Bitmoji Fun

Back when I was still on Facebook over 2 years ago, I came across an app called "Bitstrip" and made an avatar of myself, which interacted with the avatars of some of my friends. I recently discovered a phone app called "Bitmoji" that allowed me to re-create my avatar, even though I am now Facebook-less. My avatar is no longer social since I have no way of connecting my avatar to my former virtual friends, but she can still be texted to others through the phone. Pretty nifty and a little creepy how much my avatar looks like the real me. Though this photo of me is a little dated, taken in Zurich in 2007 (how is that nearly a decade ago?!) when I wasn't wearing my glasses, check out the uncanny resemblance! 

Snowmageddon 2016

Wow. Looks like we may end up with up to 3 feet of snow here in Washington, DC. It is 3pm on Saturday and the snow has been falling steadily since yesterday afternoon, heavier than ever at the moment and not forecasted to stop until midnight.

As the curator of a different area at the Zoo, I do not typically post about the pandas, but I must admit that the panda snow video shown in this news footage is pretty great: Tian Tian in the Snow

...Update: it is now the Monday after the weekend blizzard and the federal government and zoo both closed. We spent the day shoveling/snow blowing. So much snow!

Etsy, Oh Etsy, How Do I Love Thee?!

While I am also a big fan of Amazon.com and Amazon.uk, I absolutely love Etsy.com, which I discovered just over 2 years ago when I moved back to DC. I have bought all sorts of creative things, many customized.

Here are some of my favorite past purchases - a unique oak table and two spectacular customized orders:

My most recent orders:

Realizing that this will be the third wood spirit carving I have purchased, two from Etsy.com and one from the MD Ren Faire, I have decided to take up a new hobby...currently reading books on the subject of wood carving to figure out what supplies I need and I have ordered some wood blanks so I can start making carvings myself. I have attempted whittling projects before, but will need to get some proper knives if this is to become a real hobby! 

Kindle!

I recently decided to give my mother my Nook Color and get myself a Kindle Paperwhite. I never could get used to the Nook's glossy screen and just wanted to use my e-reader for reading. Also I find more titles of interest at a lower price through Amazon, whereas my mother can use the Nook Color to view her color photos from which she makes watercolor paintings.

I haven't yet decided if it is worth it to pay for the $9.99/month Kindle Unlimited service, but as an Amazon Prime Member there are a long list of books that I can borrow for free 1 book a month--also not bad. 

I'm not sure which I love more, the hard magnetic protective Omoton case ("Magic Forest" design seemed most appropriate for many of the Sci Fi/Fantasy books I read), or the customized soft zippered case I bought from a store on Etsy, which was customized to perfectly fit my Kindle in its magnetic caw  when on the go.

 

         

The Kindle Paperwhite (newest version) is in my opinion the perfect size for an e-reader. It's screen is also ideal for reading in all situations, thanks to adjustable light levels and a matte screen. 

Until purchasing my Kindle I read e-books using the Kindle and Nook apps on my ipad and iphone. Though I no longer maintain a current Barnes & Noble memberships, mostly because I live in DC and not near any stores, I am happy to be able to use the Nook app, which allows me to access the many e-books I purchased when actively using a Nook. 

I have a lot of great e-books on my Nook account that I have been re-reading recently, one of the more interesting and unusual finds being: "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms"

I still love physical books and have several that I keep meaning to read but haven't yet picked up. The difference with e-readers is that they are so easy to read and transport multiple titles. I wish I had one of these when I was in Indonesia for years, hauling with me as many books as I could when we always had a generator so could have powered up an e-reader. I also like the ease with which it is possible to read multiple books, going back and forth among them and for some reason I find more easily than doing the same among multiple hardcopy books. Oh well! 

Here are a few useful links for Kindle Users:
Kindle Store on Amazon
Free Kindle ebook Sites
Unique Sites for Kindle ebooks
goodreads Kindle ebooks

My Current TV/Netflix and Movie Picks

Though I now have a Kindle and suspect to do a lot more reading, I am an avid movie-goer and multi-tasker, spending a lot of weekend time especially during the winter doing work while binge watching TV series on Netflix.

My favorite Current TV/Netflix Series:
As far as American TV goes I have most recently enjoyed watching "Treehouse Masters" (one day Pete Nelson will make me a treehouse!), "The Big Bang Theory" (though find it is getting a little stale), "Scorpion" (yep, more nerds), my embarrassing guilty pleasure "Sister Wives" (nope, can't explain it, but I do find it fascinating), and "American Horror Story" (looking forward for the newest season set in a hotel to come out on Netflix so it can be binge-watched).

But my 3 favorite series, all of which I binge-watched recently on Netflix, are out of Australia or the UK. I have blogged about all 3 recently so won't go into detail, but in my opinion some of the best TV I have ever seen includes:

"Last Tango in Halifax" (all 3 seasons, though still mad they killed off a certain character, which I suspect will make one of my favorite characters sad for most of the next season)

"Broadchurch" (Seasons 1-2)

"Wentworth Prison" (Season 3; Seasons 1 and 2 were also good, but Season 3 was amazing)

On the Big Screen:
As a nerd and Star Wars/Trek fan from way back, I have already seen "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", but plan to see it again soon with a friend who hasn't yet. My younger cat Chewie is named after Chewbacca the wookie, after all!

The other day I went to Chinatown to see Kate Blanchett's new movie "Carol", only to discover I had managed to go to the wrong cinema and on the same night as a Capitals hockey game. The stadium is right next to the theater in Chinatown so I knew I had a long night ahead, even just to get home, so went ahead and chose another movie. The "Revenant" had received great reviews, so I gave it a try. The theater was completely full. The movie more violent than most I tend to see, the bear attack was not realistic for anyone who works around actual bears, and Leo's depiction of Hugh Glass made me want to apply chapstick for 2 hours, but the cinematography was stunning and DiCaprio will certainly win Best Actor for this film.

The next day I managed to see "Carol" at the E-Street Cinema, a wonderful little theater near Ford's Theater where every staff member I ran into thanked me for coming and seemed genuinely happy for my patronage. The movie was great, though hit a little too close to home and I think every person in the audience must have sighed audibly when they realized the movie had ended when it did so abruptly.

Favorite Actors

Being fairly introverted and therefore rarely finding myself in social situations with strangers, I don't routinely find myself answering random questions, so the questions asked in potentially awkward social situations always fascinate me. Nevertheless, because I am routinely asked the same questions when in such situations, perhaps that means the answers are of interest to others (what can I say, I study non-human primates but human behavior still largely alludes me).

Recently I was asked who is/are my favorite actor(s), male and female, alive/dead, along with several related questions. There are a handful of actors who I would see in any movie or TV series they appear in, regardless of genre of the film or character they portray.

Favorite male actors: Robert Redford, Tom Hanks, Sidney Poitier  

Favorite female actors: Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Libby Tanner

And to answer the two most frequently asked questions, I would most like to:

meet - Sydney Poitier                                                   

be stranded on an island with - Libby Tanner

 

Favorite movies: Three Days of the Condor, Sneakers, Rear Window, Avatar, Into the Wild, All the President's Men, Out of Africa, To Sir, with Love, The Devil Wears Prada, Star Wars (Return of the Jedi)

Favorite TV series: Wentworth Prison, Broadchurch, Last Tango in Halifax, MASH, MacGyver, Star Trek (the original series)

Star Wars - Worth the Wait

I had to wait to see the new Star Wars until the other curator and vet I went with could agree upon a date, but we finally saw it today - worth the wait!

The BEST: New Star Wars is so much more like the original 3 episodes than the last 3
The WORST: no Yoda and death of a legend

Wentworth Prison - Season 3 on Netflix!

As any of you who may be regular readers of my blog or who know me well are aware, I tend to binge watch tv series as I discover them on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Recently on Netflix, I binge watched and loved Broadchurch. But this post is about my discovery last weekend that Season 3 of Wentworth Prison, a modern re-make of the classic Australian series Prisoner Cell Block H, is available on Neflix.

Season 3 is AMAZING. I read an article that summed up the show best when they said that Wentworth Prison makes Orange is the New Black (which I also enjoyed) seem like Happy Days. While I liked Seasons 1 and 2 of Wentworth, I watched Season 3 in two days and enjoyed it so much I ordered it from Amazon and figured out how to hack my DVD player to play Australian region DVDs.

My two favorite actors and characters from Wentworth, who make Season 3 the best yet:

Pamela Rabe as Governor Joan "The Freak" Ferguson

This character is one of the best developed villains I have seen in a television series - she was introduced in Season 2, but her psychopathic ways weren't completely developed until Season 3. That said, I cheered for the Governor along with other fans when she disposed of a certain obstacle in the season finale.

Libby Tanner as Prison psychologist Bridget Westfall

…or "Gidget" to Franky, who gets a happy ending, at least for Season 3

Some bloopers from Season 3:

The teaser for Season 4, now in production in Australia, can't wait!:

and a great site I recently found, all about Wentworth Season 3 with some previews for Season 4:

Wentworth Prison