Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Young Dracula

 Me and my vampire shows right? I've seen 'em all. Normally, they crash and burn or just get ridiculously boring/disappointing (Anyone seen Moonlight?) This one however, is different. I first saw it when I was probably about 7 years old. We were in Sweden and my cousin was watching TV so I plopped down and joined him. I was completely fascinated by the vampires and ended up watching a couple of episodes. Of course, being so young I forgot all about the show as soon as we got home. About a year ago I had a flashback to that trip and remembered the show. I couldn't remember the name of it, so I set about googling until I finally found it. And thus, my love of Young Dracula reappeared.



First off it's British and played on CBBC so if you're over there you might get reruns every so often. Secondly, it's a kids show. Do I care? Not really. It's so over-the-top cliched and campy that I'm laughing too hard to even be bothered with the fact that it's for "children". Hey, I'm sixteen. I can play that card right? Not to mention, they'd never let us have a kids' show like this down in the good old USA. We might scar our children after all.



So what's it about? Well, the Dracula family has been driven from Transylvania and have decided to start a new life in England. Vlad wants nothing more than to lead a normal life, which is rather difficult to do when your father (Count Dracula himself) is trying to turn you into a "dark creature of the night". The Count spends half his time trying to corrupt Vlad and get him to accept his heritage, and the other half bullying Renfield to find him a 'peasant' to drain.  As you can imagine, they don't really fit in. Throw an evil (No, really) jealous sister, vampire obsessed neighbor, and wanna-be vampire hunters into the mix and you've got an even bigger problem.




Ok, so it's cheesy. Horrendously so. But I love it so much. The Count is my favorite character, he cracks me up. If you want a silly, quirky, vampire-themed show to waste time on then you definitely need to check this out. The second season is even better than the first, it gets rather dark actually. The third season targets an older audience, mostly teenagers. Also, the budget is much bigger so better effects. I believe season 4 is coming out sometime in October and I'm anxiously awaiting it.



In other news I recently discovered that Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston (LOKI. Eep!) are teaming up to do a vampire movie. That high pitched squealing you hear is the sound of my fangirling and will probably stop in a few days...probably. No promises.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Cake and Boots

 It's my BIRTHDAY!




I know it's been a while since I last posted something....sorry! I've been so wrapped up in school work I can't think straight. Today though, I'm pushing my homework to the side to enjoy my birthday properly. I'm turning 16 today! I suppose this is kind of a big deal, but throwing huge parties are not my thing. Instead, we went out shopping and I got a lovely pair of boots on top of my other presents. My expensive present is going to be Halloween Horror Nights as usual so I'll have to wait another 3 weeks for that.

Here's my birthday haul.




There's a giant eyeshadow palette, an Ankh pendant, a black treble clef necklace, two new Batman Comics, The Night Circus, Van Helsing, The Cure pins, and Arkham Asylum for PS3.

Then we went shopping which resulted in this.





I would prefer it if the boots had silver instead of gold buckles, but I liked them too much to pass them up for $10. I'm going to see if I can get them silver somehow though I'm not confident I'll actually be able to.

We also went by the record store, but unfortunately left empty-handed because the prices were too high.

You have no idea how much I wanted this ^^

This was a giant compilation and I just about died when I saw the price...

I really love this album. I can't stand any of the industrial stuff that came afterwards >.<

So that's about it. We're going to go out and eat Thai later which will be awesome because the owner loves us and will probably let us stay after hours. Chances are he'll take out the guitar and I'll get a few special dishes for my birthday.

Two personal posts in a row? Geez, I'm just spamming you with my personal life aren't I? I'll have something else up soon. Who needs essays anyway?  ^^



Tuesday, September 18, 2012

30 Day Clothing Challenge~Day 6: A Pair of Pants That Aren't Jeans

 Prepare yourself for a personal post!

This one was difficult. I don't really own very many pants that aren't jeans. Since I'm sure the plain black ones I wear to our band recitals/concerts probably won't interest you I'm going to have to re-post my only other option. These were up for Sophistique Noir's Red and Black Week, but oh well.




I did reattach the straps though. It only took me about a half hour to figure out how they wrapped through the other straps, but it's all good ^^



Well, that's it for day six of the challenge, but this post seems rather empty doesn't it? Maybe I should jut ramble on until I feel like I've filled it sufficiently? No, I won't do that to you guys. I have a hodgepodge of little updates for you though. Let's see...I gave myself a bloody manicure. I don't know if there's even anyone out there on the interwebz who hasn't seen this, especially since the delightful Lady of the Manners has mentioned it, but I'll put up a pic just in case. This is kind of my go-to when I'm not in the mood for crazy designs or my typical black. It's adorable in a macabre way.




Also, I ordered my Grell wig for the cosplay my friends and I are doing for Halloween. I'm Grell, and my two friends are Mey-Rin and Ciel. I think her little sister is going to be Finnian. Alas, we don't have a Sebastian at the moment, but I'm hoping one will turn up ;)


Unlikely...

I recently bought and re-watched Se7en, which is a wonderful psychological thriller/horror movie starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. (It's funny because I tend to avoid Brad Pitt yet he's in two of my favorite movies. Interview With a Vampire and this one.) If you haven't see it, give it a shot. Someone is out to send a message and he's patterning his killings after the seven deadly sins.




Finally, I discovered this wonderful creation via Tumblr. If you like Robert Smith and cats I advise you click on that right now.



Sunday, September 16, 2012

Halloween Horror Nights Reveals

I think Halloween Horror Nights is a reward for us goths who have to brave the Daystar on such a regular basis. It's one of the only things I constantly look forward to every year. If you ever get the chance to try it out you should. I mean, yes there are problems. Obviously, it's a whole lot more commercialized then when it first started out and more and more people come every year much to my annoyance, but that's to be expected. On the bright side, it means a bigger budget every year. A bigger budget means better stuff. It's kind of a give and take situation.




I'm not saying HHN is the best halloween attraction out there, far from it I'm sure. But it's pretty awesome if I do say so myself and I always have a great time. I don't know if anyone plans on going, but here are a few tips if you ever make the venture down here.

  • Go to the Orlando one. I might be a bit biased because I live here, but from everything I've read we do a better job than Hollywood most of the time. I mean, we are theme park central and we kind of thrive on touristy. 
  •  Go on a THURSAY or SUNDAY. Those are non-peak nights because everyone has school or work the next day and it won't be as busy(or expensive). Lines are bad enough on those days and if you want to try and hit all the houses you can't go on a Friday or Saturday.
  • It's my experience that people always head to the closest houses first. I tend to go the opposite way to the farthest one so by the time we meet the real crowds we've gone through about half of the houses.
  • Get there early. As soon as it opens and while it's still light. You'll have plenty of time to see the scarezones in the dark and the houses are dark inside so it doesn't matter. Most people won't show up until one or two hours in so you can get a head start.
  • Eat dinner before you go. Food and drinks are beyond expensive and you don't want to waste time eating anyway. You can grab a funnel cake or something later if you're hungry.
  • Warning: there will be drunk people. They do sell alcohol and some people aren't very responsible with their intake. Just...you'll know who they are, try to avoid and/or ignore the obnoxious ones. 
  • If I were you I wouldn't bother with the rides. It's good that they leave some of them open because it thins the lines to the houses a little, but you can always come back another time during the day to ride those. 
  • Ok, this is probably one of the more important ones. Tone your outfit down beyond belief. If you have anything on that even slightly resembles a "costume" you'll have to remove it. If you have chains or spikes they'll take those too. Spare yourself the trouble and wear shorts and a shirt and leave the accessories at home. Plus, you wouldn't want to be wearing anything you really adore there anyway. Last year, I fell over twice, and and had someone spill their drink on me. I was wearing a t-shirt I didn't really care about so it wasn't a big deal. I only wore it because it had some neon print on the front that would glow under blacklight and make the scareactors notice me more ^^
  • Last thing, DON'T BRING CHILDREN. PLEASE. I see a bunch of kids as young as five running around. If you read my article on Horror Movies and Desensitization you'll know I really don't approve of little kids seeing things like that. I just don't think it's right to expose developing minds that young to so much blood and gore. I can't make you not take your kids, but I really advise against it.

So that's about all you need to know if you ever plan on going. Now, to let you know what's in store for everyone this year!

Houses

The Walking Dead~ Zombies are a bit overdone in my opinion, but since they normally go for campy instead of terrifying this could be a little different.


 


Penn and Teller~ This is the"cheesy house" that they have every year. The one just for fun and laughs. Last year, it was Holidays of Horror. This year Penn and Teller have accidentally nuked Vegas and you've gotta deal with the consequences.


Alice Cooper~ I'm really excited about this one. HHN often have Rob Zombie or Alice Copper design things for them and they're always pretty good. I mean, you're entering his "nightmare" and if being inside the mind of Alice Cooper isn't scary I don't know what is.





Silent Hill~ Oh. My. God. This makes me so happy. Have you seen the monsters in Silent Hill? They're terrifying. This is going to probably be one of my favorites.




Dead End~ Basically, a cursed house. I don't know much more than that...it's kind of vague.



 Gothic~ Well isn't this ironic? Although really, it's a nod to the architecture of the cathedral the gargoyles are guarding. I have a feeling this will be like the cemetery one last year. Gorgeous background and designs, but not horribly scary.




House of Horrors~ This is the one I'm looking forward to the most. The website says "The original icons of fear in blinding black and white". I've read that at some point you'll have to duck to get somewhere and they'll have the most scareactors in one room in HHN's history. Eep!




Scarezones

They're doing something different this year. Instead of having set scarezones in one place they're going to have wandering "Legions" of vampires, beasts, warriors, prisoners, and traditionals. (ghosts and goblins and such.) This is kind of cool because you won't see them coming until you're surrounded by people, but on the other hand you might not meet them all. So I have sort of mixed feelings.

 And that's that! I'll try to get pictures when we go, but I won't make any promises because last time we tried for about 5 minutes before giving up. It's sort of difficult to focus while being scared half to death ^^







Friday, September 14, 2012

New books! ...Again.

I'm constantly buying books. Seriously, I go through a book a day while I'm in school. I've basically exhausted the library we have. And then of course, I want to own the ones I love so on occasion I'll beg my mom to buy me a few for the sake of my sanity. Recently I received...

*Drumroll*

Frankenstein! Now, I have a confession to make. I've never seen the movies. Not the original nor the numerous sequels and spinoffs. BUT the book happens to be one of my favorites so I thought it was about time to add it to my shelf. I hate how people always assume it's nothing more than a monster book when really the philosophical questions it poses are monumental. The whole book is a question of right and wrong. If people would actually read it they might discover a fantastic piece of literature.




The alchemist is great. I'd suggest it to nearly anyone. It's just one of those books that a lot of different people tend to like. It's a story about discovering one's destiny and facing trials and hardships along the way. If you're in the mood for something inspiring and are prepared to deal with a book where everything's a metaphor then this is the book for you.




I finally got a copy of Dracula! This is definitely worth celebrating. If I had to choose a classic monster book I'd still pick Frankenstein, but I love this one too. The first time I read it I thought it was extremely dry, I'd never read a book written before the 20th century and it was very different. But I gave it a second shot and now it definitely ranks up there in my favorites.




Pride and Prejudice is another instant classic. I don't really have much to say about it other than the fact that it's a really great book. The characters infuriate me on several occasions throughout the novel and that doesn't change no matter how many times I read it, but that's part of the journey. They're learning to get over their...wait for it....pride and prejudice in order to finally get along. Bet you didn't see that one coming right? ;) My AP history teacher makes fun of me if he sees me with this book and starts spouting off in a British accent about tea and Mr. Darcy. It's too girly for him. Pshhh he can go back to his Lovecraft and H. G. Wells and leave my Victorian romance novels alone.


I love the artwork on this version!
The back.

 In other news, my Batman comics showed up! I'm...not actually sure if you guys care about comics, but just in case a Batman fan sees this I'm going to include them. Batman: Dead to Rights is a compilation/graphic novel that collects Batman Confidential #22-25 and 29-30. It's basically set way early in Batman's career when he captures the Joker for the very first time. Ever. Of course, the police have never dealt with him before and no one is taking him seriously so they underestimate him. Underestimating the Joker tends to get people killed so not a great move on their part.




It takes you through his questioning and trial and all that jazz and with his flippant jokes and remarks infuriating everyone left and right it's a really amusing read. It's...comic fluff. Amusing comic fluff. Also, the artwork is great. Nothing bothers me more than a great story with horrible artwork. At least if a story sucks but it's got nice art I have something pretty to look at ^^





The other set of comics I got is Robin II: The Joker's Wild! (1991) (FYI, if I feature a new comic I get it's probably going to have the Joker in it. Just a head's up. I love comic-verse Mr. J so much.) In this one Batman has left Robin (Tim Drake) on his own in the city for the first time. He's excited to patrol on  his own...until he learns that the Joker's escaped Arkham. (Again....)


Hey look, I'm reflected in the silver ^^

The artwork for this one is pretty good too. I love the older feel it has. (which makes sense considering these are 20 years old by now.) I like the story of Batman Confidential better, but this just feels like a real comic to me. I don't know, it's just like the feeling I get when I buy a new record.






Well, that's all for now. I think it's fun to show off the comics I get because honestly, not everything I do all the time is goff stuffz and I'm a major nerd. And hey, it's Bat-man so I'm giving a slight nod to the subculture aren't I? ^^ Anyone else out there like comics? Graphic novels? Manga? I'm curious!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

DIY~ Patches!

Somehow amidst all my make-up work (Missing a week of school is NOT something I'd ever recommend) I've managed to make some time for myself. We found the old Xbox, (which led to a day of Halo before I returned to my lovely PS3...) I finally got around to watching Constantine (Which wasn't bad, though if you're going to watch a movie with demons and Keanu Reeves I suggest The Devil's Advocate), and I ordered a new Batman comic from Ebay because I'm a gigantic nerd and couldn't help myself ^^

More importantly, I made some patches for my jackets! I'm not sure exactly what will go where yet, but I'll figure that out some other time. Anyone out there that shirks away from DIY because you think it's difficult...it's not! Really, things as simple as a homemade patch or hair accessory can make all the difference in the world in an outfit and you'll have something unique that you can boast about. (Not to stroke our egos or anything...After all, everyone needs a self-esteem boost once in a while ;))

I used a stencil for these.

And these are the ones I free-handed.
I don't know which Specimen one I like better yet.

For anyone starting out with DIY patches, stencils are your best friend. They make neat letters and shapes a million times easier. Fabric paint is super cheap and you can cut up a pair of old jeans for the fabric or just use any plain fabric you have lying around. (Though really, denim is one of the better options.) For this last patch I cut up a striped vest that was too small for me.

You can't really see the bat. It's black though.
Also, I need to actually sew it together.


Those are just the first batch. I've got a bunch to go, but I can only concentrate on painting neatly for so long before my hand cramps up in protest ^^

Now, I need some advice. I have this lovely brooch I recently received from my grandmother. However, there's a slight problem. It's missing whatever it was that used to be on it...I want to put something in it's place, but I'm not exactly sure what. Any ideas?


Saturday, September 8, 2012

DeviantArtist Feature~ AbigailLarson

Remember when I did one of these a few months ago on CountANDRA? Well I have quite a few artists I'd like to feature on here and the next one in line is AbigailLarson.

Here are a few pieces of info from her Deviantart.

What do you use to make your artwork?
I use Winsor & Newton watercolor paints, Arches hot press watercolor paper, Strathmore drawing paper, mechanical pencils, and Adobe Photoshop Elements to make my pieces.

Who are your inspirations?
I adore the work of Arthur Rackham, Edward Gorey, Edmund Dulac, John Bauer, Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Tony DiTerlizzi, Chris Riddell, Gris Grimly, and hundreds of others. I'm not only inspired by painters, but also musicians, film makers, and writers.

Do you have a(n) artbook/novel/comic book/something I can physically hold with your work in it?
"Midnight Phantasmagory" was just released, and I have two pieces in that, as well as "Spectrum:18" which you can order on Amazon.com. I'm working on several books right now, so it's going to be a while before anything is finalized and released, but I'll certainly let the world know when that happens!











This is the link to her DeviantArt
She has her website here.
Her facebook page is located over yonder.
And her shop is found here.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Obituary Challenge

I told you guys I would get around to it!

So basically I'm out of the hospital (and I have that awful IV out) and going home with antibiotics. This thing sure was stubborn...I received IV antibiotics for 48 hours and it's still going to take a while to get rid of. All I can say is I'm happy to be home where I can have real food and I'm going to put this thing behind me. Of course, I'm not going to school tomorrow or Friday so if I do the math (7 classes x 6 days) I've got 42 lessons and homework assignments to make up. In other words, I'm screwed.

However, I'm going to use this experience positively *cough* and use it to create my obituary. (Real positive Megan...) I was tagged by OddGhoulOut over at Bats in the Belfry, Cats in the Attic. Thank you!


I'm only adding this because, well it's pretty. It didn't come with the challenge ^^
 
Rules:

  1. Link back to whoever tagged you.
  2. Put these rules in your tag. 
  3. Write an obituary about yourself (it can be as funny or as serious as you like).
  4. Write about a paragraph or two (or more if necessary) in length.
  5. You may tag up to 10 people, and be sure to link to them.
  6. Have fun, because creative writing is one of the greatest joys in life!

Obituary:

Megan was brought in to the Orlando Hospital late last night. Everyone was momentarily shocked to note the lack of the usual black makeup, which we had assumed had adhered to her face at this point. What seemed at first to be a deep foot infection caused by bacteria actually had a more sinister cause. The deadly affliction occurred shortly after she accompanied her friends to their church in order to participate in the 'Boys VS Girls' event and was forced to wear pink. The restraint she showed in not going off about the sexist implications of the color choice only worsened the onset of the infection. Unwilling, prolonged exposure to the sun was the ultimate blow, and made saving her a futile prospect. Despite a reapplication of black nail polish and viewing of the Adams Family movies and Dracula she did not pull through. She passed away peacefully, listening to Bauhaus and reading the Picture of Dorian Gray. Shortly before, she finished her charcoal rendition of The Joker which she leaves to her little brother. Her ashes will be pressed into a vinyl containing a mix of her favorite songs and left with her family.

I really did do most of that at the hospital ^^ Also, I really did have to wear pink at that church event I was strong-armed into... it wasn't pleasant. Not so much the color as the fact that we had to do it and they picked a color so commonly considered "girly". But I won't go into that.

Oh, and I'm not really kidding about the ashes. You can really do it! Look!

And now to go alphabetically down my blog list and try to find people I don't believe have participated yet...
  1. A Goth in College
  2. Bethezda's Preoccupations
  3. Goth Mary Poppins
  4. Gothically Yours...
  5. Memoirs of a Scream Queen
  6. Milking the Rolling Cow
  7. Nocturne Street
  8. The Everyday Goth
  9. The Halloween Ladybug

 

Sunday, September 2, 2012

DIY~ Crayon Pumpkins

Autumn is officially upon us! (More or less) Of course, here in Florida it's likely we won't get much cold weather until January and the leaves don't change color, but it's nice to sit inside with a cup of hot cocoa, turn the AC down, close the curtains and pretend it's cold enough to wear layers of velvet and stompy boots. (In reality, last Christmas I sat outside on the dock in shorts and ate icecream.)

Right now, I'm in the hospital trying to navigate blogger on this stupid phone and get a post out to you guys. Basically, the infection and blood poisoning has gotten worse and the antibiotics weren't helping. (In fact not only am I allergic to Penicillin, it seems I'm allergic to that as well. Only small hives though, nothing like what happens when I take penicillin.)

They took some blood already. *shudder* Honestly, I'd rather have someone cut me or something then stick that needle in my arm. I'm deathly afraid of needles. I don't like any kind of thing under my skin that isn't a piercing.  That's the main reason I'm doing this now. (with only my left hand) I'm trying to distract myself from the IV drip and new antibiotics they've got me on. Moving my right arm results in burning pain as the catheter thingy touches my vein wall so that's a no-go. And you guys get to listen to me blather on in an effort to think about something else.  If I'm lucky and my white blood cell count is good then they'll send me home. I don't know what I'll do if I have to spend the night here.

I was going to do OddGhoulOut's obituary challenge, but it seems a little too morbid when I'm in the hospital. I promise I'll get to that next! Instead I found this.

I was on pinterest (The link to mine is somewhere over to the right) and I saw the most adorable idea for pumpkins! I don't like to cut mine, for the simple reason that I don't like cleaning all the guts out of them. Normally I'll paint them or think of some other new creative way to spruce them up. So I saw these and decided I might just have to try it.


You'd have an endless amount of crayons to choose from. Just imagine the color combinatons! I see a few black pumpkins in my future, perhaps with orange or red or purple and silver! I wonder how time-consuming it'll be. It can't take that long I don't think. Though you'll have to be careful with the hot wax. I can't imagine that would be pleasant to get on your skin.  


This was my favorite pumpkin last year.
The other two are my little brother's.

Well it's taken me a very long time to type this so hopefully they'll be back with my blood work soon. *crosses fingers*