5 Favorites for November 2024: Creepy, fragrant, dumb, and useful!

“5 Favorites” is a recurring feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I post 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed or used, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

👻 ⌨️ Blood Typers Demo

Typing horror game

If you loved THE TYPING OF THE DEAD, Epistory: Typing Chronicles, THE TEXTORCIST or any other typing games, you’ll want to try this demo, for sure! Left and right shifts turn you, typing random words littered about the scene make your character walk there, and hitting “tab” puts you into combat mode to attack freaky enemies! The environments are really moody and mysterious so far. I enjoyed my time in the demo and thought you’d wanna know.

▶️ Jose Briones – Dumbphone Reviews

YouTube channel (and helpful website, too! )

My ancient, ruggedized Kyocera is showing its age a little these days. Looking for dumbphone reviews, I discovered this great channel. No baloney, straight to the point, nothing fancy. There are a LOT of dumbphones out there and this channel and the accompanying site have been really helpful. If you need to digitally detox from the slot machine in your pocket, this is a TREASURE TROVE of info. (Also, did you know there are things called kosher phones??)

🚾🐈️🐾👃 “Smell Ya Litter” Odor Eliminator

Litter box smell treatment by Poo-Pourii

If you’re a cat owner, you’ve got litter boxes in the house. If you have litter boxes in the house, sometimes one of your dear sweet feline friends commits an unspeakable hate crime in one of said boxes. I used to use Way of Cats’ Littermint (which was a terrific, all-natural product made of dried herbs) to destinkify–but when Pammy sadly discontinued the product, I began looking for other solutions.

I’ve been pretty happy with this Smell Ya Litter spray. I usually spray it over the box a couple times over the boxes each time I scoop, or (frantically) right after Pixel has left behind one of his more rancid, gag-worthy bombs.

They also make other products for dogs and cats, under the “Pet-Pourri” section.

🗑️ The Garbage Gripper

Surprisingly useful giant rubber band

We got this at Ace Hardware on a whim, but I’m glad we did because it keeps our garbage sacks held in place! You can tie a knot in it if the grip needs to be tighter.

🕰️📱 Repeat Alarm

Like a grandfather clock, but it’s an app for your Android device and customizable for more than one thing

I’ve been trying to get into the habit of moving every hour. I wanted something that would chime on the hour, like a grandfather clock. But setting up an hourly alarm on my tablet was a pain.
This app made it easy. Now my tablet plays a 15-second boogalicious dance tune every hour on the hour between 11AM and 8PM (because I hate it when grandfather clocks go crazy at midnight). You can customize the alarm sound(s), how long it plays, and the range of hours the alarm should go off. It’s really handy, I’m happy I found it!

 

5 Favorites for July 2024: Music, Memories, Mods, and Mews

“5 Favorites” is a recurring feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I’ll be posting 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

📻 🧚‍♀️ BOOK OF HOURS: Original Soundtrack

(Free listen on YouTube. Like it? Purchase your own copy via Steam.)

Do you need to disappear to a magical world that sounds like nature still has fairies hiding in the shadows of the green leaves? Then try out this soundtrack to a game I bounced really hard off of 🙃. Very elegant, New Age-y sound. If you like the soundtrack to any of the MYST games or if you enjoy listening to the Mediaeval Baebes, you’re gonna ADORE this.

🖼️ Memories of Ed Benedict

(Article.)

In preparation for creating new covers for the FASHION FRENCHIES series, I’m studying the artwork of Ed Benedict, who designed the titles to BEWITCHED and like, every classic Hanna-Barbera character outside of SCOOBY DOO!. While researching, I stumbled upon this article by the creator of JOHNNY BRAVO, Van Partible, reflecting on his time with the artist.

🎮 Slay the Spire: DOWNFALL

(Mod. Downloads and installs through the Steam workshop. Requires Slay the Spire game to play.)

If you already own SLAY THE SPIRE (and maybe like me have almost 500 hours logged 🫠), you owe it to yourself to try this expansion. I recently beat the Heart with all the official characters, and have been slowly working my way through Ascensions as the Silent…but this expansion has made me fall in love with this game all over again, with new fresh characters and mechanics.
Bonus link: you might also like the PACKMASTER mod, which integrates nicely with DOWNFALL.

▶️ Overly Dramatic Kitten

(YouTube vid, 5 seconds long)

I can’t stop watching this, so now you must know about it.

▶️ HONK

(YouTube vid, less than 5 seconds)

I giggle every time.

I post the Proclamation o’ Progress next month, so check back soon! 🙂

5 Favorites for April 2024: Sidesplitting, Savory, and Sneaky!

“5 Favorites” is a new feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I’ll be posting 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

Whew! Since the Crooked Neck Kickstarter ended, I’ve been busy fulfilling items for my backers. But I didn’t want to leave you hanging this month! Here’s five things I REALLY enjoyed in April 2024.

📖 The Africa Files (The LawDog Files Series 2)

(Ebook and Paperback, available at Amazon)

Okay, confession time. I haven’t actually read this book YET. But my husband read two excerpts to me and I laughed my head off both times. Now I’m waiting for my paperback copy to arrive so I can read it on paper. I don’t usually buy books but I already know I want to own this one!

The Africa Files are memoirs by a gentleman who goes by “LawDog”. This book is a collection of his memories of growing up in Africa. For example, when LawDog was a kid he and his brother accidentally trapped a honey badger in a hole they had dug.

If that does not intrigue you, I do not know what will.

If you enjoy the humor stylings of Dave Barry but have maybe read all of his books and have most of them memorized (not that I’d know anything about that…), you’ll probably want a copy for yourself.

🍝 Chef Boyardee’s Spaghetti

(Recipe and educational history video)

After watching the Chef Boyardee episode of TASTING HISTORY WITH MAX MILLER, I had to try making the sauce myself. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. It both tasted like the canned sauce (which was a bit of a trip), but so much fresher and yummier, without a lot of extra effort.

Pro Tips:

  • Instead of crushing the tomatoes manually, I use a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes along with a 6 oz can of tomato paste. You can also use lightly dried basil (in the cold area) instead of buying super fresh if your home (like mine) is where fresh herbs go to die. (plz link store)
  • To do the carrots, I throw some baby carrots into a food processor and the blades turn it into flakes/chunks. That way I don’t have to buy regular carrots special and do all the knife work.

🐂▶️ Gaming Historian: The Story of the Oregon Trail

(Documentary, YouTube)
A fantastically executed longform documentary about the making of the OREGON TRAIL video game. Chill, upbeat vibes and informative, too. I’ve enjoyed Gaming Historian’s videos in the past, but he’s really outdone himself with this one!

🎮 Batman: Arkham Asylum

(Game, Steam, and probably some other places)

I know, I know, I’m tardy to the party…But Arkham Asylum is everything I ever wanted a Batman game to be, full of action, actually fun(!) stealth and puzzling. Plus, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill returning to voice Bats and Joker respectively? Be still my heart!

If you haven’t played it, I can’t recommend it enough (though it’s definitely PG-13/T-rated).

And I’ll just leave this here for the Deck users…

🌶️🍳 Lao Gan Ma Hot Chili Sauce

(Condiment) (My local grocery store carries it, though, so you may want to check yours before ordering online)

I heard about “chili sauce” a month or two ago. When I asked my husband to bring some home, he brought me this. At first I thought it was the wrong thing since the sauce was chunky…then I started eating it with eggs and now I CRAVE IT.

This sauce is not punishingly spicy, but it’s extremely flavorful–the crispy/chunky bits are soooo savory and yummy.

This has become my new favorite breakfast:

  1. I warm about 1 Tablespoon of the sauce in a small frying pan.
  2. Once it starts bubbling, I add 1-2 eggs, (fuming if I break a yolk because I like them over easy).
  3. While they cook, I spoon the sauce them gently.
  4. After the whites are set and I flip them (over easy, remember?), I serve them over some air-fryer roasted potatoes. (I tend to make a big batch of those and reheat them as needed.) The runny yolks plus the roasted-creamy potatoes and the crispy bits of the sauce…just heavenly!

 

5 Favorites for January 2024

5 Favorites is a new feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I’ll be posting 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

The Proclamations of Progress will still be posted Februaries and Septembers. 🙂

With that, here’s my latest 5 Favorites!

📻 MANHATTAN SKYLINE by A-Ha

First, I saw this meme about Aphex Twin (which is another artist I like)

Which is originally from THIS meme

Which is referencing this song and it’s a TRUE BANGER!!!! I didn’t know A-HA went this hard!

🎮 TUNIC (Game: Switch, Steam, and other systems)

I ADORE this game. To give you an idea of how much I adore it, I had it for exactly two weeks in 2023 and it became my Game of the Year. GOTY. Yes.

Don’t be fooled by the isometric perspective: It’s the spiritual successor to HOLLOW KNIGHT, rewarding you for nosing around every nook and cranny, rocking your face off with an amazing chill soundtrack, exploring a world full of light and darkness…It’s absolutely terrific. I went in blind and was glad I did, so I don’t want to say much more–except I love that the game rewards you for using items…with more items! Otherwise I would just hoard bombs until the end sceen.

📖 Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst

A really magical book full of great characters, based around racing dangerous monsters, but about way more than that.  It’s the kind of book I’d love to write some day, and I’m super glad I got to read it!!! I give this MY VERY HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION, if you’re an epic fantasy fan.

▶️ ONE HIT WONDERLAND: “Macarena” by Los del Rio

A twenty-five minute documentary about the Macarena. You’re welcome.

🍿 Jerry and Marge Go Large (Movie, Paramount+)

A heartwarming, feel-good movie starring Bryan Cranston, based on a true story of a retired couple who found a loophole in the lottery and helped out their town. Don’t know if you need to know much more than that!