Soul Thumping

Five for Friday - Girl Crushes

I haven't done a Five for Friday in some time now!

Poseidon and I watched Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie" last night, and I now have a girl crush on Tippi Hedren.  I've seen "The Birds" several times, but I paid little attention to how gorgeous she was, but in "Marnie," I paid attention, and she was lovely!  So, for this long overdue Five for Friday post, my five girl crushes, in no particular order:

1.  Tippi Hedren

 

 

 

2.  Catherine Denueve

 

 

 

3.  Brigitte Bardot

 

 

 

4.  Kate Beckinsale

 

 

 

5.  Jean Shrimpton

 

--Amphitrite

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From Pinterest This Week: Prettiest Sushi in a Time Warp

I was an enthusiastic fan of Pinterest initially, but lately I find it to be a huge time suck.  I become visually overstimulated after oohing and ahhing without blinking for unknown blocks of time.  Seriously, like I'm experiencing "lost time" because I've been abducted by aliens.

Today I took a sneak peek back at the old Pinterest site, and I saw some pretty sushi.  That made me want to search for more pretty sushi, so I did.  What happened?  I once again found myself experiencing a Pinterest time slip (I'm singing "The Time Warp" from RHPS in my head right this minute).  Have some sushi:

 

Source: pinterestin.tumblr.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

Source: flickr.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

Source: tumblr.com via Tamara on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

Source: cravecatering.com via CRAVE on Pinterest

 

 

 

And, because that song is still playing in my head, I think I will share that as well...

 

 

--Fortuitous Observer

Things I Found Aesthetically Pleasing Today - Day 14 Barefoot in the Park

Autumn is in full force and my favorite autumnal movie is Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.  Today I stumbled upon a picture of a scene in the movie (where Corrie meets Paul at the bus stop after work) and I've always dug the dress that Corrie wore in this scene, so of course, it lands in my aesthetically pleasing bucket!  Shama shama El mal kema ma!

Photo from classicforeverblog

 

--Fortuitous Observer

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Generation X Halloween Specials

Summer has passed (or on her last leg anyway), so this sun bunny has to switch gears and cozy up to autumn now.  It's ok, I can do it.  At 42, I don't trick-or-treat anymore (no one wants to see that), but I still love halloween in all its macabre glory, and nothing says feel-good frights like curling up with some popcorn and watching those great animated TV halloween specials!

Two or three years ago, I wrote an online article about the halloween TV specials that our generation grew up with in the 70s and 80s.  Rather than re-write the article, I will just point you to the link...here it is:  Top Halloween Specials for Nostalgic Generation Xers!  Enjoy, Gen Xers (and everyone else)!

P.S.  I think my favorite is still Witch's Night Out.

P.S.S.  I also wrote a similar article on Generation X Christmas specials.

--Fortuitous "Spooky" Observer

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Atari - not because I really want to play an Atari game now, but it represented a slow technological time, when versions of new things didn't have a "dot" in them and it was years in between new releases, not days.  I remember when the Raiders of the Lost Ark game came out for Atari, and you had to call a number to get secret tips on how to play the game.

School House Rocks - on Saturday mornings.  Now it's so retro 80s...it wasn't retro when I grew up in the 80s.

Captain Kangaroo - Mr. Green Jeans and the rabbit, and the clock, and the moose...such a comfort now to think about them.  Remember when MTV first aired and the Captain began "updating" by showing snippets of videos?  Oh, and "Now you know my name is Simon, and the things I draw come true."  I've actually blogged about Simon in the past.

Playing outside - until well after dark and my parents didn't worry about me

Rocky Horror Picture Show - in high school, on Saturday nights at the midnight movie, and my parents didn't worry about me.

Renting - I love my house and my little piece of land, but I miss calling someone else when things were broken...now I have to figure out how to fix things all by myself, or more often than not, pay someone else to fix them because I'm not capable of doing it all alone.

Thinking I'm invincible - Now that I'm 42, and I'm feeling old because I had to buy reading glasses, my muscles and joints ache, I had to have my gallbladder removed, and the worst thing...I get sick on carnival rides.  Seriously, I used to make fun of my mom because she would get nauseous on carnival rides...now, I want to puke when I even see a "Tilt-O-Whirl."

 

--Fortuitous Observer

The Rialto - Raleigh's Gem of a Theater

Poseidon and I met our pals N & T on Saturday afternoon for a matinee at the Rialto.  Why am I blogging about this, and who cares?  Because the Rialto Theater is one of the grooviest, primo places on the planet (truly, it is...should be one of the wonders of the world...I'm still petitioning).

For those not fortunate enough to live in the Raleigh, NC area, I will attempt to describe this theater, though I will not do it justice, that is a given, so you will just have to get in your car, hop on a plane, or whatever your desired mode of transportation may be, and come see for yourself.

First and foremost, the Rilato serves beer, and not crap beer, but realbeer (on tap), and wine.  Yup, many of my friends in other states can't believe that NC is so progressive when it comes to cinema enjoyment.  Well, you won't find beer at the ginormous theaters in Raleigh, only at a handful of hip little movie houses, the Rialto being my fave.

The Rialto has only one theater, so only one movie, usually for a week or two.  Here is the best part:  they only show foreign and independent flicks, AND, they still show The Rocky Horror Picture Showevery Friday at midnight.  Sorry Spiderman 14,  Iron Man 8, and even Harry Potter.  You won't get any face time at the Rialto (no offense to Harry...I'm a huge HP fan).

The theater itself (originally built in 1942), though recently renovated, drips in vintage beauty with nice velvety seats, and even if you arrive late and have to sit in the first row, you won't have to pay the chiropractor a visit afterwards (seriously, I thought I was going to have to do that after seeing the last Harry Potter flick at one of the "huge" cinemas...we were in the first row and I was envisioning permanent neck injury from looking straight up, literally, straight up, at the screen). 

Oh yeah, before I forget, the Rialto is a cash-only venue, so don't forget to knock over an ATM before your Rialto outing.

 

--Fortuitous Observer

The Mean Reds

Remember in Breakfast at Tiffany's when Holly said she had the "mean reds?"  The mean reds are much worse than the blues.  Even for someone like me who has suffered from chronic depression since childhood, the mean reds can sneak up on a person, do a swirling mad tap dance on your face, then go into hiding again, waiting for the next opportunity to slap you around a bit, drag you through the dirt, chew on your ears, then leave you to drown in your own misery.

I've got the mean reds this week, and as it isn't my first time at the rodeo, I know the drill:  take it like a girl, live through it for a couple of days, and everything will turn out just fine (until the next bout with the mean reds).  Uggghhh!  I need a laugh.  Where is Mr. Yunioshi when I need him?

--Fortuitous "Golightly" Observer

Kung Pao What?

Ever wonder how chicken from chain restaurants gets to be so perfectly shaped?  Don't.  Zeus and I ate out on Sunday afternoon, after shopping for our new running shoes.  It was one of those typical chain restaurants that we normally wouldn't desire to go to, but I was hungry, which means I was cranky, and this place was close, so we chose it (I mean I chose it...Zeus just simply followed me).

I ordered a salad with grilled chicken.  Something on the healthy side that would stop my hunger pangs and keep me from yelling at Zeus for things like breathing or talking.  The restaurant was crowded so we had to wait a little longer than I thought necessary, but when the food arrived my irritation level went down a notch (maybe half of a notch).

The salad actually looked better "in person" than on the menu.  I started cutting the chicken with my knife, and it seemed a bit dry and tough.  I bit into it and it tasted more like cardboard covered in glue than chicken.  Hmmm?  I inspected the "chicken" more closely, then I realized it wasn't real chicken.  I mean, it was real chicken pieces "glued" together and formed into the shape of sliced grilled chicken breast.  This wasn't a "pure" grilled chicken breast by any stretch of the imagination.

I ate it because I was hungry.  I've had this cemented and shaped chicken before.  You usually find it in the grocery store in the lunch meat or meat section packaged as "pre-cooked sliced chicken, ready for warming and tossing into your favorite recipe" as if they (the chicken ranch) are doing you a favor and saving you time.  They are saving you time, and they are making sure your bones and muscles stay "cemented together" with the added glue and preservatives, so you should say, "Thanks Mr. Chicken Man!"

I started thinking about the chicken glue later that night, mostly because Zeus reminded me about it, then I started to worry about what is in the kung pao chicken I usually order from my favorite Chinese take-out place.  It is a flat, white piece of meat of some sort.  It never really tastes like chicken because of the spicy sauces, but I just assume it is.  They can flatten a plump chicken breast to the thinness of a paint stirrer using a meat tenderizer, so it isn't the thickness (or thinness) that bothers me.  Maybe it is the perfect shape of each piece of chicken that bothers me.  Let's face it, chicken pieces aren't perfect without help.

I don't want to dwell on this subject too much because I love kung pao chicken and I don't want to ruin it for myself.  It's just something to think about.  Pieces of anything can be glued together and shaped into "food."  Remember Soylent Green?  I'm just saying...

 

--Fortuitous Observer

Little Ghoul Baby

OK, It just might be official:  I may truly be a freak.  I've always had a vivid imagination, and I tend not to be scared of most things.  I am a horror movie fanatic and I love to be scared.  Truly, I do.  During my early adult years I became entranced with horror movies, especially those made during the early to mid-70s.  I enjoy turning off all the lights in my house, lighting some candles, and popping a scary movie in the DVD player while I sit with my head half under a blanket, watching these flicks that are sure to disturb the normal person.  I'm un-phased.  I don't even have nightmares.

There are things, however, that creep me out (snakes, spiders, roaches, people picking their nose in public, etc.), but I'm not afraid of them.  Let's just say I love to be scared, but I don't believe I ever thought I had an unusual love of the macabre.  That is, until a few weeks ago.

My boyfriend has known from the beginning of our courtship (do people still use that word?) that I am crazy about scary movies and I have a large DVD collection of these flicks, and he has always seemed to think this was cool.  I was "cool" until a few weeks ago.  Now I think I've gone from cool to creepy.

It started when we took a trip to the plant nursery and bought several additions for my front yard (I'm trying to brighten it up a bit in case I have to sell...remember, I'm still unemployed).  As we were digging the 2nd or 3rd hole for our newly purchased plants, I blurted out, "Wouldn't it be grand if we found a skull or some bones in this hole?"  I felt such an excitement flair up in me and as I was basking in this fanciful, disturbing thought of uncovering some sort of remains that I didn't even notice he had stopped digging.

When I looked up to see why he had halted the digging, I found he was looking at me with an odd expression on his face and he was simply shaking his head.  I think he was a bit scared of me at that moment.  I tend to blurt things out that may or may not be appropriate at particular moments, musings that just enter my mind, and I shrugged this off as one of those moments when I completely caught him off guard.

I didn't think too much about this again until we were watching a scary movie--a great Swedish vampire horror flick called "Let The Right One In"--and I made some comment about the movie.  I don't want to give any of the story away because I highly recommend watching it (I would suggest getting the Swedish version with subtitles rather than the dubbed English version - you can check out the trailer here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2G0C4LE7XPH5G but finish reading my post first!), but there is a scene where a body is discovered in the snow.  I again made a comment about how interesting it would be to just be strolling along and finding a body in the snow.  That was a mistake.

A mistake because my boyfriend looked at me again with an expression of concern.  He shook his head, patted my arm (he really did pat my arm), sighed, and said, "Ah, my little ghoul baby."  Like I said, it just might be official...I am truly be a freak.

--Fortuitous Observer

The Unemployed Witch

I was named after a witch.  I love watching the expression on peoples' face when I tell them that factoid about myself.  Let me explain.  My mother was addicted to the 1960s - 1970s soap opera "Dark Shadows" while pregnant with my twin sister and I.  A character on the show, who was an evil witch (literally) was named Cassandra.  My mother liked the name, and thus, I have it.

"Dark Shadows" was a soap opera centering around a character, Barnabas Collins, who just happened to be a vampire, who was imprisoned in his coffin, but set free (too long to go into...) in the 1960s and trying to not be "found out."  His nemisis from 200 years prior, Angelique, the witch who put the spell on him during the 1800's (I think this is the correct timeline, so if anyone is a die-hard fan and I'm incorrect, please don't send me hate mail and/or death threats), turning him into a vampire, came to the present (1960s) to make sure the spell/curse remained in tact.  In the present time period, she was no longer Angelique, but went by the name Cassandra.  My namesake.

I've known this story about where my name came from for a while, but I had never seen an episode of "Dark Shadows" until a few years ago when the series was released in collections on DVD.  It is now considered by most to be a cult classic, and now I know why.

I started purchasing the DVD collections of "Dark Shadows" about 4 years ago.  I believe there are 25 DVD collections (most of the collections contain 4 DVDs each) of the series in total.  I am on collection number 9, and due to my current unemployment status, I have myself become addicted to the series.  I don't want to be.  Trust me.  I want to remain active and full of energy during my "time at home."  I get up, go to my morning workout, do my job searching, run errands, etc.  That is great.  But, now I find myself, after having run my errands, plopping down on the sofa and popping in a "Dark Shadows" DVD and I'm instantly transported back in time, months before I was born.  I'm getting to know Cassandra quite well, and let me tell you, she is a witch (literally and figuratively)!  Thanks mom.

What else am I supposed to do while I'm unemployed?  I swear, I am active, and I rarely sit still (except when at my laptop job searching and blogging), but this soap opera is indeed addictive.  No wonder people are still enthralled with this campy gothic piece of pop culture 40 years later.  There are "Dark Shadow" conventions (I'm NOT making that up), merchandise, reunions, etc.  It is very cool in a weird, creepy way.  Somehow I must have been predisposed to be a "Shadows" fan in the womb.  Now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to find out if Cassandra is actually dead (because her portrait has faded), or if she is still alive and only teasing Barnabus, giving him a false sense of security.

--Fortuitous Observer

 

I found this link to an episode of Dark Shadows (where Barnabas first comes to town) on youtube.  This youtube link is posted by a third-party, and he has some of his own stuff at the end of the episode, I think promoting his own music!

If you want to buy your own copy, try here: