The Great Soda Substitute Search

One of the goals on my current List is to go a week without soda.  A huge undertaking considering how many cans I drink during the week. On a good day, I'll just drink one (sometimes two), but when I'm stressed or unhappy, I tend to drink 3-4 in day.  Not only is this unhealthy but does add up financially as well.  But since I don't want to be limited to just water, I've been on the search for a new carbonated drink or a juice that isn't syrupy sweet.

First candidate:

I was first introduced to this brand of drinks when I was at a friends house, though I had seen them around at Fred Meyers.  I picked this flavor up as it sounded really promising, but was rather disappointed with it: too much lime and not enough cherry in my opinion.

Rainbow Honey Mystery Bag August 2014

I have to admit, this is a mix bag for me in both body product and nail polish.  We received a body splash in the scent Summer Juice, and a roll-on perfume and cuticle balm in Royal Fruits in this month's bag. Royal Fruits is briefly described as 'a summery fragrance reminiscent of beautiful warm weather and refreshing summer fruits'.  Of the fruity scents sents so far, this is my least favorite - there's some sort of creamy note (I though something like coconut but someone on a forum mentioned banana) that just doesn't do much for me but it isn't cloying like Midori.

Reading Round Up 3

It was a slow month for reading. It's been very annoying finding books I want to read, but are unavailable at the library and I don't want to waste money on something I may or may not like.

Want To Read

Went browsing around the bookstore on my lunch break and hope I can get to these in the future:

Battle Royale Slam Book edited by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington
Three by Jay Posey
The Executioner's Heart by George Mann

Recent Reads

Skin Game by Jim Butcher - enjoyed this latest Dresden Files offering, though I felt it was more filler than moving the overall plot. We had a couple of new characters introduced and plot points which bring up more questions than answers.  He's obviously setting up for a huge event but it's coming along slowly.  And thus begins the long wait for the next one.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin: I've read very little from this author but this is a series that's been on my to-read list. I like how important Names are in regards to magic. While enjoyable, I felt it dragged in some places but plan to read the next one.

Drifters vol 1 by Kohta Hirano: So another series by this author while browsing the bookstore which unfortunately isn't available at the library but this was (I'm a big Hellsing fan as well). I love series that include historical characters (whether I'm familiar with them or not) so I'm looking forward to where this goes.

Haul

Sailor V vols 1 & 2 - I'm a huge fan of Sailor Moon and finally bought the Sailor V manga (I also need to start collecting the SM reprint). Though I know the basics of this 'prequel', I've never actually read it so I'm quite happy that it's now mine.

Can't Get Into

Marlfox by Brian Jacques - this is actually my first Brian Jacques novel. I'll probably return to this after I read Redwall but I've never actually been that interested in the Redwall series, but I got about 50 or so pages into the book so I feel I should go to the start of the series and see if my feelings change.

Currently Reading

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire: I received the first October Daye book in a swap a couple of years ago, and just now getting to the second book.

2014BloggerChallenge | B Movies

Even having a whole month to write this post, I'm still waiting last minute to tackle the latest topic of the #2014Blogger Challenge (which is about movies).  I love going to the movie theatres, and I'm all about action, science fiction, and horror (I also love fantasy, but that seems to be a genre that doesn't seem to get a lot of love at the moment).  I also really enjoy bad movies: the so-bad-it's-good, why-are-we-even-watching-this kind of film. 

Growing up, I loved staying up late on Friday or Saturday nights to watch the old horror or science fiction movies that would play on AMC.  Before today's trend of almost showing only slasher films, Halloween was always the best time because they would show a lot of the classic monster movies (The Wolf Man is probably my favorite classic).  My appreciation for B movies was also cultivated by watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 - it also cultivated the joy of making commentary when watching B movies.

The SyFy channel (or back when it was better spelled SciFi) shows quite a lot of made for TV B movies. It's always funny to see the commercials for the newest Saturday night movie that will be shown, whether it's a disaster film or a monster/creature movie. And bad monster movies have become an art form for the channel. Some (or a lot) of people may scoff and make fun of movies like Snakes on a Plane or lower quality films like Sharknado, but movies aren't always about making a deep moral point or to make you think about the big questions.  Sometimes, you just want to watch something mindless that can make you laugh - whether from ridiculous plot points, bad acting/animation, or being really happy when the character you hate bites it.

Are there any 'quality' films that you get a laugh out of?