Author Archives: AiXeLsyD13

🎃 “Lazy Pumpkin Roll” Cupcakes

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Alright. I bought some Halloween fun-shaped silicone pans from Aldi and I wanted to use them. I’m not a baker. I could have made beer cheese bread? This seemed easy enough though. No measuring. No fuss. Fall shenanigans good for Halloween or Thanksgiving. These taste like delicious pumpkin rolls.

A countertop view of the baking ingredients used, featuring a box of Baker's Corner Classic Yellow cake mix, a can of 100% pure pumpkin, and a cup of applesauce.

Three ingredients. OK, four. I used some pumpkin spice. Alright, five if you count the frosting.

Ingredients:

  • 1 box (15.25 oz) Yellow Cake Mix
  • 1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin
  • 1 single-serve cup (4 oz) Unsweetened Applesauce
  • A shake or two of Pumpkin Spice
  • 1 tub Baker’s Corner Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Get your cupcake tins of choice ready, grease, spray, or line ’em if so inclined.
  3. Dump the cake mix, the can of pumpkin, & the cup of applesauce t into a large bowl.
  4. Shake on some pumpkin spice and/or cinnamon. Mix it all together. Mix it well.
  5. Slap that batter into your cupcake thing, go about ¾ fill ’cause it’ll rise.
  6. Pop the baking sheet into the oven and bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.
  7. Pull ;em out & let ’em cool.
  8. Slather on a generous amount of cream cheese frosting.

Notes:

  • I used the silicone cupcake trays, so I put them on a flat backing sheet. Apparently this can extend typical baking time a bit. I started checking at 20 minutes with a knife, and it was still gooey then.
  • This would be fine in a cake pan or pie plate or casserole dish or even a loaf pan or two, I bet. I am here for you doing you & using what you’ve got.
  • I like pumpkin flavor more than pumpkin spice. Of course, go heavy if that’s your thing.
A white plate filled with an assortment of freshly baked, golden-brown Halloween-themed cakes shaped like skulls, pumpkins, a bat, cats, and Frankenstein's monster.
A close-up of a golden-brown baked Halloween treat on a white plate, thickly frosted with white cream cheese frosting, with a tub of Baker's Corner cream cheese frosting sitting blurred in the background.

Hit me up with your tips, tricks, similar recipes, or super easy stuff to bake.

Vintage/Nostalgic Jack O’ Lantern Halloween Decoration

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So, I made a quick & cheap Jack O’ Lantern Halloween decoration. OK, I made 8 of them. The pumpkins are $1.97 at Walmart, although the teal one was from CVS and $4.49 because not wanting to kill kids with peanuts or chocolate is definitely something that should be cost prohibitive.

I saw these all over social media, and I had to try it out.

Two tall stacks of colorful plastic jack-o'-lantern trick-or-treat buckets standing on a dark surface in front of a white door. The left stack features orange, black, orange, and white buckets from top to bottom. The right stack features teal, orange, black, and orange buckets.

I grabbed some acrylic makers from the craft section, but had to get the green one online. I got orange, black, white, & yellow in a few different tip sizes. I kept it simple, and sort of like those paper Halloween decorations that were shiny on one site and matte on the other that were everywhere from the 50s to the 90s.

I’m probably gonna hit them with a clearcoat spray so they can survive a bit outside.

You should try ’em out and make your own!

A close-up of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring green cat-like eyes, a nose painted to look like a piece of candy corn, and a broad smile showing white teeth.
A close-up of a teal blue plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring stylized orange-and-black eyes with short painted eyebrows and eyelashes, an orange nose, and a wide orange-lined grin. (For the Teal Pumpkin Project & Food Allergy Awareness!)
A close-up of a black plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring painted orange triangular eyes with small black pupils, an orange nose, and an orange-accented smiling mouth
A close-up shot of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket with painted black triangular eyes, a small triangular nose, and a wide grinning mouth, with the top of a teal bucket visible just above it.
A close-up of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring triangular eyes with round, surprised-looking orange-and-green pupils, a small nose, and a classic carved grin.
A close-up of a black plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring bright green cat-like eyes with vertical pupils inside yellow triangles, a yellow nose, and a wide yellow-lined grin
A close-up of a white plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket with black triangular eyes containing white highlights, a black nose, and a wide black-and-white toothy smile. (An amalgamation of a classic 🎃 & the Misfits' FIEND or Crimson Ghost logo.)
A close-up of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring green eyes inside yellow triangles and a wide, mischievous grin filled with many white teeth.

Which one’s your favorite? Hit me with some of your creations in the comments!

As always, you ought to listen to some Halloween jams, and maybe try out some of my free Halloween mazes if you’re gonna do this as a Halloween party activity! I got you with Halloween pasta & hot dog ghosts too.

🎃

Recipe | AiXeLsyD13-style Wedding Soup

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Yeah, I blogged about this before. But, that post is long winded and I have refined my method ever so slightly. Also Kraft doesn’t make Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing any more. Which isn’t a huge deal, but still. Mainly, I make my meatballs & chicken both in the oven now.

Overhead view of a bright orange soup bowl with a black handle, held in one hand. A spoon lifts a meatball resting on acini di pepe, with shredded chicken, melted cheese, wilted spinach, chopped carrots, and chopped celery floating in a golden broth.

Here’s the recipe for the meatballs & the soup. I don’t measure anything, so these are guesses.

Meatballs

Ingredients:

  • ~3 lbs. ground beef (80/20)
  • ½ bag Seasoned croutons, crushed (eyeball it; you want mostly meat, not bread)
  • splash of milk, to soak the crushed croutons
  • ½ cup French fried onions, crushed
  • splash of Zesty Italian (eyeball it)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh spinach
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
  • ¼ cup Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
  • Seasonings: onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, Dash table blend

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
  2. Crush the croutons (I used a ground meat masher thing – but you can do it by hand, or in a baggie with the shake-cheese bottle) and the French fried onions. Stir the milk into the croutons and let them soak for a few minutes (The internet tells me this is a panade.)
  3. In a big bowl, mix the beef, soaked croutons, French fried onions, a splash of dressing, the eggs, a few shakes of cheese, the spinach, the parsley, and the seasonings by hand until just combined.
  4. Roll or scoop into mini meatballs, about 1 inch, and space them out on the pan.
  5. Bake 18 to 20-ish minutes, until no pink remains and they hit 160°F.

Chicken

Ingredients:

  • Chicken breast cutlets (about 1½ to 2 lb)
  • Olive oil
  • Rotisserie chicken seasoning, poultry seasoning.

Method:

  1. Put the cutlets on a separate sheet pan, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with seasoning.
  2. Bake at 400°F for 18 to 20-ish minutes, flipping halfway, until they hit 165°F.
  3. Let rest a few minutes, then slice into chunks.

Soup

Ingredients:

  • Butter (enough to cover the bottom of the pot when melted)
  • A few handfuls of carrots, finely chopped
  • About ⅓ bunch celery, chopped (stalks plus some leaves)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • Fresh parsley
  • Minced garlic (the jarred kind in oil is fine)
  • 4 cartons chicken broth/stock (or whatever mix you have)
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons minced jarred garlic.
  • Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder,
  • 1 box (16 oz) De Cecco acini de pepe
  • Fresh spinach, chopped (I get the kind in the clear box at Aldi)
  • Shredded Parmesan for topping

Method:

  1. Melt the butter in the soup pot. Add the carrots, celery, onion, parsley, and garlic, season well, and sauté for a bit.
  2. Pour in the broth/stock and bring to a boil. (I used chicken broth, chicken stock, bone broth, and vegetable broth this time.)
  3. Reduce the heat a bit and add the chicken and meatballs. Bring back to a boil.
  4. Add the spinach and acini de pepe and boil about 9 minutes, or until the pasta is done.
  5. Top each bowl with shredded Parmesan. Let it cool before eating.

Notes:

  • The acini di pepe swells a lot in leftovers. The whole internet says to cook it separately and add it to each bowl which ensures that I will absolutely do exactly not that. You do you though.
  • This is not a traditional Italian wedding soup. I’m a mostly UK-ish mutt with some German and maybe even Norwegian heritage living in southwestern PA. Don’t come at me telling me what I did wrong.
  • You can use bouillon cubes, Better Than Bouillon , make your own stock, or even sneak your favorite beer into the stock. You do you.
  • You can use frozen meatballs, but these are so much better. Maybe use a rotisserie chicken too? There are no rules. I support culinary anarchy.
  • I feel like mushrooms may be good in this too? I don’t know why.
  • Gimme your tips & tricks!

Tacoloaf: Doritos, Taco Sauce & Cheese-Crusted Taco Meatloaf

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You know I have a hard time just making a normal meatloaf, right? I mean, I have the hardboiled egg & bacon one, the Swiss/onion/mushroom one, the mushroom & Havarti one, & the Turkey Dinner one. Of course, I have a normal one too.

There’s other stuff I’m surely gonna try. The Wedding Soup Meatball Sub worked, why not make it a meatloaf? Maybe? I thought of a chili meatloaf, whic would maybe have beans in it… and I still may try that someday, but this seemed like more of an easy win. Plus, leftovers right into a warmed tortilla? Yes, please.

Maybe this is “white people tacos” because of the seasonings, but I mean… it was pretty good, and it tasted like the tacos I grew up eating in the 80s. I should have snuck in some salsa and black olives. Wait. Maybe refried beans? Would that even work?

A taco-inspired meatloaf topped with melted cheese and taco sauce atop of a parchment lined baking sheet.

I absolutely do not measure. All measurements are approximate. Measure with your heart, and season according to your ancestors. If your ancestors come from the same place mine do, maybe keep seasoning a bit past that.

Ingredients:

  • 2½ lbs. 80/20 ground beef
  • 2 Tbsp taco seasoning (from a shaker; about 1-1½ packets if you’re using packets)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup crushed Doritos (about 2 cups before crushing; roughly 2 big handfuls)
  • ¼ cup panko
  • ¼ cup taco sauce
  • ¼ cup milk, for soaking the panko
  • 1 cup Mexican-style shredded cheese
  • 2-3 Tbsp. sour cream
  • ½ cup slightly crushed French fried onions
  • Other seasonings, approximate:
    • 1 tsp chili powder
    • ½ tsp cumin
    • ½ tsp garlic powder
    • ½ tsp onion powder
    • ½ tsp paprika
    • ¼ tsp cayenne
    • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ cup taco sauce, divided (for glaze/topping)
  • ½ cup shredded Mexican-style cheese (for topping)
  • 3 sacrificial slices of white bread.

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment and lay the bread slices side by side, shaped roughly like the loaf.
  • Soak the panko & crushed Doritos. Stir the panko, ¼ cup taco sauce and ¼ cup milk together in a large bowl. Let it sit about 5 minutes until it’s a thick paste. Season this up.
  • Beat the eggs lightly and stir them into the soaked panko mixture..
  • Add the beef, taco seasoning, cheese, sour cream, French fried onions and all more spices to the bowl. Mix gently with your hands.
  • Shape. Form a loaf on top of the bread, about 9-10 inches long and 3-4 inches tall. (The bread catches the drippings and keeps the bottom from burning.)
  • Bake for about 50 minutes.
  • Take it out and brush the top with about ¼ cup taco sauce. Add a thin layer of shredded cheese, then drizzle with the remaining taco sauce. Bake another 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbly and the internal temperature reads 160°F.
  • Rest for about 3 minutes, then slice.

I think it was pretty good. Obviously you could do regular tortilla chips and add more seasoning. I may do that next time. This time I baked it alongside a normal meatloaf just in case nobody liked it. The family looked at me weird when I rolled out my plan.

I served all this along with some Spanish rice & black beans. I probably made that very not traditionally, but it was also pretty good. Also with it I sauteed some zucchini and bell pepper. Would have done onion, but the last one was a little too squishy for my taste.

A "normal" meatloaf and a Taco Night Meatloaf side by side on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Sauteed zucchini & bell pepper, Spanish rice with black beans, and taco-night meatloaf on a plate next to a dollop of sour cream.

What unconventional meatloaf ideas are you sitting on? Would you try this? What are you making out there?

Those Halloween Hot Dog Ghosts 🌭👻

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I had to try ’em out. We’ve done the mummies. Why not the ghosts? They were at least horrifying in the spirit of the holiday.

8 hot dog ghosts in various positions after baking on top of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

These were really simple, here’s what I did…

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°.
  2. Cut 4 bun-length hot dogs in half, & stand them up on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  3. Roll out a can of Pillsbury croissant dough, pinch the diagonal seams & cut it into 8 squares.
  4. Put some shredded cheese and seasoning on the dough.
  5. Wrap the dough over the dogs cheese & seasoning side in.
  6. Use a metal straw (or whatever) to cut holes for the eyes and mouth.
  7. Pop them in the oven for 13 minutes, because of course.

You can see how they turned out. My wife got a much more flattering picture:

4 ghost styled hot dogs standing on a white plate with some ketchup.

She opted for ketchup. I made “Scary Sauce.”

Maybe 3:1:½ of Ketchup/Yellow Mustard/Miracle Whip, with some onion powder, paprika, and mustard powder. It was nice & orange for the season.

Next time, I may cut up black olive slices & use them for the eyes and mouths. Maybe. I also will use regular sized dogs instead of the bun length, so maybe they don’t half tip over.

What are your favorite or new fun Halloween themed foods?

Of course, I made these while listening to a Halloween playlist. You should too.

Jackie Lanterns | The Punkin Demon

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I can’t stop watching this. What is it from?

Now this?

Halloween Pasta w/ Butternut Squash Sauce

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OK, so this recipe is really inspired by or let’s say heavily borrowed from a recipe that I saw on a Barilla Campanelle box years ago. I saw some Reggano Halloween Shaped Pasta at Aldi recently, and I thought the butternut squash sauce would hit the right color and flavor for fall.

Reggano Halloween Shaped Pasta in a bowl. Pumpkins, bats, owns, spiders, & more in "regular" color, orange, and purple.

I’m not fancy enough for pancetta, so I used bacon pieces, and I skipped the balsamic vinegar and added a dash of heavy cream because why not? I didn’t measure anything, but here’s what I did;

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag Reganno Halloween Shaped Pasta (or whatever you have on hand, really).
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ⅓ cup bacon pieces
  • 1 small Onion chopped
  • 2 small butternut squash, cubed (It was about 8 cups)
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, Dash table blend to taste.

Method:

  1. Sauté onions & bacon pieces in the oil on medium-high heat until crispy. Use your seasonings here.
  2. Add the butternut squash and brown it up a bit. Seasonings again.
  3. Add in the chicken broth, and bring to a boil.
  4. Simmer for 10 to 15-ish minutes or until the squash gets soft.
  5. Process half of the sauce in the blender until smooth. (I used an immersion blender and did half of the sautee pan.)
  6. Add the heavy cream and give it a stir.
  7. Cook pasta according to directions and toss with or top with the sauce.

Notes:

  • I should have added some more crisped up bacon at the end.
  • Of course you could use & cook bacon or pancetta here. Or no meat.
  • Try the OG with the vinegar if that’s your thing.
  • I feel like roasting some butternut squash separately and adding it in would add some depth.
  • Hear me out… Roasted Brussels sprouts would work really well with this.

How would you do it? What are your butternut sqash recipes? Have any good pasta sauce recipes that aren’t marinara or alfredo?

LEGO & Not-Quite LEGO Arcade?

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I uploaded a photo a while back with the intent to blog, and sort of forgot about it. I have been a fan of LEGO ever since I can remember, and in the past decade or so, got back into it. I like the big epic sets, but sometimes these little ones are fun.

LEGO & comprtetors' brick block toy arcade machines.

It can be a hit to the pocketbook and shelf space. I have checked out lots of off-brand LEGO sets. I remember having some TYCO sets as a kid, and I know I bought my son some He-Man Megabloks/Mega-Construx sets when he was little. I have a few AliExpress sets like the Eagle 5 from Spaceballs.

These were all fun, & of varying quality, and I have amassed them over time. Each was as expected for price paid, and fun to assemble.

LEGO | Arcade Machine 40805 – I typically order from the LEGO website any more, as I have had at least 2 sets tampered with from Walmart, and I have seen the pasta replacement insanity online. Obviously, LEGO is the standard and this set is awesome. It even opens up to a little gamer apartment that has basement vibes, and honestly looks like it was meant to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ lair. The minifigure and details inside are incredible as usual, and the lean on the screen is a neat build technique. I wish LEGO would come with less stickers. The coin slots are super cool, and this is the biggest scale-wise even though they’re all similar. Funny they have Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Mario sets… but this a generic unlicensed game.

JAKI | Arcade Gaming Cabinet AK063 – This came from AliExpress with no brand listed, but JAKI was on the book & box. The quality was pretty good, better than what I expected from AliExpress anyway. This one is super cool because there’s a gear on the back that move bricks inside the clear screen (even if just a little bit) to create some action. I absolutely hate the stickers that cross over brick connections. It’s like nails-on-chalkboard level nope for me. It was cool that this came with an instruction booklet and a box. I have absolutely gotten AliExpress sets with a card to scan for a *.pdf and one that was a link to a YouTube video. That Bricksewer site seems shadier than AliExpress for real though.

Brickcraft | Atari Arcade Classics 72776 – I have noticed an aggressive uptick in Brickcraft advertising. Good for them, as their quality is getting better. I’d say they’re right alongside the Zuru Max bricks and whatever Mega Bloks/Mega Construx are called this week in quality. The best part of this was all the printed bricks! Brickcraft should lean into that and eschew stickers totally. The instructions were clear. The price is approaching actual LEGO, which is bold, but they lean into pop-culture licensing and again the printed bricks are awesome, so maybe that’s a fair trade-off. These sets are cool because you can get the coin out of the back. The ornaments up fun are cool too. Neat to see Asteroids, Pong, & Centipede still getting love.

Snap & Switch | Skee-Ball Construction Set – I got this from Five Below on a whim. It was not nearly $20 like it is listen on this website. The bricks feel… fragile? The quality of the plastic is just not quite right. Again, with the stickers that hit multiple bricks. Why? Who does this? I am not gluing these sets together. No Kragle! At any rate, Snap & Switch is a Well Played Toys brand, and they were awesome when I wrote about a missing piece, and they sent a replacement for free. Also, this is totally playable. It comes with little skee-balls. How fun is that?

What are your favorite LEGO & non-LEGO sets?

Solving my mazes on your screen?

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You may be aware that I draw mazes. You may be aware that I have some maze books out, and that you can get my mazes printed on stuff to wear, hang, or sit around the house. You may be aware that I have a bunch of mazes posted here for free. In my never ending quest for World (and Lunar) Domination, I’m moving on to your phone, tablet, laptop, PC, and there’s probably somebody out there with a Raspberry Pi enabled potato or something. Maybe the DOOM fruit fly can solve a few?

While, it’s not ready to roll out to a full-ass audience yet, my buddy Jason has put together a way to solve my hand-drawn mazes on your phone, tablet, or computer. You can use your finger, a stylus, the control in the bottom left corner, the arrow keys, the WASD keys, or a mouse to move the cursor to solve the maze. You can change the ink color, erase, or “snap back” to get to the solution. You can pick the difficulty level & keep playing through to that level or all the levels if you’d like. You can also share your stats to social media or via text.

Screenshot of the A-Maze browser game showing the "Find the Tone!" guitar-amplifier maze with an easy difficulty setting. A pink path is drawn from the starting arrow at the top into the maze, with control buttons on the left (eraser, reset) and right side of the screen.
Screen shot from my laptop.
Zoomed/cropped view of the A-Maze web game titled "Find the Tone!" displaying a completed guitar-amp maze. The top header displays player stats including a score name and time of 0.05 seconds, alongside a "Give Up" button at the bottom.
Cropped shot of being zoomed-in to solve the maze on a laptop.
Setup menu for A-Maze featuring player name input, difficulty level buttons (Easy, Medium, Hard, Random), automatic progression toggle, ink color selection buttons (red, blue, green, purple, orange, black), and detailed instructions for touch, mouse, and keyboard controls.
The start screen where you can pick your difficulty, ink color, how you want to play, and type in a user name.
Active gameplay screen of the "Skull" maze on easy difficulty. A yellow-inked path is traced from the top arrow past the cranium's pathways, with player name and elapsed time (15.25 seconds) displayed at the top.
Solving the skull maze on the phone.

I did a screen recording of the game play on my phone, using my finger and the cursor on the bottom left at different times:

There’s a fancier 5x-ish sped-up version (with music) on TikTok too:

@aixelsyd13

So, my buddy Jason is helping to make my hand-drawn mazes solvable on a screen. This is a 5x-ish sped-up playthrough on my phone. Looking for people interested in testing functionality & providing feedback. That you? Might blog about it later. #maze #mazes #puzzlegame #apps #AiXeLsyD13

♬ I Am a Banana – Parry Gripp

So, we need some people to test this out! What is working? What isn’t? What’s intuitive? What’s not? Tell us about the functionality, and even if you like the idea. Sometimes, I feel like it is difficult to find maze-solving enthusiasts. Share this with your people who may like to do such things!

🧩 AiXeLsyD13 just solved "Banana!" on A-Maze in 8:45.3. This session: 2/3 solved. 🏳️ Red Brick! -- 56.0s 🏁 Jason's Test Maze -- 1.8s 🏁 Banana! -- 8:45.3 Think you can beat me? [Lemme know if you want the test url! We are looking for feedback!]
🧩 AiXeLsyD13 just solved "Banana!" on A-Maze in 8:45.3. This session: 2/3 solved. 🏳️ Red Brick! -- 56.0s 🏁 Jason's Test Maze -- 1.8s 🏁 Banana! -- 8:45.3 Think you can beat me? [Lemme know if you want the test url! We are looking for feedback!]

I’m not sharing the url for the test phase super wide right now so just reach out to me via email, social media, via comment here, or my contact form if you’d like to test the game out and tell is what’s working & what’s not. To quote the infamous Jimmy Pop, I’d appreciate your input.

If people dig it, I’ll add more & draw more! Do you think it’s something that you or someone you know would enjoy?

PlayFlashFrame.com

Also, if you like movies, you have to check out this other game that my buddy Jason made! In FlashFrame, you guess the movie title by a screenshot or poster/promo image from 4 answer choices. You go in to rounds of 10. You can play against other people, or do solo practice. You can pick your genres and narrow it by decade too if your cinephilia has highly specific interests.

I have gone head-to-head in movie naming competition with my kids, and with Jason himself. It’s a fun way to test your movie memory!

I like to narrow in on 80’s sci-fi, comedy, & action films. What would your decade & genres be?

It’s definitely fun and worth your time to check out. A few rounds go by super quick and you might surprise yourself with your movie knowledge!

Also, the more people who play, the more fun it is. You can invite your friends to play head-to-head battles.

🍌🍌🍌

And, for fun, I put the faster version of the maze solving on YouTube too:

James Gunn comments on the Tromeo & Juliet soundtrack!

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Fist off, you should follow Sid the Punk Rock Girl Dad on Instagram, Threads, & TikTok… and James Gunn on Threads.

I “know” Sid from a Facebook group or three, and James Gunn not only crushes it on making movies and TV shows with crazy needle drops, but he also has no problem setting the record straight on DCU projects directly to the people. I have written about his move from Marvel to DC and his Creature Commandos Playlist before.

This lil’ interaction happened the other day and made me super happy:

@thepunkrockgirldad Finally getting around to watching @jamesgunn ’s phenomenal Superman. It is incredibly difficult to get me interested in a DC character as I have been a Marvel fan since childhood, but this did the trick. Sidenote: I would love to sit and talk punk rock with JG for a PRGD lesson with Lorelai. A guy can dream. @aixelsyd13 The Tromeo & Juliet soundtrack; @jamesgunn started knocking out bangers EARLY @jamesgunn On the T&J soundtrack all of the bands were kind enough to allow us to use their music for free, with the exception of Sublime, who I think we gave $1500, and the Ass Ponys, who asked me for 99 cent check from Troma they promised not to cash and would frame and put on their wall. I learned a lot through the process. It seemed so clunky, choosing all these songs in post, shooting and sometimes cutting before we had a song. So once I started making my own films I always chose the music beforehand. @aixelsyd13 Oh, that's incredible insight! Learning by doing and moving forward with better knowledge for next time is applicable to all of us. My friends & I who were in a punk band at the time wore that CD out! I absolutely love all the needle drops from then to GoTG to Peacemaker & beyond. Thank you for the behind these scenes glimpse, and taking the time to answer @jamesgunn! (This also cements that the Ass Ponys rule! 🤘)

So, how cool is that? An-Die DysLeXiC introduced me to the cinematic masterpiece that is Tromeo & Juliet featuring one of the most unhinged car crash scenes of all time.

The soundtrack is banger after banger, and knowing that Mr. Gunn chased down every one so it could be included is incredible. “Mr. Superlove” by the Ass Ponys is awesome. Same with “Math” by Supernova, “Gizzards, Scrapple and Tripe” by The New Duncan Imperials, “Drink That Whiskey” by The Wesley Willis Fiasco, and… “Sacrifice” by Motörhead!!

Sadly, it’s not all streaming, but somebody did make a Spotify playlist with what they could find. (The score is there though!)

AiXeLsyD used to play “Gizzards, Scrapple and Tripe” at practice, but I don’t know that we ever played it at a show? We rocked this compilation and the Pist Midget: Heavy Music Stopilation #1 CD all the time. (A real one popped that on to SoundCloud!)

Tromeo & Julet Soundtrack CD Cover
Tromero & Juliet Soundtrack Track List

I still have this CD, and I’m gonna need to pop it in. I love the inside baseball on making movies and music selection. I’m reading You’ve Got Red On You about the making of Shaun of the Dead right now, and it’s fascinating about all the stuff that has to happen to get a project done.

Peacemaker and Creature Commandos have some bops. (Honestly sort of related, Doom Patrol really did too.)

I’m obviously a huge punk rock compilation fan, but What’s your favorite compilation or soundtrack CD that’s maybe weird or obscure?