The Quest For The Mighty Sword Review

Today, I thought I would turn on some instant play Netflix for the kiddos to watch while I worked on crocheting some gnome hats. Browsing through the selection, I ran across "The Quest for the Mighty Sword." This title reeked of low-budget fantasy junk. So I hit play.

This movie was not the most horrible movie I've ever seen. In fact, surprisingly enough, it wasn't even any worse than I expected it to be. I think they may have even had more than $10 to spend on graphics. The storyline is your basic epic tale of the boy whose father died, passing on to the young son the duty of claiming the magic heirloom sword and leading his people back to their homeland or some such.

Of course, I either missed the shot of "his people" or else they didn't really show them; but it did include a rescue scene of some scantily clad woman, and a whole lot of love going around. It also included some really ugly critters that looked kind of like the troll from the movie aptly named "Troll". I think these guys were a little uglier than that troll, but I'm pretty sure "Troll" based their troll on these. In fact, there were a lot of ugly people in this movie. I wasn't overly impressed with the hero guy, nor did I consider the female lead to be particularly beautiful. Not to worry - their acting wasn't any better than their looks; however, that said, I think they were the best actors in the movie, other than the pimply and/or scarred guy who liked to make statues out of people.

Overall, I'd have to say this movie didn't even give Ed Wood a run for his money. If you'd like to see a movie in a fantasy epic-style setting with bad (but not horrible) acting, pretty bad (but again, not horrible for the time) graphics, a sketchy storyline, and a scantily clad, not-quite-beautiful female lead, this may be the movie for you. Or you can save yourself the trouble and watch the old version of Clash of the Titans. You decide.

Helping Teachers Is Hard!

I sell things on eBay. It's not always the most exciting hobby, but I do often learn quite a bit in the process - not only about the items that I'm selling, but also about the eBay community, people in general, and life itself. One of the most recent things that I have learned is that it seems as though some teachers just don't want to be helped.

In the course of my eBaying, I discovered a nonprofit organization called Classwish.org. With this truly awesome organization, you can donate not to some nefarious organization that may or may not have children's best interest at heart, but rather to the teachers themselves! Additionally, you as the donor actually get to see where your money is going.

Here's how it works: a teacher signs up for the site and makes a wishlist from the catalogue on the site. A donor may then donate toward a certain item, or make a general donation toward a certain teacher. Once the teacher accumulates enough money to order an item, he or she may do so, and Classwish.org will send the item to the school that teacher works for. Now, I would suggest that the teacher wait until he or she accumulates an order of $60 or more so that there is no shipping charge!

And now for the part that makes it hard to donate to these teachers: most teachers haven't made wishlists! How am I supposed to donate to your classroom wishlist if you don't have one? If you're a teacher, get on that site and show me what you want. If you do, be sure to leave me your name in a comment so that I can actually donate to you. As it stands, there is only one teacher on there that I am interested in donating to. I'm afraid he's going to get all of the things he wants, and then where will I be?

If you're not a teacher, please spread the word to any teachers that you know, or let your child's school in on the existence of this site. Donate to your own child's teacher. It's the best investment you can make.

If I Were A Kangaroo Greeting Card Review

If I Were a Kangaroo.... A Limited Edition Love Card

As I wandered through this seller's store, this kangaroo card really jumped out at me! Yeah, I know...bad pun. I thought so too. As luck would have it, this card does not include a bad pun, but does include sparkly things. Who doesn't love sparkly things?

The sparkly things in question happen to be Swarovski crystals and they also happen to be randomly placed upon the kangaroo's shirt. Yes, I said the kangaroo's shirt. Why is this kangaroo wearing a shirt? The kangaroo may know, but I do not.

Now for the really cool part: If you want this card to include your very own very bad pun, you can buy it with nothing written inside of it! On the other hand, if you want it to include something slightly sappy, yet grammatically correct, this seller has a slightly sappy inner text already designed to supply you with.

In the tags area, this seller would benefit from combining the terms "cards" and "greeting" into "greeting cards" so that the tag "kangaroos" could also be added.

This seller ships everywhere, allowing for the greatest possible customer base by location; however, this seller only accepts Paypal as a payment option. Accepting another form of payment (such as the highly recommended money order) would open this listing to a wider potential customer base, thereby increasing the odds of a sale.

Plum Cozy Scarf Review

Plum Cozy Scarf

What a gorgeous color for a scarf! The main picture is very well done, with a nice cameo style fade. This listing makes me wish I had a mannequin to display my scarves on. Ah well, in the absence of a mannequin, my fiance makes a very pretty model, particularly for flowery hats and pink scarves. It brings out the color in his beard.

But speaking of pictures, this seller has done an excellent job of filling all the available picture slots. Every picture taken shows an alternate way to wear the scarf, and each of them are viable.

Concerning tags, there is no reason for listing the tag "handmade," since all items on Etsy (except vintage or supplies) are handmade. This tag slot could be put to better use by replacing it with another word such as "fall." Many people wear scarves in the fall as well as in the winter.

Shipping for this scarf is available anywhere in the world, creating the largest market possible by location. However, as I have a tendency to repeat, I recommend offering at least two forms of payment: Paypal and one other. Money orders are relatively safe, and many buyers who will not use Paypal will use money orders.

Beaded Dragonfly Pins Review

Dragonfly Beaded Bobby Pins (set of 2)

I'm generally not into "cute," but I have to admit: these little dragonflies are pretty cute. I can't imagine what use I would have for them, but I imagine that *some* people might be interested in wearing them in the hair, or placing a magnet on the back of them and using them as pretty little magnets. What a cool idea!

The pictures in this listing are nice, but I would like to see more of them. For instance, a more detailed view of the large circular bead on the dragonfly's back would be nice. I would also like to see a frontal view of the dragonflies.

The seller could benefit from changing the tag "beads" to "beaded." Since the next tag is "glass beads," the search for "beads" would already return this listing, so there is no need to write "beads" in the tags again. I would also like to see tags such as "insects," "bugs," etc.

This seller ships everywhere, resulting in the largest user base possible by location. However, the seller limits that base by only accepting Paypal as a form of payment. Accepting at least one other form of payment, such as the relatively safe money order, helps reach out to those customers who do not use Paypal.

Man Lies Pillow Review

Man Lies pillow in Purple

Man Lies Pillow In Purple...how should I take this? I am lost within the maze of many possible meanings here. Does this refer to the picture of a man lying on the pillow, merely a comment on the supine state of the person drawn there? Or is there a deeper meaning?

Perhaps, for instance, all of the colorful designs on the pillow represent a man's colorful lies. Or, perhaps "man," in this title, refers to mankind as a whole. This would explain the somewhat neuter image presented of the individual on the pillow. The orange makes me think of Egyptian heiroglyphs, supporting the possibility of the "mankind" lies theory. And, is this pillow a representation of those lies, or is it merely a statement that mankind does, in fact lie?

I could also interpret this heading to mean that a man is lying something in something purple. But what? What is this purple thing in which the man is lying his pillow. And is it his pillow or someone else's pillow? This would, of course, imply that the writer of this listing is using the word "lies" in place of "lays," but all things considered, that doesn't seem like much of a stretch of the imagination. So many questions, often never answered.

The pictures in this listing are good, showing all sides of the pillow. I might add a picture of someone lying on the pillow, but otherwise, the pictures are crisp, clear, and leave little to the imagination.

The description could use some editing. Glancing over it, I see capitalization and punctuation errors, to name a few. In the tags area, the seller may want to substitute the word "cushion" in place of the word "poly fill." A prospective buyer will more likely search for "cushion" when looking for a pillow than "poly fill."

Offering shipping to everywhere is an excellent way to appeal to all Etsy buyers, but by only accepting Paypal, the seller is removing the portion of buyers that avoid Paypal from the customer base. The seller should consider accepting another form of payment, in addition to Paypal. I always suggest accepting money orders because they are relatively safe.

Matryoshka Doll Review

Matryoshka doll

It's a Russian stacking doll! Wait, no...it's made of cloth.

A good friend of mine in high school collected stacking dolls from Russia. They were so cool, because when I was first introduced to them, I didn't realize what they were until she started pulling them apart. My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I said "Oh, look - there are more of them inside!" Kudos to this listing for bringing back fond memories.

This little Matryoshka doll doesn't come apart, however. It could just be the lighting, but in the pictures, it appears to have one blue eye and one brown eye. How cool is that? It's like a malamute doll!

I advocate proper use of grammar in Etsy listings, so I would suggest capitalizing the "I" in the description. Otherwise, this listing looks good - with three pictures with decent views of the item, proper use of item tags, shipping offered to anywhere in the world, and two forms of payment accepted, this listing appeals to almost any buyers. Bravo!