Day 02 — A favourite movie

I love so many movies but The Lost Boys has been my favourite since forever, even more than the Goonies, Legend, Labyrinth, and other classic 80's movies. When vampires were vampires, they didn't sparkle, and they had some kick ass music too. I had the album on cassette tape and cd and still listen to it every few months. Recently Seasons After did a pretty good cover of Cry Little Sister that was playing on the radio when we were driving round north Idaho in April.



awesome.

Multimedia oh my

I know I’m terribly behind on blog posts, and I will get around to that, I have been crafting a bit of sewing, burning myself with hot wax, cutting my fingers with a deadly round bladed wheel of death-and fabric cutter, knitting badly, and for some completely unfathomable reason I have been attempting to learn to crochet (don’t ask you really really don’t want to know how bad that is going.) Also I have been trying to work on my writing, a little fable/fairy tale that I wrote the notes for in my journal but every time I try to expand on the notes it all goes horribly wrong and I end up in a grump.

What else have I been doing? Aside from giving Peggy Bundy a run for worst housewife.

At the Movies:

Matt and I went to see AVATAR last week, in three dee, so I looked ever so fetching with 3D glasses over top of my glasses. The movie was visually stunning, it was amazing to see, and worth the ticket price (2 for 1 Wednesdays) and the headache. the cast was great if underused, but the dialogue was… terrible, ‘Unobtainium’ says it all really. I would still see it again, it was fun, the planet was vivid and I wanted to know more about the science and biology of the world than was on offer (all the alien creatures were 6 legged except for the 9ft tall kitty cats). I kept waiting for one of the Na’vi to say “You no can has unobtainiums.” but that was probably just me.

Dear Mr. Cameron,

you have oodles of money, peons and slaves galore please use your resources to hire some writers. Because seriously ‘unobtainium’? Also stop writing fanfic about Ferngully, Dances with Wolves, and mutant Smurfs.

yours,

Meri

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DVDs:

Zombie STRIPPERS: ridiculously bad… so obviously we loved it. Zombies, bad acting, stripper, Freddy Krueger.

REPO the Genetic Opera: Fantastic, absolutely loved it from the very start. It is completely bonkers, but fabulously so. I had to download the soundtrack because I NEEDED to listen to have the songs playing on my ipod while I cook dinner.

Star Trek: Fantastic, though the Boy got upset that he couldn’t find his phazer while watching it. T loved the gag reel and the making of documentary too.

TV:
Most of the good shops seem to have disappeared before Christmas and haven’t returned yet. Glee started the other week and I love it (although some of the cheesier songs make me hide behind a cushion.) Dollhouse is ending soon which is a sad as it is a great show. oh and CSI’s Vegas and New York are still on the sky plus but mostly we sit and mock the awful descriptions of the tech used.

Books:

I have a new Literary crush on Neil Gaiman, over the last few months I have read Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Coraline, The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere, and one of his Sandman Graphic Novels. American Gods is my favourite thus far I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it.

Devine Misdemeanours: Laurell K Hamilton… pure trash. Paranormal Pulp, but I love the idea of it, the world is good and the books are entertaining if you ignore the pulp.

Coyote: by Allen Steele .. epic sci fi/space opera novel of interstellar exploration, colonization. Apparently it is a reworking of his short stories which I just found out, praise wikipedia, it was quite good, I might read the second book but I’m not so sure about the others after reading some of the reviews on Amazon.


I have another 4 or 5 books that I’m partway through and quite a few more I haven’t started yet.

webcomics

xkcd A webcomic of romance,sarcasm, math, and language. Sometimes the math loses me, but otherwise its a fantastic webcomic.

Questionable Content: very funny webcomic that I have been reading the last few days from the begining. Its great but I only know one in ten indie band refrences.

so what have you been watching, reading, listening to?

.........I’m cold, I think its time to put the kettle on and go watch a DVD or the idiots audition on American Idol.


this blog post has been specially brought to you by the shape cup and the number 4 and the letters C, O, F, F, E and E

Halloween Meme

The wind blows bitter through the last of the autumn leaves, time to huddle by the fire a spell, clutching a cup of steaming tea (coffee or cider you choose your poison) soon all manner of ghosts and goblins will be ranging the streets in search of sickeningly sweet treats. Time for a Halloween Meme (the questions of which I compiled from a few different meme floating about the tinterwebs)....


What is your favorite work of horror fiction? hmm I love the Stand by Stephen King, though I suppose its more epic than a simple spine chiller. I used to obsess over the stories on tape when I was in elementary school, you know the beep turn the page ones, there used to be a couple of spooky stories I would listen to again and again. Like the one about the woman with the ribbon around her neck who tells her husband never to touch it and he does, and her head rolls off... and the one about Bluebeard .... I'm also quite addicted to the Anita Blake, and Sookie Stackhouse series which I suppose are technically paranormal romance/urban fantasy/gothic

What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy?

Who is your favorite monster? hmmm Vampires

Favourite Horror movie? ohh I love all sorts.. especially crappy ones.. nothing is more fun than being curled up in a dark room laughing your ass off at some terrible monster movie... Resident Evil, Monster Squad, Critters, Aliens, Young Frankenstein, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice...... I could go on and on but my brain is sluggish today.. I need coffee stat!

What horror movie gives you the most chills? Alien scared me half to death the first time I watched it as a kid.. after that its never quite the same chill....

What character from any horror film would you most like to play? Alice in the Resident evil flicks... she kicks ass and survives

Freddy or Jason? Freddy

What is your favorite Halloween treat? candy corn.. or haribo sour cherry candy

Ghosts or goblins? depends on the Goblin I suppose some can be quite cute... or can be evil like the little bastard that pops out of the toilet in Ghoulies 2

Friendly-faced jack o’lantern or scary one? friendly

What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal? nothing specific but sometimes you go into a house or place and it just feels creepy.

Do you believe in ghosts? yes.. why not? there are too many things out there that we don't know about.

Would you rather be a zombie, alien, or psycho? hmmm an alien with a fast ship methinks

Favorite Halloween costume? as a kid I liked to be a witch, a cat, or a vampire.. I don't think things have changed all that much

Best thing about Halloween? candy and crappy movies and just the whole thing.. I think I would live in Halloween Town if I could.

Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)? the Boy... he thinks Halloween is the best thing ever! the last 3 birthday parties have been a Halloween theme.. this year I have to make a Jack Skellington birthday cake.. I think I can pull it off.

Are you superstitious? If so, name at least one superstition of yours. not particularly .. at least nothing I can think of right now.


If you have read this consider yourself tagged leave me a comment and I will trundle over to read your meme answers and hopefully remember a few more crappy horror movies to gleefully add to my list!

movies and tv

Today I have cleaned the whole house top to bottom. Or at least hidden the mess so you can see it. Blueberry muffins are cooling on the wire rack and I have sewn two lavender and rice warm bags. I have no pictures at the moment to show you as M has taken one of the leads to Austria and I can't find the other lead to let the camera talk to the computer and so on. But there will be posts with pictures soon.. and a new recipe for dark chocolate cheesecake that I threw together Sunday night.

I served the cheesecake and some homemade pizza to some girlfriends that came over to watch a DVD. What DVD you ask, Pineapple Express, not the sort of film I would go see at the theater but it was stupid and funny, and we had a laugh watching it.

As M is away until Wed night I also rented a The Happening, and Skin Walkers. The happening was well crap in the magical M. Nighty Night Shamalan no answers, only questions and completely dissatisfying. Skin Walkers was pure cheesy horror, (BRILLIANT)a few twists on the usual werewolf legends but it was fun to watch. Loved it, guns, werewolves, and the guy that was the emo alien kid in that Roswell tv show. Though all grown up, beefy arms and guns ablazing, and not an emo alien pout to be seen, though definitly high on the angst o' meter.

I have also watched the first episode of Supernatural Series 4! Love love love that show. Its great, great music, monsters, mayhem, Sam and Dean, moody lighting, sarcasm, geekage, Dean and Sam, the Impala, pie, and coffee! Watching the second episode Thursday as forgot to sky+ it and I missed it on Sunday. p.s. don't tell M I watched it as I wasn't supposed it watch it without him. shush its a secret...

more craftiness and baking to ensue shortly... right now I need coffee and a blueberry muffin, for I have no pie.

The Masked Girl with Butterflies

the masked girl with butterflies

This is my latest illustration that I'm working on, although not complete she is coming together nicely and has a certian twinkle of mischief in her eye. I drew her on Saturday while picinicing at Rowsley Park around the corner from Caudwell's Mill while H ran around hyped up on fairy cakes and watermelon. It was the first time I had properly dragged my sketch book out in somewhere close to forever and I felt so perfectly happy and at peace, the smell of warm grass, and freshly sharpened pencils mingling on a bright sunny day.

Later that same evening M and I watched the most beautiful, quirky and sweet movie King of California. The movie stars Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood, in an unconventional father daughter relationship . It was very funny, sad, and lovely story of slightly broken people, and fufilling dreams. M and I both agree that its a little gem of a movie right up there with house favourites Empire Records, Amelie, and Waitress as one of our favourite quirky movies.

Sunday was spent at Frizbe's house sitting watching the children play, argue, and splash each other in the paddling pool, enjoying that rare and elusive creature known as English Summertime. H had a blast but was thoroughly shattered and ready for his bed by the time we dragged him home again. I think he would have stayed and played all night if given half the chance.

update: there are a few days left to sign up for the Fairy Tale Swap!

A Night at the Movies

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Last night 3 friends and I went to the Ritz Cinema in Belper to see Sweeney Todd. The movie was great, the perfect macabre story for Tim Burton's dark off beat vision. Johnny Depp was wonderfully sinister and Helena Bonham Carter too. I'm not normally a musical person, and I haven't seen it on stage, but with a cast like that and directed by Tim Burton I had to see it. And the theater in Belper is wonderfully old fashioned and cozy with sofas, and coffee and cakes, wine, olives all sorts of lovely treats.

Two of my friends were shall we say a tad bit squeamish during some of the scenes but we all had fun and I have promised M I will book some seats for his birthday as he hasn't been to the Belper cinema since he was a little boy. It reopened a year or so ago after having been a bingo parlor for many years. The songs are still buzzing around my addled brain, and I have a desire to have a Burton Film Fest sometime in the near future.