Monday, March 9, 2015

Horror Block February 2015

We got our Horror Block on Friday, and I promptly didn't film an unboxing.  I totally have an excuse though!  The Fixer had to take the iPad and the camera to work, and trying to use my phone is just booty.  But I took some beautifully grainy "art" shots (I took some shit cell phone pics) for your pleasure.

For real guys, do I need to keep telling you how fucking awesome Horror Block is?  I had to cancel my subscription for March, and possibly April, because I'm moving.  This will be the last of these posts for at least a couple of months, so if you've been coming to look at my groovy swag, the well is going to run dry for a while.  More on the move after the picture show.



This month's block promised items that would be werewolf, zombie, and vampire related.  Technically they delivered, but if I'm being honest, I was a little let down.  I kind of knew what the werewolf item would be because they'd been teasing it for over a month.




They'd outright said they'd partnered with Kelley Armstrong for the month, and since there's no merchandising for the series, I'd guessed (correctly) that the novel would be included in the Block.



To say that I was less than excited would be an understatement.  I'd never found a reason to be disappointed in Horror Block before, and I'm not going to call the whole box a wash over this, but there's very little room in my heart for what amounts to supernatural soft-core porn.  I have a fairly strange relationship with sex, so using it to help drive a narrative bores the living shit out of me.  If you're going to go that route, it better get real fucking weird real fast.  The fact that MLM(IL) speaks highly of the series bodes not well at all for me.  We have disparately unmatched expectations in our reading materials, and I already have a hard time convincing her that not everyone enjoys the type of books that she does.  Horror Block's inclusion of this one only cemented her conviction that everyone shares her opinions about everything.  I couldn't even pawn it off on her because she owns the entire series. 



This was the lone "vampire" item in the block.  I hadn't had my heart set on vampire stuff, not really, but with the recent resurgence of horror vampire love (opposed to romantic vampire love), I had had a certain amount of expectation for something...good.  Considering the "werewolf" item, I should count my blessings we didn't get a Twilight item.

If you can't tell, it's a slap watch.  This hearkens back to 1991, when I was ten, and loved slap bracelets.  I don't love them so much now, because all wrist adornments make my arms look fat.  I know this is 100% in my head, but I already feel like I have tiny t-rex arms, I don't want to feel like I have fat t-rex arms.

The watch works, so that's cool I guess.  The image is meh.  The whole concept is meh.  I will probably give this to either my sister or my niece, after I've moved.  I have to keep telling myself that not every block is going to be gold.



Ok, now we're back on track!  I have a soft spot for The Bride in all of her many incarnations.  It's nearly impossible to tell from this picture, but this is a t-shirt.  I really dig the retro tattoo design, it's got a little bit of that rockabilly or horrorbilly vibe.  Neither of those are exactly my scene, simply because I'm too lazy to make sure my eyeliner is even, but I like the aesthetic.  The people who take the time and care on their look are like walking works of art, and I'm pleased to have this tiny chunk of fashion.  Things are looking up in this block!



This is the first block that included something I'd give my son.  He's a little more than a year old, so most of the items aren't age appropriate.  But plush toys are always in with him, and this was no exception.  If anything, it fit perfectly with what I usually get him anyway.  This little critter is a Giant Microbe representation of the "zombie virus".  He fits in very well with Stinkbug's Zombie Pets, which are getting harder to find.



This was the final item in the block, other than the Rue Morgue magazine.  Short of cracking this sucker open for the sake of photographs, you can't tell that it has a little zombie trapped inside a viscous fluid.  I'm not sure if it was meant to be ooze, or gel, or liquid.  It seems to be all of those things, plus some glow-in-dark powder floating around in there.  And it leaked.  Not as bad as some I've seen online, but bad enough that I'm going to have to super glue it shut before displaying.  I suggested that it would make a fun dust collector on The Fixer's desk at work, but he never remembers to make his own coffee -- let alone take extra stuff with him -- so it sits on the kitchen table for now.  The same fate befell the anti-zombie hand sanitizer that came a few blocks back, which sort of pissed me off because I asked him to get some fucking sanitizer so that he'd stop bringing home the fucking plague his co-workers keep spreading around his office and shop.  I'd figured that nifty-fun packaging would finally persuade him to fucking keep his fucking hands clean, but no.  But I digress.

Both Horror Block and Nerd Block have promised that they will be including more books in their blocks.  I'm very much on the fence about this news.  On the one hand, yay books!  On the other, Bitten.  I'm really hoping that they can steer this ship back to horror that is actually horrific.  I don't know what kind of books to expect from Nerd Block, because I haven't subscribed to their classic block.  I'm finding I kind of wish I had, because March is supposed to include some Simon Pegg items, of whom I'm a big fan.  But I can't for sure know where I'll be when the block would ship, so I have to take a pass.

So, yeah, moving!  I'm moving in a few weeks, because I miss my family and my mom has yet to meet her youngest grandchild.  I'm also moving because the work situation out here is a bust.  While I'm no longer willing to return to the public service industry, I am willing to return to manufacturing or something else not dealing with the public.  Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods currently, there really are no jobs to be had that aren't behind a cash register or manning a deep fryer.  I wouldn't mind working in a proper kitchen; I've always like working in restaurants, just not the ones with drive-thrus attached.  Am I being selective?  Yes.  But I have the luxury of being able to move to a part of the country where the only viable work options aren't limited to Taco Bell, so I'll be picky if I want.  Not everyone has that option, and it's not an opportunity I'm willing to squander.  So posts may become more sporadic than before.  I don't know how you feel about that, but I'm a little bummed -- I like writing this blog.  It's a fun break from the minutiae of my day-to-day.  I hope to get a little more regimented, once the move is over and I've gotten into a working routine.  For anyone who reads this regularly, thanks for bearing with me! 

3 comments:

  1. Good luck with your move and hope for more blog posts soon plus i added you to my blog roll over on my blog as well now. : )

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