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.