Mystery Box Review - Electro Threads

Sometimes money can just burn a hole in your pocket, but you don't know what to buy! That's where mystery boxes come in. I LOVE the concept. If a company seems to have enough products that I'd enjoy, then I tend to give the mystery box a go, and Electro Threads was no exception.

Image from Electro Threads' Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ElectroThreads/)

Electro Threads does all-over printing on various clothing items, and cool designs on blankets, tapestries, and more. Their website explains that the goal of Electro Threads is to "inspire, uplift, and spread positive vibes throughout the world." All the bright colors (ooo ahhh) and cool designs definitely caught my attention. However, another company (Mr. Gugu and Miss Go) also caught my eye for their collection of all-over printed items. In terms of clothes, I was pretty sure I'd rather get stuff from Mr. Gugu and Miss Go, but the description of the one of the Electro Threads mystery box still had me intrigued.

Get over $100 worth of product for only $49.95. Whats in the Mystery box: It could be a hat, blanket, tapestry, hooded blanket, or even a shower curtain but if we told you what was inside, that would ruin the surprise!

Each box will have products hand picked from our inventory worth over $100 in value.

NO RETURNS, EXCHANGES, OR REFUNDS

The idea of a groovy shower curtain had me hooked! I wanted this mystery box. Get the clothes from Mr. Gugu and get the accessories/home good from Electro Threads, I though. So... I purchased one. And the day soon came when the items arrived. Firstly, they do not come in a box, which was fine. But weird choice of wording to not just call it a mystery bag.
Anyway, I eagerly opened the bag, and... I was disappointed. Pictured below are the contents.

So I was kind of expecting maybe 3-5 cool items. And technically I got 4 items (plus the handful of logo stickers that they give with purchases), but I'm not crazy about em.

We'll start with the big guy in the back of the photo. It's a nice sized cozy blanket with a kind of mandala image. I definitely would never have chosen that design for myself, but it's not hideous.

Image from Electro Threads (https://electrothreads.com/collections/blankets/products/tranquility-blanket?variant=28647744205)

The design is called Tranquility. I'm not in to peace signs. I have mixed feelings on peace in general, so I don't seek out items with peace signs on them. The size of the blanket I received was the Twin 60"x80", which is sold on it's own for $34.95 (price reflects the on-sale price on the website at the time of this post). The tag on the blanket reads Terry Town. I don't know that brand. My guess would be Electro Threads buys the blank blankets from this company, then prints on them. The product page says that the item is hand made in the USA, but the tag leads me to question that.  I don't really mind if the item was made in China. What I do mind is lying.

Tag that says MADE IN CHINA

Screenshot from the Electro Threads product page claiming item was Hand made in the USA!

The blanket is a nice size. It's really soft. It does shed a bit, so not ideal if you're wearing black. But it's not a terrible item overall. I just personally am not a fan of the design. It was a shame to me that out of all the cool designs on their website, I got one I had no interest in.

The next item was a tapestry.

Image from Electro Threads (https://electrothreads.com/collections/wall-tapestries/products/dream-free-tapestry)

I got the small size (32"x42"), which is on sale for $17.47 but regularly $34.95 (https://electrothreads.com/collections/wall-tapestries/products/dream-free-tapestry). And cloth tapestries are just something I've never gotten before. I've never wanted them. I think they're kind of silly. To me they read pot head, and I've only ever seen them used to cover up the windows of pot heads. They're not not my thing, I guess. On top of that, I think this design is repulsive. It's so 'Murica, but in a non-ironic way, that it's not even funny. On top of that, the small size is so small that I thought it was basically an oversized bandana at first. It's a thin material, like bandana material, and light travels through it. I had not gotten the item wet, so I do not know if the colors will bleed/run. If you love eagles, America, dreamcatchers, or a patriotic Aurora Borealis, then perhaps you can appreciate this item. For me, I strongly dislike it. It's folded up and put away in a cupboard for me. I have no use for this. I don't know what the tag says, since I foolishly stored the item before looking.

Last items. 2 bracelets. They are sitting on top of the tapestry in the photo (I know it's hard to see. Sorry about that!).

Image from Pintrest (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/566116615642574801/).

The mystery box came with two of these bracelets. One with blue, black, and white cord. One with solid maroon. Currently these bracelets are not listed for sale on the Electro Threads site, but bracelets that they are currently selling range in price from $8.95 to $0.50. So for the sake of argument let's say the ones I got in the mystery box would have been sold for $4.00. They look fine, I suppose. Positive vibes are a good thing, after all. I guess I was just completely underwhelmed by receiving two of the same thing. It seemed like a copout. Oh well.

All in all, I would not order a mystery box again from Electro Threads. I fully understand that it's a mystery box, thus I shouldn't really complain about what I received. If I knew what I wanted I should have just bought the items individually. Yadda yadda. I suppose that seeing all the stuff on the website that I actually do like made me think the mystery box was going to be full of awesomeness. In all fairness there's probably people out there that think this was a great mystery box. Good for you then. I'm just reviewing based on my opinion, taste, and experience. And for me, I don't need a tiny tapestry, and two the same bracelet. The blanket I at least have a use for.

Regular non-sale prices

Blanket: $54.95

Tapestry: $34.95

2 Bracelets: $8.00 (est $4/each)

Total: $97.90

Proces based on current sale

Blanket: $34.95

Tapestry: $17.47

2 Bracelets: $4.00 (est $2/each)

Total: $56.42

Technically the description of the total value of the mystery box was nearly correct. The total for the items if purchased individually comes to nearly $100. All in all, I will not be buying from Electro Threads again. Not a mystery box. Not an Individual product. This is because of my overall negative experience with the mystery box, and the label that clearly says the blanket was made in China. The whole lying thing (or maybe it's just lack of what part of the item was made in the USA) rubs me the wrong way.

BoardGameGeek CON Nov 2015

I am, as some would say, a geek and/or nerd; I love games (video games, board games, card games, no-stuff-necessary games). To help this love grow, I recently attended BoardGameGeek Con. I'd never been to BGG.CON before, and how sad is that! The convention was AMAZING, and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves games.

BGG.CON went for 5 days (Wed Nov 18-Sun Nov 22). I unfortunately did not attend Wednesday, but as soon as I got my badge on Thursday I was given 4 free games EACH! Here's a photo of a friend and my pile of free games. We went straight back to the car after this so we wouldn't be carrying it around all day.

My day 1 was amazing! I played several new games, and saw a lot of fun and funny stuff. Here's a pic of my 1st day hail. The only thing paid for in this pile is the game of Poop. I had to get it because potter humor never gets old :)

I saw the game of Poop at a table in one of the two exhibitor halls. There were several versions available, and if you bought two or more, they were packaged in a little doggy bag that said "this package contains Poop"! It was hilarious! I decided on the party game version, because it sounds like something a lot of people could get a kick out of. Now for a little more detail about the exhibitor halls. There were two halls, and within them there were publishers, people trying to gain traction for their Kickstarter pages, game component sellers, and more!
Everyone got a bingo card with their badge. The bingo spaces consisted of the different exhibitors. To fill a bingo space, you had to go to the exhibitor listed on your card, talk to them, demo a game, or purchase something. Then in exchange, they had the stickers to fill the spaces. Each line of bingo was worth 10 geekgold, which you can use on BoardGameGeek.com, and once you got a blackout on your card, it could be entered into a raffle.
It took 3 days for my to fill my card.

One of the first booths my friend and I passed was the Japanime Games booth. They had tons of stuff from Krosmaster. As I walked passed it I looked at their little plushie yellow bird thing, and the thought kept repeating in my mind That looks a lot like it's from Wakfu...Eventually one of the people manning the booth asked if we had any questions. I started, "Is this related to-" He cut me off, "Wakfu? Yes. And I have NO IDEA why they didn't just keep the name, since they already had an established fan base."
He then asked if we'd like to demo the game, so we gave it a try. I got a free game figure out of it, and was told there would be a few beginners tournaments going on Friday and Saturday. Both my friend and I entered. Both my friend and I lost. However everyone still got rewarded for their time. We got more of these game figures to use in the future! The pics on the left show the regular Krosmaster Arena board with the default figures that come with it. The terrain pieces, like the boxes, trees, and bushes, DO NOT come with the base game. These are separate items and they cost a LOT. You need to buy two packages in order to fill the base board, and just the terrain pieces will run about $75. The base set comes with cardboard ones, so if you don't want to spend the $75 you'll still have those. However there's a world of difference, and these terrain pieces are awesome.

Haul at the end of my 2nd day. You can see the little figures Japanime Games awarded. The day 2 haul was also buffed by the proto room. There was a room full of games people were testing out. Some of the developers awarded prizes for spending time testing the games and giving feedback. There was a variety of types of games to test. Dungeon crawlers, word games, ameritrash. And it's always satisfying to be able to help someone improve something they believe in.

Here we see just a part of the library! The convention had a library of games that worked just as you'd expect. On the attendees' badges were barcodes. Attendees could pick a game, bring it to the check-out, get he game and their badge scanned, and then have the game for hours! It was amazing. There were some people we talked to that simply spent all of their time at the convention checking out games, and playing them in the ballroom full of tables. In the ballroom there were a variety of signs to attract people to play a game with you, so if you needed more players or a teacher it was no problem. If you can the the con along or with friends, you'd be able to get the players needed for whatever you wanted to play.

 Here's a game that looks like it's been... well loved. Goes to show that you can make a game out of anything. For the record, I did not give this game a try.

I did, however, try this one. The cave was a tile-building game (think Carcassonne). You're exploring an uncharted cave system, but don't wander too far from base camp un prepared or else you'll starve!

Remember how I mentioned a raffle earlier? Well there were tons! During the closing ceremony on Saturday night, many people were winners. There was the raffle from getting a blackout bingo card, plus every attendee also had a regular raffle ticket. Prizes ranged from a bunch of games, to hand-painted boards, to tickets for next year's con, and more!
To the left you'll see my winnings! It was 3 games, 1 expansion, and a calendar that marks regular holidays as well as weird days and conventions.

Saturday was great. My friend and I ended up staying at the con until about 1am, when the library closed. You'll see my Saturday haul in the pic on the right. I ended up buying a copy of Krosmaster Arena after trying the game and losing in a couple beginners tournaments.
This day was the longest one yet. Realizing this convention was fun from the minute it started, to when it ended, my friend and I decided we'd try to utilize the whole day Saturday. The con started at 8am. We arrived around 9am. Then things closed down at 1am Sunday morning. We were definitely sleep deprived by this time, and we could feel our immune systems failing, so we stocked up on juice and vitamins. It was all worth it though.

Sunday was the last day, and also the shortest day. BGG.CON concluded at 3pm on Sunday, so we got there around 9am to make the most of it. There were no panels and speakers on Sunday, which meant most people were just playing the games they bought or checking out the library. We did a mix of both. The best game of the con for us was Dead Man's Draw. This game was a combination of luck and strategy. The game, purely card-based, could also be difficult or hard depending on the set of rules you wanted to follow. It came with 5 alternate scenarios of winning, plus you had the regular game, and the game you could play using a captain's abilities. Essentially it was 7 versions in one. For only $15 I'd recommend it!
Game play: Essentially there are 10 suits, with cards numbered from 2 to 7 (except for one suit that went to 9). The goal of the game is to get the most points. Points are earned by counting the highest number on the cards of all 10 suits that you bank. You earn cards for your bank by blindly pulling from the deck, and flipping them up in the play area (depicted in the photo above). You can draw as many cards as you want, but if you get two of the same suits you bust, and all the cards you drew go in the discard pile. The game ends when the draw pile is depleted. That's the simplest version. Once you understand that, then you can throw in using the suits' abilities. Once you master that you can chose a captain from the captain deck, and use his/her ability. Then once you've gotten all that down, you can change the win scenario.

Sunday sadly eventually came to an end. But it was a great time. This photo is my final haul. Most of the items shown were free.

I ended up only spending money on a few games. I got Poop, Dark Stories 2, Dead Man's Draw, Krosmaster Arena, the terrain pieces for Krosmaster, and a plushie mouse from the game Mice and Mystics.

Plus I got this bag, and my cat approves.

If you enjoy games, then this is definitely a convention I'd recommend. I've been to tons of conventions before, but never a board game convention like this. When I first heard it was a 5-day convention I thought that was crazy! 5 days??? That's too much!
I was wrong. A sci-fi, anime, or comic convention is usually 3 days, and that works well. But a board game convention works differently. When playing board games you're investing a lot of time into a single events. Unlike other kinds of conventions where a glance might be all you need to experience an event, playing a game can take a LOT longer (I'm looking at you, Pathfinder!). There may not have been a lot of panels at this convention, but you didn't really need a lot of panels, since people want to play games, not listen to people talk the whole time.
The ticket price was steep (almost $100 per ticket), but just look at what it gets you! 4 free games right off the top! Plus all the additional free stuff you pick up along the way. And the ticket gets you access to the library, the ball room to play, dexterity games, game previews, and more. Considering all the physical and experiential staff I got for the ticket, I'm surprised it was only $95!
If you're considering going to the next BGG.CON, please plan ahead. I got my ticket the day it went on sale waaaaaay back in the Spring, and that first week alone the tickets were 85% sold out. Hopefully next year will allow for more attendees, but in case it doesn't, plan to get your ticket as soon as possible.

The Brad Pit

Brad Pitt's Brad Pitts

I did it fot teh lulz

Compiled from
http://www.celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/wenn21008695.jpg
https://tmoniquestephens.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bigstock-portrait-of-a-sexy-muscular-ma-36532474.jpg
http://magazinefeed.net/sites/default/files/elcolordelcine_brad_pitt_0.jpg
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Entertainment/images-12/brad-pitt-new-movie.jpg

My Hump

Sing it!

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977)
Directed and Written by George Barry

Dear My brain... I'm so sorry I did this to you... I plan Patton Oswalt 

If you've heard Patton Oswalt's bit about Death Bed, you may be under the same impression I was. "Oh, this sounds like a terribly funny b-movie!" But you're wrong... It's a b-movie beyond being mock-worthy. Just walk away.

Some young kids in heat find a random place in the wilderness to shag (cause of course that's a good idea). They get it on whilst on the bed. But it's not a normal bed. It's Death Bed, the bed that eats!!!

The 5 star meal the guy brings for the girl he's shagging.

Needless to say the lovers are absorbed into the bed. Fast forward a little and three girls drive up to spend the weekend in the area. Two are friends, and the third is a work acquaintance who invited herself along but soon regrets it.
Once the girls arrive, the third wheel decided she'll sleep the day away on a random bed they stumble upon in a bunker. The other two go to explore, while third wheel Suzan stays behind. She falls asleep and the bed kind of gets off from her sleeping body. Somehow the bed undresses her, does its thing, then eats her. Once she girls return they're puzzled by her disappearance. Thinking she couldn't have gone very far, one girl, Sharon, decides to drive up the way they came while the other, Diane, stays behind in case she returns.
Diane chugs down some wine and soon finds herself resting on the bed. She awakens to see Suzan saying she is dead. Both of them are in a book of names of the dead. Diane looks at the book, made of reflective sheets, and page after page she sees only her reflection. This is just a dream of her and Suzan, so this time she wakes for real. Unfortunately she stirs to the realization that the bed is gobbling her up. Whimpering, she drags herself off the bed to the stairs leading out of the bunker. On the top step it seems she's home free, when one of the sheets whips out and wraps around her, pulling her back. 

Diane fails to escape, and is dragged back to bed to finish the "job"

Sharon returns just in time to see this, but is unable to saver her friend.
Meanwhile Sharon's brother has been trying to find her for some reason. He eventually arrives in the brick shack to see his sister huddled in the corner. Why has the bed not taken her, you ask. It is because Sharon's eyes look like the eyes of the lover of the demon who bled tears on the bed, bringing it to life. In short, Sharon reminds Death Bed of its mom.
Understand the bed is evil, Sharon's brother stabs it. But Death Bed latches onto the knife, and instead of letting go he lets his hands get sucked in with it. When he manages to wriggle free, Death Bed has picked his hands clean, leaving only the bones exposed. Sharon's brother says he can't tale the sight of his own bones, so she snaps his hands off for him.

Sharon and her brother, who is being recruited for the skeleton army

Then somehow there's a dude trapped behind a painting (who has been playing narrator this whole time). He gives Sharon instructions on how to kill the bed, though it seems to cost her life and her brother's to do so.
So death bed is destroyed, and we're all left feeling underwhelmed.

Death Bed on its deathbed as it weird ritual continues to destroy it

Cause even Death Bed gets a bit upset inside. Image from 

I want to mention that at no time during this movie does anyone under attack scream. They just stay silent as they're eaten alive, or whimper. Maybe if they asked for help, someone near by could have come over or something. The pacing is also so slow that during scenes where people are getting killed, the whimpering makes it sound like you're watching porn (I watched this at a friend's parents' house and we both prayed that they wouldn't hear this flick, come downstairs and be like "What the heck???").
There's also a lot of moments of unnecessary nudity, like in Diane's dream.
The story is so convoluted that there has to be a narrator. Instead of having characters with dialogue, the narrator just tries to fill you in.
Also if you are so curious, you'll notice that all the girl's filmographies on IMDB only consist of Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. Maybe it turned them off from ever wanting to act again?

As mentioned before, this movie was so bad that there wasn't even enough to make fun of. Save yourselves and watch something else like Zombies on a Plane.
If for whatever reason you still feel the need to watch it, don't waste the $15 on the DVD like I did. Talk someone else into buying it for you, or maybe check it out here for free https://youtu.be/r9CL4erF9Qw

4chan

Some 4chan moments.