Kyle and I spent last night at our friends' place drinking and playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill. The game ended in a draw, but the haunt we received to battle was nearly unbeatable anyways, so nobody winning was sorta OK.
Haven't done an outfit post in a while, so here's what I ended up wearing for the night. Nothing too fancy since our friends have four dogs that love to sit on laps and tear stockings/snag leggings, so yeah. But on a happy note - it's finally jacket season so I can break out all my fun jackets and blazers. I'm really into blazers lately, especially the ones with draped and triangular hem fronts with cropped backs.
Vest - eBay; High-low tunic - Forever 21; Spike necklace - eBay; Boots - New Rock
Studded stocking - Hot Topic. I'm a fan of mismatched stockings and socks and it's finally cold enough to layer them!
Pleather cropped moto jacket - GoJane. I love cropped jackets with a super draped back hem peeking out from underneath.
I'm busy preparing for upcoming press coverage of the Skinny Puppy and Birthday Massacre shows. Snow White Smile managed to get on the bill for the Birthday Massacre performance, so it should be a fun night! Only two weeks left for them to practice.
Some cheap raven graphics to make up for this post's lack of Halloween material. Also - long sleeves! It's finally cold enough to sport light-weight long sleeves, but not quite cold enough for jackets. P.S. The shrug I'm wearing was thrifted. I think I got it for under a buck!
Last night was a failed attempt to go to a local haunted house. I saw this ad for a place called "Scream Park" that's not too far from us, so I invited a group of friends to tag along and go to the haunted house event with us. Many friends bailed or couldn't make it (which turned out not to be such a bad thing!), but when Kyle and I got there, right away we thought it looked janky and cheap, especially since we're so used to big budget haunted houses a la Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Once everyone else arrived, they all had the same feeling about the place, not to mention the Yelp and Facebook reviews were atrocious.
So we had a change of plans and ended up eating sushi together instead. I figured I'd have some artsy, creepy, Halloween-y haunted house pics to post, but instead, all I have are my outfit shots. I got all dressed up just for dinner. Damn, I hate it when that happens!
The night didn't turn out quite as expected, but I still got to see my friends and catch up, so overall, it was still a good night.
An appropriately horrific background to my photo for a horror festival post. Vest - Lip Service; Tank - Heavenly Couture; Boots - Demonia
Saturday was the continuation of the Sacramento Horror Film Fest and a HUGE day for me and Kyle. I'll talk more about that towards the end of the post.
I was all by myself for the first half of the festival, enjoying the panel on the current state of horror movies as well as the series of short films that were presented.
The panel was led by Jordu Schell, a concept artist who worked on films such as 300, Avatar, and Men in Black. We got to see a slideshow of his artwork and sculptures and then the other panel guests took the stage. Schell's contention was that the current state of horror, in a nutshell, sucks. As he put it, and much more eloquently, I might add, and I'm totally paraphrasing so this is by no means a direct quote: "Modern horror is unoriginal and fundamentally boring and unartistic." It was quite a lively discussion and it was interesting to hear other people defend the modern movies that have come out today as well as to discuss the mainstream aspects of horror, a la "The Walking Dead."
The panel and moderator. Since everyone seemed to think horror sucks nowadays, I wanted to ask them so badly what they thought of Kevin Smith's "Tusk."
Some of the shorts that were shown were amazing! I couldn't believe that Kyle didn't want to come. There was one called "Heels," which opened with a shot of a penis in a women's pump doing some dirty things and ended with a revenge murder scene. Not really that horrific, truth be told, but certainly controversial and graphic. From what I understand, it was shocking enough to get banned from the film school in which it was created.
I also enjoyed a short called "Silk" in which a woman has a spider crawl into her vagina and she ends up giving birth to tons of baby spiders, a very gross and bloody affair. Given that I am terrified of spiders, this one really hit my gross-out button.
Kyle got off work, cleaned up, and showed up to the theater around 9:00. Just in time for a contortionist performance and some more bloody burlesque acts.
Burlesque act.
This was my favorite burlesque performance of the entire festival. She drenched herself in blood, performed in the shadowcast that night, and also directed the show. Plus any girl who can cover herself in blood and look amazing all the while dancing to Nine Inch Nails deserves some recognition.
The contortionist!
She looks truly creepy here. Like something out of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose."
This has got to require a ton of core-muscle strength.
This group of guys did little side-show gigs throughout the festival. Here they are clamping mouse traps on each other's nipples.
A mouse trap on the tongue!
It's hard to tell, but both of them have sewn their eyes shut with surgical thread!
The highlight of Saturday was the Repo! The Genetic Opera/The Devil's Carnival shadowcast mashup performance. I have seen the Repo! show many times before, but never with The Devil's Carnival snippets in it. Although I enjoyed the show, I really couldn't wait for it to be over because Ogre from Skinny Puppy was in attendance and would be signing autographs after the show.
The Devil's Carnival shadowcast.
The Devil's Carnival shadowcast.
The Devil's Carnival shadowcast.
Ogre standing ever so regally on the stage during the Q&A session following the show.
Emilie Autumn answering a question during the Q&A session.
Emilie Autumn, Marc Senter, who plays The Scorpion in The Devil's Carnival, and Ogre during the Q&A session. Fun fact - Marc and Emilie are now dating after meeting on the set of the film.
Ogre answering a question during the Q&A. That man has the sweetest demeanor ever, which is very different from his Skinny Puppy persona, which is very dark and mysterious. He's a man of few words in SP, but on stage as himself and out with his fans, he couldn't be a bigger sweetheart. I seriously cannot say enough good things about him as an artist and as a human being.
Kyle and I have had the privilege of interviewing Ogre and running into him at shows several times before. But man, were we thrilled to find out he remembered us! When we approached him for the signing, he asked, "Are we doing another interview tonight?" And I was just flabbergasted. "You remember us?" I asked. "How could I forget two people as pretty as you guys?" was his response. I JUST ABOUT DIED RIGHT THEN AND THERE. He said I was pretty. He actually said I was pretty! We had a very pleasant conversation with him and when we left, he was still complimenting us out the door saying we were an adorable couple and we should never break up. Holy shit. I think I have met Ogre enough times to call him an acquaintance. I repeat - holy shit. I can't even explain how much of a fangirl I turned into. How do you react to your musical idol (who you also happen to crush on HUGELY) telling you you're an attractive human being?? UGH. One of the best nights of my entire life.
I'm not entirely thrilled with this photo because I couldn't control my face. My cheeks were so wobbly and my knees were knocking because he had just called us pretty, so yeah…that explains my dopey expression and lack of neck and defined chin. I was so caught off guard.
We also got the opportunity to meet Emilie Autumn, who is also a delightful human being, by the way. She had a humongous line of fans waiting to see her and she took about ten minutes to personally connect with each and every one of them, making sure she listened to them and occasionally cried with them. That meant we had a lot of waiting to do to meet her and since we're not huge fans of her work, we just wanted a quick autograph and photo, but she wanted to tell us to make sure we never texted while driving. "The car is not an office," she made us repeat. Such a sweetheart. She's also a very touch-feely person, which I am not, so I got a little tiny bit uncomfortable when she touched my face and grabbed my earring. Haha.
Kyle said this is a photo of two hot chicks and the weird guy in glasses behind them. Haha. Oh yeah - Kyle finally got glasses about a month ago and is still getting used to them. Everyone says he looks very Clark Kent-ish.
So that's my schpeal about the Sacramento Horror Film Festival. I also wrote a real, journalistic review of the show which you can read here: http://www.examiner.com/review/sacramento-horror-film-festival-draws-spooky-crowd-to-the-colonial-theater?cid=db_articles.
If you're interested in videos of the Q&A variety with Ogre and Emilie Autumn, the videos I took are posted below.
Yesterday was the first day of October! The weather was beautiful and it was a very pleasant day to work in midtown Sacramento.
Not only was the weather great, our next door neighbor, who owns a gym, got a new pitbull-mix puppy that she brought over to visit. So cute! I'm jealous.
Crop top - Lip Service; Mini skirt - Serious L.A.; Boots - New Rock
Started off the morning with a coconut water. Yum! Made me miss Hawaii.
We stream French radio at the store, and this song plays frequently. It's a French rap song and they sing so fast! Look it up and listen to it if you're at all curious. I think you'll get a good laugh out of it if nothing else.
My boss Darcy and the baby from next door.
Her name is McKenzie.
The trees are so green and there was such a delightful breeze. This photo shows what midtown is like and also gives a good example of why Sacramento is called "The City of Trees."
Can we please have sweater weather already?? Come on Sacramento…give us some rain and gloomy, overcast skies. I'm tired of tank tops and layered pantyhose. I want to show off my massive collection of Black Milk leggings and long sleeves!
Today the weather wasn't scorching, but it was still hot enough to facilitate sleeveless tops and light-weight leg wear.
I received a parcel in the mail yesterday from G-Stage that included this L.A. skeleton hand print muscle tank. Under $10 if you can believe that? I love G-Stage! Super affordable and super cute. Not to mention they had a decent selection of black stuff, which is really what I look for in a website these days.
High-low chiffon blouse - Forever 21; L.A. muscle tank - G-Stage; Boots - New Rock
L.A. is my second home, even though I don't truly want to live there. It's a great place to visit and explore and get to know, but ultimately, all you do there is wait. Wait for opportunity, wait for traffic, wait for everything. I just can't handle spending that much time in the car in traffic, which is why I love visiting but am always glad to get out.
Last night I got all gussied up for a fashion show at a local club called District 30. We didn't end up seeing the fashion show or staying out super late because all my friends (and Kyle) had work the next morning, but it was still fun.
This is the interior of District 30. It's set up very strange for a club (in my opinion) because it's basically one long hallway of a venue. Here I am scratching my face and not paying attention to Kyle taking a picture. For some reason, there's a speck of light at just the proper place to make it look like my finger is radiating sparkles or something. Also, it looks like I'm flipping him off, but I'm not, I promise.
Here we are outside on the patio having fun. I was already three drinks in at this point, so yeah….
Outfit front view. Loving the high-low hems right now.
Crop top - Rue 21; Chiffon high-low tank - Heavenly Couture; Boots - Demonia
After I drank three cocktails (did I mention the drinks were FREE??) I was pretty tipsy and Kyle was also ready to head home, so even though it was only 11:30 and the fashion show had not even started, we called it a night.
Look - I got a hair cut! Asymmetrical, shattered bob! Hahaha - just kidding. I styled my hair a bit differently and my extensions are on my off-camera shoulder, so it just looks that way.
Nothing exciting to report today. My weekend is lining up to be super busy with a birthday brunch for a friend, the release of Kevin Smith's new horror flick "Tusk," and a small concert at a local club though, so I'll probably have lots more to say after the weekend.
Just an outfit post for today. I scored some sweet things at the local Goodwill, including the chiffon cross-print blouse I'm sporting today. I have several tops with cross prints, and sometimes I feel a bit odd wearing crosses because I associate myself with Christianity in NO WAY, so really, if you know me, it's kind of a sarcastic commentary on my atheism if anything.
Anyways, I had work to do when I got home from work (*sigh* the dilemma of working from home), so really the highlight of my day was hearing my boss inhale leftover helium from some decorative balloons at the store and then proceed to sing "We're Off to See the Wizard" from "The Wizard of Oz."
Cross blouse - second hand; High-low tank top - Love Culture; Boots - New Rock
Mom was kind enough to take us on an excursion to the other side of the island - the Hilo side. This is the side of the island that gets much more rain (200 inches annually versus 20 annually in Kona) and is also near where my Dad bought his land to build his Hawaiian home. It's about a two hour drive from one side to the other, so we were up really early to get to our horseback riding session at 9:00 a.m. Thankfully we didn't get lost and we arrived on time with no issues and only one pee pit stop (that's unusual with a car full of girls).
We had to wear long pants, so I grabbed my suspender leggings and BEVERLY THRILLS tank top from Love Culture. So thankful to wear New Rocks. They worked out perfectly for horseback riding since it was mandatory to wear closed-toe shoes.
When we arrived at the ranch and parked our car, there was a friendly tiny cat that came up and demanded petting. He even jumped right up into the car.
Mom and Eden cracking and snacking on macadamia nuts from the ranch.
A funny sign. As I mentioned previously, many jobs don't pay minimum wage and the employees get paid in tips only.
I managed to get a close-up of one of the dreaded zipper spiders. Now you see why I am afraid of them…so scary!
When everyone on our tour had arrived, we piled into a four wheel drive van and headed down into Waipio Valley. In order to get into the valley, it is mandatory to drive a 4WD vehicle and go through a checkpoint where they make sure you know what you are getting into. The descent into the valley is extremely steep and the road to get down is a windy, one-way affair that is simply terrifying. Down in the valley, all of the land is privately owned. The people have no electricity and live off of the land. If they want food, they grow it and harvest it. If they want to shower/wash their hands/drink fresh water, they generally catch rainwater. What a very different way of living than what we on the mainland are used to.
The van drove through rivers to get all the way to the bottom of the valley where the horses were penned.
The DEAD END sign cracked me up. It made the perilous drive all the more hilarious. (Ok, Ok, so it was only perilous in my head. I'm 100% sure those guides knew exactly what they were doing and have made that drive millions of times.)
The van was parked and we hopped on out. I dropped my sunglasses and the lens popped out, so I had no shades for the entire ride. :(
All the horses started coming out of the pen. My horse is the white one.
Mom mounting her horse.
Eden introducing herself to her horse, who was named George. All the other horses had hard to pronounce Hawaiian names, but Eden's horse was just plain old George. She said he was a doofy horse.
Eden mounted her horse and the guide was checking to make sure everything looked good before he let her loose.
Me on my horse. He was the only white one and I was one of the last people to mount. His name meant Scab or Scar in English, but I can't remember the Hawaiian word for it. He was the leader of the pack and got grumpy when any of the other horses tried to pass him up.
One of the streams we crossed on horseback.
The view from atop my horse.
View from horseback down in the valley. It's easy to see how far down were were based on the height and scale of the mountain.
Only at the beginning of the ride was there another person in front of me. Mom and Eden got separated from me and I basically had the entire ride to just look around and take the scenery in. As I said, my horse was at the front and I got to listen to all the things the guide in front of me said and didn't have to talk to anybody else. For an introvert like myself, it was paradise. Hahaha. Although I wouldn't have minded being close enough to Eden and Mom to have a conversation with them.
The guide picked me a pumpkin cherry. It tasted sour and not like a pumpkin or a cherry. Also, my gel manicure held up well the entire trip.
Very long waterfall.
Me and Eden on our horses. The horses look kind of sleepy. Maybe because it was very near the end of the ride and they were just thinking about it being their lunch time.
All of us girls on our horses.
I loved horseback riding. It was my favorite activity by far.
This was a wild horse that came up to the van on our drive back up the mountain.
We made it safely back up the mountain and our next stop was a restaurant to get some Portuguese donuts for Eden.
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