Let's Meet the Neighbors

Granted my first reaction when there's new neighbors these days is to crawl further into the shadows and stare suspiciously out the window through the blinds... Yes, I'm kidding, sheesh... But you finally get to see some of Foamy and Germaine's neighbors in the newest Foamy installment. And thankfully, creepy pizza-delivery guy (I'm completely blanking on his name here for some reason) is still nowhere in sight. I have to admit, though I am kind of missing all the episodes where Germaine rips him a new one for being such a creepy stalker. Hopefully this new guy turns out to be better if she hits it off with him...

Random Music Artist of Today: QNTAL

I've decided that today is going to be my Random Music Artist day, don't ask me why, I don't know. But today's winner is QNTAL. This is the moment where a lot of people stare blankly at the screen and go "WHO?!" QNTAL is a German band that started up back in 1991 and are an "electro-medieval" band. Yet again, this is your cue to look confused when I say the term "electro-medieval." Just to save everyone a lot of headaches and curiosity, this is what electro-medieval sounds like...

P.S. This is one of my favorite songs by QNTAL...

Plainly speaking I love their singer, Syrah's, voice and she is one of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen. She's so elegant, especially when she's on stage, and even pictures (see to your right) of her will have you going "Wow!" See what I mean? O.K. enough of my drooling, back to the rest of the band... 

So far QNTAL has six full CD's currently out and plenty of other singles and EP's. Most of the time they sing in Latin or in medieval German with some Galician-Portuguese thrown in there. In later albums you hear a bit of English sung too, but no matter what the songs are amazing. Their most recent album was QntalVI: Translucida which came out in 2008. Personally, I can't wait until their next one comes out. The band's still together and shows no sign of stopping now. Go ahead and check out their site to get more info on them and to get some of their music. Happy listening my little gothlings! 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

This post is going to disappoint a lot of people and frustrate a lot more, and for that I apologize ahead of time. For those of you who haven't kept up with my blog, I already expressed my initial... let's say distaste, for the fact that a movie I loved was being remade for American audiences. And I'm not going to lie, it really started to irk me that the main defense for the movie came from the fact that it was being directed by David Fincher. Is he a brilliant director? Yes. Are his films usually amazing and gritty beyond all expectation? Yes. BUT previous work means nothing in an industry where a director can crash and burn his own career into ashes (-cough- M. Night Shyamalan -cough-) within the span of about two films. And after hearing "But it's directed by David fucking Fincher" so many times I nearly wrote off seeing the thing entirely out of pure spite. After much deliberation, I decided that I would go to see it in theaters, if for no other reason than to prove that I had grounds for disliking the remake. Then I happened upon an eight-minute clip of the movie that was released about a month ago. I figured I might as well watch it to get a good taste of what was in store for me. Believe it or not, that one little clip actually gave me some hope for the film. At the end of it I was sitting there and thinking to myself, "Well that looks pretty damn good, Mr. Fincher."   So when I took a look at my phone when searching for movies for me and Pat to go see today, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo immediately caught my attention. Once I had confirmation for approval and the time, we were all set to go see it. The opening credits kind of confused the hell out of me, not going to lie. It looked like some kind of weird techno music video, soundtrack was kick ass though. The rest of the movie was pretty intense. And I don't mean a gradual build-up and then intense moments, the whole thing is intense, it varies in severity. But honestly, I don't really know what to make of it. The plot varies in some pretty significant ways in certain areas so I can't really treat it as a genuine remake, but its still stuck in my mind as such. I'm going to have to watch it again and give a better review after the second viewing... Sorry guys.

A Song of Ice and Fire

This is a series that got started back in 1991 by George R.R. Martin. It didn't get published until 1996 and the most recent book A Dance With Dragons just came out a few months ago. And frankly, this series kicks ass! Martin manages to pull things off that other writers would shrink away from the possibility of. Now you'll have to bear with me here, there's a lot of information just in the first book alone and it's nearly impossible to talk about it without either 1) confusing the hell out of people or 2) revealing major spoilers about the plotline. My friend Mike (a huge fan of the series, huge as in he created a DND character based off of Robert Baratheon) constantly taunts me with his knowledge of the later books. I've only made it through A Clash of Kings so he knows a lot more about the series than I do. Before this I was only watching the HBO TV series that came out back in April and it blew my mind. I'm not kidding, after the 8th or 9th episode I sat there, staring at the screen, mouth hanging open, and completely unable to believe what had just happened. And no, I'm not going to tell you what happened, that would completely destroy the point of taunting you with the knowledge until you read or watch the series for yourself. But if you want a little intro to it here goes...

It takes place in the Seven Kingdoms, the Hand of the King has died so King Robert Baratheon goes north to find Lord Eddard Stark, his oldest friend, to ask him to take up the post. The King's biggest problems are dealing with the children (Denaerys and Viserys Targaryen) of the previous King, who was killed by Robert's brother-in-law Jaime Lannister, and dealing with his in-laws and wife, Cersei Lannister. Stark owns Castle Winterfell and has five children and one bastard son, John Snow, who's desperate to become a man of the Night's Watch. Stark finally agrees to take the post after learning that the first Hand was murdered. Before they can even leave to return to King's Landing, Stark's younger son, Bran, "falls" from a window and nearly dies.

Did you manage to keep up with that? I'll be amazed if you did, and I've even left out some information, like Tyrion Lannister, the Queen's dwarf brother (my favorite character), and Khal Drogo, the Dothraki horselord Denaerys marries to help her brother forge an alliance to get the crown back. You have to be confused by this point if you haven't read the series. You should definitely check it out though. The book lineup looks like this...
1) Game of Thrones
2) Clash of Kings
3) Storm of Swords
4) A Feast for Crows
5) A Dance With Dragons
Happy reading/viewing!

I'm a Humbugger... And So is Foamy!

As I've previously alluded to, I am not the type of person to get head-over-heels into the Christmas spirit. If anything I am one of those people who can only be increasingly annoyed at those who insist on getting into the Christmas spirit so much they feel the need to go and run down children to get at the last Monster High Doll on the shelf. When the Christmas spirit involves being an asshole to almost everyone around you, I will so incredibly content in being anti-Christmas spirit I might as well be on cloud nine. At least Foamy understands...

Adrian's Undead Diary

Anyone who knows me at least decently well will not hesitate to tell you that I get tired of zombie movies really quickly. Reason being? Zombies don't scare me anymore. I'm serious, when 28 Days Later came out everyone was going on and on about how "It's the scariest zombie movie ever!" That alone kept me skeptical since Hollywood hasn't been able to produce a single zombie movie that's even managed to make me jump since I started getting into the horror genre. And when I finally managed to watch it, my reaction was thus... "Oh, ok, naked guy in a deserted hospital. Why is he not getting attacked, oh wait there we go." Repeat the second statement about a dozen times and you have my full review of the movie. Not to mention the nearly endless series of Resident Evil movies that continue to plague the theaters. Yes, I like Milla Jovovich, but there's only so many movies you can make out her being badass with superhuman powers and killing zombies out of hatred for her old employer for opening this can of cannibalistic worms in the first place. Yeah, call me desensitized to all hell but zombies do not scare me. They make me laugh hysterically. Yet, my friend Mike has rejuvenated my love of the walking dead and shown me the delights of a blog called "Adrian's Undead Diary." Basically the entire thing is set up as a journal of a guy who is trying to survive during a zombie apocalypse. But instead of it being filled to the brim with the who, what, where, when, and why as to how the apocalypse came about, it gives a more realistic twist to it and throws its hands up in the air and says "We give up! There's zombies running around, so get a gun in your hand and run your ass off in the opposite direction!"  Even the CDC can't pinpoint the origins of the disease. The whole thing is told from Adrian's point of view, who you don't know that much about other than he is a big man with a lot of tattoos who knows how to handle himself around violent situations. Granted I'm only about four journal entries deep so far, so maybe that changes later. Nevertheless, go and check this thing out. The entire site has the full archives of the entries, fan art, and even merchandise. It's pretty damn cool.

What Do 99.9% of Females Have In Common?

Yes, it is true, I have figured out yet another thing that Abovegrounders and Undergrounders alike can enjoy and find common ground on. Or at least the female section of both parties. Sorry guys, stereotypes dictate that you get left out of this one. And the one thing that 99.9% of females (whether goth, nerd, prep, etc.) is...

Yup... Chocolate. This thought suddenly came to me when I realized that my own problems from today would be solved with the half-slice of delicious chocolate cake that my mom left for me on the counter. And seriously, go out and ask any woman, odds are she's going to say that chocolate is amazing and will fix almost any problem. Yeah, there's going to be those rare few .1% that say they don't like chocolate (I do not understand you people), but nevertheless, whether the chick wears eyeliner as black as night or wears the brightest pinks she can find, she is probably going to love chocolate. Forget about the whole release of endorphins it produces to get you into a better mood anyway, there is something magical about chocolate that turns the world into a total utopia for that brief time that you're eating it. And yes, I realize the total irony of a goth chick saying that the world can be a total utopia while the vast majority of the population still inhabits it, but let me have my moment all right?

Something I Don't Get About Retail Dress Code

That's right, I don't get the fascination that a lot of retail chains seem to have when it comes to their dress code.  Maybe this is just my usual fashion sense kicking in, but honestly, I think that khaki pants are some of the ugliest pants I've ever seen in my life. Yet retail chains like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart seem to be fascinated with them, because all three of them require their employees to wear khaki colored pants. Now aside from the fact that I hate the word khaki to begin with (it sounds like someone hocking up a fur ball, or like their kuck, either way), there is no official color for khaki pants. I've seen so many different types of pants that all require as khaki, it's frankly confusing. Because my own retail job requires it I do own some khaki cargo pants. Now cargo pants I can at least live with because they're comfortable, but these dress pants that are khakis just make me cringe. They look like someone went and but them on the stove to cook and then took them off either too soon or too early. And most of the time they look as stiff as a well-done piece of bacon. And gods forbid they have wrinkles in them, because then they could be a well-done piece of bacon. There's something about the whole color that makes wrinkles even more noticeable than your average color pant. Like jeans or black dress pants, you get a few wrinkles in those and no one notices or even cares for that matter. Yeah, this is a rant, sorry, but it's something that's been rolling around in my head for at least a few days. Not to mention it directly contrasts with my ideal as far as dress codes go.

Everyone has a Secret Nerd

Now whether people like to admit it or not, everyone has something they do that would safely fall into the category of nerdy. Deny it all you like, you know it's true. Now my main question to the vast majority of society about these nerdy habits follows as thus: Why the hell is it such a big deal? When The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released about ten years ago (dear gods I feel old now) I got so obsessed with it that I started wearing my hair like Legolas. I'm being completely serious. My hair was really, really long and I had the side-braids and everything. I can almost guarantee that I was mocked for that and more when I was in junior high. And to be honest, I didn't give a fuck, except for maybe that one time when a little douche named Howie decided to embarrass me in front of the guy I was crushing on at the time while I was talking to him. Anyway... back to my point. Why these nerdy things that we do have to be a big secret? Granted some of the stranger crowds not only have no problem in accepting these weird things that their friends might do, but they are also completely comfortable in admitting to their own nerdy tendencies. I mean, come on, I still get crushes on fictional characters, most of them anime characters (L and Sebastian Michaelis make me swoon). Seriously people, if you really feel the need to go and tease your friend all because he decided to read The Flash comic book, you need to get over yourself. I can guarantee there's some kind of proverbial skeleton in your own closet that you wouldn't like anyone to know about. Lesson: Being nerdy can be fun, and everyone has their own secret nerd, so rejoice in it and live life.

Foamy's Voting for Humans... Wait... What?!

Yeah, I'm not kidding... Foamy just had an episode where Foamy is actually showing some love for the human race. Granted it's sarcastic and raging love, but it is love nonetheless. And it's way more love than I'm generally inclined to show to my fellow man and woman at large. I will give him the utter ridiculousness that occurs when it comes between donating to poor children and starving animals. People tend to choose the animals over the children, yet honestly, I still can't find myself caring that much. The utter stupidity of the parents of the starving child deters any kind of affection I might have had for the child. People, if you can't even feed yourself, then for the love of the gods keep your legs closed, keep your dick in your pants, and remain abstinent! Being a misanthrope, I have way more affection for animals than I do for people. It's a question of would I rather deal with an animal that relies entirely on instinct, or a human that is capable of intellectual thought but refuses to even entertain the idea? Animal wins every time... Sorry Foamy, for the first time I disagree with you...

Black Friday... A Goth's Worst Nightmare

Now I'm not going to lie, the first time I ever heard the words Black Friday, I thought it was some kind of scary movie event (Thanksgiving is still fair game for horror film release potential). But then I discovered it was the day both my mother and I avoid like it was a horde of rats carrying the Black Plague on steroids. So far the only time I've had the misfortune to venture out on this day was when I was working a couple years ago. I will have the same misfortune tomorrow... Now if you are not really comprehending my total and utter disdain for this massive sale that happens all over the country, then I can easily deduce that you are not an anti-social goth like myself. On Black Friday, no one who has any sort of problem with or fear of crowds need stand in a line waiting for a ticket to get into Best Buy first. There are way too many people going way too nuts over crap that is still way too expensive. This is the night that the true nutcases come out of their shells to try and score on some items that will undoubtedly return to the store if you don't mob the delivery truck first. (Yes, this is going to turn into a long rant, but that is what is called for in this situation) I'm actually sitting here and waiting for the first police report of someone being trampled or severely injured on this Black Friday. Fights break out, people are run over, tons of merchandise get stolen (whether it be from stores or off of other people), and there's just all out chaos. The fact that stores are opening their doors earlier and earlier every year is doing nothing to help this either. In my area alone places like Toys R'Us are opening at 9 p.m. tonight... Yeah, that's what I said... TONIGHT. Walmart's waiting a whole hour and a half later to start with their deals and most other places are opening at midnight. Seriously... WHO THE HELL GOES SHOPPING AT MIDNIGHT?! Now, I will willingly admit to being a little crazy and random, but the people who do this every year without fail scare me. I mean stuff like this...

Yeah... Two minutes of that and my homicidal urges to kill everyone that speaks within a twenty foot radius of me would be going nuts and probably will be tomorrow when I'm dragged from my room and forced to report for work. If you are going out tomorrow; drive safe, don't steal, be nice, and you're crazy. Enjoy your turkeys for now! 

New Evanescence Album

So even I was skeptical about the new Evanescence album (self-entitled) because let's face it, every single band that you encounter is going to have a flop album. It's completely unavoidable and Evanescence seemed about due for it... Holy hell was I ever WRONG. This newest album is completely kick-ass! There's a definite 80's metal thing going on here and I love it. The 80's was the best decade for any kind of modern music, flat-out. Evanescence is slowly but surely heading into a heavier melody-driven path, and they're doing it really well. Now the last album, The Open Door, was a bit more on the lighter side, especially when you compare it to their first album. Now their first album didn't have quite as much variety as the second but they seem to be balancing everything out really well on this third album. Don't believe me? Just go and have a good listen to the very first song on there called "What You Want," if you're mind isn't blown once and for all for this band then there is no further hope for you. Not to mention in the music video you blatantly see Amy Lee headbanging and she's got some wicked makeup going for her. Just take a look...

This Episode is Made of Genius

Say what you want about Foamy and his creator Mathers, this episode is made entirely of genius. After being in a shit mood all day, this newest episode got me to laugh out loud so hard I'm pretty sure I made my mother jump. And at last we start to see some of the old Foamy crew, Pilz-E is now on board as is just as insane to gets drugs in his head as fast and as frequently as possible. Why Germaine decided to willingly take him to the clinic to get his prescriptions filled I have no idea, but it makes for one of the most hilarious lines I've ever heard Pilz-E say... "Holy chicken suit of bloody condom use!" You have to watch the episode to get it, so WATCH IT DAMMIT!

Character Spotlight: Mandy

I utterly love this animated child. Mandy is one of my heroes as far as animated characters go. Reason being is because she doesn't take crap from anyone and, more often than not, inspires fear in any and all who dare to cross her path. Long story short, Mandy is friends with a total dunce of a kid named Billy. Well one day, Billy decides its a good idea to celebrate his hamster's birthday (yeah, a dunce) when the Grim Reaper shows up to take the soul of the poor little creature. Now he's expecting Billy and Mandy to be all scared and start screaming. Uh... nope, sorry Grim, don't think so. Instead Mandy bets the hamster's soul in a game. Unfortunately for Grim, he loses and winds up getting stuck with Billy and Mandy. Now Mandy's approach to being Grim's friend is to mostly order him to to her chores and threaten to maim and/or injure him if he doesn't obey her. On the rare occasion that you see Mandy smile, the universe tears itself apart. Now personally, I find that utterly hilarious to watch her struggle with trying something as simple as smiling, not to mention saying "please." She's completely morbid and awesome to watch. I mean, how could you not love a 10-year-old who orders around the Grim Reaper like its nothing?

Nor'Easter Puts a Damper on Foamy's Plans

So due to the lovely weather that has been occurring (yes that's sarcasm) the Foamy episodes have been slightly delayed. But J Mather's managed to find a way to give us a new toon in spite of all the hardship! This is why we love this man. So enjoy the newest Foamy, where even Germaine and Foamy must suffer the horrible repercussions of the weather...

Metal Meyhem 2012

The officials of the Rockstar Metal Mayhem have just recently announced that they will have the band list for Mayhem 2012 posted by January! Personally, I'm going to be dying until that list comes out and I get to see which awesome bands they pick this time around to grace the stages of the Post Gazette Pavilion (no, I am never going to call it First Niagara Pavilion for as long as I live, I flat-out refuse to). I'm really hoping that they can manage to get Slipknot back for a second round, but I'm not keeping my hopes really high. Nonetheless, I'll be burning with anticipation until that day arrives and I see who's playing. Here's the link again so you all can suffer the horrible wait with me. Thankfully, they've also released the official tour dates and Mayhem's going to be hitting the 'Burgh on the 28th of July. This makes me ecstatic personally, because if I'm lucky I'll be working an office job by then, and the 28th falls on a Saturday. No need to request that day off and miss any money! Go and see when Mayhem's going to hit a town near you. 

Why Goths Want to Be Anti-Social Part 2

Finally, at long last I'm doing a follow-up on my "Reasons Why Goths Hate People" list. This particular one comes courtesy of a customer I witnessed while I was at work. Anyone who has ever worked in a retail setting will know exactly which kind of customer this is right off the bat. You know the type who thinks they're entitled to have everything and anything they want regardless of whether or not its approved by corporate? And then when management gets involved and tries to help the situation and explain it as thoroughly as they can to this dimwit who couldn't tell the difference between a diaper and a light bulb (yes, that was a Family Guy reference), they just keep getting more and more pissy all because they feel entitled to some kind of special treatment. And even after all that crap, they'll still find something else to bitch about that the employees have no control over whatsoever just to go and finish off their shopping experience by nearly making a cashier cry. I swear some people almost consider that a sport. Do they seriously just sit around one-upping each other?
"I made three cashiers cry today."
"Ha! That's nothing, I got four girls and one GUY to cry today because I'm that awesome at being a total douche."
"So what should our quota be for next week?"
Newsflash if you're this type of customer: YOU DO NOT DESERVE A DAMN THING. You are not special, you're an asshole. I wish more stores could ban people like this just so I wouldn't have to hear them bitch over the stupidest crap.

A Looming Threat of a Lame Halloween

Foamy has already suffered through enough lame Halloweens within the last few years. As have we all... Halloween has become way too cutesy for me to bear anymore. It used to be, scare the living shit out of as many people as you possibly can within the limited time span you have when kids are out trick-or-treating, but now... No, now you have to be nice and put smiley faces over every single skeleton so it doesn't "scar" the little kiddies. Bollocks on that! If there's parents who are stupid enough to bring a 4-year-old to see Hannibal Rising in theaters then the rest of the kids can bear a few scares from a haunted house.
And now we see Foamy suffering at the hands of another lame Halloween in Connecticut. And say what you will, Germaine looks damn hot in that nurse costume.

Happy Goth Chick Appreciation Day

Yes, my darlings, this is an actual day. And it is happening today as a matter of fact. I can only hope that I'm catching plenty of you early enough for you to grab your boots, corsets, and Tripp pants to go out and enjoy the day and revel in your gothiness. And just to prove that I'm not bullshitting you here's the official link courtesy of that awesome creator of our favorite human-hating squirrel, Jim Mathers.

Initially I was planning on going all out and bringing my gothic lolita dress out of my closet, brushing off my plaid boots and hitting the town. Now however, this day is calling for me to do a more traditional goth chick thing and sit in my room and hate the world along with my kitten. No he's not a kitten anymore, but he's still the same size and he's one of the only two living beings within a 20 mile radius who I could stand to be around right now.  There are other people I would dearly love to be around farther away but being broke (another goth chick trait more often than not) hanging with those awesome people is kind of out of the question.
And damn I've rolled off into my own personal tangent... So sorry dears... I'll stop here before I make this how-to blog into a more personal ranting "I hate everything" blog. Til next time...

Foamy's Getting Antsy

While Germaine is more than content with her new home, Foamy is way too eager to get back to New York. Maybe he misses all his squirrely friends? So far the only mention of both Begley and Pillze has been in the very first episode of the new style. Hopefully they'll pop up somewhere or maybe hitch a ride back with Germaine once she gets her license and they take a trip back to New York... At least Germaine has Cake to keep her occupied in the mean time...

Renaissance Festivals

Another fun activity for those who like to travel back in time. These fairs always appeal to me mostly because of the costumes I'm able to wear (I love corsets and my goal in life was buying and owning a steel-boned corset until I managed to get one myself). Now my new goal in life is to actually work at the Renaissance Festival closest to me at some point. Hopefully I'll get lucky and be able to do it the next time it comes around. But alas, therein lies the downside to the festivities. It only lasts for about a month, sometimes a little bit longer. Don't get me wrong, this is an improvement to the first one I went to which only last three weekends instead of about five or six. And the people who work at these things are always fun to talk to and spend the day with. For example, I found myself a very fine French gentleman on my last trip. Maybe it was my Fey costume that lured him in. What do you think? 

And the best part is, these festivals go on all over the country. There's one near me which would be the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival, but according to my sources, there is also an even bigger and better one out near Philly. They constantly hire new people to be cast members so if anyone other than me is a total geek for these things, go and wander on over to the site and see what you can get. 

Germaine Rebooted

Since you already got a taste of what Foamy looks like in the new reboot, I figured it was only fair that Germaine claim some of the attention too. Here is the first episode featuring her new chibi-ness, and SURPRISE... She's not living in New York anymore. GASP. She seems pretty content with it, but Foamy on the other hand... Not so much...

Foamy Gets Rebooted and Redesigned

Call me crazy, but I'm loving the new design Jonathan Ian Mathers has given to that lovably vengeful little squirrel, Foamy. The design is sleeker and if I may say, completely fucking adorable. It looks like chibis without the massively disproportional heads. Squee-tastic. And just to give more proof as to why Mathers is awesome, he allows Foamy to take a stab at HIM in one of the newest toons he has up on the illwillpress site. Yeah, Foamy takes a jab at his creator. I love it.

Family Guy Gets it Right... Sort Of

Family Guy is one of the only comedy shows that I will watch, not sure why. And while Peter is the biggest dumbshit you're likely to see on television next to Homer Simpson, every once in a while the show gets something right. Such is the case of the episode that just aired a couple minutes ago "Saving Private Brian." And no, I'm not talking about the whole deal with Stewie and Brian getting signed up for the army and going over to Iraq, I'm staying safely away from everything and anything political. Instead I'm talking about how Chris finds his talent in singing for a hardcore band at his school. Unfortunately, Chris also adopts the stereotypical persona of a metalhead. He turns into such a little punk bastard and starts disobeying his parents and generally causing trouble. And of course the first thing Peter and Lois blame it on? The music itself that he's started listening to, specifically Marilyn Manson...

O.K. I'm not the biggest Manson fan or anything but he definitely doesn't deserve the crap that the Griffin's give him. Most artists don't. There's still a few who are reported to be total jackasses out there so I can't say all of them don't deserve it in good conscience. Thankfully, Manson manages to sort everything out... Just in a really sappy way. Everyone learn a lesson from this please! 1) Music doesn't corrupt kids and if you don't want them listening to it then monitor them and make sure they don't and 2) Undergrounders are not the total punk bastards you think we are, some can be but we don't turn into one as a general rule when adopting an underground lifestyle.

Living Dead Dolls

I'm not entirely sure how these little darlings managed to escape my notice. In fact, I'm tempted to feel ashamed of myself for not including them earlier considering I've wanted to start collecting them since I was about 16. Living Dead Dolls can be considered the Goth/horror alternative to those nicely packaged Barbie collectibles I made fun of before. They have 21 different series of the dolls in total and each series has between five and seven dolls for you to enjoy or get terrified of depending on how you feel. And don't get me wrong, some of these dolls even freak ME out. Yeah... imagine that. You can find all of the dolls in every series on their official site. The site's pretty interactive, like the Little Apple Doll and Vamplets sites. So far one of my favorite dolls comes from series 17 called "The Unwilling Donor" (on the right). I know she looks sad but it's just so cute especially with her little robe and everything. And what's even better is that each doll comes with their own specific poem that describes how they died. For Donor it goes something like this...
Her mother always told her
"Never accept a drink!"
However this little rebel
Was not one to think.
So off to the strange party
Did this foolish girl run
With visions of laughter
And way too much fun.
The next morning she awoke
Buried in a tub full of ice.
Missing one kidney
One hell of a price.

Isn't that so cute and horrifying at the same time? They've even done a series specifically for things like Alice in Wonderland, House of 1000 Corpses, Saw, Beetlejuice, Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and have a set of dolls fashioned to look like Edgar Allen Poe and Annabel Lee. The Poe and Annabel set was actually what initially drew me to the dolls. They just look adorable together. Go on over and give these a look if I haven't already scared you too much with them. Unfortunately, the only place I've ever seen selling them is Spencer's gifts, but there's always the good old standby for the site and Amazon.com.

Character Spotlight: L

For those anime freaks out there like me, feast your eyes on one of the most fascinating characters in all of anime-dom. Or at least he is in my opinion. L from the Deathnote series is probably my biggest cartoon crush. I guess you could call him the protagonist of the series depending on who's side your really on. Either way he is the nemesis of the main character Light Yagami, who is determined to turn the world into a utopia using a paranormal notebook called the deathnote which has the power to kill anyone in any way that the owner can think of. L is the world's most brilliant detective and takes on this case in the midst of criminals dying left and right thanks to Light. Now call me crazy, but I think L is sexy. He is mysterious, reclusive, and is incredibly intelligent. Not to mention on the rare occasion that he smiles, it's absolutely adorable. If you haven't heard of this series already go and check it out and enjoy all of L that you can.

We Don't Own Our Own Media

Just to keep all of you guys updated on the goings-on of that delightful little mammal Foamy the Squirrel, I give you the latest video courtesy of Jonathan Ian Mathers and his youtube account. This time, Foamy aims his wrath towards those who are the most responsible for the dwindling existence of the "used market" or places like The Exchange and Buybacks. This can come as a blow to the majority of the people in the Underground for one specific reason... Most of the time we are broke-ass people. We like deals and clearance items because it makes it easier for us to find the things we like and thoroughly enjoy them without having to scrape money out of the savings account for rent or food or gas. When places like these start to die out, then what are we going to do? Yeah, I have no idea either...

Diseases Get Supersized

Yet again about a subject that has been on the market for a while now but I was skipping along thinkgeek.com and I just had to go and do this post as an extension of my "alternative toys" post. Now these ones are called Giant Microbes and I have no shame whatsoever in saying that not only do I own their version of the ovum plushie, but I've also given my dad a "petri dish" of their lyme disease plush. Long story short, these things are what you would see if you looked at their microscopic counterparts, minus the fuzziness and the eyes and a couple of other added details depending on which microbe you want. And their creators pulled out all the stops with these guys, you can get everything from a simple little sperm to the mother of all viruses MRSA to cuddle with. And they're still adding more into the mix, the most recent microbes to join the family are the stem cell, food poisoning, and diarrhea. Now you can buy them in bigger sizes or you can get the "petri dish" deal I mentioned before and get three mini giant microbes. And on the giant microbe official site, there's plenty to keep you looking around for a while. In fact, they've come out with so many microbes, they've had to separate them into their own categories depending on what kind of microbe it is. When my dad actually caught lyme disease, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get him the plushies in the petri dish for Christmas. A bad joke I know but that's our sense of humor. I'm sure that if I ever caught one of these disease he'd probably do the same. Nonetheless these things are ridiculously cute for how lethal some of their tiny counterparts are.

Rockstar Metal Mayhem review

Well my little darlings, Rockstar Metal Mayhem has moved on to other parts and I must say, it was TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME. No lie. Despite the overwhelming heat and humidity that briefly interrupted my day, I had the time of my life. Straight Line Stitch lived up to everything I hoped for. Alexis was hott and an awesome singer, she really got the crowds riled up and the rest of the band kicked all kinds of ass all over the stage.

Even the bands I didn't get to fully enjoy such as All Shall Perish were completely epic. And then I managed to get really, really close to the stage when In Flames started up, that pit was beyond excellent. The mosh pits were all exactly how I remembered them from when I first started going to metal concerts, no assholes ruining everyone's time like what happened last year. Everything was just how it should be. Then the main stage started up featuring Megadeath, Godsmack, and last but not least Disturbed. These guys were off the charts, always thanking everyone for coming out and seeing everyone, playing kick-ass songs and really getting the entire crowd into it, and when I saw the entire crowd, I'm talking everyone in the pit, pavilion, and lawn. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't have enough money to go to a meet-and-greet this year, but oh well, everything was still completely awesome. And how much more could you really want in an all-day metal concert? Awesome bands, cool people, great mosh pits, cool merchandise, not to mention plenty of eye candy (wink wink), and an all-around great fucking time. And if the pictures shown here aren't enough to satiate your thirst for the metal experience there's plenty of videos for you all to feast your eyes on over on my youtube channel. Enjoy my darlings, til next time.

A New Artist

O.K. as I've repeatedly mentioned, I am actually able to go to Mayhem on Friday (takes a brief moment to freak out about how happy this makes me). This being so, I figured I'd check out some of the bands that were unknown to me who are playing this year, which is a lot of them. I happened to noticed that Straight Line Stitch is a band with a female singer. This doesn't happen very often with hardcore metal bands because most girls lack the vocals necessary to growl and scream. Well, my curiosity was piqued so I asked my friend Ben about them and he gave them a pretty good review. And he knows how picky I am with metal anymore. So I finally gave them a little listen and I was very happy with what I heard and saw...



Hot chick singer and pretty bad-ass musicians? I approve. For their info they seem to have a profile for everything except their own website, but you can find them on all the usual suspects (i.e. Facebook, Myspace, etc.) and for everything else their Wikipedia page covers the rest. It seems they formed all the way back in 2000 in Knoxville, Tennessee. They didn't get their current singer, Alexis Brown, until 2003 and their first album was self-released in 2006 called "To Be Godlike." After that they followed up with "When Skies Wash Ashore" in 2008, this time the album was nationally distributed. The song above is from their third album "The Fight of Our Lives" that came out earlier this year. So far I'm liking them and I got another review from someone who's already been to Mayhem and said they did really well live. I'd say they're definitely passing my test, what do you guys think?

When Nerd Tries to Go Maintstream

Let's venture slightly into the realm of nerd-dom for a while shall we? Subject of the day is the "American-anime" Avatar: The Last Airbender, why the series is awesome, and why the movie is downright horrible. This is mostly going to consist of the latter considering I just attempted to watch the film and only made it ten minutes in before I attempted to delete it off the face of my Netflix profile forever. Now the actual show started all the way back in 2005 (damn that makes me feel old) and told the story of a boy who was destined to save the world because he was the Avatar, or the sole person who could bend all of the elements. The big problem he faces is the leader of the Fire Nation wants to enslave the whole world and for the majority of the series his banished son, Prince Zuko, wants to hunt down Aang in order to be able to return home. The cast also features Katara, a young water-bender, and her brother Sokka. As far as entertainment, this series covers all of it; action, adventure, comedy,drama, romance, etc. I followed it obsessively for the three years it was airing and was thrilled and saddened at its conclusion.
When talk started of making the series into a movie, I was already skeptical, mostly because the majority of attempts at turning different cartoons into movies isn't very successful. This is normally due to time constraints and things like it. When I heard that M. Night Shyamalan was going to direct it, my hopes fell further. The cast slowly started to emerge on the internet and the doom of the film seemed complete already in my eyes. When The Last Airbender finally reared its deformed head in theaters I flat-out refused to pay to see it. Well, I finally gave in to curiosity and watched it on Netflix... Oh, for the love of the Goddess was it bad. I mean Shyamalan couldn't even get the pronunciation of the names right. Besides that they plot was rushed, the dialogue was horrible, and the character development was practically non-existent. See this is why people who don't have an understanding of things like this need to take a step back and think for a minute rather than just rushing into it and making themselves look like a total and utter fool.

One Hell of a Game

This game's been out for a while, I know, but I just love it. Dante's Inferno. I mean, come on, you get to kill the Grim Reaper within the first five minutes of game play and then you steal his scythe to go and kill all the little demons with. Not to mention just the fact that they made a game based loosely off of The Inferno by Dante Aligheri makes an English major like me want to jizz my pants. Now a lot of people's major gripe about playing Dante's Inferno is that it's just too much like God of War... People like Yahtzee from The Escapist.

The Escapist : Zero Punctuation : Dante's Inferno

O.K. it might be, but the fact that Yahtzee and the rest of the staff got rickrolled by EA for this review is nothing short of hilarious. And nevertheless, this game offers some pretty disturbing images for those who are of a depraved mind like me. All the rest of the game is a load of frustration and a bunch of "Ah ha" moments when you recognize certain of the damned from mythology and Bible verses and such. But it's all still fun, especially the part where little demon babies with knives for arms start skittering around cooing and trying to chop your legs off right out from under you.

Just to Make You Lol Til You Die

No this does not serve any real purpose other than to make the masses laugh. Yes, Begley brings up a valid point about how money is wasted on pointless studies. But I don't really care about that, watch and enjoy.

P.S. There's a PG-13 rating for this one...

Joyous Day

My little blood-sucking darlings, I have some EXCELLENT NEWS. I'm going to Rockstar Metal Mayhem after all!That's right, I will be able to be your full reporter for the entire event on July 29th. There will be videos and photos galore for you to feast your hungry eyes on once it's over and I get to my computer. I am so incredibly excited for this considering I get to see not only Disturbed and Godsmack but also Megadeath along with all the other bands that have some set-time. As a reminder you can go and get your own tickets if you want to go on the Rockstar Metal Mayhem site. Hope I see some of you there!

Another Day for Alternative Anime

Despite the fact that Netflix has turned to the money-grubbing, price-raising, dark-side of the scale, for the moment I'm still able to enjoy their streaming videos and thus I was lead to another anime series to get hopelessly addicted to. Black Butler is a series about orphaned 12-year-old Ciel Phantomhive who also happens to be the head of a very large toy company and his ever faithful and demonic servant, Sebastian Michaelis. Basic rundown of how that happened follows as thus; Ciel's parents got killed, he was dying, Sebastian offers to serve him and help him take revenge in exchange for his soul, Ciel agrees and there you go. The series isn't overly long, only 24 full episodes, so it's an easy and short-lived addiction at least. Nonetheless, you can't help but fall in love with Sebastian as naughty as he is (hell, every other female in this series seems to). I'm not sure how it's managed to evade me so long since the anime was originally released in 2008 and the manga came long before it in 2006. And it doesn't hurt that the series has some of the best music attached to it I've ever heard. The opening and closing titles fit SO well with the mood. Don't believe me? Take a listen to the song Lacrimosa by Kalafina, which is the ending theme...



If you get the chance, definitely give this series a look. The ending isn't what you'd normally expect and some of the additional characters are hilarious.

When You Can't Be Yourself

Plenty of Goths have had this problem. You're trying to find a job, whether in the business world or just a retail job to get yourself some money while getting through high school or college, and the first thing you need to worry about? Your tattoos and piercings. I've been on a few job interviews trying to break my way into the business world so I'm not stuck selling useless crap almost every single weekend. The most recent one I had mentioned that I would have to take out my lip ring (keep in mind I already had a clear stud in both my lip and nose) but that I could keep a stud in my nose. These rules were actually part of their "dress code." Now dress codes have always irritated me from the time I was high school, mostly because the teachers and principals in my school liked to make up bullshit rules about why Goths couldn't wear what we liked, but when it came to all the little preppy girls in short skirts and low-cut tops they turned a blind eye. Even in retail the "dress code" rules you encounter tend to get ridiculous.
Now the majority of these rules are so the employees can look "professional." I'm sorry, but any business that is open beyond 7pm at night and open every weekend is nothing professional. It's grunt work at best. Now when you actually get into the business world, let me ask you this... Does your appearance have any impact on how well you do your work? No, in fact some of the more "professional" people I've seen throughout my retail experience have been some of the laziest. In my opinion, it seems nothing short of biased that a company can turn a candidate away just because they have bod mods. For all they know, that candidate could be a far better worker than any of the "normal" candidates that came in.

The Crow... The Series?

So I came across an interesting find today while being my usual reclusive self, sitting in my room with the blinds closed and flipping through channels. As I'm clicking, I see a familiar title... The Crow. Now of course I'm thinking of the film where Brandon Lee plays the incredibly talented (and incredibly good-looking) musician Eric Draven who gets killed along with his fiancee thanks to some local gang-bangers on a mission from the boss (Michael Wincott). Instead of staying dead like he's supposed to, Eric comes back with the help of a crow to take revenge on everyone. A little bit later he gets some help from the still living, a girl named Sarah and Detective Albrecht. He eventually kills all the bad guys and gets to return to the land of the dead and be reunited with his love.
Well the series seems to be taking it one step further in addition to adding its own subtitle. The Crow: Stairway to Heaven tells essentially the same story, except that Eric doesn't get the pleasure of going back to being dead. Instead he has to stick around and dispose of all the other baddies lurking around the city. From what I can see of the episode so far, its trying to just draw out the inevitable conclusion that Eric has to go back to being dead at some point. The lines are witty and snappy, but just a tad overdone. And Eric doesn't apply his own makeup, it magically appears when he has to go all vigilante and it looks like he has to do some sort of ritual to bring on the undead powers he possesses. It's not horrible, but its nothing to set the DVR to either. But hey, at least they got a guy who sort of looked like Brandon Lee to take the main role.

Why Do Goths Want to be Antisocial? Part 1

There is a long and almost never-ending list of reasons that would cause goths to want to avoid the populace at large. Granted for the most part we do have a shorter fuse than most when it comes to being around others, but even that being so, we have valid reasons for all of it. Take, for example, what I encountered today while at the mall. Now me and malls don't tend to mix in the first place, but add into it a screaming baby and a mother just sitting there and blissfully ignoring it while the other people around her are trying to enjoy their food, massive irritation happens. This is something that I think everyone can relate to, right? I mean, come on, it's a BABY. If it starts crying that means that something is wrong. Shouldn't your first reaction be to pick it up and figure out what's wrong? Seems pretty natural to me. But it seems this newest generation of parent seems content to let other people deal with their children. Case in point, the woman's mother was the one who eventually got the baby out of the carrier and tried to figure out what was wrong. Take responsibility for your kids people. You might be content to block out your baby's crying, but the people around you shouldn't have to in order to enjoy their lunch or dinner or whatever.

Band Spotlight - I:Scintilla

This is a band that I've personally seen in concert and make no mistake, they are awesome. Their singer is talented, hot, and a total sweetheart. They originated in Chicago, IL in 2003. Just a year later they self-released their first album and by 2006 they started gaining notice and were able to release the EP of their first album Havestar. Their first full-length album was entitled Optics (which was also the name of the tour I was able to see them on) and released in 2007. Since then they've released another album that I regrettably haven't been able to acquire yet called Dying and Falling. Thankfully though there are plenty of youtube videos available for a lot of the songs on I:Scintilla's youtube channel. And for even more information on them you can always go to their official website. And if you happen to be really impatient you can always check out these videos...

Some Sad News

Counter to my hopes of being your personal reporter when the big Metal Mayhem event comes to the Burgh, it turns out I'm invited to a big vacation in Minnesota and I'm going to have to leave on the day of Mayhem :-( I'm so, so sorry my little vamplets. If I could have it any other way I would be there and give you tons and tons of pictures to ogle over. Unfortunately you all are going to have to ogle over my tourist photos of Minnesota instead. I know, it's nowhere near a suitable replacement. Please forgive me!

Social Network Follow-Up

Yet again Foamy the Squirrel speaks unparalleled words of wisdom for those mature enough to actually listen. And on a particular day when I want to spread my wrath upon the majority of humanity (such as today) Foamy always makes me feel just a little bit more understood. In his newest video "Social Network of Idiots II" he manages to once again hit the proverbial nail on the head and drive it through the skulls of every single moron out there. Watch and learn people, because this outlines part of my hatred for humanity as a whole...

The Witch's Hammer

This probably isn't going to be as thrilling as the title leads you to believe. It's history lesson time. The Witch's Hammer, or originally known as the Malleus Maleficarum, is the medieval how-to-guide on finding and killing, you guessed it, witches. Some people who are fans of Dan Brown might remember this lovely little script mentioned in the book and the movie The Da Vinci Code. Yes, this book is offensive to me on some level due to the fact that I am Wiccan, but at the same time, I find it completely fascinating from a theological and historical aspect. I mean, come on, this book dates back to a time when only a privileged few could read because everything, literally EVERYTHING was written in Latin. The original text dates back to 1487 and was meant to refute all of the accusations the church was facing about the existence of witchcraft. People were beginning to doubt that it was real, well know the church couldn't have that, now could they? So now its Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger to the rescue. Granted it was mostly Heinrich's doing. Anyway, the entire book is divided into three sections; asserting that the Devil exists and witches are there to help, the how-to's about what exactly witches do to help, and how to properly take care of a witchcraft situation. It's pretty interesting stuff when all is said and done and you can head over to the wikipedia page for more fun information.
I just recently managed to find a copy of it in my local Barnes and Noble. Even when I looked in bigger stores, I couldn't find this thing to save my life, so if you ever see it and have any interest in it whatsoever, snap it up while you can because you're not likely to find it too many other places.

The Thing

Seems I've been running into a lot of movies that are being remade lately. This one I stumbled upon while looking up the info for one of my favorite horror flicks from the early 80's... John Carpenter's The Thing. Basic gist of the story is as follows; scientists at a base in Antarctica find another abandoned base, the only living thing there is a couple penguins and one lone husky, the bring the dog back and lo and behold all hell breaks loose. Turns out the fluffy pet is infected with an alien that can perfectly reproduce the appearance of its host while it continues to kill the other members on the base. The gore factor in this film is way off the chart, in less than half an hour the infected dog's face splits into fours and turns into this writhing mass of tentacles and flesh. Disgusting indeed. On my first viewing of the film, I made my friend walk me back to my dorm room once it was over. Despite the fact that my building was only about 100 ft. down a well-lit path, I was convinced some form of the alien was going to jump out from behind a bush and wrap me up in one of its slimy limbs. The suspense starts kicking in once you realize that other people on the base are getting infected too. The only way to kill this thing? Burn it. The flamethrower rules as the main weapon, but the scientists still get whittled down to only two by the end of the film.
Now the new The Thing is set to be released in October and is being billed as a "prequel" and tells the story of the first set of scientists that originally found the homicidal mass of alien infection. Is this going to be good? Hard to say. The directors have at least done the courtesy of waiting a couple decades before trying to take another stab at it, unlike the multitude of other rehashed and remade movies that have come out lately. (Cough, Repo Men, cough, The Adjustment Bureau, cough). Granted this one does have the upper-hand at having casted Mary Elizabeth Winstead, better known to the nerd masses as Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I suppose at the very least it's worth a look once it releases.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Goes U.S.

I am not thrilled about this people. In fact, I'm not even happy about it. Is Hollywood seriously so desperate to come out with new films that they're willing to remake already made movies that were great on their own? Oh... wait... of course they are. Repo Men, Let the Right One In, The Adjustment Bureau... I guess Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is just the next one in line so Hollywood can squeeze just enough box office money out of the people who haven't already seen the originals. What a fantastic world we live in. Now, I'll level with them on the one point of casting. I am partial to Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, he has a good look for it, but doe he have the acting capability to play someone as "submissive" as this guy? I honestly have no idea. And I'll say flat out, Rooney Mara looks horrible in this film. I mean, seriously, the woman has no eyebrows. She looks downright scary, not alluring or sexy at all like Noomi Rapace did in this role. Then again Noomi kind of fit the role from the get-go considering she is goth she used her actual piercings from years before. The new trailer makes the film look real edgy and all, but I'm already getting the feeling that this movie is going to be seriously lacking in its ability to deliver like the original did. The poster itself is almost giving the impression that the movie is going to be mostly about sex and violence, which doesn't portray the actual story well at all. Sex is a back story pretty much, and not overly important to the entire story unless it deals with abuse. I don't know, here's the trailer so you can judge for yourself.

New Tattoo Time!

Yup, I got some new ink my little vamplets. And I'm uber psyched about it. My friend Dale pointed me in the direction of a relatively new tattoo and piercing parlor that's only about ten minutes from my apartment called "Heavy Hand Tattoo." If you are in the Greensburg area, check this place out and hopefully it'll be your new spot for ink. My tat artist was Justin Shultz, and he is one seriously cool dude. I walked in with the pictures and once I got to talking with him and he figured out how big I wanted the tat to be he asked "You want me to do it right now?" He'd had a cancellation earlier and got me in right then and there to get tatted. How awesome is that? EPICALLY. And he was quick too, he had me done in less than 45 minutes. Don't let the name of the place scare you off either, he always made sure I wasn't in too much pain. Seriously, if you want to get inked and get it done quickly and well, go there.

Needing Validation = LAME!

Once again Jonathan Ian Mathers has hit the nail on the head and driven it into the very hearts and minds of posers. In his newest installment of Foamy the Squirrel (awesome online cartoon series, you need to watch it NOW) the loveable, human-hating squirrel rants about those who call themselves when they are really just among those who feel the need to validate themselves as a member of a particular outcast group in order to have a sense of identity. This is STUPID. I have known several people who are like this and I have drop-kicked their asses out of my life in a heartbeat. Just because you call yourself a goth, metalhead, punk, wiccan, or whatever, that does not mean it entirely consumes who you are. You need to be yourselves people and not latch onto whatever social group is convenient for you in order to have a legitimate form of a personality. And when you get the people who are always going on about how they are "enlightened" because they think a different way, that just makes me want to repeatedly bash my head against the wall. My friend Jeff gave me the perfect example of this. He regrettably got caught in a conversation with someone like this who kept going on and on about how he "sees the world differently." Jeff's first reaction? "Within the past few minutes I've figured out at least twelve different ways to kill you." Now that's seeing the world differently people, not to this whole "enlightened" bullshit. Foamy actually says it really well, watch and learn.

What Do Undergrounders and Dragons Have in Common?

Another movie-based post but hey, who cares? This time the culprit is the movie How to Train Your Dragon. If you haven't seen this movie, you have to... like now. It's utterly fucking adorable. And yes I realize the oddity of an undergrounder talking about something being adorable, but I already covered that area in my toy blog.
Now the adorableness and relation to undergrounders comes in when they introduce an awesome dragon called the Night Fury. Now this guy goes from be all ferocious like this...


to being utterly cute and adorable like a kitten...

This is not unlike the attitudes you'll see in undergrounders. If you piss us off or go after us just for the hell of it to be an asshole, I wish you luck. Because odds are, it will be something along the lines of a dragon taking revenge including but not limited to: impaling, burning, biting, ripping apart, and other such activities. But if you're nice to us, then we'll turn into the cute little kitten-type dragon and we will love you forever even if we show our affection a little over-zealously.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

This is seriously one freaky computer game. Yeah, sorry guys, its only in computer format, but on the upside its cheap. Basically the whole premise of the game is you play a character who has absolutely no freaking idea who he is. Well, he does remember his name but that's pretty much all you get. Meanwhile you're wandering around this dilapidated castle that's falling down around you and trying to avoid running in these freaky creatures that you never get a good look at unless you die. Oh yeah, that's the other fun thing... YOU CAN'T FIGHT BACK. All you can do is run your ass off while screaming like a four-year-old girl and hope that the thing isn't fast enough to follow you. Throughout the levels you have to complete different tasks in order to keep going through and when you do complete them you regain some sanity. And another thing I forgot to mention, if you stay in the dark too long you start going crazy, but you have limited light supplies and if you stay in the light you're easier to spot. It's a real no-win situation, yet its nonetheless fun. Don't believe me? Just watch this highly entertaining video of someone playing it.



Doesn't that just make you want to turn off all the lights and play this game in total darkness? Yeah... Me either.

Bad Guys Get All the Cool Songs

Yet another Disney-inspired post. Sleeping Beauty can once again take the blame for this one, but this time its a good thing. You ever notice that in Disney films, if there's a lot of singing, the bad guys always get to coolest songs? They're always real jazzy or smooth and not really poppy? I came up with three right off the top of my head. Even if Maleficent doesn't get a song these ones do.

1) Scar from The Lion King with "Be Prepared"




2) Ursula from The Little Mermaid with "Poor Unfortunate Souls"



3) Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective with "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind"



You can't tell me that any of those songs aren't awesome and get stuck in your head more often than the rest of the soundtracks. They get in there and stay for days. Which villain song do you like best?

Now I Know Why I Watched This Show

So for the first time in about six years, I happened upon the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series. Yeah, it's still airing. How crazy is that? It's still showing on the Logo channel and it's the really old episodes too. You know, the ones where Buffy still completely hated Spike and Dawn didn't know she was the "key" and Tara is still alive. I'll apologize profusely now if I spoiled anything for anyone who hasn't seen the entire series. But I've already mentioned the main reason that I watched it...

Yup, that's right, the big bad vampire himself, Spike. He's way too much of a bad-ass to ignore in this series. One of my favorite moments was when he's painting his nails (traditional black of course) and Buffy slides the lid of his coffin out from under him. His first reaction? "Hey! Watch it! These are wet!" It's no wonder I loved this show when I was a teen.

Mirrormask

One film that not too many people have heard of and they all need to. I wasn't even introduced to it until at least two years after it was initially released. I don't know how I managed to miss it. While I ponder that question in the back of my mind...
Long story short, its about a girl with these wicked artistic skills, Helena, who's family owns and runs a small-time circus. Being the typical moody teenager, she hates her life in the family circus and constantly argues with her mother about it. Until one night when her mother falls unconscious and is rushed to the hospital. Sometime before her mother needs to have brain surgery done, Helena finds herself in a very, very strange world where everyone wears masks. In this world is this creepy thing called the "darkness" which kind of turns people into statues. It's hard to describe. But it comes from the mind of Neil Gaiman so what else can you expect? Anyway, Helena eventually finds out that the queen of the world she's in has fallen into a deep sleep and hasn't awoken yet, which is allowing the "darkness" to spread. And everyone keeps mistaking Helena for this creepy looking Princess even though its pretty obvious she isn't.
The world's full of weird characters like sphinxes that eat books, these creepy walking eyeballs, and a myriad of others. The movie's a bit hard to find but a quick look over on amazon yields some good results. Have fun getting a look inside Gaiman's head, because honestly, if this is what this guy can think up in his head, he's a bloody genius.

Disney Ink

Even the old Disney cartoons that inspire so much nostalgia in us all have worked their way into the alternative scene. While I was browsing around on boingboing.net I happened to scroll across a small post that featured a Snow White tattoo.



How awesome does that thing look? Completely. The detail and colors alone are enough to set a bod mod fan drooling. Granted I would hate to see how much this thing cost this girl because 1) It's huge. Any piece that big tends to cost a lot regardless of color or detail. 2) It is incredibly detailed and colorful. I would go so far as to say that it beats out the original work. Blasphemy I know, but come on. Look at it. It's completely gorgeous. Here's the full page if you want to wander over to BoingBoing and take a look.