Netflix Viewing

Big fan of Ruth Wilson and this has been on my list for a while...

Event: Posion Queen / Събитие: Отровната Кралица

Hey, Fashion Fighters!

There is a new Event Boss at the Fashion Arena!

The Posion Queen Venom is here and rules the Fashion Arena
by challenges everyone.
****
Здравейте, Модни Бойци!

Нов бос се появи на Модната Арена!

Отровната Кралица Вином е тук и владее Модната Арена,
предизвиквайки всички!

What you need to know:

The bosses appear rarely in the Fashion Arena and
they stay just for a 6 hours or sooner if it be defeated, so that's men only few hours.
 In this case the event will start from 18:00 to 00:00
****
Какво трябва да знаете:

Босовете се появяват изключително рядко на Модната Арената,

само за 6 часа или по- малко, ако бъдт победен, което означава само няколко часа. 
В този случай събитието ще стартира от 18:00 до 00:00

The players have 6 hours to defeat the Poison Queen.
If she be defeated before, she leaves the Fashion Arena and
she will give you a part of her outfit as a reward.
***

Играчите имат 6 часа да победят Отровната Кралицата.

Ако бъде победена преди преди да напусне Модната Арена,

оставя като награда част от своя тоалет.

If you won at least one duel you guarantee her outfit.
The Top 251 players of the ranking list will get a special face accessory,

so you must be one of the players invested most energy to win duels.
You'll get the rewards when the Poison Queen is defited and liavs tha Fashion Arena.

***

Ако победите поне в един дуел, вие си гарантирате нейния тоалет.

Играчите в Топ 251 от ранг листа ще получат специлен аксесоар за лице,
така че трябва да сте един от най-добире вложилиенергия в победни дуели.
Ще получите наградите, когато Отровната Кралица бъде победена и напусне Модната Арена.

The Posion Queen will give you awards in the following categories: 
Wardrobe: Accessories, Gloves, Pants, Shirts, Shoes

***

Отровната Кралица ще ви предложи награди в следните категории:

Гардероб: Аксесоари, Блузи, Обукви, Панталони, Ръкавици

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Inspired by:
Вдъхновено от:

Venom

xoxo
Prikazna

Collection: The Fashion Bandits / Колекция: Стилни бандитки

Hey, Fashion Fighters!

There is a new collection in mall Popular 
The Fashion Bandits
***
Задравейте, Приказни!
Нова колекция е пусната в мол Популър 
Стилни бандитки

Колекцията ще остане в мола от 07.06.2018 до 14.06.2018; 14:00ч.

съдържа 40 артикула 11 за ЛейдиДолари, 7 за Изумруди и 6 за Диаманти.

The collection will be on the Mall from 07.06.2018 to 14.06.2018
there are 40 items 11 for Ladydollars, 7 for Emeralds and 6 for Diamonds.

Също така, колякцията включва и прическа в Салона за Красота.
***
Also the collection incluted a hairstyle in the Beauty Salon

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Вдъхновение от:

Inspired by:

Ocean's 8

xoxo
Prikazna

Picnic at Hanging Rock

This classic is getting a remake apparently.

I was obsessed with the original Peter Weir film (more at this previous post) after seeing it a rep house theatre back in the early 80s. I tried to find out if the story was based on actual events. I even ordered the book through a local book store.

Every few years I revisit the story and see what new developments there have been. Like when, following the author's death, a concluding but left out chapter, made its reappearance!

So much has happened since I last looked at this particular story including a movement to take references to the story and Miranda (one of the two girls who disappear) out of the interpretation for the actual Hanging Rock site. You can read more about that and other things here on Wikipedia.

And here now, is the latest development...a tv series....

In Search of...

...Frankenstein!

We finally have almost everything we own under the same roof. And that includes ALL the books we've had in storage here and there.  I tend to give my books away whereas my husband does not. So the bulk of the boxes we've been unpacking are my husband's (he is a teacher as well as a bibliophile).

I did find a few books of mine I'd forgotten about. Including In Search of Frankenstein by Radu Florescu. I used to have In Search of Dracula too, but I think I gave that to someone. Florescu was the first guy to link Bram Stoker's vampire with Vlad the Impaler, by the way.

In case you are interested here are a couple of links to articles about Florescu after he died in 2014.

Radu Florescu, Scholar Who Linked Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, Dies at 88 - NYTimes
Radu Florescu - obituary - The Telegraph

I get the sense that after In Search of Dracula the Frankenstein book was disappointing for some as it looks more at the influences on Mary Shelley as the writer of the story rather than searching for a real Dr. Frankenstein or reanimated patchwork corpse (although there's a bit of that too).

Mary Shelley would have been exposed to much of the era's budding scientific research and breakthroughs through her father and philosopher / publisher, William Godwin (explore Shelley's Ghost a virtual exhibit about Mary and William's relationship). There was also the inspiration and influence of the gloomy and rainy Swiss vacation in 1816 when Byron, Shelley, et al entertained themselves with ghost stories at Villa Diodati.

For more on that 'holiday' you can read the fictional re-imagining in Haunted Summer by Anne Edwards. Or try watching the more dramatic movie versions in Gothic (1986) or Haunted Summer (1988). Gothic is the somewhat campier version but features the mesmerising Gabriel Byrne as Byron. Worth seeking out for his performance alone.

The Changeling

Life has been hectic...more on that later -- so I've found myself woefully behind in my posts. Also in the Halloween spirit. So to try and get the old ectoplasm flowing I decided last week to watch The Changeling. I was going to save it for Mat Night but I was particularly tired this day and needed some couch time. Besides there will be other things going on Mat Night to keep us busy.

So, I first came to know about this film because an old boyfriend loved it and thought that, other than The Wicker Man (1973), it was one of the scarier movies he'd seen. Now maybe he'd described enough of the plot to me that I ended up thinking I'd seen it. I was familiar with the bouncing ball scene and I remember there'd been a tragedy and a subsequent move by George C Scott's character but after that everything else was like watching something I hadn't seen before! And that was great because this is a really good spooky vengeful ghost story; similar to What Lies Beneath (2000) or Lady in White (1988). Definitely worth a look if you haven't seen it.

I'm finally acquainted with Kolchak: The Night Stalker!

Any Night Stalker fans out there? As in Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I'm new to the TV series and movies, and I'm feeling like the last one to the Kolchak party. :)

A handful of you have recommended Kolchak: The Night Stalker to me. I tried to find the old show at the library, to no avail. I wanted to binge watch through it. So imagine my happiness to hear that a local TV station, MeTV had decided to show Kolchak this season! What great timing. So far, I've watched a couple episodes and the movie The Night Stalker. The library did have that! Actually, it was a double feature DVD, including The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler.

So far, the big difference between the TV series and the first movie is the seriousness. I found the TV episodes more funny and the movie very intense. Watching the movie made me see the connection everyone's been telling me about between Kolchak and The X-Files. The shows have in common a supernatural element, but also the very strong message that there are powers-that-be that want our characters to keep their mouths shut about all they discover.

OK, so briefly for those who aren't familiar with the Carl Kolchak character, he's played by Darren McGavin. In my mind Darren McGavin is Kolchak. No one else gets to play him, nope. It's just one of those times when an actor becomes the character they're portraying.

So, Kolchak is a reporter who somehow keeps finding his way into the middle of murder, mayhem, and the supernatural. He's a real go-getter. It seems the minute there's a murder or a car wreck, there's Kolchak snapping away with his camera and running his tape recorder. He's always first to the scene. There's something strange nowadays about seeing anyone who isn't the police just show up to a crime scene and take up-close pictures of a body without being told to stop. That doesn't happen now, does it? For that matter, was this happening in the 70s?

Kolchak is always making waves. He's the one speaking out at press conferences and whipping zingers at his cranky boss. Kolchak's boss could have been hanging out with Clark Kent's boss, Perry White. But then, they might have clawed each other's eyes out. I'm just saying he's in that same school of the constantly yelling, ready to explode, newspaper bosses you see in old TV shows and movies. He tries to hold Kolchak back, but no one is going to hold Kolchak back.

Cranky boss man

It's inspirational really, watching Kolchak bounce back from every encounter with someone who tells him to go away, keep quiet, come up with a different news report, etc. I was struck watching the Night Stalker movie with how current it felt. A lot of people are giving the news media a hard time today, and boy does Kolchak get a hard time. I thought the scariest thing in The Night Stalker wasn't the vampire, but the district attorney and sheriff who are trying to keep Kolchak from sharing the truth by any means necessary. Man, were those guys hatable.

I could understand the frustration of Kolchak's boss, though. He needed to take a deep breath, but still. He was up against this catch 22 of either telling the community that there's a vampire on the loose and causing mass chaos or possibly endangering them more by hiding the truth.

Look into my eyes...

So about that vampire... I'm not spoiling too much here. I think most viewers could put 2 + 2 together when there are blood drained bodies showing up. This vampire wasn't too scary. He was in that kind of Hammer school of the tall, silent guy who stands there with his red eyes. Except, he isn't intimidating like Christopher Lee. I really wasn't scared by the parts of the movie he was in. The scariest parts of this for me are when the women are walking alone at night down an alley, etc. Because that's scary for real. I didn't see this as much of a horror movie so much as social commentary.

As for the TV show, as I said before, it's a lot more funny. I can tell Darren McGavin is just having fun being himself there. I can tell that a lot of what we're seeing there is actually him. Here, I thought he'd made up his character in A Christmas Story! But now I see that as Kolchak or "The Old Man" in A Christmas Story, we're seeing an awful lot of the real deal. Speaking of A Christmas Story, it goes to show how many times I've seen it, that I could feel like Darren McGavin was cheating on his wife from that movie with his girlfriend in The Night Stalker. I found myself being irritated with him for having that girlfriend and then I remembered how often I'd seen him with his movie wife in A Christmas Story.

"You were jealous! Jealous I won!"

Remember that? And here he is messing with my mind as Kolchak with his new girlfriend:

He's looking miserable with both women, and they with him, in these photos, but that's all I could find.

As for the sequel movie, The Night Strangler, it's much like The Night Stalker. It give some closure to those who were left with an uneasy feeling after watching the first movie. A few pieces of the first plot are dealt with and some aren't. There's a new supernatural problem, that seems a lot like the vampire in the first movie, but not quite. You'll just have to see. Kolchak has a new girlfriend in this one and I've noticed there's a romantic interest in some of the TV episodes I've seen. So I'll just have to get over him not being married to Melinda Dillon from A Christmas Story.

Back to the TV show, so far my favorite episode of the four I've watched has been "The Spanish Moss Murders" which I'll share here:

And a link to the video: The Spanish Moss Murders

This episode had the most creative plot of those I've watched. It felt very X-Files in that way where it seemed almost realistic. Like, even though the thought of this creature is somewhat outlandish, it's presented in a way where you think "There may be something to this..." You know, the way The X-Files could make you feel like there was some scientific basis to something that you don't even believe in!

I like shows that make me feel like a wild scenario has some basis in reality. I like to feel that at least in a TV or movie environment, these things are possible. We've all seen those shows that leave you saying "They wouldn't say or do that!" What I'm trying to say is that there are unbelievable things happening in a very believable environment here, and I appreciate that.

So, for those of you who aren't familiar with Kolchak, I recommend getting a hold of one of his movies or checking out the old episodes of the TV show on MeTV. Although, I've started to feel like the last person on earth to find out about him. So, for all of you who are familiar with him already, go enjoy some reruns! If you get MeTV, the show is on Sunday evenings at 9:00 PM (Central Time).

And for all you Kolchak fans, MeTV put together some trivia about the show:

11 REASONS 'KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER' IS THE COOLEST, CREEPIEST SHOW ON 1970S TELEVISION 

Spooky Movie Night!

Tonight the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew......meet Dracula!

 Enjoy the cheese :)

Spooky Movie Night!

Slightly better version available on VIMEO here.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Well, this looks proper scary!

Spooky Movie Night!

Oh, I like this one...



But if old 1940s films ain't ur thing then check out the horrible-in-its-own-way 2000 remake...

And on a slightly different note...

I love the mind of Jordan Peele...

Spooky Movie Night!

I've been saying for years that 'someone' should film a good gothic horror on the Avalon in Newfoundland. I mean, come on, the place is FULL of fog at certain times of the year. And the capital, St. John's, is full of shadows. The town rises on a steep vertical from the harbour front with crazy little lanes connecting streets...some through people's back yards!

I remember walking through the streets and lanes of a seemingly deserted downtown St. John's late one July night through a hazy mist. It was perfect for a Hitchcock thriller or Hammer Horror. The fog seems to dampen sound so it was eerily quiet...except for the foghorn.

I mean seriously, it was a scene right out of The Fog!

And after recently watching both the original and remake I gotta say the original is much better. Sure the effects may not be as 'modern' but I still got a chill watching the original. Whereas the remake...well, I didn't even finish it.

Loop Day - A most peculiar day

If you are a Ransom Riggs fan you know today is loop day. There are many ways to celebrate. Check them out here or use the one idea below...

Source

For those of you impatient for the release of the movie then you will be happy to know today also sees the release of Ransom Rigg's new publication, Tales of the Peculiar.

Halloween Costume Ideas

Recently saw the new Ghostbusters. I liked it! Much better than I'd been led to believe. Cameos by most original cast members (even Slimer) was cute touch. Kate McKinnon stole the show. I felt Melissa McCarthy's character was a misstep; straightest character I've seen her do and it didn't feel right somehow. Suspect there will be a multitude of Ghostbuster costumes this Halloween.

If you're looking for some different ideas for a costume, something more pagan-ee perhaps? Check these out...

Charles Fréger

21st C Pagan Garb

"Several years ago Charles Fréger set out to document the many costumes used all over Europe for pagan rituals, visiting 18 countries on his journey to pin down the archetype of the “Wild Man” that transcends any one culture. The pictures were then collected in a marvelous book called Wilder Mann. The costumes he found resemble something out of commedia dell’arte or Día de los Muertos, only far deeper and far stranger. They clearly represent the devil, billy goats, wild boars, and bizarre conflagrations thereof, using all manner of masks, straw, horns, pine twigs, antlers, bells, fur, and bones."

Touched by the Devil

Jheronimus Bosch, Touched by the Devil from Pieter van Huystee Film on Vimeo.

11:55 pm - time for one more story...

I've made this post ahead of time because, well, I've been busy packing and stressing. You see at some point this weekend we all (me, husband, and cats) should be departing Doha and moving back to Canada.

Yes, we're happy to be returning home but what the future holds...well, no one knows that, do they?

Soon we'll be back in Newfoundland and on the Avalon; the home of rain, drizzle and fog.

Soon I'll be hearing the low tones of Fort Amhert's fog horn signalling that the fog is once again rolling in.



Soon I'll be back on that North Atlantic island surrounded by the frigid waters which depths hide the hulls of numerous ships.


Glad we're travelling by air...

Japanese Witch

I would have loved this when I was a kid.

Read review of Kiki's Delivery Service ...

.

Tell 'em Large Marge Sent Ya!

The last month or so of frigid weather has made me want to take in some movies. When the temperatures are in the negatives, I just want to cover up with a bunch of blankets and bust out the DVDs! I had a certain movie on my mind lately. Some recent conversations have been reminding me of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

The first time I saw this movie would have been around when it came out. Then about 15 years later I saw it on the big screen at one of those midnight movie nights in an old theater. It was a lot of fun. I remember people yelling out the famous lines along with Pee-Wee. Some parts, like the Large Marge scene, are experienced best on the big screen.



Good old Large Marge. That claymation moment where her face morphs scared me so much when I was a kid. That part is pure Tim Burton. Pee-Wee's Great Adventure was one of Tim Burton's earliest movies. It was also the first movie Danny Elfman wrote a score for. According to the DVD commentary, it took a lot of coaxing to get Elfman to take part in the project. Good for him that he did, because it started him on a really successful path in composing movie scores.

This third time around watching the movie turned into more of a fifth time around. I ended up watching the movie again to hear Tim Burton and Paul Reubens do their commentary. Then I played it again for the Danny Elfman commentary. I learned some fun trivia and was surprised that I was still interested in watching the same movie that many times in a row.

I have to share one piece of trivia I learned. I'm sure nearly everyone reading this is an Elvira fan. Did you know that Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) has a role in this movie? I didn't even recognize her.



She's in more of a biker babe role here. I think she looks just as cool like this! I might actually prefer her biker look. You'll see her at the end of this clip:



Back to Large Marge. There are a series of events that lead up to her scene. It starts with Pee-Wee hitchhiking to Texas. Pee-Wee has the fortune or misfortune to be picked up by Mickey who is an escaped convict. I don't think I'm doing a whole lot of plot spoiling here, considering what this movie is like and how you've very likely seen it already.



So Mickey strands Pee-Wee on the side of the road in the middle of the night and along comes...



Isn't that a classic ghost story moment?

I was surprised to find that I am far from the only person Large Marge made an impression on. In fact, I ran into several tributes to her scene on YouTube! The videos ranged from cute to confusing. (The Cutest one)
 
I watched Big Top Pee-Wee next, but I wouldn't bother with that one! The only funny thing about that is the series of negative reviews online... It was really missing Tim Burton's vision! OK, to be fair, Kris Kristofferson was hilarious as Mace Montana, the circus manager. I'm not sure if he was supposed to be funny, but he was to me. I think I was just amused by watching someone basically be his normal self while surrounded by a bunch of craziness.



So my advice is to skip Big Top Pee-Wee and check out Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. If you're a fan of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is definitely worth revisiting. It's interesting to watch the beginning of a film partnership and two amazing careers.  And when you're done watching it, be sure to read this:

14 Things You Probably Never Knew About "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure"

I bet you'll learn something!