fragrance. I'm not crazy about it, but the tartness stands up to the colder weather, the floral notes soften out the pear and balance out the vanilla, and it's a clean sort of smell, not heavy or stuffy at all. Unless you drown yourself in it, at which point it becomes a personal problem and not my fault. LOL

5. Every Beauty Cleansing & Makeup Remover Pads, $6.99
These pads are sorta cool in that they start out dry and feel thicker than the average makeup remover wipe, and when you wet them the properties activate and help remove your warpaint. It was hard for me to abandon my current makeup removers but I wanted to see how this worked by itself. The pads are pretty thick, which I like. I guess if I did have a complaint with my current makeup remover wipes, it would be that they're very soft but could stand to be just a tad thicker. These come in a stack of 5 little square pads that you can tear off and use as needed, so thankfully it's not just one or two large pads. They work really well without you needing to rub the skin roughly, which I liked, and my skin didn't feel as rough or turn as red as it does when I use makeup remover pads other than my regular. If I was coming home after a long day and didn't feel like bothering to go through my entire skincare procedure and just wanted to take off the warpaint, these would be good.

6. BH Cosmetics California Collection Sample Trio, $17.95 for the San Francisco Palette
This sample trio includes an eyeshadow from each of the three California palettes, one of which I already own. When I tried to swatch the colors on my hand though, I was rather disappointed in the purple and tan shades; the purple had no intensity and the tan was too close to my skintone to really show up. It came off as more of a sheer shimmery color on me than anything actually pigmented. The gold was beautiful though. The funny thing about that is that the gold is from the Malibu palette, which is the one I wanted the most. Maybe that's a sign?

Fave: iTrain Gift Certificate

I wasn't expecting to order a beauty box and get some workouts for my troubles. One of my many excuses for not working out on the regular is that I can't find anything that I feel I can do and have fun with, but this gift certificate effectively shut me up. It was easy to register, find a number of workouts that are moderately timed for my desired level of exercise, and wouldn't immediately use up my gift certificate. For someone who doesn't really care for exercise, I'm really surprised that this ended up being my favorite product in the box. 

Dud: Menza Face Wash/BH Cosmetics Trio

Funny note, when I was typing out the BH Cosmetics right now under the 'dud' category, I accidentally typed BS first instead LOL but then I realized that's how I actually felt about it. lol I was so excited to receive the trio because I love the company's eyeshadows and usually don't have too many problems getting a color to show up; they usually layer really well for me if I'm trying to increase the intensity. That wasn't the case with these, though, and two out of the three colors really disappointed me. The Menza was a dud on a few levels. No more to say about that.

Overall: I came into the Beauty Army subscription expecting a little more than what I got, but I did get out of here with some cool stuff that I hadn't gotten from Birchbox, which was one of the major things I had been looking to do. I didn't want to change subscription boxes only to be exposed to the same products and Beauty Army didn't disappoint me there. The COTZ was a completely new thing to me and gave me a good alternative to my COOLA sunscreen & moisturizer. I might actually end up working out a few times thanks to the iTrain gift card, and if I run out of Avon makeup remover wipes before I can get some more, the Every Beauty ones are a more than worthy substitute. I'm a little interested to see what I would have gotten for next month had I continued my subscription, but not enough to actually order the box. lol 

Rating:

Just average. Nothing special. 

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TV Review: Don't Trust Andrew Mayne

Image courtesy of Joke Productions

A&E's Don't Trust Andrew Mayne premiered tonight at 8MST, and up until about two days ago, I had no intention to watch it. I've been seeing trailers and promos for this show on A&E since the end of November, beginning of December, while I was watching Duck Dynasty. I'm not really one for illusionist and magic-based shows, so I wrote this off as a Criss Angel: Mindfreak kind of thing and never really paid any attention to anything but the name, which I found funny and wanted to find out exactly why he couldn't be trusted, but didn't want to know enough to watch. This past weekend, though, I saw the trailer again (yet again while I was watching Duck Dynasty lol) and finally watched it for real. I was intrigued when I realized what it was he was actually doing to people's belongings, and even though I'm an immediate skeptic and want to see where the trick was behind the stunts, I still found myself interested. So I decided to give the premiere a whirl. If you haven't gotten a chance to see the promos, here's one of the trailers:

The reason why this show is called "Don't Trust Andrew Mayne" is proven quite efficiently within the first 30 seconds of the program, then reinforced constantly for the other 29 minutes. He's an asshole and you can't trust him for shit. LOL Just within the first episode, he locked bike tires into bike racks, trapped people's id's behind fire alarm glass (then stole their wallets), and tricked others into thinking their money was counterfeit (and threatening to call the police on them afterward), just for funsies. The episode started out with him pranking strangers in public, stealing their phones through glass windows, on one occasion taking a photo of himself with the victim and her friend in the background, and another in which he stuck the phone down his pants. He stole another woman's sunglasses, borrowed a salt shaker from someone's table outside, and that wasn't even the major story of the episode. The person who actually called for Andrew's help is a woman whose husband refuses to stop riding his motorcycle despite signing a contract promising he would, and has even involved their two young daughters in the act. Andrew makes the guy's bike vanish, and because there are cameras around, you can clearly tell that the guy's struggling to hide his anger. Guy is livid when he realizes his bike is gone for good, and even more so when he sees his wife coming towards him afterward. Andrew knows it too, and gives him a hug, then tells him to let it out and that he'll never forget this day, because it's the last day he rode a motorcycle. lol So in addition to showing that he'd rather help create an awkward moment than deflate one, he's also an incredibly smart-mouthed dude, teasing one man about his fashion and zinging another about her hair earlier in the episode. It's hilarious.

The second episode, Andrew kicks things off by turning random people's phones into '80s versions of cell phones and even producing a couple of physical photos from pictures people had had saved into their newer models. He's clowning people here too; called one guy Al Franken and teased another lady about calling her now deceased cat with her now stuck-in-the-past cell phone. Did I mention that after he pranks these random people, he leaves them to their own devices....err, no pun intended.....to figure things out on their own? The next segment, he takes people's phones, this time in a grocery store, puts them in a Ziploc bag then in a paper bag, then smashes the bag so everyone can see that it's empty, only to turn around so the person can see their phone.....inside a jar of pickles.....in the middle jar at the bottom of a pickle pyramid display. Unfortunately, retrieving the phone usually makes the rest of the jars collapse, causing more commotion. And where's Andrew? Nowhere to be found. LOL He stops a young lady and asks to see her purse, citing recent thefts in the area, then makes the contents of her purse disappear save for a nail file. He then stops the next lady he sees, telling her she had 'a suspicious face' and took her purse, where the first victim's items were then found. He accuses her of stealing from the girl and walks away, leaving both women looking confused as all hell. In another segment, he stops a girl on her phone, then a young man who happens to walk by. Telling them both to write their names and numbers on a piece of paper, Andrew instructs them to fold the paper into quarters and place the papers in their mouths. He then holds up a small sheet of glass and asks them to kiss it, as if they were kissing each other, then pull away and remove the paper. When they show their papers to the camera, it is the other's name and number on the paper, not their own. As a little bonus, Andrew fogs up the glass and their initials are on it (they had not disclosed any of that beforehand). In what I am noticing is becoming custom, Andrew leaves the two to figure it out. Another girl has an e-reader and Andrew asks her to select a word from the page but not to tell him the word, then he turns the e-reader into a physical copy of the book and then shows her the word she had chosen, which was already circled on the page. The focus of this episode is on a girl whose boyfriend Giovanni is addicted to his phone. Andrew throws his phone into a toll booth (that was not there 30 seconds prior) and it is shown that dude's iPhone is now attached to the toll booth, where the phone receiver should be. Capitalizing on dude's fear of heights, Andrew then makes the booth levitate, tells the girlfriend to close her eyes, hold out her hand and visualize her boyfriend coming down, then leaves before she opens her eyes. The phone is restored to its former glory, and the now-'reformed' phone addict leaves hand in hand with his lady.

I don't have my typical list of good vs bad here, I'm just going to give my thoughts and my overall review.

Overall:

First things first, I'm a skeptic. Truth be told, I'm so skeptical that it gets on my own nerves. Strangely enough, I am a big fan of supernatural and paranormal things, but the concept of magicians and illusionists always makes me too curious. I risk spoiling the trick/illusion for myself because I become so interested in figuring out how it's done, and I stay looking for the trap door, the string, the hole in the plan. But then if I find it, I'll think the person isn't good at what he's doing. LOL However, if I cannot find it, I don't want to allow myself to be completely awed by it knowing that it's someone's intention to trick me into believing it's real. I end up being so skeptical because I know there's some mad science behind it that I can't enjoy it, but then if I know how it's done then the point of the illusion or trick is gone. Apparently, this complete contradiction is how I roll though, so I don't usually watch these kinds of shows. But I have to give it to this guy. He's freakin' awesome. The tricks I saw him performing today were tricks I haven't seen, seemed to be completely at random, and I really enjoyed how many segments were able to fit into one 30-minute program. It gave a lot of variety, maintained a fast-paced vibe throughout the show, and since each prank was different, gave me something else to gasp over. I also liked that you were invited and encouraged to contact him if there was someone you wanted to get a little revenge on; according to him he enjoys messing with people, so really it's a win-win if you get him to help you out. He's not trying to be nice and although it makes him look like an ass, I love it. LOL

I think the only thing I am still skeptical about is whether or not the people he stops at random are really random folks or if they're the typical moles to make the stunts more believable. In this day and age, it's quite obvious that very little is real anymore. I mean, seriously. Reality television, which was supposed to be the breaking of the 4th wall and allowing us to see real life (hence the word 'reality'), is even scripted now. The concept that reality tv of any kind will be even remotely real is quite laughable now. Reality tv to me has taken on a Truman Show-ish vibe, especially in recent years, so I think it's just become normal now to be skeptical about anything, especially something being shown on television. There's editing, there's special effects tricks, there's willing moles rather than random participants, there's additional takes. All of that is involved in reality tv. With that in mind, how much of anything is real? So if I did have anything to genuinely be skeptical of with this show, it would be the concept of whether or not the people being pranked were truly unaware of what was going on. From what I have seen, they really are. But I'm suspicious of everything.

But enough about that. Overall, I really liked this show. I think Andrew Mayne is incredibly talented, and for someone pulling off these illusions and tricks that look terribly hard to learn how to execute, not only does Andrew do each one with ease, he makes it look like fun in the process. Andrew knows how to work the camera and engage the viewing audience and while we're sort of being duped as well, we're not getting our stuff stolen in the interim. lol Even though he pulls asshole stunts, you can tell that he enjoys what he does and enjoys the reactions of others, which makes or breaks the overall joke by itself. If these really are random people, then that makes his talent level more apparent and makes the show more believable. Despite my skepticism, this show hooked me. I can't wait for next week. If you like magic-themed shows with a more realistic environment rather than a professional or glamorized stage or if you enjoy pranks being pulled on unsuspecting people for absolutely no reason, I think you'd enjoy yourself watching Don't Trust Andrew Mayne. The pace of the show is quick and styled in different segments that don't last too long, but provide some variety to keep you from getting bored. As the main storyline progresses, various prank segments keep you entertained, then the final trick of the episode ends the show, with a small follow-up segment on one of the people pranked earlier in the episode. I believe this is a show you can easily get hooked on, even if it's simply to find out what the hell else he does to these poor people he meets out in public. I'm not sure if these people in the episode's main story truly learn their lessons afterward, but even if they don't....it's still funny.

Rating:

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TV Review: Enlisted

Image courtesy of Fox

Enlisted is a new comedy that premiered last night on Fox. It stars Geoff Stults as Pete Hill, a 'supersoldier' who gets stationed in Afghanistan but after punching out a colonel, gets reassigned to the Rear Detachment Unit, aka the nesting ground for military flunk-outs, where his two younger brothers happen to be stationed at. He also gets assigned the task of finding a missing dog. The middle brother, Derrick (Chris Lowell), is the bitter and rebellious one of the bunch, while the youngest, Randy, (Parker Young) is so stupid that it really should be a crime. He idolizes Pete and I think really wants to be a good soldier, but because he's not all that bright Derrick usually has to babysit him. Upon Pete's arrival, he meets his platoon as well as Sgt. Perez, (Angelique Cabral), who is in charge of the other platoon on base. The RDU soldiers have an upcoming War Games and Pete tries to train them for that, but this platoon is awful. Worse than the guys in Dodgeball before Patches whipped them into shape. Pete's disappointment in not being at war and being relegated to the RDU comes off badly, and an LCD sign displaying "I don't want to be here" couldn't have vocalized his feelings or demeanor any louder. 

Image courtesy of Google +

This platoon is incredibly stupid. It's almost annoyingly so. Derrick was bitter and had a nasty disposition almost the entire time, and this finally comes to a head when he reveals that he resents Pete for not keeping in touch with them while he was at war. The next morning, Pete apologizes to his platoon and has a little heart-to-heart in which he acknowledges that the platoon is full of losers, but includes himself in there as well and motivates them to try their hardest in the upcoming War Games. At the beginning of the show, the dad is shown leaving to war and before he goes, he and the boys all put their hands on the other's head. It becomes a custom with them, as the pictures throughout the boys' lives show them doing the same thing. When Pete returns, however, Derrick's not having it. He won't let any of his brothers do it and he won't do it either. At the end of Pete's speech, however, he finally gives in and puts his hand on Randy's head, signaling that he's going to try. It becomes a platoon custom and the platoon goes in to the War Games, ready to win. They still suck, but they end up almost winning the War Games. Pete finds the dog just as they're about to win, and elects to retrieve the dog instead of win the games. He actually could have found it earlier, but wasn't paying attention. LOL After returning the dog to its owner, the brothers are applauded and get some off time to mud ski---skiing through the mud on cardboard slabs while being dragged by a tank--which is how the show ends. 

Image courtesy of Zap2It

As the show progresses, you can understand the brothers a little more. Well, two of them, anyway. Pete's not a screw-up, but he's got a chip on his shoulder about himself the size of Florida. This is especially evident when dealing with his platoon because he knows he's a better soldier than them and doesn't belong there. Derrick's bitterness is understandable, but I can easily see it being the down part of the show if it's not toned down. Not only is this not a drama series, it's only half an hour long. You don't want every scene with this guy to be some rebellious, withdrawn or angry interaction or it will bring down what could easily be a funny series. Because it's only half an hour those scenes stick out a lot more. Randy is....I don't know what Randy is. He's an idiot. He belongs in the Rear Detachment Unit. Putting this guy out in a real war situation would get him and the entire platoon killed on day one. The rest of the platoon is pretty much the same way. But I can see Pete trying to make it work. 

So per usual, here's the good: 

I was glad that they included some bits in there that happen to real military families because of war. Although I said I was a little tired of Derrick's disposition throughout most of the show, it was understandable. Many military families go through that, whether it be on the part of the soldier when their families don't write as often as expected, or on the part of the families when their overseas relative doesn't get in touch on a regular basis. Pete feeling like a failure for not being in war when his men are still there is also really realistic for soldiers who come home early and I like that that was included. 

I'm also glad that Pete got that chip on his shoulder in order before the end of the episode. Undoubtedly he's still going to be high on himself, probably more than he should be, but he's not running around like he's Mr. Cool at School anymore either. But the fact remains that he's there with the Army's answer to The Replacements because he screwed up, which makes him no better than them. It was good to see him finally understand that and try to make the best of the situation. 

I find Randy incredibly stupid, and I'm going to mention him again before the end of this review. But most of the comedic moments during the show involved him, so he gets a thumbs-up by himself. 

I like that there's a female in the midst who isn't dumb, and hopefully won't fall for Pete. I'd like if they became BFF's over time but I don't want them to fall in love. I want to know more of her story, she seems really competent and makes a good soldier, so why is she stuck with The Replacements? 

And here's the bad:

The general stupidity of Pete's new platoon is borderline annoying. Scratch the borderline. It is annoying. I refuse to believe that adults who were this surface level in mentality still got into the Army. I mean, seriously. There was no reason for them to be written that stupid and I didn't find it entertaining. 

Speaking of stupid, that brings me back to ol' Randy. He's like a 10-year-old mentally; how in this galaxy did he get in the Army? It has the potential to be funny, but it also has the potential to get and be really annoying after awhile if we never see any maturity from him. He's a grown man, not a child. I think the writers went a little overboard with making some of the characters unqualified for military careers. 

The entire storyline involving the dog was completely unnecessary. I get that it was partially to show how far Pete's fall from grace was, going from the thick of war to looking for a dog, and it was partially so that the "aww" moment at the end of the episode could happen, but ehh. I really wasn't interested in it at all.





Overall:

This show has potential. It's not innovative, ground-breaking or even gut-busting funny, but it's something light-hearted that will give you a break from the Scandals and True Detectives on the tube and maybe even teach you a little something about family in the process. It's good for a few chuckles, but it's not exactly memorable either; I already can't remember one line from the premiere and I just watched it. It's just okay to me. I would like to see some of these plots develop though, like what happened to the boys' parents and what Sgt. Perez's story is. If the writers tone down the naivety of the soldiers and allow them to progress in some way while still allowing for the moments that I'm sure are a large part of the comedy relief, I'm sure the show will be fine for a season or two. I honestly don't see it lasting longer than that, but I could watch it again. 

Rating:

....don't hate it, but I'm not crazy about it either. 

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TV Review: Web of Lies

This show premiered last night on the ID Channel. From the previews and first few minutes of the trailer, it looked like Catfish for adults with a fatal factor involved. People meet online lovers in person and realize that the person they came face-to-face with differed drastically from the person they had gotten to know (or fell in love with) online. I think that in today’s society, where online dating is no longer looked at as the desperate person’s playground, it is still important as ever to remember that you should be just as, if not more, cautious of the people you come across on these sites. There are never too many PSA-style warnings to give in situations like these, because even as the concept of ‘catfishing’ someone is becoming more commonplace, there are still many people out there who intentionally deceive others and use the Internet as their playground for indulging their psychopathic needs and desires.

The first episode features a Las Vegas realtor named Mary Kay, who turned to online dating after being tragically widowed. When she’s nearly at the point of giving up, she meets a man named Wade who appears to be what she needs in the fresh start department. At first, everything seems fine and he seems honest about his character and past experiences. He briefly touches on the most recent ex, who he neglects to mention looks eerily similar to Mary Kay in appearance, and simply says that their relationship ended badly, with restraining orders on both sides. The morning after this little confession, the red flags appear in quick fashion and Mary Kay breaks things off with Wade. He doesn’t forget about her, though, and breaks into her home three months later where he brutally stabs her 10 times, beats her viciously and leaves her for dead. She survives the murder attempt but is left with a brain injury and post-traumatic amnesia, leaving her unable to identify the person responsible for the attempt on her life. 

Wade returns to Anne, the ex he briefly mentioned to Mary Kay, who lives in Phoenix. He breaks into her home as well, where he murders her, steals her car and her boyfriend’s clothes/credit card and returns to Vegas, intent on finishing the job and killing Mary Kay. Fortunately, thanks to Anne’s boyfriend tracking the movements of his stolen credit card and the Phoenix police issuing a BOLO, Wade was arrested in Las Vegas. He confessed to both Mary Kay’s attack and Anne’s murder, where it comes out that he’d created a list of people to kill and had returned to Vegas with the intent of killing Mary Kay before getting to the other names on his list. He was also dealing with what I believe to be a psychotic break due to mental deterioration following a failed suicide attempt and unsuccessful treatment of bipolar disorder. After being convicted of attempted murder and getting the maximum sentence, he was then put on trial for the murder charge, but took the cowardly way out by suffocating himself in his cell.

I think that this show is going to do a lot by showing the extremely negative side of online interactions, not just dating. Now I’m not saying that it should scare you off entirely. I can’t say that; my last relationship was online and there was no deceit or anything like that on either side; we even lived together for almost a year. The only thing that the computer did was show us the other existed; our success….and later failure….as a couple was all on us. LOL I’m not in any way trashing online relationships because I still believe in the concept and in their success. But I do feel that it is important to show these potential conclusions to friendships or relationships started online because not only are they still very commonplace, they happen to even the most skeptical and cautious of us sometimes. Nobody is immune because the rub with online anything is that you can jump on a computer and create a profile, website, or whatever and become someone completely different. That’s half of the entire reason why half of us are here; to indulge in things we would not otherwise do, to become better or dream versions of ourselves. Catfish is the PG version of what happens when online dating goes wrong, but Web of Lies is the R-rated version, where you don’t always make it out alive and if you do, you’re damn grateful for it but your life has forever changed. 

This show does scare me a little, but it should. I spend a great deal of my time online and have done so consistently for nearly 9 years. Even for me, someone that has been around and on so many different websites, the lesson that I should never let my guard down is reinforced because of this show, which I do have to admit gets hard to remember when I’m alone and/or lonely. That lesson is especially true when someone with the gift of gab comes along and says everything you need to hear at a time you need to hear it. The thing is, how do you ever know who you’re speaking to? The exact same thing could happen with someone you met face-to-face. So with that being said, I think the larger more obvious lesson to be learned here is be careful. But when speaking in terms of online, you have to keep that radar up even more. You have no idea who you’re speaking to through that computer, where they’ve been or what they’re really about. Kids are online, entering situations like these in complete innocence and predators are capitalizing on that more now than ever.

I enjoyed this show and for it to air on the ID channel, where most of the victims’ stories are unfortunately told posthumously, I was really relieved and glad to see the victim telling this story herself. It’s very rare that ID actually features shows in which the victim makes it out alive, so maybe there will be more stories that end happily in the case of massive obstacles, like Mary Kay’s. 

This show comes on every Thursday at 8MST, and I recommend you watch it. 

p.s. Sorry for the long review!

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TV Preview: 2014 Midseason Premieres

Now that the holidays are over and everyone has come out of their Christmas/New Year's stupor, it's back to the grind per usual come Monday. If you're looking for something to watch now that holiday specials are over and Scandal's on hiatus until next month, midseason premieres begin on Tuesday. I was on PopSugar earlier and they had a list of all the shows about to premiere from January 7th on. I was debating whether or not to even post about it since PopSugar had already done so, but there are a few shows on that list that I was looking at and those are the ones I decided to post. I haven't seen the trailers yet, so I don't know anything about any of them except for what I read on PopSugar.

More than likely, I'll be doing reviews on these shows as well. I don't have the energy or memory to sit through another entire midseason and try to do reviews on every show when not all of them were up my alley. I fell asleep during half and forgot about another third of them, sooo in short the overall mission was a fail. This is one of the many reasons why I couldn't be a reviewer over an entire genre of something. I'd be fired with no severance pay. Anywho, if these shows below aren't really your style, check out the PopSugar link and you'll be able to see all of the midseason premieres. I didn't feel comfortable covering the same topic with the same links; just felt like plagiarism. And Homey don't play that, so go look at it on your own. LOL

Fox

Enlisted--Friday, January 10th

This comedy is about three brothers (Chris Lowell, Geoff Stults & Parker Young), all enlisted in the military, who goof off and cause trouble on their base. I just want to see if this is about three idiots who unintentionally cause trouble, or if it's just one and the other two get dragged into it. I also like seeing the lighter side of the military in tv. With heavier shows like Army Wives or JAG in the back of my head, the military is usually a very formal, very serious topic so to see a comedy with three brothers who get stationed together and get to raise some hell together could be funny.

Rake--Thursday, January 23rd

The primary reason I want to see this is because I'm wondering how Greg Kinnear will handle this main character's story. He's a DA with a messy personal life and a pesky little addiction to gambling to contend with, all of which I imagine will give him one hell of a memoir someday. I also want to see the approach to this storyline--is it more of a serious theme, is it lighthearted, a healthy mix of both? It could be any of the three and still go well, so I'd like to see which one the writers chose.

ABC


Resurrection--Sunday, March 9th

This show sounds a little like Ghost Whisperer, only without Melinda or Aiden. lol Apparently, the citizens of a small town in Missouri who have died begin to show up alive again, starting out with an 8 year old who recently died. I'm sort of disturbed by this, but I'm also really intrigued. How did these people die and why are they coming back? Is there something dark at play here summoning them back, is it simply their ghosts or their actual bodies returning as though they had never died? I think those questions make me the most curious about this show, because there's so many places that a plot like this can go. Kurtwood Smith and Omar Epps star in this show, presumably of citizens of the town, but I don't know whether they're alive or not. lol

Mind Games--Tuesday, March 11th

I'm partially watching this because I've been waiting to see Steve Zahn in something I really enjoyed since I first saw him in Speak, and also partially because I really want Christian Slater to find a successful show on tv. lol I wouldn't normally put these two together at all, which in essence is one of the drawing points of the show. I'm also fairly curious about this whole "psychological manipulators for hire" concept. Zahn and Slater play two brothers, each with his own set of skills and questionable history, who come together and decide to pull together a team that will provide the above concept to clients or targets.

HBO

True Detective--Sunday, January 12th

Matthew McConaughey (in a move that kind of surprised me) and Woody Harrelson play a team of detectives on this upcoming series who are going over a particular case they were on 17 years prior that shook and traumatized them both. As they chronicle the case, we'll get to see it unfold. I'm a big Investigation Discovery fan, so I usually watch shows similar to what this show will be about. I'm interested in the whole kit and caboodle, and I like both actors. I wonder how well they'll mesh together in something that requires a strong camaraderie, especially for a case that is as intense as this one must be. 

Those are about all of the shows that I can say I genuinely am intrigued to see; there aren't too many but that's okay with me. There are a couple that are 'maybe baby' status for me, which I'll put below. I call them 'maybe babies' because I could watch them, but I could probably do without them as well and be just fine. The concept of the show either doesn't sound like it would make it past the first season or I'm just not interested enough to spend an hour watching it. I also call them 'maybe babies' because why not. I like saying it. lol

Fox

Gang Related--premiere date not listed

This show centers around a gang unit in the LAPD whose hands are full tracking and bringing down the city's most dangerous gangs, but the rub is that one of the gang unit members has personal ties to one of the gangs. Are they a former member, maybe a close relative is mixed up in one of the gangs? This show has Ramon Rodriguez and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan at the forefront, so I wonder who's tied into the gang scene. It sounds like it has potential, but I'm not sure about it yet. Burnside seemed like it had potential too but you see what happened to that. So the jury's still out for me on this one.

The CW

Star-Crossed--Monday, February 17th

Another show to line to the CW's seemingly narrow range of programming, Star-Crossed is about two lovers (Aimee Teegarten and Matt Lanter) caught up in the dangerous and unaccepting environment around them. The female protagonist is a human, while her love is an alien of sorts and humans are not rolling out the welcome wagon for them. I love me a good love story, and I understand the appeal of shows with a Romeo & Juliet variation of some kind, but in recent years it's really gotten overdone, especially on the supernatural level. I guess I can thank The Twilight Saga for a lot of that. I'll thank 'em for that one, I'm a Twihard fo life. LOL But back on topic, because I'm kind of over the concept I don't know if I'll watch the show. However, I do want to know more about this alien race that ol' boy is part of. I do wonder a little about the backstory.

So those are the shows I'm looking at and on the fence about for this upcoming midseason. I don't watch a lot of current television; other than my cooking shows and a couple of dramas (all of which are either off-season or on hiatus of some kind) I don't watch much current tv. My DVR is full of shows and movies in syndication that I recorded because I can't find them on DVD. lmao I'm trying to get a little more into tv this year, so for once I paid attention to upcoming shows and decided to give them a go. I'll post reviews as the shows premiere!


*What, if any, midseason shows are you looking forward to watching? Any that you're on the fence about?*

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TV Review: The Kitchen

The Kitchen is an hour-long talk show that premiered this morning on the Food Network. I can't say I was waiting with baited breath for the premiere once I found out that FN would be cutting yet another hour of the ever-dwindling time allotted to instructionals in order to air the show, but I decided to see what it was all about. I also wanted to see if this was simply FN's take on something like The Chew, and apparently that's exactly what it is. It was chuckle-worthy considering that Mario Batali's a host for the latter. The show's hosts are Sunny Anderson (who's been hiding out in the FN attic for awhile), Marcela Valledolid (who's been in there for a minute as well), Geoffrey Zakarian, Katie Lee and Jeff Mauro.

Image courtesy of Food Network

The first segment of the show saw Katie and Geoffrey making kale and eggs, while the other three watched and were asked their opinions on current food trends. The next segment had Marcela helping Jeff make his Chicago-style gumbo, and after that break the hosts got to try out a few new kitchen accessories. They sampled about 3 kitchenware accessories by splitting up into teams and making it a contest, then deciding whether or not they'd use it in their home kitchens. Geoffrey and Katie returned for the next recipe, which used pre-cooked food at the supermarket (in this case, the whole rotisserie chickens) in order to make weeknight cooking easier. The hosts gave their shopping and money saving tips, then Sunny made a fake crepes dessert, and the final recipe was for champagne cocktails by Geoffrey, or GZ as he's been nicknamed on the show. The show wrapped with the hosts enjoying their cocktails in a cozier living room-type set, talking about the food trends that they were into and disliked.


Here's the good:


The hosts do seem energetic during each segment; they don't appear to dislike each other and they don't appear disinterested in what is being said. They are all involved and I like a lot that they take turns throughout the show, allowing each chef to have their time to be featured. I also like that everyone's opinions are asked on various things throughout the show; many home viewers wonder how chefs shop and what they do to save money so I think they were pretty relevant questions. I appreciate the laidback format to the show; the concept nor the show's hosts take themselves too seriously and I liked that a lot.

The part of the show that I actually liked the most was when they were trying out the different kitchenware accessories. Usually talk shows that involve food will mention different food products that are new on the market, but you have no idea how they work and usually neither does the host. The method that was employed on The Kitchen not only allowed home viewers to see how the product is used which will help you decide whether or not you should buy it, then the chef using it is asked whether or not they would purchase it, which also helps you to decide. Making a contest out of using the products was a good idea.

I like that the panel of hosts was relevant to food; I hate when shows have hosts or judges on it that aren't really involved with the industry. The only one I wasn't overly familiar with was Katie Lee, but I remember hearing something about her releasing a cookbook and after a little research, found that she's an industry foodie of sorts. Okay, so she's no Iron Chef. But she's been involved with food in some way since 2006, so I'll take it. Three of the hosts have or have had shows on FN, and from what I read apparently Zakarian is now an Iron Chef. I'd heard of him way before now, I just wasn't sure what his role in the industry was exactly. Regardless, all of the hosts are currently involved with food in some way, so I trust that their opinions are both knowledgeable and relevant because of their different career paths and experience levels.



Another thing that I liked was the variety that the show did have; the Instagram portion was a little ehh but I could tell that they were trying to mix it up a bit and it showed how much they could tell about someone by their Instagram photos. There was a lot of laughing and I enjoyed that. I'm not a big fan of the talk show genre as a whole (not since the '90s, where Ricki Lake and Jenny Jones reigned supreme LOL) anyway, but I have noticed that I don't much care for the shows that take themselves too seriously and there isn't much laughing. This thankfully wasn't one of those shows, so I liked seeing that the hosts were enjoying themselves and trying to make sure it was an enjoyable experience for all.

Now here's the bad:

This could be because it was just the first episode, but it looks a little like the hosts haven't quite found their stride as a group yet, so the chemistry was a little off. It looks like they'd probably enjoy each other's company in their time off, but in a more formal environment they're not really meshing as much yet. But again, this was just the first episode. That has room for improvement.





That lack of cohesion was painfully evident in the constant yelling over each other that everyone was doing throughout the show. They weren't sure when the others were going to talk, so they started talking. Unfortunately, it seemed as though most of them had that thought, so a large part of the segments consisted of the hosts yelling over each other to be heard. It was kind of annoying, to tell the truth. But that could just be me; I don't care for the overyelling in conversation anyway. It's one of my biggest pet peeves and I have little to no patience for it.



One thing that I noticed that drove me up the wall is Jeff's dominating of conversation. During both his cooking and refereeing segment (for the contests) he talked so much, so loudly, that it didn't really give the others a chance to say what they wanted to say a little more quietly. He stood directly in the middle, kind of in the way, and yelled over everybody during the contests. I saw when one of them was about to say something and he'd start yelling over them. I can't even remember what he was saying any of those times, which shows me how significant what he was saying really was. He came off a little try-hardish to me. Maybe he's just a loud talker? I don't know.



I wasn't overly crazy with the constant barbs being thrown at Sunny for winning something--Jeff had to have mentioned that he'd lost to Sunny about 3 times during his cooking segment alone (which didn't last any longer than about 10 minutes)--but at the same time she's also a pretty bad winner, which she showed during the contest segment, so I guess that brings it to about even. A humble winner she is not. lol I still wouldn't want to hear either the bragging or the whining every single week.




Finally, the little nod to Iron Chef with Zakarian trying to show off and open that bottle of wine was a touch lame to me. lol Color me an asshole, but I just didn't think it was necessary. He opened that first bottle in such a classy way, which I thought was a good way to end the show, but then spoiled it by exploding the second bottle all over himself. I am not sure if it was intentional or not, but meh. My life was better without it. lol


Overall:

Overall, this show does have some potential. The hosts are energetic, relevant to the type of show they're hosting, and look happy to be there. They look like they're having fun. They've come up with a pretty innovative way to try out new products, so I hope that segment of the show continues. I also like that the opinions of all are asked on different food-related topics throughout the show; it allows the focus to shift a little to the hosts while keeping food as the contract player of the show which is very important. I don't like when there's supposed to be a specific focus to a show but distraction continues to take said focus away.

The chemistry is probably my primary complaint with the show because it is from that lack of said chemistry that everyone compensates by overyelling each other and cracking corny jokes. The constant yelling is distracting and it gets hard to focus on what's actually being done because you're trying to figure out who's talking and listen to what they're attempting to say. The recipes were rather random; I would never eat Chicago-style gumbo after eating kale and eggs. I guess there doesn't have to be a theme to the recipes they feature per show, but ehh. It didn't seem to flow to me. Jeff needs to take it down a few notches; 1-the others are not guest hosts on Sandwich King so be quiet just a little bit, and 2-they're indoors. I know everyone learned the 'indoors voice' lesson in kindergarten. There's no need for him, or any of the others, to shout for the entire hour. Take turns, kids.

So at the end of the day, would I watch this again? Sure, if only to see if there's been any improvement. Some shows roll out their very best for the premiere to draw in viewers, only to monumentally drop the ball in all subsequent episodes. So hopefully it'll be better next week. The jury's still out on this show for me, but I didn't hate it.

The Kitchen comes on every Saturday morning on Food Network at 11/10 EST.

*Did you watch the first episode of The Kitchen yesterday? If you did, what'd you think? Will you be watching again?*

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