There hasn't been any good scary movies coming out for a while- but that's okay, cause very occasionally, the TV makes up for it. (GASP)

"The Others" was on late tonight...

I had forgotton just how skeery and amazing that movie was!!

If you like thought provoking kinds of suspense, and don't need gore to scare you... this is one AWESOME movie.

One of the reasons I love this movie SO much, is that it could have been filmed in black and white and lost nothing- the very /tones/ of the movie add to it! The acting is really supurb, and the storyline is amazingly steady and strong!

( spoiler alert )

The other awesome thing about it, is that as period peices go, it's really pretty wicked! You don't have to know a /thing/ about the place or period it takes place in (just after world war two, in england) in order to deeply grasp even the most subtle things... like why daddy hasn't come home...

Creepy wins my heart any-old-time, when put up against the gore-fests they feed us... and this is a CLASSIC. I can't imagine it ever fading from my "Top-Ten skeery movies" list.

Not to mention, there's a scene in which the servant warns the daughter, not to believe /everything/ she reads in books... to which the child notes, "I know. And that's what Mummy says too. But THEN she wants us to believe /everything/ that's written in the bible..."

Yeah. back atcha kiddo. :o

Awesome.

Yup. The official bullshittery has begun. McCain's accusing Obama of being 'worse than a socialist'...*shakes head* The Red Party's invoking teh Red Scare!

Sauce

If you haven't heard already, let this be an invite:

There isn't anything as much fun as a Celtic death-festival. ;) You wanna be there, I know you do.

It's that time of year again- Fires of Lughnesadh is a three day (and two night if you want to camp overnights) festival that celebrates the cycle of life and death through the ritual drama of the crowning and subsequent sacrifice of Lugh in the guise of John Barleycorn. No life without death, and all that!

If you're interested, it's an amazingly inexpensive way to party down and spend a whole weekend if you so desire- camping is easy! There's real toilets, showers, a real kitchen, fridges and freezer, two hot tubs and an indoor POOL... how much cushier can you GET? They only thing 'camping' about this, is that we sleep in tents! (bring an inflateable matress, and bedsheets, and you'll never know you're camping!)

You can find more info at: http://www.oloteas.org/?page_id=16

It starts on Friday the 25th, at 3pm, and it goes full-bore untill Sunday afternoon/evening.

The cost is minimal for such an event- just 15 bucks a day (so 45 bucks if you camp out and stay all three days) and there is a grochery store right near the site if you need anything!

You don't wanna miss this... in a full-sized stone-circle, Sean Ciall (a specific scottish-american traditional group) will present an amazing ritual in which the King of the harvest is chosen... and crowned. The next day, however, is perhaps more spectacular, as they honour the cycle of life and death, and in a live-steel fight, overcome and sacrifice the god-king... the music is haunting and the participants AMAZING... To see the cycle celebrated this way is something special. At closing circle every year, people talk about how the weekend has affected them, changed them, or just enriched them.

If you are a dedicant to Lugh, this festival offers a unique view of Him, and the ritual itself is just something else... the priest invokes Lugh, and gives us an opportunity to see Him moving among His people, before the nessesary gift of his very lifeblood. More than one person has come the closest to Lugh during the weekend of Fires of Lughnesadh, perhaps unsurprisingly! It has an ages-old theme... and it's put on by people that really FEEL for what they do.

Have I mentioned thatcaptjim and I are participants in this ritual, every year? (GRIN) ...we love it. I love the people, and the celebration. One word of warning: the main rituals themselves (those parts that are IN the circle, essentially) are 'skyclad' (nekkid) so if you're not up to that, you might want to enjoy as much of the festival as you can, and bow out of the rituals.

One word on that? If --I-- can get nekkid... YOU can. Believe me. There is something very empowering about a group of a hundred or more people, all standing in the stone circle in nothing but what the gods gave them... you forget your own issues, and for a little while, you are all just PEOPLE... in the many shapes and variations they come in. It's /amazing/. You can be brave, I know you can- even if you're shy. ;)

For those who are less shy? The whole weekend is clothing-optional. (hee hee) So you might see a brave few running about partly clad or naked (and who hasn't wanted to swim nekkid, and then dry off in the warm sunshine? just once!) -but don't forget that bug spray and sunscreen! EEK!

I'm hoping to see a lot of my friends here, who may have never attended FoL before! This is a part of MY spirituality, and I love participating. Today's rehersal was amazing, and you won't believe the hard work that went into it... it's just... I can't say enough about the WORK the people involved have done, to bring this to everyone. That is part of what makes it SO amazing.

Come on, you know you wanna. :) Who can pass up a Celtic death-festival?

I can't! :)

I thought i'd post it, in case anyone was looking for a new place to rent- our landlord is ready to re-rent out the house that shares our lot here in Everett... it's a nice little house, and will probably rent for about the same as an apartment in Seattle.

It'd be too cool for words if my new neighbor was an old friend. ;) Or just someone cool at ALL. :o

Another SciFi Channel Original. Let's just say that they're getting more and more....well...uh. It was definately an original SciFi bit of schlock....not sure about this whole Druids vs Extradimensional Ghouls schtick...it was pretty. Um. Yeah. SciFi original, what can I say. They did a lot, considering they had one horse for the whole movie. The same horse, in multiple starring roles. Ditto for the rubber suited Ghoul (complete with creepy contacts and lots of rubber teethes ala a deep sea fishy) ...same rubber suit, in multiple starring roles. Rest of it was pretty rubber suit as well: set in Romania, wierd familial cult, socially isolated village, eusocial vamp...I mean ghoul queen, Jedi vampire Druid ghoul hunters, the same fake corpse the whole thing. Ugh. Thank goodness I was playing Sims, or the whole two hours would have been a total waste.

One ripped off face, with a side of quivering entrails.

It's like Draco Malfoy's dad had in illicit, sci-fi assisted love affair with Orlando Bloom, and created the Perfect Evil Elf. That said, Hellboy II was EXACTLY what I wanted it to be, and it actually had a reasonably compact, sturdy plot. It wasn't a complex plot...it wasn't going to keep you guessing, but it was well done and amusing. Red got beat up and said 'Crap' a lot. Blue is his weird, rubbery, almost-emo self. The twaddling dick was still a twaddling dick, and the girl kept setting herself on fire. Hey...just what I wanted to see :) Oh, and a golden army. The fanfic'ers are gonna have a heyday with this Prince Nuada. *mwahahahaha*

It was definately worth a matinee...might have been worth full price, and good enough I didn't feel bad that I forgot my discount movie coupon to go see it. :)

I also had a brilliant idea halfway through the movie, and then completely forgot it. Which was a drag, I gotta tell you.

Four confiscated Cuban cigars!

These Quizzies were cool:

( clicky to see attachment test plus some! )

I never do these, and I should! Thankful Thursday:

1) my otherhalf, whom I am about to marry/handfast/commit to/domestic partner/otherwise socially and/or legally bind myself TO. :) I LOVE him. He's Awesome. :D

2) Sean Ciall, because nothing says 'awesome summer fun' than a clothing-optional celtic death festival! (if you wanna come too, see this post (on someone else's blog) for details: http://gasbarri.livejournal.com/192025.html#cutid1 You KNOW you wanna!!)

3) Cyrus, cause he's sooooooo cute, trying to figure out how to whack a guy upside the head with a foam sword, or trying to steal mum's drum and play it... yay for pagan babies!

4) my FRIENDS... of whom I have TONS and Tons and TONS!! I am often amazed by just HOW many! :) Awesomeness incarnate. You guys rock, and you keep my world turning, too. :)

5) Pizza, Prime Rib, Jamba Juice, Coca-Cola, Buffets, and Ice Pops. ...even tho right now, all I can eat in any quantity is Pudding. I'll see THOSE guys soon, tho... >:)

6) The mesh inside my body, which is holding me together so that never again will I have to yelp at a small child running to give me a hug, "Careful! don't squeeze my guts out!"

7) my otherhalf. did I start with him? oh good. cause EVERYTHING starts and ends with him. I WUV him. *mwah*

This post brought to you by:

pre-wedding jitters
pain killers, including vicoden
not enough sleep
pre-ritual festival excitement
starvation for real food
more vicoden in the meantime.

Yes. Pain killers are GOOD.

This reminds me of libraryraven's Tea Icon...

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0818516620080708?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Knife wielding psychopath invading your home?

TEA, Damnit!!

EVERYTHING is better after a cup of tea.

...a little human contact, understanding, and empathy doesn't hurt either. ;)

:)

Should I want one of these so dang bad? Oh man, and I thought my theremin envy was hard to deal with!