December 15

Papergang VS Scrawler Box October 2021

Before I was financially reminded of Brexit and the problems that come with it, I wanted to venture out and find some new subscription boxes to try out! The Scrawler Box was something that meet all of my criteria: its a monthly subscription that perfectly fit into my mailbox and delivers me some things I am passionate about. It can’t be compared 100% to the Papergang Box because it has a different theme, where the Papergang surprises me with unique stationery every month this box is all about art supplies. Still, the size and the number of things inside were close enough that I wanted to review these two boxes side by side. Quick Disclaimer, because of some personal issues I am actually a bit behind on reviewing them, so the two boxes you will read about here are both from the month of October 🙂

Right from the start, we can see the biggest difference between the two boxes which is appearance. Where the people behind Papergang try to come up with a different design for every box, the scrawler box has the same, kinda dull design on the outside since it launched. But it’s not all about what is on the outside, but also what is on the inside, right?

Let’s start with the new box, like the Papergang box it comes with an instructional menu telling us about the content of the box. But instead of doing it like a folded brochure the scrawler box actually comes with a little booklet, which does not only show us the contents but gives us an interview with the artist featured, tips and tricks on how to use the materials, an art gallery showing what fans created with the previous boxes and something called “scrawler extra” which in this case is an article about Movie Magic 🙂
Hidden under some paper are the highly anticipated art supplies, in October we’ve got three differently coloured Copic markers together with special marker paper, one fineliner, one graphite pencil and a kneadable eraser from Farber Castel. Ontop of that we get a unique sticker designed to look like the boxes logo, such as an exclusive artwork and some British candy.

The Papergang Box contains an A5 Notebook with a “Midnight Garden” pattern which can also be seen on the box cover, one birthday greeting card with a gold foil finish, a foldable pen pot with a pink chevron design, three pencils with gold stamped quotes and gold-dipped ends, five A6 sticker sheet and two stainless steel gold coloured metal straws in a pink cotton pouch. Since I want to keep it fair and some of you might not know the folded brochure which acts as a menu guide here also has an interview with the artist they feature in this box such as a colouring sheet fitting with the overall pattern.

As I have just mentioned both boxes are working with a different artist every month, for the Octobers Scrawler box the artist is called Alexandra Olivia and for that month’s Papergang collaborated with Olivia Burton. I have to say, since I am such a Halloween enthusiast I had actually somewhat hoped for a Halloween theme for both boxes, both have kinda disappointed me. But I have to say the Papergangs collaboration and Burton’s design seem a bit more fitting than the brightly coloured markers and art from the scrawler box. But I guess that’s more personal preference than actual minus points 😉

Unlike with the Papergang subscription which I have been reviewing for the whole of 2021, I only have one scrawler box to go off, so I try not to judge the whole subscription too much based on it since maybe other months boxes have done it better. With that that in mind, what disappointed me was the few contents of the box. I remember seeing more in the boxes I saw online. Though I have to say that most of the things came from name brands, which can be quite expensive, so that might explain why there are only three markers. And they are more of less primary colours in a bit more pastel versions, which means you can combine them to get a bigger range of colours in the end.

I did like the artwork that comes with it, which is something that I actually would love to see in the Papergang boxes too. They are working together with artists, after all, I would be happy to have something from them to hang up on my wall. But I know some other people only want stationary and are annoyed by too much art content, so maybe something like the Scrawlerbox really is the better subscription to include something like this.

The people who follow me for a while now know that I love to look for a kind of theme or activity to do with the contents of the box and with Papergang I often fail at this quest. But Scrawler Box seems to really be focused on this kind of experience, which is why you get a small amount of the right paper to use with the supplies to start ASAP with whatever inspiration the box might give you. You have everything you need: A graphite pencil and eraser to make a sketch, a fine liner for the lineart and the markers to colour everything in. You even get a small snack to boost up the creative process, which I really love! And as a person living in Germany, when do I get the chance to try British candy otherwise? 😉

Seeing the outside of the Papergangs October box really got me excited, because that’s the kind of aesthetic that I like, even though it had nothing to do with Halloween whatsoever. I loved being able to keep a part of it in form of the stickers and birthday cards. Of course, there is the notebook too, but it’s mostly white for the writing of course and the cool design rests on the edges of the paper. Here it would be the perfect opportunity again to include an artwork piece, but as I just said, I know some people get upset, so it’s not something I want to judge, but something I wanted to mention and maybe wish for 😛

The pencils are the signature of OhDeer, the company behind the Papergang, but I never really liked them much. The whole point of a graphite pencil is to sharpen it until it’s eventually gone. Meaning that at some point the quote will begin to vanish too, leaving some words without context reflecting the light of their pretty gold foil in the end. Also, I feel like graphite pencils might not be the best utensil to take notes with since it smudges on the paper and does not feel as smooth as a ballpoint pen. But that might also be a personal opinion.

What really got me thinking were the metal straws… It’s not that I don’t need them or do not get the idea behind them, saving the environment and so on, but with the debate about the artworks in mind, these are not stationery items. Yes, I could make myself a hot beverage to accompany myself while writing with the supplies, but with that explanation, I could also use a cool piece of artwork by the featured artist to hang up above my desk to get into the right mood. The straws also have some ridges on the top to mimic the part where you were able to actually bend a plastic straw, which is also a design choice that I can’t really get behind.

It’s hard to say if I can determine a real winner in this review competition since both have their advantages and disadvantages. The scrawler box really seems a bit less nice and luxurious with its brown carton on the inside and on the outside, so the nicely designed Papergang box definitely gets the point there.
But judging on the inside of both boxes, I feel more drawn to the Scrawlerbox having a clear theme and activity to do after the initial opening. With the Papergang boxes, I sometimes catch myself just putting the pencils inside my pencil case without trying them out further.
These October boxes in particular both kinda disappointed me more than they surprised me. I was expecting something Halloween-ish but got nothing. Instead, I got some markers ins colours I don’t like and metals straws that I can’t bend. But that’s more a me-problem 😉


All in all, I would say both boxes have their respective rights to be in the categories they are in. People who want to have more of an activity to do should get the Scrawlerbox to create something right after you have unboxed it. If you are more into collecting unique pencils, note blocks, paper and other stationery you will be happier with the Papergang subscription. That way everyone will get what they are looking for and in my case, I guess I should consider getting them both in 2022, to get all of my needs satisfied!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Scrawler Box, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT
December 1

Other Books in the Grishaverse (as possible Christmas presents?)

I had some trouble recently, which is why I was not able to upload any posts for some weeks. I do not only want to apologize for that, but also inform you that this post was meant to be uploaded at the beginning of the month xD But I guess if you still need to find a last-minute Christmas present, it could be a cool idea or just to plan any presents for the future, an upcoming birthday perhaps 😉 Enjoy!

It’s December and 2021 is ALMOST OVER! That does not only mean we have soon successfully lived through another year with Covid but also that Christmas is coming. And even though I am not the biggest fan of Christmas tradition and celebration, of course, I love the gift-giving part 😉 In this post, I not only want to talk about some books I bought but also why they might be the perfect Christmas presents for some of your loved ones! The books I will be focusing on are all written by Leigh Bardugo the famous author of the books on which the Netflix Series “Shadow and Bone” is based on. If you are following my blog for at least some months, you know that I have recently reviewed the series on Netflix and the books and then compared them. That’s why I won’t be talking about them in detail, but of course, if someone has neither seen the Web series nor read the books, those are the ones you should start with, to introduce someone into the story. So they alone make a great present. But if you know someone loved the show or read the first books already, here are some more they will love <3 (Spoiler-free!)

The Demon in the Wood
This is a rather small book, thus not even published as a paperback but available as an eBook everywhere online! With around 50cts this is one of the most affordable out of all the gifts and it’s about the biggest Villan of the Series! Basically, it is a short story about how he became the man we got to know in the books and the Netflix series. I really look forward to reading it myself and actually, when I heard there was a book about him, I had hoped for a 400-page long one, but I will take the 60 pages with little remorse. I am sure they are interesting still, just finished very quickly :/ But beware, this story will hold big spoilers for people who have never seen the series or read the books(especially book 1), everyone else should be able to enjoy this story spoilerfree^^

The Tailor
Same as “The Demon in the Wood” this one is a short story as well, roughly around the same price point and with the same amount of Spoiler alert! But instead of being about the main villain of the series, this story is about a character who is highly debated upon by fans, whether she was a good or bad character. Some say that this eBook helped them understand her and her actions better. Also for completion, every fan of the series will LOVE to have this in their hands 😉

The Six of Crows
The Duology of the Crows chronologically takes place before the Grishaverses original trilogy, but it’s technically not a prequel because it’s not about Alina and Mal from the books, but rather about the band of thieves you get to meet and love in the Netflix Series. Netflix actually took the characters from these books and wove them into the Sun Summoners Story, which for me personally was a great choice. I was actually a bit disappointed to not read about them when I picked up the first books. So if your friend or partner was as excited to see the group on screen as I was, they will love to read these books about their origin story. Some even say they prefer these over the main story books because of their amazing writing and narrative, but I let you or the person receiving it as a gift decide on that 😉

The Lives of the Saints
This one is actually not a storybook, in the sense that it does not bring something new to the table if you have already read the OG trilogy. But rather it’s a book that is mentioned in that story and has a big significance for the characters and their goals. I am sure everybody who loves the series, would love to keep something like this as a collector’s item maybe or to feel even more immersed into the story than before, by holding the book in their hands, which Alina holds in her own. It’s beautifully illustrated on the cover, but also on the inside. Every new chapter begins with a piece of artwork and I can see how this resembles some form of holy text for some in the Grishverse, it certainly looks like it 😉

The Language of the Thornes
Similar to “The Lives of the Saints” this book could be found in Ravka, but as far as I can remember it was not really mentioned in the Trilogy. It’s less significant than the other book is, but you could kinda compare it to the fairytale books published by J.K. Rowling as a kind of add-on to the Harry Potter series. It’s said to be a collection of folklore told in the world of the series, some more insights into peoples lives, and some further information for fans to better understand the world, one of their favourite stories takes place in 🙂 Like “The Lives of the Saints” stories are fully illustrated too and the way they did it is really cool and kinda magical!

The Severed Moon
This one is especially gift-worthy because it’s actually a diary! You might have heard about the new diaries which have writing prompts in them, said to motivate people more to actually write something down daily. “The Served Moon” is such a book, created by the author of the Grishaverse books for fans of the series. It holds some magical writing prompts and quotes from the books, with beautiful illustrations on the out and on the inside. And it’s said to last for a year, what great gift to give on Christmas for a friend or a loved one to start the new year with 🙂 We all need some magic in 2022 I believe xD

Kings of Scars & Rule of Wolves
This Duology I have saved for last, because technically to avoid all kinds of spoilers you should read these books last. They take place after the story of Alina and Mal ends one way or the other with the third book of the original trilogy. And they may or may not(really trying not to say anything wrong here xD) lead on some stories of characters we have already gotten to know, but they most likely will point to events that have already happened. So to be safe, I would only gift this to someone who I know has already finished or at least bought all the other books, so that they can read them in the correct, spoiler-free order. But if you are very generous this Christmas and want to gift all of the Grishaverse books to someone(who will be very thankful, I am sure) then these books should not be missing, because as far as I know, they will conclude all of the stories Leigh Bardugo told in her magical series.

I hope you have gotten some gift ideas now and I guess I wish you all a Merry Christmas already! Celebrate if that’s your thing or try to get through the time like I do and look forward to next years Halloween again xD

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Book Review, Personal Life | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 18

A Review about “The Shadow and Bone Trilogy” by Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Macmillan USA
Published: 5th of July 2012 (this Box Edition 14. November 2017)
Length: about 400 pages per book + bonus material
Genre: Youn Adult, Fantasy
Price: 20,99€ on Amazon

What is it about?
In this world there are people existing who have different magical powers like bending the wind, controlling the water, and creating fire. They are called Grisha and in most countries, they are feared for their powers, isolated from society, or even hunted down. Only in Ravka they are protected by the King and serve in his army to fight a common enemy “the Fold”. It is otherwise known as the Unsea because it’s like the void of the ocean, but also not at all and it harbors all kinds of creatures, and everything that enters their world is their prey. Even the famous Grisha are not powerful enough to keep them at bay until a Sun Summoner is found. Her light is the only weapon capable of destroying the darkness… or is it?

Review:
Like many others, I have been led to reading this book series by its Netflix adaptation named after the first book “Shadow and Bone” which came out on Netflix this year. This actually lead me to be pretty disappointed when I realized that some aspects and stories from the show, don’t actually appear in the books. I will try and keep this review spoiler-free, but if you want to know exactly what they have changed from the books you can read about it on my other post *here*. And if you have not watched the series yet and want to know more, you can also read my review about it 😉

Having to fight my way through book one was totally my fault since I just had the wrong expectations and also because I pretty much knew every single thing that happened in the books from the series. It may speak in favor of the Netflix series as a great adaptation that the books are not much more detailed, but it may be something you want to consider before starting to read the series. But reading books two and three was actually much more fun and entertaining and even though the web series was renewed for season two, if you can’t wait until then, reading the books it’s based on might be the right choice 😉

Not having the other storylines from the Netflix series compete with Alinas quest to save her country is actually helping it. Yes, she is still a “Marry Sue”-like character, the one from the prophecy which is nothing new. But her character is genuinely interesting, her relationship with Mal feels very real, and exploring the world and its mechanics through her is still very fun. I have heard people comparing the series to Harry Potter, but it’s more like the Anime Avatar: The Last Airbender, with less spell casting and more nature taming. I really like the idea of it and their explanation of the so-called “Small Science”.

When asked about what genre her book falls in, the author started jokingly called it tsarpunk, “it takes its inspiration from the aesthetics, culture, politics, and social structure of early 19th century Russia.” It does really make a difference since most fantasy worlds are often inspired by medieval Europe and having this be more connected to Russia makes it stand out and more unique.

If you want to read more about Bardugo’s takes on her own stories, I can highly recommend going for the box edition I bought on Amazon. Each book had a bonus section with an Interview with the author herself and some specials like a letter written by Mal. And the designs on the cover are awesome, the only problem I have is that there is a Netflix sticker, referring to the show, which is printed onto the cover, you can’t take it off. But if you don’t care about that and might only be placing the books inside the box on your shelves, it will still look pretty great.

Final Verdict:
From the perspective of coming to these books after the show, it was a bit disappointing at first, and reading book one was a bit boring to me. But books two and three hooked me in again and that’s why I actually don’t want to blame the author for me watching the series first. The story itself is pretty interesting, the tsarpunk aspect makes it very unique and you have a nice set of characters to accompany you on your journey. It’s a nice story about magic, power, love, and responsibility. And since they already changed some aspects of the story in the series, they might change the ending as well. So if you want to know what the original author intends for the story or if you just want to dwell a bit more in this awesome world, pick up the books, they are worth it. And if you want to display the books(especially the ones I am reviewing here), keep the Netflix sticker in mind, but also think about the bonus stuff inside this edition 😉 All in all, I would say I loved the story, would not necessarily compare it to Harry Potter, but recommend it to everyone who wants to read something magical and different. I rate this trilogy a 4 out of 5 rating.


Category: Book Review, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 12

Artfulbox : Lino Printing

I am back again with another Artful Review! Like I mentioned last time I got multiple boxes, including some older ones when I made my subscription in September, that’s why I have so many to review^^ But for the people who don’t know what Artful is, it’s actually a quarterly subscription box from the UK meaning that you will get a new one every 3 months. Every new box will focus on a specific theme, exploring different art mediums and supplying you with different materials. Some of the old boxes’ themes include water coloring, calligraphy, and drawing with ink. This month’s box is themed after Lino printing, let’s take a look into it together!

The first thing we get in the box is a Lino cutter from Essdee with 10 extra cutting blades in different sizes, then a 112-page magazine with tutorials and interviews, 3 lino sheets (200mx150mmx3.2mm), two tubes of special block printing ink in red and black, a block with 25 sheets of premium heavyweight cartridge paper, a clear 200 micro A4 Acetate sheet and a 100mm ink roller. Compared to all the other Artful boxes I have reviewed up till now, this seems to be the one with the least amount of items in it. I can’t tell if that’s because these items are very pricey, meaning all boxes have the same value but some might be fuller and some less. Or maybe this was one of the first boxes and the budget wasn’t as high. I don’t necessarily feel like something is missing, since I actually don’t know anything about lino printing yet and all of the items seem to be of very high quality. After taking a look into the magazine in more detail, I might come back to this though.

Now that I have read through the magazine in more detail, I have actually already found something that bugs me a little bit. As I have just mentioned I was not sure if something was missing, but now I am. There are at least 3 things, which are talked about in the magazine, which could have easily been included. The first thing is tracing paper, which they say “you might have laying around in a drawer”, I personally never use that for anything, so now I have not. The second thing is sandpaper, which seems to be used for the ink sticking better to the lino or making textures, which they might think we get together with the third missing thing, being recommended by them in the magazine, an “anti-slip matt” from a hardware store. I do agree that all of these things could be already in a household of either an artist who has to trace for their work or maybe a handyman, who used sandpaper to make his wood creations smoother. But that’s not how a subscription box like that should work, I should be able to open it and begin working with what they supplied me with. The tracing paper and the sandpaper sound to be somewhat essential and also don’t cost much I assume it would have been no problem to put it in. The “anti-slip matt” seems to be more optional, but is still recommended, so why not include it?

What I really like about the magazine is that it feel way more beginner-friendly than some of the stuff in the previous boxes. In the beginning, they encourage you to use the 3 sheets they supplied in the box to start and experiment at first, not get into creating ASAP. That will be very hard for me to do, for the exact reason they state in the beginning pages “Not wasting resources” but the way they explained it, it’s not wasting, it’s kinda like creating your own color shart to know how the colors will look like on paper. That’s what you are doing, trying out the different nibs and what kinds of shapes and lines you can make with them and to make notes about it, maybe already planning a future masterpiece. When you are about to get started but have no idea what to carve yet, they have some templates with easy to recreate shapes to get on exploring the medium. Nothing as crazy as some of the tutorials seen in the ink boxes magainze(review coming soon ;)! They also tell you many important things about the shelf-live of Lino, the right methods to store and wash it, and how to carefully use the tools right. All of that information got me really hyped up to finally try out some lino printing myself, but first, let’s get on to carving 😉

Since I am trying out the box in October I was in the mood for some spooky designs and I had some pretty finished ideas in my head already. I wanted to make a Halloween stamp with a pumpkin and a potion bottle design(the ghost kinda appeared :P), but to get it from my head onto the Lino was a pretty challenging process. I used an H4 graphite pencil (which was not included) to draw my ideas directly onto the Lino, which did only partially work out. I did not want to put too much pressure on the pencil, because I did not want to leave marks in the lino, which I would not be able to get rid of again. But the graphite did not really stick to the surface that well, so I needed to go over and over it again. I then traced the lines of the design I wanted to have with the cutter and then made an outline in form of a rectangle. After finishing that task I tried to work my way inward, regretting small details like the pumpkin face xD But I did it in the end and was pretty proud for it being my first try, but also kinda nervous about if it would look the way I wanted it in the end, after applying the printing ink and transferring the designs onto paper…

The next step seemed fairly easy, but it was not xD After carving the pieces I cut them out with scissors to be able to print them onto the paper individually. I only used a small bit of the black printing ink, which can be compared to very thick acrylc paint, and apllied it to the right side of the roller, because my lino pieces were fairly small. I then went over the lino pieces multiple times, hoping for an even covarage, but intially also filing the small cravices which ment to stay ink-free. You can also see that in the first results, my small ghost is basically a black blob on the page. As for my potion bottle I actually regrett my choice of having the liqguid inside stay white and the glassy ouside be black. I can’t really say I planned it liked that, I only thought it about those two things being able to be distinguished from each other. That at least workes I guess 😛 My halloween stamp came ou the best I think, you can make out the shape of the pumkin and it’s face, even if it’s not perfect and the seem around the stamp is visible too, even though you could see that the bigger space made it even harder for me to get it covered evenly. But with practice, especially with the aplling ink part, I can see this workng very well for me and I can take all the information I got out of my errors to make my next lino pieces came out better 😉

This was actually the first Artful box which let me work with materials I have never used before. I did caligraphy as a hobby and I used water colors in school as I mentioned in the previous reviews but Lino printing was never something on my radar, I don’t think I would have picked it up to try out by myself. But it was actually quite fun, maybe because it was so diffrent! Carving out my designs instead of creating them step by step on the paper, was a very intresting experience. It was both easier and harder than I thought, if that makes sense 😛 For my very first try it did not feel as if anything was missing, though some tracing paper and maybe a marker of some kind which would stick better to the Lino would have been nice. But I guess the other things were not as needed as I thought when reading about them the magazin. I am still curious about the sandpaper and what could be done with it. But the Artfulbox is supposed to just ignite the curiousity in my and this one really succeded. Mabye I will buy sandpaper and try it out some 😉 And maybe you will too, I can highly recommend this box and the idea behind Artufl as a subscription as well^^

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Art, Artful, Mystery Box, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 4

A Review about “Shadow and Bone” (Netflix)

Rezension: Shadow & Bone – Eine Reise in die Welt der Grisha - Filme & Serien

Where to watch: Only Netflix (because it’s a Netflix Original)
Published: 23. April 2021
Length: Currently only one season, but renewed for at least a second (based on the books there might be 3 seasons in total)
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Main place of action: A made-up world and different made-up cities, heavily inspired by Russia

What is it about?
In this world there are people existing who have different magical powers like bending the wind, controlling the water, and creating fire. They are called Grisha and in most countries, they are feared for their powers, isolated from society or even hunted down. Only in Ravka they are protecting by the King and serve in his army to fight a common enemy “the Fold”. It is otherwise known as the Unsea because it’s like the void of the ocean, but also not at all and it harbors all kinds of creatures, and everything that enters their world is their prey. Even the famous Grisha are not powerful enough to keep them at bay until a Sun Summoner is found. Her light is the only weapon capable of destroying the darkness… or is it?

Was it good?
“Shadow and Bone” is a book adaptation of the original trilogie and some other books from the Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo. When I say “some other books” I mean that the Netflix Series does cover more than the Story of the original 3 books. You could actually say it’s more inspired by the books, than a real adaptation because they basically took parts of other books which take place in the same universe but a diffrent time and characters who never appear in the first Grishaverse trilogy and weaved them into their version of the story. Which made it more interesting actually 😉 If you want to know more about what they changed(with spoilers) you can read my other post about it *here*.

Since I loved the idea of avatar-esque element bending, I was really intrigued to watch the series! And I was pleasantly surprised about how good the series is, from a visual standpoint but also storywise. But maybe not because of the main storyline, which might be confusing to someone who has not yet watched the series. I try to keep this review spoiler-free, but very early on you will meet a set of characters that will immediately steal the show. They are called the crows a group of thieves who has their own series of books called “The Six of Crows”.

Without telling you about their role in the events unfolding, I can tell you they play a crucial part and they will be in every episode of the show. When following them on their journey you pretty much forget about the other stuff happening and you look forward to them appearing on screen again. I actually talked to multiple people about it and a bunch of thieves just seem to be more relatable than a Marry Sue character, who is part of a prophecy, you know will lead her to win in the end. Don’t get me wrong, her story is still somewhat interesting and it’s important to understand how the world around them is working, but it’s not the reason you will watch this show 😉

On top of these two different storylines, you will follow another set of characters on their journey and in every episode, you will switch between them. You will get to see different perspectives in totally different parts of the world, and meet a ton of new people. That must be very confusing, right? That was what I thought, but it actually is not like that at all. It’s fun and entertaining to see the different roads they take and it spices everything up a bit. I really like that they did it that way and I have not seen it done in any other series yet!

The show has intrigued me so much that I read the book series and so far they manage to adapt the story in a very good way and used their 8 episodes to cover book one completely. Season two will most likely be covering book two, that’s why I predicted that there have to be at least 3 seasons, to cover the 3 original books. Maybe more, since they created their own story on top of everything, and if all seasons are as good as this one, the more the merrier!

Final Verdict
As you might have noticed, I think the series is worth the hype it got and it’s great that it was renewed for a second season. I would want to give it 5-star rating for its excellent cast, the great visual effects, and the way they improved the narrative compared to the story of the books. But they also made some not-so-understandable decisions, which if you want to get spoilered, you can read about in my before mentioned post. Therefore I will give it 4 and a half stars or in this case popcorn bags, but I am still very much am looking forward to the next season.

Category: Review, TV/Web-Series | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 28

What’s Halloween like in Germany?

It’s October, the spookiest month of the year leading up to Halloween! I am actually always pretty excited about this time of year, I love the aesthetics very much and you could say it’s my favourite holiday! Since it’s the first time Halloween comes around while I am writing for this blog, I decided to make a post about it and tell you what Halloween is like in Germany. I hope it will be fun and interesting and if you still have any lingering questions about it, feel free to ask them in the comment section^^

First things first, technically Halloween is not a Holiday in Germany, meaning that you don’t get a day off because of it. But you will either have the 31st of October be a holiday or the 1st of November, that’s because most of Germany’s holidays are actually tied to the christian religion and those, in particular, are celebrated because of Martin Luther and his reformation of the church. I actually know no one who is actually “celebrating” that in any way, but still, we get a day off and I think most people actually use it to celebrate Halloween 😉 This is actually why some older or very religious people are against it being celebrated at all. They feel robbed in a way, but more on that topic later.

Similar to Christmas when the spooky season starts you can buy candies and decorations in every store. Sadly it’s not 3 months or more before the actual holiday, but we are happy about what we get, right? You can buy bat-shaped gummies, sceletons, and cobwebs to hang from your door, and of course pumpkins! Although I have to say that not as many people will create Jack-o-Laterns to put up in front of their door in Germany. My family actually never did, but that was less due to us not wanting to have fun carving out a pumpkin and displaying it and more about not really liking the taste of it and not wanting to waste everything that gets scooped out. Maybe Germans just are not into Pumpkin spice as much as the rest of the world is xD

Everybody is celebrating differently, some people like to lead up to the holidays by reading spooky books or watching horror films, other people only wait for the 31st to come, so they can finally dress up. These days it’s pretty normal for children to dress up in mostly spooky costumes to go around trick or treading, ringing at doorbells and asking people for candy. Because it has become so popular in Germany, most people will actually have something ready to give them. And the very advanced ones will have their whole yard decorated to scare them 😛 I always loved to dress up and run around, it was not even about the candies I have collected, in the end, I often gave them to my friends anyways. It was just cool to take on a role and present it to everyone. I did it until I was 15 years old, when an old grumpy grandpa open the door and asked me how I dared to participate in these child-like activities. At my age, he supposedly was already fighting in a war or something.

It’s not that I have lost all of my passion for Halloween that night, but I was less eager to around and let old people insult me for what I loved. Gladly at that time, I was in a theater group and every year around Christmas we were asked to get dressed up and spook around a shopping area, to make it more of an event to go shopping around the holiday. It was really great because we not only went from shop to shop and screamed at people, we did really make a show out of it. Sometimes we would do something similar to a zombie walk or we would try and keep still for about 5 minutes, which was actually what fascinated the people the most. It was also pretty great to just have more options on what to wear with all the normal theater costumes and other people doing the scary makeup for you. My favorite Halloween costume I ever wore and got to act in was a broken porcelain doll. I got special white paint which cracks up over time and a very cute dress and when I walked in the shopping aisle I tried to do it as puppet-like as possible. Sadly I have no picture of it, but it will always be one of my favorite memories.

There are Halloween parties too for all the people who are too old to go trick or treating but still want to dress up. I actually can’t talk too much about it, because despite my love for this holiday, I never went to one. Can’t really say why maybe because the opportunity never came up or because I imagined these parties more being made for people to get drunk and less for spooking around in costumes. I am sure those are fun for some people and it’s great that adult people are allowed to enjoy the Halloween spirit there too. Maybe one day I will go to one, this year I have other plans, but we will see if that will work out for me or not.

Lastly, I want to talk about people who hate Halloween in Germany. Like I mentioned some Christians have a big problem with it, mostly because they have a holiday of their own where the children are allowed to dress up and go around asking for candies. But I assume it’s less fun because you are not allowed to dress up as a mommy or witch for example and not nearly as many people prepare for it. If I remember correctly their holiday is in January and if a child would knock on my door then, I hardly would have any candy to give them. Old people also often hate Halloween, not only because of the experience I have made, with them thinking it’s only for little kids, but also because of how Halloween changed over the years. Because I would say that yes, the Halloween we are celebrating in Germany today, is heavenly influenced by how the Americans are celebrating it. But that does not have to be a bad thing, right? Fewer people complain about how we celebrate Christmas and it’s basically the same thing. All influenced by Hollywood films 😛

If you’d ask me Halloween is for everyone who can enjoy it. If you don’t like creepy crawlers or skeletons being hung up, you don’t have to celebrate it. If you feel like it’s too much, stay inside and not answer your doorbell, it’s totally up to you. But if you get any joy out of dressing up, running around playing a role, or decorating your house with cobwebs, don’t let yourself be stopped. Other people like to crochet, you might be into pumpkin carving, age really does not matter here. Do what you love and what makes you happy. I plan to go on a little celebration in one of the tattoo studios I got tattooed in this year. They make different events like pumpkin carving, preparing a spooky Labrinth, and Halloween-themed games. I don’t think I will be able to attend all of them, but I really like the idea and effort behind it. And after last Halloween was very uneventful because of Corona, I try to enjoy it even more. Happy Halloween everyone!

Greetings and good wishes
The Madd Hattress

Category: Personal Life | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 20

Shadow and Bone – Differences between the book and the Netflix-Series

“Shadow and Bone” is a very popular Netflix Series about a Russian-inspired Fantasy world, in which witches and warlocks are called Grisha. In most of the Countries, Grisha’s are actually feared, or even hunted down. But the land of Ravka treats them like royalty, raises them in wealth, and trains them to become soldiers in an age-old war. The story, which has been called the Harry Potter of the new generation, is heavenly inspired by the books of Leigh Bardugo, but after reading the first one myself, I noticed some major differences that I wanted to share with you. So if you thought about maybe reading the books because you loved the series much, as I did, this post is perfect for you 😉 But it might also be interesting to the people who only read the books too, if you want to see what got adapted and what did not. The things I will be pointing out are SPOILERS, if you are new to this series and don’t like to hear spoilers at all, I would highly recommend go watch the series now and come back after that. It has only 8 episodes and it’s very bindgeable 😉

1: Alina is not Shu, nor belongs to any other minority
This might not be something affecting the story directly, so changing it made no real difference there, but it was still something that really confused me. The first few minutes of the first episode show that as a Shu-looking woman Alina has to face racism every day, which of course is a problem we have in our world too. But in the books, Alina is only an orphan, nothing is said about her heritage, she is not criticized because of her skin color and she does not even seem to speak any of the languages outside of Ravka. Don’t get me wrong, being an orphan, having your life completely change, and having to face jealousy from other Grisha does not make her life easier, but still. Making her part of a minority group like that, without any real reasoning behind it, makes it seems as if they wanted her to be more of a victim and that does not sit right with me.

2: There are no parallel timelines, so more Mal and Alina?
If you loved the way the story was told in the series, being able to see the crows preparing the heist, Mal trying to get to Alina and Nina being abducted and growing onto her kidnapper, you will be disappointed in the books. Because the only storyline we get to experience in full detail is Alinas, we only get a small glimpse of Mal at the end when their storylines became one again in the series, after finding and defeating the stag. But until then, we don’t even know that Mal is looking for Alina and honestly, we don’t even care about him anymore. If I would not have seen the series first, I would not even have known, they were in love with each other for the first 2/3 of the book. Alina does say she is in love, but we have no information about Mal whatsoever and with him seemingly not answering her letters, we readers will tend to like the Darkling as a possible love interest way more. Which is another thing, caused by the different style of storytelling: In the series you could see the Darkling being manipulative, hiding things from Alina, you just knew something was off. But in the books, you don’t really get that feeling. I can’t really decide which way is better…

3: The Darkling is not an “older” man
A bit like changing Alina to being Shu, at least for me it felt like they changed the Darkling to be intentionally older than he was described in the books. Yes as a powerful Grisha and with all of his backstory being known at one point, he is very much older than Alina, but in the books, he does not look that way, he is actually described as being as young as Alina herself. And I think it’s important because the whole first book is about how naive Alina is, how she falls for him and his orders and how he slowly begins to own her. I think that partially is due to the way he is looking, Alina seeing someone not older than her, forgetting about his long life and being more easily manipulated by him. To be honest, that might also be why I felt as if it was obvious that he had bad intentions from the start. And again I don’t know which execution I liked more: the series being very open about Alina and Mal belonging together and the Darkling being bad or the books only hinting at Alina and Mals possible future but having the Darkling be less obviously the bad guy, making readers actually root for him.

4 +5: The crows and the Grisha hunters are not present
For many viewers including me, the crows were even more interesting than the whole Alina-being-the-savior storyline. They were just more relatable than a prophecy character who became royalty overnight, not to mention the brilliant acting and very fitting casting choices for lovable gangsters. The only problem is, they are not present in book one. They are not mentioned once, they don’t just show up at one point as Mal does and basically, their whole storyline in the series never happened in the books. After doing some research while also trying not to get spoilered myself, I came to the conclusion that the characters actually only exist in their own books called “The six of crows”. The same goes for the Kidnapping timeline, Nina and Matthias also have their story told in the Crows book series. Both seem to only have inspired the character we know from the series, their stories being altered to match the new storyline, but you can still consider the duology their original story. I actually think the series was more interesting including them in the way they did and it did not change Alinas Storyline up to this point at all, so I think it was a clever decision to make, also not having to do multiple series but putting all the cool stuff in one. The only problem is, if you were looking forward to reading about the crows or even Nina and Matthias, you will either have to wait or just read “the six of crows” right away, instead of the original Grishaverse trilogy.

All in all, I have to say, that I was a bit disappointed in the books, having had certain expectations from watching the series first, which of course is more my fault than Bardugos. But I think many people will be in the same situation, so I thought it was worth writing about. I was very sad that my favorite characters were missing, that the story was basically the same as in the series, meaning that I did not even get as many cool details out of reading the books as I would have liked and I think I do actually prefer the way viewers were introduced to Alina and Mal’s relationship in the series. In the books, because we don’t know about his efforts, we don’t really grow attached to the idea of them being together, even though their love is very clearly shown at the end. I am looking forward to reading the next books, since apart from the other timelines, we saw in the series, but not in book one, it ends more or less exactly where the Netflix series ends. So everything from book two will be new to me and maybe it will make reading a bit more interesting and who knows, maybe the crows do show up at one point and if not, I already have their own Duologie at hand 😉

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Book Review, Review, TV/Web-Series | 3 Comments on Shadow and Bone – Differences between the book and the Netflix-Series
October 13

Gamereview “Hollow Knight”

The last time I talked about a game on here, it was about a combined experience of gameplay and watching a tv series, that I found so special that I had to share it. This time I want to talk about a game which is also one of its kind, you may have heard of it before. “Hollow Knight” was published in 2017 so it’s already some years old but it has not lost its charm since then. It’s a platform jump’n’run like super Mario, but it has a very eerie vibe to it, which makes a further comparison to its cheery counterpart almost impossible. Let’s jump right into the review.

Review
The story of the game is kinda hard to put together because it’s not something linear that leads you through the game. You get fragments of knowledge from people you meet and statues you find, which leads you to explore the story and discover all the pieces on your own. For me that was very different and I have to say, I felt kinda lost at some points, and in the end, I really did not play the game to find out what it was about. Might be a plus to some people who really want to solve the mystery, but I kinda ignored it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because it means the game itself, got me coming back again and again.

The general mechanics are fairly easy, you are playing an unnamed character, as far as I have understood it, it’s not the Hollow Kight, but for the purpose of this review let’s call him Knight 😉 Knight wakes up in a cave, follows some kind of call, and ends up in an almost empty village. There he meets an old bug, who tells him that all other members have gone into an underground dungeon to fight and never came back. So Knight decides to do the same and jump down a well to get into a sewage system and his adventure starts.

In typical jump’n’run fashion, you are exploring a sidescrolling environment, fighting your way through enemies with a sword, and find secrets and hidden items. What’s interesting is that the one environment you are entering is actually only a part of a big map with different areas that have different enemies and different designs. You can find the other areas by beating bosses, learning new moves, and finding new ways to travel. It was very intuitive because you have to revisit tunnels where you have been before, as soon as you learn to jump higher or wider, to explore caves and so on.

I have heard some people comparing the game to “dark souls” because it’s harder than most of its kind. But since I have played and terribly failed at dark souls, I think I can safely say that “Hollow Knight” is at least playable 😉 If you die, you will lose all of the currency you have earned, but you can get it back by fighting “the remains you have left”. At some point in the game, you also unlock some kind of bank where you can go back and store the so-called Geo you find and save it from getting lost in battle(but be careful with that xD) and other options too. In the same way, you can also unlock a way to quick travel, which can be very convenient, and combined it make a less nerve-wracking experience than dark souls.

Final Thoughts
All in all, it’s a challenging game that might be harder than Super Mario, but not as hard that it would keep you from finishing it. It has a mysterious story that frames the experience, but can be ignored if needed. The gameplay is very intuitive and interesting and the environments are minimalistic but stunning. The music seems very well composed so that it accompanies you on your journey, but it does not distract you from your tasks. The boss battles are diverse and every new move you learn will be needed to access a new area. I think it’s a very great game 🙂

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Gaming, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 8

Papergang Box September 2021

The September box actually arrived almost immediately after the August box came in the mail, meaning I had to pay the before mentioned taxes again -.-” If you want to know more about the situation take a look *here*. But hopefully, this will be the last box with those extra costs and I try not to let it ruin the opening of the box for me 😉 Let’s take a look inside together!

In the box, we get an A6 daily planner with a beautiful yet simple mountain-type design, similar to the front of the box. We also get 3 birthday greeting cards with fittingly designed envelopes, an A5 art print which I like the most out of all we have gotten from Papergang this year! Last but not least we got some sticker markers with different designs and 6 differently colored felt tip markers.

I am very happy with this box, everything can be used together and I like the designs and earth colors they used very much 🙂 Like I said the print is my favorite up till now and the sun going up and down in the sticker marks is pretty cute 😛 What is a bit disappointing are the felt tip markers, they are very reminiscent of the german Stabilo markers, but they feel a bit cheap compared to those. Having “Papergang” written on them has a nice touch, but not if it’s in exchange for quality, you know? Aside from that, there is nothing to complain about 🙂

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 6

No subscription boxes anymore…

… at least not the ones you are used to by now :/ Today I want to write about something that I find very sad, but which also made me very angry last week. I actually received multiple packages for which I had to pay the post-delivery service for custom taxes I did not know about. As a student, I don’t have that much money and since I had bought many packages recently, I had to pay almost 100euros just for taxes. You can imagine that if I would have known about it, I would not have bought so much in the first place. Let me tell you what exactly the problem is and why it looks like I won’t be able to get any more of my beloved subscription boxes in the future…

Since I know that my readers are scattered all over the world, I know that tax problems are not the same for everyone. But I am sure you all have heard about the Brexit situation that was going on for the last 3 years or so. Basically, some politicians in the UK joked about making a public vote about if the UK should stay part of the EU or not. After that joke, they could not take it back anymore and the public vote actually forced them to exit the European Union. You might think it’s not a big deal if they are part of it or not, but it actually is because countries within the EU have special rules applied to them, benefits so to say which do not get granted to other countries. For example, as a person living in any EU country, you can travel and even move in between other EU countries without having to apply for a visa ever.

Another benefit is that you don’t have to pay certain taxes, mainly at the different countries customs, making trading in between countries just easier for everyone. And when the UK had forced itself to make the decision to leave the EU, they tried to still keep some of the benefits and they tried to assure everyone inside and outside of the country that they would not have to face many problems because of it. They would try to make trading treaties and such with the country leaders and the private person who wants to buy something, will not feel a difference. Well, I felt it and it’s a big one.

Basically because of all of these promises they made and treaties they wanted to get, the whole process of the UK leaving the EU took much longer than expected and for the normal person, it got really hard to tell what was decided on and when it will be an official law. The media did not even report on the Brexit news anymore, because people were tired of hearing it, and also nothing seemed to change for some reason. But in July this year, something seemingly did change and I did not know about it. Basically, it seems as if the treaty for trading and not paying customs, which they had talked about would to be a problem, did not get to be made, meaning that you now have to pay the normal taxes for any package from the UK which you have to pay for a package from any other country.

My biggest problem actually is, that no one informed me about that. I have a year-long subscription to the paper gang stationary box and neither in my emails nor on their website have they ever informed any of their EU members about the change. Which I find very unfair because I would basically have to pay 10-20euros more for it now, per month. And it’s not the only subscription I have! Being so positively surprised about the Artfulboxes I also made a year-long subscription to them JUST RECENTLY. If I had known about it earlier I would have not done it and I feel scammed in a way.

You might think, July is over 2 months past, why did you just learn about it? Well if you follow my paper gang reviews you know that even before July there were some problems with the delivery of the boxes. It always seemed to have been a different problem, but it often lead to my boxes either arriving later or not arriving at all(being replaced). So I actually have not gotten any boxes for the last 2 months because of what I thought was a similar problem again. I also was not worried about it, because I thought it would be able to be solved like the other delivery problems were. And again, nobody told me about what was wrong, so there were no steps for me to take.

Sadly all of the boxes I have received up to now and a new box I will be receiving soon(but had to cancel for the future already) are shipped from the UK. Meaning that if the companies themselves won’t find a solution, I can’t afford to get them anymore. While writing this post, I am about to ask the Company OhDeer about why everything happened the way it happened and if they plan on taking any further actions or not. Depending on when they answer, I will update this post. Wish me luck I guess, but sadly I am not hopeful 🙁

UPDATE: Actually the customer service at OhDeer never seems to disappoint! They have gotten back to me very quickly, apologizing for the chaos and trying to explain to me that they might have actually found a solution to the tax problems! I assume they either did not tell their customers about it because they wanted to solve the problem ASAP, hopefully without anyone noticing, or because they would actually not have known how much everyone has to pay because it seems to be different in every EU country. Either way, I think they should have told people about it, just to prepare for chaos like the one we are in now. But I guess everyone makes mistakes and since they are trying everything to make it up to us customers again, I think we can forgive them 🙂

As I have just mentioned they seemed to have found a solution to the tax problem by finding a delivery service which lets them take care of any extra costs instead of us the customers. In my case, that would mean that since there are no custom taxes to pay, the mailperson won’t have to get it from the custom center so technically I should be charged nothing in the end, which is what I had paid for in the beginning, right? So I am pretty happy IF everything works out the way they explained it to me. I will definitely keep you updated, reaaaaally looking forward to the October box now. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my subscriptions, at the least the ones at OhDeer. But if anything changes, I’ll let you know!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT