Snowed in with the Nintendo Labo and the 90th Oscar Nominations

Hey there everyone! Welcome back to the blog! You’re probably wondering where I was last week. Well between getting the flu and getting snowed in I really couldn’t muster a blog last week. Yeah the flu is gone thank goodness and I think we’ve thawed out enough now so I'm back for the second blog of the year!

As much as I love snow this year’s snow really sent a shock through my system, simply enough because of how rare snow is where I live. It’s been about 3 years since the last snow storm that actually stuck to the ground and this one really impacted us. Frozen roads, frozen CARS, we had the works out here and while you readers up north are used to this every winter I guess I and everyone else in my area weren’t prepared for the sudden winter wonderland.

On the other hand the snow looked absolutely gorgeous I can't express how nostalgic and awesome snow is to me and it’s definitely a treat to get some after years of no snow. Sucks that as an adult snow becomes a nuisance but it’ll always have a soft but cold part in my heart.

Here's a photo of our four day winter wonderland below.

My awesome sister has been more consistent with her blog and has already posted a blog in the last week with some incredible photographs of our rare local snow. What's better then snow? My sister taking some stunning photographs of life in the snow. You can check out this blog at: http://ladyannavintage.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-snowy-day-of-year.html

On to the main topic for today…

Well some of you may already be aware of a certain new series of add-ons from Nintendo for their new console the Nintendo Switch. These add-ons are part of a series Nintendo is dubbing the “Nintendo Labo” series.

What is the Nintendo Labo you ask? Well it's made of a familiar material that every human on earth knows very well, a certain material by the name of cardboard. I kid you not Nintendo’s newest add-on for the Nintendo Switch is cardboard. Not just any cardboard however this new series is a series of cardboard sets that you purchase and build into different and unique add-ons for your Nintendo Switch screen and Joy-Cons such as a piano, a robot and even a fishing pole. Nintendo has a pretty big history of wacky add-ons but this one takes the cake. This cardboard actually interacts with the Nintendo Switch for a variety of games and game modes that while of course being cardboard seems like a pretty cool idea. So to help better explain this new product let’s check out this latest video from Nintendo showcasing this new series of add-ons.

Admittedly I wasn't to sure what to make of this concept at first but on closer inspection it does seem like a pretty innovative idea. Nintendo will be putting out two sets the first being a Variety set which will include, well, a variety of building sets as well as the software for interacting with your cardboard creations. The second is a Robot Set which includes the building materials for a robot suit for playing a game that looks like the finalized project of that Project Giant a Robot game we saw Mr. Miyamoto demoing way back during E3 2015. Funny though considering Nintendo scrapped that project, I guess they reused ideas from that for this Nintendo Labo set.

It seems you’ll be able to differ slightly from the original instructions for some customization as well as decorate your Nintendo Labo with a decorative set sold separately, or you know just use your own art supplies if you got them.

The Nintendo Labo while seeming interesting I'm pondering how sturdy this cardboard really is. Just how easy will it be to mess up the materials? That's a 70-90 dollar risk I'm not sure many will be willing to take, possibly reducing this product to a small niche base. The Variety set is releasing at $69.99 while the Robot set is releasing at $79.99 which seems pricey despite the sets including software. Also will this cardboard be compatible with any of Nintendo’s other releases similar to Amiibo?

I can see problems with this but it's an interesting concept so perhaps it’ll kick off. I don't think i’ll be joining the masses however. These sets will be releasing April 20th, 2018. Read more at Nintendo's official Nintendo Labo website: https://labo.nintendo.com/

So switching over to movies, it’s that time of the year again, Oscar time!

This is the time of year where the best of the best in movies come together to award those movies that made an impact on us all. Now I have to admit the Oscars have gotten a little too political for my liking and I wish they would focus more on the art of film instead of said politics but it's always nice to go over the nomination list and see who made it where.

Like last year I can't cover the whole lot so I’ll be highlighting a few of my favorite categories/movies that have caught my eye and I’ll link the complete list below.

First up is my favorite category, Visual Effects. Special Effects (Effects done in real life) and Visual Effects (Computer generated) are always fun when it comes to movies and this year’s list has a lot of triple A production movies. Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Kong: Skull Island, War for the Planet of the Apes and Blade Runner 2049 all are in the running for the title of best visual effects this year. Honestly I kind of want Guardians to win, I recently got to watch that movie finally and I was absolutely taken back by the colorful visual effects done in this movie. (I owe you guys a review of that movie.) I know people are probably rooting for Blade Runner but I didn’t like the original Blade Runner and I don’t think too much of this flick, so I’m biased towards Guardians. (Haven’t seen the other movies on the list, yet.)

Can’t have Visual Effects without editing, right? Well I haven’t seen any of the movies nominated for Film Editing but the movies are of the following: Dunkirk, Baby Driver, The Shape of Water, I Tonya and Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. I’m actually only aware of The Shape of Water and Dunkirk but I’m wondering whether The Shape of Water might take the cake, seems like a nicely edited movie but I haven’t seen it yet.

Animated movies, I adored them as a kid and till this day I still love my animated movies. They allow for so much more imagination then a live action film and if done right animation can be extremely inspiring and beautifully flowing. Well this year’s list is filled with some good animations which are of the following: Boss Baby, The Breadwinner, Coco, Ferdinand and Loving Vincent. Okay so I don’t know why Boss Baby is on here, I guess it’s an okay movie but the rest of these movies are pretty strong competitors. Coco has that Pixar and Disney edge of course but it is one of Pixar’s most unique movies but the movie I’m rooting for is the movie that probably won’t even get an eyelash batted at it. Loving Vincent is an incredible film starring Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan Mactaggart. What makes this film incredible? Notice the animation? Yes every single frame in this movie is hand painted using oil paints, a favorite medium of Vincent Van Goth who this movie is all about, telling the story of the man’s life. This movie is an absolutely masterpiece and so much love and effort put into every little frame. Who would of known oil paintings would make such a beautiful animated film. So yes this is the movie I’m rooting for, but I know that Boss Baby (Why?), Coco or Ferdinand are probably going to take this category.

Finally the Best Picture Category, the best of the best of 2017 (According to the Academy) are filling up this list. Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri fill this year’s list. I’ve not actually seen any of these movies but it’s going to be a tough one this year. Darkest Hour seems like a great film with Gary Oldman (Who’s nominated for best Actor) playing Winston Churchill during England’s Darkest Times of the modern age. (I’m not sure how they made him look like Winston, but they pulled it off.) Lady Bird is a strong contender as well with its strong story and good acting. Really I can’t choose a favorite out of this list as I haven’t gotten around to seeing any of these movies but we’ll just have to see who takes home the gold when the 90^th Academy Awards (Pretty big anniversary might I add) airs Sunday March 4^th at 8 eastern/7 central/5 pacific USA time on ABC. (Check your local listings.) Jimmy Kimmel will host and while I’m not the biggest Kimmel fan I think he’ll do alright as long as he doesn’t go over the top with the politics and offensive jokes. 

You can check out the full nomination list right here from the official Oscars website: http://oscar.go.com/nominees

With that said and done I’m going to wrap up for the day, hope you all enjoyed the read. I’ll be back next week with the hopes of consistent blogs again. Really sorry about  the lack of blogs for the past two weeks but between getting sick, schedule issues and getting snowed in everything kind of fell apart. Regardless I still love writing this blog for you guys and hope you guys enjoy reading so until next time.

This was ZAK Entertainment.

Never rub another man’s rhubarb.

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2018 and a Sundance Film Festival Reveal

Lights, Camera, Action! We’re now two weeks into 2018! Welcome back to the blog everyone, how was your first week in this New Year? Mine? Well I got sick and I’m still pretty sick thus why this blog is going up a few days later this week. Sorry for this but I can’t help it, it seems everyone is sick this past week.

Last week I looked back on what I got for Christmas 2017 but this week I'm looking forward to what's to come in 2018, more importantly movies. I mean my blog logo is a movie camera and film is one of my primary topics so it’s only natural, right? 2018’s lineup of movie releases is going to be quite incredible so I’m listing the movies that have caught my eye in this article.

This first movie is related to the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. Founded in 1978 the Sundance Film Festival as long served as promote the American independent Film industry, giving independent filmmakers a gateway to get their creation out into the world. This year’s lineup is going to lead to some tough choices for the jury and out of all these films I have to highlight just one movie, one that I have struggled to keep quiet about for the past few years, Jennifer Fox’s “The Tale”.

You’re probably asking yourself “Why is he only highlighting this movie?” well before a I disclose that let's discuss what this movie is about. Starring Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Ritter (Y’know, Dipper, from Gravity Falls), Elizabeth Debicki and the late John Heard “The Tale” tells the story of a famous globetrotting journalist named Jennifer (Laura Dern) who is forced to relive a tale of her 13 year old self after her mother uncovers a story she wrote about herself and two coaches. Her 13-year-old self surfaces throughout the movie (Played by Isabelle Nelisse) to tell her side of the story, a side that shatters Jennifer’s memory of what she thought she knew about herself and her past.

That’s pretty much all I can disclose on this movie (For now). Well except for one more tiny detail. See this movie has one more actor I haven’t listed yet and this actor is none other than... Me.

No, I'm not lying. I was apart of the actor crew for certain scenes in this movie as it filmed in an area nearby where I live. (I have actual proof if you guys are in disbelief.) This is that “secret” project I mentioned almost a year ago now. I’ve been waiting patiently for this movie to surface finally and it's great to see 2018 will be its debut year here in America; I'm actually disappointed I won't be able to see it at the festival in Salt Lake Utah. This movie I can say will be a must watch this year and not just because I'm in it. Of course I'm not in a leading role or anything (I’m working on that, travel is my main reason for delays on my acting to be honest) but I think I made quite the impact.

Even better then the movie itself is the amazing and talented crew that accompanied this movie, I absolutely adored working alongside the likes of Laura Dern and Elizabeth Debicki as well as the other cast mates I met throughout production and I can't be more thankful for getting to be a part of this flick. I can't release your names but if you know who I am drop a hello my way! Miss you guys. This movie actually inspired me to get more involved in the movie industry and I probably can say inspired the creation of this blog. The Sundance Film Festival begins January 19th and runs until the 29th with this movie premiering on the 20th! Check out more about this movie at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4015500/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 and http://www.aluminousmindproduction.com/upcoming-fiction/the-tale/

So yeah this movie is definitely my pick for the movie to get excited for in January but for those looking for more of a dystopian Sci-Fi Mystery movie get ready for the final Maze Runner movie  “The Death Cure”.

Admittedly I have never seen a Maze Runner movie nor read any of the books (Written by James Dashner) and while I should most likely get on top of that this new movie wraps up the Maze Runner Trilogy that began with the release of “The Maze Runner” in 2014. I rather not discuss this movie for the sake of not spoiling myself but you can catch this Maze Runner finale which is directed by Wes Ball and starring Dylan O’Brien in theatres January 26th.

February is actually going to be the home for quite a few good flicks, one of which is Marvel’s Black Panther.

I’ve discussed the recently trailer for this movie I believe back in November and I had mentioned how I was intrigued by the futuristic Sci-Fi aspects being added to the African culture prominent in the movie. Starring Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa the movie takes place after the events of Captain America: Civil War of which the former movie showed T’Challa as he took on the mantle of Black Panther to avenge his father’s death. (Thanks Zemo.). Now in this new flick he’s head back home to Wakandan as the new King. Wakandan also just so happens to be the home for the rarest metal in the world, Vibranium which is what Captain America’s shield is made out of as well as Vision, Ultron and Black Panther’s suit. Honestly Black Panther is the only one who really deserves to use the metal considering how everyone else stole their Vibranium from Wakandan.

Anyway this movie will be releasing February 16^th, 2018 in Theatres!

After this movie the Marvel movie everyone has been waiting a long time for is finally here. It’s the big one, “Avengers: Infinity War”!

This is part 2 of a two 2 Avengers movie spectacular but with the Avengers estranged how will they stand up to Thanos (Josh Bolin), the most threatening villain to grace the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his presence.

With the Infinity Glove in his grasp (Get it?) Thanos will tear apart the universe if the Avengers and a plethora of other heroes don’t come together to stop him. “Avengers: Infinity War” is going to feature an incredible amount of heroes such as The Guardians of The Galaxy, Spider-Man, Wakandan’s Forces and the Avengers themselves. Basically everyone we’ve seen in the MCU so far should feature in this movie and Avengers 4. I’m not sure if the MCU Netflix heroes will make neither an appearance nor the Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D and Nick Fury isn’t going to show up either but this will be an amazing Superhero gathering regardless. Only question is, will the Avengers survive against a one man army? The entire MCU has led to this moment and I’m absolutely excited for this movie so let’s get ready for this movie when it releases May 4^th, 2018! The wait will be worth it.

We’re actually going back a few months to March!

Spring time is usually when some of the big movies spring onto the silver screen. March is definitely going be a massive month for movies and funny enough a majority of the movies I discussed last year are coming out this month such as the rebooted version of Tomb Raider!

I discussed the trailer for this movie a while back and I have to admit this really interested me a lot. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Angelina Jolie movies (Forgive me) but this movie is based on the recent Video Game reboot, which took Lara Croft back to her roots with a refreshing recoating of her character.

This movie looks to be taking Lara Croft down a similar path although the storyline is looking different from the recent rebooted games. Lara, played by the awesome Alicia Vikander, has now turned 21 and without any real direction in life Lara is living as a bike courier in East London with money scarce and a reputation of missing her college classes often. 

Of course all that turns upside down when she discovers a hint towards her father’s last known destination before he permanently disappeared on an island possibly off the coast of Japan. Lara Croft, unable to accept her father is gone leaves to seek out this island and the fabled tomb left only to myths and rumors. The bar has raised high for Lara in this high action, thrilling and awesome looking movie that looks to blow away the original Lara Croft movies and games. Roar Uthaug (A relatively new Director) and his crew seem to be doing great on this movie with Evan Daughetry (Divergent) /Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Will be screenwriting Captain Marvel!) screenwriting.

This movie will be raiding the theatres March 16^th!

Come June we got The Incredibles 2! We’ve been waiting a long time for this movie so it’s awesome to see 2018 will house this incredible sequel to a Pixar classic. We haven’t seen too much of this movie and to be honest? We don’t need to see much, we’re going to see this movie with or without trailers. I can’t wait to see what the Incredibles family take on (Other than the Undertaker) and to see what Jak-Jak has up his sleeve regarding his powers, this animated flick will be storming into theatres June 15th! (Yes Samuel L. Jackson is returning as Frozone.)

Okay so a trailer dropped last month for a certain Alita Battle Angel movie and I think I fell in love with this upcoming movie.

While some seem to be put off by the eyes I think this movie might be one of James Cameron’s best (I mean it’s been a movie he wanted to make for decades now). Set in a post-apocalyptic 26^th Century “Alita” (Rose Salazar… Not to be confused with that creepy Spanish Pirate guy) is found by a scientist and repaired. She discovers she has a knack for fighting which sets along the events of the movie, allowing her to discover she has the power to protect everything she’s grown to love since being revived. This movie is based on a popular Japanese manga series by Japanese Artist Kishiro and while it’s had anime OVAs made of it in the past this will be the full fledged adaption of this manga. 

Hands down I’m psyched for this movie but I have to wait until July 20^th, 2018 to see it.

I know Christmas just ended but a trailer just released for one of this year’s possible Christmas hits. Coming from Walt Disney Studios is “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”.

I don’t think I’ve seen a Nutcracker adaptation in a while, actually I never hear the Nutcracker mentioned at all much anymore so this is pretty interesting and the trailer makes it even more interesting. So as the only trailer I’m actually posting on this blog let’s check this out!

So it’s the Nutcracker, right? Well Disney is taking the Alice in Wonderland route and giving this old tale a fresh twist with Mackenzie Foy as Clara, Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy (Never would of imagined), Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger and Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer starring. (Is this secretly RED 3?) Not sure who’s playing the Nutcracker, or the Mouse King but I guess we’ll find out about that later. This is a dark twist on the original Nutcracker tale so it’s probably not for little kids but Alice in Wonderland wasn’t THAT dark so it’s probably okay for pre-teens and up, please still have parental guidance regardless. Anyway this looks like a pretty awesome movie with one amazing cover of “Waltz the Sugar Plum Fairy” that starts off like you imagine but gets really dramatic and dark towards the end of the trailer. Well hopefully it’s not too dark but I like the mystery aspect of this movie and re-watching this trailer again I’m not even sure if the Mouse King will be in this or not as Mother Ginger is supposedly the villain.

Get ready for this movie to drop November 2018!

Finally, Finally, FINALLY! The last movie I want to discuss. A movie we still don’t know much about but I’m really excited to see it, Mary Poppins Returns!

Yes I have to admit I’m a bonafide Mary Poppins fan throughout my entire being, I grew up with this movie and still cherish it to this day.

This new movie takes place in a Depression-era London with a grown up Jane and Michael Banks, the latter happens to have three kids of his own. Mary Poppins makes her return after a sudden personal lost to help them regain the joy they lost. Sounds like a Mary Poppins movie to me and I’m quite interested to see how Emily Blunt takes on the mantle from the incredible Julie Andrews. Dick Van Dyke is actually going to be making an appearance as an older character Mr. Dawes Jr. (The bank manger, remember?) Really can’t wait to see a trailer perhaps of this movie in the upcoming months as we await this movie’s December release date.

I haven’t covered every movie coming out this month, nor have I covered every movie that caught my eye but these movies I’ve listed are the big movies that really dragged my interest from my brain to the screen and I can’t wait to see how these movies unfold. Of course I could be disappointed in a few but that’s just how things go.

This year is looking to be a good year for movies regardless so let’s dive right into 2018 and get this camera rolling! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll try not to delay the blog next week but as I do this weekly now I guess I could post it any day of the week I please, maybe even Fridays would be better for you guys so let me know in the comments down below as well as your list of most anticipated movies! Did you agree with my list? Disagree? Pour your hearts out in those comments!

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you next week! (Or in 4-5 days)

Launching Into 2018 with Christmas Presents of 2017

Guess who? I'm back after my one week break!

Welcome everyone, one and all to 2018! Surprisingly this week’s blog actually falls on New Year’s Day, which is quite the coincidence.

2017 was by far one crazy year, a lot happened in both good and bad aspects. Looking past the negative and the tragic moments there was a lot of positive good that came out of 2017. For instance I actually bucked up the courage to let my artistic urges flow out and onto the canvas, well Watercolor paper that is. Yeah a big part of last year was my journey into art, which actually began when I started knitting in the September of 2016 now that I think about it, considering knitting is an art. I could recap every step I took but that would be monotonous to say the least, let's just say I improved a lot in just one year.

With this journey of art continuing it seems Santa Claus caught onto my antics and got me something pretty awesome. Remember when I reviewed my Mum’s Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolor paint set last year? Yeah those paints were pretty awesome and to my surprise a huge improvement over my Sakura Koi set which are supposed to be in the same “Grade”.

Well thanks to Santa and Mrs. Claus (Hi Mum) I got this incredible Watercolor paint set.

It might seem like a little plain white box but this little white box holds 16 half pan watercolors from Winsor and Newton Cotman, a brand a paints I really wanted to switch to ever since trying out my Mum’s set.

The colors I got in this set are Chinese White, Payne’s Grey, Colbalt Blue, Ultramarine, Turquoise, Viridian Hue, Sap Green, Cadmium Yellow Hue Pale, Cadium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Red Hue Pale, Cadmium Red Deep Hue, Alicarin Crimson, Purple Lake, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna.

So as you can see I have a pretty great variety of colors, actually this set has all the colors I need for the types of paintings I do. For colors I don’t have I love mixing colors so I’ll just easily make my own, which in fact these colors actually mix quite easily to my surprise.

Got some new colors that I haven’t had before such as Turquoise, a cool blue with a hint of green, which will actually make for a cool lake or river color I believe. Purple Lake is a new color to me, usually I just use violet but this Purple Lake seems to have more reds then blues in its mix. Not sure what the origin of the name “Purple Lake” entails but it’s a cool color regardless. I’m finally happy to have a Burnt Sienna available to me in a half pan. Burnt Sienna was a color missing from my Sakura Koi set so I’m glad to have this color finally.

As you can see I’ve already made up a couple of skin tones which I’ve charted on my color chart, but you can guess who I’ll be painting soon with these watercolors. (Hint: She has honey blonde hair and brown/red eyes… Yeah.)

Actually I have two resources on hand now that will make my human figure drawing, both male and female skyrocket in accuracy. First up Santa got me this wooden artist manikin, which while looking goofy this thing actually will help with basic anatomy, it’s not super accurate and it’s not one of those Body-Kuns you see online but it’s already helped me quite a bit.

The second resource I now have at hand is an amazing app for the iPad, iPhone and I believe Android devices. This app is known by the name of “Magic Poser”. What is Magic Poster? Well Magic Poser allows you to pose realistic (and Manga) manikin models to any pose you can imagine, allowing for an unlimited source of references for your human figure drawings and to my surprise this app is pretty extensive. The manikins have a poser point for every part of the body you would need to pose, with rotation options included. What’s even better about this app is the ability to add MULTIPLE MODELS! Want to draw multiple people in one drawing? Then this app will allow you to pose your people, which will surely ease your soul when actually drawing. 

Does it stop there? Nope! You can change the perspective of your model, change the lightening (Which is a god send for someone like me who has had problems with shading) and for the cherry on top, you can upload your designs as well as download designs made by others.

I do find the controls a bit finicky on my iPad but perhaps it’s because of my big fingers or my lack of having a stylus but other than that it’s a pretty amazing app and it’s already been a massive help. Like I mentioned previously there are options for realistic Male and Female and Manga Male and Female. I actually prefer to stick with realistic but the Manga is a pretty great option for those whose art style is more in line with the awesome art styles from Japan.

Now this app is not free, it does have a 7 day free trial and I believe you keep some of the basic functions when it expires but the full app is going to cost you $4.99 which is not bad all things considered and I’m definitely going to purchase this myself when my trial runs out. You can download the app by clicking the link below!

The next gift I got is more related to the literary side of my art, my novel writing/writing in general. I never knew I wanted a leather covered writer’s journal until I got this incredible beast.

This book is gorgeous and with 192 pages I should get quite a lot written in this book, although I’m still using my Pokemon Journal book I got for my Birthday for right now. I may actually write the actual manuscript for Dream Eclipse Book 1 in this new journal I’m not sure yet.

Gaze at my incredible segway skills as I switch focus to the part of Christmas I love the most, the Pokemon part.

I’ve been crazing these two items for so long and you readers will know if you’ve kept up with the blog in the second half of last year, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon!

Yes I finally got a hold of these bad boys and even better is the fact that these come with key chains! Yeah I assumed these key chains were pre-order bonuses only but surprisingly these were being sold at Walmart. Probably should have mentioned this to you guys but I wasn’t supposed to know either for Christmas reasons. You can go check and perhaps they might still be selling them but no guarantees.

I’ve already begun my journey on Ultra Sun with Litten by my side and I can say this game is definitely not a carbon copy of Sun and Moon, yes the events taking place are similar, it’s not a sequel by any means and instead an alternative universe but it’s not a copy and paste situation. I’ve already come across a lot of parts in the first two islands that have shocked me. I think I’ve fallen in love with Mantine Surfing, which is a minigame you unlock after beating the first Kahuna, allowing you to surf to the other islands instead of taking Professor Kukui’s shabby looking boat. I’ll be discussing this game further in depth as we go forward into 2018, hopefully covering the game better than I did Sun and Moon.

I finally got myself a new Pokemon Card folder/binder. Admittedly my old folder that I’ve been using for many years now has gotten a little on the stuffed side, I mean it was holding over 6 generations of cards I really should of gotten a new card folder by now.

This new folder has got my all time favorite Pokemon on it, Pikachu and is surprisingly made by the same people as the card sleeves I recently purchased, making everything a perfect fit. I don’t know how long it’ll be before I get another folder as I’m buying cards quite often recently. (I may start doing card unpacking blogs again but I’m wondering whether I should be doing videos instead, as videos would be more interesting.) I’ve put all my Sun and Moon/Generation 7 cards into this folder as a clean slate start of sorts.

Speaking of Pokemon Cards the brand new Sun and Moon Ultra Prism Expansion Pack comes out Febuary 2^nd so keep an eye out! These new cards are supposed to be some of the best.

I got four new Pokemon Manga books to continue the two series I’ve been reading so far which are Pokemon XY and Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Sadly these two XY books are actually the last in the series and have wrapped up the awesome storyline that’s been running throughout the XY books. I’m actually going to review the series as a whole later but I can safely say I dived right into these last two books. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is a series I picked up last year, it’s a sequel to the original Ruby and Sapphire series which I’ve never read but it actually coincides slightly with XY. It’s a great read regardless and I’m not feeling lost not having read the Ruby and Sapphire books so it’s all good. I haven’t read these two yet but I’ll be sure to let you know my thoughts on them later. Until Sun and Moon starts releasing on May 8^th over here in America I’ll be just left with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire but I’m excited on what stories come from Mr. Kusaka.

My filmmaking just got a brand new ally in the form of this compact and overall awesome Tripod I got.

Yeah you’re reading that right; this is an Amazon Basics Tripod. Didn’t know Amazon had a brand of products? I sure didn’t know. This Tripod is actually really great, it’s not super tall but I didn’t exactly want nor need a super tall Tripod. This thing is compact enough to carry on trips unlike my other large tripod (Which isn’t much taller than this one anyway) but still has all the features I prefer, such as adjustable panning, the level meter, a pan handle and telescoping legs.

Another plus of this Tripod is I can actually do dual and even triple perspective videos now! With this in mind my sister and I can start doing more duo videos like our art videos we’ve done previously with an actual decent set up. So yeah, thanks Santa… Aka Mum and Dad.

Finally the last present I want to showcase is possibly one of the greatest presents I’ve ever gotten.

A Velvet Box!

Yup, it’s a velvet box. Great huh? Absolutely, it’s soft and plush and quite sturdy, but what is it holding exactly?

Did you gasp? I sure did. This velvet box opens up to reveal two incredible devices that a writer such as me knows much about. This box contains a Cross Ballpoint Pen and a Cross Mechanical Pencil. I’ve wanted one of these pens for so long and getting it in this box, with an inspiration quote to boot is a pretty awesome surprise. I’ve already tried this out in writing my novel of course so I can say this pen feels incredible in my hands. I haven’t tried out the mechanical pencil just yet but it probably feels just the same.

So other than some other things here and there that’s pretty much the gist of my Christmas haul, I know that makes me sound like I care only about getting but I actually gave quite a lot this year so I’m just bragging.

With that all said that ends the first blog of 2018 but I’m not done talking about the future just yet! Next week I plan on discussing some movies I’m excited for in 2018 as well as some more looking forward to what 2018 holds. So no more looking back, it’s time to look forward to a brand new year with new changes to come to the blog, hopefully some improvements.

Happy New Years Everyone!

See you next week!

Oh yeah… This was ZAK Entertainment.