Tag: Product Review

Sometimes There’s No Need to Hunt for Dr. Squatch’s Soaps. Some of their Products Are Best Left Alone.

It’s tough to imagine Bigfoot taking an interest in personal care, but after a decade, Dr. Squatch is a company selling products to men who want to smell like “Nature.”

Wolverine Soap Dr. SquatchI rarely take an interest in licensed branded products that include grooming, but for Dr. Squatch making millions of dollars and in-roads into other territories (I didn’t see them in Canada until about two years ago, while at Walmart), I was curious. Their wide range of scented soaps based on IPs like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones didn’t really convince me. And don’t get me started after the release of Minecraft the Movie trailer (this is an idea that’s best left buried, like Pixels).

But after seeing their latest marketing campaign including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I have to speak out–no; I don’t want to smell like pizza or the sewer while walking the streets of my city! Whether they’re saying something often unspoken of (yes, some geeks don’t cleanse often enough), the idea to get certain people to use their soaps is a great idea.

And for fans of X-Men, if anyone wants to smell like beer and cigarettes, then they too can be Wolverine! Technically, that’s not how our favourite hunter smells like, and although I’m curious about what Hugh Jackman uses, to base their latest on this mutant, thankfully the woodsy smell of cypress, juniper, and moss works. To be specific, the ingredients include saponified oils of (palm, coconut, olive), naturally derived fragrance, shea butter, resurrection plant (selaginella lepidophylla) extract, alumina, pumice, iron oxides, kaolin clay, and sea salt. Continue reading “Sometimes There’s No Need to Hunt for Dr. Squatch’s Soaps. Some of their Products Are Best Left Alone.”

A Player’s Shameless Guide to Breaking Down Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Home Video

We take a look at which edition of the home video release of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is worth picking up and the verdict is….

Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves SteelbookParamount Pictures and eOne
For the Movie Review,
please visit our original post here.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is coming to home video this week! Although what’s offered as bonus content does not differ from the streaming version, I am glad to have a release to hold in my hands. Although I was hoping a store exclusive can come with added goodies, alas the only thing offered (for now) is the steelbook. The case presents the ampersand dragon with the movie cast presented in silhouette and the interior is a gorgeous recreation of the dungeon scene from the film like it was a Mondo art print.

And my appreciation for this film got bumped up a notch. The first segment, “From Dice to Dragons: Honouring the Lore,” finally reveals the details and what kind of love writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley put in to adapt the game to screen. Their interview also includes explaining why they went with a pudgy dragon rather than a sleek one. Strangely, they didn’t acknowledge Gary Gygax or the TSR days. Unless it passed by fast, I would’ve liked to hear that Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro did not own and manage the property back then.

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Equilibrium Urban’s Not So Convention Tour!

Equilibrium Urban\'s Product DisplayBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Whether you are a college student or just in need of a new carry all bag (backpack or messenger-style), Equilibrium USG has a product you can customize. You can have specific types of smaller pouches to store items in. This company hits all major comic book conventions (well, those that are managing to continue during this medical crisis) and I was curious why cater to a specific audience? Why don’t they have a product to sell in a regular store? The reason is that they can’t decide on how much stock to keep. They take orders to build on demand. To note, due to the current global shutdown, their output has slowed until the COVID-19 cases are in control.

With pop culture conventions more or less year-round, it’s inevitable you will see this company showing off their product at a nearby show. I’m thinking of adding to what I currently have. While I’m waiting on last year’s Black Friday sale to arrive (it can take up to eight months, depending on workload, & coronavirus fears in Asian manufacturing notwithstanding), I’m already considering an upgrade.

Unless I missed a tutorial, you can’t carry the Assault Panzer style completely along its longer (horizontal than vertical) axis. The Recon Prime is closer to the traditional vertical axis messenger bag design, but not by much. I have a pdf where they were once advertised as messenger bags, but after some weeks of use it feels more like a backpack. I might as well turn it into a proper one. I just need to decide on which harness is best for me, and I did not want to mail order blind.

Continue reading “Equilibrium Urban’s Not So Convention Tour!”

[Electric Bungalow] Field Testing QuietOn’s Noise Cancelling Technology

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

QuietOn Ear PlugsMany months ago, I chanced upon an IndieGoGo campaign about QuietOn, a pair of earplugs that operate almost like a pair of Bose noise-canceling headphones. By using active noise cancellation, a fair amount of low-frequency sounds can be filtered out with this sound blocker. This Finnish re-invention looks at the sounds bouncing within the ear canal and creates additional filters for quietness.

After a few weeks of my own testing in random environments, these plugs do work as advertised. They are described to effectively block sound when filtered through walls. For example, those sounds of jet engines from far away, the loud neighbours from the next room in a hotel and elephant stampede in an apartment one level up are nonexistent. I have yet to try sleeping next to an air conditioner and when the noises are not blaring directly at you, they function as intended. Snoring beasts are difficult to prevent, so my quest continues lest I have that suitcase Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them carries to stuff those monsters into.

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