HALLOWEEN HORROR FILM WEEKEND pt.2

Halloween horror film weekend continues!
THis time with another classic, although perhaps not familiar to all; Polanski's Dance Of Vampires / The Fearless Vampire Killers, from 1967:











More funny than scary, my sisters and I knew this by heart when we were kids and we used to act out the scene at our summerplace with Sarah in the window and Kuckol beneath (out of solidarity to each others we did take turns being the girl or being the hunchback).

Photos from here.

HALLOWEEN HORROR FILM WEEKEND pt.1

It's Halloween weekend and I am away from home in rather un-halloweeny circumstances. But at least I will be wearing a black dress... (Uuuuh, spooky). So I thought I'd get us all in the Halloween mood with some good ol' horror movies!

I am a big fan of horror movies. In fact, I have most likely watched too many. I can still bear being home a lone as long as I have the safety lock on (although I do freeze for a moment if the cats react to some sounds in the staircase). But I can't drive out to Eddi's farm on the un-lit winding roads trough the dark (we're talking really dark) woods and mist filled fields without being sure I'll catch a zombie in my headlights at some point. (Or then I just think of Twin Peaks and Bob!). And it freaks me out that Eddi does not lock the door there at night. (Of course, he is not aware of all the serial killers running around in the world as he is sure the area is only full on southwest Finnish farmers.) And you can of course imagine what I come up with when I'm on the night shift and the last ones to leave our part of the harbor, with the dark warehouse and long corridors in the building. I have totally mind fucked myself. But I can't stop watching.

Old horror films however brings up a different kind of scary and do not play a part in the fact that I might hurry a little on my last steps out of a dark room. Films from back in the days may not come out as frightening as the horror movies of today are or freak us out in the dame way, the elements of fear are in most cases more subtle and less raw than those of today. But the old films do create an ambience of spookiness and haunting darkness that I love, especially silent films. And the scariest vampire of all time is of course Nosferatu.

Here are some classics to get you in a Halloween mood:


Robert Wiene's Dr.Caligari, 1920

F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, 1922

Tod Browning's Freaks, 1932


At least the two first ones can be sen as a whole on youtube.

SWANS AND NATURE

The beautiful colours from a few weeks back have now fallen off the trees and are on the ground instead, most of the branches are bare. Which is beautiful still, only a different kind of beautiful.

Biking trough the park into town is like biking trough a small piece of nature documentary each and every time; fasans strutting about, squirrels munching on cones (Eddi hates squirrels but I still find them pretty cute, although I know they eat bird babies) and lots of small little birdies whose names I learned in school but cannot recall anymore. Every single time I curse not bridging my camera along.

Last week however I happened to carry it and took some photos of the swan couple that has been haning around here lately.






I find the fact that swans are monogamous romantic, although I know that it's only nature and features of a species. A few summers back however we had a crazy killer swan hanging around our island in the archipelago, attacking others. There was also a lone mother and her swan baby. One day the male swan attacked the mother. We interfered with nature by driving the male swan away but then he returned and drowned the mother by keeping her head under water while the little baby swan went all peep-peep next to them. Nature is cruel, but I didn't know birds did that, whatever the reason was... and now I made everyone feel bad, myself at least, the story always makes me cry a little bit, while this post was meant to be more of a feelgood one.

Oh, ignore it, just think of the nice park and loving swans instead OK.

ONE ABSOLUTE FAVORITE AMONG MANY

I seldom have the time to take any outfit photos of myself when going out (you know as in out-out, to a show, venue, party or so) mostly because I am always a bit late and also as my going out nowadays almost every time includes me performing somewhere.(Which means that I leave the house for the stage check in rollers and comfortable wear and do the dress up backstage at the venue.)

But, sometimes I do manage to get a pic taken - here's me in one of my favorite going-out outfits; a curve-hugging halter neck pencil dress with matching bolero from Vivien of Holloway.

I think it also works for more formal occasion, business meetings, lunches and such, as long as you keep the bolero on. You may remember that I have the same combo in red with white dots too, as well as a sateen sarong combo.

Well anyway, to the point; as you know Vivien of Holloway is one of my favorite brands, and the people there are really nice and helpful - now we've worked out this little thing togehter that should please all of you lovely readers:
You get a 10% discount when shopping online on www.vivienofholloway.com until the end of this year!


Use the code: VOH_F4shionF4b to get the discount.
The code can be used once and is valid until December 31st.

LULU IN THE BATH

Here's a little cat-pic for Monday morning.

I have tons of these pictures as I for some reason have to take one every time I see one of the cats have gone and stuffed themself inside something. WHich is pretty much all the time...

I NEVER SAID I WOULDN'T AND SO I DID IT

It took me nine months but now it's mine!


The Trashy Diva Courtney coat - it's perfect. I should've just ordered it right away as it was bound to happen sooner or later, the way it usually goes with things like this...

It's very over the top, which is good, because that's the way (a-ha a-ha) I like it. (Every now and then at least.)


But, since Helsinki is not exactly New Orleans, at least climate wise (except for a few incredible months last summer), so this may not be the perfect jacket for the season. However, the very pretty collar is easily folded up and it actually works very well, both against wind and how it appears. And a pair of long gloves also come in handy to cover the fourth of an arm that otherwise would be bare.


And yes, then I had this little poll in my sidebar for a month, asking what you like to see on this blog. Not that the result would or will change the way I blog, as I still will post about what I like and the way I have the time for it. But it's also nice to find out what the rest of the world thinks. And almost all of you clicked outfits. Oh you, my readers. Outfit posts are the ones I find the hardest to find substance for and the ones that take the longest time to make (since I often tend to be in a hurry, or, ahum, a little late). But well, wouldn't want to disappoint you: here's what I wore underneath today; something a little less edgy than the coat.


Ps. If you're thinking of ordering the coat read the description on the Trashy Diva site; it runs a bit small around the ribs like they say so order a size up! Mine fits me well with just a plain shirt or tee underneath, but I had to move the buttons a couple of centimetres to be able to fit a knit there too!

LA CEREZA NEGRA

I have a new burlesque act in which I am a real spaghetti western cowboy desperado bad ass.

Bang bang! This is just me trying out the costume at home. It's a good thing there are no neighbours opposite to us I think. (Although they'd be entertained for sure if there were any.)

PRINT OF THE DAY

Vogue Paris cover December 1950.
Scanned from post card.

THE BIRDS ARE LEAVING

It is always as fascinating how they go from what seems like a total chaos into being perfectly organized.

(The middle on of the three houses in the first picture was my first ever home btw.)

BITTY STUFF

The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret merchandise! All in a limited edition.

And now I'm off to Koko Theatre to prepare for Bittyfest, which is nearly sold out, only two tickets left!

SO MUCH COLOUR, SO MANY SHADES

Autumn is here and the colours of the park outside our house has changed.


I sat down a bit on my way in to town.


A little green still, but mostly shades of yellow, red and rust.


Yellow, red and rust - matching the colours of the trees :)


The light is incredably sharp.


It's hard to keep ones eyes open. (our building is the one between my head and my arm btw :)


Heading home.

Well that was yesterday; today however it is raining and they have threatened us with snow!

No way I say.

BECAUSE BOYS LOVE COLOURS TOO

Some time ago I was asked to try out and style socks from We Love Colors. We Love Colors offers a lot products for women, men and children in more than 50 colour choices on everything. They have mostly leg wear, but also products like dance wear and gloves. The colours go from earth near shades to neon bright.

I used to wear a lot of colored leg wear before and mix and match, even though I nowadays am more moderate with my tights and stockings; choosing mostly brown, grey and black or darker colours like burgundy and aubergine. For burlesque shows however I love to wear coloured fishnets for example, but more on that another time.

What I really enjoyed among the We Love Colors products was the fact that they offered socks for men in all the same colours as they offer women. I have often been searching for plain colored socks for Eddi but with the exception of some blue and red ones it's hard to find other than dark socks for men! So Eddi got to try out a coulpe of sports socks:

(Eddi says he is not giving the finger to the world on purpose.)

I think socks are a great way to spice up any outfit for a guy, add a little fun and colour to it by matching a shirt, accessory or a fine pair of shoes with the socks, or perhaps by letting the socks be a small contrasting detail to the rest. This applies to women's outfits too of course, but writing this I mostly had mens' clothing in mind, as it tends to be darker and less colorful compared to what women wear. (Ok, I know some trends lately have been very colorful for boys and men alike, but I'm thinking classic styles here, not techno hipsters or the early nineties.)



The sport socks are a quite good lenght that goes properly over the ancle and up on the calf. The colors are very bright! Colours differ from one computer screen to another, so check the name properly on the colour you want to order, neon really is neon bright :)

10.10.10

I've been admiring the bright and rich colours this fall somehow feeling there is more of those than last year and then realized, a bit surprised, it is due to the fact that it has not been that windy lately -it has allowed the trees to maintain their colours in full glory. It's normally windy as hell around here this time of year and today we're back to normal; the wind is hard and the air full of twirlling yellow leaves. I've gone to pick up some Nepalses and mango lassi now in between the ships and am waiting to go out and face the wind and the growing waves.

This Sunday may not be a soft one, but one with work (I'd like to say hard work but Sundays are pretty easy so I'd be exaggerating) and cold, but here's some music to go along anyway:



And also, last but not least; as you may know the blog and I are aging gracefully together; I started my thirtieth year last week and the blog will now enter it's fourth (!) one. It's always funny to look back and see how some things m,ong many others have changed,; during the first year of blogging for example my work changed from freelancing with a lot of things to cutting down and mainly working in the habrour. During the second year burlesque went from becoming an interest to something I started doing for real, and the past year for me has been about changes; I moved away from the centre of town to greener areas and how two kids around the house every second week. Let's see what I can wrap up next year then!

SALT AND PEPPER

Now I have two more cats, white ones!

Vintage salt and pepper shakers from Little Bukowski. Every kitchen needs a little kitsch!

FIVE IN ONE FANCY

I have a new knitted turban to keep my little head warm this winter.
(Or well, my head is actually pretty huge but little just sounds better said like that.)
With the pins that go along one can turn it into five totally different headpieces!

Made by the wonderful Frollein, who else :)

HELLS ANGELS

Biker chicks in 1965

I really enjoy browsing the Life galleries from time to time. Not that I am the kind of person who goes bazookas over a photo just because it's old and it's vintage, but they do have some fine sets of those, as well as newer ones, often with interesting captions or stories.

WELL...

...one can't always succeed.
But that was a damn shame on those fine molds.

(In my defense however, if such a one would be needed, I did manage to produce a lot of other nice not only eatable but rather delicious things during the same cooking sessions as the black rolls above. And I should have seen it coming; cleaning the house while cooking and baking and doing the hair and make up at the same time has to result in at least one minor fail I guess.

Ironically, and by coincidence -of course- on the same night, Fiona brought me this fifties vintage housewife come-in-handy-booklet on how to manage the chores of the house lightly. Just in case, might come in handy in the future then ;)