I’ve had this list saved on a page in Evernote for months; when I realized I didn’t have any ideas for today’s blog post, it seemed like just the thing to do. What are we doing exactly? We are embarrassing ourselves with how not well read we are. This is Time’s 100 Best Books of All Time. The list was compiled by Time magazine’s critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, and I’m about to show you how many I’ve actually read cover to cover.

The Adventures of Augie March
All the King’s Men
American Pastoral
An American Tragedy
Animal Farm
Appointment in Samarra
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret 
The Assistant
At Swim-Two-Birds
Atonement
Beloved
The Berlin Stories
The Big Sleep
The Blind Assassin
Blood Meridian
Brideshead Revisited
The Bridge of San Luis Rey 
Call It Sleep
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
A Clockwork Orange
The Confessions of Nat Turner
The Corrections
The Crying of Lot 49
A Dance to the Music of Time
The Day of the Locust
Death Comes for the Archbishop
A Death in the Family
The Death of the Heart
Deliverance
Dog Soldiers
Falconer
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
The Golden Notebook
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Gone with the Wind
The Grapes of Wrath
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Great Gatsby
A Handful of Dust
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart of the Matter
Herzog
Housekeeping
A House for Mr. Biswas
I, Claudius
Infinite Jest
Invisible Man
Light in August
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lolita
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
The Moviegoer
Loving
Lucky Jim
The Man Who Loved Children
Midnight’s Children
Money
Mrs. Dalloway
Naked Lunch
Native Son
Neuromancer
Never Let Me Go
1984
On the Road
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The Painted Bird
Pale Fire
A Passage to India
Play It As It Lays
Portnoy’s Complaint
Possession
The Power and the Glory
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Rabbit, Run
Ragtime
The Recognitions
Red Harvest
Revolutionary Road
The Sheltering Sky
Slaughterhouse Five
Snow Crash
The Sot-Weed Factor
The Sound and the Fury
The Sportswriter
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Sun Also Rises
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Things Fall Apart
To Kill a Mockingbird
To the Lighthouse
Tropic of Cancer
Ubik
Under the Net
Under the Volcano
Watchmen
White Noise
White Teeth
Wide Sargasso Sea

So… 10 out of 100. That’s terrible. And to be perfectly honest, most of those were books I read for school. There were a few titles I am so ashamed I haven’t read (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Slaughterhouse Five, A Clockwork Orange, 1984) that I almost didn’t post this list, but I figured it would be a good catalyst for discussion. So here is my literary shame. Also, I didn’t count the ones I have only seen the movie of (Lord of the Rings, Never Let Me Go, etc).

How many have you read on this list? Why do you think we often shy away from these classics? How important is it that we read them? Let me know in the comments!

It’s time for this week’s video roundup! I know I post a lot of videos, and YouTube has been making it increasingly more difficult to find the videos you want to watch… so here’s a quick post updating you on everything I put online this week.

We are well into October now, but I think there’s definitely still time to talk about the list of things I discovered last month! My September favorites video went live yesterday, and it’s absolutely bursting with all the fun new games I probably shouldn’t have gotten myself quite so addicted to.

I also posted this month’s Loot Crate unboxing video recently, which featured a ton of fun items all related to animation and cartoons… which was totally right up my alley:

And lastly, Team Hypercube put a quick pause on its regular scheduled programming to bring you another BOARD GAME WEEK! This time, we featured Jetpack Unicorn, the game that was created by none other than myself and Joe (in conjunction with Wyrd Miniatures). I’ll post Episode One below, but make sure to head over to the channel and subscribe if you want to find out who wins!

Thanks for watching my videos, and more importantly, for reading my blog. You guys rock.

This will be my eighth year participating in NaNoWriMo. I sort of can’t believe it. I remember so vividly how I found out about it and honestly, it feels like no time has passed… but in fact, seven novels worth of time have passed since that day (and here I am mentally preparing for number eight).

I was at home in my bedroom at my parent’s house. This is really embarrassing to admit, but I had this “friend” on AIM that I had never spoken with, but kept her on my buddy list because I thought her away messages and buddy profile were funny. I don’t even entirely remember, but I think she was a fanfiction author I had admired but never worked up the courage to say hello to. It was 2005; I was 17 years old, give me a break. Around the time of November, her away messages starting referencing this project she was working on, something called NaNoWriMo. After a few days my curiosity got the best of me and I finally clicked the link.

What I found on the other end quite literally changed my life.

I wrote a lot of fanfiction in middle school and high school. I had always loved writing, and fanfiction seemed like the only way to get other people interested in reading your words. People love hearing about what new capers Harry, Ron and Hermione got themselves into – so I wrote my crappy fanfiction – and people read it. It was a beautiful thing. But as I got older, I didn’t just want to use other people’s characters. I tried my foray into fictionpress.com (fanfiction.net’s sister site for original works) and people just didn’t care. It was disheartening. It made me want to stop writing.

But then I found NaNoWriMo. A site dedicated to encouraging writers to do what they were meant to do: WRITE. Constantly. For a whole month.

I will preface this by saying that even after seven novel attempts, I still haven’t shared much of my work with any other living, breathing humans – but that wasn’t the point of NaNoWriMo for me. While I craved the comments and feedback on my fanfiction, NaNoWriMo made writing a whole new animal for me… rather than a solitary task I did alone in my bedroom against the protest of my mom who wanted me to come out and actually interact with people sometimes. Suddenly NaNoWriMo gave me not only a supportive community of other writers to talk with and gain encouragement from, but it managed to somehow turn my favorite lonely solo activity into a sport. One where people root for each other!

It’s been such a positive force in my life, even when it means I am ignoring plans with friends, falling behind in TV shows, or working myself into a stupor. It’s the kind of exhaustion you earn after a job well done, and I look forward to it year after year. I learned that writing is much less about those immediate comments you receive on fanfiction.net, but about cultivating the skills required to take on such a gargantuan task on your own. About learning discipline, and powering through something even when it seems impossible, and how good it feels when inspiration truly hits.

I recommend NaNoWriMo to anyone who has ever had even the smalled nugget of an idea for a story in their brains. If you want to follow my progress in the coming months, here’s my profile. And if you’re at all interested in helping out the nonprofit behind this wonderful event, I’m raising money for their annual gala on my personal fundraising page here.

Welcome to Round Two! The theme this time? “Kristina likes this semi-exotic food, and then her mind is blown when she realizes it’s so easy to make that she’s embarrassed she never tried it before.” Let’s begin.

So, let me preface this by saying all you really need is the Squash itself. I thought it was going to be super complicated, but you literally just cook a squash and spoon out its guts.

Ingredients:

1. Spaghetti Squash
2. Big Knife
3. Muscles

Ah, a problem. Muscles. Right. I don’t have those. So, there are two tricks here. One, ask your roommate who is much stronger than you to cut the squash in two, lengthwise. Don’t have a strong roommate? Dang. Okay, plan B. This is to cut a few little ventilation slits into the squash (even someone lacking muscles can do this) and then stick it in the microwave for 5-10 minutes to soften it up. Then, using an oven mitt to steady the squash (because it’s hot now, duh), cut that sucker in half.

Yummmm. Look at all those guts. I’m just kidding; get that junk out of there, you’re not a monster. Using a spoon of some sort, scoop out everything that looks like seeds or other unappetizing squash innards.

Much better. You can either keep the guts to bake the seeds (they’re just like pumpkin seeds!) or you can toss them because duh, Halloween is right around the corner and we’re going to have more pumpkin seeds than we know what to do with — and right now we’re only concerned with Spaghetti Squash. One thing at a time!!

So next, you place the two cleaned out halves of the squash on a cooking sheet, and stick it in the over. No sauces, no seasoning, nothing. Just get that thing in the oven. And make sure the oven was preheated to 350 degrees. It’ll take anywhere from 30-45 minutes, depending on how big your squash is and how well it wants to cooperate. This is much too long, in my opinion, and led to a lot of whiney impatience in the kitchen.I call this one the “are you kidding me, it’s only been two minutes since I last looked at the timer?”

This one is the “what are you even doing in there you ungrateful vegetable, can’t you see I’m hungry?”

Once it finally finishes (it takes it sweet time, I must say) you pull the squash out and the insides should be nice and soft and stringy. Gently pull the soft parts out with a fork and dump it into a bowl. Make your favorite spaghetti sauce (my favorite is a secret home recipe called “from a jar”) and dump it over the squash. Ta-da! Spaghetti, and even more delicious than using pasta.

My favorite thing about this recipe is that as long as you don’t tell anyone how easy it is, everyone you make it for will think you’re so fancy. Wait. ….I’ve made a huge mistake.

Have you ever tried Spaghetti Squash? Have you ever made it yourself? Let me know in the comments, or let me know if this post inspires you! It’s very delicious, and one of the many reasons I look forward to fall.

I don’t know what the exact date is, but Justin informed me recently that we’re at approximately our one year Team Hypercube birthday. So… happy approximate birthday, gaming channel! I promise when I actually have kids someday, I will pay much more attention to these types of details.

In the year that we’ve been posting to this channel, we’ve made 284 videos. 85 episodes of Dokapon Kingdom. We’ve played 23 games, gained over 6,000 followers and hosted multiple live shows. It’s been an awesome ride and I will be the first to say that I’m extremely excited to see where the next year takes us with this project.

Here’s the the most recent Checkpoint Vlog we’ve posted on the channel:

And here’s Episode ONE of Dokapon Kingdom, for those late to the party:

Sometimes I find it crazy how much effort we’ve all put into this little project, how much it has taken off, and most importantly – how awesomely dedicated our fan base is. I adore this channel and I look forward to even more people joining in the fun in the future. Thanks for watching for the past year!

Portland is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Seattle – so when Joe asked if I would drive down with him for an audition he got, I really couldn’t say no. It’s always a pleasure to spend a day in a funky city like Portland, so off we went. Portland is the city of weird, so I decided not to try too hard with my outfit. Comfy driving clothes, sunglasses to help against those final traces of sun, and a scarf and jacket combo for the bite of the cool autumn air. Tan boots, mauve tank and maroon jacket are all from Forever 21. Floral scarf is from ModCloth, and the sunglasses are a pair I picked up at a street vendor at a fair. Leggings are standard black ones I got a looong, long time ago at a shop in London.

I worked in a coffee shop while Joe auditioned, and afterward, we decided to check out Portland’s famed food trucks. I’m a huge fan of foodtrucks, so rather than picking just one and ordering a full meal, we grabbed a few different items here and there to make the rounds and try multiple trucks.

The favorite of ours by far was Brunchbox, where we ordered a Cheeseasaurus Rex:
The guy working the truck said we could make them battle. It made me smile. This truck also had a breakfast sandwich called the “OMG” that consisted of fried egg, bacon, ham and spam. I will return and try it one day, just wait. I dream of that day.

The day also consisted of a short lap around Powell’s, shopping in various vintage clothing and toy shops, and dinner at a phenomenal German place we were still too full from food trucks to really enjoy. But on the plus side, we brought home GREAT leftovers.

 Note: This post may contain affiliate or referral links.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions recently about Jetpack Unicorn: when the Kickstarter copies are going to be sent out, when it will be available in stores, when it will start being carried on DFTBA.com… I know, I know. I haven’t really had any answers to any of those questions, since the game is being produced and manufactured by Wyrd Miniatures, not Joe and myself.

But! Now there’s news! Check out this super exciting picture of our game stacked high in the warehouse!

It just keeps going, and going and going! So many boxes! Apparently there are something like six pallets in the warehouse, and each pallet holds about 800 copies of the game. So much Jetpack Unicorn! I am incredibly excited, if you couldn’t tell. By the exclamation points I’m using.

As far as official dates, I don’t actually have those. But I can say that all Kickstarter copies should be shipped out in the first week or two of October. Then, the game should be available for purchase on DFTBA nearer to the end of October. If you’re hoping to get the game at one of your local game stores, it should also be popping up in those types of stores at the end of October. Just in time for Halloween! And for Christmas! Yay!

I am just so thrilled that this game existed in my head, and then Joe and I made it a reality, and now it’s going to be in stores and in the hands of people who like games – it’s all just very overwhelming in the best way possible. If you backed our idea on Kickstarter, THANK YOU for helping make this dream a reality. And if you don’t know what Jetpack Unicorn is, or haven’t checked it out yet; I hope you will, when it’s available.

This week, I did a collab video with Tara of the Geeky Hostess – this has been a long time coming! We actually first met because our mutual friend Justin set us up on a “blind friend date” since he knew we both loved Internet/marketing/video/blogging/etc and had to get to know each other. We’ve worked on millions of things together since then (our old blog Zaxy, Job Hunters, Extra Life) though somehow, we’ve never made vlogs together. But that ends now.

First we made Butterbeer Mug Cakes on her channel, then we sat down and enjoyed them while talking about our theories and excitement for the upcoming Fantastic Beasts movie.

I’m super curious what other Harry Potter fans and looking forward to most about this movie, so please feel free to leave your theories and hopes and dreams in the comments of this post!

Also, if you’re interested in winning a pair of the Marauder’s Map leggings from the awesome new Blackmilk HP line, check out my new Subblime list! I made this one to coincide with the HP themed videos, and it’s got a bunch of my other favorite Potter themed products on it (as well as the most exciting giveaway I’ve done yet)!

How great are those leggings? I’m just sad I can’t win them myself! Be sure to go sign up for the giveaway, and if you’re not using Subblime yet – what are you waiting for? It’s super fun!

I got this month’s Ipsy bag in the mail! I love, love, love the bag itself this month, but let’s get a bit more up close and personal with the actual products. I’ll go left to right, with the silver eyeliner up first.

Jesse’s Girl Liquid Eyeliner: I think this is my favorite product this month. The eyeliner is black, it’s got a super fine tip, and it goes on extremely smoothly. I am a huge fan of the Kat Von D liquid eyeliner of the same variety, and this was a pretty identical dupe. At $6.99, I will absolutely be buying this again.

It’s So Big Volumizing Mascara: We got black mascara in last month’s bag as well as this month’s, and I’m of the mentality that most mascara is pretty much the same. I think I liked last month’s Pixi mascara better than this one – it claims to be volumizing, but I didn’t really notice a difference. In fact, it came out a little clumpy and I didn’t like the shape of the wand. I probably wont use this very much, if at all.

NYX eyeshadow in Rock: I’m a little disappointed to have another NYX product in my bag two months in a row. I’m not saying I don’t like NYX products, but I already have a bunch of them, they’re cheap, and I can get them myself at a drugstore. I like Ipsy for being introduced to new products and brands, and NYX feels very much like filler. That being said; it’s a nice color, but one I already have quite a few variations of in my collection.

J.Cat Beauty Fantabulous Lipstick in Honeycrisp: So, I wasn’t very excited when I first looked at this lipstick, because it’s a pretty plain, neutral color. I sort of feel like you really only need one neutral color of lipstick, you know? But when I opened this and gave it a try, I had to eat my words. It doesn’t look like much, but this lipstick smells delicious. It’s a combination of honey, butterscotch, and other amazing fall-inspired scents. I’m gonna be straight – it’s sort of like rubbing butterbeer on your lips. So, I’m in. I love it.

Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Big Apple: Again, I’m sort of a naysayer when it comes to lip products. I hate lip gloss, I’m not the biggest fan of lipstick – but lip balm, I’ve found recently, is my jam. This product has really funky packaging, but I loved it. It’s a super pigmented red color, that works surprisingly well with my skin tone. I usually avoid reds because I feel like it sort of brings out the redness in my skin, but this one is just lovely. The brush applicator is new to me, but I really enjoyed it. The only downside is that when you take it apart it has three pieces (which can be a bit awkward on the go) but other than that, this is a great, fun lip balm.

I’d say this was a pretty good month. There’s always good and bad and mediocre things in every bag, but I think when you know you’ll keep using at least 2-3 of the items, that’s not a bad haul.

As always, if you’re intrigued by Ipsy and want to sign up, you can here! If you use my referral link, it gets me special Ipsy points that can be redeemed for additional products.

I am a lot of things, but “cook” is not one of them. I am the quintessential “boxed pasta” type eater, and I kind of hate myself for it. That’s why I’m trying to make an effort to be better. My approach to cooking (and how I decide what to attempt to cook) is thinking, “what are those foods I only get a few times a year for whatever reason, that I miss the rest of the time?” There’s no reason I can’t learn how to make those things myself.

So today, I bring you the first installment of “Kristina Makes Things”. This will be an adventure we go on together, because food is hard. But we’ll learn together. On the menu today is the Pizza Burger Flying Style. These are a staple of my family trips to North Dakota, and are only sold at the drive through Big Boy in Bismarck.

Here’s a picture of what a real pizza burger looks like! I took Joe to try them on our trip to North Dakota this summer.

I love them, and today, I learned how to make them. My parents would be so proud! Especially since I used the sandwich press they got me for Christmas… 8 months ago… and only opened today. Psst.. this is the one I have. It’s wonderful.

It was fairly easy! All you need is:

1. A loaf of bread (get pieces on the smaller side)
2. Ground beef
3. Mozzarella cheese
4. Marinara or pizza sauce
5. Italian seasoning
6. A sandwich press

Pre-cook the ground beef and mix the seasoning into the beef (to taste). Then put your first slice of bread on the sandwich press. Put the cheese on first, then layer on the ground beef, marinara sauce, and cover with the second slice of bread on top. Cook in your sandwich press until both sides are golden brown and a bit crunchy and there you have it! Pizza burgers, flying style!

What makes them flying style? I have no idea. But they’re delicious, they remind me of home, and it’s better than a pizza pocket. Let me know if you try making them, or if you have any other delicious recipes I should try out in my sandwich press!