Happy Day of the Dead Bird, folks.
I'm spending my weekend getting stuff done.
I expect many stories containing ample hilarity upon the conclusion of the holiday!
Question.
If I made it a goal to see every vampire flick available, which ones should I see first that I haven't already?
I've already seen:
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dracula (Legosi)
the Spanish version of that same Dracula
Dracula 2000
Dracula's Daughter
From Dusk Till Dawn
House of Dracula
Interview with the Vampire (oops! Almost forgot this one!)
Love at First Bite
Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Queen of the Damned
Salem's Lot
Shadow of the Vampire
Son of Dracula
The Dark Prince
The Horror of Dracula
The Hunger
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it sorta counts?)
The Lost Boys
Underworld
Underworld 2
Vampyr
Van Helsing
and some crappy porno about vampires. Hey, it was on cable.
It's mine! Allll miiiiiiine! Muahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!
I love Lomography. I haven't always known that was what it was called, but I've always loved it. So, I finally went to the Lomo site and bought myself a brand spankin'-new Diana+. Ever since then, I've been checking my order status like I'm obsessive-compulsive. Well, I am, but my excitement over this camera isn't helping me is what I'm saying.
Many pictures will be taken! Prepare to be bombarded!
Radiohead release their seventh studio album today and it's only available online and you set your own price. Will you buy the album? Do you buy the idea?
I preordered it the instant it was first announced, and I was tapping my fingers waiting for "morning," UK-time last night... waiting for that precious download link. Radiohead fangirl? I'd be offended at the suggestion, but I can't deny the truth. I love that band. I'd bake cookies for them any time.
Allowing fans to set their own price for DRM-free files is brilliant. It makes the music accessible to everyone, which I would think inspires listeners to pay more for what they're getting. Radiohead is treating their fans like fans rather than thieves, and the fans know the money is going where it should. To the artist. Not the Suits.
As for the album itself, it hasn't quite sunk in yet. You know how some of you felt after reading the last Harry Potter book? That's sort of how I feel after waiting all this time for the new release. I'll have to listen to it a few more times.
I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately.
Most of them have to do with a loved one suffering some serious injury or being angry with me. Last night, for example, I dreamed that Matt had disappeared. He wasn't answering his phone. No reply to text messages or e-mails either. I went to where he lives but couldn't get inside to check on him because he wasn't answering to let me in the building. I thought about breaking in, but my fear of embarrassment prohibited me from doing so in case he was okay all along and would think I was one of those crazy women.
But that was just a thought to comfort me because somehow (dreams tend to leave out the filler details), I knew that he wasn't just avoiding me. Something bad had happened. "This has to be a bad dream," I kept telling myself. "He can't be dead. He CAN'T be." Funny thing is, I didn't know it really *was* a bad dream (and we all have those dreams where we know we're dreaming, but we can't make it stop). So, I was crying and calling and searching like you do when someone's stolen your wallet, and you just can't believe you haven't lost it under the car seat or something... and then I woke up. Just like that.
My first thought was, "Oh!" As in... oh yeah. I was asleep all this time. I've felt drained all day, though. Isn't it funny how that happens? I mean, nothing happened, but I still feel like I really went through all that. Earlier that day, I had taken a nap and dreamed Matt was pissed off at me for talking while he was trying to read something. We were sitting in my Grandma Betty's kitchen - she had made coconut cream pie - and Matt simply did not care that she, having been dead for nearly seven years, wasn't supposed to be asking us if the meringue was all right.
It's been like that every time I fall asleep for the last week or so. I can't doze off for a minute without something horrible going on in my head. I'm blaming it on allergies for now. If not that, then I'm gonna go with the theory that all you people give me nightmares! Ya freaks! FREAKS.
I'd like to dream about bunnies tonight. Little bunnies in clover fields. Hop hop hop. Oh look! There's a rainbow. Yay.
I've finally finished scanning all 97* pages of The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained. It's all uploaded to Flickr in individual pages, but I've also uploaded a high-res PDF to the Internet Archive if you'd like to download and print a copy for yourself. The copyright has long expired, so it's public domain, which means FREEDOOOOOM FREEDOOOOOM YOU GOT TA GIVE FOR WHAT YOU TAaaaAAAAAKE!! *sets clothes on fire*
I apologize for that.
*technically 98, but I didn't scan the blank back side of the front cover, which the book actually counts as a page.
I love Burbank. Have I mentioned that I love Burbank? There's a section of town that's stuck in a bygone era, and Magnolia Blvd is by far my favorite street. Door-to-door antique shops on both sides of the street. Need something more modern? There's a gigantic thrift store, too. I spent most of Saturday in the shops, which is an oddity in itself. I normally don't like antique shops, see. I like the stuff you can find in them, but the shops themselves give me the willies, and I can't be in there by myself without uttering a quiet "Eeeeeeeeughh." I mean, they're full of old things owned by dead people. Dead people! And what were those dead people doing with stuffed vultures and marionette monsters anyway? What's the value in eyeless baby dolls? Why does the shop owner always have to look like Momma from Throw Momma From the Train??? I DON'T KNOW.
But it's different on a Saturday in Burbank when the shops are crowded with all the local hipsters. Those types give me the willies, too, but when you put hipsters and stuff owned by dead people together, I guess they cancel each other out.
ANYWAY, so I went into this one store whose name escapes me because there are so many of them - and I picked up the most ridiculously AWESOME book.
The jury's still out on when it was written, but my guess is that it's a 1920's printing of a far older publication, given the image on the cover versus the language used inside. The Wise, All-Knowing Vanessa says: "I did some research on Henry J. Wehman, the author of the book. He's
referenced in a book about folksongs, that lists him as writing in
1894. There's another reference for the publishing company, in 1905.
Based on that, I'd say you're looking at something between the years 1890
and 1915. Maybe even as late as 1920, but I wouldn't go much further... Just found another reference to them: 'At the turn of the century the
New York publisher Wehman Brothers printed a variety of "dialect"
anthologies for popular consumption.' These guys were all over the
place as far as content matter, but all their stuff seems to be similar
to what you have."
This winner contains such gems as...
"Embracing is vulgarly called hugging or squeezing and is an operation of endearment that lovers are very apt to fall into when sitting alone by the side of each other."
(From the Husband's Commandments) "Thou shalt not go to Women's Rights meetings neither to speak thyself nor to hear others speak."
"Courtship of a young Girl with whom you are not personally acquainted."
And a long list of flirtation codes involving hats, gloves, fans, parasols... and postage stamps. For example, did you know that twirling your parasol around means "Be careful! We are watched." ? Never twirl your parasol idly again!
Sadly, the pages are so old and brown that little bits crumple off every time I open it, so I'm scanning it for preservation. I've done about nine pages so far. I'll upload a few more soon. Enjoy:
Show us the best creative artist or crafter that you know personally.
A lot of my friends are artists, and amazing ones, too. Each person has a different skill. For some, it's photography. Others are painters. Some do the arts-and-crafts thing. Sure, I'm probably biased, but that doesn't make it any less true that my friends are brilliant creators.
I want to do shout-outs to all of them, but I'm worried I'll accidentally leave someone out. So, here's what I did. I wrote a bunch of names down, closed my eyes, spun the paper around, and then made a dot. The name closest to that dot is....
Chia!
I luffs her kat and dawg pitchers. Aside from just plain old good picture-takin', her subjects are really, really cute.
Some faves o' mine:
The Moron with the Mercedes, whom I will now refer to as MM, is still parking in the same (2) spot(s). I don't think he saw my handiwork yesterday, though, which is too bad because I think I paved the way. This morning, MM was flanked by an SUV and a BMW who each trespassed into MM's "auto preservation zone." I smiled on the inside.
I frowned on the inside and outside and anywhere it's possible to frown yesterday, though, when I scraped my own car while trying to squeeze into my narrow spot at home. I got out thinking, "Oh man. I've scraped the paint again," and audibly gasped (just like in Hitchcock films, it was classic) when I saw that THE DOOR WAS CRUSHED. I barely even felt it! WTF? You couldn't have shocked me more if you'd shown me a positive pregnancy test.
Well, actually, now that my initial shock has eased, it's not as bad as I remember. And, hey, at least now I know I can actually pop my side mirrors in and out. No shizzling you - I didn't know. I consider this a win, really.
Allow me to get technical for a moment.
Has Apple exhausted its competition in style and popularity so much that they're now beating out contenders for the ugly stick?
Check out the new iPod Nano. I'd take one if Apple said, "Take one, they're free." I'm not saying they're crappy players. But if we're talking design, here, I think somebody's homework was eaten by the family spaniel. Remixed colors?! Remixed from my grandma's linens.
(Hooray! to Apple for releasing the full-size iPods in metal, though. Call me when you do away with the fingerprint playground chrome on the back.)
