Underworld Evolution I really liked the first Underworld movie... I need to watch it on DVD again. But I dunno about the sequel, I'm afraid it suffers from the same thing the movie website does, too much Flash.

I think the problem was when we went to the theater tonight I was in the mood to watch a vampire film, not a video game. Don't get me wrong, Kate Beckinsale is beautiful, the photography, sets and costumes are beautiful, it was a black & blue monochromatic piece of moving art (with the occasional brownish reds thrown in). The actors looked quite real, not nightmarish and jerky like in Van Helsing, which made me physically ill watching it. But it was literally one or two sentences of dialogue and then 10 or 15 non-stop minutes of MTV editing, over-the-top gore.

We also decided to go to the movies on the most depressing day of the year, but for some reason all of the gore and action didn't really do anything to cheer me up. And the plot they tried to throw in was so overly complicated and confusing that it really didn't feel like a plot. More like the histories they give you at the beginning of a role playing video game... which is one of the reasons I don't play video games anymore. But I never was a gamer, I just like to shoot at stuff.

And to add to the confusion, everything is so fast moving, dark and, well, blue, that it was visually hard to follow what was happening. Who just got killed?

This film has the feeling of a series of novels that were condensed into one short story, characters are introduced then dropped, there is the "previously on Underworld" introduction, maybe when the Director's Cut comes out on DVD it will make more sense.

But it was probably just me. I really wanted to see a vampire movie tonight...

The Phantom of the Opera - Finally!

Sparky and I spent the evening in one of our first real leisure activities in what seems like months, we went to see Joel Schumacher's long-awaited film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. And it's as stunning and heartbreaking as the stage version, which we've seen twice on tour during the mid 90's. The casting is perfect, the acting is wonderful, and the music is as grand as ever. We both started crying during the prologue which is a good sign of what's to come.

But we're both very familiar with the musical from seeing it fourth row center and from years of listening to the original soundtrack. But anyone with a heart should be able to appreciate the spectacle and beauty of this film, and of course, the tragic relationship between the Phantom and Christine. Nothing against Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, they're both magnificent, but it was nice to see a truly young and innocent Christine (the actress who plays her in the film is a mere 18 and she is luminous) and a more threatening, rugged and handsome Phantom. In the stage versions we saw in person, the actors were actually closer to the film casting so it will be wonderful now to have a recording to match the shows we saw live.

Apparently the only one who did not do her own singing was Minnie Driver as the diva Carlotta, but she is so wonderfully expressive and bitchy she is perfectly cast. The entire Prima Donna number would make a stunning music video to entice anyone who's not familiar with the play to come see the film. it's such a fun version of the number, we'd been listening to the new soundtrack and thought the song was incredibly well done but with the visuals it's just stunning.

But if you want something to clear the fog in your brain from the holiday rush, and leave you humming and twirling through the house (when no one is watching), please go see this film and just let it wash over you, you won't regret it. Here's hoping a new generation of fans will be as entranced by this romantic gothic fantasy as Sparky and I have been. I really can't imagine anything they could have done to make this a better film, it's as moving and lush as I ever imagined it, and I have a very fertile imagination.

Renovate My Goth Family?

OK, I'm very confused... I hardly ever watch network TV these days and my idea of a reality show is Cops. Which is how I saw the promo for Renovate My Family, and I saw they were doing a Goth family. So OK, I'll check that episode out...

What the hell is wrong with the world today??? Why does this show exist?

I had figured that:

-The family must have been having some sort of interpersonal conflicts that merited the intervention and "counseling" of Dr. Phil's son
-They were in some sort of dire need
-That this was something that they really wanted
-That they were seriously disfunctional and weird

Nah! None of the above.

All I can figure is that Fox thought they were weird looking enough to be ratings-worthy, which I guess they were because they got ME to waste an hour of my life watching a reality show.

I will admit that I did watch Mad Mad House, but all of the "weird" people on that show were very earnest, learned and devoted to their "weirdness". And they were all very interesting personalities that were treated with a certain degree of respect by the people producing the show, thank goodness. The family on tonight's show was just your run-of-the-mill group of gothy folks, except for the one Marilyn Munster preppie blonde girl. Though Marilyn respected and appreciated her family. Somehow this girl made it through 17 years of living with her family, in this same house and now she wants a "normal" life. The first thing I thought is - she's 17, won't she be going off to college or a job on her own soon? The rest of the family did have dyed black hair and an absence of eyebrows, her mom had a few small tattoos and one piercing that I could see, but nothing the average person hasn't seen at the mall a million times.

Their house just looked like a pre-fab 70's ranch, with one wall painted a dark green in the living room, a couple of jack o'lanterns on display, some cheesy Mexican-type crosses on the wall, and a cheap Halloween coffin in the corner. Ooh, and a couple of resin gargoyles. If Fox's point is to highlight "weirdos", is that the weirdest they could find? They had a couple of pet lizard (and a dog and cat). Not even a snake or two? This whole thing reeked of set up, IMHO, it all just looked really cheesy and thrown together. Honestly, if this is really what their house looked like, they're just guilty of being poor and having zero decorating skills. Or just not giving a crap what their house looked like. I can't believe they've lived their for 18 years, it looked like the home of a a couple of college kids living together and renting for the first time.

So the little blonde girl was ashamed of her family, poor thing. And she wasn't sleeping with her sister anymore because her 19 year old sister wanted to stay up late, so she moved out onto the couch. Her mom is dating a Goth guy, and mom and he have a band, (OMG! she stole my Addams Family background GIF!) so this TV show decides in order to make this family normal they will:

-Tear down their house and build them a brand new one... in seven days
-Give them all new hairdos and soften their makeup
-Have mom and her boyfriend get married
-And pimp their cars

So Dr. Phil's son walks up to them as they're eating breakfast at a hotel and tells them that they're... BEING RENOVATED! Whee!!! Blink, blink... Hardly a reaction from any of them. Wow, cool, OK, whatever. No questions. No shock. Not really much in the way of thanks. I've seen more reaction out of the girls on What Not To Wear, at least they ask "who" and "why", and seem either enraged or excited. But Dr. Phil's son says "it's going to take a lot of work on your part too". So what, therapy? Do they have to help paint the walls? No, they spend a few hours whacking at sheetrock in the house with sledge hammers, then they stand in the front yard and watch while a bulldozer caves their roof in. Then they are driven off (in a black limousine, ha!) bemoaning the fact that their bland, white trash house has been knocked down, then are taken to a beauty salon where their hair color is lifted a few shades and they get some lowlights, they are given a Super Cuts hairstyle and eyebrows are penciled in for the girls. And the mom - gasp - even removes the piercing on her face! And they go to a flower shop and pick roses, then a bridal show and get suits and gowns, then suddenly we are at a low-budget outdoor wedding. And on one side of the folding chairs sits the "normal" people, all wearing white, and on the opposite, are their "freaky" friends, who are Gothed up to the max and in all black, of course. Literally, it's yin yang.

First off, were mom and boyfriend actually ready to get married? And if so, will getting legally married make this a "normal", happy family? I think this is all part of the new mindless, society... do whatever a television show tells you to, don't ask questions. It's for your own good. Do not have your own personality or identity, if you're not the status quo there's something wrong with you. Conform, conform... It's all part of what my husband calls the Dumbing Down of America.

So Dr. Phil's son and a huge troupe of assorted photogenic decorators (including three cute blonde triplets, what's the deal with that??), come in and tear the house down and then throw a new one back up, complete with an indoor fountain, a gigantic aquarium (they didn't even have fish before), a huge glass cage for their lizards, a sushi bar, an anime based room for the son, a Zen room for the oldest Goth daughter (and a nursing scholarship to a community college, did she want to be a nurse?), and a Holly Hobby room for the blonde girl. And a pool! Just what every pale Goth needs...

So in one week (which seemed to only be like two days... maybe if they showed more of the transition and put this into a two hour time slot it would have made more sense), bam! they have a house with all new furniture, big plasma TV's, a remote home automation system (why??), and a recording studio for their band in the garage (complete with cameras so they can shoot their own music videos). Then, ta da... both of their cars have been pimped out and now look like lowriders (I'm surprised they didn't just give them new Hummers, why the hell not). One of the hostesses proudly points out that the two cars have wheels and rims worth over $7000!

So suddenly they have a house that's worth like five times what their previous one was worth (who pays the property taxes? the utilities? the house insurance? the car insurance???), their kids will never move out, they're married (we didn't even see a proposal or wedding ring). And they still live in the same lower-middle class neighborhood, but now they've got lots of things to steal. (Does the new boyfriend/husband automatically get joint ownership of the new house?) And no garage to park their two new showcars in. And all because their whiny daughter didn't want to sleep on the couch. It was just an hour of non-stop needless hedonistic consumerism. Here's a bunch of stuff you didn't really want or need...and here's more, and even more! Have more, we've got lots of sponsors!

At least Oprah gave cars to people that needed them, and let me tell, you, those women were fricking excited and appreciative to the point of hysteria. But then I've seen the same audience reaction from Oprah giving out frozen turkeys, people just hyperventilating like crazy. I know this is all corporate advertising and network ratings, but I don't get it?? Why??? Ooh, look, we renovated the freaks and now they're "normal" and have tons of expensive stuff! For no reason! (Did they get new clothes too, it didn't say...) And where did their dog and cat go? They had a German Shepherd at the beginning of the show, now he's got no yard, it's all pool...

I don't understand television. I like my makeover shows on TLC and HGTV, they actually make the people work, sort through and evaluate their stuff and figure out why they have so much, and then they give them like $1500 worth of furniture. I even like What Not to Wear, they take women who are wearing clothes that don't fit them properly and are all worn out and "train" them how to dress to show off their best features. ("You've got big hips, don't wear tapered pants") I don't always agree with their choices of what's best (too many pointy shoes), but I can at least see the point of what they are doing. And that's my form of mindless, relaxing television. I used to watch Animal Planet, now I watch home stuff...

I went to the fansite for Renovate My Family and was even more depressed. The forums are full of people begging and pleading to be on the show, it's just sad. The world is full of people with no food or electricity, living in one room shacks, with no education, no health insurance, and what are we watching on TV? Non-stop orgies of people getting expensive meaningless, stuff heaped on them. All I can think is that during the Great Depression the movies were full of spectacles, Busby Berkley musicals and classy rich people. Somehow it comforted and reassured the starving masses. But if we're going to transform people, wouldn't it be better to maybe give homeless people a place to live, and a chance at a future? OK, so I'm a Communist, I guess. I believe everyone should have a decent life. The new hit on Mexican TV is watching people eat worms and compete against each other for just a chance at getting a Green Card, to come to the land of opportunity. And free stuff! Whee!!!

And the preview for next week's episode of Renovate is a family whose house burned down (OK, worthy) but then Hurricane Ivan threatends to ruin it all (drama!). I just looked at the forum again to get a link and the newest posting is:

"I HOPE we see more of the Goth family The Cole-Reimers. This was one of the best shows and they seemed so interesting. I'm tired of being sad by someones hardship. Bravo FOX channel....We want to see the Goth Family again. I hope this isn't just 1 episode."

Aaagh! I was right, America doesn't want to see "someone's hardship"... I give up.

Burning Matilda, Wednesday Q&A

Wednesday Mind Hump for this week, I have a total lack of imagination tonight, maybe this will help...

01. You are a character from a children fairy tale or nursery rhyme. Who are you and why? Matilda, Who Told Such Dreadful Lies, and was Burned to Death, because I'm weird and I like that story (can you tell I don't have kids?)

Matilda told such Dreadful Lies, It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes; Her Aunt, who, from her Earliest Youth, Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth, Attempted to Believe Matilda: The effort very nearly killed her, And would have done so, had not She Discovered this Infirmity. For once, towards the Close of Day, Matilda, growing tired of play, And finding she was left alone, Went tiptoe to the Telephone And summoned the Immediate Aid Of London’s Noble Fire-Brigade.

Within an hour the Gallant Band
Were pouring in on every hand,
From Putney, Hackney Downs and Bow.
With Courage high and Hearts a-glow,
They galloped, roaring through the Town,
‘Matilda’s House is Burning Down!’

Inspired by British Cheers and Loud
Proceeding from the Frenzied Crowd,
They ran their ladders through a score
Of windows on the Ball Room Floor;
And took Peculiar Pains to Souse
The Pictures up and down the House,
Until Matilda’s Aunt succeeded
In showing them they were not needed;
And even then she had to pay
To get the men to go away!

It happened that a few Weeks later
Her Aunt was off to the Theatre
To see that Interesting Play
The Second Mrs Tanqueray.

She had refused to take her Niece
To hear this Entertaining Piece:
A Deprivation Just and Wise
To Punish her for Telling Lies.

That Night a Fire did break out -
You should have heard Matilda Shout!
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street -
(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraging her to obtain
Their confidence) - but all in vain!

For every time She shouted ‘Fire!’
They only answered ‘Little Liar!’
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were Burned.

Hilaire Belloc.

02. You are a magic potion. What is your main ingredient(s) and what are you used for? For some unknown reason cinnamon keeps popping into my brain. I like cinnamon on toast with sugar and butter, but it is a tremendously potent spice, walking into most craft and import shops the smell of cinnamon that hits you in the face at the front door makes my eyes water. And a little mandrake root, which must be harvested at midnight by the deaf because the sound it makes when it's pulled from the ground will drive anyone within hearing insane. Glitter, because it's so pretty and can never be completely removed once it's thrown. And some rosemary, lavender and cloves to smell pretty. When thrown I would neutralize the irrational anger in the world and raise people levels of common sense. And perhaps add a few IQ points to those in need.

03. Tell us your favorite joke. It can be naughty but clean up the language, puhleeze. I don't really a favorite, I'm an awful joke teller. I do like the official funniest joke in the world of 2002, though...

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone and calls the emergency services.

He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"

04. Imagine you're in the Old West. What town character would you be and what would your colorful nickname be? Example: School Marm - Old Widow Maples... Dead Eye Tish, because I'd always have a pistol and I'd be such an expert shot that no one would mess with me ;-)

05. You are a mythological diety/god. What are you the god of? What offering(s) would worshippers lay at your feet? If one displeased you how would you smite them? I'd like to be Diana/Artemis (there's a bit of a feminist theme to these answers), because she's brave, beautiful and a wild creature. Hmmmm... I'd like offerings of the finest foods, lots of dark chocolate and cured meats. If someone pissed me off I would make them feel guilt for every wrong they've ever done, feel the pain of anyone/thing they've ever hurt. (Wow, I'm mean! Must be the PMS...)

More Van Helsing

Well, apparently I'm not alone in my dislike of Van Helsing. Thanks to Luis for letting me know about Guttervomit's review of the film, who suggests that the filmmaker must be autistic or have mental disorder, that's hilarious. Besides giving me a headache and eyestrain, watching the movie made me jumpy and nervous and a little dizzy. Sort of like the strobe light room in a haunted house...

Honestly, even for a video game type movie, I think the target audience for this film has to be 8 year old hyperactive little boys with ADD. Just watching the characters move around the screen is enough to bring on an epileptic seizure, not to mention the constant shape-shifting and things flying across the top of the screen in every shot. What was that Japanese cartoon that sent sent groups of children to the hospital because of the subliminal strobing effect it had??

Nice quiet vampires...

Well the port has made my teeth numb and my headache a bit better, which was my goal. I haven't had any alcohol since I re-started the Atkins diet, I feel much happier now :-) I think I may sneak off to bed and read some more on my vampire novel, which is nice and quiet and has no explosions [aahhh]. I want to get her newest Southern vampire installment, but it's in hardback only right now, which really sucks, not so much for just the price, but because I have the first three in paperback.

I found a new vampire/witch novel the other day which looks really great (and has Charlaine Harris's endorsement on the fabulous cover), Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, which I can't wait to start on. I love browsing at Borders, they don't have the best prices but they have a really eclectic selection of featured books and music.

Van Headache...

Spoilers aplenty, don't read if you haven't seen the film...

Well, we went to see Van Helsing tonight. Yikes... I knew it would be loud, it was. I knew it would be full of CGI effects, it had so many the film seemed to be animated. I have to confess to not seeing The Mummy except for the bits I've seen on cable TV, so I sort of cringed when my husband told me it was by the same person. I tried really hard to like it, but about 20 minutes in Sparky looked over in the dark and said "You don't like it, do you?". I knew he'd been really looking forward to it, and he liked The Mummy, but the nicest thing I could say was "It's just so dumb!". This was during the Jekyll/Hyde sequence, which just was SO not right.

I watched the entire film without my glasses, and still ended up getting a major headache. If you like comic books on film, where things are constantly exploding and catching on fire for no apparent reason, you'll love this film. Everyone looked great, the costumes were nice, the effects were pretty good (a little jerky), Kate Beckinsale was a good heroine (in a corset, leather pants and high heels in 1889). I liked her a lot better in Underworld, she was deadly serious, angsty and really tough. She wasn't a sissy in this film, but the Young Frankenstein comments just didn't really fit right, especially with her character taking everything seriously, and horrible things happening to her family. Sparky had said to "check your brain at the door and just enjoy it", but I didn't have enough Lorazepam with me, unfortunately and they don't serve mixed drinks at the theater.

Sparky tells me that this is Universal's attempt to recharge their classic monsters, but since they had the three major ones in this film I'm a little confused what the sequels will involve. The vampire offspring plot was too bizarre and over the top even for a comic book, maybe it would fit in an early EC mag, I dunno. Igor looked like he had a rubber mask on, Dracula's brides were interesting, but only when they were in human form, IMHO. And what the fuck were those little Star Wars looking creatures that worked for Dracula??? And then [SPOILER] they go and kill off the only character I like in the film. I felt like I was on a really long, loud amusement park ride... oh wait - they have already made an amusement park ride already at Universal Studios. I couldn't help MST3K'ing the thing, luckily we were sitting in the last row and no one else could hear us.

There doesn't seem to be a Kate Beckinsale action figure, bummer... I'm going to go pour myself a glass of Port, the codeine is not doing anything for my head.

Mad Mad House Finale

What else, oh yes, the finale of Mad Mad House was last night. Two hours of sitting on the couch, I really was in suspense and kind of wanted both girls to win. I really thought Nichole would win, but they picked Jamie, who finally won her first trial. I thought it was terribly unfair that Eric got to add an extra rock to Nichole in the hanging trial, though, like he wouldn't pick her. And she stayed up for like another hour, to her credit. I was glad Eric didn't win, though, all he did was badmouth Nichole the whole time he was there, which was hardly sporting, and she never said a bad word about anyone, even though she was constantly chattering away.

I don't watch reality shows, but I will watch Season Two when it comes around. This season was so awe-inspiring, lots of healthy eating, love and self care, meditation and inner self-seeking, next season looks like it's going to be Mean Mean World. The Alts tenatively scheduled are: a necromancer, a martial arts expert, a dominatrix, a kemet and a warlock. Now I knew about the necromancer because that's what they asked me about and I gave them a referral. The dominatrix should be fun, and someone seriously into Eastern studies/martial arts disciplines could be very interesting (anyone see Kill Bill 2?). Read that a kemet is something to do with Egyptian cat worship (?), but a warlock? Who calls themselves that? A male witch is a witch. Perhaps they mean someone into Ceremonial Magick, or someone really into the black arts. Or maybe a Satanist? Can they do that on TV in this conservative decade? Now, I know a Satanist doesn't actually worship Satan (really, they worship themselves), just as witches don't worship Satan (we don't believe he even exists), but the general public doesn't.

Who knows... But if the Christian contestants were uncomfortable with Fiona's white magic rituals, what are they going to do with a necromancer and a warlock? I know people that compete on reality shows have no shame and usually are kind of low on the moral scale, but hopefully they can find another group of ultra-conservative folks for season two. They need to come back to Texas, you can't swing a stick here without hitting a bunch of conservative church-types.

But I'm still a little disappointed that Jamie won. Yes, she said she'd give up her job as a stripper, who wouldn't for $100,000? She and Noel were the neediest of the money, but Nichole did seem to work the hardest, especially with everyone else against her. I liked Bonnie the best, but she came into the game with a curious open mind and a big heart, so of course she was eliminated early. Out of all the guests on the show she was the only one I could really relate to.

Oh, FYI, The Vampire Don.com is up and running, very nicely done, looks like a lot of the goth/vampire sites out there. I still can't believe he could even hold a bowling ball with those nails...

Mad Mad House 4/22, Too Fishy - Bored with Food

I was going to put "fishy" as my current mood for tonight, but it wasn't an option. I went out and bought stuff for dinner this weekend that's not pasta, and succumbed to the pre-cooked cold boiled shrimp at Kroger's. It was really good, and easy, I just bought some potato salad and bread for Sparky to go with it, but I've had that fishy feel on my hands all night and in my mouth. I love seafood, but I don't like fish. (Huh?) Really, I like shellfish but not fish-fish, too bland and fishy tasting.

I've really got to look at some cookbooks and magazines and figure out more interesting stuff to eat than chicken breast and steak. Our nearby grocery stores are really uninspiring, I'd give anything to have a Whole Foods or Central Market nearby, just to be able to buy pre-made, healthy food that's semi-interesting. I get bored really easily with food, though I can eat the same thing over and over till I get burned out on it. I've been checking out a healthy food delivery place for my parents to possibly use while my mom heals. if I had more money I'd love to use a service like that. It would make it really easy to lose weight also. I've lost about 5 pounds so far (in about 3 weeks?), and I do feel better and am not craving sweets and carbs like I was. I've been taking two 600mg calcium supplements a day also, which is supposed to help burn fat and cut cravings, and seems to be working. If nothing else, I'll have healthy bones :-)

Mad Mad House tonight was dramatic, it's down to the point where I don't really like any of the contestants, but I'm kind of leaning toward Nichole. Eric is so manipulative, as was Leona, whose kharmic energy came back and bit her on the ass tonight. She was such a princess, even though she won some trials, she was too unwilling to try new things. Jamie seems like such a blank slate, and she was a stripper so she's not easily embarrassed, but she doesn't even seem to be trying, I kind of thought she'd be the one to go next. I think she has that "deer in the headlights" look that the producers must like. I hated Eric the first time I saw him, he seemed like such a smart ass and a player, but I have more respect for him now. My favorite was Bonnie, but she was too openminded for her own good to win. Next week is the two hour finale, I wonder how they're going to cut it down to one when there are three people left? Looks like the eliminated guests will be making an appearance, including my least two favorites, Tim and Kelly, the loudmouthed drama queens of the group. I kind of wish I'd been taping these, but I'm sure they'll come out in a nice little DVD box set after season one is over. Glad to know they're already working on season two but I'm going to miss the current Alts.

Mad Mad House 4/8

Lots going on around here but before this gets too old, I wanted to put it up online...

I don't watch reality TV with the exception of Cops and the Osbournes, but when I heard about the Sci Fi Channel's Mad Mad House I thought, it's got real witches, pagans, and vampires, why not? At first I thought the Alts (alternative lifestyle role models) were going to be actors, but then I recognized a few of them and realized this might actually be interesting.

Their early contests seemed pretty silly, but the more I watched the more respect I had for the Alts and (some) of the house guests. I'm still sad to have seen Bonnie go, she was my pick, but she came into the situation with an open mind (she had called for her son to participate, but he was too young so they asked her "Would you like to?") and a less greedy soul than the other participants and was such an inspiration and stabilizing element I understand why they had to let her go.

A few weeks into watching the series (when I still thought it was sort of silly) I received an email from the producers of the show wanting to interview me about Season Two of the show, from the standpoint of my being part of the Alternative lifestyle crowd. I have turned lots of people down for interviews, I only will do them in writing or by email, but now as the series has progressed into a more serious and introspective trial, I sort of wish I had accepted their offer. I'm a very private, shy person who is not particularly eloquent at speaking and not at all photogenic, but I do like to write, as you can tell. I gave the producers some info on what I considered more hardcore Wiccans and Goths to contact, I don't really feel I'm knowledgeable enough to provide really in depth information to them, I just know my own experience, which has been pretty solitary. But it was nice to be asked anyway, and I received a very nice email reply and was thanked for the contacts I was able to provide them with. I'm looking forward to season two, one of the alternative lifestyle themes they asked about was particularly dark and I sent them to the only authority I knew on the subject. You'll have to wait till next season to see what the subject is, though ;-)

Last night's episode was really incredible. I know people in reality shows are known for their plotting and backstabbing of each other, and I hate to see the guests trying to manipulate the emotions of the Alts, but last night the Alts turned all that energy back upon the guests and next week should be really intense as they face the consequences of their own treachery (he he). Don's energy sucking ritual was interesting, I do believe in energy vampires, I've known some people who actually have that effect on people without even knowing they're doing it, and, being an empath, I try to avoid them at all costs. The Goth on Goth bloodletting was interesting, I wondered how they were legally going to do that. Next week it looks like the guests are going to be drinking blood for themselves, I'm guessing it will probably be from a pig, though, not another human.

I've always considered myself to be really open minded, but I have to say after watching this show for the last month or so, I feel even more open minded towards people with piercings and multiple tattoos. Art is such a sweetheart, how could you not love him? Actually tattoos never bothered me really, but as I said in an earlier post, I'm very much a piercing wussy. Unlike Sparky, I do understand why people want to decorate their bodies in such personal, permanant ways, it's just not for me. It took me till my mid-twenties to get my ears pierced. I had traumatic experiences in grade school with a friend who had pierced ears and was constantly accidentally ripping her earrings out through her earlobes when she was brushing her hair, etc. But, the back of my car has lots of bumper stickers (including a Dean for President that I haven't taken off yet) so I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve also.

April Fool's Frights

OK, first off, I hate practical jokes, so April Fool's Day is probably my least favorite holiday. Luckily, my husband hates them even more than I do. But the day was unnerving despite our wishes.

Sparky came in to wake me up this afternoon, which he does by opening both the bedroom doors and then the bathroom door (really bright window in there), and our kitty runs right into the bathroom and starts staring up at the ceiling. Sparky fiddles around with the TV and VCRs for a minute, then shuts everything off and leaves the room. Now that the room's quiet, I suddenly hear an angry buzzing sound coming from the bathroom, at which time, still under the covers in bed, I scream for him to come back in. Turns out two bees have somehow gotten through one of the tiny cracks in the old bathroom window (one of two windows in the house we didn't have upgraded last year) and they're flying around the bathroom.

I hate bugs, especially any but that can fly and/or sting me. I'm like a magnet for bugs, they've flown right into my face (I still have a scar from a hornet which literally knocked me down one summer day walking into the Elk's Club to go swimming), I've been chased by swarms of yellow jackets that made a nest in my childhood swingset, so you get the picture. I holler at him to close the bathroom door, but he bravely goes inside and closes it and whacks the shit out of the bugs till they're dead. But we can still hear buzzing really loudly...

We go around to the patio door in a panic, and there is literally a huge swarm of bees trying their damnedest to burrow into our house! They're crawling into cracks in the bricks, trying to get into the eaves of the house, bleecchhhh!! What the hell??? The only bug spray we have in the house are flea spray (which I still think are not dead yet) and some old ant and roach spray. Not being a bug-o-phobe like myself, Sparky grabs the flea spray and bravely runs into the back yard and starts spraying as many as he can, and sprays into the walls, and then runs back inside. But back they come, undeterred. At our last house we had two bee invasions, but both were further out in the yard itself, we've never had them try and actually get into the house.

So back out he goes with both sprays in hand, and just drenches all the areas they're trying to get into. They finally do seem to discouraged and most of them by now are either dead or retreated to the tree in the back yard. After much shuddering, I realize I still have to run my errands, but fortunately my car is in the garage which faces the front of the house which doesn't seem to be under attack. I get dressed, hop in the car, whip my head around to back out and feel a wave of vertigo hit me. Apparently, I'm having inner ear problems today because of allergies. That's what I need, to be dizzy. But I make it to the post office and then run by the grocery store to get a can of wasp killer (that he can spray at them from a distance). And come back home.

I think the bees chose our yard because the grass has grown so high in the back, it's got to be appealing to all sorts of unsavory critters. The phone number we have for our yard people is not working, and they usually come around the neighborhood and check, but since our front yard has been pretty short, they haven't been stopping at our house for way too long. Sparky doesn't want to offend them by having someone else do our yard (and they're cheap!), but perhaps after this he'll break down and snap someone else when they're in the area. I don't care who does our yard, I just want all the damned fleas, bees and whatever else is out there to go away!

The rest of the evening was pretty calm, watched Mad Mad House, really good (and disturbing) episode tonight, I'm a piercing wussy. Art's ritual was really amazing, though, the mental discipline required must be incredible. Next week looks like we're going to have some actual blood drinking with Don so that should be fun. Then just before midnight, our little desktop grandfather's clock sounds like it's trying to chime. Then, at the next quarter hour it actually does chime. Which wouldn't be weird, except we've had the chimes turned off for the last several years. It's almost 5 am and the damned thing's still chiming every 15 minutes, I wish I knew how to turn it off, it's on the top shelf of the bookcase.

Iím still dizzy, hope itís gone by tomorrow, that's all the weirdness I can stand for one day, now on to pleasant things...

Mad Mad House, Fleas & Postcards

Other stuff I need to get out of my head before I go to sleep...

We've been fighting fleas the last few weeks. I was so dense I didn't realize we had them till the cat started really itching, I thought I was getting hives. I still haven't seen one fo the little bastards yet, but I feel them and Phoebe and I have the scars to prove it. They've barely touched Sparky, as usual. We've gone through one round of spraying and Advantage, going to have to do another round this weekend I think, should have put that on my list below. My sinuses are just recovering from the last spraying, though.

Been watching lots of TV lately, which is weird for me. Somehow this week I've managed to sit through three complete episodes of Queer Eye (which I always seem to miss) and I finally caught the complete first episode of Mad Mad House tonight along with the second episode. I stumbled into the end of the first episode last week, and then the last 20 minutes, and then decided to actually look at the TV guide and made myself sit through two tonight. I'm so out of it, and haven't watched the Sci Fi Channel regularly since MST3K went off the air (too many commercials!!) so this show caught me by surprise. I thought it was going to be a spoof, and then I recognized Fiona Horne. I rarely watch reality TV, but a show with a Wiccan, Voudon and an actual blood drinking vampire seemed to at least merit a chance. Lots of born again Christians and Republicans being tortured, what's not to like?

Went to a post card show last weekend and blew all my money, but found some great stuff. We only get like two postcard shows a year here, so I figured it was worth the investment. I had meant to buy more for resale, but ended up getting like 3 for me, 1 to sell... The show has moved to a new location that's actually near my house, in the brand new Stafford Centre, and it was having it's grand opening the first night I went, which I didn't know. I drove up and there were spotlights outside and people in black tie and was very confused. After the ceremony some of the well-to-do wandered into the room where the show was, champagne in hand, which really freaked out the dealers. And of course, they didn't pay admission.

I lost a hubcap on the way home the first night, but found it intact on the grass the next day waiting for me, so I still have three at least. Lost the other one on the freeway sitting in rush hour traffic in Baton Rouge a year or so ago, usually I jump out and fetch them when they roll off but I didn't realize what that strange noise was until I got to New Orleans.

Daylight Dreams of Vampires

I had the weirdest dream about vampires and Angel last night. I wish I could remember more of this, it was one of those very emotional dreams where I felt both severely depressed and incredibly happy, and it seemed to go on forever. It started off with Sparky taking me out to breakfast, but the places we went to weren't serving breakfast any longer, which really upset me but didn't bother him, which made me even more upset. I think I really wanted French Toast and all of the syrup bottles were empty. At some point in the dream I also had no clothes on, which freaked me out even more.

So I set out on my own, apparently with some clothing now, and had to walk back to our hotel, which was in New Orleans but the landscape didn't look at all like New Orleans for some reason. We were staying at a big fancy Holiday Inn right by a freeway overpass. After walking for some time, I managed to get on a bus that was going that way, though I only had a handful of change with me to pay. I saw the hotel approaching and someone reached up to pull the bell for the stop, but it didn't make any noise, so I pulled it too, and again it was silent. I asked the bus driver, Mel Gibson, if we could stop there and he said 'Oh no, that would be much too expensive' and so the bus kept going and went way past the hotel before I could finally get off, in an area that actually did resemble old New Orleans.

I made it back to the hotel eventually, and was upset to find that my husband, who was now Angel, was not there. I found out he had become obsessed with playing a really involved arcade game and was spending hundreds of dollars on it, but he couldn't stop playing for some reason. At this point I realized I was a vampire also, and went back to the vampire lair to look for him, where all sorts of young people, poseurs and real vampires were hanging out (sort of ala Underworld), and one of the young poseurs kept acting like he knew Angel but he didn't have any clue who I was, and kept holding out his fist, which was covered with small cuts across the knuckles and saying 'These are Angel's rings' and I kept thinking, no, Angel's rings were silver, and finally confronted him on it. But he kept bragging and I finally blew him off as nuts. I went through Angel's desk and found a receipt for like $800 for this arcade game, which he had apparently also won a bunch of things by playing, and I tried to figure out some reason he was doing this.

Me and some others went looking for Angel, in the daytime, in an RV driven by Wilfred Brimley. Somehow we were immune enough to sunlight that we could tolerate little bits of it. He drove us all over town and through an alley way so narrow he had to fold in the mirrors on the RV, and we finally found Angel, who seemed very confused and embarrassed by what he had been doing, so I figured he'd been under some sort of spell and could not find it in my heart to be angry with him, though he didn't apologize exactly. I had to drive us back to the hotel in the RV, which I managed very well. When we arrived we were going to take the stairway up to our room, when I realized I could fly as a spirit up the stairs so we did that. For some reason I've never been good at flying in my dreams, so it felt really clunky.

Angel was very humble and loving when we got back to our room and I didn't bring up the subject of why he'd been missing or what he'd been doing, we just made up without speaking about it.

Meanwhile, back at the vampire lair, the young braggart was also going through Angel's desk and found a note about his 'great secret' which turned out to be the demonic arcade game, which was waiting for another victim to find it...

I think we then checked out of the hotel and everything was cool, though again it was daytime which concerned me, though I think we had a big black limo waiting for us just outside and could make it that far safely.

Dream Sources - I was reading Charlaine Harris's Living Dead in Dallas before bed (her heroine stalked off down a dark road after a fight with her vampire boyfriend); Sparky just taped another episode of 'Angel' last night, we're like the whole season behind in watching them (very sad this may be the last season); On Conan O'Brien last night Dubya made a joke about his mom looking like Wilfred Brimley; I saw a guy on The Daily Show driving an RV; the Mel Gibson reference is easy; I've been feeling very poor lately because I had to shell out my half of $800 for a new version of Adobe Creative Suite (whoa, that's wshere the $800 amount came from also I guess); and day before yesterday was Mardi Gras and I was thinking about my friend who lives in NOLA. The ring thing might have been because of a recent episode of the Osbourne's I just watched where Ozzy lost a quarter million dollar ring.

Living Dead Dolls, Emily the Strange & Ambien

Multiple entries today, too many different subjects to cover. I now and the proud owner of both Lottie and Tragedy Living Dead Dolls. I bought them both on eBay, but later found out that Hot Topic still carries the second issue �exclusive� Tragedy Goth girl doll for less than I paid for it (of course). Apparently the first issue had red tissue paper in her coffin, and the second has purple, which is what I bought because I thought the purple looks better. Lottie is from a discontinued series, though, so I think I got a good deal on her. Both dolls are still shrink wrapped, I�m hoping I can remove the shrink wrap and still be able to display them in their coffins. I wouldn�t mind having Lottie keeping me company at my desk for awhile :-) I already have a menagerie of little critters surrounding me, including two bats, a Halloween kitty, Xena, a big and small Batgirl, the Barbie on her Harley Davidson ornament, a gold Lucky Cat and assorted pagan deities. And a Lily Munster and Samantha doll, and two Wonder Womans. That�s not even counting everyone staring at me from my surrounding bookshelves and the life masks across the room (those are my husband�s). More stuff to dust...

�I bought some Emily the Strange stuff the other day. I searched on eBay and found a bunch of stuff I hadn�t seen before that I had to have. Then, I actually checked around to the outlets that carry her stuff to see everything available and compare prices and ended up getting a journal from eBay, the hardcover book and the lunch box with the Emily and her kitties on it from the Emily/Cosmic Debris site, and a cell phone cover and a little key chain from Hot Topic. I was really tempted by an Escher cat shower curtain and bathroom rug with her spooky kitties on it, but I managed to pass. There are two cell phone covers, one with Emily big and her cat small, but I opted for the reverse version, I�ve been in a kitty mood lately. There�s also another lunch box available, but the top of my shelves are full so I decided to pick the first version. They have some darling tee shirts, but most of them are in junior sizes and styles and I need a full-sized tee. I don�t look good in little baby doll tees with cap sleeves :-( Be sure to click on the site map and freebies link to download the spooky desktop pics while you�re there.

Yea! My doctor finally renewed my Ambien prescription, I�ve been completely out the last two nights and my alternative solutions to help me sleep have been causing strange side effects & bizarre dreams. I took Klonopin the first night, and was ultra groggy all day afterwards. I used to take that every night, no wonder I used to sleep to late every day. Last night I took a whole Xanax instead of the half I normally take, and slept till about 10:30, then woke up and fell back asleep to have the exhausting dream described below. I like having vivid dreams, but not every night.

The cold rain has begun, it's supposed be cold, wet and windy the rest of the week. I just drove to the grocery store and sat in their drive-thru pharmacy line for 15 minutes waiting to get my meds. Too cold and wet to actually get out of the car and go inside. I sat in the car and sang along to Avril Lavigne while I waited. I�m sure the people in the car behind me wondered about my sanity, but I�m at that weird �don�t care what other people think about me� point. I guess that�s why I ramble on to you good people about my psychotic dreams ;-)

Up early and no doll...

Well, it's been almost two weeks since I bought my Lottie doll from a guy on eBay and I emailed him last night to ask what gives? He sent me my Paypal payment back with apologies, apparently he didn't have any more :-( Damn, and it was such a good deal. So I jumped back on eBay today and searched and compared and ended up sniping another for a more expensive price, but hopefully I'll actually get this one. I'm eyeing a few others too, but I'm not sure it I can afford to buy anymore... plus they're big and my shelves are overflowing.

Update 5:45 pm - OK, I got carried away and got Tragedy too. Seems like $36 bucks is about the going price for these two dolls since they're OOP. Still kicking myself I never got Sadie and Lizzie Borden when they were new...

I'm really not a doll collector, per se, but I do have some character dolls from Bewitched, the Addams Family, the Munsters, Jeannie and Buffy. Lottie appealed to me as a lonely little Goth girl, when I showed her pic to my husband he said "She looks like you".

I went to bed really early last night, I was so tired I only managed to read about a chapter of my book and I had to crash. I slept on and off till about noon when the doorbell woke me up. My hubby went to lunch for his monthly get-together with his wacky friend (they go to Pancho's every month, just to be silly and re-live their youth) so I was alone in the house. Just the post office delivering a package. They're sitting in my husband's room watching home videos and dissecting errors on old movies now. It's nice to hear my husband being silly and giggling again :-)

I had really long, complex dreams last night, they started fading pretty quickly once I got out of bed, but here's the gist. For some warped reason my brain cast Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in the lead roles... The majority of the dream was myself and Audrey, a sillier even skinnier Audrey, being chased all over while dressed as harem girls with veils on our faces. I think Cary was doing the chasing as some sort of government agent. We were on ships, out in the country in some backwoods restaurant. Part of the dream it was storming and raining, which it really did do this morning here so that's logical. I remember running around with this really charming and sneaky woman, thinking "Why don't they recognize us? Our veils are sheer..." And "she's so skinny, why don't they realize who she is?". I wish I could remember more, it wasn't an unpleasant dream like a lot of chase dreams are, it was more silly, like something out of an old Doris Day movie.

Speaking of eBay, I also got a replacement battery for my Sony Cybershot (wow, it's like half the price I paid for it a year ago!) in the mail today and the damned thing is dead. It's a Sony brand, open box, so I emailed the guy so he'd send me another, he guarantees "no DOA's". I had a Lenmar backup battery and it stopped taking a charge, so I thought I'd go with the real thing this time. I wish I'd spent another $10 bucks and bought one new in the package, still less than the retail price but the guy had good feedback so we'll see how he handles it...

I'm lighting a reversal candle tonight, we're going into the dark cycle of the moon and I'm hoping to deflect some of the crap that the universe has been hurling at me the last few days before it can hit the fan. I knew something weird was coming, I went to burn the other half of a protection candle I hadn't finished last week and the wick burned straight though the candle, right down one side. I've never seen a candle do that, gave me the creeps.

state of unrest

Well, that pisses me off... I've been typing for like half an hour, listening to music trying to cover the din of fake applause for Wubya's recital (my husband's watching it in his room, he's not a fan, I think it's more morbid fascination), and had a really nice post going and Explorer crashed... grrrr... Gone, all gone. There's no "save" button on Movable Type till you're ready to publish it, unfortunately. Curses...

Where was I? Oh yes, I'm now on my second White Russian, I went and bought a little bottle of Absolut so I could make a proper one. I use more Kahlua and cream and a little less vodka, though. I made a Bacardi version at New Year's and it's just not the same. Much better with good vodka. I even managed to float the cream on this one. I think I used half and half before, it doesn't float worth a damn. Any excuse to have Kahlua, though, it's always been one of my faves. And I'm using one of my Waterford Roly Polies that I got on sale years ago, which is nice.

I needed a higher octane drink tonight than my usual Port, it's been a helluva day. Way too much drama, I hate drama. Less than three hours after I fell asleep the phone rang, they hung up and called right back and my husband answered it. Then he came storming into the bedroom because it was a bill collector... for me... oops. It's January, I've been doing the best I can, but not good enough for those guys. Actually they were bought out by someone else so they wanted to make a "new deal" with me. Thanks. Eight in the bloody morning. Set my husband off in a rage all day, he freaks out about money even though it's my account, etc. (I'm only late on one, dammit) I took a Xanax and half an Ambien to knock me back out so I wouldn't have to listen to him slamming doors and deliberately cranking the TV up all morning. (I'm really not a junkie, I have MS and I don't sleep much on a good day) I like to calmly reason with people when they're freaking out, but it doesn't work with him for some reason, he has to wind down by himself... He had to go visit with his poor mom at lunchtime, her husband's in the hospital (not my husband's dad, he passed on before we met). He was still pissy when he got back in the afternoon, so I went and happily ran my little errands till dinner time when he had cooled down a bit.

I went to the post office, long lines, computers down, stuffy and hot because the weather has swung back to the warm side since yesterday. A young woman behind me was mumbling about the lack of clerks and the long lines and trying to make small talk over the screaming out of control kids running amuck and I didn't really understand what she said the first time (I don't hear well in crowds). I try not to engage in conversations in line at the post office, either my husband or myself go from 3-5 times a week, so we're used to waiting in line and really don't want to join in the gripe sessions with the people who come once a year. When the kids finally left with their dad, the woman started talking to me again, and this time I could hear her. She said she was almost finished with her radiation treatment for skin cancer, and she showed me a bandage on her shoulder beneath her nicely tailored business suit. Dark-skinned young black woman, younger than me. Poor thing, I'm sure the heat in the place was making her uncomfortable. I politely consoled her and made small talk till I was finally called for my turn.

I'm unfortunately an empath by nature, people and their emotions tend to gravitate towards me unless I really put the auric force fields up. Then I tend to scare the crap out of the general public. Which is fine with me, I've found that predators don't tend to normally attack people who look like they could be insane in a dangerous way. When I used to have to walk around downtown during my lunch breaks, I'd just raise the "don't mess with me" shields and they usually wouldn't approach me. I've taken a few online quizzes for grins lately, I won't bore you with the graphics but the results were kind of fun. I took the Goth test and it said I was "46% Goth, Goth by night, normal by day. Deep in my heart I know I am evil, but not on the company's time. I do need to eat." I'm not sure that's really true, I used to unnerve a lot of the people I worked with ;-) I think I would have scored higher it I'd answered as if I was still in my 20's. I did have black satin sheets, I painted the walls of my first apartment black and grey. I also own my own fangs, custom made by Maven of Dark Awakenings. He was in town at Numbers a few years ago and I went and hung out with all the baby Goths till he showed up. I have the "Canines" set, they're snap-on caps, which works well for me, I have an overbite. I broke my first set because they had a bridge and my bottom teeth hit it. The caps are much more comfortable and don't require any adhesive, he molds and shapes them right in your mouth.

Out of idle curiousity I took the What Self Mutilation Are You quiz and it came back with a nice little pic of a razor blade and "You are cutting. You can be moody as hell, and probably don't know how you're feeling half the time. Despite this, you pull yourself together with a lot of strength and aren't to be messed with." OK, I kind of like that one. I like to think that people take me seriously and are never quite sure what to expect. I'm petite, but I'm brunette and have never been labeled conventionally "cute", which is fine with me. I don't like sharp things, but I do admit to picking at things till they bleed. I'm OCD, sorry, one of many outlets. Per Jack Off Jill, "she wears black so her arms can bleed". You've got to admit, black is more practical and stain resistant...

I think I'm back where I was when the crash occurred. The vodka is seeping in nicely, I think I'll go lay in bed and read till I fall asleep. I stayed up way too late last night. I got approved for all my new webrings, thanks to all! I love finding really relevant sites to link up with. I also added a lot of fem-centric links under my "Blogs of Style" column, I was up till almost 6am last night.

Third Explorer crash in one session... that's got to be a sign, off to hide under the sheets till this hellish day has passed...

50th Blog!

Two momentous occasions today, this is my 50th weblog entry and I'm 25 points away from getting a 5000 rating and a green star on eBay :-) I actually have over 6800 positive feedback points on eBay, but ones from repeat bidders/seller don't count toward your total. I've been buying some things lately on eBay, I got my first Living Dead Doll (Lottie from Series 3, she's just too cute!), and I've been working on completing some assorted vampire & vamp romance series that I've gotten behind on. I pulled a big stack of vampire and horror novels out to make room, ones I've read or am just not inspired to read, I'm getting picky in my old age, so look for them on sale cheap in the next few days if I can get my act together.

The weather has gotten bad again so I spent almost $300 bucks at the grocery store tonight so we can eat in this week in style and not have to go out in the bloody freezing cold. I wish I had an electric blanket, I grew up using one year round and then in my 30's went through a period where I got bizarre hot flashes and night sweats so the idea of anything purposely hot turned me off for years. Seemed to be a bad reaction to a prescription medicine I was taking, the doctors never could give me a decent reason. It also began my bouts with rosacea, which majorly pisses me off because perfect white skin has always been my only real bragging right physically. I've tried some of the different drugs and creams for it, but I've found stimulus avoidance to help more than anything. That, and really good quality skin care products. My favorite sensitive skin care products are from Clarins. I use other brands occasionally, too, but I always go back to Clarins.

I'm dreading taking a shower tonight, I have to use the cold bathroom at the back of the house because the plumbing in my nice bathroom is acting up. We've been pouring Liquid Plumber down the drain, but I'm afraid it's a real certifiable plumber problem, the sink, bathtub and the toilet have all been acting weird. We've been in this house almost four years now and this will be the first "digging the ground up" plumbing problem we've had, hope it's not too bad. We don't have an outside drain entrance, which I'm not sure I understand becasue the people we bought the house from had three kids. But then, they didn't have cable TV either... We had constant battles with our cheap ass landlord at our last house because it constantly had sewer problems, had to replace the entire line once, he was not happy about that, too many old trees and invasive roots. Our last house only had one bathroom also, so when we had a problem, it really was an emergency.

We watched Primetime's special on the porn industry tonight, really interesting. It focused on a young Mormon girl who became a hardcore star in just a few years and all the hell the girls who work in the industry have to go through. The actresses really don't make that much for the work they do, Houston is like the strip bar capitol of the US, and from people I've spoken with that have worked in the industry here they make a pretty comparable salary and don't have to risk getting AIDS, etc. The poor girl they were interviewing tonight looked like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She started when she was 18... I can't imagine going through that period, but as a teenager? Luckily I've never wanted to be famous or beloved by millions, though rich wouldn't be a bad thing. This girl won an adult film award and she was still only pulling in about $100 grand a year max (as the top porn actress of the year?). Of course, the filmmakers and distributors make millions of dollars a year. Not to infer that there aren't some reputable erotica companies out there, but it sounds like the majority of them are just sex farms, using up and spitting girls out. The special said the average career of a porn actress was only 18 months.

Uggh, bracing myself to go use the icy shower (there's a damned window in the shower stall!). We have old fashioned gas heaters but can't really use them because of carbon monoxide problems, etc. There's a central air vent in the bathrooms (unlike our last house, which was really cold!), but it's teeny tiny... brrrrr... Soon I'll be whining about the weather being too hot, I can't wait!

Wolf Moon

It's the full moon in a few hours, this one is the Wolf Moon. also known as the Cold Moon or Old Moon. I was looking up moon phases to record in my non-pagan planner (I wish Llewellyn would make one that fits my Dayrunner binder, their Witch's Datebook is the right size but it's not hole-punched), and found a really cool site where you can look up the moon phase for pretty much any day and year, and I looked up my birthday. Not only was I born on a Wednesday, at four-something in the morning, but I was also born during the dark phase of the moon. Destined to be Goth or what? And a Capricorn to boot. My brother was born during the same phase, but my husband (the prosperous, lucky one) was born in the period just before the full moon, waxing, of course. Found a page with info on what it means for the moon phase you were born under, didn't really learn anything new about myself, but it says I'll enjoy the latter part of my life more than the early part, which is encouraging.

We're dripping pipes tonight for the hard freeze. I guess people up north don't have to do that, wrap and drip pipes for the cold. Your houses seem to be built with the water pipes safely in the ground where they belong. Ours down south run through our attics, where they tend to freeze and burst pipes because it's not supposed to get cold down here. So we have to run water in all of our indoor and outdoor faucets to keep it from freezing. One burst at my parents house when I was a teenager in an add-on wing of the house. It's no fun to watch water pouring from your ceiling, even less to try and find a plumber during severe weather...

We went to IHOP tonight, my husband took up the "All You Can Eat" pancake challenge. He only made it to nine. There was a table full of teenage boys in the next section who were seriously competing to get their polaroids on the bulletin board. One of them made it to 17, good grief. They walked past us as they were leaving, and my husband asked them "who won" and got a rousing chorus of "I ate 15, etc.!" and brags about who had to go throw up to continue. They were very proud of the guy who ate 17. They shook my husband's hand and gave him words of encouragement and advice. "When you get to 11 you'll hit the wall!" I had my normal blueberry pancakes and some of the nastiest hot tea I've ever had, I never drink hot tea out (with the exception of some first class Chinese restaurants), but I hadn't eaten earlier and I was freezing. I had to jump on our teenage waitress because it took her like ten minutes to bring it, my husband had already finished an entire cup of coffee (have you ladies always noticed they serve the men first?).

What other exciting things did we do tonight... we went to Hobby Lobby because my husband needed some Bestine, and I looked through their wall of little Johnny Lightning cars. I'm a classic car freak, if I can't have the real thing right now, I at least want a little mini version. Picked up a black 1967 Olds Cutlass 442, my dad had a blue Olds Cutlass convertible when I was a kid, I think it was a 1971, I remember it had a Rocket engine. My mom made him get rid of it much to my brother's dismay ;-)

Then we ran by Border's to pick up a book I'd seen the other night and couldn't wait to order through the mail, Too Loud Too Bright Too Fast Too Tight by Sharon Heller. "What to do if you are sensory defensive in an overstimulating world". Came out in November last year, so I figured I won't be seeing it on the used book shelves for awhile. Seemed like a good follow-up to The Highly Sensitive Person - How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You, which I found a few years ago. Excellent book, I'll let you know how this new one is. Oh, and I finally got Avril Lavigne's album, I hope she wins best new artist but it will probably go to Norah Jones, that's on my "to buy list" also.

Holy crap, just looked at the thermometer, it's 34! I'd better go check all the faucets again, just in case.

DARK SHADOWS Murder in NYC!

Had to save this for posterity, before it's deleted or archived. My husband and I met at a Dark Shadows fan party, BTW, but I've never gone to any of the real conventions, he's gone since they started but didn't attend the fateful 2001 World Trade Center convention.

From the NY Post 1/15/2003

MURDEROUS ëVAMPIRE' VENGEANCE

By MURRAY WEISS, WILLIAM J. GORTA and ALY SUJO

January 15, 2003 A middle-aged Oregon lonely-heart obsessed with the bodice-ripping vampire TV show "Dark Shadows" shot his would-be fiancÈe to death in a Times Square hotel yesterday after he realized she had scammed him out of $95,000, police said.

Police said Richard Jenkins, 48, of Portland, shot Elizabeth Forman, 45, of Norwood, Pa., just after midnight Monday at the DoubleTree Guest Suites at 46th Street and Seventh Avenue. He then went calmly to the lobby, placed his .38-caliber revolver on the registration desk and waited for the cops.

"It's me," he told arriving officers. "I shot my girlfriend."

Cops said Jenkins and Forman, who was described as a gypsy of European descent, met at a "Dark Shadows" fan convention at the World Trade Center's Marriott Hotel in August 2001 and hit it off on the basis of their shared fondness for the blood-drenched gothic cult show from the late 1960s.

Jenkins fell "head over heels" in love with Forman, gave her an engagement ring and began doling out big sums of cash she said she was using "to keep herself afloat," cops said.

But the warehouse worker got suspicious when she kept pushing for more money.

He finally hired a private detective who discovered Forman was stashing the money away and kept two separate bank accounts - one of $50,000 and one $30,000 - while continuing to live in a small basement apartment.

Cops said the heartbroken Jenkins, who lives with his parents, told authorities he was still a virgin and had been "saving himself for her."

"He was head over heels," a source said. "When he realized she was scamming him, he went out and bought the gun."

Jenkins bought the gun legally in Oregon, cops said, before making an appointment to meet Forman in New York. He took an America West Airlines flight to New York on Sunday, telling airline personnel of the gun in his checked luggage.

Police said Jenkins and Forman played tourist for 24 hours, shopped for a winter coat in New Jersey and then returned to their hotel suite Monday night. There, Jenkins told her he suspected her of stealing and began asking tough questions.

"Her answers weren't quick enough," said a source.

Forman was shot five times and was discovered lying next to the bed.

Jenkins was charged with murder. At his arraignment today, he was ordered held without bail.

Cops said the couple scheduled a wedding date several times, but Forman repeatedly postponed it. A prosecutor said in court that Forman called off the nuptials again in the argument before her death.

A spokesman for the "Dark Shadows" franchise said the show's campy gothic motif bore no relation to the killing.

"The vampirical aspect is secondary to the show," said Jim Pierson, a spokesman for the show, which continues to air on the Sci-Fi Channel. "It's about a tragic, romantic vampire who pines for his lost love - but there's no connection.

"A loose-wire fan could be into anything," he said. "These people could have been at an ëAlly McBeal' convention and ended up in the same boat."

In Norwood, where Forman's neighbor Jack Crossley described the dead woman as being "not wrapped too tight," records showed she had occasionally used the alias Elizabeth Hardy and had a history of domestic squabbles with a previous boyfriend.

The cult soap opera about lovelorn vampire Barnabas Collins has been on the air for 32 years. It was first aired in 1966, and 1,225 episodes were shot before it was taken off in 1971. Stars included Jonathan Frid, David Selby and a young guest star, Harvey Keitel.

The popular show was made into two feature films, remade as a TV series by NBC in 1991 and continued in syndication on PBS and other networks.

It can be seen daily on the Sci-Fi Channel. Katherine Lee Scott, who played the vampire's love interest, told The Post she had been to most of the show's fan conventions.

"Most fans are loyal and enormously devoted," she said. "They're usually quite intelligent and very reasonable - but there's always the odd one."

Additional reporting by Philip Messing and Ed Robinson

RELATED LINKS:
The New York Times AP story
WNBC's Story
Dark Shadows Online
Dark Shadows Festival page
Morticia's Morgue Dark Shadows page
For the Dark Shadows newsgroup click here

Addendum 1/17, two more links:
AZ Central Main Story
AZ Central DS Related Story

Halloween Party Preparations

I drove around in the rain and horrendous traffic tonight doing my food shopping for our party so I don't have to deal with it Saturday. We're still cleaning house (dusting, uggh!), still doing a bit of decorating (got lots of orange mini lights this year, looks awesome and will look great in the photos). This is our 11th consecutive Halloween party and everyones food tastes have changed drastically over the years (are we all getting old or what?). Our main party staples used to be lots of chocolate, Halloween candy like Indian Corn (tastes better than candy corn), Velveeta and rotelle dip (nightmare to clean up and takes about 3 hours to melt in a crock pot), chips and more chips.

Somehow we've evolved to things like fruit and cheese, crackers and carrots. Our music has evolved also, from just Halloween staples (Monster Mash, anything vaguely Halloween sounding), then to 80's dance stuff (my choice :-), and lately to a combination of alternative stuff, dance, acid jazz, and a few spooky Halloween picks thrown in. I've spent the night listening to hours of my own CD's and downloaded dance mixes, etc. trying to mentally pick through it all. I've always obsessed like crazy over picking just the right music, though a lot of times I'm not sure anyone is even listening. Having a CD burner takes some of the stress off of me (recording 5+ hours of music can be a pain, I used to even have a mixer and mixed the stuff!)...

The last few years I've gone through and grabbed all of my favorites off of my tons of CD's and compiled them onto just a few to save time. Then each year I add some new stuff for variety and rearrange the stuff I already have.

MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS:

For general eerie haunted house background, check out any of Midnight Syndicates CD's, Vampyre is their newest. You could just let it play over and over, or add the others for an evening of creepy music.

80's are always good, especially for dancing, snag "Best Of's" if you don't own too much original stuff. Good groups - Missing Persons, Flock of Seagulls, Book of Love, Devo, The Cars, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Nena, early B-52's, David Bowie.

For sophisticated crowds, for more talking than dancing, check out the Ultra Chilled compilations, cool acid jazz with a beat. Also Massive Attack, Delerium, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Mono.

For a Goth party, the compilation This Is Goth is good. Groups like Switchblade Symphony, This Ascension, Mira, Shroud. Portishead is a spooky non-Goth addition.

Good general purpose party music: Garbage (Beautiful Garbage excellent), Bif Naked, Sinead O'Connor, Poe's Haunted, the Snealker Pimps, Dido, the Breeders (Last Splash is still the best), the B-52s's Cosmis Thing is a party on a CD, a little Alice Cooper (Nightmare of From the Inside) add a little spookiness, as does Siouxsie.

FOOD FOR ADULTS (easy to serve stuff, feeds about 30 people):

Green or red grapes, with bags of already cubed cheeses
Baby carrots (already peeled and washed in the bag) and a veggie dip
Popcorn (buy it pre-cooked if you don't want to smell it all night)
Flavored chips that don't require dip are easy
Crackers and dip (I got Wheat Thins and some of that Brummel & Brummel fruit spread)
Got to have a couple of bags of Halloween colored M&M's
One or two more bags of miniature candies (stick with chocolate, Snicker's, Reese's, give the leftovers to the trick-or-treaters)
We tell our friends this is a BYOB party, but we get a couple of liters of Coke and Diet Coke, plus a bag of ice for everyone.
Plastic cups, plates and spooky paper napkins for easy cleanup.

Playing with Makeup - Halloween

For some reason I hardly ever do Halloween costumes actually based on anyone in particular, ditto for this year. After physically injuring myself walking all four corners of Memorial City mall (which is half in the dark due to construction), and going into every store that might have any kind of women's clothing, I end up buying and outfit at Foley's that's twice what I wanted to spend and not "really" a costume, but it was too cool to pass up. Sheer black lace, high necked blouse and matching long black lace skirt (by Be, a new brand for Foley's). Never could find any big clunky Goth shoes like I wanted (for less than $100), so it's back to my own pointy boots this year, hope the hooks don't snag on the skirt.

I spent last night (finally) doing a makeup and hair test. I bought a really awesome wig last year when I was Elvira wig shopping, it's long and straight, black with electric blue highlights. I was thinking of putting it up in pony tails for the Goth gurl effect, but I actually like it better down...

I tried two slightly different versions of eye makeup (so I'm lopsided in the pics above), and I found a pair of cute black cat ears that I'd bought a few years ago and never worn, I think they look cute with the wig. (And they might help keep it on ;-) I'm glad the party's at our house, I'd hate to go traipsing out in the rain with this whole outfit on, it's been flooding all week...

Another reason for the makeup test is to make sure nothing makes my eyes swell up, I have hyper-sensitive skin. So far, so good... I used to line the inside of my eyes when I was younger (while wearing contacts even), but alas no more. Just lining the inside corners is a gamble.

�

Makeup used for this experiment:

For shadows on eyes, MAC Black Tied (glittery black), and MAC Electra (silver frost). On eyelid - Urban Decay Vapor (flourescent blue white), and on brow Anna Sui 002 (softer shimmery white, used on right eye). I tried the MAC electra for lid and brow but it was way too shiny for my prominent browbone (used on left eye). Looked good on the lids, but the Urban Decay popped more on my deepset eyes.
Lined with Lancome's eyeliner in Noir then covered over with MAC Nehru (matte black), and the inside corners with Almay's eye pencil in Precise Black. I'll probably do mascara or fake lashes for the big party, but didn't want to mess with them now. Eyebrows are done with Maybelline Natural brow pencil (I think I'll go with the natural arch, rather than the pointy one).
I'll use some real foundation and concealer too, for now I just went with Hard Candy's Crystal Pressed Powder which is almost white but not too clownish. Lips were done in and old Estee Lauder Double Matte color, Berry Buff. They had a little more shimmery one in a darker version of the same shade called Fatale which I almost used, but I think the matte looks better. And not that I actually need to accent my cheekbones, but I tried doing a little bit of shadow on my right side with another old Trish McEvoy color, Enhancer 8 (sort of a purple brown shade).
And despite all my best efforts at skin care this week... I have a damn pimple! (And yes, I know, I own way too much makeup ;-)

Halloween 2002 Costume

I've decided I shouldn't try to do Alice Cooper as a costume this year. I'm not thin enough yet (I've got the cheekbones, but I'm not gaunt enough to do Alice justice, IMHO), and I have a really killer leather motorcycle jacket and pants that would just really freak out my friends, but I need to stay on the Atkins diet a little longer to be able to fit back into them. This pic was taken in my 20's when I actually owned a motorcycle (a black Suzuki Intruder) and so of course I had to get the accessories to go with it to look cool.

I'd kind of like to do a Perky Goth sort of thing (ala Switchblade Sisters) with the pony tails and a cute outfit and shoes or boots with lots of buckles, etc. My hair is long enough, but it's pretty fine and so far I haven't been happy with how it looks pulled up. I'm terrible at doing my hair, I have no clue what to do with hairsprays and gels (I hate the stuff). I think it's because my mom always went to the salon every week to have her hair done so no one ever really showed me how. I looke around for a wig online and haven't found anything like what I'm looking for, though Divaluxe� has some nice clip-ons and falls (I think it may be too late to order them for this Halloween, though). I bought a terrific long straight black and electric blue wig last year, I think I'm going to play with it and see if I can style it the way I want it.

The shoes should be easy, and some kind of funky hose. I haven't found a dress I like yet, though. I dragged my husband to Erotic Cabaret Boutique� in Montrose this weekend and they had a few "maybes" but most of them were Extra Small. They had some really great long goth dresses and capes, but I wanted to do short this year. I even thought of braving a corset or waist-cincher to really look good, but I didn't find any short enough to let me breath. I think I'm missing a vertebra, I have the shortest waist I've ever seen, anything high-waisted hits me in the rib cage (sigh).

My back-up costume will probably be Magenta from Rocky Horror, I can do a very convincing version of her. I used to go and hang out with the local RHPS cast in high school and college, and back when I had time to sew had made a black satin maid's dress and even the gold space outfit (both long gone). I looked for a French maid's outfit, but the only ones they had were way too sheer. I always wait till the last minute to get my costume together. I got lucky last year and found a great dress at Foley's (on sale even!) that I used for a "classy Elvira" outfit. I got the beehive wig and everything, it was a pain in the butt from the wig down to the heels, but it looked really great.

Goth, Punk, Pizzicato Five & Avril Lavigne

Most of this week I've been in kind of a somber, serious mood (PMS, threats of hurricanes, who knows...) and I've had three Switchblade Symphony classics on the turntable (and in the car)�

The Three Calamaties
Bread and Jam for Frances (this is killer Halloween party music)
Serpentine Gallery

Follwed up by two by Mira� (Projekt Darkwave group)

Mira's self-titled debut
Apart

By Thursday I felt the need to perk up a bit and have been spinning the following on my CD turntable:

Pizzicato Five's CD single Five by Five , which isn't actually my favorite of their
many EP's, but I was in the mood to hear Twiggy vs. James Bond

Sacrebleu by Dimitri from Paris, more clever loungey
dance music with a sophisticated French twist (good party music)

Macy Gray On How Life Is (you either love her or she annoys the
shit out of you, but then I think all five of these artists are sort of
that way, I have a friend who actively despises Pizzicato Five)

Sons and Lovers by Hazel O'Connor, star of the New Wave classic Breaking Glass, which also has a killer soundtrack album

And the fabulous best of album, Death to the Pixies

I saw 17 year old Avril Lavigne and her band on one of the late night shows (Letterman?) last week and was stunned by how "real" she seemed compared to most of her musical contemporaries. The drummer had scrawled "Pixies rule" across the front of his drums and it made me very nostalgic, especially watching Avril hop up and down hyperactively like I used to circa '80 when I went out dancing. I had heard one of the songs (Sk8er Boi) from her debut album Let Go on the radio and the DJ didn't say who it was, but from what I'd read about her, I figured it must be her. Not to sound old, but it was so nice to see a young white girl who dressed, danced and sang like a normal teen girl. She didn't dress like a porn star, she didn't try and sound like Mariah Carey, her music seemed very honest and straightforward, like she actually was listening to the lyrics. I hope her style (of being herself) catches on.

Music For A Rainy Night

Thursday afternoon and evening it was storming here in Houston, the power flickered but never went out. My email was still down (seems to be back up now), so I decided to redesign my husband's website though I had lots of other things to do, filling the creative void I guess. I reworked the entire website, finishing up at almost 7am. I learned to make those pretty little navigation tabs with the guidance of Scott Kelby's Photoshop 7 Down & Dirty Tricks (page 149, I had to look through four books to find the trick) and spent hours adding type, color, etc. Looks good, IMHO. Now I just need to finish redesigning my own main website, especially my Halloween area, which is 98% finished in GoLive, sitting on my hard drive waiting to be uploaded.

Suitable mood music for the weather and introspection included:

Deep by Peter Murphy
Haunted by Poe, one of my favorite albums
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by The Alan Parsons Project, a classic rock album based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, a desert island staple
Formica Blues by Mono, haunting retro music that would make a great 60's spy movie soundtrack
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, another must have

The Vampire Vivienne

Current bedtime reading is Karen E. Taylor's The Vampire Vivienne, part of a very cool series of vampire books with mostly female vamp heroines. Most of her books have recently been reissued because of the release of Vivienne and a new book, Resurrection: The Vampire Legacy, so snatch them up before they're gone. Now I've got to get the newest one too, it just came out this month, I'm excited!