What's got me hooked these days

Here's a roundup of stuff that's caught my attention recently. January was a heck of a month, so I've been retreating to books and shows to keep my peace. That, and experimenting with candles of course! Scroll to the end to hear about my latest projects.

TV/Movies: 

Blue Eye Samurai

10 out of freaking 10 for this show. So much love that I intend to rewatch it, as the first time around I was too fixated painting sunflowers to give it my complete attention. That said, it really deserves your eyeballs. Beautiful scenes (although be warned, it is gruesome), a great revenge story line, and an eclectic soundtrack. Another season needs to be hooked to my veins stat.

I watched the full two seasons of the popular anime Jujutsu Kaisen while down with the flu. The moral of that story is don't get attached to any characters because nobody's safe. This feels like one of those stories where the bad guys could actually win, which makes for TENSE viewing. 

I also rewatched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty because it always energises me. Such a good movie. If you ever need a pick me up, watch this. It'll make you want to go adventuring for sure. It follows Walter as he begins to step out of his comfort zone and make changes in his life, which snowballs into an epic cross country adventure. It happens to include the most perfect use of the song Space Oddity, so for that reason alone you need to watch it.

Books:

A strange and unsettling part of my life is that every once in a while, Elon Musk shows up in my dreams, passing through. As someone who previously had no interest in the man or what he gets up to, this uptick in dream appearances was enough to make me grab his biography. That, and listening to Walter Isaacson speak on The Diary of a CEO (listen here). The man doesn’t miss. 

Fair warning, this book is heavy with a H. It's a slow but all consuming trudge that I have yet to finish, but so far my opinions of Elon have been totally challenged. Once again I'm brought back to the basic fact that people are a product of their past. And Elon's life has been anything but easy.

Emperor of Rome

We’ve probably all heard about the Roman Empire trend that went around last year. The gag was that men think about the Roman Empire whereas for most women it doesn’t cross their minds, like ever. I have to strongly side myself with the women here - not only does thoughts of the Roman Empire rarely crop up, I would say I actively dislike thinking about stuff from that time period (apart from the aqueducts, they’re cool). It's all so...brutal I guess?

In any case, I came across this podcast episode and my interest was sufficiently piqued to grab the book from the library. That, and I remember being fixated on an Emperor Claudius as Jupiter statue in Palermo. I legit spent 15 minutes gazing at it. Don't even ask me why (he's beautiful). 

Music:

My latest obsession is Flawed Mangoes (not related to my obsession with dried mangoes). Instrumental riffs, repeating patterns, easy melodies, this music fills me with even-keel, ticking along nicely energy. Ideal for writing, working, or walking. Swimming is his latest release and it’s just *chef’s kiss* but Run on Sentence is my favourite, and the acoustic version drops next week.

My workout music recently is leaning classical. I know that sounds iffy, but I’m sorry VIVALDI GOES HARD. Winter and summer are where it’s at. While you’re at it, check out Lacrimosa (the Epic version for extra energy).

You’ll feel like a criminal mastermind who’s infiltrated the Mob and made off with all their blood money. 

Candles:

With the return of Venus (next week), while ordering supplies for that, I decided to add a load of other scents to my basket to play around with (a dangerous path, gotta catch em all).

On my testing bench this week is a White Tea and Ginger candle (first test, light but so unique), a Mojito candle (too strong! not a fan), and a very unusual scent that is EXACTLY what you smell when you walk into a flower shop. Cut flowers and greenery. This one has a great throw (too great??) so I'll be curious to get opinions on it. I can't tell if I really like it yet. It's just VERY different to anything I've tested before, and I'm not a huge fan of 'green' scents.  

I've also been working on a lemon/orange blossom/vanilla candle which has gotten super feedback from testers, but I'm not quite satisfied with it yet. It smells AMAZING, but I need to refine the wick so it lasts a bit longer.

I'm on the fourth round of testing with this candle and the reason it's taking a long time is because it's in a new jar! Sneak peak on the blog cover photo. So I had to start from scratch. But I'm really excited about it and hopeful I'll crack it before too long. As they say, good things can't be rushed.