Horror Block - May 2015

It is June 4th, and I finally received my May Horror Block! This is my first Horror Block subscription box, and WOW, it took a while to get here. My patience was rewarded, however, with a black and red box of quality loot.

The shirt of the month is a black Silent Hill tee with red and white artwork. For those not familiar, Silent Hill is a series of survival-horror video games. There have also been a couple of movies made based on the games. Being a fan of the Silent Hill game series, I can dig this shirt!

About half of the space in the box was wasted by a Jack Crawford (Hannibal) Pop Vinyl figure. Maybe I am being a tad harsh using the word "wasted". There is nothing wrong with Pop Vinyl, but this is, in my opinion, the least interesting item in the box.

Next up: A DVD, "Horror Block Short Film Festival 2015". I haven't watched it yet, but how bad could it be? I love that these guys put video in their boxes. I have seen previous month reviews that included Blu-Rays, and this is part of what attracted  me to Horror Block.

There is no shortage of reading material in the box. Two Rue Morgue publications, the monthly magazine and a book called "Weird Stats and Morbid Facts", are buried at the bottom.

Lastly, there is a picture of the Creature from the Black Lagoon included. I thought I could scare the cats with it, but they just stared at it, yawned, but said nothing.

Like I said, this is a box of quality loot. Retail value of the items is somewhere between 50-70 dollars, and this is stuff I am happy to have. For comparison, this blew my May loot Crate out of the water. Based on this month's delivery, I can recommend Horror Block for anyone interested. Of course, this is just one month. We'll see what they send next month. Can't wait!

Nine Dollar Computer

And to think I almost ordered a Raspberry PI!. This is the coolest Kickstarter of the week, a $9.00 computer by "The Next Thing Co." The novelty of cheap computers faded a few years ago, as it has become pretty easy to score a used system for almost free. But this thing is tiny, looks like it draws but a minuscule amount of power, and costs less than the keyboard you will connect to it.

I am certain the size and the price will make this a future favorite for a wide variety of home projects. Want to build a dedicated retro gaming machine? Nine bucks. Wanna build a home server? Nine Bucks. Plus a drive. Out on a remote excursion doing some "penetration testing" on a corporate network and need to destroy the evidence fast? You're only out nine bucks.

So what's the catch? There is none, really. You will, however, possibly be wanting some accessories. For example, only composite video is built in. VGA and HDMI adapters are available, so you'll probably want to order one of those along with the computer. With the HDMI adapter, the total cost come to $24.00. Still not too shabby. If you want a battery, the option adds about ten bucks to the price.

Response to this Kickstarter has been enthusiastic, to say the least. With 21 days to go, The Next Thing Co. has cleared their $50,000 original goal by a few bucks. Currently they have $1,323,576. I guess we can add nine bucks to that, because I'll be ordering one myself. I have an old, dead Nintendo console that is begging for nine dollars' worth of new guts.

TARDIS blue piano, and a closet full of costumes. Well done indeed!