Tag Archives: easy

Review – Slant Collections Mini Journals Preppy Stripe

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I’m not exactly the type of person to be found in Tuesday Morning (the store) but I did find myself in there one day, and there was quite a bit of interesting stuff. And being someone who has been drawn to the stationery aisle since I was little I found myself in the stationery section, where I found a set of Slant Collections mini journals, this particular set in the discontinued “preppy stripe” (it was Tuesday Morning, after all). Let’s take a look.

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The books themselves are 3¼ x 5¼ inches, just smaller than a Moleskine pocket book. The cover feels like plastic-coated cardboard and in this version has a very simple design that comes in 3 colors. It is a single piece bent around and stitch-bound onto the 70 inside pages. These pages are lined with a thin 7mm ruling that is the same color as the main cover color, printed on a very white background.

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The paper itself is quite thick and a medium roughness. It is very bleed-and feathering-resistant despite this. Fountain and other liquid ink pens are handled well, and with most other writing utensils both sides of the paper can be used, though at this size I wouldn’t recommend that. The cover and binding are very well done and hold up (the stitching looks very slightly unsightly at times) and the corners are nicely rounded to prevent the corner bending that some books get. On the table the book lies adequately flat and while the cover does bend out of shape it bends back just as easily.

In the end I have been surprised by these little notebooks. They are hardy, easy to carry, great writing things. It has taken me some time to review them as they weren’t good enough to replace any of the books in my normal rotation (but that’s more because I prize consistency, a book would have to be head and shoulders above to get met to move something out of my rotation). I enjoyed using them very much (even the pink one) and if all of the Slant collection journals are as good as these were I’d consider more in the future.

Review – Monster DNA Headphones

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I’m not a real headphone kind of guy. All of my on-ear phones are gifts, like the one I’m reviewing. And all of my earbuds break super fast so I just get the cheapest I can find. But I already have the Monster DNA headphones, so I thought I’d give them a review.

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The have a compact and sleek design. I’m not really a fan of the overall looks, but they function well enough. The head strap (? What do you call that?) is flexible and quite comfortable, with a bit of rubber on the interior to prevent the uncomfortableness of straight plastic-to-hair contact. Each side is capable of receiving input from a standard audio cord. They also fold up, which I find unnecessary and silly. Each side is adjustable, to allow the headphones to better fit the head, and I find that the various positions they click into are at short enough intervals that the majority of people will be able to find a comfortable position for themselves. They come with two audio cables: one standard aux cord, and another with a 90-degree bend for devices. The device cord also has controls for volume, and the pause/skip forward or back button.

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The performance is great. The bass is clear and the cushions around the edges conform to one’s ear allowing one to listen with fewer outside distractions. Many even slight sounds can be picked up but the main parts of the music (or whatever audio is being listened to) isn’t interrupted or detracted from. The cables are sturdy and hold in the devices well, and the buttons are well constructed.

Overall I’m happy with them. They were a great gift, and are my primary, non-travel headphones. Not to say I haven’t traveled with them: they can become very compact and are quite sturdy for traveling purposes. And they’re just nice headphones. They’re all I, a standard music and entertainment enjoyer, will ever need out of headphones. I know there are likely better ones, but I’d still give these a shot.

Book Review – 1,339 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop (By: John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, and James Harkin)

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1,339 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop is a simple book. As stated in the title, it contains 1,339 facts (I’m fairly sure, I didn’t count, but math tells me there should be 1,340, so maybe there is one lie). They are collected 4 to a page and “organized” in a stream-of-conscious style.

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The facts aren’t quite common knowledge, though likely the reader will be familiar with some. Some of them are easily verifiable, and there are no real stand-out lies or debunked myths. It’s entirely possible that some of the things presented inside are false, but they do include a link to a website where you can submit any proof you have that a statement made in the books is false. Out of the whole thing, I only found one fact that seemed dubious to me.

In the back there is also a handy index in case you’re looking for where you read that one thing a year and a half ago that you swear to your friends is true. Which is nice, as the lack of chapters would make navigation of the book otherwise difficult. Nothing presented requires much special knowledge to understand (one might have to do a quick Google search or two), and retaining anything is easy as everything is presented in a few sentences. There also aren’t too many offensive or morbid things included (it depends on how broadly you’d want to define that.)

It’s a fun little book to read through, and then sit on the shelf and open up to a random page now and again. My jaw never did drop while reading it, but I was certainly amused when doing so. I enjoyed it, and will enjoy keeping it around.

Lessons from Board Games – Hanafuda and Sorta Maybe Entirely Luck-Based

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I chose Hanafuda for this, but it really applies to most card games (I just want to talk about Hanafuda for a bit). Hanafuda are Japanese Flower cards (and refer to some of the games played with the cards): a deck of what is essentially playing cards that were invented in Japan after western cards were banned.  Hanafuda  then spread to neighboring Pacific areas. There are 12 suits (representing the months with flowers) and 4 cards in each suit.  The cards have values of either 1, 5, 10, or 20, though not all suits contain all values. To a western player the lack of numbers can be difficult to grasp, but since most of the games involve matching flowers, it’s easy enough to remember that in general the more decorated a card is the more points it’s worth and to just match cards.

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Hanafuda caught my attention when I was looking for a card set for Mah-Jongg. I had been aware the cards’ existence but hadn’t though much of it. I play a lot of board games and have enough regular decks of cards and American card games as it is. Then I bought a cheap copy of Mah-Jongg at a thrift store, and wanted to find an easier to learn and play version. I found a card version, in the related items section there were Hanafuda cards, so I bought those as well.

Now I play a lot of board games, and while in school I started playing cards and chess when I had finished my work. I’ve since moved on mostly to more “complex” (chess is pretty complex at times) games that are more fun and/or accommodate more people. In general, I stopped playing card games because they were so luck based. Even though it might not seem like if for those who used French deck-based games (or even Hanafuda to some extent), eventually, after playing far too many games, one realizes that winning is only luck in such games. And it seemed less fun to have no skill involved in the game. But since I was so fascinated by both Hanafuda and Mah-Jongg I figured I’d take a chance on these luck based games.

This is all far too much information leading up to my basic point: that I’ve played Hanafuda (Hawaii style with a bit of my personal flair) as well as a few other mostly luck-based card games (with a modified French deck) and had a blast. Sometimes it’s just fun to play a game and talk to people, which you can do when no skill is involved. I know I’ve said that before, and some luck-based games like Snakes and Ladders or whatever can be terrible. But the illusion that you are in control that many card games give you is great for masking that and providing a basis for social interaction. Hanafuda only lasts a few minutes for a round, and you only have to play one. But for that you can look at pretty flowers, have a good conversation, and not mind the sorta kinda, entirely luck-based game.