Current Favourite Non Beauty Things

Orange is the New Black
If you've had any kind of conversation with me in the last fortnight, I've probably told you to watch this already, because frankly, I can't shut up about it. There is so much to love about this show - it's mostly women, the guys are jerks, and not in the Don Draper/Tony Soprano "ooh, he's a bad arse" kind of way, almost no one is entirely good or entirely bad (well, not among the women, anyway), it's funny, it's dramatic, it's sad, it's shocking. It's bloody brilliant. Watch it.

Sneaky Pickle
Food trucks have become a thing in Adelaide in the last year or so - I know, I know, only 10 years behind everyone else. It was actually Noodles who spotted this one first a couple of weeks ago, and although I have a rule about not eating food from food trucks (because I am clumsy and food truck food is invariably messy), this one seemed too good to pass up. That there in the picture are brisket sandwiches with sides of coleslaw and a pickle. Top left is onion rings, top right is fried mac and cheese fingers. There were two of us eating this, and we should have gotten one sandwich to share, because this food is SO filling and SO rich we couldn't finish. However, it was worth it - the brisket is cooked in some kind of smoked hickory sauce and the mac and cheese fingers are just ingenious (they do lean salty though so people sensitive to salt might find it's a bit much for them). Note to self: next time either sandwich or sides.

Welcome to Night Vale
This is a podcast that apparently the cool kids are all over, but that I only heard about recently. The premise is that it's a radio news show for a small desert town where a lot of weird things happen. It's hard to describe, but highly addictive. 

Answer Me This
Another podcast I seem to have found years after everyone else, this is a British show with a simple premise - people send in their questions (either specific 'why is X called X kind of questions, or 'problems' requiring advice) and the hosts answer them. The hosts have those charming, easy to listen to BBC kind of voices and they're often hilarious. Short and sharp and well-edited, definitely worth listening to.

Boardwalk Empire
I've been rewatching this with Ben, who FINALLY started watching it a couple of weeks ago after me nagging him for about two years. We marathoned 8 episodes of Season 2 last night, including that episode. Yeah, you know the one. That one. And then the next one. Oh my god. I'm a bit wary of rewatching Season 3 - although it has a satisfying large amount of Richard Harrow (swoon), Bobby Cannavale - whom I usually love - is SO annoying he almost ruined the entire season for me. Let's see if I find him more tolerable the second time around. Season 4 starts in September, and I'm excited!

Finally, not a current favourite but an anticipatory favourite:

EIGHT SLEEPS UNTIL BREAKING BAD YOU GUYS!

I will be preparing myself by listening to Bald Move's Breaking Good podcast next week, where they will discuss fan theories and hopes for the final 8 episodes. Then on the following Monday I'll be coming home from work early, blacking out the interwebs, pouring my champaggen and a bowl of Twisties, and settling in. I can't wait. But I also dread it being gone forever. I AM SO CONFLICTED.

Things I'm Currently Loving

Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Fine Fragrance Mist
This was on my last favourites list, but I'm still loving it to death. It's the best kind of vanilla, warm and delicious. Om nom nom. I have taken to occasionally spraying it on my pillow a couple of hours before I go to bed so I can wallow in it.

MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Again, this was on my last list, and again, still loving it. I use it almost every day - either to add a bit of oomph to tinted moisturisers, or to set under eye concealer.

Queen Helene Grape Seed Extract Peel Off Masque
I love peel off masks generally, but this one is especially good - it leaves my face feeling soft and non-wrinkly at least for a while after. And it's as cheap as chips, less than $4US on iHerb.

The Garden Bath Fresh Roses Perfume Oil
A true rose scent with a touch of a sharp green note in the background. So pretty and girly, I just love it.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe and Bad to the Bronze
I've been doing the old swipe-and-go on the eyes a fair bit of late, and these two colours are just fool proof. I wear one or the other depending on whether I feel like matte or a bit of shimmer. The only problem I have with them is that I have to apply them exactly where I want them to be because they dry almost immediately, making them virtually impossible to blend.

Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Matte Eyeshadow Primer
I have never really been a fan of UDPP, so when I finally used up all the little freebies that come with palettes I had lying around, I went looking for something else, and decided to try this one and the NYX HD primer. The NYX is pretty much a dupe for UDPP, which I guess is okay from a cost point of view, because it's way cheaper, but for keeping my eyeshadow in place all day, this Coastal Scents one has it in spades. Love it.

Real Techniques Brow Brush
When I first bought the Real Techniques eye brush set, I thought this one was kind of rubbish - it seemed way too thick to be a good brow brush, and nowhere near as stiff and precise as my beloved company-that-shall-no-longer-be-mentioned-due-to-hideous-unapologetic-racism one, but I have found that it is actually perfect for filling in brows and making them look really natural rather than 'done'. It's also super super quick to use.

NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash
This is a little set that comes with two brow powders and a wax, as well as an application brush and a spoolie. The application brush is a bit useless, though I do occasionally use the little spoolie. I don't really use the wax either as it's quite soft - I much prefer NYX's Eyebrow Shaper. However, the lighter of the two powders is perfect for me - a lightish medium brown with absolutely no red in it. I use the Real Techniques brush to apply and only takes a few seconds.

Also....

Etsy
I have been Etsy bingeing of late, though in my defence, it's mostly samples. Perfume oils, loose eyeshadows, skincare products, lip balms, etc. I just love Etsy, and the 99.9% of good experiences I've had far outweigh the one or two bad ones. I love that I can buy something from a creative person doing their own thing. Mind you, I feel like they are getting a bit lax in their definition of 'handmade'. I was looking for bracelets for Noodles recently and there are a hell of a lot of mass-produced little crap things coming out of Hong Kong and China on there. Not cool, Etsy. That's what eBay is for.

The Because Show
This is a podcast that I only heard about very recently, and it's three women who are probably in their mid to late 30s. There are elements of their cast that don't grab me (a tendency to chat a bit too much about farting - I'm not a 12 year old boy and that really doesn't interest me), but on the other hand, there's enough there that I do like and I've been listening to their back catalogue most of the weekend. They talk about loads of things, including makeup and books. MAKEUP AND BOOKS. Yay for chicks!

Parks and Recreation
I've loved this show for lo these many years (and again, this is the second time in a row it's been on my favourites list), but it has come up in conversation more often of late because I FINALLY have some other people to talk to about it. Natalie has been a fan for quite a while, but fairly recently we managed to cajole Jessica into watching, and now she is up to Season 4 and thoroughly hooked. Hurrah! I've just converted a bunch of episodes to MP4 and put them on my phone so I can just watch them randomly whenever I feel the need for a P&R fix. Oh, and a girl I work with texted me yesterday to say she had just watched all of Season 1 (which is only 6 episodes) and loved it. The word is getting out there!

Nacho Saturday
This kind of speaks for itself. It involves eating nachos. On a Saturday. And it's awesome.

Things I Like: A Semi-Regular Series - Podcasts

Source

I'm not really a big music person - I go through periods where I like listening to it, and then I'll go months without ever hearing any. And I detest radio to the point where it can send me into a frothing rage if someone at work is playing one on their desk (seriously people - it's 2012. HEADPHONES). However, I do quite often need to blank out noise around me at work (OTHER PEOPLE'S STUPID RADIOS), so I quite often listen to podcasts. Today I'm just going to list some of my favourites - mostly relating to TV, film, and pop/geek culture, so if you're interested in any of these topics, check them out and see what you think.

I'll start with my favourites - Bald Move. These guys have a bunch of TV show specific podcasts that come and go according to the programs' seasons. They have just wound up Breaking Bad and will be starting up The Walking Dead in a few weeks when that's back on television (yay!). They also do Mad Men, Justified, and Game of Thrones. The set up is that they recap the week's episode, discussing along the way any interesting points or interpretations that crop up, and then spend time on listener feedback. They're chatty and organically funny, and they're enthusiastic about their subjects, but not afraid to criticise something they don't consider up to par. They also have an older podcast called Blue Yonder (still available on their website and iTunes, though they don't update them anymore) that's more of a generic geek/pop culture show, and it's worth listening to if you enjoy their rapport in their more recent outings. They have quite interesting backgrounds (hardcore, intelligent geeks who come across as endearingly naive about some things due to having been raised in a strict religious environment).

Personal Arrogants is a podcast by two young guys in Seattle, the subject of which is 'bridging the gap between nerd culture and pop culture' or words to that effect. It's a pretty random cast, with a lot of discussion about gaming and beer (one works for a brewery and they both have an interest in boutique brews). Since I neither play video games nor really drink beer, it's surprising how much I like this cast. They talk about a lot of other things as well though, and like Bald Move, they have a great rapport and a funny outlook.

The Golden Briefcase is a film podcast, but rather than review a specific film, these two guys have a discussion topic each week inspired by a new release for that week. For example, if there's a big superhero movie coming out, they might have a discussion about comic book heroes and how successful their translations to the big screen have been. I like this one more than other film podcasts because I rarely see new releases until they hit DVD or a good download shows up on The Pirate Bay, so listening to them talk for 40 minutes about a film I haven't seen can be a bit dull at times.

How Did This Get Made celebrates terrible movies, with a podcast popping up about every two weeks dissecting a particular 'bad movie we love'. They've done casts on such gems as Godzilla, Cool as Ice (with special guest Vanilla Ice himself, who was wonderfully good-humoured), Burlesque, and Batman and Robin. Hosted by actor Paul Scheer (you might know him as Donny the head page in 30 Rock), his wife June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukis, they're invariably hilarious.

The Black Guy Who Tips makes me uncomfortable sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. My white leftie guilt goes into overdrive when they start throwing the 'n' word around. This is an incredibly meandering cast - they quite often spend 20 minutes or so just banging on about their sponsors, their Twitter handles, their website, etc. It's a husband and wife team, and though Rod the husband is funny, Karen the wife is really just there for him to bounce off. She has an annoying tendency to come up behind him and 'explain' his jokes. Having said all that, it's often screamingly funny. They just talk about random topics and read out weird newspaper stories, and then Rod comments on them and discusses them with whoever else he has there with him. And they do that for 2-3 hours several times a week. It's a good one for work because I can put it on and just tune in and out of it.

The Joe Rogan Experience is a podcast I've only started listening to recently. I only really know Joe Rogan from Fear Factor, and vaguely remember him from NewsRadio, so my opinion of him is 'overgrown frat boy'. I would never in a million years have bothered listening to a podcast of his, but I heard a couple of people talking about it and it piqued my interest. And I have to say - it's probably now one of my favourites. He's another one who just rambles - not least because he's generally pretty stoned - and he and his comedian friends sit around and tell weird, rambling, hilarious stories about whatever pops into their heads. The most interesting one for me so far was when he had Dave Foley on and they dished on all the NewsRadio gossip and Dave's disastrous first marriage. And the one with Bobcat Goldthwait was so funny I had to stop listening at work because I kept bursting into laughter and looking like an idiot. 

And finally, one that's more of a hate listen. Firewall & Iceberg is a general TV podcast, where the two hosts - Alan Sepinwall and Daniel Fienberg - discuss the most recent episodes of several of the week's shows, review upcoming new programs, and report any interesting or important TV news. I'm not entirely sure why I listen to this one, because I rarely agree with Sepinwall's opinions about anything (I often feel like I've watched a different episode to him), and Fienberg's halting, disjointed speech patterns and irritating habit of asking himself questions and then answering them ("Do I think she's the best character? No. Do I think she's a good character? Yes - I do - but - ") drives me mental. I think I just keep going with it because it's an easy one to listen to at work - I don't really need to pay attention to what's being said and I can tune in and out.