When real things happen to imaginary people

Color me pleasantly shocked, because it is far, FAR better than I had feared. Every “zany!” moment in the trailer was apparently picked to give people the completely wrong idea about the movie, because they’re just that, brief moments. The rest of the movie is far closer in tone to Sleepy Hollow. It’s almost every paranormal Gothic Romance Novel cliche rolled into one, and covered with brooding atmosphere. In fact, it's like Tim Burton decided to pay homage to Victoria Holt novels, which fills me with glee.

The parts that made me cringe the most (aside from the fang-brushing scene) were the scenes where 70s music was being used to lighten the brooding, flee-across-the-rocks-in-the-moonlight tone of the rest of the movie. For example: ( spoiler, of course )

It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t the train wreck I dreaded. In fact, I felt a little sorry for the people in the theatre who were obviously expecting the movie the trailer showed them. But me? I want to go see it again, and I’m definitely going to be buying it. So, I’m not just relieved, I’m happy!

Just in time for SteamCon, the Sepiachord Passport!

My beta readers are, as always, wonderful people. Thank you!

If you folks could help spread the word about the review, that would be very helpful. Thanks!

(EDITED TO ADD: for whatever reason, LJ times-stamped this really strangely. So I'm making it show up now.)

This morning involved exciting things like not being able to wake up AT ALL and sleeping for an extra half hour, tripping over cats, and sticking the mascara brush in my eye. Oh, and brewing a pot of tea, then remembering 15 minutes later that the cup of tea is sitting RIGHT THERE ON THE DESK, and maybe I should drink it and see if that helps with the lack of awake? Yeah, one of Those Sorts of mornings.

But! Today's outfit includes my glow-in-the-dark Skelly Docs, my new Medal for Heroic Tea Service (clicky-link!) (Mine, of course, is pink & black, not pink & grey.), and a jabot I made last night from a length of vintage crocheted lace. So those things make me happy.

Hey, I haven't wittered on about lipstick in a while, have I? ( A review of Lip Tar. )

Show And Tell: Noxenlux Chapeaux!

Oooh, hats. Lots and lots of hats!

Thank you to the Finishing School of Flail, staxxy, maiaarts, and the Stroppy One for proofreading and poking!

And now, if you lovely folks could help spread the word about the new review, that would be wonderful. Thank you!

A smallish update at GCS, talking about new stuff: Show And Tell! Or, More Reviews.

Which means that tomorrow, there will be a new review posted! Ta-da!

When I started thinking about what I wanted to say about Dracula The Undead (other than I wouldn't recommend it even for silly trashy vampire reading purposes), I realized that I had (possibly deliberately) forgotten huge swathes of it. So I'm re-reading it at bathtime each night, and ... uuuugh. It's not just that it screws up things that are canon from the original novel (and uses the most hackneyed plot "twist" ever to try and excuse it), it's not just that it fails rather spectacularly at using real historical personages as characters (to quote various friends of mine, "Google, motherfuckers. Use it."), it's not just that it blatantly lifts dialog from Star Wars (oh, I wish I were kidding); it's that on top of all that, the writing is, well, dire. Really dire. Last night the Stroppy One took a look at one of the pages, winced, and handed the book back to me. It's not even so-bad-it's-entertaining; it's more of so-bad-Jilli's-head-may-explode-from-rage.

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Anyway. When I read cleolinda's fantastic New Moon in 15 minutes, I also went and re-read her post on seeing the movie. In her philosophical ramblings section, she wrote this:

( Cleolinda being brilliant )

( Which got me thinking )
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Hey, you know what is also romantic? When your spouse is willing to bring you lunch and blessed, blessed coffee after they drop you off at work. Mmm, coffee. No, tea was not quite doing it this morning. Tuesdays are hard.

I recently picked up an issue of Altered Couture Magazine. (Clicky-link!) One of my obsessions hobbies is modifying and customizing clothing, so I figured that Altered Couture would be Just My Thing. In reality? Not so much.

The magazine itself is gorgeous. Nicely printed on quality paperstock, good layout, clear photography, all that. But that clear photography is entirely of finished projects; there are no "how-to" shots at all. Also, the instructions they give for each item are pretty sparse. This is NOT a magazine for someone who is looking for guidance and hand-holding, it is much more a magazine for people who are already pretty DIY-savvy and are in need of inspiration and new ideas. But who apparently have never thought to go look around online, which is how I find new ideas for customizing clothing.

My other gripe with the projects showcased in the magazine are that most of them are of the deconstructed and "Look at me! I'm an Artistic and Bohemian Piece of Clothing! Marvel at my fingerpainted details!" design school. Which is a perfectly legitimate approach to modifying clothing, but I would prefer to see stuff that looks more finished and less "Arts and Crafts Class". Or that at least looks more punk-rock arts and crafts class, instead of suburban soccer mom.

So, I'm probably not going to buy another issue. But I AM tempted to submit something for their "Thrifty Ensembles" section. The submission guidelines for that are:

1. Visit a thrift store and purchase a complete outfit for no more than $20.


2. Take "before" photos of the outfit.


3. Alter the outfit a la Altered Couture so that it transforms into an art-to-wear outfit.


4. Write a brief description about the experience.


5. Submit the photos, altered outfit, and description.

"Art-to-wear"? Is there something about that phrase that seems overly precious and twee, or is it just me being cranky? And also, I'm not sure if they mean you have to send the outfit to them and you don't get it back, or something else. Anyway, I'm still amused by sending them a write-up of what *I* normally do to thrift store finds.

Speaking of thrift store finds^*, hey look! Shallow Fashion Details! ( Read more... )

(As an aside, I've been having a fabulous conversation in some other people's journals about the goth subculture and what similarities and differences it has with the metal subculture, along with tangents about gender roles, how social circles select and enforce their boundaries, and subcultural markers that are all but invisible to the "untrained" eye. Great stuff. I just don't have time to do a lengthy post about it in my own LJ. But! I highly recommend Goth: Undead Subculture, edited by Lauren Goodlad for a good scholarly look at the subculture I call home.)

Anyway, boots!

( Behind a cut tag so those who don't care about finding Really Good Boots can just scroll on by ... )

As some of you know, I like hats. I also dabble in millinery. So when I say that feistydiva of Peacock Blue Design Studio makes beautiful things that are worth every penny of the price, you should probably pay attention.

( Hats! Feathers! )
Will I be ordering from Peacock Blue Design Studio again? Oh, you'd better believe it. I'll be ordering again, and I'll be writing a letter to Santa explaining how I've been VERY good this year, and I deserve a pink & black version of the Mina hat ...