All posts for the month December, 2022

How the Wakari NetFlix Documentary Could Be Better?

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the nerd universe. I am back with a follow-up!

WHat Should Have the White Island NetFlix Documentary Should Have Talked About

I know I reviewed the new documentary, The Volcano: Rescue from Wakari but I felt there were some things that were missing and have talked about it in the review. As I was about to hit the pillow for a nice night of sleep, I did realize the documentary missed some things. I know I haven’t picked it up a bit during the review but there is more to talk about. But first!

Disclaimer

This post is based on the thoughts and opinions of the lead writer of this blog, please respect her thoughts and opinions and the points she is bringing up. You have been warned!

The Cruise Trip

Even though the Yuris mentioned it briefly, the documentary didn’t talk about the trip to the island as part of a selection of trips. Matt and Laura, sorry everyone I got his name mixed up with one of the survivors, talked about how they chose excursions throughout the trip and it was Matt’s choice. Excursions are basically adventures that are done at the locations you visit. I mentioned in the original review how I went to the Mayan ruins in Belize in Central America and it was done through Carnival. The documentary should have mentioned it was with Royal Caribbean and talked about the ship heading there.

THe Danger Levels

The videos I saw about this disaster on YouTube mentioned something that the documentary hadn’t and that there were danger levels placed. This could have been mentioned due to how there was a history of eruptions, especially in 2016 and yet people visited this island with how active it has been for many years. After 2016, the island was placed on Level 2 where it was close to erupting. I think Blair from Illuminati put it best, “Oh! You’re visiting today! I will be over here just being quiet!” I think most islands would warn cruise companies and pass it onto the passengers to make that decision, which was a controversial part of this trip. What was interesting was in the 60 Minutes episode that the passengers were only given brief information and a safety check before going onto the island. It would be important to pass that info along.

History of the Island and Its Formation

I should have mentioned this before the last point but I think it would be great to fit it with after danger levels. Blair and Mile Higher talked about the island’s formation and how the volcano came to be. This would be important for the documentary to talk about how the volcanic materials formed this island and the acid lake at the crater, which is the main part of the tour where people went to for the view. It would also have been important to mention the history, such as the sulfur factory and its collapse in the 1930s and then the eruptions afterward. Also, about how the ground was so fragile since someone had their foot go through the ground. 

The Passengers on the Cruise and Tours

One thing is that the documentary only focused on the Yuris, Kelsey who was one of the tour guides, and Jesse. One passenger on the Phoenix was also focused but there were more passengers of the cruise and the Phoenix who were on this trip. One of them happened to be a man who had recorded the trip as a vlog and most of the footage that had been used in the YouTube specials should have been in it talking about his experience with his wife. Another is of course Stephanie Browet who went through her ordeal being burned but the first video of the eruption on the phone was due to her sister, Crystal. Also, if he was still alive for this, John Cozad should also have been in this documentary or even the other person that was on the helicopter with Stephanie, Lisa, who came with her husband and her daughter, Zoey, which you hear their names in the credits. Still, more people who went through the eruption should have been in this, if they didn’t want to then I would understand that easily. At least who talked about what they went through was brave of them to do.

The Aftermath

Even though when people talked about returning to Fakhri which is the island next door, more things about the events that unfold after the eruption such as how the island looks now since of course someone new would be learning about this island before and after. I should have mentioned in the history part that someone may have not been able to learn about this through the internet and may have stumbled upon this through NetFlix if they had it on their tablet. Volcanoes usually change after an eruption such as Krakatoa collapsing on itself and Mount St. Helens having a new bulge after its eruption. It is closed to this day and could have talked about what families reacted not knowing what had happened while being on the cruise ship, which people would have been worried and Stephanie’s mother should have been in the documentary talking about her experience and any other passengers that may wanted to go on the excursion and knew the passengers may talk about their reaction to any news reports they may have found on their phones. Things could have been talked about in this section.

More About the Coast Guard’s Decision

During the events of the eruption, there was a decision where they reported about not going on the island because it was safe. I agree with the Yuris that they are supposed to rescue people in the first place since that is their job. People believed that if there were more helicopters, especially doing it early enough, more people would have been alive. I would not blame anyone for being angry about not being rescued in time and losing more people. Heck, they would have been able to get the bodies early enough, if you remembered that two bodies did wash away while they were retrieving them almost a week after the eruption. I understand that rescuers were risking their lives but I am agreeing with Chanel in Mile Higher that firefighters go in with protective gear and the pilots should have had better equipment and gear to protect themselves. During the documentary, the pilots talked about how they took their own First Aid Kits and gas masks to people to keep them breathing since ash did block airways.  Still, more could have been done and the decision should have been talked more about.

The Lawsuit

Apparently, there is a lawsuit taking place between Royal Caribbean and the tourists because of the safety guidelines and it was believed that passengers should have thought about going beforehand. Here is the problem though, they were only told to wear closed toe shoes, were handed gas masks and hard hats, and people in wheelchairs were discouraged to go. Royal Caribbean are being sued for not being handed the right safety guidelines and I can see that can be grounds for suing since if it was my family I would have sued as well. I hope the victims win this since so many of them have life threatening injuries and big scars. Stephanie even lost her fingers , well most of them, due to how much she got burned. Like I said in my original review, earlier this year she took off the compression mask she had on. Matt Yuri even talked about how he can’t move his ring finger on his dominant hand, Laura Yuri talked about how she lost her wedding ring even since her hand was burned so badly and begged to keep it. Like I said, lost so much due to injury and hoping they win this because of how they were not informed enough nor protected. I am glad that the island is closed off because more people could get hurt. 

I think those are good enough points to talk about. This documentary felt short and should have more than one episode to talk about these points. Yes, it’s about rescuing people but it’s important to know about most parts leading up to the rescue that the specials I’ve seen on YouTube pinpointed but the documentary hadn’t. Like I said above, I think someone new to this subject would get more of the glimpses of the event and how the rescue happened but not enough info. I was glad to see it on YouTube when I had since I didn’t know until the end of 2020 so it was fresh back then. I do wonder about any of the other victims and how they are doing to this day, which happened to be Lisa and John would be great to see updates on them.

Well, that’s it, man it was a lot of things to write about. Like I said, Wakari has been closed since this eruption and seeing that something like that can take place could hurt so many. I have watched volcano documentaries talking about how people go through eruptions in Hawaii, Indonesia, and other parts of the world. There are still warning signs about Yellowstone erupting soon since signs have been happening since the start of this year. 

Next up would be the Bests & Worsts!

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by moonleopard85 on December 29, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in documentaries

Posted by moonleopard85 on December 29, 2022

https://nerdyshiqueuniverse.com/2022/12/29/how-the-wakari-netflix-documentary-could-be-better/

The Review Quadrant: The Volcano: Rescue from Wikari Documentary

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I am back with another review!

The Volcano: Rescue From Wikari Review

I normally don’t review documentaries, I almost reviewed the Woodstock one from this year but this one is a good change, but first!

Disclaimer

This review is based on thoughts and opinions of the lead writer of this blog. Please respect her thoughts and opinions since this is her first documentary review!

Topic of Documentary

This documentary tells what happened on December 9, 2019 when a group of tourists toured the island known as Wikari or White Island located in the Bay of Plenty close to New Zealand. This tour was a part of a cruise that was through Royal Caribbean but what people were not expecting is surviving an eruption that took place on that day. This documentary is told by survivors including Linda and Brian Yuri, who were on their honeymoon during the cruise, Jesse Langford who lost his sister and parents, and first hand accounts of the rescue crews that have saved the ones who are alive to this day.

Thoughts

I was surprised that I found a trailer for this earlier today at work when I was trying to see about volcano movies I haven’t seen yet and that NetFlix had done the documentary. I have enjoyed a few documentaries by them, which included Train Wrecked: Woodstock 99. I almost reviewed it since I remembered that event and Peter Monne talked about it but it was hard to write it. I think this would be easier because it is a subject I enjoy.

For a few years, I enjoy disasters that have taken place in history from Chernobyl in Ukraine to the Station NightClub fire in West Rowryk, Rhode Island, this disaster has been one of my other favorites because of what people have endured at that time and never thought I would see and learn. While teaching remotely and being at U. Mass, I decided to watch some volcano documentaries one day during a cool down period and saw something called “Trapped in the Volcano” and watched it. It was about the White Island eruption and how people were trapped inside of it. I did watch the 60 Seconds Australia special which showed the Yuris talk about how they went to the island on their cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, with other families who were on the ship enjoying their Christmas vacation on top of it. The White Island tour was part of the excursion list and people signed up for it. If you haven’t been on a cruise, which I had in 2007, part of visiting different locations you could pay for going off on adventures. I remembered sailing on Carnival and went to the Mayan Ruins of Belize where my dad and I wanted to see the ruins at some point. I do admit I did have a major bout of acrophobia during this trip since it was on a mountain and had to climb old temples but I did get to learn about the Mayans we never learned in school and it was a good break from shopping which we had done for the most part. My mom did blame my blindness but I blamed my fear of heights really and my dad did notice it. Anyways, at least I didn’t get hurt on our trip because at least Carnival did look out for people but Royal Caribbean hadn’t because White Island was an active volcano with acid lakes, mud eruptions, and steam eruptions. I would say watch the stuff on YouTube which does give you an idea of what White Island is like, I even recommend Illuminati’s episode on it for her Wild Wild World segment which I wish she kept doing.

This documentary was very interesting but I wished it would have done a little bit more since there was one survivor they didn’t feature and that was Stephanie Bower. You can watch her bits in the Trapped in the Volcano documentary, the 60 Minutes Australia special, and Mile Higher’s podcast episode on it. I did like to see what had happened with Jesse Langford, the Yuris, and Kelsey Waghorn who also survived the eruption. I did get to see this with audio description and getting to hear their accounts of what had happened to them was great because the stuff on YouTube was kind of brief with these people due to the spotlight on Stephanie and her recovery. I would love to hear more about what she went through in the eruption, again you can see her on YouTube and Tic Toc.

I did wish that this documentary could have been more than one episode, I could have enjoyed a two parter because there felt like there was more to it that can be told, especially more with the helicopter crew that rescued Stephanie and most of the other people who survived or died. What was not told, which you can find on YouTube is that most of the bodies that were left had two people wash away and I think the second episode could have expand on that especially with how rescue crews went back a few days later to get those bodies, especially one of the tour guides and Jesse’s sister, Wynnona, which we get to learn a little bit about them that they were very adventurous. I can see where we got Jesse and his family going to this island in the first place. I would also love to learn about what changed the geography of the island, as in is there still steam even though some of the audio description did mention some present day shots but not what the volcano looks like since it was a StratoVolcano, which is a cone shaped volcano coming out f the water. If you want an example, Yellowstone’s volcano is an example of this type and predictions are pointing to an eruption soon.

There was one thing that YouTube did mention and thought the NetFlix documentary should have mentioned in a second episode is that Royal Caribbean had a suit against the survivors. Mile Higher kind of went into detail with their episode where Royal Caribbean is suing the survivors which is not their fault. Yes, they signed up for an adventure but were not told that an eruption would happen that day. Remembering from what I’ve seen on YouTube, there were threats and the level was measured from one through three and apparently the island was at Level 2 due to an eruption that took place one night in 2016. At least no one was on the island. Stephanie and her family were told about this and this caused some nervousness and I can see why, if I was on that island, I would tell my dad, “I want to go back to the ship! I am not staying here!”Especially learning about how bad volcano burns are! Yes, they are not like the basic burns you could get from cooking, they are more extensive and can cause more long-term injury, scarring, and surgeries to repair the damage. Stephanie even ended back on 60 Minutes to take off her compression mask that helped heal her face burns. The Yuris did talk about their injuries in the NetFlix documentary which after watching the stuff on YouTube, I wondered how they were doing and hearing that they still have extensive burns is a major ouch, especially Brian with his ring finger on the dominant hand not working. THey showed him building a small cabinet and Laura talking about her burns on her neck and face, but what was interesting was that one part of Brian’s writ was not burned due to Laura holding it during the time of the eruption so she could hold onto him.

Rating: 3 Star Pawprint Comets Out of 5

At first I was going to give it a four but after remembering what I’ve seen on YouTube, I felt that YouTube had the better material, especially with 60 Minutes, Illuminati, and Mile Higher doing more detailed episodes on this disaster. I did like the bits that we did get to have more volcano footage because of how people used their cellphones to record this. Heck, Stephanie’s sister, Crystal, had some of the first count of the eruption because when she, Paul, and Stephanie reached the crater they had a photo in front of the black smoke that was coming out. That should have been a point to have Stephanie on this because of them getting that close along with Jesse, Brian, Laura, and Kelsey. It did help getting Kelsey to tell her part since she did yell at people to run in her group. But this documentary could have been better by adding another episode to tell more about what took place with the rescue and talking more about why crews had to hold back from going to be part of the rescue on the island, which Laura did tell 60 Minutes Australia that she was angry that they were held back and that more people could have been saved. While that is true, more people could be alive, even the Langfords and Rowerts could have survived. Plus, I felt as though YouTube had the better versions of the documentary but I can see why NetFlix had done this since the third year anniversary of this disaster did pass. You wouldn’t believe that this only happened three years ago when The Station NightClub fire happened in 2003 and Chernobyl in 1986. I think this was a good way of showing as a short piece and then let people dig deeper into the full story, which if I taught a class on historical disasters, I would show this documentary alongside Trapped in the Volcano and then used Mile Higher and Illuminati as additional resources in my class due to this documentary showing the detailed parts of the eruption and then seeing how people got trapped and the online module having an assignment with Mile Higher and Illuminati. THat is how I would teach that module.

Well, that is it for this review, I had more thoughts but it would probably take me a lot more to write into the morning but this was an okay documentary. I did enjoy Train Wrecked more though, just saying! I am still reading the final book of the Playful Brides series and will have the Bests & Worsts of 2022 sometime this weekend. So stay tuned!

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by moonleopard85 on December 29, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in documentaries, Reviews, Travel

Posted by moonleopard85 on December 29, 2022

https://nerdyshiqueuniverse.com/2022/12/29/the-review-quadrant-the-volcano-rescue-from-wikari-documentary/

The Beauty quadrant: How I Feel After Cancelling My Beauty Subscriptions?

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe and now have a new post!

How Do I Feel After Canceling My Beauty Boxes?

I know every month for a while I write about my beauty boxes since I talk about beauty time to time except this past year I canceled all of them as in all of my Ipsy, Allure, and Glossy Box but had kept my Scent Bird which I do love perfume, my Athena Club since I do need razors time to time, and Quip which I got a new toothbrush from and wanted to see why so many people enjoy it and I can see why and oral health is important. I do love beauty but I wanted to say that I am not missing them much, I may miss the Allure one since they do send more sample sizes but I needed a break for a bit. I would love to talk about how I feel after canceling though. But first!

Disclaimer

This post is based on the opinions and feelings of the lead writer of this blog. Please understand that she is not bashing any of these companies, she is just talking about what it’s like to be without something.

I Save More Money

First of all, I am saving money every month. Yes, I get ScentBird each month and do get Athena Club every six months now and Quip every three but with the beauty boxes on top of it it does make it more expensive. If you look at it, I’m spending around close to $40 every month for both Ipsy Glam Bag and Glam Bag Plus which are around $13 and $28 each month, then every four is Glam Bag X which is $55. Then Allure is around $23 and Glossy Box is $21 and to add that up is $82 and every four months if we factor in GBX is around $100+.And that is already a lot out of my budget for the month due to how I have to pay more in rent due to living in a two bedroom space, power, internet,, and of course streaming services which includes CrunchyRoll, soon next year Paramount Plus, Audible, also keeping our Google Drive alive for this blog account! Yeah, it does get expensive very quickly and living in Florida, my paycheck stays the same on both work and Social Security. So, I have to budget wisely now.

I Get to Choose My Own Stuff!

Almost all of the subscription boxes I was with had them choose my items, even though with Ipsy and when I was with BoxyCharm I did choose one item. While not being subscribed, I get to pick my own makeup, shades, and my skin care while shopping on Ulta, Target, Bath & Body Works, Lush, and any perfume places I can afford!! I do like to try new things from different brands that have items that may match my profile but some of the choices are a bit off or the choice items are not that great. Remembered when I mentioned with the Glam Bag Plus that one or two groups seem to be a bit blah? At least I can choose the things I really like while shopping.

I Can Still Try New Things From Different Brands in Stores!

Some of the physical stores do carry some of the brands that are in the boxes such as E. L. F.Sunday Riley, Mac, and more. I can still try their newer products as they either come out or wait for a sale. Plus, some of the brands I see in these boxes that are more independent also sometimes end up in stores such as Sephora and Ulta and could just try them that way. I was glad I could still get Tony Moly, Hempz, and Formula 1006 at Ulta and if I can’t find the item I loved from them there is always their own website to purchase from. 

I Can Find The Skin Care That Works For Me!

While being in BoxyCharm and Allure, there are times where I got skin care that doesn’t really fit me. As you know, I have dry and sensitive skin and there were times where I got items for oily skin Heck, when I got Glossy Box, I felt that some of the skin care was a bit off from what I usually use. I am using some of the skin care items I got in boxes past so I can use them up, which I will mention next, so I can get my correct skin care items or toss the ones that may not be great for me. I understand they have questionnaires with some boxes like Ipsy and BoxyCharm, they are sometimes a bit off from what you originally thought at times. Let me go to the next point.

It’s Hard to finish Items While the Pile Grows!

I notice some of my favorite YouTube personalities mentioned and I see this as well where, especially with Boxy and Glam Bag Plus and GBX, it’s hard to finish your products as the pile grows. I have so much skin care I have collected from these boxes, even sample sizes of them, I had hard times trying to get into new products before finishing one. It takes a while for someone to finish one moisturizer each month, goes the same with a lotion, a serum, and more. It takes me three to four months to finish my beloved Bath & Body Works shower gel because I only take one shower a day and don’t use that much shower gel in my loofa. Heck, even with my toner, yes I use it twice a day but I am not dowsing myself in toner because I use a cotton round to apply it twice a day. What about samples?

Not Enough of a Sample Size!

In some of the samples you get from either Ipsy or even Allure, there are times where there is not enough to last that month. I remembered getting a tiny tube of moisturizer in my Glam Bag a while back and it gets used up for my entire face twice a day in one or two days after getting the bag for the month. I remembered how people had BirchBox that the little foil packets didn’t have enough of a sample either and remembered Eleventhgorgeous not liking those and the sizes in that box either. I think the only samples that last the longest are eye shadow samples, blush, highlighter, and eye creams. Oh right, lip sticks since they can take longer if they don’t break.

Being Able to Pick Your Eyeliner Colors Easily!

If you remembered my massive complaints about getting nothing but black eyeliner? I swear I should get a coat like the shop guy in Resident Evil 4 and have all of my black eyeliners and show up to a concert in town or in Orlando and open it and be like, “Welcome! See what you like!?” When someone calls out for eyeliner. With my eye looks I like to match my eyeliner with the color scheme like rose gold with any rose gold tones, copper with a copper and brown look, even a green one with a green eye look, but Ipsy, Allure, Boxy even, tend only get black most of the time and rarely has these colors! I understand black is classic but we live in a world where NYX, Urban Decay, Huda Beauty, and other brands carry so many colors even nude! I did mark “Rarely” under black after getting so many of them, I still got black liners. Ipsy, read your profiles and reviews!

Being Able to Be Contacted If a Product Sells Out at a Store’s Website!

One thing I love about shopping online is to see that button about being contacted if a product sells out. I had that happen to myself if my favorite Tony Moly face wash sells out or even if a shade of lipstick sells out and Ulta does come through! A lot of stores do this and I wish this happened with Ipsy. What really got me to leave Ipsy was that with certain choice items I made through GBP I end up selling out and they don’t contact me about it. It makes me lose trust in them if I am going to choose anything if they don’t offer a different option to choose from. I did bring this up to them and hoped they would take my idea but being able to have that option for a contact for a sold out item does make the shopping experience better.

I believe that is it! I feel better to get some of these off my chest when it comes to some of the issues with box subscriptions. Will I miss them? Yes and no! Like I said before, I feel that having stuff chosen for me can be a limited hing in the makeup that is offered when I have an Ulta or Target down the road from me in both directions that I can Uber to and pick up my favorite NYX item or look around in the app for the newest  blush shade or mascara and get a code to use in my bag if needed.I can still purchase brands like Purlisse and Huda online just as easily if I wanted to, which I can choose from my drugstore or independent brands. So, I am not missing it really, I am missing the happiness behind getting it in my mailbox though but not missing the pile on products which I was having a low buy all thanks to these boxes due to getting my usual items with but one thing I didn’t mention is that the products do change as you get older with Ipsy. I’m 37 now and I noticed how I got more skin care over makeup, even as I hit my mid-thirties the change started around then. I do enjoy skin care but I still want makeup more than that at times even if it is in deluxe size and I only get five to six products every month. I am glad I did cancel when I had. 

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by moonleopard85 on December 26, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in beauty

Posted by moonleopard85 on December 26, 2022

https://nerdyshiqueuniverse.com/2022/12/26/the-beauty-quadrant-how-i-feel-after-cancelling-my-beauty-subscriptions/

Anime Quadrant: Review on Sailor Moon Super, Super S, and Stars

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back k from traveling the vast nerd universe and I have an anime review this time!

Sailor Moon Seasons Super Through Stars

Disclaimer

This review is based on thoughts and opinions from the lead writer of this blog. Please respect her thoughts and feelings and to be warned this will be long!

Synopsis

After returning from the thirtieth century, Usagi and the rest of the Sailor Guardians were hoping to start on their entrance exams for high school until a nightmare hit Usagi of her silver crystal not being the same. After a new enemy appears and takes Rei’s heart crystal, she gains new powers and new Sailor Guardians appear and they come from the outer planets with Neptune and Uranus. Pluto also appears again. WHat’s this? Chibiusa is also back but as a Sailor Guardian too? Will this new enemy take them out before Pharaoh 90 does?

Sailor Moon Super S starts after Pharaoh 90 is defeated and Sailor Saturn is now asleep in baby form. A solar eclipse appears as Chibiusa hopes to return to home until the eclipse reveals a new circus and a possible new enemy that is chasing the Pegasus known as Helios. Nehelenia and her Dark Moon Circus are willing to gain the crystal Helios possess by finding the golden dream mirror from anyone in the Juban District. While battles surge, both Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon gain new powers to become Super Moon and Super Chibi Moon along with the rest of the Sailor Guardians to fight and protect whoever has this mysterious mirror and find out who Helios really is.

The final season, Stars, starts with the guardians finally reaching high school and that an old enemy Nehelenia, has been released from her mirror all thanks to a new threat in the galaxy. This also accelerates Sailor Saturn to return from her baby form to join the rest of the guardians to fight Nehelenia who has caused havoc with her mirrors. Once that obstacle is taken care of, Mamoru finds out his thesis was picked up at a university in America and was given a ride for a year and Usagi has to go alone without him. During his absence, another threat appears where Sailor Guardians are taking peoples star seeds for the bigger threat and Sailor Moon must use her new Eternal Moon form to take them on and with the help of three new guardians called the Sailor Starlights who take on the form of a popular boy group called the Three Lights. While taking on the new threat, Usagi and crew find out more of what took place among the guardians beyond their galaxy and who Galaxia is in order to save their own home and solar system.

Thoughts

I want to apologize for the crappy review of the first part of the re-dub a few years back. I was basing it off of how I was used to the old Dic dub we all knew and love but I still stand on Luna and Rei still sounding alike. I do have to say that Chibiusa did grow on me since she was better as she grew as a character in this version due to how it was the entire run of the series from Japan we know and love. Also, I didn’t like how RJ put his own two cents in after growing up with the Dic dub as well.

Like with everyone else, Pluto, Uranus, Nemptune, and Saturn also got recasts.. I already was excited Veronica Taylor plays Pluto and she does very well since Pluto is almost like a second mother to Chibiusa and of course Veronica was famous for being Ash’s mom back in the original dub for Pokemon. The ones who took up the newer voice mantles include Erica Mandez as Uranus, Lauren Landa as Neptune, and Cassandra Lee Morris Christine Marie Cabannos as Saturn. I feel that they made really good choices for these three like with Pluto. I think the casting strength was Nehelenia because she sounded like the actress they had before due to how she has all the hate towards everyone if anyone crosses her. I feel like they tried to encompass the original dub in how everyone sounded. Such as how they made Sailor Jupiter sound the closest to her original counterpart and I commented Amanda Miller on that at MegaCon years ago. I do give props to Lauren and Erica for their performances as Uranus and Neptune because Erica did a good job with the sound for Haruka in normal and guardian modes since she is very androgenous while Michiru is very elegant and can be teasing at times. I think I prefer Lauren more in this version since the original did have to follow what the directors have to tell her. Neptune does always keep elegance in her speech after her transformation.

With Stars, I was hoping to see it dubbed at some point. When Viz announced they were dubbing it for the first time, it made me really happy since Dic didn’t do it due to things that may not be best for the younger crowds and Toonami back in the day like with Uranus and Neptune being cousins. Here they introduced three new Sailor Guardians called the Sailor Starlights and well they do change from being guys to girls and since we live in different times people are more accepting. I can see where the creator came up with the idea since Seiya did explain in the season the reason they did this is due to looking for their princess and it would be easier to find her by being an idol group to attract women and that their music would reach her. One good example is that in one episode, Usagi went to one of their concerts and had the truth explained through one of their songs.. I did find the interactions between Seiya and Usagi cute and of course he did call her Bun Head like with Mamoru. I can’t wait to see how they will do the Cosmos movies since those are supposed to be slated for next year to show the Crystal version of Stars. Also, I got the story of Stars in english since I have watched some of it in Japanese and glad they did an english version.

Ratings:

5 out of 5 Shooting Star Paw Prints for Super, 4 out of 5 for Super S and 5 out of 5 for Stars. I always found Super S being a little weird and with the re-dub it did catch the wackiness of the Black Moon Circus but of course some of the monsters were weird in the end. I do have to give props for Nehelenia and the Amazoness Quartet since those are the redeeming qualities. I think Eternal did the better job with how they did Super S. Super did have a strong story since we were dealing with aliens who were looking for heart crystals and we did get the truth behind Hotaru being involved and that she was really Sailor Saturn underneath it all. I did like how she tried to fight off the evil version of Hotaru to help the guardians in the end. While Stars did have her more involved and get to see her fighting alongside everyone else. Wishing we got to see her transform in the original since she got to do that in Eternal. While Stars had the final villains being Sailor Guardians which makes sense since the first season we had Queen Beryl who was an ancient enemy from Silver Millenium’s past then in the next season we had enemies which the series did get popular. As in, we had filler aliens and then went into the Dark Moon family from the other side of the moon, then we had aliens with science in season 3 with witchcraft, a circus coming through an eclipse which that seems interesting, and end it with Sailor Guardians beyond the solar system that fought off chaos. Makes sense to end it with evil Sailor Guardians! Can;t wait to see what Cosmos has in store!

That ends this review and I’m glad I got to see the ending of Sailor Moon in english since being a teenager and enjoying the original. Now seeing that it got re-dubbed made it better. I am glad it got another chance to entertain not only old fans but introduce new fans to the series as well. What is next? I am still reading things on my Kindle but I do still have the Bests & Worsts for this year at the end of this month!

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by moonleopard85 on December 22, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in anime, Reviews

Posted by moonleopard85 on December 22, 2022

https://nerdyshiqueuniverse.com/2022/12/22/anime-quadrant-review-on-sailor-moon-super-super-s-and-stars/

The Book Quadrant: The Fake by. Zoey Whitall

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I am back with a book review!

The Fake by. Zoey Whitall

Disclaimer: This review is based on thoughts and opinions from the writer of this blog. Please respect her thoughts! You have been warned!

Synopsis

From the writer of The Best Kind of People comes a new story where a scammer who can weave many stories ruin two people’s lives. Shelby lost her wife and is going through a major bout of grief and a family who tries to come in and help her out but then finds out about a grief support group where she meets Cami, who is also going through grief herself of losing her sister and coming over cancer. Once they start becoming friends, Shelby allows Cami to live with her and help her out with getting Cami back on her feet except red flags start to sprout about Cami.

Gibson is fresh from divorce and starts living on his own in a small apartment and goes out with friends one night when Cami spots him from across the room and they start dating. He also tries to help Cami by helping her with bills and other things to get her back on her feet as well until he meets Shelby and that they notice that her stories are not lining up such as the cancer and dead sister. 

Thoughts

Man, it feels good to get back into book reviews because it’s something I had enjoyed and haven’t gotten to reading for a while due to school and work. Now that I dusted my Kindle off I am back into it! Anyways, I did like this book due to how it took an interesting turn. It was a one character vs. two since Cami is the scammer and she is scamming two people with her lies throughout this book. At first it started with Gibson since he was just out of his divorce and was getting back into the dating game and when Cami and his eyes met that was when he got caught in the web and took her home with him. She does start off with the cancer story by saying that is her final treatment that day and then went into the sister story as well and as I read the book I kind of got sunken into what Cami may say next. I did like how one of Gibson’s friends caught one of her lies by noticing that she mentioned one of the favorite bands they listened to and tried to help Gibson out right then and there. Of course, he would shake the worries off like with most scams, heck I thought the same with Stratton at first. Then we have Shelby who lost her wife and is looking out for herself by keeping herself healthy and not going down the same route if things happen, for instance she was afraid of throat cancer since she had a hard time swallowing, it does show she is going through major anxiety while grieving most of the time and when she meets Cami it calmed her down throughout their interactions and while Cami lives with her. Shelby was being a big mother role model towards Cami with how she was taking care of her but when she was noticing things were not adding up that was when the relationship decided to take a turn. When she and Gibson meet each other over dinner, they were told about each other that were not right like how Shelby was mean and completely hated men due to being a lesbian and Gibson was a gambler but after how they saw each other being who they really are, such as Gibson not being a gambler when he had police after him with suspicions of theft, they decided to work with each other to help Cami. I felt that towards the end they wanted to end Cami’s lying by having an intervention after figuring things out. I did like the part when Shelby confronted Cami in front of the grief support group since everyone didn’t want to tell her that Cami was bad news at first and Shelby just really broke the truth and left the room afterwards and even told the head of the group that they were toxic for that.

Rating: 4 Shooting Star Pawprints out of 5

I did like the book and how Whitall started the story off by showing Gibson first and how he meets Cami at the bar with his friends and then Shelby with the grief group a little bit later. Getting both characters’ backgrounds at different intervals gave a great appeal to this book but I feel that Cami’s background in how or why she started lying and scamming was not being explained enough. I think that should be placed somewhere since towards the end Lauren tried to bring her and Cami;s mom to help with finding out why things went the way they went and Shelby wanted to see where it stemmed from. I wanted to know where it stemmed from as well. But the book was good in the end with what we got to see.

Well, that’s it for this book review! I am currently reading the last book I have in one of the series I have been reading for over two years now so I can finally do the review in one big review. So, until next time!

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by moonleopard85 on December 20, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Reviews

Posted by moonleopard85 on December 20, 2022

https://nerdyshiqueuniverse.com/2022/12/20/the-book-quadrant-the-fake-by-zoey-whitall/

Another Writing Scam?

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! It almost happened again!

Almost Had Another Publisher Scam Me!

I know the title sounds weird but almost had it happen to me again where another publisher scammed me. If you haven’t been here long, I am an author and currently about to publish another book in the Backwards Fairy Tale series and well a year ago I almost got scammed by a company called Stratton Press. Their name is pretty well known for scamming authors out of a lot of money to publish a book and one even had a bad experience with their book being formatted terribly. Plus, I had the weirdest questions asked by them which caused me to look into them and almost got scammed a second time by them but scared them off. Now there is a new one that got in contact with me! Let’s get into it!

Who Is Writers Branding?

The new company today is called Writers’ Branding which sounds like a company that doesn’t not know what they are doing with their name. According to the website, they are a company that helps self-published authors publish and market their work. Gee, doesn’t that sound familiar? They are assigned a Publishing Services Associate to help with the publishing journey with the tools. This sounds exactly like Stratton since they were doing the same thing by assigning someone to me as well, who kept on calling me at night. I know, creepy, right? The same person did the same thing when I got called during the evening after I got home from work. I will get into that later. There are more people that get assigned to you as a team and one of them is an evaluator that evaluates the content which I felt is who called me since they found my book somehow.`

What Do People Have To Say?

After getting the call, I did get mad at them and glad I haven’t gotten the call back, but I have a feeling it may happen, I did look into them though. There were five reviews on them and I saw them on Better Business Bureau where people had a hard time finding their book and tried to see if I could find them. I did find two of them that were published recently and it looks like they haven’t had any reviews on the works. I have a feeling their writers are not really being marketed and then I decided to look further. I typed in if they were a scam on this Chromebook browser and I saw the Pissed Consumer page with four reviews where people said they got scammed out of money and lied to about their services which can be concerning. I know this was a small handful but why does a company lie to their writers in the first place? 

What Happened to Me?

So, I came home from work, which was a week before RangerStop and the whole thing that took place with the storm as well and I somehow got these scam calls happening if something terrible was about to happen. To be fair, we were not sure about Nicole’s strength and what would take place. Anyways, so the call was about them reading Love Found in Cinders and I smelled something off and decided to ask if they read my book? Reason I asked is back with Stratton, like I said above, they didn’t read it because of how they kept on asking questions about it like what it was about, the characters, and so on. When you read someone’s book, you already know the entirety and what it is about, who are the characters, and my book tells the story from different points of view. I had a feeling and asked the question and the answer I got was what I was expecting. Person told me they only read the synopsis and said it was good. I basically felt as though they judged my book from its back cover. That is how I felt with Stratton afterwards by the way, that they just read the back cover! I did cuss them out because I was mad at them because I knew it was a scam. I know that is wrong of me to do but I was tired of scam calls and wishing that this didn’t happen. I also wished I asked them how they got my number which I know my publisher and my profile are locked away from prying eyes. I did read how Stratt0on told their victims that they got their number from their publisher and if I asked about that, they would say the same thing and I know that was a lie after talking with my publisher that they keep all author profiles private and the author can only access it to submit a book to them. If anyone from Writers’ Branding reads this, so yeah I know you’re lying!

How to Avoid This Scam?

Like I said in the Stratton Press scam post, do your research into the company if you feel as though it doesn’t feel right. I didn’t feel right with them after how they made the statement about the synopsis. Yes, I know my book is good from the back because I wrote it but you need to read it to see if it is actually good for yourself. You can’t just judge it from the back, I am sorry. Also, see about any reviews that people may have encountered about this particular company, you may have to find more like I had and was surprised to find that they asked for a lot of money for publishing one book. I was even surprised that one person got told they would be taken to a writing festival if they pade close to a thousand dollars. Yikes! Another thing is that there is a scam alert for them in the Philppines which that is familiar, Stratton Press was believed to be somewhere in Asia as well that was out sourced to the United States. Also find it wrong how a publishing company can take advantage of people that are trying to get their writing on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, even on physical shelves. I would love to be in an actual store but I don’t want to sacrifice my internet, power, hell my new apartment that we had to move into due to what took place in November for the sake of being famous.

What Am I Going to Do?

Easy! Stay with my publisher of course! THey don’t charge much for publishing and with Rose Thorns of Love I am going the E Book and paperback route since my paperback version of Love Found in Cinders was a middle finger towards Stratton, you will get the same story in both ebook and paperback from book two onwards. Now hoping they don’t pull a Stratton and try contacting me again to trap me. Again, shouldn’t have to pay that much for publishing and not pay for going to a festival either. Normally, that is the company’s dime or if the author is going solo, their dime.

That ends this post and man it was fun doing it since it did get something off my chest. I am currently catching up with reading some books since I did finish another semester and finally can read again, it did help me dust off my Kindle this past semester due to one of my textbooks was already on there. So, what is next? Bests and Worsts of 2022! Stay tuned!

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by moonleopard85 on December 14, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Personal Experience

Posted by moonleopard85 on December 14, 2022

https://nerdyshiqueuniverse.com/2022/12/14/another-writing-scam/