Friday, October 25, 2013

Parasitic (or I Want My 79 Min Back)



I don't really do movie reviews here, but with Halloween around the corner I thought it might be a fun filler post that doesn't require any real work  change of pace. As I mentioned in my last post, I've been having sort of a rough time right now. As a well adjusted adult, I tend to bury my problems in a deep hole of denial and movies. Some of my very favorite are horror flicks. I adore slimy creatures, zombies, gore, violence, and the frequent ridiculous situations that arise in some of the less serious fare. Now don't get me wrong, I really get excited by a true, unique (well as unique as horror gets) movie that has a great deal of care and effort put in, but that doesn't mean I don't crave some terrible brain candy from time to time. For that reason, I will occasionally watch something with terrifically bad reviews, just to see if everyone missed the point, or at least missed the chance to laugh. "Parasitic" was one such a movie. It boasts a whopping 2.1 on IMDB, a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, and some of the worst reviews I had come across in some time. The premise however seemed terribly intriguing, or at least terrible and intriguing. As it turns out, the majority was absolutely right on with this one. This movie was such a perfect storm of bad acting, terrible writing, and the director knowing just enough to get himself in trouble. If he (Tim Martin) hadn't been trying so hard to control everything here,(written,directed, and effects by) perhaps he could have stepped back and turned a critical eye on his masterpiece. From what I can tell Tim made this as a way to showcase his fairly impressive practical effect skills. However, this could have been achieved better by almost any other means rather than to release THIS.
I really try to find the positive in stuff but there was slim pickins here. Let's break down the problems. 
Terrible sound quality, no lighting, and bad directing. Abysmal acting. Some of the worst I've ever seen. One reviewer I read said that they made him appreciate regular bad acting and I couldn't agree more. That being said, they could have had Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Miran, and Don Cheadle, acting their asses off, and this script would have made them look awful. The premise was weak, even for a virus, parasite, zombie, stripper movie. SPOILER ALERT. I'm just going to spoil the whole damn flick here. You'll thank me. Bitchy goth stripper stereotype orders sushi. Sushi (which is green) is full of parasite. Bitch eats parasite. She gets sick and removes her bra (which I wouldn't think was that unreasonable if it weren't for the rampant misogyny throughout. I mean barfing in an underwire can be awful)  Things grow out of her. She turns Zombie and begins to share her affliction with her equally quality human coworkers that she has trapped in the night club with her. For stupid reasons. She has that only key. She locks in her coworkers and none of them have friggin cell phones. Also the windows are barred in case the idea to bust one out crossed your mind. Useless crap happens, people die, people turn, guy commits suicide with a bic lighter, and then these absolutely beautiful practical creatures grace the screen for maybe a combined 1min, 30 seconds. The main monster at the end is huge, scary, and beautifully crafted, but only on screen for the last ,poorly lit, 30 seconds. Watch the movie on Netfilx, but ONLY the last 30 seconds. It will (almost ) spare you the experience of the rest of the movie, but you will get to see Tim's do what he does best. And in all fairness, he does it well. Just don't quit your day job Timmy.



















In conclusion, you would feel more fulfilled staring at the wall for 79 min then watching this. And that's honestly being nice.
So has anyone else seen this, and should I do any more of these? 
What say you?
Vanessa*

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Lost in the Fog

Photo of me and John by John D. Simmons. 

I'm sorry to have been away for so long, as well as so sporadic in my posts over that past year or so. I desperately wish to make more of this blog and to become more committed here, but I've been having a seriously rough time in the recent past. I do what I can to keep things light and professional in the blogosphere, but sometimes shit gets kinda tough and makes it hard to want to pretend. I work in customer service all day so it's exhausting when the day has ground me down to nothing to come home and write a perky story to please readers. I feel like I have to always deliver a wittily written, beautifully photographed post or no one will care. Perhaps need to learn just to be a bit more honest. Perhaps this can be a place for me to unload some of the weight I carry around, even if I don't get too specific. Sometimes you just need to spend a few days (at a time) watching horror movies on Netflix. I think you guys can probably understand that.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

GISHWHES

 Have you herd of Gishwhes? That stands for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the Worrld Has Ever Seen.Started by Misha Collins (of Supernatural fame) it has run for two years. Last year it shattered two Guinness World Records: one for the largest scavenger hunt ever, with more than 14,000 participants from 69 countries and the second, for the most pledges to commit a Random Act of Kindness (over 93,000 in 94 countries!).
People register are assigned to teams of 15 (they can also assemble their own teams). They then wait patiently for the hunt to begin.Once the "List" is posted the event commences and there is one week to complete as many tasks as the team can. We had a two part team consisting of the (east coast) Aataleptics (us) and the mid west folk, the Hufflepuffs. We split as much of the list as possible (which is hundreds of items long BTW) and frankly, pulled off quite a number of them. This post shares some of the items that we managed last year.

Lovers kiss with at least 11 types of food between you. This smelled AWFUL.

Do battle wearing only armor made of items found in the kitchen. Yes, we are naked an wrapped in tinfoil. I'm a cyborg pirate, and Jennifer is a samurai.
Stormtrooper cleaning the pool next to a sunbather in a bikini. (all we could find was a clone trooper costume, and it was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too small)

Commodor 64 photographed by an old time-y camera.

Mounted head with a mounted moose.

Cheese dress. Yes. A dress made entirely out of cheese.

Absorbasurus rex.

Shopping for diamonds in a wig made of popcorn.

 Get Gishwhes unionized.

Secret storage room in Area 51

 Full ski gear in a yoga class of 10 people. P.S. the only class i could get into was heated. As in 95+ degrees.

  A life size taco and burrito eating a a taco. Bonus, it was photographed in a taco bell.

My absolute favorite one: Tea party in a junkyard with a string quartet.

We had a positively MAD experience. It was a completely unforgettable experience, and one that I have signed myself up for yet again. In 2 days and 19 hours, the shenanigans begin. Keep us in your thoughts as we dedicate all of our spare time to making complete fools of ourselves in public.

Wish us luck,
Vanessa*



Monday, July 22, 2013

Picture post













1) Real Daiquiri on my Birthday at Soul Gastrolounge
2) Left some of my painted dinosaurs with Tony at Hair Klaudt.
Go see him and get your hairs did. High Five him for me.
3) License plate that I haven't been able to stop laughing about for almost a month now.
4) Best. Mug. EVER.
5) Two amazing handmade journals that I fussed over for weeks. By RedBarn Studios available at Beadlush
6) Made my decision and started sketching out some new disigns
7) Some yummy new Beads we got in at WORK. They all sold out already, but we have more on the way.
8) I painted all over myself
9) and made these.
10) New Sherlock plush by Handmade Stuffs. I spent Sunday jamming fluff into various holes on Harry, Mal, Snape, Leia, 11th Doctor, and these Sherlocks. They are so sassy looking, and I love their hair.

What have you guys been up to lately?
Luv,
Vanessa*



Friday, July 19, 2013

Verdant

I kind of enjoy rushing to get photos. Sometimes the added energy brings a little bit more to the shoot. Today was not really one of those days. John and I are trying to work out some problems we have when shooting. Mostly, that I'm a huge control freak and want to see the photos every ten shots so I can correct what I don't care for, and he just wants me to stand still for godsake. He says it's like shooting a wild animal.  Anyway it's been had to get photos here, because if I have the time, and he has the time, it's been pouring rain. POURING. The minuet I have to be somewhere, or he takes a nap, sunshine. it's driving me bonkers. So we snapped these after lunch the other day in a 25 minuet window of sunshine. Seriously, it was pouring 15 minuets later. At least all the rain has been good for the plants. All I know is I need some rain boots in my life.






Blouse: thrifted
Dress: thrifted
Shoes: Boris & Natasha's
Jewelry: Corvidae
 I hope you all are enjoying your summer. What you guys up to?
Luv,
Vanessa*


Monday, July 8, 2013

Buy American

 When I was a kid I LOVED the 4th of July. I'm not always the most patriotic person.  (I'm especially mad about some of the current goings on in our local government. Get it together NC) but I love the idea that our county was built upon. Also the 4th was a holiday that always meant time with Dad, and explosions. Usually at the same time. Dad would get his hands on a mini display of (il)legal fireworks, and we'd hang out in the back yard as he set them off. He'd set off the bottle rockets, roman candles, fire crackers, ans single shot mortars, all while Mom scolded us from the kitchen. Then we'd pull out the fountains and sparklers and Mom would come out and join us.  All four of us would twirl around with tiny showers of star emitting from the wands in out hands. Sparklers never fail to make me smile. They are just a simple, nostalgic reminder of what it felt like to be tiny me.

 


 Jacket: Thrifted
Tshirt: Thrifted
Skirt: Urban Outfitters
Shoes: Dolce Vita
Necklace: Corvidae

And now for the obligatory sparkler photos.  (imagine fan fare playing on a brass orchestra)






Wednesday, July 3, 2013

But not a real green dress (that's cruel)


If you were thinking that this outfit looks just a bit springy, you would be 100% correct.You are looking at my St. Patrick's day garb. Yeah, that's right. March 17th. I have had these guys stuck in Lightroom unable to post them for months. I have no idea what went wrong, but when I loaded the photos into my computer initially, I somehow missed half of the file. I still lost about 1/2 of the photos, but managed to re-upload these. Yay! So you guys don't have to miss out on my kindergarten teacher cardigan after all.  Let's see if I can remember what we did that day...
We met in Plaza Midwood to move a table into the new building for work. Then we hit Common Market for a few beers. The rest of the day gets pretty fuzzy for some reason. I guess if you can remember all of St. Pat's you weren't really celebrating.





Cardigan: Buffalo Exchange(d) Anthro
Blouse: Thrifted American Eagle
Dress: Forever 21
Tights: Kmart
Shoes: Seychelles
Jewelry: Corvidae


We are gearing up to celebrate July 4th this Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to snag some obligatory sparkler shots.  And who knows, maybe I'll even get those photos posted before Halloween.
Have a safe and happy Independence day, All!
Luv,
Vanessa*