What’s New Wednesday #30: Carve ’em Up

It’s time for another installment of What’s New Wednesday, where I get into all kinds of crazy trouble for the enjoyment of … Wait. No. Sorry, that’s something else. 😂 Forget I mentioned it. Anywho, this week’s theme is “Carve ‘em Up”, which sounds way more morbid than I intended. I’m running with it anyway because I can’t think of anything else to replace it.

Also, I’m hopped up on too much coffee, so if I get side-tracked along the way, bear with me. 🐻 Bear with me … Get it? *makes bear noises*

I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead and get into this week’s post before I digress again. LOL!

Carve ’em Up

TV/Film

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It’s been quiet on the visual entertainment front lately. We did watch Ratched over the weekend, and it was a good show, but I’m gonna be honest and say it didn’t really give me the Nurse Ratched vibes from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Still, if you’re looking for a slow-burn psychological horror, this one is aces.

Tucker & Dale VS. Evil is a movie I have not watched yet for reasons beyond my knowledge. It was recently recommended to me, so I’m gonna give it a go tonight or tomorrow. 😊 It looks hilarious.

Next on my To-Watch list is: Well, I don’t know. Maybe some anime? I’m feeling an itch for some good anime, I just haven’t found something that pops out to me yet. I’ll keep y’all updated if I find something. If you have a recommendation for me, please leave a comment (I love all anime btw).

Music

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This week’s music choices are a little louder and darker than usual, but these albums are just so freaking good. F8 by Five Finger Death Punch is, in a lot of ways, what I’d call “Angry Revolution Music” (and yes, I actually filed Five Finger Death Punch in that playlist folder).

A similar artist … Wait. They’re all similar. Okay, never mind. I’m also feeling very much in the mood for Evolution by Disturbed lately. I’ve been a HUGE fan of Disturbed since the early 2000s when we were still making AMVs with DragonBall Z … Shush. I’m not that old.

I’m a die-hard fan of Mother by In this Moment. Well, anything Maria Brink brings out is perfection, so … I love her voice, love the attitude, and every album has a unique sound that speaks to some part of me. If you aren’t familiar with In this Moment yet, well, there’s no time like the present. 😉

Congratulations, Husband!

Okay, so if you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed Husband recently received his degree (we had to wait forever for it to arrive, thanks to Covid-19). The graduation ceremony was cancelled, because … well, Covid-19 took that away from all the graduates. Anywho, so I had an idea. I told Husband to go hire a graduation gown and then booked a photographer. *nods*

I’m just so incredibly proud of Husband’s achievement that I had to commemorate it some way.

Thanks to Lovina Claassen (photographer) for making the day super special!

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Some More Photos

After we got done with Husband in the studio, there was still some time left, so yours truly decided to get in on the game and pose for a few new pics for the website (go check out my About page 😉). As always, Lovina made me shine even though I’m always silly when I’m supposed to be SeRiOuS.

Here’s a glimpse from that part of the shoot:

Knife Forging 🔪

On to some other news. So, if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll sometimes see me with a hammer or near an anvil. It doesn’t happen often, so it’s totally understandable if you’ve missed those pics, but it does happen. Well, one of our hobbies (Husband and I have “together hobbies”) is forging knives.

We’re still learning, so we’re amateurs at best, but we finally finished our very first knives! EEEEP! I’m so excited! Nay. I am in love … *sigh* Look:

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Now, the top one is mine (it’s a chef’s knife with an African Black hilt) and the bottom one is Husband’s (a bowie knife with a Pink Ivory hilt). Both knives are made out of Damascus steel, which is why the blades have such pretty patterns. It’s a difficult metal to make, I hear, because you have to fold different kinds of metal over and over into a block. I think. There are other methods to creating Damascus, too, which sounds even more complicated. Anyway, these knives of ours are so sharp and so beautiful, I simply can’t stop looking at them.

Super thanks go out to Stuart Smith at Smith Hand Forged Knives for teaching us about forging knives and helping us when we got stuck (the Beast Grinder does not like my nails at all). And if you’re in the mood to commission something pretty for yourself, do get in contact with Stuart. He makes the most beautiful knives!


And that’s it for this week’s What’s New Wednesday. I didn’t get too into the “Carve ‘em Up” theme—aside from talking about the knives, I suppose—but it’s okay. 🔪 Pumpkin season is around the corner, so that’s when we can get into more Carve ‘em Up details. LOL!

Next week, I’ll probably get more into birthday celebrations, so I’ll see you then!

I hope you have a wonderful week,

Monique

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