Quick update on me: I'm not working at the moment. I am on hold to go back to work in January, so I'm trying to be a proper freelancer and be....free. I'll be doing a bit of traveling (I'm sure you'll all look forward to another version of Shit I Watched On The Plane) and I'm trying to enjoy my time at home (while still keeping options open for full time employment).
I could tell you about how on Friday mornings I watch a couple episodes of Fantasy Island. Mr. Roarke is as officious as ever and every time they have a story line with a dancer, they use a "stunt dancer" (my terminology...I'm sure they don't even get a credit). It's always a woman who looks marginally like the actress she's dancing for, but you can TOTALLY TELL. Disappointing.
I could also tell you how I talk to various animals I see when I'm out walking. Last week it was an adorable gray mouse I saw in someone's garden. Today I saw a raven. I said "Hey, Tall" (it was huge) and it spat back, "Nevermore." Dick.
Or I could tell you how I watched the new Ghostbusters the other day. It was really good. Made me laugh out loud multiple times (Chris Hemsworth is great in it although I missed his Thor voice). My biggest takeaway, though, is how it seemed that Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy stepped back and really let Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon shine. Both those women were fantastic in it and if that's really how it went, it makes me like Kristen and Melissa even more. Also, I adored that all the original Ghostbusters had cameos (including Annie Potts!) and the film was dedicated to Harold Ramis.
But instead, one of my favorite people in the world asked to be a Blogguest for the Halloween post. You've met her here before - say hello to Lisa Franklin. She and I bonded back in the day over horror films, so this is extra special for me. Her post gives us her spooky favorites - cross genres! It's amazing and I highly recommend you click on each link she's included - you won't be sorry.
(I suggest pairing this whole post with a pumpkin spice latte - you'll see why)
Enjoy, my friends. And be careful out there tonight.
Spooky Faces – Guinea Pigs and Pumpkin Spice Latte
Okay. So, maybe I have watched this video at least 10 times and like classic literature and film, I get more out of it each time I repeat the experience.
“What are you watching?”
“Watching an ad for Pumpkin Spice Coffee”.
Listen to the orange and white guinea pig on the left. The bossy one on the right is the loudest and drowns him out a lot, but he says some funny shit. And, my favorite is when the orange and white guinea pig (GP), puzzled at the flavor of pumpkin, says, “But pumpkin doesn’t taste like anything. It’s like squishy nothing.” And the bossy GP says, “It’s what they put in pumpkin to make it more interesting, like cinnamon and nutmeg.” At the same time the orange/white furry fella is saying, “And spooky faces”. Bossy says, “What did you just say?” “Spooky faces. They carve them…” And Bossy says irritatingly, “No, that’s something else”. “Ohhhh…kay….”, says orange/white sarcastically.
For some reason, this amuses the hell out of me every frigging time. My friend Traci and I will just randomly say, “Spooky faces” because it cracks us up. Don’t know if it is just me, but give it a listen/watch…and then do it again about ten times. Ahhh…. Life is spooky good….
Spooky Music – Swans Latest Release “The Glowing Man” (album)
Wanna hear some spooky music while you are going to sleep or running or to accompany that 4:20 break? I heard Swans’ newest release “The Glowing Man” (played by KALX in Berkeley, which I stream at work… Love you KALX!!) and thought it was the Butthole Surfers. Then KALX played it a day later and I Shazamed it and noted that it was Swans.
I have come late to the Swans dark party (“The Glowing Man” is their 14th release and they claim their last). Back in the 90’s when I lived in San Francisco, a friend of mine told me they were “industrial noise” and so I never paid much attention to them, not being into that genre. After hearing a song from their newest a few months ago, I downloaded “The Glowing Man” and listened to it at the beach with my then new Bose headphones and… kapow! I was completely hooked! I listened to it when I ran and I listened to it when I slept (it would violently wake me up in the middle of the night when the music would suddenly crash voluminously. Always accompanied by lucid dreaming.).
“The Glowing Man” is meditatively trancy and builds up like a cresting wave that keeps rising and rising and rising but doesn’t drop when you expect it to (actually, I said the same thing about labor). The tension becomes almost unbearable and yet it still keeps building upon itself. When the crash finally comes, it is startling and sensually gratifying (not so much giving birth…).
I hear traces of Sonic Youth, the aforementioned Surfers, a taste of “Blows Against the Empire” guitar, and Swans’ own unique brand of dark. Front man Michael Gira has said in past interviews that he gets some of his lyrics from a part of him called, “Joseph”. The title song, “The Glowing Man” contains the following lyrics:
“Joseph is standing behind my back
Joseph is digging his hands in my chest
Joseph is drinking the light in my lung
Joseph is moving his tongue in my neck
Joseph is riding a vein in my head
Joseph is cutting my arm on his bed
Joseph is making by body fly”
Gira sings these lyrics with an intensity that gives you goosebumps and sucks you into his dark world.
My 16 year old daughter, Ari, and I took the train up to L.A. to see “Swans” live – for their supposedly last tour. The band is known for being uncomfortably loud, and we had come prepared with earplugs - - three different kinds – and they lived up to their rep. Playing non-stop for almost three hours, it was less concert and more a spiritual experience. We stood swaying, transfixed. The bass smacked into our chests and the drone of the music had the audience rocking back and forth as if we all were at the Wailing Wall and Gira some rabid rabbi. I had known it was going to be a unique experience, not just a concert. Ari loved it. She has only been to two other concerts: Rhianna and Of Monsters and Men/Amason. I have been to an endless amount of shows and she and I both said it was one of the best concerts we had ever been to. I hope it remains that way for her.
For a beautifully written review, read: “Unraveling the Infinite – Swans’ ‘The Glowing Man’” by Dave Cantrell. http://stereoembersmagazine.com/unraveling-infinite-swans-glowing-man/
More spooky music: The band My Bloody Valentine. Still holds up…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrMjc4oz0mY
Spooky Stories – “The Magnus Archives”
I like falling asleep to creepy stories so I downloaded the podcast, “The Magnus Archives”.
Welcome to the Magnus Institute where Jonathan Sims (the name of the podcast’s writer and the name used for the head archivist of the Institute) records the statements of individuals who have had unexplained experiences that include forays into the macabre, psychological horror, and the grotesque.
Writing in this genre has rarely been accomplished better than Sims’ writing is here. I find “Archives” to be as clever as Rod Serling’s stories and as well written as some of the other writers’ that Serling had on “The Twilight Zone” including Richard Matheson & Ray Bradbury. Fighting words indeed. But give “The Magnus Archives” a listen in a dark room, at night, by yourself……
Spooky Movie – The Haunting (1963)
This movie holds a very special place in my spooky heart. I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw it, but I have seen it many times, including on the big screen, and it is number one on my personal list of scary films.
Participants are invited to spend a few evenings at the haunted Hill House by a researcher on psychic phenomena so that he may record any paranormal events that may ensue. And ensue they do. The invitees have been specifically selected because of their past experiences with the paranormal. These include two women: Eleanor, a lonely “spinster” who comes to Hill House to get away from her own desperate life and Theo, who has ESP and an eye for Eleanor. I can’t remember if the story by Shirley Jackson had the not-so-veiled tones of lesbianism in her story, but this film plays them out in 1963’s nuanced glory. According to Wikipedia, this was one of the first films to “depict a lesbian as feminine and not predatory. According to Harris (who plays Eleanor), however, film censors demanded that Theo never be shown to touch Eleanor in a sensual or suggestive way, to keep the lesbianism less obvious”.
The beautiful black and white cinematography and editing creates a stunning visual horror masterpiece. But what I believe makes the film so memorably frightening are the sound effects. Director, Robert Wise, used his past experiences as a sound editor to impeccably frightening use by bordering silence with breathtaking noises. When Hill House comes alive, it screams, pounds, and pants. Doors deep breathe, footsteps patter down hallways, a deafening heartbeat is heard. Although the viewer and the film’s characters see very little in the way of the origins of these sounds, the aural assault has wormed its way into your psyche. You clutch at a blanket or a loved one in an effort to soothe yourself from this fingernails-on-chalkboard sensual attack.
This movie should be paired with a human you trust.
And pair your October with all of the spookiness above!! Happy All Souls Eve everyone!
xoxo...hashtagSuesLife and Lisa
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