Movie Monday: Hercules

I forget if I've done this for a Movie Monday or not... but it was on Freeform a couple weekends ago and I saw most of it and I don't always have time to watch all the things... so I wanted to review it now! 

Alright so... this is one of my favorite animated movies from Disney. It's one that I still like to watch today- and I still laugh at the jokes... some are funnier than others right now... 

That's it! I'm moving to Sparta!!! 

Anyway- the soundtrack to this movie is also one of my all time favorites. I really love anything the muses sing... I Won't Say I'm In Love is probably one of my favorite disney songs of all time... but all of them are really catchy and fantastic. 

The voice acting in this is really great too. I love Meg's laid back- sarcastic tone with Hercules and everyone... it kind of does make her a really great pseudo-villain for the movie- but she also just sounds like a really cool girl that you can understand Hercules falling for. There's also Danny Devitto, James Woods had so much fun voicing Hades... and everyone just did a great job. 

Overall... I just really like this movie. This is also a movie I've watched before to get me through tough times. I think I watched it after my first breakup... possibly after my second breakup too- definitely the one time I got fired... I wasn't going through anything when I watched it today... I mean other than all of 2020... but it's still just a fun movie that always makes me feel better. 

Alright I hope you guys liked this! 

Bye! 

-Shannon 

Animal Crossing Post: Octopus Trifecta!!!

Okay guys so Anicotti asked to leave my island recently and I was a little sad because she was my best friend on the island and she used to be my favorite villager... but I started to see other people's videos not liking her and it influenced my opinion a bit! Ugh I know! I still love her but I feel like her eyes look a little weird and her hair isn't that cute. I still love her and I thought she was cute- but since she asked to leave- I let her go. 

So when I let her go I knew I needed someone really great to replace her. I didn't want to use my amiibo cards for that- I thought I'd try my luck villager hunting on my own. And usually I have good luck when I go villager hunting... but not this time. Really because I had a lot of nook Miles and I already had a lot of tickets I was just going to go for Raymond, Sherb and then I was like "Well I like the Octopus villagers too so maybe I'd pick up one of them." And I got a lot of cow villagers, I saw Rodney who is probably one of the only villagers I wouldn't like on Spencario but... it was mostly bad. And I did see Maple... and I really like her but I have 2 bear cubs already and I wasn't sure if I wanted to get another one. And then I saw Octavian... and I really like Octavian!!! Admiral I think is still my favorite Cranky Villagers... but Octavian is kind of a close second. I like that his house is Alien themed- it makes me think he's like a grumpy alien hunter like Fox Mulder. I wonder if there's a custom I want to Believe Poster out there that I can give to him... it's funny. 

So when I got Octavian I was like "You know... I have some amiibo cards. I do have Marina's Amiibo Card... maybe I should use that and get her on the island. And my idea was just to invite her in Merry's space because I do have Merry's Amiibo card and I want to invite her back... but I thought about it and I was like "You know I like Colton... but I do have another Smug Horse on my island and... I don't know. I do kind of want to get Colton's amiibo card because I do think he's really cool... but I haven't bought it yet. I might wait to get it and see how things go... but I did use my Marina amiibo card to move him out and then I spent the rest of the day 1) Fixing my island and moving things around... which maybe I'll explain another time... But I time traveled a lot and eventually got Merry to move away so that I could got my villager hunt. 

So... this villager hunt was honestly the best villager hunt I've ever been on. I was looking for Zucker- but of corse if I saw Raymond, or Sherb I would probably invite them to the island. I saw Rubi, Boone, Bob, Drago and Beau... I'm pretty sure I saw other villagers I really liked too. I actually did clap and make Orville blush before getting Zucker. I know that has nothing to do with actually getting good islands or good villagers- but it's fun to do and I guess it worked this time haha! I also saw some villagers that used to live on Spencario! I saw Tex and Harry. And it was like one right after the other too so that was funny. 

So yeah I got all 3 of my Octopi now! I think Zucker might be my favorite... he's just really cute. But I did see Octavian at Marina's house... so that was kind of scandalous! 

But anyway... I think my Forever villagers are Hamlet, Stitches, Julian, Admiral, Tia, and Cherry. I might switch Cherry with Fuchsia for a bit because they're the same personality type and I have both amiibo cards... but I'm not sure about it. I really like Cherry because she's a cool punk dog. And I love dogs! 

Hope you guys like this! 

Bye! 

-Shannon 

Movie Monday: Hamilton- An American Musical

Alright guys... so I wasn't sure which blog to put this on- but since it is on Disney Plus- I felt like it had to be this blog... and you guys should know I love the musical Hamilton... so this is kind of my favorite movie ever... 

Anyway this is the original production- it was filmed shortly after Jonathan Groff had left- but they brought him back to reprise his role of King George for filming and... they did a really great job with the musical. 

I'm glad that they didn't turn it into an actual movie- I guess they could still do that... but I think seeing the stage is very important because there are a lot of layers to the story of Hamilton other than it just being about Alexander Hamilton... and the Stage and the choreography really add to the story also being about Rap and Music. There's a turntable on the stage which I think is really important... it's just great. 

I've seen the stage production of the show and I would say to see that if you can when you can because it's just a really incredible thing to witness onstage and it is 100% worth it. I feel like I might buy tickets again whenever I can. But this is a really great recording of it and the whole cast did such a great job. I loved the cast that I saw when I went to see Hamilton- but it was fun to see Lin Manuel Miranda in the role and I don't really know if you can get a better Lafayette/Jefferson than Daveed Diggs. 

And I cried a lot during the real play... and I cried a lot when I watched this too. I think I've seen it 3 and a half times now... maybe 4 and a half I forget... but not every scene gets me every time... but I do pretty much always tear up at the end. And when I saw the play I cried a whole lot- especially at the end. It just really pulled at the heartstrings in an amazing way! 

So yeah definitely check this out! I definitely will at least 100 more times... It is just my favorite! 

Bye! 

-Shannon 

Animal Crossing: Using Amiibo Cards to Get New Villagers

Best village ever! 

Okay- so this is something I didn't think I would try. I've seen people post that Amiibo cards are a super easy way to move out villagers and get your favorites on your island. I had also seen a lot of the more popular villagers amiibo cards going for a lot of actual money on amazon and... no I'm not going for that. I think I've heard that Nintendo did see this and they are now making new amiibo cards and I think they released them in Japan... but I'm not that patient and as I got more people on my island I started to kind of realize that there was one villager I really wanted and one that I didn't necessarily want initially but I just kinda realized she fit into my island really well... so I thought "since these amiibo cards exist I should pick her up too. 

And I just kind of was looking at what other animal crossing stuff etsy was selling when I saw these beautiful hand drawn cards from a shop called FrostandOrchid and I thought "You know what. I might as well order these." So I got Julian, who is probably my favorite villager because he's a unicorn... and I like unicorns a lot and my niece is obsessed with unicorns so... I felt like Unicorns were a good idea. I also got Cherry because my Island needed both a dog and a Sisterly villager. Bea left, and I really liked Bea but I wanted to change things up a bit... and I got Tia who is a Normal personality type so I was good on my normal villagers- but I still need a dog on my island. My island name is Spencario after my dog and the flag (because I can't do custom flags) is paw prints... so really a dog needs to be on Spencario. I also needed a new Sisterly villager because Sylvia left... and Cherry is just super cool looking and I loved the way she looked in this drawing! 

And inviting them to the island wasn't hard. So you need to go to resident services. I think in order to do this you need to have the upgraded resident services and you definitely need the campsite. On the little machine where you pay off your loans and access your nook miles- there's a button that says "Invite A Camper" but the A is an amiibo symbol. You hit that- yes you want to invite an amiibo camper. Next is the part I thought would be tricky- but these cards made it really easy. These cards are kind of plasticy- like a credit card type of feel to them and there's a little sticker on the back. You just hold that sticker to the joystick part of your right joycon and it reads the amiibo! The character will then show up on screen saying their catchphrase and right after that they go to the campsite. 

So you have to go to your campsite and talk to them a few times. They'll ask you to craft a souvenir for them to take home because "they're leaving tomorrow" and if you don't have the diy recipe for what they want you to craft- they'll give you the recipe! Then they're in right? Nope! You have to invite them back the next day...and a third day to get them in! So it's a good way to get some DIY recipes if you need them and its a bit of a challenge but they'll move in and kick out whoever you want guaranteed. 

So you have to invite them to the campsite 3 days in a row because they go back home after the first day. I time traveled for mine because then I'll remember and I can just get them moved in quick. This should affect anything too much- but if you have turnips I'd recommend going to Timmy and Tommy and checking the prices because if you travel back to the present after that prices might change. 

And if you want to just move them in right away and have their regular house- the villager you kick out will be packing immediately when you invite the amiibo character in... and then the next day the house will have a sold sign, the following day Isabelle will say there's a new friend on the island and they'll be unpacking their boxes... and then after that you'll get to see them enjoying the island life and see what their houses look like which is really cool. You may even get to see them sing or something. It's really fun. 

So yeah I had a lot of fun with this and even though I'm happy with how my island is right now- I'd sort of like to have one house open for changing out villagers. I love Merry- but I think she's the one I'm going to change out from time to time... so I did buy some more Amiibo Cards including Merry's. I don't think I'll be inviting anyone in the campsite anytime soon... but I like to have options to change people out so... I ordered some more from the same shop. I got Merry, Bob, Marshal, Marina and Fuchsia... so that should be fun to kind of play around with different villagers but still return to some of the ones I love. There's no one else who I would really switch out unless its Cherry since I have an amiibo card for her too. Plus I think all of the villagers I have on are like the best of their personality type. Julian is my favorite overall and favorite Smug Villager, I also like Colton and I like having the 2 together on the island so they're both staying. Hamlet is my favorite Hamster and my favorite Jock villager- so he has to stay. Stitches is probably the cutest villager overall and my favorite lazy villager. Judy is a new villager with no amiibo so... I need her to stay. She is also my only snooty villager. Admiral is my favorite Grumpy villager...Anicotti is my best friend on the island... and Tia just has the coolest design ever. So I'm super happy with everyone living there- but now I have the option to switch back and forth between villagers, I could still go villager hunting if I'd like to and... yeah! I like having strong friendships with everyone- so that's the one thing that's kind of like "ehh" cause if I have a friendship with Merry and she moves out and then I move her back in... we won't have the same friendship when she moves back in... but that's okay. that's part of the fun of the game right? 

But also side note- Merry has the cutest friendship poster because she covers up her double chin. I have no friendship posters yet- so... hopefully soon. 

So here are some pictures of my friendship with Julian because it's amazing. 

Animal Crossing: Playing the Stalk Market the right way!

So the last blog that I did I posted about the Stalk Market and I really wanted to do it in a fair way with no time travel but because I was villager hunting I needed to get rid of my turnips... so I time traveled to sell turnips and then time traveled to hunt for villagers since I couldn't travel back in time. 

The last 2 weeks I've been doing it the "right way" where I use no time Travel and it's still easy and a lot of fun. The only hard thing is that you have to make sure to play in the morning when Nook's Cranny is opened and then again at night before it closes. I'm not really sure that's going to be possible for me when I go back to work... Nook's Cranny opens at 8... and sometimes I start work earlier than that... but that's okay. It helps a little knowing both times but I don't think it's that much of a make or break thing. I might have to time travel a little more... but anyway it's something fun to kind of get me up early in the morning. 

I use the Nook Net Turnip Calculator to predict my prices and see when the best time to sell is. This is a calculator created by a data miner- so they broke down the code to see how this worked. 

This week I actually had a bit of bad luck with it because I didn't listen to the calculator fully... and I thought that maybe I'd be able to sell it a little bit higher... and the price dropped 11 Bells... so it wasn't that much but I feel like I should have sold at least some of my turnips at that price. Usually Tuesday or Wednesday is the day you'll want to sell... but the first week I started the highest price was on Saturday so it might be different. If your prices are lower than what you paid... don't sell! Unless it's Saturday Night and you didn't sell them at all yet and you missed your window for selling them for profit because you need to sell them before the following Sunday otherwise they'll rot. 

Also during the week I'm putting bells away in the bank so that I can buy turnips the following week. Right now it's super easy to make bells. I totally recommend going to mystery islands and fishing for sharks. Also if CJ or Flick are on your island- that's a really easy and fun way to make money. Just catch all the bugs or fish that you can and sell it to them for a higher price. I don't like catching Scorpions or Tarantulas... but if I do I think I'm going to start saving those for Flick. The sharks right now I haven't been saving for CJ- but CJ was just on my island last week- I'm not expecting him again until next week at least. There's also a Bug Off this month I think and a fishing tournament next month- so Flick and CJ will definitely be on your island's then. 

I think I mentioned this in last week's post- but I did buy 2 amiibo cards- so next week I'll talk about my Amiibo Card thoughts. They haven't arrived at the time I'm writing it... but I'm sure they'll be here by the time I post this. So I'm excited to see how that works out and tell you guys about it. If I like it- I might buy a few more cards and kind of rotate through different villagers. 

Alright hope you guys like this! 

Bye! 

-Shannon