So Worth the Food Coma

So the friday before this I posted a random picture with a recipe attached. A few days ago I acquired a kitchen with which to try it out.

You start off with a cupcake tin. We used a spray that helps the food not to stick. You can honestly use whatever you like best. Then we filled them up about 1/3 of the way and packed it down as best as possible

 

Then you put a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup in the middle of each one. It's best to try and press this one down as well. Cupcake tins have a limited height and since there is one more layer you will need it. 

Then fill up the rest with your choice of brownie mix. Don't do what we did here and fill it up to the edge. When it baked we got severe muffin tops that hampered us from getting them out smoothly. 

Final results.

They were delish and with the different flavors I found it was best going at it from the side. A great party treat, very easy to make but with one problem. They are very dense. One of these was enough for me which makes it an even better party treat. You can be lazy and make one for each person. Unless you have a serious chocolate fiend coming then I'd say make one batch for them and one for everyone else.

Until next time Rock It Hard.

Wonderful Art in Honor of Tolkien Week!

Kind of honored that my friend Scott, who is an amazing artist, actually lets me showcase his work first on my blog. I give him stories and topics and he goes to town. It's a wonderful pairing but this week he produced something special.

It's called Mouth of Mordor! Marvel at it's amazingness.

Is it December Yet?!

I'm just going to leave this here

Thoughts anyone?

Storms A'Coming and I am Safely Inside Sick

So for those who don't know this I live in Mass. right outside of Boston really and today/tonight we are going to be hit with a huge storm front. Luckily I wasn't planning on leaving this house or my pjs today since I am sick and for the first time in months have decided to let myself rest and have a me day. Sadly what the means is yes, this post is late and yes, I had no idea what to post about. Most of the day has consisted of tea, minecraft (shush all), and sleep.

Up until about ten minutes ago I was scrolling through news stories on my phone trying to find something simple to talk about but alas nothing struck my fancy but an idea came to me. Everyone has a sort of routine they indulge in when sickness hits them.

Here are my top 5 things to do when sick:

1. Drink lots and lots of tea. Truthfully a lot of tea even when I'm not sick but when the cold monster comes knocking on my door my little love of tea turns into an obsession. At any given moment during a sick day I have a cup of tea within reach. It's not always still warm but I will drink it until the last drop anyways.

2. Blanket myself in comfy clothes and well a blanket. I'm not really a burrower. I don't like to sit around curled up in a blanket since I don't sit still well and a blanket makes constantly moving more difficult. But when I am sick I put on an old flannel shirt, my baggy pjs and wrap a blanket around me and cuddle down into it.

3. Play video games! As much as I am a self admitted gamer girl I barely have time to just sit down and play for a bit. Mostly I have enough time to play an X-Box game for about 45 minutes and WoW I can run a dungeon or two and this can only happen 2-3 times a week. When I'm sick however I have the excuse to just sit for hours and play through whatever game I want. Level my priest if the mood takes me or build some more in minecraft.

4. Eat sweets with no cares given. I have this little logic inside my head that when I am sick sweets will cure me without adding an ounce to my figure. Not true at all but it puts a smile on my face. Todays sweet is a pudding pie that my friend Trish and I made last night. It will also be featured in a post sometime this week.

5. Snuggle up in bed before midnight with a good book. To be perfectly honest I have this phobia of getting in to bed before midnight if it doesn't involve marathoning a good show. It's not a "I'm getting older then" it's more of a "I haven't gotten enough done today" thing. When a cold or the flu hits I throw that sentiment to the winds and try to relax- somethings.

When I am being an idiot (which is the more often then not approach I take to being sick) I try to force my way through sickness. I stay out late, hop places, run all my errands at once and so on but on those rare times I actually listen to the sensible voice inside of me I hide in my room with comfy pjs on and go down my top 5 list.

 Hope everyones keeping healthy since the cold weather is now upon us and for all those in the Mass area stay safe.

Until next time rock it hard.

Tolkien: The Man Who Created the Genre that Defined my High School Years

Tolkien practically invented a genre, high fantasy. Hundreds upon thousands upon millions of books have followed in his wake using Elves and Dwarves, hobbits and Dark Lords alike. For this I am thankful most of the time. For years i whittled away my time reading through the whole fantasy section of my town library and school library. But past high school I got extremely disenchanted with the genre in general. To many constantly occurring cliches coupled with bland stuck up characters that have no life to them.

After so many years away (yes It's been almost a decade since I graduated high school, shush) I have started to harbor a sort of longing for the genre and in that last year have picked up a good handful of titles. Some have blown me away while others get donated right to the library once the last page is read.

From this I have compiled a short 5 top fantasy books in my life so far:

1. Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron (completed series) I read this as a child, as a teen and again as an adult and no matter what age I am this series is still amazing. It's very much like Lord of the Rings while having a different take in a fantasy world. The characters feel younger while small little jokes are thrown in randomly and always have me laughing. If you have not read this series please, I beg you, do.

2. Rebecca Locksley's The Three Sisters This book is a slow read at times but over all the story is extremely compelling. I was instantly drawn to it since the main characters are female and they are not overly Amazonian like or overly damsel. They have more sides then that. The story it self is very interesting with a lot of twists and inner turmoil that is not a bunch of whining! Also there are two races at war and in here unlike in most other fantasy stories neither of them is the clearly right or wrong. This realism among the fantasy as refreshing and gave this story just that added bonus.

3. Jim C. Hines The Stepsister's Scheme (ongoing series, I believe.) It's based off of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella except not exactly. True those characters are present but Hines has given them a whole other life besides their fairy tales. Sleeping beauty is deadly with a dagger, pissy and if I remember correctly in love with Snow White who is kind of a slut. Cinderella for the most part is like the fairy tale version but her quirks are developed over the longer time line. The stories are interesting but you have to give them time to pick up. First he needs to establish these aren't the Disney-like story book characters we're all use to. There is more to their stories and to them.

4. Patricia Wrede's Dealing with Dragons (completed series) This series is completely silly and absurd. I love it. It embraces all that's great about high fantasy as well as the cliches while making fun of the cliches. They are short reads, less then 200 pages a book I believe. A great quick read if you are itching for fantasy and a good laugh.

5. Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study  (completed series) These novels are pretty fast paced after the first chapter. The characters are well thought out, all with quirks and problems of their own. At points the bickering between the main character and her love interest are down right hilarious. This novel adds in random cuteness of life, funny quips and random things that one would notice in life. Very few novels, especially high fantasy/fantasy novels do this. There are parts that are not relative to the story but still give us a great deal of insight into characters and the world while being interesting and not slowing the story down at all

Recommendations from my friend that I might be checking out in the upcoming months:
Inkheart Trilogy
Inheritance Trilogy
Anything by R.A. Salvador, Jane Lindskold or Mercedes Lackey

Until next time rock it hard!

Avengers Gag Reel: Enjoy!

This will be a short post since in an hour I have a job interview. Wish me luck. But before I go I wanted to leave you with this:
The Avengers gag real. Love these people. Can't wait for the DVD release.

gag reel from sana1x2 on Vimeo.

Let's Kick off Tolkien Week Right!

Why did no one tell me that there is an actual Tolkien Week celebrated around the world. True it jumps around every year considering it's whatever week Hobbit Day (there's a Hobbit Day as well?!) lands on. This year it starts to day and end Sept. 22, also known as Hobbit Day.

And all these years I could have made a cup of tea with whiskey in it, packed a pipe and read under a tree barefoot in honor of one of my favorite races of all time: the Hobbits! But alas this year I am working on this day so no extreme fun will be had- Probably not even an moderate fun either.

But even with the soul-crushing retail job looming over me with which I will be at when this post goes live I was able to start it off right with a big first and second breakfast. While eating I also did my research. Did you know this week long celebration first started in 1978. Nine years before I was born and yet at 25 I am just now hearing about this! And The Hobbit, that wonderful book that use to be read to me as a child along with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Alice in Wonderland is turning 75 this year, on friday to be precise!

Also Peter Jackson has kicked off this week by making a small video with a teaser trailer for the new Hobbit movie hidden inside. Check it out!

Rock it hard (like a Hobbit!) my darling dears! Until next time.

Review: UnReal Candy

For my first campaign through BzzAgent.com I was to find and review UnReal Candy. Unfortunately finding it was a pain in the butt. It took me almost three week after getting the 'get one free' coupon to track this brand down. It says that CVS carries them and this is true but what isn't said is that not all CVS have them. I went to five different ones while a friend of mine who is also in this campaign went searching the far reaches of our condensed urban area. Finally though I did happen across them and was in luck that I still had the coupon in my wallet. I sat down two days ago to try it.

You can watch the video here: Over all my experience with it was passable but I gave the candy to a few friends to try who actually like chocolate. None of them liked it- At all. It's okay to make a healthy alternative to candy but you can't sacrifice flavor in the process. It's a good idea wrapped up in bad execution. Honestly I'd say save your money and buy the tad bit more expensive brands that are all natural, actual organic (remember check the label and internet on this) and get a decent chocolate. What's the point of eating healthy if it doesn't taste good.

Healthy Eating? What's that?

So I sit down after a nice healthy dinner and go on facebook. Unfortunately for my waist line a friend of mine shared this photo:

The instructions are simple which just makes it worse! As soon as I gather these three ingredients this will be made. I'll let you know how it comes out and will also let you know how much larger my ass is at the end of it all.

Also news for all you Left of Extraordinary followers, or as I like to call you my little extraordinaries, i will have Monday through Friday off from my day job and will do a mini challenge. The goal is to post every week day. So subscribe, like and share get all of them. Even the boring.

Rock it all my little extraordinaries!

-L. Fayth

New Art Noir Style

Scott has done it again with this new piece of art. It is based on a story that you can find in the archives of this blog but will also be edited/revised and posted on my blog solely for writing. This is probably my favorite so far. The placement and the shadows gives it a dark noir feel to it. Yes, definitely my favorite. Sorry Azarai, my little brain child, but this one gives me chills.

Buffyverse Gets It's First Male Slayer

I know what you all are thinking: Slayers can only be female. This I understand and have understood since the first episode I by accidentally came across many, many, many years ago. Then why the crazy title? Well because it's true. Dark Horse Comics have announce the introduction of Billy the first male slayer in Buffy season 9 #14. Oh, and on a side note he also likes guys.

My major questions are: Will they explain this new development clearly and logically? God, I hope so. Plot holes cause my brain to hurt. Will Billy meet Buffy or any of the Scooby Gang? Yes, please. Interacting with the original cast would be incredibly entertaining. And last question but manly to my readers: Since this is piggy backing on the X-Men first gay wedding, do you think they are only doing this to garner more readers or because the time is right?


You can go to Dark Horse's Exclusive Press Release and check out the first few pages of the comic. So far it's kind of interesting. It's stated early on that he is gay but he is, so far, in no way a stereotype prancing around singing Judy Garland. My friend Matt has that one covered to a T.

It's interesting and something I will definitely read.

Still not entirely sold on the male slayer thing. Holding judgement until I hear their reasoning.

I would love to hear what you guys think. Leave a comment and let me know.

Until next time rock it hard darlings.

Another Gift!

I am free. I tell you, finally free! Well not completely. I have to go back to retail hell Thursday but for now I have four days in a row off which means: All the posts that I've been slacking off week. Woot! Weirdly most revolve around nails, nail art and nail polish. I will also hopefully be able to get World of the NightOthers kick start while catching up with Wayward Pages.

For now though let me reveal the newest piece of art done by one Scott Bennet.

 This one was inspired for a short story I did that honestly was written in 10 minutes. In college I took this class called "Writing for Fantasy." Twice a week we had to submit a short story inspired by one of the prompts given. 90% of those short stories were written within 10-20 minutes and right before class. This story once revised a bit for errors and the like will be what kicks off World of the NightOthers hopefully Tuesday.

Until then enjoy the marvelous piece of art.

Wait Giles and Captain Mal in One Movie? Hell yeah!

So does anyone remember the movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief? Well it's getting a sequel. This I'm surprised about dearly. I saw the first movie in theaters and liked it but didn't think it did well at all. According to Wikipedia it was successful so I guess I was wrong. So let me introduce you to: Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters.

Now two years later they most of the movie cast and it has me jumping for serious joy. Just be warned if you were a fan of the first one or not, if you are a full-blooded geek you will want to see the sequel. They've casted both Nathan Fillion AND Anthony Head in this movie.

(Picture of Nathan Fillion on the set/filming Percy Jackson)

Nathan Fillion will be playing Hermes while Anthony Head is replacing Pierce Brosnan as Chiron. As sad as I am to see Brossie gone from the role of Chiron- Come on it's Anthony Head! Let me just take a moment and flail like a fangirl.

Ten Minutes Later

Okay I'm finished. Wait, no they can't do this to my poor fangirling heart. Doctor Who's Matt Smith is heavily rumored to be joining the cast and Jake Abel will be coming back as saucy Luke Castellan. That's it I am locating a Delorean and a flux capacitor and punching it to March 2013!

Slytherins do it best

A little over a year ago the last Harry Potter movie hit the big screen and in it's honor I ran around my city and a few of the surrounding ones for three hours looking for just the right nail polish. On one hand I did the colors of Gryffindor (which will be in possibly the next blog) while on the other I did Slytherin.

Please don't mind the horrible nails and cuticles, I work retail. Washing your hands after every single check out where I have to handle something a kid had shoved in his mind doesn't help.

How I did this effect is simple. I put on two base coats of Revlon's Top Speed 330: Emerald. You could put one on and still be okay since it covers quite well but I am a bit OCD and do tend to put another one on just in case.

Since it's a layered thing I let it dry for a few hours before moving on to the silver effect. In that time I completed the first season of Awkward like the dork I am. You don't really have to do the long wait with this polish (I just got sucked into the show) but if you use another non-speed drying polish you will. If you use the crackle before the green is fully dried you get wicked streaks and bubbling. Revlon's Top Speed dries completely in about a half hour with two coats.

Once all was dry I used Sephora by O.P.I's crackle polish. This one is called Blasted Silver. I have tried a few of the crackle brands but so far this is my favorite. It shatters enough for the green to break through while going on smoothly. The only problem I have is that you have to put this one quick and all in once swipe. If you apply more then one coat you lose the effect and just have a layer of silver. If you don't apply it all at once you get awkward cracked lines. 

Now go and show your Slytherin pride! I know I am. Next week I might let the Gryffindor half of me out long enough for a nail tutorial. Until then \\m// rock it hard, darling.