#bag review

[pseudoglam]

What's In My Bag: PRADA SYMBOLE BAG Edition | Review of the embroidered...

[shoppinghubspot]

Carry comfort, style, and convenience with the PROVOGUE 40L Laptop Backpack - your ultimate choice for everyday use!

[cinematicwasteland]

[fossette-promenade]

i was inspired to style this piece in a way they would have in 2009.

it always makes me feel cute to wear a full lolita coord ♡

[glossyhobi]

01/08/23— favourite july read, yellow stack & discounted supermarket flowers

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

Water Gun Fight / "It's Not What You Think"

Fandom: The Bad Batch Characters: Mox, Stak, Deke, Omega, Lyana, Jax, Eva, Hunter, Crosshair Set when everyone is living happily on Pabu :) Word Count: ~1560 Read Here on AO3

Synopsis: The children of Pabu have a water gun fight

Check out a teeny sneak peek of the amazing artwork @the-little-moment did to go with my fic! Go see the full piece HERE and tell her how awesome she is!

“This isn’t fair. Whoever gets the clones on their team will win.”

Mox folded his arms, a faint, aloof smile painting his face. Either side of him, Stak and Deke stood loose and ready, empty water-pistols held with casual, easy confidence.

“Omega’s a clone too,” he pointed out. “So there’s four of us. You can have two on each team to keep it even.”

“That’s not even,” said Deke with exaggerated annoyance. “Omega was trained by the defectives. She fights dirty.”

“She fights tactically,” corrected Mox, smiling at the blonde girl whose own lips twitched in amusement. “Makes it a challenge.”

Around them the children of Pabu shifted and muttered as a ripple of discussion ran through the group. Some of the younger ones were already getting bored with the idea of teams and rules, pretending to aim at each other and pulling the triggers of their empty water pistols with giggles.

The older ones were taking the issue much more seriously. Nobody could decide what counted as an unfair advantage when it came to the former cadets’ and Omega’s training.

“I think the clones should only be allowed to target each other,” volunteered Jax. His confidence was blossoming with the care he received from his new foster-family on Pabu. “That would make it fair… right?”

“But the rest of you can still target us?” scoffed Stak. “No way.”

“We haven’t even picked team captains yet!” groaned Lyana, dragging her hands dramatically over her face. “At this rate the sea will dry up before we fill these water pistols!”

“I have an idea.”

Omega’s voice cut clearly over the chatter, and the children fell quiet. She had that effect when she took command.

She turned to Deke with a smirk that made her look oh-so-like her younger brother, if only she had a toothpick to hand. “You think I fight dirty?”

There was a deceptive casualness to her tone, the way her dark brown eyes flicked to his from under her long lashes.

Deke shifted uncomfortably, aware that being trapped in the spotlight of Omega’s attention whilst she was plotting something was not where he wanted to be.

“How about… I don’t participate?”

A cry immediately went up from the other children, the small crowd surging to surround her. Eva took her hand, tugging gently.

“You have to play, Omega. You have to.”

Omega held up her free hand, and all eyes turned to her. Mox was smiling out the corner of his mouth, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. He nodded to invite her explanation.

She fixed him with a firm look, challenge in her smile. “I won’t participate,” she repeated, squeezing Eva’s hand reassuringly. “I’ll direct them. The rest of the island against you three. Think you can handle it?”

Stak looked up at Mox, his face breaking into a wide grin. Mox glanced from Stak to Deke, taking in the latter’s nerves, then looked back to Omega.

His smile curved wide as he nodded.

“You’ve got a deal.”

*

“I don’t like this,” muttered Deke as they crept along the side of a building, pressed tight to the shadows and ignoring the glances and titters from the adults going about their daily business. “Omega will be planning something.”

“Exactly,” said Stak with a confident grin. “Wouldn’t be a challenge otherwise.”

Mox smiled but shushed their chatter, leaning round the wall to check the coast was clear. The water gun sat heavy in his hands, freshly reloaded. He’d emptied it – apologetically, almost – into a brother and sister in Lower Pabu.

That was the rule of the game. A soaked t-shirt meant you were out.

He ducked back when a jet of water streamed in his direction, accompanied by giggling.

Quirking an amused eyebrow at the other two, he gestured with his head. In moments the clones were storming the main street, water splashing everywhere, as shrieks of laughter filled the air.

In the end five dripping children stood about, huge grins on their faces, whilst the three clone boys were still bone-dry.

Lyana was among the victims. She had been drenched head-to-toe when Stak and Deke chased her into a corner, shielding her head with her arms to little effect and sobbing with laughter the entire time.

She stood proudly with her arms crossed now, her ‘troops’ at her side.

“Well, what now, boys?” she challenged.

Stak stepped forward, levelling the brightly coloured super-soaker towards her. “Tell us where your general is,” he demanded, unable to bite back his grin.

Lyana laughed. “You’ll never find her.”

“She’s at the Archium,” said Mox with a grin.

“You don’t know that,” piped up one of the Pabu boys bravely, but Mox just chuckled.

“It’s where I’d direct my squad from,” he said, tilting his head up and shielding his eyes from the glare of Pabu’s sun as he gazed up towards Upper Pabu.

“Reckon we can fight our way up there?” asked Deke, stepping to his side.

“Sure.” He glanced back at Lyana with a sly smile. “We’ve taken out her lieutenant. It won’t be long before we’ve ended this.”

*

The adults were generous about letting the clones into their houses to refill their water guns. A lifetime’s training came back easily, even after the soft months without warfare on Pabu, and Deke and Stak easily fell into their roles following Mox’s orders.

They avoided combat when they could to conserve their water supplies. Were ruthless in drenching the island’s children when they could not.

Jax made a valiant attempt to divert them, dancing tauntingly in the mouth of an alley-way which wound into darkness behind the shadow of a two-storey building. Deke laid a warning hand on Stak’s arm.

“Watch out. It could be an ambush.”

“He’s one kid,” grinned Stak. “How bad can it be?”

Jax backed away slowly as Stak advanced. He held his water pistol loosely in one hand as he raised his arms in surrender.

“See?” called Stak. “Not so bad.”

A muffled giggle sounded. Then Eva popped up from the balcony above, tipping a bucket of water which splashed squarely onto Stak, soaking his hair, his shirt, and most of his shorts.

The clone gasped with the shock of it, then a grin spread wide on his face. Jax’s face danced with mirth.

“Vengeance!” howled Mox playfully, and he and Deke dove into the alley, water guns firing. Soon the two force sensitive children were similarly drenched, laughing as Stak threw an arm around each of their shoulders.

“Guess I’m out,” he said good-naturedly, grinning at his brothers. “Think you can take the general down by yourself?”

“Leave it to us,” said Deke with a smile and a salute. “We’ll end Omega’s reign of terror. Just you wait and see.”

*

Storming the plaza in front of the Archium was a running battle. The clones ducked and hid behind market stalls, weaving between chuckling adults as they pursued their quarry, the other laughing children.

Water pistols emptied. Were refilled. Were replaced with weapons ‘looted’ from ‘fallen’ enemies.

Before long they had Omega pinned. Deke leaned over her where she lay on her back, winded but still smiling slyly, where he had tackled her to the floor.

“Orders, sir?” he asked over his shoulder.

“If we’ve captured their general we can negotiate,” said Mox with a cautious glance at Omega. She smoothed her face into an innocent expression, which was a dangerous thing.

“I say we execute her.” Deke primed his super-soaker. “She’s too dangerous to let her live.”

Mox shook his head. “Let her reach her com. She can call her troops off.”

Reluctantly, Deke lifted his foot from where he had pinned Omega’s arm. The blonde girl’s smile returned as she slowly inched her arm towards her face, activating her wrist-com.

“Havoc-1?”

“Yeah?”

The deep rumble of Hunter’s voice was so unexpected that both younger clones backpedalled in shock.

“Hunter–” said Mox, startled, and Deke glanced in panic at Omega’s prone position as he added, “It’s not what you think!”

Hunter folded his arms, tattooed face shadowed with displeasure, stepping forwards to shield Omega and loom over the cadets.

Mox glanced uneasily between them, holding his hands out to his sides in surrender.

“It’s a game–” he began.

The jet of water caught him squarely in the back, running down his spine to soak him to the skin. He yelled, and his shout was echoed by Deke when a similarly targeted blast drenched him too.

The clones spun, searching for the source of the attack. It didn’t take them long to spot Crosshair perched in the weeping maya tree, an impressively large super-soaker in his hands, toothpick clenched between teeth which were bared in a grin.

“No fair,” objected Deke. “This game is supposed to be for kids.”

“It is,” said Hunter, and now he let his brooding façade crack as he picked Omega up from the floor with a fond smile. “Didn’t you hear? We’re younger than Omega. If she can play, we can play…”

Omega returned her big-little brother’s smile and turned a sympathetic look on the two dripping cadets.

“Don’t feel bad,” she said blithely, glancing first at Hunter and then at Crosshair with adoration in her eyes. Her smile turned soft. “You were never going to win, not when I have them.”

Haha well way back at the submitting prompts stage it was my kiddo who volunteered water gun fight, and I guess you know I engaged in some spurious voting practice to get it into the top 26... thrilled that it got drawn as week 1!

With thanks to @ninjadeathblade who said Crosshair should be camping in the weeping maya tree waiting to snipe the cadets :P

And thanks to the amazing @kybercrystals94 for organising this challenge! You struck up a conversation with me out of the blue last summer and it's been so fun spending the past 10 months bouncing fic ideas back and forth as well as participating in prompt challenges with you. And now you're hosting your own one! Bad Batch Themed! How great is that! :D

[tea-tuesday]

london stationery haul for my stationery freaks !!! i went a little crazy with stationery on this trip but to my defense, it was all funded by my state tax return hehe... these are the various things i got, which i linked:

yellow hard shell charger case from London Graphic Centre

special edition totebag from London Review of Books

gallimard journal from Choosing Keeping

brass hand clip from Choosing Keeping (honestly my fave purchase on this trip !!)

vintage bus blind journal from Choosing Keeping

kaweco perkeo fountain pen and inks from Present & Correct

grid flatlay book from Present & Correct

the epicurean notebook from Magma London

i also visited Smythson of Bond Street and Mount Street Printers but they were out of my budget. beautiful places to get luxury stationery goods!

[mixelation]

I recently read Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer! I was a bit skeptical of it because I really disliked the movie, and the reasons people said the book was far superior had very little to do with why I disliked the movie. However, I found the book pretty engaging. The prose seems a little rigid at first, but you get used to it as a stylistic choice to reflect the voice of the POV character pretty quickly. I thought the pacing was pretty good and sense of suspense well done, and as a result I read it in about two sittings (which is fast for me lol).

Annihilation is about a team of four women entering the mysterious Area X, a deserted zone of "ecological disaster." Their team's goal seems to be to explore the area, but as the story progresses, we learn a lot of information has been withheld and the expedition's true purpose is unclear. Area X is a sort of supernatural-meets-scifi area of strange occurrences: there's a strange wailing of unknown origin at night, the narrator character (a biologist) is constantly noting strange fungus-like growths, there's ~unknowable~ creatures wandering around. Oh, and it's also the sort of story where all the characters are slowly losing their minds for various reasons. I've seen the genre described as horror, although I'd describe the mood as vaguely unsettling rather than frightening.

My main complaint about the movie was that, IIRC, a lot of it leaned heavily on unknown-biology-as-horror and very poor biological explanations. The book isn't like this: the POV character specializes in "transitional environments," by which I think it's meant she's a community ecologist interested in ecological succession or else how environmental perturbances alter ecology. So there's a lot of prose of her describing ecological communities, both real ones and the almost-supernatural ones of Area X, but it's done without the infuriating attempts at an "explanation" which makes no sense, nor is discovering a new community arising villainized as being horrifying in how unknown it is. In some ways, getting to watch such a new community talk hold is portrayed as soothing to the main character. So in that regard, I enjoyed the novel.

Most of the negative reviews I saw of this book focused on the unreliability of the narrator or the lack of resolution for mysteries encountered. It is very true that the narrator is unreliable and she occasionally admits to withholding information form the reader, or in some places it's not clear if what she describes even really happened or was a hallucination. If you don't like that trope, you will hate this book. If you love unreliable narrators.... I wouldn't call this a stand-out or particularly interesting example, but it sure is unreliable.

Now, given this book is basically all suspense for a building mystery, I did feel throughout the whole read that the end would make or break it. And my conclusion upon finishing it is.... it's fine? I wasn't blown away by the ending, but I wasn't dissatisfied. However, I think you will be very frustrated as a reader if you expect clear-cut explanations, or for every detail to be resolved. The mysteries put forth by this book come in three categories:

the narrator - we get a full character arc with her, and in this regard I found the ending satisfying. again, it's not mind-blowing, but it does feel adequately resolved. you do have to be alright with some ambiguities and making your own conclusions, but i personally like this in a story.

the southern reach - this is the name of the agency organizing the expedition (and the name of the trilogy). Their purpose/goals are unclear, and we become aware rather quickly that they are sending people to gruesome deaths and outright lying to them about it. Personally, I didn't find them that compelling as a mystery, and didn't care to learn more than "they're a generic cryptic agency, you know the type." Some, but not all, of these mysteries will be resolved, and some of those resolutions will just open up more questions, which could be frustrating if you are interested in this element of the plot and are also the type of reader who expects all questions to be answered by the end of a story. Worry not, though-- there's two more books!

Area X itself -- like I said, there's very little attempt to actually explain WTF is going on here and why, although you sort of start to intuit the logic of this strange world. honestly, i feel that "solving" the mystery of Area X is beyond the point of the story (which is about the narrator being obsessed with ecological change but terrified and unwillingly to cope with change in her own life) and trying to shove an explanation into the movie was doomed to fail. it's unclear to me if the subsequent books will get into this or not.

Overall, a pretty good read, would recommend. I might read the other two books one day, but probably not for my next read.

[omg-snakes]

Hii do you know any snake YouTubers? Like people who do like snake vlogs/documentaries and stuff idk.

Thank you have a great day!! 🐍

Hello friend!

My apologies, but I specifically exclude myself from the YouTube realm and I have no idea what goes on there outside of whispers of poor husbandry advice and good keepers gone bad for the views.

It seems like a very stressful and sad life to be a YouTuber, with the possibility of realizing one day that you've done something abhorrent and put viewership metrics over quality of life. Thankfully, most of them seem to be spared the burden of self-awareness... At least when the cameras are on.

[fulgurbugs]

i interrupt your regularly scheduled feverish octoposting to bring you a doll post again

today’s doll is faboolous pets cleo, who target had clearanced for half price. i got her for 12.50. this is my first cleo de nile! now with her, i have at least some version of all of the main 5 ghouls. there’s future cleos i’m waiting for that i was more excited for than this one, but because she was on clearance i decided to go for her

once again i’m at home, no stands so back to using the star jar. here’s the front and back, without any accessories. without them, i wasn’t fully sold on this cleo, but as you’ll see later this whole look is carried by the accessories

here’s all the accessories she comes with

-tut, her g3 pet

-hissette, returning to make her g3 debut (thank god)

-one selfie stick

-phone

-hissette bag

-two shopping bags

-to-go coffee cup

-tiny, easily losable ring

obviously, the standout here is hissette. she’s actually wearable, and one of my favorite pets we’ve seen. glad to see her return after g3 has dogified so many character’s pets (including cleo)

one of my favorite details on this cleo -both her and hissette have matching mini crowns

quick face card. this cleo has rainbow eyeshadow, which i think realizing, made me understand the vibe this doll was going for a bit more. she’s rainbow, and she has all of the colors. still would’ve liked i red lip i think, though.

shoe check. holy shit these slay. the cat heels are you kidding?

where this cleo really comes together for me is when she’s holding *all* her accessories. i feel like the outfit is so plain, but all of the accessories are so over the top that she needs to be posed with them to really sell this look. i’m particularly obsessed with the selfie stick

excited to take her back to the other ghouls when i go back to school from spring break! (and reunite her with frankie <3) dux doll post over, here’s the obligatory .5 shot

[avinryd]

New project time: many mini dice bags

[tamapalace]

Electronic Days Tamagotchi Connection V2 Bag Review

Jordan from Electronic Days sent us a Tamagotchi Connection V2 Bag to review. There are several different types of styles to choose from on Electronic Days’ Ko-fi shop including Tamagotchi Angel, Tamagotchi Monster, Tamagotchi Connection, and more. We chose a Tamagotchi Connection V2 bag since we are huge fans of the Tamagotchi Connection and we’re manifesting a re-release.

From the moment we opened the packaging it was clear that this bag was made from high quality materials, marine vinyl specifically. Jordan personally creates each and every bag by hand. The graphics on the bag are clear and identical to the Tamagotchi Connection shell that we love. There’s so much love in the details, in the inside of the bag there’s this little glittery clear pouch that closes with a button that features Oyajitchi, how cute is that? We’ve been storing our Tamagotchi there.

These bags come with an adjustable shoulder strap so you can wear them as a traditional bag, or even cross body. These bags are larger than the pouches that are also available for sale, they’re 8 inches in height, 7 inches in length, and 3 inches in width. We’ve been adding some charms and hanging Electronic Days’ Tamagotchi cases from the side hooks where the shoulder straps attach to the bag.

We’re definitely going to be wearing this bag out and about, and it’s going to be such a conversation piece. This is high fashion meets Tamagotchi, and we’re here for it. Who are you wearing? Electronic Days! We even received a case for both our Tamagotchi Original & Tamagotchi Uni which is protecting both our Tamagotchi’s when we travel with them, they’re pink and the back is glittery, fabulous! Did we mention that the Tamagotchi Uni case came with adorable charms?

Electronic Days ships both domestically within the United States and internationally from the official Electronic Days Ko-fi shop. Be sure to check out their shop to browse all of the products they make by hand.

[redlettermediathings]

[acebytaemin]

you haven’t had a true test of patience if you haven’t ironed linen clothing with pleats or frills