Wear, Watch, Want #40: The Zombie Mechanic at Work Edition
Wear: J Crew Field Mechanic Jacket
Some time in the fall I opened my closet and realized I was in need of a new jacket. More than one, to be honest. Living in Los Angeles made me cocky and I had become completely unprepared for temperature shifts of any kind! I gathered up all my courage and made my way to The Grove, where it just to happened J Crew was having a sale on outerwear. I tried the Field Mechanic Jacket and was immediately smitten. It fit perfectly, had that utilitarian look that's in right now without being overly baggy or uselessly slim cut, and even had a hidden hood. I scooped it up right away. It took a little while for temperatures to drop low enough for me to have reason to wear it, but now that it's "winter" in LA, I wear my Field Mechanic Jacket just about every day.
Watch: Train to Busan
Right now Amazon Video has a deal where you can rent a movie for 99 cents with the code "MOVIE99." It works for just one movie and the deal lasts till January 23, so I hope you're reading this at least reasonably close to real time. I used the code to rent Train to Busan on Christmas Eve, and it was a fantastic decision. Wikipedia's description of Train to Busan is "zombie apocalypse horror thriller drama," which is really all you need from a movie, ever. And it stars Gong Yoo, who you'll recognize if you have the sense to follow each and every one of my recommendations and watched Coffee Prince like I told you to. In Train to Busan Gong Yoo plays a businessman who is taking his daughter on - you guessed it! - the train to Busan when an apocalyptic zombie outbreak strikes Korea. Luckily for the train passengers, they're in a protected environment, but unfortunately, some of the infected can unknowingly get on the train, and then the passengers need to fight for their lives as the train heads toward Busan, the only place safe from the outbreak.
Zombie stories aren't exactly new, particularly the "mass viral infection in a major city" type of zombie movie. Even so, Train to Busan feels fresh and interesting, and kept my attention the entire time. It was suspenseful and thrilling, and the way the infected people moved made me actually wish for more zombies to show up, while also dreading them showing up because so scary! Seriously, whoever did the zombie choreography deserves some major recognition, as do the performers. Train to Busan is a great way to use your 99 cent rental, but if you're into zombie apocalypse horror thriller dramas, (as you should be) it's worth paying full price too.
Want: Upgraded Lap Desk
I'm on my laptop a lot, and I use a lap desk so I don't fry my thighs. I've had one from Ikea for years that's just a board with legs, but I recently discovered there's a whole market for suped up lap desks. The one I have my eye on is called a "Multi Tasking Laptop Bed Tray" and has a spot to hold both a tablet and a phone, a built-in mousepad, and a drawer. Plus you can prop up the two separate sections for reading or drawing or whatever. It's insanely versatile. I can't stop thinking about it. My lap desk looks like a real chump now that I know about these Cadillac lap desks out there in the world.
