#some of them are meh but others i think look quite cute! imma check now the designs and see how far off i was

[searihart]

Milgram from memory

[a-super-evil-cat-who-murders]

I’ve been tagged to do a writing recap by @positivelyamazonian (and @luluvonv but I didn’t see that post nor the notification because tumblr hates me and suffering is the essence of my existence) Now, I’ve not read too much lately, as I’ve struggled find books that interest me, and because I just can’t focus on them, even ones I love)

BTW: imma go with past year as if I just did this year, I’d be limited to the Six of Crows duology.

Best book you read so far this year

I’d have to say The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. The final book in the original Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. This book was a ride. The tension of this book was so great I had to put it down every few minutes just to stave off an actual heart attack. I could feel my heart being crushed and torn inside me chest it was great. I was panting and hyperventilating the whole time, I’ve never had a book do that to me. Like, if you watch any of the battle episodes from Game of Thrones, the entire book is that and it is just marvelous. I knew that Percy and Annabeth and Grover would live, was pretty sure Nico would too, but the other campers I didn’t and when any of them died, and mind you all the campers are kids, Percy is like, 14 or 15 in this book, Luke Castellan was the oldest of all the campers and if I remember he was 23 in this book, the rest are children. And each time they died, and often in not pretty ways, my heart would just shatter for these poor innocent children. The plot is great so I won’t spoil any more of it, but yeah, best book I’ve read in the past year, probably the best I’ve read ever. If you read anything I write about in this post, read the first PJO series, because I cannot say enough how incredible this book is.

Worst book you read so far this year

Hhhmmmmm… I’d say The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I’d heard such good things about Sanderson but good gods did I not like this book. The biggest issue I had with it was a lack of quality time with any characters. The book opened with an assassin character, but I spent most of the chapter with him, trying to learn what the fuck he was talking about, what the names were tied to and how his magic worked. I didn’t start getting into him until the end of his chapter. But then, the next chapter is from a completely different characters perspective, in a completely different place at a completely different time. Now this new POV character, is like 15, a novice soldier on a battlefield, so I ofc feel sorry for him and want to hold him and protect him so OKAY! I have a character I can care about, great. Then the battle happens and it’s okay, tbh ASoIaF and TLO kinda ruined battles for me. Then the battle goes awful the kid gets injured, then the battle goes well, and he’s at a medical tent when a surprise army fall upon them. So now I’m thinking “Oh gosh, did he live?” but now we’re stuck with a person who I think was mentioned in the prev. chapter, but he’s a complete asshat so now I’m wondering if the one character I liked and cared about is alive. He died and so did my patience with this book. In A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Heroes of Olympus, Martin and Riordan introduced multiple POV characters at once by having them all in the same place. If you ask me, that’s how you should introduce multiple POV characters, because in that way, even if you only like one of the characters, you still get that character, just form someone else’s perspective. It keeps you from having to repeatedly shift gears, which is the last thing you want at the beginning of your novel if you ask me.

In addition, I had an issue with him using names or words without explaining the meaning of them. He’d talk about a certain ethnic group, and say they’re from this place, but then I’d look on his map, and find no such place. Then we only get a slight description, of their place in society, but I don’t know anything about that society, so that place is without a reference point. He also used the names “lighteye” and “darkeye” but didn’t explain upfront what those descriptors mean, so I’m sitting here trying to ask what that means, but not getting anything. However, they are clearly described as rather important traits in the story, but I don’t think you should introduce such consequential, important parts of your world, and then not explain them. At least, not without good reason.

Completed any series?

Yep, last fall I just slammed through Percy Jackson & the Olympians and its sequel series, The Heroes of Olympus, both by Rick Riordan again. I also read through in 2018 I believe, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology. Loved all three to death.

Anticipated read for the second half of the year? 

Nothing in particular. I checked out the first Mistborn book by Brandon Sanderson (hopefully it’s better the Way of Kings), I’ve also though about reading through some history books or something, to see if those catch my interest.

A book that disappointed you 

I’d say The Hidden Oracle, or just all of the Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan. I’ve only been able to read through The Hidden Oracle, and that was really just because of Nico and Will. Nico is easily my favorite book character (sorry to my former first place, Bran Stark) and his relationship with Will is so fucking cute and funny I just adore every second of it. However, making Apollo, the actual god, Apollo, the main character was a really stupid idea. The Olympians are by and large the most vain, sadistic, self-centered deities I’ve ever heard of, and making one of them his protagonist was just stupid; those aren’t likable traits, and a lot of the times, it seems like the inflated ego of Apollo is played more for laughs than as an actual character flaw. In addition the other main character, Meg, I find to also be rather annoying. A bratty little kid. No thanks.

I tried to read the second book, The Dark Prophecy, but I just couldn’t. The story left Camp Half-Blood, and thus, Nico and Will aren’t there. Instead we get Leo and Calypso. I never really cared for Calypso, and often found her just kind of meh... and since she hates Apollo, and the book is from Apollo’s perspective, she’s either mean and angry, or just really bland. Regarding Leo, I liked Leo, but, his character arc got resolved in The Blood of Olympus from the previous series (The Heroes of Olympus); he’s learned to fully accept his pyro-kinesis and to stop blaming himself for his mom’s death. Other than that however, Leo’s other defining characteristic is him being a joker. Constantly cracking jokes, and being an all around goofball, and a bit of a ladies boy, but all of that has been dulled quite a bit from the previous series. He’s grumpy, serious, and in a relationship with Calypso, and just lacking in the charm he had from the previous series.

I don’t know if I’ll just try and power through it in the future, because I’m sure Will and Nico will be back towards the end of the series, and because a... cataclysmic event happened in the latest book (the third i think) and... imma have to read that... but... I don’t know.

How many books for have read so far this year? 

???? IDK!?!? 13?

A book that made you laugh 

... Every book by Rick Riordan has made me laugh. Sometimes the normal wheezing i do, sometimes and actual guffaw, and sometimes I’m having to lie down and contain myself before I die from laughter.

Estimated read count for the year? 

Don’t know, don’t care, not like I’m getting paid for it.

Tagging: @inarticulatefox , with Navi gone, you’re the only person i know who likes books ( you do like ‘em right?) and hasn’t done this yet so yeh. I tag ye.

[ryryanfunko-blog]

“I GOTS DA GIFT!”: Marty McFly & DeLorean Funko Pop!

Obtained: Christmas 2014 Photos Posted On: Dec. 1, 2015

So this is the only Pop that I’ve got that came with another object, and I really liked it. I’d seen it on Hot Topic’s website and quickly noticed it cost somewhere like $23? or $25? Something like that. And again, at this time, I still wasn’t crazy about Funko Pops. But, I am a big Back to the Future fan. It’s definitely one of my favorite movies of all time. And I know, I know, there’s three of them. But I’ll group ‘em in all together as “a movie,” just for the sake of ranking favorite movies. Because frankly, my top favorite movies seem to be a line of movies with sequels. And I can’t really choose one over the other, because they all really stand well together (except, admittedly, I think Back to the Future III was meh). So, Inception’s my favorite movie of all time at this point, but some movies following that in no particular order are the Back to the Future movies, The Matrix movies, the Ocean’s trilogy, and more. 

Tangent again, but whatevs. So, I saw it on Hot Topic’s site, and I wasn’t that crazy for Funko Pops yet. So seeing a price tag of $23-25 for a toy? Didn’t make sense to me. So I passed. But anytime I’d be on a computer, I’d often find myself going back to HotTopic.com just to look at it, LMAO. And by now, I’ve come to realize, if I find myself re-checking some sort of product, it’s a sure sign I do want it, and if I can, I should probs get it. But I didn’t think like that at the time, so I’d online-window-shop it and then get back to my regular routine. But Christmas was nearing, and from my last funko blog post, you’d know I just bought a Frieza Pop to gift to my brother. Well, so, for Christmas, or any gift-giving occasion, my brother’s straight to the point and doesn’t like to play guessing games, and this is one of the things I like about him: he asks you straight up what you want. LMAO. I love it because for Christmas, my brother and sister are both like Santa Claus in a way. My sister really plays into it though. She literally comes over with SACKS of gifts. Multiple gifts. Not cheap little stocking stuffers. She buys multiple nice gifts and puts them in a sack, for each person. Thing is though, if I’m being honest, she often does get things she thinks may be cool or useful, but actually might not be. Again, it’s the thought that counts… But in that way, she’s like Santa Claus. My brother though, although he doesn’t gift with multiple items or huge sacks, he’ll accept lists from me, LOL. I’ll give him a list of things I want and he might get me one or two of them. But at least it’s a guarantee of what I actually want! So that’s always been cool. Oh, and when I said he doesn’t sack his gifts, I forgot to clarify that he doesn’t do anything to wrap or conceal them either. He just gives it to you straight in the store bag he bought it from, LOL. But whatevs, I gots da gift! Oh, and another thing; my sister, although it’s nice she sacks up a bunch of gifts, for a few years I’d send my Christmas list to my closest family members, to sort of make it easy for them like my brother; you know, take the guess work out of it. I’d try to be as polite as possible though, because it does feel strange to ASK for gifts, but I mean, if we’re being real, if we know the gifts are coming, wouldn’t we not want our money to go to waste and get something the other person may not even like? I’m all for playing it safe and being sure they’ll want and like the gift. But my sister made it clear she doesn’t like that I send out a list, and that it’s not my Birthday (ie: I shouldn’t get to choose). I get it. So she blatantly ignores my lists and gets me what she thinks I’ll like. And well, let’s just say that my closet can only fit so much… 

;-)

Another tangent. Weeeee! LOL. My bad. It ties in though. Read on, reader.

So anyway, Christmas was nearing and my brother asked for a list from me. I forget exactly what was on that list now… I vaguely recall some weight-lifting related item… maybe that was at the top of my list. I think it was some weight lifting gloves. Not sure though. There were some other stuff too, but I know the Marty McFly Funko Pop was included. And well, voila! My brother gifted me the Marty McFly Funko Pop!! From…??

(This is where you guess)

(Keep guessing)

(This isn’t where I do one of those annoying things people do in conversations and go, “Guess what? *they answer it without actually allowing you a chance to guess*)

(I’m actually gonna allow you a chance to guess)

(Okay, time’s up, over… blaow! snap back to… the future… – see what I did there? ;-)

(Major brownie points to whoever got those references)

(Yes, there were two references in that one line)

(BTW, screw brownie points. Like sorry brownies, imma let you finish, but Krispy Kreme donuts are the best sweets in the world)

(Cinnabons are close behind though, without a doubt)

HOT TOPIC! DOT COM! Yep, he ordered it from their site (I told him where he could get each gift, should he get them). But I knew he got it from HotTopic.com because, as usual, he did nothing to conceal it. He gave it to me inside the shipping box with invoice slip and all, LMAO. Oh!!! It’s coming back to me. He got me this pop, but also did get me weight lifting gloves! Sports Chalet!! But, he got the wrong size, and they didn’t have my size in stock, so he ended up just returning them, but that was totally fine. So yep, Christmas of 2014, we ended up exchanging Funko Pops, basically. LOL. I got him a Frieza and he got me a Marty McFly with his DeLorean. I ended up placing this awesome little dude and his whip on my TV counter with the other pops I had, right on top of the cable box. Soon, I’d move it over to the corner of my desk. It’s currently on the top of my Funko shelf case that I’ll most likely post online at some point. I’ve posted pics of it online at various moments, but the line-up always changes. :-)

So yeah, I was super stoked to get this Pop. Although I wasn’t crazy over Funko Pops quite yet, I’d been kinda side-eyeing them. In a curious way. One of the things that helped was that my co-worker Kasey displayed some out-of-box Funko Pops on his desk, one of which was his Deadpool Pop. Just seeing it at his desk every day kinda had me intrigued to their cute little designs. And so, any time I’d walk past a Hot Topic, I’d just look at the Pops, but not necessarily feel a desire to buy one. But every time I’d see the Marty McFly Pop on Hot Topic’s site, I always thought about how cool of an out-of-box Funko Pop it would be to have, since it was with the freaking DeLorean!! 

I just love the Back to the Future movies. The 2nd one is my favorite because of its futuristic elements. I loved the futuristic ideas they had; the self-lacing shoes, the hoverboard, the self-drying jacket, their fashion. I dunno, I dug it. It’s also pretty cool how some of those things are being attempted to be produced today. I’m kinda iffy on it because of how its being done. I mean first off, the self-tying shoes, Nike came out with some a few years ago. Except I heard they weren’t even self-lacing, they were just replicas. Meaning, they were just designed/modeled after the movie’s shoes. But it was still cool; they looked fresh. But, they were super limited and were only being sold on eBay, I think. But they sold for super insane amounts of money. So that wasn’t realistic to get. Then they made another attempt at it like last year in 2016, but I didn’t follow through with the news on it. Also like super limited/unattainable/crazy-expensive, so I didn’t care for it again. But then they were making another actual self-lacing shoe that was more affordable, but this thing looked ugly. Looked like a Skecher shoe with a nike swoosh on it. No offense to Skecher wearers. :-) And secondly, like seriously, hoverboards. We’ve got “hoverboards” today. I’m not sure why we call it that when they’re just segways without handlebars, which may or may not explode. *shrugs*

But anyway, yeah, I love the Back to the Future films, 3rd was meh, and 2nd was my fav. I forgot how I ever got introduced to the films. I think my dad introduced me to the movies… maybe he rented them on VHS? or perhaps we caught them on TV? I’m leaning towards VHS though. But anyway, I loved them so much that in my late high school years, or maybe even early college years, I’m not quite sure… but around that time, when I had some money of my own, I bought the trilogy on DVD. This is big for me, because I don’t like buying movies on DVD. I don’t like rewatching movies. It’s too much time to dedicate to watch something I’ve already seen and already know what’s gonna happen. And to pay to re-do something? Not my ideal spend of money. But, when it's a film I really enjoy? I’ll shell out some cash for it :-) So I got myself the trilogy and rewatched it in all of its glory. I remember back in the day too that my best friend at the time, Jason, would catch one of the movies on TV. We’d be on the phone together, and I’d put on my DVD and ask him where he’s at in the film, and I’d fast forward to that part and it’d be like we were watching together. Fun times. But now, I can’t actually find my trilogy of DVDs :’( (nor can I find Jason, LMAO, but that’s a whole other topic). If only this Funko Pop DeLorean could bring me back in time………. LOL, I was gonna make some cheesy joke about going back in time to find that DVD trilogy… But how much of a waste would that be? Imagine? Using some time travel machine just to find an old DVD set I had, when things like Biff as President and stupidvisors exist? Yeah, real smart use of time travel, Ry. :p

So as for the Funko photos themselves… The first photo with the newspaper was a photo I was stoked to take a pic of. Just archiving the fact I have these two things, is enough to encapsulate my fandom for the movie. I love the fact that USA Today came out with their own Back to the Future themed paper on the date that Marty travelled to the future. For one thing, that was massively creative, and perhaps took a lot of patience on USA Today’s part. Like, I wonder when they thought up to do this, and how long the company’s been waiting to publish it, LOL. And also, it finally put an end (?) to all those ridiculous memes that would pretend “oh, this is the day and year that Marty travelled into the future!” Like nope, nice try, clickbait. No really, nice try. A bunch of “fans” fell for it. But it was easy to tell when they were fake memes. The original Back to the Future setting takes place in 1985. That’s the starting point. Marty basically travels 30 years in either direction. Don’t @ me about the 3rd movie when he goes into the ol’ west, because I don’t care about that, and I’m like 95% certain 1985 is still a good reference point, because he probably ended up going back to 1885. So back to the meme. If he is only going 30 years in either direction, that means 2015 was the year of his travel into the future. BOOM. Case Closed. (Love that anime.) So the newspaper though, I wasn’t able to snag it the morning it came out for like a number of cents… or whatever newspapers cost these days. I had to order it online from USA Today’s website for like $4 D,: LOL. 

The second photo was just a standard pic to take in Marty and his whip, LOL. I love Funko’s mold of the DeLorean. It’s done perfectly, IMO. Just the right percentage of a used and dated look to it, but not overly raggy, which captures the essence the ride always had in the movies :’). Also, I love the irony of the car itself. It looks like a cheap hunk of metal. Like not high-class or sophisticated looking. But its function is quite the opposite and performs an action of only the highest of class and sophistication! The third pic, well, I was hoping to just snap a shot of Marty and the DeLorean in front of the DVD box I had… But alas, it was lost somewhere… in the past… so instead I grabbed some Calvin Klein tag laying around and just snuck it in as an Easter egg treat for any of those who really dig Back to the Future :-) And if you don’t know the reference, you’re not finding it here. Go watch the movie(s)!

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