I'm going to have a little yapathon session under here going over some of the things i like in a little bit more detail, and show off the collections i own.
Horror movies
Horror movies were one of my first loves and obsessions overall. I started very young and i definitely do NOT recommend starting as young as i did (early elementary school), especially if you're an imaginative kid. The first horror i watched was the og black and white silent film version of Nosferatu and it haunted me for a very long while.
I've watched so much of horror that there's no way i can even remember it all, i used to just pick whatever and watch everything from popular to the obscure (and horrible) one's from all around the globe even when i didn't know english super well yet. In recent years i've watched very little compared to then, partially because it tends to feels like watching the same plots or tropes over and over so i think i got fatigue at some point, plus i've had increasing difficulty being able to sit through a whole movie of any kind anyway.
Japanese horror was my favorite very early on, it felt very intriguing and captivating versus some of the western (cough USA making their versions of already existing movies cough) horror that often felt dumbed down where they just feed the viewer every morsel of information on a silver platter instead of letting them think for themselves. But i am also aware i'm biased because Japanese horror is what first got me hooked.
Genres in horror that i enjoy most:
- Supernatural (Paranormal, monster, demon...)
- Psychological
- Found footage (I wish it was done well more often, i love the concept of it)
- Folk horror (Myths, legends, religion...)
- Gothic horror
- Comedy horror (fun on occasion)
Genres i pass most:
- Zombie/Sci-fi (Both of these i need to have at least a good story or setting going for them or i just lose interest)
- Slasher/Splatter (Guts and blood for the sake of guts and blood isn't my thing
- Body horror/Extreme horror (Same thing as above, i need a plot or a working trope going for them)
The trinity that my poor young self would be anxious over for years:
Ju-on
Is it the most scariest? no, will i feel a creep in my spine if i hear the damn rattling breathing sound? yes. The one horror that even in adulthood shows up in my dreams sometimes, elementary me was not ready for this or playing the browser game of this movie that was up at the time. It dun fucked my brain chemistry a bit. I would go to bed and be scared to open my eyes imagining she'd be standing right in front of me or i'd see her in the hallway.
One missed call
Watched it on a portable DVD player and you bet your ass i shut my phone off after it was over.
I did like the suspense in this and i think the concept and deaths were nice, though the inner plotline was a bit all over the place on occasion. Unrelated but the ringtone in the og Japanese version was really fitting imo, i used it as my own for a while.
Noroi
I loved the concept of this being a mockumentary with part found footage (my dumb ass didn't know what a mockumentary was and thought it was literally a documentary with all the fake ads in it, nearly exploded my mind with creeps until i googled and found out it in fact was not a real documentary lol). I thought it was quite riveting and suspenseful overall.
Some of my faves from different horror subgenres:
REC (the og spanish one) is my favorite zombie horror i'd say, one of the only i have, and a great use of the found footage aspect.
The Fly was a body horror that i did enjoy watching, seeing all the stages of change, the mental and physical deterioration as it went on until no man was left.
From psychological horrors, Jacob's Ladder is one that i think about every now and then. It's quite the trip and i love when stories like these are rooted in real life issues.
This one's just a lot of things in one. Psychological, religious, splatter, body horror, extreme. Not for the faint of heart. Had me uncomfortable and squeamish, yet intrigued to finish.
Final take, basically anything that's about ghosts or demons or monster, supernatural and folk/religious, i'm down to watch. Even if it's ass, i still watch, and i've seen a lot of very bad ghost movies x) Same with psychological, can be thriller too and not horror, and i'll love it. Always been into the supernatural, paranormal and the inner works of the human psyche. I would shoutout Korean horror too because i think they're also very good at creating suspense, but i think in their case they shine even more in thriller/detective/crime movies. So good, highly recommend.
The Middle-Earth Universe
I'll just put it like that because i'm talking about both the familiar Lord of the Rings timeline and the Hobbit, but also about the whole lore beyond just what happened in those two. I've seen all the movies, both regular and extended versions, and i'm on a mission to read through the rest of Tolkien's work that is about the world of the Middle-Earth. But just like with movies, i've unfortunately also had an increasing difficulty managing to read books due to focus issues so that has been on hold for a while.
Starting with the classic movies, my favorite from the three is the first one (yes i'm boring). It has a lot of the iconic scenes that are iconic for a reason, and sets a perfect beginning for the journey to Mordor.
My favorite character that shows up in these is Boromir and i think he gets an unjustly bad rep sometimes, his character has more depth than it get credit for (though i've read the books so there's that too).
From the Hobbit movies my favorite one is... also the first one (sue me i'm still boring). I had a months long phase where i put it on every night so i could sleep.
A tad bit dislike the Bilbo glazing that went on. Justice for Gandalf, he got robbed so many potential cool scenes that were in the book.
My favorite character in these is Beorn, even if he wasn't featured a ton (never escaping furry allegations).
Books i own:
- The LoTR trilogy and Hobbit
- The nature of Middle-Earth
- The Fall of Gondolin
- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- The Silmarillion
- Unfinished tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth
- Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien (art book)
Games i own:
- Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
- Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- LEGO The Lord of the Rings
- LEGO Hobbit
- The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
- The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
- Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game
- The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
Paraphernalia i own:
- The one ring replica
Wishlisted next:
- Boromir action figure
- The Fall of Numenor book
- The History of Middle-Earth book set
Absolute dream:
- LoTR LEGO sets
- Swords and figurines
I also own these physical games:
The Lord of the Rings: Journey's in Middle-Earth board game with a shadowed paths expansion (this cost so much don't even ask). Very fun but takes quite a bit of space and the instruction manual had my head spinning.
Hobbit card game, very random one i found in the store one time and ended up playing quite a bit actually.
Yes i play these both alone cause i'm a freak like that.
In addition i also own the LoTR card pack for Trivial Pursuit
This whole Middle-Earth universe has so many interesting characters and events beyond just what happens in the movies, not to mention movies are always a different take to the original as they're changed to be profitable and enjoyable to the average movie-goer, so reading the books and looking into Tolkien's extended bibliography is very worth if you've got interest in the movies for a start. Tom Bombadil or Treebeard alone could have their whole own movies with all the amount of things they've seen and gone through, but unfortunately they have to be cut down for the movies. I'll admit after first reading the books i might have become a little bit of a book elitist because i became aware of all the cool scenes that were cut or completely changed (Bilbo glazing incident) but i get it needs to be done. Plus directors should be able to add their flair in their work, overall i still think they're good movies.
Now to the most important part,
Why my goat Beorn is the greatest character:
- He's a skin-changer and can turn into a massive black bear
- He helped, hosted and fought for people. Like hosting Bilbo and the dwarves at his house despite not even liking guests or dwarves, providing them ponies to ride, joining the Battle of Five Armies when he heard of trouble, escorting Bilbo and Gandalf back, and his kin helped Thranduil's Kingdom when it was attacked.
- Vegetarian, he primarily ate honey and cream
- Loved nature and animals. Had horses, ponies, dogs, humongous bees, sheep etc. The animals he took care of were all very intelligent and could perform tasks for him and understand him
- He could talk to animals using beast tongue
- Friends with Radagast, i love Radagast
- He was a true loner (goals)
- Didn't like visitors, didn't like strangers, could come across as rude but once he was sure a person was trustworthy and goodwilled he would be extremely hospitable and welcoming (mood)
- Extremely loyal to the point of vengeful. When Thorin got wounded in battle he set out to rescue him, and while at it he absolutely decimated the orcs including killing their leader
- Spent his days watching over and taking care of his homestead, patrolling in bear form in the area
- Big hairy man with big arms, absolutely towers Gandalf
- Let's not talk about what he looked like in the movie
Beorn probably
Horses
Switching out of media, horses are one of the animals i've loved since forever. I never got to be a "horse girl" or take riding lessons, but i was so jealous of my friends that did do that. I also love the sound of horses running and any game where i can own horses or breed horses you bet i am doing that first and foremost. For whatever reason though my interest focuses especially on draught horse breeds, they're just so powerful in a beautifully magnificent way that i think they're the most gorgeous there are.
Draught breeds i love most (yes i'm listing a ton):
- Ardennais
- Brabant
- Boulonnais
- Breton
- Clydesdale
- Dutch draft
- Fjord (counts)
- Percheron
- Shire
- Suffolk Punch
- Trait du Nord
If France is doing something right it's their horses apparently
My horse collection atm isn't very big. I have 4 figurines from CollectA; Ardennais, Percheron, Shire and Clydesdale. I definitely want to get more at some point but i can't be spending this much money on all my collections.
One of my favorite things to watch as a kid was The Silver Brumby, or Hopeaharja for the Finns. I'd loan the VHS tapes of it from the library and bring them home to watch (yes real life VHS tapes imagine that). I did the same with old My Little Pony tapes too.
Of course, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was also a staple for me, and even in Beauty and the Beast i loved Belle's horse (It's a Brabant).
In gaming, back when i played BDO i used to have quite high horse training level and people thought i was insane for doing that as in the game it was considered one of the most annoying lifeskills to do.
Would love to get back to RDR2 because i loved the horses there, so many beauties to get.
I want to definitely get The Legend of Khiimori, it looks fun as hell.
I have a Horse Reality account but i stopped playing it for some reason, considering getting back into it again.
Would be so rad to own horses but realistically there's no chance in hell i'm ever getting enough money to comfortably sink money into land and facilities and amenities and the vet bills they can rack up, horses be expeensiveee. But that's fine cause i can admire their eternal glory from afar or go to a petting zoo type thing.
Plushies
A little bit random section in between here but i've always liked plushies and i still like plushies and i refuse to fall for the agenda that it should be frowned upon as an adult. I will not be leashed by society! Okay but yeah, i just like soft things and i pick plushies based on that plus the fabric and subject matter. I don't have everything at my apartment but most of it is there, a few plushies i have at my parent's house including a big ass tiger that i couldn't fit anywhere.
Yes that is how i actually sleep, all of that stays there apart from the blue triceratops at the front as it's actually a weighted plushie so i keep it near my desk and have it on my lap on occasion (it's a real thing, like weighted blankets). The crocodile next to it is the perfect shape for me to use to hold at night because if i'm not hugging something i will absolutely DECIMATE my wrists while i sleep and my hands will be numb in the morning (shoutout to T-Rex arm gang). Speedrunning carpal tunnel when i do that + always hold pens with a death grip while i draw.
For the collection aspect of this, most of them have been picked up just because i liked the look of them, but there is a couple brands i'm looking out for and wanting to expand on.
IKEA
From IKEA i currently have the shark Blåhaj and the Gosig Golden dog plushies. I'm planning on getting the Djungelskog bear at some point, potentially housewarming for myself whenever i get my next apartment. Lowkey side-eyeing their octopus plushie also.
Wild Republic
From Wild Republic i have the baby alligator and Western Diamondback snake. I like the look of their plushies and they have even very small animals like damn frogs. Their shoebill plushie is next on my hitlist and their standing bear would be so cool, it's so cute but expensive.
Palaeoplushies
I don't have anything from here yet because i'm not that rich yet but it's a UK store that makes handmade prehistoric plushies. They have a juvenile Diplodocus and one day i'm going to get it, i need it bad. They even have gar (my favorite fish) and the specific one my online name originates from (lepisosteus).
Fun fact, i don't have a car so the big ass dino in the corner of my bed i carried through the city to the bus station and all the way home with me after an hour bus ride. I had it all propped up on the station bench while waiting for bus to come. Same with the really long caterpillar plushie, i hauled it through town back home with me.
Prehistoric life and geology
I'm going to title it as such because i'm not just talking about dinosaurs but also marine reptiles and pterosaurs (yes they're TechNicAlLy NoT DinOsAurS okay), as well as plants to some extent. I feel like i might as well add the geology stuff here too since fossils aren't that far away from geology topics anyway, right?
I actually wasn't that obviously into dinosaurs when i was young, i kind of stuck to horses and other "conventional" animals because dinosaurs were for boys, i would only much later get rid of that dumb mindset and unleash my full love of dinosaurs. Though when i was young i definitely loooved watching The Land Before Time, and when my parents got my brother a cassette tape (damn that's nostalgic) of Disney's Dinosaur with a book that you were supposed to read along with, i would yoink that shit and listen in hiding because i got obsessed. When we got the VHS of it you bet we were watching that time after time too.
Geology and rocks on the other hand i was into as a kid already, i loved collecting rocks and my dad would also collect rocks for us to put on display for fun. My mom is a big plant person so we had lots of plants in the house, a really magnificent massive monstera was the greatest, and i liked helping to take care of them.
I'll start off with plants first and why i'm including them here. I love ferns and araucaria trees above all, and they're in this section because they qualify as ancient plants since they were around when the dinosaurs existed.
Araucaria trees originate all the way from the mid Jurassic period 200 million years ago, meanwhile ferns actually predate dinosaurs completely as they came around during late Devonian period 350 million years ago. That's 100 million years before dinosaurs ever showed up, pretty neat if you ask me. Cinnamon fern is an example of a fern we have today that's a direct descendant of the fern dinosaurs were munching on.
Araucaria
Araucaria trees can get pretty big as they're like pines, can get up to 80 meters in heights. Though, since it's a genus of trees, there's also these small araucaria's that you can grow indoors and that's one that i used to own (unfortunately i had to get rid of my plants including my ferns rip, someday hopefully getting them again).
Some fun araucaria species i like:
- Hoop pine
- Norfolk island pine
- Parana pine
- Cook pine (picture above)
Fern pics in order + King fern at
the end
Fern
Ferns can actually also get pretty damn big. We don't anymore have the largest ones that once existed, but we do have King fern, which i think is the biggest around now leaf wise. Norfolk tree fern is the tallest one since, well, it's kind of a tree.
I am very happy that we still have ferns around and i see them all the time in Finland, i've managed to rope my parents into getting a big planter for a fern to keep in the yard too.
There's a lot of fun ferns but here's some that i like:
- Foxtail fern
- Asparagus fern
- Good ol' Bracken fern (one of the oldest along King fern)
- Sword fern
- Lady fern
Now the most important part of course,
DINOSAURS
I can't exactly pinpoint why but i love sauropods the most over other dinos. Idk if it's because i loved The Land Before Time so much and thought the long necks were so kind and amazing, but i like to see as sort of gentle giants that were just doing their best while also destroying bunch of forests in their wake walking around in herds for food (it's just on oopsie so it's fine). Their brains weren't very big compared to their bodies so it's not their fault okay.
Overall regarding dinosaurs i just think it's so amazing that creatures like that used to live here for millions of years, refusing to get wiped out completely through multiple extinction events until finally getting nuked one too many times. Just imagine if they were around for that long they could've probably continued for just as long even if it wasn't entirely sustainable (dabatable) but nooo it's ggs to the cool one's and now we're taking over the planet smh.
Anyway enough about my nonsense, i've already written about my fave sauropods in another page here so i'm not going to go over them in too much detail again, but here's some sauropods and non-sauropods that i consider apart of my favorites:
Sauropods
Diplodocus - My goat
Paludititan
Brachiosaurus
Magyarosaurus
Agustinia
Maraapunisaurus
Other dinos
Parasaurolophus
Euoplocephalus
Triceratops
Allosaurus
Wuerhosaurus
Gallimimus
Maybe not the most riveting picks but i love them, and i definitely tend to like more herbivores i've noticed. And now we can get to the prehistoric marine reptiles, pterosaurs and those who are neither of the previous options.
Marine reptiles
Liopleurodon
Elasmosaurus
Tanystropheus
Pliosaurus
Pterosaurs
Quetzalcoatlus
Thalassodromeus
Dimorphodon
Hatzegopteryx
Other
Dunkleosteus - fish
Dimetrodon - synapsid
Koolasuchus - amphibian
Kaprosuchus - crocodyliform
Megalodon - shark
Edestus - fish
Unsurprising to anyone, i have a big of a collection of dinosaur things going. It's actually kind of hard to get proper books about dinosaurs that isn't damn made for 6 year old's, and the only fancy one's i've seen sold in Finland are really expensive so i don't have more than a couple books. I'm not going to start digging out everything i own but i'll show what i've got in my dino figurine (and adjacent items) collection.
I also have a complete collection of
Dinosaur Attack trading cards, but they're currently
sitting in safe holding so i'll just put some example pics because
i think they're really cool, kind of gore-y and very metal.
Most of these are generic dino toys found at any store's kids section, i've gotten them as gifts from family, but there's brand ones i'm looking to collect. I started collecting with Papo figures since they were on the more affordable range and they look the best from the figures of that price range imo, but i want more PNSO figures as well as hoping to save up for Rebor and Haolonggood (So many beautiful sauropod figures)
Here's what i currently own:
Papo
- Brachiosaurus
- Spinosaurus
- Triceratops and triceratops baby
- Quetzalcoatlus
- Allosaurus
- Oviraptor
EoFauna
- Diplodocus
PNSO
- Megalodon
Next up on my hitlist i have the Diplodocus and American alligator from Rebor, i'm also on a mission to want to get every diplo figure there is for obvious reasons. Although i already struggle with space even though i don't have that many figures so not sure where i'd even fit so many sauropods whoops.
And now a seamless segue into
Geology and minerology
As mentioned i have always liked rocks, and when i got the opportunity to take geology and minerology courses in uni while studying archaeology, i took that and ran with it. It was probably one of the most fun times i'd had learning in a school setting honestly, it was tough with the chemistry aspect of it, but i still enjoyed learning about geological happenings. Volcanology and minerology were my favorite parts. I'd always actually loved volcanology, one of my favorite films growing up was Dante's Peak, which is about the disastrous eruption of St. Helens. I also did a St. Helens themed drypoint print artwork for school that is up on my art page to see :) One of my past times growing up was skimming through some old book about earth and how it worked, i always was most interested in the parts about volcanoes and geysirs.
I just find it all fascinating how tectonic plates work, how volcanic activity works, how minerals and rocks crystallize differently depending on their environment and overall how different kinds of formation happen in the world whether it be rock formations or how water shapes landscapes in its wake.
Not to repeat what i already had in the long strand of images, but since the minerals and rocks i had up there might not be familiar to everyone i thought i'd also listen them out here. These are some of my favs:
Rocks:
- Obsidian
- Pumice
- Pegmatite
- Diabase
Minerals:
- Muscovite
- Fuchsite
- Pyrite
- Hematite
- Blue halite
- Chrysocolla
Mah jar of rocks and stuff
The coral and shell things i got gifted to me by a relative who didn't want them anymore, and the white rock with carvings on it is from a marble quarry place. Most of the other stuff is just picked up from the ground. Finland has a lot of quartzite so there's multiple of that.
The green thing is a fuchsite, there's also a teeny tiny petrified wood piece close to it and i have one rock from Japan thanks to my friend bringing me one when they were there (i like volcanic rock, they have lots there so i wanted some).
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
This might actually be the most random one, but yeah i've got a special interest in the Modern Warfare games. I could care less about comp, i'm only interested in the campaigns lore. A bit cringe but i genuinely was seeing a lot of depressing damn edits made of CoD and it got me into it, started digging into the lore and the characters and now we're here.
I own all of the og games, the remastered and the reboots. I haven't yet played them all but that's because obviously by now there's been a lot of spoilers and i know there's a sad part coming up so i can't get myself to actually continue. Very normal of me for sure. My favorite characters are John Price and MacMillan, and it's a shame MacMillan isn't very much featured in the game like the others. I don't even know how to explain, i feel like it touches so many real issues and how military life affects a person. Losing people and making mistakes that can have dire consequences takes a toll, and i feel like Price has the unique tough spot of being the one "responsible" for it all. Like it was actually so evil of the devs that at the end of the games they show the team photo in the credits knowing full well basically everyone on it is dead except Price and we saw them die too.
But i digress, this all has made me itch for a collection and i'm on a mission to collect all the special edition version of the og games. I currently have the special edition of MW3 that came with Soap's journal and some trinkets, and i'm trying to find the special ed of the first MW and eventually i want the special edition of MW2 that has the night vision goggles along with Soap's head to put them on. A bit rough trying to preferably find it all from Finnish sellers but i believe i'll get this done some day :) A side quest would be to hunt down nintendo DS version of MW and also to find the comics they made about Ghost, though i assume those would be 1. rare 2. very expensive.
Miscellaneous
I collect Deddy Bears little "plushies" and Hello Kitty & Friends trading cards! The Deddy Bears i just saw in store one time and thought they were cute, i've only gotten 3 so far because i don't plan on getting them all really but rather just getting the one's i like. I try to get one's with different expressions because i kind of use them like those mood octopus plushies. I've attached a ring to all of them and i attach them to my bag, i'm usually either using the pissed off one or exploded one. The hello kitty card collecting started also because i saw them, thought they were super cute, they were quite affordable so i got the binder and everything for them too. I've seen the company that makes the cards, Panini, also has made Jurassic Park collectible cards before so i'm lowkey contemplating if i want those too lol
Anyway! Here they are, the three Deddy Bears that i own and then just one spread of the hello kitty cards cause i'm not about to document the whole binder for this.
Also honorable mention ig but i do have 5 sets from LEGO botanicals range, i'm just not getting them with the goal of collecting so i'm not including them. I've been getting them because i can't have real plants rn and i think it's nice to have LEGO ones then at least, plus i love building LEGOs and miniatures so it's fun.