This has been a video heavy week for me! I posted a few more videos of note, in case you missed them. First off is the BEST TAG EVER, a ridiculously silly video tag that’s been going around YouTube lately. I was tagged by the lovely Kiri Callaghan, so I really couldn’t refuse.

I don’t tend to do a lot of tag or challenge videos, mostly because I have a lot more videos ideas that I just think are better than trying to eat dry cinnamon or tell the difference between coke and pepsi with a blindfold on… but every once in a while a tag video slips through the cracks, and this one turned out to be quite weird/funny.

Next up is this in depth review of Monstermatic. Monstermatic is an app I mentioned in my September favorites video, but I wanted to do a followup. It’s an app that allows you to create these custom monsters on your phone, and then gives you the option to actually get that monster 3D printed… so he can come to life and live on your shelf! I think it’s super uniquely awesome and I was so pumped to get to try it out:

Their kickstarter only goes for a few more days, so definitely go check it out if you think this sounds like something that would be fun to try! The app won’t exist if they don’t get funded!

I’m going to be in New York this weekend, for NYCC! Will you be there? What should I definitely do with my 48 hours in the city?

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.

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!

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!

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. My housemates and I always throw our group’s Halloween party, I never miss a year when it comes to carving pumpkins, and I’ve already started looking up corn mazes. Not to mention, costume planning.

Some people have made fun of me for starting to plan my Halloween costume in September, but it’s never too early! If you plan on ordering anything for your costume online, you almost HAVE to start early, since shipping can sometimes take upwards of a few weeks!

I’ve never been one to just buy a pre-made costume from one of those Halloween Super Stores that pops up in the month around Halloween, so this kind of foresight is important if you want to make sure your costume is awesome. Which I do. This year I am planning on being Barbie from Toy Story 3. Because of course I need another excuse to buy a skin tight body suit.

Now I just need to convince Joe to dress up as Ken. We’ll see about that. He’s been struggling against it since I first asked him, about a month ago.

I’ve honestly been thinking about this costume since LAST Halloween, when I opted for a team costume rather than doing something solo. Last year’s costume was one of my favorites though, so I don’t regret it.

In honor of all the exciting Harry Potter related news lately as well, I think we’re going to add some big Potter elements to our party this year. That means breaking out the Harry Potter cookbook, concocting some excellent themed drinks, etc. I’m pumped.

I guess there isn’t a huge point to this post, aside to talk about how much I am anticipating everything that surrounds Halloween, and how it’s all right around the corner. I’m curious if anyone else already knows what they’re dressing up as, or have started working on said costume? Let me know in the comments, and I will keep you updated on how the month goes!

I got quite a few questions about the various supplies needed for painting miniatures, so I figured I would share with you what I personally used. My personal collection is quite modest, but it’s definitely enough for a beginner!

Step 1: Minis!

The Reaper Bones collection is my favorite for painting, since you don’t have to prime them and it makes it easier as a beginner. You can either buy these on their website, or at any number of local game shops that carry this brand. Call the stores around you to see if they have them!

Step 2: Paint!

I bought an assortment of these nifty little paint bottles. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to how I picked colors – I started with a standard set of good colors for mixing (red, blue, green, yellow etc.), a good black and white, a few skin color options, and a wash in black and brown. I splurged a bit for gold and bronze and silver (I knew they’d be useful) and then at the last minute I threw in a pink and a purple. I ended up with about thirty paints, but you can absolutely get by with less than that. These paint bottles are about $3 each, which sounds cheap – but beware! That starts to add up.

Step 3: Brushes!

I bought this set of brushes to get a variety of styles and sizes, and they worked out really well! There are definitely nicer brushes out there, but this set ran me about $20 and I was very pleased with how they ended up working out. You’ll also want a couple of “crappy” brushes to use for drybrushing (this process can ruin nicer brushes, so it’s actually better to just pick up some cheap-o ones) and a few bigger brushes for your base coat.

Step 4: Lights!

First off, I bought some daylight balanced umbrella lights. As a YouTubers, I knew these would be multifaceted, so making the plunge was totally worth it. The lights were hugely useful, but not totally necessary. Any sort of daylight bulbs or natural life is great, as long as you have enough of it. For more detail work, I also got this magnifier+light combo for about $20:

Step 5: Display Case!

Again, this is totally not necessary, but I had so many people asking me about it that I figured I would share. This display case is meant for thimbles, but it’s also exactly the right size for standard miniatures. It comes in a few different colors (black and three various woodgrains) and I absolutely love it. I got it on Amazon for $80.

There you have it! That’s what I have in my collection, and even though it’s a bit spendy to get started – once you have this stuff, you rarely have to buy anything else. I have such a painting bug right now, and I can’t wait to do it again. Also, there’s another set of Reaper Bones coming out soon, so I’ve been highly impatient waiting for the kickstarter. I’ll be sure to let you guys know when it launches.

If you’ve ever painted minis before, or if you start, please send me pictures of what you make!

 Note: This post may contain affiliate or referral links.

Sometimes, right when I think it’s not possible for me to get any more nerdy… I develop a new hobby like painting miniatures. I don’t even totally remember how it happened. I think the first time I painted a mini was a few years ago at a con, and I had no idea what I was doing. I distinctly remember making my fighter much, much too orange. Then some friends of mine bought the giant Reaper Bones kickstarter mega pack and invited a few of us over to help them paint, which was the first time I learned anything at all about technique.

Liz, Joe and I spent a fair amount of time in the Reaper painting room at PAX this year as well, and through that, I could feel the bug catching. That’s why when I saw an opportunity to cultivate my own collection of painting supplies and making a fun video about the process in a Fiesta Mission this month, I jumped on it.

I am very much still learning (there’s so much crazy technique involved in this hobby, it’s nuts) but I am having a ton of fun along the way. And as I start to fill my new display case with finished pieces, there’s one thought that really strikes me… I need to play more D&D.

Have you ever painted minis before? Did you even know it was a thing you could do? I’ve always been really interested in dollhouses and miniature sets and basically the concept of “really small versions of larger things” so this was totally right up my alley. I hope you enjoy the video, and maybe I will make more as I continue to learn and get better.

The Potter fandom is absolutely WRITHING with excitement today, as many of us woke up to the news of the newest addition to the HP franchise – a brand new movie (potentially a series!) based on the textbook companion to the Harry Potter books, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. I read this little book from cover to cover back in my school days, and the idea of learning more about Newt Scamander, the fictional author of this piece, is hugely exciting.

Now that I’ve had a moment to stop and catch my breath, a few things have finally started to register. Not only does this story take place 70 years before the Harry Potter books, it also is set in New York city. So much of what we know of the wizarding world is so central to the UK, and very based in the issues and politics of the now. In this new series, we’re going to get to see so much more of Harry’s world; parts he doesn’t even know about. The American wizarding community, life as a witch or wizard in the early 1900’s, other professions we know very little about. I don’t even know what to be most excited about, or what to expect really.

What strikes me as the most incredible, however, is JK Rowling’s seemingly impossibly keen skill at pulling the wool over our eyes. The Cuckoo’s Calling news kept my Potter heart aflutter so much so that I never imagined something like this. And call me a conspiracy theorist, but I was just talking to my friends yesterday about how odd it was that the “8th Harry Potter Book” April Fool’s day prank started circling the internet again, out of nowhere. Coincidence? Maybe, but I like to think it’s some sort of intricate PR strategy that we all walked right into.

There’s not much more news yet – no release date, no word on how many movies, no director, no actors… but I couldn’t be happier. Our fandom is alive and well; there’s theories to be theorized, costumes to be worn, midnight showings to plan for – and there’s no group of people I’d rather do it with than my Harry Potter family. I have ALL the feels right now, and all I want to do is continue to see how the rest of the Internet is handling it. This is better than ten Christmases.

Check out LeakyNews for the full story, or more importantly, for predictions.