Burn the TV and topple the radio towers

Friggin' vote already and get this election over with!

I am so tired of the sarcastic voice-overs in all the mud slinging ads on the tv and radio. It's insulting to my intelligence.

"Obama wants to show porno to your kindergardener!"
"McCain wants to plug up your vagina!"
"Nader has that creepy wandering eye; do you want that in your next president??!!"

Those ads are only designed for those who are so inept they can't get on the internet and do some freaking research on the possible next president. Holy cow, get informed!

All that said, I am not a political person. I have my charities and issues I feel strongly about, but for the most part I leave them alone and they leave me alone... (well, kinda)

Anyway, I've stopped listening to the radio (I heart my ipod) and have stuck to DVR(I heart the FF button). So educate yourself, get out there, let your voice be heard! (but only if it's intelligent, otherwise, I will openly mock you. Just warning you...) Not only will it be good for our country, but good for our brains, to not listen to the drivel coming over the airwaves.

Unless you watch E or VH1 or MTV or... oh never mind.

I love Halloween. Always have. Always will.

I get to dress up and be someone completely different. I get to eat candy and drink smoking liquid from a cauldron. Talk of ghost and goblins is nothing out of the ordinary. And it's completely acceptable to act like a child again.

This year I'm in Texas visiting Liza for Halloween and I'm not sure I could have picked a better spot. The weather is perfect, even for the skimpiest costume. The people are friendly and in good spirits(no pun intended). And with a touch of Dia de Los Muertos, it's an amazing backdrop. We wandered the grave yards from the Mexico-American and Civil War.

I dressed in my best Mortisha dress and hooded cloak and wandered the cemetery and chatted quietly, nodding hello to the random passerby. It was peaceful, yet cheerful but still dignified.

Tonight there will no doubt be more festivities and I'll be there. Candle in hand. Candy in the other.


Next year? Salem. I feel the need for fancy dress and masquerades.

Happy Halloween everyone!

The Devil's Night

Devil's Night.

I had never heard of such a things until 1994. I somehow snuck into a rated R movie in the small town I was living in at the time. We sat down in the very back and for the first time I watched The Crow.

I'm sure you have seen it. If you love movies, you have seen this movie. It's incredible dark and violent and not meant for kids but even as a child, I fell in love. (I was an odd child.)

Among those who love it, it's a hot debate to this day. I won't try to analyze it. I won't pick it apart until there is nothing left. I only wish to share this with you. (so no angry emails please...)

Our movie begins with Eric and Shelly are to be wed the following day (Halloween) when a band of evil bastards break into their place, rape and pummel Shelly and kill Eric by shooting him and tossing him out the window. (and all to get the apartment they were living in they could tear the building down. McGuffin anyone?) On the anniversary of their death, Erik is brought back to revenge the injustice with the help of his "spirit guide", a crow.

It was shot with such vision. The design and cinematography was so different for the time. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. Toss in an amazing soundtrack and some damn fine acting, you got yourself something special.

As I'm sure you know, The Crow was Brandon Lee's last film. He had been in 3 other films previously, kinda crappy films, but this was to be his big hit. And it was. His performance was everything the film needed. He was perfect.

Michael Massee who played Funboy, as well many other character you are sure to know, fired the fatal shot. Can you imagine the guilt of something so big yet is not your fault? All the things that had to happen in order for Brandon to be shot fatally was so great is was almost as if it was meant to be.

The barrel of the gun was accidentally plugged with a blank cartridge from the previous shot. The arms master would usually check this, but he had left for the day. (jerk) Instead of shooting in the direction slightly past Brandon (which is customary if shooting blanks as they can still cause harm), Michael was off balance and accidentally shot him right in the chest. It was a minute or two before anyone knew he was seriously hurt because everyone was still doing the scene.

Stranger than all that, everything I just wrote is contradicted in many other writings. With so many people on the set, so many different factors involved, people can't seem to get the story straight. The only thing anyone can be sure of is that there was a shot and Brandon went down and died.

Much like the lovers in the film, Brandon and his finance Eliza were due to be married two weeks after the film wrapped. The film is dedicated to them. The pain she must have felt and still feels...

So as I lay here on All Hallow's Eve, Devil's Night, I think about Brandon, Eliza, Bruce, and I think of Eric and Shelly and how it can't rain all the time.


Massee talks about the accident here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjn3WqsvE_Q

Related articles about stuff I was talking about

• "Devil's Night" Fires Doused In Detroit
• Would You Want a Remake of 'The Crow'? ...with Jason Statham

Them thar scary aminals.

So I finally figured out my costume.

Tippy Hedron from The Birds. Ain't I cute? Too bad you can't see my face; I looked much more shocked than the lovely Tippy. Unfortunately, I lost the bird that was on my wig half way through the night. But at least he's flying free, pecking the eyes out of someone else. (they grow up so fast!)

I'm not really afraid of bird mutiny. A flock of seagull pecking at me is frightening but less likely to happen. There are tons of other kinds of groups of animals that I find much more frightening. Elephants are the first that come to mind. I've been doing some light research about the plight of elephants since last week when I saw some old footage (When Animals Attack! ...thanks Fox network...) of an elephant killing her trainer at a Hawaiian circus. It's shocking and horrifying for some many different reasons. These incredibly emotional creature have a great capacity to love and to rage. (You can blame the rage on us wacky human, pouching, torturing and killing them... an elephant really never forgets.) Sure, you mess with a baby, Mama is gonna whoop your ass. But it's more than that. Now and for the last decade or so, elephants have been terrorizing people. They have been found to be more aggressive and even attack without any provocation, crushing villages to the ground in the middle of the night. Some researchers have stated that this new generation of elephants are the product of our mistreatment and that they suffer from a kind of PTSD. There is a whole generation of kids subjected to watching their parents and families poached, hunted, tortured, kidnapped and killed. After this trauma, they are troubled and act out, especially where humans are involved.

Elephant crushing, a way of training wild elephant for preforming, has been condemned by dozens of organization. Poaching, although still going on, has been reduced since the 80's and early 90's due to strict patrol and tougher laws. But it's probably too little too late. Check out the links for more on these amazing creatures.

-http://ngccommunity.nationalgeographic.com/ngcblogs/
explorer/elephant/
-http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/02/16/
1140064206413.html
-http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/unforgettable/
emotions.html

Articles about scary-ass birds

• Barbie Runs for Her Life From The Birds
• Woman Savaged By Swooping Gull
• Chicago residents seek to avoid dive-bombing birds

Dolores and Terry

This is Dolores and Terry. This was taken on their first date. Terry was nervous because she was beautiful and tall and he was skinny and short. Dolores thought he was sweet and cute in his own way. That night, she learned that he had a good job and wasn't married and danced well. He learned that was was trying to quite smoking, worked at the Walgreens up the street and loved jazz music. They stayed out all night together dancing and drinking. It was the best first date either of them had ever had.

==================================

Dora had the same girlfriends for 50 years and they all met for coffee every Friday morning at the Peaks Cafe on 54th. The day was rainy and foggy. Marge was running late, like always and the other women had started without her. It was one of those mornings over a biscuit and coffee that she told the girls what had happened to Terry.

Of course, they all knew what the lier and cheater had done to her. After 30 years of marriage, he took up with the first skinny thing that walked by and continued to sneak behind Dora's back for almost a year. He bought that girl, who was half his age, diamonds and furs. Dora ate at home alone. They went all over town, in front of God and everyone, without a care if anyone they knew saw them.

But then Dora had a cancer scare. He went with her to the hospital and for all the tests. He held her hand in the waiting room. Dora was ok in the end, but it was then that he remembered how much he loved her and had missed her. What a fool he had been! This was his wife, the woman he had loved all these years. So he stopped seeing that girl.

But that girl wouldn't stop seeing him. She called and wrote and sent packages but nothing got through to Terry. That is, until one day she showed up at their home. She was screaming and throwing things at the house. Rocks. Jewelry. Clothes. The girl tried to cut her wrists on Dora's lawn. Terry came out and stopped her.

And with that, Terry moved out. Dora thought that she could look past his indiscretions. She knew he would find his way back home, eventually. But this humiliation she could not sweep under the rug. It was all too much.

In the divorce, he gave Dora everything. Perhaps he thought she deserved it after all he had put her through. Or maybe he was trying to get in her good graces again. But regardless of why, the day she turned 50, she quite her job at the hospital and retired.

But they all knew that story. Dora pulled a small envelope out and placed in on the table. "Terry died yesterday." The women stopped chatting amongst themselves and stared at her. His tiny apartment had caught fire while he had slept. She had had a knock on her door very early this morning. The police had given her a small box of smoky smelling objects, many singed. But this this envelope was untouched. She pulled the photograph out. Their first date. The women were stunned. A single tear rolled down Dora's lovely cheek.

She smiled a sad little smile and touched the picture lightly. It was here that Dora said goodbye to Terry, in the coffee shop on 54th.

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If you love postsecret.com or overheardinnewyork.com, hustle on down to foundmagazine.com. That's where I got the photo of the couple. There was no other information about them except that it was found in an abandoned burnt out building in Detroit in 1982.