Recipe: The Spider Web Sweet

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Halloween is this Monday and is sure to be filled with tricks and treats. If you’re like me, you have a giant sweet tooth which can be satisfied with this Halloween recipe:

The Spiderweb Sweet

-Oreo graham cracker pie crust
-white baking chocolate (I normally use Baker’s, but Hershey’s is good too)
-gummy worms
-1-1/2 cups of milk
-chocolate Jell-o instant pudding mix

1.Beat Jell-o mix and milk with a whisk for 2 min. (Make sure there are no clumps and that the texture is smooth – just like spider silk)

2. Put half of the mixture into your pie crust.

3. Top the half with gummy worms – they’re the spider’s victims and they serve as a nice surprise to those eating this treat.

4. Pile the rest of the mixture onto of the candy coated top. After doing so, use a spatula to smooth out the mixture. This will give your pie an overall neat appearance.

5. Place in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

6. Now it’s time to make your web. Remove the cheesecake and melt your chocolate (I usually use a microwave because it’s quicker and easier) for about 60 seconds. Take it out every 10-15 seconds to stir before returning it to the microwave.

7. Once your chocolate is melted use a piping bag (or makeshift piping bag using a Ziploc bag and cutting the bottom corner off) to make the web design. For the web design, start with a little circle in the center and draw larger ones around it. Fill your center circle with the white chocolate, but do not fill the others.

8. When you finished crafting your circles, take a toothpick or something with a point on it and dip it in your center circle. Proceed to draw lines from the center circle to the crust –this will create your spider web.

9. Once your web is created, either serve the sweet on the spot or put it back into the fridge until it’s treat time.

You can also craft a reverse Spider Web Sweet by using a basic cream cheese recipe and melting dark chocolate or milk chocolate for your web.

Not into spiders? Well, you can always make a graveyard instead. To do so, you would follow The Spider Web Sweet, but instead of putting a web ontop you would put a rather delicious cemetery.

Cutting cookies in half (namely Oreos, Nutter Butters, and Milanos), you would stick them into the pie so they would stand like tombstones. You can even decorate them with fun little phrases like ‘I Emma Spook’, ‘RIP’, ‘Boo,’ and other Halloween sayings and puns. You can also use chocolate Pocky or pretzels (chocolate coated or regular) to make little fences for your ghastly graveyard.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what do you like to make for Halloween?

A Very Pokemon Go Halloween

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Halloween, possibly one of the best times of the year is this Monday. Everyone is getting into the spirit with decorations, pumpkin carvings, and throwing parties. Even Pokemon Go is getting into the swinging wake of the season by introducing a special Halloween event.

Running from 10/26/16 – 11/1/16, Drowzee, Hypno, Cubone, Marowak, Meowth, Gastly, Haunter, Zubat, Golbat, and Gengar will appear more often than usual as spooks of the season. Trainers’ Buddy Pokemon will double the candies, while catching Pokemon will grant trainers six candies, and transferring Pokemon will give trainers two candies as well as hatching and evolving them.

This is a great way for trainers to build up their teams and celebrate Halloween. It’s also great for trick or treaters who are not only receiving candy in real life, but in Pokemon Go as well.

Speaking of Pokémon Go, on 10/23/16 the game received an update. This update consists of different colored eggs to determine the mileage needed to hatch them. Green is for 2 km, yellow is for 5 km, and purple is for 10 km.  A low battery indicator has also been added to the game as well as type icons for Pokemon’s information screens.

Thanks for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, will you be catching Pokemon this Halloween?

Pokemon Sun/Moon: Datamined Demo

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

You know a con is scary good when it takes you a week to recover from it. I’m back from NYCC and the con high that followed. NYCC was by far an amazing time that I hope to relive in the future.

Speaking of scary good things, Pokemon Sun and Moon has just been datamined and relentlessly releasing information. With only a month away from this new adventure, Nintendo has given us quite a look into what we’re getting into, but also raising questions. Like why do Ultra Beasts bear some human aspects? Why was Type:Null created? And why in the name of Arceus does Dugtrio have hair?

In the Pokemon Sun/Moon demo datamine, we were shown a ton of new Pokemon that Nintendo hadn’t announced including our final evolution starters. Turns out, the original Pokemon Sun/Moon leak from many months ago was correct in that Torracat will evolve into a Fire/Fighting wrestler, Brionne will transform into a Water siren seal, and Dartrix will become a Grass/Flying hunter. We also received a look at five more Ultra Beasts which bear resemblance to Hala and Team Skull’s leader.

What if the Aether Foundation is trying to create Pokemon? After all they do research on Pokemon, but we’re never told what that research is. Furthermore, what if they created Type:Null? In the Pokemon’s description it says that Type:Null was created to fulfill a certain mission; but what mission would require a Pokemon to have the abilities and similar appearance to Arceus? Arceus is the god of Pokemon and when given a type plate, it becomes that type. When Silvally (Type:Null’s evolved form) has type discs inserted into it, it has the same effect. Arceus also aided in the creation of Pokemon, so maybe Type:Null was made to create Pokemon?

We were also introduced to some new Alolan themed Pokemon including: Persian (aka Garfield or as mine will be called ‘Lasagna’), Geodude, Graveler, Golem, Diglett, and Dugtrio (or ‘Hanson’). However, we also met new Pokemon who didn’t even bear a name such as a Pokemon that looks like a giant green anchor, a Pokemon that looks like a bubble spider, a spiky sea urchin looking Pokemon, Morelull’s evolution, Crabrawler’s evolution, Pikipek’s evolutions, Salandit’s evolution, Wimpod’s evolved form, the pre-evolutions to Lunala and Solgaelio, and the official name for the starters’ final evolutions. This brings the Pokedex up to 800 Pokemon, which means we’ll be occupied with this game for a while.

Other Pokemon Sun/Moon related news includes that yes, Mega Evolution is returning, but it won’t be available until the post game. There are three more nameless guardian deity Pokemon. Alolan Pokemon were designed as an acknowledgement of thanks to Pokefans who have stuck with the franchise for 20 years. The Pokemon Sun/Moon demo is available for download and should be played on 1^st day, 5^th day, 12^th day, 18^thday, and 24^th day after you start to unlock more content. With this demo, you can also transfer your items and Ash-Greninja using the Pokelink from the demo to Sun/Moon when it is officially released.

Pokemon Sun/Moon is shaping up to be a great game filled to the brim with secrets, events, and adventure.I can't wait to see what's in store in only a month away.

Thanks for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on Sun/Moon?

Volcanion Erupts Into ORAS/XY

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Every month of this year Nintendo has been releasing a legendary Pokemon to celebrate their 20^th anniversary of the franchise.

For October, Keldeo is available to download from the Nintendo Network via Mystery Gift to Pokemon XY or ORAS. With Keldeo only being available for three more days, we have a new legendary to collect.

Until 10/31/16, Volcanion will be distributed via code from Gamestop. A level 70 Volcanion can be downloaded onto Pokemon XY or ORAS and will unlock new dialogue throughout regions in the game. It will also come with the item Assault Vest that increases Special Defense, but prevents use of status moves. Volcanion will also have the ability Water Absorb as well as the moves Steam Eruption, Hydro Pump, Overheat, and Explosion. These moves coincide with its unique typing and will demonstrate its strength on the battlefield.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment, and critique.

So tell me, what do you think of Volcanion’s unique typing?

Confidence in Cosplay

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

The biggest con event of the year is happening this weekend. That’s right it’s New York Comic Con. NYCC is one of the largest cons in the nation drawing together iconic celebrities, cosplayers, and geeks.  Most cosplayers will probably roam about the city and be themselves.

For someone with anxiety, roaming around the city in cosplay is a victory. Growing up, cosplay was looked down upon and considered to be a waste of time. Whenever a cosplay was worn it was often made fun of and the cosplayer was deemed a loser. Even when attending ACBC and WWP this year, I was a bit hesitant to walk around in public dressed in my cosplay. I had no idea how I would be viewed or would be said of me. However, maturity and cosplay’s modern acceptance and view have changed me.

I’m a woman in her late twenties cosplaying a fictional character and to be frank with you, I couldn’t be happier. It’s an extension of expressing myself and to publicly wear that cosplay for a con I’m attending gives me joy. Sometimes I’ll get compliments. Sometimes I’ll get strange stares, but at the same time I simply don’t care. I’m being myself and it’s wonderful. It takes a ton of confidence and assurance to be one’s self in this world with bullies (both physical and cyber), society’s perspective of things, and people in general. I think after all these years my confidence has come to fruition especially by means of cosplay.

When Saturday comes I will happily walk onto the train, through the stations, down to Manhattan, and wherever else I please wearing my cosplay. I have the confidence to override my anxiety, ignore what other people think and/or say of me, and just generally be myself. It’s a feeling that once embraced, can never be taken away from you and cosplay has helped me achieved that.

I think in life we need to find the things that make us incredibly confident. It can be one thing or it can be multiple things. For me it would have to be writing and cosplaying and maybe it’s other activities I haven’t discovered, but if there are any more, I plan to discover and fully embrace them.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, critique, share, and subscribe.

So tell me, what makes you feel confident?