Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal began streaming on July 5, 2014. It airs (with English subtitles) every other Saturday on Hulu Plus, Crunchyroll, and Neon Alley. Since we already had the subscription, I have been watching it on Hulu.

For those that don't know, I am a pretty big fan of Sailor Moon. The original series aired here in the United States when I was in high school. I watched every episode voraciously. I loved that the girls were the main characters with the powers to destroy the bad guys, who were also led by a female. Even though it has been 20 years since Sailor Moon first aired, there still aren't that many "Girl Power" shows where females lead the way. I think the closest we come is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and, while that is a very awesome show, it doesn't quite fall under the same category as magical girls or female superheroes. More Wonder Woman, less Avengers.

Anyway, I did start watching the new series as soon as it premiered. There have been three episodes so far and I am very happy with the way it has turned out. Some people have issues with a few things and I would like to address them:

1. I don't like the artwork.

Those fans that are only familiar with the original Sailor Moon anime may find the new artwork unappealing. However, the new series is more closely based off the manga. While the new visuals may look a little odd to most people, they are definitely closer to the original visuals in the manga. Personally, I like the new looks a bit better but I have always been partial to the artbooks over the anime series.

2. I liked the old filler episodes.

Since the new series is following the manga storyling, a lot of the filler episodes have been removed. For example - In the original series, Luna discovers Sailor Moon in the first episode but doesn't discover the second scout, Sailor Mercury, until episode 5 in the English dub. (It is episode 8 in the original Japanese series.) In Crystal, Sailor Mercury is discovered in the second episode. This follows the exact timeline of the manga. While some of the old filler episodes will be missed (goodbye Alan and Ann!), the story does not suffer from removing them. I think the story will be better and stronger since we can focus more on the girls and less on the misogynistic episodes like "Slim City," where Usagi thinks she is too fat and starts heading toward an eating disorder.

Thankfully, these two issues are the only major complaints I have seen about the new show. Everyone seems to agree that, overall, it is pretty awesome. I am excited to see where the series is going to go. Supposedly, it is set up for a 26-episode arc. If they follow the manga the way they have so far, this will take them through to the end of the Black Moon storyline. I really hope that we will be able to take the story all the way through Stars as well.

Long live Sailor Moon!

Ah, Summer

August has begun. This is when I start to get into the "Summer Funk." All I want to do is lay on a beach in the warm sun, enjoying the warm awesomeness of the summer. Instead, I am stuck in a dreary office with no windows. It is probably the worst possible way to spend the summer. Being an adult sucks.

However, I am taking a vacation this year! I don't usually take a week-long vacation because my family rarely goes anywhere. (Not by choice, mind you.) We aren't going away this year but we are doing a bunch of things in the area that we have been wanting to hit.

1. Camelbeach

Camelbeach is a pretty awesome waterpark that we try to go to every year. My daughter, who isn't big on amusement parks, loves this place. The best part is that they have specials on 4-packs of tickets. Since there are only three of us in the family, my daughter gets to bring one of her friends. After all, hanging out with your parents is laaaame.

2. Da Vinci Science Center

The Da Vinci Science Center is a sort-of hands-on museum type thing. It is aimed at getting kids interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) programs. While my daughter isn't a huge science nut, she is involved in her school's branch of the Technology Student Association so things like this help her both in the classroom and in clubs. And it's fun!

3. Lehigh Valley Zoo

Since we live in the Philadelphia area, we have been to the Philadelphia Zoo many times. However, we have never been to the Lehigh Valley Zoo, which isn't particularly far from our house. Everyone in my family loves animals (heck, my sister is getting married at a local zoo in September!) so it should be a great trip.

These are the main pieces of our vacation. (No, I'm not going to say "staycation." That is a terrible word.) We will probably find a couple of other places to visit and maybe we'll even spend a day relaxing by the pool. I really do love summer. Now if only I could get rid of the desk job....

So many updates!

I'm sorry that I haven't had the time to write up a real post. I do have some videos that I haven't posted here though. Bulu Box

Graze Box

Loot Crate vs Nerd Block

I hope that I will have some more stuff for you soon. Until then, enjoy the videos!

SodaStream Tips

I absolutely love my SodaStream. However, following the directions may be a mistake. Here are a few tips on how to make your SodaStream experience better.

Summer is almost here

I know the official first day of summer isn't until June 21. However, for me, summer begins once school is out and all of the extra-curriculars have ended. During the school year, my daughter is in chorus, band, jazz band, and the Technology Student Association. At the same time, she takes ballet and tap outside of school and she bowls on the weekends. Needless to say, it takes up a lot of time. The dance recital was this past weekend, thereby ending all of the school-year activities. Next Wednesday is the last day of school, which means Thursday is the first day of summer.

Of course, she does still participate in a lot of things in the summer. She has decided to pick tennis back up, plus a summer ballet class. Our school district also offers a 1-week summer band camp in July. She participates in that every year.

So, yeah, summer is almost here. It won't be a calm, relaxing summer but life would be boring then, wouldn't it?

Favorite Friday - Convos With My 2-year Old

Convos With My 2-year Old is one of my favorite YouTube series. This episode is the beginning of season 3 but I highly recommend that everyone go back to the beginning and watch the entire series. I promise it won't take very long. And you will definitely thank me for it.

Video Cameras!

As you may have noticed, I've started doing video posts. I know they are not super awesome yet but I am working on it. One of the things I'd like to do is get a better video camera. I'm not sure exactly which camera I am using currently. I think it's a really old Canon Powershot or something. Well, OK, I know it's old. (It is at least 5 or 6 years old, probably more.) I'm just not sure if it's a Powershot. So I've been looking at getting a camcorder. The only camcorder I have ever owned is a Flip. I still have my Flip but it takes a lot of time to convert the files to a format that YouTube will accept. I've been looking at the Samsung F90BN. It is well within my price range and it has received some fairly decent reviews. Hopefully, this will make the quality of my videos a bit better.

I'm currently looking at camcorders under $200. Let me know if you have any suggestions or reviews. I'd love to hear some more opinions on what I should buy.

Why I think the new Godzilla movie is BS

Spoilers ahead! It has almost been 2 weeks since the latest American Godzilla was released. A lot of people loved the movie. My husband, who is a huge Godzilla fan, is one of those people. I, on the other hand, thought the movie was total bullshit. Since I seem to be the only person who thinks this, I am going to put my reasons in a nice, easy to digest list. As I have already said, there will be a lot of spoilers ahead. If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading right now.

OK?

1. Cutting away from the fights

So, this is a Godzilla movie, right? I get that the movie can't be 100% Godzilla. You need some characters that can actually speak. However, except for the final battle, none of the other battles are shown on-screen. Godzilla starts fighting with one of the creatures (stupidly called MUTO) and the director just cuts away to one of the humans.

"Godzilla's gonna fight....Godzilla's gonna fight...." *a door slides shut and we cut to the Olsen sister that isn't a twin*

Annoying.

2. The Brian Cranston connection.

In the trailers, it looked like Brian Cranston, who is currently a hot commodity in Hollywood, would be the human star of the movie. Nope. He dies in the first act, before any of the monsters are actually shown. (Well, I think we might have seen a foot of the MUTO...that doesn't count.)

I get that his name is hot right now. There are people that went to see this movie for him. Won't they be disappointed when he dies a third of the way into the 2-hour film.

3. The "bad" monsters should have real names.

Godzilla gets a name. There's a Mothra cameo. Yet the two big bad monsters of the movie are both called MUTO, which stands for Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism. What? Give Ken Watanabe a use. Let him give those baddies some names.

4. They made Ken Watanabe useless.

His entire purpose in this movie was to stand around and watch other people do things. He is supposed to be a scientist. What scientist just stands by and lets everyone else do the work? Even the Japanese scientists in the old Godzilla movies were all "Screw this! I'm going to help Godzilla myself!"

5. Kick-Ass specialized in everything.

Brian Cranston's son, Kick-Ass, is an explosives specialist in the Navy. Yet he manages to get himself hitched onto an Army Special Force team, which gets him from Hawaii to California. Then he talks his way onto a Navy squad that is setting up an explosive to kill the MUTO. Then he parachutes into the scene of the Godzilla battle to disarm the explosive the MUTO stole from them.

Something tells me that his ass would still be stuck on Hawaii. The military isn't in the business of giving people, even other military people, rides home.

This movie was bullshit. For serious. I won't say it wasn't any fun. The end of that big battle was awesome. But I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that one awesome scene from one fight scene is going to redeem the entire film. If even half of these issues were fixed, I wouldn't be so hard on the movie. If they made the Godzilla movie about Godzilla instead of about The Other Olsen and Kick-Ass, I might have liked it more. As it stands, it is just plain bullshit.

Favorite Friday - May 23

I am trying to bring back the Favorite Friday feature. There are a LOT of YouTube channels that I follow and I would love to share them with you. Mental Floss is one of my favorites. Usually hosted by John Green, the channel does trivia lists about everything and anything. This week's list was 47 Charming Things About Children's Books (though most of the facts were about the authors and not the books themselves). Enjoy!

Bulu Box - May

Before I get into the review, I'd like to make a bit of an announcement. From this point forward, subscription box reviews will be done in video form instead of written posts. At least for now. If I decide that the videos aren't working, I'll go back to writing the reviews. That means that The Geek Within will have a YouTube channel. The Geek also has a new Facebook page. Like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Then you'll know you're getting the full Geek!

OK! Onto the review. Bulu box is a health, nutrition, and weight loss subscription box. You get 4 or 5 samples in each box. If you review your products on their website, you can get reward points that give you a discount on your next order.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the box. You can see the bright orange box on the Bulu box website. I'm not sure if every box is themed but it looks like this one is A Feel-Good Discovery.

One of the first things I pulled out was a small packet of Ridgecrest Herbals Migraine Relief. There are 6 homeopathic capsules in the packet. I do get migraines occasionally but I don't know that I get then often enough to actually try this out. I forgot to look for an expiration date on the packet. I'll keep them on hand, just in case.

My daughter pulled out the Smarty Pants for Kids gummy vitamins. She absolutely loves gummy vitamins. One of the things I didn't like, though, was that the child takes 4 gummies each day. That is an awful lot. Every other brand we have tried was 2 per day. My daughter was the first to try it. She didn't like it very much. Neither did I. The gummy tastes fine at first, but it has a terrible aftertaste. I couldn't find a flavor listed on the packet so I don't know if we just got a bad flavor or if they all taste like that. Either way, it's a no-go in our house.

There is also an adult vitamin in the box. This one is Vivioptal Women. There are 5 capsules in this pack and you take 1 per day. I haven't tried it yet. Mostly because it kinda scares me. The capsules are blood red and it says "German Formula" across the front of the box. I don't mind taking chances but I don't want to make myself sick either.

A Skratch Labs Hydration Stick came out next. This is a lemon-lime flavored powder that, when mixed with water, is supposed to replace electrolytes after exercising. Sort of like Gatoraid. My daughter had just finished two dance classes so she was ready to try the stuff. It was yet another product that she didn't like. I took of a sip after she made the Yuck face. It tasted a bit like flat Sprite. Maybe we should have added the powder to carbonated water.

The AdvanceMint Happy Hour isn't something I will ever use. It is a hangover prevention supplement. I don't drink alcohol, which is its own hangover prevention. Maybe I can give it to someone else to try.

Another little packet contained NutraWise Youtheory Collagen Advanced Formula. This is supposed to promote active joints, hydrate skin, and reduce wrinkles. It is yet another product that intrigues and scares me at the same time. I should get up the nerve to try it. I don't think this one will kill me.

Finally, BioXGenic Nature's Desire. It is a female "mood enhancer." Supposedly, it increases the female libido using natural ingredients. Hm. I'm sure my husband would like me to take it. But...ehhh....I don't know. Maybe.

I didn't have any expectations when I ordered the 3-month subscription to this box. Based on this one box, I am not impressed. Of the 7 samples we received, 2 of them tasted awful, 2 of them I am unlikely to ever use, and the other 3 scare me slightly. I hope that the products in next month's box are a little more normal.