Quick Update

Hello everyone!

First, I'd like to apologize for my silence lately. I should've written an update sooner.

I'd like to say that I'm going to take a break in November; my semester in school is finished in December, so I'd like to stay on top of my schoolwork for a bit.

In addition to that, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month. (NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as National November Writing Month, is a competition in which you try to write a 50,000+ word novel in one month.) I'm pretty much devoting my free time to that at the moment, so blogging is taking a back seat to that.

I WILL catch up on Sailor Moon Saturdays, and I'll tell you all about my Halloween party and my birthday. But these things probably won't happen until December.

Sorry for the delay in writing, lovelies! I hope you're all having a wonderful November so far, and take care! I'm sorry I won't be able to help you out with Thanksgiving recipes this year, but trust me, the Internet has a plethora of ideas!

If you have any comments, feel free to leave a message below or shoot me an email!

xo, Kate

Review Day: Endangered Species Creme Filled Chocolates (Almond Butter and Coconut)

So, I'll admit.

Sometimes vegan Halloween sucks. Especially if you're like me.

Yeah, I know we still have a lot of candy that we can eat. But do you know what I like? CHOCOLATE. Fuck those fruit candies we get. I mean, sometimes they're nice, but 90% of the time I'd rather be digging my teeth into a candy bar.

And I'll be honest - my chocolate making skills are ABYSMAL. I've tried multiple times. They always come out terrible. It's frustrating. And let's not forget that I'm a broke college kid, so going to the natural health food store to get myself a candy bar is like going to Fifth Avenue and asking for something from Tiffany's.

The struggle is real, folks.

But then, out of the darkness, the parents of the broke vegan college kid emerge and behold! A BAG FILLED WITH HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED HEALTH FOOD STORE?

BLESS. It's like heaven raining down upon your face in the form of sweet, chocolatey goodness.

But some of you may not have parents that are as supportive as mine when it comes to your veganism. Trust me, I've heard HORROR stories. I'm incredibly grateful that mine as so helpful, but I understand that not everyone is in the same situation. So, I like doing these reviews so that you can save some money if you can or, if something is awesome, you'll hear about it and go check it out!

So, let's get down to the CHOCOLATE.

Now, from what I remember, I think Endangered Species Chocolate just came out with these creme filled ones? If I'm wrong, please correct me. I love this brand. The chocolate is good, they inform you about animals, argh! So delicious. So I was excited about the creme filled ones, and it's been a while since I had creme filled chocolate anyway.

First, I tore into the coconut one. I'll admit that I'm not a huge coconut lover. But I was hopeful with this - I'm more against the texture than the taste. (Ew to shredded coconut, now and forever. There's a 90% chance you'll never see a recipe on here with that nasty stuff.)

Little squares of magic.

The inside of the wrappers give you neat animal facts, too!

So, once this was all out of the way, I took a bite, and...

Huh.

It's not BAD.

But where's the creme?

Did it hide?

What's this nonsense?

THIS ISN'T CREME.

In all honesty, it just really wasn't creamy. It had a nice flavour, and it was waaaay more mild than I expected it to be (I think coconut tends to be overwhelming) and it blends in well with the dark chocolate. But, hmm. The texture left something to be desired.

Also, can I mention that these bars feel a LOT richer/more decadent than the normal ones? Two squares of this and I was groaning over the fact that I had to review another bar.

So, I tore into the almond butter creme bar.

The cremes look suspiciously similar in terms of colour. And honestly, the amount of creme to chocolate in this one was even worse than the coconut one. Which is a shame, because the bit I tasted was WONDERFUL.

Overall I preferred the almond butter creme, and I would gladly eat these if someone gave them to me, but I don't know if I'd buy them. I was just really disappointed by the amount of creme in them. Especially because these are their first creme bars (I think)- I thought they'd really want to step it up. But yeah, one square and you'll be knocked out for the count. So you do get your money's worth!

I hope you all have a lovely and safe Halloween tomorrow!

xo, Kate

Book Buddies - Rod Serling's Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves

So today was fun!

My class was canceled, but I forgot to unset my alarm so I still woke up relatively early anyway. I figured I'd get some stuff done for my Halloween party! (And around the house in general.)

My mom and I went shopping yesterday and we picked out supplies together for a nice decoration for the railing on my front porch.

Hehe, isn't it cute? I was so excited, I put this up the minute I woke up!

I also found a new friend at Joanns.

She is Queen Rebecca and I love her. (Her eyes also light up.)

Oh, AND I carved my pumpkin today! (Thanks for the pumpkin, mom!)

But today, we're gonna talk about a fun read for Halloween!

This summer, I went to Belmar with Eric and my friend Julia. We came across this really cool store that sold a lot of vintage comics and toys and other really cool memorabilia. I found this in there, and I knew I had to get it. I've always been a Twilight Zone fan, and I mean Rod Serling was also super attractive, hahaha.

Now, I'll let you know, this isn't a collection of Rod Serling's stories - rather, it's an anthology of horror stories that he picked out.

Like any anthology, there are some stories in this that are better than others. Overall, I was incredibly entertained! The one story that really stood out to me was 'Blind Alley' by Malcolm Jameson. (I looked him up and now I'm interested in reading more of his work!) While reading 'Blind Alley', I was reminded of a Twilight Zone episode, and I was on the money - because it was one.

Overall I really did love this collection. I wasn't really thrilled with Nathaniel Hawthorne's contribution though (but I have very mixed feelings about him in the first place, so this isn't totally surprising to me). I recommend picking this up if you're in the mood for some spooky stories before bed!

Halloween is almost upon us! Do you guys have any fun plans?

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Hocus Pocus (1993)

Hello everyone! It's soooo close to Halloween! Is everyone ready for their parties or nights of entertainment? I'm getting there! I can't wait to show you guys what I'm doing for mine, heh. I'll make sure to post about it on November 1st!

Today I went to visit my parents. Halloween is one of my mother's favourite holidays, so I guess I got this love from her, heh. We went shopping for some Halloween goodies (I'll post about those on November 1st too probably) and we watched 'Hocus Pocus' together! (I feel weird if I DON'T watch it with her during the Halloween season, heh.)

I know this isn't really a horror movie, but it's definitely a Halloween movies.

A warning to my vegan friends: There's two sad cat parts in this, but please note that this is also a kid film, so those scenes do look fake.

It's also one of those movies that I kind of judge people by - if they tell me they don't like it, I just kind of squint at them and suddenly I'm hesitant to trust those kinds of people. No one needs that kind of negativity in their lives, heh.

In case you've somehow been living under a rock/you follow cult classics, I guess I'll summarize this. 'Hocus Pocus' is about three witch sisters who, after 300 years, have been resurrected by three kids on Halloween night. It's up to these kids (and an unusual cat) to put these witches down for good.

Okay, this movie is INCREDIBLE though. Even without my childhood nostalgia, there's a lot of great stuff about this film.

1. Bette Midler. Bette Midler can do NO wrong and she's beautiful and talented and and and just amazing. 
2. Sarah Jessica Parker. She's so weird and ridiculous in this. It's really endearing. I wonder if she does impressions of her character from this when she's in bed with Matthew Broderick.
3. The jokes. THE ADULT JOKES THOUGH. Do you even KNOW how many are in this film? This is back in the day when it was okay to make really crude jokes in kid movies because kids wouldn't understand them but adults would and oh my gosh. (I mean, they still do it now - the Shrek films, okay.) But the jokes in THIS are in a different world - that entire scene with the creepy bus driver, though.
4. Bette Midler's song. I mean, SHE'S GONNA PUT A SPELL ON YOU. I'd be mad if they put her in this and didn't have her sing a song. Get it, girl.

I can't praise this movie enough. It holds up really well with time. I could watch this all year, not just Halloween. It's such a FUN film.

I'll be shocked if anyone that reads this HASN'T seen it, to be honest. It's played on TV SO much around this time of year! It's everywhere! 

My class was apparently canceled for tomorrow, so maybe I'll do something a little different then? We'll see what I'm up for, heh. 

Hope you guys are having a lovely week so far!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Pontypool (2008)

Hi everyone!

Today has been pretty uneventful. Had class, came home. I was trying to get ahead on homework so I have less to worry about this week (and so I can have fun during my upcoming Halloween party!), but the cat has been spazzing out SO much today and driving me absolutely mad, so I'm having a hard time concentrating.

So yeah, here's a movie!

I went into this movie totally blind. Netflix's Max feature has been really buggy for me lately (sometimes it disappears completely, sometimes it has brain farts and stops working, etc.) so I went through Netflix's "Halloween Favourites" category. Which, honestly, isn't as good as it was last year, so I'm pretty disappointed.

I picked this because Netflix really thought I'd like this. That was about it.

'Pontypool' deals with Grant Mazzy (played by Stephen McHattie), a radio announcer in Pontypool, Ontario. (Heck yeah Canada - I wish I had never left, oy.) While on the air, he and his crew realize that they're in the middle of major virus infection, and Pontypool is soon quarantined.

I'm gonna be honest. The entire time I watched this, I kept wishing that McHattie would mysteriously turn into Ron Perlman. Not that McHattie did a bad job in this. I just really prefer Perlman's "grit". Anyone else get what I'm saying? If they ever did an American remake of this, my dream cast would probably beeee... Ron Perlman as Grant, Javier Bardem or Alfred Molina as Doctor Mendez, perhaps Catherine Keener as Syndey (I usually only see her in comedies, so I'd like to see her in a horror film), andddddd I dunno who to cast as Laurel-Ann, ha.

Has anyone ever read anything by Tony Burgess? I'm really curious about his work now!

I loved this film. THIS is a good example of what a slow movie should be. The first half is slow, but we spend that time with character development and understanding how they behave in general. But then the second half? That's where shit gets dark reaaaaaal fast.

Is this a zombie movie? Perhaps. That part is really up to interpretation and your personal opinion of what a zombie is, or could be. I don't consider it to be a zombie film. But hey, that's just me. I would easily understand why someone would call it that. The director doesn't consider it one either - in fact, he calls the infected "conversationalists".

And I mean hot damn, if this doesn't inspire you to learn a least a LITTLE of another language, well. I think I'd be okay in this situation, possibly. Maybe. This film will make you think about languages and what we're so willing to throw around easily, and our general understanding of words.

Note: There's a scene after the credits as well. What're your thoughts on it?

I was REALLY surprised by this. Definitely would recommend this to all of you lovely folk!

Horror month is almost done, but if you wanna try to squeeze in a last minute suggestion, just leave me a comment here or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Audrey Rose (1977)

So today I'm planning on seeing a couple of friends of mine, so I'm actually writing this the night before, ha! (This is so weird. It's like time traveling except not even slightly.) Let's skip right to the scary movie!

So, I'll preface this by saying that the 70s are actually my least favourite decade in terms of film. I just, I dunno. I feel like most of the movies made then were a huge miss. (Though I do have some exceptions of course!)

'Audrey Rose' is a psychological horror film in which a man believes the daughter of a couple is actually the reincarnation of his own daughter that died. I'd consider this more of a psychological thriller, and even the Wikipedia page for the movie seems kind of conflicted about the subject, but for the purpose of this we'll call it a horror film. It's under the Halloween favourites on Netflix, too.

It's weird seeing a (relatively) young Anthony Hopkins. I mean, I kind of thought he just popped out of the womb looking like Hannibal. He pretty much carried the entire film. I mean, I felt like he was just talking for the entire movie and everyone else just happened to be there. And while he was compelling and wonderful, there's only so much that one can take of just one person talking at them for almost two hours.

The Wikipedia page talks about how when this came out, there were a lot of comparisons drawn between this and 'The Exorcist'. And, well, yeah. I can see that. I mean, possession of a young girl, concerned parents/parent figures, supernatural events, etc. But this just isn't as... exciting? It's so slow. The child that everyone is bickering about is barely even in the movie. How am I supposed to care about her?

Overall, this reminded me of my review of 'The Prophecy', actually - this was like a theology lesson, only this time on the subject of reincarnation. It's just so dry, man.

I just, no no no. Please don't ever make me watch this again. I feel like this would only interest those with a passion for reincarnation, but even then it's so dry it's pretty much unwatchable. I regret everything.

I hope you guys are having a beautiful Sunday! October is almost done, and soon I'll be wrapping up the horror month! So get those last-minute suggestions in!

xo, Kate

Sailor Moon Saturday #17!

So, this was another really rough week.

I was given an assignment for one of my classes that really upset me and my professor wouldn't listen to my concerns. It was draining. I had to write a eulogy for myself. I can't believe anyone would think of that as being a good assignment. I tried to ask for an alternative and was rejected. I had to interview someone for it. It was so uncomfortable and I'm so upset. It was a terrible one too - I just wrote about how I was childless and fat and clumsy and awful. It was really bad. But I made sure to complete all of the objectives, so I hope she doesn't fail me. I don't even think I care anymore at this point though. (I keep trying to tell myself that, but I think an F would freak me out, too.)

At least it's done. It's done, and now I can try to enjoy Doctor Who tonight and ugh. I wish I had money to go out or go by myself a video game. It's almost my birthday and I'm just really not excited for anything right now.

But yeah, it's Sailor Moon Saturday. *forces self to be excited*

Warning: This post is spoiler-heavy for those who have never seen the 90s show or read the manga.

Today we're talking about Nephrite.

So yes, it's another geology day!

I gave a background of his role in the story in Sailor Moon Saturday #15, so if you want kind of an idea of what Nephrite does, it's basically the same thing that Jadeite does.

(Remember how there was an implied relationship between Jadeite and Sailor Mars? Nephrite had the same thing with Sailor Jupiter. Which is great, considering he was actually killed by her in the manga.)

Anyway, geology.

So, in Sailor Moon Saturday #15 I also talked about the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. It'd be a good idea to read up on that again if you forget what it is, but nephrite is a tiny bit weaker than jadeite (clocking in at 6-6.5). And since jadeite and nephrite are so closely related, no one should be surprised that nephrite is a metamorphic rock too! Really, they're both versions of jade.

Nephrite is used in a lot of decorative ways - like in jewelry or beads.

It's commonly used in China (and has really odd names there - they have different names for different colours of nephrite, and they're both food related; mutton fat jade and chicken bone jade). Apparently, they used jade to make these beautiful burial suits for Chinese royalty! Jade was considered to be more valuable than silver or gold, so it was often used in the art of the palaces of the royals.

So I hope this was a fun little lesson for you guys today! I know there's not much here, I'm sorry. I'm just really having a hard time concentrating on stuff and I feel a bit overwhelmed. I hope you guys have a nice day today, and next week we get a new episode of Sailor Moon! So yay!

xo, Kate

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites (Version #1)

So, it's been a while since I've posted a recipe. I know, I know. Honestly, I want to post everything I'm making for my Halloween party, but I just can't make them that far ahead in advance.

However, there's one thing that I can make a week ahead of time - cheesecake. The freezer is your friend, folks.

Now, I will point out that this was my first time making them and I'm posting the recipe as I made it, but I have some suggestions that I'll add in at the end! (I'll probably come back and play with this recipe some more later on.)

I'm generally not a pumpkin fan (when autumn hits, I'm cheering for apple cider!), but I know a lot of people love pumpkin stuff, so I wanted to accommodate to my party gifts a bit and make something that most of them would probably like!

(I apologize for the poor quality of the photo - the lighting in my house is incredibly awful and it is not a photographer's dream.)

ingredients:

for the crust:

• 1 cup crushed graham crackers (Note: Check to make sure they're vegan! Many use honey - I'll show you what I use in a moment.)
• 4 Tbsps vegan butter (I use Earth Balance), melted
• optional: a pinch of cinnamon sugar - I used Trader Joe's brand!

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Get out an 8x8" pan and line it with parchment paper.
3. In a blender, crush the graham crackers. (You can pre-crush them in a plastic bag and then roll over them with a rolling pin - that's what I do.) Add the melted butter and cinnamon sugar.
4. Press the crust into the pan, and bake for six minutes.

These are the graham crackers I used!

Ugh, this is a wonderful product. The second you pop off the lid, you're just hit with the sweet scent of cinnamon and it's absolutely beautiful.

This is the kind of texture you want from the crust. 

While the crust is pre-baking, you can work on the filling.

for the filling:

• 2 8-ounce packages of vegan cream cheese, softened (I used Tofutti for this)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsps flour
• *1 Tbsp cornstarch (I didn't use this originally, but I wish I had. This may be too much or not enough - this is something I'd add the next time I made this, though.)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 Ener-G eggs

instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whip the cream cheese for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the sugar and mix it for another 30 seconds.
3. Add the pumpkin puree and mix it for another 30 seconds.
4. Add the vanilla, flour, cornstarch, and spices and mix for another 30 seconds.
5. Mix in the Ener-G eggs - mix for about 10-20 seconds.
6. Pour the filling over the crust, and bake for 38 minutes.
7. Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature (for at least one hour, preferably two). Once it's cooled, put it in the fridge for at least two to four hours.
8. Cut into small bite-sized pieces, or add the optional chocolate drizzle.

optional: chocolate drizzle

• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp refined coconut oil

instructions:

1. Over the stove, melt the coconut oil over low heat. Once melted, increase the heat a tiny bit and add in the chocolate chips. Melt until smooth, then pour over the cheesecake. Let it cool to room temperature, then put the cheesecake back into the refrigerator or freezer.
2. Once the drizzle has hardened, cut the cheesecake into bite-sized pieces.

Mmmmm, cream cheese.

So yeah, my one major edit would be to add some cornstarch to this recipe. Otherwise it's pretty liquid-y. (Though still delicious.) Without it, you should probably stick to pumpkin cheesecake dip or something, dip some apple slices or graham crackers into it. :) 

Let me know if you guys try this out! I'm really curious. I'm starting to like pumpkin stuff a lot more, so that's exciting! I froze this tonight and I'll pull it out when Halloween hits, so I'll have less to worry about for my approaching party. :)

I hope everyone's having a nice night! Take care, dears!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Home Sweet Home (2013)

Today was a really fun day. I went to go see 'The Boxtrolls' with Eric (and it was AMAZING, oh man). I should've known it would be, considering it's a Laika film. Afterward I went shopping for Christmas presents, and then I came home and snuggled up under a heated blanket, with a lovely candle burning in the background, and popped on a movie. Rather than letting Max pick, I let Eric have control, and here's what he picked.

'Home Sweet Home' is about a young couple that comes home and finds that a killer has trapped them inside, and it's only a matter of time before they meet a bitter demise. Unless, of course, they can escape...

While this is much better than I expected, overall it was still a bit disappointing.

First, we'll start with the disappointing stuff. (At least then we'll end this on a good note, right?)

• The bland house. This might seem like a superficial complaint, but hear me out. The colour scheme in this house is DREADFUL. Grays and whites, ew. Staring at such a drab scene for over an hour kind of grates on the eyes for a bit.
• The killer. Now, I have some good notes about the killer that I'll address in a minute. But it bothers me that we have no real understanding as to why he killed these two. It's hard for me to imagine that such an organized killer would have NO relationship with these two - whether or not he knew them beforehand, whether they're supposed to be surrogates for someone who made him angry in his life. There's just NO explanation. Maybe we're supposed to think that he's an "angel of mercy" (specifically, a malignant hero). Only, he isn't going to save them, he just gives the appearance of trying to save them.
• This is a bit slow. I know I keep criticizing films lately for being slow, and then insisting that I typically like slow movies. I know. But, these films aren't using the idea of "slowness" correctly. Rather taking time to build suspense or character development, they're all just dragging their heels so they can make these stories into feature length films, rather than letting it live as a good short film.

Okay, so, now the good things.

• The killer. It's awesome that we never get to see his face. This leaves more to the imaginations of the viewer. We're also never given a name for him (which makes it harder for us to humanize him, which ends up making him scarier). Also, that fucking mask okay.
• The husband and wife. I'll admit, there were times where they were incredibly obnoxious. Like they were supposed to fill this trope of perfect Americana or something. But, I did end up caring about them. I was worried for them.
• No animal killing. I saw that cat Critters running around, and I was terrified until the end of the film. I've been seeing a lot of horror films with animal death lately, so I was really scared and kept pestering Eric "WHERE'S THE CAT THOUGH". So, the fact that it lived through the whole film was a positive for me.

So, yeah. There were good qualities, there were bad qualities. I gave this a solid three stars on Netflix (which is an improvement, considering it thought I'd only give the film about two). There isn't really much information around about this film either - while looking it up, I couldn't find a Wikipedia page for it, and even the IMDb page seems a bit bare. So, if you feel like taking a bit of time out of your day, this is less than an hour and a half and it's available to stream on Netflix.

Let me know if you guys see this! And if you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave me a comment below or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: The ABCs of Death (2012)

So today wasn't particularly interesting, I suppose. I had a geology test (let's all hope I got a good grade, oh man). I have to write my own eulogy for one of my classes tomorrow (which I find highly inappropriate, and I suggested alternatives to the professor and she turned me down, so I'm going to make mine as snarky as possible now).

Netflix chose this movie for me, and I've seen a lot of people talk about this in my Facebook horror group too, so!

A warning to my vegan friends: There are multiple shorts in this that involve harm to animals, some of which even my tough-as-nails military boyfriend found incredibly disturbing. If you still wish to watch this but skip the letters involving this, skip D, E, H (though this was done more in a cartoonish-style and they're humanoid; this one did not upset me but I figured I'd include it anyway for particularly sensitive people) P, and possibly Q (though no harm comes to an animal in that one, it is discussed). Also, while D is upsetting, I will say that the animal does not die and there IS revenge, though I still teared up and had to look away multiple times. To me, the most upsetting one was P.

Trigger warning: Letter X may upset those with body image issues; while I found it incredibly thought provoking, it may upset those who are sensitive to this issue. Some of the segments also include a large amount of gore or moments of vomiting, to the point that it even made me flinch.

I've been meaning to watch 'The ABCs of Death' for a while, and it was... interesting. This film is an anthology of short films, each one tackling a letter of the alphabet and showcasing 26 different ways to die. Some shorts were far better than others, and some were a bit too gory for my taste. (Also, some were REALLY sexual and were actually almost pornographic and just too weird for my taste.)

Rather than give you a synopsis of each letter, I'm just going to list off the ones that I particularly enjoyed and why:

• B - I love the idea of creepy bedtime stories. Eric and I were discussing different cultures and their stories (I brought up German and Russian fairy tales, which tend to be particularly fucked up). This also reminded me of the evil snowmen in that Doctor Who Christmas special, heh.
• F - Oh my god. It's so crude, but I just thought it was so funny and weird. This is not for those with a mature palette - it's stupid and childish in the best way possible.
• H - There was something incredibly endearing about this short. I actually wished it had been the whole film, to be completely honest. It has this great feeling of a war-noir film mixed with cute (yet oddly sexualized humanoid) animals, so.
• J - Like F, this isn't really for the mature audiences (at least, until the very end of the short). There are moments where I was giggling, even though I could guess that what was happening was fairly morbid, but.
• K - I LOVED K. I was waiting for an animated sequence, and it did not disappoint me. It's so cute and awkward and I felt like this could possibly happen to me (even though there's no way this could possibly happen to me).
• N - Apparently I gravitated towards the more lighthearted segments, because even the death in this one made me laugh. I also thought that this was one that, in comparison to the other segments, was actually realistic.
• T - Another animated sequence that brought me back to childhood terrors and made me laugh at the same time. It's a little bit on the rougher side of quality in terms of the animation, but it was still incredibly enjoyable.
• U - Basically, I liked the idea of the "different" perspective. 
• V - I'm actually kind of one the fence with this one. I thought the story was incredibly intriguing, but I'm sad that they chose this format to create it. This is meant to be an entire film, to have more time to strengthen their ideas, and it's a shame that it gets crammed into a short film instead.

Overall, I ended up rating this a three out of five on my Netflix account. Some of these films are far superior to others (some are weird for the sake of weird, some made me nauseous with the unnecessary amount of gore, etc.) and the range is so wide that I really can't say if I totally loved this or hated this. But, I feel like that's common with anthology films. (I felt the same way about 'Paris, je t'aime'.)

Let me know if you've seen/enjoyed this! Did you have any favourite/least favourite segments? Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email if you have anything to say about it!

Halloween's almost here! Is anyone else incredibly excited!?

I'll leave you for the day, dearies, but I'll be back tomorrow with some more horror fun!

xo, Kate

Halloween Tutorial: DIY Sorting Hat from Harry Potter

Hi everyone!

Today, I'm going to try to do something completely different, and teach you how to make something!

A couple of years ago I found this cardboard witch hat in my local Joanns or Michaels (I can't remember which, though I think Joanns) and swore I'd make a Sorting Hat from Harry Potter out of it. I started it, and thennnnn this kind of fell into a black hole (aka the back of a closet) and today it reemerged, like a phoenix from the ashes.

So, let's try a tutorial on here.

what you'll need:

• cardboard witch hat (couldn't find a link online, but check your local Joanns!)
• a pencil
• three Micron pens (I used sizes 01, 03, and 08 for variety in line thickness)

instructions:

1. Google lots of pictures of the Sorting Hat for references.
2. Lightly draw on the pattern - I started with the face, then worked from there.
3. Once you have a penciled pattern on, use the pens to cover them up. Shade however you'd like - I used some crosshatching techniques, but if you're not a big artist then do whatever makes you feel comfortable. Honestly, if you prefer, you can just do this whole project with a pencil, as it's far easier to shade with a pencil than it is with a pen.
4. Not necessary, but I erased the pencil lines when I was done going over them with pen.
5. Uhhh, you're done!

Here are some pictures I took through the process to give you a kind of "guideline". I went a bit of a more sinister route (I mean, it IS Halloween) so my Sorting Hat may look more evil than you'd want yours to be.

(Before any of my new vegan readers flip out, please note that the couch is obviously not real leather. It's a pleather couch chosen by my boyfriend.) Also, sorry for the poor picture of the final product - the cat was constantly moving and I just got frustrated in the end, heh.

If you want any help or tips with this project, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment below! I wish I had had a ribbon to tie around the bottom, rather than drawing it on, and perhaps I'd like to try this again with paint or something. But feel free to share your creations with me! I'd love to see them!

Hope your Halloween preparations are going smoothly! I'll be taking pictures of my Halloween party, so be prepared for those on November 1st! (At least it'll give you possible inspiration for next year!)

Have a terrifying Tuesday, my lovelies!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: The Caller (2011)

So, oh my goodness.

This is hopefully going to be a good week. *fingers crossed*

I think all of my teachers got the memo about midterms week, because I pretty much have no work this week. (Although I'm just gonna work ahead a bit and email people about this group project.)

I have an idea for a project to post on here (maybe tomorrow or Thursday) for Halloween, so we'll see!

But until then, let's get to tonight's movie.

So 'The Caller' has been on my Netflix list for a while, but Max finally picked it for me so hurray, I get to review it for you guys!

Mary has moved into her own apartment after finalizing a messy divorce from her ex-husband, Steven. She soon begins receiving weird calls from a woman named Rose, and though they develop a friendship at first, things turn dark reeeeeal quickly.

I LOVED this movie a lot more than I thought I would. I thought Rachelle Lefevre gave a great performance. (I've recently become a fan of hers, I adore her on the TV show 'Under the Dome'.) And Stephen Moyer was cuuuuuuuute. He's apparently on that popular show 'True Blood' (which I might start watching soon, I need a backup show).

This movie put me on edge the ENTIRE time. My hands were sweaty and I was flinching at every second. I kept freaking out that something would happen to the dog (spoilers, but the dog is apparently safe and I'm incredibly grateful for that). The creepy timing in this was SO spot on. It'll make your heart pump and you'll be scrambling for the light switch by the time this is over. (I mean, I hope you all watch horror films in the dark, right!?)

This is available to stream on Netflix, so if any of you horror buffs are looking for something to watch tonight, give this a try! You really won't be disappointed. It may be a bit slow for some people, but I thought that aided in the creep-appeal of it.

I hope everyone else had a nice Monday! If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave me a message below or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: The Woman (2011)

Well, my high from that good grade in philosophy just plummeted. I'm apparently getting a meh grade in my effective speaking class. (Although in general I've been having problems with this professor and his delayed responses, so I'm really fucking annoyed.) He JUST gave me back a grade today for an assignment I did in September, and thank goodness he did I guess because I would've made the same mistake in today's speech if I hadn't read his critique.

Although, what does it say about your teaching method if the mean on the assignment is a 56%? That's kind of abysmal. (I feel really shitty about getting a 77%, and I keep trying to tell myself that at least I did better than most of the people in my class, but it's still not really helping.) He seems to be a pretty harsh grader, though - you need to have five people present for every speech, and if you have any fewer than that, you automatically fail. Seems like a pretty big drop to me. And he's very uncommunicative, so I'm not really impressed and I would never recommend anyone take this guy's class.

Guess I better learn from my mistakes so I don't have to retake this, ugh.

Thankfully, since midterms are over, this week is gonna be a little more relaxed. I just have one paper and a test (as of now) so hopefully this'll be a nice, easy week. But we'll see!

(Ugh, I'm so annoyed.)

Let's focus on some horror again, shall we?

I'm in this horror group on Facebook, and I kept seeing a lot of people talk about 'The Woman'. After that, I put it on my list, but Netflix finally chose this as the film to watch! Wooooo!

Trigger warnings: This is filled with a little more gore than some of the other films I've talked about, so keep that in mind. (I mean, even I was squirming at times.) There are also instances of sexual violence (including rape and incestuous hints).

Chris, a lawyer, finds The Woman while hunting in the forest one day. He then catches her and brings her home and attempts to "civilize" her. He asks his family for help, and we learn more about them as time goes on.

Okay, this was a LOT better than I thought it was going to be. I just finished watching it, and I feel a bit nauseous, but wow.

Am I the only one who thinks that Sean Bridgers looks like he could play Will Ferrell's brother? Also, I think that Lauren Ashley Carter is beautiful! (Even with the tired, pregnant teen look.)

In a weird way, this reminded me of 'Edward Scissorhands'; strange creature taken from it's home, said creature is put into the home of a "perfect American family".

So, yay! Thank you, Facebook group, for informing me about this movie! Netflix predicted I'd only give it two stars (I ended up giving it three), so this was a pleasant surprise!

If any of you have a suggestion for a scary movie or any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email!

Thanks, dearies! Have a spooky Sunday!

xo, Kate

Sailor Moon Saturday #16!

Well, the semester's about halfway over you guys! *cheers* I dunno why I (or my advisor) thought that five classes would be a good idea, ha! I'm so stressed. But I'm doing really really well so yayyyyy! Wish some of my professors were a little more on the ball with grading things though - I haven't heard from my effective speaking professor since September, so that's.... a little alarming.

Today's entry will probably be relatively quick (I have some papers to write, but I don't think they'll take too long).

(Warning: This post will be image-heavy and filled with spoilers from this week's episode.)

Today's episode is entitled 'Act 8 - Minako, Sailor V'.

Okay, so FINALLY we get to meet Minako. She was my favourite character of the series for the looooongest time (and she still ties for number one with Usagi, honestly). I'm hoping that, like with some of the others, they actually tone down her ditziness a little bit and show that she really can be quite intelligent. I think that today's episode actually played to that quite nicely!

I mean, look at the lil' cutie. How could someone NOT like her? I mean obviously Naoko Takeuchi does - she created a whole separate Sailor V manga (which I actually read years before it was published in the US - why did it take so long, by the way!? - because I bought some French copies of it when I visited Quebec in high school).

Oh, and Sailor Moon's tiara changed! (Did we get this one in the 90s show? I'm drawing a blank, to be honest.)

So, now that the enemy knows that "Princess Serenity" (heh) is here, they want to draw her out and get the Crystal. So they pull out Kunzite and tell him to go do that.

THE BACKGROUND WORK THOUGH. (I'm probably just going to geek out about that all season, to be honest.)

Also, maybe this is just me over-reading this, so let me know what you guys think... But is it just me, or is the overall facial animation for the male characters "cleaner" than that of the women? Every time I take a close up of any of the Dark Kingdom Knights or of Mamoru, they just look.... better. Especially when you compare it to that of any of the Sailor Scouts. I dunno, thoughts?

Also... I'll admit that I did have to hold back tears when they finally kissed. This is one of my FAVOURITE parts of the manga, and this really stuck true to the nature of that scene. And this really shows them as a "couple" for the first time, I think. He really cares for her, to the point that he'll throw himself in the way of danger to protect her...

I can't wait for the next episode because THINGS ARE STARTING TO HAPPEN.

The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be debuting on November 1st and is entitled 'Act 9 - Serenity, Princess'. 

I watch the show on Crunchyroll, but you can also find it on Hulu.

If you have any comments or suggestions for stuff to write about, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Darkness Falls (2003)

Today has been an AMAZING day so far.

My philosophy professor emailed me and told me that my midterm paper was great and that I got an A+. So, right there it was awesome. But then I was telling my friend that I wanted a pizza (I'm in a lot of pain today, to the point where I want to cry so cooking is out of the question, and I'm trying to save money for Christmas presents and I just spent some on Halloween party supplies because I'm throwing a relatively big party this year). So she asked around to see if anyone could send me one, and one of her sweet friends (who I'm now friends with) did!

I know this is lame, but I just kind of wanted some reward for getting through this week with great grades.

PIZZA.

So now, I'm curled up under the heated blanket with the cat, and since my homework is pretty much done for the week (I just have to give a speech and write a paper, but I'm waiting back for a response from my professor), I'm going to marathon some horror movies and get ahead on things for this month!

Tonight, Netflix chose 'Darkness Falls'.

The town of Darkness Falls (what a fucking stupid name for a town) is haunted by the sinister spectre of "The Tooth Fairy", a woman named Matilda who used to give the children of the town golden coins when they lost their teeth (hence the moniker). After losing his last baby tooth, a young boy named Kyle is attacked by The Tooth Fairy, and when his mother intervenes, she is killed. When people think that Kyle killed her, he is put into a mental institution.  He is released later in life, only to be brought back to Darkness Falls to save the younger brother of the girl he once cared for...

This wasn't really that great. I don't really hate the premise or anything, but my problem was with the acting. I thought a lot of it was pretty cheesy, honestly. Like they were trying way too hard. (Although I did laugh when they actually defeated The Tooth Fairy - I mean, a flaming punch to the face? That's ridiculous in a good way.)

'Darkness Falls' could've been more. I dunno. I liked the background story for the ghost and such, but it just felt like it was missing something? I was scared of her, I didn't empathize with her. I felt NOTHING for her. It was a missed opportunity, really.

I was just simply bored throughout the whole thing. Bored, ba-bored bored bored.

If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave me a message below or send me an email!

Have a freaky Friday, my pretties!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: House (1986)

So I've been working on that paper about 'Rosemary's Baby' and it's been so rough for some reason. I'm having a hard time getting the thesis statement down. I dunno why. Maybe I'll email my professor after I write this article. (I probably will, honestly.)

I was originally going to post a recipe on here today, but it ended up being a failure! Booooo. (I don't know why I can't seem to be able to make edamame hummus. Seriously, it's always disgusting when I make it.) So instead, you get another movie review.

It seems as though Netflix has resurrected Max. This may or may not have been a good choice...

Roger Cobb, a famous horror writer, has recently lost his aunt. He inherits her house and decides to spend some time there in order to write his new book about his experience in Vietnam, but he quickly realizes that the house isn't all it's cracked up to be...

I don't know what I expected from a movie called 'House', but it wasn't this. I enjoyed seeing Norm from 'Cheers' in this though, and I'll admit that I've kind of fallen into that cliched habit of screaming "NORM!" whenever he appeared. (Yeah, I know, I hate me too.)

I really have nothing to say about this film. I felt like it had a lot of potential but then it just kind of kicked itself around for a bit before coming to an end. I really actually liked the idea of what the ghost ended up being, but the "horror" aspects of this were just so weird. (And I know this is labeled as a horror-comedy, but a. I didn't really find it funny and b. the weird horror aspects weren't funny either, they just seemed a bit lazy.) It wasn't witty, it wasn't really vulgar either... I don't know what type of humour this was going for. Who was the target audience supposed to be?

(And I'm sorry, but that lady who just brings her kid over for Roger to babysit without even really asking? Pretty sure I would've verbally torn her apart. Who would realistically put up with that kind of behaviour!? I'm the dictionary definition of a human doormat and even I was flabbergasted.)

So, if anyone wants to try to explain the humour of this to me, be my guest. Because I guess I'm just not getting it.

Thanks for reading this review, my lovelies! If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave me a message below or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: The Prophecy (1995)

So, while trying to pick a horror movie to watch, Eric and I noticed that Netflix's feature 'Max' was nowhere to be found. Has he been, um, put down?

Because of that, I let Eric (and one of his D&D die, because he was stuck between two films) pick the movie.

I regret that decision, hehe.

Now, I dunno if I'd classify this as a horror film, but it's filed under horror on Netflix, IMDb, and Wikipedia, so maybe I'm wrong heh. It was horror-bly boring though! *crickets*

Okay, okay.

Um, the basic premise of 'The Prophecy' is that a human gets stuck in the middle of an angelic civil war.

I just.

I hated this movie so much.

Guys, it's SO BAD.

I couldn't even really crack jokes during this. It's REALLY BAD. (If you really wanna watch a great movie about angels and such, just put on 'Dogma'. It's witty and memorable and all of the actors are amazing in their roles.)

Christopher Walken (the reason this appealed to Eric in the first place) and Viggo Mortensen (who appealed to me) are pretty good in their roles. Well, they're good considering what they were given. The pacing of this film is slower than a snail, and the writing is dry. My family was never religious (I'm actually an atheist) and I never went to Sunday school, but this FELT like a Christian theology lesson? (Does that make sense?) I just kept groaning and waiting for it to end. (Oh and spoilers, Viggo Mortensen doesn't even show up until about the end of the film, so you don't even get to enjoy his performance for very long.)

I don't know who their audience was supposed to be, but this was a huge swing and a miss. Even while I'm writing this, I'm getting annoyed because I wasted my time with this garbage.

Avoid, avoid, avoid. Booooooo.

I hope you all enjoyed my review! Before I close out for the evening, I'd like to take a moment to address an issue. My friends Kelly (who runs a wonderfully geeky vegan blog called Fandom and Food) and Adrienne were recently in a car accident. Kelly was injured and is unable to work at the moment, so they're struggling financially. I've donated, but if you could just take a second to click here and donate (and share this with your friends), the ladies and I would greatly appreciate it. They're wonderful people and they shouldn't have to deal with something as awful as this, so please take a second to do whatever you can for them! Even $1 will help!

Thanks for reading today, everyone! If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

HEY GUYS.

I FINISHED MY PHILOSOPHY MIDTERM PAPER.

Speaking about praying to Satan for good things to happen, guess what we're gonna talk about today?

I wasn't actually going to review this today, but I'm writing a paper about it for my literature class, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone? *waits for the vegan police to get mad about that expression* Seriously, that happened a few days ago.

But anyway.

Trigger warning: This movie does have a rape scene in it, so please be aware.

'Rosemary's Baby' is about a young woman who gets pregnant, and fears that her husband and neighbours may be devil worshippers. As if being pregnant wasn't hard enough.

I'm not sure if you guys remember, but a while back I reviewed a book by Orson Scott Card and talked about how terrible people can make beautiful things in the world, and that you need to try to separate the two things. And, uh, the same thing kind of applies here. Roman Polanski is a huge sleaze bag, but that doesn't mean that his films aren't masterpieces all of a sudden. His (terrible) personal choices doesn't make this a good or bad film; they're two separate beasts, if you will.

So, now that that's out of the way.

Mia Farrow plays the beautiful young Rosemary Woodhouse, and she does a damn fine job. (Although I've always been biased in her favour ever since I found out that she starred in one of my favourite childhood movies.) One of the best stories about this film is how, when Rosemary is walking (while very pregnant) through New York traffic, that was real; Polanski had Mia Farrow walk through traffic because "no one would hit a pregnant lady". (Which is very true, actually.)

And I mean, it wouldn't be a 'Rosemary's Baby' review if I didn't talk about Ruth Gordon's performance. I mean, it's award winning! (Seriously, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Although I loved her the most in 'Harold and Maude'.) There's something disconcerting about seeing her and those other cheerful old people cheer for the birth of Satan's offspring and the death of God.

Now, this may be a bit slow for some people. (Eric doesn't care for the film at all.) And while I think it's obvious that Rosemary isn't hallucinating, some would argue that this is an incredibly psychological film that leaves you to wonder if she's crazy or if they're really all Satan worshippers. Regardless, I love the movie and definitely recommend watching it at least once, as it truly is an iconic film.

Sorry for posting this so late again; after that midterm paper, I just wanted to take a break and relax for a bit, hehe! If you have any suggestions or comments, leave me a message below or send me an email!

Have a Terrifying Tuesday, my pretties!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Hi everyone! Sorry yettttt again for the delay - I'm running on very little sleep, and today was also my three year anniversary with my boyfriend. (Happy anniversary, sweetie!) That and I had class today, too.

Today I want to discuss a classic film, perhaps the parent of all zombie films (though the word zombie is not used once...).

Oh yeah, we're hitting this movie today. We're gonna talk about 'Night of the Living Dead'.

A group of people are trapped in a Pennsylvanian (of course) farmhouse that is brutally attacked by "ghouls", creatures of the undead.

Where to start with this?

Well, let's start with this - if you're the type who underestimates horror films (or zombie films in general), let's note that this film was chosen by the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (yeah, congress) for preservation in the National Film Registry.

I mean right there, that should show you that you should take this film pretty seriously. Especially if you look at the list of other films on the list - hate our government or love it, but if you look objectively, this is a list of good movies.

The first time I saw this, I kind of laughed it off at first. I thought it was cheesy. But just wait. You're gonna get hit by the second half of this, and suddenly BAM. It gets dark reeeeeeally quickly.

Let's also point out that - for 1968 - it was shocking to cast an African-American man as a lead. Perhaps this was to mirror the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, as some have suggested. (Especially when you consider the end of the film, as well.) (Others have suggested that events such as the Vietnam War were shown through this film, too.)

There were multiple scripts written for this (originally it started as a horror comedy), and Romero drew a lot of inspiration from the amazing book, 'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson.

There was a bit of controversy when this was released - this was back before ratings (which pretty much came out right after this film, heh) and this was shown as a film that could easily be accessed by small children. Though we are definitely able to expose ourselves to violent imagery today, you have to remember that this wasn't as common back then - and a lot of children freaked out. Roger Ebert wrote a wonderful review in which he talked about this, and it's really eye-opening.

Finally, we'll wrap this up by briefly discussing my favourite thing in zombie movies - the unknown cause. The wonderful (and addicting) website tvtropes actually gives us a list of common zombie archetypes, and yet they don't really seem to discuss the unknown cause. (They quickly mention it in the flesh-eating section, but I think it should have its own section.)

I think the unknown cause is the scariest. If you don't know what caused them to appear, it's a lot harder to make them disappear, hmm? Though the film discusses the possibility of radioactivity, they don't know. And you're left to never know. Some may disregard this as "lazy writing", but I prefer being left to my own imagination.

You can actually watch it for free on YouTube (due to an unfortunate error back in the day, the film is actually in the public domain) in addition to streaming it on Netflix. Really, this is one of the easiest films to get access to, hurray! (And I mean, I doubt Romero's really hurtin' too much from this, though I'd be crying inside.)

Hope you all enjoyed this! If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave me a message below or send me an email!

xo, Kate